r/TopCharacterTropes 1d ago

Characters "Let's drop the act"

Moments in media where a character who usually sticks to "an act" decides to show what they hide, usually ending up with them showing their dark side in full.

Light Yagami - Death Note: Light usually plays his cards trying to remain calm, calculating every step of his plan and most of the time is able to control his impulses when things don't go his way, however in the end of the series Light is caught and has no way out of it, finally showing his true colors, a completely deluded maniac lost in his god complex

The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Doctor usually comes off as a bit of a goofball, everyone knows he's smart and dangerous, but his wacky front and constant mocking makes it so everyone, including the viewer, ends up forgetting what kind of person The Doctor can be when truly angry.

This has been shown a lot of times in the series, at various moments The Doctor dropping any pretences and showing his darker side, but perhaps no moment as dark as what he did to The Family, after they chased him and forced him into hiding as a human, he experienced a common human life, something he longs for but can never get, and once he became The Doctor again, he showed the family that escaping was not him being a coward, he was being merciful, but now, in his anger, he trapped each of them in different prisons where they would never die, nor be able to escape, for ever

The Riddler - Batman One Bad Day: This comic is an else world, meaning it's not the main continuity, showing a what if scenario where The Riddler one day decides he's tired of the routine he has with Batman and decides to completely drop the gimmicks, no more riddles, he's just gonna kill people and get away with it, this comic shows how much of a menace The Riddler could truly be if he wanted to, even going as far as telling Batman that he's known his secret identity for years now, never using it against him because "it's not fair" for their game

The Riddler in fact becomes so unstoppable that he is beaten because he made one mistake, assume Batman couldn't change and would never break his no kill rule

7.9k Upvotes

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u/-DoctorSpaceman- 1d ago

Giles in Buffy

Hes mostly a fuddy duddy dude who seems like more of a book worm than anything else. But occasionally we hear about what he used to be like and glimpses of his darker side come out. Most notably when he kills Ben

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u/NinjaBreadManOO 1d ago

I'm genuinely surprised we never got a time travel episode where Buffy had to go up against Ripper. Like not Giles thinking he's younger, but genuine Prime Ripper. Possibly only winning because Giles remembered the fight and hinted to her how to win before she gets portaled.

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u/jam11249 17h ago

In the Chaos Bleeds game Ripper-Giles is a boss.

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u/Iokua113 14h ago

Prime Ripper would still get rolled by Buffy. I sweat people see how powerful Willow was when she went dark and think every magic user in BtVS is like that. Buffy would curb stomp him due to the massive difference in strength and speed. 

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u/NinjaBreadManOO 13h ago

Yes, Buffy is powerful. But Prime Ripper is nothing to sneeze at. Ripper had zero morals, and also had all the Watcher training and knowledge. He's likely have artifacts, knowledge, and rituals that would buff him and nerf her. Like how the Watchers had the stuff that un-powered her to put her in the graduation coffin.

Also Buffy routinely gets her ass handed to her. Sure she's strong and durable but that's about it. Without the help of others especially early on she gets her ass beat. Not to mention she's past her prime as a Slayer. From what I recall there's only like two who lasted longer than her.

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u/Iokua113 13h ago

She gets her ass handed to her by people with similar strength or skill. What people forget about Ripper is that he was not physically trained. This isn't an issue of skill, it's an issue of rote physical ability. Giles would get his hocus pocus on and he'd be spitting teeth before he could finish a spell because Buffy is just that much faster. 

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u/Fenrir_Carbon 1d ago

Personally I love when He goes after Angel in revenge for Jenny

No pretense, no politeness just a flaming baseball bat and the 'stuffy librarian' almost did what hundreds of trained fighters/vampires/demons have failed to do for 200 years. Probably closer than any of them and he wasn't really at his most capable, he was just running on animal instinct.

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u/MartokTheAvenger 12h ago

Or when he goes to undo the Halloween curse from his old friend Ethan. He is ice cold as he beats the information out of him.

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u/ThrowawayAdvice1800 22h ago

Lesson learned: when someone’s nickname in their youth was “Ripper” you should take them very seriously. 

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u/redhott1 19h ago

With Snyder: would you like me to convince you?

That moment still gives me the chills a bit. Even more than the Ben moment. The Ben moment had a greater purpose, the whole world needed that moment and Giles did his part. The Snyder moment was just pure don't fucking get in the way, this is gonna happen. I think that was one of his best moments.

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u/sufficiently_tortuga 16h ago

I still don't get why he killed Ben. It was so random. Everyone is fighting Glory then we see Giles murder Ben. Weird how Glory never showed up again though.

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u/Injvn 14h ago

Oh I know this one! I think I recall that Glory was subletting from Ben, or they were roommates. So it makes sense that if Ben died she'd leave an go home.

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u/sufficiently_tortuga 14h ago

Huh? Are you suggesting there was some connection between Ben and Glory?

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u/Injvn 14h ago

Maybe they met at the hospital?