History Main / DefaultToGood

* In Creator/DavidEddings' ''{{Malloreon}}'' [[spoiler:Cyradis, explicitly described as the incarnation of TrueNeutral, has the sole purpose of deciding whether the Child of Light or the Child of Dark won. It's described as being as random as a coin flip, but needless to say, she picks good. It helps that the forces of Dark blatantly tried to cheat.]]

* This was Guts from ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'', and justifiable too, since he was a freelancing career mercenary who only went where the money was and didn't pick sides. When he's first introduced as a teen mercenary, he's fighting for [[TheEmpire the Tudor Empire]] (and they won the battle because of Guts), but then immediately leaves the job after his contract is fulfilled. But after being spotted by Griffith and his mercenary army, of which Guts helped fight against, [[DefeatMeansFriendship Guts was recruited]] to the Band of the Hawk, who were employed by [[TheKingdom the Kingdom of Midland]] to help fight against Tudor. When Guts went from default to the side of Midland, the kingdom got a HUGE advantage during the war.

* Averted with Amon Garam in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX''. After being neutrally helpful (but manipulative!) throughout the first arc of season three and then showing his own goals in the second (but still a bit helpful, if distant), you get to [[spoiler:the spot right after Haou has been defeated, where he steps up and sacrifices the woman who loves him and that he loves back in order to control Exodia.]] Then, he starts his plan to become king of the world. [[spoiler:But then it's double subverted (without being subverted in the first place, get over it) when he reveals himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist.]]

* ''Manga/InuYasha'': Sesshoumaru's personal goals left him in conflict with Inuyasha's group but uninterested in either the BigBad or the plot-driving DismantledMacGuffin. However, the BigBad kept trying to manipulate his SiblingRivalry to take out the heroes and his MoralityPet to neutralise his own power. This drove Sesshoumaru from being a random element, through the TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou and IWasJustPassingThrough AntiVillain stage, into being an openly helpful AntiHero. Without Sesshoumaru throwing his lot in with the good guys, the BigBad and ArtifactOfDoom could never have been defeated. In short, the BigBad should have read the 'If You're the Bad Guy' advice.

* Subverted, like so many things, in GeorgeRRMartin's ''{{A Song of Ice and Fire}}''. Lord Eddard Stark ''thinks'' he has secured the vital loyalty and aid of "declared neutral" [[spoiler:Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish]]. However, that fellow has gone over to the Bad Guys instead. The results are not pretty.

** From the ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'', Talon Karrde, Mara Jade, and the rest of the Smugglers' Alliance in ''TheThrawnTrilogy''. Took a MistreatmentInducedBetrayal to convince Karrde and Jade, and they had a hard time convincing the others. When they tried to do so, perhaps having realized his previous mistake with Karrde's organization, Thrawn gave specific orders to leave the other smugglers alone so that they'd continue to have no dog in the fight. A less intelligent informant of Thrawn's managed to ruin this in a play for personal glory, bringing most of the other major groups on board with forming the Smugglers' Alliance.

* Happens a couple of times in MichaelClayton to two different characters.

** From the ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'', Talon Karrde, Mara Jade, and the rest of the Smugglers' Alliance in ''TheThrawnTrilogy''. Took a MistreatmentInducedBetrayal to convince Karrde and Jade, and they had a hard time convincing the others.

* Asajj Ventress from ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' seems to routinely default to good after [[spoiler:her master's betrayal]] causes her to undergo a significant MoralityAdjustment and ends up falling somewhere between AntiHero and AntiVillain status.

* Asajj Ventress from ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' seems to routinely default to good after [[spoiler:her master's betrayal]] causes her to undergoes a significant MoralityAdjustment and ends up falling somewhere between AntiHero and AntiVillain status.

* Asajj Ventress from ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' seems to routinely default to good after [[spoiler:her master's betrayal]] causes her to undergo significant CharacterDevelopment and fall somewhere between AntiHero and AntiVillain status.

