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Sliding Scale of Anti-Villains: Difference between revisions
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Type I, Type II, and Type III usually can be evil, although they average out at a darker shade of grey. Type IV characters are a [[A Lighter Shade of Grey|light grey]] at their worst, and [[Good Versus Good|good characters aimed at greater goods]] at their best.
:Although he chooses to be evil and may in fact [[Card-Carrying Villain|embrace his villainous reputation]], when the time comes for him to walk the walk, he turns away. This type of anti villain has a set of standards, certain lines that he will never cross. As such, he is the first one to say [[Even Evil Has Standards]] when faced with someone who offends said code of conduct. Unlikely to [[Kick the Dog]] but will [[Pet the Dog]]. Often accompanied by a [[Morality Pet]]. Alternatively, villainy is just a job to put food on the table, thus it's never personal. Placed higher on the evilness scale than type 2 because villainy is a choice for them rather than something that they are driven to. The type 1 is the common definition of the [[Anti-Villain]]. Those in this category may become true villains if they try to overcome their restraints. Ironically, despite being the most villainous level of [[Anti-Villain]], type 1 tends to be the most stable, with very little change.
:The defining Trope for this type of Anti-Villain would be the '''[[Noble Demon]]'''.
:Related Tropes: [[Hitman with a Heart]], [[Minion with an F In Evil]], [[Would Not Shoot a Civilian]], [[Never Hurt an Innocent]], [[Even Evil Has Standards]], [[Wouldn't Hurt a Child]], [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]], a darker [[Noble Top Enforcer]].
:It's obvious that these types of villains don't
:The defining trope for this type of Anti-Villain would be a '''[[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]'''.
:Related Tropes: [[Sympathetic Murderer]], [[Jerkass Woobie]], [[Tragic Villain]], [[My Master, Right or Wrong]], and a typical [[Dark Magical Girl]].
:The [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]. They may believe in a good goal, but use whatever means there are to achieve it. The sympathy the audience can garner for this character comes from the fact that they basically share the same goal as the hero, but are pragmatically, expediently, or pessimistically, ruthless about it. They can very much be conscious about their morally questionable actions, but feel that there is no other way. Common antagonist in [[White and Grey Morality]] scenarios and relatively likely to be redeemed if shown the error of their ways depending on ''how'' "extremist" they are. These [[Anti-Villain|Anti Villains]] may become more malicious true villains, but they are more likely to either stay in this category or possibly morph into a Type II [[Anti-Villain]]. The Type III can also be a revolutionary of some sort, fighting against the main character only due to their affiliation to some government or organization, and usually fighting for a noble cause. Alternatively, [[Obliviously Evil|they may not even realize what they're doing is wrong or making things worse in the first place]].▼
:The defining Trope for this type of Anti-Villain would be the '''[[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]''', of course. Might overlap with [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|Type III Anti-Hero]].▼
▲The [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]. They may believe in a good goal, but use whatever means there are to achieve it. The sympathy the audience can garner for this character comes from the fact that they basically share the same goal as the hero, but are pragmatically, expediently, or pessimistically, ruthless about it. They can very much be conscious about their morally questionable actions, but feel that there is no other way. Common antagonist in [[White and Grey Morality]] scenarios and relatively likely to be redeemed if shown the error of their ways depending on ''how'' "extremist" they are. These [[Anti-Villain|Anti Villains]] may become more malicious true villains, but they are more likely to either stay in this category or possibly morph into a Type II [[Anti-Villain]]. The Type III can also be a revolutionary of some sort, fighting against the main character only due to their affiliation to some government or organization, and usually fighting for a noble cause. Alternatively, [[Obliviously Evil|they may not even realize what they're doing is wrong or making things worse in the first place]].
:Related Tropes: [[Necessarily Evil]], [[Obliviously Evil]].▼
▲The defining Trope for this type of Anti-Villain would be the '''[[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]''', of course. Might overlap with [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|Type III Anti-Hero]].
