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Horns of Villainy

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One very noticeable way to show that a character either is evil or has turned evil is to give them horns, or sometimes antlers. While size, shape, and count don't always matter, when one or more of those factors is emphasized, it enhances the apparent nastiness of the character. This can also give the character a more beastly, animalistic, or demonic appearance and/or character.

With Evil Counterparts, this generally shows up in two ways. If the good character is divine or divinely-themed, the counterpart will have horns that give a devil- or demon-like aspect. If the good character already has one or more horns, then the counterpart's horns will be a deformed or mutated version of them.

Evil Horned Humanoids, Horny Vikings, and Big Red Devils can fall under this. Often a feature of Scary Impractical Armor. A Crown of Horns can fall into this depending on the design. Possibly a side effect of receiving a Mark of the Beast or being Claimed by the Supernatural if the latter is malevolent in nature. This is one possible way a Red Right Hand can manifest.

Cuckold Horns are something else entirely. Devilish Hair Horns are a symbolic version.

Sister Trope to Spikes of Villainy and Horns of Barbarism, with which this does not necessarily have to coincide. Can overlap with Sinister Deer Skull due to the antler imagery. Contrast Holy Halo.


Examples:

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    Anime and Manga 
  • Dragon Ball Z: Frieza's whole race have horns. Every member seen so far (outside of some of the video games) has been a sadistic conqueror.
  • My Monster Secret:
    • Akane is more The Gadfly than truly evil, but is still a demon nonetheless. She is never seen without her horns, even when she's using her illusions to make herself look like someone else. The horns also appear on any people (or meteors) that she's using her powers to control. It's also true in a literal sense, as when one of her horns gets broken, she becomes incredibly nice and supportive, which just freaks out the rest of the cast even more.
    • Fallen Angel Shirogane Karen tries to invoke this trope by wearing a set of fake, detachable horns to make her look more evil. In actuality, she isn't any more evil than when she was a proper angel.
  • In One Piece, most members of the Animal Kingdom pirates have a pair of horns (excepting Queen, the Waiters, allied captains, and maybe King depending on what's under his coat). For most of them, it seems to be just headgear that denotes their allegiance and rank (the low-ranked Pleasures have one white horn, while Gifters and above have two black horns), but some of them seem to be real- Luffy is able to grab Ulti by hers.
  • One-Punch Man: Gyoro Gyoro notes that a crown of horns was the first trait "Monster King" Orochi manifested upon becoming a monster.
  • Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: The Demon sisters Scanty and Kneesocks, the main characters' Evil Counterparts, have horns. Scanty has bilateral horns amid her tresses, while Kneesocks has a single horn amid her forelocks. Their horns go well with their spaded tails and red skin. In Daten City, however, this is an Unusually Uninteresting Sight, and their superior, Corset, has no horns.
  • In Ranma ½, Kasumi sprouted tiny horns while possessed by a demon.
  • In Seven Mortal Sins, horns are said to be the mark of a Demon Lord. After losing her wings, Lucifer sprouts horns to complete her transformation from an Archangel, to a Fallen Angel, and finally to the Demon Lord of Pride. However, they are Affably Evil at worst and presented as the better alternative since God Is Evil and views humanity as a failed project to be purged.
  • In Tamagotchi, Spacytchi, who wants to take control of Tamagotchi Planet along with his brothers, is portrayed as an antagonist. In all his appearances in the anime, the original digital pets, and the other franchise installments, he has horns protruding from the sides of his head.
  • Voltes V: The noble class of Planet Boazania are horned, and use them as an excuse to deem the hornless Boazanians as inferior. The cruelty towards the hornless Boazanians is so pervasive that when the Prince of Boazania is born with no horns, his father attempts filicide on him and has to be held back by his wife, the doctor that delivered the baby and his personal messenger. He agrees to spare the child...and raise him with prosthetic horns so that he won't be subject to societal Fantastic Racism.
  • The Voynich Hotel: The devils all have horns and, when they're not causing general mischief, are after people's souls. Ashkelon has one in the middle of his forehead, Holon has two that give him the stereotypical "goat-horned devil" look, and Demona has two that curl downward like a laurel wreath.
  • Wish Upon the Pleiades: Minato during the time he spends opposing the girls. In the web series he gets the look through his hairstyle. In the anime he gets actual horns.
  • Yaiba: Horns grow on Takeshi Onimaru's forehead when he becomes a demon.

