History Jerkass / Literature

* Much of the characters in ''Literature/Sideways Stories from Wayside'' and other media in that series.

** Manny is spoiled, whines a lot to get his way (it always works too), [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling enjoys frustrating his older brothers]], and [[MoralEventHorizon nearly killed his entire family]] [[DisproportionateRetribution simply because they didn't teach him to tie his shoes.]]

* Kallor from ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' is not a friendly fellow by any stretch of the word and of the opinion that bastardry is inherent in human nature, and as such every nasty thing he does and says is justified.

** [[DeadpanSnarker Ford Prefect]] doesn't show any sympathy towards his [[HeterosexualLifePartners best mate]] [[UnfazedEveryman Arthur Dent]] about [[EarthShatteringKaboom the Earth getting blown up]] and all he really cares about is getting drunk and dancing with girls. But you have to remember that Ford was the one who saved Arthur from Earth's demolition in the first place, and [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold deep down Ford reall cares about him.]]

** [[DeadpanSnarker Ford Prefect]] doesn't show any sympathy towards his [[HetrosexualLifePartners best mate]] [[UnfazedEveryman Arthur Dent]] about [[EarthShatteringKaboom the Earth getting blown up]] and all he really cares about is getting drunk and dancing with girls. But you have to remember that Ford was the one who saved Arthur from Earth's demolition in the first place, and [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold deep down Ford reall cares about him.]]

** Dudley Dursley starts out as a mean bully and spoiled brat. One of the first times Harry used magic unconsciously was due to Dudley and his gang chasing Harry with intent to hurt him, prompting Harry to fly onto the roof. When Harry saved him from Dementors in Book 5, WordOfGod says that when he was having his soul sucked out, he saw [[spoiler:every memory of himself objectively, causing a massive MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment for him]]. From then, he starts becoming better with Harry and [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming in the last book, the two finally patch up. WordOfGod says they're on Christmas card relations]].

* Roald Dahl's ''Literature/{{Matilda}}''
** Agatha Trunchbull.
** Also, Harry Wormwood, whose used-car company sells cars -at outrageous prices - that only survive for a few miles. Because their engines are filled with ''sawdust''. He deals in stolen parts, and uses a drill to turn the miles back on old cars. And then there's how he acts around Matilda.

* Nynaeve al'Meara and especially Elayne Trakand from the ''Literature/WheelOfTime''; they have all the negatives of Aes Sedai, (aloof, egotistical, and rude), and none of the positives (wisdom). They frequently get captured due to not having backup, and when they are saved they never thank anyone. The ultimate example is when they are captured by members of the Black Ajah, and are taken to the Stone of Tear, a fortress that has never been captured, and is only fated to be captured when the Dragon is reborn. Mat Cauthon learns this, he and Juilin Sandar go into the Stone of Tear, defeat several highly trained guards, duel a High Lord of Tear, and rescue them, and they respond by storming off. It's not until they are told to apologize by Elayne's best friend, Aviendha, and her Warder Birgitte that they do apologize. Then Elayne mocks Mat for being raped multiple times by a woman, after having first annulled her promise to treat him with respect when she thought that he was the criminal and not the victim.

* In later volumes of Creator/TerryGoodkind's Literature/SwordOfTruth series, after he became a rabid objectivist, he had a tendency to write his views into his books in the most blatant way possible; by having his "good" characters stop the story for pages and pages at a time, so that they can speechify to those around them (and thus, the reader), expounding upon Goodkind's views in a ham-fisted fashion that left no doubt in anyone's minds that this was just Goodkind preaching at us. Anyone who was shown disagreeing with this was portrayed not only as wrong, but irredeemably evil, and those nay-sayers who were important to the plot would ultimately prove themselves to be rapists and child molesters. This had the undesired but very present effect of making it seem like all of Goodkind's "heroes" were total jerkasses, unable to accept any viewpoint but their own. After all, this is the series that had its ''hero'' kick a little girl in the face with such force that she went into a coma and her healers weren't sure if she would ever wake up!

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}:'':

* Everybody in ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' has their moments (it's what makes it a BlackComedy), but Rodrick... well, let's just say that if [[AssholeVictim his body is found in a ditch somewhere]], [[CainAndAbel it's not hard to figure who the prime suspect will be.]]

** Fëanor and his seven sons. Fëanor attacks the Teleri, steals their ships, then burns them, abandoning his half-brother to cross the Helcaraxë.
** [[JerkassGods The Vala]] Morgoth.
** Turin Turambar, a rare example of EmoTeen in heroic fantasy.
** Ar-Pharazôn The Golden of Númenor, who is jerkass enough to estabilish a ReligionOfEvil and to strive nothing less than overlordship of the whole world.

