Someone once said, "Living well is the best revenge." But for TV characters who have been wronged, nothing will satisfy except bloody vengeance. Some of the most fascinating stories of revenge on TV shows are the ones where someone must wait decades, or even centuries, to get satisfaction. Here are some of the most patiently vengeful characters from contemporary TV.
Gustavo Fring, "Breaking Bad"
20+ years
Gus Fring famously waited more than 20 years to get revenge against the cartel that murdered his best friend. For decades, Fring waited for his moment, all the while building a trusting relationship with the cartel. He kills off the heads of the cartel, save one man. To make his revenge all the sweeter, he draws it out. Instead of killing the man, he visits him every time a member of his family dies to rub the loss in his face.
Sawyer, "Lost"
30 years
Sawyer's over-arching goal in life was to find and kill the man who was responsible for his father's suicide. His revenge was bittersweet: to track down the man, he had to become the same kind of trickster, ruining lives along the way. The man's identity is eventually revealed as Anthony Cooper. The Others bring Cooper to the Island, where Sawyer strangles him to death. After killing Cooper, Sawyer starts to refer to himself by his birth name, James.
Gin, "Bleach"
100 years
Can you imagine waiting an entire century to exact your revenge? That's exactly what Gin had to do in the popular anime series "Bleach." The target of Gin's revenge was sinister genius Sosuke Aizen. Gin hated Aizen for mutilating the beautiful Rangiku Matsumoto, the one person Gin truly cared for.
Klaus, "The Vampire Diaries"
500+ years
When you're immortal, you can wait for centuries to exact your revenge. Klaus first met Katerina Petrova in the late 1400s when she was a human. But when Katerina turned herself into a vampire in 1492, it ruined his plans to unlock more of his latent powers. She went on the run, and continued running all the way until 2011.
When Klaus finally caught up with her, he compelled her to do physical harm to herself. He tells her that it took him 500 years to capture her, and he planned for her death to be drawn out over the next 250 years. She was able to escape before he could kill her, but he was able to cause her significant pain while he had her trapped.
Eric Northman, "True Blood"
1,000+ years
After waiting a full millennium, Eric Northman finally got revenge upon Russell for killing his family. Eric had to bide his time to find Russell and furtively work his way into Russell's social circle. After killing Russell's lover Talbot, Eric and Bill worked together to trap Russell under cement and silver chains.
Russell escaped from this prison in Season 4, and in Season 5 Russell was a primary enemy. However, Eric eventually staked him, causing a permanent death.
