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Aristocrats Are Evil
alt title(s): Evil Aristocracy
Ruth: All baronets are bad; but was he worse than other baronets?
— Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore

A lot of tropes have origins way back when media was still forming; this is one of them.

It might have been an early way to appeal to the masses, or just due to the way the upper classes tended to look down on the general public. But it was then and is now really popular to cast aristocrats as villains. A variety of Meaningful Titles - people with feudal titles are very commonly evil. Popular titles are Count (for the Dracula connection, so pronounced that the few good counts there are are all Dracula parodies, and because in Britain, they're guaranteed to be foreign, since the equivalent local rank is "Earl"), and Baron — two titles which are rarely seen on a good guy. And though it doesn't show up a great deal, you should break out in a cold sweat when you meet a Viscount. Unless it's Viscount Horatio Nelson.

One major exception: Dukes are usually relatively nice. This may be due to the fact the title was awarded to those who rose to aristocracy as war leaders. Thus, the Duke has a "grass roots" feel to it, and a Badass quality; as well, much like The Good Captain, military titles are generally for good guys. As well, a Duke was relatively high in the aristocratic hierarchy, and as such wasn't likely to be walking around, oppressing you personally. Dukes tend to be on the side of the Good Guys, although they can often be portrayed as stubborn and inflexible, or sometimes overbearing and pompous. They generally mean well, though. Dukes (and especially Grand Dukes) can be evil if the Hero is a Royal. Often a Duke is scheming to take over the throne himself.

Other titles generally have a more neutral feel to them - Earls tend to be good but quite elderly and senile, while it is rare to see a Baronet or Marquess in anything other than a particularly faithful historical adaptation. Queens/Kings may be either good or evil. And, of course, Everything's Better With Princesses.

The title 'Lord' is somewhat problematic as strictly speaking any British or Irish Peer (other than a Duke or Duchess) would be addressed as such. For instance a character named 'Lord Bloggs', might be the Earl of Bloggs, or the Marquess of Bloggs or so on. The title 'Lord -' is also a favorite of a certain type of supernatural villain (Lords Vader and Voldemort, most famously), but are really a separate trope - normally not real aristocrats, and normally not powerful simply because of their titles.

Several of that kind of aristocrats together form a Deadly Decadent Court. And don't even get started on Emperors...

May be willing to be polite and even just with people of their own rank. Moral Myopia, however, often limits it to fellow aristocrats. Commoners are just out of luck — especially servants.

See also The Baroness. Young aristocrats may fall under Royal Brats. For the modern version of this trope, see Corrupt Corporate Executive.

For evil (and other) emperors, look at The Emperor.

Kings
  • Bowser from Mario.
    • The series had other such characters, some more important than others: King Goomba/Gomboss, King Caliente, etc.
  • The Queen of Hearts from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - As monarchs go, a foul-tempered person (well, playing card) who is quick to anger and flies off in a blind fury at the slightest perceived offense. Fond of dropping death sentences left and right, and playing croquet with live hedgehogs and live flamingoes. Famous quote: Off with their heads!
    • Her husband the King of Hearts apparently secretly pardons most people sentenced to death as soon as the Queen is out of earshot.
    • The Red Queen from the sequel Through the Looking Glass however is not evil, merely amiably insane.
  • Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland, or at least her Alternate History persona in the second Blackadder series, was also very fond of ordering people's execution at the slightest whim.
  • The Queen (no name given, but reminiscent of a young Queen Victoria of England) in Martha Well's novel The Death of the Necromancer - not evil. In the novel she is still a young woman of 24, a fair monarch, although with a hint of steel in her voice.
  • The Evil Queen (and Wicked Stepmother) from Snow White.

