Quotes • Headscratchers • Playing With • Useful Notes • Analysis • Image Links • Haiku • Laconic |
---|
"Chil'ren, there's a big difference between gay people and Mr. Garrison, you know that?" —Chef, South Park
|
Sandy: I have a question: Are you single? —Glee
|
The Spear Counterpart of the Psycho Lesbian, and the monosexual counterpart to the Depraved Bisexual. Usually a villainous take on the Camp Gay or, on the other end of the spectrum, a Manly Gay sexual predator. His motive is usually either his depraved sexuality, or an unrequited love, like his Psycho Lesbian sister. If he's not explicitly gay, but it wouldn't be surprising, he's a Sissy Villain.
Please note that a villain simply being gay is not enough for this trope to be in effect. His brand of evil must involve a sexual nature and/or some uncomfortable flirting with the hero. Before adding an example, think of whether he'd be any different if he wasn't gay.
On the other hand, for some people it is enough. For decades, this was the only role gays could play in mainstream media, and it still crops up uncomfortably often. Frequently the villain will be the only homosexual in the story. Now there will be a Freudian Excuse or they be played sympathetically - a kind of Author's Saving Throw against criticism.
But at the end of the day the question for most of us who keep track of these portrayals isn't "Why isn't that Ax Crazy gay man more sympathetic?" but "Why are there so many Ax Crazy gays and lesbians out there?"
These days, it's far more common that a gay character is not evil. However, another character might then be cast in the role of Heteronormative Crusader and mistake the gay character for being evil.
No real life examples, please; Calling real-life people "depraved" is an extremely bad idea.
Anime and Manga[]
- Peacemaker Kurogane has Suzu become this after being raped at the hands of an old man. The anime-only characters Kichisaburo and Maro are both shown to be homosexual, and both are depicted as being depraved psychos. Ito, who is shown to be explicitly homosexual, is also very much depraved. Also, the old man that raped Suzu is one, too. In fact, pretty much every character that is shown overtly to be homosexual is depraved and psychotic.
- While the characters mentioned certainly fit the trope, other, much more sympathetic characters are pretty strongly implied to be gay or bisexual, rather averting the implication that they're ALL depraved. Off the top of my head—Heisuke makes more than a few references to men and boys he finds attractive or may or may not have slept with, and he's shown as a good, fun sort of guy, if not one who has some trouble making good life choices. Saitou, while he may or may not actually be interested in men (who knows with him?), is willing enough to pretend to be for information. And general dynamics of Ho Yay between various cast members aside, there are always Hijikata and Okita, who always seem just one step shy of being an Official Couple (with Hijikata's voice actor going so far as to respond to a remark about his character having given up romantic pursuits for his mission with, essentially, "Uh...no"). In fact, given that the whole thing is set in the more-or-less privileged classes of late-Edo period Japan, one could make the argument that historical context rather suggests an Everyone Is Bi situation.
- Subverted, played around with, and possibly averted in Yu Yu Hakusho. Sensui is gay, and crazy, but he is not disturbed due to his sexuality like other Depraved Homosexual characters- he lost his mind while on a mission to the Black Black Club's villa, seeing human cruelty towards demons. His relationship with his partner Itsuki, knowing about their respective character traits as a Nietzsche Wannabe and a Psycho Supporter, is surprisingly complex and realistic.
- As a matter of fact, one can make the case that Sensui's sexuality is a result of his insanity/seeing that Humans Are the Real Monsters (in order to avoid Moral Dissonance), instead of the cause, making this also an Inverted Trope.
- Karasu practically embodies this trope. He wants to own Kurama, and considers killing him slowly and painfully to be the very best and most intimate way to do so. His depravity and overall creepiness is given more focus than the fact that he's homosexual, though.
- Kajiwara in Kanon By Chiho Saito.
- Tomo in Fushigi Yuugi.
- Subverted in One Piece with Mr. 2 Bon Clay. He does start off as a villain, but it's also pretty clear that he's a Nice Guy who just happened to be on the wrong side. After the criminal organization he was part of was broken up, he becomes an ally of the Straw Hats, and does so many awesome things helping them, that I doubt anyone really cares about his past as a villain anymore.
- Inuyasha is pretty much the poster show for this, as literally every openly homosexual character who has appeared has been a depraved sociopath. The only exception is Jakotsu, who started out as a Depraved Homosexual, but became quite more sympathetic as the show went on and we saw his fierce loyalty to his best friend and leader Bankotsu... only to have him end up dying, his Shikon shard stolen by one of his own comrades. To be fair, though, both he and his friend were in a Psycho for Hire group that was wiped out, so Jakotsu's death is NOT linked to his sexuality.
- Jakotsu is shown to be intensely loyal to and get on fairly well with Bankotsu, but until his death he remains a steadfast misogynist and a vicious sadist whose idea of "romancing" Inuyasha is synonymous with "beat him until he can't fight back, and then torture & rape him to death".
- Another Depraved Homosexual villain threatened to cut off Hojo's face, make it into a wall hanging, and kiss it every day, right before licking said face (anime only).
- A popular fan theory speculates that Rolo Haliburton/Lamperouge, Lelouch's "fake brother" in Code Geass, is a Depraved Homosexual who killed Lelouch's prospect girlfriend, Shirley Fenette solely out of pure jealousy.
- A similar and perhaps stronger case could be made concerning V.V., who very canonically and unambiguously killed Marianne entirely out of jealousy and resentment concerning all the attention she was getting from his brother Charles.
- If that is true, then this would be a case of Twincest as well as Depraved Homosexual.
- A similar and perhaps stronger case could be made concerning V.V., who very canonically and unambiguously killed Marianne entirely out of jealousy and resentment concerning all the attention she was getting from his brother Charles.
