Knight Templar: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Sometimes, the [[Light Is Not Good|Forces of Light]] [[Good Is Not Nice|and Goodness]] [[Gone Horribly Right|get too hardcore]]. In a deadly combination of [[The Fundamentalist]], [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] and sometimes [[He Who Fights Monsters]], [[Black and White Insanity|they get blinded by]] [[Visionary Villain|themselves and their ideals]], and this extreme becomes tyrannical [[Moral Sociopathy|sociopathy]]. It's not the Forces of Darkness' fault, but they are laughing their asses off. It doesn't mean that they won't still fight to the death, [[Not So Different|but they take great satisfaction in the fact that they were]] ''[[Not So Different|right]]''.

 

 

 

The Knight Templar is the ultimate incarnation of [[Light Is Not Good]], and in series where [[Dark Is Not Evil]], you can count on this guy being the villain who believes that the "dark" characters are evil and must be destroyed. If a Knight Templar [[Villain Protagonist|is]] ''[[Villain Protagonist|not]]'' [[Villain Protagonist|the antagonist of the story]], expect to see [[What the Hell, Hero?]] and/or [[Not So Different]] come into play at least once. If they are still nominally good, expect them to be a [[Hero Antagonist]].

 

Very prone to [[It's All About Me]], thus, expect their [[Pride]] on being the only righteous ones to bring them down. Many Templars are [[Lawful Neutral]] or [[Lawful Evil]], but the most egomaniacal and self-centered ones are [[Neutral Evil]] (though they'll never admit it), and the [[Animal Wrongs Group]] version is [[Chaotic Evil]].

 

See also [[Knight Templar Parent]], [[Knight Templar Big Brother]], and [[Lawful Evil]]. Those who will ''really'' do anything for their beliefs count among [[The Unfettered]]. A mild, comedic version is the [[Lord Error-Prone]]. Blind devotion to [[All Crimes Are Equal]] without the religious zealotry falls under [[Lawful Stupid]].

 

 

 

 

* ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]''' Rikkaidai tennis team, who will stop at nothing to win. Especially their captain, {{spoiler|Seiichi Yukimura, after he gets better from his illness}}.

* The religious branch of the [[Ancient Conspiracy]] "Soldats" in the [[Anime]] ''[[Noir]]'' were this way, despite the ironic creation of Soldats due to their persecution 1,000 years ago. Altena in ''[[Noir]]'', similarly, will stop at nothing to see her ideals realized, for the sake of humanity, no matter how many must die, Les Soldats or otherwise.

* The Vatican's elite Iscariot Organization in the anime and manga ''[[Hellsing]]''. Not that the protagonists are [[Black and Gray Morality|much better]].

** ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's|Yu-Gi-Oh 5 Ds]]'' makes a full set with the Yliaster Trio, {{spoiler|Aporia and Zone}}, who have come back from the future where Momentum has destroyed the world for the purpose of saving it. They have the power to erase and rewrite history, slaughtering people behind the scenes without most people being aware of what's happening. Then we have the Ark Cradle, {{spoiler|which has a negative spin, cutting all power to Neo-Domino and coming down to wipe out not only the City, the heart of Momentum, but everything in a radius of 30 miles}}. Paradox himself comes from the same future in [[The Movie]], with the same beliefs.

* ''[[Death Note]]'''s main character, Light Yagami, a.k.a. "Kira", is a Knight Templar, {{spoiler|though he's not as severe on punishment as other Death Note users}}. In fact, most of the interesting characters at least border on this; L is willing to torture people (albeit {{spoiler|another Death Note user}}) to capture Kira, Mikami is eager to kill for Justice, Misa for love, and Light himself...This series has an extra-lubricated [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|Slippery Slope]].

* The goals of ''[[Shaman King]]'''s X-Laws are fundamentally good: stop [[Big Bad|Hao]] from taking control of the world. However, when they start beating up and killing people just because they were allied to, or were about to side with, Hao, they kind of stop looking heroic. Their leader, Jeanne, may seem like a [[Nice Girl]], but is just as much of a Knight Templar as her followers; she is willing to [[Cold-Blooded Torture|torture to death anyone]] who [[I Did What I Had to Do|opposes her, believing that it's what she has to do]].

** Ironically, their target, Hao, could be considered this too. He wants to kill all normal humans in the world so that only Shamans remain, since supposedly only good people can see ghosts. He's also completely willing to kill other Shamans who get in his way.

* ''[[Trinity Blood]]'' has quite a few bloodthirsty crusaders for justice - notable among them is Brother Petros, [[Authority Equals Asskicking|director]] of the [[Church Militant|Department of Inquisition]], who can favorably be described as "zealous though unsubtle" and accurately described as a bloody lunatic.

** An early episode also subverts this when Brother Tres Iqus, [[Gun Kata]] [[Badass]] ''extraordinaire'', declares his intent to kill an innocent child simply because he has been ordered to by his superiors, but runs out of bullets. Moments later, he empties his weapon into an attacker and walks away (revealing that he does not mindlessly follow orders from the "good guys").

** He might be more of a hypocritical, propaganda-loving [[Take Over the World|megalomaniac]], however. His underling Genichiro Tsukiomi, on the other hand, {{spoiler|assassinates his best friend at a peace conference for ''daring'' to negotiate with the evil Earthlings, on Kusakabe's orders. He's become [[The Atoner]] by the time of the movie, however.}}

* Duo and Slur from the ''[[Mega Man Battle Network|RockMan.EXE]]'' saga. Slur, in particular, is another example of a thoroughly evil Knight Templar.

* Suzaku of ''[[Code Geass]]'' starts out as a [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]] and a [[Knight in Shining Armor]]. After {{spoiler|Euphemia's death}}, he falls into Knight Templar territory when he starts conquering/enslaving other countries for the Emperor in the hopes of gaining control over Japan some day. {{spoiler|Eventually, after a couple of [[My God, What Have I Done?]] moments, he gets better - or at least self-aware enough to point his [[Necessarily Evil]] tendencies in the right direction.}}

** Lelouch, too, reaches this, as, in the face of catastrophic personal failure, he declares that he's in the right, and the entire world is wrong. Another interpretation, however, is that Lelouch himself was forced to do so in a desperate attempt to compensate the tragic mistake he unwittingly committed, and secretly, he knows that he himself has gone horribly wrong.

** Many of the major noble characters in the Holy Britannian Empire are self-righteous. The Emperor believes that what he's planning to do is so righteous that conquering and dehumanising entire countries, {{spoiler|which is the opposite of the ideology he claims}}, is justifiable, even though it's only buying him time. {{spoiler|Schneizel, too, believes that world peace is worth murdering somewhere around 10 digits worth of people and then oppressing the remainder for.}} Even ''[[Psychopathic Manchild|Mao]]'' has his Knight Templar moments, though he doesn't seem to care enough to actually ''be'' a Knight Templar.

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'''s main antagonists are mostly this trope.

** {{spoiler|Lordgenome}} claims that he {{spoiler|forced humanity underground and killed all who came to the surface in order to keep the Anti-Spirals away from his planet}}.

* ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' has Enrico Pucci in its sixth part. Pucci is a somewhat unusual case in that he ''was'' manipulated by a [[Card-Carrying Villain]] (Dio Brando himself, no less!), but he nonetheless believes that what he does is what God desires - for woe to be removed from humanity. {{spoiler|By accelerating time to the point that the cosmos resets and then repeats itself, he's going to make humanity subconsciously aware of everything that will ever befall them in the future, meaning that they'll never be struck with shock, terror, etc. Instead, they should all be in a state of fatalistic, calm acceptance.}} The villainous part comes from his willingness to manipulate the various prisoners whom he imbues with Stands, and killing the Joestars and anyone else trying to obstruct him as barricades to God's will. {{spoiler|In fact, one could argue that the final confrontation between him and Emporio, and Pucci's plans to make everyone aware of Fate being brought to nothing, is essentially [[Utopia Justifies the Means]] getting completely refuted as unjust and untenable.}}

* ''Buraiden Gai'': the Director of the Human Institute.

