History Main / DemonKingNobunaga

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/PokemonConquest'', of all places. Despite being the BigBad, Nobunaga is actually a rather sympathetic character. Noticeably, his choice of [[BondCreatures partner Pokémon]] is [[OlympusMons Zekrom]], which may ''[[ObviouslyEvil look]]'' like it would put him in this territory, but in [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite the main series lore]] it is considered [[DarkIsNotEvil not inherently evil]], but rather it and its [[LightIsNotGood white counterpart Reshiram]] are both known for having been used in the past by {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s and {{Knight Templar}}s -- [[FridgeBrilliance which historians consider the actual Oda Nobunaga to have been]].

* A Japanese-exclusive game for the UsefulNotes/PC98, ''Zan: Yaksa Enbukyoku'' (A crossover between ''Yaksa'' and ''Zan'', two of the earlier [[Creator/TelenetJapan Wolf Team]]'s games for Japanese computers) has an interesting twist on this trope: Not only the main characters have to fight against a demonic Nobunaga, they also have to fight against infernal versions of ''both UsefulNotes/TokugawaIeyasu and UsefulNotes/ToyotomiHideyoshi'' as well. In this case this is semi-justified because the heroes are ''[[UsefulNotes/JapaneseChristian Christians]]'', but it might not make any sense because Nobunaga is actually a fan of foreign stuffs like Christianity. On the other hand, the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis MegaDrive]] version of the same game removes Ieyasu and Hideyoshi from the evil trio, leaving only Nobunaga leading an army of demons in their place, not to mention it also removes any reference about Christianity in the game.

A SubTrope of DevilComplex, HistoricalDomainSuperperson and HistoricalVillainUpgrade. Compare BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy, WeDidntStartTheFuhrer and {{Dracula}} (as Vlad Tepes); another East Asian example is [[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms Cao Cao]]'s transformation from his historical persona to stock CardCarryingVillain in MediaNotes/PekingOpera (though not to an extent of being a demon).

A SubTrope of DevilComplex, HistoricalDomainSuperperson and HistoricalVillainUpgrade. Compare BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy, WeDidntStartTheFuhrer and {{Dracula}} (as Vlad Tepes); another East Asian example is [[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms Cao Cao]]'s transformation from his historical persona to stock CardCarryingVillain in UsefulNotes/PekingOpera (though not to an extent of being a demon).

* While Oda Nobunaga himself does not appear in ''Anime/BatmanNinja'', ComicBook/TheJoker (time-displaced to UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod Japan, along with a few other villains and heroes) takes the title ''Dairokuten-maō'' for himself.

* In ''Saint Fighter Manga/{{Devilman}}'' Wilfre, one of the Four Heavenly Demon, is revealed to be Oda Nobunaga, reborn as a Devilman.

This is also not helped with Nobunaga's attitude during his time, while he was ruthless, there may be other factors on how Nobunaga was singled out to be the Demon King candidate instead of any other ruthless daimyos out there. In those times, [[GoodOldWays traditional and old fashioned honor was especially revered.]] Nobunaga mostly threw a middle finger on those, as he collaborated with 'barbarous' foreigners to bolster his forces (and also wore European clothes a lot), promoted meritocracy instead of judging people based on their status (which was the norm back then) and several of his enemies that were mostly traditionalist eventually got trounced by him.[[note]]The Azai clan turned against him despite being linked through marriage due to their older alliance with Asakura, which Nobunaga attacked. Additionally, Nobunaga's usage of muskets obliterated the Takeda clan, often thought as the last of the mighty traditional clans thanks to their Takeda Cavalry, in Nagashino.[[/note]] These days, Nobunaga's actions might have been thought to be a stroke of genius, but in the days past, this was considered rather blasphemous and extremely dangerous, such that people thought only demons would think of this kind of trouncing of what was good in their eyes. And considering that even in modern Japan, traditions are well preserved and those who do not try to blend in with others and try to stick out often get ostracized, it's more than likely that Nobunaga would be seen as a violator of Japanese ways, making him perfect to be referred as an evil, tradition-wrecking demon (even if those who values individuality would see Nobunaga as a genius instead).

