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The Snark Knight
aka: Snark Knight

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Helen: It's just that sometimes you judge people's behavior by a pretty rigid set of standards. Not everyone can live up to them.
Daria: That's what's wrong with the world.
Helen: Not even you live up to them all the time.
Daria, "Monster"

This character has a world-weary disdain for everyone, themselves included. They might see themselves as the Only Sane Man, but only in the sense that they're maybe one full notch above everyone else while still falling miles short of where they believe everyone should be. They typically suffer from a healthy dose of Intelligence Equals Isolation, and are the type to stand aside at parties and quietly drink beer while making biting quips about the idiocy that surrounds them. They also often wear black, though this isn't a prerequisite.

Their peers often regard them as a mild Jerkass; their sympathizers see their withdrawal from society as a quiet personal stand against idiocy. The Alpha Bitch and Jerk Jock are often their mortal enemies, but occasionally they enter the circle of the Big Man on Campus, usually as the resident "cool guy" who reminds him not to be a self-satisfied twit (while he teaches them to be less haughty and just enjoy life).

The key difference between this trope and a Deadpan Snarker, Smug Snake, or a plain old jerkass is that the Snark Knight holds themselves to their own impossibly high standards. This means that they will criticize themselves as often as they roll their eyes at others, and with just as much vitriol. And because of these high standards, you can bet they won't be Easily Impressed.

Sometimes the Snark Knight ends up as a Sidekick or one-third of a Power Trio with the main protagonist, providing the role of the cynical commentator and Meta Guy. Expect less personal Angst and more Plucky Comic Relief in these cases. An older and more experienced Snark Knight often steps into the Mentor in Sour Armor role.

Contrast Loners Are Freaks. Often the opposite of the Stepford Smiler. If their sarcasm is revealed to be a similar mask, they're a Stepford Snarker. See also Knight in Sour Armor.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Black Clover gives us Zora. Whether you're an ally or enemy, start any level of conversation with him and he'll definitely have a nice serving of sharply worded insults and/or critique ready for you. Given his disillusionment with the Magic Knights and how many of them operate, he has a very dreary and realistic outlook on the world despite being a Magic Knight himself and quips at anything he can. He particularly loves doing this to his opponents after he's beaten them. He'll give them a potent "Reason You Suck" Speech in regards to why they lost or why they should have done better. And he does not exempt himself from the snark. After criticizing everyone else at the end of a Royal Knights match, he then criticizes himself for not having more faith in his comrades.
  • Chisame of Negima! Magister Negi Magi, though her snarks don't tend to have as much power over the other characters as those of some other Snark Knights on this list.
  • Haruhi Suzumiya: Kyon is this trope in spades. Most of his dialogue revolves around him snarking about how the world literally revolves around Haruhi's whims.
  • Haruko Hasegawa of Moyashimon is a dedicated microbiology postgrad with an acid tongue. She delivers a lecture on the validity of "sterilising" products when she sees Oikawa's compulsive disinfecting. Sawaki's supernatural ability to see and interact with (to him) cute microbes triggers a minor meltdown.
  • In ...Virgin Love, Kaoru's default mode is disdain, which includes a disdain for himself whenever he fails to live up to his own standards.
  • Bleach: Ryuuken Ishida appears to be a bitterly sarcastic individual who is hypercritical of his son's desire and ability to be a Quincy, causing the pair to dissolve into Snark-to-Snark Combat whenever they're in the same room together. Isshin Kurosaki, who knows Ryuuken's secret, implies that Ryuuken is trying to help his son in some very specific way. Flashbacks revealing the beginning of Ryuuken's problems with Quincies show no one in the world is a harsher critic of Ryuuken than Ryuuken himself. He's clearly a Stepford Snarker, but the link between the start of his problems and his current situation has yet to be fully revealed.
  • Sesshomaru from Inuyasha really comes across as this, with his condescending yet brutally honest attitude.