** Thingol sends Beren to a fate he considers certain death. He gets better.
%% The following are Zero Context Examples. Please provide context before uncommenting.
%%* Fëanor in ''The Silmarillion''. Morgoth will also qualify, as [[JerkassGods he is a vala]].
%%* And Fëanor's seven sons.
%%* Turin Turambar, a rare example of EmoTeen in heroic fantasy.

* Doc Noble in ''Literature/OtherPeoplesHeroes'' is incredibly powerful and also very much an ass to everyone including his girlfriend, Miss Sinistah. [[spoiler:He's also killed several superpowered people who caught on to the sinister underpinnings of the organization]].

** Paul Krendler. He make's Starling's life a living hell for not only grandslamming the Buffalo Bill case, but also he made a pass at Clarice which she rejected. Twice. He's also a CorruptCop, working for Verger Mason and framing Starling.

** Eustace Clarence Scrubb in ''[[ChroniclesOfNarnia The Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]''.
** Edmund Pevensie can be a jerkass in ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'', at least to Lucy.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series, the city guard of Ankh-Morpork tend to be this for reasons of intimidation and respect. Most of the Watch use psychologically brutal interrogation methods and tend to have a hit-or-miss approach to the whole "catching the right guy" thing, which is ironic since their commander, Sam Vimes, is known for being a strong proponent of judicial ideals, even if he is cynical as sin. They are arguably justified in their methods, given how outnumbered they are by the criminal element, and how entrenched into the city structure the said criminals are. However, the officers' sense of responsibility and respect for Vimes, coupled with their propensity for frightening retribution against those who have harmed their own, or committed high crimes, tend to manage crime with some measure of efficiency..

%% He probably gets overlooked for being such a relatively minor character, but Blaise Zabini ([[AscendedExtra after he finally appears]]) turns out to be a real asshole.

They deliberately dropped a magical candy in front of Dudley Dursley, knowing the muggle has problems with over-eating just to see what would happen. It was Two-Ton Tongue Taffy; Mr. Weasley had to fix it. Wizarding law is supposed to protect muggles from that kind of magical prank (in fact, it's a direct violation of the department their father belongs to, and it's one of the few moments where Arthur scolds the twins, but in their defense they only chose him as the victim "because he's a great bullying git", see below.) They also test their joke products on First Years (11 year old kids, some of whom are muggle-born and had little experience with magic beforehand), sneak into the Hogwarts kitchen to get snacks (then lie about how hard it was to steal the treats, even though the House elves willingly give away food if someone asks), and center most of their other 'pranks' on Percy Weasley. Said pranks include stealing and enchanted Percy's Head Boy badge, bewitching snowballs to attack him, trying to lock Percy into a pyramid in Egypt (only stopped because their mother caught them in time), and sending dung to Percy's office after he gets a job in the Ministry. (All of this happens before Percy decides he would rather stick with the Ministry than believe in Dumbledore like the rest of his family. Once Percy severs ties, they continue to insult him and throw mashed parsnips at him during the one family dinner Percy attends in a 2 1/2 year period. Yet Percy is the only one who apologizes for being a prat.)
** Dudley Dursley starts out as a mean bully, but when Harry saved him from Dementors in Book 5, [[spoiler: WordOfGod says that when he was having his soul sucked out, he saw every memory of himself objectively, causing a massive WhatHaveIDone moment for him. From then, he starts becoming better with Harry and [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming in the last book, the two finally patch up. WordOfGod says they're on Christmas card relations]].]]
*** Dudley's parents, especially his father Vernon.
** He probably gets overlooked for being such a relatively minor character, but Blaise Zabini ([[AscendedExtra after he finally appears]]) turns out to be a real asshole.
** Cornelius Fudge is first presented as something of a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, but by [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Book 5]], he's in full-blown jerkass mode.
** Conversely, [[BitchInSheepsClothing Dolores Umbridge]] probably wouldn't make this list because calling her a JerkAss would be like calling the sun lukewarm.
** [[AlphaBitch Pansy Parkinson]] is also one. It seems that she's there just to be a bitch. Oh, and she [[spoiler:agrees to hand Harry over to Voldemort when he attacks Hogwarts.]]

