History AffablyEvil / Literature

* Rupert of Hentzau from ''ThePrisonerOfZenda''.

* You couldn't find a better example than the [[spoiler: Angel, Islington]], from ''{{Neverwhere}}'', if you tried.
* Nyarlathotep in ''[[Creator/HPLovecraft The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''.

* ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': Jarlaxle, of R.A. Salvatore's ''TheLegendOfDrizzt'' novels. He won't hesitate to kill innocents, [[OnlyInItForTheMoney works for the highest bidder]], doesn't seem to be inclined to turn down any sort of job, uses slave labour consisting of "lesser races", and once had a guy's face set on fire as a method of coercion. He manipulated events to start a war over the port of Luskan. After the fighting was over, with tons of citizens dead and the city partially destroyed, he made sure that food was scarce by preventing the flow of supplies into the city, and starved the people of Luskan until they were ready to rebel against the new establishment and install Jarlaxle's associate as the new ruler. But he's almost always in a good mood (even when his life is in danger), is a clever DeadpanSnarker on those occasions when the situation doesn't visibly amuse him, has joined forces with Drizzt and his friends on more than one occasion, and and has saved Drizzt's life seemingly out of the goodness of his heart at least twice. Search this wiki for [=CMOA=]s and [=CMOF=]s associated with Jarlaxle. There are quite a few, because a lot of fans consider Jarlaxle both awesome and funny.\\

** In Welcome to Dead House, the antagonists are friendly with the main characters except that they have to invite them over, especially Karen Somerset, who says she wants to be a nice person but everyone needs fresh blood to survive. Same with the TV version of Karen, who would actually be an AffablyEvil AntiVillain since she actually seemed reluctant to engage in the "feeding" that [[ImAHumanitarian everyone in the town had to do to survive]], repeatedly saying she wanted to be friends with Amanda and Josh.

** The creatures from The Beast Of The East just see it as an elaborate game and outside of that are quite friendly.
** Many of the antagonists from the Give Yourself Goosebumps series are this.
** Della from The Curse Of Camp Cold Lake half the time was a normal kid outside of being a bloodthirsty ghost.
** The plant clone father from Stay Out Of The Basement (more in the book than in the TV adaption) tried to be a good father even though he was ultimately out to turn everyone into plant clones, even comforting the kids when they worried about things
** The kids from Ghost Beach certainly qualify.
** The woman from Chicken Chicken who [[DisproportionateRetribution turns the protaganists into chickens]] [[SpaceWhaleAesop for running off after bumping into her without apologizing]].
* Mrs Maudsley in ''TheGoBetween'' is kind enough to Leo even if she doesn't understand him. But her determination to see her daughter married into the aristocracy causes an awful lot of damage.

* The character of Satan/No. 44 in Mark Twain's TheMysteriousStranger. He's such a nice young man. Good people love him and all the villainous character loathe him. Too bad he's just [[CosmicPlaything using everyone for a bout of fun, tormenting and creating for his own amusement.]] Well, probably. Let's not get into [[MindScrew the ending,]] shall we?

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* [[ForgottenRealms Jarlaxle]], of R.A. Salvatore's [[TheLegendOfDrizzt novels]]. He won't hesitate to kill innocents, [[OnlyInItForTheMoney works for the highest bidder]], doesn't seem to be inclined to turn down any sort of job, uses slave labour consisting of "lesser races", and once had a guy's face set on fire as a method of coercion. He manipulated events to start a war over the port of Luskan. After the fighting was over, with tons of citizens dead and the city partially destroyed, he made sure that food was scarce by preventing the flow of supplies into the city, and starved the people of Luskan until they were ready to rebel against the new establishment and install Jarlaxle's associate as the new ruler. But he's almost always in a good mood (even when his life is in danger), is a clever DeadpanSnarker on those occasions when the situation doesn't visibly amuse him, has joined forces with Drizzt and his friends on more than one occasion, and and has saved Drizzt's life seemingly out of the goodness of his heart at least twice. Search this wiki for [=CMOA=]s and [=CMOF=]s associated with Jarlaxle. There are quite a few, because a lot of fans consider Jarlaxle both awesome and funny.
** In other words, he's a mercenary-minded adventurer, but of the "[[MagnificentBastard sneaky bastard]]" type, rather than the "BloodKnight" type. Also, Luskan wasn't an innocent halflings' glade. It's (among other things) a major pirate nest with Arcane Brotherhood and Kraken Society jostling [[ManBehindTheMan behind the High Captains' "throne"]]. These behaved halfway decently only due to being bullied by Waterdhavian "superior firepower".
*** The onimous implications of what you are saying barely need to be stated. Not only that, but it's clear that a good portion of the deaths were civilians and children caught in the crossfire.

