History Characters / MiraculousLadybugHawkMoth

* IgnoredEpiphany: In "Stormy Weather", he begins to question whether he's risking too much in his quest, but quickly snuffs out the thought and doubles down on his actions.

** In "Mayura", he shows no objection to attacking Ladybug and Cat Noir personally, and his dialogue hints that he knows (or at least suspects) that they're teenagers.

Unbeknownst to the heroes, his true identity is Gabriel Agreste, Adrien's absent father. He is a famous fashion designer, but is always too busy with his job or his supervillainry to spend any time with his son.

Adrien's absent father. He is a famous fashion designer, but is always too busy with his job to spend any time with his son.

Gabriel is also Hawk Moth, a masked man who seeks to steal the Miraculouses in order to combine them and gain ultimate power. He uses the Butterfly Miraculous to create akumas that corrupt civilians and transform them into superpowered beings under his control.

* XanatosGambit: Akumatizing [[spoiler:himself]] in "The Collector." The Collector gets Ladybug's and Cat Noir's Miraculouses? Obviously good. He fails? [[spoiler:Because they're the same person, he still subverts any suspicion of Hawk Moth's identity.]]

->''' Both voiced by: Antoine Tome (FR), Creator/KeithSilverstein (EN), Hong Shi-ho (KOR), Hesham Shazli (ARA,s1 ep1 - s2 ep16) and Mohammed Ashraf (ARA), Roberto Encinas (SP), Dafnis Fernández (MEX), Ionuț Grama (ROM), Stefano Alessandroni (ITA), Jiří Valšuba (CZE), Xristo Bonin/Христо Бонин (BUL), Peter Flechtner (GER), Simen Sand (NOR) Hayato Fujii (J), Pavle Jerinić (SER), Volodymyr Tereshchuk/Володимир Терещук and Mykhaylo Zhonin/Михайло Жонін (UKR, voice-over and dubbing, respectively)'''

[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[PapaWolf I decide what's best for my son.]]"'']]

* AbusiveParents: Zigzagged. While not physically abusive to Adrien, Gabriel can be emotionally abusive, such as micromanaging Adrien's entire life in trying to protect him from an unknown danger. [[spoiler:As Hawk Moth, he claims that everything he's doing is to make Adrien happy, presumably by bringing his mother back. However, this could just as easily be his excuse to bring Emilie back for himself. While he toes the line at actually allowing Adrien to come to harm, he has no compunctions about akumatizing his close associates and risking him potentially getting caught in the crossfire. In "Riposte", he actually goes as far as to akumatize someone with a grudge against Adrien specifically. However, when she threatens Adrien, he tells her immediately that she must acquire the Miraculous before she can seek revenge.]]

** His akumas can't be backtracked or traced, and he never takes part in fights himself. He also has no time limit when using his abilities and his akuma continue to function even if he's not transformed. Therefore, he can continue to attack Ladybug and Cat Noir on an almost daily basis, secure in the knowledge that they have no way to ever bring the fight to him.

* ArchnemesisDad: [[spoiler:He often targets the students in Marinette's class, meaning that he's knowingly victimizing the friends of his son Adrien. Over the course of season two, he begins to suspect Adrien *is* Cat Noir, though as of "Gorizilla" he's been thrown off the scent for the time being.]]
* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance: [[spoiler:His brand's logo is a butterfly, and there are subtle butterfly logos all over his mansion. Given that he only acquired the Moth Brooch just before the start of the show, these must have been in place well before he became Hawk Moth.]]

** Downplayed, but he dumps the responsibility of taking care of his son on Nathalie, and tends to be harsh toward the Gorilla, [[spoiler:even attempting to akumatize him twice (the second time succeeding).]]

* BondVillainStupidity:
** Gets a case of this every single time Cat Noir falls prey to an akumatised victim's attack and becomes BrainwashedAndCrazy. It never once occurs to him to take the Cat Miraculous while he can. Rather, he has Cat Noir help take Ladybug's Miraculous. He also does this in "Copycat", where instead of having Copycat take the ring, he's perfectly fine with letting Ladybug do it, even though logically, she'd take the ring off and then try and smash it to get out the akuma.
** Arguably [[JustifiedTrope justified]] - when the akumas can take thralls of their own, Cat is generally the most powerful of said thralls, and the only one who could stand a chance against Ladybug.

* CatchPhrase: "Fly away, my little Akuma, and evilize him/her!"

* DarthVaderClone: His masked alter ego gives him a deep, booming voice, he dresses mostly in black, he has the ability to mentally torture his minions if they disobey or fail him and [[spoiler:he's the ArchnemesisDad of one of the heroes.]] He also carries a sword as revealed in "Robostus" and [[spoiler:has a lost wife whom he loved dearly and misses terribly and it's heavily implied that her disappearance was what drove him to the DarkSide.]]

* DisneylandDad: He has Adrien's entire life planned out in a calculated desire to protect him from the world, even going so far as to try and keep him home-schooled in-spite of how lonely it makes him. Due to his job as fashion mogul and [[spoiler:his excursions as Hawk Moth]], Gabriel could not actually be there for him and instead compensates using his vast fortune to keep his son happy and complacent with any material thing he wants.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He keeps a locket with a picture of [[spoiler:his lost wife]], and it's implied he desires the Miraculous so he can use their power to get her back. And he does genuinely love [[spoiler:his son, despite how little he shows it]].
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Between brainwashing innocent people and not being the least bit choosy about victims, there aren't a lot of lines Hawk Moth hasn’t crossed already. However, when it comes down to the wire, there is one thing he will never do: [[spoiler:let Adrien get hurt]]. Also, he quickly restores Nooroo's mouth after removing it, saying that even he's not ''that'' cruel.
** In "Queen Wasp", he's shown to be torn between his love for [[spoiler: his wife and his son.]] Keep up with the akumas and the villains and risk [[spoiler: Adrien getting hurt to save/revive Emilie]] or give it up for his safety but never [[spoiler: get his wife back or save his son's mother.]]

