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Beauty Equals Goodness: Difference between revisions
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* At the start of ''[[Unbreakable]]'', [[Samuel L. Jackson]] describes a comic cover in art-critic detail, commenting on the villain's inhumanely big head. {{spoiler|At the end of the movie, he reveals to the hero that he was always meant to be the villain because of his brittle bones. "They called me 'Mr. Glass'"}}
* This trope is always so much fun to observe whenever Elizabeth and [[Mary of Scotland|Mary, Queen of Scots]] pop up. If the story is focusing on Mary, she will be rather pretty, whilst Elizabeth will look like an ugly old hag. But if it's Elizabeth in the spotlight, she's always portrayed as having far more grace and beauty, whilst Mary is transformed into a woman whose bitterness is shown quite clearly on her plain (if she's lucky) face. Expect the ugly one to have crows' feet, and any ugly Elizabeth will have hair exactly the wrong shade of red and far too much white makeup on. The irony of this is that both Elizabeth and Mary would have been seen as ''absolutely freaking gorgeous'' in our time at age twenty-five - they both resembled [[Nicole Kidman]] in face and in body. Neither of them aged as well, but what can you expect in the 16th century?
* This comes in three layers in ''[[The Tale of Despereaux]]''. The cute mouse and porcelain-skinned princess are good, the plain but not hideous Mig and Rascuro are susceptible to evil urges, and the ugly other rats are [[
* ''[[Star Wars]]'', obviously. At the end of ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'', Sidious is left looking like a wrinkled old man while Vader suffers third-degree burns that never heal properly. This is further lampshaded in the [[Expanded Universe]], where Luke's an old man using lightning on the cover of ''The Swarm War'' but, back in the light, he's only slightly older than Ben in ''Outcast''.
* Oh so averted in ''[[Basic Instinct]]''.
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* The ''[[Hero System]]'' games, most notably ''[[Champions]]'', postulate that the average man on the street has stats of 8 in all categories, including physical appearance. Player Character on the other hand get a 10 in each category, because they are the heroes. So your "average hero" is notably better looking than a regular schmoe. The stat that reflects your good looks is also by far the easiest one to buy up, so most heroes end up having supermodel good looks because there is very little downside to it.
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''' Fourth Edition removed or uglied up every attractive monster in the game. (Dryads? Now look like small Treants with breasts. Yes, trees with breasts. Nymphs? <s>Removed entirely</s> Added in Monster Manual 3.)
* More ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'': [[Our Orcs Are Different|Orcs]], [[Our Goblins Are
* Taken [[Up to Eleven]] in ''[[Magic: The Gathering|Magic the Gathering]]'' by the elves of Lorwyn. Beauty determines status in their society, with the most beautiful known as [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=158123 "perfects"]. They also [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=139723 hunt down] and [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=139449 kill anyone] they consider too ugly to live. And then there's [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=143021 her], an assassin whose goal is apparently to cut your face, because that's as bad as killing you.
* In [[Rocketmen]] the good guys are the Rebels who are allied with Mercury, and Venus who both have a matriarchal society some pretty female characters, while the bad guys the Legion of Terra are allied with Mars who are a race of green skin space gorillas.
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** An exception to this trope might be: [http://www.feplanet.net/media/gallery/view.php?id=241 Dorothy] from ''[[Fire Emblem Elibe|Sealed Sword]]''. However she's hardly as ugly as the support conversations make her out to be. She's more plain [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/VincentASM/Site/FE6/Dorothy.png ingame still not ugly though].
* Played straight in ''[[Drakengard]]''. Another layer is added on with the [[Our Elves Are Better|impossibly beautiful and pacifistic elves]] and the [[Nightmare Fuel]]-inspired design for the monsters, who are bloodthirsty and primitive. These other creatures are [[Low Fantasy|rarely seen]], however. And really, what's more beautiful than {{spoiler|[[Eldritch Abomination|a baby?]]}}
* Played straight in ''[[World of Warcraft]]: The Burning Crusade'', where the draenei were revamped from the ugly Lost One model into uncorrupted eredar. The new storyline then went on to say that the old draenei with the ugly appearance were [[
* The only nice demon bound in Jerro's Haven in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' is also the one who goes around disguised as an Eladrin.
* In ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'', if the player character goes to [[The Dark Side]], s/he develops pale whitish skin and yellowed eyes. In the sequel, the player character can influence his or her allies to go Dark, causing a number of changes in their appearances (none of them good).
