For the Evulz: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* Ladd Russo for ''[[Baccano!]]'' makes it clear that the only reason why he works as an [[Career Killer|assassin]] and goes on a murderous rampage on the train is because he FEELS LIKE IT.

* (Dis)Honorable mention goes to Eliza Reagan from ''[[Candy Candy]]'' who specifically tortures and abuses Candy a lot ''just because she can'' and she is amused at torturing her.

* From ''[[Rosario + Vampire]]'', we have Kamiya Kanade, who will claims that [[But for Me It Was Tuesday|killing humans is just something he does to pass the time and clear his head]], and [[Complete Monster|envisions himself atop a mountain of corpses he personally killed]].

* Assuming one character's interpretation is correct, {{spoiler|Pariston}} of ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'' falls into this. Despite showing he can do so easily, he's making not attempt to win {{spoiler|the election for Chairman of the Hunter's Association}}. Instead, he's merely dragging the race out as long as possible so he can take advantage of his position to {{spoiler|use especially dangerous monsters in the next Hunter's Exam.}}

{{quote|"Oh, what the hell? {{spoiler|I knew it all along. The fact that this side of me has been a demon all along!}}"}}

** {{spoiler|She then goes on to dispose of the bodies, attempt to kill her twin sister's love interest (with her imprisoned sister listening from the other room), but ends up sparing him and killing her sister to escape from the police. Then she stabs her now dead sister's love interest. Just because the demon makes her.}}

*** {{spoiler|She ''thinks'' the demon makes her. She's just delusional, which wasn't her fault to begin with.}}

 

* Nearly all depictions of [[Batman]]'s arch-nemesis, [[The Joker]], who might as well be the trope incarnate.

** Example: In one issue of ''Gotham Adventures'', the comic based on ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', Harvey Dent, the criminal [[Two-Faced|Two-Face]], has reformed and is starting a romance with his lawyer Grace Lamont. Joker hints to Harvey that Lamont is dating Harvey's friend Bruce Wayne, and is just seeing Harvey out of pity. Then he gets his assistant Harley Quinn to leak to a newspaper that Lamont is planning to marry Bruce and delivers the newspaper to Harvey. One breakdown, jailbreak, attempted murder and broken heart later, Batman asks the Joker why he caused such a horrible disaster. His response?

* In the third ''[[Batgirl]]'' series, the final arc dealt with the Reapers, a semi-cult of college students with advanced combat armor who had been running around Gotham for a few weeks. In their final battle, after Batgirl had foiled their individual schemes for money and power, Batgirl asked them why they were doing any of this in the first place. The response was the simple "because we ''can''."

* Gary "[[Stepford Smiler|The Smiler]]" Callahan, the [[President Evil]] of ''[[Transmetropolitan]]''. He flatly tells protagonist Spider Jerusalem that he ran for President simply because he likes to hurt people and wants to do it on as grand a scale as possible. By the time he's done, Spider is almost nostalgic for Callahan's predecessor, a thinly-veiled [[Richard Nixon]] [[Expy]] dubbed "The Beast."

 

** [[An Ice Person|Blizzard]] is a less malevolent example, in that he and his entire family are a group of chronic jailbirds who are always in and out of prison for offenses ranging from drug dealing to armed robbery to car theft. They actually ''enjoy'' prison, which for them is an extended family reunion. On the other hand, [[Even Evil Has Standards]] and Blizzard and draws the line at rape or murder. When an army of [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] supervillains are invading New York, Blizzard actually helps Spider-Woman protect the people of the city, before sticking around for the police to take him back to Ryker's Island.

* Anything relating to [[Touhou Project|yukkuri abuse]] tends to revolve [[Complete Monster|monsters of humans]] who delight themselves in causing harm and death towards defenseless head-like creatures just because they can. Then there's [[Root of All Evil|the factory]], which all yukkuri are naturally afraid of. They say it won't let them "take it easy", but it's way more sinister than that. There are even yukkuri shops people can go to select their "victim" on some works.

 

** Other than the obvious mention of [[The Joker]] in ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', there was also the Burmese Bandit that Alfred Pennyworth mentioned in the movie, who frequently stole gems that were intended to be given by the SAS to various tribes to bribe them, and then scattered them around, strongly implying that he only stole them simply because he could and that such antics greatly amused him.

