The Villain Makes the Plot: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}{{Mechanics of Writing}}
{{quote|''Any story where you have good guys versus bad guys can only be as smart as the intelligence of your baddest guy.''|'''[[Bruce Willis]]''' on ''[[Die Hard]]''}}
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Death Note]]'', ''both'' the protagonist and the antagonist are geniuses. [[Xanatos Speed Chess]] ensues. This is rather successful, in part because the protagonist is a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] and the audience is given opportunities to sympathize with both sides. [[Word of God]] has it that L, who stands in opposition to the [[Villain Protagonist|main character]] and can be considered the antagonist, is the smartest character in-story, because the plot requires it. {{spoiler|Near and Mello, L's successors, when together, can surpass L and Light, as shown when Near takes advantage of the opportunity Mello created to ensure his victory}}.
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==
* [[Incredible Hulk]]. His comics are generally not
* ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]''. The ([[Gray and Gray Morality|arguable]]) [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|Ozymandias averts any major challenge to his plans, even managing to keep the "heroes" (including a nigh-invulnerable [[Reality Warper]]) ignorant of the extent and rationale of his plans and impotent to stop him until [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|it's too late to act]].}}
* Part of the reason [[Superman]] is so popular is because his villains are very rarely dumb. [[Lex Luthor|His archnemesis]] is stated to be, quite possibly, the smartest man on the planet. However, he often acts dumb, frequently with a Went Crazy Because of Factor X reasoning, where X is something like [[Super Serum|kryptonite]] [[Drugs Are Bad|doping]] or an [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|alien robotic parasite]] influencing him for its own purposes, but often enough because he's [[Insufferable Genius|too much of an overconfident jerkass]] to [[Too Dumb to Live|check his work,]] despite [[Fridge Logic|failing all the time]], or because [[They Just Didn't Care]]
Note that while crazy exceeding self-interest destroys Lex, it is [[Power Born of Madness|mother's milk]] to the Joker and his ability to be a serious example of this entry. Although L.L. being, y'know, relatively sane, he actually has goals in life...
* [[Batman]] is also popular because of his memorable [[Shadow Archetype]] [[Rogues Gallery]]. This trope especailly applies to his more intelligent enemies like [[Genius Bruiser|Bane,]] [[The Chessmaster|Hush,]] [[Trickster Archetype|the Riddler,]] [[Mad Scientist|Hugo Strange,]] and [[Ubermensch|Ra's al-Ghul]] to name a few.
** And [[The Joker]], of course - if not for him, Batman probably wouldn't be ''half'' as interesting to modern-day audiences.
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** In the first film, [[Wicked Cultured|Hans Gruber]] is a sly and sophisticated crook with a very clever plan, to the point that hostages are surprised to learn that he's "just a thief." The benefits of a classical education.
** The plan in ''Die Hard With A Vengeance'' was so good, the FBI questioned the writer as to how he got the information involved in the scheme, because they were worried it would actually work.
* One of the reasons ''[[The Dark Knight Saga]]'' was so widely hailed as brilliant is that the Joker feels smart; his plans are very much plausible, if [[Gambit Roulette|relying a bit too much on luck]] (though that also fits the character). Arguably, the whole reason that the Joker is so incredibly difficult to defeat is the ''unpredictability'' in his plans. If his plans relied on logic or concrete goals or desires they would be relatively decipherable. Instead his genuine desire of merely causing as much chaos as possible and driving everyone including Batman to be as insane as he is generates pure unpredictability, which is difficult to beat. Why? Because it's unpredictable. Hard to break a pattern when there is no pattern. Thus setting up his constant defeats to Batman, and verifying this law to the fullest
It's also possible that the reason the Joker is so effective against Batman is because Batman's main source of [[Awesomeness By Analysis]] is very dependent on there being a detectable form of logic to break [[Batman Gambit|and exploit]].
** The Joker may be terrifying, but his plans are anything but plausible. How exactly did he kill the police commisioner and the judge?
** You forget, at that point in the movie the Joker had access to the mob's resources. The poison and car bomb were probably snuck in by cops on Maroni's payroll.
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* Big aversion in ''[[Fargo]]'', in which the criminals are dangerous precisely ''because'' they're incredibly dumb.
