Ron the Death Eater/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A protagonist is turned into a bad guy, often so that the Draco in Leather Pants looks better by comparison.

  • Downplayed: Fan Dumb accepts that Hiro is the good guy, but they still tend to over-exaggerate some of the bad things he does.
  • Justified: Draco is depicted as a tall, well-build and handsome blond man, whereas Hiro is presented as rather plain, wearing glasses, a bit short, and overall less physically attractive than Draco. In Canon, this is to show that Light Is Not Good and that appearances are not everything. Unfortunately, Evil Is Sexy.
    • Wanting to create realistic characters, an author gave Hiro some flaws he was supposed to overcome in the process of Character Development. Meanwhile, Draco in his first appearance briefly pretended to be a nice person. Unfortunately, for some fans. the first impression turned out to be too strong.
      • Hiro has overcome many of his minor flaws in the process of character development, but others, such as a bad temper or a gambling or drinking problem, persist and appear to be part of the way that the author will write this character. Draco still puts out the pretense of being a decent person whenever he wishes to convince people to side with him instead of Hiro; unfortunately, some of the fans take this obvious act at face value and believe Hiro is a terrible person due to his flaws.
    • An author created Hiro as a short and stocky middle-aged woman who is in an important leadership position. Draco is a tall, youthful man who opposes many of her actions and is set up as a character one isn't supposed to like. The Fan Dumb latches onto Draco simply because of his physical appearance, and constantly plays down Hiro because she is a woman.
    • As an experiment, the writers behind the show write a Perspective Flip episode which tells the story from Draco's perspective; while this is supposed to show that Draco's perspective is completely warped, some of the fans take it to heart.
    • Hiro is a Jerk Sue.
    • Hiro is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, while Draco is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. Fan Dumb refuses to acknowledge this and often portrays their outside personalities as their true ones. Here's more: Hiro is actually The Messiah, while Draco is the Complete Monster. Thanks to the confusion, Fan Dumb portrays things the exact opposite way.
    • Hiro is a Designated Hero.
    • Draco is an Affably Evil Type IV Anti-Villain, while Hiro is a violent and psychotic Type V Anti-Hero.
  • Inverted: Draco in Leather Pants
  • Subverted: The fans initially play down Hiro in order to build up Draco, but a Crowning Moment of Awesome on the part of Hiro, coupled with Draco's crossing of the Moral Event Horizon, convinces them that Hiro actually is the hero and Draco an irredeemable villain.
    • Draco actually is a hero, and Hiro actually is a villain.
  • Double Subverted: Some of the fans still insist that Hiro is just pretending to be a hero in order to ruin things for the misunderstood Messiah Draco.
  • Parodied: Alice, writing a Fanfic for Fantasmic, simply copy-pastes a transcript of one episode with Hiro and Draco's names switched. This fanfic In Name Only becomes insanely popular.
  • Deconstructed: Draco's flaws are ignored while Hiro's are focused upon and made out to be far worse than Draco's monstrous actions. After putting up with this for some time, Hiro gives up and leaves Draco's apologists to their grim fate. Even in their last breaths, they curse Hiro for not saving them rather than berate Draco for his behavior.
    • Alice's willingness to fangirl the handsome Draco and villainize the heroic Hiro on their series is reflected with her poor judgement in real life. She stays with her abusive boyfriend Drake and decries her friends when they try to help her out of the bad relationship, pointing out their flaws while ignoring Drake's.
      • To the point where Alice's friends have to kill both Drake AND Alice to convince her otherwise.
      • To the point where it takes Drake cheating on Alice in order to convince Alice that he was no good and abusive all along.
  • Reconstructed: While Hiro is sorely tempted to leave Draco's apologists to their fate, his innate decency means that he simply can't do this. After doing so, while a few ingrates continue to insist that Hiro is the villain, Hiro's noble actions do manage to improve his reputation among some of them.
  • Zig Zagged: As the story continues being written, Draco crosses the Moral Event Horizon and the Fan Dumb returns to worshipping Hiro. then The Chick starts dating Hiro when the fans want her to date Lance instead, so Hiro is demonized again. The Chick eventually breaks up with Hiro to date Lance, and Hiro approves, so he's forgiven again
  • Averted: The fans remember that Hiro's supposed to be the good guy and Draco is the villain.
    • Countered: Turns out the fans are trying to ship Hiro and Draco together. The authors notice this and go "WTF?"
  • Enforced: A fanfiction writer with a starry-eyed affection for Draco and a corresponding dislike for Hiro as his nemesis writes a fic justifying this by portraying Hiro as a bad guy.
  • Lampshaded: "You'll never please these people, Hiro. Draco has them wrapped around his little finger."
  • Invoked: A writer deliberately writes Draco as more interesting while writing Hiro as a mere plot device just to prove the shallowness of the Fan Dumb .
  • Defied: "So what if Hiro's lame compared to Draco? That doesn't change the fact that Draco is a Complete Monster!"
  • Discussed: "These people are so fickle it's pathetic! You can try to stop Draco's genocide attempts and you'll still be the bad guy, Hiro!"
  • Conversed: "Draco blew up a school full of children just because he was bored and yet they treat Hiro like he's the bad guy!?"
  • Played For Laughs: Some guys enlist as a Quirky Miniboss Squad for the bad guy over an imagined and ultimately minor slight by the hero.
  • Played For Drama: The hero is screwed over at a pivotal moment, when an acquaintance he once treated in a jerkass manner sides with the villain, giving the villain the upper hand, all because the acquaintance believes that the hero is the real villain.

Hiro: "What are you doing?! Draco is getting away! Move out of my way at once!" *gets pushed down by Acquaintance*
Acquaintance: "Yeah, right...I'm supposed to believe that someone who humiliates a waitress over a spilled drink is the good guy?"

Hiro: "Oh come on, you were clumsy and you know it! Besides I just yelled at you a little."

Acquaintance: "Screw you! You really humiliated me that day!"

Draco: "Heh, and I bet he didn't even tip her either..."


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