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"For all of the vermin ye'd care to recall,
The weasel's the wickedest wretch of all,
An' virtuous vermin will all agree,
Any weasel is worse than me!"
Flinky the stoatnote , Loamhedge

Mustelids are recently becoming popular as heroic Weasel Mascot characters, but it wasn't always so. Older European works, in particular, portray weasels as sneaky at best and downright villainous at worst, often as the nemesis of a prey animal protagonist. As a general rule, fictional weasels are cowardly about direct confrontation but cunning, treacherous and cruel, and sometimes downright Ax-Crazy. Such villainous portrayals might stem from weasels preying on poultry and rabbits from farms — often targeting eggs (hence a reputation as thief). They also do have a tendency to indulge in overkill; a weasel that makes it into a henhouse may get overexcited and kill more chickens than it can eat.

In real life, while they certainly are rather clever in terms of their hunting strategies, it's completely unfair to tag them as cowards; weasels are astonishingly fearless animals, being smaller than their preferred prey (rabbits) and hunting them alone. (For this reason, in many less well-known mythologies, such as the folklore of ancient Macedon and the Inuit, weasels actually symbolize wisdom and courage.) Some portrayals of malicious mustelids reflect this, portraying them as almost suicidally brave.

In addition to the least weasel (known as just the "weasel" in the UK) and the long-tailed weasel (the common species of the continental US), the related stoats and polecats get a fair amount of this. Domestic ferrets (a domestic version of the European polecat) are portrayed similarly as clever, hyperactive, slightly crazy tricksters, but are often cute and harmless rather than malicious, probably because people are increasingly likely to be familiar with them as pets. Martens and fishers are somewhat less likely to be lumped in with weasels, and otters are something completely different, as are badgers and wolverines. Skunks, formerly classified as mustelids but now given their own group Mephitidae, have their own trope; a skunk is definitely something to avoid but is just as always as wicked as a weasel. Even nowadays, skunks have displaced weasels in general for villainous roles.

Mongooses are saved, ironically not by the fact that they're technically more closely related to cats and hyenas than to the weasels they resemble, but by being famous for fighting snakes. With the usual Western reflex of Reptiles Are Abhorrent, the image of a cute furry critter, which represents everything Western culture associates with good, fearlessly taking on deadly snakes equally associated with evil is irresistible, giving them a reputation as swashbuckling heroes of India. In folklore, this extends to mythical creatures such as the Basilisk, in which case the weasel and its cousins may well be portrayed as heroes. Badgers, on the other hand, are portrayed as more vicious, aggressive, and frankly unfriendly creatures.

The stereotype of the Wicked Weasel is so strong that sneaky, evil, bloodthirsty, or sociopathic characters of other species may be compared to or called weasels, or weasel imagery used to describe them, exploiting the audience's reaction to this trope.

May lead to cases of I Am Not Weasel. See also Animal Stereotypes in general. Not to be confused with Wily Walrus. Compare with Bad Ol' Badger and Smelly Skunk.

Has nothing to do with an Australian lingerie and swimwear brand also called "Wicked Weasel."


Examples:

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    Advertising 

    Anime & Manga 
  • In BNA: Brand New Animal, Marie is quick to remind you her beastman form is a mink, but given her behavior, it's an understandable confusion. While she's not irredeemably evil or violent (and even plays a role in stopping the Big Bad), she is a very untrustworthy con artist, smuggler, and fence who regularly swindles people out of exorbitant amounts of money for shoddy items.
  • Gamba No Bouken: The main antagonist is Noroi, a weasel.
  • Inuyasha: One Monster of the Week was a gigantic bakeitachi ("monster weasel") who was constantly mistaken for a tanuki and got easily pissed for that.
    Bakeitachi: I am a weasel!
  • Naruto:
    • Temari's summon is a Kamaitachi (sickle weasel). She's not evil, but she and her brothers start off as antagonistic.
    • Itachi's name means "weasel" in Japanese, and he massacred his entire clan (save for his brother) for power. Subverted, though, when it's revealed that he did it to prevent a coup and was a hero all along.
  • In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, there're a lot of hints that Kyubey is a lot more sinister than he seems. By the end of episode 8, they're not even bothering trying to hide it. Kyubey sorta zigzags the trope. In a few words, assuming he's not lying, his intentions are noble (saving the universe from destruction), but the means he employs to this end are absolutely heinous. You could probably call him Necessarily Evil.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: The Yosenju Deck used by Sawatari in episodes 31-32 had kamataitachis as its key cards. It features a numerical theme-named trio of humanoid kamaitachi brothers (Kamaitachi, Kamanitachi and Kamamitachi) and a gigantic, powerful weasel with a flame-like, turquoise-colored body, Mayosenju Daibakaze.

