“ | You blame bad parenting? My parents died. You don't see me raping anyone. | „ |
~ Jessica Jones to Kilgrave when the latter tries to use his backstory to excuse his actions. |
“ | God, why don't you stop your whining and get on with it? I've heard this s--t before! Do you know why you kill people, Roman? Do you? BECAUSE YOU CHOOSE TO! There is no one else to blame! Why don’t you take some F--KING responsibility? | „ |
~ Sidney Prescott to Roman Bridger after the latter explains his excuse as to why he started killing. |
A Fake Tragic is a Pure Evil who either faked their own tragedy or actually presents a tragic past or an alleged Freudian Excuse, but cannot qualify as truly tragic due their motivation having little if anything to do with their so-called tragedy. The reason why their tragic past doesn't prevent them from being Pure Evil is due to how it doesn't affect them, with some using it as a flimsy excuse for their actions.
In some instances, these Pure Evils may have been former heroes, given the circumstances of their tragedy leading to them becoming the complete opposite of admirable.
For the sake of Pure Evil, they usually fall under psychopaths/sociopaths due to the fact that they can never be portrayed sympathetically and are overall the evil opposites of sympathetic characters, but exceptions exist if they have different mental illnesses.
Villains in this category include:
- Villains whose "tragedies" are really petty excuses for villainy (e.g. Iron Monger, Tortoise John, Father, Mysterio, Eobard Thawne (Arrowverse), Syndrome, Piella Bakewell, Henry Evans, Mari and Soundblaster).
- Villains who brought their misery onto themselves while blaming it on someone, or worse, everyone else. (e.g. Yoon Gwi-nam, Rasputin, Monika (Madame Macabre), Judge Claude Frollo, Infinite, Venom, Zant, Andrei Strasser, Commodus, and Starscream).
- Villains who felt unloved or unappreciated but became unsympathetic due to the heinous nature of their actions (e.g. Sir Miles Axlerod, Lucifer, Scarlet Spiker, Patrick Bateman, Jill Roberts, Randall Boggs, Kurt Kunkle, Michael, Ozai and Ramsay Bolton).
- Villains who experienced genuine tragedies (e.g. losing their family or loved ones, experiencing prejudice, being bullied/abused, abandoned, tortured, rejected by society, living in poverty, having major health issues such as diseases/disorders/disabilities, etc.), but exaggerate how badly it affected them to make lies and false excuses for themselves and their actions or simply aren't or no longer affected by what happened to them (e.g. Drago Bludvist, Adam Taurus, AM, Lotso, Kilgrave, Isaac Ray Peram Westcott, Porky Minch, Sentinel Prime, The Ink Demon and King Magnifico).
- Villains who were exposed to evil forces which brought out their darkest qualities, toxins that were slowly killing them, given powers that were difficult to appropriately use, etc. but instead of searching for help, seeking a proper way to incorporate their powers, or learning self-control, they used it as an excuse to take up villainy (e.g. Kefka Palazzo, Lord Commander, Kraang Prime, Tengu Shredder, Grandmaster Nimzo, Light Yagami, Maestro, The Batman Who Laughs, and Count Dracula).
- Villains whose excuse sounds good enough, but there's no in-universe proof it ever happened, or how they said it did is completely fake (e.g. Henry, Adrian Griffin, Cooler, Frieza, Emperor Belos, Catalina, Gary Smith, and multiple versions of the Joker).
- Villains who were already cruel and vile people to begin with before experiencing any form of trauma, whether it was genuine or not. As such, their tragedy is prevented from being a legitimate Freudian excuse in the first place (e.g. Emperor Palpatine, Sir Benedict Cumbersnatch, Mary Elnor, Armando Salazar, Philip Eberfroe, Isshiki Ōtsutsuki, Leo Kasper, All For One, Gregor Clegane, and King Boo).
Mere speculations/implications of a tragic past are not enough to qualify a character for this category (e.g. William Afton, Agatha Trunchbull, Junko Enoshima, The Lich, Dr. Facilier, Desert Tumbler, Moff Gideon and The Chairman ); they must have an established backstory which must come from an official and trustworthy source.
It is the opposite of Tragic Pure Good heroes and of its far less evil counterpart, Tragic villains.