* Mitch, Glenn, and Terry of ''Literature/SpellsSwordsAndStealth''. The trio are tabletop gamers more concerned with killing and looting instead of "dumb shit like role-playing." When their first party dies in ''[=NPCs=]'', they force TokenGoodTeammate Tim to make a knight instead of the paladin he'd prefer because a paladin would be obliged to stop their antics. By the time of ''Going Rogue'', they have to make an hour commute to meet a potential GM because nobody else will tolerate them.

* Mitch, Glenn, and Terry of ''Literature/SpellsSwordsAndStealth'. The trio are tabletop gamers more concerned with killing and looting instead of "dumb shit like role-playing." When their first party dies in ''[=NPCs=]'', they force TokenGoodTeammate Tim to make a knight instead of the paladin he'd prefer because a paladin would be obliged to stop their antics. By the time of ''Going Rogue'', they have to make an hour commute to meet a potential GM because nobody else will tolerate them.

* Bryce, his father, and his friend Garret from ''Literature/Flipped''. Bryce for self-assertion, Garret and Mr. Loski just for the sake of being it. Naturally, the former grows out of it by the end while the latter two don't (Mrs. Loski is on the verge of getting a divorce by the end of the novel).
** The Loski's daughter seems to be this too. Really tells you how great of a parent the father is.

** Dudley Dursley is the very first jerkass introduced in the series, But when Harry saved himself and Dudley from Dementors in Book 5, [[spoiler: WordOfGod says that when he was having his soul sucked out, he saw every memory of himself objectively, causing a massive WhatHaveIDone moment for him. From then, he starts becoming better with Harry and [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming in the last book, the two finally patch up. WordOfGod says they're on Christmas card relations]].]]

** Dudley Dursley is the very first jerkass introduced in the series, although he and his parents pale in comparison to most of the others introduced later on. Malfoy essentially does everything he does but better (or worse, rather), and Dudley’s ButtMonkey ensures he repeatedly gets what’s coming. However, when Harry saved himself and Dudley from Dementors in Book 5, [[spoiler: WordOfGod says that when he was having his soul sucked out, he saw every memory of himself objectively, causing a massive WhatHaveIDone moment for him. From then, he starts becoming better with Harry and [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming in the last book, the two finally patch up. WordOfGod says they're on Christmas card relations]].]]

** Eustace Clarence Scrubb in the first part of ''[[ChroniclesOfNarnia The Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]''.
** Edmund Pevensie can be a jerkass in ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'', especially to his younger sister, Lucy.

They deliberately dropped a magical candy in front of Dudley Dursley, knowing the muggle has problems with over-eating just to see what would happen. It was Two-Ton Tongue Taffy; Mr. Weasley had to fix it. Wizarding law is supposed to protect muggles from that kind of magical prank (in fact, it's a direct violation of the department their father belongs to, and it's one of the few moments where Arthur scolds the twins.) They also test their joke products on First Years (11 year old kids, some of whom are muggle-born and had little experience with magic beforehand), sneak into the Hogwarts kitchen to get snacks (then lie about how hard it was to steal the treats, even though the House elves willingly give away food if someone asks), and center most of their other 'pranks' on Percy Weasley. Said pranks include stealing and enchanted Percy's Head Boy badge, bewitching snowballs to attack him, trying to lock Percy into a pyramid in Egypt (only stopped because their mother caught them in time), and sending dung to Percy's office after he gets a job in the Ministry. (All of this happens before Percy decides he would rather stick with the Ministry than believe in Dumbledore like the rest of his family. Once Percy severs ties, they continue to insult him and throw mashed parsnips at him during the one family dinner Percy attends in a 2 1/2 year period. Yet Percy is the only one who apologizes for being a prat.)

* Everybody in ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' has their moments (it's what makes it a BlackComedy), but Roderick... well, let's just say that if [[AssholeVictim his body is found in a ditch somewhere]], [[CainAndAbel it's not hard to figure who the prime suspect will be.]]

* {{God}} in ''[[http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=118769&highlight= Armageddon:]] TheSalvationWar''. First off, even though he closed the gates of Heaven ''1000 years ago'', the reason that He threw ALL of humanity on Earth to Satan NOW is [[spoiler: He's pissed that humans have started questioning His teachings and that they're not all constantly singing his praises. He even has a Chorus in Heaven which is forced to constantly sing his praises. He actually gets pissed when, after throwing them ALL to Satan, the Catholic Church excommunicates him and denounces him as an usurper of a one true God. When the reason that he flipped off humanity was that they were questioning his teachings in the first place, you'd think he would see that one coming.]]