    Comic Books 
  • Enid Coleslaw (and possibly Rebecca Doppelmeyer) from Ghost World.
  • Kim Pine ruthlessly snarks about everything in both the comic and film version of Scott Pilgrim. Julie as well, before being Flanderized into a Jerkass.
  • Wolverine is this in spades often. Wolvie, for the longest time, rivaled the Hulk for "angriest character" in Marvel; he would make snarky or snide remarks to just about everyone, though he does have a soft spot for kids, and generally got angry at the drop of the hat. But the person he hates the most is himself. It's been suggested that one of the biggest reasons he hates Sabretooth so deeply is because he sees too much of himself in Victor - what Wolverine himself could become if he lost all his morals and let "The Animal" take over.
  • Batman is this, Depending on the Writer. He's generally shown being a jerk to other heroes, but he allows himself few joys in life and does his best to keep everyone at arm's length. It's implied that one reason he's so proud of Dick Grayson aside from Dick being his oldest "child" is that Dick has surpassed both himself and Superman as a hero.
  • Far more often, Batman's butler Alfred is the Snark Knight when interacting with the Dark Knight.

    Comic Strips 
  • Huey from The Boondocks, whose high standards for everything cause him tons of stress.
  • Garfield is perhaps the most well-known example. In fact, "fat", lazy", and "cynical" are the three adjectives that are usually tossed about when people discuss him.
  • Dilbert portrays a World of Snark where Dogbert is the greatest snarker of them all.
  • In Pretending You Care: The Retail Employee Handbook, one of the co-worker archetypes you can expect to work with fits this to a T and then some, known as "The Curmudgeon". They're described as an employee who has worked there for so long and dealt with the crap that comes with retail like idiotic bosses, awful customers, and the overall inanity of it so much that they've basically become a mouthy, miserable, snarky jackass to everyone. The book cautions against spending time around them as they are always jerks even to the customers and coworkers they are dealing with don't deserve it but acknowledges that they generally are very competent at the ins and outs of the job (specifically at avoiding the lousier aspects of the job) and thus are good to study from afar.

    Fan Works 
  • In Have Faith, a series of crossover fanfics by Mediancat, Faith of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one, because she really is Daria Morgendorffer. This is a rare crossover by way of Multiple Personality Disorder.
  • Green Shield/Tara Strong of DC Nation; her genius-level IQ, photographic memory and dedication to her medical studies fulfill the genius requirement and the ridiculously high standards. She's also quicker with the snark than she is with her bow.
  • The Reading Rainbowverse has Carrot Top, recovering alcoholic and general cynic.
  • Ever since he regenerates from a mild-mannered, slightly eccentric old man into a steely-eyed adventurer, the Doctor from The Road to Shalka snarks at stupid humans, including his companions, incessantly. He is, however, quite quick to admit his own mistakes. This is probably best showcased in Children of the Sanctum, where he's companionless, but putting the moves on Angela - the Doctor is visibly disappointed in her when the prospective companion doesn't own up to something she's done, but just as visibly proud when she saves the day. His Brutal Honesty is part of why Angela finally decides to ditch her job and leave with the Doctor - he treats her as an equal.
  • Mega Man Recut has Proto Man, who's more this than he is in the cartoon.

