During the investigation of recent hollers in the Complete Monster thread, it's become apparent to the staff that an insular, unfriendly culture has evolved in the Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard threads that is causing problems.
Specific issues include:
- Overzealous hollers on tropers who come into the threads without being familiar with all the rules and traditions of the tropes. And when they are familiar with said rules and traditions, they get accused (with little evidence) of being ban evaders.
- A few tropers in the thread habitually engage in snotty, impolite mini-modding. There are also regular complaints about excessive, offtopic "socializing" posts.
- Many many thread regulars barely post/edit anywhere else, making the threads look like they are divorced from the rest of TV Tropes.
- Following that, there are often complaints about the threads and their regulars violating wiki rules, such as on indexing, crosswicking, example context and example categorization. Some folks are working on resolving the issues, but...
- Often moderator action against thread regulars leads to a lot of participants suddenly showing up in the moderation threads to protest and speak on their behalf, like a clique.
It is not a super high level problem, but it has been going on for years and we cannot ignore it any longer. There will be a thread in Wiki Talk
to discuss the problem; in the meantime there is a moratorium on further Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard example discussion until we have gotten this sorted out.
Update: The new threads have been made and can be found here:
for the earliest date a work can be discussed, (usually two weeks from the US release), as well as who's reserved discussion.
- Why do a cleanup?: This trope definitely exists and has a well documented history of use. That being said, it frequently gets misused to a character who meets one of the components, namely that they are smart, charming while not necessarily even being a villain, or create good plans. While these are components, there is also a certain personality required, not to mention that all of the above are required to be present for a character to be a true Magnificent Bastard. As the trope attracts interest, it unfortunately brings in a lot of misuse and I thought the best way to rectify this would be a Perpetual Cleanup Thread, as is being done and has seen success with Complete Monster.
- What makes a Magnificent Bastard: Below is a list of the individual components to make this character. Note that they must all be present, not just some, which has lead to frequent misuse:
- Must be intelligent: Goes without saying, to be a Magnificent Bastard, the character has to be smart in the first place and use their brain to work towards whatever their end goal may be;
- Must be a Bastard: While going overboard in how vile the character is can be detrimental, a key aspect is the Bastard part of the trope, whether the character is an out-and-out antagonist in the work, some manner of Villain Protagonist, or something in between, they at least have some unscrupulous qualities to qualify for this trope;
- Must not be too detestable: Again, there is a ceiling on how bad the character can be before they just become too nefarious, blocking out the Magnificent part of the trope. A genocidal racist or child-raping Sadist aren't going to make the cut;
- Think on their feet: In addition to being a Chessmaster, a Magnificent Bastard, if the character deals with situations in which their initial plan is ruined, has to be able to pull a Xanatos Speed Chess and at least come up with a competent strategy to make up for lost time, otherwise they fail for being unable to think in tough spots;
- Have charm: Even if they don't necessarily make every character they meet fall in love with them and can even be detested by others, the audience has to find an amicable social relation to the character, or they are failing to make the impact required for this trope.
- What to do if a character is listed on a page but has not been approved?: They need to be removed, all candidates need to come through the cleanup thread first. The character could well count but they need to be analyzed properly and voted on first.
- Do we list Playing With this trope?: No; as a YMMV trope, this cannot be Played With, so we only want examples that are Played Straight.
- What do I do if I want a character to be listed as a Magnificent Bastard?: The greatest success Complete Monster saw for its cleanup effort was from the invention of the effort post format, so, borrowing from that, a troper wishing to propose a Magnificent Bastard will create such a post in the following format:
- Begin by describing The work, this will help establish the setting the character is in and for the reader to understand what kind of a scenario they are in;
- Summarize The character's actions, this will provide a listing for readers to understand what they do and how it applies to this trope because charm and lack of smugness are so crucial, this is a good time to be incorporating exactly the flavor of how they operate to explain this;
- List circumstances in which the character must Think on their feet, these are times where a wrench might be thrown in their initial plan and they have to adapt on the spot or even come up with a new scheme all together, this is also a good time to explain how the villain reacts to defeat when they have to face it, a true Magnificent Bastard won't break down into tears at the thought of death, they should have known such a possibility could occur and be able to handle it with more dignity;
- The competition, similar to the Heinous Standard dealt with for a Complete Monster, this section is to deal with how successful the character is in carrying out their plans compared to other characters. While, as a villain, they probably are going to lose in the end, it is good to explain how other characters handle the same situation. There is no exceptionalism case to be made for this trope but explaining the variety helps the reader have a better understanding of the proposal.
