Nietzsche Wannabe: Difference between revisions
→Comic Books: Added example
m (update links) |
(→Comic Books: Added example) |
||
| (19 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|''"In some remote corner of the universe, poured out and glittering in innumerable solar systems, there once was a star on which clever animals invented knowledge. That was the highest and most mendacious minute of 'world history' - yet only a minute. After nature had drawn a few breaths the star grew cold, and the clever animals had to die."''
|'''[[Friedrich Nietzsche]]''', ''[http://web.archive.org/web/20060616081519/http://www.geocities.com/thenietzschechannel/tls.htm On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense]''. }}
A nihilistic [[The Philosopher|philosopher]] [[Hannibal Lecture|who always lectures]] about how morality, hope, or the general goodness and value of life are meaningless.
Nietzsche Wannabes are one of the inhabitants of the "cynicism" side of the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism]]. Most [[Ontological Mystery|ontological mysteries]] have a
In more straightforward [[Science Fiction]] and [[Fantasy]] stories, they are usually villains [[Omnicidal Maniac|who are always plotting destruction]], and can get really [[Large Ham|over the top]] in their behavior. This character is the polar opposite of [[The Anti-Nihilist]], who also thinks life has no inherent meaning yet reaches inverse conclusions about morality and the value of life.
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[The Big O]]'': Schwarzwald rants about the insignificance of the human race in a world without a past. He gloats about how only he knows what a cosmic fraud we all live in. Even {{spoiler|after he dies}}, he still manages to show up and narrate all the real big [[Mind Screw]] episodes. It turns out that {{spoiler|he was right. Everyone is living in a crappy play that's full of [[Plot Hole
▲* ''[[The Big O]]'': Schwarzwald rants about the insignificance of the human race in a world without a past. He gloats about how only he knows what a cosmic fraud we all live in. Even {{spoiler|after he dies}}, he still manages to show up and narrate all the real big [[Mind Screw]] episodes. It turns out that {{spoiler|he was right. Everyone is living in a crappy play that's full of [[Plot Hole|Plot Holes]].}}
* "Shadow" from ''[[Gate Keepers]]'' is another Nietzsche Wannabe, who's in league with the bad guys because he's disgusted with humanity's evils.
* ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'': Sensui, the rogue Spirit Detective. He went on to use [[Brown Note|the Chapter Black]] to turn the people that would become his team into Nietzsche Wannabe people as well.
Line 18 ⟶ 17:
** Rau Le Creuset, the chief antagonist in ''[[Gundam Seed]]''. It sends him into [[Omnicidal Maniac]] territory.
** In ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'', [[Big Bad|Chairman]] [[Dark Messiah|Durandal]] and [[The Dragon|Rey]] [[Manipulative Bastard|Za Burrell]] are interesting variants of this. They're both convinced the world is cold, terrible place, but are terrified of ending up like Rau. Instead, they become a pair of [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]], out to inject meaning into the world [[Utopia Justifies the Means|no matter what the cost]].
* ''[[Naruto]]''
** Neji Hyuuga
** Pain, leader of Akatsuki also possessed traits of
*** Possibly taking things one step too far, the series [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|Uchiha Madara}} revealed in chapter 467 that his ultimate plan is {{spoiler|[[Instrumentality|basically to brainwash the entire world]]}} because "There is no such thing as hope!"
* Kimblee, and to a certain extent {{spoiler|Dante}}, from the ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' anime, although {{spoiler|Dante}} really just uses it to justify her own [[Vain Sorceress|abhorrent selfishness]]. In Kimblee's case, he doesn't even make an exception for himself; all life is worthless, including himself, [[The Unfettered|and everything is allowed]] because there are no worthy standards.
** It's worth noting that manga Kimblee is more or less the opposite of his anime portrayal, being an [[Affably Evil]] [[Social Darwinist]] [[Blood Knight]] who believes that people are always capable of surprising you and greatly appreciates strong convictions. The
* Legato Bluesummers from ''[[Trigun]]'' is a personification of this concept.
** Knives is too, though his belief differs slightly in that it's everyone EXCEPT him and his brother that should kill themselves.
* ''[[One Piece]]'': Ohm constantly laments about the pointlessness of life and seeks to "save" people from suffering and desire by ending their lives.
* ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'': Debonair believes that the world of Cephiro without its [[Barrier Maiden|Pillar]] is doomed to fall, and that suits her just fine, as [[The Heartless|the survivors' continued despair grants her power]].
* Diva from ''[[Blood
* Rokudo Mukuro from ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'' is very jaded like this. Which makes it all the funnier that he actually {{spoiler|[[Rivals Team Up|ends up being one of Tsuna's guardians]]}}.
* Creed from ''[[Black Cat (manga)|Black Cat]]'' is definitely this. His whole goal is pretty much to cleanse the world of [[Puny Earthlings|weak people that don't have superpowers]] and rule the remaining people as King with Train as his <s>Queen</s> partner.
