So You Want To / Write a Magnificent Bastard

Image courtesy of Kosha Vinka

You all know the character: they're the Magnificent Bastard. That villain you Love to Hate. The mastermind. The one who probably read Machiavelli's The Prince. The one who baffles the heroes at every turn with their clever schemes, fights them to a draw with their sheer badassery, and makes everyone else in the show, The Smart Guy included, look like a total idiot. They're awesome. They're stylish. They're about as great as villainy can get. Or perhaps the Magnificent Bastard is an Anti-Hero, a hero befuddling the enemy with diabolical intellect and brilliance equal to that of a villainous mastermind, yet altogether not unwilling to resort to immoral means in their attempts to ensure their goals, whether those goals are heroic in nature or not.

Now you want to write one. You want to write a genuine Magnificent Bastard, the kind that viewers will remember for years to come. They're not just some kind of Jerkass when it comes to acts of well-calculated evil or unscrupulousness, they're astonishingly good at putting the squeeze on their foes. Well, have no fear. TV Tropes is here to help you. This guide will provide you with a list of tropes to include (and exclude) in your creation of this type of character, as well as a few examples of the very best of this amazing lot. After that, it's all up to you.

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To start off:

Keep the MB magnificent:

The Magnificent Bastard can be anything ranging from the Big Bad, a standard villain, an Anti-Hero, The Protagonist or very rarely, even a Complete Monster, but they must always be smart and must never be shown as pathetic. They must not have any form of prejudice, pettiness, stupidity or mental instability, nor they can lose their cool or rely on external sources. Some failures and slip-ups are okay however, as long as it does not impede the character's magnificence. Beware, though — often a nasty Villainous Breakdown or comitting a heinous crime like rape can disqualify a potential keeper.

Interpretation of one as a MB:

Alternative Character Interpretation is also irrelevant for this trope, since they're just Fanon and not what's directly present in the work. Quite a few Magnificent Bastards such as Guts and Darkrai can look more cowardly and/or be interpreted as relying on luck when viewed in a different light (which is part of why Magnificent Bastard is also YMMV), but it doesn't change that they're portrayed fully as Magnificent in the work's narrative.

The rules:

Rules

• Intelligent: The Magnificent Bastard must be an intelligent character. They must have a plan, and they should scheme and manipulate other characters to their favor. Even if they aren't the schemer type, they must still have sufficient intelligence to be as charming, dignified and successful as possible.
  • For a better definition on "Intelligent", this does not simply mean "academic knowledge" or "general wisdom"; they must have sufficient emotional intelligence to manipulate foes or think of complex plans/battle strategies while not falling for obvious pitfalls. An academic genius might excel in every subject in their school, but it doesn't necessarily make them wiser than a street ruffian with no academic resume; it's possible that the ruffian knows every acre of his local turf and can easily take advantage of it to outsmart and outwit tougher gangs and thus can qualify, while the genius is a petty bully who runs the moment he sees trouble and cannot.
  • No matter how cunning a mastermind is, if they suddenly slip up to make a very jarring mistake that causes their downfall directly, they are simply not magnificent enough. Multiple lesser mistakes that indirectly causes a character's downfall might also disqualify a character if the supposed MB just glosses over it, even if they manage to recover. An occasional slip-up is okay, but the Bastard must be intelligent enough to recover it to at least some extent, even if that mistake would be their downfall.
• Being a bastard: For obvious reasons, your Bastard has to not be completely morally white. They must be at least grey and go further into the sliding scale. Rarely, they can be a Complete Monster, although such a character is very difficult to write. Your Bastard must go out of their way to commit morally ambiguous acts and not fear putting a few innocents in harm's way as long as they could get the goal done and not go too overboard with it.
• Not too detestable: Your MB obviously has to be a bastard, but they cannot be too much that they will compromise their magnificence.
  • Incredibly heinous and undignified crimes such as rape and slavery have no place for any keepers of this trope. A slave-owner or rapist can still be intelligent and cunning enough to do whatever an MB can do, but the sheer despicable nature of their acts will render them too awful to be magnificent.
  • Murder is acceptable, being a Terror Hero or a Nominal Hero is acceptable, but the Bastard cannot put too much effort in committing Cold-Blooded Torture, sadistic acts and/or sentencing people to And I Must Scream situations, nor should they put masses of innocents in harm for no apparent reason. In short, your Bastard must be pragmatic, but they cannot be doing anything unnecessarily cruel, and they cannot commit acts that are too monstrous.
  • Being a staunch supporter of any evil political organization (of A Nazi by Any Other Name, Those Wacky Nazis or Dirty Commies types) will assuredly end any sort of respect the audience has with the character — on the other hand, defectors or Token Good Teammates are fair game.
• Thinking on their feet: Anyone can create complex plans and have precautions for everything when they are calm enough. But when the plan goes awry and the bets are off, they'll often lose their cool and resort to committing irrational acts that leads to their demise. The Magnificent Bastard must not be such a character; they must be as adaptive as possible. Even when things don't go their way, they must be able to at least outsmart and/or outpower their enemies, even if it means they're finally defeated and that wrench in the plan is ultimately their undoing.
• Charming: This is essentially the "Magnificent" in the Magnificent Bastard. A character that is played too horrifically or played as a Hate Sink will invoke disgust for your audience, and you must instead invoke a Love to Hate reaction or sympathy for the audience.
  • Giving your Magnificent Bastard a sympathetic backstory is a good way to start, so the audience will find their morally gray decisions justifiable and themselves relatable. Making them a Well-Intentioned Extremist or deeply caring for a person or two is another way to build a relatable image, no matter how twisted their methods seem.
  • Though if you're planning to make your Magnificent Bastard not have any sympathetic qualities or be unambiguously evil, you must make them charming through their behavior in order to make the audience not pay attention to their crimes. Making them awesome can help the villain look more charismatic and entertain the audience.
  • A character being sexy is an easy way to supplement their charm, as audiences tend to find sexy characters magnetic and may even be willing to forgive some of their less savory qualities. It should be noted that sexiness is not the same thing as attractiveness; a physically attractive character can come off as creepy and off-putting, while a less attractive character can still come off as sexy in an unconventional way. Of course, sexiness is not a substitute for charm, so don't rely too heavily on it.
• Dignified: The Bastard must be cool and compromising in all situations. This means they cannot be so smug that their plan is foiled or they underestimate their enemies and get bested. They don't need to act completely stoic and a substantial amount of ego and smugness is okay, but it cannot be so overboard that it compromises their character.
  • In a similar vein, treat the Bastard's Villainous Breakdown with caution if they have one; they cannot be breaking down in a way that compromises all of their intellectual high ground and end up getting defeated. Anyone can be charming when they're calm and plans go their way, but the very end of their road where things usually never go the characters way is all that matters. If the final part of a confrontation against a supposed MB is just a giant Villainous Breakdown on their end, even if they were nothing but a calculating mastermind beforehand, this part is likely the only thing the audience ever remembers. Occasionally this can be excused in certain circumstances, but this is rare.
  • The MB also must have enough agency to be given credit for their actions. They cannot spend their entire arc being possessed, brainwashed, or otherwise an Unwitting Pawn of someone else, since whoever is puppeteering them is coming up with the plans, not them. Made of Evil villains can still qualify however even if they lack agency, as long as they have an extensive understanding of human morality.
  • Treat the MB's characterization with caution; you do not want Character Derailmentinvoked to happen on a Magnificent Bastard. At all. It's fine if you want to subvert this trope and make a Complete Monster out of a supposed MB, but there must be a valid reason behind it. If your MB goes completely out of character to cross the Moral Event Horizon and ends up being despicable for no apparent or justifiable reason, not only will it mean that character cannot qualify, it will also completely tarnish the audience's experience of the work. There are simply certain types of characters that are better off not becoming Complete Monsters.
• Played Seriously: Just like a Complete Monster, a Magnificent Bastard should be played somewhat seriously. The leeway is somewhat lenient compared to the former trope, but the MB should be at least treated with some seriousness.
  • A villain who tries to turn everyone into fluffy horses and poodles to end all conflict can't be taken seriously and can't qualify. The MB must also not be overly subject to slapstick comedy, which undermines their magnificence unless they're just Obfuscating Stupidity only to show their true colors later on.
  • They can't be defeated in a way that's so silly that their character becomes compromised. They can however, participate in non-malicious activities, have mundane hobbies and casually hang out with other characters, but they must not be too ridiculous to make the character hard to take seriously. If they are taken with enough seriousness and still retain magnificence, charming and intelligence, then they can be Laughably Evil.
• A Substantial Plot: Your story must have something that resembles a substantial plot to have any MBs just like with CMs. If not, we won't know what the character is really planning and if they're really that magnificent.
  • Short stories that describe a person doing awful things isn't constructive for a MB, nor do overly minimalist, surreal or abstract stories that only leave vague implications on a character's actions.
  • Torture Porn, hentai doujins or overly sexist/racist caricatures for no purpose other than for the sake of edginess and/or exploitation also cannot have any MBs, if the characters within are not simply too despicable or undignified to qualify. Works with gory and erotic elements that still have a substantial story and aren't made simply for the sake of shock value or titillation can still have Magnificent Bastards, however.

Related tropes

Necessary tropes:

These are the must-haves, the tropes without which a character can't qualify as a Magnificent Bastard, lest be impressing anyone.

These tropes are generally essential to a Magnificent Bastard:

• The Chessmaster: The Magnificent Bastard is, first and foremost, a planner. They have to be able to manipulate events with supreme skill. Characters like Lex Luthor may not be the physical match of the heroes they go up against, but their ability to plan things out beforehand ensures that they obtain victory more often than not. Bonus points if they actually play chess or any variation of the game.
• Manipulative Bastard: Because sometimes controlling events just isn't enough. The Magnificent Bastard needs to be able to manipulate people, by reaching inside them and hitting them where it emotionally hurts. The best Magnificent Bastards have an intuitive grasp of a character's basic psyche and will use it against them at every opportunity.

