39,327
edits
The Evil Prince: Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.TheEvilPrince 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.TheEvilPrince, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 15:
A very common subtrope is to have the Evil Prince as ''[[Cain and Abel|brother]]'' to the king, who tends to be his [[The Good King|polar opposite]] and utterly oblivious to [[Devil in Plain Sight|his brother's true nature]]. This is usually pretty bad news for the children of the king, as Evil Princes traditionally make [[Evil Uncle|rather poor uncles]].
For some reason there seems to be very few Evil Princesses, perhaps because of [[
The main basis of this belief is that because a ruler is illegitimate, they are automatically evil and that the only "good ruler" is a legitimate one. People tend to forget that a legitimate prince is more likely to be [[Royal Brat|spoiled and grow up uncaring for the plight of others]] or [[A God Am I|grow up believing themselves to be one step away from God]]. The fact that [[The Caligula|a certain psychopathic Roman emperor was LEGITIMATELY given the throne]] really undercuts the idea that legitimate monarchs really are "better". Or perhaps the main point of the assumption is simply the belief that almost any law is better than [[Asskicking Equals Authority]]. Or that someone who cheerfully disposes of their brothers and/or father is unlikely to rule with kindness.
Line 27:
In terms of the ranks of [[Authority Tropes]], the tropes that are equal are [[Prince Charming]], [[Prince Charmless]], [[Warrior Prince]], [[The White Prince]], [[The Wise Prince]], and all [[Princess Tropes]]. The next steps down are [[The Good Chancellor]], [[Evil Chancellor]], [[Standard Royal Court]] and [[Deadly Decadent Court]]. The next steps up are [[The Caligula]], [[The Good King]], [[God Save Us From the Queen]], [[The High Queen]], [[She Is the King]], and [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask]].
{{examples
== Anime & Manga ==
Line 38:
** He wasn't the last possible heir. He found some of the others and made them act as [[Body Double|body doubles]]. He was the only one to ever be publicly acknowledged as heir instead of being executed as unsuitable, however.
* Almost everyone in ''Adarushan no Hanayome'' assumes main character Alexid to be one of these. He's called the "Black Demon" for his apparent savagery in battle, he consistently wears dark clothing, and {{spoiler|his mother was a commoner}}. {{spoiler|Even his ''mentor, who raised him,'' believed Alexid harbored resentment towards his older brother the king and harbored ambitions to take the throne. This culminated in his mentor trying to kill him.}} The truth is the complete opposite. Alexid truly loves his brother and is actually ''terrified'' by the prospect of taking over the throne since he doesn't have the same knack for ruling a country.
* [[The Five Star Stories]] has FEMC GL IIII Amaterasu dis Greens OOE Ikaruga, better known as Sarion. While he's a pretty minor character, he still fits this trope as a glove. [[Ax Crazy]]? Check. [[Self Made Orphan|Made himself an orphan]] just [[For the Evulz]]? Check. [[Kick the Dog|Gleefully permitted]] his underlings to rape and pillage ''their own nation'' during his rebellion? Check. [[Complete Monster|Rebelled]] ''[[Complete Monster|after]]'' his royal cousin the protagonist commuted his death sentence (due to aforementioned orphaning) to life imprisonment because [[Fantastic Racism|a lowly fatima]] was [[
** And for the kicker he's still one of AKD's [[Karma Houdini|premiere knights]], commanding a sizable detachment of the Royal Guard, First Easter Mirage Corps Green Left Wing, consisting of heroic sociopaths just like him. In fact, his current princely title was given him ''after'' that story with the rebellion. He's just that useful.
* Xanxus of ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]''. Subverted because he's {{spoiler|adopted so he couldn't be the next boss of the Vongola after all}}. And also Belphegor. {{spoiler|His brother Rasiel is supposed to be the next king. Belphegor killed him because of this. In the Future Arc Rasiel shows up alive and reveals that he is just as evil, that he was also planning to assassinate Belphegor and that they tried their plans on the same day}}.
Line 68:
* ''[[The Madness of King George (Film)|The Madness of King George]]'' portrays George III's son, The Prince of Wales, in this manner. Whether or not it's [[Truth in Television]] is debatable.
* Prince Nuada in ''[[Hellboy II]]: The Golden Army''. He has the sympathetic aspect of fighting for his realm's survival, but his tactics are ''so'' extreme that ''everybody'' argues against him.
