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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness."''
|'''Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy'''}}
If a character is beautiful, then that character is a good person, either publicly or secretly. If a character is good, then that character will either be beautiful or [[Informed Attractiveness|be treated as beautiful.]]
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It almost goes without saying that this is very old; an attempt was even made [[Older Than Radio|in the 19th Century]] to quantify this attitude into the "science" of physiognomy, which posited a direct correlation between appearance and moral character.
[[Red Right Hand]] exists because of this trope. [[Ugly Hero, Good
As this trope is ubiquitous, please only add [[Egregious]] cases. [[Invoked Trope]] and [[Defied Trope]] examples are the best ones. [[Historical Hero Upgrade]] often leads to [[Historical Beauty Update]] because of this trope.
----▼
=== (Mostly) Straight examples: ===▼
▲----
== Anime and Manga ==▼
{{examples}}
* In the [[DVD Commentary]] for ''[[Ghost in The Shell|Ghost in the Shell: Innocence]]'', [[Mamoru Oshii|the director]] laments that he asked the animators to make sure a young female character was ''NOT'' cute. But they just couldn't help themselves.▼
* [[Gundam (Anime)|Gundam]] examples (basic fact: since about ''[[Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (Anime)|Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam]]'' nearly all major characters were relatively beautiful unrelated to their alignment. Even the franchises' morally ambiguous masked men hardly ever were them to hide ugly scars and the like)):▼
▲=== Anime and Manga ===
▲* In the [[DVD Commentary]] for ''[[Ghost in
▲* [[
** The most obvious subversion would be Dozle Zabi. While the ugliest of the Zabi family by far, he's also probably the nicest aside from Garma. His final act in the One Year War is to [[Hold the Line]] to buy time for his wife and daughter to get to safety.
** [[Discussed Trope]] in ''[[
* [[Bishonen]] Rokudo Mukuro from ''[[
** It's worth noting that he's only handsome because of his illusion powers. His real body is a horrible wreck.
* In ''[[Bio
* ''[[Demashita
* ''[[
* A subversion of an entirely different type occurs in ''[[
* Played straight in [[Noblesse]]. Are you ugly? Get yourself a life insurance. Are you hot? Redemption road is right over there. Curiously, this does not apply to {{spoiler|female characters}} who die anyway.
* Played straight in ''[[Dance in
* Inverted in ''[[
** This may be a subverted inversion (if there is such a thing) because the Kiras are [[Villain Protagonist|technically the main characters, or at least one of them.]]
* Minari from ''Dr. Stone'' is a news reporter who refuses to use her sex appeal to take advantage of men, though one can argue that she’s cute and not just beautiful.
=== Comic Books ===
* [[Jack Kirby]]'s ''[[Eternals]]'' are physical specimens of literally godlike perfection, while the Deviants are hideously mutated.
** Subverted, as about half of the Eternals are jerks, or [[Complete Monster
*** And Karkas, whom everyone acknowledges to be the most hideous Deviant, is a [[Defector From Decadence]] and one of the good guys.
* ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' is often pretty good about averting this by having heroes like the Beast who have really freakish mutations, or [[Wolverine]] (arguably the most famous of the X-Men) being depicted, both in the art and by the other characters, as a "short, square-built, hairy and smelly man". However, note that almost all of the "grotesque but benevolent" mutants in the X-canon are male. There's a definite double standard there. And they're still frequently drawn as being generically attractive.
** In an arc of ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' spinoff ''[[New Mutants]]'', one of the characters, Karma, was possessed by the evil Shadow King, [[Evil Makes You Ugly|who caused her to become morbidly obese from overeating]]. In the following arc (after Karma rejoins the team), Karma is promptly (and conveniently) dropped into a desert where she sheds her fat in record time and becomes hot again.
** Perhaps the biggest X-Men example is Marrow, a Morlock with the [[Lovecraftian Superpower]] of [[Bad
** When Rogue originally appeared, she was A) a villain, and B) drawn to be very butch and homely. Nowadays...
* In ''[[Elf Quest]]'', the distinction between in-group (elves) and out-group (humans and trolls) has been striking from the get-go. Elves are the embodiment of otherworldly beauty, while [[Humans Are Ugly]] and idiosyncratic and trolls are bulbous and warty. While a few humans and the occasional troll are easy on the eyes, they are nothing compared to the
* A lot of ''[[
* ''[[Tintin]]'' ("[[
* Played [[Anvilicious|laughably straight]] in almost anything by [[Chick Tracts|Jack Chick]]. In fact, people ''go ugly as soon as we find out they [[Hollywood Atheist|disagree with Jack]]''. The only exception is that strange tract about homosexuality, where Satan is [[Walking Shirtless Scene|constantly shirtless]] and has obviously been working out. Is there something you want to tell us, Jack?
* [[Dick Tracy (
* Played oh so straight for years on end with the family of [[Shazam|Captain Marvel]] villain Dr. Sivana. Sivana himself could be kindly described as a stunted little troll with [[Bald of Evil|no hair]] and a face only a mother could love: evil. He has four kids. Georgia is basically her father, only female and with hair: evil. Thaddeus is his dad mark 2: evil. Magnificus apparently comes from a completely different family, with golden hair and absolutely no deformities: good. Beautia, winner of the All-Time Prize for Least Subtle Name, is absolutely stunning: good. Captain Marvel himself: physically Superman in red, and the hero.
* Nancy Callahan in ''[[Sin City]]'' is the most noble and innocent character in the series and is described as the most beautiful.
* [[Captain America (comics)]] is the perfect male specimen, especially by Nazi standards, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a perfect body. His [[Arch Enemy]] [[Red Skull]] has a [[Exactly What It Says
===
* An absolutely ubiquitous trope in
=== Film ===
* Made explicit in ''[[The Good, the Bad
** There was at least one neat subversion, though, in the [[Complete Monster]] villain being called "[[Fluffy the Terrible|Angel Eyes]]".
* In ''[[The Wizard of Oz (
** This sentiment is deconstructed and subverted ''hard'' by ''[[Wicked (novel)|Wicked]]''.
* Conversed and played completely straight in [[The Sequel]] to ''[[Zenon]]''. When the aliens finally show up at the end, they are [[Energy Beings]] who travel in a butterfly/manta ray style space ship that shifts between pastel, easter egg colors of pink, blue, yellow, etc. When a characters asks if these aliens might be hostile, Zenon replies, with no irony and a completely straight face, "Nobody could have a ship that beautiful and be evil." She was right, they were good aliens who saved their lives and even repaired the space station.
* At the start of ''[[Unbreakable]]'', [[Samuel L. Jackson]] describes a comic cover in art-critic detail, commenting on the villain's inhumanely big head. {{spoiler|At the end of the movie, he reveals to the hero that he was always meant to be the villain because of his brittle bones. "They called me 'Mr. Glass'"}}
* This trope is always so much fun to observe whenever Elizabeth and [[Mary of Scotland|Mary, Queen of Scots]] pop up. If the story is focusing on Mary, she will be rather pretty, whilst Elizabeth will look like an ugly old hag. But if it's Elizabeth in the spotlight, she's always portrayed as having far more grace and beauty, whilst Mary is transformed into a woman whose bitterness is shown quite clearly on her plain (if she's lucky) face. Expect the ugly one to have crows' feet, and any ugly Elizabeth will have hair exactly the wrong shade of red and far too much white makeup on. The irony of this is that both Elizabeth and Mary would have been seen as ''absolutely freaking gorgeous'' in our time at age twenty-five - they both resembled [[Nicole Kidman]] in face and in body. Neither of them aged as well, but what can you expect in the 16th century?
