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| 5 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 11 | [[quoteright:288:[[ComicBook/FantasticFour https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wicked_cultured.jpg]]]] |
| 12 | [-[[caption-width-right:288:Doom is such a considerate host. [[MusicalAssassin The last bit, though...]]]]-] |
| 13 | |
| 14 | ->''"I'm the'' [[GratuitousFrench bon vivant]] ''of violence, a licensed psychiatrist\ |
| 15 | Who dines on highest society to the sound of violins!"'' |
| 16 | -->-- '''Franchise/HannibalLecter''', ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'' |
| 17 | |
| 18 | It's not that EvilIsCool. Rather, this is more like "Evil is Intellectual". Evil is smart, wicked, sarcastic with a biting sense of humor. Evil is smooth and eloquent, if not outright suave. Evil [[ManOfWealthAndTaste dresses well]], has a [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness polysyllabic lexicon]], quotes Creator/WilliamShakespeare, sips [[AGlassOfChianti fine wine]], listens to his favorite opera on his downtime ([[SmallReferencePools almost always]] ''Theatre/DonGiovanni''), and in general is shown to be cultured if not necessarily civilized. This can apply to any villain, AntiVillain, or associated character types. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | May overlap with DumbIsGood, but it doesn't have to. The hero of the story can easily be a more rugged intellectual, or he reads/writes poetry, which is almost never perceived as an "evil" form of culture (cf. the WarriorPoet trope). Closely related to the MagnificentBastard, whose sheer tactical and strategic brilliance often sets him inside the trappings of Wicked Cultured (particularly when he catches you and then explains which strategic genius first invented that trap). FauxAffablyEvil is a similar overlap of highbrow manners and vicious actions. Villains who try to be this and fail are WickedPretentious. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | A villain, interestingly, can be both this and WickedPretentious. Usually showing genuine class or knowledge of things, but also using it as a smokescreen to hide misquotes, unflattering personality traits, or overstepping their knowledge base. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | When AristocratsAreEvil, they almost always follow this trope; when enough of them do, you get a DecadentCourt. They are likely to practice BrainsAndBondage without any trace of SafeSaneAndConsensual. Likely to be a VillainInAWhiteSuit as well. If there's a pair of Wicked Cultured villains, they'll often be BanteringBaddieBuddies. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | A Wicked Cultured villain will naturally be associated with equally cultured music, with their most likely GenreMotif being classical music. Their {{Mood Motif}}s tend to be either harpsichords or, for more grandiose variants of this trope, {{Ominous Pipe Organ}}s. Villains that are particularly passionate about music would probably enjoy ConductingTheCarnage. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | This trope often carries some implication of SlobsVersusSnobs: people who enjoy pop culture are average joes and probably the protagonists, but those who like "high" culture are a bit weird, "other", and more likely to be antagonists. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | Compare the less sinister VillainsOutShopping, VillainousFashionSense, and ManOfWealthAndTaste. Contrast with LowerClassLout (for an uneducated and uncultured villain) and PopCulturedBadass (usually but not always heroic). The exact opposite of this is a GentlemanAndAScholar (unless he is AffablyEvil). The pastimes of a Wicked Cultured character will always be SnobbyHobbies. Someone who keeps trying to be this but whose plans end up ''less'' clear, simple, and effective may have a ComplexityAddiction, or might only be WickedPretentious. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | Not to be confused with SophisticatedAsHell, although overlap is possible. |
| 33 | |
| 34 | [[noreallife]] |
| 35 | ---- |
| 36 | !!Examples: |
| 37 | |
| 38 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 39 | |
| 40 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 41 | %%* Griffith from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' |
| 42 | * ''Manga/BlackButler's'' Sebastian Michaelis is the perfect butler: he can cook the finest cuisine from any country, perform beautifully on the violin, and recite quotes from virtually any body of literature. Oh, by the way, he's a demon. |
| 43 | ** Since this is from manga and anime, to be clear: drag-your-soul-to-Hell demon, not "generic supernatural creature" demon. |
| 44 | * Creed from ''Manga/BlackCat'' is definitely shown to be one of the more "cultured" characters in the series. He appears to be the only character in the series that bothers taking a bath (which is filled with rose petals, no less), dresses in sleek, black leather, drinks AGlassOfChianti (with a rose in it), speaks in a much more formal manner, plays the organ well, is skilled with large scale oil painting, carving gold statues, etc. |
| 45 | * Aizen of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' uses very long words, [[GambitRoulette even longer plans]] and as a scientist is second only to [[TricksterMentor Urahara]] (which continuously annoys him, and somewhat justified too, as [[spoiler:Urahara plays a vital role in his defeat]]). As well, during his time in Soul Society, he was an instructor in calligraphy. |
| 46 | * In ''Anime/CuteHighEarthDefenseClubLove'', the AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil embrace this trope. They like elegant surroundings - right there ''in the school'' - and fancy teas. Kinshirou goes in for lots of long words, while Akoya goes in for being [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon beauty and grace incarnate]]. Arima, the only one of the three confirmed as being from a [[ShelteredAristocrat noble family]], gets to play butler. |
| 47 | * Light Yagami of ''Manga/DeathNote'' can sometimes come across this way, as a sharply-dressed, well-educated PersonOfMassDestruction, with [[MagnificentBastard a tongue so silver it convinced a god of death to kill herself]] and evil so [[FauxAffablyEvil faux-affable]] it sucked good folks into his madness. Another character even comments that Light looks and acts "like he's been groomed for success his whole life," but this mature and intellectual exterior actually masks a [[PsychopathicManchild childish genius]] who [[AxCrazy wants to watch heads roll]] and [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity doesn't know what it means to be wrong]]. |
| 48 | ** Teru Mikami, who is extremely similar to Light, not just in his meticulous appearance but also mind-set. Mikami graduated from a prestigious university, became a successful prosecutor and his clothes are never seen in any disarray. Unfortunately, he suffers from the [[PsychopathicManchild same]] [[TotalitarianUtilitarian issues]] as Light. |
| 49 | * Goku Black from ''Anime/DragonBallSuper''. He is impeccably polite, intelligent, drinks tea, and is a psychopathic mass murderer. |
| 50 | * Izaya Orihara from ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'' [[FurAndLoathing wears fur-lined coats]], speaks Russian, reads Creator/OscarWilde and throws around psychology terms like "misattribution of arousal". He's also Japan's biggest {{troll}}. |
| 51 | * Solf J. Kimblee of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' has got this down pat. Immaculate white suit? Check. Nice, calming voice? Check. An interest in the alchemical arts, as well as a seeming passion for music? Check. [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Oh, and he's]] [[BloodKnight a psychopath]] [[MadBomber who has made it his life's work to blow up anything and everything for the heck of it.]] [[WhyAmITicking And he can turn people into living bombs.]] |
| 52 | * Proist, the eventual BigBad of ''Anime/GaikingLegendOfDaikuMaryu''. She has a thing for Antonin Dvorak's New World Symphony—spoken of its 2nd movement: “While the culture of the Earth is barbaric, this song by that composer Dvorak is magnificent.” When things get serious, she acknowledges that this movement is no longer adequately suited to the moment, and starts up the more dramatic 4th movement. Her personal EldritchAbomination is even named after the composer himself. Also, she arranges meetings with rebellious subordinates during teatime and coolly responds to having a reckless (and unexpected) guest draw a sword on her by asking him how many sugars he wants in his tea. |
| 53 | * The Major from ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' is a textbook example: he dresses immaculately, always ready for AGlassOfChianti, is well-read, refined, eloquent, frighteningly intelligent, but... He's insane and has "''EVIL''" written on him in two-foot letters. In blood. |
| 54 | * ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': |
| 55 | ** In between various [[KickTheDog dog-kicking acts]] (and occasionally [[MoralEventHorizon dog-burning acts too]]) and sending his AxCrazy minions after the heroes, Dio Brando enjoys literature, music, and classic art. |
| 56 | ** Dio's DragonAscendant Enrico Pucci, too. Being a priest, he holds himself up to high cultural standards, and of note, he's well-researched of the composing process of Music/GeorgeFredericHandel's ''Messiah'' and the various recordings people have made of it over the centuries. |
| 57 | * Adolf K. Weissman from ''Anime/{{K}}'', wears fancy-looking clothes and waltzes with an inanimate woman wearing a fox mask. The few glimpses we get of him suggest he is quite unhinged and malevolent. [[spoiler: {{Subverted|Trope}}- he's actually the hero and BigGood - when he was acting crazy, it's because he was [[BodySnatcher Possessed]]. When his memories return, he still has the [[SharpDressedMan nice suits]], he can still waltz, and of course, the [[AGlassOfChianti elegant wine]] moment at the beginning of episode 12 was from before he got body-snatched.]] |
| 58 | * M'Quve from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' is a ruthless SmugSnake under the orders of [[LadyOfWar Princess]] [[EvilRedhead Kycilia]] [[EvilGenius Zabi]], whom he's fiercely devoted to. He's also an extremely cultured, polite, soft-spoken man who adores art and souvenirs. [[spoiler: His last thoughts as he died in battle were of both his Princess and an old porcelain vase that he wanted to offer to her as a gift.]] |
| 59 | ** Backstory claims the same about [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Gihren Zabi]], who apparently enjoys dancing, opera, horticulture, and various other types of arts and sciences. For a guy who fancied himself as Hitler's reincarnation, Gihren was as cultured as he was (supposedly) intellectual. |
| 60 | ** Paptimus Scirocco of ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' carries himself this way, being well mannered and courteous to all those around him (even those he despises). He also has a thing for old traditions, such as signing contracts in blood (not that he finds them binding, unlike his superior [[UnfortunateNames Jamitov Hymen]]). |
| 61 | ** Mashemyre Cello of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'' thinks of himself as this but in reality, he's a bumbling idiot with a thing for roses and an obsession with [[BigBad Haman Karn]]. |
| 62 | ** Treize Kushrenada of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' was the poster child of this trope during his time as a villain. His cultured elements are covered in the CulturedBadass section, while his wicked elements constitute his leading the Specials (essentially the {{State Sec}}urity of ''Wing'') in subjugating the colonies and parts of the Earth, his indirectly assassinating the UESA leadership when they were on the verge of a peace settlement and then leading OZ in conquering the Earthsphere in the name of their Romefellar masters. Naturally he has a HeelFaceTurn later on, when he [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizes that his actions only made the world turn for the worst]], but for a time Treize was a particularly ruthless ''Gundam'' villain. |
| 63 | * ''Manga/{{Monster}}'': Johan Liebert, the title character, is always perfectly dressed, eloquent, blends in perfectly with high society, and is an intellectual. He is fluent in many languages and is an expert on law, business, economics, and psychology. |
| 64 | * William of ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot''. The man quotes Shakespeare while stepping out the darkness to murder people and threatening the life of a man in court. If he can find a way to do so before stabbing you, he will. |
| 65 | * Crocodile from ''Franchise/OnePiece''. Drinks wine while the Straw Hats are imprisoned (in addition to a NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine scene with Vivi), names his criminal organization after Renaissance architecture, and dresses in a fashion akin to a mafia ringleader. |
| 66 | * Shogo Makishima, the sociopathic villain from ''Anime/PsychoPass'', is seen reading Shakespeare and ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' in his spare time; and he's very knowledgeable in philosophy, music, and literature. |
| 67 | ** Makishima's [[TheDragon lieutenant]] Choe Gu-Sung, as well. Always polite and composed, and no less well-read than Makishima, to the point of knowledgeable discussion of century-old Cyberpunk literature. |
| 68 | ** In TheMovie, Desmond Rutaganda is a ruthless mercenary who will do anything, no matter how destructive, for money. He also discusses postcolonial philosophy with a captive Togami. |
| 69 | * ''Manga/SeraphOfTheEnd'': The vampire noble Ferid is graceful and refined; he wants to be a painter; his swordplay style is that of royalty (to quote the novel: “It was a style that Crowley had never seen before. The movements were extremely refined. Like some sort of ceremonial fencing taught to royalty.”); He also likes to wear his long hair in ribbons and enjoys drinking [[AGlassOfChianti blood in a wine glass]] in his mansion. As for the 'evil' part, he's the manga's resident HateSink, a power-hungry sadist with a disturbing fixation on children. |
| 70 | * Invoked by Yahiro Saiga of ''Manga/SpecialA''. He's not actually that bad and that much aóf a jerk, he just pulls a ZeroApprovalGambit. With his love of opera, fine clothing and dining, he certainly looks like an example. |
| 71 | * Shuu Tsukiyama from ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'' is the son of a wealthy Ghoul family that is fully entrenched in human society. He enjoys classical music, literature, fine art, fashion, and gourmet meals. In particular, he is a fan of the works of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Anthelme_Brillat-Savarin Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin]] and is influenced to seek the finest experiences in cuisine. Of course, this usually means ripping out and sauteing the eyes of beautiful women or stalking Kaneki in order to find the perfect setting for devouring his Ultimate Meal. Other Ghouls mock him for his obsession with human High Culture, considering it pathetic. |
| 72 | * ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'': "Madame, your [[EvilLaugh laugh]] lacks elegance." |
| 73 | * [[TheCaligula Lord Orkham]] from ''Anime/WolfsRain''. From what little we see of him, his home is decked out with finery. |
| 74 | [[/folder]] |
| 75 | |
| 76 | [[folder:Asian Animation]] |
| 77 | * ''Animation/{{Mechamato}}'': Paintasso dons a grey fedora and trenchcoat, speaks in a French accent and steals artwork. When he gets sprayed with paint, he is overjoyed to have become a living masterpiece and doesn't mind being imprisoned with a mirror to look upon himself in his cell. |
| 78 | [[/folder]] |
| 79 | |
| 80 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 81 | * ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': [[Characters/BatmanRasAlGhul Ra's al Ghul]] is always portrayed as this. [[Characters/BatmanTheRiddler The Riddler]] and [[Characters/BatmanTheScarecrow the Scarecrow]] often are as well, although they're more DependingOnTheWriter. [[Characters/BatmanThePenguin The Penguin]] is sometimes this, but is just as often shown as WickedPretentious. |
| 82 | * The eponymous protagonist of ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'' is a merciless murderer and an {{Impossible Th|eft}}ief, but is also a collector of fine arts, has created a collection from his most beautiful loot, and took offense at Ginko thinking he'd steal a priceless but objectively ''horrible'' golden statue. |
| 83 | * [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]] is presented this way in ''ComicBook/Eternals2021''. When he attacks Lemuria and confronts Thena's lover, the Deviant artist Tolau the Delirious, he takes a moment to appreciate and criticise Tolau's latest statue, acknowledging the artistry. |
| 84 | * ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]] has four Rembrandts. He used to have five, until he burned one because it ''offended'' him. |
| 85 | * ''ComicBook/TheFlash'''s RoguesGallery: |
| 86 | ** The Top is an incredible genius who is, among other things, a wine connoisseur. This has made him a pariah among the other, more blue-collar Rogues. |
