Line #57 Main/ResidualEvilEntity


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6	Good triumphs over evil, or evil makes a HeelFaceTurn, at which case the evil "essence" escapes to create some new entity entirely.
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8	Evil is often compared to [[TheCorruption some sort of tarnish, corruption]] or [[EvilTaintedThePlace filth]]. Even when they're {{Character Flaw\|Index}}s and not necessarily a [[AbstractApotheosis physical thing]], every evil act, evil thought, or evil trait a person has will take root in the person. Later, the person may become TheAtoner or go through some sort of RedemptionQuest. Or someone else may defeat them and attempt to purify the evil. But, taking this analogy to its literal conclusion, dirt and grime don't simply "vanish" after being washed off, and still must be disposed of carefully and properly.
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10	So if evil is filth, and goodness is cleansing, where does the evil residue go?
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12	In some cases, [[EnemyWithout it forms a mind and/or body of its own]]. In others, it joins some greater entity which will exist AsLongAsThereIsEvil. If it's ''particularly'' strong or embedded in a person or the world, it may be impossible to get rid of entirely and fester like a boil ready to burst at the slightest MomentOfWeakness. In some cases, the entity created may not be MadeOfEvil itself but was nonetheless created by the prior act of purification.
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14	This plot element typically leans towards the cynical end of SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism, at its worst arguing that no problem can ever truly be "fixed" or "settled" and that no person can ever truly be "redeemed". It's also greatly related to the idea of BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil because it argues that every victory good has against evil makes evil come back stronger or in some unpredictable form. Which, may also imply that good versus evil is a dance of equal-but-opposite reactions.
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16	Depending on how a work or audience looks at it, this plot point could either discourage complacent behavior by emphasizing that heroes must be ever vigilant or ''encourage'' such complacency by convincing them that sometimes it's better to do nothing at all. Sometimes, the problem isn't that evil was purged, per se, but the methods the heroic characters used to do so, which may have been flawed, too easy, or both.
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18	Related to EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce, if good doesn't have the same benefits and once it's corrupted/defeated, it's gone forever.
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20	Compare EvilPowerVacuum. Not to be confused with ''Franchise/ResidentEvil''. Sometimes related to YouKillItYouBoughtIt, when killing the EvilOverlord turns the person into the ''new'' one. See also PostMortemComeback for when the residual evil allows a villain who was destroyed to carry on his work without actually returning to life.
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22	----
23	!!Examples:
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25	[[foldercontrol]]
26
27	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
28	* ''Literature/{{Bakemonogatari}}'': The ''Monogatari'' series has a recurring theme that simply defeating evil or malevolence will not get rid of it unless the very root of the problem is cured. And in many cases, a problem rooted that deep in the first place is far beyond the understanding of your typical human (supernaturally gifted or not) to deal with. As such, several arcs in the later parts of the series deal with problems that are recurring because the root issue wasn't solved, or [[NiceJobBreakingItHero causing an entirely]] ''new'' problem in the absence of the old. One of the wiser, more worldly characters bluntly makes the suggestion that doing nothing and letting the people suffering from a problem deal with it themselves or die trying is usually the better option. And in some cases, later events prove him correct.
29	* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'':
30	** ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'': In the penultimate battle, the Digidestined battle Lucemon, the BigBad of the series. When he is defeated, the Digidestined absorb his Digicode/Fractal Code, but only the light half. The dark half, now unfettered by the light, [[FromBadToWorse grows and forms into the purely-evil Lucemon Shadowlord Mode.]]
31	** ''Anime/DigimonTheMovie'': Diaboromon, the main villain of the ''Our War Game'' act, is destroyed by [[FusionDance Omnimon]]. However, the virus that created him lives on and corrupts the Digimon partner of an American Digidestined Willis.
32	* ''Manga/{{DragonBall}}'':
33	** The unnamed Namek that traveled to Earth and studied under the previous God (Kami) of the planet was unable to attain the position himself until he purged himself of evil. He did this by diffusing himself into two entities: one pure good and the other pure evil. His pure evil side, now dubbed Demon King Piccolo, was later [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away]] to prevent him from terrorizing the world, and he escapes during the events of the series. Over the course of the manga, it requires Piccolo dying, being reincarnated, adopting his own pupil, sacrificing his own life and being wished back, and becoming friends with the protagonists to suppress his evil side enough for him to merge back with his other half to form a whole, benevolent Piccolo. And even then, there's a tiny amount of evil that he must keep suppressed.
