Bait the Dog/Playing With

Basic Trope: Evil character does something that endears them to the audience, only to reveal their true nature later on.

• Straight: Among Emperor Evulz' ranks is Lady Scarlett, a Friendly Enemy who treats Lorelai as a Worthy Opponent. However, she later reveals her true nature as a battle-crazed Blood Knight who loves seeing Lorelai battle and will do ANYTHING to bait her into another fight... including crossing the Moral Event Horizon.
• Exaggerated: Scarlett's introduction involves her discovering a small group of refugees from The Empire's latest conquest. She playfully mocks their initial fright, soothing them with casual jokes and clear concern for their safety, offering supplies and traveling tips. Later on, she attacks the very town she sent them towards -- as she reveals upon finding them, she only let them go in the first place so she could savor their shock at her betrayal.
• Justified:
  • Scarlett is in a position where it pays to be a Villain with Good Publicity.
  • Scarlett would be locked up/deserted by her allies/double-crossed at the first opportunity if she showed outright how evil she is. Nonetheless, she still enjoys her sadistic actions all too much to want to give them up if not needed.
• Inverted:
  • Vladimir looks like a really unpleasant guy at first with his contemptuous demeanor and shady actions. However, he turns out to be one of the most heroic people Lorelai has met.
  • So in other words Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Subverted: Scarlett really is a decent person despite working for The Empire.
• Double Subverted: ...Only that's all just an act to lure people off-guard.
• Parodied: Scarlett tries to find another hero to pester, but it's not the same.
• Deconstructed: Scarlett is actually in love with Lorelai, but is incapable of expressing her feelings properly outside combat due to a crippled upbringing by Emperor Evulz.
• Reconstructed: ???
• Zig Zagged: Despite the lengths she'll go to get a good fight out of Lorelai, she genuinely does respect her as a Worthy Opponent, has a few legitimate Pet the Dog moments, and has her own (Warped, complex, and somewhat contradictory and hard to grasp) Code of Honor
• Averted: Scarlett is just as noble as she lets on.
• Enforced: ???
• Lampshaded: Scarlett is a Cloudcuckoolander, and upon committing her crossing, she appears to look directly at the audience while asking "What did you expect?"
• Invoked: Emperor Evulz coaches Scarlett to act friendly and use her charm to lure people off their guard.
• Exploited: ???
• Defied: Vladimir makes it clear he knows what kind of a person Scarlett is really like and that her charming face doesn't work on him.
• Discussed: ???
• Conversed: ???
• Played For Laughs: ???
• Played For Drama: ???

---

Back to Bait the Dog.