    Films — Animation 
  • Megara from Disney's Hercules. She later becomes a Defrosting Ice Queen. She's also voiced by the same actress who voices Rin in the English dub of Spirited Away. Coincidence? We think not.
    • Hades is an interesting example, as his armour of snark goes hand in hand with his Hair-Trigger Temper.
  • Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon takes advantage of his position at the bottom of the pecking order to dish out some beautiful snark.
    Hiccup: Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile.
  • Zootopia: Chief Bogo is short-tempered, highly critical, and understands that the world is broken. At the same time, he clearly holds himself to very high standards, and anyone meeting those standards in turn will earn his deepest respect because he believes the world needs good cops.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Randal Graves from The View Askewniverse, summed up by this line.
    Randal: That guy's an asshole. Everybody that comes in here is way too uptight. This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers.
  • Kat Stratford from 10 Things I Hate About You. Or in her words...
    "I'm not hostile, I'm annoyed."
  • Juno, who seems to get snarkier as her pregnancy goes along.
  • Veronica Sawyer in Heathers, to a certain degree. It seems the uncool kids, like Betty Finn and Martha Dumptruck, manage to get the nicer ends of her Sugar-and-Ice Personality act. Everyone else is fair game.
  • Janis Ian from Mean Girls. No one is safe from her razor-sharp snark, except maybe her BFF Damien.
  • Kim Pine from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Almost everything she says is an insult, mostly to Scott. Even her facial expressions are snarky.
  • Alfred Pennyworth in Batman Returns - making him a Snark Knight to the Dark Knight!
  • Spider-Man Trilogy: While not making as many jokes as other versions of the character, he does make a few in each movie at his opponents' expense.
  • Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars is a Jedi Snark-Knight, especially when he was younger.
    Obi-Wan: I was beginning to wonder whether you'd got my message.
    Anakin: We transmitted the message to Coruscant like you requested. Then we decided to come and rescue you.
    Obi-Wan: [looking at the chains around their wrists while awaiting their public execution] Good job.
  • Suki in The Scribbler has suffered from Split Personality syndrome her entire life. As a result, when she's in "normal" mode, she pretty much runs on non-stop sarcasm. This does not endear her to the detective and police psychiatrist grilling her about a series of suspicious deaths at her high-rise halfway house.
  • Joy Gresham in Shadowlands is this, although she softens a little over the course of the film.
    Douglas: [reading CS Lewis's inscription in his book] "The magic never ends."
    Joy: Well, if it does, sue him.
  • Kathryn Merteuil of Cruel Intentions is a very rare combination of this trope and Alpha Bitch. It definitely shatters the stereotype that all mean girls are stupid.
  • Die Hard: John McClane is a very good snarker, and many of his quips are at his own expense. For example, in Die Hard with a Vengeance, one character says he's two steps away from being an alcoholic, and John corrects him by holding up a finger and mouthing, "One step."

