History Main / NeutralNoLonger

* Comicbook/DoctorStrange started out as a DrJerk who cared only about himself. When circumstances confined him to the hidden retreat of the Ancient One, he realized very quickly that magic is real -- and that it can be used for evil. Though he had come to the Ancient One to heal his hands, he changed his request and asked to learn magic instead, so he could fight back.

* In ''ComicBook/SerenityLeavesOnTheWind'', when the [[LaResistance New Resistance]] catches up with ''Serenity'', Mal initially rejects their request to be their leader. But after the Alliance captures Zoe and kills most of the NR in separate incidents, he finally gets angry enough.
* In ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'', the series is resolved when Superman convinces Dr. Manhattan that beneath it all, the latter ''still'' has ties to his humanity. It inspires him to actually start caring about the multiverse, instead of being a curious, uncaring experimental scientist.

* The hidden runners of ''Fanfic/TheSevenHunters'' were originally neutral to Redclaw's schemes. [[DisproportionateRetribution After the slaughter of an entire pack]] [[SoleSurvivor with the exception of one child]], Viscond, the leader of another pack, decides they can no longer remain neutral to the conflict. Harthron, the highest ranking hidden runner in all the land, at first wants to remain out of the conflict and hide, but later comes to the realization that running and hiding will no longer work. The combined efforts of the hidden runners help out greatly in the battle in the Great Valley.

* Though none of them are remotely badass, in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4967518/5/Adamantine-Mist Adamantine Mist]]'' all the civilians of [[Manga/RanmaOneHalf Nerima]] set out to destroy Ranma's would be fiances after Shampoo attacks [[FriendToAllLivingThings Kasumi]]. This is done through actions like delaying orders to Ukyo's restaurant or flat out refusing to sell to Shampoo's and Cologne's cafe.

* ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim'': Throughout Season 1, Gaz makes it clear that she is totally indifferent to the fight for the fate of the Earth. However, during the seasonal StoryArc's climax, she decides to aid Zim by [[spoiler: giving him the location of [[LostSuperweapon Project Domination]]]], [[EvilIsPetty purely to spite Dib]] and in the hope that her hated rival Viera will get killed in the process. However, Season 2 reveals this was a one time thing, and that she's gone back to being neutral.
* ''Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters'': Shortly after Elyon is brought to Meridian, Phobos orders an attack on [[KnowledgeBroker Charles Ludmoore]], in order to cut off his support to the Rebellion. Doing this violates the neutrality accord which Ludmoore operates on, and he escapes to join the Rebellion directly. [[spoiler: Which is all part of Ludmoore and Cedric's LongGame, and [[BatmanGambit the reason why]] Cedric manipulated Phobos into order the attack.]]

* ''Fanfic/JackieChanAdventuresOlympianJourney'': Upon the heroes and [[BigBad Eris]] coming across her in the ruins of Olympus, Hestia -- the NeutralFemale Greek Goddess of the Hearth -- decides that she's no longer going to sit on the sidelines. The next three chapters after her introduction involve [[HumanityOnTrial putting the good and bad guys on trial]] to see who Hestia will side with.
* In ''Fanfic/DanganronpaClassSwap'', Izuru spends most of the story indifferent to the killing game. However, that changes at the end of the fourth trial. [[spoiler:Teruteru dies when he accidentally touches exposed wiring in the makeshift radio Kazuichi was building, and because he didn't know it was dangerous [[InsaneTrollLogic Monokuma declares Kazuichi the murderer]].]] Realizing that playing by the rules will not keep him safe any longer, Izuru resolves to destroy the killing game.
* ''Fanfic/HarryAndTheShipgirls'' has Wanko, an Abyssal Harbor Princess. Initially, she didn't care one way or the other about taking a side in the war. Then the hostile Abyssals attacked and seemingly killed Hoppou, the Northern Ocean Princess. Wanko's response was to wipe out what was left of Hoppou's attackers and officially ally herself with humanity.