* O'Brien from ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''. Rather disconcerting, given how he manages to do this while torturing Winston.
** [[FridgeBrilliance The Party preaches the virtues of double-think]], so it kind of makes sense.

* Crell Moset from the StarTrekNovelVerse, though in his case, it's a crippling need to be liked. He genuinely wants the subjects of his invasive medical experiments to appreciate him. He's not really cruel in the usual sense, he's just lacking in empathy, and believes [[ForScience his science takes priority]]. Not only does he take steps to try and make his victims feel at ease - including singing pleasant songs - but the closest he gets to threatening is childish pique when people won't let him perform his experiments. In the StarTrekVoyagerRelaunch, as part of a ContinuityNod to StarTrekTheBattleOfBetazed, he seems to genuinely think that the Betazoids were selfish in the extreme for taking back their planet and disrupting his earlier work there.

* Chichikov, VillainProtagonist of ''DeadSouls''.
* The miller in ''Literature/{{Krabat}}''.
* The [[ClassicalMovieVampire old Count Magpyr]] in Discworld/CarpeJugulum has excellent manners, keeps vampire-slaying props around his creepy old castle to give his prey a sporting chance, and holds no grudges over the actions of past vampire hunters - even the ones who did succeed in staking or decapitating him.
* ''InDeath'': the murderer in ''Portrait In Death'' is this. He truly believes that he is doing mankind a great service by killing young innocent people. In fact, he truly seems like a NiceGuy, if you ignore the murdering part.
* TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea deconstructs this trope with TheCaptain Nemo, who is a WickedCultured, [[NiceGuy extremely polite person]] that prefers to put the protagonists in {{Gilded Cage}}s, rather than destroy them. He really is a good, noble human being [[MoralEventHorizon who cruelly destroy his enemies]] in his fight against TheEmpire. How can a truly good man do those terrible things? [[VillainousBreakdown Because he is slowly but surely losing his sanity through the novel, and in the end he becomes a]] DeathSeeker. [[AnAesop The whole point of the novel is to show that]] [[ScienceIsBad a submarine like the Nautilus could be used as a ]] WeaponOfMassDestruction, and any human, no matter how good and noble, will discover that WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity.

* [[Literature/{{Gone}} Caine]] is a perfectly pleasant, polite person, until you imply that he ''doesn't'' deserve to rule the world.

* From the Goosebumps series

** Not really evil, just {{Jerkass}} Conan from the Monster Blood series would go from being a bully to almost like one of the gang from time to time, especially in the third and fourth books.

* Mrs Maudsley in TheGoBetween is kind enough to Leo even if she doesn't understand him. But her determination to see her daughter married into the aristocracy causes an awful lot of damage.
* Emperor Ozorne in ''[[TortallUniverse Emperor Mage]]'' varies between this trope and FauxAffablyEvil, depending. He does genuinely love his birds, and really is glad that Daine could help them. For every other character, he's only ''playing'' nice.

* Count Fosco, the polite, jocular, podgy, and harmless-looking arch-villain from Creator/WilkieCollins' Victorian sensation novel, ''Literature/TheWomanInWhite'', is an early example of this trope, and makes it OlderThanRadio.
** '''SPOILER:''' The Count Fosco of {{Douglas Preston}} and {{Lincoln Child}}'s book {{Literature/Brimstone}} is a direct reference to the above example, and acts this way through the entire book.

* A literary example which is likely behind the character of Hannibal Lecter, is that of Humbert Humbert, the handsome and erudite pedophile and narrator of ''{{Lolita}}''.
* A classic literary example is Tom Ripley, who, while a MagnificentBastard and HeroicSociopath (in one book he tricks someone who snubbed him at a party into thinking he was terminally ill and manipulates him into committing assassinations for a mobster), is generally a friendly and cultured guy liked by most who meet him.

* How has no one mentioned Aro from Literature/{{Twilight}}? The man is nothing but friendly and charming to Edward, Bella, and Alice, even going so far as to ask after Edward's father. But yet, he's a power-hungry maniac who attacks the Cullens unprovoked because he wants the talented members of the family to join his coven.
** Also, James. He wanted nothing more than to eat Bella but yet he was completely kind to her all throughout the torture session and always had a smile on his face.
** Both Aro and James tend to fall under FauxAffablyEvil instead. Both are genuinely evil and Aro especially is GenreSavvy enough to know that you have to appear polite in order to retain your power.

