Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
Villains are bad, right? They have [[Evil Plan|evil plans]] that involve [[Take Over the World|world domination]], [[The End of the World
Not necessarily.
Sometimes, what people call villains are just... ''misunderstood''. They aren't necessarily ''evil'' or deliberately committing bad deeds, but rather, everybody around them assume that they are the "bad guy" simply because their ideas and goals might not mesh or because they mistakenly believe them to be aiming for bad things. A villain might be misunderstood because of their appearance (for example, the Beast in "[[Beauty and The Beast]]"), as a result of family, [[Bad Powers, Bad People|by the nature of their powers]], or due to circumstances outside of their control.
[[Obliviously Evil]] is a subtrope (despite the name), when a character doesn't have the malevolent intent to really be considered an evil person, but causes serious harm anyway because they don't understand that what they're doing is wrong
See also [[Justified Criminal]], [[Anti-Villain]], [[Tragic Villain]], [[Misunderstood Loner
▲[[Obliviously Evil]] is a subtrope (despite the name), when a character doesn't have the malevolent intent to really be considered an evil person, but causes serious harm anyway because they don't understand that what they're doing is wrong. Or, sometimes, that they're doing anything wrong in the first place.
▲See also [[Justified Criminal]], [[Anti-Villain]], [[Tragic Villain]], [[Misunderstood Loner With a Heart of Gold]], and, for nonsapient creatures, [[Non-Malicious Monster]]. When the fandom makes dubious or obviously wrong claims that a villain is this, it's [[Draco in Leather Pants]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime and Manga]] ==▼
▲== Anime ==
* Poor Gaara of ''[[Naruto]]'' started as this. All he wanted was to have a friend, but the entire village was convinced that he was a monster, and this upset him, which caused the ''real'' monster sealed in him to act up. Even after he finally [[Despair Event Horizon|lost all hope and gave in to Shukaku]], deep down, he was just a lonely child who lashed out at the world to protect himself.
* In the same vein as Gaara, Lucy from ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' only wanted love and acceptance. However, she only received [[Fantastic Racism|bitter]] [[Orphanage of Fear|contempt]], which culminated in some kids beating a stray puppy she took care of, the only creature in the world she cherised, to death in front of her while mocking her misery. This, plus the [[Not What It Looks Like|apparent betrayal]] of [[Woman Scorned|the boy she fell in love with]], plus the murder of her best friend at the hand of the man who imprisoned her for years [[The Alcatraz|in a research facility]] that could be better described as [[Nightmare Fuel|a new Auschwitz]], lead young [[Only Known
* Poor, Poor No Face in [[Spirited Away]]. He's lonely, shy, and so desperate to make Chihiro happy. Sure, some of the things he did were a bit too far, but he had good intentions deep down.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Lex Luthor, [[Depending
* {{spoiler|Ozymandias}} from ''[[Watchmen]]''. Now ''there's'' a misunderstood villain. He single-handedly kills off half of New York City in order to avert a nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union that would destroy the world. I'm still not sure whether Alan Moore was trying to portray him as the villain or the tragic hero of the story. If he's the hero, then that'd make Rorschach the villain, and he's definitely misunderstood as well.
** Wait...Was {{spoiler|Ozymandias}} the hero and Rorschach the villain, or Rorschach the hero and {{spoiler|Ozy}} the villain? [[Mathematician's Answer|Yes.]] [[Black and Gray Morality]] doesn't even ''begin'' to define Watchmen.
** One common interpretation of the Black Freighter was a criticism of Veidt's actions.
== [[Film]] ==
* Jessica Rabbit from ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'':
{{quote|
* The original 1954 ''[[Godzilla]]'' film shows that he's as much a victim of the atomic bomb as everyone else.
* While she isn't exactly a ''villain'', Miranda Priestly from ''[[The Devil Wears Prada]]'' certainly isn't portrayed as a good or nice person. But considering her career, can you blame her?
* ''[[Death to Smoochy]]'':
{{quote|
"But if he's ever abusive to you or your mother, then the magic number is 911!" }}
* The Rancor in ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'' seems to be a horrifying and monstrous predator, at very least, but [[Expanded Universe]] sources show that they are actually docile and friendly creatures, easily domesticated by he Witches of Dathomir. Clearly, Jabba was both starving and abusing the poor beast to purposely drive it into bloodlust.
