Ranking the MOST and LEAST Evil Culprits in the Nancy Drew PC Games!! 

For me, most evil culprit has to go to.... spoilers.... It's gotta be Rentaro! He didn't do much that was illegal, unless he can go down for fraud and Nancy's assault and near drowning via his robot. But his PLAN? Diabolical. Hinged on siphoning the joy right out of the home that welcomed him in as a child! He nearly destroyed his girlfriends life and livelihood because he was BORED and he gets off way too easy. You knew it was going to be rough no matter who was behind the hauntings, but I remember going totally cold during his first reveal and I began to understand the weight of everything he had done.

The most evil non-culprits are obviously the entire remaining cast in Scarlet Hand, who all knew Nancy was locked in a tomb, but decided to write a poem together instead of figuring out how to save her. 🤣🤣🤣 In all seriousness though, I'd *love* a video on the most evil non-culprits. Sounds awesome!

SPOILERS FOR SECRET OF THE SCARLET HAND I feel embarrassed commenting on an old video but I was rewatching this and had some thoughts! I actually think Taylor Sinclair is one of the MOST evil culprits! This dude almost gleefully stole artifacts from Mexico, and when Nancy confronted him about it, his response was "Mexico should get a sense of humor." At least Joanna thinks the artifacts were acquired legally, but Taylor KNOWS they were stolen. That already seems pretty unforgivable to me! But it gets worse: there's a piece of paper Nancy can find in Joanna's office stating that one of the stolen pieces was previously owned by an elderly couple that passed away when their AC malfunctioned. I think this is hinting that Taylor deliberately tampered with their AC knowing it would kill them. Plus he locked Nancy in the monolith so he definitely tried to kill her! If that had worked, he would have killed at least 3 people! The dude is basically a serial killer at this point! Plus I don't like his mustache.

I find Clara a much more sympathetic culprit. Her crime was by accident, she has clearly been traumatised by what she did and it has affected her the rest of her life so she couldn't have a lasting relationship - not with a man or her daughter, she has become cold and unemotional through trauma and has a complete breakdown at the end of the game. She even says she deserves to die. I feel very sorry for her and think she is so well written and deep, one of the most realistic characters in any ND. She also never tries to kill Nancy in the game - possibly one of the very few culprits who don't? I always take that into account when deciding who is most evil - like in gameover sequences who attacks Nancy (DDI) or who shuts her in somewhere to die (DOG, CRY) etc.

Fiona isn't even a real culprit, in my opinion. Poor woman, I felt so bad for her. As usual, this was a well structured and thought provoking analysis! Keep em coming, girl! I need to feed my obsession with these games somehow.

Most evil non-culprit in the series: Toni Scallari. Ugh I hate her so so much

I know it's not very 'rated E for everyone' friendly, but I would love an ND game with a serial killer or something as the culprit. Or even just more murder cases.

I think we give Corine too much of a pass. Yes she was a bit of an outcast and picked on a bit, but so was Mel! Mel never did anything like Corine (which saw Megan almost murdered and put in hospital), she did more than blackmail Rachel and Kim, she also tried to kill Nancy! Not cool. Rachel/Kim was also bullied and had even less friends than Corine and again, they never did what Corine did and they had more to loose than she did.

I find it interesting that the two most sympathetic culprits happened to be the youngest and the oldest culprits. Two isolated souls with childlike minds in need of compassion. I think these two would’ve gotten along. Fiona would love to play games with Jane, and Jane would love the dolls that Fiona makes. ^-^

Anja has always been my favorite culprit and that’s probably because I had just gone through a breakup when I first played captive curse 😂 what a baddie though. and honestly, knowing Markus, he probably deserved it

SPOILERS FOR CURSE OF BLACKMOOR MANOR My favorite culprits in ANY mystery story are the ones with the tragic backstories (no matter how malicious their intent). I legit cried when I was watching a Let’s Play of Curse of Blackmoor Manor (I only played a tiny bit of the game when I was younger and it was too scary for me) and Jane was revealed to be the culprit. Like you said she was just a child and didn’t really have the mental capacity to deal with her big feelings. She also didn’t have any sort of a social life outside of her tutor. I think getting her involved in Spiral Scouts (I don’t know if they have groups in the UK), or some other witchy/spiritual group for young people, she could’ve met with other kids with similar interests and learned about a spiritual practice she likely would have connected with (and received guidance on what’s okay and what isn’t when it comes to that kind of thing) She (along with her whole family) needed to go see a psychologist to discuss what they were going through. I also headcanon here as being Autistic (which is no excuse for what she did). She has a special interest in the occult, doesn’t seem to have the best social skills, and definitely struggles with communicating if something’s bothering her.

6:22 - Wow, what a vibe, what an aesthetic, what an icon.

I know I’m commenting a lot but I just had another thought: does anyone else feel like there is nothing more scary than a culprit who is kind of losing their marbles so there’s no hope of reasoning with them? Fiona and Joseph are absolutely chilling to me!

