Magnificent Bastard/Video Games: Difference between revisions

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**** Of course, now that the first game is chronologically one of the last games in the timeline where {{spoiler|Ganondorf triumphed over the Hero of Time}}, it's possible to hypothesize his power had waned significantly over time and multiple defeats. Thus far, there's only been one timeline with a game implying he's been [[Killed Off for Real]], which is pretty impressive stuff.
* Though she may not have managed to impress fans sufficiently, [[Big Bad|Amelissan]] from ''[[Baldurs Gate]] II: Throne of Bhaal'' would qualify based on her actions. She had almost everyone convinced that she was a kind of activist dedicated to helping the weaker of the mortal children of Bhaal, the dead god of murder, while she was secretly herding them all in one place to be killed. She had the most powerful five convinced they could become demigods by destroying their lesser siblings in order to resurrect Bhaal, while her intention was to destroy them as well. And she had the dead god himself convinced she was going to resurrect him from the essences of his children, when she intended to use the power to [[A God Am I|become a god herself]]. When she encountered the [[Player Character]], she had them kill all the other powerful Bhaalspawn while making sure they stil couldn't save the weaker ones in the city where she had led them. The reason why she's not really hailed as a Magnificent Bastard may be that she wasn't very convincing to the player from the start... and that she was a bit of a psycho when she showed her true colours.
** Irenicus is just as much of a bastard and * did* manage to impress fans. After your party grinds and levels to defeats the great [[Big Bad]] of the original game he [[God Mode Sue|captures you with little effort]], gets himself {{spoiler|captured by a powerful organization of wizards [[I Surrender, Suckers|just so he can usurp them and make use of their advanced equipment]]}}, uses your lust for power and childhood friend as bait to come after him, very nearly {{spoiler|ascends into [[A God Am I|godhood]]. Oh. And when he dies? [[Taking You With Me|He drags you kicking and screaming into Hell with him]]. The only way you can beat him is by out-bastarding him by sending an army of mad wizards against him the first time around and summoning the avatar of a god the second.}}
** Bhaal himself could qualify. After foreseeing his death in the Time of Troubles, he began a remarkably elaborate fail safe plan by walking the mortal realm ''before'' the Time and knocking up the women of nearly every race and culture, giving birth to thousands, if not ''millions'' of mortal children that each carried a sliver of his divine essence. After his death, he and his high priestess began orchestrating the mass slaughter of those children so that their essences could return to Bhaal, eventually causing him to be reborn stronger than ever. And he may very well have succeeded, if it wasn't for that fact that {{spoiler|his high priestess decided she wanted his power for herself.}}
** Sarevok. He served as [[The Dragon|second in command]] to his foster father, one of the most devious merchants in the realms, while orchestrating a plot to corner the iron market for the Sword Coast, with [[Dragon With an Agenda|his own plans]] to {{spoiler|escalate the tension and suspicions stemming from the manufactured resource crisis to start a war that he believed would prove him a worthy successor to his true father, the now-dead God of Murder Bhaal, and [[A God Am I|allow him to claim Bhaal's throne]]}}, manipulated the player character's party into [[Xanatos Gambit|either killing said foster father or being on hand to be framed for it]], allowing Sarevok to [[Dragon Ascendant|assume command of the Iron Throne trading cartel]], [[Villain With Good Publicity|got himself elected a Grand Duke of the city of Baldur's Gate and arranged the assassination of the others]], and aside from ''finally'' losing his cool when {{spoiler|undeniably exposed as a traitor in the middle of his coronation ceremony}} and nearly succeeding in assassinating the remaining Grand Dukes ''himself'', he [[Xanatos Speed Chess|bounced back from every defeat inflicted on the Iron Throne by the player's party, finding some way to use them to his advantage]]. On top of that, he winds up manipulating the player character again, into restoring him to life, in Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (literally, it must be done to progress).
