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|''[[Legacy of Kain]]''}}
 
A situation where a [[Big Bad]] exists in the [[Story Arc]], but his identity is not known until [[The Reveal|much later]]. This '''Hidden Villain''' could be a result of the heroes going against [[The Faceless]], requiring only a look under the mask to understand everything. In most cases, this is an [[Inverted Trope|inversion]] of the [[Hidden Agenda Villain]], where we know that something bad is happening and the [[Driving Question]] is the identity of the one behind it all.
 
Usually a [[Magnificent Bastard]] post -reveal. Compare [[Man Behind the Man]], except without the first man. It can only overlap if the first man is ''obviously'' a [[Disc One Final Boss]].
 
If the '''Hidden Villain''' turns out to be a previously known antagonist, see [[Hijacked by Ganon]]. If it was someone who was never suspected at all, then the trope is [[The Dog Was the Mastermind]].
 
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[20th Century Boys]]''{{context}}
* ''[[Bleach]]'' ([[It Was His Sled]]. Even so, this particular [[Reveal]] was quite the [[Wham! Episode]].){{context}}
* While ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' introduced its main antagonist quite early on, the first [[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|2003 anime version]] plays this straight.
* [[He Who Must Not Be Seen|Lord Baan/Vearn]] from ''[[Dragon Quest]]: [[Dai no Daibouken]]''. Of course, when he is revealed, he's pretty unimposing. Until much, much later, when you learn that {{spoiler|he's really inhabiting the body of a lesser [[Dragon]] who attempts [[Grand Theft Me]] on Hyunkeru to transfer to a younger, stronger body. Both the body-snatcher & the intended victim also are [[White-Haired Pretty Boy|White Haired Pretty Boys]]s.}}
* ''[[Trigun]]'' appears to have an obvious big bad at first: a fatalistic killer named Legato Bluesummers, who has seemingly assembled a private army just to destroy Vash. Midway through the Legato arc, we're given a flashback episode that reveals the existence of Vash's brother, Knives. A few episodes later, we finally learn that Legato has been acting under Knives' orders all along, and his true objective isn't to kill Vash, but to {{spoiler|force Vash to kill Legato.}}
* ''[[One Piece]]'':
** Dr. Vegapunk, maybe. The brains behind most of the technology used by the World Government (such as artificial Devil Fruit, Seastone, and [[Cyborg|the Pacifistas]]), he has yet to appear in the flesh. However, while he works for the tyrannical World Government, [[Ambiguously Evil|his personal motivations and moral stance are unknown.]]
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==Comic Books==
* ''[[Fables]]''{{context}}
* The Comedian's murderer and the person responsible for the events of ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]''. It turns out that {{spoiler|Adrian Veidt AKA Ozymandias is behind it, [[Knight Templar|all in the name of]] [[Utopia Justifies the Means|world peace]].}}. The picture at the top of the page is this hidden villain from [[Watchmen (film)|the film adaptation]].
** [[The Slender Man Mythos|Slender Man]]?
* The first ''[[Sin City]]'' hid the [[Serial Killer]] Kevin until halfway through and hid Cardinal Roark until just before the end. Because of [[The Movie]], most people realize who they are but it was a specific mystery at first.
* ''[[Spider-Man (comics)|Spider-Man]]'' examples:
** In the iconic ''Amazing Spider-Man #50'', Spidey at first believes his foe - who has stolen medicine needed to cure Aunt May of radiation sickness - is "the Master Planner", a criminal mastermind who has been making a name for himself in New York; eventually, he learns that the Master Planner is none other than his old foe, Dr. Octopus.
** It is not revealed until the finale of the Clone Saga that the [[Big Bad]] behind it all is long-thought-dead villain [[Norman Osborn]].
 
