For the Evulz: Difference between revisions

[[File:fortheevulz 4881.jpg|link=The Dark Knight Saga|frame| [[Just for Pun|Funny thing is,]] [[Unhand Them, Villain!|I really did want to]] [[Exact Words|let her go]]!]]

 

 

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.

 

The [[Evil Counterpart|Good Counterpart]] is [[For Great Justice]].

 

* 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.

 

 

* 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?

* The Scarecrow, also from Batman. While he claims he's exposing people to his fear gas for scientific interests, it's pretty generously implied that he's either sadistic or has a torturous compulsion.

* In the Sonic the Hedgehog Archie comics, this is {{spoiler|Fiona Fox's}} reasoning for {{spoiler|turning traitor and joining Scourge, Sonic's anti-universe counterpart.}}

* A ''[[Star Wars]]'' Boba Fett comic featured a Mengele-analogue who has given up any pretense of being scientific. He openly admits that he's butchering entire alien races because it's fun.

** In ''[[Dark Times]]'', this is why Dezono Qua [[Eats Babies]].

* Carnage, of ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]''. Blood. Just 'cause he can. It isn't the symbiote's influence on Cletus either. He was a murdering psychopath before he ever bonded with the Carnage symbiote.

* [[Norman Osborn]] is in this. Green Goblin's motivation in ''all'' of the situations is just for evil fun. [[Subverted Trope|That's just his Goblin persona, mind you. Osborn himself is usually out to extend his power and influence.]] [[Deconstructed Trope|Sometimes the Goblin's lulz actually bite him in the ass.]]

** Sometimes, he'll even kill his client's own mooks just to entertain himself when he's bored, as lampshaded in the film version when the Kingpin finds Bullseye sitting in his office with the still warm corpse of his security guard.

{{quote|'''Kingpin''' (motioning at the body): ''Was that really necessary?''

* [[The Sandman|Doctor Destiny's Diner of Death]]. A supervillain armed with the King of Dreams's ruby wandered into a diner full of perfectly ordinary people, and spent an entire issue just ''breaking'' them. When he briefly freed his victims from his control, one of them demanded to know why he was tormenting them this way. His answer? [[Complete Monster|"Because I can."]]

* ''[[Supreme Power]]'' villain Redstone's reasons for killing: "Because I can, because I'm good at it, and because I like it." Well, okay, the ''real'' reason he does it is because he's crazy and he thinks nobody can stop him, but as you can imagine he doesn't recognize this.

* Cletus from [[The Authority]]

{{quote|"I didn't get involved in this because I'm some cackling super-villain who gets off on hurting people or anything."

Cletus: "Hell, ''I'' did." }}

* [[Justice League of America|JLA]] villain Prometheus had this exchange with [[Lex Luthor]] during "World War III", the last arc of [[Grant Morrison]]'s run on ''JLA''.

{{quote|Lex Luthor: [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check|You could make yourself very wealthy patenting some of this equipment, Prometheus.]]

 

 

* ''[[Ultimate SpiderWoman|Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light]]'' features Jack O' Lantern, who starts out with bank robberies before graduating to hostage-takings, gassings, [[Mind Rape]], and finally orchestrating a city-wide gang war. He implies that the reason he commits these increasingly ghastly crimes is, quite simply, because he knows it's wrong. Jack O' Lantern also brags about being so superior to people who in his mind [[At Least I Admit It|hide their impulses behind their civilized facades]], and develops an almost insane hatred for Spider-Woman in part for defending those people and in part for interfering with his fun.

** [[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.

** 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!"

* Hannibal Lecter, the quintessential psychopathic [[Serial Killer]], at least in ''[[Silence of the Lambs]]'', ''Manhunter'', and ''[[Red Dragon]]''.

* The three killers from ''[[The Strangers]]''.

* Despite the (former) picture above, [[The Matrix|Agent Smith]] is an [[Averted Trope|aversion]]. He may do a huge amount of evil things, but he does them for a simple reason:

{{quote|'''Agent Smith:''' More.}}

* Daisy Pringle, a [[Creepy Child]] from ''[[The Wicker Man]]''.

