History Main / MasterPoisoner

* Pak Yong Qi in ''Film/KillingGunther''; a haemophobic Agent Peacock who primarily works with toxins and acids as he believes them to be "more elegant" and "sophisticated" than other means of homicide.

* Newsuit Nan in ''ComicStrip/DickTracy''. She was a chemist who specilised in the creation of blood-based toxins which she would use in poisoned nail polish and inject into her victims by scratching them with her FemmeFatalons. Her creations included an instantly fatal poison; a 100% reliable TruthSerum; and a poison that sapped the target's free will, making them a puppet.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In the sequel comic ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch'', none other than [[spoiler: Prince Zuko's mother, Ursa, is revealed to be this. She knew how to make an odorless, colorless, lethal poison that was next to impossible to detect. She ended up offering a deal to Ozai; she would concoct the poison and give it to him to do as he pleased (the idea being he'd poison his father and then take the throne) and Zuko (who was going to be executed as a punishment to Ozai) would be spared. Ozai accepts.]]

** [[Characters/BatmanRasAlGhul Ra's al Ghul]]'s [[Characters/BatmanLeagueOfAssassins League of Assassins]] generally keeps a few in its employ, most commonly [[Characters/TeenTitansCheshire Cheshire]] who keeps her weapons drenched in poisons. Other poisoners associated with the League include "Viper", a non-combatant whose entire job revolved around creating new poisons and whose concoctions once nearly killed Ben Turner before he came up with the code-name Bronze Tiger.

* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' rogue [[Characters/TeenTitansCheshire Cheshire]] is considered one of the greatest poison experts in Franchise/TheDCU, possessing a vast amount of knowledge about chemicals and toxins, to the point she has created some positively awful concoctions to unleash upon her opponents while also making them [[PerfectPoison almost undetectable]] and has [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity made herself immune to most of them]]. Most of her weaponry is also [[PoisonedWeapons coated in poisons]], making a [[DeadlyScratch single scratch being extremely deadly]].

* The specialty of the Hebi Clan of serpent ayakashi in ''VisualNovel/EnchantedInTheMoonlight''.

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* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Jobe from Whateley Academy creates toxins in his lab to carry around just in case somebody attacks him, and injects himself with the corresponding antitoxin to prevent self-poisoning. He creates a new toxin ''daily'' so people cannot become immune/create their own antitoxin.
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* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': The inevitable showdown between the RoguesGallery's two master poisoners occurred in "Harley and Ivy" when ComicBook/TheJoker came looking for Harley Quinn after she had [[AmbiguouslyGay gone to live with Poison Ivy]]. Joker had his goons grab Ivy and sprayed a mist from his poisonous lapel flower in her face. Ivy was completely immune.

* In ''VideoGame/Disgaea5'', Chapter 4's Netherworld, Poisondise, is a tropical vacation destination with completely toxic water. Hedler, the overlord of this Netherworld, is a Winged Warrior (the name of the moth class) who [[WeakButSkilled specializes in utilizing poison instead of brute strength]], going as far as [[DestructiveSaviour poisoning his entire Netherworld to defend it from invading armies.]] [[spoiler: After defeating him and defending his Netherworld from the invading Lost Army, he joins your group.]] [[spoiler: He still obsesses over poisons, going as far as to openly contemplate poisoning everyone's food for his amusement.]]
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''

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** Professional hitman Somg specializes in poisoning people. He is obsessed with a quality of his poisons and makes all of them himself, in his own laboratory. On top of regular poisons, he is able to create deadly artificial viruses and can tailor their effects for various situations - [[spoiler:like a virus that makes a target appear seriously sick, but becomes inactive after a few hours, leaving only minor damage.]] His talents work even beyond the poisons - for example, he creates highly effective nutrients.
** Manami Okuda is a master poisoner in-training; she's very good in science in general, and uses that talent in the class to make poisons to try and kill Koro-sensei. However, her delivery needs serious work: her introduction has her ''politely ask'' Koro-sensei to drink her poison. In the epilogue, [[spoiler:she and Takebayashi use their scientific talents to develop universal artificial blood]].

