Noble Demon/Video Games

Examples of Noble Demons in Video Games include:

Several Nippon Ichi protagonists, and storyline party members, are Noble Demons (especially those who are actual demons), which usually comes into full display if you play through the official endings of their respective games. Laharl from Disgaea and Zetta from Makai Kingdom are prime examples.
- Valvatorez will have you know that he is very evil... by his own definition of evil. Which looks suspiciously not much like anyone else's definition evil and more like Lawful Neutral with a extra dose of Honor Before Reason. But still, totally evil.
- Axel from Disgaea 2 fits this trope in it's literal sense. He loses all credibility and fame in the Netherworld because he actually cares for his family.
- Heck, Mao from Disgaea 3 is probably the most genuinely "evil" of the protagonists, and even he limits most of his bad deeds to skipping class (vital for a demon honor student), and performing scientific experiments on skirt lifting. By the end, he has learned the value of true friendship and made peace with his father, and is this trope for sure.
Chai Ka from Jade Empire is a literal Noble Demon.
In Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2, the player may choose the half-angel, half-devil Dinah as their Guardian Beast. Her devil half claims to be heartless and evil, and that she's forced by circumstance to work for the main character. Her Catch Phrase whenever Edgar or Aera announces his/her plans to do anything is, "I guess I don't have a choice."
Ryudo from Grandia II begins the game this way, a cynic who actively embraces the unsavory reputation attached to mercenaries like himself. Conversely, fellow party member Millenia is a subversion ? apparently a literal demon (a fragment, in fact, of the setting's local Satan figure) who gets offended or pouty when others label her as evil.
In Onimusha 2, the protagonist, Jubei, meets a literal Noble Demon -- GOGANDANTESS!!! THE GREATEST SWORDSMAN OF AAAAAALL THE DEMONS!! -- several times. While working for the demons pretty much by default, he refuses to finish off Jubei after he defeats him during their first encounter, and when you defeat him during your final encounter—having found a way to nullify his otherwise impenetrable forcefield—he expresses great respect for Jubei's abilities before he dies. At one point, he even he saves Oyu (Jubei's love interest) from certain death, by grabbing her as she is about to fall into a hole and whisking her to safety. He actually never claims or pretends to be evil in any way—he was simply born a demon, became an invincible swordsman, and thus got dragged into the Big Bad's plan for world domination and human extinction.
Magus from Chrono Trigger has the opportunity to kill the main party a number of times, but goes against it on occasion.
- Also, you find out that Magus, like you, wants to kill Lavos and prevent the apocalypse; the only reason you have to fight him is because of the methods he has been using to gather enough power to accomplish this goal himself.
Asch the Bloody from Tales of the Abyss.
- To the contrary: Asch is not insisting that he's evil while acting good: he's insisting that he's the good twin while acting like the evil one. Asch has a large number of Kick the Dog moments, such as probably assisting with the slaughter of the crew of the Tartarus, possessing Luke's body and forcing it to attack Tear while Luke watches in horror, and, while Luke is trapped in his body, threatening to kill Luke's friends if Luke doesn't stop being concerned about Asch's welfare, in sharp contrast to Asch's behavior. Asch even says at one point that his (debatable) Heel Face Turn is not motivated by disgust with Van's intention to kill all the people of Auldrant, but the fact that he intends to replace them with replicas. If it weren't for Asch's backstory and Redemption Equals Death...It's not that Asch is insisting that he's evil, it's that he fails at being a good guy, as shown by his inability to reconnect with Natalia: even the Power of Love can't make him stop being a jerk.
- The character who best fits the trope is actually a protagonist, Jade Balfour. Despite being described by everyone, including himself, as a monster who experimented on harmless monsters, he's one of only two characters in the game who takes responsibility for his actions. While constantly hinting that he's poisoned the party's food and so on, on several occassions, he reveals real concern for Luke, and the culmination of his character development hinges around Luke's inevitable death and the multitude of potential causes, demonstrating real concern for another human being.
In Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, we have Richter Abend. Although he's pretty obviously the Big Bad from the beginning of the game, he's also the mentor (and not an Evil Mentor, but a true guardian to Emil), and while he often yells at his student, he almost immidiately apologizes thereafter. This only snowballs him into full Necessarily Evil status when you discover that his entire plot was to trick The Legions of Hell so he could become the guardian of the gate to Niflheim in place of Emil's Super-Powered Evil Side, which had the slight downside of his having to burn for all eternity. Villainous Sacrifice, anyone?
Bowser from Super Mario, partially as the result of Villain Decay. He's done some pretty evil things before in order to win Peach's affection and take over the Mushroom World, including possibly unthinkable things like nearly bringing about the end of the universe and possibly himself with it unintentionally, the latter not part of his plan, but he's unaware of such a possible risk. On several occasions, however, he's forced to team up with the Plumbers (and sometimes even Peach herself) to defeat an even greater threat, often because said threat has interfered with his plans, but he nevertheless unwittingly counters the evil things with some good things to an extent. One notable example is in Super Paper Mario, where Bowser and Peach are both kidnapped, and forcibly married by a third party to bring about the end of the world. Bowser is a fully playable character in this game, and at one point, Peach even calls him "sweet". (The fact that he still believes his marriage to Peach is valid helps as well...)
- This is especially apparent in his interactions with his minions. One would think that after all of his repeated failures, Bowser's subjects would stop listening to him, and the only reason they would still obey him is out of fear. This isn't true at all. Bowser's minions ADORE their ruler, and seeing him in scenarios like his conversation with an AWOL Goomba in Super Mario RPG makes it easy to see why.
Rubicante from Final Fantasy IV is one of the four elemental archfiends serving under Golbez. Nevertheless, he apologizes to a protagonist for his parents getting turned into monstrosities by a subordinate, heals the party before fighting them to ensure that the fight is a fair one, and when defeated for the second and last time, accepts his defeat with 'Farewell, valiants.'
- Golbez himself gains this characterization in Dissidia Final Fantasy, giving advice to his brother and the other heroes even while fighting them. It's revealed that he's actually working for Cosmos to end the cycle of battle.
In Super Robot Wars Original Generations, Axel Almer's personality is changed into this (from the sadistic Jerkass seen in OG); now he is a man devoted to stopping Beowulf (Kyosuke's alternate diminsinon Evil Twin) because he REALLY is dangerous, not out of a personal grudge. Some of his new Noble Demon acts includes:
- When he tears off the Alt Eisen's arm, it's because he wants to check if this is the same Beowulf he fought or not (Beowulf's mech had the abilty to regenerate). Turns out, it's not, and he shows genuine surprise. So he ceases his relentless pursuit of Kyosuke, but still tries to defeat him because there is still the risk that he might become Beowulf. In OG, he did that out of sadistic fun, proving how much of a bastard he was. And even if it had been proven that Kyosuke was not Beowulf, he still delusionally thought they were the same.
- When Lamia defects from the Shadow Mirror and escapes captivity, instead of cursing about how she could escape, Axel says, "W17, turn yourself back into custody. If you do, I'll forget that you ever tried to betray us." Still refused, but it shows more of his generosity despite being a villain, if you compare that to what he did in the previous incarnation (where he mocked her for being 'a true broken doll').
- When he confronts Raul, the latter is furious because Axel interfered with him in the past, causing his sister Fiona to be caught in a time vortex and go missing. Instead of mocking him for his weakness (which is what he would do if he's still his previous self), Axel instead tells him that it's nothing personal. "It's war, casualties are expected, your sister just happens to be one. Mature up, boy."
- Of course, with all those...his eventual fate becomes obvious.
- In the Animated Adaptation of the second game: in the last episode, after realizing that the Shadow Mirror forces have been destroyed and he's the last member left, he fights alongside with the Kyosuke and co. to stop the Einsts and Beowulf, stating that "The world we sought was denied. But I will not let him [destroy and recreate] this one!"
Neverwinter Nights 2 has Mephasm, who is quite nice for a demon (though that may be a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" situation more than any actual kindness on his part).
