For the Evulz: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
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{{quote|''"[[The Joker|Some]] [[Complete Monster|men]] aren't looking for anything logical [[Greed|like money]]. They can't be [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check|bought]], [[Shut UP, Hannibal|bullied]], [[Kirk Summation|reasoned]] or [[Deal with the Devil|negotiated with]]. Some men just [[Omnicidal Maniac|want to watch the world burn]]."''|'''Alfred''', ''[[The Dark Knight]]''}}
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Most villains have logical motivations for (morally) reprehensible actions and intentions. [[Ambition Is Evil|Ambition]], [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|greed]], [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|zeal]], [[Dirty Coward|fear]], [[Love Makes You Evil|love]], [[Politically-Incorrect Villain|hatred]], [[Best Served Cold|revenge]], [[Dark and Troubled Past|a troubled]] [[Freudian Excuse|childhood]], [[Utopia Justifies the Means|the desire for utopia]] [[Visionary Villain|and other warped "ideals"]] can all drive people to evil in ways that you and I understand and may be personally familiar with. If a villain's motivations can just be understood, they can [[Kirk Summation|be reasoned with]] - sometimes.
Some villains, on the other hand, cannot be reasoned with because there is ''nothing'' reasonable about their reasons for acting... well, evil. Unlike the ''amoral'' motivation we call [[It Amused Me]], which may lead to evil in the pursuit of attachment-free amusement, someone whose motivation is
A villain whose defining characteristic is this motiveless malignity is almost without fail a [[Complete Monster]], with the Complete Monster being defined by, well, being [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|completely monstrous]] - needing no justifications for evil acts and having no humanising or sympathetic elements (e.g., [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|good intent]] or [[Anti-Villain|self-doubt]]) whatsoever. Other villainous personality types which dabble with
Of course, [[Tropes Are Not Good]] without fail. Poor writing of this trope can lead to [[Stupid Evil]] territory from villains do [[Evil Is Petty|petty]] things to [[Too Dumb to Live|doing things that'll kill them.]]
[[Video Game Cruelty Potential]] is when the player of a game is allowed or even encouraged to do things
[[Sister Trope]] to [[Threw My Bike on the Roof]].
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* Ali al-Saachez from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' makes no secret that the many atrocities he's committed (including but not by any means limited to mass murder) are for his own personal enjoyment, and because [[Blood Knight|he finds peace "boring"]].
** {{spoiler|Nena Trinity}} in season 1, who {{spoiler|blows up a wedding (which Louise just happens to be attending)}} because she's bored.
* Millennium from ''[[Hellsing]]'' have no motive other than causing as much chaos and destruction as they can, because they [[Blood Knight|REALLY like war]]. [[Crazy Awesome|The Major]] himself [[
** [[Death Seeker|Or, at least, that's what he wants you to think...]]
* In ''[[Houshin Engi]]'', Dakki seems to delight in nothing more than sheer sadism to the point that her own allies find her actions incomprehensible, but what makes her truly dangerous is that she's apparently studied the [[Evil Overlord List]], thwarting her opponents at every
* A strange deconstruction of this is one of the reasons why [[Complete Monster|Johan Liebert]], the titular ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'', is so horrifying. He has no reason ''at all'' for what he does. There's no evidence it's fun for him so it is not for the evulz per se and he demonstrates more than once that he can stop whenever he wants. In other words, while the Joker wants to watch the world burn, Johan just wants to set it on fire.
* Gauron, the character Ali is an [[Expy]] of, from ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]''. And, like with Ali, the fandom is divided on whether this makes him horribly, horribly flat, or utterly, utterly awesome.
* Kuroudo Akabane, the transporter from ''[[GetBackers]]'', fits this to a T. He basically is a transporter for the sole purpose of being a transporter is cutting people into bloody
* There are two quotes from ''[[Dangaioh]]'' both uttered by Gil Berg, who spent his first few appearances getting kicked around by the heroes. He has one of the (teenage female) pilots trapped, and is torturing her. He says "You might think I'm doing this for information, or revenge, but the truth is I just like torturing little girls. I know it's sick, but everyone needs a hobby." Later, after handing the heroes their asses and destroying their mentor, the camera zooms in on his face and he says "Do you know anyone who has as much fun as I do?"
* Wiseman/Death Phantom from ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' wants to wipe out all life in the universe with the power of his Evil Black Crystal just because he prefers silence and nothingness.
