Exclusively Evil: Difference between revisions

Expect the national dress to be [[Spikes of Villainy]] and [[Evil Makeover|black leather]], the reason for keeping pets to be [[Kick the Dog|kicking]], and their language to be the [[Black Speech]].

 

 

It's quite common for a fantasy [[Big Bad]] to have an Always Chaotic Evil race at the ready to use as [[Mooks]]. It's usually justified as an [[Balance Between Good and Evil|arrangement]] among the various [[Powers That Be]]. The heroes are likely to be from races where good and evil are possible, to [[Alike and Antithetical Adversaries|contrast their differences]].

** ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer]]'': At the beginning it looks the trope is being played straight, but finaly it is averted. Several of the Vegans are decent people and many of them are given redeeming qualities.

* ''[[Combattler V]]'': For a while it seemed the trope was being played straight, but it was ultimately averted. The Campbellians were attacking Earth were not representative of the entire race, but a rebel fraction led by leaders constantly indoctrinated their troops into believing it is HUMANS who are [[Always Chaotic Evil]]. The most part of the Campbellians were not presented as evil or harbouring ill will towards humans, and actually at the end {{spoiler|Deus, Campbellians' true leader, came to Earth to stop [[Big Bad]] Empress Janera personally, and vowed he would help to rebuild Earth what Janera destroyed.}}

* Subverted in ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' (although differently, depending on which version you're watching). In the manga, this seems to be the case at first (with Chrono being the only exception), but it turns out that the Sinners are more complex than that, and even among other demons {{spoiler|most of them are simply following orders in a corrupt culture that can't even remember how they got that way in the first place, making them practically victims of a bureaucracy who simply refused to question WHY things were the way they were}}. In the anime, the Sinners are portrayed as more blatantly evil, while the rest of the demons seem contractually obligated to {{spoiler|play "villains" for God in order to keep humanity in line}}, making them a bit more like [[Punch Clock Villain|Punch Clock Villains]].

* The crows in ''[[Princess Tutu]]'' are shown this way -- justified because {{spoiler|they're characters escaped from a fairytale}}. They're so evil that even their ''blood'' can affect a character's personality.

** There's not a single decent member of the Zanscare Empire in ''[[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam|Victory Gundam]]''. That's even more jarring if we consider that most ''Gundam'' series usually try to depict war as shades of grey, without good or evil factions.

*** Not quite - the Zanscare army is usually portrayed as being heartlessly and irredeemably monstrous, but there are exceptions to that, the most outstanding example being Mathis Walker.

** The Veigans in [[Gundam AGE]] are all fanatically loyal to Lord Ezelcant without exception. Deeming the extermination of all non Veigans from their prized Eden

* The New Blood, or, at least, those directly related to Sicks in ''[[Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro]]''. For a long time, they intentionally bred so that the most evil would be the one to reproduce. Eventually, they actually became an entirely separate species, according to Sicks.

** Note that this is really an in-universe belief in ''Soul Eater''...when a character is found to be a witch and does a [[Face Heel Turn]], it's her belief in this and that other people will instantly assume it that causes it, not an innate drive. Once other characters convince her that she doesn't ''have'' to be evil if she doesn't want to, it's actually shown that others are perfectly willing to be proven wrong and think her being a good witch is neat.

* Hollows in ''[[Bleach]]'' are considered to be an entire race of evil spirits, driven to eating anything living or dead (including each other). Their more evolved "[[Bishonen Line|Arrancar]]" counterparts have been portrayed as having different dispositions, including Good (Nel).

* Vampires in Hellsing are mostly like this. Good vampires, like Seras, are a very special exception. It is not clear if the transformation to a vampire brings out the worst of person or if all vampires are all irredeemably evil. It is possible that since the survival of a vampire requires killing people for blood and souls at some point all vampires simply give up to their blood lust. At one point one vampire even comments on how he and his comrades can never enjoy things normal people enjoy, but are forced to live a life of a monster.

** Most of the vampires we see in the series were Card Carrying Villains ''before'' becoming vampires, being vicious war-mongers. Who were also Nazis. In their case, becoming vampires didn't turn them evil. It just gave them fangs.

