History Main / WiseOldFolkFacade

* ''Anime/RanmaOneHalf'': The perverted old man, Happosai, likes to try to present himself as a wise old mentor to Ranma and the gang, but it fails to come off because he just cannot contain his underwear-stealing and lascivious-groping behaviors for more than a few minutes at a time in order to sell the wise and benevolent part.

* ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': When [[Characters/MonsterVerseWalterSimmons Walter Simmons]] and Ren Serizawa approach Dr. Lind for help accessing the HollowEarth, Simmons (who's played by the 50-something Creator/DemianBichir and has silver hair to boot) presents himself as a caring, soft-spoken and grandfatherly man who just wants to help the world stop Godzilla's seeming FaceHeelTurn, and he appears to connect with Lind over their shared proclivity for [[CrazyEnoughToWork crazy ideas]]. Once Simmons heads to Hong Kong [[spoiler:to oversee Mechagodzilla's completion]], he's revealed to be a manipulative, [[LackOfEmpathy amoral]] PsychopathicManchild who is just using the Hollow Earth expedition for his own ends and doesn't care what happens to them.

* In the 2003 series of ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', Dante first appears as a kindly old woman and [[MasterApprenticeChain the Elric's teacher, Izumi's, former mentor]], but in truth, she's the BigBad who created the Homunculi and a BodySnatcher who takes over her students since she's [[BodySurf changed bodies so many times]] to stay alive that they decay after only a few years. She takes over her latest protégé, Lyra, during the story.

* [[spoiler:Kor]] in ''VideoGame/JakII'' appears to be an old man who is allied with the [[LaResistance Underground]], has a seemingly calm demeanor, and is knowledgeable about the oncoming Metal Head forces. [[spoiler:Just a few missions before the endgame, Kor reveals himself as the [[GreaterScopeVillain leader of the Metal Heads]], kills [[BigBad Baron Praxis]], and is actually impatient and super-unpleasant when it comes to his true personality]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The title character of the episode "The Puppetmaster" is an elderly waterbender named Hama, who appears as a kindly old lady who invites the Gaang to her inn and offers to teach Katara some particularly advanced waterbending. Eventually, Katara learns that Hama is a particularly crazy and vengeful woman who, when imprisoned by the Fire Nation, mastered a particularly dark form of waterbending called "bloodbending", i.e. manipulating the water in people's bodies to control them, and she uses it to imprison innocent Fire Nation citizens.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': Darth Maul introduces himself to the teenage Jedi apprentice Ezra as a simple scholar of the Force and assists him against their [[EnemyMine mutual enemy]]. Ezra continues to vouch for him after he's revealed to be an OldMaster of TheDarkSide and even knowingly accepts him as an EvilMentor for a short time.

* ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': When [[Characters/MonsterVerseHumans Walter Simmons]] and Ren Serizawa approach Dr. Lind for help accessing the HollowEarth, Simmons (who's played by the 50-something Creator/DemianBichir and has silver hair to boot) presents himself as a caring, soft-spoken and grandfatherly man who just wants to help the world stop Godzilla's seeming FaceHeelTurn, and he appears to connect with Lind over their shared proclivity for [[CrazyEnoughToWork crazy ideas]]. Once Simmons heads to Hong Kong [[spoiler:to oversee Mechagodzilla's completion]], he's revealed to be a manipulative, [[LackOfEmpathy amoral]] PsychopathicManchild who is just using the Hollow Earth expedition for his own ends and doesn't care what happens to them.

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'': this is Odin's modus operandi while interacting with Atreus. Being a master manipulator and aware of the boy's sheer curiosity, he aims to win's Atreus' trust by offering answers to his many questions about his role in Ragnarok [[spoiler: during his stay in Asgard]] and presenting himself as a more reasonable parent figure than Kratos. The only reason Atreus doesn't trust him completely is his knowledge about Odin's countless crimes, but still he sees some good in him despite the evidence to the contrary. The real motivation behind this grandfatherly facade is to gain the knowledge behind the Rift by means of a magical mask carved with inscriptions that only Atreus could understand. Unsurprisingly, when [[spoiler: Atreus permanently closes the rift by breaking the mask] in the climax], Odin completely loses it and drops his own mask for good.

