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6
7->''"Arthur! Monkey out of nowhere!"''
8-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheTick''
9
10Sometimes you have a goal in mind for your story, but you have no idea how to get there. For those times where the end justifies the means there is the ''Diabolus ex Nihilo'' or "Devil from Nothing". The Diabolus ex Nihilo is an enemy so foul, so horrible, and so evil that it needs no {{backstory}} or reasoning. It just appears from nowhere, does its job of shaking things up and antagonizing the heroes, and then promptly dies. The Diabolus ex Nihilo may get a back story in the future, but it could just be an exercise in {{retcon}}ning.
11
12This trope can often appear in origin stories where it's more important that the characters are introduced than that they do something sensible.
13
14See also the GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere, which serves roughly the same function in VideoGame gameplay -- a [[BossBattle boss]] that pops up at the end of a level for no narrative reason and with no explanation, just because there's supposed to be a boss at the end of the level or the game.
15
16Compare the GenericDoomsdayVillain, who has no clear motive for their actions other than being "evil," even if they do in fact have backstory or context. Contrast StartOfDarkness, where the villain's backstory is explored in full detail, and OutsideContextProblem, where the mystery behind a villain's origin, [[HiddenAgendaVillain motive]], and abilities are the source of their threat. [[RuleOfThree Consider]] InvincibleVillain, where them just showing up exemplifies how bad things can get. A Diabolus ex Nihilo used by a writer to get out of a corner may be an example of ChandlersLaw.
17
18Yes, this may also be a DiabolusExMachina if it succeeds in doing some damage. See also the AnthropicPrinciple where the appearance of an otherwise unexplained baddie forms the premise for the entire story. If they appear in the backstory or disappear as quickly as they appeared, they may overlap with UnknownCharacter.
19
20See also AssPull and UnspecifiedApocalypse.
21----
22!!Examples:
23
24[[foldercontrol]]
25
26[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
27* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'':
28** ''Anime/DigimonAdventure''. Apocalymon, the final villain, literally shows up out of nowhere in an outer space-like battlefield and is fought and defeated within the course of two episodes. Apparently this was actually a case of ExecutiveMeddling, and there was supposed to be far more leadup to Apocalymon, as well as his relation to the Dark Masters.
29** In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'', Daemon and his followers appeared randomly, have incredibly vague motivations (they want the Dark Spores... for some reason), and are defeated in a few episodes after causing some pointless mayhem. They are then quickly forgotten. The manga version is slightly better about this, in that Daemon is on Oikawa's side rather than against him.
30** In ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'', after seemingly defeating [[BigBad Cherubimon]] and destroying his fortress, the heroes fight an [=IceDevimon=] who was imprisoned there for terrorizing villages. The lack of hinting towards this and his relatively quick defeat suggests that his only purpose was to [[{{Filler}} fill up half an episode]].
31* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': Despite Frieza being one of the most important villains in the franchise, he does not have much of a backstory. His race has never been identified, nor have we ever learned what planet he is from. All we really know is that his family has been running an intergalactic space pirate organization for a long time.
32* ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'': The Zonuda shows up practically out of thin air in the final episode with little foreshadowing. The "almost" is only there because the last On the Next hinted that the fight wasn't over just yet.
33* In ''Anime/{{Hellsing}}'': The Major has no backstory and no motivation [[spoiler:until he meets Alucard and wants to destroy him simply for being different from him]] other than because he simply enjoys war.
34* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'', Vanilla Ice is introduced near the close of the Part right before fighting the heroes. His Stand, Cream, is one of only three (his, Holly's, and Kenny G's) that is neither a Tarot card or Egyptian God and it can destroy anything it comes in contact with. In addition, [[spoiler:he's also a vampire]]. The end result is that he [[spoiler:kills Avdol in seconds and kills TeamPet Iggy over the course of the fight, and wounds Polnareff so badly before dying that he's unable to assist much during the final battle with [=DIO=].]]
35* Creator/JunjiIto has a lot of these sorts of beings in his works, with very little explanation behind them and little resemblance to anything from myth or legend. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools It actually works to make them all the more terrifying]], especially in the case of things like [[Manga/{{Gyo}} an army of zombified fish emerging from the ocean on mechanical legs]], [[Manga/{{Remina}} a planet-eating abomination from another dimension]], [[Manga/TheEnigmaOfAmigaraFault people-shaped holes in the side of a mountain]], and ''[[Manga/{{Uzumaki}} a curse surrounding the very concept of the spiral shape.]]'' We get some speculation from characters, but rarely, if ever, any definitive answers. [[NothingIsScarier The less we know, the worse we feel.]]
36* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE'' gets hit with this in its final episode with Zera Gins and his Vagan Gear, though his existence was hinted at earlier in the Kio arc. He shows up at the end of the final battle, when all non-mook Vagan pilots are dead, with his only motivation and lines being "destroy the Gundams." His own side calls him a soulless warrior and their strongest pilot, and it also is mentioned he's a clone of Lord Ezelcant. Then SID shows up and merges with Vagan Gear and he goes berserk causing both sides to ally to try and stop him. Then Kio destroys his Gear SID, and that's that (though Zera himself survives). As [=AGE=] was originally conceived as a licensed game by Level-5, Zera is a very direct transplant of the GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere.
37* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', [[spoiler: Kaguya]] shows up out of nowhere (only being mentioned about forty chapters prior to her debut as being [[spoiler:the mother of the Sage of the Six Paths]] and dead for centuries), is revealed to be responsible for ''all'' of [[SpotlightStealingSquad the Uchiha]] turning evil, and gets sealed away after a relatively short fight. [[OnlyTheAuthorCanSaveThemNow Her entire purpose is essentially to take out Madara]] because the author accidentally made him too strong. Despite being considerably stronger than him (she's the single most powerful being in the entire world) she has no true combat experience, so she's easier to defeat.
38** Later works of the franchise attempt to integrate her and her clan in the lore.
39* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl'':
40** The episode with the evil Togepi. It's never explained why the Togepi is evil or what her motivation is.
41** Tobias also qualifies, except his purpose, in writing terms, is simple: [[spoiler:Eliminate Ash from the Sinnoh League with an overpowered team.]]
42* ''Anime/PrettyCureAllStars'' movies seem to have a tendency to use this trope gratuitously, due to lack of connection between individual ''Pretty Cure'' series. ''[=DX3=]'' has the entity simply known as Black Hole. It's best described as TheHeartless of every ''Pretty Cure'' villain, ever.
43** In ''Anime/HugttoPrettyCure'', while most of the villains get some buildup prior to any confrontation with the Cures, this does not apply to MadScientist Dr. Traum, who shows up, shoots one of his comrades, Daigan, and forces the Cures to fight him instead. Later, he does get some backstory revealing that he was the one who built Ruru to begin with.
44* Despite being the BigBad, [[HeroKiller Walpurgisnacht]] serves as at least a partial one in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. There's definitely some build-up to her, but she still takes a backseat to [[spoiler:the AwfulTruth behind the whole MagicalGirl system and Homura's true nature. And [[ManBehindTheMan the real villain Kyubey]]]]. In the end, [[GenericDoomsdayVillain her purpose in the plot]] is more to just show up, smash the city to pieces and [[spoiler:either kill Madoka or cause her to turn into an even more powerful witch, forcing Homura to push her own personal ResetButton and try to do the fight over again while saving her]]. Hell, if it wasn't for Homura, no one would even expect a supremely powerful witch like Walpurgisnacht to just show up and start wrecking everyone's shit.
