Noblewoman's Laugh

OHHHHHHH-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho! You're all quite mistaken if you think you've won!

"This moronic laugh must be...!"

— Rin Tohsaka, Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA Specials, regarding Luviagelita Edelfelt

A stereotyped laugh used by women from aristocratic Japanese or pseudo-Japanese families, usually written "ホホホ" or "ほほほ" (ho ho ho), or sometimes "お~~ほほほ" (o~hohoho) representing a high-pitched, somewhat artificial form of refined feminine laughter (rather than the belly-laugh that "ho ho ho" represents in English, best expressed in many portrayals of Santa Claus). Typically associated with the Ojou character type, or haughty, stuck-up women.

These characters are most likely to exhibit this laugh in moments of arrogance or when contemplating how they'll humiliate their enemies. They frequently will pose holding a straightened palm vertically to the side of or below their mouth, or holding a fan over their mouths. This comes from the custom that refined Japanese women don't expose their mouths while laughing.

No matter what, the Noblewoman's Laugh is almost always the mark of a bitch.

Male villains may also laugh this way, particularly if they're similarly prim or aristocratic or if they're effeminate (so expect to hear it from the Wicked Cultured man or the Sissy Villain).

Compare Evil Laugh, Laughing Mad, and Annoying Laugh. Very frequently a case of Incoming Ham. Also compare the similar pose Flourish Cape in Front of Face. Without the laugh, it's The Grace Face Pose.

There's an entire YouTube channel dedicated to this trope.

