History Main / OmniscientMoralityLicense

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[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

-->-- '''''Literature/GoodOmens'''''

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-->-- ''Literature/GoodOmens''

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

-->-- '''''Literature/GoodOmens'''''

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-->-- ''Literature/GoodOmens''

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* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' has Clockwork and the Observants. Clockwork's reaction to Danny's [[PsychoForHire evil]] [[BadFuture future]] where he's a mass-murdering, rampaging sadistic sociopath? "So he's the strongest, most evil ghost in the Ghost Zone. So what." No wonder some fans think him to be evil. Clockwork has the advantage of knowing everything, or at least all the outcomes. It's in his CatchPhrase. The fact that he never used his knowledge for outright good or evil shows that he's being neutral about using his [[Disney/{{Aladdin}} phenomenal cosmic power]]. That said, he does ultimately help the heroes stop Dark Danny and becomes Dark Danny's jailor. He also later helps Danny cure his friends of a deadly disease, pressing the ResetButton when Danny accidentally SetWrongWhatOnceWentRight and intentionally giving him the clue needed to fix the problem in the ''present''. It seems Clockwork's overall NeutralGood.

-->-- '''''Literature/GoodOmens'''''

[[folder:Film]]

A character with an Omniscient Morality License is usually one of the PowersThatBe or very close to it. Basically, they can do ''anything'' to the hero and still be considered one of the good guys, because they just ''know'' it will turn out okay, [[GambitRoulette regardless of the seeming randomness of chance and choices made]]. Sometimes this is attributed to supernatural rules (like the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil) or TimeTravel.

If the heroes were to attempt anything resembling these actions, they would be [[WhatTheHellHero called on it]] by their manipulated "friends" and [[LaserGuidedKarma punished]] by the plot for their [[{{Pride}} arrogance]]. [[KarmaHoudini Usually]].

This trope is defied (their license revoked) when the heroes [[RageAgainstTheHeavens rebel against them]] for [[AGodAmI playing God]].

** In ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' Clow and Eriol frequently manipulated the cast, threatened Sakura's friends and family, and even risked erasing everyone's feelings of love, and yet are still considered good because it was "necessary" for Sakura to be subjected to these things. (Sakura didn't even want to be a mage at first, and in the anime it's not necessarily clear what the pressing reason was for her to become one. Clow's even responsible for the cards escaping when they did. In the manga, it's made clearer: if he didn't do what he did, the magic of the Clow Cards would fade, and two of her friends would die.)

* The eponymous [[WesternAnimation/ThePagemaster Pagemaster]] takes a cowardly child and subjects him to all sorts of deadly situations. To all appearances, there was a real chance that the kid would either die or develop severe mental trauma as a result of this. But instead he learns to be courageous, and the Pagemaster gets off the hook because apparently he's just so darn wise that he knew it would work out like this from the beginning.

-->-- ''Literature/GoodOmens''

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

-->--'''''Literature/GoodOmens'''''

!!Examples:

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Creator/{{CLAMP}} has been guilty of this in several series, thanks to Clow Reed,[[spoiler: his {{reincarnation}} Eriol]], and his old partner-in-crime, Yuuko. In ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' Clow and Eriol frequently manipulated the cast, threatened Sakura's friends and family, and even risked erasing everyone's feelings of love, and yet are still considered good because it was "necessary" for Sakura to be subjected to these things. (Sakura didn't even want to be a mage at first, and in the anime it's not necessarily clear what the pressing reason was for her to become one. Clow's even responsible for the cards escaping when they did. In the manga, it's made clearer: if he didn't do what he did, the magic of the Clow Cards would fade, and two of her friends would die.)

* There's an entire manga about this trope, a shoujo/josei series named ''SeigiNoMikata'' (Ally of Justice). The protagonist's sister is a loud, lazy, gluttonous, extremely manipulative cow, but somehow all the selfish, self-centered things she does work out great for her and everyone else. Apart form the protagonist, everyone in the series adores her. VillainSue, much?
* Kage Houshi from ''FlameOfRecca''.
* Debatable in ''GundamSeedDestiny'', where protagonist Shinn Asuka and OlderAndWiser hero Kira Yamato ended up on opposite sides of the conflict, which obviously lead to trouble and {{flame war}}s (which still continue years after the series' conclusion). Some fans claim the [[WordOfGod director insisted in interviews]] that Shinn was always the hero, and that Kira had "strayed from the path of justice", other fans of Kira and his allies insist that they were in the right and that Shinn was the "true villain". (That Shinn spends the climactic battle sidelined after being defeated and humbled by Kira's best friend Athrun, and had up to that point been fighting for the side that Kira and company were trying to stop from using a WaveMotionGun, probably had a lot to do with that perception.)
** The {{flame war}}s have gotten so bad amongst Gundam fans, that even after all these years that WordOfGod has changed his initial position, and now posits that Athrun was the main character. It hasn't helped.
* Urahara Kisuke in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', who doubles as an UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom in a lot of these cases.

* In the ''SuzumiyaHaruhi series'', Present Mikuru will accept any indignity, abuse or manipulation that her time-traveling superiors throw at her, because, you know, the future will get messed up if she doesn't. This is averted in the later books, when Kyon calls them on this, explicitly stating that he believes them to be manipulating Mikuru for their own selfish goals, and not for the good of the timeline. This is made even more tied to the timeline (creating a StableTimeLoop) because Present Mikuru's boss is [[spoiler:her future self.]]
* Averted in ''Manga/DragonBall Z'': after Trunks' first time travel and after he has warned the heroes about the incoming threat of the Androids, Bulma suggests seeking out Dr. Gero, the Androids' creator, and kill him before he can enact his plan, which they ''know for sure'' he will enact. Goku refuses, partly because he wants to fight the Androids, and partly because he doesn't think it's right to kill someone who still hasn't done anything bad (forgetting that Gero was the lead scientist of the Red Ribbon Army, and so most of their tech was probably built by him).
* Aeolia Schenberg from ''{{Gundam 00}}'' is revealed to be one of these when its revealed that his plan was that if mankind did not change than he would force them to change using Celestial Being. While his plan is hijacked a couple of times it's put back on track by the heroes.

