History Main / ALighterShadeOfBlack

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even Rem]] [[LampshadeHanging agrees]], while Light may be a bastard he isn't as bad as [[spoiler: Higuchi]].

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' is full of this. Yeah Zeus pulled a humungous dick move by [[spoiler:trying to kill Kratos]], but this was mostly because Kratos [[spoiler: wouldn't stop being such a warmongering douche]]. He was pretty much causing as many wars, if not more, than the very asshole he killed because he was supposedly the lesser of 2 evils. [[spoiler: Ares did manipulate Kratos into killing his own wife and daughter]], so Ares is another example to Kratos. On top of that Kratos basically [[spoiler: kills any innocent god who's trying to protect their king Zeus, even though he was going a bit crazy and probably ready to do the same, and he caused the entire fucking world to descend into chaos just so he can kill Zeus]] You can even kill as many innocents as you like along the way, some even REQUIRED to be killed in torturous ways just to solve puzzles. But it's ok because, [[spoiler: Kratos becomes a Blue Lantern and becomes A Hero, or not, to give mankind a more positive direction. Assuming any are still alive, that is.]]

This can be done in many ways. Give your villain the SympatheticPOV. Have them PetTheDog, be a NobleDemon or invoke EvenEvilHasStandards. Perhaps they're simply a smaller threat to the world. Maybe their goals are, or used to be, [[AntiVillain somewhat sympathetic]]. Maybe they have many EvilVirtues. Or, when compared to the opposition, their cause still seems a little more "right" or their character "pure" than that of the enemy. Since we want them to win, this may lead to a villainous version of RightMakesMight and PureIsNotGood.

See also ALighterShadeOfGrey, NominalHero, and ShadesOfConflict.

* During Venom's transformation into an an anti-hero in the nineties readers were introduced Carnage, Venom's [[EvilCounterpart eviler counterpart]].

* {{Drakengard}} Although your plucky group of heroes include an {{Ax Crazy}} mute soldier whose sister loves him more than is socially acceptable, a vicious red dragon, a batshit crazy elf who eats children, a blind pedophile, and a child cursed to never grow up, they're care bears compared to the Grotesqueries, Hideous {{Humanoid Abomination}} who wish to unmake creation through the efforts of their possessed minion Manah, a six year old girl who delights in ruining lives left and right because her mommy never loved her enough.

* {{Drakengard}} Although your plucky group of heroes include an {{Ax Crazy}} mute soldier whose sister loves him more than is socially acceptable, a vicious red dragon, a batshit crazy elf who eats children, a blind pedophile, and a child cursed to never grow up, they're care bears compared to the Grotesqueries, who are hideous {{Humanoid Abomination}}, who wish to unmake creation, and their possessed minion Manah, a six year old girl who delights in ruining lives left and right because her mommy never loved her enough.

* SweeneyTodd is a murderous barber who slashes his customers' throats and has them baked into pies. But in ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', we root for him because he wants revenge against the corrupt judge who falsely transported him for life in order to get at his beautiful wife, as well as having some rather [[WifeHusbandry skeevy designs]] on his daughter when she comes of age.

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': Part of Heaven's Feel seems to be solely dedicated to making the players like Kotomine more, with several EnemyMine and PetTheDog situations and most importantly, an utterly epic fight where he holds his own against CompleteMonster Matou Zoken and his Servant quite well.
** This is tied in to the point of that route and arguably to one of the overarching points of the entire game as well. FSN's three routes take different approaches to morality as seen through the eyes of the main character; in Fate, Kotomine is portrayed as a fairly simplistic CompleteMonster with no motives beyond EvilFeelsGood, and in Unlimited Blade Works he takes a backseat to the conflict between Shirou and Archer. Only Heaven's Feel fleshes him out at all, but in doing so it makes him into a much more complex character than when he was portrayed in simple black and white terms.

* ''{{Blood}}'' has no good guys. On one hand you have a cult trying to summon a dark god, murdering anyone they want to and experimenting on the rest. On the other side you have one of their failed projects, a sadistic [[EverythingsDeaderwithZombies revenant]] named Caleb who was one of those cultists and also is murdering anyone he feels like. At least Caleb is fighting to avenge his wife [[spoiler: and best friend]] and has a [[DeadpanSnarker sense of humor]].
* [[KnightTemplar The Scarlet Crusade]] vs the [[NightOfTheLivingMooks Scourge]] in ''WorldOfWarcraft''. [[spoiler:At least until Wrath of the Lich King]].