Other tropes:

Supplementary tropes

• Affably Evil: Making an MB polite or even downright friendly despite their villainy can help to win them further audience sympathy. It's better if your protagonists like them too, as it adds a whole new dimension to the relationship that you can play with. However, if an MB becomes too friendly, they can become morally white and lose their status.
• Anti-Hero: Because MBs are morally grey at best, this is usually required for a heroic character to become one. Be it the rebel who has no qualms sacrificing an innocent or two to stop an evil empire, the revenge-driven Nominal Hero who bloodily and messily executes his revenge targets or the Knight in Sour Armor who rejects the idea of The Power of Friendship, your hero will often evoke admiration from your audience, and they'll cheer for them to win especially if the villains are really depraved with a few Complete Monsters within.
• Anti-Villain: A part of being "Magnificent" is having some sort of traits that the audience likes, so a layer of moral complexity is very often a major help in making a villain a Magnificent Bastard. It's a bonus if they manage to get a genuine Heel–Face Turn and do not receive Redemption Demotion.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: While not necessary, analytical skill can be a huge tool in ensuring a character is seen as magnificent. This doubles with Xanatos Speed Chess, as a clever villain will be able to figure out and break down a situation. This is very much essential in regards to intelligence rather than just charm.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Given the insightful, meticulous, and strategic nature of the Magnificent Bastard, instead of giving them a tragic fate, you can make it so in the end, they will achieve all their goals and get away with it. After all, the Magnificent Bastard's success will serve as a reminder of just how genuinely competent and intelligent they are. That being said, if they keep winning even in implausible circumstances and the heroes turn into Failure Heroes who never have anything go right for them, you can instead expect hatred toward the character and accusations of author favoritism.
• Benevolent Boss: If your MB has any underlings, have the Bastard treat their underlings well, either by ruling through respect, cred and achievement, through extreme competence and rewarding competent minions through promotions, while weeding anyone that's truly incompetent and/or monstrous. Even if they don't, they should not go out of their way to abuse their underlings, either.
• Beware the Silly Ones/Obfuscating Stupidity: This isn't required, but the Magnificent Bastard can really fool the hero and their team especially if they're The Mole. Once the Magnificent Bastard pulls this off, no one will ever suspect that they have done a horrendous deed. First trope can also give to your character more audience love, if under "Silly" means "funny".
• Card-Carrying Villain: Sometimes, it's best to ditch delusional and hypocritical Motive Rants in favor of a lambastic villain who knows exactly what they are. They're just having a blast playing everyone else like fiddles to reach their own goals with a proud Psychotic Smirk. And honestly, why shouldn't they? The audience most certainly likes watching this. Of course, veering into For the Evulz is probably not a good idea.
• Consummate Liar: This is another trope that your bastard not only can use, but should, since they're a master of trickery and deceit. Using lies to hide their real intentions, your bastard can be sure that no one suspects a thing about their hidden agenda. Of course, don't make the lies too blatant. If the lies are too obvious, it runs the risk of making the ones the bastard is lying to look like they're carrying the Idiot Ball instead of making the bastard look magnificent... Unless, of course, the whole point is for them to know they're lying so the Magnificent Bastard can play mind games while they try to figure out their next move, but this kind of layered deception can be very hard to pull off well. Or, as an alternative to lying, you could try making it so your bastard doesn't even bother to lie in the first place. While somewhat difficult to do from a writing standpoint, when done right, this can up your bastard's magnificent and bastard levels several fold. Expect any bastard that engages in this to be a master of False Reassurance, You Didn't Ask, Exact Words, and Metaphorically True. The two are not mutually exclusive; a villain with a keen grasp of when to lie, how to lie, and how much to lie can be very slippery indeed.
• The Corrupter: As it says on the page, sometimes a character doesn't need to manipulate others into doing something. Perhaps they can make a character do something of their own will, and point out they had no hand in making them do so. It's a very hard ask - they've just made a person do something, without any obvious influence from another, and made them look it out of their own will. A character that can do this can be quite magnificent indeed, and it may not be too hard to suggest some of the most magnificent do not need to manipulate, only suggest. Never have a direct hand, but only guide. Do be careful with this one, though - don't make it seem too 'off-hand', and make a point to show what they've done. When it hits the one corrupted, show what happened and the bastard's magnificence can be shown.
• Deadpan Snarker: It isn't essential, but the ability to dish out the snark goes a long way towards helping establish a Magnificent Bastard's magnificence, especially if it's used to get under the hero's skin and cause them to lose their cool. Then, when the Magnificent Bastard takes advantage of their distraction, it will all look like part of the plan even if it wasn't.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Though it will undoubtedly take much more effort to properly pull off, having your magnificent bastard as a product of their environment and upbringing can work wonders against them becoming a Mary Sueinvoked, and grant amazing sympathy from the audience on their actions and opinions. After all, both Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan conquered very large parts of the world, but had different ways of going about it due to their differing upbringings (Disputed Heir of Greece vs. Unwanted Steppe Child), challenges faced, and opportunities presented. If you're trying to make them more aggressive than the standard MB, perhaps they grew up in a harsh warrior society; if they seem unreasonably accepting of others, perhaps they were a member of an outcast group themselves. Differing cultures between the hero and the villain can also help create a more morally grey setting, and set the magnificent bastard up for a defeat without some Deus ex Machina harming their intelligence because they didn't fully understand the rallying/disheartening/otherwise unexpected reaction of their opponent's allies and/or peoples simply because such reactions wouldn't happen in theirs.
• Determinator: Few things will draw admiration like an iron-willed character who refuses to give up their goals for anything, especially when they overcome a tough situation. That is, as long as they're no fool about it and know when a tactical retreat is the only option.
• The Dreaded: If your MB is a well-known figure in your work, their brilliance and ruthlessness probably earned them a reputation that inspires fear in their opponents. Not only that fear is an early way to establish the threat your MB poses, it's also an useful tool they can (and should) use to gain a psychological edge on their enemies. Of course, the more build-up there is, the more important it will be for your MB to back it all up in a spectacular fashion, lest it ends up an Informed Ability.
• Enlightened Self-Interest: Want to have your Magnificent Bastard still come of as, well, a bastard even when they're doing the right thing? One common way for a writer to have their cake and eat it too is to have them do something good out of pragmatic self-interest.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas/Family-Values Villain: Having your villain love their parents and/or relatives can make said villain more likeable, especially in cultures where familial love is culturally appreciated.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Few things humanize a villain like people they genuinely care for. If your bastard has a strong romantic, familial, or even platonic bond with somebody else, it can go a long way towards both fleshing them out and making them more likeable to the audience. Doing morally questionable things for their loved ones also gives more credence to their bastardry, as it's their own way of caring about them.
• Even Evil Has Standards: It's not necessary, but establishing that your bastard has standards can go a long way towards earning them audience sympathy and respect. Just remember to make those standards constant: if they're opposed to something but later reveals themselves to be a hypocrite about it, that hard earned respect will go down the drain.
• Evil Genius: Nothing exemplifies the magnificence of a Magnificent Bastard better than a villain who is a genius — an extremely intelligent villain whose intellect is their most crucial ability in advancing their goals. This could provide a strong argument for why they are a Chessmaster and an exceptional manipulator.
• Evil Is Cool: Few things earn a villain audience respect like coolness. Whether they're suavely sinister, greatly intimidating, or just have a commanding force of personality, being cool helps to earn a villain significant Magnificent Bastard points. It's not a guarantee that they qualify though—even the most awesome baddies can have major character flaws or make critical mistakes.
• Evil Virtues: These are a good source of sympathy and depth. A Magnificent Bastard will have many of these, or sometimes all of them in some rare cases. In other words, inserting these into a Bastard makes them a much more three-dimensional character and could cement their Worthy Opponent status with their enemies.
• Faux Affably Evil: One of the key areas of a Magnificent Bastard is their charm and personality, which requires them going about their evil deeds while maintaining a polite and pleasant demeanor. Even if this attitude turns out to be an act and the Bastard has no good intentions at all, it can still go a long way to charm and win over an audience. Just be careful not to make their actions too awful and evil, as this will take away from their sympathy and charm regardless of how polite they are. The worst case scenario is your villain veers off from being a Magnificent Bastard into merely a polite Complete Monster.
• Finger-Tenting: This is a common pose for the Magnificent Bastard. It's a great way to portray them as deceptive and confident. It's especially effective when combined with a Psychotic Smirk, a Kubrick Stare, or ominous lighting.
• Gentleman Thief: The Magnificent Bastard, if a criminal rather than wide-scale schemer, can easily be a Gentleman Thief. Combining class, cunning, and criminality, the Gentleman Thief carries the charming edge as well as the intelligence and cleverness requisite of the archetype.
• Graceful Loser: Since the Magnificent Bastard is usually motivated by romance, tragedy, and most importantly honor, whenever they lose to the heroes, having them face defeat with dignity is a very good idea. Rather than throw a hissy fit or respond in shock and disbelief, a character of their type can compliment the heroes whether it be for their skill, their strength, their honor, or something else they may have in mind (I.E. The Power of Friendship). If the Magnificent Bastard's defeat equals death, having them Face Death with Dignity wouldn't be such a bad idea either.
• Heel–Face Turn: While redemption isn't essential for a Magnificent Bastard, it can be a good way to make sure your Bastard isn't too bastard, earning that extra bit of sympathy from the audience. Just be careful not to do the redemption too early, as there still needs to be a significant amount of time when your Bastard was being a bastard. If they go through redemption before they did any significantly morally dubious acts, then they may end up being too heroic to qualify. But once enough time has passed, your MB can turn over a new leaf and maybe even stay as a hero for the rest of the story, where so long as they remain smart and dignified they'll still have had a Magnificent phase. A good place to put their redemption can be near the end of a specific story arc like a finale, or maybe even in the form of a Heroic Sacrifice.
• Hero Killer: As the Magnificent Bastard always has a backup strategy just in case so that they win every time, making them this is another good idea as well. You can tell anyway that whenever a bastard who happens to be a Hero Killer shows up, the good guys are sure not to stand a chance, especially with the backup plans your bastard has in store for them. Just make sure not to make them too powerful, even if it's to the point of making them overpowered to the point of being nearly impossible to defeat, as it may just have a chance of landing them in Villain Sueinvoked territory.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: Generally speaking, this is another great trope for your Magnificent Bastard. Whether they are a Deceptive Disciple, a Treacherous Advisor, Bastard Understudy, or even a Big Bad Friend and it be being Faux Affably Evil or using Blatant Lies, you can make your bastard really good at hiding their true plans from everyone else. Just don't take too long in drawing out the reveal, or your audience's interest may give way to frustration.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: While an Arc Villain or Anti-Hero may be the most obvious candidate for an MB, someone who plays second in command can be just as magnificent. If your primary antagonist is incompetent or your protagonist is a bumbling Idiot Hero, a good Foil can be a dangerous, often comedic presence, and it not be their fault when things go south. In cases where they assist a villain or hero who's competent in their own right, they can still stand out by covering a different set of skills, or pulling through when their boss can't act directly. Getting the sidekick-boss dynamic right can be a challenge, but a rewarding one to anyone looking to do so.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Hero or villain, a bastard with a heart is always a good idea if you wish to balance out their worst deeds or give them unexpected depths. While a polite exterior is typical for a MB, it isn't strictly needed so long as you make their rude or cold demeanor work into their charm. They may for instance have an Awesome Ego, or they might be the Only Sane Man understandably annoyed by his team.