    Comic Books 
  • In his demonic form, Aquaman's nemesis Black Manta had an impressive set of demonic horns.
  • Hellboy: Subverted by Hellboy, who is a demon with two large horns on his forehead. However, symbolizing his status as an Anti Anti Christ, he sawed them off and keeps them filed down. In one case, they're made to grow back, but he snaps them off and stabs a demon with them.
  • Klaus (Grant Morrison): Krampus, a sadistic child killer, has a pair of long, antelope-like horns sprouting from his skull.
  • In The Mighty Thor, Loki invokes this imagery with the long, curved horn-like extensions on the brow of his helm. This carries over to the film adaptation.
  • In Red Daughter of Krypton, Supergirl's enemy demon Blaze has a pair of long, curved ibex-like horns sprouting from her forehead. Likewise, the Diasporans are an alien race of genocidal invaders whose heads sport two pairs of ram horns.
  • Wonder Woman:
    • He may change some elements over time but Ares' helmet is horned, usually with four horns, even in his Mars personality where he wears red and orange instead of his traditional black and blue. His helmet is just as much a part of him as anything else he bothers to materialize for a body.
    • Wonder Woman (1942): The sadistic Emperor of Saturn has devil-like horns, which the rest of his people lack.

    Fan Works 
  • Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): Zig-Zagged. Both good characters (Vivienne, Rodan, Manda's benevolent kind, and even the ram-horned Thor) and bad characters (Ghidorah, the Many's Dracolich form, MaNi/Elder Brother) have horns, with the only real connection amongst all of them being that they're all either Titans or creatures on a near-Titan level of power.
  • Vow of Nudity: The Horned Queen is a terrifying fey who rules the Faewilds, and in one story Spectra is forced to team up with several characters all fleeing her and her forces for various reasons.

    Film — Animated 
  • The Curse of the Were-Rabbit: Invoked and parodied. During the meeting of the towns' citizens in regard to how to deal with the creature that has been seen around their town, just before Lady Tottington makes an address, Lord Victor Quartermaine is shown with two pairs of spikes that are behind his head that gives him an appearance of having devilish horns. In addition, Tottington has an angel sculpture behind her which gives her the appearance of having wings.
  • Disney:
    • The Black Cauldron: The Horned King's most notable feature is the one he is named after. He's a terrifying lich Evil Overlord who tries to use a demonic artifact to conquer the world by killing the living. The animators felt that his appearance would make him a more distinctive villain than Arawn from the Prydain books, the Big Bad to whom he was The Dragon.
    • Sleeping Beauty: Maleficent plays this trope completely straight, in contrast to her portrayal in Maleficent, although it's never revealed if her horns are real or simply a part of her headdress. She even calls herself "The Mistress of All Evil" and curses Princess Aurora for no reason other than not being invited to a party (although it's implied she was evil even before then). During the climactic battle, she turns into a horned dragon.
  • Home (2015): Captain Smek has appendages shaped like horns, which go perfectly which his devilish nature and status as the Big Bad to Tip and Oh. By comparison, other Boov have them curled up.
  • In The LEGO Movie, Lord Business, a rather deliberately Card-Carrying Evil Overlord, wears a big helmet adorned with such horns... which have coffee mugs on top.

    Film — Live-Action 
  • Babysitter Wanted (2008): Sam, as the young son of Satan (maybe), has two small horn nubs on the top of his head.
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): Ghidorah has ten horns crowning each of his three heads, while Rodan has two horn-like crests curving out the back of his head: the one with more horns of them is an Omnicidal Maniac who's actively malevolent to an extent far beyond any of the previous monsters, while the other with less horns is ferociously territorial and becomes Ghidorah's Dragon, but still isn't as evil as Ghidorah when acting on his own. In the novelization's expansion, Mokele-Mbembe has a single horn curving from his head in addition to his tusks, and once he's bent to Ghidorah's will, he eats a Monarch operative alive whilst annihilating the Monarch outpost around him and looking to rampage in Ghidorah's name.
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: Mola Ram's Crown of Horns invokes this. It's made from a cow's skull, which is blasphemous in Hinduism (a religion that reveres cattle), just to hammer home the point that Mola Ram "betrayed Shiva."
  • In Legend (1985), the demon Darkness has a massive pair of horns.
  • The Lord of the Rings: While its description in the books is rather vague, the movies' Balrog has a fiery devil-like appearance and massive ram-like horns.
  • Maleficent: Subverted. The early trailers and teasers revealed that Maleficent actually did have horns, but still portrayed her as sinister. The movie, however, portrays her as angry and vengeful instead of the outright evil of her original incarnation, and ultimately redeemed by the end.
  • The killer in The Mansion sports a set of antlers, in line with the hunting motif.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • Thor and The Avengers: Loki wears a helmet decorated with two long devilish horns and is the films' Big Bad.
    • Thor: Ragnarok:
      • Surtur looks like a classic devil and his crown is decorated with two horns. Please, don't mistake them for the eyebrows.
      • Hela's hairdress is decorated with a multitude of horns. She uses them as projectiles in battle.
  • Star Wars: The distinguishing feature of the Zabrak race is short, curved horns on the head, usually at the temples and around the crown. In the case of Darth Maul, combined with his Sith tattoos, this makes his appearance even more sinister.

