Hidden Villain: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:watchmen1 8063.png|link=Watchmen (
{{quote|"''At last, the masks had fallen away. The strings of the puppets had become visible, and the hands of the prime mover exposed.''"
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[20th Century Boys]]''{{context}}
* ''[[Bleach]]'' ([[It Was His Sled]]. Even so, this particular [[Reveal]] was quite the [[Wham! Episode]].){{context}}
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* ''[[One Piece]]'':
** Dr. Vegapunk, maybe. The brains behind most of the technology used by the World Government (such as artificial Devil Fruit, Seastone, and [[Cyborg|the Pacifistas]]), he has yet to appear in the flesh. However, while he works for the tyrannical World Government, [[Ambiguously Evil|his personal motivations and moral stance are unknown.]]
*** He finally appears in the Egghead Arc, {{spoiler|where it is revealed that, for the most part, not a villain, being a close ally of [[Big Good|Dragon]] and the Resistance Army. His reason for being in the Marines is that they can provide far more funding and resources than he would have if he joined the Resistance proper.}}
** Also, {{spoiler|the mysterious Im, a being who appears to be the true leader of the World Government. As yet, almost nothing is known about this being whom the Gorosei answer to, and they have only been seen in shadow.}}
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' examples:
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*** Also, in Season 1, Kagemaru's role as [[Arc Villain]] and leader of the Seven Stars remains concealed until the final two episodes of the arc.
** In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V]]'', the true big bad and orchestrator of the dimensional war is {{spoiler|[[Sealed Evil in a Six Pack|Z-ARC]]}}, something that remains a secret until the final arc.
* {{spoiler|All For One}} from ''[[My Hero Academia]]''. While his dark shadow falls on the whole series, he doesn't officially makes an appearance until the end of Season 2.
* In-universe, this is true for Giovanni in ''[[Pokémon]]''. While it is obvious to the viewers he is [[The Man Behind The Man]] for Team Rocket, he and Ash have not after 18 seasons, gotten a proper introduction. In fact, whether Ash and Giovanni could even be called enemies is debatable.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[Fables]]''{{context}}
* The Comedian's murderer and the person responsible for the events of ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]''. It turns out that {{spoiler|Adrian Veidt AKA Ozymandias is behind it, [[Knight Templar|all in the name of]] [[Utopia Justifies the Means|world peace]]}}. The picture at the top of the page is this hidden villain from [[Watchmen (film)|the film adaptation]].
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** It is not revealed until the finale of the Clone Saga that the [[Big Bad]] behind it all is long-thought-dead villain [[Norman Osborn]].
* Back in ''[[The Golden Age of Comic Books]]'', [[Shazam|Captain Marvel's]] foe Mr. Mind was this in the storyline where he was introduced. For a full two years (real time) everyone believed this [[Evil Genius]] directing the actions of the Monster Society of Evil (and most of the Nazis, Adolf Hitler himself his [[Unwitting Pawn]]) was a human villain, when in fact, he was a super-intelligent alien worm. There's even one well-known hilarious scheme where the the hero shoos away a worm that landed on his shoulder, as it's distracting him from investigating the villain's scheme, not [[Beneath Notice|considering that the worm might be the villain himself.]]
* ''[[Requiem Vampire Knight]]'', the protagonist is part of the army of Resurrection, which opposes another faction called Dystopia; the rulers of this other faction are never seen. They seem to be [[Evil Brit| mostly British]], though.
** Also, [[Satan]] has yet to appear (even though the setting is in Hell) but he clearly does exist, seeing as Thurim was trying to find his Dark Hammer.
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[The Element of Crime]]'', made worse by the fact that the elusive child killer may actually {{spoiler|have been dead even before the events portrayed in the movie}.} ''And the whole movie is a flashback''.
* In ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'', the mythical Keyser Soze is mentioned right from the beginning - yet his involvement in the events isn't at least somewhat understood until the climax, and only fully comprehensible at [[Twist Ending|the very end]].