• Karma Houdini: If a Magnificent Bastard can skillfully craft an escape plan and emerge unscathed without facing any real consequences for their actions (even in the face of sabotaged plans), it will undoubtedly amplify the character's magnificence, since their ability to slip through the cracks unharmed only serves to further enhance their skills.
• Knight of Cerebus: To make an MB even more horrific than they are, you can make them permanently darken the tone of the work as soon as they show up, since your work might not be as carefree and fun as before because of the sheer intimidation factor the MB possesses, especially when Serial Escalation occurs and other villains, who may or may not be MBs themselves show up and each of them can give your heroes a hard, hard time. Just be sure not to make them head towards being an unsympathetic Complete Monster or even shove them across the Moral Event Horizon himself, as you most definitely still want to have your bastard's story using some sympathy from his audience, after all.
• Knight Templar/Well-Intentioned Extremist: Intentions behind one's crimes are among the most important for if the audience is meant to sympathise or revile your Bastard. In fact sometimes it is just down to intent that makes the difference between a destructive Magnificent Bastard and a Complete Monster, even when the crime in question is equal or greater. Though be careful about the Well-Intentioned Extremist's Villainous Breakdown and actions, as this may risk them falling into Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist territory and potentially becoming a Complete Monster.
• Large Ham: If an MB speaks grandiosely and loudly and makes well on the boasts, the audience is definitely going to be entralled by their magnificence. That said, make sure your character goes well in their boasts, or they'll just be a Boisterous Weakling. Also, flawed execution of hamminess can make a character come off as ridiculous, which tends to reduce their gravitas.
• Laughably Evil: Just like with the Complete Monster, a Magnificent Bastard can be funny. One point of divergence between this trope and Complete Monster is that the latter disallows primarily comedic characters or most Black Comedy settings, but here they are considered fair game. Just be sure to not make them too silly — excessive silliness may end up costing a character dignity, especially if they're the butt of the joke too much, but as long as you make sure the MB is consistently portrayed as magnificent, they can still count. An MB should always be funny only because they want to; and if they do, they should do it in a Crosses the Line Twice manner where they are hilarious but doesn't disminish their threat level. Alternately, you can make your Magnificent Bastard look comical while also making it clear that they are still a serious threat, just don't go too overboard with it.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: If you really want the audience to root for your character putting them up against a more evil character in an Evil vs. Evil situation will go a long way. But using this poorly runs the risk of seeming like we have to root for the character because the other characters are worse and leading to the audience considering it too bleak and no longer caring.
• Lovable Rogue: A dastardly outlaw who nonetheless has lovable and honorable traits tends to be an easy path to success for this archetype, whether hero or villain. The combination of their crimes and their sheer lovable tenacity mean that the audience is likely to sympathize with them while simultaneously admiring their brilliance in many ways.
• The Men in Black: Similar to The Strategist, the audience will undoubtedly root for a surprisingly smart, badass, and lethal government agent who excels in executing counterterrorism strategies and/or black ops operations. Bonus points if they are working for the good of the nation and in favor of its interests.
• Noble Demon: Making your bastard one is a good idea, since they are rarely, if ever, pointlessly cruel. It's always interesting to note that your bastard should speak in a polite and sophisticated manner quite often. Just make sure they're not too polite, unless you really want to make out of your bastard a Draco in Leather Pants, which, of course, is quite fun once you get used to it.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: There are MBs that don't play mind games, scheming or manipulation, and they're these. Even if they do, making them such is still strongly recommended. A character who never plays around when they act is sure to earn a good deal of audience respect for their pragmatism. Whether a villain or an anti-hero, a bastard who just tries to deal with their enemies as quickly and effectively as possible will appear intelligent and avoid coming off as arrogant or needlessly sadistic.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: If among some of the "victims" of your Magnificent Bastard there are villains worse than him and depraved monsters, whether for reasons of justice or simply to advance goals seen from a purely pragmatic perspective and in favor of certain interests, there can be a very strong argument for this trope to apply to them and be cheered on by the same audience.
• Pet the Dog: This trope fits really well with any Magnificent Bastard who has followers. As such, your bastard should act like a gentleman to their minions, and treat them with respect, even letting them live even if they don't succeed. Yeah, petting the dog is a fitting trope for bastards who have those doing as he tells them. Another way your bastard can Pet the Dog is to show kindness to others... and look magnificent while doing so. For example, they can return something that was lost by its owner and that's what gives your bastard the respect they deserve from those they performed his Pet the Dog moment for, especially if they're Affably Evil.
• The Plan: Proficiency in all types of plans should be a part of every Magnificent Bastard's repertoire.
  • Batman Gambit: As stated in Manipulative Bastard, they know what those around them are likely to do and explot it
  • Xanatos Gambit: Named for David Xanatos, a perfect example of a Magnificent Bastard. He benefits even when his plans fail or someone thwarts them.
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: If the villain's plans don't go off the rails at some point, it's hard to argue for them being a Magnificent Bastard rather than simply a good planner. That is where Xanatos Speed Chess comes in; if the villain cannot improvise on the fly, they will likely fail humiliatingly. The mark of a true Magnificent Bastard isn't how they handle things when they're easy, but how they improvise when they're hard.
  • Just be careful to avoid Gambit Pileups, which even the most careful of planners can fall victim to. While a Gambit Pileup can be beneficial for whoever ultimately comes out on top, it can also often lead one or more of the planners to lose their footing. If a character is meant to be seen as a Magnificent Bastard and gets involves in a Gambit Pileup, it's advisable to ultimately make their opponent a Smug Snake.
• Pragmatic Hero/Unscrupulous Hero: A particularly ruthless, visionary, Machiavellian yet well-intentioned pragmatic Anti-Hero could be a very good choice. As Machiavelli himself could attest in his book The Prince, while ruthless methods may be unavoidable, everything could be distilled down to a greater good for which the character is fighting, especially if they are acting in the interests of a nation.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Your Bastard's evil must be practical. There are lines that they will never cross, and they must show restraint in how much they will expend on their evil. This means no kicking dogs, doing evil acts for the sake of, and the like.
• Sexy Villains, Chaste Heroes: If you really want your villain to be more popular than the heroes, one way of accomplishing this is to make the villain an attractive, seductive manipulator running circles around modest, goody-two shoes heroes. Bonus points if the character actually uses seduction as a tool to aid their plans.
• The Strategist: Everyone loves a good military genius, so making your Bastard skillful at planning and executing military strategies is a great way to earn audience respect. The virtues of a good commander are also great traits for a Bastard to have. Bonus points if the Bastard is a Frontline General or Four-Star Badass willing to personally take part in the action. One caveat, however: it's possible to take this too far; a Mary Tzuinvoked is more likely to annoy or irritate the audience than be respected by them.
• That One Boss: In video game settings, if you want an MB to be especially memorable, whether they're a Magnificent Bastard, you can give them an incredibly difficult boss fight. Getting defeated again and again while in-play, will drive home to your audience just how badass your villain is in-story and reinforce the prowess he displayed in the cutscenes. Just make sure to avoid Fake Difficulty, and preferably, One-Winged Angel. A good MB should be able to defeat the player using only their own strengths. Making them a Duel Boss isn't necessarily a bad idea either.
• Took a Level in Badass: Not every Magnificent Bastard started out as one. It is possible for them to begin as an unremarkable character with maybe a few or several undignified moments/traits they've ultimately shed away to become fully magnificent.
• The Trickster: While it applies more to the antiheroic version of the Magnificent Bastard, a cunning version of The Trickster has serious skill in matters of cleverness and in defiance of authority. The Trickster is extremely useful when writing many characters who are liars, scoundrels, or antiheroes who the audience nonetheless loves.
• Übermensch: Living by one's own visions, philosophy and moral code can be quite a help, since characters with such philosophies have no qualms trying to do morally questionable things.
• Villain Killer: Like Hero Killer above, anti-heroic Magnificent Bastards always have a backup strategy just in case so that they win every time against the villains, making them this is another good idea as well. In some cases, their mere presence can spell doom to villains, as The Doom Slayer and Guts — approved Anti-Hero examples with very high body counts — can testify. Just like Hero Killer above, make sure not to make them too powerful especially to the point of being impossible to defeat, as it may just have a chance of landing them in Mary Sueinvoked territory.
• Villain with Good Publicity: This is often linked to Affably Evil and Hidden Agenda Villain. Giving your bastard good publicity isn't such a bad idea, either, as they can attract the respect of civilizations with their sophisticated manners. Making them act overall kindly and friendly with others is also supplementary, as well. Just be careful to avoid making others care for them too much, as it may make them too magnificent and even run them the risk of becoming a Villain Sueinvoked. Nevertheless, making them more friendly than expected can place them into Draco in Leather Pants territory, if that's what you want.
• Villainous Fashion Sense/Badass in a Nice Suit: The way your Magnificent Bastard dresses matters. Just like how a Fashion-Victim Villain won't be taken seriously, if your MB is a Sharp-Dressed Man in a nice suit, then it gives the audience more window to respect them. Of course, you can go for the inverse, making them look as awful and shady as possible while holding no punches making them competent threats.
• Villainous Valor: Fitting with how the Magnificent Bastard is not a Dirty Coward, having them display some real bravery and cunning in a corner can be key to endearing a bastard to the audience. Even so, a Magnificent Bastard should still have a healthy appreciation of the threat they're facing; Suicidal Overconfidence is hard to make respectable.
• Visionary Villain: A Magnificent Bastard has a goal and will never stop until they had completed it or they fall, and if a villain has an ambitious goal and pulls it off with minimal resources, the audience towards them skyrockets. To that end, they'll have to do almost anything. Even when it comes to moving heaven and hell, they will try to succeed.
• Wicked Cultured: Culture and sophistication can make the Magnificent Bastard look classy and intelligent by having them quote William Shakespeare frequently or as part of a Hannibal Lecture. It could even make him look like a Cultured Badass by having them kick ass to Mozart without spilling a drop of their fine wine.
• Worthy Opponent: This is another way that you can make your Magnificent Bastard appeal to the audience: if they consider the hero a worthy adversary, or is viewed as one by the hero. Also, one the bastard's strengths is that they rarely, if ever, underestimate their opponents, so keep this trope firmly in mind when you write their plans. They know that the hero (or villain if they're playing on the heroic side) is bright, and plans accordingly.