* This comes in three layers in ''[[The Tale of Despereaux]]''. The cute mouse and porcelain-skinned princess are good, the plain but not hideous Mig and Rascuro are susceptible to evil urges, and the ugly other rats are [[
* ''[[
* Oh so averted in ''[[Basic Instinct]]''.
* Kind of an interesting play on this in ''[[
* In ''[[I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry]]'', anyone who disagrees with gay marriage (or homosexuality in general) is noticeably unattractive. Watch again and you'll see. Characters who are borderline attractive are also on the fence regarding gay rights, and invariably back up the titular couple in the end. Obviously, this isn't so much "good and evil" as it is "backing up our message with visual cues," but still.
* [[Tim Burton]]'s ''[[Alice in Wonderland (
* Played straight in the [[The Film of the Book|film version]] of ''[[Matilda (
** That's how it was in [[Matilda (
* Played very straight in ''[[Solomon Kane]]'', where Kane in the start is ragged and crazy-looking with his messy beard and hair, and his crazy [[Large Ham]] expressions, but after doing [[Heel Face Turn]] he smoothes out his facial hair and becomes ruggedly handsome. Likewise, when [[The Dragon]] recruits warriors, he does some kind of demonic possession-thing where the recruits receive horrible scars, black eyes and bad teeth, [[No Ontological Inertia|all which go away when they die.]] Oh, and [[The Dragon]] himself is horribly scarred under his mask, and the [[Big Bad]] invokes [[Two
* Played depressingly straight in ''[[Star Trek
* In the ''[[Harry Potter (
** In fact, Tom Riddle's attractive features were often something he would use to win sympathy and gain the trust of others. In ''Half-Blood Prince'', a memory shows that an old lady clearly had the hots for him, which he used to get her to show him her most prized treasures {{spoiler|right before poisoning her and stealing the treasures to be horcruxes.}}
** Subverted by Hagrid. He's good, kind, and loyal to his friends but you wouldn't call him handsome. We also have Horace Slughorn who is short, fat, dumpy, and though seemingly a coward, steps up to the plate when duty calls, albeit a bit reluctantly. Let us not forget Flitwick who is a short and strange looking man, and completely on the side of good. On the other side we have Lucius Malfoy who is quite handsome and quite evil. Most notably is Bellatrix Lestrange who is played by [[Helena Bonham Carter]], and is a sadistic psychopath who enjoys torturing her enemies.
* Quite a few early [[Disney Animated Canon]] movies have caught flak for playing this straight. In ''[[
* Zigzagged in ''[[Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken]]''. Ruby herself is more [[Adorkable]] than beautiful, with Chelsea being incredibly beautiful, with hints from the start that it is "only skin deep". As it turns out later, Chelsea's [[One-Winged Angel| true form is anything ''but'' beautiful.]]
=== Literature ===▼
▲== Literature ==
* In English literature, the most common [[Older Than Radio]] example of this trope is ''[[The Picture of Dorian Gray]]'', even though it is a [[Deconstruction]]. Wilde was critiquing the commonly held belief during the 19th Century that physical appearance both reflected and was influenced by morality, piety, and social status.
* A strange example - neither subversion or aversion but not completely straight either - comes from the work of Rex Stout, the writer of the [[Nero Wolfe]] novels. Stout wrote a short story called "Murder is No Joke" in late 1957. One of the characters, Flora Gallant, is a fat, shrewish, bitter, ugly, crude middle-aged female social misfit - virtually a perfect example of the trope played straight. The next year, Stout was asked by the ''Saturday Evening Post'' to expand the story into a novella. In this version, Flora Gallant is a gorgeous, vivacious young woman who romances Archie to some success - the opposite of the trope. The rest of the plot, including the identity of the killer, is identical, except that in the first story, Archie has Flora tagged as the killer; in the second, he thinks she's the next victim. {{spoiler|She's neither.}}
* In Jaqueline Carey's ''[[
* Naturally, played for laughs in ''[[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (
{{quote|
And when the travelers cried out, saying why didn't they go away and get on with writing some poems instead of pestering people with all this rock-throwing business, they would suddenly stop, and then break into one of the seven hundred and ninety-four great Song Cycles of Vassillian. These songs were all of extraordinary beauty, and even more extraordinary length, and all fell into exactly the same pattern.
The first part of each song would tell how there once went forth from the City of Vassillian a party of five sage princes with four horses. The princes, who are of course brave, noble and wise, travel widely in distant lands, fight giant ogres, pursue exotic philosophies, take tea with weird gods and rescue beautiful monsters from ravening princesses before finally announcing that they have achieved enlightenment and that their wanderings are therefore accomplished.
The second, and much longer, part of each song would then tell of all their bickerings about which one of them is going to have to walk back. }}
* In ''[[
* In the ''[[
* Played almost [[Narm|laughably]] straight with Hester Prynne of ''[[The Scarlet Letter]]'', whose beauty the narrator goes into ridiculous amounts of detail describing. On the opposite side, her neglectful and vengeful husband has mildly deformed shoulders and becomes more malevolent-looking as the book goes on. A bit of a subversion exists, though, in that the main narrative thrust of the book centers around the fact that Hester is a sinner and an adulteress, and how she suffers for her actions; it's somewhat debatable as to just how much sympathy Nathaniel Hawthorne has for his character.
** This applies even more straightly to Hester's ''daughter'' (who is even named Pearl), though, as among other things Hawthorne [[Anvilicious|drives home the fact (with a piledriver)]] that the sins of the parents do not apply to the [[Children Are Innocent|innocent children]]. And in the mid-19th century, [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped|some people really needed to be told that]], to be honest.
* In [[
** On the other hand, the trope is also subverted through elements like the Druédain or Wild Men, who are ugly compared to other Men but firmly aligned with good. They remain so for thousands of years while most of the Númenoreans, the most Elf-like of Men (specifically blessed by Ilúvatar to be so) are corrupted by Sauron - who himself had a fair physical form before the events of ''The Lord of the Rings''. While Frodo may follow this trope, Sam is not especially handsome. Hobbits generally look "good-natured rather than beautiful".
* An example who was once a subversion: To the vast surprise of most people, Lancelot in ''[[King Arthur|La Morte d'Arthur]]'' and other early Arthurian works is not the handsome "[[Prince Charming]]" figure he tends to be portrayed as in modern media, but a stocky, barrel-chested walking meat wall who is notably plain in appearance. (He's also a mentally unstable berserker given to complete psychotic breakdowns at the drop of a hat. Naturally, since [[
** T.H. White takes this even further in ''The Ill-Made Knight'', the third volume of ''[[The Once and Future King]]'', and makes his version of Lancelot extraordinarily ugly, so much so that he is said to resemble an ape.
*** Further subverted ''The Once and Future King'' series with Elaine. She starts off as being young and beautiful, but becomes plump and reclusive from society when Lancelot abandons her. The narrator even mentions that she did the "wrong thing", and ought to have turned "thin and interesting" as Guenever would have done in that situation. Elaine is still portrayed very sympathetically (even if she does [[Double Standard Rape (Female
** Bernard Cornwell's [[Warlord Trilogy]] retained the good-looking "Prince Charming" Lancelot and then thoroughly subverted it, turning him into a cowardly, snivelling, petulant bastard with [[Alternate Character Interpretation|no redeeming features whatsoever.]] He didn't even have the good grace to be [[Magnificent Bastard]] about it. One could argue in fact that Lancelot is the major villain of the series- he's certainly one of the least likable characters.