* EvilIsHammy: In costume, he embraces being a theatrical supervillain, a far cry from his civilian identity of[[spoiler: the aloof, businesslike Gabriel Agreste.]]

* {{Expy}}: Could be one to [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Gendo Ikari]] Both are serious, aloof AbusiveParents of emotionally negleted children, Adrien and Shinji, who fall to evil in their attempts to [[TheLostLenore bring back their wifes]] whom they lost under misterious circumstances.
* FalseFlagOperation: Twice. First, by permitting [[spoiler:Simon Says]] to target him despite the risks and then [[spoiler:corrupting himself into the Collector]] to throw suspicion off of his civilian identity when he believed the heroes were getting too close to finding out who he was.

** To his own son as well; both are famous people who project a calm, professional image to conceal their true selves. [[spoiler: Both are also the holders of a miraculous that give them dark-themed alter-egos with more outgoing personalities; but while Cat Noir is a happy-go-lucky, DarkIsNotEvil hero who protects Paris, Hawk Moth is a sinister LightIsNotGood LargeHam villain who corrupts people with his powers.]]
* FourEyesZeroSoul: With his cold, unfriendly personality, it's obvious. [[spoiler:Even more as the true identity of Hawk Moth.]]

* HiddenAgendaVillain: So far, the closest thing we have to his master plan is that he needs both the Ladybug and Cat miraculous to make a wish in order to "erase the past".

** In "Sapotis", he mocks strict parents and declares that kids should be allowed to do whatever they want, whenever they want. [[spoiler:Gabriel is an extremely strict parent who micromanages his son's life.]]
** In "Captain Hardrock", he expresses outrage at "the suppression of a soul demanding liberty and freedom". [[spoiler:Again, Gabriel micromanages Adrien's life (barely even allowing him to leave the house), and is keeping Nooroo prisoner.]] Corrupting people into becoming your evil minions and using an AgonyBeam when they disobey you isn't much in the way of "liberty and freedom" either.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Gabriel is constantly stating how much he worries over Adrien's safety, but often ends up [[spoiler:putting his son in direct danger as Hawk Moth, with "Gorizilla" and "Riposte" being the most prominent examples.]]

* {{Irony}}: The way his akuma minions look design-wise, you'd think that [[spoiler:a fashion designer would have better taste (unless he's NotSoAboveItAll or [[FridgeBrilliance he does it deliberately so people don't realize they're the same person]])]].
* JerkassFacade: Played with. His unfriendly and callous behavior is responsible for at least three akumatizations; [[spoiler: his status as Hawk Moth heavily implies he acted in such a manner not out of malice, but to goad potential victims into being upset enough to be akumatized.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: While he does tend to be a giant jerk, [[AbusiveParents even to Adrien]], to the point he doesn't allow him to do things most normal kids should be allowed to do, he still loves his son. Also, he is quite reasonable and fair most of the time. [[spoiler: Through underneath ''that'', he's actually...[[BigBad Hawk]] [[TheCorrupter Moth]].]]

* LightIsNotGood: Stands in a room filled with white butterflies, right in the beam of a large, handsomely wrought window. To some degree justified, at least with the white butterflies: he's perverting his Nooroo's benevolent powers for evil. [[spoiler:His true identity, Gabriel Agreste, also wears a white suit, with bright red pants and highlights.]]

* ManipulativeBastard: It's not very obvious in Season 1 outside of exploiting the emotionally vulnerable to create minions to throw against Ladybug and Cat Noir, but Season 2 opens with him throwing the wool over the heroes' eyes with a single akuma and [[spoiler:some mostly sincere words about how much he loves his son.]]
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Just look at that pimpin' purple suit and that ClassyCane. [[spoiler:Why would you expect anything less from a fashion designer?]]

** In French, a species of butterfly known as the grayling is called "agreste". [[spoiler:He is Hawk Moth, who is butterfly/moth-themed yet prefers minimalist/neutral colors.]]
** ZigZagged with his first name. In Literature/TheBible, Gabriel is one of God's messenger angels, who is most famously known for delivering the news to Mary that she was to be the mother of Jesus Christ. [[spoiler: This corresponds nicely with what he ''should'' be as the bearer of the Moth Brooch, which is used to make ordinary people into extraordinary heroes. But as Hawk Moth, he inverts his name's meaning by using Nooroo to create villains instead of heroes.]]
** As with most names ending in -el, "Gabriel" is a theophoric name (names specifically invoking and displaying the protection of a deity). The name "Gabriel" derives from Hebrew "Gavri'el", literally meaning "God is my strength". [[spoiler:He's invoking the protection and strength of a Miraculous, specifically.]]

* MysteriousParent: While the true extent has yet to be revealed, the fact that Gabriel [[spoiler:is aware of what the Miraculouses are, secretly kept a book about them, and has the peacock brooch Miraculous]] implies that he is more connected to the supernatural happenings in Paris than he lets on. Adrien offhandedly mentions that even as Gabriel's own ''son'', he doesn't know anything about him either. Of course as it turns out [[spoiler:He's Hawkmoth so his connection to the Akuma problems is pretty obvious given that he's actively causing them. But even that revelation brings other questions as it also appears that he was aware of the Miraculous and had the book, and Moth and Peacock Miraculous well before he actively started using them as Hawkmoth and it's

* MysteriousStranger: His non-transformed identity is a complete mystery to our heroes. [[spoiler:The Season 2 premiere reveals that he's Gabriel Agreste, but no one else in-universe knows that except for Nathalie.]] even implied they are the part of the reason of what happened to Emilie.]]