    Literature 
  • The detective from Put the Sepia On lives off of this. A couple of his supporting cast members do, too.
  • Bastille from Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians is, in fact, a knight. With snark.
  • Greg Heffley from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series would qualify as a male Snark Knight, if not for the fact that he usually doesn't hold himself to his own standards. Heck, he even says that his only New Year's resolution is to come up with resolutions for other people, since he's the best person he knows.
  • Takeshi Kovacs often adopts a Snark Knight-like act when feeling particularly cynical; deep down, though, he's a Knight in Sour Armor.
  • Bernice Summerfield in the Doctor Who Expanded Universe:
    Doctor: You're a cynic.
    Benny: No, I'm an idealist who's been wrong one too many times.
  • Christina Light in Henry James's first novel Roderick Hudson. Speaking to Rowland Mallet, she says:
    "I am a strange girl. To begin with, I am frightfully egotistical. Don't flatter yourself you have said anything very clever if you ever take it into your head to tell me so... I am tired to death of myself; I would give all I possess to get out of myself; but somehow, at the end, I find myself so vastly more interesting than nine-tenths of the people I meet."
  • Dominil finds herself firmly in Snark Knight territory in Curse of the Wolfgirl. Daniel likes to think of himself as one, but he is too firmly mired in the chaos to be one.
  • The unnamed author in "Sideshow", and Other Stories by Thomas Ligotti.
  • 'Pilsner' in the Redfern Barrett sci-fi Forget Yourself fits the bill, and as a result is strongly disliked by the central character.
  • Marvin the Paranoid Android of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
  • Pride and Prejudice has Mr. Bennet and his favorite daughter Elizabeth. Mr. Bennet deals with his ill-matched marriage by constantly Trolling his wife and laughing at his younger daughters, but when he realizes that this form of Parental Neglect contributed to Lydia's near-disgrace and Shotgun Wedding with Wickham, he admits and mocks his own folly. Elizabeth as well; she's bitterly amused by the irony of regretting the loss of Darcy when a few months ago she would have rejoiced to have him gone from her life.
  • The Supervillainy Saga stars Gary Karkofsky, who is the titular and seemingly light-hearted supervillain. Then you realize he's carrying an immense amount of Bruce Wayne-meets-Peter Parker-sized baggage. His brother was killed by a '90s Anti-Hero, he was brainwashed by his superhero girlfriend to forget her, and he also killed his first man at age 14.
  • Jessica Darling is deeply unimpressed with most other people, while at the same time feeling like the world's biggest loser herself most of the time. Her commentary on herself and others is about equally scathing.
  • In the dark near-future military thriller Victoria, protagonist John Rumford is acerbic in his treatment of everyone, including those few exemplars who actually meet with his overall approval. He will usually make his one exception where his fellow revolutionist and sometime mentor Colonel Kraft is concerned, but even he is not totally immune.
  • Carry On: Baz gives out a good snark to everyone, and is a bit of a dark, intelligent character.
  • Daylen in Shadow of the Conqueror has a viciously barbed tongue, but doesn't spare himself from his own judgment, either.
  • Sir Alanna of Song of the Lioness, first female knight of Tortall in 200 years, is infamously sharp-tongued and includes herself, her legend, and the king in her list of acceptable targets. Pretty much the only one she doesn't snark at is Kel as a girl, because she sees that she has enough on her plate, and she immediately rescinds that when Kel comes of age.
    Alanna: If I killed everyone who was stupid, I wouldn't have time to sleep.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Game of Thrones: Sandor Clegane has a fatalistic view of the world, expressed through either complaints or snarky zings.
  • One Foot in the Grave gives us Victor Meldrew, the king of this trope.
  • In Babylon 5, Londo's first wife Timov falls into this. Even though she's constantly (and justifiably) berating him, he chooses to keep her over all his other wives. He's suspicious of all flattery, but he knows her contempt is genuine. What he doesn't know is that Timov is secretly charmed by that respect for her honesty.
  • The Office: Pam Beasley, as she says things that offend her and sometimes towards Michael.
  • Parks and Recreation
    • April Ludgate the college intern is another prime example. Season 2 has April starting to get over it, though, beginning to distance herself from her irony-loving friends and getting more involved in the department. She still provides a healthy dose of snark, particularly towards Jerry, the office Butt-Monkey.
    • April's sister Natalie.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
    • Odo started this way.
    • Major (later Colonel, then eventually Commander) Kira Nerys was the heavy-handed embodiment of this trope, just like Ro Laren before her. Almost to a "Can't Argue With Bajorans" extent. The role was originally written to be Ro Laren, as was the character B'Elanna Torres in Star Trek: Voyager.
  • Supernatural has Dean Winchester, who has endured a Trauma Conga Line, since he was four years old. Yet, he frequently manages to snark on the various monsters and demons he faces, even when he is clearly terrified. On the rare occasions when he's too scared to snark, you know the situation is deadly serious.
  • DawsonsCreek: Dru Valentine, a typical Jerkass Snark Knight with ties to the rich, has disdain for nearly everyone (particularly the rich people he's connected to) and is never without a scathing, observant quip to anyone in his general vicinity.