* The series ''[[Twilight (
** As an even more subtle example, James (the [[Big Bad]] of the first book) is described more than once as extremely plain, as compared to the Cullens' inhuman beauty. The reason? [[Word of God|Meyer]] has said that he was a total [[Gonk]] as a human, and only the powerful beautifying nature of vampirism turned him barely average. On the flipside, all the Cullens (the good guys) were already gorgeous before they were turned, and just got hotter as vamps.
** Bella never gets over her prejudice for looks. In ''Breaking Dawn'', an Amazonian vampire vows to protect the Cullens against an invasion and offers to train Bella to fight and use her superpowers. Bella's response is to never feel comfortable around the woman because her "wild" looks "scared me to death". The Amazonians ultimately prove loyal, but Bella never apologizes or admits that she was wrong.
*** Bella's prejudice towards non-beautiful people goes to such an extent that she treats non-beautiful people with utter
** The only human person she considers "helpful" instead of "annoying" in the first book is Mike, who acts exactly like everyone else except he's the cute jock versus the eccentric and the nerd. Even when dismissively comparing him to a dog, Bella still thinks that Mike is "easy to like" and attractive, while Eric is "oily" and "overly-helpful" and Tyler merits no special attention at all, except to say that he's irritating.
** Also Lauren, who is nasty to Bella out of pure jealousy and described as having "fishy" eyes and a "nasal" voice. Or when Bella first sees Bree the newborn vampire and her first thought is to determine if Bree is attractive or not. It's not limited to Bella either - the final chapter of Eclipse that is told from Jacob's point of view has him reflecting that he once thought Leah was attractive but now he finds her repulsive ever since she got all upset over Sam dumping her for Emily.
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** Jane Bennet, who is considered to be the most beautiful women in the neighborhood, has a 'good' personality, such as being sweet, kind, patient, and understanding and always sees the best in people.
* ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]''. The adaptations have various takes on Erik's deformity. He still is a [[Complete Monster]], though. Though it's made explicitly clear that he became evil and insane because people shunned him for his appearance, instead of appreciating him for his considerable genius. Basically, Erik originally became evil because, with his deformity, people '''assumed''' this trope, and...well, it's very hard to turn out ''good'' if everybody insists you're a [[Complete Monster]] from the moment you're born.
* This trope is believed by the fairies in ''[[Jonathan Strange
* Partly lampshaded, partly averted in ''[[The Man Of Feeling]]'' by Henry Mackenzie, where many times, instead of giving the reader a physical description of characters, Mackenzie simply has the main character Harley employ his knowledge of "physiognomy" (the science of determining personality by someone's appearance), and goes straight for the moral judgement.
* With the possible exception of ''[[The Lost Symbol]]'', most [[Dan Brown]] novels have a female lead who's an expert in her chosen academic field and is impossibly attractive to boot. Of course, the [[Author Avatar|vaguely handsome nerd]] [[Wish Fulfillment|ALWAYS gets the girl at the end]].
* [[
** Some of this is averted in the relatively recent film starring Sir [[Ian McKellen]], in that Richard looks fairly attractive to those who don't realize his looks are based on [[Putting
* [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[
{{quote|
Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace,
Yet grace must still look so.'' }}
* Very common in ''[[The House of Night]]''. When Stevie Rae died and then un-died she was repulsive and smelt really bad. When the ritual to give her and the other Red Fledglings back their humanity was complete, they were all pretty again. Also the Bull of Light, which is black is described as "deep, mysterious and beautiful to behold". Compared to the Bull of Darkness, which is white and is described as "a nightmare come alive."
* Subverted in [[The Pale King]] with Meredith, who becomes a vain, neurotic mess if you let her talk about her problems long enough.
* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: Played straight as an arrow! Check [https://web.archive.org/web/20131216063646/http://www.fernmichaels.com/series-characters-sisterhood-series/ this] out for proof. The bad guys are mostly ugly as sin to start with or beautiful in a fake way but become ugly by the end. Of course, Lizzie Fox's marriage with Cosmo Cricket cheerfully goes into [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife]] territory.
* A short story by [[Dick King
* Played with ''all over the damn place'' in the ''[[Sword of Truth]]''. The list of hot evil chicks and handsome evil dudes is about as long as their good counterparts. In fact, its implied that their good looks helped them on the road to be big enough bads to seriously break things.
* In [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''[[
{{quote|
* Played straight and inverted in ''[[
=== Live Action TV ===
* Joked at in ''[[
{{quote|
* Perhaps surprisingly, given its self-awareness, ''[[
* While pretty much everyone on ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' is ridiculously pretty, this trope was directly referenced in the episode ''Folsom Prison Blues,'' in which Dean and Sam are thrown in jail. While their female lawyer keeps hearing that Dean's a monster, she changes her mind completely and even helps them out when he uses his looks to convince her he's innocent.
* May or may not have been intentional with ''[[
** Although quite subverted with the evil [[Magnificent Bastard|Zankou]], who is implied to have had a relationship with the stunning Seer, Kyra.
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' is a pretty big offender. You can always tell the new character is a good guy if they look like a model. Sylar and Adan Monroe are the only exceptions.
* Played uncomfortably straight with the Cylons on the reimagined ''[[Battlestar Galactica
** And given D'Anna was willing even in her most recent (S4) appearance {{spoiler|to wipe out humanity even after they helped resurrect her}} she probably deserves to be in the morally doubtful region along with {{spoiler|Tory}}.
** ''Battlestar Galactica'' also has the (only) perfectly upstanding character Karl Agathon, [[Meaningful Name|named after]] this trope (see "Kalos kai Agathos" above).
* None of the Doctors of ''[[
** Though there is a
** The "[[Humanoid Aliens|monsters]]" are generally unattractive by human standards, but it's often subverted with the revelation that they're not really that monstrous. ''Some'' of them are capital-E-Evil, but some have [[Blue and Orange Morality]], some of them are [[Well
* The major subplot of the ''[[American Gothic]]'' episode "Eye of the Beholder" plays with and then toes the line of this trope from the [[A Day in
* In ''[[
* Played straight in the American version of ''[[
* Most modern sitcoms heavily employ this trope. [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife|A typical theme will be how the hip, fashionable, sexy-looking wife with the looks of a supermodel is automatically smarter and more competent than her average-looking (or even ugly) husband.]]
* Averted and called out by one episode of ''[[Star Trek:
** This is especially evident in the TNG Klingons. The evil or unpleasant ones, such as the Duras sisters, are hideous, while Worf is much more attractive. This might, however, have something to do with the fact that his adoptive parents introduced him to the wonderful human invention known as a comb.
=== Professional Wrestling ===
* [[All Japan
* Maybe a bit subverted with [[TNA]] Wrestling's Knockouts division; everyone is pretty (in some way), regardless of whether they are good, bad, or [[Complete Monster
=== Tabletop Games ===
* The goddess Sune of the ''[[
** To the
* The ''[[Hero System]]'' games, most notably ''[[
* ''[[Dungeons
* More ''[[Dungeons
* Taken [[Up to Eleven]] in ''[[Magic:
* In [[Rocketmen]] the good guys are the Rebels who are allied with Mercury, and Venus who both have a matriarchal society some pretty female characters, while the bad guys the Legion of Terra are allied with Mars who are a race of green skin space gorillas.
