History Main / HiddenAgendaVillain

->''“A man with no motive is a man no one suspects. Always keep your foes confused. If they don’t know who you are or what you want, they can’t know what you plan to do next.”''

->"''You'll never get away with this! By the way, just what exactly are you trying to get away with?''"
-->--'''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'''

* The ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'' and 40k god Tzeentch is supposedly working on some inscrutable endgame, to which he has innumerable [[GambitRoulette GambitRoulettes]] running at all times, often seeming to work against each other. It has been suggested a few times that the plotting might be the objective itself, since as a god of chaos it wouldn't be much fun if he won and there was only his own will. Another suggestion is that his plotting has become so complex that it's self-defeating, and Tzeentch himself has lost control of his GambitRoulette.

* Gammis Turek of ''Literature/VattasWar'' is one such villain. While it's clear that he plans on using his fleet of SpacePirates to take over,thefull goals are never revealed in any detail, and are only speculated by the heroes.

* The Titans in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' have seemingly no reason for why they eat humans. They don't eat them for sustenance, and seemingly hold no malice against humans. The [[spoiler:Titan Shifters]] are even worse. Although there have been hints, there has so far been no explanation for ''why'' [[spoiler:Bertholdt, Reiner and Annie]] are trying to destroy the Walls, or why they are so interested in Eren, or even where they came from and how they got their powers.

* Webcomic/AvasDemon: TITAN is a GalacticConquerer and has a rising popularity as a Cult, private army, MegaCorp and Lifestyle, his true motivations for his conquest are unknown, but "TITAN has a plan for you."

* AleisterCrowley from ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''. Manipulates damn near everything, and whenever the heroes do something, he'll usually gloat in his tower that they've completed ''some'' objective for him. [[spoiler:He's not perfect: Shiage inadvertently managed to [[SpannerInTheWorks throw all his plans out of whack]] and he's none too pleased with that.]]

** The Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse has recently provided answers, though.

-->--'''TotallySpies'''

* Littlefinger of ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' is clearly gunning for ''something'', but as he's an absolutely pathological liar with a high-functioning but severe case of ChronicBackstabbingDisorder, it's not exactly easy to make out. The only fairly clear part of his agenda is the possible FatalFlaw, and even that might be an act.

* The hyper-advanced alien Overlords in Arthur C. Clarke's ''ChildhoodsEnd'' arrive in Earth's orbit and, over a few decades, end all armed conflict and introduce technologies that increase living standards worldwide, all the while refusing to explain their motivations. It turns out that [[spoiler: the final generation in humanity's evolution had just been born. The Overlords were sent to ensure that they succeed in becoming part of the Overmind, a universal hive-mind that the Overlords, for reasons unspecified, are unable to join.]] Whether or not the Overlords play a villainous role is perhaps a matter of opinion.
* We don't find out until the last few CHAPTERS of the SEVENTH BOOK why the Trustees betrayed the Architect in ''KeysToTheKingdom''. We also find out who precisely backstabbed the Piper, why the Will cursed the Trustees, whether or not it was the real Big Bad, what Sunday was up to this whole time, and in the last chapter (sans epilogue) why the Architect imprisoned the Old One. Now THAT'S a long set-up.
* In Mary Gentle's ''AshASecretHistory'', the Wild Machines' true motive for wanting to destroy the world and erase future history isn't revealed until the final climax, and comes as a total shock to both Ash and the reader.

** The StarTrekNovelVerse has recently provided answers, though.

* In the ''DiagnosisMurder'' episode "Rear Windows '98" we never learn what the killer's motive was.

* The ''WarhammerFantasy'' and 40k god Tzeentch is supposedly working on some inscrutable endgame, to which he has innumerable [[GambitRoulette GambitRoulettes]] running at all times, often seeming to work against each other. It has been suggested a few times that the plotting might be the objective itself, since as a god of chaos it wouldn't be much fun if he won and there was only his own will. Another suggestion is that his plotting has become so complex that it's self-defeating, and Tzeentch himself has lost control of his GambitRoulette.