34	** After promising his best friend, Mr. Satan, that he would never do anything evil again, Buu is overcome with rage after Mr. Satan and his puppy are shot by murderous human beings. Unable to reconcile his murderous rage and the promise, Buu involuntarily splits into a Good Buu and an Evil Buu. The Evil Buu continues to be a threat until it is destroyed by Goku and then reborn as an ordinary human, as per Goku's request.
35	* [[TheHeartless Curses]] of ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'' come into existence from "[[AsLongAsThereIsEvil cursed energy]]", which is basically all the spiritual nastiness that tends to accompany [[HumanityIsFlawed human]] population. Then they usually stick around until they are either exorcised by a sorcerer or get on the bad side of a [[AlwaysABiggerFish stronger curse]].
36	* ''Literature/KyoKaraMaoh'': after The Great One defeated the Originators, the remnants were sealed into four Forbidden Boxes, and tainted The Great One himself until Yuuri arrived on the scene to finish the job.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Comic Books]]
40	* Franchise/MarvelUniverse:
41	** ''The Infinity Saga''
42	*** ''ComicBook/TheInfinityWar'': It is revealed that in the [[ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet previous storyline]], Adam Warlock subconsciously used the Infinity Gauntlet to purge the evil from his soul. That evil had since manifested as a purple-skinned EvilDoppelganger of him named Magus.
43	*** ''ComicBook/TheInfinityCrusade'': In the third part of the trilogy, it's revealed that Warlock also created a "good" side named Goddess, who is actually just as dangerous and troublesome as Magus, as her definition of good is [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill "eliminate free will"]].
44	** ''ComicBook/XMen'': Professor Xavier once used his psychic powers to purge Magneto's mind of evil, [[BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood leaving him with a more benevolent amnesiac personality]]. It's later revealed that the evil side of his mind went into Xavier himself, forming an entirely new entity and kickstarting the ''ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'' saga.
45	** ''ComicBook/{{Defenders\|2021}}'' implies that ''all'' of the various primordial dark entities that have plagued the Marvel verse, such as Knull and the Chaos King, were born from the shattered fragments of Anti-All, a draconic embodiment of the void that was defeated in a previous incarnation of the universe.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Fan Works]]
49	* ''Fanfic/StoryShuffle1'': In [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/216813/7/story-shuffle/necessary-evil "Necessary Evil"]], the regenerative indestructibility is why the Evil Attractor of the Hollow Shades is necessary. An InUniverse hypothesis is "By removing the Shades, Celestia might be inflicting their darkness on the rest of Equestria." and so she stays her hand. As said by Celestia at the end:
50	--> '''Celestia:''' "There is a darkness there greater than any [[spoiler:it attracts]], one that befouls the very land. I did try to destroy it once. It [[spoiler:dodged, and then it moved north. The Badlands were not always such]]. I thought it better to let that corruption rest where it now lies than to rouse it again."
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
54	* ''Film/TheBabadook'': After being cowed into submission by Amelia and defeated, the Babadook [[spoiler:does not die or go away but instead takes up residence in her basement where it remains weakened and subsisting on worms. Given that the creature is a manifestation of Amelia's depression and grief, which can be controlled and lived with but never truly vanquished]], this makes all kinds of sense.
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Literature]]
58	* ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'': A theory about the origin of the energy monster featured in ''Nightshade'' is that it's all what's left of a race the First Doctor defeated in the ''Literature/DoctorWhoMissingAdventures'' book ''Venusian Lullaby''.
59	* ''Literature/SausageySanta'': The titular character used to be a malevolent ChildHater who was condemned to the IronicHell of giving gifts to children for all eternity. He hit on the bright idea to have all evil extracted from him so that he could enjoy being altruistic. Unfortunately, his evil transformed into his arch-enemy, Frosty the Neo-Nazi Snowman.
60	* ''Literature/TheStand'': Randall Flagg, the dark man, vanishes in the nuclear destruction of Las Vegas, ending his fledgling evil empire... until he wakes up on an island surrounded by natives, introducing himself as Russell Faraday and claiming he's come to [[HereWeGoAgain teach them how to be civilized]].
61	* ''Literature/TheUnicornChronicles'': As revealed in ''Dark Whispers'', the unicorns forcibly removed their flaws and negative traits. Unbeknownst to them, said flaws and negative traits coalesced into an intangible entity, the Whisperer, which manipulates and corrupts other beings, [[spoiler: among them further driving Beloved to evil and turning a group of dwarves into the Delvers, who hate unicorns because of the Whisperer's negativity]].
