History Main / MoralPragmatist

-->'''Adagio Dazzle''': The song's about being stuck in this miserable human world with no magic or hope of returning to Equestria. We made the mistake of using our powers to manipulate Canterlot High School, and we've paid the price for it with our magic.\\
'''Sonata Dusk''': Unless you count the magic of vocal processing.\\
'''Adagio Dazzle''': Which I don't! What I'm saying is we already get a do-over with every new day. It's called living life.\\
'''Sonata Dusk''': You should try it sometime.

* In the MarvelUniverse AlternateTimeline of Earth-1191, [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]] has become old and unsound in mind and body. He chooses to help the heroes simply because it allows him to stretch his still-impeccable intellect and retain mental lucidity for greater periods of time. He makes it clear, however, that if he ever became healthy again, he'd probably go back to his old ways.

* Melanie Cavill from ''Series/{{Snowpiercer}}'' is a particularly fine example. For all the horrors she enforces, her goal is genuinely to keep the last remains of humankind safe for as long as possible. When presented with the opportunity, she will make concessions towards a fairer system (such as [[spoiler:taking First Class passenger LJ Folger's murder trial seriously, handing the train over to [[RebelLeader Layton]], or trying to find out if it's possible to safely leave the train at all)]], but will as quickly backpedal if things get out of hand ([[spoiler:like commuting LJ's sentence to keep her quiet, or revealing the truth about the uncertainty of New Eden rather than risking taking the train on a bad stretch of tracks]]). If conflict arises and she's not in a position of power, she'll align herself with whichever part will make the least damage (namely [[spoiler: [[RebelLeader Layton]] over [[TheStarscream the Folgers]] first and [[BigBad Wilford]] then]]), but will change her allegiances if her chosen party will prove to risky ([[spoiler:like when she made an [[EnemyMine uneasy alliance]] with Wilford to wrestle control away from Layton and avoid the trip to New Eden]]). Ultimately, she ''will'' try the least evil route, but only so far as it complies with her idea of keeping humankind safe.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'', some of the team (villains disguised as heroes) find that doing heroic acts gives them what they always wanted -- such as fortune and fame. They start being seduced by the power of good.
* In the MarvelUniverse AlternateTimeline of Earth-1191, [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]] has become old and unsound in mind and body. He chooses to help the heroes simply because it allows him to stretch his still-impeccable intellect and retain mental lucidity for greater periods of time. He makes it clear, however, that if he ever became healthy again, he'd probably go back to his old ways.

* Peter Hale in ''Series/TeenWolf'' is somewhere between this and PragmaticVillainy. He's more than willing to murder, manipulate, and harm others to achieve his goals... until he loses his position as [[MonsterLord Alpha Werewolf]] and the {{Big Bad}}s of season 2 and 3 effectively force him to ally with the heroes who brought him down [[spoiler:and killed him]]; though he doesn't hold a grudge. While he's still the TokenEvilTeammate, he's not bloodthirsty and actually rather prudent.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** Urdnot Wrex is this way. His goal is to ensure the survival of his doomed species, the krogan. He has developed very pragmatic ideas to help the krogan recover from [[DepopulationBomb the genophage]], but they're too [[ProudWarriorRace proud and violent]] to listen to him. In [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 the first game]], when [[BigBad Saren]] finds a way to breed new krogan, he seriously considers betraying you, and you can only change his mind by either threatening to kill him or making him realize how stupid it would be to join Saren. In [[VideoGame/MassEffect3 the third game]], if he survived, Wrex refuses to help in the war against [[AbusivePrecursors the Reapers]] unless you cure the genophage first, and if you sabotage said cure, he immediately withdraws all krogan support just so that [[TakingYouWithMe humans will go extinct just like the krogan]].
** Likewise, Zaeed Massani. If you're playing a Paragon Shepard, the only way to complete his loyalty mission is to convince him that letting his hated archenemy get away is less important than focusing on the main mission. If you do, he'll agree to leave that behind him until the job's done. Then, in the third game, he still happens to be on the same side as Shepard because he's [[EnemyMine got a common enemy in Cerberus]].
* ''Videogame/XenobladeChroniclesX'': Most alien races fall into this trope. Since virtually all of them have been press-ganged into joining the Ganglion, they leap at the chance to rebel once they realize that A) they're stranded on Mira and the Ganglion are without most of their reinforcements and B) humanity actually has a good chance of defeating the Ganglion and thus freeing them. The Orphe and the Wrothians, in particular, make it clear that their alliance with humans are strictly a tool for survival (the Wrothian prince even flat out tells you that if there ever comes a time that Wrothian interests oppose human ones, he will void the truce immediately), but both species come to respect humanity in the meantime.

* In ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars: Dual Strike'', a driving reason for Hawke teaming up with the Allies to defeat Black Hole after his defection isn't to get revenge for them pulling a YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness on him nor because he believes it's wrong that their new schemes are reducing the planet to a desert by draining its life force, but because he can't see the point in ruling over a barren wasteland. If he's going to spend the time and resources it'll take to conquer the world, he wants that world to be in good condition.
-->'''Hawke''': I'm more curious about what you think of our new Black Hole Army, Lash.\\
'''Lash''': It's as evil as ever, isn't it? World domination and all that.\\
'''Hawke''': We've drained so much of the planet's energy that it's turning into a wasteland. What's the point? Is this prize worth dying for? Is this a noble end?

