Exclusively Evil: Difference between revisions

[[File:gothmog and army.jpg|link=The Lord of the Rings (film)|frame|Yep, every last one of 'em.]]

 

 

A common conceit of the sci-fi and fantasy genres (and especially games of those genres) is the notion of not an organization, not a clan, not a city, but an entire ''race'' of bad guys who [[Card-Carrying Villain|brag about how '''''Evil''''' they are]]. All of the racial members behave evilly, because - let's face it - ''[[Star Trek]]'' would've been really boring if [[The Kirk|Kirk]] had to interview every Klingon he met before punching them out. This may sometimes go so far that a [[Final Solution]] against the defined-as-evil race is portrayed [[Would Be Rude to Say Genocide|in a quite cheerful light]].

* The Mazoku, from ''[[Slayers]]''. Given that they [[The Heartless|literally feed on negative emotions]], they have a lot more reason to be this way than most examples of this trope.

** Also, they are pretty much demons, whose stated goal is to [[Omnicidal Maniac|end existence]]. It's just how they were created. Oddly enough, the Dragons, servants of the gods, are oftentimes [[Black and Gray Morality|morally ambiguous]]. {{spoiler|This moral ambiguity is a major point of the entire 3rd season.}} Throw in that [[Lovable Traitor|Xellos]], a Mazoku, can sometimes be [[Affably Evil|friendly and helpful]] when not actively trying to end existence, you get a fair amount of moral ambiguity. At one point Xellos {{spoiler|helps save the world, because he [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You|and the Mazoku of the ''Slayers'' dimension want to end it themselves]]}}.

* It is [[Justified Trope|justified]] in ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': The [[Mook]]s are zombies revived thanks to cybernetic implants by the [[Big Bad]] Dr. Hell. Since he mechanized his brains, wiped his minds out to erase any memory of their former lives and any shred of independant thought and programmed them to be absolutely and unquestionably loyal and obedient, then you have they pretty much have no choice other than being Exclusively Evil.

** ''[[Great Mazinger]]:'' The Mykene play with this trope. The [[Robeast|Warrior Monsters]] are [[Humongous Mecha]] with the head of a Mykene soldier implanted in the giant mechanical body. Since the soldiers are indoctrinated to attack and wipe out anything non-related to the Mykene civilization, the trope is [[Justified Trope|justified]]. On the other hand, the commanders of the army display different personalities and even honorable qualities (specially Ankoku Daishogun), and even though they are not portrayed like ''good'', they are not portrayed like proud of being ''evil'', but like a proud race of warriors want to return to the surface world after being forced to [[Beneath the Earth|living underground for millennia]].

** Further, in the fourth book, the Alliance finds some Grik who, {{spoiler|possibly as a result of being cut off from their army for several months, are willing to surrender and give peace a chance. Grik are berserkers, more or less; they '''don't''' surrender. But '''these''' do}}.

* Although they don't go 'round cackling about it (much), the Melnibonean culture in [[Michael Moorcock]]'s [[The Elric Saga|Elric]] series is pretty much evil by definition. Torture, slavery, betrayal, cruelty, sadism, and ruthlessness are prized traits in their "civilization." Essentially, the decaying race of Melnibone is a decadent form of [[Evil Is Cool|evil elves]]. Elric is by far the best of them, and even he is a Grade-A [[Anti-Hero]] who betrays his kingdom because even he feels that Melnibone as a whole [[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice|just needs killin']].

*** And of Winnowill from ''[[Elf Quest]]''.

* The Others from ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', from what little we've seen of them. Some fans find this disappointing, considering the otherwise heavily gray morality of the rest of the series's cast.

** Except for individuals like Hugh, and some kind of subconscious [[The Resistance|resistance]] on Voyager.

** The [[Star Trek: The Original Series|original series]] played with this trope in regards to Klingons. Most Klingon captains tend to fall into this, but some episodes (notably "The Day of the Dove") make a point to show that this is more a perception/stereotype our heroes have of them than an actual truth. Klingons are "the enemy", but not necessarily Exclusively Evil.