* Asajj Ventress from ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' seems to routinely default to good after undergoing CharacterDevelopment and falling somewhere between AntiHero and AntiVillain status.

* This was Guts from ''{{Berserk}}'', and justifiable too, since he was a freelancing career mercenary who only went where the money was and didn't pick sides. When he's first introduced as a teen mercenary, he's fighting for [[TheEmpire the Tudor Empire]] (and they won the battle because of Guts), but then immediately leaves the job after his contract is fulfilled. But after being spotted by Griffith and his mercenary army, of which Guts helped fight against, [[DefeatMeansFriendship Guts was recruited]] to the Band of the Hawk, who were employed by [[TheKingdom the Kingdom of Midland]] to help fight against Tudor. When Guts went from default to the side of Midland, the kingdom got a HUGE advantage during the war.

* In ''DungeonsAndDragons'' cosmology, St. Cuthbert, the god of justice and retribution, may be the UrExample for that setting. He has LawfulNeutral as an InUniverse alignment, but sources say that he sides with Good when given the choice, because Evil beings break laws more often than Good ones. (He does not allow evil worshippers, and many Paladin's are among his clergy.)

* Subverted in ''ExitFate''. TheHero, [[AllLovingHero Daniel Vinyard]], assumes that [[spoiler:Pereious and the mountain tribes]] are going to do this after [[TheEmpire Almenga]]'s unexpected acts of aggression and, if not, that he'll be able to convince them due to [[GenreSavvy knowing that he's a]] MagneticHero. Turns out, the big guy actually wants ''nothing'' to do with the upcoming war, is going to stay completely neutral in the fight, ''and'' even flat-out tells Daniel that they're still enemies (albeit this one has a WorthyOpponent vibe to it).

* In DavidEddings' ''{{Malloreon}}'' [[spoiler:Cyradis, explicitly described as the incarnation of TrueNeutral, has the sole purpose of deciding whether the Child of Light or the Child of Dark won. It's described as being as random as a coin flip, but needless to say, she picks good. It helps that the forces of Dark blatantly tried to cheat.]]

* ''Manga/InuYasha'': Sesshoumaru's personal goals left him in conflict with Inuyasha's group but uninterested in either the BigBad or the plot-driving DismantledMacGuffin. However, the BigBad kept trying to manipulate his SiblingRivalry to take out the heroes and his MoralityPet to neutralise his own power. This drove Sesshoumaru from being a random element, through the TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou and IWasJustPassingThrough AntiVillain stage, into being an openly helpful AntiHero. Without Sesshoumaru throwing his lot in with the good guys, the BigBad and ArtefactOfDoom could never have been defeated. In short, the BigBad should have read the 'If You're the Bad Guy' advice.

* ''Manga/InuYasha'': Sesshoumaru's personal goals left him in conflict with Inuyasha's group but uninterested in either the BigBad or the plot-driving DismantledMacGuffin. However, the BigBad kept trying to manipulate his SiblingRivalry to take out the heroes and his MoralityPet to neutralise his own power. This drove Sesshoumaru from being a random element, through the TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou and IWasJustPassingThrough AntiVillain stage, into an eventual openly helpful AntiHero. Without Sesshoumaru throwing his lot in with the good guys, the BigBad and ArtefactOfDoom could never have been defeated. In short, the BigBad should have read the 'If You're the Bad Guy' advice.

* ''Manga/InuYasha'': Sesshoumaru was his own person with his own goals. That, for the most part, put him in conflict with Inuyasha's group but he had no interest in the BigBad and no interest in the DismantledMacGuffin that everyone else was obsessed with. However, the BigBad kept screwing with him, trying to manipulate his SiblingRivalry to take out the heroes and his MoralityPet to neutralise his own power. It was only a matter of time before Sesshoumaru went from being a random element (villainous but story-neutral) to [[AntiVillain helping the good guys]] via TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou and IWasJustPassingThrough excuses to finally [[AntiHero openly supporting and helping]] the good guys to the extent where, in the end, the good guys could never have truly defeated the BigBad, UltimateEvil and ArtefactOfDoom without Sesshoumaru throwing in his lot with their side. In short, the BigBad should have read the 'If You're the Bad Guy' advice.