* Subverted in [[DC Comics]] of the early-to-mid [[Silver Age]]. That era almost invariably depicted alien cultures as having made a ''choice'' between [[Good Republic, Evil Empire|Good Republic and Evil Empire]]. Every alien race was assumed capable of both "good" and "evil", and "evil" regimes could always be overthrown, while "good" ones could always be subverted.

* [[Marvel Comics]] has several examples:

** The Brood ([[Expy|Expies]] of the aliens from ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien]]'') are depicted as inherently, irredeemably corrupt because of the [[Body Horror|evolutionary peculiarities of their reproductive methods]].

** The Dire Wraiths from ''[[ROM Spaceknight]]'' wholeheartedly embraced evil. Their planet was so supernaturally suffused with corruption that [[Galactus]] ''[[Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth|couldn't eat it]].'' The Wraiths were about as close to being literal demons as a flesh and blood race can hope to be, and they took pride in it. While one Wraith did try to make a [[Heel Face Turn]] after disguising himself as a family man for years and [[Becoming the Mask|discovering love and kindness were actually pretty nice]], his comrades taught his son how to be evil, and the boy took to their lessons so well that he eventually murdered his parents. The Dire Wraiths actually enforce evil by indoctrinating it into their young so decent Dire Wraiths are the exception rather than the rule.

** The Deviants, an evil race created by the Celestials when they created the Eternals and the Humans (or, in later retcons, just the deviants and Eternals).

 

== Fan Fic ==

* The Muk and bug-type Pokémon in the [[Poke Wars Series]] are portrayed as mindless killing machines.

* In the [[Mass Effect]] fanfic, The Council Era, the dezban race are perceived as being utter savages by the rest of the galaxy. For the vast majority of the species, this became true after the Great War, but an exception is introduced in the dezban bounty hunter Sevalaus Morkaneto, who is both rational-thinking and far less aggressive than most of his brethren.

* The Uchiha are usually portrayed as this, except Mikoto, Itachi, Obito and, on '''rare''' occasions, Sasuke.

 

 

* The goblins in ''[[Troll 2]]'' fit the bill pretty well. All of them want a tasty snack of the humans in the movie, and the best part is that [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|they are all vegetarians too]]!

* The martians in [[Mars Attacks!]]. Besides this one, relevant tropes include [[For the Evulz]], [[Violence Is the Only Option]], and [[We Come in Peace, Shoot to Kill]].

* The Djinn race from ''[[Wishmaster]]''.

* The Deadites in all three ''[[Evil Dead]]'' films, as well as the Army of the Dead in the third ''Army of Darkness.''

** [[Justified Trope|They're posessed by demons and/or evil spirits]]. Demons are angels that follow Satan, and thus, are also evil.

** In ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'', they show up very briefly, and even then, it's just to randomly shoot at podracers.

** In ''[[Attack of the Clones]]'', they kidnapped and tortured Anakin's mother, killing her when Anakin finally shows up, though Anakin's massacre of them is treated as [[Kick the Dog]] moment [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him|nonetheless]].

** The Howlers were actually a fascinating [[Deconstructed Trope|deconstruction]]. They were created by the [[God of Evil]] / [[Eldritch Abomination]] Crayak, and had spent at least thousands of years wiping out countless species across the galaxy for no apparent reason. Cassie, however, refused to believe they were Always Chaotic Evil if they were truly sentient. When Jake eventually morphs one and gets to experience its natural instincts, he finds out {{spoiler|that their minds are closest to ''dolphins.'' They're childlike and playful, and [[Innocent Aliens|honestly don't know]] that other species have sentience until the Animorphs infect their [[Hive Mind]] with their own memories}}.

*** {{spoiler|This book was written [[Science Marches On|before we gained a better understanding of what dolphins are really like]].}}

*** The arm-blades and leg-blades are for harvesting tree bark, their main food source. They were, in fact, genetically engineered by the natives of their homeworld to keep the world's decidedly fragile ecosystem stable by acting as an entire species of arboretum-keepers.

* Arguably, the Canaanites in "[[The Bible]]", though there are exceptions like Ruth and Rahab, both who are rewarded by becoming ancestors of [[Jesus]]. Still, many passages are devoted to just how they are about to be smited. Ultimately subverted, though, as the great multitude of the Redeemed includes ''every'' tongue and tribe.