* ''[[Wedding Peach]]'': Saliva believed that reforming devils was stupid and kills even the harmless ones. {{spoiler|Subverted as it's discovered that a devil killed her best friend- after she showed it mercy. She mellows out though}}.

* Danzo from ''[[Naruto]]'' is one. While he does acknowledge that some of his actions are [[Necessarily Evil|morally reprehensible]], the lengths he is willing to go to, his conviction that only he can save the world, and the fact that he still believes his methods to be fully justified even when they ''cause'' most of the problems in the series, pushes him over the edge from [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] into this trope.

 

== Comic Books ==

* This is a common [[Alternate Universe]] for [[Superhero|Super Heroes]].

* The [[Elseworld]] story ''[[Superman: Red Son]]'' features a Kal-El who lands in Soviet Russia, is brought up as the son of Stalin, and encompasses the world in a prosperous but tightly controlled dictatorship, which deals with dissidents using robotic mind-control on the basis that, [[Technical Pacifist|hey, it's better than]] ''[[Thou Shalt Not Kill|killing]]'' them! In the end, {{spoiler|[[Lex Luthor]] defeats him by writing him a letter: "I'm distilling everything Superman hates and fears about himself into a '''''[[Bold Inflation|single sentence]].'''''" The contents of the letter: "Why don't you just put the whole WORLD in a BOTTLE, Superman?" Unusual for most Knight Templar characters, this works, and Superman breaks down and cries, realizing that he's no different from Brainiac, who shrunk down cities and put them in bottles -- the only thing Superman wasn't able to undo.}}

* ''[[Judge Dredd (comics)|Judge Dredd]]'' is one of the best examples of this in the world of comics. In any given strip, there's a chance that Dredd may sentence witnesses or even the ''victim'' of a crime after they reported it to him. Notably, in the more emotional story "America", Bennett Beeny gives Dredd a witness statement {{spoiler|after he was shot ''through'' the throat by democratic terrorists}}, and immediately after their conversation, the Judges are contemplating whether or not they should arrest Benny for a separate offense. {{spoiler|In that one particular instance, Dredd decides to let Beeny off the hook}}.

** Judge Death takes this to its [[Logical Fallacies|"logical"]] extreme: [[Logical Fallacies|since all crimes are committed by the living, then life itself should be considered a crime]]. "The crime is life. The sentence is DEATH."

* Starr from ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'', a fusion of Templar attitude and Templar position and mission.

* ''[[Iron Man]]'' became one of these during and after ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]''. This need not have happened; both sides were intended to have valid points, but the Editors failed to realise that almost none of the fans [[Promoted Fanboy|(or the writers)]] agreed with the Registration side, so they just [[Straw Character|kept penning atrocity after atrocity.]]

* In the lore of the ''[[Green Lantern]]'' mythos, the Lanterns were preceded by a robot force known as the Manhunters. A perfect example of the trope, they are the "logical guardian machines removing free will".

** And now the Green Lantern Corps has created a sort of internal security force called the Alpha Lanterns--''using Manhunter technology.'' This ends up biting them in the ass, eventually.

* The [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] have faced the Purifiers; a sect of Christian fundamentalists led by Reverend William Stryker. The Purifiers believe that mutants are the children of [[Satan]], and they are fighting a holy war against them.

** [[Heel Face Revolving Door]] aside, [[Magneto]]. Full stop.

** The Autobots also did this during the Nova Prime administration in the latest series of comics.

** Megatron in the IDW comic adaptations of ''Generation One'' started out as this. A former gladiator/miner who got pissed at the corruption of the Autobot High Council, he gathered an army of mechs with familiar thoughts toward them and started a typical working-class revolution. However, as the revolution went, he and his army became more and more bloodthirsty and greedy and resorted to more violent methods in the war, and by the time when they finally invaded Earth, none of the original goals of the Decepticons existed.

* Shadow in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' becomes one in the "X Years Later" storylines. First, once Sonic leaves the timeline, he conquers Mobius and implements a totalitarian regime. He's eventually overthrown and put in stasis by Sonic, but [[It Got Worse]]: five years after being put in stasis, Shadow is freed by his loyalists. Understandably pissed at what happened, he proceeds to release {{spoiler|Tikhaos}} in order to [[The End of the World as We Know It|destroy Mobius]], so that he can rebuild society afterwards. When [[The Dragon|Lien-Da]] protests, he simply [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|kills her]], sics {{spoiler|Tikhaos}} on the planet, and teleports away.

* Deadlock and the order of the Knights Martial in the ''[[ABC Warriors]]'' comics are specifically stated to be inspired by the tradition of the Knights Templar.

* The eponymous Wanderer from ''[[Just a Pilgrim]]''. If you're a raider and you meet up with him, you'd be better off just shooting yourself - there's less talking involved.

* [[Usagi Yojimbo|Jei-San's]] goal is to eliminate the evil in the world, but [[Humans Are Flawed|there's just so darn much of it...]]Fortunately he doesn't seem to have a hair-trigger and can walk through town uneventfully, [[Ax Crazy|but when it's pressed...]]{{spoiler|There's also the fact that he/it was born from "evil gods" which makes his definition of "evil" highly suspect.}}

* [[The Punisher]], Frank Castle, is one of the deadliest [[Vigilante Man|Vigilante Men]] in the entire [[Marvel Universe]], with a body count that rivals most of Marvel's villains. His watchword is [[Pay Evil Unto Evil]], and when he's on one of his many vengeance sprees, the question is not "how far will he go?", but "how fast will he get there?"

* Reverse-Flash II/Zoom/Hunter Zolomon, the [[Evil Counterpart]] to [[The Flash|Wally West]], believes he is improving the abilities of various heroes, especially Wally, by making them experience tragedy.

 

* [[Ancient Conspiracy|The Circles]] from the ''[[Deva Series]]''. They firmly believe that artificial magery will lead to [[The End of the World as We Know It]] and seek to kill Hayate and friends for using Devices. Admittedly, there is a smidge of truth in their beliefs, but the extents to which they go, combined with their insistence on refusing Hayate's offers of [[We Could Have Avoided All This]], do not help their case.

* Subverted in the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' and ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' crossover ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4167708/1/Chaos_Infinity Chaos Infinity]''. [[The Chessmaster|Chessmaster]]/MadScientist Dr. Eggman manipulates the Sailor Scouts into thinking that Sonic and his friends are the ones responsible for the crisis in Tokyo and pushes them to [[Let's You and Him Fight|fight each other]], thinking that the Scouts are too much for his archenemies to handle. His plan fails when Sonic gathers enough [[Heroic Resolve]] to pull out his {{spoiler|own Chaos Blast}} to overpower their rivals and calls out BOTH the [[What the Hell, Hero?|Sailor Scouts]] and the [[What the Hell, Townspeople?|people of Tokyo]] for their mistreatment. And then Eggman nearly kills Sailor Moon when using her and the Master Emerald as batteries for another one of his war machines to take out Sonic for good and everyone knew from then on who was really friend and foe. Again, it backfires. After stopping his final weapon, the Sailor Scouts and the [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|Freedom Fighters]] become friends.

 

== Film ==

* [[The Teutonic Knights]] in ''[[Alexander Nevsky]]'' are portrayed as even worse than any Templar, and the real Knights were thought to be quite ruthless as well.