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* {{spoiler|Hades}} from [[Kid Icarus Uprising (Video Game)|Kid Icarus Uprising]] can be considered this. For one, {{spoiler|he tricked the humans into killing each other to increase his Underworld army troops, taking their souls to make more soldiers. He took so many souls that he was able to resurrect Medusa and made a copy of her ''just to use as a distraction for Pit and Palutena'' while his troops continued to attack the humans to gain more souls for his army. Hades was also so powerful that he managed to outright destroy BOTH sacred treasures when battling Pit. If not for Medusa interfering in their final confrontation, there's no doubt that Hades would've killed Pit for sure.}}
* Jericho Swain of ''[[League of Legends]]''. Sure he may look like a hobbling cripple with a cane, but this guy is ''in'' the League of Legends and therefore automatically [[Badass]], and has done such magnificent things as somehow convincing his superiors to TAKE A DEMOTION SO HE COULD COMMAND THEM. An entire plotline in lore which involved the creation of Dominion, at least one new champion, Damacia and Noxus working together, and several Journals of Justice turned out to be all part of Swain's plan to take over Noxus, which succeeded before anyone truly realized, and once they did, they simply said that's fair. He got a new skin out of it too, Tyrant Swain, which makes him look like he should be the [[Final Boss]], that is if League Of Legends were that kind of game.
* While not common, ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'' has a few of these among Lan and MegaMan.EXE's rouges gallery.
** [[I Have Many Names|Dark/Dusk]] and his Net Navi [[Casting a Shadow|ShadowMan.EXE]] are [[Psycho for Hire|professional assassins]], [[Ninja|deadly ninjas]], and some of the most competent villains in the series. Whether it's successfully buying time for their employer to resurrect a dangerous Virus, taking an entire country offline through Navi genocide, infiltrating a government supercomputer through carefully-planned diversion tactics, or leading Lan and MegaMan on a wild goose chase as part of a [[Trickster Mentor]] routine, these two always manage to be a serious thorn in the heroic duo's sides whenever they show up. And even better? Unlike most villains in the series, they ''aren't'' completely helpless when they lose Netbattles to a 10 year old and are serial [[Karma Houdinis]] as a result. And as ruthless and greedy as they are, they're still surprisingly civil, dependable, and even honorable in their own way so long as you pay their fee.
** [[Anti-Villain|While far from a bastard]], {{spoiler|Zero.EXE}} is still a dangerous virus responsible for turning Net Navis into brainwashed berserkers in ''Network Transmission''. [[Noble Demon|An honorable and polite warrior]], {{spoiler|Zero}} puts up an excellent fight against Lan and MegaMan when they corner him, and accepts his defeat with dignity upon losing. But if you find a certain [[MacGuffin]] before his boss fight, {{spoiler|he not only survives, but truly becomes an example of this trope by helping defeat [[Big Bad|The Professor]]. After destroying the Life Virus R, he tracks his location through remnants of the Zero Virus and leads the police directly to his doorstep, cutting his plans to create yet ''another'' Life Virus short and totally humiliating the [[Smug Snake|smug idiot]] in the process}}. Even better, {{spoiler|he manages to throw the Professor's sadistic taunting right back in his face}}!
{{quote|"What is it you say in a situation like this? Ah yes, [[Ironic Echo|'Is that despair I see?']]"}}
** While he's a lot more of a minor example, the nameless [[Cool Shades|shades-wearing thug]] who steals Lan's battle chips in the second game's Netopia scenario has an admittedly clever con going on: posing as a friendly taxi driver, he tricks foreigners into letting him drive them around town for free, only to violently coerce them into handing over their chips once he locks them in his car. It's noted by an NPC that this is a ''very'' successful grift, and you don't even get to bring him to justice. [[Karma Houdini|Lan's forced to go after the lady he sold his chips to while the man himself rides off into the sunset.]] Not bad, nameless NPC. Not bad...
 
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