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Evil Eyebrows

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Yep, these guys are baaaad.note 

Nothing says "villain" more than a pair of dark, high-arching eyebrows!

It doesn't matter if a villain is smiling, laughing, crying, or frowning, Evil Eyebrows will remain at a permanently high arch on his or her forehead, giving the character a constant expression of menace or disdain.

Evil Eyebrows are usually darker and curve higher than any other character's eyebrows. The level of thickness varies—if the hero has thick eyebrows, the villain usually has razor thin ones to counter this. But if the hero has thin eyebrows, the villain's will usually be thicker than the fuzziest of caterpillars. Either way, they will still have the trademark "evil arch" that every bad guy seems to be born with.

Will sometimes have a scar crossing through one of the eyebrows to emphasize the evil.

Note: Please limit examples to evil characters with high-arching eyebrows. For evil characters with big or fuzzy eyebrows (that aren't arched), please add to Big Ol' Eyebrows or Angry Eyebrows.

Usually related to Unusual Eyebrows and Big Ol' Eyebrows. Frequently paired with Excessive Evil Eyeshadow.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • Vicious from Cowboy Bebop definitely has these.
  • Hiruma of Eyeshield 21 probably has these on purpose, given how genre savvy he is.
  • Subverted as Sasako from Shirokuma Cafe is so sweet, that it starts to annoy her when people point out that that she still smiles even when she tries to be angry. So she decides to wear fake evil eyebrows to let people know when she's angry. It fails.
  • Dio Brando from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. This is especially noticeable after he drains Joseph's blood, as seen here.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury: Big Jerk on Campus Guel Jeturk has a perpetually furrowed brow that arches his eyebrows like this. After going through the Trauma Conga Line and becoming a kinder person, his expression softens and his eyebrows grow more level.

    Comic Books 

    Comic Strips 

    Films — Animation 

    Films — Live-Action 

    Literature 
  • Lord Vetinari from the Discworld books is able to terrify people just by raising his eyebrow.
  • The Grandmother: The rifleman who stalked and eventually seduced Viktorka had big, arched black eyebrows like a raven's wings, which are joined in the middle, which only serve to accentuate his ominous eyes.
  • Snape from Harry Potter is often described as arching his eyebrows, and is a former Death Eater and current Sadist Teacher. He's played in the films, naturally enough, by the master of evil-eyebrow-raising, Alan Rickman. After a lot of uncertainty about his true allegiance, he ends up being a Nominal Hero.
  • Queen Etheldredda from Septimus Heap, to the point that she even uses them to express a face of permanent disapproval.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Game of Thrones: Along with her constant smirking, Cersei also usually has one or both eyebrows raised. They don't match her hair colour, which by contrast makes them all the more sinister.
  • Robbie Rotten from LazyTown has thick, arched eyebrows to emphasize that he is, in fact, the villain.
  • Sylar from Heroes has very impressive and thick eyebrows that are more of the "low and menacing" variety. He is far from nice.
  • Subverted with Mr. Spock. Though Dr. McCoy often lampshaded that his high eyebrows, pointed ears, and green-tinted complexion made him look satanic.
  • Star Trek: Voyager. Homaged with Dr Chaotica, the Ming the Merciless expy in the holodeck program The Adventures of Captain Proton
  • After Uncle Leo gets his eyebrows singed off in Seinfeld, Elaine draws some crude ones in place. They look so sinister that a doctor starts to interpret everything Leo says as being laced with anger and hostility.
  • In the telenovela Tres Veces Ana, Angélique Boyer plays triplets: Ana Laura- The Ingenue, Ana Lucia- the Fiery Redhead and Ana Leticia- the Femme Fatale. Ana Laura and Ana Lucia have rounded natural eyebrows, while Ana Letitia has visible arched longer eyebrows. Of course that she is the Big Bad of the telenovela.

    Pinballs 

    Pro Wrestling 
  • Ox Baker had unusually thick, black pointed eyebrows.
  • Sara Del Rey is prone to painting on a second set of eye brows when she's in "Forget athletic competition, I just want to hurt someone." mode and yes, she does often pair this look with excessive evil eyeshadow.

    Theatre 
  • In Gounod's Faust, Mephistopheles gives probably the oldest example of trope on this page, along with Beard of Evil goatee, Evil Bass and Evil Laugh (the most known theatrical features of this high ranked demon, along with high and skinny figure kept from Goethe tragedy.

    Video Games 

    Web Comics 
  • Hooky: Hans and Hilde Wytte, respectively father and aunt of the protagonists and powerful witches that seek to establish the rule of witches over normal people out of revenge, both have high, thin, slanted eyebrows.
  • Pixie and Brutus: In one strip where Brutus tries to teach Pixie self-defense, he draws heavy, slanted eyebrows on a teddy bear before the lesson to make it look more menacing.

    Western Animation 


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