History Main / LovableTraitor

* Bender from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. Most of the time his "Kill all humans" isn't meant seriously. Although in "A Pharaoh to Remember" he loses the Lovable part and becomes TheQuisling (and later, [[spoiler:after he scams his way into becoming the new Pharaoh, DrunkWithPower]]).

* ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfKorra'': Oh, [[spoiler: Varrick]]. He only gets ''more'' loveable after being put in prison. Nobody seems capable of holding any bitterness towards him, and he even makes up for it with [[spoiler: a heartless war machine, Zhu Li (the battleship, not the cute assistant).]] [[spoiler: Bolin]] definitely misses him and wishes he were there to lighten the mood.

* ''Series/OhsamaSentaiKingOhger'': Kaguragi Dybowski, king of Toufu, is well known by his fellow monarchs to be a two-faced manipulator with a history of repeatedly and openly betraying them for their enemies. Nonetheless, he's a respectable member of the King-Ohgers' alliance because he reliably betrays their enemies right back, and also because he, surprisingly, has a firm moral compass: all his scheming is genuinely for the good of his kingdom.

* Xellos, fan-favorite [[spoiler:demon]] and self-proclaimed trickster priest from ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}''. Always an amiable sort, Xellos will often manage to passively "betray" his allies by ''oops'', allowing them to die horribly, alternately help and hinder our heroes and merrily subvert the status quo to his own amusement and greater purpose - sometimes ''all in the course of one episode''. Of course, as a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Mazoku]], his greater purpose is ''[[OmnicidalManiac nothing less than the complete and total destruction of the universe and everything in it, himself included]]''. At least, that's the theory...

%%* Ken Murata from ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh'', though he is not a villain.

* Oscar from ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'', whose inevitable treachery [[DevilInPlainSight is practically advertised]]. Oscar seems to revel in his aesthetic as an untrustworthy bastard, having "EVIL" printed on his trousers and "BAD MAN" on his jacket and on the NiceHat he dons [[spoiler:as he backstabs the rest of the crew. When he does, the AltText links to a video of [[Series/{{Firefly}} "Aaah! Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"]].]]

%%* A character in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3'' named literally The Jester falls in this trope before revealing himself to be [[spoiler:Arkham, the BigBad, in disguise]].

Compare WildCard, HeelFaceRevolvingDoor and DoubleAgent.

* Saemon Havarian from ''VideoGame/BaldursGate II'', as {{lampshade|Hanging}}d ''repeatedly'' by [[FanNickname CHARNAME]], the supporting cast, [[spoiler:the villain]], and anyone else who's ever had to deal with him ever. If it hadn't been for the fact that sidequests equal more XP and loot, going along with almost ''anything'' he says becomes a major point of WhoWouldBeStupidEnough.

* Evil Harry Dread in ''Literature/TheLastHero'' is the Disc's last EvilOverlord, who joins up with the last {{Barbarian Hero}}es on their final quest because they're the only ones who remember the old days and how things used to work. And then betrays them, because that's what Evil Overlords do. And the Silver Horde completely understand this. Of ''course'' he has to betray them; if he didn't he'd be betraying the whole Barbarian Hero/Evil Overlord dynamic.

* Rupert of Hentzau, one of the main antagonists in ''Literature/ThePrisonerOfZenda'', will stab just about anybody - hero or villain, whichever seems most fun - in the back, with an [[AffablyEvil amiable smile]] on his face. The women of {{Ruritania}} have a collective crush on him; even the hero keeps bringing up his [[FoeYay positive qualities]].

* TheMedic from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is pretty seriously unhinged, and tends to make a lot of comments about murdering all of his teammates. However, he still likes all of them, and most of them are friendly with him as well. Taken UpToEleven in the spin-off comics where he [[spoiler: joins the mercenary group hunting down said teammates, eagerly expecting a bloodbath,]] and yet is genuinely surprised when people aren't happy to see him.

This is OlderThanPrint -- the archetypical example is the ''Literature/ProseEdda'''s depiction (which, for whatever it's worth, diverges markedly from that within the older ''Literature/PoeticEdda'') of the [[Myth/NorseMythology Norse god Loki]]. Much like the Lovable Traitor, it's a misconception to think of him simply as evil -- although he's not above being TheJester in the most classy way he can.

* [[TheBigGuy Jayne Cobb]] from ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' may have made a deal with the bad guy in the pilot episode and tries to turn [[TheMedic Simon]] and [[ChildSoldiers River]] over to the Feds in "Ariel", but only out of foolish greed than genuine malice and he comes to regret the latter incident.

%%* Nagi in ''Anime/MaiHiME'' (less so in ''Anime/MaiOtome'', where he is the BigBad)

* Creator/NeilGaiman

%%* A character in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 3'' named literally The Jester falls in this trope before revealing himself to be [[spoiler:Arkham, the BigBad, in disguise]].

* TheMedic from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is pretty seriously unhinged, and tends to make a lot of comments about murdering all of his teammates. However, he still likes all of them, and most of them are friendly with him as well. Take UpToEleven in the spin-off comics where he [[spoiler: joins the mercenary group hunting down said teammates, eagerly expecting a bloodbath,]] and yet is genuinely surprised when people aren't happy to see him.

* ''Film/{{Labyrinth}} features Hoggle, Sarah's cuddly goblin friend, who betrays her to Jareth, although he doesn't feel good about it.

%%* Hoggle the grumpy dwarf in ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}''.

[[folder:Comics]]
* The Fixer is often this for the ''Comicbook/{{Thunderbolts}}''. He frequently switches sides or abandons his friends to die to save his own skin. He doesn't care about money, power, revenge, altruism, duty or loyalty. He only cares about the challenge of a task, proving he's the smartest one in the room and staying alive. He will help save the world or help conquer it provided he is given an interesting technical challenge to figure out.

* Krager in Creator/DavidEddings' ''Literature/TheElenium''. He's openly and unrepentantly on the side of the bad guys (he's basically TheDragon's sidekick), but he has no real loyalty to them, he just thinks they're going to win. If the heroes capture him, he'll trade information for his life, and it's always good information, so they'll accept the deal the ''next'' time they capture him. Thanks to this, he gets away with murder ([[TearJerker literally]]) [[spoiler:for the whole series, since by the time his usefulness is spent (meaning the heroes can kill him) it's obvious he's dying of liver disease.]]

* Lord Gro from "Worm Ouroboros". He feels that any idiot can do well by being on the winning side but that true genius and sportsmanship lies in joining the losing side and helping them to become the winning side. So in the war between Witchland and Demonland he deserts whichever side is winning to help the losing side and does this several times throughout the novel. He is unhappy but not surprised at the sort of reputation this gives him.

* Oscar from ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'', whose inevitable treachery [[DevilInPlainSight is practically advertised]]. Oscar seems to revel in his aesthetic as an untrustworthy bastard, having "EVIL" printed on his trousers, "BAD GUY" on his jacket, and "BAD MAN" on the NiceHat he dons [[spoiler:as he backstabs the rest of the crew. When he does, the AltText links to a video of [[Series/{{Firefly}} "Aaah! Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"]].]]