In Love with Your Carnage

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She was amazing. She was...I don’t know. Enchanting. A blossom of violence in a garden of sinners.
—Wendy Cooldown, Magical Girl Noir Quest

This is where the villain or a morally ambiguous character becomes obsessed with a good person/protagonist due to their witnessing said character go berserk and kill in a very messy or bloody way. Many times, there will be scenes where the villain will be somewhere watching the character fight violently and appear extremely turned on, saying something along the lines of "Marvellous..." If the protagonist is no longer violent like that, quite often the villain will go to great lengths to get them to revert back (these lengths normally involve kidnapping or killing the friends or love interest of the protagonist).

If the villain / morally ambiguous character starts straight-out describing their euphoric emotions when they saw the good character massacre others, expect the good character to be very disturbed and/or disgusted.

This can lead to the villain becoming a Stalker with a Crush. Compare Hemo-Erotic and may leads to lots of Foe Yay or No Yay.

Examples of In Love with Your Carnage include:

Anime and Manga

  • This is how Grell from Black Butler becomes infatuated with Madam Red, though the latter is actually more of a Tragic Villain.
    • Grell also fell for Sebastian because he is a sadistic demon.
  • Gintama: Kamui got excited watching Gintoki fight Hosen and later declared Gintoki is his (prey) and that he won't allow anyone else to touch him.
  • Main antagonist Gauron of Full Metal Panic! seems to have a creepy attachment of this sort to the protagonist, Sousuke Sagara, who he first met as a child-soldier in some war-torn Middle Eastern country and saw something in that child's eyes - an ice-blue will to kill, without sin or care. Gauron spends much of the first season and the third one trying to 'reawaken' Sousuke's soldier spirit because he found it, in his own words, 'beautiful'.
    • Gauron is definitely the most extreme example in the series (getting aroused enough to have lamented about wanting to rape Sousuke after seeing the aftermath of all the people Sousuke calmly massacred). But Kurama, Gauron's partner in Amalgam, is shown to have started getting this way towards Sousuke as well. Although he initially shows annoyance and skepticism at Gauron's obsession and worship of Sousuke, when Kurama himself comes into confrontation with Sousuke, he starts to admire Sousuke more and more. After hearing that Sousuke massacred a bunch of his subordinates, he notes that "Mr. Iron was right. You are a very interesting boy."
  • Hunter X Hunter: Hisoka towards Gon and Killua, calling them "unripe fruit" that he wants to pick when they become strong enough. But especially towards Gon.
    • Word of God says he's turned on by anyone with a strong aura.
    • It's especially obvious when he blushes during his fight with Gon in episode 5 of the 2011 anime remake and compliments Gon on how strong he is and how he loves his facial expressions.
  • Yuji towards Kitano after being defeated by him in Angel Densetsu. After some Character Development it evolves into real friendship, with Yuji declaring that Kitano is the best friend he's ever known.
  • Grimmjow from Bleach gets crazily excited whenever Ichigo proves to have gotten stronger during their battles together. While he initially thought of Ichigo as an annoyance that scarred his chest, he gradually grew more and more obsessed with defeating Ichigo. Some time after their second fight, Grimmjow's attitude towards Ichigo grew more intense, and he became determined to beat him.
    • This is actually a running theme in Bleach.
  • Naruto: This is one of the reasons Orochimaru was so eager to obtain Sasuke's body. Later on, during his fight with Naruto, when Naruto is going into the third tail state, Orochimaru (who had until then had been going by Kabuto's assessment that Naruto was a talentless loser) smirks and says "How interesting"...
    • Upon seeing how much damage Kyuubi!Naruto can cause Orochimaru is shown smiling hugely and saying "This child...intrigues me to no end!"
    • Later in the second part we find Sasuke to have defeated large amounts of foes (without killing them, but still) and Orochimaru looks very pleased.
    • And possibly Kabuto. During a battle with Naruto in Part II Naruto hits him with a massive amount of chakra that sends Kabuto crashing into the forest. Kabuto's response to this is to smile widely and think (almost in awe) "He hit me with pure chakra..."
  • Genkaku from Deadman Wonderland is this way towards Nagi. He tries desperately to get Nagi to revert back to being berserk, and angrily stabs Koshio Karako when she hugs Nagi and helps Nagi calm down.
    • This is the reason why Rinchinchou fell in love with Shiro.
  • Creed from Black Cat becomes Train's Stalker with a Crush due to adoring Train's swift and precise assassination skills (and also Train's hate-filled eyes). Creed killed Saya because Train stopped killing (and also possibly out of jealousy), and later tries to kill Train's other friends because of this.
  • Izumo no Okuni from Samurai Deeper Kyo is shown to get the trembles and be very aroused when thinking about Demon Eyes Kyo. She is even seen watching Kyo fight Jimon, saying outright that if Kyo doesn't revert back, she'll kill him and make a brochette out of him.
  • Kanou Shou from History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi is in love with Miu's berserk killing mode.
    • Kensei's aka Isshinsai Ogata's interest in Kenichi is a somewhat milder example. The first time he met Kenichi he immediately sensed his potential and offered to train Kenichi and make him into the strongest man in the world. When he observed Kenichi's battle with Odin he realized that Kenichi was already talented and wanted to claim him as his disciple even more. And he would have then and there if it wasn't for the Ryouzanpaku masters' Big Damn Heroes moment.
  • Not actually in love, but Jin'Eh from Rurouni Kenshin kidnaps Kaoru in order to try to get Kenshin to revert back to being the dangerous killer he was before, for the purpose of ensuring Kenshin would be fighting him with his full potential (as Kenshin is currently a Technical Pacifist, refusing to kill).
  • Legato Bluesummers from Trigun falls in love with Knives' violence and destruction, seeing him as a kind of messiah.
    • And, manga Legato also has Knives to look to for killing every single one of the people who had participated or been complicit in what appears to have been his repeated rape, leaving only little Legato alive. Of course, he didn't give a damn about the kid, but there's a reason for hero worship and sociopathology.
    • Another subversion in some of the Gung-Ho Guns Foe Yay with Vash—even though a Pacifist, they try to provoke him into the violence they're sure he's capable of, partly because of his bounty reputation and because they know about his relationship to Knives. Knives himself does this to get a reproduction of the destruction of July.
  • Diethard Ried from Code Geass is fascinated with Magnificent Bastards: he joins Black Knights after Lelouch purportedly blows up the leadership of fellow/rival resistance group to take control over the latter and later defects to Schneizel, believing that he is even crueler than Lulu. He is wrong and it doesn't end well for him.
  • Muraki from Yami no Matsuei has been shown to exhibit this somewhat. When Tsuzuki summons Suzaku and destroys everything, Muraki is shown to be very ecstatic (complete with the "Magnificent! Now I want you even more!" line).
  • Not a case of a berserker hero, but Graham Aker from Mobile Suit Gundam 00 becomes obsessed with the Exia Gundam and later its successor the 00 Gundam. He tends to ignore the other three (for each generation, no less) although all are equally worthy opponents.