    Comic Books 
  • Subverted by the Ermehn in Beyond the Western Deep. Though they're anthropomorphic weasels/stoats and are the ostensible antagonists, in accordance to the setting's Gray-and-Gray Morality they're not any more evil than any of the other races, being instead a Dying Race, trying to survive by reclaiming the territories they were banished from by the Canids. And, in the process, starting the fires of worldwide war as the latter allies to to maintain them in the wastes.
  • Averted by Weekly the weasel in Blacksad; he's well-known as The Pigpen and a Lovable Sex Maniac, but harmless and basically a decent guy.
  • Brer Weasel is a sidekick to Brer Fox in the Disney Chip n' Dale comics, complete with card-carrying villainy, membership in the local Legion of Doom, and handlebar mustache.
  • In Mouse Guard, weasels are natural enemies of mice, and have repeatedly tried to invade, capture, and eat mice. Subverted somewhat in that not all of them can even be considered nasty, let alone evil, and their plans for mice (while unpleasant and involving slavery) is part of natural predation, animal nature which is played up in this universe. A later arc features a kingdom of ferrets whose king is surprisingly non-hostile towards mice, preferring to hunt larger prey like rabbits since "one kill should always fill several bellies." Of course, in real life mice are a staple of a ferret's diet...but then, in real life ferrets don't hunt in packs.
  • In The Mice Templar series, weasels comprise the royal guard serving a corrupt mouse king, and they have a vicious rivalry with the rats who make up the army and the druidic priesthood.

    Comic Strips 
  • Shady characters are sometimes portrayed as weasels in Dilbert. In one case, this led to an Even Evil Has Standards moment when the weasel quit rather than help the company downplay its new product's horrible flaws with buzzwords.
  • Get Fuzzy has Bucky's arch-nemesis Fungo the ferret. Then again, arching Bucky isn't particularly wicked.
  • Life in Hell has a quote: Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.

    Eastern Animation 

    Fan Works 

    Films — Animation 
  • In The 3 Little Pigs: The Movie, the weasel is the rabble-rouser of the dinner guests, encouraging his fellow patrons to throw out one of their own for requesting a jar of honey instead of meat, and later reminds everyone of the food they payed for but hadn’t gotten yet.
  • Winkie's weasel henchmen in the "Wind in the Willows" segment of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
  • In the Japanese CG film Air Bound, the main villain is an albino weasel named Winston (dubbed by Jon Lovitz Playing Against Type). He is enormous and physically opposing and possesses psychic powers which he uses to hypnotize victims into coming to him so he can eat them. He is abetted by an army of smaller but equally vicious weasel Mooks.
  • In the Christmas Special Christopher The Christmas Tree, the Woodland Creatures come to Christopher specifically for protection from "the foxes and the weasels". An actual fox and weasel appear later and set Christopher on fire with a lighter to be jerks.
  • Subverted in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Buckminster is completely crazy, but he's not an evil weasel. In fact, he's one of the few examples of a heroic weasel.
  • Subverted in Leafie, a Hen into the Wild. One-Eye the weasel, while predatory and the story's main antagonist, is not actually evil - she's acting according to her nature, not malice, and is trying to provide for her children. Leafie sympathizes with her enough to allow herself to be killed and eaten in order to help the young weasels survive, and the weasel visibly cries before she pounces.
  • Two weasels, again from The Wind in the Willows are shown digging Ebenezer Scrooge's grave in the 1983 special Mickey's Christmas Carol. One of them speaks in a Cockney dialect (befitting the story's London setting), while the other has what sounds like a Peter Lorre impression.
  • The same Weasels from Wind in the Willows appear as Pete's henchmen in the 1990 Mickey Mouse adaptation of The Prince and the Pauper.
  • Zootopia
    • Duke Weaselton is a weasel, seller of bootlegged DVD's and thief when offered what he likes best.
    • There is also the Dirty Coward ferret Travis from Judy's childhood, who helped the bully Gideon Grey as long as he could hide behind him. Unlike Gideon, he never gets any character development. Broken Aesop, or just a coincidence?

