Predecessor Villain: Difference between revisions
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At some point in the backstory, a villain existed who was the forerunner to the current [[Big Bad]]- either because they were both part of a direct line of succession, or just because the [[Big Bad]] uses similar methods and espouses similar beliefs. The '''Predecessor Villain''' may appear in flashbacks, but will usually have no direct role in the story (unless it turns out to be [[Hijacked by Ganon]], from an in-universe standpoint)- usually, though not always, they are a [[Posthumous Character]].
May be used to reinforce a theme of history being cyclic, or just to give the current [[Big Bad]] a well of secrets and power to mine. Sometimes, particularly if the current [[Big Bad]] is the [[Evil Counterpart]] to [[The Hero]], then the
Compare and contrast [[Bigger Bad]] for a somewhat similar idea, except that the [[Bigger Bad]] still exists during the story but takes little to no active role in it, rather than having existed in the story's past.
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* {{spoiler|Rau Le Creuset}} [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' is this to {{spoiler|Gilbert Durandal}}, [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]''. The two of them were friends, and the former's depression and disgust with the world are what ultimately led to the latter becoming the man he is today. Take {{spoiler|Le Creuset}} out of the equation, and you take out {{spoiler|Durandal}}, as all of his actions are rooted in {{spoiler|Le Creuset}}'s [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] [[Omnicidal Maniac]] philosophy.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [[Batman]] has some of the most colorful [[Rogues Gallery]] villains in the history of comics, many of whom had careers that ended before his started - and, in some cases and continuities, died before he was even born:
* In some continuities, the madmen that [[Batman]] continually fights and their influence on Gotham started with villains who died decades before he was born. Amadeus Arkham was the founder of the notorious asylum named after him. Driven mad himself when a criminally insane serial killer named "Mad Dog" Hawkins rapes and murder his wife and daughter, Arkham himself kills his own mother (whose mental illness was the reason he founded the asylum in the first place) he conducts a dark ritual (rumored to involve cannibalizing the corpses of his family) attempting to use sorcery and black magic to bind an evil spirit to himself that he calls "The Bat". He then spends months torturing Hawkins to death in what he claims is "treatment", then proceeds to do the same to other patients in his care, doing so even after being caught and committed to his own asylum. In spirit, his legacy seems to have cursed Arkham itself, turning it into a hotbed of madness. ▼
** Joe Chill, the mugger who killed his parents, and in many cases, Batman's [[Starter Villain]]. He does appear in a few stories, mostly Flashbacks, but in most, he's either dead or in prison and clearly not a threat.
▲**
** In ''most'' continuities, mobster Tony Zucco only appears in [[flashback]]s, but was responsible for killing [[Robin|Dick Greyson's]] parents, cementing him as one of the most vile and influential crooks in the franchise.
* In Marvel Comics, there were the Elder Gods. Only two of them (Gaea and Oshtur) did not degenerate into demons and turn on each other, threatening to destroy creation. Gaea spawned Atum - an embodiment of the sun - to combat them, and only [[Mad God| Set]] and [[God of Evil| Chthon]] survived.
== [[Film]] ==
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== [[Literature]] ==
*
** Anyone who thinks the balrog that Gandalf slew (Durin’s Bane) was terrifying should have seen their king, Gothmog. This fiend was one of Morgoth’s most powerful servants during the First Age, his raw might the entire reason Morgoth appointed him ruler of his kind. Detailing his evil deeds would take far too much time, but suffice to say he was a major figure in many important conflicts during the First Age before he was slain by Ecthelion during the Fall of Gondolin.
** As dangerous as Smaug was, he was hardly the mightiest dragon. The original dragons were created by Morgoth during the first age using a combination of dark magic and elemental fire, and his first success among them was Glauron. Called “the Father of Dragons” (implying he might be [[Monster Progenitor|the progenitor of the entire race]]) Glauron had no wings, but was a cunning fiend with a hypnotic gaze that could enspell entire armies or drive them mad, when he had reason not to incinerate them with his fiery breath. Another of Morgoth’s chief lieutenants, his most notorious deeds was the destruction of the elven realm of Nargothrond and the spell he cast on Niënor, causing her to lose her memory and causing the tragic events of the Children of Hurin. While he was eventually slain by Turin, he clearly left his mark on Middle Earth.
