History Main / ResidualEvilEntity

* Demise, the MonsterProgenitor of ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series, lays a curse on the reincarnations and descendants of the knight and princess who bested him. At the very least Ganondorf, if not every other BigBad of the ''Zelda'' universe, are incarnations of his hatred.

** ''Franchise/XMen'': Professor Xavier once used his psychic powers to purge Magneto's mind of evil, [[BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood leaving him with a more benevolent amnesiac personality]]. It's later revealed that the evil side of his mind went into Xavier himself, forming an entirely new entity and kickstarting the ''ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'' saga.

** ''ComicBook/{{Defenders2021}}'' revealed that ''all'' of the various primordial dark entities that have plagued the Marvel verse such as Knull and the Chaos King were born from the shattered fragments of Anti-All, a draconic embodiment of the void that was defeated in a previous incarnation of the universe.

* ''Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers'': It's revealed that [[spoiler:Evox is actually Venjix, the BigBad of ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'', reborn. At the end of ''RPM'', Venjix hid within the Red RPM Ranger's Cell Shift Morpher, which was acquired by Gird Battleforce, during which an experiment conducted by a young Nate caused his data to be merged with snake DNA, reviving him]]

* ''Literature/TheStand'': Randall Flagg, the dark man, vanishes in the nuclear destruction of Las Vegas, ending his fledgling evil empire... until he wakes up on an island surrounded by natives, introducing himself as Russell Faraday and claiming he's come to [[HereWeGoAgain teach them how to be civilized]].

* The titular character in ''Literature/SausageySanta'' used to be a malevolent ChildHater who was condemned to the IronicHell of giving gifts to children for all eternity. He hit on the bright idea to have all evil extracted from him so that he could enjoy being altruistic. Unfortunately, his evil transformed into his arch-enemy, Frosty the Neo-Nazi Snowman.

* ''LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}}'': The ''Monogatari'' series has a recurring theme that simply defeating evil or malevolence will not get rid of it unless the very root of the problem is cured. And in many cases, a problem rooted that deep in the first place is far beyond the understanding of your typical human (supernaturally gifted or not) to deal with. As such, several arcs in the later parts of the series deal with problems that are recurring because the root issue wasn't solved, or [[NiceJobBreakingItHero causing an entirely]] ''new'' problem in the absence of the old. One of the wiser, more worldly characters bluntly makes the suggestion that doing nothing and letting the people suffering from a problem deal with it themselves or die trying is usually the better option. And in some cases, later events prove him correct.

* ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh'': after The Great One defeated the Originators, the remnants were sealed into four Forbidden Boxes, and tainted The Great One himself until Yuuri arrived on the scene to finish the job.