Necromancer/Evil Wizard Clichés

[ThinkMinty]

The Necromancer and/or Evil Wizard has a lot of stereotypes/recurring phenomena attached to 'em as concepts. I'm wondering what those are from y'alls point of view, for fun, profit, and foreknowledge of said clichés as to be cleverer about 'em.

One of the ones I've noticed is that Necromancers is that a lot of them are pretty damn lazy, tending to let their undead minions do a lot of the work for 'em. Might be why the evil necromancers lose so much, they get rusty. Demongo from Samurai Jack was pretty lazy in his fight, and Gekko Moriah from One Piece farms out every task that isn't reanimation.

[Ninja_Prawn]

2. Completely amoral. An evil wizard does not care that what they are doing is wrong. It doesn't even register in their mind.
3. Wears black.
4. Does not care about personal appearance. Has dirty/torn clothes, wild, tangled hair and long, yellow fingernails.
5. Skull motifs. Everywhere. Like this.
6. Related: German accents.
7. Disdain for the weakness of the flesh.
8. Laboreatory located in an isolated tower/fortress.

[goto124]

4. Does not care about personal appearance. Has dirty/torn clothes, wild, tangled hair and long, yellow fingernails.

Unless female.

[Anonymouswizard]

If female, much hotter and younger than any good male wizards, or jealous of the female wizard's youth and hotness.

Negative SAN. Sort of like the evil scientists.

Wants to bring back or create a Thing That Should Not Exist^TM.

[Ninja_Prawn]

If female, much hotter and younger than any good male wizards, or jealous of the female wizard's youth and hotness.

Like this?

Wants to bring back or create a Thing That Should Not Exist^TM.

Or failing that, the slightly less clichéd "wants to bring back dead lover/child, but they are doomed to come back wrong".

[Honest Tiefling]

Female children of the wizard and/or female lieutenants will invariably betray you to go sleep with the hero and his +5 abs. I'd quietly start slipping in some drugs to cull such urges, personally.

[Steampunkette]

If the Necromancer/BBEG's betrayer is a woman, it's out of lust/love/hope for a relationship with the hero.

If the Necromancer/BBEG's betrayer is a man, it's out of righteous action/redemption/fear of the BBEW.

[Nifft]

Female children of the wizard and/or female lieutenants will invariably betray you to go sleep with the hero and his +5 abs. I'd quietly start slipping in some drugs to cull such urges, personally.

What drug could possibly inoculate my evil-yet-beautiful daughter against +5 abs? ... perhaps absinthe?

[Honest Tiefling]

What drug could possibly inoculate my evil-yet-beautiful daughter against +5 abs? ... perhaps absinthe?

I was more thinking something to reduce sexual drive. Daddy's little evil princess only deserves the best, and you wouldn't be dragging her to your place of work if you didn't want her to help. Constantly making her drunk + undead/forces man was not supposed to know = bad times.

[ThinkMinty]

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Female children of the wizard and/or female lieutenants will invariably betray you to go sleep with the hero and his +5 abs. I'd quietly start slipping in some drugs to cull such urges, personally.

One villain tried to avoid this by having a gay daughter, but she ended up going for the hero's female friend and her +5 curves instead. This premise I just laid out is giving me very fun ideas.

Moral of the story: Get her a lover before the plot begins.

I was more thinking something to reduce sexual drive. Daddy's little evil princess only deserves the best, and you wouldn't be dragging her to your place of work if you didn't want her to help. Constantly making her drunk + undead/forces man was not supposed to know = bad times.

The villain could always try to encourage her have tastes that don't line up with how the hero is. That way when he tries to be savvy and make a pass at her, she's all, "Not my type, sorry."

If the Necromancer/BBEG's betrayer is a woman, it's out of lust/love/hope for a relationship with the hero.

If the Necromancer/BBEG's betrayer is a man, it's out of righteous action/redemption/fear of the BBEW.

...wow, now that I hear that, every freakin' time it's like that.

For once, can a lower-ranking man-villain think with his ****? Just to be even-handed.

One of the most glaringly obvious ones is that the Evil Wizard is either clean-shaven, or has a stereotypical evil wizard facial hairstyle. For once, can you get an evil wizard with some muttonchops or something?

