Basic Trope: A character who thinks he's more morally upright than everyone else, and is an unpleasant person as a result.
- Straight: Mark is a religious man who believes he's the only righteous person in the world. To others, even people who share a faith with him, he comes across as a bullying, sanctimonious Jerkass.
- Exaggerated: Mark believes himself to be more righteous than God. He is a tyrannical Knight Templar who wants to enact genocide on everyone who doesn't follows his beliefs.
- Downplayed:
- Mark is often cocky about his virtue, but is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold at best.
- Mark grudgingly looks down on anyone who doesn't share his beliefs and/or standards. But he keeps his feelings to himself so he wouldn't offend anyone or start fights.
- Justified: Mark is surrounded by evil. Just because he's a jerk about it doesn't mean he's wrong.
- Marcus' behavior did once upon a time come from a place of good intent, and he was lauded for his genuine progressiveness. However, the praise and adulation, combined with becoming increasingly insulated from others outside of his inner circle causes him to believe that he is inherently better than others, and that he can do no wrong.
- Inverted:
- Eviler than Thou
- Mark thinks that everyone else is more righteous than he.
- Subverted:
- It turns out that Mark is indeed more upright than the rest.
- Good Is Not Nice
- Double Subverted: ...but that doesn't keep him from taunting others of their moral failures.
- Parodied:
- The main tenet of Mark's religion is something to the effect of "You shall know you are more righteous because of your membership in this religion," perhaps with subpoints extolling the Tautological Templar stereotype.
- Mark hasn't actually read any of the holy scripture his religion is based upon, instead following what he himself believes it contains, based on hearsay and his own (widely incorrect) assumptions. He still dismisses everyone who contradicts him as "heretics", even religious authority figures who directly quote the scripture in their arguments.
- Zig-Zagged: Mark makes a point of reminding Alice and Bob that he's more moral than they are, but not Danny or Carol.
- Averted:
- Mark doesn't get too carried away with being moral.
- Mark is immoral or amoral.
- Enforced: "I want to portray a jerk who isn't annoying for annoying's sake."
- Lampshaded: "Would it kill you to stop talking about how righteous you are?"
- Invoked: Mark's parents are senior members of their religious institution and teach him to act this way.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Mark is righteous, but knows he isn't as righteous as the others, so he remains humble.
- Discussed: "Any moment now, Mark will suffer the ramifications for being a self-righteous prick."
- Conversed: "Come on, guys, let's go and see Mark, the most 'righteous' person in Troperville!"
- Deconstructed:
- Mark's self-righteousness blows up in his face when he ends up backing the wrong things or making an awful mistake of his own, and his attempts to defend himself are seen by those put off by his attitude as pure hypocrisy on his part. The fact that Mark keeps on trying to defend his behavior, claiming that it's somehow different because he's the one doing it does not help his case.
- See "Exaggerated". Because of this, God severely punishes Mark for his self-righteous attitude.
- Mark's self-righteous attitude has made him morally myopic.
- Believing that he is more righteous than anyone else, Mark starts to develop a cynical hatred for all humanity and grows into a borderline-nihilistic misanthropist who outright ignores any and all goodness humans are capable of doing. This perspective has made him not only more self-righteous but also a bitter and depressed loner.
- The Church is filled with people so utterly self-righteous that they believe they have an inherent right to control and exterminate everyone else for not following their beliefs. They undermine the sanctity of law by pushing their agents into the government, forcing through thousands of laws to effectively enslave and silence anyone who doesn't follow their ideology and demonizing everyone else, and even explicit facts as false, deeming their own beliefs as the absolute truth, and everyone else deserving to perish for daring to oppose them. This escalates into outright genocide with them indulging in their outright malicious glee at exterminating everyone not like them, and no amount of reason or appeals to their humanity works because they literally will not listen to anyone. Even when their God tells them they've sunken straight into outright evil, or that everything they're doing is the exact opposite of the scriptures they left behind, and that they've basically damned themselves for their evil acts, the Church refuses to listen, even going so far as to outright try to murder their own god to ensure that their beliefs never go challenged, putting themselves as godly beings who should never be held accountable. This ultimately results in everyone affiliated with the church not only being damned, but being brutally annihilated and sent to Hell due to the sheer depths of their depravity and denial.
- Played for Laughs: Mark makes much of how righteous he is, then promptly acts in a deeply unrighteous way for Hypocritical Humor.
- Implied:Carol: Did you see Mark at the observance?Danny: Man, what an ass he is for somebody who's so loyal to our creed.
The main page is Holier Than Thou.
