Bigger Bad/Playing With

Basic Trope: A villainous presence that is more cosmically significant than the Big Bad, but cannot truly be said to be the one causing the conflict (and may have little to do with it at all).
 * Straight: In Dark Ages of Troperia, Emperor Evulz and his evil empire is making things miserable for everyone and is the obvious enemy for Bob to fight. BUT, after Bob defeats Evulz, turns out a malevolent presence known as Progenitor of Dark Ages is still around. It's not responsible for the evil empire but it's still a threat.
 * Exaggerated: Bob's on a quest to get his lunch money back from the school bully. That bully did to impress the Progenitor of The Dark ages.
 * Justified: Being a mere presence, it can only exist As Long as There Is Evil. It's a Vicious Cycle.
 * Inverted: Goddess Sophia the Liberator, a benevolent being more powerful than the Big Good but only tangentially involved in the quest. She's also a mere presence.
 * Subverted:
 * It seems that Progenitor of Dark Ages is the subtle source of power of Emperor Evulz, but defeating it (which is no small feat for Bob) doesn't change a thing, Evulz is as powerful as ever.
 * Evulz is defeated, only for the Progenitor of Dark Ages to Step Down into the role of Big Bad.
 * Progenitor of Dark Ages is The Man Behind the Man who has been controlling every single natural disaster, warfare, and Evil Overlord, including Emperor Evulz.
 * Double Subverted: ...because Evulz's power is influenced by another Bigger Bad, Thousand-World Obliterator.
 * Parodied:
 * As Bob defeats Emperor Evulz, the Progenitor of Dark Ages actually appears before him and says, "FIGHT ME NOW! For Great Justice!" (bonus points if being voiced by Norio Wakamoto).
 * After Bob defeats Emperor Evulz, he must defeat the Progenitor of Dark Ages, then has to defeat the Ideas of Evil, only to have to defeat the Diabolus Machinous, an even bigger bad and then he has to defeat...
 * The one who created all this evil in the first place... is the writer.
 * Deconstructed: Such pervasive presence of cosmic evil makes Troperia truly the crapsackiest of Crapsack World.
 * Reconstructed: There are also good higher powers to oppose the evil ones and keep things from getting too crapsack.
 * Zig Zagged: Sometimes every hints point to a malevolent cosmic presence, the other times it's made clear that Emperor Evulz is the single person to blame, and all his evils are human evils. It's really a Mind Screw for Bob (and the audience).
 * Averted: Every major powers in the world are revealed from the beginning.
 * Enforced: "We are out of villains, let's do an Ass Pull and just say that there's ...something... even bigger than Evulz."
 * Lampshaded: "That kind of evil... can't be human evil. I Sense a Disturbance In The Force."
 * Invoked: ???
 * Exploited: "That sort of cosmic indifference can be useful for all parties involved; we'll see who gets it first."
 * Defied: ???
 * Discussed: ???
 * Conversed: ???

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