45* ''Manga/RecordOfRagnarok'': The sixth round between the Buddha and Bishamonten/Zerofuku is already loaded with surprises from front to back, but when Zerofuku's on the ropes, the demon lord Hajun bursts out of him with no prior hints at his existence. The only elaboration is provided by characters who appear ''after'' him, and even they don't know everything.
46* Kain, the villain of the ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' movie "Tenchi In Love".
47* ''Manga/YuGiOh'':
48** Dark Marik is introduced very abruptly with no prior hint of his existence, in the middle of the ''Duelist'' manga' final arc, hijacks the story from his other half Marik, and proceeds to wreak uninhibited havoc as the new ArcVillain.
49** Grerimo from the Doma arc. Unlike other villains in the arc (and most in the series) he's a FlatCharacter with no backstory at all, with no explanation of why he works for Dartz. His entire purpose seems to be to introduce the viewers to the Orichalcos and present it as a threat.
50** The climax of ''Anime/YuGiOhTheDarkSideOfDimensions'' has [[spoiler:the Millennium Ring corrupting others, and bonding with Diva to create a reality-warping monster]], but how it does so [[spoiler:with Zorc and Yami Bakura gone]] is never explained.
51[[/folder]]
52
53[[folder:Comic Books]]
54* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': ComicBook/TheJoker's backstory was introduced [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke much, much later]] than the character and even in there, he outright stated that's probably false. Despite that, he's still managed to rack up a body count any villain worth their salt would be jealous of, and is the person regular (and super) criminals tell stories of to scare one another.
55* ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'': The BigBad wasn't ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}. It was a multiversal vampire, the Dark Monitor Mandrakk. This means exactly what you think it does: he eats stories. Mind you this is explained and there is a lead up to it, but if you didn't read the ''Final Crisis: Superman Beyond'' tie-in, he seemed to come out of nowhere. Writer Creator/GrantMorrison did, however, intend for ''Superman Beyond'' to be an integral part of the story, and it is included in (most of) the trade editions.
56* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'': One comic had Big G be sent back to the time of the dinosaurs, where he was attacked by a giant dragon... ''thing'' that was there for some reason; he manages to just barely beat it before being returned to the present.
57* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': In ''ComicBook/GreenLanternRebirth'', Hal Jordan's 90s FaceHeelTurn is explained as a result of his possession by Parallax, a heretofore unknown Fear Entity. Parallax has since become the BigBad of a crossover event, one of the cornerstones of modern ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' continuity, and was depicted as the giant floating CGI head of Clancy Brown in TheMovie (for better or for worse). So while he is a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere, he's a beloved one.
58* ''ComicBook/IVampire'': The vampire that turns Lord Andrew Bennett, the titular character in the series. He turns up while Bennett is out riding, mesmerizes him, gives a [[MotiveRant little rant]] about hating Bennett's positive outlook on life, and wanting to show him the dark side and generally screw his life up, bites him, and then promptly gets staked by him. Then Andrew makes it home, filled with angst over his new condition, his wife agrees to be turned by him so that they can spend eternity together, she promptly turns evil, decides to take over the world, declares Andrew to be her enemy when he tries to talk her out of it and flies off to begin her campaign. And there's your central plot and background set, now on with the episodic story.
59* ''ComicBook/MsMarvel'': In ''ComicBook/MsMarvel1977'', Death-Bird is introduced just randomly attacking Ms. Marvel as she's doing something else, with only some hints as to the fact she's not even human. She later explains she had also been doing her own thing while working for A.I.M., saw Ms. Marvel and having heard of the superhero's own tussle with them figured "why not?"
60* ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'': The feral vampire hag that turned Cassidy. She appears biting his neck, gets shot by his brother, and falls back into the bog, never to be seen again.
61* ''ComicBook/{{Severed}}'': The comic has the unnamed AmbiguouslyHuman salesman who goes by the name of Mr. Fisher (along with several others, all of them false). "Fisher" is a mysterious man who eats children to consume their dreams. No reason is ever given for this. "Fisher" claims to be [[{{ReallySevenHundredYearsOld}} hundreds of years old]], and indeed, he never ages at any point in the comic. No backstory is ever given for him.
62* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
63** ''The Man of Steel'' #17 introduces Doomsday. He basically emerges from the bowels of the earth, squishes a bird, and then goes on a killing spree for no good reason. He's there just to kill Superman and kick off ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' multi-arc. Later stories revealed his origins.
64** ''ComicBook/TheUnknownSupergirl'' introduces the Infinite Monster, an absolutely gigantic, invulnerable and unstoppable monster who drops out of a dimensional warp hole and goes on a rampage through the countryside for no apparent reason. It has no name, backstory or motivations and its sole reason to exist is to prove ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} can protect Earth in her cousin's absence and deal with dangerous threats on her own.
65[[/folder]]
66
67[[folder:Fan Works]]
68* The ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'' has the first BigBad [[spoiler:Loneliness]] whose origins have never been explained and several potential ones are offered, but nothing concrete is ever given. She just [[spoiler:shows up in Trixie's head as her EnemyWithin]]. However, this was invoked by WordOfGod, as not giving her a set origin just [[NothingIsScarier makes her that much more terrifying]] both in-universe and out.
69* In ''Fanfic/TheBridge'' an arc villain who shows up late into the story is a gumiho from Carrea, who's chased the kirin, Ki Seong, all the way to Equestria. There isn't any indication she's tied to the BigBad or any of Grogar's students like King Sombra or Queen Chrysalis. She's just an obscure, dangerous entity hardly anypony knows of that shows up without warning. It's later revealed that [[spoiler:her arrival was due to [[ItMakesSenseInContext an out of control army of filly Destroyahs]] accidentally destroying the ward Ki Seong kept, breaking the seal keeping the Beautiful Terror at bay.]]
70* ''Fanfic/JauneArcLordOfHunger'' has the ClimaxBoss of its first StoryArc: a terentatek.[[note]]a Dark Side creature that resembles a rancor and preys on Force-sensitives.[[/note]] Up until then, the story had been about Jaune adjusting to life at Beacon Academy. The closest thing to an antagonist was the [[TheBully school bully]] Cardin. Midway through "[[Recap/JauneArcLordOfHungerFear Fear]]", the terentatek literally pops up out of the ground, [[EvilerThanThou scares off Cardin]], and nearly kills Jaune while [[NoSell no-selling]] [[TheWorfBarrage his strongest attack]]. Its existence had never been hinted at prior to this and it's the only villain who has no connection to the overarching BigBadEnsemble. After the terentatek is killed, it is quickly forgotten and almost never mentioned again by the other characters.
71[[/folder]]
72
73[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
74* The ending of the American ''WesternAnimation/AstroBoy'' movie. Just as the day is saved and everyone is celebrating, a giant sun-shaped alien with tentacles that shoots lasers out of its one giant eye attacks the town. No reason, no foreshadowing, someone just shouts "Alien!" and it's there. It's probably one last ShoutOut to the Artificial Sun from one of the earlier Astro Boy series.
75* In the climax of ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'', when Amos Slade and Copper pursue Tod, an enormous [[BearsAreBadNews bear]] appears out of nowhere, attacking and almost killing Slade and Copper. Tod, seeing Copper in danger, returns to fight the bear and [[SaveTheVillain save his pursuers]]. Eventually, he leads the bear over a log protruding over a waterfall. The log breaks under the bear's weight sending them both plummeting. Tod survives and the bear gets a DisneyVillainDeath.
