History Main / Troll

* 'Eye of Adam' in ''Videogame/TheCatLady'' is a suicide cult leader who spends his time trying to convince members of various internet forums to commit suicide; Mitzi bares a grudge against him because he talked her boyfriend into gassing himself.

* 'Eye of Adam' in ''Videogame/theCatLady'' is a suicide cult leader who spends his time trying to convince members of various internet forums to commit suicide; Mitzi bares a grudge against him because he talked her boyfriend into gassing himself. [[spoiler:He's also the final antagonist Suzan and Mitzi must face down at the end of the game.]]

** Joe Carroll manages to escape from prison, and take control of his cult. He occasionally calls [[TheHero Hardy]] on the phone, just to give him a HannibalLecture. It backfires in episode 12. Carroll calls Hardy, who reveals they found the cult's armory/training ground. Carroll and the other cultists quickly realize this means their screwed.

* The twelve trolls in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' are actually major characters. They start off as simple internet trolls, but later befriend the four protagonists and act as exposition. And they are ''literal'' trolls, i.e. aliens from a different planet.

A [[TheGadfly gadfly]] screws with other people because [[ItAmusedMe it's amusing]]. Others do it because [[ManipulativeBastard they need their pawn to do something.]] Then there is the infamous [=Troll=]. What separates this character from a [[TheGadfly gadfly]] is that what they do is not supposed to be funny. It's just cruel. What separates a ManipulativeBastard from a [=Troll=] is that there is no real point to their manipulations beyond hurting the victim. All they want to do is see someone suffer or make a fool of themselves.

* Discord from MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic gets this reputation in the first two episodes of season 2.

*** this is usually followed by ''someone'' yelling or raging out a single word: CREEEEEED!

* Warhammer40K: the Chaos god Tzeentch can be considered this, given that he's the embodiment of god of scheming, magic and backstabbing. One example is a traitor governor asking a daemon for something that would break the Dark Angels' siege on his fortress. The daemon complies, giving him a teleport homer that allows Dark Angel Terminators to deep strike around him, quickly [[ExactWords ending the siege]].

* ''CromartieHighSchool'' had an episode about a gang leader that administrates a web forum and is incredibly polite. After running into a Troll, he restrains himself. However, the troll later bumps into him in person, and [[LaserGuidedKarma is punched to the ground by the gang leader without either knowing who the other really is.]]

A [[TheGadfly gadfly]] screws with other people because [[ItAmusedMe it's amusing]]. Others do it because [[ManipulativeBastard they need their pawn to do something.]] Then there is the infamous [=Troll=]. What separates this character from a [[TheGadfly gadfly]] is that what they do is not supposed to be funny. It's just cruel. What separates a ManipulativeBastard from a [=Troll=] is that there is no real point to their manipulations beyond hurting the victim. All they want to do is see someone suffer or make a fool of themselves. This has recently been the subject of a ''notable'' CriticalResearchFailure taken UpToEleven by BritishNewspapers as of mid-2012; the term "Internet trolling" they refer to [[YouKeepUsingThatWord is in fact]] [[TheBully cyber]]-abusers, which is [[BullyingADragon far worse than trolling]]. In any case, a troll is someone who would probably say "I like New York Yankees. X [team on fan site] suck!" in a baseball forum, whereas a cyber-abuser is ''not'' a troll and does it for more harmful reasons, which toy with emotions sometimes.

** He's also been known to wind up his teammates with an outrageous lie about how things were in his cycle, knowing [[PoesLaw they'll never be able to tell]] between him making something up and a genuine Prothean tradition. For instance, when observing a poker game in progress, he casually mentions a game the Protheans "used to play" involving a sort of sacrificial combat arena... which he made up out of whole cloth, since his ''real'' hobby these days is mocking primitives.

[[caption-width-right:330: Warning: Do not feed.]]

The term trolling comes from fishing, of all things. The idea is that you set out some bait and watch as your victim grabs it and writhes for your amusement. Malcontents on the internet [[{{GIFT}} protected by anonymity]] have been doing this for years, hence the widespread usage of the term. When encountered in a game, a troll is often called a {{Griefer}}. While the word and concept are based on these beginnings, the term has spread from there such that it has become a widely used term to discuss pointlessly cruel characters.