Tropes to avoid or be careful with

• Abusive Parents: If a character treats their creations or children like absolute shit or only treats them like some sort of tool, they'll often be too despicable to qualify. An Abusive Parent can still be an MB, but they must not driven by sadism or selfish cruelty, but either have an incredibly warped but genuine perspective on the well-being of their family or have other complicating factors that prevent this from destroying their magnificence.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Arrogance is the worst enemy of critical thinkers and strategists, so if a character causes their own downfall because of their pride, they can't count. That said, a Magnificent Bastard can still be this, as long as they don't get blandly smug and can back up their boasting.
• Asshole Victim: If your MB being one won't disqualify them (so long as their end isn't too undignified), having assholes as their only victims will. Magnificent as they may be, your character should be someone who has little qualms to hurt or use innocent/good people as a means to their own goals. Failing to keep this in mind will cost the "Bastard" moniker even to an otherwise strong candidate. That being said, this doesn't mean that the Magnificent Bastard can't target awful individuals who usually happen to be worse than the Bastard himself, especially for Anti Heroic types. This can help in making them more magnificient after all, as long they aren't too morally white. They can be cases of Pragmatic Villainy, Even Evil Has Standards or Pay Evil unto Evil.
• Ax-Crazy: This trope should generally be avoided, as making the bastard too violent and taking sadistic glee in inflicting harm will immediately cost them sympathy and sometimes even dignity. A Magnificent Bastard should be a Pragmatic Villain who avoids unnecessarily cruel actions.
• Badass Decay/Villain Decay: A strong start is not enough; if a character is seen as having become too pathetic by the audience, devolving into a walking punchline, it can and will cost them their magnificence. Keep their character consistent.
• Bad Boss: It's true that some characters will kill their minions either for failing them or just because they no longer have a need for them as a reminder that the character is truly a bastard - there's just a good reason why your bastard wants to be careful around this. Nothing damages or destroys the respect of the audience like killing the character's mooks too constantly. It makes the boss look exceedingly petty as well as prone to unnecessarily wasting resources. A good Magnificent Bastard is extremely careful when it comes to dealing with their mooks and only doles out punishment appropriate to the situation, so using this trope at your discretion is a very smart idea.
• Base-Breaking Character: Generally, you want your MB to be beloved by the audience as a whole; if half the fanbase hates them, thinks they are overpowered or Unintentionally Unsympathetic, or otherwise does not take them seriously as an MB, then that might be an indication of a need to re-examine the character. Sometimes a writer might want to intentionally invoke this if they are going for a morally gray character and want to fans to debate whether they are in the right, but you should still be careful.
• Berserk Button: Another trope to be careful around is the Berserk Button. Naturally, nothing causes respect for your bastard to fall than doing something to make them suddenly fly into a rage over and over and over again. As long as your bastard's Berserk Button isn't hit too many times, the audience won't mind. In fact, having a specific Berserk Button that's only pushed a handful of times can show a Bastard lose control, giving a good scare to both other characters and the audience, while still letting them keep their cool most of the time. Pushing the button far too often, though, may result in your bastard's Villainous Breakdown.
• Blatant Lies: This trope is easier to fall into than one would think, and the end result says more about the Idiot Plotinvoked than the villain's "intelligence". Your bastard's lies don't have to be perfect (in fact, they're usually found out later on), but whatever story they craft shouldn't be easy to pick apart by a reasonably competent or intelligent character.
• Boisterous Weakling: Often coming as a combination of a Smug Snake and a Dirty Coward, a Boisterous Weakling is a trope that you want to avoid when writing a Magnificent Bastard. If a bastard is physically weaker than their opponent they should be more subtle and quiet and should only act confident and arrogant if they have the skills to back it up. If they don't, they will be easily defeated for greatly underestimating the opponents they mercilessly taunted while losing the respect and admiration of the audience.
• Brainwashed and Crazy/Demonic Possession: A character who lacks agency by virtue of being brainwashed or possessed cannot be a Magnificent Bastard. The character brainwashing or possessing them, however, will often count. Having said that, a character who is temporarily possessed/brainwashed and who still has some agency (such as a Willing Channeler, or someone who is Fighting from the Inside) can still be a Magnificent Bastard, especially if they can free themselves from the possession/brainwashing. But a character whose every Magnificent and/or Bastardly deed is the doing of someone else won't count.
• Broken Ace/Broken Bird: No matter how cunning or charismatic a character is on the outside, it's also important that they have a degree of confidence and self-assurance on the inside. If a character is full of self-loathing and inner turmoil, that they come off as a pathetic wreck, then that's going to cost them a lot of admiration from the audience. That isn't to say an MB can't be a Tragic Villain, but how they choose to move forward from said tragedy is important, if a Bastard is too pitiful then it's going to be difficult for them to be seen as Magnificent.
• Butt-Monkey/The Chew Toy: A Magnificent Bastard demands respect, so that means they cannot be constantly subjected to humiliation or abuse, as it will hurt their cool factor and make them come off as pathetic. You'll want to avoid this trope at all costs, unless it is a case of Obfuscating Stupidity.
• Character Derailmentinvoked: There's no better method to alienate the audience than inexplicably screwing up with a well-done villain's characterization so they'll no longer qualify for all the wrong reasons. Particularly egregious cases can not only deprive whatever magnificence they have, but also reduce them into nothing short of a self-serving Complete Monster operating under a veneer of nobility and/or well-intentioned extremism. Keep your portrayal of your Magnificent Bastard consistent.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder/No Honor Among Thieves: While some betrayals are acceptable (especially if your character is a mole, The Starscream, or a Con Man) making them betray everyone will make them come off as not magnificent at all, especially if said betrayals come back to bite them. That said, if the constant betrayals of the character are calculated and/or necessary for them to advance toward clear objectives, there can be a strong argument for applying this trope to your character.
• Complete Monster: Although some MBs may seem like this for being how gruesomely vicious they are, only to ultimately not count as a one because of their sparse, yet significant redeeming qualities, generally speaking, making a Magnificent Bastard a full-blown Complete Monster is something that you want to avoid. The Magnificent Bastard evokes awe in the audience, and grudging respect from the hero; while the Complete Monster evokes fear and loathing, and a certain level of disgust from both. The audience will, on some level at least, want a Magnificent Bastard to stick around. All they want a Complete Monster to do on the other hand, is die as soon as possible. This isn't to say that the Magnificent Bastard doesn't frighten the hero, but it's in a "I'm not sure I can defeat them" way, not a "Oh my God, I have to stop them before they start raping nuns in the street" way. There's a difference there, and it's very important: No matter how effective a chessmaster or manipulator a CM may be, their deeds will often be so awful that their magnificence will be overshadowed by their evilness. Granted, characters can indeed count as both, but they're still a pair of tropes that are very hard to mix together. Though, if you really want to write a character that's both a Complete Monster and a Magnificent Bastard, a general rule is that they will be defined as a Monster through the sheer harm their plans can cause rather than their sadism, while following most of the usual telltale signs of a MB. They can't be any more sadistic than a standard villain especially in the personal crimes department, and their defeat cannot be too undignified. For further information about what can lead to this, see the Write a Complete Monster page.
• Designated Villain: Your Bastard has to be a Bastard for the right reasons. Just like with Complete Monsters, your reason of the character being a Bastard has to hold up. If not, the character can be considered too morally white by the audience to qualify, especially when the heroes are way worse. There's a reason why Takuto Maruki qualifies despite comfortably giving everyone what they want.
• Dirty Coward: If there's one thing a Magnificent Bastard is not, it's this. Like the Hate Sink, a Dirty Coward is obviously someone not to be liked or admired as they make their fear obvious, screw over people to save themselves, and would abandon their plans if said plans mean putting themselves in danger. All of which negate any magnificence from the bastard. That's not to say an MB should never be afraid or flee from danger, but their response should be proportionate to the situation and they should have more reason for doing so than simply being craven. Ideally, they would remain at least somewhat composed and rational.
• Disproportionate Retribution: While this trope is no instant disqualifier and might even be acceptable for an otherwise Designated Villain, a misuse will make it all too easy for your would-be-MB to Kick the Dog or cross the Moral Event Horizon without meaning to. You should always keep in mind there is such a thing as going too far, especially when it comes to mass murder, torture or rape, the last of which should never be used.
• Driven to Suicide: A character broken enough to get to this point may be found too pitiful to count. While there are acceptable situations for this, it's usually a dangerous trope to use when writing a character meant to be magnificent.
• Evil Gloating: This is a trope that can be done well, but is somewhat dangerous when writing a Magnificent Bastard. Sometimes, you may feel the need to have the Large Ham villain unleash their appetite on the setting around them, preferably at a time when they have the hero at their knees. A well-placed Breaking Lecture or "The Reason You Suck" Speech, done right, can show that your Bastard is, at least for the moment, superior to their hapless opponent. If the Evil Gloating compromises the character to the point that they get outright defeated by the heroes afterwards, the character can lose all respect from the audience, and you will likely create a Smug Snake instead.
• Evil Is Petty: Gratuitous dickishness tends to diminish the respect the audience has for a bad guy, especially if it's small-minded in nature. It's not an automatic disqualifier, but it's definitely something a writer should be careful about using if they want to write a Magnificent Bastard.
• Fantastic Racism: If your character bears an immense hatred for a certain race for no apparent reason, it's less likely for your character to be Magnificent, especially as villains of this type are more prone to committing atrocities unfitting for an MB. On the other hand, if the racism has a motive and it's against an Always Chaotic Evil type of ilk that the narrative establishes had to be purged, a character can succeed in charming the audience while still bearing some hatred for another species.
• Fashion-Victim Villain: Dressing in an exceptionally ridiculous way can and does detract from the audience's ability to take the character seriously. No matter how brilliant your bastard is, if they come out in a tutu and a gorilla mask, the audience is going to laugh at them, not with them. That isn't to say that the character cannot wear a ridiculous costume such as moving in disguise, Obfuscating Stupidity or wearing a Beware the Silly Ones façade, but generally speaking the better dressed they are, the better the vibe they're going to give off and the more the audience is going to be intimidated by their presence.
• Final Solution / Omnicidal Maniac and Genocide Tropes in general: Trying to indiscriminately murder anyone in the vicinity will completely vanquish whatever magnificence your character has, and depending on case this can be just as bad as Rape or actions done For the Evulz. Even simply playing a supporting role in a genocide can lead a character to being too heinous. Unless the mass murder is only a means to the end, there's a legitimate reason for carrying out the kills and/or the enemy is an Always Chaotic Evil race that's so pitilessly awful that it mandates a Final Solution, of course.
• Flat Character/Generic Doomsday Villain: If there is one thing a Magnificent Bastard is known for, it's the charming and distinctive personalities that they bring. If a bastard is not given a lot of personality or any at all, then they'll come across as boring, uninteresting and certainly not magnificent.
• For the Evulz: This is a trope that most certainly never goes together with a Magnificent Bastard. Committing evil acts just for the sake of it completely destroys any respect the audience has for a character because of the wanton cruelty inherent to evil actions done for no reason. A Magnificent Bastard should have a clear reason behind their most depraved actions and not do them just because they feel like it.
• Gambit Roulette: This trope can prove a character is audacious and daring, but it can also lead to highly improbable occurrences leading to victory. It's easy to fall victim to writing ridiculous plans that will make the audience feel as though the character is succeeding solely by the merits of the plot rather than their own.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Having your character get angered easily can cost them their magnificence. While a Magnificent Bastard can certainly get angry, keep in mind that if they do, it's usually for understandable reasons and they don't go too far in their anger. One common way to have a temperamental character still come off as a Magnificent Bastard is for them to retain some level of composure and rationality even when angry.
• Harmless Villain: A Magnificent Bastard is always meant to be a genuine threat, not a silly goofball to laugh at. If your Bastard can't do something more than simply throw eggs at the heroes, no one will take them seriously.
• Hate Sink: Concept-wise, you simply do not want to design a Magnificent Bastard to be hated in a completely non-entertaining way or design them after a kind of people or concept you hate the most. For example, if you hate your Real Life boss, don't design your supposed MB after them. It is not gonna end well and you might as well as hit a roadblock in your writing theory. Conversely, if your intention is for a character to be a Hate Sink but the audience perceives them as this instead, you should go back and examine your writing to see what caused the mismatch in intention and execution.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: There are few defeats more humiliating than ones resulting from your MB's own tactics. It is generally best for their loss to come from factors they couldn't have possibly forethought than an obvious flaw they could have avoided with better planning. The only exceptions are when the Magnificent Bastard also do their best to save themselves from such a situation and still manage to do a substantial amount of harm, or come out with a Posthumous Villain Victory.
• Human Trafficking: Given how it heavily ties into Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil and Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil, which are two very disqualifying factors in themselves, people should avoid this trope when writing their bastards.
• Hypocrite: An MB may be hypocritical, but they should never become so hypocritical that they defeat the purpose of whatever they seem to aim for. This can reduce their magnificence greatly, and can make the audience far less endeared to them than they should be.
• I'm a Humanitarian/Sapient Eat Sapient/To Serve Man: While not an automatic disqualifier, cannibalism (or eating humans or other sapient beings in general) can greatly hurt a character's magnificence due to how heinous the act is, and is far more likely to be associated with a Complete Monster or Hate Sink. There's also the fact that an MB should have no feasible need to engage in cannibalism, as even if they are starved and malnourished, they should be smart enough to find another alternative to something so barbaric. Having said all this, there have been MBs that have engaged in cannibalism (e.g. Hannibal Lecter), but it can be a very fine line to walk.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: This is a trope you should avoid at all costs when dealing with a MB. If your character is never able to achieve any form of success, no matter how honorable or cunning they are, it will instantly cost their magnificence. They can still suffer some major defeats, but they need to be a competent adversary in a story.