    Films — Live-Action 

    Literature 
  • Ultimately subverted in All American Pups - Fergus the ferret in On the Scent of Trouble causes trouble, but he's only acting out because of his improper living conditions and turns out to be decent.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive Grahame Coats from Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys is the Animal Motifs version. He is pretty much immediately compared by the narration to an "albino ferret in an expensive suit" and it goes on from there.
  • In Andiamo, Weasel! a weasel tricks a crow into helping him with farming while he refuses to work and steals the food. She gets her revenge later with the help of a wolf.
  • Animal Inn: Mrs. Racer firmly believes in this trope and extends it to Frank the ferret, whom she mistakes for a weasel, in book 2.
  • Weasel in the original books of The Animals of Farthing Wood is an aversion, even more so than his animated counterpart in the TV series. He's a helpful, competent, and loyal character who shows concern for others and pulls his weight in the group.
  • In the Greek mock-epic Batrachomyomachia, Crumb-snatcher the mouse is introduced having escaped from a predatory weasel.
  • In The Berenstain Bears Spin-Off Bear Scouts series, an underground society of weasels, led by Weasel McGreed, are occasional villains who repeatedly try to conquer Bear County. Unlike the bears' more nuanced society, which has its flaws and bad apples but is well-meaning overall, the weasels are Always Chaotic Evil, with no redeeming qualities or exceptions. In one book, though, a non-antropomorphic weasel appears and is treated like any other part of Bear County's native wildlife.
  • Also averted in The Book of the Dun Cow. John Wesley Weasel, although fierce, stubborn and implied to be a Reformed Criminal, is extremely loyal to the rooster protagonist, is undoubtedly one of the good guys, and literally kills thousands of enemy basilisks single-handedly after one murders his friend. Also unlike the usual portrayal of evil weasels, he is disgusted by the cowardly Mad House of Otter and is extremely brave.
  • Shadow the Weasel is one of the most dangerous villains in the Burgess Bedtime Stories. He's the only predator the prey animals actually hate, since he's the only one who kills for fun instead of just survival.
  • In one of the later The Dark is Rising books, Will Stanton comes face to face with some chicken-killing ermine who are clearly foreshadowy avatars of the Dark, and some time is spent on their inborn propensity to kill just for fun. They're ordinary-sized mustelids, and he's an immortal wizard, but damn if those ermine aren't creepy.
  • Double subverted with Wendel the stoat jester in Deptford Mice. He appears to be an okay guy, but he's actually the high priest of Hobb, an evil rat god.
  • The short story The Redfern Rats from The Dream Eaters And Other Stories features weasels as the antagonists. They aren't portrayed as evil, as such, just hungry and relentless.
  • Subverted in the Frightful series. While Baron Weasel is a predator and attempts to kill Oksi's falcon hatchlings, he's not evil and is doing it to provide food for his own babies.
  • Lampshaded in Howliday Inn (part of the Bunnicula series), in which a weasel character (simply known as the Weasel) complains about the "weasels are evil and sneaky" stereotype and actively goes out of his way to be a good guy.
  • In Kine, the weasels are protagonists, including the title character. However, minks, another mustelid species, are major villains.
  • Averted in A Letter For Leo, in which Leo the weasel is a kindly mailman who strikes up a friendship with a small bird.
  • The weasels in the Little Grey Rabbit series are nasty but dim thieves and rabbit hunters.
  • Played with with Mrs. Fillyjonk from Moomins. She isn't exactly evil, just annoyingly OCD and overprotective (at least to the protagonists), and the work has never once portrayed her as being in the right about anything unless she's had a Heroic BSoD and accepted the protagonists' anarchistic ways.
  • Subverted in Cordwainer Smith's short story "Mother Hitton's Little Kittons", a planet is defended by telepathically broadcasting the vicious ravings of insane, psychic minks, causing a villain to commit suicide before he can attack the planet. (A mink is a type of mustelid, like weasels).
  • The main antagonist of Mouse Soup is a mouse-eating weasel who the mouse protagonist distracts by telling him stories.
