Always Late To The Fandom

Ok, The Tierlist then

First off, let's establish some ground rules. I'm going to be ranking the characters I know and the characters I don't by separate criteria, so for characters in media I've consumed, I'm going to be grading them both by their designs but also by how they're treated by the story, their role within it, ect. vs characters who's media I haven't consumed I'm going to be ranking by visual design almost entirely, and whatever other sparse knowledge I have of them.

Secondly, let's analyze what makes these characters what they are! My personal criteria for a good Evil Overlord is thus:

1-A, the obvious: Cool-ass armour. Impractical spikes, skulls, ect. are our friends here. or jusr armour otherwise intentionally designed with an air of menace. Armour designed to intimidate above all else. Most optimally with a dark or otherwise colorless palette. Maybe with a sorta selective color thing going on

1-B: A Fully Concealed Face: It adds a level of dehumanization to the character design, adding to the menace

2: A Position of Authority Within the Narrative. Preferably being The One In Charge, but being a close second in command or something similar is also acceptable

3: Some dark magic whatever. Idk why this feels essential to the role

4: Just like, vibes, man. They have to have a general aura of menace and power

Also, Tumblr only lets me do 30 images per reblog so I'm gonna have to do this in two parts

Anyway, Let's get into it

S+ Tier:

Nobody. I'm a picky bitch unfortunately

S Tier:

Apollyon - For Honor

She is, as far as I am concerned, the closest to this trope we have seen thus far. While For Honor's story mode has its fair share of faults, Apollyon ticks ALMOST all the boxes here.

1-A: cool-ass armour: I mean yeah. Though generally lighter than expected, Her armour nonetheless is sharp in its language, rough, and menacing. It has some spikes on the shoulder, it's mostly black, and how worn it is highlights that she practically lives on the battlefield.

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Her helm's eyes have an almost tryphophobia-inducing quality to them, adding to her menace. She is never seen without it.

2: Position of Authority Within the Narrative: She commands the Blackstone Legion, the Bad Guy Knights of the setting, with ruthless efficiency. She's shown almost constantly within the story as a brutal and violent warlord, with a sick-ass castle (that's also the best multiplayer map imo.

3: Dark Magic Whatever: This is the main thing holding her back, since For Honor is an entirely non-magic setting*, she's naturally doesn't have access to any magical anything, though she's about as close to superhuman as one can get in the setting, taking an 8-inch knife to the kidney without flinching and lifting fully armored dudes up with one hand.

4: Vibes: What she lacks in magic she absolutely makes up for in vibes. The story paints her as an almost mythical force, towering above every other character. She's portrayed as insanely brutal and violent, to the point that by her very first second on screen she's already killed a man. She is an extremely menacing and intimidating individual, but also a classic villain with a plan we see unfolding as the story progresses. Shown multiple times to be a brutal warrior of immense skill, menacing stature, and solid tactical mind. She's scary as all shit. I love her

(another point holding her back is that her armour has like, Boob Plate Lite going on? It's definitely the least egregious boob plate I've seen, just barely hits a sort of boob-like form on her breastplate, but is still enough to be noticeable, but not really a dealbreaker)

The Dark Queen of Mortholme - The Dark Queen of Mortholme

I mean, yeah. I've never played this game but at a glance she looks like almost exactly what I'm looking for lol

1-A: Cool-ass armour: Black armor, spiky, crown, big weapon. Checks all the boxes. Also extra points for just really good armor design! Fully enclosed breastplate, visible tassets, 10/10 armor tbh

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Well. Almost. Her nose, mouth, and chin are still visible, but her crown covers her eyes, and that's pretty cool

2: Position of Authority Within the Narrative: I can assume, given the game's title

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Yeah

4: Vibes: I mean, yeah! She's literally set up as the Final Boss Of The Game, she's exactly what it says on the tin, which is more or less exactly what I'm looking for, I'm definitely gonna be playing this game soon so I hope she turns out as cool as she looks

A Tier

Swordhand of Night, Jolán - Elden Ring

A nifty npc from the dlc, associated with Count Ymir and the Fingers. I think aesthetically she fits the vibe near-perfectly, but her role in the story lets her down