* The main character's former partner in ''[[End of Days]]'' suggests they cast their lot with [[Satan]] under the reasoning that their long careers as mercenaries meant they had no chance of "going upstairs" anyway, so they might as well have fun while alive.

** ''The Search for Santa Paws'' has Ms. Stout, the evil head of the orphanage who hates Christmas. She isn't even given a [[Freudian Excuse]], she just hates Christmas for no reason. And she destroys any toys and decorations she finds in the orphans' possession. The only thing she does with an actual motivation is attempt to run off with her boyfriend with embezzled money and leave the orphans by themselves.

* ''[[Paranormal Activity]]'': Katie's demon. Honestly, it slams the door shut then bangs on the other side of it just to fuck with them. Indeed, Katie even acknowledges this trope when she asks "Do you think it would have left footprints if it didn't want to? Do you think it would do ANYTHING if it didn't want to?" In the 2007 ending, {{spoiler|the demon fucks with them one last time. Just before the police discover Katie, a light down the hall is turned on and then turned off. The police end up shooting Katie because they were startled by the sound of someone slamming a door behind them.}}

* This is discussed in ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]]'', which was big on lampshading various horror film Tropes. Randy points out how about halfway through the film that in most horror movies "Motives are incidental." The eventual killer does have one (rather flimsy) motive for the carnage he unleashes, but does lampshade this fact.

{{quote|''' {{spoiler|Billy:}}''' I don't really believe in a motive, Sid. I mean, did Norman Bates have a motive? Did we ever find out why Hannibal Lector liked to eat people? Don't think so! [[Lampshade Hanging|See, it's much scarier if there's no motive.]]}}

** [[Godzilla vs. Destoroyah|Destoroyah]] is this even moreso. At one point he even {{spoiler|[[Kick the Dog|brutally murders Junior right in front of Godzilla and then proceeds to drag the mourning Godzilla around by the throat with his tail]]}} while ''laughing''. Why? For no other reason than for his own sick amusement.

* Terry Silver in ''[[Karate Kid]] III'' is an unintentional example. He's supposed to be helping avenge his war buddy John Kreese and restore the dignity of the Cobra Kai, but in practice he's far too into it given that it's not his disgrace, seems to be aware that his buddy Kreese is the one who stepped over the line and is neglecting his multi-million dollar business to get vengeance on a teenager and his elderly mentor. Also, the vengeance is all his idea and is planned and executed by him with Kreese only getting to jump out from behind a cardboard cut out to scare Daniel in one scene.

* A relatively mild example occurs in the comedy ''[[Airplane!]]'' when airport-employee Johnny thinks it's funny to briefly unplug the runway lights just as the plane is making its emergency landing.

** In the sequel, Simon Kurtz covers up flaws in the shuttle and leaves everyone on it to die for no apparent reason.

* The gang member at the beginning of ''[[Assault on Precinct 13]]'', who {{spoiler|shoots and kills a little girl while they're robbing an ice cream truck just because she's there}}.

 

* In ''[[Under the Dome]]'' by ''[[Stephen King]]'' those responsible for the Dome.

* While Nyarlathotep from [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s [[Cthulhu Mythos]] often works to fulfill the wishes of the Outer Gods or release the [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Great Old Ones]], a lot of the times he seems to be messing with mankind for no other reason than his own amusement. In ''Nyarlathotep'', he seems to be destroying the world without any actual motive. In ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'', his goal is apparently to snatch off the earthly gods from their scented revels in the glorious sunset city purely to screw with them. Also, in spite of apparently sending Carter off to achieve this goal, he betrays Carter for no apparent reason other than, again, to be a real dick. The ways of the Outer Gods are essentially beyond human comprehension. In ''The Dreams in the Witch-House'', he appears as a black-skinned [[Expy]] of [[Satan]]. He's even worse in other authors' appropriations of the character.

*** According to [http://www.hp-lexicon.org/ the Harry Potter Lexicon], all Dark creatures (including werewolves) harm people for the sake of harming people, not for survival like normal animals. Greyback is unique because he hurts people in his human form.