** Also happens ''within'' the United States -- at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Kentucky was a slave-holding state that identified culturally with the South but one that didn't have much appetite for secession (its governor Beriah Magoffin was Southern-sympathizing and bristled at President Lincoln's call for troops to serve in Union armies but believed slave states should remain in the Union and the Constitution). For the first several months it tried to stay neutral, its legislature refusing to vote on a bill of secession and instead passed a bill asking both side to leave them alone. Then, Confederate General Leonidas Polk occupied the town of Columbus that summer, spurring the legislature (which at this point had become pro-Union enough to override the governor's vetoes) to start passing legislation blatantly against Confederate efforts but not the Union's -- ''this'' in turn pissed off pro-Confederates in the western and central parts of the state, who [[StartMyOwn established their own state government]] that joined the Confederacy that December. Kentucky's stance was sorted out by 1862, with the state effectively in Union hands thanks to General Ulysses Grant, the original pro-Union government remaining in effective control, Governor Magoffin resigning, and the rival pro-Confederate government existing only on paper having been forced to flee to Tennessee.

** Finn is a [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] example; he's functionally on the side of the Resistance from very early on, but only out of a desire to protect Rey, and he tries to leave several times in both ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' and ''Film/TheLastJedi''. It takes an extended trip to Canto Bight and meeting [[spoiler: and being betrayed by]] [[WildCard DJ]], seeing the [[BystanderSyndrome real consequences]] of remaining TrueNeutral like he wanted before he truly embraces the cause of the Resistance as ''his'' cause.

* Another one from Creator/BioWare and Franchise/StarWars: Jolee Bindo from ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' is a [[KnightInSourArmor ex-Jedi in Sour Armor]] who left the Order and had exiled himself. Despite being neutral on the KarmaMeter, and making a good show of not caring about the outcome of the current war, he is very quick to scold a player's Dark Side acts. When it comes down to the wire, he chooses the path of a Jedi and will positively ''refuse'' to join you if you choose Dark Side.

* ''Anime/DragonballZ'': Android 16 starts out as a GentleGiant who refuses to fight anybody except Goku (due to his programming) and instead prefers to interact with the wildlife. When he realises the malevolence behind Cell, a wicked monster that will annihilate all life on Earth simply ForTheEvulz, he spurs into action and, as a inspiration to {{Badass Pacifist}}s everywhere, gives Cell the toughest fight he had encountered so far, coming close to killing him outright.

* ''Fanfic/HarryAndTheShipgirls'' has Wanko, an Abyssal Harbor Princess. Initically, she didn't care one way or the other about taking a side in the war. Then the hostile Abyssals attacked and seemingly killed Hoppou, the Northern Ocean Princess. Wanko's response was to wipe out what was left of Hoppou's attackers and officially ally herself with humanity.

* Another one from Creator/BioWare and StarWars: Jolee Bindo from ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' is a [[KnightInSourArmor ex-Jedi in Sour Armor]] who left the Order and had exiled himself. Despite being neutral on the KarmaMeter, and making a good show of not caring about the outcome of the current war, he is very quick to scold a player's Dark Side acts. When it comes down to the wire, he chooses the path of a Jedi and will positively ''refuse'' to join you if you choose Dark Side.

* In the MagicalGirl CrisisCrossover ''FanFic/ShatteredSkiesTheMorningLights'', the BigGood Fantine initially refuses to use her incredible powers to stop the story's LegionOfDoom from waging war on reality. Moreover, she refuses to let the survivors of said war fight back, for fear of losing the only ways to repair the damage to the multiverse. She changes her tune when [[spoiler:[[BigBad Joker]] unleashes a SpaceTimeEater EldritchAbomination which consumes countless timelines in the [[Franchise/PrettyCure Precure]] universe. Forced to act to prevent [[NoNameGive "the entity"]] from doing even more harm, Fantine sacrifices all but a fraction of her power to banish "the entity" back to where it came. In the aftermath, she tells the survivors that given what's happened, she can no longer stop them from fighting.]]

