History Main / PragmaticVillainy

[[spoiler: '''Not-Arthur'']]: That ''stray'' the Hero of Melee brought home? An unacceptable x-factor. ''She had to be removed from the equation.'' So I sent her out on an errand before everything went down.

** Cinder Fall berates her minions Emerald and Mercury for murdering a White Fang terrorist defector without orders. This isn't because she opposed the killing itself, as she'd already ordered Roman Torchwick, a local known criminal, to kill the defector in the first place. Rather, she's pissed because her plan requires herself, Emerald, and Mercury to remain unnoticed while they infiltrate Beacon Academy and the killing could draw unnecessary attention to them. [[spoiler:When Ruby permanently maims Cinder during the Battle of Beacon, Cinder prioritises [[RevengeBeforeReason seeking revenge above all else]]. In Volume 5, she violates Salem's orders and sacrifices all pragmatism due to her obsession with Ruby.]]
** [[BigBad Salem]] doesn't engage in blood-thirsty, murderous behavior, even though she possesses the power and ability to take whatever she wants by force, as she's savvy enough to realize that she would be making herself a common enemy of the known world and they might eventually luck out and find a way to have her KilledOffForReal. While Hazel honours this by chastising the White Fang leaders for their violence instead of minimising unnecessary killing, Cinder directly questions Salem's attitude. Salem explains that Cinder must never underestimate the usefulness of others. [[spoiler:She cites the example of Professor Leonardo Lionheart, one of [[BigGood Professor Ozpin's]] oldest allies, whom she turned against Ozpin because he controlled the access to the Relic of Knowledge hidden inside Haven's vault. However, once the plan to obtain the Relic fails and Lionheart's duplicity is exposed, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Salem has no further use for Leonardo and has him murdered without hesitation]].]]

** This is the reason why [[spoiler: Ginjo]] tells [[spoiler: Tsukishima]] to stop {{Mind Rap|e}}ing [[spoiler: Chad and Orihime.]] He has no moral objection to it, but destroying your hostages' minds means you can't use them as pawns. It's easier to just stick to MindControl.

** Arlong from is a [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Fishman Supremacist]] who despises humans, but is willing to put his prejudices aside for profit, and prefers bribing corrupt Marine Captains over attacking them. He also finds Nami valuable for her map-making skills [[YouAreACreditToYourRace and praises her for it.]]

** Early in the series, Don Krieg wanted to feed his starving crew at the Baratie so he won't lose the manpower at hand.
** Used in a cruel manner in the Alabasta arc when Crocodile was confronted by Alabasta's elite soldiers, who had taken a lethal elixir to enhance their strength at the cost of dying in five minutes. Even though he could easily defeat them even with their power-up, Crocodile didn't see any need to since they would die in a few minutes, instead, refusing to fight them and denying them an honorable death at the same time.

Pragmatic Villainy is when a villain either refuses to do something horrible or does something nice. It's not because [[EvenEvilHasStandards the action is too evil even for them]], nor is it a genuine PetTheDog moment. No, it's because it's in their best interest to not act the maggot this time. Whatever the situation might be, choosing the most evil option would be [[StupidEvil counter-productive to]] ThePlan. As such, the Pragmatic Villain doesn't take this evil option, instead opting for something a little less evil or even genuinely good.

* In ''Manga/RedRiver1995'', one of the reasons it takes so long to get any accusations against Nakia and Urhi to stick are because both are ''very'' good at leaving themselves ways to ensure their plans don't get traced back to them. Nakia relies heavily on methods such as using magic water to brainwash unsuspecting people into helping her (the water vanishes when it's thrown up, so no evidence remains behind) or having Urhi do her bidding. At one point, [[spoiler:Urhi successfully kidnaps Yuri, but returns her. This is not out of the goodness of his heart, but because Kail would kill Nakia.]] Similarly, [[spoiler:he only admits to assassinating the king because it allowed for him to pin the crime ''solely'' on him (Nakia had actually planned it and he carried it out) and let Nakia get off free while he was executed for it.]]

* In ''Manhua/GoddessCreationSystem'', morally shady protagonist Xiaxi saves the life of the rival that kidnapped her not because she's such a kind person, but because she'd be killed for sure if the other girl died. She openly admits it, too, which Ming Zhu seems to appreciate.