Line #11 Main/SmugSnake


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4	[[quoteright:240:[[WesternAnimation/OperationRabbit https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e_coyote_smug_wile_snake3.jpg]]]]
5	[[caption-width-right:240:"[[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner Being a genius]] certainly [[TemptingFate has its advantages.]]"]]
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10	->''"I'll give you a description. A forked tongue, little beady eyes, and he slithers on his belly. You'll find him easy. Just look under rocks."''
11	-->-- '''Mrs. Kandell''', ''[[Franchise/{{Dragnet}} Dragnet 1967]]'', "Burglary: Mister"
12
13	The Smug Snake is a type of character (usually a villain) who tends to treat friends and enemies alike with equal disdain. They almost constantly [[DeadpanSnarker speak in a sarcastic tone]] and punctuate most of their sentences with a smirk. While they aspire to be a formidable and awe-inspiring adversary, they often just become a BigBadWannabe, failing in the face of [[MagnificentBastard more cunning villains]] or becoming their servants, in which case they'll generally be TheStarscream. Others that fall under this {{trope}} are [[CardCarryingVillain simply in it to bug the good guys]] and [[FlawExploitation take advantage]] of their [[SlaveToPR moral insecurity]].
14
15	A key character trait common to Smug Snakes is overconfidence. The Smug Snake is usually too arrogant to be [[{{Pun}} rattled]]. Oftentimes, they will view themselves as a MagnificentBastard. While they may believe that they have [[EvilPlan the situation]] under control (whether they do so through {{blackmail}}, [[ManipulativeBastard manipulation]], or simply [[EvilChancellor being in a position of authority]]), there will usually be a [[SpannerInTheWorks hole]] in that plan [[DidntThinkThisThrough that they failed to consider]]. Perhaps they [[UnderestimatingBadassery underestimated their opponents' abilities]] and [[NothingCanStopUsNow claimed themselves unbeatable]], or maybe they made a really stupid mistake along the way. They may even [[BullyingADragon taunt someone or something even when common sense dictates that doing so is a good way to get themselves killed]]. Once that realization hits, expect the Snake to [[VillainousBreakdown lose their cool]] right before [[HumiliationConga everything starts falling apart]] for them. They are not necessarily ''entirely'' incompetent, stupid, or ineffectual, however, and may succeed with at least part of their goals, but they are still lacking that charm and grace that the MagnificentBastard possesses, and even the clever ones all too often ultimately are TooCleverByHalf. Often a KnowNothingKnowItAll too, to inspire added bile, though still enough to take the 'sympathetic' out of IneffectualSympatheticVillain (the ''best'' of them are {{Insufferable Genius}}es heavy on the former and light on the latter to the point that they teeter on InsufferableImbecile). If a Smug Snake considers themself a MagnificentBastard, then they're a villainous SmallNameBigEgo. When things go badly, the Smug Snake may reveal themself to be a DirtyCoward and [[VillainsWantMercy pathetically grovel]] when a former victim asks WhosLaughingNow or beg the victim to save them in the event of outside danger. In fact, for all their self-proclaimed brilliance, this is a {{trope}} that's highly likely to overlap with StupidEvil and end with the SmugSnake proving themselves TooDumbToLive and even suffering a KarmicDeath.
16
17	Mostly, a writer will purposely introduce a Smug Snake as a target for audience hate by making them KickTheDog or [[ObstructiveBureaucrat bend the rules to get their way]] and come out [[KarmaHoudini smelling like a rose]]. Basically, this is a villain that's [[HateSink made to be hated]] and the audience will [[LoveToHate often enjoy hating]]. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools This, like all other tropes, can backfire if misused]]. If the writer still tries to foist the character as a MagnificentBastard when their previous actions have proven otherwise, the audience will likely stop enjoying hating the character, and instead genuinely ''hate'' them as much as they would TheScrappy or the CreatorsPet. [[CharacterDevelopment Evolving a Smug Snake into a true Magnificent Bastard]] could be doable, in theory, but shouldn't be attempted lightly, and has only been pulled off successfully in fiction a few times. Ever. Of course, the author might be deliberately doing this, playing a villain up as a MagnificentBastard when it comes to getting the power they crave, but proving to be so inept at ''wielding'' that power once they finally have it that they ultimately are a Smug Snake instead. The line between those two {{tropes}} is thinner than it looks, after all, and the further someone overestimates themself and underestimates the others, the closer they lean to Smug Snake territory, even if they are normally a MagnificentBastard. So it is a state of mind directly proportional to the overconfidence of the character, and a character who has a good reason to have a high idea of themself will need to exaggerate their self-worth more to reach it than someone who hasn't.
18
19	The Smug Snake will rarely be a DracoInLeatherPants, because, as previously stated, they're often created intentionally to be loathed by the audience. (However, it is possible for this to happen, especially if the character is physically attractive — the TropeNamer [[Franchise/HarryPotter himself]] is an example.)
20
21	If the Smug Snakes are literally snakes, then it also overlaps with SnakesAreSinister.
22
23	If the SmugSnake is wealthy, you might be able to HitThemInThePocketbook.
24
25	Contrast WorthyOpponent, EvilIsCool, and MagnificentBastard, who inspire respect and/or admiration from their opponents/the audience, and AwesomeEgo, whose brash cockiness is part of their charm (although any of these may be perceived as a Smug Snake by an audience via AlternativeCharacterInterpretation or simply poor writing). Compare and contrast SmugSuper, for when the person's arrogance and ego can actually be backed up with feats.