** It's [[It Was His Sled|pretty common knowledge by now]], but... {{spoiler|Verbal, the guy sitting there telling the story? Whenever he mentions Keyzer Soze, ''he's talking about himself.''}}
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* The villain in ''[[Duel (film)|Duel]]'' is a driver of an old, rusty tanker truck who, [[Hidden Agenda Villain|for unknown reasons]], relentlessly pursues the hapless protagonist. Director [[Steven Spielberg]] is clearly trying to keep the guy hidden, the viewers only seeing his arms and boots in a few brief scenes. {{spoiler|In fact, the final scene goes so far as to add an [[Ambiguously Human]] angle to him, as the roar that comes from the truck when the protagonist tricks him into driving off a cliff could ''not'' have been made by an ordinary man...}}
* In ''[[Hereditary]]'', the face behind the evil force plaguing the protagonists remains unseen, {{spoiler|until the very end, where it is revealed the source was in plain sight the whole time.}}
* [[Humans Are Cthulhu|The Hunter]] in ''[[Bambi]]'' - while many fans regard him as one of the darkest villains in Disney, he's never truly seen, with only a very distinctive [[Leitmotif]] indicating that he's there.▼
* In ''[[Children of the Corn]]'', the orchestrator behind the cult is a malevolent entity called He Who Walks Behind the Rows. While the mythology surrounding this demon is expanded surprisingly well in the sequels, nobody ever gets a good look at it. Fans believe it may be [[The Devil]] or even [[It (novel)|Pennywise]].<ref>Since [[Stephen King]] wrote the short story the movie was based on, that actually makes sense.</ref>
== [[Literature]] ==
* Despite adaptations that show otherwise, [[Sherlock Holmes]]' arch-enemy Professor Moriarty appears only once in the original novels by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]. He is mentioned by Holmes - reminiscently - in five stories, and plays a direct role in "The Valley of Fear", but never actually shows his face. His one appearance in person is at the end of the final (chronologically) story in the original franchise, "The Final Problem", during a final showdown with Holmes in which both of them, presumably, perish. Even then, Dr. Watson - who narrates the story - never encounters him at all.
* In ''[[The Dark Tower]]'', the Crimson King isn't mentioned till book 4, from which point details are given bit by bit. However, readers familiar with King's greater universe (particularly those who have read [[The Stand]]) might be savvy enough to catch on a bit earlier.
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* Most of the plotline of the ''Inda'' series is driven by [[Evil Sorcerer]] Erkric's scheming, as he's the one driving [[The Empire|the Venn]] to be more warlike and expansionistic - but he's not directly introduced until the last third of the second book, and his central role doesn't become apparent until later. This is at least in part because the Venn are initially portrayed as a faceless military juggernaut, though - he's introduced at the same time as [[Unwitting Pawn|Prince Rajnir]] and [[Anti-Villain|Commander Durasnir]], the other two main Venn characters.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Lost]]'', in which the fact that there even ''is'' a [[Big Bad]] is not immediately stated. After several possible major antagonists are introduced over the first five seasons, the true [[Big Bad]] is not revealed until the season five finale.
* ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' used this several times. The identity of the aggressor in season 6 was hidden this way until the reveal {{spoiler|that he was a serial killer and actually one of Porter's friends}}.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'':
**
** One of the most iconic (and scariest) one-shot villains in the franchise was the Midnight Entity (as it is called) in the episode “Midnight”. Nothing is known about this creature, except that it is native to a planet called Midnight, is malevolent and able to control humans, speaking through their mouths as it does so, but whether the victim is [[Brainwashed and Crazy|brainwashed]] or [[Demonic Possession|possessed]] is not clear. It is very intelligent, at least, using this power on the Doctor himself in an attempt to convince the rest of the cast that he is insane. The entity is never seen by the viewers - Claude claims he briefly sees it, describing it as a living, formless shadow, but this is all we have to go on.