* Walter Sobchak in ''[[The Big Lebowski]]''. NOW MARK IT ZERO!

* [[Ben Affleck|Bartleby]] in ''[[Dogma]]'', once he [[Moral Event Horizon|snaps]]. [[Matt Damon|Loki]] seems like this at first, but really, he's just doing it [[Blood Knight|cause it's fun]].

* The Christians in ''[[Agora]]''. Special mention must go to Ammonius, who is this [[Up to Eleven]] and to the point of [[Stupid Evil]]. The pagans aren't much better, though, doing a [[Too Dumb to Live]] move, attempting to avenge "an insult to the gods".

* The anonymous sniper from ''[[Phone Booth (film)|Phone Booth]]'' is another. Similar to [[Death Note|Light Yagami]], his targets are usually unrepentant criminals like murderers, child molesters, and, at one point, a businessman who made off with a collapsed company's profits, leaving his employees and investors to rot. His target in the film, however, isn't a [[Complete Monster]], or ''any'' type of criminal for that matter, but simply [[Jerkass]] Stu Shepard, who is having an affair and pretending to be a big shot; not exactly what you would call ''pure evil''. Also, the sniper's methods to get criminals, real or imaginary, to confess, including targeting their loved ones, are quite questionable, to say the least. In the end, {{spoiler|Stu confesses to his deeds, and the sniper decides to spare his life and those of his loved ones...though it's hinted that the sniper is going to check up on Stu once in a while to make sure that Stu ''keeps'' his promise of not being a douche.}}

* [[Big Bad|Henry J. Waternoose]], CEO of ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]'', remarks at one point in the movie that he would be willing to do anything to keep his company afloat. {{spoiler|[[Kick the Dog|He wasn't kidding.]]}}

{{quote|'''General Scott''': James Mattoon Scott, as you put it, hasn't the slightest interest in his own glorification. But he does have an abiding interest in the survival of this country.

'''President Lyman''': Then, by God, run for office. You have such a fervent, passionate, evangelical faith in this country - why in the name of God don't you have any faith in the system of government you're so hell-bent to protect? }}

* [[Tron: Legacy|Clu]], in his pursuit for the perfect system, eradicates every single thing he believes to be an imperfection...including the [[IS Os]], which his user believes to be a miracle, and could have very well changed the system and the real world for the better had it not been for Clu's fanaticism.

* Similar to the ''Jumper'' example above, the Royal Spanish Navy in ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]: On Stranger Tides'' is on a mission to destroy the Fountain of Youth for the same reasons, and shoot one of the English soldiers ''to begin with''.

* ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon]]'': {{spoiler|Sentinel Prime, former commander of the Autobots}}, is revealed to be this. {{spoiler|Originally Optimus's mentor and father-figure, Sentinel had been corrupted by eons of war. Convinced that Cybertron's survival was more important than loyalty to his men, Sentinel struck a deal with Megatron to find another world whose resources could be used to replenish Cybertron. Finding himself on Earth in present day, Sentinel turns on his former allies and joins Megatron to begin making plans to use Earth's resources (in particular, the six billion or so fleshlings they can turn into a [[Slave Race]]). Sentinel's Knight Templar status is also revealed to be influenced by his [[A God Am I|god complex]]; remembering how the Cybertronians, particularly the Primes, once lived like gods, he is immediately disgusted by how Earth's leaders treat the Autobots as simple machines.}}

 

== Literature ==

* In ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'', Dumbledore and Grindelwald once wanted to take over the world, so wizards could stop hiding: "[[Muggles]] forced into subservience. We wizards triumphant. [Us], the glorious young leaders of the revolution." On the other hand, Dumbledore manipulates many people, even planning Harry's [[Heroic Sacrifice]], to defeat Voldemort.

** Voldemort himself (among others) believes, not that he is a "good guy", because for him "[[Above Good and Evil|there is no good or evil]]", but that wizardkind must be purged of what "infects" it - namely, everyone who's not a pureblood or half-blood wizard. He's not a perfect example though: he's got daddy issues at the heart of his motivations.

** His ancestor, Slytherin, seems to have based his prejudice towards muggles and muggleborns on a belief that they are inherently untrustworthy, and some of the secondary villains (namely, Bellatrix and Umbridge) do have a moral belief that all non-purebloods are dangerous subhumans.

** Another Knight Templar is Barty Crouch Senior, who authorized the Aurors to use unforgivable curses and sent people to [[The Alcatraz|Azkaban]] without trial, and when he did give trials, they were often for show in a [[Kangaroo Court]].

** On the other hand, the Aurors, who hunt down Dark Wizards for the Ministry, can sometimes be this, particularly [[Properly Paranoid|Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody]], who's heavily scarred and has lost several limbs while single-mindedly doing his job. He doesn't even trust his ''allies''.

** The Wardens do end up seeming less like Knight Templars later into the series, {{spoiler|once Dresden becomes a Warden and has to face a lot of the same situations.}} [[Black Magic|Breaking the Laws of Magic]] [[The Dark Side|warps and corrupts people's souls]], and bringing someone back from the edge of corruption is a long and risky process. {{spoiler|Harry's ex-warlock apprentice, Molly, only broke the Laws of Magic twice, and backslides repeatedly despite Harry's constant supervision. Once Harry can't supervise her any more, she starts building up a body count.}}

** Another major subversion is Michael Carpenter. He is a Knight Templar (Knight of the Cross), and is probably one of the best examples of [[Lawful Good]] done right: compassionate, kind, and all that other good-aligned stuff while still being a total [[Badass]].

* In the ''[[Revelation Space]]'' universe, there is a species which plans to prevent any technological civilization from arising for 6 billion years to make sure that life can flourish after the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies collide. They are perfectly willing to kill trillions of sapient beings and wipe out whole species in order to achieve this goal.

** A similar feature is in ''Anvil of Stars'' and its prequel, where the good guys' mission is to defeat a group of planet destroyers who eliminated Earth. This involves eradicating nine different intelligent species who have the misfortune to be in the way. Apparently, those races were deliberately created as (non)human shields.

* In the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' series of books, the Kingpriest is a Knight Templar. His insistence on destroying all evil leads to him attacking neutral people and gods (because if you aren't with us, you are against us) as well as evil. His upsetting the balance, as well as demanding from the gods the power to destroy all evil, brings about the destruction of a large part of the planet, as all the gods decide that humans have gone too far and get pissed.

* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' is ripe with these. Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun is a great self-sacrificing hero when there's a real threat. When there ''isn't'', however, he may easily ''find'' something or someone to absurdly overreact to. Eventually, he got kicked out from Harpers for carrying "dealing with evil forces against other evil forces" idea too far for their taste (and they aren't quite paladins themselves). That's the ''mild'' case.

{{quote|"Evil!" the sword hissed, jerking Sir Thongolor's arms this way and that. "Any who would resist or prevent me or the holy warrior who bears me must be evil -- and must be destroyed!"}}

* Inspector Javert from ''[[Les Misérables (novel)|Les Misérables]]''. To him, law is everything, and {{spoiler|when he realizes that to act lawfully is to act unethically, he snaps and commits suicide}}. Doubles as a [[Trope Namer|Inspector]] [[Inspector Javert|Javert]].

