History Main / ALighterShadeOfBlack

* In ''[[VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope The New Order: The Last Days of Europe]]'', the German Civil War that triggers early in the campaign is a conflict between the four rival Nazi pretenders Albert Speer, Hermann Göring, Martin Bormann and UsefulNotes/ReinhardHeydrich to the title of Fürher after the death of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, making it inevitably a conflict between villains; however, more specifically:

* In ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'', the German Civil War that triggers early in the campaign is a conflict between the four rival Nazi pretenders Albert Speer, Hermann Göring, Martin Bormann and UsefulNotes/ReinhardHeydrich to the title of Fürher after the death of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, making it inevitably a conflict between villains; however, more specifically:

* In ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'', the German Civil War that triggers early in the campaign is a conflict between the four rival nazi pretenders Albert Speer, Hermann Göring, Martin Bormann and UsefulNotes/ReinhardHeydrich to the title of Fürher after the death of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, making it inevitably a conflict between villains; however, more specifically:
** Albert Speer [[spoiler: is a {{Subverted}} example to this trope. Appearing at first to be an InternalReformist, [[EvilAllAlong Speer is actually uninterested in democratizing the Reich]], and actually just wants a more pragmatic application to nazi ideology. If given the chance, he will coup the [[InternalReformist Gang of Four]] and maintain his iron grip on the regime.]]
** Compared to Heydrich, all three others are an example of this trope. Known as the Butcher of Prague in this timeline just like in real life, Heidrich is a brutal member of the SS, having been one of the men behind UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. Furthermore, Heidrich is the right-hand man of [[BigBad Heinrich Himmler]], the leader of the SS and of the rogue nation of Burgundy, as well as codifier of the Burgundian System, an ideology so terrible [[EvenEvilHasStandards it horrifies even the Reich]].
*** In turn [[spoiler: Heydrich becomes the lighter shade against Himmler [[EvilVersusOblivion when he realises the projects of his boss]]: [[OmnicidialManiac to destroy the world]] by provoking WorldWarIII, cleansing it of all but the Aryans Himmlers sheltered in burgundian underground bunkers. A second civil war starts soon after, during which Heydrich races for the control of german nukes with Heidrich to prevent him from ending the world, and, if successful, to kill him.]]

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even Rem]] [[LampshadeHanging agrees]], while Light Yagami may be a bastard he isn't as bad as [[spoiler:Kyosuke Higuchi]]. Not that that excuses any of Light's own depravity.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' has plenty of it, given it's set in a CrapsackWorld where [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished good people suffer]], [[BlackAndGrayMorality seemingly good people are questionable, and bad people are total bastards]]. The Clegane brothers are both {{Blood Knight}}s, but while Gregor ("The Mountain") is an AxCrazy {{Sociopath|icSoldier}} who rapes and slaughters for pleasure, Sandor ("The Hound") is a ProfessionalKiller [[NobleDemon with some standards]]. Cersei Lannister is [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen a ruthless queen]], her [[{{Twincest}} brother\lover]] Jaime starts firmly black but after [[TraumaCongaLine suffering a lot]] [[TookALevelInIdealism turns out to be a better person than he seemed]], and younger brother Tyrion is a LovableRogue.

* In ''TabletopGame/Pathfinder'', The LawfulEvil God Asmodeus, firmly sits in this trope, even among other Lawful Evil Gods. He's the God of Slavery, Tyranny, Pride, and most importantly, Contracts. [[IGaveMyWord He will uphold his part of any contract and agreement he enters into]]. You just have to make sure what you think is his part and what actually is his part are one and the same. Even the ChaoticGood Gods go to him for advice on occasion, and he would give them honest advice. [[PragmaticVillainy Because giving them honest advice means they would rely on him more, and would fall into his circle of power and influence.]] His worshippers are one of the only Evil Worshippers allowed to openly worship as they tend to cause less trouble then anyone else. Then there is the fact that he [[EvilVersusOblivion fought alongside all the other gods against Rovagug, and personally forge the lock to his cage.]] Free of charge.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'', the triple-A MegaCorp Horizon (which appeared in 4th edition onwards) is a world-dominating mega corp that has a completely flat and transparent corporate structure, an extremely cheerful and public CEO, and focus on 'benign' industries like Public Relations and pharmaceuticals. Rather than make them the 'good guys' of the setting, this has made them ParanoiaFuel; Shadowrunners are usually extremely smart (they don't live long if they aren't), and the concept of a Mega with no skeletons in the closet that actually ''cares'' is scarier than eight of the other open [[PragmaticVillainy Pragmatic Villains]] on the Corporate Court combined, because this only means they must be hiding something utterly depraved in there ''somewhere''... but nobody knows what it is. (They're still not as scary as [[TheDreaded Aztechnology]], though.)
** [[ArmsDealer Ares Macrotechnology]] is generally considered this trope in the shadows. It's not that Ares aren't doing shadowy, dirty business (they are) or that they give a hoot about making the world a better place (they don't), but Ares (perhaps due to their LovableRogue CEO or the fact that shadowrunners continuing to exist raises demand for their products) [[PragmaticVillainy tend to understand 'the game' between shadowrunners and corporations better than most]]. A run against Ares is a run where [[GentlemanThief if you play by the rules]], [[FairPlayVillain so will they]]. If you get hired to do work on their behalf, odds are better than average that the Johnson actually intends to ''pay'' you at the end instead of backstabbing you.