Line 33:
* {{spoiler|Rei}} and Mitsuki from ''[[Doubt]]'' are pretty much this, believing that the world is full of dirty liars who deserve to die.
* Vicious from ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' is a slightly less over the top and more realistic version of this trope than many, being a nihilistic, ruthless, sociopathic [[Yakuza]] who holds that there is nothing in this world to believe in.
** Vincent, the [[Big Bad]] from the movie, also fits.{{context}}
* Takasugi Shinsuke from ''[[Gintama]]'' had once fought to drive the Amanto aliens out of Japan, but after his side lost, he grew to believe that Japanese society, having been corrupted by alien influence, needed to be utterly destroyed. Now he lives to destroy. Everything.
* To an extent, Sousuke from ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'' (at least [[Defrosting Ice Queen|before he meets Kaname]]). Especially noticeable during TSR, after he {{spoiler|thinks that Kaname is dead}} and starts going on a ''very''
** [[Big Bad|Gauron]] is a
* Johan Libert from ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'' likes to ''create'' these but isn't really one himself as he does believe in something bigger. [[Complete Monster|Unfortunately, what Johan believes in is]] '''[[For the Evulz|evil]]'''.
* The Yagami-esque [[Villain Protagonist]] of ''Lost+Brain'' finds all of humanity worthless, until he discovers control through hypnotism. {{spoiler|One year later, he's gotten a good portion of the school under his control and successfully engineers the death of a member of government; however the biseinen inspector who introduced him to hypnotism in the first place is already on to him.}}
* Ulquiorra Cifer from ''[[Bleach]]'' is a personification of this way of thinking. Throughout the series, he is outspoken in his belief that the bonds and emotions of humans are meaningless, and that nothing can come of their struggling. This philosophy becomes the center of his conflicts with both Ichigo Kurosaki and Inoue Orihime. His character poem in the twenty-second tankoban of the series is themed on the belief that the world and all things living on it are without significance. {{spoiler|Also, when Barragan identifies the "ways of death" over which each member of the Espada govern, it is revealed that Ulquiorra is the avatar of nihilism. He subverts this trope with his final epiphany in chapters 353 and 354}}
** Nnoitrae, a [[Death Seeker]] who has no problem with killing [[Would Hit a Girl|anyone who gets]] [[Would Hurt a Child|in his way]] and who states that he believes the only point of living is dying (subverted somewhat in that he is very clear and specific about the kind of death he wants to have).
* Revy from ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' is a genuine nihilist in that she denies the existence of meaning, at least academically. For practical purposes, however, she'll preach the virtues of money and guns over God and love, since this is what she has been able to rely on in her life. She initially has great difficulty dealing with Rock's idealism, threatening to kill him if he ever moralises to her again. Revy herself elaborates that "nothing's worse than being treated like some whore by your companions", but in recent chapters, it is suggested by one character that she attacks idealists because their ideology contradicts her assertion that the world is a terrible place. By the end of the (anime) series, Rock himself confesses to be a nihilist, just with a positive attitude where the
{{quote|
** In the same conversation, Balalaika reveals herself to be one of these as well, [[The Baroness|to absolutely]] [[Lady of War|no one's]] [[Blood Knight|surprise.]]
{{quote|
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' has {{spoiler|The Lifemaker, the [[Big Bad]] that Nagi faced off against. Nagi's response? "'''SHUT THE HELL UP!'''"}}
** Fate has also shown these tendencies; claiming that everyone are just soulless puppets, etc. {{spoiler|Although he has a basis for this belief, as the Magic World, along with it's native inhabitants, may have been created by Fate's master.}}
Line 50:
*** Hell one of her recent lines is almost a creed for this character type. "....do you truly believe I am doing this for money?.... ahahah you are such a child. There is no meaning in this world, [[Psycho for Hire|I seek naught but blood and carnage]]."
** ...and then there's Yue Ayase, who pretty much felt that the world was without meaning following the death of her grandfather, who happened to be a philosopher. Luckily, she got better when she befriended Nodoka, Haruna, and Konoka.
* ''[[Soul Eater]]'' has a resident [[Mad Scientist]], Franken Stein, who had apparently been one of these for a
* In the ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' movie ''The End Of Evangelion'', Shinji Ikari got a taste of this trope (Rei even gave him a chance to be an [[Omnicidal Maniac]]), but rejects it by rejecting [[Assimilation Plot|Instrumentality]].
* ''[[Ergo Proxy]]'': [[Dark Messiah]] Raul Creed becomes this as he loses his sanity over the course of the show.
==
* The [[Batman]] graphic novel ''The Killing Joke'' created the characterization of the Joker as
▲* The [[Batman]] graphic novel ''The Killing Joke'' created the characterization of the Joker as [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] who will do anything to prove to Batman that life is one big joke and that the only sensible response to it is give into madness.
* In the [[Marvel Universe]], The "Mad Titan" Thanos usually pulls this archetype off with a spectacular amount of wit and style.
* Carnage from ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' doesn't believe in order and morality, and kills people for fun.
