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Even Evil Has Loved Ones / Video Games

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Examples of Even Evil Has Loved Ones in video games.

  • 2Dark: In Miguele's hospice, the player can discover a love letter from Sylvia addressed to him. Of course, it's suitably twisted, praising "his predatory smile", and finishing with "I love you, and I love the taste of your blood".
  • Ace Attorney:
    • Manfred von Karma is completely ruthless and will ruin your life in every way he can and/or murder you over the slightest insult, but as seen by the way he keeps making positive offhand remarks about her, he dotes on his wife.
    • Matt Engarde from Justice for All is an unrepentant murderer and blackmailer, but genuinely asks the player to make sure his pet cat Shoe gets fed.
    • In Spirit of Justice, Inga Karhuul Khura'in may be an unrepentant scumbag, but he genuinely loves his adopted daughter Rayfa quite a bit, to the point of keeping several mementos of her childhood in a safe in his room.
    • In The Great Ace Attorney, mass murderer the Professor is revealed to be Klint van Vieks who loved his wife and younger brother dearly and which is how Stronghart had little trouble blackmailing him into committing further murders for him.
      • Also Eggert Benedict is revealed to care for his childhood friends the Skulkin Brothers and his father Mason, the latter's death being the reason why Benedict killed McGilded and would eventually lead to Windibank's death as well.
  • In Alpha Protocol, Alan Parker is a cold and calculating person who considers everyone he works with as expendable and has no problems with eliminating them if he sees it as necessary. However, with enough research, Mike can find out that he's the father of Madison Saint James. If she is killed by Conrad Marburg, Mike can inform Parker of the man who killed his daughter, which will result in him trying to take revenge.
  • In Assassin's Creed III, Haytham Kenway genuinely loved Ziio and their son Connor. Sadly, his dedication to the Templars was stronger.
  • Baldur's Gate proffers a few examples of this trope.
    • Big Bad Sarevok loved his foster mother when he was a child, because she was genuinely good to him. His foster father strangled her with a garrotte in front of him over infidelity; years later, Sarevok would have him killed in the same manner.
    • Sarevok also has two lovers, Tamoko and Cythandria, both of whom are evil themselves. Cythandria loves him unconditionally because of his evil, but Tamoko wants him to end his Evil Plan to become a god to stay with her. When Sarevok discovers that Tamoko has been undermining his efforts, he sends her out to die in battle with the player. In the sequel, though, an unfinished quest from Throne of Bhaal shows that he felt remorse for it, and in his epilogue he takes her body back to Kara-Tur (her homeland) to bury her.
    • Tamoko has a little brother, Yoshimo, who appears in the sequel because he came west looking for her.
    • It's implied Sarevok really did care about his Evil Mentor, Winksi Perorate. He ended up killing him for forcing him into a retreat, but in ToB he threatens to make a character "regret it" if they keep saying bad things about him.
    • The Player Character can choose an evil alignment and still genuinely care about others. They can have Villainous Friendships with the likes of Korgan Bloodaxe and Edwin Odesseiron, choose to keep their little sister Imoen around as a Morality Pet, and have a romance with one of three evil characters — Viconia DeVir, Dorn Il-Khan, or Hexxat.
    • Viconia had a Morality Pet herself — her brother, Valas. He ended up suffering for it when she escaped the Underdark for the surface, which haunts her to this day.
    • Dorn was with an adventuring party before he joined the player, and even had a relationship with one of them. They betrayed him and left him to die or take all the blame for the crimes of the group, which stung Dorn badly. He eventually made a Deal with the Devil to become a blackguard, allowing him to break out of prison and take his revenge on them. He is noticeably bitter and angry when he fights each of them.
    • Hexxat notes that her mother was always away from home, which led to her being raised by her many aunts. Despite now being evil (and a vampire), she remembers them fondly, and admits they are not responsible for the woman she is now.
    • In Baldur's Gate III, pre-amnesia Dark Urge was The Antichrist who sought to end all life in the name of his father, the God of Evil Bhaal. And yet, you discover a letter from him expressing guilt over having formed a genuine friendship with his partner in crime Lord Gortash, and asking Bhaal for forgiveness with the intent of killing Gortash last and then himself. If post-amnesia Dark Urge makes the decision to stick to the plan, he reassures Shadowheart that he intends to keep her and the others around before turning them into mindless thralls.
    • Among the Cult of the Absolute's top enforcers, there is Ketheric Thorm. Unlike his contemporaries, who include an overly ambitious politician and an Ax-Crazy murderess, Thorm entered the Absolute's fold because she offered him the resurrection of his daughter, whose death had consumed him with such grief that he even became a Dark Justiciar of Shar in a means to seek a reprieve from his grief. Even though his daughter who would subsequently become a cleric for Shar's nemesis, Selune would resent him for it, he gladly became a loyal soldier of the Absolute in gratitude for bringing his daughter back to him.
  • Shanath is one of the evilest characters (though not without a Freudian Excuse) in Baten Kaitos Origins, but he genuinely loves his daughter Savyna.
  • Throughout BioShock, it's implied that Andrew Ryan had an illegitimate child. Later, it's revealed that Jack himself is Ryan's illegitimate son. Fontaine kidnapped and brainwashed Jack to do his bidding precisely because he knew that as evil as Ryan was, even he couldn't bring himself to kill his own son.
  • Bleeding Sun: Ichiro may be a power-hungry dictator, but in the honor ending, he's willing to commit seppuku so that the party will spare and evacuate his son, Genji.
