Basic Trope: A dark/death god of a mythology is portrayed as evil even though they are not.
- Straight: Tuoni, the Finnish god of the Underworld is a portrayed as a God of Evil.
- Exaggerated:
- Tuoni is portrayed as an Eldritch Abomination and blamed for every single atrocity mankind has been through, like the Holocaust for example.
- The work features multiple gods of death, and all of them are portrayed as evil, regardless of their morality in the original myths.
- Downplayed:
- Tuoni was nice in the original mythos, but ended up getting portrayed as a jerkass.
- Tuoni was originally an Anti-Villain/Anti-Hero; but is portrayed as a Dastardly Whiplash and/or a Generic Doomsday Villain instead.
- Tuoni serves as the antagonist, but is only a Punch-Clock Villain without malice.
- Tuoni winds up scorned by the other gods more but is more or less treated the same by mortals except for acknowledgement that he is scorned by the others.
- Tuoni is made out to be an Obliviously Evil Almighty Idiot.
- Justified:
- People are superficial and think gods of things they fear and are disgusted upon must be evil and disgusting.
- In a universe where a god's personality is defined by belief, the change in attitudes toward death have also altered Tuoni.
- Inverted:
- Everybody Loves Zeus
- Satan Is Good
- A goddess of love is pretty much an evil bitch.
- Don't Fear the Reaper
- Tuoni actually values and loves mortals, treating them well in the afterlife and offering death as some kind of luxurious resting. His opposite, the Creator goddess, is an everspawning Eldritch Abomination who wants all life to obey her, and will make sure they can't escape.
- Tuoni was originally a cruel being destined to end the universe permanently. In this adaptation he is cursed to bring the end of everything despite his love for everything in it and when all else is dead destroy the universe to create a new one.
- Subverted:
- Tuoni is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and thought his actions were for a greater good.
- In a setting using Crossover Cosmology, Tuoni was usurped by Satan, who puts his abilities as The Prince of Lies to good use to smear Tuoni. Once Tuoni is released, he goes back to doing what he used to be doing.
- Tuoni causes lots of death because those he directly kills go to paradise.
- Tuoni is portrayed as a cruel and sinister figure... Until he actually shows up, at which point he's shown to be a Hero with Bad Publicity.
- Double Subverted:
- Tuoni lied and everyone's souls are now in Hell.
- The time spent being Satan's torture bitch snapped Tuoni's mind, and now he's a psychopath.
- Parodied:
- Tuoni possessed Joel Schumacher into making Batman & Robin so people commited mass suicide.
- The dwarf planet Pluto is an evil Genius Loci because it's named after the Roman god of the underworld.
- Tuoni attends a sort of "Evil Gods Anonymous" meeting, where he meets with Hades, Satan, Pluto, etc.
- Zig Zagged: Tuoni can't decide if he is on the side of the good guys or if he wants to take over the world.
- Tuoni is Above Good and Evil and an integral part of the universe. He is incapable of regret or malice but provides a quick death to those who cooperate which may save them from pain.
- Averted: No good death/dark deities become evil.
- Enforced:
- "We don't care so much about mythological accuracy as making quick cash, so to keep with the popular opinion we made him evil! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!"
- "People don't want to die. So death must be evil."
- "Hades is another name for Hell, right? The guy's GOT to be evil in the myths, then!"
- Lampshaded: "I suppose mythology is wrong then."
- Invoked:
- The local God of Evil claims he is a death god.
- Tuoni purposefully cultivates a bad reputation to keep the suicide rate down.
- Exploited: Another deity, this one actually evil, gets away with all kinds of things by blaming it on Tuoni.
- Defied: The local head of the Fantasy Pantheon makes sure death is under the supervision of a decent person.
- Discussed: "Wouldn't it be nice if Hades was a good guy for a change?"
- Conversed: "Not Anubis the evil furry again!"
- Implied: Nobody ever has anything nice to say about Tuoni.
- Deconstructed:
- Tuoni, being a real entity in this universe, feels offended and refuses to aid mankind when a real God of Evil or Eldritch Abomination attacks.
- Tuoni being an evil god means that the afterlife is going to be a Crapsack World that no-one can escape. Cosmic Horror Story And I Must Scream anyone?
- Reconstructed:
- Turns out he was a jerk anyway so it really didn't matter.
- He understands that his job would lead to a lot of hate being directed by him. However, he also understands the necessities of his position being a necessary evil, so he just takes the abuse like a Stoic Woobie.
- Tuoni is actually an example of God of Evil in-universe who just happens to also rule the underworld, therefore those who vilify him in the first place actually has a point.
- Played For Laughs: In a new age religious movement Severus Snape becomes the local god of death; while it turns out he is good, Ron the Death Eater ensues and he becomes the Satan analogue.
- Played For Drama: Tuoni tries to be a Reasonable Authority Figure, but since everybody thinks he's evil, they're always plenty willing to dupe, ignore, or otherwise screw him over, forcing him to respond in kind. Which only makes people more willing to go behind his back. Eventually, the stress of this causes him to snap, and he decides to just kill everyone so he can get everyone to the afterlife and just be done with the whole thing.
Everybody Hates Tuoni. It's just a sad fact at this point.