History Main / AristocratsAreEvil

** Count Vertigo, a supervillain
** There are several supervillains who style themselves as barons, including Baron Bedlam, Baron Blitzkrieg, Baron Tyrano (an EvilCripple who wishes [[BrainTransplant transplant his brain]] into the body of ComicBook/GreenLantern)
%%* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Count Drako, a villain

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': Both Grand Duke George Hasek-Davion and Duke Frederick Steiner each schemed in the 3020s to take over their nation's thrones. On the flip side, there is Grand Duke Morgan Kell, one of the major BigGood characters of the universe, and leader of the ''loyal'' opposition.

* ''LightNovel/TheHiddenDungeonOnlyICanEnter'': With the exception of the main characters and their immediate families, the aristocrats in this series (ranked from Dukes at the top, with Barons at the bottom) are all entitled twits who preen around based entirely on the merits of previous members of their bloodlines, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney or use money to skate past any test they can]]. Noir even lost his job as a librarian at the beginning to some unnamed higher-tier noble, who bribed the interviewer just to deny him the position. Later, though, this starts to fade as Noir racks up heroic accomplishments, and the nobles realize it's a good idea to be on good terms with a powerful and promising adventurer, regardless of social status.

* ''LightNovel/TrashSkillGacha'' has several key examples:

* ''Fanfic/PointsOfFamiliarity'': [[LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero Count Mott]]. This also carries over to his appearances in ''Fanfic/SurrogateOfZero'', and ''Fanfic/{{Unfamiliar}}''. In the former two, he manipulates Siesta into becoming one of his mistresses, and forces himself on her in ''Points''. In ''Surrogate'', Guiche all but says outright that Mott has a taste for rape, and throws orgies for other nobles as a way of securing influence.

* ''Series/TippingTheVelvet'': Diana Lethaby and her decadent friends. They cruelly exploit lesbians younger than themselves in their parties and for sex overall.

** While most aristocrats are evil to some degree (also being {{Mad Scientist}}s and all), the Lords and Ladies of House Heterodyne took the cake for much of history. Almost every Heterodyne was a CardCarryingVillain. {{Inverted|Trope}} with the current Lady Heterodyne--our heroine Agatha-- and her father Bill.
** PlayedWith in the person of Baron Klaus Wulfenbach. He is a brutal tyrant who obtained his empire on no other legal principle than having the biggest army and is apparently willing to kill his best friend's daughter for being a threat to his kingdom's stability, but in a textbook example of TheExtremistWasRight, he also managed to maintain the rule of law over most of Europe for almost two decades and keep the common folk of his lands largely protected. He also provided his lands with a wide variety of communication and public works services, and kept at bay the [[BigBad Other]]. Finally, he does genuinely appear to love his son and apparently greatly misses his wife. Two and a half years after the Baron is incapacitated, his reign is described as [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20131021 "seeming like some lost Golden Age"]].
** Played completely straight with the Knights of Jove and the Fifty Families, who were the older noble and royal families that ruled before the Baron took charge. They're all stuck scheming to take power and backstabbing their allies in ther bids to crown themselves the lone Storm King of all Europa, and their main objection to the Baron's dictatorship is simply that he's not a royal. The immediate relatives of Tarvek Sturmvoraus, the lone WhiteSheep (albiet an AntiHero) of these families, serves as a good sample: his father Aaronev Wilhelm kidnapped children to help [[BigBad the Other]] return, his sister Anevka was a homicidal maniac, and his older cousin Martellus tried killing him and kidnapping Agatha to be his bride.

** The World Nobles, also known as the Celestial Dragons (''Tenryuubito'' in Japanese), are the descendants of the Kings of twenty different kingdoms who later created the [[TheGovernment World Government]]. To try and give you an idea of how messed up they are... imagine what the typical aristocrat would be like after hailing from 700 years of being revered as a living deity and explicitly told that no rules apply to them -- their in-universe title is '''Saint''', which, in RealLife, is considered higher than any normal noble title. To say they are corrupt to the core is, frankly, an understatement. The World Nobles are allowed to kill and maim people on a whim, live in obscene luxury supported by taxes extorted from the nations allied to the World Government, and [[AGodAmI totally believe their own hype of being living gods]]. Despite the fact that slavery is illegal everywhere else in the One Piece world, they openly keep slaves, thinking nothing of abusing them to death for convenience or even amusement, and can abduct people off of the street on a whim to a life of slavery. And nobody ''dares'' lift a finger in retaliation because [[DisproportionateRetribution not only can they kill on a whim]], but anyone who strikes a World Noble is immediately the target of a [[AuthorityEqualsAssKicking Navy Admiral]], one of the most powerful fighters in the World Government's pocket, who is duty-bound to eliminate the assailant with extreme prejudice. [[spoiler:Unless the assailant is another World Noble, as Saint Charlos learned the hard way.]]

** While most aristocrats are evil to some degree (also being {{Mad Scientist}}s and all), the Lords and Ladies of House Heterodyne took the cake for much of history. Almost every Heterodyne was a CardCarryingVillain. {{Inverted|Trope}} with the current Lady Heterodyne, our heroine Agatha, and her father Bill.

