History Literature / TheSwordOfGood

** During the final showdown against the Lord of Dark, he accuses the heroes of five counts of murder - [[spoiler:specifically, the five "Bad Race" mooks fought in the opening]]. As he clarifies, [[spoiler:they were unaware of the "heroes" and could have been circumvented easily, but the "heroes" still chose to attack - legally making it premeditated murder - because they literally didn't consider that a "villain" should get to live]].

** An InUniverse example: Selena expects to be greatly rewarded and honored (and fashions herself as the LoveInterest and future queen) for her part in the heroic quest, despite her past criminal acts as a pirate - acts she neither feels remorse over or intends to atone for.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: An InUniverse example: Selena expects to be greatly rewarded and honored (and fashions herself as the LoveInterest and future queen) for her part in the heroic quest, despite her past criminal acts as a pirate - acts she neither feels remorse over or intends to atone for.

* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Discussed early, and averted. Selena takes offense at the fact that Hirou evidently doesn't love her enough to choose her over the world. He doesn't understand why she can't be rational about it.

The Sword of Good is a short story by rationalist writer Creator/EliezerYudkowsky. The protagonist is a man named Hirou, an avid fantasy reader and thrown into the beginning of a fundamentally generic quest to save a fantasy realm he has been thrust into. With his partners, Selena and Dolf, he must defeat the [[BigBad Lord of Dark]] and his Evil Races. And so Hirou, using everything he has learned from his hobby, must save the realm while toying with fantasy tropes along the way.

* ArtifactDomination: The Sword of Good compels its (true) wielder to act for The Greater Good as soon as possible. [[spoiler:Bad news is, 'Good' does ''not'' mean 'honorable', 'loving', or 'wise', and so the sword {{MindRape}}s Hiro into betraying his party - because they're actually assholes.]]

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Selena expects to be greatly rewarded and honored (and fashions herself as the LoveInterest and future queen) for her part in the heroic quest, despite her past criminal acts as a pirate - acts she neither feels remorse over or intends to atone for.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Killing [[spoiler:Selena]] was an unnecessary move.

* ProphecyTwist: The Lord of Dark argues this -- the relevant prophecy has the Hero make a pivotal Choice between Good and Bad. Hirou understandably wonders why anyone would choose Bad, but the Lord of Dark argues the Choice is between [[spoiler: deciding which alternative ''is'' the Good and which is the Bad.]]

* SituationalSword: The titular sword can give The Chosen One a significant power boost as well as the ability to one-cut through all who stand in the way of good...[[spoiler:but it also forcefully jams entire video libraries' worth of documentaries about human suffering perpetuated by humanity into the wielder's head, and then directs the wielder to cut down the nearest threat to the greater good (i.e. a high ratio between suffering inflicted by the potential target and proximity to stabbing range), regardless of their allegiance or alignment. In short, it can only be used against a perpetrator of human suffering and never against someone who seeks to alleviate human suffering.]]

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Sure, killing [[spoiler:Selena]] is a dick move, but [[spoiler:she]] killed a great many more people both on the quest and before and still considers [[spoiler:herself]] a hero.

* BigBad: The Lord of Dark, leader of the [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Evil Races]] who oppose the heroes and seeks {{immortality|Immorality}} [[spoiler:seems to be this, but [[DarkIsNotEvil is trying to overthrow]] TheEmpire. The real villain is Dolf, the wizard within the party who is the Archmage of the Empire]].

* SituationalSword: The titular sword can give The Chosen One a significant power boost as well as the ability to one-cut through all who stand in the way of good... but it also forcefully jams entire video libraries' worth of documentaries about human suffering perpetuated by humanity into the wielder's head, and then directs the wielder to cut down the nearest threat to the greater good (i.e. a high ratio between suffering inflicted by the potential target and proximity to stabbing range), regardless of their allegiance or alignment. In short, it can only be used against a perpetrator of human suffering and never against someone who seeks to alleviate human suffering. The hero, brainwashed by the sword, cuts down his anti-heroic party of cowards and thieves and gives the sword to a corrupt but compassionate and well-intentioned overlord. The end.

* DesignatedEvil: InUniverse, [[spoiler:the Lord of Dark's use of a Wormarium, which artificially extends his life by draining the LiquidAssets of a pit of worms, is seen as a sign of great evil. But as he points out when confronted with this, it's objectively no worse than slaughtering cattle to make food]].

* FamousLastWords:
--> [[spoiler:'''Dolf''']]: "You've done it! You have awakened the Sword at last! Now, my prince, with but a single strike [[KilledMidSentence you may]]-"
--> [[spoiler:'''Selena''': Hirou!]] Why? You said [[spoiler:you would be good!]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Hirou''']]: I don't trust you either, but I don't expect there's anyone better.

The Sword of Good is a short story by rationalist writer Creator/EliezerYudkowsky. The protagonist is a man named Hirou, and it begins with him thrust into the beginning of a fundamentally generic quest to save a fantasy realm he has been thrust into.

* SadisticChoice: Made even more sadistic because [[spoiler:the Dark Lord isn't even trying to force Selena into anything. He simply says he'll revive her lover once the ritual is complete, and doesn't want her to do anything in return or even care what she thinks about it. If she does anything to try to stop the ritual, it may result in her true love being lost forever, and it'll be her fault and she won't even have the satisfaction of at least having thwarted his scheme.]]

* FriendlyFireproof: [[spoiler:Averted when Hirou kills Dolf.]]

* OneOfUs: Hirou was a troper in the previous world, as demonstrated by his knowledge of and willingness to avert several AntiHero tropes.

* WrongSideAllAlong: [[spoiler:The "Dark Lord" was the ''real'' BigGood all along.]]

* BigBad: The Lord of Dark [[spoiler:seems to be this, but [[DarkIsNotEvil not exactly]]; Dolf is the real example]].

--> [[spoiler:Hirou]]: I don't trust you either, but I don't expect there's anyone better.