* From ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', there's [[spoiler:[[FakeDefector Itachi Uchiha]].]] Notably, his plan so far ''[[NiceJobBreakingItHero didn't]]'' work, but it remains to be seen if his [[CrazyPrepared contingency plan]] (i.e. [[spoiler:Naruto]]) will. Be prepared for an enormous InternetBackdraft if you discuss this online.
** [[spoiler:After being revived, Itachi pretty much gets his revoked and admits that in the end his attempts to fix everything himself failed and just created a giant mess. He warns Naruto not to make the same mistake.]]
** There is also [[spoiler:The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, who decided to seal the Nine Tailed Demon Fox into Naruto, simply with the conviction that it was his responsibility as a parent to have faith in his recently born son's ability to set things right as motivation]]. Contrary to the above example, this gambit is turning out surprisingly well, irresponsible though it was.
*** Minato had another, better reason to do what he did. [[spoiler: If Kushina sacrificed the last few minutes of her life to temporarily kill the Kyuubi with her, the Kyuubi would have been resurrected at an unspecified time and place. Given who they were up against and the power of the Kyuubi (and his ability to control the Kyuubi), sealing it in Naruto at the cost of his life may have been the only guaranteed way to prevent another, more successful attack on Konoha.]]

* Charles, [[spoiler: Schneizel and Lelouch]] from ''CodeGeass'' seem to believe they have this. Both them have the belief that what they're doing is completely justified and will turn out well. What they're doing is, in order, [[spoiler: a) killing and enslaving entire nations for the sake of a "world free of lies", b) destroy civilization so that he can stop war by using threat of force, and c) make everyone suffer so much that when they stop suffering, everyone will be happy and peaceful for an indefinite period of time that seems to be suggested as "forever". Charles and Schneizel suffer Lelouch's wrath for their actions. Lelouch, as the protagonist, succeeds through methods that are not explained to us, within 3 months of real time, during a time-skip, lasting for a period of time that's not explained to us. Lelouch's actions are treated as a good thing, but it's far too easy to draw parallels between Lelouch's actions and Charles' and Schneizel's actions, especially after 2 seasons of self-centered egomania on Lelouch's part.]]

* ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' villain Mystique had a psychic lover for most of ChrisClaremont's run, who, according to his own {{Retcon}}, drove Mystique's [[NecessarilyEvil apparently evil]] actions until driving her insane by dying.
* [[Comicbook/IronMan Tony Stark]], in Marvel comics. "I'm a futurist!" Ironically, he's now lost his position, became a wanted man, and had his world fall down around his ears. Bet you didn't see that one coming, eh Tony?
* Reed Richards of the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' is also an example. He saved the life of Galactus, the devourer of worlds. When a group of aliens put him on trial for crimes against the universe, it's {{handwave}}d that Galactus is somehow necessary to the survival of the universe (it later turns out that Galactus is the can for a SealedEvilInACan named Abraxas). How, or even whether, Reed knew this when he saved Galactus is debatable, though it should be mentioned that what brings the decision in favor of Galactus is the embodiment of the Universe itself showing up to testify in Galactus' favor.
** This was more HonorBeforeReason, though.
** He could have been extrapolating from nature. Remove a predator from an environment and often the environment will become overrun with its prey. Its still hard to justify since Galactus and his victims are often sapient and free-willed.
** Reed Richard exemplifies the trope again during the ComicBook/CivilWar with a sort of Marvel universe variant on the central concept of Creator/IsaacAsimov's Foundation series', the fictional mathematical science of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional) psychohistory]] (wherein one can, with enough time and mathematical expertise, predict the generalized "future history" of mankind through mathematical formulae.
*** [[spoiler:Using his new mathematical science, Reed Richards discovers that if the new SuperhumanRegistrationAct, which would require all superhumans to register their identities with the government regardless if they rely on the identities' secrecy for their own or loved ones' safety, doesn't pass and come into law the resulting fallout would lead to the deaths of "billions". This discovery is what prompts Reed's decision to support the act.]]
* In another comic example, an early GoldenAge superhero known as [[http://home.comcast.net/~wanolan/28one1.html Stardust]] the [[http://www.boingboing.net/2007/06/26/i-shall-destroy-all.html Super Wizard]] is virtually all-powerful and, from the readers' perspective, quite insane. Yet he always winds up being treated as a hero in the story.
** A text feature in ''1910'', the most recent chapter of AlanMoore's ''LeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'', reveals that a number of other heroes finally took Stardust down, imprisoning him in a super-dense ice block.
* ComicBook/{{Cable}} generally acts like this, thanks to coming from the future and already knowing how everything turns out.
** Curiously, although he's also from the future and is accompanied by a floating repository of 21st century history, Booster Gold doesn't.
* [[KnightTemplar Lucien Draay]] in the ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' comics thinks he has one of these, and acts accordingly (to be fair to Lucien, his mother and closest friends are all absurdly powerful seers, so he has reason to believe this). Unfortunately, he interpreted everything they said through the lens of his TreacherousAdvisor, who [[spoiler: was really a Sith Acolyte working to bring it down from within and used Lucien as a convenient pawn to accomplish this. Lucien's response to learning he's been had could basically be described as: VillainousBreakdown, VillainousBSOD, HeelFaceTurn.]]
* Marvel's Odin pulls this a lot. He repeatedly screws with ''{{Thor}}'' in every way he can come up with, usually as a pretense to teaching Thor some greater lesson. The entire reason Thor is on Earth in the first place is because Odin thought it would build character. Probably his worst offense is the massacre of an entire sentient species to create the creature Mangog. His only defense is the fact that he is Odin the All-Father, creator of humanity, and therefore answers to no one. (Except for when he does, because ''Thor'' comics suffer the same continuity problems as everything else)
** In respect for Mangog' the race in question invaded Asgard after brutally conquering numerous galaxies. Odin's actions were in defense of his realm and punishment of a a vile race. Odin eventually restored the race to life after the entire species reformed.
** In some cases Odin knows of some prophecy or another foretelling great destruction, and is working towards preventing or at least circumventing it by bringing about a ProphecyTwist of his own design.
* Subverted to the point of deconstruction in an issue of Impact Comics' ''Jaguar''. The mute, monstrous-looking and -acting antagonist turns out to be an alien that, in an obvious {{shout out}} to {{Superman}}'s origin, was adopted by a friendly Earth couple as a baby, developed superpowers as he matured, was taught to use them for 'good'...and one day started to kill people who hadn't actually done anything wrong. The theory his helpless foster parents eventually pieced together is that his species experiences time nonlinearly, seeing past, present, and future all at once, so he kills people for horrible crimes they ''haven't committed yet'' -- thereby of course making it kind of hard to demonstrate what they ''would'' one day have done to deserve death had they gotten the chance...