• Invincible Villain/Villain Sueinvoked/Mary Tzu: And on the other end of the spectrum, the one thing you probably want to avoid more than anything else is making your Magnificent Bastard TOO magnificent. A Magnificent Bastard is typically built up as a "perfect villain", but they are still characters with flaws and aren't completely unstoppable. A character whose plans always succeed, who always correctly predicts how everyone will react, and who curb-stomps everyone they fight will quickly become an object of fan hatred and drive the story into Only the Author Can Save Them Now territory, especially if they win in the end. One of the defining traits of the Magnificent Bastard is that the audience likes them despite their morally ambiguous actions. Therefore, it is only natural that you might like them quite a bit too. But if you make the supposed MB too perfect, then they'll automatically lose the audience's respect. Give them their victories here and there to show their magnificence, but make them work for it and suffer setbacks too.
• Jerkass: Your bastard should be a jerk of sorts, but you should be mindful about making them too outwardly mean. Not only will your audience wonder why anyone would willingly put up with their crap (let alone trust any word they might say), they may find them too petty or obnoxious to be magnificent. While Jerk with a Heart of Jerk or Bitch in Sheep's Clothing are useful tropes to get around it, playing this trope straight to the core is more appropriate for a Complete Monster and not this.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: While teetering likeable characters into Complete Monster or Hate Sink territory for no justificable reason is awful enough for the audience, you'll want to especially avoid this for a Magnificent Bastard. Not only will the character assuredly lose all of their magnificence, the audience's respect for your work can be tarnished like they would with your character.
• Kick the Dog: The Magnificent Bastard should never do anything so horrible that they lose the Magnificent part of their status. That said, there's a reason why Bastard is also a part of the title. A few well-placed kicks can remind the audience that yes, they are the villain of the piece. Too many, though, may well cost them any audience sympathy. Use actions like this carefully, and make sure they never go so far as to cross the Moral Event Horizon.
• Memory Gambit: Not everyone is cut out to beat a Lie Detector or Living Lie Detector, this can extend even to magnificent bastards. Utilizing this trope can be a great way to overcome this obstacle. But it should be used with caution, not remembering plans can be quite an obstacle, especially if that includes not remembering you had plans in the first place. As such this plan should be treated as high risk on the Magnificent Bastard's part. In order to minimize risk the Magnificent Bastard must try to set up circumstances so that after the gambit is set in place, it does its job, and following that the return of his memories. This is really tricky to pull off with his magnificence intact if circumstances prevent him from being able to reduce the risk.
• Moral Event Horizon: While your MB is of course going to be a Bastard and can cross the MEH, there are lines that the Magnificent Bastard should not cross. Gravely hurting the protagonists through simple psychological warfare or crossing the horizon as a backstory is feasible, but there are actions that when performed, will permanently taint your character and cement themselves as a Complete Monster instead. For example, if your character kills anyone who comes near them during a Villainous Breakdown, then this will completely disgrace your character. Use this very carefully.
• Negative Continuity: A Regular or Recurring Character in a work with this style of continuity will have a hard time qualifying for this, as their characterization and actions need to be consistent throughout the work. A character might fit the criteria in certain episodes, but then have other episodes where their actions in those episodes are contradicted or their characterization is different. If the character manages to be consistent throughout all of their appearances, then they can fit but it is more likely for the only characters to count to have only one or very few appearances.
• Obviously Evil: How your Magnificent Bastard appears is important - you obviously want to use this trope at your discretion. Whether it's a character with Too Many Skulls, Hellish Pupils, or Spikes of Villainy, you just wouldn't want them looking way too freaky to truly be a Magnificent Bastard. Now if that sort of appearance fits the setting, it can be all right, but be careful.
• Oh, Crap!: Generally speaking, your bastard should remain calm and collected at all times. Though it's likely there will come a time where the Bastard gets caught off guard or comes across a point where their plan goes wrong. It's only natural to be shocked sometimes, especially something they had no way of anticipating. What's important however is that they are able to recover and remain dignified. Having said that, if the shocked response is too emotional it may verge on Villainous Breakdown which may cost them their magnificence.
• Only the Author Can Save Them Now: For both the bastard and the people they're opposing. While a successful gambit is well and good, creating a situation where the bastard has so many advantages and their plans reach so far that the characters they oppose have no chance can do real harm to your bastard's credibility, making it look like they only succeed due to author favoritism. Similarly, if the bastard is so cornered that they're unable to make it out, it's often better to let them Face Death with Dignity than to try and give them an Ass Pull to get out.
• Pædo Hunt: Just like rape, cannibalism and slavery, pedophilia is WAY too much heinous for anyone in general and trying to write a character of this type is an instant disqualification. A crime of this type is more associated with a Complete Monster/Hate Sink. (And even then, it should be treated very careful as it runs the risk of coming off as shock value for the sake of). Long story short: avoid at all costs squicky stuff when writing a Magnificent Bastard.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: This is a trope you want to avoid. A racist or sexist villain, for obvious reasons, tends to create unnecessary controversy, both In-Universe and out.
• Pride / Pride Before a Fall and Prideful Tropes in general: Giving your Bastard a healthy dose of confidence is necessary, since they are, after all, an admirable schemer or soldier. However, this needs to be handled with caution; if their natural confidence and belief in themselves devolves into unwarranted arrogance and ends up getting them foiled or killed, they will degenerate into an insufferable Smug Snake and it's a one-way ticket to disqualification from that point on. A Magnificent Bastard's confidence must stay within reason — their assumptions about their own competence should be more or less the same as the audience's own perception of them.
• Psychopathic Manchild: These types of characters are usually too petty or egotistical to count. It's very difficult to play childish and horrific acts and/or motives as an admirable trait, making these types of villains better off being Hate Sinks or Complete Monsters. Of course, if it's simply an intelligent character who just has childish hobbies they can count no problem, but it’s a hard line to tend by any other definition.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Rape is the big act that would invariably and unambiguously lose a character MB status and a line that no character can cross without also crossing the Moral Event Horizon. Any character who commits or attempts rape, will automatically be hated by every sane member of the audience because of how pointless, cruel and undignified it is. No matter how dark your story is, your character can't rape other characters and still be a Magnificent Bastard. The buck stops here. Besides, between their manipulation skills, natural appeal, and "bad" reputation, a real Magnificent Bastard should have no trouble bedding any woman (or man) they want, without doing something as un-magnificent as forcing themselves on them. And that's assuming, of course, that they're even interested in the first place. Moreover, while working with or employing one or more rapists isn't an automatic disqualification, especially if they make it clear that they're disgusted by such predilections, deliberately enabling another character's rape definitely is.
• Sadist/Terror Hero: While this trope doesn't automatically disqualify someone from becoming magnificent, it's nonetheless a trope that you'll usually want to avoid. A Terror Hero is acceptable given they don't commit pointlessly cruel acts just to take pleasure at their victims suffering, but there is a fine line that when crossed, will automatically disqualify your character because the way they kill off and/or torture their enemies are way too gruesome and horrific, and they would become too unsavory to be considered magnificent.
• Self-Disposing Villain: If your Magnificent Bastard goes virtually invincible for most of the story only to set themselves a downfall because they follied their own plans, then they can usually be hardly considered as magnificent especially if that defeat is too undignified. Make sure they also recoup their lost ground after they foil their own plans through some sort of Posthumous Villain Victory if this happens, and make it so their defeat isn't too humiliating.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Given that slavery is a very sensitive topic towards certain demographics, this is a trope people should avoid since no one considers slavery to be magnificent.
• Smug Snake: This trope is the culmination of numerous other tropes that one should be careful with. A character who is overconfident, overly arrogant, and utterly convinced of their own superiority will not earn the audience's respect, no matter how much of a Chessmaster, Manipulative Bastard, or improvisational mastermind they may be. This isn't to say that a Smug Snake cannot be a great villain and a serious threat, but if you really want your character to be an MB, stay away from this.
• Sore Loser: This doesn't necessarily automatically disqualify a character from qualifying for this trope, but consistently getting overly angry or upset at defeat can really hurt a character's chances of being seen as magnificent. While there's nothing inherently wrong with somebody occasionally taking a loss badly (it might even make them more sympathetic under some circumstances, such as if the loss involved losing someone they care about), doing it too much will just make a character look thin-skinned and pitiful, which are not traits that garner audience respect.
• Story-Breaker Power: While superpowered characters and even godlike entities can and have qualified for the trope, it is highly recommended not to make your bastard too powerful. After all, their magnificence is derived from the audience's appreciation of their ingenuity, the brilliance of their schemes, and their ability to tangle with equally threatening opponents. Magic and Powers can make a character cool or interesting, but remember that it is not in itself a qualifier. Moreover, if they're so overpowered that they can squash their opponent like an ant at any point and said opponent never had a prayer's chance to defeat them, that means there is no real challenge there and thus, little if any magnificence. A method to mitigate this is to have the Bastard hold back as much as they could with their powers, only unleashing them whenever necessary. You can also have them demonstrate that they're magnificent even without their powers, such as by having them temporarily or permanently lose them. The next step beyond this is a Villain Sueinvoked, where the plot bends over backways to ensure that the bad guy always comes out on top, rather than (or in addition to) something inherent to the character. Of course, if the bulk of their scheming is at least partly about trying to acquire these powers in the first place, then it's generally a moot point.
• Stupid Evil: If there's one thing a Magnificent Bastard is not known for, it's being stupid. They must always be smart and make the most intelligent and pragmatic decisions no matter what the circumstances might be. If a bastard starts making idiotic decisions simply to satisfy their cruelty, magnificence from your character starts to diminish.
• Surrounded by Idiots: A Magnificent Bastard should be genuinely cunning in a way that wows the audience. If they go up against morons who are easily manipulated, their cunning comes off as basic instead.
• Those Wacky Nazis/A Nazi by Any Other Name: Because these organizations are near-universally portrayed as unsympathetic and the sheer depravity of the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime, this is a trope that virtually never lines up with a Magnificent Bastard. The only leniency that can be afforded is if the character in question is a Nazi in-name-only and it is clear they do not display allegiance or conform to the Nazi ideology. Generally though, this is a trope far more likely to go with a Complete Monster.
• Too Dumb to Live: Separately, blundering or being killed can hurt a Bastard's magnificence, but together they are an instant disqualification. No matter how charming or smart a Bastard is, if they end up getting themselves killed as a result of their own stupid actions, then they will lose all of an audience's respect. On occasion there are some exceptions where their death is agreed to be beyond the scope of their control or a mistake that anyone in their situation could have easily made, but it could to be a hard sell. If a Bastard is to die, it must either be on their own terms, or from something that they cannot feasibly be expected to counter and not from any mistakes that they should be capable of easily avoiding.
• Undignified Death: No matter how brilliant your character was, if they're reduced to a sobbing wreck before being brutally and/or anticlimactically killed, or if they're shotgunned in the face only to have their bodies mocked and/or profaned, it's just too undignified to be magnificent. If you want your potential keeper to die, you'll generally want them to be defeated after a climactic battle or confrontation instead. All that said, there ARE villains who have had not so graceful ends and still qualify as a MB. Just make sure it isn't TOO undignified.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: One of the biggest ways to kill any potential magnificence or charm for your MB, or at least turn them into a Base-Breaking Character, is to accidentally make them much less sympathetic than intended; for example, their actions and methods are grossly Disproportionate Retribution or unnecessarily cruel, they are far too smug, and/or they come across as a hypocrite.
• Unwitting Pawn: This is a major one that has costed many potential villains a place on this trope. It's generally expected for an MB to be one of, if not the, smartest in the room. No matter how smart or cunning a character appears to be, if they are being puppeted or controlled by someone else, then they simply aren't smart enough.
• Villainous Breakdown: In addition to having the audience's sympathy, the Magnificent Bastard must also maintain a certain level of audience respect. We know they're brilliant, and that's why they frighten us. Nothing will destroy that respect like watching them Freak Out because things didn't go their way. A badly done breakdown can reduce the character to a pitiable ruin in the eyes of your audience. As a general note, a Magnificent Bastard who has been foiled will either shrug it off, or attack the hero, finishing things with grace. Now, this is obviously subjective, and a Villainous Breakdown for a Magnificent Bastard can be and has been done well. A lot depends on how long your story is. If it's a one hundred episode show and they have a breakdown in the middle, and then recover from it with panache, the audience probably won't mind and may even respect them more for regaining their composure and/or the competence they show in how they respond to what caused the initial breakdown. In fact, such a breakdown can add depth to the character and keep them out of Villain Sueinvoked territory. On the other hand, if it's one movie or book, and the last part before their battle with the hero is just one long breakdown, that may be all the audience remembers. Use this one wisely, and at your discretion. Your MB can have a Villainous Breakdown, but don't make it too nasty. Just a slight break of character is okay. Just don't try to have a character go into a horrific meltdown and die, then expect them to retain their magnificent bastard status. A good Bastard knows when to fold 'em.
• Vulgar Humor: Works that rely entirely in this style of humor like South Park or Happy Tree Friends will be really hard-pressed to have a candidate for this trope, as if everything on the work relies on being vulgar, humiliating, offensive and/or shocking, then it will be hard for a character to come off as charming and with dignity. Works that use this style of humor moderately, still allowing space for characters to have charm and dignity like Rick and Morty or Inside Job, will have a better chance.
• The Woobie: While many MBs have at least one tragic Freudian Excuse or backstory, too tragic of a backstory, or too horrific of a Trauma Conga Line will inevitably backfire and end up making your character look weak and helpless instead.

