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Subjective
Magnificent Bastard
Now no more arguing over the picture.

"Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!"
-Patton

Everybody knows what a Chessmaster is like - cold, logical, methodical, sitting above the fray and pulling the strings. His minions and catspaws are everywhere, but he himself stays safe in his fortress, laying his plans with painstaking care. There are no people in his designs, only pieces to be moved about the board.

And then there's the Magnificent Bastard.

The Magnificent Bastard is what happens when you combine the Chessmaster, the Trickster, and the Manipulative Bastard (sometimes throwing in a bit of Large Ham). He is a bold and charismatic (though not always loveable) rogue who likes to work on his own. He may or may not have a power structure supporting him, but if he does have one, he isn't nearly as dependent on it as a traditional Chessmaster. His best weapons are his audacity, his charisma, and his self-reliance.

Instead of trying to control every variable, the Magnificent Bastard is a gambler who plays the odds and wins regularly. In the grand game, he always puts himself into play - he is his own most effective piece. It means being exposed to danger at times, but the benefits are considerable. When an unexpected opportunity appears, he's there to spot it and seize it. He can play other people's emotions like a piano. And when his plans go awry, he's ready to turn a setback into an advantage.

All this gives him an extraordinary ability to bounce back from defeat. Unlike most Chessmasters, he knows that the best-laid plans can fail, and when it happens, he never has a Villainous Breakdown. At most, he will allow himself a single moment of fury; more likely, he passes it off with a shrug and a laugh. After that, he sets about weaselling his way out of the consequences of his actions, and usually succeeds. His fondness for working on his own means that even when you deprive him of wealth and status, take away his dupes and catspaws, and foil his elaborate plot, he remains a force to be reckoned with.

If you think the Magnificent Bastard is a nice guy, don't. "Selfish, ruthless, and treacherous" are more apt descriptions, if only do to the Minimum Manipulation Quotient needed to become one. Still, audiences usually love him for his style, his wicked sense of humor, and his utter refusal to descend into Wangst. While he is sometimes the Big Bad, he's just as likely to be a Wild Card or The Starscream, and may well end up helping the heroes for his own reasons.

The term was first used by General Patton in reference to Erwin Rommel, in the film Patton. However, the Trope Namer is Lionel Luthor of Smallville, who was given this nickname by the Television Without Pity boards.

Compare and contrast Smug Snake. The equivalent for craziness rather than brilliant planning is being Crazy Awesome. Contrast the Complete Monster whose evil acts fill the audience with hate and revulsion. One of his fears is to suffer Spikeification and Villain Decay. Another is to go too far without plausibility and become a God Mode Sue or Villain Sue. Of course, remember, Tropes Are Not Good; Creating one of these by dumbing down the other characters will probably be detrimental.

Please confine discussion to the discussion page. Any personal anecdotes you may have should go in Troper Tales: Magnificent Bastard.