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* [[spoiler: The god-emperor of mankind]], in his ''FanFic/ThousandShinji'' role, persuades [[spoiler: the other canon!40k gods]] to send back a sadistic Keeper of Secrets rather than [[TheChessmaster a Lord of Change]] on the basis that Shinji had to learn that [[spoiler: "when the gods are assholes, mortals suffer"]]. Somewhat understandably, Shinji gets enraged and punches him.
** Made even worse in that by [[Fanfic/TheOpenDoor the sequel]], they seem to have forgotten this lesson, rendering it a BrokenAesop.
* The Fans in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached''. Even though she loves the four, Shag thinks nothing of dropping them into a dangerous environment, completely unprepared and ignorant of everything. Jeft [[spoiler: is one of the [[BigBad Big Bads]] and turns on his own character at the end]]. And Varx... oh, shut up, Varx.

* ''[[FanFic/TheCrowPhoenixRising The Crow: Phoenix Rising]]'': [[SpoofAesop Don't worry, there's no need to angst about the gruesome murders you've committed if your magic talking bird friend says it's okay.]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''DropDeadFred''. The title character does random, chaotic, highly disruptive, and seemingly pointless things, but said actions unfailingly serve to benefit *someone* in the end. One of the best examples was when Fred sinks the protagonist's friend's houseboat. The owner of the houseboat later received a massive insurance payout, far larger than what she expected, and was able to buy a much nicer house as a result.
* Although not explicitly stated in ''StarWars'', Obi-Wan and Yoda used Luke FromACertainPointOfView as what they felt was the best way to get him to stop Vader and the Emperor. In the end it's subverted, as Luke wins by NOT heeding their advice. If he had killed Vader like they asked, the Emperor would have won.

* Invoked via the Job argument in "Wholly Moses": "Who are you to question God?" "I am Man."
* After a certain point, the entire plot of {{Paycheck}} is the main character, Michael Jennings, doing this to himself. He was hired to build a future-viewing machine, with the contract stipulating that his memories would be wiped afterward so he couldn't reveal how it worked. When he goes to collect his payment, he finds that he waived it before the memory wipe. Instead, he is given a large envelope full of seemingly random objects. It is eventually revealed that when testing the machine, he saw a horrific future, possibly caused by the existence of the machine. So, using the machine, he worked out a collection of objects to leave for himself that would result in him blundering his way through saving the world. [[spoiler: He worked it out so that he would get a happy ending, but of course he no longer knows this when the time comes and he finds himself facing seemingly imminent and completely unavoidable death.]]

* Subverted in ''Film/ManOnFire''. "Do you think God'll forgive us for what we've done?" "No."
** Which is an interesting take on the concept. If he's already irredeemable, there's no reason to have any moral compunction left.

* Hari Seldon in Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''{{Foundation}}'' develops a new science - "psychohistory" - that allows him to predict large-scale future trends and future historical events. He further develops a complex plan for the future to create a new Empire. He's the only one that actually [[GambitRoulette knows exactly what it is]], but he has a whole planet dedicated to successfully carrying out his 1000-year "Seldon Plan". However, he's repeatedly told everyone that the reason that he can't make the details of the plan itself public is that doing so would guarantee its failure (or at least, add enough random variables that success would become impossible to guarantee). Someone would eventually use that knowledge to ScrewDestiny and cause the plan to GoHorriblyWrong: the predictions made by psychohistory are still vulnerable to a ButterflyOfDoom, and psychohistory itself is a powerful enough butterfly to derail any prediction it can make. In fact, the entire plan itself was an attempt to ScrewDestiny and create a better future by setting up a planet to ''become'' such a butterfly.
** And without that licence, he really is kind of a dick. He talks to someone knowing they'll both be arrested for it, because that's part of his plan. He then gets 100.000 of his employees exiled, because that way they are sent where he wants them to go. And that's in the first chapter.
*** This is ignoring two entire books of characterization. Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation establishes very strongly that Hari was actually a very sensitive and compassionate guy, adopting an underprivileged child, falling in love and being very sensitive to what his new science might mean for humanity. Who it might really apply to is [[spoiler: R. Daneel Olivaw, who not only proceeded after Giskard's plan of allowing Earth to die slowly so they would move out into space but also manipulated humanity, albeit subtly, for eons through his various vizier personae, and was instrumental in creating not only psychohistory but Gaia, then summons Golan Trevize to him]].
** At the very start of Seldon's story, it's established psychohistory can ''only'' be used to influence the future in ways requiring such a license - specifically, the concept of a SelfFulfillingProphecy is anathema to it. You can't use it to make guesses or estimate the probability or an event. Either the predicted change is inevitable (meaning you've removed any way it could be resisted, including the possibility of other predictors) or psychohistory has nothing at all to say on the subject. At the time Seldon considered this a fatal flaw rendering it useless as a scientific discipline. He was later encouraged to refine it into its completed form as a tool for applying coercive force to shape a society. Why he never managed to expand his work to go beyond the equivalent of "to get a lot of people to exit a building at the same time, set it on fire" is left unclear in-universe; most likely it's RuleOfDrama.
* Most of the characters' issues with god emperor Leto II in ''[[{{Dune}} God Emperor of Dune]]'' revolves around his near-omniscience and the resulting path he leads humanity down because of it. Duncan Idaho in particular takes issue with it, as well as Leto's [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman transformation into a nigh-immortal sandworm/human hybrid]]. When queried, Leto argues that the higher morality conferred by his gift of prescience compels him to act in ways that seem unimaginably cruel when the alternative is the complete extinction of humanity.
** To be specific, Leto II foresaw that if humanity continued to operate within the confines of the planets reasonably close to Arrakis, as they had been due to the planet's nature as the only source of the spice Melange, which facilitated space travel, that humanity would eventually come to an end. To counter this he ruled over humanity in a reign spanning thousands of years, restricting both their freedom and travel so that as soon as he died humanity would satisfy a three and a half millenia long thirst for freedom and travel and explode out beyond the reach of known space. Humanity would thus be spread out so far and have no vital center, and would thus never end. AndItWorked.
* Dumbledore's relationship with Literature/HarryPotter in the later books begins to resemble this. In the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows final book]], the characters openly question if Dumbledore knew what he was doing. [[spoiler: He did, and even correctly predicted that Harry would be willing to [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice himself]] for the greater good. He even knew, or at least guessed, that Harry could survive as long as it was Voldemort that delivered the Killing Curse, but by letting Harry think he would die, enabled Harry to grant his friends the same protection his mother had given him by her sacrifice. He also sincerely loved Harry, and honestly regretted the hell the poor kid would have to go through.]]
* Annalina Aldurren from the ''SwordOfTruth'' series often invokes this trope, believing that she has a right to steer the protagonist's life because she's spent hers studying prophecies about him. She is quite often called out on this by the other characters (most notably said protagonist's wife), is more often than not wrong in her interpretations of the prophecies, and on several occasions suggests doing things such as erasing the protagonist's memory and having another character seduce him in order to have him do what she thinks he should. In fact, it's outright stated that, had she not meddled in the protagonist's life in the first place, many of the events of the series would never have taken place. Interestingly, Anna is called on this and finally broken of the habit, only for the villains to mess with the timeline/people's memories and her to revert to form.

* ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'''s Good Magician Humfry will send the story's protagonists to face life - and occasionally world - threatening peril with nothing more than an objective and a general path to follow. Justified (albeit by Humfry himself) in that if he gives his supplicants the full story, they'd get things wrong and go straight for the end goal, instead of going through the experience and ally gaining journey actually needed to succeed. (That, and most Xanthians expect to be given the runaround, trusting that things will work out in the end)
* Polgara from the ''{{Belgariad}}/Malloreon'' universe demonstrates this tendency a lot. Admittedly, it goes with the job - Belgarath describes how he often has acted as Aldur's holy hatchet man - but Polgara has the biggest attitude about it.

* In book 9 of the ''LoneWolf'' series, the [[spoiler:Crocaryx]] were created by Kai solely to guard a Lorestone. Once that Lorestone is no longer in their possession, the narration announces that this is the beginning of their race's demise. Makes one wonder when [[WhatMeasureIsANonhuman humans]] will [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness fulfill their reason for existing]].
** In one of the non-interactive novels, Banedon is specifically told that the gods will lend him their aid as long as he's useful to them. Once he isn't, he's on his own.
* In SMStirling's and DavidDrake's series ''TheGeneral'', an ancient computer called center (always lower-case) establishes a telepathic link with General Raj Whitehall and drafts him into reuniting the human colony-world of Bellevue in order to restore the lost high-tech civilization of the long-collapsed interstellar Federation. Whitehall is a volunteer in this enterprise and retains his free will -- except that center is for all intents and purposes omniscient, and can always show him vividly, with a stated degree of probability, ''exactly'' what outcome will result from a given choice, so that Whitehall really has only one way to go.
* In Creator/LarryNiven's ''[[Literature/KnownSpace Protector]],'' the Pak Protector Phssthpok feeds the Tree-of-Life fruit to human Jack Brennan, causing Brennan to metamorphose into a superintelligent Protector himself, and then immediately starts laying down instructions about what Brennan has to do to save the human race from a Pak invasion. At one point, as Brennan recounts it later, he is about to protest, "Don't I have any choice?" And then, before he can even get the words out, immediately realizes, "No, I don't have any choice. I'm too intelligent."

* In ''{{Dragonlance}}'', Fizban's way of helping people is by being a nuisance and hindering the progress of the heroes, even when it endangers their lives. It turns out his hindrances end up helping them in the end, and that is his unique way of helping them out. He can do this because [[spoiler:his secret identity is none other than Paladine, the chief god of light.]]
* ''TheCulture'' novels are primarily about Contact exercising the Omniscient Morality License they believe themselves to have over all less advanced civilizations.
* Played with in MarkTwain's ''Literature/TheMysteriousStranger'', in which Satan explains exactly why his seemingly immoral actions, including causing deaths and madness, are [[CrapSackWorld in fact for the best]].
* Matthew Sobol in Literature/{{Daemon}} or at least his posthumous actions through the Daemon itself.
* The [[SpiritAdvisor Companions]] in the ''HeraldsOfValdemar'' series have a tendency to succumb to this temptation from time to time, which is a major reason for their ObstructiveCodeOfConduct not to interfere with human affairs unless asked. A particular example occurs in the ''Mage Winds'' trilogy, when Elspeth's companion Gwena manipulates her toward her [[BecauseDestinySaysSo Glorious Destiny]] in an {{Anvilicious}}ly unsubtle way, and is soundly [[CallingTheOldManOut called on it]] by her Herald. This doesn't stop her from trying, though, and it isn't until Gwena gets a stern talking to from [[spoiler: Yfandes]] in ''Winds of Fury'' that she finally gives up.