---

Female Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Mitsuko Kongou from A Certain Magical Index and its Spinoff Manga A Certain Scientific Railgun has one of these. Her variant however is not nearly as annoying as most examples of this trope.
• Akiko in all versions of All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, Chieko in the TV version.
• Yuri from Angel Beats! does it at leasttwice in the anime. Complete with hand near mouth. The other person talking to her over the walkie even asks if she's the villain for doing such a laugh.
• Madame Monterlant in Ashita no Nadja lets out these as sign of how much of a Rich Bitch she is.
• Azumanga Daioh: Tomo (yes, that Tomo) occasionally does this, as does Yomi.
• Bleach. The unnamed female arrancar that controls Aizen's hollow fortress in anime episodes 213 and 214 has such a laugh. She displays it at the end of episode 213.
• Cardcaptor Sakura had Meilin Li, Shaoran/Xiaolang/Syaoran's clingy, jealous childhood friend. Whenever she'd talk to Sakura...especially early on in her appearances...she would almost always end with a kid-sized version of this laugh. And when cast as the villainess in the Show Within a Show, one asks "Did somebody order a Large Ham?!"
  • Although she is a very nice, polite girl, Tomoyo is prone to this. Although she uses this almost for pure comedic effect.
• Princess Vina in Dragon Half, as a parody of the typical fantasy story princesses, often laughs like this in public.
• In an early episode of Eureka Seven, after she overhears Renton self-narrating an embarrassing admission of his feelings for Eureka, Talho walks around the Gekko-go doing a Noblewoman's Laugh as he follows her pleading with her not to tell anyone. Unbeknownst to Renton, everyone's already aware of his crush on Eureka, so Talho's just screwing with him, making this a particularly effective example.
• Bizarrely enough, Mamori Anezaki of Eyeshield 21 does this during the field day mini-arc—although, she was deliberately acting as deviant as possible in order to facilitate one of Hiruma's notorious plots.
  • Yukimitsu also dreads the day his mother lets one of these loose.
• Luviagelita Edelfelt from Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA and various other parts of the Fate franchise is a master at this, much to the constant annoyance of her rival Rin.
• Pinako from Fullmetal Alchemist apparently used to do this as a young woman.
• Hestia from Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? has one of these.
• Takane Hiroin from Futaba-kun Change! has a particularly maniacal laugh, especially in her alternate identity as the Queen of Darkness.
• In Guardian Fairy Michel, Lady Salome laughs like this.
• In Hanaukyō Maid Team, Ryuuka Jihiyou, a high ranking member of the powerful Jihiyou family, uses a high pitched superior laugh on a regular basis.
• From Haruhi Suzumiya, Tsuruya pulls it and is from a prominent family even if they are not royalty, so it technically counts. Subverted in that she's a Nice Girl; she'll just laugh at anything.
• Heart Catch Pretty Cure: The drama club is doing a play where an extra is playing the Ojou and tries this laugh but gets yelled at that it's not grand enough.
• A particular Elite for the Information Alliance in Heavy Object delivers a Noblewoman's Laugh every time she speaks. It's so prevalent that the main characters, who don't know her real name, nickname her "Oh Ho Ho."
• Hikaru from Hime-chan's Ribbon does this after she tells Hime-chan that Daichi likes her romantically.
• Ichinensei ni Nacchattara: Miho, the Rich Bitch elementary schooler.
• Iono from Iono the Fanatics has a laugh that ends with a little heart.
• In Karin, Karin's mother Carrera has let some of these on occasion.
• Katherine McDowell of Kaze no Stigma does this, along with just about every other noblewoman cliche.
• Done by Ritsu in K-On! when she flaunts her high grades in an exam that Yui failed spectacularly. She only stops when Mio says that she passed because she begged for her help on the exam's eve.
• Miya from Koi Koi 7, in one of the more annoying versions of this trope.
• Happens on occasion in Lone Wolf and Cub. Owing to the nature of the subject matter, many of the laughing noblewomen in question are scheming, heartless women whose ultimate fate is often preceded by "ASSASSIN, Lone Wolf and Cub! I TAKE YOUR LIFE!"
• Lady Snowblood from the same author has Oyuki laugh this way once. Just once.
• Konata periodically uses the Noblewoman's Laugh in episode 7 of Lucky Star, as part of a set of Shout Outs to Maria Watches Over Us.
  • Yui also does it when asked to demonstrate her shooting skills.
• Akako in Magic Kaito has a respectable noblewoman's laugh, especially in the anime adaptation.
• Lampshade Hanging of it in Magic Knight Rayearth. Lady Aska says it's therapeutic, and she encourages Sanyun and Chang And to join in, although the latter just makes it sound weird.
• Takakura's rival Mizuha Miyama from Magic User's Club is a constant user of this laugh, normally when she's finished knocking him down the only peg he has left.
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • Lutecia when she first appeared in ViVid. Yes, that Lutecia. Amazing what a few years away from a Mad Scientist while being properly raised by her mother can do to a Tyke Bomb Dark Magical Girl.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Battle of Aces gives us Hayate's Evil Twin Material-D who does this a few times, most obviously when she connects with a Counter-Attack.
• In Mayoi Neko Overrun!, Chise does this from time to time. In one hilarious instance, she does it at school after she reveals that she helped Nozomi get into the school, only to have Ieyasu shut the door in her face while she does the laugh.
• The Red Queen in Miyuki-chan in Wonderland.
  • In the OVA, the Door, of all characters, does it too.
• This is performed with surprising skill by Tatsukichi of MM!!, despite the fact that Tatsukichi is a crossdresser.
• Eva from Monster does this, to the point where strong men of all moral and character alignments flinch at the sound.
• Even as a kid, Luna of My Bride is a Mermaid was working a particularly deranged version.
• My Hero Academia in the anime. When Itsuka Kendo and Nejire Hado are discussing the beauty pageant event during the U.A. school festival, Bibimi Kenranzaki appears and gives a high-pitched laugh while proclaiming that she will win the pageant.
• Ayaka Yukihiro from Negima! Magister Negi Magi has this as a trademark.
• Karna from Niea_7 indulges in this from time to time.
• Koyori Kokubunji in Nurse Witch Komugi. On the DVD Commentary for the dub, her voice actor notes that performing the laugh is like being kicked in the stomach.
• One Piece:
  • The eccentric Baroque Works agent Miss Wednesday does this a few times. She drops it completely once she reveals her true identity as the princess Nefertari Vivi.
  • A ghostly version of this laugh belongs to Perona.
• Reika Tamaki from Ojamajo Doremi.
