Exclusively Evil: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

{{quote|''Do not offer them riches, they care not for your coin. Do not offer them surrender, they care not for victory. Offer them nothing, for they come only to murder.''|'''On the [[The Fair Folk|Dark]] [[Our Elves Are Better|Eldar]]''', ''[[Warhammer 40000]]''}}

 

 

Though the [[Trope Namer]] is ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'', this trope is actually [[Older Than Dirt]] -- are there any myths and folk tales that ''don't'' have some creatures that are portrayed as always evil? Naturally, its subversions have also existed for quite a long time.

 

 

How, exactly, these folk have [[Planet of Hats|unanimously embraced one ethos]] (especially [[Evil Will Fail|one so detrimental to the survival of the group]]), when [[Disproportionate Retribution|humans have been known to kill each other over how many fingers are used in a ritual blessing]], is often unknown and inconsequential. When the ethos is [[Justified Trope|justified]], often the race is explicitly artificial in origin, rather than natural. Their nature is determined by the evil individual who created them as slaves/warriors/etc -- thus dodging the problem that [[Children Are Innocent]]. This is often reinforced by having their society believe in [[Asskicking Equals Authority]]...and in this case, anyone weak (read: good) will be killed ''very'' quickly.

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]].

 

 

A member of a fictional race holding the same unjustified and false belief about humans would likewise be Fantastic Racism. For cases where humanity, aliens, or predators really are this trope, see [[Humans Are Bastards]], [[Aliens Are Bastards]] and [[Predators Are Mean]]. For a trope that includes cases where animals are Always Chaotic Evil, see [[Cats Are Mean]], [[Wicked Weasel]], [[You Dirty Rat]], and [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]].

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* 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]]}}.

*** Played utterly straight with trolls and other monsters (it is based on ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|D&D]]'', after all).

* Ditto for the mazoku from ''[[Violinist of Hameln]]''. There actually are {{spoiler|two exceptions}}, but the rest pretty much feel that their calling is to torment humanity [[For the Evulz]]. (Sure, their whole race exists through magical power gained by {{spoiler|consuming human blood and souls, but regular mazoku cannot extract it}}, so [[For the Evulz|evulz]] still is the driving reason for their atrocities.)

* 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.

** But since Blue Cosmos is, by the period the series take place in, very clearly shown to be an organization of such people, completely gone off track from its original purpose, this shouldn't be a surprise. LOGOS just exists to keep wars happening because hey, it's good for business. That confirms the [[Complete Monster]] status of Earth Alliance.

*** 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.

*** Perhaps the easiest way to understand why zanscare is so reviled is a) their brutality (there are a lot of death penalties, or [[Fate Worse Than Death|even worse punishments]]) b) that there aren't any inspiring ''leaders'' capable of producing riveting speeches, something that Zeon has had more than any other faction. Instead, they rule by manipulating a woman who represents purity, thus not earning any favors from the audience.

** 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.

{{quote| '''Yuri:''' ... a holy sword that you need to defeat the last boss.<br />

'''Wolfram:''' A holy sword?<br />

'''Gwendal:''' Of course it's a demon sword! }}

* The youma from ''[[Claymore]]'', who live entirely to eat humans.And the awakened beings, whose nature is also to feed on humans, but are far more dangerous.

** Though, by the end of the manga, {{spoiler|we find out that the Diclonus are descendants of the Oni from ancient times (with Lucy being the only true genetic descendant), and that their need to kill humans stems from their demonic ancestors genetically encoding them to want to seek revenge on their destroyers.}}

*** But, {{spoiler|the man who believed that turned out to not be a Diclonius at all, bringing that whole origin into question.}} It was {{spoiler|suggested that Lucy was just the result of a genetic mutation in her mother.}}

* [[Marvel Comics]] has several examples:

** The Skrulls, the most recurring evil race and, in fact, the first one created by Lee and Kirby. The Kree are evil as well, but we usually see them though a pariah that turned to the light side (usually using the name "Captain Marvel"), rather than as a full evil race.

*** In ''[[World War Hulk]]'', Broodling manages to make a decent play at being good, but when she tried to reproduce, she ended up having to kill her own spawn to save some children from them.

** 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.

 

== 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.

== Films -- Animation ==

* In ''[[The Tale of Despereaux]]'', even the narrator states that rats are always greedy, dirty, unheroic, and terrified of the light, with the exception of Rascuro {{spoiler|who falls to the dark side for a while after he tries ''not'' to be [[Always Chaotic Evil]].}}

** And Pixar with [[Cars|Lemons.]]

 

== Films -- Live Action ==

* The aliens from ''[[Independence Day]]''

* Gremlins from, well, ''[[Gremlins]]''. Gizmo is the only member of the species who is good, and you'll notice that he never becomes a gremlin himself. The other Mogwai spawned from Gizmo also apply, but they're somewhat more benign than the full Gremlins.

