Bigger Bad: Difference between revisions

** The first series has Zorc Necrophades, the demonic being originally defeated by the Pharaoh. He's both [[Ultimate Evil]] and [[The Corruption]], and was literally born of slaughter and genocide. [[Big Bad|Thief King Bakura]] works for him, and at the very end of the final arc Zorc finally takes center stage as a [[Big Bad]] in his own right.

** The Light of Ruin in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]''. The second season's [[Big Bad]] was serving it, and the third season's [[Big Bad]] turned to evil because of it.

* In much the same way that [[Adolf Hitler]] will be this by default in almost any story set during WWII, [[Big Screwed-Up Family|the]] [[The Family That Slays Together|Zabi]] [[Royally Screwed-Up|family]] and [[The Caligula|Gihren]] [[The Evil Prince|Zabi]] in particular become this in the various sidestories set during ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'''s One Year War. ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team]]'' and ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket]]'' are both examples of this.

 

* The Bellon-Tockland Institute in [[Dean Koontz|Dean Koontz's]] ''[[False Memory]]'', a semi-fascistic psychology think tank. The main villain of the book, [[Meaningful Name|Mark Ahriman]], is a psychologist who develops a form of mind control and employs it both on behalf of the Institute and for his own deviant amusement; the trouble he causes for the main characters stems from {{spoiler|his grudge against the stepfather of two of them, another academic who spammed Amazon with with negative reviews of Ahriman's work}}. Although we do see Ahriman manipulate a patient into {{spoiler|biting off the nose of the U.S. President}} as a "message", and the Institute's connections are used in the [[Backstory]] to explain how he has escaped any accountability for his murderous pasttime, the Institute's plans have no direct bearing on the novel's events and [[Villain with Good Publicity|they are ultimately cleared]] [[Karma Houdini|of any connection to Ahriman]] after {{spoiler|the protagonists break his control on them and another one of his unstable pawns randomly kills him}}.

* The Otherness from the [[Repairman Jack]] series is a perfect example of this trope: a vast, impersonal cosmic force locked in an endless war to conquer the multiverse. In our world, its goals are carried out by the immortal [[Big Bad|Rasalom]] and his disciples.

* {{spoiler|Florence de Peyser}} in Peter Straub's ''Ghost Story''.

* {{spoiler|The Shard God Odium}} is shaping up to be the most powerful evil in [[Brandon Sanderson]]'s Cosmere [[The Verse|universe]], {{spoiler|taking the role of [[Big Bad]] proper}} in ''[[The Stormlight Archive]].''

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* The Deathlords of ''[[Exalted]]'' are [[Omnicidal Maniac]] ghosts granted power by [[Eldritch Abomination|the Neverborn]] in the name of destroying Creation. The Neverborn themselves, however, aren't much a threat; they're busier spending time coping with the pain of being eternally-dying-but-never-truly-dead and sending strange messages to their servants.

** Averted with the Ebon Dragon, who would desperately ''like'' to convince everyone that there is evil and he is the ultimate source of it, but ultimately he's just kind of pathetic.

* The [[Physical God|Exarches]] from ''[[Mage: The Awakening]]'', who stormed the supernatural realms and broke reality in the distant past. Together all 11 of them form the main villains of the setting, responsible for both the [[Cosmic Horror Story|Abyss]] and the depressing state of the world.

** The Wyrm was this for the now defunct ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]].''

** The C'tan [[Ultimate Evil|Void Dragon]] is a strong contender.

* ''[[Blue Rose]]'' has the seven Exarchs of Shadow, though it's never stated explicitly whether they actually exist or are just a myth.

** {{spoiler|Demon King Demise}} from ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]'', and arguably the whole series. {{spoiler|Hyrule's [[Ultimate Evil]], [[Sealed Evil in a Can]], and [[Dragon-in-Chief|Ghirahim's]] master, he is also the source of the continued returns of the series' [[Big Bad]], Ganondorf, having cursed [[The Hero|Link]] and [[Big Good|Zelda]] for imprisoning him.}} You get the picture.

* The One Being in the ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' series.Although Onaga the original ruler of Outworld and Shinnok the former Elder God would also count.

* Sargeras in the ''[[Warcraft]]'' universe. He's the founder of [[Demonic Invaders|The Burning Legion]] and the most powerful being ever (save perhaps the Old Gods), but has never directly appeared in any of the games as of yet, due to his physical body having been destroyed when he attempted to access Azeroth as part of a [[Thanatos Gambit]] gone wrong. At present he's a trapped spirit in the Twisting Nether, and the Burning Legion instead is under the command of Kil'jaeden. {{spoiler|Based on the text files it appears that [[Evil Chancellor|Varimathras]] was acting under orders from Sargeras when he betrayed the Forsaken, and was attempting to summon him back to the world in some form.}}

* The Mysterious Man in ''[[The House of the Dead (series)|House of the Dead]]'' series.