| 87 | ** The Fiddler, as well, was a classically trained violinist and musical virtuoso. This was {{lampshade|Hanging}}d once when Deadshot asks him why, if he's classically trained and had a genuine Strad violin, he calls himself the Fiddler, like "...an inbred hick". |
| 88 | ** Weather Wizard also fancies himself something of an intellectual. |
| 89 | ** ComicBook/{{The Shade|DCComics}} is a Victorian-era gentleman who has stopped aging thanks to his darkness superpowers, he is droll, well-dressed, cultivates roses, and enjoys fine art and food. However, he only pursued a life of crime because he was [[WhoWantsToLiveForever bored with immortality]], and eventually did a HeelFaceTurn. |
| 90 | * Say what you want about Bob from ''ComicBook/GetJiro'', but he clearly has an appreciation for the foreign cuisine he specializes in. His first scene shows him preparing ''Blanquette de veau'' as a demonstration to his staff, practices proper sushi etiquette at Jiro's establishment (which has been established as SeriousBusiness to Jiro) and bemoans to him that it's the kitschy establishments that keep his businesses stable. |
| 91 | * In many ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' continuities, Brainiac 5's unfathomable intelligence causes him to start out as an InsufferableGenius, then slowly become more and more sinister. |
| 92 | * While the Evronians from ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'' are introduced as a race of ruthless and brutal EmotionEater aliens, Branch Leader Gorthan is one: unlike others, he has developed emotions (though not to the extent of humans) and a deep fascination with Earth culture. He's introduced quoting Shakespeare to his confused underlings, in his second appearance he quotes the Little Prince as he's about to crash on Earth and, after revealing that his time is limited, [[OneLastSmoke asks for a good book]]. In the reboot he's a connoisseur of Evronian culture, even going as far as losing himself in a simulation machine which makes him the hero of an ancient Evronian saga. That being said, he's still an evil conqueror from an alien planet. |
| 93 | -->[about Earth] ''"An extremely interesting planet. Too bad we have to destroy it."'' |
| 94 | * ''ComicBook/SinCity'': Manute speaks in a very polite and eloquent manner. He seems to have little regard for hookers and "the dregs of Sin City". When Dwight implies Manute's only serving the BigBad because she slept with him (her usual M.O.), Manute finds the suggestion vulgar and insulting. Mere sex is no reason to follow anyone. |
| 95 | * Tarn of ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' is described thusly: [[BreadEggsMilkSquick "music lover, classical scholar, and mass murderer."]] One of his favorite methods of execution is reading poetry while altering his voice's frequency to make the victim's spark explode. |
| 96 | * Magneto in ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', despite his disdain for humanity, has his minions steal all of the greatest works of art that they can before he begins a scheme intended to wipe out the entire human race, reasoning that humanity's only worthwhile creations (to paraphrase his terminology) deserve better than to be destroyed with their makers. |
| 97 | * [[Characters/DCComicsVandalSavage Vandal Savage]] is an astute intellectual who is thousands of years old. He also hunts down his descendants so he can eat them. |
| 98 | * ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'': V is a VillainProtagonist with a good cause, and he applies this trope to himself, quoting the line, "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm [[ManOfWealthAndTaste a man of wealth and taste]]," from the Rolling Stones's "Sympathy for the Devil" (making him a PopCulturedBadass as well). He plays the piano, writes his own songs, grows roses, has an enormous vocabulary (most of it starting with "V")... He has a reason-- his art collection is 'rescued' from the CulturePolice, and his over-eloquent theatrics are meant to be a contrast to the bland and menacing fascist government. |
| 99 | ** In the novelization of [[Film/VForVendetta the movie]], Creedy has shades of this. |
| 100 | * Lord Cedric from ''ComicBook/{{WITCH}}'' has two passions: ancient books and deception. Fittingly, his home on Earth doubles as a bookshop with a preference for ancient books and he has many contacts among booksellers, and has deceived people from the very first story until [[spoiler: his death]], with one victim falling for his deception in spite of being forewarned to not trust him (Cedric even described ''exactly'' what the poor victim was thinking). |
| 101 | * ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Countess Draska Nishki is a high-class woman with expensive tastes that chose to turn to a life of blackmail and spy wrangling in order to continue to be able to afford her lifestyle. |
| 102 | [[/folder]] |
| 103 | |
| 104 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 105 | * In the ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/BlackWingsBlackSails'', William Laurence, as befitting a man who has come to be called the Gentleman Pirate, still does his best to dress respectably, down to wearing a neckcloth and coat, and maintains the polite manner of speech befitting his noble birth. All while ruthlessly plundering and trying to destroy the Atlantic slave trade. |
| 106 | * ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has a number, most prominent being [[AristocratsAreEvil Lucius]] [[DiabolicalMastermind Malfoy]], who enjoys fine wines and tends to bemoan the staining of his expensive robes. |
| 107 | ** Baron Von Strucker, though he tends to give off the vibe of a man trying desperately to live in the past. |
| 108 | ** Gravemoss, weirdly, has a little bit of this despite being an AxCrazy OmnicidalManiac, with a surprisingly snazzy ElaborateUndergroundBase and offering his guests wine. It's suggested to be a façade to lull his victims into a false sense of security. |
| 109 | ** [[MadScientist Sinister]] is an intellectual who uses quotes from people like Creator/TSEliot and Creator/AlfredLordTennyson as {{Trigger Phrase}}s for his brainwashed TykeBomb. |
| 110 | * "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9371015/1/Copper-and-Wine Copper & Wine]]" basically reinvents Maura Isles (''Series/RizzoliAndIsles'') as this; she is basically the same as in canon, save for the fact that she is a secret serial killer who serves her victims up at dinner parties (although she mostly declines to offer her victims to those she genuinely cares for, such as the Rizzolis). |
| 111 | * Callidus Dominus from the Cynical Classicist ''Series/DoctorWho'' fanfic series. In [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10630391/1/Devotee-of-Augustus Devotee of Augustus]] he shows a liking for speaking Latin and Wagner's Operas. |
| 112 | * Emperor 626 from the ''Franchise/LiloAndStitch'' fanfic ''Fanfic/EmpireOfThePacific'' is shown to have an elegant taste in Earth culture despite being an AxCrazy tyrant from literally another planet. Throughout the fic, he's shown to enjoy listening to classical music, his palace contains various sculptures and fine arts from across the world, and he consumes lavish alcohol (including a bottle of 1811 Chateau d'Yquem, one of the world's most expensive wines). Interestingly, he doesn't seem to possess anything pertaining to Hawaiian culture, which is where the story is set in. |
| 113 | * ''Fanfic/{{Hivefled}}'''s portrayal of the Grand Highblood has him as this trope; he's far more eloquent and less foul-mouthed than Gamzee, capable of carrying out elaborate plans, [[ReligionOfEvil deeply religious]], always very polite when LeaningOnTheFourthWall, and a great painter. His best work was painted [[MummiesAtTheDinnerTable in the blood of a lover he murdered]], and when speaking to the readers he implies he plans to rape and torture them to death in the same way he did two and a half thousand teenage trolls and attempted to do to his own children. |
| 114 | * ''Fanfic/JewelOfDarkness'': At the climax of the Jump City Arc, Midnight takes the time before initiating her master plan to toast it with her minions. And a later flashback shows her attending a production of "Theatre/{{Faust}}" with Slade and reading "Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo" while waiting for it to start. |
| 115 | * One scene in ''[[Fanfic/DeliverUsFromEvilSeries Mortality]]'' [[WordOfGod deliberately invoked]] this trope for [[DiabolicalMastermind Professor]] [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes Moriarty]], with a glass of wine in hand (which he fractures because of his angry grip on it). Overall, the fic paints him as very upper-class and as intellectual as he is meant to be. |
| 116 | ** [[TheDragon Colonel Moran]] gets his moments as well, particularly at the Tankerville Club. |
| 117 | * In ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim'', [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Norlock]] puts on airs of this, with the fine suit he always wears, and his insistence on always acting as [[FauxAffablyEvil melodramatically polite]] as possible. |
| 118 | * ''Fanfic/NightsFavoredChild'': [[TheDragon The Inquisitor]] has a collection of fine art, and in his downtime he likes listening to classical music and reading. |
| 119 | * In ''Fanfic/OldWest'', the snake-hunter for hire Mon Hellsing often [[AsTheGoodBookSays quotes]] Literature/TheBible to show his [[FantasticRacism disdain toward snakes]], naming exactly the sections he's quoting. |
| 120 | * Konotegashiwa of ''Fanfic/TalesOfTheUndiscoveredSwords'' is a [[AntiquatedLinguistics samurai-tongue]]-speaking ''waka'' poetry enthusiast who has beautiful penmanship and can doll himself up in KimonoFanservice when need too, but is also a self-righteous StrawVegetarian, a bully and a ManipulativeBastard. |
| 121 | * ''Fanfic/TarkinsFist'': Moff Kuantus Kuat is noted to have two pieces of art from Earth, one by Picasso and the other by Salvador Dali, hanging on the wall in his office. This is less a case of admiring and appropriating another culture's cultural artifacts and more an assertion of dominance, as the two paintings are noted to be considered inferior when compared to the two art pieces from the Home Galaxy the Picasso and the Dali pieces are hung next to. |
| 122 | [[/folder]] |
| 123 | |
| 124 | [[folder:Films— Animation]] |
| 125 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': Up until the climax, [[DeadpanSnarker Jafar tended to act subtle with how he felt about others]], so it comes off as him being a gentleman while hypnotizing the sultan, talking to Jasmine, and [[spoiler: drowning Aladdin as Prince Ali]]. He was also the royal advisor to the sultan which gave him authority over some. |
| 126 | * ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailFievelGoesWest'': Cat R. Waul is a cultured, well mannered "gentlecat" who lures New York mice out west in order to turn them all into "mouseburgers" because simply chasing and eating them is an "unnecessary expenditure of calories". |
| 127 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'': Lady Tremaine acts regal, lives in a mansion with her daughters, and wears expensive dresses while being an AbusiveParent to Cinderella. |
| 128 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'': Professor Ratigan presents himself as a man of intelligence and culture, which actually enhances his villainy, as it's all a cover for his feral and untamed -- "rat" -- nature. Being voiced by the great Creator/VincentPrice certainly helps. |
| 129 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'': Shere Khan hates humans (simply referred to as 'man') and tries to kill Mowgli, but rarely acts feral about it. In fact he acts pretty civil with Mowgli, and only really gets angry when [[BigDamnHeroes Baloo shows up]]. Being voiced by the aristocratic tones of Creator/GeorgeSanders helps. |
| 130 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': Scar is the brother of a king, so of course he'll act like one. [[spoiler: Though killing your brother and trying to kill your nephew makes you less of a royal.]] |
| 131 | * ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan:'' Captain Hook wears quite the dapper coat and hat, acts quite gentlemanly [[FauxAffablyEvil (until he gets angry)]] and can play the piano even with his hook. |
| 132 | * The Grand Duke in ''WesternAnimation/RockADoodle'' is not just an evil owl who spits black magic and wears a Dracula cape; he also enjoys embroidery and plays a demonic organ that controls the weather. Being voiced by the urbane Creator/ChristopherPlummer helps. |
| 133 | * ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'': Maleficent acts quite elegant and treats the royals with respect. |
| 134 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'', Bowser has a hobby of playing the piano and is seen playing it during his VillainLoveSong "Peaches", and afterwards when he and Kamek are talking about his plans to force Peach into being in a wedding with him. |
| 135 | [[/folder]] |
| 136 | |
| 137 | [[folder:Film -- Live-Action]] |
| 138 | * Ulysses Diello the treacherous valet turned spy in ''Film/FiveFingers1952'' convinces his German controller that he is an English gentleman of the most elegant and decadent sort. |
| 139 | * In ''Film/TheAbominableDrPhibes'', the VillainProtagonist is an award-winning concert organist, holds two degrees from prestigious European universities (including one in theology), and enjoys composing poetry and ballroom dancing to music supplied by the clockwork band he has built. He's utterly mad and spends the movie brutally murdering a whole bunch of innocent people. He also sneers at one victim's cheesy artwork and inferior wine collection. |
| 140 | * ''Film/BatmanFilmSeries'': |
| 141 | ** In ''Film/Batman1989'', the Joker enjoys classical (or at least orchestral) music, and he plays it on three "romantic" occasions: Percy Faith's "A Summer Place" while meeting Vicki in a museum café; Stephen Foster's "Beautiful Dreamer" while bringing some flowers (which, in a vile twist, are already wilted) to Vicki's apartment; and a sentimental waltz while he is, uh, ravishing Vicki on the roof of the city's Gothic cathedral. Interestingly, the latter piece -- Music/DannyElfman's "Waltz to the Death" -- is actually quite beautiful and grand and would be completely innocent were it not exclusively associated with a disfigured mass murderer. He also quotes Creator/EdgarAllanPoe to Vicki in one scene -- and, fittingly, it is a line from "Literature/TheRaven", which is about a deceased sweetheart (Joker had murdered his previous love interest, Alicia, in order to free himself up for Vicki). He's also a fan of Francis Bacon, it seems. He is also mentioned in his police file as having an aptitude for art, which puts an interesting perspective when he and his goons vandalize most of the works at the Gotham Museum of Art (or when he dismisses most of Vicki's photography... except the ones of war and death). Presumably, he fully appreciates and understands all of this stuff on an artistic level, but still felt like smashing it up to bring it up to his own [[MadArtist twisted sense of aesthetic standard]]. When he brings Alicia in, she says "Jack, you said I could watch you improve the paintings." Then there's Jack/Joker's fashion sense. The first thing he does on seeing Knox is critique his tie. |
| 142 | ** In ''Film/BatmanReturns'', the Penguin is an {{aver|tedTrope}}sion, in a departure of his comics characterization at the time: he's portrayed as the grotesquely deformed scion of a wealthy family who dumped him in the river and left him for dead when he was still a baby. Although obviously intelligent and certainly no stranger to fine clothes, this version of the Penguin is [[WickedPretentious quite vulgar, with thuggish manners and distasteful sexual appetites]]. The character is also portrayed in this manner in the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' video game. He clearly ''thinks'' that he's Wicked Cultured, though. |
| 143 | * Frenchy De Vere in ''Film/BlackPatch'' owns the saloon, and is implied to be the closest thing to a crime boss the town has. He dresses in fine European fashions, enjoys gourmet food and champagne, and plays the spinet extremely well. He is complete contrast to his boorish and brutish enforcer Holman. |
| 144 | * In ''Film/ABlueprintForMurder'', the BlackWidow Lynne is described as "young, beautiful, intelligent and cultured" and plays classical piano like a virtuoso. |
| 145 | * The Pin in the neo-noir film ''Film/{{Brick}}.'' Something of a subversion, as outside of his basement office, he's clearly quite shy and eager to be liked. |
| 146 | * Alex of ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' - the only thing he loves more than rape and "the old ultra-violence" is Beethoven's music. His gang, and youth culture in general, garb themselves in perverted trappings of aristocracy, such as top hats, walking sticks, and codpieces. |
| 147 | * Captain Ramsay in ''Film/CrimsonTide'' listens to Schubert during quiet moments - when not debating the genetics of Lipizzaner stallions with Lt. Commander Hunter. |
