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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Wesley:''' There is a line, Lilah, black and white, good and evil.
'''Lilah:''' Funny thing about black and white. You mix it together and you get grey. And it doesn't matter how much white you try and put back in, you're never gonna get anything but grey.
|''[[Angel]]'', "Habeas Corpses"}}
In an all-grey conflict, neither side is [[Black and White Morality|totally good or completely evil]]. Both sides have a strong, justifiable reason for fighting, and contain a mixture of people of all kinds, from admirable, upstanding individuals to vicious, slimy scumbags.
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The result of such a conflict depends on where the story lies on the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]. At the idealistic end, both sides will eventually realize that fighting is futile and end up putting aside their differences to learn from each other and make a new and better world. At the centre, one side usually ends up crushing the other; this brings about peace, but of a hollow, depressing kind, as a faction with noble ideals has been destroyed. At the cynical end, both sides gradually become less sympathetic and more evil as time goes on until in the end, the more evil, cruel, and vicious side annihilates the other, ushering in an era of harsh rule and oppression or both parties [[Kill'Em All|end up fighting to the death]].
In some cases, the story will end with both sides [[Enemy Mine|teaming up]] against an [[
A result of the above is that [[Grey and Grey Morality]] has one potentially great advantage: It can be easier to maintain suspense regarding the ending. In [[Black and White Morality]] situations, the ending is almost always a [[The Good Guys Always Win|forgone conclusion; good wins in the end]], it's just a matter of how. In a Grey-and-Grey situation, either side might conceivably win, or both, or neither.
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Contrast with [[Black and White Morality]]. Compare [[Both Sides Have a Point]], [[Black and Grey Morality]], [[White and Grey Morality]], [[Black and Black Morality]], [[Full Spectrum Morality]], [[Order Versus Chaos]], and [[A Lighter Shade of Grey]]. [[Feuding Families]] and [[Cycle of Revenge]] stories tend to fall under this, as do many depictions of historical wars. A [[Mob War]] may be this, or may fall under [[Black and Grey Morality]].
Any betrayals within a [[Grey and Grey Morality]] Universe will, by their very nature, be [[Hazy Feel Turn
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* The entire Mahorafest arc of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' fell under this, with the main characters unsure of whether they should allow [[The Masquerade]] to be permanently broken. {{spoiler|Negi eventually just accepts that [[Dirty Business|he might be the bad guy in this arc]] and stops the [[Anti-Villain|bad guy]] because she doesn't give him a good reason why he should let her continue.}}
** Later events {{spoiler|show pretty unambiguously that Chao could have improved on the actual outcome, if allowed to win. The best argument against her is "But she might get corrupted by power". Well, and the fact that even when she explained what was going on, she downplayed it to such a level that it didn't seem worth the risk to let her succeed.}}
** Negima ''loves'' this trope, as the [[Big Bad]]'s ultimate goal is to ''save the world''. The only reason Negi opposes him is because said [[Big Bad]] is causing ''massive'' amounts of collateral damage in the process, and Negi wants to prevent that; they're basically fighting over who can do a better job of saving the world.
* ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind]]''. Of all the various factions, the closest any come to being completely "good" or "evil" are the Forest People, who are [[Noble Savage|deeply spiritual nature lovers]], but they can also be [[Can't Argue with Elves|deeply pragmatic in their attitudes toward other peoples]] and the [[Humans Are
* In ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'' both Eboshi and the animal spirits only want to protect their people, but both sides are more than willing to kill lots of innocents for that. Even the one character who is closest to being a real villain [[Affably Evil|is a very nice and likable guy]].
** The monkeys are really creepy, but their situation makes it kind of understandable why they would resolve to [[I'm a Humanitarian|such drastic measures]].
* ''[[Dorohedoro]]''. With all the [[Villain Episode]], you can't help but realize that the setting is filled with [[Punch Clock Villain
* The third season of ''[[Slayers]]''. Slayers TRY, falls under this, especially compared to the other seasons and most media, although it shows shades of [[A Lighter Shade of Gray]] at times. This particular plot calls out the [[God|Shinzoku]] as cowards, and the [[Big Bad]] and the [[Sealed Evil in a Can|greater being posessing him]] seek to rebuild the world by destroying it first, which affects the [[
** To a lesser extent, the ambitions of the [[Big Bad]] in the obscure video game ''Slayers Wonderful'' can be interpreted as this, as {{spoiler|the scientist Viola (the antagonist) wishes to seal magic in order to stop the warring between humans and those above them.}} Once again, though, it shows [[A Lighter Shade of Gray]].
* ''[[Gundam]]'' has made a point of this trope since [[Mobile Suit Gundam|the original series]]. Although the antagonists, Zeon, are generally seen as more evil than the Federation, the reasons that Zeon went to war are understandable and realistic, and the Federation commits its fair share of atrocities across the series as well. In the end, there are good and bad people on both sides of every conflict, and neither side is wholly Evil or Good.
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** ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' has a variation of the [[Enemy Mine]] situation, where most of the protagonists and antagonists previously seen find out that the sides they work for are not as gray as they thought, so they rebel and join forces to form another group to fight both of them.
** ''[[Gundam AGE]]'' starts with an attack by the Unknown Enemy on the long-since peaceful Federation... {{spoiler|who abandoned hundreds of Mars colonists to agonizing disease rather than own up to the project being a terrible mistake, and they're still in the habit of rewriting history to be favorable to them. The UE are the descendents of those colonists, who want to return to Earth and get some revenge along the way.}} By the third generation, [[The Hero|Flit Asuno]] and [[Big Bad|Lord Ezelcant]] want to [[Not So Different|exterminate the other side]] more than anything else.
* The entire point of ''[[Legend of Galactic Heroes]]''. This quote from Yang Wen-Li sums it up best:
{{quote|
* By the end of ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'', it has been revealed that Earth was the aggressor in the so-called Jovian war, Nergal was the one who spearheaded and rewrote it, and the Jovian general is just as power-hungry and deceptive as you could ask for. The crew of the Nadesico gets backstabbed until they just don't care anymore, and decide to cut the war short their way.
* ''[[Noir (anime)|Noir]]'', despite its name, actually ''isn't'' [[Black and Gray Morality]]; it's fairly dark, but it's more like slate and charcoal than anything else.
* ''[[Darker
** In the end, {{spoiler|Evening Primrose}} landed in more white territory - when they found out that there is a [[Take a Third Option|third option]] in which {{spoiler|neither Contractors nor Japan are destroyed}}, they went for it.
* ''[[Simoun]]'', from the beginning. It starts with the POV of someone from one of the peripheral, heavily polluted nations talking about why they are invading Simulacrum, and it has examples throughout of both sides doing good and bad.
* The battles between the Marines and Pirates in ''[[One Piece]]'' depends on the person. Both sides have their good, and '''[[Complete Monster|(VERY)]]''' bad members. The Marines believe in two types of justice, moral justice, and Absolute Justice, while pirates can either be in it strictly for the adventure, or are in it for the raping and pillaging. While it still holds true to being good vs. evil, the end of the [[The Alcatraz|Impel Down Arc]] in ''[[One Piece]]'' shows lights of this with Hannybal. {{spoiler|He desperately tries to keep the prisoners from escaping Impel Down because he well understands that most of these people are the scum of the earth and deserve to be here, and letting them out will cause widespread fear to innocent people.}} In the end, Luffy's intentions are still to undo the evil of the World Government, but this particular arc reminds us that a majority of the pirates in the world are dangerous criminals themselves and that the Straw Hats are a rare group of freedom fighters.
** It would be a stretch to call the Straw Hats "freedom fighters". Luffy himself has said that [[I'm Not a Hero, I'm X|he's not a hero]] and made it clear that he doesn't really care about the government. The crew is mainly motivated by self-interest rather than doing good in any abstract way. Their conflicts with the World Government usually come down to the government [[It's Personal|doing something to threaten them or their allies]].
* ''[[Steamboy]]'' explores the relationship between mankind and science, and aside from the O'Hara Foundation proper, none of the sides (Eddie Steam, Lloyd Steam, Scarlett O'Hara and Robert Stephenson) are shown to be entirely right or wrong.
* ''[[Vinland Saga]]'' is about [[Horny Vikings|vikings]]. The main character could generously be called a [[Heroic Sociopath]] and doesn't actually care what side he's on. The sides in question change, merge, and are destroyed through various slaughters and assassinations. It isn't so much
* In ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' the cruel and inhuman treatment of the [[Cute Monster Girl|diclonii]] makes it easy to root for them and see the scientist who capture and experiment on them as the villains. But given [[Kill All Humans|the natural instincts of the mutants]] and their [[Gorn|heartless brutality]] it's not that easy to say who are the [[Complete Monster|complete monsters]].
** The exceptions on both sides are Kurama and Nana who would rather avoid any more pain and death, but they are about the two most messed up characters in a story where every single person has serious problems with their mental health (and of course, [[There Are No Therapists]]).
* ''[[Heroic Age]]'': at first glance appears to have [[Black and White Morality]] between the human protagonists and alien antagonists warring against them, but it eventually goes on to show some of the humans [[Kick the Dog]] a few times while some of the aliens are portrayed sympathetically and others afraid that humans will kill THEM if they don't [[Destroy All Humans!]] first, while both races appear to suffer from [[Blue and Orange Morality]]. Eventually, this trope is lampshaded and taken to its logical conclusion {{spoiler|when both sides call a truce and eventually end the war.}}
* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', opponents NERV/SEELE and the Angels have a common goal: destroy the opponent and initiate Third Impact for their own ends. Eventually, NERV and SEELE oppose each other as well, since they have one slight difference in how they want their [[Assimilation Plot|orange juice]] served.