26
27	SubTrope of the [[SevenDeadlySins Sin]] of {{Pride}}.
28
29	Sometimes TruthInTelevision, but let's leave it here, so Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease
30
31	[[noreallife]]
32	----
33	!!Example subpages
34	[[index]]
35	* SmugSnake/AnimeAndManga
36	* SmugSnake/ComicBooks
37	* SmugSnake/FanWorks
38	* SmugSnake/{{Film}}
39	* SmugSnake/{{Literature}}
40	* SmugSnake/LiveActionTV
41	* SmugSnake/ProfessionalWrestling
42	* SmugSnake/{{Religion}}
43	* SmugSnake/{{Roleplay}}
44	* SmugSnake/TabletopGames
45	* SmugSnake/VideoGames
46	* SmugSnake/VisualNovels
47	* SmugSnake/WebVideos
48	* SmugSnake/{{Webcomics}}
49	* SmugSnake/WesternAnimation
50	[[/index]]
51
52	!!Other examples
53	[[foldercontrol]]
54	[[folder:Multiple Media]]
55	* Franchise/MonsterVerse:
56	** ''Film/KongSkullIsland'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseSkullIslandExpedition Packard]] becomes increasingly AxCrazy and is fully confident that he can take out Kong. [[spoiler:Five seconds before having the chance to do so, Kong squashes him like a bug with no problem whatsoever.]]
57	** ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseEcoTerrorists Alan Jonah]] is implied to be this in the film, and the {{novelization}} outright confirms it. Not only does Jonah decide to ''let'' [[OmnicidalManiac King Ghidorah]] instigate an apocalypse which could wipe out all life on Earth as we know it (which in the film version could be construed as Jonah being willing to risk him and his men dying so that [[MisanthropeSupreme humanity will be no more]]); but in the novel, Jonah makes it clear that he's genuinely oblivious to just how much destruction Ghidorah will cause to the world and how much mortal peril it puts his own long-term survival in, when he insists he and his men will somehow weather out the whole apocalypse and "live like kings" in the aftermath.[[note]]Bear in mind, the [=MonsterVerse=] novelizations explicitly say that Ghidorah's destruction would mostly likely [[ApocalypseHow/Class5 wipe out ALL non-bacterial life on Earth]] -- not even the K-T mass extinction or the aptly-named Great Dying managed to be ''that'' destructive, nevermind that the novel also observes that Ghidorah will most likely root out and exterminate '''all''' human survivors hidden underground sooner or later if he wins.[[/note]] After Madison hears Jonah say this, she mentally compares him to "the miserable lice-eaten thugs in the Dark Ages who had started calling themselves 'kings'". Jonah also severely underestimates Madison in both versions of the story on account of her age, [[spoiler:and him not placing her under further scrutiny despite her ''clear'' disgust for his actions enables Madison to steal the ORCA out from under Jonah and his goons' noses and escape with it]].
58	** ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': Multiple within the [[Characters/MonsterVerseApexCybernetics Apex Cybernetics]] corporation.
59	*** Walter Simmons. Underneath his initial charming if proud exterior is an egotist who's brimming with hubris. As the film progresses, he treats Team Godzilla with faux-polite haughty disdain and is quick to get abrasively demanding with Ren when hearing something he doesn't want to. He sees himself as the next visionary architect of humanity's entry into a bold new era, but he's possibly the single most TooDumbToLive major villain in the entire Franchise/MonsterVerse with how he [[spoiler:doesn't see anything wrong with using a known OmnicidalManiac Titan[='s=] ''incomprehensibly BizarreAlienBiology and still-telepathic remains'' as the direct ''nervous system of something he designed to be WorldsStrongestMan'']]. He has an OhCrap too right before meeting his HoistByHisOwnPetard doom. In the novelization, he gets extra points for seemingly unknowingly having a DragonWithAnAgenda. The fancy glass of alcohol that Simmons carries in several scenes accentuates his Smug Snaky-ness.
60	*** Simmons' [[TheDragon Dragon]] Ren Serizawa is also confirmed to be one in the {{novelization}}. Besides sharing the above spoiler-y point with Simmons, he considers himself and Godzilla to be CainAndAbel, and he's wholly confident that he will succeed in killing Godzilla where rival Titans and the Oxygen Destroyer have failed, but Word of God on ''Godzilla vs. Kong'' and the novelization itself have suggested that Mechagodzilla would've lost in a fair fight against Godzilla. The novel also shows when Ren is in [[spoiler:the Skull Room]] piloting Mechagodzilla that he outright believes his mind deserves to be in a PhysicalGod body rather than his human body (though it's also hinted this might be [[spoiler:MoreThanMindControl from the Ghidorah skull affecting him]]), but he's really no more nor less a Titan-ant than every other human around him and he's, again, ridiculously Too Dumb to Live.
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Theater]]
64	* The ancient Romans called this sort of character a "Ballio", after the villain of Creator/{{Plautus}}' ''Pseudolus''. Ballio the pimp is a raging egomaniac who threatens his courtesans with demotion to low-class whores — and floggings — if they fail to obtain rich birthday presents for him from their lovers; and he takes a nasty delight in telling Calidorus that his [Calidorus'] beloved is about to be sold. Ultimately, when he's been tricked out of the deal, he resolves to hang himself.
65	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SmugSnake