History Main / BigBad

See also BigBadDuumvirate for two (or more) Big Bads working together. Sometimes a Big Bad will get their start as a servant to another villain -- if that's the case, they're a DragonAscendant. If the character who fills the role of Big Bad in most meaningful ways is nominally subordinate to someone else (someone significantly less menacing by comparison), they are a DragonInChief. If the story has many Big Bads at once who ''[[EvilVersusEvil don't]]'' work together, see BigBadEnsemble. TheBigBadShuffle occurs when there are multiple candidates for the Big Bad position. If the Big Bad doesn't start out as bad but develops over the course of the story, it's BigBadSlippage. If the Big Bad of one section of a work doesn't die on being defeated and stays around as a character in a different plot role (reformed or not), that's ExBigBad.

The cause of all bad happenings in a story. A Big Bad could be a character with {{Evil Plan}}s or it could be an omnipresent situation, such as a comet heading towards the Earth. In a serial story, the Big Bad exerts an effect across a number of episodes, even an entire season. Known as the Shadow in TheHerosJourney.

This trope is not a catch-all term for the biggest, ugliest villain of any given story. In fact, it doesn't have to be a villain at all, as we just said. If it is a villain, though, it should be identified correctly; the badass leader of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad outlaw gang]] that causes the most personal trouble is ''not'' the Big Bad. The [[CorruptCorporateExecutive railroad tycoon]] who is ''using'' the gang as muscle is the Big Bad. TheManBehindTheMan is very common for this trope, leaving the reveal of the big bad as TheChessmaster behind it all and proving themselves far more clever and resourceful than the VillainOfTheWeek. Sometimes the Big Bad is the grand enemy of an entire franchise. At other times, the Big Bad is an ArcVillain who causes trouble for a period of time only to be replaced by another Big Bad.

The cause of all bad happenings in a story, a central source that forms the primary threat to the protagonists. In a singular story they are the one who is coordinating opposition through various factors, whether it is [[QuirkyMinibossSquad their minions]], their [[CorruptPolitician control over politics]] or [[HeroWithBadPublicity their impact on public opinion]]. In a serial story the Big Bad exerts an effect across a number of episodes, ranging from a StoryArc to [[HalfArcSeason an entire season]], even up to being the dominant villain of the entire work. A Big Bad is typically a character with {{Evil Plan}}s, and helps [[TheHeavy drive a central conflict]]. Known as the Shadow in TheHerosJourney.

This trope is not a catch-all term for the biggest, ugliest, most dominant villain of any given story. In fact, it doesn't have to be a villain at all, it could be an omnipresent situation such as a comet heading towards the Earth. If it is a villain, though, it should be identified correctly; the badass leader of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad outlaw gang]] that causes the most personal trouble is ''not'' the Big Bad. The [[CorruptCorporateExecutive railroad tycoon]] who is ''using'' the gang as muscle is the Big Bad. TheManBehindTheMan is very common for this trope, leaving the reveal of the big bad as TheChessmaster behind it all and proving themselves far more clever and resourceful than the VillainOfTheWeek. Sometimes the Big Bad is the grand enemy of an entire franchise. At other times, the Big Bad is an ArcVillain who causes trouble for a period of time only to be replaced by another Big Bad.

* TheHeavy : This is usually the role played by TheDragon but there had been a couple times where the Big Bad plays this role.

It is one of the most well-known tropes on the TV Tropes community, being the first to have over [[OverdosedTropes sixty thousand wicks]], and is currently the [[StealthPun most wicked trope]] on the site. This is probably because it's incredibly common.

* {{BigBad/Webcomics}}

The cause of all bad happenings in a story, a central source that forms the primary threat to the protagonists. In a singular story they are the one who is coordinating opposition through various factors, whether it is [[QuirkyMinibossSquad their minions]], their [[CorruptPolitician control over politics]] or [[HeroWithbadPublicity the impact on the media]]. In a serial story the Big Bad exerts an effect across a number of episodes, ranging from a StoryArc to [[HalfArcSeason an entire season]], even up to being the dominant villain of the entire work. A Big Bad is typically a character with {{Evil Plan}}s, and helps [[TheHeavy drive a central conflict]]. Known as the Shadow in TheHerosJourney.

The cause of all bad happenings in a story. A Big Bad could be a character with {{Evil Plan}}s or it could be an omnipresent situation, such as a comet heading towards the Earth. In a serial story, the Big Bad exerts an effect across a number of episodes, even an entire season. Known as the Shadow in TheHerosJourney.

This trope is not a catch-all term for the biggest, ugliest villain of any given story. In fact, it doesn't have to be a villain at all, as we just said. If it is a villain, though, it should be identified correctly; the badass leader of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad outlaw gang]] that causes the most personal trouble is ''not'' the Big Bad. The [[CorruptCorporateExecutive railroad tycoon]] who is ''using'' the gang as muscle is the Big Bad. TheManBehindTheMan is very common for this trope, leaving the reveal of the big bad as TheChessmaster behind it all and proving themselves far more clever and resourceful than the VillainOfTheWeek. Sometimes the Big Bad is the grand enemy of an entire franchise. At other times, the Big Bad is an ArcVillain who causes trouble for a period of time only to be replaced by another Big Bad.

The term "Big Bad" was popularized in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. It was characteristic of Buffy's seasonal Big Bads for their identity or nature, or even the fact that they are the Big Bad at all, to remain unclear for a considerable time. Occasionally, characters would even refer to themselves as "the Big Bad" -- whether they were a true Big Bad or just a BigBadWannabe is another matter. The structure of Buffy placed the Big Bad as being crucial to the HalfArcSeason, half the episodes are {{filler}} dealing with unrelated enemies while the other half involved the ongoing MythArc with the Big Bad. Each season can easily be defined by who the Big Bad was.

The term "Big Bad" was popularized in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. It was characteristic of Buffy's Big Bads for their identity or nature, or even the fact that they are the Big Bad at all, to remain unclear for a considerable time. Occasionally, characters would even refer to themselves as "the Big Bad" -- whether they were a true Big Bad or just a BigBadWannabe is another matter. The structure of Buffy placed the Big Bad as being crucial to the HalfArcSeason, half the episodes are {{filler}} dealing with unrelated enemies while the other half involved the ongoing MythArc with the Big Bad. Each season can easily be defined by who the Big Bad was.

* ArcVillain: The Big Bad of a story arc, but not of the story as a whole. They may or may not be working for the overall Big Bad.

The cause of all bad happenings in a story. A Big Bad could be a character with {{Evil Plan}}s or it could be an omnipresent situation, such as a comet heading towards the Earth. In a serial story, the Big Bad exerts an effect across a number of episodes, even an entire season.