** And Marcone. He's a mob boss, responsible for much of the drug and sex trade in Chicago, along with various murders and the like, but he does have a highly developed sense of honor, and has helped pull Harry's ass out of the fire more than once. The heroes reluctantly admit that a united Chicago criminal underworld in Marcone's control tends to be less dangerous for bystanders (thanks to the Mob Bosses' FreudianExcuse) and sex workers. They still think he's scum, but know well there's worse humans out there.

** Also, [[spoiler: Aurora, the Summer Lady]]: kind, caring, friendly, and helpful to a rather angry Harry Dresden, right until she goes batshit insane.
*** Played with: later books suggest that [[spoiler: she'd been purposefully driven crazy by the Black Council, seeing as Mab is becoming (even more) aggressively unstable lately.]]

** Visser One deliberately invokes this trope, going for a ReasonableAuthorityFigure vibe as opposed to Visser Three's megalomaniacal tyranny. Keep in mind, though, this is reasonable by ''Yeerk standards'' - in other words, she'll still kill her underlings at the drop of a hat, she'll just maybe save them from their dying hosts if she's in the mood.

* Napoleon in Naomi Novik's {{Temeraire}} series.

* Emperor Ozorne in ''[[TortallUniverse Emperor Mage]]'' varies between this trope and FauxAffablyEvil, depending. He does genuinely love his birds, and really is glad that Daine could help them. For every other character, he's only ''playing'' nice.

* The classic here is "Long" John Silver of ''TreasureIsland''. Even the ''writer'' ends up liking this guy too much for his own good.
** Silver does have genuine redeeming features, though. He is a lot brighter than his fellow pirates, wise enough to plan for his old age instead of spending the loot the minute he gets it as most of them do, and is visibly courageous when faced with impending death. He has a sense of honour, too: when he suspects Abraham Gray, the pirate who repented and rejoined the Squire's party, of telling tales, Captain Smollett's angry denial that Gray told or was asked anything is enough for Silver to consider the matter settled on the spot. Too bad that Silver is a liar, conniver, and murderer.

* Lord Bloodford, the DesignatedVillain of ''Kingdom Rattus''. He's extremely violent, half-crazy, and has a complete monster for a king, but still tries to hold himself to a higher standard. He actively disapproves of King Marrow's actions and plans for Marrow-Vinjia, but goes along because he feels he has no choice.

* In LordDunsany's ''TheCharwomansShadow'', the EvilSorcerer is perfectly polite to the hero, even if he omits that, by asking for his shadow, he is effectively asking for his soul. He's even polite when describing how great magicians have high honor in {{Hell}}.

* [[{{Gone}} Caine]] is a perfectly pleasant, polite person, until you imply that he ''doesn't'' deserve to rule the world.

* Mrs Maudsley in TheGoBetween is kind enough to Leo even if she doesn't understand him. But her determination to see her daughter married into the aristocracy causes an awful lot of damage.

* [[ForgottenRealms Jarlaxle]], of R.A. Salvatore's novels. He won't hesitate to kill innocents, [[OnlyInItForTheMoney works for the highest bidder]], doesn't seem to be inclined to turn down any sort of job, uses slave labour consisting of "lesser races", and once had a guy's face set on fire as a method of coercion. He manipulated events to start a war over the port of Luskan. After the fighting was over, with tons of citizens dead and the city partially destroyed, he made sure that food was scarce by preventing the flow of supplies into the city, and starved the people of Luskan until they were ready to rebel against the new establishment and install Jarlaxle's associate as the new ruler. But he's almost always in a good mood (even when his life is in danger), is a clever DeadpanSnarker on those occasions when the situation doesn't visibly amuse him, has joined forces with Drizzt and his friends on more than one occasion, and and has saved Drizzt's life seemingly out of the goodness of his heart at least twice. Search this wiki for [=CMOA=]s and [=CMOF=]s associated with Jarlaxle. There are quite a few, because a lot of fans consider Jarlaxle both awesome and funny.

** [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Nicodemus Archleone]], leader of the [[FallenAngel Order of the Blackened Denarius]]. Jovial. Witty. Impeccable taste in fashion. [[CompleteMonster Near-immortal, habitually treacherous mass murderer who believes "apocalypse is a frame of mind."]]