* Although ''[[Nabari no Ou]]'' initially appears to be a case of [[Black and White Morality]], it's actually one of the rare cases where both sides are portrayed as more or less ''equally good''
* ''[[Naruto]]'', anyone? There are five major Ninja Villages (and a slew of smaller ones), each calling their sides to be the righteous, superior one, only allying when there's a bigger threat. Don't mind the fact that each and every one of them [[Tyke Bomb|train children]] [[Child Soldiers|into ninjas]] [[Person of Mass Destruction|with techniques capable of leveling cities]]. Don't mind the fact that the Leaf Village mistreats Naruto out of mindless fear, the villains are Orochimaru (If you Wild Guess, you may think of him as a victim. If the village mistreats Naruto for protecting them, why not the snake-looking kid too?), {{spoiler|Pain/Nagato, whose parents, best friend and [[And Your Little Dog, Too|DOG]] were killed by Leaf ninjas}}, Sasuke who isn't wrong for wanting to murder his last family member, {{spoiler|(and the Leaf Village elders who ordered him)}} who massacred his entire clan. And there's [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Danzo]], who is somewhat a prick, willing to destroy all other villages if necessary, even killing any Leaf ninjas whom he sees as defiant. He only does so to try and catch up to his former comrade Sarutobi, and protect the Hidden Leaf to the end. Since everyone is fighting for their own point of view, Good and Evil are pretty much useless.
** On the other hand, very few will disagree that {{spoiler|Tobi}} is an [[Complete Monster|irredeemable asshole.]] Even then, his master plan can be viewed as an attempt to {{spoiler|end all conflict in the world by using his Sharingan on everyone at once.}}
* ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' is a perfect example. The student council are all fighting for their own personal goals (none of which are truly good or bad), and this applies to most every other character. Even Utena herself falls into this through most of the story, fighting because she wants to be a prince, and struggling to find her identity amongst it all rather than out of a sense of justice or love.
* ''[[Mushishi]]'' is often built around [[Grey and Grey Morality]]: it's irrational to blame an animal for doing what nature made it to do, even if 'what it does' is [[Body Horror|eating eyes, parasitically living in people's ears or devouring fetuses and taking their place]]. The mushi are bizarre and sometimes frightful, but mindlessly innocent, and the Mushishi who handle them can come off as [[Knight Templar]] or [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]] for exterminating them.
* ''[[Desert Punk (manga)|Desert Punk]]'' definitely fits this. Initially, it's a case of Punk fighting against people who are not much worse than him (and occasionally are somewhat better), but the ultimate plot about a rebellion falls squarely into this too. The Oasis Government presides over a horribly inequitable system (which is partly [[Inherent in the System]] because of the wasteland setting) and is involved in various conspiracies to control [[Lost Technology]] and silence those who find out about it. The rebels initially seem to be [[A Lighter Shade of Gray]], especially since sympathetic and idealistic government officials join them, but are made morally ambiguous because of a [[Utopia Justifies the Means]] attitude, which includes hiring unpleasant, even villainous characters to help their cause, one of whom has the outlook of an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] and is just manipulating them to advance his own goals.
* Given [[Real Life]] history, the Nations of ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' are definitely this. As everyone's shown to be good-at-heart in their own ways, not one of them is portrayed as utterly evil, including Ivan/Russia. This doesn't stop [[Dark Fic]] writers from making [[
* ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'' has each side (or country, in season 2) fighting for what they believe is right. All of them meant well. None of them wanted to deliberately do evil. Yet each one had goals that would have eventually hurt others- even though it may have benefited somebody in the end.
* ''[[Getter Robo]]'' villains are at best [[Anti-Villain|Anti Villains]], at worst [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]]. The only villains that crossed the [[Complete Monster]] line are [[Human Are Bastards|human]], and really, its hard too see how the villains are "evil" especialy in the manga when most of them consist of the villain fighting for the happiness of their people, or trying to SAVE the world, complete with several [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save the world. The only explanation for their status as villains are the fact that they are not human.
* The feuding ninja clans of ''[[Basilisk]]'' are equally honorable and treacherous. As are the heirs' nannies who instigated the contests with their own intrigues. The [[Treacherous Advisor]] / [[Big Bad]] wasn't in support of either side so much as conflict for the sake of pain and misery. {{spoiler|In that sense, even though defeated, he won in the end.}}
* Outside of ''[[Princess Principal]]''{{'}}s titular Team Principal, it's hard to call one side the "good guys" and the other the "bad guys". The Commonwealth and the Kingdom both have sympathetic and villainous people among them and by turns the girls may find themselves threatened by ostensible allies and aided by technical enemies. This is no doubt to emphasize the [[Cold War]] parallels in the story, as well as to underline how both sides are [[Not So Different]] from each other – a definite advantage when Princess Charlotte's plan is to eventually reunite them.
▲== Comics ==
▲* [[Marvel Comics|Marvel's]] [[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]
* ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]''. Dr. Manhattan is the larval form of an [[Eldritch Abomination]], both Rorschach and the Comedian are [[Heroic Sociopath|heroic sociopaths]] , and {{spoiler|Ozymandias}} is an [[Anti-Villain]] [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]. None of the main characters is unambiguously villainous, but even Nite Owl and Silk Spectre are [[Anti-Hero|antiheroes]]. To quote Zack Snyder, director of the movie adaptation, "Superman doesn't care about humanity, Batman can't get it up, and the bad guy wants world peace."
* IDW's [[Transformers|Megatron: Origin]] miniseries shows the series's iconic [[Evil Overlord]]'s rise to power from a laid-off energon miner through underground [[Blood Sport|gladiator]] to the leader of a rebellion against a corrupt Cybertronian senate, with the Autobot Security Services presented as an incompetent and in some cases fascistic police force under the control of the aforementioned senate.
** Before this the Dreamwave comic series revealed that the Autobot ruling council were servants of the Quintessons, the Transformers' entire history was a lie told to keep the Autobots in line and Megatron, having found all this out, forced the Decepticons to try and free his people and to bring order to the universe, albeit through very [[Knight Templar]] behavior.
* ''[[World War Hulk]]'': Warbound vs Illuminati. The Illuminati weren't guilty of the crime that Hulk was avenging, but they ''were'' the reason he was on Sakaar in the first place.
* ''[[Scalped]]''. Dash is an [[Anti-Hero]] at best, and Red Crow has many shades of being an [[Anti-Villain]]. He definitely faces enough [[Complete Monster|complete monsters]] that it's hard to pin him as the worst thing that could happen to the Rez.
* ''[[Superman: Red Son]]'': [[Superman]] is a totalitarian dictator, [[Thou Shalt Not Kill|but values human life enough to never kill anybody]] and - to himself, at least - has humanity's best interests at heart, while [[Lex Luthor]] is totally obsessed with bringing Superman down rather than liberating humanity from Superman's yoke.
* ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]'', in both comics and video games, as the [[Alien]] is not much sentient, the [[Predator]] borders on [[Blue and Orange Morality]], and the humans are most times just doing their jobs. Whoever it's the villain depends on the viewpoint character.
==
* ''[[
* It should come as no surprise, but the crossover fanfic ''[[Renegade (fanfic)|Renegade]]'' by the same author does the same thing, with the same factions. In fact, both factions are presented as protagonists, with the Brotherhood of Nod intervening in the slaver raid on Elysium and with {{spoiler|Kane himself}} attempting to negotiate a compromise between GDI and the Citadel. Of course, {{spoiler|Nod apparently stole the Tacitus on Eden Prime}}, which ''caused'' said conflict between GDI and the Citadel and allowed {{spoiler|Kane}} to score points by negotiating said compromise, so it might have [[The Plan|been part of the plan....]]
* Fittingly, considering the canon series'
== Film ==
* ''[[The Matrix]]'' sequels and supplementary materials [[
* By the end of ''[[The Prestige]]'', both lead characters have innocent blood on their hands, whether due to obsession with revenge, or due to single-minded pursuit of their Greatest Magic Trick Ever.
* Arguably the two leads in the film ''Changing Lanes''.
** Ditto for the [[Gender Flip]] counterpart film ''Last Exit''.
* While the [[Star Wars|Clone Wars]] saw the Separatists being led by a bunch of [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|corrupt corporate executives]] and Sith Lords and a homicidal cyborg, a lot of the worlds joining them were only doing so to oppose what they with some justification saw as a corrupt Republic. To grey out the other side further, as Anakin Skywalker observed, even the Jedi Council was feeling compelled to move into a more pragmatic and less moral direction. Ultimately, though, Anakin's protestations about
** The Separatists are still on the darker end, though. Yes, the Republic ended up becoming the Empire, but the conduct of clone troopers before Order 66 was much better than the droids. Also, contrast the Jedi Generals with General Grievous, and consider the fact that many Republic generals and statesmen later became rebels. Furthermore, that corruption in the Republic? It largely originated from those same [[Corrupt Corporate Executive
** The trope is invoked in the opening of ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'', where the blurb briefly mentions that "there are heroes on both sides." In the films proper, however, there aren't any good Separatists shown on-screen. The ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'' series attempted to rectify this, by actually showcasing some of those heroic Separatists.
