Talk:Villain Ball

Is it possible to catch the villain ball when you are not really a villain, or, in an Evil Versus Evil situation, not the worst of all?

For example, what comes to my mind is Germany at the beginning of World War I (not to confuse with WW II). In WW I pretty much all involved parties showed a similar degree of brutality (at least Germany, France and Great Britain were Not So Different from each other). Nevertheless, Germany caught some sort of villain ball, because they were the ones who started the western European part of that war, which was also the part which has cost the most lifes. Worse, they did so with little provocation in a pre-emptive attack, just in order to avoid possibly being backstabbed while the German forces are busy supporting Austria-Hungary against Russia. And finally, they lost the war, which makes their situation even more villain-ball-ish, because as we know it's mostly the 'winners' of history who write it. Add to this the many thoughtlessly provocative messages Kaiser Wilhelm II has aimed at England and France in the years before WW I, and the picture of the Germans as "the baddies" through WW I is perfect.

The point here is, that the situation was singificantly different from WW II, where Germany really stood out in terms of brutality. In WW I it looks more like the German government was a bit silly or Genre Blind rather than truly 'evil'. Maybe one can count Kaiser Wilhelm II as a Villain Ball Magnet...

With most Real Life situations, it's hard to say without editorializing. I mean, most will agree that Germany under Hitler was MUCH worse than it was under Wilhelm, but it's hard to associate Wilhelm's actions as benevolent, and he did indeed make quite a few mistakes as a leader (though not as many as Hitler did).

Maybe placing such examples in What an Idiot! would be better, as that is a YMMV Trope and thus subject to opinions.

My advice, if you have more than one doubt when making a Real Life entry to Villain Tropes, it might be better to simply not make the entry. Or at least make a disclaimer like, "whether Kaiser Wilhelm II qualifies as a 'villain' is debatable" or something like that.