* At the end of the ''[[The Saga of Darren Shan]]'', {{spoiler|it is revealed that Desmond Tiny's plan - fortunately foiled by Darren - involved magically fathering both Darren and Steve and giving the Vampaneze the fire coffin (so that they could find the Vampeneze Lord) and the Vampires a special stone that would help them in their hour of need (made from the brain of a dragon). He then manipulated events to ensure that Steve and Darren both went to see the Cirque du Freak, paving the way for Darren to eventually become a Vampire Prince and Steve to become the Vampaneze Lord. He then pits the two against one another, insisting that the vampires only have three chances to kill Steve before he overthrows the Vampires and later tells them that whichever boy won - Darren or Steve - would become the Lord of Shadows and kill all of their friends. When the vampires used the stone gift to create more vampires, it would create a new breed of violent ones.}} The reason he did all of this? He looked into the future and saw that things were going to be too peaceful for his liking, so he set the stage for a lot of chaos to amuse him.

* Speculated as being one of the motives of the mutineers in the first ''[[Empire From the Ashes]]'' book for meddling with human civilization.

* The protagonist in [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s ''The Black Cat'' starts hurting people and animals around him For the Evulz or, as he himself puts it: in the "spirit of [[Bold Inflation|PERVERSENESS]]". Poe's perverseness is an odd supposed psychological motive (but perhaps related to negative suggestion) that goes a step further than For the Evulz, inspiring not just morally wrong acts harmful to others, but any kind of irrational and wrong acts even just harmful to oneself; inspires one to do anything they shouldn't just because they know they shouldn't.

* The sadistic serial killer in [[Spider Robinson]]'s novel ''[[Very Bad Deaths]]'' exemplifies this: He inflicts horrible cruelties upon his victims because he enjoys it. He derives the same sense of satisfaction from cruelty than most people get from kind ones.

 

** Arguably, Gul Madred, the Cardassian interrogator from "Chains of Command". Eventually, he lays off of the torture and drugs when he realizes that Picard really doesn't know what he wants to hear... and then picks up where he left off and keeps going ''for the sole purpose of breaking Picard's brain''.

*** Considering that [[Hey, It's That Guy!|Gul Madred]] is also [[Tron|the MCP]], this isn't too far fetched.

*** That whole episode was essentially one big [[Shout-Out]] to George Orwell's ''1984''.

{{quote|'''Martha:''' But why? Why come all this way just to cause all this death and destruction?

'''Toclafane:''' Because it's ''fun''. }}

** While he hasn't always been as open about it as in his John Simm incarnation, [[The Master (trope)|The Master]] has always been more interested in screwing with the Doctor than actually taking over the world. In ''The Sea Devils'', he flat-out admits he's only working with the villains so they can get rid of "the human race of which you are so very fond."

** [[Played for Drama]] and [[Deconstruction|deconstructed]] in the [[Big Finish]] audio ''Master''. All his evil plans were ''never'' expected to work, they were only designed to cause as much misery and destruction as possible. Why? Because as one of the Doctor's titles is Time's Champion, the Master is ''Death's Champion''.

** "Everything you say, Waterfield, is true. If we cannot find Jamie, the Daleks will take pleasure in killing everyone in sight, and their greatest pleasure will be in killing me." - the Doctor, ''The Evil of the Daleks''.

* Similarly, a villain in the ''[[Torchwood]]'' episode "Countrycide", when asked the reason for his actions, simply responds "Because it made me happy."

* In the ''[[Firefly]]'' episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds" {{spoiler|Saffron}} implies she might be this, {{spoiler|after Mal questions her about why she needed such a convoluted plan.}}

{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Saffron}}''': You're assuming the payoff is the point.}}

* In ''[[Kamen Rider Kuuga]]'' The [[Big Bad]] was quite different from other final bosses of [[Kamen Rider]], no speech about his desire to win the game, all he wants to do is fight Yosuke and even as he died fighting him. He didn't whine about how a mortal beaten him, just smiling as he watches Yuusuke being so violent.