* Don Vito Corleone from ''Film/TheGodfather''. Along with the politeness and generosity that carried over to his film incarnation, it's also established that he really does prefer to negotiate, spending literally ''hours'' trying to resolve disagreements between other crime lords [[TheStoic without reacting to any insults or jokes made at his expense.]] Plus, he's shown to be [[EvenEvilHasStandards utterly revolted]] when he discovers that the film studio executive Jack Woltz spends his afternoons molesting young girls - to the point that it became one of the reasons for the decapitation of Woltz's horse, Khartoum.
* Of course, the classic here is "Long" John Silver of ''TreasureIsland''. Heck, even the ''writer'' ends up liking this guy too much for his own good.
** Silver does have genuine redeeming features, though. He is a lot brighter than his fellow pirates, wise enough to plan for his old age instead of spending the loot the minute he gets it as most of them do, and is visibly courageous when faced with impending death. He has a sense of honour, too: when he suspects Abraham Gray, the pirate who repented and rejoined the Squire's party, of telling tales, Captain Smollett's angry denial that Gray told or was asked anything is enough for Silver to consider the matter settled on the spot. Too bad that Silver is a liar, conniver, and murderer, of course.

* Gwendolyn Ingolffsen, the eponymous villainess of S. M. Stirling's ''[[TheDraka Drakon]]'', is quite nice and friendly for a member of a genetically-engineered master race who is attempting to reduce the whole human race of the parallel Earth she find herself stranded on to eternal slavery and degradation. She, of course, sees it as merely a necessary "taming" of "ferals". There are hints in the story (and others in the series) that she's actually quite mellow for a member of her species. In fact, pretty much all Draka are like this. As long as you accept that they're superior to you in every way and do what you're ordered to do, they'll treat you like a favourite pet. Cross them, though, and you'll end up with a four foot spike up you, as they point out to you how it didn't have to be like this, if only you'd obeyed without question. The ones who aren't like this end up in the Security Directorate. They'll stake a few of you at random just to show what you can expect.

* ''{{Dexter}}'' can be quite kind and considerate, devoting much time to gaining his girlfriend's children's trust and doing his best to keep his sister and coworkers at least not displeased with him. This, of course, sometimes puts a dent in his [[SerialKiller recreational activities]], although his [[WouldntHurtAChild protective response to children]] can lead to his selection of "quality time" targets.

** Of course, [[FridgeBrilliance the Party preaches the virtues of double-think]], so it kind of makes sense.

* Crell Moset from the StarTrekNovelVerse, though in his case, it's a crippling need to be liked. He genuinely wants the subjects of his invasive medical experiments to appreciate him. He's not really cruel in the usual sense, he's just totally lacking in empathy, and believes [[ForScience his science takes priority]]. Not only does he take steps to try and make his victims feel at ease - including singing pleasant songs - but the closest he gets to threatening is childish pique when people won't let him perform his experiments. In the StarTrekVoyagerRelaunch, as part of a ContinuityNod to StarTrekTheBattleOfBetazed, he seems to genuinely think that the Betazoids were selfish in the extreme for taking back their planet and disrupting his earlier work there.

** In Welcome to Dead House, the antagonists are friendly with the main characters except that they have to invite them over, especially Karen Somerset, who basically says she wants to be a nice person but everyone needs fresh blood to survive. Same with the TV version of Karen, who would actually be an AffablyEvil AntiVillain since she actually seemed reluctant to engage in the "feeding" that [[ImAHumanitarian everyone in the town had to do to survive]], repeatedly saying she wanted to be friends with Amanda and Josh.

* Nyarlathotep in ''[[HPLovecraft The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''.

* Count Fosco, the polite, jocular, podgy, and harmless-looking arch-villain from WilkieCollins' Victorian sensation novel, ''Literature/TheWomanInWhite'', is an early example of this trope, and makes it OlderThanRadio.

* Aornis Hades, villain of the second ''ThursdayNext'' book, ''Lost in a Good Book'', meets Thursday a few times and sees no reason why her plans to destroy Thursday's mind and everything she holds dear doesn't mean they can't be friends.

* Don Vito Corleone from ''Film/{{The Godfather}}''. Along with the politeness and generosity that carried over to his film incarnation, it's also established that he really does prefer to negotiate, spending literally ''hours'' trying to resolve disagreements between other crime lords [[TheStoic without reacting to any insults or jokes made at his expense.]] Plus, he's shown to be [[EvenEvilHasStandards utterly revolted]] when he discovers that the film studio executive Jack Woltz spends his afternoons molesting young girls - to the point that it became one of the reasons for the decapitation of Woltz's horse, Khartoum.

* To those he deems worthy, Judge Holden of {{Cormac McCarthy}}'s ''BloodMeridian'' is very polite, frequently engaging in thought-provoking philosophical discussion and, quite often, saving their lives in the midst of warfare through downright {{MacGyver}}ish inventiveness. If he deems them worthless or should any stand in his way, however, he will ''mercilessly'' crush them. This ranges from the leaving one of his incapacitated companions behind to be slaughtered by pursuing enemies to scalping innocent Mexican civilians in the hopes of passing off their scalps as Indian. He also more than likely committed several acts of infanticide, and also possibly child molestation.

