The Ten Most Badass Men in Science Fiction and Fantasy

(Author’s note: This is a repost from January 9, 2023. When I moved over here, Substack only managed to get the last twenty-five posts or so. I thought I’d drag it back out, mainly because I re-watched one of my favorite SF/F moments of all time last night and felt inspired. I will post my list of women soon.

Enjoy this and remember Rule Number One at Jimbo’s Awesome SF/F Reviews: Flame the host if you must, but be excellent to each other.)

(Before you even go there; I already did my list of SF/F's Ten Most Badass Women. You can find it here.)

The Speculative Fiction genre encompasses all types of things, but one thing that really pushes a Science Fiction or Fantasy story along is a true bad ass. Seriously, fans of works like Battletech, Honor Harrington, or even to a certain extent Star Wars are well versed in political wheeling and dealing. It goes on all the time. But the thing that really pushes a story along is a dude (or chick, if you prefer. The link to that list is above.) that does what he has to do to get things done. The man who, alone or with allies, has the can-do attitude and achieves results. To a badass, nothing matters so much as getting the job done, whatever that job happens to be. What follows is a list of the Ten Most Badass Men in Science Fiction and Fantasy. 

I'm going to catch some heat for this one. I'm okay with that. I've gotten some grief over my list of Badass Women. It's all good. I know nerd-rage, having experienced it from both sides. My only word of advice is that it you're going to flame me, do it here in the comments section and not on Facebook. A couple of people got in trouble with some mods last time. If you say something here, you won't catch crap from me. Your call.

At any rate, here we go...

Number Ten: Tony Stark (Iron Man)

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

What could possibly be more badass than taking shrapnel to the chest, hooking yourself up to a car battery and killing the people who took you prisoner, only to walk away? How about building a suit around a new power source and using it to fight evil? How about having it all and knowingly giving up your life anyway? Or building a suit for your little buddy to take him safe, just because you can?

Yeah, Tony Stark is a true badass. Whether in Civil War, protecting the rights of persons with super powers or fighting the bad guys in Central Park, Tony Stark is among the baddest of the bad.

Number Nine: Gotrek Gurnisson (Gotrek and Felix)

"No slayer has anything to be proud of."

Gotrek Gurnisson is a Slayer: His job is to seek out and destroy the enemies of dwarves and kill them while, and yes you're reading this right, dying in the process. A Slayer has been disgraced, his name placed in some clan's Book of Grudges and the only way to atone for what he's done is to die in honorable combat. A Slayer will, in all cases, seek out the biggest, baddest, most evil opponent and kill it or, even better, die trying.

The problems for Gotrek is that he's a little too good at the slaying part and not so good at dying. He is the star of a series of books by the Black Library in which he kills all kinds of big bads and, at least to the point I've read to (I kind of lost the thread after my divorce) managing to somehow not end up dead. If you see Gotrek coming for you, run. He is a dwarf after all. They can't keep up. And, let's face it, you have to be alive for it to matter that he just called you a coward. 

His buddy Felix follows him around chronicling his adventures and that just adds to the fun. One often wonders why Gortrek allows it since he has no reason for pride, and his axe would surely put an end to this silly human following him, but he does. I'm usually more of a fan of dwarves with hammers than with axes, but for Gotrek I'll make an exception. He's way too good with the thing to argue with him.

Number Eight: Inigo Montoya (The Princess Bride)

"My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

One of the defining traits of any badass is persistence, right? Doing something easy doesn't make you a badass and the hard stuff you have to gut your way through. Of course, having a sword and being prepared to use it doesn't hurt and neither does having the guts to make your father's killer beg for his life before you stab him in his guts. 

And let's not forget loyalty. Who was it who took Westley to see Miracle Max? It would have been pretty easy to give up on a guy who was, admittedly, dead and move on after possibly shedding a single, manly tear. Montoya didn't. He didn't give up on his quest. He didn't give up on his friends. And, at the end of the day, he accomplished his mission. 

