Starvers are villains who commit evil by causing starvation. Tyrants often willfully withhold food as punishment (as with President Snow in The Hunger Games and Maestro from Marvel) or manage their nation so poorly that none is available (as with Scar in The Lion King). Kidnappers will also do this to their victims (such as Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs), usually for a very personal and sick pleasure.

While there are very few gods who specifically rule over starvation, Famine, one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Biblical lore seems to represent this concept. Other gods will be seen causing starvation, sometimes out of rage (such as God in Maltheism punishing humans for improper conduct) or simply apathy towards human life (such as Hades causing winter by kidnapping Persephone).

Many villains can also take away people's food supply; the Black Mouth is an example.

Starvation is considered one of the cruelest forms of death and torture, thus characters who deliberately starve others are generally hated and disliked, even among villains - in many settings starving people willingly invokes the "Even Evil Has Standards" trope, due to its cruel nature.