Big Good: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:PRIMEsmallB 2077.jpg|link=Transformers Generation 1|frame|[[Transforming Mecha|Also, he can transform into a truck.]]]]

Whereas the [[Big Bad]] is considered the ultimate evil to be defeated, the Big Good is the cornerstone of any heroic organization. This character is explicitly stated to be a counterpart to combat the forces of evil, likely calling all the shots in the organization and is normally the highest ranking or the absolute most powerful. Since [[The Hero]] is usually, but [[Anti-Hero|not]] [[Villain Protagonist|always]] synonymous with the protagonist, the Big Good does not always fill that role, as it is usually more dramatic for the protagonist to work upwards from the bottom. In fact, it may even be stated (at least in the beginning) that [[The Hero]] is expendable whereas this character is not. The Big Good is simply the most valuable member of the heroic movement in a given work, whether in terms of rank, function or wisdom. If not [[The Hero]], then they will most definitely be [[Mentor Archetype|the mentor]] to craft [[The Hero]] into being the weapon they need him to be.

 

 

At its most general, the Big Good title simply refers to '''the leader of the largest group opposing the [[Big Bad]]'''. Keep this in mind when suggesting examples.

 

* It's difficult to decide which lead from ''[[Legend of the Galactic Heroes]]'' better qualifies. While Reinhard continuously rises through the ranks and spends most of the series pretty much being the driving force of the Empire, he is much more morally flawed compared to Yang, who never attempts to rise past the rank of Admiral.

* L from ''[[Death Note]]'' - a more uncommon [[Anti-Hero|Anti Heroic]] example.<ref>[[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|Type IV]]</ref>

* The Elder from ''[[Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple]]''. Almost certainly the strongest character in the series, it's fortunate that he's on the side of good.

* Integra Hellsing from ''[[Hellsing]]''.

* Captain Bravo from ''[[Busou Renkin]]''. Then the second half of the series introduced a ''Bigger'' Good Guy who was ''his'' captain. He even makes the bigger part somewhat literal—whereas Captain Bravo's weapon is a body-fitting armor, his superior's weapon is a ''[[Humongous Mecha]]'' suit of armor.

* Koutarou Taiga from ''[[GaoGaiGar]]''. (Not actually more powerful, but [[The Hero]] is a super-advanced cyborg and Taiga is a [[Badass Normal]] who can fight off the enemy boss with a golf club.)

* Lord Mallory from ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]''.

* [[Physical God|Primus]] serves this role in ''[[Transformers]] [[Transformers Armada|Unicron Trilogy]].

* Hakuoro of ''[[Utawarerumono]]''. He was both [[The Hero]] and emperor of his country, which under his leadership went around smiting bad guys.

* The Queen in ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure]]''.

** Couppe-sama and Granny Kaoruko{{spoiler|/Cure Flower}} jointly hold this position in ''[[Heartcatch Pretty Cure]]''.

** At the same time [[Manipulative Bastard|Lieutenant General Grumman]] and [[Four-Star Badass|Major General Armstrong]].

* Pope Benedict in ''[[The Legend of Koizumi]]'', who leads the world's [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|Mahjong-based]] defense against the [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|Fourth]] [[Those Wacky Nazis|Reich]], who live on the moon and shoot meteors at major cities. [[It's Personal]] for him for some reason, probably due to his having grown up in the third one.

* ''[[Soul Eater]]'''s Big Good is Death, ironically. He's the head of the school that trains the heroes, gives them their missions and is the only one capable of going head to head with the Big Bad. Also, he's the one the villains are worried about; the heroes themselves are a much lower priority.

* The [[Power Trio|Three Dark Lords]] of ''[[Rosario + Vampire]]'', or at least the two who are still alive, seem to fill this role.

* This was [[Badass|Erza]]'s role in the earlier chapters of ''[[Fairy Tail]]'', until [[The Obi-Wan|Makarov]], then [[Person of Mass Destruction|Gildarts]] was introduced.

* Dr. Saotome in ''[[Getter Robo]]'', being the one that invented the eponymous robot and currently employs the protagonists as its pilots. He's one of the few people in the setting with an almost complete understanding of the nature of [[Applied Phlebotinum|Getter Rays]], and how to use them against the various threats to humanity.