Above all though, he was a man of honor. Montoya did what he needed to do in a manner befitting his quest. Climbing ropes, fighting left handed until he realized that he had a worthy opponent and seeing the error of his ways and joining with his erstwhile (TWO POINTS FOR USING ERSTWHILE IN A SENTENCE! MY ENGLISH TEACHER WOULD BE SO PROUD!!!) enemy all mark Inigo Montoya as not just a man of action, but of thought and total badassery.

Number Seven: Jean Luc Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

"You may test that assumption at your convenience."

Jean Luc Picard stopped at nothing to do what was necessary. He would hem, he would haw and he would consider the ramifications of his actions, and then he'd do it anyway. This is a man who faced down Q on multiple occasions. Picard faced the Borg and became one of them before returning to his normal self. Most of what Picard did was unpredictable because he was, in many ways, the wise Old Man that everyone wishes he could serve under. Picard lost subordinates (not the least of which was Tasha Yar) but he never did so cavalierly or unnecessarily and he always made their deaths mean something.

And who gets a knife through his back and out his front, passing directly through his heart, and goes on to serve in deep space duty anyway? That Nausicaan must have assumed that Picard was dead, only he wasn't. 

Picard was also a man who understood obligation. When his friend passed in the service, Picard took his wife and son aboard The Enterprise to make sure that both of them prospered. He got his friends' kid into Starfleet Academy with real world experience. A true badass looks after his own.

And yes, although I know he belongs nowhere near a list like this, I am a Wesley Crusher fan. Wil Wheaton is four years older than me, so Wesley was like the cool big brother that gets to do all the stuff that you don't. Bring the hate if you need to, but understand that I've heard worse and didn't care about it then, either.

Number Six: Westley (The Princess Bride)

“To the pain means this: if we duel and you win, death for me. If we duel and I win, life for you. But life on my terms. The first thing you lose will be your feet. Below the ankle. You will have stumps available to use within six months. Then your hands, at the wrists. They heal somewhat quicker. Five months is a fair average. Next your nose. No smell of dawn for you. Followed by your tongue. Deeply cut away. Not even a stump left. And then your left eye—" 

 "And then my right eye, and then my ears, and shall we get on with it?" the Prince said. 

 "Wrong!" Westley’s voice rang across the room. "Your ears you keep, so that every shriek of every child shall be yours to cherish—every babe that weeps in fear at your approach, every woman that cries 'Dear God, what is that thing?' will reverberate forever with your perfect ears.” 

So, you leave home. Then you're threatened with death every day. Then the guy who was threatening you retires and leaves you his way of making money. Somewhere along the way you learn to swordfight like there's no tomorrow. Then of course, you take on a prince and all of his followers after having been mostly dead all day.

Yep, you're a badass. 

We'll leave out the Rodents of Unusual Size and taking down a giant in a fight, but drinking a poisoned goblet on purpose is something we have to bring up. Oh, and threatening an armed man when Westley was too weak to stand was unbelievably badass.

I spoke earlier of persistence and coming back from the dead is probably the best example of persistence in the history of literature. The only better example may be Orpheus, but even he faltered at the end. Westley never did. And he got to call someone a "warthog faced buffoon" which is something none of use will ever do.

That's the first half. Ready for the top half?

Number Five: Aragorn (Lord of the Rings)

"If, by my life or death, I can protect you, I will."

I said before that a true badass does what needs to be done to accomplish the goal, and it doesn't really matter what the goal is. I meant it. Aragorn is the heir to a throne. He could easily waltz in and demand what was rightfully his, disrupting the war effort and probably handing the war to Sauron. A lesser man would have done precisely that. He had reforged Narsil, the Sword that Was Broken and had all the proof he needed had he put his needs above those of the people he should have been serving as king.

Instead he followed a hobbit and a wizard, rescued a couple of more hobbits and rallied some ghosts to his side. 

