History Main / TheSocialDarwinist

** In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', we meet Species 8472, a strange lifeform that lives in fluidic space, a strange aquatic dimension which only they are the only lifeforms in there. Because of this, they are highly xenophobic and, when the Borg decide to come knocking one day, they decide that all lifeforms on the other side must die. [[TheWorfEffect After kicking their Collective asses first]]. In fact, it's not uncommon for one of their kind to say that "the weak will perish".

** Also, one ImagineSpot has him fantasize about Susie getting chased down by a tyrannosaurus then devoured along with other kids, citing this as natural selection at work to justify it being a good thing.

** Also, one ImagineSpot has him fantasize about Susie getting chased down by a tyrannosaurus then devoured along with other kids, citing this as natural selection at work to justify this being good.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin tries to justify behaving badly multiple times by saying it's a dog eat dog world and might makes right, claiming that's just how Nature works. Invariably, he's shown up when Hobbes does something like push him out of the way, smugly [[ExcuseBoomerang citing his ethos back to him]]. Calvin then says it only applies to ''[[MoralMyopia him]]'', not everyone else.

** This also occurs in ''Literature/TheRepublic'' when the sophist Thrasymachus argues that justice is defined as "the interest of the stronger", only to be rebutted by Socrates. The "utopia" Socrates proposes in the same book, however, also has elements like this, with a caste system based on people's abilities. He even talks about having eugenic selective breeding for it.
* The Creator/MarquisDeSade expressed this viewpoint in his works, saying the strong should be free to prey upon the weak, while compassion and charity are bad. He said murder and rape should be legal: if the victim or their loved ones didn't like this, he generously allowed that they could take revenge; if the attacker wasn't strong enough to defeat them, well that was his problem (yet he himself was hardly strong enough to fend off one of his victim's fathers and narrowly escaped being shot by him). This was he thought simply the way Nature works, and thus [[AppealToNature society should too]]. His characters claimed the disabled, poor, and sick should just be killed or used as guinea pigs for medical research. Note that this was before Darwin's birth, though ideas of evolution already existed, which De Sade was possibly familiar with, since his view justifies this by claiming that destroying or exploiting the weak benefits the human race (in a crude proto-natural selection which many Social Darwinists held later). Laws which defended the weak, of course, his work denounced as "unnatural" and preventing a healthy exploitation/culling.

* The philosophy of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin's'' BigBad Makoto Shishio is that "the flesh of the weak is the food of the strong" -- and he drives his point home by [[ImAHumanitarian taking a bite out of the hero]]. He is inevitably defeated, but afterwards, Kenshin observes that his victory has not truly proven anything -- and that, if the one in the right is merely the strongest warrior, then Shishio was correct all along...

Compare EvilutionaryBiologist, EvilColonialist, EvilEvolves, EvilMalthusian, KillThePoor, and SlobsVersusSnobs. Sometimes overlaps with [[Creator/AynRand Objectivism]] and the "{{Ubermensch}}" concept. {{Hollywood Atheist}}s are often stereotyped as this. The trope maker for TheBeautifulElite. There's a bit of this trope in the SatisfiedStreetRat. Likewise, characters with a DarwinistDesire are usually only interested in applying Social Darwinism on themselves and their offspring rather than imposing it on society, though both tropes can overlap in the same character. Compare and contrast LivingIsMoreThanSurviving; Social Darwinists will variably put either survival or quality of life on top of others.

* [[TookALevelInJerkass After taking a level in jerkass]] and pursuing demons on his [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge quest for revenge]], Guts in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' adopts this as his philosophy, saying that people who get caught up in other people's battles are fools who lack the strength to really live. He gets better when the Conviction Arc rolls around and he realizes just what a mistake he's made in going on this vendetta in the first place.

* Satyajit Shyamalan from ''Manga/BirdyTheMighty: Decode'' is one and believes that the next step on humanity's evolutionary path is to [[spoiler: use a super weapon to wipe out all of humanity but those he considers most worthy]]. His main criteria for determining those superior is [[SoleSurvivor whether they, like himself, had survived a major war or disaster that would lead to mass casualties]].
* ''Manga/BlackButler'': Sebastian frequently sneers at [[FantasticRacism humanity's weakness, vulgarity, and paradoxically self-destructive behavior]]. Seeing [[BornLucky being born a demon]] [[SuperiorSpecies automatically makes him]] to be TheAce and TheSociopath, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood it makes]] [[TheProudElite some sense]]. Not to mention viewing humans as prey because he literally eats them.
** From the anime, we also get a different flavor in [[spoiler: Angela and Ash]]. Contrasting Sebastian, [[spoiler: s/he]] scorns humanity's "impurity" and wasteful negativity and tries to "[[ANaziByAnyOtherName cleanse the unfruitful, unnecessary and unwanted]]" from the Earth. [[KillItWithFire With fire]].

* Several superpowered characters living in Academy City in ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' believe the powerful rule and the weak are just fodder and playthings for them. [[spoiler:Shizuri Mugino used to be like this, but after her HeelFaceTurn, she's done a full 180 turn in attitude. Having grown to love and respect Shiage Hamazura, the BadassNormal who managed to defeat her, she learns about how Academy City allocates funds to people with promising powers while denying them to people with weak powers or none (like Shiage), assuming they are worthless. Mugino gets angry and declares that Shiage may not have any powers, but he is definitely not worthless.]]
* ''Manga/CodeBreaker'': Though not yet outright stated, [[spoiler:Ogami's brother]] implies this is [[TerroristsWithoutACause his group's ideal]] when he wonders why Ogami is protecting an ordinary (?) human.
* The Holy Britannian Empire in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' treated Social Darwinism as a religion. Even the main street of Pendragon, the capital, was named Saint Darwin. This was why they annihilated cultures that they conquered, stripping them of their name (Japan was renamed [[AirstripOne Area 11]]), because the weak only deserve slavery. The "[[FantasticSlur Elevens]]" still have a chance, if they proved themselves "Honorary Britannians" via miltiary service.
** Emperor Charles zi Britannia had this philosophy -- though it applies at its most ruthless to his children: if any are weak, he deigns that they deserve to die. The protagonist, a deposed prince of the empire, directly opposes this attitude, as it's what cost him his mother and crippled his little sister, while Charles did nothing. [[spoiler:Subverted, as this was all a facade by the emperor himself.]]
** [[spoiler:Not really; it's more that he tries to use the notion that [[MightMakesRight might makes everything better]] in an attempt to [[JerkJustifications justify]] [[StrawNihilist self-interest]] (in his mind, everything's alright as long as he wins). Lelouch calls him out on it in Episode 21 of R2 when he points out that his parents wouldn't have cared if their plan did fail and they lost their children [[KilledOffForReal for real]], remarking that they only wanted to have an excuse to feel proud of themselves for having kept their family.]]
*** It may not seem so simple, but Charles likely does perceive himself to be at the top of society, and he does argue against Lelouch that, like him, he follows the mentality that the ends justify the means, but they differ in that Lelouch's goal is for the people of the world to care about each other (so that they wouldn't take advantage of each other again), whereas Charles acts for himself, and [[spoiler:Suzaku later opposes him for taking advantage of other people just like (if not more so than) Lelouch when those with power should protect those incapable of acting, recognizing that Britannian society isn't such an ideal world]].
* Vicious of ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' shows shades of this, particularly in his attitude towards those who lose their ruthless side. Notably, he assassinates his former {{Mentor}} Mao Yenrai for attempting to make peace with another [[TheSyndicate Syndicate]] (then dismissively describes him as "a beast who lost his fangs"), denounces the Elders of the Red Dragon as "corpses that can't fight," and during their first confrontation, he angrily demands to know why Spike Spiegel, his personal and romantic rival, survived his exile if he's no longer as cold-blooded and ruthless as Vicious.
* A central theme in the ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' series is that talent comes with its drawbacks and doesn't make anyone better than everyone else, with the main cast of each series being a DysfunctionJunction filled with {{Broken Ace}}s. In ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'', [[HeroWithAnFInGood Juzo]] derides Hajime for being talentless while beating him up, later saying [[CruelToBeKind that he did it to keep him from getting himself killed]] for digging too deep into the school's corruption but on some level his disdain for the untalented was genuine.

* In ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'', Amber's organization "Evening Primrose" is sort of the Contractor [[LaResistance Resistance movement]], and while it's not clear to what extent Amber herself has this viewpoint, her [[{{yandere}} obsessive]] follower Maki definitely does, and in one scene, he actually refers to Contractors as something like a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything "master race"]]. The {{interquel}} villain Harvest is also an insane social Darwinist, and has several lines about "the next stage in evolution".
* [[Characters/DeathNoteLightYagami Light Yagami]] in ''Manga/DeathNote'' Zig-zags this trope, and he [[VillainProtagonist happens to be the protagonist]]. He believes that by using the Death Note to pick off criminals and the unpleasant, he can make the world consist of good people only. As he puts it, if Kira (his mass-murdering alter ego) is caught, then he's evil; if he wins and rules the world, he's righteous. On the other hand, he also thinks he is able to make moral judgements about murdering people not because of strength, but because he has deluded himself into believing he is [[AGodAmI divine]], and paternalistically desires to protect those he considers to be weak and innocent. (If you want to stop him, you are [[WithUsOrAgainstUs no longer innocent]].) Therefore, at the end, when [[spoiler:Near gets the upper hand and decisively proves Light is Kira in a room full of cops and FBI agents, Light refuses to accept defeat. Light tries desperately to justify his actions as something they should agree with and then making a scene of himself when they don't buy it]]. That is, when pushed to a corner, Light abandons Social Darwinism and shifts to a mentality of "I am always justified no matter what."
** [[NominalHero Near]] also demonstrates himself to be this at the end of the series, stating that justice is essentially purely based upon the ideas flawed individuals who enforce it happen to hold and that it has no objective jurisdiction other than strength. [[spoiler: Arguably, his KirkSummation of Light is just as rooted in his disgust in Light for believing he can set up an objective standard of morality as much as disgust for his numerous horrific actions throughout the series.]]
* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', tied with his immense need for fighting strong opponents Akaza shows extreme disdain for those he deems to be weak, saying word for word their natural outcome is to simply perish in the wake of those in power culling them along the way; Akaza also shows he is kind of a determinist, believing the strong are fated to be so, but the the weak will always be weak. However, as the story unfolds Akaza's ideology is shown to be a result of [[spoiler:his quite tragic past, where his great physical strength as a human didn't help those he loved in the slightest, they died in ways his might was unable to prevent it from happening - his sick father committed suicide to spare his son a life of constant worry, and even thieving, to support him; his bride and father-in-law were fatally poisoned in the middle a dispute against a rival dojo - all of that led Akaza to a downward spiral, which corrupted him when forcefully turned into a demon, forgetting his life as the human Hakuji, his new demonic mind warped his pain from losing his loved ones to a sick love for strength, and complete hatred for the weak, which ironically was his total opposite belief back when he was human, Hakuji loved his weak and sick father and liked taking care of him]].
* Demon of ''Manga/DigimonVTamer01'', who holds the contradictory views that monsters should live by instinct alone and that it is a monster's duty to destroy weaker creatures wherever they can be found, regardless of how impractical this is. He's above no methods in his pursuit of the latter, including [[StrawHypocrite lying about his motivations]] and has gone so far as to find ways to destroy other creatures out of his reach who had virtually no effect on his life to no benefit to himself whatsoever [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence simply because he knew they existed]].

