...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Eternal Villain
- 119 statements
- 22 feature instances
- 7 referencing feature instances
| Eternal Villain | type |
FeatureClass | |
| Eternal Villain | label |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain | page |
EternalVillain | |
| Eternal Villain | comment |
Many cultures have the idea of an eternally recurring evil. A Timeless Arch-Enemy. The Eternal Cultural Adversary. A Satanic Archetype. A God of Evil. Not an Orcus on His Throne, just a villain who keeps coming back for more. Maybe it's one baddie with multiple identities racking up an endless Historical Rap Sheet. Either they're immortal, or there's an element of returning from being apparently dead or seeming way too old to fight to keep the conflict going ad infinitum. The reason both are included is that this trope is as old as mythology, and in its early era the concepts of The Ageless, resurrection, and absurd longevity were fairly interchangeable. Sometimes the character exists because As Long as There Is Evil in the world, they will never go away becoming an Ancient Evil in the process. Maybe the The World Is Always Doomed because Evil Evolves and changes to survive and cause malice throughout time. Perhaps they exist to fulfill some concept of Balance of Good and Evil in the setting. Whatever the reason, this baddie will not stay down forever and will return in some shape or form to cause trouble for the good guys once again. Likely the heroes of each generation must fight and defeat the Eternal Villain because Evil Only Has to Win Once for everything to fall apart. Often the villain must be put into some form of Sealed Evil in a Can to keep it at bay, but it will be back sooner or later. A diametric contrast to the Eternal Hero and sometimes the force of malice or opposition the hero must fight against in various stories as an Evil Counterpart. |
|
| Eternal Villain | fetched |
2023-10-19T20:45:32Z | |
| Eternal Villain | parsed |
2023-10-19T20:45:32Z | |
| Eternal Villain | processingComment |
Dropped link to Castlevania: Not an Item - CAT | |
| Eternal Villain | processingComment |
Dropped link to StatusQuoIsGod: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Eternal Villain | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Eternal Villain / int_35e05f2a | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_35e05f2a | comment |
RWBY: Humanity hasn't known about the Forever War between Salem and Ozma until Ironwood reveals Salem's existence to the Kingdom of Atlas in Volume 7 and then Ruby reveals her existence to the rest of the world in Volume 8. Ironwood describes her as a force of evil that can be opposed by standing united against division and negativity while Ruby describes her as an evil that humanity has been successfully fighting for centuries. By portraying her as a recurring force of evil that humanity can defeat by uniting as one against her, they convey the impression to the masses that she is a manageable threat who can be overcome in the hopes of avoiding what usually happens when select individuals have learned the unvarnished truth in the past — which is to succumb to the fear that she is an Invincible Villain, thereby either giving up fighting her or turning on their own allies. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_35e05f2a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_35e05f2a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| RWBY (Web Animation) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_35e05f2a | |
| Eternal Villain / int_41ecc735 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_41ecc735 | comment |
Cyborg 009: Black Ghost's leader claims them to be this, an evil force that will continually pop back up so long as humanity lusts for war. Sure enough, even after the Final Battle, enough remnants of Black Ghost survive to reform the organization and continue menacing the world. However, it's subverted in Cyborg 009: Call of Justice, as it's revealed that the 00 Cyborgs were eventually able to track down and eliminate every last remaining cell of the organization. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_41ecc735 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_41ecc735 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Cyborg 009 (Manga) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_41ecc735 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_56edb129 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_56edb129 | comment |
Freddy Krueger of A Nightmare on Elm Street began as a child murderer who was burned alive by the parents of his victims. In death, his spirit was blessed with the power to keep on killing children in their dreams. Several attempts were made to destroy him until it became clear he's not so much a ghost as he is a force of nature that will live on as long people can dream. At best, the only way to stop Freddy is to keep him locked away and robbed of power to do anything. One such method is to remove all mention of him, as he can't go after people who don't know who he is. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_56edb129 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_56edb129 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| A Nightmare on Elm Street (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_56edb129 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_5c208620 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_5c208620 | comment |
In Superman: The Animated Series, while being consummately "evil" may be debatable, the fifth dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk claims he's been beguiling heroes with his weird games and nonsensical pranks for generations, either thwarted or leaving on his own to torment the next goody-goody who gets on his nerves. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_5c208620 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_5c208620 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Superman: The Animated Series | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_5c208620 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_71495571 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_71495571 | comment |
Wonder Woman 1984 the God of Lies and his weapon - the Dreamstone - have appeared at random points in history to unrelated civilizations with the promise of granting wishes, only to bring about ruin through humanity's own selfishness. The Dreamstone was last sighted in 1984, while the God of Lies remains unconfirmed. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_71495571 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_71495571 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Wonder Woman 1984 | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_71495571 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7149a731 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7149a731 | comment |
Ares from Wonder Woman (2017) defended the Earth from Apokoliptian invaders, only to later turn on his brethren and spend the next millennia hiding amongst humanity and seducing them towards warfare and evil. Ares would resurface during the Great War to kickstart his grand finale to end humanity, where he'd meet his demise at Wonder Woman's hands. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7149a731 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7149a731 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Wonder Woman (2017) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_7149a731 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_74f7210c | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_74f7210c | comment |
