History Main / SlouchOfVillainy

* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'', Joffrey slouches on the Iron Throne after he becomes king. Like many other things he does, this only makes him look StupidEvil rather than villainous. Note that in the books, the Iron Throne was designed in such a way that it was impossible to slouch while sitting on it without having old rusty blades stuck in your ribs; Joffrey managed to do so somehow. In the commentaries, it was explained that the actor makes this position because the Iron Throne is VERY uncomfortable, and with all the time he spends on it, he found a way to sit in a way that made it more manageable.

** In ''[[UpdatedRerelease Ultimate]]'', Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} does this in the Shadowland stage. Since he was evil and the leader of The Hand at the time.

* Algol does this in ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Calibur 4]]''. Not only does he rise from his throne in the cutscene that precedes his battles, but he also uses it in battle - he teleports in it, kicks enemies from it in a certain combo, and, amusingly, occasionally puts his opponent in it. His Critical Finish ends with him striking the pose seen in the above image after he smashes his opponent with his throne from above.

*** The second hit of damages comes when he crosses one leg over the other.

* In ''Anime/AttackOnTitan'', the King Fritz is seen like this, leaning his chin on his fist and staring coldly ahead. In particular, he gets a lot of focus slumped on his throne during Erwin Smith's KangarooCourt trial. [[spoiler:Then we find out it's a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]]; he's a puppet king being controlled by Lord Reiss, the true king. Fritz is just a senile old man who sleeps with his eyes open]].

* In ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', Ken-oh, Souther and [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Uighur/Wigul/Wiggle]] show that anime villains have a proud tradition of slouching villainously.
* ''Manga/FrierenBeyondJourneysEnd'': Serie is frequently shown to slouch on her throne, which in the first intro is combined with her FaceFramedInShadow and sporting a sinister grin to present her in an antagonistic light. While not actually evil, she is a massive {{Jerkass}} whose philosophy revolves around MightMakesRight and has deemed most of her disciples as failures. This put her at odds with her first disciple Flamme and in turn her own disciple Frieren, whose philosophy is more down-to-earth and humble. Not to mention she does act in an antagonistic capacity towards the end of the first season all out of her disdain for Frieren.

** Perhaps the greatest Gundam example of all: [[ManOfWealthAndTaste Prime Minister Wong]] from ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam''. The sprawls he executes in his flying pimp throne are magnificent.

* ''Literature/TheBeginningAfterTheEnd'': Kezess Indrath, the TopGod of the setting and Sylvie's grandfather, is introduced slouching on his throne when Arthur and Sylvie are brought before him. His ensuing interaction with Arthur reveals him to be a massive {{Jerkass}} towards lessers like him, although he does treat Sylvie with care given her blood ties to him. Ultimately, [[spoiler:Kezess turns out to be a far worse individual than what his first impression suggests, as Arthur learns that he is a genocidal tyrant whose past actions were what led to the DivineConflict]].

* Algol does this in ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Calibur 4]]''. Not only does he rise from his throne in the cutscene that precedes his battles, but he also uses it in battle - he teleports in it, kicks enemies from it in a certain combo, and, amusingly, occasionally puts his opponent in it.

* ''Literature/NightfallSeries'': Tristan casually sitting sideways on Prince Vladimir's throne when he receives Myra.
* Chris Hart talks about the distinction between Hero posture and Villain posture in one of his "how to draw super heroes and villains" books. He points out that Heroes have confidence and have nothing to hide; they stand upright and secure, well balanced. Villains are beset with inner turmoil and constantly trying to protect themselves, mistrusting the world. This even applies when they turn to react to some surprise or threat - the Hero turns with a straightening-up motion, ready to face whatever it is, whereas the Villain turns in a bowed-over fashion, already protecting his middle. Oh, and he even goes on to show the change from a GranolaGirl Heroine to a super-villainess.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Jaime Lannister sprawls onto the Iron Throne moments after killing King Aerys. In doing so, he causes the honorable Ned Stark to conclude that he's a villain. [[spoiler:It turns out he's just exhausted from all the fighting and wasn't really thinking about the symbolism when he sat down.]] Taking after Jaime, Joffrey Baratheon has a tendency to slouch boredly in his throne, though doing so is dangerous while not wearing armor because the throne is made of blades (which is the whole point, [[TheChainsOfCommanding as you shouldn't be comfortable as a king]]).
* Adam of ''Literature/GoodOmens.'' [[spoiler: Subverted in that it turns out that it wasn't a slouch of Anti-Christ, it was a slouch of (thankfully neutral) Pre-Teen.]]
* Done in ''Literature/TheTalisman'' by Creator/StephenKing and Peter Straub. Sonny Singer from the Sunlight Home does this, or tries to. Jack isn't impressed and believes Singer is just trying to imitate Sunlight Gardener.
* [[Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire Prince Xizor]], the head of the criminal syndicate Black Sun, spends a lot of time lounging in a chair that strengthens his muscles for him, in stark contrast to his rival for the Emperor's time, Darth Vader, who spends accompanying scenes [[KingpinInHisGym training on custom lightsaber-wielding droids]].
* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' often describes powerful characters slouching in their seats or thrones, with one leg slung over the armrest. Rand in particular does this. Though he's the hero, he's also got a lot of inner demons. He also grew up as a shepherd.
* [[Literature/HarryPotter Draco Malfoy]] does this in canon. This is exaggerated in fandom and taken to its logical extreme in ''Theatre/AVeryPotterMusical''.

* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' book ''The Emperor's Mercy'', [[BigBad Chaos Warlord Khorsabaad Maw]] slouches across a palanquin born aloft by his personal honour guard [[OrcusOnHisThrone for the entirety of a Chaos Campaign]]. [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown And when he gets off the throne...]]
* ''Literature/WillInScarlet:'' Tom Crooked's nickname comes from his ruthless and untrustworthy nature, but when John comments that Crooked didn't get his nickname because of his bad posture, he says it in a way indicating that Crooked does, in fact, have bad posture.
* Lestat from ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'' actively prides himself on his slouch, as in this passage from ''Memnoch the Devil'': "David saw me at once--a slouching, blond, long-haired youth, bronze face and hands, the usual deep violet sunglasses over my eyes, hair presentably combed for once, body tricked out in a dark-blue, double-breasted Brooks Brothers suit."
* The villainous Major Esterhazy from ''Literature/AnOfficerAndASpy'' is introduced doing some epic slouching in a seedy bar:
--> Major Esterhazy reclines with his chair pushed well back from the table, his tunic unbottoned, his pelvis thrust forward, his arms hanging down either side almost to the floor; in his right hand he holds casually at an angle, as if barely worth considering, a glass of champagne.

* In ''Anime/AttackOnTitan'', the King Fritz is seen like this, leaning his chin on his fist and staring coldly ahead. In particular, he gets a lot of focus slumped on his throne during Erwin Smith's KangarooCourt trial. [[spoiler:Then we find out it's a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]]; he's a puppet king being controlled by Lord Reiss, the true king. Fritz is just a senile old man who sleeps with his eyes open.]]

* Mello in ''Manga/DeathNote'' always sits that way.
** Plus, Light, early on, has a weird habit of sitting backwards on his office chair, staring over the back of it. He grows out of it.
** HeroAntagonist L has what could be called a Crouch of Heroism. He never sits normally in a chair.
* Aizen from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' sits this way in [[SupervillainLair Las Noches]].
** The #2 Espada, Baraggan Luisenbarn, also sits like this to fit his "king" motif.
** The rare occasions we see him sitting down, Grimmjow is usually slouching or otherwise very casual.
** [[spoiler:Yhwach]] is introduced sitting like this, while casually [[BadBoss blowing up some of his subordinates.]]
* Akio of ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' can do this on a quickly moving car. Yes, on. As in, on the hood. And he's driving.
* Haman Karn from ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' is often depicted in TheMerch as slouching on a throne.
* Also spoofed (possibly crossed with LeaningOnTheFurniture) in the original SD Gundam shorts (not to be confused with ''Anime/SDGundamForce''): In one short, involving hotels, Char attacks Amuro, Kamille, and Judau to try and steal their customers. Amuro tells him maybe he'd be able to get customers if he wasn't so aloof all the time. Char angrily snaps his fingers, at which point two of his cronies ''turn a table onto its side so he can lean on it'' and remark "But if you take out the aloofness, what's left of me?" The table then breaks.
* [[ManipulativeBastard Ribbons Almark]] of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'' usually sits somewhat more upright, but otherwise makes himself rather comfortable on his Legendary Couch Of Evil -- which he seems to have stolen from Aizen. He's also fond of hugging his knee.
* Perhaps the greatest Gundam example of all: [[ManOfWealthAndTaste Prime Minister Wong]] from ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam''. The sprawls he executes in his flying pimp throne are magnificent.
* [[spoiler: Decil]] in episode 9 of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamAge Gundam AGE]].'' [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hTpuQKq1Rg0/Ttt1iiNWHuI/AAAAAAAAATQ/gDBXHHA5aBA/s1600/9fdb8ed3.jpg As you can see here,]] he does this out of boredom from seeing Flit struggle against one of his Zedas.
* Precia of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' does this on her throne when the RedshirtArmy arrives to capture her, shortly before she wipes them out.