  • Her cousin Erika does it as well. Considering she looks exactly like Reika, this is no surprise.
  • Lucca has a similar laugh, though whether this is from attempted womanliness or her mad scientist ways is uncertain.
• Being a stereotypical stuck-up Ojou (before Character Development kicked in anyways), Haru from Ojojojo did this on several occasions.
• Renge Houshakuji from Ouran High School Host Club definitely qualifies, as hers is most of the time even accompanied with a hidden High-Powered Motor (Now in three different languages!.)
• Unlike the Japanese version, Stocking laughs like this in the English dub. This is likely a Shout-Out, as her English voice actress also voiced Renge.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • Jessie, usually when getting away with a theft out of her own selfishness.
  • Cassidy, Jessie's rival, does this when she has the upper hand.
  • As does Jessebelle, James's betrothed.
  • A one-shot opponent of Ash's in the Pokémon League tournament — Jeanette Fisher, a girl rich enough to have an entire cheer section also had this laugh while thrashing Ash with a Bellsprout.
  • One episode of the Black and White series features three snobby rich girls who are prone to laughing like this. When Iris masquerades in a fancy dress and beats them at their own game, she laughs in the exact same way to top off her successful revenge scheme.
• Green of Pokémon Adventures exhibits one whenever Blue makes his "noisy woman" comment.
• Pretty Cure:
  • In HappinessCharge Pretty Cure!, when Megumi and Hime put on kimonos to go to a festival, they let out dramatic "WA-HA-HA!"s as they go.
  • Ranze in HuGtto! Pretty Cure does a proper one after swearing a rivalry with Saaya, which simply leaves Saaya confused.
  • In an Imagine Spot in Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure, the intelligent Nodoka and Chiyu do this, and are swiftly interrupted by the goofy Hinata cutting in.
• Himeko/Princess does this in Powerpuff Girls Z. So does her sister, Miko/Duchess.
• Mayune from Prétear, occasionally.
• B-Ko of Project A-Ko has both the Noblewoman's Laugh and the Mad Scientist's Laugh when introducing and designing her Giant Mecha.
• Megumi from Ramen Fighter Miki does this whenever she thinks she has the upper hand over Miki.
• Ranma ½:
  • Kodachi Kunō is the Trope Codifier. Although the laugh has existed in other mediums, Kodachi's voice actress Saeko Shimazu was the first to display this laugh in anime.
  • In severe bouts of deliberate haughtiness, female Ranma is also capable of this laugh. Complete with a bent-wrist-to-cover-the mouth pose.
• Red Baron: Dr. Marilyn engages in this quite often. Amusingly enough, she still continues to do so even after her Heel–Face Turn.
• Nanami from Revolutionary Girl Utena very frequently laughs this way.
• RIN-NE: Misora Utagawa, a ghost Rinne is trying to help pass on, does this when she admits that she was very popular when alive.
• In the anime version The Quintessential Quintuplets, Fuutarou's Imagine Spot of Yotsuba when he suspects that she might be faking her Chronic Hero Syndrome intentionally to avoid studying is reinforced by having her laugh like this. He's quickly proven wrong on his suspicions, though.
• Suiseiseki, the Ojou in Rozen Maiden, does a "hee hee hee" version of this while playing the Wicked Queen in Snow White, and after the apple is bitten, breaks into the full "OH-ho-ho-ho!"
• Megumi from Rurouni Kenshin does this with such passion, she even sprouts fox ears and a tail.
• Sailor Moon:
  • Green Esmeraude (shown above) does this a lot. Lampshaded on one occasion in which her evil "co-worker" Saphir tells her she's being too loud. Lampshading it is practically a Running Gag!
  • Zoisite in the DiC American dub (but not the original) also definitely qualifies for this. They do have the same voice actress, after all.
  • And even more so in Sailor Moon Abridged.
  • Usagi managed to pull this laugh at least once in the original anime.
• Shimoneta: A signature of Blue Snow's, demonstrating her arrogance and wild abandon.
• Yamabuki Saaya in Shugo Chara!. She COPIES AMU'S TRANSFORMATIONS. Especially being as she's a bit Those Two Guysish, only appearing occasionally.
• Slayers: Naga is likely the most powerful example of this, perhaps because of the sheer volume of it; her Noblewoman's Laugh has been known to scare small animals and old ladies. When she was cloned, the simultaneous laughter of a dozen Nagas was all it took to destroy the villain of the piece.
  • Naga's laugh is apparently so destructive that it's used as her ultimate attack in the Magical Battle Arena doujin game. That's right, it's on the same level as Dragon Slave and Starlight Breaker.
    • Brown Note power to the max!
    • Not only that, when all characters are charging their stamina in the game (a bar of energy that is used whenever a character dashes or double dashes), the character is seen focusing on their inner strength for the bar to fill up. Naga laughs. Yep, not only is it a Brown Note, but it is also able to recover her energy!
  • In one of the final episodes of Slayers Try (the Japanese version), Lina does her Noblewoman's Laugh, to which Amelia says, "Miss Lina, I don't like that kind of laugh!" This is one of the hints which suggests that Amelia and Naga are sisters.
  • This is also used as one of the clues as to Nama's (unrevealed) identity in Evolution-R.
  • Recurring antagonist turned party member Martina in Slayers NEXT is also prone to this.
• Sorcerer Stabber Orphen: In the dancing contest episode, there's a what's-her-name female character prone to Noblewoman's Laughing.
• Ayeka in Tenchi Muyo! in the Japanese version.
• Saki◊ in To Love Ru. She has a proverbial laughter that is very stereotypical to her stuck-up personality.
• The Triplets of Tōka Gettan do this, especially when exiting. There's nothing quite like hearing three noblewomen's laughs at the same time.
• Mega in Transformers: Super-God Masterforce laughs like this.
• Ryoko Mendou from Urusei Yatsura does this, albeit a less annoying version of it.
• Vampire Hunter D. In the 1985 film Countess Lamika Lee has one that she uses to express her disdain toward D and Rei Ginsei.
• Jura in Vandread when plotting on how to lure Hibiki into, er, merging the Van-type with her Dread fighter (No innuendo, honest).
• Voltes V: Katherine and Heinel are noble Boazanians who look down on Hornless Boazanians and humans. They both like this.
• Wicked City. After the female spider Dark World radical wraps up Taki and Makie in her webbing, she used this laugh as she's cutting them with her claws.
• Yuuko from ×××HOLiC is a renowned practitioner of this trope. She sometimes even goes as far as to whip up a fan out of nowhere for extra dramatic effect.
• Parodied in the first Yes! Pretty Cure 5 movie, where Urara, Komachi and Karen tried to make up their 'Princess' impression. Rin then butts in and say it sounds weird on Karen, because she thinks Karen looks more like a queen than a princess, much to Karen's annoyance.