▲Related Tropes: [[Necessarily Evil]], [[Obliviously Evil]].
:These characters either lack any villainous traits whatsoever or have so much concern over others that any signs of villainy are nearly completely drowned out. Frequently, these characters are called villains only because they fight against the hero. Basically, these guys are
:A defining trope for this type of Anti-Villain is the '''[[Designated Villain]]'''.▼
▲=== Type IV: [[Anti-Villain|"Villain"]] In Name Only ===
▲These characters either lack any villainous traits whatsoever or have so much concern over others that any signs of villainy are nearly completely drowned out. Frequently, these characters are called villains only because they fight against the hero. Basically, these guys are NEVER actively malevolent. They usually have some other reason for opposing the hero besides evil schemes. Ironically, these characters can be extremely dangerous to the hero as their high skill at arms/competence more than makes up for their lack of vileness. Fighting them also poses a moral dilemma which can also sap the hero's morale. It is at this point where an [[Anti-Villain]] starts to blur with the [[Hero Antagonist]]. Having to kill a particularly well liked type 4 in a boss fight can be a [[Player Punch]]. Their deaths are extremely likely to be a [[Tear Jerker]]. These [[Anti-Villain]]s have virtually no chance of becoming a true villain - in fact, if they did, it would probably mess up the flow of the story.
▲A defining trope for this type of Anti-Villain is the '''[[Designated Villain]]'''.
Related Tropes: more benign [[My Country, Right or Wrong]] or [[My Master, Right or Wrong]], [[Non-Malicious Monster]], [[Punch Clock Villain]], [[Noble Top Enforcer]] (when not a Type I), mild examples of [[Necessarily Evil]], those who are [[Forced Into Evil]], and occasionally a [[Token Good Teammate]] (when amongst a bunch of scumbags).▼
▲:Related Tropes: more benign [[My Country, Right or Wrong]] or [[My Master, Right or Wrong]], [[Non-Malicious Monster]], [[Punch Clock Villain]], [[Noble Top Enforcer]] (when not a Type I), mild examples of [[Necessarily Evil]], those who are [[Forced Into Evil]], and occasionally a [[Token Good Teammate]] (when
{{examples}}
== Noble Anti-Villains ==
===
=== [[Anime and Manga]] ===▼
* Evangeline from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''
* Tia Harribel and Gin Ichimaru of ''[[Bleach]]''. {{spoiler|At least, Gin claims to be this at best and acts the part, but it turns out he's actually Type III, a well-intentioned extremist whose actions have put him well beyond any level of hero territory and far into anti-villain territory.}}
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** When said duel is interrupted by Cytomander, who takes Yoko hostage and orders Viral to perform a [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]] on Gurren Lagann, Viral refuses and sheathes his axe, knowing that his honor cannot be regained that way.
===
* Captain Cold of ''[[The Flash]]'' and most of the Rogues' Gallery are an example of this.
* [[The Darkness]]
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* Napoleon in the ''[[Temeraire]]'' series. Indeed he often comes off as better than the people running Britain.
=== [[Live
* Garak in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', he does have standards. He is also quite utterly unapologetic about the rather horrifying things he has done (and does).
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* Tom of ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'', [[Depending on the Writer]]. Although he does get sadistic pleasure out of tormenting Jerry and at the beginning of some shorts is shown doing so, in other shorts he's really only forced to go after Jerry by his owner. Jerry does his share of provoking their battles as well, sometimes to the point of [[Disproportionate Retribution]], and sometimes even just because he feels like it.
==
=== [[Anime]]
* Fate Testarossa in the first season of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''.
* Suzaku from ''[[Code Geass]]''.
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**As Anderson points out in the Afterword, [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story|the real Gunnhild]] is unlikely to have been as bad as all that though she was unlikely to have been a Scandinavian version of a [[Girl Next Door]] either. History may or may not be written by the winners but [[Captain Obvious|sagas are written by skalds.]]
=== [[Live
* Ben from ''[[Lost]]'' usually bounces between this type and Type I and Type III.
