The Lord of the Manor – “What shall we do with the scullery maid we found reading a book, Lord Dastardly?” “Have her dismissed, force her parents off my land, and send her brothers and sisters to the local poor-house.  That should stop her getting ideas above her station…” You can’t beat the arrogance and sense of entitlement of the English Lord and Lady, unless….. The mean King – Unless he is the king of course! The English normally supply most these bad guys as well, and you have plenty to choose between.  From Edward 1st ‘Hammer of the Scots’, Richard III locking his nephews in the Tower (then murdering them), to Henry VIII and his severance package for estranged wives. The decadent Emperor – Ancient Rome with all its wealth and power needs a good insane Emperor to keep things ticking along.  Making a horse a senator (Caligula), killing his mother (Nero), or being deluded into thinking he was Hercules (Commodus), you have plenty to choose from, and that’s just Rome… Ancient China, The British …