History Main / TheEvilPrince

Traditionally, there wasn't a lot of Evil Princesses (though they are slightly more common in modern media as a subversion of the PrincessClassic trope). One explanation is that, perhaps because of [[PrincessClassic the very strong influence of fairy tale (and]] [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney) heroines]], [[WomenAreWiser princesses are generally]] [[FemalesAreMoreInnocent seen as good characters]]. Another explanation is that royal daughters are usually not in the line of succession and have nothing to gain by disposing of their rivals. However, since in fiction [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queens can be evil]], the odd evil princess often turns out to be a total tyrant if she's ever successful in taking the throne for herself. However, most Queen examples of the trope were consorts of a king, not princesses who inherit the throne.[[note]]A rarity in the Medieval era and similar cultures/periods which are mostly male-dominated, especially when MightMakesRight[[/note]]

** In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Prince Zuko subverts this trope entirely as even before his DarkAndTroubledPast is revealed it is clear that he is loyal [[WellDoneSonGuy to a fault]] towards his father the EvilOverlord. It is only after two and a half seasons of CharacterDevelopment, [[spoiler: IOW when he makes a HeelFaceTurn and becomes the Sixth Ranger[=/=]TheAtoner,]] that he seeks Ozai's overthrow, and still only for the purpose of ending the war. While he does become Fire Lord, it was never the true reason for his decision.

** Also played straight with [[spoiler: Unalaq]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', yet that was part of something bigger.

For some reason, there are very few Evil Princesses. One explanation is that, perhaps because of [[PrincessClassic the very strong influence of fairy tale (and]] [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney) heroines]], [[WomenAreWiser princesses are generally]] [[FemalesAreMoreInnocent seen as good characters]]. Another explanation is that royal daughters are usually not in the line of succession and have nothing to gain by disposing of their rivals. However, since in fiction [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queens can be evil]], the odd evil princess often turns out to be a total tyrant if she's ever successful in taking the throne for herself. However, most Queen examples of the trope were consorts of a king, not princesses who inherit the throne.[[note]]A rarity in the Medieval era and similar cultures/periods which are mostly male-dominated, especially when MightMakesRight[[/note]]

Additionally, the Evil Princess is becoming more common in recent media as a subversion of the PrincessClassic trope, although her goals are often very different than the aspirations of usurpation shared by her SpearCounterpart (usually, the Evil Princess is a [[EvilAllAlong twist villain]] because of the overtired DamselInDistress trope). An Evil Princess who takes power typically wants to prove that she's MoreDeadlyThanTheMale and wishes to have all the men of her kingdom kneel in submission before her and obey her every whim, especially her male relatives if [[StayInTheKitchen they had previously dismissed her]] [[HeirClubForMen as "just a woman"]]. If she hasn't already killed them as part of her coup, that is.

* Almost everyone in ''LightNovel/TheBrideOfAdarshan'' assumes main character Alexid to be one of these. He's called the "Black Demon" for his apparent savagery in battle, he consistently wears dark clothing, and [[spoiler: his mother was a commoner]]. [[spoiler: Even his ''mentor, who raised him,'' believed Alexid harbored resentment towards his older brother the king and harbored ambitions to take the throne. This culminated in his mentor trying to kill him.]] The truth is the complete opposite. Alexid truly loves his brother and is actually ''terrified'' by the prospect of taking over the throne since he doesn't have the same knack for ruling a country.

In terms of the ranks of AuthorityTropes, the tropes that are equal are PrinceCharming, PrinceCharmless, WarriorPrince, TheWisePrince, and all PrincessTropes. The next steps down are TheGoodChancellor, EvilChancellor, StandardRoyalCourt, and DecadentCourt. The next steps up are TheCaligula, TheGoodKing, GodSaveUsFromTheQueen, TheHighQueen, SheIsTheKing, and TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing'': Scar, King Mufasa's younger sibling, kills his brother and tries to kill his nephew.

Contrast with ShelteredAristocrat, TheWisePrince, and KnightInShiningArmor.

* Prince Jewelius in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fic ''Fanfic/LovedAndLost''. One of the nephews of the immortal princesses Celestia and Luna, he [[BitchInSheepsClothing initially comes off as a noble prince]], but he [[EvilAllAlong unexpectedly]] and successfully uses the events of "A Canterlot Wedding" to turn the public against his aunts as well as his elder cousin Cadance, Shining Armor and Twilight's friends, exiling them all and proclaiming himself Equestria's king. It's later revealed that [[spoiler:he has for years been [[GreenEyedMonster jealous of]] Celestia and Cadance's HundredPercentAdorationRating and [[CrimeConcealingHobby travelled a lot in order to find a way to usurp them]]. When he was told the date of Cadance's wedding day, he stroke a partnership with Queen Chrysalis and helped her infiltrate Canterlot, but when he decided he'll gain more out of [[CorruptTheCutie making Twilight Sparkle his pawn]], he double-crossed the Changelings [[XanatosSpeedChess at the last minute]] and helped Twilight defeat them, painting the two of them as the heroes who saved the day, while all the other heroes became scapegoats. Jewelius ultimately brings an end to his reign -- [[KarmicDeath and life]] -- by [[VillainBall luring the banished heroes back to Canterlot because he wants to personally make sure both Cadance and Celestia will die]]. He even [[RedemptionRejection rejects the offer Celestia gives him during the final battle about redeeming himself]] and ruling Equestria as the princesses' equal because he's so sure he can keep all the power to himself]].