* The Master from ''[[Doctor Who]]'' fits into this trope given that the only reason he does what he does is because he's been driven absolutely insane by the drums in his head, and that the drumming was put there deliberately
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=== [[Web Comics]] ===
* In ''151 Hidden Depths'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20130911072300/http://hiddendepths.smackjeeves.com/comics/1405524/050-diglett/ Diglett] becomes this after evolving into [https://web.archive.org/web/20131220182021/http://hiddendepths.smackjeeves.com/comics/1407376/051-dugtrio/ Dugtrio]. [[Pint-Sized Powerhouse|Being small]] led him to be rejected from joining the Pokemon Police Force so he proves he's a force to be reckoned with by [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|destroying cities]].
=== [[Web Original]] ===
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* Colossus in ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]''
* Nox of ''[[Wakfu]]'', who desperately aims to be [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Type III]] but is [[Tragic Villain|mostly inhibited by his own delusions]].
* Jack O'Lantern, Nergal and his son Nergal Jr. in ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
* Courtney in ''[[Total Drama Island]]'' becomes this in the later half of the third season.
* The Ice King of ''[[Adventure Time]]'', especially after the revelation that {{spoiler|he [[Was Once a Man|used to be normal]] until he tried an antique crown that resulted in [[Sanity Slippage|a loss of sanity]], along with [[Blessed with Suck|gradually gaining supernatural ice powers and becoming unsightly]]}}, leading to his present self.
* An interesting subversion/deconstruction of this character type can be found in [[Big Bad|Demona]] of ''[[Western Animation]]/Gargoyles''. She's certainly got enough nuance and tragedy in her backstory to qualify her as a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]], but at the same time she has both the motive and means to do probably the most large-scale damage of any villain in the [[Rogues Gallery]] and her obsession with getting revenge for her own pain has blinded her to the fact that she's spent the last milennium just digging herself in deeper.
== Well-Intentioned Anti-Villains ==
▲=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===
* Pain, Konan and {{spoiler|Itachi}} of ''[[Naruto]]''
* Gil Graham from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's]]''.
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* Nicci of the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series, along with several minor villains who aren't [[Complete Monster]]s, such as Michael and Sebastian.
=== [[Live
* Lex Luthor in ''[[Smallville]]'' is often this.
* Walternate from ''[[Fringe]]'' seems to fall into this category. Yes, he wants to destroy our universe, but for all he knows there isn't any other way to save his. Not to mention that he thinks the two universes are at war. True, he is openly malevolent towards {{spoiler|Olivia while she is trapped on the other side, along with anyone that helps her}} and is quite ruthless, but he occasionally has ''higher moral standards'' than Walter. {{spoiler|Most obviously displayed when he flat-out rejects his top scientist's idea to text cortexiphan on children, an idea that Walter developed and executed far before the conflict between the universes began}}.
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=== [[Web Original]] ===
* {{spoiler|Jaffers}} and the obstacles {{spoiler|(except for [[That Dude in the Suede|Suede]] at the end of part 5)}} in ''[[Suburban Knights]]'' just want to protect the gauntlet from {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Malecite]] so that he cannot pose a threat to our technology-dependent world}}. In the process, however, they're willing to fight and kill anyone also looking for the gauntlet in order to prevent that from happening.
* Dr. Horrible from ''[[
=== [[Western Animation]] ===
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* Valerie Gray from ''[[Danny Phantom]]'', if you don't view her as a [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|Type III and/or IV]] [[Anti-Hero]].
==
=== [[Anime]]
* Haku from ''[[Naruto]]''.
* Coyote Starrk from ''[[Bleach]]''
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** Ivan from ''[[Digimon Savers]]'', who kills Digimon to earn money to support his mother and his many siblings. He's a stark contrast with his boss [[Mad Scientist|Kurata]], who is a bonafide [[Complete Monster]].
