History Main / EvilPuppeteer

* ''ComicBook/Zatanna2010'' introduces Oscar Hampel, a.k.a. Stringleshanks, who was a murderous puppeteer transformed into a lifeless dummy that resembled Hampel's most famous marionette Stringleshanks by ComicBook/{{Zatanna}}'s father John Zatara. However, the spell bound Hampel's wooden existence to Zatara's bloodline. Hampel would later be awakened by Zatanna's presence and come back to plague her as a DemonicDummy.

* ''ComicBook/{{Zatanna}}'': ''ComicBook/Zatanna2010'' introduces Oscar Hampel, a.k.a. Stringleshanks, who was a murderous puppeteer transformed into a lifeless dummy that resembled Hampel's most famous marionette Stringleshanks by Zatanna's father John Zatara. However, the spell bound Hampel's wooden existence to Zatara's bloodline. Hampel would later be awakened by Zatanna's presence and come back to plague her as a DemonicDummy.

* [[AristocratsAreEvil Count Volpe]] from ''WesternAnimation/GuillermoDelTorosPinocchio'' has a puppet show that exploits the LivingToy Pinocchio and is also a RepulsiveRingmaster with a failing carnival. He even has a MotiveRant moment in which he threatens Pinocchio that pretty much sums up the way of thinking Evil Puppeteers have in general, about how he is the master and Pinocchio is his slave who must obey him.

-->--'''Count Volpe''', ''WesternAnimation/GuillermoDelTorosPinocchio''

Another factor in the negative portrayal of puppeteers is the idea of PeoplePuppets - having another person literally pull you around with strings. Some evil puppeteers may even perform PuppetPermutation: the act of turning people into puppets.

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' had ArcVillain Santa Claus, a ManipulativeBastard who made a DealWithTheDevil with the Doll Devil, the [[OddJobGods embodiment of humanity's fear]] toward {{Creepy Doll}}s. Through their contract, they could [[PuppetPermutation turn anyone they touched into puppets]] and created a massive network of EmptyShell slaves around the world.

* ''Franchise/OnePiece'': Doflamingo is a thoroughly sadistic person with RazorFloss powers that he mainly use for PeoplePuppets - he can manipulate people's bodies, usually to harm each other.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' villain The Ventriloquist always carries with him a murderous dummy named Scarface. Part of the fear factor in the Ventriloquist's character is that nobody knows for sure who's really controlling who - some speculate that the Ventriloquist's meek behavior is just a facade for his bloodlust, while some think that Scarface is actually alive, and forcing the Ventriloquist to commit crimes. In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Scarface appears to be a SplitPersonality of his.

* Subverted with Mangiafuoco/Fire-Eater from Carlo Collodi's ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio''. While he initially acts very hostile and wants to finish cooking his roasted goat by burning Pinocchio as punishment for interrupting his puppet show, and then gives off a BadBoss vibe when he decides to burn his Harlequin puppet in Pinocchio's place, he is [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold moved]] when Pinocchio begs mercy for Harlequin and tells him about his poor father, to the point Mangiafuoco decides to spare Harlequin's life by choosing to eat his roast half-cooked and gifts Pinocchio some golden coins to help Geppetto.
* Madame Tarsa from ''Literature/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids'' is more [[BlueAndOrangeMorality blue-and-orange]] than ''evil'', but she's definitely very creepy and very unreliable. And also a bit of a scammer: the first of her creations encountered by the characters is a "ventriloquist's dummy" which ''[[IntangibleTheft steals your voice]]'' to speak with, and won't give it back to you until you buy it from Tarsa.
* In the Literature/ModestyBlaise novel ''I, Lucifer'', the Big Bad's hobby is constructing hand-made marionettes and putting on creepy puppet shows with his wife. One of his underlings reflects that part of why the puppet shows are so unnerving is that they're a reminder that he has real people dancing to his strings as well.
* In Paul Gallico's story ''Love of Seven Dolls'' (which partially inspired the aforementioned movie ''Film/{{Lili}}'') the evil puppeteer character is played much more straight, being a verbally, physically and sexually abusive lover with no FreudianExcuse for his personality. Only at the very end he has a HeelRealization, but it doesn't really make the predicament he put himself and his victim into any better.
* In ''[[Literature/AnnoDracula One Thousand Monsters]]'', Tsunako Shiki is one of Yuki-Onna's pets and she has a fascination and mastery with toys and puppetry, using her skill in these to torment Kostaki. She's so much TheGadfly, that during the battle with the Black Ocean, she turns her puppets on Geneviève for amusement.
* Gaspare Grisini from ''Splendors and Glooms'' by Laura Amy Schlitz is a famous, beloved puppeteer - [[VillainWithGoodPublicity who secretly has a criminal background]]. He kidnapped the two protagonists from an orphanage when they were very young and trained them as assistants for his puppet show.
** [[spoiler:He also routinely kidnaps children from wealthy families by turning them into puppets so he can stash them and then anonymously demands money from their parents for their release. He does this to Clara after she has him perform for her birthday, and it's eerie the way he approaches the girl when he prepares to capture her]].