* {{Necromantic}}: Assuming [[spoiler:Emilie]] really is dead, this is undoubtedly his reason for seeking the combined power of the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses to grant him a wish. [[spoiler:Although given what was shown in his basement at the end of "Gorizilla", he may have ''already succeeded'' and [[CameBackWrong not liked the result]], and wants the wish to do it "properly".]]

* NoSelfBuffs:

** He can also have grant the ability of empowerment to a villain, as seen with Catalyst. [[spoiler: With this boost, he is able to gather an army of reakumatized villains.]]

** He's a bit of a LargeHam [[spoiler:as the Collector and Hawk Moth.]]
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Spends most of the series standing on the dark room he is in, and sends his butterflies when he detects a suitable victim. Justified, as his primary super power is the ability to bestow powers onto others. He finally steps out of his lair in the Heroes' Day two-parter special.
* ParentalHypocrisy: In "Gorizilla", he gives Adrien a short speech about the need to be honest with each other. This apparently does not extend to telling his son that [[spoiler:he's actually the supervillain who's been terrorizing Paris for presumably a year at the very least.]] Not to mention [[spoiler: what really happened to Emilie.]]

** Sure, he corrupts little Manon into Puppeteer without hesitation, but during her villain tenure itself he's nothing but polite to her the entire time -- a far cry from his typical berating and/or [[VillainOverride Villain Overriding]] against losing and/or resistant villains. [[spoiler:Of course, it's not too surprising that he knows the pragmatism in being gentle to make a child behave, considering his secret identity is a parent.]]

** In "The Pharaoh" he says that there is nothing wrong with wanting to live a fantasy, which indicates he sympathize with Jalil's idea about bringing Nefertiti back to life. [[spoiler: Since he is Gabriel Agreste and most likely trying to find his wife, this makes sense.]]
** In "Gorizilla", [[spoiler:he can't bring himself to gamble Adrien's life on the possibility that he is Cat Noir and orders Gorizilla to release Ladybug so she can rescue him]].

* PungeonMaster: Occasionally indulges in puns, such as saying that he'll "draw [Nathaniel, an artist] into my evil plot". [[spoiler: Which would certainly explain where Adrien got it from.]]

* TheReveal: [[spoiler:"The Collector" reveals that he is Hawk Moth and has been the entire time.]]
* SherlockScan: He was able to notice Ladybug's earrings and Cat Noir's rings when they officially meet for the first time. Subverted, as virtually everyone knows about their Miraculouses, Hawk Moth having announced it in his debut. Reverted as he was the only one to have actually noticed his son's ring. [[spoiler:Given the contents behind his wife's portrait, he clearly knows more than the average citizen.]]
* SigilSpam: His butterfly symbol courtesy of the akumas and the glowing masks that appear on the faces of his super villains. It almost proves to be his undoing, but some diabolical skulduggery on his part causes the heroes to wave off the fact that his motif is very similar to the logo of [[spoiler:one of the biggest fashion designer brands in Paris.]]
* SmugSnake: Hes very confident in himself but repeatedly fails in his attempts to steal the heroes' artifacts, never bothers to change strategy and always ends up crying in frustration and his moments of cleverness are few and far between.
* TheSociopath: Oh, let's see: Ruthlessly manipulates people for his own ends? Check. Willing to cause ruination to Paris just to achieve his goals? Check. A grandiose sense of self-worth and a complete LackOfEmpathy? Check. In fact, he could be classified as a downright monster [[spoiler:if it weren't for the fact that [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes he dearly loves his wife and son]].]]

* TantrumThrowing: Wrecks his own study in [[spoiler:apparent]] rage over Adrien misplacing his antique book during the Season 2 premiere.

* TerroristsWithoutACause: His actual motive for trying to steal the Miraculous isn't explained for some time. [[spoiler: He wants to use their combined power to rewrite reality, allowing him to heal his wife or prevent whatever happened to her in the first place.]]
* TragicKeepsake: Has a picture of [[spoiler: Adrien's mother]] in a locket.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Is responsible for causing Nino, Simon, and the Gorilla's akumatizations. [[spoiler:Subverted in that he's actually Hawk Moth, and could very well have been intentionally trying to cause that.]]
* VillainBall: He barely ''ever'' takes steps to make sure that the people working under him are focused on taking the Miraculous. But massively subverted during "The Collector": [[spoiler:He Akumatizes himself for a change, proving to be a relentless NoNonsenseNemesis against Ladybug and Cat Noir -- and he also uses this as a XanatosGambit to hide the fact that Gabriel Agreste is Hawk Moth]].

* WalkingSpoiler: [[spoiler: He is Hawk Moth.]]
* WhenYouComingHomeDad: One of the biggest problems with his relationship with his son is that Gabriel is ''always'' busy with work. This is on top of keeping Adrien locked into a busy schedule of modeling work and lessons. At the end of "Simon Says", Adrien passive-aggressively rips into his dad for his distance.

[[center: [-[[Characters/MiraculousLadybug Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugHeroes Heroes]] | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugKwamis Kwamis]] | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugSchoolCharacters School Characters]] | '''Hawk Moth''' | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugVillains Villains]] | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugAssortedCivilians Assorted Civilians]]]]-]

!!Gabriel Agreste, Hawk Moth

->''' Both voiced by: Antoine Tome (FR), Creator/KeithSilverstein (EN), Hong Shi-ho (KOR), Hesham Shazli (ARA,s1 ep1 - s2 ep16) and Mohammed Ashraf (ARA), Roberto Encinas (SP), Dafnis Fernández (MEX), , Ionuț Grama (ROM), Stefano Alessandroni (ITA), Jiří Valšuba (CZE), Xristo Bonin/Христо Бонин (BUL), Peter Flechtner (GER), Simen Sand (NOR) Hayato Fujii (J), Pavle Jerinić (SER), Volodymyr Tereshchuk/Володимир Терещук and Mykhaylo Zhonin/Михайло Жонін (UKR, voice-over and dubbing, respectively)'''

* AmazonChaser: {{Implied|Trope}}. When Cat Noir (Adrien) [[CallingTheOldManOut call his father out]] on his stubbornness in "Simon Says", Gabriel is taken aback before smiling at Cat Noir's temper and fondly saying he (Cat Noir) reminds him of someone else. After Cat Noir leaves to fight the titular akuma, Gabriel looks at the picture of his wife. The whole scene implies Mrs. Agreste has a similar temper like Adrien's and was a reason why Gabriel loved her so dearly.