*** [[TopGod Zen'O]] wishes to destroy the universes who fall below a certain level of stability and order in their universe (on a scale of 1-10, about a 7). Out of the 12, only 4 made the mark (Universe 7, home to the Z-Fighters, got the ''second-lowest'' score (though painfully justify when one remembers that monsters like Frieza and Buu were around.). As such, the 8 others had to fight for their lives when Zen'O remembered Goku's idea for a multiversal martial arts tournament and used that as a way to justify which universe should live, with the prize being a wish from the Super Dragon Balls. [[spoiler: Except it's all subverted, it's all a SecretTestOfCharacter to see if mortals would wish for the return of the various universes that were wiped out upon defeat. If the mortal was selfish, Zen'O would destroy everything. However, the winner, Android 17, wished for everyone to be brought back, and thus validating what Zen'O believed and both being happy that mortals could grow to care for others beyond their universes.]]

%%* The Jester a.k.a. Kaizan Doushi in the anime series ''Anime/{{Grenadier}}''.

** Turns out it is a bit more complicated than that; [[spoiler: her reasoning for promoting this mentality was to have the strongest allies to stop her mother Ragyo's insane scheme. She needed strong-willed people for her plan to work. She relaxes on this much more at the end and she can live a normal life. She's also just using it as an excuse... as she's already essentially selected the winners: her Elite Four and Ryuko Matoi. She's just using it to train them. None of the other students EVER had a chance... as none of them had powerful enough tools.]]
* Rudolf von Goldenbaum from ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'' firmly believes in this trope. One of the most infamous laws he passed after he established the Galactic Empire was the so-called "Inferior Genes Exclusion Law", which essentially involved the killing of people deemed to possess "inferior genes".

* In ''Literature/LordMarksmanAndVanadis'', Duke Thenardier, one of the [[spoiler: main antagonists of the first five volumes]], is this due to his upbringing by his father. He killed all of his siblings to rise to power and holds no sympathy for anyone he considers weak besides his son, which is why he decides [[spoiler: to raze Alsace to the ground in Volume 1]] and levies ridiculously high taxes on anyone he considers useless or weak.

* [[TheEvilPrince Gihren Zabi]] of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''. He believes that the strong should rule and the weak should simply get out of the way. This idea governs most of his actions throughout the show, and lead to his ultimately [[SelfMadeOrphan assassinating]] his father and seizing control of Zeon for himself.
* Lord Fezearl Ezelcant from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE'' believes that the only way to create a perfect world [[spoiler:is to wipe out the weak. It doesn't matter to Ezelcant if you're caught in the middle of an attack on a Federation colony, suffering from the overwhelming poverty within Vagan, or dying from diseases due to Mars Ray exposure. If you do not have the will to survive or the willpower to do ''anything'' to have the means to do so, you don't belong in his utopia and you deserve to die. What makes this hilarious is that he states that he thinks peaceful and kindhearted people will come out of this, rather than hardened survivors -- thus proving that Social Darwinists don't always understand the very idea they're putting their faith in.]]
* The Leader of the PLANTS from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', Chairman Patrick Zala, actively believes that Coordinators, genetically modified humans, are a different species from Natural-born humans. This leads him to actively pursue the death of every single Natural on the planet Earth. (His aggression towards Naturals likely stemmed from [[spoiler:his wife being killed in an event before the series by the Earth Alliance, who was not pleased that Coordinators had been able to grow their own food]].)

* In ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'', Dr. Genus was, even as a child, disgusted by the weakness of man. His goal is to take over the world and replace the human race with his army of genetically engineered monsters. He gets really shocked when he discovers [[TheHero Saitama's]] incredible power came from training and not genetics or anything of the sort. [[spoiler:When his most powerful experiment is [[CurbStompBattle effortlessly destroyed after failing to do any real damage to Saitama]], he has a change of heart and decides to open a restaurant.]]
** Suiryu, a very strong competitor in the martial arts tournament Saitama enters, is revealed to have this as his mindset, though it's unclear if he falls under Straw Meritocrat, Jerk Justifier, Struggler, or a combination of the above: [[spoiler:He believes that any death of non-natural causes was because that person was too weak to survive it and thus all non-natural deaths are deserved. As a result, he comes off as a sociopath, showing zero concern for anyone but himself, as until Saitama, he had yet to encounter anyone better at fighting than him. Because of Suiryu's attitude, he has nothing but disdain for heroes and [[EvilCannotComprehendGood doesn't understand why they would rescue weak people to the point of self-sacrifice when they should be protecting themselves]]. These ideas particularly offend Suiryu's second-round opponent Snek, who is a professional hero and takes his job seriously.]] After being on the receiving end of this merciless philosophy though, and finally learning how it feels to be helpless against overwhelming power, he quickly and irrevocably changes his tune and vows to use his strength to be a hero himself.

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'':
** ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'' is a somewhat strange example of the trope, due to the shifting of roles between the Japanese and English versions of the film. Both Mew and Mewtwo have shades of this in the Japanese version, though it is Mew, the ''hero'', that is more of a Darwinist; in fact, it's Mew that offers the suggestion that the two sides fight without their abilities. In the English version, Mew shows none of these traits, leaving Mewtwo as the sole Darwinist.
** Paul, Ash's main rival in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl'', follows this philosophy to a T and it downright pisses off Ash. His ''very first appearance'' involves him capturing three Starly, finding which one has the best moves and stats, and releasing the other two. About halfway through the series, he released Chimchar for losing in a double battle, which would come back to bite him in the League tournament as [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Ash's Infernape.]] Interestingly, Paul's personality and actions are very similar to the part of the fandom interested in the metagame and tournaments, allowing him to act as a sort of meta-commentary on those players (both their [[ArrogantKungFuGuy less than savory attitudes]] as well as their [[JerkassHasAPoint valid points]]).

* In ''AudioPlay/SaintBeast'', Zeus believes that angels who are not "beautiful and strong" are not fit to serve him.

* ''Literature/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'': The series' WhatIf AlternateTimeline ''Marie Route'' has a AlphaBitch noblewoman who echoes type 5. She tells Marie's crying friend Yulia, who just lost her boyfriend to war, to QuitYourWhining, explaining that WarIsGlorious and that Yulia [[MartyrdomCulture should be happy that such an honorable man]] was interested in her, before revealing that several men who courted her were injured or killed, saying she has no interest in such weak men as the hospitalized ones. All of this, with the final straw of calling Marie's boyfriend ugly, crosses CuteBruiser Marie's RageBreakingPoint and sends her into an UnstoppableRage rampage, before afterwards deciding to volunteer at hospitals instead of attending classes.
* Inverted in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', where [[spoiler:both Lordgenome and the Anti-Spirals purposefully try to force the human race not to evolve too much, and it is the ''heroes'' who ascribe to a more idealistic combination of [[EvolutionaryLevels Darwinism (with Spiral Energy being the power behind evolution)]] and ThePowerOfFriendship.]]

** Sid, a (mostly) incompetent ground sloth subverts it and outwits a sabertooth cat (one whom, to be fair, isn't very competent, either). While repeatedly jumping on his victim Sid shouts: "[[PunctuatedPounding Survival! Of The! Fittest!]]" and finishes with: "I don't think so..."
** A straight example appears in the [[WesternAnimation/IceAgeContinentalDrift fourth movie]] in the form of Captain Gutt, who believes that the best way to survive in an ever-changing world is by pillaging and plundering and is such a Narcissist that he openly claims that he is the best because he can and will do it.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'': The Dazzlings' VillainSong "Let's Have A Battle (of the Bands)" encourages this mindset, with the lyrics saying things like it doesn't matter who you hurt in your journey to prove you are the best and that people should compete against each other instead of working together. In general, The Dazzlings spread this behavior through their MindControlMusic and HatePlague. It doesn't matter to them who wins; they are {{Emotion Eater}}s who feed on the negative emotions generated by the conflicts.

-->'''Gekko:''' The public's out there throwing darts at a board, sport. I don't throw darts at a board. I bet on sure things. Read Sun Tzu, ''[[Literature/TheArtOfWarSunTzu The Art of War]]''. "Every battle is won before it's ever fought." Think about it. You're not as smart as I thought you were, Buddy boy. Ever wonder why fund managers can't beat the S&P 500? Because they're sheep -- and sheep get slaughtered. I have been in the business since '69. Most of these Harvard MBA types, they don't add up to dog shit. Gimme guys who are poor, smart, and hungry. [[TheUnfettered And no feelings]]. You win some, you lose some, but you keep on fighting. And if you need a friend, get a dog. It's trench warfare out there, pal.

* In Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'', Philip Lombard fits this category quite nicely. He freely admits to having left twenty-one African men to starve to death and is well-known for participating in quasi-legal activities. His justification is, "self-preservation is a man's first duty." However, [[spoiler: this ultimately becomes his own undoing during the showdown between himself and Vera Claythorne at the end]].

* ''Literature/AscendanceOfABookworm'': The rules of succession in nobility work like this, with the added factor that children within a same family can be born with different amounts of {{Mana}}. The noble-born blue priests are actually children born with so little mana in regards to their family's standing that their parents aren't bothering to raise them as potential heirs.
%%This needs details to show how he qualifies.* Who is [[Literature/AtlasShrugged John Galt]]? Well, whatever else he is, as the poster boy for UsefulNotes/{{Objectivism}} he is certainly this.