Dukes
  • Duke Leto Atreides from Dune, as mentioned above - Practically The Messiah.
    • Leto I is a good leader and considerate towards his people, but he is not The Messiah, his son, Duke Paul Atreides (later Emperor Mu'ad Dib), is.
  • Samuel Vimes, Duke of Ankh and Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch in Discworld. - Good. Of course, he started out common as dirt, and dislikes his title, which tends to temper any villainous connotations aristocracy might have. Actually, Vimes is an odd case, since while he was of common birth, it's later revealed that one of his ancestors (Suffer-not-Injustice "Stoneface" Vimes) was a heroic aristocrat who executed the last king of Ankh-Morpork who had been a definite example of The Caligula. Unfortunately, the earlier Vimes ended up being stabbed in the back by the other nobles and was executed, buried in five graves, and the family stripped of their title and coat-of-arms.
    • On the other hand, Discworld also has Duke Felmet, a Macbeth parody who's generally mean and nasty (though not half as much as his wife).
    • The original Duke of Sto Helit (He preceded Mort in the book Mort).
      • Susan technically inherited his title, but never uses it.
  • Duke Orsino, from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
    • He's called both "Count" and "Duke" in the play.
    Sea Captain: A Noble duke, in nature as in name
    Compare:
    Antonio: Once in a sea fight, 'gainst the count, his galleys, / I did some service.
  • Duke Regal Bryant from Tales Of Symphonia - The Atoner, and a rare example of an incorrupt corporate executive.
  • In the Westmark trilogy, the king of Regia's Evil Chancellor is a duke.
  • In Final Fantasy XI's latest expansion, Wings of the Goddess, Valaineral R. Daveilles is an example of a loyal, noble Duke, even though he had a chance to snap up the San d'Orian throne. Of course, Archduke Kam'lanaut ends up being a Nietzsche Wannabe villain who wants to kill off all of the playable races in the game for his vision of Paradise. Well, maybe that's because being an Archduke makes you evil. Then again, he should technically be a Grand Duke. Whatever.
  • Dukemon from Digimon (Gallantmon in the dub), an "exalted knight" type Digimon. Definitely good.
  • Duchness Raven Waves from Lady Lovely Locks is pure evil.
  • Duke Nukem is nominally the good guy, though you still probably wouldn't want to meet him.
  • Grand Duke Nagi from Mai-Otome? Oh, so evil. Just look at that hair!
  • Duke Bardorba from Vagrant Story. Probably an evil cultist, but he doesn't live for very long.
    • It is implied that he and his son, Sydney, orchestrated the destruction of Lea Monde to permanently drive the power of the Dark from the world, and thus keep it from the Cardinal's power-hungry hands —even if it meant Sydney's death and the sacrifice of everyone in the Cult of Müllenkamp. Which would make him somewhat of a Neutral Good Magnificent Bastard.
  • Duke Niccolo di Chimici in the Stravaganza series is the main villain of the first three books. On the other hand, the Duchessa of Bellezza is good.
  • Duke Isgrimnur Isbeornson from Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is on the good guys' side from the very start, made interesting since he's a hereditary Duke, inheriting the title from his father Isbeorn. He is also the resident Big Guy of whatever group he was in.
    • By contrast, Duke Skali of Kaldskrike is pure villain.
  • The Duke is the main antagonist in Moulin Rouge.
  • Duke Roger, the villain of the Song of the Lioness quartet. Magnificent Bastard extraordinaire, master of the Xanatos Gambit, a Villain With Good Publicity who later attempts the Civillain routine (succeeding with a surprising number of people, outside the heroes, natch), practitioner of Black Magic (not to mention a nasty form of Hermetic Magic that saps Life Energy), and in the finale of the series attempts to usurp celestial/earth energy, as well as stealing magic from other people, all to power his world takeover and/or destruction of all life—which in turn is a big Take That to the gods for 'all being against him'. Receives a suitably Karmic Death.
  • Duke Farthington Roenall of Baldurs Gate II. To be fair, his trafficking in slaves, smuggling gems, and hiring pirates don't make him any worse than most nobles in Amn, but orchestrating an assault on the De'Arnise Keep to kill Lord De'Arnise, then attempting to force De'Arnise's only daughter into a marriage with Roenall's son so the Roenalls can claim the De'Arnise wealth and lands does push it a little.
  • Duke what's-his-face from the Magic Circle series - most definitely GOOD. My god, he's practically a saint, and much like a mentor towards his niece, as they're the last of the family... at least, last of the family that actually matters, miss what's-her-face in The Empress' Will.
  • The three Dukes of Ivalice in Final Fantasy Tactics, of which Dukes Gerrith Barrington of Riovanes and Bestrald Larg of Gallionne are downright evil, and the remaining Duke Druksmald Goltanna is only a notch or two above them. The war of succession between Duke Larg and Duke Goltanna for the throne of Ivalice is known as the War of the Lions, serves as the backdrop for much of the game, and creates enough bloodshed to precipitate the Big Bad's true plot.
  • The Duke in James Thurber's The 13 Clocks has killed time, so that his thirteen clocks do not move, and sets Impossible Tasks to the princes who want to marry his nieces. Finally he reveals that she is not his real niece but a princess he kidnapped and intends to marry; he let the princes try their luck because he was under a curse.
  • Richard III was the Duke of Gloucester before becoming king. Whether his evilness was Truth In Television or a product of Shakespeare is left for the reader to decide.
  • Duke Igthorn is an evil duke.
  • Another evil example: in the Battle Tech Universe, both Grand Duke George Hasek-Davion and Duke Frederick Steiner each schemed in the 3020s to take over their nation's thrones.
  • Duke Venalitor from the Warhammer 40000 Grey Knights novel Hammer of Daemons is definitely evil. Being a follower of Khorne, it came with the territory.
  • Thin White Duke—good guy with a bad habit
  • The Duchess from the Torchwood radio play Golden Age. Whimsical and old-fashioned, so much so that she was ready to kill thousands to keep things the way they were in 1924, having taken the end of the British empire and India's independence very, very badly.