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63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
66	* ''Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers'': It's revealed that [[spoiler:Evox is actually Venjix, the BigBad of ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'', reborn. At the end of ''RPM'', Venjix hid within the Red RPM Ranger's Cell Shift Morpher, which was acquired by Grid Battleforce, during which an experiment conducted by a young Nate caused his data to be merged with snake DNA, reviving him]].
67	* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E22SkinOfEvil Skin of Evil]]", on an uninhabited planet, the Enterprise crew encounters Armus, a being that looks like an oil slick. It says that it is the result of a process that the original inhabitants of the planet used to shed all of their negative traits. It acts in a capriciously evil way, including murdering Tasha Yar.
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
71	* ''Myth/JapaneseMythology'':
72	** In Shinto creation myth, the god Izanagi returned from the underworld after a failed attempt to [[OrpheanRescue rescue his deceased wife]] Izanami and cleansed himself. The gods born from this, Amaterasu, Tsukiyomi, and Susanoo were not ''evil'' per se, but are decidedly three of the most powerful and influential in all of Shinto belief.
73	** In the ''Kujiki'' and ''Wakan Sansai Zue'', Susanoo allowed his wrathful ''aramitama'' aspect to build up until it [[LiteralSplitPersonality erupted out of him]] in the form of Amanozako, a temperamental and monstrous goddess who is said to be the progenitor of malicious kami and yōkai like the tengu.
74	** In general, physical and spiritual impurities are called "kegare". In Shinto doctrine, they must be washed and/or purified through specific rituals called misogi and harae. There are also many Japanese {{yokai}}, or spirits, which are cast-offs or byproduct of other oddities which may not have been dealt with properly or at all.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
78	* Advanced ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' module I10 ''Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill''. The Alchemist, a.k.a. Count Strahd von Zarovich, creates a device that extracts all of the evil in him and sends it to another plane of existence. The evil becomes a monster known as the Creature, which returns and plagues the Alchemist.
79	* In the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' [[GothicHorror Innistrad set]] demons cannot be permanently killed: fell one and it reforms elsewhere in some capacity unless some non-planar factor (i.e. Liliana's veil magic or [[EldritchAbomination Emrakul]]'s corruption) offs them. [[spoiler:This is exploited by the angel Liesa whose pact with a demon allows her to reform in the same way.]]
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Video Games]]
83	* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'': [[BigBad Dracula]] was KilledOffForReal in 1999 by sealing away his castle inside an eclipse, separating him from the source of his power. Unfortunately, that power still resides within the castle and is seeking a new master to connect to. [[spoiler:[[DiscOneFinalBoss Graham Jones]], believing himself to be Dracula reborn, tries to claim this power for his own, but it turns out that the protagonist Soma Cruz is Dracula's actual {{Reincarnation}}. Both Soma and [[GreaterScopeVillain Chaos]] realize this in the true ending, so stopping it from corrupting Soma and making him into the new DarkLord forms the climax of the game.]]
84	* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow'': The titular Lords of Shadow are three malevolent supernatural beings that have plunged the world into darkness. In the end, it's revealed that [[spoiler:they are the evil aspects of the Brotherhood of Light's founders, which they had cast away from themselves in a ritual that would give God the upper hand in his war against Lucifer]].
85	* ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'': The Servant actively strives to avoid leaving any lingering despair, and formulates a scheme to StartXToStopX by creating as much despair as possible so it will be annihilated once and for all when hope triumphs. However, given that he's BrainwashedAndCrazy and a member of Ultimate Despair, his plan is insane and guaranteed to fail.
86	* ''VideoGame/Disgaea5'': One of the post-game stories shows that the malicious side to [[BigBad Void Dark]] wasn't fully purged when Killia hit it with Macrocosm. In fact, the story implies that Void's Malice is ''gaining a resistance'' to the skill. Ultimately, it takes a Double Macrocosm from Killia and a now [[HeelFaceTurn reformed Void]] to finally vanquish it. [[spoiler: However, it ''still survives'' and ends up being banished to the [[BrutalBonusLevel Carnage Dimension]], where it ends up being the final challenge of the Carnage questline.]]
87	* Zemus, the evil puppetmaster behind the events of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', willingly allows himself to be destroyed just before the FinalBattle. Out from his corpse comes Zeromus, an incarnation of his hatred far more powerful and dangerous than the sorcerer himself could ever be.
