History Main / TemporaryPartyMemberToVillain

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%% [[folder:Non-video-game examples]]

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One other common use for the Villain Guest Star is a sort of inverse TasteOfPower. By showing the Villain Guest Star as stronger, faster, and all-around better than any of the main party during battle, it's possible to show how hopelessly out-classed the main party is by their adversary. This can also give the main characters a chance to see the sort of power they one day wish to gain once they have [[LevelGrind grown stronger]]. When this happens, expect the villain of the party to [[VillainForgotToLevelGrind have stagnated the whole time]].

* This occurs many times in the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy'' series:

%% (Administrivia/PartialContextExample: When does Ardyn enter the party? At which moment he exits the party? When do you fight Ardyn?) ** During certain segments of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', Ardyn welcomes himself into the party without any consent from Noctis or the rest of the party. None of the team [[ObviouslyEvil trusts him one bit]], and he merely joins to lead you to where he wants you to go.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates: Conquest'', you temporarily assume control of Takumi Sakura during Chapter 5 before permanently burning bridges with her home country, at which point she becomes an antagonist (thus making this an interesting inversion where ''you'' betray the temporary party member, not the other way around). Sakura is then fought twice - once in Chapter 6 and once in Chapter 22.

*** If you remain loyal to the Church of Seiros following this betrayal, they both play this straight; you fight Edelgard once before the route split and twice afterward, while Hubert is fought two or three times depending on whether you do a certain paralogue post-timeskip.
*** If you decide to defect to her cause, Flayn deserts you out of personal loyalty to the Church's leaders and is fought twice afterwards, making her a heroic example. Before the betrayal, you can also temporarily control Church members Seteth and Catherine for one paralogue each, and they oppose you and are fought twice each after the route split (plus one more paralogue fight for Catherine).

One other common use for the Villian Guest Star is a sort of inverse TasteOfPower. By showing the Villain Guest Star as stronger, faster, and all-around better than any of the main party during battle, it's possible to show how hopelessly out-classed the main party is by their adversary. This can also give the main characters a chance to see the sort of power they one day wish to gain once they have [[LevelGrind grown stronger]]. When this happens, expect the villain of the party to [[VillainForgotToLevelGrind have stagnated the whole time]].

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': Goro Akechi joins the party for a single palace before it's revealed that he was infiltrating the Phantom Thieves for his own ends, was the one responsible for the mental shutdowns, and was the traitor mentioned at the beginning of the game all along.

%% * ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
%% (Administrivia/PartialContextExample: Doesn't specify if the player fights against Orson later.) ** A particular example takes place in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'': The game follows two teams, with the second one being introduced during the interlude. Orson is a starting member of the second team, being played as during one chapter in the game alongside Ephraim, Kyle, and Forde. However, by the time Eirika meets him, he has pulled a FaceHeelTurn.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'': Arvis briefly appears in the prologue as an AI-controlled, OneManArmy allied unit who helps Sigurd deal with the Verdane invasion and hands him the [[InfinityMinusOneSword Silver Sword]]. He's then later encountered during the game's WhamEpisode, where he's revealed to have become TheEmperor and TheHeavy in the process, and he kills Sigurd and wipes out his army, becoming a key antagonist in the game's second half.

A SixthRangerTraitor variation exclusive to videogames, this trope applies to any situation when a GuestStarPartyMember later becomes a villain or antagonist for a reasonable portion of the game, usually the climax where they're taken down. Sometimes, the temporary member has [[HiddenAgendaVillain hidden motives of their own]], or has a personality which [[HeWhoFightsMonsters is likely to]] JumpOffTheSlipperySlope. Sometimes the ally you side with today will be the villain you fight tomorrow.

This is a great way to build up both drama and characterization. The main characters can be shown interacting with the eventual villain, allowing character growth for all sides. For the Temporary Party Member, the time spent in the party allows a more personal characterization to be given to him, better explaining his personality and motives. This is particularly effective with an AntiVillain, as it allows one to grow attach to (and better understand) the villain motives and why he acts the way he does. For the rest of the main party, this allows development of a relationship with the villain, increasing the drama [[FaceHeelTurn when the guest star's villainy is revealed]], adding a sense of betrayal which makes the villains actions more [[ItsPersonal personal]]. Don't be surprised if the villain [[SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear uses the equipment you gave them against you]].

* The GSPM leaves betraying the party, or doesn't stick.