Marquess (Marquis)
  • The Marquis from A Tale of Two Cities is a classic example of the evil marquis. His carriage runs a child down and not only does he give the grieving family a single coin as compensation, but also is more worried about the health of the horse who trampled him than the boy himself.
  • Marquis de Carabas from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. A good guy, and a scheming Magnificent Bastard.
    • Technically, he's not even really an aristocrat, as he is said to have taken his title from "a lie in a fairy tale"..
    • He's also only technically a good guy. More on the 'helping the heroes because there's a lot in it for him' side.
      • He's described by Richard at one point as a "Psychotic Grand Vizier." That's not usually the kind of thing you say about good characters.
      • He's still a man of his word, no matter what. You may have to be careful about his wordings, but if he swears loyalty, he will keep it to the death. And beyond.
  • The arrogant Marquess of Montrose in Rob Roy; opposed by the relatively-good Duke of Argyll.
  • Final Fantasy Tactics has Marquis Elmdor, who initially looks good but turns out to be very, very evil.
  • Final Fantasy XII gives us Marquis Ondore... while practically nobody in the game can be termed definitively good or evil (Ondore's rebellion is painted in both lights), he's largely a sympathetic character, and even acts as the narrator at various times. Interestingly his title is pronounced as spelled in English rather than the more common French pronunciation.
  • The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett makes references to a "Marquis of Fantailler", who got into a lot of fights (mostly by way of being called the Marquis of Fantailler), and felt this entitled him to write a book. This book was called "The Noble Art of Fisticuffs" and was mostly a list of places where people weren't allowed to hit him. Whether he was particularly good or bad is never brought up, but it's implied that he was kind of a retard because, as Vimes notes when Carrot tries to fight according to Marquis of Fantailler rules against an opponent who would have to back off a bit to qualify as dangerous, it only works when both people think so.
    • This is of course a parody of the real life 9th Marquess of Queensberry, whose name was given to rules for boxing codified in the 1860's, i.e. the Marquess of Queensberry rules. The real life Marquess was the father of Lord Alfred Douglas ('Bosie'), outspoken (or reckless, considering the times and who his father was) lover of Oscar Wilde. Angered by his son's relationship with Wilde, he was central to the trial and prison sentence which led to Wilde's early death. If you're a fan of Oscar Wilde, it makes this Marquess pretty evil.
      • It wasn't just Oscar Wilde. Queensberry was a ridiculously over-the-top homophobe even for the Nineteenth Century. He also tried to have a Prime Minister (Rosebery?) killed for suspected homosexuality. And at one point he sent a prize-fighter to rough up Wilde (Wilde roughed up the prize-fighter instead). So...yeah. If you're LGBT or an ally, Queensberry was pretty gotdang flippin' evil.
  • In Real Life, Marquis de Sade. Sadism was named for this guy for a reason.
    • He still wasn't a bad guy, just a writer of incredibly disturbing novels. Despite of what he wrote in his fiction, he was a radical proponent of women's rights, up to the point of demanding complete gender equality - in the 18th century! He was a bisexual sadomasochist (he liked to be both in the giving and receiving end of the whip), which landed him to jail and mental asylum in several occasions, but there is no indication that he ever actually did anything worse than what you can find in the rougher sort of S&M clubs today.
      • This troper begs to differ. De Sade was convicted of several rapes and other abuse. And his family was very rich and well connected, so he didn't get nearly what he deserved; any commoner doing half of what he did would have gotten his head chopped off. He perfectly qualifies.
      • This troper feels obliged to ask, have you read his writings? Since when did advocating the brutal murder of pregnant women qualify as being for gender equality? Not to mention that that a rather large number of the victims are female; the only way, it seems, for a female to avoid being raped and tortured in his novels is to run eagerly over the Moral Event Horizon and be even worse than the men — and there's not a single 'heroic' male in his later works who is not Complete Monster. This is not even a case of Unfortunate Implications; the later books ran on pure Author Appeal. The only Nightmare Retardant this troper found in there was the fact that some of acts described are impossible.
      • In defense of De Sade (I NEVER thought I would say that), there is a difference between writing about it and advocating it (ask anybody who has ever written about the Holocaust and the like). Still, De Sade is a curious case: disturbing at BEST (morally reprehensible at worst) , but with some strangely enlightened views. Go figure.