* In the 2007 Chinese film, ''[[Film/Warlords|Warlords]]'', the three main characters are all grey, and so are pretty much all the characters. There are no heroes or outright monsters. This is a film that challenges the viewer to decide which is the more moral choice. Sometimes the moral thing to do results in greater harm or loss of life than the socially reprehensible thing to do.
* ''[[King Kong]]'', especially the [[Peter Jackson]] remake. Kong, an aggressive animal who kidnaps a human but wants to protect her as well, fights first a film
* The film version of ''[[Let the Right One In]]'' - the two main characters are a murderous vampire and a kid who has strong and violent revenge fantasies. None of the other characters are more sympathetic than they are.
* The Chinese/Korean coproduction ''[[Musa The Warrior]]'' shows both sides of the conflict (exiled Korean soldiers and defeated Mongol horsemen) to be somewhat sympathetic but deeply flawed people bound by both grim necessity and inflexible ethical codes to slaughter each other in a series of running battles [[What a Senseless Waste of Human Life|which ultimately achieve little but tragic attrition]].
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* Using fridge logic ''[[Inception]]'' is a curious example in that it has neither heroes nor villains. Fisher, despite inheriting a major corporation, is an innocent; Saito is a business rival of his; and Cobb and the team are only in it for themselves (Cobb in hopes of getting home to his family, the others for money). The antagonist, Mal, is, in the dreams, a manifestation of Cobb's subconscious.
* In ''[[Air America]]'', there are definitely good guys and bad guys, but none of the good guys are pure white-hats, not even Billy Covington and Corinne Landreaux, who probably come closest, and none of the villains are pure black-hats, not even Major Lemond and General Soong. Yes, granted, Soong, Lemond, and Lemond's assistant Rob Diehl are drug runners, but there is no evidence that Lemond and Diehl are enriching themselves, and even Gene Ryack, who is more or less neutral for most of the film, points out that it is impossible to win a war in Southeast Asia without controlling the opiate trade, so Lemond and Diehl, and even Soong, are just doing what is necessary for the war effort. Ryack himself is a gun runner, and it is made clear that pretty much all the pilots are running illegal scams on the side. Corinne, again, might seem closest to being a pure white-hat, but she's dating Rob, one of the villains. Senator Davenport turns out to be a good guy at the end, but he's willing to look the other way at Gen. Soong's rather dodgy "recruitment" techniques. So all in all, no one in the film really seems all good or all evil.
* In the [[Transformers (film)|Transformers film series]], the, errr...heroic Autobots just want to end the tyranny of the Decepticons...by killing every last one of them without mercy. Meanwhile, the Decepticons think they're doing what's best for their own kind. The only major difference is that one side likes humans, while the other doesn't.
** It's of note that the G1 Decepticons' [[Catchphrase (game show)|Catchphrase]] was "peace through tyranny". In the films, it could very well be the [[Antihero|Autobots']], seeing as they kill more Decepticons onscreen than the Deceptions do Autobots.
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* In [[Chung Kuo]], there is no really good side; both the Han rulers and the European rebels commit atrocities as the story progresses
* The War between Manticore and Haven in ''[[Honor Harrington]]'', with the second Haven revolution in the series resulting in a government led by good people, has become this. Indeed, as this carries on it's lost even much of that, becoming more of a [[Let's You and Him Fight]] between good guys.
* Featured very prominently from the second series onward in ''[[Warrior Cats]]''. The authors have even gone back to write sympathetic backstories for most of the villains, the most notable being Scourge. Tigerstar and Hawkfrost are also noteworthy because, although they wanted power and did horrible things to get it, they only wanted power because they believed they could do a better job of running the Clans and help keep the forest peaceful (Although Tigerstar's vision for running the Clans was [[Politically-Incorrect Villain|very racist]]). The villains of the fourth series also consist almost entirely of cats that have been wronged or forgotten and are rising up for revenge. Then for the heroes, we have Brambleclaw, who had the exact same goals as Hawkfrost, and leaned dangerously close to [[The Dark Side]], making Hawkfrost's status as a [[Manipulative Bastard]] pretty much the only difference between them. We also have Leafpool and Squirrelflight with their
** And then there's ''Sunrise''. [[Broken Base|You could argue all you want over]] who was most responsible for the angst-filled mess that is the ending, but the most reasonable explanation (and the one that causes [[Mind Screw|the least headaches]]) is that ''everyone'' was in the wrong to a certain degree.
** {{spoiler|Hollyleaf also eventually [[Face Heel Turn|goes insane]] and possibly may show up in the fourth series as a [[Knight Templar|self-righteous villain]].}}
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* ''[[Animorphs]]'' falls under this tropes in the later books. At first it's a pretty clear cut case of the bad guys (the Yeerks, taking over the planet parasitically) and the good guys (the Animorphs, and by extension the Andalites, who also hate the Yeerks). As time wears on, however, it's revealed that the Andalites response to the Yeerks infesting the Hork-Bajir homeworld was to release a deadly virus into the atmosphere of the planet, killing nearly all Hork-Bajir on their homeworld. If the Animorphs fail to stop the Yeerk invasion, the Andalites have plans to do exactly the same thing to Earth. As well as that, some of the Yeerks start to be portrayed as actual characters, with individual motivations and emotions, instead of just a pack of slugs. Even the Taxxons, giant centipede-like creatures get some of this; they're revealed to be total slaves to their own hunger, literally unable to stop eating as long as there is food around. And then there are the Animorphs themselves; over the course of the books they morph from idealistic kids doing the best they can to a hardened guerilla force with no qualms about sacrificing the new bunch of idealistic kids in the name of winning the war. This seems to have been [[Moral of the Story|the point of the series]].
* Steven Erikson's ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'' has this part of the time, such as in the Malazan/Darujhistan conflict and the Letherii/Tiste Edur Conflict. At other times the series veers into [[Black and Gray Morality]] (the Crippled God vs. everyone else) and even [[Black and White Morality]] ({{spoiler|Anomander Rake vs. Chaos}} in ''Toll the Hounds'').
* [[Philip Pullman]], who wrote the ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' series, is the master of this trope. The story revolves around a mysterious thing called Dust. One side, the adults, believe it is evil and corrupting the innocent children; whereas the children themselves know basically nothing about it but dislike what the adults are doing, so they decide that it's really good. This gets less ambiguous, but it is still possible to read it as the Dust is a [[Necessary Evil]], or an Ultimate Good; and even individual characters are like this. Lyra's mother, for example, is one massive, manipulative bitch who {{spoiler|cuts childrens' daemons away from them (which is like splitting your soul in half}} but, on the other hand, she eventually {{spoiler|sacrifices herself with Lord Asriel, Lyra's father, to take down Metatron and "make the world safe for Lyra."}} Who the ''ultimate''
** The first book contains the best example of grey and gray morality. Lord Asriel, who is supposed to be an antithesis to the clearly evil Mrs. Coulter who works for the Church, {{spoiler|kills Lyra's friend in order to power his machine}}. This is seemingly ignored in the next two books and Asriel, with his crusade against God, becomes a strictly heroic character.
*** Hardly. Lyra, who is pretty much the author mouthpiece, continues to distrust and dislike Asriel and his methods for the entire series after what happened above. Asriel is depicted as [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|a man who has noble goals, but uses highly questionable methods to reach them]], while Mrs. Coultier is a dangerous sociopath with one redeeming quality, namely love for Lyra. They manage to combine their better qualities in a mutual [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. The books pretty much revolve around the issue that all people are flawed, and seemingly good people can do very bad things and vice versa.
* The ''[[Chaos Walking]]'' trilogy is all about this. While Mayor Prentiss is a darker shade of gray, Mistress Coyle and the Answer's methods of stopping him (no matter what the cost) can be those of a terrorist or a freedom fighter. This is heightened when the heroes are forced upon the two different sides, while being aware of how much rubbish the whole war is. Also the fact that it's practically a gender battle heightens the uncertainty of the war. In the third book {{spoiler|they team up in an alliance against the Spackle, even though the Spackle are the ones that were treated so terribly}}
* ''[[The Iliad]]'', by [[Homer]], and the rest of the [[The Trojan Cycle|Trojan Cycle]], making this [[Older Than Feudalism]].
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* [[George R. R. Martin]]'s ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' series, sort of. Every major faction, taken as a whole, has flaws and redeeming qualities; no one is unreasonable. In the end, it's the methods they choose to use that decides whether they are a villain or a protagonist:
** The Starks are protagonists because they are [[Honor Before Reason|honourable to a fault]] and seek out diplomatic solutions before entering combat. Despite this, one of their most useful bannermen is Roose Bolton, who is tolerated as a [[Token Evil Teammate]] {{spoiler|until he finally does betray them}}, and testimony from peasants in the wrong place at the wrong time show that lower ranking Stark soldiers [[Rape, Pillage and Burn]] just as much as the Lannisters.
** The Lannisters are antagonists because they hire people like [[Complete Monster|Gregor Clegane, the Bloody Mummers]], {{spoiler|[[Face Heel Turn|and House Frey]]}}. Despite this, it is mentioned several times that the common people loved Tywin Lannister, because while he might be a bad person, he was an excellent ruler, and he gave Westeros a great deal of peace and prosperity while he was Aerys' Hand of the King.
** Renly's followers are protagonists because they fight honourably and have several [[Knight in Shining Armour|noble warriors]] on their side, but are fools who still are fighting a bloody war for personal honor and power.
