History Main / EvilFormerFriend

* In MemoirsOfAGeisha, this happens to Hatsumomo and Mameha, both who were tutored by the same woman and Sayuri and Pumpkin, who started out as friends, but once [[spoiler: Mother adopted Sayuri instead of Pumpkin and she became a more popular geisha than Pumpkin]], they became rivals (at least in Pumpkin's mind).

* Terry McGinnis also received this treatment when his old friend fell back into crime and became Big Time in ''BatmanBeyond''.

This trope occurs whenever a good aligned character (sometimes TheHero, but more commonly TheObiWan, TheDumbledore, TheAragorn, or the BigGood) is revealed to have had a history as friend, ally, mentor, or even student with a major villain (commonly the BigBad, but sometimes TheDragon or another high-ranking [[EvilMinions Evil Minion]]). Usually the friendship fell through simply because the future villain went power mad and the other character didn't want any more to do with it, but more complex and unusual variations exist. Sometimes it will be known all along, but sometimes it will be the subject of a dramatic reveal that can leadt TheHero to and the audience to reevaluate what they know about both characters.

* HarveyDent is shown as a close friend of both {{Batman}} and CommissionerGordon before turning into {{Two-Face}}, particularly in ''TheLongHalloween''.

--->{{Satan}}, {{Brimstone}}

-->"Don't be a fool. The only one I ever loved was God. And that was a ''[[TimeAbyss long time ago.]]''"

-->"Don't be a fool. The only one I ever loved was God. And that was a ''[[TimeAbyss Long time ago.]]''"

-->"Don't be a fool. The only one I ever loved was God. And that was a ''[[TimeAbyss Long]] time ago."

* Dr. Light and Dr. Wily had this relationship in MegaMan.

* Many tellings of the {{Satan}} story will have pre-Fall Lucifer as God's favorite angel.

* Darth Vader and Obi-Wan from ''StarWars'' are a double-hitter, as Vader (as Anakin Skywalker) was both Obi-wan's student and closest friend.

* ToyStory3 Inverts this: Chuckles the Clown was friends with [[spoiler: Lotso]], who is the BigBad. Witnessing [[spoiler: Lotso]] become a monster resulted in him becoming bitter and cynical

* ''{{Wicked}}'' has an interesting take on this (and this is true for the novel as well): although neither Elphaba nor Glinda is truly a villain in the novel at hand, its entire premise is that it functions as backstory to the original ''TheWizardOfOz''. If one were to take ''Wicked'' as behind-the-scenes canon for ''Wizard'', Elphaba's and Glinda's relationship--as friends in the former and on opposite sides of the conflict in the latter--would certainly qualify.

* In Norse myth, Odin and Loki were once sworn broothers.

[[AC: Fokelore]]

* Revan and Malak in ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''. Inverted in that it's common knowledge that they used to be friends; the twist is that Revan is still alive and back with the Jedi.

* [[SoulEater Soul Eater's [[TheGrimReaper Shinigami]] and [[HumanoidAbomination Asura]] or Shinigami and [[HPLovecraft Eibon]]

* [[TheGrimReaper Shinigami]] and [[HumanoidAbomination Asura]] or Shinigami and [[HPLovecraft Eibon]]

* Darth Vader and Obi-Wan from ''StarWars'' are a double-hitter, as Vader (as Anakin Skywalker) was both Obi-wan's student and closest friend.
** Count Dooku was also once a respected Jedi Master who got on well with his former teacher Yoda and peer Mace Windu. In this case the revelation, especially to the characters, was the fact that he'd turned evil rather than that he had been someone's friend.
* Fire Lord Sozin, the guy who started the War and the tradition of Fire Lords being [[EvilOverlord Evil Overlords]], was once best friends with Avatar Roku on ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'', though in a variation both characters are long dead by the time the viewer learns the details of their history.

* The Doctor and the Master, from ''DoctorWho''. They're still sort of Friendly Enemies, but when they were schoolkids together, they weren't enemies at all, and the Doctor has some serious angst about this.
-->''"Do you remember my father’s land back home? Pastures of red grass, stretching far across the slopes of Mount Perdition.'' ''[[MeadowRun We used to run across those fields all day,]]'' ''[[HoYay calling up at the sky...]]'' ''[[FoeYay Look at us now."]]''
* In ''{{Naruto}}'', Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru were once on the same squad. Jiraiya was Orochimaru's closest friend, before Orochimaru abandoned the Leaf Village. Jiraiya chased him down and tried to talk him out of it, but Orochimaru laughed in his face.

* Many tellings of the {{Satan}} story will have pre-Fall Lucifer as God's favorite angel.

* Vlad Masters from ''DannyPhantom'' was Danny's parents' best friend in college, until a botched experiment dreamed up by Danny's dad Jack disfigured him (and gave him superpowers, but he didn't find that out until later). Vlad is now dedicated towards three goals- killing Jack, convinving Maddie (Danny's mom) to fall in love with him, and making Danny his apprentice. Ironically, [[GeniusDitz Jack]] is the only one ''completely'' oblivious to all this.
* Michael Westen's former partner-in-spying Larry Sizemore, who becomes a PsychoForHire after he faked his death in Serbia. He shows up in Miami running a sort of freelance assassination business; he shows up in a few episodes, during which he forces Michael into Enemy Mine situations.
* It's a plot-point in ''{{Unbreakable}}'', and the last spoken lines in the film are the evil former friend specifically talking about it as a trope in fiction.
* Athos and Nergal from ''FireEmblem''.
* Plankton to Mr. Krabs in ''SpongebobSquarepants''

* Alec Trevelyan in {{Goldeneye}}.
* Delia Ketchum used to date Giovanni in the ''{{PokemonLive}}'' musical.
* The Shredder had this relationship with the Ninja Tribunal in the second ''[[TMNT2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' series.
* Dr. Light and Dr. Wily had this relationship in MegaMan.
* Popular folklore has Billy the Kid and Pat Garret as an example of this, although their friendship was never actually documented.

* TheBatman gives us Ethan Bennett, both a high-school friend of Bruce Wayne's and one of the only cops willing to give Batman a chance. [[spoiler: Naturally, he's accidentally turned into Clayface into the Season 1 finale. He eventually becomes a good guy again after spending a while in the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor.]]

* Darth Vader and Obi-Wan from ''StarWars'' are a double-hitter, as Vader (as Anakin Skywalker) was both Obi-wan's student and closest friend.
** Count Dooku was also once a respected Jedi Master who got on well with his former teacher Yoda and peer Mace Windu. In this case the revelation, especially to the characters, was the fact that he'd turned evil rather than that he had been someone's friend.

* Gandalf and Saruman from ''TheLordOfTheRings'' have elements of this, though their relationship doesn't shatter until early in the present storyline (though the books at least show that it had been fraying for a while before that because of Saruman's jealousy).

* {{Superman}} and LexLuthor, in [[SilverAge some]] [[{{Smallville}} versions.]]

* In ''{{Naruto}}'', Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru were once on the same squad. Jiraiya was Orochimaru's closest friend, before Orochimaru abandoned the Leaf Village. iraiya chased him down and tried to talk him out of it, but Orochimaru laughed in his face.