* ''[[Watchmen]]'' "Chapter VI: The Abyss Gazes Also", skirts around this trope. The chapter title is lifted from a [[He Who Fights Monsters|Nietzsche quote]] (quoted in full at chapter's end).
* Lampshaded in the [[DCU]] where nihilist Kid Amazo (whose intro features him talking to a Nietzsche bust that talks back to him, just to give you an idea that this is a guy with the combined powers of the Justice League and is completely off his rocker) is preparing to fight the League after a [[Face Heel Turn]] and begins a
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121128114328/http://wildstormresource.wetpaint.com/page/TAO+(bio) Tao] from the [[Wildstorm]] Universe. As mentioned in Ed Brubaker's Sleeper: "The Tactical Augmented Organism (Tao) looked at life and saw Chaos and Order. Humanity's denial of Chaos appalled him.So he would tear it all down and fill the world with chaos,if only to watch mankind cling to their illusions as they burned around them."
* [[Batman]] villain Mr. Zsasz became a serial killer after having an epiphany that all life is meaningless; that people are nothing more than purposeless "zombies", and killing them is the only way to liberate them from their emptiness.
** This may be a reference to [[Serial Killer]] Carl Panzram, who described himself as "the man who goes around doing good." In the sense that he thought he was doing people a favour by killing them.
* ''[[Stormwatch]]'': [[Lampshaded]] with Father, the villain of [[Warren Ellis]]'s first issue. A Nietzsche-obsessed superhuman murderer created by a neo-nazi [[Evilutionary Biologist]], he had been [[Sealed Evil in a Can|trapped in a mountain]] by said creator for having several
* Momo in ''[[Persepolis]]''. His arguments are actually refuted by Marjane, who has seen people find meaningful purposes for themselves despite the world's senselessness and cruelty.
* ''A God Somewhere'': This is a possible interpretation of Eric, the main character, who, when confronted about {{spoiler|raping his sister-in-law and crippling his brother}}, says "Wrong is just a word people made up. It has nothing to do with the real world." shortly before {{spoiler|breaking out of prison and killing dozens of people for no reason}}. Near the end of the story, in the wake of his demise, a subculture of people who look up to Eric has apparently developed, and some of them can be seen hanging out on a street corner, where their response to something an old man angrily says to them is "Wrong is just a word people made up, bitch!"
* Madcap, one of the few villains in [[Marvel Comics]] who can make [[Deadpool]] look lucid (and has the power to make others act crazy), was originally a deeply religious man (his name has never been revealed), until the bus his family and congregation had chartered collided with a truck carrying Compound X07 (an experimental nerve agent developed by [[Evil Inc.| A.I.M.]]). He was the only survivor, landing in a puddle of the chemical, and gaining regenerative powers that would later prove to rival Deadpool's. Unable to understand why he alone survived and benefited from an accident that killed every friend he had, he was driven insane, and concluded that life has no purpose and everything happens for no reason. Dressing like a harlequin, his only "goal" since then has been sharing his demented philosophy with everyone else.
*
▲== [[Fanfic]] ==
▲* Not an actual example, but [[Eyrie Productions Unlimited]] saw the anime ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' as this trope, causing them to create ''[[Neon Exodus Evangelion]]'' as a backlash. [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|That is all]].
* ''[[Immortality Syndrome]]'' turns its sufferers into this in the [[Powerpuff Girls]] [[Dark Fic]] of the same name and its sequels. It's [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]] cranked [[Up to Eleven]], caused by [[Came Back Wrong|coming back wrong]] and remembering how you died -- [[The Nothing After Death|and what came after]].
* Played with in the ''[[War of the Worlds]]'' fanfic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6598678/1/When_The_Stars_Turn_To_Ashes When The Stars Turn To Ashes]'' The character Byron Parris talks like this character type (and the high-minded protagonist dislikes him for it) but is also something of a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]].
* Tod Barringer in the ''
== Film ==
* ''[[Collateral]]'': Sociopathic and deadly assassin Vincent shoves cab driver Max out of a self-deceptive rut as he forces Max to drive him to various "jobs" one night in L.A. {{spoiler|Near the end Max snaps, admits that Vincent was right and fights back, eventually killing his captor}}.
* Agent Smith in ''[[The Matrix]]'' sequels. In ''Revolutions'' he goes into a long rant about why Neo bothers to continue fighting him and that "Only a human mind could come up with something as insipid as love!" and "Why, Mr. Anderson!? ''Why!? Why do you persist!?''" Ironically, Neo's response is something a Nietzschean Ubermensch might actually say: "Because I choose to."