* Zachariah Skull, the villain of ''Series/TheWildWildWest'' episode "[[Recap/TheWildWildWestS1E21TheNightOfThePuppeteer The Night of the Puppeteer]]". He not only uses a regular puppet (armed with a real gun) in a murder attempt, he also has an army of life-sized marionettes at his command which he controls via steam lines. They can serve wine, play music... and kill.

* ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'': In "The Great Fusilli", the sound of CreepyCircusMusic alerts the Bagges that their house has been visited by a magic stage run by a WickedCultured crocodile named Fusilli. Fusilli encourages Muriel, Eustace, and Courage to perform on his stage, eventually convincing them to [[DealWithTheDevil sign a contract to become full-time actors]]. Things only get worse when Courage goes backstage and discovers many lifeless puppets - and he and his owners are next! [[spoiler:Courage goes back to the stage to warn them, but he's too late - letting out a triumphant EvilLaugh, Fusilli uses his stage to turn Muriel and Eustace into puppets. Fusilli is eventually HoistByHisOwnPetard when he falls onto the stage, and his [[EvilIsHammy natural showmanship]] causes him to perform even as he is turned into a puppet himself. This is one of the show's few {{Downer Ending}}s, however, as Muriel and Eustace are still stuck as puppets.]]

->'''Puppet Chorus:''' Get in line, stay in time\\
Kaos called, it's time to shine!\\
The puppets dance, in her trance!\\
'''Mesmeralda:''' You never really had a chance! I'm the one who pulls your strings!
-->-- Mesmeralda's VillainSong, ''VideoGame/{{Skylanders}}:'' ''[[VideoGame/SkylandersSwapForce SWAP Force]]''

* Adam Rain, the villain of the ''Series/CriminalMinds'' episode "[[Recap/CriminalMindsS8E10TheLesson The Lesson]]" is a serial killer and abductor who loves to target people that feel perfect for the roles of his deranged human puppet show that consists in manipulating the victims like living marionettes. Being played by Creator/BradDourif of [[Film/ChildsPlay Chucky]] fame just adds to the creepiness.
* On ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' there's Eric Doyle (aka The Puppet Master), a creepy ventriloquist whose superpower is to control people like puppets.

* ''Series/OddSquad'': The Puppet Master is this, having turned Olive, Otto, and a few other people into puppets in "Puppet Show".

* ''Theatre/{{Chicago}} has a more metaphorical example during "We Both Reached For The Gun" where Billy Flynn uses his client Roxie like a ventriloquist during her press conference in order to spin a sympathetic story for the newspapers to print. The [[Film/{{Chicago}} film adaptation]] takes it a step farther by splicing in scenes of Flynn doing this to the gaggle of reporters as well, all of them wearing make-up, clothing, and visible strings that make them all look like puppets being played by MagnificentBastard Flynn to tell the story he wants.

-->-- Mesmeralda's VillainSong, ''VideoGame/{{Skylanders}}: SWAP Force''

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/FantasticFour https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marvel_1992_impel_card_107_super_villians_puppet_master.png]]]]

* Pupettino from ''WesternAnimation/PinocchioAndTheEmperorOfTheNight'' plays this trope completely straight by turning Pinocchio back into a puppet with a magical organ grinder. Since Puppetino has done it with Twinkle, a runaway girl Pinocchio grows an affection for, it heavily implies that his whole collection of puppets are former humans that he transformed.

* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'': Relius, one of the baddies, wields an automaton puppet named Ignis, named after - and powered with the soul of - his late wife. He also put the soul of her daughter Ada into the legendary puppet Nirvana, that ends up being used by his son, Carl, who wants revenge on his dad. Relius is even called the "Mad Puppeteer" for this reason.

* ''ComicBook/{{Zatanna}}'' foe Oscar Hampel, a.k.a. Stringleshanks, was a murderous puppeteer transformed into a lifeless dummy that resembled Hampel's most famous marionette Stringleshanks by Zatanna's father John Zatara. However, the spell bound Hampel's wooden existence to Zatara's bloodline. Hampel would later be awakened by Zatanna's presence and come back to plague her as a DemonicDummy.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marvel_1992_impel_card_107_super_villians_puppet_master.png]]

[[quoteright:275:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/evilpuppeteer2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:275:"The Puppeteer" by sculptor Thomas Kuebler.]]

[[BigBad Kaos]] called, it's time to shine!\\

* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' has Barakaka, who for some reason really wanted to boil ohpink (pink ranger) alive. He even hosted his own puppet show to show children how he was going to do it.

For many years, people have been [[UncannyValley disturbed]] by the lifelessness of puppets and dolls, and the fear of these toys coming to life has led to tropes such as PerversePuppet and DemonicDummy. In turn, some are fascinated or horrified of the people who control said puppets, and as a result, many puppeteers and ventriloquists in fiction will be bad guys.