** Stannis' followers are antagonists because they use incredibly creepy [[Black Magic]] and assassinations to accomplish their goals, but [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|they still do the right thing in the end]], so they aren't exactly evil. {{spoiler|This is finally proved when Stannis, at Davos' insistence, finally realises that if he is a king it is his duty to protect his subjects by temporarily putting his war for the throne on hold and going to the Wall. So far, he is the only ruler in Westeros to actually accept responsibility in this way}}.
** Dany is fighting to back her family's throne, despite it being repeatedly drawn to her attention that her father genuinely was a lunatic, and that the people of the Westeros just want to be left out of the power struggles; at first she believes the lies she had been told about how the commoners secretly prayed for the return of Westeros' "true" rulers, but even when she is disabused of this notion, she keeps going to get revenge on the "Usurpers" and reclaim her birthright, rather than worrying whether "her" subjects actually care enough to want another brutal civil war. She has also done a great deal of sacking and pillaging to get where she is now.
** Generally the medieval fantasy setting and the accompanying [[Values Dissonance]] means that any one of the lords seems phenomenally egotistical and self-righteous by today's standards, which is one of the reasons {{spoiler|[[The Spymaster|Varys]]}} is such an interesting character; he genuinely does seem to care about the realm as a whole more than the pissing contests between the squabbling nobles.
* Patrick Tilley's ''[[Amtrak Wars]]'' series, with elements of [[Order Versus Chaos]] thrown in.
* Kevin J. Anderson's ''Terra Incognita'' series. Examples ranging the spectrum from the very good to the very evil can be found among both the Aidenists and the Urecari while the Saedrans stay strictly neutral.
* The ''[[Old
* The three empires in the ''Quintara Marathon'' series demonstrate this, at least in terms of the humans who are represented in all three. The Exchange is a free-market free-for-all with the most personal freedom, but minimal social safety nets and an underbelly of corruption and unofficial slavery (in the form of genetically engineered intelligent beings considered as property). The Mizlaplan control a rigid theocracy where they are unquestionably the rulers (and effective gods), inquisitors and priest can use whatever methods they feel are necessary, sexual discrimination against women is part of the system, and where brainwashing into absolute obedience is commonly used, but where most people live peaceful, safe lives without concern about going hungry, crime, or actually being personally oppressed. The Mychol Empire is a dog-eat-dog vicious society with oppression, slavery, and a great deal of violence, but where everyone has the opportunity to rise if they are smart enough.
* In ''[[Lonely Werewolf Girl]]'' no one is really heroic in this tale, Kalix killed her father, Sarapen is batshit insane, the rest of the werewolves downright callous and manipulative, Moonglow cheats on her boyfriend, Daniel is trying to be a [[Dogged Nice Guy]] to Moonglow, Malveria a [[Retired Monster]], and the Avenaris Guild of werewolf hunters are trigger happy sociopaths.
* The [[Civil War]] in Bernard Cornwell's ''Starbuck Chronicles''. This is because rather than deal with the causes of the war he approaches it from the perspective of the individuals on both sides and finds that there are heroes and scoundrels on both sides. Emphasized by making the viewpoint character, Nathaniel Starbuck, a "Copperhead" (a Northerner who sided with the South) and another major character, Adam Falconer, a "Scalawag" (a Southerner who sided with the North).
* ''[[Gone (novel)]]'', by Michael Grant. All the characters are kids under the age of 15 who are trapped in a bubble without adults. On their 15th birthdays, they disappear, too. That's called the "Poof". The heroes are trying to figure things out, put things back to normal, learn how to use their new powers, and figure out how to survive their 15th birthdays. The villains have mostly the same motivations, except that their methods are different. The heroes sometimes do bad things, and the villains sometimes do good things. Basically, they all just want to survive. The exception is Drake, who Michael Grant has confirmed is pure evil, no shades of gray.
* [[Fuguefora Darkening Island|Fugue for a Darkening Island]] invokes this trope, 70's Britain split into civil war as thousands of African refugees flee into Europe to escape a nuclear war. The refugees are innocent and desperate, but often violent and thuggish. The fascist government is cruel and oppressive, but the only thing preventing the total collapse of the country. The secessionist movement is liberal and free, but weak and elitist.'
* ''[[The Underland Chronicles]]'': The human-rat war is FULL of this.
* Paolo Bacigalupi's ''The Windup Girl'' is very dark grey on all sides. The calorie men are out to make profits by whatever means necessary, but they're also trying to stave off unending waves of plagues and blights. The Kingdom of Thailand heroically resists the outsiders who want to plunder it, but it's also deeply corrupt and politically unstable. Hock Seng, who appears ready to do anything to save himself, also has one of the most depressing backstories, and {{spoiler|when we last see him, he is risking his own life to save a little girl.}} A character who looks heroic will turn out to have something very dark in their past (or present), while one who looks villainous may have honorable intentions.
* David Drake's Hammer's Slammers does a good job of showing how this trope [[Combat Pragmatist|applies]] [[I Did What I Had to Do|in]] [[War Is Hell]]; both the titular mercenaries and their opponents do some [[Shoot the Dog|pretty]] [[Obligatory War Crime Scene|despicable]] things in order to hold their own losses down, like nuking a rebel stronghold because attacking it any other way would result in unacceptable losses for the attackers. When the series deviates from Gray and Gray, it's usually to go to [[Black and Grey Morality|Black and Gray]], especially if [[The Unfettered|Major]] [[Psycho Sidekick|Joachim]] [[Complete Monster|Steuben]] is involved.
* [[Keys to the Kingdom]] has a lot of this as well. Dame Primus is quite [[The Chessmaster]], and not in a good way. The only truly good character is Arthur, and he barely has any idea what's going on for a lot of the time.
* In ''[[The Kingdoms of Evil]]'': The main character is put in charge of all the evil in the world. Next up, figure out what the hell evil actually is.
* Jodi Picoult's ''[[My Sister's Keeper]]''. On the one hand, we have a mother who is desperate to save her daughter's life, even if it means subjecting her other daughter to a variety of increasingly invasive medical procedures against her will. On the other hand, we have a girl who doesn't want to undergo dangerous and painful medical procedures anymore and wants to be seen for herself rather than as replacement body parts for her sister, even if it means taking away her sick sister's last chance at survial. Welcome to the world of no right answers, folks.
* In ''[[The 39 Clues]]'' book series, even [[Brother-Sister Team|Amy and Dan]], who are by far the nicest and most principled [[Big Screwed-Up Family|clue hunters]], will do morally questionable things from time to time.
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* The soldiers and rebels in ''[[Beachwalker]]'' are both portrayed as having sympathetic members, and the book entirely avoids taking sides in their conflict, focusing instead on the specific combatants and civilians in the protagonist's immediate sphere of influence.
* [[The Black Company]] by Glen Cook at best. Most prevalent in the first book, and then appearing here and there throughout the series.
* The people on either side of the diamond wall in ''[[A Dirge for Prester John]]'' view themselves as the real Pentexore. Neither side is more valid than the other, just one side has the benefit of the [[Fountain of Youth]].
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** It was common in the show's early historical episodes. ''The Crusade'' shows both Richard the Lionheart and Saladdin to be honourable men.
** ''Doctor Who and the Silurians'' is a textbook example as both the humans and the Silurians are shown to be equally aggressive and honourable, with even the Brigadier commiting attrocities to win.
** ''The Caves of Androzani'' depicts a brutal war between the military forces run by a well meaning but ruthless General whose willing to execute civilans when ordered even if he belives they're incocent, and [[Jerkass Woobie]] Sharaz Jek, a lechy drug runner whose been driven mad by the treachery of his former partner Morgus and helps the Doctor in the end.
* {{spoiler|The Vorlons and the Shadows}} in ''[[Babylon 5]]''
** JMS pointed out in first season commentary that he was proud to have pulled this off when the Vorlons were just as prone to blow stuff up with no real justification.
** JMS also stated that the actors who played Londo and G'Kar were asked to flip a coin to see who would be the "good" one. He was immediately asked: "Who won?"
*** [[Fridge Brilliance|The joke makes a lot of sense in hindsight]] given that Londo and the Centauri are initially portrayed almost wholly sympathetically, while G'kar and the Narn are portrayed very much as villainous. By the end of the second season, however, both the characters' and audience's sympathies have completely reversed (in part thanks to Londo making a [[Deal with the Devil]]). By the end of the fourth season, it's no longer clear who's the hero or the villain in the perpetual conflict - which was almost certainly the intention of Stracyzinski from the very beginning.
* The [[The Cavalier Years|English Civil War]] drama ''By the Sword Divided''. There are some obviously 'good' characters, but none of them are perfect, while no one is shown as an out-and-out villain either.
* The new ''[[Battlestar Galactica
* In various seasons of ''[[Survivor (TV series)|Survivor]]'', the final two (three in more recent seasons) was often seen as this, both (or all three) people pretty much annoyed the Jury and they wound up voting for who they viewed as the lesser evil.
** ''Marquesas'' is perhaps one of the ''best'' examples of this trope; Neleh admittedly didn't start playing the game until Day 24 and glided through on other peoples' shoulders, while Vecepia flip-flopped enough times to make everyone question where she stood, and won because everyone was mad at Neleh.
** ''Thailand'' - Brian was a cold emotional sociopath who barely even spoke to the other tribe, and was accused of sexism and backstabbing among all things, while Clay was accused of racism and generally being a lech. Brian won only because he had enough people who respected him on the jury.
