Fargo is a series whose success is attributed to its villains, which only a few similar shows share. Circling around violence and people rushing to contain it, both the movie and the TV show have brought forward villains that are highly memorable. The thing that sets these characters apart from others is their level of intelligence.
The storylines have revolved around the skill these antagonists use in order to escape justice, which is remarkable to consider given the extreme level of their crimes. Some bad guys are smarter than the rest, though, and here are the villains ranked according to intelligence.
10 Carl & Gaear
While these two did contribute towards the best quotes in the Fargo movie, they were a couple of nimrods who lucked out being among even dumber people. Carl, in particular, was rather silly, seeing that he hid the stash of millions in the middle of nowhere, and was stupid enough to pick a fight about a measly amount of money, which got him killed.
Gaear was the more violent of the two, and it caused him to think of killing as a means to an end. The trail of his murders ended up leading to his position being found, something that was instrumental in him being apprehended.
9 Yuri & Meemo
These two were smarter than your average henchmen, being able to sense when danger was nearby and not making their own decisions that veered off the plan. However, they, too, started overestimating their ruthlessness, and this led to the duo making rash decisions.
It was their choice of beating Nikki up that got her to swear revenge and take them down, and their individual deaths came up because Yuri and Meemo didn’t figure there could be anyone more dangerous than them. Still, their skills for tracking people and following orders do deserve mention.
8 Gerhardt Family
The family combined forms part of the most hated characters in Fargo, as their rage-induced path for vengeance spelled their own doom. Matriarch Floyd does get points for being a strategist, also delaying the inevitable fall of the family due to her ability to manipulate her sons and henchmen.
The less-intelligent ones in Floyd’s sons make the Gerhardt family rank so low, though, as each of them chose to shoot first and not ask questions at all. Both Ray and Dodd’s snap moments of violence cost the whole family their lives as they just couldn’t contain the bloodshed.
7 Mr. Wrench & Mr. Numbers
These two are the benchmark for efficiency when it comes to henchmen. So much so, that fans want them to return in later Fargo seasons. Their efficiency came from their ability to match their wits, where one would contribute one aspect the other didn’t think of.
Wrench and Numbers channeled their talent for investigations into their hitmen activities, and were smart enough to choose their battles and bide their time to strike on their targets. As with other henchmen, though, their downfall was due to their arrogance.
6 Hanzee Dent
You’ll find that the best episodes of Fargo Season 2 are the ones where Hanzee takes charge. While maintaining the guise of a subservient man, Hanzee took control when he’d had enough of the Gerhardts, being able to fool them into his trap and killing them.
While wasn’t outright intelligent, he was ruthlessly tactical, with Hanzee planning his attacks. He was also smart enough to get plastic surgery and become a mob boss. His intelligence simmered down in later years, though, as Hanzee became lazy and let go of his tactical mind to the point where Lorne Malvo was able to ambush and kill him.
5 Mike Milligan
Unlike the other antagonists on this list, Mike never actually lost. Although he did kill people, Mike was a hitman who preferred to talk himself into manipulating people and free himself from any sticky situations. He also had his own henchmen in order to intimidate people so that they wouldn’t cross him.
He simultaneously played both mafia families to his benefit and had the quickness of wit to attack when he had his opening. The reason why he wasn’t the most intelligent villain is that he didn’t have the foresight to realize that his employers never had any big reward in store for him as he’d hoped.
4 Nikki Swango
The best episodes of Fargo Season 3 arrive when Nikki’s character comes to the forefront. She was simultaneously a villain and an anti-hero, swaying Ray’s mind about his brother, successfully blackmailing Emmett, and using Mr. Wrench’s force to her advantage.
Her level of intelligence was such that she was able to even outsmart V.M. Varga, masterminding an attack that the latter didn’t foresee. However, Nikki was also far too emotional, as this became her dominant trait and ended up overcoming her smarts. It was due to this that she was foolish enough to try and shoot a cop, resulting in her death.
3 Lorne Malvo
Implied to have been the actual devil in a human body, Malvo was evil through and through. He turned his malicious intentions over to corrupting other people, using his incredible way with words in such a way that nobody could argue against him.
His planning abilities were such that he could infiltrate any place with no problems, carry out killings openly and cover them up without issue, while also taking on entirely new identities seamlessly. He would’ve placed at the top had his ruthlessness not been his main feature, as his thirst for blood won against his better judgment and got him killed.
2 V.M. Varga
Out of all the quotes from the third season, V.M. Varga had the most haunting ones. His supposed enlightenment about how money is the most important factor in the world led to Varga somehow having access to satellites, the inner workings of the internet, and connections around the world.
He was a kind of parasite who could devour more and more, yet never be satiated. It didn’t seem as if any kind of planning could bring Varga down, although Nikki did manage it due to Varga being unable to get a reading on her. However, given a little time, Varga could beat anyone and escape justice.
1 Lester Nygaard
He was portrayed as a chump for most of the season, but Lester turned into such a monster that only he could take himself down. Lester got away with killing his wife, framing his brother for her murder, causing the death of a cop who found him, and every crime he committed.
He played the survival game like chess, such as sending his second wife to her death to weed out Malvo’s position and pretending to be in distress to trap Malvo himself. It was only because Malvo’s tape of Lester’s confession was found that he was caught. Otherwise, Lester had escaped everything by tapping into his darkest sources of intelligence.
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