Big Bad Friend: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Hartigan''': Then there's thunder from behind me and lightning bolts punching holes through my chest. I guess I won't be having that steak I was looking forward to, after all. [[Retirony|My last day on the job. Hell of a way to start my retirement.]]
'''Bob:''' Damn it, Hartigan, I warned you.
'''Hartigan:''' Hell of a way to end a partnership.
|''[[Sin City]]: That Yellow Bastard''}}
The Hero is looking for answers, beating up bikers, paying off informants and searching through the [[Library of Babel]]. His [[True Companions|best friend]] and [[Heterosexual Life Partners|partner]] pleads with him to stop, it won't bring "her" back, and it just puts him in danger. Yet still the hero persists.
A few acts later, he's getting beat on by the [[Giant Mook]], it looks like it's all going to fade to black when... [[The Cavalry|his partner shows up]], [[Chandler's Law|gun in hand!]] Wait, why is he pointing the tranquilizer gun at
The best friend has been in league with (or is) the [[Big Bad]] behind the whole plot. However, they genuinely like the hero and would rather he live a long and happy life. He might try a [[Circling Monologue]] to bring him onboard, but chances are he already knows the hero's moral code is such that he'd just be wasting both their time by doing it. Still, he just might try, for old time's sake. Compounding matters, he's usually a [[Straw Traitor]] to some horrible ideal, is either directly or indirectly responsible for much of the heroes recent suffering, and/or was covering it up.
Contrast [[Friendly Enemy]] and [[Living with the Villain]]. [[I Thought It Meant|Not to be confused with]] [[Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?|another type of big bad friend]]. [[Evil All Along]] is for anyone who turns out to be evil, not just friends. Related to [[They Were Holding You Back]].
{{Unmarked Spoilers}}
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* At one point in ''[[Death Note]]'', L, who suspects Light of being Kira by then, says he would be disappointed if Light turned out to be Kira because Light's the best friend he's ever had. It's especially heartbreaking because the audience has known from the beginning that Light is indeed Kira.
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* [[Justice League of America/Characters|Maxwell Lord]] to the [[Justice League of America|JLI]]. Despite killing [[Blue Beetle]] in the build-up to [[Infinite Crisis]], Max still views them as his friends and warns them to stay out of his way, even telling [[Booster Gold]] that killing [[Blue Beetle]] wasn't easy for him.
* {{spoiler|Adrian Veidt}} in ''Watchmen''.
== Fan Works ==
* {{spoiler|Grunnel}} in ''[[With Strings Attached]]''. He genuinely likes the four and is fascinated by what they have to say about Earth. But when {{spoiler|Brox}} comes up with a use for Paul that {{spoiler|Grunnel}} knows Paul won't agree to, {{spoiler|Grunnel}} quite readily backstabs the four to ensure Paul's participation in {{spoiler|Brox}}'s scheme. As he says to Ringo: “ {{spoiler|Brox}} is my friend. You are not my enemies. Do you understand the difference?” Yet he prevents {{spoiler|Brox}} from killing George and Ringo because he likes them.
* {{spoiler|Drew}} in the ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' fic ''I Didn't Sign Up for This''. She is quick to befriend Miley and even dates Lilly but in the last chapter, she is revealed to be a murderous sociopath that cares about [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|no one but herself.]]
== Films -- Live-Action ==
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* Happened in ''[[Snake Eyes]]'', the best friend being a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]].
* The villain in ''[[Sneakers]]''.
* ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' III
* Harry Lime from ''[[The Third Man]]''.
* ''[[Strange Days]]''.
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* Fidelias to Amara in the ''[[Codex Alera]]'' series. Not much of a spoiler, though, since his real allegiance is revealed within the first couple of chapters of the first book.
