White and Grey Morality: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"There really aren't that many evil men out there. It's mostly just good men working at cross purposes."''|''[[Digger (Webcomic)|Digger]]'', by Ursula Vernon}}

Near the very [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|idealistic]] end of the many [[Shades of Conflict]] (only [[White and White Morality]] is more), a setting with [['''White and Grey Morality]]''' features no truly ''evil'' characters, but ranges through a spectrum of [[The Cape (trope)|squeaky-clean heroes]], [[Knight in Sour Armor|slightly more sarcastic heroes]], [[Anti-Hero|borderline heroes]], [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]], and the occasional [[Anti-Villain]] at worst. Your [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]s need not apply. Conflict is generated either through misguided ideals or simple misunderstandings, so there is often an undercurrent of "if only people would sit down and talk to one another, they'd find they're [[Not So Different]] after all". Expect a great deal of [[Pet the Dog|dog-petting]] and [[Heel Face Turn|Heel Face Turning]]ing, from characters only nominally "heels" to begin with.

* ''[[Stellvia of the Universe]]'' is all about this. There isn't even a single negative character in the series -- evenseries—even the {{spoiler|aliens}} are good. Or at least, {{spoiler|they expressed regret after slaughtering a Keiti wing almost wholesale.}}

* [[Towa Nono Quon]]: Although the group out to capture awakened children {{spoiler|(dead or alive)}} is a ''very'' dark shade of gray, their ultimate goal is to protect the public. [[Evil Plan|For now.]]

* ''[[Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer]]'' and ''[[Chobits (Manga)|Chobits]]'' lack any really evil characters. There are lots of less pleasant individuals, like the cheaters in the former and the outright perverts in the later, but the closest things to villains in the storylines are concerned about victory like the protagonist or are interested in protecting other persocoms from the damage Chi could potentially cause.

* In ''[[Aria (Manga)|Aria]]'', the planet Aqua (formerly known as Mars) is populated by nothing but well-meaning, friendly people--orpeople—or at least [[City of Canals|Neo-Venezia]] is. Every time someone seems to act in less than 100% positive manner it generally is only a matter of slight misunderstandings, which mostly get resolved quickly.

* ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)|Cardcaptor Sakura]]'' has no villains either; in the first arc, [[Monster of the Week|the Cards]] are portrayed more as mischievous beings than truly evil troublemakers and are all subject to [[Defeat Means Friendship]], and in the second arc, the "villain" is quickly hinted (and revealed at the end) to be much more of a [[Trickster Mentor]]. All the intelligent characters are presented as decent people, which underscores the "[[Humans Are Good]]" part of the trope.

* ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' seems to like this trope, too, at least for most of the main characters. Save for the few [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]s like Dekim Barton, most of the characters desire for justice and peace, despite that their ways of achieving it is questionable, as pointed out by Relena Peacecraft. Fortunately, [[Everyone Lives]] except Treize Kushranada, who willingly dies by his own choice, and the world achieves true peace as Relena sees it. This way, [[Rousseau Was Right|Gundam Wing]] is a total opposite to the [[Crapsack World|Universal Century series]].

* ''[[Astro Boy]]'': While minor human crooks and such may be genuinely evil, the [[Big Bad]] Dr. Tenma and related characters are just Well Intentioned Extremists. If a robot is portrayed as a villain, it's always due to a misunderstanding. This is in contrast to the rest of [[Osamu Tezuka]]'s work, where pretty much everyone but the main character is always a [[Humans Are BastardsJerkass|bastard]]. Especially [[Chaotic Evil|Rock]].

* A lot of [[Slice of Life]] animes have no villains: ''[[Sketchbook]]'', ''[[Lucky Star (Anime)|Lucky Star]]'', ''[[Ichigo Mashimaro]]'', ''[[Candy Boy]]'', ''[[Azumanga Daioh (Manga)|Azumanga Daioh]]'', and others.

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Anime)|Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]''. The characters split fairly cleanly into Idealists (Madoka, Sayaka, Mami) and Pragmatists (Kyubey, Kyouko, Homura). The latter group are the antagonists, but are often ''right''.