* Gerald Robotnik from [[Sonic Adventure 2]] serves as the bigger bad of the story. The main conflict of the story is against Eggman, but it was Gerald's actions 50 years in the past that caused many of the problems in the game. However, he only appears in the game posthumously and has a rather indirect effect on the story in general. The story doesn't revolve around stopping him (he's already dead by the time the game roles around) and his machinations are only revealed after Eggman accidentally sets off the [[Colony Drop]] at the end.

* The really nasty, powerful vampires and other beings referenced in ''[[Tsukihime]]'' never really progress beyond that. Roa may be the big bad, but he wasn't even invited to the 27 dead apostle ancestors, the top five or so of which could destroy the world.

* In ''[[Resident Evil]]'', Ozwell E. Spencer is one of the founders of the Umbrella Corporation, who murdered his rivals to gain total control. {{spoiler|He was also into world domination.}} However, he never interacts with or even takes notice of the protagonists, and the various biohazards of the games are instigated by underlings with their own motives.

* Kalibaar's Master from ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]] 4'' is set up to be this. But it's never really explained what happened to him.

* As told by ''[[Tekken]] 6'''s Scenario Campaign mode, Jin Kazama is the one who set the world into chaos (and thus the actual antagonist) but only did so in order to awaken the monster Azazel. This is most apparent in the story mode, where Azazel is taken out almost casually a short while before the true final battle against Jin.

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories]]'' had hints of this when it ultimately was revealed that Marluxia, the game's [[Big Bad]], was a [[The Starscream|Starscream]] trying to overthrow the leader of Organization XIII (simply called the Organization back then).

** However this trope get's played interestingly in the Demon Path, {{spoiler|Drazil is the [[Big Bad]] however [[Villain Protagonist|Re]][[Complete Monster|vya]] turns out to outdo him and be an even greater threat so much so that Drazil pulls a [[Heel Face Turn]].}}

* [[Gears of War]]. In the third game {{spoiler|it turns out that Imulsion is actually a planet-wide parasite that infects both Locust and Humans and turns them Lambent.}}

* In the ''[[Mega Man X]]'' series, Sigma is the [[Big Bad]]. His actions are tied to the Maverick Virus, which was created by [[Mega Man (video game)|Dr. Wily]]. He only interacts with the plot directly in ''X5''.

* ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' has this in spades. First, we have [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] Copy X and the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Four Guardians]] at the helm of the plot. After the first game, the [[Big Bad]] is defeated and [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja|Phantom]] has pulled a bungled [[Suicide Attack]]. The remaining three Guardians go on the warpath with Zero and the Resistance, which causes its new leader, [[Knight Templar|Elpizo]], to snap and use the powers of the Bigger Bad, the Dark Elf, for vengeance. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg: the next game introduces [[The Chessmaster|Dr. Weil]], who actually ''created'' the Dark Elf ''and'' shows up with his own ultra-[[Nigh Invulnerable]] version of Zero: [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Omega]]. [[It Got Worse|It gets much, MUCH worse.]] Weil rebuilds Copy X and uses him as an [[Unwitting Pawn]], along with the children of the Dark Elf, Crea and Prea, who never intentionally did anything evil because ''they're mere infants''. When his first world domination scheme fails, he comes back to power with [[Kill Sat|Ragnarok]], a space station armed with a [[Wave Motion Gun]] with the actively-demonstrated power to cause mass-scale destruction - even [[The End of the World as We Know It]], plus his own squad of personal Reploid warriors, led by [[The Dragon|Craft]]. In short, the title of Bigger Bad changes hands with each new game, save for the conclusion.

* Bass.EXE from ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]''. He appears in each game at least once as an optional boss that outranks all the other bosses in sheer difficulty and intense power, dealing far more than any other enemy in the franchise can (and has the biggest possible health bar). He does appear as a main plot point in [[BN 3]], where he's still threatening, but even then he appears again as an optional boss in post game with entirely new powers. Even after [[BN 3]], he goes on to appear in [[BN 4]]-6 and also appears in Network Transmission, although in Network Transmission he isn't actually killed, he just leaves, although he's still the strongest opponent in the game.

* The [[Infocom]] game ''Enchanter'' has a [[Cosmic Horror]] [[Sealed Evil in a Can|sealed up]] directly below the castle of the evil warlock Krill; the player needs to stop Krill ''without'' freeing the entity, lest it destroy the world.

* [[Chronicles of Prydain|Arawn]] is actually portrayed as one in Disney's ''[[The Black Cauldron]]'', since the role of the [[Big Bad]] is now taken by the Horned King, who was originally [[The Dragon]] in the books.

* [[Ultimate Evil|The Lich]] serves as this in ''[[Adventure Time]]''. He's the most powerful villain in the entire show, the [[Knight of Cerebus]], and a [[Complete Monster]]. He's also an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] whose sole purpose for existing is to destroy all life. However, he didn't have a direct role because the legendary hero Billy [[Sealed Evil in a Can|sealed him in amber inside a great tree]], until he managed to escape in the season 2 finale.

** The Red Chalk may count. It's not entirely clear whether or not it's sapient.

* Nester's Mother from [[Scaredy Squirrel]].