Aristocrats Are Evil - Television Tropes & Idioms

Ruth: All baronets are bad; but was he worse than other baronets?

"Compared with the purity of the greedy nobles, the villains of the world look pretty damn humane."

— Eustass Kid: One Piece

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 exist - 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. (Oddly enough, a Countess has a better-than-even chance of being a decent woman). 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. Another notable exception is Raoul, Vicomte di Chagny, the main male protagonist of The Phantom of the Opera. Another aristocrat who does not fit in this trope is Eleanor Tilney who becomes Viscountess in Northanger Abbey.

Needless to say, Barons fare the worst in popular fiction, with one notable exception when used as a badass nickname.

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. This may be due to the "benevolent bureaucracy" trope, in which the "system" itself is viewed as generally good, the villians are corrupt officials abusing their power, and things can usually be set right if the heroes can make it to the "good" officials and let them know what is going on. 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 Marquess in anything other than a particularly faithful historical adaptation. Baronets were quite often villains in both Victorian Melodrama and Wodehousian comedy (not to mention the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta quoted above). It's probably something to do with hearing someone called "Sir Jasper" just because of who his father was, without having to earn a knighthood like Sir Galahad. Queens/Kings may be either good or evil. And, of course, Everything's Better With Princesses (or is it?).

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.

The Prince will almost always be charming, even in the rare cases where that is not actually his name. However, there are two uses of the term. The Prince may be the son of a King, or it may be used to refer to any ruler or leader (re: Machiavelli). If an evil prince ever appears in fiction, be sure to check that it is not in fact the latter. And of course, the Evil Prince may be out to kill the good one.

Several of these kind of aristocrats together form a Deadly Decadent Court.

If it's an Action Adventure story, you can bet anyone with the title Lady will be a Lady of War.

The title Sir is the best of the lot, being martial, unprepossessing, and upwardly mobile. Even actors like to be called Sir.

If there's a High Queen, then God Save Us from the Queen!. They may be nice enough people Behind The Queenly Mask. Conversely, a Prince is much more likely to be The Wise Prince; compare Fisher King.

Don't even get us started on Emperors, Chancellors, and Grand Viziers.

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

If they're not actively in charge, expect them to be part of the Omniscient Council Of Vagueness. A Regent for Life will pick any one of these titles, especially if they run the People's Republic of Tyranny. In that case, only when the Rightful King Returns will restore harmonious social order to the realm.

See also The Baroness. A young aristocrat may fall under Royal Brat.

For the modern version of this trope, see Corrupt Corporate Executive, and to a lesser extent, Nouveau Riche.

Very prone to Screw the Rules, I Have Money!, Screw the Rules, I Make Them! and Screw The Rules, I Have Connections!.

Exception: Red Baron refers to giving someone a badass title as a nickname.**

For more information on the British title system, see Knight Fever. Not to be confused with The Aristocrats, a "stock joke" based on this premise.

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Kings/Queens

Comics

The noble class and the royal family in Megalex.

Film

In Braveheart, the working class Scottish villagers get pitted against the snobbish, aristocratic Norman nobles led by King Edward, who is portrayed as a Complete Monster.

Literature

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 flamingos. 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.
  - The White Queen is even more amiable and even more insane.
Monarchs and others in the Deryni works:
- House of Haldane
  - His Majesty Cinhil Donal Ifor Haldane, first king of the Haldane Restoration, having retaken the throne from King Imre Furstán-Festil in 904.
  - His Majesty Javan Jashan Urien Haldane, third son of King Cinhil and twin of King Alroy, revised the law codes of Gwynedd, assassinated in 922.
  - His Majesty Rhys Michael Alister Haldane, fourth son of King Cinhil, younger brother of King Javan.He lives as a puppet king for several years, but sets the stage for his son to be free of grasping courtiers.
  - Queen Michaela Jocelyne Drummond Haldane, wife of King Rhys Michael and mother of both King Owain and King Uthyr. She was instrumental in freeing her son Owain from corrupt regents.
  - His Majesty Donal Blaine Aidan Cinhil Haldane, father of King Brion and Prince Nigel. His devotion to his royal duty and the interests of his house are absolute, and his morals are compromised thereby. His sexual morality is also questionable; he fathered four children out of wedlock by four different women.
  - His Majesty Brion Donal Cinhil Urien Haldane, father of King Kelson. He defeated Hogan Gwernach, a Festillic Pretender and was assassinated years later by arcane means.
  - Queen Jehane-Julienne-Adélaïde de Besançon Haldane (known as Queen Jehana in Gwynedd), wife of King Brion, mother of King Kelson and formerly a Princess of Brenmagne. Well-intentioned but suffering from intense self-loathing for many years.
  - His Majesty Kelson Cinhil Rhys Anthony Haldane, a pre-eminent King of Gwynedd who won out over attempts at conquest, a sepratist insurrection and ecclesiatical rebellion. His statecraft is the focus of several novels, including the trilogy The Histories of King Kelson and King Kelson's Bride.
  - Queen Araxie Léan Haldane Haldane, wife of King Kelson. According to the Codex Derynianus, as of 1130, Araxie's marriage with Kelson has produced a pair of twin daughters and one son.
- House of Furstan and House of Furstán-Festil
  - King Festil Ferencz Furstan, who inaugerated The Festillic Interregnum via his conquest of Gwynedd in 822.
  - King Imre Istvan Ingwar Furstán-Festil, last Festillic king of Gwynedd, defeated by King Cinhil Haldane.
  - King Wencit Zsubit Kyprian Nimur Furstan, King of Torenth in his own right and Festillic Pretender after Charissa, he was defeated at Llyndruth Meadows in 1121.
  - King Liam Lajos II Lionel László Furstán d'Arjenol, King of Torenth, nephew of King Wencit. He defeated an attempted coup and was restored to an independent kingship by King Kelson of Gwynedd in 1128.
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.
- And naturally, her protege, the Evil Queen from The 10th Kingdom.
The Emperor of Dune is only good in comparison to Complete Monster Baron Harkonnen. The Emperors throughout the series fall under this trope, even the Necessary Evil ones — God Emperor Leto made himself the most reviled being in history, distrusted and despised even by his closest supporters.