* In [[Tokyo Mew Mew]], Ryou Shirogane, owner of Cafe Mew Mew and the head of Project Mew Mew, leads the heroes.

 

* [[Superman]] is traditionally the chairman (and often acknowledged as the most powerful member) of the Justice League, and even when not acting in his capacity as a Leaguer most other heroes tend to defer to his authority and judgment if only out of respect. Sometimes generalized to the "Big Three" where Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman collectively comprise the Big Good of the JLA. And of course, the JLA ''itself'' is in a sense the Big Good of DCU superteams and/or the metahuman community in general.

** Explicitly shown in the ''Trinity'' maxi-series, to the point where the three literally become gods.

* [[Darkseid]]'s opposite in the [[New Gods]] mythos, Izaya, Leader of New Genesis, is supposed to be the Big Good of the Fourth World saga- but he hardly ever gets used, to give the spotlight to characters like Orion, or even Earth heroes like Superman.

 

* ''[[Undocumented Features]]'' has the Wedge Defense Force, and later the International Police Organization.

 

== Film ==

* Mufasa from ''[[The Lion King]]''.

* Morpheus from the ''[[The Matrix]]'', shifting quite quickly to Neo.

* The White Queen from the Disney and [[Tim Burton]] version of ''[[Alice in Wonderland (film)|Alice in Wonderland]]''

* Odin is portrayed this way in the new ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]'' film. Most of the film is about Thor proving himself worthy to succeed him as king of Asgard.

 

== Literature ==

* Dumbledore in ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]''.

** Subverted in that while everyone ''else'' thinks the Big Good is Dumbledore, ''Dumbledore'' thinks the Big Good is Harry, and even mentions that he himself is expendable. Also subverted in that while he is the leader of Good against all Evil, he himself takes some reaaally questionable methods every now and then. All for the Greater Good and justifiable, but he isn't a white dove. Then again, the leader should never be.

*** In the practical sense, however, {{spoiler|Moody and, after ''he'' dies, Kingsley}}, seem to be Dumbledore's designated successors.

** Off-screen, {{spoiler|Neville}} is this for Hogwarts during ''Deathly Hallows'': it's implied by the way he talked that he stood up and took a lot of crap so the other students wouldn't have to, he was the only leader of the DA to remain at school for the entire year, and during the Second Battle of Hogwarts, he was explicitly shown leading an attempt to ''kill Death Eaters en masse'' using Mandrakes.

* D'ol Falla from the [[Green-Sky Trilogy]] becomes this after making up her mind to [[The Atoner|atone]] for her actions while leading the [[Knight Templar|Geets-Kel]].

* Firestar in every ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' arc after the first.<ref>and excluding the fifth, which will be a prequel</ref> He is the leader of the main [[Cast Herd]], ThunderClan, and is always trying to stop evil and create peacer between the Clans.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** The Mystic Mother from ''Mystic Force''. {{spoiler|Actually a famous villain and former [[Big Bad]] after a [[Heel Face Turn]]}}.

** Andrew Hartford from ''Operation Overdrive''.

* Rebel/{{spoiler|Micah Sanders}} in Volume 4 of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''. Also, {{spoiler|Angela Petrelli}} in Volume 3, which is jarring because she and the Company had been portrayed as villains in the first two seasons.

** Richard Drucker, an opponent of the Company, served this role in the Season 2 graphic novels plotline, but had no role in the main show's plot and appeared to be killed by the Company after a couple of appearances. The Volume 4 graphic novels show that Rebel was inspired partially by Drucker's legacy, though.

* President David Palmer (Senator in the first season) in the early years of ''[[24]]''. As the President of the United States, he's the guy coordianting all the efforts to stop whatever bad thing is going on, while [[The Hero|Jack Bauer]] is the one in the trenches actually fighting the terrorists and stopping the nuke/virus/nerve gas/whatever. The relationship of complete and absolute trust that exists between him and Bauer is what makes David Palmer the straightest and most iconic example of this trope in the show: while other Presidents show up in later years, they're usually more of an [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] (if not an outright [[President Evil]]).

