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* In Mikhail Bulgakov's novel ''[[The Master and Margarita]]'', the Devil himself appears in the guise of a man named Woland, with an entourage of mischievous and ruthless pranksters who wreak havoc upon 1930s Moscow. However, his actions often serve the purpose of exposing the greed and hypocrisy of his victims, and the ordeal he imposes upon Margarita {{spoiler|is designed to bring out her better nature, for which he rewards her and the Master.}} Some interpretations of this novel describe Woland's actions as inspiring good through instigation, rather than through example, as Christ does.
** Well, yeah, that's certainly one view, but don't forget that Woland's a very complex and deliberately ambiguous character so much so that almost every critic you read is going to have a different take on him. At the end of the day, his motives are always pretty opaque and {{spoiler|Margarita and to some extent the Master excluded}} pretty much everyone's a target, with some not-exactly-evil folks getting pretty traumatised by the end. Plus, it doesn't really seem that he's always doing what he wants to - It's both implicit and explicit that Woland has no real dominion over this world. He's more of a catalyst than a force in his own right - he sets up the situation, but ultimately can't force anyone towards anything they don't choose and which isn't in their character - and that he's ultimately answerable to a higher power and its bigger plan. He's pretty powerless and being as opaque and multidimensional as he is, we can't say that a souped up Woland who isn't held in check wouldn't just be a soulless jerk on a rampage. Basically, his whole behaviour could be explained as not being able to do anything -but and if he had more power and more free will, well...
** Or he is generally fine with being whichever part of the greater picture he is and appreciates irony, but also enjoys doing nasty things to those "asking for it" (like throwing "free money" up for grabs, that turns into trash and angry wasps later). It's hard to tell, that's the point.
{{quote|I am part of that force which wills forever evil and works forever good.}}
* Rob S. Pierre in the ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' series is a ruthless Dolist manager who clawed his way up to become the head of the People's Republic of Haven. He did it mostly to fight off the other factions who would have done it anyways and been worse than him, and he actually has a plan to fix everything. It actually works, and when a democratic revolution after his death establishes a stable and free government, they owe his efforts at fixing the economy.
** Pierre is more of a [[Tragic Villain]], who continued the path the Legislaturalists laid out before him [[Necessary Evil|because the Havenite economy would collapse otherwise]] and he could see no way out. Stephen Westman is a more accurate example. He bombs are designed to affect and discredit the Star Kingdom of Manticore, and [[Never Hurt an Innocent|he sends warnings to evacuate]] before his bombs detonate. [[The Troubles|It surely couldn't be echoing the original IRA]] in a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|fantasy counterpart war]], could it now?
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