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Retired Monster: Difference between revisions
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Perhaps he finally came out worse for wear after a run-in with the guy who's now [[The Obi-Wan]]. Maybe he was caught and sent into exile and now has at least enough fear of the authorities to not put a toe out of line. Then again, often, they have just literally retired, saying "I'm too old for this" and using their pension fund of Nazi gold to support a life of margaritas on the beach.
They've never said sorry, or at least never meant it, there was no [[Heel Face Turn]] and they are not [[The Atoner]] who'll help to make up for some wrong. No, they'll just sit back, but if a character underestimates their evil, if they think that because they aren't as bad as the more active monsters, that they're OK, they may get a horrid reminder of what the
Monsters who don't retire, or come out of retirement and continue to be evil in old age, can become [[Evil Old Folks]]. [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Karma Houdini]], due to the fact that very few of this type of character are found in jail. Compare the [[Retired Badass]], one of several good counterparts, and the [[Retired Outlaw]], which may occasionally overlap. Contrast [[The Atoner]].
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Despite settling down on Earth and attempting to save it on several occasions, Vegeta of ''[[Dragon Ball]] Z'' has never explicitly been shown to express any guilt, angst or shame for his decades long life of murder, tyranny and genocide.
** During the Buu saga, he makes this speech about how he ''wanted'' to go back to the days when he was a cold-hearted, ruthless brute who thought of nothing but causing pain and suffering to others. An episode earlier, when he {{spoiler|becomes Majin}}, he proclaims to the Supreme Kai, "No! I am not innocent!" He knows he's an evil monster and is not ashamed of it.
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* Tomoe from ''[[Kamisama Kiss]]'' used to be a ruthless demonic murderer, bandit/warlord before the Land God Mikage recruited him to be his familiar. He still isn't exactly a nice guy (just ask Kurama, Mizuki or anybody else who has ever pissed him off) and sometimes dreams of going back to the 'good old days.'
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Paul Moses from ''[[RED]]'' by Warren Ellis. At least at the start of the story. His last line is: "I'm the monster. Do your best."
* The original premise of ''[[Nexus (comics)|Nexus]]'' was that the title character was compelled by [[Touched by Vorlons|alien forces]] to seek out and execute mass murderers. Most of them were [[Complete Monster|complete monsters,]] but some actually were repentant or just old and tired, and the alien forcing Nexus to kill them didn't care. Nexus was not at all happy about this.
* In ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)|Preacher]]'', Gunther Hahn, the Angel of Death and, at the end of the story, {{spoiler|the Saint of Killers}} all qualify.
* A future, senile version of [[Doctor Doom]] appearing in [[X Factor]] has faded away into a quiet life in his empty, decaying castle attended to by robot servants. But he still builds the occasional [[Death Ray]] in his more lucid moments.
* One of the [[Fantastic Four]]'s oldest enemies (the first, in fact) was the Mole Man. After years of trying to gain revenge against civilization for neglecting him by leading the giant beasts of Monster Island against cities, he decided he was tired of it, and retired from villainy. For the most part. While he's had enough of being in the limelight, things tend to happen that drag him back into it from time to time...
* Sidewinder, a villain usually associated with [[Captain America]], went into semi-retirement when he led the Serpent Society, being at most [[Non-Action Big Bad| a non-action villain]]. He moved to full retirement after the Society double-crossed him.
* Oswald Cobblepot - AKA The Penguin - became this in the ''[[Batman]]'' comics in the 1990s. Somewhere along the way, he decided he enjoyed being wealthy, having lots of famous friends, and being seen in the company of beautiful women more than he enjoyed being a crook - so he "officially" retired from crime and opened the Iceberg Lounge, one of Gotham City's most popular casino-nightclubs (and for that matter, he also [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking| stopped wearing his top hat]]). However, the Penguin didn't withdraw from crime entirely: while he never actively gets into mischief, he still runs a gang and has them do all his dirty work. Batman and other Gotham heroes tolerate this because Cobblepot sometimes "overhears" information they need in his nightclub that he's willing to share - off the record. So, [[Villain with Good Publicity]] meets this trope.
* ''[[Spider-Man]]'':
** [[Mr. Fixit| The Tinkerer]] gave up committing crimes himself after he barely survived a story where his [[Robot Buddy]] Toy was destroyed. He still works as a weapons supplier to any supervillain (and shadier hero) willing to pay.
** Another Spider-Man foe that fits is Roderick Kingsley aka Hobgoblin, who has a tendency to go in and out of retirement from supervillainy for months or years at a time during which he enjoys his ill-gotten gains. Every now and then he goes back to being Hobgoblin, usually to defend his villain cred.
