It is usually the case in fiction that heroes kill fewer people than the villains. They are heroes because they act morally in what they do, and a part of that is shying away from lethal options, especially towards innocents, or the defenseless.

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That isn't always the case. Sometimes, whether in their backstory or in the show itself, heroic characters end up with huge kill tallies that dwarf that of their villains, numbering in the hundreds, thousands, or even higher. This could be solely their enemies, they may have a dark past that included lots of killing, or they may have been forced into a situation where they had no other practical choice. For whatever reason, some television heroes have killed a lot of people.

10 Spike Has A Long History Of Bloodshed (Buffy the vampire slayer)

Spike stands dramatically before the sunlight in Buffy

Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer is initially introduced as a villainous character, a vampire who is noted for an extraordinarily high and cruel kill count despite his relatively young age. As he evolves into a more antiheroic figure, the audience is shown more of his past.

Over his years as a vampire, Spike was directly responsible for the deaths of thousands. While he is younger than Angel, a similarly heroic vampire, Angel preferred specific hunts, tormenting individual victims before killing them. Spike was more prone to seeking out fights and killing sprees, and thus killed far more.

9 The Man In Black Spent Decades Visiting A Murder-Park (Westworld)

The man in black leaning against a horse Westworld

The Man in Black—as well as his younger self, William—is one of the principal Westworld protagonists, as he comes to experience the park, and then spends much of his life trying to uncover its secrets and learn what the Hosts are really like. He is one of the biggest plagues upon the hosts, appearing every few weeks to spend his time tormenting them.

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Every time William comes to Westworld, he kills dozens of hosts, either because they are interfering in his personal quest, or simply because he enjoys it. As he has spent decades returning, in that time he has likely killed thousands. Even if they are put back together again, he remembers each kill.

8 Spartacus Kills For A Living (Spartacus)

Spartacus preparing to go into the ring in Spartacus

Spartacus' main character has a life mirroring his historical counterpart. He is best known as a rebel gladiator, who spent years in the arena fighting others. Not all gladiator matches ended in fatalities, but with the years Spartacus spent fighting them, he ends up killing lots of his opponents, contributing to the show's blood-soaked reputation.

Even outside of the arena, Spartacus is best known for fomenting an ultimately unsuccessful gladiator rebellion. Although his cause is arguably moral, the fact remains that thousands more die as a result of the unsuccessful campaign led personally by him.

7 Walter White Has Dozens Killed, & Contributes To More (Breaking Bad)

Bryan Cranston as Walter White on Breaking Bad

Over five seasons of Breaking Bad, Walter White has a direct hand in relatively few deaths. While he does strangle, run over, and shoot some foes, his personal kill count isn't all that high. Adding more to his total is the deaths he has arranged, most notably bombing a nursing home and having a dozen prisoners murdered within two minutes.

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The real blood on Walter's hands, however, comes from his drugs trade. Throughout the show, the negative effects of methamphetamine and the drugs trade on people are seen, and by supplying it to thousands of people within the United States, there is no denying that Walter is responsible for more deaths than those he personally oversees.

6 Anakin Skywalker Becomes One Of The Most Lethal Villains Of All Time (Star Wars: The Clones Wars)

Anakin Skywalker pointing his lightsaber threateningly Star Wars

Even as a hero, Anakin Skywalker's hands are far from clean in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Amongst his justified kills, of which there are many, there are also his anger and pain-driven kills that torment his soul. But, despite his heroic nature in the TV series, the audience knows that the character's hands are due for far more blood in the future.

Darth Vader is one of the most dangerous villains in fiction, directly responsible for or involved in the deaths of tens of thousands at the very least. The simple knowledge of how many deaths he will be responsible for is enough to leave Anakin a broken wreck in "Ghosts of Mortis."

5 Samantha Carter Annihilates An Entire Fleet (Stargate SG-1)

Samantha Carter prepares to blow up a sun in Stargate

Of all the unconventional tactics used in television, Samantha Carter, in Stargate SG-1, breaks out an unseen one in the Season 1 episode "Exodus." When Apophis' fleet prepares to attack Vorash, Carter responds by crashing a Stargate into its sun, causing it to prematurely supernova. The result is a large fleet wiped out in an instant, at Carter's behest.

Despite the extreme loss of life, Carter experiences no guilt for her actions, unlike many others. Instead, this is repeatedly highlighted as one of her creative and lethal tactics.

4 Oh Il-Nam Sets Up Death Games For Years (Squid Game)

Squid Game Oh Ilnam

Oh Il-Nam, better known as 001, initially appears as one of Squid Game's protagonists, a sympathetic character who ultimately wants the best for both himself and Gi-hun. In the show's final episode, it is revealed that this was all a ruse, and he is actually not only one of the rich who bet on the lethal games' outcome, but the person who invented them in the first place.

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For Il-nam, competing was simply an act of nostalgia, knowing his own life was not at risk. The games have been running for decades, and with hundreds dying in just one round, it is likely that Il-nam's boredom has seen countless lives ended as a momentary diversion.

3 Daenerys Targaryen Personally Carries Out A Massacre (Game of Thrones)

Daenerys Targaryen standing in the ruins of King's Landing Game of Thrones

For nearly all of Game of Thrones, Daenerys Targaryen is one of the show's principal protagonists, a well-meaning world mover who wishes to regain her ancestral throne and end the injustice faced by many across the world. It is these desires that motivate her crusade to Westeros, and her look to King's Landing after the White Walkers are defeated.

Rejected by Jon Snow, despised by most of the lords of Westeros, and having lost her best friend, Daenerys snaps whilst flying above a surrounding King's Landing, and directs her dragon, Drogon, to begin massacring noncombatants. The exact death toll is unknown, but she burns large swathes of a city known to house nearly a million people.

2 Vanya Hargreeves Causes The Apocalypse (The Umbrella Academy)

Vanya Hargreeves using her repressed powers in Umbrella Academy

Initially one of the most sympathetic and pitiable of the Hargreeves children in The Umbrella Academy, Vanya is a seemingly powerless outcast from the rest of the family who simply wants to do what's right. Over the course of the show's first season, however, she rediscovers her immense powers, and the traumatic memories of her childhood that resurface lead her to cause the end of the world, sending the moon crashing to Earth.

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Despite the Hargreeveses traveling backward in time, there is no questioning that Vanya's actions have led to the world's destruction in their timeline, killing everybody on it.

1 The Doctor Is Only Slightly Less Lethal Than Thought (Doctor Who)

The Ninth Doctor looking down in Doctor Who

Despite being more or less a pacifist, the anger of the Doctor from Doctor Who is known and feared throughout the galaxy, owing to their ability to put an end to any threat that makes them angry enough. Even with a famed distaste for guns, they have seen the end of invaders, fleets, planets, and even entire species.

Doctor Who's revival opens with them believing themselves to be responsible for the genocide of the two most powerful species in the galaxy in a single second. Later revelations would halve this--they hadn't destroyed the Time Lords, but their actions would lead to the Dalek race nearly wiping itself out, and not for the first time.

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