- How do you know when the character's arc is done so they can be proposed? When their tenure as a villain or antagonist finishes. This could happen in a single Story Arc in an entire work, a single work of a franchise, or the whole series in general. We'll show lenience to Long-Runners with constantly recurring candidates or series with outstanding continuities (ex. comic books), and it's entirely possible to count in a work or two but not in general for a reason like Depending on the Writer.
- What about candidates evil because of external sources? Those Made of Evil can qualify if they show enough individuality and tactical acumen — in other words, they have the personality to fulfill the magnificence requirement. Conversely, those brainwashed, especially if they're a better person without it, may fail the individuality aspect and cannot count.
- What if they are under orders from a higher-up? Depends. If the boss created the plans down to the letter and the candidate is just following them, sounds like we should discuss the boss instead. However, if the candidate takes creative liberties with the orders, adds their own charm and flair to them, fills in holes in the orders, and/or actively deals with obstacles their boss did not talk about, the candidate shows enough individual thinking to qualify.
- What about Character Development? An MB is something a character can develop into... a nice person who plots well might become more morally gray as the work goes on and hits the "Bastard" criteria, thus making them viable. Likewise, a Smug Snake might shed their ego, become more understanding of the threat others pose and gain the personality or "Magnificent" criteria, likewise making them viable. Conversely, a character who looks like this trope might suffer from a Sanity Slippage or just get outed as not being as smart as they thought they were and become incompatible with MB.
- Can an MB be a good guy? Not in the conventional sense... it is required they have at least some dubious traits lest they fail the "Bastard" criteria. That being said, a character who pulls a Heel–Face Turn or eventually stops taking villainous actions is still fair game: as there was a point in time where they were both "Magnificent" and a "Bastard" at the same time and they've merely adapted as time goes on. Now... if such a character begins showing other issues (i.e.: becomes prone to freak outs or starts getting outwitted) then they're compromising their Magnificence and will probably be deemed a cut. What's important is stylishly operating while at least for some time being willing to take at best underhanded methods to see a job done. A Heel–Face Turn in itself isn't a disqualifier but they do have to have been "Magnificent" and a "Bastard" at the same time and afterwards can't start slipping on the former front.
- What about characters whose stories can take different routes?: When proposing a character in a form of media that has them in multiple story routes. Said character must be consistent with their characteristics in all routes. (ex.: Can't have an example who shows promise on one route yet fails in another.) The only exception is if a later installment of the series confirms the character's actions which made them worth proposing are the canon route.
- Is there a timeframe rule like with Complete Monster?: Yes, please wait two weeks until after the work has concluded before proposing a character (again, usually using the North American air date). As is the case with CM, we want to give a reasonable time frame so that everyone interested in seeing the work has done so and can participate in the discussion without having anything spoiled.
- What about groups like with Complete Monster?: This is a point of divergence between the two tropes. While CM does not allow for a single entry encompassing more than three characters lest their heinousness for crimes becomes too watered down, with MB as long as they are treated as one "unit" it is acceptable to lump all characters provided they share acts of charm and intelligence.
- Can I propose my own work's character as a Magnificent Bastard?: No, this is a YMMV subject and the creator of a content is way too biased to be able to evaluate the criteria we're looking for without a second opinion taking over. That being said, you are more than welcome to encourage someone to consume your creation and if they feel a character counts, are more than welcome to suggest them.
