“ | There's a hole in the world like a big black pit, and it's filled with people who are filled with shit, and the vermin of the world inhabit it. | „ |
~ Sweeney Todd's cynical outlook on life and human nature. |
Sweeney Todd, formerly known as Benjamin Barker, is the titular protagonist villain of the 1979 musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and the 2007 live-action film of the same name. He is a vengeful, mentally unstable barber who seeks revenge on the corrupt Judge Turpin for ruining his life and destroying his family.
He was portrayed in the film by Johnny Depp, who also played Gellert Grindelwald in the first two Fantastic Beasts films.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
- He starts a serial killing spree, killing various customers who enter his barber shop with his knife out of belief that they deserve the fates he is giving them, with the only ones actually deserving it being Judge Turpin, Beadle Bamford, and Adolfo Pirelli.
- After killing them, he would send their dead bodies to his accomplice, Mrs. Lovett, who would turn them into meat pies as she suggested and sell them, with Todd being fully aware of this and thereby assisting in enforced cannibalism.
- When Toby seemed to catch wind of what they were doing this whole time, Todd, while searching for him with Mrs. Lovett, keeps a knife behind his back, indicating that he intends to murder the boy believing that he has seen too much. While he did allow Mrs. Lovett to keep him earlier on, he would subvert that trait with this act.
- When he catches a young girl (who was his daughter, though he didn't know) in his shop in a chest after witnessing him killing Turpin, Todd prepares to kill her, only stopping when he hears Mrs. Lovett screaming.
- Upon finding out that Mrs. Lovett has lied to him this whole time, Todd kills her out of spite by throwing her into a fireplace, having her die a quite painful death (though she arguably deserved it due to her egging him on with his actions and lying to him).
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He is far too tragic and sympathetic to be even nearly close to NPE, let alone PE, as he was taken away from his family to prison, where he would work prison labour for years, due to being incriminated by the corrupt Judge Turpin, who would go on to rape his wife at a public party and take his daughter in as his ward. He would then be mislead by Mrs. Lovett into believing that she had died, causing him to get a nihilistic outlook on life where he believes that the world is filled with "vermin" and would motivate his actions throughout the musicals and movie. This is constantly brought up and emphasized throughout the movie, contributing to making him too sympathetic.
- He seemed to have somewhat of a friendship with Anthony as he was seen interacting with him several times, particularly in the beginning where he was sailing with him to London, warning him that while life has been kind to him at the moment, he will soon learn about the cruelties of it.
- He clearly loved and cared for his wife, Lucy, and his daughter, Johanna, as he goaded Anthony with his plans to rescue the latter from Turpin and one of his main goals in the musicals and movie was to avenge the former’s death and he was heavily devastated and remorseful upon finding out he accidentally killed her.
- He seemed to have a bit of a code of honor as he spares customers with families, likely due to not wanting them to have the same experience he had where he was taken away from his family.
- His death was always played with heavy sympathy as he spends his last moments lamenting over Lucy's death and remembering the good times he shared with her before Toby comes up from behind and kills him by slitting his throat. It was even heavily implied that he knew what Toby was going to do, but allowed him to do it anyway due to being unable to live with himself after what he had done.
Trivia[]
- He and Mrs. Lovett are the only Dreamworks Inconsistently Heinous villains to be from one of their live-actions films.
- Only the movie version of Sweeney Todd is Inconsistently Heinous, as the original version is Pure Evil due to being an outright greedy and remorseless serial killer who lacks the tragic backstory sympathetic traits, and redeeming qualities this Sweeney Todd has.
[]
![]() | ||
Animated Features Live-Action Features Animated Television Fanon See Also |
![]() | ||
Animated Features Live-Action Features Fanon See Also |