History Main / ObviouslyEvil

* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Be wary of characters with white hair, especially if they originate from an Eastern work or are inspired by Eastern works[[note]]White is commonly associated with [[LightIsGood peace and purity]] in Western culture, but [[LightIsNotGood death, mourning and bad luck]] in some Eastern cultures like UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}, UsefulNotes/{{China}} and UsefulNotes/SouthKorea[[/note]].

* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Be wary of characters with white hair, especially if they originate from an Eastern work or are inspired by Eastern works[[note]]White is commonly associated with [[LightIsGood peace and purity]] in Western culture, but [[LightIsNotGood death, mourning and bad luck]] in some Eastern cultures like UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} and UsefulNotes/{{China}}[[/note]].

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: This idiot sincerely believes that the one [[TheCityNarrows lurking in a dark alleyway]] while [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver dressed in red and black]] and [[PsychoKnifeNut brandishing a knife]] is trustworthy.

* PracticallyJoker: The villain shares similarities to [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]], having many of the traits making it obvious that they're evil.

* SlenderManStandIn: You know a character is evil, because they look like [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slender Man]].

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: This idiot sincerely believes that the one [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver dressed in red and black]] and [[PsychoKnifeNut brandishing a knife]] is trustworthy.

* ''FanFic/PleaseStopEatingTheHellButterflies'' makes out Aizen to be this. As the fic goes on, you can see why nobody noticed.

** In ''Trials and Tribulations'', Phoenix and Maya meet Furio Tigre, who looks like Phoenix, except his skin is pure orange and he has scars over one eye and much spikier hair. [[spoiler: It's no surprise that he's the murderer. In fact, he's also responsible for impersonating Phoenix and causing Maggey to get convicted of murder.]]

** In ''Justice For All'', the second case opens with a voice-over accusing a man named Dr. Turner Grey of a murder. When the players meet Grey, he's tense, irritable, and downright nasty; his name [[MeaningfulName implies a moral gray area]]; he makes a big deal about how innocent he is; and other characters relate stories of an incident in which many patients died under his care. When he becomes the victim in the case, it's plain as day that he really was behind a great many deaths. [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope Except he's]] ''[[SubvertedTrope not]]''--Grey was actually totally innocent of the incident wherein the patients died. While he might be slightly to blame for putting a young, inexperienced nurse in charge of distributing those patients' medicines, he certainly didn't kill anyone. It's eventually revealed that Grey was getting dangerously close to learning the truth about the fatal incident, prompting the nurse in question, who was living as her own sister after a car crash killed her sister, to kill him. In short, he was only a jerk, not a villain... though being a jerk was obvious.]] However, the true mastermind behind the murder, [[spoiler:Morgan Fey]], plays the trope straight by looking like and being a highly ambitious narcissist.
** Also from ''Justice For All'', the first case's culprit is Richard Wellington, an UpperClassTwit and con artist with a really smug look on his face. The case isn't quite a ReverseWhodunnit like the first game, but you also see him attack Phoenix with a fire extinguisher, resulting in Phoenix's amnesia.

** In ''Spirit of Justice'', there's [[spoiler: Ga'ran in her prosecutor outfit]]. Magenta and dark purple colors, a spider motif, giant shoulderpads, [[MakeupIsEvil evil facepaint]], and [[SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains cleavage]]. No wonder she doesn't wear this outfit in her daily life- people might think she was a Disney villain.

Note that it's possible to have Obviously Evil[[OverlyLongGag ®]] figures in a normally more subtle setting; frequently, the justification is that the character is so far gone into his [[CardCarryingVillain Card-Carrying Villainy]] (or some brutal variation of BlueAndOrangeMorality) that he doesn't care what other people think of him, or that the character is intentionally playing up a menacing persona in order to intimidate others into compliance.

* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Red and black tend to be 'evil' colors, and bonus if they're both put on.

* CompleteMonster: An utterly evil villain no positive qualities.

* ''Fanfic/AceCombatTheEquestrianWar'' gives us Red Cyclone, who, aside from having [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]] and body color, is also an A-class SmugSnake and seeks to [[KillEmAll obliterate the ponies]].

