History Main / MaouTheDemonKing

* ''Literature/TheCreationAlchemistEnjoysFreedom'': Demon Lord Rukia is the firm but gentle sovereign of demonkind who greets protagonist Thor upon his arrival at Demon territory and is greatly impressed by his alchemic prowess (to the point of thinking that the Human kingdom had vastly more powerful and talented alchemists in reserve and was giving the Demon territory a veiled threat by presenting Thor as the "disposable" alchemist they were willing to let go); and who actually rules over her subjects though kindness. Yes, ''[[SheIsTheKing hers]]'', because while at first introduced as a tall male humanoid demon wearing a dark cloak and a sinister mask, one of Thor's creations removes these items, revealing a young-looking demon girl who has to don this ToughLeaderFacade to hide her youth and inexperience and becoming very psychologically dependent on this to project her authority.

* While rarely called such, several ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' villain fits the description of the archetypical Maou:

* ''Literature/TheCreationAlchemistEnjoysFreedom'': Demon Lord Rukia is the firm but gentle sovereign of demonkind who greets protagonist Thor upon his arrival at Demon territory and is greatly impressed by his alchemic prowess (to the point of thinking that the Human kingdom had vastly more powerful and talented alchemists in reserve and was giving the Demon territory a veiled threat by presenting Thor as the "disposable" alchemist they were willing to let go); and who actually rules over her subjects though kindness. Yes, ''[[SheIsTheKing hers]]'', because while at first introduced as a tall male humanoid demon wearing a dark cloak and a sinister mask, one of Thor's creations removes these items, revealing a young-looking demon girl who has to don this ToughLeaderFacade to hide her youth and inexperience and becoming very psychologically dependent on this to project her authority.

* ''Literature/GoblinSlayer'': Every decade an Demon Lord raises from the pits of Hell to destroy the cities of Man and overthrow the Gods. They represent an cyclical existential threat to the setting, but in this series the Demon Lord is an VillainOfAnotherStory, since Goblin Slayer and his associates are too focused in exterminating goblins to focus on him; as such, its the job of [[HeroOfAnotherStory other adventurers]] to handle the Demon Lord and his generals.

* ''Literature/TheCreationAlchemistEnjoysFreedom'': Demon Lord Rukia is the firm but gentle sovereign of demonkind who greets protagonist Thor upon his arrival at Demon territory and is greatly impressed by his alchemic prowess (to the point of thinking that the Human kingdom had vastly more powerful and talented alchemists in reserve and was giving Demon King territory a veiled threat by presenting Thor as the "disposable" alchemist they were willing to let go); and who actually rules over her subjects though kindness. Yes, ''[[SheIsTheKing hers]]'', because while at first introduced as a tall male humanoid demon wearing a dark cloak and a sinister mask, one of Thor's creations removes these items, revealing a young-looking demon girl who has to don this ToughLeaderFacade to hide her youth and inexperience and becoming very psychologically dependent on this to project her authority.

** There is also a Demon King, who interrupted the botched summoning that brought Kunai into this world. He was the first enemy killed by Kunai. The Satanists are still working at a different method of summoning a new Demon King, in order to destabilize or destroy the Holy Kingdom.
* ''Literature/TheDevilIsAPartTimer'': Satan was the king of demons in Enta Isla before being defeated by Emilia the Hero, forcing him to flee. Now he attempts to reclaim his throne by working his way up the wage slave ladder at [[BlandNameProduct MgRonalds]], going by the name of [[LouisCypher Maou]]. Unlike most examples, he wasn't born into a position of power, but rather [[FromNobodyToNightmare started off as a lowly grunt]].

** The BigBad of the fifth and sixth arcs of the original ''Manga/DragonBall'' are the Great Demon King Piccolo and his son/reincarnation Piccolo Jr. They are a LiteralSplitPersonality of God and represent his rejected evil side, to the point where they were classed as demons (specifically "Mazoku" or "Demon Clansmen"). Notably, ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' fleshed out Piccolo Jr. as a character, establishing him (much like Goku) as a member of an alien race (the Namekians) and having him join the good guys, to the point that he became much more well-known as such. Although Piccolo's alien heritage doesn't retcon his demonic origin in any way, since his demonic traits are completely separate from his Namekian traits (Demon King Piccolo is a "demon" in much the same way as how Kami-sama is a "god" in that they each earned such titles).
** PlayedStraight with Dabura, king of the Demon Realm who became TheDragon to the evil wizard Babidi during the Buu Saga. Though the anime eventually subverts it by having him make a HeelFaceTurn, albeit posthumously.

* ''Literature/TheCreationAlchemistEnjoysFreedom'': Demon Lord Rukia is the firm but gentle sovereing of demonkind who greets protagonist Thor upon his arrival at Demon territory and is greatly impressed by his alchemic prowess (to the point of thinking that the Human kingdom had vastly more powerful and talented alchemists in reserve and was giving Demon King territory a veiled threat by presenting Thor as the "disposable" alchemist they were willing to let go); and who actually rules over her subjects though kindness. Yes, ''[[SheIsTheKing hers]]'', because while at first introduced as a tall male humanoid demon wearing a dark cloak and a sinister mask, one of Thor's creations removes these items, revealing a young-looking demon girl who has to don this ToughLeaderFacade to hide her youth and inexperience and becoming very psychologically dependent on this to project her authority.