* Played for laughs in ''[[The Big Lebowski]]'' with the three evil German nihilists, and their amusing [[Catch Phrase]] "We believe in nothing!" often applied free of any particular context. They're very enthusiastic about their nihilism, and love to bring it up. {{spoiler|Their nihilism, however, doesn't stop them from whining about how "It's not fair!" when it turns out their attempt to extort money out of the heroes by pretending they've kidnapped a woman when she hasn't even been kidnapped has been rumbled.}} Walter retorts {{spoiler|Fair! WHO'S THE FUCKING NIHILIST HERE!}}
{{quote|
* Zé do Caixão, or "Coffin Joe" as he is called in the English subtitles, [[Anti-Hero]] ''(HERO?)'' of a series of Brazilian horror movies.{{context}}
* In his ''[[Hamlet]]'' speech at the end of ''[[Withnail and I]]'', it's debatable whether Withnail is talking about his sexuality or confirming an absolute nihilism.
* The [[Big Bad]] from ''[[Sunshine]]'' (2007) uses this as an excuse to kill the astronauts going to recharge the dying sun.
{{quote|
* ''[[Match Point]]'' - the [[Villain Protagonist]] uses his nihilistic philosophy as justification for murder.
* Characters based on Leopold and Loeb (such as the protagonists of [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''Rope'') are pretty much always portrayed as Nietzsche Wannabes.
* The main villain of ''The Genius Club'', Armand, rants that humans have no purpose and God doesn't exist, until the dying sage and the genius garbage man both discuss their confrontations with death.
** {{spoiler|In the end, he really just had an identity crisis.}}
* The [[Christopher Nolan|Nolan]][[The Dark Knight|verse]]'s version of [[The Joker]] definitely fits this description. At the beginning of the movie, he even paraphrases a quote from Nietzsche: "I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you... stranger."
** Also Two-Face, who decides the flip of a coin is as good a way to decide life and death as anything.
* ''The Cube'' seems to be about the [[Gorn]] but is really an exposition on different roles that people play representing different philosophies in society. The protagonist's big secret {{spoiler|is that he is a nihilist}}
* {{spoiler|Lotso}} in ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 3'' feels that he and the other toys are all {{spoiler|"just trash waiting to be thrown away!"}}
* The villainous Clinton Stark of ''[[
== Literature ==
* ''[[Hamlet]]'', [[The Zeroth Law of Trope Examples|despite predating Nietzsche]], preaches nihilism with the best of them.▼
{{quote|I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the King and queene: moult no feather. I have of late, (but wherefore I know not) lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition; that this goodly frame the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy the air, look you, this brave o'er hanging firmament, this majestical roof, fretted with golden fire: why, it appeareth no other thing to me, than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. [[Sarcasm Mode|What a piece of work is a man!]] [[Humans Are Morons|How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty!]] In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an Angel! in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals! And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? [[Asexuality|Man delights not me; no, nor Woman neither]]; though by your smiling you seem to say so.}}
▲* ''[[Hamlet]]'', despite predating Nietzsche, preaches nihilism with the best of them.
* Dora from ''The Moth Diaries'' is not just a Nietzsche Wannabe, she's writing a book about a dialogue between the man himself and Brahms. She gets into a few arguments over the former's teachings with Ernessa. As to whether the book is completed {{spoiler|before her death}} or not, we never find out. Please correct me if I'm wrong on this detail.
* ''[[Macbeth]]'' doesn't start off this way, but by the end? The titular character's soliloquy following [[Lady Macbeth]]'s death ("Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow") is one of the more eloquent statements of the idea. His motives in the last act are his giving into this trope, made all the more terrifying because the amoral universe was of his own creation.
* [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]] loves this type of character; in fact, Dostoevsky was a major influence on Nietzsche himself, and the Nietzschean Ubermensch has strong similarities to Raskolnikov.
** Ivan Karamazov and Smerdyakov both fit the trope in ''[[The Brothers Karamazov]]''. One could make the case that Fyodor Karamazov is also a
** The famous novella ''Notes from the Underground'' features a protagonist who rants against the Nihilists, the
** And of course, Rodya Raskolnikov from ''[[Crime and Punishment]]''.
* [[H.P. Lovecraft]], pioneer of the [[Cosmic Horror Story]], takes the
** In Lovecraft's short story ''The Silver Key'', his [[Author Avatar]] Randolph Carter ponders about the matter, and concludes that aesthetics are the only value worth sustaining in a universe without direction or meaning. In a way he fits the [[Ubermensch]] category better than this one, since he creates his own values after realizing the insignificance of the current ones. Of course he had his best experiences in dreams, and in the end flees the material world completely, making him also a rather extreme lotus eater.
* Cronal, [[Big Bad]] of the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] novel ''Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor''. He was raised by a cult of darksiders called the Sorcerers of Rhand, who believe that the will of the universe is that entropy and destruction are the only constants, and work to bring this about. At one point Cronal mentally disparages [[Lawful Evil|Palpatine]] for attempting to create when he should have destroyed. All of which means that yes, there are people out there in the galaxy who are [[Complete Monster|nastier than the Sith]].
* In the [[Discworld]] book ''[[Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'', the [[Complete Monster|bad guy]] Carcer is said not to be insane but rather too sane, in that he can do whatever the hell he wants because he knows that laws and things are just arbitrary lines the normal folk draw in the sand to pretend they're safe. Needless to say, [[Lawful Good|Vimes]] [[Berserk Button|does not]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|take this well]].
