| NOTE: Do not use "he's taken seriously by everyone in the series and the narrative too" as an argument against him being inconsistent enough for IH, as they bring nothing new to the table against the arguments being used here. |
Still the most terrifying villain in SMG4 history, even 3 years later.
Sup guys. Here's my thirty-fourth Inconsistently Heinous proposal. So... Niles' Near Pure Evil proposal got deleted since the user, NoOnesThere that proposed him was untrustworthy. As a result, Niles' NPE status has been stripped from him. I then planned to make another Near Pure Evil proposal for him so he can get back his Near Pure Evil status, but then, after receiving some clarification I've gotten, I don't think he should have that anymore, and you'll see why here.
Lastly, while the series is ongoing, he's dead, and I very, VERY highly doubt he'll be outclassed anytime soon considering the shit ton of crimes he's committed throughout the series. Anyways, let the trial commence!
What's the Work?[]
SMG4 is an Australian adult-animated comedy web series by Luke and Kevin Lerdwichagul. It involves Mario, SMG4 and their friends going on various adventures meeting dangerous foes, including Niles in The SMG4 Cosmology Lore, who's an onmicidal maniac destroying many universes and also tries to destroy the main universe.
Who is He? What Has He Done?[]
Niles, better known in his fused form as Zero, is the overarching antagonist of the web series. There are plenty of things to go through so, I'll go through them all.
He's a meme guardian created by the God Box when SMG0 prayed to him. With his help, he ended up making the internet graveyard with SMG0 and the meme life cycle to prevent the corrupted memes from doing bad. Thanks to this, life for Niles, SMG0 and Fred went back to normal, however, Niles notices there's something wrong with him. So, he goes to the God Box and asks it for power, so, he gains power.
Due to this, Niles ends up killing Fred, destroying Mage as a result. Niles notices he killed Fred and merges with SMG0 in order to create the perfect universe together. Then, Zero ended up emerging. With that, Zero begins destroying countless of universes for years, one of which being SMG1 and SMG2's universe which he killed Spudnick, a literal child.
Back at the present at the 10 Anniversary Special, he locks out SMG3 from the internet graveyard causing all the memes brought to the world to become corrupted and the SMG4 Crew has to fight them. SMG4, SMG3, Mario, X and FM are then captured by a corrupted meme, and later, the former three witness the latter two being captured by Zero and turned into lifeless husks. Zero then notices Mario, SMG4 and SMG3 and starts chasing them, we also see that Zero has turned more Mario recolors into lifeless husks. SMG4 and SMG3 made it out alive, but Mario is captured.
Eventually, SMG4 and SMG3 are captured by a corrupted meme too and are tied up with ropes. Zero makes Mario witness his backstory which Mario ends up painfully transforming as well as SMG4 and SMG3, however, the crew manage to barge in but then the lifeless Mario recolors end up becoming zombies trying to attack them. SMG1 and SMG2 came in and stopped Zero by trapping him in a guardian pod with an anti-virus seemingly for good, seemingly sacrificing themselves in the process. However, the anti-virus subscription is expiring.
Bob then appears at the guardian pod and refuses to pay the subscription and just leaves. The Eye of Zero then appears and tells the viewer "WITNESS".
There's also when the Eye of Zero makes his guardian pod sendoff which contains his full body into the Mushroom Kingdom. The Eye of Zero also holds Professor E. Gadd hostage to make Shrek clones in order to capture SMG4. When SMG4 is successfully captured, the guardian pod opens and the Eye of Zero then rushes to go inside it, and the gets squished by Mario. However, the story isn't over yet, as tentacles from the guardian pod grab Mario and SMG4 and Axol get him back. However, the guardian pod then strikes and captures Axol, and then makes him go unconscious which the guardin pod then heads to Peach's castle, and then Axol just comes back later, but not everything's all right.
