Markup View

Author: Jordan

Aug 4th 2012 at 9:57:43 PM

*Harry Lime of ''TheThirdMan'' is basically a deliberate subversion of a LovableRogue- while thought of as such by his friend Martins, he's revealed to be an amoral criminal who [[TheSociopath is completely uncaring about the welfare of others]], most notably knowingly selling penicillin which is watered down and won't work.  However, following the novel/film, there was a radio series titled "The Adventures of Harry Lime", in which Lime is a LovableRogue and more benign HonestJohn type.  Possibly handwaved by being a supposed prequel, so arguably he could have become irredeemable after that.

*A lot of GentlemanThief characters are way more heroic in adaptations than they were in original works.  
** {{Fantomas}} in the original novel got his kicks from killing people (sometimes lots of people at once) in clever and/or horribly painful ways.  However, adaptations tend to play him as an antiheroic master thief
** TheSaint started out as a pulp hero, and like many other characters with that origin, he was a VigilanteMan who had no qualms about killing baddies, sometimes rather nastily (i.e. leaving villains to die in a burning building- admittedly, they planned to do the same to him, but still...).  In contrast, he's way more pacifistic in adaptations.
** {{Raffles}} in his original stories wasn't a totally bad guy, but he's basically SherlockHolmes, including the insufferable personality and borderline sociopathy, except that whereas Holmes solves crimes, Raffles commits them.  Raffles is generally a lot nicer in adaptations, and will often steal for a good cause, something he only did occasionally in the original stories.

* Phoebes in ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' is a selfish jerk who leaves Esmerelda to die.  His [[Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Disney counterpart]] is a heroic knight.