* Prince Nizam from ''[[Prince of Persia the Sands of Time (Film)|Prince of Persia the Sands of Time]]'' although he's never called by this title, since [[Viewers
* ''[[Stardust (Film)|Stardust]]'' has a bunch of evil princes; most notably [[Mark Strong|Septimus]]. Well, should we call them evil, when it is in fact tradition to kill off their brothers?
* Subverted in ''[[Thor]]''. Loki shows all signs of being the evil prince, who wants his brother and father out of the way so that he can have the throne except for one thing..... he doesn't want the throne. He never intended for his Thor to be banished to Earth or for Odin to fall into the Odinsleep, but they did and the throne just dropped into his hands.
Line 81:
* Several of these in the [[Deryni]] works:
** Prince Festil Furstán of Torenth was a younger son who didn't like being landless, so he gathered other landless younger sons, borrowed some troops from his father and conquered neighbouring Gwynedd in 822.
** Prince Conall Blaine Cluim Uthyr Haldane is the eldest son of Prince Nigel Haldane and terminally jealous of his cousin King Kelson and Kelson's foster brother Dhugal, Earl of Transha. He takes secret instruction in using the Haldane powers, which are only supposed to wielded by the reigning monarch. He puts ''[[Fantastic Drug|merasha]]'' in Dhugal's flask while traveling on a quest for Camber's relics. He seduces the woman Kelson wants to marry. He {{spoiler|attacks his father and leaves him in an arcane coma}}. He ultimately {{spoiler|challenges his cousin to a duel arcane at his treason trial}}. By the way, his second name was also that of a Festillic king; [[What Did You Expect When You Named It?|coincidence? Maybe not]].
** Mahael and Teymuraz are this (as well as being [[Evil Uncle|evil uncles]]) to Liam-Lajos in ''King Kelson's Bride''. One or both of them are widely suspected of suspected of disposing of Liam's elder brother Alroy previously.
* All the princes in ''[[Stardust (Literature)|Stardust]]'' (except possibly Primus), but especially Prince Septimus. Moreover, their father was himself an example of The Evil Prince made good, as were a number of other monarchs before him (it was a family tradition). Primus, while clearly ambitious, appears not to be evil (to stop Septimus, Primus bribes a soothsayer to lead his brother on a wild goose chase; to stop Primus, Septimus tries to ''poison him'').
Line 180:
** Scar from ''[[Disney Animated Canon|The Lion King]]'' kills his brother and tries to kill his nephew.
* [[Prince Charming]] from the ''[[Shrek]]'' movies is intended more as a parody of the traditional [[Knight in Shining Armor|fairy tale good prince]], but fits this role very well in ''Shrek the Third''.
* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Prince Zuko subverts this trope entirely as even before his [[Dark and Troubled Past]] is revealed it is clear that he is loyal [["Well Done, Son" Guy|to a fault]] towards his father the [[Evil Overlord]]. It is only after two and a half seasons of [[Character Development]], {{spoiler|1=IOW when he makes a [[Heel Face Turn]] and become the Sixth Ranger/[[The Atoner]],}} that he seeks Ozai's overthrow.
** Played straight with the current Fire Lord, Ozai, who killed his father {{spoiler|(or had his wife kill him)}} and then usurped his older brother Iroh as heir. However, also ''averted'', in that Ozai's daughter Princess Azula, is not only one of few Evil Princesses, she consistently proves herself [[
*** At show's end, it is plain that Azula loves her father as much as her screwed-up mind is capable of loving anyone. Not only that, {{spoiler|she gets the one reward every [[Bastard Understudy]] wants, the crown. She ''was'' to be crowned Fire Lord Azula, until Zuko came back to dish out some destiny-cooked justice on her}}. She could have had it all if her best friends betraying her didn't [[Villainous Breakdown|seriously shake her]]. However, {{spoiler|the title and position of Fire Lord was summarily reduced to something between a hollow gesture and a bad joke by her father assuming the position of [[A God Am I|Phoenix King]] and going forth to [[Moral Event Horizon|remove the Earth Kingdom from the map]]}} and Azula knew it.
* On ''[[Young Justice (Animation)|Young Justice]],'' Count Vertigo is this, despite having a different title. He attempts to steal the donor heart intended for his niece, the ten-year-old Queen Perdita, to gain the throne of Vlatava.
Line 200:
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:The Evil Prince]]
[[Category:Trope]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
| |||