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This Pure Evil was Headlined on April 2024. | ||
| “ | I keep imagining myself in charge of a large empire. | „ |
| ~ Gary Smith foreshadowing his goals. |
| “ | It's sink or swim, my friend. And if you're good at swimming, you gotta let the losers drown. | „ |
| ~ Smith demonstrating his own Social Darwinistic mentality to Jimmy. |
Gary Smith is the main antagonist of the 2006 action-adventure video game Bully.
He is a cunning and malicious student at Bullworth Academy, driven by an intense desire to dominate the student body and climb to the top of the school’s social hierarchy. For that purpose, he feigns friendship with the protagonist, Jimmy Hopkins, cleverly using him as both a tool for his schemes and a scapegoat to deflect attention from his own manipulative actions. His manipulative tactics allow him to operate behind the scenes, pushing his own agenda without revealing his true intentions.
As the story unfolds, Smith reveals his true nature to Jimmy, with him realizing that his supposed ally is nothing more than a sadistic manipulator with a thirst for power. This betrayal leads to a bitter rivalry, with Jimmy being determined to put an end to his reign of terror at the school, ultimately becoming archenemies.
He was voiced by Peter Vack.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- He consistently mistreated numerous students at Bullworth Academy, subjecting them to both physical and psychological abuse. Among his victims, Pete Kowalski suffered the most, as Smith relentlessly ridiculed him for his insecurities and lack of masculinity while also fabricating claims that Pete had insulted Jimmy in an effort to provoke conflict. In addition to his verbal harassment, Smith physically assaulted Pete by kicking him in the crotch and further humiliated him by coercing him into wearing a pink bunny costume on Halloween. His actions, driven solely by boredom and personal amusement, demonstrated his relentless desire for control and dominance over others.
- Many of his other actions surpass typical bullying and verge on acts of torturous gratification, a claim substantiated by both his own words and the accounts of others. His direct threats of inflicting psychological and physical trauma reveal his willingness to torment others beyond mere intimidation. Additionally, the preppie student Pinky Gauthier and Jimmy himself explicitly state that Smith takes pleasure in the idea of torturing people, further confirming his sadistic tendencies.
- Beyond his abusive behavior, he frequently expresses homophobic, xenophobic and misanthropic views toward the students. He consistently ridicules Pete, mocking him as a “femme boy” and the “girliest boy in school”, while also attempting to undermine Jimmy by spreading rumors about his supposed sexual confusion. His disdain extends to various cliques, as he particularly vilifies every clique with particular hateful insults. Furthermore, his cynicism and hostility are not limited to individuals, as he openly condemns his parents, the school, Western civilization, and the world itself, framing them all as deeply flawed and adversarial to his own interests.
- In a deleted mission called "The Paddle", Smith makes a visible homophobic remark upon seeing Jimmy and Pete hanging out in the dorm, saying that the two in a relationship and pantomiming doggy style sex while screaming "spank me" to mock them even further.
- While it remains unclear whether this was intended for mere shock value or a reflection of genuine ideological support, his appearance and actions suggest a deliberate evocation of fascist imagery. His hairstyle, a side-swept undercut reminiscent of Adolf Hitler, was a mandatory cut for German soldiers during the World War II era and stands out as an unusual choice within the millennial fashion norms of Bullworth Academy. Furthermore, he wore a Schutzstaffel Nazi officer uniform for Halloween, even with a red swastika armband in deleted content, reinforcing these implications. Regardless of intent, these aesthetic choices, when combined with his xenophobic remarks and aspirations of ruling a large empire with tyrannical authority, symbolically align with the worldview of a stereotypical neo-Nazi.
- Upon Jimmy’s arrival at Bullworth, Smith deceitfully feigned friendship with him, not out of genuine camaraderie but to manipulate him into serving as his muscle. By exploiting Jimmy’s willingness to prove himself, he coerced him into committing various offenses, including lock-picking, vandalism, and attacking the school's football team with a slingshot. His influence extended beyond mere delinquency, as he encouraged Jimmy to engage in violent pranks targeting both students and teachers, orchestrating incidents like beating up Chad while simultaneously feeding his dog with rotten meat, and use the animal's feces to make Mr. Burton step on it. Furthermore, his cruelty was evident in his mistreatment of the Hobo, whom he mockingly described as "really helpless and unfortunate", using his misfortune as a source of amusement. As his schemes escalated, he manipulated Jimmy into breaking into the school’s basement, further implicating him in reckless and unlawful activities, all while ensuring that he himself remained in control of the unfolding chaos.