* Although Drosselmeyer in ''[[Princess Tutu]]'' does have a few things in his back story that give him a motive, there's strong indication that his biggest motivator is he just finds tragedy... fun! As he was a writer, he may be [[Doing It for the Art]] and it just so happens that he enjoys his art.
* Contrary to expectations, Ryuk from ''[[Death Note]]'' is an example of [[It Amused Me]] and ''[[Averted Trope|not]]''
** [[Serial Killer|Beyond]] [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|Birthday]], on the other hand, totally did it
* Mon and Toshi of ''[[The World Is Mine]]'' are [[Mad Bomber]] [[Serial Killer
** Additionally, at least a few hundred Japanese people who [[Misaimed Fandom|admire]] [[Fan Nickname|Toshimon]] and [[Viewers are Morons|misinterpreted]] the Prime Minister's words to "kill the idiots!" (give Toshimon the death penalty) and attacked [[Fight Club|random people]], [[Murder the Hypotenuse|troublesome spouses and lovers]], and [[Dead Baby Comedy|annoying infants]].
* This was a common theme in [[Osamu Tezuka]]'s later manga, such as in ''Alabaster'' and ''[[MW]]'', evil for the pleasure of evil, power and domination.
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* Jail Scaglietti from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S]]''. While his actions are partly to take 'revenge on the TSAB [[For Science!]]', he also admits that he enjoys gathering magical artifacts, making weapons and cyborg women, and rediscovering forbidden magical arts and technology. Hard to blame the guy for that though, as based on Chapter 12 of the ''StrikerS'' [[Comic Book Adaptation|manga]], that enjoyment {{spoiler|[[Artificial Human|was molded into him by the TSAB when they created him]]}} so that they will have the best [[Mad Scientist]] ever working for them. Understandably, the [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|not so good doctor]] wasn't very pleased about that arrangement for many reasons.
** [[Smug Snake]] Quattro, on the other hand, is a sadistic little bitch simply because she likes seeing people she perceives as lower than her squirm.
* Sakyou, from ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', admits that he wanted to open a tunnel to the demon
* Yokoya from ''[[Liar Game]]'' participates in the namesake game solely for a chance to control, dominate and generally screw other participants, preying on their fear and desperation - unlike other players he's rich and does not need prize money. Being a tyrant and forcing the worst in people to the surface is his hobby.
* [[Eyes Always Shut|Gin]] [[Enigmatic Minion|Ichimaru]] from ''[[Bleach]]'' seems to have this as his sole motivation for getting out of bed in the morning. Perhaps his most [[Kick the Dog|notorious demonstration]] of this was just prior to Rukia's execution. Seeing that she was prepared to die, he offered to save her, just to suddenly ''take it back'' and tear apart her resolve, leaving her a screaming wreck ''just because he could''. He managed to one-up that when he {{spoiler|sliced Hiyori in half}} for no apparent reason. He certainly didn't do it because she was attacking Aizen. He did it because he could. All this makes it pretty odd when {{spoiler|it's revealed that he joined Aizen just to get a chance at revenge against him for hurting his childhood friend Matsumoto. It fails to even explain why he went about doing it in the most jerk-like way possible. All this, of course, could point out to [[He Who Fights Monsters|Gin having become a bad guy while seeking to get back at another one]].}}
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** {{spoiler|--except he's [[Axe Crazy]], not ''[[Chaotic Stupid]]'': he knows killing is wrong and has both a [[Jerkass Facade]] and horrific rumors of his killing prowess to keep people away.}}
** [[Complete Monster|Kumagawa]], though, probably is a straight example. It is technically possible, that he might want [[Revenge]] against the rest of the world, but so far all of his actions were aimed towards torturing other characters, because he could (up to and including intending to return one of his most dangerous enemies to life to hurt him some more). Also, the main character of the series considers Kumagawa the main exception from her character-defining belief that no human is truly evil (rather than twisted by circumstances) and unworthy of trust.
** Chances are if you have a Minus Power in Medaka Box you are in it
* This is pretty much the reason why Izaya does ''anything'' in ''[[Durarara!!]]''. It is subverted by the anime's finale in which Simon implies {{spoiler|that this is purely an excuse and he is jealous of Shizuo's influential status}} - only in the ''anime'' though. During that scene, Simon says something [[Wham! Line|''completely'' different]].