76* The Loc-Nar from ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal'' is never given a backstory, but it's the embodiment of Pure Evil that drives all the vignettes in the movie.
77* In ''WesternAnimation/LadyAndTheTramp'' there is [[YouDirtyRat a rat.]] It appears in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene right after the baby first appears, and is chased off by Lady. Then it reappears just ten minutes before the end of the film, [[WouldHurtAChild tries to murder the baby,]] fights the Tramp one-on-one, wounding him and [[OhCrap posthumously has the Tramp sent to the pound, where he is certain to be put down.]] He has no lines, has no known motive and is [[ForTheEvulz utterly evil throughout.]]
78* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'', [[SequelHook the Duplo aliens]].
79** This is true to the characters, but the audience knows that [[spoiler:they're from a previously separated Lego bin in the real world]].
80** The sequel reveals more about them, including their leaders, General Sweet Mayhem and Queen Wateva Wa‘Nabi.
81* ''WesternAnimation/TheThiefAndTheCobbler:'' The Mighty One-Eye, ''and'' the entire race of [[AlwaysChaoticEvil monstrous]] [[RedRightHand One-eyed]] men he is the leader of (simply called the "One-Eyes") simply appear into the film without any kind of backstory. They want to conquer and destroy a Golden City, also without any explained motivation.
82[[/folder]]
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84[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
85* Many [[WerewolfWorks Werewolf Movies]], such as ''Film/AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon'', ''Film/GingerSnaps'', and ''Film/WolfMikeNichols'', in which the protagonists are bitten and become werewolves, do not go into very much detail, if any at all, in explaining where the original werewolf came from--or the werewolf who made them, or who made that werewolf, and so on.
86* ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'': Unlike most giant monster movies, this one doesn't bother explaining the creature's origin, since the story is given from the perspective of an average citizen who, in any other Kaiju movie, would just be a background extra in the fleeing masses. Thus, no scenes with generals or scientists standing around providing exposition, it just shows up and rampages around New York City.
87* In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' ComicBook/TheJoker has no StartOfDarkness, no backstory ([[MultipleChoicePast none that you'd believe, at any rate]]). He's just ''there'' at the start of the movie to wreak havoc, havoc, and more havoc, [[ForTheEvulz just 'cause]], which actually serves to make him even scarier than he might be otherwise. As Alfred puts it: "[[ForTheEvulz Some men just want to watch the world burn]]."
88* ''Film/TheFifthElement'' introduces The Great Evil, an angry, black sphere that doesn't even have a proper name, let alone a motivation. But how would Bruce Willis find a cute thousand-year-old alien girl to nail without it?
89* ''Film/FrankensteinConquersTheWorld'': The "International" cut climaxes in a fight between Frankenstein's Monster (in city-stomping {{kaiju}} form) and a giant octopus who suddenly shows up out of nowhere. Not only that, but it's a famous [[MisplacedWildlife Japanese Mountain Lake Octopus]], as most of the action takes place in the "Japanese Alps." Although it was filmed at the request of the American distributor, he apparently felt the end result was just too silly. The scene was cut from both the Japanese and American versions, but for reasons unknown, was kept in the "International" cut (English language, but for territories outside America.)
90* The Leopold and Loeb-esque duo in ''Film/FunnyGames'' give various conflicting accounts of who they are and where they came from, but they're obviously all lies. They have no backstory and no reason to exist except to serve as villains for the movie you're so sadistically viewing, YouBastard.
91* Monster X/Keizer Ghidorah from ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars''. He just appears out of nowhere (though it's implied he was inside the meteor "Gorath" that was heading to Earth), fights Godzilla to a draw, transforms into his more-powerful form, nearly curb-stomps Godzilla to death, and then is ultimately defeated after Godzilla gets a power boost.
92* Michael Myers in ''Film/Halloween1978'' had no motive or backstory; he was just born evil, killed his sister when he was [[EnfantTerrible six years old]], spent the next fifteen years in a psych ward, and finally broke out and returned to his hometown to kill again. Dr. Loomis, the psychiatrist who spent years trying and failing to reach him before simply giving up, describes him as an emotionless [[TheSociopath sociopath]] and evil incarnate. Later films, however, roll back this part of his character, giving him family relations to the series' protagonists and eventually revealing that he is being compelled to kill by an ancient Celtic curse, though ''Film/Halloween2018'' [[CanonDiscontinuity jettisons them all]] and returns to the first film's characterization.
93-->'''Dr. Loomis:''' I met him fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding in even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and... the blackest eyes. The Devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up, because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil.
94* The killer in ''[=HellBent=]'' is given no origin or motivation, never has his name or actual appearance revealed and isn't even mentioned in the credits. Also, making a literal example of the trope, he's dressed as the devil.
95* ''Film/TheHitcher'': When the police arrest [[SerialKiller John Ryder]], they can't match his fingerprints to any existing criminals, nobody knows anything about him, and even his name is undoubtedly an alias (in the remake, it was stolen from one of his victims). It's as if the desert just spat out Death in human form.
96* The shark from ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' has no reason to be so big, eat people, and sink boats. But thank goodness it is and does because Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss are a match made in heaven. Of course, how much motivation does a ''shark'' need? Occasionally animals realize humans are pretty easy to kill and start eating them, they tend to keep doing so until they die. It helps that for most of the movie, the townspeople [[IdiotBall make little to no effort to avoid the maneating shark they know is sticking around the beach.]] The attempt to [[RetCon give it]] a more detailed backstory and motivation in the sequels is the TropeNamer for VoodooShark.
97* ''Film/{{Krull}}'': The Beast appears from outer space, invades the world and randomly crashes wedding parties all in the name of being bad. While the backstory of the Cyclops indicates that the Beast has done this sort of thing on other worlds before, there's otherwise no backstory for the Beast itself explaining where it came from and why it decided to go about invading worlds.
98* ''Film/LordOfIllusions'': The BigBad Nix is an EvilSorcerer with immense eldritch powers, which he states he will soon use to kill all of humanity. Where he came from or how he got his powers is never explored. When someone questions what he is, he simply replies "a man who [[GodhoodSeeker wanted to be a god]]... then changed his mind".
99* In the horror film ''Film/TheMonster2016'' the titular creature appears from the woods, kills several people and terrorizes a mother and daughter, [[spoiler: eventually killing the mother before in turn being killed by the daughter]]. Neither the characters in the film nor the audience receives any insight into why it does what it does, where it came from, or even what the hell it is. It's just there.
100* Discussed in ''Film/{{Nope}}'', with OJ wondering if there's such a thing as a "bad" miracle. [[spoiler:The UFO, Jean Jacket, is ultimately revealed to be an invoked example: its origin -- if it could conceivably have any -- isn't explained, it literally comes down from the sky, and it has nothing comprehensible as a "motive" other than hunger and pure animal stimulus-response behavior.]]
101* The murderous robber dressed like Santa Claus from the beginning of ''Film/SilentNightDeadlyNight''.