Live-Action TV

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. To call her "evil" may be a little strong, however. She was more of a Royal Brat taken to a slightly sadistic extreme.
Most of the Cavaliers in the English Civil War drama The Devil's Whore are portrayed as this, especially Prince Rupert. An exception is Angelica's husband, a clearly good-hearted Royalist who is executed by Charles I at the end of the first episode for surrendering his manor to Parliamentary forces.
Can be said of King Uther in 'Merlin'' , who concerns himself mostly with the nobility and royalty and looks down on peasants and servants as expendable.

Video Games

Bowser from Mario.
- The series had other such characters, some more important than others: King Goomba/Goomboss, King Kaliente, etc.

Web Comics

In The Challenges of Zona Queen Ipola is a wise and good ruler. Her Kivallian counterpart, Yanora, on the other hand is a Magnificent Bitch.

Web Original

In The Gamers Alliance, Queen Adevia is a war-mongering, ambitious monarch who stops at nothing to defeat her enemies and expand her kingdom.

Western Animation

Some of the viruses from Reboot. Megabyte's title is the "King of Control", Hexadecimal's is the "Queen of Chaos" and Daemon's is the "Monarch of Order".
Fire Lord Ozai is the king of the Fire Nation. He and the last two generations of Fire Lords were all pretty evil, but the next Fire Lord is a nice guy. His daughter Azula is no less evil than him, and probably quite a bit more crazy.

Dukes/Duchesses

Anime and Manga

Dukemon from Digimon (Gallantmon in the dub), an "exalted knight" type Digimon. Definitely good.
- Also in Digimon X Evolution, he is the first of the Royal Knights to perform a Heel Face Turn when Yggdrasil ordered them to kill the entire digimon population.
Grand Duke Nagi from Mai-Otome? Oh, so evil. Just look at that hair!

Film

The Duke is the main antagonist in Moulin Rouge!.
One of the four fascist libertines in Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom is known as the Duke. No guesses on just what kind of guy he is.
The self-proclaimed Duke of New York in Escape from New York. He wasn't a real aristocrat but behaves as if he was.

