The reason I read these books, including Brightly Burning, is simple — I find them enjoyable. There are times when I really don't care if the ultimate outcome is a given — the enemy army is destroyed, the evil blood-mage is defeated, the kingdom is saved, etc. I enjoy reading about how it happens. At some level, I inevitably get involved with the good and decent characters, want to see them triumph, and want to see how they get themselves out of the mess they're in. The characters in a Valdemar book are almost like an idealist's antidote for the moral ambiguity that the real world surrounds us with daily. You won't find any Mercedes Lackey heroes or heroines cheating on their spouses and having affairs with interns. You won't find them allowing the annexation of the Sudetenland, or making alliances with Stalin in order to fight Hitler — in Valdemar, they'll go it alone against them both, thank you very much.
—Robert Francis
reviewing Brightly Burning
reviewing Brightly Burning"In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal [shall be] punished for his misdeeds."
—The Comics Code made this into an Enforced Trope.
"Doesn't matter what you try. Doesn't matter where I am or how badass you think you've become. 'Cause you know what? I'm Angel. I beat the bad guys."
—Angel to Lyndsey McDonald, Angel
It doesn’t matter how flawless the scheme was, how impregnable the fortress or powerful the magical weapon, it always ends with a band of adolescents shouting utter platitudes as they tear it all down. The game is rigged so that we lose, every single time. Half the world, turned into a prop for the glory of the other half. Ah. How much worse it must be, coming from a culture that still teaches you you can win. We don’t even have that, Catherine. The hope of the happy ending. We get to cackle on the way down the cliff, or maybe curse our killer with our last breath.
—The Black Knight, talking about this trope from the villains' point of view, A Practical Guide to Evil
Speedy: You think you're clever enough to avoid our scrutiny, Bad Bird? You think your nefarious plan can succeed?
Guido: Do you honestly think we'd let your brand of evil triumph over good?
Polly: No! Because Speedy's uncle writes all our scripts, and he would never, ever let that happen!
Dracula: Completely impossible! Beaten by a little girl!
Maria: Ha! Didn't you know? Good always wins!
Dracula: Child... It's power that always wins. Good and evil are only words, illusions created by the powerful.
Maria: I don't know what you mean, but I know you hurt a lot of people. No matter what you say, that's wrong!
Dracula: So even as the world decays, innocence endures in eyes like yours. Fascinating...
Buzz Lightyear: Gloat all you want, Zurg. Evil never wins.
Evil Emperor Zurg: I must say I have noticed that. ...But this time it's different!note
Optimus Prime: Good will always triumph over evil.
Galvatron: Hah! You must be joking!
Optimus Prime: Even if you destroy me, you haven't won—my friends will never stop fighting you, and if they fall, others will come forward. As long as all you care about is yourself, you'll have to take on the entire universe! You will never win!
Galvatron: Hah! You must be joking!
Optimus Prime: Even if you destroy me, you haven't won—my friends will never stop fighting you, and if they fall, others will come forward. As long as all you care about is yourself, you'll have to take on the entire universe! You will never win!
—Transformers: Cybertron, Episode 50, Unfinished
Daine had made up he rules and fixed them against himself. I hoped. In the flatties, the good guys always won. I was a private eye, a solid 100 per cent good guy. I was friends with crippled newspaper vendors, small Negro orphans and garrulous bartenders up and down the strip. Daine was a murderer, arsonist, dope peddler, pornographer, blackmailer, flamboyant thief and escaped convict. He was also a scandalous sexual degenerate, even if in the City [The Hays Code that just meant]] an inordinate fondness for modern art, black cats and correct grammar. I couldn't lose.
Classic Eggman: Do we ever win?
Eggman: That depends on your definition of "win".
Classic Eggman: Beating Sonic.
Eggman: Oh, well, then no.
Eggman: That depends on your definition of "win".
Classic Eggman: Beating Sonic.
Eggman: Oh, well, then no.
Tarquin: Don't you see, Elan? The rules of drama to which you subscribe as a bard tell us that such tyrannies can exist — indeed, must exist — and persist long enough that no one realistically thinks they can be defeated. Else, where's the drama in a hero opposing them? And if such kingdoms are necessary, why shouldn't I rule one?
Elan: But a hero always does oppose them! And beats them!
Tarquin: You know, Elan, you can't always fixate on the negative.
Elan: But a hero always does oppose them! And beats them!
Tarquin: You know, Elan, you can't always fixate on the negative.
All your bad guys die and your good guys survive
We can tell what's gonna happen by page and age five!
We can tell what's gonna happen by page and age five!
"Don't want to give away the story, but the Doom Raiders will ultimately fail. Trust me, I am from the future."
— Blaster-Tron, Skylanders: Trap Team
