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{{trope}}
[[File:funnyhowthingsturnout_6804funnyhowthingsturnout 6804.jpg|link=Batman|frame|Works best against [[Faux Affably Evil]] villains.]]
 
{{quote|'''[[Damsel in Distress|Woman in alley]]:''' Thank you! Thank you! That thing was going to kill me!<br />
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He [[Thou Shalt Not Kill|never kills anyone if he can help it]], nor will he allow people to come to any sort of harm by ignoring them. He's always willing to go out of his way [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|to save the town and complete strangers]]. When the call comes, [[Resigned to the Call|he will answer it, usually with very little protest.]] He will often help people in need with little promise of reward. In almost every way, he acts like an [[Ideal Hero]].
 
Except that he's [[I Work Alone|asocial]] and sometimes [[Loners Are Freaks|downright abusive toward most people he meets]]. He [[Figure It Out Yourself|may refuse to explain]] ''anything''. He may actively rebuke people who express [[Think Nothing of It|gratitude]], [[Power of Friendship|friendship]], and [[The Power of Love|love]] as well [[Don't You Dare Pity Me!|as offers of support if he's got a problem.]] Let's face it; [['''Good Is Not Nice]]'''.
 
[[Affably Evil]] is when a villain is polite, friendly and genuinely kind, even while plotting evil. [['''Good Is Not Nice]]''' is the inverse of that: a character who is morally slanted toward the good side but is rude, unfriendly, and mean.
 
There are a few reasons a person may act like this:
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The [[Naive Newcomer]] may be surprised to learn he [[Warts and All|isn't the idealized hero everyone thinks he is]].
 
Compare [[Noble Demon]], who will likely fall into this if not too morally ambiguous. Often a [[Knight in Sour Armor]], [[Mr. Vice Guy]], [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]], [[Jerkass Woobie]], or sometimes just a [[Jerkass]] who does good things. The term [[Anti-Hero]] is sometimes used to cover this trope -- seetrope—see [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes]] for discussion of the types. Sister trope to [[Creepy Good]].
 
Why Light powers can be the [[Holy Hand Grenade]] even when [[Light Is Good]].
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* In ''[[Slayers]]'' [[Black Magician Girl]] Lina Inverse is mostly [[Anti-Hero|a self-centered, immature, avaricious and temperamental teenage girl]] with an advanced grasp on highly destructive [[Black Magic]]. And yet, she and her team is all that stands in the way of the various ravening monsters, mad wizards and nihilistic demons that pop up over the course of the series, some of whom try to [[The End of the World as We Know It|destroy the world]].
** [[Love Freak|Amelia Seyruun]] wants to be a "[[For Great Justice|Hero of Justice]]" but is so naive and wrapped up in stereotypes and clichés she's barely aware of what that means. She tries to do things right as she understands it, but end up either too misguided or too self-righteous. And hits this trope straight. Lina may be a black mage rarely caring of anything including moderate collateral damage, but ''her'' reaction on the thought of Amelia with [[Fantastic Nuke|more destructive spells]] (in {{spoiler|season 1, ep. 12}}) is a bad idea, and even dumb-as-a-jellyfish Gourry see why. However, her father Phil is far more adequate despite having exactly the same [[Love Freak]] quirks and being even bigger [[Martial Pacifist]].
** [[Aloof Big Brother|Luna Inverse]] (Lina's sister) is the Knight of Ceipheed -- theCeipheed—the champion and host of a [[Soul Fragment]] of their world's chief good deity. When foes caught Lina and put on her [[Shock Collar|a circlet that zapped her with a weak lightning spell whenever she tried to use magic]], she commented "Compared with what my big sister used to put me through... ''that was nothing''". Though not without a reason .<ref>like her little business on the magical projections of Luna taking a bath</ref>.
** [[Jerkass Woobie|Zelgadis]], having been [[Cursed with Awesome|turned into a chimera]] by his [[Affably Evil]] bastard of a great-grandfather, fits this trope to a T, even more so than Lina. He [[Wandering the Earth|wanders from place to place searching for a cure for his condition]], often disregarding others around him; only when the world is in grave danger will he stray from his wandering ways, he ''does'' genuinely care about Lina and Gourry, and he [[Ship Tease|may or may not have feelings]] for Amelia. He actually subverts this trope in the original novels, as he is more of a straight-up [[Jerkass|douche]], and an extra story in one of the books reveals that he actually ''wants'' to forget about his friends.