== ComicsComic Books ==

** The original ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]''. Sid is a bit of a [[Jerkass]], but he's mostly just a boy who likes playing in an unorthodox way with his toys. Unfortunately, [[Protagonist-Centered Morality|the protagonists are]] [[Living Toys]]. In the sequel, Al is also a [[Jerkass]] but otherwise is just a bit of a slob. He steals Woody as well, but considering it got him a deal with a museum that could have gotten him hundreds of thousands of dollars, it's hard to not understand why. Note that this trope is completely averted in the third film with [[Ungrateful Bastard|Lotso]].

* ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]'' - although Roy Neary's wife and kids might not agree about the film having no villains given their distress resulting from his possession. The ETs originally come across as if they're auditioning for ''[[The Exorcist (Film)|The Exorcist]]'', scaring Gillian half to death and then ''abducting her infant son'', although he wanted to go, and they do return him later.

* ''[[Avatar (Filmfilm)|Avatar]]''. The Na'Vi are just minding their own business, and the humans just want the planet's resources to ensure their own survival - but unfortunately the diplomacy ísn't working. ([[General Ripper|Quaritch]] [[Armies Are Evil|and his troops]] are not considered among the Gray, though)

{{quote| '''Pontius Pilate:''' And now tell me: why do you always use the expression "good people"? What, do you call everyone that?<br />

* Pretty much every character in [[Brandon Sanderson]]'s works is revealed to have "good" (or at least sympathetic) motivations for their actions, though he does include a handful of [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]s for contrast. Perhaps the most spectacular example is the [[Evil Overlord|Lord Ruler]] of ''[[Mistborn]]'', who in life is portrayed as pretty much pure evil {{spoiler|but is gradually revealed after death to be a very human figure who basically had unlimited power dropped in his lap and did the best he could with it while it slowly [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|drove him mad]].}} One of the major themes running throughout all of Sanderson's novels is that "evil" is usually a ''lot'' more complicated than people realize.

* The ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' is at different places on the morality scale [[Depending Onon the Writer]].

* The ''[[HonorverseHonor (Literature)Harrington|Honorverse]]'' certainly ''does'' feature many a [[Complete Monster]]-- and—and some [[Black and White Morality|truly, deeply unambiguous conflicts]]-- but—but it's also at constant pains to point out that this trope is in play ''most'' of the time. In fact, the first part of the series (with the Manticore/Haven war) really only has five or so really evil characters, right at the top of the enemy food chain. The [[Loads and Loads of Characters|many dozens]] of other Havenite enemies given names and faces all tend toward [[My Country, Right or Wrong]] at worst.

* [[Ursula K Le Guin|Ursula K. Le Guin]]'s work tends to feature this; in fifty years of publishing, only one of her stories(''The Word for World is Forest'') features an character she described as "[[Complete Monster|purely evil]]"

* [[Playing Withwith a Trope|Played with]] in the novel [[Miracle Monday]], where [[Superman]] faced [[The Devil]]'s agent on Earth. While the demon ''was'' truly evil (we get to read his thoughts to confirm it) Superman himself holds this belief, and it's ''because'' of it that he ultimately wins.

* In ''[[The West Wing]]'', most of the antagonistic politicians wanted what was best--theybest—they just had different opinions of what was "best" for America. At worst, they tended toward [[Strawman Political|stupid corruption, greed, and tendency to stretch the truth]]. There were actual evil people like the [[Western Terrorists]], but they mostly stayed off-screen and seldom lasted long.

{{quote| ''There ain't no good guys, there ain't no bad guys. / There's only you and me and we just disagree.''}}

== [[TableTabletop TopGames]] RPG ==

* In one of the many endings for the [[BioBioShock Shock(series)]] sequel, the child you have been taking care of grows up to realize that there is no "evil", only "pain." Because of the mercy you have taught her, she is able to forgive her mother, and live a healthy life on her own.

