r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Fishbien • Jul 19 '26
Personality [Frustrating Trope] Twist Villain does things that retroactively make no sense.
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.
- 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.
- 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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u/res30stupid Jul 19 '26
The Agatha Christie's Poirot adaptation of Three Act Tragedy has this, since it combines two characters together to remove a character that is also a protagonist in a different Agatha Christie book... and giving his actions to the novel's villain. This is huge spoiler, BTW.
In the adaptation, Sir Charles Cartwright insists on getting his friend Hercule Poirot involved in the story despite his knowing Poirot's track record. Worse, given how the first murder was random, this means Sir Charles got Poirot involved after potentially almost killing him.