* Arthur "Boo" Radley, ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]''. A mysterious recluse, the townsfolk believe he's a lunatic due to the rumors spread about him and a trial he underwent as a teenager. During the course of the story, however, it is implied that he is actually a lonely man, and tries to reach out to Jem and Scout by leaving them gifts in the hollow tree in front of his house. At the climax of the story he rescues them from Bob Ewell, who tries to kill them in an attempt at revenge against their father for humiliating him.
▲== Literature ==
* ''[[Harry Potter]]'':
** It's very easy to paint {{spoiler|Snape}} as a 'bad guy' due to his personality and the ambiguity of what side he's on, but once you realize what he's been through in life, it's apparent that he isn't an evil character at all.
** In addition, Sirius Black was initially believed to be an unrepentent traitor to the titular character's parents. Sirius states that he is, in fact, not evil, and proves it as well, by revealing the real killer of Harry's parents.
** Slytherin House could be considered this as well. Slytherin values ambition, and cunning, produces the majority of dark wizards. However, it is not evil itself, and according to JKR, most Slytherins are not evil and there are many examples of Slytherins who are good; Snape is the most well-known example, plus Slughorn, who is shown to be a good teacher and a nice man, and Andromeda Tonks, who went against her family's racism and helped the Order of the Phoenix in the last book. Probably the biggest reason Slytherin gets a bad rap, quite simply, is because Voldemort was a Slytherin student. The founder of the House being a prejudiced antisocial who hid a monster in the bowels of the school can't have helped their reputation. In the end even series-wide jerkass Draco Malfoy turns out to not have it in him to be evil, even when he genuinely tries. Also, at no point in the books or films is it ever stated that Voldemort's minions and the Death Eaters are exclusively Slytherin; for all we know, there could be Gryffindors among them too.
*** ''And'' at least one of them is. Pettigrew was a Gryffidor, his cowardly and toadying nature contradictory to that house's philosophy, and showing this sort of thing works both ways.
** In fact, in the first book, the Sorting Hat actually thought Slytherin might have been the best House for Harry, thinking that the focus on ambition fit him well (which few would deny) and in a later book, still stood by that opinion. It didn't because Harry asked it not to. Dumbledore thought differently, however, saying in Chamber of Secrets that only a student who had been favored by Godric Gryffindor himself could have pulled his Sword out of the Hat, as he did in the fight with the basilisk. Not that the qualities are mutually exclusive, of course.
* In ''[[For The Love Of Evil]]'', we see an interesting side of how Satan is this. Although his job is to promote evil (and, according to Archangel Gabriel, he is one of the best at it), he himself is a good man. In essence, he is not his job.
* [[Frankenstein
== [[Live
* ''[[
{{quote|
But I'm a simple rotten guy,
* In ''[[Supernatural]]'', when the fallen archangel Lucifer (better known as Satan to most humans) escapes to Earth, his first order of business is to [[Grand Theft Me|locate and possess a human vessel]]. Since he is an angel rather than a demon, he must acquire the willing consent of the human who will be his vessel. He claims himself as the ultimate example of this trope as part of his argument to persuade his chosen human to agree to become his vessel. Subverted as he is really evil all along.
== [[Music]] ==
* [[
{{quote|
'Cause I'll do it again, I'm just missundaztood"' }}
* Mocked in the [[Warren Zevon]] song "Excitable Boy", in which the 'excitable boy' starts off being just quirky, and then goes on to do some quite horrible things, with each act followed by the line "excitable boy, they said".
== [[Theatre]] ==
* If anyone knows anything about the musical ''[[Wicked (
** The same could be said for the Wicked Witch of the West in ''[[The Wizard of Oz (
* Inspector Javert from ''[[Les Misérables]]'' is not evil; he's more misguided than anything else. This is evidenced near the end of the show in his soliloquy.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* The Charr of ''[[Guild Wars]]'' have been revealed to be this in ''[[Guild Wars 2]]'', now that their side of the story has been presented. Yes, they are ruthless and militaristic, but their war against humans in the first game was a struggle to reclaim their occupied homeland, and the human propaganda painting them as [[Complete Monster
* [[
* The {{spoiler|geth}} of ''[[Mass Effect]]''. Most [[Heroic Neutral|just want to be left alone]], and the ones you fight in ''[[Mass Effect 1]]'' are actually [[Vocal Minority|a splinter group]] that worship the [[Omnicidal Maniac|rea]][[Eldritch Abomination|pers]]. This is especially true in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', when {{spoiler|geth memories of the Morning War depict them in an extremely sympathetic light, depicting the quarians as [[Neglectful Precursors]] or even [[Abusive Precursors]]. They spared the fleeing quarian survivors and even ''want peace'' with them}}. Unfortunately, the splinter group running around wreaking havoc, and their [[Blue and Orange Morality]], mean they are all painted as [[Complete Monster
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Roan in ''[[Impure Blood]]''. The general view of him is summed up in his nickname: the Abomination. Caspian, who's the leader, agrees with it, but needs him. Fortunately, [https://web.archive.org/web/20131024215923/http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue3/ib056.html Dara sympathesizes], [https://web.archive.org/web/20140101214718/http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Chapter007/ib041.html Elnor gives him some] [[Tough Love]], and [https://web.archive.org/web/20140117091633/http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue3/ib061.html Mac is cheerfully oblivious].
* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', the [[I Love the Dead|necrophiliac]] Tsukiko seems to believe this about the undead. In her mind, the living are bastards for being "prejudiced" against her; therefore, since the undead are [[False Dichotomy|the opposite of the living in every way]], they must actually be good. She is completely wrong on both parts, {{spoiler|as Redcloak eventually shows her}}.
* ''[[Three Panel Soul]]'' on [http://www.threepanelsoul.com/comic/kaiju Kaiju]: the monster merely wanted to find a good sushi place.
== Real Life ==▼
== [[Web Original]] ==
* /tg/ loves to bring this trope [[Up To Eleven]]. [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/5789941/ For example], "The [[The Juggernaut|Tarrasque]] is actually [[And Call Him George|a pretty swell guy]]".
** [[Warhammer 40,000|Kharn]]: [[Blood Knight|What]] [[Alternate Character Interpretation|a]] [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Kharn fun guy].
** The Tarrasque is at least a [[Non-Malicious Monster]] in the [[Dungeons & Dragons|source material]]: it's not ''evil'' as usually encountered (it is neither [[Made of Evil]] nor intelligent enough to hold any malice, just ravenously hungry), but it is suggested in ''[[Spelljammer]]'' material that in their natural habitat, they are docile lithovores (with the solitary aggressive consume-everything rampaging monsters of other worlds being a result of something in the atmospheres).
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In the ''[[Superfriends]]'' episode "Monolith of Evil", the Legion of Doom manages to trick the heroes into uncovering a super-weapon called, uh, the [[Title Drop|Monolith of Evil]] (at least that's what ''they'' call it). At first, it seems to be an [[Artifact of Doom]] with near limitless powers of darkness, and the heroes are outmatched by the villains... Until they manage to shanghai control of it and use it against the villains themselves. How could the heroes possibly harness such dark power, Sinestro muses after they beat the crud out of them? They figured out that the thing wasn't evil at all. It was simply a manmade device, and like any weapon, it can only be considered evil if used with evil intent. Of course, it's still ''dangerous'' and the episode ends with the heroes still in possession of it; much like any loose end in that series, we can only guess what they did with the thing.
* One episode of ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]'' dealt with a village of very superstitious folk who believed the mountains were the home of a Bigfoot-like creature called the Tingler. Although many had seen him and were sure he was a malignant predator, none of them could agree on any details. In truth, all they had ever seen were his eyes. The Tingler was actually just a hermit who lived in the mountains, and while he was a big, muscular guy, [[Gentle Giant|he would never hurt a fly]]; when trouble did threaten the town, he was the one who saved the day.
* ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' once encountered a ghost like this; it could not tolerate noise, and after a movie studio woke it up, it was going crazy trying to find quiet so it could go to sleep again. The heroes realized they could help it by putting it in their containment unit — it was pretty quiet in there — but the problem they had was, how do you tell an angry and powerful ghost you're trying to help it when even the sound of ''talking'' makes it mad? {{spoiler| Egon found the solution: he communicated with it using sign language.}}
* Lemongrab in ''[[Adventure Time]]''; the show's [[Word of God| creators all insist]] this Trope applies to him, despite his anti-social (and at times, sociopathic) behavior. Adam Muto claims he is "just completely unadjusted to living," while Patrick Seery says he is under the delusion that he is always right. Lemongrab is shown to be capable of actual love for his family in "It's All Your Fault" and "Mystery Dungeon" portrays him as a sympathetic, lonely fellow who just wants attention and affection. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how to interact with anyone who tries to befriend him, making his attitude self-destructive.
▲== Real Life ==
* [[Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters]]
* Animals recognized for a pattern of savage attacks on humans will always have some people come to their defense claiming this. [[Grizzly Man
* Related: Pit bulls. They were bred for dogfighting, so they attack other dogs a ''lot''; however, for the exact same reason, they've also been bred to get along well with humans.<ref>You don't want a dog that strong trying to bite your fingers off, after all</ref>
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