- Creed from Black Cat, though not stated explicitly, exhibits many overt signs of being an example of this trope. With the way he dresses, the way he obviously has perverted fantasies about Train, and his unreasonable jealousy towards anyone remotely close to Train makes him a very likely example of a Depraved Homosexual.
- One of the teachers in the Revolutionary Girl Utena anime is strongly hinted to be a Depraved Homosexual, one who's aiming to have his way with Miki. When his twin sister Kozue takes note of this, things go very badly for the teacher very quickly.
- MW looks like it's setting up for this early on with the relationship and Backstory between the two lead characters, Michio and Garai. But it's later subverted when the better part of a chapter is used to deliver an aesop about how the world is becoming more accepting of homosexuality and there's nothing wrong with it, and the Villain Protagonist's gay relationship comes off as one of his few humanizing characteristics by the end. This is particularly notable as the series was written in 1976 AND its author is none other than Osamu Tezuka.
- Gauron from Full Metal Panic!, depending on whether one chooses to follow the novels (where he managed to successfully execute his Wife Husbandry plan with male twins) or the anime (where the twins were female, making him a Depraved Bisexual). But no matter which version, one thing is for sure: he is a complete and total pervert for Sousuke. Seriously? Getting stiffies over fantasizing that he would rape the poor 16-year-old's dead body after he slowly kills him? The poor boy was completely horrified and traumatized when Gauron took the opportunity to let him know what his plans for him were.
- In the manga, the gay substitute teacher for Sousuke's high school's men's swim team had some hints of this as shown in the above picture. The guy keeps a whip in his swim trunks and drools and blushes while thinking about Sousuke.
- Genkaku from Deadman Wonderland, after getting repeatedly raped and beaten by a group of bullies (who were monk trainees like him) at the temple during his childhood, "became" gay and insane. He seems to express disgust and contempt towards women, and is shown to have a strong attraction to Nagi. In fact, he pretty much confesses to Nagi that he "loved him".
- And later in the series, after Genkaku up there dies, the series gains a replacement Depraved Homosexual in the form of Mockingbird, who is Misogynistic, and has a similar sort of Blood Lust and kinky way of flirting and fighting. His interactions with Ganta and Senji certainly are... interesting.
- Alois Trancy in the second season of Black Butler. He alternates between being Ax Crazy and sweet and cheerful, basically flirts with Sebastian via leaning into him and pronouncing that he "smells good", is very attached to his butler Claude, treats his one female maidservant like absolute crap (he stabs out her eye with his fingers just for looking at him and later mocks her for it), dresses and acts very effeminately and flamboyantly and has a girlish face, cross-dresses and flirts with Ciel in the fifth episode and even outright tells Ciel that he "wants" him and that he'll kill all his loved ones unless Ciel becomes "his". Also, in episode 8 Alois practically confesses to Claude and in episode 11, Alois tells Claude "Claude, you ensnared my heart in a spider web, my eternal Highness. I wanted your love". In episode 8 Alois also seduces the old man Lord Trancy.
- The old man Lord Trancy from episode 8 is one too. He was looking for young boys to be his sex slaves and raped Alois.
- Katekyo Hitman Reborn has Lussuria, who not only hits on jailbait but is also a necrophiliac. See also Camp Gay.
- Professor Aizawa from Sukisho.
- To a lesser extent, there is also Kai Nagase, Aizawa's son.
- Some of the men that Souma sleeps with in Sakura Gari are Depraved Homosexuals.
- Also, Sakurako Saiki who is actually Souma's younger brother, named Youya. He stole his mother's name and dressed in her clothing after she died and he witnessed her murder (at the hands of Katsuragi and a reluctant Souma), which made him lose his mind completely. Soon after his gender was discovered by Masataka, he tried to kill both him and Masataka, and later committed suicide. He also was very much a Yandere towards Souma, and playfully flirted with Masataka on occasion, though he might've done so because he was jealous of Masataka because Souma was in love with him, and wanted to get him away from Souma - this is confirmed when he cooks for Masataka and sneaks glass pieces into said food, and later ties him up and force feeds him.
- Captain Continental and his subordinates from Legend of the Blue Wolves.
- Paprika: Possibly the Chairman, though his attachment to Osanai seems more a master/slave thing than a sexual or romantic relationship. Also possibly Himuro, who seems to have fetishized Osanai, since we briefly see dirty magazines in his apartment with a younger Osanai on the cover, and his dreamscape features a towering statue of Osanai as a Greek god.
- To clarify, it's the Depraved part that's up for debate with Himuro; the gay Porn Stash, cross-dressing and "idolization" of Osanai are more than enough evidence of his sexuality. It's possible Osanai tricked Himuro, or that Himuro was just thinking with his other head when Osanai offered himself.
- In Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru, there's Pedro, the Brazilian martial artist and transfer student. It turns out that he was the masked rapist that went around butt-raping a bunch of male martial arts students, and he ends up setting his sights on Minoru, the pretty boy protagonist. Of course, his depraved, rapist tendencies are played as comedy, and eventually the main characters forgive him and have him join their karate club. And even make Minoru room with him. Which results in him trying several times to rape Minoru (including an instance where Pedro went pantless with his junk out, in the middle of the night, to buttrape Minoru while Minoru was unconscious and drunk). Aside from the aforementioned insanity, Unfortunate Implications abound in this example, seeing how he's the only homosexual character in the series.
- Trigun: The manga contains a few creepy examples among secondary characters; Legato is implied to fit into this role too, but the guy who raped him was even creepier (at least as a depraved gay guy). Manga Knives might fit too depending on what subtext you follow and what level of Fan Wank you adhere to. The anime also has Sodom, a Camp Gay secondary character.