* ''Webcomic/DemonKingGF'' has Alvida, the titular [[SheIsTheKing demon king]], who ends up becoming the fiance to the human Hero. Initally she planned on using her marriage to kill him when his guard was down, she ends up falling in love with the Hero for real and ends up starting a family with him.

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': The Control Devil, the BigBad of Part 1, is one of these in an UrbanFantasy setting. [[spoiler:She is none other than Makima, the series' morally shady {{deuteragonist}} and Denji's love interest. The ''Chainsaw Man'' universe is full of powerful devils, and Makima, as one of the Four Horsemen, sits near the very top of their hierarchy. Only beaten out in power by a select few such as the Primal Fears and the original Chainsaw Man, Makima uses her powers to commandeer many of the previous Devils, Fiends and hybrids faced by Denji and his friends, corrupting any being she sees as inferior and bending them to her will. Unlike most female examples of this trope, she does ''not'' turn out to be an AntiVillain, but rather a WellIntentionedExtremist whose ultimate goal is to either remove humanity's greatest fears from the world or be consumed by Chainsaw Man herself if she fails in doing so.]]

* ''Manga/TheresADemonLordInTheFloor'' is a workplace comedy about a demon queen (Amon Patricia) and one of her minions (Nonko) who escaped from her world, only to end up freeloading under a restaurant.

* ''Manga/SazanEyes'' ha Kaiyanwang, the lord of the Triclops, revered as the Demon King by the rest of the people of Darkness (monsters, demons, youkais you name it) who offer sacrifices to him in hope of receiving rewards. Rather than just ruling the world like his technical predecessor Benares (now his Dragon) did, he has longer term plans for the world at large, [[spoiler: namely, collecting the primordial light from the entire humanity, merge with it and start a new journey across the cosmo in search for a new place to inhabit.]]

* ''Uchi No Maou Kamimasen Yo'' is a comedy about a world where people have "magical pets" that occasionally do battle, but not in any way that's taken seriously. The main character has a "Demon King", and his arch nemesis is a pet that is "The Hero" (and a girl). Although they fight instinctively, the Demon King really just wants her to like him.

* In ''Manga/{{Helck}}'' the slaying of Thor the Demon Lord right before the start spurs the Demons to set up a tournament to select a new one... To guard his ''border fortress'': it's quickly revealed that a Demon Lord is merely the lord of one of the border fortresses, and their job is to keep the poison that permeates the Demon Empire's land in check, cull the monster population, and defend the frontier from ''human'' attacks, with the Four Heavenly Kings being the highest-ranking Demons known. Before the series, discovering that there's multiple Demon Lords threw the human kingdom's population in despair, [[spoiler:paving the way for the BigBad's plan to Awaken them all into his pawns]].

Demon Kings are prone to having [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter a beautiful daughter who needs protecting]]. Other times, the DemonKing blows the hero's mind [[SheIsTheKing by actually being a woman]] -- [[WomenAreWiser heroic and sympathetic portrayals are especially likely when this is the case]]. [[DatingCatwoman Romances between Heroes and Demon Kings]] are also quite common, as it turns out.

** The successor to Demise is [[BigBad Ganondorf]]. While he starts off as a mortal human (a Gerudo to be precise), his quest for power eventually transforms him into a [[PigMan pig demon known as Ganon]]. Ganon is a persistent threat to Hyrule, returning through the ages in a constant cycle of being sealed away, escaping, being slain, and being resurrected or reincarnated. Ganon, like Demise, exhibits an evil aura and rules over all the monsters that Link faces in his quest. While earlier games in the series translate Ganon's ''Maou'' title as things like [[EvilOverlord "King of Evil" or "Dark Lord"]], games released after ''Skyward Sword'' would switch to "Demon King" to emphasise his status as Demise's reincarnation. Games where he's particularly mindless, such as ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'', tend to instead refer to him as ''Majuu'' ("Demon Beast").

Demon Kings are prone to having [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter a beautiful daughter who needs protecting]]. Other times, the DemonKing blows the hero's mind [[SheIsTheKing by actually being a woman]] -- [[WomenAreWiser heroic and sympathetic portrayals are especially likely when this is the case]]. Romances between Heroes and Demon Kings are also quite common, as it turns out.

As with many {{JRPG}} tropes, the first three ''Franchise/DragonQuest'' games are the {{Trope Codifier}}s for this character type, with most instances drawing heavily from the [[VideoGame/DragonQuestI Dragonlord]] (he of "Join me, Hero, and I will give you half the world!" fame ([[VideoGame/DragonQuestBuilders he's lying]])), and[=/=]or his ancient predecessor [[VideoGame/DragonQuestIII Zoma]]. The parodic version, meanwhile, was likely popularized by ''Literature/{{Maoyu}}''. The actual term "Maou" is quite old however, probably originating as a title of [[UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} Mara]], and later being extended to [[SatanicArchetype similar figures]] like {{Satan}}.