Comic Books

• Long-time X-Men foe Selene, has a tendency to burst into this kind of laugh whenever she's about to obtain victory. Overlaps with Evil Laugh and fits her character to a T, what with her moniker the "black queen" and her always referring to herself as royalty, sometimes to the point of A God Am I.

Fan Works

• In The Black Emperor, Milly sometimes lets loose with one of these. The story calls it her "Queen Bitch laugh".
• Miraculous Alliance: At the end of Queen Bee's speech where she calls out Style Queen on being a pathetic leader, she finishes with a proud laugh that she internally compares to an Ojou from anime.
• In a Discworld fic by A.A. Pessimal, Witch-pilots of the Air Watch are on a training course in the Chirm mountains. Their Uberwaldean training sergeant, who when not in uniform is the Countess Hannelore von Strafenburg, responds this way to an innocent request about facilities.
  If you ask me where you can wash, I will be inclined to laugh in a slightly mocking sort of way, and point out that, on active service, opportunities to wash and cleanse are infrequent, and you will have to learn to live with it. Be thankful that tomorrow night, you will be back in Ankh-Morpork. That is all, we have had a good day of training, gute nacht, I will see you in the morning."

Films — Animation

• Alice in Wonderland: The Queen of Hearts has a haughty chuckle.
• Cats Don't Dance: Darla Dimple has one of these; she then swears, as if we couldn't tell how evil she was already.
• The Little Mermaid (1989): Ursula the Sea Witch—though many female Disney villains have this kind of laugh (and some male ones too), few are more rich and booming than hers. It's especially noticeable in an alternate version of her Villain Song. Vanessa, her disguise, also laughs this way in the reprise.
  Ursula: So I think you ought to take my little bargain
  Yes, I think you ought to make my little deal
  Sure it's hard to leave your life, but you could be a prince's wife
  Why don't you let me take that dream and make it real?
  Oh, oh, oh, HO HO HOHOHOHO!!!

Films — Live-Action

• Rare wholesome example: In The Wizard of Oz, Glinda, the Witch of the North, has this line when confronting the Wicked Witch of the West: "Ohoho, rubbish! You have no power here. Begone! Before someone drops a house on you too!"
• Katherine Ellis of Goodbye, Mr. Chips has one of these before Character Development sets in.
• Boss' laugh from the live-action adaptation of Detroit Metal City. But she ain't no lady.
• Maude from The Big Lebowski has a pretty impressive one. "Che ridiculo! Oooohohohoho!"
• Murder by Death: Yetta (overdubbed by Truman Capote) does this laugh at the end (when it is implied that she is not a maid of modest means, after all.)

Literature

• A rare example in print: Aurora, the Summer Princess, in "Summer Knight", book four of The Dresden Files. During the climactic battle scene, she utilizes what can only be a Noblewoman's Laugh to literally drive her enemies to their knees.
• The Kokonoe twins in Girls Kingdom do this in stereo when they pull off one of their more enjoyable pranks (enjoyable for them, anyway). Considering that the only thing they love more than pranking people is molesting them, it's not a rare occurrence.
• Bellatrix from Harry Potter does this sometimes, though most of the time, she doesn't bother with dapperness and just goes straight into Laughing Mad. She actually is wizarding aristocracy, though.
• In I'm In Love With the Villainess, the titular villainess, Claire Francois, does this at every available opportunity, complete with raising her hand to her mouth. In the anime adaptation, she laughs eight times in the first episode alone. She does it less later on as her Hidden Depths are revealed.
• A running gag in Jeeves and Wooster is Honoria Glossop's scarily loud laugh, which gets described in various creative ways every time it's mentioned ("a squadron of cavalry charging across a tin bridge", "waves breaking on a stern and rock-bound coast", etc.).
• In Robert E. Howard's The Scarlet Citadel, Conan the Barbarian finds an Eldritch Abomination that can imitate human sounds. One is this.
  It was exactly such laughter as he had heard bubble obscenely from the fat lips of the salacious women of Shadizar, City of Wickedness, when captive girls were stripped naked on the public auction block.
• The Twelve Chairs: Ella has her own, milder but still pretty cocky version. And that laugh may mean everything, depending on the context; thank her limited vocabulary.

Live-Action TV

• In Kamen Rider Kiva, Shizuka briefly goes through a Yandere period, marked by pseudo-Imagine Spots where she has devil horns, a pitchfork, and does the laugh as she attempts to break up Wataru and Mio. It gets weirder (and funnier) later on when she realizes that Mio does honestly love Wataru and tries to patch them up. Afterwards she muses that maybe her true role is to be Wataru's surrogate mother, followed by an Imagine Spot of her as an angel... still doing the laugh.
• Peg Bundy from Married... with Children does this naturally, albeit without the fan or the wrist over the mouth.

Music

• mothy's Evillious Chronicles song "Daughter of Evil" starts out with Rin delivering one of these. Warning: Do not play while wearing headphones!
  • Interestingly averted in Len's version, where it's changed to a more gender-neutral "Ahahahaha." Still liable to give you a heart attack if you're wearing headphones, though.
  • Also by mothy is "Master of the Graveyard", where the titular villainous glutton (played by MEIKO) delivers one somewhere at the 1:25 mark. It hints at her true nature as the former noblewoman Banica Conchita, now immortalized as the Demon of Gluttony.
  Master of the Graveyard: Oh ho ho ho! Welcome to the Evils Forest!
• Not by mothy but another Vocaloid example; Part two of the "Synchronicity" series features Hatsune Miku pulling a really creepy one at the 3:44 mark. She does it again in part three, at the 2:21 mark.
• Adele, the chambermaid disguised as a lady, attempts this in The Laughing Song from Die Fledermaus.
• All 3 members of Guilty Kiss, a subunit from Love Live Sunshine's Aqours perform their renditions of this laugh in the song Love Pulsar from their 2019 album New Romantic Sailors. 2 years before the release of that song, 2 members of Guilty Kiss (Aina Suzuki and Aika Kobayashi) did the iconic laugh in an episode of the Uranohoshi Online Shopping Program variety show.
• Richard Wagner's Ride Of The Valkyries is possibly one of the most iconic pieces in classical music. What is less well-known is that the instrumental piece is just the introduction to a sung drama featuring the Valkyries. After they land on a battlefield, they trade jokes, largely at the expense of the heroes they are about to collect for Odin-Father. Every heavy Teutonic punchline is accompanied by some very disconcerting operatic laughter.