** The monster in “Listen”, assuming there even ''was'' one. This is an odd example, as there is no proof the monster even existed, and that is what makes it scary. The episode starts with the Doctor pondering the existence of a “perfect hider” - after all, he’s encountered perfect predators and perfect survivors, could there not be a being who is perfect at hiding? Such a monster might be impossible to combat, as it could be anywhere, [[The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You|it could be right next to you as you are, say, reading an article on a webpage]], and you wouldn’t know it until it was too late. “What would you do?” he asks out loud. And then he sees that something has - without him noticing - [[Title Drop|scrawled the word “LISTEN”]] on his blackboard with the chalk he had been holding a moment ago. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQvLgO-yMyA&t=9s This leads to an encounter with… something], but whether this was indeed the monster he was thinking of or just a kid playing a trick is never explained. Possibly it is an embodiment of [[Primal Fear]]. One thing is certain - this was one of the few times in the entire franchise where the Doctor himself is known to genuinely be afraid of something.
* The reveal of just ''who'' was really behind the [[Dollhouse]] and the Rossum Corporation had a very high [[HSQ]] when it was revealed in season 2.
* Happened in ''[[Gekisou Sentai Carranger]]'': halfway through the season, the Bowzocks were believed to be the [[Big Bad]]s until Exhaus finally shows his hand.
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* ''[[Bones]]'' did this with the serial killer Gormagon as well as the Gravedigger, whose identities were only revealed late or in the end of their story arcs.
* At least two members of the ''[[Person of Interest]]'' [[Rogues Gallery]] finally appeared onscreen, after several episodes of [[Foreshadowing]] and references, as that week's person of interest in disguise. Namely, {{spoiler|[[Diabolical Mastermind|Elias]] (in "Witness") and [[The Cracker|Root]] (in "Firewall")}}.
* The Reavers in ''[[Firefly]]''. While the protagonists frequently [[Nothing Is Scarier|found their infernal technology and the aftermath of their atrocities]], these alien abominations were never shown on screen.<ref>Though they might have, had the show not been abruptly canceled after 14 episodes.</ref> The closest they came to an actual appearance was a victim turning into one after getting A Face Full of Reaver Wing Wong. Not that it mattered, as the Reavers were pretty terrifying without being seen, especially given what Zoey said would happen to them should they actually encounter them:
{{quote|'''Zoey:''' If they take the ship, they’ll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing, and if we’re very, very lucky, they’ll do it in that order.}}
:* They did, however, appear in ''[[Serenity]]'', the follow-up movie.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'',
** The Mayor is [[The Man Behind The Man]] for most of what happens in seasons one and two, but he doesn't actually appear until season 3, where he is the [[Big Bad]] proper.
** Assuming he is indeed a villain, the Immortal may count, a vampire mentioned both in this series and ''[[Angel]]''. An old rival of both Spike and Angel, he is known to be something of a lady's man and has done a ''lot'' in his time, including climb Mt. Everest more than once, authored a novel that was "a life-changer", and bested Spike, Angelus, and Drusilla numerous times (despite the notoriety of all three). He has only appeared onscreen as a cameo in the ''Angel'' episode "The Girl in Question", but his face is not shown.<ref>He has a larger role in the novel ''[[Queen of the Slayers]]'', but that is not regarded as canon.</ref>
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* In ''[[Peanuts]]'', the mean cat next door that Snoopy trolls (and always regrets doing so) is never seen on-panel. Also, while Snoopy often fights the Red Baron in his [[Power Fantasy|Power Fantasies]] as the World War I Flying Ace, the Baron himself is always offscreen.
==
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'':
** In the iconic ''[[Advanced Dungeons and Dragons]]'' module series ''[[Against the Giants]]'', it is hinted in the first part, ''Steading of the Hill Giant Chief'', that there is a "secret force, some motivational power behind this unusual banding of different races of giants." Part two ''The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl'', mentions this again in the prologue. The third part, ''Hall of the Fire Giant King'', specifies that the PCs goal is to find this hidden orchestrator, which is in fact the Drow (making their first appearance in a D&D adventure). This leads to the [[Sequel Series]] where the mastermind is shown to be [[The Man Behind The Man| Enclava]], high priestess of the Spider Goddess Lolth, who is, the ''actual'' [[Big Bad]] of the whole campaign.