  • Veronica Mars:
    • Veronica takes this role but unlike most, only after she's been pushed into it by her ostracization for standing by her father. Note her moral principles fall into a sense of justice and not letting the wealthy get away with crimes but she's loose on using deception to get her way. Such is the way of most Private Detective characters.
    • Troubled, but Cute Logan also falls under this trope, especially after he and Veronica get back together on season 2.
  • 3rd Rock from the Sun:
    • August Leffler, Tommy's ex. August either went through character decay (or development; as a teenager, such a change in personality isn't unrealistic), becoming rather hypocritical and just liking to look down at everyone. Her initial appearance portrayed her as a more well-adjusted and pleasant person (At least, as well-adjusted as The Snark Knight can get).
    • Tommy himself could be considered a male Snark Knight, although to a much lesser degree than August. Of course, if you were a veteran Information Officer assigned the cover identity of a teenager, you might be a bit snarky as well.
  • Kerry from 8 Simple Rules usually fits, though it can depend on the episode.
  • Naomi from the second generation of Skins characters; arguably Jal has flashes of this in the first two seasons too.
  • The season 3 Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Earshot" has a character like this named Freddy Iverson.
  • House. If House weren't a genius diagnostician, he'd fall into Loners Are Freaks territory.
  • Kat Warbler from the short-lived sitcom The Class (2006).
    "I'd rather have a bitter cake."
    "You ARE a bitter cake."
  • In Torchwood, Owen is a textbook example.
  • Degrassi rotates this trope around through the years. Ellie is the first notable example during her goth years, Jimmy gains this along with Disabled Snarker title, Clare being the latest holder of this title.
  • Toby Ziegler from The West Wing — he's accurately described as "prickly" and "sad, angry and not warm," and he has a uniquely tense relationship with the president due to his constant frustration and disappointment at Bartlet's failure to fully live up to his genius, and his willingness to voice them.
  • Doctor Who: The Doctor has a very dark and twisted version of this in the Dream Lord, from Amy's Choice. Even as he traps the heroes in a dream and toys with them, he snipes at all of their character flaws, with particular venom reserved for the Doctor. He's actually an extension of the Doctor's psyche, particularly his darkness and self-loathing, which qualifies him for this trope.
    • The Doctor identifies him because "No one in the universe hates me as much as you."
  • Dan from Nathan Barley is a Deconstruction of the trope, penned by Charlie Brooker (himself arguably a Real Life example). He's a caustic depressive who writes withering articles about "the idiots" (who themselves respect him as "the Preacher Man"), growing more and more cutting and vicious as he falls in with them. However, when he's offered a job for a more reputable magazine, he realises he cannot write anything but cheap sarcasm, and it's hinted that his self-deprecation forms a self-destructive cycle; the show offers him plenty of get-outs, but he never ends up taking them.
  • DS Barbara Havers of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. That poor, dear girl.
  • Stargate SG-1: Daniel Jackson, especially in later seasons. If you had a backstory like his, you would be too.
  • Malcolm from Malcolm in the Middle takes the cake. Always, always snidely fuming at everyone and everything. A couple episodes try to tackle this directly (with him trying to suppress his desire to grumble and condescend for various reasons) but end up blowing up in his face (he gave himself an ulcer once by swallowing down too much snark).
  • Ryan King (played by Matthew Perry on Go On) is definitely a big example. He also is something of a Stepford Snarker.
  • Athos from the BBC's version of The Musketeers is another potential poster boy for this trope.
    Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
    Aramis: Yes, sorry.
    Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
  • Maya from Girl Meets World combines this with thanks to Parental Abandonment by her father. This makes her one of the darker characters you're likely to find on the Disney Channel and occasionally a walking example of Tear Jerker.
  • Night and Day's Ryan Harper, to the very core. There is literally nobody who escapes his sneering and vitriol. He even delivers people's names in a sarcastic way, emphasising every consonant with dripping disdain to reflect the utter contempt in which he holds them.
  • Greg Serrano from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, to a tee.
  • The title hero of Jessica Jones (2015) has always been this, even before Kilgrave. It's the reason she was unable to hold down any one of the series of menial office jobs she cycled through before becoming a private investigator. This trait is even more apparent in The Defenders (2017).
  • The title character of Fleabag is the black sheep of her family and has difficulty holding down jobs or forming relationships so she's got the outsider part down pat and in addition to this, she narrates her life in the most beautifully snarky manner you can imagine. No one, least of all she, is safe from her barbed wit.
  • Ingrid Dracula in Young Dracula, though definitely without the self-loathing.
  • The snarks of Edmund Blackadder could fill an encyclopedia. In "Potato," he tries to one-up Sir Walter Raleigh, announcing his own sailing trip around the world.
    Walter: You'd never make it. The rain beats down so hard it would make your head bleed.
    Blackadder: (smugly) I suppose some sort of hat is in order, then.