Graham: "GUNDAM! I LOVE YOU!"

  • In the Blood Plus manga, Solomon was like this for Saya when she goes berserk and kills. To put it in his words: "Wonderful... now that's our bride. Beautiful, but drenched in blood. It makes me want you, Saya." In fact, he even later tells her that it was Love At First Sight because she looked so beautiful when she fought in Vietnam.
    • Carl to Saya in the anime.
  • Alucard from Hellsing has this with Integra, though it's as much her resolve as her potential for violence. Still, he goads her onward, and throws sexual references left and right when she finally orders the death of humans. Ironically, he is the Anti-Hero of the series.
    • He also implies that she has this with him. She just tells him it's none of his business.
  • In Tenchi Muyo GXP, Knight of Cerebus Tarant Shank is awestruck by the sight of Yamato Nadeshiko Kiriko covered in the blood of her enemies after she's forced to get dangerous. He continues to be interested in her when he reappears—for the little screentime he's left after the Villain Decay he goes through.
  • Mukuro from Katekyo Hitman Reborn, in regards to Tsuna. For example, in chapter 385 he's shown looking quite pleased when he sees Tsuna defeat a foe and remarks that "He's gotten even stronger."
    • Only when Tsuna goes into dying will mode and defeats Gokudera that Gokudera drops his accusations of Tsuna being a weak loser and takes to the idea of Tsuna being the tenth Vongola boss...and he becomes quite determined to be Tsuna's right hand man...
    • Squalo's undying devotion for Xanxus is later explained by Squalo as being due to his being fascinated by Xanxus' "rage" (which he saw initially in his eyes). Of course, it becomes increasingly obvious that this is probably because Squalo is a masochist that likes seeing Xanxus go berserk and beat people (including Squalo himself) up.
  • Ensuu from Hayate × Blade is thought to be this. Her fixation on getting to fight Ayana again stems from her opinion of the other girl as someone who is of the "same kind" as her.
  • In Shut Hell, Alfald is this towards Shut Hell. He's shown to get crazy excited when he sees her killing. "Yes, show me even more, Shut Hell. More than gold, more than women, fascinate me more. With this wind of violence only you can show me. Take away my soul!"
  • In Noir, Chloe becomes fascinated with Kirika after witnessing the latter's bloody efficiency in slaughtering Mireille's entire family.
  • Tsukuyomi of Mahou Sensei Negima can get like this when fighting Setsuna. Fate also does this sort of thing when he fights Negi, leading to some Foe Yay.