** Although he channels his cynicism much more constructively than most people on this page, [[The Chessmaster|Lord Vetinari]] also occasionally holds such rants. Once at the end of ''[[
{{quote|
** In a bit of a subversion, Death maintains that things like justice, mercy and duty are lies, but says that the entire point in believing in those lies is that it's what makes them real.
* Although ordinarily he is not of this view, when [[The Chosen One|Rand Al'thor]] of ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' has a long overdue psychotic break and cracks after {{spoiler|almost killing his father out of paranoia and misplaced rage}} he rants about the pointlessness of existence in this fashion, railing against the actions of all being forgotten and then repeated thanks to the series' conceit of [[Reincarnation]], and he comes within a few seconds of destroying or at least irrevocably damaging all of reality in a desire to end it all before he talks himself down via a conversation and eventually a {{spoiler|[[Split Personality Merge]] with the voice in his head}}, and can be found in the quotes page of this trope.
** [[The Dragon|Ishamael/Moridin]] from the same series, however, gives every sign of being a straight example, being the only one of the [[God of Evil]]'s minions who not only truly understands [[Omnicidal Maniac|its nature]], but actually joined it for the express purpose of putting reality out of its misery.
* M. Herron's thriller ''Why We Die'' is built around this philosophy, and begins with the narrator [[Author Filibuster|directly lecturing the reader]] about how people's purpose in life is to die and be buried. It's a bit . . . [[Narm|overblown]].
* [[The Draka]] [[Take Over the World|conquer the world]] in the name of their [[For the Evulz|collective sovereign will]] and genetically engineer themselves into a race of very literal [[Superior Species|Übermenschen]]. This is justified within the timeline itself, as Nietzsche relocated to the colony of Drakia after he was rejected in his homeland.
Line 122 ⟶ 118:
* Bazarov in ''Fathers and Sons'' is one.
* The Inner Party from ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' is an entire social caste of Nietzsche Wannabes, and they happen to rule everything. Ingsoc is pretty much the Nietzsche Wannabe of political systems, being built to completely corrupt [[The Power of Love]] (Ingsoc's actual ideology is also known as the "Obliteration of the Self", which from the name can be easily seen as Nihilism incarnate). The Inner Party is completely amoral (nothing was illegal, since there are no longer any laws) but if they notice a single sign of individuality and love, called "thoughtcrime", they capture the thoughtcriminals but instead of killing them, they torture them and make them literally live their worst nightmares, but all of this is not to interrogate them, but to traumatize them and drop them into [[Despair Event Horizon]]. They leave the majority in immutable poverty, the superpowers in perpetual war and the entire world in [[Despair Event Horizon]]. You cannot reason with them or express love on them, ever. Why? Simply because their only motivation is "pure power".
{{quote|
== Live Action TV ==▼
* ''[[Skins]]'': Tony, a vaguely sociopathic lead character in British drama is a rare comedy example. He is seen on multiple occasions to be reading ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' one of Nietzsche's seminal works. This is reflected in how he manipulates his friends in increasingly cruel ways for his own personal amusement. He's stated in his tie-in blog and videos that the only purpose of anyone is to entertain him.
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'':
** Arthur Petrelli believes himself to be a [[Ubermensch]] better than normal people and free from moral constraints. Just to hammer this point home, in series three he is seen reading Nietzsche shortly before telling his son Peter that he is "Better". Ironically subtler villains Linderman and Adam Monroe did a better job of representing this trope than Arthur ever did.
** Adam in particular. He believes he is better, that humankind is worthless and life is pointless. However he also adds a dash of [[Dark Messiah]] as he seeks to change the pointlessness of life but forcing mankind to experience a terrible cataclysm and taking the survivors as his followers to build a better world. So he's a fusion of this trope and [[Knight Templar]]/[[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]
Line 133 ⟶ 128:
** What makes him a "wannabe" is that we're never truly sure what his motivations are. Usually he is in it for the challenge, but we're sometimes led to believe that he cares. House tries to subvert this by revealing how selfish he is, but it's pretty ambiguous.
** On the other hand, he's probably one of the least-wannabe-like on this page; a perfectly valid [[Alternate Character Interpretation]] is that he is ''actually'' an [[Ubermensch]] in the making, on the threshold of becoming one but uncertain if he is quite ready to take the leap. As such, he's hidden his actual, personal [[Blue and Orange Morality]] behind the mask of somewhat more socially-acceptable nihilism.
* Connor from ''[[Angel]]'' reached his peak of
{{quote|
* The sci-fi series ''[[Andromeda]]'' has an entire race of folks called Nietzscheans. They were originally humans who decided to live by Nietzsche's writings. They left Human territory to found their own colonies, genetically enhanced themselves, separated in to clans (called "Prides"), and generally don't like anybody but themselves.
