Basic Trope: Snakes are usually associated with evil.
- Straight:
- The evil assassin "The Viper" has a snake motif; he's sneaky, treacherous and fond of Poisoned Weapons. His costume resembles a cobra's hood and he has a habit of hissing when he speaks.
- Salvadore, a boa constrictor, is the Big Bad of Amazonia, who seeks to kill and eat the heroes (a marmoset, an agouti and a hyacinth macaw).
- King Blackstone is a cobra-person, whose armies are trying to take over the world. His species are the only ophidian races in the story.
- Exaggerated:
- EVERY snake in the rainforest is an Always Chaotic Evil Card-Carrying Villain that wants to kill everything it sees, and has no redeeming qualities.
- EVERY villain in the world uses a snake motif or is compared to one.
- Downplayed:
- The heroes stop the evil cobra-folk army from taking over the world. They are aided by heroic python-folk.
- The Viper is not the Big Bad; instead, he's an assassin employed by the real Big Bad and is a pretty decent guy when he's not on the job.
- All the snakes in the story are literal Smug Snakes.
- Salvadore is a Non-Malicious Monster; he doesn't target the heroes out of malice, but simply because he's hungry.
- The heroes all have animal motifs; the Token Evil Teammate (or at least resident Jerk with a Heart of Gold) is greaser with a snake motif.
- Justified: The story is told from the perspective of small prey animals; the sort of animals that snakes prey on.
- Inverted: The heroes are all snakes and the mammals are villains.
- Subverted: The heroes (all mammals and birds) have to stop the evil snakes from taking over the world. But when the heroes' army invades Snakeland, they discover that King Slither (a python) and the snakes loyal to him have been trying the whole time to stamp out the evil snakes. Most snakes are decent.
- Double Subverted: The heroes (all mammals and birds) have to stop the evil snakes from taking over the world. When the heroes invade Snakeland, they discover that King Slither has been trying to stop them this whole time. Then later it turns out that Slither's Evil Chancellor (a cobra) is the Man Behind the Man for the bad snakes and is planning to frame the heroes for their acts. And Slither is no paragon either; the heroes are merely helping him because the opposition would be even worse.
- Parodied: Salvadore the boa constrictor is a Big Bad Wannabe, who does various Poke the Poodle acts.
- Zig Zagged: Slither's cobra Evil Chancellor plans to frame the heroes... only for the team to be saved by Pythus, one of Slither's loyal advisors. Pythus later, seemingly, turns on them, believing they are invaders... until King Slither comes along and clarifies the misunderstanding.
- Averted:
- Pythus is a snake on the side of good.
- Snake-themed characters are no more likely than non-snake themed characters to be villains.
- The heroes (an equal mix of mammals, birds and reptiles) have to stop the evil snakes from taking over the world. They are aided by King Slither and his heroic snakes, who want to stamp out the evil snakes, who aim to take over the realm.
- There are no snake-themed characters in the series.
- Enforced: The author is ophidophobic so he thinks they'll be scarier villains.
- Lampshaded: "Why is it that all the baddies are snakes? Is it something in the water in Snakeland?"
- Invoked: Evil King Vivverius (a mongoose) tricks the heroes into attacking his main opponent Naja (a cobra) by framing him for a crime. The evidence is shoddy, but they assume Naja is evil because she's a snake. Vivverius correctly predicts the heroes will fall for it because Snakes Are Sinister.
- The Viper deliberately uses an association with snakes to strike terror into the hearts of his enemies.
- Exploited: The hero uses his pet snake to scare the ophidophobic mooks holding him captive.
- Defied: Naja decides her species doth protest too much and becomes a Defector from Decadence. She may be an Anti-Hero who struggles with her "unnatural" moral code, but with the help of her friends and allies she stays on the side of good.
- Discussed: "Well, I don't really... trust Naja. Aren't you aware of what she is?"
- Conversed: "So a talking snake is an acceptable character, but a talking snake with empathy is absurd?"
- Implied: In the peaceful, good villages, no snakes are to be found. But whenever the villains' armies show up, you can hear hissing sounds from the crowd.
- Deconstructed: Snakes are a victim of Fantastic Racism; feared and distrusted by other creatures.
- Reconstructed: See Defied; enough snakes prove themselves heroic enough that the Fantastic Racism gradually goes away.
- Played For Drama: One of the main heroes turns out to be of part-snake heritage, leading to uneasiness.
- Played For Laughs: Salvadore, a harmless little garter snake, is an incompetent Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain who tries and fails to be taken seriously as a threat.
Back to Snakes Are Sinister with you, you ssstupid mammal!