*** The author handwaves this by having the "races" be the product of selection by the gods: Chaldan, god of the Arends, values courage over brains. So when he got to select his chosen people, he picked accordingly, and things got predictably out of hand from there. Likewise, the Angaraks were bad guys in large part because they were driven to it by a bad god who wasn't pushing them in the sequel, being dead.

*** The author also justifies this in the Belgariad by stating that the three "bad guy" countries are controlled by a rigid and invasive religious heirarchy of the cruel god. This means that, for the Belgariad, all the antagonists are products of a chaotic evil society. The most "liberal" of the three is still populated by people who fear the priest caste. The fourth "bad guy" country is governed by a more cosmopolitan and urbane group, and, thus, is less chaotic.

* The dark elves (a.k.a. moredhel, a.k.a. Brotherhood of the Dark Path) from [[Raymond E. Feist]]'s ''Midkemia'' series are presented as ruthless, murderous, and unscrupulous. In an interesting twist, they are literally of the same blood as the eledhel, the High Elves of the series. It's explained that their differences are solely cultural, and that their cruel tendencies are mostly due to the lingering influence of their former dragon rider masters, the destructive Valheru. They're shown to have grey areas, and have [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] and [[Noble Demon]] tendencies. Occasionally, a moredhel will leave his or her people and join the eledhel, after which, he or she is considered an eledhel.

** The Pantathians are snake-people who are described and shown to be [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|alien and destructive in their very natures, with no chance of redemption]] (even a Pantathian that's hatched from its egg literally minutes earlier will attack any non-Pantathian on sight). But they're justified by {{spoiler|having been created by an evil mistress as minions.}}

** Notably [http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/bargain-book-bin-3.php parodied] by [[Something Awful]].

* The various Shadowspawn from ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' are a case of the "artificially created to be evil" variety, being genetically engineered to be the Dark One's slaves.

* Have you ever seen a [[The Shadow Over Innsmouth|Deep One]] that wasn't evil or Cthulhu-allied, even in [[Cthulhu Mythos]] works not written by [[H.P. Lovecraft|HP Lovecraft]]?

** [[Neil Gaiman]] played with this in his short story ''[[A Study in Emerald]]''. However, it does acknowledge the evil-alignment at the end, when {{spoiler|it is implied that the detective-hero is not actually Sherlock Holmes, but his antagonist, who is working against the evil he perceives in the Great Old Ones, ''is''}}.

** It doesn't help that Lovecraft treats actual races in a very similar manner (read the descriptions of the cultists in ''The Call of Cthulhu'' for a fine example), besides creating several inbred communities in rural America and the infamous fishmen of Innsmouth, who stand out as an ugly, racist metaphor concerning immigrants. The entire basis of Lovecraft's horror is set firmly upon the idea that anything alien or different is terrifyingly evil and he was apparently rather open about his xenophobia, even going so far as to tell his Jewish wife that he thought mixed marriages were a bad idea.

*** To be fair, Lovecraft also had no trouble in writing about degenerate, barbaric white people, and did it with far greater frequency than lauding against the blacks.

** To answer the question: yes, in ''[[The Laundry Series|The Jennifer Morgue]]'' by [[Charles Stross]].

*** Heck, in ''The Fuller Memorandum'', it turns out that one of them is working for The Laundy itself and does a phenomenal job there.

** The gray-ish morality is still somewhat present here, since the [[Arch Enemy]] of the [[God of Evil]] that the Others' serve is an extreme example of [[Good Is Not Nice]], and to a ''lot'' of characters it even looks more a case of [[Evil Versus Evil]]. That said, there are plenty of characters in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' who are and always have been [[Complete Monster|blacker than black]], such as [[The Caligula|Joffrey]], [[The Brute|Gregor Clegane]], and [[Torture Technician|Roose]] and [[Serial Killer|Ramsay Bolton]], amongst others, are arguably even ''worse'' than the Others, in terms of the evil they have actually commited on-screen.

* Averted or perhaps subverted with the [[Dark Is Edgy|dark]] [[The Fair Folk|court]] in ''Wicked Lovely''. They often seem to be [[Always Chaotic Evil]], but as we learn more about them, it is increasingly revealed that this is not the case.