1-A: Cool-ass armour: I mean. Yeah. She looks rad, very sauron-coded. I fear her armour looks a little lighter than I'd expect of this kind of trope, but it's relative to the story. (She's technically more heavily armored than Apollyon is, but Apollyon is pretty heavily armored by the standards of For Honor, you see) but comparing Jolán's armor with something like the Tree Sentinel, her kit looks more than a little light. That said, it also looks sick as hell, I'm quite fond of it! I just wish there were more armor pieces I could mix and match with it lol

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Yeah! Fully concealed beneath her helm You can see her face through datamining or hiding her helm in the game files, but it's not visible to the player normally

2: Position of Authority Within the Narrative: Unfortunately, no. She's very solidly set as a subordinate to Ymir, the two have a sort of weird gender-inverted inverted princess-and-knight dynamic going on. It's neat, but also not really what I'm looking for

3: Dark Magic Whatever: She's got a magic sword made of darkness, and a shield that shoots magic at you. Could be better, but counts. Also visually the darkest magic in the game, like it's literally just foggy black particle effects (Which I like)

4: Vibes: idk man I really wish she was cooler. Her armor absolutely nails the assignment but as a character she doesn't really do much at all, and is barely in the dlc. I straight-up missed her entirely the first few times I visited Ymir, which is a shame bc I like Jolán a lot as a character, she just feels underutilized

Astrea - For Honor

A self-appointed successor to Apollyon, trying to continue her bloodstained legacy

1-A: Cool-ass armour: I mean. It's alright. She continues a lot of visual tropes Apollyon had, like the skull-like eyebrows on her helm, the cape, and the sort of exaggerated stop rib on her breastplate (Also a fully enclosed breastplate! No boob cups! Hell yeah!) but I feel like it's just too gold for my liking. Just silver and gold. I know there's something to be said about True Evil Donning The Colors Associated With Goodness And Virtue, but that's not what this trope's about. (Though "A bit too gold for my liking" is a complaint I have with much of For Honor's high level armor tbh)

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Yup! Never revealed, like Apollyon before her :)

2: Position of Authority Within the Narrative: She commands the Horkos legion, which are just kind of cartoon villains how just show up and Be Evil wherever the plot needs them to be. They have a kinda Evil Jester motif for some reason? You don't really get that with Astrea though

3: Dark Magic Whatever: So, remember when I said For Honor was an entirely non-magic setting? Yeah, about that. So Astrea was introduced like 5 years after the initial game, and over those years they've been slowly adding more magic stuff into there. Astrea controls a magic substance called Draconite, which is a magic rock that does like. Whatever the plot wants it to. She can harness it for Corruption purposes, and uses a sort of toxic AoE blast thing. Idk it's neat, really good during the Jorogumo event

4: Vibes: I mean when she first came out it was there! She had a lot of villainous panache, and her introduction fucking with the background of the menu screen was genuinely cool as hell back in the day. As the story progressed though she just kinda became a punching bag for the narrative, and iirc is just kind locked in a gladiator pit rn? idk I think the Order of Horkos is crushed or something now I wasn't paying a lot of attention. Still doesn't command awe and respect the way Apollyon did though, I think

Junon - Dragon Force (Sega Saturn)

I've never played this game, (never heard of it, even) but she looks neat!

1-A: Cool-ass armour: Yeah, it's neat? Nice contrast between the black armor and the white fabric, Big spikey shoulders are a plus. I do love the rendering on the metal, especially

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Doesn't look like it, no. She does have a cool helmet, though keeping it on does not seem to be a priority

Again, I've never played this game so I can't speak on points 2, 3, or 4. Promising, though!

Black Knight - Granblue Fantasy (Granblue fantasy spoilers?)

I've never played a Granblue Fantasy game in my life, but she makes me want to look into it. Is she in the fighting game?

1-A: Cool-ass armour: Yeah, looks pretty rad! Black armor, spikey, nice coverage. Not sure how I feel about the cape, though

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Looks like it

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: I can't tell, the wiki page I found for her is like 4 sentences and don't really say anything on the matter

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Maybe? I saw her surrounded by some funky particle effects in one of the images I googled lol

4: Vibes: Seems neat! Has a bit more of a benevolent vibe than the others on this list, though

Abraxia, Spear of the Everchosen - Age of Sigmar

idk shit about Warhammer but she looks cool!

1-A: Cool-ass armour: Check!