{{quote|'''Daisy''': The little old beetle goes 'round and 'round. Always the same way, y'see, until it ends up right up tight to the nail. Poor old thing!

* Alex from ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' has no other motive for his rape and ultraviolence than that he enjoys it. This actually brings him into conflict with the rest of his gang when they start to insist that their crimes yield a more substantial payout.

* A deleted scene in ''[[Dogma]]'' revealed that the triplets from Hell died, when they were being carted to Juvenile Hall for bashing in a baby's head to see what it would look like.

* The villain in ''[[The Vanishing]]'' is an emotional blank slate. The greatest high of his life was when he saved his daughter from drowning. Now he wants to see if he can get a similar high from doing something really evil.

* In ''[[The Crow]]'', Top Dollar gives a speech about how profiting from Devil's Night has grown boring to him, and the criminals of the city should sow mayhem purely for the evil of it.

** ''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.]]}}

* Played with in both the novel and film ''[[No Country for Old Men]]''. [[Complete Monster|Anton Chigurh]], to any of his victims would definitely appear to this and even to the viewer at first sight. However, it's stated that he has morals and values that make sense only to him. This is part of what makes him so frightening.

** How about unlike most other examples in this page, the Anton rarely even enjoys what he's doing. Just utter indifference most of the time, the rest of the examples at least get a kick out of it for their atrocities.

{{quote|'''Scorpio''': {{spoiler|I've changed my mind. I'm going to let her die! I just wanted you to know that. You hear me? I just wanted you to know that before I killed you!}}}}

* "Ghidorah", of the "[[Godzilla]]" series of films, for his debut movie "Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster". He's just here to destroy Earth for seeming kicks, like he apparently has for countless planets, including Mars. We're never given a reason why he's been doing this, nor do we know where he's originally come from.

* 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.

* The Martians from [[Mars Attacks!]] are the [[Played for Laughs]] version of this trope. They even make us think they can be negotiated with just to laugh at us when we try right before they kill us anyway, because they enjoy the killing so much.

* 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.

* 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.

** 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.

* [[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, for his own amusement.

* ''[[Fantomas]]'': the valuables he steals is just an added bonus, what he really enjoys is to [[Complete Monster|spread fear]].

* Edgler Vess from [[Dean Koontz]]' ''Intensity'' is a self-proclaimed homicidal adventurer, who loves to kill just for the sheer intensity of it. Vassago from another [[Dean Koontz]] novel ''Hideaway'' kills people so he could be reincarnated as one of the demon princes in Hell(it's not clarified what it would benefit him). As a matter of fact, simply every villain in every [[Dean Koontz]] book ever written ever.

* In [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]]' ''[[Space Trilogy|Perelandra]]'', Satan himself is this. While he has real (and [[Complete Monster|deeply]] [[Omnicidal Maniac|malicious]]) ambitions, when he can't move directly toward them he's just as happy torturing small animals or tearing up the turf, so long as he can hurt something.

* In James Beauseigneur's ''[[Christ Clone Trilogy]]'' when Decker, the viewpoint character, asks [[The Antichrist]] ( {{spoiler|Christopher Goodman}}) why he does what he does when he knows he's going to lose, the reply is "Because it feels so good to twist the nose of God!" The same Antichrist later muses how an eternity in [[Fire and Brimstone Hell|Hell]] will be tolerable in the knowledge that he tricked millions of people to join him there so he can listen to their screams forever, {{spoiler|[[Moral Event Horizon|including his own parents]]}}. [[Complete Monster]] doesn't begin to describe this guy.

* In Orwell's ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', {{spoiler|O'Brien}} admits that the Party isn't looking forward to improving the world, only seeking power for the sake of power, oppression for the sake of oppression. Ironically, this is the same reason why the nameless prole woman sings: just for the sake of singing.

