Balance Between Good and Evil: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

This is a ''very'' common Fantasy-genre trope. It's a way of [[Hand Wave|explaining away]] various others, such as [[Joker Immunity]], [[Failure Is the Only Option]], etc.

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Slayers]]'' runs on this heavily. The ultimate balancing deity is [[Guardian of the Multiverse|The Lord of Nightmares]], and she made four worlds, each ruled and balanced by one Shinzoku ("godly race") lord and one Mazoku ("evil race") lord. Each group has its own set of generals and henchmen. The Shinzoku [[The Gods Must Be Lazy|don't give a flying fuck about humanity as long as their omnipotent source of knowledge, the Clair Bible, is protected, and balance is maintained.]] The Mazoku [[Exclusively Evil|will act and upset the balance of power when they can.]] In protagonist Lina Inverse's world (named the "Red World" according to [[Word of God]]), the Mazoku lord is Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo, who was split into seven pieces long ago; Lina and her ragtag group destroys one, and they also kill off two of his five highest-ranking generals by the third season. Further more, they also destroy ''another'' Mazoku lord from another world! So far, this has had no real effect on the world, but certain magic spells that draw power from the Mazoku generals no longer exist.

* ''[[Magical Project S]]'' basically had re-establishing the Balance as its main goal, represented by a giant set of scales that adjusted themselves after every Sammy victory. Convenient! <ref>Course, you could argue that since every Sammy victory was just her vanquishing the Evil introduced specifically to fight her in the first place by Pixy Misa, there should be no net gain in Good over Evil. But this is an [[Affectionate Parody]] of [[Magical Girl]] shows, so [[MST3K Mantra|you really should relax]].</ref>

 

== Film ==

* This is the main plot of the Russian film ''[[Night Watch (novel)|Night Watch]]''. The eponymous group are the forces of good who stop the forces of evil (The Day Watch, to be the title of the sequel) from becoming too strong. The Day Watch does likewise, all because of a treaty between the two sides. The book series the film is based on makes it clearer; neither side directly acts on the [[Muggles]], out of fear of giving power to the other side to maintain the balance. For instance, a Night Watch member has to get approval to cure a loved one's cancer, because doing so might give the Day Watch cause to go out and give someone AIDS.

** In reality, {{spoiler|both the Day Watch and the Night Watch are one and the same; the power struggle between them is carefully monitored on the part of the Inquisition, which has all the real power. The Watches only exist to satisfy young Others' desire to satisfy their primordial alignment, the goal being to unite all Others, light or dark.}}

** A great explanation is available in [[Fridge Brilliance]] by Liliedhe:

{{quote|Without Sith, they don't need a Chosen One who is a potential loose cannon. But, when Yoda makes states the Council's decision in the end, he also explains that Darth Maul was indeed a Sith, they are sure of that now. And that is why the Council changed their minds. And, since there will be a second Sith, they will actually need The Chosen One.}}

* Parodied in the amateur film ''[[College Saga]]''. The antagonists in the movie are vegetarians who plot to kill off all meat-eaters. At the end, the hero says "I have found my healthy balance" and bites into a hamburger with salad.

* Mentioned in ''[[Little Nicky]]'', although that movie dealt with the balance tipping to evil.

 

== Literature ==

* The entire plot of the ''[[Book of Swords]]'' trilogy by [[Michael Moorcock]] was the balance between the good (or at least ''sane'') Forces of Law and the depraved Forces of Chaos, both of whom were under the domination of the Cosmic Balance. Of course that war ended when the hero Prince Corum, an incarnation of the Eternal Champion who had spent his existence fighting to preserve the balance, unleashed two gods from ''outside'' the rules of the Cosmic Balance who went on to kill off both sides, freeing their subject worlds to grow and evolve without a pack of selfish gods interfering.

* [[Stephen King]]'s novel ''[[Insomnia (novel)|Insomnia]]'' reveals that his Multiverse is ruled by four theoretically-equal forces: Life, Death, the Purpose and the Random. The Random is responsible for much suffering and chaos, and is the closest equivalent to Evil.

* ''The High House'' series by James Stoddard uses this, but substitutes good and evil with order and chaos (most likely because the author doesn't seem to have any problem with the presence of good overwhelming the presence of evil). Too much order is portrayed as tyranny and a lack of free will; too much chaos is portrayed as anarchy and a lack of personal safety. Arguably, this makes the books the perfect fantasy series for libertarians.

 

* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', Willow's resurrection of Buffy at the beginning of season six allegedly caused an imbalance that created an opportunity for the First Evil to become the Big Bad for season seven (now that there's an army of Slayers, the balance must have snapped like an elastic band). Whistler from "Becoming" Parts 1 and 2 identifies himself as an agent of the Balance, although some fans argue that he was actually an agent of Good who identified himself as Balance because he worked to counteract other "demons" who were apparently predominantly evil.

* Often occurs on ''[[Charmed]]'' so they can have conflict with the [[Powers That Be]] who act like their bosses. One example that really stands out is a multi-part episode in which it was revealed that the Balance Between Good and Evil is preserved by a [[Mirror Universe]] - if good wins in one universe, evil wins in the other and balances it out. Traveling between them disrupted the balance and made the normal universe "too good" - the sun never sets, everyone is freakishly happy all the time, and [[Disproportionate Retribution|minor crimes like leaving your cell phone on in a library are punished by mutilation]] ([[Fridge Logic|instead of the suddenly-too-good people just leaving their cellphones turned off]]). A more reasonable person would consider mutilation to be evil.

* In the original run of ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Black and White Guardians are embodiments of this principle.