Fate: "Beautiful. That's what I'm looking for, Negi-kun."

Kurt: " I see... So this is the Gospel of Darkness... hahah. Negi-kun... the more I observe you, the more I want you for my own."

    • In chapter 293, Tsukuyomi has a typically weird and disturbing moment when she gets all gooey over Negi's new level in badass, and it resembles nothing so much as somebody catching themself fantasizing about a friend's significant other.
  • The "yankee (gangster) girl" in Wolf Guy Wolfen Crest is clearly turned on by whoever's the strongest, be it her current beau Yakuza heir Haguro or anti-hero Inugami.
    • Haguro is in love with Inugami's carnage, to the point he refuses to believe Inugami even has the ability to like normal people.
  • In Kara no Kyoukai:, this is the reason that Lio Shirazumi is after Ryougi Shiki (the main character) in the 7th movie. His goal is to turn her into a complete homicidal maniac like him so that they can be together. Unfortunately she's taken, so he decides to "kill what's holding her back" to get her to "come around". It works.
    • In that Shiki completely slaughters him, yes.
  • In Durarara!!, the Evil Weapon Saika develops this for Shizuo Heiwajima after getting a taste of some of his Unstoppable Rage.

Saika: Strong people. I want to love them. I found it. My goal. To love. I found it. Shizuo. Heiwajima Shizuo. Heiwajima Heiwajima Heiwajima Heiwajima...

    • Vorona has a similar reaction when she first encounters Shizuo.
    • Shinra spent most of gradeschool and highschool fanboying Shizuo's crazy rage fits.
    • Celty ends up fangirling Shizuo during his fight against Saika's 'children', much like how Shinra did when he and Shizuo were in highschool.

Celty: He's so strong... No, he's terrifying... No, he's awesome!

  • Liang Qi of Canaan is like this for Alphard. She appears calm and even-tempered, but is in fact unwavering, merciless, and very much obsessed with admiring and idolizing the absolutely Badass Alphard to the point of being in love with her. To her frustration, however, Alphard does not reciprocate her rather twisted feelings and instead ignores or even proceeds to ridicule her from time to time. Because Alphard seems to have taken a special interest in observing Canaan's reactions to every plot carried out by Snake, Liang Qi sees the elimination of Canaan as a way to win back Alphard's attention.
  • Graham from Baccano! had a bit of an In Love with Your Carnage moment when fighting Chane.
    • Even more so when fighting Ladd Russo.
    • Lua seems positively ecstatic when Ladd is giving his speech about murdering the other train passengers in the third episode. Not that Ladd is a paragon of virtue by any means, but Baccano! is that kind of series.
    • When Ladd saw bodies massacred by Rail Tracer, he was dancing like a 5-years old child in a puddle of blood, laughing maniacally and screaming "I CANNOT WAIT TO MEET THE GENIUS WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS MASTERPIECE!"
  • In the manga version of Chrono Crusade, Aion gets a huge grin on his face when he witnesses the carnage left behind after Chrono's Berserk Button is pushed. He later compliments Chrono heavily for the fight, and when Chrono starts trying to use more self-control in his battles he strongly expresses disappointment in Chrono "weakening."
  • Hiromi Kisiragi towards Rikiya Gaou in Eyeshield 21.
  • One of the reasons Roberto shows such Undying Loyalty to his master, Johan Liebert, is because of the massive amounts of suffering, death, and chaos he leaves in his wake.
  • Axis Powers Hetalia: Finland gets quite excited watching Lithuania beat Prussia in the Battle of Tannenberg, and still gushes about it two centuries later.