This trope also plays with the players expectations. Players are programmed to take for granted that their party is composed of the "good guys". Even in GreyAndGrayMorality settings, the main party are usually still [[ALighterShadeOfGrey the closest there are to good guys]]. So having someone in your party [[EvilAllAlong turn out to be bad]] can be [[ShockingMoments more of a shock to the player]].

One other common use for the Villian Guest Star is a sort of inverse TasteOfPower. By showing the Villain Guest Star as stronger, faster, and all around better then any of main party during battle, it's possible to show how hopelessly out-classed the main party is by their adversary. This can also give the main characters a chance to see the sort of power they one day wish to gain once they have [[LevelGrind grown stronger]]. When this happens, expect the villain of the party to [[VillainForgotToLevelGrind have stagnated the whole time]].

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'': While in Monstro, as Sora, Donald and Goofy face the Parasite Cage for the first time, Riku (who has already allied himself with Maleficent by this point) joins in the fight alongside them. Immediately afterward though, when the Parasite Cage spits Pinocchio out and he falls through a hole in the floor (where he lands on Geppetto's ship), Riku follows and kidnaps Pinocchio himself, feeling that by studying the puppet, he can find a way to restore their friend Kairi's lost heart.
* ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance'' gives you the option of teaming up with Super Skrull or Power Skrull. No matter who you pick for your party, they will betray you later, but are useful in combat an navigation until then.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2''. Halfway through the game you meet Dr. Judith Mossman, assistant to LaResistance leader Eli Vance, at Black Mesa East. She and Eli seemingly get captured by the Combine during a raid and taken to Nova Prospekt, but during Gordon's assault on Nova Prospekt it's revealed that [[LesCollaborateurs she's been in league with the Combine all along]] and had sold out Eli and the location of his base months in advance. When Gordon and Alyx corner her, she initially cooperates with them to bring Eli to safety via a teleporter inside the prison but pulls a fast one and teleports herself and Eli to the Citadel instead. However, when Gordon finally meets [[BigBad Dr. Breen]] in the Citadel during the climax, Mossman is horrified of Breen's intention to essentially execute Eli and Alyx, so she pulls a HeelFaceTurn and saves the two of them and Gordon all at once.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein2009'': Roughly a third into the game, B.J. Blazkowicz, after retrieving the Thule Medallion for the Kreisau Circle, meets the Golden Sun trio, whose leader, Leonid Alexandrov, distrusts you from the beginning. After the seemingly death of Caroline Becker, the trio disappears. Aboard the Zeppelin in the climax, we learn that [[LesCollaborateurs Alexandrov was in league with the Nazis all along]], talking with BigBad Deathshead about how easy he did things for the regime, starting with intercepting B.J. at the beginning of the game. [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves Then he's promptly executed by Deathshead's second in command.]]

* ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresIII'': In the second level of the ''[[Recap/AgeOfEmpiresIIIActIIISteel Steel]]'' campaign, we meet Pierre Beaumont, a french skin trader who makes an offer to [[TheProtagonist Amelia Black]] about some mines with gold after a HoldTheLine mission where he assists as an ally; he needed her men so he can extract the gold from said mine. However it turns out the mine was a lie, and Beaumont was actually the newest member of the reformed [[AncientConspiracy Circle of Ossus]], and she would have fell to a trap weren't it for her uncle Kanyenke/Ká:nien. Amelia, with the help of her uncle and other allies such as Major Cooper and UsefulNotes/SimonBolivar, tracked down Beaumont until they reached the Circle's base at the Florida. There, Amelia's forces fought against the Circle, with Beaumont dying via BoomHeadshot in the final cutscene.

** ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' has Sarah Kerrigan. She joins halfway into the Terran campaign as a Ghost under Arcturus Mengsk's orders for a mission where she needs to infiltrate into an enemy base. This lasts until the previous-to-last mission where she's left behind by Mengsk, prompting campaign hero Jim Raynor to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere quit in protest]]. Kerrigan returns reborn as a villain in the fourth mission of the original Zerg campaign, a role she keeps until her de-infestation via Keystone in the climax of ''VideoGame/StarcraftIIWingsOfLiberty''.

* ''VideoGame/BravelyDefaultII'': Prince Castor joins the party shortly after their arrival in the city of Savalon, professing an interest in helping Princess Gloria locate the [[MacGuffin Water Crystal]]. However, he secretly plans to use the crystal for selfish ends, and betrays the party in order to claim it for himself once they find it. He's the end-of-chapter boss, and his fight takes place shortly after he steals the crystal.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': Cloud has a flashback of himself fighting alongside the game's BigBad Sephiroth before he went AxCrazy. This serves to illustrate how badass Sephiroth is, since he can {{Curb Stomp|Battle}} all of the enemies that he comes across.