According to the Jesuit Father [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luís_Fróis Luís Fróis,]] UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga called himself "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Demon King of the Sixth Heaven]]" (''dairokuten-maō''), a title properly belonging to Māra, the Buddhist counterpart of {{Satan}} (though portrayed in mythology as a NobleDemon). While Nobunaga was most likely being sarcastic (he was actually very eccentric for people in his age, so in his mind he was just making a bombastic but untrue boast to prep up his fearsomeness to his foes[[note]]And he was only replying to UsefulNotes/TakedaShingen who chastised him for his burning on Mt. Hiei, where Shingen boasted himself as a deity who protects the Tendai area (Tendai-no-zasu Shamon). Nobunaga decided to answer with equal sarcasm, so if Shingen signed himself as god, Nobunaga would sign himself as a demon. This letter is what was discovered by Frois and spread to his people[[/note]]), and in any case he's not the only ''daimyō'' of the

According to the Jesuit Father [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luís_Fróis Luís Fróis,]] UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga called himself "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Demon King of the Sixth Heaven]]" (''dairokuten-maō''), a title properly belonging to Māra, the Buddhist counterpart of {{Satan}} (though portrayed in mythology as a NobleDemon). While Nobunaga was most likely being sarcastic (he was actually very eccentric for people in his age, so in his mind he was just making a bombastic but untrue boast to prep up his fearsomeness to his foes[[note]]And he was only replying to UsefulNotes/TakedaShingen who chastised him for his burning on Mt. Hiei, where Shingen boasted himself as a deity who protects the Tendai area (Tendai-no-zasu Shamon). Nobunaga decided to answer with equal sarcasm, so if Shingen signed himself as god, Nobunaga would sign himself as a demon. This letter is what was discovered by Frois and spread to his people[[/note]]), and in any case he's not the only ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku Jidai whose ruthlessness has inspired a HistoricalVillainUpgrade, many popular depictions of Nobunaga literally demonize him, or at least give him supernatural powers.

This is also not helped with Nobunaga's attitude during his time, while he was ruthless, there may be other factors on how Nobunaga was singled out to be the Demon King candidate instead of any other ruthless daimyos out there. In those times, [[GoodOldWays traditional and old fashioned honor was especially revered.]] Nobunaga mostly threw a middle finger on those, as he collaborated with 'barbarous' foreigners to bolster his forces (and also wore European clothes a lot), promoted meritocracy instead of judging people based on their status (which was the norm back then) and several of his enemies that were mostly traditionalist eventually got trounced by him.[[note]]The Azai clan turned against him despite being linked through marriage due to their older alliance with Asakura, which Nobunaga attacked. Additionally, Nobunaga's usage of muskets obliterated the Takeda clan, often thought as the last of the mighty traditional clans thanks to their Takeda Cavalry, in Nagashino.[[/note]] These days, Nobunaga's actions might have been thought to be a stroke of genius, but in the days past, this was considered rather blasphemous and extremely dangerous, such that people thought only demons would think of this kind of trouncing of what was good in their eyes. And considering that even in modern Japan, traditions are well preserved and those who do not try to blend in with others and try to stick out often get ostracized, it's more than likely that Nobunaga would be seen as a violator of Japanese ways, making him perfect to be referred as an evil, tradition-wrecker demon (even if those who values individuality would see Nobunaga as a genius instead).

* In ''Anime/GhostSweeperMikami'', the vampire lord Nosferatu is actually Oda Nobunaga. [[spoiler:Or if Father Karasu's theory is correct, Nosferatu [[KillAndReplace murdered a young Nobunaga and stole his identity]]. Either way, UsefulNotes/AkechiMitsuhide eventually discovered his master's demonic nature and that was the reason for his betrayal at Honno-ji.]]

* In ''Manga/FlameOfRecca'', Nobunaga was responsible for the destruction of the Hokage clan and the reasoning is a touch to this trope: Nobunaga had a fearsome reputation of being a demonic warlord that the Hokage clan decided to hide all their Madogu and to die in combat as a sacrifice to make sure the demonic warlord did not get his hands on the Madogu. The ploy succeeded. However, in the end of the manga, [[spoiler:Kurei traveled back in time and found Nobunaga trapped inside Honnoji, where [[SubvertedTrope he's just a normal human]] (brutal, but not as much as a previous warlord in a flashback), [[FaceDeathWithDignity is readily accepting his death]] and [[GracefulLoser allows Kurei to have a hand in executing the seppuku for him, letting him pay his last respects to his clan that Nobunaga destroyed]], to which Nobunaga considered an inevitability that a Hokage remnant would want a piece of him.]]