Counts
  • Count Dracula - Errm... Evil.
    • Vlad the Impaler, on whom Dracula was based, was actually a "voievod" or "domn" (meaning "lord" or "ruler"). Romanians didn't have the title of "prince" until World War I, and then it was just because a foreign house of noble kin came to rule. The "voievod" was initially a military title, sort of like the Duke — in the beginning, the ruler was actually ruling only during times of war, the rest of the time, he was just a simple nobleman. Things had changed by the time Vlad the Impaler came to rule, though. "Count" was a title more commonly used by the neighbouring Hungarian Empire, where Bram Stoker got most of his information from.
  • Real-life Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory (1560 - 1614), the "Blood Countess," tortured and murdered many young women, 600 according to one witness. Legend has it she bathed in their blood to retain her youth. Arguably evil. Certainly vain.
  • Count Raum from Primal. Every other wraith aristocrat was evil, but he's the only one with a given title.
  • Count Baltar from the original Battlestar Galactica - Betrayed the entire human race.
  • Count Paris from Romeo and Juliet - Not evil per se (he's basically a nice guy who has no idea that he's forming a stumbling block to young love) but a romantic rival to Romeo.
  • Count Weirdly from the Slylock Fox comics is some kind of Mad Scientist. However, in Reynard Noir he's presented as a complete loony.
  • Count Dooku from the second Star Wars trilogy - Oh so very evil.
  • Count Iblis from the original Battlestar Galactica - The man was basically Satan.
    • "Iblis" is the Arabic name for the devil.
  • Count Hannibal Lecter VIII - You heard me, this count eats people. His title is only added in the books, however.
  • Count Nefaria from the Marvel Universe - Supervillain.
  • Count Notfaroutoe (Arthur Winkings) from the Discworld novel Reaper Man - A sort of double subversion since, while he isn't evil (falling into the good-Dracula-parody category), he also isn't really an aristocrat; despite his recently inherited title, he's very middle class (although his wife is upwardly mobile).
  • Discworld also had Count de Magpyr and his family, who are most definitely evil.
    • Averted by his frequently late uncle, Count Bela de Magpyr, a jolly sportsman and civic-minded vampire with a strict code of conduct who always gives mortals more than a fighting chance.
    • This is more a Discworld vampire thing really. Vampires are traditional evil (being a powerful immortal predator does that to people), at best Affably Evil, but those that go "b-total" and give up blood drop all that.
  • Casanunda claims to be a Count. But he also claims to be the world's greatest liar, so ...
  • Count Olaf from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - Is plotting to kill children evil?
    • Yes, but if that doesn't cut it, plotting to marry your adopted daughter, take their money, and threaten her toddler sister to make her go along with it, that's evil. And that's the 1st book alone.
      • His modus operandi is basically this. It's revealed in The Slippery Slope that they kill the parents of rich families and take their children until they're old enough to inherit their fortunes, and then kill them and apparently doctor a will.
  • Count Tyrone Rugen from The Princess Bride - Evil and Creepy.
  • Countess Ingrid from Battalion Wars - Kaiser Vlad's air commander, shows no mercy, delights in violence, and summons the Iron Legion
  • Count Von Sabrewulf from the game Killer Instinct - No more evil than most... well, until he transforms into a werewolf.
  • Countess Marguerite Isobel Theroux from Smallville - Evil witch.
  • Count Vertigo from The DCU - Supervillain
  • Count von Count from SesameStreet - Good or benign, depending on how generous you are. The constant counting might get on one's nerves. It might also put you off math forever.
  • The Count of Monte Cristo - from the book by Alexandre Dumas and the anime Gankutsuou - a greatly wronged, yet scheming and vengeful Magnificent Bastard
  • Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine - An agent of SHIELD in the Marvel Universe, making her a non-superpowered hero.
  • Jem has a good countess, Countess Danielle Du Voisin is a fashion-making pal of the Holograms, which makes her a good girl.
  • Averted by Count Blah from Greg The Bunny, who is actually a pretty nice guy. Especially considering he's a vampire and all.
  • Countess Crey from City Of Heroes. Villain With Good Publicity.
  • The Viscount of Adrilanka from the Steven Brust's Khaavren Romances. Mostly heroic, with a few wobbles.
  • Countess Marie from Girl Genius - apparently left her aristocratic life to marry the leader of a traveling show. Good.
  • Countess Kageyama Hiroko of Werdenberg from the anime Gilgamesh. Supposed to be a good guy, but comes off as an Evil Matriarch.
  • The Countess from Diablo II. With her pools of blood, she is loosely based on the Real Life Countess Elizabeth Báthory who was a serial killer and torturer of girls and young women.
  • Animamundi: Dark Alchemist has three counts. Georik Zaberisk - evil only because of really horrible circumstances, St. Germant Cassal - A sweet guy subjected to horrid torture, Count Sandwich - This guy gives Bathory a run for her money.
  • Count Magnus Lee from Vampire Hunter D, obviously inspired by Dracula (and Christopher Lee). Also, the vampires in this world are called Nobles or Aristocrats.
  • Averted to hell and back in War And Peace. The closest thing the book has to a main protagonist is Count Pierre Bezukhov, and he's not hurting anyone. Other Counts This Troper can remember off the top of his head include Count Langeron, who was a competent general, and Count Dokhtoruv, who was Colonel Badass.
  • Count Rive Montesq and Count Macob in Martha Well's novel The Death of the Necromancer - evil.
    • Montesq orchestrated the execution of Nicholas Valiarde's godfather Edouard Viller, a scholar and inventor of mechanical devices able to store magical spells, on false charges of necromancy. Interestingly, the main protagonist Nicholas Valiarde himself is a nobleman (and distantly related to the current Queen) but he is from a noble family that was disgraced due to treason perpetrated by one of its members some generations before; Nicholas lives under a variety of pseudonyms as he has become a conman and a thief in his quest for revenge on Montesq.
    • Count Macob is a cold and vicious undead necromancer, who during his lifetime became infamous for gory human sacrifices and curse spells. Even after his execution and decapitation he still clung to life, as it were.
  • The Count De La Fere, the real name of Athos, the first of The Three Musketeers. Possibly the most noble, clever, kind, generous, loyal and trust-worthy man in France. Maybe even the whole Europe. This guy is so good that, when he dies, Heaven opens his gates to him pretty much literally, in one of the most fascinating death scenes you'll ever read.
    • The only serious competition for his noble character would be his son Raoul, also known as the Viscount of Bragellone.
  • Count Aral Vorkosigan definitely counts as a subversion of the "Evil Count" trope.
    • But Count Vordarian is a straight example. Until he pisses off Countess Vorkosigan.
      • In general though, Barrayaran society counts as something of a subversion and/or aversion—there are good and noble Counts, thoroughly evil Counts, and every shade of gray in between. (Even Vordarian was a more complicated villain than, say, Prince Serg.) Basically, having a bunch of Counts hanging around running things, badly or well, is just normal for Barrayaran society.
  • Count Cidolfus Orlandeau of Final Fantasy Tactics is the epitome of nobility in every sense of the word: loved by his people, extremely cognizant of the various plots striving for power in Ivalice, trusted counselor to the court of Duke Goltanna until framed by Delita, leader of the Order of the Southern Sky, and close family friend of House Beoulve (at least, its good members.) Also, a playable character and a Game Breaker—he earned the nickname "Thunder God Cid" through his prowess in the Fifty Years' War, and old age hasn't slowed him down one bit.
  • The title given to the first boss of Boktai is The Count of Blood-soaking Earth.
  • Phedre no Delaunay inherits the local equivalent of the title at the end of the first book.
  • Count Vulgar Veger from Jak III: evil, Holier Than Thou, and a prime example of how The Fundamentalist operates when everything goes to hell.
  • Count De Monet from History Of The World Part I. (Quite literally) walks all over poor people and slaps servants around if they address him as the Count De Money. More small-minded and petty than outright evil, but also a typical aristocrat in pre-Revolutionary France, so probably more in the bad column.
  • Super Paper Mario had Count Bleck, a very tragic figure, regarded as one of the best Mario villains ever.
  • Horatio Hornblower example: the Count de Gracay. Not evil- helps Hornblower and his men escape from France (as they were being transported to Paris for execution), giving them his late son's Legion d'Honneur to do so. Father to one of Hornblower's love interest.
  • In The Sims 2, all vampires have the title Count or Contessa. Semi-subverted though because Sims2 vampires will only bite you if you ask and are no less likely to have good personalities than any other Sims.
  • CountCagliostro

