History Main / GoodPowersBadPeople

* In ''PerdidoStreetStation'' and other novels in that universe, there are professional magic users, thaumaturges, some of whom have impressive healing powers as well as the ability to perform transplants/surgery without risk of harming a patient. Unfortunately, this is a CrapsackWorld, and many thaumaturges with such powers are vile sadists. Instead of using their powers to heal, they play a role in the legal system, Remaking criminals as punishment for their crimes (i.e. painfully turning them into [[BodyHorror horribly disfigured biological or technological mash-ups]]).

** The timeline in ''Heroes'' is so convoluted and odd right now, the whole Lindermann thing approaches ValuesDissonance because his plan might well end up being the best of all possible outcomes...
*** Not to mention that in Vietnam, he used his powers to heal his fellow soldiers. He was even going to use his powers to save the target of his and Arthur Petrelli's mission, but Arthur held him back. He wasn't always a 'bad person.'

** He didn't turn evil; he just went a bit too KnightTemplar with what he thought was the only way to change a BadFuture.

*** It's possible that surgeons became scapegoats after a war between a scientific nation and a magical nation. However, we mostly have Yawgmoth's word on this, and he himself is unambiguously evil. (Yes, he can cure illnesses, but he's not above starting plagues in order to create demand.)

* Redcloak semi-[[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this at the bottom of [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0433.html this]] ''{{Order of the Stick}}'' strip. "Healing? No they're going so they can zombify our dead. We're the bad guys, remember?" The moment where the 'good' powers of a cleric are used, however, are seen later when the clerics turn out to be entirely competent healers.

** Miko Miyazaki, a [[LawfulGood Paladin]] from the same series, is overzealous, prejudiced, and overall an unpleasant person to be around.
*** And she murders her own ruler in a fit of paranoid rage because she thinks he sold out the Sapphire Guard and Azure City on incredibly flimsy evidence.
** Rich Burlew describes a group of people in ''[[StartOfDarkness Start of Darkness]]'' as "good people who do bad things". He is likely referring to the [[spoiler:Paladins' attempted genocide of the [[AlwaysChaoticEvil goblin]] people.]]
*** He's probably also talking about Redcloak (who ends up becoming much more malevolent by the end of the comic) and his band of goblins.
* Kore from ''{{Goblins}}'' is a paladin, which is supposed to be a paragon of Lawful Good behaviour. And yet he routinely exterminates anyone from a "monstrous" race he comes across whether or not they are harming anyone or even if they themselves are innocent. He even puts down people who have associated with monstrous races to prevent them from developing sympathies with them.
** He was only shown doing so when a human child that was rescued by a member of a monstrous race. And had just witnessed said monster and a bunch of others being crushed by Kore. That the kid might sympathize with the monsters seems reasonable, that's where the reader's sympathy certainly is.
** Although WordOfGod has stated repeatedly that Kore is a paladin, but there's a reason he still has his powers. And he has shown a paladin power: Speak to dead.
*** According to older rules, Paladins took a hit to alignment for even unknowingly working with evil types. It seems pretty much canon by the D&D universe that he shouldn't be suffering hits to alignment for "evil" races, however puny they might be compared to him.
*** Aren't there Paladins of Slaughter that worship evil in third edition?]

*** He's definitely a paladin. Considering that the axe that can't hurt paladins passed right through him without doing harm. I'm so worried for those little guys...

** Actually, he doesn't know that [[spoiler:Shirou will protect her.]] He just knows that [[spoiler:saving her will force him and Rin to make the choice.]] And, he wins either way. [[spoiler:If they decide to kill her, he gets to watch their suffering, as they both break totally and turn into, essentially, single-minded killers who will do anything to achieve their goal (in Rin's case, getting the Grail, and in Shirou's case, preventing it being used), and he gets to see the aftermath (what they do when they realise what they've done, and who they've killed to achieve it).]] If they don't, then the aforementioned happens.

*** Actually it's a bit more complicated than that. It is implied that it is Zeliek's unflinching devotion to the Light that allows him to keep his Light powers in undeath and consequently what makes him valuable to the Lich King to control in the first place.
** Arguably, any healer in an evil organization (unless they use shadow based heals such as Dark Mending, like most undead healers tend to do) is one of those. While there tends not to be a lot of true evil paladins around (though some pseudo-paladin knockoffs do exist) except in the aforementioned Scarlet Crusade, evil priests, shamans, and druids with holy or natural based healing power are present for most evil races and factions.
** Note that the {{Warcraft}} universe uses both the LowestCosmicDenominator and AllMythsAreTrue systems, so it's especially true that LightIsNotGood. The Church of the Holy Light is almost Buddhist in its lack of belief in a personal god; the holy powers of priests and paladins is channeled via meditation and inner peace rather than the involvement of {{God}}. The [[BigBad creator of the undead Scourge]] is a CompleteMonster, so the undead he created can't use the Light even if they're free of him, but other than that anyone can use the Light's power, even really horrible people like {{Knight Templar}}s who are [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope long past the slippery slope of morality]], as long as they have the necessary training and sincere belief.
*** More simply put, the correlation between the Holy Light and goodness is strong but definitely not absolute.

