About: Pyrrhic Villainy   Sponge Permalink

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The villain always loses, right? Actually... no. Sometimes the villain surprises us all and is victorious, even if only in the short term. However, usually when a villain wins, he has to put a tremendous effort in to do so and sacrifices a great deal, so much so that both he and the viewers may well be asking if it was worth it, resulting in a Pyrrhic Victory. Often this takes one of two forms: either it has taken so much effort, (and underhanded tactics) to win that it has left the good guys as the moral victors with a better legacy, or in order to accomplish their goal the villain has had to sacrifice the thing they cared for most and/or humanized them to the audience.

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  • Pyrrhic Villainy
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  • The villain always loses, right? Actually... no. Sometimes the villain surprises us all and is victorious, even if only in the short term. However, usually when a villain wins, he has to put a tremendous effort in to do so and sacrifices a great deal, so much so that both he and the viewers may well be asking if it was worth it, resulting in a Pyrrhic Victory. Often this takes one of two forms: either it has taken so much effort, (and underhanded tactics) to win that it has left the good guys as the moral victors with a better legacy, or in order to accomplish their goal the villain has had to sacrifice the thing they cared for most and/or humanized them to the audience.
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  • The villain always loses, right? Actually... no. Sometimes the villain surprises us all and is victorious, even if only in the short term. However, usually when a villain wins, he has to put a tremendous effort in to do so and sacrifices a great deal, so much so that both he and the viewers may well be asking if it was worth it, resulting in a Pyrrhic Victory. Often this takes one of two forms: either it has taken so much effort, (and underhanded tactics) to win that it has left the good guys as the moral victors with a better legacy, or in order to accomplish their goal the villain has had to sacrifice the thing they cared for most and/or humanized them to the audience. So while their efforts might have paid off, to answer the earlier question of whether it was worth it: frequently it is not. See also The Bad Guy Wins, for where the villain doesn't suffer from this. This sort of plot may be found in a villain's Start of Darkness, back when the villain was either a hero or a much lesser villain, and first turned to true villainy, bringing victory... but at a cost. On the other hand, really top notch villains may win without sacrificing everything, only to find that Victory Is Boring. A Pound of Flesh Twist is when the villain wins but a sudden unforeseen event renders their victory hollow and their efforts for naught. Needless to say, this is an Ending Tropes, so beware the spoilers! Examples of Pyrrhic Villainy include:
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