* ''[[Texhnolyze]]'', Yoshii came down from the Class in order to instigate a massive war between the groups. He states that his goal is to awaken the people from their sleep in order to build leaders of them, or in other words, to help them realize their full potential, even if they don't want him to. This involves him murdering innocent people and starting gang wars because he finds it "interesting", all with a pleasant smile on his face. While he may have an ideological purpose behind it all, it is so obscure that it only makes him look all the more hysterical.
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** Balalaika herself might as well qualify. She explains in the Japan arc that her motives are basically war and destruction.
{{quote|'''Revy:''' She's the kind who prefers war over sex.}}
* While Mukuro of ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'' does have a reason for doing what he does (Changing the ugly world into a pure and beautiful sea of blood, starting a world war, etc.) no other explanation other than he did it
* Resident [[Ted Baxter]] Prussia of ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' does almost everything he does just for this, but most notorious are the times he realizes he's all alone on Valentine's and Christmas...so naturally, it's time to start [[Ship Sinking|sinking some ships]].
* In the second Japanese ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' anime (the version that was dubbed), this is pretty much Dark Malik's motivation. He just wants to cause havoc because he can, really. [[Motive Decay|Not so much in the dub...]]
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* The [[Creepy Child]] [[Enfante Terrible]] titular character of ''[[The Good Son]]''.
* John Ryder from ''[[The Hitcher]]''.
* All the [[Mad Scientist
* ''[[Reservoir Dogs]]'': "Was that as good for you as it was for me?"
** Specifically, Mr. Blonde: "Listen kid, I'm not gonna bullshit you, all right? I don't give a good fuck what you know, or don't know, but I'm gonna torture you anyway, regardless. Not to get information. It's amusing, to me, to torture a cop. You can say anything you want cause I've heard it all before. All you can do is pray for a quick death, which you ain't gonna get."
*** "It's so hard to keep this smile from my face, Losin' control, yea I'm all over the place!"
* ''[[Schindler's List]]'': Amon Goeth. Oh so very much. The man sniped at his prisoners, severely beat and enslaved a woman who, in a different reality, he might have called a wife, blew the brains out of an argumentative engineer because 'we're not going to have arguments with these people,' shot a fourteen year old boy for failing to completely clean his bathtub, and when asked, during an 'Aktion' (pre-deportation sorting of prisoners) 'what was going on,' thought the question was about his semi-annual medical physical. "He does this," Schindler explains to Helen Hirsch, "because they [his other victims] mean ''nothing'' to him." (The actor who portrayed
* Hannibal Lecter, the quintessential psychopathic [[Serial Killer]], at least in ''[[Silence of the Lambs]]'', ''Manhunter'', and ''[[Red Dragon]]''.
* The three killers from ''[[The Strangers]]''.
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** While Nyarlathotep may have had a reason to return the Gods of Earth to Kadath (that's where they're supposed to live), him sending Carter to accomplish the task for him and subsequently betraying him serves no point other than being a dick. Especially since in the end it's revealed he's powerful enough to return the Gods to Kadath with no effort at all.
* In [[Hells Children|Hell's Children]] by Andrew Boland an entire race of aliens travel light years to wipe out all life on earth. Their motivation for this, they were bored. I’m serious.
* [[Robert Silverberg]]'s short story "Flies", in ''[[Dangerous Visions]]'', deals with a man [[A God I Am|who is given God-like powers]], and uses them to torture people,
* ''[[Fantomas]]'': the valuables he steals is just an added bonus, what he really enjoys is to [[Complete Monster|spread fear]].
* Pretty much the guiding philosophy of Acheron Hades from the ''[[Thursday Next]]'' series, and probably the rest of his family as well. He even says as much in one of the quotes from his book "Degeneracy for Pleasure and Profit"; despite the title he feels that crime-for-money is rather crass and much prefers evil for evils sake.
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* Most of the villains in [[Thomas Berger]]'s Arthurian novel [[Arthur Rex]].
* Jack Mort, a minor villain from [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Dark Tower]]'' series likes to hurt people and has ruined the lives of two major characters just for his own sadistic joy.
* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''
* Alex from ''[[A Clockwork Orange (novel)|A Clockwork Orange]]''. This guy likes to kill, beat up and rape people for his own enjoyment and [[Alternate Character Interpretation|one could say]] he certainly deserves the treatment he gets after being brainwashed.
