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Forgot Flanders Could Do That as well.
Kick the Dog mentions the author can use it to remind an audience the character is evil (especially if the character starts turning into a Di LP).
Edited by Chabal2
Most likely ones are:
- Affably Evil: A genuinely likeable person who just happens to also have villainous motives.
- Punch-Clock Villain isn't really "evil" in the traditional sense. It's just their job. Like AE, they're usually nice people when they're off "the clock".
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: A more sympathetic villain with altruistic motivation, but their actions and methods are still wrong.
- Loveable Rogue: A dashing and rascally clever thief who usually only targets the corrupt nobility and may even help the authorities capture worse criminals every now and then. Some might even technically qualify as 'good guys', but they're still wanted men.
- Laughably Evil: Think one part 'villain' + two parts stand-up comedian.
Draco in Leather Pants is probably closest, but I was thinking more along the lines of when you bring up a character as an example of a villain, and the typical response is: "He/she's not a villain!", and you have to remind them. Some examples of what I'm thinking about:
- King Louie (The Jungle Book 1967)
- Lelouch vi Brittania (Code Geass)
- Nunnaly vi Brittania (Code Geass)
- Emperor Kuzco (The Emperor's New Groove)
- Zuko (The Last Airbender)
- Riku (Kingdom Hearts)
- Galen Marek (Star Wars: The Force Unleashed)
"Villains in Disney's The Jungle Book include Shere Kahn, Kaa, King Louie..." "King Louie isn't a villain!" "He kidnaps a boy and holds him hostage, and tries to get him to reveal the secret to making fire so he can gain even more power." "Oh yeah..."
Edited by SumDumNerd Read "Ghost Stories of Remnant" here.
^I'm not sure if you can really count Zuko since the series co-creators both said that the fans knew Zuko wasn't evil as early as Book 1 and even anticipated that he would eventually join Aang. At worst, Zuko would either be an Anti-Villain or a Noble Demon.
Aside from that, if you mean when the fandom blatantly disregards the villain's actions, or tries to make excuses for them, then yeah, that's Draco in Leather Pants.
I misunderstood and thought you meant when the villain is actually portrayed as having likeable traits, or good intentions, but are misguided.
I wouldn't mind failure so much, if I didn't fail so much.
^ That's kind of what I mean. The fans say "Zuko isn't a villain!" even though he works for a hegemonic tyranny, causes mass destruction, and spends the majority of the show trying to kidnap/kill a twelve-year-old boy.
It's the type of thing where, if you added a character to a villain list, there'd be someone (or many people) that calls you out saying "___ isn't a villain". This could be due to the character being Affably Evil, a Protagonist Villain, an Anti-Villain, or redeemed, but still requires you to remind people that yes, they are or were a villain.
Read "Ghost Stories of Remnant" here.
Alternative Character Interpretation?
I don't even know how a character could be objectively considered a villain unless the work portrays them as one. Zuko was a villain, but ended as a hero...
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Zuko is still meant as a hero though. Or do you mean fans for who S1 Zuko is a hero as opposed to S3 and onwards?
@Sum Dum Nerd: Huh?? Zuko never caused mass destruction. In episode 2 (Book 1), Zuko even accepted Aang's terms of surrender and left the SWT village in peace as they agreed.
It's the reason the fans knew he was gonna turn, right from the start. They could see that he wasn't evil.
I wouldn't mind failure so much, if I didn't fail so much.
Either way, there's no trope for what you're describing, which kinda sounds like you just want to complain about people who "forget" a character is evil.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
It's really going to devolve into "what makes a character a bad guy".
We can never truly eradicate the coronavirus, but we can suppress its threat like influenza
Is there a trope (most likely a YMMV trope), where a character is so well-liked by an audience that they often forget or outright ignore the fact that the character is villainous or, at the very least, has significant villainous traits?