Earls
  • Robin Hood is often portrayed as an Earl (of either Locksley or Huntington). Notably the title Earl is the native Anglo-Saxon equivalent of the Norman Count.
    • Christopher Hill in Liberty Against The Law: Some seventeenth-century controversies argues that the fictional characters of Robin Hood and his men started out as common outlaws, but as the folktales were embellished and sanitized for later generations, Robin Hood was made into "good" nobleman who handed out alms to the poor commoners. Robin Hood has been mentioned as a 'famous murderer' in the 1440s and as 'celebrated in song throughout Britain' in 1521, and chronicles surroundings his origins date back way before 1500. His name is even mentioned in court cases, leading to the conclusion that various bands of roving outlaws and rebels adopted the name for themselves. Hill especially mentions the case of Davydd ap Siancyn, a Welsh Lancastrian captain, who "clothed his outlawed followers in green during the civil wars of the mid-fiftheenth century. He was greeted by a Welsh poet as a hero defying his enemies, generous to the poor and weak, 'an agent for moral good who righted society's wrongs'."
    • No Robin Hood folk ballads were printed during the 16th century though; the tradition was entirely oral. The first printed ballads are from the 17th century, when political and social radicals revolting against oppressive laws, draconian punishments and harsh poor laws were looking backwards for historical predecessors. The "carefree life" of outlaws in the forest was glorified and such tales appealed to the masses of peasants made landless by the Enclosures and to the real, banished and hunted outlaws who rejected the authority of the nobiltiy and the Church. The upper-class intelligentsia, however, despised the fashion for tales of Robin Hood and denounced these tales as foolishly and vulgar, a sentiment that can be found in sources from the mid-14th century to the 17th century. The ballads were history from the commoner's point of view. The popular May Games, which featured characters like Robin Hood, Maid Marrian and Little John, "offered open defiance to authority, an alternative to the rule of the gentry, freemen of boroughs, and the hierarchy of the church." (C. Hill)
    • According to Hill, the outlaws' attitude towards the State is feudal: They might feel personal loyalty to the king (or at least to the abstract institution of the Throne and its occupant) but they had no respect for the corrupt sheriffs who mediated the king's laws, and did not accept their sovereignity over themselves. In the early ballads Robin is described as a yeoman, and in the 14th century the longbow was the weapon of commoners, not of gentlemen. But many gentlemen, the landed gentry, also resented the new forest laws and the attempt of the king's sheriffs to monopolize hunting, as hunting and leadership in arms was their privilege. For centuries Robin Hood had been a symbol of independence, of resistance to authority in church and state. But (writes Hill) "from [Queen] Elizabeth's reign, if not earlier, attempts were made to upgrade him socially. (...) Gentrification created a different Robin Hood. He ceases to be merely a subversive anti-authorian. (...) The 'new ideology' is epitomized in Albions England, for instance, where Robin's men are 'merry', rather than being grim bandits or noble sufferers (...); they live in the 'greenwood' rather than in forests. Robin Hood is sentimentalized as not so much the defender of the poor but rather as a founder of alms-houses and dispenser of charity to the poor."
  • On the other hand the Earl of Wessex (Colin Firth) in Shakespeare in Love was clearly a villain.
  • D.Gray-Man's Millennium Earl. Yeah, funny thing about that...
  • Earl Fengbald, also of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, was a total ass. He tortured his own people by boiling them alive when they couldn't make him enough money. He also led the army of the Evil King against the good guys.
  • Earl Lloyd Asplund of Code Geass is a genius mech designer and a fan of pudding, and whilst vocal and carefree to the point of rudeness is personable in public.
  • Example of the 'old and senile' version: the Earl of Lenda from David Eddings' Elenium—though the senility is more a combination of Obfuscating Stupidity and a kindly grandfather.
  • Again a Honor Harrington example — Hamish Alexander, the 13'th Earl White Haven, the elder brother of aforementioned baron Grantville, is an another all-around nice guy. Brilliant military man, honest politician, titular character's supporter, mentor, and later love interest, and, eventually, husband, blah-blah-blah....
    • Honor's biggest enemy of the first half of the series, on the other hand, was also an Earl — Pavel Young, the Lord and then Earl of North Hollow. Seems that Weber is a rather Equal Opportunity Author — he likes his aristocrats both good AND evil.
  • The Pillars Of The Earth: William Hamleigh is (briefly) an earl. He's also a brutal, ignorant man who rapes and pillages with nary a second thought.
  • In Gormenghast, the seventy-sixth Earl of Groan, Sepulchrave, is a figurehead ruler who would rather be in his library than doing any sort of ruling. Fortunately, the castle doesn't need executive decisions most of the time, since that's taken care of by ancient rituals and customs. When anyone needs to do something, the Master of Ritual does it. Not a bad guy.
    • His son, Titus Groan, is a rebellious teenager in a job completely unsuited to youth. While inimical to the castle, not a bad guy.
  • In Feet Of Clay (the Disc World novel), we learn that Cecil Wormsborough St. John Nobbs, better known as "Nobby", is the heir to the position of Earl of Ankh. He's not outright evil, but will steal just about anything.
    • Unless, as Vimes suspects, his family didn't honestly inherit that signet ring, but pinched it from the real heir at some point.