Literature

Duke Leto Atreides from Dune, as mentioned above - Practically The Messiah.
- And his son is a Messianic Archetype of sorts.
- In the prequel novels, so was Paulus Atreides, Paul's grandfather for whom he was named and who taught Leto everything he knows. Archduke Armand Ecaz is also not a bad guy.
Among the prominent ones in the Deryni works:
- The Most High, Potent, and Noble His Grace General Sir Alaric Anthony Morgan, Duke of Corwyn, King's Champion, Lord General of the Royal Armies. With his combination of intelligence, military skill and Deryni magic, this heroic guy is an all-round Badass, who plays a major part in many of the novels. The Childe Morgan Trilogy is largely devoted to his backstory.
- Duchess Richenda of Rheljan, Duchess of Corwyn (Morgan's wife), mother of Earl Brendan Coris of Marley (by her first husband, Earl Bran Coris), and Morgan's children Briony and Kelric. A scholar and talented Deryni mage in her own right, she passes on to her second husband a great deal of her own training.
- His Grace Sir Duncan Howard McLain, briefly Duke of Cassan, Priest and later Auxiliary Bishop of Rhemuth. Secretly a Deryni mage and Morgan's maternal first cousin, Duncan is at times Morgan's closest and most important partner. Despite being a cleric, Duncan leads troops in the war against the Mearans. He belatedly receives his knightly accolade for his loyal service in this and what Kelson discreetly refers to as actions "in any number of different areas, since our accession." He later resigns his temporal titles (he is Earl of Kierney as well as Duke of Cassan) in favour of his son...
- His Grace Sir Dhugal MacArdry McLain, Duke of Cassan, Earl of Kierney and Transha. He is King Kelson's close companion, foster brother and blood brother, and his medical skills are extremely useful and at times literally vital.
- Duchess Meraude de Traherne, Duchess of Carthmoor, wife of Prince Nigel Haldane, mother of Princes Conall, Rory and Payne.
- His Grace Sir Ewan MacEwan, Duke of Claibourne and hereditary Lord Marshal of the Gwynedd Royal Council.
- Duke Hogan Zimri Marek Gwernach Furstán-Festil mac Tadhg, Duke of Marluk and Festilic Pretender who was defeated in battle arcane by King Brion Haldane in 1105.
- Duchess Charissa Aymarine Festilliana Furstána-Festila-mac-Tadhg, Duchess of Tolán, sometime Queen of Torenth, Lady of the Silver Mists, "the Shaodwed One", and a Festillic Pretender, killed by King Kelson in arcane combat at his coronation in 1120.
- Duke Mahael Furstán d'Arjenol, Torenthi regent after the death of King Wencit and traitor to his nephews.
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 policeman 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). His daughter Susan is a duchess and seen in the books that feature Death, although Terry Pratchett doesn't make a big deal out of her title, since he has her working as a governess and teacher.
In the Westmark trilogy, the king of Regia's Evil Chancellor is a duke.
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.
Duke Roger, the villain of the Song of the Lioness quartet. Magnificent Bastard extraordinaire, Chessmaster, a Villain with Good Publicity who later attempts the Civilian Villain 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.
- In the same series, however, we have Duke Gareth, who is a caring and honest mentor to Alanna.
Duke Vedris 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 Will of the Empress.
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.
The Duc de Blangis and his companions in The 120 Days of Sodom are guilty of almost anything you can think of, and some things you probably can't.

Music

The Thin White Duke, a coldhearted cocaine addict with a taste for fascism, spends time "throwing darts in lovers' eyes" according to the title track of Station to Station.
Subverted with the protagonist of Vocaloid song "The Madness of Duke Venomania", a lecherous Smug Snake who made a Deal with the Devil so that he could force all women to love him.

Radio

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.

Tabletop Games

Another evil example: in the BattleTech 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 40,000 Grey Knights novel Hammer of Daemons is definitely evil. Being a follower of Khorne, it came with the territory.

Theatre

Duke Orsino, from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.Though 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.
- Although Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure is a pretty grey character who enjoys manipulating people a little too much.
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.
The incorrigibly lecherous Duke of Mantua in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto also had the habit of executing people who complained too much about his seducing their wives/sisters/daughters.
Cyrano de Bergerac: After his Heel Face Turn, Count De Guiche is named Duke de Grammont, and he claims to have not committed any villainy (but then, he could be lying or having Self-Serving Memory).

Video Games

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.
Duke Nukem is nominally the good guy, though you still probably wouldn't want to meet him.
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 M?nkamp. Which would make him somewhat of a Neutral Good Magnificent Bastard.
Duke Farthington Roenall of Baldur's 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.
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.
Subverted with Skyheed in Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier. He turns out to be the Big Bad.

Web Comics

"The Duke" from the webcomic Little Worlds is neither noble nor kind.

Web Original

In The Gamers Alliance, Duke Koschei Dravaris is very much evil, constantly plotting behind the scenes to discredit the Grand Alliance and even leads his superior Belial to an ambush. The four demonic dukes and duchesses are ambitious and ruthless each in their own way, willing to fight among themselves but also against the other races whom they see as lesser beings.

Western Animation

Duchness Raven Waves from Lady Lovely Locks is pure evil.
Duke Igthorn is an evil duke.
Duke Nukem from Captain Planet.

Marquesses/Marchionesses (Marquis)

Comic Books

Mark Millar's Villain Sue the Marquis of Death was most definitely a bad guy, though he seemed to have given the title to himself and wasn't a proper aristocrat.

Film

The arrogant Marquess of Montrose in Rob Roy; opposed by the relatively-good Duke of Argyll.

Literature

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.
- The Marquis de Lantenac from Victor Hugo's Ninety-Three is a Magnificent Bastard Knight Templar for the royalists, who has whole villages slaughtered as well as giving one of his troops a medal for heroism — then immediately having him executed.
The Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr in Scaramouche is a ruthless, manipulative killer.
Marquis de Carabas from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. A good guy, and a scheming Magnificent Bastard. Though 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.
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 an idiot 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.
From the Carrera's Legions series, the Marchioness of Amnesty (as in Amnesty International), as part of a future UN that's become a true world government, and over the centuries became a Feudal Future government. The original Marquis of Amnesty*
who basically bought the title and position with gold from Terra Nova, paid by Carrera's ancestor to buy arms to fight the proto-United Earth forces
and the two marchionesses who have been shown to hold the title prior to Captain Wallenstein being made Marchioness of Amnesty in The Lotus Eaters resemble the stereotypical depiction of the Marquis de Sade.

