Top 10 Tuesday: Father’s Day Freebie

June 13, 2017

This is a weekly tag hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and this week’s challenge is a father’s day freebie! You can pick 10 of anything father-related. I decided to go with 10 Worst Bookish Dads!


When I sat down to start this blog post, I decided I wanted to do something fun, and I realized that there are some good book dads… but there are tons of bad ones! I don’t mean well-intentioned, clueless fathers; I mean downright evil. Happy Father’s Day, evil dads! What would the literature world be without you?


1. Tywin Lannister – A Song of Ice and Fire series

From the start, Tywin is just disregarded as a total dirtbag. He’s brilliant, conniving, bold, and power-hungry, but what makes him relevant to this list is the way he treats his children; specifically, Tyrion, who Tywin has hated from birth due to his physical differences as well as Tywin’s wife having died during Tyrion’s birthing process. Tywin does horrible things to Tyrion constantly throughout the series and never seems to show a moment’s remorse for his actions.

2. Lord Kent – Royal Bastards

There isn’t much I can say about this one without spoiling the entire book, and since it’s a brand new release, I’d be basically the worst book blogger ever if I did that to you guys (especially since the book is AMAZING and you absolutely must pick it up right away!). All I’ll say is that things aren’t what they seem with Tilla’s father, and he’s kind of… no, actually, he’s totally a jackass.

3. Keir – A Court of Thorns and Roses series

Keir is Morrigan’s father, and we find out in A Court of Mist and Fury that he was horrible, even by ACOTAR-father-standards (I mean, there were lots of bad High Fae dads in those back stories!). Not only did he try to sell Morrigan off to the highest bidder, essentially, but he then went on to beat the hell out of her and nail a note to her stomach telling the Autumn Court to “deal with her”. It’s no wonder that Morrigan hates her family!

4. Gabe Ugliano – The Lightning Thief

Technically, Gabe is Percy’s step-dad, but for all intents and purposes, I felt like he belonged on this week’s list. He’s a total jerk to Percy, whether it’s yelling at him, insulting him, or stealing his money to gamble away (and lose). He sees Percy as a pest and a hindrance, and is even horrible to Percy’s mother. When Percy finds out at the end of The Lightning Thief that Gabe has been abusing his mom, it’s the final nail in Gabe’s theoretical coffin.

5. Marcus Eaton – Divergent series

He’s an abusive, power-hungry, menacing jerk. While he’s not the most “evil” of the fathers I’ve highlighted in this list, I definitely hated him enough to throw him in the mix.

6. Mr. Finch – All the Bright Places

If you’ve read this book, you probably already know exactly why Mr. Finch’s abusive and neglectful tendencies were bad enough to land him on this list. Something horrible happens in All the Bright Places, and while I won’t spoil it for you, I will tell you that Theodore Finch’s father is, in my opinion, pretty solidly responsible for the events that take place.

7. “Dad” – Crank

I mean, the whole premise of the book is that this young woman decides to go spend a summer with her estranged, deadbeat father, and he leaves her to fend entirely for herself while encouraging her to do drugs, drink, and hook up with the disastrous boy next door. He may not be evil, but his neglect contributed directly to the complete and utter downfall of this girl’s life, so I’m pretty sure he belongs her.

8. “Daddy” – Identical

Yet again, Ellen Hopkins has a knack for writing horrible father figures, and this may be the worst out of all of the books of hers I’ve read. I remember first reading Identical as a teen and being completely stunned and mortified when I realized what was going on to wreck these poor girls’ lives. It still makes my heart hurt when I think back on it.

9. Lucius Malfoy – Harry Potter series

I will be the first to admit that, just because a character is “evil”, doesn’t mean they aren’t worthy of being enjoyed. Lucius is the perfect example – or maybe my little fangirl heart just hasn’t quite given up on him yet, despite the fact that he’s honestly a pretty awful human being and an even worse father. Poor Draco. </3

10. Denethor – Lord of the Rings series

I’ll be honest and admit I haven’t read the trilogy, so if the movies are totally different, I apologize, but I couldn’t leave Denethor out of this list because he’s just awful. I mean, Faramir tries so hard to please him, but all he wants is his dead son, Boromir, and the whole “let’s just burn the kid on the pyre” ordeal… Sigh. No.


Are there any horrible bookish dads that I missed? Let me know in the comments, and feel free to drop a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post as well!

More about Destiny @ Howling Libraries

Just a horror aficionado/geek girl trying to juggle motherhood, reading, blogging, gaming, and everyday life.

Leave a comment
    1. Love this list. So the dad in Identical totally creeped me out. In fact Ellen Hopkins has this way of writing terrible father figures. Have you read burned? Terrible.