** During the War of Wrath, Morgoth created the stronger winged dragons, and the worst among them was Ancalagon the Black, possibly the mightiest dragon who ever lived. To give an example of how powerful he was, Gandalf claimed “not even” Ancalagon’s breath could harm the One Ring, implying that Ancalagon’s destructive power was second only to Sauron. His entry into the War of Wrath nearly turned the tide in Morgoth’s favor, and seeing as his enemies in that conflict were [[Council of Angels|the Valar]] themselves, it should give you an idea of how deadly he was. His eventual death is what sealed Morgoth’s fate, ensuring his final defeat.
** While Shelob was little more than a [[Giant Spider]], she was spawned from a godlike entity called Ungoliant, an [[Villainous Glutton|embodiment of gluttony and greed]]. Not even the Valar knew where she came from, but most believed she was spawned by the Darkness itself, making her an offspring of [[Pure Evil]]. So powerful that she captured and nearly devoured Morgoth (back when he was still called Melkor), she only failed when the balrogs came to their master’s rescue, but even then, not even the aforementioned Gothmog could slay her, and it was after this battle that [[Monster Progenitor|she spawned many offspring]], including Shelob and the evil spiders of Mirkwood. It is not known how (or even whether) she met her end, but many believe she became so greedy, she eventually devoured herself.
** A more lighthearted example was King Golfimble, mentioned in ''[[The Hobbit (novel)|The Hobbit]]''. An orc chieftain who invaded the Shire in an event called the Battle of the Green Fields, and according to local Shire folklore, he was slain when Bilbo's great-great-granduncle [[Hometown Hero| Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took]] stuck the villain's head clean off with a wooden club. The unfortunate orc's head sailed a hundred yards through the air and fell down a rabbit-hole; which is how the battle was won and [[Just-So Story|the game of golf invented in the same instant.]]
** Also mentioned in ''The Hobbit'', Azog, the orc lord who slew Thrór, Thorin's grandfather. While a version of this character did appear in the movie, it was due to being [[Spared by the Adaptation]]. In the original stories, Azog led the assault on Moria that would lead to the dwarves abandoning it, leading to Thorin and his companions falling on hard times. He and his men not only killed Thrór, they mutilated his body and kept his head for a trophy, Azog also killing Náin before finally being slain himself by Náin's son Dáin. Unfortunately, Azog's own son Bolg sought revenge and led the orc legions in the terrible Battle of the Five Armies.
* In ''[[Harry Potter]]'', Salazar Slytherin and Gellert Grindelwald were both predecessors to [[Big Bad|Lord Voldemort]], but neither were nearly as bad as him. Slytherin (a friend of [[Big Good|Gryffindor]]) is implied to have undergone [[Historical Villain Upgrade]] in-universe; Grindelwald was imprisoned and refused to help Voldemort when Voldemort called on him (Voldemort ultimately got what he wanted anyway, but Grindelwald still didn't help him). Not to mention that it's likely he threw the decisive duel with Dumbledore.
* From the ''Dragon Crown War'' series, the actions of a [[Sorcerous Overlord]] named Kirun play a large role in shaping the settings' history, but the [[Big Bad]] is his ex-[[Bastard Understudy]], Chytrine.
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* ''[[Soundscape (Darth Wiki)|Soundscape]]'' has Apocesis as the very first [[Eldritch Abomination]] to have ever existed, responsible for desolating Earth and forcing the humans to repopulate into another dimension. At least, [[Urban Legend|that's what the rumors say]].
* All the Sith Lords of the ancient Sith Empire(s) in the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' can be considered predecessors to [[Big Bad|Emperor Palpatine]] and [[The Dragon|Darth Vader]] from [[Star Wars]], Darth Bane especially.
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* In an old series of ''[[Garfield]]'' strips, [https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/garfield/images/7/7c/1979-08-08.gif/revision/latest?cb=20180809184827 Garfield relates] how, during the [[Dark Ages]], the legendary rat catcher Fluffy the Fierce killed every rat but one, before being defeated by [[Rodent of Unusual Size|Matt the Rat]]. Who not coincidentally, coined the phrase, "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!"
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Planescape]]'':
** Probably Aoskar, the god of portals. It's never stated whether he was a force for Good, Evil, or neither, but he was clearly a danger to Sigil when he tried to usurp the Lady's rule. Whatever the case, he failed; the Lady killed him, his cult is extinct and his temple is destroyed, now used as the headquarters of the Athar, who use it as "proof" of their claims that the gods are frauds. Most of the time, Aoskar is spoken of as a precautionary tale for other would-be usurpers.