    Literature 
  • In Ape And Essence, horns are the unholy symbol of Hollywood Satanism. "May you never be impaled upon His Horns" is their good-luck proverb.
  • The Beginning After the End: Agrona and the Vritra all sport horns that contain the source of their magical power. Given that the Vritra are a clan of Evilutionary Biologists who have experimented on the population of Alacrya for millennia, a tell-tale sign of their corruptive influence is the presence of the same horns of power on other living beings and creatures. In fact, the horns are so symbolic of the Vritra that the the phrase "Vritra's Horns" is a common swear in Alacryan society. However, having Vritra blood does not entail that one is Always Chaotic Evil, as there are a few such characters who are either heroic or at the very least oppose the Vritra such as Seris Vritra, her retainer Cylrit, her protégé Caera Denoir, and Sylvie, the daughter of Agrona himself.
  • The Chronicles of Prydain: The Horned King is a voiceless person who wears a skull with horns on it. He serves as The Dragon to Arawn Death-Lord.
  • Diamond Dogs. When Childe first turns up to recruit his childhood friend Richard for an expedition to break into an Evil Tower of Ominousness, Richard notes that he's replaced his satanic horns (this is in a future where body modification isn't unusual) with a Beard of Evil. Apart from establishing Childe's villainy, it also serves as a Chekhov's Gun when someone finds a horn among the remains of a previous failed expedition that have been dumped outside the tower, revealing that the real Childe is dead.
  • Epithet Erased: Prison of Plastic: Giovanni Potage, a self-proclaimed villain, gets a pair of tall horns when he’s in his gargoyle form. He thinks they’re incredibly cool.
  • In The Obsidian Trilogy, the demons have large, prominent horns. Subverted, however, with the half-demon character Vestakia, who has small horns but is very definitely one of the good guys.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In Babylon 5, Ambassador Kosh has little stylized wings on the shoulders of his encounter suit. Rather than wings, his replacement has curved tubes that resemble horns — and, sure enough, turns out to be much less affable.
  • Lampshaded in the classic Doctor Who story, "The Dæmons".
    Miss Hawthorne: Horns have been a symbol of power ever since—
    Doctor: Ever since man began? Exactly. But why?
  • The Dukes of Hazzard: Though the villainous Boss Hogg has no horns on his head, his 1970 Cadillac de Ville has a pair of Texas longhorn horns as a hood ornament, suiting Hogg's ornery, bullish character perfectly.
  • Game of Thrones: While they're not true horns, the Night King's head has several icy spikes protruding from his forehead and the crown of his head, giving him an appearance similar to Darth Maul.
  • Sherlock: In Series 3, Mary's true past as an assassin is hinted at when she is positioned in front of an animal head mounted on the wall of Sherlock's apartment, giving her the appearance of being horned.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power:
    • The Balrog of Moria qualifies for having exactly same design as the cinematic trilogy.
    • Sauron's spikey helmet makes him looks like he has horns.

    Music 
  • Anthrax: The album art for Among the Living features a man in the crowd removing his hat. If you look closely, you'll see horns, and given the lyrics of the title track, he's likely up to no good.
  • Ghost plays rock with distinctly Satanic themes. Its musicians, the Nameless Ghouls, wore horned devil masks during the Meliora and Prequelle eras.