** Anime-only character Filia is a [[Tsundere|bad-tempered]] [[Holier Than Thou]] [[Good Shepherd|priestess]]. In her defense, she appears to have been raised in isolation from the wider world (and has JUST left her home for the first time as TRY starts) and her main problems are due more to [[Naive Newcomer|immaturity and naïveté]] than anything else.
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* Piccolo from ''[[Dragon Ball]]''. Even after his [[Heel Face Turn]], he is generally aloof and distant from the rest of human characters. Some of them consider him be to outright scary but Piccolo saves [[Pet the Dog|his softer side for Gohan.]] Not to mention he is quite ruthless in battle, such as severing Dr Gero's arms (though he had assumed he was an android) and [[Half the Man He Used To Be|bifurcating Babidi.]]
* [[Vampire Princess Miyu|Miyu]] does what she can to aid humans, and occasionally feels regret for those she can't help, but in the end her job is to banish Shinma, ''not'' to protect or save people. She's not above using mortals as bait, if necessary.
* From ''[[Fairy Tail]]'', the mages of Sabertooth are mean, arrogant [[Smug Super|Smug Supers]]s who consider themselves better than everyone else in the Grand Magic Games. They're also a legal guild that hasn't resorted to any dirty tricks, like [[Evil Counterpart|Raven]] [[Deliberately Bad Example|Tail]] has, so they're technically good guys.
* Killy from ''[[Blame]]!'' since he shoots the Silicon Creatures indiscriminately.
* In ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'', Yzak sides with Clyne's faction while insulting Kira, i.e. Lacus' fiancé. [[It Makes Sense in Context|It really makes sense]] if you know [[Gundam Seed|their common past]] ( {{spoiler|Yzak knows that Kira killed one of his friends and disfigured him due to [[War Is Hell]], and he knows that when Lacus fights against a government, she's usually the on the good side. But he's not forgiving enough to speak nicely to Kira while doing the right thing}}).
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== Fan Works ==
* Harry Johnson (ne Potter) of [[Top Dog]] is this, so much so that you have to look rather hard to find the Good (though it is there). He openly expresses contempt for conventional morality, and in fact is a highly-priced mercenary who will kill anyone he's paid to kill--butkill—but he's also [[The Plan|working on a long scale]] to make the universe more fair, and it's noted that he's "the kind of person who would get Jews out of Nazi Germany just because he can". This is also a trait of the Kenti empire; they're Good, basically, but [[Properly Paranoid|very paranoid]], and [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|very militaristic]], and they've several times espoused a policy of preemptively killing things that might in the future become a threat.
* The [[Wise Prince|dwarven noble]] [[Guile Hero|protagonist]] in [[Dragon Age: The Crown of Thorns|Dragon Age the Crown of Thorns]] does usually maintain an affable manner, but he doesn't bother being overly amiable to people who press his buttons like {{spoiler|Lady Isolde, King Cailan and the Orzammar Assembly}}, to name a few.
** Gwenith 'Gwen' Cousland is the more straight example. She has a tendency of getting into bar fights and is overall quite [[Hot-Blooded]], getting angry easily and yelling often. She also seems to take people for granted. Nonetheless, she ''does'' mean well, proven particularly accurately by how she, though not without help from some of the other Wardens, {{spoiler|spent some time holding off the darkspawn attacking Redcliffe in order to help the remaining refugees flee}}.
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** It's worth noting that Aslan is actually supposed to be [[Jesus Christ]]. Lewis was a strict Christian, but was quite exasperated by people trying to turn God into a "nice Guy" rather than a "good Guy."
* In ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'', the ''good'' angels don't mind at all [[Uncanny Valley|how much they creep everyone out]]. But they are usually within workable, tolerable attitude. Unless you [[Too Dumb to Live|deliberately go pushing their buttons]], try [[Tempting Fate]], or [[Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act|ignore the Web of Destiny's Center Rod]]. Which [[Dying Like Animals|happens a lot]] in this series, as at least half the villains are [[Leeroy Jenkins|rabid]] about their zealous hatred for the heroes.
