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The Grand Theft Auto series has no shortage of evil GTA protagonists. After all, this is a series all about committing crimes of various degrees. That naturally means some of these characters have committed truly heinous actions. They would definitely not be the sort of folk people would want to meet in real life. This article will not consider free-roam acts as canon since it's up to the player whether the protagonist would do it.
For the sake of consistency, only canon storyline events and personality traits will be referenced here.
Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective.
Trevor Philips, Claude, and more emerge as the most evil GTA protagonists in Grand Theft Auto franchise
5) Claude
Grand Theft Auto III's Claude lives for himself. He's betrayed several gangs like the Leones and Yakuza just for his own sake. For a silent protagonist, he's surprisingly cruel and will do anything for the right price. Sadly, his mute personality makes judging his full motive difficult.
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As an honorable mention, other GTA 1 and 2 protagonists should be acknowledged since they're also silent protagonists who follow whatever they're told. Claude is the most notable of the bunch, especially since he has a little more characterization compared to his older contemporaries.
4) GTA Online Protagonist
Once again, it can be hard to gauge how malevolent a silent protagonist is, especially one that is essentially an avatar of the player. Still, this character can do the following
- Run various illegal drug operations
- Perform various heists
Some acts of this character are surprisingly heroic. For example, they canonly saved the world in The Doomsday Heist scenario, so they are not entirely evil. They also often commit crimes against other criminals, like robbing El Rubio dozens of times in The Cayo Perico Heist.
Such actions don't automatically absolve this character, especially since many missions involve eliminating dozens of NPCs.
3) Tommy Vercetti
Running a massive cartel can be considered evil. Whereas somebody like Victor Vance wants to earn money to help his sick brother, Pete Vance, Tommy Vercetti doesn't have an altruistic cause in mind. The latter character is power-hungry and a memorable example of a psychopathic protagonist.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City canonly occured in 1986. Based on Kent Paul's 80s Nostalgia Zone website, it would appear as though Tommy Vercetti was still in power as far back as the early 2000s. There's no telling what kind of damage he's done to society during his reign as the kingpin of Vice City for nearly two decades.
2) Trevor Philips
The most obvious choice for most GTA fans is Trevor Philips. This protagonist operates without a conscience:
- Drug deals
- Mass murder
- Assault
- Involvement with cannibalism
- Heists
- Arson
- Kidnapping
As terrible as these crimes are, there is one more character worthy of being ranked higher on this list. That said, Trevor Philips is undeniably twisted and is usually thought of as a lunatic psychopath for a reason. His few good moments are seldom seen compared to his more insane antics.
The questionable moments with Floyd, Altruist Cult, and random switch-in scenes make it clear that Trevor Philips is quite evil.
1) Toni Cipriani
It is exceptionally rare for a GTA protagonist to canonly commit mass terrorism in their games. However, Toni Cipriani does just that in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. Bringing the House Down involves him blowing up all of Fort Staunton in what's arguably the most evil act committed in a single game within this series.
Toni Cipriani basically eradicates an entire town for $5,000 via mass bombing and causes millions of dollars in property damage. Fort Staunton becomes a ghost town for at least the next three years as a result of this mission. That's not all Toni has done as far as vile acts go.
He also helped the cannibal Donald Love and even sold Giovanni Casa's body to his own deli after butchering him. Of course, he also commits many of the usual crimes a GTA protagonist does.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is an underrated game. Hence, some gamers might not know how messed up Toni Cipriani is as a GTA protagonist, even surpassing lunatics like Trevor Philips.
That concludes our list. In the meantime, check out the latest GTA 6 release date rumors.