* ''{{Dragaera}}'': Vlad Taltos is often subjected to this excuse from his patron goddess, Verra, but he objects rather vehemently to it. After one of her plans blows up ''spectacularly'', he comments to a friend (with whom he had been discussing the concept of the OmniscientMoralityLicense earlier) that he has concluded "when a god does a terrible thing, it's still a terrible thing".
* [[spoiler: Callum]] of ''Raised by Wolves'' has one thanks to his [[spoiler: precognitive powers]], and he uses it to justify [[spoiler: putting the heroine through an absolutely ''hellish'' couple of months, including her being beaten to within an inch of her life by an angry werewolf.]] In fairness to him, [[spoiler: nearly everyone involved ''does'' come out of it having lost nothing and gained something.]] The only casualties are [[spoiler: Ali and Casey's marriage]] and the BigBad, who deserved it.
** It's not so easy to take his side in the sequel, [[spoiler: which ends up as a heartbreaking ShaggyDogStory due to the BigBad's EvilPlan.]] He sees it all coming, but does absolutely nothing about it except for sending Bryn a [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest cryptic gift]] with the implied message to FigureItOutYourself. [[spoiler: She doesn't, and later [[CallingTheOldManOut Calls The Old Man Out]] for not warning her in more direct terms.]]
* ''TheSilmarillion'': Subverted with the Valar. [[{{God}} Eru]] gave them almost absolute authority (their authority over Elves and Men, particularly the latter, is a bit of a grey area) over the world, but they lack the "omniscient" part. The Valar can and do make mistakes in pursuit of a greater good, despite (and sometimes ''because'') of their good intentions. The narrative implies that many of their actions (such as bringing the Elves to Aman, or giving Númenor and extended life to the Edain) were entirely the wrong thing to do, even if they were motivated by the best intentions. Some of their other actions (such as releasing Melkor, or sending the Istari to Middle Earth) also had bad results due to lack of foresight ([[GoodCannotComprehendEvil or an inability to understand how good things can become evil]]). Arguably played straight with Eru himself for giving the Valar authority over Eä even while withholding certain information from them.
** There is also the implication that Eru WANTED these mistakes to be made because the whole point of the world he made was to inspire the next great song and conflict somehow just makes things more interesting (never mind that its also bloody miserable)

* Subverted in ''TheWiseMansFear''. The Ctaeh, a faerie oracle, is the ultimate evil. It uses its omniscience to guide whoever converses with it to their doom (and normally to cause massive chaos in the outside world). An entire faction of Sidhe exist just to keep everyone away.
* It's revealed in the sixth book of the ''{{Emberverse}}'' that [[spoiler:ThePowersThatBe are the ones who knocked humanity back to the bronze age, killing billions, because they had foreseen a bad future leading to the extinction of humanity]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Q, primarily from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration.'' He tests the Enterprise crew in various ways, which at times even appear life threatening, but in retrospect it is reasonably obvious that his goal is to assist in the characters' development; albeit in a ZenSurvivor kind of way.
** Beautifully subverted in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "True Q", in which the [[TheOmnipotent nigh-omnipotent]] Q, in one of his rare straight-faced moments, tries to claim this license as the Continuum's right to judge and possibly execute the half-Q, half-human Amanda for being too potentially dangerous to live. When he responds to Picard's questioning that right with the simple, terse words "superior morality", Picard nearly chokes: "superior ''morality''? I haven't seen any evidence of any morality at all!".

* Toward the end of the classic series of ''Series/DoctorWho'', during the epoch known to fans as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartmel_Masterplan "The Cartmel Masterplan"]], the Doctor could often be found pushing the bounds of morality, justified by the incredibly complex machinations of his long-term plans, and the desire of the production team to inject a new sense of mystery into the character.
** The Tenth Doctor has shown tendencies towards this too, subverted in that the show treats it as a character flaw, and a very serious one at that. Of course, Ten also gets incredibly worked up over perceived injustices and forms strong emotional attachments to characters he's only known for a few hours, in contrast to classic doctors who held a much more detached attitude. The Doctor's OML finally expired in ''The Waters Of Mars'', where he tried to interfere with a fixed point in time and save a woman who, for the sake of humanity's future development, absolutely must die. She gave him a deeply angry WhatTheHellHero speech [[spoiler: and then kills herself, just to right the timeline]].
*** The 11th Doctor still has moments of this, he is almost as manipulative and secretive as Seven when it comes to using his companions as chess pieces. Seems that the whole "Time Lord Victorious" is still there, he's just a bit more selective and sneaky about how he uses it.
* In ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce,'' senior Knight Daggeron sends the young 'uns into AnotherDimension [[FightInTheNude without their gear]] to test their mettle, and doesn't stick around to watch (he had to go take on the MonsterOfTheWeek.) Our heroes very nearly wind up as a giant's breakfast. When they manage to get themselves out of it and return, Daggeron's "I never doubted their safe return" just doesn't ring true - you ''really'' feel like the writers threw the line in so that Daggeron wouldn't appear to be criminally irresponsible. To be fair, Daggeron ''appeared'' to have arranged the whole thing, since the giant was a vegetarian and he had conveniently given the green ranger an inane task of practicing the spell he would need over and over again. So either this trope or sloppy script work.

* The Inquisitor, the villain of the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode of the same name, behaved as though he has one. After surviving to the end of time, he concludes that there is no god and no afterlife, and that the only purpose of existence is to live a worthwhile life. To this end, he travels through time, [[RetGone deletes]] those he judges to have wasted their lives and replaces them with another possible version of themselves. An interesting twist, though, [[spoiler: is that allows his victims to judge themselves, and the requirements aren't that stringent, especially if you have extremely low personal standards]].
* In a FridgeBrilliance moment, [[StargateVerse Daniel Jackson]] fits this trope. He's been to heaven and back, most of his ideas and choices are good, and he even has the right, power and morality justification to question ascended beings. {{Lampshaded}} later when he becomes a [[spoiler:Prior]] and asks for a ''little'' cooperation for his latest plan (his CV should have spoken for himself). [[DyingLikeAnimals He's not]], but he proves his worth and his loyalty, and his actions are still the ones saving the day. To a lesser extent, [=SG1=] and Stargate Command is for the countries of Earth who don't profit as much from the technology as the US, and want to screw the ones that actually work in the process. They still do what they know best, and save the world(s) through it every time.
* Rube in "DeadLikeMe" seems to have this. In the pilot episode, he basically tells George to start taking people's souls, or else, without offering any explanation as to why. When she, quite understandably, refuses, the consequences are dire, and she is berated for doing what anyone with a conscience would have done.
* ''[[Series.TheCollector The Collector]]'''s Devil [[SatanIsGood implies that he has one]]. He's chided the protagonist for overestimating his own ability to judge a person's character.
* Jor-El behaved this way on many occasions in ''{{Smallville}}''.
* The Great Dragon in ''Series/{{Merlin}}'' has advised/ordered Merlin to do some ''incredibly'' dodgy stuff, including letting a child die and poisoning a terrified woman. Sometimes he obeys, sometimes he doesn't - but either way it usually it turns out bad for Merlin.

