History Main / GoodIsImpotent

* In "LIterature/HarryPotter", Dumbledore for all his power and wisdom tends to be rather ineffectual. His laissez-faire approach to problems, fear of power and only willingness to react in small steps does little to address the problmes of Wizarding Britain such as the corruption of the Ministry or rise of evil. Most of the time he is either doing damage control or trying to play catch up with his plans relying more on luck. It is only when he is finally motivated to take the field himself or the more active heroes disobey him that things get done.

Regardless of the circumstances, [[StupidGood the pure good entity will be a complete and total wuss. Militant pacifist, empathic to a ridiculous degree, incapable of defending itself, and generally utterly useless]] till the main cast reunites it somehow with its evil, depraved and (of course) effective and proactive side.

* In the French-English comic ''ComicBook/RequiemVampireKnight'', Résurrection is a Hell-like dimension where evil people reincarnate as hideous monsters and split into different categories according to their sins in life. The closest thing to a "good" faction in this world are the [[OurGhostsAreDifferent lamias]], who did not commit any real crimes in life, but they are [[CrapsackWorld sentenced to this world regardless because they were victimized by someone else that did became a monster]] and the only way they can leave Résurrection is to destroy the one responsible.\\
They are among the weakest creatures in this setting, only slightly above [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombies]] and make up a significant portion of the slave population, with the most beautiful and not yet bitten female lamias being forced to join Count Dracula's harem. On their own, they are only capable of spooking their tormentors in their sleep and depend on mind-controlling other creatures such as centaurs and werewolves (i.e. other evil individuals - rapists and religious zealots, respectively) to really make a difference. And even then, that doesn't mean much since the vampires (Résurrection's elite made up of the most depraved individuals to ever live) are more advanced in every single way.\\

* This is revealed to be the case with [[OurAngelsAreDifferent the beings]] that run the eponymous {{heaven}}ly afterlife in ''Series/TheGoodPlace''. Whereas the beings who run [[{{Hell}} the Bad Place]] have no compunctions with using dirty tricks and underhanded tactics to get their way, the Good Place heads are {{Principles Zealot}}s who are so dedicated [[HonorBeforeReason to following the rules to the exact letter]] that they're [[ObstructiveBureaucrat incapable of immediately solving the glaring issue in front of them]] (namely, the fact that [[spoiler:no human has been able to get into the Good Place in over ''500 years'']]), feeling the need to take at least ''1000 years'' to form a blue-ribbon committee and suss out any possible conflicts of interest/corruption within their proposed investigative group, despite the fact that being from the Good Place, any chance the members would be unscrupulous in any way is extremely unlikely. This forces the heroes to take matters into their own hands as a result.

* On ''Series/AmericanGothic1995'', no matter how hard Dr. Crower and Gail fight for Caleb's rights, and no matter how much Merlyn uses her angelic powers to protect him, Caleb is inexorably drawn into Buck's orbit and everyone seems helpless to prevent it, or even expose Buck's evil. It doesn't help that the sheriff is a VillainWithGoodPublicity and that both Matt and Gail are hardly immune to mind games or [[EvilIsSexy temptation]], but even Merlyn is made out to be decidedly weaker than her adversary--and gaining more power to face him almost pushes her too far.

* The classic ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' episode "The Enemy Within" where a transporter accident lead to Kirk getting divided into "good" (peaceful, passive, considerate, pacifist) and "evil" (violent, resolute, egoistical, aggressive) selves. What makes this the poster child for this Trope is that the "Evil" side does learn to calm down and even assumes command for a short time, while the "Good" side remains unable to make the simplest decisions (though downplayed in that the episode doesn't ''call'' it Kirk's good and evil sides, it just ends up that way based on the division of traits). Notably, though, the episode actually plays a bit with the concept, as the "Good" side turns out have Kirk's courage while the "Evil" side is a total coward when the chips are down, falling into a useless panic at the thought of losing independent existence, something the "Good" side can calmly accept.