- My example/edit has been approved, but the example subpage is locked! How do I get it added?: The moderators do not add examples to locked example subpages in the MagnificentBastard/ namespace directly. Rather, you need to do the edit to a sandbox page that follows the format Sandbox.MagnificentBastard<Name of the example subpage> (e.g for MagnificentBastard.Fullmetal Alchemist it's Sandbox.Magnificent Bastard Fullmetal Alchemist) and on a Friday, ask in the locked pages edit requests thread for the content to be swapped in.
Thread rules
When voting a troper must specify the effort post they're voting on and cannot merely vote on "Everything I missed" as in the past it has indicated the poster didn't read the effort post and is guessing instead of analyzing.
Resolved items
In general, a character listed on this trope is considered "settled". This means they should not be challenged unless information used to list them was incorrect or information was missed in the initial discussion.
However, when re-litigating a candidate, the same rules apply for when they were originally proposed. If they do not have five or more upvotes than downvotes for approval upon a re-litigation, including votes from the initial discussion if they do not change, then they are a cut.
This especially applies to the characters listed below, who have been discussed excessively and repeated attempts to get them listed/cut may result in punitive action for bogging down the thread.
Definitely an MB
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers: Any sadism Darkrai displays is limited in effect thanks to the game's nature and any cowardice which can be inferred about him is Alternative Character Interpretation about his tactical retreats.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: Azula's Villainous Breakdown is undone in the sequel comic Smoke & Shadow where she regains her composure and ends up stable and in control enough to count.
Definitely not an MB
- South Park: The show's frequent use of vulgar comedy and mean-spirited humor leaves any potential candidates devoid of the dignity or charm to qualify.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Aug 31st 2023 at 4:15:22 AM
Now, my own MB for the day...
For my good friend...the last potential keeper from the Heaven Cycle...Chayne Summers.
Prime.
Who is Chayne Prime?
See everything above with the original Chayne? Is the Chayne Summers from the original earth before the Heaven Cycle began. Ravaged by the Phantom, the world went to hell in a handbasket...and Chayne saw her beloved daughter Aria die. She could not, would not accept this result. Seeking the power of the gods themselves, Chayne pushed for a way to rewrite fate itself, to recreate the world and make it how it should be. A world where Aria lived.
And unlike the original Chayne, she succeeded. Taking the power of the Gods themselves, she became divine, a powerhouse above Heaven and Hell themselves. Sowing the seeds for a better future, she found Naberius, the Fallen Savager, a Tulpa cast out by hell for his depravity, and she recruited him, allowing them to initiate the Heaven Cycle...Chayne sowed the seeds for the world to restart and end 999,999 times, over tens of trillions of years, all while she watched. In a word, until the final chapter of the Heaven Cycle, the entire series is basically Chayne's game of chess. Heaven and Hell function as her pawns and she plays them against one another to end the worlds, each iteration bringing her closer to her goal...to find someone with the godly power to creature the perfect Nirvana.
As Chayne manipulates world after world, only to leave them to their destruction as lost causes, with Naberius functioning as her herald and The Heavy for her, as the Heaven Cycle begins? She has her final loop. Alice "Mint" Witzenberg, the other beign with enough godly power to create a perfect Nirvana...and Chayne is putting them through enough emotional torment to make them wish beyond anything else nothing had ever changed....and Chayne pulls it off without a hitch, appearing to her daughter, the Aria of the final world. Aria, furious, rejects her mother, only for Chayne to force her to witness all she's felt as an 'education,' driving Aria into near catatonia. The Ambition of Hell ends with Chayne triumphant, Nirvana created thanks to her machinations, and the end coming...Chayne will make her perfect world and leave the rest to the Necrosis....all her dark deeds will be wiped from the face of reality itself...with the Necrosis, it'll be like nothing ever happened. The evil she's committed will just have never existed, and everyone will be recreated and happy in Nirvana...
