Basic Trope: A mean character shows that he's not so bad by doing something nice.
- Straight: The Inspector Javert saves a kid, rather than capturing the Protagonist.
- Exaggerated:
- The usually violent and cold Inspector Javert saves a kid, makes funny faces to cheer him up, and even buys him candy.
- Took a Level in Kindness.
- An irredeemably evil villain stops his evil plans just to help an elderly woman cross the street, rescue a cat stuck in a tree, give a million dollars to a homeless person, and buy an ice cream cone for a sad child.
- Emperor Evulz, the Evil Overlord out to Kill All Humans saves a Street Urchin from starving.
- Downplayed:
- The villain sincerely thanks his minion for something, demonstrating that he's at least polite.
- A Jerkass apologizes after he sees that he hurt someone's feelings.
- During a footchase with the Protagonist, Inspector Javert slows down so he does not push over a kid, even if it risk him getting away.
- Throw the Dog a Bone
- Emperor Evulz does a good deed purely for his own gain.
- Justified:
- The character may have flaws and bad traits but he is still capable of doing nice things and is not against doing nice things as long as they don't interfere with his ultimate goal.
- The character has Black-and-White Insanity: he is an absolute monster to everyone, but not to those he perceives as benign, innocent or simply cute, like children and puppies.
- The character is a villain, but they don't act like a villain in every single way.
- Inverted:
- Subverted:
- He pretends to let the little girl go, but then shoots her In the Back. Why? 'Cause he's EVVILLL.
- Or, he's a Manipulative Bastard, and this is a calculated move to play mind games with the protagonist.
- Petting the dog was a pretense so he could slip a USB thumbdrive (containing top secret files stolen from the Pentagon's computers) into the dog's collar and smuggle it through airport security.
- It looks like he's refusing to kill a child because he's not that despicable. But then he reveals that he has no problems with killing children, he just refused to do it because it's inefficient and he gains nothing from doing so.
- Double Subverted:
- He lets the little girl go, but then shoots at her while she's running away. Why? Because some idiot on the other side of the line was pointing a gun at her, and that's who he was shooting.
- Or he just realizes she was a demon in disguise.
- Not only will he refuse to kill a child that he doesn't get anything from killing but he will actually save children that are endangered by other villains that he comes across as long as it doesn't interfere with one of his plans, making him A Lighter Shade of Black in the setting.
- Parodied: The villain laughs maniacally as he watches a city burn by his own doing, and then abruptly stops as he sees a puppy dog and proceed to cuddle and feed him.
- Zig Zagged: The villain lets the little girl go, but then shoots her. But then it turns out she was actually a demon in disguise. Then it turns out the demon was also a child and a Noble Demon to boot, so they're not evil. Then it turns out that the Noble Demon was being controlled by an Eldritch Abomination, but then that turns out to be Not Evil, Just Misunderstood.
- Averted: The villain never performs any acts of kindness.
- Enforced:
- "Given that this guy's going to do a Heel–Face Turn later, we need to set up that he's not such a bad person now."
- They want to establish the villain has some good in him.
- Lampshaded: The villain sees the hero, and after seeing a puppy nearby, decides to pet it while the hero watches specifically so he can make the hero doubt that he's the bad guy.
- Invoked:
- "See? I avoid killing puppies. That makes me not a total villain!"
- "If you let me go, people won't be able to hate you, because it will show them you're not a total villain."
- Exploited:
- Emperor Evulz tips his valet every once in a while to avoid complete 0% Approval Rating.
- Defied: If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!.
- Discussed: "Well, that guy stopped to save a kitten before he flooded the town, so he'd probably be easier to talk to about this even worse guy than the guy who burned down the orphanage.
- Conversed: "I'm trying to find a way to show people that I'm not just about oppression. Should I adopt an orphan or something? Dictators with hearts in shows are always adopting kids or puppies or cute little kittens..."
- Deconstructed:
- This used to present the idea that absolute moral judgement is not possible, shifting the setting to full-on Grey-and-Gray Morality.
- A few good deeds done on a whim do nothing to correct the villains numerous atrocities.
- Reconstructed:
- He does little acts of kindness because if absolutely moral purity is not possible, neither is absolute moral evil.
- The villain in question really does feel conflicted about his actions and they may even lead to a Heel–Face Turn.
Back to Pet the Dog.
