Smug Snake/Literature: Difference between revisions

** [[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Characters|Dolores Jane Umbridge]] in ''[[Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix]]'' is a purposeful Smug Snake. A sugary sweet [[Stepford Smiler]] who is [[Fantastic Racism|biased against non- and half-humans]] and [[Obstructive Bureaucrat|uses laws and technicalities]] to get her way, Umbridge is one COLOSSAL bitch, who tourtures children during detention.

** Draco Malfoy. {{spoiler|He gets better, but not before being completely [[Break the Haughty|broken]].}}

** Voldemort himself, with an emphasis on the "[[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|Snake]]" part of Smug Snake. Voldemort has all the resources a [[Magnificent Bastard]] could ever want, but nooooooo... his [[Gambit Roulette|circuitous plans]] fail utterly at basic logic, and while he is clearly trying for [[Magnificent Bastard]] he comes off as a third-rate [[Dastardly Whiplash]].

*** Justified by the fact that his making so many horcruxes left him decidedly... [[Axe Crazy|unstable]]. The young Tom Riddle is shown to have been a much more smooth and successful schemer, largely because he knew how to keep a cool head and didn't yet [[Obviously Evil|look like a monstrous snake-human hybrid]]. At any rate, whenever anyone talks about any version of Voldemort's genius, they're generally referring to his ''magical'' genius, which is unquestionable, rather than his ''tactical'' genius, which as has been mentioned above is rather lacking.

** James Potter was this as a teenager, though he supposedly grew out of it (even becoming [[Class Representative|Head Boy]] of Hogwarts in his final year).

* 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.

* In the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' novels, Quarath, the [[Evil Chancellor]] to the leader of the [[Corrupt Church]] fits this model. His own ambitions for power and wealth are compared to the epic confrontation between ''actual'' [[Magnificent Bastard|Magnificent Bastards]] Raistlin and Fistandantilus of which Quarath is completely unaware. Ended up {{spoiler|being squashed by a pillar as his temple collapsed}} when his master pisses off the gods that Quarath had stopped believing in by this point.

** In the later War of Souls trilogy we get Morham Targonee, [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Lord of the Night]], who despite his impressively evil sounding title is a scheming accountant who happened to be in the right place at the right time to seize power. When the local [[Dark Messiah]] shows up and steals his job, she punishes him in what is perhaps the worst way a Smug Snake can experience- by forcing him to realize his own cosmic insignificance before killing him.

** Lord Hong from ''Interesting Times'' is another, though less funny and less pitiful, example. He is, admittedly, [[Awesome By Analysis]] and the [[Big Bad]] of the novel, so not a pure specimen. He does, however, exhibit the trademark snarky attitude, overconfidence and pre-failure breakdown.

* The emperor of France, [[Napoleon Bonaparte]], in ''[[War and Peace]]''. The characters take up at least a third of the book talking about, predicting the actions of, or plotting against him. When Prince Andrei and later when Balashov, an emissary of the Russian emperor, finally meet him, they're both struck by how disappointing he is compared to his reputation. [[An Aesop|He's purposefully portrayed this way.]]

* The title character of ''[[A Coffin for Dimitrios]]'' is a good fit, being a clever schemer, but such an unpleasant treacherous thug that he's completely unlikable. Also notable is that he ends up addicted to the same drugs he sells, something which would never happen to a [[Magnificent Bastard]]. Interestingly, the character might have been an inspiration for Keyser Soze of ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'', who by contrast is definitely a [[Magnificent Bastard]].

* Frederick Chilton from ''Red Dragon'' and ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]'', who comes across as a bully as head of the Chesapeake State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. In ''Silence'' he makes the key mistake of handing Hannibal Lecter over to people who don't understand how dangerous he can be, which gives Hannibal the opportunity to escape.

* Paul Krendler of the same series definitely qualifies, though it only becomes noticeable in ''Hannibal''. In many ways he's far more of a Smug Snake than Chilton was on his worst day. Like Chilton, he gets his comeuppance at the hands of Lecter.

* Uriah Heep in Dickens' ''[[David Copperfield]]'' is one of literature's most notable smug villains; he has the ability to make the term of address "Master Copperfield" seem insincere, and is always wittering on about how "humble" he is. {{spoiler|Naturally, he's planning to swindle everything away from the other characters.}}

* 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''.

* ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'': Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu are obvious ones, and Cao Cao has shades of it when he's opposing the nominal protagonist, but even Liu Bei has his moments of snake-ness in the eyes of a modern audience. (But that [[What the Hell, Hero?]] reaction is probably intentional, as the author was suffering from [[Executive Meddling]].)

** 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.

* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' has a lot of these, a couple of whom (such as Lord Raith) are also [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]. Particularly Quintus "Snakeboy" Cassius, a Denarian who is not only a clear-cut example of those trope, but a ''[[Scaled Up|literal]]'' example as well.

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

* 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.''}}

* 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.

* Two villains from the [[Forgotten Realms]] trilogy ''[[Counselors and Kings]]'' stand out. Lord Procopio Septus is a canny and ambitious politician, but he's shortsighted and very proud, which make it possible for him to be [[Out-Gambitted]] comparatively easily if you know what you're doing. {{spoiler|Dhamari Exchelsor}}, though he puts on a friendly facade, is a treacherous and venal little man often compared to a weasel or ferret both in terms of appearance and demeanor. He's sneaky, but he's too petty to have a real [[Magnificent Bastard]]'s grasp of the big picture.

** Ironically {{spoiler|Dhamari}} did at one point ''artificially'' turn himself into something approaching a [[Magnificent Bastard]]- upon capturing an amulet enspelled to protect it's wearer from him, he wore it himself, and was protected ''from himself'', causing him to become much more cunning, manipulative, and successful. Once he lost it, though, it was a quick trip back to Smug Snake-hood.

* ''[[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.

** In general, as soon as a bad guy says something about how they're going to take down or hurt Roarke easily, you know s/he will be put in this category. The [[Dirty Cop]] Jerry Vernon from ''Judgment In Death'' is a good example. He gets in Eve's face about the fact that she is looking for dirt on him, and he brags about how he is going to sue her and bleed that rich husband of hers. No one bleeds Roarke. If s/he tried, he would squish that person like the bug s/he is.

* Zil Sperry from ''[[Gone]]'', a [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] expy whose plans are mostly either nuisances, with their only major negative effects being unintentional, or things he's tricked into doing by [[Big Bad|Caine]], yet he thinks he's leading a major, important movement. {{spoiler|When he's killed by Dekka in book 3, [[The Scrappy|nobody was upset.]]}}

* Since the Yamiko of ''[[Sailor Nothing]]'' are the personification of their host's id, it's easier to list the ones that don't fall into Smug Snake, namely [[Genre Savvy]] Argon, [[Pragmatic Villainy|Pragmatic Villain]] Cobalt, and Ohta, Cobalt's right-hand man. Dark General Radon is a particularly vile example of [[Smug Snake|Smug Snakeery]], being an arrogant [[Knight Templar]] and [[Evil Mentor]] before his [[Face Heel Turn]]; afterwards he just gets worse.

* Stopwatch of the [[Whateley Universe]]. Brilliant planner, head of The Masterminds, has managed to hide his best power from the [[Super-Hero School]] Whateley Academy powers testing guys... and gets pwned by Phase in "Ayla and the Networks". He ends up having to beg Ayla for help, and loses control of his own team of supervillains.