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'': this is Odin's modus operandi while interacting with Atreus. Being a master manipulator and aware of the boy's sheer curiosity, he aims to win's Atreus' trust by offering answers to his many questions about his role in Ragnarok [[spoiler: during his stay in Asgard]] and presenting himself as a more reasonable parent figure than Kratos. The only reason Atreus doesn't trust him completely is his knowledge about Odin's countless crimes, but still he sees some good in him despite the evidence to the contrary. The real motivation behind this grandfatherly facade is to gain the knowledge behind the Rift by means of a magical mask carved with inscriptions that only Atreus could understand. Unsurprisingly, when [[spoiler: Atreus permanently closes the rift by breaking the mask] in the climax], Odin completely loses it and drops his own mask for good. .

* ''GodOfWarRagnarok'': this is Odin's modus operandi while interacting with Atreus. Being a master manipulator and aware of the boy's sheer curiosity, he aims to win's Atreus' trust by offering answers to his many questions [[spoiler: during his stay in Asgard]] and presenting himself a more reasonable parent figure than Kratos. The only reason Atreus doesn't trust him completely is his knowledge about Odin's countless crimes and still he sees some good in him despite the evidence to the contrary. The real motivation behind this grandfatherly facade is to gain the knowledge behind the Rift by means of a magical mask with inscriptions that only Atreus could understand. Unsurprisingly, when [[spoiler: Atreus permanently closes the rift by breaking the mask] in the climax], Odin completely loses it and drops his own mask for good.

* Downplayed in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime VIII: The Big Freeze''. Although Mr. Thicknose is not evil, he does pass himself off as an old mentor just so he can get some attention. When snow falls down on the Great Valley and Little Foot reveals that he had told Mr. Thicknose before it happened and that Mr. Thicknose refused to believe him, everybody becomes aware of his lies. He does redeem himself in the end with even Littlefoot referring to him as the oldest and wisest.

* ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': When [[Characters/MonsterVerseHumans Walter Simmons]] and Ren Serizawa approach Dr. Lind for help accessing the HollowEarth, Simmons presents himself as a caring, soft-spoken and grandfatherly man who just wants to help the world stop Godzilla's seeming FaceHeelTurn, and he appears to connect with Lind over [[CrazyEnoughToWork crazy ideas]]. Once Simmons heads to Hong Kong [[spoiler:to oversee Mechagodzilla's completion]], he's revealed to be a manipulative, [[LackOfEmpathy amoral]] PsychopathicManchild who is just using the Hollow Earth expedition for his own ends and doesn't care what happens to them.

* ''Film/HotFuzz'' is predicated on the absurdity of a small town's Neighborhood Watch, which consists mostly of the town's elderly residents, forming a murderous conspiracy. The leader of said conspiracy is none other than the local police chief, who happens to be the father of one protagonist and initially does his best to establish himself as a parental figure to the other.

** In the [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 first movie]], [[WickedWitch Ursula]] starts her plan to overthrow King Triton by inviting Ariel in her lair. Even though Ariel is aware of the sea witch's reputation as a traitor of the court, Ursula quickly points out in her VillainSong to have [[HeelFaceTurn changed in better]] and started helping the "poor, unfortunate souls" of the sea as if she were some kind of FairyGodmother. Needless to say, Ursula didn't even care of Ariel in the first place, even calling her a "tramp" after the former almost kept up the end of the bargain. The handbook ''Literature/DisneyVillainsTheTopSecretFiles'' lampshades this trope with the picture caption shown above.

* ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': Similarly to the much more benevolent Preston Withmore, Commander Lyle Tiberious Rourke develops a strong bond with [[BadassBookworm Milo Thatch]] during the first phase of the expedition as if to soften the recent loss of the latter's grandfather (with whom he also successfully retrieved the Shepherd's Journal three years earlier) and use his charisma and decennial experience in the military to act as a new grandfatherly figure and role model. This is ultimately exploited when he reveals to Milo his plan to steal the Crystal and sell it on the black market, even advising him to not follow his grandfather's steps and instead join the mercenaries. As soon as Milo refuses, things so [[FauxAffablyEvil very]], [[VillainousBreakDown *very*]] [[AxCrazy downhill]]. Even though he actually offered Milo a chance to side with him, the following scenes show he didn't really care of him in the first place (e.g. punching him in the gut, nonchalantly stepping on his grandfather's picture and finally attacking him with a freaking ''[[AxCrazy fire axe]]'' in the climax). This selfishness and lack of empathy appear much more evident when he decides to [[KickTheDog kill Helga]] to make sure he will be the only one to get the sum paid for the Crystal.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda'': In "Stinging a Stinger," Link sees an old traveller in the woods being mugged by some goons. Link beats up the goons to save the old man. The old man introduces himself as Sleezenose, and offers Link a new sword as a reward for saving him. Link is reluctant to give up his current sword, but Sleezenose manipulates him into making the switch. It then turns out that the goons were working for Sleezenose, and let Link "save" him as part of a con to get Link's sword. Sleezenose then tries to sell the sword to Ganon, but sets too high a price, infuriating Ganon, who orders Sleezenose to be fed to Gohma with Link and Zelda. Sleezenose opens the cage, then attempts to escape on his own and lock Link and Zelda in. Fortunately, Link and Zelda stop him this time, and force him to assist them in defeating Ganon.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': [[SinisterMinister Judge Claude Frollo]] paints himself as a caring ParentalSubstitute to Quasimodo, but he's actually [[AbusiveParents an abusive figure]] to his adopted ward, only taking him when the Archdeacon of Notre Dame intervenes and stops him from killing him just because he was born deformed in the opening. He teaches Quasimodo to hate himself, tells him that the world is dark and cruel, and keeps him locked away from sight to prevent being associated with him. That, until his true colors are revealed and the façade is out after Quasimodo [[CallingTheOldManOut calls him out]] for his crimes, similar to the example above with Rapunzel and Mother Gothel.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' series BigBad Master Xehanort, despite being the epitome of ObviouslyEvil, pulls this off in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]''. Since his last encounter with [[BigGood Master Eraqus]] was a violent clash of opinions over the power of darkness, Xehanort cozies up to his [[WeUsedToBeFriends former friend]] by acting remorseful and humbled over succumbing to the dark. Then, after setting Eraqus's pupil Terra up to fail his Mark of Mastery exam, Xehanort presents himself to Terra as being more open-minded over the inner darkness that Terra struggles with. This slowly erodes Terra's faith in his mentor and friends for their prejudice against the darkness, allowing Xehanort to play Terra like a fiddle right up to coaxing Terra into helping him kill Eraqus. From then on, Xehanort never bothers with the act again for the duration of the series, as Terra and the entire cast's hatred of him only works in Xehanort's favor.

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'': Dickson is mostly characterized as Dunban's more loyal war buddy and Shulk's father figure, helping the heroes on their journey to Mechonis. When Shulk attempts to make peace with Mechonis through Egil, Dickson shoots him in the back, revealing that he was only catering to Shulk to get him to release Zanza, whom he was really loyal to, to inflict a Telethia-infested apocalypse. From that point on, he plays the {{Heel}} to LargeHam degrees.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' series BigBad Master Xehanort, despite being the epitome of ObviouslyEvil, pulls this off in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]''. Since his last encounter with [[BigGood Master Eraqus]] was a violent clash of opinions over the power of darkness, Xehanort cozies up to his [[WeUsedToBeFriends former friend]] by acting remorseful and humbled over succumbing to the dark. From there, after setting Eraqus's pupil Terra up to fail his Mark of Mastery exam, Xehanort presents himself to Terra as being more open-minded over the inner darkness that Terra is struggling with. This slowly erodes Terra's faith in his mentor and friends for their prejudice against the darkness, allowing Xehanort to play Terra like a fiddle. Of course, Xehanort drops the act entirely for the rest of the series once he unveils his true nature, as Terra's newfound hatred of him only works in Xehanort's favor.

** Averted with I.M. Meen himself, a deranged old wizard who openly despises children. He maybe [[FauxAffablyEvil feigns innocence in a mocking way]] a few times, but otherwise ''never'' hides his villainy.