** In what can probably be described as EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, the villains in the first game all tended to be obviously not nice people. Frank Sawhit behaves very suspiciously and has a creepy-looking face, Redd White is a CorruptCorporateExecutive and dresses the part, and Dee Vasquez wears dark clothing and [[GoodSmokingEvilSmoking smokes a pipe]]. All but the latter are culprits in ReverseWhodunnit cases, meaning the game doesn't even bother to hide their guilt. The only exception is [[spoiler:[[ObfuscatingInsanity Yanni Yogi]], who's only the first culprit in the final case, rather than the mastermind behind the plot (Manfred von Karma)]].

A lot of fiction out there has a tendency to employ [[BlackAndWhiteMorality incredibly black and white perspectives]] to the characters and their actions. Due to the belief that its target demographic (usually children) can't understand subtler shades of evil, many works of fiction create a stark contrast between the heroes and villains. When this happens, the creators will bring in their Obviously Evil[[TradeSnark ®]] Design Team. (Of course, another reason obvious villains are used in some fiction is simply because [[EvilIsCool everyone loves a badass villain]].)

Fiction that relies on this is almost always {{Anvilicious}} to a fault, being the most extreme example of BlackAndWhiteMorality. If the writers don't like X, they can just have someone Obviously Evil [[HitlerAteSugar doing X]].

Note that it's possible to have Obviously Evil figures in a normally more subtle setting; frequently, the justification is that the character is so far gone into his [[CardCarryingVillain Card-Carrying Villainy]] (or some brutal variation of BlueAndOrangeMorality) that he doesn't care what other people think of him, or that the character is intentionally playing up a menacing persona in order to intimidate others into compliance.

** In ''Spirit of Justice'', there's [[spoiler: Ga'ran in her prosecutor outfit]]. Magenta and dark purple colors, a spider motif, giant shoulderpads, evil makeup, and [[SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains cleavage]]. No wonder she doesn't wear this outfit in her daily life- people might think she was a Disney villain.

* AnAxeToGrind: Axes tend to be a weapon of choice for villains.

Note that it's possible to have Obviously Evil figures in a normally more subtle setting; frequently, the justification is that the character is so far gone into his {{Card Carrying Villain}}y (or some brutal variation of BlueAndOrangeMorality) that he doesn't care what other people think of him, or that the character is intentionally playing up a menacing persona in order to intimidate others into compliance.

* EvilLaugh: Villains always have a signature laugh to highlight their evil.

** In what can probably be described as EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, the villains in the first game all tended to be obviously not nice people. Frank Sawhit behaves very suspiciously and has a creepy-looking face, Redd White is a CorruptCorporateExecutive and dresses the part, and Dee Vasquez wears dark clothing and [[GoodSmokingEvilSmoking smokes a pipe]]. All but the latter are culprits in ReverseWhodunnit cases, meaning the game doesn't even bother to hide their guilt. The only exception is [[spoiler:[[ObfuscatingInsanity Yanni Yogi]], who's only the first culprit in the final case, rather than the mastermind behind the plot(von Karma)]].
** In ''Justice for All'', the second case opens with a voice-over accusing a man named Dr. Turner Grey of a murder. When the players meet Grey, he's tense, irritable, and downright nasty; his name [[MeaningfulName implies a moral gray area]]; he makes a big deal about how innocent he is; and other characters relate stories of an incident in which many patients died under his care. When he becomes the victim in the case, it's plain as day that he really was behind a great many deaths. [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope Except he's]] ''[[SubvertedTrope not]]''--Grey was actually totally innocent of the incident wherein the patients died. While he might be slightly to blame for putting a young, inexperienced nurse in charge of distributing those patients' medicines, he certainly didn't kill anyone. It's eventually revealed that Grey was getting dangerously close to learning the truth about the fatal incident, prompting the nurse in question, who was living as her own sister after a car crash killed her sister, to kill him. In short, he was only a jerk, not a villain... though being a jerk was obvious.]] However, the true mastermind behind the murder, [[spoiler:Morgan Fey]], plays the trope straight by looking like and being a highly ambitious narcissist.