* Assassin of Red, a.k.a. Semiramis, of ''Literature/FateApocrypha''. Her Noble Phantasm, Sikera Ušum: Arrogant King's Alcohol, allows her to create a plethora of terrifyingly deadly poisons while inside her fortress. This includes being able to give her magecraft or even the air itself poison attribute, have her poison be composed of such things as Hydra venom, and even summon poisonous beasts such as the Basmu from Mesopotamian mythology. This is actually why she's summoned as an Assassin and not a Caster. [[SquareRaceRoundClass Despite having the powers and skill set for the mage class]], her legend of being the first poisoner is more famous, so she is placed in the class of illusive killers.

* Sucy of ''Franchise/LittleWitchAcademia'' is supposedly a general potions specialist, but all we really see her do is make poisons. And she is ''very'' good at it; in [[Anime/LittleWitchAcademia2013 the first film]], one of her concoctions turned it's victim to into [[ImMelting a pile of goo]], which then melted through the solid stone floor!

* Megumi Takani of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' could be considered this in her DarkAndTroubledPast. She worked as the assistant of a doctor who doubled as a drug dealer under the thumb of CorruptCorporateExecutive Kanryu Takeda, and she ended up being forced to produce [[DrugsAreBad opium]] after said doctor was murdered. She knows all about different poisons, but now cures them (among other roles befitting TheMedic).
* [[spoiler: Dr. Katsuragi]] from ''Manga/SakuraGari'' made his own drugs and poison, using hemlock and arsenic among other things. [[spoiler: He used these to poison Lady Saiki to death and later he began to slowly poison Lord Saiki. Also, he slipped a roofie in Masataka's tea to kidnap, torture and rape him.]]
* Coco from ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'' not only able to [[PoisonousPerson create and secrete various poisons in his own body]] - he also expert in all kinds of poisons, which is suitable, since his enemies often have immunity and he has to get crafty to kill them. Not only he can create poisons with various effects, from ones that paralyse targets to ones that make their flesh melt away, he also developed virus poison, which can adapt to immune systems of the target and strike down foes, who normally would be immune to it. He is so skilled, that he can poison even ''robots'' - by using gases, which turn into highly corrosive acid on certain metals. Surprisingly, he [[BadPowersGoodPeople is the most nice person out of Four Kings]].

** This was [[Characters/BatmanPoisonIvy Poison Ivy]]'s original shtick, before she became a PoisonousPerson.
** [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] is a prodigy at this. In both the [[Film/Batman1989 1989 movie]] and the [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries animated series]], he develops "binary compounds" by which he can succeed in murdering victims with the ''second'' exposure, thus appearing not to have been directly responsible for their deaths. The man's chemistry skill is such he can create incredibly toxic compounds out of nothing but the contents of a janitor's closet.

** Professor Milo's expertise in chemistry has allowed him to develop toxins for a wide range of effects. These have included a dust that caused Batman to develop a fear of bats, and a gas that drove him into a suicidal depression.

* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' rogue [[Characters/TeenTitansCheshire Cheshire]] is considered as one of the greatest poison experts in Franchise/TheDCU, possessing a vast amount of knowledge about chemicals and toxins, to the point she has created some positively awful concoctions to unleash upon her opponents while also making them [[PerfectPoison almost undetectable]] and has [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity made herself immune to most of them]]. Most of her weaponry is also [[PoisonedWeapons coated in poisons]], making a [[DeadlyScratch single scratch being extremely deadly]].

* In ''Film/{{Waxworks}}'', the czar takes physical delight in watching his victims die, after poisoning them. Ivan's "Poison-Mixer" writes the name of the victim on an hour glass, and once they are poisoned, the glass is turned over, the man dying just as the last sand falls.

* ''Literature/TheBelgariad'': First introduced as a reluctant antagonist, Sadi is shown to be exemplary even by Nyissan standards, especially after becoming a protagonist in ''The Malloreon''. He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of, and incredible skill at, pharmacology, drug-dealing, and anything related to potions and chemicals in general. He is creative, clever and wily, able to weaponise almost any chemical concoction, favouring PoisonedWeapons, and is a rare fictional example of a truly badass eunuch. Garion's statement on his skill is NotHyperbole, as Sadi eventually proves through some excellent people-watching skills and a [[CleanFoodPoisonedFork poisoned spoon]].