** ComicBook/DoctorStrange: Baron Mord, an occasional supervillain and full-time EvilSorcerer.

!!Examples

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/TenSixtySixAndAllThat'': While both good kings and bad kings are recognized, all barons in history are wicked, with the sole exception of Simon de Montfort.
* ''Literature/The13Clocks'': The Duke has killed time so that his thirteen clocks do not move, and sets {{Impossible Task}}s to the princes who want to marry his niece. [[spoiler: Finally he reveals that she is not his real niece but a princess he kidnapped and intends to marry; he let the princes try their luck because he was under a curse.]]
* ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'': Aristocrats or at least aristocracy tends to come off as evil at first but more complications come later. Even in the first volume Gustavus Adolphus is generally good. A good example appears in ''The Kremlin Games'' when the Grantvillers are shocked to find out that the cash-rich Russian high nobility are actually neutral or slightly in favor of abolishing serfdom, and the big supporters of the institution are commoner landowners and petty nobles whose only assets are land and the serfs needed to gather resources from said lands. A Russian Prince even laughs at the simplistic American belief in this trope.
* ''Literature/NinetyThree'': The Marquis de Lantenac is a MagnificentBastard KnightTemplar for [[TheRemnant the royalists]], who has whole villages slaughtered as well as [[spoiler: giving one of his troops a medal for heroism -- then immediately having him executed]].
* ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfStrongVanya'': Grand Duke Dimitri is a sinister, stone-hearted, power-hungry schemer who disposes of anybody who dares to badmouth him and intends to seize the throne by forcing the Tsar's daughter to marry him. Dimitri is despised by the old Tsar and Princess Vasillisa, and feared and hated by the peasantry who thank God when Vanya comes along and claims the throne.
* ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'': The Duchess. She may be a subversion though, as she's mostly just a MoodSwinger and is [[NoSenseOfPersonalSpace almost unsettlingly]] nice when in a good mood. (Alice figured it might have only been the large amount of pepper in the kitchen that gave her such a bad mood the first time they met.)
* ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'': Aristocrats are neither worse nor better than others. There is criticism of it as a system however and the main bad guy, the Malwa is devoted to an ideology of inherited power and usually has not the balancing virtues of aristocrats from other empires.
%%* ''Literature/{{Carmilla}}'', Countess of Karnstein, from Sheridan Le Fanu's novella.
* [[ParodiedTrope Spoofed]] in the short humor piece "[[http://www.madameulalie.org/vfuk/The_Baronets_Redemption.html The Baronet's Redemption]]" by Creator/PGWodehouse, wherein one Sir Jasper Murgleshaw, at heart a philanthropist, feels obliged to kidnap, rob, and poison people simply because he's a baronet. Then it's discovered that he has no legal claim to the title, and he promptly becomes a Sunday School teacher.
* ''Literature/TheBlackSpider'': Hans von Stoffeln, the knight baron who ruled over the main characters' village six hundred years ago, was a nasty piece of work: he worked the farmers nearly to death, imposed high taxes, demanded ridiculous tasks from his serfs and punished dissent and criticism very harshly.
* ''Literature/CarrerasLegions'': The Marchioness of Amnesty Interplanetary (as in [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Amnesty International]]), as part of a future UN that's become a true world government, and over the centuries became a FeudalFuture government. The original Marquis of Amnesty[[note]]who basically bought the title and position with gold from Terra Nova, paid by Carrera's ancestor to buy arms to fight the proto-United Earth forces[[/note]] and the two marchionesses who have been shown to hold the title prior to [[spoiler:Captain Wallenstein]] being made Marchioness of Amnesty in ''The Lotus Eaters'' resemble the stereotypical depiction of the Creator/MarquisDeSade.
* In ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath'' the system in the Kencyr is evil, even if not all the aristocrats really are. Jame, and her twin brother Torisen to a lesser extent, are both frequently disgusted by the behavior of their own Highborn caste.
* ''Literature/ACollegeOfMagics'' features the neighboring nations of Aravill and Galazon, which were once duchies in a long-ago kingdom that fell apart. Aravill now styles itself a kingdom, and the King and his family are quite nasty, while Galazon still styles itself a duchy, and the Duchess falls under the "Dukes are relatively nice" exception.
* ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'' is absolutely rife with these kind of characters going with the theme of "civilized men" being hardly any better than the BarbarianHero. Some prominent examples are Shah Amurath, King Numedidis of Aquilonia, and the conspirators in "Literature/ThePhoenixOnTheSword" and ''Literature/TheHourOfTheDragon'' who are nobles working to overthrow Conan after he is crowned king of Aquilonia. [[FemalesAreMoreInnocent Female aristocrats]] like Countess Albiona, Princess Yasmela or Queen Taramis tend to [[DoubleStandard avert this]], though that is not to say all of them are good like [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Salome]]. Even then, it's very rare to find in the series good noblemen.
* ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' by Creator/AlexandreDumas:
** The title character is a greatly wronged, yet scheming and vengeful MagnificentBastard.
** The worst of his enemies is Count de Morcerf, who was born to a working-class family and worked his way up to the aristocracy by ruthlessness and treachery. He's not evil because he's an aristocrat; he's an aristocrat because he's evil.
* ''Literature/CrestOfTheStars'' has Baron Febdash, who rules a very tiny and pretty much worthless star system but is on something of a power trip, surrounding himself with beautiful women as his servants and locking up his human father out of shame. Pretty much nobody bats an eye when he's executed for getting in Lafiel's way, not even his own family. He is, however, the exception in this series: many of the characters are Abh nobility, including the leads (who are a Count and a Viscountess/Imperial Princess, respectively), and most are depicted as either good or at least neutral. It helps that the Abh take the concept of ''[[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething noblesse oblige]]'' really damned seriously, and Imperial Law comes down harshly on any noble who fails to fulfill their duties.
* ''Literature/TheDalemarkQuartet'': All of the earls in South Dalemark are evil, oppressing their people. Although the earls of the North are better, Earl Keril of Hannart and the Countess of Aberath also get up to some rather shady dealings.
* ''Literature/DangerousLiaisons'': The Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, a pair of licentious [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bastards]] who take great pleasure in screwing others over (in every possible sense of the term). Amoral at the ''very'' least.
* ''Literature/DarkShores'': Most of High Lords of Mudamora (with the notable exception of [[LadyOfWar High Lady Dareena Falorn]] are cowardly and care nothing about the plight of common people--and at the first sight of trouble flee beleaguered Mudamora, basically content to let people starve and die. Special mention should go to Helene Torrington, who is ''proud'' that she was able to buy an expensive ring from a desperate girl for a few pieces of silver.
* ''LightNovel/TheDeathMageWhoDoesntWantAFourthTime'': While most aristocrats, like Count Palpapek and Baron Balchesse, ''don't'' make the lives of peasants harder, Duke David Marme stands out for being highly racist, as well as seeing commoners as livestock at best, and a pest at worst.
* ''Literature/TheDeathOfTheNecromancer'': Count Rive Montesq and Count Macob.
** Montesq orchestrated the execution of Nicholas Valiarde's godfather Edouard Viller, a scholar and inventor of [[{{Magitek}} mechanical devices able to store magical spells]], on false charges of necromancy. Interestingly, the main protagonist Nicholas Valiarde himself is a nobleman (and distantly related to the current Queen) but he is from a noble family that was disgraced due to treason perpetrated by one of its members some generations before; Nicholas lives under a variety of pseudonyms as he has become a conman and a thief in his quest for revenge on Montesq.
** Count Macob is a cold and vicious undead necromancer, who during his lifetime became infamous for gory human sacrifices and curse spells. Even after his execution and decapitation he still clung to life, as it were.
* ''Literature/{{Deryni}}'': In the early timeline, Manfred Colquhoun Festil Tarquin [=MacInnis=], Baron of Marlor, is trouble. He's part of the [[RegentForLife corrupt council]], and with his colleagues launches a ''coup'' against King Javan Haldane. That third name of his doesn't bode well.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** Vimes holds to this belief (he makes exceptions for ''individual'' aristocrats, but he's still discomfited at [[spoiler: ''becoming'' one]]). It's suggested that this is the reason why his distaste for vampires seems more genuine than his distaste for [[NobleBigotWithABadge everyone else]] -- vampires almost always have at least a ''symbolic'' connection to this trope (being bloodsuckers and all), and very often are literally this as well.
** Baron and Baroness von Uberwald, Angua's parents and morally myopic werewolves. Their son and Angua's brother, [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Wolfgang von Uberwald]], is evil through and through, and almost certainly murdered his other sister.
** ''Literature/WyrdSisters'': Duke Felmet murdered King Verence I and is scarily insane. Compared to his Duchess, however, he's a downright warm and fuzzy guy.
** ''Literature/{{Mort}}'': The Duke of Sto Helit murdered his brother, the kind, and made it fair to do the same to his niece. However, his title is inherited by the much more upright Mort and, ultimately, his daughter Susan.
** ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'': Notable subversion: Samuel Vimes becomes Duke of Ankh. He's unmistakeably LawfulGood and, for that matter, absolutely hates his title.
** Played with in the form of the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, Lord Ventinari. He's willing to use such tactics as assassinations, blackmail, and vague threats, Ventinari will often self-identify as an evil tyrant who can do whatever he wants and only limits himself because it is intelligent to do so. Looking back at his reign, however, seems to say he honestly cares for his fellow man, as a whole if not individually, and tends to only screw over people who would game the system for their own benefit. He's been instrumental in putting people like Moist Von Lipwig, Samuel Vimes, and William [=DeWorde=] in positions of power where they can actively interfere with the various evil schemes that start off in the city.
** Discworld is full of all kinds of Lords and Ladies, including evil ones; the antagonist of ''Literature/TheTruth'' is Lord de Worde (who's also [[spoiler: [[ArchnemesisDad the protagonist's father]]]]) Many of them are good, however, like Lady Sybil, or merely [[UpperClassTwit bumbling]]. Also from Discworld, ''The'' Lords and Ladies is a local name for TheFairFolk, and Discworld elves are ''not good at all''.
%% ** Count de Magpyr and his family, who are most definitely evil.
* ''Literature/DoveKeeper'': Baron Gilles de Rais, a real-life aristocratic serial killer.
* ''Literature/{{Dragonwyck}}'': The patroon system of 18th century New York is portrayed as ''very'' unjust. At the head of this is AffablyEvil Nicholas Van Ryn, patroon (naturally) of Dragonwyck. However, the rest of the aristocracy is portrayed as mostly mean, unjust, thoughtless, or at least clueless.
* ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'':
%% ** Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is a profoundly evil character, in contrast to his rival, ''Duke'' Leto Atreides, who is practically MessianicArchetype.
** In the prequel novels, so was Paulus Atreides, Paul's grandfather for whom he was named and who taught Leto everything he knows. Archduke Armand Ecaz is also not a bad guy.
** Emperor Shaddam IV is only good in comparison to Baron Harkonnen. The Emperors throughout the series fall under this trope, even the Necessary Evil ones -- God Emperor Leto made himself the most reviled being in history, distrusted and despised even by his closest supporters. It's even revealed in the prequels the Emperor had his elder brother and father murdered to secure his succession.
** Count Glossu Rabban, the Baron Harkonnen's nephew, and vassal/subordinate somehow (titles don't seem to have any connection to rank in Dune). A violent brute who was a tyrannical governor to Arrakis when it was in quasi-fief to House Harkonnen and much feared and hated by the population, and even more so when the Harkonnens took it back from House Atreides and his uncle ordered him to squeeze as much spice out of the planet as possible.
** Viscount Hundro Moritani in the prequels. As much, if not more, of a bastard than Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (see below). Most of his subjects take after him. His ambassador shoots a rival at a state dinner. He orders the bombing of civilian targets despite the declaration of Kanli, a war limited to military targets. He has his rival's son and daughter kidnapped and publicly executed. When another House condemns these actions, he orders the assault on their planet to steal their most holy relic. An ally of the viscount assassinated the rival's second daughter at her wedding to Duke Leto Atreides (the ally was himself a Duke, by the way). He gets what's coming to him, though.
* ''Literature/{{Eisenhorn}}: Xenos'', House Glaw is an ancient noble family with considerable wealth and political influence over the subsector. They're also covert Chaos worshippers and the ringleaders of a vast conspiracy that's trying to acquire a TomeOfEldritchLore for sinister purposes.
* ''Literature/TheElenium'':
** The Earl of Lenda is an example of the "old and senile" version -- though the senility is more a combination of ObfuscatingStupidity and a kindly grandfather.
** Baron Harparin allies himself with the evil prince and is a noted pederast.
* ''Literature/EuricoThePresbyter'': Aristocrats from both sides of the war are portrayed as generally evil: the emirs, sheikhs, and walis on the Arab side get this treatment by default, but not even the Christians are exempt from this: King Roderic is a rapist and a murderer, while Count Julian, Sisebuto and Ebas are traitors that throw their own countrymen under the bus to avenge personal slights or advance their own power. Granted, not all of them are bad like Hemergarda (who is the hero's {{love interest}}) and her brother Pelagius (who serves as the BigGood), but they are more like the exception than the rule.
* ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'' makes references to a "Marquis of Fantailler", who got into a lot of fights (mostly by way of being called the Marquis of Fantailler) and felt this entitled him to write a book. This book was called "The Noble Art of Fisticuffs" and was mostly a list of places where people weren't allowed to hit him. Whether he was particularly good or bad is never brought up, but it's implied that he was kind of an idiot because, as Vimes notes when Carrot tries to fight according to Marquis of Fantailler rules against an opponent who would have to back off a bit to qualify as dangerous, it only works when both people think so.\\
\\
This is of course a parody of the real-life 9th Marquess of Queensberry, whose name was given to rules for boxing codified in the 1860s, i.e. the Marquess of Queensberry rules. The real-life Marquess was the father of Lord Alfred Douglas ('Bosie'), outspoken (or reckless, considering the times and who his father was) lover of Creator/OscarWilde. Angered by his son's relationship with Wilde, he was central to the trial and prison sentence which led to Wilde's early death. If you're a fan of Oscar Wilde, it makes this Marquess pretty evil.
* ''Literature/{{Freckles}}'': Angel fears this trope when she realizes that Freckles's relatives are aristocrats.
-->''"A Lord-man!" she groaned despairingly. "A Lord-man! Bet my hoecake's scorched! Here I've gone and pledged my word to Freckles I'd find him some decent relatives, that he could be proud of, and now there isn't a chance out of a dozen that he'll have to be ashamed of them after all. It's too mean!" ''
* ''Literature/FuenteOvejuna'': OlderThanSteam: the "Comendador" (a military/minor noble Spanish title}. He's so evil that his people ''kill'' him for kidnapping the town magistrate's daughter and violating her right before her wedding (this act made him cross the MoralEventHorizon to a point of no return), then [[IAmSpartacus each villager takes the blame to protect the killer]].
* ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'': Practically every aristocrat (and no shortage of the common-but-rich) in the world of the series is a spoiled, myopic monster who lives in luxury to put Versailles to shame, while the cities they rule over are [[CrapsackWorld dystopian affairs]] with enormous poor populations. Only three noble characters are portrayed sympathetically.
** Particularly monstrous is the so-called Amusement War in the demi-city of Salon Corbeau, a sort of living chess game played for galleries of rich merchants and nobles using impoverished and desperate peasants who volunteer in exchange for a pittance of money and room and board. Whenever a "piece" is captured, he or she is subjected to whatever ghastly punishments the players desire -- torture, beatings, stoning, rape, anything short of killing them deliberately -- and none of the aristocrats see anything wrong about this.
** There's also mention of a noblewoman who Gentled (reduced to mindless husks wholly devoid of their own volition who have to be prodded to eat, excrete, or move) kittens so her sons could torture them with knives because they were bored.
* The villain in ''Literature/TheGreatBalloonRace'' is the evil Count Pommodoro who systematically sabotages all of the other balloons in the race.
* ''Literature/GreyKnights'': Duke Venalitor from the novel ''Hammer of Daemons'' is definitely evil. Most notably he's a follower of Khorne, the god of bloodshed and slaughter.
* {{Conversed}} and ZigZagged in ''Gorgias'' by Creator/{{Plato}}. Socrates points out to Callicles how, in the works of the poets, far more aristocrats are described as being punished eternally in [[{{Hell}} Tartarus]] than commoners. This is because [[JustifiedTrope people in positions of power have more power to commit evil than commoners]]. Therefore, aristocrats who aren't evil are more praiseworthy than good commoners since they didn't abuse their authority.
-->'''Socrates:''' "No, Callicles, the very bad men come from the class of those who have power. And yet in that very class there may arise good men, and worthy of all admiration they are, for where there is great power to do wrong, to live and to die justly is a hard thing, and greatly to be praised, and few there are who attain to this."
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** Several pureblood families, such as the Lestranges, Blacks, and Malfoys, are rich and influential and take every advantage of it they can (extra material on Pottermore reveals that the Malfoys obtained their current fortune and lands from services to William the Conqueror). Contrast this with the Potters, who despite being quite rich themselves have a history of being a lot more humble and generous, and the Weasleys who are considered "blood traitors" and looked down upon due to being less economically well-off.
** The Bloody Baron is a subversion; he [[DarkIsNotEvil isn't a bad sort]], even though [[TheDreaded everyone in the school is afraid of him]]. ([[JacobMarleyApparel Blame his appearance]], which is due to how he died, trying to court Helena Ravenclaw, only [[HairTriggerTemper to get angry when she rejected him]], then stabbing her to death, and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone being overcome with remorse]] later, [[DrivenToSuicide stabbing himself out of grief]].)
* ''Literature/HouseOfTheScorpion'': Matt, while he is not privileged in any way because of his status as a clone in the society, is referred to as an aristocrat (a dirty word in the society he is in) because of where he came from, and because he can play the piano.
* In ''Literature/TheIronTeeth'' web serial all the nobles are ruthless and immoral. For example, Vorscha used to work for a Lord but he decided that it was easier to put a bounty on her head than to pay her mercenary company's wages.
* In ''Literature/JohannesCabalTheDetective'' the main antagonist is Count Marechal, who is more or less the de-facto ruler of the fictional country of Ruritania (the Emperor dies shortly after the book starts and Marechal is technically ruling for the mind-addled young son of the Emperor). He's a hands-on type, a former cavalryman who dreams of conquest and the brains to do something about it.
* ''Literature/{{Juliette}}'': The book that got the infamous Creator/MarquisDeSade imprisoned for life. It focuses on the French Aristocracy pre-Revolution and shows them all as being libertines who engage in orgies full of torture, murder, and child rape. Furthermore, they're all united by a secret society called the Sodality of The Friends of Crime. Their crimes aren't limited to sexual ones, as Saint-Fond, a Cabinet Minister, genocides the poor with a man-made famine.
* ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle'' books play with this somewhat. Ambrose Jakis is the son of a rich baron and uses his birth and wealth as an excuse to be a colossal douchebag to everyone and especially Kvothe. On the other hand, Willem and Simmon are both sons of minor nobility and Kvothe's best friends, while Count Threpe is a CoolOldGuy who occasionally helps Kvothe and serves as a patron to a number of musicians and entertainers.
* ''Literature/KnightAndRogueSeries'': In the first book, Michael is sent by his father, a baron, to capture a woman suspected of killing an important noble's brother. Early in his search for the woman, he learns that if she's killed the port town she governs will go to this brother, and thus be part of Lord Dorian's territory, meaning Dorian won't have to pay any taxes there, and Dorian ships a lot. Also, his father was aware of all of this. Michael is less than pleased.
* In ''Literature/TheLandThatTimeForgot'' by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Friedrich von Schoenvorts, the German lieutenant in command of the U-Boat, is also a baron. He commits war crimes and is a BadBoss to his crew (whipping them for minor offenses). Author Burroughs uses him as an example of what Bowen Tyler describes as being "the Kaiser Breed," expressing contempt for German nobility.
* ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'': Duke Otho von Braunschweig is the single most evil character in a series with GreyAndGrayMorality. He treats his people like cattle, launches a civil war because his daughter whom he can manipulate was not made ruler, and eventually [[spoiler:[[NukeEm nukes two million innocent people]]]].
* ''Literature/TheLordOfBembibre'': Played straight with the Count of Lemos Don Pedro Fernández de Castro, a vicious and cruel man who, driven by unbridled ambition and greed, became owner of a chunk of northwestern Spain by backstabbing everyone. Doña Beatriz remarks that he is feared, hated, and despised by many -specially peasants- but he is loved by nobody.
* ''Literature/LordPeterWimsey'': Lord Peter's older brother, the Duke of Denver, is a bit dense but not a bad sort (his wife the Duchess is a terror, though). [[spoiler: And Lord Peter becomes Duke when his brother dies of a heart attack while the estate is burning down. He doesn't like it at all, but he'll do his duty.]]
* ''Literature/LucifersStar'':
** Virtually every single member of the Archduchy of Crius's FeudalFuture is one manner of scumbag or another. This ranges from their [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Gihren Zabi]]-EXPY leader Prince Germanicus to the SerialKiller Baron Octavian Plantagenet. This is explained to be mostly due to the combination of DecadentCourt intrigue and their own SocialDarwinist policies. Notably, everyone outside the Archduchy considers them to be CardCarryingVillain types since (at least on paper) egalitarianism is the rule in the galaxy.
** {{Subverted}} by Cassius Mass, as he's known as Colonel-Count Cassius Mass and "The Fire Count" and is arguably the only non-evil aristocrat in the Archduchy of Crius. He also, notably, was born to his title but earned an identical rank for his wartime service.