** Zariul, the original Lord of Avernus the first Layer of Hell was first mentioned in 2nd Edition ''[[Planescape]]'', but never seen for that Edition and the next two; according to lore, she had been overthrown and imprisoned by her second-in-command, the Warlord Bel, and her rage in her attempts to escape turning Avernus more dangerous and hostile. It wasn't until 5th Edition where she escaped and was finally seen (in ''Mordenkainen’s Tome Of Foes'') in [https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2018/05/dd-check-out-zariel-from-mordenkainens-tome-of-foes.html all her diabolical glory.]
** Also in ''[[Planescape]]'', the General of Gehenna. Supposedly the first yugoloth to become an ultroloth, he rules the yugoloth race from a hidden fortress where he directs the Blood War as some sort of grand experiment to determine what type of Evil is better. Or so they say. It's rare to find even another ultroloth who has actually seen him.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'': {{spoiler|It isn't revealed until the end that the Nameless One's foe is the [[Enemy Without]].}}
* ''[[BlazBlue]]'': The [[Big Bad]] isn't revealed until the console-only [[Golden Ending|True Ending]] of ''Calamity Trigger'', and isn't fought until ''[[Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo|Continuum Shift]]''. {{spoiler|And even then, that game's True Ending reveals him to be a [[Disc One Final Boss]], and it goes straight into [[The Dog Was the Mastermind]]. And then [[All There in the Manual|the manual]] suggests that no, he ''was'' the [[Big Bad]] all along.}}
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* In the ''[[Carmen Sandiego]]'' franchise's original [[Edutainment]] games, Carmen herself does not appear personally until you reach the Ace Detective rank. Television and animated adaptations avert this however, having her show up quite a lot if not making her the actual protagonist.
* The [[Big Bad]] of the ''[[Five Nights at Freddy's]]'' hidden for most of the run of the franchise, appearing as "the Purple Man" in some mini-games, appearing in person as Springtrap in the third game, albeit as a ghost haunting an animatronic. It isn't until the graphic novel ''The Silver Eyes'' that his name is revealed to be {{spoiler|William Afton}}, the story also showing his true appearance and revealing much of his backstory.
* This was a major plot point of the original ''[[Danganronpa (video game)|Danganronpa]]''. {{spoiler|It quickly became obvious that Monokuma was simply a mouthpiece being controlled by the true mastermind, who turned out to be Junko.}}
==
* ''[[MAG-ISA]]'': [http://mag-isa.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/119594 Look at these guys with darkened faces sitting around a table] planning nefarious schemes for you and me...
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100605065917/http://www.drunkduck.com/Harkovast/index.php?p=473700 The Enemy] in ''[[Harkovast]]'' is mentioned on the first page, but has never been shown in the comic. Who he is has only been hinted at on the comics forum, where his full title (The King in the West) has been stated.
== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[Broken Saints]]''{{Context}}
* Given the general aura of mystery surrounding the ''[[SCP Foundation]]'', it has many:
** The 05 Council combines this with [[Mysterious Backer]] and [[Evil Mentor]]; seeing how even rank and file members of the Foundation itself admit to being a [[Necessary Evil]], it is likely its leaders feel the same. The 05 Council is composed of thirteen (probably) individuals who head the Foundation from the shadows, their very existence hidden to all but members with Clearance Level 2 or higher. The website itself gives at least three contradictory files for each member, suggesting all but one (at most) is a [[Red Herring]], and whenever they appear in an adaptation, they are shrouded by dark silhouettes. Some are likely not even human, being SCPs themselves.
*** The same can be said of "the Administrator", who is mentioned in some stories. He (or she, or they or ''it'') may be the 05 Council's superior, a pseudonym used by one of them, or just a fiction they created to distract anyone who might try to uncover their secrets. If the Administrator is real, they stay out of sight.