** Most Gremlins are Always Chaotic Neutral<small>/</small>Stupid. It's really only Stripe who was pure evil.

** The [[Affably Evil]] Brain Gremlin from "Gremlins 2: the New Batch" probably falls a little closer to Neutral Evil.

* 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]]!

** It's worth noting that the cards on which the movie was based subverted this, showing a much more peaceful organization of martians who opposed the invasion. Of course, given that, in the same set, humanity invaded Mars, kicked their asses while the war machines were off to Earth, and it eventually ends in Mars blowing up, it leads to the most unfortunate of implications. Or further villainization of the aggressive side of the populace for ruining it for everyone.

* 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 Expanded Universe there is one Tusken Jedi who initially seems to be an exception. Then, after surviving Order 66, he becomes evil anyway when he embraces the Tuskens' ruthless culture. [[Star Wars Legacy|Fast forward a few centuries]], and he's a [[Big Bad]] in his own right. The Tuskens' way of life is [[Rape, Pillage and Burn]] incarnate, so it's understandable that good people don't appear among them.

 

 

== Literature ==

** Now, the Silastic Armorfiends of Striterax -- ''they'' were about as evil as one could get in ''Hitchhiker''.

{{quote| "''... and that was just the name of their'' '''race'''. ''The name of their military was something truly horrible.''"}}

** And ironically not nearly as dangerous as the amiable but misguided Krikkiters. Even if they {{spoiler|were finishing the job of the Armorfiends.}}

** The [[Puppeteer Parasite|Yeerks]] are built up as a monolithically evil species who enslave other races because they're dicks. However, we later learn that Yeerks without hosts are almost blind and deaf, and can only swim about feebly in small pools; thus, the fact that they possess other species is understandable, if not commendable. Later still, we encounter Yeerks who do not agree with enslaving other species and either enter a voluntary commensal relationship, or live out their lives in Yeerk Pools. Eventually, in the far future, they generate artificial bodies to live in which have no minds of their own.

** Taxxons are vicious, cannibalistic monsters who are constantly in the grip of an absolutely irresistible hunger, and who apparently voluntarily submitted themselves to Yeerk domination. However, they are also intelligent, and there is a group of rebels on their home world fighting against the Yeerks. Their vicious nature is a result of evolving on one of the harshest planets in the galaxy. In the end, {{spoiler|they all morph into pythons and live out their lives as animals to escape the constant hunger}}.

** The Hork-Bajir ''seem'' evil (they look like dinosaurs with knives stuck all over them), but once we meet free Hork-Bajir, they turn out to be peaceful and good-natured. They didn't even have a concept of war before the Yeerks invaded their planet; when Dak first gets attacked by a Hork-Bajir-Controller, he literally ''cannot'' understand what's happening, since the thought of another Hork-Bajir purposefully hurting him had never occurred to him before.

*** 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.

** The '''ENTIRE WORLD''' was this in the time of Noah, hence why God decided to pull a [[Kill'Em All]] with the [[Great Flood]].

* The Sranc (and similar races) in R. Scott Bakker's ''[[Second Apocalypse]]'' are Always Chaotic Evil to the point of routine [[Kick the Dog|canine injury]].

** They're referred to as "weapon races" on several occasions, and it's stated pretty specifically that the Consult used a combination of magic and stranger things (that is, science) to create them. We see one of the races' perspectives, and they're basically sex-crazed, intelligent dogs who get off on violence -- exactly as their creators intended.

* Averted and subverted in most of the works of [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]. Several races in his science fiction novels appear to be evil, but on closer inspection, it is usually revealed that they are evil because of some aspect of their culture rather than anything inherent. The vicious nomadic Green Men in his Martian novels turn out to be violent because [[Abusive Alien Parents|their culture disdains affection and families and actively punishes parents who try to treat their children lovingly or even find out who their children are (they lay eggs and randomly shuffle them before they hatch)]]. The cannibal men of U-Gor in the seventh Martian novel turned to cannibalism out of desperation because their [[President Evil]] enforced policies that led to starvation. The hideous Coripies from the [[Pellucidar]] novels are antisocial and violent because they kill women who have a lot of children to control their population, making women [[Abusive Alien Parents|hate their children]], and men avoid sexual relations with any woman they like. The Mahar of Pellucidar seem to be evil at first, but turn out to have a sense of justice and honor.

** Also, the Mahar don't know humans are anything other than animals, since they are totally deaf and communicate through telepathy, and thus can't hear human speech. The resident [[Absent-Minded Professor]] claims it's not really telepathy, they just project their thoughts through [[Another Dimension]], but the distinction is lost on me. (Admittedly, totally missing human tool-using and such, even for a Paleolithic culture like most of Pellucidar, seems pretty [[Too Dumb to Live]] for a species which is supposed to be at least as smart as humans, probably smarter....)