==
* Succubus matriarch Blacksky from ''[[The Return (fanfic)|The Return]]'', who believes world domination is just too boring these days.▼
* Toltiir, who originated in 1990s-vintage stories written by Gregg "Metroanime" Sharp about his ''[[The Fantasy Trip]]'' campaign but became a pivotal figure in his later anime fanfiction (most prominently the cycle of stories called ''[[The Bet (fan work)|The Bet]]'') used to be an [[Eldritch Abomination|Elder God of Chaos]] aeons ago, but in more recent eras has been satisfied to be a much more relaxed god of Mischief instead. Although Sharp hasn't written anything with Toltiir in it since the early 2000s, Toltiir has evolved into something of a [[Public Domain Character]] for fan writers regardless of fandom who have need of a mostly-benevolent Random Omnipotent Being with a snarky sense of humor. As of the early 2020s he's still showing up in stories being written for fandoms as far-ranging as ''[[Worm]]''.
== [[Film]] ==
* In ''[[Silence of the Lambs]]'', Hannibal Lecter plays this role, but the cannibalistic serial killer isn't very committed to leaving his days as a [[Complete Monster]] behind.
* ''[[Con Air]]'' features a rather shockingly congenial former serial killer. Played by Steve Buscemi who pulls off a ''very'' creepy performance.
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* [[Christopher Walken|Vincenzo Coccotti]] of ''[[True Romance]]'', who hasn't killed anybody...since 1984. {{spoiler|Until now.}}
== [[Literature]] ==
* Albert, [[The Grim Reaper|Death's]] servant in the ''[[Discworld]]'' books, seems like little more than a crusty old [[Jerkass]]. The wizard Alberto Malich, however, was a tyrannous bastard who ran the Unseen University like a boot camp and happily cursed any Muggles who stood up to him into oblivion, before disappearing while trying to attain immortality by performing the rite to summon Death backwards. Having achieved his goal of immortality in a roundabout way, Albert is actually content just to serve Death and do nobody any harm, especially considering there's a ''very'' nasty fate waiting for him if he ever does die.
** Part of this is [[Characterization Marches On]]. His past was mentioned only in the earlier books, when his characterization was less pleasant.
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* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by a nurse speculating about her patient's past history in [[Douglas Adams]]' ''[[The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul]]'', though {{spoiler|Odin}} later comes off as more of a trickster than anything else.
* According to [[The Onion]]'s ''Our Dumb World'', Argentina is ''full'' of retired Nazis that fit this description, who will ''not shut up'' about that one time they killed a Jewish girl by hitting her over the head with their rifle.
* ''[[The Culture]]'' character {{spoiler|Zakalawe, of ''Use of Weapons''}} turns out to be one of these. Once essentially an [[Evil Overlord]], who commmited acts of mass murder and was crazy enough to {{spoiler|[[Moral Event Horizon|create a chair from his half-sister/lover's corpse and then darn the cushions with her skin]]}}. However, he ends up [[Being Evil Sucks|hating what he did]], and going through a bunch of mental breakdowns before ultimately becoming [[Bored with Insanity]] enough to present himself as relatively decent (if amusingly sociopathic) person. He does lean in the direction of [[The Atoner]], but is sort of in too much denial to make it.
* ''[[Soon I Will Be Invincible]]''{{'}}s Baron Ether. He was the world's first supervillain, and he's committed every crime you can think of, now he's a
* An odd example both for being a main character and for being relatively young is Chane the vampire from the ''[[Saga of the Noble Dead]]''; in the series' first arc he was a sadistic [[Psycho for Hire]], but ultimately had a [[Heel Realization]] and cut back on the sadism (because it meant he'd lost control; don't think for a moment he seriously regrets the deaths themselves). Currently the [[Token Evil Teammate]] trying to help stop the [[Eldritch Abomination|much, much worse things in his universe]], and is working somewhat to improve his behavior, if only for the sake of his [[Morality Pet]]'s sensibilities rather than guilt. Whether he'll ultimately backslide or get a [[Heel Face Turn]] fully is as of yet unknown.
* In ''[[Lonely Werewolf Girl]]'' [[Our Demons Are Different|Fire-Queen]] Malveria is presented as a fashion-obsessed, [[Shipper on Deck|matchmaking]], [[Ditz]], but this because she's already killed all her serious enemies long ago and (currently) finds her title of "Persecutor of Mankind" to be boring. In Book two someone from her [[Complete Monster]] days turns up as the [[Big Bad]] of the story to tell her [[Nice Job Breaking It, Herod]].
