History Main / EvilFormerFriend

* Apparently Megatron and Optimus were this in the IDW continuity and in the Movie prequel comics as well

* In ''SuitePrettyCure'', [[CatsAreMean Siren]] and [[EverythingsCuterWithKittens Hummy]] used to be the best of friends until Hummy took Siren's title as singer of the annual "Melody of Happiness", causing the latter to defect to the villains' side. They ''almost'' made up early in the series before [[BigBad Mephisto]] [[BrainwashedAndCrazy forcefully won Siren's loyalty back]]; however, they do get a proper reconcilliation about nine episodes later.

* Alec Trevelyan in {{Goldeneye}}.

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

* In ''SuitePrettyCure'', [[CatsAreMean Siren]] and [[EverythingsCuterWithKittens Hummy]] used to be the best of friends until Hummy took Siren's title as singer of the annual "Melody of Happiness", causing the latter to defect to the villains' side. They ''almost'' made up early in the series before [[BigBad Mephisto]] [[BrainwashedAndCrazy forcefully won Siren's loyalty back]].

[[caption-width-right:250:TheDumbledore and future EvilSorcerer Gellert Grindelwald in happier times.]]

So you have TheDumbledore, your eccentric but wise and ultimately good mentor, and with his backing you're facing off against the nefarious machinations of the local EvilSorcerer, when suddenly you learn a shocking truth- in their youth, rather than being bitter enemies, these guys were best friends!

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 lead TheHero and the audience to reevaluate what they know about both characters.

As the top of the page indicates, tends to happen a disproportionate amount of the time with the resident [[TheDumbledore Wise Old Wizard]] and the EvilSorcerer. Compare and contrast BigBadFriend, where the revelation occurs during the story and the "Bad" character was evil all along (or at least had been for a while) and would rather remain friends despite this. Usually, either the evil character will be a FallenHero or the good one will be TheAtoner (or both, if both started out more morally grey). The evil character will most likely be an EvilCounterpart and/or ShadowArchetype for the good one, and may also be their ArchEnemy. If traces of the past friendship still exist, they might be FriendlyEnemies or even have FoeYay. Compare and contrast RivalTurnedEvil, for where the friendship broke up over personal rivalry before one of the characters turned evil (though certain examples will overlap, not all will).

* In the ''DeathGateCycle'', [[WellIntentionedExtremist Samah]] and [[TheDumbledore Zifnab]] were at least cordial colleagues and possibly friends, at least until Samah went all KnightTemplar and Zifnab dedicated himself to opposing him.
* Though calling them "friends" would be a stretch (he was never a particularly ''nice'' guy), Zedar from ''TheBelgariad'' was once a Disciple of Aldur along with TheDumbledore Belgarath, and the two worked closely together and respected each other. Then [[BigBad Torak]] {{Mind Rape}}d Zedar into becoming TheDragon, and it went rapidly downhill from there.

** Dumbledore and Grindelwald are a bit of an inversion, since Dumbledore was ''very'' morally ambiguous when they were still friends, and then he turned good while Grindelwald didn't.

** ''No one'' wants to mention Sasuke?

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px-Gellert_Grindelwald_and_Albus_Dumbledore_1110.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:250:TheDumbledore and future EvilSorcerer Gellert Grindelwald.]]

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

[[HarryPotter [[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px-Gellert_Grindelwald_and_Albus_Dumbledore_1110.JPG]]]]

[[HarryPotter quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px-Gellert_Grindelwald_and_Albus_Dumbledore_1110.JPG]]

* The Doctor and the Master, from ''DoctorWho''. They're still sort of FriendlyEnemies, but when they were schoolkids together, they weren't enemies at all, and the Doctor has some serious angst about this.

* ''{{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.