Finland: I was so impressed by the leadership and the abnormally high morale of the Lithuanian army that my whole body just quivered!

  • Dragon Ball has blonde Lunch/Launch falling for Tenshinhan after watching his ruthless fighting style.
  • Skip Beat!: Reino to Kyoko.
  • In GetBackers after Ban ripped his arm off, Fudou became totally obsessed with him. He actually kept his own rotting, maggot-infested arm with him just so he can remind himself of Ban - which made him feel "incredible chills rising up throughout his body."
  • Berserk: Griffith to Guts. He states that Guts fighting is "magnificent" and for that reason wants him to join his Band of the Hawks.
  • Revy from Black Lagoon is quite appealed by Genji even before he draws his sword. When he pulls off an actual bullet slice and proceeds to literally disarm Chaka, she begs him to fight her. In a tone that demonstrates pretty obvious arousal...for Revy, anyway.
  • Tokyo Ghoul: Tsukiyama's obsession with Kaneki grows after the Aogiri arc once Kaneki becomes even more deadly and cold hearted. He is delighted when Kaneki issues him a death threat. He also is very pleased with Touka for managing to injure him and states he initially became infatuated with her cold eyes.

Comic Books

  • Inverted in Jhonen Vasquez's Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. Bystander Jimmy develops an infatuation with our villain Johnny when he witnesses Johnny's killing spree at a Taco Hell Outlet. He goes out of his way to imitate Johnny, and even tracks Johnny down to his house.
    • And then Johnny kicks his ass and guts him like a trout for being such a creepy fanboy and obsessing over such depraved acts.
  • In Hack Slash Vs. Evil Ernie, the Ax Crazy title crossover character falls in love with Cassie after telepathically seeing how horrifically violent her life is and how screwed up she is, causing her no small amount of trauma and moral conflict.
    • Murder Messiah features a Serial Killer who has a similar obsession with Cassie, though he admits any attraction he feels towards her is secondary to his primary goal of figuring out how to become a slasher.
  • Depending on the Writer, The Joker will display this sort of behaviour towards Batman. Note that his motivation varies between genuine attraction to violence as committed by Batman or trying to get Batman to break his no kill policy out of a desire to drag the man down further.
  • The 2000 AD comic Button Man is about rich folks paying guys to kill each other. The main character's 'sponsor' demonstrates distinct, ah, excitement over the violence and bloodshed, although it doesn't appear to be sexual in nature.
  • Miek of the Warbound was in love with The Hulk's carnage. He allowed Sakaar to be destroyed in order to keep the Hulk from becoming a peaceful ruler instead of the World Breaker Miek worshipped.
  • Bullseye in the eponymous arc of Punisher MAX. See his internal monologue as he's watching Punisher slaughter his men: "You do not kill like any man I've ever seen, Frank. You're more like a force of nature. An earthquake or a tidal wave. A tornado. Watching you kill is like watching Rembrandt paint or hearing Mozart conduct his 9th symphony. You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, Frank Castle. I think I'm going to cry. Thank you, Frank. Thank you for being you." Then later when talking to Kingpin about the encounter: "I saw him in action. Let me tell you, it was... it was something to behold. I do apologize, but it appears I'm going to need to pleasure myself now."
  • The comic "Red Romance" tells the tale of two murderers that fall in love with each other's brutality. When their sadomasochistic love life and their collaborative team killing grows boring, they try to rekindle the fire with some help. Things get really romantic and messed up.
  • This might be why Overlord from Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers wants to fight Megatron so badly. Overlord first realized his love for battle and destruction when he saw Megatron fight way back when Megs was a gladiator.
  • Red Lantern leader Atrocitus falls in love with Mera's carnage (or maybe just Mera period) when she is turned into a deputy Red Lantern during Blackest Night. The first energy construct he creates, as opposed to just vomiting red plasma everywhere, is Mera. Star Sapphire Carol Ferris even notes that there is a spark of love in Atrocitus' heart. Not that Atrocitus will ever admit it.
  • Shriek fell in...love?...with the Spider-Man villain actually named Carnage when she saw him massacring his way through the insane asylum she was imprisoned in, in the opening chapter of Maximum Carnage. "Make mine mayhem!" He broke her out and they "adopted" several other villains as a perversion of every good family ideal that seriously creeped out even several of the superheroes opposing them.
  • Blue Beetle v3 has this with a little Interplay of Sex and Violence thrown in when Livewire attacks Beetle on the roof of S.T.A.R. Labs. She's more than a little excited by Scarab's alien energy.
  • In the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics, the trigger happy, robotic, antihero, E-123 Omega, develops an amusing crush on Blaze the Cat after she defeats him and the rest of Team Dark with her Pyrokinesis. This leads to an amusing scene where he says "I LIKE YOU. LET US BURN THINGS TOGETHER." To a surprised Blaze while holding her hands in a romantic way, and later, bashfully tells her that she burns things very well when they part ways at the end of the story arc. In the non-canon character Q&A on Ian Flynn's message board, he also asks heroic AI Nicole to literally have his robotic kids after learning of the potential carnage she could create if she went all out.

