Being Evil Sucks: Difference between revisions

* General Regius Gaiz of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] StrikerS''. After years as a corrupt official, guilt came knocking at his door in the form of Zest{{spoiler|'s clone}}, his best friend who shared his [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|dreams of justice]] {{spoiler|and was killed because of his secret connections to [[Big Bad|Scaglietti]]}}. Once he learned about his return, the formerly pompous general spent his time sitting in his desk in a defeated state, waiting for Zest to come.

* Gaara of from the series ''[[Naruto]]'' doesn't ''quite'' realize this until he [[Defeat Means Friendship|gets the snot kicked out of him]] by Naruto in full "I fight for my friends" mode.

* Light Yagami of [[Death Note]], who starts out as a normal yet highly intelligent high schooler who could truly make a difference in the world in a positive way, but also has too much free time on his hands. That is until he finds the Death Note, which at first he claims to use only on irredeemable criminals under the alias "Kira". He quickly comes to use it to kill off anyone who gets to close to uncovering the truth or questions his motivations. He grows progressively more paranoid and unhinged, jumping of the moral slippery slope as he tries to ensure Ryuk doesn't grow too bored (who will kill him otherwise) and [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulates just about everyone he knows including his own family]] to serve his ends. It all comes to a head at the end of the series, {{spoiler|where Light is finally outed as Kira and [[Laughing Mad|snaps]]. He dies humiliated and terrified in the knowledge that there is no afterlife for him, and this is the end. It's later shown in the manga's epilogue that things quickly went back to normal afterwards, making his actions seem rather pointless.}}

* The eponymous character in ''[[The Assassination of Jesse James]]'' qualifies for this. The myth around him has developed to the point where he finds it impossible to escape it and he is constantly reminded of the consequences of what he has done. While he is an unstable bully, he feels genuine remorse for all the lives he has taken and wants nothing more than death. Beautifully summed up by his line:

{{quote|''I look at my red hands and my mean face, and I wonder about that man that's gone so wrong.''}}

== Literature ==

* ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' For the first few books, it seems Count Olaf will always win, but slowly we realize that he alienated the one person he loved and lost practically all his henchman, all on the hopes of getting the Baudelaire fortune. Guess how well that worked out?

** Severus Snape: All of his years devoted to the dark side eventually gained him nothing but destroying the one thing he'd ever loved, although {{spoiler|his Heel Face Turn}} didn't really seem to do anything to improve his happiness. But he did spend the rest of his life trying to atone for {{spoiler|Lily's death}}. In other words, being [[Jerkass Woobie|Snape]] sucks.

** Draco Malfoy learns this the hard way near the end of the series. There's a big difference between idolizing a "cool" [[Evil Overlord]] from a safe distance and being ordered by said overlord to commit murder with the threat of having your entire family killed. Draco also finds out that he really doesn't have it in him to directly kill a defenseless person right in front of him. In Book 7 he learns that he doesn't enjoy inflicting [[Cold-Blooded Torture]].

== Music ==

{{quote|''It gets so lonely being evil.''

''What I'd do to see a smile... even for a little while.''

== Religion/Mythology ==

* Similarly, in Christianity and Islam, the wages of sin are death, a weakening of your relationship with God, and eventual damnation if not repented.

** Satan himself is supposed to be constantly tortured by his decision. [[The Divine Comedy]] even has him {{spoiler|imprisoned with the rest of the sinners who betrayed their lords}}.

** [[Werewolf: The Forsaken|Werewolves]]: The spirits you're trying to police can tell you're out of balance, and they hate you that much more. You have a harder time performing rituals, and it's that much harder to keep from kill-everything-around-you berserker rage. On top of all that, you tend to develop disturbing obsessions - from breaking every third window you pass to taking a bite out of anyone who looks you in the eye. [[Werewolf: The Apocalypse|In the original Werewolf]] you suffer nothing of the sort and can techically do anything you please. There is just that little problem with the Universe-devouring [[Big Bad]] who has a [[Fate Worse Than Death]] in store for your entire race and you personally, and whose local representatives are generally empowered by evil acts.

** [[Mage: The Awakening|Mages]]: You know that Abyss that hates your magic? The more evil you become, the harder it can smack you around and the harder it is for you to resist it. [[Mage: The Ascension|In the original]], you're pretty much free to do as you wish; thing is, there's a horde of [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]] seeking to drag reality down into oblivion with them, and their goals are furthered by the spread of evil.

** [[Changeling: The Lost|Changelings]]: A double-dose of insanity; not only do you suffer specific derangements, but your perceptions are more and more skewed by your Fae experiences. Plus, you become more and more like one of the Fae overlords who kidnapped you. {{spoiler|Because you'll probably become one if you grow powerful enough.}}

** [[Hunter: The Vigil|Hunters]]: One trope: [[He Who Fights Monsters]]. [[Hunter: The Reckoning|And that goes for the previous game, too.]]

** Actually, he thought Megatron had screwed up big time and so challenged him for leadership. When that didn't work, he challenged Optimus Primal to a fight to the death. Dinobot would have lost, but Primal spared him, so Dinobot joined the Maximals for his own honour. But he did eventually realise being evil sucks, leading the greatest CMOA {{spoiler|/death scene}} ever.

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Zuko realizes, {{spoiler|after he ''averted'' a [[Heel Face Turn]]}}, that despite having everything he ever wanted, he is dissatisfied with the methods he used to get there.

* ''[[South Park]]'', in the "Woodland Critter Christmas" episode, Kyle willingly takes the Antichrist's essence into his body, but immediately feels the excruciating pain of "having one's soul on fire". Stan replies with "what did you expect, dude, he's the son of the devil!" "Yeah, but I didn't think it'd be so... dark and evil!" {{spoiler|The whole incident however was a Christmas story written by Cartman.}}

* In the ''[[Bravestarr]]'' episode "Brother's Keeper," Bravestarr captures one of a pair of bandits who are brothers. The bandit admits the life of crime sucked and he's glad it's over, and the only reason he'd kept on with it was to look out for his brother, who is a much more unrepentant low-life.

*** It was highly frowned upon for a reason. Despite it being a major reason for the Civil War, the practice was starting to decline, largely due to diplomatic pressure.

* In general, after committing a crime, especially major ones, there is always the worry of getting caught and making enemies that are willing to make your life a living hell, or just outright kill you. You can become paranoid even if nothing is actually happening because there is always the chance of it really happening. And of course, general jail life is boring and dangerous. You never know when someone could rape or kill you in turn. Not to mention, even after the long prison term is over, you essentially HAVE to continue living as a criminal because there is now a document of your actions sent to every employer that might have given you a second chance at life even if you did turn over a new leaf. It's extremely, extremely rare for someone sent to prison twice for major crimes to ever have a chance at freedom (of any amount) and happiness again.

** A story told once personally was about a crime boss in Philadelphia. A young man wanted for all the world to see him up close. So his friends took him to a club where the man spent his evenings. He was thin and pale, and spent the entire night chain smoking and looking around the room for enemies. The impression it left on the young man was life changing enough for him to pass it on to another.