* In ''Literature/MaledictionTrilogy'' [[AllTrollsAreDifferent troll]] aristocrat Duke d'Angouleme and his mother Dowager Duchess. He's a {{Sadist}} and a ManipulativeBastard, and he treats humans and mixed-blood trolls with utter contempt. In addition, he is rumoured to have killed his own wife and he plots to overthrow the royal troll family. She is not much better and after all, it was she who brought him up.
* ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'': Earl Fengbald is a total ass. He tortures his own people by boiling them alive when they can't make him enough money and leads the army of the EvilKing against the good guys.%%Earl Aspitis Preves (who was promoted from Count) is also quite a villain.
* ''Literature/MichaelOHalloran'': Leslie blames a woman's behavior on aping nobility, but Douglas corrects that only some of them are like that.
-->''"I don't pity him half so much as I do her," he answered. "What must a woman have suffered or been through, to warp, twist, and harden her like that?"\\
"Society life," answered Leslie, "as it is lived by people of wealth who are aping royalty and the titled classes."\\
"A branch of them -- possibly," conceded Douglas. "I know some titled and wealthy people who would be dumbfounded over that woman's ideas."''
* ''Literature/{{Mithgar}}'': Baron Bela Stoke is ''very'' evil. Think "expy of UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler if Vlad was also a shapeshifting necromancer" evil.
* ''Literature/{{Montmorency}}'': The Marquess of Rosseley is one of the nicest characters in the series, looking after a man he doesn't know at the request of his brother, being an excellent parent, and uniting with the other main characters in their cause.
* ''Literature/TheMostDangerousGame'': Count Zaroff -- in a change from the short story, where he's a general -- is a reclusive madman who hunts human beings like animals.
* ''Literature/MurderAtColefaxManor'': [[spoiler:Lord Colefax]]. He commits and orders numerous murders, plans to bomb a Cornish city, and runs a hedonistic death cult.
* ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'': Marquis de Carabas. A [[spoiler: good guy]], and a scheming MagnificentBastard. Though technically, he's not even really an aristocrat, as he is said to have taken his title from "a lie in [[Literature/PussInBoots a fairy tale]]". He's also only technically a [[spoiler: good guy. More on the 'helping the heroes because there's a lot in it for him' side]].
* ''Literature/NightfallSeries'': The Duchess is a sadistic vampire who happily feeds humans to her sub lover while simultaneously drinking his blood. Prince Vladimir is the BigBad WickedCultured ManipulativeBastard.