=== Toys ===
* A lot of [[LEGO]] themes are like this, with Agents probably being the worst offender in that the vast majority of the villains are disfigured, cyborgs, or both. The Adventurers' [[Big Bad|Baron von Baron/Sam Sinister]] is a stereotypical Nazi officer with a monocle, handlebar mustache, [[Dueling Scar]], and hookhand, while the only other Adventurers villain who could be considered attractive in the conventional sense is [[Femme Fatale|Alexis Sanister]]. [[Big Bad|Ogel]], of Alpha Team, has some kind of red glass eye, and of course a hook, while his Mooks are skeletons. The Evil Wizard from the recent Castle sets has the same face as Ogel, so that's another one. The Bulls of Knight's Kingdom have are scarred, clad in rusted armour, and have silver eyes. Things get far worse, of course, if you consider the Pirates to be bad guys, what with the hooks, peglegs, eyepatches, and scars. To give LEGO some credit, they have had scarred or deformed heroes, like [[Asteroid Miners|Rock Raider's]] Chief (prosthetic arm), Power Miner's Rex (facial scarring), Dino Attack's Viper (more facial scarring), and Lego Island's Captain Click (a pirate skeleton). Still, ugly villains greatly outnumber even unattractive (if they were real) heroes.
* Often outed as the worst offender as unrealistic beauty-standards, Mattel's "[[Barbie]]," if a real woman, would need to be over ''seven feet tall'' in order to have a 22" waist. (In contrast, the original "Ken" was rather plain-looking.)
=== Video Games ===
* ''[[
** Basically if you're a sympathetic character in ''[[
** An exception to this trope might be: [https://web.archive.org/web/20100817061622/http://www.feplanet.net/media/gallery/view.php?id=241 Dorothy] from ''[[Fire Emblem Elibe
* Played straight in ''[[Drakengard]]''. Another layer is added on with the [[Our Elves Are Better|impossibly beautiful and pacifistic elves]] and the [[Nightmare Fuel]]-inspired design for the monsters, who are bloodthirsty and primitive. These other creatures are [[Low Fantasy|rarely seen]], however. And really, what's more beautiful than {{spoiler|[[Eldritch Abomination|a baby?]]}}
* Played straight in ''[[
* The only nice demon bound in Jerro's Haven in ''[[
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
** In the second game, quite a few of the villains are even more monstrous: the Collectors, for example, are [[Insectoid Aliens]] equipped with a lot of repulsive-looking organic technology, and serve the Reapers in abducting human colonists for use in their experiments. {{spoiler|Once again, it's revealed that the Collectors are just brainwashed servants of the Reapers; before they were enslaved, the Collectors were the equally bizarre-looking Protheans, [[Benevolent Precursors]] to the current galactic civilization.}}
** In ''[[
* ''[[
* Used in ''[[
* Played straight and averted in ''[[Yo
* Played totally straight in ''[[
* Both Gabriel and Marie Belmont from ''[[Castlevania
* In ''[[Mortal Kombat 11]]'' takes place at least three decades after the original game, and the heroic Earthrealm Warriors who were around back then (Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Sonya, and Johnny) have aged remarkably well, still looking youthful and attractive. Not so with Kano, who while still muscular and robust, is unwashed, dirty, ugly, and smelly, clearly fitting the [[Evil Makes You Ugly]] category as well.
=== Web Comics ===▼
▲== Web Comics ==
* [http://www.bigheadpress.com/tpbtgn?page=5 This guy.] One guess whether he's good or evil.
=== Western Animation ===
* On ''[[Justice League (
* The eponymous heroes of ''[[
** Goliath - if you can get past the wings, fangs, and talons - could be seen as downright handsome. And let's face it, any man with [[Keith David]]'s voice is going to have less trouble with the ladies than he might otherwise.
** Brooklyn - if drawn in the right way and angle - gets points for his exotic nature as a [[Furry Fandom]].
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=== Real Life ===
* During the Victorian era, this concept was widely held to be true; a person's physical appearance was a reflection on their morality and social standing. The introduction discusses 19th Century quackery discourses of [
* In Spanish, "to be" can be translated as two different verbs (ser and estar) "ser buena" (to be good) means to be a good/nice person, and "estar buena" (literally translated also: "to be good") means being physically attractive (although usually "hot" more than "beautiful"). This might be because ser means "usually to be a certain way" whereas estar draws its distinction in definition from meaning something more like "to be a certain way which is not so usual." In other words, "ser buena" most literally means "to be good as a regular thing" whereas the most literal translation for "estar buena" could be "to be good for the moment" and not necessarily as a regular thing. This suggests that Spanish-speaking cultures are probably at least somewhat aware of beauty's tendency to be fleeting and superficial, and have therefore linked it to temporary and superficial goodness in their language. The
* The [
* The 1960 US presidential election debates were the first to be televised. Polls showed that those who watched the debate on television thought the handsome [[John F. Kennedy]] had won the debate, while those who listened on the radio thought the sweaty, uncomfortable looking [[Richard Nixon]] had won. Of course, TV being a relatively emergent technology that was only just starting to be adapted at the time could have resulted in differences in the demographics of television owners and non-television owners. And, of course, while it might be a poor reason to not vote for someone because they look like a slightly-crazed, paranoid, crook, the fact that Nixon in fact turned out to be a slightly-crazed, paranoid, crook is of no little relevance.
** Even more interesting: While Kennedy was the president who brought the US military into [[The Vietnam War]] full-force (before then, we were supplying troops but it was not an official war), the less-attractive [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] has tended to receive the lion's share of the blame for the conflict. Nixon was the one who eventually pulled us out, but this is rarely mentioned, mainly due to A. His initial escalation of the fighting and B. He's friggin' [[Richard Nixon]].
* The [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]] took this very, ''very'' seriously. ''Kaloi k'agathoi'' ("the beautiful and good ones") was what Greek aristocrats called themselves. To be beautiful was considered a gift from the gods and was a sign of their favor. This allowed good-looking Greeks to [[Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful|get away with things just because they were beautiful]], and occasionally hurt ugly people when accused of a crime. For instance:
** Phryne, an Athenian [[High
*** Her "blasphemy" was that she'd posed for a statue of Aphrodite, goddess of love, and thus was supposedly claiming to be as beautiful as a goddess. (Apparently no one thought to blame the ''sculptor'' for thinking Phryne would make a good model for Aphrodite.) When the jury took a good long look at Exhibit A....
** [[Socrates]], on the other hand, was famously ugly (both [[
* Public opinion in any trial by media scenario will often fall in line with this trope. [[Missing White Woman Syndrome]] (always pretty, young girls) is an obvious real-life relation, and people often have harsher reactions to unusual looking suspects (as opposed to attractive serial killers mentioned below, who often get fanmail or marriage proposals). Even non-criminal media scandals get this reaction. Take, for example, public perception of the British Royal Family. Princess Diana is lovingly remembered, despite having affairs as her former husband did, while Prince Charles is unpopular and Lady Camilla is largely hated, and both are mocked for their appearance.
* According to an actual scientific subject on the topic, beautiful criminals usually get more lenient sentences then their ugly counterparts, regardless of the severity of their crime, but when the crime in question is fraud, the tables are turned: attractive frauds almost consistently get the longest convictions. Psychologists believe that this is due to the fact that people find themselves betrayed when this trope isn't played straight, and react far more severely. A beautiful thief or murderer can be explained as a victim of the circumstances, but a beautiful fraud explicitly uses their appearance to deceive and mislead people, and they just can't forgive that.
* [[William Howard Taft]] was the last president elected before photographs became a standard feature of newspapers (somewhat obviously).
* The opposite
* When you get down to it, this is the principle behind [[Double Standard Rape (Female
* Recent pictures of [https://web.archive.org/web/20111006124549/http://sports.rightpundits.com/wp-content/photos/Former_Figure_Skater_Nancy_Kerrigan.jpg Nancy Kerrigan] and [
* Many Christian denominations believe human souls would be reunited with their bodies on Judgment Day, and their bodies would be transformed. The righteous would receive beautiful, glorified bodies that resemble extremely idealized versions of themselves, while the wicked would be placed in twisted, pain wracked versions of their old bodies.