Swag and Chris try to destroy the guardian pod, and everyone is hiding in a bunker but it's all ineffective. Zero, using Axol, then changes the toilet into a portal to the Backrooms. Mario ends up falling into the toilet, same as SMG4 and SMG3. They keep trying to escape from the Backrooms, but then they're introduced by Axol possessed by Zero which the former tries to tell them to escape. Zero then fully possesses Axol, and uses SMG4 to open up SMG3's guardian pod, sucking up the three of them.
Possessing Axol, Zero then encounters the three of them and they eventually start fighting become the rest of the SMG4 Crew arrive to save Axol. They were close at saving Axol, but not close enough as Zero then manages to enact its full plans and suck up all the universe to create his new one.
Later, he has the Mario crystal challenge the SMG4 Crew into games. After that's done, they all have a rap battle and Melony reluctantly kills Axol to seemingly stop Zero, though Niles actually just split from SMG0 and entered Melony.
From there on, Niles acts like a student in Omnia Academy as a bully to the SMG4 Crew but he does get along with Melony and helps her develop her deity powers later on. When the crew were captured by the Box Club, Niles comes in and Melony realizes he's just in her mind and that he's Zero all along. Melony uses her deity form and tries to attack him, but Niles possesses him instead. Both he and the Box Club Leader head to the Great Beyond.
The two arrive at the God Box and open it, causing the destruction of the universe. The Box Club Leader jumps straight into the box, but then he just dies due to having too much power, which Niles just calls him an idiot.
Then, SMG4, SMG3 and Mario found Melony possessed by Niles and the three chase after him. It ends off with SMG4 and SMG3 using the powers of the God Box to take care of him, which they then crash land into SMG0's new, albeit empty universe. SMG0 reveals everything but Niles comes in and tries to get Mario as his avatar again but then Melony snaps out of control. Niles then merges with SMG0 again.
Zero is formed again and he attacks Melony while SMG4, SMG3 and Mario are trying to evacuate. However, Zero then swallows Melony and temporarily kills him. Zero manages to then catch up to the three and nearly kills them, but Melony saves them all and the continually beats up Zero.
Meanwhile, SMG0 breaks out and tries to stop Niles from hurting people, but then Niles still tries to do so and when he's dangerously close to the four of them, SMG0 blocks Niles' way to the control panel and convinces Niles to move on to the afterlife.
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
Oh boy, SMG4 is pretty well-known for its gigantically high heinous standards and quite a lot of things have changed since The SMG4 Cosmology Lore which made the standards even higher. We have:
- Mario, who trapped many people into fates worse than death by turning them into NFTs, as well as killing trillions of Goombas.
- SMG3, who blew up the Earth twice.
- Waluigi, who turned all of the Mushroom Kingdom into T-Pose zombies.
- Ztar, who tried to destroy the world.
- Lawyer Kong, who got Miyamoto to sign the Super DMCA thus temporarily killing every non-Nintendo character.
- Mr. Puzzles, who brainwashed the whole world into fates worse than death as well as committing various cruel acts to the SMG4 Crew.
Yeah, the competition is pretty steep, and with all of that taken into account, it really gives a hard time for Niles to stand out considering how many people he has to compete with, and he also has way more resources than all of these considering he's a literal eldritch abomination having an army of internet memes, so that's not an argument. So, with all this in mind, the important question is, does he pass the heinous standards? Actually, no, he doesn't pass the heinous standards... he fucking obliterates them.
Even with this high amount of competition in mind, this guy gets a very, VERY easy pass. The dude destroyed countless and I mean countless of universes for years now and we also see onscreen evidence with what he did to SMG1 and SMG2's universe where he painfully kills Spudnick, their avatar. This is not even mentioning his other crimes such as turning the Mario recolors into mindless husks and then zombies, painfully torturing Mario, SMG4 and SMG3 in several ways, as well as merging with SMG0 and Axol, and he has personal villainy with Melony too given she has to kill Axol to stop Zero and even taunts her about it. He practically outclasses EVERY villain the series has gave us so far. Even with the additions post-The SMG4 Cosmology Lore, this guy STILL passes the heinous standards.