  • Paths of the Perambulator has a wolverine as the Big Bad. He's not actually evil, it turns out that he's a Dirty Coward which is so at odds with a wolverine's violent and aggressive nature that it's driven him insane. He summoned the titular Reality Warper as a twisted means of attempting to cure himself by making the world as crazy as he is. Once he's cured of his cowardice, he goes back to being a normal wolverine and loses interest in destroying the world.
  • Weasels and their ilk are Always Chaotic Evil in Redwall. The exact nature of their evil varies, from delinquent Creepy Child Veil to Psychopathic Manchild Bladd to numerous Punch-Clock Villain types to most of the Big Bad characters who aren't rats.
    • Badgers, on the other hand, are universally good, if somewhat unsafe to be around when in battle due to a species tendency to go completely berserk (if a Bloodwrath-possessed badger ever killed an ally it's not shown, but the risk is still present).
    • Of the three wolverines known in the series, one died before the story began, one was seen lifting an entire tree off himself as a Dying Moment of Awesome (also denying his batshit insane brother the right to rule the North, so he's not as villainous as most vermin), and the third is said batshit insane brother, the cannibal, stronger-than-a-badger Gulo the Savage.
    • Three martens appear, all on the villainous side: Ashleg a partially crippled adviser to Tsarmina, the Emperor Ublaz (a Camp Straight / Ambiguously Gay marten with Hypnotic Eyes ruling over monitor lizards), and Atunra, Riggu Felis' Number Two who is killed by his son as part of his effort to overthrow his father.
    • A single polecat appears, a wretched old creature living underground and commanding an army, along with a hulking weasel-ferret hybrid called a Wearet.
    • Swartt Sixclaw and his son Veil, the latter of which is taken in by Redwallers and is given the full Draco in Leather Pants treatment by some fans despite being a casual murderer due to occasional good deeds (extremely rare among vermin).
    • Romsca is a Pirate Girl who doesn't fit the usual mold, showing some kindness to the captives, experiencing something close to Death Equals Redemption as the kidnapped Father Abbot tends to her wounds and has some of the sadder Last Words in the series (she does claim, however, that has no regrets about her life).
    "My child. I like that. Thank ye, father."
  • The main character of the children's book Sneaky Weasel is a bullying weasel who attempts to reform when karma hits and no one wants to come to his party.
  • This is heavily invoked in A Song of Ice and Fire. Although normal people (for a given definition of "normal"), individuals belonging to House Frey regularly do get compared with weasels. This is not only because of their chinless, regularly gaunt looks, but thanks to their many unsavoury habits, as well. Even the chunkier ones don't escape either the narrative or other characters describing them as weasels. The weaseliest weasel who ever weaseled, however, remains Lord Walder. Although his kin Black Walder, Bastard Walder and Lame Lothar aren't all that far behind him — he just has more decades of being despicable under his belt. Some (lucky) few in the family do escape the whole weasel motif, but you can count them on one hand. Which isn't a large proportion of the family.
  • Averted in The Wainscott Weasel, which has several weasels throughout. The A-plot focuses on the title weasel (aka Bagley Brown, Jr.), with a B-plot focusing on a younger pair named Zeke and Wendy. The species is mostly viewed as sympathetic, if a bit rowdy at times. However, this doesn't stop some other species (including bullfrogs) from initially thinking that this trope is true upon first meeting Bagley, only to realize what a nice guy he actually is.
  • In Weasels by Elys Dolan, weasels are secretly plotting to Take Over the World. They aren't very good at it, though.
  • Averted in Welkin Weasels, where the weasels are the heroes, although stoats (another mustelid) are mostly villains.
  • The Wind in the Willows:
    • The evil weasels (and stoats) who take over Toad Hall are presented as untrustworthy thugs and louts. Averted with Mr. Badger, who is definitely one of the good guys, although he can be grouchy at times. Also averted with fellow mustelid Mr. Otter and his young son Portly, who are both seen as good neighbours, if a tad gluttonous. When Portly goes missing, it's treated as a major crisis - though one that is easily resolved.
    • Played with in the Fan Sequel Return To The Willows. While most of the weasels and stoats remain antagonists, a friendly weasel, Sammy, befriends Toad's nephew Humphrey.
    • In another Fan Sequel, The Willows in Winter, the weasels are talked into helping the heroes search for the missing Mole, though they remain sneaky and unsavoury.