Theater

Cyrano de Bergerac: Poke the Poodle / Evil Is Petty: In Act I Scene I, a marquis explains the reason because the band of young Marquises always get late to the theater:
A Marquis (seeing that the hall is half empty):: What now! So we make our entrance like a pack of woolen-drapers!
Peaceably, without disturbing the folk, or treading on their toes!—Oh, fie!
Fie!

Video Games

Sid Meier's Pirates! has the infamous Marquis de Montalban, who imprisons your entire family.
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.
Marquis de Singe in Tales Of Monkey Island is a crazy French doctor who was kicked out of the court for his insane experiments. He wants to become immortal, even if it kills everyone else.
In Fire Emblem 7, Lyndis's only living relative is Hausen, the Marquess of Caelin, who's a pretty nice guy, even if he initially didn't approve of his daughter Madelyn's elopement with Hassar of the Sacaen tribe of the Lorca.
- Of course, then you have Darin, Marquess of Laus.
Darin: Heh heh heh... Ostia is no longer my main concern... Nor is the whole of Lycia... The only goal worthy of my attention is the entire world!

Counts/Countesses

Anime and Manga

Countess Kageyama Hiroko of Werdenberg from the anime Gilgamesh. Supposed to be a good guy, but comes off as an Evil Matriarch.
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.
Count Cagliostro

Comic Books

Count Nefaria from the Marvel Universe - Supervillain.
Count Vertigo from The DCU - Supervillain
Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine - An agent of SHIELD in the Marvel Universe, making her a non-superpowered hero.
Technically speaking the title of ruler of Latvaria is count..

Film

Count Dooku from the prequel Star Wars trilogy - Oh so very evil. And oh so very Christopher Lee to boot.
Count Tyrone Rugen from The Princess Bride - Evil and Creepy.
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.
Count Adhemar from A Knight's Tale (played to vile perfection by Rufus Sewell) oozes smarmy malevolence. The movie does subvert this trope with Prince Edward though - he's a good guy through and through.
Count Zaroff in the 1932 film of The Most Dangerous Game. A change from the short story, where he's a General.

Literature

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.
  - Whatever translation that one puts on Vlad the Impaler's rank...it was considerably higher than Count. Or, to put it another way...calling him "Count Dracula" would have all but guaranteed your impalement.
Another vampire: Carmilla, Countess of Karnstein, from Sheridan Le Fanu's novella.
Count Hannibal Lecter VIII - You heard me, this count eats people. His title is only added in the books, however.
Count Notfaroutoe (Arthur Winkings) from the Discworld novel Discworld/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 lower 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.
Counts in the Deryni works are often evil and usually Torenthi, such as Teymuraz Furstán d'Arjenol-Brustarkia (Mahael's brother and Count of Brustarkia) and Count Branyng von Furstán-Sostra (who helped Mahael in his attepted coup at King Liam-lajos' investiture). A very notable exception is Count Mátyás Furstán-Komnénë, who is loyal to his nephew "Laje" and becomes Duke of Arjenol and Liam-Lajos' chancellor for his considerable pains.
- 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 - evil.
The Count of Monte Cristo - from the book by Alexandre Dumas and the anime Gankutsuou - a greatly wronged, yet scheming and vengeful Magnificent Bastard
The Viscount of Adrilanka from the Steven Brust's Khaavren Romances. Mostly heroic, with a few wobbles.
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.
Phedre no Delaunay inherits the local equivalent of the title at the end of the first book.
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.
Count Ugo Carifex from the Young Bond novel Blood Fever.
Viscount Hundro Moritani in the Dune prequels. As much, if not more, of a bastard than Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (see below). Most of his subjects take after him. His ambassador shoots a rival at a state dinner. He orders the bombing of civilian targets despite the declaration of Kanli, a war limited to military targets. He has his rival's son and daughter kidnapped and publicly executed. When another House condemns these actions, he orders the assault on their planet to steal their most holy relic. An ally of the viscount's assassinated the rival's second daughter at her wedding to Duke Leto Atreides (the ally was himself a Duke, by the way). He gets what's coming to him, though.
Count Eolair of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn was definitely a good guy, later became king.

Live-Action TV

Count Baltar from the original Battlestar Galactica - Betrayed the entire human race.
- Count Iblis. "Iblis" is actually the Arabic name for the devil.
Countess Marguerite Isobel Theroux from Smallville - Evil witch.
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.
Averted by Count Blah from Greg the Bunny, who is actually a pretty nice guy. Especially considering he's a vampire and all.
Averted with Count Von Count, who, despite some numerical obsessions, is a really decent fellow.

Newspaper Comics

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 Orlando Smythe from the Modesty Blaise arc "The Balloonatic".

Theatre

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.
Cyrano de Bergerac:
- Count De Guicheis a Jerk Ass who wants to bully Roxane into being The Mistress, prepares an Uriah Gambit for Roxane's husband and a Last Stand for all the guys who had humiliated him, but he is not as villainous as he thinks, because he has a Heel Face Turn.
- Viscount De Valvert is a Jerk Ass willing to be The Beard for Count De Guiche.