*** 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.

**** In fairness, the Nadraks and Thulls are never really presented as evil. The Nadraks tend to be more closely aligned with the Drasnians than their fellow Angaraks, and the Thulls are straight up victims of Angarak society and will quite happily surrender to any western force that happens by just to get away from the Grolims.

** 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.}}

** Not to mention the various extradimensional creatures, such as the demons and the Dread, neither of which have ever been shown doing anything ''besides'' trying to destroy the world and devour all life.

* 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.

** Notably, with different kinds of Shadowspawn, we see different variations on this trope. [[Our Orcs Are Different|Trollocs]] and [[Winged Humanoid|Draghkar]] are basically exceptionally violent, bloodthirsty animals who are too stupid to know what they're doing is wrong. The ''gholam'' has human intelligence but is a straightforward living weapon and quite proud of that fact. The Myrddraal, though, are definitely the creepiest - the commanders of the Shadowspawn, they are absolutely emotionless and driven to conquer the world for [[God of Evil|the Dark One]]. They derive no pleasure from anything except inflicting pain (and even then, they don't show it - the fact that they go out of their way to do it in the first place is the only indicator that they like it) and have a heavily implied fetish for raping human women, which almost always drives the victim insane (why they do that is probably best left unknwon). It's very telling that the Dark One himself uses a modified Myrddraal, Shaidar Haran, as his [[Mouth of Sauron|mouthpiece]].

** [[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''}}.

*** Considering that it's blatantly stated that the Old Ones eat people, and that the peace they brought to the Earth is one of terror and subjugation, I'd say he's not playing with it that much.

* Averted in the case of the Elder Things. The narrator even praises their determination:

{{quote| "poor Lake, poor Gedney... and poor Old Ones! Scientists to the last - what had they done that we would not have done in their place? God, what intelligence and persistence! What a facing of the incredible, just as those carven kinsmen and forbears had faced things only a little less incredible! Radiates, vegetables, monstrosities, star spawn - whatever they had been, they were men!"}}

* The Mijaki in Karen Miller's ''[[Godspeaker Trilogy]]'' that had to be contained with their own land so they wouldn't overrun the world, which, of course, they do.

* The Dead in Garth Nix's ''[[Old Kingdom]]'' trilogy. They were originally humans, [[Zombie Apocalypse|but have been reanimated]]. They'll suck the Life out of anything even if they ''aren't'' allied under a necromancer. Being an animated, twisted sin against the cosmic order will do that to ya.

** Subverted later in the series, when we learn that Urgals have organized society and were misled by Galbatorix; they start helping the Varden after they realize what a screwup the whole arrangement was.

** The Ra'zac are this trope played straight.

* R.A. Salvatore plays with this trope in his [[Forgotten Realms]] books. [[The Legions of Hell|Denizens of the Abyssal planes]] fit the trope; drow mostly stay true, with one very notable exception (and a small group of Chaotic Good drow that end up dead); orcs were monolithically portrayed as such until Obould showed up and started civilizin' the lot.

* The Koloss in [[Brandon Sanderson]]'s ''[[Mistborn]]'' trilogy, explained in the third book by appropriately horrific sorts of mutation and mind control. Played with in the form of Kelsier, the Legendary Hero Whose Name The Masses Whisper In The Iron Grip Of The Evil Emperor, who thinks of everyone on the opposing side as Agents Of The Darkest Evil Who Must Be Purged. Most of his crew, while on board with the whole rebellion thing, are deeply unnerved.

** As a devout Catholic who believed in the concept of spiritual salvation, the idea of an entire race of irredeemably evil creatures was one of Tolkien's major sticking points with his own work. He spent much of the latter part of his life as a writer trying to [[Justified Trope|justify it]]. In the end, he never did come up with an explanation that satisfied him.

** The makers of the movie trilogy were concerned that the idea of a race being evil by definition [[Unfortunate Implications|seemed racist]], claiming that [[Values Dissonance|in Tolkien's time, people didn't mind such stuff]]. Hence, the added scene where Uruk-Hai are created from the earth in Saruman's dungeons. This is not mentioned in the book, but is one of the author's earlier drafts for their origins, as an attempt at the "artificial origin" justification.

** Tolkien also treated [[Big Badass Wolf|wolves]] this way, taking his cue from mythologies in which wolves are always evil.

* The "Trolls" in ''[[The Apocalypse Troll]]'' by David Weber. Though only one is technically featured, the rest are described as just as psychopathic, manipulative, and [[Omnicidal Maniac|omnicidal]]. They're really robots, but with the apparent ability to choose not to kill everything in their path -- they just choose to do so, most of the time.

* [[Defied Trope|Defied]] in ''[[Dragon Keeper Chronicles|DragonFire]]''; one of Leetu Bends' contacts is a bisonbeck [[Reverse Mole]], who has done a [[Heel Face Turn]].