    Pro Wrestling 
  • Zeb Coulter, the manager for Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro, the Real Americans.
  • Damien Sandow, especially in his Outside the Ring videos.
  • John "Bradshaw" Layfield, when he's doing color commentary as a tweener character. Expect him to snark at all the faces (except for the Divas, whom he just leers at) and sometimes also at the heels (except for the Divas, whom he...well, you know).

    Theater 
  • Brand by Henrik Ibsen, whose title character is this trope.
  • The title character of Hamlet in every respect, from the outsider status, the virulent self-contempt, and of course the bitterly sardonic wit.

    Video Games 
  • Squall Leonhart of Final Fantasy VIII. He's aloof, unfriendly, and periodically quite snarky, and if anything holds more disdain for himself than he does for others, mostly expressed via Inner Monologue.
  • Although there is never exactly one interpretation of a Touhou Project character, Patchouli Knowledge is usually portrayed as a Snark Knight. The games show her as completely deadpan and cynical (especially in her lines regarding Sakuya in Subterranean Animism or Immaterial and Missing Power), but nevertheless a good and caring friend of Remilia and fanon often shows her as having a crush on Marisa.
  • Jacqli of Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica at first appears to be a Jerkass willing to betray anyone to accomplish her mysterious goals, and bitingly sarcastic towards everyone, especially the protagonist (also a Deadpan Snarker) but over time, as she comes to trust the heroes, she reveals her goals truly are noble that are simply hidden behind a hostile exterior because she is embarrassed to be working towards such goals and distrustful of others.
  • Shadow the Hedgehog from the Sonic The Hedgehog series. He's got goals, generally involving being the best (just like Sonic, which is why they clash so often). And he mostly prefers to fulfill these goals on his lonesome. His only real friends are the robot E-123 Omega and sassy gem thief Rouge.
  • Bully's Jimmy Hopkins serves as a slight subversion of this trope. He understands how crooked the school system can be with the various cliques and corrupted officials. He starts off the game as simply wanting to be left alone but eventually transforms more into a Knight in Sour Armor.
  • This is an option in the Mystery Case Files PC game Dire Grove. On the main menu, you can toggle whether you want the Player Character's internal monologues to be Normal, Motivational, or Snarky. This is also an option in the next game in the series, 13th Skull.
  • Kendall Flowers from don't take it personally babe, it just ain't your story, which provides a sharp contrast to Charlotte, who is as intelligent as her girlfriend, but actually cares about school/people in general.
  • Mahk in I Miss the Sunrise. He is an Insufferable Genius who practically radiates an aura of disdain for everything around him.
  • Jade Curtiss from Tales of the Abyss fits this trope, mixed with Stepford Snarker. He snarks at everyone, especially himself, in part to help him cope with his Lack of Empathy and his guilt over his youthful indiscretions.
  • Another Tales example, Yuri Lowell seems to have a sarcastic quip for just about any situation.
  • Ange Ushiromiya in Umineko: When They Cry can do nothing but snark, as throughout the story she's stuck in the role of observer/investigator. Most of this is a defense mechanism against a world that has hurt her, and she expects to hurt her more. Even as a child she had a bit of a smart mouth (though not to the extent of a Little Miss Snarker.) In the 'Trick' ending, she embraces her cynicism along with everything she's learned from Rokkenjima to take on the 'Knight' aspect.
  • Fleuret Blanc has Amara, who strives for perfection with every action and belittles those who don't live up to her standards. She disdains the gossipy Kant and Roland, and also disliked the Hot-Blooded Anastasia. However, she can grow to respect you if you complete her scavenger hunt.
  • League of Legends
    • Aurelion Sol, who is the closest the game has to a god, he likes to make fun of everyone he comes in contact with. There's also the fact that some space spartans enslaved him so he's rather bitter about humanity in general.
    • Xayah is a snarky, sarcastic rebel who seems to not take much seriously. But in a moment with her lover Rakan, she lets slip how tiring all the fighting is and how much pressure being the savior of her kind is putting on her.
    Xayah: I'm so tired...
    Rakan: You gotta rest, honey.
    Xayah: Everyone is depending on me.
    Rakan: Everyone can wait.
  • Guild Wars 2 Canach, his comments are the highlight of every episode he is taking part in.

