Tropescilloscope: Alas, Poor Villain

The villain's death or downfall is painted in a sympathetic light. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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More Tropes Love at First Sight Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Chekhov's Gunman Adaptation Expansion Spell My Name with an "S" Artistic License – Biology Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Abhorrent Admirer Loophole Abuse Laser-Guided Karma In the Back Animated Credits Opening Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Stepford Smiler Cool Car Accidental Misnaming Establishing Character Moment Domestic Abuse Chase Scene What the Hell, Hero? Jerkass Has a Point Badass Boast Contrived Coincidence In Name Only The Place Dramedy Instant Death Bullet Ungrateful Bastard Country Matters Tempting Fate Interrupted Suicide Maybe Ever After Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Evil vs. Evil Knife Nut Famous Last Words Anguished Declaration of Love Badass Grandpa Historical In-Joke Mugging the Monster Disney Villain Death Adaptational Badass Large Ham Sacrificial Lion Amusing Injuries Anachronism Stew MacGuffin folderlabel The Stoic Action Genre War Is Hell Darkest Hour Defrosting Ice Queen Four-Temperament Ensemble Training Montage Comically Missing the Point Unwitting Instigator of Doom Crucified Hero Shot Destination Defenestration Meaningful Echo My God, What Have I Done? Authority Equals Asskicking Mythology Gag Disappeared Dad Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Danny Peary Cult Movies List Truth in Television Chekhov's Skill Hooker with a Heart of Gold Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Friend to All Children Precision F-Strike Bar Brawl Wicked Cultured Black Best Friend Early Installment Weirdness Affectionate Parody Big "NO!" Crazy Jealous Guy Shower Scene Chiaroscuro Needs Wiki Magic Love Trailers Always Spoil Spared by the Adaptation Be Careful What You Wish For The Ace Dark Reprise Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Hidden Depths Creator Cameo Final Girl Very Loosely Based on a True Story It's Personal Ms. Fanservice Beauty Is Never Tarnished Heterosexual Life-Partners Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! No Antagonist Oh, Crap! Scenery Gorn Bilingual Bonus Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Rasputinian Death For the Evulz Conspicuous CG Ascended Extra Wrong Genre Savvy Bottomless Magazines Sequel Hook Drives Like Crazy I'm a Humanitarian Informed Ability No Ending Random Events Plot Badass Longcoat Coming-of-Age Story Sinister Minister NO INDOOR VOICE Yandere "Shaggy Dog" Story Artistic License – Law Mighty Whitey Deadpan Snarker The Lancer As the Good Book Says... Genre Savvy Covers Always Lie Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Manchild Mooks Tap on the Head Too Dumb to Live Mystery and Detective Films Posthumous Character The Un-Reveal The Dragon Stylistic Suck Eldritch Abomination Our Zombies Are Different Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? World of Ham Naïve Newcomer Shown Their Work Non-Indicative Name Parental Abandonment Reality Is Unrealistic Deus ex Machina Totally Radical Only in It for the Money The Hero Dies Skewed Priorities Animal Title Index Captain Obvious Gratuitous English Revenge Cold-Blooded Torture Depraved Bisexual The Mole Twist Ending Aside Glance Names to Run Away from Really Fast Curse Cut Short Spiteful Spit Hate Sink No-Sell Stealth Pun Handicapped Badass Male Frontal Nudity Anyone Can Die Fat Bastard Never Found the Body Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Pragmatic Adaptation The Cavalry Epic Fail Psycho for Hire Television Movie Index One-Word Title Unreliable Narrator Papa Wolf All for Nothing Awesome, but Impractical Psychopathic Manchild Villain Opening Scene Only Known by Their Nickname Continuity Nod Deliberate Values Dissonance Funny Foreigner Suspiciously Specific Denial Scary Black Man Off-into-the-Distance Ending Heel Realization Dramatic Irony A Date with Rosie Palms The Vamp The Sociopath Cain and Abel Meaningful Name Monumental Damage Babies Ever After An Arm and a Leg Adaptational Attractiveness Ambiguous Disorder Hero Antagonist Gilligan Cut Malevolent Masked Men Hollywood Darkness Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Anachronic Order What You Are in the Dark As Himself Last-Name Basis Toplessness from the Back My Beloved Smother Artistic License – Geography From Nobody to Nightmare Actor Allusion Rated M for Manly Loads and Loads of Characters Implacable Man Vampire Fiction