  • Borderlands 2:
    • There's a rather twisted example with Handsome Jack. Once you manage to reach Control Core Angel, it's revealed that Angel is not only a Siren, but Jack's daughter whom he's been using as both a power source for the Vault Key and as a living supercomputer. Despite being emotionally and verbally abusive towards her, as well as having kept her locked up for a large part of her life, he expresses genuine terror once you and your team begin trying to kill her at her request, even frantically begging you to not kill his "baby girl", even throwing his goal of activating the vault key out the window, asking you who even cares about the key when "an innocent girl" is about to die. Once she dies, he starts going into a complete Villainous Breakdown and replaces his contempt for you with burning, murderous hatred now that he admits that he has nothing left to lose. In Tales from the Borderlands, when you're playing as Rhys in Jack's office, you can choose to examine the framed photo he has on his desk, only to see that it's of Angel as a little girl. If you bring it up with him (keep in mind this being an Artificial Intelligence version of himself) he becomes noticeably sullen and tells you that she's his daughter that he keeps secret from most everyone, and asks if you two can go visit her once the vault business is over with, completely unaware that she's long dead. After Helios crashes and he's contemplating everything that's led up to this point, he sadly tells you that he checked the station's data and learned that she's been dead, and admits that he can't blame her for turning on him.
    • There's also Jack's girlfriend Nisha, who isn't a good person either, but it seems like they do care about each other. When you and your team kill her and Jack finds out about it, he's surprised that he's not necessarily sad, but he does say that he's pissed off that you killed her. In Tales from the Borderlands, when you're in Jack's office, you can look at his wall of prized possessions, and one of them is Nisha's cowboy hat. If you check it, and you have Jack (the Artificial Intelligence version of him) in your cybernetic system for him to insert his own thoughts and spice up your echo-eye's information about what you see, he says, "I miss my girlfriend."
  • The jocks are one of the most aggressive and unpleasant cliques in Bully, but they do look out for their own. When risqué photos of Mandy are posted around town, the rest of them immediately set out for blood.
  • Captive (RPG Maker): The protagonist may be the captor responsible for kidnapping, experimenting on, and killing several people, but she did it to find a cure for her ill father, and also seems fond of Cousin Mike, given that when recognizing his name from the file, the protagonist calls him "Mikey".
  • In Castle Crashers, after you defeat the Conehead Groom, a big, burly cyclops enters the scene, picks up the Groom's body, and cries. He then escapes with the Princess. When you finally catch up to him, he's holding a funeral for his pal. Whether the groom was his son, father, or just a good friend is unclear.
  • Castlevania holds a couple of villains who are particularly noteworthy:
    • Dracula genuinely loved both of his wives; it was their deaths that prompted him to go evil. Twice. In Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, he expresses remorse upon finding out that his actions go against his second wife's last words. He is also rather fond of his son Alucard, even though Alucard has sworn to oppose him. In the Lords of Shadow continuity, Dracula's love for his wife and son is stated to be the only pure human emotion he has left.
    • Brauner, the primary antagonist of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. His motivation for doing the things he does in the game as a whole? To avenge his beloved daughters, who had been killed during World War I. He's still an absolutely evil vampire who must be stopped before he can carry out his plans for punishing humanity, but it doesn't stop whatever tears may have been shed for the man he once was before that fateful day.
  • Cold Winter has it's main villain, John Grey who leads the Greywings society, already a Well-Intentioned Extremist when his goals are revealed, but besides that Grey also loves his last relative, his young granddaughter, as his wife, son, and daughter-in-law all passed before him.
  • The King of Spades of Deltarune threatens to drop his own son off of his castle if the heroes don't surrender. You don't find out until the next chapter that he was bluffing, and every so often asks how his son is doing while he's imprisoned, showing that, if nothing else, his love for his son is genuine.
  • Demon Hunter: The Return of the Wings: Greed gets surprizingly aggressive when talking about the deaths of his people.
  • Destiny:
    • The Taken King storyline is kicked off when the Guardians kill Crota, the son of Oryx, the God-Emperor of the Hive. Oryx is so utterly enraged by the death of his son that he ends his armchair leadership and heads towards Earth personally to destroy the Guardians in revenge. Further, it's revealed that Oryx also has two sisters (his co-rulers), two daughters, and an adopted son. He genuinely loves each and every one of them. However, it's important to remember that, to the Hive, "genuine love" is synonymous with "murderous intent", and they express their affection by cheerfully killing each other over and over and over.
    • The Scorned Barons may be psychotic death-worshippers, but they genuinely care about each other like family. When you start killing them in retaliation for Cayde-6's death, each gets more enraged and grief stricken at your slaughter of their comrades. This culminates in Fikkrul, furious and almost on the verge of tears, demanding to know if murdering his friends really made you feel any better.
  • In the Devil May Cry series, deep down, Vergil does care for his younger brother despite the resentment. After his time spent as V in Devil May Cry 5, he is less antagonistic towards Dante and even genuinely thanks Nero before realizing that Nero is actually his son, not his nephew like he initially thought. Vergil also genuinely loved his human mother Eva, though Vergil thought she had abandoned him to safeguard Dante, which kicked off his aforementioned resentment of his brother and made him shun his human side.
  • Do It For Me: Despite being willing to kill innocent students, the Villain Protagonist does it because his girlfriend pressured him into it, and he truly loves her (except in the "Psychopath" ending, where he kills her). Unfortunately for him, she does not return his affection.
  • Dragon Age series:
    • Dragon Age: Origins:
      • Loghain Mac Tir may be ruthless and paranoid, but he loves his daughter Anora. Subverted when Loghain attempts to have her killed to prevent her from siding with the Warden, but that turns out to be a lie perpetrated by Anora as part of her plan to remain in power regardless of who wins the civil war. Also, when Shale asks Loghain (if he's in your party) if he'd do anything for power, why he doesn't simply Cut The Knot and kill Anora for power, Loghain makes it clear that he refuses to consider the idea even if it'd get him the power he needed.
      • Apparently, Arl Howe is this, too. When you meet his son Nathaniel in Awakening, he plans to kill your PC for murdering his dear dad. Nathaniel, though, didn't know exactly what his father was up to when he wasn't with his family.
    • Though you may debate whether anyone in Dragon Age II is really "evil" due to the omnipresent Grey-and-Gray Morality, even if you play Hawke as a dog-kicking madperson with a tendency to let dangerous blood mages go/sell out innocent mages to the Templars when all they wanted was a taste of freedom, he/she still cares about his/her family.
  • Towa from Dragon Ball Xenoverse has this with several characters.