** ''Samoa'' is another more recent example of
** ''South Pacific'' - [[Number Two|Albert]] was seen as a sleaze and someone who nobody liked or respected, [[Ice Queen|Sophie]] was seen as a pretentious and condescending brat, and [[My Greatest Second Chance|Coach]] was accused of using religious hypocrisy and breaking his word several times over despite claiming to play with "honour" and "integrity". Ozzy laid it out in his opening jury speech - the jury did not want to vote for any of them.
* In ''[[Lost]]'', the issues are so complex and the characters so murky that ''no one'' seems to be pure good or evil, although there are definite shades of gray (
* ''[[Dollhouse]]''. While what the Dollhouse and the Rossum Corporation do is clearly nightmarish, and Paul Ballard (and earlier, Caroline) must be right to want to bring them down, Ballard is prepared to do very dubious things to do it, while Caroline is irresponsible and quixotic. Meanwhile, the people who work for the Dollhouse seem to really believe that they're doing good by "giving people what they need", and the dolls are all volunteers...
** DeWitt's house, at least, seems to recruit people in desperate straits and helps them establish new lives after their term is finished. Whether this is rescuing them or preying on those with no options is an exercise for the viewer.
** The episode where we first see Tudyk's character, {{spoiler|Alpha}}, really shows the G&G. {{spoiler|The start of the episode shows Echo saving a young girl from a downward spiral and helping her get over her traumatic past, while Ballard sneaks into the Dollhouse after finding it, accidentally bringing Alpha with him and causing problems while trying to help.}}
** For added gray bordering on [[Fridge Horror]], consider {{spoiler|Boyd's stated reason for harvesting Echo's spinal fluid. If the antidote he could have synthesized was used properly it could potentially have saved thousands of people from being wiped, imprinted, bodystolen, and killed and may have severly mitigated the eventual downfall of civilization depicted in the season ending episodes.}}
* ''[[Farscape]]'' will be like this when it's not in outright [[Black and Grey Morality]] mode.
* In ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', the boy wizard himself and Arthur are definitely good guys. But they support a [[Knight Templar]] king who would execute Merlin if he knew the truth, often against [[Designated Villain|designated villains]] with a legitimate grievance, and Merlin often makes some [[What the Hell, Hero?|questionable choices]] to balance his nature against his support of the king. Why? In Arthur's case, family loyalty; in Merlin's it's just [[Because Destiny Says So]] ("destiny" in this case being a dragon with a fairly major grudge against Uther himself). Hence, when {{spoiler|Morgana decides to side with Morguase}}, it's very hard to see it as a [[Face Heel Turn]], and the script doesn't really make much attempt to present it as such.
* ''[[The Wire]]'' is one of the finest examples of this trope in any medium. While you may arguably root for the cops to make their case, it's impossible to see even ''most'' of the cops as good guys. And the criminals get far too many [[Pet the Dog|humanising moments]] to possibly be considered bad guys. Creator David Simon said he wasn't interested in doing [[Black and White Morality|good vs. evil]] anymore; the results were as far in the opposite direction as can be done.
* ''[[Dexter]]'', especially when it comes down to Dexter vs. Doakes in season 2. In the words of the man himself:
{{quote|
** He also points out that he essentially does Doakes' job but "at no cost to the taxpayer", and says that Doakes only knew he was a killer because he was one himself.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' often dips into this. [[Dark Action Girl|Faith]], for example, still retained sympathetic traits even after doing a full-fledged [[Face Heel Turn]] (she [[Heel Face Turn|recanted]], eventually), and the heroes have [[Shoot the Dog|shot the dog]] on occasion, claiming they [[I Did What I Had to Do|did what they had to do]].
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* During its first three series, ''[[The 4400]]'' featured several distinct factions (NTAC, the 4400 Centre, the people from the future, the Nova Group, Jordan Collier and his followers, {{spoiler|Dennis Ryland}}'s company), all of which are shown as in some way sympathetic, with good intentions. It's not until series four that we finally see some unambiguously bad guys ({{spoiler|The Marked, who want to stop the 4400 and bring about the apocalypse just to make sure they stay on top of the pile}}).
* While ''[[Fringe]]'' often presents wholly evil villains of the week, [[Myth Arc|the war between parallel universes]] has oodles of this trope. The person most directly responsible for starting the conflict is Walter, our loveable [[Mad Scientist]] good guy, who ''kidnapped his [[Alternate Universe]] counterpart's child'': the subsequent actions of Walter, William Bell, Walternate and both Fringe Divisions are attempts to defend their home universes from the other side's "attacks". Neither universe is depicted as "evil" or malicious. Walternate's ruthless, but he's faced with a world that's collapsing due to Walter's actions and believes it's the result of a deliberate attack by "our" universe. Also, Walter conducted experiments on children, a line Walternate was unwilling to cross.
* ''[[La Femme Nikita]]''
* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' flirts with this at some points. In a fifth-season episode, ''The Darkness and the Light,'' someone is targeting members of Kira's [[La Résistance|former resistance cell]]. She finally identifies the killer {{spoiler|a Cardassian servant disfigured in one of their bombings}}. He claims, persuasively, that she killed innocent people whereas he never did, such as a bomb she set taking out not only a brutal Cardassian war criminal, but ''his entire family'' too, along with anyone in the immediate vicinity, whereas he goes out of his way only to target them, and even spare the life of the unborn child she's carrying. Kira retorts that ''every'' Cardassian on Bajor, even if they just ''folded shirts'' as a servant shouldn't have been there and were guilty legitimate targets. True, she's talking with a calculating, cold-blooded killer, but it drives home that, yes, Kira ''was'' a terrorist, and from his point of view he is the [[Title Drop|"light" to her "darkness"]]. Kira's only real reply is the old idea that the one cannot exist without the other, or as she says "the light is brightest in the dark."
== Music ==
* [[The Monkees (band)|The Monkees]]' song "Shades of Grey" is about this.
{{quote|
''Today there is no dark or light''
''Today there is no black or white''
''Only shades of grey'' }}
* A [[Billy Joel]] song with the same name as the above is about how he goes from the [[Black and White Morality]] of youth to this, while simultaneously warning of [[Black and White Insanity]].
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4tDP-yMwXI Or does he?]
** French singer Jean-Jacques Goldman titled one of his songs "Entre gris clair et gris foncé" ("Between Light Gray and Dark Gray"). Specifically, its lyrics are about the increase of ambiguous morality in fiction.
{{quote|
''Devils aren't so [[
''Nor whites [[Light Is Not Good|wholly innocent]]'' }}
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** The only being that, no matter what point of view, is in fact, in the black side of the scale, no matter how you look at him, is the Ebon Dragon, who is pretty much the literal embodiment of dickery, evil, and opposite to all virtues. He created the Unconquered Sun, so he could have something to be the opposite of. He also invented betrayal.
*** Even then, he's still somewhat sympathetic in a pathetic way. He ''literally'' can't be anything but The Supreme Dick in all of existence. This of course raises the question of whether anything in this setting (Or even [[Real Life]]) can be said to be pure evil if you can't choose to be it, but that raises philosophical questions beyond the scope of this Wiki, so let's just leave it at that.
* ''[[Planescape]]''. Factions aren't explicitly good or evil, they just have different motivations and can commit a variety of acts.▼
* ''[[Rune Quest]]'' is the epitome of this trope, though evil exists in the form of [[Big Bad|Wakboth the Devil]] and its minions.▼
* In the [[Dungeons and Dragons]] ''Wrath of the Immortals'' campaign, the two principal factions of Immortals (D&D's functional equivalent of AD&D's gods), the Ring of Fire and the Fellowship of the Star, both have good reasons for what they do, and both pursue their objectives by morally questionable means. Rad and his followers in the Fellowship of the Star are just pursuing knowledge, and are studying a magical artifact, the Nucleus of the Spheres, that has incredible powers that are unique in the universe, and might possibly be used to make the world a much better place. The problem is that the Nucleus is draining the magical energy from the world, which would, among other things, exterminate every magical race, including elves, dragons, fairies, etc., meaning several counts of genocide. To say nothing of all the other people who would die as the civilizations, most notably Alphatia, that depend on magic would collapse. So Ixion and his followers in the Ring of Fire have sound reasons to want to destroy Rad and stop anyone from using the Nucleus of the Spheres. As things develop, however, the only way to destroy Rad is to kill all his mortal followers, meaning that Ixion and his allies have to provoke a war by Alphatia against Glantri, a war which drags in Thyatis and the Heldann Freeholds as well, and which ultimately spreads to many other countries, killing millions. But neither is side really wrong. The Brotherhood of Shadow, a third group of Entropic Immortals who are just trying to prolong and exacerbate the conflict are straightforwardly evil, except that their scheming is both pretty ineffective ''and'', even more importantly, enables the heroes to figure out the whole plot and save the world. So the good Immortals unleash a war that kills millions of innocent people, while the evil Immortals are relatively ineffective at making things worse, inadvertently save the world. Go figure.▼
* ''Lesser Shades of Evil''. It's in the title, people.▼
▲* ''[[
* [[Dungeons & Dragons]]
▲**
▲*
*** Of course, the Nucleus is a problem for everyone in the first place because someone cursed it so that Sphere of Energy would be punished for using it to cheat and upset balance (the way Rad did), and never mind what happens to everyone else.
** Jakandor, the mini-setting ''specifically designed for this''. The main theme is conflict of Charonti wizards vs. Knorr barbarians, each having their good points... and very eager to vilify the other. It was cut mid-step, despite one book winning an award, like most things that can't be disguised as a series of 10'x10' rooms with orc and chest - that's [[Why We Can't Have Nice Things]], etc.