* The [[New Jedi Order|Yuuzhan Vong]] are initially introduced as being pretty much pure evil down to the last warrior, but it turns out that they're caught up in the stranglehold of a [[Religion of Evil]] that is manipulated by their insane leadership. Over the course of the later books, we're introduced to Vong who are more human, for lack of a better word, and in the end, a lot of them wind up doing a [[Heel Face Turn]] or committing suicide when they find out that the gods they were fighting for were either horribly misinterpreted or (in one case) didn't exist at all.

** That said, they're still [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]].

** Yeah, but that's a cultural thing (due to living under a [[Religion of Evil]] for millennia). There's nothing in the Vong's genetic makeup that causes them to be evil, and several of them are given sympathetic POV's later in the series (Nen Yim, Harrar, Vua Rapuung -- even [[Magnificent Bastard|Nom Anor]] to an extent). Jacen explicitly says they're no better or worse than humans would be under the same situation.

** The more recent books have subverted this with ShadowClan being nothing more than a rival Clan, and most opposition come from WindClan instead.

** Also subverted with ''Bluestar's Prophecy'', where ThunderClan faces the most opposition from RiverClan, and never had to deal with ShadowClan. It seems that different Clans end up being seen as "evil" depending on the political atmosphere (''ThunderClan'' was actually branded as evil for a while early in ''Bluestar's Prophecy'' after their {{spoiler|1=unprovoked raid on WindClan camp}}).

* The Grik in Taylor Anderson's ''Destroyermen'' series, although "Always Lawful Evil" would be more accurate, and in the third book, the Alliance meets a member of a different but related species that's not evil.

** 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}}.

** Melniboneans are, in fact, the inspiration for [[Dungeons and Dragons]]' dark elves, which clarifies a few things.

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

** They aren't evil, just cruel. They have to be, they feed off the darker emotions (rage, lust, fear, pain, etc).

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

** 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.

*** In fact, it's the authorities (read Vetinari, Margolotta, Ridcully) that think once the truth gets out, both Nutt and the public will go insane from the knowledge, resulting in much violence from both sides. They end up ''really'' underestimating just how much weirdness the Ankh-Morpork public is used to (with most of the weirdness originating from the authorities themselves). The most interest Nutt gets is a fashion magazine article (everyone else is ''far'' more interested in the newest supermodel to hit town).

* 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.

* Played with the Fammin in the [[Chronicles of the Emerged World]]. They were created by the resident [[Big Bad]] Aster as his faithful and ruthless soldiers, but there are some members called the "Wrong Ones" who have feelings and free will, but are forced to obey orders as their names [[I Know Your True Name|are magical spells]]. {{spoiler|After Aster's death, the Fammin lose any hostile behaviour, and so the free people decide to let them live in peace.}}

* 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]].}}

* Trolls in ''[[Liavek]]'' are ''said'' to be this. It's hard to be sure, since only one troll is shown. He fits, but since we never see another one...

* 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.

* In ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'', certain races, such as Ogres, Hags, and Minotaurs, are always this way. In ''[[Prince Caspian]]'', Caspian and his followers immediately reject the idea of recruiting the few surviving Ogres and Hags for their army, even though they have a common enemy. Partially averted in the second and third films, in which the Minotaurs have [[Heel Face Turn|turned good]].

** 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.

** Also, the Shadows' intent was to SOW chaos on other races but, themselves, are not inherently chaotic. They're methodical, patient, and organized.

** This is an unusual case because, even though the show's vampires are explicitly [[Always Chaotic Evil]], ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' gives many of them engaging and unique personalities, undercutting the usual (narrative) reason for this trope, which is to provide a supply of faceless, evil [[Mooks]] who can be killed without [[Moral Dissonance]].

*** Further subverted by characters like Spike and Harmony - despite being evil, both were capable of caring about human beings (the Summers girls and occasionally the witches for Spike; Cordelia and Fred for Harmony) and being volutarily helpful towards those they liked. Harmony even stopped killing people so that she could advance in a workplace run by the "good guys".

*** This also leads to [[Fridge Brilliance]], as vampires and demons were presented as [[Always Chaotic Evil]], but became more and more grey as the series went on. The clincher? They were presented to Buffy this way through the Watchers council, a conspiracy that was slowly revealed to be corrupt and full of [[Knight Templar]] tendencies at the same time that complexities began showing up in the initial "demons are [[Always Chaotic Evil]]" mantra.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has a few of these, although they usually have a [[Justified Trope|reason]]. For example:

*** In "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S4 E9 The Evil of the Daleks|The Evil of the Daleks]]", a sub-species of "Good Daleks" is created by the Doctor infecting them with the "Human Factor"; that is, human emotions and a sense of conscience. This results in a full-scale civil war between the two factions which allegedly destroyed the entire species. Terry Nation, the Daleks' creator, had planned to license them out to a US network for their own show, and expected that they would not be available for ''Doctor Who'' for the foreseeable future ([[wikipedia:The Evil of the Daleks|the idea went nowhere]]). When the Daleks eventually returned five years later, some dialogue was filmed explaining that the "Good Daleks" had been wiped out, but this was edited out, leaving their canon fate ambiguous.