%% (Administrivia/PartialContextExample: When do you fight Seymour?) ** For one boss fight in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', the villainous Master Seymour Guado assists Lady Yuna in fighting a sinspawn. Seymour is clearly much stronger then the main characters, and you can summon his Aeon which was used to quite some effectiveness during an earlier cutscene.
%% (Administrivia/PartialContextExample: When does Vossler joins your party? And when do you fight Vossler?) ** Vossler in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' spends some time fighting as a member of the party, but is eventually revealed to be a traitor and throws in his lot with TheEmpire.

%% (Administrivia/PartialContextExample: When does Ardyn enters into the party? At which moment he exits the party? When do you fight Ardyn?) ** During certain segments of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', Ardyn welcomes himself into the party without any consent from Noctis or the rest of the party. None of the team [[ObviouslyEvil trusts him one bit]], and he merely joins to lead you to where he wants you to go.

* In ''VideoGame/LunarSilverStarStoryComplete'', BigBad Ghaleon joins the party briefly for an EscortMission... [[BodyguardingABadass you're the ones being escorted]]. He has a host of spells that do max damage to all enemies, full MP and HP, and, despite being a magic-type character, can do three attacks each for far more damage then the main melee.

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': Goro Akechi joins the party for a single palace, before it's revealed that he was infiltrating the Phantom Thieves for his own ends, was the one responsible for the mental shutdowns, and was the traitor mentioned at the beginning of the game all along.
* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'' has Seth, an archeologist who [[EleventhHourRanger joins the party really late in the game, at Soldier's Island]]. After fighting alongside them in a single dungeon in the island, he turns out to be a disguised [[BigBad Dark Force]] and the party fights him (Though whether Seth was really Dark Force in disguise or a man that fell victim to DemonicPossession is ambiguous).
%% (Administrivia/PartialContextExample: When does Nicolai leave the party? When does the player and its party confront Nicolai?) * ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'': Covenant has Nicolai briefly in the party. This one he is average power, with special abilities, and a role and alignment that all scream "obvious good guy", so the intent is clearly to mess with audience expectations. This is made all the more interesting in that Yuri, the main character, is made out as a scary EldritchAbomination evil monster at first.
* ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' goes the extra mile by making this trope span multiple games. Lt. Virgil joins the team briefly before getting killed by a party member. He is next run into in another game as The Blue Testament after one of the big bad plotters revived him with and gave him a super power boost.

* In ''VideoGame/ShiningForceII'', when the party arrives at Polca Village, they're joined for a while by Oddler, a blind amnesiac boy who becomes an NPC character. He leaves the party when they arrive at Creed's mansion, but after a while he regains his memories as Oddeye, the greatest of Zeon's Four Greater Devils, and the party encounters him again before fighting [[TheDragon King Galam]] and Zeon himself.
* ''VideoGame/TearRingSaga'' has Zieg, who's recruited early on under the pretense of being a former Barge soldier forcibly conscripted into Zoa's Dark Army. At the start of the 2nd route split however, this turns to out to be a lie and Zieg is actually a Zoan himself, having been sent to spy on Runan's group, after which he leaves. He's fought by both Runan and Holmes' groups in two maps during the final route split, and he keeps whatever stats he gained during the time he was playable.

%% (Administrivia/PartialContextExample: Doesn't specify if the children fights against Venger later.) * ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons'': "The Hall of Bones". The children need a guide to the titular hall, and are joined by Hector the Halfling, who says he can guide them for a price. When they reach the Hall of Bones, they ask him what his price is. It is at this point that he reveals that he is, in fact, actually [[BigBad Venger]].

%% (Administrivia/PartialContextExample: When does the party fight Seth/the Dark Force?) * ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'' has Seth, an archeologist who [[EleventhHourRanger joins the party really late in the game]]. After fighting alongside them in a single dungeon, he turns out to be an incarnation of Dark Force (Though whether Seth was Dark Force in disguise or was actually possessed by him is ambigous).

%% (Administrivia/PartialContextExample: When does the party fight Oddeye?) * In ''VideoGame/ShiningForceII'', the force is joined for a while by Oddler, a blind amnesiac boy. After he leaves the party, he regains his memories as Oddeye, the greatest of Zeon's Four Greater Devils.