* ''Literature/MurderForTheModernGirl'': Ruby Newhouse's main method of killing is through poison. She has a wide variety of poisons and learned how to make them from common chemicals and plants. Her poisonings are diligent enough that the people she killed had their deaths recorded as suicide, accidents or disease, letting her get away with murder. She is also able to put her poisons in needles and jewelry to use as weapons.

** Maesters of the Citadel, when fully trained, are healers by profession. But, there is a flip-side to that coin: a few indulge in this trope when asked to, when they deem it appropriate to meet their obligations or when euthanasia is required.

* ''Series/DeadMansGun'': Lillian/Tanya in "Black Widow". She murders her first husband by injecting poison into the bottle through the cork; concocts a poison that she siaks into the cloth cage cover and drapes over the lovebirds' cage to kill them; and kills [[spoiler:Stanford]] by serving him a toxic mushroom that is completely harmless, unless consumed with wine.

** One of Oberyn's bastard daughters, Tyene Sand, is knowledgeable about poisons just like daddy. She poisoned Bronn with her daggers during their fight in the Water Gardens and later, gave him the antidote for it while in prison. In "Mother's Mercy", she also the one who gave Ellaria the poison to kill Myrcella Baratheon when she left for King's Landing.

* ''Series/LukeCage2016'': Tilda is a doctor who now specializes in herbal remedies, which includes nightshade. [[spoiler:She uses her skills to murder Mariah with poisonous lipstick.]]

* Alfyn Greengrass from ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'' is primarily a [[TheMedic healer]] who just wants to help people, but is certainly capable of using his knowledge as an apothecary to inflict harm when needed. One of his class skills, Empoison, always succeeds if the target is vulnerable to poison--and the vast majority of enemies, including most chapter bosses and ''several of the setting's gods'', are. He can also mix items to Concoct harmful powders that have a chance of inflicting various StatusEffects, including poison, to the whole enemy team. In story, he carries a plant called ''slumberthorn'' whose toxin not only pulls the victim into a deep sleep but [[spoiler: plagues the victim with horrifying nightmares if they have any evil deeds weighing on their conscience. He uses this to subdue and partially reform the Chapter 2 boss after their battle.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/CarmenSandiego'': Lady Dokuso (who's name means [[MeaningfulName Lady Poison]]), a member of V.I.L.E, is one of these. She has a masterful knowledge of all kinds of poison and is capable of using any numbers of means to poison her targets, from darts and blades to innocuous things like chopsticks.
* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'': Scorpion was once the Valley of Peace's best healer, skilled with the expertise of using medical herbs and experimental flowers that grew in the Valley's rich soil as cures for various sicknesses, such as the use of sun orchards as the cure for river-fever. One day, she stumbled upon a hypnosis potion and injected herself with it, poisoning her body and mind. She uses her expertise with herbs to become the mistress of poisons and mind control drugs.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Young Graham Young]], aka "the teacup poisoner". Obsessed with poisons from a young age, Young began poisoning school friends and members of his own family by lacing their food and drinks with antimony and thallium, resulting in the death of his step-mother. He was eventually caught and sent to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital at the age of 14. Upon his release several years later, he landed a job as a tea boy at a factory, where he proceeded to poison his co-workers, two of whom died. He was convicted of two murders in 1972 - his conviction was aided by a detailed diary he had kept of his poisonings - and spent the remainder of his life incarcerated at Parkhurst prison.

* ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' First introduced as a reluctant antagonist, Sadi is shown to be exemplary even by Nyissan standards, especially after becoming a protagonist in ''The Malloreon''. He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of, and incredible skill at, pharmacology, drug-dealing, and anything related to potions and chemicals in general. He is creative, clever and wily, able to weaponise almost any chemical concoction, favouring PoisonedWeapons, and is a rare fictional example of a truly badass eunuch. Garion's statement on his skill is NotHyperbole, as Sadi eventually proves through some excellent people-watching skills and a [[CleanFoodPoisonedFork poisoned spoon]].