* In ''Literature/NorthangerAbbey'', the narrator comments on how Mrs. Morland knew so little of lords and baronets that she did not warn Catherine against the danger of them.
* ''Literature/{{Overenskommelser}}'': Carl-Jan Rosenschiöld. He's a serial abuser of women, who [[spoiler: rapes and nearly kills protagonist Beatrice on their wedding night]]. We later find out that he has killed one previous wife and driven another previous wife into suicide.
* ''Literature/{{Persuasion}}'': Basically the entire point of the story.
--->''Captain Wentworth, with five-and-twenty thousand pounds, and as high in his profession as merit and activity could place him, was no longer nobody. He was now esteemed quite worthy to address the daughter of a foolish, spendthrift baronet, who had not had principle or sense enough to maintain himself in the situation in which Providence had placed him, and who could give his daughter at present but a small part of the share of ten thousand pounds which must be hers hereafter.''
* ''Literature/ThePeshawarLancers'': Count Ignatieff, who is secretly a member of a cult of devil-worshiping cannibals.
* ''Literature/ThePillarsOfTheEarth'': William Hamleigh is (briefly) an earl. He's also a brutal, ignorant man who rapes and pillages with nary a second thought.
* ''Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil'': When fighting against the invasion of the fae of the Winter Court, Catherine's main antagonist is the Duke of Violent Squalls. Notably, he is also antagonistic to the Winter King and all his predecessors on the throne: he thwarts every attempt to create peace between Summer and Winter and always clamours for war.
* ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'': Subverted wildly. Mr. Darcy (the nephew of an earl) is portrayed as an arrogant, cruel aristocrat throughout the first half of the novel; it's only when Wickham's perfidy is revealed - and Darcy's explanation that he dislikes the Bennets due to their horrendous manners, not their relatives' social rank - do we recognize the clues that should have alerted Elizabeth (and the reader) to the truth of the matter.
* ''Literature/ThePrince'' is an equal-level offender against aristocracy as a whole (which is a given, considering it's widely considered to be satire). According to chapter 9, nobles are mainly interested in maintaining their position and oppressing those underneath them to keep the status quo, whereas the common people mainly want not to be oppressed by the nobles. It also warns that a prince can never maintain the support of the noble class [[TakeThat by acting honourably and just]].
* ''Literature/ThePrisonerOfZenda'' has Prince Michael, the Duke of Strelsau, as the main antagonist. Michael falls firmly into the BastardBastard category (his parents were technically married, but since his mother was a commoner, he is only a prince because people are too polite to rub his face in it), and his duchy (which is ruled from the capital, no less) was a creation of his father's hoping that being the second-most powerful noble in the kingdom would soothe his anger at being passed over for the throne in favor of his younger half-brother Rudolf (it didn't)
* ''Literature/RachelGriffin'': In ''The Raven, the Elf, and Rachel'', Rachel notices that many Knights of Walpurgis come from noble families with dicey reputations.
* ''Literature/TheRatsInTheWalls'' by Creator/HPLovecraft has a historic version of this, as the protagonist's ancestors [[spoiler: kept a CannibalLarder where they raised [[PeopleFarms people as food]], causing the "livestock" to resemble pigs in build]]. His direct ancestor [[KillItWithFire torched the old mansion]] and fled.
* ''Literature/TheRedVixenAdventures'': Countess Highglider, the BigBad. The protagonists, House Darktail, are minor nobles in vassalage to her, some years before the series her son married Sallivera Darktail and proved to be horribly abusive to her, getting locked up in an insane asylum after gouging her eye out. The Countess blamed the Darktails and started sabotaging their district's infrastructure and hiring pirates to raid their shipping routes. [[spoiler: Subverted when the country's ruling Council of Countesses strips Highglider of her title and awards it to Salli's mother.]]
* ''Literature/TheReynardCycle'': Played fairly straight in ''Reynard the Fox'', which features Duke Nobel and Count Bricemer as Reynard's enemies (and the Countess Persephone as the exception.)
* ''Literature/TheRifter'': Played straight. The aristocracy are rapacious and repressive toward the common people; the one decent person among them that we meet, Joulen, has been away with the army in the north for years, and John reflects that the simple life had done him good. Lady Bousim, exiled in the north, turns out to be a very good friend to Laurie and Bill, although we are told that before, in the south, she had taken a series of lovers without caring that her husband would have them all executed.
* ''Literature/{{Scaramouche}}'': The Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr is a ruthless, manipulative killer.
* ''Literature/TheSecretTexts'' by Holly Lisle has the Sabirs and their rivaling house. Anwyn, Andrew, and Crispin Sabir, in particular, are nasty, nasty individuals, including the brutal murder of one of their own guards while raping one of the daughters of their rivals. You know, until Crispin hits [[TheWoobie woobie]] status with the realization that [[spoiler: the love of his life is dead, his brother is a traitorous snake, and the only woman he can ever love is his daughter]].
%%* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'': Count Olaf.
* In ''Literature/AScholarOfMagics'', the Earl of Bridgewater [[spoiler:is the seemingly helpful authority figure who turns out to have been behind the whole thing]].
* In ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror,'' before [[CommieLand the Dawn Empire]], Hamahra was ruled by an aristocracy evil enough to murder Daylen's entire family after he started a revolution against them.
* ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'': Count Hannibal Lecter VIII -- you heard me, this count eats people. His title is only added in the books, however.
* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'': Marchioness Gioconda of ''Slayers REVOLUTION'' is a mid-season villainess dabbling in creating and selling prototype magical weapons. One of her wares, a Zanaffar Armor, goes out of control and devours her, turning into the season's ultimate villain, Beast Zanaffar.
%%* "Literature/SnowWhite": The Evil Queen (and WickedStepmother), and naturally her [[BastardUnderstudy protege]], the Evil Queen from ''Literature/TheTenthKingdom''.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** Plenty of people call themselves Kings or Queens ([[SuccessionCrisis with varying degrees of legitimacy]]) and many of these people are [[BlackAndGrayMorality hard to pin down morally]]. Still, we have a few shining examples such as Aerys II, a.k.a. [[TheCaligula The Mad King]] who was a sadistic nutso that ravaged the kingdom so badly and antagonized so many royal houses that he all but destroyed the future of the Targaryen dynasty. Joffrey I also gets special mention, being only slightly less bad than Aerys due to his relatively limited scope of influence at the time. Robert toes the line but was more incompetent and oblivious than malicious or cruel (though he caused his share of the suffering by [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom failing to do the right things when it mattered]]). Stannis has a reputation as an EvilOverlord, but shows HiddenDepths and goes through CharacterDevelopment which means he would probably make a good and progressive King. His younger brother Renly has a good image but is a vain schemer who intended to kill Stannis and usurp the throne. On the flip side, the only real evil queen we've seen thus far is Cersei; Daenerys' enemies have given her this reputation as well, though it's ([[NotQuiteTheRightThing mostly]]) base slander. Historically, there are other examples such as Visenya, who may have poisoned her stepson/nephew Aenys so her monstrous son Maegor the Cruel could succeed.
** The series brings us "great lords" and "bannermen", who can be ''absolutely horrifying''. If there is one lesson to be taken from the series, it's that feudal society sucks for everyone except the ones at the top. The vast majority of nobles in the series care only about themselves and their family, and the common folk is at best worth considering because they are cheap labor, but usually considered an afterthought. Even the series' more benevolent nobles, namely the Starks, care more about honor and nobility than they care about the smallfolk. The peasantry may not be suffering directly under "honorable" nobility, but things aren't changing for the better, either. A specific example is the nobility during the reign of Aegon V. Aegon was one of very few kings in Westeros who considered the smallfolk worthy of consideration and maybe getting slightly better lives. During his rule, he instigated several reforms meant to improve the condition of the working class, such as labor laws, but this made him immensely unpopular among the nobles. Even when he attempted to appeal to PragmaticVillainy, pointing out that well-fed and rested workers work harder and are less likely to rebel than slaves-in-all-but-name, the nobility couldn't see beyond their immediate gains, and all of his reforms were rolled back after his death.
* ''Literature/SpectralShadows'' both plays this straight and subverts it, mainly in Serial 11. A lot of the Towns' Ruling Family are rotten, corrupt, or otherwise self-serving people. There are a few notable inversions though, namely Sir Jon and Miss Sonny, the King and Queen of Suburbia, respectively.
* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': The [[FantasticCasteSystem lighteyes]] have gotten a little power-mad over the centuries, which tends to drown out the ones who actually are honorable.
* ''Literature/{{Stravaganza}}'': Duke Niccolo di Chimici series is the main villain of the first three books. On the other hand, the Duchessa of Bellezza is good.
* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', the Underworld has a FantasticCasteSystem with nobles of various ranks, and the nobles tend to be rather corrupt. The nobles were originally intended to train in the sword to protect the human realms, but in practice, they hide in their lands, having forgotten their duty to the common people. There are some exceptions, mostly among the lower-ranking nobles(some of whom are practically no different than commoners), but there are also those who are even worse than the norm and horrifically abuse the common people in ways that are technically allowed by the Taboo Index.
* In ''LightNovel/SwordPrincessAltina'' pretty much all the aristocrats are evil or heavily compromised. Most of them are noted to see looking down on commoners as benign an activity as sampling fine wine, that is until the commoners get angry and take up arms. In addition, they are under the delusion that excessive conspicuous consumption would "make the citizens proud." Regis points out that in the capital full of nobles, that may be true, but in the outskirts and near the borders where commoners struggle very hard just to get enough to eat (never mind having to worry about enemy armies), this only serves to breed resentment. Altina ''very wisely'' listens to his council.
* ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'': The Marquis is a classic example of the evil marquis. His carriage runs a child down and not only does he give the grieving family a single coin as compensation but is also more worried about the health of the horse who trampled him than the boy himself.
* ''Literature/TheTalisman'': Most aristocrats in the Territories are either evil or cowed into submission. The worst is Morgan of Orris and those working directly for him.
* ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'': A primary feature of any Bad land with Aristocratic Feudalists. They will be occupied with abusing the peasantry, alongside [[DecadentCourt intrigues against each other]] in the royal court. The peasants may well revolt during the Tour because of this oppression.
* ''Literature/{{Twig}}'': The major appearance of the Baron of Richmond is when a spy in the Baron's country's military comes with a warning that the army they're fighting has [[AdaptiveAbility primordial monsters]], and reminds him that in the event of primordials standing orders are to immediately escalate to overwhelming firepower. The Baron slices out the spy's eye and berates him for being too weak to fight the primordials himself. The Baron's personal city, Warrick, is an outwardly picturesque town where the firstborn child is taken from every family, turned into monsters programmed to kill anyone who disturbs the town's peace, and then ''given back'', with orders to the families to take care of the monsters or be given to the Baron's [[TortureTechnician sisters]].
* ''Literature/VampireAcademy'': There are notable exceptions, but the royals tend to be selfish and spoiled. Non-royal Moroi and dhampirs tend to suffer at their hands.
* ''Literature/VampireHunterD'': L Count Magnus Lee, obviously inspired by Dracula (and Creator/ChristopherLee). Also, the vampires in this world are called Nobles or Aristocrats.
%%* ''Literature/TheVampyre'': Lord Ruthven, of course, the titular character.%%"Of course" what?
* In ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'', all of the barons of Jackson's Whole are evil: the worst is Baron Ryoval, who is in the sexual slavery business and is an enthusiastic practitioner of ColdBloodedTorture, employing a number of [[TortureTechnician technicians]] to aid his hobby; his brother, Baron Fell, is a notorious arms dealer specializing in biological weapons; and Baron Bharaputra has a genetics clinic specializing in a procedure for the wealthy but aged, in which a young clone of them is produced, and then the clone's brain is ripped out and the original person's implanted instead). However, Jacksonian barons aren't really aristocrats: they are at best unscrupulous plutocrats and at worst, mob kingpins. The hat of Jackson's Whole is "capitalism gone very, very bad".
* ''Literature/{{Westmark}}'': The king of Regia's EvilChancellor is a duke.
* ''Literature/TheWomanInWhite'': Sir Percival Glyde, who is absolutely evil and has the [[RedRightHand disfiguring scar]] to prove it. The novel also gives us the ManipulativeBastard Count Fosco, who is presented as essentially Don Corleone for 19th century England.
* ''Literature/YoungBond'': Count Ugo Carifex from ''Literature/BloodFever'', who plans to drive Europe into another World War and become its shadow ruler.
* ''Literature/YoungSherlockHolmes'': Baron Maupertuis, the BigBad of ''Death Cloud'', is an EvilCripple, who is driven by a fanatical hatred of England and who plans to murder hundreds of thousands of British troops.
* [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Almost all literary vampires of the 19th century were aristocrats]], as demonstrated by the already mentioned Lord Ruthven of John Polidori's ''Literature/TheVampyre'', Sir Francis Varney of ''Literature/VarneyTheVampire'', Countess ''Literature/{{Carmilla}}'' Karnstein, and Count ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''. This trope has a modern successor -- after the privileges of the nobility have been abolished and the elites are now comprised of a wealthy bourgeois upper-class, [[VampiresAreRich vampires now tend to be filthy rich]] rather than aristocratic. Both tropes play on the symbolic connection between literal blood-sucking and the parasitic way of life of an (assumed) real-life idle class that does not support itself by its own efforts, but by exploiting other people.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice'': The Duchess serves as a boss fight. She [[ImAHumanitarian tries to eat Alice]], no less. She makes a HeelFaceTurn in [[VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns the sequel]] and becomes Alice's ally, but [[AllThereInTheManual as stated in one source]] she becomes so annoying that Alice [[WeWantOurJerkBack actually prefers the way she was before]].
* ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'' has Baron Alexander, but the why of it might gain him sympathy points with the right people -- as revealed in a handful of Notes, he's [[spoiler: simply trying to get back home]].
* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'': The Templar Order and its precursors tend to be comprised of royals, plutocrats, titans of industry, and other members of the social elite aside from a few exceptions.
** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'' features the RealLife evil Pazzi family, as well as Rodrigo Borgia. It also adds the rest of the Borgia family, as well as fictional Silvestro "The Noble" Sabbatini who engaged in human trafficking.
** Every member of the Order of the Ancients in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'' is an influential citizen within their own societies be it government officials, generals, priests, wealthy merchants, and other well-respected individuals. [[spoiler:The Roman leader of the Order, Flavius Metellus / The Lion just so happens to be from the Metelli family and he's the proconsul of Kyrenaika who is responsible for the murder of Bayek and Aya's son Khemu [[AGodAmi as well as using a Piece of Eden to make himself god]]]]. The Order was also founded by Smenkhkare (a Pharoah of Egypt's 20th dynasty) for the purposes of studying [[LostTechnology lost Isu technology]] located inside a temple but they would quickly evolve to include rich, upper-class elites across the known ancient world.
** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey'' has the Cult of Kosmos, [[spoiler:a secretive organization in AncientGreece whose membership is largely comprised of politicians, generals, business owners, and religious leaders with spies, mercenaries, and crime bosses as hired help. Even the founder of the Cult is none other than Agamemnon, the legendary king of Mycenae while the group's leader the Ghost of Kosmos is Perakles' wife Aspasia ''of all people'']]. Additionally, the Persian Order of the Ancients is also led by the historical Xerxes I.
** The Auditores, the Medicis, the Grandprés and the Dorians are major subversions of this trope since they are aristocrats aligned with the Assassin Brotherhood instead of the Templar Order. [[UsefulNotes/AlfredTheGreat King Aelfred the Great]] from ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedValhalla'' is also another subversion as while he is the ruling monarch of Wessex [[spoiler:and the Grand Maegester of the English Order of the Ancients]] he's actually an [[DesignatedVillain Type IV]] AntiVillain that wants to protect Britain from Viking invaders. [[spoiler:He even cooperates with Eivor to drive out the last vestiges of the Order from England after he returns from his exile]].
* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'': Duke Farthington Roenall. To be fair, his trafficking in slaves, smuggling gems, and hiring pirates don't make him any worse than most nobles in Amn, but orchestrating an assault on the De'Arnise Keep to kill Lord De'Arnise, then attempting to force De'Arnise's only daughter into a marriage with Roenall's son so the Roenalls can claim the De'Arnise wealth and lands ''does'' push it a little.