* Subverted in the main game of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'': Halfway through the game you meet Dr. Judith Mossman at Black Mesa East, who's seemingly part of LaResistance. During the assault to Nova Prospekt, it's revealed that [[LesCollaborateurs she's been in league with the Combine all along]], and takes Eli Vance straight to Wallace Breen. However, when Gordon finally meets Breen in person in the climax, Mossman is horrified that Eli was going to be executed, so she picks up Gordon's Gravity Gun and frees him, allowing him to destroy the Citadel.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' Pokey joins the party as a rather ineffective team member during the opening act. He joins up with several villains over the game, culminating in becoming the semi-final boss and later the BigBad of ''VideoGame/Mother3''.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', Seifer accompanies Squall and Zell for the final part of the exam to decide if they become fully-fledged members of [=SeeD=]; when Seifer fails the exam, he goes rogue and winds up as TheDragon to the game's BigBad.

* ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresIII'': In the second level of the ''Steel'' campaign, we meet Pierre Beaumont, a french skin trader who makes an offer to [[TheProtagonist Amelia Black]] about some mines with gold after a HoldTheLine mission where he assists as an ally; he needed her men so he can extract the gold from said mine. However it turns out the mine was a lie, and Beaumont was actually the newest member of the reformed [[AncientConspiracy Circle of Ossus]], and she would have fell to a trap weren't it for her uncle Kanyenke/Ká:nien. Amelia, with the help of her uncle and other allies such as Major Cooper and UsefulNotes/SimonBolivar, tracked down Beaumont until they reached the Circle's base at the Florida. There, Amelia's forces fought against the Circle, with Beaumont dying via BoomHeadshot in the final cutscene.

* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'' has Seth, an archeologist who [[EleventhHourRanger joins the party really late in the game]]. After fighting alongside them in a single dungeon, he turns out to be an incarnation of Dark Force (Though whether Seth was Dark Force in disguise or was actually possessed by him is ambigous).

* In ''VideoGame/ShiningForceII'', the force is joined for a while by Oddler, a blind amnesiac boy. After he leaves the party, he regains his memories as Oddeye, the greatest of Zeon's Four Greater Devils.

** Hikari's first chapter opens with him fighting in a battle alongside his war buddies Ritsu and Rai Mei. Later in the chapter, Hikari's brother Mugen assassinates their father, King Jigo, and launches a coup to seize the kingdom for himself - Ritsu pledges his support to Mugen and is tasked with killing Hikari.
** Subverted by Rai Mei - she reluctantly backs Mugen out of fear he'll slaughter her clan, and serves as a BossFight in Hikari's story, but ultimately decides to back Hikari's claim to the throne and fights alongside him once again in his final chapter.

%% [[folder:Non videogame examples]]

One other common use for the Villian Guest Star is a sort of inverse TasteOfPower. By showing the Villain Guest Star as stronger, faster, and all around better then any of main party during battle, it's possible to show how hopelessly out-classed the main party is by their adversary. This can also give the main characters a chance to see the sort of power they one day wish gain once they have [[LevelGrind grown stronger]]. When this happens, expect the villain of the party to [[VillainForgotToLevelGrind have stagnated the whole time]].

Supertrope to SixthRangerTraitor. Compare TheMole, where the villain not only was EvilAllAlong but was sent to infiltrate among the party's ranks. Contrast DefeatMeansFriendship, where you fight the boss ''before'' they join your party.

* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'' has Seth, an archeologist who [[EleventhHourRanger joins the party really late in the game]]. After fighting alongside them in a single dungeon, he turns out to be an incarnation of Dark Force (Though whatever Seth was Dark Force in disguise or was actually possessed by him is ambigous).

%% (Sounds like an example of DefeatMeansFriendship) * InvertedTrope in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'': You have the option to recruit the DiscOneFinalBoss, Magus. Magus is fought at the halfway point of the game, then becomes available to recruit right before the final stretch of the game, and is available from that point on as a party member.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' Pokey joins the party as a rather ineffective team member during the opening act. He joins up with several villains over the game, culminating in participating in the final boss battle.

%% (Administrivia/PartialContextExample: Doesn't specify if the player fights against Bowser later.) * ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheOrigamiKing'': In the final area of the game, [[BigBad Bowser]] joins as a temporary party member, attacking enemies with his fire breath in battles.