  • In Too Many Curses, one of the many victims of Margle's Forced Transformation spells is a formerly-human female thief, who was transformed into a weasel. She's not evil, but old habits evidently die hard, as she can't resist swiping a gemstone that's needed to nullify one of the magical misfortunes plaguing the castle.
  • The pulp magazine Man's Life ran an infamous story in September of 1956 called "Weasels Ripped My Flesh!" (yes, this is where Frank Zappa got the name), about a duck farmer who is attacked by vast numbers of unusually vicious weasels while trying to protect his livestock. In the epilogue, we see that the weasels left him severely disfigured (needing a prosthetic hand and months of plastic surgery to rebuild his face), and with severe PTSD.

    Live-Action TV 
  • The Adventures of Slim Goodbody: Stuffin' qualifies: he's The Gobbler's henchman, and he appears to be some type of brown-furred weasel. He has no qualms about using Magitek to cast spells on children and steal their food.
  • The Noddy Shop has Warloworth Q. Weasel, a weasel who loves to play tricks on the other toys.

    Music 
  • In "Weird Al" Yankovic's famous song "Albuquerque" (among many, many other things) the narrator is beset by a dozen starving, crazed weasels (which were inexplicably inside a box at a doughnut shop). Averted with his song Weasel Stomping Day, where the listener feels sympathy for the weasels.
  • Frank Zappa's Weasels Ripped My Flesh. Okay, not so much "evil" as really, really, really weird and creepy. The name was taken from a story that ran in the pulp magazine Man's Life. See above under Literature for more.

    Myths & Religion 
  • The Micmac Indians of eastern Canada and northern New England, while not exactly seeing weasels as evil, did tend to portray them negatively. One of these tales, "Mikmaq Women Who Married Star Husbands," features two skusiskwaq — literally, "weasel women" — who are said to be sisters. The younger sister, while not evil per se, is pretty untrustworthy, a Bad Liar, and comically stupid. She and her sister wind up suffering a Fate Worse than Death because of her moral failings.
  • In medieval folklore, weasels were portrayed as cunning enough to use rue to heal injuries, and they were said to give birth through their ears. On the other hand, they were also said to be one of the only animals that could fight and kill a basilisk.
  • Averted in a Cree story in which a brave weasel assisted a human hero in killing a wendigo by burrowing into its body and killing it from within.
  • The Japanese Yōkai Kamaitachi (lit. Sickle Weasel) is a weasel with large, scythe-shaped claws, which it uses to cut passers-by to ribbons. One variety has three small weasels working together: the first one knocks down the traveller, the second one cuts him up and the third one closes the wounds.
  • Also in Japanese lore is Raijū (Thunder Beast), a companion of Raijin who is often depicted as a weasel. Normally he is calm and harmless, but gets agitated during thunderstorms and leaps about trees and buildings, scratching them with lightning.

    Pro Wrestling 
  • "The sickle weasel" Kamaitachi, whom Shigeo "Anti-Mexico" Okamura intended to become the new (masked)face of CMLL's Lightweight division. He did succeed in winning the world super lightweight championship belt to, but had lost his mask to former champion Dragón Lee on the way there.

