Malice can be defined as the aptitude or the tendency to harm others through ruses. It can lead from a bad prank that won’t make anyone laugh but the pranker to a trick that will have much worse consequences than a simple prank.

In medieval tradition, malice is symbolized by the fox.

A malicious person is smart (see intelligence) and enjoys causing damages. They can be cruel (see cruelty), but contrary to someone who’s only cruel, a malicious person makes stratagems to harm people in a more strategic way and they’re less likely to get caught.

A malicious individual is able to manipulate someone so they can give them what they want, they can also manage to win someone’s trust (see confidence) and seduce them to hurt them even more at the end.