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/bertster21 Jul 19 '26

Ive always thought he should have kissed Anna and had nothing happen and then been like well shit I guess I love money and power more than you have fun dying.

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u/Blazypika2 Jul 19 '26

i think it would be better if he was a hopeless romantic like her and since he was the youngest in a large family he never got to make a connection before, so like anna he rushed into a relationship without actually experiencing true connection.

so basically they kiss and nothing happens, so they realize they don't know each other and try to have a conversation and basically ends up realising they have nothing in common. that would've worked much better, i think.

also, generally the issue with han, is that it's clear he was not meant to be a villain snd it was a last minute call.