* The famous-within-the-fandom 'Death And Dust' speech from [[Stephen Colbert]]. Even better because the character is (usually) a die-hard Catholic. Shortly after the 2000 Florida recount, having decided that all the debate and argument is irrelevant and who's President doesn't even matter:
{{quote|
''[long pause]''
'''Stephen''': [cheerful] Oh, and I'm having a Christmas cocktail party... }}
* ''[[Oz]]''. Lemuel Idzik, the mentally-ill murderer of {{spoiler|Kareem Said}}, who he'd met years before in Istanbul. {{spoiler|Said}} gave a passionate speech about how life was meaningless because the universe would one day end. Lemuel took the lesson to heart and tries to commit suicide by killing two people in
* ''[[Dollhouse]]''
** Alpha, even referring to himself {{spoiler|and Echo after he forces her to undergo a composite event}} as [[Ubermensch]].
** During the second to last episode {{spoiler|One of Boyd's rants pretty much labels his worldview as such}}
* Subverted in ''[[Red Dwarf]]'': the Inquisitor is a Simulant, a race of psychotic, violence-crazed humanoid robots created to fight wars for humanity, which humanity then attempted to shut down after they proved too sadistic. Equipped with a unique self-repair system of incomparable capability, the Simulant who became the Inquisitor survived until the end of time, and then beyond. Drifting in nothingness, he came to the conclusion that that is no such thing as God, no such thing as an afterlife, and that the purpose for existence is to live a worthwhile existence. Constructing a time machine, the Inquisitor now roams existence, meeting and judging each individual person who has ever and will ever live. If they fail to justify the life they have lived, he erases them and replaces them with a parallel
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' likely has more than can be easily counted, but one of the earliest appears in "Tomb of the Cybermen" in the form of Eric Klieg, who wishes to use the power of the Cybermen to lead the intellectual party to conquer the Earth under his rule. Needless to say, he and his [[Lady Macbeth]] wife overestimate his ability to [[Evil Is Not a Toy|control the Cybermen]].
* Simon Munnery's sketch show ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Ryhh4Ixac Attention Scum]'' ''is'' this trope.
* On ''[[Burn Notice]]'', [[Psycho for Hire]] Larry waves off the immorality of killing people for money (or just for fun) with his mantra of "some people live, some people die."
* ''[[Supernatural]]'': Dean Winchester of is a rare heroic example of this, although [[Trauma Conga Line|considering the way his life is going]], it's not entirely unjustified.
{{quote|
** Made even more depressing in that {{spoiler|finding out for a fact that God exists doesn't really make him change his mind.}}
* Marcus in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' is equal parts
{{quote|
== Musical ==▼
* Stephen Sondheim's ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (theatre)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]'' gives a [[Villain Song|rousing number]], "Epiphany," devoted to the worthlessness of the human race and how we all deserve to die. From which point on he cuts a bloody swath in accordance with those precepts. Accompanied by dramatic chorus about moralizers and hypocrites.▼
* ''[[Othello]]'': The operatic version turned Iago, a villain who normally did it [[For the Evulz]], into one of these with his [[Villain Song]] "Credo in un Dio crudel."▼
* The operatic version of ''[[Woyzeck]]'' has [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|The Doctor]], who gives us this little gem.▼
{{quote| "Haven't I told you that the urethral sphincter is subordinate to the will?"}}▼
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
Line 166 ⟶ 153:
* Rat in ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]''. He constantly sees the worst in others and looks at life as hopeless since the world will end. He was even able to get Pig and Zebra into his "End-o'-the-world" box, where they just get drunk out of beer-drinking hats.
== [[Recorded and Stand Up Comedy]] ==▼
▲== [[Stand Up Comedy]] ==
* [[Norm MacDonald]]. Imagine if [[The Joker]] from [[The Dark Knight]] decided not to blow shit up and instead became a stand-up comic.
* [[Patton Oswalt]] parodies this by crossing it with the [[The Fundamentalist]]:
{{quote|
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'':
** Shar, the goddess of bitterness and oblivion is the very manifestation of this trope.
** Tharizdun, the God of [[Omnicidal Maniac
* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'': Archaon, Chosen of Chaos fits the actual Nietzsche mold fairly closely, believing that human society is irredeemably corrupt, and that a new form of society most be built. Of course, he thinks this should be done by killing everyone and turning the world over to [[Eldritch Abomination
* ''[[Dark Heresy]]'', the RPG of ''[[Warhammer
** If you think about it, [[Crapsack World|Warhammer 40k]] just begs to have Nietzsche Wannabes.
* The Bleak Cabal from the ''[[Planescape]]'' campaign setting of DnD is a subversion, as they are generally nice fellows despite their belief that the universe makes absolutely no sense.
** Furthermore, there's the Doomguard faction, whose members know that the entropy of everything is
* The Rakdos guild in ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' have spells like [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=107517 this]. They're also the 'hedonist' and 'sociopath' guild; their general theme is being the life of the party...and, sometimes, its death.
▲* Stephen Sondheim's ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (theatre)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]'' gives a [[Villain Song|rousing number]], "Epiphany," devoted to the worthlessness of the human race and how we all deserve to die. From which point on he cuts a bloody swath in accordance with those precepts. Accompanied by dramatic chorus about moralizers and hypocrites.