* ''Literature/CatwomanSoulstealer'': After learning the Lazarus Pit can heal people, Selina asks Nyssa if Maggie can use it to cure her cystic fibrosis. In response Nyssa says it's natural selection and the Pit won't be provided to "useless" people like Maggie. This convinces Selina [[spoiler:to steal the Pit's formula so she can make one for Maggie herself]]. Even earlier, Selina noted that the League really likes its trainees fighting each other when competing (including them throwing rocks at people ahead in hopes of slowing or stopping them), to weed out the weak so survival of the fittest takes place, saying (after learning about it in biology) they take Darwinism pretty far. It's also possibly their motive for plotting against Gotham, viewing it as corrupt, thus possibly weak and unfit to remain existing using their Social Darwinist philosophy.
* [[Literature/AChristmasCarol Ebenezer Scrooge]]: "If they would rather die, they had better do it, and thereby decrease the surplus population." And you'd better believe this comes back to bite him later on.
* Crom, god of the Cimmerians in Creator/RobertEHoward's Literature/ConanTheBarbarian stories. He breathes life and strength into his followers at birth and after that, they're on their own. Any plea for help is more likely to be punished than rewarded.
* ''Literature/TheCourtshipOfPrincessLeia'': Isolder argues certain people are most genetically fit to rule, as with social carnivores, and this being the right way of doing things (he's a prince himself, making it an unsurprising view). ''Luke'' of all people thinks this might have some merit to it, distasteful though the idea may be. Leia (herself a princess, of course) disagrees strongly with this (the Alderaanian monarchy was far more limited than the one Isolder's from), plus she was adopted and thus can't claim "superior" royal blood (he doesn't realize this, from his comments- oddly, as she's Luke's sister, who's not royalty).
* In Donald Kingsbury's ''Literature/CourtshipRite'', the entire population of the world of Geta are Straw Meritocrat Social Darwinists; the native life of the planet is mostly not edible, and famines are historically common. Cannibalism is part of their way of life, in which people with less ''kalothi'' (worthiness to survive) go to feed those of higher ''kalothi'' in times of need. The end of the book reveals that in the far future they have become a different species.
** The idea of Social Darwinism is so ingrained in their culture that even one character who is a self-proclaimed "vegetarian" and openly advocates an end to the "sacrifices" believes in eugenics. She doesn't think carriers of genetic disorders should reproduce.

* In Marion Zimmer Bradley's ''[[Literature/{{Darkover}} Darkover Landfall]]'', humans arrive on Darkover as the survivors of a crashed starship -- fortunately a colony ship, unfortunately meant for another world altogether with existing infrastructure. Fewer than 70 women survived who might be capable of childbearing. The medical practitioners deliberately decided not to make any special effort to save any woman who looked like dying in childbirth, on the grounds that their gene pool wasn't large enough to include the weak. Definitely an example of a Racism Theorist -- and this is presented as an IDidWhatIHadToDo situation. An especially bad example because [[ArtisticLicenseBiology 70 females is nowhere near enough genetic diversity to sustain a population]].
* In ''Literature/TheDarkSideOfTheSun'' by Creator/TerryPratchett, after the new security guy reaps the rewards of FantasticRacism and being TooDumbToLive, an alien witness comments:

* The Creator/MarquisDeSade expressed this viewpoint in his works, saying the strong should be free to prey upon the weak, while compassion and charity are bad. He said murder and rape should be legal: if the victim or their loved ones didn't like this, he generously allowed that they could take revenge; if the attacker wasn't strong enough to defeat them, well that was his problem (yet he himself was hardly strong enough to fend off one of his victim's fathers and narrowly escaped being shot by him). This was he thought simply the way Nature works, and thus [[AppealToNature society should too]]. His characters claimed the disabled, poor, and sick should just be killed or used as guinea pigs for medical research. Note that this was before Darwin's birth, though ideas of evolution already existed, which De Sade was possibly familiar with, since his view justifies this by claiming that destroying or exploiting the weak benefits the human race (in a crude proto-natural selection which many Social Darwinists held later). Laws which defended the weak, of course, his work denounced as "unnatural" and preventing a healthy exploitation/culling.

* Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels contain quite a few of these characters.

* ''Literature/DoomValleyPrepSchool'': Doom Valley Prep is a fairly firm believer in the Struggler part of social Darwinism. They allow extreme bullying, blame the victim for not being strong or smart enough to stop it, and will give students extremely dangerous tests and detentions that can end in death. But the school also realize that cooperation is a useful tool. The teachers are impressed by [[spoiler: Princess Ella]] because she uses her position and money to gain willing allies and minions. And after a secret test, they told the weakers students who had failed, that they should have allied themselves to stronger students, as friends or useful minions. Then the teachers chastised some of the bullies who didn't use the test to gain willing allies or even unwilling minions. Survival and success is all important, how they achieve it is secondary.
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', this trope largely defines the Winter Court. Winterfae consider killing someone over an insult to be admirable and even attractive, as we see firsthand in ''Literature/ColdDays''. Along with the psychopathic, sexually violent urges forced on anyone who taps into Winter's power. [[spoiler: It turns out they have a VERY good reason for this...they also value loyalty to Queen Mab. And, they're trying to recruit as many strong soldiers as possible for an endless war against the horrors beyond the veil. Summer Court exists to prevent them from hurting other people.]]
* Deconstructed in ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'', a TieInNovel to ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013''. [[spoiler:[[TragicVillain Prince Hans's]] father, the king of the Southern Isles,]] is a mix of the Straw Meritocrat, the Struggler and the Weakness Punisher types. Thinking his sons should be "lions, not mice," he deliberately lets them torment each other and picks favorites amongst them so they'll compete for his affections. However, this causes his sons to develop serious psychological issues, while also leaving the entire Westergaard clan dysfunctional. By the end of ''A Frozen Heart'', [[TheCorrupter his toxic]] [[GreaterScopeVillain influence]] has corroded Hans into becoming an unfeeling and ruthless man, driving him to dehumanize others (including Elsa, Anna, and the Duke of Weselton) in his quest for power.
* John Taylor Gatto (a former schoolteacher) has published works on the history of schooling and argued that social Darwinism was the ''point''. School is based on a "mudsill theory" of man in which everyone but a small section of humanity is considered to be worthless. Darwinian competitions in school are supposed to flush out the trash, i.e. anyone who cannot fit into the environment and thrive.
* In {{Creator/Plato}}'s ''Glaucon'' Callicles says it is just for the strong to have more than the weak, that it's a natural right to attack them and the latter must submit. {{Creator/Socrates}} then rebuts this notion. This also occurs in ''Literature/TheRepublic'' when the sophist Thrasymachus argues that justice is defined as "the interest of the stronger", only to be rebutted by Socrates. The "utopia" Socrates proposes in the same book however also has elements like this, with a caste system based on people's abilities. He even talks about having eugenic selective breeding for it.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series.

** And in another vein, the Elder Wand itself may be an item promoting this. As a wand of immense power, nigh-unbeatable by any challenger who is not the rightful wielder of it, its owner would consistently grow stronger and stronger (barring an opponent killing its owner in a secretive way, which was common occurrence) until in theory, it would reach the pinnacle of its power (a wielder who would never be beaten and die peacefully) where its power would vanish as there would no longer be a rightful wielder.
* Courtmother Rhiallon from ''Literature/HeraldsOfRhimn''. She expresses distaste for Courtfather Snow's choice to take in "weak" children, and insists that her stronger court would ruin his if they started an open feud.

* In ''Illegal Alien'' by Creator/RobertJSawyer [[spoiler: the Tosoks]] justify their genocidal actions this way, saying that if they aren't divine creations and with their periodic hybernations leaving them vulnerable to sneak attacks, it is simply "survival of the fittest" to attack and kill other species [[spoiler: (with the exception of the faction that Hask and Seltar are from, who try to stop it).]]

* ''Literature/LoLoApolloImAfraidOfAmericans'': This is [[BigBad Nick Trophy's]] ultimate goal, a world where every day is a brutal fight for survival, with himself lording over and reveling in the endless struggle for power:
-->"He would drag them all down into the pit, and he would reorder the system so that nothing could exist within order. All the chaos, and the violence of beasts, would be ensured as part of the code then, and Death, in Nick's Earthly Kingdom, would be the Exalted Mother -- hated, feared, and yet, unerringly served. And he would, in a world without peace, without peace by design, reign as a wild, black pharaoh for eight billion years, the final master of the world, the ultimate winner of every game there is to be played."

* General Zaroff's excuse for hunting others for his amusement in ''Literature/TheMostDangerousGame'' stems from the fact that he believes that the people that he hunts are weak and that he is strong. The other excuse is that hunting animals was starting to bore him.

-->[[spoiler:'''Digit:''']] The fact is, there's nobody more important than yourself. Nature demands the survival of the fittest. You have to take care of number one. Everything about the Watch being as good as all of its parts is sentimental nonsense. In the end, it's every mouse for itself.
* CEO Nicholas Wyatt in ''Literature/{{Paranoia}}'' is this personified, viewing anyone who doesn't measure up as unworthy of surviving in the corporate world. [[spoiler: This makes his total loss to Goddard at the end of the book rather fitting.]]

** The villains of ''The City Who Fought'' are the [[HumanSubspecies Kolnari]], social Darwinists who, like [[Franchise/{{Dune}} the Fremen]], have grown up in an [[DeathWorld extremely harsh environment]]. They're so dedicated to this that they are ''well'' into the StupidEvil category - when they take over a SpaceStation and station residents start picking them off and infecting them with a SyntheticPlague, the [[SmugSnake Kolnari leader Belazhir]] sees no reason to hunt for the perpetrators or provide medical care to the sick. Clearly they are weak, and the weak die to leave the rest stronger! He even deliberately spreads this illness to the rest of his people, with absolutely catastrophic effects as an entire generation dies. In the aftermath, one of his sons is [[TokenHeroicOrc soft]] and ''would'' have been [[OffingTheOffspring culled for this weakness]], but there are so few Kolnari left that Belazhir simply allows him to take an action that will probably kill him.

* In both the ''Literature/{{Tarzan}}'' series and his lesser-known sci fi ''Venus'' series Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs depicted what might be called "eugenics utopias", societies that strictly regulated heredity. This ranged from rewarding "fit" births, forced sterilization and even ''killing'' people deemed unfit. In the ''Tarzan'' example, this has gone on for over 2,000 years, with the result that no crime exists. Burroughs firmly believed that all criminal behavior was caused by hereditary traits, and strongly supported eugenics, writing a nonfiction essay called "I See A New Race" which made clear this [[AuthorTract reflected his own views]].