The biggest inspiration of this usually comes from one of Nobunaga's biggest ShootTheDog (or most commonly believed as [[KickTheDog a kick]]) moment: the burning of Mt. Hiei, taking out the Buddhist warrior-monks of Ikko-Ikki and leaving none alive, including [[WouldHitAGirl women]] and [[WouldHurtAChild children]]. Whoever had the higher moral ground was unclear at that point (whether Nobunaga was just being callous, or the monks themselves were really disruptive and just adding on chaos in Japan that needed to be quelled no matter what, even if they used religion as a way to excuse their behavior), but considering Buddhism eventually recovered and once again became one of the major religions in Japan, Nobunaga's actions towards those Buddhists were not going to win him many fans from the future Buddhist storytellers, so they tend to use his previous sarcasm and make it a literal statement. And in addition to his more accepting stance with Christian missionaries, being considered 'barbaric foreigners with foreign religion' (more below), Nobunaga himself has been said to be rather disrespecting towards Buddhism in general, so that's even more reason to make him a devil figure by the Buddhist majority.

According to the Jesuit Father [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luís_Fróis Luís Fróis,]] UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga called himself "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Demon King of the Sixth Heaven]]" (''dairokuten-maō''), a title properly belonging to Māra, the Buddhist counterpart of {{Satan}} (though portrayed in mythology as a NobleDemon). While Nobunaga was most likely being sarcastic (he was actually very eccentric for people in his age, so in his mind he was just making a bombastic but untrue boast to prep up his fearsomeness to his foes), and in any case he's not the only ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku Jidai whose ruthlessness has inspired a HistoricalVillainUpgrade, many popular depictions of Nobunaga literally demonize him, or at least give him supernatural powers.

The biggest inspiration of this usually comes from one of Nobunaga's biggest ShootTheDog (or most commonly believed as [[KickTheDog a kick]]) moment: the burning of Mt. Hiei, taking out the Buddhist warrior-monks of Ikko-Ikki and [[KillEmAll leaving none alive]], including [[WouldHitAGirl women]] and [[WouldHurtAChild children]]. Whoever had the higher moral ground was unclear at that point (whether Nobunaga was just being callous, or the monks themselves were really disruptive and just adding on chaos in Japan that needed to be quelled no matter what, even if they used religion as a way to excuse their behavior), but considering Buddhism eventually recovered and once again became one of the major religions in Japan, Nobunaga's actions towards those Buddhists were not going to win him many fans from the future Buddhist storytellers, so they tend to use his previous sarcasm and make it a literal statement. And in addition to his more accepting stance with Christian missionaries, being considered 'barbaric foreigners with foreign religion' (more below), Nobunaga himself has been said to be rather disrespecting towards Buddhism in general, so that's even more reason to make him a devil figure by the Buddhist majority.

* As opposed to her more gag-natured traits in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' or ''Koha-Ace'', Nobunaga plays the trope straighter in ''WebComic/FateTypeRedline'', since it's basically the previously [[GagSeries hilarious Imperial Holy Grail War]] [[DarkerAndEdgier re-imagined in a dead serious manner.]] She pretty much trades her wacky antics for terrifying battle lust with SlasherSmile aplenty, living up to the term 'Demon King'. And that's without becoming her final Avenger version.

* Hilariously inverted in ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'''s movie, where Nobunaga was a big [[{{Manchild}} crybaby and pushover]]. He was so incompetent that Geiz Myokoin, the Secondary Rider of the series, had to do the things that historically earned Nobunaga this trope.

** The anime turns this UpToEleven: DramaticThunder and [[OminousLatinChanting Ominous German Chanting]] accompany Nobunaga whenever he makes an appearance.

** And the third game ([[spoiler:and TheMovie of the anime]]) does even better when Nobunaga returns from Hell, having apparently [[HellHasNewManagement taken over the sixth underworld]] and turned his epithet into a literal description. As a playable character, his story pretty much involves killing ''everyone'' else in Japan before returning to hell.