Ganondorf from the The Legend of Zelda is essentially one to Link's Eternal Hero. This ties back into Skyward Sword, where the original Demon King, Demise, cursed the royal family of what would become Hyrule and its chosen hero to be forever haunted by an incarnation of his hatred. This evil took the form of Ganondorf and as part of the curse he has lived to become an ancient, eternally reincarnating embodiment of an even older evil that eternally returns to bring ruin to Hyrule every time he shows up until Link and Zelda defeat him. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_74f7210c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_74f7210c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Legend of Zelda (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_74f7210c | |
| Eternal Villain / int_77a3f332 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_77a3f332 | comment |
Happens in the case of HABIT in Every Man Hybrid. In later videos, it's revealed that HABIT hasn't just tormented the boys during their loops, but has been tormenting them and their reincarnations since at least the '70s. Given that HABIT is an immortal body-hopper, he's been around long enough to exist in every cycle the boys go through in some shape or form. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_77a3f332 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_77a3f332 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Everyman HYBRID (Web Video) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_77a3f332 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7f624b67 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7f624b67 | comment |
Clockwork from Sly Cooper is one to the Cooper Clan and their allies. He's an ancient criminal owl who use the Power Of Hate and cybernetics to live thousands of years just to get his revenge on the Cooper Clan for besting him in thievery. As such, he has spent generations in conflict with and killing members of the Cooper Clan, always returning to haunt the next generation. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7f624b67 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7f624b67 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| SlyCooper | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_7f624b67 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7fbd159a | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7fbd159a | comment |
ThunderCats (1985): Mumm-Ra has been the evil overlord of Third Earth for generations prior to the arrival of the ThunderCats, having been active ever since the place was First Earth. This antagonist status becomes even more personal in Thunder Cats 2011 where Mumm-Ra was the original master of ancestors of the Uplifted Animal Races that make up the cast and has been an enemy of the cats (with the exception of the tigers) since Leo, Lion-O ancestor's, overthrew him and returned to plague Leo's descendants personally out of spite. |
|
| Eternal Villain / int_7fbd159a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7fbd159a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| ThunderCats (1985) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_7fbd159a | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7fbd6753 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7fbd6753 | comment |
This antagonist status becomes even more personal in Thunder Cats 2011 where Mumm-Ra was the original master of ancestors of the Uplifted Animal Races that make up the cast and has been an enemy of the cats (with the exception of the tigers) since Leo, Lion-O ancestor's, overthrew him and returned to plague Leo's descendants personally out of spite. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7fbd6753 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_7fbd6753 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| ThunderCats (2011) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_7fbd6753 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_8dd8ec81 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_8dd8ec81 | comment |
In the Sailor Moon manga storyline, Chaos is this, as the source of all evil in the galaxy and orchestrator of all of the bad stuff that happens over the course of the series. Queen Metalia, Death Phantom, Pharaoh 90 and Queen Nehellenia (or Nehellenia's cursed mirror in the 90s anime version) were nothing more than embodiments of its will and it is the entity pulling Sailor Galaxia's strings for much of the story. Sailor Senshi exist across the galaxy and have all been engaged in an epic battle against Chaos. Even after being defeated by Sailor Moon, Chaos has survived, and one day it'll be back to likely fight against the Sailor Senshi for eternity until it finally wins. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_8dd8ec81 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_8dd8ec81 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Sailor Moon (Manga) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_8dd8ec81 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_960062b7 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_960062b7 | comment |
All for One from My Hero Academia has been the setting's Symbol of Evil and the Big Bad to every user of One for All, from the first wielder of One for All, his younger brother, all the way to Deku himself. Many efforts of wielders of One for All across time have been spent trying to accumulate enough power to take him down for good, and not one has succeeded as of yet and a number of them have died at All for One's hands. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_960062b7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_960062b7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| My Hero Academia (Manga) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_960062b7 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_961b37e0 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_961b37e0 | comment |
The DC Extended Universe has a few: Ares from Wonder Woman (2017) defended the Earth from Apokoliptian invaders, only to later turn on his brethren and spend the next millennia hiding amongst humanity and seducing them towards warfare and evil. Ares would resurface during the Great War to kickstart his grand finale to end humanity, where he'd meet his demise at Wonder Woman's hands. Darkseid in Zack Snyder's Justice League led the above-mentioned invasion of Earth thousands of years ago and spent millennia ever since subjugating worlds. His likeness would appear in at least two works of art as a figure of great evil. Wonder Woman 1984 the God of Lies and his weapon - the Dreamstone - have appeared at random points in history to unrelated civilizations with the promise of granting wishes, only to bring about ruin through humanity's own selfishness. The Dreamstone was last sighted in 1984, while the God of Lies remains unconfirmed. |
|
| Eternal Villain / int_961b37e0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_961b37e0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| DC Extended Universe (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_961b37e0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_ab2a760 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_ab2a760 | comment |