    • The mother-son/husband-wife duo of Towa and Mira really do seem to care for each other. Subverted in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, as in Towa's ending it's revealed that she views Mira as a tool.
    • As for her older brother Dabura, it's implied that her focus on altering history involving Goku and the Z Fighters is mainly due to Goku and Majin Vegeta's fight freeing Innocent Buu, resulting in Dabura's death. She goes to great lengths, such as alternating timelines to resurrect Dabura.
    • In Dragon Ball Heroes, Towa shows great care for her son Fu (whom she had with Mira), even making sure he escapes the collapse of the Demon World so that he doesn't perish with her and Mira.
  • Dyztopia: Post-Human RPG: Deconstructed with Morgalia. She misses Chase and regrets kicking the latter out of the house, but she refuses to admit that her callous execution of Chase's friends and fiance or her controlling attitude are to blame for the rift between her and her daughter. This results in her attempting to have Clyde brainwash Chase into becoming an obedient Trophy Child. The only positive thing to come out of this is that Morgalia doesn't interfere with the emergency escape minecart so that Chase can safely escape the mines, but even then, her Never My Fault attitude persists.
  • The Elder Scrolls:
    • Mathieu Bellamont in Oblivion is a Dark Brotherhood assassin that his loved ones, as he's motivated to avenge his mother and also in love with a fellow assassin named Maria. He plans on abandoning the order and start a real family with her, but unfortunately, she refuses, leading to him snapping and brutally killing her. It's also implied that he might be in love with Antoiniette Marie, since she received an anonymous letter warning her to leave the Sanctuary before it can be purged and he's the only one who knows what will happen.
    • Astrid and Arnbjorn in Skyrim are Happily Married. They're also the effective leaders of The Remnant of the Dark Brotherhood.
    • In Online, Vaermina, the Daedric Prince of Nightmares, reveals that she is in love with her champion. Her reaction to his death (at your hands) backs this up, as she gleefully describes how she is going to spend the next century or so Mind Raping you for killing him.
  • Elohim Eternal: The Babel Code:
    • The true instigator of the infernos, Lamech, did so because of orders from the Kosmokraters, but he regrets that he couldn't save his brother Dorran from the explosions. He also doesn't want to fight Joshwa, but believes he has to in order to avoid the Kosmokraters' wrath. As he dies, he apologizes to Joshwa for all his atrocities.
    • Anat recognizes Joshwa's implanted arm as Nimrod's and thinks of her late husband as she dies.
    • This seems to be the only redeeming quality of the Kosmokraters, who are actually a married couple who worry for each other when the elohim act against them.
  • Escape Until Friday has a kidnapper who wants to kill you. They once had a wife and daughter and clearly cared deeply for the latter.
  • Eternal Radiance: Eldareth, the leader of the Shadowborn criminal organization, is fond of his subordinates Kylia and Yvonne, which is why he sends them to look for fake artifacts while he enacts his plan to destroy the Shadowborn base.
  • Fallout:
  • Far Cry:
    • Pagan Min, the psychotic dictator of Kyrat in Far Cry 4, had his lover Ishwari and their daughter Lakshmana, both of whom he loves dearly and the deaths of whom he claims drove him to become what he is today (though he admits he probably would have ended up like that anyways). There's also Ajay, the main character, who is the son of Ishwari and whom Pagan wants to basically turn into a surrogate son. He even claims the torture Yuma is going to subject Ajay to in Durgesh Prison is "tough love" and needs to be done for his own good.
    • Joseph Seed, the Sinister Minister Big Bad of Far Cry 5 is, in spite of his psychotic behaviour and tendencies towards psychopathy, shown to genuinely love his siblings, and weep and swear gruesome vengeance whenever they are harmed by the player. He also has a bastard son called Ethan Seed who we meet in Far Cry: New Dawn, but Ethan's relationship with his father is strained due to Joseph refusing to name Ethan the heir to his kingdom of New Eden or give him one of the mystical empowering apples that the Captain uses with Joseph's permission to fight the Highwaymen. Joseph still loves his son in spite of Ethan betraying New Eden to the Highwaymen, though, and his death at the Captain's hands is what shocks Joseph into having a Heel Realization and pleading with the Captain to give him a Mercy Kill.
    • Ull, the chieftain of the Udam Cannibal Tribe in Far Cry Primal, is a gigantic brute of a man with a horrifically-scarred face and a wish to kill and eat Wenja "softbloods". However, he's also a father with a daughter and a baby, and he's desperately trying to keep his people safe from a disease called "skull fire" which is killing the Udam. Towards the end of the game, after being lethally injured by Takkar, Ull hears his baby crying, and staggers towards it in an attempt to reach his baby and kill it before Takkar does. When he realizes his daughter can see what he's doing, though, he can't go through with it, and instead asks Takkar to Take Care of the Kids. Takkar grants Ull's request and adopts his children into the Wenja tribe.
  • Some of the main antagonists of the Fatal Frame series never harm a protagonist due to said protagonist resembling someone that the respective antagonist fell in love with while still alive. This includes Kirie to Mafuyu in the first game and Ouse to Ren in the fifth. Played with regarding Kyouka (a.k.a. Brushing Woman) to Kei in the third game, however, in that while Kyouka loved Akito, she thought that he had abandoned her (not knowing he was murdered for trying to take her away), and seeing the "return" of her "lover" angers her into attacking him.
    Kyouka/Brushing Woman: You said you'd come back!
  • Part of the Affably Evil nature of Big Bad Vayne from Final Fantasy XII is that he and his twelve-year-old brother Larsa genuinely love each other.
  • Fire Emblem:
  • Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location reveals that Mr. Afton a.k.a the murderer has a daughter, whom he honestly cares for (given how he refused to let her see Circus Baby, knowing that he'd designed the animatronic as a secret child abduction/murder machine that would surely kill her). Sadly, she decided to visit Baby when he wasn't looking... Seems to be subverted in the game's custom night with his son, Michael Afton, though. From the way Michael tells it, his father sent him to deal with the homicidal ghosts possessing the animatronics... and it didn't go well for Mike. He might hold a grudge because Michael was indirectly responsible for the death of his younger brother, and William's youngest child.
