This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Ununnilium: Would Hank Scorpio from The Simpsons qualify for this?
Seven Seals: Not Scorpio himself, no. He's the opposite of a nine to five guy, and actually quite devoted to his work. Of course, he subverts the whole Evil Overlord trope royally by being a laid-back, positive, inspiring, employee-caring boss who just happens to have plans for world domination (and no regard for those who oppose him).
Jordan: I thought of Shakespeare example which might qualify, can someone tell me if I'm remembering correctly?- Isn't there like a 2nd or 3rd murder in Macbeth who expresses qualms about killing Macduff's entire family? He's kind of similar to the trope, isn't he?
Man Without A Body: I believe so. There's also the two assassins in Richard III who kill Clarence, who are very similiar.
Marionette: re: Torchwood. They're usually different members because a) The Doctor only met the members of Torchwood 1 (London), and the Torchwood TV show is about Torchwood 3 (Swansea), and b) the Torchwood that appeared in Doctor Who got caught in the crossfire between cybermen and daleks and virtually everyone was killed.
- Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.Stanley Milgram, of the infamous Milgram Experiment
, "The Perils of Obedience"
And then I realized they were stronger than we. Because they could stand that these were not monsters. These were men... trained cadres. These men who fought with their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with love... but they had the strength... the strength... to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral... and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling...
—Col. Walter Edmund Kurtz, Apocalypse Now
Tanto: Too many, and too long, quotes. See the Administrative Policy.
Man Without A Body: You could have moved them down into the examples section.
Johnny E: So could you... at any rate, Milgram quote is down there now. I'm not convinced the Apocalypse Now one is really about this trope, or if it is, that it's a particularly good or concise example.
T-Max: Yes, he could have. But, I think the onus is on the person who decides to get all Edit Happy to use some thought in where they place things and where.
Dalantia: Pulled:
- Played depressingly straight with Scirocco, one of the Dragons of Arachnos. More or less cursed into his role through no fault of his own, he is the offical Woobie of the game, with his former mentor trying to kill him, being saddled with an Axe-Crazy lackey, trying to break his curse only to be stopped by your character (admmitedly, his plan sounded disturbingly like an Instrumentality, but still), and various other Break the Cutie events. He claims to have Motive Decay at the end of his Story Arc, but his dialog seems to suggest he's being sardonic.
This is placing a huge pair of leather pants on him. Scirocco is -not- blameless in his fall from grace, as he stole the Mantle of Four Winds when the previous wielder was incapacitated, invested said Ax-Crazy minion with the powers that she has, REFUSES to give the mantle back when the steward of said mantle comes calling for it (to the point of sending the player to beat her off - oh, and did we mention that giving up the mantle would end the curse, too?), and has knowingly aligned himself with Arachnos as a means to an end. He isn't a punch clock, he's just the only one of the inner circle that isn't a Complete Monster.
Alkthash: I changed the image out to something more literal. 21 and 24 are great examples, but the picture was more along the lines of Harmless Villain.