Examples

Anime and Manga
  • Shin from Fist of the North Star.
  • Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion is full of these, with titular character Lelouch being one of the best examples of a Magnificent Bastard that you could possibly get. He turns a weak regional rebellion into a massive world war against his father, all while under the guise of a fabulously theatrical masked persona. His brother Schneizel lacks the theatrics, but more than makes up for it in sheer competence, managing to wipe out all the progress that Lelouch made in over forty episodes in less than four minutes.
    • Considering both Charles and Marianne, it's In The Blood, after all.
  • Bleach's Aizen Sousuke. The man had the entire governing body of the Soul Society slaughtered and replaced by him and his henchman without anyone noticing, then manipulated everyone with ease in a great, long-running Xanatos Roulette to steal the Hōgyoku trapped in Rukia's soul, take over the Hollow world, create a new army of soul-eating supersoldiers, and then take over... pretty much everything else. He had backup plan upon backup plan, faked his own death, nearly stabbed to death his fiercely-loyal lieutenant (who remained fiercely loyal afterwards), and plans to obliterate Ichigo's hometown to fuel his ambitions. And oh yeah, when he turns evil he can slick his hair back sans gel or styling mousse.
    • How do we know that his hairstyle isn't just another one of Kyoka Suigetsu's illusions? Sit down and think about THAT.
    • Aaand he just elevated himself to Dangerously Genre Savvy at the start of the most recent arc. You know how the heroes gather together to storm the enemy's citadel, battle with some Mooks, survive against impossible odds with lots of Big Damn Heroes moments then finally reach the Big Bad, defeat him and rescue the princess? Aizen bet upon this happening. He kidnapped Orihime because the main characters would come for her,and from what he'd seen,so would half of Soul Society,because Ichigo's The Messiah. He then gets the hell out of Dodge,takes the bulk of his forces with him,and destroys the way back so all the captains and vice captains who came for the aforementioned Big Damn Heroes moments are sealed in Hueco Mundo,along with Ichigo himself,and his nakama. This is not a good thing for the defence of Ichigo's hometown.
  • Crocodile from One Piece. This guy manipulated an entire kingdom into a civil war between the king and his people while still presenting himself as a hero to the country. His entire slogan for his plan was, "The love for this kingdom will destroy it." He also added even more insult to the heroes about telling them about a bomb that would blow up the town square that was nearly impossible to stop because he had a backup in case his lackeys failed to set off the bomb. His plan was nearly flawless and would had succeeded if it was not for certain events.
  • Tsukihime: Kohaku. Just do the visual novel.
  • Proxy One in Ergo Proxy, who is even referenced to be "the winner at the end of the world" (with good reason). Not only is he the master manipulator of nearly everything that happens in the course of the series, but he wins.
  • Akio from Revolutionary Girl Utena. He seduces half the cast (including his sister Anthy), rigs the entire series of duels, creates a false timeline, convinces his own sister to stab Utena, and runs a private school in his spare time. And he gets away with all of that.
  • Medusa the Witch in Soul Eater. Manipulates her daughter into becoming a Dark Magical Girl...but subverts the usual Heel Face Turn so that she would be The Mole instead. Blackmails other witches into working for her by planting parts of her body in them that explode whenever she wills it. Matches the best Technician and Death Scythe in Shibusen in battle, resurrects the Cosmic Horror, gives The Corruption to the main heroine/hero duo, comes Back From The Dead by stealing the body of a small child, drives the best tech crazy, frames him for murder, drives out a good witch who wanted to defect, and convinces Shibusen to let her lead them in an assault against her Rival Older Sister.
  • Light Yagami of Death Note employs Memory Gambits, Batman Gambits and Xanatos Roulettes left, right and centre while eating potato chips and wielding his pen like a sword to Ominous Latin Chanting.
    • L's "Lind L. Taylor" ploy establishes him as a magnificent bastard early on in the series. He keeps it up.
  • Madara Uchiha in Naruto, notable for orchestrating pretty much every major event in the series mythos, even bending the show's resident Spotlight Stealer to his whim. And all this under a veil of Obfuscating Stupidity.
  • TREIZE. KHUSHRENADA.
  • Friend in 20th Century Boys is not only responsible for the deaths of thousands but he also manages to blame everything on the protagonists, while he goes on to be regarded as Japan's saviour and later President of the World. Oh, and his plan for world domination was inspired by a game the protagonists used to play when they were in sixth grade And the best part? He manages to pull off the latter half of his plan (becoming President of the World, that is) while stone cold dead. No, he doesn't fake it, or come back; he's dead and he stil takes over the world. He's just that prepared.
  • Depending on your mileage, Johan Liebert - the Monster. He pulls a several-years long Xanatos Roulette and outwits several governmental conspiracies, manipulates everyone he encounters as they were puppets on a string and then disposes of them without a second thought, subverts every Pet The Dog moment he's given in chilling ways, and never loses that Dissonant Serenity permanently affixed to his face. The problem is, the straight treatment the series gives his activities also makes him freaking scary to behold.
