The ends justify the means. Probably. Most likely. At least, that’s the case for some manipulative video game heroes. While they’re one of the “good guys” or even an ally for the players, their allegiance and methods are certainly questionable due to how they handle things. They love to scheme, calculate, and control everyone around them— their allies included.
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Be it through the omission of crucial details, all kinds of blackmail, or just a brilliant orchestration of complex unethical plans, somevideo game heroestend to cross the line between good and bad. On the other hand, the good guys will surely be glad that these kinds of characters are on their side. Because nobody wants these guys as their enemies.
8Morrigan (Dragon Age)
She’s a witch and at most times, that’s enough for Morrigan to be branded as an untrustworthy schemer. Sure enough, this bittersweet companion inDragon Age: Originshas some huge plans that are somewhat beyond comprehension. Right off the bat, she joins the Grey Warden’s party with a shady end goal in sight.
Apparently, Morrigan wanted a demon baby for herself— a child of the Darkspawn. Depending on the ending or game proceedings, she’ll succeed in this. But even barring her success, Morrigan was raised to always attempt to wrestle control over everyone around her one way or another. Evenas a child, she was already seducing and manipulating more capable warriors to her whims. This personality trait only compounded as she grew older.
7Diana Burnwood (Hitman Series)
Diana Burnwood serves as Agent 47’s handler similar to how M is the 007’s boss in theJames Bondfranchise. The difference is that Diana mostly works for an assassination agency. Still, her work with Agent 47 tends to overlap with espionage and sabotage, meaning she very well has to be manipulative and secretive in order to stay at the top of her game.
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While Diana does favor Agent 47 (which is putting it lightly), she becamea villainat one point and seemingly betrays him. Turns out it was part of Diana’s ruse and carefully-laid plan to take down her agency’s biggest enemies. She was able to double-cross The Constant, whos the main enemy inHitman 3,and did so through sheer guile, foresight, and deception.
6Yennefer (The Witcher 3)
Yennefer is in many ways, similar to Morrigan fromDragon Age. She’s a highly ambitious sorceress who will always try to have her cake and eat it too. This trait was well summarized in her goal of wanting to have a family despite giving her reproductive means to become a sorceress. Yennefer was hell-bent on achieving this until she got lucky with Geralt and Ciri who posed as her surrogate family.
But even so, that event didn’t dull Yennefer’s blade and wits one bit. InThe Witcher 3, she managed to manipulate even someone like Emhyr var Emreis and a whole empire into helping her and Geralt. Sure enough, everyone else who’s less powerful or influential usually bends to her will, especially one poor puppy-eyed White Wolf who’s also the series' protagonist.
5Azura (Elder Scrolls Series)
It can be hard to classify Azura as a hero since he/she is supposedly one ofthe evilgods inElder Scrolls’mythos called Daedric Princes. However, Azura is one of the rare “good” ones among them. She’s the Daedric Prince of Dusk and Dawn and while she’s considered cruel but wise, Azura’s plans and machinations typically benefit most parties involved.
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Hence, some of the races inElder Scrollsconsider her as explicitly good. She tends to act like a spoiled brat often since she always wants her prophecies to become true and would go out of her way to use pawns to achieve her desires (which are thankfully notmalevolent or deceitful). In fact, she’s the one directly responsible for the main quest inElder Scrolls 3: Morrowind.
4Revolver Ocelot (Metal Gear Solid 5)
Revolver Ocelot is like that one kid in dodgeball who keeps changing sides to whoever looks like they have a better chance at winning. He’s a quintuple agent back in his heyday inMetal Gear Solidhistory. However, he seems to be at his most helpful and “benevolent” inMetal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.
There, Revolver Ocelot helps Venom Snake and Kazuhira Miller rescue child soldiers, provide a haven for POWs (whom they also hilariously kidnapped), and fight shadowy Cold War factions. Of course, he had ulterior motives and wanted to keep the world in a perpetual state of warfare so that mercenary factions never run out of work but he kept discreet about it during his time inPhantom Painwhile playing a hero.
3Ada Wong (Resident Evil Series)
Speaking of playing heroes, Ada Wong is quite the expert. She’s an international spy who has worked for several clients and organizations all of whom seem to have an interest in the Umbrella Corporation’s zombie apocalypse mess. She has a volatile liaison with Leon Kennedy whom she never hesitated to manipulate if it made her current job easier.
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She’s a master of lies and always finds a way to charm Leon Kennedy into working for her (while also helping him along the way). Like Revolver Ocelot, Ada also has a mercenary mentality and tends to be a double agent anytime she’s on the field dipping her hands into virus experiments.
2Nathan Drake (Uncharted Series)
It doesn’t take much for players to see Nathan Drake’s toxic side in his very ownvideo game series,Uncharted. There’s no better archeological encyclopedia than Nathan Drake and also no keener treasure hunter. At some point in mostUnchartedgames, Nathan even pushes his friends and family to danger in order to steal some of these treasures.
There’s also the fact that he lies too much and behaves almost like a compulsive liar. He could lie to his wife about a job without batting an eye and even lies profusely about his name and identity. He also appears incapable of feeling remorse or being sorry for his mistakes. All that is masked by hischarm and charisma, which works most of the time.
1Batman (Arkham Series/Injustice Series)
He’s not too far off from Nathan Drake when it comes to identity forgery but at least Batman in theArkhamgames and theInjusticecontinuity is adamant about not killing his enemies. When he’s not beating up criminals and clowns, Bruce Wayne is out manipulating either everyone in Gotham, his enemies, or even his own Justice League compatriots.
This kind of Batman (one voiced by Kevin Conroy), has no qualms about sneaking into his allies' and enemies' bedrooms to look for weaknesses or blackmail material. Even something as a simple innocuous conversation is a means for Batman into stealing information from allies and enemies alike to be used later against them, just in case. That’s part of his preparation.