* The revisionist historical novel ''Literature/TheSunneInSplendour'' was written to rescue Richard III from his reputation as this. The trope is completely averted in the early part of the book, as he is loyal to Edward IV and doesn't want his older brother George executed. Subverted later, in that he deposes his nephews based on legitimate evidence and genuine concern for what the Woodville-controlled Edward V would mean for the country. He certainly has nothing to do with the death of his beloved wife, and he has absolutely no sexual interest in his niece, despite MaliciousSlander to the contrary.
* Believed to be the case in-universe in ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle''. The Valerians fear that their (supposedly) evil twin princes [[spoiler:Fai and Yuui]] will usurp the throne someday and this is implied to be part of the reason that said twins are "punished" as horribly as they are.

This trope is rooted in an underlying belief that certain persons are or are not meant to rule, particularly when the monarch is understood to hold the throne by the will of some higher power. King Bob, by circumventing the rightful sequence of succession, is an illegitimate ruler--he wasn't ''meant'' to have the throne--and thus he and his rule will be bad. The irony is that legitimate rulers are not automatically good: the firstborn son may be a RoyalBrat; the King who believes he is [[AGodAmI descended from the gods]] may become a tyrant. On the other hand, the law of succession may be a better system for determining the ruler than [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority combat and/or murder]] as a man who would literally kill for the throne is unlikely to rule with kindness.

** Clovis gleefully slaughters a Japanese district just to find his science experiment. His feeble excuse was that some of them ''may'' have killed his family, and he responded by killing hundreds more.
** Schnizel is a textbook sociopath who treats the world as one big video game to munchkin his way through. He goes as far as to [[spoiler:''nuke his own country's capital city'', and planned to nuke ''every'' developed country 'at war' so they would all bow to him.]]
** Lelouch himself, as an anti-hero, uses brainwashing and engineered environmental disasters to slaughter hundreds of thousands of soldiers at once to achieve victories. [[spoiler:Eventually, he assassinates his parents as vengeance for abandoning him and his sister to die ([[AssimilationPlot and for trying to devour the souls of all humanity or something]]), takes the throne with brainwashing, and runs a massive ZeroApprovalGambit to save the world by giving it the evil overlord it so desperately craved to vanquish.]]
** In fact, the only exception is Crown Prince Odysseus, who is so mellowed out and honest that nobody takes him seriously and everyone expects him to be immediately passed over despite being the oldest, which is pretty much what happens.

* ''Anime/CrossAnge'': Ange's younger brother, Julio, is shown to have plotted to usurp and dethrone his siblings even before Ange was revealed to be a Norma. At the midpoint of the series, he leads a genocidal purge on the ArmyOfThievesAndWhores - [[DidNotThinkThisThrough the army that unwillingly risked their lives to protect the world by piloting Norma-only mechas]] - so he can kill off Ange for good.

This is at least OlderThanPrint, stretching back to [[Myth/KingArthur Mordred]] and seen as recently as ''Film/{{Stardust}}''.

* ''Film/ThePrincess'': Julius is a ruthless foreign prince who sneers at the king's ruling with compassion, seizing control over his kingdom. Then he attempts to force the princess into marrying him to legitimize this.

* ''Film/TheIllusionist'': Prince Leopold, who is based on Prince Rudolph of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Prince Rudolph committed a murder-suicide in his hunting lodge; his body was found with a number of bullets in it, indicating that there was a palace cover-up and that TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch. Given that, after his death, Franz Ferdinand became heir, things might have turned out ''better'' had Rudolph gained the throne.

* As a female example -- in ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' not 1, not 2, but 3 Sharen princesses worked together to overthrow their Queen and Mother. [[spoiler: However, she was LeftForDead, organized it in a way that they NeverFoundTheBody, assuming NoOneCouldSurviveThat. Said Queen escaped via GrandTheftMe and is biding her time [[HesJustHiding by hiding]].]]

** ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'': Prince John uses his advisor Sir Hiss to trick [[TheGoodKing his brother Richard]] into leaving England to go on UsefulNotes/TheCrusades, then proceeds to [[TyrantTakesTheHelm rule Nottingham with an iron fist]]. He may be a [[PsychopathicManchild childish]] SissyVillain, but he's [[NotSoHarmlessVillain more cunning and ruthless than he seems]]; he imposes ridiculously high taxes, imprisons most of the townspeople when they can't pay, and comes close to killing Robin Hood a couple of times.

** ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'': Prince John. He uses his advisor Sir Hiss to trick [[TheGoodKing his brother Richard]] into leaving England to go on UsefulNotes/TheCrusades, then proceeds to [[TyrantTakesTheHelm rule Nottingham with an iron fist]]. He may be a [[PsychopathicManchild childish]] SissyVillain, but he's [[NotSoHarmlessVillain more cunning and ruthless than he seems]]; he imposes ridiculously high taxes, imprisons most of the townspeople when they can't pay, and comes close to killing Robin Hood a couple of times.

%%** ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'': Prince John.

** In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Prince Zuko subverts this trope entirely as even before his DarkAndTroubledPast is revealed it is clear that he is loyal [[WellDoneSonGuy to a fault]] towards his father the EvilOverlord. It is only after two and a half seasons of CharacterDevelopment, [[spoiler: IOW when he makes a HeelFaceTurn and becomes the Sixth Ranger[=/=]TheAtoner,]] that he seeks Ozai's overthrow.

* On ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice,'' Count Vertigo is this, despite having a different title. He attempts to steal the donor heart intended for his niece, the ten-year-old Queen Perdita, to gain the throne of Vlatava. WordOfGod has hinted that he might have had a hand in whatever happened to Perdita's dad, as well.

Evil Prince Bob knows he's the stuff of which great kings are made. Unfortunately, while he is [[RoyalBlood in line]] for the throne, there are a lot of lesser men in front of him. If only Prince Bob could . . . [[DeadlyEuphemism persuade them to get out of the way]], then nothing would stand between him and the glorious reign he ''knows'' he is destined to have.

This is at least OlderThanPrint, stretching back to [[KingArthur Mordred]] and seen as recently as ''Film/{{Stardust}}''.

** [[spoiler: 3/4 of the royal sons of the Vinsmoke Family fit this trope nicely as Prince Ichji, Prince Niji, and Prince Yonji are huge murderous, lustful douchebags who brutally bash their decent brother Sanji for caring for people lower in status, something royalty should not do. While they have no intention to kill off their equally asshole father King Judge, they still have no issue butchering an island full of soldiers just to end a war and even ordering their henchman to play Human Shield for them. Ironically the only decent prince in the family is the one who refuses his royal status, Sanji, who is both Warrior Prince and Wise Prince. When Sanji returns to his kingdom after 13 years of training, he shows his different attitude towards his brothers. When his younger bro Yonji tries ripping into him like he used to, he gets a very different [[CurbStomBattle response]] but Sanji still fears his older brothers and is forced to act like an evil prince so they don't kill everyone close to him]].

* GenderInverted in ''Fanfic/SoRotVieBlut''. Snow White has wanted to become queen since childhood, to the point where she has her father poisoned in an attempt to get the throne. When her step-mother Grimhilde becomes leader until her step-daughter comes of age, Snow White repeatedly tries to assassinate her over the course of several years.

** ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'': [[spoiler:Prince Hans]] [[spoiler: Since knocking off his twelve older brothers would be a lot of work, his ambitions involve usurping a throne outside his own kingdom through either manipulation and marriage or murder, whichever comes first. All of the above would also be quite acceptable to him.]]

* In ''Theatre/{{Pippin}}'', the title character rebels against his kingly father and kills him. He's ''not'' portrayed as evil, though his step-mother, who assists him in his rebellion, is; he just has misguided (not to mention anachronistic) notions of what a good king ought to do.

* ''VideoGame/AmaranthineVoyageTheTreeOfLife'': When the heroine shows up the fantasy land that houses the Tree of Life, at first it seems that the land and the Tree are under the thrall of a dark prince who killed his older half-brother by letting him drown and whose evil is poisoning the kingdom and the Tree. Turns out to be a subversion and a case of [[spoiler: MotherMakesYouKing, plus said queen's toxic influence. She's the reason the inconvenient first heir died, and afterwards she manipulated her son from the shadows. Once freed from her influence by your arrival, the prince becomes a useful ally.]]

** In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Prince Zuko subverts this trope entirely as even before his DarkAndTroubledPast is revealed it is clear that he is loyal [[WellDoneSonGuy to a fault]] towards his father the EvilOverlord. It is only after two and a half seasons of CharacterDevelopment, [[spoiler: IOW when he makes a HeelFaceTurn and become the Sixth Ranger[=/=]TheAtoner,]] that he seeks Ozai's overthrow.

** Season 15, known as ''"Seabound"'' has Prince Kalmaar as its main antagonist, being a treacherous cruel and ambitious member of the Merlopian royal family and wanting to wage war on the surface, going as far as [[spoiler:murdering his own father to take up the throne.]]

* RareFemaleExample: Joei from ''LightNovel/TheTwelveKingdoms'', younger sister to [[spoiler:the deceased]] Queen Joukaku and aspirant to the Kei throne, who tries to usurp it from the rightful heir Youko.