Film

  • Ichi the Killer has a poster boy for this: Masao Kakihara. He is actually shown getting stiffies when he sees the over-the-top carnage Ichi creates. Being a masochist, he stalks Ichi in the hopes that Ichi will torture him.
  • Shiwan Khan in The Shadow had a.. thing for Ying Ko's homicidal rampages. However, that's not his name anymore.
  • The Dark Knight Saga: Joker, towards Batman. The Joker's entire reason for terrorizing Gotham is to see how close Batman will come to breaking his one rule of "never kill".

Literature

  • In Animorphs, The Drode is rather fond of Rachel's rage and bloodlust.
  • In the Anita Blake series, the serial killer Olaf develops the hots for Anita after seeing how efficiently and ruthlessly she kills vampires.
  • In Skulduggery Pleasant, when a Remnant sees a vision of the future, where Darquesse/Valkyrie is reaping destruction, this inspires it to break out and spread the word among other Remnants who now worship Darquesse as their saviour. This leads to many of them more-or-less reciting the creepy line, "We love you Darquesse."
    • This takes a pretty creepy turn when they try to manifest Darquesse by attaching a Remnant to Valkyrie and the results cause them to panic... all except for that first one, who goes so far as to cripple the ones who try running away.

Live-Action TV

  • Ares was madly in love with Xena: Warrior Princess when she was a warlord, and most of his villainous schemes against her were in hopes of getting her to revert to her old ways.
    • "...and if you start my heart, it's just the way you slash and burn."
    • Callisto does her fair share of this too, although some of it's probably tied to her half-hearted death wish.
  • Many of the vampires in Buffy the Vampire Slayer act this way about their loved ones, particularly Spike: "Dru bagged a Slayer? Good for her! Though maybe not from your perspective." Even more in keeping with the trope, more than one vampire (Dracula, Spike) winds up feeling this way about Buffy herself.
    • Apparently several vengeance demons were very impressed by Willow's Heroic BSOD after Tara's death to the point that their leader D'Hoffryn has a standing offer that Willow can join them whenever she wants. He also mentions that one of the VD's has a framed picture of her flaying Warren alive, considering it a work of art.
      • D'Hoffryn already had his eyes on Willow when she accidentally cursed her friends in "Something Blue".
  • In Doctor Who, the Master, having missed the end of the Time War, is intrigued to learn that the Doctor has destroyed both Gallifrey and Skaro.

The Master: What did it feel like, though? Two almighty civilisations, burning...oooh, tell me, how did that feel?
The Doctor: Stop it!
The Master: You must have been like God.

  • An episode of Criminal Minds had a copycat killer suffering from the below mentioned hybristophilia.
  • Burn Notice has Larry feeling this way about the Michael Westen "he knew".
  • In True Blood, the vampire Godric observed the Viking warrior Eric Northman's prowess in battle, and was so impressed that he turned Eric into a vampire so that he could fight forever.

Music

  • Britney Spears' "Toxic".
  • "Violence Fetish" by Disturbed has the narrator trying to bring this out in someone, because it would be healthy/beneficial.
  • "Beautiful Dangerous," Fergie's collaboration with Slash.

