History Main / DemonKingNobunaga

The biggest inspiration of this usually comes from one of Nobunaga's biggest ShootTheDog (or most commonly believed as [[KickTheDog a kick]]) moment: The burning of Mt. Hiei, taking out the Buddhist Warrior Monks of Ikko-Ikki and [[KillEmAll leaving none alive]], including [[WouldHitAGirl women]] and [[WouldHarmAChild children]]. Whoever has the higher moral ground was unclear at that point (whether Nobunaga was just being callous, or the monks themselves were really disruptive and just adding on chaos in Japan that needs to be quelled no matter what, even if they use religion as a way to excuse their behavior), but considering Buddhism eventually recovers and once again becomes one of the major religions in Japan, Nobunaga's actions towards those Buddhists were not going to win him some fans from the future Buddhist storytellers, so they tend to use his previous sarcasm and make it a literal statement. And in addition of his more accepting stance with Christian missionaries, being considered 'barbaric foreigners with foreign religion' (more below), Nobunaga himself has been said to be rather disrespecting towards Buddhism in general, so that's even more reason to make him a devil figure by the Buddhist majority.

[[caption-width-right:350:Some people just don't understand "sarcasm" when they hear that 'dairokuten-maou' term. Well, it can't be helped.]]

* In ''TabletopGameVampireTheMasquerade'', Oda Nobunaga is said to have been a vampire, who was eventually defeated by werewolves.

* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/{{Nioh}}'': In this game, he really did mass-murder women and children for sport, but treats his crimes as just another hobby in addition to taking long strolls in the countryside and dancing, and also appreciated life and death to the fullest. He demonstrates this by [[spoiler:flipping the bird to the necromancer who brought him back, then giving the protagonist his pet phoenix before leaving to the afterlife, even though he was given the demonic power to rule the world uncontested]]. Most of Nobunaga's former retainers say that he was a strange, unpredictable man. He's voiced by Kou Shibusawa, [[DescendedCreator a major head producer]] at Creator/{{Koei}} Creator/{{Tecmo}}. Notable for the fact that [[spoiler:despite following the trope very closely, even as a fabled Demon King, Nobunaga was portrayed not as a megalomaniacal super villain, but more of a NobleDemon.]]

A subtrope of HistoricalVillainUpgrade. Compare WeDidntStartTheFuhrer and {{Dracula}} (as Vlad Tepes).

The biggest inspiration of this usually comes from one of Nobunaga's biggest ShootTheDog (or most commonly believed as [[KickTheDog a kick]]) moment: The burning of Mt. Hiei, taking out the Buddhist Warrior Monks of Ikko-Ikki and [[KillEmAll leaving none alive]], including [[WouldHitAGirl women]] and [[WouldHarmAChild children]]. Whoever has the higher moral ground was unclear at that point (whether Nobunaga was just being callous, or the monks themselves were really disruptive and just adding on chaos in Japan that needs to be quelled no matter what, even if they use religion as a way to excuse their behavior), but considering Buddhism eventually recovers and once again becomes one of the major religions in Japan, Nobunaga's actions towards those Buddhists were not going to win him some fans from the future Buddhist storytellers, so they tend to use his previous sarcasm and make it a literal statement.

In the old days, this trope was used for a more common BlackAndWhiteMorality, since Nobunaga's brutality was perfect to play the role of villain. As time passed, however, values started to shift and people learned about the grayness of war, that the Buddhists that relegated the role to Nobunaga might not have the absolute moral high ground. Because of this, the trope started to evolve. Rather than playing the Demon King factor of Nobunaga totally straight, there are also works that used the NobleDemon or DarkIsNotEvil for our resident Japanese Demon King; just because Nobunaga has demonic traits or can be rather brutal doesn't mean that he always had to play the villain.

[[caption-width-right:350:Some people just don't understand 'sarcasm' when they hear that 'dairokuten-maou' term. Well, it can't be helped.]]

** The fourth iteration of her event seems to play this directly straight, introducing a new version of Nobunaga, with an Avenger class, at the height of her legend as the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, doing away with the gag and joking nature she had before. But you had to level her up first, because she started out as just her wacky Archer form in a new class, followed by somewhat-''male'' Nobunaga, and THEN you get the Demon King... who's still female.

** The fourth iteration of her event seems to play this directly straight, introducing a new version of Nobunaga at the height of her legend as the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, doing away with the gag and joking nature she had before.

Depending on the context of the story, though, the Demon King factor of Nobunaga could be played totally straight (mostly) or may even be given either a NobleDemon or DarkIsNotEvil treatment.

* Downplayed with Nobunaga in VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors. He plays the Evil Overlord angle to the hilt and wields a blade shrouded in darkness, but he's big on PragmaticVillainy, and is really no more exaggerated than any of the other playable characters in the series. The only time he's closest to this trope is in the first installment where he's decidedly more brutal and embracing his 'Demon King' persona, and the installment where his struggles against the Ikko-Ikki sect got a big highlight. [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness Koei rarely touched on that afterwards.]] Voiced by [[Creator/JurotaKosugi Juurouta Kosugi]] here. Outright subverted in the ''VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi'' series, where he's consistently on the side of the heroes fighting against {{Orochi}}.

* ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' has Shien, an {{Expy}} of Nobunaga (great warlord, morally unscrupulous, unified his country, died at the hands of his retainer). Shien is also depicted as an [[TheAgeless ageless]] [[DarkIsEvil Dark-type]] who wears [[BlackAndRedAndEvilAllOver black-and-crimson winged armor]], has GlowingRedEyes, and eventually became an evil spirit possessing his armor.

