Lorne Malvo

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## Entertainingly Detestable

### Alias

Duluth
Frank Peterson
Mick Michaelson

### Powers / Skills

Assassination skills
Tactical mind
Fighting skills
Infiltration
Marksmanship
Mastery of disguise
Medical knowledge

### Most Entertaining Features

He is a charismatic trickster with an intriguing character and philosophy, with lots of Evil is Cool moments to boot, plus Billy Bob Thornton's masterful performance

### Most Detestable Traits

Is a vile psychopath and sadist who enjoys destroying people's lives and engages in multiple Kick the Dog moments and acts of For the Evulz villainy

### Type of ED

Chaotic Evil

**Lorne Malvo** is the main antagonist of Season 1 of the FX hit TV series Fargo, set in the same universe as the film of the same name. Malvo is a mysterious and manipulative hitman who takes sadistic glee in messing with his victims before killing them and corrupting ordinary people into killers with his philosophical views on the evil of human nature. He sets the events of the Season in motion by influencing Lester Nygaard with his criminal lifestyle.

He was portrayed by Billy Bob Thornton.

## What Makes Him Entertaining?

* Billy Bob Thornton's terrific performance. He was brilliant in the role and found critical acclaim for playing such a twisted and grandiose villain as opposed to his normal roles. He also set the bar for villains as the main attraction of the Fargo universe in later seasons.
* He is considered to be one of the greatest TV villains of the last few decades and perhaps in general due to his excellent writing coupled with a great performance and an impactful presence with only one season. He is listed among the likes of Gus Fring, Lalo Salamanca and Negan as far as antagonists go.
* He has a dark sense of humor which can be equal parts disturbing and funny at times. Examples include convincing a boy to pee in a gas tank to spite his boss only to rat him out during the act, taking a dump in front of a man who tried to intimidate him to assert dominance and offering an arms dealer to stay in touch via walkie-talkies so he could hear him shitting on other people.
* As messed up as he is with his body count, it's hard to feel bad for some of his victims such as Sam Hess who was a trash human being and a massive jerk to Lester, or Moses Tripoli and the Fargo Crime Syndicate who were all ruthless killers just like him.
* He is incredibly quotable, having some of the best dialogues in the entire series ranging from his philosophical speeches about human nature and the animal kingdom or even his quirky catchphrase "Aces!" when under the guise of dentist Mick Michaels.
* He has a lot of Evil is Cool and badass moments going for him, with his crowning moment of awesome being his takedown of the entire Fargo Crime Syndicate in a single run.
* His genius tactics and assassination skills make him arguably one of the smartest characters in the series and one of the most lethal too, being able to survive life-threatening situations and injuries with nothing but improvisation and his vast knowledge. Even after having his leg nearly destroyed by a bear trap he treats his injury by resetting the bone, withstanding unbearable pain through his force of will.
* He is a charismatic manipulator who would break people into embracing their darkest impulses on a daily basis, making someone as timid as Lester into a killer.
* His profound mindset and views on the predator aspect of humans make his character too rich and nuanced to be purely hated. He posits that in modern society the people who can't stand up to the tide are bound to be washed away and that there is still an animal side to everyone, waiting to fight back and take what they want.
* Though not redeeming by any means he still has something vaguely akin to a Pet the Dog moment with Mr. Wrench, whom he releases after being arrested and hospitalized out of a twisted sense of admiration for his skills and potential for creating more chaos as dictated by his Modus Operandi of making people into monsters like him.

## What Makes Him Detestable?

* He is the physical manifestation of "For the Evulz" as a villain, having a predatory nature and sadistic tendencies at all times. This goes beyond his contract kills or any pragmatic reasons as he makes it clear he loves hurting people and spawning evil human beings like himself.
* He has numerous Kick the Dog moments throughout the series, including a textbook example of one when he kills Stavros Milos' pet dog to mess with him.
* In one of his worst acts he destroyed the life of Stavros Milos, a supermarket owner under blackmail who hired him to find his blackmailer, by using his religious beliefs against him and convincing him that God himself chose to punish him for his greed by putting him through ordeals that resembled the plagues of Egypt. This ruined Milos' life beyond any repair and culminated in the tragic death of his son in a car accident (although Malvo didn't plan for that).
* He coerced Milos' real blackmailer Don Chumph into being his accomplice and when he outlived his resourcefulness he knocked him out, taped him to an excersise machine with a gun fixed to his hands and fired several gunshots into the streets so that the cops nearby would brutally shoot Don to death while he fled the scene.
* He has a briefcase filled with tapes recording the suffering and confessions of his victims (including Lester), which he listens to very often like they were music to his ears.
* After going undercover for months as the dentist Mick Mike for a contract and befriending three people from his inner circle (one of them becoming his fiánce) in order to get info on his target, Malvo throws it all away after being provoked by a resentful Lester in an elevator when he snaps and murders everyone but Lester in cold blood. He even mocks one of their expressions by saying it was classic.
* He is responsible for some of the most devastating deaths in the season by first killing police chief Vern Thurman, a married man who was days away from becoming a father, Linda Park, Lester's second wife who was kind and loving towards him (though Malvo mistook her for Lester because of her coat) and FBI agents Pepper and Badge who were rookies trying to climb up the ladder and became crucial to solving Malvo's case.
* When passing by Lester's old house and meeting its new residents, Malvo takes a moment to torment the children by telling the story of how Lester's first wife died bludgeoned by a hammer, smiling all the while.

## External links

* Lorne Malvo on the Villains Wiki.
* Lorne Malvo on the Pure Evil Wiki.