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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** 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]]s of the highest caliber (even if they have [[Bond Villain Stupidity|a few nasty habits]]). This trope is highlighted in ''[[Dr. No]]'', the very first movie, with this little exchange:
{{quote|'''Dr No''': "[[Nebulous Evil Organization|SPECTRE. Special Executive for Counter Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, Extortion.]] The four great cornerstones of power headed by the greatest brains in the world."
'''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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* 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 by Origin Story]] [[Backstory]] in which most of the events are caused by Voldemort. Without Voldemort, Harry would have grown up with his real parents and been just another wizarding kid.
** ''[[
* 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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* ''[[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}}—meet their fates at the hands of other (and usually, dumber) criminals. The few very smart villains are more or less untouchable.
* ''[[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|'''Seventh Doctor:''' You can always judge a man by the quality of his enemies.}}
* 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]]s to spare, many of the street-level campaigns pit the player characters against losers, witless fools, or [[You Suck|poor moronic average Joes]]. Eccentric and [[Power Born of Madness|crazy]] PCs combined with a hostile universe can cover a lot of ills. In most universes the [[Knight Templar]] trying to bring about their perfect universe through less than savory means is the bad guy. In Unknown Armies, you are that guy.
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*** {{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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** ''[[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.
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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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