[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]

* There's an interesting case in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' : The [[LizardFolk Lizardmen]] tend to lay claim to possess such a morality license, but not because they see themselves as almighty, all-knowing rulers - instead they see themselves as the chosen instruments of the [[{{Precursors}} Old Ones]] (who are essentially the creators of the world) and therefore any discovery of a sacred plaque means that the instructions are to be carried out to the letter. [[WellIntentionedExtremist Whether this means helping to save your army at a specific place and time or shifting entire continents and dooming entire species/races is up to the instructions on the plaque in question.]]
* Some interpretations of the {{Ravenloft}} setting's Dark Powers invoke this trope, depicting them as harsh but well-intentioned judges who consign the multiverse's foulest villains to ThePunishment. Too bad for innocent bystanders living in the domains which confine said villains, because they're left at the mercy of the punished, as are the poor saps who get dragged into the game-setting by the Mists.

* ''Videogame/{{Half-Life}}'s mysterious G-Man.
** [[AmbiguouslyEvil Maybe.]]
* In the ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' games, [[spoiler:the Wise One does this to the entire group at the end of The Lost Age by sending a three-headed dragon to stop them, and only after they defeat it do they learn that said dragon was actually Isaac's father and Felix and Jenna's parents, and are on the verge of dying as a result. But upon restoring the powers of Alchemy with the last Elemental Star, the three adults are healed miraculously. It's later revealed that the Wise One did this to test their virtue and dedication, so as to make sure that the power of Alchemy would not be misused (like they had been in the past) if they were revived.]]
** The Wise One kind of dropped the ball there, since [[spoiler: committing patricide]] probably tests as much for sociopathy as it does for virtue or dedication. If not more.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea}}'', [[spoiler: Master Lamington manipulates Laharl's group, the EDF, Vulcanus, and even the Angels.]] Laharl calls him out. [[UnstoppableRage Very hard]] [[spoiler: Of course, Lamington's motivations are not necessarily bad.]]

* In ''Videogame/MassEffect1'' and ''Videogame/MassEffect2'', the human-supremacist organisation Cerberus seems to think they operate under one of these, believing that any action they take to elevate humanity's position in the galactic community will be vindicated by history. On the one hand, they acted to prevent the release of a biological weapon on the Citadel, and tasked Shepard with stopping Collector attacks. On the ''other'' hand, they've conducted nightmarish experiments on aliens ''and'' humans, unleashed Thresher Maws and Husks on unsuspecting colonists, trained rachni as shock troops (which ultimately kill two marine companies), tortured children to make more powerful biotics, and "accidentally" detonated starships over colonies to infect unborn children with element zero (keep in mind that 30% develop fatal cancerous growths).
** The protagonist of pretty much any Bioware game can be like this, given the amount of questionable or outright evil moral choices available. ''But'' the protagonist is the only person who can save the world/galaxy/kingdom/etc. and though you can get called out on it, you won't get sacked from universe saving for killing off half the races in a game and you will still ultimately be the hero.
* ''BlazeUnion'': Good lord, Baretreenu. You want to ''MindRape'' someone to prove their innocence?! Why are you not getting called out on this?!
* In ''{{Okami}}'', Waka could very likely be accused of this trope, in the game, it's shown that he can see the future, and is pretty strong, at one point even ''fixing the coastline of it's corruption'', staggeringly, he does very little in the way of progress, when, theoretically, he could fix most of Nippon's problems, and a lot of problems would probably have been solved if he took a more direct approach in saving the world, rather than let destiny play out.
** Of course Waka, knowing the future, would know that he's not powerful enough to defeat the BigBad without a powered-up Ammy's help.
* The Menders of Ouroboros in ''CityOfHeroes''. Their leader, Mender Silos, hails from near the end of time and has recruited the heroes and villains of the present to try to stave off a disaster in the near future, known only as The Coming Storm. No one ever tells you what this might be, and the Menders will send you to accomplish the most random, and sometimes morally questionable, tasks in hopes of preventing the Coming Storm. (Though, if you're a [[VillainProtagonist Villain]] that's hardly a problem.) To add to all this, in every story arc they give you, a [[MysteriousWatcher mysterious messenger]] will leave you notes, telling you not to trust the Menders but to play along anyway. And the Menders also allow you to [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking relive your past adventures]], just in case you missed a [[CosmeticAward badge]] or [[BraggingRightsReward reward]] of some kind.
* ''DotHackGUGames'': Ovan, full stop. He [[spoiler:puts Shino in a coma and enables Sakaki to MindRape people and attempt to take over the world. Why does he do all this? So that [[TheHero Haseo]] will be able to stop AIDA.]]
* In the MythArc of the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series, [[{{Precursors}} The Ones Who Came Before]] are capable of apparently perfect precognition, yet bore witness to the near absolute destruction of their First Civilization on Earth 75,000 years ago thanks to a solar flare. Dying out due to underpopulation, they FlingALightIntoTheFuture by manipulating the course of history such that the modern day Assassins can use their LostTechnology to attempt to avert a recurrence of the same catastrophe in 2012. Thousands of years of war, betrayals, scheming, and suffering as the Assassins battle the Templars for control of the future of humanity are part of this scheme, but they have no choice when the alternative is potentially the extinction of the human race.

