Basic Trope: A character who assumes the villain's role out of necessity, usually to prevent the Evil Power Vacuum or to counter a greater kind of evil. Like some sort of Eldritch Abomination... or a Sealed Evil God.
- Straight: Alice's country is ruled by Bob, an evil dictator, and she figures the only way to stop him is to become a dictator herself and overthrow him.
- Exaggerated: Alice's country is ruled by Bob, an evil dictator, and she figures the only way to stop him is wanton murder and destruction of anything having to do with him.
- Downplayed:
- Alice behaves like a Sadist Teacher so her mischievous pupils will behave, as she actually cares about them and wants them to succeed.
- Cruel to Be Kind — Alice acts like a cruel, callous Jerkass to her friends, but this is because she doesn't want them to get hurt.
- Justified:
- Trying to do the right thing to stop Bob is never enough and leaves Alice feeling that there is no choice but to sink to his level.
- It is only Bob's iron-fisted rule that keeps his more ambitious underlings in check. Should Alice simply overthrow him, it give them an excuse to compete for power, thereby very likely casting the country into a bloody civil war as a result.
- Inverted:
- Alice is a Card-Carrying Villain, and she commits crimes without reason, only For the Evulz.
- Alice is a bad person by nature, but circumstances force her to do good to bring about a greater evil.
- Subverted: Alice doesn't care about doing good and really is just as selfish and evil as Bob.
- Double Subverted: But only because she's Becoming the Mask. She started out good, but became hardened, cynical, and possibly even crazy by years of doing bad things.
- Parodied: In order to achieve a noble goal, Alice must play Bob's role as the villain who jaywalks.
- Zig-Zagged: Alice is a big fan of I Did What I Had to Do; she indulges in evil actions if that's what it takes in a given situation, but is equally willing to do good things when she thinks that will help. Sometimes she makes mistakes and acts the opposite of the useful way because she thinks it's necessary.
- Averted: No one performs evil actions for noble reasons; all villains are true villains and all heroes act only nobly.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: I Did What I Had to Do.
- Invoked: Pretty much any example of this trope, as Necessarily Evil characters intentionally and consciously have to choose to be this way.
- Exploited: Emperor Evulz knows Alice will reluctantly stoop to necessary evil to stop him, and when she does he broadcasts it to the whole world, turning her into a Hero with Bad Publicity.
- Defied: Alice refuses to do anything evil to stop Bob as she knows it won't actually change the problem(s) with the system, it'll just replace one dictator with another.
- Discussed: General Bob ponders with a colleague whether they should overthrow a corrupt or Fascist, but Inefficient monarch, considering the theoretical improvements in the country and the probable political instability.
- Conversed: "Oh, and I was hoping Alice would return to being the All-Loving Hero after she became leader of Troperia." "It was more common and probable for her to get Drunk with Power even while she was just leader of La Résistance." "Maybe, but that doesn't mean I have to like that change to her character."
- Deconstructed:
- Alice finally overthrows Bob but not only does she do actions that make her just as evil as he was, but it conveys the lesson that only evil can beat evil, which results in a never-ending cycle of evil dictators ruling by whim and being overthrown again and again and ultimately, nothing ever actually changes.
- Alice overthrows Bob, but her deception is exposed to the world and the people erupt into utter chaos and anarchy in the aftermath.
- Alice goes so over the deep end about what is acceptable as Necessary, she becomes the Well-Intentioned Extremist.
- Because Alice knows that what she's doing is evil, she becomes Trapped in Villainy.
- Alice can paint it however she wants, maybe objectively she has brought greater good, but she still did (and/or is still doing) evil acts and someone, somewhere (especially if they are collateral damage) is well justified to call her reasoning B.S.
- Reconstructed: Alice realizes that the necessity of the evil doesn't negate the evilness of it, and once Bob is overthrown, she accepts her fate and turns herself in once a stable new regime is formed.
Back to Necessarily Evil.
