Nietzsche Wannabe: Difference between revisions

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[The Big O]]'': Schwarzwald rants about the insignificance of the human race in a world without a past. He gloats about how only he knows what a cosmic fraud we all live in. Even {{spoiler|after he dies}}, he still manages to show up and narrate all the real big [[Mind Screw]] episodes. It turns out that {{spoiler|he was right. Everyone is living in a crappy play that's full of [[Plot Hole]]s.}}

* "Shadow" from ''[[Gate Keepers]]'' is another Nietzsche Wannabe, who's in league with the bad guys because he's disgusted with humanity's evils.

* ''[[Ergo Proxy]]'': [[Dark Messiah]] Raul Creed becomes this as he loses his sanity over the course of the show.

 

* The [[Batman]] graphic novel ''The Killing Joke'' created the characterization of the Joker as Nietzsche Wannabe who will do anything to prove to Batman that life is one big joke and that the only sensible response to it is give into madness.

* In the [[Marvel Universe]], The "Mad Titan" Thanos usually pulls this archetype off with a spectacular amount of wit and style.

* Momo in ''[[Persepolis]]''. His arguments are actually refuted by Marjane, who has seen people find meaningful purposes for themselves despite the world's senselessness and cruelty.

* ''A God Somewhere'': This is a possible interpretation of Eric, the main character, who, when confronted about {{spoiler|raping his sister-in-law and crippling his brother}}, says "Wrong is just a word people made up. It has nothing to do with the real world." shortly before {{spoiler|breaking out of prison and killing dozens of people for no reason}}. Near the end of the story, in the wake of his demise, a subculture of people who look up to Eric has apparently developed, and some of them can be seen hanging out on a street corner, where their response to something an old man angrily says to them is "Wrong is just a word people made up, bitch!"

 

== [[Fan Works]] ==

* Played with in the ''[[War of the Worlds]]'' fanfic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6598678/1/When_The_Stars_Turn_To_Ashes When The Stars Turn To Ashes]'' The character Byron Parris talks like this character type (and the high-minded protagonist dislikes him for it) but is also something of a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]].

* Tod Barringer in the ''[[The Hunger Games]]'' fanfic ''[[An Unsung Song|An Unsung Song: The Tale of the 405th Hunger Games]]''.

 

== Film ==

** In Lovecraft's short story ''The Silver Key'', his [[Author Avatar]] Randolph Carter ponders about the matter, and concludes that aesthetics are the only value worth sustaining in a universe without direction or meaning. In a way he fits the [[Ubermensch]] category better than this one, since he creates his own values after realizing the insignificance of the current ones. Of course he had his best experiences in dreams, and in the end flees the material world completely, making him also a rather extreme lotus eater.

* Cronal, [[Big Bad]] of the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] novel ''Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor''. He was raised by a cult of darksiders called the Sorcerers of Rhand, who believe that the will of the universe is that entropy and destruction are the only constants, and work to bring this about. At one point Cronal mentally disparages [[Lawful Evil|Palpatine]] for attempting to create when he should have destroyed. All of which means that yes, there are people out there in the galaxy who are [[Complete Monster|nastier than the Sith]].

{{quote|'''Vetinari:''' One of nature's wonders, gentlemen: Mother and children dining on mother and children. And that's when I first learned about evil. It is build in to the very nature of the universe. Every world spins in pain. If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.}}

** In a bit of a subversion, Death maintains that things like justice, mercy and duty are lies, but says that the entire point in believing in those lies is that it's what makes them real.

{{quote|'''O'Brien''': "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever."}}

 

* ''[[Skins]]'': Tony, a vaguely sociopathic lead character in British drama is a rare comedy example. He is seen on multiple occasions to be reading ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' one of Nietzsche's seminal works. This is reflected in how he manipulates his friends in increasingly cruel ways for his own personal amusement. He's stated in his tie-in blog and videos that the only purpose of anyone is to entertain him.

* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'':

* Marcus in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' is equal parts Nietzsche Wannabe and [[Knight in Shining Armour]].