    Web Animation 
  • Red vs. Blue: This is Church. He even crosses into outright (attempts at) heroism sometimes, but never ceases pointing out how stupid everyone around him is, especially Caboose. He also has a strange sort of enduring optimism, in that he can be compelled to genuinely try to help people he likes. Washington from Reconstruction almost fits too, but...
  • RWBY: Qrow's entire character revolves around this with his cynical yet laid-back attitude, always favors a drink and actually fights WHILE drunk, and angrily calls out his "partners" for idiotic decisions, though he takes a more playful attitude towards his nieces Ruby and Yang.
  • DSBT InsaniT: Killdra usually has a (rather dark) quip to anything, but she is prone to Self-Deprecation too.

    Web Comics 
  • Aggie of Penny and Aggie starts off this way. Early storylines see her standing on the sidelines and aiming sarcastic comments and the occasional prank at popular girl Penny for her apparent superficiality and snobbery, in contrast to Aggie's espoused (though not always upheld) progressive values. She's also initially something of a loner with only one friend, the bookwormish Duane. Eventually, she develops a wider circle of friends, including Penny herself.
  • Faye from Questionable Content, big time.
  • Beth from Better Days is portrayed this way, not in the comic itself, but in the first couple pages of the pornfolio "Beth's Night In".
  • Half the cast of Something*Positive, Davan especially.
  • Susan/Tiffany Pompoms from El Goonish Shive starts out like this, due to a combination of catching her father with another woman, her mother's followed bitterness over the matter (and men in general), and being tricked as a child into hunting and killing a not-vampire on her own. She later shed that aspect of her character, due to her friends' influence.
  • Tristan of Angel Moxie. A pretty cynical youth — especially of anything she perceives as "girly", thanks to her extreme tomboyishness. Her mother is utterly desperate for Tristan to display even average teenage behavior.
  • Haley Starshine of The Order of the Stick certainly isn't one... but, on the other hand, her brain is hosting "Mistress Shadowgale", a.k.a the imaginary personification of her self-loathing, which certainly has several levels of Snark Knight.
    Haley: You look like I did as a teenager.
    Mistress Shadowgale: How else would you expect your self-loathing to look?
    Haley: Good point.
  • The main idea behind this is explained in a comic of Rock Paper Cynic.
  • Homestuck
    • Karkat hates everyone, including himself. (At one point he thought he was his own hate-soulmate. It's a troll thing.) He insults everyone mercilessly, again including himself. His ability to rag on himself is aided by the time travel tomfoolery that all the trolls are up to their bulge in; he constantly gets into arguments with his past/future self. He also happens to be the Knight of Blood. Despite his bluster, it's worth listening to him, as Karkat has a good measure of people and can point out their flaws accurately.
    • Rose. Pretty much 90%+ of everything she says is sarcastic, either playfully so or biting. Part of this comes from a childhood of passive-aggressive antagonism with her mother — except even that may have been one-sided and an illusion caused by Rose viewing her attempts to bond through Jade-Colored Glasses.
    • To a lesser extent, Dave. He holds up a cool facade to pretty much everything, mocking everything and everyone he comes across, but when push comes to shove he's actually pretty insecure about his own abilities, especially compared with people he considers heroes like his Bro or John.

