Bait the Dog: Difference between revisions
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* {{spoiler|Zakalwe}} from [[Use of Weapons]] by Iain M. Banks. Initially he comes off being a cool, badass secret agent with a rather [[Black Comedy|dark]] [[Deadpan Snarker|sense of humour]], and though his handlers seem to think he's a dangerous psycho, they seem totally off base. It's not until the very end of the story that we find out that {{spoiler|he's an ex [[Evil Overlord]], with a penchant for [[Skinned Alive|flaying]] who was involved in a civil war with his brother. He ended that civil war by [[Moral Event Horizon|murdering their sister and his ex-girlfriend, making a chair out of her corpse, and then having it sent to his brother, who kills himself.]] He then steals his brother's identity, and uses it to escape his past.}} |
* {{spoiler|Zakalwe}} from [[Use of Weapons]] by Iain M. Banks. Initially he comes off being a cool, badass secret agent with a rather [[Black Comedy|dark]] [[Deadpan Snarker|sense of humour]], and though his handlers seem to think he's a dangerous psycho, they seem totally off base. It's not until the very end of the story that we find out that {{spoiler|he's an ex [[Evil Overlord]], with a penchant for [[Skinned Alive|flaying]] who was involved in a civil war with his brother. He ended that civil war by [[Moral Event Horizon|murdering their sister and his ex-girlfriend, making a chair out of her corpse, and then having it sent to his brother, who kills himself.]] He then steals his brother's identity, and uses it to escape his past.}} |
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* [[Wilkie Collins]] did this in his novel ''[[The Woman in White]]'' with [[Enigmatic Minion]] Count Fosco. Fosco is so friendly and charming that the heroines turn to him for help against the seemingly main villain, Sir Percival Glyde, who is a [[Dastardly Whiplash]] type. Turns out that Fosco is actually a master villain who is aiding Glyde. It's also shown that Fosco has cowed and abused his wife into becoming a [[Stepford Smiler]] and it has been argued by British critic John Sutherland that the discrepancies in time between {{spoiler|what Fosco says it took for Anne Catherick's death and what another character reports}} is meant to suggest that Fosco killed her after a prolonged period of [[Cold-Blooded Torture|torture]] and rape. |
* [[Wilkie Collins]] did this in his novel ''[[The Woman in White]]'' with [[Enigmatic Minion]] Count Fosco. Fosco is so friendly and charming that the heroines turn to him for help against the seemingly main villain, Sir Percival Glyde, who is a [[Dastardly Whiplash]] type. Turns out that Fosco is actually a master villain who is aiding Glyde. It's also shown that Fosco has cowed and abused his wife into becoming a [[Stepford Smiler]] and it has been argued by British critic John Sutherland that the discrepancies in time between {{spoiler|what Fosco says it took for Anne Catherick's death and what another character reports}} is meant to suggest that Fosco killed her after a prolonged period of [[Cold-Blooded Torture|torture]] and rape. |
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* In the ''[[Warhammer]]'' novel ''Inheritance'', the character of Vlad von Carstein is introduced like a non-annoying version of an Anne Rice vampire, who practically sweats pure liquid awesome. He's philosophically inclined, a good fighter, looks cool, enters like a true badass, and ohmigod did he just slaughter hundreds of people in extremely sadistic manners and resurrect them as zombies? |
* In the ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' novel ''Inheritance'', the character of Vlad von Carstein is introduced like a non-annoying version of an Anne Rice vampire, who practically sweats pure liquid awesome. He's philosophically inclined, a good fighter, looks cool, enters like a true badass, and ohmigod did he just slaughter hundreds of people in extremely sadistic manners and resurrect them as zombies? |
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* In George P. Pelecanos' novel ''King Suckerman'', ex-con Wilton Cooper appears to be a cool [[Badass]] but is gradually revealed to be a rather frightening sociopath. |
* In George P. Pelecanos' novel ''King Suckerman'', ex-con Wilton Cooper appears to be a cool [[Badass]] but is gradually revealed to be a rather frightening sociopath. |
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* When introduced in the first ''[[Gormenghast]]'' novel, ''Titus Groan'', Steerpike is not only the most dynamic character in the entire cast, with a clear and sympathetic goal (escape), but is the viewpoint character for most of the book, not to mention showing extreme skill at what he does. By the time he reveals himself to be a deceitful serial killer, the reader has been well and truly disposed to view him as the hero. |
* When introduced in the first ''[[Gormenghast]]'' novel, ''Titus Groan'', Steerpike is not only the most dynamic character in the entire cast, with a clear and sympathetic goal (escape), but is the viewpoint character for most of the book, not to mention showing extreme skill at what he does. By the time he reveals himself to be a deceitful serial killer, the reader has been well and truly disposed to view him as the hero. |
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