Stephen King is often hailed as the “king of terror,” and The author’s best human villain perfectly captures why his books resonate with readers as much as they do. King has created no shortage of great villains over his 50-year career, with some of his best including Pennywise and Randall Flagg. Of course, characters like Pennywise are terrifying because they take readers’ fears and give them supernatural form. However, King is also great at creating more human villains – and in some ways, they are scarier than his more extraordinary threats.
Some of King’s best books put human villains at the center of their storiesand others blur the lines between what is caused by supernatural forces and what is the result of human actions. The latter is the case with King’s best human villain: Jack Torrance. Thanks to Jack Nicholson’s iconic performance in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Enlightened, Jack has become an iconic figure in his own right. The villain is much more nuanced in the source material, making him a shining example of King’s writing talent.
The Shining’s Jack Torrance is Stephen King’s best human villain
His complexity makes him one of the author’s best-written characters.
While there is plenty of room for purely evil antagonists in the horror genre, more complex characters like The ShiningJack Torrance tends to be more interesting. King’s book presents Jack as a deeply flawed human being who is often abusive and struggles with alcoholism. King doesn’t try to paint Jack as an all-good or bad person, letting his actions represent his character. And even when Jack is doing something detestable, he often feels consumed with guilt. He’s an incredibly human character, even if he’s not likable.
This is what makes his descent into madness so interesting in The Enlightened, as it is difficult to say whether it is Jack’s declining mental state or the Overlook Hotel that is causing his violent behavior.
This is what makes his descent into madness so interesting in The Enlightened, as it is difficult to say whether it is Jack’s declining mental state or the Overlook Hotel that is causing his violent behavior. There are clearly supernatural elements in The Enlightened, but isolation and shame seem to affect Jack just as much. It’s not always easy to sympathize with horror villains, even King’s, but the author ensures that readers can understand and even feel something for Jack. He may be impossible to root for, but his complexity makes him a fascinating character to follow.
Jack Torrance Perfectly Demonstrates Why Stephen King’s Books Work So Well
The author’s ability to mix horror and humanity is a great appeal
Jack Torrance perfectly captures why King’s horror books are so popular: because they mix more bizarre terrors with an undeniable humanity. Exploring topics like abuse and alcoholism through Jack makes him feel like a very grounded and realistic character. While the Overlook Hotel and its ghosts deliver supernatural scares, Jack’s descent into villainy is arguably scarier. This is because it proves that humans can also be monsters, forcing readers to face the darkness that exists within ordinary people.
Jack’s character capitalizes on more human terrors, and this makes him more compelling than many of King’s supernatural threats. The fact that the author writes him with nuance only adds to his impressive characterization, highlighting that evil and the desire to do good can coexist. Figures like Jack Torrance will leave readers looking over their shoulders in the real world, as it’s easy to imagine them there. And Jack isn’t the only human villain King writes that has this effect, even if he’s the most interesting.
Stephen King has a knack for writing fascinating human villains
Annie Wilkes, Margaret White and Mrs. Carmody are among his other major antagonists
King’s other human villains may not be on Jack’s level, but they continue the trend of injecting more human horrors into the author’s novels. In Carrie, The title character’s telekinetic powers bring destruction to her city. However, her abusive mother is scarier in many ways, as her cruelty and religious trauma contribute to Carrie’s massacre. And these things exist in real life, while telekinesis is hardly something readers need to worry about. This makes Carrie’s mother feel more realistic, as does Jack – although a little less sympathetic.
The same can be said for villains like The fogIt’s Mrs. Carmody and MiseryIt’s Annie Wilkes. Mrs. Carmody demonstrates a fanaticism similar to that of Carrie’s mother, but also shows the dangers of spreading extreme opinions to a group of impressionable people. Meanwhile, Annie Wilkes reveals that people can be much more violent and cruel than they initially appear. Like Jack, Annie also seems friendly at times, showing Stephen Kinghis talent for driving home the frightening reality of how terrifying seemingly ordinary people can be.