{{quote|"We are what we are, Niall. Neither as good nor as evil as others paint us." ~ Irial.}}

* ''[[Discworld]]'' has the Fairies, who are Always [[Chaotic Evil]], though Nac Mac Feegle is more neutral. And the Auditors, who are Always [[Lawful Evil]] (from humanity's point of view) {{spoiler|1=except, eventually, for Myria LeJean}}. And the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions, which [[Eldritch Abomination|are beyond human morality]]. And Demons, who are evil. Every other race, however, subverts this by being stereotyped as vicious monsters by humans but actually being mostly quite nice.

** Played with in ''Unseen Academicals''. Mr. Nutt learns that he is not a goblin as he has always believed; he is an orc, a race seen as this trope. He expects everyone to hate him, but the people of Ankh-Morpork are rather blase about it at this point, having dealt with and accepted (to varying degrees) trolls, vampires, zombies, and golems. "Mild interest" is pretty much the worst reaction he gets.

*** It also plays with {{spoiler|the notion that orcs are grotesquely tortured and mutated elves; in this case, yes, except replace "elves" with humans, because nasty as elves are, there's no one for inventive cruelty quite like a human}}.

* In ''[[The Guardians]]'', both the nosferatu and the demons are [[Always Chaotic Evil]]. Justified in that the demons are [[Fallen Angel|FallenAngels]] who followed Lucifer in his rebellion against God, and the nosferatu are the angels who did not choose a side and were cast down to Earth.

* From ''[[The Dresden Files]]'':

** All three kinds of vampires are regarded as this by the White Council, and it's largely accurate. Black Court vampires are pretty much straight-up killing machines, Red Court are vicious predators who can at least put on a veneer of humanity to manipulate their victims, but are completely dominated by bloodlust. White Court are a subversion (or possibly deconstruction) - they are essentially composed of a human and demon in symbiosis, and while the demon is an [[Always Chaotic Evil]] predator, the human is capapble of good or evil (though resisting the demon when it's hungry is nigh impossible, so most White Court vampires never even bother - with rare exceptions like Thomas).

* In ''Jim Butcher's'' ''[[Codex Alera]]'' series, this is averted and played straight. The Marat and Canim are both considered mindless killing machine races by the Alerans, {{spoiler|until Tavi gets to know them.}} The Vord play this straight, obeying mind-controlled direction from their Queens, whose Purpose is to subsume all life into their race.

* Justified in John Ringo's [[Council Wars]] series. The Changed who make up the majority of New Destiny's military forces may be innocent victims, but thanks to the engineering of [[Complete Monster]] and [[Mad Scientist]] Celine Reinshafen, they're evil, raping, pillaging, killing machines to the core. When they aren't just [[Dumb Muscle]], who are also evil.

* Trolls and Goblins in [[Shadow Keep|Shadowkeep]]. Averted by the [[Lawful Neutral]] [[Lizard Folk|Zhiss'ta]].

* The title race in S.M. Stirlings ''Shadowspawn'' series, except for Adrian, the [[Defector From Decadence]], although since Adrian is that way from having been kidnapped and raised by a human, it's implied there might be hope for others, {{spoiler|which is why he kidnaps his children in the second book from [[Brother-Sister Incest|his sister, their mother]].}}

* Ewu are treated this way in ''[[Who Fears Death]]'', because they are the product of violence, they are expected to become violent in their future.

* In the ''[[The Berenstain Bears]]'' cartoon and spin-off ''Bear Scouts'' series, the weasels, led by Weasel McGreed are depicted this way. Every weasel character encountered by the protagonists is evil, with no exceptions.

** The Shadows are a pretty good example, being an [[Ultimate Evil]] race.

** It's worth noting that their isolationist culture is the main obstacle for any chance of a peaceful resolution. Also, their revenge isn't aimed against all the people or races of the galaxy -- they actually tried to seek help from the Minbari when their homeworld was destroyed, but turned against them when they realized just how big a part they played in defeating the Shadows.

* Subverted in ''[[Brimstone (TV series)|Brimstone]]''; the escaped souls are often evil, and [[Always Chaotic Evil|one would expect them to be]], but at least a few were shown to have been genuinely good people who made horrific decisions, or. in at least one case, were doing what they believed to be the best, only to then be judged by another religion's values, after dying. One was even so genuinely contrite and seeking redemption {{spoiler|that he was taken to heaven instead of sent back to hell upon his recapture}}.

** The show ''[[Reaper]]'', which has a similar premise, has an episode introducing a soul who was fighting to control murderous impulses. He eventually acknowledged that the best thing was for him to go back to Hell until he sorted himself out.