Exceeeeeept Aria kills herself, as Heaven and Hell war on earth. Tango and Mint rally the good guys to fight back, ending with the defeat of heaven and hell, and then the battle with Naberius, who is destroyed at last...and the heroes enter Nirvana to confront Chayne who is devastated at the death of Aria. Unwilling tof ace a world without her, Chayne decides she'll end everything and start it all anew...leading to a final battle with Tango, the true 'god' (Mint Prime) and...Tango doesn't win by outfighting Chayne, per se. Rather, they reach into chayne and force her to accept her losses, making her realize the true good future for her...one where she accepts losing Aria, rekindles her love with her husband and works to better the world anew, ending the Phantom and finding peace...Chayne lets go of her rage, hate and pain and allwos herself to lvie out her life there, entrusting the final worlds to Tango and Mint to rebuild and, with a final wish from the heroes to 'be at peace', the Black Queen of Heaven and Hell fades away. "And she feels happy again" indeed.
So, what makes her magnificent? How's she operate?
In a word? Chayne has a Long Game of sixty trillion years of perfect planning behind her. She is utterly charismatic, driven and focused, with an intensity that goes beyond what others believe possible. She has manipulated almost a million worlds to dance to her tune, ending them and starting them over as she feels necessary. The depth of her manipulations are revealed in the penultimate story, where it becomes clear just how much she's done, like a scientist rewinding the clock until they get everything just right. Chayne is a damn fine operator...heaven and hell alike have no ability to challenge her and just go along with it.
Naberius is a sadistic beast who tortures countless innocents, but even he is smart enough to realize he stands zero chance against Chayne. Naberius doesn't even try to plot against her because he feels it's foolish. The heroes only defeat her in the end by making her give up and remember her long-lost humanity, convincing her to accept the peace she's denied herself. Chayne is an epic plotter, manipulator and mroe than that? Her drive is exceptional and second to none. When you put her against the legions of Smug Snake and sadist bastards in the Heaven Saga like Ash, Niles, the sadistic original Alice, the clever Azazel who gets too roped up in his own cleverness and gets unmade by Erebos as a result, the fucking insane Uriel and the twisted Naberius and despite her crimes going beyond theirs, Chayne acquits herself nicely.
To be fair, Chayne has some blind spots. Her moment of mentally screwing over Aria comes back to bite her with Aria's suicide, which devastates Chayne. She does recover well from it, however, but it's a bit of a black mark...the fundamental issue is Chayne does have a blind spot with Aria, but it's not enough, IMO, to erase her magnificence.
Is she a bastard? Too much?
You see that part about ending nearly a million worlds? Yes, chayne is bad. She is a terrible person in many ways, and she allows Naberius to run wild because she needs him, albeit she makes some effort to rein in heaven, hell and Naberius until the end of the worlds, and isn't a fan of gleefully, excessive sadism herself...think her and Naberius as Ash and original Chayne to cosmic scales. Notably with the Heaven Cycle done, she makes it pretty clear she has no warm feelings to Naberius whatsoever and does not plan to let him continue his actions in Nirvana...the issue being Naberius plays the servitor and kidnaps people to store them in a pocket universe to breed them and torture them forever without Chayne's knowledge. So it's definitely bad she lets him do his thing because she needs him at times, but the worst Naberius does is beneath her nose, and in a detail so subtle she never noticed.
The other major issue is with the Necrosis unleashed, everything is wiped from existence. So as far as Chayne sees it? She makes a perfect world, everyone is happy, and every bad thing she's done is erased by the Necrosis. Nobody is dead because nobody ever died. It never existed and the world is happy, perfect and so forth in Nirvana and think happy thoughts forever (oh, and Aria's there, AKA: Most Important Thing Ever)
But to her credit, by the end? Chayne realizes all her errors and lets go, dying with absolute dignity and repentance. That goes a long, long way.
Conclusion?
If nothing else, she's worth discussion. She's a genius manipulator, a brilliantly written villain and one of conviction, drive and utter tragedy, to the very end, who distinguishes herself well.