* Mr. Darcy from ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'' and Sir Thomas Bertram from ''[[Mansfield Park]]'' by [[Jane Austen]] -- Both—Both are principled and responsible, but also stiff and distant.
* Nicholas van Rijn from [[Poul Anderson]]'s [[Technic History]] is a greedy, sloppy, cynical, womanizing corporate executive. He also constantly saves his employees from death and disaster, often with an elaborate [[Batman Gambit]] that involves using evolutionary psychology to psychoanalyze whatever alien race is giving their interstellar trading company trouble. He is also merciful towards his enemies and tries to create win-win situations for them.
* [[Sherlock Holmes]] was often arrogant, self-absorbed, callous, and rude; subject to many theories about Asperger's Syndrome and bipolarism.
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** The main character Anton embodies this trope to a T. Especially during that section of the first book where [[What You Are in the Dark|all bets are off.]]
* Robert Jordan's ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' has quite a bit of this. Rand al'Thor, and to a lesser degree Perrin Aybara, want to be good and nice, but end up growing more bitter and reclusive as the series progresses. And then there are all the [[Jerkass]] women, who are "good" only because they oppose [[Satan|the Dark One]]. There are also the Aiel, who oppose the Dark One, [[Determinator|to their last breath]], but have a massive superiority complex over all Wetlanders. In later books a few of the characters get annoyed with their attitudes but say nothing because they need them for the Last Battle.
* The ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'' [[Verse]] by Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont has many good-guy characters who are very disillusioned and grumpy. In fact, most of them are either this or [[Wangst|wangstywangst]]y, or both.
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Gaunt's Ghosts]]'' novel ''Ghostmaker'', the angel (or hallucination) that appears to Larkins inspires him to carry out his mission alone, despite his terror, but that includes prying out him the truth of his panic-stricken flight and demanding that he carry it out.
* Richard of the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' books. Pick a book, especially a later book. He is 'good,' but has a nasty habit of killing people who disagree with him
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* [[The Bible|Yahweh.]] Yes, He's ultimately [[God Is Good|a force for good]], but [[Good Is Not Soft|you do]] ''not'' [[Nightmare Fuel|want to cross him.]]
* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: The Sisterhood/Viglantes. Each member did start out as nice, but the minute they form this group is the minute they dive into this trope. Reason 6 is certainly a factor for this, although reason 2 may possibly apply as well. The first 7 books are all about them getting [[Revenge]] on the people who wronged them. The last 13 books are all about trying to get back to their normal, everyday lives. Unfortunately, this trope gets cranked [[Up to Eleven]] so much that some of the villains actually become [[Unintentionally Sympathetic]]!
* From the ''[[The Laundry Series|Laundry Files]]'' by [[Charles Stross]], we get [[Reasonable Authority Figure|Angleton]], head of the Counter-Possession branch and protagonist Bob's sometimes-boss (matrix management at work). He takes a personal interest in Bob's career, makes sure he's given the best of care when he needs it, and is inhumanly effective at managing the titular occult intelligence agency to protect civilians from the Cthulhoid horrors lurking around the edges of reality. He's also [[Uncanny Valley|scary as hell]] and has been known to [[And I Must Scream|very ruthlessly]] [[Fate Worse Than Death|deal with]] anyone who tries a boardroom coup. {{spoiler|Angleton is eventually revealed to be an [[Captured Super Entity|Eater of Souls]] who was indoctrinated to pass for human in the 1930s; given the ramshackle nature of the spells that were supposed to hold him in place, Bob is sure that he's here as [[The Fettered]] voluntarily, and sides with humanity against other [[Cosmic Horror|Cosmic Horrors]]s of his own accord.}}
 
 
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** Also, there's Ronon Dex, who can be outright mean, is hard to get to know, and takes a long time for him to warm up to you enough to trust you as a friend. But when that time comes, he's a fierce fighter.
** To a lesser extent, O'Neill of ''[[Stargate SG-1|SG-1]]''. He's clearly far more comfortable with kicking evildoers' asses than making friends. [[The Conscience|That's what Daniel was for]].