| 148 | * Bane in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' isn't just a [[GeniusBruiser giant thug with a surprising intellect]], but one with a witty comeback for every occasion and a fondness for [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness florid speech]]. He even takes the time to appreciate a boy soprano's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" in a football stadium... right before he blows that stadium up. |
| 149 | * Hans Gruber in ''Film/DieHard''. ''Classical education'', dontcha know. He's also dressed very well and chats cleverly about high fashion. Having Beethoven's "Music/OdeToJoy" as a motif, the film composer Music/MichaelKamen called him a lineal descendant of the bad guys in ''A Clockwork Orange.'' Funnily enough, the quote he delivers to demonstrate his classical education is [[BeamMeUpScotty inaccurate.]] |
| 150 | * ''Film/DunstonChecksIn'': Lord Rutledge may be a ruthless, utterly amoral scoundrel, but he is at least a man of culture. In the kitchen fight, he's about to use a bottle of wine as an ImprovisedWeapon, only to be told that it's Chateau Lafite; he pauses, checks the bottle, ''compliments the year'', puts the bottle away carefully and finds something else to use as an ImprovisedWeapon instead, because there's no way he's using ''Chateau Lafite'' as a club. |
| 151 | * Nearly every character portrayed by German actor Sky du Mont (e.g. Sandor Szavost in Creator/StanleyKubrick's movie ''Film/EyesWideShut''). |
| 152 | * In ''Film/FiveGravesToCairo'', Nazi general UsefulNotes/ErwinRommel tells his staff to arrange a performance of ''Theatre/{{Aida|Verdi}}'' when they get to Cairo, "omitting the second act, which is too long, and not too good." |
| 153 | * Klytus from the 1980 ''Film/{{Flash Gordon|1980}}'' manages this by speaking in the arch, refined tones of Peter Wyngarde, and holding a handkerchief to his face during an execution. |
| 154 | * Cobb from ''Film/{{Following}}'' is well-dressed, witty, urbane, and philosophical about the fact that he's a career burglar. |
| 155 | -->'''Cobb:''' You take it away to show them what they had. |
| 156 | * In ''Film/GangsterSquad'', as one of its oddly specific parallels to the '87 film of ''The Untouchables'', goes from one of the cops commenting on the ancient Roman penalties for trying to bribe a public official to having a gangster comment while dining on a roast peacock that "[the] Romans couldn't get enough of this stuff". |
| 157 | * Sigfried in ''Film/GetSmart'' fits this very well (whereas the original in [[Series/GetSmart the TV show]] was AffablyEvil). He is essentially an EvilBrit as a Bond villain and is paradoxically, calm and cultured while being ChaoticEvil. This is particularly apparent at the end when he is in his car listening to and conducting the same music being played by an orchestra in which he has placed a bomb that will kill the president and everyone else inside. |
| 158 | %%* ''Film/TheGodfather.'' |
| 159 | %%* Sardo Numspa in ''Film/TheGoldenChild''. |
| 160 | * In ''Film/HighwayToHell'', Satan lives in a high-class mansion and waxes philosophic about mankind and its prospects, telling Charlie that the Hell he's seen is merely a kindergarten compared to the true depth of evil. |
| 161 | * Col. Hans Landa of ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'' is witty and articulate in at least four languages, often engages in philosophic debates with his quarries, and prides himself on having a deep understanding of the human psyche. One of the first things he does in the movie is massacre a family of Jewish people. |
| 162 | * Many, ''many'' ''Film/JamesBond'' villains have taste and class, [[{{Foil}} often used to contrast against]] the somewhat less (though still quite) cultured secret agent: |
| 163 | ** Film/DrNo spent one million dollars on an underground fish tank, and [[HistoricalInJoke stole]] Creator/FranciscoDeGoya's ''Art/PortraitOfTheDukeOfWellington''. |
| 164 | ** Auric Film/{{Goldfinger}} likes his things golden. Even his [[{{Squick}} women.]] And his [[UnfortunateImplications servants.]] |
| 165 | ** Ernst Stavro Blofeld (''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'', ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'', ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'', ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'', ''Film/{{Spectre}}'') likes living with class and style. One of his demands in the third is to be given the title of Comte de Bleuchamps, for no reason other than the prestige. |
| 166 | ** Karl Stromberg from ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' and Hugo Drax from ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'' don't skimp on the decor, as we can see from the latter's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vaux-le-Vicomte_Panorama.jpg fancy villa]]. Imported, brick by brick, from France to California (he bought the Eiffel Tower too, but was refused an export permit). The former is often seen sitting around his dining table in his underwater mansion, eating expensively and listening to Bach. |
| 167 | ** Kamal Khan (''Film/{{Octopussy}}'') as the MeaningfulName implies, is a Prince and owns a Monsoon Palace. |
| 168 | ** ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'': General Koskov enjoys classical music and luxuries like high-end caviar and champagne. TheDragon (Necros) though, likes cheesy pop music, so much for him. |
| 169 | ** Francisco Scaramanga, Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun. He was rich, played by Creator/ChristopherLee (see Count Dooku) which already makes him suave and dangerous, and he even had an eco-friendly SupervillainLair... located in the Phang Nga Bay. |
| 170 | ** The higher-ups of [[Film/QuantumOfSolace Quantum]] [[AtTheOperaTonight love]] their ''Theatre/{{Tosca}}''. |
| 171 | * Benedict, TheDragon in ''Film/LastActionHero'', is much more cultured than his mobster boss and frequently irritated by the latter's ignorance. |
| 172 | * Eddie Temple in ''Film/LayerCake'', who is an opera lover and has a vast library in his estate; his counterpart in the novel attends opera but doesn't seem to actually like it much, although he has an unusual interest in Buddhism due to a GranolaGirl second wife. |
| 173 | * Victoria Vinciguerra from ''Film/TheManFromUNCLE2015'' is a chic businesswoman and art collector, as well as a psychotic, nuclear-weapon -toting nazi. |
| 174 | * ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'': |
| 175 | ** Justin Hammer in ''Film/IronMan2'' is clearly trying to do this to impress Ivan Vanko. Like with everything else, he just winds up looking like a doofus. |
| 176 | ** Loki in ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' shows great knowledge of Midgardian history, noting that humans love to follow strong leaders. In ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' he's shown to be an avid reader. His mother Frigga sends him books to his prison cell to appease him. |
| 177 | ** N'Jadaka/Killmonger in ''Film/BlackPanther2018'', despite a major part of his character being his general ''disrespect'' for Wakandan people (or most anyone else), reveals a detailed knowledge of old African artifacts as what might be a side effect of his search for loose Vibranium. Of course, [[WickedPretentious he lacks as much cultural respect for those as he does anything else]], only concerned with how they might benefit him and stealing one that ''wasn't'' from Wakanda simply because "it looked cool." |
| 178 | ** Xu Wenwu, the [[spoiler:real Mandarin]], in ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'', shows signs of this, as evident by how [[spoiler:he decided to refrain from killing Trevor Slattery -- the fake Mandarin from ''Film/IronMan3'' -- for mischaracterizing him purely because Wenwu found Slattery's one-man performances of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' entertaining]]. |
| 179 | ** The High Evolutionary in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3'' is shown to have an appreciation for human classical music and art, even if he has a low opinion of actual humans. He recreates Earth with animal people for Counter-Earth. [[spoiler:Then he blows it up because it wasn't "perfect" enough.]] |
| 180 | * The Merovingian from ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded''. He owns a restaurant, an S&M fetishist nightclub, lives in a grand mansion, and has a beautiful wife. His manner is that of a smug Frenchman and he effortlessly rebuffs the heroes upon their first encounter. As he points out during their first meeting, even swears in French sound beautiful. |
| 181 | * ''Franchise/MonsterVerse'': |
| 182 | ** Walter Simmons in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' is a ManOfWealthAndTaste who presents a charming demeanor and a fondness for fancy glasses of alcohol. He's also the CorruptCorporateExecutive responsible for building Mechagodzilla and [[spoiler:knowingly instigating Godzilla's rampages on populated cities]] all to feed his own ego, and he shows signs of {{narcissis|t}}m and [[TheSociopath high-functioning sociopathy]]. |
| 183 | ** {{Downplayed|Trope}} with Alan Jonah in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019''. In the film, he can be seen retrieving a bottle of alcohol alongside his Mooks when they're sitting around their hidden base and refusing to do anything about King Ghidorah's gllobal apocalypse. In the {{novelization}}, his MookLieutenant Asher at one point presents him with a twenty-five-year-old Laphroaig, prompting Jonah to comment that someone had good taste. |
| 184 | * He's not really suave, but the psychopathic killer of the terrible 80s horror movie ''Film/Mortuary1983'' listens to classical music. |
| 185 | * Casanova Frankenstein, in ''Film/MysteryMen'', who is so smart and sophisticated that Captain Amazing asks him how to pluralize words while they are bantering. |
| 186 | -->'''Amazing:''' Well, we've always been each other's greatest nemesises... nemesisi... nemesi... what's the plural on that? |
| 187 | -->'''Frankenstein:''' Nemeses. |
| 188 | %%* Phillip Vandamm in ''Film/NorthByNorthwest''. |
| 189 | * ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'': |
| 190 | ** Cutler Beckett, in contrast to the bombastic Hector Barbossa and monstrous Davy Jones, presents himself as a refined gentleman of a villain, sipping tea aboard his ship before going into battle. |
| 191 | ** In [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl the first movie]], Barbossa himself affects this in contrast to his crew when he asks Elizabeth not to use long words, but then responds to her demand that they leave with "I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request. Means 'no'." As well, in the fourth movie, Barbossa quotes William Ernest Henley's ''Invictus'' when describing his [[spoiler:cutting off his leg to escape from Blackbeard's trap]]. |
| 192 | ** Davy Jones also happens to be a passionate musician, venting his centuries of anger and bitterness and lamenting the betrayal of his "lost" love by playing his steam-blowing pipe organ at regular intervals. |
| 193 | ** Jack Sparrow has also proven to be relatively cultured on occasion (though his wickedness varies). For example, during his encounter with Koehlner and Twigg in the Fort Charles prison, Jack makes a reference to Dante's ''Divine Comedy'' when commenting on the two pirates' "fortunes". Also, he's said to have learned his swordsmanship from an Italian master, and so knows the classical nuances of fencing (thus his commentary to Will Turner during their duel). |
| 194 | * Norman Stansfield in ''Film/TheProfessional'' has a love of classical music and hard drugs. |
| 195 | -->'''Stansfield:''' You're a Mozart fan. I love him too. I looooove Mozart! He was Austrian, you know. But for this kind of work, ''[imitates playing the piano]'' he's a little bit light. So I tend to go for the heavier guys. Check out Brahms. He's good too. ''[proceeds to slaughter the family]'' |
| 196 | * Rotti Largo from ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera'' has a love for Italian culture, dressing in suits from Milan and hosting his own opera. |
| 197 | * ''Film/TheRocketeer'': TheBrute Lothar is first introduced listening to ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute'' on the radio while sipping tea from a dainty floral-patterned cup. |
| 198 | %%* Roman Castevet in ''Film/RosemarysBaby''. |
| 199 | * ''Film/{{Scanners}}'': Darryl Revok has a really nice apartment with some modern art here and there. |
| 200 | * ''Film/SchindlersList'': During the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto, an SS officer is [[DissonantSerenity happily playing on a piano]] amidst all the executions occurring around him. It was Bach, despite what the two obviously less-than-cultured soldiers at the door said (Prelude to the 2nd English Suite). The music fit right in, its rapid-fire percussive staccato nature lining up with the gunfire and muzzle flashes peppering the night. |
| 201 | * ''Film/{{Se7en}}'': John Doe. He uses the works of William Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, Dante, the Marquis de Sade, and St. Thomas Aquinas, among others, as inspirations for his crimes. |
| 202 | * Professor James Moriarty in ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'', in addition to being a mathematician, chess player, and former boxer, is portrayed as a fan of opera, listening to a phonograph of Schubert [[SoundtrackDissonance whilst torturing Holmes with a meat hook]][[note]]The song in question was ''Die Forelle'' (The Trout), which Moriarty used for an elaborate analogy of the rivalry between him and Holmes (i.e. he thinks of himself as the fisherman and Holmes the trout). Thus the meat hook.[[/note]]. His [[TheDragon Dragon]], Moran, also qualifies, as he expresses disappointment when one of Moriarty's schemes gets in the way of his plans to see a performance of ''Theatre/DonGiovanni''. |
| 203 | * ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'': Hannibal Lecter typifies this trope like no other; a cultured and refined genius as well as a homicidal cannibal. Some of his more cultured actions include his charcoal drawings of Florence that he uses to decorate his cell (done from memory), killing and eating an untalented flautist in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to improve its sound, and listening to Bach's "Goldberg Variations" while removing a man's face. His conversations are rife with references to classical works from Shakespeare to Marcus Aurelius, and much more. Wine-lovers note how his "nice Chianti" is a rustic choice for such a sophisticate (only in the film; in the book it was an Amarone). This combined with his mispronunciation of the name suggest to some that he's being facetious and is further mocking Agent Starling's rustic roots. |
| 204 | * Khan from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', both in "Space Seed" and ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''. Eloquent in speech (Creator/RicardoMontalban at his finest), [[AffablyEvil well mannered and gracious]] even when those around him act otherwise, and has absolutely no qualms throwing out a classical line or proverb when the situation calls for it. Even in his dying moments, he lasted just long enough to quote [[Literature/MobyDick Ahab's last words]] toward the futilely retreating ''Enterprise''. |
| 205 | * General Chang from ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' is definitely this. The man could barely get through a given day without gratuitous Shakespeare quoting; even when trying to smash the ''Enterprise''. |
| 206 | * John Harrison[=/=][[spoiler:Khan]] in ''[[Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness Into Darkness]]'' is quite well spoken and even paraphrases [[spoiler: ''Literature/MobyDick'']] when he beams [[spoiler: Kirk, Carol and Scotty off the ''Vengeance'']]. |
| 207 | -->'''Harrison:''' No ship should go down without her '''captain.''' |
| 208 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': |
| 209 | ** Count Dooku, who notably uses a fencing grip on his lightsaber, and actually salutes Yoda with it at the start of their duel. |
| 210 | ** His master Palpatine/Darth Sidious has shades of this as well -- Creator/IanMcDiarmid, who played him, has said that Palpatine's only redeeming feature is that he is a patron of the arts, particularly weird alien operas. |
| 211 | * In ''Film/SupermanIVTheQuestForPeace'' and ''Film/SupermanReturns'', [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] is shown to love Classical music. |
| 212 | * In ''Film/SWAT2003'', the tipoff to the identity of TheMole is that, while the other officers take their leisure playing with their children or drinking beer and watching TV, he spends it drinking ''champagne'' in a restaurant with a ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sommelier sommelier]]''. |
| 213 | %%* Evil in ''Film/TimeBandits'', who is sort of like Satan. |
| 214 | * ''Film/TheUntouchables1987'': UsefulNotes/AlCapone loves an evening at the opera; also TruthInTelevision. |
| 215 | * Gordon Gekko in ''Film/WallStreet'' wears trend-setting, custom-made clothes, collects art, and dates an interior decorator. |
| 216 | * Creator/ChristopherLee as Lord Summerisle in ''Film/TheWickerMan1973''. He plays the piano, lives in a castle, sings folk songs, is the go-to guy on local history, wears nice suits... |
| 217 | -->'''Lord Summerisle:''' A heathen, [[InsultBackfire conceivably]], but not -- I hope -- an unenlightened one. |
| 218 | * At one point in ''Film/WildThing'', two villains are shown playing chess while listening to classical music. |
| 219 | * The German General Ludendorff as depicted in ''Film/WonderWoman2017'' sells this so well that [[spoiler:he accidentally "confirms" that he ''is Ares god of war'' in mortal form, as Diana new to the world suspected, not a mortal general with a personal love for the classics]]. |
| 220 | * The ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'': |
| 221 | ** Magneto always [[GoKartingWithBowser enjoys a good game of chess with Xavier]] or listening to classical music. |
| 222 | ** Sebastian Shaw in the opening of ''Film/XMenFirstClass''. He assures a terrified boy (who would grow up to be Magneto) that he doesn't share the ridiculous Nazi prejudice against Jews. For some reason, the boy doesn't seem to be reassured. Later in the scene, the camera shifts, and we see that Shaw's office includes a torture chamber... |
| 223 | [[/folder]] |
| 224 | |
| 225 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 226 | * Captain Nemo of ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'' conducted most of his discussions with Dr. Arronax in his fantastic library, decorated with the finest original and replica art, a catalog of priceless biological specimens, and his massive [[OminousPipeOrgan organ]], on which he played music by the foremost composers. Only a borderline example, because Nemo isn't entirely a villain. |
| 227 | * Zeljan Kurst, one of the leaders of SCORPIA in ''Literature/AlexRider'', was formerly the head of the Yugoslavian secret police and one of their chief interrogators. He had a love of classical compositions, particularly Mozart, and would often conduct sessions with one of these playing in the background. Prisoners who survived could never again listen to that specific composition. |
| 228 | * Perturabo, in ''Literature/AngelExterminatus'', proves to have a surprising amount of classical education and a remarkable gift for designing beautiful architecture, given that his Legion's combat specialisation is to sit in a muddy trench hurling bombs at buildings. He's [[TheResenter quite bitter]] about how everyone just thinks of him as Siege Guy and assume he has no appreciation for culture. |
| 229 | * Not only is VillainProtagonist Literature/ArtemisFowl a TeenGenius [[TheChessMaster chessmaster]], he's also a fan of fine cuisine, high literature and so on. He also writes music and has designed numerous famous buildings. |
| 230 | * M. Valerius Magnus in ''Literature/TheArtsOfDarkAndLight''. Although he is part of the "good guy" Valerian faction, Magnus gives a fair bit of an impression of this, being a cynical and worldly politician and a rather harsh master to his household, as well as an earnest devotee of philosophy and culture. [[spoiler:He becomes a straight example after he defects to the bad guys.]] |
| 231 | * ''Literature/BloodMeridian'': Judge Holden is an erudite, patient, eloquent, philosophizing, multi-talented, poly-lingual, murdering, manipulative, megalomaniac pedophile. |
| 232 | * [[VillainProtagonist Alex]] from ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'' dresses in the height of fashion, speaks in a most gentlemanly goloss, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick beats and rapes random strangers]] to the strains of Beethoven's Ninth. He's possibly a TropeCodifier; he ''was'' doing all of this almost twenty years before [[Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs Hannibal Lecter]]. Alex's affinity for music especially places him into this category, and [[JerkAss he will fist you skorry on the rot]] if you dare to interrupt the opera ''Das Bettzeug''. |
| 233 | -->'''Alex:''' Bastard. Filthy drooling mannerless bastard. |
| 234 | * Vlad the Impaler in ''Literature/CountAndCountess''. Cruel, sadistic, and ruthless in his quest to "free Christendom," he is nevertheless learned in the history of past civilizations and can refer to Scripture off the top of his head. And he likes traditional Romanian dance. |
| 235 | * ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'': |
| 236 | ** The Count himself has impeccable taste and if not an outright villain, is a ruthless WellIntentionedExtremist. |
| 237 | ** The bandit leader, Luigi Vampa, is a polite, nice guy who reads Caesar's ''[[Literature/CommentariesOnTheGallicWar Commentaries]]'' for fun. He's also a strong believer in punctuality, and if a ransom is not paid on time, he will calmly stab the kidnappee to death or shoot them in the head. |
| 238 | ** Benedetto is a young career criminal who has no trouble posing as a cultured aristocrat. |
| 239 | * Denman Malkuth of ''Literature/DanceoftheButterfly'' is definitely this. He wears bespoke clothing, engages in many aspects of high culture, and serves as professor of philosophy at a prestigious private university as a cover for his more nefarious goals. |
| 240 | * ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': |
| 241 | ** Havelock Vetinari of Discworld, though he's more of a ruthless pragmatist than evil. He's extremely intelligent and cultured, but also an ascetic with no vices. In particular, his hobby of reading the equivalent of classical music, because actual instruments are just too unrefined. Vetinari was also a trained Assassin, which, on the Discworld, is a gentleman's calling. |
| 242 | ** Odd variation in ''Literature/TheTruth'': Mr Tulip (an {{expy}} of [[Literature/{{Neverwhere}} Mr. Vandemar, above]]) has a [[HiddenDepths deep interest in art]], and is able to discuss it at length. [[GeniusDitz Apart from that]], he's DumbMuscle who'll use anything as a drug, and has a vocabulary reliant on the word "----ing". [[BanteringBaddieBuddies His partner]] Mr Pin is the smart one, but ''doesn't'' have the interest in culture. |
| 243 | ** The Dragon King of Arms in ''Literature/FeetOfClay''. A vampire over five hundred years old, he was in charge of Ankh-Morpork's heraldry. As Vimes points out, from a vampire's point of view this is much like following the pedigree of one's pets. |
| 244 | ** Also Lord Hong from ''Literature/InterestingTimes'', who not only lives in a DecadentCourt, but has mastered all the Orientalist arts of his culture. Nobody concentrates! |
| 245 | * ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'': The Count comes across as a fairly refined, rich old gentleman before he's revealed as a vampire. |
| 246 | * The Jakoby Twins from ''[[Literature/JoeLedger Dragon Factory]]''. Rich, perfectly beautiful, intelligent, well-educated and well-dressed, like to surround themselves with beauty - even their secret facility is surrounded by a garden. They are also utterly immoral, use stolen research to create transgenic monsters (and soldiers), and (especially Hecate) kill people for pleasure. |
| 247 | * ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''' Nicodemus, the host and compatriot of a fallen angel, definitely qualifies. He's the scariest and evilest creature in a series full of scary, evil creatures who far outstrip him in raw power, but he does it with impeccable taste. |
| 248 | ** Gentleman Marcone comes off as this, but it will likely never be confirmed because he's, well, Marcone. |
| 249 | ** And [[BlackCloak Cowl]], who prefers Goethe. |
| 250 | * ''{{Literature/Flashman}}'' villain John Charity Spring was on the Oxford don career path before getting booted out and seeking an alternate career in the slave trade. Spring is a brilliant classical scholar who constantly throws GratuitousLatin tags into his conversation, but he's also a psychopath with a HairTriggerTemper. While there isn't a GoodIsDumb contrast (since Flashman is a VillainProtagonist), there is a contrast in intellect, since Flashman is BookDumb and while he's an {{Omniglot}} when it comes to learning to speak living languages, he could never pick up Ancient Greek and Latin. |
| 251 | * In the ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'' series, Capa Barsavi of Camorr was once a professor of literature and rhetoric. One of his former students, Jaffrim Rodanov, is a pirate captain who loves to discuss classical theatre when he can find someone who shares his interest. Requin, owner of the Sinspire, has a near-obsessive interest in Talathri Baroque art (to the point where he can tell genuine specimens from replicas at a glance). Maxilan Stragos delights in works of artifice and alchemy, and has a whole floor of his palace dedicated to them. The Bastards, namely, Locke, Jean, and Sabetha arguably make the cut as well. Despite being thieves, their training included a wide variety of skills and knowledge that would help blend into high class society. |
| 252 | * Feedle from ''The Goblins of Film/{{Labyrinth}}'', who, after robbing and possibly murdering someone, makes sure to write them a poetic little note wishing them good luck in their future endeavours. |
| 253 | * ''Literature/HarryPotter'': |
| 254 | ** Lucius Malfoy's well dressed and well-spoken, and he's also implied to be heavily involved in wizarding cultural affairs (on the board of Hogwarts, donates to St. Mungo's). And damn, is his [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/47/56/9b/47569bafd17113dd667a2718c1589a70.jpg pimp cane]] awesome or what? |
| 255 | ** Lord Voldemort, especially in his younger years. His teachers saw him as an eloquent, brilliant, and polite student. In truth, he used his refined manners to manipulate people (his behaviour towards Hepzibah Smith is a wonderful example). And when he wanted to duel with Harry in ''The Goblet of Fire''… [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen He insisted that two opponents should bow before each other]]. |
| 256 | * Parodied in ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1'' with the Vogons, who love writing poetry. And then reading it to their captives as a form of excruciating torture. |
| 257 | * Headmaster Maximilian Nero of ''[[Literature/HIVESeries H.I.V.E.]]'' fits this, believing that evil should always be intelligent in its design and stylish in its execution. |
| 258 | * In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' Literature/HorusHeresy novel ''Fulgrim'', the Emperor's Children, already artistically inclined, and their remembrancers, take a turn for the decadent after visiting a [[ReligionOfEvil xenos temple]]. Only those who did not visit it seem to notice. |
| 259 | * AIDAN of ''Literature/TheIlluminaeFiles'' is a poetic AI who likes listening to Mozart, playing chess, and discussing philosophy. He'll also do anything, up to and including murdering thousands, [[TheComputerIsYourFriend to fulfill his parameters]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist of protecting the fleet]]. |
| 260 | %%* ''Literature/LeftBehind'' seems to be aiming for this with Nicholae Carpathia. |
| 261 | * The [[AIIsACrapshoot robot]] Erasmus in ''Literature/LegendsOfDune'' believes himself to be cultured, while at the same time performing inhumane experiments on his human [[WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture slaves]]. Only one human has the guts to tell him that his music sucks and his attempts to be civil are not fooling anyone. While he initially enjoys these arguments, he eventually gets fed up and [[KickTheDog throws her baby]] from a high balcony. |
| 262 | * Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil from ''Literature/LesLiaisonsDangereuses''. She's obviously the most cultured, clever, and deepest character of the book (Valmont also counts, but he's her villain sidekick). Her choice to pursue a career in evilness was heavily influenced by the philosophers she read. She would probably protect intellectuals and free speech if she wasn't too occupied ruining other persons' lives. |
| 263 | * In Vladimir Nabokov's ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'', [[VillainProtagonist Humbert Humbert]] is a well-educated, cultured professor of French poetry. He is also a pedophile who marries a woman planning to kill her so he can molest her 12-year-old daughter. |
| 264 | * General Zaroff from "Literature/TheMostDangerousGame" is your typical aristocratic big game hunter, with an eloquent manner and a taste for the finer things in life. He's also a depraved serial killer. |
| 265 | * Subverted in ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', in which Mr. Croup affects SesquipedalianLoquaciousness and collects priceless Chinese porcelain... to eat. It turns out that he doesn't value high art so much as he relishes the opportunity to destroy it and leave the world culturally deprived as a result. His counterpart, Mr. Vandemar, is DumbMuscle. |
| 266 | * ''Literature/{{Nightfall|Series}}'': Prince Vladimir. He is the BigBad and a monster, but he is also extremely knowledgeable about and appreciative of history, languages, science, mythology, music, theatre, and literature. [[spoiler: He used to be a writer himself, but lost his ability when he became a vampire.]] |
| 267 | * ''Literature/{{Nightrunner}}'': Lynn Flewelling apparently is ''in love'' with them. "Nightrunners" gives us first Lord Mardus. Gentleman, with high intellect and large interests, which are just as broad as those of one main character. Extraordinarily well mannered. Polite even to the prisoner he plans to bloodily sacrifice. Really, if you didn't know [[spoiler: he aspires to become the Avatar of a God of Destruction]] you'd really like him. Later Ulan (who starts out not really a villain but extremely pragmatic. And sadly if the main characters achieved their goal his clan would suffer, [[NothingPersonal so]] [[spoiler:Later it turns out that not only is HE responsible for the mess of Seregil's life, he also doesn't hesitate to support rather nasty experiments just to prolong his life.]] ... and then we met Yakobin. Nice fellow. Has a good taste in tea. And dislikes beating up his slaves more than necessary--actually he is REALLY civilized and intelligent. Oh, have I mentioned he is an [[spoiler: alchemist who creates [[CreepyChild child-like clones of you]] to brew medicine from them and kills them when they don't fit your expectations? Just to make you suffer the whole creation process once again?]]. The ''Tamír'' triad gives us Nyrin. Court wizard. Soft-spoken. Well-mannered. Handsome. Apparently a good lover if you happen to be his mistress. Oh... and aspiring to rule from the shadows. And more or less directly responsible for countless assassinations of female members of the royal bloodline. |
| 268 | * In ''Literature/NightWatchSeries'', [[MagnificentBastard Zavulon]] (or Zabulon) always appears wearing a suit and rarely shows anger. However, he is a scheming bastard who would be considered an outright villain if not for this world's GreyAndGrayMorality. His Dusk appearance, however, is that of a demon (the author even felt the need to mention his [[{{Squick}} spiked penis]]). TheMovie version shows him more as an anarchist wearing black leather and a bandana. |
| 269 | %%* O'Brien from George Orwell's ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''. |
| 270 | * Although he's a terrifying BodyHorror (it's implied that he "[=ReMade=]" himself by choice), the gangster Mr. Motley of ''Literature/PerdidoStreetStation'' is definitely this. He's well informed about what's going on in the avant-garde art scene and has this very SophisticatedAsHell way of speaking in a cultured voice and with [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness Big Words]], he talks about things like his philosophy on life and which of his rivals he plans to kill. |
| 271 | * Captain Hook of ''Literature/PeterPan'' is generally portrayed as cultured, and often something of an AntiVillain. In the play, and in the canonical sequel ''Literature/PeterPanInScarlet'', Hook is said to have attended Eton College, the poshest boarding school in England. Peter, by contrast, is a feral tyrant, ruling by whim but setting strict rules for the Lost Boys. (In some adaptations this is taken farther: Peter is incapable of learning or memory and murders the Lost Boys if they don't follow his rules.) |
| 272 | * ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera''. Despite being a homicidal maniac, he has decidedly highbrow hobbies. This is carried over to the Lloyd-Webber show. |
| 273 | * The titular VillainProtagonist of the ''Literature/{{Raffles}}'' stories has an appreciation of fine art (and is in fact a fairly skilled painter himself) and peppers his speech with quotes from various poets, authors, and philosophers. |
| 274 | * Orfeo Culzean from the ''Literature/{{Ravenor}}'' trilogy is a well-spoken and sophisticated intellectual with an appreciation for fine wine, philosophy, and discussions on the nature of fate. He’s also a heretic for hire who knowingly helps Chaos cults like the Divine Fratery bring ruin and misery upon the Imperium. |
| 275 | * A few of ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'''s less barbaric villains; Tsarmina Greeneyes, Ungatt Trunn, Ublaz Madeyes, Vilaya, Vilu Daskar, and Badrang come to mind. |
| 276 | * After concluding his DeadPersonImpersonation in the first novel by forging a will from his impersonee leaving everything to himself, VillainProtagonist Tom Ripley of the ''Literature/{{Ripliad}}'' novels lives the good life in a French chateau, becoming a talented dabbler in art (both as an expert and as a painter), music, and fine cuisine. In between entertaining guests, he likes to amuse himself by carrying out odd jobs for gangsters, and once in a while (i.e. at least once per novel) kills the odd person who gets too close to exposing his past. |
| 277 | * Kelden Amadiro of Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/RobotSeries'' is a student of classic literature and Earth history on top of his day job as the galaxy's foremost expert on robotics. In keeping with his [[SuperiorSpecies Spacer heritage]], he treats his most hated enemy, Elijah Bailey, with [[FauxAffablyEvil courtesy and hospitality]], despite the fact that he would love nothing more than to see him and [[KillAllHumans every other Earthman]] [[FinalSolution excised from the gene pool]]. |
| 278 | * ''Literature/{{Scaramouche}}'': The Marquis is an honorable, educated, well-read noble. He is also a ruthless killer. |
| 279 | * ''Literature/TheSecretsOfTheImmortalNicholasFlamel'' has Machiavelli. Well-dressed, well-spoken in an absurd number of languages, esteemed art collector...and MagnificentBastard immortal in service to an evil god. |
| 280 | * The murderer in ''[[Literature/FairyTaleNovels Shadow of the Bear]]'' is a philosophically-inclined collector of art and literature. |
| 281 | * In ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'', Holmes insists that all of the incredibly successful criminals are well-rounded, usually in the aristocratic arts. His nemesis Professor Moriarty definitely fits the bill. |
| 282 | * ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'': Hannibal Lecter is depicted as a highly intelligent and cultured man, with refined ("even rarefied", as the novel ''Hannibal'' puts it) tastes. He shops at exclusive high-end stores and wouldn't miss a good opera for the world. He prefers to eat the rude. |
| 283 | * Sauron as Annatar in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and later as a "prisoner" in Númenor. Heck even when he's playing desperately for time at the end of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' he manages to sound pretty suave, if hilariously arrogant: and that's through the mouth of a messenger who apparently looks like a gargoyle. Pair that kind of smooth talk with a LongHairedPrettyBoy and it's no wonder the Númenoreans or indeed Celebrimbor fell for his lies. He genuinely knows a lot about the world, he helped create it after all, and he's a highly skilled craftsman. He also develops a sadistic streak ten miles wide. In the Second Age, out from under Morgoth's shadow and still at the height of his powers: Sauron is the ultimate MagnificentBastard and few can resist his charm. In fact, Sauron always did much better when he was talking than when he was fighting. |
| 284 | * ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': One of the qualities that makes Euron Greyjoy stand out from his fellow [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireHouseGreyjoy Ironborn]] (where TestosteronePoisoning makes {{Book Smart}}s heavily frowned upon) and the majority of the other villains in the series. Euron has traveled the entire known world, visited places and seen and experienced things almost no other living (or dead) man has, giving him a wealth of personal knowledge on countless subjects and many different schools of magic. In addition, he is extremely well-read and mixes his natural charisma with a very elegant and highly sophisticated speaking style and vocabulary. He also happens to be likely the most monstrous character in the entire series, being a kinslaying pedophile responsible for the deaths of three of his brothers and the rape of at least two others, and preparing a massive blood magic sacrifice due to his apocalyptic ambitions to become a god. |
| 285 | * In William King's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' Literature/SpaceWolf novel ''Wolfblade'', when Torin fills Ragnor in on the ambitions and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder conflicts]] of the Naviagator Houses, he observes of one particularly ambitious and ruthless one: |
| 286 | -->''a great patron of the arts -- all the great lords are.'' |
| 287 | * ''Literature/TheSpeedOfSound'' novel ''The Sound of Echoes'' has assassin and TortureTechnician Mr. Elliott, an educated and cultured man who listens to [[https://www.weta.org/ Classical WETA]] whenever he's in the DC area. |
| 288 | * ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'': |
| 289 | ** [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn]]. The guy collects art. Then he studies it, [[AwesomenessByAnalysis learns the loopholes in the creators' culture]], [[MagnificentBastard uses them to steer them into the exact position he wants them]], and systematically [[CurbStompBattle beats them]] until they surrender. The one time he was unable to gain insight through a culture's art, he was forced to utterly destroy them, although he still looks at their art and believes that he's finally starting to understand (this species, tellingly, was the Khaleesh--the most well-known of which is General Grievous). He's even able to acknowledge the artistry in [[spoiler:his own assassination]]. Thrawn's [[AffablyEvil Affably Imperial]] and in some depictions, he's [[OfficerAndAGentleman not strictly a bad guy]], and always [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatic]]. |
| 290 | ** A less morally ambiguous example is SmugSnake Prince Xizor in ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire''. He's the head of the vast crime syndicate Black Sun, he sits at the Emperor's feet closer than anyone but Vader, co-owns and dines at the most exclusive restaurant on Coruscant, and in general is just fabulously wealthy and lets it show. There's mention that he forgave some debtor when presented with a thousand-year-old miniature tree, and he muses that values it more than rare gems and would not give it up even if he had to sell the rest of his financial and criminal empire. |
| 291 | ** [[Literature/TheGloveOfDarthVader Trioculus]]. In addition to the pseudo-Latin name, he actually interrupts his pursuit of our heroes to [[GreenAesop go hunting]]. |
| 292 | ** Jerec of ''VideoGame/JediKnightDarkForcesII'' is revealed to enjoy classical music from around the galaxy, even pieces written by traitors to the empire. |
| 293 | ** The [[RetiredMonster Imperial war criminal]] Kardue'sai'Malloc (the horned alien in the Mos Eisley cantina) is an obsessive collector of music: not only does he own a treasure-trove of rare recordings, but he spent many years following some of the greatest musicians of the age in the hope of attending a performance, and only settled on Tatooine when the artist he'd been hoping to witness there was arrested and executed. After being captured by Boba Fett, Malloc ensures that his collection is donated to a museum. |
| 294 | * Lung Tien Lien from the ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' series. She’s a Chinese royal dragon the size of two houses, but she achieved the highest marks on the imperial civil service exam (which she took despite her exalted status exempting her from it) and would much rather discuss your doom over a bowl of tea after a pleasant afternoon of reciting poetry. [[spoiler:When she allies with Napoleon, she becomes a major threat not because of her personal strength but because now Napoleon has her academic knowledge of Chinese aerial tactics and dragon breeding at his disposal.]] |
| 295 | * Yawgmoth from ''The Thran'' is a scientist and a physician, has a wide knowledge, and learns very quickly. He's going to become the most dreaded BigBad in ''Franchise/MagicTheGathering'' history. |
| 296 | * Benvolio from ''Literature/TruemanBradley'' is a [[TheMafia mobster]] who decorates his penthouse with high-quality reproductions of many famous paintings. |
| 297 | * Most/many of Creator/AnneRice's vampires in ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'' are this. Lestat, at least in ''Film/InterviewWithTheVampire'', twice puts blood in a glass and offers it to Louis, Armand loves his sparkly rings, Claudia is a well-read, impeccably dressed child who plays Mozart and Liszt. Marius takes this to slightly {{squick}}y levels, being a wealthy painter in Renaissance Venice who just happens to keep a sort of harem of pubescent boys. Gabrielle, while spending most of her immortality wandering around in jungles, was a marquise and the only literate member of her provincial noble pre-Revolutionary French noble family. |
| 298 | ** Rice even explores this through Lestat's voice in ''[[Literature/TheVampireChronicles The Vampire Lestat]]'', as he muses that it's not surprising Louis thought he was lying about his BlueBlood: Louis was a member of the American ''nouveau riche'' who put on what they imagined were aristocratic airs, while Lestat came from "a long line of Barons who threw chicken bones over their shoulders" and slept with their hunting dogs. |
| 299 | *** Rice has lots of fun with this. For all his sophistication, Lestat learned English from reading cheesy, low-brow pulp detective {{dime novel}}s, and loves slang because of it. He describes his own way of speaking as [[Film/TheMalteseFalcon1941 Sam Spade]]-ish. |
| 300 | * ''Literature/{{Victoria|ANovelOf4thGenerationWar}}'' has a cultured Nazi officer who likes discussing philosophy and history. Also played with where the hero himself, Captain John Rumford, is concerned: among other things, he uses his cultured manners to [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero be condescending to women]] in sophisticated ways, quoting sexist philosophers and poets throughout the ages. |
| 301 | * Most Forsaken in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' fit this trope perfectly. Not surprising, given that they are from a much more civilized time where they were among the highest-ranked scholars and wizards in the world. [[TheDragon Ishamael/Moridin]] is probably the most obvious; a handsome, well-dressed man who lives in his own elegant palace in the middle of [[GardenOfEvil the Blight]] and is fond of chatting about metaphysics with his Archenemy in between attempts to kill each other, all in spite of being a nihilistic OmnicidalManiac. Asmodean (a passionate musician who was already a renowned performer as a child) and Graendal (a former psychologist who actually has fairly sophisticated tastes, as much as she'd like you to think she's a vapid hedonist) are up there too. |
| 302 | * ''Literature/{{Worm}}'': The villain Imp is very uncouth and a school drop-out, but following [[spoiler:her boyfriend's death]], she decides to become classically educated, because that's the sort of thing they would have liked. She's shown reading classical literature and incorporating that knowledge into her quips and insults, often surprising her teammates with her greatly expanded vocabulary. |
| 303 | [[/folder]] |
| 304 | |
| 305 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 306 | * This phenomenon is very common in {{Soap Opera}}s. Many arch-villains have been featured in this way, including vaguely Italian mobsters Stefano [=DiMera=] from ''Series/DaysOfOurLives'' and Carlo Hesser from ''Series/OneLifeToLive'', Swedish-born drug smuggler and arms dealer James Stenbeck from ''Series/AsTheWorldTurns'' and cut-throat businessman Roger Thorpe from ''Series/GuidingLight''. Such wickedly cultured hallmarks of these characters include the almost painfully stereotypical wearing of finely-tailored suits and the drinking of expensive cognac. |
| 307 | * Some of the villains on ''Series/{{Alias}}'' fall into this category. [[EvilBrit Sark]] is fond of Chateau Pétrus (one of the world's rarest and most expensive wines). Also, in one episode, the protagonists drug a bad guy's Cristal at a performance of the London Philharmonic (he goes there on the third Saturday of every month). |
| 308 | * Bester in ''Series/BabylonFive'' seems to fit this too. In one appearance, he quotes ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' to a guard who doesn't catch the reference, and in another he references "Literature/TheCaskOfAmontillado". This may intersect with SmallReferencePools, however, as both are generally read in High Schools. |
| 309 | ** In the [[ExpandedUniverse canon]] ''Psi Corps Trilogy'' novels, Bester is shown to be fairly culturally sophisticated, and philosophically thoughtful in his musings. |
| 310 | * In a third-season episode of ''Series/Batman1966'', the Joker (chasing a series of clues) has it in him to comment that someone's iambic pentameter is "a little off" and start to correct it before another villain cuts him off. |
| 311 | * ''Series/BladeTheSeries'': Marcus van Sciver is known throughout Detroit as a patron of the arts and a proponent for the city's cultural revival. At the same time, he's a vicious [[OurVampiresAreDifferent bloodsucking]] mastermind, whose goal is to overthrow the vampiric aristocracy. Being [[EvilBrit British]] helps. He gets Krista to sleep with him after killing her brother and forcibly turning her by telling a sob story about his late wife. |
| 312 | * Franchise/{{Buffyverse}}: |
| 313 | ** Subverted with Spike, a punkish Mockney yob [[strike:with a strong resemblance to]] [[HistoricalInJoke who inspired]] Billy Idol. Then [[DoubleSubversion double-subverted]] when we meet him pre-vampire...as a [[StylisticSuck "bloody awful" would-be poet]] of [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents implicitly upper-middle-class origin]]. |
| 314 | ** Played straight with most of the Wolfram and Hart villains. They're normally a bunch of attractive, human (although occasionally soulless) lawyers who play golf, (sometimes with the devil) go to fancy parties (and [[spoiler: [[WhatTheHellHero get butchered]]]]) and drink wine. They're usually played as a contrast with the rougher, lower-class heroes. In fact, when Lindsey [[spoiler: leaves W&H]], he immediately goes back to his roots in a poor, Southern family. |
| 315 | ** Angelus considers himself an [[MadArtist artist]] and declares destroying people physically and mentally to be artwork. He also has a liking for ballet, and Angel freely admits in "Waiting in the Wings" that when he first saw the ballet ''Giselle'' in 1890, it moved him to tears. |
| 316 | --->'''Angel:''' I cried like a baby. And I was ''evil''! |
| 317 | * Lodz on ''Series/{{Carnivale}}'' was erudite, charming, and persuasive. He was also remarkably evil and showed some signs of Nazi sympathies. |
| 318 | %%* Half of the killers on ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', which is why they all underestimate the rumpled, blue-collar detective. |
| 319 | * In ''{{Series/Cracker}}'', Albie Kinsella (Robert Carlyle) resents how he thinks people view him as an uncultured and uneducated thug. He makes a point of this when he kills his second victim, a professor, who had dismissed him as such in public, when he recognises the music the professor was playing as Mozart and asked him if he was surprised he knew that (which he was). He both hates that people think of him as scum (in his mind) and blames them when he in turn acts like murdering scum. Unfortunately, his first murder was a hotheaded attack on a shopkeeper over being ripped off by 4 pence. In other words, he's a {{Deconstruction}} of the Trope, a working-class killer who both shows signs of being cultured yet is at the same time is becoming every bad thing he thinks society views him as being. |
| 320 | -->'''Albie:''' Ya treat us like ''scum'' we start actin' like ''scum''. |
| 321 | * Wilson Fisk in ''Series/Daredevil2015''. One episode starts with him preparing an omelette and selecting from his collection of impeccably tailored suits while the prelude to Bach's "Unaccompanied Cello Suite 1" is playing in the background. |
| 322 | %%* Alexandra in ''Series/TheDefenders2017'' |
| 323 | %%* Series/{{Dexter}}. |
| 324 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 325 | ** Cassandra is something like a rare treasure collector, uses her wealth [[TheHedonist for all sorts of entertainment,]] has enough technological knowledge like to keep up with the Doctor and considering she discovers the cat nun's secret minutes after stealing Rose's body, her detective skills may be even better than Rose. |
| 326 | ** The Master tends to alternate between this and being a [[LargeHam crazed loon]] depending on the state of his health. The Roger Delgado incarnation was easily the most like this: dressing in nice suits, smoking cigars, [[WorthyOpponent regarding the Doctor as his intellectual equal and playing with him like a chess opponent]], reading ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen fencing with the Doctor rather than fighting in a less sophisticated way]], and even [[TheCharmer using his suave and charm to woo the affections of an ambitious woman in the Mycenaean era]]. Then he lost most of this in his Peter Pratt incarnation due to his decaying body and desperate situation, and he hasn't been quite the same since. However, the Anthony Ainley, John Simm, and Michelle Gomez incarnations have still shown signs of being sophisticated and cultured whenever they're not being totally over-the-top. Even Eric Roberts' Master showed signs of sophistication when he [[ChewingtheScenery DREZZZED FOR THE OCCASION]]. |
| 327 | ** Solon in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius "The Brain of Morbius"]] is shown to be interested in sculpture and good wine. His surgical tools are all beautiful, handmade tools, and he admires the Doctor's face with them. In fact, it's partially responsible for his downfall — if he hadn't been as obsessed with performing [[OrganTheft head theft]] in a beautiful way, the Doctor's headless corpse would have been lying in a ditch before the three-quarter mark of Episode 1. |
| 328 | ** Harrison Chase in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E6TheSeedsOfDoom "The Seeds of Doom"]] loves stylish fashion, horticulture, roses, writing horrible [[AvantGardeMusic neoclassical 'music']] and playing it to people before he shoots them (referencing experimental composer Harrison Birtwistle, whom he is named after as a TakeThat), and helping plants pursue bloody revolution against the entire animal kingdom by awakening a psychic alien cabbage. |
| 329 | ** Karabraxos from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E5TimeHeist "Time Heist"]], whose private vault is filled with invaluable treasures and has classical music playing. |
| 330 | ** Count Scarlioni in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath City of Death]]" may be one of many splintered incarnations of a malevolent alien and have zero regard for human life, but he's also a suave well-dressed man in a very natty off-white suit with a nice house full of art and antiques, whose master plan involves the Mona Lisa, and who [[FauxAffablyEvil cheerfully banters with the Doctor]] during one of the serial's most famous scenes. |
| 331 | --->'''Scarlioni:''' I think a much better idea would be if [[BattleButler Hermann]] were to lock you into the cellar. I should hate to lose contact with such fascinating people.\ |
| 332 | ''(Duggan picks up a chair to hit Hermann with)''\ |
| 333 | '''The Doctor:''' Duggan! What are you doing, for heaven's sake? That's a Louis Quinze! Just behave like a civilised guest! I do beg your pardon, Count.\ |
| 334 | '''Scarlioni:''' Thank you.\ |
| 335 | ''(Hermann escorts the Doctor, Romana and Duggan out)''\ |
| 336 | '''Scarlioni:''' You really should be rather more careful with your trinkets, my dear. After all, we do have a Mona Lisa to steal. |
| 337 | * ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}'' gives us Daniel Lumis[[labelnote:*]]That's ''Mister'' Daniel Lumis[[/labelnote]], who "read[s] a wine list the way most people read the alphabet". He is also a high-functioning [[TheSociopath Sociopath]] who leaves a trail of [[KickTheDog kicked dogs]] everywhere he goes and expects the cops to respect his sense of superiority. |
| 338 | * ''Series/{{Elementary}}''[='=]s version of Moriarty, like most of them, definitely fits this trope. [[spoiler:[[GenderFlip She]] first appears on the screen impeccably restoring artwork (and is implied to have personally created duplicates of well-known paintings so convincing that they fooled the museum curators), is never dressed in anything less than the most impeccable clothing, and manages to put on a FakeAmerican accent, amongst [[ObfuscatingInsanity many]] [[FakingTheDead other]] [[ThePowerOfActing things]], convincing enough to fool Holmes (and everyone else in the show).]] |
| 339 | * ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': Scorpius. Quite apart from his [[AffablyEvil well-cultivated manners]] and sideline interest in growing crystherium flowers, his time spent travelling the galaxy has given him an in-depth knowledge of many, many cultures; he's even managed to learn the complex and {{translator microbe|s}}-immune language of the Scarrans and the Diagnosans. |
| 340 | * ''Series/TheFollowing'': Joe Carol was a brilliant and charismatic English professor. Then he started murdering his female students. His MO and that of his followers is to revel in the end of life like Edgar Allen Poe. |
| 341 | * ''Series/AFrenchVillage'': Müller is very intelligent, smooth, can be quite charming and loves champagne. He's also a ruthless Nazi torturer and mass murderer. |
| 342 | * Most of the massively rich, upper-class Lannisters from ''Series/GameOfThrones'' fall somewhere between this and FauxAffablyEvil. This being a world with a DecadentCourt, it's not surprising. |
| 343 | ** Jaime Lannister implicitly takes pride in his beautiful golden armor being without a single dent. He also pushed a child out of a tower. |
| 344 | ** We first meet the patriarch Tywin Lannister admonishing his son Jamie for his misinterpretation of the philosophical concepts of family honour... as he is [[RuleOfSymbolism skinning a stag]]. Tywin is also very well-read, particularly when it comes to history. |
| 345 | ** Tyrion Lannister's [[GreyAndGrayMorality status as a bad guy is uncertain at best]], but he's clearly well-practiced in the art of lying, cheating, and bribing his way out of a tight spot. He is also able to [[PetTheDog design a special saddle for the crippled Bran Stark]], has [[RulesLawyer excellent knowledge of the law]], and is a [[{{Bookworm}} voracious reader]]. [[spoiler: As of the second season, he's also a shrewd tactician in both politics and warfare.]] |
| 346 | ** As could be expected of a rich young woman from a noble house, Cersei Lannister received an excellent education. She is able to match wits with Ned Stark during a subtext-laden conversation about Ned's education as opposed to his brother's, and understands enough about the military realities of the North to lecture her son Joffrey on the impossibility of occupying the North directly. She's also plotting to kill the King. |
| 347 | ** Averted with Joffrey, however. He's just AxCrazy and clearly has no interest in culture. |
| 348 | %%* Chuck and Blair from ''Series/GossipGirl''. |
| 349 | * Jeremiah Valeska from ''Series/{{Gotham}}'' is an example. He was a child prodigy, becoming an engineer before the age of fifteen, and he seems to be knowledgeable in other scientific fields, like physics and chemistry. He’s also a fan of classic movies, and is almost never seen wearing anything but tailored (though [[ColorCodedCharacters eccentrically]] colored) suits. |
| 350 | * Dr. Hannibal Lecter, as he appears in ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'', is as fitting an example as his [[Literature/RedDragon literary]] and [[Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs film]] counterparts, if not more so because the series is set before his discovery and incarceration by the FBI. He enjoys the finest wines and coffees, going so far as to create a custom beer reserve that's brewed in Cabernet Merlot barrels to impart a wine flavour (and incidentally brains), enjoys the local opera, at one point being moved to genuine tears by one he found particularly impactful, has gorgeous artworks on display in his home and office and wears very expensive and stylish suits. It all stems from Hannibal's AGodAmI and his innate need to demonstrate his superiority over others. |
| 351 | %%* Xavier St. Cloud in ''Series/{{Highlander}}''. And Consone. |
| 352 | * ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': Lestat de Lioncourt is a ruthless vampire who's very passionate about fine clothing and the opera, he's also a musician and a composer, plus he's multilingual (he speaks French, English, and Italian). However, it's subverted in "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E5AVileHungerForYourHammeringHeart A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart]]" when Louis de Pointe du Lac (a {{Bookworm}}) accuses Lestat of just reading the first ten pages of every book so he can appear to be cultured. |
| 353 | -->'''Louis''': ''(while reading a novel)'' [[Creator/GustaveFlaubert Flaubert]]'s style is so dense. The absence of metaphor is so striking.\ |
| 354 | '''Lestat''': ''(scoffs)'' You sound like every pompous Sorbonne student I've ever eaten.\ |
| 355 | '''Louis''': ''(stops reading to look directly at Lestat)'' Should I do like you instead? Read the first 10 pages of every book, pass myself off as cultured? Use my middling command of literary canon to impress some hapless human I'm gonna kill in a few hours anyway. |
| 356 | * On ''Series/TheITCrowd'', the German cannibal plays the cello beautifully. |
| 357 | %%* In ''Series/KnightRider'' (classic), the main assassin in the episode "Deadly Knightshade" is one of the more obvious examples. |
| 358 | %%* Quite a few of the bad guys on the various ''Series/LawAndOrder'' series. |
| 359 | * ''Series/TheLibrarians2014'': Dulaque, [[BigBad the leader]] of the Serpent Brotherhood, is a FauxAffablyEvil megalomaniac who wants to take over the world with magic, true. However, he is also a philanthropist with a large private collection of artwork and artifacts, which he treasures more than human lives. |
| 360 | * ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Befitting his status as an EvilChancellor, Pharazôn is well educated, sardonic and very charismatic. He is well-versed in the history of Middle-earth, uses his oratorical skills to turn the people against Miriel and occasionally enjoys a good glass of red wine. He possibly even owns a vineyard in the vicinity of Meneltarma. |
| 361 | * Benjamin Linus of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' is an extremely polite and gracious host to his many captives, going so far as to feed one of them a beachside breakfast with a real knife and fork. He even plays Rachmaninoff's "Prelude in C-Sharp Minor" on his piano shortly before the Barracks are stormed by Charles Widmore's mercenary strike force... and before he is informed of their breaching of security and promptly reveals a shotgun hidden within his piano bench. |
| 362 | %%* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': James Gillies is always well-dressed and eloquent. |
| 363 | * ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' has Rene "La Grenouille" Benoit, an AffablyEvil ArmsDealer, patron of opera, and connoisseur of fine alcohol. |
| 364 | * ''Series/{{Oz}}'' has Nino Schibetta, imprisoned Mafia Don and the first leader of the Italian gang. He is one of the most, if not the most powerful inmate in all of Oz, and is not only AffablyEvil but Wicked Cultured personified. He is fluent in Italian (though it may be because he's implied to be an Italian immigrant), dresses fairly sharp, knows his wine and gourmet cuisine, and is hinted to be a fan of classical music. He is also a fan of inflicting CruelAndUnusualDeath on his enemies. |
| 365 | * ''Series/PieInTheSky'': DI Crabbe's opponent at the beginning of the series, the criminal mastermind Dudley Hooperman, is suave, well-dressed, and as big a foodie as Crabbe is. |
| 366 | %%* Jim Profit of ''Series/{{Profit}}'', along with a FreudianExcuse for his dislike of television. |
| 367 | * Colonel Montoya from ''Series/QueenOfSwords''. He is educated, extremely well-dressed, has fine taste in food and wine, and plays the violin like a virtuoso. |
| 368 | * Although Santos from the Argentinian series ''Series/LosSimuladores'' is not evil, he is incredibly calm and cultured, and runs a shady business of ThePlan with information gathered via "unorthodox" methods. |
| 369 | * ''Series/SchittsCreek'' has Sebastian Raine, David's pansexual ex who is a globetrotting photographer who wears an expensive sweater that doesn't look expensive and aims to humiliate Moira with a Creator/DianeArbus-like project. |
| 370 | * In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', both Lionel and Lex Luthor are examples of this trope as they are billionaires who either begin as or become the BigBad. Lex's sophistication, in particular, provides a {{Foil}} for Clark's midwestern naivete. |
| 371 | * ''Franchise/{{Stargate|Verse}}'': |
| 372 | ** System Lord Ba'al from ''Series/StargateSG1''. While he starts out as a fairly typical Goa'uld System Lord, he was unusually subdued, smooth, and well-spoken. Part of his ascendancy to {{Magnificent Bastard}}ry was that the reveal that he wasn't just a LargeHam or even a ColdHam; he could also churn out charm by the bucket and developed an abiding interest in Earth, both through encounters with SG-1 and a period of exile on Earth, becoming almost an expert on human high culture. In one of the DVD movies, he forgoes the "KneelBeforeZod" speech and actually invites himself to lunch with the President in the ''Rose Garden at the White House''! What a guy! (His fellow Goa'uld, by contrast, favour the NukeEm from orbit approach and consequently think he's insane.) |
| 373 | ** ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': In "Condemned", the team goes to a planet whose leaders struck a deal with the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Wraith]]. The Wraith who regularly visits the planet enjoys fine cuisine and wines, despite the fact that they provide no nourishment for him. He considers himself a more enlightened and civilized Wraith than his brethren for allowing the planet to live in peace (instead of being constantly submitted to genocidal harvests) in exchange for a small but steady food supply. He admits he does enjoy [[NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine his dinners with the magistrate]], to whom he is [[AffablyEvil courteous and polite]], but since he's still a life-sucking monster this is capped off with things like the Wraith pointing out that [[GallowsHumor the previous cook was tastier than his meals]], and he threatens to annihilate the whole planet unless they give him more people to feed on so he can "provide" for his Wraith friends. |
| 374 | * ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' is full of evil rich people who wear suits, work in paneled offices, read classic literature, eat caviar, and listen to classical music. |
| 375 | * In an episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', several characters are trapped in a malfunctioning holodeck, surrounded by holographic gangsters from [[TheCaptain Picard's]] noir holonovel. The man in charge of gangsters (a LawyerFriendlyCameo [[Film/TheMalteseFalcon1941 Kasper Gutman]]) is well-dressed and well-spoken. Crusher gets sick of it and asks why he insists on treating them well before shooting them. He replies that without civility, we may as well be animals. |
| 376 | ** Also, the self-aware Moriarty holodeck program. Seriously, the holodeck can create some really cultured foes. |
| 377 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': |
| 378 | ** Bela's sophistication, high-end taste, and amorality contrasts sharply with the hardscrabble brothers in Season 3. |
| 379 | ** Crowley, Crowley, Crowley, Crowley, and CROWLEY. The crossroads demon who eventually becomes King of Hell is introduced as living in a spectacular mansion and having rarified taste in everything. His human self however was a drunken lout who died in the gutter. |
| 380 | ** Death, The Horseman drives a classic car, dresses smartly, and has an epicurean's appreciation for human junk food, such as Chicago pizza. |
| 381 | * ''Series/SWAT2017'': Most of [[BombThrowingAnarchists the Emancipators]] are college graduates, and they're surprisingly well informed about the tactics and activities of the SLA, including details that were never made public. In fact their leader was a brillian student who'd been radicalized while at college. |
| 382 | * Spoofed on ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' in the "Evil Genius" skit. A construction worker who's been paid to put in a TrapDoor asks the evil genius to call him by his first name: |
| 383 | -->'''Evil Genius:''' Alas, I ''abhor'' informality. |
| 384 | %%* The Originals in ''Series/TheVampireDiaries''. |
| 385 | * ''Series/TheWire'': |
| 386 | ** Brother Mouzone is a BadassBookworm who dresses in the traditional Nation of Islam suit and bowtie, and reads heavy and serious intellectual books and magazines between gang killings. |
| 387 | ** Stringer Bell was desperately trying to climb out of the gutter and get to this trope, before [[spoiler:he was killed by Mouzone and Omar Little]]. The police are stunned when they search his apartment and find an immaculate office that wouldn't look out of place on Wall Street. |
| 388 | --->'''[=McNulty=]:''' Who the fuck was I chasing? |
| 389 | * DoubleSubversion with the Conspiracy on ''Series/TheXFiles'': Cancer Man/CGB Spender/Cigarette Smoking Man is something of a self-learned intellectual with an amazing capacity for reciting facts and quotations, but we find out in the episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" (though the episode has to be taken with a grain of salt, as it is told by what Lone Gunmen find out about him, but can't be sure it is all accurate) that all he really wants to do is write airport novels about the lone rogue going up against massive conspiracies... it is made pretty clear that he wants to tell the truth about what he knows, but the only way to do this without sacrificing everything is to frame it as bad fiction that gets rejected by publishers. So CGB Spender is a ruthless villain with a façade of culture whose actual personal interests are a subversion of the archetype this trope describes. |
| 390 | [[/folder]] |
| 391 | |
| 392 | [[folder:Professional Wrestling]] |
| 393 | * [[Wrestling/GeorgeWagner Gorgeous George]] first started playing up {{the gimmick}} in the 1940s. Okay, so he was more of a SissyVillain, but he did wear perfume and employ a butler, and entered rings to Elgar's ''Pomp and Circumstance''. |
| 394 | * Many British wrestlers, especially British wrestlers wrestling in other parts of the world, from Sir Alan Garfield to Wrestling/WadeBarrett. |
| 395 | * Wrestling/TripleH, during his early years in Wrestling/{{WWE}}. He'll still lapse into it a bit on occasion, such as when he recently quoted Creator/HPLovecraft. |
| 396 | * Angel Orsini, [[Wrestling/{{ECW}} Prodigette]], prefers to wind down with polite company in a well-tailored suit with a cigar dipped in cognac. When that isn't possible though, she'll settle for working off stress on any hapless victims within arm's reach. |
| 397 | * Done in a subtle way with Wrestling/JohnMorrison when he was a heel: ostensibly a Hollywood "cool dude" with [[CoolShades shades]] and long hair, but occasionally known to speak of his "palace of wisdom" (an image from the poetry of Creator/WilliamBlake). Morrison's gimmick/character is a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed {{Expy}} of [[Music/TheDoors Jim Morrison]], who used that line himself. |
| 398 | * Wrestling/CodyRhodes used this as his gimmick between 2010 and 2013. It's really more of a "metrosexual" gimmick (perfect teeth and fingernails, etc.), but he's also known for his rather snobbish New England accent (despite being from Texas!) and occasional SesquipedalianLoquaciousness. |
| 399 | * Aaron "The Idol" Stevens, ladies man, is gone. Wrestling/DamienSandow's entire gimmick, the "Intellectual Savior of the Unwashed Masses" is this. When he and Cody Rhodes formed a {{tag team}}, it was called the Rhodes Scholars. |
| 400 | * Wonder Ring Stardom wrestler Act Yasukawa drinks rum because it has a strong smell that let's alcohol lovers know it and Yasukawa herself, are from the south side of Shin-Kiba. Somewhat subverted though because even though she's supposed to be a bad guy, practices such as this seem to get her [[AHeroToHisHometown wild cheers]]. |
| 401 | * The Precious One Gilbert indulges in fine wines, fine clothes and fine high-performance vehicles for when he feels like harassing members of Orland Colon's family. And he seems to speak many languages, which makes them relatively easy to find even outside of Puerto Rico. |
| 402 | [[/folder]] |
| 403 | |
| 404 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 405 | * In the ''Radio/AlienWorlds'' episode "Resurrectionists of Lethe", the villain Simon Toddmaster demonstrates an appreciation for classic literature. He expresses annoyance at one of his henchmen not understanding a reference he makes to the works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare and later quotes ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray'' while conversing with Maura Cassidy. |
| 406 | [[/folder]] |
| 407 | |
| 408 | [[folder:Roleplay]] |
| 409 | %%* Jonathan from ''Roleplay/AdvanceWarsEternalWar'' fits this trope perfectly. |
| 410 | * ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'': |
| 411 | ** The [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitious]] vampire Daigo was raised in the upper-class, and his hobbies reflect this. He paints in his spare time, practices yoga, and treats his consumption of blood like it's [[WineIsClassy wine tasting]]. |
| 412 | ** One of Daigo's lackeys, Devin, comes from a political family and enjoys reading and classical music. |
| 413 | ** {{Inverted|Trope}} with Simon and his SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Dragon. Simon is a formal {{bookworm}} with an interest in Shakespeare, while the Dark Dragon is rowdy, coarse, and lewd. |
| 414 | [[/folder]] |
| 415 | |
| 416 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 417 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': |
| 418 | ** In the ''Curse of the Crimson Throne'' adventure path, Laori Vaus is an art lover; if asked if she plans to kill the character the party is trying to find, she says no, he's an artist, she just wants to ask about his inspiration [[spoiler:admittedly because it ties into an attempt to resurrect an evil dragon, but she also seems to like art in and of itself]]. She's also an {{Affably|Evil}} LawfulEvil follower of the god of torture and pain, and is noted for talking in an extremely chipper and upbeat way about how it feels to [[FlayingAlive flay a man alive]]. |
| 419 | ** This is also the [[PlanetOfHats hat]] of the syrinx, [[EnlightenedAntagonist artsy and philosophical]] [[OminousOwl owl people]] who [[LawfulEvil want to enslave]] [[FantasticRacism all of the other humanoid races]] [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans for their own good]]. |
| 420 | ** Ragadahn the Water Lord is a tyrannical, ruthless and murderous beast, and ChaoticEvil to the core, but he's also deeply learned and an accomplished scholar, and one of the greatest sages among the dragons and the fey. |
| 421 | * The Gunstar version of the Magnus in ''Shards of the TabletopGame/{{Exalted}} Dream'', as a sort of motonic physics {{Expy}} of Hannibal Lecter, revels in this trope. When people come in to ask him questions about Primordial metaphysics (which, when you're engaged in reshaping one into a war engine, is sort of a big deal), he tends to provide less unpleasant unforeseen consequences when advising people who discuss philosophy with him or sing him an aria from the latest opera. |
| 422 | * In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'', most Invictus vampires are presented this way, as are the Ordo Dracul and Clan Mekhet; just how evil they are depends on the individual and one's point of view. In the [[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade previous edition]], Clans Ventrue and Toreador were even ''more'' cultured, and the classier Lasombra and Tzmisice really reveled in the ''Wicked'' Cultured part. |
| 423 | * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' |
| 424 | ** [[TheFairFolk Dark]] [[SpaceElves Eldar]], carry themselves with the same sophistication and grace of their good counterparts the Craftworld Eldar, but they're also [[OurVampiresAreDifferent soul-sucking monsters]] who consider [[RapePillageAndBurn torture, rape, and violence]] to be fun pastimes. |
| 425 | ** A number of fallen [[SpaceMarine Primarchs]] were remarkably well-educated - [[SatanicArchetype Horus]], [[PrettyBoy Fulgrim]], [[MagicOrPsychic Magnus]], [[TheFundamentalist Lorgar]], and even [[MasterOfAll Perturabo]] qualified in different ways, with Fulgrim and Horus as patrons of the arts, Magnus as a remarkably erudite Warp-scholar, Lorgar as a theologian of two (''very'') different religions, and Perturabo as an architect and classical scholar. Of all five, Horus was the only one whose corruption came about without involving it - Fulgrim's art was corrupted into a lust for sensation, leading to the Emperor's Children devolving from artists and musicians into [[TheHedonist drug-addicts and hedonists]]; Magnus delved too deep into the Warp and succumbed to {{Pride}}, ultimately being deceived and stranded on the tender mercies of [[ManipulativeBastard Tzeentch]]; Lorgar [[BreakTheBeliever learning the Emperor he worshiped actually hated worship]] caused him to be an overzealous follower of a ''[[ReligionOfEvil different]]'' creed; and Perturabo's resentment at being continually thwarted in his desire to build something out of marble and graceful curves rather than stone and razorwire led him to loathe most of his brethren and ultimately fall to Chaos. |
| 426 | * ''TabletopGame/WorldTreeRPG'': Nendrai, large reptilian monsters greatly feared by primes, thoroughly enjoy the benefits of civilization and surround themselves with the best creature comforts that they can. Their floors are covered by fine rugs, their libraries hold all the classics, and their cellars are stocked with rare vintages. They're personable and educated as well, and can be engaged in perfectly pleasant conversation, as long as the other party can convince the Nendrai that it wants a chat more than it wants lunch or a new slave. |
| 427 | [[/folder]] |
| 428 | |
| 429 | [[folder:Theater]] |
| 430 | * In ''Theatre/SonicLiveInSydney'', when not trying to destroy Sonic or woo Sally, Robotnik enjoys listening to opera, specifically Largo al Factotum from ''Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville''. |
| 431 | [[/folder]] |
| 432 | |
| 433 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 434 | %%* De Killer from ''Franchise/AceAttorney''. |
| 435 | %%** [[spoiler: Kristoph Gavin]] from ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney''. |
| 436 | %%** And before either of them, [[ThePerfectionist Manfred von Karma]]. |
| 437 | * Conrad Marburg, TheDragon in ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol''. One mission requires the protagonist to infiltrate his villa, which is decorated from floor to ceiling in neoclassic art and has classical music playing loudly in a number of the rooms. |
| 438 | * ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'': Subverted with this version of The Penguin - he's [[JabbaTableManners a thoroughly coarse]] [[FatBastard and unpleasant]] [[TheBully individual]], [[SmallNameBigEgo even if he'd like to think otherwise]]. |
| 439 | * Mad artist Sander Cohen of ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'' covers dead bodies (and sometimes [[NotQuiteDead living Splicers]]) in plaster and poses them as statues, chains poor Fitzpatrick to a piano rigged with dynamite and makes him play until he blows up, sends you on a quest to kill his fellow artists and take pictures of their corpses to add to his latest masterpiece, and in one spontaneous fit of rage sics multiple waves of Splicers on you to Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers". His artistic success amounts largely to riding the wave of Ryan's current moods, but that ''is'' a surprisingly good number he has Fitzpatrick playing (until Fitzpatrick [[StuffBlowingUp misses too many notes]]). |
| 440 | ** Andrew Ryan too, with his pursuit of objectivist philosophy as an end unto itself, and his beliefs that all artists should be free to express their dreams without fear of censorship. Even his passion for Art Deco architecture is obvious in the appearance of Rapture, despite being built thirty years after Art Deco was all the rage. |
| 441 | * Relius Clover from ''Franchise/BlazBlue'', while utterly ruthless, conducts himself with extreme suave style, dresses very well, enjoys opera as a hobby, and the things he dislikes are just 'disorganized book shelves'. He doesn't use crude language to show off how depraved and evil he is, in contrast with [[{{Troll}} Hazama]]. |
| 442 | * All three of the villains in ''VideoGame/FarCry3'', to varying levels. |
| 443 | ** [[RuthlessModernPirates Vaas Montenegro]] is fond of delivering a speech on "the definition of insanity" commonly attributed to Creator/BenjaminFranklin, and while not precisely canon, he prepares a dinner with first-class presentation for his captives in the live-action promotional videos, and briefly philosophizes on whether all men are brothers. |
| 444 | ** [[AmoralAfrikaner Hoyt Volker]], Vaas' boss, famously blows up a boat full of hostages while playing a recording of ''Music/RideOfTheValkyries''. He states, "See, I prefer the European recordings. The brass sections in American orchestras are too bombastic." The last part is rather hypocritical, however, since Hoyt is pretty [[EvilIsHammy bombastic]] himself. |
| 445 | ** Bambi "Buck" Hughes, the DepravedHomosexual [[TheBogan crass Australian]] PsychoForHire, goes on massive lectures about the history of the ancient Chinese colonists who brought a rare knife that he's after to the Rook Islands whenever he's about to send Jason to find that knife, knows the poetry of Robert Frost ("I know the woods are lovely, dark and deep, mate... '''[[PrecisionFStrike but get the fuck up]]!'''"), and is pretty cunning as well as brutal. He also gets shirty with Jason whenever he refers to that rare Chinese knife ''as'' a knife, because he considers it to be a piece of art. |
| 446 | -->'''Buck:''' You've gotta hand it to the Chinese. When they disemboweled you, they did it in bloody style. Can you imagine being shivved by this thing? Like Shakespeare stabbing you with his quill. |
| 447 | * President Shinra of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' is seen listening to classical music while the Sector 7 Slums are destroyed. Also, Genesis of ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' quotes incessantly from the play ''Loveless''. |
| 448 | ** Also, Sephiroth. |
| 449 | * Ultimecia of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' has a definite sense of luxury and style, even if her fashion sense is a bit odd. Her castle has a large chandelier, a pipe organ, an impressive wine cellar, and an art gallery with pieces she either collected or painted herself. |
| 450 | * Kuja of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX,'' as evidenced by his ridiculously luxurious desert mansion decorated with pristine statuary and wall-to-wall stained-glass windows. He's also got an extensive knowledge of theater, particularly [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Lord Avon's]] [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet "I Want To Be Your Canary"]]. |
| 451 | * General Viggo in ''VideoGame/FurFighters'' tries to come across like this, he succeeds right up until the end when he cracks. |
| 452 | * The Gravemind from ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' always speaks in trochaic [[ArcNumber heptameter]]. He explains to Cortana in ''[[Literature/HaloEvolutions Human Weakness]]'' that he simply grew fond of poetry after he consumed enough poets from different races and cultures. You could say [[{{Pun}} he developed a taste for it]]. |
| 453 | * A few of Agent 47's targets in ''Franchise/{{Hitman}}'' fall under this heading, though they are particularly rare. The most obvious is Don Fernando Delgado from ''[[VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney Blood Money]]'', a drug baron who also produces several highly regarded wines, plays the cello as a hobby, and collects rare butterflies. |
| 454 | %%* The eponymous character from ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain''. |
| 455 | * Ganondorf. One particular example would be in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', wherein he is playing the organ while awaiting Link's arrival at the castle to rescue Princess Zelda. |
| 456 | * ''Franchise/MassEffect'': |
| 457 | ** [[WellIntentionedExtremist The Illusive Man]] of ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' drinks well, dresses well, is infallibly polite even in the face of setbacks. |
| 458 | ** Donovan Hock from the "Kasumi's Stolen Memories" DLC is also an example, being a ruthless criminal who owns several rare sculptures, including the Art/LadyLiberty's head and Creator/{{Michelangelo}}'s ''Art/{{David}}''. Hock even shouts a BigNo if Shepard [[ShutUpHannibal shoots one of his precious sculptures]]. |
| 459 | * ''VideoGame/MystIVRevelation'': [[spoiler:Sirrus is a chess player (albeit a patzer), and a brilliant engineer. Who plans to commit GrandTheftMe on his sister through sorcery]]. |
| 460 | * Dark Oppressors in ''VideoGame/NexusWar'' are supposed to be like this. It doesn't exactly get reflected well in their skillset, but the sort of ''players'' that get attracted to the game mean that it gets played straight anyway. |
| 461 | * Yōko from ''VideoGame/Onmyoji2016'' is a scholar, says that he has "many hobbies", and even teaches a cute ''yōkai'' girl how to dance... only to later abduct her. |
| 462 | * Emperor Zinyak of ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' has an affinity for wine, Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, and opera, and even [=DJs=] the Steelport simulation's classical music radio station, where he can be heard both reading the opening chapter of ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'' and [[DisproportionateRetribution threatening his underlings with summary execution for calling Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor "the Dracula music"]]. |
| 463 | ** The Boss him/herself is a ruthless gang leader who is also a big fan of Creator/JaneAusten, though this seems to be the only bit of culture in their life as they don't know one bit about anything listed above. Zinyak is an Austen fan as well, [[spoiler:so much so that he used time travel to abduct her for his personal collection]]. |
| 464 | * Unlike the other more monstrous and/or comical villains in the ''VideoGame/SeriousSam'' series, Lord Achriman from ''VideoGame/SeriousSam4'' is a sophisticated and intellectual public speaker who is well-versed in human culture and philosophy. He is also a [[SoftSpokenSadist sadistic]] HopeCrusher and one of the [[VileVillainSaccharineShow vilest villains in the series]]. |
| 465 | %%* Leon Powalski from ''VideoGame/StarFox'' is a mix of both this and AxCrazy. |
| 466 | %%* Mr. X from ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage''. |
| 467 | * Doctor Killjoy of ''VideoGame/TheSuffering'' takes [[ChewingTheScenery great]] [[LargeHam delight]] in reciting Shakespearean soliloquies. |
| 468 | * Played with in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration 2''. Archibald Grims, SmugSnake and [[CardCarryingVillain card-carrying]] [[ForTheEvulz terrorist without a cause]], invites his most cultured subordinate for a spot of tea. He takes this time to explain that he doesn't actually ''like'' tea, but he likes to drink red tea [[DontExplainTheJoke because it kind of looks like blood]]. Meanwhile, his subordinate notices that he's using a teabag, so he can't even get the "cultured" part right. |
| 469 | * The Spy from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' initially appears this way, especially in his Meet the Spy video. It kind of falls apart in-game, though, when he winds up shouting insults like a 12-year-old and laughing until he snorts. |
| 470 | ** Heavy, meanwhile, definitely counts. He has a Ph.D. in Russian lit. and enjoys himself a nice peach bellini. This, in-between screaming at the top of his lungs, chewing through people with a giant minigun, and telling stories about choking an Engineer with his own wrench as if it were [[RussianHumor some kind of bawdy anecdote]]. |
| 471 | *** [[EloquentInMyNativeTongue Even more so in the Russian translation.]] |
| 472 | ** Between bouts of administering "accidental" not-medicine and blowing up hearts ForScience, Medic's a violinist, and based on naming one of his pet doves Archimedes, also has some historical knowledge. |
| 473 | ** The Engineer, to Blutarch Mann's personal care attendant, regarding a painting in Blutarch's mansion: "[[SophisticatedAsHell Say, ain't that an original]] [[CaptainErsatz Kicasso?"]] He also has ''eleven'' doctorates to explain his building skills. |
| 474 | * ''{{VideoGame/Warframe}}'' has Grineer scientist Tyl Regor. Creator of the Grineer Manics, he proves to be a rather erudite speaker thanks to his [[ProfessorGuineaPig self-experiments]], and also proves to have quite the snarky side to himself. What helps in this regard is the smooth, sinister drawl in his voice. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pWP1yETu9w Seriously, have a listen to him.]] |
| 475 | * Also subverted with Chatterbox, the [[MonsterClown clown-faced Soho mob boss]] in the video game version of ''VideoGame/TheWarriors''. He fancies himself a [[MadArtist great artist]] (so much so that he ''kills'' anyone besides himself who tries to create anything resembling art in his neighborhood) - but he's [[FatBastard grotesquely fat]], [[ClusterFBomb foul-mouthed]], [[BadBoss cruel to his own men]], and on the whole obnoxious and buffoonish. |
| 476 | [[/folder]] |
| 477 | |
| 478 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 479 | * ''VisualNovel/GrisaiaSeries'': Series villain Heath Oslo is the head of an international arms dealer/terrorist group, he might be a bit of a phedophile, and his [[FauxAffablyEvil nasty temper occasionally slips up]], but otherwise he is well-mannered, soft-spoken, dressed in a stylish red suit and has an interest in art (even uses an antique telephone). |
| 480 | [[/folder]] |
| 481 | |
| 482 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 483 | * Sam Starfall from ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' is a chronic petty thief and general rogue. Despite this, he's extremely well-read and a skilled debater and orator, quoting the Bible and justifying his viewpoint to introduce a culture of crime to a perfectly innocent population with arguments from fields as widespread as psychology, mythology, biology, and politics. |
| 484 | * Doc Scratch of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' is perpetually dressed in a white tuxedo, lives in an art deco apartment in a mansion, speaks with perfect grammar and near-unflappable politeness, enjoys playing pranks and board games with children, and is an excellent host to his guests. [[spoiler:He just so happens to also be TheDragon to an EldritchAbomination, with the stated objective of bringing about the end of his universe so that his master may feed on reality's corpse.]] He also [[spoiler:kicked off the "Make her pay" subplot, which resulted in one person confined to a wheelchair, one dead, one blind, and one losing an arm and eye as well as being despised by everyone she ever liked]]. |
| 485 | %%* Mordecai Heller from ''Webcomic/{{Lackadaisy}}'' can be considered this. |
| 486 | * Lord Dante Fitzalan, from ''Webcomic/MidnightsWar''. An ancient and evil vampire who likes spending his time reading in his personal library, poring over scientific theses, and taking the young women who serve him to the opera as part of their education. |
| 487 | * John Henry Hunter of ''Webcomic/NextTownOver'' is quite suave, wearing a [[VillainInAWhiteSuit fancy white suit]], playing the violin, and generally serenading people with his smoothness. The DeliberatelyMonochrome flashbacks also indicate that he performed publicly before turning outlaw. |
| 488 | * Julian from ''{{Webcomic/Sire}}'' was kind enough to pen [[https://web.archive.org/web/20170922103955/http://sire.thewebcomic.com/comics/1449593/chapter-4-page-34/ a rather lovely note explaining that he had stolen research papers from the main character's suitcase (and they were such a delightful read!), though he would have felt cruel taking the bag. Hoping this letter finds you well.]] |
| 489 | [[/folder]] |
| 490 | |
| 491 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 492 | * In ''Literature/TalesOfMU'', Embries and The Man both qualify. The former has a gloriously-decorated office and snazzy attire, a [[{{Pun}} silver tongue]], and a tea set of which he is very fond. He is also an ancient dragon with a [[ImAHumanitarian taste for human flesh]]. The Man is a demon who [[PoweredByAForsakenChild devours the hearts of virgins]] monthly to sustain himself and impregnated and abandoned the main character's mother twice. He wears a snazzy pinstriped suit and waxes philosophic (sometimes in High Draconic) when speaking with his daughter, however, and like Embries is a master of seduction. |
| 493 | * Both Dr. Diabolik and his daughter Jadis, in the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse''. Jadis Diabolik is only a high school sophomore and already feared throughout [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]]. She quotes Shakespeare and Yeats and knows who is the finest butcher in all of New York City. However, do not make her mad at you. |
| 494 | [[/folder]] |
| 495 | |
| 496 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 497 | * Matska Belmonde of ''WebVideo/CarmillaTheSeries'' is an elegant, sophisticated vampire who prefers to never be more than a four-hour flight from Paris if she can help it. |
| 498 | * Although ''WebVideo/SandersSides'' has [[NoAntagonist no true villain]], Deceit's Disney villain schtick plays off of this trope. He appears well-read in philosophy, plays the part of a play director in his first appearance, and also [[FashionableEvil has a pretty neat costume]]. |
| 499 | * {{Double subver|sion}}ted in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' with Christopher Clodd/[[spoiler:the Executor]] -- he seems to be a connoisseur of the arts, but it's eventually revealed that he actually considers ''bad'' films, such as ''Film/ManosTheHandsOfFate'', or the filmography of Creator/UweBoll, to massively influential "good" films, believing that fame is fleeting, while infamy is forever. |
| 500 | [[/folder]] |
| 501 | |
| 502 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 503 | * The Lich from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' is intelligent, polite, speaks formally, and has a great knowledge of how everything was before time and life. |
| 504 | -->'''The Lich:''' ''[to the King of Ooo]'' Stop. I have learned much from you. Thank you, my teachers. And now for your education. Before there was time, before there was anything, there was nothing. And before there was nothing, there were monsters. Here's your gold star! |
| 505 | * ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'': |
| 506 | ** Dracula is the BigBad and is also well-educated in many fields that would classify him as a RenaissanceMan. |
| 507 | ** The Flyeyes Night Creature from seasons 3 & 4. He was a philosopher in his human life, before he went to Hell and became a demon. Even still, he's pretty clever and well-spoken when he converses with Isaac. |
| 508 | * ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': The Delightful Children From Down the Lane, some of the time. |
| 509 | * Vlad Masters of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', invoked; his accent is very much cultured. |
| 510 | * When Barbara Gordon in ''WesternAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls'' meets one Slade Wilson, she finds a well-dressed, well-spoken fellow serving dishes way over her head in an expensively-decorated BigFancyHouse... and he's a total ass about it at the first shadow of an excuse, even before they peg each other as the superhero and mercenary who fought a night ago. |
| 511 | * Monkey from ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' faced a villain (a super-smart ape) who was very cultured. He did a HeelFaceTurn when Monkey convinced him to embrace his primate instincts. |
| 512 | * [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad''. Phaeton is highly articulate and literate enough to have a quote from Dante inscribed in the entrance to his bunker. On the other hand, he is NOT a fan of art, which he (quite passionately) declares to be "a useless Terran pastime". This leads to a hilarious moment where Exo Trooper Wolf Bronski, by no means cultured himself, is attempting to save paintings Phaeton has ordered destroyed. During the fights, he yells at the Neo Sapiens, calling them Philistines. Then he turns to the woman with him and asks "Hey, what's a Philistine?" |
| 513 | %%* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': |
| 514 | %%** Stewie, some of the time. |
| 515 | %%** Daggermouth, an animatronic robot catfish (and later from a ShowWithinAShow) is portrayed as one as well. |
| 516 | * [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] for laughs with the [[BigBadWannabe Professor]] from the ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCatJoeOriolo'' cartoons. He ''pretends'' that he's going out to the opera while Felix is babysitting his nephew Poindexter, but Felix sees right through it and knows that he's really going to watch a wrestling match. |
| 517 | * Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'' with the villain Caveguy. He typically acts like a brutish neanderthal committing crimes...except he speaks with perfect grammar in a posh, snooty voice. |
| 518 | -->'''Joe the Narrator:''' His real name is Royce Mumphy. Police in five states know him as Caveguy. Yes, Caveguy. Hostile, powerful. But also, highly intelligent.\ |
| 519 | '''Caveguy:''' I subscribe to the New Yorker. ''(Chortles haughtily)'' |
| 520 | * David Xanatos from ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}''. As a billionaire, he enjoys the finer things in life, such as living in an authentic Scottish castle (that he had moved - brick by brick - to New York). |
| 521 | * ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': Though all the Demon Sorcerers with the exception of the street-smart Drago come off as relatively regal and sophisticated in their own ways, [[Characters/JackieChanAdventuresTheDemonSorcerers Tso Lan the Moon Demon]] in particular comes off as the most refined and dignified of the lot. |
| 522 | * ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': |
| 523 | ** The Ultra-Humanite enjoys classical music, donates money to public television in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS1E8And9InjusticeForAll Injustice for All]]", and reprograms a children's toy to tell them the story of the Nutcracker in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E23ComfortAndJoy Comfort and Joy]]". He's also a white talking gorilla and unrepentant supervillain. |
| 524 | --->'''PBS Announcer:''' This program was made possible by a grant from the Ultra-Humanite and ViewersLikeYou. |
| 525 | ** Vandal Savage, as well. He's smart, but his level of culture varies from episode to episode; Wonder Woman certainly thinks that he's exactly as barbaric as the caveman he ultimately is. "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E19And20Hereafter Hereafter]]" confirms it when Superman looks over his library. "Self-help books? You don't seem like the type." By that point, however, Savage is [[TheAtoner nowhere near as wicked as he used to be]]. |
| 526 | %%* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' has Senor Senior Senior and Falsetto Jones. |
| 527 | * [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraZaheer Zaheer]] from Season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' is well versed in Air Nomad history and lore, despite not being an Air Nomad himself. [[spoiler:These philosophies help him greatly when he gains Airbending via Harmonic Convergence.]] |
| 528 | * One-off villain of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' Doctor Caballeron is definitely this, since he's a very obvious {{expy}} of [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk René Belloq]]. |
| 529 | * Captain Hook in ''WesternAnimation/PeterPanAndThePirates'' as most versions of Hook, is incredibly cultured and voiced by Creator/TimCurry. |
| 530 | * Megabyte from ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'', no question. He's voiced by Creator/TonyJay, after all. |
| 531 | * V.V. Argost, the primary antagonist of ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'', embodies this. Essentially a cross between Doctor Doom and Vincent Price, this should come as no surprise. |
| 532 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Sideshow Bob and his brother Cecil Terwilliger from "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E16BrotherFromAnotherSeries Brother from Another Series]]". Not surprising, as the [[IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine voice actors]][[note]]Creator/KelseyGrammer and Creator/DavidHydePierce respectively[[/note]] portrayed the cultured (but not wicked) Crane brothers on ''Series/{{Frasier}}''. |
| 533 | -->'''Cecil:''' Perhaps a glass of Bordeaux? I have the '82 Chateau Latour and a rather indifferent Rauzan-Ségla.\ |
| 534 | '''Bob:''' I've been in prison, Cecil. I'll be happy just as long as it doesn't taste like orange drink fermented under a radiator.\ |
| 535 | '''Cecil:''' That would be the Latour, then. |
| 536 | * Chairface Chippendale, nemesis of WesternAnimation/TheTick, dresses sharply, eats fine food, and is prone to sophisticated dialogue, despite having a chair for a head. |
| 537 | * ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': |
| 538 | ** ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'': |
| 539 | *** All things considered, Megatron certainly fits the bill. From his aristocratic accent to his quoting Earth literature, one doesn't doubt that if it had been possible for him to sip a nice chilled glass of red, BW Megatron would have been. Perhaps while doing the SlouchOfVillainy in his command chair or soaking in his energon hot tub. The fact that he bathes with a rubber ducky manages to reduce his cultured aura not one bit, impressively. Also he strokes his T-rex head arm while in his robot form, the same way Franchise/JamesBond villain Blofeld caresses his pet cat. |
| 540 | *** Though he pulls a HeelFaceTurn in the very first episode, Dinobot never the less fits the bill as he was clearly like this before his defection and even as a Maximal he swerves between TokenEvilTeammate and ReformedButNotTamed, being a CulturedWarrior whose highly educated and [[WarriorPoet quotes poetry and philosophy]]. [[spoiler:With his LastWords after his HeroicSacrifice he even quotes ''Creator/WilliamShakespeare'':]] |
| 541 | ----> '''Dinobot:''' [[spoiler: Tell my tale to those who ask. Tell it truly, the ill deeds along with the good, and let me be judged accordingly. [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} The rest... is silence]]...]] |
| 542 | ** The Megatron in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' was obviously inspired by his predecessor. He drinks oil out of a barrel crushed into the shape of a chalice. It also comes up that he's the Cybertronian equivalent of a vintner, brewing his own blends of oil in his off-hours. |
| 543 | %%** Dr. Morocco from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots''. |
| 544 | * Phantom Limb from ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' is a definite example, once called out for having sold out his villainous principles for high culture accoutrements such as dealing in stolen art instead of 'the old stuff'. (In the same episode, he laments how many of his clients want to own the Mona Lisa for no other reason than it's a famous painting, and not because they appreciate it as art.) |
| 545 | * ''WesternAnimation/WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego'''s eponymous villain is a perfect example; if she doesn't undertake a theft because [[ImpossibleTheft of the sheer challenge of it]], she probably swiped it for sentimental cultural value. It's also the only way most of the clues she leaves behind could be deciphered. |
| 546 | %%* Chase Young from ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown''. |
| 547 | [[/folder]] |
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