== Film ==
* [[The Element of Crime]], made worse by the fact that the elusive child killer may actually {{spoiler|have been dead even before the events portrayed in the movie.}.} ''And the whole movie is a flashback''.
* In ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'', the mythical Keyser Soze is mentioned right from the beginning, - yet his involvement in the events isn't at least somewhat understood until the climax, and only fully comprehensible at [[Twist Ending|the very end]].
** It's [[It Was His Sled|pretty common knowledge by now]], but... {{spoiler|Verbal, the guy sitting there telling the story? Whenever he mentions Keyzer Soze, ''he's talking about himself.''}}
* The film version of ''[[Sin City]]'' has a scene similar to the one pictured above.
* {{spoiler|Robert}} in ''[[Mystery Team]]''.
* In ''[[Kill Bill|Kill Bill volumevol. 1]]'', Bill himself (being the orchestrator of the attack on the Bride and initiating her revenge plan) is never fully seen, with scenes where he appears cropping out his head to avoid showing his face. He doesn't make a full appearance until the second movie.
* The Blair Witch from ''[[The Blair Witch Project]]'', assuming she even exists at all. Few movies use the [[Nothing Is Scarier]] Trope better than this one.
** Also Palpatine ([[It Was His Sled|AKA Darth Sidious AKA the Emperor]]) in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequels.▼
 
== Literature ==
* Despite adaptations that show otherwise, [[Sherlock Holmes]]' arch-enemy Professor Moriarty appears only once in the original novels by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]. He is mentioned by Holmes - reminiscently - in five stories, and plays a direct role in "The Valley of Fear", but never actually shows his face. His one appearance in person is at the end of the final (chronologically) story in the original franchise, "The Final Problem", during a final showdown with Holmes in which both of them, presumably, perish. Even then, Dr. Watson - who narrates the story - never encounters him at all.
* In ''[[The Dark Tower]]'', (Thethe Crimson King isn't mentioned till book 4., Fromfrom thatwhich point on details are given bit by bit. However, readers familiar with King's greater universe (particularly those who have read [[The Stand]]) might be savvy enough to catch on a bit earlier.
** However, readers familiar with King's greater universe (Particularly those who have read [[The Stand]]) might be savvy enough to catch on a bit earlier.
* The [[The Heartless|dragon-snakes]] from ''[[The Death Gate Cycle]]'' are the collective [[Big Bad]] and the incarnation of evil in that multiverse, given form by magic gone awry. As such, they're technically the ultiamte villains all along, but are only introduced directly in the fourth book, ''Serpent Mage''.
* For the first three-quarters of the first book of ''[[Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn]]'', it's obvious that there ''is'' a [[Big Bad]] (- [[Evil Sorcerer]] Pryrates is an obvious villain, but as he's getting his power through a [[Deal with the Devil]], he's also obviously not the ultimate string puller). butStill, none of the main characters know who he is. It turns out to be the [[Our Elves Are Different|vengeful Sithi prince]] Ineluki, resurrected as the undead entity called the Storm King, who had only been mentioned in scraps of legends prior to [[The Reveal]].
* The Crippled God, [[Big Bad]] of the ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'', was only introduced in person in the third book, though in hindsight he'd been pretty heavily foreshadowed in the first two.
* In ''[[Warbreaker]]'', the [[Big Bad]] is hidden for almost the entire novel, and the most obvious candidates are eliminated one by one (- either by proving harmless, or revealedbeing torevealed beas only a cog in the big machine). {{spoiler|It turns out to be Bluefingers, the God King's kindly, timid secretary, who had been considered an ''ally'' of the heroes up to that point.}}
** Also from a work by [[Brandon Sanderson]], it was very obvious from the beginning of ''[[Mistborn]]'' that [[Evil Overlord|the Lord Ruler]] won his position by saving the world from something [[Omnicidal Maniac|even worse]]. In the second book, it was revealed that thisthe entity was still around, {{spoiler|and it was freed from its [[Sealed Evil in a Can|prison]] at the climax. In the third book, the entity was revealed as Ruin, primordial god of entropy and destruction}}.
* In ''[[Fate of the Jedi]]'', from the very first book ''something'' had started to make various Jedi go crazy, but none of the already introduced villains ([[President Evil]] Daala and an isolated but ambitious cult of Sith) seemed to have the power to cause it. In the third book, readers are introduced to an enigmatic woman with ''tremendous'' Force powers named Abeloth. {{spoiler|Turns out that she's the avatar of an [[Eldritch Abomination]] who has been subtly influencing galactic events for a while now - and by the end of the book, she's out of her [[Sealed Evil in a Can|can]] and ready to take the position of [[Big Bad]] full time}}.
▲** Also Palpatine ([[It Was His Sled|AKA Darth Sidious AKA the Emperor]]) in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequels.
* In the first of the ''[[Otherland]]'' books, the focus occasionally shifts to an Egyptian simulation ruled by someone using Osiris as an avatar, who gives out orders and makes commentary that bears suspicious relation to other events in the book, but these connections are never actually stated. Late in the volume, the user is revealed to be a man named Felix Jongleur, leader of the Grail Brotherhood and creator of the [[Title Drop|Otherland]] system.
* Most of the plotline of the ''Inda'' series is driven by [[Evil Sorcerer]] Erkric's scheming, as he's the one driving [[The Empire|the Venn]] to be more warlike and expansionistic, - but he's not directly introduced until the last third of the second book, and his central role doesn't become apparent until later. This is at least in part because the Venn are initially portrayed as a faceless military juggernaut, though - he's introduced at the same time as [[Unwitting Pawn|Prince Rajnir]] and [[Anti-Villain|Commander Durasnir]], the other two main Venn characters.
 