* ''VideoGame/TheBaron'' : The eponymous character is [[spoiler:an incarnation of the protagonist's incestuous desire for his daughter]].
* ''VideoGame/BattalionWars'': Countess Ingrid, Kaiser Vlad's air commander, shows no mercy, [[BloodKnight delights in violence]], and [[spoiler: summons the Iron Legion]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Boktai}}'':
** ''Lunar Knights'' has two evil viscounts (most likely twins to boot), an AxCrazy human-hunting Margrave, an [[MadScientist evil scientist]] baron, and an earl who became a NecessarilyEvil duke. Interestingly enough, in the earl's case, his ascension to dukehood was the capper of his career as an earl, bagging vampire hunters and Guild gunslingers alike and instilling fear in said opposition from all that rep.
** The title given to the first boss is the Count of Blood-soaking Earth.
* ''VideoGame/{{Brawlhalla}}'': Count Lucien Degas, who lived in splendor during the french revolution, but by night would be a highwayman. He used to have a gang until he turned them all in for the reward. According to his bio "He robs from the rich, the poor and specially the recently deceased".
%%* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'': Countess Crey, a VillainWithGoodPublicity.
* ''VideoGame/{{Clonk}}'': In one of the standard melee scenarios, "the Castle", a team of players control a group of peasants in a village at the bottom of a mountain, while a [[QuantityVsQuality single player]] controls the evil Baron Horx in a castle at the top.
* ''VideoGame/DiabloII'': The Countess. With her [[BloodBath pools of blood]], she's loosely based on the RealLife Countess Elizabeth Bathory.
* In ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', the old kings of Revachol were decadent, inbred, and insane, and their antics eventually became too much for the country, which erupted into a Communist revolution. The legend on the horseback monument that can be found in the middle of Martinaise actually reads:
-->''"I am Filippe III, the Squanderer, the Greatest of the Filippian Kings of Revachol; Son of Filippe II, the Opulent; Father of Filippe IV, the Insane."''
* ''VideoGame/Dishonored2'' introduces Duke Luca Abele of Serkonos. He forces his people to work themselves to death in the silver mines and is the money behind the EvilSorceress who wants to take over the Empire.
%% * ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'': King K. Rool.
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
** Ferelden's history included the evil King Arland, whose reign was so despotic that even the politically neutral Grey Wardens took up arms against him. Subverted with King Behren (should you choose to support him for King in Orzammar). He's a corrupt, manipulative, and despotic ruler who was rejected by his own father, but he's also a [[GoodIsNotNice champion of social justice]] who intends to introduce much-needed reforms to their ancient caste system and their self-destructive isolationist policies. Compare to his opponent, Lord Harrowmont, a kind and honorable man who rules through compromise, but who is also a staunch traditionalist who is unlikely to make much progress against the major social and economic problems the dwarfs face.
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' features the machinations of Arl (equivalent of an earl) Rendon Howe, who -- among his other sterling achievements -- arranges the brutal murder of his best friend/liege lord and his entire noble household, then lays claim to his lands.
** Though not yet Arl himself, another upstanding citizen is Bann Vaughan, the son and heir to the Arl of Denerim, who kidnaps an elven bridal party with the intent of raping the women.
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'' has the Baroness, an Orlesian noblewoman who demanded tribute from her peasants in the form of ''their children''. When they got fed up and torched her house, she cast a spell that dragged them all into death with her.
* ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'': The titular character is nominally the good guy, though you still probably wouldn't want to meet him.
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'': Nobles aren't really evil, but they are nearly useless, expensive, demanding, obnoxious, oppressive to other dwarfs, and generally hated (and often [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident killed]]) by the players. In other words, they provide a good example of the origin of this trope.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'': Earl Jakben of Imbel initially seems like just a cowardly burglary victim, but poke around his manor a bit and you'll discover that he's really quite evil [[spoiler:and a centuries-old vampire]].
* ''VideoGame/EmbricOfWulfhammersCastle'' has several nobles, some good, some bad, some minor characters not worth talking about. The Duchess of Elstwhere is a perfectly nice and helpful aristocrat, despite her [[AbusiveParents childhood]], even willing to milk a cow as part of relieving the fears of the peasants. Her uncle, meanwhile, Bad King Greyghast the Terrible, well, managed to get himself called Bad King Greyghast the Terrible. And Duke Theremin is basically a bit of an entitled snot.
* ''VideoGame/EndlessLegend'': The Broken Lords storyline has Marquis Suluzzo who encourages his people to continue draining Dust from other living beings, and part of the storyline quest involves taking him out.
* ''VideoGame/EternalSonata'': Count Waltz, despite being only sixteen years old and looking [[TheNapoleon even younger]], is a ruthless tyrant with aspirations of [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination]]. His domain of Forte is large enough that Waltz borders on RoyalBrat despite his title, nevertheless Waltz is truly evil.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'': Queen Brahne Raza Alexandros XVI has no remorse for stealing other people's powers and using them to commit multiple genocides.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'':
*** The three Dukes of Ivalice, of which Dukes Gerrith Barrington of Riovanes and Bestrald Larg of Gallionne are downright evil, and the remaining Duke Druksmald Goltanna is only a notch or two above them. The war of succession between Duke Larg and Duke Goltanna for the throne of Ivalice is known as the War of the Lions, serves as the backdrop for much of the game, and creates enough bloodshed to precipitate the BigBad's true plot.
*** Lord Dycedarg Beoulve is a real piece of work. He [[spoiler: slowly fed poison to his father to kill him without suspicion and take hold of the Beoulve estate, orchestrated the kidnapping of Marquis Elmdore with Corpse Brigade commander Gustav to use as a bargaining chip, orders Gaffgarion to kill Ramza in cold blood, sets up a plot with Duke Larg to kill the Princess, murdered Larg to gain his power as regent, [[DealWithTheDevil gave his soul to the Lucavi Adrammelech]], and killed Zalbaag]]. He's far from successful in the end, but he's arguably the most monstrous character in the game.
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'' and its prequel ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'', this goes all over the place. On one end of the spectrum, Marquess Darin of Laus and his son and successor Erik are both backstabbing sellouts who betray the Lycian League, and the unnamed Marquess of Araphen is a racist {{Jerkass}} who refuses to help Lyn due to her half-Sacean heritage. In the middle, Marquess Helman of Santaruz was willing to participate in the rebellion, but grew cold feet and dies helping Eliwood. Marquess Hausen of Caelin was a racist {{Jerkass}} who disowned his daughter after she eloped with a Sacean nomad, but he changed his mind after he learned he was a grandfather and sought to meet his daughter's family on better terms. On the other end of the spectrum, Marquess Elbert of Pherae and his son and successor Eliwood, and Marquess Uther of Ostia and his brother and successor Hector are all heroes through and through.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'' feature the Baron class, an enemy exclusive [[TinTyrant Heavily Armored]] class that can use [[MultiMeleeMaster all physical weapons]] and [[MagicKnight most magic]]. Oddly, while most Baron-classed characters are corrupt nobles or royalty, few have the title of "Baron" in the story.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', in one of the most cynical portrayals of nobility in the series, has the Senate of Begnion almost in its entirety. While the above-mentioned Vice-Minister Lekain is one of the more particularly monstrous ones, pretty much every one of them with [[TokenGoodTeammate very few exceptions]] (and one who is just stupid) are corrupt, [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racist]], [[SleazyPolitician sleazy]], and haughty to the core, overly obsessed with hierarchy and in ''[=RD=]'' invading the war-torn country of Daein, displacing its residents and placing them under oppressive rule, and causing Micaiah, one of {{The Hero}}es of ''RD'', who now has a burning hatred of all of Begnion's allies (which of course includes their commander, AKA [[TheHero Ike]]), and her friend Sothe to form [[LaResistance The Dawn Brigade]], setting the entire story and yet another war in motion; so bad is their behavior that they're some of the few people [[AllLovingHero Ike]] truly despises, and made him grow somewhat wary of nobility (especially because they tend to treat him like dirt due to being a very low-class foreign mercenary), and for all their insistence on everyone giving [[AChildShallLeadThem Empress Sanaki]] the utmost respect in ''[=PoR=]'', they expel her from her duties when she refuses to listen to them anymore in the sequel.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' presents Vice-Minister Lekain, Duke of Gaddos who is a monster. Some of Lekain's crimes include [[spoiler: causing a massacre, regicide, false imprisonment, rebellion, slave dealing, and extortion of two foreign nations through threats of massacring their peoples via arcane magic]].
* ''VideoGame/GabrielKnight: The Beast Within'' has Barons Friedrich von Glower and Garr von Zell; the latter is a murderous madman, and the former made him a murderous madman and plans to do the same to Gabriel.
* ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'': Baron Praxis. Although not actually a baron, as he is the tyrant ruler of a City-State after he overthrew his predecessor and tried to kill said predecessor's son. He establishes himself by having kidnapped and tortured Jak by injecting him with dark eco for several years in a SuperSoldier experiment, all by the end of the game's prologue.
* ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'': Count Veger -- evil, HolierThanThou, and a prime example of how TheFundamentalist operates when everything goes to hell.
%%* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxterTheLostFrontier'': [[spoiler:Skyheed]] . He turns out to be the BigBad.%%Is he a noble?
* ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'': Count von Sabrewulf is no more evil than most... well, until he transforms into a [[WolfMan werewolf]]. Given his uncontrollable condition though, he would arguably be considered more desperate and crazy for a cure than downright malevolent, as his reluctance to use all his strength ends up demonstrating to himself once the second game rolls around.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'', Duke Albarea is introduced by levying excessive taxes on his subjects, and making life difficult for them until they agree to pay up. In the following chapter, he arrests the son of one of his political rivals on trumped-up charges (which ''his own son'' was an eyewitness to the fact that Machias couldn't have done it, which is why the Duke put Jusis under house arrest to prevent him from testifying) for purposes of blackmail. Duke Cayenne is introduced by launching a coup, backed by Albarea and two Marquises. The complete listing of adult nobles in the first two games of the series outside the royal family who are ''not'' jackasses is: Viscount Arseid, Baron and Baroness Schwarzer, and Lord Rufus Albarea (Duke Helmut's elder son), [[spoiler:the last of whom turns out to have become disillusioned with the nobility and sided with Chancellor Osborne thanks to his father's treatment of his half-commoner little brother]].
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': Ganondorf is known as "King of Thieves" or "the Great King of Evil" in some installments, and serves as the franchise's main antagonist and villain.
* ''VideoGame/MagicalTetrisChallenge'': WesternAnimation/{{Pete}} is known to [[NewJobAsThePlotDemands change jobs and outfits depending on the story]]. In this game, he's referred to as ''Sir'' Pete. He wears a tuxedo and top hat, and he lives in a mansion. Still doesn't stop him from being the main villain, though.
* ''VideoGame/{{Manafinder}}'': The aristocrats of Manahill are corrupt and often use their influence to get people they don't like exiled. Priscila the barkeeper was exiled because the noblewomen spread false rumors about her while Qu was exiled for making a joke that the aristocrats didn't like, showing that one doesn't even have to commit an actual crime to be exiled under Manahill's class system.
* ''VideoGame/MediEvil2'': Subverted with Lord Palethorn. He's a working-class cockney who tried to buy his way into high society.
* ''VideoGame/{{Moonrise}}'': the vampire Lady Cassandra Mallory epitomizes the aristocracy of old, and serves as the first outright antagonistic character. [[spoiler: She can even kill the player character.]]
* ''VideoGame/NinetyNineSpirits'', being set towards the end of the [[JidaiGeki Heian Period]], is lousy with corrupt, inept, and selfish nobles. The only one who actually gets a TITLE to his name, though, is the Shogun -- who turns out to be a fairly OK dude who means well even if things don't always work out as planned.
* ''VideoGame/{{Primal}}'': Count Raum. Every other wraith aristocrat was evil, but he's the only one with a given title.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'': The Four Lords are the elite (quite literally) minions working for [[BigBad Mother Miranda]], and pretty much all of them are demented in their own way and have a [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld long history]] of tormenting the villagers and/or experimenting on them.
* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'': Count Victor Draynor Drakan is a [[PhantasySpelling vampyre]] preying on the nearby village of Draynor. He's actually the weakest vampyre in the game, due to being on the wrong side of a divine barrier designed to keep Vampyres and Weres away from human-dominated lands.
* ''VideoGame/SidMeiersPirates'' has the infamous Marquis de Montalban, who imprisons your entire family.
* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'':
** The Contessa in ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves''. She got her title and privileges by marrying a German aristocrat and poisoning him a few weeks after the wedding. She proceeds to use them to create a prison in the Czech Republic, with the intent of hypnotizing criminals into obtaining their loot, and intends to do so with Sly and Murray to find the (then unknown to them) Cooper Vault. She's also in league with the Klaww Gang, who intends to create a HatePlague in France in order to fuel Clockwerk's immortality.
** The Black Barron in ''VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves''. He's an immoral crook who hosts illegal dogfight competitions in the Netherlands, a huge SoreLoser who's willing to cheat to secure the trophy, and is very abusive to his own men. [[spoiler:Subverted, as he's actually Penelope in a costume, and she has no titles of her own... and double-subverted, as Penelope happens to be a [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]] and [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] JerkAss]].
* ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'': Countess Isabella Valentine, better known as Ivy. She may not be evil by choice, but still a KnightTemplar and a DarkActionGirl.
%%* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
%% ** Bowser. The series had other such characters, some more important than others: King Goomba/Goomboss, King Kaliente, etc.%%How are they examples?
%% ** The franchise has had roughly fourteen evil kings, two evil queens, one evil baron, three evil counts, and an evil major -- among various others.
** ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'': Count Bleck seeks nothing less than the total destruction of TheMultiverse.
* Marquis de Singe in ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'' is a crazy French doctor who was kicked out of the court for his insane experiments. He wants to become immortal, even if it kills everyone else.
%%* ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'': Ragou and Cumore.
* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'': Duke Fishorn is half fish, half pigron, all mean. So mean, many consider him to be the hardest boss in the game!
* ''VideoGame/TrailsOfColdSteel:'' Individual aristocrats have a strong tendency to be arrogant jerks, and the "Four Great Houses" started a civil war in an attempt to maintain their power and privileges. On the other hand, they aren't the ones trying to start "The Great Twilight."
* ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'': Downplayed with Duke Bardorba. Probably an evil {{cult}}ist, but [[PlotlineDeath he doesn't live for very long]]. It's implied that he [[spoiler: and his son, Sydney, orchestrated the destruction of Lea Monde to permanently drive the power of the Dark from the world, and thus keep it from the Cardinal's power-hungry hands -- even if it meant Sydney's death and the sacrifice of everyone in the [[{{Cult}} Cult of Müllenkamp]]]].
* In ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'', the aristocracy of Gallia is comprised of nothing but evil assholes, including its mostly noble officers and the prime minister. The only exception is [[GoodPrincessEvilQueen Princess Cordelia]]. The protagonists of ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChroniclesII'' do include a few heroic aristocrats, but the antagonists are Gallian rebels led by racist reactionary nobles.
* ''VideoGame/Vampyr2018'': The Ascalon Club is an aristocratic vampire council whose chairman Lord Redgrave also doubles as Earl of Bristol. Subverted with [[spoiler:William Marshal]] who also was an ancient vampire that held the title of Earl, but is more of an HeroWithBadPublicity. And then there is [[spoiler:the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Red Queen]], the game's true BigBad]].
* ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'': The Bloody Baron. While not necessarily an evil man, he is callous and indifferent to the plight of the peasantry and allows his cadre of thugs to bully, harass, and outright rape and torture peasants living in his demesne.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
** Trade Prince Maldy in the goblin starting zone is shaping up to be quite the scumbag.%%How?
** The game features a boss named Baron Rivendare, who appears in the dungeons Stratholme and Naxxramas. Before he was raised into a Death Knight, he was a wealthy landowner who fell under the sway of the lich Kel'Thuzad and helped him structure the Cult of the Damned.
[[/folder]]