* Michael Westen of ''[[Burn Notice]]''. Always fights for the good guys, the underdog, those with no other place to go--andgo—and he and his cohorts have been damned ruthless while doing so, including Sam Axe {{spoiler|shooting a pistol into the ground as he listens to a rather hysterical stand-off between two Bad Guys of the Week. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|The next sounds you hear are some fatal gunshots]]. Though in case you felt bad for them [[Jerkass Victim|they kidnapped a kid and were going to kill him]].}}
* [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Spike]] in ''[[Angel]]''. During a brief stint at Angel's old job of helping the helpless, he stops a vampire from killing a woman. He then proceeds to insult the crap out of her for being dumb enough to be walking down a dark alley dressed the way she is.
** Hell, Angel in ''[[Angel]]'' is this trope, for the most part. Reason #3 describes him rather well.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* High Elves in [[Warhammer Fantasy]]. They are arrogant, uppity and haughty bastards.
* In the table-top RPG ''[[In Nomine]]'', many of the angels would fall into this category, most notably the Seraphim, who are blunt as a brick to the head (except when they decide to tie the truth in knots), have egos the size of California, and generally find humans annoying, and the Malakim who are serious hardcore [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Proud Warrior Race Guys]]s. The only groups of angels that could be considered unequivocally "nice" from a human perspective are the Mercurians.
** In Seraphim's defense they 'are' the angels of Truth, which can be painful at times. Plus the thing that really annoys many of them is the self depreciating lies that people tell themselves. Lying to yourself is one thing but even the most loathsome demons have the good sense to tell themselves 'happy' lies. Malakim don't need to be [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Proud Warrior Race Guys]]s, in fact the Archangel Laurence (who most Malakim not under Hostile A.A.s point to as their role model) is somewhere between a [[Knight in Shining Armor]] and a [[Knight Templar]] depending on how [[Grey and Gray Morality]] you want your game. Actually the most [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] in the game is Michael and he's a Seraph.
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|D&D]]'' paladins, especially those who veer towards [[Knight Templar]] or the [[Lawful Stupid]] end of the scale.
** In 3.5, the Book of Exalted Deeds directly says that good does not mean nice.
*** ''Complete Scoundrel'' introduces a Paladin [[Prestige Class]] called Gray Guard that ''is'' this trope. The illustration even shows a Gray Guard strangling a necromancer. A Gray Guard is a paladin who [[Combat Pragmatist|fights dirty]], and can turn his [[Healing Hands|lay on hands]] ability into a variant on the [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]].
** The [[Always Lawful Good]] metallic dragons are just as egotistical and arrogant as their [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] chromatic cousins. All dragons, good or evil, in D&D believe they are the most awesome creatures in existence and boy does it show.
*** [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons|They're not exactly wrong.]]
** Even good gods are quite apt to find a tough test for their followers -- afollowers—a textbook example is being sent to find a specific flower in [[Fire and Brimstone Hell]] and bring it back. Immortals of ''[[Mystara]]'' are divided only by Sphere of influence and not [[Character Alignment]], so they have even less obligations on this side.
*** The cake goes to Rafiel -- heRafiel—he's a caring guy in his own way, but plays with his Shadow Elf (prototype of drow!) followers [[The End Justifies the Means]] hard enough to convince everyone else he's the exemplary case of [[Light Is Not Good]] (which is a part of his plan too).
* The Salamanders chapter in ''[[Warhammer 40000]]''. Absolutely relentless in battle, an entire chapter of [[Scary Black Man|Scary Black Men]] (literally; their skin becomes "onyx black" as they undergo the Space Marine transformation due to a genetic flaw) with [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]] and a [[Kill It with Fire]] fighting style. However, the good part here is from how they actually care about the people they protect and find the thought of harming civilians disgusting, even punching out another chapter master for even thinking of it. Amongst this [[Knight Templar]] Warrior Race, this respect for innocent lives is only shared by Chapters like The Space Wolves and The Ultramarines. The Salamanders and Ultramarines are the closest thing this universe has to [[Lawful Good]] and the Space Wolves are the closest thing to [[Chaotic Good]].