* [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_591.php This strip]] from ''[[Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures DMFA]]'' explains it well.
--->'''Dan:''' And here I thought you did it all because you were an insane sadist...
--->'''Fa'lina:''' Well that too! But that comes with semi-omnipotence also!
* Despite being TheHero (or, some would argue, the DesignatedHero), ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan: Oracle for Hire'''s eponymous main character has often invoked this trope to justify his morally questionable or just plain ridiculous methods of defeating the villain, especially after his [[PowerCreepPowerSeep Power Creep]] starts setting in after the Storm of Souls arc.
** He got called out on it after the Snowsong arc with the Supergreg silliness, and made to do community service, for solving a problem by manipulating everybody. He could have solved it conventionally, but that would have damaged his ability to SaveTheVillain.
*** Most of the time he's actually pretty straightforward about his moving-people-around-the-board ploys; given his ability to confront problems that exist anywhere besides the psychoplanes almost always consists of 'knowing more than anyone else' and 'communicating with people,' he ''has'' to do his part by networking.
** Rillian the Necromancer has it much worse. The part where he followed Dominic and Luna around on their vacation in disguise, putting them through tests and ready to kill Dominic if he 'failed' and his mind broke stands out particularly: worked out great, possibly necessary, appalling in principle.
* ''BobandGeorge'' one of the earliest noted sprite comics, frequently invokes this. [[AuthorAvatar The Author]] at times either personally deals with (or at the very least addresses to the cast and audience) problems that he created for the sake of the series. Needless to say at various points in the comic, this pisses off the heroes but is played for laughs. Sprite Comics that were directly inspired by B&G tend to either follow this example or allude to it, especially earlier comics, or those made by "{{Noob}}s"
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' features a super-intelligent AI which epitomizes this trope. He could probably solve the universe's problems if he didn't think it was better for everyone to "work things out themselves".
** Petey may be god-like within the galaxy, but he is engaged in an out-matched war with the [[spoiler:dark matter beings from Andromeda]], and an "easy fix" such as breaking through a teraport shield to save a single ship could cost a star system in the larger conflict. Petey increasingly sticks to behind-the-scenes work to conserve resources.
* One of the students at ''Comicbook/{{PS 238}}'' has an ability that can best be described as hypercognition, an ability to form connections and make deductions that completely ignore quantum uncertainty and chaos theory. This leads to doing no small amount of questionable acts.
** Tom Davidson, who can TimeTravel, has much the same deal going on.
* Sarda the Sage from ''[[WebComic/EightBitTheater 8-bit Theater]]'' subverts this trope, with White Mage convinced he's operating under this license while the "Light" Warriors know damn well he hates them (and now they even know why).
* The Great Bird Conspiracy of KevinAndKell, in addition to manipulating the inner workings of government and other institutions, carried out a long-running plan to prevent society from destroying itself by establishing computers to run it. In order to accomplish it, they abduct Vin, Fenton and Ray and have them work for Microtalon when they find out too much about it, and cause Lindesfarne to believe that her boyfriend Fenton is dead. While the people in question are eventually returned [[LaserGuidedAmnesia with their memories of their time at Microtalon wiped]] this caused a considerable amount of anguish for the cast. Not to mention the fact that the birds [[NiceJobBreakingItHero were responsible for making all these species intelligent in the first place]].
* ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'' features a clever subversion with {{God}} himself, who is all-knowing and yet apparently allows his angelic underlings to get away with errors. However, the twist (which is implied) is that God knows that these errors, such as the titular misfile, result in more actual good than harm, making him one hell of a [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]]...

* ''FeliciaSorceressOfKatara'', is one of those "heroic" examples who got called out for it. [[spoiler: Though she might not know all the details she still used her own apprentices to draw out the [[ReligionOfEvil Sons of the Black Flame]], and she crushed those cultists [[CurbStompBattle surprisingly easily]] for someone supposedly unprepared for them.]]
* Doc Scratch of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', who actually is just about as close to omniscient as it's possible to get in his universe, certainly sees himself has having this. His response to being called out on it by Rose is as follows:
-->Lies of omission do not exist. The concept is a very human one. It is the product of your story writing again. You have written a story about the truth, making emotional demands of it, and in particular, of those in possession of it. Your demands are based on a feeling of entitlement to the facts, which is very childish. You can never know all of the facts. Only I can. And since it's impossible for me to reveal all facts to you, it is my discretion alone that decides which facts will be revealed in the finite time we have. One can make either true statements or false statements about reality. All of the statements I make are true.
** And subverted because Doc Scratch is genuinely evil.
* Chris the producer from ''SailorSun'': Turning his lead actor into an actress with an illegal transformation device just to lend his GenderBender story authenticity? check. Deliberately getting her knocked up just so he can steal her KidFromTheFuture? Check. Stealing another alternate version of the Kid from another future when she proves unable to support the first one? check. Using a time portal to further screw with her life, either for the drama or just for the lulz?
* It seems that the Predictamancers from ''{{Erfworld}}'' have a disturbing tendency to lean toward this.
** On one hand, Fate is a literal cosmic force, and whatever the Predictamancers predict ''will'' come true, by definition. (Whether the Predictamancers ''tell'' the real predictions are a whole other story.)
** On the other hand, both of the introduced Predictamancers have an annoyingly vague approach to telling their predictions, and give little to no help for anyone featured in their predictions, instead preferring to try and manipulate things from the side.

-->'''Aang''': I can't just go around wiping out people I don't like!\\
'''Sokka''': Sure you can. You're the Avatar!
* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' had Clockwork and the Observants. Clockwork's reaction to Danny's [[PsychoForHire evil]] [[BadFuture future]] where he's a mass-murdering, rampaging sadistic sociopath? "So he's the strongest, most evil ghost in the Ghost Zone. So what." No wonder some fans think him to be evil. Clockwork has the advantage of knowing everything, or at least all the outcomes. It's in his CatchPhrase. The fact that he never used his knowledge for outright good or evil shows that he's being neutral about using his [[Disney/{{Aladdin}} phenomenal cosmic power]].
** That said, he does ultimately help the heroes stop Dark Danny and becomes Dark Danny's jailor.
** He also later helps Danny cure his friends of a deadly disease, pressing the ResetButton when Danny accidentally SetWrongWhatOnceWentRight and intentionally giving him the clue needed to fix the problem in the ''present''. It seems Clockwork's overall NeutralGood.