* ''Literature/TroyRising'': The Horvath believe and practice this. They cull undesirable genetic lines among their own people and try to do the same to humans by releasing five genetically-engineered pathogens into Earth's atmosphere. The first one is a nematode (tiny worm) that starts by producing a pimple on the inner left wrist. If it's not treated with some basic tools (sanitizing and bandaging the small wound), the infestation spreads quickly, and the person dies. Thus, they seek to cull those who they see are careless, stupid, or economically disadvantaged. The other four are viruses, each targeting specific genetic traits. For some reason, the final virus targets anyone who doesn't carry the gene for blonde hair, with an estimated 90% casualty rate across the globe. The Glatun are already aware of the pathogens and have come up with a cure. Except their rules state that Earth has to officially request aid for them to intervene.
* Subverted in Creator/GeorgeRRMartin's ''Literature/TufVoyaging'' with the planet S'uthlam. The dominant religion believes that man can someday evolve into God, but they emphasize random mutation over struggle as the driver of evolution: as such they encourage everyone to multiply as much as possible to increase the opportunities for mutation. By their third appearance, they're planning to conquer the neighboring systems for more living space [[spoiler: so Tuf gives them a superfood that could satisfy their dietary needs, and carries a SterilityPlague, though he estimates that between 0.3 and 0.7% of the population would be resistant, and natural selection would enable the population to recover eventually.]]

* Tigerstar and other villains in ''Literature/WarriorCats'' say that weak cats should either look after themselves or die.
** In ''Crookedstar's Promise'', Crookedstar and Oakheart's mother Rainflower arrange for the latter to be mentored by their father Shellheart...though it's uncommon for parents to mentor their children in the series. When questioned about it, she declares that only the strongest mentors could train the best apprentices. [[ParentalFavoritism Right in front of Crookedstar]].
* Though one can't expect bunnies to have heard of Charles Darwin, officers of Efrafa's Owsla in ''Literature/WatershipDown'' are given full mating privileges, suggesting that Woundwort wants only his strongest bucks to father the kittens in his warren. Subverted by Nature itself, as many of the badly-overcrowded does fail to sustain the pregnancies that result.

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E4Survival Survival]]" deconstructs this trope/worldview in several ways, most notably by turning the Master into an essentially Social Darwinist villain -- all the other characters are exploited for his own survival. He manipulates TheDragon, Midge, by playing on Social Darwinist beliefs -- a specific comment on [[UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher Thatcherism]] in 1980s Britain. There's also a bullet-headed Territorial Army type who's a determined believer in this type of philosophy, only to completely fall apart when he finds himself thrown into an environment where he has to actually practice it. It doesn't end well for him. [[spoiler: Ultimately, the 'weaker' characters who work together and are able to overcome their purely individualistic / survivalist instincts do okay, the 'stronger' ones who can't and fall into this trope die or meet fates worse than death.]]

* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'': In a meeting with the other Commanders, Joseph Lawrence cites Darwin himself in ''The Descent of Man'' to implicitly argue that women are inferior. Oddly, despite them being part of an ultra-fundamentalist Christian regime, no one appears to have a problem with this (most American fundamentalists completely reject evolution, and view Darwin as evil). It's left unclear if he really believes this or is just making himself look good for the rest so they won't grow suspicious. [[spoiler: Subverted though considering the book is about the female superiority over males in the mate selection process. It was also edited by Darwin's wife and daughter before publishing (this may have been an inside joke from Lawrence).]]

* On ''Series/TheKnick'', Herman Barrow, the hospital administrator, is a committed social Darwinist. He's an equally committed racist.

* The Clans of ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' have been [[DesignerBabies bred for war]] for centuries using intensely competitive rituals to determine whose genes get passed on and whose don't, and believe this makes them worthy of ruling the Inner Sphere. Naturally, they get whipped by the "inferiors", who recognize that you can still be of use in combat over the age of 30. The story of the Clan invasion could be a deconstruction of the whole thing. While their rituals and codes of honor helped perfect the Clans' fighting technique, they forgot many of the pragmatic realities of war. Meanwhile, the Inner Sphere realms were all too familiar with them, thanks to their constant bickering, possessive, petty leaders. In essence: the Clans' didn't "breed for war", they bred for ritualized honor duels and paid for their CripplingOverspecialization with strategic failure.

* In ''Tabletopgame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** The Drow are a PlanetOfHats of AlwaysChaoticEvil Social Darwinists, due to a spectacularly poor choice in patron deity (a demonic spider-goddess) and living in underworld caves whose native fauna make them nearly a DeathWorld. This does ensure that drow who survive are more dangerous, particularly to each other. The book does acknowledge that realistically speaking, natural selection ''should'' have either destroyed them or forced them to stick together, but Lolth is an obsessive micromanager who punishes both the drow who don't backstab enough and those who backstab ''too much'' and risk their civilization destabilizing. And yes, that does make the Drow a race that officially survives thanks to DeusExMachina.
** The Githyanki are a race of ScaryDogmaticAliens and ProudWarriorRaceGuys who take the "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link" mentality well beyond its logical conclusion, killing any gith they perceive as weak in a tradition they call the "termination of the frail". Of course, their leader ''also'' kills off any Githyanki she thinks are too strong because they might overthrow her.
** The ''Book Of Exalted Deeds'' (a book about good characters) has a passage about this mentality, saying "The idea that creatures too weak to better themselves deserve their low position is a [[ObviouslyEvil hallmark of evil dogma.]]" and continuing with "[[ShutUpHannibal Good characters reject this notion completely]], recognizing that most poor and needy people are the victims of circumstance, not of their own weakness or failings."

** The ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' setting's Children of Winter are a Druidic sect who believe that the world passes through distinct season-like stages and the recent occurrence of the Mourning is a sign of the dawning of Winter. Thus, if the sapient races are to survive until the Spring, the weak must be culled from the herd. To this end, they propagate natural disasters (famine, plague, etc) and interfere with efforts to alleviate them. In theory, they are {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s. In practice, most [=DMs=] tend to use them as handy "guys you can punch in the face without feeling guilty".
** ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'': The Fated, or the Takers, as they are colloquially known, believe that constant struggle promotes the worthy and dooms the unworthy. The Fated refuse to use anything they have not taken for themselves, including sincerely and freely given aid, because they believe doing so promotes weakness. That said, they aren't hypocrites; many Fated have died refusing medical assistance after battles, because accepting it would violate their principles, and if you manage to take something from a Fated, they'll either shrug and let it go, or resolve themselves to become strong enough to take it back.
* ''Tabletopgame/EclipsePhase'' has two factions who act like this. The Ultimates are a group of [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy militant]] [[WarriorPoet ascetics]] who strive for [[{{Ubermensch}} perfection]]. While the Exhumans are [[TheSingularity Singularity-chasing]] psychopaths who often assume [[BodyHorror truly horrific morphs]] and some of which try to be the [[IAmAHumanitarian top of the food chain.]]
* Two examples from ''Tabletopgame/{{Exalted}}'':

* Yawgmoth, from ''Tabletopgame/MagicTheGathering''. An unusual example is his nemesis Urza, a ''protagonist'' eugenicist; calling him "heroic" would admittedly be a stretch. Urza is such a Darwinist that he [[spoiler:actually ''sides with Phyrexia'' after spending millennia trying to defeat it when he actually visits the place, since Phyrexia is everything he ever wanted as an artificer and as a Social Darwinist.]] Vorinclex from New Phyrexia is a social Darwinist as well, to the point of objecting to society at all. The only thing that matters is that ability to kill those weaker. Green and Black, despite being enemy colours, love social Darwinism.

** [[BigBad Nicol]] [[TheDreaded Bolas]] subscribes to this philosophy wholeheartedly, where [[ItsAllAboutMe he's]] the strong and everyone else is the weak. It helps that he's [[TimeAbyss the oldest]] and [[PhysicalGod potentially strongest Planeswalker in existence]], ''and'' [[OurDragonsAreDifferent one of the two surviving Elder Dragons]], so most of the time ''he's right''.

* In ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' the cult of the Fanged Mother on Venus believes that the strong should dominate the weak and the only ethical thing for the strong to do is to cull the weak to sate the Fanged Mother's thirst. Needless to say, most Venusians aren't happy with a death cult turning [[DeathWorld Venus]] into any more of a CrapsackWorld.
* The RPG ''TabletopGame/SufficientlyAdvanced'' features a Social Darwinist faction that isn't averse to giving natural selection a helping hand.

* The Skaven and the Greenskins (Goblinoids) in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}''. Also the Dark Elves, to certain extent.
** The WordOfGod is notoriously ambiguous whether ''all'' greenskins represent the same species or if Snotlings, Goblins, and Orcs are actually three separate species. The authors of the game just mention that the greenskins [[FridgeHorror never stop growing before they die]]...
** Life is cheap if you have fur or green skin. This trope makes sense in this concept.
* Both the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Imperium]] and the [[SpaceElves Eldar]] in ''Tabletopgame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' view all other races and each other as less evolved and inferior. The Orks also do this with their culture based on [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warfare]] and [[MightMakesRight toughness]].
** Dark Eldar are almost exactly the same as the Orks, except replace size and toughness with skill and cunning. Dark Eldar society requires all of it's members to be CrazyPrepared {{Magnificent Bastard}}s, or they'll be backstabbed and betrayed by even more ambitious and cunning rivals and underlings. As such, Dark Eldar kabal society is constantly shifting around as warriors, dracons, and archons climb up the ladder... or get kicked off it.

* The eponymous creatures from ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' have definite shades of this, in that their leadership is decided by challenges. These can be non-violent challenges but rarely are. The cake is taken by the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Get of Fenris tribe]], who think being tougher than everyone else is the only worthwhile goal in life.

* ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken'' has this as the central creed for the Predator Kings. They believe that anything that cannot defend itself has no inherent right to live. This goes to the extent that, unlike the other two Pure Tribes, they aren't angry about Father Wolf's death - if he was unable to prevent his children from killing him, then he ''deserved'' to die.