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Lost]]'', in which the fact that there even ''is'' a [[Big Bad]] is not immediately stated. After several possible major antagonists are introduced over the first five seasons, the true [[Big Bad]] is not revealed until the season five finale.
* ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' used this several times. The identity of the aggressor in season 6 was hidden this way until the reveal {{spoiler|that he was a serial killer and actually one of Porter's friends}}.
* During the third series of ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the subplots taking place in present day London throw around the name Mr. Saxon. In the three-parter that ends the season, he is revealed to be none other than {{spoiler|the Doctor's arch nemesis, the Master, who stole the Doctor's TARDIS and traveled 18 months before Martha was introduced, and in that time became the the Minister of Defence.}}
** The events of series 5 are caused by someone or something capable of {{spoiler|making the TARDIS explode}}, accompanied by the [[Arc Words]] "silence will fall".
* The reveal of just ''who'' was really behind the [[Dollhouse]] and the Rossum Corporation had a very high [[HSQ]] when it was revealed in season 2.
* Happened in ''[[Gekisou Sentai Carranger]]'': byhalfway half ofthrough the season, the Bowzocks were believed to be the main[[Big bad guy'Bad]]s until Exhaus isfinally shownshows tohis be the real [[Big Bad]]hand.
* A really bizarre example comes from ''[[Breaking Bad]]'', where the ''main character'', Walter White, is the Hidden Villain [[Villain Protagonist|Protagonist]] to his ''own brother-in-law'', [[Hero Antagonist]] |DEA Agent Hank Schrader]].
* ''[[Bones]]'' did this with the serial killer Gormagon as well as the Gravedigger., Theirwhose identities were only revealed late or in the end of thetheir story arcs.
* At least two members of the ''[[Person of Interest]]'' [[Rogues Gallery]] finally appeared onscreen, after several episodes of [[Foreshadowing]] and references, as that week's person of interest in disguise. Namely, {{spoiler|[[Diabolical Mastermind|Elias]] (in "Witness") and [[The Cracker|Root]] (in "Firewall")}}.
 