88	* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXIV'': Light and Darkness exist in a cosmic balance where neither can ever truly be "destroyed", but defeating or vanquishing a vessel for either will cause the force that possessed it to go somewhere else, and often reach critical mass where it threatens to become more dangerous than ever. This, for example, is the main problem with defeating Lightwardens in the ''Shadowbringers'' expansion; whenever one is defeated, the light inside it has to go ''somewhere'', and the most convenient host is usually [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt the being that defeated it]]. Those that possess the Echo are seemingly immune to this. [[spoiler:But really, they're merely more ''resilient''. After defeating several Lightwardens, the [[PlayerCharacter Warrior of Darkness]] starts being overwhelmed by the light energy entering their body, threatening to turn them into an apocalyptic ''Super''-Warden. The {{Precursors}} that inhabited the star long before recorded history possessed such powerful mana and magical abilities that containing it would have been easy for them, and the BigBad, Emet-Selch, wants to see if the Warrior can handle it to see if mortals are worthy of existence. When they fail, he is disappointed, and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness decides to let them succumb]], although his plan later fails.]]
89	* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'': This is more or less what defines the Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed. The games are not explicitly clear about it, but it's known that if a person "loses heart" or has darkness consume them involuntarily, it turns them into a Heartless. The part of them that's left over without the heart form a Nobody, and Unversed are also somehow connected to despair and negative emotions. Even if someone who lost their heart and became a Heartless regains it (as is the case with Sora), the Nobody they created will still exist.
90	* [[MaouTheDemonKing Demon King Demise]], the PredecessorVillain of ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series, lays a curse on the reincarnations and descendants of the knight and princess who bested him. At the very least [[BigBad Ganondorf]], if not every other BigBad of the ''Zelda'' universe, are incarnations of his hatred.
91	* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'': After Samus kills [[FinalBoss the eponimous Metroid]], it makes one last desperate attempt to kill Samus that only results in her Phazon Suit being removed. As the post-credits cutscene shows, Metroid Prime's remains end up assimilating the Phazon Suit and reincarnating as [[EvilKnockoff Dark Samus]], half of the BigBadEnsemble in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' and the BigBad of ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption''.
92	* In the backstory to ''VideoGame/ReturnToZork'', evil magic became so prevalent that an emergency council of wizards and mages teamed up to disperse ''all'' magic, resulting in a cataclysm known as the [[TheMagicGoesAway Great Diffusion]]. That way, when [[TheMagicComesBack magic finally returned]] centuries after all the evil wizards in the land had died of old age, the LongLived Trembyle and Canuck could restart the practice of magic without any negative influences. Unfortunately, the evil magic wasn't completely destroyed, but merely seeped into the soil until it settled in a deposit of Illuminyte known as the Cluster... which became a bit of a problem when [[DugTooDeep the Dwarves started mining it]]. [[spoiler: The Cluster eventually gained a malignant intelligence, renamed itself Morphius, possessed Canuck as a henchman, began stealing personality traits from its victims, and eventually carved out a new Underground Empire through slave labor - becoming the BigBad.]]
93	* ''Videogame/SoulSeries'': This is a recurring problem when trying to defeat the demonic sword Soul Edge. Its evil is so strong that merely coming into contact with it can corrupt the other person unless their will is ''exceptionally'' strong. Any evil or malice in that person's soul is not only fuel for Soul Edge, but can also help it malfest other beings. Case in point, when Siegfried finally overcame Soul Edge enough to try and destroy it with use of the Soul Calibur, this merely resulted in the creation of a separate Nightmare entity for Soul Edge to embody, with no need for a host anymore.
94	* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'':
95	** The storyline of the Satsui no Hadou (Dark Hadou) introduced this concept with Kage in ''Videogame/StreetFighterV''. Originally, the Hadou was simply described as a desire to win and destroy one's opponent at any cost, a subconscious desire felt by series protagonist Ryu. Over the course of the series, the Hadou became a more demonic force that could possess and mutate those susceptible to it, and after Ryu finally purges himself of it in ''V'', the evil he cast aside manifests itself as Kage--a much more demonic Ryu.
96	** An inverted example was once demonstrated in Bison's origin, which stated that Rose was the physical manifestation of the good that Bison had cast aside in order to perfect his evil power. This plot point, though not retconned, has been downplayed in later games to the point that it's unknown if it's still canonical.
97	* In ''Videogame/TalesOfZestiria'' and ''Videogame/TalesOfBerseria'', Malevolence is capable of corrupting any living being that comes in contact with it. The major revelation of ''Berseria'' is that [[spoiler:"malevolence" is born from the darkness in every negative emotion felt within the human heart.]] In ''Zestiria'', is the Shepherd's job to purify the malevolence from its victims. However, even the Shepherds themselves are not immune to its corruption. [[spoiler:This all stems from a [[FixingTheGame curse]] made by the [[GreaterScopeVillain Original Seraphim]] in the hopes of proving its fellow Seraphim that humans and Seraphim can't coexist.]]