[[AC: Comic Books]]

[[AC:{{Tabletop Games}}]]
* This is what ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has instead of Good versus Evil, and is presumably what fans of the Lighter Black factions (Tau, Eldar, the Imperium) see in playing on the side of such horrible people; they're fighting against the very incarnations of death, savagery, consumption and, well, Chaos.

[[AC:{{Video Games}}]]

* [[KnightTemplar The Scarlet Crusade]] vs the [[NightOfTheLivingMooks Scourge]] in WorldOfWarcraft. [[spoiler:At least until Wrath of the Lich King]].

* GodOfWar is full of this. Yeah Zeus pulled a humungous dick move by [[spoiler:trying to kill Kratos]], but this was mostly because Kratos [[spoiler: wouldn't stop being such a warmongering douche]]. He was pretty much causing as many wars, if not more, than the very asshole he killed because he was supposedly the lesser of 2 evils. [[spoiler: Ares did manipulate Kratos into killing his own wife and daughter]], so Ares is another example to Kratos. On top of that Kratos basically [[spoiler: kills any innocent god who's trying to protect their king Zeus, even though he was going a bit crazy and probably ready to do the same, and he caused the entire fucking world to descend into chaos just so he can kill Zeus]] You can even kill as many innocents as you like along the way, some even REQUIRED to be killed in torturous ways just to solve puzzles. But it's ok because, [[spoiler: Kratos becomes a Blue Lantern and becomes A Hero, or not, to give mankind a more positive direction. Assuming any are still alive, that is.]]

* Probably the reason why many players of ''{{Warhammer40000}}'' still prefer to stick with the Imperium. And to a lesser degree, the Tau and Eldar.

See also ALighterShadeOfGrey, ShadesOfConflict

Often takes the form of a conflict between LawfulEvil and ChaoticEvil. In those cases, you're almost ''always'' supposed to root for the Lawful Evil villain.

* GodOfWar is full of this. Yeah Zeus pulled a humungous dick move by [[spoiler:trying to kill Kratos]], but this was mostly because Kratos [[spoiler: wouldn't stop being such a warmongering douche]]. He was pretty much causing as many wars, if not more, than the very asshole he killed because he was supposedly the lesser of 2 evils. [[spoiler: Ares did manipulate Kratos into killing his own wife and daughter]], so Ares is another example to Kratos. On top of that Kratos basically [[spoiler: kills any innocent god who's trying to protect their king Zeus, even though he was going a bit crazy and probably ready to do the same, and he caused the entire fucking world to descend into chaos just so he can kill Zeus]] You can even kill as many innocents as you like along the way, some even REQUIRED to be killed in torturous ways just to solve puzzles. But it's ok because, [[spoiler: Kratos becomes a Blue Lantern and becomes A Hero, or not, to give mankind a more positive direction. Assuming any are still alive, that is.]]

* [[KnightTemplar The Scarlet Crusade]] vs the [[NightOfTheLivingMooks Scourge]] in WorldOfWarcraft. [[spoiler:At least until Wrath of the Lich King]].

* {{Blood}} has no good guys. On one hand you have a cult trying to summon a dark god, murdering anyone they want to and experimenting on the rest. On the other side you have one of their failed projects, a sadistic [[EverythingsDeaderwithZombies revenant]] named Caleb who was one of those cultists and also is murdering anyone he feels like. At least Calib is fighting to avenge his wife [[spoiler: and best friend]] and has a [[DeadpanSnarker sense of humor]].

* This is the case in the first ''{{Disgaea}}'' game (Laharl the wannabe Evil Overlord vs. an Omnicidal Maniac). The second and fourth have more heroic protagonists while the third is mixed (Mao wants to slay his father, the Overlord, for trivial reasons and the rest of the cast have more heroic goals [[spoiler:plus the real villain already made Mao do it and surpressed his memories)]]

* In ''Comicbooks/{{Wanted}}'', Wesley and his allies are ever so slightly better than their opponents, which makes it possible to root for them.

* In ''Comicbooks/Wanted'', Wesley and his allies are ever so slightly better than their opponents, which makes it possible to root for them.

* ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' 2: In the Darkside Ending, Kreia will say that the PC is not a Sith. Not really. Presumably, she considers them a Dark Jedi instead, i.e. someone who uses the Dark Side for their own advancement rather than submitting to the Sith Code and philosophies.

* ''FateStayNight'': Part of Heaven's Feel seems to be solely dedicated to making the players like Kotomine more, with several EnemyMine and PetTheDog situations and most importantly, an utterly epic fight where he holds his own against CompleteMonster Matou Zoken and his Servant quite well.