*** The Daleks' evil was hammered home '''really hard''' in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S3 E5 Evolution of the Daleks|Evolution of the Daleks]]".

{{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 />

<!-- %%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.

** And that woman was part of a team sent to investigate why all communication with the planet had stopped. When the crew of Serenity check out the place, they note that everyone just laid down and died, and there are no signs of violence whatsoever.

** One could use the facts of the movie to [[Retcon]] "Bushwhacked" as the lone survivor of the ship being the only one of the crew to react in the "Reaver" way to the Pax. The Reavers, who can sense this, left him alone and murdered the rest of the crew in front of him, then left him to change as a second booby-trap (the first one being the little thing that Kaylee had to disable to free Serenity).

*** Even without the whole "war over food" thing, Wraith society seems very ruthless and survival-of-the-fittest oriented. I.e. the [[Klingon Promotion]] seems widely accepted, and Queens are often shown treating their subordinates like dirt. Not that there weren't historical human cultures that largely shared these values.

** They seem to have dialed it back ''slightly'' in the last couple of seasons of the show, with slightly less [[Large Ham]] gloating from some of the Wraith characters. Also, in "The Queen", the Wraith Commander expresses concern over the lives of his men, and the enemy Wraith.

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

** 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|Expendable Clones]], although [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|the Female Changeling]] did seem to [[Pet the Dog|mourn]] Weyoun #8's death.

** ''Spectactularly'' averted with the Romulans. Even though they are [[The Federation]]'s oldest and most persistent foe, most Romulan characters are depicted as being nuanced, sympathetic, and even extremely honourable, even if they are a little arrogant or deceptive. Even the unambiguously villainous ones like Tomalak are depicted more as a [[Worthy Opponent]] than anything else. Interestingly, probably the most evil Romulan in canon, Commander Sela, is a [[Half-Human Hybrid]].

* In ''[[Andromeda]]'' the Magog are obligate carnivores who need to kill their prey themselves to start the digestive process, prefer sentient "food", and lay their eggs in the stomachs of other humanoids. Nietzscheans are genetically engineered superhumans who follow a themepark version of [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]'s philosophy mixed with a heavy dose of [[Social Darwinism]] and overthrew the Systems Commonwealth causing the Long Night. But the Andromeda Ascendant's crew includes one of both species, Rev Bem is a Magog converted to a non-violent religion called Wayism while Tyr Anasazi was a Nietzschean mercenary who saw the Andromeda as a way to further his own interests.

** Although, in season 3 Tyr left the crew and tricked the major Nietzschean Prides into believing he was the genetic reincarnation of their founder Drago Museveni and attempted to conquer the galaxies. He is then replaced by Telemachus Rhade, a descendant of loyalist Nietzscheans who were [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much|rather ashamed]] of the rest of their species.

 

== Mythology and Religion ==

** Any ethnic group who opposed [[Protagonist-Centered Morality|the Israelites]] are portrayed this way in ''The Bible''. According to ''The Bible'', the Canaanites were so uniformly evil that [[God]] Himself commanded a genocide against them. [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|Whether you agree with this assessment or not is another matter, which]] '''[[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|shall not be discussed.]]'''

** Occasionally, you have a fallen angel who [[Noble Demon|doesn't seem to have gone full-subterranean.]] In Jewish folklore, Asmodeus is sometimes regarded as ''attending synagogue'', and even does better than ''Solomon'' on some matters of morality (although, given that Solomon apparently lapsed in matters towards the close of his reign...). Some angels, such as Sammael and Zaphkiel, are both good ''and'' evil. The ''[[Half-Human Hybrid|offspring]]'' of angels and humans are a different story. They're called "Nephilim" ("fallen" or "ruinous") for a reason. In fact, 1 Enoch posits that the reason for the Flood was that if they weren't drowned out, ''the Nephilim would have devoured the world down to the bedrock''. And even ''after'' that, the Nephilim wouldn't be done; they will just persist as evil spirits. In other words, the vast majority of demons were ''undead Nephilim''.

{{quote| ... my experience suggests: write in Monster Manual that among 100 cambions one is Good, and this one will get into adventure.}}

** The Drow of the ''Forgotten Realms'' setting and the Draconians of the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' setting are classic examples of "evil races". However, as the plot went on, [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much|individuals arose]] -- specifically, [[Rule of Cool]] scimitar-wielding (and heavily parodied in just about every single fantasy webcomic, due to his being heavily copied by virtually every fanboy at one point or another) Drizzt. Initially based on fanboyism, entire counter-cultures have arisen of differing alignment (as the page quote points out). In the Realms, most "good" Drow are the worshipers of Eilistraee, a goddess of the moon and hunt, whose (almost [[Always Female]]) clerics worship their goddess by [[Fan Service|performing a sword dance naked]]. Though the clerics of the [[Evil God|Evil Goddess]] were all female also.