*** There's also the Ethics Committee, which may be less "villain" than the rest of the Foundation but still of the [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] type; while they recognize the need for cruelty and torture on occasion to prevent greater evils,
** Dr. Wondertainment (a toymaker who has created many SCPs) is this - [[Ambiguously Evil| if he ''is'' a villain]] - although it's not clear if the name refers to the owner, president, and/or CEO of a company ''or'' the company itself. There are many suspects, with some actually believing Dr. Wondertainment is [[Enemy Within|a member of the Foundation]].
** And there are many minor examples, such as whoever built SCP-1678, aka "Under London". The Foundation believes the creator of this underground city (who violated many crimes against humanity by doing so) [[Corrupt Politician|is a member of British Parliament]], but until solid proof is obtained, accusing any of them of such would be unwise. SCP-3999 is some sort of sadistic demon who tortured an unfortunate researcher for millions of years (to his point of view) until that researcher made a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to destroy it; nothing more than that is known about the monster, although the victim's notes claim it is "indescribable".
* The very existence of Salem in ''[[RWBY]]'' was hidden from the audience until the final minutes of Volume 3 -- and even then, exactly who she was and what she was planning was left for future episodes. And her existence remained a secret to the vast majority of the people of Remnant until the middle of Volume 8 -- some five years later.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Slade in ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' starts out like this, being introduced in the first episode as a shadowy [[Chessmaster]], but not even ''named'' or revealed to the heroes until later (and it's even longer before they meet him face-to-face and learn of his plans). He's ''also'' a [[Hidden Agenda Villain]], ironically - meaning that for his first few appearances, ''all'' we know about him is that he exists and is up to no good.
* In ''[[Wolverine and the X-Men]]'', pretty much the whole first season was masterminded by {{spoiler|the Inner Circle, who wanted to get their hands on the Phoenix}}. They're not introduced until just before the [[Grand Finale]], and aren't truly [[The Man Behind the Man]] because the only character they were directly controlling {{spoiler|was one of the heroes}}.
* During the third season of ''[[Ben 10]]'', horror monster-themed aliens show up performing seemingly random tasks through several episodes. During the season finale, they are revealed to have been building a superweapon to allow [[Enemy Without|Ghostfreak]] to achieve world domination.
* In ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'', F.O.W.L [[Fun
▲* [[Humans Are Cthulhu|The Hunter]] in ''[[Bambi]]'' - while many fans regard him as one of the darkest villains in Disney, he's never truly seen, with only a very distinctive [[Leitmotif]] indicating that he's there.
* In ''[[Miraculous Ladybug]]'', the identity of [[Big Bad|Hawk Moth]] was a mystery until the premiere of Season 2; {{spoiler|while many fans did suspect he was, in fact, Gabriel Agreste, this (along with Nathalie being [[The Dragon| his accomplice]]) - was confirmed here.}}
▲* In ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'', F.O.W.L [[Fun With Acronyms|(the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny)]] is headed by three shadowy figures that are never named, and only one of them has ever been heard to speak. For the most part, Darkwing only deals with underlings like [[Dragon-in-Chief|Steelbeak]],
* The true [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Rick and Morty]]'' may be {{spoiler| Rick Prime, the sworn enemy of Rick C-137 (the Rick who is usually in the protagonist position on the series), and the biological grandfather of the Morty who usually accompanies him. Rick C-137 started his multiverse-jaunting career out of revenge against Rick Prime, who murdered his reality's versions of his wife and daughter. While referenced to in flashbacks, he does not appear in the flesh until [[The Stinger]] of the season 6 premiere where he murders the Cronenberged Dimension of Jerry; in his defense though, [[Asshole Victim| this version of Jerry]][[Mugging the Monster| was very much asking for it]].}}
* Mr. Big, the [[Big Bad]] of the "Upsidasium" arc of ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'', whom Boris and Natasha were working under. He did make his presance known, appearing as a scary, towering, looming shadow, but when finally actually seen, {{spoiler|this turned out to be a trick of lights. [[The Napoleon| He wasn't very big at all, being even smaller than Rocky]], which makes him the [[Trope Namer]] for [[Mister Big| such villains]].}}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Gambit Index]]
[[Category:Mystery Tropes]]
[[Category:Villains]]
▲[[Category:Hidden Villain]]
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