  • God of War: This trope defines Kratos. The one positive trait this ultra-violent destroyer of worlds has is the genuine love he has for his family - which is what makes his unending rage even worse, as their deaths by the machinations of gods meant he stopped caring about anything but revenge, killing countless innocents for stress relief while unleashing natural disasters at the gods. It takes starting over with a new family for him to achieve character development (twice).
  • Halo:
    • Your Covenant foes may be trying to kill you (and all humans), but their chatter makes it clear that even the oft-vicious Brutes do often care about their comrades. It's even incorporated into gameplay with Hunter pairs; kill one, and its bond-brother will go on a rampage.
    • Jul 'Mdama, even before becoming the Didact's Hand, is a Sangheili supremacist who wants to kill all humans. But Halo: Glasslands and Halo: The Thursday War make it clear that he does love his family. His wife's death is actually a big part of the reason why he hates humans so much.
    • Tartarus, The Dragon of Halo 2, is an arrogant and domineering brute of a Brute who began his ascension to power by killing his own uncle, but Halo: Contact Harvest shows that he will risk himself to look out for his pack-mates.
  • Hero King Quest: Peacemaker Prologue: The Cerulean King is a genocidal warmonger, but he cares about his son and despises Spiderweb and Sanguine in particular for turning the prince into a zombie. Sanguine takes advantage of this by restoring his son's consciousness, causing the king to hesitate in his suicide attack.
  • Hitman: Blood Money: Richard Delahunt is a total scumbag who runs a child-prostitution ring, but he does have one redeeming quality in that he genuinely loves Alvaro D'Alvade. If you kill D'Alvade and let Delahunt live for a while, he's rendered completely inconsolable and mourns him for the rest of the mission. One of the easiest ways to pick off Delahunt is to kill D'Alvade while he's on the stage - Delahunt will panic and rush down the aisle to get to him, only to trip and leave himself open.
  • Hitman 3: Alexa Carlisle genuinely loves her family, for all that she's a major player in a global conspiracy. You can find proof while you're searching her manor that her brother, whom she murdered for the family fortune, was intending to give it to her anyway. If you show her this proof, the thought that she murdered her own brother for nothing is enough to make her throw herself off her balcony to her death.
  • Cindy from Kindergarten is an Alpha Bitch who goes through boyfriends like tissues and relentlessly bullies Lily due to her brother Billy dumping Cindy. However, she seems to genuinely care for her dog Biscuit, to the point where she'll go into a homocidal rage if she finds out that he's dead.
  • Knights of Ambrose:
    • Zamas is a genocidal Jerkass God, but he loves Helena and is saddened at her sacrifice. Unfortunately, this just causes him to shift the blame of her death onto humanity, even though she willingly sacrificed herself to stop him. In the ending of Finding Light, he revives Abbie because either she or Mari has a connection to Helena.
    • Mari and the Black Tower:
      • Although Morgoth went his separate ways from Keller after turning on humanity, Morgoth dies while thinking of Keller, showing that even in his corrupted state, he thought of Keller as a friend.
      • Although Vera exiled Mari from the nymph village, she still misses the latter. Unfortunately, Vera is corrupted by miasma and tries to convince Mari to live with her and the other nymphs in the Black Tower forever. She kills Mari in the endgame, but regrets it and has a Villainous Breakdown during her boss fight.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
    • Not only does Ganon love his mortal mothers Twinrova, but the Oracle games show Twinrova to be equally devoted to him. When their intended sacrifice for a resurrection rite gets rescued, they choose to sacrifice themselves instead to complete the rite. It... almost works.
    • The Redeads and Gibdos from both The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask seem to have at least some level of affection for one another. In both games they will mourn their slain allies, not even bothering to attack you, until the corpse of the slain undead fades away, and in Majora's Mask they surround the Music Box House wanting their "friend", actually a cursed human being, to join them. They're even capable of conversing with you if you wear the Gibdo's Mask.
  • Yukari from Liar Liar is Ax-Crazy and a Serial Killer, but loves her girlfriend Miho and her little sister Minami. When Miho kills Minami to save Yukari, Yukari's love for Miho doesn't stop her from killing her for killing Minami.
  • Loopmancer: Dr. Song Boyong, the game's Greater-Scope Villain who dominates the second half of the storyline, took over Tompson Technologies by hacking through their robot security, have Tompson's Board of Directors massacred, and holds Dragon City hostage. However, a Motive Rant from Dr. Song reveals he had a wife, a former Tompson researcher, who was killed in a cover-up after realizing Tompson's genetic experiments runs on Human Resources - Song's motives are driven by vengeance dedicated to his deceased spouse, and he mentions her several times in cutscenes.
  • Love & Pies: Despite her hatred for her rival Amelia, Edwina misses Amelia's mother, Freya. She used to play with her at the patio of Windmill Café as a kid, and Freya used to call her "Weeny" because they were best friends. After she fell out with Freya, Edwina used to babysit Amelia when she was a child, and Freya's aunt Esme still calls Edwina "Weeny", having known her for a long time. Esme also describes her as an "old softie".

    As much as Edwina wants Amelia's café to fail, she'd never hurt any of her family members, making her innocent of the sabotage on Esme's van, which crashed into the back of the café.
  • In Mass Effect Renegade Shepard can be played this way (though it's more Anti-Hero than evil). S/he can kill civilians and hostages because it makes his/her job easier, backstab his/her allies, execute enemies on the spot (often in rather painful ways) and be a jerk. But at the same time s/he can be shown to care deeply about one or more of his/her squadmates and beat the shit out of people trying to harm them. In Mass Effect 2, you can be playing as a colossal jerkass for most of the game, but when the Collectors capture your crew, immediately go on a Roaring Rampage of Rescue.
  • Medal of Honor: Underground has the radio song "Er Lässt mich Niemals Allein" ("Each Night He Comes Home to Me"), which is apparently sung by a German war widow.
  • Metal Gear: Revolver Ocelot may be one of the worst of the lot, but every single thing he does is out of love for Big Boss.
