History Main / ALighterShadeOfBlack

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While EvilVersusEvil may be fun, it carries the risk of DarknessInducedAudienceApathy. People just ''do'' like having someone to cheer for. But if both sides are equally reprehensible, there's really no point to it.

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

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

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Despite both President Snow and Alma Coin being power hungry villains who want to control Panem and [[CompleteMonster irredeemable bastards]], Snow is portrayed as a slightly better person than Coin due to the fact that he [[IGaveMyWord he always keeps his promise]] and [[VillainsNeverLie he will never lie]] to Katniss as opposed to Coin who is willing to lie and cheat in order to hold power. [[spoiler: This clue led Katniss to realize that it was ''Coin'', not President Snow, who was responsible for Prim's death and the bombing of the Capitol's children.]]

While EvilVersusEvil may be fun, it carries the risk of DarknessInducedAudienceApathy. People just DO like having someone to cheer for. But if both sides are equally reprehensible, there's really no point to it.

So that's where this trope kicks in. It basically means that the author is clearly trying to portray one side of the conflict as the better or more symphathetic one, so the audience can root for them. Since both sides are supposed to be villains, this isn't that hard. You just need to give your Lighter Black a little edge on the sympathy meter. The idea is to have the audience say "Yeah, Alice may be evil, but at least she's not half as bad as Bob!"

Or maybe the villain is such a MagnificentBastard with many a CrowningMomentOfAwesome (or generally just damn [[EvilIsCool cool]]) that it's way easier to side with them. Especially if their opposition is [[EvilVersusOblivion a threat to]] ''[[EvilVersusOblivion everyone]]''.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Despite both President Snow and Alma Coin being power hungry villains who want to control Panem, Snow is portrayed as a better person than Coin due to the fact that he [[IGaveMyWord he always keeps his promise]] and [[VillainsNeverLie he will never lie]] to Katniss as opposed to Coin who is willing to lie and cheat in order to hold power. [[spoiler: This clue led Katniss to realize that it was ''Coin'', not President Snow, who are responsible for Prim's death and the bombing of the Capitol's children.]]

* The Parker novels by Richard Stark sometimes uses this. Parker, is a VillianProtagonist, is about as an amoral thief. However, he is pragmatic. He would kill to get what he wants, but he would not do it if it was unnessecary because he knows that the police put more effort in hunting murderers than thieves. Some books like The Sour Lemon Score or Deadly Edge, put him against complete psychos who rape and kill on a whim.
* Despite both President Snow and Alma Coin being power hungry villains who want to control Panem, Snow is portrayed as a better person than Coin due to the fact that he [[IGaveMyWord he always keeps his promise]] and [[VillainsNeverLie he will never lie]] to Katniss as opposed to Coin who is willing to lie and cheat in order to hold power. [[spoiler: This clue led Katniss to realize that it was ''Coin'', not President Snow, who are responsible for Prim's death and the bombing of the Capitol's children.]]

* 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 HangingJudge 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.

Or maybe the villain is such a MagnificentBastard with many a CrowningMomentOfAwesome (or generally just damn [[EvilIsCool cool]]) that it's way easier to side with them. Especially when their enemy is an EldritchAbomination or somesuch.

* In ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' we have the BigBadDuumvirate, [[ArchNemesisDad Relius]] [[MadScientist Clover]] and [[FauxAffablyEvil Hazama]] / [[AxCrazy Terumi]] [[{{Troll}} Yuuki]]. Both of them are {{Complete Monster}}s extraordinaire, seemingly caught in a "How far beyond the MoralEventHorizon can you go" contest, but despite the fact that they are pretty much evenly matched as far as accomplishments go, Relius is still a lighter shade of black than Hazama is. First and foremost because most of his atrocities were committed in order to [[ForScience satiate his own scientific curiosoty]], and secondly because he is [[PragmaticVillainy pretty pragmatic in his villainy]]. Compare to Hazama 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]], though, because Hazama/Terumi avoids getting [[{{Retgone}} erased from reality]] by anchoring his own existence in the world [[GodNeedsPrayerBadly through people's hatred of him]]. It's ultimately DoubleSubverted, though, because he really ''does'' get off on pushing people beyond the DespairEventHorizon. The fact that there are good reasons to suspect he's the 'verse's own take on {{Satan}} doesn't help his case, either.

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* In ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' we have the BigBadDuumvirate, [[ArchNemesisDad Relius]] [[MadScientist Clover]] and [[FauxAffablyEvil Hazama]] / [[AxCrazy Terumi]] [[{{Troll}} Yuuki]]. Both of them are {{Complete Monster}}s extraordinaire, seemingly caught in a "How far beyond the MoralEventHorizon can you go" contest, but despite the fact that they are pretty much evenly matched as far as accomplishments go, Relius is still a lighter shade of black than Hazama is. First and foremost because most of his atrocities were committed in order to [[ForScience satiate his own scientific curiosoty]], and secondly because he is [[PragmaticVillainy pretty pragmatic in his villainy]]. Compare to Hazama 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]], though, because Hazama/Terumi avoids getting [[{{Retcon}} erased from reality]] by anchoring his own existence in the world [[GodNeedsPrayerBadly through people's hatred of him]]. It's ultimately DoubleSubverted, though, because he really ''does'' get off on pushing people beyond the DespairEventHorizon. The fact that there are good reasons to suspect he's the 'verse's own take on {{Satan}} doesn't help his case, either.

* In ''BlazBlue'' we have the BigBadDuumvirate, [[ArchNemesisDad Relius]] [[MadScientist Clover]] and [[FauxAffablyEvil Hazama]] / [[AxCrazy Terumi]] [[{{Troll}} Yuuki]]. Both of them are {{Complete Monster}}s extraordinaire, seemingly caught in a "How far beyond the MoralEventHorizon can you go" contest, but despite the fact that they are pretty much evenly matched as far as accomplishments go, Relius is still a lighter shade of black than Hazama is. First and foremost because most of his atrocities were committed in order to [[ForScience satiate his own scientific curiosoty]], and secondly because he is [[PragmaticVillainy pretty pragmatic in his villainy]]. Compare to Hazama 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]], though, because Hazama/Terumi avoids getting [[{{Retcon}} erased from reality]] by anchoring his own existence in the world [[GodNeedsPrayerBadly through people's hatred of him]]. It's ultimately DoubleSubverted, though, because he really ''does'' get off on pushing people beyond the DespairEventHorizon. The fact that there are good reasons to suspect he's the 'verse's own take on {{Satan}} doesn't help his case, either.

* By the third season of ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'', VillainProtagonist Nucky Thompson had [[TakeALevelInJerkass taken a level in jerkass]] and embraced his role as a gangster to a degree that he was no longer clearly the Gray in the BlackAndGrayMorality framework. So, he was given an opponent in Gyp Rosetti, a brutal sociopath with a HairTriggerTemper, against whom Nucky looks like a saint in comparison.

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* VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}. Among your plucky group of heroes are 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. However, 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.

Or maybe the villain is such a MagnificentBastard with many a CrowningMomentOfAwesome (or generally just damn [[EvilIsCool cool]]) that it's way easier to side with them. Especially when their enemy is an EldritchAbomination, CompleteMonster or somesuch.

* {{Drakengard}}. Among your plucky group of heroes are 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. However, 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.

* ''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 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 fairly simplistic 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.