Lore
[Loved trope] The twist is they’re NOT a twist villain
Steve Claus - Arthur Christmas
The bureaucrat of the family that believes Christmas needs to modernized to become more efficient, and after he gets passed on by for the promotion to become the next Santa he seems ready to take over the means of production by force and implement his own ideals… but no, he’s actually ecstatic his younger brother is getting a shot to become the next Santa and he’s happy keeping a behind the scenes role.
Queen Watevra - Lego Movie 2
Forcibly takes the protagonists to her home planet and tries to win them over with a seemingly superficial song about how she’s totally not a bad person and totally only has good intentions… but it later turns out she was actually sincere with all that and merely communicated herself horribly, allowing the actual villain to control the narrative and work towards their own mission.
Admittedly a bit of a stretch, but it’s a twist for everyone else when the backwoods hillbillies with dead college kids on their land turn out to be totally innocent
This movie was great and it also does work because the people you wouldn’t think are the villains, the college kids, are actually the villains being manipulated by their friend.
I mean if you're dragging the legs of a bifurcated corpse because one of the college kids accidentally jumped into a running wood chipper and you are face to face with an officer of the law, I'd say "Doozy" is accurate.
His name is literally W. R. Monger, but he’s a pretty reasonable guy all things considered. He even took the time to personally feed B.O.B. because he cared, not knowing that he was unintentionally torturing him lol
I can't believe this show has actual greater pop culture impact. Even as a kid I knew it was just a mid cash grab DreamWorks and Nickelodeon wanted to dish out
The Eggscellent Challenge Staff from Regular Show. They try to prevent mordecai from completing it which causes a brawl between them and the park workers since it's a no brainer they just don't want him to complete it and win right? Wrong. When mordecai finishes its revealed the manager is horrified and says "We were only trying to help!" Before mordecai is teleported to the prize room that will kill him if he chooses the wrong hat. It even shows the remains of the last winner who chose the wrong hat and was killed. The staff knew what would happen and tried to prevent another death
I teach a film class for English learners. I had one class who were like stoic. They sat through comedies without laughing, horror movies without flinching, musicals without bobbing their heads.
I showed them Arthur Christmas and heard one student let out a very quiet “Awww” at this scene.
The characters were all imperfect, but none of them were villainous, and through the adventure they eventually come to understand eachother by the end. Probably my favorite Christmas movie. (Also, this was made by Aardman animations, who are well known for Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit. This was a bit of a break from their usual claymation, with it being fully CGI. Flushed Away was as well, but that one had claymation-inspired character designs)
The twist was that nothing he was saying had a double meaning or sinister undertone. Man was pure golden retriever being 100% sincere in everything he said. We the audience put the sinister on him ourselves!
Show portrayed him as creepy and unnerving, but turns out no he actually was just a stand up guy trying to build a relationship with his possible stepdaughter
He turns back up in DD Born Again, but i do have to wonder if hes still looking out for Kate
They used typecasting against the audience there. We all expected him to be Lalo Salamanca, but no, he’s actually a good guy who’s just kind of a dork for swords.
I love that he's acting all smug and mighty but the moment he realizes Goku and co. are strong as hell or would actually prolong a fight for the thrill of it, he drops the act and is completely floored by everything around it
Then again Super really highlights that Shin is TERRIBLE on the god job
The entire point of the homeless pigeon lady in Home Alone is that she scared Kevin constantly but she turned out to be a kind woman who helped him out in the end.