* BadBoss: Downplayed, but he dumps the responsibility of taking care of his son on Nathalie, and tends to be harsh toward the Gorilla, [[spoiler:even attempting to akumatize him twice (the second time succeeding).]]
* BadBoss:

* CrazyPrepared: In "Simon Says," we learn that Gabriel has installed DEFCON-like security measures to protect his mansion in case of an attack.
* CrazyPrepared:

->''' Both voiced by: Antoine Tome (FR), Creator/KeithSilverstein (EN), Hong Shi-ho (KOR), Hesham Shazli (ARA,s1 ep1 - s2 ep16) and Mohammed Ashraf (ARA), Roberto Encinas (SP), Dafnis Fernández (MEX), Gadi Levi/גדי לוי (HEB), Gábor Albert (HUN), Jacek Król (P), Ricardo Schnetzer (BP), Ionuț Grama (ROM), Stefano Alessandroni (ITA), Jiří Valšuba (CZE), Xristo Bonin/Христо Бонин (BUL), Peter Flechtner (GER), Hayato Fujii (J), Pavle Jerinić (SER), Volodymyr Tereshchuk/Володимир Терещук and Mykhaylo Zhonin/Михайло Жонін (UKR, voice-over and dubbing, respectively)'''
->'''(Hawk Moth) Voiced by: ,, Zsolt Sarádi (HUN), Peter Flechtner (GER), Creator/GuilhermeBriggs (BP), Stefano Alessandroni (ITA), Simen Sand (NOR)'''

->'''(Gabriel Agreste) Voiced by: Antoine Tome (FR), Creator/KeithSilverstein (EN), Hong Shi-ho (KOR), Hesham Shazli and Hesham Shazli (ARA, rest, episode 1 and 42), Roberto Encinas (ES), Dafnis Fernández (MEX), Gadi Levi/גדי לוי (HEB), Gábor Albert (HUN), Jacek Król (P), Ricardo Schnetzer (BP), Ionuț Grama (ROM), Stefano Alessandroni (ITA), Jiří Valšuba (CZE), Xristo Bonin/Христо Бонин (BUL), Peter Flechtner (GER), Hayato Fujii (J), Pavle Jerinić (SER), Volodymyr Tereshchuk/Володимир Терещук and Mykhaylo Zhonin/Михайло Жонін (UKR, voice-over and dubbing, respectively)'''
->'''(Hawk Moth) Voiced by: Antoine Tome (FR), Creator/KeithSilverstein (EN), Dafnis Fernández (MEX), Roberto Encinas (SP), Hong Shi-ho (KOR), Hesham Shazli (ARA), Zsolt Sarádi (HUN), Peter Flechtner (GER), Creator/GuilhermeBriggs (BP), Stefano Alessandroni (ITA), Simen Sand (NOR)'''

* MysteriousParent: While the true extent has yet to be revealed, the fact that Gabriel [[spoiler:is aware of what the Miraculouses are, secretly kept a book about them, and has the peacock brooch Miraculous]] implies that he is more connected to the supernatural happenings in Paris than he lets on. Adrien offhandedly mentions that even as Gabriel's own ''son'', he doesn't know anything about him either. Of course as it turns out [[spoiler:He's Hawkmoth so his connection to the Akuma problems is pretty obvious given that he's actively causing them. But even that revelation brings other questions as it also appears that he was aware of the Miraculous and had the book, and Moth and Peacock Miraculous well before he actively started using them as Hawkmoth and it's even implied they are the part of the reason of what happened to Emilie.]]

* XanatosGambit: Akumatizing [[spoiler:himself]] in "The Collector." The Collector gets Ladybug's and Cat Noir's Miraculouses? Obviously good. He fails? [[spoiler:Because they're the same person, he still subverts any suspicion of Hawk Moth's identity.]]


* BreakTheHaughty: After his TheBadGuyWins in "The Collector," karma seems to be doubling down on him -- in the form of giving him a tougher time with his Akumatized servants. The titular "Robostus" ends up [[spoiler:invoking TheStarscream and nearly killing him with his own defense system]], and the titular "Gigantitan" is so frustrating to work with that Hawk Moth ends up looking like a borderline IneffectualSympatheticVillain.
* ButtMonkey: In season two, Hawk Moth is having far more difficulty controlling the akumatized villains. To wit, he ends up having to say "please" to Befana, has Robostus pull a [[TheStarscream Starscream]] on him and nearly kill him, is unable to wrangle Gigantitan with any degree of success, is unable to get Glaciator to attack Ladybug and Cat Noir (they're pretending to be a couple at the time), and initially has difficulty with the Sapotis, although he eventually gets them to focus.
* ByThePowerOfGrayskull: Like Ladybug and Cat Noir, he has a phrase to activate his transformation, "Nooroo, Dark Wings, Rise!" in the English dub and the usual "Transform me!" in the French version. He is also able to de-transform using the phrase "Dark Wings, Fall!"
* CardCarryingVillain: Deliberately creates supervillains, refers to his transformations as "evilizing" people, and freely admits his plots are evil. Subtle this one ain't.
* CatchPhrase: "Fly away, my little Akuma, and evilize him/her!"
** And when the Akuma finds its mark: "[Villain's name]. I am Hawk Moth..."
* ClassyCane: His WeaponOfChoice is a cane with a purple gem encrusted on its handle, symbolizing how he commands all the other villains in the show.
* CloneByConversion: If his akuma are released but not captured, they will clone themselves and infect anyone they can, turning their victims into mindless copies of the villain they originally created. If the original victim can be turned again, all the clones are slaved to their will.
* CoolMask: He wears a rather tight silver mask that conceals most of his face, save his eyes and mouth. When he's trying to communicate with his henchmen, a purple butterfly-shaped hologram appears in front of his eyes that matches the lines in his mask.
* TheCorrupter: Whenever he senses someone has powerful negative emotions, he sends out one of his akumas. The akuma amplifies those emotions and transforms the victim into an evil creature driven by that desire, who he then convinces to help him steal the Miraculous. [[spoiler:It turns out he can do this to ''himself'' if he needs to.]]