  • The most impressive and villainous character in Ashita No Nadja? A 13-year-old girl. Yes, a teen Bitch In Sheeps Clothing and Nadja's Forgotten Childhood Friend named Rosemary, who steals the spotlight brilliantly by kicking puppies so well and hard that even the local Smug Snake, who thought the kid would be an easy-to-manipulate puppet at first, in the end utterly fears her.
  • Xellos for The Slayers fits this bill quite nicely.
  • Manning from Orguss 02 is a perfect example of the trope. Perfect quote, when he's on a plane with two others that's under attack by an enemy Giant Robot:
    Manning: "When I give you the signal I want you to push that button. That's not so hard."
    Lean: "That's the hatch release. If I open the hatch, then what?"
    Manning: "I'll escape in the Decimator."
    Lean: "You mean the only person who's going to get out of this alive is you?"
    Manning: <Shrugs> "Beats everyone dying, doesn't it?"
  • Altena, the Big Bad of Noir. Dear God (pun intended), where do we even begin?

Comic Books
  • Lex Luthor, of The DCU. Since the eighties, he's been well entrenched in Magnificent Bastardry. The Diniverse version is especially Magnificent, almost becoming the President as a distraction from his true plan... Though, unknown to him, he had help with that part.
  • Adrian Veidt of Watchmen. Got quite a brain on him, he has.
  • Vril Dox II from L.E.G.I.O.N. (a modern-day "prequel" series to the Legion Of Super Heroes), a slick Insufferable Genius, orchestrates the total disruption of two planetary governments in pursuit of justice in just the first six issues. He's so cold, he practically tamed Lobo.
  • Doctor Doom is a perfect example in the Marvel Universe. When you can take on a god without flinching...
  • The Kingpin, also part of the Marvel Universe. This characterization has been less and less believable after the landmark Daredevil: Born Again storyline, where the Kingpin's ambition proves his undoing. He has a Villainous Breakdown, loses everything he'd built up, and ended up a pathetic wreck of a person. Practically everyone who wrote the character since acts as if that never happened, despite that being his definitive story.
    • Objection! The story ends with a monologue detailing how he plans to use his intellect and ambition to pull himself up from the ashes, much like Murdock did.
  • Thanos of Titan, another example from the Marvel Universe, and arguably the quintessential one, at least for the company's cosmic landscape. A premier mover and shaker in many important storylines (if not the main focus altogether), he has a knack for successfully manipulating both sides of the fence (sometimes both at once) time and time again, despite his true nature being common knowledge to everyone.
  • General Wade Eiling from Captain Atom. First, he framed Nathaniel Adam for drug smuggling, mutiny, and murder, when in fact Eiling had been secretly running the conspiracy responsible for those crimes. Then he talked Adam into participating as a guinea pig in the Silver Shield Project, which led to Adam's apparent death. Then Eiling married Angela Adam, Adam's "widow." Then, when Adam rematerialized eighteen years later, now possessing superpowers, Eiling was able to talk him into masquerading as a superhero to spy on the Justice League as part of the Captain Atom project, by telling him that this would give him the opportunity to clear his name, and even reconnect with his children, who of course thought of Eiling as their father. Even after Adam did prove his innocence, he never uncovered Eiling's involvement in the frame-up, and continued working for Eiling. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. What makes this especially impressive is that Adam is very smart, and is no slouch at political intrigue.
    • Since Eiling was created by Cary Bates and Greg Weisman, who also created Gargoyles and David Xanatos, this is probably not surprising. Eiling seems to have capped off his Bastardry by transferring his mind into an immortal, nigh-indestructible body in a later JLA story. Sadly, ever since then he's written almost exclusively as a dumb brute and little else. This is actually justified Character Derailment, as the one flaw in his plan was overlooking the fact that the body had a tiny brain.
  • From The DCU, Blue Beetle gives us the Reach, an entire race of Magnificent Bastards, whose plans are subtle, designed for them to avoid blame, and often take hundreds of years.
  • Philip Nolan Voigt, aka Overshadow, in Marvel's short-lived New Universe. He actually becomes President of the USA - and unlike most other comic-book villains who manage that feat, doesn't lose the job in the next issue...
  • Tao of WildCATs and Sleeper. Genetically engineered tactical supergenius turned nearly unstoppable crime lord, Tao wins fights just by opening his mouth - by the time he's done with you, you'll probably have signed up with him. (Failing that, you'll be mindwiped, in a coma, or have been shot by your own allies - going up against this guy just doesn't pay.)
  • Groucho Marx plays this role of Lord Julius in Cerebus. Incidentally, Dave Sim writes and draws a perfect Groucho.
  • Edwin Alva in the series Hardware. He catches a case of Redemption Equals Death, unfortunately.
  • Transmetropolitan. Spider Jerusalem. That is all.

