I Did What I Had to Do: Difference between revisions

* The North Korean Digidestined in most ''[[Digimon]]'' fanfics end up in situations like these, as do China's Digidestined. Their governments force them into doing various horrifying things and the kids rationalize it with 'I did what I had to do, [[And Your Little Dog, Too|because otherwise they'd kill my family']]. Since they're kids, this comes across as more desperate and terrified than villainous. Fandom's is fairly good about not [[Unfortunate Implications|making them evil because their countries are]] - at least, fandom's good about that ''now''. There's some [[Dead Fic]] from five or more years ago where they're straight up [[Complete Monster]]/[[For the Evulz]] lunatics.

* This quote from the [[Villain Protagonist]] of the [[Mass Effect]] fanfic The Council Era says all that is needed to be said. "I will pay for taking the low ground after I die, but there always has to be someone who is willing to make such a sacrifice, for the sake of something far greater than themselves. It's part of the order of things." Keep in mind that his "taking the low ground" was committing genocide. It is likely that in the second part of the storyline, when he's expected to decline further into [[Chaotic Evil]], that he'll still try to use the I Did What I Had to Do card, even if his motivation becomes [[Despotism Justifies the Means]].

* Of all people, [[Housewife|Helen]] [[Good Parents|Belden]] in [[Trixie Belden]] fanfic [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7963526/6/Ambiguous Ambiguous]. She's not sure of the relationship between her son Mart and his friend Dan, both teenagers, but she recognizes that Mart has romantic feelings for him. Unwilling to suffer the reprecussions of losing her family's good reputation by having a bisexual son, she deliberately drives Dan away, which might have lead to him allowing himself to be captured by criminals.

* ''[[Ace Combat: The Equestrian War]]'' has [[Dark Is Evil|Black Star]] who, as told by Firefly via [[Flash Back|flashback]], was ordered to prevent a possibly mutiny against the Griffin Kingdom. Believing that Firefly's parents would be behind it, he killed them. When the young filly asked him why he did, this is his reason.