Fiery Redhead Fatal Family Photo Rape as Drama Parental Substitute Well-Intentioned Extremist Red Right Hand May–December Romance The '50s Adaptation Name Change Room Full of Crazy Sole Survivor Grievous Bottley Harm Retcon Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Kubrick Stare Homage Plot Hole Mind Screw Neck Lift Evil-Detecting Dog Big Applesauce Fan Disservice Only a Flesh Wound Villain Song Alpha Bitch Getting Crap Past the Radar The Alcoholic Wretched Hive All There in the Manual The Voiceless Christmas Movies Index Scenery Porn Not Using the "Z" Word Sanity Slippage Affably Evil Made of Explodium It Will Never Catch On Biopic Canon Foreigner Offscreen Moment of Awesome Easily Forgiven Really Gets Around Award-Bait Song All Girls Want Bad Boys Noodle Incident As You Know A Minor Kidroduction Cloudcuckoolander "Awesome McCool" Name Cat Scare Male Gaze And I Must Scream I Have Your Wife Anti-Villain The Starscream I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Annoying Younger Sibling Big Bad Duumvirate Market-Based Title Hell Is That Noise Moment Killer Italian Films Dirty Cop Death by Irony Film Noir Those Two Guys Meet Cute Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Your Cheating Heart Intrepid Reporter Idiot Ball The Mafia Big Fancy House The Stinger Artistic License – History Nice Hat It Can Think Fatal Flaw Slashed Throat Fire-Forged Friends Undying Loyalty The Atoner Evil Brit Leave the Camera Running Empathic Environment Berserk Button Never My Fault Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Cool Old Guy Parental Neglect Sci-Fi Horror The Ghost Disney Death Evil Plan The Smart Guy Bare Your Midriff Gainax Ending Mr. Fanservice Red Oni, Blue Oni Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Ambiguous Ending Re-Cut Refuge in Audacity Stealth Hi/Bye Insistent Terminology Jitter Cam Hollywood Law Back from the Dead '80s Hair Face–Heel Turn Have a Gay Old Time Military and Warfare Films Peek-a-Boo Corpse Red Eyes, Take Warning Developing Doomed Characters Closed Circle Sir Swears-a-Lot Politically Incorrect Villain Vomit Discretion Shot Batman Gambit Offscreen Teleportation O.O.C. Is Serious Business Shout-Out Let's Get Dangerous! Men Are the Expendable Gender Bloodier and Gorier Taking the Bullet Happily Married Star-Crossed Lovers The Bully Green-Eyed Monster Villainous Breakdown Bolivian Army Ending Title Drop Leitmotif Redshirt Army Laughing Mad Bad "Bad Acting" Reckless Gun Usage Insult Backfire Only One Name Soft Glass Bait-and-Switch Funny Background Event True Companions Retirony Imagine Spot Shell-Shocked Veteran Big Bad Fake Shemp Hoist by His Own Petard Determinator Mundane Made Awesome Adaptational Villainy Extreme Doormat Facial Horror Becoming the Mask The Chick Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Advertised Extra Everyone Has Standards The Brute Dogged Nice Guy Ominous Latin Chanting Older Than They Look Sassy Black Woman The Casanova Ghost Fiction Serial Killer Hypocrite Author Appeal Plucky Comic Relief Rule of Symbolism Camp Gay Antagonist Title Flashback Dissonant Serenity Vacation Films Retired Badass Blood from the Mouth Works Set in World War II The Quiet One Corrupt Corporate Executive Distracted by the Sexy Due to the Dead Suspiciously Similar Substitute Our Vampires Are Different Demonic Possession Manipulative Bastard Dark Action Girl La Résistance Married to the Job Failed a Spot Check Heroic BSoD Self-Deprecation Darker and Edgier Obviously Evil Important Haircut Artistic License – Gun Safety Even Evil Has Loved Ones Gory Discretion Shot The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Five-Man Band Dramatic Gun Cock Outrun the Fireball Boom, Headshot! Slap-Slap-Kiss Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Stalker with a Crush Playing Gertrude Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Chekhov's Gun Ironic Echo Only Sane Man Romantic Comedy Love Triangle Historical Hero Upgrade Villain Protagonist The Load Roaring Rampage of Revenge Brutal Honesty Straight Gay Hypocritical Humor Femme Fatale Bowdlerise Cool Guns Mr. Exposition Police Brutality Epic Movie Dark and Troubled Past Shipper on Deck Brother–Sister Incest Immune to Bullets Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Ass Shove Disguised in Drag Anti-Hero Real Life Nothing Is Scarier Blackmail Half the Man He Used to Be Calling the Old Man Out Early-Bird Cameo Arch-Enemy Hero of Another Story Adults Are Useless Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Pet the Dog Almost Kiss British Films Author Avatar Morality Pet Adaptation Distillation No