Noble Demon/Playing With

Basic Trope: A villainous character does good in spite of his commitment to the cause of evil, and is likable as a result.
 * Straight: The evil character is more noble than expected.
 * Exaggerated: Despite frequently declaring himself to be evil, and explaining in great detail exactly why he is, the character regularly rescues kittens and is generally a Nice Guy.
 * Justified: The evil character actually is a nice guy, but he's convinced that being evil is a better career path, so he does his best at it.
 * He isn't totally heartless.
 * The Noble Demon is polite because of how he was raised
 * Inverted: Type II or III Anti-Hero
 * An Evilly Affable villain, who has a dastardly nature and a likable facade.
 * A Knight Templar, who does villainous deeds while convinced of his righteousness.
 * Subverted: The evil character seems to be reasonably noble...but it's all an act to get on the heroes' good side so he can betray them.
 * The evil character isn't evil at all, he appears evil because the heroes don't know his motivations
 * Double Subverted: ...But then, after he betrays them, it turns out that he did it to protect them from a greater evil
 * Then we realize he is a Knight Templar
 * Parodied: Our so-called "villain" brags about being a genocidal galactic conqueror, and all the atrocities he's committed in that capacity...While he's climbing a tree to get a kitten out of it and giving large denomination bills/coins to all the beggars on the street.
 * Deconstructed: Being evil means having control and respect, to this character, and so they are proud of their status as evil, and work to maintain it. But in spite of their image, they don't have the stomach for genuine depravity.
 * Reconstructed: The character does evil for control and respect at first, but discovers that Evil Feels Good. Thereafter, if an Evil act does not feel good, they don't see any reason to do it.
 * Zig Zagged: An evil character pretends to be noble, gets on the heroes' good side, and then betrays them. However, this turns out to shield them from a more dangerous evil. Then it turns out that the shielding was completely unintentional, and to prove it, the character puts a metaphorical flag on the heroes, calling that greater evil right to them. However, this is, in and of itself, a Batman Gambit: just as the noble demon expected, the greater evil interprets that flag as a trap, and avoids the heroes because of it.
 * Averted: All the evil characters in the story are Complete Monsters.
 * Or all evil characters can barely be classified as such.
 * Enforced: The producers don't want any character on a kids' show to be too scary or evil, so the bad guy has lines he won't cross.
 * Necessary Weasel: If the audience is not given an evil-ish character to be sympathetic to, they might direct sympathy at a villain not meant for it.
 * Lampshaded: "You're awfully nice for someone who keeps saying how evil they are, you know."
 * Invoked: A character looking for an opening into a Heel Face Turn starts out by lightening up their evil acts, to make sure the heroes will accept them when they change sides.
 * Defied: An evil character deliberately represses their more generous urges, so that they don't "weaken".
 * Discussed: "Maybe he's not as bad as he looks. Like, you know, in dramas, there's always that one bad guy that lets innocents get away because they're not involved."
 * Conversed: "Nah, you can always tell when they don't like being evil. See how the camera focused more on his face when he let them go? I bet he joins up with them in the finale."
 * Played For Laughs: The evil character really wants to be badass, but when it comes down to it, all he can ever actually pull off is Poke the Poodle.
 * Played For Drama: The Necessarily Evil character feels terrible about their misdeeds, but sees no other path, and as a result of their guilt, spares whoever they can afford to.

Here's a link back to Noble Demon, but I'm only doing this to prolong our fight, you got that?