    Video Games 
  • Lyle the weasel in Animal Crossing is a mild example - he is a insurance scam artist, but isn't really a villain so much as a nuisance. He even goes legit in later games.
  • Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers:
    • In the first game, weasels serve as enemies in Zone J. They are dressed like gangsters, not unlike the Toon Patrol in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, fire plunger guns, and take two hits to kill.
    • In the second game, a weasel pirate serves as the boss of Stage 3. He attacks by blowing out fireballs after drinking hot sauce.
  • The weasels in Conker's Bad Fur Day are the subjects of the game's supposed main villain, the Panther King. The Panther King's weasel subjects include the weasel mafia, two Fat and Skinny guards who wield medieval weaponry, and armored bank security guards with modern weapons. The most prominent weasel characters are Professor Von Kriplespac, an evil scientist who creates the Tediz, and Don Weaso, the head of the weasel mafia. According to the manual, the reason the weasels are ruled by a panther instead of one of their own is because the Panther King seized power in the past by cutting off the legs of their old weasel king (who is implied to be Kriplespac, because he is old and has no legs). Professor Von Kriplespac and Don Weaso are definitely two of the game's main baddies. Interestingly enough, though, the two medieval guards who directly work for the Panther King are probably the least bad of the many weasels seen in the game.
  • In Donkey Kong 64, Snide the Weasel was a former Kremling mechanic, although he defected to the heroes' side once K. Rool turned on him out of paranoia. While still a bit shifty, he does help the Kongs by giving them Golden Bananas and by delaying K. Rool's Blast-O-Matic if you give him blueprints, so he sincerely keeps his word.
  • Dungeons of Aether has Thieves, depicted as knife-wielding weasels, as the most common enemy type.
  • Dusty Revenge and Dusty Raging Fist contains weasel bandits as recurring enemies, who gleefully attack Dusty with wicked-looking daggers.
  • The main villain of Frogger's Journey: The Forgotten Relic is Eric von Viesel, a weasel man who wants to use the power of the OPARTs to build powerful weapons.
  • Japanese sickle weasels that transform into tornados are enemies in Ghouls 'n Ghosts. Like everything in the game, they're really frickin annoying.
  • Hamsterdam: One of the enemy types you face in the game are weasels who work for the Vermin Gang.
  • Magical Tetris Challenge: One of Pete's henchmen is a weasel simply named Weasel.
  • Hurricaune the Wolveroid from Mega Man ZX is a weasel/wolverine Pseudoroid working for Serpent. She's a sadist who takes hostages, terrifies them out of their minds before killing them, and then uses that fear to power up Biometal Model W.
  • The last level of Mickey Mania is themed to the aforementioned "Prince and the Pauper" short (see Films — Animated above). As such, the main enemies in this level are Pete's aforementioned weasel henchmen, of which there are two kinds throughout this level, one who attacks by throwing knives and one who attacks by firing arrows from crossbows.
  • A band of weasels kidnap Pluto for his collar in the Nintendo 64 racing game Mickey's Speedway USA.
  • In Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time, there are zombified weasels called Ice Weasels. They are owned by a zombie called Weasel Hoarder, who releases them when hurt. When free, Ice Weasels will scamper across the lawn at high speeds in large groups, ignoring ice floes and going straight for your brains. Luckily, they're the second-weakest zombie in the game.
  • Sneasel and Weavile of Pokémon are Dark/Ice sickle weasel Pokémon who are noted in their Pokédex entries to be intelligent and vicious egg thieves. Sneasel's Hisuian form introduced in Pokémon Legends: Arceus and its new evolution, Sneasler, are not stated to be spiteful but are stated to use their poisonous claws on prey, and no other Pokémon would be willing to defeat Sneasler in battle.
    • Averted with Buizel and Floatzel, who are portrayed as good-natured Water-types who will save drowning humans, and Mienfoo and Mienshao, who are of the honorable Fighting type.
    • Furret is also an inversion: it’s a ferret, but is soft, cuddly, affectionate, and cute as a button.
      • Played horrifyingly straight with Chien-Pao. This Treasure of Ruin unleashes immense destruction in its wake, even burying towns in avalanches so it can play in the snow. The fact that it has fangs made from two halves of a cursed sword lodged in its upper jaw doesn’t help.
  • In the second Quest of Yipe game, the Weasel Boy is a moderately-powerful enemy. The third game has "Attack Weasels", which are very weak and easily defeated.
  • Small Saga: The stoat Sir Lamia subverts the usual stereotype, being a proud and fearless knight with an exemplary battle record. However, she's no less villainous, serving an Evil Overlord in exchange for the right to fill her stomach with the condemned in his dungeons. She has no other loyalty to him, first devouring one of his own soldiers after being injured, then eating him after he's dethroned.
  • Fang The Sniper (known as Nack the Weasel in the U.S.) of Sonic the Hedgehog fame. Little known fact: In Japan, Fang is considered to be a wolf/jerboa hybrid. In America, he's only a weasel.
  • Subverted in the first SPY Fox game. The doorman for the deck party is a weasel, who will initially turn you away because you don't have an invitation and he's just doing his job. Sure enough, he'll only let you in if you manage to give him a (forged) invitation.
  • A weasel named Spanx is the main character of Whiplash - while he isn't evil and mostly just wants to escape the animal testing facility which abused him, he subjects his rabbit "partner" to a lot of grief in the process. The Robo Weasel enemies however play this straight.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Dungeons & Dragons:
    • Dire Weasels, which bite people and attaches itself to them before killing them by blood loss from the wound.
    • Regular weasels are also Wizard familiars, and (surprise, surprise) give a bonus to Bluff checks.

    Web Animation 
  • The protagonist of Of Weasels And Chickens, Marcus, subverts this trope. However, he soon meets another main character, Prima, who embodies all the negative stereotypes about weasels he's ever heard of. For example, in Episode Three, Prima sings an entire song ("Off to the Henhouse") about how much she loves murder.

    Webcomic 
  • Meemoo, one of the eponymous ferrets of Meems And Feefs, isn't exactly evil, but he's a Deadpan Snarker with a tendency to bite and otherwise intentionally inconvenience his owner, and from the point of view of Marmalade the rat and other prey animals both he and Feefoo are frankly terrifying.