- Lord Gennon from Berserk. He is a homosexual and a notorious pedophile, and he developed an attraction for Griffith, which culminated when Griffith agreed to sleep with him in exchange for funds to support the growing Band of the Hawks. He is often seen to be attended by many very young male servants, no older than being in their teens.
- Also, Donovan. He's a notorious pederast who raped Guts when he was still a vulnerable child. Donovan bought Guts for a night from Gambino, Guts adoptive father.
- Mitarai from Shitsurakuen.
- Refreshingly subverted in Blood Plus with Nathan, who is as much of a queen as Saya and Diva (I am so sorry) as well as the sanest and most level-headed of the Chevaliers and the bad guys in general.
- Dai Lee from the manhwa Let Dai.
- Lain Brody from the yaoi manga Under Grand Hotel. In the first few scenes we see him in he proclaims that he's homosexual, gives Sen a blowjob, strips him, drugs him and outright molests him as he's drugged (including telling him "No way in hell am I letting Swordfish kill you. Because he doesn't love you. I'm the only one that can kill you."), rapes him with a mop handle, ties him up and hides him in a dryer. And when Swordfish finds Sen he gives him CPR. Lain responds to this by stabbing Fish in the arm with a fork and tries to stab him again while screaming at him, "Get off of Sen! He belongs to me!" Immediately after that Lain is shot and killed by security guards.
- Government official Hidehiko Otoya from Akikan. He's a self-proclaimed gay who loves pretty boys and he goes undercover at the school as the school doctor. He's often having contact with Kakeru harassing him sexually, only to be hurt severely by Kakeru every time.
- Sho Tsukioka from Battle Royale is effeminate in manner but humorously masculine in appearance and uses his skills as a Stalker with a Crush to tail Kiriyama. He's also a borderline alcoholic drag queen with an irrational crush on Kiriyama and overall thinks like a total lunatic.
- Yurimaru of Ninja Scroll.
- Fisheye of Sailor Moon. At first.
- Both Arthur and Shalott of Air Gear. Arthur is a masochist who pelvic thrusts against his male opponent Agito and nibbles on his ear while fighting him. He also has flamboyant mannerisms, speaks in a polite manner, and frequently releases heart marks whenever he's reveling in the feeling of pain. Shalott is a loli who wears a frilly looking dress and reveals to Agito that he's actually a girly-looking guy who is in a BDSM type relationship with Arthur. The end of chapter 279 has him pin Agito to the ground and straddle him, saying after he tortures him then Agito can "lick it" if he wants.
- Togainu no Chi: Arbitro.
- In Rurouni Kenshin, we have a subverted example: Kanryu Takeda. The historical, Real Life Kanryusai Takeda (on whom he is heavily based) was a well-known homosexual (and all-around bad guy), but Nobuhiro Watsuki didn't see how that fit into his fictional story, and so it is not mentioned in-story. Though he did wonder how it would have been different if he had managed to work it in. (Which he mentions in his notes.)
- The two hairdressers in Vampire Doll.
- A half human half spider hybrid who appears in the first OVA of Angel's Feather. When he appears he wraps Shou up in his web, caresses him, gets close to his face, sticks his finger in his mouth, and licks him before trying to murder him.
- Rune in Karakuridouji Ultimo. Infamously pumped Up to Eleven in Chapter 21, with him almost raping the main character.
- Wild Adapter: Sekiya Jun.
- Garterbelt from Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt. Unfortunate for Brief, who is usually the object of bondage-obsessed Garterbelt's affections.
- Naoe of Mirage of Blaze. He's a Invisible to Gaydar but he's also quite the Yandere in regards to Kagetora whom he nearly rapes and was tempted to kill himself and Kagetora so that Kagetora will never belong to anyone else. He also tries to Murder the Hypotenuse and says he wants to keep Kagetora for himself, and tries to plant Forceful Kisses on Kagetora. In the novels it's hinted that he's a rapist.
- Krad of D.N.Angel. He's a homicidal Bishonen and has tons of obsessive Ho Yay towards his host Satoshi (though he doesn't mind it if he hurts Satoshi) and Foe Yay towards Dark (whom he tries to kill numerous times).
- In chapter 6 of No. 6 a greasy old corpse collector hits on Shion and promises him food and drink, and clearly has bad intentions. Shion initiates the Groin Attack on him to escape from him.
- Devil May Cry: The Animated Series features the Prison Warden who hits on Dante in one scene. It's also hinted that he gets up to Prison Rape with the inmates.
- Tomoe's boyfriend (and later husband) Kurokawa from Challengers and The Tyrant Falls in Love is really a perfectly nice guy. However, his homophobic Knight Templar Big Brother, Souichi, doesn't see it that way and a lot of the comedy of the series is derived from him trying to murder Kurokawa at every opportunity for "corrupting" his brother.
- In Axis Powers Hetalia it's implied that Russia is this. He loves to stalk and abuse Lithuania who he's implied to have feelings for and for Japan and China too. He also once tried to kiss Germany as a greeting. And blew a heart at Japan and offered to make America's gums bleed (implying that he wanted to kiss him forcefully).
- Nico from Tokyo Ghoul describes an exposed spinal cord as "beautiful", frequently comments on the attractiveness of many males in the series and flirts with them. He also seems to have a thing for unstable guys like Yamori.
- Toyama's father in Texhnolyze reguarly coerces him into sex and also tries to hit on Ichise.
Comic Books[]
- The Sandman: The Corinthian likes guys. Also, he likes guys' eyes. Whether these two are connected, I am unsure. Either way. He's not particularly camp and the only suggestion (outside of the continuation of stories in The Dreaming) that he's homosexual usually center around his choice of victims (it helps that he takes a distinct relish in despoiling innocence that implies eye-taking is at least as good as sex for him).
- Word of God says that he is in fact gay. To be fair though, he's not exactly evil. He's a nightmare, it's his job.