** So, her only weapons were a healing spell and daggers, then. no?...
*** The impressive part is removing the will to kill by healing spells. After that, it's just setting off inerm people, so the weapon of choice was just a matter of opportunity. Frozen bananas would have worked the same.
*** And if they were no longer dangerous, why did she need to kill them anyway? I call MoralDissonance. Then again, the whole series is full of MoralDissonance.
*** That one was '''explicitly''' WhatTheHellHero and not MoralDissonance.
** So the spellcasters in the Inheritance Trilogy can cure people of what, exactly? Their self-preservation instinct? I call bullshit.
*** [[LoveItOrHateIt You would not be the first.]]
*** Galbatorix makes some of his soldiers zombie-like (incapable of feeling pain, fear, etc.) in the third novel.
** Not a healing spell, exactly. Just the ''word'' for "Heal". In the Inheritance Trilogy, spellcasters can do anything with a spell as long as they can mentally connect [[LanguageOfMagic what they're saying]] to what they want to happen. An in-universe example would be that it is said that a skilled magic user could create a gemstone with the word for 'water' if they could clearly see a link between the concepts of 'water' and 'gemstone'.
*** Sorry but no. Remember how Eragon '''''meant''''' to bless Elva but accidentally cursed her? It's because he used the wrong wording. Intent doesn't matter.
*** Intent very much does matter, which is why the words were made to bind the intent. "Water" is very vague and so it could mean pretty much anything, but "Freeze that water" would do exactly that.

* ''DarkerThanBlack'' is filled with characters who either have powers geared toward murder or LethalHarmlessPowers. However, the worst of the lot, a guy who was a SerialKiller before getting his powers, and is a creepy psycho, has the power to cause blissful unconsciousness (which he of course uses to cut off people's oxygen and kill them).

Maybe they ask for money in exchange for healing, or outright extort villagers for payment in order to "solve their problem". Beyond this merely mercenary outlook, a Bad Person with Good Powers might use their powers for outright evil or to aid evildoers, or find a way of twisting their previously squeaky clean power into a {{squick}}y mean torture. Lastly, any KnightTemplar with "Holy" powers might be so dogmatic in their belief that they twist their holy mandate into things like ethnic cleansing of "AlwaysChaoticEvil" races.

**** Aren't there Paladins of Slaughter that worship evil in third edition?]
** He uses Lay On Hands to heal Chief - in order to torture him, so Chief's screams draw the other goblins out of hiding. That said, his magical aura is a little... [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel unusual]].

*** No, he showed the power of carrying enchanted pills that allows to speak to the dead. Wait, it's not actually a power, nor is the spell on the Paladin list. And he has no mount.

* The Bitka Spirt Father from ''DominicDeegan'' - the most powerful wielder of the Akta, a force for life and healing, among the orcs of Maltak. He's also a xenophobic, fanatical CompleteMonster.

* Kore from ''{{Goblins}}'' is a paladin, which is supposed to be a paragon of Lawful Good behaviour. And yet he routinely exterminates anyone from a "monstrous" race he comes across whether or not they are harming anyone or even if they themselves are innocent. He even puts down people who have associated with monstrous races to prevent them from developing sympathies with them. [[spoiler: That being said, he has suspiciously never shown a paladin power on panel.]]

**** Aren't there Paladins of Slaughter that worship evil in third edition?

* In ''StarWars'', many Christians (and avid RPG players) will be surprised to learn that Darth Plagueis could raise the dead.

** Not a healing spell, exactly. Just the ''word'' for "Heal". In the Inheritance Trilogy, spellcasters can do anything with a spell as long as they can mentally connect [[LanguageOfMagic what they're saying]] to what they want to happen. An in-universe example would be that it is said that a skilled magic user could create a gemstone with the word for 'water' if they could clearly see a link between the concepts of 'water' and 'gemstone'. [[OrSoIHeard Or so heard]]

* ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' has an example of this: [[spoiler:Bernkastel, aka the Witch of Miracles, who starts out seeming to be good. Then she reveals her true colors, and reminds the audience that a 'miracle' is just something that the odds are against happening, good OR bad. [[CompleteMonster Guess which ones she favors?]]]]

** Miko Miyazaki, a [[LawfulGood Paladin]] from the same series, is overzealous, judicious, and overall an unpleasant person to be around.

*** Galbatorix makes some of his soldiers zombie-like (incapable of feeling pain, fear, etc.) in the third novel. SoYeah.

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*** So the spellcasters in the Inheritance Trilogy can cure people of what, exactly? Their self-preservation instinct? I call bullshit.

*** In the Inheritance Trilogy, spellcasters, so long as they know the name of the concept, can do anything with a concept if they are clever enough. An in-universe example would be that it is said that a skilled magic user could create a gemstone with the word for 'water' if they were clever enough to know how using water would lead to creating the stone. [[OrSoIHeard Or so heard]]

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