Film
  • Keyser Söze from The Usual Suspects.
  • Inspector Lau Kin Ming, played by Andy Lau, in Infernal Affairs. A mole in the Hong Kong Police Department for ferocious Triad boss Hon Sam, he manipulates everyone around him in the HKPD AND Sam and his gang into operating in the way that best suits him and his search for the mole in Sam's gang. Then he has pretty much everyone who knows or may know about his mole status offed - including his superintendent, the protagonist, Sam, and another Triad mole in the HKPD. And the only collateral damage? He loses his oddball writer girlfriend. Oh, and he has some regrets, but nothing major. Until the third movie, anyway, where it is one of the factors contributing to Lau's complete and utter mental breakdown.
  • Senator / Chancellor / Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars. Sith-ness notwithstanding, he managed to shape the entire galaxy in his image, had manipulated every major event for the past two decades or so, and had kept everyone assured of his respectability and trustworthiness while doing so. As he declared himself ruler-for-life (and was applauded by the Senate for doing so) he could justifiably claim to have earned it. Not to mention that his start to political prominence was over a seemingly minor trade dispute. Which he, of course, started.
  • Tony Wendice in Dial M for Murder. After discovering his wife Margot is cheating on him, he creates a complex plan to kill her while arranging a perfect alibi for himself and mentally punishing the man who cuckolded him at the same time. When Margot proves more resilient than he expected and kills the man he blackmailed into doing the deed, he only needs a few minutes to come up with a new plan to make it appear that she commited the act in cold blood. Even during times when his scheme is in danger of being exposed, he is quickly able to come up with a new way to turn the situation to his advantage. And finally when against all odds his whole plot is exposed, he turns out to be one of the all time great Graceful Losers, pouring wine for everyone who had a hand in finding him out (except a cop who he notes is still on duty).
  • The Joker from The Dark Knight is an unorthodox example of this trope. There's just something about the supreme competence and control he exhibits throughout the entire film that can one forget (almost) that he's an unabashed dog rapist. Joker Crosses The Line Twice. Hell, he dances a jig up and down the line.
    • When you manage to convince a man that it's not actually your fault you killed his wife-to-be, rather the fault of those who were working to save the both of them, and that it really wasn't anything personal because you were just trying to teach Gotham a lesson in chaos; all while WEARING A NURSE'S OUTFIT, you're a Magnificent Bastard. The best example, however is when he goes through his elaborate plot to kill Dent, gets locked up in jail, but manages to have a bomb in the stomach of another prisoner, which he sets off. Of course, he had to be a part of all this to make it work.
      Want to see a magic trick? I'm going to make this pencil disappear! *WHAM* Ta-Daaaa! IT'S GONE!"
  • Darryl Revok of Scanners. Psychotic though he may be, he's just so awesome that it's all okay.
  • Leslie Vernon, from Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. He's an aspiring spree killer (in the vein of Jason Vorhees and Freddy Krueger, as the movie is a big deconstructor fleet of slasher films), who is chosen to be the subject of a documentary the main character, Taylor Gentry, is making. She eventually becomes great friends with Leslie, who turns out to be quite charismatic. Then, she is surprised when he actually does go through with the killings, his chosen victims trapped in a mansion that he pretreated to be lethal. She decides to help, but when she goes into the mansion, she realizes Leslie's real plan: her and her crew were also intended to be his victims, and they're playing right into his hands. Finally, she is the last victim left, and manages to kill him in exactly the way he said the final girl would. Unfortunately, he planned this the whole time, taking the preparations required to fake his own death...
  • Kuwabatake Sanjuro from Yojimbo. Not only does he play two rival gangs like fiddles, causing them both to collapse with little suspicion drawn to himself, he's able to turn his capture, which he didn't plan into his advantage.
  • Harry Lime from The Third Man. "Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man. Free of income tax - the only way you can save money nowadays." Did I mention that he's played by Orson Welles?
  • Bill "The Butcher" Cutting from Gangs Of New York has the hero at his mercy at one point in the movie, but instead of killing him decides to build him into a Worthy Opponent so they can have a Battle Royale With Cheese because having everyone living in terror of him is boring. Well, not quite. He lets the hero live because he considers him Not Worth Killing, who views being left alive by the Butcher as shameful. Which, in fact, may add to this magnificence. It helps that he's played with gusto by Daniel Day Lewis.
  • Hans Gruber from Die Hard holds a building hostage in order to trick the FBI into helping him steal huge sums of cash from it. That alone qualifies him. But when he's played with deliciously slimy charisma by Alan Rickman, well, Magnificent Bastardry ensues.
  • Santa in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