- When spending time with Jimmy during free roam, lots of his additional remarks offer further insight into his deeply sadistic personality. He frequently fantasizes about the rise of future criminals and hooligans, almost relishing the thought of their violent tendencies and the chaos they would create. His twisted imagination extends to a disturbing level when, upon hearing the fire alarm, he openly expresses hope that someone is actually burning, showing a shocking indifference to human suffering. His love for brutality is further emphasized when he declares his enjoyment of seeing people being brutalized, as if the pain and distress of others serve to entertain him. He even actively seeks to provoke and escalate violence within the school, inciting students into conflicts, urging them to go to war, burn down the school, and even kill one another whenever he detects trouble, fueling an atmosphere of unrest.
- These remarks serve as a chilling foreshadowing of Smith's most malevolent atrocities, as he would later incite large-scale chaos within the school, ultimately leading to a violent school-wide riot where students hooliganize the school.
- After growing paranoid that Jimmy might eventually try to overthrow him to be the sole "ruler" of the school, Smith meticulously orchestrated a trap to eliminate him. He lured Jimmy to the school basement's fighting ring called "the Hole" and forced him to fight Russell Northrop, the strongest and most brutal school bully, by fabricating a false claim about him making remarks about Russell's mother and barnyard animals. He even had the other clique leaders and their subordinates watch the fight to further boost his own ego.
- After Jimmy defeated Russell, Smith noted that he enjoys watching people beat each other up, foreshadowing what he later intends to do at Bullworth to a larger extent.
- His statement about the Hole being “the place where this school separates the men from the boys, the wheat from the chaff” clearly highlights his recognition of its role as a brutal fighting ring where students are pitted against each other in violent confrontations. Given his sadistic nature and enjoyment of chaos, it is highly plausible that Smith either orchestrated, participated in, or at the very least observed the fights that took place there before. The implication that the previous fights were even more savage is further supported by the statement from the non-clique student Christy Martin, who mentions hearing rumors of “fresh blood on the floor of the Hole", suggesting that the violence and brutality there were intense and perhaps even lethal.
- Over the course of an entire year, he methodically manipulated the cliques at school to turn against Jimmy, by both spreading malicious rumors about Jimmy to convince the cliques that he was talking behind their backs and undermining their reputations, and working alongside them in different situations, appearing to be an ally and building rapport with them.
- In the autumn, he manipulated the Preppies into turning against Jimmy by fabricating a series of lies about him, claiming that Jimmy had insulted Tad Spencer and his family by accusing them of inbreeding and calling them hermaphrodites. This fabrication caused Jimmy to get consistent attacks and his bike race trophy stolen by the Preppies, which would eventually forced him to challenge Bif Taylor in a boxing match to prove himself to be strongest than the clique.
- It is also plausible that the clique's leader, Derby Harrington, began intentionally collaborating with Smith. This claim is supported by the nerd student Bucky Pasteur, who reports having observed the two together and recalls being told to shut up when he passed by them. Considering Derby’s “malevolent” disposition, as described by Jimmy, it is reasonable to infer that Derby may have eventually agreed to cooperate with Smith in an effort to remove Jimmy from the school.
- In the winter, he worked with the Greasers, helping them surround the nerd Cornelius Johnson and threaten him.
- In the spring, he convinced the Nerds' leader Earnest Jones that the two of them could unite and take over the school, appealing to his ambitions and desire for power. Feeding Earnest with this idea, he managed to turn his clique against Jimmy, which forced Jimmy into a difficult position where he had to pacify the Nerds before he could continue his feud with the Jocks.
- In the autumn, he manipulated the Preppies into turning against Jimmy by fabricating a series of lies about him, claiming that Jimmy had insulted Tad Spencer and his family by accusing them of inbreeding and calling them hermaphrodites. This fabrication caused Jimmy to get consistent attacks and his bike race trophy stolen by the Preppies, which would eventually forced him to challenge Bif Taylor in a boxing match to prove himself to be strongest than the clique.
- Even after Jimmy had successfully befriended all the cliques, Smith continued his campaign of manipulation, this time turning the Townies against the school. He exploited the resentment and hatred that Townies, led by Edgar Munsen, harbored for Bullworth Academy. By appealing to Edgar’s deep-seated animosity towards the school, Smith convinced him that they could unite to take control of the school. In doing so, Smith manipulated Edgar into ordering the Townies to commit various criminal offenses, targeting the four major cliques to sow further discord and chaos and incriminate Jimmy for all of the atrocities:
- Ordering Duncan and Leon to release twenty counts of possibly feral rats into the school library where the Nerds hang out, which forced Jimmy to interfere and kill all of them.
- Ordering Gurney to set the Jocks' hangout, the gymnasium, on fire while students Kirby Olsen, Juri Karamazov and Mandy Wiles were trapped inside, not only endangering their lives but also forcing Jimmy risk his own life to rescue them.
