History Main / EnlightenedAntagonist

* ''VideoGame/SpyFox'': {{Parodied}} with [[Literature/FuManchu Dr. Fu Manch Hugh]] who appears in [[https://web.archive.org/web/20020204010047/http://www.humongous.com/ads/SPYFoxPromo/SPYcontent.asp?content=VillianDossier&dossierArchive=FuManch the game promo materials]]. He is a Chinese esotericist who speaks in {{Ice Cream Koan}}s and haiku, and desires to be accepted by the priests of the Scratching Post as the ChosenOne who can blow the mystical Pinwheel of Eternity... For this reason, he hatches a scheme to change the Earth's orbit, which would obviously have catastrophic consequences.

This trope tends to overlap with LightIsNotGood, GodIsEvil, and PureIsNotGood due to the mixing of the theme of enlightenment and malevolence. Compare and contrast HeroAntagonist and PoliticallyCorrectVillain, which can be considered mundane versions.

* ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'' has Fakir, a Muslim Sufi ascetic with genuine magical powers who is also a key member of an international drug cartel and one of Tintin's most dangerous enemies.

* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': {{Parodied}} with the Old Monk from the ''Lotus Temple'' episode. He is a Buddhist monk with supernatural powers (including [[LevitatingLotusPosition levitating in the lotus position]]) who [[ProverbialWisdom speaks in cryptic proverbs]], and nonetheless, he turns out to be [[MonsterOfTheWeek the villain of the episode]] and a dark Chi sorcerer who is after the magical Scroll of Hung Chao.

* In ''ComicBook/JMSSpiderMan'', Ezekiel Sims is a sort of a spiritual mentor to Spider-Man who teaches him that his superhero powers have a mystical rather than a sci-fi origin, coming from a totemic spider deity called the Great Weaver and a mystic force called the Web of Life (he also has similar powers himself). However, it turns out that he has a dark secret: he acquired these powers through an illegitimate magic ritual [[IJustWantToBeSpecial because he just wanted to be superhuman]], and when the otherworldy being known as the Gatekeeper comes to kill him for that, he tries to sacrifice Peter to the Gatekeeper instead in order to survive. Nonetheless, he has a last-moment change of heart and sacrifices himself instead, giving up his own life to let Peter live.

* ''Literature/TheThreeInvestigators'': in ''The Mystery of the Invisible Dog'', [[spoiler:Sonny Elmquist]] is a more mundane version of the trope. He is a young man who is fascinated with meditation and Hindu spirituality, and who has genuine paranormal powers (namely, he is an astral wanderer: while he is asleep, he can see what happens in different places through his astral body). And though he is not the main villain of the story, he is unscrupulous enough to use his powers to locate and try to steal the titular dog statue in order to fulfill his dream of collecting enough money for a trip to India.

On the other hand, such an antagonist is possible in a story with a VillainProtagonist or, at least, a considerably morally flawed protagonist. For instance, if the main character is [[CapitalismIsBad a greedy capitalist]], [[AmbitionIsEvil an arrogant social climber]] or a {{transhuman}}ist [[ImmortalitySeeker who seeks to overcome death]], he would naturally be antagonistic to someone who is in touch with God and in harmony with the Universe - and the {{Aesop}} in such a story may be that the enlightened antagonist was right after all.

This trope tends to overlap with LightIsNotGood, GodIsEvil, and PureIsNotGood due to the mixing of the theme of enlightenment and malevolence. Compare and contrast PoliticallyCorrectVillain, which can be considered a mundane version.

* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': {{Parodied}} with the Old Monk from the Lotus Temple episode. He is a Buddhist monk with supernatural powers (including [[LevitatingLotusPosition levitating in the lotus position]]) who [[ProverbialWisdom speaks in cryptic proverbs]], and nonetheless, he turns out to be [[MonsterOfTheWeek the villain of the episode]] and a dark Chi sorcerer who is after the magical Scroll of Hung Chao.

* From ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo'', there is Master Zan. Master Zan was the high mystic of a group of spiritual monks who protected the cosmos from evil and sealed away a group of [[EldritchAbomination creatures]] called the Dark Ones. He was also once [[WarriorMonk Antauri's]] master in the mystic arts and taught him in the ways of mystical energy and the [[SentientCosmicForce Power Primate]]. He was later revealed to be corrupted by the [[BigBad Skeleton King]] and considered serving him and the Dark Ones as the true fate of the cosmos.
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse''. Albedo managed to obtain enlightenment after evolving his own form and absorbing Azmuth’s own intellect into his mind. However, this situation subverts this trope as the combined brainpower led to Albedo having an epiphany, realizing that destroying his enemies was worthless as they would still exist somewhere in the omniverse, nearly causing him to relinquish his antagonism.

* ''Literature/TheThreeInvestigators'': in ''Diamond Dog'', [[spoiler:Sonny Elmquist]] is a more down-to-earth version of the trope. He is a young man who is fascinated with meditation and Hindu spirituality, and who has genuine paranormal powers (namely, he is an astral wanderer: while he is asleep, he can see what happens in different places through his astral body). And though he is not the main villain of the story, he is unscrupulous enough to use his powers to locate and try to steal the titular dog statue in order to fulfill his dream of collecting enough money for a trip to India.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ObanStarRacers'', we have the mysterious Sul who possesses extensive control over time, space, and the course of destiny itself. The only reason he participated in the competition was out of boredom of his godlike power and knowledge. While [[VillainyFreeVillain not directly antagonistic]] towards anyone in particular, [[InvincibleVillain he spends the entire time on Oban first in the rankings despite not always coming in first place and decimates anyone who stands against him]]. [[spoiler:He was personally removed from the story by [[TheManBehindTheMan Canneletto]] after his victory streak started becoming a serious threat to his plans to become the [[PhysicalGod Avatar]]]].

