History Main / AristocratsAreEvil

* ''WebVideo/TalesFromMyDDCampaign'': {{Averted}}. One of the party members is a Marquis, the two kings of humanity are ReasonableAuthorityFigures, and The Duke Of Newland is a badass who responded to a call for surrender from the evil Kua-Toa by jumping off the wall of his fort onto the enemy herald.

** 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 [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership 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.]]
** The leaders of the World Government are the Five Elder Stars, the highest-ranking Celestial Dragons, who are willing to go full-on [[FinalSolution scorched earth on entire islands]], and put a massive bounty on an 8-year-old child's head for the mere "crime" of being able to read a certain language, solely to protect some AncientConspiracy concerning the World Government's founding.
** The nobility of Goa Kingdom routinely sent out all their trash out of the city and let it pile up to the point that it became a small town unto itself, the Grey Terminal, a zone where even the ''people who lived there'' were seen as trash. When an inspection team with Celestial Dragons was scheduled to arrive, the nobles arranged to have the trash heap [[MoralEventHorizon burned to the ground]], people and all, in order to appeal to the Dragons. On top of this, they seemed incapable of understanding why a protagonist, who was a WhiteSheep among the nobles, who discovered this was horrified.

** 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 BigScrewedUpFamily of Tarvek Sturmvoraus -- the lone WhiteSheep (albiet an AntiHero) of his house -- serves as a telling sample of the setting's royals: 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.

** 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 EvilOverlord who made a hobby out of looting and pillaging the European continent. {{Inverted|Trope}} with the current Lady Heterodyne -- our heroine Agatha -- and her father Bill, the WhiteSheep of the family.

* 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.]]

* In ''Manhua/InfiniteApostlesAndTwelveWarGirls'', the three major families (rank unstated) of the Felm empire and crown prince Razzel of the Kenz kingdom are all horribly corrupt and will do anything to advance their ambitions, no matter how vile. Not only are they on-screen shown attempting to murder the protagonist and his love interests on several occasions, but their children are all arrogant asshats that ''automatically'' look at commoners as total weaklings that they have the ''duty'' to kick around, even as they're getting their asses kicked, and won't hesitate to unleash lethal force in public for any slight, real or imagined.

** ComicBook/BaronZemo, a LegacyCharacter supervillain.
** ComicBook/DoctorStrange: Baron Mordo, an occasional supervillain and full-time EvilSorcerer.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/Cars2: Sir Miles Axlerod.

* ''TabtletopGame/GrimHollow'': The Ostoyan Empire is ruled by an aristocracy of ''vampires''. Not even secret ones, but openly undead monsters that magically keep the sky under a constant pall of darkness. This Crimson Court keeps the rest of the country trapped in grinding poverty while holding lavish parties. That said, while it's certainly a cruel system, it's also a stable and safe one, so long as you don't go out at night, and most citizens don't openly challenge it.

* "WesternAnimation/TheScarletPumpernickel": The titular [[WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck Pumpernickel]] does battle with a diabolical Duke played by none other than Sylvester the Cat with his main ally being the equally villainous High Chamberlaine pairing him once more with [[ WesternAnimation/PorkyPig PorkyPig]].

* "WesternAnimation/TheScarletPumpernickel": The titular Pumpernickel does battle with a diabolical Duke.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'': Lord Farquaad is as bad as any Baron.

->''"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?"''
-->-- '''SCP-3288-Alpha,''' ''Website/SCPFoundation''

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[[folder:Film--Live-Action]]

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%% Trope was declared Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease via crowner by the Real Life Maintenance thread.

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** Viscount De Valvert is a JerkAss willing to be TheBeard for Count De Guiche.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Sir Edmund Dorrance, ComicBook/{{Bane}}'s father and the first contender for BigBad of the series, is a disenfranchised British noble whose criminal actions have lost him any favor he once had due to his status.

%%** ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Count Drako, a villain

%%* ''Anime/VoltesV'': Emperor Zu Zambojil and the whole aristocratic class.

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 a stodgy but typically benevolent patriarch), which may suggest a regional bias in which aristocrats are cast as villains.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Fire Lord Ozai is the king of the Fire Nation. He and the last two generations of Fire Lords were all pretty evil, but the ''next'' Fire Lord is a nice guy. His daughter Azula is no less evil than him, and probably quite a bit more crazy.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'': Lord Farquaad is as bad as any Baron.