Theater

• Black Friday: Linda Monroe's signature laugh.

Toys

• In the Tamagotchi franchise, this is one of Makiko's defining traits, so much so that her character artwork has her in the pose.

Video Games

• Bayonetta herself has one! When performing a special move in the first game with a whip, the heroines will laugh. While Jeanne's sounds like a normal, yet cruel laugh, Bayonetta does it with style!
• Capcom naturally has at least three of these: Karin Kanzuki, Tron Bonne and Devilot.
  • Karin does this every time she's playable in the Street Fighter series, as seen in Street Fighter Alpha and Street Fighter V. In the latter, she does it when selected and at the end of her Critical Art; if this happens at a live event like a tournament, you can expect the audience to join in, too. It became a big enough meme that Capcom added a Karin laugh emote to their official Twitch channel.
• Mycale from Akatsuki Blitzkampf is capable of letting out a rather impressive one in some of her victory poses, nevermind how she has the looks of a 12-year-old girl.
• Kasumi Todoh from Art of Fighting and The King of Fighters (in her victory pose).
  • Also from KOF, Whip, particularly as she's grinding her boot into the opponent's head during her Strength Shot C attack.
• Sofia from Battle Arena Toshinden.
• Kokonoe from BlazBlue does this when performing her Mecha Tager Distortion Drive (as well as its Overdrive version, Golden Tager) and her Astral. Given the sort of person that she is, though, it's to be expected.
• In Chrono Trigger:
  • Flea, the crossdressing henchman laughs like this. The player doesn't get a sound clip of it, though.
  • Lucca gets a few of these as well, though in her case it comes across as more of a Mad Scientist's Laugh. She always pulls one of these whenever the Hypnowave Single Tech is cast, at the very end of the casting-animation.
  • Queen Zeal revels in them, especially as she stands on top of a world-eating horror. She laughs even as, upon being defeated, she fades from existence.
• In Deltarune, Queen's Voice Grunting sounds like it, and she completes them with the appropriate hand gesture! She's a queen, after all. Heck, her introduction laugh is even part of the second chapter's soundtrack!
• Capricorn from Demon Gaze II introduces herself with one.
• Echidna the She-Viper from Devil May Cry 4.
• Disgaea:
  • Adell's mom, Mom, in Disgaea 2. She claims that her lack of a conscience is due to Zenon's curse.
  • Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance has Seraphina, the Overlord of a Netherworld known for its riches who does these with regularity.
• Suzuka from Endless Frontier. She lets out an especially epic one sometimes while performing her Limit Break.
• Scarlet from Final Fantasy VII does this right down to the hand over the mouth.
• Shantotto from Final Fantasy XI; so much so that Dissidia Final Fantasy has her doing it in both her character art and at the end of her Limit Break it is also one of the many voice clips she does if you win with her. On a side note, Bio one of her normal brave attacks and some hp attacks has her in the stance in in her brave attacks she is laughing. So besides a few times she is trying to laugh at you all the time.
  • She also ties it into her Rhymes on a Dime speech pattern by incorporating into one of said rhymes.
    And now for your promised reward...
    A special private lesson, at a price you can afford!
    And by special, I mean very much so.
    You would cry tears of joy! Ohohohoho!
  • She even writes it!
• The Fire Emblem: Three Houses DLC Cindered Shadows introduces Constance von Nuvelle, who at her proudest produces this laugh. Though it's played with a bit in that she's still friendly to those she's close with. Her English voice lines opts to replicate it with a haughty laugh.
• Pretty much every hostile character (except the final bosses) from the Galaxy Fraulein Yuna games.
• The mermaid boss of the second stage of Gokujou Parodius has this as an attack. The laugh even produces onomatopoeic hiragana that kill the player on contact and can be shot down.
• Jam Kuradoberi from Guilty Gear, during her throw more specifically.
• The PlayStation adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone utilizes this in the Chess sequence, where Queen pieces perform this laugh when they make a capture.
• Heroes of the Storm has Sally Whitemane, the High Inquisitor, who laughs like this every time she channels Inquisition or Clemency.
• Murata Himeko from Honkai Impact 3rd laughs this way.
• Queen Sectonia from Kirby: Triple Deluxe laughs this way when she attacks Kirby. It evolves into Laughing Mad during her last-ditch attempt to kill Kirby in her Soul form. It's so iconic, it was included in the OST version of her boss theme.
• The Great Fairies in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.
• Yelma from Knights in the Nightmare has one of these.
• In the H-Game Koikatsu, a girl with the Snobby personality has this as her Signature Laugh.
• Several examples from Super Mario Bros.:
  • The very first one was Valentina the usurper Queen from Super Mario RPG. Her theme song even includes the laughter!
  • Melody Pianissima, the ghost lady piano player, from Luigi's Mansion.
  • (Lady) Bow in Paper Mario, being a noblewoman (or whatever a high-class female Boo is called), uses her fan to cover her face when she laughs.
  • Flurrie from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has this as well, in her case as her victory animation and in some of her Stylish combos.
• One of Tron Bonne's taunts from Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
