Todd Bowden

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Pure Evil
Full Name	Todd Bowden
Alias	"The boy" (by Dussander)
Origin	Apt Pupil
Allies	Kurt Dussander
Powers / Skills	Charisma Manipulation Weapons proficiency
Goals	Learn about Dussander's crimes. Cover up his crimes.
Moral Event Horizon	Becoming a serial killer of homeless people. Opening fire upon a freeway, likely killing hundreds.
Kill Count	Hundreds (likely)
Worst Crimes	Mass murder Terrorism Blackmail
Type of Villain	Sadistic Psychopath

Todd Bowden is the main protagonist of the Stephen King novella Apt Pupil. He is a sociopathic teenager with a fixation on the Holocaust who discovers his elderly neighbor is an escaped Nazi war criminal.

What Makes Him Pure Evil?

• Whilst he had no redeeming characteristics before he met Dussander, as there was no indication he held sincere affection or care for his family or friends and likely never would have owing to his implied psychopathy, he isn't tragic either as his mental state degrading isn't played for sympathy due to him having brought it on himself. Even if he was too young to understand the full ramifications or consequences of his decisions, he remains and becomes more unsympathetic in stress relief by sadism to animals and brutally murdering homeless people and feeling sexually aroused in doing so, and having to restrain himself from murdering his parents and girlfriend over extremely minor grievances, which even include wanting to spend time with him. He even keeps calm by reminding himself that if everything falls apart, he can take his rifle and open fire on the freeway nearby: a promise he makes good on.
  • As such, all of Todd's misfortunes are the direct result of him choosing evil actions, as opposed to a young youth who didn't know better being corrupted.
    • This was, in fact, the portrayal of Todd in the movie who did not butcher the homeless for stress relief but only once in self-defence, hence why Todd's movie adaptation - an immature and disturbed youth as opposed to the sadistic psychopath in the novel - survives and proceeds with his life; albeit shaken by the events, whilst the novel Todd devolves into a psychotic killer and ends the novel being stopped by the police; implicitly shot dead or incapacitated.
      • Although the novel is a cautionary tale with respect to associating with or indulging in evil, with it even citing “maybe it isn't possible to stand close to murder piled on murder and not be touched by it”, Todd still brought his eventual fate upon himself by continuing to associate with Dussander despite his nightmares earlier on in the novel, as by that point, Dussander hadn't been able to blackmail Todd by ingratiating himself into his life. As such, he is neither tragic nor sympathetic nor even Wholly Debased, and is rendered exceedingly qualified for this wiki.
• He's implied to have been a budding psychopath even before he met Dussander, as he was enthralled by the Holocaust and fascinated that the Germans could kill so many while feeling no empathy for their victims.
• He blackmails Dussander into telling him stories of his atrocities so he can relish the "gooshy" details, and even makes Dussander march around in a Nazi uniform.
  • Whilst his grades fall due to him having nightmares and him being overwhelmed by the realities of the Holocaust, such as being momentarily struck with terror as making Dussander march in his Nazi uniform, this does not count as standards but rather being threatened by the horrific reality of the Holocaust and what people are capable of, as he mitigates this fear by killing homeless people.
• He has Dussander impersonate his grandfather when his grades start to fall, having him tell his guidance counselor that his parents are having trouble at home and aren't paying enough attention to him.
• He blames Dussander for the fact that he's having nightmares and would have murdered him had Dussander not blackmailed him in return.
  • This also showcases he had no loyalty or care for Dussander, unlike Dussander for Todd, and only respected him for his atrocities.
• He cruelly runs over an injured bird with his bicycle, going back and forth until it's mashed to a pulp.
• He begins butchering homeless people and is surprised by how much he enjoys it, stating that he doesn't see it as murder because he sees them as sub-human.
  • This is done with such brutality and ferocity over numerous occasions that even with the implicit dismissal of homicide towards the homeless, it ends up on the newspapers for Dussander to read and deduce Todd's actions.
• He helps Dussander cover up the scene of one of his murders to keep himself out of trouble.
• He has recurrent fantasies about murdering his parents and girlfriend, who are perfectly nice people, over minor annoyances. He also becomes convinced his girlfriend is Jewish and claims this is why he doesn't enjoy sex with her.
  • Relating to this, he devolves into sexual sadism as a result of his killings, and as such, fails to perform sexually unless fantasising about brutality. He even notes that he "nearly strangled her" in response to her flippantly asking if he's bisexual after failing to perform.
• He murders his guidance counsellor when confronted about his relationship with Dussander, mocking his counsellor for saying his daughter's name again and again in his death throes.
• When he does so, he feels utterly elated, and proceeding to the freeway in ecstatic glee, he opens fire on any commuters for five hours straight, joyful at finally being able to indulge his wicked desires before being finally stopped by the police.
  • Whilst this isn't described in detail, the logical consequences are described in detail earlier in the novel when he hypothesises what it would be like to do so, as well as how many bullets it'd take (he takes 400 with him), so this isn't off-screen villainy or a plausible MEH doing.
• In spite of the heinousness standards of the Stephen King multiverse, Todd easily passes as he murders numerous homeless people with on-screen viciousness; (re-)corrupts Dussander - the consequences being that he kills homeless people himself as well as graphically burn a cat to death; and rounds it off by committing a shooting spree that had a body count that was likely in the hundreds: all the while, Todd is simply a teenager with barely any resources.

External Links

• Todd Bowden on the Villains Wiki
• Todd Bowden on the Stephen King Wiki