Video Games

Count Raum from Primal. Every other wraith aristocrat was evil, but he's the only one with a given title.
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 Crey from City of Heroes. Villain with Good Publicity.
The Countess from Diablo II. With her pools of blood, she is loosely based on the Real Life Countess Elizabeth Bathory.
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 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.
Count ~~Vulgar~~ Veger from Jak 3: evil, Holier Than Thou, and a prime example of how The Fundamentalist operates when everything goes to hell.
Super Paper Mario had Count Bleck, a very tragic figure, regarded as one of the best Mario villains ever.
In The Sims 2, all the NPC grand 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.

Web Comics

Countess Marie from Girl Genius - apparently left her aristocratic life to marry the leader of a traveling show. Good.
Subverted with Count Tethik in The Challenges of Zona, perhaps the only genuinely good noble in the Kivallian court.

Web Original

In The Gamers Alliance, the four demonic Dreadlords/ladies of Yamato hold the rank of count/countess, and they are very cruel and ambitious while serving their masters' needs. Counts Belial and Antigonus of Maar Sul are a bit of a mixed bag, though: on the one hand they are very ruthless in politics and tend to use people for their own ends, but they also have a code of honour and genuinely care for their respective families' well being.

Fan Fiction

Count Mott in Points Of Familiarity.
- And in Unfamiliar as well.

Western Animation

Jem has a good countess, Countess Danielle Du Voisin is a fashion-making pal of the Holograms, which makes her a good girl.

Real Life

Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory (1560 - 1614), the "Blood Countess," was said by her enemies to have tortured and murdered many young women, 600 according to one witness. Legend has it she bathed in their blood to retain her youth. How much of that was true though is up for debate.

Earls/Countesses

Anime and Manga

D.Gray-Man's Millennium Earl. Yeah, funny thing about that...
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.
Earl Ciel Phantomhive of Black Butler, despite being the protagonist, is pretty evil
- In fact, the whole Earldom of Phantomhive is evil

Film

On the other hand the Earl of Wessex (Colin Firth) in Shakespeare in Love was clearly a villain.

Literature

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'."
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.
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.
An Honor Harrington example — Hamish Alexander, the 13th 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.
Averted by Sepulchrave (the Earl of Groan) and his family in Gormenghast, none of whom are remotely evil - some of them are stupid and most of them are mad, but they're all at least somewhat sympathetic. However, they're nothing more than figurehead rulers and none of them have any real power, since the general rule of their society is taken care of by an elaborate set of ancient rituals and customs, and any executive decisions are made by the Master of Ritual.
Earls are a highly varied lot in the Deryni works:
- Camber Kyriell MacRorie, seventh Earl of Culdi, legendary and powerful Deryni mage and former Royal Councillor who subsequently plays a pivotal role in the Haldane Restoration of 904. He was canonized by the Holy Church of Gwynedd shortly after his death; this was later rescinded when the same Church declared him a heretic during a political coup de'tat. Thanks to a spell he attempted and a later ritual led by his daughter Evaine, Camber's spirit was freed to move between the spiritual plane and the material one, and he appears to Haldanes and others two centuries after his death.
- Second only to Camber himself in the heroics department, Sean Seamus O'Flynn, Earl Derry, serves as Alaric Morgan's aide-de-camp, goes on undercover missions to serve his duke, and faces torture at the hands of Torenthi enemies. Although he is human and has been raised in the anti-Deryni environment as everyone else in Gwynedd, he is not initially afraid of Deryni magic and learns some from Morgan. That changes after Wencit of Torenthi places arcane compulsions in his mind that are later reactivated by Wencit's sister Morag and exploited by his brother-in-law Teymuraz.
- Earl Murdoch of Carthane is the driving force behind the Regents' plan to strike at numerous religious and noble Deryni houses, including the destruction of Saint Neot's. He betrays and murders a fellow Regent, Duke Ewan MacEwan of Claibourne. He brutally mistreats hostage Deryni who work for the Regency Council.
- Ian Howell, Earl of Eastmarch, is Gwyneddian peer who becomes a Reliable Traitor in service to the "Shadowed One" (Charissa, Duchess of Tolan and Festillic Pretender).
- Bran Coris, Earl of Marley turns traitor, secretly joining forces with Wencit of Torenth and helping in the defeat and capture of Duke Jared McLain of Cassan.
The Earl of Gwynedd in Szerb Antal's The Pendragon Legend is a subversion, being not only a good guy, but arguably the most heroic character, it's just that Batky was never around to record any of it. His nephew Osborne is also quite heroic, and one of the novel's four protagonists. The Countess Roscoe on the other hand while quite evil, is also a subversion because she was originally a commoner who married the count for his fortune.
In the Dune prequels, Earl Dominic Vernius is the fairly benevolent ruler of Ix who promotes technological advancement and is a war hero (and a good friend of Duke Paulus Atreides, Leto's father). His only "crime" was marrying the Emperor's former concubine, which the senile sovereign (Shaddam's father) immediately assumed was an evil plot by the Earl to humiliate him. The improvement of the heighliner design (which would cut into the House Corrino profits) is the last straw, resulting in the Emperor secretly sponsoring the Tleilaxu invasion of Ix and ordering his sardaukar to hunt down all members of House Vernius when the Earl refuses to submit to the hostile takeover.