* TheEmpath: A villainous example. He can sense negative emotions anywhere in the city, with at least enough clarity to know exactly what the incident was that inspired them.


* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: When Nooroo tries to go out for his birthday, he temporarily removes the poor kwami's mouth before playing it off as a "joke".
* EvilIsHammy: In costume, he embraces being a theatrical supervillain, a far cry from his civilian identity of[[spoiler: the aloof, businesslike Gabriel Agreste.]]
* EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce: Loses nothing but time when his akumas are defeated, and so can afford to keep trying again and again.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Has a pretty low, intimidating tone. His voice is noticeably higher-pitched when untransformed, so either it's a side effect of his transformation or he invokes this trope deliberately, perhaps so that nobody recognizes his civilian voice.
* {{Expy}}: Could be one to [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Gendo Ikari]] Both are serious, aloof AbusiveParents of emotionally negleted children, Adrien and Shinji, who fall to evil in their attempts to [[TheLostLenore bring back their wifes]] whom they lost under misterious circumstances.
* FalseFlagOperation: Twice. First, by permitting [[spoiler:Simon Says]] to target him despite the risks and then [[spoiler:corrupting himself into the Collector]] to throw suspicion off of his civilian identity when he believed the heroes were getting too close to finding out who he was.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Sure, he'll act like he's a friend to the villains he creates, but that's only as long as he's getting what he wants; the minute something goes wrong, out come the threats to remove their powers.
* FluffyTheTerrible: In the French version, he's "Le Papillon", or the Butterfly. This is intentionally averted in the various dubs by the name change.
* AGodAmI: He wants Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous because together they grant ultimate power.
* GoodPowersBadPeople: When used with its intended purpose, Nooroo's power ''should'' be turning people into TheChampion. Hawk Moth, however, uses it to corrupt people to suit his own ends.
* TheHeavy: All of the other villains? This guy creates and directs them in the first place.
* HiddenAgendaVillain: So far, the closest thing we have to his master plan is that he needs both the Ladybug and Cat miraculous to make a wish in order to "erase the past".
* {{Hypocrite}}: Hawk Moth is a ManipulativeBastard who will say whatever he needs to get his MoreThanMindControl to work, regardless of what he personally believes. However, on occasion he makes some genuine hypocritical remarks to himself when nobody else can hear them.
** In "Sapotis", he mocks strict parents and declares that kids should be allowed to do whatever they want, whenever they want. [[spoiler:Gabriel is an extremely strict parent who micromanages his son's life.]]
** In "Captain Hardrock", he expresses outrage at "the suppression of a soul demanding liberty and freedom". [[spoiler:Again, Gabriel micromanages Adrien's life (barely even allowing him to leave the house), and is keeping Nooroo prisoner.]] Corrupting people into becoming your evil minions and using an AgonyBeam when they disobey you isn't much in the way of "liberty and freedom" either.