** Cantrum, the founder and original leader of the Dark Eight, who was assassinated early on (some say by a heroic and mighty paladin, others say by an abishai who got lucky). Whatever the case, his death serves to remind devils that, no matter how strong you are, you are ''never'' invincible.
* In ''[[Dark Sun]]'' setting, the halfling sorcerer king [[A Nazi By Any Other Name| Rajaat]] is the biggest reason Athas became the post-apocalyptic [[Death World]] it is today. Obsessed with returning the world to its Blue Age, an period when the world was covered by a vast ocean and ruled by halflings, Rajaat orchestrated the [[Would Be Rude to Say Genocide|Cleansing Wars]], where he sought to exterminate all of the "impure" races. He ordered his army to wage a war of genocide against all non-humans, but eventually they turned against humans as well. Eventually, his own generals turned against him, defeating him and sealing him in some extra-dimensional prison, but before that happened, the war had caused the extinction of all gnomes, orcs, goblins, kobolds, ogres, lizard men, fey races, and trolls on Athas, while the populations of the dwarves, elves, and giants had been reduced dramatically. Rajaat's own people, the halflings, fared the worst; they survived, but degenerated into savage cannibals. Worst of all, Rajat [[Enemy to All Living Things| introduced Defiler magic to Athas]], a form of sorcery that use life itself as fuel, which reduced Athas to the barren wasteland that it is today.
* The Slarecans in ''[[Scarred Lands]]'' setting were a race of [[Evil Sorcerer]]s who refused to ally themselves with the gods ''or'' the titans, and as a result, were wiped out in the war that reduced Scarn to its current state. While believed extinct, their wicked legacy survives in the monsters and cursed artifacts they created. Sages often point to these fiends as proof that Scarn's current state is not as bad as the alternative might have been, as subjugation and enslavement by the Slarecans might have been far worse.
== [[Video Games]] ==
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* In ''[[Cave Story]]'', Halda, Anacpohne, and Miakid preceded The Doctor in the line of [[Artifact of Doom|Demon Crown]]-bearers. Miakid is particularly notable, {{spoiler|as you discover (when you're on track for the best ending) that Quote and Curly fought him ten years ago. The damage they took from this fight was the cause of their amnesia.}}
* Professor Gerald Robotnik, who was the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Sonic Adventure 2]]'' and grandfather to Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. Eggman looked up to him as his role model and was the reason Eggman went into robotics in the first place, considering Gerald a more competent roboticist than himself. While already dead for 50 years by the start of the game, his [[My Death Is Just the Beginning|plan to posthumously kill off humanity]] was so twisted and so difficult to stop that Eggman, in a major case of [[Even Evil Has Standards]], formed an [[Enemy Mine]] with Sonic in order to avert the catastrophe. Eggman has since seen him as a [[Broken Pedestal]].
* The Vault-Tec Corporation in ''[[Fallout]]''. This [[Mega Corp]] created the Vaults and in turn, programed them to orchestrate the horrid experiments done on the dwellers within, thus being the ones responsible for most of the evils present in the [[Bad Future]] setting. Ironically, however, there's no real <ref>Vault-Tec did establish Vault-Tec building their own "Secret Vault" in ''Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel'', the game so awful and full of errors it
** Also, the Enclave, a shadowy government cell that may have helped cause the war to begin with and ruled what was left of America for ten years afterwards. At least the ''original'' members are gone, although [[The Remnant]]s of the Enclave still cause some trouble.
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* Fire Lord Sozin was the one who began the war of conquest that dominates ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', but by the time the series begins, he's long dead of old age, and the Fire Nation is ruled by his grandson, Fire Lord Ozai.
** Also Sozin's son, Azulon. We don't know much about his actions during the war, but he was nasty enough to order Ozai to {{spoiler|murder his own son, Zuko}} when Ozai ticked him off.
* Both [[Big Bad]]s of ''[[My Little Pony:
* In ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'', Yakone is this to both [[Big Bad|Amon]] and [[Big Bad Wannabe|Tarrlok]].
* Ragnar the Wretched, ''[[Amphibia (TV series)|Amphibia]]''. Little is known about him, but seeing as General Yunan will [[Large Ham|''never'' let you forget]] she is the one who defeated him, he must have been ''one'' bad amphibian.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:Predecessor Villain]]
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