* Andrew Ryan from ''Videogame/{{BioShock|1}}'' has shades of this, what with his version of [[Literature/AtlasShrugged Ayn Rand's Objectivism]]. He even builds an underwater utopia so that the weak do not keep the strong down. Someone still has to scrub the toilets in Rapture; even if Ryan brought down only the best and the brightest people that fit in with his ideology, people who were once captains of industry back on land were no better than average there and were disgruntled when they had to work menial jobs that someone's gotta do. On the other hand, Ryan had a fairly broad definition of "strong." For example, he met one of his best friends, Bill [=McDonough=], when the man was installing the plumbing in Ryan's apartment. Ryan had only paid for tin pipes, but [=McDonough=] was using brass ones and paying the difference out of his own pocket, as he took a great sense of pride in making sure none of his work ever leaked. The next day, Ryan hired him as his general contractor and made sure to bring him down to Rapture when the city was built.
* The ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes''' main bad guy, Lord Recluse, has founded his entire evil organization on Social Darwinism... to the point where he actively encourages every faction to fight against every other faction and backstab each other freely. It's a wonder his plans for world conquest go anywhere when all the bad guys are busy killing ''each other'' off instead of fighting the ''heroes''. [[note]]This may have been inspired by the Nazis, who recommended {{Klingon Promotion}}s and frequently assigned the same task to two or more officials to see who got it done first, promoting infighting. This did not help in making TheTrainsRunOnTime.[[/note]] This does explain why the majority of your enemies in ''City of Villains'' are not, in fact, heroes. While Recluse adheres to Survival of the Fittest, he doesn't let it consume his organization. Anarchy and insubordination are stamped out pretty quickly if they interfere with his plans -- one of the few things Villains in his city can't do without restraint is attack civilians. Who else is going to pay Recluse his taxes?

* Mortimer [=McMire=], TheHero's rival in ''VideoGame/CommanderKeen'' games, believes that he is the most intelligent being in the universe and that gives him the right to wipe out all the lesser beings. [[ImprobablyHighIQ His IQ is 315]]; Keen has an IQ of 314. Mr. [=McMire=] believes Keen can die with the rest, simply because his IQ is ''one point too short''.
* ''VideoGame/Diablo4: Lilith makes it clear that she hasn't returned to ''save'' mankind, but to put them through trials by fire so the survivors might reach their hidden potential and become the army meant to end the war between Heaven and Hell. She says this as a pack of wolves eats a feeble monk in front of her.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', Sarif talks about "survival of the fittest" and how "some people will be left behind". However, he's a HonestCorporateExecutive and the closest thing to a BigGood the game has, and he's referring to the few people who are completely incompatible with augmentations, which he honestly wants to make available for everyone.
* ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'': The Omar are a HiveMind of transhuman cyborgs that consider themselves the future of the human race and plan to replace humanity the old-fashioned way: Wait and let their evolutionary superiority speak for itself. [[spoiler:In three of the endings, the Omar see themselves either replaced by the Helios system or exterminated by the Templars or Illuminati -- they're vindicated in the fourth ending if all three conspiracies are defeated, as humanity drives itself to extinction and leaves them to inherit the Earth.]]

* The ''VideoGame/DonPachi'' series has [[spoiler: Colonel Longhena]].

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''

* In ''VideoGame/FallFromHeaven'' the [[BarbarianTribe Doviello]] follow this trope. One of their leaders, [[RaisedByWolves Charadon]], leads a pack of wolves to ravage his own family's village in order to find the strongest and fiercest members of his tribe (the survivors who fight off the wolves). He even [[LuddWasRight forbids the Doviello from forging their own weapons]] in favor of [[VictorGainsLosersPowers scavenging them from defeated foes]] or relying on their [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower natural strength.]] That said, Charadon's counterpart, [[OnlySaneMan Mahala]], downplays this by recognizing that Charadon's dogmatic belief in the rule of the strong is [[DeconstructedTrope wearing the Doviello down in pointless conflict]] while the "weaker" races are rapidly advancing their technology and making the Doviello's brute strength [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards obsolete.]]
* [[TheEmpire Caesar's Legion]] of ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'' is a ANaziByAnyOtherName ThemeParkVersion of the Roman Empire that operates on a belief in survival through personal strength. As [[BigBad Caesar]] himself proudly admits, the Legion is a [[IndividualismVsCollectivism hyper-collectivist society where the individual has no rights or value]] beyond his utility to the greater Legion, and anyone unable to provide said utility (such as the sick and elderly) is promptly killed off.
** Vulpes Inculta claims that the reason main reason he butchered or enslaved nearly the entire town of [[WretchedHive Nipton]] is that they were too weak to prevent it, and therefore deserved it. If you decide to kill him and establish that he was weak as well, his allies will send assassins after you. [[{{Hypocrite}} Guess that "Survival of the Fittest" argument only is applicable when it's convenient to them]].
** Legate Lanius, TheDragon of Caesar, is this to a much more brutal extent. If he rules the Legion and wins the Battle of Hoover Dam, he makes Vegas into a twisted WarriorHeaven where he puts the world to the sword. In his mind, [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans violence will set the world free]], breaking the weak and letting the strong truly thrive. He even uses you as proof, stating that being shot and left for dead forced you to become strong.
** In Lonesome Road, if you tell Ulysses that you killed Caesar, he'll respond that by the logic of the Legion, he wasn't strong enough to be a leader if he couldn't even defend himself.
** The Legion also dislikes medical technology, because it allows the sick and weak to survive when they don't deserve to. [[{{Hypocrite}} Caesar readily abandons this belief when he finds out he has a brain tumor, and secretly keeps an Auto-Doc around to treat it]].
* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'': Super Mutant companion [[BloodKnight Strong]] provides an interesting deconstruction. While he fits a lot of the stereotypical criteria of this archetype (he's a member of a ProudWarriorRace and thinks that the weak are worthless and only fit for being enslaved or devoured by those stronger than them), he's actually savvy enough to understand that [[WeHaveReserves with enough numbers]] and by [[ThePowerOfFriendship working together]], the "weak" can ''become'' "strong." As such, he dislikes selfish actions and argues for the benefit of the group above the individual, recognizing that while weak ''individuals'' can get killed off through natural selection, weak ''groups'' can survive and become stronger through adversity and teamwork. In a weird sense, DumbMuscle Strong has a better grasp of ''actual'' Darwinism and natural selection than most other self-proclaimed "Social Darwinist" villains in fiction like Caesar above.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'':

* In ''Videogame/ForHonor'', [[BigBad Apollyon]] believes extensively in this, and her entire objective is to plunge the world into an endless war -- not necessarily to show who is strongest but simply to let everyone become who they "truly" are. She also abides by this in how she treats her soldiers and enemies; a group of deserters who surrender are executed for being "sheep," but several among them who [[ISurrenderSuckers fake their surrender to get close and try to kill her]] are spared. A group of Warborn Vikings who are taken prisoner are executed, except for those who were shown to be the most ferocious and brutal warriors, which she orders released. She ends up destroying some but not all the Vikings' seed and food reserves to force them to fight each other for the remainder, and eventually invade the (until-then neutral) [[{{Wutai}} Dawn Empire]] for supplies. She assassinates the Dawn Empire's Emperor and turns his Daimyo loose on each other in the swamps to hunt down and kill each other to see who is the strongest, and lures the Empire's armies, her own rebellious Knights, and the Warborn into a massive three-way battle while trying to get revenge on her in order to force them into a colossal, endless war driven by mutual hate and distrust.

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': The {{Precursors}} are sort of like this, as they [[spoiler:became the Flood]] seemingly to test out humanity (who were an advanced interstellar empire a long time ago) and the Forerunners. The ones who could defeat the Flood are the ones who are worthy to inherit The Mantle of the Responsibility. Well, that might have been their ''[[MotiveDecay original]]'' plan anyway. [[spoiler: Nowadays, their goal is some combination of revenge and a wish to assimilate all sentient life.]]
* Benny from ''VideoGame/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'' is a Social Darwinist who killed Private Brickman for not being strong enough; when the rest of his squad (Tuttle, Thomas, and Murphy) stuck up for Brickman, he killed them too. He [[spoiler: eventually decides to save a child from certain death and earn the forgiveness of his squadmates in the good ending.]]

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' demonstrates how Sith work like this when you enter the academy on Korriban. One does wonder how their system of backstabbing and "every man for himself" philosophy manages to outnumber and overwhelm the Jedi, who co-operate towards a common cause and don't kill half of ''their own people''. It ''is'' mentioned that the Sith will always fail sooner or later because of this, but it's never actually shown in the game.
** [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords The sequel]] revisits the academy and shows what happens when you have a bunch of DrunkOnTheDarkSide villains without any strong leadership to guide them: a ''very'' empty academy. You can actually directly cause this in the first game by playing the leaders against each other instead of taking a side (which is considered a light side action believe it or not); once they're both dead the academy collapses into anarchy and the few who don't kill each other off die fighting the party. It's worth noting that this is the game. Also in the sequel, your SinkOrSwimMentor Kreia spends a fair bit of time unleashing a variety of threats on you so that you have to either strengthen to deal with them or die. If you go out of your way to help people you meet in sidequests, she criticizes you, saying that you're robbing them of the chance to overcome obstacles by themselves. Although she also criticizes you for being too harsh...
** It should also be noted that the original game is where the Sith Code originated, which writer David Gaider created by inverting the Jedi Code and taking inspiration from Hitler's book ''Mein Kampf''.
** To answer the question of how they manage to effectively counter the Jedi while killing half of their own, ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' has the answer: they don't. TheEmpire is incredibly FascistButInefficient, with their FantasticRacism and ChronicBackstabbingDisorder screwing them over at every opportunity. [[VillainProtagonist Sith Warrior/Inquisitor]] player characters have the option to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] these self-destructive tendencies and try to enact reforms but it's ultimately a ForegoneConclusion.
* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has the entire city-state of Noxus, who live by the notion that only the strong survive. Somewhat unusually is that their definition of strength includes both mental and physical prowess. It doesn't matter if you overpowered or outsmarted your superior, if you defeated them then you earned their position. The two Noxians who exemplify these are Darius (physical prowess) and Swain (mental prowess): Darius, with his contempt for weakness essentially KlingonPromotion'd his way up through the ranks until he became [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership the leader of Noxus' armies]]; Swain, on the other hand, used manipulation and misdirection until he became the Grand General of Noxus[[note]]read: the country's ''leader''[[/note]].
** [[PlayingWithATrope It gets murky]] if you read into the details, where it's strongly suggested that lack of conflict has bred a lot of Jerk Justifiers and Straw Meritocrat nepotists in Noxus, with very few people honestly believing their creed anymore. Darius killed his way through the Army command staff not because he wanted the job but because he thought most of them were [[GeneralRipper dangerously]] [[GeneralFailure incompetent]], while the events leading to Riven's exile show that they're not afraid to simply kill everybody indiscriminately if that's what it takes to win. Also, their reanimation of Sion and Urgot show their willingness to ignore the whole 'only the strongest survive' maxim if it's not ''their'' strongest who survived.

