Summary
“Petty"is generally a term used to refer to something of relative insignificance, although it is also often used to refer to people who are overly spiteful based on minor issues. In many video games, especially comedic ones, this trait is unsurprisingly associated withvillains.
Many video villains tend to be obsessive on some level, making a focal point of minor details, whether positive or negative, that either paint them in a better light or their opposition in a worse one. This suggests a deeper level of insecurity that they wish to project.These next video game villains are especially pettyin their behavior.
This somewhat sillier installment inTheLegend of Zeldaseries features an appropriately petty main antagonist:Lady Maud, alternatively referred to as “The Lady.” Maud is a witch whose magic specializes in the creation of clothing. Feeling underappreciated, she held a grudge against Princess Styla. As the beloved princess of Hytopia, her fashion sense garnered a great deal of attention from the citizens. However, Maud disliked Styla’s fashion sense, deeming an irremovable black jumpsuit known as the Cursed Tights a more fitting outfit for the princess. This caused Styla to hide herself in shame, and the citizens to alter their own fashion sense out of fear.
On the orders of King Tuft, three Links travel to the Drablands to defeat Maud and remove the curse from Styla. Although Maud is deeply petty, jealously forcing her fashion upon those who don’t want it, a greater degree of hilarity comes from the extent to which the Cursed Tights and their consequences are treated as an injustice. The generally lighthearted nature ofTriforce Heroesallows Maud’s pettiness to be viewed more as comedic rather than purely evil.
TheStick of Truthis an RPG that uses the children ofSouth Parkrole-playing as various races and classes,a laDungeons and Dragons, as the basis for its greater story. A new, unnamed resident of the town, commonly referred to as “New Kid” or “Douchebag,” is caught in this make-believe war between the humans, led by Cartman, and the elves, led by Kyle. Alongside Butters, a paladin,Princess Kennyis one of the earlier partners Douchebag teams up with, as they are all initially part of the human sect.
A notable element of the make-believe game is the Stick of Truth, a regular stick that allows its holder to dictate the rules of the game. Princess Kenny is an ally for the majority of the game, until after the defeat of Clyde Donovan. Clyde stole the Stick as revenge for being kicked out by Cartman and built a massive army that required alliances between the warring factions to defeat them. At this point, a government agent steps in, revealing their desire to use Douchebag’s popularity on social media for their own ends. He attempts to offer the Stick in exchange for Douchebag’s allegiance, but is refused; instead, Kenny steps up to take it. Infected by the nazi zombie virus, Kenny serves as the game’s final boss, with Douchebag having to team up with the other five partners, Eric, Kyle, Butters, Stan and Jimmy, to win.
The Stick of Truth’ssomewhat metafictional narrative makes the exact extent of Princess Kenny’s pettiness a bit vague. Various thefts of the Stick are shown as a common part of the make-believe game the boys play. That said, when Kenny steals the Stick, it is treated as a more significant betrayal, presumably because it is no longer just a part of the game. Nonetheless, Kenny, Clyde, and others return in the sequel,The Fractured But Whole, with little of their past actions being mentioned in great detail.
Handsome Jackis the main antagonist ofBorderlands 2. If his nickname didn’t give it away, the guy is a grade-A narcissist. He blew up the Vault Hunters' train after luring them to Pandora, and proceeded to taunt them through ECHO messaging. Beyond insulting the Vault Hunters, he also flexes his wealth as President of the Hyperion Corporation. His not-so-humble bragging includes repeated mentions of a pony made of diamonds, which Jack clarified to be a living being. To further clarify his entitled attitude towards this status symbol, he gave it the name “Piss-for-Brains,” ostensibly in honor of the Vault Hunters, before settling on “Butt Stallion.”
His tendency to be insulting is such that the player slowly grows to hate him more and more as the game progresses, something Jack, in turn, projects onto the Vault Hunters as they continue to act against his plans to maintain control over Pandora. After the death of his daughter, Angel, whom he genuinely cared for but also whose Siren capabilities he used to enrich himself, he holds the Vault Hunters responsible. Jack unsuccessfully attempts to kill them himself before summoning The Warrior, the game’s final boss, to do the job instead, with similar results.
GLaDOSis an AI created by Aperature Science, based on the assistant of Cave Johnson, Caroline. Like her former boss, GLaDOS tends to justify sadistic experiments that make use of compromised humans for the advancement of “science.” She is perhaps most notable for her heated feud with Chell, one of her test subjects, who is described as “abnormally stubborn.” GLaDOS tends to deliver insults to Chell that are especially petty for multiple reasons; they both pick at her supposed insecurities and, to this end, target generally innocuous details about her.
GLaDOS frequently enjoys making negative comments about Chell’s “fundamentally unlikeable” personality, among other things. Another frequent target of ridicule is Chell’s lack of personal relationships, though, like her other comments, this is a dubious claim at best.These insults are paired with GLaDOS subjecting Chell to a series of potentially fatal “tests” throughoutPortal,which are, in essence, designed to kill her.Chell only “kills” GLaDOS for the sake of her own escape, but inPortal 2, GLaDOS twists the knife by continually insulting Chell for killing her, which is heavily hypocritical considering she would have killed Chell had she failed to destroy the AI first. In general, the pettiness of GLaDOS is exemplified in the exact manner she communicates with Chell, dripping with sarcasm and criticizing rather innocuous details about her.
Manfred Von Karmawas a prosecuting attorney and the main antagonist of the originalPhoenix Wright:Ace Attorney. He was declared the “King of Prosecutors” due to his undefeated record spanning 40 years. However, his perfectionist compulsions made him a deeply immoral figure. He had little regard for ethics, with rumors of fraud circling his supposed perfect record. In the two cases he was shown prosecuting, Von Karma regularly manipulated them towards his desired outcome. As shown inInvestigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit, after being penalized for coercing a false confession from Samson Tangaroa, Von Karma held a grudge against his defense attorney, Gregory Edgeworth.
In the midst of an earthquake, when Edgeworth, his son Miles, and baliff Yanni Yogi were trapped inside an elevator, a bullet struck Von Karma in the shoulder. Once the power returned, Von Karma discovered the gun and shot Gregory dead. This event would later be known as the DL-6 Incident. Yanni Yogi was widely blamed for the murder due to his presence at the scene of the crime, but his own defense attorney, Robert Hammond, made him plead insanity via oxygen deprivation, securing a verdict of innocence. Getting away with murdering someone for a penalty is already a high level of petty. However, Von Karma took it a step further by effectively grooming Miles to be a prosecutor, despite his previous wish to be a defense attorney like his father. Under Von Karma’s tutelage, Miles valued perfection over the actual guilt of the defendant, but began to rethink his philosophy after repeatedly losing to Phoenix Wright.
For the last nail in the coffin, Von Karma personally prosecuted Edgeworth, hoping to find him guilty of the murder of Robert Hammond. Wright became Edgeworth’s defense attorney for this case, and proved the murder of Hammond was actually a conspiracy involving Von Karma and Yanni Yogi, whose life quickly declined after being declared insane. Afterward, Von Karma pinned the DL-6 Incident on Edgeworth, which led to Wright proving that Von Karma had orchestrated the incident. Like most guilty parties inAce Attorney, Von Karma broke down in the courtroom and was then sent to prison, where he later passed away. Von Karma’s infamous pettiness ultimately led to his downfall, as he repeatedly refused to relent, creating more loose ends and hastening the inevitability of his demise.