- "The pope" from Give Me Liberty, a gang boss inside the Cabrini-Green ghetto/prison. His henchmen originally kidnapped Martha Washington for rape because she was disguised as a boy.
- Subverted by the Pied Piper in The Flash. His orientation isn't revealed until he's been established as an Anti-Villain who helps the homeless and has become on fairly good terms with Wally West. Further defied when Wally speculates that the Joker is one of these; Piper is highly skeptical.
Fan Works[]
- In the famous Hunger Games fanfic The Capitol Games, Antony, the District 1 mentor for Liotta and Jason, is kind of somewhat very obsessed with Jason. Not in a good way.
- Mukuro in the Katekyo Hitman Reborn Slash Fic "Homecoming" when we see him try to sexually assault Tsuna.
- L is this in All You Need Is Love (mocking his usual fanfic-characterization.) Forget detective work or solving the Kira case-L's true motivation is to get Light in the sack!
- Sasuke of Naruto sometimes gets this characterization in Slash Fic with Naruto which is best expressed with him sometimes attempting to rape or harassing Naruto. In the Slash Fic "Purple" by kodak-85 for example he attacks and rapes Naruto.
Film - Animated[]
- Forte from Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. His obsession with Beast and desire to drive off any competition comes across more and more like a jilted lover as the movie goes on.
The Nostalgia Chick: "He has this bizarre co-dependent crush on the Beast and just loves him getting emo." |
Film - Live-Action[]
- Cruising, starring Al Pacino, is about a cop chasing a gay serial killer through the New York City Leather Man community, circa 1980. It's implied that being around S&M turns Pacino's character gay, and possibly murderous as well.
- The film did have a disclaimer at the start that the movie was not in any way representative of all gay men, to try to calm the protests that arose after its premiere.
- Zed, the rapist from Pulp Fiction.
- All of the rapists in Prison Rape sequences. Unless they are portrayed as straight but seeking dominance through rape, like the guys in The Shawshank Redemption. As Morgan Freeman says, they're not homosexuals because they aren't even really human. And Morgan Freeman knows everything.
- To be fair, he wasn't implying that they were heterosexual either. They were monsters who couldn't be classified with human terms:
Andy: I suppose it wouldn't do any good to tell them I'm not a homosexual? |
- Andy Warhol was portrayed in this manner (by Guy Pierce!) in Factory Girl (2006). So much so that one reviewer referred to the character as "Andy Warhol, or, as this film wants you to know him, Darth Warhol."
- The 1961 short film Boys Beware, produced by Sid Davis. It was intended to be shown in high schools to warn teenage boys about the dangers of gay men. This film has become famous on the internet for lines such as "What Jimmy didn't know was that Ralph was sick. A sickness that was not visible like smallpox, but no less dangerous and contagious — a sickness of the mind. You see, Ralph was a homosexual." Another fun element: the violent contrast between the hysterical condemnation of homosexuality and the unconditional endorsement it gives the practice of hitchhiking.
- Even more dissonant is that the way Ralph acts (very touchy) is not the problem even though today someone who gave young boys a ride and pats on the back would certainly be assumed to be a pedophile or at least creepy instantly.
- The X-Files: I Want to Believe is guilty of this, with Callum Keith Rennie's serial killer kidnapping young women to build his boyfriend a girl-body.
- One has to hope that said boyfriend is actually a Transsexualism and that said serial killer is actually bisexual because otherwise, well. Slight problems might arise in the relationship.
- Add that to the plot of the evil psychic gay pedophile priest in the movie and it probably should have been called "X-Files: I Want To Believe Gay People Are Evil".
- At least the pedophile priest seems to be genuinely repentant of his crimes.
- Ya think? He did admit to cutting his own balls off after all. If that doesn't say he's sorry, I don't know what does.
- One has to hope that said boyfriend is actually a Transsexualism and that said serial killer is actually bisexual because otherwise, well. Slight problems might arise in the relationship.
- The Flanderization of the eponymous character of Bruno. He's ostensibly not a villain, but Bruno became so horny to all other men that it would make ANYONE want to get away from him. So the "undercurrent of homophobia" in American society that Sacha Baron Cohen was trying to expose mostly comes off as sane people reacting normally to an unbelievably offensive living stereotype. The film really did more harm than good for the gay community.
- Parodied and subverted in Cecil B. Demented, where sadistic hairdresser Rodney takes his frustration over being heterosexual out on other people by abusing them physically.
- Just about any film of the Easter story portrays King Herod thus.
- As a matter of fact, all records that mention his sexuality present Herod as a raging heterosexual hedonist with several wives and concubines, with the idea of him being gay a slander started by his enemies.
- Irreversible has a whole club full of these, one of which is a nasty piece of work called le Tenia, 'the Tapeworm'. Despite his orientation, he's the one who rapes and beats Monica Bellucci's character, Alex.
- In Diamonds Are Forever, Blofeld's two chief assassins, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, are heavily implied to be in a homosexual relationship.
- Van Damme's henchman Leonard in North by Northwest is subtly this. He's jealous of Eva Marie Saint character's relationship with his boss and says things like "Call it my woman's intuition, if you will".
- Another Hitchcock example; Bruno, the villain from Strangers on a Train, is an obvious example of this trope.
- Another one would be the killer's in Rope who for years have been thought of as homosexual men.
- The Bruno example is one which is open to a great deal of debate; he certainly has a very eccentric relationship with his mother. Not to imply that this trope and Oedipus Complex are necessarily mutually exclusive.
- Another Hitchcock example; Bruno, the villain from Strangers on a Train, is an obvious example of this trope.
- The Watcher: David Allen Griffin.
- Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs straddles this and Villainous Crossdresser.
- The villain of the Walter Matthau film The Laughing Policeman, who is revealed to have committed a series of murders, including spraying dozens of innocent people on a bus with machine gun fire, in order to keep from being outed.