• Cinderella from Mary Skelter: Nightmares has one for dialogue sequences and on occasion when utilizing a skill.
• The Queen enemies in Miitopia have such a laugh as a part of their Idle Animation.
• Kitty Lily from Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon. It's her only spoken line of dialogue. In the Japanese version, the cutscenes were fully voice-acted. The English version cut the rest and kept the laugh, for whatever reason.
• Odette from Odin Sphere has a very rich one, complete with hand-over-mouth gesture.
• In Overwatch, Symmetra's laughing emote has her do a more subdued version of this.
• Seren and Cordelia in Panel de Pon give a Noblewoman's Laugh when they score a chain or combo.
• Ann Takamaki from Persona 5 does this during her Follow-Up Attack.
  • Persona 5 Tactica: Lady Marie, the first Kingdom ruler, does this a lot. And so do the Phantom Thieves who end up under her direct influence, to the point that Ryuji says he's gotten very sick of that laugh once he's freed from her mind control.
• Pokémon:
  • Fantina in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and Platinum.
  • Lusamine in Pokémon Sun and Moon often does this when talking down to her daughter Lillie.
  • A few Pokemon themselves do this too. Sneasler from Pokémon Legends: Arceus, for example, does this as an idle animation when it's happy.
• In Pop'n Magic, the boss Fräulein Viper uses the hiragana representation of this as one of her attacks.
• Rulue and Raffina from Puyo Puyo do this all the time in the Japanese releases. In the English version of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, Amitie even lampshades it by mimicking the laugh. However, Puyo Puyo Fever's English dub notably replaces Raffina's laugh with the phrase "Oh, la-ti-da!"
• Alouette in Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale does this in every one of her scripted scenes.
• Etoile Rosenqueen from Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, and Marjoly.
• Miss Money from the Richman series does that in some of her actions, such as making someone sleepwalk!
• Iris Zeppelin from RosenkreuzStilette likes doing these when she's carrying out her organization-manipulating plans for entertainment. Once again, she does one really nicely for a little kid.
• Akane Miyahara, the resident Rich Bitch of Rumble! @ The Campus.
  • Well, so does her sister Minako.
• SaGa:
  • Venus from Final Fantasy Legend II, after welcoming you to her world and saying you won't find any MAGI here, laughs "ho ho ho..." The lie and the laugh both give her away as a villain.
  • One of the only voice clips used in SaGa Frontier, which appears after what can only be accurately termed the "Evil Lesbian Vampire Queen" ending of Asellus's quest, is a rather chilling Noblewoman's Laugh. In her final boss battle, Orlouge's princesses laugh similarly.
• Sumire in Sakura Wars, as befitting her Rich Bitch tendencies.
• In the Shantae series, Risky Boots laughs like this. In Half-Genie Hero and Seven Sirens, it's even voiced!
• Basanda in Shining Force III, but only in the Japanese version.
• Various Evil Aristocrats in Skies of Arcadia, especially Empress Teodora.
• Amaterasu from Smite does this in one of her laughs, though she doesn't suit the evil or bitchy connotations of the trope.
• Ivy, being a noblewoman, from Soul Series.
• In Splatoon 3, Shiver does a very clear "oh ho ho ho ho!" laugh at the end of Deep Cut's introductory sequence in "Return of the Mammalians." While they're antiheroes at worst, it nevertheless serves to cement Deep Cut's status as rivals to the New Squidbeak Splatoon, ...before they decide to assist the heroes during the climax of the game anyway.
• Cheria does this as one of her end battle quotes in Tales of Graces.
• Kagura in Tenchu before bitchslapping her opponent.
• In Terranigma, royal couturière Mme. Papilo does this laugh (in written text) after her boast, "You will never have the occasion to wear our creations!"
• In Under Night In-Birth, Hilda has one for delivering her normal Infinite Worth attack as well as winning a round.
• Muffet the spider girl in Undertale laughs like this, despite not being particularly mean. The sound clip makes this come off more as a Giggling Villain, though.
• Female blood elves in World of Warcraft. Actually, blood elves in general.
• Janne, also being a noblewoman, from World Heroes.
• In Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, Captain Rose the evil spoiled air pirate will do this on the bridge of her ship while firing at you with cannons.
• Priscilla from Monster Tale does one at least twice.
• During the New Year's Festival in Harvest Moon 64, the mayor's wife does this before taking a drink of wine.
• In the Neptunia series, using one of these to signify her Incoming Ham moments is practically Arfoire's catchphrase. Unfortunately for her, it's exclusively Played for Laughs nowadays due to Villain Decay.
• OMORI: Sweetheart has this as her Signature Laugh. It is treated as an Annoying Laugh in-universe, and not only does she emit one frequently (and it has its own soundbite), but she weaponizes it in her battle to inflict damage and Anger on the whole party, putting them at a disadvantage since she is in a permanent Happy status (complete with a bunch of big purple OH HOs covering the screen). Even her battle sprite has her laughing like this.
  • Her regular theme also has her laugh.
• Mariabell Crois from the Trails Series. "Ohohohoho! My, how absolutely splendid!"
• Tekken: One of Anna's win poses have her letting out a noblewoman's laugh while sitting on her opponent's back. In Tag Tournament 2, she does this after the player performs her "Witch Mask" item move.