102* The Whale Probe in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' is never given any backstory or origin. It's the quintessential BigDumbObject that exists to make [[TheKirk Jim Kirk's]] court-martial more of a hero's welcome. (The probe was eventually given a back story in the book [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin ''Probe'']].) [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in Spock's exact line, "Only human arrogance would assume the message 'must be meant for Man'." One might imagine it was quite chatty with the cetacean life it was sent to contact.[[note]]According to the creators, having their conversation with the whales at the end translated was considered and rejected. Given the brevity of said conversation, it didn't go well.[[/note]]
103* The BigBad in ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' becomes this with TheReveal that he's actually the {{toon}} who killed Eddie Valiant's brother. He remains an UnseenEvil behind his HumanDisguise, and we have no idea how he got to the position he currently occupies under his assumed identity.
104[[/folder]]
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106[[folder:Literature]]
107* "The One" from ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}.'' It is a literary GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere, introduced in the very last chapter of the very last book after the [[PuppeteerParasite Yeerks]] are defeated. There is no explanation of where it came from or what it wants, it merely becomes the remaining Yeerks' [[DeityOfHumanOrigin new god]], [[TheAssimilator assimilates]] Ax, shapeshifts to a bunch of random things to freak the heroes out and gets its spaceship rammed. Creator/KAApplegate's [[WordOfGod comments]] seem to indicate that she just wanted the good guys to get screwed by a new war and created a DiabolusExMachina to let them go out in a blaze of glory.
108** Whatever it was that sent Jake to a BadFuture, as some kind of test, in ''The Familiar'', the definitive BizarroEpisode of the series. Some fans wanted it and the One to be the same thing, if only to make each have ''some'' overall relevance, but WordOfGod shot the idea down.
109* Creator/SimonaAhrnstedt gives us Carl-Jan Rosenschiöld in her debut novel ''Literature/{{Overenskommelser}}''. To be fair, this novel has three villains (because one creep obviously wasn't enough), whose misogyny is disgusting even by the standards of the time in which they live (the 1880s). But the other two are at least given backstories, which can somewhat explain how they ended up being that way. But with Rosenschiöld, the guy is just there to be evil! He's a sadistic serial abuser of women, who only wishes to marry female protagonist Beatrice (who's like forty years younger than him) because he wants a virgin. We do get to see him die, but not until after he has [[spoiler: brutally raped and almost killed Beatrice on their wedding night.]] Only after his death are we given some backstory: Rosenschiöld has murdered one previous wife and driven another previous wife into suicide. But we're never told how he could become so evil.
110* With the exceptions of Blaine the Mono and Andy the Messenger Robot (Many Other Functions!), pretty much every robot in ''Franchise/TheDarkTower''. They show up, kill, maim, or psionically alter someone, then are either destroyed or returned to hibernation.
111* ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' by Creator/JRRTolkien has [[EldritchAbomination Ungoliant]]; she is said to have "descended from the Outer Darkness, maybe, that lies in Eä beyond the walls of the World." She destroys the Two Trees and almost [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu eats Morgoth]]. After breeding with lesser spiders, she just... wandered off.
112-->"Some have said that she ended long ago, when in her uttermost famine she devoured herself at last."
113** ''Literature/TheHistoryOfMiddleEarth'' gives more details, with Ungoliant originally written as an EldritchAbomination 'personification of primeval night' before the world was made, and later this being changed to her being a Maia and former disciple of Morgoth who grew strong enough to equal him in his long years of imprisonment. Also, Ungoliant was originally planned to re-enter the story -- Eärendil slew her in one of his adventures on the way to Valinor. It's likely this would have ended up in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' if Tolkien had ever finished that part of the story.
114* In ''Literature/TheSilverChair'' (the fourth installment published in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', and the sixth in terms of InUniverse chronology), Tolkien's pal Creator/CSLewis gave us the Green Lady. We know she's a "Northern Witch" who might be [[VillainousLegacy somehow connected]] with the infamous [[Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe White Witch]], but that's about it.
115* In ''Literature/TuckEverlasting'', the BigBad is a genteel, polite person known only as "the man in the yellow suit". He does provide some backstory for his quest -- as a child, his parents sheltered a family that told tales of the mother's former husband and his own kin, who never aged a day -- and has clear goals in selling the magical spring water that generates said immortality (apparently choosing to ignore the horrific implications of what will happen when the secret gets out), but other than that, he's a blank: no name, no past, no relatives, no presence...nothing. Author Natalie Babbitt encouraged this characterization in an interview, and even explained that she deliberately avoided giving him a red or black suit for fear of people [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory interpreting]] the man as LouisCypher or TheGrimReaper; she elaborated that she put him in yellow to create a natural cadence for the repeated phrase "the man in the yellow suit".
116* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, the BigBad Tigerstar had nine lives at the beginning of the (then) final book, ''The Darkest Hour''. In order to avoid making him seem like a pathetic weakling, the authors had a random cat called Scourge show up, kill Tigerstar all nine times, kill ''the protagonist'', Firestar, and take over the Clans. And then Scourge died.
117* In ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', nearly all of the foes encountered are Taoists or animals spirits who overheard celestial secrets. Baigujing (Lady White Bone) doesn't have an origin revealed, only being described as a "Skeleton Spirit" yet is considered the most evil.
118[[/folder]]
119
120[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
121* In ''Series/BreakingBad'', the Aryan Brotherhood, though more normal than other examples, serves this purpose. They come out in the final season with not much build-up, being Neo-Nazis is good enough to explain why they are bad guys and are so good at what they do (mostly killing and breaking people) that they kill any other conflicts the series had that is not them.
122* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', the First Evil is the CosmicHorror personification of evil. It wants to make people hurt and sin because, well, it's ''evil''. There's not really much else to say about it, aside from what's on the tin.
123* The enemy from the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight "Midnight"]] -- we never see its true form, or learn its name. It just appears out of nowhere, possesses Sky, places the Doctor and everyone with him in grave danger, [[spoiler:and is eventually defeated -- but certainly not killed -- by a random bystander, as it has incapacitated the Doctor]]. Considering how often the Doctor exhibits an encyclopedic knowledge of... everything... throughout his adventures, many count the episode as one of the eeriest in all of ''Doctor Who'', to the point of ThatOneCase.
124* After being built up as the real existential threat to the warring Seven Kingdoms throughout ''Series/GameOfThrones'', the Night King, White Walkers, and their Army of the Dead were defeated in the last season with little explanation of what their motives were and how they came to be.
125* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':
126** ''Series/KamenRiderKiva'' infamously ends with the main characters all attending a wedding, only for a time-traveler to burst in and warn them about an invasion of alien vampires from the future that's about to take place. HereWeGoAgain ensues.
127** ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'' uses this type of final boss in both movies, in both cases recycling a villain from the Showa era to come out of nowhere right near the end of the movie. In ''Film/KamenRiderDecadeAllRidersVsDaiShocker'', there's King Dark, the Big Bad of ''Series/KamenRiderX'', who only rises after all the other villains are killed. It was never hinted anywhere in the movie that he would even appear at all. Since there is already a personification of the Great Leader, recurring Bigger Bad of the Showa era in [[spoiler:the eponymous Decade]], it means that there are two Great Leaders running amuck. He was probably just included to give an excuse to use the giant ''Film/KamenRiderJ'' (the movie did say ''All Riders''). ''Film/KamenRiderxKamenRiderWDecadeMovieWar2010'' has [[Film/KamenRiderZO Doras]] show up after dealing with both [[VillainProtagonist Tsukasa]] ''and'' [[TheRemnant Super Shocker]], with only slightly more foreshadowing.
128** ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'', which consists largely of stories homaging the previous nineteen Heisei era shows, makes sure to include an alien villain who appears without explanation during the ''Kiva'' arc. No attempt is ever made to explain him or what he's doing in this time travel-based show, and after two short battles, he leaves just as quickly as he arrived.
