"Think of how much more evil that would look if she had black hair and a high collar."
— Unskippable on Queen Catalina of Trapt
Tropes all about ways you can tell between good and evil.
Compare Character Alignment and Black-and-White Morality.
Contrast Grey-and-Gray Morality, Black-and-Gray Morality, White-and-Grey Morality, and Blue-and-Orange Morality.
Tropes:
Related:
- Alike and Antithetical Adversaries
- Armored Villains, Unarmored Heroes: The villains wear armor while the heroes don't.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: As it is generally considered abhorrent to kill or abuse defenseless little critters, it's a safe bet that the characters who mistreat and harm animals are the bad guys.
- Brains Evil, Brawn Good: The heroes rely on brute strength while the villains rely on their high intelligence.
- Childish Villain, Mature Hero
- CIA Evil, FBI Good
- Diligent Hero, Slothful Villain
- Dress-Coded for Your Convenience
- Evil Is Angular
- Evil Is Bigger
- Good Adultery, Bad Adultery
- Good Animals, Evil Animals
- Good Armor, Evil Armor
- Good Capitalism, Evil Capitalism: A nuanced take on addressing the downsides of capitalism where a rivalry is established between an unethical, greedy jerk and an honest worker who both run a business.
- Good Castles, Evil Castles
- Good Colors, Evil Colors
- Good Cop/Bad Cop
- Good Eyes, Evil Eyes
- Good Flaws, Bad Flaws
- Good Guns, Bad Guns
- Good Hair, Evil Hair
- Good Lips, Evil Jaws
- Good Policing, Evil Policing
- Good Princess, Evil Queen
- Good Prosthetic, Evil Prosthetic
- Good Republic, Evil Empire
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Heroic characters will have minor scarring while villainous characters will have more severe deformities.
- Good Shapeshifting, Evil Shapeshifting
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking
- Good Taming, Evil Taming
- Good Victims, Bad Victims
- Good Weapon, Evil Weapon
- Good Wings, Evil Wings
- Good Witch Versus Bad Witch: Two wizards/witches whose moral alignment contrasts each other.
- Heroic Canines, Villainous Felines
- Insecure Protagonist, Arrogant Antagonist
- Lying Heroes, Honest Villains
- Masked Villains, Unmasked Heroes
- The Morality/Mortality Equation: The more evil a villain is, the greater the odds that their loved ones will not survive. The more moral the hero is, the greater the odds that their own loved ones will survive.
- Polite Villains, Rude Heroes
- Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: The heroes dress modestly while the villains were more revealing outfits.
- Shabby Heroes, Well-Dressed Villains
- Snarky Villain, Earnest Hero
- Ugly Hero, Good-Looking Villain: The good guy is hideous while the bad guy is attractive.