* Organizations with essentially the same motives as ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'''s The Party are a recurring element in the satirical horror novels of [[Bentley Little]]. e.g. ''The Store'' is about a Walmart-esque retail chain that goes far out of its way to be as oppressive and cause as much unnecessary suffering as it can; ''The Association'' is about a homeowner's association that does the same; ''The Policy'' is about an insurance company that does the same.
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* The protagonists of the Marquis de Sade's [[Salo Or The 120 Days Of Sodom|The 120 Days of Sodom]], as well as many of the men in the prostitutes' stories, like to rape, torture, murder, financially ruin, and otherwise harm innocent people, for pleasure.
* 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
* Melisande Shahrizai, of the [[Kushiel's Legacy]] series. When asked why she started a civil war and tried to ''conquer her own country'' she responds with, "Because I could."
* The Vardii Collective Military in [[Surrealverse|Earth 2350]] killed '''all life on a planet''' because, hey, if you have a crust-melting superweapon on hand, why not use it on someone you don't like?
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* {{spoiler|Angelus}} during season 2 of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', who nearly destroyed the world just for the giggles. Somebody earlier mentioned what could be more evil than leering at nuns? How about killing an entire convent just to drive one girl insane? Yeah, he did that because he ''could''. And then he made her a vampire.
** Most demons and vampires are like this, by their very nature. Two villains, however, get special mention: Spike and Ethan Rayne. Spike at least has an excuse, he's a vampire, and therefore is [[Exclusively Evil]]. Ethan doesn't even have this excuse; he's just an ordinary human who worships pain and chaos. Literally; his powers come from his worship of Janus.
*** Angel and Spike have a conversation in ''[[Angel]]'' concerning how they committed atrocities
*** Spike could also be considered a subversion. While he enjoys killing humans as individuals, he actually likes human society in general (with [[Sex Pistols]] being his favorite rock band) and doesn't want to see it destroyed.
{{quote|'''Spike''': "The thing is, I ''like'' this world. You've got Manchester United, dogracing, and ''people''. Millions of people, all walking around, like Happy Meals on legs."}}
** One episode of Angel had a twist on this; the demon possessing a small boy did all his crimes
** Hauser, a former employee of Wolfram and Hart, believes in evil.
* ''[[Jonathan Creek]]'', given that it focuses on [[Locked Room Mystery|Locked Room Mysteries]] and other planned murders, usually has very rational and logical villains with complex motives. Thus this trope came as something of a surprise when it was played in season four - after the media suggests that a series of murders are inspired by the fact that all the women killed were named after flowers (as an attempt to "deflower women") and the real killer is caught, Jonathan notes that no-one had considered the idea that a young woman would kill other young women "simply because she likes to". The floral connection of the names was just a coincidence.
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* 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."}}
* [[Professional Wrestling]]: [[WWE|The Big Bossman]] practically sprinted past the [[Moral Event Horizon]] and dove into [[Complete Monster
* 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'.
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** Also Inverted with Sherlock Holmes himself, the only reason he solves crimes instead of commits them is because he gets to brag about it afterwards.
* ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'' - The motivation for most of Damon Salvatore's actions.
* On ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'', Peter likes Manny, but Emma likes Peter. Manny gets drunk, and Peter films Manny stripping and uses it for blackmail. Emma then puts Peter [[Draco in Leather Pants|in leather pants]] and blames Manny, but starts dating the guy who filmed her best friend stripping. Strike that. That whole plot was
* This is Sue Sylvester's primary motivation in ''[[Glee]]''.
* The motivation of Joey Heric, the resident [[Magnificent Bastard]] on ''[[The Practice]]''. As his psychiatrist points out, he is clearly smart enough to commit murder in such a way that he would never be suspected, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun as letting everyone know he is guilty and then getting away with it anyway.
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* Francis from ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'', during his youth, and even currently, was implied to have pretty much done things such as steal a neighbor's car, crash it onto a tree, as well as drink, smoke, gain multiple piercings, break curfew, slept around, as well as torture his brothers, lock them in a closet, steal their toys, and presumably scar Reese with a Bayonet because of this trope, almost certainly the prior stuff was simply to spite his mother.
* In [[Sentai]] series, a general rule is that the villain's only ideology is evil.
* ''[[Farscape]]'': Selto Durka, Peacekeeper Captain, enthusiastic torturer, and all around bastard. He's so horrible that when
* Thomas and O'Brien from ''[[Downton Abbey]]'', who have attracted criticism that the mostly realistic series suffers from having these cartoon villains with no identifiable motivation. And ironically, the one thing O'Brien at least thought she had a motivation for ({{spoiler|planting a bar of soap so Cora would have a miscarriage, and wouldn't fire her}}) is the only one she actually shows regret for.