*** [[Dragonlance|The Draconians]] are getting more development as well -- they were initially introduced as somewhat snazzier Orc-equivalents, but later books reveal that the average Draconian is only a few years old and has been force-fed a [[Religion of Evil]] from birth to create the perfect fighting race. This generally worked, but after the collapse of the dragonarmies, some Draconians began developing more individuality, and the ''Kang's Regiment'' series centers on a group of sympathetic Draconian protagonists who just want to be left alone to build up their race in peace.

** Even back in the days of 2e, ''[[Spelljammer]]'' had some fun with this. It was revealed that Tarrasques -- immense creatures existing solely for destruction, only failing to have the Chaotic Evil alignment due to lacking the degree of consciousness having an alignment implies -- are naturally docile rock-eaters; the more familiar ones are the result of their being driven homicidally insane by atmospheres not matching the unique composition of their homeworld's. One of the iconic setting NPCs is a non-evil mutant Beholder bartender, and 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 was secretly sapient in large quantities, else they wouldn't be able to derive nourishment from it), though ones not on the Spelljammer were as usual.

** Overlapping with [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]], [[Snake People|yuan-ti]] are Usually Neutral Evil.

** By their [[Necromancer|very nature]], [[Our Liches Are Different|liches]] are Evil because the process of becoming one involves mass slaughter and bending the very forces of life and death to your will. Except if you're an archlich or a baelnorn.

** Outside of ''[[Spelljammer]]'', Illithids are an almost universally evil alien race of psychic slavers. The Elder Brains that rule their civilization are even worse. In the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'', there is ''one'' good Illithid, and that one is a very unusual case. Fortunately for everyone else in the setting, 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.

*** Illithids, along with several other non-Outsider (Outsiders who are always evil tend to be that because they literally are made from evil) creatures that fall under this trope, have a good justification for being 'Always' Evil: 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 sentience. 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, have to consistently and repeatedly act in ways that the rules of the universe classify as evil.

* ''[[Warhammer]] Fantasy'' is rather dark for a fantasy setting, though not quite to the extent of ''[[Warhammer 40000]]''. There are actually a few good guys. Evil races include Demons, Beastmen, Orcs, Goblins, Undead, Skaven, Dark Elves, and Ogres. Also, one of the few times in which the "chaotic" part of [[Always Chaotic Evil]] plays a part, as pretty much every evil race can be traced back to mutations caused by Chaos, which is a powerful force in the Warhammer world.

** 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 Nugle, 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.

* ''[[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.

** There is also a possible justification in an NPC's history in ''Rifts Mercenaries'': a "renegade" Tauton's story talks about how he was basically ''taught'' to hate and be almost mindlessly aggressive against other races. He didn't like it, and got out as soon as he could.

** 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".

* In ''[[Exalted]]'', we have demons, who may or may not have anything against gods, mortals, and Exalts ''personally'', but are completely incapable of disobeying their vengeful progenitors, the [[Eldritch Abomination|Yozis]].

** 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?]]

** Mainly averted with the rest of the setting - even [[I'm a Humanitarian|Varatjul and the Dune People]] have an explanation for what they do (the Varatjul because [[Moral Myopia|they don't view other humans as being truly sapient]]; the Dune People are [[Crazy Survivalist|Crazy Survivalists]] who, [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|thanks to the Solars]], have come to view the world in terms of Us vs. Them, with "them" being [[Absolute Xenophobe|"everyone who is not a Dune Person"]]).

** 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.

 

* 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.]]

* Deconstructed in ''[[Xenoblade Chronicles]]''. [[The Messiah|Shulk]] swears revenge on [[Killer Robot|the Mechon]] following [[Doomed Hometown|their attack on his home]]. This isn't seen as a particularly bad thing as they're just soulless killing machines... {{spoiler|then it turns out that the Faced Mechon actually have members of his own Homs species inside them. Worse still is the fact that the Mechon ''aren't'' the native species of Mechonis... the Machina, who are just as humane as the Homs and who built the Mechon, are. Upon realising that his [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] against the inhabitants of the Mechonis would take sentient life, he ultimately swears off it and begins his [[Character Development]].}}

* The qunari in ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' are made out to be this because of their reputation as militant conquerers. In reality, they're more like a race of [[Blue and Orange Morality|Lawful Blue]] [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]]. Unfortunately, their negative image is far too often exploited by the local [[Manipulative Bastard|Manipulative Bastards]].

* [[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).

** 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|Complete Monsters]]. 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.]]