- Sebastian in Meet the Feebles isn't exactly a villain and is definitely more sympathetic than a lot of the other characters, but he bullies the cast members, forces Robert to replace the assistant the drugged-up knife-thrower accidentally killed, and thinks nothing of singing an elaborate ode to sodomy, complete with appropriate props and ostentatious pelvic thrusts, on a family-oriented variety show.
- The Creeper is popularly described as this, since it really only seems interested in male victims, which it has a penchant for acting lewd towards (gestures, winking, licking windows, etc.) At least one review of the second film described it as "a demonic Jeffrey Dahmer".
- Stu from Scream seems to be labeled this a lot.
- Crazy Larry from Layer Cake, with his penchant for raping and murdering other men.
Crazy Larry: "Fucking females is for poofs." |
- Charles Laughton (who was gay) as Emperor Nero in The Sign of the Cross. Subverted in that he liked to play the role, and stated that it was better for him than a month of therapy.
- The 1976 pirate movie Swashbuckler has Peter Boyle playing the evil homosexual governor who is tyrannizing Jamaica. His effeminate boy lover dies by falling into his ridiculously impractical weapon during the finale, when he tries to attack the hero from behind.
- In the 1987 thriller No Way Out, Scott Pritchard, Defense Secretary David Brice's aide, helps him cover up his involvement in the death of his mistress. As the situation devolves, Pritchard becomes increasingly psychopathic until, at the end, it is revealed that he's been harboring an Unrequited Love for Brice. He commits suicide upon being rejected.
- In Deathtrap, the Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve characters turn out to be lovers who conspire to murder Caine's wife.
- Partially subverted in Dog Day Afternoon as Al Pacino's bisexual bank robber character is arguably at least somewhat sympathetic.
Literature[]
- This trope probably has its origins in The Green Carnation, a truly libelous roman a clef written in the 1890s and featuring villains based on Oscar Wilde and his lover Alfred "Bosie" Douglas who plot to defraud a young widow of her fortune. They are assisted by a kind of Yaoi Fangirl based on Wilde's real-life Fag Hag Ada "Sphinx" Leverson.
- Bernard Cornwell portrays precisely three gay characters in the Sharpe series. One, Lord Pumphrey, is a ruthless, Camp Gay secret agent who has Sharpe's ex-lover and unborn child murdered to protect "information that might...embarass His Majesty's Government. A favourite habit of his is to draw his finger across his throat slowly when giving instructions. The other two are a pair Spanish officers in Chile - the cowardly and deceitful Captain Martinez and the psychotic Captain-General Baptista. Their relationship (and Baptista) does not survive Richard Sharpe.
- Another early example was E. W. Hornung's Raffles stories. Hornung intended the stories to subvert the glamor of the Gentleman Thief; Raffles was no Robin Hood in the original stories, just a criminal. Although expressed very discreetly between the lines, the relationship between Raffles and his pathetically submissive sidekick/victim Bunny Manders was definitely homosexual (see discussion under Ho Yay). The way Raffles is shown relating to Bunny is definitely exploitative and abusive. Hornung was frustrated that his readers insisted on seeing Raffles as glamorous anyhow; his later stories, where he portrayed Raffles more brutally, were less popular. More recent takes on Raffles invariably go the Robin Hood, detective, or other hero route.
- Djuna Barnes' Rule-Abiding Rebel book Nightwood portrays all gay men as being like this. The women are Psycho Lesbians.
- Dyan Ardais in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series, although he eventually redeems himself somewhat.
- There's only one character in the Elenium trilogy by David Eddings who is confirmed to be homosexual, and that's Baron Harparin. He's a noted pederast. When he gets beheaded toward the end of the series, one character comments that a whole generation of little boys will probably remember the knight who killed him in their prayers every night.
- Although sympathetic homosexual characters appear later on in The Tamuli. Granted, they largely fall under Bury Your Gays.
- James Ellroy's The Big Nowhere is chock-full of these. One uses the gay escort service he runs to out and blackmail his clients; another, a closeted actor, sexually abuses his own son; and the son himself goes on to become a Serial Killer. The only sympathetic gay man in the entire book, Danny Upshaw, kills himself to avoid being outed.
- Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth: Darken Rahl's flunky is a pederast who cannot remember how many boys he has molested. Rahl, who knows this, nevertheless uses him to acquire boys to be killed in a special kind of Cold-Blooded Torture that requires that the victim be a virgin.
- Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Dune.
- Septon Utt in A Song of Ice and Fire. Of course, among a troupe of Complete Monster mercenaries, he's just one of the lads.
- Deconstructed in Armistead Maupin's novel Maybe the Moon (set in 1990), in which a Invisible to Gaydar actor plays a cop chasing a Stereotype Gay killer in a movie. His boyfriend is pissed.
- Claggart in Herman Melville's Billy Budd. It's his Freudian Excuse.
- The killer in the Ellery Queen novel The Last Woman in His Life.
- To be expected in Stationery Voyagers, where Exclusively Evil describes many groups that oppose the heroes and they are frequently thrust into Everything Trying to Kill You situations. Almost everyone they encounter is Ax Crazy regardless of sexuality, so the Crooked Rainbow is to be expected in this setting.
- a monk named Ambrose, in Candace Robb's medieval mystery The Apothecary Rose (the next book, however, contains a totally sympathetic character (Martin Werther) who is gay. Secretly, of course).
- Leslie Marmon Silko's Almanac of the Dead received some criticism for this as several of the main villains are gay.
- Lord Fujiwara from Tales of the Otori. His homosexuality is portrayed as being coincidental to his depravity, however.
- Anno Dracula has Vardalek, a diseased, murderously sadistic member of the Carpathian Guard.
