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Black and White Morality: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"By G'Quan, I can't recall the last time I was in a fight like that. No moral ambiguity, no... hopeless battle against ancient and overwhelming forces. They were the bad guys, as you say, we were the good guys. And they made a very satisfying thump when they hit the floor."''|'''G'kar''', ''[[Babylon 5]] -- A Late Delivery from Avalon''}}
Good versus Evil. [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|White hat versus black hat.]] The [[Knight in Shining Armor|shining knight]] [[The Messiah|of destiny]] with [[The Cape (trope)|flowing cape]] versus the [[Dastardly Whiplash|mustache-twirling]], [[Card-Carrying Villain|card-carrying]] force of [[Obviously Evil|pure malevolence]]. The most basic form of fictional morality, Black And White Morality deals with the battle between pure good and absolute evil.
This can come in a variety of forms:
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* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' and ''[[The Silmarillion]]'': Broadly speaking. The respective villains Sauron, Saruman and Morgoth are evil, and those who oppose them are good. On a closer level this is not so - Sauron, Saruman and Morgoth's Orcs are [[Always Chaotic Evil]], but their human forces are not, which is lost on many a critic. More than one character notes how they must be manipulated or forced to do their will.
** ''Broadly'' speaking. See the quote at the top of [[Grey and Gray Morality]]. ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' in particular tends to be [[The Good, the Bad, and The Evil|white, grey and black]]. (Surely people like Feanor, his sons, the Noldor in general, Thingol, Turin, etc. cannot be thought of as all black or all white.)
** Outside of the Silmarillion there are many other examples. Gollum, Lobellia and Denethor (in the book, the movie plays him as more of a straight forward villain) are anything but clean cut good or bad guys. Despite its lighter tone The Hobbit averts this a lot more than its darker sequel. Thorin is for the most part noble but also a greedy, proud jerkass who would risk a war to hang onto his gold while Beorn is kind and friendly but kills an Orc who had already surrendered and puts its head on a pike.
** Indeed, it would probably be best to say that Middle-Earth ''has'' [[Black and White Morality]], but only as extremes- [[God|Eru]] and [[Council of Angels|the Valar]] are pure good; [[Satan|Morgoth]] and [[The Legions of Hell|his directly corrupted minions]] are pure evil; most of the non-divine characters lean strongly one way or the other, but aren't "pure". This ties in to temptation being a major theme of LOTR in particular.
** Completely and utterly averted in [[The Children of Hurin]]. Turin is well meaning but also a morally ambigous Jerkass who blows over the [[Moral Event Horizon]] when he murders a lame man in cold blood, his Lancer Androg is a serial rapist and murderer and the group's traitor, Mim the Dwarf is a Woobie [[Anti-Villain]] whose actions are motivated by the relentless persecution his people suffered from the Elves as well as Androg's cruelty. Even after his betrayl he inists that Turin be released unharmed.
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== Real Life ==
* It's a common misconception that [[World War II]] was a case of this. In actually it was closer to [[Black and Gray Morality]] if only due to Joseph Stalin fighting on the Allied side, the Japanese internment camps operated by the United States and Canada(Through their internment camps were far more comfortable and humane, in comparison the hellish treatment received by those unfortunate to be captured by the Japanese.), and continuing moral debates regarding the bombing of Dresden, as well as the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
* The American Civil War is often seen as the heroic Union soldiers fighting to free the slaves from the "evil" Confederates. While it is true that Lincoln freed the slaves, the war itself was about much more than just the issue of slavery and there were quite a few Southerners who objected to it (including General Robert E. Lee). Also the typical idea of "freeing" slaves was a lot different from the modern one, in that even the most committed of abolitionists often argued that slavery, as bad as it was, did ultimately benefit the blacks. Racism was also still a huge issue on both sides.
* A lot of early 20th century propaganda tried to give this impression towards major conflicts. Britain and Canada both tried to build up the Germans as monsters in World War I, World War II saw numerous propaganda films about destroying the Nazis, and throughout the Cold War there were American propaganda films demonizing the "Reds" (the Soviet Union).
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* As pictured above, [[Fire Emblem|Queen Elincia]] and the Herons are good, but Mad King Ashnard is evil. {{spoiler|However, his steed isn't evil, just [[Brainwashed]].}}
** But then there's Naesala, who's more morally ambiguous, as well as the few Daein commanders who fight for Ashnard [[Lawful Neutral|more out of a sense of duty for their nation then being outright evil.]]
* It has always been the trait of the ''[[Command
* The first ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'' game.
* Subverted in ''[[Golden Sun]]'': seemingly present during the first game, but the second game [[Deconstructed Trope|deconstructs]] it by having you play the antagonists of the first game, and having the final boss be the mentor from the first game.
* In ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue]]'' and ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver]]''. The main character is good, Team Rocket is evil.
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