=== Other ===
*
=== Anime and Manga ===▼
* Played around with quite a bit in ''[[
▲== Anime and Manga ==
▲* Played around with quite a bit in ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'', in just about every permutation:
** [[Villain Protagonist]] Light Yagami is popular, impeccably groomed and dressed, has girls fawning over him everywhere. He seems good at first, but turns into the worst serial killer in history and a [[Magnificent Bastard]] who manipulates everyone around him with no consideration for their feelings.
** In contrast, L, the detective chasing Kira, is gangly, funny-looking, and has permanent bags under his eyes; most girls in-story won't even look at him twice, and he has no friends. But he's [[Great Detective|the world's greatest detective]], with a strong determination to take down the murderer, albeit using somewhat [[Knight Templar|questionable methods]]. He's often considered [[Ugly Cute]], granted, but this was unintentional.
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** Then there's Sidoh, who's ugly as normal for a Shinigami, but isn't so much evil as pathetic and pitifully stupid.
** Virtually all of the common criminals are butt-ugly. I guess breaking the law only makes you ugly if you do it without the help of a Shinigami.
* The psychopathic [[Complete Monster]] Johan is easily ''[[Monster (
** Naoki Urasawa puts about as much stock in this trope as Pratchett does (read: none).
* Beautifully averted in ''[[
* Commonly subverted or played with in ''[[
* Kintano from ''[[
* Beauty may equal goodness, but on [[
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (
=== Art ===
* In Byzantine Christian art, most Saints are drawn somewhat ugly to accentuate their Inner Beauty represented by their halo.
* Many Renaissance portrayals of Saints or Biblical characters were intentionally drawn plain as to avoid inspiring lust for a holy character. However, angels, who were genderless...
=== Comic Books ===
* [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Ben "The Thing" Grimm]] is one of the most popular characters in the [[Marvel Universe]], despite, or perhaps because, he's a massive rock creature.
* [[Beta Ray Bill]]. He looks like an orange humanoid crocodile/horse hybrid, yet he is one of the noblest beings in the Marvel Universe. One of the most badass, too. After all, he was the ''first'' non-Asgardian to be deemed worthy enough to wield [[The Mighty Thor]]'s hammer, Mjolnir, which was of course intended to be a shock to both Thor and readers.
* The [[Anti
* [[
* ''[[Hellboy (
* ''[[
* Of course, played with often in ''[[Watchmen (
** Rorschach, despite being one of the main heroes (and most certainly is the star of the book), is ugly as sin. Uneven haircut (and ginger at that), short, pug nose, spotty face, dead eyes, aged face, he's described as being "fascinatingly ugly" by his psychiatrist. Hasn't stopped a small portion of the female fanbase being into him...
** Ozymandias. Tall, muscular, blonde, handsome, older than he looks, strong features. {{spoiler|The "villain" of the series}}.
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** Dr Manhattan rebuilt himself in the shape of the ideal man and the classical hero, standing well over six feet with statuesque features. He even walks around naked. However, he doesn't care at all for heroism.
** The Comedian is tall, handsome and has "badboy appeal", which also plays the trope straight except... he's not much of a hero. It straightens out again when his scars and age reduce his good looks to a rather leathery looking ball of meat.
* Marv from ''[[Sin City]]'' is a massive, ugly monster of a man but is also a good man. Meanwhile, [[The Vamp|Ava Lord is pure evil but was extremely beautiful to the point where she could easily manipulate almost any man into doing her bidding.]] Junior was also fairly handsome and looked every bit the golden boy future President his father wanted him to
=== Fairy Tales ===
* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20190710220635/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rumpelstiltskin/stories/3spinners.html The Three Spinners]'', three hideous women offer to help the heroine with her spinning. Unlike [[
** ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20190710220700/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/asbjornsenmoe/threeaunts.html The Three Aunts]'' is another variant.
* There are countless fairy tales where the protagonist is given vital aid on their quests by dwarves, crones, and sometimes even giant, disembodied heads.
* In the story of "[[
* There is a fairy tale where a girl is [[So Beautiful
=== Film ===
* Subverted very cruelly in ''[[
* Subversion: The ''[[
** There's also Charming's mother, Fairy Godmother. [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|She's got the sweet, matronly look down, and is not above drugging her goddaughter into marrying her son, threatening to essentially ruin King Harold's life by turning him back into a frog, and trying to kill Shrek.]]
** The third movie also has the other princesses, who are shown to be fairly shallow and useless at first, while the ugly stepsister Doris is a lot kinder and stronger. {{spoiler|Rapunzel also ends up selling them out so she can marry Charming. She's later revealed to be bald which could be playing the trope straight, except that she's still an attractive woman, just with no hair.}}
** The fourth film has that all of the ogres are perfectly decent people fighting to overthrow the evil Rumplestiltskin. In that universe, Fiona also identifies as an ogre and keeps her curse of turning into a human woman by day a secret.
* Inverted in the 1953 sci-fi movie ''[[It Came
* ''[[
* Averted, lampshaded and parodied in the ''[[Austin Powers]]'' movies where the hero doesn't look good at all and one of the first things said to him after he is unfrozen is that he should get a make over for his teeth. At the end of one of the movies when they watch a movie based on Austin Powers (yeah.) [[Adaptational Attractiveness|Austin is played by Tom Cruise]].
* In the [[James Bond (
* Christopher Johnson and his son of ''[[
* Played with in ''[[
* Lampshaded and subverted throughout Passione d'Amore. The good-looking male has an affair with a good-looking married woman. (She gets away with stringing him along because she's pretty.) Then, he gets sent to some backwater area and starts to interact with the local colonel's daughter, whom everybody agrees is quite ugly. It also shaped her character: even her parents avoided contact with her. She never gets a 'beautiful all along' makeover, but he eventually falls in love with her anyway. Then she dies. and he goes to tell his pretty lover that he isn't taking her shit anymore. It's mainly notable for the 'pretty dude/ugly woman' pairing.
=== Literature ===
* [[
* [[
** And, of course, the novel's prettiest characters are all extremely problematic in one way or the other. Blanche Ingram is a self-involved [[Gold Digger]]; Rosamond Oliver, while sweet, is nevertheless represented as a fluttery socialite-type; and St. John Rivers, although not a villain, is extremely manipulative and egotistical.
* Often subverted in ''[[Harry Potter (
** Bellatrix is sort of in between subverting and playing straight this trope - while she was clearly quite attractive when she was younger, she was shown to be gaunt and worn from her time in Azkaban. On the other hand, the same was said for Sirius. And while Harry did think at one point that the Slytherins mostly appeared to be an unattractive lot, the Malfoy family and
** There are further aversions with Mad-eye Moody and the Weasleys. Played straight with a few villains like the Carrows. Interestingly, Pansy Parkinson is described as looking like "a pug", despite her being a [[Alpha Bitch]].
** It's also worth mentioning Gilderoy
*** The general rule is that ugliness will not make you become evil, but evilness will make you become ugly. Voldemort's looks began to deteriorate when he started using large amounts of dark magic resulting in his inhuman appearance, while Bellatrix lost her beauty through insanity and her stay in Azkaban. More morally ambiguous characters like the Malfoys are the middle ground; Lucius is never said to be particularly attractive in the books, and Draco is occasionally called ferret-like. Narcissa is beautiful because she's a Black, they're all described as good-looking, and {{spoiler|later redeems the family through [[Mama Bear|motherly love]]}}, however her beauty is marred by her snootiness.