- You can later gain the ability to summon Mephasm in the basement of your home base. Whilst he is courteous and polite, he thoroughly warns you against trying to make a deal with him, telling you that, ultimately, it will not be worth it. However, it should be noted that you can still go ahead and do it.
In Legacy of Kain, Kain and Raziel certainly qualify. They're a vampire and a soul sucking wraith, respectively, but are both trying, in their own way, to do what's good for the world, a few massacred townspeople notwithstanding. Kain gets some extra points for being an actual nobleman before his death.
Metal Gear Solid's Sniper Wolf, who—despite being a ruthlessly efficient killer—is a genuinely kind individual. Her good deeds include not needlessly slaughtering the bases dogs, letting Meryl live, and being the only member of Foxhound to display any actual kindness towards Otacon. Several other MGS villains probably also qualify.
- The Sorrow from MGS3 probably falls under this category. He doesn't attack Snake, he just makes him confront all of the people that he's killed.
The battle music played when fighting the Devil Lords in Romancing SaGa 3 is called "4 Noble Devils".
Elvis from God Hand is actually a pretty nice guy, for a demon. At one point, he punishes a pair of mooks for disrespecting one of their dead victims - by uppercutting them into the stratosphere. After their third and final bout, Gene himself laments that they couldn't be friends.
Planescape: Torment features a *literal* Noble Demon (almost, since, in that setting, the difference between demons and devils is pretty significant), Fjhull Forked-Tongue. A Lawful Evil and unrepentant devil who (through an unwise contract) is forced to do good.
- Also, the intentional inversion appears in the same arc of the game: Trias the Betrayer, a lying angel with a grudge against Heaven and a willingness to cross the Moral Event Horizon.
Star FOX's Wolf O'Donnell qualifies, what with also being The Rival and Fox's Enemy Mine.
Sword Man of Mega Man 8 apologizes before the fight, saying "I've got orders." He compliments you if you completely avoid his Fire Slash attack, and congratulates you when you defeat him.
Several of the demons in Graffiti Kingdom actually seem like decent people while still embracing their position as troublemakers, but the one who plays it the straightest is Tablet, who is sneaky, sarcastic, always creepily smirking, and, as the local rival, challenges the protagonists to path-interrupting duels from time to time, not to mention, before the ending, he kills his own father and takes his place as Satan and is reluctant to become "good" upon Pixel's suggestion exactly because he's a demon, yet he helps Pixel out and encourages him from time to time, though it's pretty heavily implied it's out of loneliness rather than morals.
In Overlord, despite the fact that you are playing an Evil Overlord, you are given the option to choose the lesser of evils, usually involving giving the civilians what they need and saving the elves. Gnarl, who is Card-Carrying Villain incarnate, justifies this as Pragmatic Villainy, telling you that you will need living servants for your evil empire and that "Gratitude comes with it's own rewards." The sequel (which apparently does confirm that the previous Overlord was a Noble Demon) does away with this, the Overlad instead opts to just brainwash the populace into slavery.
Illidan in Warcraft III qualifies, as do some of his followers.
- The Death Knight Thassarian from World of Warcraft. He is, by far, the most polite of the Death Knights, even showing genuine concern when one of his comrades is captured, causing the other Death Knights to look down on him. When he has the chance, he spares Koltira's brother's life, remembering his own mother's death. In fact, when the Knights of the Ebon Blade defect from the Scourge, he's the first Death Knight to rejoin the Alliance.
  - Koltira Deathweaver as well. In one breath, he curses Thassarian's foolishness for sending you to rescue him, in the next, he risks his life to help you escape safely by drawing the attention of all the Scarlet knights in the keep. This is fresh off the torture table, too, which is pretty impressive.
  - Thassarian and Koltira managed to become good friends during their time as Scourges, even though they were bound to the will of an Omnicidal Maniac who filled them with hatred to make them effective killing machines.
A variation occurs in Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier. Ezel Granada is extremely civil to his enemies, including both your party and the general whose forces his army decimated in a bloody war ten years ago. He seems like a perfect candidate for this trope, until you learn that he may actually be the most outright heroic character in the game, having personally put a stop to the war and spent the last ten years shouldering the burden of protecting the Endless Frontier from the Einst. He still thinks that he deserves to be called a villain, though.