All items (720)
- Aamon (Dark Prince)
- Abdul-Aziz al-Razim
- Abigail Williams (The Crucible)
- Abomination (2008 Novelization)
- Abomination (2010 Marvel Animated Universe)
- Absolute Hades God N Ma
- Acnologia
- Adam Taurus
- Ahmanet
- Ai Magase
- Akihiro Kurata
- Akio Ohtori
- Akira Takaoka
- Alan Jackson (Lifetime Manafest)
- Albert Wesker
- Aldrich Killian
- Alex (Elephant)
- Alexia Ashford
- Alien Empera
- Alien Spy Leader (The Fedora Chronicles)
- Alina Gray
- All For One
- Alphys (Negativetale)
- Alvin the Treacherous
- AM
- Amon (StarCraft)
- Amy Hughes
- Amy Kirio
- Andre Olivieri
- Andrei Sator
- Andrei Strasser
- Andross
- Angelus
- Anjuro "Angelo" Katagiri
- Anthony Cooper
- Anton Lone
- Apep (mythology)
- Apocalypse (X-Men Movies)
- Apollyon
- Archibald Snatcher
- Ares (God of War)
- Ares (Wrath of the Titans)
- Argos
- Armando Salazar
- Arnim Zola (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
- Arthur Savage
- Arthur Walsh
- Arthur Watts
- Asimov (Luminous Avenger iX)
- Audrey Redheart
- Aunt Ruth Chandler
- Azar (Genshin Impact)
- Azazel (Tekken)
- Bacon General
- Barnaby Crookedman
- Baro
- Baron Praxis
- Baron Robotnik
- Baron Zemo (Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes)
- Barracuda
- Barty Crouch Jr. (Warner Bros.)
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- Bellatrix Lestrange
- Ben Gardner
- Beth
- Big Jack Horner (NerdOut!)
- Big Jack Horner (Novelization)
- Bill Cipher
- Black (GameToons)
- Black Humanoid
- Black Manta (DC)
- Black Mask (DC Extended Universe)
- Black Mask (DC)
- Black Noir
- Blackbeard (Pirates of the Carribean)
- Blackwolf
- Blood Voltage
- Bob Barnes
- Bobby Earl Ferguson
- Bogeyman (Secret World)
- Bonnie the Bunny (ShadowLL)
- Boris the Animal
- Brainiac (Antimatter)
- Brian Banner
- Brixton Lore
- Brotonia
- Bryan Fury
- Bullseye (Marvel)
- Canaletto
- Captain Kuro
- Captain Morton
- Captain Poison
- Captain Vidal
- Carl Sturgis
- Carlo Luciano
- Carnage (Marvel)
- Carnage (Spider-Man and Batman: Disordered Minds)
- Cassandra Nova
- Catalina
- Catherine de Medici
- Chairman Drek
- Champ
- Chara (Dusttale)
- Chara (HalaCG)
- Chara (Kanon version)
- Chara (Stronger Than You)
- Charles Eborock
- Charles Rane
- Chester Bundy
- Chief Harold Kruel
- Chucky
- Clancy Gray
- Cobra Commander
- Cobra Commander (G.I. Joe Film Series)
- Colonel Henry Favours
- Colonel Ives
- Commander Rourke
- Commodus
- Constance Hatchaway
- Controller X
- Cooler
- Corporal Gallo
- Corrine Dollanganger
- Count Dracula (Bram Stoker)
- Creeps
- Crispian Davison
- Crux Dogatie
- Cypher Reagan
- D'Spayre (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
- Dahlia Gillespie
- Dahlia Hawthorne
- Damon Killian
- Dandy Mott
- Dante
- Dante Zogratis
- Dark Lord (Ragnarok)
- Dark Lugiel
- Dark Zagi
- Darkseid (DC)
- Darth Krayt
- David Banner (2003 Novelization)
- David Prentiss
- Davros
- Deadpool (Ultimate Marvel)
- Dean Armitage
- Dean Karny
- Death (Netflix's Castlevania)
- Deceiver
- Dennis Crim
- Derek Hunter
- Dermot "Lucky" Quinn
- Desaad (DC)
- Diavolo
- Diego Brando (Parallel World)
- Dio Brando
- Dix Perdix
- Doctor Destiny (DC Animated Universe)
- Doctor Doom (2005)
- Doctor Octopus (Marvel Noir)
- Dokurobei
- Dollface (2012)
- Dolores Umbridge
- Dominic Greene
- Dominique Baldwin
- Donquixote Doflamingo
- Dormammu (Spider-Man: The Animated Series)
- Dorzak
- Dr. Angus Bumby
- Dr. Arliss Loveless
- Dr. Carl Tanner
- Dr. Emilia
- Dr. Henry Miller
- Dr. James Sheridan
- Dr. Mechadoc (Bomberman Jetters)
- Dr. Nefarious (Remake)
- Dr. Oliver Thredson
- Dr. Pilfman
- Dr. Robotnik (Archie Comics)
- Dr. Weil
- Dr. Zomboss (The Outrage)
- Dracula
- Drago Bludvist
- Drake Merwin
- Drayton Sawyer
- Duncan Taylor
- Durza
- Early Grayce
- Eggen (Maro An le Evil Lon)
- Ego (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
- Ego (What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?)
- Eh Tar
- Emma Grossman
- Emperor Belos (The Owl House)
- Emperor Ganishka
- Emperor Otto Destruct
- Emperor Palpatine
- Ennard (CG5)
- Enter
- Eobard Thawne (Arrowverse)
- Erazor Djinn