{{quote|'''Solomon:''' Daleks, ain't we the same? Underneath, ain't we all kin? See, I've just discovered, this past day, that God's universe is a thousand times the size I thought it was. And that scares me. Oh, yeah, terrifies me right down to the bone. [[Hope Spot|*Hopeful music starts playing* ]] But surely it's got to give me hope, hope that maybe, together, we can make a better tomorrow. So, I beg you, now, if you have any compassion in your hearts, then you'll meet with us, and stop this fightin'. Well... what do you say?<br />

'''Dalek:''' Exterminate! [[Black Dude Dies First|*Shoots him* ]] }}

** The Sontarans: [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Proud Warrior Race Guys]] who [[Blood Knight|worship war]]; they're all clones of one guy, churned out by the trillions to fight an endless war against shapeshifting gleen blobs. And they fit into this trope as being <s>Always</s> Sometimes Lawful Neutral, since their actions always have a military objective and, [[Lawful Evil|unless they involve Earth]], are not good or evil at face value.

** The Weeping Angels: Abstract alien entities from the "Dark Age" of the universe when the Time Lords were ascending to prominence, known to be filled with all manner of evil creatures. They are, apparently, the ideas of living things come to life to torture and kill us, which is a pretty scary concept. Their normal way of killing someone is actually rather nice- they send you back in time to a point where you can and will lead a full and happy life, dying on the day you return to your normal timeline, which is usually from old age and nothing bad. They do this because they feed off of your "potential" energy and that means its in their interest to make your life as wonderful as possible. But don't let that fool you- the entire race are is composed of evil, sadistic psychopaths and if they are well-fed and don't really need to do that to you, they will kill you [[For the Evulz]], and it will be a nasty, violent death if the [[Gory Discretion Shot|Gory Discretion Shots]] are any indication.

** {{spoiler|The Silence: have manipulated thousands of creatures over millenia, you look away from them and forget that they were ever there. Implied to have caused the TARDIS to explode at the end of last season, which would have [[Apocalypse How|destroyed the Universe]].}}

** In many ways, the Time Lords are also this, with the Doctor himself being the Drizz't of the bunch (and perhaps a few others like the Corsair, Romana, etc).

<!-- %%Leave the above in spoilers, it represents the fact the work is new, and fits the race described.%% -->

* The Reavers in ''[[Firefly]]''. It's never quite explained why they don't kill/rape/eat each other, even though they travel in such massive groups.

* Carrying on from the [[H.P. Lovecraft|HP Lovecraft]] example up in Literature, many, many creatures in ''[[Cthulhu Tech]]'' are invariably sociopathic mass-murderers. For example, the [[Shapeshifting Squick|Dhohanoids]] are almost invariably driven violently insane by the Rite of Transfiguration.

* ''[[Rifts]]'' uses this trope about as much as everyone above, but also provides the interesting case of the Faustians in the ''[[Space Opera|Phase World]]'' setting: An [[Always Chaotic Evil]] race that got on the wrong side of a war against an [[The Empire|Evil Empire]] even worse than them, forcing them to run to [[The Federation|The Consortium of Civilized Worlds]] to survive. Being exceptionally [[Genre Savvy]] that day, the CCW put the Faustians on a rather strict probationary membership, leaving the Faustians to harshly police their own bad sides. If even one of them pulls off any large-scale villainy, they ''all'' get booted out and right back into the waiting fangs of the Empire.

* The Steve Jackson Games' RPG ''[[In Nomine]]'' happily guts this trope alive: it probably has more non-evil "Bright Lilim" than real, evil ''demon'' Lilim.

** Well, in the canonical story, Bright Lilim are very rare, but yeah, many players ''love'' playing Bright Lilim, for the same reason people like playing good-aligned Drow in Dungeons and Dragons and stuff like that: because people like to be "original".

** Also, anything infected with [[Hate Plague|Gremlin Syndrome]].

** As with many Exalted tropes, this one is implied to be more complex than at first glance: in the Roll of Glorious Divinity II, it's implied that demons are literally ''[[Allergic to Love|afraid of love]]'', because the Yozis have ground it into them that there is no such thing as love without pain. Besides [[Love Redeems|certain plot hooks]], this begs the question: [[Trauma Conga Line|what kind of life must a demon lead?]]

* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has a few of such races, given [[Long Runner|how long the story has gone on and how many planes have been detailed]], but the most prominant would be the Phyrexians, who served as the villains of the plot for ''years'' in real-time. With a few exceptions, every last one of them is a [[Complete Monster]].

** Even still, Phyrexians in their newest form seem to move away from this trope. Ever since the Phyrexians took over Mirrodin, turning it into New Phyrexia, there have been five different factions corresponding to each of the five colors, and each being lead by a praetor, each with their own brand of pitch-black evil...Except the red praetor, Urabrask the Hidden, who, true to his red mana alignment, is a lot more individualistic and merciful than the other praetors, and therefore leads the only Phyrexian faction capable of free will and compassion. Probably due to this, he is the only Phyrexian leader who plots against the other praetors not simply to gain power but to actually work against Phyrexia as a whole. This is mainly due to the fact that Phyrexia's primary goals strongly go against two of red's strongest points: freedom and emotion.

== Video Games ==

* Pretty much anything a player is expected to kill in a video game falls into this trope. The vast majority of the time, one's foes are irredeemably evil and deserve to die for no other reason than that they oppose the player. There's no diplomacy, no bargaining; [[Violence Is the Only Option|the only reasonable response is death.]]

* The residents of Xylvania in [[Battalion Wars]] take this to such extremes that they're practically a parody. They're [[Putting on the Reich|Naziesque]] [[Our Vampires Are Different|Vampires]] who live in a Mordor-like wastleland and are descended from Steampunk [[Our Orcs Are Different|orcs]].

* [[Lampshade Hanging]] in ''[[Star Control]] II'': the Ilwrath [[Card-Carrying Villain|position]] ''[[Card-Carrying Villain|themselves]]'' [[Card-Carrying Villain|as supremely evil.]] If the player confronts them over this ("[[Logic Bomb|If your actions are judged by your society as correct, aren't you, in fact, good?]]"), they tie themselves into a logical knot before deciding to attack the player for being annoying.

** Subverted in the case of the [[Big Bad]] race(s) of the Ur-Quan. While the first game portrayed them as typical [[Evil Overlord|Evil Overlords]], the second explained their origin and gave them more complexity. They were a race of slaves, and believed that to protect their own freedom, they must thus enslave ''everyone else''. However, they never destroy unnecessarily, only conscript those races who volunteer as battle thralls, and will even accept your surrender no matter how many of them you have killed (though this still means [[Game Over]]). The Kohr-Ah subrace, however, plays this a bit straighter. They believe they should just kill everyone (though they aren't overly impolite about it, and will actually explain themselves when asked properly).

{{spoiler|'''Midna:''' Link... He... he spoke.}} }}

* ''[[Oddworld]]'' is a brilliant example of this. Species like Glukkons, Sligs, and Vykkers are all evil species, and on the same side too.

** In another example, the Eredar were originally represented as an irredeemably evil race of demons who corrupted the mightiest warrior among the [[Precursors|Titans]] into the [[Big Bad]] and enslaved the Orcs. Inexplicably, they became a race of honorable beings who were corrupted ''by'' the [[Big Bad]]'s own festering corruption. This happened through a [[Retcon]] in the ''World of Warcraft'' [[Expansion Pack]] ''Burning Crusade'', after the third game and its expansion as well as four books and a trilogy presented them as ''completely'' evil. The creator of ''Warcraft'', Chris Metzen, has admitted this was something of a train wreck, but sticks by his decision.

** However, many enemy races, particularly the Gnolls, the Harpies, the Troggs, nearly all demons, the Naga, and the Murlocs ''are'' (almost) [[Always Chaotic Evil]]. Most of them have individual exceptions or motivations, though.

** The Black Dragonflight is this after Neltharion became corrupted and his name was changed to Deathwing, as they enjoy killing and only follow orders from dragons strong enough to kill them. The other dragonflights consider them beyond redemption. {{spoiler|The one possible exception being an uncorrupted black dragon egg.}}

* Kamal Re'x, the leader of the Hierarchy's invasion of Earth in ''[[Universe At War]]'', gives this trope as an excuse for their actions -- it's "their nature". {{spoiler|Given that he's giving this excuse to a Hierarchy military commander who staged an ultimately unsuccessful rebellion after cynically tiring of its corruption and its constant senseless warfare, it doesn't exactly ring true.}}

* ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' has the player start off thinking that all beastmen are scum, but then has you find out that most of them are fighting the player races for various reasons. The Quadav are only in conflict with Bastok due to the fact that Bastok kinda tried to take over the Quadav's homelands, and have since been in constant combat with them over land and resources. Then, there are the Goblins, who are less evil and more [[Honest John's Dealership|willing to do anything to make a buck.]]