Literature
  • Colonel Sherburn from Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The dude is freaking incredible. He shoots an innocent man, for no reason other than that said man was drunk and annoying. And he does it in FULL VIEW OF THE PUBLIC.
  • Lord Vetinari, Patrician and supreme ruler of Ankh-Morpork from Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, is described as being such a Magnificent Bastard, he makes Machiavelli look like an amateur. He plots against everyone, plays people against each other, and he manipulates people into doing exactly what he wants, and always gets away with it. The only problem is he's usually on the protagonists' side. Or rather, they're on his.
  • Sauron, though much of his magnificent bastardy takes place before Lord of the Rings-see this essay. Sauron is a cunning manipulator who has plans going all over Middle Earth. When force fails he can sweet-talk and when sweet-talk fails he has force and when that fails he has schemes within schemes within schemes. He can manipulate even his enemies into serving his goals. He engineered the Fall of Numenor through manipulation of the Numenorean's desire for immortality and he was the one that was responsible for many of the Foul Things that inhabit Middle Earth. The Orcs were Morgoth's idea but he carried out the plan. And the Nazgul were his own idea. And so on. Basically, he was a Magnificent Bastard all the way till the fall of Numenor. Afterwards, he became the archetypal Evil Overlord.
    • He might have kept a few of his Magnificent Bastard traits even then. After all, he corrupted both Saruman and Denethor simply by preying on their base desires and fears in a plot to cripple the defense of Minas Tirith before the battle even began. It would have worked, too, had Gandalf (a Chess Master in his own right) not intervened.
  • Petyr Baelish of A Song Of Ice And Fire, also known as "Littlefinger." Even though his title has little standing, Lord Petyr is nonetheless one of the most powerful men in Westeros. He was so adept at finance that he managed to gain a seat as the Master of Coin on the king's council, and has replaced many officials with servants who are loyal to him. He was responsible for the assassination of the King's Hand, Jon Arryn. He easily duped Eddard Stark into believing he was an ally and was ultimately responsible for his execution. He murdered the only woman who seems to have loved him, Lysa Arryn after we learn the entire civil war was set in motion at Littlefingers behest (not that he likely planned for it to be so big, but still. And to demonstrate he tolerates no bastards of the less-magnificent variety, he took a hand in Joffrey's assassination, facilitating Margaery's marriage to a sane king at House Tyrell's request. Even Tyrion doubts whether he is a match for Littlefinger. His only weakness is a love he once held for Catelyn Stark, which seems to have transferred to an affection for her daughter, Sansa.
    • And let's not forget that, by the end of the fourth book, he Is the Regent Lord of the Vale, is Lord of Harrenhal/the Lannister's duly chosen new Lord of the Trident, and has set in motion events through marrying off Sansa to Robert Arryn's heir to put himself in a position of power with the North as well.
  • The villain of L.A. Confidential: Captain Dudley Smith. The audience knows from the prologue he's evil, but you don't realize exactly how evil until Exley, White, and Vincennes unravel how everything from Patchett's hooker ring to the Nite Owl killings to Mickey Cohen's mobsters, to the smut books, to even Preston Exley, Ray Dieterling, and the Loren Atherton case is connected to him. Either he's got the best luck in the world, or he's put together one of the biggest XanatosGambits ever.
    • In this editor's opinion he's the only one on this list who can match Johan in terms of ruthlessness and efficiency. The man is really freaking terrifying.
  • The Lies Of Locke Lamora, tons of them. The most notable of course include the Gray King, and the protagonist Anti Villain Locke Lamora himself, leader of the fittingly named "Gentlemen Bastards".
    • The owner of the high class gambling ring Sinspire at first seems to be the classic 'early story mark' in his ego and position as decadent nobility, serving to lead Locke Lamora into the main plot. He shows quite nicely how this isn't the case as the end of book however, when as part of the Downer Ending he totally outsmarts even Locke. He had already worked out that they were trying to screw him over and what they were after, allowing them to do his dirty work to earn his 'trust' while replacing the target paintings with fakes.
      • Capa Vencarlo Barsarvi of the first book deserves an honorable mention, despite the fact he is ultimately defeated by an even greater Magnificent Bastard, namely the Grey King. Barsavi was just a professor of Rhetoric for gods sake, moves to Camorr and in a few short years he had eliminated all the rival Capas, resulting in a total monopoly on the city's criminal enterprises with several thousand men and over a hundred gangs at his disposal. Not only that but through a shrewd alliance with the Duke's spymaster he promises not to go after the nobility and in exchange punishments are relaxed for his men and he physically rules several of the less desirable parts of the city. He kept this up for 20 years. Not a bad run.
      • Speaking of the Duke's spymaster, the Spider aka Dona Vorchenza deserves a mention as well, for using a pair of Locke's marks against him to manipulate him into being captured.
  • Bastard Operator From Hell. Over the course of hundreds of short stories, he has almost exclusively come out on top with all of his complex gambits, quickly turning every event in his favor. He can walk into a convention with no preparation and manipulate total strangers into giving him their money. He had a Wonderful Life sequence and instead of coming to a realization of how bad he is, the only thing he gets out of it was the password to a competitor's computer system. This is the man that could take over the world if he only cared about more than just making more money by doing less work.
  • Gentleman Johnnie Marcone from Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series. He's constantly putting himself in a position where it's absolutely necessary for people who hate him to cooperate with him, whether because he's the lesser of several evils or simply the only option. He has single-handedly brought all of Chicago's organized crime under his direct control and even managed to be the first normal human to sign on to the magical equivalent of the Geneva Convention known as the Unseelie Accords. The protagonist of the series says it all in his quote "Say what you want about Marcone, but he's got balls that drag the ground when he walks."
    • Another Dresden Files example: Lara Raith, who single-handedly engineers the crippling of the White King (her own father) just so she can assert herself as the power behind the throne, and then procceds to manipulate her step-brother, the series' protagonist, into massacring her enemies in the white court for her, callously sacrificing dozens of innocent women in the process.