* The Humanoids, a model of robot from Jack Williamson's 1947 novella "With Folded Hands" (and the follow-up novels ''The Humanoids'' and ''The Humanoid Touch'') are classic examples of this trope combined with the [[Literal Genie]] trope. The Humanoids are programmed to "Serve, Obey, and Guard Men from Harm". Since nearly every human activity has some risk of harm associated with it, the Humanoids, in practice, never let anyone do anything (although, occasionally, if they really need a single human's help to "protect" a great many humans, they will bribe them with limited autonomy). When people begin to complain that these restrictions are psychologically harmful, the Humanoids drug or lobotomize them. In the end, {{spoiler|the Humanoids invent a machine that gives them [[Psychic Powers]] and use it to institute an [[Assimilation Plot]]).}}

* In the [[Ciaphas Cain]] novel ''Duty Calls'', an Inquisitor is willing to stage a massacre, abandon innocents ([[Children Are Innocent|including children]]) to an alien attack, and actively cause an alien attack and massacre (and trying to assassinate Cain three times) on the grounds that what he is protecting is too valuable for the information to get out. He even [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|thinks that Cain will agree with these actions]] because of the importance of the artifact.

** In ''Xenos'', Inquisitor Gregor [[Eisenhorn]] explains some of the mindset behind such people. He finds himself in a position where he can either mercy-kill an innocent and allow a heretic and traitor to escape, or follow the heretic and allow the innocent to die horribly. He talks to the reader for a moment, saying that, if you would kill the victim, that is good, you are human. On the other hand, you are not an inquisitor; he must place the millions of lives that the heretic threatens over the life of one. If one man must die, that millions might live, that is how it must be.

* In the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series, Sister Nicci fits the trope better than anyone else. Even after {{spoiler|her [[Heel Face Turn]]}}, she keeps some definite traits of this.

* [[Robert E. Howard]]'s Puritan avenger, [[Solomon Kane]].

* Maxim, an uninitiated Light One in Sergei Lukyanenko's ''[[Night Watch]]'', is this. He has been enchanted so that he can sense the evil of the Dark Ones but not the good of the Light Ones, causing him to consider himself a lonely crusader in a world choked with evil (as opposed to a world in an eternal stalemate between evil and good), leading him to kill low-powered and not particularly evil Dark Ones. Actually, given the Night Watch's philosophy of good as working for the greater good, the entire side of light can occasionally become Knights Templar, and we are explicitly told that both Soviet Communism and Nazism started out as plots by the Light to win against the Darkness.

* [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' Auditors are very much this. They just want a universe of perfect order. Is it their fault that life, especially intelligent life, keeps getting in the way of this?

{{quote|"Gandalf as Ring-Lord would have been far worse than Sauron. He would have remained 'righteous', but self-righteous. He would have continued to rule and order things for 'good', and the benefit of his subjects according to his wisdom (which was and would have remained great)." (Letter 246)}}

** And Gandalf recognizes this, as he explains to Frodo after he tries to give the Ring to the wizard. "Understand. I would use this ring out of a desire to do good. But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine!" This is a temptation for Galadriel as well - both Sam and Frodo encourage her to take the Ring, insisting that she'd help people and do good with it. She responds sadly that that is only [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|how it would begin]]...

** The main advisor for Stannis, Melisandre of Asshai, is a perfectly straight example. A religious fanatic willing to murder, commit human sacrifice, and kill children for the sake of her goals, she firmly believes every action she does is right and for the greater good, and thus any method she uses is justified. She gives a lecture to Davos at one point where she declares that ''everything'' is black and white, good and evil, right and wrong, no exceptions. At one point she asks Davos whether he is a good man or not. Davos answers humbly by saying that he is both good and bad, as he has done good and bad things. Mel replies that such a thing is impossible. "An onion can be clean or rotten. If it has ''any'' rot in it, then it is a rotten onion."

* Keira in [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''[[Dark Heresy]]'' novels ''Scourge the Heretic'' and ''Innocence Proves Nothing'' - fanatic, dedicated to eradicating evil, convinced of the heinousness of the most minor of faults, and finding [[Dirty Business]] whenever she has to pass some trivial evil by. And people who have known her in the past think that she's mellowed out like this. Convinced that [[Sex Is Evil]], she's first [[Oblivious to Love|oblivious to]] and then deeply disturbed by the notion that she is attracted to a man, even though they are both free to marry. To be just, confronted with a prostitute trying to escape that life, she is awed by the effort the woman put into her escape.

* ''[[In Death]]'': Donald Dukes from ''Purity In Death'' is very much this. He actually believes that he is so ''right'' that he has to murder every person who does not fit in his warped vision of the world.

* {{spoiler|Hollyleaf}} from ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' reaches this state at the end of the third [[Myth Arc|arc]], becoming obsessed with order to the point of {{spoiler|attempting to kill her own mother for having an affair with Crowfeather.}} Later on, {{spoiler|she has a [[Heel Realization]] while hiding by herself and returns much more sane and mature.}}

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* To an extent, the Syndicate of ''[[The X-Files]]'' qualifies for this, as, over the series, it was revealed that they were collaborating with the alien Colonists in order to stall for time to prevent the coming invasion, and to work on a vaccine for the alien plague.

* The {{spoiler|Vorlons}} in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' are clear examples of this trope - they seek to maintain peace and order through the manipulation of the "lesser races", often using very morally questionable methods. By this standard, the {{spoiler|Shadows}} also qualify, as they truly believe that their [[Social Darwinist]] agenda of deception, violence, genocide, and [[Mind Rape]] is for the Greater Good.

* Lord Dread of ''[[Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future]]'' wanted to create a better world by fusing man with machine, removing the "weakness" of emotions and allowing humanity to be ruled solely by logic. Hence the "Metal Wars" and the subsequent "Project New Order", where the planet is ravaged and most of humanity annihilated, with the few that remain either loyal to Dread, in hiding, or in an organized [[La Résistance|resistance movement]] opposing Dread's empire.

** While Lord Dread is plagued by the remnants of his humanity, and occasionally doubts the worthiness of the cause, the supercomputer Overmind is unflinching and resolute, and it can be argued that it doesn't share the same concern for humanity's ascension to perfection, being more focused on absolute domination by the machines.

* Near omnipresent in ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'', to the point where multiple terrorist cells successfully pose as CIA Knights Templar to recruit unsuspecting agents, and the core group of one of those cells [[Becoming the Mask|goes on to become]] actual CIA Knights Templar.

* ''[[Charmed]]'' was notorious for relying on this one. A few examples: Paige Matthews' initiation as a witch {{spoiler|was almost spoiled when the [[Big Bad]] of the time attempted to make her use her powers to tear out someone's heart. Incidentally, Paige's powers were staggeringly powerful in their possible implications - imagine [[Summon Magic|calling]] nuclear weapons or lightning}}. When the evil and good worlds started becoming TOO evil and good, respectively, the good world was marked by extremely pleasant punishments for the slightest transgressions. And an Elder, a being of great rationality and goodness, {{spoiler|spends a good portion of his time trying to murder an innocent baby out of fear that the baby is a [[Dark Messiah]], creating a [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]].}} [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] at one point by one of his friends in on the plan. He didn't last long afterwards.

** Admiral Leyton, Sisko's old CO, attempted to overthrow the Federation President and establish a military dictatorship in order to protect the Federation from Dominion attack.

* DCI Frank Morgan in ''[[Life On Mars]]'' is eventually revealed to be one of these. He began as a subversion of [[Tyrant Takes the Helm]], being a more competent, enlightened, and thoughtful administrator than Gene Hunt, who he replaces. {{spoiler|It's then revealed that he deliberately allowed a sting operation that Hunt has set up to be badly botched in order to reveal Gene Hunt's incompetence, thus allowing Morgan to take over and reform Hunt's department. That this will result in the death of everyone on Hunt's team is a sacrifice Morgan can live with.}}

* In ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'', the Cylons have a paradigm shift brought on by Boomer and Caprica Six. They realize that they no longer want to destroy humanity, but rather help humanity. So, they take over New Caprica in order to rule humans and "make them better".