    Web Original 

    Western Animation 
  • Scorch, Cruella De Vil's pet ferret in 101 Dalmatians: The Series. He antagonizes the Dalmatians and actively preys on the animals around the Dearly farm, especially the chickens.
  • Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog had Wes Weasely, a weasel-like salesman who sold weapons and contraptions to Robotnik that he could use to catch Sonic. While Wes's contraptions usually worked, Robotnik's minions were too stupid to use them properly. On rare occasions Wes would also side with Sonic if it would benefit him more, even saving Sonic in one episode after Robotnik went back on a deal they had made For the Evulz.
  • Played straight with The Creeper from Animalia: He is apparently the most dangerous villain on the show, being both portrayed as a Knight of Cerebus and more evil than the semi-villain Tyrannicus, who was a tiger. He is a weasel who was an assistant to the leader of Animalia before he got Drunk with Power and started using portals to steal from the other animals. When he is freed in the show's timeline, he's even worse, kidnapping a child and freely manipulating other characters into war.
  • Weasel from The Animals of Farthing Wood was generally a bitch, but also loyal and courageous for defying Scarface at her own peril to protect Fox several times, making her an aversion. Later seasons add her boyfriend/husband (Wait, Weasel is a girl??), who is rather oafish and (apart perhaps from cowardice) not at all stereotypically weasel-like.
  • Averted with Freddy from Back at the Barnyard. He generally feels bad about his chicken cravings and is actually a bit of a Woobie.
  • Wacky Weasel from Bonkers, a Toon weasel criminal who loves eggs (he broke into a jail because it had "bad eggs").
  • The old Cabbage Patch Kids stories had a character called Beau Weasel, who enjoys doing evil deeds for money. He somehow took part in an old hag's plot against the Cabbage Patch when he heard that gold was involved.
  • Dunflap from CatDog is an aversion - he's a generally good-natured friend of the title character and the Only Sane Man.
  • Erol and Le Sewer were villainous weasels who appeared in Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers.
  • In C.O.P.S., Big Boss' Right-Hand Cat is a cybernetic weasel named Scratch who has metal paws and cybernetic armor. He is always seen in the company of Big Boss.
  • Worley in Danger Rangers, along with his badger minions, who attempt to sabotage a race.
  • In The Devil and Daniel Mouse, Weez Weasel is the personal assistant to Satan himself and the judge at Jan and Daniel's trial.
  • On one of the Orson's Farm shorts of Garfield and Friends, a rotten weasel was plotting to steal chickens from the farm.
  • In the Goofy cartoon, How to Be a Detective, a weasel thug tries to thwart detective Goofy (known here as Johnny Eyeball) from solving the case of the mysterious "Al", with various acts of Family-Unfriendly Violence (the likes of which have kept the cartoon from regular circulation on TV). In the end, this same weasel serves as the parson for Pete's (revealed to himself be the missing Al) and the dame's wedding.
  • When Pete takes over the House of Mouse, he replaces the penguin waiters with weasels.
  • Fully inverted by I Am Weasel, where the eponymous Weasel is a courageous, selfless hero who is great at everything, pretty much the opposite of this trope's cowardly, self-centered sociopath that often has to resort to trickery and deceit to accomplish anything. This characterization of near-perfection serves primarily to set him up as the comedic Foil to a foolish, jealous baboon.
  • Robert and Robear are two ferrets who work for Catfish Stu, the main antagonist of Iggy Arbuckle. On the other hand, they're more mischievous than evil.
  • The Weavils on Jimmy Two-Shoes are weasel-like monsters known for being nasty, disgusting Jerkasses who annoy and manipulate others (particularly the main characters) for their own ends. It's really saying something when even Lucius Heinous VII despises them and their conniving ways.
  • Skulk and Sammy from The Little Flying Bears are relatively mild examples. While they are antagonists and cause trouble, Sammy is a Minion with an F in Evil and Skulk has his share of Pet the Dog moments.
  • Looney Tunes has the weasel from the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons, who occasionally visits Foghorn's farm to steal chickens. Ironically, Foghorn generally sides with the weasel to spite the farm's dog, although the weasel doesn't appreciate his "help". The weasel and the dog team up against him a few times.
  • Wheezelene, Cheezel, and Sneezel from Mickey Mouse Funhouse are a Terrible Trio of weasels who cause trouble to the gang on occasion.
  • The Mr. Bogus episode "Bogus Private Eye" featured a group of weasels who acted as gangsters and crime lords, making it sort of an Homage to that of The Godfather.
  • Despite being a ferret instead of a weasel, Paddy from Scaredy Squirrel is a straight example.
  • The weasels and their king from The Tale of the Great Bunny kidnapped The Great Bunny when he was starting his Easter Egg run one day.
  • Snout and Ollie from Toad Patrol, who torment toadlets for fun. Neither of them are very smart, but Snout is the brighter of the two.
  • Woozles from Winnie the Pooh. In the books, Pooh's attempts to track them turned out, he was actually tracking himself and Piglet. In the TV series, they actually exist, and (usually) act as villains. The trope is played straight by Stan, a scheming and vindictive honey thief, but subverted by Wooster, a giant Woozle who Pooh talks into a Heel–Face Turn. The trope is also played straight in that Stan looks far more like a real weasel, albeit an anthropomorphic one, while Wooster is a Cartoon Creature.