Celebrities Were Harmed Get Out! Costume Porn Dual Wielding Double-Meaning Title Adapted Out Death by Adaptation Police are Useless Bad Boss Improvised Weapon Token Minority Eureka Moment Cruel and Unusual Death Black Dude Dies First Shoot the Shaggy Dog All There in the Script Cool Old Lady Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Put on a Bus Running Gag Properly Paranoid Call-Back Groin Attack The '80s After the End Mama Bear Woman Scorned Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome There Is No Kill Like Overkill The Remake Badass Normal Made of Iron Kick the Dog I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Zombie Stories Stuff Blowing Up Shut Up, Hannibal! Australian Movies I Need a Freaking Drink All Just a Dream Even Evil Has Standards Card-Carrying Villain Deliberately Monochrome Catapult Nightmare Take a Third Option Off with His Head! Unspoken Plan Guarantee Improbable Weapon User Action Survivor Faux Affably Evil The Cameo Together in Death Gone Horribly Right Reasonable Authority Figure No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Not What It Looks Like Break the Haughty Daddy's Girl Those Wacky Nazis Every Car Is a Pinto Dumb Blonde The Faceless An Aesop Bond One-Liner Protagonist Title Vitriolic Best Buds The Big Guy Those Two Bad Guys Paper-Thin Disguise Demoted to Extra Credits Gag Attempted Rape Bury Your Gays Woman in White Driven to Suicide Mexican Standoff A.I. Is a Crapshoot Japanese Films Beard of Evil Super Strength Casting Gag You Have Failed Me Breaking the Fourth Wall Death of a Child Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Badass in a Nice Suit Unresolved Sexual Tension Apocalypse How BFG Punch-Clock Villain Rule of Cool Alliterative Name Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Deconstruction Action Girl It's All About Me Big Damn Heroes Evil Laugh Does Not Like Shoes Disproportionate Retribution German Films Crapsack World Bloodless Carnage Visual Pun Armor-Piercing Question Kill It with Fire No OSHA Compliance The Alleged Car Animal Motifs Jump Scare Mistaken for Gay Recycled IN SPACE! Setting Update The Stoner Central Theme Pretty in Mink All Men Are Perverts Word of God Amoral Attorney Didn't Think This Through Victoria's Secret Compartment Parental Incest Public Domain Feature Films Took a Level in Jerkass The Chessmaster Foil Redemption Equals Death Silent Movie The Dog Bites Back Decoy Protagonist Horror Films Same Language Dub The '90s Music Stories Canadian Movies Mad Scientist Blood Knight Framing Device Big-Bad Ensemble Say My Name Reality Ensues Genre Shift Jerk Jock Fanservice Extra Killed Mid-Sentence Villain with Good Publicity Black Comedy Based on a True Story Narrator Creative Closing Credits Taking You with Me Fantasy Films Riddle for the Ages Break the Cutie Faking the Dead Black Comedy Rape Would Hit a Girl Smug Snake Fingore Department of Redundancy Department Exactly What It Says on the Tin Storming the Castle Did Not Get the Girl Real Life Writes the Plot Show Within a Show Small Name, Big Ego A God Am I Humans Are Bastards Artistic License – Physics Overly Long Gag Bland-Name Product Dark Is Not Evil Auto Erotica Romantic False Lead Chewing the Scenery Left the Background Music On Race Lift Tranquil Fury Car Fu B-Movie Aluminum Christmas Trees Madness Mantra Exact Words She's Got Legs Hair-Trigger Temper Not So Above It All Brick Joke Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Sexy Discretion Shot Gender Flip Blatant Lies Evil Sounds Deep Dull Surprise Sadistic Choice Karmic Death The Hero Belligerent Sexual Tension Historical Villain Upgrade Rule of Three Determinator aka: The Determinator Sports Stories Action Prologue Motor Mouth Rewatch Bonus The Oner Dressing as the Enemy Eyepatch of Power He Who Fights Monsters Pragmatic Villainy Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Intergenerational Friendship Adorkable You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Freeze-Frame Bonus The Bad Guy Wins Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Dies Wide Open Accidental Murder Artistic License – Military Logo Joke The Lost Lenore Arranged Marriage Light Is Not Good Obfuscating Stupidity Serious Business Red Shirt Adult Fear Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Genre Throwback Vomit Indiscretion Shot The Musical Psychological Thriller Bittersweet Ending Butt-Monkey Beware the Nice Ones More Dakka Hope Spot Up to Eleven The X of Y Lampshade Hanging Poor Communication Kills Missing Mom "The Reason You Suck" Speech Take That! Pimped-Out Dress Translation Convention Obstructive