* 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]]''—The series has some minor villains, who seem to be along just for their own sick pleasures. The worst ones would be the huge rapist knight Ser Gregor Clegane (among countless other atrocities sickening in nature), the inhumanly cruel outcasts in the Brave Companions, aka the Bloody Mummers, sadistic Ramsey Snow and the heartless boy-king Joffrey Baratheon, who practically revels in his power and prefers to make people fear him ({{spoiler|not to forget what he did to Ned Stark}}).

* 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.

* ''[[Warrior Cats]]'': Okay, so we know that Sol wants to {{spoiler|1=use the Three's powers to gain control over all cats living around the lake and eliminate belief in StarClan,}} but {{spoiler|his manipulation of the Twolegplace cats}} doesn't have ''anything'' to with his plans, and was seemingly done for the hell of it. Plus, he doesn't seem that committed to his goal, doesn't approach it with much urgency, and seems to get ''way'' too much enjoyment from messing with the main characters' minds.

* Bellatrix Lestrange from the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series always seems to have way too much fun killing people, breaking their stuff and {{spoiler|torturing innocent people into insanity}}.

** The werewolf Greyback also qualifies. He takes to infecting [[Complete Monster|''small children'']] because he thinks they will be more likely to join his cause if they are infected young. He claims motives such as overthrowing the wizards, but most of his actions are purely for the fun of destroying people.

*** 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 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?

* The Order of the Blackened Denarius from ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' are explicitly stated as being out to inflict as much chaos, death, and destruction as possible, and are responsible for inciting numerous plagues, wars, and other disasters.

** Shagnasty, if anything, was even worse than the Denarians, deliberately striking out at hapless bystanders and opponents far too weak to hurt it, simply to show off how much pain it could inflict.

* ''[[In Death]]'': A number of times in the series, the murderer or criminal says that s/he is doing what s/he is doing because s/he can. If that's not another way of expressing this trope, then what is?

* The vampire [[The Vampire Chronicles|Lestat]] from the novel by the same name and others by Anne Rice. When asked why he is so cruel, Lestat simply states that he likes it and enjoys it.

 

 

* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', we have this dialogue between Martha and a [[Monster of the Week|Toclafane]]:

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

** 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''.

*** Angel and Spike have a conversation in ''[[Angel]]'' concerning how they committed atrocities For the Evulz—but in different ways. Spike loved killing for the sake of it and didn't bother to give his victims another glance. Angelus couldn't look away from his victims and relished their suffering.

*** 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.

** 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.

** Adrian Bale in the early episode "Won't Get Fooled Again". He agrees to tell the BAU how to disarm a complicated bomb, and in exchange he will be transferred from his maximum security prison to a mental hospital, and Agent Gideon will have to apologize to his victims' families, and admit that it was entirely his fault their respective relative died. When the inevitable [[Wire Dilemma]] occurs, Bale, even though doing so ''completely invalidates his deal'', purposely tells them to cut the wrong wire... because the bomb blowing up will give him some kind of "emotional release".

** It's a TV show about FBI profilers who hunt down (mostly) serial killers. At least half the episodes fall into this trope. The other half, however, [[Subverted Trope|subverts it to hell and back]].

* Rico in ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' explains the fact that he is always trying to make people (his so called friends no less) miserable as "I'm rich and bored, [[It's What I Do]]."

* ''[[CSI]]'' episode "Fannysmackin'", where local teens beat tourists to death. The point made at the end is that these kids were bored and were stupid enough to pick this to break the boredom.

* Every villain in the 1960's ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' TV show. Has even ''one'' of them ever tried to commit a subtle and/or profitable crime?

* 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.}}

* [[Professional Wrestling]]: [[WWE|The Big Bossman]] practically sprinted past the [[Moral Event Horizon]] and dove into [[Complete Monster]]dom for no reason whatsoever, other than that he enjoyed it.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* ''[[Farscape]]'': Selto Durka, Peacekeeper Captain, enthusiastic torturer, and all around bastard. He's so horrible that when Rygel—one of his former victims -- {{spoiler|finally kills him, Rygel spends the next several days carrying his head around on a stick. It's '''really''' hard to blame Rygel for being so happy.}}

* 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.