* {{Irony}}: The way his akuma minions look design-wise, you'd think that [[spoiler:a fashion designer would have better taste (unless he's NotSoAboveItAll or [[FridgeBrilliance he does it deliberately so people don't realize they're the same person]])]].
* LargeHam: Despite his dark and serious tone, his VA (in pretty much any version -- take your pick) is clearly having the time of their life.
* LightIsNotGood: Stands in a room filled with white butterflies, right in the beam of a large, handsomely wrought window. To some degree justified, at least with the white butterflies: he's perverting his Nooroo's benevolent powers for evil. [[spoiler:His true identity, Gabriel Agreste, also wears a white suit, with bright red pants and highlights.]]
* LoopholeAbuse:
** Nooroo's power can't be used on the owner of the Miraculous. [[spoiler:When Gabriel has to get around people discovering his identity, he temporarily ''gives up'' being the holder of Nooroo to allow himself to be akumatized by an akuma he had previously created.]]
** Catalyst is an even better example. [[spoiler: Through giving Natalie the power to increase his own, he is able to amass an ''army'' of villains.]]
* MacabreMothMotif: He has this in the English and Korean version thanks to DubNameChange. Hawk ''Moth'' has a dark color scheme and corrupts the PrettyButterflies for his own selfish agenda.
* MacrossMissileMassacre: Has missiles hidden in his evil lair, which nearly gets him killed when [[AIIsACrapshoot Robostus turns on him]].
* MakeAWish: This is why he wants both heroes' Miraculous. Whoever succeeds in [[YinYangBomb merging the two]] will be granted a wish powerful enough to change reality or rewrite the past.
* ManipulativeBastard: It's not very obvious in Season 1 outside of exploiting the emotionally vulnerable to create minions to throw against Ladybug and Cat Noir, but Season 2 opens with him throwing the wool over the heroes' eyes with a single akuma and [[spoiler:some mostly sincere words about how much he loves his son.]]
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Just look at that pimpin' purple suit and that ClassyCane. [[spoiler:Why would you expect anything less from a fashion designer?]]
* MoreThanMindControl: Hawk Moth's akuma amplify the negative emotions of his victims, then Hawk Moth plays on their desires to make them do what he wants.
* MysteriousPast: His goal becomes clear in Season 2, yet how he ended up the way he is in the present is yet to be revealed.
* MysteriousStranger: His non-transformed identity is a complete mystery to our heroes. [[spoiler:The Season 2 premiere reveals that he's Gabriel Agreste, but no one else in-universe knows that except for Nathalie.]]
* NearVillainVictory: In two episodes he has very nearly managed to akumatize Marinette, which would pretty much be an InstantWinCondition for him since there would be no Ladybug to purify her akuma.
* TheNicknamer: He gives the villain names to the citizens that are akumatized, and refers to them solely by these titles from the moment his akumas possess them.
* {{Necromantic}}: Assuming [[spoiler:Emilie]] really is dead, this is undoubtedly his reason for seeking the combined power of the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses to grant him a wish. [[spoiler:Although given what was shown in his basement at the end of "Gorizilla", he may have ''already succeeded'' and [[CameBackWrong not liked the result]], and wants the wish to do it "properly".]]
* NoOntologicalInertia: Averted. His akuma continue to function when Hawk Moth isn't actively transformed. Even when he deliberately renounces Nooroo's power and seals him in the moth brooch, they persist. The only way to stop them is to purify the akuma.
* NonActionBigBad:
** Hawk Moth's power is to give powers to others, whom he then controls, rather than gaining any powers of his own. As such, he waits in his dark room, sending out akuma to transform others so they'll do his work for him. "Robostus" shows he can defend himself with a SwordCane in a pinch, but his performance suggests he lacks the stamina for a protracted battle.
** Averted ''hard'' in "Mayura" - despite [[spoiler:losing both his cane and his Catalyst buffs]], he manages to take down both Ladybug ''and'' Cat Noir with just his fists. Only a BigDamnHeroes moment from [[spoiler:Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Queen Bee]] stopped him from achieving total victory.
* NonIndicativeName: Due to the aforementioned DubNameChange, American and Korean viewers will probably be confused as to why a villain named after a moth leads a swarm of evil butterflies. Averted in the French version, where his name is Papillon (French for "butterfly"). To be fair, the akuma look more like moths than butterflies.
* NotSoAboveItAll: He's already a LargeHam, but it's to the point that when [[MyBelovedSmother La Befana]] asks him what the magic word is when he orders her to get the Miraculouses, he has a {{Beat}} before sheepishly saying "Please?"
* NoSelfBuffs:
** He can empower others, but Nooroo's power doesn't work on whoever holds the Miraculous. [[spoiler:When he needs to akumatize himself to throw off suspicion, he temporarily renounces his power so he'll be vulnerable and has a previously created akuma merge with him, fooling even Master Fu, who knows about this aspect of Nooroo's power.]]
** He can also have grant the ability of empowerment to a villain, as seen with Catalyst. [[spoiler: With this boost, he is able to gather an army of reakumatized villains.]]
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Spends most of the series standing on the dark room he is in, and sends his butterflies when he detects a suitable victim. Justified, as his primary super power is the ability to bestow powers onto others. He finally steps out of his lair in the Heroes' Day two-parter special.
* PetTheDog:
** Sure, he corrupts little Manon into Puppeteer without hesitation, but during her villain tenure itself he's nothing but polite to her the entire time -- a far cry from his typical berating and/or [[VillainOverride Villain Overriding]] against losing and/or resistant villains. [[spoiler:Of course, it's not too surprising that he knows the pragmatism in being gentle to make a child behave, considering his secret identity is a parent.]]
** Furthermore, in "Kung Food", before he sends his akuma after Weng Chang, he remarks that a great artist was wronged, implying he is aware of and respects his abilities as a chef.
** In "The Pharaoh" he says that there is nothing wrong with wanting to live a fantasy, which indicates he sympathize with Jalil's idea about bringing Nefertiti back to life. [[spoiler: Since he is Gabriel Agreste and most likely trying to find his wife, this makes sense.]]
** In "Gorizilla", [[spoiler:he can't bring himself to gamble Adrien's life on the possibility that he is Cat Noir and orders Gorizilla to release Ladybug so she can rescue him]].
* PowerfulAndHelpless: While Hawk Moth's powers are dangerous and versatile, he is only able to bestow such powers onto others and thus has to rely on others to do the work for him. Half the time he cannot even get his minions to cooperate, either carrying out his orders incompetently (like with Bubbler), completely ignoring him (like Gigantitan) or outright attacking him before he can incapacitate them (like with Robostus). It does not help that his corrupting influence makes them easily distracted and irrational. While he is capable of defending himself against things like his corrupted defense system or even Ladybug and Cat Noir when he absolutely has to, he typically prefers to hang back and let his akumas do the dirty work.
* PungeonMaster: Occasionally indulges in puns, such as saying that he'll "draw [Nathaniel, an artist] into my evil plot". [[spoiler: Which would certainly explain where Adrien got it from.]]
* PurpleIsTheNewBlack: His suit is predominantly purple with black highlights, and his akuma are imbued with (evil) purple energy.
* SigilSpam: His butterfly symbol courtesy of the akumas and the glowing masks that appear on the faces of his super villains. It almost proves to be his undoing, but some diabolical skulduggery on his part causes the heroes to wave off the fact that his motif is very similar to the logo of [[spoiler:one of the biggest fashion designer brands in Paris.]]
* SmugSnake: Hes very confident in himself but repeatedly fails in his attempts to steal the heroes' artifacts, never bothers to change strategy and always ends up crying in frustration and his moments of cleverness are few and far between.
* TheSociopath: Oh, let's see: Ruthlessly manipulates people for his own ends? Check. Willing to cause ruination to Paris just to achieve his goals? Check. A grandiose sense of self-worth and a complete LackOfEmpathy? Check. In fact, he could be classified as a downright monster [[spoiler:if it weren't for the fact that [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes he dearly loves his wife and son]].]]
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: "Hawk Moth" is the official English spelling, but there are some who spell it as "Hawkmoth", one word, after an art book spelled it that way.
* SpellMyNameWithAThe: Only in the French version, where he's called "le Papillon" or "the Butterfly".
* SuperEmpowering: His Miraculous grants the power to empower others. He infuses a butterfly with his power, creating an akuma which then infects someone experiencing strong negative emotion. The victim is granted PersonalityPowers, centered on an object involved in the incident. Though Hawk Moth uses this power for evil, its original intent is to create heroic champions. It's not clear how this works in comparison to his use of it.
* SurroundedByIdiots: His minions often get distracted by their own interests, forget about getting the Miraculous and at worst even ignore his warnings when Ladybug is conning them.
* SwordCane: In "Robostus", his cane is revealed to hide a blade, which he uses to defend himself when Robostus turns on him.