* In ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', during the Goshasei arc, Juza of the Clouds minds his own hedonistic life and doesn't want to get involved in the conflict between [[BigBad Raoh]] and the Last General Of Nanto, despite being called multiple calls by Rihaku, the leader of the said General's guardians, to take up the fight against Raoh. That is, until Juza finally learns that the Last General is actually [[spoiler:Yuria, who was the only woman Juza ever loved, and also conveniently [[TheHero Kenshiro]]'s LoveInterest]].

* The smugglers of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' 'verse are typically neutral - they'll take any job you happen to want, regardless of faction, and then take your competitors' tomorrow... until the Empire starts encroaching just a little on their line of work. First they take Talon Karrde prisoner to keep him from revealing (i.e. selling) the location of the Katana fleet. After he gets broken out of prison, Karrde promptly turns around and gives it to the New Republic. Then the Empire hires a mole to stop the smugglers from banding together, who promptly [[TooDumbToLive ordered a hit on a smuggler meeting]] that [[AndYourLittleDogToo killed the one unarmed guy in the room]] and approximately no one else. Turns out upsetting an entire underworld's worth of cutthroat low-lives is a ''bad idea''. His Imperial handlers had actually instructed him not to do anything like that, for this exact reason; he was just an idiot.

** Most of the main characters in ''Literature/DeathStar'' are working for the Empire, whether enlisted or conscripted and [[ResignationsNotAccepted kept from leaving]]. Many of the cast dislikes the Empire, but having no non-propagandistic knowledge of the Rebel Alliance they assume [[GoldenMeanFallacy it's no better]], so all they're doing working on the battle station is keeping themselves intact. The moral complacency of most characters is jarred after [[TestedOnHumans Despayre]] and shattered after [[EarthShatteringKaboom Alderaan]]. Old archivist Atour Riten explicitly states in his narration that for all his life he's been apolitical, just a historian, but now that changes - killing billions of people just like that ''is evil''.

* During ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech'''s Clan Invasion, [=ComStar=] - a NGOSuperPower that manages the SubspaceAnsible network in the Inner Sphere - remained neutral, providing their services to the invading Clans so long as they left [=ComStar=] alone. Eventually, [=ComStar=] gets wind that the end goal of the Clans is to retake PlanetTerra, effectively their Mecca, which is inconveniently the headquarters of Comstar. After a schism with their leadership, [=ComStar=]'s new leader challenges the Clans to a Trial Of Possession, unveiling the fact that for the past three hundred years, [[SuperweaponSurprise they have been amassing an army]] backed up by LostTechnology that they have salvaged and stolen, including interstellar warships. [=ComStar=] kicks the crap out the Clans, forcing a truce and giving the Inner Sphere time to rebuild for a counterattack.

* Played with in the second ''VideoGame/{{Avernum}}'' game: the Empire-Avernum War is interrupted by the Vahnatai, who start out as "neutral" in the sense that they're targeting ''all'' humans due to the theft of their revered Crystal Souls. When Imperial involvement in the theft is exposed - and, more importantly, when your party clears the Avernites of any wrong-doing - the Vahnatai side with your people against the Empire.

* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' begins with this. The player characters are Vault Hunters - basically mercenary adventurers employed to open Eridian Vaults. While they had their ''reasons'' for being on Pandora, only two really had any meaningful ties to anything there - Salvador was born on Pandora, and Krieg had an old enmity with Hyperion and was only on the train because of Maya. The initial driver of the plot is Handsome Jack betraying the player characters and leaving them for dead, which is one of those things that influences people without making friends and successfully motivated them all to side with his enemies, the Crimson Raiders.