Barons
  • Baron and Baroness Bomburst from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Evil
  • Baron Bedlam from The DCU - Supervillain
  • Baron Blitzkrieg from The DCU - Supervillain
  • Baron Hans von Hammer, aka Enemy Ace, from The DCU - Aversion; based on the Red Baron (see below), his stories took the German perspective of World War One. Von Hammer was portrayed as a good and noble man, fighting for his country, who just happened to be on the opposite side of the war.
  • Baron Blood from the Marvel Universe - Vampire supervillain!
  • Baron Vladimir Harkonnen from Dune - Evil; contrast his rival, Duke Leto Atreides.
  • Baron Mordo from the Marvel Universe - Supervillain
  • Baron Strucker from the Marvel Universe - Supervillain
  • Baron Werner Ünderbheit from The Venture Brothers - Evil
  • Baron Zemo from the Marvel Universe - A Legacy Character supervillain, although the most recent Zemo has reformed.
  • Baron and Baroness von Uberwald - Angua's parents and morally myopic werewolves in the Discworld novels.
    • Their son was truly evil though.
  • "The Baroness" from G.I. Joe - Evil Cobra operative and subject of many a schoolboy fantasy, her title was apparently genuine, not just a codename she picked out for herself.
  • Marius from Les Miserables is a Baron in title, but is a penniless revolutionary, and the title itself is suspect, having been granted to his father by Napoleon, long since out of power. Thus, he's not really aristocracy, and can be solidly in the Good Guy camp.
    • In the stage adaptation, Thènardier becomes a baron, so...evil, although toned down from the book.
  • Baron von Münchausen could be overbearing, but was generally the hero of the story. Of course, that's because he was generally the one telling the story...
  • Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach from the Webcomic Girl Genius - Evil Overlord of Europe. Interestingly, we're shown that Klaus isn't so much Evil as brutally pragmatic, but he does nothing to discourage his sinister reputation because it helps him keep things in line.
  • The middle books of Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame series of fantasy novels have two entire kingdoms' worth of barons among the secondary and tertiary characters, and naturally they run the gamut from virtuous to vile. However, all of them ultimately owe fealty to the main character, who has managed to elevate himself to the rank of Prince of one of the kingdoms and Emperor of both combined, so it's tricky.
  • Real Life example: Baron Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, AKA the Red Baron, the most successful flying ace of World War I. Even his enemies typically saw him as, at worst, a Magnificent Bastard or Noble Demon. Whether it's true or not, the popular impression of the man is that "he fought fair, hard and to kill, and the better his foeman fought to kill him, the better he liked him for it."
  • Baron Harparin in the Elenium trilogy by David Eddings — evil. Allies himself to the evil churchman and the evil prince, and is a noted pederast besides.
  • Norbert from The Angry Beavers once had a supervillain persona as Baron Bad Beaver. In a later episode, the Baron has a Heel Face Turn into Baron Once Bad Now Good Beaver, only to make a Face Heel Turn into Baron Once Bad Then Good Then Bad Again Beaver.
  • Baron Ivor Langtree (the 'Mad Baron') from the Dragonlance novel Brothers in Arms is completely decent, if eccentric - and even this eccentricity mostly manifests as an old fashioned piety and sense of honour.
    • He cheerfully subverts Honor Before Reason though, as when his enemy expects a noble challenge to single combat, the Baron immediately orders all his men to gang up on him from all sides. The man really deserved it, all things considered.
  • Baroness Elsa Shrader in The Sound of Music—not so much evil as The Paolo.
  • William Alexander, baron Grantville, the Prime Minister of the Star Kingdom of Manticore. Definitely good. A younger brother of one of the protagonists and a major supporting character, he is a competent politician who does all what he could to avert this trope.
    • His predeccessor on the PM's post, Michael Janvier, baron High Ridge, is a dead straight example, though. An arrogant jerk who barely could see farther than his nose, he fails at the job spectacularly.
  • In the Vorkosigan Saga, all of the barons of Jackson's Whole are evil: the worst is Complete Monster Baron Ryoval, who is in the sexual slavery business and is an enthusiastic practitioner of Cold Torture, employing a number of technicians to aid his hobby; his brother, Baron Fell, is a notorious arms dealer specializing in biological weapons, and Baron Bharaputra has a genetics clinic specializing in a procedure for the wealthy but aged, in which a young clone of them is produced, and then the clone's brain is ripped out and the original person's implanted instead)
  • Baron Praxis: Lawful Evil.
  • Baron Greenback is the usual villain in Dangermouse.
  • Baron Soontir Fel, the Empire's best pilot since Darth Vader died at Endor. Was a Farm Boy who, after stopping an Attempted Rape, got drafted into pilot training, was ruthless and very skilled, got promoted repeatedly and was given the title "Baron". Was Happily Married to Syal Antilles, very principled, knew what he was in the dark, decidedly not evil, but very complex, generally between an Anti Hero and a Noble Demon. Eventually switched sides, got kidnapped, joined Thrawn's Empire of the Hand, was cloned, and had a lot of kids, one of whom apparently married Leia's daughter. Soontir's great-grandson became Emperor, and inherited a lot of Soontir's traits, like being not evil but morally complicated.
  • The ghost of Bloody Baron from Harry Potter although not evil and even useful was definitely very creepy.
  • Gilles de Rais, Baron of Retz (1404-1440) - Gives Elizabeth Bathory a run for her money as the most evil person to grace this page. His hobbies included molesting dozens of children, murdering them, playing with their intestines, and dismembering them. This guy was the stuff nightmares are made of.