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

** 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.

* 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.]]

** And if their Pokedex entries are correct, Gyarados, Tyranitar and Hydreigon seem to have a natural tendency towards violence. You could view them as dangerous animals and not truly evil but one qualifier for chaotic evil is being too dumb or simple to know any better...

** Though it could be argued that they were never evil, they just weren't on the side of the humans. It wasn't good vs evil, just one side vs another, even if they did use the undead and other "evil" things.

* The ''[[Mass Effect]]'' series subverts this a lot; the [[Eldritch Abomination|Reapers]] are the only ones that fit best.

**** Furthering this point, in the From Ashes DLC for Mass Effect 3, Collectors are seen as nothing more than husks. It is possible that all communication is done by {{spoiler|the Eldritch Abomination Harbinger}}.

* Subverted in ''[[Disgaea]]''. Although the demons in this series openly claim that they're [[Always Chaotic Evil]], [[Dark Is Not Evil]] and [[Poke the Poodle]] come to mind. They're closer to [[Chaotic Neutral]] than anything else.

* ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' averts this for the most part, as none of the various races and creatures are inherently evil, not even the Vampires. Daedra are probably Always Chaotic Neutral, though.

** Played straight with the Dragons in ''[[Skyrim]]''. According to {{spoiler|Paarthunax, the one exception to this rule,}} all Dragons are inherently tyrannical and seek power. {{spoiler|And even he has to resist the urge to revert to form everyday.}}

** The Falmer weren't originally like this, but they have become twisted monsters after suffering for centuries under the rule of the Dwemer.

** On the other hand, the Master really and truly thought he was doing what was right.

** Also somewhat justified, as most Super Mutants suffer severe brain damage during their conversion that leaves them without the mental capacity to be much more than [[The Usual Adversaries]] -- reasoning more complex than "hit or shoot at that thing until it stops moving, then take its stuff or drag it off to be turned into another Super Mutant" is a bit beyond them. The good ones tend to be the ones that don't suffer this sort of damage.

** [[The Corruption|Dark]] [[Precursors|Makers]] also qualify.

* 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...

* Most of the creatures you can recruit without resorting to torture in ''[[Dungeon Keeper]]'' are like this. Oddly enough, there is a hero-aligned Horned Reaper in the final mission of the first game, a creature who is often depicted as being the granddaddy of ALL the evil creatures in the game.

* The Darkspawn of ''[[Dragon Age]]'' ''Origins''.

* [[The Heartless]] in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' are a sort of "souless evil" who seem to attack everyone on sight and have no personality.

** Ditto the Nobodies, though this is disputed out-of- and in-universe.

** Interestingly, status as "good" or "evil" is based only on choices made during random events; your civilization can embark on massive campaigns of galactic genocide and still be considered "good".

* The Grox race from [[Spore]] are a race of cyborgs and almost always conduct raids on random races, making them being viewed as the galaxy's ultimate evil. {{spoiler|This is actually a subversion, as the Grox are only reacting to the threat posed by oxygen-breathing life forms that gain the power of space flight, and inevitably use terraforming to spread their deadly (to Grox) oxygenated atmospheres to other planets. You can even ally with them, if you both prove yourself willing to spare Grox-inhabited worlds your terraforming AND prove your own race to be a powerful ally against other oxygen-breathing races, mostly by making a complete mockery of intergalactic law, blowing up their planets with wild abandon, and exhibiting the ability to survive in spite of the entire rest of the galaxy declaring war on you.}}

* For [[Return to Krondor]]...Demons, Shadows, Goblins, Trolls, Ghouls, Vampires, Nighthawks, Zombies, Sidi's Necromancers, Izmali Assassins, and Bear's Mercenaries. Does that cover it? Oh, and at least two of these groups will form into alliances against you and James will wonder how that could be.

* Most of the resident [[League of Legends|Noxian and Zaunite]] Champions are not what you would call a nice group of people: being [[Blood Knight|bloodthirsty assassins]], [[Our Vampires Are Different|hemomancers]], and [[Monster Clown|evil jesters]]. Those who are not evil are former prisoners of Noxus, who were forced into the fight pits or defected.

* The major theme of the ''D&D''-based webcomic ''[[Goblins]]'' is pointing out that ''usually'' [[Chaotic Evil]] really does only mean ''usually''...as well as exploring the root causes behind this, and whether it's even true (which, while debatable in real life ethics, is stated to be so in the rulebooks). To this end, the protagonists have run across a surprising number of evil humans and other typically good or neutral races (including [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]] like Kore and Dellyn), while their typically chaotic or evil compatriots are either neutral, good, or driven to evil.

** As an expected result of this conflict, a [[Knight Templar]] has already appeared.

** Subverted in a short series of strips in which the Order meets a group of [[White Sheep|teenaged goblins]] who are good-aligned -- for the explicit reason that it cheeses off their parents, who are Evil. "Listen to me, young man, you will drink the blood of the innocent and you will LIKE IT!"