** Also happens ''within'' the United States - at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Kentucky was a slave-holding state that identified culturally with the South but one that didn't have much appetite for secession (its governor Beriah Magoffin was Southern-sympathizing and bristled at President Lincoln's call for troops to serve in Union armies but believed slave states should remain in the Union and the Constitution). For the first several months it tried to stay neutral, its legislature refusing to vote on a bill of secession and instead passed a bill asking both side to leave them alone. Then, Confederate General Leonidas Polk occupied the town of Columbus that summer, spurring the legislature (which at this point had become pro-Union enough to override the governor's vetoes) to start passing legislation blatantly against Confederate efforts but not the Union's - ''this'' in turn pissed off pro-Confederates in the western and central parts of the state, who [[StartMyOwn established their own state government]] that joined the Confederacy that December. Kentucky's stance was sorted out by 1862, with the state effectively in Union hands thanks to General Ulysses Grant, the original pro-Union government remaining in effective control, Governor Magoffin resigning, and the rival pro-Confederate government existing only on paper having been forced to flee to Tennessee.

* The first kind is rather straightforward. The neutral party is initially undecided until the villains press their BerserkButton. Then the neutral party will oppose the villains from then on.

* ''WesternAnimation/DoubleDragon'': At first Su Lien, tai chi chuan master and instructor, refuses to side with either the Dragons or the Shadow in their fight, preferring to remain neutral. The Shadow Master, never taking no for an answer, captures her and plugs her into a virtual reality program to invade her mind and rip them from her; Jimmy, Billy, and Su Lien's student Kona go in after her. When it seems the Shadow Master, in large dragon form, is about to win, Su Lien breaks her neutrality, turns into a giant white dragon, and kicks his black-scaled butt. When asked later, she says there comes a point where no one can remain neutral in the fight of good vs evil. Afterwards, she stays a useful ally.

Compare DefaultToGood, HeroicNeutral, LetsGetDangerous. Hope that no NeutralityBacklash kicks in, when the winning side resents the person who only signed on at the last minute. Also an inversion of ChoosingNeutrality, where someone evil or good shifts to neutral.

Compare DefaultToGood, HeroicNeutral, LetsGetDangerous. Hope that no NeutralityBacklash kicks in, when the winning side resents the person who only signed on at the last minute.

* Tigertron does this in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars''. He wakes up from stasis all confused, not certain who he is, when he sees the Predacons threaten to kill an innocent animal if the Maximals don't surrender their friend. The Maximals surrender -- and he realizes who the good guys are.

* The smugglers of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' 'verse are typically neutral - they'll take any job you happen to want, regardless of faction, and then take your competitors' tomorrow.. until the Empire starts encroaching just a little on their line of work. First they take Talon Karrde prisoner to keep him from revealing (i.e. selling) the location of the Katana fleet. After he gets broken out of prison, Karrde promptly turns around and gives it to the New Republic. Then the Empire hires a mole to stop the smugglers from banding together, who promptly [[TooDumbToLive ordered a hit on a smuggler meeting]] that [[AndYourLittleDogToo killed the one unarmed guy in the room]] and approximately no one else. Turns out upsetting an entire underworld's worth of cutthroat low-lives is a ''bad idea''. His Imperial handlers had actually instructed him not to do anything like that, for this exact reason; he was just an idiot.

* The [[spoiler: centaurs]] in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' are pretty much this, continually declaring their refusal to meddle in human affairs until [[spoiler:Hagrid, carrying a dead Harry, berates them for being a "cowardly bunch o' nags". Subsequently they show up firing arrows to assist Hogwarts in the FinalBattle.]]

* The Ents in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers''. They initially decide to remain neutral, and only change their minds when Tree beard comes across a [[BerserkButton field of felled trees]]. This trope does not apply as much to the book; the Ents hold Entmoot, and decide to attack Saruman. Either way, the outcome is an awesome CurbStompBattle.

* To protest against [[CorruptCorporateExecutive SOPA and PIPA,]] Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} blacked out their website on January 18, 2012. Wikipedia is notable for staying as TrueNeutral as possible, making this a ''huge'' change in their policy. Ironically enough, they had to break their own neutrality in order to fight for the principle of neutrality.