 

 

== Music ==

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

* Voltaire's "When You're Evil" pretty much sums up the trope.

* My Chemical Romance's "I Never Told You What I Do For A Living"

* "Only a Lad" by [[Oingo Boingo]] discusses Johnny, who appears to have been born this way, despite society's attempts to suggest otherwise (Primarily as an excuse not to deal with it.)

** Johnny ''does'' have motives occasionally, but they are so absurd that they hardly count. (He once shot a neighbor in the leg ''just so he could steal her radio''.)

* ''The Bright Young Things'' by [[Marilyn Manson]] is this meets [[The Hedonist]], referencing the titular "Bright Young People" of 1920s London.

* "The Curse of Milhaven" by Nick Cave is a prime example.

 

 

 

 

* 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!"

 

* 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]]s are just ''too cool'' to fight.

* ''[[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.

{{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."}}

* 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".

 

* [[Monster Clown|Kefka]] from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' is the result of crossing this trope with [[Nietzsche Wannabe]]. Thanks to the Magitek experiments he's undergone, his mind has rotted to the point that destruction and death are the only things that bring meaning to his life, so he destroys and kills everything and everyone he can because it's the only thing that puts a smile on his face. [[Complete Monster|And boy does it ever.]] Towards the end, it's possible that the only reason he stops playing this trope straight is because he's so ridiculously powerful that it just isn't fun anymore. Without the Evulz to drive him, he no longer has any use for either the world or even his own existence.

* Saleh, one of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] in ''[[Tales of Rebirth]]'' is an extreme case that he is very much repulsed with anything good and strives to do evil and it just delights him to see people suffer.

** The Heaven's Feel scenario {{spoiler|turns this into a [[Deconstructed Trope]] by giving us Kotomine's backstory and showing just what sort of twisted and tormented person he is: Kotomine is perfectly capable of understanding the nuances of right and wrong and has, in fact, on several occasions tried to live a good life -- by for instance becoming a priest specializing in healing and trying to have a family -- while at the same time being utterly unable to get any pleasure from life unless he's causing (or simply observing - he's not picky) someone pain and suffering. He is fully aware of just how deviant this makes him and he considers his birth to be a 'mistake'. This in fact turns his motives into a subversion. What he is truly aiming for is something close to a [[Rage Against the Heavens]].}}

* [[Psycho for Hire|Yuber]] and [[The Caligula|Luca]] [[Omnicidal Maniac|Blight]] from the ''[[Suikoden]]'' series.

* Both [[Psycho for Hire]] [[Super Robot Wars Original Generation|Grims]] and [[Super Robot Wars Gaiden|Lubikka Hakinnen]] from ''[[Super Robot Wars]]''. Archibald forced Elzam von Branstein to make the [[Sadistic Choice]] between killing his wife or having his whole colony gassed, as well as bombing an excavation site all for the lulz. His predecessor Lubikka is also said to have done a lot of atrocities for the lulz, and takes extra lulz if he is torturing [[Super Robot Wars Gaiden|Tytti Noorbuck]] mentally.

** Archibald actually does have a grudge against the Branstein family, but when not torturing them, he just really likes killing people. His hobbies include joining rebellions that he couldn't give a damn about, "accidentally" firing on civilians in an occupied country, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|drinking red tea because it looks like blood]].

** Doubly so in the questionably canon manga adaptation, where the Mask is revealed to have hexed Kafei into a child for the hell of it when he refused to play with the possessed Skull Kid, and once discarding the Skull Kid, comments that Link "looks like a fun fellow" and tosses off a few [[Nightmare Fuel|inexplicably creepy]] lines about how he wants to play with Link now, eventually settling on "tag". Majora further has a [[Villainous Breakdown]] as he and Oni Link fight, calling Oni Link a "meanie" when he hits him the first time and giggling madly before repeating his actions from the video game of running around tittering with excitement. In the final form, he bawls out Link for ruining his "game", screaming that humans had always "played" willingly with him before. We're given a pretty good view that Majora threw the entire world into chaos and tried to destroy it purely because it was fun.