Web Comics

Sylvester in The Mansion of E is an earl, but he is a well-meaning and fairly intelligent Upper Class Twit with little real power. Many of his ancestors were a different story.

Barons/Baronesses

Comic Books

Baron Bedlam from The DCU - Supervillain
Baron Blitzkrieg from The DCU - Supervillain
Baron Hans von Hammer, protagonist of the Enemy Ace feature, from The DCU - Subversion; based on the Red Baron (see below), his stories took the German perspective of World War One. Although an "enemy" character (fighting on the "opposite" side of the mostly-American readership), 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 Mordo from the Marvel Universe - Occasional villain, full-time Evil Sorcerer.
Baron Strucker from the Marvel Universe - Supervillain
Baron Zemo from the Marvel Universe - A Legacy Character supervillain, although the most recent Zemo has reformed.
Baron Karza from the Marvel Universe - Nemesis of the Micronauts as well as being an expy from the toyline of that same name. Given that the title baron is at the low end of the hierarchy, one has to wonder why Karza didn't promote himself when he gained control of the Microverse. It should be noted that in the toyline, Karza was but one of several characters (along with Force Commander) below an underboss called Red Hawk and an Emperor called Magus.

Film

Baron and Baroness Bomburst from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Evil
Baroness Elsa Shrader in The Sound of Music—not so much evil as the Romantic False Lead.
Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent from Ever After - Wicked Stepmother

Literature

Baron Vladimir Harkonnen from Dune - Evil; contrast his rival, Duke Leto Atreides.
Baron and Baroness von Uberwald - Angua's parents and morally myopic werewolves in the Discworld novels. Their son and Angua's brother, Wolfgang von Uberwald was truly evil though.
Marius from Les Misérables 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, Thénardier becomes a baron, so...evil, although toned down from the book.
Baron von Münchhausen could be overbearing, but was generally the hero of the story. Of course, that's because he was generally the one telling the story...
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.
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.
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.
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 predecessor 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 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.
- He lost his temper and killed the woman he loved. Not exactly a good guy, either.
Baron Bela Stoke from Mithgar- very evil. Think "expy of Vlad the Impaler if Vlad was also a shapeshifting necromancer" evil.

Live-Action TV

"The Baron" (no real name given) is a recurring enemy in the Dutch Bassie and Adriaan - television series (although it's unknown if he actually is a baron or simply gave himself this title because he consideres himself to be a criminal mastermind)
Baron Wasteland, a V.I.L.E. villain in Carmen Sandiego

Newspaper Comics

Baron de Plexus from Terry and the Pirates.

Theater

Cyrano de Bergerac: All the Gascon Cadets are Barons that indulge in killing any Baron who is not Of The People trying to join them, and their ideal is to be an Heroic Sociopath.

Video Games

Amnesia The Dark Descent has Baron Alexander, who is definitely a Complete Monster, but the why of it might gain him sympathy points with the right people - as revealed in a handful of Notes, he's simply trying to get back home.
Baron Praxis: Lawful Evil.
Baron Widebeard's "accomplishments": Writing a very insipid, atrocious autobiography; letting his wife redecorate their residence with horrendous color choices; permitting a society of senile ladies to construct a rocket without prior technical knowledge; imprisoning the spoonbeaks of Meeth and the leprechauns of Saul Island (separately, even!); publishing propaganda to blacklist said island as a "leper colony"; trying to imprison our heroine when she finds out; and of course having a huge beard, as per his name.
The eponymous character in the Interactive Fiction game The Baron - Evil incarnation of the protagonist's incestuous desire for his daughter.
Spielburg's Baron is a nice fair ruler, who's only flaw was that he wronged an Ogress Witch. His son's a jerk though.
World of Warcraft features a boss named Baron Rivendare, who appears in the dungeons Stratholme and Naxxramas. Before he was raised into a Death Knight, he was a wealthy land owner who fell under the sway of the lich Kel'Thuzad and helped him structure the Cult of the Damned.

Web Comics

Baron Klaus 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.

Western Animation

Baron Werner Ünderbheit from The Venture Bros. - Evil
"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.
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 Greenback is the usual villain in Dangermouse.

Real Life

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 Worthy Opponent 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."
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.
Baron [[Ungern-Sternberg Ungern von Sternberg]] (a warlord from the Russian Civil War), evil racist dictator, occultist and bat fuck insane to boot.
Also from the Russian Civil War comes Baron Pyotr Wrangel, one of the last White leaders. Soviet propaganda did a lot to portray him as evil; in reality, not so much.