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** In the end, {{spoiler|he is content with "merely" being a [[Man Behind the Man]] via [[Mind Control]] magic.}}
* The ''[[Necroscope]] Saga'' has Faethor Ferenczy, retired due to death. In this series that is no bar to being an active participant and spends his time being Harry's [[Spirit Advisor]]. His one attempt to come out of retirement, does not go well for him.
* ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'': In the original novel by Gaston Leroux, After his [[From Nobody to Nightmare]] phase, Erik, the titular phantom:
{{quote|Of course, he had to leave the Sultan's service for the same reasons that made him fly from Persia: [[He Knows Too Much|He knew too much]]. Then, tired of his adventurous, formidable and monstrous life, he longed to be some one [[I Just Want to Be Normal|"like everybody else."]] And he became a contractor, like any ordinary contractor, building ordinary houses with ordinary bricks. He tendered for part of the foundations in the Opera. His estimate was accepted. }}
* In [[Stephen King]]'s novella
* Sergeant Bothari in The ''[[Vorkosigan Saga]]'' is a fairly sympathetic example of this, having a tramatic and abusive childhood which left him with no sense of self, instead mirroring however others wanted him to be. He had a truly horrible and abusive childhood, with the result that he ended up with no sense of self, and would be whatever others wanted him to be. Bothari is undisputably a sociopath, and when under the command of a sadistic officer, regularly followed orders to rape and torture prisoners. However, following a [[Sudden Principled Stand]], he ends up as a trusted bodyguard/ [[Psycho Sidekick]] of Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan, as Cordelia is able to convince him to believe in an image of himself as an honorable soldier- and he doesn't really feel guilt for his past actions, as he sort of convinces himself that they didn't happen. His lack of true remorse is showcased ''The Warrior's Apprentice'', in an incident where Miles [[Dirty Business|had no choice]] but to let Bothari perform the [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]] on an enemy soldier. Miles notes Bothari's unhealthy eagerness to obey this order, and Bothari proceeds to torture the man to death with sadistic glee.
** Bothari is as much a rape victim as a rapist. A man with power of life and death was giving commands to an insane person who could not control his conscience. That is hardly an excuse for Bothari (Bothari doesn't even excuse himself) but the fact is, the point isn't even mentioned in the book.
** Grandma Arqua is hard not to interpret as this, in ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' even if the book is more lighthearted. She is a [[Downplayed Trope|downplayed example]] for she apparently never committed atrocities on her own account-strictly speaking. However she was a Haut consort when a Barrayaran city was blown up and recorded the results of [[Mad Scientist|genetic experiments]] on Barrayarans. And as no Barrayaran would volunteer for such a thing they had to be upon involuntary victims. She may not have initiated the project but at least consented and it is hard not to interpret her as a war criminal. In this case [[The Emperor]] does not take revenge, partly because the Arquas were wanted as allies, and perhaps partly not to grieve his new cousin-in-law.
* Spiff from ''[[The Borribles]]'' appears to be a [[Cool Old Guy|grandfatherly]] (as much as the eternally-prepubescent Borribles can be) [[Retired Badass]] who never leaves his home, but with the right motivation he comes out and modern Borribles learn quickly why he earned the name [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|"Spiff the Spifflicator"]] during the reign of Queen Victoria.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Star Trek
** Kodos the Executioner from the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' episode "The Conscience of the King". He was a notorious tyrant who had murdered thousands in a massacre decades before the date of the episode. The true villain of the episode, however, is his daughter, who tries to kill every remaining witness of the crime - this includes Kirk - to prevent her father from being arrested for it. Kodos dies when she tries to kill Kirk, taking a laser blast meant for him, making him a somewhat tragic figure as his past crimes not only catch up to haunt him but to destroy the one thing in his life he had hoped to keep pure and untainted.
** In one episode the protagonists meet a Cardassian seems to have had a similar background involving a forced labour camp... or did he? {{spoiler|er, yes, but he was the filing clerk pretending to be the camp commandant after being driven mad by guilt and was trying to air the atrocity out for all to see and get himself executed as penance}}▼
** ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'':
▲*** In one episode the protagonists meet a Cardassian seems to have had a
*** Supporting character Garak, who is an example of the 'got caught and exiled' variety. Not sure if he fits the trope exactly, since he does seem to regret some of the things he did {{spoiler|(as he found out after torturing Odo, and his speech after the Dominion War ends)}} even if he never actually says sorry.
*** Also the man who did the exiling, Enabran Tain, Garak's superior {{spoiler|and father}} and the man who ran the Obsidian Order for twenty years. He actually comes out of retirement and forges an alliance with the Tal Shiar to strike at the Dominion preemptively. This doesn't end well.
** The Maquis crewmembers on ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' could also be considered a variant of this, as they were all former resistance fights and terrorists who had done some unsavoury things to the Cardassians in the past. The most [[egregious]] example would be Lon Suder, who only joined up with the Maquis to satiate his need to kill.