* This is the prevailing philosophy of the city of Magnagora in ''{{VideoGame/Lusternia}}''. As the bastion of [[TheCorruption The Taint]] (essentially a combo platter of nuclear power and [[LovecraftianSuperpower creepily visceral body horror]]), they believe themselves to be genetically superior to all other civilizations. Their most prosperous race (the Viscanti) inbreeds extensively to maintain its "purity", and they have no moral qualms about attacking, enslaving, and eating so-called lesser beings. They also encourage [[DecadentCourt backstabbing, assassination and double-dealing]] in their aristocracy, reasoning that the survivors of any civil war will be stronger and cleverer than those that failed to defend against them.

** According to Javik from ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', the Prothean civilization worked on this principle, calling it "The Cosmic Imperative", and it combines the natural and social forms. That is, they believed weaker species' societies would only get in the way of the strong and should be crushed. They were willing to uplift lesser races, but [[AbusivePrecursors only as long as they had something to offer as slaves to the Prothean Empire]]; the "worthless" races were destroyed. For the Prothean client races, it's suggested that much of their cultural identity was wiped out as far as the official record since said person notes that Prothean wasn't just the name of his species or empire but applied to any citizen, Prothean or non, within that empire. Thus if your species joined the Empire, you would stop being, say... an earthling and instead be a Prothean. It's even claimed that if another civilization was powerful enough to have defeated the Prothean Empire, they would have willingly subjugated themselves because obviously that civilization would have been superior. How true this is is very much open for debate, as it never happened until the Reapers came and wiped them out.

* Bass from ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' believes he ''alone'' is the most powerful robot in the world.
* Both Serpent and Master Albert from ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' display traits of this, especially Serpent. Other examples include Aeolus, who believes only the intelligent deserve to live, and Atlas, who believes mankind can only grow and evolve through suffering thanks to her past as a soldier from a country overrun by Mavericks.
* The BigBad of ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', [[spoiler:Senator Steven Armstrong]] is a WellIntentionedExtremist who wants to create a new America where the strong survive and the weak die. His motivations are very similar to the Patriots who wanted to socially engineer American evolution, the only difference being is that instead of information control he intends to use violence to achieve his goal (mostly because he feels that America is too far gone to "save" and the only option is to just burn it all down and start over). In any case, he seems to put a lot of emphasis on its freedom and claritive aspects, and genuinely believes he's making the country a better place since the people who would live in his envisioned utopia would be fighting and killing each other for what ''they'' personally believe, rather than for the cause of some government or other authority. Raiden calls him insane and says that he knows nothing of being weak, but he simply points out that Raiden ''did'' survive and take his life back with his own two hands. He is actually a rather atypical instance of this trope. The lack of hypocrisy is a start; when defeated he actually takes it pretty well. But what truly sets him apart is ''how'' this comes around: [[spoiler: Jetstream Sam, who also subscribes to the same philosophy, decided to leave his blade to Raiden if he lost since that meant Raiden would be the better of the two, and this is how Raiden is able to fight back and kill Armstrong.]] Moreover, Raiden ''does'' [[spoiler: embody and eventually accept the "fight and kill for what he believes in" part (if not the actual social Darwinism aspect),]] which is the reason why [[spoiler: Armstrong]] [[GracefulLoser takes the loss so well.]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Armstrong''']]: You've guaranteed the status-quo will go on, for a while longer at least... War... will continue as an institution. As an industry. Men will fight for reasons they don't understand, causes they don't believe in... But at least I'll leave a worthy successor... You, Jack. You carve your own path, use whatever methods you see fit... You don't let legal bullshit get in the way. And if it costs a few lives? So be it... Deep inside, [[NotSoDifferentRemark we're... kindred spirits... you... and I...]]
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2's'' Bishop openly believes that the concept of civilization is a sham and that MightMakesRight. [[spoiler:In most of the endings this leads him to ruin and death when the PlayerCharacter's might proves stronger than the BigBad's.]]
* ''Videogame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope:'' With the Nazis still around and being as powerful as they are, it's only natural there'd be a share of Social Darwinism going on. But the Burgundian System, invented by Himmler in his Burgundy territory, is this writ large and implemented into a government system that [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans decides to provide all that hardship by itself]]. Even the chosen ubermensch suffer and are given basically nothing but pain and the bare minimum to survive, because TheSpartanWay is the only way, and everyone ''else'' is enslaved, with things like being deliberately worked to death so they don't have to feed them when the inevitable famine comes happening to them. Burgundian systems tend to have ''negative'' population growth as the "weak" are purged. [[spoiler:And Himmler reaches the ultimate expression of this: the ultimate test of worth would be the end of the world, a thermonuclear apocalypse, and obviously only the Master Race could survive such a thing. So the only way to have the Aryans truly dominate the earth would be to let the nukes fly and burn civilization to the ground]].
* This is the defining character trait of Doomfist from ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', and by proxy [[NebulousEvilOrganization Talon]], of which he is one of the ruling council members. Doomfist believes that humanity can only grow strong through conflict, and thus intends on plunging the world into an endless war so they can evolve past their limits.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has a G-rated version in Silver, [[TheRival the rival]] from ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver''. He sees anything he considers "weak" as worthless, and is exceptionally abusive and ruthless towards Pokémon and humans alike. Especially when it comes to his own Pokémon. [[KidsAreCruel Oh, and he's only around 11 or 12 years old]]. It's thought that he inspired Paul, mentioned in the anime folder above, in the [[Anime/PokemonTheSeries anime]] several years later. [[spoiler:It's revealed in the remakes that [[FreudianExcuse there's a reason for this.]] He was abandoned by his father, [[BigBad Giovanni]], after the defeat of Team Rocket at the hands of [[TheHero Red]], when he was only around 8 or 9 years old. Seeing his father as weak and a coward, he vowed to become stronger at any cost.]] He [[CharacterDevelopment gets better]], however.

* ''Videogame/{{Prototype 2}}'': [[spoiler: [[RogueProtagonist Alex Mercer]]]] has decided that humanity is corrupt beyond saving and thinning out the weak while [[spoiler: turning the rest into HiveMind "Evolved"]] is the way to go. Interestingly, they're completely ''not'' a hypocrite about this: [[spoiler: when Heller has him thoroughly defeated and seconds away from being consumed, Mercer's only comment is a calm "Huh. Welcome to the top of the food chain."]]

** [[MauveShirt HUNK's]] philosophy can be adequately summed up by his [[CharacterCatchphrase catchphrase]]: "Survival is ''your'' responsibility". The mission comes before anything else, and if you're in a dangerous line of work like his, only your own skill will keep you alive. If you expect him to [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight abandon the mission to help you]], you're in for a nasty surprise. He is ''not'' a hypocrite about this; when it briefly looks like he's not going to make it to extraction from Raccoon City, he tells the evac pilot to just take off and not risk his life for HUNK's sake and actually seems slightly irritated (though grateful) when the pilot refuses to do so.

** Chiaki, a rich-brat-turned-demon-queen of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'' leads a faction of Darwinists under the reason of Yosuga. The main character even has the option of joining them and creating a true Social Darwinist world (as soon as you help her kill all the human-like slave race for being too weak). Unique among all the faction leaders, she is the only one to fight you even if you choose her Reason, as there can be only one ruler in the new world.\\
\\
The world Chiaki is trying to create is logically impossible. Even if she succeeds and the world of Yosuga is created, there would still be some individuals who aren't as strong as others. By Chiaki's logic, these individuals would be unnecessary. Thus, her vision of a world without unnecessary things cannot be made into a reality.
** This is also the Chaos philosophy in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'', where in supporting Lucifer, you fight to eliminate God and create a world where the strong can freely prey upon the weak, and where demonkind are no longer bound by the restraints of God's creation. In ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'', [[spoiler: this is not a belief system you can actively subscribe to. Setting demonkind loose on the world is the result of failure, not success.]]
** In ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2'' this is the philosophy subscribed to by Keita Wakui and Yamato Hotsuin, and the latter provides the opportunity for the PlayerCharacter to institute a world based on meritocracy and social Darwinism where the 'great' are given infinite opportunity for advancement. While said philosophy mostly reads like a 17-year-old's understanding of Ayn Rand filtered through his extremely privileged upbringing, Yamato is unusual in that he uses the series' traditional Law imagery even though he subscribes to a Chaos philosophy (similarly, his opponent Ronaldo follows the philosophy of Law, but uses the methods of Chaos). If you don't take Yamato's path, you'll have to defeat Keita and Yamato to finish the game, after which Keita will decide to follow you on the basis that if you beat him, you must know what you're talking about. So does Yamato, but only on a path where he isn't KilledOffForReal.

* In ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' this is the Spartan Federation's [[PlanetOfHats hat]], along with CrazySurvivalist. ExpandedUniverse materials show that weak children are killed (though Colonel Santiago makes an exception for her son).

* [[spoiler: [[BigBad Natla]]]] in ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI'' was a ruler of Atlantis who used the power of the [[MacGuffin Scion]] to create a race of mutants in order to kickstart the progress of evolution, believing that mankind was in weak and in a rut. She attempts to continue her work after being freed in the current time.
--> '''[[spoiler:Natla]]''': Evolution's in a rut - natural selection at an all time low. Shipping out fresh meat will incite territorial rages again, will strengthen and advance us. Even create new breeds.
--> '''Lara''': Kind of evolution on steroids, then.
--> '''[[spoiler:Natla]]''': A kick in the pants. Those runts Qualopec and Tihocan had no idea. The cataclysm of Atlantis struck a race of langoring wimps. Plummeted them to the very basics of survival again. It shouldn't happen like that...

* The Mantid in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' are born from massive clutches laid by the Empress. The resulting Swarm then attacks the lands to the east, and are inevitably driven back by the Pandarens. Those who return alive are fully accepted into the Mantid Empire as adults. To the Mantid, the Pandarens' main reason for existing is to kill the weak swarm-born.
** The Mogu. They believe that they are superior to other races in Pandaria. Leading to abuses such as sending slaves to be fodder, destroying their cultural heritage, to even [[AndIMustScream putting their dead slaves' souls into statues brainwashed to serve them.]] All of this was justified by the not-altogether-inaccurate belief that it is the Titans' will.