** President Allison Taylor fulfills this role in the final two seasons, a refreshing change from the incompetent, obstructive, or outright [[President Evil|evil]] presidents that followed Palmer. {{spoiler|At least until her [[Face Heel Turn]] in late Season 8, though she manages to [[My God, What Have I Done?|pull herself back]] at the critical moment.}}

 

== Music ==

* Elluka Clockworker can be seen as this in the Evilious Chronicles series of [[Vocaloid]] songs by Akuno-[[P/mothy|mothy]], considering how [[Green-Eyed Monster|the]] [[Villainous Glutton|songs]] [[Pride Before a Fall|revolve]] [[Harem Seeker|around]] [[Death by Materialism|villains]] [[Lazy Bum|representing]] [[Unstoppable Rage|the]] [[Seven Deadly Sins]].

 

* [[King Arthur]], in his capacity as King of the Britons. Many of the stories focus on individual knights of the Round Table, such as Gawain, Lancelot or Perceval, with Arthur as something of a background character. However, he represents the benevolent authority that they are all loyal to ([[Betrayal Tropes|when things are going well, anyway]]).

* [[Santa Claus]]

* [[The Bible|Yahweh]], obviously. Same goes for His son, Jesus. Actually something of a subversion in that while He ''is'' undoubtedly the universal Big Good, His narrative role in the universe is closer to that of [[The Man Behind the Man]],<ref>mostly because looking at Him makes you explode, which is something of an inconvenience when it comes to public speaking</ref> and He generally has a prophet or representative<ref>Moses, The Kohanim, Kings Saul/David/Solomon, The Popes, Mohamed, etc.</ref> to serve as functional leader to handle day-to-day management and policymaking of the forces of good whenever He needs something done.

** In the old pre-exilic Israelite religion, El was the King of the universe and head of the Divine Council. YHWH was his firstborn and most beloved son who by far outranked and superceded the others in every respect.

* Many, though not certainly not all, religions with a deity or deities view them as this—although some of the polytheistic ones have some as big goods, others as [[Big Bad|big bads]], and others as bystanders, of course.

 

* The Unconquered Sun of ''[[Exalted]]'' was created to be an ultimate hero-type being in order to give the Cosmic Principle of Villainy, the Dragon's Shadow (eventually the Ebon Dragon) something to compare himself against and therefore the ability to actually do stuff.

* The leaders of the three POV organisations (Boris Ivanov for the [[The Men in Black|Institute]], Buran for [[Private Military Contractors|DEFENDER]], and Akela for [[Mad Scientist|Utopists]]) in [[Age of Aquarius]]. [[The Archmage|Semyon Nikolaev]] may count as the overall Big Good.

** Note that this is a universe where gods and even [[God]] definitely exist and are active. No, they are not any kind of Big Good.

 

* They tend to vary in ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'', but whoever the canonical big goods of various series usually are will defer to one (though there can be more) major Big Good to lead them and the rest of the troops, and in most games [[Mobile Suit Gundam|Bright Noah]] usually gets this task due to overall command experience.

* [[Fantasia|Yen Sid]], as of the more recent games in the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series. [[Final Fantasy VIII|Leon / Squall]] leads most of the supporting cast, but Yen Sid is the guy ''King Mickey'' goes to for advice. He's currently {{spoiler|co-ordinating the effort to rescue those suffering and prepare for Xehanort's reincarnation.}}

* Yukari Yakumo serves this role in the ''[[Touhou]]'' series after she's introduced, being the creator and maintainer of Gensokyo. Often, she would prod [[The Hero|Reimu]] to get off [[Brilliant but Lazy|her lazy butt]] and go into action, and woe betide you if you should endanger Gensokyo to the point where [[Reality Warper|she herself would intervene]].

** Calling Yukari a Big Good is a little farfetched. She's a [[Chaotic Neutral]] [[Trickster Archetype]] who serves her goals and hers alone, but she definitely doesn't want to see Gensokyo destroyed.

