10 Best Star Trek Villains In Only One Episode

An embodiment of all that is dark, Armus was the oil slick that wiped Tasha Yar out of the first season of the Next Generation and dragged Riker into that pit of despair. He also helps to save Riker in Shades of Grey, but the less said about that the better.

Armus is technically more of a plot device than a character. However, he is played as a character that enjoys his villainy so much that it is hard not to see him as the evil entity that he is. His rage and fury may prove to be his undoing, yet he is effective in how he destroys others.

He keeps Troi prisoner for no reason, initially, then to enjoy her fear. Once he sees her as a bargaining tool, he enjoys the power play he has over the away team. He is, of course, always going to be remembered as the creature that killed Tasha.

While there were behind the scenes reasons for her departure, Armus symbolizes the event in that it is both pointless and comes out of nowhere. Simply by extending a hand he throws Yar backward, killing her instantly. Although this was an ignoble end to the security chief, it has become infamous, so much so that the later episode Yesterday's Enterprise was conceived as a way to give her a more honourable ending.

Armus may have been evil but he was memorable and enacted one of the most far-reaching deaths in the franchise.