* One episode of ''[[The Pretender]]'' has Jared try to get into the mind of a serial killer to try and find his latest victim. He almost [[Logic Bomb|Logic-Bombs]] himself because he can't understand the reasoning behind the killer's actions. The killer helpfully informs him that there is no reason; he kills because he wants to.
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== Professional Wrestling ==
* 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
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== Tabletop Games ==
* 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
** Some of the material implies that he actually orchestrated the war that resulted in him and his fellows being trapped in said Hell. And actually came out ahead for
* Quite a few Dark Eldar and followers of Chaos in ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' have lost whatever reasons they once might have had for their journey to what lies beyond the [[Moral Event Horizon]] and are now in it for the giggles. The Dark Eldar are a particularly stellar example as the reason for their current predicament (hiding in the Webway and constantly hunted by the god of perversion) is that their entire civilization imploded in an orgy of hedonism and depravity, and they have no intention of stopping([[Deconstructed Trope|While this is buried away in some fairly obscure canon, the Dark Eldar carry on as they are out of a deep-seated spiritual dread. All the evuls are to try and stave off the attention of the god of perversion for just a bit longer]]).
** As for Chaos, most who serve it do so for the promise of power and advancement from them, or are even just clinging to it for the hopes their god(s) may help them (they generally won't, and even if they do, you still probably won't find it pleasant). However, it's not uncommon for many of their servants to simply become addicted to the horror they inflict in the names of Chaos. With Khorne's followers, it's generally hard to tell due to their sheer [[Ax Crazy]]. It also is worthy of mention that once you get far enough into slaaneshi cultism, everything you do to yourself/other beings is for some kind of high. Removing your own arm then replacing it with someone else's leg, for teh lolz.
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** Though they are pretty goal-oriented whenever they are put up against someone of equal or superior skill (and considering the strength of the average skaven, that isn't too hard).
* Tends to happen rather spectacularly every time PCs are permitted to be actually ''evil'' rather than just [[Designated Hero|designated]]. The ''[[Full Frontal Nerdity]]'' take on this gave us the [[Sarcasm Mode|cleverly innocent name of]] [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Dark Lord Evisceratrix O'Kittensquisher]]. This is ''not'' much of an exaggeration.
* Depending on what Haunt you trigger in ''[[Betrayal at House on the Hill]]'', the Traitor's motivation can range from [[Tragic Monster]] to [[More Than Mind Control]] to this. The poor preacher might randomly turn into a werewolf, or the geeky [[Tagalong Kid]] may just decide the [[Giant Spider
* ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' has the Crassus family. It's a horrible, horrible example to retype here, so just check it out on their section on the Requiem article.
* Fiends in [[Dungeons and Dragons]]. As the Witch-queen Iggwilv explains in the ''Demonomicon'':
{{quote|"To understand a [[Chaotic Evil|demon]] is to know what drives it. All demons crave carnage and absolute ruin, but to what end? Unlike [[Lawful Evil|devils]], demons do not commit acts of violence from a philosophical desire to foment evil for its own sake. The desires of a demon are less existential. More instinctual."}}
* In the [[Magic: The Gathering]] set ''Ravnica'', the Rakdos Cult is populated entirely by [[Exclusively Evil]] demons and supplicants, whose entire reason for doing their actions is
* 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".
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{{quote|"I did that stuff 'cause I could. And it got interesting, so I watched."}}
* Rugal Bernstein from ''[[King of Fighters]]''. Some of his plans have a reasonable motivation, but he usually just does evil because he's amused at how low he can sink. Why do you think he killed all those people he then made into decorative bronze statues? Because he could.
* The [[Evil Matriarch]] Hilda from ''[[Fire Emblem]] 4''. Most of her acts seems to derive from her lust of power. But [[Break the Cutie|torturing her sister in law Tiltyu to death and then her daughter too]]? That's simply done
* Carnage and mass destruction are integral parts of fun for [[Omnicidal Maniac|Gig]] from ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]''. He is very open about this, by the way.