** Not an aversion per se; you don't watch ''Fargo'' because it's a smart [[The Caper|caper]] film, you watch it to be amused by ordinary people bumbling along.
* Why do think [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] has been chugging along for 40-plus years? He is ''constantly'' pitted against [[Diabolical Mastermind
{{quote|
'''Bond''': "Correction- criminal brains."
'''No''': "The successful criminal brain is always superior. It has to be!" }}
* ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]'' provides a subversion: The villain Hans Landa hijacks the heroes plan to assassinate Hitler, {{spoiler|which is what makes it work.}}
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* Far and away the most popular character in Ed McBain's ''[[87th Precinct]]'' novels is the Deaf Man, a [[Manipulative Bastard]] [[Diabolical Mastermind]] who only ever lost through sheer dumb luck. The late author once admitted that the reason he didn't write more stories for the character was that the Deaf Man was, in fact, smarter than he was, which made it difficult to come up with his plots.
* The Seanchan are said to be this in ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' series. At one point, one of the characters remarks to another that the reason the Seanchan army is called "The Ever-Victorious Army" is that the generals are trained specifically to be intelligent and learn from defeats- so while the army has lost battles, it has not yet lost a war.
* Voldemort is responsible, at least indirectly, for the main plot of each ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' book. Additionally, the whole premise of the series relies on a [[Death
** ''[[
* The most definitive literary example is perhaps ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Sauron, who is powerful and influential enough to drive the plot [[Orcus on His Throne|despite appearing only ONCE in the story]].
** To be more specific, it's the presence and existence of the One Ring that moves the plot and allowed Sauron to still be a threat in the first place. {{spoiler|If not for the One Ring surviving the Last Alliance, Sauron would have died an age ago. And before Tolkien wrote the LOTR, the Second Age DID end with Sauron's Defeat until Tolkien decided to write the Hobbit and the Third Age by merging it with his original work.}}
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* ''[[24]]'' also makes good use of this concept.
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' features a number of very intelligent villains, such as Mr. Morden.
* ''[[The Wire]]'' asserts the [[Truth in Television]] nature of this trope: "Stupid criminals make stupid cops." With one exception) all the truly smart villain characters who are killed or otherwise taken out -- {{spoiler|Stringer Bell, Proposition Joe, Omar and Brother Mouzone}}
* ''[[The Thick of It]]'' showed us that an [[Anti-Hero]] is also only as good as his enemies. In the first series spin doctor Malcolm Tucker only had to contend with hapless cabinet ministers and ineffectual civil servants. In series 2 he came perilously close to losing his job to a rival, and from then on the writers began to introduce more interesting conflicts. [[The Movie]], ''[[In the Loop]]'', saw him pitted him against genuinely powerful US politicians. Series 3 then gave him an [[Arch Enemy]], rival spin doctor and [[Smug Snake]] Steve Fleming.
* ''[[
* On ''[[Lost]]'', Ben Linus was originally supposed to be a temporary character, but he was written so smart that he elevated the conflict with the Others to such a degree that he became the primary antagonist for a while.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': Because if we didn't have bad guys for the Doctor to constantly evade/kill/over-throw, its doubtful the show could have lasted fifty years.
{{quote|
* Inverted in the original ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' series. The villains are usually passive known qualities; it's the ingenious plans of the ''heroes'' that make the show interesting.
** [[Leverage]] is generally similar in this regard. Though, the heroes [[Villain Protagonist|are arguably not]].
* During an interview with a fansite, Latham Gaines from ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'' almost said this verbatim. Originally, his character Mesogog, was supposed to be more overstated and hammy (to counteract his [http://www.rangercentral.com/database/2004_dinothunder/images/prdt-vi-mesogog.jpg creepy appearance.]) However, Gaines pushed back and said that he should go in the other direction, and said, "Good drama needs good villains; it makes it more satisfying when they're defeated." ''Dino Thunder'' is one of the few Disney-era seasons of ''Rangers'' that's remembered fondly, so he might have been on to something.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Warhammer
* Averted in ''[[Unknown Armies]]''. While there are [[Manipulative Bastard]] [[Big Bad
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* Heavily, heavily averted in the ''[[Fallout]]'' series. The Enclave has had access to the best pre-End of the World tech out there and the last reliable source of oil, and still hasn't managed much in the way of technological advancement even after 200 years. The Big Bad is always incompetent, crazy, or just plain stupid, to the point where a sufficiently intelligent or charismatic Vault Dweller can actually cause the Big Bads of Fallout and Fallout 3 to give up their evil plans simply by pointing out the flaws. Several lesser enemies face the same fate.