129* The creators of ''Series/{{Merlin 2008}}'' promised in an interview that the end of season four would end with an intriguing CliffHanger in which a previously seen "evil" character would reappear. Most fans bet their money on Mordred. However, it turned out to be something completely random. In an early season four episode, Merlin discovers a dragon's egg, hatches it, and calls the baby dragon Aithusa, said to be a symbol of the forthcoming Golden Age of Camelot. The audience was given absolutely no reason to believe that Aithusa was anything but a harmless baby dragon, who is not seen or mentioned until the end of season four, where it appears in the forest to heal an injured Morgana for no apparent reason and fly off again.
130* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'''s pilot episode introduces "Q", a god-like entity that begins harassing the crew seemingly for the sake of it. He simply appears on the bridge and creates unnecessary drama. While he eventually becomes a beloved character by the end of the series, he was unimportant to the plot of the pilot. WordOfGod says that the pilot was originally going to be one episode, but ExecutiveMeddling forced it to become a two-part episode. So Q was made up to fill the extra hour. (It ended up paying off incredibly well for them, as Q is generally considered the best part of the pilot and became one of the most successful {{Breakout Character}}s of all time.)
131* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' had the Doomsday Machine from the episode of the same name, a giant weapon that flies through space eating everything it comes in contact with, up to and including entire planets. Spock believes it came from another galaxy, and Kirk theorizes it may have been built as a form of MutuallyAssuredDestruction in a war, intended as a bluff or deterrent but ultimately used, however the true origins and purpose of the machine are never revealed. (The ExpandedUniverse novel "Vendetta" by Creator/PeterDavid eventually revealed that it was designed to destroy the Borg.)
132* In [[Creator/StephenKing Stephen King's]] mini-series ''Series/StormOfTheCentury'', little is revealed of villain Andre Linoge; he simply shows up, beats an old woman to death, and proceeds to terrorize a small island town trapped in a snowstorm until they [[ArcWords give him what he wants]].
133* ''Series/TrueBlood'':
134** The BigBad of the second season was Maryann, a maenad: a follower of the Greek god Dionysus whose fervent devotion somehow turned her into a demigoddess. In a show whose main focus was on vampires while other supernatural beings still had well-established backstories and communities of their own, Maryann was the only maenad to ever appear and her storyline is largely confined to season 2, making her feel very MonsterOfTheWeek compared to later antagonists, especially since unlike the season 1 big bad, serial killer Rene, Maryann is never mentioned again for the rest of the series.
135** Zig-zagged with the Yakonomo Corporation. On one hand, their invention of the synthetic blood beverage Tru Blood served as the basis of the entire show, as it allowed vampires to "come out of the coffin" and live openly without having to feed on humans. But on the other hand, the actual company was never given any focus until close to the end of season 6, and it wasn't until the seventh and final season that they were central to the plot. That's when it was revealed out of nowhere that they had been controlling vampire society long before they invented Tru Blood, with {{Yakuza}} as their enforcers.
136** The Yakuza themselves play this trope straight since they neither appeared nor had any mention ''at all'' until the final season. We first meet them in a flashback to 1986 where it's revealed that they were the ones who sent Eric and Pam to [[DeepSouth Shreveport, Louisiana]] as punishment for their disrespect. The leader of this particular cell, Hiroki, reappears in the present day yet hasn't aged in 28 years, but it's not stated that he's anything other than a normal human. Their appearance in the show is immortalized by recurring villain [[BlondeRepublicanSexKitten Sarah Newlin]] calling her mother and frantically yelling, "[[{{Narm}} Mom! The Yakuza are trying to kill me!]]"
137* One episode of ''Series/UltramanAce'' had the hero already in trouble fighting two kaiju at the same time, Doragoris and Alien Metron Jr. Then a ''third'' kaiju, Muruchi, suddenly shows up, resulting in a Cliffhanger (it's the first episode in a two-parter) where Ace finds itself surrounded by three enemies, resulting in a serious beatdown in their favor.
138[[/folder]]
139
140[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
141* Myth/GreekMythology:
142** In Hesiod's ''Literature/{{Theogony}}''--an early TropeCodifier of Myth/GreekMythology--Typhon is one of these. He shows up out of nowhere to wreak havoc after the Olympians win their war against the Titans and Giants. Zeus defeats him and the world is finally at peace. Some later retellings either edit this bit out for being too random or write the battle as a more grandiose affair.
143** Various tellings of the story change a bit of that; Typhon is described as a child of Gaia and Tartarus, set against Zeus by Gaia when she believed his rule wouldn't be much better than his father's. The battle was less a [[CurbStompBattle curbstomp,]] with Typhon having the edge early on (ripping out Zeus' tendons), before being defeated by having a mountain dropped on him.
144* Surtr in Myth/NorseMythology. At Ragnarok, he will suddenly show up, kill Freyr, and then set the entire universe on fire, killing all but a few gods and leaving room for another world to appear. Beyond that he has no backstory or motive, except that he's a fire giant from Múspellheim, the Realm of the Fire Giants.
145[[/folder]]
146
147[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
148* Wrestling/{{WWE}} has done this twice with Underfaker and [[Wrestling/DrewHankinson Fake Kane]]. They showed up, confused people about their relationship to Wrestling/TheUndertaker and Wrestling/{{Kane}}, were eventually defeated by the real thing, and then vanished.
149* Wrestling/{{Boogeyman}} in Ohio Valley Wrestling. However, after about three appearances, officials began to anticipate his coming and took measures to stop him, even contacted law enforcement. Nothing they did ever worked and he would quickly depart into ether almost as quickly as he arose. Oh, and he was a "[[NominalHero heroic]]" version, as the crowd [[EnsembleDarkhorse quickly took a liking to him]], to the point he was [[{{face}} cheered]] when he interrupted handicap match between the already injured [[Wrestling/MickieJames Alexis Laree]] against Wrestling/BethPhoenix and Shelly Martinez and [[RootingForTheEmpire attacked Laree]]. So Boogeyman turned to mainly beating up wrestlers the audience did not like, making him even more popular. Unlike most examples, Boogeyman did have an explained though nonsensical motivation, he wanted to be a professional wrestler. He was eventually given a {{backstory}} on WWE Smackdown too. (He was supposed to be a star of a new show on Creator/{{UPN}}, but "something happened on the set." This was eventually abandoned.)
150* Wrestling/KevinSullivan and his army [[WhenEldersAttack attacking]] Ring Warriors Grand Champion Bruce Santee. Turns out they did so exactly [[InvokedTrope because people thought they were obsolete.]]
151* Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} simply announced that [[Wrestling/KaiKatana Wani]] would be on Wrestling/JuanFranciscoDeCoronado's Squad for the Torneo Cibernetico at the 2015 SeasonFinale ''Top Banana'' and never did come up with a character or backstory for him.
152* WWE 1992: Wrestling/DoinkTheClown just started showing up in the crowd, with no buildup, no background, no explanation, no clue as to his motivations.
153** Commentator Wrestling/{{Vince McMahon}} outright {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d this when Doink was making balloon animals in the entranceway during the Wrestling/{{Rick Martel}} vs. Wrestling/{{Tatanka}} match at ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 92'', asking, "What is he doing here?"
154[[/folder]]
155
156[[folder:Video Games]]
157%% * ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos Origins'' introduces [[HumanoidAbomination Wiseman]], who fits this trope to a T.
