The Von Trope Family: Difference between revisions

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At its most basic level, "von" merely exists as a marker of Germanic origin, high origin or both. However, character namers have seen fit to use the syllable to make two main branches of the Von Trope Family tree.

# Darker Von Trope: Often the Von implies sternness, skill at intrigue, sadism or any of the other tropes that [[Those Wacky Nazis]] tend to ~~inspire -- ironically~~, as the old nobility largely despised the Nazis as ''parvenus''. Less dark variations may include the particularly Gothic or militaristic [[Badass]], especially those that are a riff on Otto von Bismarck (a classic [[Magnificent Bastard]]) or Baron Manfred von Richthofen, The [[Red Baron]]. Sometimes the characters with the name do not have a Germanic origin at all.

# Darker Von Trope: Often the Von implies sternness, skill at intrigue, sadism or any of the other tropes that [[Those Wacky Nazis]] tend to inspire—ironically, as the old nobility largely despised the Nazis as ''parvenus''. Less dark variations may include the particularly Gothic or militaristic [[Badass]], especially those that are a riff on Otto von Bismarck (a classic [[Magnificent Bastard]]) or Baron Manfred von Richthofen, The [[Red Baron]]. Sometimes the characters with the name do not have a Germanic origin at all.

# Lighter Von Trope: It is also used as more of a [[Stock Foreign Name]] for a Germanic [[Funny Foreigner]] (especially [[Mad Scientist~~|Mad Scientists~~]]), or for goofy characters for whom the aristocratic bearing of the name seems incongruous.

# Lighter Von Trope: It is also used as more of a [[Stock Foreign Name]] for a Germanic [[Funny Foreigner]] (especially [[Mad Scientist]]s), or for goofy characters for whom the aristocratic bearing of the name seems incongruous.

# Or sometimes, [[Reality Ensues|the character just happens to have that as part of their family name]], with no particular cultural significance meant to be attached (though in countries with a long history of democracy, the elitist overtones of the prefix often cause it to be dropped).

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=== Darker Von Trope Examples: ===

== Darker Von Trope Examples ==

* Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, the leader of Hydra in the Marvel Universe

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* [[Gaia Online]]'s Von Helson family, an aristocratic family that happens to consist entirely of vampires. Vladmir (and later Zhivago) are both major antagonists throughout the storyline. The Von Helson were also villainous for a while, but have undergone some [[Villain Decay]] in recent years (lampshaded in a recent mini comic). Ian and Louie are subversions. Ian is a lovable goofball who runs a costume shop with his talking cat, and Louie is a nice guy who just happens to be King of the Vampires, [[I Hate You, Vampire Dad|hates his dad]], and works at the local Formalwear shop.

* Von Pinn of ''[[Girl Genius]]''

** The Wulfenbach family never uses "von", but outside the comic a lot of people seem to use it for them, largely due to this trope. The fact that they ''don't'' use it is likely related to the contempt the Baron has for the nobility's "rules". <ref> they were a low-ranking family and he was technically ineligible to inherit the title</ref>

** The Wulfenbach family never uses "von", but outside the comic a lot of people seem to use it for them, largely due to this trope. The fact that they ''don't'' use it is likely related to the contempt the Baron has for the nobility's "rules".<ref>they were a low-ranking family and he was technically ineligible to inherit the title</ref>

* Baroness Paula Von Gunther, antagonist of ''[[Wonder Woman]]''. One of the few comic villains to make the leap to the TV show, in fact.

* Von Bach of DC's ''[[Kingdom Come]]''.

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=== Lighter Von Trope Examples: ===

== Lighter Von Trope Examples ==

* ''[[Dracula (novel)|Dracula]]'''s Abraham Van Helsing (a Dutch Jew) is a good guy.

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=== [[Real Life]] Von Trope Examples: ===

== [[Real Life]] Von Trope Examples ==

* The trope name is a pun on the von Trapp family, of ''[[The Sound of Music]]'' fame.