*

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* 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.
** Kazuma of the 12 Guardian Ninjas filler arc was one to Asuma, as they served together in the Guardian Ninjas until Kazuma betrayed the group with five of his comrades to make the daimyo the only "king" of the Land of Fire.
** ''No one'' wants to mention Sasuke?
* [[SoulEater Soul Eater's]] [[TheGrimReaper Shinigami]] and [[HumanoidAbomination Asura]] or Shinigami and [[HPLovecraft Eibon]]
* Yuka Sugimoto is this to Youko Nakajima in TheTwelveKingdoms, sort of. [[spoiler: She gets better once defeated, tho.]]
** In different degrees, also [[spoiler: Youko and Yuka's boyfriend Asano. He ''is'' closer to Youko than Yuka is, having known the future Queen of Kei from childhood.]]
* Enchu was formerly close friends with [[MuhyoAndRoji Muhyo]] and Yoichi, but turned to evil after his mother died and Muhyo became an executor instead of him, and serves as the main antagonist for much of the story.
* Toguro toward Genkai in YuYuHakusho.
* [[GeneralRipper Regius]] for Zest in MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS. The two used to be friends while serving together in the bureau, and wanted to ensure that the Bureau's ground forces were able to deal with criminals and other threats. Over time, Regius lost sight of his ideals as he fell under the sway of the High Council, and eventually [[spoiler:Zest and nearly all his team were killed on a raid on a Combat Cyborg facility]]. Zest, [[spoiler:after being cloned]], sought out Regius for answers on why he changed, [[spoiler:but Due killed Regius before he could give any]].
* In ''FushigiYugi'', Miaka and Yui are both best friends until the two are pitted against each other. The odd thing about this particular example is that Yui is deceived into thinking Miaka is the one who turned against her, and that she, not Yui, is the one who is turning evil.
* In ''SuitePrettyCure'', [[CatsAreMean Siren]] and [[EverythingsCuterWithKittens Hummy]] used to be the best of friends until Hummy took Siren's title as singer of the annual "Melody of Happiness", causing the latter to defect to the villains' side. They ''almost'' made up early in the series before [[BigBad Mephisto]] [[BrainwashedAndCrazy forcefully won Siren's loyalty back]].

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* Delia Ketchum used to date Giovanni in the ''{{PokemonLive}}'' musical.
* ''{{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.

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

* 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.

-->'''Ethan:''' Oh, so cross Ripper. We used to be friends. When did all thath fall apart?

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* Darth Vader and Obi-Wan from ''StarWars'' are a double-hitter, as Vader (as Anakin Skywalker) was both Obi-wan's student and his 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.
* ''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.
* Alec Trevelyan in {{Goldeneye}}.
* 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.

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* 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.
* 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.
* Plankton to Mr. Krabs in ''SpongebobSquarepants''
* 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.]]
* The Shredder had this relationship with the Ninja Tribunal in the second ''[[TMNT2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' series.
* In ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Harvey Dent starts off as a close friend of Bruce Wayne before he becomes Two-Face.
* Terry [=McGinnis=] also received this treatment when his old friend fell back into crime and became Big Time in ''BatmanBeyond''.
* In [[TransformersGeneration1 the original Transformers cartoon]], Starscream used to be Skyfire's best friend before the war.

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* Delia Ketchum used to date Giovanni in the ''{{PokemonLive}}'' musical.
* ''{{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.

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* Popular folklore has Billy the Kid and Pat Garret as an example of this, although their friendship was never actually documented.

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* In NorseMythology, Odin and Loki were once [[BloodBrothers sworn brothers]].

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* [[GeneralRipper Regius]] for Zest in MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha StrikerS. The two used to be friends while serving together in the bureau, and wanted to ensure that the Bureau's ground forces were able to deal with criminals and other threats. Over time, Regius lost sight of his ideals as he fell under the sway of the High Council, and eventually [[spoiler:Zest and nearly all his team were killed on a raid on a Combat Cyborg facility]]. Zest, [[spoiler:after being cloned]], sought out Regius for answers on why he changed, [[spoiler:but Due killed Regius before he could give any]].