* Mercilessly parodied in ''NoMoreHeroes'', in which [[spoiler:Jeane]], a character given precious little foreshadowing [[AllThereInTheManual except in the manual]] (and in [[spoiler:the name of protagonist Travis Touchdown's cat]]), suddenly appears out of nowhere. After the supposed final opponent Dark Star makes a ridiculous LukeIAmYourFather pronouncement, Jeane kills the man from behind before any fight takes place, and she does so by ''[[GroinAttack punching him through the crotch]]'' no less. As it turns out, [[spoiler:Jeane]] has had a grudge against Travis all along, but unless you can capture video and play it back slowly (or have Internet access and see the clip on Website/YouTube), you'll never know: she explains that the details are too gruesome and that they might [[NoFourthWall drive the game's rating up even further]] ("What if it gets delayed? You don't want this to become [[{{Vaporware}} No More Heroes Forever]], do you?"), so she only agrees to divulge them through a brief fast-forward sequence where every revelation prompts a stunned reaction from Travis, but the revelations themselves are [[MindScrew perfectly unintelligible]] (save for at the end, when Travis unhelpfully summarizes that [[spoiler:Jeane is his half-sister]]).

* What, exactly, Kun Lan is doing in ''{{Killer7}}'' is never truly revealed. It is merely hinted that [[spoiler:he and Harmon pass the centuries by one causing trouble and the other putting a stop to it. The games godlike entities play...]]
* A strange example of what may be a HiddenAgendaVillain, or maybe a Hidden Agenda ''Hero'' can be found in the High Men race of strategy game ''AgeOfWonders''. They're listed as Pure Good-seems obvious. They're masters at fighting the Undead, and aggressively attack other evil races-fine. They're unusually friendly with the humans. Fair enough. They're so piously righteous that they make even the game's main good guys nervous-hmmm... and what, exactly, have they come to ''do''? You only find out in the epilogue, and let's just say that a Keeper who leaves the dwarf-elf-halfling coalition to join the High Men will face a bittersweet ending at best...

* Hel's plan in ''ValkyrieProfileCovenantOfThePlume'' gets no explication whatsoever. In one ending a character suggests she was just stirring up trouble ForTheEvulz, but this character has no way of knowing for sure. It is a reasonable theory that she [[spoiler: wanted to get her hands on the Angel Slayer]], but this is conclusively proven either.

* Jon Irenicus in BaldursGate2 spends the whole game thwarting any attempt to directly glean his motives and ultimate goal for capturing and performing horrific experiments on you and your party (and then letting himself get arrested and carted off to a magic insane asylum while dragging one of your party members with him.) [[spoiler: The party eventually finds out he's an elf exiled from his homeland and stripped of his soul, and he wants the soul of a Bhaalspawn to save himself and get revenge on those who exiled him.]]

* Vlad Masters often does this in ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom''. The first major instance is getting the Skeleton Key. Neither the heroes nor the audiences know why he wanted it. It's revealed in a later episode. The ''same'' episode then shows '''ANOTHER''' hidden agenda; namely Vlad obtaining the Fenton Ecto Suit, [[TheDragon The Fright Knight]], the Ring of Rage (which he didn't get), and the Crown of Fire. While the former is shown in a later episode, the rest unfortunately is never explained due to the show being cancelled.

* The Titans in ''AttackOnTitan'' have seemingly no reason for why they eat humans. They don't eat them for sustenance, and seemingly hold no malice against humans. The [[spoiler: Titan Shifters]] are even worse. Although there have been hints, there has so far been no explanation for ''why'' [[spoiler: Bertholdt, Reiner and Annie]] are trying to destroy the Walls, or why they are so interested in Eren, or even where they came from and how they got their powers.

* The Titans in ''AttackOnTitan'' have seemingly no reason for why they eat humans. They don't eat them for sustenance, and seemingly hold no malice against humans. The [[spoiler: Titan Shifters]] are even worse. Although there have been hints, there has so far been no explanation for ''why'' [[spoiler: Bertholdt, Reiner and Annie]] are trying to destroy the Walls, or why they are so interested in Eren.