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'' reveals that most of the villains were actually good people whose plan to make the world a better place did [[Gone Horribly Wrong|horribly go wrong]]. Most events of the series were actually the villains' attempts to use whatever means neccessary to correct their mistakes.

* ''[[Tales of Vesperia (Video Game)|Tales of Vesperia]]'', though having its share of [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]s, ultimately comes down on the side that most baddies are [[Anti-Villain|Anti Villains]], and even the ''[[Big Bad]]'' performs a [[Heel Face Turn]] when he realizes he was wrong in his position that [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]].

** [[Tales of Vesperia (Video Game)|Tales of Vesperia]] has three [[Big Bad|Big Bads]]s. Only the third one counts as an [[Anti-Villain]], and even then he's {{spoiler|trying to kill off humanity}}.

* In ''[[Xenogears (Video Game)|Xenogears]]'' {{spoiler|Anyone doing bad things is just proven to be manipulated by a sort of cross between a crazy computer system and [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]].}} The guy seen as the [[Big Bad]] is actually just misguided rather than truly evil and the hero even forgives him at the end, though he refuses to forgive himself. Another recurring antagonist is a sympathetic character forgiven by the heroes and even comforted by them after his defeat. The two warring nations are shown to be full of mostly good people and make peace. Even the leader of the evil empire is actually on your side for the most part. The entire theme of the game in fact seems to be that the goodness of humanity can triumph even in a [[Crapsack World]].

* The ''[[Touhou]]'' series is full of [[Designated Villain|Designated Villains]]s who are unilaterally revealed to be [[Good All Along]] by the time the game ends - in most cases, your character [[Did We Just Have Tea Withwith Cthulhu?|has a tea party]] with the [[Final Boss]] following their defeat. [[Bad Powers, Bad People]] is completely averted. The only things in the series that could be considered evil at all are the Saigyou Ayakashi, more popularly known as the Cherry Tree of Doom, from Perfect Cherry Blossom (it hypnotizes people into languishing to death under its leaves, and then eats their souls), and the [[I Love Nuclear Power|final boss]] of Subterranean Animism, who flat-out threatens to nuke all of [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink|Gensokyo]]. The latter turns out to be ''much'' more stupid than evil.

* Unusually for an [[Alien Invasion]] game, ''[[Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds (Video Game)]]'' has an arguable case of white vs grey. The humans are fighting for their home and way of life, and the martians are only fighting because ''their'' home and way of life is dying. This does, however, lead to some rather nasty [[Fridge Logic]] in that whichever race you play as, you are dooming the other to extinction.

* In [[Dungeon Siege|Dungeon Siege III]], just about every major villain {{spoiler|up to and including the [[Big Bad]]}} is a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|well-intentioned extremist]] or has a [[Freudian Excuse|Freudian excuse]].

* ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' at first is your typical [[Order Versus Chaos]] story with the [[Big Bad]] Chaos summoning some of the most sinister villains of ''Final Fantasy'' to battle their heroes serving the [[Big Good]] Cosmos. However, the backstory reveals their conflict to be this trope. {{spoiler|Chaos is a literal [[Designated Villain]], as he and Cosmos ''agreed'' to war with each other by a pact with Cid and Shinryu. As for Chaos's forces -- Garland is in on the pact and just does as he's ordered, partially because he sympathizes with Chaos and partially because he's lived through so many loops, he just doesn't care any longer; the [[Humanoid Abomination|Cloud of Darkness]] tells the heroes how to stop the Manikins because [[Even Evil Has Standards|she dislikes their presence]], and aside from that she is just intent on preserving balance and doesn't even have anything against the heroes; Golbez and Kuja are [[Anti-Villain|Anti Villains]] who try to help the heroes best as they can admist all the rapid-fire plots and schemes; Jecht, Cloud and Sephiroth are [[Punch Clock Villain|Punch Clock Villains]]s who are only fighting for personal reasons; Terra and Tidus only serve Chaos because they're [[Brainwashed and Crazy]], and Gabranth eventually becomes disillusioned with the war and abandons it. The only villains who are totally and umambiguously evil are The Emperor, Kefka, Exdeath and Ultimecia, and ''even then'' there's a couple of [[Freudian Excuse|Freudian Excuses]]s and [[Alas, Poor Villain]] moments between the four.}}