* Pantherlily, and Erza old comrades from ''[[Fairy Tail]]''
* The title character of ''[[
* Chao Lingshen from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. She's such an [[Anti-Villain]], in fact, that Negi had actually considered letting her complete her plan.
* ''[[Ratman]]'' is a [[Villain Protagonist|protagonist]] version, and is actually a superhero [[Otaku]] who is only a "dark hero" because he was tricked into joining Jackal, an [[Oddly Small Organization]] of rather goofy and nonthreatening villains. Since his missions have him breaking the law and put him at odds with the Hero Association (especially the more [[Jerkass]] heroes), he's a criminal, but takes every opportunity he can to use his powers to help people.
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* Alyssa from the [[Mai-Otome]] manga, who wants to end the Otome system so that she can spend more time with her sister.
=== [[
* [[Sub-Mariner|Namor the Sub-Mariner]] whenever he is antagonizing the other superheroes of the [[Marvel Universe]]. His actions are mostly due to his hot-headed and anti-social personality.
* Lucas Lee from [[Scott Pilgrim]].
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* In many of the original [[Sherlock Holmes]] stories, the perpetrator or the closest equivalent turns out to have merely been the victim of the circumstances, not known what they were doing, merely committing a lesser crime for understandable reasons, or at least to be a [[Sympathetic Murderer]] taking justice in their own hands against an [[Asshole Victim]] who really had it coming. Once they're exposed and explain themselves, Holmes tends to let these characters off the hook even when they actually did do something illegal.
=== [[Live
* Lt. Kavenaugh on [[The Shield]] at least until the premiere of season 6 when he crosses the [[Moral Event Horizon]].
* Enos from ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]''. He is never really portrayed as corrupt or evil, and despite his [[Designated Villain]] role (by default by being on the same side as Boss Hogg), becomes quite sympathetic and likable over the course of the show. Enos is plagued by a strong sense of duty. He's a deputy, and sworn to uphold the law. Unfortunately for him, Boss Hogg controls the law. At times, one has to wonder if his goofing up isn't at least somewhat intentional as a way of helping the Dukes. Especially considering that he was able to become the head of the Los Angeles SWAT team.
* [[Minion with an F In Evil|Sgt. Shultz]] and [[Innefective Sympathetic Villain|Col. Klink]] from ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]''
===
* John Dickenson in ''[[1776]]'' is staunchly against Independency, even coming to blows with protagonist [[John Adams]]. His only claim to villainy is he's a Loyalist that truly believes America's best course is to remain with England.
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** [[Final Fantasy VII|Cloud Strife]] and [[Final Fantasy IX|Kuja]] were depicted as Anti-Villains in ''Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy'', being on the Warriors of Chaos side, yet not being too happy about their current position in the conflict, as well as sympathizing with the other side in the case of Cloud. It's also implied that Cloud's sympathizing for the Cosmos side is because a person he knew and cared for was there. Cloud eventually managed to defect to the Warriors of Cosmos, although at the cost of getting killed by Chaos at the end of the 12th cycle and having to be revived. Kuja, however, wasn't so lucky, thanks to Kefka and his implementing [[Fake Memories]].
* From ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'', {{spoiler|N, leader of Team Plasma}} is easily the most [[Tear Jerker|heartbreaking]] example of one of these in a Nintendo game, and has a bunch of qualities of the other 3 types above this one, with none of the truly evil traits that belong to them.
* In the ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' series, both Catwoman and Talia are exclusively used as Batman's allies, with only the greater continuity reminding players this isn't always the case.
* General Leo in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]''.
* Lemon Browning in ''[[Super Robot Wars Advance]]'' and ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]''. Despite her [[Mad Scientist]] tendencies, she's generally without malice and kind enough with her creations, and you off her merely because she just have to fight for the side she's on. Oh, and her relationship with [[Noble Demon|Axel]] is genuine. {{spoiler|Add up that she's [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl|Excellen Browning]]'s [[Alternate Universe]] counterpart...}}
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Sorting Algorithm of Tropes]]
[[Category:Villains]]
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