- Ordering Clint, Otto Tyler and Duncan to steal and destroy the Preppies' prized boxing trophies by setting them on fire, which would almost spark conflict between the Preppies and the Greasers, as the Preppies initially blamed the Greasers for the destruction of their trophies.
- Making the orderlies take Johnny Vincent and have him imprisoned into the Happy Volts Mental Asylum, where he would get abused and tortured, by using the Townies to put out some nefarious rumours about his girlfriend Lola Lombardi for him to be taken to crazy, which consequently forced Jimmy to sneak into the asylum and rescue him.
- His campaign of hatemongering and incrimination against Jimmy ultimately led to him being despised by almost everyone around the school. Moreover to his campaign, he also manipulated Dr. Crabblesnitch to be overpraised by him as "the commendable, responsible, courteous and brave pupil who will be the Crabblesnitch's heir" while making him expel Jimmy, who is the only figure in the school that could have stopped his intentions of taking over the school.
- While Jimmy's act of writing graffiti mocking Bullworth Academy could certainly be considered a misstep, it was nowhere near as severe or malicious as the numerous heinous acts orchestrated by Smith. Despite this, Smith seized the opportunity to scapegoat Jimmy for many of his own crimes, using the graffiti incident as just one of many tactics to tarnish Jimmy's reputation. He even spread malicious rumors about Jimmy, including horrific claims, such as suggesting that Jimmy was a zoophile, a deeply damaging accusation that served only to further isolate him from the other students and create a false narrative about his personality.
- Even after Jimmy was unfairly expelled and successfully gained the trust of the Townies, Smith continued his manipulative rampage by reigniting hostilities among the school cliques, ensuring that they not only turned against Jimmy once more but also engaged in renewed infighting. With his influence expanding beyond just the students, he cunningly deceived the teachers and prefects into supporting him, allowing him to illegitimately crown himself as the self-proclaimed Head Boy of Bullworth Academy. Seizing full control in Jimmy’s absence, he plunged the school into complete chaos, triggering a large-scale riot where students viciously brutalized each other and vandalized the school with graffiti, property damage and arson.
- During the riot, it becomes particularly evident that Earnest Jones is the most deeply affected by Smith's manipulation. Earnest, who prides himself on his intellect, comes to view himself and Smith as an “unstoppable” duo, believing that his own intelligence, when paired with Smith's complete lack of morals, makes them an unrivaled force within the school.
- This is because Smith's chaotic worldview partially align with Earnest’s ideological beliefs. Much like the ideology of Nazism, Earnest sought to win the school election and "purify" the academic curriculum under the banner of a "New Era" by eliminating subjects like music and shop class and promoting intellectual dominance over physical strength, particularly targeting the Jocks, whose leader, Ted Thompson, is his main rival. In this context, Smith plays a key role in encouraging Earnest’s authoritarian ambitions, leading Earnest to view him as a valuable ally in his quest to control the school.
- During the riot, it becomes particularly evident that Earnest Jones is the most deeply affected by Smith's manipulation. Earnest, who prides himself on his intellect, comes to view himself and Smith as an “unstoppable” duo, believing that his own intelligence, when paired with Smith's complete lack of morals, makes them an unrivaled force within the school.
- After orchestrating chaos and turning the school against Jimmy, Smith escalated his takeover by restraining Dr. Crabblesnitch in his office, potentially planning to dispose of him once he had dealt with Jimmy. Seizing full control of Bullworth Academy, he hijacked the school's public announcement system to taunt and provoke Jimmy into a final confrontation, using his cunning and manipulative nature to ensure the entire school bore witness to his ultimate power play.
- He completely dismissed Jimmy’s attempts at negotiation, instead escalating tensions by hurling insults at both him and his mother to provoke a fight. He showed no remorse for his actions, outright refusing to offer any justification and instead admitting that his schemes were driven purely by his own enjoyment and sadistic pleasure. As he prepared for the confrontation, he taunted Jimmy by gloating about how he had manipulated him as a mere pawn for the entire year, further revealing his deep-seated cruelty and arrogance while also insulting other students like Lola Lombardi.
- He made a direct attempt to seriously injure, if not murder, Jimmy during their final confrontation by throwing bricks at him while he walked through the scaffolding, tipping a wheelbarrow full of cement blocks onto him as he climbed, and trying to strike him with large bells. He further escalated the danger by attempting to push Jimmy off the scaffolding, showing a complete disregard for his safety and life in a desperate attempt to eliminate him.