Baronets
  • Sir Pitt Crawley in Vanity Fair. Not evil, just a rather coarse and creepy old squire. Eventually leaves the title to his son of the same name, again not evil, just a bit of a schemer (secures his old aunt's inheritance by plying his rival and cousin with drink). ("Baronet" is a title unique to Britain. Baronets are not lords, i.e., not peers of the realm; nor are they knights — a knighthood is an honor that must be awarded to a specific individual; but baronets have the hereditary right to bear a "sir" before the name.)
  • Sir Percy Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel. Not evil, just a Rich Idiot With No Day Job at least that's what everyone thinks.
  • Sir Percival Glyde from The Woman in White, who is absolutely evil and has the disfiguring scar to prove it. The novel also gives us the Manipulative Bastard Count Fosco, who is presented as essentially Don Corleone for 19th century England.
  • Vlad Taltos, a Hitman With A Heart starts out as a baronet, a title purchased by his father. After heroic actions in the novel Phoenix, he's made a count.
  • As alluded to in the page quote, the baronets of ''Ruddigore'' are a family cursed to commit at least one evil action daily or die in agony and basically serve to parody the Dastardly Whiplash trope.
  • Sir Henry Merrivale

Generic Lords
  • Lord Edmund Blackadder of Blackadder II is hardly good, but more self interested than 'evil' - and of course we cheer him on anyway. Blackadder also deserves points for treating everyone equally (cynically) - the lower and middle classes are shown as fully as bad as the aristocracy.
  • Lord Farquaad from the movie Shrek is as bad as any Baron.
  • Tarzan, aka John Clayton aka Lord Greystoke - Good.
  • Movie example - Lord Cordlow aka Robert Angier from The Prestige.
  • Lord Rust of the Discworld is snobbish, arrogant, out of touch and rather stupid in a special aristocratic way (especially when it comes to military tactics, which to him boils down to "just make sure your enemy suffers more casualties than you do")), but not really evil.
  • In A Song Of Ice And Fire, almost all main characters, including the heroes and the villains, are these.
    • To be fair, most commoners are shown to be bastards as well.
  • Don Diego de la Vega, a.k.a. Zorro is the one good nobleman who stands up for the common people against the greedy, oppressive aristocrats in colonial California.
  • Elf Quest - baddie Winnowill adopts the honorific "Lord" when she becomes ruler of Blue Mountain (there being no female equivalent in this culture). Her predecessor, Lord Voll, was an okay guy, just a bit stuffy and imperious.
  • In Wolf's Rain Lord Darcia has some sympathetic traits to begin with, but after his comatose lover Hamona is killed he turns increasingly evil. His adversary Lady Jagara is pretty evil to begin with, though.
  • Lord Peter Wimsey — although, as the second son of the Duke of Denver, his title is a mere "courtesy title"; he is not a peer of the realm (entitled to sit in the House of Lords, etc.).
  • Lord Nicholas de Soulis, aristocrat and evil sorcerer, is the villain of Michael Scott Rohan's novel The Lord of Middle Air. On the other hand, as the fantasy novel is set in a 13th century Scotland against the background of the Scottish border legends, the main protagonist Walter Scott is also a noble, as is his kinsman and mentor, the sorcerer Walter Scott.
  • William Thomson, aka Lord Kelvin, was one of the fathers of modern thermodynamics. Most definitely good.
    • Technically he's "Baron Kelvin", but just about everyone remembers him as a lord.
  • Lord Ruthven, one of the first vampires in English literature. Though he is describe as 'foreign,' there is an identical (but extinct) Scottish title.
  • Lord Monkey Fist - Evil
  • Lord Michael Byron Carruthers of lonelygirl15 is evil, selfish and creepy.
  • Lord John Grey of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander and Lord John (natch) series is definitely a good guy.
    • Not so much the Duke of Sandringham.
  • Lord Miles Vorkosigan, the eponymous hero of Lois Mc Master Bujold's series. Defintely a good guy as is his cousin Lord Ivan.
  • Lord Kubota of Order Of The Stick. Definitely evil. Hinjo and Shojo on the other hand are good guys.

