Even Evil Has Standards/Literature: Difference between revisions

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*** Barratry, treason and [[But You Screw One Goat!|carnal knowledge of an animal]], actually.
* [[Terry Pratchett]] likes doing this in ''[[Discworld]]'', especially with his Assassins' Guild. Like Leon, they do not accept contracts to "inhume" [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl|women]] or [[Wouldn't Hurt a Child|children]], nor do they ''ever'' work for free, and they cannot accept contracts on someone who cannot defend himself (though "rich enough to hire bodyguards" qualifies as "capable of defending himself").
** In ''[[Discworld/Witches Abroad|Witches Abroad]]'' it's stated that Genua's branch of Assassins all left years ago because "some things sicken even jackals".
** In ''[[Discworld/Hogfather|Hogfather]]'' the head of the Ankh-Morpork branch is horrified by the excesses of [[Psychopathic Manchild]] Jonathan Teatime and frightened by his unpredictable actions. Teatime later hires a bunch of criminals who are also scared and repelled by him; they did kill people, but unlike Teatime, only when it was neccessary.
*** Fittingly for this trope, the scene that introduces Teatime notes that Lord Downey, leader of the Assassins Guild, does not have actual morals, but he ''does'' have standards. Teatime... doesn't.
** In ''[[Discworld/Guards! Guards!|Guards! Guards!]]'', the dragon is rather disturbed by Lupin Wonse's plan to use human psychology so that the citizens of Ankh-Morpork will begin to grow used to the idea of having to sacrifice young maidens to the dragon:
{{quote|''You have the effrontery to be squeamish'', it thought at him. ''But we were dragons. We were supposed to be cruel, cunning, heartless, and terrible. But this much I can tell you, you ape'' – the great face pressed even closer, so that Wonse was staring into the pitiless depths of his eyes - ''we never burned and tortured and ripped one another apart and called it morality.''}}
*** That is to say that dragons ''did'' burn and torture and rip one another apart, they just [[At Least I Admit It|never called it a "good" thing]] or [[I Did What I Had to Do|try to excuse it.]]
** In ''[[Discworld/Going Postal (Discworld)|Going Postal]]'' this is part of Moist's reason for going against Gilt. Admittedly, Moist is more of a [[Loveable Rogue]] to Gilt's [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]].
*** Moist also abhors violence (not only the violence done to him, but doing any violence himself to try to prevent it being done to him, to the extent that he absolutely refuses to carry weapons of any kind) while Gilt has no qualms about having people brutally murdered right and left and employs a particularly terrifying killer to do it for him.
*** We also learn that Igors have a tradition (and rules about) making a break for it when The Marthter starts going off the deep end. You make sure the larder is full and everything is all tidy before you go, and it is, apparently, permissible (but not encouraged) to suggest that other, particularly likable servants might like to take a holiday in a different town right now. (Igors know that there's no percentage in being around when the pitchforks and torches come out.)
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*** Further to that, Vimes finds out in a later book that he's been taken off the register. Aside from being slightly disappointed at that at wondering if he can appeal, he reflects that the Assassins only take someone off the books if killing them would cause too much political chaos (Vetinari being the only other person they will not accept a contract on).
*** They seem to have found another use for him though, {{spoiler|as a training exercise for over-confident students}}.
** In ''[[Discworld/Carpe Jugulum|Carpe Jugulum]]'', the Magpyrs' Igor gets [[Beleaguered Assistant|increasingly fed up]] with not only their lack of respect for [[Good Old Ways|vampiric tradition]], but their condescending [[Social Darwinist]] attitude, complaining constantly that "the old marther" never went as far as the current bunch. This eventually drives him to [[Heel Face Turn|side with the witches]].
** There's also the Thieves' Guild, which takes a very hostile attitude towards unlicensed theft. The Guild also requires thieves to stamp a receipt for the "customer", so the same people aren't hit too often or for too much.
** In ''[[Discworld/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]],'' It's insinuated that even [[Rich Bitch|Serefine von Uberwald]] was horrified by some of the actions of her son [[Complete Monster|Wolfgang,]] which included {{spoiler|altering the family tradition of [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game]] so that the human prey had no chance at survival}} and {{spoiler|murdering his infant sister because she wasn't able to change form like "proper" werewolves.}}
** ''[[Discworld/Thud|Thud!]]!'' has Chrysophrase of the troll mob, who doesn't deal in drugs. Well, not any more. And not the ''bad'' drugs, the kind that kill their users or cause them to become psychotic. Commander Vimes isn't impressed. Also during that book, one of his goons makes the mistake of making an indirect threat toward Vimes's family ("He knows where I live." "''Yeah'', he does."). Later, Chrysophrase says the threat was not on his orders, and the offending goon has been...dealt with, and incidentally would Vimes like a rockery for his garden?
** In ''[[Discworld/Eric|Eric]]'', Astfgl's attempts to run Hell like a corporation disgust even the other demons.
* In the [[James Bond]] book and movie ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'', Marc-Ange Draco, head of the Unione Corse, the biggest European crime syndicate, is an okay guy because he doesn't traffic in drugs. Murder, extortion, protection rackets, female slavery, those are fine; but drugs? No. [[wikipedia:Union Corse#Involvement in the heroin trade|The real Unione Corse does deal in drugs.]]
* It's stated in ''[[Good Omens]]'' that even demons find certain actions unthinkable, including using holy water on another demon. Ironically, [[Noble Demon]] Crowley is the one who crosses that line, though it's done to save his hide more than anything else. Later on, Crowley rejects the idea of tormenting Hastur by playing the tape he's trapped on in his Bentley until he becomes a Queen song ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]) because even a demon can only sink so far.