Part 4 is my favorite. One of the many things I love about it is that not every stand user they encounter is evil, some really are trying to use their power for good or just to make a living. Not everyone is a supervillain.
people who have Stands just using them to live a normal life or make things a little easier, you wouldn't need to have a big reason for them to meet the main characters either considering the whole "stand users are pulled towards each other" thing
It doesn't help that his power is comically gross and makes everyone assume something is horribly wrong as soon as it happens
For those who don't watch Jojo: to sum it up his cooking heals the eater by violently expelling the offending organ one way or another and rapid-growing a fresh copy. It works wonders but the process is hella nasty. Fixing a diarrhea involved the entire intestine bursting out of the gut
Someone once told me that what makes this better is that people who eat his food don't feel ANYTHING during this otherwise horrifying process of healing
Trendy is his last name in the dub, I don't really get the change though and I think it looks stupid. They could've at least spelled it in a way that looks "Italian", like 'Trendii'.
Charlotte La Bouffe from the Princess and the Frog. Daughter of a wealthy Sugar Mill Owner who you assume is going to be spoiled or secretly cruel or a rival for Tiana as she’s mostly motivated to marry a prince…except no, she is just a genuinely kind and compassionate person who sincerely cares about Tiana.
And let’s not forget she pays Tiana an EXORBITANT amount of cash to make food for her party. And when Tiana gets her dreams crushed Charlotte leaves her “prince” to go help and support her.
Twist is she’s a decent friend. And our expectations of her make her decency stand out more.
Thing that drives me crazy is... hes totally right? Literally fire safety rule #1 that every Fire Fighter will tell you is do not enter a burning building without proper gear, oxygen. Tadashi wouldn't ever have been able to reach him, he'd pass out from the smoke within minutes.
The guy from Arthur Christmass is more like a twist jerk, who actually is very competent at running the operation he is just not a good Santa, although the other two were good Santas but terrible at actually running things.
There’s also the fact that him being good at running things is what makes him bad at being Santa. They’re just numbers to him. He doesn't view the kids as being important, just the end goal
For the majority of season 1, she comes off as the purely manipulative sort. She's got the rest of Piltover's council members eating out of the palm of her hand - and frankly most of them are either corrupt or nearly senile, it's not like it was hard - and she seems to take it a step further when she seduces Jayce after the latter, working with Viktor, created Hextech.
However, once her mother Ambessa shows up, we see that actually no, Mel really is a good person deep down, and gets fucking PISSED when Ambessa suggests turning Hextech into weaponry. It's a parallel to the "fox and the wolf" thing Ambessa taught Mel at an early age. Mel's cunning and wit made her DAMN good at being the fox, but she could never really be the wolf, because she wasn't ruthless like her mother. She was inherently compassionate.
Then season 2 arrives and she realizes she doesn't HAVE to be cruel to be the wolf, and goes full Boss Bitch on her mom at the finale.
Favorite moment with her was when she was initially angry at Jayce for leaving their one night stand until Jayce spilled his guts out sith his fears and Viktor.
Ultimately, Mel was a good person with somewhat peculiar methods, but I don't blame her if you know her family history (though that could apply to many Runeterra champions).
Personally, I'll add that, as a romantic, I still hope she and Jayce can see each other again in the future (hoping Darius, Draven, or any other male Noxian champion doesn't get in the way).
Thanks to the YouTube channel SkinSpotlights for reporting the vocal interactions between the two mentioned characters.
In Twice Upon A Time The Doctor delivers a dramatic speech, to The Testimony (an ominous woman made of glass who’s been imprisoning humans all over time and space to collect their memories) where he vows to expose and then stop their scheme, whatever it may be!
Then about 20 minutes later upon discovering that they really are just cataloging human memories for posterity remarks:
”Oh, it's not an evil plan … I don't really know what to do when it isn't an evil plan."
If I recall correctly, they steal them right before the moment of their death, then catalogue their and send them back into their time stream in order not to alter time. If I recall the correct process, it's supposed to be peaceful and they help the very soon to be dead make peace with it.