Mitigating Factors?[]
Almost all of his mitigating factors are borderline nonexistent, almost, but still.
While there is something wrong with him after being created by the God Box, he's not really motivated by this, at all, and is more so on his twisted desires of making a universe with him and SMG0 being there, and this isn't played for sympathy considering Melony says she would never forgive him.
As said above, while there is something wrong with him after being created by the God Box and he needs to get powers from it, his moral agency isn't affected as it's more so of that he just has errors rather than not being able to have agency.
While he did show shock at Fred dying, this is more so of the fact that his life is needed for his and SMG0's universe to stay intact, and he also tries to make a new universe with a completely different avatar, that being Mario. While he did smile when SMG0 says Fred is waiting for them it's more of the fact that he's happy he gets to be with SMG0 again.
While he does show kindness to Melony at first and helps her develop her powers, this is entirely pragmatic as he just wants to use her later and when she's no longer useful, he shows zero hesitation in killing her.
Lastly, while he did accept SMG0's offer of moving on to the afterlife, he didn't show remorse for his crimes, so this isn't a redemption.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
While almost all of his mitigating factors are, you know, borderline nonexistent, not all of them are nonexistent.
First off, he cares about SMG0 since, as cruelly twisted as his treatment of him is, literally merging with him trapping him in his own body and even having to choke him when doing it again, he does care about him as his goal is wanting to create a universe where the two will be together. When SMG0 gets him to stop and says the fact they're together is enough, he then accepts his offer of moving into the afterlife.
Second off, as mostly of an unsympathetic individual as he was, his death is played for sympathy as he moves on to the afterlife with SMG0 and he even sheds tears with sad music playing.
Last off, he's too comedic to be Near Pure Evil. Yeah, you weren't expecting comedy to be a prevention for him, let alone a major prevention for him being Near Pure Evil, but ultimately, SMG4 is fundamentally unconducive for anyone to be higher than NPE, just like how its remaining NPEs (including Zelus, the fanon one) don't keep (the PE of the series also doesn't keep but for a different reason):
- SMG4 is basically just a shitpost meme series that is depicted through Garry's Mod including him. The story arcs the series has don't even change the tone of the series that much, The Waluigi Arc revolves around Waluigi cause a T-Pose apocalypse because he got rejected from Super Smash Bros., The Anime Arc literally has Francis, the villain, have a motive of creating an anime island of Waifus, there's plenty of more examples and that's ignoring the beginning of it which has anime being banned, but you get it, the story arcs don't change the tone for the series enough.
- Not even Niles, or heck, The SMG4 Cosmology Lore as a whole are exempt from this problem. They're pretty much high effort jokes which the latter revolves around SMG4 knowing about his past of being a meme guardian and also learn more about the meme life cycle as well as about the God Box. Niles is also a meme guardian, and his creator, the God Box, is actually just an ordinary cardboard box seen in the series' real-life known as the Great Beyond and he himself also leads a whole army of dead internet memes, even including Ugandan Knuckles, Carl Wheezer and Shrek.
- It also doesn't help that this is Glitch Productions, and we all know from their other web series that they have the very ability to create way more serious villains that aren't from shitpost meme web series and don't have ridiculous character concepts of being guardians of literal internet memes, which isn't really the same case for Niles who is from a shitpost meme web series and his character concept is being a guardian of literal internet memes.
Now, don't get me wrong, he's taken extremely seriously in-universe and by the narrative too and absolutely none of his actions are played for laughs at all (killing Spudnick causing the destruction of SMG1 and SMG2's universe, trying to destroy SMG4 and SMG3's universe, having Axol sacrifice himself, and many more), but the fact that he's an eldritch abomination being the guardian of literal dead internet memes really makes none of that matter at all. Comedy standards are lower before in the past which allowed characters like him to be serious enough, but now with the higher comedy standards we have now, he just isn't serious enough to be higher than Inconsistently Heinous.
So, here you have it folks, Niles is too comedic to be Near Pure Evil.
Verdict?[]
Solid yes.