Smug Snake/Literature: Difference between revisions

* Imogen Herondale from ''[[The Mortal Instruments]]''. A [[Fantastic Racism|racist]] [[Evil Chancellor]] and [[Manipulative Bitch]] with a pathological hatred of children. She thinks she's playing everyone throughout the book but her grand plan fails spectacularly and [[Big Bad]] Valentine Morgenstern viciously humiliates her, resulting in a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] when she breaks down. Unusually for this trope, she is revealed to have a sympathetic side and ultimately redeems herself by [[Redemption Equals Death|sacrificing her life to save Jace]].

* Queen Cersei Lannister in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''. Overestimation of her own cleverness is one of her main character traits. There's a prophecy that everything that could possibly go wrong in her life will, so her ruthless methods are understandable, yet her incompetent attempts at manipulation and power-grabbing alienate almost every one of her allies and could well lead her to the terrible fate predicted in the prophecy.

** Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish ''seems'' like a Smug Snake to most of the other characters, {{spoiler|but this is a smokescreen to hide what is actually a subtle [[Magnificent Bastard]], who has apparently single-handedly organized the War of Five Kings as well as the assassination of two kings, while simultaneously organizing the rise of a new queen... his protegee Sansa Stark.}}

*** The trope is also subverted {{spoiler|by the eunuch Varys, who wears his [[Sissy Villain]] persona as a mask to operate behind the collective back of the [[Deadly Decadent Court]].}}

* Mr. Collins in ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'', whilst not exactly a villain, is rather smug and slimy, with a rather vast (and largely unearned) self-regard that makes him believe that Elizabeth Bennet is rejecting his marriage proposal out of some feminine desire to string him along when she's rather explicitly stating that no, it's because she ''doesn't like him''.

* Duke Telrii from ''[[Elantris]]'' is an example of the "thinks he's a [[Magnificent Bastard]]" type, though he winds up little more than a pawn of the book's real [[Magnificent Bastard]], Hrathen. King Iadon from the same book is also an example- he turns out to be a lot smarter than Telrii ([[Obfuscating Stupidity|and a lot smarter than he lets on]]), but his vision is simply too narrow to let him accomplish anything of real significance.

** Yuan Shu is probably the biggest example of the book. He declares himself the emperor with only the Imperial Seal to back up his claim, and thus alienates everybody. And his petty villainy while a member of the Coalition against Dong Zhuo, withholding food from ally Sun Jian's army to keep Sun from gaining too much glory.

* Cugel the Clever, of [[Jack Vance (Creator)|Jack Vance]]'s ''[[Dying Earth (Literature)|Dying Earth]]'' books, while he lives on the border between this and being an actual [[Magnificent Bastard]], usually leans towards the Smug Snake side, being a complete sociopath, and nowhere near as clever as he imagines himself. ''And he's the protagonist, folks''.

* Simon Lovelace from [[The Bartimaeus Trilogy]] is a perfect example, though he was smarter than the average Snake.

** John Mandrake also counts. Actually, most of the wizards do.

* Ray Scutter of ''[[Blind Lake]]''.

{{quote| ''It was his smug, oily certainty that infuriated her. Ray had mastered the art of speaking as if he were the only adult on the planet and everyone else was weak, stupid, or insolent. Under that brittle exterior, of course, was the narcissistic infant determined to have his own way. Neither aspect of his personality was particularly appealing.''}}

* Tom in ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'', or rather the second Yeerk that controls him. [[The Lancer|Marco]] can approach being a heroic version at times and {{spoiler|David}} spends the third arc of his trilogy as one.

* Depending on who you ask, Senna of [[Everworld]] is either one of these or a [[Magnificent Bastard]]. Her mother is a straight example.

* Lord Straff Venture of ''[[Mistborn]]'' is a comparatively competent Smug Snake, being a skilled long-range [[Chessmaster]] and the most powerful nobleman in [[The Empire]] apart from its [[Physical God]] leader. At the same time, though, his arrogance, lack of skill in immediate, detailed manipulations, and the numerous petty and vile traits he shows in his interpersonal relationships keep him out of full [[Magnificent Bastard]] range.

* Vizzini from ''[[The Princess Bride (Literature)|The Princess Bride]]''. Although he certainly is clever, and recognizes his weaknesses, he has a colossal ego and treats everyone, even his own henchmen, like dirt. His arrogance also prevents him from recognizing that The Man in Black would never pull his battle of wits unless he knew he would win, and that there was no sure way of guessing which cup had the poison. There's a reason he's the former [[Trope Namer]] for [[Out Gambitted]].

* Fulbert from the French novel ''[[Malevil]]''. He's an evil priest with a tiny, weak [[Corrupt Church]] and a [[Zero Percent Approval Rating]]. The only reason he isn't overthrown is because he tricked everyone into giving him the food and weapons, he sits in his fortified manor where nobody can touch him.

* Gustav Fiers, aka The Gentleman from the [[Spider-Man]] novelisations, ''The Sinister Six Trilogy''. He certainly ''thinks'' he's a [[Magnificent Bastard]], and looks and acts the part, being an excellent [[Manipulative Bastard]] and [[Chessmaster]], and [[Man of Wealth and Taste]] who successfully manipulates the whole of the Sinister Six, has evaded law enforcement for years, and refers to himself as an "investor in chaos". Yet he fails to earn the audience's respect due to his contemptuous attitude and his unpleasant personality, utter heinousness (only his genuine affection for his equally monstrous brother, [[Terrorist Without a Cause|Karl]], keeps him off the [[Complete Monster]] list), and underestimation of Spider-Man, The Chameleon, and Dr. Octopus put him squarely in this trope.

* Philonecron from ''The Cronus Chronicles''. He considers himself an evil genius, and treats everyone he meets like dirt, but is defeated by two middle-school kids.

* ''[[In Death]]'': Some of the murderers are definitely this. A notable example is Dr. Waverly in ''Conspiracy In Death''. He is so arrogant and has such a God complex that he simply assumes one of his security droids will handle Roarke easily. He clearly doesn't know Roarke at all. He happily gives the names of the people he's been working with to Eve while he's got a hostage. He had been conducting experiments on regenerating human organs with a serum. He used sidewalk sleepers and poor people as guinea pigs, and the experimentation resulted in their deaths. He flies into a pompous speech about how this serum can be used on any organ, and eventually will be used on bone, muscle and tissue, which will eventually result in perfect human beings. Oh, and he'll get to decide who will be part of the survival of the fittest, and he boasts that the world will be a better place without the dregs that weigh it down. However, when Eve turns the tables on him, he gets scared, and begs for his life. Yep, he thought he was so great and smart...but he wasn't.