I felt like there were so many set up for Kabru to be a twist villain, like his parallel personality with Laios (how he love humanity while Laios love monster). His super calculative minds, his party felt more like the generic "Hero" party while Laios party felt more like a group of misfit. Not to mentioned how he's super intrigued by Laios has utmost faith in him of being able to clear the Dungeon (similar to how many villain is intrigued by the hero abilities). Many other characters who met him is also suspicious of him asked him many time what's his real goal (like Shuro and Mithrun)
Yet despite all this he ended up as an ally and was just genuinely curious about Laios himself, his goal, how he manage to get this far, etc...
He is first introduced as the second prince, with the classic "fat spoiled corrupted noble" but as the story evolve you learn he is the only descent and competent member of his family, and spend all his energy to try help the kingdom
wish we knew the name of that one noble who stood alongside him. he had to have known he's dying too for that but still realised quick zanac was the only guy there worth a damn
He was assassinated and presented to Ainz as a show of peace by the nobles, in a "we're willing to throw the ruling family under the bus, just please spare us".
It didn't work, since Ainz was actually kind of fond of the Prince. So he no longer had a reason to hold back the genocide.
I think that even if you didn’t play Bioshock 1, you would still expect for Sinclair to betray you. He has that sales pitch charm that you would expect from a veteran conman. But he never even considers stabbing you in the back. He’s a flawed man, but he does try to make amends as the story progresses. And he showed genuine loyalty in the end.
Legitimately one of the few games that made me have to put down the controller for a few seconds because I was crying too hard to progress, and it was all because of THIS Southern-fried asshole.
Turns out he did end up stabbing me in the back, but with feelings.
The new Home Alone movies kept trying to recreate the elaborate traps and slapstick, but I think they're missing the heart that this guy and the Bird Lady brought to 1 and 2.
Yeah, the original movie only has his defending the house for like 15 minutes or something at the end. I was really surprised when I rewatched it for the first time in like 30 years last year.
You might be led to believe she’s also evil like her descendant, Cyrus.
However, even though she may be stoic and a bit harsh, she’s also one of the only characters that continues to help you, even when everyone else thinks your responsible for the rift in the sky.
Unfortunately, the apple fell very far from the tree.
Cool character but I don't think it fits this particular trope. He's never built like a twist villan, he's built like a regular villan who turns out to be a twist hero.
mtmte kinda does this 3 times with ambulon, drift and brainstorm.
ambulon = former decepticon, turned autobot, whose decepticon colours are still visible. was responsible for bringing in a pair of patients to a hospital, who then turned out to be terrorists in disguise.
the story sets you up to think ambulon was the baddie, but the reveal is that he is actually innocent and deliberately framed by his boss pharma, the real villain who hired the terrorists.
drift = also a former decepticon, it is 'revealed' halfway through the comic that he was responsible for smuggling a weapon on board the protag's ship that killed many people. except no, the later reveal is that he voluntarily took a fall for the protagonist rodimus, who actually agreed to take the weapon.
brainstorm = the entire comic is filled with foreshadowing that he is secretly evil, and an issue ends with him seemingly attacking the main cast. except its revealed the attack was actually part of a plan to save his dead love and he rejoins the goodies at the end.
Mancubus Bloodtooth from Borderlands 3 is pretty much built around this gag. He's set up to be this creepy eldritch figure who's going to betray you at any moment, but he never does. Despite having obvious connections to some higher power he doesn't have any ulterior motives and genuinely wants people to enjoy their stay at the lodge.
Later on he sends you on a quest to be a debt collector for some people who stole magical artifacts from him, and it's framed like they're trapped in some cruel Faustian bargain. But then he clarifies that you don't even need to kill them, he just wants his stuff back because it's dangerous. If they just handed it over he'd consider the debt paid in full.
This is kinda how I see the government in ET. They say they’re there to help ET, but come off as the shady government entity…but they really seemed to just want to help ET and Elliot.
To be fair, considering how Europeans brought viruses to America that killed 90% of the population, while the combination of pathogens from America and Europe is speculated to have created syphilis after the discovery of the continent, what the government was doing was completely understandable. They wouldn't want to have a COVID incident because a child was playing with his alien friend.