* A central theme in the ''Franchise/DanganRonpa'' series is that talent comes with its drawbacks and doesn't make anyone better than everyone else, with the main cast of each series being a DysfunctionJunction filled with [[BrokenAce Broken Aces]]. As such, more than a couple of characters express views to the contrary which the players are led to believe are wrong.
** The BigBad of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', [[spoiler: Izuru Kamukura]], is an objectivist Straw Meritocrat who believes that average people are responsible for a form of tyranny of the majority that led to mankind stagnating, and hypothesizes that a kind of "[[FinalSolution selection]]" is necessary. [[spoiler: However, unlike most villains with these kinds of views, Izuru had no desire to actually act on them as the experimentation that turned him into the UltimateLifeForm also erased his personality and emotions, leaving him an EmptyShell with no motivation to do ''anything''. His previous identity, Hajime, admired talent but didn't think this way.]]
** ''[[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair Danganronpa 2]]'' also had [[TheAntiNihilist Nagito Komaeda]], who was a [[MiseryBuildsCharacter Struggler]] that believed people are sorted into the "haves" and "have-nots" from the moment they're born, and that the most a talentless person can ever hope to be is a "stepping stone" for the talented. Because of his [[UnluckilyLucky supernatural luck that took from him just as much as it gave]], he [[BlessedWithSuck counted himself among the "have-nots"]] and [[DeathSeeker was more than willing to sacrifice himself to be that stepping stone]]. The people he considers "haves" tend to be creeped out by this, especially because he makes it clear he idealizes their ''talents'', not them as people. [[spoiler:And ironically enough, the one person he ends up befriending is Hajime Hinata, who ''isn't'' talented]].
** [[AcademyOfAdventure Hope's Peak]] normally only admitted students who are [[TheAce in the top of their respective fields]], but for exorbitant amounts of money ordinary kids wanting the clout associated with it could enroll in the "Reserve Course". This led to an odd kind of conflict, with the rich kids who bought their way in being looked down on by the [[SelfMadeMan self-made]] "Ultimates" who got in on their own merit which is shown in detail in [[Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool the anime]]. What makes it even more strange is Byakuya Togami from ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', whose talent ''is'' being rich! [[note]]This is a bit of an oversimplification, and Byakuya himself hates the idea because he had to prove himself a hyper-competent businessman [[ChildProdigy as a child]] to be recognized as the Togami heir ([[PetTheDog so saying he was just born to it is insulting to the other Togamis he had to outdo]]). Still, he ''didn't'' start from anywhere near the bottom, something Byakuya himself acknowledges.[[/note]]
* Gilgamesh in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'''s "Unlimited Blade Works" scenario. The modern world is way more populated than the one he used to rule and thus the worth of the individual human has fallen drastically. Thus he plans to [[spoiler:spill the contents of the incomplete Grail onto the world; by his logic, those who survive the ensuing apocalypse will be strong and "worthy" enough of his rulership]]. This may be justified in the terms of the Nasuverse's backstory: the human race has gone ''waaaaay'' downhill since [[TheAgeOfMyth the days of Uruk]]. It's an established fact in ''Literature/FateZero'' that ancient Babylonians were something of a precursor race with nuclear missiles and spaceships and all kinds of crazy stuff. Gil's reasoning is that mankind's decline is due to the population explosion decreasing the "worth" of a single human life, and given all the crazy supernatural laws that the Nasuverse runs on, ''he might actually be right about this''.

* Karales and Rei Hinomiya from VisualNovel/YuminaTheEthereal.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Wouldn't you believe it, Yang's MissingMom Raven is one of these. [[KickTheDog And not even Yang herself is exempt]]. Of course, as the series goes on, it becomes more and more clear that she's just a DirtyCoward desperately trying to find some way of justifying her fear-driven actions.[[spoiler: It's especially apparent when she tries to justify joining Salem as necessary for survival, when she ''knows'' that Salem is an OmnicidalManiac and she'd end up just as dead as her supporter as her enemy.]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Filth Biscuit}}'': Lucy [=LeDarc=], the protagonist of [[http://www.filthbiscuit.com/i-pwned-my-love/ "I Pwned My Love"]] sees others as obstacles or pawns in her struggle to claw her way up from the gutter -- specifically her childhood friend, incredibly loyal but dim-witted boxer Mick the Rock. Her philosophy, as she explains it to Mick, is pure Social Darwinism; which suits her, since she's also a textbook psychopath.
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius:''

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' self-described {{Ubermensch}} Galatea offers her take on this philosophy [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/236 here,]] and then gets taught its shortcomings [[BearsAreBadNews almost instantly]].

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': Helga Firehelm has traces of this, especially after TheBusCameBack which heavily expanded on her personality and backstory as a rebel against the rigid Dwarven society. After [[spoiler: she killed Durkon with a Flame Strike minutes after he had been resurrected, just to finally get revenge on him for hurting her (while planning to just resurrect him again afterwards)]], Roy even tells her it's not a competition of who's currently got the better of who. Her answer?
--> '''Helga''': Everything is a competition, the people who say otherwise are just losers who lose.
** Somewhat justified since she's a cleric of Loki, who's entire religion is pretty much based on doing what's best for yourself and screw the consequences for the rest of the world. She specifically began worshipping him as a means of rebelling against Dwarf society, since their entire society and even their ''souls'' are tied up into HonourBeforeReason.

-->"If you swim with sharks, you may not get bitten, but don't act like it was an unforeseen tragedy when you do."

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''WebVideo/EmpiresSMP'' Season 1: The GodOfEvil Exor is {{implied|Trope}} to be one according to "The Clash of the Great Stags", where it was stated that his followers held {{human sacrifice}}s of people they deemed weak.

* [[DiscussedTrope This trope is discussed]] by ''WebVideo/PhilosophyTube'' in the video "Marx vs. Darwin". Amongst other parts, the video points out that Darwin's descriptive terms for evolution in ''On the Origin of Species'' were used prescriptively by Spencer to create this trope, as well as by Galton to create the field of eugenics. She notes that Spencer's ideas actually predated Darwin's work, along with those of Thomas Malthus. Both claimed aid to the poor should be stopped as it would only cause overpopulation (Malthus added a theological side, since he was a minister). Malthus claimed this population growth would outstrip food supplies (which has been disproven). Creator/KarlMarx and other left-wing radicals who held much the opposite views also praised evolution, feeling it vindicated their views. They all held that evolution [[GoalOrientedEvolution always led to improvement]] (an error as well). However, she also notes that views of eugenicists varied widely, while it also still exists (contrary to popular belief -- mainly used against prisoners or trans people). While she is a Marxist, Abigail also admits that some Marxists endorsed eugenics as well.
* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-752 SCP-752]] is a HumanSubspecies with a HiveMind that enforces a brutal Straw Meritocrat caste system on themselves [[BlueAndOrangeMorality that they're all okay with since they have no sense of individuality anyway]]. The disabled or physically weak are killed as the [[DumbMuscle strong but unintelligent]] are enslaved, [[ImAHumanitarian all corpses are cannibalized]], all members of their society [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans happily work themselves to death for the good of the community]], and their reproductive behavior [[NothingIsScarier was stricken from the record]]. Their behavior apparently worsens with time and it's projected that if they were to learn of the outside world, they would almost certainly [[HumansAreNotTheDominantSpecies overthrow mankind]] with their brutal efficiency.

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'' has Crucible, a WellIntentionedExtremist Struggler, who goes around making people 'live up to their potential' by using hypertech to deliberately cause disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and meteor strikes. To him, what is a few thousand deaths and tens of thousands of lives ruined if it manages to make a hundred or so people 'rise to the occasion' and become more heroic, more aware, and more thankful for their lives?

* [[Characters/StevenUniverseJasper Jasper]] from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' believes in this lifestyle. Though as evolution is not a part of Gem biology, she instead has an intense hatred for deformed Gems including [[spoiler: Amethyst]] to the point of attempting to shatter her, even after she proved she was no threat to Jasper. She is taken down with a combination of the "weaker characters team up" and the "disabled character shows them up" variant [[spoiler: by Steven and Amethyst fusing to form Smoky Quartz.]] As if that weren't enough, she also refuses Steven's attempts to fix her Corruption, under the belief that she deserved it for failing to destroy the Crystal Gems and avenge both Earth and Pink Diamond. [[spoiler:Scarily enough, she never gets ''better'' from it, she just becomes a RetiredMonster. In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'', Steven ''actually killing her'', and having to use an absurd amount of power and a MacGuffin to raise her from the dead, just gets her to finally be impressed by Steven. She remains on the heroes' side only because she's extremely loyal, and was told to play nice.]]

# '''The Straw Meritocrat''': Basically a StrawNihilist or HollywoodAtheist without the overt craziness. This first type believes that the scientific absolutism of natural selection puts them in zero accountability to God, the State, or any other moral code. People who rise to the top in the human environment aka ''society'', by whatever means, can consider themselves superior to others -- even going so far as to [[BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad praise the evils of]] [[AmbitionIsEvil over-ambitiousness]] and [[NiceGuysFinishLast condemn kind behavior]]. Frequently, this will be held even in settings where the people in charge are clearly getting there through {{nepotism}}, or otherwise as a result of luck and privilege. Despite it being nothing more than a ThemeParkVersion, this philosophy is still frequently held by both fictional characters and sadly enough by quite a few RealLife "successful" people. This is often coupled with the "logic" that [[CircularReasoning since they are in charge they must necessarily deserve to be there.]] A position often associated with, or held by, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Straw Capitalists]].

Note that UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin himself would not be amused by all these people and the way they interpreted his theory; he proposed nothing of the sort, and the idea predated him by centuries (and while Darwin ''did'' believe that the Caucasian race had evolved further than other races, his racism was not based on arrogance or sociopathy; [[ScienceMarchesOn it was simply the scientific consensus then]]). At the time, his insistence that all humans were the same ''species'' was controversial.[[note]]Back then, basically everyone assumed from the outset that Caucasians were superior. Whether or not the other races were ''Homo sapiens'' at all was an actual issue.[[/note]] You never see a Social Darwinist treating societies in the same way a real Darwinist treats species: Darwinists are interested in maintaining biodiversity (so the greatest number of traits are available to "throw at the wall and see what sticks" when a change in habitat occurs), and Darwinism is a ''description'' of the way species work, not a ''prescription'' for which species should live or die. See AppealToNature for the fallacy of using "nature" to prescribe any behavior (moral, immoral, or amoral), and also see [[Analysis/TheSocialDarwinist the Analysis page for this trope]] for more information on that. This did not stop Social Darwinism from becoming a fairly mainstream philosophy from the Victorian era to WWII when it became [[GodwinsLaw associated with the Nazis]]; this association contributed greatly to its loss of popularity. However, the emergence of [[CulturePolice culture war politics]] in the late 20th century appears to have won new adherents to the philosophy.