158* On your way through the abandoned subway towards the end of ''VideoGame/BeneathASteelSky'', you come across a crevice that holds a tentacled, presumably gigantic monster that will kill you unless you take the right precautions. It has no discernable connection to [[AIIsACrapshoot the main threat in the game]], and there is no indication as to what it is or where it came from.
159* At the end of the Wasteland questline in ''VideoGame/BillyVsSnakeman'', a villain appears, explains that the odd sickness you've been suffering from is caused by his genjutsu/poisons/cloning technique (it's a different villain and trick depending on which primary bloodline you have), that he's been manipulating you from the very start, but has decided that you've outlived your usefulness. Then you beat him up and force him to join your team. At no point was there even a ''hint'' that the questline had a villain - you were just scavenging for shinies and picking up cool allies.
160* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'': Lavos. It falls from the sky in the distant past, causing the equivalent of the [[PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs Cretaceous extinction]]. [[PlanetaryParasite Millions of years nourishing out of the planet's core later]], it (after an initial firestorm) emerges and [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt proceeds to wreck the place]]. [[spoiler:And it was not the first time: it had done it before when the premier magicians in the world [[EvilIsNotAToy tried to use it for fuel.]]]]
161** And then there's ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', where the final boss [[spoiler:is yet again Lavos, who exists in a non-reality unplace of infinite nothing never where the countless versions of people are erased over]]. Oh, and then [[spoiler:it decides to eat all of time because of Crono's actions in the first game]].
162* The titular mothership of the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' add-on ''Mothership Zeta'' deserves mention. Without any previous foreshadowing, the [[PlayerCharacter Lone Wanderer]] is abducted by the aliens and must spend the next several hours (days, in game time) fighting his way through the mothership just to get home. At which point, the entire experience is never mentioned again. What exactly the aliens were ''doing'' with all the people they've been abducting over the past thousand years or so is left vague at best.
163* Jenova in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' appears from the sky two thousand years ago and murders most of the planet's population. After being dismembered and frozen she is revived in modern times and starts all over again. No motive or origin is ever given.
164** Sephiroth hints that the cycle of parasitic destruction is Jenova's true purpose: it crashes into a planet, sucks out the Lifestream energy, and then leaves to crash into another planet. However, it's very vague at best. Sephiroth's goals may be his own, rather than an extension of Jenova's. However, in ''Advent Children'' Sephiroth ''does'' explicitly claim that he shall sail the Cosmos to find another planet to find a shining future, like his mother once did. So maybe he really ''is'' following Jenova's Goal after all. As usual of the trope, the explanation comes 10 years after the game and from a different writing team.
165** In ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'', Omega Weapon's purpose is similar to Jenova's: to take the life energy of the planet and find a new planet when planet-shattering catastrophes happen.
166* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX''. [[spoiler: Has Necron, the last boss of the game. It's basically the god of death and is roused by [[BigBad Kuja's]] [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum suicidal]] actions and attempts to destroy all life in the universe due to believing that living things are [[DeathSeeker death seekers]] by nature. It suddenly shows up at the end of the game despite having never been mentioned beforehand, is fought by the party and then departs. No further elaboration is made on Necron and its character remains somewhat mysterious.]]
167* From the ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' games we have Shadow Bonnie and Shadow Freddy. Appearing as [[EasterEgg Easter eggs]] in [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2 the second game]], they appear as shadowy copies of Bonnie and Freddy which ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou crash the game]]'' if you stare at them for too long. Unlike most other animatronics, which ''eventually'' get some kind of backstory, these two never get any sort of explanation; they only reappear once in the main story, [[spoiler:in the Atari-style minigames of [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys3 the third game]]]], and that reappearance just raises more questions than answers.
168* The [[AntagonistTitle titular villain]] from ''VideoGame/JimmyAndThePulsatingMass'' is one of these: for some reason, it just showed up one day, dead set on killing Jimmy. Everything that comes out of its mouth[[EldritchAbomination (s)]] is [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech a long tirade about how much it hates Jimmy and how gruesome his death will be.]] Every other antagonistic force in-game has deeper motives, including the ones that it corrupted. [[spoiler: Which makes perfect sense when its true nature becomes apparent.]]
169* [[spoiler:The Aurum]] in ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'' are explicitly stated to "come from and return to nothing". [[spoiler:They are a strange robotic alien HiveMind that come from nowhere and become the main threat for Chapters 15-17, and force Palutena, Hades, and Viridi to form an EnemyMine.]]
170* Creator/FromSoftware really likes this trope in their games, with cryptic plots, indirect storytelling, and complicated questlines requiring players to pay attention. Even then, they really like throwing an unexpected opponent out of left field:
171** ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'': The [[EldritchAbomination Moon Presence]] created the Hunter's dream and empowered the hunters so that they could stand against the Beasts and the Nightmare. Despite its heavy influence on the plot, until you kill Gehrman, [[GuideDangIt the only hint of its existence is in the description of one of the umbilical cords and a note in the Lecture Hall]], and it pretty much comes out of nowhere during the final cutscene to either kill or enslave you.
172* In the Legend of Skyloft told in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword''[='=]s introductory sequence, it is told that one day, demons led by their king [[BigBad Demise]] suddenly rose from the ground out of nowhere and started killing everyone to get the [[MacGuffin Triforce]], forcing the Goddess Hylia to raise a human settlement above the clouds to keep them safe. The conflict during the game proper is caused by the remnants of the demonic forces, but the game's plot doesn't touch on how Demise came to be.
173* The Dark Star in ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]''--someone accidentally dug it up one day, realized that whatever the hell it was, it was ''bad news'', and immediately called upon the royal family to seal it away. [[BigBad Fawful]] thinks that it might be useful. [[spoiler:[[EvilIsNotAToy He is dead wrong]].]]
174** ''VideoGame/YoshisNewIsland'': After beating Baby Bowser, the adult Bowser shows up out of nowhere and fights you.
175* Bad Girl in ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'', the 2nd Ranked Assassin. Most Bosses have some background, history (some tragic, making them a little sympathetic), and/or motivation explaining why they're killers, but Bad Girl has ''nothing'' but rage, hatred, and insanity. No mention of friends or family, her past, any FreudianExcuse, no motivation for what she does other than ForTheEvulz. Travis takes note of it, and it's [[EveryoneHasStandards what disgusts him about her the most]]. ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroesTravisStrikesAgain'' introduced Bad Man, Bad Girl's father, who's out for revenge against Travis for Bad Girl's death, [[spoiler:and it's revealed in the DLC that Gresco, Bad Man's former employer, tortured and brainwashed Bad Girl to awaken the killing potential that her father shared.]]
176* Sulphur from ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave'' is this monstrous demon thingy that wants to kill everyone. Nobody knows why, nobody asks why.
177* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'', there's well, [[AntagonistTitle Nemesis]] itself. Its specific origins have never been explained in any canon medium, which is weird because just about every other creature Umbrella has ever thrown at Jill and the other heroes has some kind of documentation or a plot point revealing what it used to be or how it was created. The closest one there is to an explanation is that it's a Tyrant imbued with an NE-T parasite developed by Umbrella's French division. Interestingly, Nemesis does get an origin story in the related film series.