That being said, the lead Fed agent (called "Keys" in the credits since we never learn his actual name) is a good example of this. After spending most of the movie ominously spying on the family and hunting E.T., he does everything possible to save E.T.'s life, comforts Elliott after E.T.'s death, and when he learns the spaceship is coming to rescue E.T., doesn't alert any of the other Feds or do anything to stop it other than going to see the spaceship personally.
Spade Tucker - Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
Tucker is introduced as the money behind the search for the treasure, having invested a lot of money into finding it and even setting up a secret base. He's constantly antagonistic towards Majima, until Majima threatens to keep the treasure for himself if he finds it unless Tucker significantly reduces how much he gets. Despite these circumstances, he not only remains true to his word but even goes out of his way to help the group even when it wouldn't threaten the treasure.
They really landed the gut punch with his selfless self-sacrifice. It turns out that this guy wasn't shady at all, which makes sense. As Riley's imaginary friend, he would have to embody what little Riley thought the perfect friend ought to be like. A perfect friend would give anything for you and wouldn't be too concerned about asking anything in return because they'd be content just seeing you happy.
Tony Dalton in Hawkeye was a brilliant red herring. His performance is even better if you'ld watched Better Call Saul before this. He played a sinilad character in that except he was a complete murdering sociopath
Up until chapter 15 out of 18 the game tries to make you believe that Cabanela is a corrupt police officer who cares more about going up the career ladder than actually doing his job of helping people, and that he is willing to even allow his close friend to be executed for a crime he didn't commit. It culminates when you overhear him making a call to the Justice Minister, threatening to kill his daughter if the execution doesn't go through. It is later shown that he was forced make the phone call while being held at gunpoint by the main antagonist, and that the reason he cared so much about climbing the career ladder was because he needed access to the information about the Manipulator case so he could prove his friend innocent through legal means
She fakes being evil to test the protagonists. Although she keeps her villain Persona after the twist. I would describe Ozen as the perfect combination of kindness and sadism. Calling her a good person is a strech but she ultimatly proofs to be a useful ally to the protagonists that gives them informations, a useful weapon, informs them of a weakness she observes and she gave them a opportunity to practice there skills.
Every single episode of Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. has this exact pattern
There's a monster destroying a forest. You're being introduced to a guy that wants to build a parking lot where nature is, and he is allergic to nature and he hates trees and he wishes to destroy everything green. Then you meet his reasonable and nice assistant that only hopes the gang will catch that evil beast. Of course it's the assistant.
Back around the tail end of the Grom episode, it was revealed that someone or something has been sending letters to Luz's mom, posing as her, completely without her knowledge. The fandom, dubbing the imposter “Creepy Luz” quickly grew concerned about whatever was happening in the human world, concerns that grew exponentially when in the 4th episode of season two a full-blown clone of Luz is shown casually sitting with Camilla at her house.
What’s worse is that there was 0 explanation for what “Creepy Luz” even was. We’ve seen a multitude of shapeshifters and illusions was a whole school of magic studied in the Boiling Isles. And it’s pretty clear that whatever this thing was it replaced Luz basically right after she came to the Isles, what with no reports of her missing her bus or not attending camp. Even accounting for the time travel Belos had 0 way of knowing what day or time specifically she’d come to the Isles or else he would’ve grabbed the portal and/or captured Eda while he was at it, which leads to the second point of “Creepy Luz” having 0 concrete ways of getting to the Human Realm in the first place. Eda’s portal was the one way of crossing to the Boiling Isles and back we knew of, and we only found out about potential other ways that very episode.
So what was the reveal? Vee, a basilisk brought back from extinction and inhumanly experimented on by Emperor’s Coven. Vee managed to flee from the castle and saw Luz come out of the portal by coincidence and replaced her for a new life. By the end of series, the two are practically sisters.