I sympathize a lot with Jane, Corine and Soren. I was bullied and cyberbullied by the gay community as a teen (so of high school age just like Corine) mainly because I wasn't like others my age in the community (so outcasted just like her and Soren) - receiving that amount of emotional trauma over and over again will do a number on you mentally. And with Jane , I was isolated for 2 years after I left my hometown - partially because of covid but partially because of intolerant family members and moving a couple times as a result. And still to this day while I have made a couple friends down here, I rarely see them and I'm far away from my close friends and family and I'm surrounded by pretty shady people. so the only decent people I've met have been through work, which is a double edged sword. Jane, Corine and Soren all needed therapy or at least friends they could actually turn to for support. It doesn't excuse their actions in their respective games, but I feel like when you go through a bunch of trauma, even the best of people reach their breaking point and lash out if not given the help, love and support they need. And I feel like Jane, Corine and Soren would flourish in environments that allowed them to be the best versions of themselves because you can tell from each of their respective games how intelligent they are. Anyways, great video as always.

Yay! I was so excited for this topic and you totally nailed it. You even changed my mind on how sympathetic certain villains were, and how evil others were. Highlights of your video for me: • Your deep dive on Blackmoor's villain (who I didn't view with *loads* of sympathy) but now see through an entirely new lens • Your deep dive on Trail of the Twister's villain and how they are almost sympathetic, except they take no accountability for why the world "treats them" as it does • Your deep dive on Tomb's villain. I hadn't viewed them as all that evil (and I'll sort of blame the very anti-climactic ending). But you had such an excellent point about how they manipulated another desperate character, proving they are downright cruel! Awesome job!

I love this video, thank you so much for making it!! It's cool how you sorted them too. What you mentioned at the end about stories not necessarily being stronger just because of the villains is really interesting. The classic era games are more likely to have sort of moustache-twirling "bad guy" culprits and many modern era games have well written villains but the classic era games sometimes win out just for how well they're made overall. I definitely agree with the top villains!

Yes! Love it. Maybe a video on the different nancy drew anesthetics/themes from the games? Thanks again Caitlyn ❤️

As usual, a wonderful, well-thought out video! I love the fresh ideas you and fellow detectives keep coming up with. In that spirit, here’s one of my own: I agree Clara intended to hurt Charlotte, but I think she may have been motivated by desperation more than/in addition to greed. On the Thornton family tree, we see Jessalyn was born the same year Charlotte died (there are inconsistencies with this tree and other details in the game, but for the sake of argument, I’ll assume it’s accurate). We also never hear mention of Jessalyn’s dad by any of the characters, even though she’s gone missing and is about to be married. So maybe he left Clara when she was pregnant. At this point, all the supporting adult relationships Clara had (her mom, Marianne and Dodge, and her grandpa) are gone. Perhaps, on top of her own mental health struggles, she felt abandoned, which was brought cruelly home by being cut out of the will. This is all speculation, of course, and she still is 100% responsible for hurting many people. But I think given the exploration of mental health in the rest of the game, there’s room for that interpretation.

I would've changed where I ranked a few of the culprits but even so, you definitely gave a very in-depth analysis of the culprits and their motives that was a lot of fun to listen to! :) Personally while I do see what you mean about Jane being sympathetic, I do think she might (at least somewhat) lean into the group of culprits who're "sympathetic but still very much in the wrong." She definitely was feeling lonely and upset about her sad circumstances, but she was still very much willing to hurt Linda and (from what I could tell) didn't care much about what would happen to her after playing quite the psychologically abusive and malicious prank on her. And if I recall correctly, Linda wasn't even rude toward Jane until after her "curse" started, after which she started snapping at literally everybody (I do remember Linda's mother told Nancy she would never get angry before). Though I admit I do wonder if those around her could've been a bit more clued into how she was really feeling - maybe they were too wrapped up in themselves to see it? Still, she definitely seemed to like Linda in the beginning and even called her "mummy" - so maybe she was just good at hiding her feelings and things could've been avoided if she was honest from the start? Well I guess there's no way to know for sure without seeing what led up to Hugh's second marriage. I definitely agree with Fiona though - quite frankly I don't think she should really even be considered a "culprit" in the traditional sense. She really does nothing malicious at all. She's simply lonely, confused, and isolated. I would also switch out Detective Beech and Mitch into the "evil" category (or at least Mitch) - after all, Mitch was willing to resort to murder in order to protect his reputation when he was already committing crimes. But quite honestly he seemed more so that way in the original version (especially during the final showdown when he targets Darryl too), so I'm not sure if you were taking that into account. Also while we don't know much about the dynamic between Detective Beech and Mitch while they were working together, I always got the impression that they both viewed one another as "disposable" - though perhaps that's just how I saw it. I also agree on Joseph being an interesting case - quite honestly, I always thought that he really wasn't even much of a criminal as much as he had simply gone crazy from losing all that he'd ever known. I honestly wonder if he may have gone to a mental health facility instead of prison after his trial, as he seemed like he'd simply lost his sanity by the ending.