Story-telling hints

So, now that we've looked at some of the tropes you might employ, let's get down to the meat of the matter: story-telling. How exactly do you want to use your Magnificent Bastard? A favorite will always be as the Big Bad. Even then, though, there are questions you need to ask yourself: What kind of Big Bad are they? A Corrupt Corporate Executive, out to make a buck no matter who gets hurt? An Evil Overlord, who’s read the list and is thus far more confident (and competent) than they should be? An army general, who gives Napoleon a run for his money in the brilliancy department? Who are they?

While many Big Bads can end up qualifying, the list for potential Magnificent Bastards doesn't end there. They can be The Dragon, the leader of the Quirky Miniboss Squad, or an outsider with their own agenda (maybe even The Starscream). They can be an Anti-Hero, who assists the main cast for their own reasons. Or they can even be a loyal ally, a Deuteragonist or, perhaps the Big Good. However, take care when trying to make a Magnificent Bastard as The Protagonist — it can happen and it has happened numerous times, but it's a difficult balancing act. This is because what makes a Magnificent Bastard scary is that they never appear to lose their cool, or even be defeatable before the end, and what makes them cool is their ability to counterbalance their evil with their altruism and nobility. On the other hand, a main character is supposed to be rooted by the audience, is supposed to struggle their way through with their hard work, and will thus more often than not, fail, making it somewhat contradictory to the MB trope where the only failures are the ones that will cost them. A Magnificent Bastard who fails a lot, is no longer a Magnificent Bastard. They're just a Jerkass Failure Hero who will probably receive little empathy from viewers. On the other end of the scale, a hero who never fails can easily be a Mary Sueinvoked. That's not to say it isn't doable, but it's hard to get right.

Assuming that this character is a villain, their defeat needs to be a major part of the plot. Initial attempts at defeating them should likely result in an quick defeat and/or humiliation. As the story goes along, their plans may start to unravel, forcing them to improvise constantly, before ultimately being stopped at the end. If they're a wild card rather than on anyone's side, they will likely be even harder to deal with, manipulating every member of the cast, hero or villain to their own ends. It wouldn't be unusual for a wild card Magnificent Bastard to force The Hero and the Big Bad into a confrontation with one another, ensuring the latter's defeat while they watch from a safe distance.

Besides the characters actions in a vacuum, the setting and tone are just as important. A character who stands out as sufficiently bastardly in a more lighthearted work could simply appear to be A Lighter Shade of Black in a darker environment. Conversely, a universe with a higher baseline for moral grayness can have an objectively dark character hold more sympathy, though this does have limits. Furthermore, the way in which a bastard's actions are played is very important. While MBs will inevitably have some dubious actions, having too many of them (or having a few high-end ones, e.g. genocide) can seriously hinder how the audience is going to admire them, especially if they aren't counteracted by more sympathetic traits. Conversely, a bastard can get away with more while holding their magnificence if their their victims aren't overemphasized or are just Asshole Victims.

Typically, the MB needs to be the smartest in the room or close to being the smartest. In works with several clever characters, they may end up competing, with one or more becoming overshadowed. An easy way that can happen is if one character outplays or outwits the other. While they’re allowed leeway if the heroes outwit them (The Bad Guy Wins is the exception, not the rule), losing to another villain will inevitably draw comparison. A character may have the traits of a MB in a vacuum, but they will come up short if their competition has more charm or success in the same circumstances. That said, both may count if one loses to material disadvantage (brute force, resources...) rather than intellectual.

Below are some possible plot threads, and subversions.

• Death: Unless if it's a uniformly heroic main character or they do pull out a successful Heel–Face Turn afterwards, there is a high chance of a Magnificent Bastard dying assuming their plans do go awry. This is the part that matters the most for actually competent villains; anyone can be a chessmaster when things go in their way, but the moment the chips are down, they may reveal an uglier side to themselves. This is the true test of if a Bastard really is Magnificent, who should die with grace and/or style. A simple Taking the Bullet, Death Equals Redemption or Graceful Loser moment will grant your character a morally higher ground than other less intelligent characters. On the other hand, even if the MB is killed because of their mistakes, they could recoup it through a posthumous victory. Furthermore, take the Villainous Breakdown before a supposed MB's death with extra caution — they must not go beyond the level of breaking character to scream (and not with a Dying Declaration of Hate, either). It's very clear that a supposed MB whose death consists of a meltdown attacking friend or foe is simply not a qualifier.
• Love: More than any villain (save perhaps the Noble Demon), the Magnificent Bastard is likely to possess some genuine human qualities, of which the capacity for love is one of them. It can make an interesting subplot, and help to humanize the character. The classic villain/villainess-falls-for-hero/heroine (or the other way around) works as usual, but you can also have the Magnificent Bastard being completely uninterested in romance despite being given the option to for the sake of conveying to your audience that the MB is a hardened being who's completely unaffected by material affairs, or even a parental/platonic dynamic that's completely genuine, but in an utterly twisted and incomprehensible way.
• Pairing with a Complete Monster: You may also try to have your MB partner with a genuine Complete Monster. This can showcase your bastard's good qualities even better, and is a great way to invoke Black-and-Gray Morality and A Lighter Shade of Black, especially when the Monster used to be a good guy but becomes increasingly monstrous, while the Bastard becomes an increasingly charismatic force of good, for a rather loose term. Or you can have a villainous Magnificent Bastard fight against a Complete Monster, either as an Arch-Enemy or a mere opponent. That way, you can showcase how the Bastard has the moral and intellectual high ground and isn't intimidated by sheer evil, especially when the Monster is a vile Hate Sink Sadist. Bonus points if the Monster is just as skilled a planner and manipulator as the bastard, and they're both trying to out-gambit each other, only for the Monster to undergo an incredible Villainous Breakdown while the Bastard keeps his charisma and cool at all times.
• Potential subversions: Typically, such a character would be pretty obvious-looking to not notice. A good idea is to make them look completely different and unassuming so both the In-Universe characters and the audience will be caught off-guard. For example if an MB looks like a Dumb Muscle or The Brute, make it so they're actually incredibly intelligent, pragmatic and/or competent. That friendly-looking woman who casually approaches you to have a nice talk might as well as be the mastermind Obfuscating Stupidity. Or it's a guy who looks a bit too Obviously Evil to be true only for him to be an atruistic Well-Intentioned Extremist who isn't far from getting his hand dirty.