▲* ''[[Othello]]'': The operatic version turned Iago, a villain who normally did it [[For the Evulz]], into one of these with his [[Villain Song]] "Credo in un Dio crudel."
▲* The operatic version of ''[[Woyzeck]]'' has [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|The Doctor]], who gives us this little gem.
== Video Games ==
* Albedo from the ''[[Xenosaga]]'' series is a particularly horrifying and sadistic
▲* Albedo from the ''[[Xenosaga]]'' series is a particularly horrifying and sadistic [[Nietzsche Wannabe]], gleefully traumatizing MOMO for no apparent reason and strewing his throne room with the corpses of other little girls.
** Also [[Healing Factor|tends to self-mutilate]] when he's bored.
** More to the point, he talks a lot about how wonderful death is.
** Only because he [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|totally cracked]] when he realized he would [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|live on]] after Nigredo and Rubedo die. ''I'm practicing so that when they die, I won't cry'', anyone?
* Kefka from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|evolved]] from a [[Monster Clown]] with nihilistic tendencies into a fully fledged
{{quote|
* Seymour from ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'', unloved and alone since his mother's death, wants to harness Sin and annihilate all life on Spira to put an end to pointless suffering. Two years later Shuyin from ''Final Fantasy X-2'', eternally enraged and bitter at the world that let his one true love die, wants to harness Vegnagun and annihilate all life on Spira to end the existence of a world that he now sees as a pointless mockery. Clearly a lot of baddies on Spira didn't get enough hugs.
** Although in the world of Spira, the difference between the living & the dead isn't readily apparent (more than one character in the games is actually an Unsent...), & the dead hold onto their memories & ability to interact with the world. So killing everyone to end all suffering makes a certain amount of sense, in that context, as it would be far from oblivion (at least until being dead make you crazy you turn into a Fiend).
Line 218 ⟶ 207:
* {{spoiler|Kerghan}} from ''[[Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura]]:'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkBrIrQikWY his motive rant says it all.]
** Actually, this is a [[Subverted Trope|subversion]], because he isn't being nihilistic, he's being compassionate in a very warped way. He's proposing a [[Ubermensch|constructive solution]] to the pain of all living beings. (Yes, "kill the world" is constructive in this sense. It solves the problem he's trying to solve, it's just not a solution that anyone else likes.)
*** This might be true, if there wasn't the possibility of convincing him, that his conclusions are based on his personal experience only. He does not necessarily stick to this [[Ubermensch|constructive solution]]. He can be convinced that he is a
* [[The Dragon|Ramirez]] from ''[[Skies of Arcadia]]'' holds to the view that all of humanity is either corrupt (stating that they are driven by greed, hatred and bigotry) or weak (showing contempt for those who are incapable of defending themselves from him, or of using what power they possess to forcibly change the world), and uses these beliefs to justify attempted (and not-so-attempted) genocide. Curiously, he also holds to a somewhat more accurate Nietzschean philosophy, given that he believes his master, [[Big Bad|Lord Galcian]], to essentially be an [[Ubermensch]], stating that Galcian is driven only by the will to power and the desire to use it to change the world, and that only such a man can unlock the world's true potential. {{spoiler|He goes fully
* Cyrus from ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]'' claims that life is meaningless, so it's perfectly acceptable for him to destroy the entire universe and create a new one in which he is a god and little things like emotions and the human soul do not exist: "The incomplete and ugly world we have now can disappear. I am resetting everything to zero. Nothing can remain. It is all for making the ultimate world. A world of complete perfection. Nothing so vague and incomplete as spirit can remain."
* Haer'Dalis from the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' series, as a member of the Doomguard, is a
* The Reason of Shijima in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne]]'' is the ultimate representation of this trope. Sponsored by the [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Assembly of Nihilo]], with the [[Ubermensch]] Hikawa as its leader, it seeks to destroy and reconstruct the world as a place of utter, absolute stillness. It is a reality where mankind is subsumed into infinite peace and unity, with no passion, no conflict, and the total eradication of human consciousness and individuality. Should the Demifiend (the player) choose to support this Reason, the game ends with {{spoiler|Hikawa congratulating him on an infinite, barren plain of complete silence and the bluest sky you have ever seen}}.
* Jin Kisaragi is revealed to have this kind of view in ''[[
** Also from Blazblue, Hazama wants to destroy the current world because it's filled with "LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES!"
* Mephiles the Dark from Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 qualifies, especially in the Showdown with Mephiles cutscene, where he, in a manner similar to Agent Smith in The Matrix Revolutions, questions why Shadow even attempts to oppose him and defend humanity when he will inevitably be persecuted.
{{quote|
* ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'': Dr. Weil, shortly after explaining his particularly horrific [[And I Must Scream|origin for his]] [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|immortality]] to Zero, undergoes an immense rant about how justice and freedom are worthless ideals, and then as his opening quote even dismisses ideals themselves as being meaningless or a lie.