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* Commonly subverted or played with in ''[[One Piece]]''. Ugly characters often turn out to be stalwart and good in their own right, and more conventionally attractive characters can be really, really awful or kind of ambiguous at best.
* Kintano from ''[[Angel Densetsu]]'' is the [[Nice Guy]], [[The Pollyanna]], [[The Messiah]], and an [[Actual Pacifist]]. [[Face of a Thug|His face,]] however, ''literally'' makes small children cry.
* Beauty may equal goodness, but on [[
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' toys with it in the person of Marik Ishtar. He's a [[Bishonen]] [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]] in a [[Bare Your Midriff]] outfit who has all the fangirls fawning over him. He's also a [[Manipulative Bastard]] who plots to [[Take Over the World]] via [[Mind Rape]]. He's later revealed to have a [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] with [[Omnicidal Maniac]] and [[Combat Sadomasochist]] tendencies; this identity (Dark Marik), is also far, far, uglier with grotesque facial features, [[Anime Hair]], bulging eyes, [[Tainted Veins]], and a much more brutal, muscular build. So beauty equals evil, but ugly equals more evil?
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* In William King's ''[[Warhammer 40000]] [[Space Wolf]]'' novel ''Wolfblade'', Ragnar reflects on how his Wolf Lord is the very image of a great hero, and his opponent in dispute is rather less preposing. Then, the opponent also had to be a great warrior and leader, to reach the same post as Berek -- and while the opponent is arguing against Ragnor partly out of [[Divided We Fall|rivalry]], by the same token, Berek is defending Ragnar partly from the same motive.
* In [[Madeleine L'Engle]]'s ''[[A Wrinkle in Time]]'', they escape to the planet Ixchel where they encounter the faceless tentacled aliens, who look after and protect them. Indeed, one, in charge of Meg, is surprised by the terms she uses, such as "beast" to describe them, and Meg ends up referring to her as [[Honorary Uncle|Aunt]] Beast.
* Technically subverted in the ''Karavans'' series by Jennifer Roberson, as [[The Beautiful Elite]] are mostly evil. Pretty much everything ugly is evil too. Indeed, [[
* The ''[[Doomsday Book]]'' by [[Connie Willis]] included as one of the heroes a villainous-look priest who is clearly presented as one of the finest people in the tale.
* Voltaire famously penned a rather scathing poem, "Marquise", dedicated to a vain aristocrat who had spurned his advances because he was too old for her, despite being one of the smartest, wittiest guys of his time. The gist of the poem is "[[Take That|So I'm old and wrinkled. You will be too, sooner than you think]]". In a double subversion, Tristan Bernard later wrote a last stanza to the poem, his imagined answer from the Marquess : "But until then old man, I'm 26, and fuck you too". In those terms, because French poetry is hardcore.
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** "Though there was no disguising his inhumanity [...] there was the overgrown gigantism of the face, that particular characteristic of the Astartes, almost equine". That's Captain Loken, the definitive Good Guy of the first ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' book, [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''Horus Rising''. Also, the book gives us an idea how much Space Marines stink after some time in their powered armor. On the other hand, most Primarchs, who are even taller than Marines, are godlike beautiful.
** An even harder subversion in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'': See that really hot, half-naked elf woman? She's the Dark Elf Hag Witch who kills children and bathes in their blood. That fat frog guarded by the huge, frightening lizards she's fighting? The frog's a Slann Mage-Priest, and those lizards are Temple Guards, among the noblest soldiers in the world.
** Played straight to the point of absurdity however with the literal [[
** And subverted again with followers of Slaanesh, who are described as [[Ugly Cute|Disturbingly beautiful]] at worst. The ability of the artists and modelers to convey this, however, varies due to individual skill and decency laws.
*** Though played disturbingly straight with Slaanesh's two champions, Lucius and Fulgrim. Fulgrim was one of the most beautiful primarchs while on the side of the Emperor, but now he's a four armed snake thing. Likewise, Lucius was called a pretty boy by his allies because he had never taken an injury in battle. You only start seeing his ugly side after Loken [[Start of Darkness|breaks his nose]], and when he truly [[Face Heel Turn|turns]], he starts cutting his face up whenever he kills someone. Hence how he looks in the 41st millennium.
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