* [[
** Compare to [[The Fair Folk|how elves are portrayed]]: beautiful and otherworldly... but here, "otherworldly" is used in the sense of "not from this world", i.e. disturbing and wrong. Elves in the Discworld universe are [[Eldritch Abomination|vicious dimensional parasites]]. Of course, they don't ''actually'' look like that; it's also part of the [[Psychic Powers]].
** In ''Witches Abroad'', the evil Lady Lilith (Granny Weatherwax's elder sister) is described as, essentially, looking like Granny would if she was a few years younger. This is partially an extension of Granny's subversion of the trope, and partly a straight-up [[Vain Sorceress]].
** On the other hand, a lot of ''younger'' female heroes are portrayed as quite attractive, especially love interests; look at Angua, Sacharissa, Susan, Adora Belle Dearheart, and Cohen the Barbarian's daughter Conina.
** In the manner of middle ground, Moist von Lipwig, one of the more recent protagonists, is described as being utterly unmemorable, a trait he used to his advantage in his previous job... as a con man. Unmemorable to the extent that his own mother previously took the wrong child home from kindergarten, and he has to attract attention to himself while shaving.
** Not that there aren't ''any'' good-looking heroes or unattractive villains on the Disc; for instance, Captain Carrot, [[The Cape (trope)]], is as handsome as fits the character type (described by a ''female vampire'' as having godlike
** Played straight and sarcastically lampshaded in ''Going Postal''. A minor villain is described as being obese and looking like "a piglet having a bright idea", with a voice like "a small, breathless, neurotic but ridiculously expensive dog". He has exactly the personality one would [[Fat Idiot|stereotypically]] associate with these physical traits. In a [[Footnote Fever|footnote]], the author notes that "it is wrong to judge by appearances" and that "snap judgements can be so unfair" but strongly suggests that such judgements are actually correct most of the time.
** IN SHORT: Discworld averts this trope ''hard'' (most of the time).
* ''[[
** A lot of the problems in the setting exist because the general populace believe this trope is true all of the time when it really isn't.
* [[Sherlock Holmes]] was not ''described'' as terribly good-
* Both played straight and subverted in ''[[Wild Cards]]'', where most of the characters have hideous mutations. Most of the human-looking leads are not spectacular, either: the Turtle is a plain, chubby nerd; Fatman is, well, fat; and private detective Jay Ackroyd is good at blending in because he looks entirely average and nondescript. Golden Boy is handsome and has eternal youth to boot, but he's almost universally despised as a traitor (he didn't know the youth was eternal when he did it). Doctor Tachyon is handsome, as are his (mostly backstabbing) relatives, because Takisians are bred for beauty; thus, he often has trouble dealing with the less attractive Jokers because he was raised to believe that this trope was gospel truth. His psychotic grandson Blaise is described as the most attractive and evil character in the series.
* Subverted wonderfully in [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[
* Subverted and played straight in ''[[
** Because it's Magical Noir, ''almost'' every single woman, regardless of good-evil alignment, is devastatingly attractive. It comes with the genre.
* Deeply subverted in [[Graham McNeill]] 's ''[[Warhammer
** Interestingly enough, this is in opposition to traditional Imperial dogma in the setting; creatures such as the Unfleshed would be seen as Chaos-tainted mutants and unworthy of acknowledgment as the Emperor's children- or indeed of basic human consideration as kindred.
* In William King's ''[[Warhammer
* In [[Madeleine L
* Technically subverted in the ''Karavans'' series by Jennifer Roberson, as [[The Beautiful Elite]] are mostly evil. Pretty much everything ugly is evil too. Indeed, [[
* The ''[[Doomsday Book]]'' by [[Connie Willis]] included as one of the heroes a villainous-look priest who is clearly presented as one of the finest people in the tale.
* Voltaire famously penned a rather scathing poem, "Marquise", dedicated to a vain aristocrat who had spurned his advances because he was too old for her, despite being one of the smartest, wittiest guys of his time. The gist of the poem is "[[Take That|So I'm old and wrinkled. You will be too, sooner than you think]]". In a double subversion, Tristan Bernard later wrote a last stanza to the poem, his imagined answer from the Marquess : "But until then old man, I'm 26, and fuck you too". In those terms, because French poetry is hardcore.
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* In Meredith Anne Pierce's [[The Darkangel Trilogy]], the titular angel (or vampire) is described as stunningly beautiful. He's also [[Complete Monster|completely evil]] (securing his immortality by drinking the souls of young women), and the main character (who is described as average looking), falls in love with him, partly because of his beauty. The trope is played with however because the female protagonist ''knows'' that this is a terrible reason to love a person, and yet cannot bring herself to kill him. She eventually {{spoiler|restores his humanity}} and in doing so he is said to lose some of his supernatural good-looks.
** Another character in the story also claimed that the vampire is beautiful ''because'' he is not completely irredeemable; his soul was still there under all the evil, but when his soul was lost he would become hideously ugly.
* Mostly averted in the ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (
* Subverted in A. Merritt's novel ''The Moon Pool''. The [[Big Bad]] is a [[Light Is Not Good|beautiful being of light]] called the Shining One, who enslaves and vampirizes human souls. The lost race who worship it are classically handsome, but decadent and cruel. The forces of good, meanwhile, are represented by three decidedly weird-looking aliens and a race of frog-people.
* In ''[[The Riftwar Cycle]]'', beauty doesn't really equal anything. Villains are just as likely to be attractive as heroes (perhaps even more so), and most heroes are fairly unremarkable in their looks. Of the ones that stand apart, some are just ugly (Pradji with his squashed nose and pockmarks), others possibly attractive save for one or two off-putting qualities (Arutha's perpetual gloom, Erik's brutish face), and others are beautiful, but it doesn't do them any favors (Tomas's disturbing slightly-alien features, Sandreena's gorgeousness destroying her childhood). Similarly, all the elves of the series are beautiful, but you can't tell the good from the evil ones just at a glance.
** On the other hand, the idea comes up: When Martin and Garrett run across a moredhel woman, the latter is surprised by her beauty, so the intrinsic expectation that evil enemies would look monstrous while good allied elves are the ones who are allowed to look beautiful is there.
* The Gentleman With Thistle-Down Hair in ''[[Jonathan Strange
* ''[[
{{quote|
''I might add that this was a man of great pride, that his calm, firm gaze seemed to reflect thinking on an elevated plane, and that the harmony of his facial expressions and bodily movements resulted in an overall effect of unquestionable
''[[Is That What
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Hermetic Millenium
* [[Inverted Trope]] In [[Roald Dahl]]'s ''[[The Twits]]'': Goodness equals beauty. The narrator explains that no matter what skin or bone structure you have, as long as you are a happy person who thinks good thoughts, your face will always shine like the sun.
* Subverted in the school chapter of ''[[
* ''[[
=== Live
* In a ''[[
* Subverting this trope is the basis of much of the humor of comedienne [[Sarah Silverman]]. When performing, she has the appearance, mannerisms, and voice of a [[Purity Sue|sweet, innocent young woman]]. It takes a while for [[Dead Baby Comedy|what she is actually saying]] to sink in...
* The staff on the upper floors of ''[[
* The ''[[Lost in Space]]'' episode "The Golden Man
* Played straight in the original series of ''[[
** Speaking of baldness, the Doctor in ''[[Star Trek
** There's actually plenty of instances in the original series of ''[[
** Spock himself quoted this trope in the episode "Is There In Truth No Beauty", commenting on the Greek ideal that "what is beautiful must therefore be good." The episode subverted this trope hard: Kollos, a member of a race described as so ugly that no one can look at them without going mad, turns out to be friendly and helpful when he shares minds with Spock, but his human aide Miranda, while very attractive, is cold and aloof, and later jealous of Kollos' bond with Spock. Kirk himself admits, "Most of us are attracted by beauty and repelled by ugliness -- one of the last of our prejudices."
