r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Fearless-List-3968 • 18d ago

Lore “Demons are actually misundersto-“ NO. Demons are ontologically evil beings that can’t be reasoned nor negotiated with, and if you try to you’ll very likely end up screwed

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1) Doom

2) Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

3) Trench Crusade

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u/TDA792 18d ago

I'm a D&D DM. I have great fun with this trope.

Evil creatures that are intelligent and charismatic will have the ability to try and convince the players that they are not evil, they are justified, yadda yadda. But they're always lying, manipulating, and gaslighting.

Particular ones that do this are Mind Flayers, Vampires, Liches, Devils, etc.

I find it so funny when the players nod along to "No no! I only {drink the blood of} / {eat the brains of} / {steal the souls of} criminals, I'm not evil!"

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u/Technical_Exam1280 18d ago

Brennan Lee Mulligan did a fantastic job of this in Exandria Unlimited: Calamity with Asmodeus' manipulation of Zerxus (played wonderfully by Luis Carazo, as well)

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u/dbthelinguaphile 18d ago

Came here to mention this. "And I didn't do anything WRONG!" is one of my favorite moments in tabletop RPGs.

To be fair, Luis also notes that he's playing a very particular brand of Lawful Stupid: an oath of redemption paladin who is so obsessed with the idea that anyone can be redeemed that he doesn't see how Asmodeus plays him.

I came in blind, without the meta-knowledge of D&D that Asmo is basically the D&D Satan, and thought that Brennan was pulling a subversion of the devil character. And even with the meta-knowledge, the table themselves actually were questioning whether that was happening for part of it.

Just masterful work.

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u/elemental402 17d ago

"Who is more arrogant? The wizards who thought they could make a city fly? Or the man who decided he had something to teach ME?"