      1. She really does! I have, but it’s been years. I started off this year with intentions of rereading her entire YA bibliography before 2017 ends, but now it’s mid-June and I’ve only reread Crank, so… eh… we’ll see, haha.

    1. Ahh lovely list! I was planning a list similar to this topic haha, what a coincidence! Marcus, Keir, Lucius, aghhh what horrible fathers. ? Great picks! ?

    1. I could not agree more with this list! Lucius was just horrible to Draco! I blame Draco’s arrogance on Lucius! And don’t even get me started on Gabe or Tywin

      1. Hahaah I’m glad I’m not alone! Ughhh. I definitely also blame Draco’s issues on Lucius. I guess Lucius kind of got what was coming to him along the way, but still… evil. Tywin is probably my single most hated literary dad, though. Poor Tyrion.

    1. I’ve never read Lord of the Rings, but that scene with Denethor and Faramir is forever etched in my mind. How dare he try to burn my beautiful boy! I agree with you about being able to appreciate and enjoy evil characters. That’s exactly how I feel about Bellatrix Lestrange. Loved the list!

      1. Agreed! Boromir and Faramir were both honestly such wonderful characters, in my opinion. It’s a wonder that either of them came from that horrible man. Of course, Boromir wasn’t faultless, but in the end… sigh. My heart still aches.

    1. You got some downright horrible dads in this list! Kier is absolutely evil. And Lucius from Harry Potter, I’ve never liked him. And Marcus Eaton was awful to Four! Fantastic list; I loved your topic of evil dads! Happy reading!

      Here’s my Top Ten Tuesday!

    1. Oh man, I agree with pretty much everything except the ones I haven’t read. I will say, though, that in my books Vernon Dursley is infinitely worse than Lucius. At least Lucius seemed to care about Draco not dying….

      1. Valid point! I think when push comes to shove, Lucius did love Draco (as much as Lucius could love anyone), and that’s definitely more than could be said for Vernon and Harry.

    1. OMG how could I forget about Gabe Ugliano?!? He was absolutely horrible and Sally freezing him with Medusa’s head was classic. Lucius Malfoy was horrible too. Thanks for sharing, and fabulous post!

    1. Really good list! If I had to pick the worst, I guess I would pick Tywin. He is so darn evil! But there’s also Keir whom I really hate.

    1. I complitely forgot about Marcus Eaton! He really is an awful dad. Great list btw 🙂

    1. Great List!!! I liked how you switched it up and did worst dads. I am definitely wanting to read Royal Bastards and this made me want to read it even more to see how bad Lord Kent really is!

    1. Gabe from Lightning Thief, Marcus Eaton and Denethor (he is that bad in the books, perhaps even worse) are perfect picks for this type of list! They are so bad! And oh Lucius Malfoy–tries so hard in all the wrong ways.

      Thanks for stopping by my TTT earlier 🙂

      1. Thank you! Ugh, I’ll be dreading reading about Denethor, lol. Those books have been on my TBR since I was a little kid, but for some reason, I have a really hard time immersing myself in Tolkien’s writing. 🙁

        Any time! Thanks for checking mine out, too!

        1. Tolkien can be tough. There are parts in the books that go on for a while and are not as interesting as what made it in the movies. But they are also really beautifully written and it’s neat to get all the back stories and everything! Good luck when you do read them!

    1. As well as having Denethor and Tywin in common, I think Lucius Malfoy and Marcus Eaton are really good choices too 🙂

    1. I love your take on this weeks TTT theme, and yes these are all horrible book dads and great picks for this topic as well! I really hate Tywin, and oh my god yes Keir is such a horrible father. After everything he did to Mor I want him to get his just desserts someday.

    1. I love what you did with this week’s theme!
      And I absolutely hear you on Denethor. He’s like my absolute least favourite LotR character (tied with Saruman probably).

    1. Great picks, Tywin Lannister is probably my most hated fictional dad, though Lucius, Keir and Denethor are close seconds.

    1. Denethor is HORRID. He is no better in the book. His treatment of Faramir is NOT OKAY, and I will NEVER forgive him.
      I haven’t read most of these books, but I agree that Lucius Malfoy is a pretty awful dad. And Gabe from The Lightning Thief makes me feel ill. The man is a disgusting jerk. But Percy’s real dad irritates me too.
      There are terrible dads everywhere in literature. Honestly they are fun to read about sometimes.
      Great post!

    1. I love your twist on this 🙂 As Father’s Day approaches again, I am thinking of the best book dads, to do a post in honor of my own dad. But this spin is an intriguing and unique one 🙂 Great post!

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