* A rather light example in ''[[The Goodies]]'': Bill's just signed up to do a row of extremely violent shows for the BBC. Graeme and Tim, bewildered, simply ask why he'd join up for such 'immoral, gratuitous violence'.

{{quote|Killing was all I knew. Is that what you want to hear? I killed. But I didn't just kill fifty, I didn't kill a hundred. I killed a thousand. I killed ''ten'' thousand! And I was good at it. And it wasn't for vengeance, it wasn't for greed. It was because... I liked it.}}

 

* ''Folsom Prison Blues'' by Johnny Cash:

{{quote|''But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.}}

* The title character of "Excitable Boy" by [[Warren Zevon]] seems to be this.

 

* In one ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' strip, Calvin asks Moe why he bullies him all the time. Moe's answer is "Because it's fun." Calvin, lying in the dirt, remarks, "Oh, he's a ''sportsman.''"

 

* Doing this in pro wrestling is generally called garnering "[[Cheap Heat]]"; being booed by the fans not for doing something legitimately vile but simply for the sake of being jeered. Interrupting someone's well-deserved title match to spoil their opportunity at glory is a truly nefarious act and being booed for this is well-earned. Telling the town you're in that their local football team just lost to [some other city] is done For the Evulz. Sometimes, cheap heat really adds to a wrestler's charisma (it's a great way to show how arrogant their character can be) but done sloppily, the facade is easily lost and the obviousness that it's a swing at just being bad for bad's sake is made evident.

 

* In one [[George Carlin]] routine Carlin discusses the Catholic doctrine of sins of intent, and uses the hypothetical example: "You could wake up one morning and say to yourself, 'I think I'm going to go down to 27th St. today and commit myself a mortal sin!' Save your bus fare, man! You did it!"

 

* Many older RPG modules had this in spades due to the focus being on the gaming rather than the story - why did the evil overlord capture the princess, build a ten-level dungeon, hire all those monsters and threaten to destroy the world with his ritual? I already mentioned he's Evil, didn't I? So do you want this loot and XP or not?

* In ''[[Exalted]]'', the Ebon Dragon is the incarnation of this trope. Seriously, when the world was being created from formless chaos, he invented the entire ''concept'' of betrayal. He also argued for the invention of a being of virtue and light to defend the world solely because its formation would empower him as something to oppose. His power suite is built entirely around dicking people over. Just to cap it off, while he's trapped in the prison-body of his king like the rest of his kin, he would gladly make his escape back into the world and slam the door shut behind him in the face of the Yozis, and possibly seal them away for all eternity just to laugh in their faces. This guy just doesn't do it For the Evulz, he wrote the book on it as a checklist for personal life goals. The only consolation is that he is such a complete pathological dick that when sealing his kin while escaping, his own component souls are likely to betray him and trap the rest of him within the permanently sealed hell.

* Most agents of the Wyrm in ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' don't have a whole lot of motive for what they do. A fair amount of the Pentex book is scary not because of the malevolence on display, but because most of it seems to have no motive at all beyond "yay Wyrm".

 

* [[Shakespeare]] is known for doing this:

** Iago's motives from ''[[Othello]]'' were noticeably thin and contradictory, which leads many scholars to surmise that he doesn't have motives at all, only excuses. This trope was almost named "The Iago" because of this. The alternative title [[Motiveless Malignity]] is a term Shakespearean scholars often use to describe his actions.

Hopes and dreams }}

 

* From ''[[Bionicle]]'', we have the Piraka, six (formerly seven) former [[Bounty Hunter|Dark Hunters]] out for the [[MacGuffin|Mask of Life]].

** Even [[Big Bad|Makuta Teridax]] himself strayed into this territory at times, like when he ''became'' the Matoran Universe itself, and so gained control over the natural forces of the universe.

* The ''[[Purr Tenders]]'' had to deal with Ed-grr, the grumpy pet dog of the owner of Pick-A-Dilly Pet Shop. While they'd all gotten adopted thanks to their [[Paper-Thin Disguise|disguises]], meaning his owner didn't have to care for them anymore and they were out of his hair, Ed-grr wanted to capture and drag them back to the shop ''just'' so they'd be unhappy and he could laugh at their misery.