* X5s in ''[[Dark Angel]]'' tend to be attractive, but that's down to [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke]] (and being played by [[Jessica Alba]] or [[Jensen Ackles]]). Manticore transgenics with more bizarre appearances are also generally good guys.
* An unsung aversion is ''[[The Muppet Show]]'' and to some extent ''[[
* Oh so very averted with Julie Cooper in ''[[The OC]]'', widely acknowledged as beautiful, but also suffers from [[Chronic Villainy]].
* Subverted in the ''[[
** In the ''[[Virgin New Adventures]]'' novel ''Timewyrm: Revelations'' by [[Paul Cornell]], Ace finds a pack of double-sided Tarot cards which symbolise the Doctor. One of the cards is called "We Are Friends To The Ugly/We War With The Beautiful", and shows the Doctor embracing a many-tentacled monster (possibly a Venusian, or Alpha Centuri from the Peladon stories) and confronting a calm humanoid.
** The most common source of [[
* Averted in universe with Michael Scott of ''[[
=== Religion ===
* At one point, ''[[
** It's also been noted that the matriarchs are only described as beautiful when they're also being connected with positive traits; however, rather than playing this trope straight, the interpretations are either a.) beauty only matters when it ''accentuates'' goodness or b.) [[Inverted Trope|one should find goodness to be beautiful, not beauty to be good]].
** The Messiah, on the other hand, is explicitly described by Isaiah as being ugly, so that no one would be distracted by carnal desire.
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=== Tabletop Games ===
* Subverted and muddied in ''[[Warhammer
** The reasons that the Sisters of Battle don't look as good as their tabletop models are scarring, tattoos, weight, missing body parts, and them not giving a damn about personal appearance.
** "Though there was no disguising his inhumanity [...] there was the overgrown gigantism of the face, that particular characteristic of the Astartes, almost equine". That's Captain Loken, the definitive Good Guy of the first ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' book, [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''Horus Rising''. Also, the book gives us an idea how much Space Marines stink after some time in their powered armor. On the other hand, most Primarchs, who are even taller than Marines, are godlike beautiful.
** An even harder subversion in ''[[Warhammer
** Played straight to the point of absurdity however with the literal [[
** And subverted again with followers of Slaanesh, who are described as [[Ugly Cute|Disturbingly beautiful]] at worst. The ability of the artists and modelers to convey this, however, varies due to individual skill and decency laws.
*** Though played disturbingly straight with Slaanesh's two champions, Lucius and Fulgrim. Fulgrim was one of the most beautiful primarchs while on the side of the Emperor, but now he's a four armed snake thing. Likewise, Lucius was called a pretty boy by his allies because he had never taken an injury in battle. You only start seeing his ugly side after Loken [[Start of Darkness|breaks his nose]], and when he truly [[Face Heel Turn|turns]], he starts cutting his face up whenever he kills someone. Hence how he looks in the 41st millennium.
** And to perhaps complete the cycle, there is the case of the Chaos god Nurgle, horrifying and ugly in the most maximal senses of the word, and that’s without factoring in the virulent plagues and diseases has coursing through the very air he resides in, let alone his skin. Bloated, dead looking, maggots and worms writhing everywhere, and one of his attributes is kindness. His followers while all hideously ugly as well, and bloated/diseased, are nonetheless also jovial and welcoming. To make it even more insane, when the Eldar pantheon fell in the birth of Slaanesh, the goddess of fertility, healing, and presumably beauty, Isha, was captured by Slaanesh to be his/her/it's plaything forever. When she screamed and begged for help across the cosmos, none other than Nurgle and his followers wage war on Slaanesh to get Isha out. Nurgle kept her in his garden then and had her drink his plagues - she of course could heal herself, and so would then tell all mortals how to rid themselves of his plagues. While she could leave, canon seems to indicate she willingly stays with Nurgle. He absolutely adores her, and likewise, she loves him.
* Completely averted with D&D Tieflings. 2e Tieflings are sexy, usually evil, and possess only a few 'subtle' signs of their heritage (small horns, glowing eyes, etc). 4e Tieflings are hideous and almost always good.
** 3e subverts this even more with [[Hot Amazon|Amazons]]: all of them are stunningly beautiful women, on the other hand they are bloodthirsty [[Neutral Evil]] [[Straw Feminist|near-literal feminazis]] who kill men at sight and\or rape them for reproduction, to the point they [[Moral Event Horizon|gleefully]] [[Offing the Offspring|bash their male children's head to pulp against trees]]. reading about their tradition makes many players [[Not Distracted
* Swords and Scorcery Creature Collection - Subverted brutally with False Lovers, paragons of charm and beauty, who can effortlessly win the hearts and souls of any who look upon them. They are able to inspire heroes and heroines to great deeds, give birth to new forms of art and literature, and transform cultures of entire kingdoms with their wit and grace. Yet, ultimately they will betray those dreams, leave a trail of broken lives in their wake, and crush the spirits of those who loved them simply for the evulz. They hide their true cursed nature behind powerful illusions that maintain the semblance of whom they once were before their looks began to wane in the passing of time.
=== Video Games ===
* In ''[[Razes Hell]]'', the cute and cuddly Kewletts are an evil army on a genocidal campaign to destroy those not cute enough by their standards.
* The Japanese-developed ''[[Ace Combat 5 The Unsung War]]'' subverts this. The base commander is a [[Fat Bastard]], but the handsome-in-an- [[Uncanny Valley]] -way adjutant {{spoiler|is [[The Mole]] for the Belkans.}}
* The ''[[
* Subverted and played straight in ''[[Lunar]]: SSSC'' with Phacia and her sisters. Then, played straight in ''[[Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete|Lunar: EBC]]'' with Lucia. In fact, some [[NPC
** Xenobia and Royce (the aforementioned sisters of Phacia) would probably fall under [[Evil Is Sexy]] rather than a subversion of this trope.
* Subverted in [[Final Fantasy VII]] and [[Final Fantasy IX]]. Sephiroth and Kuja are both very attractive, although technically Cloud and Zidane aren't bad looking at all, just not as attractive as the baddies. Sephiroth for one has fangirls (and boys) lusting after him. Not to mention the Badass factor.
** Also in [[Final Fantasy X]] with Seymour. Goofy hair aside, he's one good-looking man despite being an especially nasty piece of work.
* The various games in the ''[[
** Many of ''Warcraft'''s protagonists aren't traditionally attractive and all but Turalyon and Thrall have been older men. Even Malfurion, an Elf, was a large elderly man with a long grizzly [[Beard of Evil]]. The Antagonists are almost always pretty ugly however.
*** An inversion being the race of Succubi. However they play with this trope as well as they fall in love with their master relatively commonly - and it happens no matter how hideously ugly the summoner can be.
* The ''[[Persona (
** That rather depends on the game. A common thread in the ''Persona'' games is Igor's role as assistant, and many fans of the first game are still wondering what happened to Philemon, Igor's apparently former boss, and are waiting for that to be explained. As of 4, at least, he's the trope played
* ''[[Ghost Trick:
* Oddly averted in ''[[Yggdra Union]]'' [[Generic Cuteness|partially due to the artstyle]]; every badguy from the lowest mook to the cruelest boss is cute as hell.