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Check! (I assume, the person who commented this added the image also so I haven't looked her up in detail bc I don't want to pull up the wrong image by accident)

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: I assume so? I can't imagine one gets a title like Spear of the Everchosen without some sort of prestige

3: Dark Magic Whatever: I mean, her spear's on fire so I assume so?

4: Vibes: They're there! Admittedly I'm not the biggest Warhammer fan, but I mean, can't argue with this she looks cool!

Angval - Centuria

I haven't read Centuria (Though I'm definitely going to once I can find a place that lets me) but I like her vibe! One of the replies mentioned there's a second character who could fit this trope as well, but didn't specify who so I'm just gonna stick with Angval since a couple different folk brought her up specifically

1-A: Cool-ass armour: Looks like! Definitely a little more Bouba than the other characters on here, but I mean hey. Black armor and a black cape will get you a long way here. Tall posture, imperious vibe? I dig it

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Looks like it, though upon googling her face is shown at some point

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: I can only assume

3: Dark Magic Whatever: idk

4: Vibes: Hard to say without reading it. I do like what I'm seeing though!

B-tier:

Dancer of the Boreal Valley:

Ok. Look. I know. She's cool as hell, and I love her, but hear me out here.

1-A: Cool-ass armour: Obviously. The uncanny proportions add to her menace, it's great. Less overt in-your-face menacing, no spikes or skulls or blackened steel here, but deeply intimidating nonetheless.

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Yes. The almost birdcage-like bars are a very cool piece of visual symbolism, as well.

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: THIS is why she's in B-tier. She has no authority whatsoever. In-lore she's a half-feral exile who fell from grace when the royal family was overturned. She had her power and authority stripped from her, which is tragic, certainly, but also disqualifies her from the Evil Overlord trope somewhat

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Yeah. Her blades are wreathed in flame and darkness. It's already cool but looks SO much better with her animations

4: Vibes: God, her vibes are immaculate. She's so cool, and moves with this uncanny elegance and grace, her theme song is beautiful and ominous, her veil trails almost weightlessly behind her. Her boss fight is beautiful, intimidating, nervewracking, and fun as shit. Her flaming sword also sets her arena on fire as the fight progresses, with the flames extinguishing when it's over, which is SUCH a rad touch. Genuinely one of my favourite bosses in the game, I love her so much, buuuuut she doesn't quite fit into the trope we're ranking these characters by.

Striga - Castlevania (Netflix)

I mean. Regardless of your feelings on the show itself she does look pretty fuckin cool

1-A: Cool-ass armour: Yeah, Feels a little Berserk, a little Artorias, and has a nice infusion of like, German Gothic armor from real life. It's nice. Love me a raven motif also. (Though how does her hair stick out from the helm? Isn't the armor supposed to protect her from the sun? How does her scalp not burn?)

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: In armor, yes, but she wears it like once and then never again

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: She is one of four vampire rulers, and commands a vampiric army!

3: Dark Magic Whatever: I mean, she is a vampire, but as far as I recall doesn't seem to use any magic

4: Vibes: I mean. She's cool! I think she's neat, I think her armour is rad! I don't have anything else to say about it aside from that she wears it only one time in the whole show and then never again, I'm pretty sure. So like. She fits the trope for like, one scene. And that's it. That's the only reason she isn't ranked higher tbh

Devil Training Armour - Dorohedoro

Somebody mentioned Dorohedoro was good for this trope but I genuinely cannot for the life of me remember any other instance of any characters wearing any armor at all. Noi and Nikaido do wear armour at some point as part of their devil training, but that's all I can remember

1-A: Cool-ass armour: I like Noi's tbh. Spikes, chains, cape, all good. Admittedly it wasn't immediately apparent who she was when she was introduced in her armor and so the second I saw her I was like "Oh shit move over Noi I might have a new favourite character" but then it turns out that was Noi, just from a few years before when the story takes place. Kinda funny that the only character to threaten Noi's position as my favourite character was herself lol

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: No, iirc they both show their faces. I do like their helms, though

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: Not really? Noi's narrative position is a subordinate one, and Nikaido's just kinda doing her own thing

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Kiiiinda. Yes? It's complicated and I don't want to go over the Dorohedoro magic system right now

4: Vibes: Cool! I like them! Admittedly the armour doesn't protect from shit and only serves to hinder their movements, which is a personal pet peeve of mine, but they do look cool!

