Evil Vegetarian

An evil character who does not eat meat.

For some Evil Vegetarians, vegetarianism might be explicitly connected to their villainy. These characters will usually be members of an Animal Wrongs Group.

For other Evil Vegetarians, vegetarianism might be mentioned but is not explicitly connected to their villainy. This might be done by the writer to highlight a contrast between the character's evil deeds and his refusal to harm animals.

The Trope Codifier is probably Adolf Hitler, though there is some controversy over whether or not he was actually a vegetarian. It is common for a character to say something along the lines of "I can't believe X is evil! He doesn't even eat meat!" only for another character to answer "Neither did Hitler."

As eating meat is considered manly in many cultures, the Evil Vegetarian might be related to the Sissy Villain trope. Eating meat can also be seen as barbaric, so this might also overlap with Wicked Cultured. See also Straight Edge Evil, Hitler Ate Sugar.

Examples of Evil Vegetarian include:

Comic Books

• Ozymandias from Watchmen
  • In the film version, Nite Owl expresses surprise that Ozymandias is capable of mass murder because he is a vegetarian. Rorschach replies that Hitler was a vegetarian.
• The parents of Karolina Dean from Runaways. When Karolina realizes her parents are supervillains, she and Gert have an exchange about Hitler similar to the one in the Watchmen film.
• One of the evil ex-boyfriends from the Scott Pilgrim series is a vegan but loses his vegan powers when he breaks his vegan diet.
• In The Boondocks comic , Huey is such a paranoid Conspiracy Theorist that he pretty much ruins Thanksgiving one year, claiming to anyone who would listen that the FDA was lying about the quality of poultry, pork, and beef, then describing in vivid detail what happened to victims of Chinese bird flu, swine flu, and mad cow disease. Granddad finally decided to go vegan, but after saying grace warned him of the spanking he'd get if nobody got sick from eating turkey.
• In a Nodwick strip, the heroes invade The Temple of Elemental Evil, and are surprised to find mushrooms, tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions growing in well-tended gardens in the Earth Temple. Artax quickly recognizes the mushrooms as a type used in potent mind-control potions (and is thus not surprised to find them here) and claims the other vegetables are there because "it's a little known fact that evil cultists are vegetarians." Well, possibly. The cultists were scheming to make pizza using the mushrooms, sell them, and brainwash customers, so it's possible Artax simply didn't want to admit he had no idea what they were for.

Film

• Dr Arnim Zola from Captain America: The First Avenger. Possibly. He could be lying to avoid eating a steak he suspects is drugged. He's evil either way.
• The goblins from Troll 2
• The villainess of Leonard Part 6 is a vegetarian, who plans on brainwashing various animals into killing people who try to hunt them.

Literature

• Darken Rahl from the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. He refused to eat meat but he when he saw a man mistreat a horse, he cut open the horse and drowned the man in its entrails, sobbing over how someone could be so cruel to animals. He also has no problem killing and cannibalizing humans for magic.
• Reggie Veggie from Cirque Du Freak.
• A strange example from the Artemis Fowl series. Some members of the Extinctionists are vegetarians because they hate animals so much. They won't eat meat or fish but they'll enjoy cutting it up.

Profesional Wrestling

• Daniel Bryan, as of his heel turn, has started incorporating his real-life vegan lifestyle into his character. He will often preach against the consumption of meat and animal products in his promos to provoke a negative reaction.

Tabletop Games

• The K'kree in Traveller are centaur-like creatures at least theoretically on a species-wide jihad to kill all carnivores. Among themselves, however, they are affectionate to a heartwarming (or sickening) degree. Imagine My Little Pony as potentially genocidal and you get the idea.

Video Games

• The aptly named virmen in World of Warcraft are a barbaric tribe of rabbit-like creatures in Pandara who are obsessed with vegetables, mostly carrots. Intentionally made annoying and disgusting, they raid farms to steal vegetables, jewelry, and occasionally kidnap townsfolk.

Western Animation

• The Toilenator in Codename: Kids Next Door; he believes red meat is bad for your digestive track. This is one of many things about him that his fellow villains find annoying, as the only reason they make kids eat vegetables is so they won't have to eat them.

Real Life

• While Hitler is often regarded as the Ur Example, other Nazis could display the Trope even worse in this regard. His deputy Rudolph Hess was also a vegetarian. A noted hypochondriac, Hess was obsessed with his health, and preached to other bigwigs in the Nazi party that the "filth" they ate would do them in and his own vegetarian diet was superior. It got to the point that even Hitler got annoyed at Hess' inane comments about it during social meetings. To put this in perspective, Hitler had a habit of graphically describing how cattle was slaughtered while others were eating to prove how his diet was healthier. And he called Hess "annoying".