178* Thanatos from ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'', despite being the most active threat of the Empire [[spoiler:and becoming the main antagonist]], before the Mana Beast gets revived. Thanatos is looking for a body to take over, and he has powers from the Underworld Mavolia... that's really all the player ever finds out. Majority of his actions under the Empire were not required in his goal of taking over Dyluck's body. He just seems to cause chaos ForTheEvulz.
179* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'' series.
180** It's known that Clockwerk was jealous of the Coopers for their superior thieving reputation and that he turned himself into a robot to gain immortality so he could continue to hunt them for centuries. However, it is not known why he became a thief in the first place, nor does he have any backstory prior to becoming a thief (for example, if he had a family or a FreudianExcuse). It is also unclear how he was able to turn himself into a robot when he was born thousands of years before the concept of robotics even began, or if Clockwerk is even his real name.
181** The Mask of Dark Earth from the [[VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves third game]] also qualifies as it was never explained where it came from, how old it is, or what created it.
182* ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' gives us The End. Unlike [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure Chaos]] or [[VideoGame/SonicUnleashed Dark Gaia]] before it, there is no explanation for it or what it wants, aside from destruction; What it is, where it came from, why it wants to destroy the Koco so badly, it's relationships with Cyberspace or the Chaos Emeralds, [[spoiler: why it appears as a [[GenusLoci living planet]]]], nothing. All we know is that [[spoiler: it followed the Koco to Sonic's planet centuries ago after forcing them off their own planet, and manipulated Sonic into destroying the Titans so it can be free to destroy everything once again]].
183* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' takes this to its logical conclusion with Galeem, the main antagonist for the World of Light adventure mode. It arrived out of nowhere one day, was pushed into a corner by the many heroes and villains, proceeded to unleash an ultimate attack that [[OmnicidalManiac wrecked everything in the multiverse]] (except for Kirby, who barely escaped by having his warp star go into hyperspeed), then remolded it. [[spoiler:Dharkon also arrives suddenly later on, with its only motivation being that it can't stand Galeem at all, and has also remolded a part of the multiverse.]]
184* ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' has [[AxCrazy Zagi]]. Zagi has no backstory, no motive, no discernible allegiances (he doesn't even show concern or loyalty to the other members of Leviathan's Claw), no specific goal beyond killing people ForTheEvulz (and [[{{Yandere}} getting off]] to fighting Yuri) and no concrete connection to any of the characters. He just turns up at random points, even when it makes no sense for him to do so, to antagonize the party. This, however, is ''[[Administrivia/TropesAreTools exactly]]'' what frustrates Yuri so much.
185* ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'' gives little information for half of its villains.
186** The Dragon Lord may be the BigBad for Angela and Duran, but very little is known about him. He fought Hero King Richard and killed Duran's father, the Golden Knight Loki, and considers himself to be a god. But his origin -- simply being a megalomaniac dragon or perhaps a demon that attained more power -- his shrouded in mystery. Out of the three Final Bosses in the game, his motivations are the weakest.
187** Belladonna killed Eagle and framed Hawkeye for his death, placed a cursed necklace onto Jessica to ensure that Hawk wouldn't be able to reveal the truth unless he's willing to risk her death, and was the one to manipulate the Nevarl Thieves Guild to invade Citadel Laurent. She can turn into a cat demon for her boss fight, but if she was originally a demon or a human that became demonic is unclear. The most known about her is her devotion and love for the Dark Majesty.
188** All that's known about Goremand is that he works for the Masked Mage, he was the one to kidnap Heath, and made Karl attack Kevin.
189** Nothing is really revealed about Malocchio. The closest to giving depth to him is Belladonna's monologue if Hawkeye or Riesz are not the main protagonists. Belladonna didn't want to go through with the plan of merging the world with Mavolia if her beloved Dark Majesty wasn't around, but Malocchio seemed willing to go through with it and is implied to have planned to rule it himself, so his loyalty for Dark Majesty is likely not as deep as Belladonna's.
190* [[spoiler:Flowey]] from ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' is a subversion. Every other antagonistic character in the story has their own motivations that ultimately render them sympathetic, but this guy seems to be the sole exception: he tries to kill you in the first five minutes [[ForTheEvulz purely for his own amusement]] and at the end of the Neutral route [[spoiler: he kills Asgore in cold blood, absorbs the human [=SOULs=], and transforms the world into a terrifying hell-dimension in which he intends to torture you forever]]. Without him, the plot of the Neutral route would be essentially unchanged, and he only shows up in the final moments [[spoiler: to provide you with a surrealistic FinalBoss battle]]. The Pacifist and Genocide routes, however, give him an excellent FreudianExcuse for his appalling behavior and integrates his story seamlessly with the other monsters': [[spoiler: he's the reincarnated form of Asriel Dreemurr, trapped in his form without the ability to love. He's reset so many times that everyone's actions are fully predictable, and he's resorted to killing in an attempt to feel ''something''. Should you take the Pacifist route, he briefly regains his SOUL and displays remorse for his actions, seeking forgiveness from Frisk.]] Also, if you backtrack at certain points, you can see him following you throughout your adventure, and he’ll even leave a message for you at one point.
191[[/folder]]
192
193[[folder:Web Comics]]
194* Parodied in ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}'' -- possibly even a direct parody of [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX Necron]] -- when, after finally defeating the distinctly non-Space-Flea FinalBoss and fleeing his collapsing lair, the party is suddenly faced with [[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20060103.html Necrevil,]] "the embodiment of evil ''itself''!"... and they just keep running.
195** [[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/0170.html Eternion on his first appearance]] is also an abrupt GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere, but he becomes a recurring villain and arguably has more of an impact on the plot than the BigBad himself.
196** While he's decidedly more human than most examples of this trope, [[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/0295.html this guy]] still qualifies by dint of location.
197* Morthol Dryax in ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'', who [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000916 pops up,]] is soundly defeated 22 pages later, and isn't mentioned anywhere else. [[EldritchAbomination Fluthlu]] counts as one too, and [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000950 appears shortly after beating Morthol Dryax.]] It's also never mentioned again in the series, apart from a MythologyGag or two in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''.
198* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' kind of plays with this trope. The [[AnachronicOrder nonlinear]] nature of the story means that for the reader it doesn't come out of nowhere, but from the perspective of most of the trolls [[spoiler: Bec Noir was this, suddenly appearing shortly after they defeated their FinalBoss.]]
199* The [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/113/ Rogue Canadian Scientists]] in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' were introduced this way, as a joke threat from nowhere that was defeated in just a few panels. They return as a more serious threat about four years later.
200* ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'': [[http://www.bogleech.com/awfulhospital/418.html The Dolphin.]] There are [[http://www.bogleech.com/awfulhospital/241.html a]] [[http://www.bogleech.com/awfulhospital/hellofremb.html few]] [[http://www.bogleech.com/awfulhospital/creepyshadow.gif references]] to it before it finally appears, but it's given no explanation whatsoever. Fans of the author's previous work and/or social media may be aware that he has expressed a strong dislike of dolphins for various reasons, but other than that, it's entirely this trope.
201[[/folder]]
202
203[[folder:Western Animation]]
204* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has the silent assassin nicknamed Combustion Man. All we know about his backstory is that he blew off AnArmAndALeg in the [[HowDoIShotWeb process of honing]] his [[HavingABlast specialised firebending technique]]. We do know his reasoning for attacking the Gaang- Prince Zuko hired him to do so back when he was still working for the Fire Nation, but even Zuko offering thrice the payment to stop won’t calm him down.
205* In ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'', this trope is somewhat common, as some monsters and other threats normally appear in the farmhouse without any explicit reason.