So I say yea.
Fuck yeah to Prime, as I said when we talked, Naberius is absolutely disgusting but we've had other cases I can think of where a keeper will use someone abhorrent as their agent while still personally finding them disgusting and she's got the cunning and charm down pat!
Goku Black
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Chayne no. 2
Me in a nutshell (Coping with Depression)
to Chayne Prime
Also, who's the example of: "we've had other cases I can think of where a keeper will use someone abhorrent as their agent while still personally finding them disgusting and she's got the cunning and charm down pat!" other than Chayne? Is it Habaki Kagimura?
EDIT: I'll say yes to Grinch too
Edited by ElfenLiedFan90 on Dec 26th 2018 at 5:54:54 PM
"Making screw-ups and mistakes was I ever really good at. Because everything I touch went to hell."
Habaki is absolutely an example. Jacques de Aldersbourg used Azar Javed,Orgrim Doomhammer reluctantly used Gul'dan, Scirocco used Yazan...it's a decently big list, honestly.
One of the best examples? Probably the Toguro brothers from Yu Yu hakusho
Edited by Lightysnake on Dec 26th 2018 at 3:04:56 AM
Habaki came to mind, Ares and Ludendorff were the example I brought to Lighty when we talked it earlier today. As Lighty just said, it's going to be a long list, since an MB can often be someone with good intentions willing to go really far for them and as an extent of that seek out the worst brutes to string along in the name of their goal.
Me in a nutshell (Coping with Depression)
Nice... Meanwhile don't have any MB who operates with worst of the worst but I'm cool with that.
Oh nvm... I think there's Excella on my list and speaking of her... Gonna do a proposal on Jinas soon from the same game.
Edited by ElfenLiedFan90 on Dec 26th 2018 at 6:11:52 PM
"Making screw-ups and mistakes was I ever really good at. Because everything I touch went to hell."
To Chayne # 2
Other Chayne
The Unknown Unknown
Yes to both Chaynes. Congrats, Scrag!
A cruel, sick joke is still a joke, and sometimes all you can do is laugh.
Legit just dawned on me that the second day of Christmas brought him two Chaynes as MB ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
@ Irrose: say I looked at your trope page and it said you like and edit Mad Men. What is your opinion of Don Draper qualifying as a MB as he was listed as one prior to the cleanup cutting him?
Edited by G-Editor on Dec 26th 2018 at 3:10:29 AM
Your friendly neighborhood stank goblin
So I'm back from being out of town. And am not dead.
And it seems the questions I had for Chayne were just answered before I could even ask them. So for them, although I suppose that was obvious.
@G-Editor: Oh wow, I keep forgetting to update that page.
I don't think that Don qualifies. He's a decent schemer, but he's develops into a pathetic mess in the later seasons as his personal life falls apart.
He's also more of a Guile Hero than a villain: he's an adulturer and can be an asshole, but most of his schemes are just outmaneuvering his competitors to the advantage of his firm.
Now then...
- Heaven Cycle: The original 'Prime' Chayne Summers, The Black Queen of Heaven and Hell, is the brilliant manipulator who comes up with the Heaven Cycle to begin with. Manipulating nearly a million worlds through their rebirth and eventual destruction while forcing heaven and hell alike to dance to her tune to eventually craft a world where Alice "Mint" Witzenberg will use their godly powers for Chayne's benefit. Finally achieving one on the final cycle, Chayne tricks Mint into crafting her perfect Nirvana before taking her daughter Aria, leaving the world to its destruction while she enjoys her perfect paradise with all she once held dear. Finally electing to annihilate reality if she cannot have Aria, Chayne eventually recognizes her shortcomings and uses her last moments to reflect upon the perfect world where she chose to live out her days in peace, accepting Aria's loss and working to better the world, departing at peace with herself at last.
This seems to be extremely misused on The Originals (the spinoff of The Vampire Diaries) especially to the point it even says characters are outgambitted. Can a character who is outgambitted count? And if so, who is in charge of this show and who approved these?