Baronets/Baronetesses

Literature

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; baronets are commoners that have the hereditary right to bear a "sir" before the name.)
- The title was often sold as a means for a cash-strapped sovereign to raise desperately needed cash. The aggressively upwardly mobile move of purchasing titles was always an issue - domineering, grasping, sneering, gloweringly oversexed baronets were something of a trope in Victorian and Edwardian bodice rippers, never behindhand when it came to menacing a heroine or foiling a waif's inheritance; P.G. Wodehouse satirizes this, noting your common or garden baronet is rarely a good 'un.
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.
Sir Henry Merrivale
The legitimate heirs to the Baskerville baronetcy were decent enough (since Sir Hugo, at least), it was the pretender and his pet you had to watch out for.
In the early Deryni timeline, Manfred Colquhoun Festil Tarquin Mac Innis, Baron of Marlor, is trouble. He's part of the corrupt council, and with his colleagues launches a coup against King Javan Haldane. That third name of his doesn't bode well.
After fighting a long, hard campaign, the admiral shows up to steal Jack Aubrey's final victory, securing for himself a baronetcy.

Theatre

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.

Generic Lords and Ladies

Anime and Manga

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.

Comic Books

ElfQuest - 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.

Film

Lord Cordlow aka Robert Angier from The Prestige.
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.
Lord Henry Blackwood in Sherlock Holmes, who attempts to seize control of the British Empire.

Literature

Tarzan, aka John Clayton aka Lord Greystoke, a viscount in the ERB canon, but when specified in later adaptations very often an earl - Good.
Discworld:
- Lord Rust 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.
- Lord Vetinari, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork is a self-proclaimed Anti-Villain. He is definitely ruthless and cunning, though not really evil.
- Lord Downey - He may look like an amicable old man, but is actually Ankh-Morpork top assasin.
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.
Lord Peter Wimsey — although, as the second son of the Duke of Denver, his title is a mere "courtesy title"; in the Sayers canon, he is not a peer of the realm (entitled to sit in the House of Lords, etc.). Eventually, he succeeds his brother as Duke of Denver (his nephew having been killed in action as a pilot in the Battle of Britain) in The Attenbury Emeralds, a sequel written by Jill Paton Walsh.
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.
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 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. Definitely a good guy as is his cousin Lord Ivan.
In the first book of the Knight And Rogue Series Michael is sent by his father, a baron, to capture a woman suspected of killing an improtant noble's brother. Early in his search for the woman he learns that if she's killed the port town she governs will go to this brother, and thus be part of Lord Dorian's territory, meaning Dorian won't have to pay any taxes there, and Dorian ships a lot. Also, his father was aware of all of this. Michael is less than pleased.

Live-Action TV

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 Marmaduke Ffogg and his sister, Lady Penelope Peasoup, Special Guest Villains in a Batman three-parter.

Video Games

Lord Dycedarg Beoulve is a real piece of work. He slowly fed poison to his father to kill him without suspicion and take hold of the Beoulve estate, orchestrated the kidnapping of Marquis Elmdore with Corpse Brigade commander Gustav to use as a bargaining chip, orders Gaffgarion to kill Ramza in cold blood, sets up a plot with Duke Larg to kill the Princess, murdered Larg to gain his power as regent, gave his soul to the Lucavi Adrammelech, and killed Zalbaag. He's far from successful in the end, but he's arguably the most monstrous character in the game.
Subverted by Medievil 2's Lord Palethorn. He's a working class cockney who tried to buy his way into high society.

Web Comics

Lord Michael Byron Carruthers of lonelygirl15 is evil, selfish and creepy.

Western Animation

Lord Farquaad from the movie Shrek is as bad as any Baron.
Lord Monkey Fist - Evil

Real Life

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.
- Interestingly, a modern film of Around the World in Eighty Days portrayed him as a sneering villain.