See also ALighterShadeOfGrey, NominalHero, and ShadesOfConflict. An exaggerated form of this trope is EvilVersusOblivion. The polar oppoiste of VilerNewVillain, when a villain is shown to be worse than the more nobler villain. For a downplayed form, see BlackAndGrayMorality.

Do not confuse this trope with LesserOfTwoEvils, in which case, there still isn't a side to root for. (Those stories usually involve a hero's P.O.V. and he's observing the two villains fighting each other.)

** Among the Astartes, the Lamenters chapter is the best fit for this trope. They are the only chapter that will go out of their way to defend the innocent and defenseless of the Imperium. [[ButtMonkey They also get regularly and thoroughly thrashed by whoever they tussle with.]] The Grey Knights and their holdings are another good example. They're brutal, but devoted totally to fighting TheLegionsOfHell. They'll even help and trade with xeno races like Craftworld Eldar and Necrons as long as they don't get in the way of that all-important goal. Another example are the Rogue Trade empires, de facto independent realms that get to defy standard Imperial policy in a lot of orders, most notably via coexistence and cooperation with aliens and non-Imperium human polities.

** Among the Astartes, the Lamenters chapter is the best fit for this trope. They are the only chapter that will go out of their way to defend the innocent and defenseless of the Imperium. [[ButtMonkey They also get regularly and thoroughly thrashed by whoever they tussle with.]] The Grey Knights and their holdings are another good example. They're brutal, but devoted totally to fighting TheLegionsOfHell. They'll even help and trade with xeno races like Craftworld Eldar and Necrons as long as they don't get in the way of that all-important goal.
** Most (non-Dark) Eldar default to this. Like the Imperium, they consider all other races to be worthless compared to their own citizens; unlike many the Imperium's sub-factions, they usually don't [[AbsoluteXenophobe actively try to exterminate outsiders]] that don't get in their way, and mostly just want to be left alone. The Necrons who aren't utter {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s are similar in that regard.

* ComicBook/DoctorDoom has some very similar traits. Certainly, he is an AGodAmI [[InsufferableGenius massive egomaniac]] and rules the nation of Latveria as a despot with armed Doombots on each corner and an enforced CultOfPersonality. At the same time, he keeps his word, provides an excellent quality of life for his citizens (Latveria's health and education infrastructure makes the United States look like a podunk backwater), and seeks to TakeOverTheWorld in order to make life better for everyone (admittedly at the cost of armed Doombots on each corner and an enforced CultOfPersonality). At least once, he's been replaced as Latveria's ruler by someone who turned out to be lacking those positive traits. The Fantastic Four have to deal semi-regularly with people who want to destroy the world for reasons that range from understandable but still kind of harsh (Galactus) to plain dickish and weird (Annihilus). And Doom ''also'' refuses to have anything to do with the Red Skull[[note]]mostly because Doom's mother was Romani[[/note]]. In the {{Cyberpunk}} Marvel 2099 universe, a re-awoken Doom was actually one of the heroes - his takeover of the United States was actually a positive development, with the corporations brought back under control, and he even made a HeroicSacrifice to deal with the Phalanx.

* Common in the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series. More often than not, as bad the VillainProtagonist PlayerCharacters are, they're still usually better than their antagonists.

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': Michael is a bank robber fresh out of retirement, Franklin is a former small-time [[{{Gangbangers}} Gangbanger]] turned big-time bank robber and assassin, and Trevor (who's by far [[TokenEvilTeammate the most evil of the three]]) is an AxCrazy drug dealing PsychopathicManChild. Despite this, all three of them have redeeming values, [[MoralityPet Morality Pets]], and PetTheDog moments that can instill some sympathy. That's more than can be said about their antagonists: Steven Haines, a corrupt FIB agent who engages in some incredibly irresponsible InterserviceRivalry with the IAA for the sake of his career, and Devin Weston, a CorruptCorporateExecutive with close ties to PrivateMilitaryContractors known for committing human rights violations all over the world.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'': During ComicBook/{{Venom}}'s transformation into an an anti-hero in the nineties, readers were introduced to ComicBook/{{Carnage}}, Venom's [[EvilCounterpart eviler counterpart]].

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[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/{{Venom}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/venom_vs_carnage__venom_wins_3.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:In this case, the ''[[ComicBook/{{Carnage}} red one]]'' is worse.]]

* ''Anime/GodzillaThePlanetEater'' has Godzilla, who is outright malevolent to humanity and seeks to wipe them out, going against Ghidorah, the titular PlanetEater who devours worlds at the behest of the cultist alien race, the Exif. As such, Godzilla ends up as the lesser of the two evils and ultimately saves the planet from Ghidorah, [[spoiler: though he does kill the main protagonist Haruo in the finale.]]