And listen folks, I love the fact that Peter Jackson left Tom Bombadil and the Cleansing of the Shire out as they add nothing to the story but the fact that we had to wait for the Director's Cut to see Aragorn recruit and then release The Army of the Dead was complete horse poop.

Anyway...

Aragorn could kill orcs like they weren't even there. He managed to rescue Merrie and Pippen and fight at the Battle of Helm's Deep. And at the end of it all, he did the most badass thing ever: He knelt to someone far beneath his station in respect for his accomplishments, one badass to another.

Number Four: Frodo Baggins (Lord of the Rings)

"I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way."

Some badasses start out with all of the advantages: A gun, or a big ship with a big gun, training, resources to draw on and the knowledge they need to use all of it. Of course, having a huge organization at their back, think Starfleet, the Rebel Alliance, The Royal Manticoran Navy or even The Agency (let's see how many get that one) at your back helps and gives them advantages that they would never possess on their own. It doesn't mean that they're not badasses. Intelligence is a trait that is common among badasses and utilizing every advantage available is the intelligent thing to do.

The fact remains that when Frodo Baggins gets into that canoe and begins to paddle across the river, he is leaving what backup he has behind. Of course, Sam eventually joins him, but Frodo doesn't know that Sam will follow him and actively tries to avoid it because he knows he can't trust those who are closest to him with the One Ring and he sets off with what he can carry and, having nothing but some pluck and a sword he doesn't know how to use, he sets off for the heart of the enemy's kingdom hoping not to get detected. Of course, the Ring itself is the thing most likely to get him noticed...

And he does it. I already mentioned persistence. How does one persist when they are starving and surrounded. When their best helper is likely to choke them to death and rob them how do they keep going? How can you make it to the center of the enemy's power and destroy the thing that is most precious to him knowing what it will cost you to do so?

Frodo almost doesn't. He almost keeps the ring. It takes the loss of a finger for Frodo to rid himself, and Middle Earth, of the ring. But he does it. Then he makes it out. Frodo has the courage of ten men packed into a body smaller than the average seventh grader and he's too badass to let it stop him.

Number Three: Tyrion Lannister (A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones)

"Every time we deal with an enemy, we make two more."

Tyrion did what was necessary. He didn't always do what was popular. He sought power for himself, but then he used it to do what was right, or at least right-ish. I mean, assassinating a king is a big deal, but Joffrey kinda had it coming, right? There may have been worse tyrants, but that just means that he wasn't the only one who deserved it.

Tyrion spent the entire series trying to find someone who deserved his loyalty. His father didn't. His brother didn't. Cersei damn sure didn't. He thought Daenerys did, but she went off her rocker with like an hour left in a multi season show.

And seriously, whoever wrote that ending to the series is the worst thing that ever happened to script writing. A three year old could have written a better script in crayon.

But I digress...

Tyrion took his tiny little behind out to fight at the Battle of King's Landing and let's not forget that while he was a dwarf in a fantasy story, he wasn't a true fantasy dwarf: He didn't have the mass, the strength or the constitution. Come to think of it, he didn't have the super-long beard either, but maybe that is a little less important. Here's the thing though: He led his side to victory.

Tyrion gave good counsel to whoever asked for it. He survived a duel to the death and, even if it took a champion to win the fight for him, surviving is all that matters. 

Tyrion was a weird dude because his morals were probably closer to those of Tony Soprano or Vito Corleone than Superman but he stuck to them as well as he could. And maybe that's what makes Tyrion the badass that he truly is: He has money and to spare but, like Frodo, he doesn't have the size or physical gifts that many others do and he gets things done anyway. The ability to get 'er done despite the odds is the badass's defining trait.

Oh, and bonus points because he looks like Sir Hung the Magnificent, the biggest badass in The Knights of Badassdom.

Number Two: Severus Snape (Harry Potter)

"Has it ever occurred to your brilliant mind that I don't want to do this anymore?"