▲* ''Lesser Shades of Evil''. It's in the title, people.
== Theatre ==
* [[William Shakespeare]]'s historical plays sometimes work this way. In others he rewrites history to upgrade [[Historical Hero Upgrade|heroes]] and [[Historical Villain Upgrade|villains]] to create a [[Black and White Morality]] that appeases the reigning dynasty.
* [[Into the Woods]] uses this in relation to fairy tales; for example, Jack might be the hero, but he still killed someone's son. The point of the musical is to show that people are not good or evil, but just people.
{{quote|
''No-one waits when fortune intervenes'' }}
** And from [[You Are Not Alone|"No One is Alone"]] ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xaxP_kErTU here]), the heroes realise finally realise this
{{quote|
''You decide what's right, you decide what's good.''
''Someone is on your side.''
''Someone else is not.''
''While we're seeing our side''
''Maybe we forgot: they are not alone.''
''No one is alone.'' }}
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* ''[[Brink]]'': The developers said they wanted to avert both [[La Résistance]] vs [[The Empire]], and [[Hero Cops]] vs. [[Evil Terrorists]]. And Mon Dieu did they do it well! To illustrate, Chen (Resisty leader.) and Mokoena (Security leader.) are both decent people in their own way and dicks in their own way. They both have noble goals: Chen wants to send a scouting party to find land and have equal resources and rights for Guests and Founders, and Mokoena doesn't want the Ark to descend into anarchy and wants them all to work together, and is just trying to keep the ark safe. And its also made clear that the Resistance and Security have their fair share of the "I'm doing what I have to" and "total bastard" mentalities.
* ''[[STALKER]]'': The conflict between Freedom and Duty is this, combined with [[Order Versus Chaos]]. Duty are a faction of grizzled ex-military types who believe [[Eldritch Location|The Zone]] is an abomination that threatens the world and should be destroyed. Freedom are a group of anarchists and thrill-seekers that believe The Zone is a miracle that provides beneficial eldritch artifacts and therefore should be freely accessed by the public. Neither is especially nicer than the other, and they both have their share of [[Jerkass|dicks]] and [[Nice Guy|nice guys]].
* The [[Succession Crisis]] in ''[[Dragon Age]]''. The Dwarf origin stories give you some pretty clear reasons for supporting each. Commoners would want to support Bhelen because he fights to end the oppressive caste system and wants to open the country more to the outside. Nobles would want to support Harrowmont because it's their father's wishes and he's more "Traditional". You also have a personal reason for doing so, Harrowmont is a ''very'' nice guy and a [[Reasonable Authority Figure]], as he fights ''hard'' to make sure the dwarf noble is given a fair trial. Bhelen meanwhile fights hard to get to the throne...to near sociopathic levels, as he's {{spoiler|rightfully}} suspected of killing his older brother and getting his other sibling blamed for it.
* Just about all of ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' which [[Up to Eleven|manages to be even grayer than its predecessor.]] The mages, chantry, and qunari are ready to tear each other apart and all of them have good people and bad people or [[Blue and Orange Morality|have different morals all together]]. All have good reasons to be pissed at the others and all have their own major flaws. It gets very difficult to see anybody as a major villain because there is really no white or black. Though all sides are closer to the black on the gray scale.
* Daein and Crimea engage in this for most of ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Radiant Dawn'' (taking it so far that you, the player, actually control a party from each country at different points, even when those two parties fight each other) before finally banding together against the unequivocally black morality of Begnion's corrupt senate.
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*** If you manage to find a hidden report {{spoiler|in the Aldmeri Embassy}}, you find out {{spoiler|that used to support the Stormcloaks}}, having manipulated {{spoiler|Ulfric Stormcloak when he was young}} and thus causing the current conflict. In effect, it's not in their interest for ''either'' side to win, but to draw out the civil war as long as possible, weakening the most powerful and stable province left in the Empire to the point where it'll be easy pickings for them to move in and take over. However, {{spoiler|Ulfric}} has cut ties and is classified as rogue, implying that {{spoiler|he either used the Thalmor in an attempt to get an independent Skyrim or has grown sympathetic to his own cause}}.
** ''Daggerfall'' is full of this. About the only morally unambigious choice in the end-game is to aid the Underking, and then only because his goal is to finally ''[[Undeath Always Ends|die]]'' rather than to actually use Numidium. There are several candidates for [[Complete Monster]], and you ''will'' aid at least one of them out of your own free will, without being fooled, over the course of the main storyline.
* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' doesn't have a lot of easy choices. Except for many pirates and mercenaries who murder indiscriminately for money, most opponents are [[Well
* When it comes to player races, ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' is surprisingly nuanced in terms of morality. Neither the Horde nor the Alliance have exclusive claims to goodness or evil, though the tauren and the draenei (one for each side, naturally, although for the tauren this is usually [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]], as the 5% hp buff and their racial stun ability makes them very appealing to people who like [[PvP]], and so tauren players are usually the most vicious of the lot) are both pretty much objectively good. Originally the Horde were very much [[The Horde|their namesake trope]], while the Alliance were [[The Alliance|theirs]]. However, the Horde redeemed itself, but both sides still have problems with each other and thus fighting between them still continues.
* ''[[Battle for Wesnoth]]'' has this in the campaign Descent into Darkness. You control a young mage apprentice who takes up dark magic (read: animating corpses) to defend his town, and is exiled. His sister, the town guard, holy knights who show up for no reason but to piss you off in the hardest mission of the campaign all wish to have him killed. He takes revenge on them. In the end, it's mostly black versus black or black versus grey (with you playing the part of a very borderline black) but until they drop an anvil on you and have you fight endlessly repeating (and rather easy) battles against random commanders, you never genuinely know who to root for.
* This is the theme of the ''[[Tales (series)]]'' series. Ever since ''[[Tales of Phantasia|Phantasia]]'', the seemingly vilest of antagonists has at minimum a lofty goal in mind, and the most noble of protagonists is either hiding something, misguided, or aiding and abetting someone who is either hiding something or misguided.
** ''[[Tales of Phantasia|Phantasia]]'': Dhaos [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|only wanted to revive his dying world of Derris-Kharlan]] using the mana seed of Aselia, but his brutal methods and refusal to explain his side until it was too late is the only thing keeping Cless and his allies from becoming [[Villain Protagonist
** ''[[Tales of Symphonia|Symphonia]]'': {{spoiler|Mithos}} simply wanted to save the world [[Knight Templar|from its own racist self]] by holding back progress and running "human ranches", and everything else he does is either for this for for {{spoiler|[[Dead Little Sister|Martel's sake]]}}. [[Idiot Hero|Lloyd's]] actions lead to much death and destruction as he changes the system, and {{spoiler|Mithos}}'s fears of technological abuse [[And Man Grew Proud|is proven right]], as the next 4000 years between ''Symphonia'' and ''Phantasia'' can attest to.
** ''[[Tales of the Abyss|Abyss]]'': {{spoiler|Van}} only wanted to [[Screw Destiny]] and destroy the Score, the near-mindless obedience of which has caused the destruction of his native Hod. {{spoiler|Mohs}} is determined to follow the Score to the letter, believing it to be the Auldrant's ''only'' path to progress. On the heroes' side, [[Spoiled Brat|Luke]] is a [[Jerkass]] extraordinaire, [[Mysterious Waif|Tear]] keeps to herself all the time, [[The Lancer|Guy]] trusts {{spoiler|Van}}, [[Hot Scientist|Jade]] was once a morally-ambiguous scientist, [[Gold Digger|Anise]] is a gold-digger {{spoiler|with good reason}}, and [[Royals Who Actually Do Something|Natalia]] is {{spoiler|revealed to be an adopted commoner}}. The only thing that kept Luke and company with [[A Lighter Shade of Gray]] is their [[Character Development]] (especially Luke's {{spoiler|traumatic}} transformation from spoiled brat to a more reasonable guy).
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** The prequel, ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]'' continues the tradition by asking you to side with one of three competing viewpoints regarding human augmentation and subsequently nudge the public interest in that direction... But you also get a fourth choice where you can refuse all of them and leave the world's to decide it's own fate (of course being a prequel to the first Deus Ex, the results are pretty much foregone no matter what you decide).
* The three player factions (Humans, Mutants, and Biomeks) of ''[[Auto Assault]]'' were set up to be like this, but when you really look into it the Humans turn out to be the biggest bastards of the bunch, even if they were originally doing it to ensure their survival.
* ''[[Command
** There's a major [[What the Hell, Player?]] moment in C&C 3, as if you're playing as GDI (the ''"good"'' guys), on the last mission you can choose to use a bomb that will kill hundreds of millions and destroy all of Europe. For this, the rational General who seemed like a pretty stand-up guy resigns in disgust, and the slimy politician (whose incompetence was [[Evil Plan|all part of Kane's Plan]]) ''promotes you''.
* ''[[Ace Combat]] 5'' has a war between superpowers [[Eagle Land|Osea]] and [[Lzherusskie|Yuktobania]] at war with one another...until it becomes known that Belkans had been infiltrating high-ranking positions in the two countries, and essentially setting up the war so they'd destroy each other as vengeance for losing the last one. By the end, both superpowers team up and collectively beat the tar out of the interlopers.