  • Troy Phelan from John Grisham's novel The Testament. A rich businessman with over 11 billion dollars in assets as well as three ex-wives and six children he hates with a passion, he cooks up an ingenious plan to totally screw them when he dies. He first fools his heirs into thinking he signed a will that divided the money equally among them. Then, while they're not looking, he signs the real will. In it, he gives his entire fortune to an illegitimate daughter. He only gives enough money to his heirs to cover all of their debts up to the date of his death, orders his lawyer to keep the will from being publicly read for a month, and then commits suicide. The lawyer then realizes that thinking they're going to inherit a fortune, all of Phelan's heirs will go on a spending spree for the next month and incur even greater debts. Suffice to say, when the will was finally read, everybody realized how much of a Magnificent Bastard Troy Phelan really was. The icing on this cake? Shortly before committing suicide, he manipulates his family into getting a team of doctors to declare him mentally competent, knowing that they'll try to backpedal furiously when the real will is read.
  • Dracula in the eponymous novel by Bram Stoker; a soulless, eerily polite Manipulative Bastard whose nocturnal predations turn Victorian morality on its head, transforming demure and innocent young maidens into voluptuous, demonic temptresses right under the noses of their impotent menfolk, all while remaining mockingly out of reach. He plots and nearly executes a Xanatos Gambit conquest of England that is only derailed due to a Contrived Coincidence involving his first victim in England's connections. His massive effect on pop culture, almost singlehandedly inventing the modern image of the suave, aristocratic vampire, is largely derived from the personality created in Stoker's original novel - repulsively evil yet undeniably magnetic.
    • This carries over into film; Bela Lugosi's portrayal may seem hammy and silly now, but it put the thrilling fear of vampire seduction into 1930's audiences, and Christopher Lee did the same in the 1970s. Subsequent film adaptions have, of course, been hit-or-miss, sometimes Spikeifying or Flanderizing Dracula to the point of parody or unrecognisability. Nonetheless, the spirit of the original retains all the charm and unrepentent evil of an undiluted Bastard.
    • Castlevania's edition is a classic Bastard on several occasions, especially in Lament of Innocence.
  • Forgotten Realms, having more underground intrigues than open epic quests, has its share.
    • Jarlaxle Baenre (brother of Quenthel and Gromph, no less), founder and leader of the mercenary band Bregan D'aerthe, which he left in the hands of deputy (drow who will never depose him but powerful and resourceful enough to keep control) to become free adventurer. Living in society where hair style corresponds to position, he shaves his head to show he's not in system. Other drow of Menzoberranzan try to master the controlled chaos that is the City of the Spider Queen. Jarlaxle tries to add chaos, because he thrives in it. In last edition campaign set he's Chaotic Neutral, which is more accurate: he's not really malevolent but mercenary acting for fun and profit... or "just for the hell of it".
    • Elaith "The Serpent" Craulnober, appears in Forgotten Realms books of Elaine Cunningham and Ed Greenwood. Stylish, fearless, merciless and almost shameless crimelord of explosive temper. As multiclass Anti Villain, usually intervenes when something offends him or things can get worse. E.g. wrecks attempt to establish a guild of thiefs and assassins in his city "because it's not in his best interests" or saves hero to keep Status Quo (he prospers, why rock the boat) and as "enemy of my enemy".
    • Lauzoril Zulkir of Enchantment. Extremely charismatic, he was leader of Imperialist party even after demonstratively breaking Red Wizards' tradition. Later he tired of wars and confirmed he was really Affably Evil after all, even jumped into dangerous adventure to save stranger just because his daughter happened to show compassion to poor guy during scrying lesson. He made sort of separate peace with Witch Queen — looks like "he chose to do right thing", but he managed to do it after long underground war on her Harpers agents and even assassination attempt on her sister. She's the most dangerous wizard in his world and did not merely wrecked plans of Red Wizards, but has habit to kill them at sight. Looks not like typical Friendly Enemy. But they met and... parted as friends. He even dodged Villain Decay, despite being defeated in military campaigns.
  • Raistlin Majere from Dragonlance is definitely an example of this. His cunning plan? Go back in time, study under the most powerful dark wizard ever (also Magnificent in his own right), then kill him and steal the rest of his secrets, organize an army and attack one fortress in order to get close to another which contains a gate to the Abyss, manipulate a cleric of good into falling in love with him helping him open it, lure out the supreme goddess of darkness, kill her, and take her place. The only thing more insane is how close he came to succeeding. This is made more interesting by how many times Raistlin came close to failing; sure, he's a supreme Bastard, master manipulator, and ends up the series' most powerful dark wizard, but let's not forget that he started with absolutely nothing, and gambled everything with every step - this is a man so physically frail he coughs blood after casting even the most basic spells, and constantly wrestling with his own amorality, bitterness, and the shreds of actual love he felt for his brother and even Crysania. All of this only combines to make him more Magnificent; no wonder he's a Draco In Leather Pants to many fans of the books.
  • Nyarlathotep from HP Lovecraft's writings: Not only is he a cosmic horror, he's the only one of Lovecraft's pantheon that seems to take real interest in actions of humans, which is not a very good thing for humanity. Prime examples include his appearance in "Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath", where he gives a three-page-long speech about how he was never trying to kill the protagonist (his minions just misunderstood him) and, in fact, needs him to go get the Dreamland's gods back to their rightful place in Kadath. He then proceeds to give the protagonist a flying creature that would take him to the Sunset City where the gods now dwell and explicitly warns him from flying too high with it. However it turns out that the protagonist has no control over the beast and it is taking him to the court of the great daemon sultan Azathoth (the biggest Cosmic Horror there is). He barely escapes with his life.
    • "The Shadow from the Steeple", which technically isn't written by HPL but by Robert Bloch in response to a story written by HPL in response to a story written by Bloch, he posesses a medical doctor and turn hims into *gasp* a nuclear phycisist. He then helps mankind develop nuclear power (and bombs) from behind the scenes. Seems rather nice of him until you realise he only does it so we would have a weapon powerful enough to wipe ourselves from the face of the Earth. In a war he no doubt starts.