{{quote|"You know, I used to think that it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought: Wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them. So now, I take great comfort in the hostility and unfairness of the universe."}}

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

* Rat in ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]''. He constantly sees the worst in others and looks at life as hopeless since the world will end. He was even able to get Pig and Zebra into his "End-o'-the-world" box, where they just get drunk out of beer-drinking hats.

 

* [[Norm MacDonald]]. Imagine if [[The Joker]] from [[The Dark Knight]] decided not to blow shit up and instead became a stand-up comic.

* [[Patton Oswalt]] parodies this by crossing it with the [[The Fundamentalist]]:

{{quote|"I DID NOT SPEND MY LIFE NOT RAPING AND KILLING PEOPLE TO [[The Cake Is a Lie|NOT GO UP IN THE SKY AND HAVE ... CAKE!]] [[Punctuated! For! Emphasis!|SKY CAKE!]]"...So the next time you see some [[The Fundamentalist|douchebags in front of an abortion clinic, or trying to ban]] a [[Harry Potter]] novel, just go, "Oh, Sky Cake. Why are you so delicious?!" }}

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* The Rakdos guild in ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' have spells like [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=107517 this]. They're also the 'hedonist' and 'sociopath' guild; their general theme is being the life of the party...and, sometimes, its death.

 

 

== Video Games ==

* Albedo from the ''[[Xenosaga]]'' series is a particularly horrifying and sadistic Nietzsche Wannabe, gleefully traumatizing MOMO for no apparent reason and strewing his throne room with the corpses of other little girls.

** Also [[Healing Factor|tends to self-mutilate]] when he's bored.

 

== Web Comics ==

* In ''[[Kid Radd]]'', {{spoiler|GI Guy, rather accurately observing that video game sprites like himself are created for the purpose of killing each other, tries to destroy the entire sprite world, and humanity with it}}.

** {{spoiler|Unlike most cackling madmen, he's convinced this is will be a mercy-kill and that it's in everyone's best interests.}}

* In ''[[Suppression]]'' Samantha Wight delivers a speech to this effect when she first appears, but on that same note believes their efforts to be so pointless that she lets them pass afterward. {{spoiler|Which they would have done if Bael's [[Berserk Button]] hadn't been pressed a few too many times.}}

* ''[[Homestuck]]'': {{spoiler|Jadesprite}}, after her [[Unwanted Resurection]], starts taking this view. Jade ends up [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|calling her out on this.]]

 

== Web Original ==

 

== Western Animation ==

* Miss Bitters from ''[[Invader Zim]]''. She's played totally for laughs—but given what happens in a typical episode of the show, she looks like an optimist. Her rants / lessons tend to consist of telling her students how pointless existence is and how they are all [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|doomed, doomed, doomed]]...

* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak3z2Pm7Iwg 'Satan' sequence] in ''[[The Adventures of Mark Twain]]'' (adapted from Twain's novella ''The Mysterious Stranger'') is one of the most frightening and disturbing examples. What's worse is that this was put in a family film.

*** The {{spoiler|"It doesn't matter."}} comes from the fact that he would only freeze to death later on if {{spoiler|he had pressed the "abort" button as he knew he had no way of getting off that parallel Earth}} so he {{spoiler|chose to die then rather than later.}} But, yes, it's still interesting.

*** Actually, it comes from the notion that somewhere, in a parallel Earth, {{spoiler|he did manage to deactivate the bomb and save himself.}}

* The Stunticon [[Meaningful Name|Dead End]] got to be like this at times during the course of [[Transformers Generation 1|the original]] ''[[Transformers]]'' cartoon. It becomes a bit of a joke when you read his character biography, and learn that [[Hypocritical Humour|he is quite vain about his appearance and constantly stays polished and detailed.]]

{{quote|'''Dead End:''' What does it matter if I meet my fate now, or when my circuits fail?}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Madness Tropes]]

[[Category:Older Than Radio]]

[[Category:Philosophy Tropes]]

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Aspiring Index]]