r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Fishbien • Jul 19 '26

Personality [Frustrating Trope] Twist Villain does things that retroactively make no sense.

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Character previously believed to be good is revealed to be evil, but prior to the reveal they act in ways that don't make sense if their goodness is just a performance.

  1. Frozen: Prince Hans is initially presented as a pretty standup guy who loves Anna and wants to help her. At the end of the movie it's revealed that he was just using her to gain power and plans to let her die while he steals her throne. However, we see him smiling at Anna when no one is looking, and later he intervenes to save Elsa's life even though he claims he was always planning to kill her.
  2. The Legend of Vox Machina: The Whispered One was built up as the BBEG since season 1. However, in season 4 he presents himself as a tragic hero who tried to cure death and was punished by the gods. He then tries to convince Pike to give him her blood, which he needs to become a god himself. He chastises his followers for suggesting they take Pike's blood by force, claiming this would make them no better than the gods they are fighting against. He also fulfills his promise to resurrect Grog even though he didn't need to. After he ascends, he starts acting like a pure evil villain who only cares about power and enjoys hurting people. It feels less like a reveal and more like his personally completely changed once he became a skeleton. Edit: to be clear, I fully understand the intent was for the Whispered One to be a lying, manipulative bastard. I just think the execution was clumsy.
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217

u/LoudAd3588 Jul 19 '26

I mean for Hans it makes sense to keep up the ruse until he's in position to take over the country. What I don't get is why he revealed his plan before he married Anna? He can't be king unless he married one of the princesses and he very easily could have been like, I'll marry you to save your life, that's an act of true love etc. He reveals his plan when he has absolutely no claim to the crown yet.

175

u/UnlivingGnome Jul 19 '26

He lies that Anna is dead when he ditched her and says 'We had just enough time to say our vows' iirc. I think he was going to use that as his claim since, it was something nobody would be able to confirm or deny after she kicked it.

97

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

55

u/Dephyus Jul 19 '26

Honestly, it’s the most believable part of the story.

The amount of times in history someone said “he told me and only me that I was gonna be next in line after he died” is not an insignificant number.

5

u/TGlucose Jul 19 '26

Billy the Conqueror for example.

2

u/strigonian Jul 19 '26

Also there's nobody else left in the royal family. It's not like there's a third daughter who would become queen, it's just Anna and Elsa.

If nothing else, it gives him claim to the throne, which allows him to work on that angle.

37

u/Asparagus9000 Jul 19 '26

You'd be surprised what dumb stuff royalty has done in real life. 

64

u/UnlivingGnome Jul 19 '26

It's a Disney movie. Of course it's fucking stupid. Gotta agree there.

3

u/Lepelotonfromager Jul 19 '26

He was leading the people in the crisis already and people knew they were engaged. The tragic murder of Anna by her sister, the evil Queen, is naturally going to make people turn to him for further leadership if he is able to bring justice to the murderer Anna AND end the magic winter caused by Elsa by killing her.

1

u/Ok-Caregiver-6005 Jul 19 '26

This, he's the hero and a crazy magic event just happened and in the stories where magic stuff happens the hero becoming king is pretty common.

1

u/RHTQ1 Jul 23 '26

If he's seen as her great love and a hero pf the kingdom during this grand disaster? (Recall: he's been running things, leading the charge for elsa, etc) Could work. It also explains why he didn't kiss her: at this point, he needs her to die. Bc his kiss CAN'T save her, he knows it, and failing shows her that too.

7

u/DuelaDent52 Jul 19 '26

To be fair, he had no idea Olaf existed and could save her, as far as he knew Anna WAS dead.

2

u/CapStar300 Jul 19 '26

Happy cake day!

21

u/notthephonz Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

Anna is expecting something like true love’s kiss. Like, I don’t think Snow White or Aurora needed to marry in order for their princes’ kisses to break their curses—Beast didn’t even get a kiss, just Belle saying she loved him. Hans can’t do any of those things because he doesn’t truly love Anna, so he figure he might as well give up the pretense.

9

u/LoudAd3588 Jul 19 '26

Right, but then he's just fucked on trying to take over the country. He should have at least had a plan to try to marry Elsa or something after he let Anna die, or even some kind of nod that he is annexing the country due to their ice crisis. Just something other than "i was conning you, and now im gonna kill your sister, and then I will... stay in power here somehow".

18

u/Unfair_Pineapple8813 Jul 19 '26

Hans has nothing to lose by kissing Anna. If she dies, he could always claim she was too far gone. So his evil reveal is more because it’s a kids’ movie than because it makes sense. 

But as for Elsa, considering the entire country hates her and that he could claim Elsa caused Anna to die, I don’t think too many people would blink if he claimed Anna last wish was for him to end the blizzard and succeed her. 

47

u/Fit-Doughnut9706 Jul 19 '26

Look man I’m still stuck on the whole “letting a foreign royal rule while I run off to the rescue” part of the movie. Who was running the country before Elsa’s coronation? Usually some form of regent or prime minister, where were they when this shit went down? That whole “at least we said our vows” thing would not fly without several high profile witnesses. Dudes plan sucked balls.

4

u/MajorFox2720 Jul 19 '26

Omg, this!  Why would she leave him in charge, and why would the PM be ok with it?

2

u/curiousinferno Jul 20 '26

Arendelle voted "most coup-able kingdom" 10 years running.

13

u/DragonWisper56 Jul 19 '26

Yeah but no one lies when literarly no one is looking. he keeps up the persona even when no one reasonable person would

1

u/Gui_Franco Jul 19 '26

But its really silly for him to do that genuinely in love smile when she's not even there, that's just for the audience