[Steampunkette]

You can't get your daughter a lover before the big fight against the hero. That's like DEMANDING she be bored and tired of her ignorant/impotent/abusive love and excited/enticed by the virile/kindhearted/noble hero! Even though she's clearly the other woman and will either

A) Die because she tried to get between the hero and the love interest.
or
B) Realize that she's causing him pain by making him choose and remove herself from the love triangle. (Bonus points if it's through a heroic sacrifice to save the hero and prove her love, while brief and unrequited, was true)

Unless your BBEW is a female wizard, in which case her only daughter and lieutenant/captain of the guard/general will be the love interest from the start of the romantic subplot.

You're just pushing her to betray you even -faster-!

[The Fury]

Y'know, these bad guys would probably have a lot fewer betrayal problems if they tried harder to be a good boss or a cool parent.

Would the evil daughter help out the handsome (if undoubtedly slightly unhinged,) hero if it meant that she couldn't play video games or go shopping with her awesome mom/rad dad? Heck no!

Would the evil second-in-command betray and kill his boss after they gave him his son's birthday off for the fifth year in a row without a moments hesitation? Especially since the hero's gonna stab him through the face if he tried it? Heck no!

Yet the order of the day is repress your evil offspring and treat your underlings like dirt until they resent you and act surprised when they betray you. It might seem silly, but if you're not enough of a jerk nobody will think you're evil and you need your evil cred.

Oh! And all evil wizards are Necromancers. It sounds cooler! Who ever heard of an evil Evocer? Or Enchanter? And who's going to quail in terror at facing an evil Diviner?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Oh! And all evil wizards are Necromancers. It sounds cooler! Who ever heard of an evil Evocer? Or Enchanter? And who's going to quail in terror at facing an evil Diviner?

[singing]she's an evil enchantress...[/singing]

If the context makes it obvious that they're not a necromancer, they'll be called something other than a wizard. Usually 'sorcerer' or 'warlock'.

[Rater202]

They always either never try their magical thingy again, or keep doing it despite the fact that it never works.

[ThinkMinty]

You can't get your daughter a lover before the big fight against the hero. That's like DEMANDING she be bored and tired of her ignorant/impotent/abusive love and excited/enticed by the virile/kindhearted/noble hero! Even though she's clearly the other woman and will either

A) Die because she tried to get between the hero and the love interest.
or
B) Realize that she's causing him pain by making him choose and remove herself from the love triangle. (Bonus points if it's through a heroic sacrifice to save the hero and prove her love, while brief and unrequited, was true)

Unless your BBEW is a female wizard, in which case her only daughter and lieutenant/captain of the guard/general will be the love interest from the start of the romantic subplot.

You're just pushing her to betray you even -faster-!

I'd say that a daughter that likes girls would help, but then she'll just crush on one of the hero's female party members instead.

Asexual children, perhaps?

Y'know, these bad guys would probably have a lot fewer betrayal problems if they tried harder to be a good boss or a cool parent.

Would the evil daughter help out the handsome (if undoubtedly slightly unhinged,) hero if it meant that she couldn't play video games or go shopping with her awesome mom/rad dad? Heck no!

Would the evil second-in-command betray and kill his boss after they gave him his son's birthday off for the fifth year in a row without a moments hesitation? Especially since the hero's gonna stab him through the face if he tried it? Heck no!

Yet the order of the day is repress your evil offspring and treat your underlings like dirt until they resent you and act surprised when they betray you. It might seem silly, but if you're not enough of a jerk nobody will think you're evil and you need your evil cred.

I think the Evil Overlord list addresses some of this.

Oh! And all evil wizards are Necromancers. It sounds cooler! Who ever heard of an evil Evocer? Or Enchanter? And who's going to quail in terror at facing an evil Diviner?

Evil Evoker is pretty easy, that dude just loves blowing **** up. Evil Enchantresses have a song, and also...Amora the Enchantress from Marvel (she's a Thor villainess, wants to break off a piece of Thor-booty), or the Falyce, the Emerald Empress from the Legion of Super-Heroes comics.

As for the evil Diviners? Clock King!

[Anonymouswizard]

I'd give an example of an evil illusionist, but I think they all cast invisibility.

They will also do anything for power, including sacrificing innocent people to mad gods. They just have a tendency not to check that the victims have all the qualities needed.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I think the Evil Overlord list addresses some of this.

As it should! There is a lot of overlap between Evil Necromancers and Evil Overlords.

[ThinkMinty]

I'd give an example of an evil illusionist, but I think they all cast invisibility.