    Religion and Mythology 
  • The Bible:
    • The Trope Codifier is usually Satan, who is always depicted with horns unless masquerading as someone else. This image is derived from various goat/man hybrids in Classical Mythology, such as fauns, satyrs, and the god Pan, who were incarnations of lust; thus, in traditional art Satan is also shown with hooves and a tail, though this aspect is somewhat less common today. Over time Satan's horns have evolved in artwork from curly goat horns to longer cow- or ram-like horns, and these are so iconic that they are even now primary indicators of all demons, or of a Satanic Archetype or a Big Red Devil.
    • Inverted in the case of many statues of Moses that have horns (a failed attempt to simulate light coming from his forehead), due to a mistranslation that turned "radiant" (after speaking with God) into "horned".
  • In Greek Mythology, the minotaur was a Half-Human Hybrid with the body of a muscular human and the head of an ox, complete with horns. The minotaur was temperamental and murderous, so King Minos of Crete hired Daedalus to construct a labyrinth around the creature.
  • As with the Greek god Pan, the image of Satan as horned was reinforced by adapting the Celtic fertility god Cernunnos (in his English aspect, Herne the Hunter) as an archetype for Satan. To Celts, stag's horns symbolised fertility and the male principle: to the supplanting Christians, they were a mark of evil. Herne the Hunter still walks in English folklore in aspects as varied as The Green Man of the Woods and as Odin, Lord of the Wild Hunt who ride the skies during thunderstorms.
  • In Native North American circles:
    • Many nations had shamans who adopted horned headwear, such as the bison horns of the Lakota and Dakota, or the pronghorn-tipped ceremonial headgear of the Apache. For white people steeped in Christianity, it wasn't a stretch to demonise Indigenous people by claiming such accoutrements made them devil-worshipers.
    • Folklore of the Algonquin-speaking nations has sometimes described the iconic Wendigo as having antlers and a deer head.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Dungeons & Dragons:
    • Forgotten Realms:
      • The Crown of Horns is an Artifact of Doom that holds part of the deceased death god Myrkul's essence, and tends to drive the wearer to evil (or in the case of Laeral Silverhand, insanity).
      • Beshaba, goddess of bad luck, misfortune, and accidents, employs as symbol a pair of black deer horns and some fanart represents her with them.
    • The 3E supplement Faiths and Pantheons introduced a Prestige Class called the Horned Harbinger, a servant of Myrkul who grows horns as part of their class progression.
  • Magic: The Gathering has Nicol Bolas, a planeswalking elder dragon legend of tremendous power, with a focus on tyranny and cruelty. Not only does he have immense sinister horns, he uses them as his sigil, to the point where the plane he rules, Amonkhet, treats them as a religious icon.
  • Pathfinder, like its parent D&D, gives horns to many of the evil outsiders (and almost none of the neutral or good ones, except for a few antlered celestials). They're most common among the Lawful Evil devils, but some of the Chaotic Evil demons and Neutral Evil daemons get in on the act too.
  • Warhammer:
  • Warhammer 40,000:
    • Just like its parent game, horns are a signature feature of Chaos:
      • The helmets of Chaos Space Marines often sport horns of various lengths and shapes, with Ahzek Ahriman of the Thousand Sons and Kranon the Relentless of the Crimson Slaughter bearing two of the most extravagant examples. While Ahriman's are simply ornamental, Kranon's are the Slaughterer's Horns, which give him several melee combat-specific rules in the game.
      • The helmets of Loyalist suits of Terminator armor already resemble the skulls of wild pigs or elephants, but Chaos Terminators like to step this up by mounting one or more pairs of long tusk-like horns on them.
      • Most daemons have horns, with the general exception being daemons of Tzeentch. Khornate and Slaaneshi daemons' horns are fairly typical in appearance, while Nurglite daemons' horns tend to be warped, heavily forked and antler-like.
      • Magnus the Red sported long horns on his armor, but after turning to Tzeentch and becoming a Daemon Primarch, he gained a pair of huge horns on his brow as well.
      • Related to Magnus and the Thousand Sons: the planet they use as their base of operations, called the Planet of Sorcerers, has a native population of horned avian Beastmen called Tzaangors who are employed by the Legion as foot soldiers and guards due to the Legion's relatively low manpower.
    • Subverted by the Black Dragons Space Marine chapter. A mutation in their Ossmodula organnote  causes them to not only develop their signature arm spikes, but gives some bony horn-like growths on their heads. Since the Imperium is very hostile toward body-distorting mutations like this, the Inquisition and many other Astartes chapters treat them with anything from suspicion to revulsion, but they are fiercely loyal to the Imperium.