  • In Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Orc Captains have blood brothers who will come after you in revenge if you take down one of them. During the story mode, Bruz the Chopper is Shamed into inconsolable misery by Talion and his blood brothers ambush him some time afterwards, seeking to avenge Bruz.
  • Mortal Kombat: Shao Kahn is in the running for worst asshole in the series, but he has a soft spot for his late (later resurrected) wife Sindel. Several of his intro dialogues in 11 reveal that his sort-of-daughter Mileena has a place in his heart as well.
  • Mother 3: Long after you've beaten Miracle Fassad and left him in the sewers to rot, you'll find the house of the seventh Magypsy, whose sole inhabitant is a mouse. The mouse describes how the traitorous Magypsy Locria enjoyed doting on him, and how he had a signature "Nwehehe" laugh... in the end, we see that someone as completely awful as Fassad had someone who he loved.
  • Neverwinter Nights mostly averts this, as its villains are mostly the cackling Omnicidal Maniac sort, but the module-creating community does have some examples.
    • Alex in the Bastard of Kosigan series has definitely crossed the Moral Event Horizon, but her dialogue hints that she still loves the player.
    • Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer:
      • Akachi isn't technically a villain, but his love for the Red Woman and his brother do help bring him back to himself and end the curse that is killing your player.
      • Araman himself still loves his brother and has a tendency to not attack you when he really ought to.
  • Oriental Legend: The first stage has a Route Boss option where depending on the path you choose, you can fight either the demon Silver Horn or Silver Horn's father, a giant monstrosity who takes up the entire screen. If you chose the latter and kills him, a few scenes later you come across Silver Horn... too busy mourning his deceased father to fight you. You can't attack him either, you just move on to the next stage.
  • Overlord:
    • Overlord I has the title character gain a mistress partway through the game. Rose is prim and a bit condescending... although even later in the game, you can dump Rose for her sultry sister Violet. It turns out that both girls are the daughters of the former Overlord and the one you didn't pick will betray you when her father returns. As the sequel shows, the Overlord stayed loyal to Rose.
    • Overlord II stars the son of the previous Overlord, after said Overlord vanished at the end of Overlord: Raising Hell (while his mistress was pregnant). He has one childhood friend, Kelda, who in turn becomes his first mistress. Even in the stage of the game when both are children, Kelda is the only character who likes the Witch-Boy and doesn't treat him like the Enfant Terrible he is, instead trying to protect him from bullying while developing a crush on him.
  • Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous: One of the odder things the Commander discovers in Chapter 4 is that even demons who aren't on the path to ascension like your companion Arueshalae seem to be capable of something at least resembling love, though it involves lethally dangerous levels of Belligerent Sexual Tension.
    • Your recurring enemy the lilitu Minagho makes one last attempt to kill you. If you spare her life on the Azata Mythic Path, after her lover Chivarro also tries to kill you, she'll actually apologize if you tell her you let Minagho go and drop everything to go find her. Worth noting, by Chivarro's own admission, they started out repeatedly trying to kill each other, and still often do, even in bed.
    • Morevet, a succubus working in Chivarro's brothel, and Zerieks, a vavakia, apparently became attracted to one another after he hired her, and play a game together where she Honey Traps mortal visitors to the brothel into thinking he's stalking her so he can kill the mortal.
  • Persona 5 shows that while some people are rotten enough that the Phantom Thieves have to step in and steal their hearts, they have people they care about.
    • Played with in Madarame's case. While he takes in orphans in order to plagiarize their artistic works, Yusuke wonders if Madarame actually cared for him. At the end of Yusuke's Confidant, Yusuke hears from Kawanabe, an old friend of Madarame's, that many years ago, Madarame had called Kawanabe, desperate to find someone to treat a young Yusuke's fever (though it's also possible to interpret this as Pragmatic Villainy of not letting a potential asset die).
    • At the end of one Mementos request to deal with an abusive boss, the Treasure (the root of the person's distorted desires) turns out to be a magazine for amusement parks. Ryuji wonders if the man in question cared about his kids.
    • Hanae Oda is a Jerkass with a Hair-Trigger Temper who's a bad influence on her son Shinya, but despite being bitter about her plight as a single mother, she does care about her son. After her Shadow is defeated, you can get her to realize that her son matters most.
  • [PROTOTYPE]:
    • A Villain Protagonist version. Alex Mercer shows that he deeply cares for his sister Dana. Later it turns out that "Alex" is actually the virus using his body as a form, and the original Alex was in fact just a monster who was willing to sacrifice her along with the rest of New York out of spite. The care for Dana belongs entirely to Blacklight virus itself and he keeps saving her as one of this top priorities throughout the game.
    • In [PROTOTYPE 2], James Heller may or may not be counted as evil himself, given he is just as much of a massively destructive monster as Mercer was, but his driving motivations are revenge against Mercer and rescue of his daughter. He also recognizes familial bonds in his enemies - at one point he is about to kill Colonel Rooks but spares him when he finds out the man has a family he cares deeply about.
  • Radiant Arc: Taima is the Token Evil Teammate of the spirits, since she enjoys being under the Morian's control and unleashing thunder as she likes. However, she does care for Venilia and is angered that the party killed her.
  • The Big Bad of Radiant Historia. The biggest obstacle stopping Heiss from completing his "destroy the world" objective is the fact that he really, truly cares about Stocke, and a large part of his plan is an effort to save his life and train him to take over. Right up until the end, Heiss is unwilling to seriously try to kill him because he's still holding out hope that he might change his mind, and in the True Ending, he ultimately decides that if one of them has to die, it's going to be him, not his nephew.
  • Rave Heart: Lady Marselva is upset when Eryn has Chad imprisoned, though this is partially because doing so will cause her husband to suspect Count Estuuban's conspiracy. She's once again angered when Eryn has Ira and Gwen taken for experimentation, and when the party captures her, she regrets killing her husband and traumatizing her children.
  • Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption II:
    • Dutch appears to have never gotten over his lover Annabelle's death at the hands of the O'Driscoll gang. He also openly mourns for Hosea at one point and when he sees a dying Arthur, Dutch comes to the devastating realization that his own actions and blind trust in Micah ultimately destroyed his family and caused many deaths in the gang.