The main protagonists of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and GTA IV fit this trope. Both are willing to kill, steal, and do violent criminal acts, while they have their better sides as well.
- Niko Bellic is definitely a good example, as in game states that Niko's mother, Milica, regretted that a decent person like Niko was forced to grow up in such a harsh environment (during the difficult times of the Yugoslav Wars).
Sabata, the, er, Dark Magical Boy in the Boktai series is like this after his Heel Face Turn. He really believes in Darwinism, really! The Dark is superior to Light, he's just helping out for the challenge. Helping little girls recover their cats is just the result of the heroes' bad influence.
Alastor from Viewtiful Joe is a rather transparent example.
- More obvious in the anime than the games, as he comes off as the Noble Demon from the start. In the games, he seems more like a self-proclaimed rival to Joe, but in Double Trouble!! seemingly sacrifices himself to save Joe and his sister. He gets better, though.
Griff from Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale has this going on, especially after his Defeat Means Friendship incident. He plays it to the hilt, too, including such gems as:

Griff: I demand you sell this to me! ...Politely, of course.

Asmodeus from Painkiller is a friendly little demon that helps Daniel in his battle against Satan's generals. Turns out, he is Satan in disguise and his generals were plotting against him.
This describes you in Star Wars: The Old Republic if you are a Sith Empire character who keeps on choosing Light Side options. More than a few NPCs on said side are either this or Affably Evil.
- Of course, this depends on your specific class; Light sided Imperial characters can run the entire Sliding Scale of Anti-Villains; Inquisitors are pretty much type II by default due to their backstory and can go higher, Agents can easily hit type III or even Type IV, and while the Bounty Hunter is a Chaotic Neutral Hitman with a Heart at best and the Light Sided Sith Warrior is generally a type I, both can come across pretty heroic in certain situations.
- As far as NPCs go, Keeper is the head of Imperial Intelligence while remaining pragmatic at worst. He works for the Sith though it's clear that he dislikes their wanton cruelty but is smart enough not to say anything to their face. His main problem with an idealistic Agent is that he's concerned that this line of work will leave them traumatized and generally remains a Reasonable Authority Figure. In the end, he even states that he's never lost sight of his goal of improving the Empire, a goal that he believes that he's failed at.
Lord Dearche, the King of Darkness in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Gears of Destiny becomes this by the end of the game. After being convinced by her retainers that the times has changed and a plan that revolves around destroying everyone and everything isn't as meaningful nowadays, she decides that her new plan will involve starting over in a new planet and making the people there accept her as their ruler. This evil, evil plan of hers begins with saving the Unbreakable Darkness from her out of control powers and saving The Multiverse in the process, and continues with an extensive terra-forming project to save a planet that was on its last legs. Of course, reminding her of what she's doing will make her break out in hives.
Aria T'Loak, from the Mass Effect series. She might be the main crime overlord on Omega, but she's willing to give intel to Shepard, help out people who are in a bad way, and in 3, she puts her plans on hold because she realizes attacking something that isn't a Reaper doesn't help the cause.
Banjo-Kazooie: Though she was assured by the makers of the board that she wouldn't have to worry about losing to Banjo and Kazooie on her game show, Gruntilda nonetheless allows Banjo and Kazooie to rescue Tooty as she promised after winning the game, though she does try to tempt them into taking two other prizes (Banjo and Kazooie probably wouldn't want a Gruntilda doll since she kidnapped Tooty in the first place though). Not so much in the second game where it's implied that she still attempted to crush Banjo and Kazooie underneath a one ton weight even when they won at her game show, which would theoretically have only happened to them if they lost.
Lahmu is a downplayed example from Shin Megami Tensei V. He had every reason to hate YHVH (and had his reasons for creating a new world), just as Satori had every reason to hate the bullies that were oppressing her. And he did not stop Tao from dissuading her from her course of action, nor did he encourage her to kill her friend. But when he merged with Satori, he ended up creating something completely insane, because both of them were insane to begin with. So the relationship was ultimately parasitic for them both.

Back to Noble Demon