** A straight example appears in the fourth movie in the form of Captain Gutt, who believes that the best way to survive in an ever-changing world is by pillaging and plundering and is such a Narcissist that he openly claims that he is the best because he can and will do it.

* While [[KnightTemplar Governor Kraft]] in ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' never invokes Darwin, his philosophy has strong elements of this: welfare is cut off in the Confederation and those who don't work shouldn't expect to eat; (voluntary) euthanasia for the unfit is encouraged; and WarIsGlorious because it sifts the wheat from the chaff and destroys illusions and false ideologies, leaving only truth and righteousness standing. To be fair, he defends these beliefs in a post-apocalyptic society, where there simply aren't the resources to care for everyone; also, there's a neo-Nazi faction in the same setting who emphasize this even more, and he thinks ''they'' go too far with it.

Compare EvilutionaryBiologist, EvilColonialist, EvilEvolves, KillThePoor, and SlobsVersusSnobs. Sometimes overlaps with [[Creator/AynRand Objectivism]] and the "{{Ubermensch}}" concept. {{Hollywood Atheist}}s are often stereotyped as this. The trope maker for TheBeautifulElite. There's a bit of this trope in the SatisfiedStreetRat. Likewise, characters with a DarwinistDesire are usually only interested in applying Social Darwinism on themselves and their offspring rather than imposing it on society, though both tropes can overlap in the same character. Compare and contrast LivingIsMoreThanSurviving; Social Darwinists will variably put either survival or quality of life on top of others.

* Light Yagami in ''Manga/DeathNote'' Zig-zags this trope, and he [[VillainProtagonist happens to be the protagonist]]. He believes that by using the Death Note to pick off criminals and the unpleasant, he can make the world consist of good people only. As he puts it, if Kira (his mass-murdering alter ego) is caught, then he's evil; if he wins and rules the world, he's righteous. On the other hand, he also thinks he is able to make moral judgements about murdering people not because of strength, but because he has deluded himself into believing he is [[AGodAmI divine]], and paternalistically desires to protect those he considers to be weak and innocent. (If you want to stop him, you are [[WithUsOrAgainstUs no longer innocent]].) Therefore, at the end, when [[spoiler:Near gets the upper hand and decisively proves Light is Kira in a room full of cops and FBI agents, Light refuses to accept defeat. Light tries desperately to justify his actions as something they should agree with and then making a scene of himself when they don't buy it]]. That is, when pushed to a corner, Light abandons Social Darwinism and shifts to a mentality of "I am always justified no matter what."

* Also sharing the universe of the previous entry are the Lasombra: one of many vampire clans in ''Tabletopgame/VampireTheMasquerade''. Unlike the werewolves, they completely revel in promoting social Darwinism. The hold to it is so strong that the clan's ultimate goal is creating a world purged of the weak and owned solely by the strong. They're not averse to bringing about HellOnEarth to accomplish that either. During [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Gehenna]], this mentality finally bit the Lasombra in the butt; centuries of backstabbing resulted in their numbers too depleted to maintain autonomy as a Clan, just like Sparta in RealLife.

** The Tevinter Imperium runs on this principle according to Fenris from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''. Only mages can become nobility there, and only the strongest mages become the movers and shakers in the Imperium. In practice, this means that ''every'' magister is a Blood Mage since blood magic is too powerful an advantage to pass up. Any mage that didn't use blood magic would quickly be enslaved by another mage with fewer qualms. In the next game we find out it's a little more complicated than that. In the highest levels of power blood magic actually marks you as ''weak'', a confession you couldn't make it on your own. They also have the usual political games of any legislative body, and individualistic backstabbers like Fenris' former master tend to suck at alliances and coalition building. Of the three magisters in the game, only one is a blood mage.

** The BigBad of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', [[spoiler: Izuru Kamukura]], is an objectivist Straw Meritocrat who believes that average people are responsible for a form of tyranny of the majority that led to mankind stagnating, and hypothesizes that a kind of "[[FinalSolution selection]]" is necessary. [[spoiler: However, unlike most villains with these kinds of views, Izuru had no desire to actually act on them as the experimentation that turned him into the UltimateLifeForm also erased his personality and emotions, leaving him an EmptyShell with no motivation to do ''anything''.]]
** ''[[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair Danganronpa 2]]'' also had [[TheAntiNihilist Nagito Komaeda]], who was a [[MiseryBuildsCharacter Struggler]] that believed people are sorted into the "haves" and "have-nots" from the moment they're born, and that the most a talentless person can ever hope to be is a "stepping stone" for the talented. Because of his [[UnluckilyLucky supernatural luck that took from him just as much as it gave]], he [[BlessedWithSuck counted himself among the "have-nots"]] and [[DeathSeeker was more than willing to sacrifice himself to be that stepping stone]].
** [[AcademyOfAdventure Hope's Peak]] normally only admitted students who are [[TheAce in the top of their respective fields]], but for exorbitant amounts of money ordinary kids wanting the clout associated with it could enroll in the "Reserve Course". This led to an odd kind of conflict, with the rich kids who bought their way in being looked down on by the [[SelfMadeMan self-made]] "Ultimates" who got in on their own merit which is shown in detail in [[Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool the anime]]. What makes it even more strange is Byakuya Togami from ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', whose talent ''is'' being rich! [[note]]This is a bit of an oversimplification, and Byakuya himself hates the idea because he had to prove himself a hyper-competent businessman [[ChildProdigy as a child]] to be recognized as the Togami heir ([[PetTheDog so saying he was just born to it is insulting to the other Togamis he had to outdo]]). Still, he ''didn't'' start from anywhere near the bottom.[[/note]]

** The Githyanki are a race of ScaryDogmaticAliens and ProudWarriorRaceGuys who take the "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link" mentality well beyond its logical conclusion, killing any gith they perceive as weak in a tradition they call the "termination of the frail". Of course, their leader ''also'' kills off any Githyanki she thinks are too strong because they might

* Flowey the flower from ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' describes the world in terms of "kill or be killed" multiple times throughout the game. [[spoiler: At the end of the Pacifist route, this is revealed to be because his own decision to be merciful to his attackers in the past had no effect that his new, soulless self could appreciate aside from getting himself killed.]]
** PlayedWith Toriel: Because she remained in the Ruins for years, she believes in "kill or be killed" in the Underground, which is part of why [[MyBelovedSmother she's so protective]]. If you continuously refuse to retreat in her battle, she eventually screams, "What are you doing? Attack or run away!" Persist, and you can prove it wrong. For now.

* Telltale's ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' brings us William Carver, the despotic leader of a small survivor community. He believes that humanity needs to be "groomed" if it is to survive the ZombieApocalypse, and routinely weeds out those he deems weak or incompetent, like [[spoiler:Reggie]]. Beneath the ''very'' thin pretense, however, it is strongly suggested that he enjoys partaking in cruelty for its own sake. So, outwardly he's a Struggler, secretly a Jerk Justifier.

* ''Fanfic/TriptychContinuum'': {{Downplayed}} by Princess Luna. When interacting with modern ponies, she has a habit of trying to estimate how long they would have survived the world in which she and Celestia grew up, and she notes that it's hard to respect ponies which even her most generous estimates can't give so much as a minute's likely lifespan in Eris. However, she admits that the fact that this is something of a character flaw, and that this soft and easy life ''is'' what she and her companions fought to win for ponykind.

* Lionel Luthor expressed sentiments of this sort in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', but it's his AlternateUniverse counterpart, Earth-2 Lionel who truly embodies this. Having risen to become the most powerful man in the world, Earth-2 Lionel maintains that "it's got to be survival of the fittest," a principle he ruthlessly applies to himself and his children, encouraging them to plot against one another and himself to see who deserves to be the true heir to the Luthor name. In a BadFuture in the regular timeline, PresidentEvil ComicBook/LexLuthor is one as well, plotting to [[NukeEm nuke the world]] so that he can rule over the strongest of humanity's survivors.

* This is [[ComicBook/TheRiddler the Riddler's]] MO in ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamAsylum''. Who cares if people die in his traps? If they're not smart enough to figure them out, they don't deserve to live. Really, he's doing a public service.

* It's not made explicit, but Jack Napier seems to embody this in ''Film/Batman1989'', both before and after he becomes the Joker. Throughout his life, he bullies, victimized, and even murders people who are not as bold or clever as he is, simply because he can (although this could also be strictly ForTheEvulz). Later, as the Joker, he almost seems to [[AGodAmI think of himself as a god]] (he ''did'' "rise from the dead", after all) and shows even less regard for his fellow human beings, telling photographer Vicki Vale that [[MadArtist "We're not like regular people. We're artists."]] Finally, at the parade, after [[DeathByMaterialism luring in thousands of people by promising them $20 million in dollar bills]], he casually informs them: "And now comes the part where [[MercyKill I relieve you, the little people, of the burden of your failed and useless lives."]] [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything He then subjects these "inferior" beings to several parade balloons full of poison gas]].

* In ''Eye See You'' the killer hates cops and targets them because they protect the weak, who he views as a social disease that should be exterminated. He claims this is simply "nature's way", longing for a day when their blood will run in the streets.

** The Shadows, known as the Lords of Chaos, espouse a Social Darwinist attitude and manipulate the younger races into interstellar wars to promote chaos and disorder where the strongest rise to the top ([[BlueAndOrangeMorality it's their way of "helping"]]). Their ArmourPiercingQuestion, "What do you want?", embodies this by defining the answerer entirely by their own [[AmbitionIsEvil drives and ambitions]].

* ''Film/TwentyEightHotelRooms'': During an argument regarding politics and the woman's working for a corporation, she defends it by saying in life you must do anything to get your food, with the strong living while the weak die. The man, hearing this, is aghast. It's unclear how serious this is though.

* It's not made explicit, but Jack Napier seems to embody this (along with the NietzscheWannabe) in Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/Batman1989'', both before and after he becomes ComicBook/TheJoker. Throughout his life, he bullies, victimized, and even murders people who are not as bold or clever as he is, simply because he can (although this could also be strictly ForTheEvulz). Later, as the Joker, he almost seems to [[AGodAmI think of himself as a god]] (he ''did'' "rise from the dead", after all) and shows even less regard for his fellow human beings, telling photographer Vicki Vale that [[MadArtist "We're not like regular people. We're artists."]] Finally, at the parade, after [[DeathByMaterialism luring in thousands of people by promising them $20 million in dollar bills]], he casually informs them: "And now comes the part where [[MercyKill I relieve you, the little people, of the burden of your failed and useless lives."]] [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything He then subjects these "inferior" beings to several parade balloons full of poison gas]].