[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[BigBad Fly away, my little akuma, ''and evilize them!]]''"]]

* TenMinuteRetirement: After Style Queen is defeated, he declares that no akuma victim could ever top someone as naturally malicious and vile as Audrey Bourgeois, and if ''she'' lost then there's no point in even trying anymore. He renounces Nooroo and puts away his Miraculous, but quickly dives right back into villainy when he gets the opportunity to akumatize a transformed Miraculous wielder (Chloé), which is just too tempting for him to pass up.
* AbsurdlySharpBlade: His SwordCane can slice clean through giant missiles.
* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: Lepidopterans, like butterflies and moths, as his French name translates to "Butterfly" and his English name is "Hawk Moth", the common name for a family of moths known as "Sphingidae". His Miraculous and kwami are butterfly- and moth-themed in each respective dub. He corrupts butterflies to act as his akumas, regardless of dub.
* AntagonistAbilities:
** His akumas can't be backtracked or traced, and he never takes part in fights himself. He also has no time limit when using his abilities and his akuma continue to function even if he's not transformed. Therefore, he can continue to attack Ladybug and Cat Noir on an almost daily basis, secure in the knowledge that they have no way to ever bring the fight to him.
** In "Mayura", he chastises Ladybug and Cat Noir for being unable to hold transformations after using their special abilities, implying that he knows more about how the Miraculouses work.
* ArchnemesisDad: [[spoiler:He often targets the students in Marinette's class, meaning that he's knowingly victimizing the friends of his son Adrien. Over the course of season two, he begins to suspect Adrien *is* Cat Noir, though as of "Gorizilla" he's been thrown off the scent for the time being.]]
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Despite the fact he doesn't fight directly often, he is shown to be capable of using a SwordCane, as seen in "Robostus". More of this is going to show in the Heroes' Day two-parter special.
* BadBoss:
** Enslaved the butterfly kwami Nooroo despite Nooroo's warnings about the danger risked by using a kwami's powers for evil.
** If people don't follow his orders, he's bound to threaten or try and take control of them unless they do their job.
* BerserkButton: He tends to get very annoyed when his victims completely ignore his orders or jeopardize his mission (namely when they make the Miraculous irretrievable).
* BigBad: He's the evil mastermind behind all of Paris's supernatural problems.
* BondVillainStupidity:
** Gets a case of this every single time Cat Noir falls prey to an akumatised victim's attack and becomes BrainwashedAndCrazy. It never once occurs to him to take the Cat Miraculous while he can. Rather, he has Cat Noir help take Ladybug's Miraculous. He also does this in "Copycat", where instead of having Copycat take the ring, he's perfectly fine with letting Ladybug do it, even though logically, she'd take the ring off and then try and smash it to get out the akuma.
** Arguably [[JustifiedTrope justified]] - when the akumas can take thralls of their own, Cat is generally the most powerful of said thralls, and the only one who could stand a chance against Ladybug.

* CrazyPrepared:
** [[spoiler:He owns the Miraculous spellbook, and has it hidden in a safe that no one should be able to access without the right code. However, in the event that does happen, he has scans of all the pages just in case.]]
** In the event someone starts to suspect his civilian identity of being Hawk Moth, [[spoiler:he can akumatize ''himself'' to throw off suspicion.]] Even Master Fu buys it, since [[spoiler:the wielder of the Butterfly Miraculous is immune to its power... which is why he temporarily ''renounced'' the Miraculous after creating the akuma to use on himself.]]
** His lair is kitted out with a defense system in the event that someone should break in... though, this ends up backfiring on him after Robostus takes control of it and turns it against him.
** He carries a spare akuma in his cane in case an opportunity for an akumatization presents itself while he's on the go.
* DarkIsEvil: He taints his butterflies with black and purple energy before sending them off to corrupt someone.
* DarthVaderClone: His masked alter ego gives him a deep, booming voice, he dresses mostly in black, he has the ability to mentally torture his minions if they disobey or fail him and [[spoiler:he's the ArchnemesisDad of one of the heroes.]] He also carries a sword as revealed in "Robostus" and [[spoiler:has a lost wife whom he loved dearly and misses terribly and it's heavily implied that her disappearance was what drove him to the DarkSide.]]
* DubNameChange: His French name is Le Papillon ("Butterfly"), but he's known as Hawk Moth in the English and Korean dubs. His Hungarian name is Halálfej ("Death's-head"), while the European Spanish one is Lepidóptero ("Lepidopteran").

