Welcome back to the Nefarious Villain award. There were so many nominations and seconds that it took me almost two hours to read and tally them all. And to those of you who got sent to spam, I deeply apologize but worry not—your vote was counted. But it’s still busy and I may be hiding from Captain Hook so here’s another article I swiped from The Fantasy Times. I mean I they interviewed me for the article anyway the least they can do is let me share it.
Will Hook Make Waves Over Awards Snub?
Watching the contestants vie for the coveted Silmaril is always a fun aspect of awards season, but no award provides quite the level of entertainment as does the Villain award. Watching the worst of the worst get simultaneously offended at being nominated, and outraged at not winning is a highlight for many.
As a Journalist I hunted down the award coordinator and got the inside scoop on the counting process.
“Every blogger has their own process for keeping track of the votes. As a first time awards host it was interesting, Getting advice from veterans and also improvising my method. One Vetren award host shared a spread sheet that helped immensely. I have it set up so that I get an email every time someone comments on my blog. I waited until nominations closed and then went through my email deleting emails as I counted Nominations and seconds. That method combined with the spread sheet kept everything pretty organized for me. Then all I had to do was count the seconds to see who had the most. The top five characters to be ‘seconded’ the most times were the finalists.”
As I was taking my notes it occurred to me that there might be a flaw with this system. “What if there are Characters with the same number of nominations?”
“Well, it really only matters if the tie is between fifth and sixth place since only five characters can advance.”
I look at the blogger pointedly. “And was there a tie between fifth and sixth place?” I asked her.
She adverted her gaze and looked down at her watch. “It was a very close race and so many villains got nominated. So yes there were a bunch that got the same number of seconds. But it didn’t matter until it came to fifth place, so I used my one reader vote as a tiebreaker. I had to pick one or the other and I will not tell you who it was between because these are—well, their the bad guys and I don’t need one mad at me.”
She was looking really nefarious at this point and so I let the matter drop and we moved on to revealing the finalists for Most Nefarious Villain. They are:
Capricorn from Inkheart
Prince Humperdink from The Princess Bride
Lord Sero from the City Between series by W.R. Gingell*
Gnag the Nameless from Wingfeather Saga
Bonifer Squoon also from Wingfeather Saga
If you aren’t sure who any of these people are then click their names to be taken to related fan wikis.
*The City Between series has no fan wiki. (This is a grevious oversight and someone should correct it.) So here’s a run down on Lord Sero provided by the one of the other awards hosts:
Lord Sero may cause flowers and plants to grow wherever he steps, but that’s no cause to underestimate him — and misjudging his character could be the last mistake you ever make. He’s the epitome of a powerful noble fae — which is to say that he’s proud, ambitious, manipulative, and continually in the middle of at least one scheme to increase his own personal power and influence. And, like many fae, he’s not particular about who else he happens to hurt in order to achieve that goal — especially if they happen to be those whom he considers “lesser beings” (which is to say, not fae). He manages to have a finger in every pie, whether it’s the Fae Enforcers or the sinister Upper Management, in addition to the numerous other Behindkind under his direct command. His most notable recent scheme is his continual efforts to push his son into the Kingship of Behind so he can be the power behind the throne, and he’ll use any means he has to — whether magical interference, manipulating his son’s friends and companions, or plain old murder — to accomplish his ends.
As long time award followers will know, the nomination process is always open and can easily be double checked by any decently motivated individual so I assure you that this reporter has done her due diligence and confirmed the results. In doing so, I discovered that the tie for fifth place with ten “seconds” each was between Captain Hook of Neverland and Lord Sero from the City Between.
When I contacted the blogger again for comment, this all she would tell me: “Look anyone can see that Lord Sero is the greater Villain. I mean, Hook is just a Grumpy old man who’s being tormented by the universe’s brattiest child.”
When I reached out to Hook to see how he would react his only reply was. “Finally! Someone understands!”
https://www.silmarilawards.com/vote
When you click on the voting link above you will be taken to a form to vote for the finalists in EVERY award. So if you want to read up on the other finalists before you vote then click on the blog links below.
Awards Schedule by Ceremony.
Monday, September 18: Most Magnificent Dragon – Jenelle Leanna Schmidt
Tuesday, Septemeber 19: Most Nefarious Villain – C.O. Bonham (You are here)
Wednesday, September 20: Most Devoted Couple – Book Shire
Thursday, September 21: Most Wayward Soul – E. E. Rawls
Friday, September 22: Most Silver Tongue – The Grim Writer
Saturday, September 21: Most Epic Heroine – Catherine Hawthorn
Monday, September 25: Most Majestic Ruler – DJ Edwardson
Tuesday, September 26: Most Faithful Friend – JL Mbewe
Wednesday, September 27: Most Mischievous Imp – Bard on pilgrimage
Thursday, September 28: Most Epic Hero – Imperial Scribis
Friday, September 29: Wisest Counselor – Light and Shadows
C. O. Bonham 
Sep 11, 2023 @ 16:17:24
I appreciate a journalist’s version of a Silmaril post. Very informative!
Sep 11, 2023 @ 12:24:44
I think you made the right choice with who continued on to the finalist round . . . but I am extremely biased. XD