Visual Novels

• Higurashi: When They Cry:
  • Satoko has a rather impressive noblewoman's laugh for a 9-12 year-old. Full with keigo speech.
  • Miyo Takano gets this as her first Evil Laugh.
• Umineko: When They Cry:
  • Lambdadelta has one of these as well, as Satoko's Expy, though she's based off Takano.
  • Most of Beatrice's Evil Laughter is like this, complete with pipe. But it lacks elegance.
  • Eva has a fan, but she tends to sneer more than laugh.
• In the Japanese version of Princess Debut, when introduced to Kid (Vince in the English version), this is the "proper" response choice when asked if you're the princess.
• Ardata Carmia does this in Hiveswap Friendsim.
• Nekopara: Shigure, and it becomes more and more deranged as her beloved Onii-sama's harem grows.
• Ranpha Franboise in Galaxy Angel often laughs this way. Interestingly, she actually comes from a humble background (her family is very poor and she sends her earnings in the military to support them) and does it more for show than anything. The team's resident Ojou, Mint Blancmanche, doesn't do it often, but she does have one comical instance when she's doing some experiments to create her own candy, and laughs this way after saying how "everyone will kneel before her".

Webcomics

• MSF High, being that it embraces Anime Tropes, has a character, Althea, who not only has this as a laugh, but has bequeathed said laugh to her 'daughter' Ilushia/Queen Ichigo. Furthermore, Althea's weapon of choice is a whip.
• In Spinnerette, Evil Spinnerette tends to introduce herself with this. (Since she seems to be basically Slayers's Naga with a spider motif, it's not surprising.)
• Belle of Catena's character does this. Nonstop.
• In one issue of Flying Suit Reiko, after Mentos Freshmaker's psychotic ex-girlfriend lets out one of these, Genre Savvy Occidental Otaku Bob decides to leave before things get out of hand.
• In one of the Girl Genius radio theater extras Zeetha has a proper noblewoman's laugh, even daintily posing her hand in the stock posture.
  • In the main story Lucrezia gives a noblewoman's laugh while threatening Theo.
• While it didn't really show up in the comic (and probably never will) Her Imperial Condescension from Homestuck has one at the end of her and Meenah's shared theme song "Hate You".
• Phala from L's Empire did this once. Her minions mentioned that she sounded out of practice (since they had all been sealed up for 1500 years).
• In Sleepless Domain Bud does one after successfully lasering Undine's water target.

Web Original

• Final Fantasy VII: Machinabridged gives Scarlet one of these to make her even bitchier than she was in the original game.
• Midler laughs at the Joestar team during the High Priestess arc in Vaguely Recalling JoJo. Jotaro immediately compares it to Kefka's laugh.

Western Animation

• Princess Azula of Avatar: The Last Airbender did a very half-assed version when dealing with her one weakness - social ineptitude. She laughs just fine when she's mocking Zuko however.
• The Legend of Korra: Eska tells a bad joke and explains how she thinks it's funny. When she and her brother Desna laugh, they sound like vultures...and Eska makes Bolin laugh with them, which he does only halfheartedly.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: in "Sonic Rainboom", Rarity does one after realizing just how much the pegasus ponies adore her temporary butterfly wings.
• OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes: In "The So-Bad-Ical", Miss Quantum does an evil laugh when she reveals she's a former villain, the Bad Apple.
• Steven Universe:
  • Sardonyx does this twice in her introductory episode. Bonus points for doing the pose both times as well. She's not evil or mean, but she is quite a showoff.
  • In "Your Mother and Mine", Garnet's retelling of Rose Quartz's origin story has Rose pleading with Pink Diamond to spare Earth and humanity. Pink Diamond responds with a laugh like this complete with the pose and cruelly dismisses Rose. Given that Rose and Pink Diamond were one and the same, this was probably made up by Rose.

Male Examples

Anime & Manga

• Dragon Ball:
  • As voiced by Mr. Ryusei Nakao in the original dub of Dragon Ball Z, merciless despot Frieza exhibits a formidable Noblewoman's Laugh which, when combined with his general politeness and his tendency to use gender-neutral pronouns in Japanese, is meant to make "him" sound disturbingly like an actual noblewoman.
  • General Blue in the Japanese dub also exhibits this. Bonus points if anyone can guess his sexual preference.
  • The West Kaiō also briefly does one of this kind of laugh during the fight between Torbie and Tapkar.
• The titular character of Kaiba has a rather high-pitched voice to begin with. In the eighth episode, :the evil clone of Kaiba demonstrates a classic Noblewoman's Laugh.
• Customer Service from the original Japanese version of Kirby: Right Back at Ya! laughs like this.
• Pokémon: The Series: James, being raised in a wealthy family, laughs like this as well, at least in earlier seasons.
• Lord Ko'on (AKA The Big Cheese) laughs like that in the original Japanese version of Samurai Pizza Cats.
• Another Shugo Chara! example is Tadase whenever he chara-changes into his "tyrannical ruler" character, although it's a slightly more crazed version of it.
• Gyro Zeppelli of Steel Ball Run has a variant version: "Nyo-ho-ho".
• Hetalia: Axis Powers: France. "Oh-hon-honhonhonho"

Fan Works

• Tales of the Undiscovered Swords: Himetsuru Ichimonji in keeping with his princess image and obnoxious behavior.