*** It's not actually that uncommon. The Celestial Lions are another notably humanitarian chapter, as are the Iron Snakes and presumably many of the other Ultramarines-derived successor chapters (and the majority of successor chapters are of Ultramarines stock).
** On the opposite end of the spectrum you have the Black Templars. Definitely the good guys from the Imperium's standpoint, the hardest working and most pious Space Marine chapter. They have fought a crusade against aliens for 10,000 years, but they are willing to do things like sacrifice millions of human lives to kill an alien psker that stood in the Imperium's way.
*** In one story we see a Black Templar attack from the perspective of a simple human farmer when the battles over his farm is destroyed and he prays that they will never come back because they scared him more than the Orks they had fought. He even pitied the Orks for being in such a [[Curb Stomp Battle]]
** The [[Amazon Brigade|Adepta Sororitas]] are described as "[[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|shining examples of all that is good about humanity]]" by numerous [[Games Workshop]] sources. Even what are unequivocally the nicest of the Sisters, the Sisters Hospitaller who are beloved across the Imperium as saints for their [[The Medic|tireless (and almost always selfless) medical work]], [[Good Is Not Nice|will gladly torture a heretic for information and then kill them in a very painful way.]]
** Actually, ''everyone'' who you could consider to be "good guys" in the setting are not nice.
** To simplify things about the setting, [[The Empire|the Imperium]] is the [[Designated Hero|Designated Protagonist Faction]], and, [[Depending on the Writer]] (or whether it's a novel or background material), its members can range from being genuinely holy crusaders to being truly monstrous. Or both at once.
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** Some players actually find it surprising and a little heartwarming that the guy thanks you, because they know it took an almost superhuman effort for him to admit that he's grateful.
* The Brotherhood of Steel in ''[[Fallout]]'' are some of the purest good guys in the games, with the exception of a good-aligned [[Player Character]]. With some exceptions, they're also arrogant bastards who are more than willing to let innocents die in the pursuit of their long-term goals for the revival and salvation of humanity.
** In ''[[Fallout 3]]'', they're comparatively nicer [[Knight Templar|Knight Templars]]s, so the Outcasts take over for the good is not nice through [[Anti-Mutiny]].
** Mind you, you can play your [[Player Character]] like this too, save everyone, but be a dick about it.
** ''New Vegas'' however has them gunning down unarmed Humanitarians for daring to think about taking in a former member, and attacking anyone with any tech higher than a lightbulb, until the Other [[Good Is Not Nice]] Faction, [[The Federation|The NCR]] killed most of them.
** In the ''Honest Hearts'' DLC, we have Joshua Graham, the former Malpais Legate (now a good guy again). While he truly cares for the tribals he's sworn to defend, he is completely over the top [[Papa Wolf]] who will (and has) gone [[Beyond the Impossible]] to prove fucking with those under his protection will result in the Wrath Of God killing the hell out of you. {{spoiler|However, depending on how things play out, you can either encourage him to take this to it's logical, ultraviolent conclusion, or help him temper his ultraviolence for a good cause with a little mercy.}}
* Solid Snake of ''[[Metal Gear]]'', especially in the first game, where he's a flirtatious asshole who bluntly tells you he can't be bothered getting to know you. In ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'', he ends up doing some very douchey things for very good reasons.
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** He's just topping the Night Elves' performance. Rather than informing Grom that he's trespassing on their land (which wouldn't have stopped him), their solution was to launch a series of aggressive raids on the orcs. In fact, night elves' attitude in WC3 was generally "shoot first, ask questions later".
** Maiev, leader of the Wardens, got an increasingly concentrated dose of this in ''The Frozen Throne''. She was utterly obsessed with capturing Illidan, her efforts [[He Who Fights Monsters|gradually becoming more and more fanatical as time passed]].
* Freaking Marietta from the ''[[Dept. Heaven]]'' series. She's a [[Jerkass]] [[Knight Templar]] who spends much of ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'' kicking little puppies, {{spoiler|killing you}}, imposing [[Sadistic Choice|Sadistic Choices]]s, and flat-out denying that [[Heroic Sociopath|Meria]] has any right to be alive at all. The only way to get her to be ''even slightly'' kind to you is to jump when she tells you to, no matter how much it grates. She's also a guardian of order and has extremely strict good intentions, sort of.