* Gendo Ikari's slouch of villainy, complete with FingerTenting, in his [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic symbolic]] office in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. It's noted that the office is set up specifically to intimidate visitors.
* Creed from ''Manga/BlackCat'' sits on his throne like this.
* Proxy One, from ''Anime/ErgoProxy'', is first seen by the protagonist sitting nonchalantly slouched in his insanely large chair.
* Lordgenome in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' makes it a point to state that he was, in fact, very bored while alive. Until he actually starts fighting, he looks like he's about to fall asleep in his throne, not even paying attention to the harem he has around it.

* Xanxus from ''Manga/Reborn2004'' is always slouching on his throne. In fact, when he's feeling badass enough, he doesn't even bother to ''get up'' in order to kick ass.
* ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'': Fei Wang Reed tends to do this a lot while watching his Magic Mirror TV.
* DemonKingNobunaga sits like this on his [[NothingButSkulls throne of skulls]] in ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara''.

** This is how we're introduced to Buggy.

* Ciel from ''Manga/BlackButler'' does this often, invoking an appearance of both lazy noble privilege and confident evil.

* Lelouch in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has a habit of doing this in the cockpits of his Knightmare Frames when commanding his forces and anticipating the moves of his enemies.
* ''Anime/MegaManNTWarrior'' Shade Man spends most of his time slouched in his throne.
* ''Franchise/KagerouProject'': The series' BigBad, [[spoiler:the [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent Wide-Open Eyes Snake]]]], seems to love doing this when its possessing people, as it is shown doing this both as [[spoiler:Kenjirou]] and [[spoiler:Kuro/Konoha]], sitting on an office chair and a stack of broken [=TVs=], respectively.
* King Dedede of ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'' is usually sitting on his throne. It has buttons on it that allow him to call Nightmare Enterprises whenever he wants, and also order monsters from him. It can also rotate and move around.
* In ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'', Dozza is the only one of the five Demon Lords who, when arriving in the Queen's throne room, sits down on the floor, cross-legged and hunched over. That being said, the other Demon Lords stand up straight and call him out on it, suggesting they dislike him for being a slob. When [[spoiler:Geelan invades the throne room and starts attacking the nobles, he turns out to be the wisest ''and'' the strongest of the Demon Lords--not that it means much after Geelan [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps]] them all.]]
* ''Anime/TransformersVictory'': Being much more hands off than his predecessors, [[BigBad Emperor of Destruction Deathsaurus]] is often in this pose (complete with resting an elbow on an armrest and resting his chin on his hand) when meeting with his subordinates. Or, as is often the case, berating [[TheStarscream Leozack]].

* Franchise/MonsterVerse: [[Characters/MonsterVerseAlanJonah Alan Jonah]] has such a sitting posture when he's being interrogated in Guam at the beginning of the ''Godzilla Aftershock'' graphic novel, whilst wearing orange prison overalls.

** Master Xehanort does this again in the climax of ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance 3D]]''. It's a particularly advanced slouch, too, complete with his legs crossed over to one side, head resting on his fist, and an utterly ''bored'' look on his face.

* ''Fanfic/AllForLuz'': All For One does this on his armchair in Luz's MentalWorld in hisEstablishingCharacterMoment. Luz notes he acts like a king on his throne looking down on a peasant.

** [[TheFightingNarcissist Gilgamesh]] pulls this off perfectly on his throne seated on his [[RuleOfCool ancient Sumerian flying god chariot, the Vimena]].

* At the end of ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'', Dr. Light performs one of these after gaining back his impressive criminal mind.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'' Donquixote Doflamingo does this almost all the time.

* Megatron from ''{{Transformers}}'' G1 usually [[http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120123164522/villains/images/0/01/250px-Mtmte1_megatron_throne.jpg gets his slouch on]] while commanding his warship when it isn't at the bottom of the ocean. He even does it at the Lincoln memorial after removing the statue, a moment adapted for the [[Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon third live action film]].