 

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'': As a Horde character, many players may enjoy engaging in particularly Orcish behaviour towards the Alliance. It was also part of the game's history, that the reason why Blizzard removed the ability of the two factions to communicate with each other, was because of how savage and profane player communication could become during combat. Given that the Alliance could be considered the "jock," faction, [[WoW]] provided an environment where the average Horde gamer could release and work through the sorts of psychosocial dynamics that probably led to the Columbine Massacre, without actually entering a real classroom with a gun.

** Here's a humorous example from the [[Black Comedy]] that is the Forsaken:

** Not to mention when the heroes show up to stop him, he gets a kick out of using [[Mind Control]] to turn one against the other, and is visibly miffed when she breaks free, ruining his game. Then as the planet starts to disintegrate during the final battle, he gets an even ''bigger'' kick out of taunting them for being too late: "Welcome to the end of the world!"

* And if you you're really looking for nasty evil leadership, seems like the whole place of ''[[The Sims|Sim]] [[SimCity|Nation]]'' is an ultimate [[Crapsack World]] that [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|corrupt]] mayors can run cities in. Crime can be rampant on the streets, or a mayor can summon a tornado to hit that peaceful neighborhood, or he can even drive around and spill toxic waste in shopping districts.

* [[Word of God]] states that this is Wario's reason why he's working with the Subspace Army in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130617052223/http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/gamemode/modea/modea17.html]

** Wario does have motivation in greed, but the efforts he goes through to get it, right down to literally shaking money out of enemies way too gleefully just proves he enjoys the methods as much as the gains.

* [[Ax Crazy|Munenori]] from ''[[Onimusha]]'': Dawn of Dreams is a crazy piece of work. His motivation in this is cemented {{spoiler|when he learns that his eye from his mother was not forced upon him to make him strong but given by his mother willingly to save his life.}} He begins to break down....and then ''starts [[Evil Laugh|cackling]] and explaining that it's irrelevant to why he does anything.''

 

* Jeff of ''[[RPG World]]'', Eikre's {{spoiler|former best friend}}, essentially {{spoiler|killed Eikre's mother, neighbor, and burned down part his village simply to show everyone what true evil was and because he enjoyed it. He has now ascended to [[The Dragon|Dragon]] status.}}

* One Stolen Pixels strip has [[Jerkass|Fran]][[Left 4 Dead|cis]] trick Bill into thinking a pushbroom is the best weapon.

* Aram of ''[[Men in Hats]]''. His two entertainments are television and the physical and psychological torment of his housemates.

 

* [[Troll]]s, of course.

* Blood Boy of ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]''. [[Word of God]] states he does have a motive, but it A) Doesn't make sense, and B) If it did, boils more or less down to this anyway.

*** It goes without saying that Veronica is [[Ax Crazy|definitely insane.]]

 

* All the villains from ''[[Captain Planet]]'' except [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Looten Plunder]], [[Corrupt Hick|Hoggish Greedly]] and [[Name's the Same|Duke]] [[I Love Nuclear Power|Nukem]].

** Sly Sludge ''usually'' has greed as a motivation like Looten Plunder, but sometimes is just out to pollute apparently for the heck of it.

{{quote|'''Luthor:''' That's right, conspiracy buff, I spent seventy-five million dollars on a fake presidential campaign ''just to tick Superman off.''}}

* Skeletor in the original ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]'' certainly qualifies. His motive was simply that he enjoyed being evil. He waxed rhapsodic about how much he loved evil. He found joy in any act of nastiness, no matter how petty or arbitrary, and was repulsed by anything good or nice. (Of course, being an '80s cartoon character, he never did anything ''really'' evil like, say, trying to kill anyone. But given how much fulfillment he found in even the smallest acts of evil, maybe he didn't feel the need to.)

* Mr. Black in episode 401 of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', "Kamp Krusty", as demonstrated by his toast to the three juvenile delinquints he is employing as camp counselors:

{{quote|'''Mr. Black:''' ''(Raising his glass)'' Gentlemen-- to evil.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Evil Tropes]]

[[Category:Obviously Evil]]

[[Category:Motivation Index]]

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:The Jerk Index]]