** To the surprise of ''no one'', by the time of ''[[Riviera: The Promised Land]]'' [[It Was His Sled|she's already become a]] [[Fallen Hero]].
* Jimmy Hopkins from ''[[Bully (video game)|Bully]]'' IS this trope. We could rename it "The Jimmy Hopkins", and not lose any meaning.
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* Godot in ''[[Ace Attorney]]''. He's an outright jerk to Phoenix Wright in court, and the three 'targets' of his prosecuting are a sweet but hapless young woman, a sweet but hapless young man, and {{spoiler|a sweet but secretly conspiring with him young woman.}} However, {{spoiler|all of his actions in the final case were either to avenge Mia, take down Dahlia, or protect Mia's sister Maya.}}
* The moral choices in ''[[Mass Effect]]'' can be either "Paragon" or [[Anti-Hero|"Renegade"]] - and a Renegade Shepard can be a real ass.
** The sequel shows that Paragon Shepard, while generally fitting the description of [[The Messiah|The Ultimate Hero]], won't put up with your crap either. Paragon Shepard in ME2 probably better fits [[Good Is Not Nice]] better than Renegade Shepard, because Renegade Shepard can do some really downright malevolent things. Grunt sums up the Paragon mentality pretty well when he says "You offer one hand, but arm the other. Wise, Shepard." Paragon Shepard starts off nice, but if s/he has a reason to be pissed at you, s/he'll kick your ass just as hard as Renegade Shepard would.
*** Case in point, during [[Downloadable Content|Zaeed's]] loyalty mission, there's a part where Zaeed goes out of his way to set off a refinery. The paragon option involves punching Zaeed and asking him [[What the Hell, Hero?|what the hell he was thinking]], and later on {{spoiler|when Zaeed gets pinned under a girder because he refused to play as a team, the paragon option involves laying out for Zaeed ''exactly'' why acting like a loose cannon isn't going to fly if he wants to stay on the team}}.
*** You can even {{spoiler|leave Zaeed to die there}}, but only after completing the main storyline quests.
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{{quote|'''Shepard:''' What if you and I made a deal? You let him set his own prices, ''and I won't break your legs''.
'''Harrot:''' [[I Do Not Speak Nonverbal|With barely contained terror:]] You drive a hard bargain, human. }}
*** Also on Omega, if Shepard buys a drink from the batarian bartender in Afterlife s/he nearly dies because the bartender poisons it. Afterwards you learn that you're not the first human he poisoned and certainly won't be the last if he continues. The Renegade response is to get the bastard to drink his own poison. The Paragon response is to incite a turian bystander to shoot him for you -- afteryou—after all, he could easily start poisoning other races too.
** Lair of the Shadow Broker: {{spoiler|"I sacrificed thousands of lives to save the Destiny Ascension! I unleashed the rachni on the galaxy! And you think I'll let ''one hostage'' stand in my way?"}}
*** Even more ironic if you went full renegade in the first one only to be a paragon in the sequel: {{spoiler|"I let the Destiny Ascension die with ten thousand people on board, including the council! I personally destroyed the last Rachini Queen! So for your sake you better not hope your damn escape plan hinge on taking a hostage!}}
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*** And one last one involves Conrad Verner, the Renegade plan is to simply force the weapons dealer to apologize to Conrad. The Paragon one sets her up to be arrested as she foolishly believes that Conrad has the situation under the control.
*** In short, Paragon Shepard, while s/he ''can'' be very kind and supportive depending on the circumstances, is also one of the crowning examples of this trope and also a great example of [[Good Is Not Dumb]].
** If he {{spoiler|survives Virmire}}, Wrex becomes leader of the largest and most powerful Krogan clan in [[Mass Effect 2]]. He does everything in his power to make the Krogan people a legitimate part of the galactic community, but in a society where [[Klingon Promotion|Klingon Promotions]]s are the norm and [[Blood Knight|Blood Knights]]s are plentiful, he has to be [[Asskicking Equals Authority|pretty damn tough]] to keep his job.