I can hear the whining already: "Snape bullied twelve year-olds." Yeah, maybe he did. The thing about bullies is that they were almost always bullied themselves, and that Snape survived James Potter bullying him. That doesn't excuse it, but it does explain it. And, when you get down to brass tacks, just about every real world hero has some character flaw or some act in his past that they don't want to acknowledge because it makes them look bad. Human beings are that way.

What Snape did right is to try to save the woman he loved using the only method available to him. What Snape did right was protecting her child from real, physical harm from the Dark Lord that he purportedly served. Read that again. Snape protected the child of the woman he loved and ANOTHER MAN. What Snape did right was protecting the students of Hogwarts as best he could because he knew if he didn't follow orders, one of the Carrows would take over and it would be even worse.

Yeah, Snape killed Dumbledore, but he did it at Dumbledore's request. Snape had taken the Unbreakable Vow assuming that he wouldn't do it and would die. Snape was the man who saved Draco's life after Harry almost killed him. Snape was the guy who fought through the pain of dying after being attacked by a snake to show Harry what he had to do. Snape was the guy who fought off the world's greatest mind-reading Legilimens and got that mind reader to trust him anyway.

I may be a bit biased here, since Snape is my favorite character of all time, second only to Raistlin Majere of Dragonlance fame, but he is an amazingly badass dude.

It's time for the single greatest Baddest Man in Science Fiction and Fantasy history. Are you read to see who it is? Too bad. It's...

Benjamin Sisko (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

So... I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all... I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would. Garak was right about one thing, a guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant. So I will learn to live with it. Because I can live with it. I can live with it..."

Benjamin Sisko was a Starfleet commander turned Captain. Benjamin Sisko was a Commanding Officer who did his best to complete his mission while doing his best to take care of his people. Benjamin Sisko was a loving father and a dutiful son and a widowed husband who remembered what he had lost till his dying day. Benjamin Sisko was a political figure and a religious icon. Benjamin Sisko was the man who defied the Prophets and got remarried anyway.  But, above all, Benjamin Sisko was the guy you weren't quite comfortable having on your side but that you did not want to see on the other side under any circumstances whatsoever.

The writers of "Emissary", the first episode of ST:DS9 took a big chance when they had their new main character get in Jean-Luc Picard's face. Picard was, by that time, an immensely popular character and here's this newbie (to the audience anyway) pushing back against Picard HARD. I get that Sisko was upset. He and Picard had fought on opposite sides at the Battle of Wolf 359 and Sisko's wife was killed. It made sense, but...

HE WAS CAPTAIN PICARD!!!!

It worked though and Sisko was established as the take-no-crap type right off the bat. And then a couple of episodes later he rocked Q's world in a boxing ring. 

Right off the bat, anyone who was paying attention knew that Sisko was not a man to be trifled with. Sure, he had lost his ship at Wolf 359 to a technologically superior enemy that wiped out nearly the entire fleet. That wasn't his fault. But when you went to war against Sisko, he went to war against you.

Sisko has been my favorite Starfleet captain for a couple of decades now because he did what was needed unflinchingly. I was awfully young when the series first started and patience was not something I was known for. When he punched Q, he became my favorite because Q was annoying on his best day. But it was later on that we learned what he was capable of.

Sisko's decisions to deceive the Romulans into joining the alliance against the Dominion, later leading to the deaths of an entire ship's complement of Romulans and the ambassador they were carrying and to poison an entire planet to drive the humans who lived on it illegally were morally ambiguous at best, but they were effective. His dressing down of Worf for acting to save Jadzia's life at the cost of their mission was almost as cruel as it was necessary. 

At the end of the day though, Sisko was not to be denied. He always won, whatever it took. He took the rap when he needed to, but he won the war and brought most of his people through it. For that alone, he is a badass. When you add everything he did up he, alone, is the Most Badass Man in Science Fiction history.