6 Juggernaut Star Scours the Universe - Kill Six Billion Demons

I've never read Kill Six Billion Demons and I cannot explain the insanity that was googling this character with zero prior knowledge of this comic. I was already off-guard just reading that name, it only got crazier from there.

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: I mean yeah, definitely cool, but feels like it's somehow missing a level of menace to it, y'know? It looks very aggressive, but not very like, regal I guess? Like it's sick but doesn't feel quite right for this trope and I can't put my finger on why. Can't put my finger anywhere on this character I fear, would probably hurt myself

1-B: Fully Concealed face: Yes? Though it's revealed later

2: Position of Authority Within the Narrative: I think so? that's the general vibe I got from her

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Seems like.

4: Vibes: Ok. This feels like it's something else, like it doesn't feel like the trope we're going for here, feels more "Jumps out and beats your shit" rather than "Rises from their throne and kills you in front of her army" But like. fuckin look at this shit, man

What the fuck. This rules.

Undyne - Undertale

I'm glad someone posted an image of her more armored form in the comments, she would be lower down otherwise tbh

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: It's neat, I like the helm! Feels appropriately menacing, especially with that thick black shadow. The selective color thing going on with the plume is another point in its favor, and I like the abstracted mouth vibe the helm's got going on

1-B: Fully Concealed face: I mean no, but in this specific sprite yeah

2: Position of Authority Within the Narrative: I have no idea, I've never played Undertale lol

3: Dark Magic Whatever: No idea

4: Vibes: Idk, looks neat, I couldn't find any other pictures of her with her helm that weren't fanart, though

Dark Lord Gaol - Kid Icarus: Uprising

A rare colorful addition lol

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: It's neat! I like the sort of eldritch flesh cape, glowing eyes peering out from blackness is always cool! Not sure I'm super big on the purple though, and maybe it's just the artstyle or the proportions but she does kind of look like she's 2 feet tall to me in this image

1-B: Fully Concealed face: Seems like, iirc from my cursory google the face beneath it is kind of unrelated to Gaol in general, since she's more like a cursed suit of armor puppetting a (presumably) catatonic host? Could be wrong about that though

2: Position of Authority Within the Narrative: I mean she's got the title of Dark Lord so I assume

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Cursed armor posessing a girl, counts as dark magic to me?

4: Vibes: Idk, I feel like the whole "cursed armor imprisoning a person" aspect kind of goes against the spirit of the trope here, if I'm honest. Part of what makes this trope appealing to me is that the woman is the villain, choosing the armor to inspire fear. Having it be Evil Armor just coincidentally worn by a woman kind of cheapens it to me, in a way. (Though I feel like done differently Evil Haunted Armor Lady could be rad)

Nael Van Darnus

Ok admittedly I have played a little ffxiv, but not enough to know who this is. (That's Garlean armor, right?)

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: Cool enough? Color palette's a bit bright and her helm looks a bit too uncomfortable to move in for my liking, personally, I get this is kind of the "Big Impractical Things On Head" list but idk there's a limit

1-B: Fully Concealed face: yeah, though her face is revealed later

2: Position of Authority Within the Narrative: I think so? Iirc from a friend telling me the lore her name indicates such.

3: Dark Magic Whatever: I assume?

4: Vibes: Seems neat, I remember the tag recommending her including "If they let her cook for more then 5 minutes every 10 years" and like, man. I feel for ya buddy. Hoping your cool lady gets to cook more in the future

Absolute Wonder Woman - Absolute Wonder Woman

I'll be honest I haven't really cared about or engaged with comics for a good while so when I saw someone mention Wonder Woman I had a bit of a double take, but like,

Ok, yeah, I can see it

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: I mean, I've definitely seen worse. From my cursory google search it doesn't look like she stays this armored, though

1-B: Fully Concealed face: At least initially, I assume? As mentioned prior her armor doesn't look like it sticks around. Or DuckDuckGo is prioritizing her less armored panels. hard to tell, really

2: Position of Authority Within the Narrative: No idea

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Presumably?

