So as part of my effort to blog more often, I’ve decided to bring back the trope posts. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, perhaps you remember the Trope Tuesday series that I used to do. Those were mostly just a rehashing of each trope’s tvtropes page, with a bit of commentary at… Continue reading Playing with Tropes: Pragmatic Villainy
Tag: villains
Trope Tuesday: Foolish sibling, responsible sibling
Whenever you’ve got two characters who interact with each other a lot, chances are that one is a foil of the other. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the big reason is that it helps to highlight certain character traits by providing contrast. Because the contrast is the important thing, the relationship… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Foolish sibling, responsible sibling
Trope Tuesday: Knight Templar
For this one, I’m going to pull the description straight from tvtropes itself, since the whole page is pretty good: Sometimes, the Forces of Light and Goodness get too hardcore. In a deadly combination of Well-Intentioned Extremist, The Fundamentalist and, generally speaking, not so different, they get blinded by themselves and their ideals, and this… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Knight Templar
Trope Tuesday: Worthy Opponent
Sometimes, it’s not the Big Bad the heroes are fighting against, so much as an almost friendly opponent who is not so different from them after all. That’s what this trope is all about. The Worthy Opponent is no mere redshirt or mook–quite often, in fact, he’s the Dragon of the opposing side–but unlike the… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Worthy Opponent
K is for Klingon
Ah, the proud warrior race. Where would science fiction be without it? From Klingons to Ur-Quans, Wookies to Sangheilis, Mri to Green Martians to Vor Lords, warrior races have been a staple of space opera and space-centered science fiction pretty much since the genre was invented. The concept behind this trope is the same as… Continue reading K is for Klingon
Trope Tuesday: Wicked Cultured
This week’s Trope Tuesday series post is by request from a reader. Evil villains aren’t always grotesque, brutish, foaming-at-the-mouth barbarians. Quite often, they are wealthy and aristocratic, with exquisitely refined tastes and an extraordinary degree of eloquence. It isn’t just that evil is cool (though it may overlap with this), or that the barbarians have finally… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Wicked Cultured
Trope Tuesday: The Vamp
Also known as the temptress or the seductress, the vamp is one of the more dangerous characters the hero meets on his journey. A devastating beauty who is as evil as she is sexy, she uses her feminine wiles to exploit men’s flaws to her own advantage. If the hero falls for her, he will be destroyed.… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: The Vamp
Trope Tuesday: Hoist By His Own Petard
One of the most satisfying ways to defeat the villain is to have his own nefarious scheme bring about his downfall. In Hamlet, Shakespeare described this as “hoist by his own petard,” or blown up by his own bomb. Basically, it’s a self-deposing villain whose evil plans have gone horribly right. Not only is this a… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Hoist By His Own Petard
Trope Tuesday: Neutral Evil
Have you ever encountered a villain who you just hated? One who only cares about himself (or herself), who has no real loyalties and will sell out his friends, or even his master? One who treats people as means to an end, and will use whatever means necessary to achieve those ends? Chances are, that… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Neutral Evil
Trope Tuesday: Lawful Evil
If the term “villain” applies to anyone, it applies to the Lawful Evil. Whether the evil overlord, his trusted right-hand man, or one of his devoted minions, these characters are dedicated wholeheartedly to their cause, whether they believe it will lead to a better world or not. Taking over the world is often a major obsession,… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Lawful Evil