    Video Games 
  • Astyanax: The Big Bad Blackhorn sports a menacing horned helmet.
  • Bendy and the Ink Machine: Joey Drew Studios used to produce cartoons, and their main character, Bendy the Dancing Demon, has horns to make him look like... well a demon. However, his 3D counterpart, "Bendy", who is the main antagonist of the game, has horns that are longer and more uneven.
  • Dare to Dream: Big Bad Christian, when he is finally encountered, is a horned skeletal thing.
  • Dark Souls: Many demons are horned, naturally. The guy with the biggest set of horns however is Manus, final boss of the Artorias of the Abyss DLC, who has an utterly massive set growing out of his head and upper back. Making it worse, they are covered in glowing red eyes. As if the guy needed to be any more Obviously Evil.
  • Diablo: Demons, being a race of random Hybrid Monsters, may or may not have horns, but the three Prime Evils that rule them always do; these are combined with other Spikes of Villainy that makes it difficult to count them.
  • Doom: The hellspawn sport horns, and the bigger the horns, the more hurt they can put on the player's character. There are horns on the imps, the demons, the cacodemons, the Hell Knights, the Hell Barons, and the biggest horns of all are on the Cyberdemon, who'll gladly shoot rockets up your nose if you're not careful.
  • Dragon Quest V features an ancient giant demon called Bjorn the Behemoose. Two long, curvy mountain goat horns sprout from both sides of his head.
  • 8Bit Killer: Every human enemy is equipped with a face-concealing helmet adorned with horns.
  • Evolve: The Meteor Goliath adaptation gains a pair of large horns to help distinguish it from the original version.
  • Fable: The Character Model Karma Meter has the Hero grow devil-like horns as he becomes solidly Evil.
  • Final Fantasy VIII: Sorceress Ultimecia, the Big Bad , has a pair of horns, though it's unclear whether they are real or fake (the sorceresses are known for both strange mutations and horrible fashion sense).
  • Honkai Impact 3rd:
    • The Affably Evil Valkyrie Rita Rossweisse invokes this when wearing her Umbral Rose battlesuit, as it includes a hairband with two curved horn-like extensions.
    • When Fu Hua appears to come back to life after being shot to death, one visual sign that something isn't right is that her Fenghuang Down Divine Key, rather than taking on the form of a simple hairband, is now a crescent-shaped decoration that, when looking at her face-on, gives her the impression of having a horn coming out of the right side of her head that constantly emits red and black "flames". Later, it's revealed that it's not actually Fu Hua, but the Herscherr of Sentience that's taken over her body.
    • Subverted by Raiden Mei after she becomes the Herscherr of Lightning again. While she can appear as a normal human, when she assumes the form of the Herscherr, the transformation causes her to grow long, curved horns from her forehead that give her a very oni-like appearance. However, rather than becoming evil, her personality has simply become much more cold, aloof, and dour, partly due to the increased influence of the Honkai but also due to her sadness over abandoning her friends, especially Kiana, in order to save Kiana's life.
  • The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night: Gaul, the King of the Apes and the game's primary villain, wears a metal helmet adorned with a massive pair of horns.
  • Nexus War: Most Demons in Nexus Clash do not have horns, except for the Dark Oppressors who have them as a mark of their rank and status in Stygia.
  • Ori and the Will of the Wisps: Corrupted Gorleks sport antelope-like horns, and the Big Bad, Shriek, wears a horned skull as a mask/helmet.
  • Super Mario Bros.: Bowser has two small ox-like horns, as he was originally intended to be an ox before Nintendo changed him into a beast with the features of a turtle, a dragon and an ox due to the Fridge Logic of an ox leading a kingdom of turtles. Bowser's son Bowser Jr. also has horns, but they are just starting to grow out. Bowser and his son are also notably the only koopa who have horns, which, in a sense, signifies their respective statuses as the King of the Koopas and Prince of the Koopas. In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Bowser can boost his Horn stat in order to improve his chances to earn critical hits and get a better scratch card, similar to the Mario Bros. mustaches.
  • Undertale:
    • Subverted by King Asgore, who has oversized demonic horns, looks intimidating when framed in shadow, and is first mentioned to you in all caps and blood-red letters, but is actually a really nice and friendly guy who loves gardening and is adored by all his subjects. While he ultimately does try to kill you, it's made clear that he really, really doesn't want to, and is only doing so because he believes he has no choice.
    • Played straight by his son Asriel, who after absorbing all of the monster souls in the Underground, ages himself up to a form that includes similarly demonic-looking horns.
  • Warcraft:
    • Illidan Stormrage is a night elf demon hunter, who took the He Who Fights Monsters path and became a demonic being himself, gaining horns and bat-like wings during the process. His followers, the Illidari, also sport horns as they underwent the same ritual as he did to become demon hunters. Ultimately, Illidan and his followers are a Subversion as while they did sometimes act in an antagonistic manner, in the end they help lead the fight against Sargeras and the Burning Legion with Illidan himself becoming Sargeras's jailer.
    • Played straight with several demon races in the Burning Legion, such as the imps, felhounds, and Nathrezim (Dreadlords). The Man'ari Eredar also sport horns (even some of the males, when in the case of the uncorrupted Draenei Eredar only the females have horns). And of course, Sargeras himself sports massive horns, which befits his nature as the resident Satanic Archetype.