- Although he initially seemed to work with Jimmy to survive the hostile environment of Bullworth Academy, it was ultimately nothing more than a facade. He backstabbed Jimmy later on, justifying his betrayal by claiming that Jimmy would have eventually turned on him, despite the fact that Jimmy genuinely sought friendship and never did anything to harm or spite Smith. This further revealed Smith's manipulative nature and his deep-rooted distrust of others, even when there was no reason for it.
- Despite his supposedly tragic backstory involving unloving parents -with his father, a greedy crook who went to prison, and his mother, promiscuous and neglectful, ultimately abandoning him at Bullworth Academy after forcing him on medication- this past does little to excuse his actions, and there is nothing to show that he is motivated by this. Although these details are briefly mentioned, they are never explored in depth, rendering them largely irrelevant to his current behavior. Even if his past were examined further, it wouldn't justify his cruelty, as Smith consistently refuses to take responsibility for his actions, instead admitting that his cruelty is driven solely by sadistic pleasure, with no connection to his upbringing. His unwillingness to acknowledge or seek redemption for his past only highlights the depth of his moral corruption.
- What is most striking is that every teenager at Bullworth Town bears a tragedy to varying degrees, whether confirmed or presumed, including Jimmy himself, and yet nearly all, if not all, manage to confront their flaws and attain redemption, whereas Smith alone rejects this possibility.
- While his actions may appear to be a result of his mental health struggles, particularly due to his refusal to take medication for his issues, with even Dr. Bambillo noting him as "clinically delusional", it is clear that his behavior is not entirely driven by this factor. Despite his mental instability, Smith demonstrates a high level of intelligence and manipulative skill, manipulating others with ease and precision. Moreover, his decision to deliberately stop taking his medication, even while in a "sane" state, and his pride in doing so, suggests that his malicious actions were not merely a consequence of his mental state but rather a conscious choice to embrace his darker impulses. This further emphasizes Smith's calculated nature and his willingness to disregard any potential help for the sake of pursuing his own sadistic pleasure.
- While he does have a few comedic moments early in the story that align with the game’s generally light-hearted atmosphere, these moments do not diminish his inherent villainy, and he remains a serious threat within the game’s narrative. In fact, many of these comedic moments only serve to underscore his sadistic nature, particularly his enjoyment of tormenting Pete and discriminating against others. These brief, darkly comedic moments fade entirely once he betrays Jimmy, as his true malicious intentions and manipulative behavior take center stage, reinforcing the sinister direction of his character as the story progresses. His earlier actions, though seemingly playful at times, ultimately highlight the depths of his cruelty and set the stage for his eventual betrayal and villainous behavior.
- He is considered to be so abhorrent, even by the already low moral standards of Bully, that he is generally despised and distrusted by everyone at the academy (and it even extends to the whole town), where his behavior was so extreme that it led to his eventual expulsion from the institution, which is stated to be the worst school in the country, is mostly filled with violent bullies and corrupt authority figures, and, according to Jimmy, has an alumni consisting of "nothing but arms dealers, serial killers and corporate lawyers".
- While the Bully universe has some in-game references to Grand Theft Auto's 3D Universe (including Manhunt) and HD Universe, which could imply Smith would have to compete with the incredibly high heinous standards of one of those universes, the connection between them is too ambiguous due to being solely left to brief mentions and easter eggs.
- Even if the game was confirmed to take place in any of those universes, his incredibly low resources compared to other characters (being just a regular high school student), in addition to his personal villainy towards Jimmy, would make him stand out regardless.
Trivia[]
- Smith is the only villain in Bully who qualifies as Pure Evil, as every other character exhibits either redeeming qualities, tragic elements, standard villainy, or a combination of these factors.
- Because of the multiple debated ambiguities and potential preventions he carries, Smith was not considered to be a Pure Evil for a long time, and his moral status was so much controversial that whether he is Pure Evil or not had been discussed time to time for over a decade, until he was officially proposed and approved on December 2023.
- While the creators of Bully have explicitly stated that Hopkins would never follow the same path as the protagonists or antagonists of the Grand Theft Auto series, they have not provided a definitive confirmation regarding Smith's future. However, given his manipulative and chaotic nature, especially when contrasted with Hopkins, who, as the creators pointed out, isn’t the one trying to "burn down the school", it is possible that Smith could become a criminal in adulthood, which would make him even worse than he already is.
External Links[]
- Gary Smith on the Villains Wiki
- Gary Smith on the Hate Sink Wiki
- Gary Smith on the Ultimate Evil Wiki
- Gary Smith on the Moral Ranking Wiki
- Gary Smith on the Bully Wiki
- Gary Smith on the VS Battles Wiki
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 Pure Evils
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Grand Theft Auto & Manhunt Max Payne Bully Red Dead L.A. Noire | ||