-->-- '''Garion of Riva''', ''Literature/TheMalloreon''

* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' rogue [[Characters/TeenTitansCheshire Cheshire]] is considered as one of the greatest poison experts in the ''Franchise/DCUniverse'', possessing a vast amount of knowledge about chemicals and toxins, to the point she has created some positively awful concoctions to unleash upon her opponents while also making them [[PerfectPoison almost undetectable]] and has [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity made herself immune to most of them]]. Most of her weaponry is also [[PoisonedWeapons coated in poisons]], making a [[DeadlyScratch single scratch being extremely deadly]].

* ''Literature/TheMalloreon'': First introduced as a reluctant antagonist in the ''Literature/{{Belgariad}}'', Sadi is shown to be exemplary even by Nyissan standards especially after becoming a protagonist. He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of, and incredible skill at, pharmacology, drug-dealing, and anything related to potions and chemicals in general. He is creative, clever and wily, able to weaponise almost any chemical concoction, favouring PoisonedWeapons, and is a rare fictional example of a truly badass eunuch. Garion's statement on his skill is NotHyperbole, as Sadi eventually proves through some excellent people-watching skills and a [[CleanFoodPoisonedFork poisoned spoon]].

** Poison is listed as one of [[Characters/BatmanJasonTodd Red Hood]]'s specialties, and he was able to showcase this in ''ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison'' where he secretly poisoned a prison cafeteria, killing 82 and others severely ill.
** ''ComicBook/RedRobin'': Funnel of the Council of Spiders takes pride in creating quick-acting incredibly painful poisons and is insulted by other poison using murderers whose poisons don't fit what she thinks a perfect poison should be or are "boring".

* The ComicBook/RedSkull has this as part of his spy/assassin tradecraft. His trademark is the "dust of death" poison - which kills the victim within seconds and causes their face to shrivel, their hair to fall out and their skin to turn red thus making them resemble a red skull - but he's been shown to use various other substances over the years, always to good effect.

* ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfAminaAlSirafi'': Dalila is infamous as the "[[RedBaron Mistress of Poisons]]", an expert in everything from knockout drugs to [[PoisonIsCorrosive horrific acids]]. Amina notes that while she can kill someone in a fight, Dalila can strike down a victim with perfect precision from the next city over.

*** The 2nd Edition ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'' bestiary contains numerous quotes from commentators, ranging from common yokels to more knowledgeable experts. One such "scholar" is Rikkit'tik, a Skaven assassin, and all he has to say about various monster entries is his preferred method of poisoning them. He recommends arsenic for his fellow Skaven, for example.

* ''Literature/MurderForTheModernGirl'': Ruby Newhouse's main method of killing is through poison. She has a wide variety of poisons and learned how to make them from common chemicals and plants. Her poisonings are diligent enough that the people she killed had their cause of death recorded as suicide, natural causes or disease, letting her get away with murder. She is also able to put her poisons in needles and jewelry to use as weapons.

* Due to his... unusual... hobbies, Manga/CountCain Hargreaves of ''Godchild'' is very knowledgeable in-- and collects-- poisons. This becomes relevant to the plot [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer surprisingly often.]]
* Assassin of Red, a.k.a Semiramis, of ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha''. Her Noble Phantasm, Sikera Ušum: Arrogant King's Alcohol, allows her to create a plethora of terrifyingly deadly poisons while inside her fortress. This includes being able to give her magecraft or even the air itself poison attribute, have her poison be composed of such things as Hydra venom, and even summon poisonous beasts such as the Basmu from Mesopotamian mythology. This is actually why she's summoned as an Assassin and not a Caster. [[SquareRaceRoundClass Despite having the powers and skill set for the mage class]], her legend of being the first poisoner is more famous, so she is placed in the class of illusive killers.

* In ''Manga/InuYasha'' there are several, including Sango, Yakorou Dokusen, and Mukotsu from the Band of Seven who almost succeeded [[spoiler: in killing half the titular character's team]].