** Redcloak's entire character arc from ''[[Start of Darkness]]'' can be seen as a [[Deconstruction]] of this trope: {{spoiler|the goblins are formally designated as Evil Cannon Fodder by the gods, which doesn't sit too well with him when his family is slaughtered by crusading paladins. His ultimate goal is to give his race equal standing among the other major species of the world, but he slowly takes more and more horrific actions pursuing his plan to do so -- thus becoming the very thing that he objects to being labeled as. Is he evil because goblins are inherently evil, or because he has been designated as such?}}

** What's more, two later comics show the full unpleasant ramifications of V's actions. {{spoiler|By casting that Familicide spell, V not only killed off 1/4 of the black dragon population, but many [[Half Human Hybrids]] that were actually [[Chaotic Good]], as well as their (relatively) innocent full-human mothers. The comics are [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0842.html here] and [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0843.html here].}}

* Rats are Always Evil in ''Freaks N Squeeks''. It goes with [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?]] -- most of the cast are mice, with the similarly small and cute shrews standing in for Jews.

** Cubi, on the other hand -- which [[Our Demons Are Different|are not actually demons in the setting]] -- are quite explicitly stated ''not'' to be this in the comic itself, despite reputation -- the evil ones just get all the press, because torturing or seducing people makes for a more exciting story than helping sick children.

** The fae, on the other hand, seem to be Always [[Chaotic Neutral]].

* ''[[Slightly Damned]]'': [[Averted Trope|Averted]] with Demons, although it is indicated that Buwaro is the only exception.

* [http://www.thebeastlegion.com/issue-02-page-01-the-attack-begins/ The Shadow Nexus] from ''[[The Beast Legion]]'' are a group of deadly generals each with their own Beast forms, who's sole aim is to create chaos across the land of Lithopia and crush any who oppose the will of their Master, Dragos. In the very second issue, they invade the palace of Lithopia with full force, leaving only destruction in their wake.

 

 

== Web Original ==

* 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]]}}.

* Deconstructed in ''[[The Salvation War]]''. The society in hell actively encouraged [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]], [[You Have Failed Me]], [[We Have Reserves]], and [[Shoot the Messenger]]. The result was an inefficient and unstable society that collapsed once it came under external pressure. Lampshaded on several occasions by baldrick defectors.

* ''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]].

* ''[[Orions Arm|Orion's Arm]]:'' worried that the descendants of Earth (humans, artificial intelligences, cyborgs, the genetically engineered, [[Loads and Loads of Races|etc]]) think too much alike due to their creators' inherent bias, a group of AIs created the [http://www.orionsarm.com/xcms.php?r=oaeg-view-article&egart_uid=47e9add0e5e11 Bitenic Squids], a highly diverse species with every newborn member being a blank slate. Those that can function in the wider world are all completely selfish and without empathy, and go insane easily.

* Largely averted in ''[[Adylheim]]'' where none of the playable races are defined by their race. Granted, this is partially a virtue of it being a [[Grey and Gray Morality]] world. Some of the non-playable races, such as trolls, have a tendency to fall into this category though.

 

== Western Animation ==

* On ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'', the anti-fairies are, or at least are believed to be, this. It's been stated that [[Balance of Good and Evil|one is born for every fairy]], and the newest one born, Foop, came straight out of his mother as a [[Card-Carrying Villain]]. It's also been said by Wanda that every genie is a [[Jackass Genie]]. So far, nothing has come up to contradict these claims.

* 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]]}}.

** The Quintessons are almost always this.

** The spawn of [[Omnicidal Maniac|Unicron]] are almost always every bit as evil as their master. {{spoiler|The Minicons from ''Armada'' were an exception, though they were created for the sole purpose of giving the Autobots and Decepticons something to fight over.}}

** Demona herself is one of very few evil gargoyles, the race as a whole is supposedly [[Always Lawful Good]], having a near biological drive to protect and safeguard the places that they live and those places' inhabitants. It is, however, up to the individual gargoyle clans how they choose to interpret these drives, ranging anywhere from "Stay the hell away from my caves, filthy human scum" to "Here I come to save the daaaaay!"

* The above fable of the Frog and the Scorpion is parodied in ''[[Robot Chicken]]'', [http://robotchicken.wikia.com/wiki/In_My_Nature here.]

* On ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', weavils, so far, have been shown to be a race made up of completely [[Jerkass]] creatures who love to torment the citizens of Miseryville.

** ''[[Everything Is Trying to Kill You|Everything is out to get the HTF gang.]]''

* 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.

* ''[[Futurama]]'' has a species of evil leeches, the "Dark Ones". All of the species lived at a single puddle, and yet all their evil was useless against a bag of cement, used to prepare the ground to be turned into a parking lot.

 

{{reflist}}