Slowly Slipping Into Evil: Difference between revisions

For obvious reasons, almost mandatory in [[Start of Darkness]] stories. See [[Moral Event Horizon]] for when someone commits an act so heinous and unforgivable that he is now unquestionably evil. See also [[Had to Come Toto Prison Toto Be Aa Crook]], which is when one of the reasons for falling is spending time in jail, and [[This Is Your Brain Onon Evil]], for when performing evil act is akin to drug intoxication, and thus very likely to provoke this trope. Do not confuse with [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope]], which is when someone on the same of the side of the heroes but on a morally gray path commits an evil act to prove the rightness of the heroes' path.

* Lelouch and Suzaku in ''[[Code Geass (Anime)|Code Geass]]'' become more and more radical during the show's progress, although their goals were noble.

* ''[[Naruto (Manga)|Naruto]]'':

* Light from [[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]] goes from dark [[Anti-Hero]] to full [[Villain Protagonist]] during the course of the series (going from killing criminal to killing lazy people). It's implied that the eponymous [[Artifact of Doom]] is the [[The Dark Side|cause of this]].

* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', Zeus' slip starts with overthrowing the old gods which he feels [[I Did What I Had to Do|a measure of regret about]], but thanks (in part) to [[Dragon Withwith an Agenda|Lucifer's]] support, by the time Judas suggests purging the evil angels in heaven Zeus has basically [[Sanity Slippage|lost it]] and keeps getting worse.

* Michael Corleone in ''[[The Godfather (Film)|The Godfather]]''.

* Peter Parker in ''[[Spider-Man (Filmfilm)|Spider-Man]] 3'' slides very slowly. First, he combs his hair differently, then he refused to pay his rent to his landlord until his door is fixed, and after that he finally perform evil acts, such as manipulating people and punching them (accidentally).

* Stephen in ''[[The Ides of March (Film)|The Ides of March]]'' goes from idealism to cynicism and worse.

* Magneto in ''[[X-Men (Filmfilm)|X-Men]]: First Class''; a really good and interesting example in that he starts the movie already as an [[Anti-Hero]] and spends most of the movie establishing his attitude that would cause him to slip into evil before he actually does so. And while he's undeniably a [[Jerkass]] in opposition to the heroes by the end of the movie, he still isn't evil and never really crosses the [[Moral Event Horizon]].

* In ''[[Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn (Literature)|Memory Sorrow and Thorn]]'', this trope in a nutshell is the Backstory of the Big Bad, the Sitha prince Ineluki. Once a purely heroic figure, his ambition and willpower darkened when the Sithi's lands were invaded by savage humans. Dismayed by his people's despair in the face of their approaching doom, he delved into Things Man Was Not Meant To Know and constructed a weapon so terrible that his father the king insisted he destroy it. Maddened by this rejection and by his torments, Ineluki murdered his father and took the crown, leading a final, futile resistance against the humans that ended in his death via [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]]. He is at the start of the story the [[Big Bad]] and an [[Omnicidal Maniac]].

* In ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', Morgana has a long-term one of these over the course of the second and third series. Of course, this is usually conveniently forgotten about when she is not directly the antagonist of each plot of the week.

* Gul Dukat on ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' was always a nasty authoritarian, but in early seasons would help the good guys on a pragmatic basis. After the Dominion War started, he aligned Cardassia with the Founders. When that didn't work, he became a full-on [[Omnicidal Maniac]].

* A major theme in ''[[Bio ShockBioshock]]'', where the two [[Big Bad]] during the [[Flavor Text|backstory]] change from rude ruler to the people they hate most (in the first, an objectivist became first a dictator, then a totalitarian dictator, in the second, an Altruist became more and more selfish and {{spoiler|end up sacrificing everything to save herself}}). The [[Aesop]] here is the danger of fanaticism.

* Kefka from ''[[Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VI]]'' starts as a [[Harmless Villain]], but finishes as an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] [[A God I Am|Godlike]] [[Big Bad]].

* Arthas in ''[[Warcraft III]]'' is initially a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] when he decides to kill the citizens of Stratholme [[Zombie Infectee|who ate infected grain which turns humans into zombies and would soon morph into the undead]]. After unwittingly [[Deal Withwith the Devil|selling his soul to the Lich King]] in order to make use of the sword called Frostmourne, [[The Evil Prince|he kills his father, the king of Lordaeron]], destroys the elven capital of Quel'thalas, and aids in the opening of a demonic portal for the Burning Legion.

* In Book 9, Part V of ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlock Mercenary]],'' General Xinchub is revealed to have gone through one of these:

* ''[[DoctorDr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Web Video)|Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]'' - the eponymous character starts off as an [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|ineffectual]] [[Anti-Villain]], maybe with [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|good intentions]], but through constant humiliation, [[Love Makes You Evil|losing his love interest]] to [[Jerkass|the superhero]] Captain Hammer, and his own urge to join the Evil League of Evil, he takes a long ride down the evil slope, culminating in the attempted murder of Captain Hammer.

* [[Seth MacfarlaneMacFarlane]] likes this trope, although he [[Played for Laughs|plays it for laughs]]. He's [[Flanderized]] two of his star characters, Peter Griffin of ''[[Family Guy (Animation)|Family Guy]]'' and Roger Smith of ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]'', into [[Evilly Affable]] [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]]. Roger's [[Disproportionate Retribution]] to Steve for taking his cookie was arguably the start of his crueler aspects taking over his role, while Peter's probably began with the lighter abuse of Meg in early post cancellation episodes.

* ''[[The Legend of Korra (Animation)|The Legend of Korra]]'': Amon first targeted criminal benders. Next time he attacks, his targets are cheating professional wrestlers. Note that the latter operation included heavy material damage and endangered lives mostly due to Korra's counterattack. When no one fights back, equalists operations are ''very clean''.