- Magnificent Bastard: With the many Magnificent Bastards popping up each season, one can simply call this The Magnificent Bastards Show.
- Celeste, a master of the very long game which somehow completely avoids any feeling of Xanatos Roulette. However, this is ultimately subverted in Episode Fifteen when she is Out Gambited by Elijah and proves to be a Smug Snake bent on petty revenge against him for something he didn't even do.
- Between the witches and the originals it's all one big battle of who is the bigger Magnificent Bastard/Bitch.
- And as of Episode 1.21, the winner seems to be Francesca Correa, the supposed leader of the human faction, who turns out to be descended from a werewolf bloodline thought to have been extinguished by Marcel in the 1920s. By the end of the episode, her family is in possession of the black kyanite stones that prevent them from turning in the full moon (at the expense of draining Klaus' strength thanks to Genevieve), every vampire in the Quarter has been poisoned with werewolf venom, and she's all but taken control of the werewolf clans to take back New Orleans. Unfortunately for her, in the Season Two premiere, the Mikaelsons take back their city and their status as Magnificent Bastards, and she, too, proves to be just a high-functioning Smug Snake with no redeeming qualities; she doesn't even get the dignity of an on-screen death.
- The season finale shows that the real Magnificent Bitch is Esther Mikaelson, who had taken control over the ancestor witches and used her power to get the witches to go after her children and granddaughter.
Chayne 2.0.
Don't watch it, go ahead and cut for now. Idk if Beast wants to swing by but I think he watches the show so he could probably tell us what's up there.
Handsome Head of Hyperion
First-time posting here, but, having followed along for a bit and read many of the pages and effortposts presented here, I believe I have a potentially solid case to make for a candidate or two. Before I spend time on one in particular, however, I want to ask since he's from a more popular work: Has Robert Angier from The Prestige ever been discussed? He's not currently listed, but the search function returns no real results, so I do not want to bring up a resolved candidate if he was down voted at some point.
Nope, hasn't been brought up
I think he was just one of the many cut back when we were pulling out examples before revisiting and haven't gotten back to him. You did some great work on CM so I'd love to see what you've found if you wanna EP there, pal!
Handsome Head of Hyperion
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Thank you for the compliment!
Ok, seeing as he hasn't been properly discussed, here's my effortpost for Angier.
Who is Robert Angier? What makes him a candidate?
Robert Angier is one of the two protagonists of The Prestige. Angier is a rising magician in London, working alongside partner Alfred Borden and master stage-engineer John Cutter.
During a standard magic show where Angier's wife would be tied up and dumped into a box filled with water, from which she was supposed to escape, she was unable to escape her bindings and drowned onstage as Angier tried desperately to save her.
Believing Borden had inadvertently caused her death by using a more tricky kind of knot just for the "showmanship" of her escaping a tougher binding (whether this is true or not is never confirmed), Angier splits off from him, invading one of his magic shows years later and turning a fake "catch a bullet fired from a gun" trick into an actual one, blowing off two of Borden's fingers and seemingly dooming his magic career as payback for the perceived slight.
Hiring new assistant Olivia, Angier is stunned when Borden develops a seemingly impossible magic trick where he seems to teleport. Refusing to believe Borden is using some sort of body double, Angier sends Olivia to infiltrate Borden's inner circle and learn the secret of his trick then report back to Angier, and she eventually brings him Borden's (encoded) journal.
Later devising two new magic tricks, notably "fixing" a trick that normally involved killing a dove into a non-lethal method, both of these new tricks are ruined by Borden, using information given him by Olivia who has fallen in love with and betrayed Angier for Borden.
Kidnapping Borden's best friend Fallon and burying him alive, using this to force Borden to give him the encryption key for his journal, Angier gives Borden a shovel and shows him where Fallon is buried, allowing Angier to escape while Borden rescues his friend.
