User blog comment:Macaco99/ PE Proposal - Ernesto De La Cruz/@comment-39032584-20190616201449

Sorry, but I don't think he qualifies. Being willing to kill his best friend in a rather bad case of "seizing his moment", then being willing to kill a child (and who he thought was his great-great-grandson) and leave his friend to fade out of existence are despicable and impossible-to-defend actions, but they're just not enough on their own to qualify him for the trope/category. He's clearly a sociopath, and from his perspective, they're necessary to maintain his reputation. Outside of that though, while it's not exactly redeeming, he's perfectly capable of being affable and friendly with anyone he doesn't consider a "threat". If he were truly written as first-rate evil, he would probably wouldn't stop at only killing those that threaten to take away his chance at being famous and revered as a talented musician, not to mention his main goal would be far worse than merely having those things.

In short, he's an awful and detestable human being, but not among the worst of the worst. He did make a great and surprising villain though, especially with the way he was set up to be Miguel's idol, only to be the one character encountered in the Land of the Dead that has actually malevolent.