Put Them All Out of My Misery: Difference between revisions
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This is a villain who poses a [[Sliding Scale of Villain Effectiveness|credible threat]] to [[Sliding Scale of Villain Threat|an entire community]], is miserable, and blames it on everyone else. They rationally want to "[[Put Them All Out of Their Misery]]".
This character is not necessarily an [[Omnicidal Maniac]], a nihilist who wants to destroy everything for the sake of destruction, nor a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]] who was mistreated, snaps, and lashes out on the world. This person is simply trying to cure an ailment, and are willing to go to any length to do it. While
There might be many reasons this villain believes he must cause trouble for others to heal himself:
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On the [[Sliding Scale of Antagonist Vileness]], this character is often a [[Card-Carrying Villain]] who is aware of the possible negative consequences of their intended actions, but just does not care. Selfish and dispassionate, they may go about their plans for destruction with little more emotion than the heroes might making a shopping list. Occasionally, the character is closer to a [[Non-Malicious Monster]] who doesn't really comprehend that their plans to alter the Earth's climate would cause not just inconvenience for others, but catastrophe.
Contrast [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]], which is somewhat of the inverse of this trope. Note: both this trope and that one can fall anywhere on the [[Sliding Scale of Villain Threat|scale of villain threat]]. It's the scope of the story that defines the threat: They may be up against everyone in the town the story takes place in, or the entire world. Not the same as [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] or [[Utopia Justifies the Means]]
[[Alas, Poor Villain]] may still apply, despite their [[Jerkass Woobie|jerkass tendencies]], but only because [[After-Action Villain Analysis|Explaining The Villain Explains The Conflict]].
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* Kadaj from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]: Advent Children'' wants to absorb all the people infected by geostigma into the Lifestream {{spoiler|to join his "mother", Jenova. While he is a Remnant of Sephiroth, his amnesia made it appear that he sees that the end of all life on the planet as a GOOD thing}}.
* While 'Dark Alessa' from the ''[[Silent Hill (film)|Silent Hill]]'' movie qualifies as [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]], her original, 39-year-old, now soulless body ends the film by {{spoiler|finally getting her revenge on the cult who burned her alive by killing them all, with the exception of her mother, Dahlia.}}
* ''[[Batman Begins]]'': [[Knight Templar|Henri Ducard]] comes across as a case of either type 3 or type 4 (or maybe both) with the type 3 component being evident from his [[Knight Templar]] attitude, and the type 4 component being apparent from his earlier talk (if he means it) about how [[Freudian Excuse|his wife was taken from him and he "learned the hard way that there are those in the world without decency, who must be fought without pity."]] The sign of
{{quote|'''Wanye''': You're gonna destroy millions of lives.
'''Ducard''': Only a cynical man would call what these people have "lives," Wayne. Crime. Despair. This is not how man was supposed to live. The League of Shadows has been a check against human corruption for thousands of years. We sacked Rome. Loaded trade ships with plague rats. Burned London to the ground. Every time a civilization reaches the pinnacle of its decadence, we return to restore the balance.
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* In ''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (novel)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]'', the Grinch wants to remove the holiday from society because he finds the mindless joy, celebration, and materialism annoying (Type 3) and also because the singing hurts his ears (Type 2). In [[How the Grinch Stole Christmas (film)|the live action film version]], it's revealed that it's really a case of Type 4 - the Grinch subconsciously desires revenge for being ostracized as a child because of his odd appearance.
* [[The Dragon|Ishamael]] has elements of this- he teamed up with [[Big Bad|the Dark One]] because he came to the conclusion that the endless repetion of ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' made life pointless misery, and he decided to end it by simply breaking the Wheel (which would also have the effect of destroying the universe).
* ''[[Larry Niven|World of Ptavvs]]'' demonstrates this in its most basic form, with the last survivor of a telepathic alien race stranded on Earth and surrounded by humans, their unshielded minds boring into his. In fury, he blasts a powerful command: "STOP THINKING AT ME!" [[Empty Shell|Quite a number of people do]], and everyone else in the world is left dazed. This isn't a matter of lack of control, by the
* The Wintersmith in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel of the same name wants to win Tiffany's heart by saving people from their constant fear of death... forever.
** Also in ''Guards, Guards'' when Vimes sees Sybil Ramkin's room the narration says something about how anyone witnessing it might be filled with a "diffuse compassion and decide that the best thing for everyone would be to wipe out the human race and start over again with amoebas".
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* Subverted in the ''[[New Jedi Order]]''. {{spoiler|Onimi}}, the real [[Big Bad]], has a lengthy [[Motive Rant]] in which he describes to a captive Jaina Solo how horrible his life has been and how he's going to ''kill every living thing in the galaxy'' so he can ''become a god'', all to get back at the gods he believes in, because he thinks they ruined his life (oh, and he also thinks Jaina is the avatar of one of these gods). The subversion comes because contrary to what {{spoiler|Onimi}} thinks, rather than making him sympathetic, this rant just makes him come off as very, ''very'' [[Ax Crazy|insane]].
* One of many stories in [[The Name of the Wind]] is about legendary hero Lanre, who decides after the death of his wife that the world isn't worth living in any longer. For anyone.
* Prince Gaynor the Damned of the [[Corum]] series by Michael Moorcock. Long ago, he was [[The Punishment|cursed with eternal life]], and he joins the side of some [[Eldritch Abomination
* The northern dragon in The Pilgrim's Regress is heard praying for God to destroy all the other creatures in the world so that he won't have to guard his nest.
* In ''[[The Keys to The Kingdom]]'', [[The Man Behind the Man]] is a Type 5 kept alive by a [[Cosmic Keystone]].
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