* Despite having a dark entity known as Sulphur, ''[[Phantom Brave]]'' certainly fit into this. Most characters, at worst, act like [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]]es who [[Ungrateful Bastard|cheat off]] [[Nice Girl|Marona]] [[All of the Other Reindeer|and treat her as trash]]. Some of who have selfish motivations does have a particular reason of being so. For example, Walnut, a [[Kill Steal]] bounty hunter, have a mindset of caring about money {{spoiler|because he is trying to fund medicine for his [[Ill Girl|sick little sister]]}}. And some who fell into the path of darkness is mostly due to [[Tragic Hero|tragic circumstances]], such as [[Dark Is Not Evil|Sprout]], who lost his family to Sulphur. Regardless, everyone is [[Easily Forgiven]] by Marona and those who were treating her like trash {{spoiler|came to realize she's the only hope of defeating Sulphur and realize her [[The Messiah|kindhearted nature]], [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|started treating her an actual human being, and rally to aid her]]}}. In the end, Marona's "treat everyone with kindness" favors her.

* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' is known for lacking "proper" villains; Coyote is ([[Alternate Character Interpretation|arguably]]) more of a general [[Trickster]], and Ysengrin is simply insane. And Reynardine is... [[Alternate Character Interpretation|who knows]]? Tom Siddell confirms this in [https://web.archive.org/web/20080903081749/http://www.wizarduniverse.com/082008wcotw.html an interview]: "There are no outright evil characters, for example, just situations in which a character might act in a way perceived to be evil."

** {{spoiler|Jack was pretty much just some variant of [[Go Mad Fromfrom the Revelation|gone nuts from the whole Zimmyham experience]] or [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|high on his new creepy powers]]. He got better, though.}}

* ''[[Freefall (Webcomic)|Freefall]]'' forgoes villains in favor of lots of geek-tickling tech-talk. Even the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Corrupt Corporate Executives]]s tend to be simply narrow-minded and incompetent, rather than willfully malevolent. It's just that they're not smart enough to figure out that [[A Is]] have become sentient, and still think that they're just products. It doesn't help that some of the [[A Is]] agree.

* [[Ursula Vernon]], creator of ''[[Digger (Webcomic)|Digger]]'', has complained that she can't seem to come up with a real villain, since all of them have reasons for what they are doing and believe that they're doing the right thing. Some of them admittedly think it's the right thing because ''they're'' doing it, yes, or that the ends will justify the means, but no one so far is truly evil.

* The first season of ''[[Super FriendsSuperfriends]]''. There were no supervillains (with the possible exception of the Raven, who put Superman on trial), just [[Anti-Villain|Anti Villains]] who were all doing the utterly wrong thing for what they felt were the right reasons. In the end, they always Saw the Light, Repented for their Wickedness, and never even went to jail.

* Unsurprisingly present in ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''. Moments after the climax of the second episode, the goddess of darkness, who is effectively the [[Big Bad]] of the ponies' entire mythology, {{spoiler|runs crying into a hug with her sister and counterpart day goddess. Who [[Easily Forgiven|instantly forgives her]]}}. Indeed, the worst villains in the first season were Gilda from "Griffon the Brush-Off" and the Great and Powerful Trixie from "Boast Busters", who were both realistic [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]]es rather than deliberately kid-friendly villains, neither of which learned their lessons in their respective episodes. This changed with the Season 2 premiere "The Return of Harmony", which featured as its antagonist Discord, a [[Trickster Archetype|trouble-making]] [[Reality Warper]] with [[For the Evulz|a cruel sense of humor]]. Some of the show's conflicts even boarder on [[White and White Morality]], like the Dragon from Dragonshy, who was {{spoiler|just trying to sleep until Dash kicked him in the face}}.

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