** Initially played straight with the Jem'Hadar, with an infant Jem'Hadar who quickly turns out exactly how everyone warned Odo he would. But eventually averted with a few individuals later, who show some traits of [[Proud Warrior Race]] (mostly these are [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|immediately killed]]).

*** The Jem'Hadar and Vorta were both justified as species genetically manipulated by [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|The Founders]] to fight their wars for them. Both were addicted to a substance only the Founders could provide, and were indoctrinated in the idea that [[God Guise|the Founders were gods]]. Generally, they were [[Expendable Clone]]s, although [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|the Female Changeling]] did seem to [[Pet the Dog|mourn]] Weyoun #8's death.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Originally, every type of monster or creature would simply have an entry for "Alignment" stating one [[Character Alignment]] or another, without any modifiers; not only did it imply that pratically all creatures of that type had the alignment, but it wasn't even brought up that there could be any other way.

** In 3.0+ this was relaxed, by inserting "often", "usually" or "always" in front of the alignment descriptor, to indicate how strong a tendency, cultural or otherwise, the race in question had to be of the alignment. This also created the phrase "Always [[Chaotic Evil]]". Later the only races who are always one alignment or another are those who are somehow "tied" to good or evil (or law or chaos), such as demons, angels, and other spiritual creatures; or those without sufficient Intelligence to recognize alignment, which are always [[True Neutral|neutral]] unless the previous rule overrides it. (Lemures, lowest of the devils, don't have an Intelligence score but are still Always Lawful Evil.) Of course, mortal "bad guy" races are still marked as "usually evil", which is probably close enough to this trope as to make no difference.

** Generally, Illithids are an almost universally evil alien race of psychic slavers. The obvious justification being that they have to be, to survive. Not only does their life-cycle demand the sacrifice of sapient humanoids for new illithid to come to be, but they gain nourishment from sentient brains. Eating the brains of non-sapient animals helps, but not all that much. End result: a species that, to survive as a species and to a lesser degree as individuals, both have to consistently and repeatedly act in ways that the rest of universe classify as evil, and it's easier for them to actually be. The Elder Brains that rule their civilization are even worse. In ''[[Spelljammer]]'' they are not very different, but in general are much less aggressive and more cooperative with the others. The eponymous ship also played host to some fairly decent Illithids who peacefully coexisted with the other races and fed on a special type of mold (that of course was secretly sapient in large quantities, or they wouldn't be able to derive nourishment from it). There's even a [[Lawful Neutral]] Illithid NPC (an obsessive [[Adventurer Archaeologist]]). In the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'', there is ''one'' known good Illithid, and that one is a very unusual case. Fortunately for everyone else, Illithid society is a mere shadow of what it used to be thanks to their former slaves, the Githyanki, rising up against them. As a result, the Illithids are [[Pragmatic Villainy|pragmatic]] enough to rein in their desire to eat brains long enough to trade and make deals with other races. That said, your chances of leaving with your brain intact after running into an Illithid in a dark alley all alone are still next to none.

* As of the most recent edition, ''[[Gamma World]]'' has actually turned several monster species that used to be relatively peaceful in earlier editions (like the Menarls, Grens, Sleeths, and Orlens) into this.

** Ogres are on this list for a somewhat different reason than other races. They live in a society that is based only on one rule. Might makes right. Their god could easily be a weird mix of Slaanesh and Nurgle, with gluttony and avarice being main virtues ogres value. Despite the fact that ogres seemingly follow many rules, one of their special characters had his hands chopped off for the crime of eating his leaders gnoblars, despite him being shaman for their god. What makes Warhammer ogres chaotic is the fact that while ogres can be negotiated with succesfully, unlike orcs and forces of chaos, ogres don't feel bad for eating you a second after the contract is done. One of their tribes actually value iron more than gold for the simple reason that with gold they can buy a weapon of iron, but with a weapon of iron they can have all of your gold.

** The Dark Eldar ultimately subvert the trope. They can only stay alive and young by murdering and torturing as many people as possible, so their entire culture is based around killing and butchering people. And if they can't find people of other races to do it to, [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|well...]] However, they are still considered part of the larger race of Eldar by their kin, who vary wildly in [[Character Alignment]]. It is possible for Dark Eldar to get sick of being [[Chaotic Evil]] and join some other Eldar faction, ultimately blending in entirely with their new comrades. With that said, any Eldar living in [[Wretched Hive|Commorragh]] is going to be evil... or prey.