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91'' features an uprising by the aristocratic Ronah family, who attempt to establish an empire in space called "Cosmo Babylonia" because they believe firmly that humanity should be ruled by the upper class. The family actually both plays the trope straight and averts it: "Iron Mask" Carozzo believes that humanity needs to be purged from Earth altogether. His father-in-law Meitzer Ronah is the one ordering the invasion but is unaware of this plan, and at the very least seems to be a good family man who [[WellIntentionedExtremist genuinely has the best intentions]]. Also, Carozzo's wife and daughter both believe in equality among human beings and are major factors in the eventual downfall of Cosmo Babylonia.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' has the [[BigScrewedUpFamily Zabi family]]. [[EvilPrince Prince Gihren]] and [[EvilGenius Princess]] [[ManipulativeBastard Kycilia]] play the trope straight, while [[FourStarBadass Prince Dozle]], [[HugeGuyTinyGirl Princess]] [[UglyGuyHotWife Zenna]] and [[WellDoneSonGuy Prince Garma]] avert it. Patriarch [[NonActionBigBad Sovereign Degwin]] is somewhere in the middle.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'' gives us Glemy Toto, son of the aristocratic Toto Family. Originally a subordinate to [[IronLady Haman Karn]], he eventually betrays her and begins secretly amassing his army to take over AXIS-Zeon. In addition, his goals and ideals are very similar to Gihren Zabi, who may or may not be his father.