* The Titans in ''AttackOnTitan'' have seemingly no reason for why they eat humans. They don't eat them for sustenance, and seemingly hold no malice against humans. The [[spoiler: Titan Shifters]] are even worse. Although there have been hints, there has so far been no explanation for ''why'' [[spoiler: Bertholdt, Reiner and Annie]] would betray their comrades, try to destroy the Walls, or why they are so interested in Eren.

* The Titans in ''AttackOnTitan'' have seemingly no reason for why they eat humans. They don't eat them for sustenance, and seemingly hold no malice against humans. The Titan Shifters are even worse. Although there have been hints, there has so far been no explanation for ''why'' [[spoiler: Bertholdt, Reiner and Annie]] would betray their comrades, try to destroy the Walls, or why they are so interested in Eren.

* In ''MageTheAwakening'', while not all archmasters are necessarily villainous, hidden agendas are fairly par for the course, especially regarding their [[RealityWarping Imperium]] [[CosmicRetcon Rites]]. Not only does utilizing mysterious and circuitous methods of achieving them make them metaphysically easier, keeping the specific agenda hidden from other archmasters makes it less likely that they will employ retroactive sabotage with their own counter-rites.

* That the [[HalfLife G-Man]] has avoided mention this long only goes to show how well his agenda is hidden.
** Heck, we still have no idea if he's a villain, a hero, or something far removed from either.

The inverse of HeWhoMustNotBeSeen. In fact, this villain's appearance may be the only thing about him or her that ''is'' seen. His agenda, his goal, his target, his motives -- all secret. We're shown his face, we know his name, we see what he does and how he operates, but we're never told why. He's after the MacGuffin, but what's he planning to use it for? He consistently sends {{Mons}} and {{Mooks}} out to kill the hero, but why? It's rarely ever as simple as [[TakeOverTheWorld taking over the world]] (''rarely'', but one shouldn't say never).

Note that this does not apply to the occasional episode-long secret plan. True Hidden Agenda Villains have a hidden agenda for an entire series or arc. If he ever "discusses" it with his minions or partners, expect TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness.

Don't bother trying to decipher his hidden agenda; sometimes even the writers don't know. They're playing it safe until they come up with something good without having to {{Retcon}}. If and when an explanation is revealed, it may involve a LukeIAmYourFather. Note, no matter what happens, it's probably [[JustAsPlanned exactly as planned]].

* In the first ''MassEffect'', Saren is identified as the bad guy less than an hour into the game but the question of ''why'' he's working for the Reapers isn't explained for quite a while. As for his ultimate goal of acquiring the "Conduit", you don't find out what it is and what it does until the very end-game.

** Though you can make a pretty good guess: [[spoiler: It was Cavil all along. He wanted to prove to The Five that HumansAreBastards so they would abandon their old efforts to make peace with them and hand over Resurrection technology to Cavil.]]

* "[[NebulousEvilOrganisation The Organisation Which I Represent]]" in the ''Literature/MediochreQSethSeries'', and their main representative, [[MagnificentBastard the tempomancer]]. We know that they have a secret plan ([[YouCantThwartStageOne and they're already on stage three]]) and it somehow benefited their cause to manipulate everybody in the first book into doing at least some of what they did, possibly [[TheChessmaster everything]]. The tempomancer tells Joseph that they are {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s seeking to ensure that some future event of Biblical proportions (he specifically references the [[TheBible Tower of Babel]]) results in the most [[ForScience scientifically-beneficial]] outcome, but it's hard to tell how much of that is true considering [[ManipulativeBastard tricking people is what the tempomancer is there for]]. And it's hard to see how their actions could possibly affect anything of that sort.

* The ''apparent'' current [[BigBad Big Bads]] of the ''DresdenFiles'' universe are the Black Council. We've seen some of their members, we know some of their methods, and we've seen Dresden scuttle some of their plans. We still haven't the faintest idea what their overall agenda is, though it's hard to imagine what plan has "[[AGodAmI become a god]]" as an ''intermediate step''.