History BlackAndGrayMorality / Literature

* Literature/TheHungerGames'':

* In ''Literature/{{Kane}}'', most people care only about their self-interest, are brutal and cruel, which is only fitting for a race created by a MadGod, while the [[{{Precursors}} elder races]] are degenerate and demented. Those who claim to act for the greater good are [[KnightTemplar just as blood-thirsty]] and the few really good characters usually end badly, rather quickly. Kane himself, a VillainProtagonist or AntiHero at best, in comparison looks quite reasonable. Probably helped by the fact that his [[RapePillageAndBurn most atrocious acts]] are only discussed in his BackStory, not shown, and many of his [[EvilVersusEvil antagonists are much worse]].

* ''Literature/{{Wasp}}'': The main character is a military secret agent working to disrupt the enemy government. Some of his actions are morally gray, such as when he booby-traps two civilian merchant ships, implicitly causing their crews' deaths. On the other hand, the enemy is a militaristic and quite oppressive empire, and their StateSec agents we meet in the book are pretty much all ruthless and brutal.

* Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. On one side are Elves and Men, the assumed good guys, who are flawed, cocky, haughty, corrupt, petty, jealous and well capable of killing their own kin, sabotaging their own cause; on the other side is the literal [[EvilOverlord Dark Lord]] [[BigBad Morgoth]], who is a being of pure evil. (And [[EldritchAbomination Ungoliant]], though she doesn't really care for any side and just wants to eat everything.)

* Common in the works of Creato/ChinaMieville. Literature/{{Kraken}}, for instance, has a Lovecraftian doomsday cult as one of the ''nicer'' factions.

* In Creator/TomKratman's ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'', the Imperial States of America isn't exactly a shining "white hat", but as presented in the novel it's a better option than the Caliphates (particularly the one on which the novel is focused), who are very much of the "black hat" persuasion. The other nations that get any attention aren't much better than the ISA.

* ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'' tells the story of a dark future, focusing on a war between the [[TheEmpire Imperial States]] of [[{{Eagleland}} America]] on one side and [[{{Eurabia}} The Caliphate]] on the other. The Imperial States is a fanatical fascist empire devoted to the genocide of Muslims worldwide. But despite being a totalitarian regime, women and ethnic minorities have equal rights with white men ([[DamnedByFaintPraise which is to say... not much]]). Contrast the Muslim Caliphate, which [[NoWomansLand treats women as property]], reduces Christians to slavery, and has soldiers commit horrific torture and rape all over the world without any remorse. To get an idea of the setting; the first combat scene in the book involves Moro Muslim insurgents torturing and raping captives to death, followed by the Imperial army killing them, sampling their DNA, and tracking down the Muslims' relatives to execute.

* ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'' tells the story of a dark future, focusing on a war between the [[TheEmpire Imperial States]] of [[{{Eagleland}} America]] on one side and [[{{Eurabia}} The Caliphate]] on the other. The Imperial States is a fanatical fascist empire devoted to the genocide of Muslims worldwide. But despite being a totalitarian regime, women and ethnic minorities have equal rights with white men ([[DamnedByFaintPraise which is to say ... not much]]). Contrast the Muslim Caliphate, which [[NoWomansLand treats women as property]], reduces Christians to slavery, and has soldiers commit horrific torture and rape all over the world without any remorse. To get an idea of the setting; the first combat scene in the book involves Moro Muslim insurgents torturing and raping captives to death, followed by the Imperial army killin them, sampling their DNA, and tracking down the Muslims' relatives to execute.

** Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson's much-maligned ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' prequels actually do a fairly decent job portraying the free humans in terms of Grey morality. The Machines and their cyborg servants, on the other hand, are {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. Although some are treated with some sympathy (especially in the last two books where the authors get better at making some of them like Erasmus actual three-dimensional characters), they're a bunch of bloodthirsty enslaving bastards who perform Mengele-style medical experiments on humans, get thrills from torturing them, force them to slave away like the Jews in ''Film/TheTenCommandments'' apparently [[ForTheEvulz just because it strokes off their egos]] (little else makes sense, given that they can build sapient robots and contented humans would be less likely to rebel), and respond to any defiance with horrific atrocities. It's especially grating because superhuman machine intellects that run on cold logic should logically be {{Magnificent Bastard}}s or at least dispassionate {{Chessmaster}} types, not a bunch of gratuitously sadistic ObviouslyEvil loons (in fairness, it's justified by one of the human Titans having programmed Omnius with his own personality).

* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': The good guys are imperfect, with the usual human flaws, and some do things like assassinate troublesome rulers. However, they are fighting pure evil wizards with whose goal is taking over the world with magic based on death and pain, creating monsters through forcibly impregnating women or cattle for this purpose.

* In ''Literature/{{Kane}}'', most people care only about their self-interest, are brutal and cruel, which is only fitting for a race created by a MadGod, while the [[ThePrecursors elder races]] are degenerate and demented. Those who claim to act for the greater good are [[KnightTemplar just as blood-thirsty]] and the few really good characters usually end badly, rather quickly. Kane himself, a VillainProtagonist or AntiHero at best, in comparison looks quite reasonable. Probably helped by the fact that his [[RapePillageAndBurn most atrocious acts]] are only discussed in his BackStory, not shown, and many of his [[EvilVersusEvil antagonists are much worse]].