206* The ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' special ''[[Recap/DuckTalesS2E2SuperDuckTales Super Duck Tales]]'' starts out with four relatively down-to-earth episodes, where we're introduced to Fenton Crackshell and find out how he became Scrooge [=McDuck's=] accountant and the super hero Gizmoduck. And the villains during those four episodes are the Beagles, who are just normal criminals and appear in many other episodes on the show outside this arc... But in the fifth episode, "Money to Burn", everything is changed when some alien robots randomly appear on the scene to steal Scrooge's money bin. Granted, the robots have a stated motive (they need the metal from the coins to make new robots) but they still come out of nowhere, just to make Scrooge, Fenton/Gizmoduck and Launchpad suddenly go on an adventure in space, almost kill the heroes to make axle grease and be destroyed by Fenton/Gizmoduck.
207* Spoofed in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Time Keeps on Slippin'", when the Harlem Globetrotters (who in the 31st century are an entirely separate species from mankind) show up randomly one day and admit that now, for ''no reason'', they are challenging humanity to a game of basketball, with no stakes and no threat... beyond the shame of ''defeat''. This is because executives were asking the writers to have stories with more stakes.
208* Dr. Claw in ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'' is a faceless enemy that is constantly plotting against the titular hero. His organization seems to have no other purpose than to "Get Gadget". Claw's face was not even revealed until nearly twenty years after the show's run ended. Except on a toy.
209* [[CatsAreMean Battle Beast]] was portrayed this way in the first season of ''WesternAnimation/Invincible2021''. While the [[ComicBook/{{Invincible}} comic]] gives him a proper introduction and eventually expands on his character, his first appearance in the show makes him seem like a [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Giant Space Cat from Nowhere]] as he's teleported in alongside a few lower-tier supervillains by the VillainOfTheWeek, beats three of the [[WorfEffect Earth's mightiest superheroes]] half to death [[CurbStompBattle with minimal effort]], then promptly leaves.
210* In the {{Backstory}} of Equestria as told in "Hearth's Warming Eve" in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', the Windigos were these. They were said to be creatures that feed on ThePowerOfHate, but they came out of nowhere and had absolutely no explanation for what they planned to do with the winter they were causing, but they forced the three races of pony to band together, since they were able to create a beacon of friendship-powered fire to burn them away.
211* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'':
212** Although not many of the villains have elaborate origins, the [[{{Nanomachines}} nanobots]] in "Nano of the North" seem especially inexplicable. They're a swarm of microscopic robots that come out of a cloud that forms over Townsville but nothing else surrounding it, start devouring all the carbon to make more of themselves and demonstrate some kind of group intelligence in the way the cloud changed to focus the forces onto the Powerpuff Girls. Although they're all destroyed by the end of the episode, no clue is given as to their origin or why they were targeting Townsville specifically, and indeed no one even ''asks''.
213** The evil alien force from "Forced Kin" suddenly comes from space to conquer Earth with no explanation, and turns out to be so strong he forces Mojo Jojo and the Powerpuff Girls [[EnemyMine to work together]].
214* In ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'', Mordecai and Rigby are vying for a chair and bet on it in rock-paper-scissors. After being stuck in a tie for 100 times, a monster from out of nowhere comes to eat the chair, they were able to make it go away by breaking the tie. This is actually the formula many of their episodes run by. The characters start off doing something fairly mundane, like going on a date or buying fast food, then all of a sudden, the fantastic [[MonsterOfTheWeek enemy of the week]] pops up to give the characters a new conflict.
215* The ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' episode "Mrs. Cuddles" has the titular EvilDoll, which April O'Neil borrowed from her kiddie show temp job for a prank. She's alive, feeds on screams to grow stronger, and can only be kept at bay with laughter, so the Turtles and their allies end up doing the latter to defeat and stuff her back into her chest. Not only is it not explained how or why she came about, she seemingly doesn't have anything to do with the Yokai or the Foot Clan (who also have mystic powers).
216* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
217** At the show's start, each MonsterOfTheWeek has zero context with the story, unless Steven decides that [[FluffyTamer it's cool enough to keep around]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero juuuust long enough to blow up in his face.]] However, revelations from later episodes slowly but surely subvert the trope; the Red Eye, for instance, [[spoiler: was a probe sent by [[ScaryDogmaticAliens the Gem Homeworld]]]], and the Centipeetle is one of many [[spoiler: corrupted, insane Gems left behind after the Rebellion.]]
218** White Diamond, the ruler and apparent creator of the other Diamonds and by extension all Gemkind, is a downplayed example. She has a defined personality and a familial relationship with the other Diamonds, while Homeworld's empire (in particular its [[IndividualityIsIllegal extreme conformity]]) are implied to be [[ItsAllAboutMe extensions of her narcissism]]. That said, her actual origins are never addressed at all.
219* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''
220** Slade's backstory and motives were never revealed, despite him being the BigBad for the first two seasons, the DragonWithAnAgenda in the fourth, and a major presence throughout the series. The heroes, especially Robin, speculate as to who he is, but nothing concrete is ever reached.
221** Red X was originally created as a persona by Robin to get close to Slade back in Season 1 and abandoned when that plan fell through... Which is why Red X's sudden return as a separate entity from Robin in Season 3 came as a major shock with no immediate explanation or origin for his appearance. It's quickly surmised that someone had stolen and donned the Red X suit to do whatever he wants, but similarly to Slade, we end up with no information on who that someone is and no information on his backstory. The second Red X just appears out of nowhere and makes trouble for everyone. Beast Boy tries to speculate,[[note]][[WesternAnimation/DCNation He thinks it's Jason Todd]][[/note]] but Raven says it could be anyone and no one else really gives it any thought.
222** The [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]] from the episodes "Stranded" (an alien monster attacking a space station) and "Things Change" (a material-copying robot attacking the city) both come out of nowhere and though the characters wonder out loud what they are, we are never given even a vague explanation.
223* ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|1985}}'': In the series finale, after Lion-O fights an epic final battle against his ArchEnemy Mumm-Ra, the Ancient Spirits of Evil randomly throw "their champion," a giant warrior named Pyron, at Lion-O just to fill up the last couple of minutes or so of the episode.
224* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie'' features BigBad Unicron who drifts out of the vastness of space and starts eating things and making bargains with Decepticons. Though he appeared from the vacuum, he certainly didn't vanish afterward though. Later episodes and adaptations would elaborate more on his backstory and motivations, but the movie itself doesn't make him anything other than being the biggest threat the Autobots and Decepticons have ever faced.
225** Further incarnations were slightly more careful with this. Armada hinted he was in the background for a while, Energon followed as a sequel, and ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' dropped hints about him every now and then before he appeared for real.
226** Played straight again in the [[Film/TransformersFilmSeries live-action film series]], which reveals him to be the core of Earth with no explanation how or why (and none forthcoming, after the decision to reboot the movie universe).
227* The version of ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}} in ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries''. He is a [[TheJuggernaut invincbile]] [[TimeAbyss immortal]] villain who [[OmnicidalManiac seeks to bring about the end of the world]] [[InTheirOwnImage so he can rebuild in his own image]]. But since the character's origin wasn't revealed in the comics, the show never explained his backstory either. The most that is revealed about him is that he's implied to be the personificaiton of evil itself. Subverted in the show's comic book continuation, which reveals him to be GoodAllAlong and that he was testing the X-Men for something worse.
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