** Plus the evil plan brings his friends back to visit/stop him from destroying the world!

* Doctor Neo Cortex in ''[[Crash Bandicoot]]''.

{{quote|'''Coco Bandicoot:''' Cortex, why do you keep doing stuff like this?

* Most characters in ''[[Touhou]]'' have a reason for what they do, if not a good one. Except for Tenshi, who causes a lot of chaos and some earthquakes because she was bored. Utsuho would also qualify, but she got beaten down before she actually did anything.

* More than half of the Acts of Infamy in ''[[Evil Genius (video game)|Evil Genius]]'' are done solely to make sure ''you're'' the most evil genius trying to [[Take Over the World]].

** 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.

* Most villainous contacts in ''[[City of Villains]]'' use you as a tool in their [[Evil Plan]], for some petty thefts or revenge plots, or trying to further their own (and, in some cases, your) agendas. Westin Phipps, on the other hand, poses as a charity worker and sends you to do things like kidnap an inspirational schoolteacher, destroy textbooks, and ''[[Moral Event Horizon|poison food supplies]]''. Why? [[Complete Monster|For no reason other than to crush the hopes of the downtrodden poor]]. People are split over whether or not he's evil enough to make even villains uncomfortable.

* Murray, the Demonic Talking Skull from the ''[[Monkey Island]]'' series fits this trope quite nicely.

** ''[[Mass Effect]]'' 3 finally did reveal their motives (which are spoilerific and long-winded in explanation), and it turns out they were operating on [[Blue and Orange Morality]] / [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] rather than this trope.

* ''[[Summoner]]'': Emperor Murod, {{spoiler|Prince Sornehan, and Queen Galliene}} purposely cultivate [[0% Approval Rating|Zero Percent Approval Ratings]] upon taking power? Because they're part of a demonic cult whose acolytes literally fuel their magical power with evil and suffering.

** After you defeat her in the first game, there's also her appearance in [[System Shock 2]]. SHODAN merely used Dr. Marie Delecroix as a pawn for disposing of The Many after {{spoiler|Dr. Janice Polito [[Better to Die Than Be Killed|commits suicide]].}} But she [[Kick the Dog|abandoned her]] when she needed her most. She also made a deal with you: if you destroy The Many, she will let you live. She never lets you come to the aid of another human being in need of your help. You destroy the Many, and she leaves you for dead. Only to fight you... and die. {{spoiler|But not really, because you then see her [[Grand Theft Me|TAKE OVER REBECCA SIDDONS!]]}} Why? 'Cuz she's "[[A God Am I|a perfect immortal machine]]!"

* Nene in ''[[Blue Dragon]]'' has an actual ultimate plan: he tricks {{spoiler|your party into powering up their magic so he can steal it and save himself from a wasting disease}}, but in order to pull this off, he simply cackles and invokes this Trope at every one of their meetings. At a certain point, it starts to seem like he just sits around brainstorming new ways to make the heroes mad.

* In ''[[Elder Scrolls]] IV: [[Oblivion]]'' there is the Dark Brotherhood which the ''player'' can join by murdering someone who doesn't deserve to die. The first time you 'sleep rather soundly' after doing so and consequently meet Lucien Lachance and ask him about the Dark Brotherhood, he remarks:

{{quote|Lucien Lachance: '''We kill for profit, for enjoyment and for the glory of our Dread Father Sithis."}}

** 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]]s.

* 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.

* In ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'', Majd Addin is the only one of Altair's targets not to try and justify his actions by claiming they were [[Utopia Justifies the Means|for the greater good.]] When asked why he executed innocent people (to the point of performing the executions ''himself''), he replies that he simply enjoyed the feeling of holding someone else's life in his hands.

