Big Bad - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): Big Bad Evil Guy; The Big Bad

Everything that has transpired in this trope has done so according to my design.

I've learned that, in every story, there is a big, bad something. An evil force that, no matter the size, corrupts the world of the story, and tries its best to destroy the hero. A wolf, a witch, a giant, a dragon, a knight... or an idea, a desire, a temptation... or even a book.

— Lullaby

A Big Bad is a jeopardy, usually a character with evil designs (though it may also be a situation, such as a comet heading towards the Earth), that is behind all of the other bad happenings. The Big Bad can (and often does) exert his effect across a number of episodes, and even an entire season.

Note that Big Bad is not a catch-all trope for the biggest and ugliest villain of any given story. The Bad Ass leader of the outlaw gang that the heroes face once or twice is not the Big Bad. The railroad tycoon who turns out to be using the gang as muscle is the Big Bad. In general if there is a constant Man Behind The Man story going on in order to reveal the big bad, then whoever is behind it all is the Big Bad, not every major villain in the lead-up. At other times if a new enemy shows up to replace the previous big bad, then they are the big bads of their individual storyline.

The Big Bad may be confronted frequently, but is too powerful to finish off until the last episode of the sequence. The Big Bad may work through Evil Minions and will almost certainly have The Dragon protecting him, to keep interest up and provide something for the good guys to defeat. When you look at a season-long story or a major Story Arc and you can identify that one villain as being the biggest and baddest villain, that is the Big Bad.

The term "Big Bad" was popularized in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It was characteristic of Buffy's Big Bads for their identity or nature, or even the fact that they are the Big Bad at all, to remain unclear for considerable time. Occasionally characters would even refer to themselves as "the Big Bad", whether or not they were.

The Big Bad is also an integral part of the Five Bad Band dynamic. The role remains largely the same, but it should be noted that they are the Big Bad of that particular organization. They are not just the leader of a Quirky Miniboss Squad, but is a set group to counter the roles in the heroes' Five Man Band. Whether or not they turn out to be the Big Bad of the entire work of fiction is not set in stone (although more often than not, they will be).

If a show has a series of Big Bad jeopardies, they can function like a series of Monster Of The Week that take more than a week to finish off. If there is a Legion Of Doom you can expect the Big Bad to be involved somehow. They're probably sorted by power, with the strongest for last, following the Sorting Algorithm Of Evil.

Evil Overlord, Diabolical Mastermind, The Chessmaster, Arch Enemy, The Man Behind The Man, and often Manipulative Bastard are specific types of Big Bad. If he's a Magnificent Bastard, Complete Monster, or Hero Killer, the good guys are in big trouble. The heroic counterpart of this character is the Big Good, who will very often be the focus of this character's attention over The Hero at the beginning of a series.

See also Big Bad Diumvirate for two (or more) Big Bads working together.

Note that the Big Bad of a story is not always the Ultimate Evil. Perhaps an evil presence along the lines of an Eldritch Abomination overshadows the work's setting, but is mainly divorced from the story's events. The Big Bad is distinct from the Ultimate Evil in that it is the main obstacle that the hero must contend with on the weay to accomplishing his/her goal.