    • Bill and Javier don't kill John outright when he comes for them. Bill gives John a couple chances to leave without harm and Javier only shoots back at John when it's clear John wouldn't stop coming after him. Deep down, they both still care for their former friend.
    • Edgar Ross is revealed to have a wife and brother who demonstrated that, at least off the job, Ross has a soft side.
    • Catherine Braithwaite is a nasty piece of work but she genuinely loves her sons. When they are killed by the gang, she becomes hysterical with grief.
  • From the Resident Evil series:
    • William Birkin, creator of the G-Virus that instigates the events of Resident Evil 2, has a wife and daughter, both of whom he loves — until the circumstances of the game's events cause him to mutate into the Big Bad of the game and leave Sherry orphaned.
    • As evil as Alexia Ashford is in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica, she genuinely loves her brother Alfred and is pissed right off that Claire and Steve killed him. In Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, though, not so much.
    • Ada Wong, while decidedly less evil than the game’s actual villains is still a cruel, manipulative and amoral Femme Fatale who’s most definitely helped cause outbreaks by stealing viruses for third party employers. Beneath the Mask however Ada’s romantic feelings for Leon Kennedy to do appear to be genuine to some degree, even if she’s not above using him to further her own goals. Likely it’s a case of Because You Were Nice to Me after Leon took a bullet for her in RE2.
    • Big Bad Albert Wesker cared for two people, but it's not Excella his Number Two (who loves him) nor his son Jake's unnamed mother, it's actually his old colleague William Birkin and sister Alex Wesker. Despite betraying and murdering literally everyone else in his life, Wesker treated Birkin and Alex with legitimate respect and considered them friends. In Wesker's Report, Albert loses his usual cold stoicism and apathy to express distaste towards HUNK William's killer and continues to praises his old friend's genius which is very uncharacteristic for him. Meanwhile, he and Alex commissioned a painting of them together. Alex has nothing but positive things to say about Albert and took his death pretty hard.
    • Lady Alcina Dimitrescu from Resident Evil Village might be a insane mutant vampire lady, but she does genuinely love her three adoptive daughters Daniela, Bela and Cassandra as if they really are her own. After Ethan kills them, Dimitrescu assures Ethan in cold fury she will "devour" him whole, flesh and bone until there’s nothing left.
  • In Saints Row 2, the Boss looks like an amoral sociopath (and don't be fooled, s/he is), but God help you if you dare to touch any of the other Saints. You will be ended in some particularly gruesome ways. A Villain Protagonist to the hilt, yes, but one who cares about their people at least... Saints Row: The Third on the other hand leaves it up to the player to decide whether the Boss cares enough to prevent Saints from being killed or whether they're just a convenient excuse for the next rampage.
  • In Sengoku Basara 3 we have Otani Yoshitsugu, a leprous, Misanthrope Supreme psychic whose stated goal in life is to make every other human being just as miserable as he is. Yet, despite all this, he remains completely loyal and dedicated to Ishida Mitsunari, because Mitsunari is already miserable and very good at spreading said misery around. When Mori and Ieyasu make him realize that this means he has someone he actually cares for, Yoshitsugu suffers a Villainous Breakdown.
  • The Panda King from the Sly Cooper series has his daughter Jing-King, whose distress is the driving force of the third episode in Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. He even joins up with the Cooper Gang for her sake.
  • Seiji from Spirit Hunter: NG is a two-faced sadist who delights in the torment of others, but he does genuinely like the Kijima family and goes out of his way to help them however he can.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog has had two such characters who, coincidentally enough, such sides have been explored in the same game, Sonic Adventure 2:
    • Prof. Gerald Robotnik used to be a scientist of admirable proportions who, after his granddaughter Maria fell terminally ill, decided to build the Ultimate Life Form, which he succeeded in after he made Shadow the Hedgehog. The GUN military organization, however, soon grew suspicious of Gerald's work (considering he made a deal with Black Doom and the reveal of the prototype for the ultimate lifeform, the Biolizard, they were probably right do be such), and soon raided his laboratory in the ARK, killing his granddaughter Maria, who he loved dearly. It's this event what pushed Gerald to the Despair Event Horizon and hate humanity, and eventually decide to drop the ARK onto Earth to kill humanity in revenge, before he was arrested and executed.
    • Dr. Eggman is, without any doubt, a Card-Carrying Villain who always comes with one or another plan to Take Over the World, but the same game shows that he really admired the work of his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik. His belief in his grandfather's brilliant mind plummets after the reveal he wanted to destroy the Earth, but it is reconstructed after Shadow the Hedgehog reveals he did plan to kill the Black Arms, including the game's Greater-Scope Villain, Black Doom. Ironic, considering Gerald used to be good before becoming evil, whereas Eggman has always been evil and, as of recent games, has subverted Even Evil Has Standards. It's most likely given his narcissism that he's technically more impressed by the scientific breakthroughs and progress Gerald made, rather than any altruistic motivations he or Maria might have had for making the world a better place.
      Dr. Eggman: As a child, I looked up to my grandfather for all the great things he accomplished in his life. He was my hero, and I wanted to be a great scientist like him.
    • In Sonic Frontiers, Eggman creates Sage, an advanced AI, to help him with his latest evil plan. However, Eggman and Sage bond over the course of the game, and in time begin to view each other as father and daughter.
  • Star Shift Rebellion: In the ending, Kern swears to bring someone back no matter what, while looking solemnly at a humanoid figure displayed on a screen. He turns off the screen the moment his subordinates enter the room, which shows how personal this task is to him.
  • In Star Stealing Prince, Edgar and Lina are both nasty pieces of work. But when you defeat either of them in the Dual Boss fight, the one still standing becomes very distraught, showing that at the very least their love for each other was genuine.