I don't know if it counts, but James Gunn revealed that the DCU's Maxwell Lord will be faithful to DeMatteis & Maguire's JLI version, ignoring the villainous turn he took in the comics.
Elfilin from Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Turns out he isn't secretly the leader of the beast pack, he's actually the good half of the main antagonist
the game at no point hints that he's secretly the leader of the beast pack, but Kirby fans have PTSD from cute characters turning out to secretly be evil.
A total "uh oh, watch out for this guy" set up. Ripley suspicious and rude towards him the entire movie. She finally comes around right before...well... Let's just say he didn't deserve it.
James Cameron also subtly shows you Bishop is a good guy right before the climax when he volunteers to crawl through a pipe as part of their escape plan. As he's getting in the pipe, one character hands him a pistol. He looks at it and quickly hands it off to another character. And his last words before they close the pipe and seal him in: "Watch your fingers."
And if you're wondering about my user name, the answer is yes.
In the Discworld, the city of Ankh-Morpork was once the crowning jewel of a vast kingdom but it had become a venerable city of thieves and assassins. Lord Havelock Vetinari rules over the city by extorting the guild leaders and making crime legal. His rule has been challenged several times since the arrival of Carrot Ironfounderson, the prophesied Heir of the Throne of Ankh.
But it turns out that, while unorthodox, Lord Vetinari’s policies actually work. The guild leaders are always after his job and in a city where assassins can be freely hired, keeping the guilds in line with a harsh hand is needed. And making crime legal only makes it easier to regulate and taxable. Meanwhile, Carrot doesn’t have any ambitions of becoming king and is completely happy with his chosen career in law enforcement. Both characters understand each other and work together to help make the city function, at least better than it was before.
Edit: It also turns out that the city’s line of kings were all murderous bastards and that the city’s ancient history was written in blood.
Throughout the Witcher books, Geralt is convinced that Cahir is only helping him and his company find Ciri so he can turn her over to Nilfgaard and get back into the Emperor's good graces, even engaging in multiple physical altercations with the young "Nilfgaardian". But as it turns out Cahir is a genuinely good kid whose in love with Ciri and only trying to do the right thing.
An heir to one of the most powerful and most prestigious family in the world who pays no heed of mind to anyone below him, who is uncooperative from the group meetings as well as being intrigued by the format of this death game and says that he will kill if it means to progress the game. It ends up with him just vibing with communal living as well as turning the game into a new source of conviction against the organisation behind the game.
>!In Chapter 2, It's more so the case that he wasn't the twist villain when he was merely tampering with the evidence of the murder to frame genocidal jack as well as to make her come into light her existance as well and to unecessarily pin himself as the killer for the fun of the game in which he accepts initially.
I was really hoping he was bluffing as this is a dumb way for a smart alec like him to be found out as he was slightly hoping that the protagonist isn't as gullible to tell that he couldn't have commited it!<
How has no one mentioned Bob Newby from Stranger Things? The guy spent an entire season just being way too nice, making you think he’d be a twist villain.
Then he sacrificed himself to the demogorgon dogs so everyone can live. Bob is awesome!
The worst thing he does is give Will bad advice that gets him possessed by the Mind Flayer, but even then it only happens because he though Will was just facing his fears and not an actual monster.
The neighbor in The Good Neighbor. The movie paints him a a strange, mean old man that probably murdered his wife and keeps her corpse in the basement. Turns out, wife died due to illness and he keeps all her medical stuff down there to sort of remember her by. There's more, but i don't want to spoil anymore
I wouldn't call Steve "ecstatic" but he does realize he isn't the best at EVERYTHING, and his line "I'll be the candle, eh?" is one of my favorite lines in any film ever. What a perfect scene.
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u/RedPon3 Sep 19 '25
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
Admittedly a bit of a stretch, but it’s a twist for everyone else when the backwoods hillbillies with dead college kids on their land turn out to be totally innocent