Other and Multiple Types

  • The Mario series has rougly 14 evil kings, 2 evil queens, 1 evil baron, 3 evil counts and an evil major among various others.
  • The throne of The Order Of The Stick's Asian-themed Azure City is threatened by an evil scheming aristocrat with the title of Daimyo, named Kubota who makes a deal with a (minor) devil in exchange for aid in assassinating the rightful heir Hinjo after he's ascended to the throne just in time to have a war to defend the city fall into his lap and makes several attempts while the battered fleet that evacuated the city seeks to find a safe harbor.
    • The previous lord of the city kept all of the backstabbing, ninja-assassin-happy aristocracy from killing him by pretending to be senile so that they instead played an elaborate game to attempt to influence the old man into ruling in their favor.
  • Raoul, the Vicomte (translation: Viscount, meaning his older brother was a Count) de Chagney and Love Interest of Christine in The Phantom Of The Opera. Definitely good.
    • His brother Count Philippe (generally lost in Adaptation Decay) is more snooty than evil, and mostly objects to Raoul wanting to marry a lowly opera singer.
  • Ragou and Cumore from Tales Of Vesperia definitely fall under this trope.
  • In One Piece, the World Nobles or Tenryuubito (Japanese for Heavenly Dragon Folk; translated in one case as "Celestial Dragons"), are the descendants of the Kings of twenty different kingdoms who later created the World Government. Unfortunately, the World Government is heavily corrupt, and not suprisngly, the World Nobles think they can do whatever the hell they like because they have "the blood of this world's creators", and by that definition, they are practically divine by nature. They even have slaves who they continuously mistreat, and put collar bombs around their necks. For that matter, they are allowed to take any person of the street to become their slave or another spouse. If you offend them in any way, an Admiral will be sent to deal with you.
  • About fifty-fifty in Warhammer 40000, where nobles tend to either be ineffectual, evil, or just corrupt and really stupid; various background pieces have members of the Imperial upper classes joining Chaos cults out of boredom, smuggling xeno artifacts, using Dark Eldar as mercenaries to sort out their rivals...
    • Dan Abnett's Gaunts Ghosts run into these on several occasions.
    • The Jantine Patricians in Ghostmaker regard the Ghosts with great arrogance; one medicae considers it beneath him to treat an injured Ghost, though he does so under his commander's orders.
    • The Volpone Bluebloods, while not as uniform, treat the Ghosts with contempt, and two explicitly set out to kill them under guise of friendly fire, killing several hundred.
    • The Dev Hetra in His Last Command are a comical version. Finely turned out, they do not take Ludd seriously because his uniform is in disarray after crossing a battlefield to give them orders. One attempts to challenge him to a duel.
  • The Aristocrats joke plays on this trope, the the disgustingly squicky performance being triumphantly named "The Aristocrats."
  • Basically the entire point of Jane Austen's Persuasion.
    Captain Wentworth, with five-and-twenty thousand pounds, and as high in his profession as merit and activity could place him, was no longer nobody. He was now esteemed quite worthy to address the daughter of a foolish, spendthrift baronet, who had not had principle or sense enough to maintain himself in the situation in which Providence had placed him, and who could give his daughter at present but a small part of the share of ten thousand pounds which must be hers hereafter.
  • Older Than Steam example: The "Comendador" (a military/minor noble Spanish title) from Lope de Vega's Fuente Ovejuna. He was so evil that his people killed him for kidnapping the town magistrate's daughter and violating her right before her wedding (this act made him cross the Moral Event Horizon to a point of no return), then each villager takes the blame to protect the killer.
  • Avoid viziers. Always. You're rarely safe with royal advisors of any title, but really avoid viziers.
    • Sultans, on the other hand, are generally fine, if sometimes a little incompetent. After all, the viziers have to have someone sympathetic to betray, don't they?
      • Well, there are evil sultans with grand viziers as their Starscreams.
  • Although Voldemort may not count, the 'pureblood' society in general is represented as an immoral aristocratic society that uses social influence and money to get away with abusing, torturing, and killing people of 'lesser' blood. Ironically, many of the main characters are pureblooded but without the money to be a part of that society (the Weasleys), or have the money and ties to the pureblood aristocracy but not the nurture/culture to act upon it (Harry himself, as the Potter family was a rich and powerful pureblood family). So although the purebloods like Malfoys and Blacks (aside from Sirius) are a very deliberate 'aristocracy' picture, the heroes are also aristocrats, seemingly for the convenience of the protagonists having effortless access to money and knowledge of the culture they're trying to combat.
  • Lunar Knights has two evil viscounts (most likely twins to boot), an Ax Crazy human-hunting Margrave, an evil scientist baron, and an earl who became a Neccesarily Evil duke. Interestingly enough, in the earl's case, his ascension to dukehood was the capper of his career as an earl, bagging vampire hunters and Guild gunslingers alike and instilling fear in said opposition from all that rep.
  • Where to start in Kuroshitsuji? Pretty much all the nobles (which is a lot, considering that the entire series is filled with them) are reeeally messed up - Ciel included. And despite the Gaussian Girl memories shown of Ciel's parents, it's pretty obvious that they had... problems. (Most notably his father, who shows that he definitely isn't quite as nice as was believed before.)
    • Though, to be fair to the poor guy, Vincent Phantomhive seemed to have developed a habit of accidentally attracting the weirdest people to the point where Baron Kelvin seemed to have just caused the reaction of "Not Again!", and to appear in polite society as a polite member of society, it's hard to get away with telling someone openly to just get the hell away. So of course we are getting the impression that Vincent is two-faced. Though that doesn't really explain his apparent desire for threesomes and not caring if his son is in the room while discussing finding a third wheel with his old friend...
  • Although 'evil' is perhaps a bit of a stretch, and not all of them are technically aristocracy, in Gosford Park all but one or two of the 'Upstairs' characters can be best described as being a complete dick.
  • The Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons—a pair of licentious Magnificent Bastards who take great pleasure in screwing others over (in every possible sense of the term). Amoral at the very least.
  • House Of The Scorpion: Matt, while he is not privilaged in any way because of his status as a clone in the society, is referred to as an aristocrat (a dirty word in the society he is in) because of where he came from, and because he can play the piano.
  • As in Warhammer 40000, a large chunk of the nobility in Warhammer is evil cultists, but there are also several good and highly competent nobles, especially the Grail Knights, who are holy über-knights
  • The Secret Texts by Holly Lisle has the Sabirs and their rivaling house. Anwyn, Andrew, and Crispin Sabir, in particular, are nasty, nasty individuals, including the brutal murder of one of their own guards while raping one of the daughters of their rivals. You know, until Crispin hits woobie status with the realization that the love of his life is dead, his brother is a traitorous snake, and the only woman he can ever love is his daughter.
  • Zechs Marquis, "The Lightning Count". Notable in that the first two "titles" are completely misleading: he's actually a Prince of the fallen Sanc Kingdom who has gone into hiding. Whether or not he is actually evil is up for debate, however. He's definitely proven to be shady, but was usually portrayed as The Rival and by some interpretations as some sort of Nietzschean superhero. So...
  • Nobles in Dwarf Fortress aren't really evil, but they are nearly useless, expensive, demanding, obnoxious, oppressive to other dwarfs, and generally hated (and often killed) by the players. In other words, they provide a good example of the origin of this trope.
  • With a few excepions, most aristocrats Richard Sharpe spends any time with tend to suck.
  • Hell's hierarchy in Salvation War included Barons, Counts, Dukes and Grand Dukes topped by His Infernal Majesty Satan. All of them evil, of course, although prone to a Heel Face Turn if the circumstances press.
  • Trade Prince Maldy in the goblin starting zone in World Of Warcraft Cataclysm is shaping up to be quite the scumbag.

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