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** Also in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' the conflict between the New California Republic, Caesar's Legion and Mr.House is promised to be this. The NCR is supposed to be [[The Federation]] which is expanding too fast and can't properly feed or protects its country or its inhabitants, Caesar's Legion is a ruthless, but effective organization that provides absolute safety, limiting true freedom to only strong human males, and business tycoon Mr. House fell JUST short of completely protecting the Vegas area before the bombs fell and wants to protect and rebuild Vegas to its former glory, but idealizes a sterile vision of the Old World and demands large amounts of payment. To make it even more grey and gray karma will not be the main change that occurs due to your interactions between the three factions, instead it will be your reputation. [[Dark Horse Victory|Of course, there's also the option of siding with none of the groups...]]
* The ''[[Suikoden]]'' series, most notably ''[[Suikoden II]]'' is praised for this trope, presenting the characters as humans in a compromising situation, instead of personifications of good or evil. It is very rare to find a hero who is completely morally sound (except possibly the main characters), yet it is also rare to find a villain who is purely and irredeemably evil (...except [[Complete Monster|Luca Blight]]). While this keeps the stories from becoming too simple or cliche, it also gives an interesting human perspective to the bizarre and often supernatural happenings that occur.
* In ''[[Yggdra Union]]'', every major army is neither perfectly good or perfectly
* ''[[Sigma Star Saga]]'' has this in spades: you, the heroic human character, are ordered to do some pretty horrible things by your superior, while the Krill, supposedly aliens hell-bent on Earth's destruction, are actually pretty decent people (with a few glaring exceptions) who harbor no particular ill will towards Earth at all. {{spoiler|Turns out that there's a couple of [[Government Conspiracy|Government Conspiracies]] on ''both'' sides of the conflict who are the truly evil ones, and the vast majority of both humans and Krill are good.}}
* ''[[Ar tonelico]] II: Melody of Metafalica'' is a great example. Despite the fact that almost every character holds the same moral stance from beginning to end, pretty much every antagonist in the game will be considered a valuable ally at some point and nearly every ally gets a respectable stint as an antagonist. Even [[The Hero]] is arguably a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]], and the closest character to true evil is a foreigner trying to save his homeland.
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** The [[The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized|Insurrectionists]] had legitimate grievances with the UNSC's aforementioned heavy-handedness, but extremist elements pushed them towards terrorism.
** The [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Covenant]]'s ruling caste is highly corrupt (and in some cases, possibly borderline insane), and the [[Killer Space Monkey|Brutes]] are [[Blood Knight|aggressive and violent by nature]], but the rest are either [[Corrupt Church|misguided by religious fervor]], [[Cannon Fodder|expendable slaves for all intents and purposes]], otherwise coerced into serving the Covenant, or simply [[Punch Clock Villain|mercenaries with no real grudge against humans]].
** The [[Neglectful Precursors|Forerunners]] genuinely wished to protect the galaxy and its inhabitants, but they grew complacent because of their extremely advanced technology, and when [[The Virus|the Flood]] came knocking, they could only fulfill their duty as Guardians of the younger species of the galaxy by taking the Flood with themselves in a desperate last resort
** The [[Zombie Apocalypse|Flood]] had killed and infected trillions of people, but their leading hive mind, [[Eldritch Abomination|Gravemind]], sincerely believes that he simply [[Utopia Justifies the Means|bring peace and prosperity]] to a galaxy which simply doesn't understand the Flood due to ignorance and fear.
* ''Der Langrisser'' definitely falls into this trope. No matter what side you choose you'll end up fighting for peace while doing awful things in the way. There's no possible path that spares you the dramatic scene and the guilt of killing someone decent. You kill {{spoiler|Vargas, who's just had a little daughter, and get to watch Leon tell his wife the sad news}} in the Light path, and you slaughter {{spoiler|Scott and his father, in a rather cruel fashion}} in all others.
* In ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'', Wei might look like the [[Designated Villain]]. However, Cao Cao himself is just merely a pragmatist [[Magnificent Bastard]]. In the meantime, while Shu Kingdom is the [[Designated Hero]], Liu Bei has personally done some things worth being called out, such as taking over his kingdom from his relative Liu Zhang for 'destiny', and his reckless assault on Yi Ling. The Wu Kingdom themselves can be also seen as an 'opportunist' who takes advantage of the chaos to do as they like. Aside of all those, each kingdoms have their own sympathetic characters. Even Zhang Jiao comes off pretty sympathetic and his ending had him true to his words and made a peaceful nation with his Way Of Peace. Hell, the only [[Obviously Evil]] character is just Dong Zhuo.
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** This could almost be a Trope Namer. While there have been numerous changes in the overall tone of the story over the course of the series, one thing has remained constant: NONE of the factions is a whole lot better than ANY of the others. (The only one who's a whole lot ''worse'' is Dong Zhuo, and even that doesn't become too blatant until 5.) The Empires games take it a step further; you start out dead-center neutral with whoever you play as, and it's entirely up to you how good or evil your reign is. Of course, part of the reason is that, historically, none of the great powers succeeded in unifying China (that would be some 11th-hour Jin Dynasty opportunist named Sima Yan), so it's impossible to say who the "hero" or "villain" really was. It might be a subversion ([[Alternative Character Interpretation|or accurate]]) of how Wei and Shu were portrayed in ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]''.
* In ''[[Samurai Warriors]]'', especially the second title, the focus is about the battle of Sekigahara. Those who side with Ishida Mitsunari will probably see him as a [[Jerkass]] who snarks a lot and is being redeemed with the values of friendship and honor; and see Tokugawa Ieyasu as a [[Fat Bastard]] who is stealing the throne of Japan while it rightfully belongs to Toyotomi Hideyori. However, those who sides with the Tokugawa know that Ieyasu is instead a 'Fat Gentleman', and he puts a lot of care to his fellow officers and people, condemning the West (especially Mitsunari's ally Kanetsugu) of using pretty words like 'honor and justice' to do underhanded things and robbing the freedom of the people. In fact, ''[[Samurai Warriors]]'' is much grayer than ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'', the closest we can get of [[Obviously Evil]] is Fuuma Kotarou, and even he's ''still'' grayer than Dong Zhuo.
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'' uses this as its main theme. Naked Snake is fighting in Soviet territory and nobody is really on the side they seem to be on. Betrayals, double-crossing etc. are rife. The Boss explains to Snake that there is no such thing as an absolute enemy. Wars simply happen because of circumstance as leaders and situations change: soldiers are just pawns to this. {{spoiler|Then of course Naked Snake becomes Big Boss and forms the La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo and eventually Outer Heaven. His support team, who seem kindly allies end up crooked, with the loquacious Dr. Clark performing sick experiments on Gray Fox and the tea-drinking Brit Major Zero becoming the mastermind of the La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo.}}
** [[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots|MGS4]] further drives the point home when one realizes that the [[Amazon Brigade|Beauty & Beast Corps]] are war-scarred women outfitted with advanced nanotechnology and [[Big Bad|Liquid Ocelot]] is {{spoiler|1=[[Good All Along]] (relatively), is actually ''the'' Ocelot from MGS3 pretending to have assimilated Liquid Snake's personality, and is stopping the Patriots' plans.}} On the good guys' side, Roy Campbell's marriage to Raiden's wife Rosemary {{spoiler|was a facade meant to protect her and their supposedly-miscarried son Little John from the Patriots while Raiden is out fighting}}, and Rat Patrol 01 {{spoiler|1=is the Patriots' [[Unwitting Pawn
* Ditto for the ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' series. By the time Defiance rolls around, you're never really sure who's supposed to be the good guy and who the bad guy.
** The Hylden have a single redeeming feature? Or are we just talking about freakish abominations not imprisoned in another universe?
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* ''[[Auto Assault]]'' had this as it's background: each of the three playable factions has good reasons to be fighting the other two.
* During the stealth tutorial for ''[[Splinter Cell]]: Chaos Theory'', Sam Fisher lampshades this trope:
{{quote|
* ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]''. In the beginning, two princes are fighting each other for the throne. Since it is basically the [[Wars of the Roses|War of the Roses]] in the form of Final Fantasy, neither side is really good. Later in the game it becomes more like [[Black and Gray Morality]] once the Church and {{spoiler|Delita}} start playing more significant roles in the war. {{spoiler|Delita, while ultimately a hero that saves the kingdom from falling into utter chaos, still uses any and every Machiavellian method available to him in order to accomplish his goals. The Church is basically controlled by Satan}}. The only white to be found is Ramza and his fate is {{spoiler|[[Crapsack World|to become a footnote in history]]}}.
* Used heavily in the ''[[Golden Sun]]'' games, though it doesn't quite become apparent until ''The Lost Age'', where all the antagonists of ''The Broken Seal'' are revealed to have been working for good ends, and trying to defy a system that if left in place will result in the decline and ultimate end of the world of Weyard, but whose supporters (rightly) fear the abuse of Alchemy unleashed.
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*** Really, there is only one truly evil character in the whole series. Too bad that he's [[The Chessmaster]]...
* In ''[[Rift]]'', you've got the [[Knight Templar|oh-so-devout]] Guardians versus the [[Mad Scientist|innovative and self-reliant]] Defiants, [[The Usual Adversaries|trying to thwart each other at every turn]]. Both sides have skeletons in their closets, both sides are ostensibly trying to hold off [[The End of the World as We Know It]], and it's even difficult to point out either side as [[A Lighter Shade of Grey|the darker or lighter gray]].