** ''The'' best subversion comes from the geth. They were the robotic mooks that served Saren Arterius in the first game, acting as your main opponents at the time, returning in the second game as less prevalent, but still recurring adversaries. In the first game, the geth worship Saren's ship, Sovereign, as a god - the pinnacle of synthetic evolution - and were responsible for driving their creators out of their homeworld. As it turns out, the geth were starting to discover their place in the universe at large, but the quarians essentially jumped the gun out of a paranoid fear over their robotic "slaves" turning on them. Furthermore, the geth you faced in the first and second games are from a splinter group that believe their future should be guided by more advanced pseudo-lifeforms. The main hub of geth just want to be left alone to build their Dyson Sphere and achieve true unity; they even take care of the quarian homeworld in the absence of their creators. {{spoiler|If given the chance, they'll agree to share the homeworld with their creators, and even enthusiastically help them rebuild and readjust their immune systems to their old planet.}}

** The vorcha are universally seen as aggressive, unpleasant, and vermin-like murderers, salvagers, and graverobbers; the only ones you encounter are Blood Pack mercenaries, as well as a group that created and distributed a plague on a station filled with millions. However, like Tolkien's orcs, the vorcha are more a product of their environment than anything else; they only live twenty years, use combat as their main form of communication, are literally beaten into serving as cannon fodder for their mercenary ringleaders, and tend to grow up in a world where the slightest ounce of water is treated as treasure. Some background Codex-like trivia paint the vorcha as miners, settlers, and brewers, and there is also mention of vorcha trying to colonise a high-gravity world.

** Played absolutely straight with the Collectors, though. According to Mordin, they have "no soul" and "must be destroyed".

*** Again, this one fits the "artificially created" part, as they've been twisted by the Reapers and are mind-controlled by them.

* Lurkers in ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' started out like this. They underwent a [[Heel Face Turn]] by ''Jak II'', however.

** Only to be replaced by Metal Heads and promptly [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|disappear from the series]].

* The Cragmites of ''[[Ratchet and Clank Future Tools of Destruction]]'' are shown to be this. Emperor Perceval Tachyon (the only one we see in the game {{spoiler|before he found the dimension that they were banished to and brought them back}}) wants to [[Take Over the World|take over the galaxy]], and REALLY wants to pop Ratchet's head {{spoiler|because the Lombaxes banished the Cragmites, raised Tachyon as one of them regardless of his origins, and because Ractchet's father was the guardian of the Dimensionator (the machine which teleported the Cragmites away)}}; but still, there are no lifeforms who are neutral to Ratchet in the universe...

** The Blarg from [[Ratchet & Clank (video game)|the first game]] may also qualify, though they have sympathetic motives and are apparently being manipulated by their leader, Chairman Drek.

* [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]] in ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'' with Paarthunax, a dragon who chose to rebel against [[Big Bad|Alduin]] and aid the humans fighting his rule. He explains that dragons have an innate nature to dominate and destroy, and that he has overcome his own nature through thousands of years of constant meditation, and every day he has to struggle with his own inner nature which is driving him to hop off his mountain, fly down among the humans, and start eating and ruling over them. When confronted for his [[Retired Monster|past crimes]], he replies thusly:

{{quote|''What is better? To be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?''}}

 

 

* The Irken race, from which [[Invader Zim]] hails, is, as far as we know, entirely bent on conquering vast swaths of space. Zim himself may be an exaggeration of the Irken racial personality, but each Invader introduced seems to enjoy large death machines and lots of destructive fire.

* Hornets and sewer rats in ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'' seem to be this way. There are no species which can really be described as [[Always Lawful Good]], so it may be a case of [[Black and Grey Morality]] as applied to whole species.

* The Changelings from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]].'' {{spoiler|Their queen}} even gloats that ever since she was little, she dreamed of razing Equestria and [[Emotion Eater|essentially]] using ponies as food.

 

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