* Every [[Dan Brown]] novel features this trope where the friend or trustworthy boss turns out to be the ''[[Big Bad]]''
** {{spoiler|Carlo Ventresca}} in ''[[Angels
** {{spoiler|Trevor Strathmore}} in ''[[Digital Fortress]]''.
** {{spoiler|William Pickering}} in ''[[Deception Point]]''.
** {{spoiler|Sir Leigh Teabing}} in ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]''. {{spoiler|There's actually a few betrayals and friend-turned-villains here including Andr?ernet, R? Legaludec and to a lesser degree Bezu Fache}}.
** {{spoiler|Surprisingly Averted}} in ''[[The Lost Symbol]]''. {{spoiler|This was really a plot twist in its own right, since Brown has used this trope in literally every book he's written.}}
* ''[[Gentleman Bastard Sequence|Red Seas Under Red Skies]]'' begins with a flash-forward scene where best friends Locke and Jean are in a standoff with two assassins, all four of them armed with crossbows. With some reluctance, Jean suddenly turns on Locke, claiming to be in league with the assassins' employer and demanding he hand over his weapon. {{spoiler|Subverted, however: when we eventually get back to this scene in the main story, it is followed by Jean using both crossbows to shoot the assassins dead while their guard is down.}}
* In ''[[Tunnels]]'', the [[Big Bad]] turns out to be {{spoiler|the protagonist's little sister}}.
* In [[Sergey Lukyanenko]]'s ''Rough Draft'', the main character has just killed a powerful Functional who was trying to kill him. He then meets his friend but quickly realizes that he's one of them. The friend initially tries to help him but then nearly kills him. It gets weirder in the sequel, ''Final Draft'', where the friend returns, explaining he was just scared. At the end, though, he challenges the main character to a duel.
* ''[[American Gods]]'': {{spoiler|Low-Key Lyesmith, Shadow's friend from prison, is actually Mr. World/Loki, and [[The Mentor|Mr. Wednesday]] is working with him to manipulate both sides into a devastating war.}}
* For the first two ''[[Harry Potter]]'' books and a large portion of the third, Ron's had a rat companion named Scabbers. It was revealed in the third book that Scabbers was actually the animagus Peter Pettigrew, a murderer and traitor who had double-crossed Harry's parents and committed at least 12 murders while working for [[Big Bad| Lord Voldemort.]]
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Gaheris Rhade from ''[[Andromeda]]''. However, the episode "The Unconquerable Man" put one hell of a twist on it. {{spoiler|Gaheris actually ''won'' the fight originally, but got frozen in time like Hunt did in the pilot. He eventually gets rescued by Beka and company, just like in the pilot. In fact, he lives through much of the series plot, though it plays out far differently. [[The Atoner|He tries to rebuild the Commonwealth to make up for the fact that his people pretty much slaughtered everything that moved after the Andromeda was lost]], and were ultimately nowhere near the [[Warrior Poet
* In [[Joss Whedon]]'s ''[[Dollhouse]]'', lovable, loyal {{spoiler|Boyd}} turns out to be the [[Big Bad]].
* On season 4 of ''[[Angel]]'', the Big Bad orchestrating the disappearance of the sun and master of the giant rock demon turns out to be {{spoiler|Cordelia, although she's actually being controlled by a god}}.
* An inversion occurs in ''[[Battlestar Galactica
* In season 6 of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', the Big Bad of the season, to whom both {{spoiler|Crowley and Eve}} played [[Disc One Final Boss]], is revealed to be {{spoiler|Castiel, who has decided that to defeat Rafael and put Heaven on the right track, anything is acceptable - in this case, taking on a million souls. The Winchester boys do their best to stop Castiel throughout the final episodes of the season, while he continues to plead for them to accept him and his reasons for evil}}.
* In ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'', Tommy plays with this, though he's just [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] himself. Same deal with Kat in the third season.
* In ''[[Luther]]'', the antagonist of the first series' final two episodes is {{spoiler|DCI Ian Reed, Luther's friend and confidant, who is actually a [[Dirty Cop]]}}.
* Subverted in the episode ''The Great Game'' from ''[[Sherlock]]''. When {{spoiler|John appears to meet Sherlock at the pool}}, we (and Sherlock) assume that he's Moriarty. However, it's soon revealed that {{spoiler|he is strapped to a bomb and the real Moriarty was just making him say lines that imply he is}}.
* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', Riley is this at first. A soldier for [[Government Conspiracy|The Initiative]], he has a crush on Buffy (sometimes edging on [[Yandere]] levels), not knowing she is the Slayer any more than she knows who he is working for. Though eventually, [[Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal]] causes him to switch sides.
== Miscellaneous ==
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* Old school Japanese PC/NES adventure game ''Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken (The Case of the Portopia Serial Killer)'' has this as [[The Reveal]], as the titular killer turns out to be {{spoiler|Yasuhiko "Yasu" Mano, who is not only the main character's ''partner'' [[The Dog Was the Mastermind|but also the single most unlikely suspect]] as he is with you ''throughout the entire game, executing the commands of the unseen protagonist''.}} The shock factor was so high that nowadays the phrase "{{spoiler|Yasu}} is the culprit" is something of a [[Memetic Mutation|meme]] amongst old fans. It was even given a [[Shout-Out]] in ''[[Haruhi-chan]]''.
** It gets shouted out again in Episode 7 of ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]''.
* Flipped around in ''[[Dragon Age]]'': The villain Loghain thinks that his king and son in law is a
** Return to Ostagar reveals that {{spoiler|the king was indeed planning to divorce Loghain's daughter Anora and marry the Empress of Orlais had he survived the battle}}.
* {{spoiler|Gary Smith}} from ''[[Bully (video game)|Bully]]'' pulled a serious [[Face Heel Turn|dick move]].
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* In ''[[Dungeon Siege]] 2'', {{spoiler|the Azurite Scholar that has been helping you throughout the game turns out to be the Overmage of the Cinbri, who has been manipulating both you ''and'' the [[Big Bad]] in order to reshape Aranna in his image.}}
* {{spoiler|Fasti, who is actually Mobius,}} is the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Agarest Senki 2]]''. Until {{spoiler|he}} does [[The Reveal]], {{spoiler|he}} was the resident {{spoiler|[[Smart Guy]].}}
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', Pacer is this to The King. While The King himself is a genuinely good man who does what he can to help out and protect Freeside, Pacer is a xenophobic jerkass who makes outsiders pay a toll in order to see The King (who will at least refund the player personally) and starts fights with the NCR.
** He is mostly a [[Poisonous Friend]]... unless the Courier negotiates a {{spoiler|peace agreement between the NCR and the Kings without using the King's favour.}} Then he tries to lead a coup to stop it.
* In ''[[Rosenkreuzstilette]]'', Iris is considered like a kid sister to the rest of RKS, including Tia. Of course, {{spoiler|what they don't know is that she's really the [[Big Bad]] who's making RKS fight against the [[Holy Roman Empire|Holy Empire]] [[For the Evulz]]. She eventually reveals to Tia who she really was and the real reasons for the war, and that she's really a [[Complete Monster]] who did all that for both said reason and [[A God Am I|to become god of the world]]. That's where none of RKS trusts her anymore}}.
* At the end of [[Divine Divinity|Beyond Divinity]], {{spoiler|its revealed that your only ally throughout the game, the unnamed Death Knight, is actually, Damian, the [[Big Bad]] of the ''Divinity'' series.}}
* {{spoiler|Citan Uzuki}} from ''[[Xenogears]]'' isn't only a
** {{spoiler|[[Subverted|But it's all a ruse, though]].}}
* In [[
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' Torg ''believes'' Riff is one of these following the "Hereti-Corp freelancer" revelation, though it's more a case of "unwitting stooge." Played straight with Sam during the "Vampires" [[Story Arc]] and again {{spoiler|when we discover who Kusari is}}.
* {{spoiler|Subverted}} in [[Brawl in the Family]]'s "Cocoon Academy" arc. {{spoiler|Not only is it not Dedede's [[Start of Darkness]], but it turns out to be Meta Knight's origin story instead of Kirby's.}}
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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[[Category:Betrayal Tropes]]
[[Category:Villains]]
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