Rebel of this party, I'm in love with all of your danger, danger
We can live forever, I can be your pagan angel, angel
Beautiful Dangerous!

Theatre

Video Games

  • Ocelot from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater expresses pseudo-romantic admiration for Big Boss when he hears that Big Boss so easily defeated the members of the Cobra. Volgin notices, asking Ocelot if he's "fallen for him" because of this. Not to mention how he saw Big Boss in a Gaussian Girl manner after Big Boss massacred his entire Ocelot unit.
  • In Fallout 3 Mr. Burke will make comments such as "natural selection at its finest!" if you stealthily kill someone in his presence. Though attacking him causes crybaby screams of how you're a masochist.
  • Noh is already quite Ax Crazy by herself, so her dialogue scenes with Oda Nobunaga gets downright kinky.

Nobunaga: "Let us make beautiful war together."

  • Grimnaw from Neverwinter Nights. He isn't a villain; he's an ally, but his main reason for connecting with your PC is all the death your PC causes...
  • Tira from the Soul Series has an infatuation with chaos and destruction, so when she met Nightmare, it was unrequited love at first sight. However, in Soulcalibur V, the new Nightmare is a political entity who absorbs souls in secret. Tira was not pleased to discover this and started seeking out a new host for Soul Edge.
  • HK-47 in Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2. He's pretty much evil already, but his regard for your character goes up or down depending on how many cruel acts you perform in his presence.

HK-47: Statement: Master, I must say it is a pleasure working side by side with you.
Exile: If you have a long-winded explanation for why, indulge me.
HK-47: Statement: Just when I believe my photoreceptors have recorded the last potential aspect of your cruelty to my memory core, you commit a new atrocity that leaves me analyzing its impact for days.
HK-47: You are like a delightful random cruelty generator, master, poisoning all you touch with your presence. You are a testament to all organic meatbags everywhere.
Exile: Stick with me - you'll pick up a few things.
HK-47: Statement: I have already learned a great deal, master, and I am anxious to learn more about lying, betrayal, and new ways to harm innocents.

  • In Manhunt, Lionel Starkweather apparently gets very turned on when the player has protagonist James Earl Cash kill people in violent ways. In some dialogue, it is implied that he is possibly masturbating to Cash's murder spree. He expresses disappointment in the character if the player chooses to not kill people.
  • Villainous/Anti-Heroic version: The now-infamous taunt from Super Smash Bros. Brawl seems to indicate that Leon feels this way towards Wolf. Not that anyone can blame him.
  • In The Suffering, Hermes, Blackmore, Copperfield, and the Creeper all take their turns in praising Torque for committing violent acts. Indeed, one of the final levels of the second game is devoted to a review of Torque's decisions during the game, conducted by three of the Ghosts. Ironically, should you take the evil path all the way, the Creeper stops complimenting you when he realises that you're a danger to his reputation; a Boss Battle follows.
  • In Sacrifice, Charnel will offer boons to Eldred during the campaign for acts of particularly wanton cruelty... Even if you're not currently working for him. In one case he'll even reward you for killing one of his own minions, because the person was only giving him lip service anyway and seeing you kill him was so much more entertaining.
    • On a larger scale he denies the accusations of orchestrating The End of the World as We Know It because "that's where all the best slaughter takes place, you know!" He's not lying.
  • Ares in God of War was impressed by the brutal Spartan warrior that Kratos was, and gave him the Blades of Chaos to save and inspire him to even more spectacular acts of carnage. He got his wish, although Kratos didn't appreciate Ares arranging the death of his family and thus removing his only "weakness".
  • In Mass Effect 2, if Grunt's in your party when you're chasing down a berserk, nigh-unstoppable telekinetic, he'll spend much of the level admiring her appetite for destruction.
  • Though not a romantic example, as far as we know, Kefka has this attitude towards Terra in Dissidia Final Fantasy. He particularly seems to enjoy telling her, after she recovers from going berserk, how she beat up an ally and how much she seemed to enjoy it. In his prefight quote, he also shows a similar attitude towards Shantotto.

"Now, you've got what it takes to destroy the world!"

