Best unexpected villains or heroes

[Maculo]

What cRPG characters had the most unexpected character development?

Atton from Kotor 2 comes to mind. He was the goofy sidekck, but you find out that he is always counting cards in his head. You press him until he explodes in a rant about Jedi, which culminates with him casually explaining how to kill Jedi. Specifically, he tells you how one trick is to kill innocent bystanders in mass, and the resulting pain/death will overwhelm a Jedi's senses. He went from goofy Han Solo to former kill-squad member, who got spooked when he thought he was next.



Honorable mention to Arcanum, where the main "big bad villain" had no clue about the situation, admits he committed wrongs in the past, and now wants to help you.

 

[laclongquan]

If it's VTM Bloodlines, I say Ming Xiao's betrayal is pretty unexpected. The first time chose that ending, I thought she might have need for a figurehead.

 

[Maculo]

Actually, Arcanum is filled with it in my opinion. The most infamous villains in Arcanum's history can either join you or at least be reasoned with (I am speaking of the last zone in the void). It was like creating a party to save the world, which consisted of Hitler/Sauron, Genghis Khan, and Smaug. You did not even have to be evil to recruit them.

Moreover, you are the "reincarnated hero/god" but it turns out that the original hero never died and just hangs out on an island completely apathetic to the world. You also have the "dumb" orc who is actually an intellectual. The religious man who is really bad at scripture and just goes along with it.

Colonel Autumn

Spoiler

was the sanest, most reasonable leader in Fallout 3 and the one who had a damn clue on what to do. Lyons and his brotherhood are incompetent idiots.

Arronax

Spoiler

Was actually a pretty chill dude who had long regretted his dire crimes.

In fact, he was the one guy in The Void who stood up to Kerghann and tried to put a stop to him.

Related: Nasrudin was a lazy ass who let his own enemies prop up a religion with his name. For millenia.

FO3 deserves honorable mention, but for the wrong reasons. I went in thinking the Brotherhood of Steel were hardcore zealots, and instead I found one of the whiniest, most ineffective factions in an RPG to date. FO3 is the only game where I can play "good" until the very end, because I would rather join the Enclave than listen to the Brotherhood of Steel for another minute. The Enclave may be idiots, but at least they had a plan for the Wasteland. Does this count Sneaky Seal ?

 

[Kahr]

Mario in Gothic 2

Spoiler

is a great traitor, if its about goofy fun. You can hire him without him taking away a place on the ship and somehow he is a evil servant of Beliar
although he's just a guy with a sword. Gives a lot of exp if you kill him i think.

I Mario.

 

[Iri]

It was totally obvious in hindsight but I totally fell for the Jade Empire villain. I am not proud of that, but it was as much a shocker as the KOTOR one. (I am gullible)

 

[Dorateen]

I was trying to think of an example from a real computer role-playing game.

Knights of the Chalice: Cassam the sage.

Spoiler

Cassam operates as a central figure deciphering scrolls and dispatching the party on missions, opening up the next stages of the quest. Then the characters return to him and discover he is an enemy agent working with assassins.

 

[2house2fly]

Dean Domino in Dead Money was a good one- he was clearly a scumbag from the moment you met him, but I wasn't expecting that moment when we were alone together in the Sierra Madre and he revealed

Spoiler

he's the one who put Christine in the autodoc where you find her to operate on her vocal chords, because he knew only Vera Keyes's voice could open the vault

 

[sullynathan]

Mario in Gothic 2

Spoiler

is a great traitor, if its about goofy fun. You can hire him without him taking away a place on the ship and somehow he is a evil servant of Beliar
although he's just a guy with a sword. Gives a lot of exp if you kill him i think.

I Mario.

yeah, this guy caught me off-guard in my first playthrough. When he turned against me, I thought he would be a push-over but he killed me.

 

[Lostpleb]

Or Magus from Chrono Trigger.

Magus was a great midstory villain but, if we are bringing up the character developments from Chrono Trigger, then my vote would have to go to the main character dying and his resurrection being entirely optional to the completion of the game. I can't think of a single RPG that did something similar.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Saduj. Fuck that guy.

 

[NeoKino]

Vehk, guy was pretending to be your friend and ally, but in actuality is a fraud god larper that screwed your past incarnation bigly. Hitting him with your eltonbrand ending his sad pathetic excuse for existence along with the other two man gods are so of the finest RP moments you can get out of TES III.

Also silver from pokemon silver, his reasoning is solid and for all intents and purposes truth. The problem is the game is too easy and he sucks kinda defeating his point all in order to make a generic Aesop about "dont judge a book by its cover" and hardwork and dedication mumbo jumbo, Raichu and Raticate aren't beating a Tyrannitar .

 

[Dr Skeleton]

This guy, Rohen from Spellforce Order of Dawn

First you see him in the intro fighting another wizard, he's a good old wise wizard, the other is a young evil careless wizard

Spoiler

then 12 years later he recruits you to fight against a great threat to the world, standard heroic stuff

Spoiler

eventually he gets killed by the wizard he fought in the intro

Spoiler

<30h of mostly unrelated gameplay goes here>

Spoiler

in the end you get to confront that other wizard who's behind the great threat

Spoiler

turns out the other wizard is Rohen, he goes back in time to confront himself, what you saw in the intro

Spoiler

I'm not sure how they solved the time loop in future Spellforce games because they were kinda shit but I did not see that coming

 

[buffalo bill]

Morte--the little bastard was lying to me the whole time! Well, back onto the pillar old buddy

 

[Delterius]

Vehk, guy was pretending to be your friend and ally, but in actuality is a fraud god larper that screwed your past incarnation bigly.

Conversely, Dagoth Ur since its canon he wanted into your pants.

 

[DemonKing]

Kreia from KOTOR2 for me. She was always grey around the edges (particularly with the great voice acting) but I liked the idea of a party member turning out to be the big bad at the end of the game.

There's also the reverse, where seemingly evil dicks can become valuable party members (eg Sarevok, Loghrain etc).

 

[Dorateen]

Forad Darre from Might & Magic IX: The Writ of Fate

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Lord Order in Dungeon Master (1987), if you decide to return the Firestaff to him.

Spoiler