* In ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' we have the BigBadDuumvirate, [[MadScientist Relius Clover]] and [[AxCrazy Yuuki Terumi]]. Both of them are seemingly caught in a "How far beyond the MoralEventHorizon can you go" contest, but despite the fact that they're almost evenly matched as far as accomplishments go, Relius is still a lighter shade of black than Terumi is. First and foremost because most of his atrocities were committed in order to [[ForScience satiate his own scientific curiosity]], and secondly because he is [[PragmaticVillainy pretty pragmatic in his villainy]]. Compare to Terumi who [[CardCarryingVillain doesn't even pretend]] [[ForTheEvulz to have a rationalization]] for all the shit he does and often goes out of his way to ruin people's lives just because... His behavior is sort of [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as Terumi avoids getting [[{{Retgone}} erased from reality]] by anchoring his own existence in the world [[GodNeedsPrayerBadly through people's hatred of him]], but any sympathy points this could've earned them are ultimately DoubleSubverted, because he really ''does'' get off on pushing people beyond the DespairEventHorizon. [[spoiler: The fact that the fourth game revealed that he's actually Takehaya Susanoo no Mikoto, the [=BlazBlue=] 'verse's own take on {{Satan}}, doesn't help his case, either.]]
** ''Chronophantasma'' reveals that Relius is capable of being portrayed as an extreme version of WellIntentionedExtremist. All three main bad guys (The Imperator, Terumi and Relius) aim for destroying the [[DeusEstMachina Master Unit: Amaterasu]], which can cause a genocidal damage to the current world and reset it, but it turns that Relius [[spoiler:does so because he's frustrated that the Master Unit's {{Groundhog Day Loop}}s prevents the world from making progresses and prevents advancement of his goal of creating the Perfect Doll. While he is still pretty selfish in that he only cares for his own project, his intention can be portrayed as being beneficial for the rest of humanity trapped in depressing loops. If he completes the project, he could either leave humanity alone, or try to inject the Perfect Doll for humanity, which in his twisted mind, may have a chance to be considered a beneficial improvement for overall humans (though probably other people will not agree). Compare to Terumi, who just wants to [[ToCreateAPlaygroundForEvil turn the world into his own playground of evil]], filled to the brink with endless despair for himself to drink in, and the Imperator, being [[GreaterScopeVillain Izanami]], who just wants everyone to die and reduce the world to inert seithr.]]
** Relius' case got even lighter by ''Central Fiction'', whereas [[spoiler:it was revealed that Master Unit Amaterasu has been abusing her world reset ability just to get her desired ending of her being plugged out of the unit and no longer having to do her duty of observing the world, which ignores not only his desire to progress on his project, but also towards the other suffering that the cast experiences, with or without Terumi's interference, an utter selfishness that drove former hero [[TheArchmage Nine the Phantom]] utterly mad and devised a plan to destroy the Master Unit to free the world from its machinations, which Relius is totally on board for. It's still for his own selfish desires, but it somehow became a bit more relatable.]]

* Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold from ''Series/OnceUponATime'' fits this trope throughout the series. While most other villains in the series either die or become active heroes ([[AntiHero Anti-Heroes]] at worst), Rumpelstiltskin holds his ChaoticNeutral position all the way through. He usually [[LackOfEmpathy keeps out of the affairs of the savior and her friends and family unless he benefits from them in some way]] (either through a deal or a common goal) or if the villain they face threaten him or [[spoiler:Belle]] directly, flip-flopping between AntiHero, AntiVillain and straight up menace throughout.

* This is what ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has instead of Good versus Evil, and is presumably what fans of the Lighter Black factions (Tau, Craftworld Eldar, the Imperium (specifically the Salamanders), Necrons) see in playing on the side of such horrible people; they're fighting against the very incarnations of cruelty (Dark Eldar), savagery (Orks), consumption (Tyranids) and, well, Chaos.

** The Imperium of Man: a massive VestigialEmpire choked with a TautologicalTemplar bureaucracy that preaches zealotry, ignorance, and militarism while completely disregarding the individual -- yet it's made up of humans just trying to survive in a universe where EverythingIsTryingToKillYou. Plus, at this point in the setting, the [[CrapsackWorld galaxy is so screwed up]] that [[TheExtremistWasRight fixing it might actually cause the apocalypse]].
** Among the Astartes, the Lamenters chapter is the best fit for this trope. They are the only chapter that will go out of their way to defend the innocent and defenseless of the Imperium. [[ButtMonkey They also get regularly and thoroughly thrashed by whoever they tussle with.]]
** Most (non-Dark) Eldar default to this. Like the Imperium, they consider all other races to be worthless compared to their own citizens; unlike the Imperium, they usually don't [[AbsoluteXenophobe actively try to exterminate outsiders]] that don't get in their way, and mostly just want to be left alone. The Necrons who aren't utter {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s are similar in that regard.