- Miles Mellough, a Psycho for Hire and the main character's longtime nemesis in the satiric The Eiger Sanction. He comes complete with a home base in San Francisco and a poodle named "Faggot." Apparently, quite a few people have assumed he was just as soft as he acted, to their peril.
- Averted in Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: there is seemingly a textbook example of this in the form of moustache-twirling villain Captain "Black Jack" Randall, who lusts after, pursues, and then tortures and repeatedly rapes the novel's hero, Jamie Frasier. However, there is also a heroic character who is gay in subsequent novels. In any case, Randall isn't evil because he's gay (bisexual, to be more precise), he's evil because he's a sadistic rapist. Gabaldon has plenty of sleazy gay characters, but they're no worse and no better than the straight ones.
- The fact that some readers read this trope (amongst others) into Katherine Kerr's Deverry series is one of the reasons that she released a revised edition of the second book Darkspell. In the original version, the evil mage Alastyr rapes his apprentice Sarcyn and his younger brother. When Sarcyn has grown to adulthood, the two are shown abducting a man and raping him repeatedly. (They draw magical powers from this act.) This led some readers to conclude that Alastyr was intended to be an evil gay pedophile rapist wizard. One of the revisions Kerr made was to change Sarcyn's brother into a sister, to drive home the point that no, Alastyr's crime is not homosexuality, it's that he's a child molester. Likewise, Sarcyn is shown to be sexually interested in both men and women - it's not that he's straight or gay or even bisexual but that his sexuality is, in Kerr's own words, "a mess". Growing up in a brothel and then getting molested as a child has left him unable to develop a healthy attitude towards sex.
- The boy killer in "Apt Pupil" from Stephen King's Different Seasons anthology is implied to have latent homosexual feelings. The 1998 movie adaptation hints at the possibility but makes it more ambiguous. (Additionally, the movie presents the boy as a much more sympathetic character than in the book, more a confused kid who's sucked into a situation he can't handle than an unrepentant sociopath.)
- All homosexuals in Marquis de Sade's books fit the trope, although this is probably meant to be ironic nod at the values of his time, as good Marquis was himself bisexual, and all characters who aren't innocent victims are depraved monsters regardless of their sexual preference anyway in his stories. There is a social message in there if you squint hard enough.
- Bone and Chair, the stand-ins for The Mad Hatter and the March Hare in Patrick Senecal's take on Alice in Wonderland, Aliss. At one point, Aliss watches the two of them having passionate sex in the midst of the blood and guts of the man they've just horrifically tortured not-quite-to-death.
Live Action TV[]
- Averted in Allo Allo, where the gay and bisexual German officers tend to be the most genial and harmless of the lot.
- Ambrosius from Dante's Cove.
- Criminal Minds had an... interesting variant on the "evil because they're gay" thing. The UnSub in "In Heat" was filled with so much Gayngst that it pretty much drove him insane and made him kill other gay men, so he could steal their identities and live their lives to escape his own. His anger was mainly due to his father's behavious, beating him and berating him because he was gay, rather than him being gay.
- The UnSub in "Identity" had a meek, gay accomplice who helped the killer because he was obsessively in love with him (the team note that, in the videos the accomplice made of the killer torturing his victims, he seemed more focused on the killer's chest and abs than the victims). When the killer commits suicide, the accomplice goes insane and tries to become him.
- Parodied in Monty Python's Flying Circus with the "mollusk" sketch:
Live Documentary: The whelk is nothing but a homosexual of the worst kind. This gay boy of the gastropods, this queer crustacean, this mincing mollusk, this screaming, prancing, limp-wristed queen of the deep MAKES ME SICK!!! |
- Generally screwed around with - arguably averted or played straight, though the conditions of neither are met entirely - in Sherlock with Jim, introduced as a camp gay with a high-pitched voice whose underwear sticks out of his trousers and who gives Sherlock his phone number. Later, Jim is revealed to be James Moriarty. He claims that he has been playing gay for Sherlock, but since he continues to act in much the same fashion as he did before and continues to flirt with Sherlock, it's difficult to say whether or not he qualifies as a Depraved Homosexual.
- Picket Fences - In the episode Be My Valentine, it turns out that The serial killer known as "Cupid" turns out to be both Barry and Ben. In the version that I saw, they were raping their female victims with a dildo because they would never use their own penises (though it's not in the Hulu version, so they're not Depraved Bisexuals). Bonus points for when Max says "What the hell? That's sick!" When she sees the two men kiss
- Crowley from Supernatural reads as this.[1] The rules of the Supernatural universe require a kiss to seal a deal with a demon, and Crowley seems to delight in making deals with men and watching them squirm uncomfortably about it. His relationship with Bobby in particular is incredibly subtext laden. He subverts this for about half a season by helping the boys try and stop Lucifer from unleashing the apocalypse, and then turns out to be one of season six's Big Bads.
- Karofsky from Glee. A somewhat unusual example, though, since his target is also gay.
- Sandy Ryerson, of the second (at the moment) page quote, is a much less unusual example.
- Sebastian Smythe, despite his target also being another gay, is another straighter-playing of the trope, with his stalkerish behavior toward Blaine and aggressive hatred of Kurt.
- Subverted with Barca, from Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Although he is a villain, in a sense, he's basically just a Punch Clock Villain who wants to buy freedom for himself and his boyfriend. Gnaeus, on the other hand, is a straight example whose primary role in the series is to rape and beat Pietros until he commits suicide.
Music[]
- The title character of Nick Cave's "Stagger Lee" (although not in the traditional version).
