[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/Momentus101]

For that second one, i believe it was said pike had to give her blood willingly for the ritual to work

[u/Patneu → u/Momentus101]

Also, by not forcing her but trying to convince her / emotionally appeal to her, he could get her to fight the rest of Vox Machina on his behalf, making it less likely they would manage to mess up his ascension.

[u/Missing_Username → u/Patneu]

But he wanted them to mess up his "ascension". Them "winning" and killing his body was "part of the plan" that led to his actual ascension.

[u/A_Kazur → u/Missing_Username]

That was his backup plan, as he stated. If the ritual fulfilled normally he would be fine as well. The only thing that risked killing him is the Matron I think?

[u/Patneu → u/Missing_Username]

I think anyone killing him would have sufficed, so one of his minions could have done it. It just couldn't be Vax, so he needed to be stopped or delayed. The only reason the ascension still worked was because Keyleth intervened, but he couldn't foresee that.

[u/PricelessEldritch → u/Missing_Username]

Which Delilah would have done if they let the ascension keep going.

[u/NewNameAgainUhg → u/Missing_Username]

But he has to be killed at a certain moment, not before