Other and Multiple Types

Anime and Manga

In One Piece, the World Nobles, also known as the Celestial Dragons (Tenryuubito in Japanese), 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.
- Recent flashbacks show us the nobility of Luffy's homeland, Goa Kingdom. They routinely sent out all their trash out of the city and let it pile up to the point that it became a small town unto itself, the Grey Terminal. When an inspection team with Celestial Dragons was scheduled to arrive, the nobles arranged to have the trash heap burned to the ground, people and all, in order to appeal to the Dragons. On top of this, they seemed incapable of understanding why a protagonist who discovered this was distraught.
- Significantly earlier, there was Wapol, who had all doctors who did not work for him murdered so he could charge ridiculous sums of money for medical treatment, and beat up small children (which would have possibly sparked an international incident) simply because they were in his way.
The anime Code Geass provide two examples:
- The most prominent is the Britannian Empire, entirely managed by nobility and aristocracy of various levels. That may be cause or consequence of the practice of racism and social darwinism in the Britannian Empire, this is not only evidenced in the nobility truly believing that they are superior due to their blood but also lead to the discrimination and opression of the numbers (people of countries conquered by Britannia) who are forced to live in ghetos.
- And the other example are the eunuchs of the Chinese Federation, who are corrupt aristocrats who see the people of the Chinese Federation as ants and are willing to sacrifice all of them just for their personal gain.
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.)
Gundam F91 features an uprising by the aristocratic Ronah family, who attempt to establish an empire in space called "Cosmo Babylonia" because they believe firmly that humanity should be ruled by the upper class. The family actually both plays the trope straight and averts it: "Iron Mask" Carozzo believes that humanity needs to be purged from Earth altogether. His father-in-law Meitzer Ronah is the one ordering the invasion, but is unaware of this plan, and at the very least seems to be a good family man who genuinely has the best intentions. Also, Carozzo's wife and daughter both believe in equality among human beings, and are major factors in the eventual downfall of Cosmo Babylonia.
Berserk: Counts, barons, queens, kings, lords, emperors, what have you. No matter the title, they all tend to have ill-intent for their fellow man (or are at least big jerks). If that's not enough, just wait until they turn into Apostles...
- There are a couple exceptions in the manga: not counting Serpico (who was not really born a noble) or Farnese (whose Heel Face Turn coincided with her abandoning her renouncing her status), Roderick is pretty nice, while Laban and Owen actually give a crap about protecting commoners.

Comedy

The Aristocrats joke plays on this trope, the the disgustingly squicky performance being triumphantly named "The Aristocrats."

Film

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.
Practically every Bollywood movie has some sort of evil Maharajah, Sheikh or Count as the antagonist. There is the added bonus of them often being an evil Christian.
Taken features a lecherous and corrupt Sheikh.

Literature

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, but definitely also useless - to the point where La Roux was forced to introduce a Deus ex Machina character (the Persian) in order to give the titular villain qualified opposition.
- His brother Count Philippe (generally lost in adaptation) is more snooty than evil, and mostly objects to Raoul wanting to marry a lowly opera singer.
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.
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.
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.
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.
With a few exceptions, most aristocrats Richard Sharpe spends any time with tend to suck.
Speaker Corder Leary, the Leary of Bantry, in the RCN series, is, well...
You always knew where you stood with Corder Leary, or, to be more precise, where at his feet you were to kneel.
The patroon system of 18th century New York is portrayed as very unjust in Dragonwyck, by Anya Seton. At the head of this is Affably Evil Nicholas Van Ryn, patroon (naturally) of Dragonwyck. However, the rest of the aristocracy is portrayed as mostly mean, unjust, thoughtless, or at least clueless.
The lighteyes of The Stormlight Archive have gotten a little power-mad over the centuries, which tends to drown out the ones who actually are honorable.
Several conspirators in Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian stoyr in "The Phoenix on the Sword".
Thanks to the variety of characters in the Deryni works, there are aristocrats in the Eleven Kingdoms who fall on all parts of the morality spectrum. (Notable examples are listed in the categories above.) This is in keeping with the theme of individual merit mattering more than the power (temporal, ecclesiatical, or arcane) one has; it isn't so much one's power as what one does with it that matters.
Practically every aristocrat (and no shortage of the common-but-rich) in the world of the Gentleman Bastard series is a spoiled, myopic monster who lives in luxury to put Versailles to shame, while the cities they rule over are dystopian affairs with enormous poor populations. Only three noble characters are portrayed sympathetically. Particularly monstrous is the so-called Amusement War in the demi-city of Salon Corbeau, a sort of living chess game played for galleries of rich merchants and nobles using impoverished and desperate peasants who volunteer in exchange for a pittance of money and room and board. Whenever a "piece" is captured, he or she is subjected to whatever ghastly punishments the players desire- torture, beatings, stoning, rape, anything short of killing them deliberately - and none of the aristocrats see anything wrong about this.
- There's also mention of a noblewoman who Gentled (reduced to mindless husks wholly devoid of their own volition who have to be prodded to eat, excrete, or move) kittens so her sons could torture them with knives, because they were bored.

Most of The Talisman's aristocrats in the Territories are either evil or cowed into submission. The worst is Morgan of Orris and those working directly for him.
Almost all literary vampires of the 19th century were aristocrats, as demonstrated by the already mentioned Lord Ruthven of John Polidori's The Vampyre, Sir Francis Varney of Varney the Vampire, Countess Carmilla Karnstein and Count Dracula. This trope has a modern successor — after the privileges of the nobility have been abolished and the elites are now comprised of a wealthy burgeois upper-class, vampires now tend to be filthy rich rather than aristocratic. Both tropes play on the symbolic connection between literal blood-sucking and the parasitic way of life of an (assumed) real-life idle class which does not by support itself by its own efforts, but by exploiting other people.
The United States in Trail Of Glory does not have titled aristocracy given the setting, but many plantation owners with slaves in the antebellum south demonstrate just about all the features related to this trope.

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