{{quote|
* Kerghan from [[Arcanum]] chooses death over life and wants to overcome all existing life, ending the pain and struggle all life contains. Under certain circumstances it is even possible to convince him, that only his personal experiences made him a
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[Kid Radd]]'', {{spoiler|GI Guy, rather accurately observing that video game sprites like himself are created for the purpose of killing each other, tries to destroy the entire sprite world, and humanity with it}}.
** {{spoiler|Unlike most cackling madmen, he's convinced this is will be a mercy-kill and that it's in everyone's best interests.}}
* ''[[Dominic Deegan]]: Oracle For Hire'' has Celesto Morgan, who is determined to "cleanse the world" by killing a lot of people he thinks deserve to die, as exemplified in [https://web.archive.org/web/20140921191019/http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2005-01-25 these] [https://web.archive.org/web/20121126081239/http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2005-03-09 strips]. Dominic hinges on being one for a while in the same story arc, until he is shown a group of people who willingly sacrificed themselves to protect their friends; this shakes him out of the "The world is horrific" viewpoint he was holding.
** It is worth noting that he isn't
* Jack from ''[[Antihero for Hire]]'', as shown [https://web.archive.org/web/20100109163431/http://www.antiheroforhire.com/d/20041108.html here].
* In ''[[8-Bit Theater
* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20080722.html Galatea started out this way.] She's one of the apparently rare cases where [[Whoopi Epiphany Speech|the hero successfully convinced her she was wrong,]] and [[Talking the Monster to Death|she lightened up a little.]]
* ''The Bunny System'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20150924150827/http://wordpress.thebunnysystem.com/2004/06/18/nietzsche/ approach]:
{{quote|
* In ''[[Suppression]]'' Samantha Wight delivers a speech to this effect when she first appears, but on that same note believes their efforts to be so pointless that she lets them pass afterward. {{spoiler|Which they would have done if Bael's [[Berserk Button]] hadn't been pressed a few too many times.}}
* ''[[Homestuck]]'': {{spoiler|Jadesprite}}, after her [[Unwanted Resurection]], starts taking this view. Jade ends up [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|calling her out on this.]]
== Web Original ==
* Daphne Rudko from ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' has a viewpoint that can best be described as this, viewing humanity as nothing but parasites that must be destroyed and life as bleak and torturous, causing her to play not as much out of wanting to live (though that was a big part of it) as wanting everyone else to die. Then again, she's probably one of the few [[Justified Trope|justified]]
** Keith Christoph is a [[Deconstruction]] of this trope, as well as characters who become [[Ax Crazy|'players']] right off the bat.
== Western Animation ==
* Miss Bitters from ''[[Invader Zim]]''. She's played totally for
▲* Miss Bitters from ''[[Invader Zim]]''. She's played totally for laughs -- but given what happens in a typical episode of the show, she looks like an optimist. Her rants / lessons tend to consist of telling her students how pointless existence is and how they are all [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|doomed, doomed, doomed]]...
* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak3z2Pm7Iwg 'Satan' sequence] in ''[[The Adventures of Mark Twain]]'' (adapted from Twain's novella ''The Mysterious Stranger'') is one of the most frightening and disturbing examples. What's worse is that this was put in a family film.
* Professor Screweyes from ''[[We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story]]''. In a deleted scene (which really shouldn't had been censored), he claims that he believes that the world is senseless and cruel because, when he was a kid, a crow ''pecked his eye out'', and as such he dedicated his life to scare other people. This is why his death in the end isn't senseless as many claim; its just that the creators of the movie were too stupid.
Line 260 ⟶ 246:
*** The {{spoiler|"It doesn't matter."}} comes from the fact that he would only freeze to death later on if {{spoiler|he had pressed the "abort" button as he knew he had no way of getting off that parallel Earth}} so he {{spoiler|chose to die then rather than later.}} But, yes, it's still interesting.
*** Actually, it comes from the notion that somewhere, in a parallel Earth, {{spoiler|he did manage to deactivate the bomb and save himself.}}
* The Stunticon [[Meaningful Name|Dead End]] got to be like this at times during the course of [[Transformers Generation 1|the original]] ''[[Transformers]]'' cartoon. It becomes a bit of a joke when you read his character biography, and learn that [[Hypocritical Humour|he is quite vain about his appearance and constantly stays polished and detailed.]]
{{quote|
* Spider-Carnage in the [[Grand Finale]] of ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]''. An alternate-universe Peter Parker, he already at the brink of madness due to his version of [[The Clone Saga]] - being possessed by the Carnage symbiote sent him to [[Omnicidal Maniac]]-level out of the belief that life was meaningless. {{spoiler|It took a meeting with an alternate-universe Uncle Ben to make him snap out of it and fight off the symbiote's control.}}
Line 269 ⟶ 254:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Madness Tropes]]
[[Category:Older Than Radio]]
Line 276 ⟶ 262:
[[Category:Philosophy Tropes]]
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:
| |||