    Web Original 

    Web Videos 
  • Pwnage: Kyle Addams acts world-weary and throws plenty of his biting and bitter wit. His snark is near-constant in their videos, not to mention, he won't exempt himself from his own disdainful comments. This quote shows one of his quotes where he insults himself, Damian, and the game they're playing.
    Kyle: This will be like a mystery- like anthropologists will somehow find this shitty video and just be like: Oh! Well appears to be some loud-mouthed white trash degenerate and some simpleton gap-toothed autistic kid who wandered around playing, uhh, what appears to be some simulation built to make people want to end their own lives!
  • On Game Grumps, Danny is often this to Arin's more "colorful" outbursts to doing badly at games. Like quipping "Yeah, that's what bullets are" to Arin after he complains about the One Hit Kills in Mad Dog Mccree, or saying "What did you think would happen?" when Arin jumped to his death on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, or the scolding mother tone he uses when he says "...Arin" after Arin realizes the mistake he's been making that's been making him struggle at the game they've been playing. In fact, there is specifically a "Dan Says 'Arin' Like a Disappointed Mother" compilation on Youtube that is a half-hour long. A very common interaction between these two is for Arin to mess up at a game, Dan to drop some snark, a Beat, and Arin bursts out laughing.

    Western Animation 
  • South Park:
    • With Craig, snarking makes up the majority of his dialogue, especially in "Pandemic".
      Craig: This is fun. Let's walk for miles through a spooky jungle. It just keeps getting better and better.
    • Stan Marsh himself is also a great example. He transitions from a regular Deadpan Snarker around the 18th season, when he has to put up with the town's idiocy getting worse over the episodic plots, and 5 seasons later, his dad's shady criminal behavior over gaining a monopoly on his weed business. This trope reaches its head in the latter season, where he makes a biopic filled with this kind of snark with some of his friends, on top of simultaneously having to submit to Chinese censors, including one hovering directly over him and making him change any part of the script offensive to Chinese sensibilities:
      Stan: Now I know how all the writers in Hollywood feel.
    • Kyle Broflovski's character largely went the opposite direction in terms of snark, though he still has some great Self-Deprecation lines, particularly in the South Park: The Fractured but Whole and Season 26.
  • Nikki from 6teen is her group's version of the Snark Knight.
  • June from KaBlam! sometimes fell into this trope.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants: Squidward Tentacles makes a snarky remark almost every time he's on screen. This attitude seems to largely come from his belief that the citizens of Bikini Bottom are all well below him culturally and intellectually, which they are for the most part, especially SpongeBob and Patrick. He's also prone to making deadpan comments about his own misfortunes. Ex: after nearly getting impaled to death in "Band Geeks", he makes the following comment as though he were disappointed: "Too bad that didn't kill me."
  • Total Drama:
    • Noah definitely falls into this category, since that was his only distinctive trait in season one, with Duncan coming in at a close second. Now that it's been 3 seasons, Noah's fleshed out more but is still definitely a snarker when he wants to be.
    • Gwen also qualifies, especially in the first season.
  • Brendon Small of Home Movies comes close. His ruthless self-criticism applies only to filmmaking, not any other aspect of his... uh, does Brendon have a life?
  • Mai of Avatar: The Last Airbender, without question. She derides everyone and everything, declaring that even Victory Is Boring. Though she defrosts somewhat around Zuko.
  • If anything, the animated version of Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars: The Clone Wars is even snarkier.
  • In SpacePOP, being a snarky, sassy wise-cracker is Rhea's main character trait.

Alternative Title(s): Snark Knight

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