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When an evil character is in the same vicinity as a good character, usually something devious is going on. Sometimes, though, the villain just doesn't want to fight. Maybe they just finished a hero/villain teamup. Maybe they're in a neutral zone, and they can't be overtly hostile. Or maybe the evil one is just Genre Savvy enough to realize that sometimes the best way to hit somebody is to trick them into crawling down to evil's level. See I Shall Taunt You when this scheme is employed deliberately as a part of a larger plan, usually a Batman Gambit.

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  • If You Taunt Him You Will Be Just Like Him
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  • When an evil character is in the same vicinity as a good character, usually something devious is going on. Sometimes, though, the villain just doesn't want to fight. Maybe they just finished a hero/villain teamup. Maybe they're in a neutral zone, and they can't be overtly hostile. Or maybe the evil one is just Genre Savvy enough to realize that sometimes the best way to hit somebody is to trick them into crawling down to evil's level. See I Shall Taunt You when this scheme is employed deliberately as a part of a larger plan, usually a Batman Gambit.
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  • When an evil character is in the same vicinity as a good character, usually something devious is going on. Sometimes, though, the villain just doesn't want to fight. Maybe they just finished a hero/villain teamup. Maybe they're in a neutral zone, and they can't be overtly hostile. Or maybe the evil one is just Genre Savvy enough to realize that sometimes the best way to hit somebody is to trick them into crawling down to evil's level. This trope is what happens when a villain starts annoying the hero as much as possible without actually giving them any clear cause to resort to violence. Once placed in this situation, the hero has two options. First, give in. After that, punishment is inevitable. Whenever an evil character manages to provoke a good character in this manner, the good one always ends up getting punished. This is almost always what the evil character intended by being such a pest in the first place. The second choice, and always the one taken by especially noble heroes who make it a point to be Lawful Good, is to walk away and not dignify the evil ones with the satisfaction of manipulating a good guy. Naturally, this trope can tend to be a pretty heavy Broken Aesop- the Naive Everygirl must forgive and understand and offer her friendship to the Alpha Bitch no matter how badly and rudely and unfairly she's treated... but don't expect anybody to cut you a break, ever. The number of times main characters must learn to accept jerks and devils in plain sight because "it's the right thing to do" is exactly proportionate to the number of times they can't get away with similar infractions. This trope stems from the fact that the main character Can't Get Away with Nuthin'. When anyone can taunt anyone else, but the main character is evil for doing so, it's Selective Enforcement. A character's response to this trope is a good way of determining where they fall on the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism. See If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him for this trope as it applies to a Matter of Life and Death. See I Shall Taunt You when this scheme is employed deliberately as a part of a larger plan, usually a Batman Gambit. Examples of If You Taunt Him You Will Be Just Like Him include:
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