    Metaphorical Weasels 
  • Bluto in Animal House names one of the pledges to the mischievous Delta Tau Chi fraternity "Weasel." One of the senior members of the frat is named "Otter," although other than being lecherous and something of a jerkass, he isn't really villainous.
  • Solomon Grundy's henchman in Batman: The Brave and the Bold is named Weasel.
  • In the Belisarius Series, Valentinian is frequently described as having a wicked look ... and compared to a weasel. Then he fought Rana Sanga in an epic battle — justifying it to himself as, Because I'm tired of being called a weasel — and from then on, to Indians, at least, he was admired as "The Mongoose."
  • The villain of Billy Madison - an Evil Chancellor type - is described as laughing like a weasel, with a hissy "Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!" that one of the other characters imitates.
  • In the live action TV series, Family Matters Eddie Winslow sometimes hung out with a teenage boy named "Weasel," whom his parents believed was a bad influence on Eddie.
  • The Weasleys of the Harry Potter series were intentionally named and created as heroic characters to avert this trope (Mr. Weasly's Patronus, the only spell that works against the depression-incarnate dementors, is a weasel). Quoth Rowling:
    "In Britain and Ireland the weasel has a bad reputation as an unfortunate, even malevolent, animal. However, since childhood I have had a great fondness for the Family Mustelidae; not so much malignant as maligned, in my opinion."
  • Korra from The Legend of Korra calls Tarrlok a "weasel snake" due to the fact that weasels and snakes are cunning predators.
  • Naruto gives us the infamous assassin Itachi Uchiha. "Itachi" means "weasel" in Japanese. Subverted in his main role.
  • In One Piece, there is Nero the "Sea Weasel", a man with a weasel-like face.
  • Randall Weems in Recess has a very weasel-like appearance, verily befitting his status as The Stool Pigeon.
  • Yoshiaki Mogami in Sengoku Basara likes to think of himself as a fox, but everyone else in Japan compares him to a weasel, with good reason.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire has House Frey, whose members are often described as slimy, self-centered, untrustworthy, and, of course, weaselly, though you'll find the occasional Frey who's actually pretty decent.
  • Weazel in Star Wars is introduced as a bully who mocks Anakin's podracer skills in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. When he returns as an adult in Solo, he's working as an enforcer for the Space Pirate Enfys Nest, although, like her, he's working for a proto-Rebel cell and fighting the Empire, so he's ultimately a subversion.
  • In Terry and the Pirates, Weazel is a slimy, low-rent thug-for-hire who turns up working for several different Big Bads over the course of the series.
  • The title character of the young adult novel Weasel is a sociopathic mercenary who was originally hired by the US government to drive out native peoples so that settlers could take their land. After he did this, Weasel turned on the settlers, killing their livestock for fun.
  • Linguistically, Weasel Words are used for speaking in an evasive or duplicitous manner.

    Miscellaneous 
  • Unsourced Quote: "Having a menacing aura is like having a pet weasel. Not many people have one, and when they find out you do, they tend to hide under the couch."
  • The mailing list joke "Ferret Property Laws" plays on their reputations as thieves:
    1. If I like it, it's mine.
    2. If it's in my mouth, it's mine.
    3. If it's in my paw, it's mine.
    4. If I saw it first, it's mine.
    5. If I can take it from you, it's mine.
    6. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
    7. If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
    8. If you are playing with something and put it down, it automatically becomes mine.
    9. If I'm breaking or hiding something, all the pieces are mine.
    10. If it's broken, it's yours, when it's fixed, it's mine.
    11. If it looks just like mine, it's mine.
    12. If I think it's mine, it's mine.
    13. If I let you play with it, it's mine.
    14. If I can drag it under the couch, it's mine.
    15. If it's out of your reach, it's mine.
    16. If it's food, it's mine.
    17. If I lose interest in it...it's STILL mine!
  • The Norse male name Mörður is derived from the weasel's relative, the marten, and this name has a bad reputation, all the way back to The Icelandic Sagas, where Mörðr Valgarðsson is notorious for his evil ways. The word lygamörður is derived from his name, the English equivalent of which would be lying weasel.
  • Invoked by the "Wild Weasels," fighters and attack aircraft meant to Draw Aggro enemy anti-air weapons before destroying them with anti-radar weapons.

 
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Alternative Title(s): Everythings Wicked With Weasels

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Weasel mooks

A group of weasels serve as Captain Pete's henchmen, stealing from the poor under the guise of collecting taxes for the king.

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