->''We do not eat human. We eat peasants. We eat undesirables. We devour life undeserving of life. That is the nature of nobility. What else would be the point?''

* In ''Fanfic/ABriefHistoryOfEquestria'', up until the post-Warming generation, the unicorn nobility all so petty and corrupt that all they care about is their own power, at the expense of their commoners and the [[FantasticRacism other tribes]]. Is it any wonder that [[MagnificentBastard Princess Platinum]] dedicated her life [[spoiler: ([[ThanatosGambit and death]])]] to systematically removing their power?

* ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'': Baron Samedi, who is ''clearly'' evil in this version, although whether he is truly an incarnation of the real Baron Samedi or simply just another henchman of Mr. Big who knows a lot of convincing parlor tricks is uncertain.

%%* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' has the Earth Queen Hou-Ting. Compared to the Earth King in the last season, she is an uptight, demanding tyrant. She also uses the [[SecretPolice Dai Li]] to forcefully conscript air benders(i.e: kidnap) for her army.

* ''VideoGame/{{Manafinder}}'': The aristocrats of Manahill are corrupt and often use their influence to get people they don't like exiled. Priscila the barkeeper was exiled because the noblewomen spread false rumors about her while Qu was exiled for making a joke that the aristocrats didn't like, showing that one doesn't even have to commit an actual crime to be exiled under Manahill's class system.

[[TheAristocrats "That's an interesting act. What do you call yourselves?"]]
----

A variety of MeaningfulTitles exist -- people with feudal titles are very commonly evil. Popular titles are '''Count''' and '''Baron''' -- two titles which are rarely seen on a good guy. (Oddly enough, a '''Countess''' has a better-than-even chance of being a decent woman. And though it doesn't show up a great deal, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast you should break out in a cold sweat]] when you meet a '''Viscount'''. Interestingly, both counts and barons are fairly common titles among Continental Europeans, but rare among the English (where the rough equivalent of a count would be the earl who is usually depicted as stodgy but typically benevolent patriarch), which may suggest a regional bias in which aristocrats are cast as villains.