 

* Zoroastrianism is among the best example of this trope. Unlike Abrahamic religions in which God is omnipotent and Devil is much weaker, in Zoroastrianism there are two equal Gods of good and evil.

 

* This trope is a core element of the ur-[[Role-Playing Game]] ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]].'' In fact, one part of the Druid's job description in the early editions of the game is "Keeper of the Balance", a reference to both the balance between Good and Evil, and the one between Law (Order) and Chaos. To facilitate this, Druids had to be Neutral in alignment in the original basic set.

** In the later editions, they only need to be ''partially'' neutral; the alignments there are the nine combinations of [good, neutral, evil] and [law, neutral, chaos]. In the basic game, neutral was one of the three alignments, along with law and chaos, which were originally just euphemisms for good and evil, respectively.

** Any show influenced by ''D&D'', such as ''[[Record of Lodoss War]],'' will almost certainly use this.

** In the D&D 4th edition core setting, the balance between good and evil is maintained by the primordials, a group of god-like [[Eldritch Abomination|eldritch abominations]] who are at war with the gods. The war's mostly cooled off at the moment, but could flare again at any moment. Because of this, the good gods and evil gods are loath to battle each other; the evil gods know that if they were to slay their good counterparts and take over the cosmos, they'd rule for about five minutes before the primordials swarmed them. Likewise, the good gods know the villian they slay today could be the ally that would have saved them from a primordial tomorrow. Not all the gods play by these rules, and some are even likely to come down on the side of the primordials when the fight starts up again, but for the most part the looming threat keeps the peace between them.

* The characters in ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' tend to frame themselves as good and the forces of Fu Leng as evil, and [[The Powers That Be]] seem to want a balance between the two, however this seems to be a case of [[Unreliable Narrator]] or [[Values Dissonance]]. The Samurai clearly represent the extreme of Order, while the Oni represent Chaos. Interestingly, a being called the Lying Darkness wants to destroy all reality, and it has been overtly stated that this is NOT good or evil. Based on this it's not unreasonable to assume that their definitions of Good and Evil are actually just Order and Chaos from the POV of [[Knight Templar|Knights Templar]].

** Definitely [[Values Dissonance]]. In brief, D&D assigned most of the samurai the alignment of "Lawful Evil" in their conversion of the game system. Long version: the samurai recognize superstitions encouraging them to kill any peasants that cross their path or even look at them, and [[The Powers That Be]] enforce a Celestial Order that requires the samurai to make most of society into property, or at best half-human tools, while not valuing life at all - their own, or anyone else's. In a world where "compassion" means "killing your enemy as swiftly and brutally as possible so that he need not live with the shame of defeat, which would most likely just cause him to commit ritual suicide," one can bet that the good guys are by no means good. Of course, the formerly Chaotic Shadowlands faction is now an organized, strictly hierarchical Clan, so all of that's a bit muddled...

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[La Pucelle Tactics]]'' has a goddess of light (Poitreene), goddess of dark (the fallen angel Calamity), and another supernatural being in charge of keeping things in balance (Hermes).

* Played with in ''[[Secret of Evermore]]'', where, after defeating the [[Big Bad]], the hero learns that he's destroyed the balance between good and evil and that he needs to get himself and the others that came from his home universe out of the world of Evermore before it collapses.

* In the ''[[Myth]]'' series, the balance between good and evil is maintained by alternating which side rules the world as part of a great cycle. As of the events in ''Myth II: Soulblighter'', the good guys seem to have finally broken the cycle.

 

* In ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'', early on, the viewers are made to believe that Order equates to good and Chaos to evil (the main character even believes he is supposed to be the "Champion" of law for awhile). We find out later, though, that neither is more inherently good than the other and both can be used for good or evil deeds; the main character, of course, is tasked with protecting the balance between them.

* Parodied in ''[[Terror Island]]'' with the Unity.

 

== Web Original ==

* In the [[Whateley Universe]], Bladedancer has been given the mythical sword Destiny's Wave and is expected to be the "Handmaid of Balance". Even if that means she has to kill whoever or whatever is causing the imbalance between order and chaos.

** Actually, it's not verified as 'order and chaos'. About all that's known is that previous Handmaidens have killed good men and bad. (A king who was making a Utopia, someone creating an army of demons.) Chou has, at least once, been assigned to kill an innocent person.

 

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'', stronger enemies appeared after the first season because the heroes destroyed (instead of "sealing away") the villain of the first season. This kept happening until that first villain was revived and consequently sealed.

* A more mundane example: in ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'', evil is quite literally [[Weird Trade Union|unionized]], in the form of the Guild of Calamitous Intent; they have arrangements with the various law-enforcement agencies in order to secure non-interference, with the price of accepting certain restrictions on their activities, thus creating a sort of ersatz balance. When one side violates the agreements, retaliation by the other side is swift and brutal.

* ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'': It has recently been confirmed that there is one evil anti-fairy for every good fairy that exists. Why it took a full season from [[Cousin Oliver|Poof's]] birth for Foop to be born is unknown.

* ''[[Yin Yang Yo!|Yin Yang Yo]]'' played this trope straight and surprisingly well: early on season 1, Yin and Yang got rid of their worst traits, Yin's bossiness and Yang's agression. Master Yo then said that everybody needs their good and bad traits to be complete, much to everybody's (viewers included) confusion. However, this action aslo led to the birth of [[Evil Counterpart|Yuck]], and Yin and Yang found that their bad traits helped them into being better warriors (Yin's bossiness helped her to come up with plans and strategies, and Yang's aggression gave him the motivation to fight).

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Goodness Tropes]]

[[Category:Morality Tropes]]

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]