Tabletop Games[]
- Slaanesh worshippers in the Warhammer 40,000/Warhammer universes are often depicted this way. Of course, they have moved beyond homosexuality and will hump Anything That Moves once just to see what it is like. However, in what may or may not be an example of Unfortunate Implications, Slaanesh worshipers are the only characters in the Warhammer continuities who ever even hint at being gay. Creating an impression that ALL homosexuals end up as drug-addled false-idol-fondling heathen devil-pagans having wild drug-fueled orgies with men, women, beasts, aliens, mutants, demons and whatever else has a conveniently sized hole in it.
- Given the Empire's large and powerful Church Militant and the Imperium's attitude to, well, everything, it can probably be assumed that anyone even suspected of being gay is burned. Possibly on the grounds of "we need you to breed more troops so don't be gay".
- The Ravenor books depict gay people as citizens in Imperial society. The best explanation seems to be that some worlds may have laws or social conventions against homosexuality, and others don't. The Imperium is a big place after all.
- You obviously haven't read enough Slash Fic... wait, nevermind.
- That's why we have Ciaphas Cain, which has a number of gay characters. None are evil.
- However, Ciaphas Cain is a work of parody so it is questionable if the books can be considered hard Canon.
- Technically, none of the novelizations are hard canon, and the sourcebooks don't really go into the Depraved Homosexual Slaaneshi cultist thing to any noticible extent.
- Everything 40k related that has the Gamesworkshop logo or the logo of one of their subsidiaries is canon. Even the things that contradict each other. And the Cain books aren't really a parody so much as Flashman IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!
- Given the Empire's large and powerful Church Militant and the Imperium's attitude to, well, everything, it can probably be assumed that anyone even suspected of being gay is burned. Possibly on the grounds of "we need you to breed more troops so don't be gay".
Theater[]
- Some critics believe that Iago is one of these in the Shakespeare play Othello, driven to destroy Othello because of his unrequited homosexual love for the Moorish general.
- A similar interpretation has been applied to Hermia's father in A Midsummer Nights Dream, who is unusually...determined to see her married off to the guy he wants. A lot of people believe that he was actually in love with Lysander himself and forcing Hermia to marry him (with threats of imprisonment in a convent and death) was as close as he could get.
- Roy Cohn from Angels in America. Probably falls more under Truth in Television though, since he's one of two characters based off of real people, and also a Straw Hypocrite who believes his "clout" puts him above oppression and social stigma most gay men in the play have to deal with. Joe is also painted as a "bad guy" of sorts because he agreed to work for Cohn, but he really is more insecure than depraved.
Video Games[]
- A minor but highly-determined villain, the jailer Mohosa, casts lecherous glances and none-too-vague innuendo at the boy-faced heroes of Vandal Hearts 2. This is only after he shows his True Colors, sometime after you find out he has the catatonic prince-apparently locked in his private quarters.
- Lieutenant Yaha, the guardian of the District of Precious Light in Drakengard 2. He made a pact with the gnomes, giving him the ability to beguile and charm anyone who looked him in the eyes, but the price he paid was that he lost the ability to feel pleasure. He makes very "interesting" comments during his boss battle, and it's heavily implied that he had a romantic relationship with one of your allies, Urick.
- Quite possibly Sander Cohen in BioShock (series), if the sneering remarks in some of the audio diaries are to be believed.
- It's more than the allegations in the audio diaries: it's pretty strongly implied that the targets Cohen has you to track down to complete his Quadtych were his former lovers. However, Cohen is really more of a Mad Artist than a Depraved Homosexual.
- He's implied to be both homosexual and depraved prior to arriving in Rapture, with rumors of young men disappearing around him and his 'project' of undressed proteges 'performing' scenes from Caligula's life. He's definitely depraved (and still homosexual) once Rapture starts falling apart, since the 2K Games-approved novel mentions him forcing a teenage boy to fuck an octopus at a 'wild party.'
- It's more than the allegations in the audio diaries: it's pretty strongly implied that the targets Cohen has you to track down to complete his Quadtych were his former lovers. However, Cohen is really more of a Mad Artist than a Depraved Homosexual.
- Done tragically with Abul Nuquod in Assassin's Creed. His sexuality does drive him to mass-murder and joining conspiracy to take over the Holy Land, but specifically because the culture he lives in and Islam in general call him an "abomination" and cause him to be the object of shame and scorn despite his generosity and lavish parties.
- What little we learn about Major Raikov in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is that he's gay and beats up his men for fun, and will molest Big Boss if you stand him in front of him. He gets a little more characterisation in Portable Ops, but not much (Oddly, he's become a kind of Ensemble Darkhorse, and his relationship with Colonel Volgin is kind of sweet).
- Somewhat implied in Fire Emblem: The Sword of Seals, with a highly effeminate duo of bandits (with equally effeminate names—Maggie and Rose) that attacks the party in the desert in one chapter. Completely irrelevant to the plot, however, so it's pretty much just for uncomfortable humor.
- One possible interpretation of Jin Kisaragi's obsession for his brother Ragna in BlazBlue.
- Lamento-BEYONDTHEVOID: Froud, The Devil of Joy. His ending includes strange use of tentacles.
- Arbitro in Togainu no Chi.
- Thomas in Deadly Premonition seems like a nice guy at first, but turns out to be in league with the killer, and ends up trying to kill Emily because he believes her to be a romantic rival. Adding to the Unfortunate Implications is the fact that his effeminacy seems to increase in direct proportion to his craziness.
- Alternatively, Thomas could be more a victim of a Freak-Out and Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds than anything else. Think about it: the guy he loves is a Manipulative Bastard with a god complex who uses him (and his sister) as a replacement for Emily. He probably didn't realize what was happening until the murders started, after which he was in way too deep to back out. Then It Got Worse and the murderer decided to make him The Scapegoat. Betrayed and faced with either becoming the next victim or getting a life-sentence, can you blame the guy for going a little batty?