** The Dragons of the Fallout Series are SOMETIMES more dangerous, but they're usually not exactly the brighest eggs in the bunch either. Though at least they usually have to be actually FOUGHT, though they're usually just Damage Sponges with heavy weaponry. Not exactly Dragon in Chief material, to be honest.
* One major complaint about ''[[
** A good analogy would be if the Emperor kicked Vader off a cliff early in episode VI, and the prequel trilogy was never made. Palpatine may be a bastard, but if we didn't get to see it, we'd be pretty pissed off. Same with {{spoiler|Fontaine, the mobster.}}
*** {{spoiler|It could be argued that Fontaine was a [[Magnificent Bastard]] in his own way, outplaying Ryan through cunning and a keener understanding of supply and demand than the uber-capitalist himself. The plot just falls down when everything is revealed in [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Ryan's quarters]], and there's nowhere to go but to turn Fontaine into just another boss fight.}}
* Most of ''[[Deus Ex]]'' is spent sprinting up the various sorting orders of villainy.
* Averted entertainingly in ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]]''. Technically the [[Big Bad]] of the game would be {{spoiler|The [[Smug Snake]] Camarilla Prince Lacroix, who tries to pull off an [[Evil Plan]] to acquire the [[MacGuffin|sarcophagus]] and actually gets pretty close. However even in the endings where he ''does'' succeed, he's revealed to be a mere [[Unwitting Pawn]]; instead of the rumored antediluvian he had planned to drain to [[Took a Level
** Played straight, however, with Ming Xiao, albeit on a smaller scale.
* ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'': Without [[Mad Scientist|Hojo]], there would be no [[Big Bad|Sephiroth]].
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** ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'': Pretty much nothing would happen without Jafar. Aladdin would spend the rest of his life on the streets and the Genie would never leave the Cave of Wonders.
** ''[[The Lion King]]'': Scar killed Mufasa, making the film's [[Slice of Life]] story much more complex.
** ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs]]'': The Queen tries to kill Snow White, forcing her into exile. Her life with the Dwarfs (while humorous) is pretty tranquil until the Queen reattempts this.
** ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|The Jungle Book]]'': Mowgli is forced to move out the jungle in fear of Shere Khan coming after him.
** ''[[Hercules (
*** Behind the scenes, Hades is an especially interesting case of this trope. [[Word of God|The crew of the movie said]] that Hades was going to be dark, scary, and menacing, but James Woods took a [[Deadpan Snarker|different]] [[Large Ham|route]] than the other auditions and the original plan, and they loved it so much they rewrote the character and, by extension, the script.
** ''[[Disney/Princess And The Frog|Princess And The Frog]]'': If it weren't for Dr. Facilier turning Naveen into a frog, he wouldn't have tried to kiss Tiana, and turn her into a frog.
* ''[[The Dreamstone]]'' often falls into this, as the residents of [[Sugar Bowl|The Land Of Dreams]] were usually docile and innocent beings that rarely caused their own personal conflicts or problems, thus events were usually extremely laid back until the Urpneys caused problems by trying to steal the titular stone.
* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' give us this example.
{{quote|
** Perry and Doof's B-plot is almost always "Agent P, Doofensmirtz is up to something. Go and stop him."
* ''[[Animaniacs]]'': [[Alliterative Name|Slappy]] [[Species Surname|Squirrell]] was about to receive an award and some of her enemies planted a bomb at the podium. She invoked the trope to say the villains deserved the award more than her so they'd be lured into their own trap.
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[[Category:Evil Tropes]]
[[Category:Laws and Formulas]]
[[Category:The Villain Makes the Plot]]▼
[[Category:Mechanics of Writing]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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