** Thrawn's [[TheWatson Watson]] and protégé, Captain Pellaeon, starts out this way before the ''{{Hand of Thrawn}}'' Duology, where he's a protagonist in his own right and really can't be called evil despite being the head of Imperial forces.
* Rupert of Hentzau from ''{{The Prisoner of Zenda}}''.

* How has no one mentioned Aro from {{Literature/Twilight}}? The man is nothing but friendly and charming to Edward, Bella, and Alice, even going so far as to ask after Edward's father. But yet, he's a power-hungry maniac who attacks the Cullens unprovoked because he wants the talented members of the family to join his coven.

* Devi from ''{{The Name of the Wind}}'' is a polite, pleasant wizardess with an interest in literature. She is also a [[AllDevouringBlackHoleLoanSharks loan shark]] who collects the blood of her clients in order to perform unpleasant [[FunctionalMagic sympathy magic]] on them if they are delinquent in their payments.

* Clemael, the (self-employed) Angel of Mercy and protagonist of ''{{Hand of Mercy}}'', is unrepentantly Fallen. But that doesn't stop him from being polite, concerned, and surprisingly tolerant of Helen's quirks, for ''most'' of the book.

* In RobertEHoward's ConanTheBarbarian story "Rogues in the House", Nabonidus courteously draws Murillo aside, to give him the box with the ear in it.

* O'Brien from ''NineteenEightyFour''. Rather disconcerting, given how he manages to do this while torturing Winston.

** The fandoms's favourite MagnificentBastard, Petyr Baelish, A.K.A Littlefinger, [[spoiler: Lord Paramount of the Riverlands, Lord Protector of the Vale of Arryn, Master of Coin and Lord of Harrenhal.]]

** Both Aro and James tend to fall under FauxAffablyEvil instead. Both are genuinely evil and Aro especially is GenreSavvy enough to know that you have to appear polite in order to retain your power.

** Dolores Umbridge tries to be this, but she [[TastesLikeDiabetes goes too far in the opposite direction]], which just serves to make her all the more disturbing.

* The insanely smart, educated, and incredibly cultured radio deejay, Jean-Loup Verdier, in ''I kill'', with his highpowered knowledge of music, a voice that melts your socks, and a personality to woo women AND men. Switch off air and he's still cultured, highly intelligent, and oh ''so grammatically polite'', but he kills and skins the faces off people to make his dead brother beautiful again. Still very polite, though.

** Of course, [[FridgeBrilliance the Party preaches the virtues of double-think]], so it kind of makes sense.
* Mule from IsaacAsimov's ''{{Foundation}}'' series is a more suitable target for pity than anger: he's ugly, sterile, and physically weak, but is amiable enough to befriend the protagonists. Too bad he's a psychic bent on conquering the Galaxy.

* ''{{A Song of Ice and Fire}}'' has a few:

** What about the fandoms's favourite MagnificentBastard, Petyr Baelish, A.K.A Littlefinger, [[spoiler: Lord Paramount of the Riverlands, Lord Protector of the Vale of Arryn, Master of Coin and Lord of Harrenhal.]]

* ArtemisFowl, [[spoiler: at least, in the beginning. Later, he makes a HeelFaceTurn and becomes an AntiHero.]]

* Mrs Maudsley in TheGoBetween is kind enough to Leo even if she doesn't understand him. But her determination to see her daughter married into the aristocracy causes an awful lot of damage.

* ''WarriorCats'' has [[ManipulativeBastard Sol]], who, although a bit self-centred, is seen as nice and polite by most cats who meet him...Until he starts playing mind games and manipulating them ''[[ForTheEvulz for fun]]''.

** The woman from Chicken Chicken who [[DisproportionateRetribution turns the protaganists into chickens]] [[SpaceWhaleAesop for running off after bumping into her without apologizing]].

* Count Fosco, the polite, jocular, podgy, and harmless-looking arch-villain from Wilkie Collins' Victorian sensation novel, ''The Woman in White'', is an early example of this trope, and makes it OlderThanRadio.

* The Leucrotta in ''Literature/TheOrphansTales'' is actually a fairly nice guy, if you don't try to fight him. Even then, he'd mostly kill you because that's his role in the story, not because he actually dislikes you.

* Lorthas, the BigBad of the ''BoundarysFall'' series, exhibits this trope, always ready with a smile, a polite word, and often enough with a bottle of wine to share. He does have dungeons, but when he finds out how TheDragon is treating the prisoners there, orders conditions improved.