I don’t sympathize with many of the culprits. I’m of the mind that it doesn’t matter what people do to you; wrong is wrong and lashing out violently isn’t the solution unless your life is personally being threatened and you are defending yourself. Yes, manipulation is evil, but it’s hard for me to put Rentaro in the same category as Taylor Sinclair, who puts Nancy in a literal tomb to rot. I do feel sorry for Jane and Fiona. And to some extent Joseph.

I also sympathize a bit with Rentaro because I have the impression that he might have had a disorder or been on the autism spectrum and really didn’t understand the depth of the evil things he was doing to try to get what he wanted, for Miwako to move to the city with him. That’s just my opinion, though.

Great vid! Love to see analysis videos, they’re very comforting!

Honestly any culprit who goes as far as trying to kill Nancy would be considered evil in my book. Plain bad would be culprits such as Helena, Minette, Jane W., etc. Their actions are “bad,” but they don’t go as far as murdering someone or attempting to. Characters like Fiona and Jane P. are mostly misunderstood and not necessarily bad people but flawed ones. Culprits such as Dwane, Victor, and Ewan could be considered more malicious than evil, at least based on their actions in the games. They went to more extremes when it came to attempted murder (aka trying to kill more people and not just Nancy). This was a wonderful video and I loved hearing your thoughts on the culprits! Thanks for posting and sharing!

I would disagree with Emily’s classification. She poisoned the well with arsenic, which to me, indicates she was trying to kill Nancy’s friend (can’t remember her name lol).

Victor is def most evil to me, I know a lot of people suspect him early on, but I remember being so shocked my first play that someone who’s supposed to be our boss would lure us into this mess!

You should do a Sims build of Mystique Manor for your patrons 😉🏰 You could make it very ND inspired and/or poll them for things they would want in their communal home.

That pic of Elliot is terrifying 😳

As always, love the research and love of the games that is evident from your videos

I’m going to make a quick guess and then come back after watching and see if I was right. Least evil is Fiona, or maybe Jane Penvellyn, and most evil is Detective Beech. Edit: Oh it was a categorizing not analysis. I agree with most of your analysis! Great video.

To be honest, I do want to give ONE defence here for the evil catagory. Of course, sympathy varies depending on the reader, but... hear me out. Rentaro. Yes, Rentaro. There's one vital piece of subtext in regards to him that completely changes his actions. Rentaro is a social outcast, basically every other character calls him weird as hell, he seems socially unaware, he is highly intelligent with a clear special interest - I would argue that the game heavily codes Rentaro as being autistic. I don't condone his actions by any means, but what this reads to me as is, he does not fully grasp the depths of what he's doing. He struggles to see things from the perspectives of other people, and doesn't understand just how badly this would traumatize Miwako and her family - And I don't think he fully realizes how much of an insult this is to Kasumi's memory. His happiness is in the city, and he believes Miwako's happiness must lie there too. This is the sad means to a deluded end. Part of the reason I encourage this reading is, Waters Edge is a tragedy, start to finish. This reading of his motivations, this almost Joseph Hughes style emotion behind his actions, brings the tragedy full circle. In his own twisted mind, Rentaro was truly trying to help Miwako be happy.

I was waiting for this video and as usual you hit the ball out of the park! I agree with all the groupings! What villain do you think deserves all the sympathy?

Most evil imo Dwayne Thanos Helena Corine Victor

i agree with your assesment on corine but her blackmailing the twins was more evil to me she could have wrote the notes herself she didn't have to go through all that trouble

I sympathize a lot with Anja. Imagine how many women are in her situation that she was in with Marcus, who is quite awful. However she went pretty far kidnapping her own nephew so I get it.

Jane is a spoiled brat and could have killed her stepmother by drugging her. Child or no, she isn't someone I sympathize with. I'd put her in sympathy, but bad. Joseph, on the other hand, just makes me want to cry. I was going to disagree about Rentaro, but once your phrased it like that, I was on board. Miwako wasn't going to get to be the owner, so why she was trying so hard when he was trying to get her to have a life, it seemed like this was the only way to get her to. Screwed up, but then if my partner tried to haunt me with the ghost of my father...well, I'd be on your culprit list as the third murder case of the series 😅 Kinda makes me regret the ending I picked now

While Jane needs more attention she contributed the most for the mental health state of her stepmother

Am I the only one who has trouble seeing Clara as evil? She was very much wrong, but calling her "evil" seems a bit of a stretch. I mean, what she did to Harper was evil, but what she did to Charlotte seemed more desperate than not.

Jane from secret of the old clock is evil

I sympathize with Rentaro, he was such a great guy the whole time and I feel like in the end they tried to make him look so evil but I never felt like that was really him. He just wanted Miwako to come to the city with him, and I felt like him scaring people isn't that bad of a crime. Surprised to see him up there with Anya who was deliberately trying to destroy her exes reputation and didn't care if that meant people dying in an "accident". This is just my opinion though

Evil non culprit… Spoilers? Toni from Alibi for sheer glee at someone else’s scheme going down and doing nothing to aid innocent parties.