15 of The Walking Dead’s most vile villains ranked

1. Alpha, Leader of the Whisperers

Who is she: Although Negan and the Saviors might have a higher kill count than Alpha (or at least from what we know of Alpha’s televised incarnation), Alpha checks nearly every box. She’s manipulative. She started her own cult. Well before the apocalypse started, she practiced her wicked tricks on her own daughter, even when she was a toddler. It was as if she was priming herself for a nearly barren world ripe with uncivility. Helming the Whisperers officially this season, we haven’t seen much of her, but that’s all the more reason she should be considered the most villainous Walking Dead antagonist. In such a short amount of screen time, she’s made an impact on viewers, the characters, and immersed herself in her corrupt malicious role.

Worst act of villainy: The pike scene and the moments leading up to it. After exercising her apocalypse resourcefulness by making a wig from a freshly killed and scalped Hilltop civilian, Alpha takes it upon herself to crash the Kingdom’s fair, kidnap more than a dozen protagonists, and behead 10 of them at the infamous pike scene.

Weakness: Alpha only cries or shows remorse when it comes to losing her control over her daughter. Alpha doesn’t necessarily grieve over her perception of Lydia’s betrayal; she grieves over her own loss of power. She’s obsessed with her power and being in control, which is also her greatest weakness.

Redeeming qualities: None. Absolutely none. The only remotely good side of Alpha is her daughter, who she disowned. Because Lydia isn’t Alpha, and we refuse to even consider Lydia Alpha’s daughter (Alpha has never even treated her like her own daughter), we can’t attribute Lydia’s innate goodness to Alpha (at least not in good faith).

First appearance: “Adaption” (season 9, episode 9)

There are a lot of villains, former villains, and anti-heroes with villainous undertones that we didn’t get a chance to discuss or rank. There was Mary. Then, there was Paula (The Saviors). Even Pete Anderson’s equally terrible son, Ron, could be considered a villain. Given that we’re still brooding about Nicholas and his apocalyptic nervousness that literally killed a kid and nearly killed Glenn, it’s probably best that we didn’t add every villain from The Walking Dead to the list. You know: We have to at least try to remain unbiased, even despite our biased opinions about the fandom and the characters in it.

Who do you think is the worst villain ever on The Walking Dead? Think some villains on here should have been ranked higher or lower? Let us know in the comments section!