  • Star Wars Legends:
    • Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II introduces Sarriss and her apprentice Yun as two of the Dark Jedi antagonists. After swearing loyalty to Jerec, she met Yun when she became "engaged" to his father, then seduced him, taught him her interpretation of the Force, and convinced him to kill his own father. It seems like their relationship couldn't be genuine because of her manipulations, as she takes him as her apprentice. Later, when Kyle is captured and Sarris is about to execute him, Yun (whose life at this point has already been spared once by main protagonist Kyle Katarn) draws his blade and blocks the weapon — which causes Sarris killing blow to accidentally cut through him instead. She becomes visibly upset and asks why he did it, to which he replies "He's a Jedi — he deserves a battle" before dying. Rather than going ahead and executing the weakened Katarn right then and there, she honors Yun's request. Though it results in her death, it seems her love for Yun was genuine enough to respect his dying wish.
    • It's thought that Darth Vader thinks of Starkiller from The Force Unleashed as a son. Thank god he didn't raise Luke.
    • Star Wars: The Old Republic:
      • Present among Dark Side characters who choose to partake in a Romance Sidequest, but it's especially notable for the Sith. Dark-sided Warriors are typically ruthless, bloodthirsty, intolerant of failure, and quite possibly cannibals; dark-sided Inquisitors are typically Magnificent Bastards and Social Darwinists who love electrocuting people and take sarcasm to Jerkass levels. This doesn't stop them from genuinely loving their chosen paramour.
      • It is noteworthy that love does not even have to be romantic. A Dark Side character can develop a strong bond with his/her companions, to the point of treating them more as his/her friends or even as a surrogate family than as subordinates. For example, a female Sith warrior may end up becoming a surrogate sister for Vette.
      • Brutally subverted in the expansions; in them, a Dark Side player character can kill his romantic partners, without showing the slightest sign of regret or sadness.
      • Darth Malgus is shown in supplementary materials to have once had a wife named Eleena Daru, whom he loved with all his heart and vice versa. When Eleena was held hostage, Malgus immediately surrendered to save her life. This incident leads to him forcing himself to remorsefully kill her, as the Sith code holds that all personal attachments must be severed and his enemies would use her against him.
      • The Dread Masters treat each other like family, especially Calphayus. In the Republic ending to their storyline, a clearly disoriented and confused Calphayus, free from the corruption of The Dark Side, mentions that he once had a wife. And he didn't fear her.
  • Super Mario Bros.:
  • Sword of Paladin:
    • Despite having a falling out with the Eagle pirates, Red Rose still loves Captain Eagle deep down. She steals Eldorado's power and gives it to Will so that the latter can live without her power, all to honor her promise to Eagle.
    • According to the dictionary, Storm Linus was close to Jeanne and was distraught to learn that the Royal Gem he was given was made from her soul. However, he still sides with the Armadias Empire and fights Alex's party.
  • Taiko no Tatsujin: Tellu from Dodon~! to Nidaime! is one of the Waru Robots that wreak havoc on the festival by order of their creator, Dr. Waruru. When defeated, however, she seems glad to see her estranged sister, Alumi, alive.
  • Tekken:
    • Heihachi is one of the most despicable and petulant antagonists in the series, thanks to a toxic combination of Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy and Might Makes Right, which he passed onto Kazuya. While he's nothing but an abusive old asswipe to his sons Kazuya, Lee etc and a Gruesome Grandparent to Jin and even imprisoned and starved his gentle father Jinpachi for no good reason at all, there are at least three exceptions to his dickery. Firstly there's Kazumi his wife, whom he did genuinely love, with Heihachi shedding tears when he was forced to kill her in self-defence after she revealed her true devil colors. Secondly there's Xiaoyu, who Heihachi treats like a favourite granddaughter after she impressed him with her skill in Tekken 3, to the extent that he indulges Xiaoyu's wants and spoils her. In stark contrast to how he treats his actual children (it's likely she reminds him of Kazumi). Thirdly there's Kuma, Heihachi’s pet bear whom he raised and trained since he was a cub with Kuma even being Heihachi's offical partner in Street Fighter X Tekken.
    • Kazuya like his father is extremely callous, sneering and sadistic and eventually becomes the Big Bad of the franchise. However it is shown he does genuinely love/care for/respect a few people, even if he's usually loath to shown any form of overt gentleness. Among his deceased family members, Kazuya did love his mother Kazumi and his grandfather Jinpachi (who was a Doting Grandparent to him), Kazumi's death at Heihachi's hands was his Start of Darkness and as an adult in Tekken 7 he simply refuses to believe Kazumi ordered Akuma to kill him. As for Jinpachi, his bond with his grandfather is used to make Kaz look even more evil as he after beating him in his Tekken 5 ending, he cradles his grandpa while reminiscing about the good times — before giving into the Devil Gene, killing Jinpachi and having a Evil Laugh. In other endings like Heihachi's however Kazyua plays this straighter with him crying out "Ojiisan" in real concern at seeing Jinpachi tied to a rocket alongside him and Jin. Another big exception is Jun, his baby mama*  who Kazuya in Tekken 8 gets flustered when asked about, has a framed photograpth of her on his desk and who he justifies caring about through his Might Makes Right philosophy claiming he admired her strength in battle, even though that's clearly not the whole truth. This soft spot for Jun was even on display as early as Tekken Tag Tourment 1 where in his Devil ending Kazuya finds Jun on the ground and and gently lifts her into a Bridal Carry before flying away. Finally there's Jin his son, as despite many brutal fights and attempts to kill/drain the Devil Gene out of him, Kazuya (does as 8 reveals) actually respect Jin as a Worthy Opponent with the Final Battle having him praise his son on continually getting up after being beaten down. Kazuya also refrains from finishing off Jin when he's seemly won, all of which is far more than Heihachi ever showed to him.
    • Nina at best is a Dark Action Girl and at worst a cold blooded sociopath, but she did appear to genuinely love her father Richard, who shaped her into a Professional Killer and his death shook her hard enough to make her the Emotionless Girl from then on. In Tekken 2 it was hinted Nina had a secret soft spot for her sister Anna, with her smiling at meeting Anna at their father's grave but that was abandoned after Nina Took a Level in Jerkass into full blown abusive older sister to Anna in later games. Then there's her son Steve, who Nina seemingly rejects as her child in Tekken 7 when he confronts her about it since Steve was born without her knowedge or consent, but her actions show Nina is still unwillingly to hurt or kill Steve (as explicitly seen in Tekken 4), which given her usual murderous proclivities, speaks volumes.