* Almost subverted in ''[[
** From another viewpoint, ''[[
* Somewhat subverted in ''[[
** Then played straight when the
** Played straight in a Horde quest in the latest expansion, where players help overthrow a cruel but incompetent Orc commander in favour of her more noble sister. The tyrant uses one of the "ugly" Orc female faces with red eyes and a perpetual snarl, while the sister has the most conventionally attractive face available to Orcs.
* ''[[Rise of the Kasai]]'' features four playable characters, three of which subvert this trope. Baumusu and Grizz are both old men, Baumusu is bald, burly, heavyset, and is missing an eye. Grizz is wrinkly, thin as a rail, has a huge nose, and is also balding. Both are noble and honorable heroes. [[Hot Amazon|Tati]] is a very attractive female, but is the most morally questionable of the four, to the point {{spoiler|that she can make a [[Face Heel Turn]] at the end of the game.}} Her brother Rau arguably plays this straight as he's a fairly handsome man and arguably the most noble of all four of them. This is played straight with most of the villians, however. The big bad is especially hideous. [[Co
* In the ''[[Touhou
** Then there is Saigyou Ayakashi which uses it's beauty to lure people to it and then drain their souls.
* Played straight early in ''[[The Witcher]]'', as the bad guys are brutish and ugly compared to the Witchers, who are [[Good Scars, Evil Scars|scarred enough to increase their masculine charm]]. Act I ends in a conflict between a beautiful witch who has been the town's doctor, and an unruly mob who sell their own children into slavery. This trope fades as [[Gray and Gray Morality|good and evil become less clear]], and by the end both the [[Big Bad]] and [[Big Good]] are equally immaculately handsome in their [[Knight in Shining Armor|finely-crafted armor]].
* Though it has many straight examples of this trope, ''[[Mass Effect]]'' also has numerous subversions in all three games of the series.
** In the first game, [[The Big Guy|Urdnot Wrex]] is just as ugly and ferocious-looking as most Krogan, and sports a number of old battlescars on his face; however, though he's admittedly an [[Anti
** Turians aren't exactly handsome by human standards, sporting insectoid mandibles and spikey exoskeletons; however, the one that joins your team, [[Friendly Sniper|Garrus Vakarian]] ends up becoming one of [[Player Character|Shepard's]] closest friends. This is subverted even further in the second game, when Garrus gets shot in the face by a enemy gunship; though he survives, he's inflicted with permanent scarring and plastic surgery isn't brought out as an easy way to keep him "handsome." This doesn't effect his morality in the slightest.
** [[The Professor|Mordin Solus]] is a very old Salarian with a number of old facial scars from his time in the STG, and is missing one of his cranial horns. Though he's a bit on the [[Morally
** In a far more alien example than most, Rachni Queen might be a terrifying insectoid [[Hive Queen]] that speaks through the bodies of the dead and dying and her species did engulf the galaxy in war several centuries ago, but she isn't inherently evil. In fact, she's just been imprisoned and enslaved as a means of creating shock-troops; if you release her, she joins forces with you out of gratitude, and honours her promise without any backstabbing.
** Morinth, one of your optional team-members from the second game, is a beautiful Asari with class and sophistication on her side. She's also a [[Serial Killer]] who operates via [[Mind Rape|Mind Raping]] her victims [[Out
=== [[Web Comics]] ===
* It's hard to convey beauty in a cartoony style, but in ''[[
* Sergeant Schlock of ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' is an... interesting variation on this trope. While no one can deny that he is one of the protagonists, and that he does have his [[Jerk
** On the other hand, thanks to genetic engineering, any genes that can make a person "unattractive," have been weeded out. One character even mentions that all of humanity's females now have ample bossoms. Interestingly, this subverts the trope harshly, as it means that if you're a human, then you can be good or evil and still be pretty.
=== Web Original ===
* Inverted in the ''[[Protectors of the Plot Continuum]]'', where the [[Suetiful All Along|suddenly]] and inhumanly beautiful [[Mary Sue
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130509232013/http://thatfellowinthecoat.com/somejerkcaptaineo.php A review] on ''[[Mr. Coat and Friends]]'' noted that this was an aspect of ''[[Captain EO]]''.
=== Western Animation ===
* ''[[My Little Pony]]'' had a few aversions, and at least one deliberate subversion: In the episode "Fugitive Flowers", the main characters help a group of sentient flowers escape from the "crabnasties"; they regret it later when it turns out the crabnasties are a police force, and the "flories" are escaped convicts. It becomes clear that their respective appearance made it hard for Posey to consider, but all in all, the ugly crabnasties end being the [[Big Damn Heroes]] of the episode.
* Inverted in the episode "Stage Fright" of ''[[My Life
* This was the moral to Disney's ''[[Beauty and
* While Tiana and Naveen are plenty attractive in ''[[The Princess and
* ''[[
* An episode of ''[[
* The ''[[
* Both applied AND [[Subverted Trope]] in ''[[
* Double subverted in ''[[Bartok the Magnificent]]'' where the ugly Russian witch Baba Yaga is actually portrayed as being a benign character, and she even makes a magic potion that can turn people into who they really are. According to Yaga, the titular bat is supposed to drink the potion, which will turn him into a brave hero, but the potion is later stolen by the evil Ludmilla, who is portrayed as being beautiful. Ludmilla actually wants to use Jaga's potion to make her even more beautiful so she can take over Russia, but when she finally drinks it, said potion realizes that Ludmilla is evil once consumed, and as a result it turns her into a dragon.
* The villain of ''[[Happily N
* The Guardian Angel in ''[[
** Finn does this a lot, although he doesn't appear to necessarily judge by "beautiful" so much as "cute and helpless".
* Subverted in both of Disney's ''[[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]]'' sequels, where Anastasia is an ugly stepsister but is a nicer person. She's a little better-drawn arguably, but it's more of a result of her not scowling all of the time.
=== Real Life ===
* Nazi propaganda continuously portrayed the regime's enemies as shrunken, deformed subhumans, and eulogised the handsome, dashing, blond
** It wasn't just them. The US portrayed the Japanese as fanged snake people in [[Wartime Cartoon|cartoons and comics]].
** And, turnabout being fair play, the Japanese depicted the British and Americans as demonic ([[Voluntary Shapeshifting|tricksy shapeshifters]] or brutish oni).
** All visual propaganda uses this. Showing how evil your opponents are would take up too much space on the
* New born infants prefer to look at attractive faces (about 80%), than less attractive or plain ones. This is due to the aesthetic, symmetric appeal of a beautiful face, suggesting that inbuild preferences are involved which help babies make sense of their environment.
* [[Warren Harding]], considered the most incompetent president in American history. It was his outward appearance rather than any outstanding internal qualities that contributed most strongly to his political success.
** On the opposite end of the spectrum, [[Abraham Lincoln]], often considered to be America's best president, was thin-faced and wrinkly. His opponents mocked him for having the face of a horse-thief. Most pictures of him smooth out his face quite a bit. There's some evidence that he was actually medically deformed due to Marfan's Syndrome, also explaining his extremely unusual height.
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* Quite a few serial killers (such as Ted Bundy) subvert this trope nastily when it comes to using good looks to lure potential victims. They first [[Invoked Trope]] it by getting women to automatically trust them on their good looks alone ("He wouldn't hurt anyone, just look at how hot/cute/handsome he is!").
* This trope came out to play regarding [[Susan Boyle]]. When she walked on stage, the judges looked at her awkward appearance and assumed she was going to be a total disaster. When she had an amazing voice come out of her mouth, they judges were visibly floored, and left commentators asking why we assume lack of physical beauty automatically means lack of talent.
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[[Category:Improbable Appearance Tropes]]
[[Category:Beauty Equals Goodness]]
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