# Albino Villains **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795 "2017-07-21T13:47:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/1 "2017-07-21T13:47:31Z")
Why does fiction often portray an albino as the bad guy? Off the top of my head I can list off several: Tombstone of Marvel Comics [https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;\_ylt=A0LEVjesA3JZPTQAQf4nnIlQ?p=marvel+tombstone&fr=yhs-mozilla-002&fr2=piv-web&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-002](https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVjesA3JZPTQAQf4nnIlQ?p=marvel+tombstone&fr=yhs-mozilla-002&fr2=piv-web&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-002) Dar Robinson’s “Moke” in Stick “The Albino” from ST:DS9 “Blood Oath” And of course, Moby Dick [![](https://cdn2.mhpbooks.com/2013/04/moby-dick.jpg) ](https://cdn2.mhpbooks.com/2013/04/moby-dick.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/2 "2017-07-21T13:50:20Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Why does fiction often portray an albino as the bad guy? I gotta agree, that is seriously beyond the pale. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/3 "2017-07-21T13:51:29Z")
There was an albino assassin in [The Da Vinci Code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Da_Vinci_Code). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/4 "2017-07-21T13:55:19Z")
Somebody made a list: [Home | Skinema](http://www.skinema.com/AlbinismList2005.html) (Note: this is a list of all albino characters but you can see they’re mostly portrayed as evil.) ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/5 "2017-07-21T14:16:31Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > beyond the pale. I see what you did there. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/6 "2017-07-21T14:22:49Z")
We must work to turn albino into an albi_yes_! ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/7 "2017-07-21T14:27:17Z")
Well there was the good albino looking guy in Powder who also appears to have Alopecia. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/8 "2017-07-21T14:31:37Z")
I’ve no idea how they were treated in real life in the West, partially because I’ve never met one, but I understand that some have been ill-treated in the African continent and they don’t live long there. China too has had superstitions about them. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/9 "2017-07-21T14:34:39Z")
Was [this Bond villain](https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/thebondsite/images/c/cb/Zorin.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20111210125833) meant to be an albino? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/10 "2017-07-21T14:41:26Z")
Relevant [TV Trope](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilAlbino). Counter relevant [TV Trope](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeroicAlbino). As to OP, why evil? I dunno. Red eyes, maybe? But there are plenty of albino heroes in fiction that there probably isn’t any fixed reason, other than [superstition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_people_with_albinism). Which persists [IRL today in some parts of the world](http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/07/africa/africa-albino-hunted-bones-malawi/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/11 "2017-07-21T14:43:44Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Was [this Bond villain](https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/thebondsite/images/c/cb/Zorin.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20111210125833) meant to be an albino? He was a genetically engineered steroid-enhanced Nazi, but not an albino. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/12 "2017-07-21T14:47:20Z")
I forget, was Gary Busey’s character in Lethal Weapon an albino? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/13 "2017-07-21T14:51:41Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > I understand that some have been ill-treated in the African continent and they don’t live long there. But it isn’t because they are thought to be bad people–they are considered [to make good medicine](https://www.google.com/search?q=albino+murder+folk+medicine&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/14 "2017-07-21T14:58:57Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > some have been ill-treated in the African continent and they don’t live long there. Do they die of pinkeye? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/15 "2017-07-21T15:03:06Z")
“Whitey” Jackson (William Frankfather) in the 1978 Chevy Chase movie **Foul Play** ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/16 "2017-07-21T15:16:00Z")
Not having read any of the TVtropes articles or anything my guess would be it’s because they’re angry over their upbringing. Ironically enough, I’m reading a book right now (The Seventh Plague by James Rollins) which features Albino twins as enemies. They’re assassins/killers and such because they were abused and ridiculed for their looks that they wanted revenge and became bad. It’s an easy story to tell “person who is different is angry at their oppressors” so I doubt it’s a bias or prejudice and more laziness of storytelling ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/17 "2017-07-21T15:28:07Z")
The Albino Nazi in The Eiger Sanction. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/18 "2017-07-21T15:32:17Z")
There was an albino villain in “Banshee”. He was called, wait for it, the albino. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/19 "2017-07-21T15:37:58Z")
“Where did we leave that albino’s wheelbarrow?” “With the albino, I think.” ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795/20 "2017-07-21T15:40:19Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > I understand that some have been ill-treated in the African continent and they don’t live long there. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Do they die of pinkeye? Those not murdered for bodyparts tend to die in their mid-40’s of skin cancer, for a serious answer to a maybe not so serious question. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albino-villains/791795.md?page=2)