This is also not helped with Nobunaga's attitude during his time, while he's being ruthless, there may be other factors on how Nobunaga was singled out to be the Demon King candidate instead of any other ruthless daimyos out there. In those times, [[GoodIsOldFashioned traditional and old fashioned honor was especially revered.]] Nobunaga mostly threw a middle finger on those, as he collaborated with 'barbarous' foreigners to bolster his forces (and also wearing European clothes a lot), promoted meritocracy instead of judging people based on their status (which was the norm back then) and several of his enemies that were mostly traditionalist eventually got trounced by him[[note]]The Azai clan turned against him despite being linked through marriage due to their older alliance with Asakura, which Nobunaga attacked. Additionally, Nobunaga's usage of muskets obliterated the Takeda clan, often thought as the last of mighty traditional clans thanks to their Takeda Cavalry, in Nagashino[[/note]]. These days, Nobunaga's actions might have thought to be a stroke of genius, but in the days past, this was considered rather blasphemous and extremely dangerous that people thought only demons would think of those kind of trouncing of what's good in their eyes.

This is also not helped with Nobunaga's attitude during his time, while he's being ruthless, there may be other factors on how Nobunaga was singled out to be the Demon King candidate instead of any other ruthless daimyos out there. In those times, [[GoodIsOldFashioned traditional and old fashioned honor was especially revered.]] Nobunaga mostly threw a middle finger on those, as he collaborated with 'barbarous' foreigners to bolster his forces (and also wearing European clothes a lot), promoted meritocracy instead of judging people based on their status (which was the norm back then) and several of his enemies that were mostly traditionalist eventually got trounced on him[[note]]The Azai clan turned against him despite being linked through marriage due to their older alliance with Asakura, which Nobunaga attacked. Additionally, Nobunaga's usage of muskets obliterated the Takeda clan, often thought as the last of mighty traditional clans thanks to their Takeda Cavalry, in Nagashino[[/note]]. These days, Nobunaga's actions might have thought to be a stroke of genius, but in the days past, this was considered rather blasphemous and extremely dangerous that people thought only demons would think of those kind of trouncing of what's good in their eyes.

* DoubleSubverted in ''VideoGame/{{Onimusha}}'': Nobunaga starts out as human, gets an arrow through the throat, and is ''revived'' by demons to work for them--but winds up [[HellHasNewManagement taking control of the demons who wanted him for a lackey!]] Incidentally, he pulls a OneWingedAngel twice in the second game, once in the third.

[[caption-width-right:350:Um, does anyone know the term "sarcasm"? I was just joking about that ''dairokuten-maō'' thing!]]

The biggest inspiration of this usually comes from one of Nobunaga's biggest ShootTheDog (or most commonly believed as [[KickTheDog a kick]]) moment: The burning of Mt. Hiei, taking out the Buddhist Warrior Monks of Ikko-Ikki and [[KillEmAll leaving none alive]], including [[WouldHitAWoman women]] and [[WouldHarmAChild children]]. Whoever has the higher moral ground was unclear at that point (whether Nobunaga was just being callous, or the monks themselves were really disruptive and just adding on chaos in Japan that needs to be quelled no matter what, even if they use religion as a way to excuse their behavior), but considering Buddhism eventually recovers and once again becomes one of the major religions in Japan, Nobunaga's actions towards those Buddhists were not going to win him some fans from the future Buddhist storytellers, so they tend to use his previous sarcasm and make it a literal statement.

The biggest inspiration of this usually comes from one of Nobunaga's biggest ShootTheDog (or most commonly believed as [[KickTheDog a kick]]) moment: The burning of Mt. Hiei, taking out the Buddhist Warrior Monks of Ikko-Ikki and leaving none alive, including women and children. Whoever has the higher moral ground was unclear at that point (whether Nobunaga was just being callous, or the monks themselves were really disruptive and just adding on chaos in Japan that needs to be quelled no matter what, even if they use religion as a way to excuse their behavior), but considering Buddhism eventually recovers and once again becomes one of the major religions in Japan, Nobunaga's actions towards those Buddhists were not going to win him some fans from the future Buddhist storytellers, so they tend to use his previous sarcasm and make it a literal statement.

[[caption-width-right:350:Um, does anyone know the term 'sarcasm'? I was just joking about that ''dairokuten-maō'' thing!]]

* Downplayed with Nobunaga in VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors. He plays the Evil Overlord angle to the hilt and wields a blade shrouded in darkness, but he's big on PragmaticVillainy, and is really no more exaggerated than any of the other playable characters in the series. The only time he's closest to this trope is in the first installment where he's decidedly more brutal and embracing his 'Demon King' persona, and the installment where his struggles against the Ikko-Ikki sect got a big highlight. [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness Koei rarely touched on that afterwards.]] Voiced by [[Creator/JurotaKosugi Juurouta Kosugi]] here.
** Outright subverted in the VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi series, where he's consistently on the side of the heroes fighting against {{Orochi}}.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/PokemonConquest'', of all places. Despite being the BigBad, Nobunaga is actually a rather sympathetic character. Noticeably, his choice of [[BondCreatures partner Pokémon]] is [[OlympusMons Zekrom]], which may ''[[ObviouslyEvil look]]'' like it would put him in this territory, but in [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite the main series lore]] it is considered [[DarkIsNotEvil not inherently evil]], but rather it and its [[LightIsNotGood white counterpart Reshiram]] are both known for having been used in the past by {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s and {{Knight Templar}}s - [[FridgeBrilliance which historians consider the actual Oda Nobunaga to have been]].