* In ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'', you (as Alex Mercer) can run around murdering absolutely anyone you care to using a multitude of techniques and abilities. True, they drop some health for you, but then why not absorb them instead of, say, throwing the smoldering remains of a helicopter at some random grouping?

* Seems to be almost the entire motivation for the witches in ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'' {{spoiler|especially the Voyager witches Bernkastel and Lambdadelta.}} [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|But when you live for a thousand years, your sources of entertainment eventually start to run out.]]

* My own personal theory on how any why [[Kaizo Mario World]] was born. If so, it worked.

* Gary from ''[[Bully (video game)|Bully]]'' personifies this trope, what with his justification for {{spoiler|putting Jimmy into power as the King of the School, then sabotaging him completely and getting him expelled, then plunging the school into complete chaos}} being because he could...

* In the second ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]'' game, it's never explained why {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Darkrai]]}} wanted to {{spoiler|cover the world in darkness aside from destroying both space and time in order for his evil plan to work.}}

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Iris''': I was born with [[Magnificent Bastard|absolute power and unparalelled brains]]. Now, when someone knows everything there is to know about something, they get bored with it. That's the reason why I chose to stage this little revolution: [[It Amused Me|to make this world just a little less boring]].}}}}

* Bulnoil in ''[[Brigandine]]'', due to being a [[Card-Carrying Villain]]. He wants to summon Ouroboros to engulf Forsena in chaos... for no reasons other reasons aside of he's a huge dickhead.

** 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.

* 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!]]

* Solomon in ''[[Battlefield 3]]'' was heavily implied to be this.

 

 

* 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.

** The lich Xykon, the [[Big Bad]], is simply out to be as evil as possible, and often goes out of his way to commit atrocities just 'cause it's fun. The result is the bizarre twist of an <s>[[Affably Evil]]</s> [[Faux Affably Evil]] [[Complete Monster]].

{{quote|'''Xykon:''' ...sure, I could've just blasted you all from above with fire and lightning and such... But I've always felt that when it's really important, it's worth to go that extra mile. Don't you agree?

* Cyndi of ''[[Penny and Aggie]]'' toys with others' lust for her, and manipulates people into abandoning their friends or into [[Moral Event Horizon|eating disorders and suicide attempts]], simply because it amuses her: "I do like to play." Best summed up by Penny:

{{quote|'''Penny''': She never tries to win. She just tries to make everyone '''else lose'''.}}

* 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''.

* 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 hat guy in ''[[Xkcd]]'' enjoys [http://xkcd.com/954/ inventive ways of being cruel], and only sometimes as payback for someone being stupid.

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

** 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.

** Maxwell Lombardi is one of the few killers in v4 who genuinely enjoys killing, and often goes out of his way to kill people. [[Complete Monster|He's... quite good at it.]]

* [[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog|Dr Horrible's]] sole motivation for trying to take over the world is so that he can qualify as a supervillain and get into the Evil League of Evil.

** Actually, Dr. Horrible is a subversion; it's made a clear on a couple of occasions that he feels the world is corrupted, and the only way to "save" it is to take control himself; most obviously in his opening spiel and during the song "My Eyes". Indeed, when it comes time to kill the "hero" of the piece, {{spoiler|he can't bring himself to do it until he's lost his chance.}}

* [[That Guy With The Glasses]] did a sketch about the Joker from ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' trying to come up with an origin story. After several rather ridiculous attempts, he decides to forsake the attempt altogether.

{{quote|'''Joker''': "Argh, that will never work! You know what? I'll just say I'm an asshole!"}}

{{quote|'''Vegeta''': "Say goodbye to your planet, Kakarot!"

'''Goku/Kakarot''': "That's not very nice."

