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{{quote|''"Smiling poison and suspicious craft."''|'''Skek Sil''' as described in '''''[[The Dark Crystal]]''''' source book}}
The [[Smug Snake]] is a type of character (usually cast as a villain) who tends to treat friends and enemies alike with equal disdain. They almost constantly [[Deadpan Snarker|speak in a sarcastic tone]] and punctuate most of their sentences with a smirk. Where they aspire to be a formidable and awe-inspiring adversary they often end up just being a [[Big Bad Wannabe]], failing in the face of [[Magnificent Bastard|more cunning villains]] or ending up as their servants, in which case they'll generally be [[The Starscream]]. Others that fall under this trope are [[Card-Carrying Villain|simply in it to bug the good guys]] and [[Flaw Exploitation|take advantage]] of their [[Slave to PR|moral insecurity]].
A key character trait common to
Most of the time, a writer will purposely introduce a Smug Snake as a target for audience hate by making them [[Kick the Dog]] or [[Obstructive Bureaucrat|bend the rules to get their way]] and [[Dirty Coward|come out]] [[Karma Houdini|smelling like a rose]]. Basically, this is a villain that's made to be hated and the audience will enjoy hating. [[Tropes Are Tools|This, like all other tropes, can backfire if misused]]. If the writer still tries to foist the character as a [[Magnificent Bastard]] when their previous actions have proven otherwise, the audience will likely stop enjoying to hate the character, and instead genuinely ''hate'' them as much as they would [[The Scrappy]] or the [[Creator's Pet]]. [[Character Development|Evolving a Smug Snake into a true Magnificent Bastard]] could be doable, in theory, but shouldn't be attempted lightly, and has only been pulled off successfully in fiction a few times. Ever.
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{{noreallife|calling someone a Smug Snake in real life is just not necessary.}}
{{examples on subpages}}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Tropes of Legend]]
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