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'': {{spoiler|It isn't revealed until the end that the Nameless One's foe is the [[Enemy Without]].}}
* ''[[BlazBlue]]'': The [[Big Bad]] isn't revealed until the console-only [[Golden Ending|True Ending]] of ''Calamity Trigger'', and isn't fought until ''[[Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo|Continuum Shift]]''. {{spoiler|And even then, that game's True Ending reveals him to be a [[Disc One Final Boss]], and it goes straight into [[The Dog Was the Mastermind]]. And then [[All There in the Manual|the manual]] suggests that no, he ''was'' the [[Big Bad]] all along.}}
* In ''[[Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume]]'', we know that Hel is the [[Big Bad]] of the game having orchestrated all of the events for Wylfred to wreak as much sin as possible, and give Garm some fun. However;, Hel is only mentioned, and when she talks, we never see her. She ''does'' show up in the first game when she is stopped by the Einherjar that have been sent to Valhalla. Easy to miss if you don't realize that each line of text in the review has a cutscene associated with it.▼
** {{spoiler|And then [[All There in the Manual|the manual]] suggests that nom he was the [[Big Bad]] all along.}}
▲* In ''[[Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume]]'', we know that Hel is the [[Big Bad]] of the game having orchestrated all of the events for Wylfred to wreak as much sin as possible, and give Garm some fun. However; Hel is only mentioned, and when she talks, we never see her.
** She does show up in the first game when she is stopped by the Einherjar that have been sent to Valhalla. Easy to miss if you don't realize that each line of text in the review has a cutscene associated with it.
* The [[Big Bad]]/Murderer of the first ''[[Laura Bow]]'' game turns out to be {{spoiler|Lilian}}, when very little evidence suggests this.
* {{spoiler|Al Mualim}} and {{spoiler|Prince Ahmet}} from ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' and ''[[Assassin's Creed: Revelations]]'', respectively.
* ''[[Deadly Premonition]]'' has this with {{spoiler|George Woodman & Kaysen}} but alludes to the Raincoat Killer many times as being some unknown entity.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'';: inIn the "Deaths of Chromie" scenario, the player has to prevent no less than ''eight'' assassins from killing [[Time Lord|Chromie]] and attacking the Bronze Dragonshrine. While Chromie believes some mastermind is behind it all, this villain is never identified, even if the player is successful.
** Also, the "Shadowy Figures" who seem to be behind the trouble in the various Pet Dungeons. Given their voices, we can assume this group is made up of a tauren, a night elf, a blood elf, a troll, and a gnome (quite a diverse group) - but they are always, naturally, seen in shadow, and nothing is yet known of their motives.
* In ''[[Don't Starve]]'', Charlie is never actually seen in-game, because she can only attack the player in total darkness. No matter how fast the player is activating a light source, he will never see her in-game; in fact, Charlie has no game sprite, being more of an environmental hazard as far as gameplay is concerned. She's only seen in the flesh in some cutscenes, including [https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=tAjbOJBfk5U&feature=emb_title the trailer to the sequel]] when she tries - [[Heel Face Door Slam|but fails]] - to reconcile with Wilson.
* In the original [[Edutainment]] games in the ''[[Carmen Sandiego]]'' franchise's original [[Edutainment]] games, Carmen herself does not appear personally until you reach the Ace Detective rank. Television and animated adaptations avert this however, having her show up quite a lot, if not makemaking her the actual protagonist.
 
== Webcomics ==
* ''[[MAG-ISA]] --'': [http://mag-isa.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/119594 Look at these guys with darkened faces sitting around a table] planning nefarious schemes for you and me...
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100605065917/http://www.drunkduck.com/Harkovast/index.php?p=473700 The Enemy] in ''[[Harkovast]]'' is mentioned on the first page, but has never been shown in the comic. Who he is has only been hinted at on the comics forum, where his full title (The King in the West) has been stated.
 