Eventually decoding the journal and being lead to scientist Nikolai Tesla by it, Angier realizes too late that the journal is a phoney given him by Borden just to distract and confuse him, but quickly turns this to his advantage as he commissions Tesla to make him a machine that will enable teleportation.
Some time later, Tesla succeeds in a manner of speaking, inventing a machine that doesn't teleport the target inside the machine themselves, but creates an exact replica/clone that can be sent anywhere from several feet to several yards away with some adjustments to the machine.
Testing the machine on himself then immediately executing the resulting clone (or perhaps the clone executed Angier himself?), Angier devises his final scheme, announcing a new magic tour where he will perform 100 shows of the "teleporting man".
In truth, Angier sets up a system where, during the show, he would step into his machine, wait for the lights to flash, then drop himself into a water tank beneath the stage, invisible to the audience, to drown while his clone is sent across the auditorium and "reappears" as the final part of the trick. Angier even uses blind stagehands during the whole process to ensure no one else knows his trick.
Knowing Borden's curiosity will eventually implore him to investigate under the stage during the trick, Angier repeats it night upon night, subjecting himself to drowning over and over while the resulting clones hide the previous ones' bodies then carry on until the next show when it's their turn to drown, until finally, Borden does indeed investigate, at which point he alerts everyone to Angier's drowning.
Using this placement of Borden to successfully frame the man for setting up the trick and leaving Angier to drown, Angier's resulting clone takes up the next part of the plan, taking up the identity of the wealthy socialite Lord Caldlow and buying up all his former magic equipment.
Meeting Borden one last time in prison, Angier as Caldlow reveals how he duped and framed him, and brings Borden's young daughter with him, mocking him over the fact that Angier is taking custody of her now that her father will hang for Angier's "death".
Leaving Borden to be hanged and taking his daughter as his own, Angier seemingly gets away with his crimes and prepares to go on with a peaceful life, only for Fallon to arrive and gun Angier down, revealing he is truthfully Borden's twin brother, and they had both been switching places throughout the entire movie.
Realizing he's been outsmarted by the sheer simplicity-yet-brilliance of the fact that Borden was two people all along, Angier dies with a smile on his face as he taunts Borden one last time that he never truly understood why Angier performed his magic and wanted to be the best, it was primarily just so he could see the looks of astonishment on the audiences' faces when he performed his tricks.
Is Angier magnificent?
Absolutely. Though he sometimes dips into emotional outbursts earlier in his career when it comes to Borden due to the man's role in his wife's death, by the time he gets his hands on Tesla's machine he's fully embraced his magnificence and spends the rest of the film calm, suave and collected.
He outsmarts everyone he seeks to throughout the film, only being one-upped now and then by Borden, and even then he ultimately would have won were it not for the fact that Borden was actually two twin brothers, which was pretty much completely unknowable to Angier.
It also takes a pretty special level of magnificence to basically kill yourself for nights on end while your clone picks up the slack.
And though technically the 'original' Angier dies before the end of the film, his clones are exact replicas of him and it's never treated like his clones are different entities. They're all Angier and all have the same goal and mindset, so everytime he clones himself it's moreso him finding a way to stay alive himself rather than being treated like "Angier is dead and this is just a shoddy replica."
Is he a bastard?
Most definitely. Angier commits kidnapping and a form of murder (if you count clones as murder), frames Borden for his murder and gets him hanged while keeping his daughter for himself as both a matter of responsibility and mockery, and yet never dips into vile or depraved evil, simply being a man consumed by revenge after his wife's death.
He also has positive attributes about him, like genuinely caring for his wife, trying to make his tricks as non-lethal towards anyone but himself as possible, and, though he uses to taunt Borden, taking the man's daughter under his wing and planning to raise her properly.
Final Verdict?
I'd say he's a . He has his emotional moments of losing his cool at times, but these slowly taper off as he grows smarter until finally he's facing even death with hardened resolve.
Goku Black
Angier
The votes look good so here is the Black Queen of Heaven in all her glory: