Line #2 PlayingWith/TheManBehindTheCurtain


1	'''Basic Trope''': A villain reported to be powerful, ruthless and exceedingly evil turns out to be disappointingly feeble.
2	* '''Straight''': The hero breaks down the door to Baron von Ruthless' chambers, only to find him to be an frail, old man in a wheelchair.
3	* '''Exaggerated''': [[DarkLordOnLifeSupport Baron von Ruthless is bedridden and on life support]], and looks like a skeleton that has been dipped in wax. There is a strong impression that even the slightest bit of exertion would cause him to keel over for good.
4	* '''Downplayed''':
5	** Baron Von Ruthless has a leg cast.
6	** Baron Von Ruthless [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse looks just like everyone else]]. No CoolChair, no SpikesOfVillainy, nothing.
7	* '''Justified''': Despite his brilliant [[TheChessmaster mental]] [[ClockKing abilities]], Baron von Ruthless has cancer.
8	* '''Inverted''': Baron von Ruthless is infamous for his mental abilities rather than his combat skills, but manages to put up an impressive fight against the heroes.
9	* '''Subverted''':
10	** Baron von Ruthless' infirmity was all an act and he attacks the hero.
11	** Baron von Ruthless may be stuck in a wheelchair, but it turns out he's still a powerful sorcerer. His PowersDoTheFighting, and it's an impressive fight.
12	** The [[TinTyrant vaguely human-shaped mass of steel plates and spikes]] from earlier, who our heroes "learned" was a body double upon encountering the feeble old man before them, really ''was'' Baron von Ruthless, and the old man is just there to get would-be assassins to drop their guard while the ''real'' Baron von Ruthless closes in.
13	** Baron von Ruthless turns out to have weaponized his wheelchair, [[HandicappedBadass and is still quite able in a fight.]]
14	** Baron von Ruthless I is feeble, but it's Baron von Ruthless III that is the threat. The hero should have been a bit more clear in his questioning.
15	* '''Double Subverted''':
16	** Only to find out that this Baron von Ruthless was a robot. The real one has been dead for years.
17	** He's still a SquishyWizard
18	** The "real" Baron von Ruthless was working off a script, and our heroes' initial assumptions about the old man were correct.
19	* '''Parodied''': Baron von Ruthless has committed several heinous crimes and is wanted in several countries. It's revealed that Baron von Ruthless is actually a genius 10-year-old child working all of it from behind her computer.
20	* '''Zig Zagged''': There is another ManBehindTheMan for Baron von Ruthless. He's not the {{the Man Behind The Curtain}}, but the man behind ''him'' is. And so on.
21	* '''Averted''': Baron von Ruthless [[RankScalesWithAsskicking lives up to the reputation]].
22	* '''Enforced''': The author wants to make a point about the "old men who send young men to die".
23	* '''Lampshaded''': "''You're'' Baron von Ruthless?"
24	* '''Invoked''': The heroes deliberately attempt to find out if Baron von Ruthless really is an old man in a wheelchair.
25	* '''Exploited''': The Heroes had brought themselves to their last legs fighting TheDragon and are saved by the fact that their opponent is actually harmless
26	* '''Defied''': Baron von Ruthless is physically inform, but also a brilliant roboticist. He builds a suit of PoweredArmor to aid in defeating the hero when he arrived.
27	* '''Discussed''': "I can't believe ''this'' was the best the writers could come up with."
28	* '''Conversed''': "Why do most of these old villains think no-one will find out how feeble they are?"
29	* '''Deconstructed''': Baron von Ruthless' StartOfDarkness is explored, and we find that it is becoming an old man in a wheelchair that made him evil in the first place.
30	* '''Reconstructed''': He's still an old man in a wheelchair though, and falls easily.
31	* '''Played For Laughs''': Baron Von Ruthless appears as a TinTyrant, but while he initially seems to be an average man underneath his armor, [[BreakingTheFourthWall he points out that it's just the suit actor and it really isn't part of the story.]]
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33	Back to TheManBehindTheCurtain ...But never mind the man behind the curtain!
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35	%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
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37	%%* '''Implied''': ???
38	%%* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': ???
39	%%

Context PlayingWith / TheManBehindTheCurtain