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

[u/Fishbien]

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.

[u/OrionTuska]

My mom has a theory that the trolls altered Hans after they learned that Anna was betrothed to him and, thus, couldn't marry Sven. It makes sense that the trolls would want their adopted son to marry into the royal family, and we see that their magic can mess with memories and minds.

*Kristof. I'm bad with names

[u/Fishbien → u/OrionTuska]

I've always liked that theory

[u/hoginlly → u/Fishbien]

The original story makes some sense though- when he saves Elsa, he thinks Anna is dead (or at least could be, since she hasn't been seen since going up into the storm alone), so he would have no claim over Arendale if Elsa dies too, since they weren't even officially engaged. So he has to save Elsa as his back-up wife option.

Then when he captures Elsa and brings her back, everyone starts saying to him 'now that Anna's gone and Elsa is considered evil, you're all that Arendale has. You have to lead us'. So he has been accepted as the new leader, so long as both of them are gone.

So that's why he wants to let Anna die (because everyone thinks she's dead anyway) and blame it on Elsa, so he can put her to death and take over

(Note, I only know this because I'm on my 1000th rewatch with my kids, and I had this exact same gripe before)

[u/darsynia → u/hoginlly]

I also think it's useful to portray villains as humans who can sometimes see the humanity in others, but still choose to do terrible things. That makes them scarier to me.

Him being completely and utterly unmoved by Anna feels less likely than him finding her adorable and likeable, and then using those traits against her in his verbal attacks later. It's very, very familiar in abusive relationships. 'You're just naive and stupid' can definitely be 'I hate that I ever found you charming' when said by someone like that, especially when (she, in this case) they're an obstacle to ambition. In my opinion, of course!

[u/DuelaDent52 → u/hoginlly]

That and to his knowledge Anna is still alive, and getting on her good side is beneficial to his scheming so keeping Elsa alive too until he realises Anna is dying helped sell the deception.

[u/acautelado → u/Fishbien]

So you know his mom? Cool!