Particular examples

The Greats

Note: Please don't put a character here because you like them, or because they happen to be on the Magnificent Bastard trope page. The purpose of this section is to provide inspiration to would-be writers of this character type. Only put a character here if a) they are more or less universally agreed upon, and b)-the show itself is considered very good. Also, please refrain from entering Complete Monsters as well. It just gets confusing.

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• Lionel Luthor, in Smallville: A Trope Codifier and one of the very best (before Villain Decay set in at least), he begins as the Big Bad, becomes a major supporting character, and never stops being magnificent. An abusive dad who loves his son, a crooked businessman who will not cross certain lines, a mentor figure who will compulsively lie to his charges, Lionel is everything this trope is supposed to be, absolutely dominating every scene he's in, in no small part due to John Glover's performance. You’re never sure just what to make of him, and that's the point.
• Lex Luthor, in many, but not all, versions of Superman: Like father like son. Lex has been one of these in most of his incarnations since the eighties, remaining the one man who even Superman cannot imprison. His comic book and DC Animated Universe versions are probably the best examples of this, with the DCAU version running the full gamut from Big Bad to Anti-Villain, ultimately saving the world at the very end. His team-ups with The Joker also provide an excellent demonstration of the difference between this character, and a Faux Affably Evil Complete Monster.
• David Xanatos, in Gargoyles: Full stop. This is the man the Xanatos Gambit and Xanatos Speed Chess tropes are named for. Throughout the entire show he remains one step ahead of the main cast, outsmarting them at every turn, and controlling his events so that no matter what they do, it turns out in his favor one way or another. He manages to get away with it most of the time, all without ever feeling like a Villain Sueinvoked. Throw in a refusal to cross certain lines and a strong desire to protect those close to him, to the point of willingly giving up a priceless magical artifact to save his then-fiance, and you have one of the most iconic examples of this archetype in all of American animation.
• J.R. Ewing, of Dallas: Before Lionel Luthor's fans truly brought the term into the public consciousness, J.R. was the undisputed Trope Codifier for the character type that would later gain the title "Magnificent Bastard"—and to be honest, he still may be: as befits only the most Magnificent of Bastards, he became the show's Breakout Character, overshadowing the intended protagonists, and the quintessential "villain you Love to Hate". A Corrupt Corporate Executive who delights in the manipulation of others to secure his power base. The Chessmaster, and isn't afraid to revel in it. He anticipates business associates double-crossing him: "I'd have been disappointed if that thought hadn't crossed your mind, already!" His actions have constantly enraged the more "moral" characters in the show, often making their lives so much harder—to the point where, when we got to the immortal "Who Shot J.R.?" storyline...part of the thrill was that anyone could have had a viable motive! And yet, he's charming as heck, always classy, quite the Gentleman Snarker, and in his own way, rather likable. He also has his share of Pet the Dog moments, too: he does stick up for his more moral brother, Bobby—and he genuinely loves his son, John Ross...mentoring him in the TNT relaunch in how to be a true Magnificent Bastard, repeatedly expressing his pride in John taking the lessons to heart: "Now that's my son...from tip to tail." He even molded his own death before-the-fact into part of an intricate plan that he predicted would be his "masterpiece"—and it arguably is, achieving a final, permanent defeat of his greatest nemesis.
• Toranaga from Shogun is an absolutely quintessential Magnificent Bastard. He is so patient when it comes to setting up events for the long-term game that he plans generations ahead (and a sequel set hundreds of years later shows he was right about everything except the Outside-Context Problem of the Westerners' technological advances). In-universe, other characters who are excellent puppeteers in their own right say that he specialises in getting people to think they've come up with an idea on their own when they're actually doing exactly what he wants, and he plays everyone for fools, whether they're his allies or enemies, treats his own family and friends as expendable, and does so with regret for the necessity of doing so, but no actual remorse. He avoids becoming a Villain Sueinvoked because he does actually make mistakes, but always thinks of a way to stay on top, sometimes improvising on a second-by-second basis. Even his final internal monologue, which suggests that to some extent, he's been Evil All Along only makes the reader root for him more, and many people who have read the book set him as the standard by which all other Magnificent Bastards are judged.
• Grand Admiral Thrawn from The Thrawn Trilogy: A brilliant tactician who eschews fancy superweapons in favor of precise timing, gambits, and clever uses of more mundane technology. He's Affably Evil and also managed to weaponize the Wicked Cultured trope by combing it with Awesomeness by Analysis to create a unique way of deciphering a species' strengths and weaknesses by studying their art. He averts We Have Reserves and You Have Failed Me as he doesn't waste the lives of his men recklessly and is even willing to withdraw if further combat won't benefit him. However, Thrawn also avoids being a Villain Sueinvoked as he does make mistakes that are minor on their own, but all these miscalculations ultimately add up to cause his downfall in the endgame.
• Mayor Wilkins and Mr. Trick from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The only thing potentially trickier than an MB partnership is an MB Big Bad/Dragon duo. By definition, one of the two needs to be more powerful than the other, which is a recipe for the weaker of the two to be disqualified. In the case of these two, however, they both manage to count for several reasons. First, a lot of effort is put into making clear that the power disparity between them is physical, not intellectual; while the two are supposedly boss and underling, they both bounce ideas off of each other and contribute equally, giving the impression of an imbalanced partnership instead. Second, it's made clear that Trick can very well survive on his own without the Mayor's help - before the Mayor contacts him, he already has several personal schemes under his belt, mitigating the issue when he then joins the Mayor (who then gets just as many plans executed as well), and during his time with the Mayor, he front-runs the operations. Third, and perhaps most important, is the fact that they specialize in such different ways. Trick shines through due to his pragmatism, quick thinking, and personal showmanship, while the Mayor stands out with his long-term thinking, his relationship with Faith, and his constant affable demeanor no matter what is thrown his way. In essence, while they are a boss and underling, they are both equal threats in their own ways and there is no intellectual disparity between them, allowing them both to count at once.
• The titular Arsene Lupin is a classic example of the Gentleman Thief and the Trope Codifier for the Phantom Thief. Lupin is known primarily for the duality of his eternally-polite "gentleman" personality and his nature as a master thief. Not only is his criminal talent a great jumping-off point, but his inimitable class and suave demeanor are accompanied by great displays of audacreaity, such as his signature Calling Card gimmick of sending letters informing his targets what he will steal from them. Lupin is not only an iconic display of the Gentleman Thief archetype, whose restriction to stealing and fooling his targets keeps him far from slipping into outright vileness, he is also an excellent example when it comes to balancing a healthy ego with proper class and charisma to ensure a character comes off as charmingly confident rather than foolishly arrogant; while Lupin is capable of being extremely boastful, he backs up his bragging every time and his confidence is never for a moment unwarranted due to the utterly incredible crimes he commits. If one is looking to write a brilliantly suave criminal, it's advisable to start with the original.
• Lupin III may not embody the class and suaveness of the Gentleman Thief like his inspiration and grandfather, but he embodies the free spirit of the Lovable Rogue. Despite being a criminal whose morality ranges from light to dark gray throughout his many adaptations, Lupin is a brilliant man who has charmed audiences for decades. Lupin is not merely worth examination when trying to write a chaotic and sympathetic outlaw, but also because he pushes exactly how silly a Magnificent Bastard can be. Despite having the personality of a buffoon and often receiving comedic misfortune, Lupin deliberately uses his seemingly idiotic demeanor to dupe adversaries and disguise brilliant crimes, with a veiled intelligence to be reckoned with. With Success Through Insanity in spades, Lupin is great to take inspiration from, both for his comical charms and his stylish criminality.
• L Lawliet from Death Note: L is a fantastic character to take inspiration from for multiple reasons. First, he is the Trope Codifier for a Magnificent Bastard Anti-Hero; intelligent and well-meaning yet ruthless and manipulative, L checks all the boxes for an MB even though he's unambiguously on the side of good. Even when he deliberately gets someone killed to test Light's powers, his quirky behavior makes him incredibly endearing, and his Xanatos Speed Chess against Light is truly a thing of beauty to watch. Second, L is also a great example of how to make multiple versions of the same character count within the same story, as three of the five L's all count for different reasons (the 2017 version is far too emotionally unstable to count, while the series gives him Adaptational Jerkass). In the manga, L does screw himself over the simple mistake of not ending Light as fast as possible for the sake of entertainment and dies, but he leaves behind enough information that his successors, Near and Mello, are able to succeed where he failed and defeat Light once and for all. The 2008 film series changes this so that he actually doesn't die, instead pulling a Thanatos Gambit to trick Light into outing himself before he goes out on his own terms. The stage version, meanwhile, still falls into the same pitfall as his manga counterpart, but he manages to rack up his canon list of successes despite having less time, resources, and allies, allowing him to stand out among the other L's. Overall, if you're looking for ways to make your Anti-Hero an MB, look no further than the Great Detective with the Sweet Tooth.

Treat with caution

Please note: A character's being listed here is not an insult or a jab at the show they appeared in. If it was, it would be labeled Epic Fail as on the writing pages. Characters here are those who are generally regarded as near misses for Magnificent Bastards, but don't quite meet the archetype, or who alternately may not make the grade, but provide excellent inspiration for what a true Magnificent Bastard might be capable of. Don't add shows or characters at random; this is a How To page, not the Magnificent Bastard home page.