Bureaucrat Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Asshole Victim Once More, with Clarity! Hong Kong Films Camera Abuse Spanner in the Works Gold Digger Bald of Evil Not So Stoic Character Development Meaningful Background Event Crazy-Prepared You Killed My Father Curb-Stomp Battle Dirty Coward Catch-Phrase Eagleland "Well Done, Son!" Guy Fainting You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Fate Worse than Death Honor Before Reason Captain Ersatz Celebrity Paradox From Bad to Worse Downer Ending For Want of a Nail Naked People Are Funny Corpsing Expy Big Brother Instinct Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Dutch Angle Wham Shot Documentary Henpecked Husband He Knows Too Much Ripped from the Headlines Not Even Bothering with the Accent Arc Words Creepy Child The End... Or Is It? Film Series Manly Tears Eye Scream Cassandra Truth Irony Novelization Heel–Face Turn Expository Hairstyle Change Index of Film Westerns Russian Films Adaptational Heroism Fun with Acronyms Unusual Euphemism Enemy Mine Red Herring Evil Counterpart Sequel Escalation Pay Evil unto Evil Whole Plot Reference Improbable Aiming Skills Time Skip Greater-Scope Villain Insane Troll Logic Book-Ends Death Glare Spiritual Successor Brainless Beauty In Medias Res Suddenly SHOUTING! Daylight Horror Alas, Poor Villain Race Against the Clock Science Fiction Films Dwindling Party Better to Die than Be Killed How We Got Here Thriller Actually Pretty Funny Double Entendre Kick the Son of a Bitch Mood Whiplash Slasher Movie N-Word Privileges Leaning on the Fourth Wall Death Seeker Diabolus ex Machina Ax-Crazy One-Man Army Horror Comedy My Greatest Failure Defiant to the End Cat Fight The Power of Love Man on Fire Unusually Uninteresting Sight Took a Level in Badass Cluster F-Bomb As Long as It Sounds Foreign Adaptation Dye-Job Reality Has No Subtitles Fourth Date Marriage Fantastic Racism Ambiguously Gay This Is Gonna Suck Humiliation Conga Frame-Up Knight Templar The Film of the Book No Good Deed Goes Unpunished timeperiod Drowning My Sorrows A Father to His Men Not So Different Throwing Your Sword Always Works Kill 'em All Stock Footage Punny Name Bond Villain Stupidity Does This Remind You of Anything? Abusive Parents Video Credits Dropped a Bridge on Him Call-Forward Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Pre-Mortem One-Liner Lighter and Softer Foregone Conclusion Historical-Domain Character Damsel in Distress Bound and Gagged Despair Event Horizon Bullying a Dragon Tagline Guile Hero Wounded Gazelle Gambit Lock and Load Montage Face Death with Dignity Children Are Innocent Cool Shades Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Bunny-Ears Lawyer Rousing Speech Combat Pragmatist Drugs Are Bad Fanservice What Happened to the Mouse? She Cleans Up Nicely Heroes Want Redheads Rich Bitch Extremely Short Timespan Body Horror Rule of Funny Bi the Way Freudian Excuse Product Placement Badass Bookworm The '60s The Great Depression Broken Aesop Not Quite Dead Roger Ebert: Great Movies List One Steve Limit Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Scare Chord Major Injury Underreaction Deal with the Devil Nice Guy Age Lift Grey and Gray Morality Agony of the Feet Air-Vent Passageway Flipping the Bird Gorn Karma Houdini Film Noir Index Jerkass Foreshadowing Your Head A-Splode Soundtrack Dissonance Evil Is Petty Slasher Smile Bavarian Fire Drill Worthy Opponent Pretty Little Headshots Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Shirtless Scene Cowboy Cop Sealed Evil in a Can I Did What I Had to Do Beta Couple Screw This, I'm Outta Here! The Reveal Betty and Veronica Here We Go Again! Overprotective Dad And the Adventure Continues Drill Sergeant Nasty Ship Tease Evil Is Hammy Guns Akimbo The '70s Martial Arts Movie The Dreaded Fish out of Water And Starring Composite Character Would Hurt a Child Bring My Brown Pants The Smurfette Principle Match Cut The Ditz Jerk with a Heart of Gold Dying Moment of Awesome No Name Given Big Eater Heroic Sacrifice Pyrrhic Victory Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies An Axe to Grind Manic Pixie Dream Girl Villain Ball Neck Snap 20 Minutes into the Future Black and Gray Morality Mercy Kill Broken Pedestal Never Trust a Trailer Wham Line Bloody Hilarious Earn Your Happy Ending Good Is Not Nice Kids Are Cruel Line-of-Sight Name "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Dirty Old Man Superhero Broken Bird Smoking Is Cool French Films Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Silence Is Golden Eiffel Tower Effect Make It Look Like an Accident Death by Sex