4: Vibes: I like this look more than the sort of industry standard Wonder Woman, but I just don't really feel like I'm qualified to say much on this. Plus like, it's Wonder Woman, how much of an Evil Overlord are they gonna make her? (Genuine question, I'm not familiar with this line of comics)

C-Tier

Albedo (Overlord)

Man. Got a bit to say about this one I think. It's been fucking ages since I watched/read Overlord, I'll be honest, so I might be a little off the mark here.

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: Uhhhhhhhhhh Ok so here's the thing. Her armor looks vastly different between the anime and the manga. Her manga look is much more of a tank. Either way, credit where it's due, I like the purple. I think the purple is cool. I like the shape of her visor, I like her helm, I like the way it plays with her horns. I don't care for the boob plate, or how gaunt her anime version looks. This armour, This Armour Is Pretty Cool.

1-B: Fully Concealed face: In the armor yes, but I have a similar issue with her that I had with Striga, in that she almost never wears it so what is the point

2: Position of Authority Within the Narrative: I guess TECHNICALLY she's a high ranking member of the Great Tomb of Nazarick or whatever, but like, narratively you'd almost never know it because of how much of her character is devoted to just being Madly In Love With The Protagonist. I didn't read suuuuper far into Overlord, maybe she gets better written later? idk

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Yeah, sure, I guess. She's got spells probably I don't remember

4: Vibes: Bad. Like her armor's cool but she looks like this basically the entire rest of the time and this really just is not the vibe we're going for here

Shoutout to this tag also. I'm right there with ya, bud.

Thus concludes Part One of the Tierlist

Eternal Knight - Fortnite

The original one's the silver but there's an alternate version that's black I guess

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: I will be honest, this outfit doesn't do it for me. Like I get it kind of ticks the boxes I've set, y'know it's got spikey shoulders, a big menacing helm and all that, but it just feels so. Bad. it feels so like, token girl coded, yknow? Everything from her posture to the shapes of her plating. Like it feels like the Girl Version of a different skin that might look cool, maybe, but it feels too like. plastic. Like this feels like Barbie Dream Overlord. This feels like the character designers were too preoccupied with trying to make sure it still fit into the mold of conventionally attractive skinny woman body they forgot to make it cool. I don't care for it, but I must begrudgingly admit it fits the trope

1-B: Fully Concealed face: Yeah, concealed by a helm that looks too big for her frame lol

2: Position of Authority Within the Narrative: It's a fortnite skin, do those even have a narrative at all? Is there lore?

3: Dark Magic Whatever: idk, probably

4: Vibes: I've never played Fortnite and this does not encourage me to start.

P.E.K.K.A. - Clash Royale of Clans

I'm just. I'm surprised, is all. I mean props to the Clash Royale Of Clans guys for hitting the trope I like, I just. idk

1-A: Cool-ass Armour:I mean I GUESS? She's got a kinda greek muscle cuirass thing going sorta, got like. Spikes and such? Idk what else to say lol

1-B: Fully Concealed face: I mean yeah? Or maybe that is her face? What's the lore here, is she a robot or something?

2: Position of Authority Within the Narrative: not a clue lmao

3: Dark Magic Whatever: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

4: Vibes: Honestly this doesn't feel very Overlord-y but I can't say this also like. Doesn't? It does all the visual tropes I'm looking for, it's just so cartoony and small, there's no sense of menace for me. I feel like I'm examining a weird bug

Frost von Galleria - Marrying the Dark Knight (For Her Money)/I Want to Make Black-Knight Fall In Love With Me!

This is the most subjective placement on this entire list, I think. I've never read this manga but the "Who would've imagined it was a woman under that armor?" line does not provide me with ample confidence I'll find what I'm looking for here

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: I just. I don't know why I don't like it but I just kinda don't? Idk. It has a lot of elements that should in theory make it cool as fuck to me but idk it's just not doing it for me. Especially the teeth. I am a known Helmets With Teeth enjoyer but idk this one just kinda looks silly

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: I mean yeah, but most of the panels DuckDuckGo has showed me is her without that helm so idk lol

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: She has that to some degree as far as I can tell, but idk to what extent

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Yes, the armor is cursed and has a sorta berserker armor-quality to it

4: Vibes: I don't know tbh, this one doesn't really do it for me and I really wish I had any idea why

Lord Dominator - Wander over Yonder

By far the most tagged character on this post, I'm glad a couple of you mentioned she had a full set of armor and wasn't just that first picture bc I haven't watched this one either lol

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: It's alright, the heart/blood motif coursing through the armor is pretty cool I think, though god, my fight-or-flight instinct activates seeing her less-armored form. I remember when this show had just came out and a good handful of artists I followed at the time were incorrigibly horny for her and idk I never really got it

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: -sigh- in her wide mode yeah

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: I assume

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Idk, looks more sci fi than magic, but that's an acceptable substitute for me tbh

4: Vibes: Idk, she seems neat, but is burdened by a sort of Kid's Show Cartooniness that severely limits how cool/interesting I find her.