 
== Web Original ==
* ''[[Broken Saints]]''{{Context}}
* Given the general aura of mystery surrounding the ''[[SCP Foundation]]'', it has many:
** The 05 Council combines this with [[Mysterious Backer]] and [[Evil Mentor]]; seeing how even rank and file members of the Foundation itself admit to being a [[Necessary Evil]], it is likely its leaders feel the same. The 05 Council is composed of thirteen (probably) individuals who head the Foundation from the shadows, their very existence hidden to all but members with Clearance Level 2 or higher. The website itself gives at least three contradictory files for each member, suggesting all but one (at most) is a [[Red Herring]], and whenever they appear in an adaptation, they are shrouded by dark silhouettes. Some are likely not even human, being SCPs themselves.
*** The same can be said of "the Administrator", who is mentioned in some stories. He (or she, or they or ''it'') may be the 05 Council's superior, a pseudonym used by one of them, or just a fiction they created to distract anyone who might try to uncover their secrets. If the Administrator is real, itthey staysstay out of sight.
*** There's also the Ethics Committee, which may be less "villain" than the rest of the Foundation but still of the [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] type; while they recognize the need for cruelty and torture on occasion to prevent greater evils, they're job is to assure the Foundation doesn't go totoo far. Should the Foundation's "necessary evils" become "unnecessary", they act to correct that, and punish anythe member(s) whoresponsible goes to far (via reprimanding, demoting, or in some cases, executing the offender.) As such, they have access to data and information even the 05 Council does not. (As in, they know ''all'' the "redacted"info that's been [REDACTED] and "expunged"[DATA dataEXPUNGED] onin the documentation of each and every SCP.) As might be assumed, their identities are ''completely'' unknown (lacking even the deceptive files of the 05 Council), and most other members of the Foundation are terrified of them.
** Dr. Wondertainment (a toymaker who has created many SCPs) is this - [[Ambiguously Evil| if he ''is'' a villain]], - although it's not clear if the name refers to the owner, president, and/or CEO of a company ''or'' the company itself. There are many suspects, with some actually believing Dr. Wondertainment is actually a [[Enemy Within|a member of the Foundation.]].
** And there are many minor examples, such as whoever built SCP-1678, aka "Under London". The Foundation believes the creator of this underground city (who violated many crimes against humanity by doing so) [[Corrupt Politician| is a member of British Parliament]], but until solid proof is obtained, accusing any of them of such would be unwise. SCP-3999 is some sort of sadistic demon who tortured an unfortunate researcher for millions of years (to his point of view) until that researcher made a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to destroy it; nothing more than that is known about the monster., Although,although the victim's notes claim it is "indescribable".
* The very existence of Salem in ''[[RWBY]]'' was hidden from the audience until the final minutes of Volume 3 -- and even then, exactly who she was and what she was planning was left for future episodes. And her existence remained a secret to the vast majority of the people of Remnant until the middle of Volume 8 -- some five years later.
 
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* In ''[[Wolverine and the X-Men]]'', pretty much the whole first season was masterminded by {{spoiler|the Inner Circle, who wanted to get their hands on the Phoenix}}. They're not introduced until just before the [[Grand Finale]], and aren't truly [[The Man Behind the Man]] because the only character they were directly controlling {{spoiler|was one of the heroes}}.
* During the third season of [[Ben 10]], horror monster-themed aliens show up performing seemingly random tasks through several episodes. During the season finale, they are revealed to have been building a superweapon to allow [[Enemy Without|Ghostfreak]] to achieve world domination.
* [[Humans Are Cthulhu|The Hunter]] in ''[[Bambi]]'' - while many fans regard him as one of the darkest villains in Disney, he's never truly seen, with only a very distinctive [[Leitmotif]] indicating that he's there.
* In ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'', F.O.W.L [[Fun With Acronyms|(the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny)]] is headed by three shadowy figures that are never named, and only one of them has ever been heard to speak. For the most part, Darkwing only deals with underlings like [[Dragon-in-Chief|Steelbeak.]],
 
{{reflist}}
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/1878306"
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