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• Code Geass:
  • Lelouch Lamperouge/vi Britannia: There are many, many fans of this show who will hold Lelouch up as the ultimate example of what the heroic version of this should look like. To a degree, they're right. Lelouch is doubtlessly intended to be the heroic version of this, and outsmarts most of the cast with commendable brilliance. Unfortunately, he also demonstrates many of the problems with making this guy the hero. His frequent dog-kicking, temporary freak outs and Heroic BSODs, combined with his childish personality can, and do, cost him a lot of audience sympathy, with some regarding him as just a Jerkass Anti-Hero. His ability to hypnotize people, and the fact that they exaggerated his Large Ham tendencies in a serious show does not help. That said, the show can and does remain a good source of inspiration, with the Xanatos Speed Chess between Lelouch and his brother Schneizel being intricate and fascinating to watch. Lelouch's counterpart from the compilation movies, however, has his numerous breakdowns and massive Kick the Dog moments removed or at least downplayed in severity, which allows him to serve as a better example of the anti-heroic MB in action.
  • Schneizel has his own problems. There's no doubt he is a Magnificent Bastard, but he was so Affably Evil that at least half of the audience (and most of the characters) was fully convinced he was a legitimately good and principled Anti-Villain variation of the trope. Throughout the show he showed concern for the common man, had no personal ambitions of power, wished to limit bloodshed as much as possible, and viewed diplomacy as a far more valuable and effective tool than war. At one point he rescinded a potential political alliance because the leaders of the other nation involved were recorded saying their citizens amounted to nothing more than parasites to be exploited. He consistently espoused the belief that the job of a ruler was to ensure the welfare of his people, and his younger sister Cornelia believed he would be "the perfect king" because of these traits. So what was the problem? When he was finally outed as the Big Bad with three episodes left in the entire show, his goals were so completely opposite of his "mask" that the audience wasn't able to really reconcile the two, and the sudden switch was a drastic Mood Whiplash from who we thought he was to who he actually was. It seemed like two different characters, and he lost quite a bit of audience sympathy and admiration as a result.
• Villain Protagonists in general have several issues they run into with being a Magnificent Bastard, even when they're iconic characters who are smart in their own right. With the amount of time an audience spends with a protagonist, we are going to scrutinize them heavily, and thus it becomes incredibly easy for a protagonist to lose any charming qualities overtime, alongside the fact that they're going to wrack up a long rap sheet that will very quickly add up. For instance, Walter White's genius "Heisenberg" persona is revealed to hide a prideful egomaniac who explodes over minor slights, while the likes of Frank Underwood slowly reveal themselves to simply be petty bullies lashing out at everyone around them as time goes on - the Magnificence is slowly stripped away while the Bastard is overplayed, killing any charming qualities they once had. Even when they're not outright sadistic or petty, it's still easy for a protagonist's actions to disqualify them when they show a repeated behavior, such as Light Yagami's frequent Freak Outs and temper tantrums (especially his downright pathetic Villainous Breakdown after being outplayed for the final time) proving that he's just a Psychopathic Manchild and Smug Snake at his core rather than a true Magnificent Bastard - a single loss or freakout might be recoverable, but when it becomes a pattern, there's no turning back. Overall, there are ways to make your Villain Protagonist into a tried and true Magnificent Bastard, (Eren Yeager starts off as a heroic but short-sighted character that gradually develops into a far more strategically-minded and morally bankrupt character that regardless maintains audience sympathy despite his horrendous crimes) but with the sheer amount of time we spend with protagonists compared to other characters, it is an incredible balancing act between the lines of "charming yet amoral" and "disgusting monster", and it's very easy to cross that line without intending to.
• Gendo Ikari and Mari Makinami in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Gendo's problem is different from Lelouch and Schneizel. He’s a Magnificent Bastard, no doubt. The issue is that he’s in a show that’s half Psychological Thriller and half Mind Screw, making it very hard to tell what he actually did, what he didn’t do, or even what the hell is going on half the time. His personality, motivations, and relationship with his son are all excellent fodder for aspiring writers, even if the show itself ultimately leaves everything about him in a state of ambiguity. As for Mari, she's half good, half that of a MB due to her apathy towards anything as long as an Evangelion is her business, though she isn't as bad as Asuka
• Tywin Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire and its television adaptation Game of Thrones: The Dragon-in-Chief to his grandson Joffrey and his successor Tommen and the head of the Lannister family, Tywin is ruthless, cunning, and an expert politician and manipulator. Despite his ruthlessness, he isn't above the odd Pet the Dog moment from time to time, though such moments come rarely. It is quite clear to everyone in the Seven Kingdoms that Joffrey may be the king, but Tywin is the real power behind the throne, and he backs it up and then some. His ruthlessness, however, can cross over into Moral Event Horizon territory, though. His machinations inflame the Northern Lords against their liege, culminating in the infamous Red Wedding, for which he suffers no blame due to allowing the Frey family to take all of the credit. He is also vicious to his son Tyrion, where his petting quickly becomes yanking on a moment's notice, and will suffer absolutely no japes or slights against himself or his house lest he bring down Disproportionate Retribution on the perpetrator (as the Reynes and Tarbecks learned when Tywin wiped out their houses for refusing to bend knee to Tywin's father Tytos).
• Iago from Othello: He uses his influence to get his pieces into place, effortlessly manipulates the titular character's "green-eyed monster", all while carrying the nickname "honest Iago". Unfortunately, while his actions may seem Magnificent, his personality is as vile as can be. He's been described as a "motiveless malignity" and his true motives ultimately remain unclear with his Last Words essentially being a Take That! to anyone trying to decipher his ultimate goal. He takes the concept of Villains Act, Heroes React to an extreme by essentially being the only character who "acts" while everyone else in the play is merely "reacting" to his actions, making it a case of Surrounded by Idiots. It's easy to derive inspiration from him, but your Magnificent Bastard should probably have more sympathetic traits and the pawns he's manipulating shouldn't be so gullible.
• Batman from most Batman continuities: On paper, the Dark Knight may seem like one of the quintessential anti-heroic magnificent bastards. He's brilliant, determined, darkly charismatic, and an iconic Badass Normal to boot. His MO involves being a figure of terror, he's willing to manipulate friend and foe alike, and he's certainly not above bending or even outright breaking the rules if he feels the need. So what's the problem? Well, ultimately, he has the exact opposite problem faced by many on this list: at the end of the day, he's a bit too morally clean to really meet the "bastard" part that this trope requires. While he's certainly more gray-shaded than many other A-list DC heroes, his no-kill rule and unwillingness to cause harm towards people who aren't villains or criminals holds him back from being bad enough to genuinely qualify as a bastard. Further complicating matters is that his more ruthless moments are not only fairly out of character, making them outliers from his normal behavior, but generally either born out of desperate situations or moments of weakness on his part, making it hard to find them "magnificent". While he's often fairly antiheroic, he demonstrates being an antihero doesn't necessarily make one bad enough to fall into this trope. However, he still makes an excellent Guile Hero, and if one were to amp up his ruthlessness and make him a bit more willing to get his hands dirty, even if only in pursuit of justice, it would be easy to make a case for him; multiple versions of him from alternate continuities have counted due to darker characterization.
• Obito Uchiha from Naruto. Although he does indeed count as a Magnificent Bastard, several factors can make him appear to be an example of how not to write one. His Freudian Excuse, the death of his childhood Love Interest, can feel poorly executed. His atrocities, such as unleashing a monster onto a village, can clash with his good intentions. His redemption, gained after a talking to from the titular character, can come off as unearned. These attributes have made Obito a rather controversial figure within the eyes of the fandom, with large portions of the fandom finding him Unintentionally Unsympathetic and others finding him to be a tragic Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. One should keep in mind that, even if all of the traits of a Magnificent Bastard are filled, how they are executed and portrayed to the audience is just as important as having them. A mistake from the author can make a mess of how a character is seen by the audience.
• Adam from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Much like Obito, Adam counts as a Magnificent Bastard while remaining an example of how not to write one. Unlike Obito, however, most of the issues with Adam can be traced back to a single problem: his onscreen presence. Between being introduced late in his season and being kept offscreen for most of his run, there is nowhere near enough time for Adam to properly connect with the audience, and while his philosophical nature makes him unique, it's also rather dull for the fantastic setting. Complicating the issue is that the few times we do see him, he's largely reacting to what the heroes are doing, so his retaliatory acts, while present, are kept in the background. As a result, the fanbase's opinion of him could not be more divided; while some view him as intelligent, unique, and fulfilling the role he was meant to have, others see him as dull, wasted potential, and the worst Big Bad of the show. It's always important to remember that even if your villain has enough acts and appearances to make it, they also require a full onscreen presence in order to properly land with the audience; introducing a character and then shoving them in the background might not alienate everyone, but it will certainly not leave them with a good impression of the character overall.
• Erik "Killmonger" Stevens/N'Jadaka from Black Panther: Killmonger is one of the most loved villains within the Marvel Cinematic Universe for many reasons that line up with a typical Magnificent Bastard. He is incredibly intelligent, able to manipulate both terrorists and Wakandans alike to take control, he has charisma in spades, and while he is ruthless and his goal is dangerous, he's still incredibly sympathetic and it's hard not to argue that he has a point. Unfortunately, the same things that make him understandable and sympathetic are also what disqualify him as an MB. Ultimately, Killmonger is emotionally stunted from discovering his father's corpse, and as we learn when he takes the herbs, he never truly grew up past that moment — at his core, he's still a traumatized child lashing out at the world that wronged him. Additionally, no matter how understandable his actions may be, that doesn't change that they're driven by racist motivations; no amount of charismatic style is able to overshadow such a strong disqualifier. Without all of those disqualifiers, he would have counted for sure, as shown by his What If…? (2021) counterpart. On the one hand, Michael B. Jordan deserves all of the praise he gets for making Killmonger such an entertaining and nuanced villain, but on the other, Killmonger is also the living proof that not all memorable or charismatic villains are a Magnificent Bastard by default.
• The Joker from The Dark Knight: Heath Ledger's take on the Clown Prince of Crime is one of the most beloved performances in a comic book movie to date, and much like Killmonger, it's for reasons that line up with a Magnificent Bastard. He Crosses the Line Twice as easy as he breaths (especially with his "magic trick"), he has plans upon plans ready to go off at any moment, and while he succeeds most of the time, he's not unstoppable, preventing him from being a Villain Sueinvoked and making him a very entertaining character to watch overall. None of this excuses the fact that, at his core, he's a sadistic maniac who uses his "agent of chaos" philosophy as nothing more than an excuse to torment other people, largely innocents, just because he can. While he himself seems to believe that he's a Wild Card, all he really does is destroy and kill anything he comes across, proving that his philosophy is largely just a self-serving lie. Notably, the film's novelization features the Joker proving he genuinely believes in what he's saying; among other things, he gives a random woman $100 on a complete whim, proving he's willing to actually take his belief in chaos both ways instead of just the one he enjoys. Overall, if you want to take notes from any version of the Joker, take them from the film's novelization; while he's just as destructive as in the film, he proves he actually believes what he's saying and shows himself to be much more than the destructive madman he is in the original film.

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