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Designated Evil: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Designated Evil is when a writer paints the solution to a problem, committed by a protagonist, as indisputably wrong or evil, but either doesn't make an alternative action clear, or shows the audience that the alternative would have been ineffective. Any protests that the action was necessary will be met with [[What the Hell, Hero?|stunned silence or stares]], and the question of [[Take a Third Option|what should have been done instead]] is either never asked, never answered, or answered with a solution that clearly would not have worked. Most often, the solution involves violence.
This usually makes a point of [[Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work|sparing the more sympathetic characters the responsibility of dealing with it themselves]], while still leaving them to stand as a morally-superior gallery to condemn the solution. Expect the rest of the heroes to be at the very least reluctant to forgive the character who commits the act, regardless of any reasoning or extenuating circumstances. They may not be able to argue the point, and they may recognize that they get to enjoy the benefits of that solution after the fact, but they will still denounce it as wrong, and the character wrong for doing it. The best a [[Designated Evil]] character can hope for is to have a few reluctant supporters who refrain from outright condemning them, but won't openly defend their position from the judgement of others: the author is clearly not on their side.
Often, this comes off especially hypocritical if the series has shown it to be perfectly acceptable to kill human villains [[One
This trope is what happens when you mix [[Moral Dissonance]], a bit of [[Fridge Logic]], and maybe some [[Values Dissonance]] for good measure. After all, just what is a right and wrong response to morally complex scenarios can vary just person to person.
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As noted above, this is largely a subjective trope. For some, the writers are right, killing a helpless human is always wrong, no matter what. For others, the idea that you should just take away the bad guy's toys and [[Karma Houdini|send him on his way despite his multiple murders and likelihood to do it again]] is infuriating. However, the emotional impact of taking a human life is strong enough that perhaps not being completely sure that the hero is justified in doing so may be reason enough to consider the act immoral. It varies.
Compare [[Informed Wrongness]], the more extreme version where the character's actions aren't wrong in any context. Also compare [[What Do You Mean
{{examples
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
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== [[Film]] ==
* [[Daybreakers]] gives us the {{spoiler|Mass Execution of the Subsiders via sunlight.}} [[What Measure Is a Non
* Anakin's killing of Count Dooku in [[Star Wars|Revenge of the Sith]] comes across this way-Palpatine is quite right that the Republic can't hold him, or fairly try him.
** Backed up in universe however, as even completely justified actions committed due to strong emotion is the path to the Dark Side. Basically, the Force can use Designated Evil actions to turn the perpetrator into actually evil.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* On ''[[Total Drama Action]],'' Courtney is immediately set up as the villain because she [[The Complainer Is Always Wrong|keeps complaining about her team]], and then later she manages to get [[Big Eater|Owen]] eliminated. This is apparently supposed to make us dislike her, given how veryone else jumps to his defense...but what the writers don't seem to realize is that to many fans, Owen is a [[
** Just an addition to the ''TDA'' part: Owen does get eliminated because Courtney voted for it, but what about the other teammates? Oh, right, they voted for Courtney, even though they were told by Chris that voting her off was off-limits this time around. Their votes were negated, while Courtney's remained valid. So, the characters are all upset that Owen got voted off and blame Courtney, even though it was ''their'' fault per the stated rules.
* Less dire example in "[[Arthur (Animation)|Arthur's Big Hit]]". Arthur spends time and effort building a model plane, which his younger sister immediately wants to play with as if it were a toy. Despite being repeatedly told not to touch it, because it ''isn't'' a toy and doesn't belong to her, D.W. ''steals'' it, breaks it, and then ''blames Arthur'' for its destruction and is amused at his anger. So he hits her, and is instantly and completely condemned for it by everyone around him. Typical of [[Designated Evil]] acts, this is treated as the worst possible response, but D.W. is ''never disciplined'' for her behavior, even after their parents insist she'll be 'dealt with', which renders the alternatives to violence explicitly pointless. If he ''hadn't'' hit her, she'd probably be helping herself to everything he owns.
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