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He keeps a locket with a picture of [[spoiler:his lost wife]], and it's implied he desires the Miraculous so he can use their power to get her back. And he does genuinely love [[spoiler:his son, despite how little he shows it]].
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Between brainwashing innocent people and not being the least bit choosy about victims, there aren't a lot of lines Hawk Moth hasn’t crossed already. However, when it comes down to the wire, there is one thing he will never do: [[spoiler:let Adrien get hurt]]. Also, he quickly restores Nooroo's mouth after removing it, saying that even he's not ''that'' cruel.
** In "Queen Wasp", he's shown to be torn between his love for [[spoiler: his wife and his son.]] Keep up with the akumas and the villains and risk [[spoiler: Adrien getting hurt to save/revive Emilie]] or give it up for his safety but never [[spoiler: get his wife back or save his son's mother.]]
** In "Mayura" [[spoiler:he's aghast when he realises that Nathalie has taken up the Peacock Miraculous to aid him, since he knows the strain it will take on her body, and begs her not to use it.]]

* IgnoredEpiphany: In "Stormy Weather", he begins to question whether he's risking too much in his quest, but quickly snuffs out the thought and doubles down on his actions.

* SwordCane: In "Robostus", his cane is revealed to hide a blade, which he uses to defend himself when Robostus turns on him.
* TakeOverTheWorld: His stated goal, but he needs the Miraculous to do it.
* {{Telepathy}}: How he communicates with his victims.
* TerroristsWithoutACause: His actual motive for trying to steal the Miraculous isn't explained for some time. [[spoiler: He wants to use their combined power to rewrite reality, allowing him to heal his wife or prevent whatever happened to her in the first place.]]
* TragicKeepsake: Has a picture of [[spoiler: Adrien's mother]] in a locket.
* TransformationTrinket: The butterfly brooch on his chest is his Miraculous.
* VillainBall: He barely ''ever'' takes steps to make sure that the people working under him are focused on taking the Miraculous. But massively subverted during "The Collector": [[spoiler:He Akumatizes himself for a change, proving to be a relentless NoNonsenseNemesis against Ladybug and Cat Noir -- and he also uses this as a XanatosGambit to hide the fact that Gabriel Agreste is Hawk Moth]].
* VillainOverride: Though he usually favors the carrot in getting those he transforms to do his bidding, he's threatened to remove their powers if they don't play along, and can cause them pain if they resist his demands.
* WouldHitAGirl: Hawk Moth doesn't hesitate to akumatize women.
* WouldHurtAChild:
** He has akumatized at least six small children seven times on six separate occasions, and while the infant August's first akumatization was an accident, he goes along with it without the slightest hint of remorse.
** In "Mayura", he shows no objection to attacking Ladybug and Cat Noir personally, and his dialogue hints that he knows (or at least suspects) that they're teenagers.
* XanatosGambit: Akumatizing [[spoiler:himself]] in "The Collector." The Collector gets Ladybug's and Cat Noir's Miraculouses? Obviously good. He fails? [[spoiler:Because they're the same person, he still subverts any suspicion of Hawk Moth's identity.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"I decide what's best for my son."'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:"Fly away, my little akuma, ''and evilize them!''"]]

Adrien's absent dad. He is a famous fashion designer, but is always too busy with his job to spend any time with his son.

A masked man who seeks to steal the Miraculouses from their current owners in order to combine them and gain ultimate power. He uses his Butterfly Miraculous to create akuma that corrupt civilians and transform them into superpowered beings under his control.
----

[[quoteright:176:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hawk_moth_render_2.png]]
[[caption-width-right:176:"Fly away, my little akuma, ''and evilize them!''"]]


-->''"Up until now you have ''felt'' fear. From now on, you will ''cause'' fear."''

[[caption-width-right:176:''"I decide what's best for my son."'']]

->''"I decide what's best for my son."''

[[folder:Gabriel Agreste]]
!!Gabriel Agreste

->'''Voiced by: Antoine Tome (FR), Creator/KeithSilverstein (EN), Hong Shi-ho (KOR), Hesham Shazli and Hesham Shazli (ARA, rest, episode 1 and 42), Roberto Encinas (ES), Dafnis Fernández (MEX), Gadi Levi/גדי לוי (HEB), Gábor Albert (HUN), Jacek Król (P), Ricardo Schnetzer (BP), Ionuț Grama (ROM), Stefano Alessandroni (ITA), Jiří Valšuba (CZE), Xristo Bonin/Христо Бонин (BUL), Peter Flechtner (GER), Hayato Fujii (J), Pavle Jerinić (SER), Volodymyr Tereshchuk/Володимир Терещук and Mykhaylo Zhonin/Михайло Жонін (UKR, voice-over and dubbing, respectively)'''

[[/folder]]
[[folder:Hawk Moth]]
!!Hawk Moth

->'''Voiced by: Antoine Tome (FR), Creator/KeithSilverstein (EN), Dafnis Fernández (MEX), Roberto Encinas (SP), Hong Shi-ho (KOR), Hesham Shazli (ARA), Zsolt Sarádi (HUN), Peter Flechtner (GER), Creator/GuilhermeBriggs (BP), Stefano Alessandroni (ITA), Simen Sand (NOR)'''

* XanatosGambit: Akumatizing [[spoiler:himself]] in "The Collector." The Collector gets Ladybug's and Cat Noir's Miraculouses? Obviously good. He fails? [[spoiler:Because they're the same person, he still subverts any suspicion of Hawk Moth's identity.]]
[[/folder]]

[[center: [-[[Characters/MiraculousLadybug Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugHeroes Heroes]] | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugKwamis Kwamis]] | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugSchoolCharacters School Characters]] | ''Hawk Moth'' | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugVillains Villains]] | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugAssortedCivilians Assorted Civilians]]]]-]

[[center: [-[[Characters/MiraculousLadybug Main Character Index]] | '''Heroes''' | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugKwamis Kwamis]] | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugSchoolCharacters School Characters]] | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugHawkMoth Hawk Moth]] | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugVillains Villains]] | [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugAssortedCivilians Assorted Civilians]]]]-]