  • Lord Gro from from The Worm Ouroboros is a rare example of a tragic Magnificent Bastard. A charismatic, delightfully sophisticated serial traitor with balls of solid rock who affects every trait of glorious bastardry, his tragic flaw is an oddly chivalrous sense of fair play that compels him to always be on the losing side - and so every time he manages to turn the tide with his cunning (that's several times in the book) he has to switch sides. His consistent magnificence makes him easily the most popular character in the book.
  • Hannibal Lecter, before Badass Decay set in. (Or didn't; there's a reason why Hannibal and Hannibal Rising are commonly considered Dis Continuity.)
  • Randall Flagg/Walter o'Dim/Walter Padick from The Dark Tower is considered one of the greatest Magnificent Bastards in literature. In the very first book, he brings a man back to life in full view of a woman who has always wondered what happens after death. He then leaves her a message telling her that if she says "19" to the previously-dead man, he will tell her the secrets of death, adding repeatedly that it will drive her insane to know. He then cheerfully reminds her of the password several more times. She goes for it.
    • Made all the more evil and brilliant by the fact he He signs the note that will steal her sanity with a smiley face and " Have a nice day". Then he adds as a Post Script. "P.S. Did I mention the number is NINETEEN?"
  • Rupert of Hentzau from The Prisoner Of Zenda and its sequel is a textbook—nay, an entire course in Magnificent Bastard -ness. Starting out as The Dragon for the book's villain, Rupert is a womanising, treacherous, amoral, totally fearless young man who will kidnap your king, try to stab you in a public place, seduce or rape any young, pretty woman (not drawing a line at the future Queen or his own master's mistress), and do it all with the utmost good-natured charm, despite having caused his mother to die of grief. Also, the following line:
    ...the man Johann, whom I was compelled to...send back to Zenda, where, by the way, Rupert Hentzau had him soundly flogged for daring to smirch the morals of Zenda by staying out all night in the pursuits of love.
  • Steerpike from the Gormenghast trilogy.
  • Mr. Wednesday from American Gods. Early on in the story, the protagonist's wife died in a car accident she inadvertently caused by distracting the driver, which was later revealed to have been arranged by Mr. Wednesday so he could hire the protagonist for a dangerous job. This may seem impressive until you realize the thirty-something protagonist was born to be an integral part of Mr. Wednesday's Xanatos Roulette.
  • Marshal Roke Alva from Vera Kamsha's Chronicles of Eterna is a possible subversion of this trope. In the first pages of the first book, characters speak of him as of your garden-variety Magnificent Bastard. When Roke himself enters the action, he turns to be a lovable, good-hearted Magnificent Bastard. By the way, he's a favourite of the Russian Estrogen Brigade.
  • There are several in The Wayfarer Redemption. For starters WolfStar, who pretty much rigs destiny in favor of Axis. And in the second trilogy, it comes to light that the Star Dance itself is responsible for setting the playing millennia ago, with a stop on Earth that this troper found to be unnecessary Nightmare Fuel...
  • Edmond Dantès, also known as The Count Of Monte Cristo. It's hard to summarize his schemes, but from psychologically destabilizing his enemies, to ruining their finances by messing with the telegraph system, to his inhuman penchant for disguises that allow him to control the flow of information about his character, and the way he draws the admiration of all who meet him... There isn't a single run-on sentence long enough to encapsulate his magnificence. As for bastardry, he does manipulate a greedy wife into poisoning almost every single member of her family, including one Shoot The Dog moment outside the count's immediate control where she poisons her nine-year-old son.
  • Satan/Woland in The Master and Margarita. See also Noble Demon and Affably Evil.
  • Rebecca of Daphne duMaurier's Rebecca. She manipulates her husband into keeping quiet about some sort of trouble she's gotten into by promising to bring life into Manderley, his childhood home. She keeps him under her control with this promise for years and years while she goes off and has sex with several "friends in London", including her own cousin. In the meantime, the two of them keep up the charade that they are the perfect happy couple, and Rebecca makes fanatic friends of all the servants and townspeople, particularly Mrs. Danvers, who loved her because of her manipulativeness. When she discovers that she has a fatal cancer, she makes her husband believe that she is pregnant with another man's child, causing him to lose control, shoot her dead, and sink her body in her boat. And then, even after she's dead, she still manipulates the second Mrs. de Winter into thinking (more than she already did) that she is worthless and her husband doesn't love her, by way of mementos, Mrs. Danvers, and a string of misunderstandings. I have no idea why she isn't on this list. Wow.
  • Honor Harrington has the Mesa Alignment. It's implicated that they not only started the current war between Manticore and Haven, but that they caused the revolution in Haven. 'The first one 200 years ago.' All part of the plan feeding their true plans. Not only that, but the Audubon Ballroom, a terrorist organization that kills Mesan leaders, is completely compromised and only kills deadweight in the cover organizations that don't know the Alignment exists, despite being nominal heads of Mesa.
  • Milo Minderbender from Catch-22. Although a mere mess officer, he has connections all over the world and is - among other titles - mayor of an Italian city and imam of a Middle-Eastern country. Due to mastery of international import and export (including goods from Germany) and blatant pinching of various army supplies (he even leaves stylish notes!) he makes himself ludicrously rich, and becomes gradually even more of a capitalist wonder by turning his eye to private contracting with both the Allies and Axis. At the end of the novel he pulls off the amazing feat of bombing the regiment's own airfield for the Germans but easily avoids getting court-martialed due to his seemingly-unlimited funds. His only mistake is buying too much cotton from Egypt, but he takes care of that by convincing General Cathcart that the troops should be fine eating his excess cotton, provided they cover the cotton in chocolate sauce first.
  • Lawrence John Wargrave, aka U. N. Owen from And Then There Were None, full stop.
  • In Brandon Sanderson's first Mistborn book, he gives us a nice inversion with his main character Kelsier being a heroic, well-intentioned Magnificent Bastard.
    • Also, in his earlier stand-alone novel Elantris, the three main characters are each Magnificent Bastards: Hrathen scheming to convert the nobility of the nation of Arelon to his religion in order to avoid a holy crusade, Sarene working against him and foiling his plans as best she could—which was pretty damn well, this troper thinks, and Raoden using his princely skills to wrest control of the title city from three vicious gangs and rebuilding civilization there from scratch.