- In The Witcher 2, one of the main characters during the chapter 2 is sorcerer Dethmold. During most of his arc, he's rather Badass, dabbling in necromancy and showing ability to one-shot wraiths by shooting lightning out of his staff, which ends in a cockerel, and generally proves to be a formidable opponent, even if he's somewhat prejudiced against women. In the chapter 3, we learn why. He's gay. When he becomes a villain, all of a sudden, he turns out to be gay, with a sex slave, and terribly incompetent. Upon getting his arm broken, instead of releasing a barrage of magic, he just cries out how precious his arm is. In the end, it looks like game developers decided that making him gay would somehow make him more creepy.
- Captain Vicente De Santa in Red Dead Redemption is a yellow-eyed bastard in the Mexican Army under the command of Col. Augustin Allende, who regularly shoots unarmed civilians, declares the oppressed peasantry to be stupid and backwards, back-stabs his allies in the name of his own ambition and eventually betrays and tries to kill John Marston. He is also heavily hinted to be a homosexual, in an implied affair with his boss' butler. His fanatical devotion to Col. Allende could also be seen as a form of unrequited love. Of course, he gets executed either by Mexican Rebels or John himself .
- Ghiranim comes across as this the first time you fight him in Skyward Sword, with some signs of Depraved Bisexual later on.
Web Animation[]
- It is strongly implied that Benjamin Palmer of Broken Saints has a thing for little boys. Word of God practically confirms it.
Web Comics[]
- The waiter who harasses Hunter in Suicide for Hire. Hunter does make it clear that he understands most gay people are not like this ("I don't hate you for what you are, I hate you for who you are"), and the Unfortunate Implications are probably reduced by the fact that a lot of the straight characters, including Hunter himself, are either equally depraved or utterly stupid, so gay people couldn't really expect to be portrayed any differently.
- The main character's evil gay twin Naitsirhc from Sonichu. He seems to be evil precisely because he is gay (when he's injected with a homosexuality cure, he instantly becomes a good guy) and the hero is repulsed and unnerved by his very presence. To say that the creator has issues is a massive understatement.
- Lord CJ from Lizzy. His deeds range from ordering henchmen into sucking him off and breaking the sheriff by kissing him to his love for flesh-tearing hooks and brain-licking)!
- In-story, a TV personality in this strip of Loserz.
- Averted in Our Little Adventure. The main villains Angelo and Brian are a homosexual married couple. They are both gay and evil, but the are not depraved homosexuals. Their relationship is actually far more caring then one would expect from any evil relationship, and does not have any overtly sexual tones to it. In fact Angelo could be made female without any other change to the comic and the comic would work perfectly well. This is one of the rare examples where the character's being evil appears to be completely independent of the fact that they are homosexual.
Web Original[]
- Part of Trollvorlord's "character" in Bronyism.
- Appears as #5 on Cracked.com's list of "Hollywood's 6 Favorite Offensive Stereotypes".
- Zabuza from Naruto: The Abridged Comedy Fandub Spoof Series Show.
- Melvin, Florence, and
possiblyMarik on Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series. - Mr. Bucket
- The Unfortunate Implications of this trope are discussed here.
- The Onion had a (satirical, obviously) story about how some people, who were initially tolerant of homosexuals, started to believe this trope after seeing a gay pride parade (link).
- Internet Story, a short suspense film on youtube by Adam Butcher possibly has this as it's conclusion, but it's deliberately left ambiguous as to whether between a gay guy and a possibly homophobic guy which one was the murderer and which was the victim.
- The Barney Bunch videos take this trope Up to Eleven.
Western Animation[]
- Mirage from Transformers Energon, who is madly in love with Big Bad Galvatron. As tfwiki.net so subtly puts it: "He transforms from a boat into a ferry.
- This is possible a subversion, as while Mirage is technically on the bad guy side he's part of the Quirky Miniboss Squad and isn't all that depraved or intimidating.
- Herbert from Family Guy is a creepy elderly ephebophile who resides just down the street from the Griffin Family and lusts after Chris (to the point of being a Stalker with a Crush). Other episodes show him lusting after other adolescent male characters, and in one episode, the one year old Stewie.
- Stewie can be considered one of these as well.
- Nowadays, practically any gay character on Family Guy will either be a creepy, hump-anything-that-moves type or an outrageously swishy Camp Gay type. Meanwhile, the writers claim to be supportive of gay culture.
- The character mentioned in the trope's quote, Mr. Garrison from South Park. Who goes through a lot of different sexualities/identities/gross cynical criminal schemes, always being some depraved version of that. And then back again.
- Mr. Slave is a subversion. He looks the part as he dresses in buttless leather biker wear and has extremely messed up sexual fetishes, but he's actually a nice guy who understands that his twisted perversions (namely his extreme BDSM and jamming living things up his ass) are not something to be emulated.
- Also, both Satan and Saddam Hussein (who are gay lovers). Saddam is the only one that really applies to this trope though, as Satan himself is an Anti-Villain who isn't depicted as depraved.
- It could actually be debated rather Saddam applies to this trope. Saddam is quite evil, but then he IS Saddam Hussein and he was sent to hell so that's sort of expected. Saddam does emphasis the sexual aspect of his relation with Satan more then Satan, but this is more to show his lack of emotional deepness. It's played in much the same way that a heterosexual married couple in a comedy may show the husband more interested in sex while the wife is concerned that their emotional needs aren't being satisfied. One could argue their homosexuality doesn't have much of an effect on their character other then allowing the relationship between the two to exist because it's funny to have Saddam out-evil Satan.
- The Booty Warrior from The Boondocks. While it's made clear that most of the prisoners present rape each other out of sheer loneliness, The Booty Warrior was already raping men and was happy to go to prison where he could rape inmates.
- ↑ Which is amusing because Crowley's whole character is a reference to Good Omens, where it's Aziraphale people think is gayer than a treeful of monkeys on nitrous oxide.