Aunt Maria

Aunt Maria from Aunt Maria (also titled Black Maria) by Diana Wynne Jones

This is the person who sprang to mind when I first tried to think of the most evil, horrible character I could think of.  Since it’s more obscure, I don’t think it’s anti-climatic to start with my top villain.  Aunt Maria, who insists on having her name pronounced “ma-rye-ah,” is a little old lady who uses deceptive appearances every bit to her advantage.  She’s a difficult villain to explain because she works in ways that are subtle while at the same time does things that are blatantly horrible. 

The book follows a girl named Mig as she goes to visit her great aunt Maria over her spring holiday.  It sounds innocent enough, but things are strange from the start.  She is already creeped out because the small town Aunt Maria lives in was the last place Mig’s father was headed when he had a car accident that sent him hurtling over a cliff into the sea.  The town itself is full of zombie-like people who all seem to fear Aunt Maria and her social circle of elderly ladies, and her house is haunted.  What’s worse, Aunt Maria was Mig and her family to stay forever.   

What works best about Aunt Maria is her ability to convince people that she is right and they are wrong.  She has actual magical powers like the ability to turn people into animals, similar to a traditional witch, but she hardly needs them.  Her real strength is a shrewd form of manipulation that borders on hypnosis.  She projects the image of a kind, cuddly old lady who Mig describes as looking like a teddy bear.  Aunt Maria uses this is guilt-trip people people into doing whatever she says, making them feel obligated to take care of her.  How could anyone begrudge their own aunt?

Her habits start off as merely annoying, such as fussy demands for a prompt breakfast in bed every morning.  Mig and her family complain about Aunt Maria behind her back, but feel guilty about doing so.  They don’t suspect anything more sinister lurking amidst the frilly pillows and dollies in her house.  Over time they discover how much she’s done to control the town and how much she’s willing to do to stay in power, from killing people, crippling them, or burying them alive.  The tension keeps rising throughout the story as Mig gets more trapped in the situation. 

 Through it all it is impossible to reason with Aunt Maria, who has a case of selective hearing.  She’s convinced everything she does is justified and essential to maintaining a peaceful town.  She won’t acknowledge any faults or evidence to the contrary.  It’s like trying to argue with someone with old fashioned vales who refuses to see that times have changed.  Aunt Maria makes everyone feel like a misbehaving child in front of her, even adults.  She doesn’t need an army and she doesn’t even need to yell.  She gets people to do her bidding because they feel obligated to listen to their elders, and in the main character’s case, because she’s family. 

The author Diana Wynne Jones specializes in villains-as-family and uses it in many of her books.  Antagonists are stronger when they have a previous relationship to the main character, particularly if they are family.  It makes it more dynamic and complicated for the main character.  It’s hard to fight a member of one’s family because even if you don’t like them, you’re not supposed to.  Blood is thicker than water and it’s an ancient idea to protect one’s family and their secrets.  Bad behavior from relatives is supposed to get a free pass on the pure basis of being family.  These invisible bonds are supposed to be undeniable.  It’s an added struggle for a protagonist to overcome this bias and do something about a relative’s crimes.