* Dumbledore's relationship with HarryPotter in the later books begins to resemble this. In the final book, the characters openly question if Dumbledore knew what he was doing. [[spoiler: He did, and even correctly predicted that Harry would be willing to [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice himself]] for the greater good. He even knew, or at least guessed, that Harry could survive as long as it was Voldemort that delivered the Killing Curse, but by letting Harry think he would die, enabled Harry to grant his friends the same protection his mother had given him by her sacrifice. He also sincerely loved Harry, and honestly regretted the hell the poor kid would have to go through.]]

** Reed Richard exemplifies the trope again during the MarvelCivilWar with a sort of Marvel universe variant on the central concept of Creator/IsaacAsimov's Foundation series', the fictional mathematical science of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional) psychohistory]] (wherein one can, with enough time and mathematical expertise, predict the generalized "future history" of mankind through mathematical formulae.

** It's not so easy to take his side in the sequel, [[spoiler: which ends up as a heartbreaking ShaggyDogStory due to the BigBad's EvilPlan.]] He sees it all coming, but does absolutely nothing about it except for sending Bryn a [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest cryptic gift]] with the implied message to FigureItOutForYourself. [[spoiler: She doesn't, and later [[CallingTheOldManOut Calls The Old Man Out]] for not warning her in more direct terms.]]

** In the same series, Nathan Rahl occasionally delves into this territory, but is more successful as he's an actual prophet, and gets the total experience and meaning of his prophecies. A more or less straight example: When he's introduced, it's mentioned that while entertaining a young woman, something he whispers to her makes her run screaming from his room, and eventually leads to riots and tens of thousands dead. Much later, he remarks that in that war, a young child died who otherwise would have grown into a horrible dictator who would have killed far, far more.

* Hari Seldon in Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''{{Foundation}}'' develops a new science - "psychohistory" - that allows him to predict large-scale future trends and future historical events. He further develops a complex plan for the future to create a new Empire. He's the only one that actually [[GambitRoulette knows exactly what it is]], but he has a whole planet dedicated to successfully carrying out his 1000-year "Seldon Plan". However, he's repeatedly told everyone that the reason that he can't make the details of the plan itself public is that doing so would guarantee its failure (or at least, add enough random variables that success would become statistically low). Someone would eventually use that knowledge to ScrewDestiny and cause the plan to GoHorriblyWrong: the predictions made by psychohistory are still vulnerable to a ButterflyOfDoom, and psychohistory itself is a powerful enough butterfly to derail any prediction it can make. In fact, the entire plan itself was an attempt to ScrewDestiny and create a better future by setting up a planet to ''become'' such a butterfly.

* Hari Seldon in Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''{{Foundation}}'' develops a new science - "psychohistory" - that allows him to predict large-scale future trends and future historical events. He further develops a complex plan for the future to create a new Empire. He's the only one that actually [[GambitRoulette knows exactly what it is]], but he has a whole planet dedicated to successfully carrying out his 1000-year "Seldon Plan". However, he's repeatedly told everyone that the reason that he can't make the details of the plan itself public is that doing so would guarantee its failure. Someone would eventually use that knowledge to ScrewDestiny and cause the plan to GoHorriblyWrong: the predictions made by psychohistory are still vulnerable to a ButterflyOfDoom, and psychohistory itself is a powerful enough butterfly to derail any prediction it can make. In fact, the entire plan itself was an attempt to ScrewDestiny and create a better future by setting up a planet to ''become'' such a butterfly.

* The eponymous [[ThePagemaster Pagemaster]] takes a cowardly child and subjects him to all sorts of deadly situations. To all appearances, there was a real chance that the kid would either die or develop severe mental trauma as a result of this. But instead he learns to be courageous, and the Pagemaster gets off the hook because apparently he's just so darn wise that he knew it would work out like this from the beginning.

** Petey may be god-like within the galaxy, but he is engaged in an out-matched war with the [[spoiler:antimatter beings from Andromeda]], and an "easy fix" such as breaking through a teraport shield to save a single ship could cost a star system in the larger conflict. Petey increasingly sticks to behind-the-scenes work to conserve resources.

* In the MythArc of the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series, [[{{Precursors}} The Ones Who Came Before]] are capable of apparently perfect precognition, yet bore witness to the near absolute destruction of their First Civilization on Earth 75,000 years ago thanks to a solar flare. Dying out due to underpopulation, they FlingALightIntoTheFuture by manipulating the course of history such that the modern day Assassins can use their LostTechnology to attempt to avert a recurrence of the same catastrophe in 2012. Thousands of years of war, betrayals, scheming, and suffering as the Assassins battle the Templars for control of the future of humanity are part of this scheme, but they have no choice when the alternative is potentially the extinction of the human race.

** In his training with Ichigo, the Shattered Shaft fully gave birth to Ichigo's SuperpoweredEvilSide. It indirectly saved his life versus Renji and Byakuya, but it led to an EnemyWithin situation that had to be tackled by the Visoreds (whom Urahara did not contact, mind you).

** He ultimately caused ''two'' {{Rescue Arc}}s (one for Rukia and the other for Orihime) as a [[UnderStatement side effect]] of his chess-dueling with Sosuke Aizen, but nobody seems to hold it against him.

** He ultimately caused ''two'' RescueArcs (one for Rukia and the other for Orihime) as a [[UnderStatement side effect]] of his chess-dueling with Sosuke Aizen, but nobody seems to hold it against him.

* Urahara Kisuke in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. [[spoiler: He causes Rukia to lose her powers and get potentially permanently trapped in the human world in order to store the dangerous MacGuffin he created, an action that almost gets Rukia and all the main characters killed. Ichigo forgives him for this almost immediately. The jury is out on Rukia, who has yet to actually bring it up for discussion.]] He's also technically responsible for [[spoiler: the creation of the Arrancar, since it was his MacGuffin that enabled making them into super soldiers. And the Visored affair, and enabling Aizen, and Orihime's kidnapping '''by''' Aizen, and...]] Well, let's just say that Urahara fucked up a whole lot, and the entire series is about everyone trying to fix what he's screwed up.