* Korekiyo Shinguji, the Ultimate Anthropologist from ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'', is a tall, [[LeanAndMean rail-thin]] man who always dresses in olive-green [[PuttingOnTheReich military garb]] and covers the bottom half of his face with a [[MalevolentMaskedMen mask]]. His demeanor is as unsettling as they come, too, seeming coldly detached from the DeadlyGame going on around him and constantly talking about the "{{beauty|Is Bad}} of humanity". He even praises the culprit's ingenuity and cruelty in a few Class Trials. Is it any surprise that he turns out to be [[spoiler:an insane SerialKiller with a near-''triple-digit'' body count and a [[Film/{{Psycho}} Norman Bates]]-esque obsession with his [[BrotherSisterIncest sister]]?]]

If a work of fiction indulges in Obviously Evil[[TradeSnark ®]], every villain will be a CardCarryingVillain, usually ColourCodedForYourConvenience in shades of [[DarkIsEvil black]] and [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver red]]. There won't be any {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s, [[KnightTemplar Knights Templar]] or pretty much anyone that doesn't accept and accentuate their evilness. If you see anybody that might seem to be a shade of grey on the side of the villains, it will usually basically be a [[TokenGoodTeammate hero with a slight bit of behavior modification to work with the villains]] (and an inevitable HeelFaceTurn coming up during UsefulNotes/{{Sweeps}}). If the villainous group is a governing body, it will always be an [[TheEmpire Evil Empire]] with a ZeroPercentApprovalRating. There aren't any [[PunchClockVillain Punch Clock]] [[{{Mook|s}} minions]] that just accepted the job because it's work, but instead AlwaysChaoticEvil FacelessGoons that act like miniature versions of the main villain and provide no guilt whatsoever when they get killed by the truckload. TheDragon will either be fully loyal to their master and their evilness, or be TheStarscream and never have any ulterior motive beyond a lust for more power. There will never be any {{Worthy Opponent}}s or {{Tragic Villain}}s or any kind of antagonist presented sympathetically as this doesn't accentuate the author's need to make the bad guys '''ALL''' bad.

The first is Obviously Evil Behavior, where the villains act in extremely vicious and unnecessarily cruel fashion to heighten their ''evilness'' may overlap with StupidEvil. Extremely common in fan fiction were authors use this as a shortcut to establish the "Bad Guy" of the fic and often happens to the author's [[RonTheDeathEater least favorite character]]. Prone to RapeAsDrama. See KickTheDog.

* From''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', [[EvilOldFolks Zouken Matou]]. He looks like some sort of deformed little troll man and has jetblack eyes. Plus he manages to talk in a sinister fashion all the time - despite not having any audible clues - even before you realize that he is not the world's friendliest, cheeriest grandfather. The rest of the cast averts (Caster[[note]]Medea[[/note]]) and subverts (Berserker[[note]]Herakles[[/note]], Rider[[note]]Medusa. Yes, really[[/note]]) this, though. The novel also makes it blatantly obvious that [[SinisterMinister Kirei Kotomine]] is up to no good. WordOfGod even confirms this trope was what they were going for when they made him.

** In ''Justice for All'', the second case opens with a voice-over accusing a man named Dr. Turner Grey of a murder. When the players meet Grey, he's tense, irritable, and downright nasty; his name [[MeaningfulName implies a moral gray area]]; he makes a big deal about how innocent he is; and other characters relate stories of an incident in which many patients died under his care. When he becomes the victim in the case, it's plain as day that he really was behind a great many deaths. [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope Except he's]] ''[[SubvertedTrope not]]''--Grey was actually totally innocent of the incident wherein the patients died. While he might be slightly to blame for putting a young, inexperienced nurse in charge of distributing those patients' medicines, he certainly didn't kill anyone. It's eventually revealed that Grey was getting dangerously close to learning the truth about the fatal incident, prompting the nurse in question, who was living as her own sister after a car crash killed her sister, to kill him.]] However, the true mastermind behind the murder, [[spoiler:Morgan Fey]], plays the trope straight by looking like and being a highly ambitious narcissist.

* HornedHairdo: Mimics the below trope but with hair.

* DarkseidDuplicate: A character being inspired by ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} sounds anything but trustworthy.

* PracticallyJoker: The villain shares similarities to ComicBook/TheJoker, having many of the traits making it obvious that they're evil.

* DoomTroops: No one but an evil person would have an army of scary-looking soldiers at their command.