10 MORE Video Game Villain Turns You Never Saw Coming
1. Master Li - Jade Empire
When you're first introduced to Master Li in the 2005 Bioware action RPG Jade Empire, he is a polite, sagacious old man who teaches the main character life lessons and, more importantly, the martial arts. He seems to have specialized, judging by dialogue in the early stages of the game, in training you to have a weakness that throws people off by not being able to exploit, tricking them into letting down their guard against you.
After Master Li is captured by the evil Emperor Sun Hai's scary-looking general, Death's Hand, the leader of the so-called Lotus Assassins, you gather supporters and heed the Water Dragon's call to save the Empire from Sun Hai - while rescuing your master, of course.
Cut to once you've defeated Death's Hand, the entire Lotus Assassin cult, and even Emperor Sun, himself. You've lost friends along the way and fought across the map to finally rescue Master Li who admits that he was the original Death's Hand, and raised a coup with his brother, Kin, to defeat their mutual brother - the now dead Emperor Sun.
Oh, and that 'unexploitable weakness' was something Li had trained into you so he could kill you when the time came. Killing you, of course, being your ultimate reward for rescuing him and inadvertently handing him the empire on a silver platter.