Films — Live-Action

• Star Wars:
  • Jabba the Hutt's well-known signature belly laugh.
  • Palpatine briefly does one during his duel with Yoda in Revenge of the Sith (complete with hand over the mouth), though he's quickly interrupted by Yoda flinging a Senate pod at him.
• Master Splinter in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) has a rather noble laugh as well, though it was self-deprecating rather than evil. ("Ho-ho, I made a funny!")

Live-Action TV

• The Joker laughed something like this in the 1966-1968 Batman (1966) TV series, as well as the 1966 tie-in movie. (Interestingly enough, that laugh was natural. Cesar Romero actually laughed in a rather effeminate manner whenever he found something amusing, and he was encouraged to incorporate that laugh into his Joker characterization.)
• Statler and Waldorf from The Muppets, starting with The Muppet Show, end their bits with a similar laugh.
• Morecambe and Wise: Peter Cushing lets out an aristocratic laugh after tricking Eric and Ernie into paying him for the time he was King Arthur in a skit.

Theater

• In the Japanese version of Jesus Christ Superstar, King Herod has a Noblewoman's laugh and wields a fan.

Video Games

• Kefka Palazzo's rather infamous laugh (which is where the trope Laughing Mad came from) sounds like this in the SNES versions of Final Fantasy VI.
• Sister Bismaru, who despite the name is actually a Villainous Crossdresser, from Ganbare Goemon possesses a really startling Noblewoman's Laugh.
• Kingdom Hearts:
  • Zexion, of all the Organization XIII members, lets out a impressive Noblewoman's Laugh during the battles against Riku in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Sora in Final Mix+. It can be heard here..
  • Also, Vexen seemed to have a really annoying one in the English version of the Chain of Memories GBA game.
  • Vanitas does it in both the English and Japanese versions of Birth by Sleep.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: Agahnim pulls one when he is routed for the first time.
    Agahnim: Ho ho ho... Now, I must go!
  • Yuga from A Link Between Worlds, which helps further his contrast to his Hyrulean counterpart, Ganondorf.
  • A non-villainous, non-haughty example: at the end of The Wand Of Gamelon, King Harkinian pulls one of these, sans the hand over his mouth.
• Mario Party 8: MC Ballyhoo is a rare non-evil example. His signature laugh is a boisterous "HA HA HAAA!" This is meant not to make him look sinister, but to show how grandiose and over-the-top he is, which is fitting because he's modelled after a circus ringmaster.
• Dusknoir from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky. "Oooh hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo!!!"
• Heike Kagero in Super Punch-Out!! has a Noblewoman's Laugh when he wins a match, which is probably linked to his feminine appearance.
• Alfred Ashford, not just when dressed as Alexia, in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica. This is parodied by LegendaryFrog in his animated short "I Am Resident Evil."
• In Smite, Agni's theatrical and rather effeminate alternate skin Triumph & Agni laughs like this.
• In the Japanese incarnations of the Sonic the Hedgehog games (especially those after the 1990s), the Mad Scientist Big Bad Dr. Eggman gained a laugh rather like a Noblewoman's Laugh consisting of a long "OH" followed by a varying number of "HO"'s to increase comedic value. It is one of Eggman's most memorable traits in Japan, but was absent in English dubbing until Sonic Rush, where he whoops one out if you get hit during a boss fight. It has been fairly consistently present in the English dubs since then; in Sonic Colors, he actually laughs too loudly and injures himself, and in Sonic Generations, starts coughing after laughing for too long.
  Eggman: HOOOO HOHOHOHO — ow... I think I gloated so hard, I pulled a muscle!

Webcomics

• Toby, the 'twisted fruit' from Our Little Adventure.
• Present very early on in Bittersweet Candy Bowl from Mike.

Web Videos

• In a CollegeHumor parody of Every JRPG Ever, the Kefka parody does this a lot.
• In the Jacksfilms series "Your Grammar Sucks", the "Sophisticated Man" character, who reads sentences with bad grammar in a "snobby" voice, tends to end his statements with an airy "A-ha-ha! Yes! Quite!"
• Mario Party DS Anti Piracy: DJ Hallyboo, an evil Expy of MC Ballyhoo from Mario Party 8, imitates Ballyhoo's signature "HA HA HAAA!" Unlike Ballyhoo, though, Hallyboo's laugh is meant to be scary.
• The Nostalgia Critic does this while using a snobbish British accent to make fun of McDonald's attempts to brand itself as "classy" with the Mac Tonight ads in "Battle of the Commercials".

Western Animation

• The Simpsons:
  • Principal Skinner's "Ohh-ho-ho-ho!" laugh could certainly be an example, reflecting his stern, professorial, and somewhat haughty disposition.
  • Snake the Tattooed Crook speaks in a strange blend of Cockney and Surfer Dude, but his trademark Noblewoman's Laugh cleverly evokes both accents.
• Steven Universe: Lars lets out a smug giggle in "Lars of the Stars" to taunt a foe, complete with holding his hand below his mouth. It's one of several flamboyant mannerisms he adopted after becoming a Space Pirate.
• Thomas & Friends: Gordon did one in The Adventure Begins. Even children's entertainment can catch on!

---