Basic Trope: An evil character has a stereotypically "scary" name.
- Straight: Vlad Scarlord is one of the villains of a series.
- Exaggerated:
- Dr. Vlad Bludlord von Genocide is the Omnicidal Maniac Big Bad.
- The villain’s name outright contains a Brown Note, meaning it actually is to be run away from as fast as possible.
- Red Baron
- Downplayed:
- Vlad Scarlord is an Affably Evil Pragmatic Villain. He harms (badly) only those who are threat to him or his plans.
- The villain’s name is Louis Cypher.
- Justified:
- Vlad was raised by the previous Evil Overlord of the realm, who decided that he needed a fittingly evil name.
- Vlad Scarlord is a Card-Carrying Villain.
- Inverted:
- Names to Trust Immediately
- Fluffy the Terrible / Tom the Dark Lord
- Vlad Scarlord is a pretty nice dude.
- Subverted:
- Vlad Scarlord, though a bit scary-looking, is actually quite friendly and soon becomes a valued member of the heroes' team.
- Deathbringer the Adorable
- Double Subverted:
- ...Until he betrays them at the end.
- Well, an Anti-Hero with severe violent and sociopathic tendencies.
- Deathbringer looks cute, but he is actually quite dangerous.
- Parodied:
- An incompetent criminal with delusions of grandeur, known as Vlad Scarlord, encounters the heroes, who laugh hysterically at his name. Eventually, he is forced to wander away, baffled.
- A normal passer-by introduces himself as Vlad Scarlord. The heroes run away screaming in terror, denouncing him as a villain.
- One of the heroes has a "weird impression" about future villain Deathkill Death McKillDeath, but decides it's nothing.
- Zig Zagged: Vlad Scarlord seems to be stuck in a Heel–Face Revolving Door, and occasionally goes by a variety of pseudonyms of various scariness levels. Additionally, it is hinted that his real name is in fact something else, until we find out that nope, Vlad Scarlord's his name, now that he legally changed it.
- Averted: None of the characters have particularly frightening names, not even the villains.
- Enforced: "People need to know he's evil. They won't think a guy named "Ted" would be evil. He needs an evil name, now."
- Lampshaded: "Vlad Scarlord? Eek, that's a creepy name!"
- Invoked: After making a Face–Heel Turn, Ted decides his current name isn't scary enough, and goes by Vlad Scarlord instead.
- Exploited: Vlad's enemies use his name to convince people he's bad news, whether he is or not.
- Defied: Vlad Scarlord, despite being evil, loathes his name and goes by "Ted" instead.
- Discussed: "...With a name like that, no wonder he grew up evil." "Yeah, when's the last time you saw a nice guy with a name like that?"
- Conversed: Talking about someone they truly hate, two characters joke that he needs a good "movie villain" name like Scarlord or Bloodknife.
- Deconstructed: Vlad Scarlord's name was his Start of Darkness, after he took a death ray to his school where all the kids teased him about his name.
- Reconstructed: Though it turns out that his family have all had equally scary names due to tradition, but they and the town in general are used to it and don't expect them to be evil. What set Vlad apart was his own ambition and natural inclination for cruelty. The taunts of his classmates merely gave these urges an easy outlet.
Hurry! Back to Names to Run Away from Really Fast, before Baron von Slaughter sees you!