* ''[[Wings (video game)|Wings]]'' portrays the Allied perspective on [[World War
* None of the three main factions in ''[[Sins of a Solar Empire]]'' can be considered truly good or bad. The Trade Emergency Coalition appear to be just [[Technical Pacifist
** All three sides engage in a total war against their enemies, nuking planets from orbit until everyone is dead.
* All of the major organizations in ''[[Lusternia]]''. Despite their underlying themes, they are only as good or evil as the individual characters that dwell there. The city with all the trappings of a [[Lawful Good]] [[The Federation|federation]] has [[Witch Hunt|zealot]] [[Knight Templar]]s galore: the city with all the trappings of a [[Lawful Evil]] [[The Empire|empire]] has [[The Corruption|mutated, undead]] family men and pacifists among their [[Putting on the Reich|Nazi-inspired]] troopers.
* [[Might and Magic]] VIII is full of this: it features a [[Big Bad]] whose only reason for being that is that he ''can't'' stop once he has started (no matter how much he wants to),<ref>He was programmed that way as a security measure, to keep the Kreegans from subverting him</ref>
* In ''[[Avadon]]'', both {{spoiler|Redbeard}} and {{spoiler|the Duke}} have both positive and negative traits that can make it hard to decide who to side with.
* In ''[[Dark Souls]]'', the central conflict in the game is extremely lacking in details, but what details we do know ultimately make it an example of this.
* ''[[PlanetSide]]''. Three factions [[Forever War|endlessly fighting]] over a tiny ball of rock god-know-where chuck full of alien technology, using [[Back
* ''[[NieR]]'' follows this nicely, with all sides being ruthless but having legitimate reasons for why they do what they do. Nier himself wants to save his daughter {{spoiler|but dooms humanity in the process}}, {{spoiler|Devola and Popola want to complete the Gestalt Project and save humanity}}, and the Shadowlord {{spoiler|wants to save ''his'' daughter, and his existence was the thing that kept the last remnants of humanity (the Shades) sane.}}
** The sequel, ''[[NieR: Automata]]'', has also this. Both Androids and Machine Lifeforms are stuck in a war with no end in sight, {{spoiler|being manipulated into fighting each other to give them a reason to exist after humanity's extinction.}} The Machines have been shown to experience emotions and how they live with them, being either completely pacifistic (Pascal and his village) or hostile but with legitimate and borderline [[Tragic Villain|tragic]] motivations (Simone/Beauvoir and Eve). By contrast, the Androids are shown to be incredibly racist towards them and have the same capacity to be antagonistic as the Machines, {{spoiler|as evident by 9S's [[Sanity Slippage]].}} Finally, the final conflict is between {{spoiler|the two remaining protagonists, [[The Cynic|A2]] and [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|9S]], who each act out of love and respect for [[Decoy Protagonist|2B]] and a desire to end the vicious cycle they're trapped in, with A2 being [[A Lighter Shade of Grey]] due to her wanting to protect everyone (including 9S himself) to fulfill 2B's final request; and 9S wanting to destroy everything out of sheer despair over 2B's death and the [[Awful Truth]] about their mission.}}
== Web Comics ==
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* [[Word of God]] claims that this is the case in ''[[Drowtales]]'', where the story is shown through several viewpoint characters, neither being portrayed as good/evil and with fairly realistic motivations for their actions.
* In the very [[Not Safe for Work]] webcomic ''[[Felarya]]'', man - eating monsters are depicted as no worse than the humans they eat.
* The conflict between Agatha and Klaus in ''[[Girl Genius]]''. Klaus has every reason to want to keep Agatha locked up until she's proven trustworthy, and (given recent events) can make a pretty good case for [[Kill It with Fire|killing her with fire]]. On the other hand, Agatha really hasn't done much to deserve that (''yet''), aside from getting the [[Big Bad]] stuck in her head, and she's got every right to fight back (particularly when her friends get caught in the crossfire). Not forgetting Othar, who is killing off sparks. He's deluded, but considering [[Torture Technician|some]] [[
* The main conflict in [[Juathuur]] is between control and freedom. Both sides have their reasons, and their differences are mainly due to age gaps (as the 'control' side grew up in a world torn by war, and the 'freedom' side did not). See the comic page for details.
* The main characters of ''[[Narbonic]]'' are a mad scientist, her henchwoman who loves to destroy things, her henchman with a deep dark secret not even he knows, and a superintelligent gerbil whose efforts to do good often cause more havoc and chaos than some of the evil plans afoot.
** In [[Spiritual Sequel]] (and, we eventually find out, actual sequel) [[Skin Horse]], there's somewhat more of the same; again, surrounding Artie. Specifically, transgenic rights activists that fall into two main camps: Older transgenics, like Artie, who favor peaceful resolution through debate, but some are [[Blue and Orange Morality|insane by any human standard and quite possibly by their own as well]], and [[Good Is Not Nice|not all of them are necessarily nice people]]; and younger ones, who overall tend to be more personable in their outward attitude, but aren't above using a little terrorism to achieve their ends, and also [[Not So Different|some are insane by any human standard and quite possibly their own]].
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [
* [[The Kingfisher]]: Both Theodore and his sworn enemies - the vampire progenitors - are uncanny, manipulative, and monstrous. It's telling that the protagonist has not committed to a side.
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== Web Original ==
* The online book [[Imperial Dawn]] is centered around a war between those who support democracy, and those who are moving towards an arguably better new government system. Neither side is presented as wholly good nor bad.
* ''[[There Will Be Brawl]]'': There is no good or evil. The 'good guys' are drug dealers, strippers, or [[Fallen Hero
** There's also [[Pokémon Red and Blue|Red]], the only character who is truely good. Which makes it all the more sad (and fitting) when {{spoiler|he dies by Pikmin bomb}}
* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]''. The default characterization seems to be 'incompetent jerk', with variations lying mostly in the type and degree of incompetence and/or [[
* [[Dark Dream Chronicle]]. One side has [[Cute but Psycho|the Laughing Clown]] and [[Would Hurt a Child|Darkness]] as two of its primary members. The other is trying to warp humanity for their [[Utopia Justifies the Means|Cause]] and are more than willing to use violence to get there. Oh, and it's led by the [[The Slender Man Mythos|Slender]] [[Humanoid Abomination|Man]].
* "Champions of Meridell" in ''[[Neopets]]'' is the first war between Meridell and the Darigan Citadel, after the greedy king Skarl stole the orb of prosperity from the originally [[Perfect Pacifist People]] of Darigan for his own glory and power, causing them much misery and pain and mutating them into vengeful monsters who try to destroy Meridell. There are both good and evil in both sides, with the heroic Jeran serving the villainous Skarl, and the anti-villain Darigan seeking to return the orb to his people.
* In ''[[Pokegirls]]'', humankind survives entirely due to a system of raping and brainwashing the eponymous female subspecies... which are themselves notorious for rape and ''murder''.
* [[Equestria Chronicles]] takes place in a cold civil war setting. Nuff said.
* While Doug's writings of the anniversaries are a bit blacker, [[The Nostalgia Critic]]'s show runs on this. Critic's a [[Psychopathic Manchild]] but tries to be a decent human being, Sage-as-Satan is much less scary than he is as his normal self in other series, [[Big Good]] Santa Christ can hold a mean grudge and even major troll Douchey manages to show a bit of heart when he feels pity for Critic at the end of the third fuck-up list.
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* The Jet/Zuko conflict in the later half of season 2 of [[Avatar: The Last Airbender]], since both are former villains seemingly on the road to redemption, there's really no way to give one moral superiority. However, since Jet was the aggressor, and the show had spent most of the season building up Zuko's eventual [[Heel Face Turn]], [[A Lighter Shade of Gray|he came off as more in the right]].
** On the other end of the spectrum, the Fire Nation wasn't portrayed as entirely evil. There were plenty of nice people, even many who actively helped out the heroes. Iroh was always shown as benign, and even when Zuko was a villain, he was always very sympathetic. Mei and Ty Lee were only aiding Azula because they feared her, and had some feelings of friendship for her that they eventually realized she wasn't going to return. Even by the end, Ozai was really the only villain to be shown in "black" morality, with {{spoiler|Azula clearly having issues and having a mental breakdown by the end}}.
* ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' is chock full of this.
* ''[[Daria]]'': Despite some of the shallow natures and flaws of characters, few characters are truly malicious and at some points prove to be decent people (such as DeMartino and Britney). Daria, while mostly moral, can often become petty and cold towards others.
== Real Life ==
* From [[Hayao Miyazaki]], of [[Studio Ghibli]] fame...
{{quote|
** Though [[Studio Gibli]] films usually tend a bit more towards [[White and Grey Morality]], this ''is'' generally true. ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'' is one of the best examples (with the two sides having both good and bad qualities), and ''[[Spirited Away]]'' protagonist Chiho is prone to the fallibilities of being a child rather than a perfect angel. It's nonetheless worth noting that Miyazaki's earlier films were more [[Black and White Morality]], so retroactively even the ''writer'' developed a better understanding of this trope's existence.
* [[Truth in Television|Pretty much any conflict in reality can be boiled down to this]] - everyone has their own motivations for their acts. Among the most notable being:
**
** The war between the Spanish and
*** Likewise, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan after [[The Great Politics Mess-Up]], which quickly turned ugly for both sides with ethnic massacres all around, and was started thanks to [[Joseph Stalin]] some 50 years prior when he gave a mostly Armenian-populated province to the Azerbaijani SSR. The fact that the conflict has been frozen and unsolved since 1994 has just given time for the hatred between the two countries to fester.
** [[World War I]] is generally seen as a premiere example of this as in contrast to [[World War II|the sequel 20 years later]], which could be considered a case of [[Black and Gray Morality]].
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