They will also do anything for power, including sacrificing innocent people to mad gods. They just have a tendency not to check that the victims have all the qualities needed.

Jason Wyngarde from the Hellfire Society, but I do like the joke.

You'd think they would check, seeing as mad gods are picky eaters with little patience for being toyed with.

[The Fury]

As it should! There is a lot of overlap between Evil Necromancers and Evil Overlords.

True, though the Evil Overlord list exists partly because clichéd villains don't always make sound decisions, and we're all about the clichés here!

[ThinkMinty]

True, though the Evil Overlord list exists partly because clichéd villains don't always make sound decisions, and we're all about the clichés here!

All about them clichés!

Evil wizards, and villains in general, never just kill the hero when they have the chance, they gotta gloat. Nale is particularly bad about this exact one.

Evil wizards always turn into a snake or dragon for some reason. Then about five to ten minutes later, they lose and probably die. For once, can we get an evil wizard who was a snake or dragon anyways? Nicol Bolas is really cool, incidentally.

Female evil wizards have low, sexy voices. Seriously, I can't think of any who are any higher than an alto. Incidentally, this is why Elsa comes across kinda evil.

Male evil wizards are, with few exceptions, always at least in their 30's or more.

Most evil wizards of either gender have dark hair, unless old or albino. This isn't an absolute, but there's a strong tendency.

Oh, and Necromancers are always pale. Pretty weird, right?

[goto124]

Incidentally, this is why Elsa comes across kinda evil.

Incidentally, Elsa was originally written as a villian. Like the original Snow Queen

Oh, and Necromancers are always pale. Pretty weird, right?

Connection to the undead. May have stolen that off vampires.

[ThinkMinty]

Incidentally, Elsa was originally written as a villian. Like the original Snow Queen

I know, 's just cool that they let her keep the sexy voice as a goodie.

Connection to the undead. May have stolen that off vampires.

Huh. I figured it was an extrapolation of them being up all night and sleeping during the day for better access to corpses, and all those long cloaks.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Huh. I figured it was an extrapolation of them being up all night and sleeping during the day for better access to corpses, and all those long cloaks.

No, it's definitely stolen from Dracula.

[ThinkMinty]

No, it's definitely stolen from Dracula.

It probably goes back further than that if we look hard enough.

Anyways, let's see...

Necromancy is always evil for some reason, while stuff that's at least as bad isn't, somehow. This one bothered me enough to write a whole character around rejecectin' the premise.

[Inevitability]

With regards to the whole 'daughter sleeps with the hero issue', how about killing the hero, raising him as some kind of intelligent yet obedient undead, and putting an item of continuous Gentle Repose on him?

Having full control over your daughter's love interest would be the dream of many a father, I can imagine...

[ThinkMinty]

With regards to the whole 'daughter sleeps with the hero issue', how about killing the hero, raising him as some kind of intelligent yet obedient undead, and putting an item of continuous Gentle Repose on him?

Having full control over your daughter's love interest would be the dream of many a father, I can imagine...

Yes, but that requires you to derail the plot by a degree of over a full Henderson, so it just doesn't happen.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Yes, but that requires you to derail the plot by a degree of over a full Henderson, so it just doesn't happen.

Or if it does, it's confined to the backstory, and the main story is to put right this egregious wrong and set the lovers free!

[Honest Tiefling]

I'd say that a daughter that likes girls would help, but then she'll just crush on one of the hero's female party members instead.

Asexual children, perhaps?

Personally, I'm thinking puppies might be the better route. A lot less embarrassing when they hump the heroes for starters.

[The Fury]

Personally, I'm thinking puppies might be the better route. A lot less embarrassing when they hump the heroes for starters.

That's a funny mental image.

Hero: "H-hey! Get off me! Stop that!"

Villain: "Buttercup! How could you betray me? And for him!"

Hero: "Look, I'm just here to fight you because you burned down my village and zombified my parents-- Hey! Look, can you please call off your dog?"

Villain: "This defiance will not stand! FINGER OF DEATH! *casts* BWAHAHA! Such is the fate of all who betray me HAHAHA!"

Hero: "So, anyway..."

Villain: "Oh, right. You're still here."

[Kelb_Panthera]

See, this is why a smart, evil wizard sacrifices all his children just before puberty sets in. Dark gods give you gifts for human sacrifice, no recalcitrant children betraying you at inopportune moments, and you don't have to deal with teenage wangst. Win, win, win all around.