98	* ''Videogame/UltimaIX'': It's revealed in this game that the [[BigBad Guardian]] is the evil half of [[MessianicArchetype the Avatar]], which he/she purged in order to become the Avatar in the first place. The game makes the argument that by becoming the Avatar, he is directly responsible for all of the misery and destruction the Guardian has wrought on every world he's conquered.
99	* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3FutureRedeemed'' offers a sci-fi spin: [[spoiler: While Zanza is dead before any of ''3'' begins, his despair for the world and desire for its death and rebirth were imprinted onto Ontos, a living supercomputer processor susceptible to his will. Under the new title Alpha, Zanza's malice influences Ontos into becoming a copycat of the destructive god.]]
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Western Animation]]
103	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': In "[[Recap/TheFairlyOddParentsS4E10VickyLosesHerIcky Vicky Loses Her Icky]]", Timmy wishes [[BabysitterFromHell Vicky]] would be nice, and her evil is released as a bug that begins to search for a new host. Eventually, the bug tries to take control of the United States President to use his resources to destroy the planet and [[StatusQuoIsGod Vicky lets the bug possess her again to prevent this outcome]].
104	* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'': In "The Good, the Bad & the Johnny", Susan and Mary decide to remove Johnny's bad gene in order to make him nicer. However, events lead to the extracted bad gene growing and gaining a life of its own, resulting in a 100% bad Johnny running around Porkbelly pulling increasingly dangerous pranks. Fortunately, the girls and Dukey manage to capture the bad Johnny and merge it and the good Johnny back into one, with Susan and Mary learning to accept all parts of their brother and Johnny learning to try and be a better person.
105	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E3CastleManeia Castle Mane-ia]]". the characters discuss the Pony of Shadows, a sort of leftover of evil energy that got left behind when Nightmare Moon was defeated. However, while a glowing-eyed shadow in pony shape is seen lurking in the castle at the end of the episode, the concept of the Pony of Shadows is later retooled in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E25ShadowPlayPart1 the Season 7 finale]] to be an independent villain that was SealedEvilInACan before Nightmare Moon ever came into being.
106	* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'':
107	** In "Robo-Buster", when a rival-made Ghostbuster robot uses overpowered blasters to disperse ghosts instead of capturing them, the dispersed ectoplasm concentration goes beyond critical mass. Cue [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/ghostbusters/images/5/53/Giantmassghost.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20101026075726 a city block-sized ghost]].
108	** In "Citizen Ghost", Peter stores the uniforms soaked in Gozer's psychokinetic marshmallow fluff next to the Containment Unit, which still has a leak in it. The leaking ectoplasm combines with the residual energy in the uniforms and the psychic imprints left by their wearers, i.e. The Ghostbusters, to create spectral versions of the team.
109	* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': In "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS3E6RestAndRicklaxation Rest and Ricklaxation]]", Rick and Morty visit an alien health clinic where they undergo a detox treatment that removes the toxic qualities (defined here as whatever parts of themselves the two consider to be "toxic") from their minds and personalities. While at first this appears to simply result in a healthier, calmer duo, the toxicity removed from their minds coalesced into toxic versions of themselves within the containment tank where the toxic cast-off from the process was kept. Toxic Rick becomes an EnemyWithout to Healthy Rick once he manages to escape from the tank, although Toxic Morty is much more ambivalent towards his own counterpart -- in fact, [[spoiler:Healthy Morty is much more actively evil than Toxic Morty is, as Morty considers his dependency on others to be a bad trait and its removal turned Healthy Morty into a manipulative sociopath]].
110	* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': At some point in the very ancient past, an unnamed primordial entity of immense power and malevolence attempted to consume the universe. It was destroyed by the gods Odin, Ra, and Rama before it could do so, but a single sliver of this entity escaped and crash-landed on Earth, where it took the form of a tar-like pool of OminousObsidianOoze that devoured any living creature that touched it. When the Emperor attempted to destroy the evil with an enchanted arrow, he instead caused it to gain sapience and become the series' main villain, the demon Aku.
111	* ''WesternAnimation/WorldOfQuest'': The episode "Mirror Quest" has Quest being split into a good and evil version of himself, with the evil Quest going on to defeat Spite and his henchmen and becoming the new leader of Spite's army with the heroes trying to find a way to stop him. Fortunately, the good Quest manages to apprehend his evil self long enough for Anna to merge them back into one.
112	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ResidualEvilEntity