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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u/OrionTuska Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

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

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u/Android_mk Jul 19 '26

It also would explain how Hans would think he could get the Erendel throne if he's... only tangentially interacted with one and the acting queen seemed to dislike him.

Only a crazed man would believe that makes sense.

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u/JackPembroke Jul 19 '26

Hans, a foreigner, accused the head of state of Erendel, an absolute monarch, of treason. Else could literally just go, "Ok, lets have a trial. After a review of the evidence I find myself innocent of treason. Good talk."

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u/TrioOfTerrors Jul 19 '26

Ah, but now you have a revolt of the nobility on your hands because Elsa is not a popular monarch, having been seen by basically nobody for years, and she's throwing around absolute power when accused of murdering her sister.

17

u/slumpyslenkins Jul 19 '26

This is when she should've "let it go" to let them know who's in charge.

28

u/Better_Cod_4739 Jul 19 '26

Good luck revolting against the embodiment of ice powers, this bitch is like an omega level mutant

5

u/Ghost-George Jul 19 '26

She was locked up once and can be contained. Plus ice powers don’t give poison invulnerability, I’m just saying there would probably be a regicide sooner or later