* Beyond Birthday from ''LightNovel/AnotherNote'' drugged all his victims before killing and dismembering them.

* Centauri in ''Series/BabylonFive'', in the past, regularly used poisons in their power games among the nobles. The practice apparently holds as of the time of the show, as Londo relies on a practitioner of the art for a poison to kill [[spoiler:Emperor Cartagia]] and casually slips a terrifying poison to one of his political rivals (merely to pressure him: the first component is harmless until it's combined with a second).

** ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'':

** ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'''s background material mentions the Venenum Temple of Assassins. Unlike the operatives of some of the more overt Temples, Venenum Assassins work behind the scenes, poisoning high-priority targets before the battles can begin, with good training in stealth and such a devastating array of poisons they can kill ''anything'', even daemons, with the right toxin. One piece of FlavorText details the successful assassination of all thousand members of an anti-Imperial planetary government by the Venenum Assassin Urua Thereaux who spent three days poisoning the chairs of their council chamber.
** In ''TabletopGame/{{Necromunda}}'', the 3rd Edition background material mentions that the alchemical skill of [[AmazonBrigade House Escher]] has led them to become masters of developing poisons and toxins. From bespoke venom designed to kill a specific enemy to psychotropic gases and toxins that can liquefy flesh, the chemists of House Escher produce a wide variety of exotic substances for their gangs to utilise. This is represented in the rules by the Escher having access to a number of [[PoisonedWeapon weapons with the Toxin ability]] from creation.
* In ''TabletopGame/GodsOfTheFall'', Aladurra crafts deadly poisons that often cause additional deleterious side effects (such as intense pain before death).
* One of the skills that fits under the Scorpion Clan's [[PlanetOfHats hat]] in ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings''. The Shosuro family in particular kept large gardens full of various plants that could all be turned into some kind of poison.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', a number of classes such as rogues, assassins, and ninjas are proficient poisoners, but it's the Alchemist, which can not only make poisons but becomes completely immune to them, can refine them into a more deadly, harder to resist form, make them last longer on the weapon and make them in a fraction of the time with reduced material costs.

** From ''Oblivion'' onwards, poisoning is a subset of the Alchemy skill. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', the master trainer of Alchemy is a young vampire and a Dark Brotherhood assassin who is this trope. You also can become this, and the Brotherhood offers you a unique poison ingredient for the assassination of [[spoiler: Emperor Titus Mede II]] (however, it's strong enough to take half HP from [[BonusBoss the Ebony Warrior]]).

* ''Film/BlackButler'': The killer's WeaponOfChoice is a virus that causes near-instant mummification. The murders are testing this virus so that it can be released on Tokyo.

* Mejai from ''ComicBook/LeScorpion'' is a gypsy assassin who specialises in the use of poisons.

* ''LightNovel/BeastTamerAndTheCatGirl'': A common tactic Rein uses is the contracting of poisonous creatures to subdue enemies. He has a thorough knowledge of which animals can do what, as he uses different poisonous beasts each time he uses this trick. Against Tania he used poisonous ravens he detected in the area, against the Jet-Black Fangs and Arios he used bees, and when rounding up corrupt guardsmen he incapacitated them by trapping them in an enclosed area into which he sent butterflies with paralyzing poison scales. In the last case Rein and company can watch from the area's upper floors because he's aware of the scales being heavier than air.

* Sitilvon from ''Literature/{{Kane}}'' story "Misericorde" is fascinated with poisons and studies them methodically, conducting experiments on unlucky travellers kidnapped by her family. Once she killed [[WouldHurtAChild forty children]] to test the potency of various parts of monkshood plant. [[spoiler: She dies from [[KarmicDeath poison]] administered by a man she was trying to kill.]]

* The villain of the pilot of ''Series/{{Forever}}'', a former chemist who uses aconite, a near-instant and incredibly painful poison from the monkshood flower, and who is planning to use it in gas form to distribute through Grand Central Station as revenge on the train companies who were "responsible" for his wife's death on a subway track.

* ''Literature/BestServedCold'' has Morveer, a master poisoner for hire. He's very paranoid, noting that poisoners tend to die from their own wares.