** For the Protoss its Tassadar and Zeratul.

** And on the Terran side we have Jim Raynor.

** Elder Lyons in ''[[Fallout 3]]'' fits the role more closely, especially in his Optimus Prime-esque tendency to put [[Honor Before Reason]], as seen in how he runs the Capital Wasteland in the ''Broken Steel'' add-on.

* Various [[The Order|Onikiribe]] leaders (there are many, many groups) in [[Girls Love]] [[Visual Novel]] ''[[Akai Ito]]'' and ''[[Aoi Shiro]]''. {{spoiler|Wakasugi Tsudura from ''[[Akai Ito]]'' is the biggest good by the time of events in ''[[Aoi Shiro]]''.}}

* Daniel Carrington, founder and head of the Carrington Institute in ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' fits this. Although, apart from opposing dataDyne, one has to wonder what it is they actually ''do''.

** The Carrington Institute develops advanced computer software, hardware, and weaponry (all of which is put to good use by their agents). They are also the creators of the "null-g" technology, which lead to the development of hovercars. As a diplomatic party, they maintain peaceful relations with the Maians.

* In the ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' series, the Big Good is Lord Nasher Alagondar, ruler of Neverwinter.

 

* Lord Shojo of the Sapphire Guard starts out as ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'''s Big Good, later to be replaced by his nephew Hinjo.

** Except that in this case the polity represented by both of them was actually conquered by the [[Big Bad]] - Hinjo is still an active force, but much less important now than earlier on. Though, to be fair, a large part of the defeat of their force for good was one of their own [[Knight Templar|going insane in her attempts to impose order and virtue]].

* [[Anti-Villain|Baron Klaus Wulfenbach]] from ''[[Girl Genius]]'', assuming you label him one of the good guys.

** If you don't, he's at least the [[Discworld|Vetinari]], in that his rule keeps everyone from killing everyone else.

 

== Web Original ==

* ''[[Fine Structure]]'': {{spoiler|Mitch Calrus, AKA Xio, is one of two [[Eldritch Abomination]]s sealed in our universe. He's the one opposed to senselessly destroying all sentience.}}

* ''[[That Guy With The Glasses]]'': SANTA CHRIIIST, SANTA CHRIIIIIST!

* Subverted in the blog [http://sooniwillrule.blogspot.com/ Soon I will Rule The World], in that the Big Good, the Luchador security guard Santo Christo, is the Big Bad to the blog's villain protagonist [[Our Liches Are Different|Asmodeus Acerak]]

* [[The Messiah|The Yostwell]] of ''[[The Questport Chronicles]]'', according to legend. It disappeared after a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] millennia ago, but left behind [[MacGuffin|a relic]] with a portion of its power.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Optimus Prime in just about any ''[[Transformers]]'' adaptation.

** Ultra Magnus served this role in ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', while Optimus was re-envisioned as [[The Hero|a younger, rookie hero]].

*** Of course, Prime is ''every so slightly'' outranked by [[God|Primus]].

* The Supreme Luminescent in the second season of ''[[Gormiti: The Lords of Nature Return]]''.

* The Sorceress in ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]''.

* Zadavia from ''[[Loonatics Unleashed]]''. Her twin brother, Optimatus, is [[Big Bad|her exact opposite]].{{spoiler|.. until his [[Heel Face Turn]] near the end of the series.}}

* In season 5 of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003]]'', the Ninja Tribunal occupied this role—even though, as the the turtles point out, they're kind of dicks.

* Thundera's [[The Good King|King]] Claudus from ''[[Thundercats 2011|ThunderCats (2011)]]'' Though a [[Noble Bigot]] and leader of [[The Empire]], he fights the good fight against ancient evil [[Sorcerous Overlord]] Mumm-Ra, becoming the [[Sacrificial Lion]] of Mumm-Ra's invasion of his kingdom.

* [[Action Girl|Amanda Carey]] from ''[[Hurricanes]]'' is arguably this since she leads the Hurricanes into most of their efforts against [[Big Bad|Stavros Garkos']] evil plots.

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Foil]]

[[Category:Authority Tropes]]

[[Category:Goodness Tropes]]

[[Category:Master of the Index]]