* In ''[[Dante's Inferno (video game)|Dantes Inferno]]'' the eponymous character has the choice to either "[[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|Absolve]]" or "[[Video Game Cruelty Potential|Punish]]" the [[Legions of Hell]] he battles as a [[Finishing Move]]. The bright and shining Absolve-based finishers aren't all that much less brutal than their scythe-based Punish counterparts.
* [[Captain America (comics)]] takes a dose of this in ''[[Marvel Ultimate Alliance]]''.
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** Haley has her moments, too. Those who read her origin comic may get [[Mood Whiplash]] when they see her friends again. {{spoiler|She kills most of them without hesitation, and in many cases without them even having the chance to surrender or speak in their own defense. Mind, they're there to kill her, too.}}
** The same can be said, albeit in different ways, of Durkon. He's lawful good to the core, and weeps tears of joy when he realizes that he'll be going home to his people {{spoiler|as a corpse}}. He also has Charisma as his dump stat, so even when people can understand his accent, he comes off gruff.
* ''[[Girl Genius]]''. After Gil [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090323 delineates] how Zola is fairly innocuous and in danger -- andanger—an idiot, but not malicious -- hemalicious—he is questioned about whether her lack of malice is important. Producing an intimidating burst of rage that if he let every idiot die, there would be few people left alive.
** Girl Genius is pretty fond of this trope - practically all of the "good" characters are able to slip into "Evil Demented Genius" mode at a moment's notice. Agatha, Gil and Klaus would be the best examples -- andexamples—and are at each other's throat half of the time.
{{quote|'''[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date{{=}}20090504 Agatha]:''' "Oh, I see where this is going. [...] ''I'm'' the bad guy, because, for whatever reason, ''you'' didn't tell your ''nasty little friend'' who you ''are'', and now she's ''sad''. So you're mad at ''me'' because ''now'' she's all sweet and teary and needs ''rescuing'', and ''I'M'' the evil madgirl with the death ray and the freakish ancestors and the town full of minions and the horde of [[Super Soldier|Jägers]] and the homicidal castle full of sycophantic evil geniuses and fun-sized hunter-killer monster clanks and ''goodness know what else''--([[Beat Panel|pause]])...And you know what? I CAN WORK WITH THAT!"}}
** As an even earlier example -- albeitexample—albeit with a good touch of [[Beware the Nice Ones]] -- here—here the very first time Gil realizes this and achieves a crowning speech of awesome (If such a trope exists?):
{{quote|'''[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date{{=}}20080229 Gil]:''' "I am '''sick to death''' of this! What do I have to '''do'''?! I just took down an entire army of war clanks, and '''still''' get treated like a '''halfwit child!''' [...] '''Always''', I try to be '''reasonable'''. To be '''fair'''. I try to '''talk''' to people. And no one '''ever''' takes it as anything other than '''weakness'''. [...] Because nobody ever '''takes me seriously -''' unless I shout and threaten like a cut-rate '''stage villain.''' Well, you know '''what?''' I can '''do''' crazy. I '''really can'''. And it looks like I'm going to '''have''' to. [...] And show you '''idiots''' what kind of madboy you're '''really dealing with!''' ...Oh. Oh, no. This must be how my '''[[Necessarily Evil|father]]''' feels - '''all the time!'''"}}
* Mike from ''[[Walkyverse|It's Walky!]]'' has this in him. He comes off as a total [[Jerkass]] {{spoiler|until he sacrifices his life to save Joyce at the end. He also does several other heroic things before then, but that's the kicker.}}
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{{quote|'''Alligator''': That looks as if it could be violent.
'''Skipper''': If done correctly. }}
* Huey Freeman from ''[[The Boondocks]]''. Although he has good intentions in building a greater American society, he is quite cynical, pessimistic, cantankerous, and has been labeledlabeled—not -- not unjustifiably -- asunjustifiably—as a "domestic terrorist".
* Benson from ''[[Regular Show]]''. He may be constantly angry and constantly threatening to fire Mordecai and Rigby, but all he's really doing is his job. Plus, he's actually pretty friendly when things aren't out of hand.
 
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