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Basic Trope: One villain (the superior) kills another (his subordinate) in order to power themselves up or regain lost resources.

  • Straight: Emperor Evulz kills his Dragon, Baron Kurtz, in order to eat his soul and heal himself after a losing battle with the heroes.
  • Exaggerated:
    • Emperor Evulz devours the souls of everyone in his empire in order to finally have the power to beat The Hero down.
    • There’s a hierarchy of minions in Evulz’s Omniscient Council of Vagueness, and each ranks above is allowed to kill the lower ranks at any time, in order to give themselves a boost.
  • Downplayed: Evulz drains most of the baron’s power out, leaving him comatose, while the former uses the energy to scry on Hiro’s location.
  • Justified:
    • Evulz’s modus operandi always involved eating souls and killing incompetent minions. When Baron Kurtz fell, this was just a convenient way to combine the two.
    • Evulz can absorb powers via murder, and Baron Kurtz can teleport but is too wounded to use it. When they are trapped in a sealed airtight room, Evulz killing Kurtz for his power is the only way the former can survive.
  • Inverted: Baron Kurtz, having witnessed Evulz being killed in battle, devours HIS soul instead in order to better avenge him.
  • Subverted: Evulz tells the mortally wounded Baron Kurtz “You Have Outlived Your Usefulness…” and then takes his Big Freaking Sword, while leaving him to die.
  • Double Subverted: After THAT gambit failed, Evulz returns in a huff to his new second in command Lady Esmerelda, and proceeds to quickly snap her neck in order to devour HER soul instead.
  • Parodied:
  • Zig Zagged: Evulz has several Co-Dragons - Baron Kurtz, Lord Soulsheirk, Lady Esmeralda, and Countess Morgana. He does exactly this to Baron Kurtz, but decides against it for Lord Soulsheirk, thinking eating his soul would probably kill him. Lady Esmeralda escapes this fate by committing suicide before Evulz can reach her, and he tries to drain Countess Camille's soul, but the spell fails partway through and she escapes, avoiding later attempts by joining the heroes. Evulz himself is finally devoured by Malebolge because he needed more power to escape his prison, and Evulz kept trying to kill the subordinates who were trying to gather the required power just to get himself a temporary power boost.
  • Averted: The Big Bad does not use his minions for a quick recharge at any point.
  • Enforced: ???
  • Lampshaded: “In life, you existed to serve me. Why should your death be any different? Die now, and be a part of my greatness.”
  • Invoked:
    • Baron Kurtz offers himself up to Evulz in order to heal him before the final battle begins.
    • Eviluz recruited the otherwise-worthless Baron in order to have a good source of energy in an emergency.
  • Exploited: Baron Kurtz abuses death magic and actively works to corrupt his soul as much as possible, so that when Evulz tries to eat his soul he gets killed off from within.
  • Defied:
    • “Please don’t eat my soul, my liege. The Eye of Zathok will be far more effective at healing your wounds.”
    • Hiro kills off Baron Kurtz and burns the body, in order to deny Evulz precious resources.
    • Evulz is extremely loyal to his minions, and finds the idea of using them like this to be abhorrent.
  • Discussed: “Well, as far as retirement plans go, I think “having your soul eaten in order to further my dastardly plans” is not a good one.
  • Conversed: “As per standard on this show, as soon as Evulz needs a pick-me-up, he starts eying Kurtz hungrily…”

Back to Devour The Drago- Hey, is that the Super-Trope Villain Override? Why is it looking at me like tha- OH LORD NO!

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