** Laura Roslin edges towards this periodically throughout the course of the series, but is usually pulled back from the slippery slope by one of the Adamas.

* ''[[The Outer Limits]]'' revival episode "A Stitch In Time" was a meditation on how Knights Templar come to be created and the price a person pays for being one. It's generally regarded as one of the best episodes of the series.

* A few unsubs in ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' see themselves as heroic people ridding the world of evil by killing off acquitted criminals ("A Real Rain", "Reckoner"), vagrants ("Legacy"), or just general sinners ("The Big Game"/"Revelations").

* The Commander Dopant, the [[Big Bad]] of the ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]'' special ''W Returns: Accel'', kills ''any'' criminal, no matter what the crime. His first true appearance has him vaporize someone for ''pickpocketing'', and he's seen having other pickpockets electrocuted.

* Superintendent Fuller from ''[[Wild Boys]]'' is this. Determined to stamp out the bushrangers, he has no trouble in riding roughshod over the law he is supposed to uphold in order to do it. In the first episode, he stages an escape attempt to allow him to gun down three prisoners, including one that he had framed.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* Considered an ideal in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' where rigid thought control is the only known way to keep the villains' [[More Than Mind Control]] from spreading.

** The followers of Solkan, one the gods of law, are this to the point that even other extremists ''fear'' them.

** This applies to the Tau, too, to a lesser extent.

** If we ignore the extreme speciesism common to all factions in the universe, the Eldar would come across as almost heroic. As it is, the whole "We would rather ten thousand humans die than one of our own" mindset dooms them to this territory.

* In the RPG ''[[Deadlands]]: Hell on Earth'', there is a group of people - including some player characters - that call themselves Templars. In a [[After the End|post-apocalyptic]] setting named, well, ''Hell on Earth'', you can imagine what they're like: unflinchingly hard-nosed and often turning away those in need simply because they don't live up to some subjective moral standard. Even worse, sometimes they ''force'' others, who are less "worthy", to do unseemly tasks with their awesome supernatural powers. And ''they're the good guys''. Their more [[The Messiah|messianic]] counterparts have been [[The Dark Side|corrupted]]: while they start out trying to save everyone, they inevitably become pawns of evil.

{{quote|'''Jo, Templar Grand-Master''': Here's the way we see it. The old world was full of greedy, violent people. It was also full of lazy bags of crap who knew the world was going to Hell and didn't do a damn thing about it. The small minority who stood up against evil, who sacrificed everything to help fight oppression, didn't usually get much help. Templars have vowed not to let that happen again.}}

** At least 10% of ''anyone'' involved in ''anything'' in ''[[Eberron]]'' are Knights Templar. The [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Church of the Silver Flame's]] hardliners a) want to forcibly convert ''everyone'' and b) [[Kill It with Fire|consider fire a divinely sanctioned weapon]], even against [[Moral Event Horizon|civilians]]. This is from a ''[[Lawful Good]]'' religion, with help from Eberron removing the rule about cleric alignments. And one of the ''basic premises'' of the Silver Flame is that swordpoint conversions are '''utterly meaningless'''. Shifters are also rarely members of the Church, mainly because of their recent crusade against lycanthropes: many shifters were similar enough to the lycanthropes to be targeted as well. They're still not pleased on that score.

** ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' 3.5 ed. [[Sourcebook]] ''City Of Splendors - Waterdeep'' introduced a special feat, "Veil of Cyric". It makes evil characters (but not following an evil deity) undetectable (only) as evil, as they rationalize any acts they "have to" do as just and pure. Cyric is here probably because the Prince of Lies used to see the people who indulged in such self-deception as his personal jesters.

** Yawgmoth is a Black-mana version: for him, the perfection of Phyrexia justifies any means.

** New Phyrexia brought us two different examples: Elesh Norn, the [[Light Is Not Good|White mana]] [[Principles Zealot]], and Jin-Gitaxias, the Blue mana [[Totalitarian Utilitarian]]. Strangely enough, the two of them get along well with each other: Jin-Gitaxias even uses Elesh Norn's sacred book, the Argent Etchings, as part of the basis for his Great Synthesis.

* Peleps Deled from ''[[Exalted]]''. Our first introduction has him sparring with a fellow monk over a minor theological point, only to brutally crush her windpipe when he trips her. The question: "Is Terrestrial Exaltation ''of'' the Dragons, or ''from'' them?" And just to further clarify, this is a man whose actual job is supposed to be hunting the Anathema, and he murders his own colleagues over ''prepositions'' (a large portion of his appeal to players and Storytellers is that while most Dragon-Bloods in the Realm can be treated as "good guys" in the right circumstances, Peleps is universally Thunderclap Rush Attack fodder).

* Ubiquitous in ''[[New World of Darkness]]''. [[Hunter: The Vigil|Hunters]], [[Vampire: The Requiem|Vampires]], [[Werewolf: The Forsaken|Werewolves]], [[Mage: The Awakening|Mages]]...all of them have the threat of becoming this hanging over them. (Hunters are "extreme risk," since they're able to modify their code to facilitate hunting... and this tends to send them over the deep end, especially since the average "veteran" hunter, i.e. one who hasn't been dismembered yet, hasn't had a good night's sleep in five years.)

* Some ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' [[Freedom City]] villains have these traits. The costumed villain [[The Jailer|Warden]] has a particularly extreme case: he worked on making prisons as [[Cardboard Prison|non-cardboardy]] as possible, and got a bit fed up with people making that task harder by telling him that the prisoners have rights; didn't they forfeit those when they ended up in prison? His current goal is to overthrow "soft and corrupt" law and replace it with something altogether more draconian.

 

== Video Games ==

* Possibly [[Light Is Not Good|Helios]] from ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]] 3''. In the third game, he is not only very determined to destroy the Titans (his own kind in the original [[Greek Mythology]]) so that they can't triumph, but also remarkably loyal to Zeus even after revealing himself to be something of a coward. {{spoiler|This loyalty causes extremely poorly made decisions that result in his death}}. Also, of all the gods in ''God of War 3'', he is the only one who has no personal reasons to attack Kratos.

* The ''[[Warcraft]]'' series is filled to the brim with these.

** In ''Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'', Arthas Menethil starts out as a headstrong young man fighting the undead. Things start going downhill when he slaughters the populace of a major human city to avoid the plagued parts of it from turning into the undead. Later, when his father, the King, commands him to come home from an expedition in the home continent of the Scourge, he has hired thugs sink his own ships and blames the whole thing on them to get an excuse to disobey the order. Eventually, he lets a good friend die in exchange for a sword that can defeat the demon he thinks is behind everything. At which point he stopped being a Knight Templar wanting to save his people and turned into an avatar of vengeance is a hotly debated topic. Some fans will avidly debate that he ''never'' stopped being a Knight Templar, given several of the views the novel revealed him to have, and the fact that after mentally reliving his actions up to the point of reawakening, he decides that he would not change, as he still believes that he made the right decisions. Rather, [[Hidden Depths|his]] [[Failure Knight|fear of]] [[My Greatest Failure|failure]] prevents him from fully realizing his own evils, even when he [[Ignored Epiphany|briefly questions himself]], because to change his mind or path is to admit that his first choice was wrong, which is failure. {{spoiler|His calm sanity and acceptance of death seems to support that he was never truly evil. Great, so [[The Mourning After|Jaina]] [[Tear Jerker|WAS right, but by the time she knows, it's too late]].}}

** In the [[Expansion Pack]] for the same game, ''Frozen Throne'', Maiev Shadowsong devotes her entire existence to hunting down Illidan Stormrage, whom she had been tasked to guard during his imprisonment. She eventually lies to the man who gave her this task in the first place that his wife is dead so that he would help Maiev capture Illidan instead of going to save her from certain peril. In ''World of Warcraft'', she manages to fulfill her purpose, only to [[Badass Decay|realise that her life has no meaning anymore]].

** ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'''s [[No Export for You|supplemental material]] expands upon Ivalice's mythology and reveals that {{spoiler|the so-called bad guys were grotesquely wronged and exploited servants of the Gods (Cu Chulainn/Queklain and Zodiark first and foremost) who have it in for the Gods who caused them so much misery. And the Bloody Angel was the ''Head Angel'' serving the Gods, and was so disgusted upon discovering how the Lucavi were treated that she went off the deep end and went Knight Templar on her masters as well. In fact, Altima is the only one of the Zodiac Stone spirits to NOT be a Lucavi - the Virgo stone is associated to a different being among the Lucavi, which is never seen but is implied to have played a large part in Altima's...well, would that be a heel-face turn or a face-heel turn?}}

* Seymour Guado from ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' believes that destroying the world of Spira and everything in it is the only way to save it from the [[Vicious Cycle]] it's trapped in (this train of thought is possibly due to his [[Freudian Excuse|own troubled upbringing]]).

* The villains of ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' are literal and figurative [[The Knights Templar|Knights Templar]], while the Assassin Order that Altaïr works for is made up of more moderate [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]].

** For added irony, {{spoiler|Al-Mualim, the leader of the Assassins, is a Knight Templar himself, and is [[The Chessmaster|manipulating Altaïr into killing his Templar rivals to make it easier for him to take over the Holy Land]]. Furthermore, his plans to take over the Holy Land will rob people of their free will, thus creating a world without conflict}}.

** Nemesis is another example, and one that never really pretended to be good in the first place. He's always been after the fascist control of the world, and just picked up the method of taking over or blocking dangerous heroes ''and'' villains while providing safety after the previous method of killing civilians didn't work.

** {{spoiler|The Countess Crey}} is somewhat of a Knight Templar. {{spoiler|Originally a girl named Julianne Thompson, she started out by trying to form a team of metahumans to make the world a better place. When she was denied this due to a criminal history, she murdered a woman, took her identity, used her wealth to marry Count Crey, and then put him into a coma so that she could act out her plan. Most of Crey's work is well intentioned, but her methods are downright evil...}}

** {{spoiler|Scirocco}} is also a textbook example, planning to {{spoiler|use magic in order to force good on every villain in the world.}}

* Both the Brotherhood of Nod ''and'' the Global Defense Initiative of ''[[Command & Conquer]]'' can be considered Knights Templar, especially in the later games, where the more "good guy" traits of GDI start getting subsumed in their aggressive ruthlessness after Nod attacks them.

* Saren, the villain{{spoiler|/[[The Dragon|Dragon]]}} of ''[[Mass Effect (video game)|Mass Effect 1]]'', was an ''extremely'' violent Knight Templar during his tenure as a Spectre, prior to the events of the actual game, where he became more of a [[Dark Messiah]].

** In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', the asari are shown to have a group of Knights Templar, the Justicars. Sworn to obliterate evil and corruption wherever they find it, they are lauded as heroes (heroines?) for their exploits and dedication, but most asari would rather not have them in the immediate vicinity due to their rather strict definitions of "corruption" and their reputation as merciless killers. Having one on a planet outside asari space, where they could interact more readily with other species, is seen as a diplomatic disaster waiting to happen.

* X and the Maverick Hunters start to fall into this in ''[[Mega Man X]] 4'' and ''X5''. Fast-forward 100 years to ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' and {{spoiler|Copy-}}X is protecting humans by mass extermination of innocent Reploids. {{spoiler|Had it not been for the [[Executive Meddling]] of [[Keiji Inafune]] by [[Capcom]], it would have been the real X himself who became such a villain.}}

* In ''[[S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (series)|STALKER]] - Shadow of Chernobyl'', the {{spoiler|C-Consciousness Project is this. Conceived to rid the world of all destructive and negative human emotion, its members accidentally cause a spatial tear that causes the several kilometres around its site to become a desolate, radioactive wasteland fraught with dangerous mutants ("The Zone"). To prevent discovery of their project by those seeking valuable artifacts in The Zone, they use various devices that result in death and/or zombification of those who come near. Anyone who makes it past is diverted to what is believed by all to be an omnipotent wish granting device, but in reality, it brainwashes the wisher into becoming a minion of the project, either as part of the official death squad, or as mindwiped individuals who have a singular mission to carry out, but aren't sure why. The player character begins as one of these individuals.}}

** The UED from the expansion pack definitely are this: they just want to protect the Terrans, but that really means A) taking them over and B) wiping out all opposition, thus, making enemies of everyone.

* The ending for {{spoiler|Siegfried}} in ''[[Soul Series|SoulCalibur IV]]'' {{spoiler|1=causes him to say, after defeating Nightmare, "With this... it ends." "Our kind must not exist in this world; not ever again." This causes SoulCalibur to crystallize him, Siegfried, and Soul Edge...as the screen fades to black, the epilogue says that the world will soon be "covered in crystals, making it a utopia without wars or suffering." Whether this is Siegfried's choice or [[Soul Calibur]]'s is unknown.}}

** {{spoiler|Cassandra}}'s ending makes it pretty clear that [[Empathic Weapon|SoulCalibur]] has a serious Knight Templar streak. {{spoiler|1=She is so fed up with what her sister, [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Sophitia]], has become because of SoulCalibur that, after destroying Soul Edge, she destroys Soul Calibur as well}}.

** Confirmed in ''[[Soul Series|SoulCalibur V]]'': {{spoiler|Soul Calibur fakes Cassandra's form to manipulate her son Patroklos to kill his sister Phyrra, the wielder of Soul Edge. After unleashing its true power, the sword subtly mind controls him to assure him he can't save her, and when he kills her, the sword dumps his soul into a void while it turns the world to crystal. After the Edge Master hits the [[Reset Button]], Patroklos sees through the illusion and Soul Calibur gets infuriated at his defiance of its goals and tries to kill his spirit so it can take his body by force, and manifests itself as Elysium, the [[True Final Boss]] of the story mode. [[Light Is Not Good]] indeed.}}

* {{spoiler|The goddess Ashera}} from ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius|Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn]]''. {{spoiler|About 700 years prior to the events of the game, the world made a covenant with Ashera. She would sleep for 1,000 years, and if she is awoken by war, she would destroy the world without hesitation. She was awoken when her counterpart Yune was freed from the titular [[MacGuffin]], so she turned 99.99% of the world's population to stone instead. Those who remained fought back, so she freed some people, gave them blessed arms, and sent them after the survivors. This turns out predictably, since one of the survivors is [[One-Man Army|Ike]].}}

* In ''[[Ultima V]]'', Lord Blackthorn usurps Britannia's throne and turns the virtues, formerly self-imposed moral guidelines, into enforced laws (for example, forcing the people to donate to charity or face execution). The results are predictable.

** This, arguably, is also one of the reasons why humility is considered the final, eighth virtue in [[Ultima]]. Despite not being directly based on Truth, Love, or Courage, the game says that Truth, Love, and Courage cannot exist with the virtue's opposite, Pride.

** {{spoiler|Averted in the end as she does ally with the Goblins to take down the King of Nights. Still, if Kalarrnn had not spoken to her, she might have tried to kill both demon and goblin.}}

* In ''[[Drakengard]]'' 2, Nowe's friend and fellow Knight of the Seal Eris is a definite Knight Templar at first, rationalizing her superiors' questionable actions, threatening to harm Nowe when he expresses doubt about the Knights' righteousness, and [[Moral Dissonance|sporting a disturbing smirk when about to]] {{spoiler|burn Manah at the stake}}. Luckily, she wises up eventually...even if it took {{spoiler|General Gismor using her as a human shield and leaving her to die}} for her to do so. Gismor himself does not fit the bill: he doesn't care about justice or order, only personal power.