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'': Deathwalker. Though she still remained a [[Complete Monster]], she just wanted to get everyone else to do her dirty work.
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* {{spoiler|Granny}} in ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]'', who used to be [[The Big Bad Wolf]].
== [[Music]] ==
* Alestorm's song [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|''Pirate Song'']] seems to be about an old pirate regretting his days as a [[Complete Monster]], which continues until the first chorus...
{{quote|''And for what?
''I've killed and I've shot
''And reddened the cold tears of children with blood
''And if I could go back and make my amends
''I'd make all those mistakes again
''I'd kill every last one of those bastards, my friend!}}
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'':
** The demon lord Pale Night is an ancient being that many other demon lords claim is their mother (and some claim the current race of demons can trace their bloodline back to). Nowadays, she tends to stay in her palace, distancing herself from the mortals, the Blood War, and other demons.... But, may the gods help anyone she catches trespassing on her property. Some she turns into souless husks whom she keeps as trophies (and guardians) while others she lets go, only to live with the horrors they've seen forever.
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** A few ancient evil gods match this Trope; legends say they were once powerful gods, but because this cosmology is one where [[Gods Need Prayer Badly]], these individuals suffered as their races became weaker and lost their influence on mortal worlds, becoming slothful and neglected due to the lack of worship. (This happens to non-evil gods too sometimes, but not as often, for some reason.) Examples include Ramenos, the frog-god of the bullywugs, Merrshaulk, the god of the yuan-ti (a race that challenged humans for dominance and lost), Laogzed, the deity worshipped by troglodytes (now little more than a giant lizard that other gods think of as a divine garbage disposal), and Gorellik, who used to be the patron deity of gnolls until that position was usurped by the demon lord Yeenoghu, causing him to wander the lower planes, seemingly with no purpose.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'':
** Fhjull Forked-Tongue, an unrepentant devil who was tricked into signing a [[Deal with the Devil|deal with an angel]] that obligated him to do good. This got him thrown out of the hellish hierarchy, mutilated, and led to him hiding out in a place where NO ONE could find him just so that he doesn't have to actually abide by the contract (which roughly says "Give charity to anyone who asks.")
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* Certainly Travis in [[No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle|No More Heroes 2 Desperate Struggle]]. He doesn't even remember the first assassin he killed when his brother comes for revenge. Well, he is this to a point...{{spoiler|he most likely still hasn't gotten past how he dishonored Holly Summers by not killing her in battle when she wanted such a fate.}} Otherwise, he doesn't care to get back into the games until {{spoiler|Bishop}} is killed and Sylvia "convinces" him, perfectly fine with his pathetic lifestyle. It's mainly because killing has become boring to him after killing the best of the best. He does regret {{spoiler|killing Matt's cheerleaders}} but that and {{spoiler|Holly}} seem to be is only two regrets.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Dan of ''[[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures]]'', has a mother who <s>might be</s> is this. Dan has never known her except as his and his half-sister's loving mother, so he was pretty [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_814.php shocked] to find out what she [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_811.php used to be like].
* Mr Garrott (the eldest), from ''[[The Adventures of
== [[Web Original]] ==
▲* Succubus matriarch Blacksky from ''[[The Return (fanfic)|The Return]]'' who believes world domination is just too boring these days.
* In the Eridanus Galaxy online web game [[Imperium Nova]], the Vampire Count Sergio Von Carstein announced his retirement at the age of 74 after a number of evil acts, including brutally suppressing several human and vampire rebellions, engineering a plague so he could reanimated the corpses to work his farms, attempting to brutally murder several fellow nobles, hooking up hundreds of thousands of humans to blood extraction machines, creating a gigantic zombie horde out of a military cemetery, and a career in organized crime.
* Rich from the ''[[MSF High Forum]]'', pretty much qualifies. There's a reason Mel'lon does not like him.
* Not all the teachers and staff at [[Super-Hero School|Whateley Academy]] in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' are retired super'''heroes'''. The story "Test Tubes Babies" ultimately reveals that one of the teachers we know is a retired supervillain and mass murderer. In "Mimeographic" we find out that {{spoiler|the first house father of the school}} was a retired evil wizard.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'', this is Zigzagged with "Old Snake", an "urban cowboy" type who is obviously an older [[G.I. Joe|Cobra Commander]]. While Cobra itself seems to be defunct, Old Snake seems a semi-retired free agent, still willing to use sell use of his old organization's technology to other criminals. While still a threat, he's not as much of one.
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[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:No Real Life Examples, Please]]
[[Category:Tropes in Retirement]]
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