--> '''Lex:''' War income is pocket change compared to the ''billions'' to be made investing in a peaceful, united Rhelasia. And isn't it better to have peace even ''if'' that scoundrel Lex Luthor profits from it?

[[folder: Literature]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', when Lex Luthor is revealed as the arbitrator of the peace talks between North and South Rhelasia, Red Arrow calls him out for having an ulterior motive as the man has been profiting greatly off the war by [[PlayingBothSides selling weapons to both sides.]] Lex admits he ''does'' have an ulterior motive: that he can profit ''more'' off of the two countries if they are united.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In a season 4 episodes called [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E24TheQuickening The Quickening]], Bashir and Dax encounter a doctor on a planet ravaged by a plague. Many have tried and failed to cure the plague, and the doctor has given up hope of a cure and provides euthanasia because it's the only kindness he thinks is possible. This infuriates Bashir, who risks everything to work on a vaccine. As soon as hard evidence surfaces that the vaccine works, the doctor drops his arguments about euthanasia and helps Bashir distribute the vaccine.

In RealLife, this is often how psychologists and sociologists try to "reform" or control [[TheSociopath psychopaths and sociopaths]]. Since [[ItsAllAboutMe they only care about themselves]] ([[LackOfEmpathy and we do mean ONLY themselves]]), they are incapable of feeling sympathy or empathy for other people. The only way to [[MoralSociopathy make them play nice with others]] is by showing [[EnlightenedSelfInterest how they benefit from it]], or how the negative consequences will affect them. A sociopath might not care that killing somebody will make their loved ones feel bad, but the sociopath would definitely care if they knew that it would get them thrown in jail, arrested, or shanked in a back alley as a target of {{revenge}}.

* Melanie Cavill from ''Series/{{Snowpiercer}}'' is a particularly fine example. For all the horrors she enforces, her goal is genuinely to keep the last remains of humankind safe for as long as possible. When presented with the opportunity, she will make concessions towards a fairer system (such as [[spoiler:taking First Class passenger LJ Folger's murder trial seriously, handing the train over to [[RebelLeader Layton]], or trying to find out if it's possible to safely leave the train at all)]], but will as quickly backpedal if things get out of hand ([[spoiler:like commuting LJ's sentence to keep her quiet, or revealing the truth about the uncertainty of New Eden rather than risking taking the train on a bad stretch of tracks]]). If conflict arises and she's not in a position of power, she'll align herself with whichever part will make the least damage (namely [[spoiler: [[RebelLeader Layton]] over [[TheStarscrea, the Folgers]] first and [[BigBad Wilford]] then]]), but will change her allegiances if her chosen party will prove to risky ([[spoiler: like when she made an [[EnemyMine uneasy alliance]] with Wilford to wrestle control away from Layton and avoid the trip to New Eden]]). Ultimately, she ''will'' try the least evil route, but only so far as it complies with her idea of keeping humankind safe.

* Melanie Cavill from ''Series/{{Snowpiercer}}'' is a particularly fine example. For all the horrors she enforces, her goal is genuinely to keep the last remains of humankind safe for as long as possible. When presented with the opportunity, she will make concessions towards a fairer system (such as [[spoiler:taking LJ Folger's trial seriously, handing the train over to Layton, or trying to find out if it's possible to safely leave the train)]], but will as quickly backpedal if things get out of hand ([[spoiler:like commuting LJ's sentence to keep her quiet, or revealing the truth about the uncertainty of New Eden rather than risking taking the train on a bad stretch of tracks]]). If conflict arises and she's not in a position of power, she'll align herself with whichever part will make the least damage (namely [[spoiler: Layton over the Folgers first and Wilford then]]), but will change her allegiances if her chosen party will prove to risky ([[spoiler: like when she made an uneasy alliance with Wilford to wrestle control away from Layton and avoid the trip to New Eden]]). Ultimately, she ''will'' try the least evil route, but only so far as it complies with her idea of keeping humankind safe.

* Melanie Cavill from ''Series:{{Snowpiercer}}'' is a particularly fine example. For all the horrors she enforces, her goal is genuinely to keep the last remains of humankind safe for as long as possible. When presented with the opportunity, she will make concessions towards a fairer system (such as [[spoiler:taking LJ Folger's trial seriously, handing the train over to Layton, or trying to find out if it's possible to safely leave the train)]], but will as quickly backpedal if things get out of hand ([[spoiler:like commuting LJ's sentence to keep her quiet, or revealing the truth about the uncertainty of New Eden rather than risking taking the train on a bad stretch of tracks]]). If conflict arises and she's not in a position of power, she'll align herself with whichever part will make the least damage (namely [[spoiler: Layton over the Folgers first and Wilford then]]), but will change her allegiances if her chosen party will prove to risky ([[spoiler: like when she made an uneasy alliance with Wilford to wrestle control away from Layton and avoid the trip to New Eden]]). Ultimately, she ''will'' try the least evil route, but only so far as it complies with her idea of keeping humankind safe.

A character who follows this trope may eventually make [[HeelFaceTurn a full Face turn]] in the future if they find that GoodFeelsGood. A BastardBoyfriend or BastardGirlfriend may qualify if the only reason they care about their lover is because of the pleasure/attention they receive.