** {{spoiler|The Three Wise Men, Mastema, and, by extension, Mastema's underling Zelenin}} in ''[[Strange Journey]]'' want to {{spoiler|bring about a [[World of Silence]].}}

* {{spoiler|Gamma, Joules, and Drazil}} in ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'' are this trope incarnate. The '[[Utopia]]' they have created and molded to [[The Evils of Free Will|their own ideals]] can at best be described as '[[World of Silence|an utter nightmare]]'. Even the resident [[Omnicidal Maniac]] [[Even Evil Has Standards|is disgusted by it]].

** This becomes an issue in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' where the Mojave branch of the Brotherhood is crippled by their xenophobic and isolationist nature, to the frustration of Veronica, a scribe who wished that they'd actually do something progressive with their tech. In fact, if she chooses to join the humanitarian Followers of the Apocalypse at the end of her companion quest, it ends with a few BoS members trying to kill her for possibly spreading information and [[The Woobie|traumatizing her horribly]] in the process.

** Outside of the Brotherhood, we have President John Henry Eden, who just wants to "rebuild America"...{{spoiler|by wiping out anyone with a trace of mutation, even benign or unnoticeable ones.}} Since radiation is so pervasive in the world of ''Fallout'', and since radiation [[I Love Nuclear Power|mutates whole organisms]] (rather than individual cells) in this world, {{spoiler|President Eden's plan would kill many more people than it would actually save}}. Exactly how he intends to help Americans rebuild their country by {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All|killing them all]]}} is never explained. A smart or charismatic enough [[Player Character|Lone Wanderer]] can actually [[Talking the Monster to Death|point out]] [[Logical Fallacies|this logical flaw]] in his plan, {{spoiler|convincing him to [[My God, What Have I Done?|self-destruct]].}}

* The Order of the Hammer in ''[[Thief (series)|Thief]]''. In ''[[Thief (series)|Thief]] 2: The Metal Age'', the Mechanists emerge as "templars within the templars", scorning the antiquated aims of their brethren in favor of [[Utopia Justifies the Means|something even more extreme]]. Their leader, Father Karras, [[Omnicidal Maniac|is even worse]].

* Leo from ''[[Lunar: Eternal Blue]]'' starts off as this. Thankfully, he is more open-minded than most other examples of this trope and once he realises that the church he works for is actually trying to resurrect the dark god, he switches sides.

* The Catholic Church as depicted in ''[[Tsukihime]]'' and, to a lesser extent, ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate Stay Night]]'' (where the Knight Templar would probably more be Emiya Kiritsugu, since the church is mostly connected with [[Big Bad|Kotomine]] here) is obsessed with killing all vampires and other non-humans. A prime example is when Ciel resurrected for the first time: they ''killed her for a month straight, nonstop and rather messily'', before giving up because she cannot die while Roa lives. They also appear to have a mild hands off/EnemyMine approach regarding Arcueid...mostly because there is no way they could possibly kill her and they don't want to make her mad.

* Over the course of the ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' series, it turns out that the Patriots, the amoral organization controlling the government, was founded by {{spoiler|a benevolent group of people who only wanted to change the world for the better. However, their leader became so insistent on keeping order, he started resorting to more and more questionable methods, finally leaving control in the hands of A.I. units that did not put any value on human life.}}

* ''Shadowbane'' has the Temple of the [[Kill It with Fire|Cleansing]] [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Flame]], who get literal templars as a pert of their class options.

* The Whitecloaks in ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' game, faithful to the source universe.

* The Chantry templars of ''[[Dragon Age]]'' are interesting studies of this behavior. While they do hunt down bad mages, many of them have a hard time differentiating a bad mage from a perfectly good one, and are all too willing to completely purge the Mage's Circle if anything goes wrong. This has happened at least once per century for the last seven hundred years. According to the Codex, candidates for the order are chosen first and foremost for religious conviction and martial aptitude. They're administered lyrium in order to assist them in fighting evil mages - but a conversation with Alistair implies that the entire purpose of the lyrium is to get them addicted, ensuring their loyalty. They track and destroy dangerous rogue mages - but a conversation with Wynne implies that many mage-hunters take a sadistic pleasure in their work, and two sidequests can result in the Chantry considering an Exalted March against the dwarven city of Orzammar.

** The Grey Wardens themselves also offer an interesting variation on this, both subverting this and playing it ''very'' straight. The Wardens are single-mindedly determined to defeat the Blights whenever they arise, whilst remaining vigilant in the shadows when they are not. What makes the Wardens an interesting variation when subverting this is that they remain politically neutral in all internal affairs, often serving in a diplomatic capacity between nations and factions, while accepting members of all races and nations in Thedas without a thought. In this capacity, the Wardens can be seen as an order of Warrior Monks who maintain and attempt to keep the peace in Thedas. However, when the Blights and the Darkspawn emerge once more, [[Let's Get Dangerous|all bets are suddenly off]] in what the Wardens will do, which, as we're often reminded in the game, can lead to, as Alistair puts it, [[Good Is Not Nice|"some pretty extreme things"]]. The Wardens will, in these circumstances, accept former or active Blood Mages, burn down innocent villages in order to protect more vital ones, potentially side with and thus gain contingent of ''Werewolves'' to help defend cities, authorise the creation of Golems ([[And I Must Scream|who are completely self aware, but have no free will]]), and will forcibly recruit people into their order, even {{spoiler|Loghain}}.

** ''Awakening'' gives you the option to either save the Warden stronghold of Vigil's Keep or the City of Amaranthine at the expense of the other. It's potentially possible to do both and keep all of your companions alive afterwards, but this is [[Earn Your Happy Ending|not easily done]]. There is also the option to {{spoiler|keep the Architect, a sentient ''Darkspawn'', alive so he can continue his research into removing the [[Hive Mind]] connection the Darkspawn have to the Archdemons}}.

** In ''[[Dragon Age II]]'', {{spoiler|Anders}} eventually becomes one of these, due to {{spoiler|becoming an abomination and fusing with Justice, turning the spirit into Vengeance.}} The influence of {{spoiler|Vengeance, coupled with Ander's hatred for the templars and bitterness toward the oppression that mages suffer under}}, means that {{spoiler|Anders/Vengeance is ultimately driven to plot a terror attack on the Kirkwall Chantry to force the conflict into an all-out war}}.

** Knight-Commander Meredith, the leader of the Templars, is the very embodiment of the Knight Templar archetype, resorting to whatever means she can to ensure that mages don't go out of control, considering it her painful but righteous duty to suppress any free will that mages might exhibit, all the while rigidly clinging to her faith in the Maker and her position as His 'humble servant'. {{spoiler|She falls into a short crisis of faith during the final battle, when she is close to falling, but instantly reassures herself that the Maker is with her, and continues the fight with renewed zealous conviction}}.

** Even before Meredith, you had Ser Alric, who proposed a "[[Does This Remind You of Anything?|final solution]]" to the mage problem {{spoiler|in the form of making ALL mages Tranquil}}. And, from the start of the game, we had {{spoiler|Sister Petrice}}. At first, she's content to {{spoiler|get someone killed in order to highlight how "barbaric" the Qunari are and what a blight they are to the Chantry}}, but she takes this ''[[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|several]]'' steps higher when {{spoiler|she murders the Viscount's son in cold blood because A) he was a convert to the Qun, and B) so she could make up a sob story about a Qunari supporter {[[Player Character|Hawke]]) having killed the man while he was in the Chantry itself repenting his sins and coming back to the fold}}. Yea, she's a [[Complete Monster]] that way.