** Likewise, Thuris seems to cook up virulent, nigh-incurable plagues mainly for shits and giggles. {{spoiler|The protagonist of the Demon Path trumps them both by a long shot. His/her final words after destroying reality itself in a [[Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum]]? "It doesn't matter. It was fun."}}
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** Some of the victims are slain for revenge, for selfish gain of whoever pays, to (assumably) remove someone seen as a threat or to send a powerful message to the Brotherhood's enemies. Even the murder of Baenlin on your second mission, the harmless old man who doesn't seem to have done ANYTHING to deserve dying in the 'accident' you staged, is explained. {{spoiler|His nephew Caenlin moves into the house soon after the hit is complete. If you talk to him and/or read the black horse courier article about Baenlin's death, you'll likely assume Caenlin used the hit to claim his inheritance.}} However, there are a few instances where there is no hint in that direction. For example, in one mission you are sent to a fancy manor where five guests have been lured to by a false promise of hidden gold. No matter how much you socialize with the guests and how much information you get them to tell you about themselves(and each other), at no point do you get any slightest clue about why someone would pay the Dark Brotherhood for their deaths. Quite frightening, if you think about it.
** The stark contrast from ''Morrowind's'' [[I Did What I Had to Do]] Morag Tong can be very disappointing for people coming to Oblivion from that game. Of course, the Dark Brotherhood are in ''[[Morrowind]]'' too, albeit as NPC antagonists, specifically set up as the [[Chaotic Evil]] [[Evil Counterpart|counterpart]] to the [[Lawful Neutral]] Morag Tong. The disparity ''is'' deliberate.
** Again, that above statement about "for the glory of our Dread Father Sithis"? That gets even worse when you consider that canonically, Sithis ''isn't even sentient'', it's the term for the void, basically nonexistence. The Dark Brotherhood take up many of their missions to kill people in order to appease ''an abstract concept'' that ''wouldn't even care''. Talk about [[Complete Monster
* The Dark Star in ''[[Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]] is this. He's already a [[Made of Evil]] [[Eldritch Abomination]], and as a result, has no motivations other than destruction. His 'plan' is to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom or world, and he doesn't even consider that he happens to be 'living' there at the time. Then again, he's [[Made of Evil]] itself, I don't think he'd understand the concept of having motivations or reasons.
* By the time Travis Touchdown reaches her, Bad Girl in ''[[No More Heroes]]'' is so utterly burned out by her career as an assassin that she slaughters countless gimp clones just for the fun of it. She openly admits that she has no reason to kill anyone, she does it to keep herself entertained. Travis, who is only slightly less of a [[Villain Protagonist]] than [[God of War (series)|Kratos]], finds himself disgusted.
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* In [[Final Fantasy XIII]], was there any sensible reason for Primarch Dysley to shoot Jihl Nabaat in the back when she was about to defend him from the party? Even if his killing her was important to the plot and his characterization, wouldn't waiting until she'd fought the party and then invoking [[You Have Failed Me]] have made more sense?
** Actually, no. Dysley's two irreconcilable Focuses were to Protect Cocoon and to Destroy Cocoon; to that end it was important that the main characters were not killed before they could help him carry out the 2nd Focus. Had they fought Jihl it's possible that they would've been unable to, in their weakened state, protect themselves against Dysley himself when he had been forced to fight the party in order to further his 1st Focus. Or, in other words: Jihl even being given the chance to fail him wasn't in his best interests.
* The Nightmare Court in [[Guild Wars 2]] manages to have an actual plan that requires its followers to kill and torment
* It isn't made very clear why Tuber kidnapped the fruits in ''[[The Caverns of Hammerfest]]''.
** [[Fridge Logic|He was going to make one heck of a fruit salad!]]
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{{quote|"But you can't make an omelette without ruthlessly crushing dozens of eggs beneath your steel boot and then publicly disemboweling the chickens that laid them as a warning to others."}}
* Bun-bun of ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' fame is sometimes this. A lot of the time, he's after something (money, strippers, alfalfa hay), but sometimes, he just wants a bit of a laugh. A sadistic one. Ka-CLICK.
* In the second ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons and Discourse]]'', Dmitri's character in ''[[Dresden Codak]]'' excuses stopping to eat the [[Our Souls Are Different|philosophical]] [[The Heartless|zombies]] with "[[Stupid Evil|Evil for Evil's sake]]." {{spoiler|Then he kills off the entire party with the [[Exclusive Enemy Equipment|Dungeon Boss's]] [[BFS|mega-weapon]].}} Again,
** His character type, Dark Kantian, is based on this trope. His Categorical Imperative is that he must do evil regardless of its utility. (And all the Platonists have headaches now. Whee....)