Live Action TV
  • The Master, in many of his incarnations, in Doctor Who.
    • For instance:
      • In the Delgado era, he was constantly tryng to take over the world, using untrustworthy allies.
      • In the Ainley era, he created a city for the sole purpose of trapping the Doctor, managed to foment a civil war among people who were convalescing, and nearly derailed the signing of the Magna Carta, among other schemes.
      • In the Simm era, he ran for and was elected Prime Minister. He took over the Earth, tortured the main protagonists, and was generally bastardly. This was undone in the end.
    • Also, Davros in the episode "Revelation of the Daleks". After escaping from a maximum security prison, he adopts an alias and becomes a hero to the galaxy by alleviating famine. How does he do it? He uses the bodies sent to a planet-sized cemetery complex as the main ingredient for an "artificial" foodstuff. When the Doctor asks if he's actually told the general public about this Davros says no, because "That would have created what I believe is termed 'consumer resistance'." Oh, and while he's doing all this He's using other bodies from the complex to create (yet another) new race of Daleks.
      • Come to that, he was pretty bastardly in "Genesis of the Daleks" as well. When the Doctor convinced the Kaled government to investigate his research programs, he simply gave the Thals, his own people's arch-enemies, the information they needed to annihilate the Kaleds. Then he sent the Daleks to wipe out the Thals. Meanwhile, he carries out a purge of any surviving Kaleds whose conscience might hinder future development of the Daleks.
    • Ramón Salamander in The Enemy of the World. A public benefactor for his own ends, he was consolidating power by engineering tectonic disasters. He did so by herding some people into a giant fallout shelter under the pretext of avoiding a war, and telling them the survivors were so warped it would be a mercy to kill them. Also, his supposed arch-nemesis was actually The Dragon (and The Starscream). When his plans went aft a-gley, he used his resemblance to the Doctor to get into the TARDIS (His cover did not last, of course).
    • Li H'sen Chang from The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Onstage, he was a star illusionist and the most popular act (albeit with some unfortunate facets to his act). Offstage, however, he was The Dragon for a fifty-first century mass murderer, very skilled in hypnosis, and quite possibly Jack the Ripper.
    • Cessair of Diplos, from The Stones of Blood. She absconded with part of a Cosmic Keystone and three silicon-based creatures, which she used as attack "dogs". With the ship hauling her to prison stuck in hyperspace by Earth, she passed herself off as a deity among the locals. For ages they fed her Ogri (with animal blood once human sacrifice was abolished), and she bought up the land her shrine was on, through the ages. Oh, and she may have been an agent of the Black Guardian.
    • The Dalek Emperor in Parting of the Ways. After manipulating the human race for centuries, he grew an army of Daleks by transmatting and harvesting the losers of many game shows of doom.
    • The Brickyard Knacker's Yard Valeyard from Trial of a Time Lord. Of course, any bastard siphoned off of the Doctor while the latter was regenerating would HAVE to be magnificent, and the Valeyard almost succeeds in getting the Doctor executed, all the while plotting to wipe out the High Council. In the ensuing Thirty Xanatos Pileup, his plan literally blows up in his face, but he survived and become Keeper of the Matrix. And even the Master was afraid of him.
  • Lionel Luthor from Smallville.
  • Jack from Tru Calling. His Bastardry comes from his mission: to keep the protagonist from saving the lives of the dead people who ask her to do so. His Magnificence comes in the way that he does it. Where Tru tends towards attacking the problem at its source, Jack thinks sideways, poisoning people against Tru before she even shows up. He also tends towards taunting her with little notes and snide commentary. He managed to infiltrate her inner circle with a mole, thus allowing himself to garner all manner of info on her without her knowledge. By the end of the series, he literally has 3 people connected to Tru and her gang that they are entirely unaware of. Imagine the Bolivian Army Ending when the good guys don't even know the army is there.
  • Ebony in The Tribe. For most of the show's run, she was manipulating half the other characters into turning against each other while she managed to be elected City Leader.
  • Heroes has several of these. In season one there's HRG, smooth and calculating enough to trick even his MIB employers, although his eventual Heel Face Turn puts an end to his Bastardry. Later, we get introduced to another, Mr. Linderman, the Affably Evil mastermind behind everything. Then there's season two...
    • Even after HRG Heel Face Turn he's capable of being a Magnificent Bastard when he threatens his former teacher's family in order to get the information he wants to help keep his family safe
  • Livia in the BBC adaptation of Robert Graves' I Claudius. She spent years brilliantly and subtly manipulating everyone in the highest level of the Roman Empire, just to get her son Tiberius chosen as Emperor. And that's just a part of what she did.
  • Benjamin Linus from Lost ascended to this status during Seasons Three and Four.
  • Catherine Packard Martell in Twin Peaks. It's not just everyone who can fake their own death in a mill fire, come back to town in drag to foil the plans of everyone looking to profit off the land, and then plot with their Not Quite Dead brother to seek revenge on his treacherous wife.
  • Alfred Bester on Babylon 5 combines ruthless scheming with an infuriating charisma that drives the heroes crazy even as they are forced to respect his skill. Speaking of Babylon 5: Londo Mollari.
    • Londo's not so magnificent a bastard. He tried to Resuscitate The Dog during his Start Of Darkness, and Garibaldi (his only friend on the station) even "feels sorry for him" for getting stuck in a position where he has no choice but to be a bastard. Nobody feels sorry for a Magnificent Bastard!
  • Damages featured a brutal winners-takes-all war fought between the magnificent bastard Arthur Frobisher and the magnificent bitch Patricia ''Patty" Hewes.
  • Francis Urquhart in House Of Cards. He plots, schemes, manipulates and backstabs his way up the political chain in the hopes of becoming Prime Minister; remaining above suspicion among all of his colleagues. He does it with class, skill and style, all the while giving conspiratorial No Fourth Wall asides to the audiences, explaining his thoughts on his opponents and next steps. He commits terrible deeds, but the audience has to forgive him, because his charm and panache are too overwhelming for him to be hated.
  • Richard Cross in Murder One. A fabulously rich developer with a love of fine wine and Renaissance art, who has a marvellous public image through his various donations to charities. He also helps out South American drug lords just for the hell of it, and after one of these affiliations goes very, very wrong he spends the entire first season wildly improvising to keep himself and his associates in the clear, all while appearing completely unruffled and dangling his involvement in the faces of the show's heroes. It also doesn't hurt that he's played by the indescribably charismatic Stanley Tucci.
  • Holtz from Angel falls under this, mostly for his sheer efficiency. Jasmine spent millenia with godlike power manipulating events to come to earth, lasted less than a week, and died at the hands of her most loyal servant. Wolfram and Hart spent five seasons with nigh-limitless resources trying to corrupt Angel and all they accomplished in the end was letting him know who to kill. Meanwhile Holtz, had no powers whatsoever, was out of his own time and had no allies but those he created for himself. And in half a season he managed to convince one of Angel's closest friends to kidnap Angel's son, then escaped into a hell dimension with him, raising him to be Angel's worst enemy. Then his assisted suicide actually made things worse between them. And he actually managed to remain sympathetic throughout this.
    Angel: You took my son!
    Holtz: I kept your son alive. You murdered mine.
    • That last part is sujective. I would have been quite happy for Angel to do the sorts of things Angelus did to people to him. In addition a few of the keys to making Holtz's plan work were things Sahjahn and Jasmine had been setting up in the past.
  • The Devil in Reaper not only arranges for Sam to get an apartment next to a pair of rebel demons whose plan to destroy him would actually have worked, and manipulates Sam into infiltrating the rebellion with a new (doomed) plan to kill him, he also signs Sam's lease with his name and sends him clues as to what is going on that Sam, Sock and Ben can only work out moments after it is too late to do anything about it. Then repeats this plan with the few survivors of the rebellion, and is still witty, charming and diabolically affable. Ray Wise's portrayal is just so good that fans now think he may actually be The Devil.
    • How about another Devil. The Devil from Brimstone. Also happens to be another Magnificent Bastard played by Jon Glover.
  • Ryan O'Reilly from Oz controls the prison's drug trade, has all this rivals killed by other people, starts gang wars between the ethnic clans and is one of the few characters to survive the show's entire run, and never has anyone other than his mentally retarded brother for muscle. As he replies when one character asks him how he became a leader of the prison riot despite his lack of a gang: "I'm like the Lord of the ***ing Dance. I've got moves."
  • The title of Super Sentai's only Magnificent Bastard goes to Dr. Mikoto Nakadai of Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger, an Insufferable Genius who takes on the mantle of AbareKiller, the Evil Counterpart of the Abaranger. Within five seconds of his introduction, he captures the Monster Of The Week and turns the poor thing into his personal maid, complete with apron. He sets up a series of Deadly Games for the heroes just to amuse himself and demonstrate that Humans Are Bastards to the Wide Eyed Idealist heroes. He seizes control of three of their (sentient) zords via More Than Mind Control. He decides to take over the villa