  • Twisted Metal:
    • Calypso is both a Literal and a Jerkass Genie that will be more than willing to screw up your wish if he can find a loop-hole For the Evulz. And usually, he does. But he has a real soft spot for his deceased daughter, Krista. This shows in the second game and Head-On, where his love is exploited by the police into setting her body up to be a bomb (which works) and in the latter she chews him out for causing death and destruction just to have her back and demands that he make it so the accident that killed her never happened. Unfortunately, he is unable to grant her that wish and sadly laments having to keep her happy until she recovers from the comatose state he puts her in. One of the few times where he wants to grant a contestant their wish and can't.
    • Dark Tooth from the first two games clearly cares for his son, Sweet Tooth, and in the second game specifically seeks revenge at the protagonist for killing him in the tournament.
  • This is an extremely important character trait of Flowey from Undertale — despite being incapable of truly feeling love due to his lack of a soul and thorough lack of morality, his mind is still obsessed with his adopted sibling who committed suicide in a failed Thanatos Gambit long before the game started, also killing him in the process (he Came Back Wrong). His eventual Heel–Face Turn requires him finally coming to terms with their death and finding peace.
    • The game also implies that the feeling may have been mutual, although this is far more debatable on both ends. It's left very open to interpretation if the Fallen Child/Chara was good, evil, or somewhere in between, and if their affection for their adopted brother was genuine, just a front to get him to cooperate, or a confused combination of the two, but the possibility for this trope to be in place is on the table regardless. They also may have cared about their parents to some extent, but this is even less definitive.
    • Flowey also still seems to care at least somewhat about his mother, Toriel. Some released dialogue from the currently-delayed alarm clock heavily implies that despite his sadistic tendencies, he has on multiple occasions left her glasses of water while she slept, as well as somehow brought her to bed after she had fallen asleep on the floor.
  • Until Dawn:
    • Depending on the player's choices, if Josh recognizes Wendigo!Hannah, the latter will take Josh away rather than kill him. Though what becomes of Josh isn't much better.
    • Hannah as a Wendigo will preserve Beth's head.
    • Mike is the only character that Wendigo!Hannah will not directly kill. There's a moment where Wendigo!Hannah pulls Mike underwater but quickly releases him unharmed offscreen, suggesting that Hannah still retains her feelings for him.
  • Chapter 8 of Valkyria Chronicles largely serves to humanize the imperials when the two leads are separated from The Squad. They attempt to nurse back to health an injured enemy Mook, who dies crying out for his mother, and later while thanking them for their mercy, his commander mentions the wife and daughter he has waiting back home.
  • Warcraft:
    • In Warcraft III and especially the addon The Frozen Throne, Illidan has long been over the fact that Tyrande ended up with his brother Malfurion. Even though he was imprisoned by Malfurion for 10,000 years, exiled from his homeland, and sentenced to death for his repeating dealings with demons, and their armies have often fought against each other, Malfurion more than once accepts Illidan's offers to ignore their own history when offered his help to save Tyrande. Though his title as a demon lord is The Betrayer, he never has any hidden motives in these situations.
    • In World of Warcraft, Sally Whitemane turned to extremism after losing her family to the Scourge. After she's defeated in the updated Scarlet Monastery instance, she calls out "Mograine...", the name of her comrade in arms and possible lover, who was killed in the Ashbringer comic series.
    • Arthas the Lich King of all people. When Arthas was young his horse Invincible was severely injured. Unable to heal him, Arthas killed him to end his pain. This event left a major impact on Arthas and inspired him to become a paladin. After losing his soul and killing his father, the first thing Arthas did was run to Invincible's grave and bring the horse back to life. When the Scourge attacked the Sunwell and Arthas did battle with Anasterian Sunstrider, Anasterian cut off Invincible's forelegs to dismount Arthas. Arthas was horrified at the sight of Invincible desperately trying to rise to his feet as it brought back memories of the wound that took Invincible from him the first time. This made Arthas go completely berserk. Even Sylvanas couldn't help but notice that it looked like that Arthas was human again for a brief moment. Even after becoming the Lich King he kept Invincible by his side. Make zero mistake about it, even after killing his own flesh and blood Arthas loved that horse. A straighter example is that he kept Tragic Keepsakes such as his old Training Sword, Silver Hand Badgenote , and Jaina's locket, as revealed from a special drop from him in 25-man Heroic.
    • Shannox, in the Firelands, gains a damage buff when you kill each of his hounds, and expresses his outrage toward the raid.
  • Warframe:
    • It's made clear that the Sentients Hunhow and Erra care deeply for their daugther/sister Natah AKA the Lotus. A big part of the reason why they hate the Tenno is that they believe that the Orokin brainwashed Natah into betraying them after she took the identity of the Lotus to try and manipulate the Tenno, only to apparently side with them and turn on her family. Only in The New War do they realize that Lotus chose to side with the Tenno because she viewed them as the children she could never havenote , which ultimately leads them to make peace with the Tenno.
    • Executor Ballas is one of the biggest Hate Sinks of the game, but he clearly loved the Archimedian Margulis and was saddened when he was forced to vote in favor of her execution. While later plot threads would imply that he didn't really love her, The New War ultimately confirms that his love was genuine, as when he has one of his own Narmer Veils placed on his face, he sees a vision of Margulis (actually Natah) and listens to her without hesitation, not even trying to fight back when Natah gives him a Kiss of Death.
  • Will You Snail? features Squid, a malevolent AI supercomputer who wants to Kill All Humans and acts as the game's main antagonist. However, he seems to genuinely care for the robots under his control, and expresses sadness when the player destroys them. He also truly loved his creator, Amelia.
  • Yes, Your Grace: A character who will have committed one of the game's worst acts by the end of its plot turns out to care deeply about both his parents, to the point that they are the two people he'd never hurt.

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