'''Vegeta''': "{{smallcaps|Of course not! I'm f** king evil!}}" }}

* Veronica Carter of ''[[Shadowhunter Peril]]'', through a technicality, falls under this category. When she originally existed in Fan Fiction, Veronica was a psychotic vampire who had bullied her three siblings into working for her in her quest for total destruction of everything, murdered her rebellious little brother's best and only friend, killed and drained blood from the bodies of humans well after she was full satisfying her thirst, and went on a celebratory trek across of vandalism across the country after she killed her own army and attacked the opposing one (keep in mind that her idea of vandalism is burning everything she sees). Her reasoning for all this is because she "was just bored".

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

 

** Vicky also counts. Her very purpose in life is either to swindle cash or torture those under her care, even her own little sister. When Timmy (who needs his tonsils removed) demands why she is working in the hospital, she replies with this obvious answer: "I like volunteering in places where there's pain."

* ''[[Samurai Jack]]'': In the [[DVD Commentary]], [[Word of God|Genndy Tartakovsky]] mentioned the idea that [[Big Bad|Aku]] set up the [[Jackass Genie]] well in Episode VII as well as several other obstacles Jack encounters throughout his travels. He notes this isn't to capture Jack, but so Aku could just mess with the people he's already enslaved.

** 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 this—see "Forces of Nature", where Robin wonders why Slade wanted to destroy the city, and never gets an answer. For that matter, Thunder and Lightning from the same episode would fit under this label, although they have a more believable "motive" of causing trouble for the fun of it because they're immature jerks. (Being forced to consider the victims of their actions gives Thunder pause.)

*** Slade in that episode could be [[Fan Wank]]ed into setting the whole thing up to see what the Titans would do to stop it (thereby helping pick an apprentice - and it's only ''after'' that episode he decides to focus on Robin alone). Or it could just be [[Characterization Marches On]], as they hadn't quite decided what they wanted to do with him yet.

* ''[[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]]!"

** That and she didn't like the fact [[Disproportionate Retribution|she wasn't invited to the little baby princess's birthday party.]]

** Hexadecimal is so chaotic that she sometimes falls into this trope, for example creating the Medusa Bug and overriding the system Paint command. She even fires The Hardware at the Principal Office, despite Megabyte's warning that doing so will destroy the entire system and everyone in it, including herself, simply because it is "screaming out to be destroyed".

* In the ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' cartoons, King Koopa and his kids are [[Card-Carrying Villain|Card Carrying Villains]] that are always doing evil for the sake of doing evil. Occasionally they would have plans that involved financial gain, but evil always took top priority and financial gain was a bonus.

* Lamilton from ''[[The Boondocks]]''. "It's fun to do bad things" is basically his catch phrase throughout the episode.

* In ''[[Powerpuff Girls]]'', this is the only reason ''Him'' does anything.

* Gnorga, the Queen of Trolls in ''[[A Troll in Central Park]]'', who likes to watch babies cry just for fun and even goes so far as to sing [[Villain Song|a song about]] this being her motivation.

* Madam Mim in the Disney film ''[[The Sword in the Stone]]'' despises anything pleasant (such as flowers and sunshine) and tries to murder Arthur just because Merlin sees something good in him.

* While many of the other ghostly villains from ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' did what they did for money, power, revenge, or just because it was their job, [[Future Me Scares Me|Dark Danny]] clearly caused chaos and destruction throughout the Earth and the Ghost Zone mainly for this trope. Unlike most Western Animation examples, which are hammy, Anvilicous or just an excuse motif, Dark Danny [[Ax Crazy|plays]] [[Fallen Hero|this]] [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|for]] [[Complete Monster|pure]] [[Nightmare Fuel|terror.]]

** Later on we have [[The Blank|Amorpho]], who [[Shape Shifter|can morph and disguise himself]] as other other people, and does it to pull pranks and cause chaos for his own amusement.

*** It's more bullying rather than just picking on her. But bully ≠ evil villain.

* [[Complete Monster|Katz]] from ''[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]'' ''lives'' for this trope, to the point that [[Nightmare Fuel|it's actually frightening]].

{{quote|'''Ender:''' My name is Ender. I end things. People, planets, galaxies.}}

* [[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.

* 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."

 

{{reflist}}