Good old William Afton from Five Nights at Freddy's has started to cross into this through sheer Implacability and Joker Immunity. The bastard has transcended life and death and keeps returning from defeat after defeat, to quote the man himself. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_ab2a760 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_ab2a760 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| FiveNightsAtFreddys | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_ab2a760 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_b3b15bc1 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_b3b15bc1 | comment |
Apocalypse, like his comic namesake, from X-Men: The Animated Series is presented as this, having been described as a force of evil across generations that has brought civilizations to ruin. Each time, he comes into combat with those who would combat his evil and be warded away, and continue once again. He actually lampshades this when fighting Cable and appears to have a minor Villainous BSoD upon realizing he may not be able to ever truly win, no matter how many heroes he fights. This changes when he realizes he now has Time Master powers and opts for a final gambit to remake the world so he will never lose again. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_b3b15bc1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_b3b15bc1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| X-Men: The Animated Series | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_b3b15bc1 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_c2463c55 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_c2463c55 | comment |
In Final Fantasy X Sin is this as a cyclic calamity form of this trope. Sin is a ginormous whale-like monster who periodically ravages the coasts of Spira and has done so since time immemorial. Brave Summoners are regularly charged with sacrificing their lives to conjure a Final Aeon to keep it at bay until it springs up again (the last such period, known as the Great Calm, lasted all of ten years), with the Yevonite religion believing Yu Yevon first came up with the ritual with the aid of his daughter Yunalesca. As the game progresses, we learn that Sin is in fact a defense mechanism from a long-ago war that actually enforces Medieval Stasis by destroying towns above a limited level of technology, and that Sin continuously returning was the deliberate goal of Yunalesca and Yevon. The end goal becomes to defeat Sin without resorting to the Final Aeon technique by killing Yu Yevon himself, who's become a questionably-sentient floating glyph piloting Sin who only recognizes that he needs to destroy technology. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_c2463c55 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_c2463c55 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Final Fantasy X (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_c2463c55 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_dab32e3 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_dab32e3 | comment |
Sigma is essentially one for the Mega Man X series. He swore to always return so long as X and Zero exist to torment them and slaughter humanity, and that promise has certainly stuck one way or another. In X8, Sigma seemed to finally acknowledge his increasing body decay and limited time, so he hijacked the production of New Generation Reploids to instill his personal data across all of them except for Axl. While Sigma's next stand appeared to have finally been his last, it didn't matter, because he effectively created an entire line of Sigmas to succeed him. Even proclaimed by himself in Megaman X7. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_dab32e3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_dab32e3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Mega Man X (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_dab32e3 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_e03813f1 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_e03813f1 | comment |
The Mana Series has The Anti-God Medusa, best known as Anise. Like Ganondorf and Dracula above, she's the Evil Incarnate that resurrects again and again, forever threatening the Mana Tree and being faced by heroes chosen by the Mother Goddess. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_e03813f1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_e03813f1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Mana Series (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_e03813f1 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_e9c7b01b | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_e9c7b01b | comment |
Garland from Dissidia Final Fantasy is essentially one as a Blood Knight and The Fatalist, having been a prisoner of the cycles of war against the heroic Warriors of Cosmos summoned by the Gods and his timeless enemy the Warrior of Light, since they began and knows he will inevitably be caught in a time loop in his home world. As far as he's concerned, everything is predestined to happen and the other fighters in the war should accept their fates. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_e9c7b01b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_e9c7b01b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Dissidia Final Fantasy (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_e9c7b01b | |
| Eternal Villain / int_f3d889f7 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_f3d889f7 | comment |
Darkseid in Zack Snyder's Justice League led the above-mentioned invasion of Earth thousands of years ago and spent millennia ever since subjugating worlds. His likeness would appear in at least two works of art as a figure of great evil. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_f3d889f7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_f3d889f7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Zack Snyder's Justice League | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_f3d889f7 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_f88e66d6 | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Eternal Villain / int_f88e66d6 | comment |
In Mighty Max, Skullmaster has been trying to conquer the world and enslave humanity ever since the time of Atlantis, which he personally sunk. He has been opposed throughout history by a succession of heroes holding the mantle of The Mighty One, with one managing to trap him in the Earth's core. In fact, many of the one off villains are actually ancient evils that have be-devilled mankind and its various protectors throughout history, which the title character must put an end to. | |
| Eternal Villain / int_f88e66d6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Eternal Villain / int_f88e66d6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Mighty Max | hasFeature |
Eternal Villain / int_f88e66d6 |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
| Eternal Villain | processingCategory2 |
Castlevania (Franchise) | |
| Eternal Villain | processingCategory2 |
This Index Will Live Forever | |
| Eternal Villain | processingCategory2 |
Villains | |
| Sly Cooper (Franchise) / int_ab7e495b | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Mega Man X (Video Game) / int_ab7e495b | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| Everyman HYBRID (Web Video) / int_ab7e495b | type |
Eternal Villain | |
| X-Men: The Animated Series / int_ab7e495b | type |
Eternal Villain |
Copyright of DBTropes.org wrapper 2009-2013 DFKI Knowledge Management. Imprint. - Thanks to Bakken&Baeck for hosting. Contact.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.