This is also not helped with Nobunaga's attitude during his time, while he was ruthless, there may be other factors on how Nobunaga was singled out to be the Demon King candidate instead of any other ruthless daimyos out there. In those times, [[GoodOldWays traditional and old fashioned honor was especially revered.]] Nobunaga mostly threw a middle finger on those, as he collaborated with 'barbarous' foreigners to bolster his forces (and also wore European clothes a lot), promoted meritocracy instead of judging people based on their status (which was the norm back then) and several of his enemies that were mostly traditionalist eventually got trounced by him[[note]]The Azai clan turned against him despite being linked through marriage due to their older alliance with Asakura, which Nobunaga attacked. Additionally, Nobunaga's usage of muskets obliterated the Takeda clan, often thought as the last of the mighty traditional clans thanks to their Takeda Cavalry, in Nagashino[[/note]]. These days, Nobunaga's actions might have been thought to be a stroke of genius, but in the days past, this was considered rather blasphemous and extremely dangerous, such that people thought only demons would think of this kind of trouncing of what was good in their eyes. And considering that even in modern Japan, traditions are well preserved and those who do not try to blend in with others and try to stick out often get ostracized, it's more than likely that Nobunaga would be seen as a violator of Japanese ways, making him perfect to be referred as an evil, tradition-wrecker demon (even if those who values individuality would see Nobunaga as a genius instead).

The biggest inspiration of this usually comes from one of Nobunaga's biggest ShootTheDog (or most commonly believed as [[KickTheDog a kick]]) moment: the burning of Mt. Hiei, taking out the Buddhist warrior-monks of Ikko-Ikki and [[KillEmAll leaving none alive]], including [[WouldHitAGirl women]] and [[WouldHarmAChild children]]. Whoever had the higher moral ground was unclear at that point (whether Nobunaga was just being callous, or the monks themselves were really disruptive and just adding on chaos in Japan that needed to be quelled no matter what, even if they used religion as a way to excuse their behavior), but considering Buddhism eventually recovered and once again became one of the major religions in Japan, Nobunaga's actions towards those Buddhists were not going to win him many fans from the future Buddhist storytellers, so they tend to use his previous sarcasm and make it a literal statement. And in addition to his more accepting stance with Christian missionaries, being considered 'barbaric foreigners with foreign religion' (more below), Nobunaga himself has been said to be rather disrespecting towards Buddhism in general, so that's even more reason to make him a devil figure by the Buddhist majority.

* In ''Manga/FlameOfRecca'', Nobunaga was responsible for the destruction of the Hokage clan and the reasoning is a touch to this trope: Nobunaga had a fearsome reputation of being a demonic warlord that the Hokage clan decided to hide all their Madogu and die in combat as a sacrifice to make sure the demonic warlord do not get his hands of the Madogu. The ploy succeeded. However, in the end of the manga, [[spoiler:Kurei traveled back in time and found Nobunaga trapped inside Honnoji, where [[SubvertedTrope he's just a normal human]] (brutal, but not as much as a previous warlord in a flashback), [[FaceDeathWithDignity is readily accepting his death]] and [[GracefulLoser allows Kurei to have a hand in executing the seppuku for him, letting him pay his last respects to his clan that Nobunaga destroyed]], to which Nobunaga considered an inevitability that a Hokage remnant would want a piece of him.]]

* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/{{Nioh}}'': In this game, he really did mass-murder a great many men, women and children at Mt. Hiei, but treats his crimes as another facet of a rather complicated man, one who was driven by ambition and who also appreciated life and death to the fullest. He demonstrates this by [[spoiler:flipping the bird to the necromancer who brought him back, then giving the protagonist his pet phoenix before leaving to the afterlife, even though he was given the demonic power to rule the world uncontested]]. Most of Nobunaga's former retainers say that he was a strange, unpredictable man. He's voiced by Kou Shibusawa, [[DescendedCreator a major head producer]] at Creator/KoeiTecmo. Notable for the fact that [[spoiler:despite following the trope very closely, even as a fabled Demon King, Nobunaga was portrayed not as a megalomaniacal super villain, but more of a NobleDemon.]]

->''"Worship me. Die for your crime of defying the House of One Hundred Demons, and repent in the afterlife. There are none before me, and will be none after me. I am the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, Oda Nobunaga!" [Dramatic Cape Flourish]''