    • What's interesting is that this motive wasn't even hinted at in the original game and is rather more similar to Sephiroth's assertion that he controls Cloud's fate. Really, it's present with several Dissidia characters. The Emperor tries to seduce Warrior of Light and Firion to his side, remarking that they're "intriguing" or "pawns better off surrendering to me."
      • The Emperor is even implied to have that same view towards Terra, as seen in one of his pre-liners if they face one another in a fight, though the specific line can also have other connotations.

Emperor: Why don't you let me control you?

  • Leon from Star FOX feels this way towards Wolf.
  • The announcer from Mortal Kombat. "Excellent... Superb... FINISH HIM!"
  • In Portal 2, this seems to be GLaDOS's reaction to Cave Johnson.

GLaDOS: Burning people! He says what we're all thinking!

  • In Alpha Protocol, if Mike tends to go on lethal rampages, SIE will let him know of her appreciation, and indicates that watching him slaughter his way through his enemies gets her aroused.
  • Similar to what happened with Luke in Return of the Jedi, in The Force Unleashed, Palpatine is greatly impressed when Starkiller kicks Darth Vader's ass.
  • Inverted in PC98-exclusive Touhou Project 3: Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream. One of the ambiguously-heroic player characters, Kotohime, is titled "The Princess Dreaming of Beauty in Danmaku". She makes this aspect of herself clearest in her victory quote to Card-Carrying Villain Mima.

Oh, you beautiful barrage. What a dream.

  • Shiki of Togainu no Chi gets quite excited whenever Akira puts up a fight and appears to get stronger.
  • In Asura's Wrath, Sergei's reaction when Wrath Asura impales him right through his midsection with his hand reeks of this. He thinks that Asura's wrath is "glorious".

Web Comics

  • In Narbonic, Sociopathic Hero Mell Kelly exasperatedly asks Caliban the ex-demon why she still dates him. His response is to gaze deep into her eyes and tell her in a seductive tone it's because when she looks into his eyes she sees "the hosts of the damned, writhing and screaming in the forges of pain I stoked for untold centuries". Oh yeah...
  • Belkar in The Order of the Stick had a very awed response to Haley shooting dozens of hobgoblins while sustaining virtually no damage.
  • Bort the mongrelman from Dominic Deegan swoons over the mongrelwoman as she slaughters a group of men who threw a net on her in "Escape from the Wild Edge". Odd in that Bort isn't the villain of the story.
  • FeMC to Shinjiro in [dead link] Persona 3 FTW.
  • In Marilith, Big Bad Valentino first becomes interested in the Hitman with a Heart Marilith after hearing about a particularly bloody job the latter performed. In fact, the body count was only so high because the job went wrong, and Marilith is nowhere near as Ax Crazy as Valentino. Valentino takes this revelation... poorly.
  • Homestuck: Kanaya has just come back from the dead, kicked an Ax Crazy psychopath off a cliff, decked Vriska so hard one of her pupils falls out of place, and chainsawed her murderer in half. Vriska's response?

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Web Original

  • An odd, mutual example occurs in Survival of the Fittest where Clio Gabriella and Maxwell Lombardi (two of the top killers) meet each other, and... start to become really fond of one another. It's implied that Clio felt like Maxwell was one of the few people to understand her actions, but it still has undertones of this trope on both sides.

Western Animation

  • In Teen Titans, when Slade has Robin as his apprentice, he watches Robin beat up the rest of the Titans and says that it's "thrilling." He even rewinds the tape a couple times. Make of that what you will.
  • Danny Phantom: In a similar vein, Vlad enjoys taunting Danny about their supposed similarities (about how he's becoming more like Vlad with every battle) and he appears extremely satisfied and entertained whenever fighting Danny.
  • Drawn Together pretty much shines a light on this trope in "Spelling Applebee's", where Princess Clara uses Captain Hero to create car crashes so she can get off on the resulting carnage. Subverted somewhat when Hero causes a crash which kills Clara's best friends.
  • Generator Rex: Van Kleiss is this in regards to Rex.
  • Family Guy: After Lois does some fighting moves, we cut to Quagmire naked in his house and watching from his open window stating "That was strangely arousing." The window then falls on his penis and gets stuck. He calls 911 and reports "Yeah, its in a window this time."

Real Life

  • Hybristophilia: attraction to people who commit serious or gruesome crimes.