    Webcomics 
  • Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Haruls who dabble in magic tend to grow horns as the magic's corrupting effect reveals their half-demon ancestry.
  • El Goonish Shive: In the "Parable" storyline, which is a spoof of Fable, horns are used as part of a demon-based Character Model Karma Meter of Evil Morality, and as its symbol for when that has been achieved.
  • Heartcore: All of the demons have horns and are evil by nature, but some demons like Ame subvert this by being not-entirely-evil.
  • I'm the Grim Reaper: Satan, being Satan, naturally has ominous horns that are modeled off a specific species of goat.
  • Sinfest: When someone is BOMF-ed into a devil character, they gain short conical horns on the forehead as part of the transformation. The devil girls have these all the time, as does Slick's devil side.

    Western Animation 
  • Adventure Time: The Lich has twisted ram-like horns, with one broken off to emphasize how he embodies destruction and corruption. He retains the horn after being "brought back to life" in "Escape from the Citadel" as a giant toddler and adopted by Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig as their son, Sweet P.
  • Centaurworld: The Big Bad of the series introduced in the season one finale, the "Nowhere King" is a hideous abomination with not just horns, but a deer's skull for a head, along with a body made of Ominous Obsidian Ooze; he turns out to be the master of the armies of minotaurs threatening Horse and Rider's world, and eventually Centaurworld as well. He's also implied to be a former denizen of Centaurworld who was somehow corrupted by black magic, which explains his animalistic appearance.
  • In Gargoyles, most of the Gargoyles subvert the trope; their horns range from noticeable ones such as Brooklyn's to stubbier ones like Goliath's, but they are kind-hearted, altruistic figures despite their seemingly demonic appearance. There are some who are motivated by malevolent goals (e.g. Demona, Thailog, and Coldsteel), but they are shown to be a minority.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • While horns on unicorns are common, Queen Chrysalis' large, twisted horn signifies her monstrous nature and power-mad desire to overrun Equestria by force, guile or both.
    • Likewise, the wickedly-curved, almost scimitar-like horn of King Sombra reflects his merciless and warlike nature.
  • Over the Garden Wall: The Beast has branch-like antlers, and is a cruel being who lurks in the shadowy woods of the Unknown, waiting to prey on lost souls.
  • The Owl House: Emperor Belos, the tyrannical ruler of the Boiling Isles who seeks to subjugate "wild magic" and all who practice it, wears a golden mask with antlers on it. His monstrous sludge form has a pair of horns that are similar to the ones on his mask. While possessing Hunter, he gains dark green horns on his head.
  • Samurai Jack: Aku has a pretty impressive set of these that resemble deer antlers or a shogun's helmet. Because Aku's "base" form is based off a tree, they are probably best likened to a set of tree branches. Statutes and tributes to Aku usually have these prominently displayed. When the Daughters Of Aku, who were raised in isolation to worship him, see a random stag in the wild, they assume it's one of Aku's servants, and are quite perplexed when it winds up snuggling noses with a doe.

    Real Life 
  • There is a Persian legend that Alexander the Great had two horns because he was a devil.
  • This myth has also often been applied to the entire Jewish population in antisemitic caricatures.
  • Anti-Mormon literature also once depicted members of the faith as having horns, and many members in the modern Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints joke regularly about that misconception now.
  • The Horny Vikings trope is based on the mistaken belief that Vikings wore horned helmets to enhance their fearsome image as they went on raids or into battle as berserkers.


 
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The Boazanians have a laugh

The Boazanians are a group of aliens that want to take over the Earth. Each time, they're thwarted by the Super Robot Voltes V, so Zuhl comes up with a plan to manipulate its pilots using their love for their father. Unfortunately, everyone laughs at Zuhl for his plan.

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