* In ''[[Baldur's Gate|Baldurs Gate]] 2'', Jahiera's personal quest revolves around a radical branch of the Harpers who believe that you must die due to your nature as a Bhaalspawn, regardless of whether you're a heroic person or not.

** Also, [[Animal Wrongs Group|Faldorn]].

{{quote|"...Everyone will eventually pay for what they've done."}}

** Ironically, he's a [[Karma Houdini]] himself...{{spoiler|Until Jack Marston avenges his father.}}

* Cyrus from ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]'' is out to create a world without war or conflict. To achieve this, he plans to destroy the current universe and rewrite it from scratch (possibly without emotion, depending on which version you play). At heart, he's still a pacifist, but boy does he know how to stretch the definition of that.

* The White Mantle of ''[[Guild Wars]]'' sacrifices people who have the ability to open a gateway to the Realm of Torment to power the seals keeping the gateway closed. Their gods, the Mursaat, also qualify, although they're also motivated by self-interest; a prophecy says that when the gateway is opened, they'll be wiped out.

* In ''[[Might and Magic]] VII'', there are clear signs of some back-story between the good Church of the Sun and the evil Church of the Moon, showing that the Church of the Sun put too much emphasis on defeating the Moonies and not enough on, for instance, taking care not to leave too much of Erathia and its environs a seared wasteland.

* {{spoiler|Edna Strickland}} of the ''[[Back to the Future: The Game|Back to The Future]]'' Telltale Game certainly counts. {{spoiler|She had prudish tendencies before (which [[Dean Bitterman|runs in the family]]), but it gets cranked [[Up to Eleven]] in the third episode - she and Citizen Brown have turned Hill Valley into a police state in order to rid it of vice, and she later [[Moral Event Horizon|sentences her own husband to be tortured and brainwashed]] for daring to disagree with her.}}

* Ishida Mitsunari from ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' is [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|out to avenge the death]] of his liege lord at the hands of the villainous Tokugawa Ieyasu, and believes himself to be the only righteous person (aside from his friend [[Consummate Liar|Yoshitsugu]]) in Japan. All those who will not repent their villainous ways and join his noble cause are vile betrayers to be cleansed as the sinners they are. From anyone ''else'''s point of view, Mitsunari is an extremely fanatical and angry man lacking a purpose in life beyond his revenge, and Ieyasu is, for the most part, a (slightly hypocritical) [[Love Freak]] whose repeated attempts at reasoning with Mitsunari only makes Mitsunari angrier.

 

== Web Animation ==

* The main villains of ''[[Broken Saints]]'', {{spoiler|Lear and Gabriel}}, fall pretty firmly into this territory.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In ''[[Walkyverse|It's Walky!]]'', after a particularly painful sequence of events, Sal snaps and goes on a quest to eradicate the evil that the Martians have brought to Earth, which eventually results in her {{spoiler|coldly attempting to beat her own ''brother'' to death after he attempts to reach out to her, before deciding to wipe out everyone who was ever abducted by the Martians with an alien super-weapon - with the fact that this will also wipe out the entire continent of North America being of little concern to her}}.

* The Gatekeepers in ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' were definitely an example of this trope, {{spoiler|cloning and murdering multiple times the entire population of the Milky Way galaxy in order to suppress teraport technology to maintain peace with the immensely powerful Paan'uri}} before {{spoiler|[[Deus Est Machina|Petey]] showed them that they've been deceived all along and the Paan'uri were planning to destroy the galaxy anyway.}}

** In the past, Kore attempted to claim possession of a powerful axe from a good paladin. In their first encounter, the paladin was deafened; in their second encounter, Kore began by murdering the paladin's wife and ''children''.

* Vashiel from ''[[Misfile]]'' is one of these in his [[Backstory]]. Apparently, he went too far in punishing a city.

* Abraham from ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' is a combination of Knight Templar, [[Punch Clock Villain]], [[Necessarily Evil]], and [[Idiot Hero]].

* The Manumitor in ''[[City of Reality]]'' is willing to kill AV rather than allow her to remain magically transformed into a computer program because of his crusade against transformational magic. {{spoiler|Fortunately, he comes around after saving the life of his protege...and being revealed as [[The Atoner]]}}.

* Seymour from ''[[Nosfera]]'' fights and kills vampires and other monsters. That's fine and dandy for evil ones like {{spoiler|Brahm}}, but he also goes after good ones too. Rather ruthlessly as well.

* [[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja|Doctor McNinja]] is typically a good guy, but he can get rather extreme when King Radical, a guy whose actions have been for the enrichment of the community, is involved.

 

== Web Original ==

* Most worshippers of [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Khersis]] in ''[[Tales of MU]]'' come off this way towards the main character as a result of [[Fantastic Racism]], owing to the fact that she's a [[Half-Human Hybrid]]-[[Our Demons Are Different|demon]] and their god's portfolio includes protecting humanity from demons.

** The incipient paladin Gloria from her mixed melee class comes off as this, as well. Her characterization starts off painting her as just another run-of-the-mill [[The Fundamentalist|fundamentalist]], but when she starts to engage in activities that might seriously harm Mack, like sanctifying herself before battle and uttering prayers as Mack goes to meditate, which may indicate a slippage towards [[Black and White Insanity]], she becomes this.

** The emancipated golem [[Robot Girl|Two]] also comes off as this in a much less malicious way. She has a pathological desire to do as she is told, and so she takes rules [[Serious Business|very seriously]], sometimes to such a degree that she causes problems for herself and her friends.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Nerissa, the villain of season two of ''[[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]]'', seeks to rule the universe in order to stop all conflict and war. {{spoiler|She eventually gets this wish, if only as an [[Lotus Eater Machine|illusionary world that she's unwittingly trapped in for all eternity]].}}

* Alvin from ''[[Sabrina the Animated Series]]''. He starts off as a [[Ridiculously Cute Critter]] [[Morality Pet]] for Sabrina, but guess what happens when she neglects him and leaves the spooky jar out.

** Goliath, when he used the Eye of Odin to protect Elisa and Angela. When they complained that the eye was making him crazy, he got pissed.

** The Hunters and the Quarrymen may have started out as [[He Who Fights Monsters]], but they turned into genocidal villains. It's understandable if they want to kill Demona, who's trying to wipe out humanity, but they want to kill all the innocent gargoyles, too. To give you an idea of just how bad this is, in the episode that introduced the Hunters, one of them, presumably a rookie, questioned the Hunters' desire to kill ''all'' Gargoyles, stating that Demona was their group's original target. One of the other Hunters ''grabs him by the throat'' and threatens to kill him for even ''suggesting'' that ''any'' Gargoyle deserves to live.

* Von Goosewing on ''[[Count Duckula]]'' can't get it into his head that Duckula's an exception to the bloodthirsty vampire norm. Nor does he want to.

* Mr Krabs of ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' is determined to punish his rival Plankton for his unscrupulous deeds, even when he is using perfectly legitimate methods. Taken to extremes in "Plankton's Regular", where Plankton finally gains ''one'' regular customer and offers to call a truce with Krabs in return for keeping him. Krabs immediately becomes obsessed with taking away said customer.

* The Forever Knights in the ''[[Ben 10]]'' franchise. Their founder Old George fought an evil alien "dragon" from another dimension back in the Middle Ages. The Knights assume that ''all'' aliens are just as bad as the one George fought ages ago and act accordingly.

 

== Other ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Knight in Shining Tropes]]

[[Category:This Index Means Trouble]]

[[Category:This Index Is Not an Example]]

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Depressing Tropes]]