* ''VideoGame/TouhouProject'':

*** Special mention goes to Seiga Kaku, who ascended and became an immortal HermitGuru by faking her death in a way that fooled the AfterlifeBureaucracy. Unfortunately, the oneness with the universe that she got from this apparently made her realize that [[NatureIsNotNice the laws of the universe contain no moral guidelines]], making her completely unconcerned with stuff like [[{{Necromancer}} raising the dead]] and qualifying her as one of the few truly "evil" characters in Touhou, [[AffablyEvil a role she has]] [[CardCarryingVillain wholeheartedly embraced.]]

* In the ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperheroes'', Element Lad became one in the "Legion Lost" arc. After saving his teammates from being trapped in a space-time rift, Element Lad was accidentally left behind within the rift and stayed trapped there for [[TimeAbyss billions of years]]. During that time, he managed to watch the stellar life-cycles of stars, improved his powers to the point he could create entire worlds, and gained an understanding of life that allowed him to create entirely new sentient species and observe abnormalities even super-geniuses couldn’t detect. It progressed to the point that he became known as [[AGodAmI The Progenitor]] of his new respective cosmos. Unfortunately, [[GoMadFromTheIsolation his time spent in isolation]] [[ImmortalityImmorality drove him to become considerably callous to all mortal life due to his immeasurable lifespan]] and he began purging any creature he saw as a “variant” to his designs. After seeing him, [[TheSmartGuy Brainiac Five]] admitted Element Lad was not evil as the Legion understood, [[DrivenToVillainy but was working at a level so far removed from conventional life that his view of life became callous by default.]]

* ''Westernanimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. Book 3's main antagonist, Zaheer, [[spoiler: is capable of meditating into the Spirit World long before he gained Airbending, managed to sever all his physical ties to the world after the death of his [[UnholyMatrimony beloved]] and mastered the Airbending secret of [[{{Flight}} weightlessness]] that was long believed to be fictional even by current Air Nomads.]] He also [[BombThrowingAnarchists tried to create worldwide anarchy and destroy all governmental systems due to his belief of their creation being the main cause behind planetary imbalance]], though by the end [[PyrrhicVillainy all he really achieved was to open the path for a fascist dictator to seize power]]. In the fourth book, he acknowledges this when Korra throws it in his face, and ends up becoming an EvilMentor to her on the grounds that said dictator is everything he despises. In the process, he successfully helps her to push past the spiritual block caused by the trauma she underwent at the hands of him and the rest of the Red Lotus, thanks to his sincere that she is [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre stronger than she thinks]] (having seen the evidence).

* Tamapara, the resident EvilOverlord in ''Against the Dark Yogi'', is an extremely powerful yogi and ascetic who has turned his spiritual abilities against the cosmic order and is trying to hasten the end of the current cycle of the universe.

* ''Westernanimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. Book 3's main antagonist, Zaheer, [[spoiler: managed to sever all his physical ties to the world after the death of his [[UnholyMatrimony beloved]] and mastered the Airbending secret of [[{{Flight}} weightlessness]] that was long believed to be fictional even by current Air Nomads.]] He also [[BombThrowingAnarchists tried to create worldwide anarchy and destroy all governmental systems due to his belief of their creation being the main cause behind planetary imbalance]], though by the end [[PyrrhicVillainy all he really achieved was to open the path for a fascist dictator to seize power]].

* Fernando Vera from Mr.Robot. He's a philosophising murdering manipulating rapist drugdealer. He uses his pain as his power to understand the Cosmos and has no problem destroying anyone in his way. He advises Elliot with his viewpoint:"once you have weathered a storm like yours, you become the storm. And it's the rest of the world that needs to run for cover".

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** The Eldar are an ancient race devoted to removing Chaos and the Necrons from the galaxy. Unfortunately, their insufferable CantArgueWithElves attitude causes a lot of conflict with the Imperium of Man that could have been avoided if they'd simply not assumed that being Elddar, they could handle it better than PunyHumans.

* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'': The Lizardmen are the faction most devoted to fighting against Chaos, being nearly immune to its effects and devoted to destroying wherever they find it. Unfortunately, because they're simply not concerned about what other species do, this causes a lot of entirely avoidable conflict such as completely ravaging the dwarf's subterranean empire because they thought the continents were in the wrong place and "corrected" several millennia's worth of continental drift or killing elf ambassadors because "they should not be here" as the elves were originally a single race living on Ulthuan before splitting into the High Elves, Dark Elves and Wood Elves, who all hate each other, much of which has allowed Chaos to prosper.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40K'':

* Overwhelmingly common in Hong Kong produced MartialArtsMovies due to the spiritual underpinnings of Kung Fu in general and its relationship with [UsefulNotes/Taoism Taoism], both systems in which enlightenment and violence are not necessarily mutually exclusive. The villain also needs to be good enough at fighting to give the hero a compelling struggle, and making him an OldMaster is one of the easiest ways to write this into the story. Inkeeping with his role in folklore, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bak_Mei Bak Mei]] is almost guaranteed to get this treatment whenever he shows up.