** Then there are the Orks, who just have no fear of death, think killing is loads of fun, and aren't smart enough to realize that the other species disagree (though the [[Blood Knight|other]] [[Omnicidal Maniac|species]] themselves [[Manipulative Bastard|don't]] [[Complete Monster|help]]). In fact, in any ''non''-[[Crapsack World]], they'd probably be a pretty big subversion of this trope.

** Also played straight with the Dnyarri, the former psychic slave-masters of the Ur-Quan and the Sentient Milieu, who are confirmed by anyone who knew of them to have been an entire race of [[Complete Monster]]s. They turned the entire Milieu into an enormous Gulag and casually exterminated those races that didn't perform up to their standards. They were so horrible that, even tens of thousands of years later, both Ur-Quan societies are still centered entirely and insanely around preventing ever being enslaved again. At one point, the Ur-Quan Kzer-Zah can tell you that dying a thousand times would be far preferable [[Fate Worse Than Death|to living under Dnyarri control.]]

** The Umgah, while not as aggressively malevolent as the Ilwrath, are a race of rather cruel [[The Trickster|tricksters]]. Some of their "practical jokes" include tricking the cowardly Spathi into fighting for the Ur-Quan instead of being placed under a protective shield, tricking the Ilwrath into committing genocide on the Pkunk, and inadvertently reviving one of the aforementioned Dnyarri in an effort to start a war within the Hierarchy (this one [[Hoist by His Own Petard|backfires big time]]). They consider all the death and suffering they cause to be [[For the Evulz|hilarious]].

* In general, in most old action video games (''[[Metroid]]'', ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'', ''[[The Legend of Zelda (video game)|The Legend of Zelda]]''...), the enemy races rarely ever have any good counterparts, at least none that you ever see. In fact, for many of these old games anyone (and [[Everything Trying to Kill You|anything]]) visible aside from the player is evil.

** Even in those games, there are subversions: ''[[Metroid]]'' featured the baby Metroid of the second and third games, ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' eventually had Proto Man, {{spoiler|and even the very first game in ''[[The Legend of Zelda (video game)|The Legend of Zelda]]'' series had a few Moblins go AWOL and ask Link to leave them alone in exchange for a few Rupees. IT'S A SECRET TO EVERYBODY}}.

* [[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 Cthonians from the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]''. But then, they are based on Lovecraft's Deep Ones.

* Averted for many traditional "monster races" in ''[[Tales of MU]]'', especially the subterranean elves (don't call them "Dark Elves", and "Drow" is a serious racial slur up, there with "spider jockey" and "cowl head") who simply have [http://talesofmu.nfshost.com/story/bonus-stories/bonus-story-meditations a bad reputation due to cultural misunderstandings]. Played more straight with Demons and Ogres, as well as {{spoiler|[[Our Mermaids Are Different|mermaids]]}}.

* ''Heavily'' subverted in [http://bogleech.com/mortasheen.htm Mortasheen], where no creatures are inherently evil (well, except for the Dolfury), and they're all as loyal to their trainers as any Pokemon would be. Yes, that includes the [[Our Demons Are Different|scary mind-raping Devilbirds]] and the [[Eldritch Abomination|horrible, maddening Unknowns]].

* This trope is comprehensively picked to pieces in ''[[The Return (fanfic)|The Return]]'' where it's revealed that Succubus (Succubi? Succubae? Help me out here people) culture is possibly more complex and multidimensional than human culture, and, from their point of view, it is humanity that borders on Exclusively Evil.

== Western Animation ==

* Supposedly, the Rhubarbarians from "Duke and the Great Pie War', a ''[[Veggie Tales]]'' episode.

* The Decepticons in most versions of the ''[[Transformers]]''. (Though the Decepticon Octane {{spoiler|defected to neutral after he got in hot water with [[Ax Crazy|Galvatron]]}}.

** There are also the [[Transformers Generation 1|various]] [[Transformers Film Series|incarnations]] of Jetfire.