Best of An Ember in the Ashes Quartet: Evilest Villains Ranked

Reading Recs

Sabaa Tahir is the master of creating characters we love…and characters we hate. So, here are the cruelest villains of An Ember in the Ashes, ranked from least to most evil!

**SPOILERS AHEAD for An Ember in the Ashes, A Torch Against the Night, and A Reaper at the Gates!**

5. Mazen

via GIPHY

We wanted to trust him so badly for Laia in An Ember in the Ashes. ESPECIALLY after all she went through to spy for him. But WOW did he let us down.

4. The Warden

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As if Kauf Prison wasn’t already the worst place imaginable. There wasn’t a reader among us who didn’t violently cringe every time the Warden entered our precious Elias’s cell to torture more answers out of him.

3. Marcus

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There are sooo many reasons this guy is one of the most hated characters ever. From killing his own brother, to nearly murdering Laia, to torturing Helene’s sister amongst MANY other crimes, Marcus more than deserves a spot on the villains list.

2. The Nightbringer

via GIPHY

This one is a toss up…after all, if you’ve read A Reaper at the Gates, you know that The Nightbringer sees himself as the hero of his own story. But that doesn’t justify the damage done, or fooling Laia into falling in love with him as Keenan to steal her armlet. We can all agree he has wreaked enough havoc to be on this list, and given his VERY scary agenda at the end of Reaper…well, we’re more than a little concerned.

1. Keris: The Commandant

via GIPHY

Possibly one of the most hated villains in history. Somehow, every single time we think we have Keris figured out, she shocks us with some new cruelty–cruelty that began with torturing Laia and then somehow only got worse and worse and WORSE.

In closing, Sabaa Tahir is a master at writing villains…which makes us very concerned about our favorite characters. We’ll all find out for ourselves in less than TWO WEEKS when A Sky Beyond the Storm hits shelves!