Stormcast Eternals - Age of Sigmar

That's... a lot of gold...

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: I mean, it seems neat! The crests on their helms remind me of Darkest Dungeon, which is always nice lol. As mentioned with the Astrea entry I'm not big on gold, especially with your scary villain knights lol

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: I guess, yeah

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: idk shit about Warhammer lol

3: Dark Magic Whatever: idk googling them I see a lot of blue lightning and white feathers. Cool, but not quiiiite the vibe we're looking here

4: Vibes: These people seem far more into the paladin archetype rather than the darker, edgier vibes we're looking for. Definitely neat, though!

Inquisitor Lödwyn - Avowed

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: Definitely neat, yeah? idk

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Looks like? (Also does she have a skull beneath that mask? That's pretty cool I think)

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: I mean, an inquisitor is a position of authority, but it's not quite the Main One In Charge vibe I'm looking for.

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Her head's a skull so like, probably

4: Vibes: Cool! I think her vibe is neat! She's stylish, well-armored, and her armor is (partially) black, but idk it still feels more like it's drawing from the paladin archetype than what we're going for here, y'know? (I do like this design, though!)

World Eaters - Warhammer 40k

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: I mean yeah, but no boob windows was like. Directly there. That's a requirement, dude. This just kind of feels like ignoring that entirely and doing your own thing. HOWEVER. It does look cool, love the big muscles, and the heads of fallen foes adorning the armor is pretty cool. This is genuinely rad and that's the only reason it's not in D-tier lol

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Yeah

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: No idea lol

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Probably some Warp shit idk I don't know what's going on in Warhammer

4: Vibes: Cool as shit but man the tiddies are OUT that's literally like failed step one territory

D-Tier

Nashandra - Dark Souls 2

haha um

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: I... I don't think this is armour. I'm like 90% sure she just looks Like That, tbh

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: No, I don't think that is. That's just her face, man

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: tbf she does get this one, she is literally a queen

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Look at her. Of course she has Dark Magic Whatever

4: Vibes: I mean she's cool as hell, no doubt! It's just that she's kind of a terrifying bone monster, this trope is about scary armor ladies. I only just now realized I never explicitly stated that the armor was mandatory, I just kind of assumed, so maybe this one's on me for failing to specify, though

Royal Knight Loretta - Elden Ring

A noble, sorcery-wielding knight who's allied with Miquella, trying to find a safe haven for the albinaurics.

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: I mean yeah, but she's SO Hero Knight-coded it's unreal

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Yeah

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: I mean kinda? She's just kind of an elite knight, doesn't seem like she's got a lot of people (if any) she holds command over though

3: Dark Magic Whatever: No, but she does have Carian Sword magic, which is objectively sick as hell

4: Vibes: She's a very heroic figure. A knight in shining armour adorned with gold, riding atop her noble and virtuous steed. That's unfortunately kind of the opposite of what we're looking for here.

Royal Pain - Sky High

She wasn't even tagged by her name, the tag was just "bad guy from sky high" lmao

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: It's. It's a morph suit with circuit patterns on it. There's barely anything actually armored about her, it's basically just a helm and pauldrons

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: See I want to say yeah but she's not even in her armor for the vast, vast majority of the movie. Like, she only wears her suit at the very end and maybe a bit at the start? It's been a long time since I watched that movie don't quote me on that

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: She has like, one minion. it's something I guess

3: Dark Magic Whatever: She can control technology? Not really dark magic, but like, it's something

4: Vibes: Look me in the eyes. Look at the images at the start of this post. Tell me these have the same vibe. Tell me that to my face. Remember the entire movie except for a little bit at the start and a little bit at the end she's wearing a pink hoodie and jeans. I'm not accepting this. I'm sorry man I just can't

Valka - How To Train Your Dragon

I feel like we're kind of on different pages, here

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: It's alright, I guess. Not big on leather armor but that's a personal thing

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Initially but I don't remember her ever putting the mask on

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: I'll be so honest I do not remember this movie well enough to recall what she even does. She rides dragons, right?

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Don't think so, no

4: Vibes: I mean I like her vibe, it's cool? Not really what we're going for here, though

Captain Phasma - Star Wars

Stormtrooper captain...? I don't remember what she even does in these movies tbh

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: It's pretty standard Stormtrooper armor, just like. Shiny. Does have a cape though, which is neat

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Yeah

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: I mean she's a captain, that's like, something

3: Dark Magic Whatever: Nope

4: Vibes: Idk I don't remember those movies well enough to recall lol

Samus Aran - Metroid

Intergalactic bounty hunter is a sick-ass trope and Samus ROCKS it but that's kind of a different thing, y'know?

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: I mean yeah it's cool, but again, lacks the #edge I'm looking for.

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Oh yeah definitely, except for when it's not

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: I don't actually know the lore all that well, she's a bounty hunter and that's kinda all I know

3: Dark Magic Whatever: I seem to recall her having some lore about being raised by magic alien birds? Did I hallucinate that?

4: Vibes: Really should have put this in the (Don't know the media) category lol Either way, another case of "I think she's really cool, but isn't exactly Evil Overlord material"

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: I mean yeah it's cool, but again, lacks the #edge I'm looking for.

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Oh yeah definitely, except for when it's not

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: I don't actually know the lore all that well, she's a bounty hunter and that's kinda all I know

3: Dark Magic Whatever: I seem to recall her having some lore about being raised by magic alien birds? Did I hallucinate that?

4: Vibes: Really should have put this in the (Don't know the media) category lol Either way, another case of "I think she's really cool, but isn't exactly Evil Overlord material"

Shimada Death - Dai Dark

I haven't read Dai Dark yet, sorry. Don't even know why I liked Dorohedoro I just haven't gotten around to this one

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: That is a robe. I'm so sorry. Like it's a cool robe! I definitely see how you get to her from the original pictures at the start of this post, like I absolutely recognize the similarities in vibes but the armor is kind of an integral piece of the trope, for me. Like don't get me wrong the vibes are spot-on it's just not armor and therefore is disqualified, I'm so sorry

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Yeah, but iirc you do see her face on occasion

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: No idea lol

3: Dark Magic Whatever: I CAN ONLY ASSUME

4: Vibes: Makes me want to reexamine my biases, very cool look. Has a level of #edge I've missed from these last few entries. Probably should have put this under the (don't know the media) category too, though

Rei Saiga, Shangri-la Frontier

Her helm reminds me of the Tower Knight from Demon's Souls

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: It's neat but like. Man this armor is white and gold, no spikes, no edge. This is some paladin shit, looks like (Not that there's anything wrong with paladin shit, just not the vibe we're looking for here). cool sword though

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Looks like, though I've seen her face beneath it

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: No idea, never watched this show

3: Dark Magic Whatever: again, no idea, never watched the show

4: Vibes: Looks like a cool paladin lady! I like cool paladin ladies but that's not what this post is about. The visual disparity between her armor and her sword intrigues me, though!

Sam - Honkai: Star Rail

I really think we're on different pages about what we're looking for, here.

1-A: Cool-ass Armour: I mean it's neat! The shapes are angular and stylish, but again, white and gold color scheme, spikeless. Looks to good guy-coded

1-B: Fully Concealed Face: Check

2: Position of Authority Within The Narrative: No idea, never played this game

3: Dark Magic Whatever: No idea, never played this game

4: Vibes: Cool sorta techy knight soldier thing. Still feels too lawful good for this list lol

Golden Knight - Granblue Fantasy

Girl I fear for your kidneys

Listen look at her. this is some paladin shit with a bizarre choice of armor for her sides. We don't need to do this song and dance again. We know how this goes. I just can't get over the exposed thong bits like what are we doing here man

???-Tier

Darling Charming - Ever After High

girl what

FINAL RANKINGS

part 2 after all (direct continuation)

hahah whoops qwq!