* In ''Manhua/GoddessCreationSystem'' the first household Xiaxi enters is that of the Wang Pu family, generals who serve under the king. The first thing we see them do is have the frivolous brother simply take the protagonist away from where she was working, give her to his brother as a practical joke and then that brother ''has her executed and used as fertilizer'' because the joke offended him. She then restarts the mission keenly aware of how horrible these people are, though their better sides tend to get more emphasis later. Surprisingly, after she finishes up here and tricks her way into the imperial household she finds them to be actually rather nice people, if perhaps arrogant and not nearly as simple as they appear. [[spoiler:Though the seemingly nice uncle turns out to be TheCaligula after assassinating the king and usurping the throne.]]

** The World Nobles, also known as the Celestial Dragons (''Tenryuubito'' in Japanese), are the descendants of the Kings of twenty different kingdoms who later created the [[TheGovernment World Government]]. To try and give you an idea of how messed up they are... imagine what the typical aristocrat would be like after hailing from 700 years of being revered as a living deity and explicitly told that no rules apply to them -- their in-universe title is '''Saint''', which, in RealLife, is considered higher than any normal noble title. To say they are corrupt to the core is, frankly, an understatement. The World Nobles are allowed to kill and maim people on a whim, live in obscene luxury supported by taxes extorted from the nations allied to the World Government, and [[AGodAmI totally believe their own hype of being living gods]]. Despite the fact that slavery is illegal everywhere else in the One Piece world, they openly keep slaves, thinking nothing of abusing them to death for convenience or even amusement, and can abduct people off of the street on a whim to a life of slavery. And nobody ''dares'' lift a finger in retaliation because, [[DisproportionateRetribution not only can they kill on a whim]], but anyone who strikes a World Noble is immediately the target of a [[AuthorityEqualsAssKicking Navy Admiral]], one of the most powerful fighters in the World Government's pocket, who is duty-bound to eliminate the assailant with extreme prejudice. [[spoiler:Unless the assailant is another World Noble, as Saint Charlos learned the hard way.]]

* ''LightNovel/TrashSkillGacha'' has several key examples.

** The fiancé in question, Ellis Rifeld, is an ObliviouslyEvil {{Yandere}} {{Sadist}} who made Crest's academic life hell through slander, social isolation, and domestic abuse, obsessed with having him all to herself by any means possible, and is also quite vain, almost to the point of narcissm, seeing herself as "perfect" and can't understand why he'd turn her away when she demands he allow himself to be treated ''as her slave'' to escape being banished to near certain death for a crime he didn't commit, just because his father's an asshole, and is totally flummoxed when he slaps away the foot she was shoving in his face to lick and told her to go screw herself in a rage.
** The patriarchs of both the Rifeld house and the Mycelian house, the two other dukes, respond like sharks that smell blood in the water when the prophecy is read and Duke Bahurst has to explain his screw up and demand that Crest be given the duke title for the Bahurst house and offer to sell their respective daughters, knowing that the power of two duchies together is strong enough to usurp the crown, if need be.

** Downplayed; the Duke of Weasel Town ('''[[RunningGag WESELTON!]]''') is very greedy, planning to exploit the riches of Arendelle and willing to use assassination as a means to an end. However, his concerns are genuine (after all, he is trapped by an endless winter and they are at risk of freezing to death), and when he sees Prince Hans despairing [[spoiler:over the "loss of Anna" (though he's really faking it)]], he shows genuine sympathy.

* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'': Lord Cutler Beckett, led the East India Trading Company and sought the complete eradication of piracy. His plan however failed, when the powers he cleverly manipulated were turned against him.

* ''Film/TheSevenSamurai'': The writer said he was motivated in part by desire to [[TheAtoner atone]] for what his {{Samurai}} ancestors had done to the people of Japan. That of course means that he was an aristocrat who was not personally evil. Lampshaded in the same movie when one of the seven of humble birth gives an angry speech about the behavior of Samurai.

** The worst of his enemies is the Count de Morcerf, who was born to a working-class family and worked his way up to the aristocracy by ruthlessness and treachery. He's not evil because he's an aristocrat; he's an aristocrat because he's evil.

** ''Literature/{{Mort}}'': The Duke of Sto Helit murdered his brother, the kind, and made fair to do the same to his niece. However, his title is inherited by the much more upright Mort and, ultimately, his daughter Susan.

** Viscount Hundro Moritani in the prequels. As much, if not more, of a bastard than Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (see below). Most of his subjects take after him. His ambassador shoots a rival at a state dinner. He orders the bombing of civilian targets despite the declaration of Kanli, a war limited to military targets. He has his rival's son and daughter kidnapped and publicly executed. When another House condemns these actions, he orders the assault on their planet to steal their most holy relic. An ally of the viscount's assassinated the rival's second daughter at her wedding to Duke Leto Atreides (the ally was himself a Duke, by the way). He gets what's coming to him, though.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfBembibre'': Played straight with the Count of Lemos Don Pedro Fernández de Castro, a vicious and cruel man who, driven by unbridled ambition and greed, became owner of a chunk of northwestern Spain by backstabbing everyone. Doña Beatriz remarks that he is feared, hated and despised by many -specially peasants-, but he is loved by nobody.

** Plenty of people call themselves Kings or Queens ([[SuccessionCrisis with varying degrees of legitimacy]]) and many of these people are [[BlackAndGrayMorality hard to pin down morally]]. Still, we have a few shining examples such as Aerys II, a.k.a. [[TheCaligula The Mad King]] who was a sadistic nutso that ravaged the kingdom so badly and antagonized so many royal houses that he all but destroyed the future of the Targaryen dynasty. Joffrey I also gets special mention, being only slightly less bad than Aerys due to his relatively limited scope of influence at the time. Robert toes the line but was more incompetent and oblivious than malicious or cruel (though he caused his share of the suffering by [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom failing to do the right things when it mattered]]). Stannis has a reputation as an EvilOverlord, but shows HiddenDepths and goes through CharacterDevelopment that means he would probably make a good and progressive King. His younger brother Renly has a good image but is a vain schemer who intended to kill Stannis and usurp the throne. On the flip side, the only real evil queen we've seen thus far is Cersei; Daenerys' enemies have given her this reputation as well, though it's ([[NotQuiteTheRightThing mostly]]) base slander. Historically, there are other examples such as Visenya, who may have poisoned her stepson/nephew Aenys so her monstrous son Maegor the Cruel could succeed.
** The series brings us "great lords" and "bannermen", who can be ''absolutely horrifying''. If there is one lesson to be taken from the series, it's that feudal society sucks for everyone except the ones at the top. The vast majority of nobles in the series care only about themselves and their family, and the common folk is at best worth considering because they are cheap labor, but usually considered an after thought. Even the series' more benevolent nobles, namely the Starks, care more about honor and nobility than they care about the smallfolk. The peasantry may not be suffering directly under "honorable" nobility, but things aren't changing for the better, either. A specific example is the nobility during the reign of Aegon V. Aegon was one of very few kings in Westeros who considered the smallfolk worthy of consideration and maybe getting slightly better lives. During his rule, he instigated several reforms meant to improve the condition of the working class, such as labor laws, but this made him immensely unpopular among the nobles. Even when he attempted to appeal to PragmaticVillainy, pointing out that wellfed and rested workers work harder and are less likely to rebel than slaves-in-all-but-name, the nobility couldn't see beyond their immediate gains, and all of his reforms were rolled back after his death.

** In Act I Scene I, a marquis explains the reason because the band of young Marquises always get late to the theater:

** Every member of the Order of the Ancients in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'' is an influential citizen within their own societies be it government officials, generals, priests, wealthy merchants and other well-respected individuals. [[spoiler:The Roman leader of the Order, Flavius Metellus / The Lion just so happens to be from the Metelli family and he's the proconsul of Kyrenaika who is responsible for the murder of Bayek and Aya's son Khemu [[AGodAmi as well as using a Piece of Eden to make himself god]]]]. The Order was also founded by Smenkhkare (a Pharoah of Egypt's 20th dynasty) for the purposes of studying [[LostTechnology lost Isu technology]] located inside a temple but they would quickly evolve to include rich, upper-class elites across the known ancient world.
** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey'' has the Cult of Kosmos, [[spoiler:a secretive organization in AncientGreece whose membership is largely comprised of politicians, generals, business owners and religious leaders with spies, mercenaries, and crime bosses as hired help. Even the founder of the Cult is none other than Agamemnon, the legendary king of Mycenae while the group's leader the Ghost of Kosmos is Perakles' wife Aspasia ''of all people'']]. Additionally, the Persian Order of the Ancients is also led by the historical Xerxes I.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'': The Four Lords are the elite (quite literally) minions working for [[BigBad Mother Miranda]], and pretty much all of them are demented in their own way, and have a [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld long history]] of tormenting the villagers and/or experimenting on them.

** The Contessa in ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves''. She got her title and privileges by marrying a German aristocrat and poisoning him a few weeks after the wedding. She proceeds to use them to create a prison in the Czech Republic, with the intent of hypnotizing criminals into obtaining their loot and intends to do so with Sly and Murray to find the (then unknown to them) Cooper Vault. She's also in league with the Klaww Gang, who intends to create a HatePlague in France in order to fuel Clockwerk's immortality.

* ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'': Countess Isabella Valentine, better known as Ivy. She's may not be evil by choice, but still a KnightTemplar and a DarkActionGirl.

** Queen Idonta rose to the throne via murder, and kidnaps women from other tribes for nefarious purposes.