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Does Designed Evil fit?
Edited by OneMore
Probably not, since there's nothing on the page.
Maybe an example would help:
The black talisman of evil to summons demons. Now, because of the name, the type of creature summoned, and the type of people likely to use it in a story, the audience is led to believe that the item IS evil.
However, if you realize that this item lets the user take control of a demon, which he/she could order to do good things, you realize that the good guys should be embracing these things just as much as the baddies do.
I think One More meant Designated Evil.
Yeah, I misspelled it. Thanks for correcting.
Hmmm... That one might work, but I think that trope is talking about a particular person doing something.
I should probably say the specific thing I'm thinking of. I apologize for the lack of links in advance, I'm new here and couldn't find the thread that explains how to do make them.
In Avatar the Last Air Bender, there's this power called 'Bloodbending.' Powerful waterbenders can manipulate a person's blood and basically get them to do whatever they want. Now, the characters, the way it was learned, and the overall everything else behind it says that this is an evil power.
HOWEVER, this is a 100% accurate, unbeatable (accept by another waterbender), and very easy to learn power. Seriously, Katara (the waterbender) had a full hang of it without one complete lesson. Now, here's the kicker: this power can make someone submit the battle to you WITHOUT KILLING THEM!
So, in a nutshell, this 'evil' power could have taken the war that was in that show and ended it bloodlessly. Instead, convinced it was evil, Katara never used it in combat.
Is there a trope for that?
Is there a trope where a power/weapon/business plan is seen as evil because of the way the writers present it and/or the characters talk about; but if a fan sits down and thinks about it, he/she could realize that it has very positive results and minimal bad consequences?