* ''X: Farnham's Legend'', the {{novelization}} of ''VideoGame/XBeyondTheFrontier'', mentions that [[PlayerCharacter Kyle Brennan]] and his best friend Elena Kho get a lot of amusement from pretend-flirting and otherwise feeding the rumors among their coworkers that they're in a SecretRelationship.

* In [[Literature/TheHungerGames the Hunger Games,]] when Katniss and Peeta meet several of the other victors, they are incredibly unnerved by their creepy and generally odd behavior towards them. [[TheCasanova Finnick seemingly tries to seduce Katniss, offering her a sugar cube and asking her to "tell him all her secrets,"]] [[NakedPeopleAreFunny Johanna strips down stark naked in front of both Katniss and Peeta]] (which she proceeds to do ''repeatedly,'' I might add) and then shares an elevator with them, chatting genially the whole way up, and [[DirtyOldMan Chaff drunkenly tries to make out with Katniss]] (which Haymitch and he find hilarious.) Why? [[ItAmusedMe They're all just having fun fucking with the newest, "purest" victors.]]

** [[SapientShip EDI]] is also far to fond of jokes about robotic overlords and mechanical failures for some of the crew's taste.

* ''AndyKaufman''

A [[TheGadfly gadfly]] screws with other people because [[ItAmusedMe it's amusing]]. Others do it because [[ManipulativeBastard they need their pawn to do something.]] Then there is the infamous {{Troll}}. What separates this character from a [[TheGadfly gadfly]] is that what they do is not supposed to be funny. It's just cruel. What separates a ManipulativeBastard from a {{Troll}} is that there is no real point to their manipulations beyond hurting the victim. All they want to do is see someone suffer or make a fool of themselves. This has recently been the subject of a ''notable'' CriticalResearchFailure taken UpToEleven by BritishNewspapers as of mid-2012; the term "Internet trolling" they refer to [[YouKeepUsingThatWord is in fact]] [[TheBully cyber]]-abusers, which is [[BullyingADragon far worse than trolling]]. In any case, a troll is someone who would probably say "I like New York Yankees. X [team on fan site] suck!" in a baseball forum, whereas a cyber-abuser is ''not'' a troll and does it for more harmful reasons, which toy with emotions sometimes.

If they just want to see their victims flail, then they're a true {{Troll}}.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': Javik has been described by players as the galaxy's oldest and greatest troll. Most of his dialogue consists of him claiming various ways the [[{{Precursors}} protheans]] were more advanced than the galaxy's current "primitives", and he also loves letting someone else run their mouth and then completely shutting them down in a single statement. [[SapientShip EDI]] is also far to fond of jokes about robotic overlords and mechanical failures for some of the crew's taste.
** He's also been known to wind up his teammates with an outrageous lie about how things were in his cycle, knowing [[PoesLaw They'll never be able to tell]] between him making something up and a genuine Prothean tradition. For instance, when observing a poker game in progress, he casually mentions a game the Protheans "used to play" involving a sort of sacrificial combat arena... which he made up out of whole cloth, since his ''real'' hobby these days is mocking primitives.

* Discord from MyLittelPonyFriendshipIsMagic gets this reputation in the first two episodes of season 2.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': Javik has been described by players as the galaxy's oldest and greatest troll. Most of his dialogue consists of him claiming various ways the [[{{Precursors}} protheans]] were more advanced than the galaxy's current "primitives", and he also loves letting someone else run their mouth and then completely shutting them down in a single statement.

A [[TheGadfly gadfly]] screws with other people because [[ItAmusedMe it's amusing]]. Others do it because [[ManipulativeBastard they need their pawn to do something.]] Then there is the infamous {{Troll}}. What separates this character from a gadfly is that what they do is not supposed to be funny. It's just cruel. What separates a ManipulativeBastard from a {{Troll}} is that there is no real point to their manipulations beyond hurting the victim. All they want to do is see someone suffer or make a fool of themselves. This has recently been the subject of a ''notable'' CriticalResearchFailure taken UpToEleven by BritishNewspapers as of mid-2012; the term "Internet trolling" they refer to [[YouKeepUsingThatWord is in fact]] [[TheBully cyber]]-abusers, which is [[BullyingADragon far worse than trolling]]. In any case, a troll is someone who would probably say "I like New York Yankees. X [team on fan site] suck!" in a baseball forum, whereas a cyber-abuser is ''not'' a troll and does it for more harmful reasons, which toy with emotions sometimes.