-->-- ''Franchise/StarWars : Film/ANewHope''

[[DefaultToGood Defaulting To Good]] is sometimes a ChangedMyMindKid moment. Compare RousseauWasRight.

* Subverted, then played straight by Rabat in ''{{Vandread}}'' flees before the final battle at the end of season 1. Despite pleas from the crew of the Nirvana, he never comes back. [[spoiler: Then at the end of season 2, he not only fights in the final battle, but brings a whole ''fleet'' with him!]]

'''If You Are The Bad Guys''': Whatever you do, do not choose this character as a subject to [[KickTheDog randomly display how evil xe is.]] If he wasn't inclined to help those ''other'' twits out at first, dropping him into a tank of flesh-devouring blood eels to prove your villain credentials won't help. He'll [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal happily forget]] whatever grudge he had against the Good Guys and [[AdoptTheDog join up with them]] [[{{Revenge}} in order to take you down]]. Displays of affection are out since you're Evil. But, since you ''are'' Evil, chances are you can outbid the Good Guys either in mercantile goods or in offers of worldly power. Good, in addition to being [[GoodIsDumb dumb]], is also often cash-strapped. Remember that the odds are against you in this effort, however; if the loner refuses your carefully considered and politely delivered bribe, [[KilledOffForReal kill him immediately]]. Do not [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat take half measures]]! These types are noticeably difficult to dispose of, and if you fail to kill him, well...remember what we told you about the tank of blood eels? Same deal, only more so.

* Subverted in ''ExitFate''. TheHero, [[TheMessiah Daniel Vinyard]], assumes that [[spoiler:Pereious and the mountain tribes]] are going to do this after [[TheEmpire Almenga]]'s unexpected acts of aggression and, if not, that he'll be able to convince them due to [[GenreSavvy knowing that he's a]] MagneticHero. Turns out, the big guy actually wants ''nothing'' to do with the upcoming war, is going to stay completely neutral in the fight, ''and'' even flat-out tells Daniel that they're still enemies (albeit this one has a WorthyOpponent vibe to it).

'''If You Are The Bad Guys''': Whatever you do, do not choose this character as a subject to [[KickTheDog randomly display how evil you are.]] If he wasn't inclined to help those ''other'' twits out at first, dropping him into a tank of flesh-devouring blood eels to prove your villain credentials won't help. He'll [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal happily forget]] whatever grudge he had against the Good Guys and [[AdoptTheDog join up with them]] [[{{Revenge}} in order to take you down]]. Displays of affection are out since you're Evil. But, since you ''are'' Evil, chances are you can outbid the Good Guys either in mercantile goods or in offers of worldly power. Good, in addition to being [[GoodIsDumb dumb]], is also often cash-strapped. Remember that the odds are against you in this effort, however; if the loner refuses your carefully considered and politely delivered bribe, [[KilledOffForReal kill him immediately]]. Do not [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat take half measures]]! These types are noticeably difficult to dispose of, and if you fail to kill him, well...remember what we told you about the tank of blood eels? Same deal, only more so.

Note that this is '''not''' the same as either a HeelFaceTurn or a FaceHeelTurn. Someone who Defaults To Good was neither a Heel nor a Face to begin with; they are affiliated with neither of the main sides until some critical point very late in the story. For most of the tale, they are only on their ''own'' side, although they may have an affiliation with a [[HiddenElfVillage third]] [[HufflepuffHouse group]] that is not taking an active part in the main conflict.

[[DefaultToGood Defaulting To Good]] is sometimes a ChangedMyMindKid moment.