* Richard from ''[[Looking for Group]]'' is a delightfully evil character who will happily slaughter entire villages out of sheer boredom. He takes great joy in seeing the hero of the comic, Cale, slowly become less innocent, more violent, and more cynical. His motivations are largely unknown, but after each of the other characters had explained their reasons behind the main quest, he simply states "'''I like to kill things.''' How do you not get that by now?"
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* [[Juathuur]] averts this trope, and explicitly evokes it [http://oneway.juathuur.com/1/?strip_id=254 here]. The comic, as a whole, makes a point that no one is evil 'just because', everyone has his reasons.
* This is the motivation for easily half the people and events involved in ''[[Ansem Retort]]''. Axel even explicitly stated that this is why Zexion should steal tax dollars from his constituents to finance Axel's wedding: just to prove he ''could''.
* In [[Girl Genius]], most of the old Heterodyne family's sadistic experiments were [[For Science!]], but they left behind a [[AI Is a Crapshoot|Castle]] whose motivation for messing with prisoners is, aside from protecting heirs of the Heterodyne family,
* Norman from ''[[Dragon Tails]]'' wants to conquer the world and destroy Enigma seemingly because he has nothing better to do. Unfortuantely for him, he's...not very good at either.
* The Grand Highblood from [[Homestuck]] seems to be the troll incarnate of this trope, killing those who seek him out on a whim simply because he truly thinks of himself as the highest on the troll totem pole. {{spoiler|And he's also Gamzee's ancestor, and the moment Gamzee sobers up, he decides it's time to prepare for The Vast Honk via killing off all the other remaining trolls. Which he successfully does in a doomed timeline, considering he has their blood to paint with.}}
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== Web Original ==
* [[Troll
* 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.
** There's also the [[Alternative Character Interpretation]] some handlers have that this is essentially why [[Big Bad|Danya]] is abducting American students and making them kill each other.
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** Also the Brotherhood of Evil, at least in their first appearance. There is no logic reason, other than being a massive dick (quite an accomplishment for a [[Brain In a Jar]]), that the Brain would use a black hole machine to destroy the Titans' home city. They weren't even there at the time, and he knew it. Even their later plan to capture and freeze every hero only seems to be so they can be evil without interruption.
*** On the other hand, there's really quite a lot that the head of an international crime ring ''could'' do with a black hole machine, even if it's not spelled out. Can you say "extortion", anyone?
** Even ''Slade'' flirted with
*** Slade in that episode could be [[Fan Wank
** Trigon, being the [[God of Evil]], kinda has to fit this trope.
* ''[[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'' has Maleficent. She tries to murder the titular character. And when that fails, she captures her [[Prince Charming]] so she can send him back when he's old and grey. Why? 'Cuz she's "[[Large Ham|the mistress of all evil]]!"
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* [[Complete Monster|The Coachman]] from ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]]'', who actually kidnaps naughty young boys, brings them all to Pleasure Island, turns them all into donkeys, and locks them all up in crates headed either for the salt mines or the circus just for the fun of it! And to make matters worse, he's actually a [[Karma Houdini]]!
** Even worse, he's actually ''[[Stupid Evil|losing money]]'' [[Stupid Evil|by doing this]], since fellow villains who persuade wayward boys to go with the Coachman typically demand payment in the form of gold coins.
* [[Meaningful Name|Discord]] from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' loves causing chaos with his [[Reality Warper|reality warping]] powers simply because he wants to. He shows pretty quickly that he possesses godlike power and could likely win with a fingersnap, but instead locks everyone in a rigged game where he can [[Mind Rape]] them at his leisure. Any possibility that his motivation might be more [[It Amused Me]] is put to rest when Fluttershy wins his game by being too mentally stable to fall for [[More Than Mind Control]], when he promptly loses his temper and cheats at his own game by breaking her through more brute force
* In ''[[G.I. Joe: Resolute]]'', Zartan says this about why he does what he does: "But I like the idea of living in a world where I can kill anyone I like, anytime I like. I don't need the money; I just need the killing."
* In the [[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]] series, Mirage is a cat goddess who's labeled as "Evil Incarnate" and whose primary motivation is to destroy good and spread misery. She developed into wanting revenge on Aladdin, but started out trying to hurt Agrabah because there was too much good in it.
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