History HeWhoFightsMonsters / Literature

* The rebellion in ''Literature/PosterGirl'' and the new Triumvirate Government they created are ALightShadeOfGrey to the old Delegation, but have killed various people during the urprising including children and teenagers related to the regimes elite. Those who survived the revolt and the many executions that followed were locked up in a ghetto to rot. While the Delegation was a tyrannical regime that needed to be stopped it is clear that the rebellion also has a lot of blood on their hands.

* As mentioned in film section above, Willie Stark from ''Literature/AllTheKingsMen'' becomes the kind of politician he once meant to oppose.

* The Literature/{{Eisenhorn}} novels set in the TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} universe:
** They chronicle, in first person, the struggle of Inquisitor Eisenhorn against the vile forces of [[TheCorruption Chaos]] while attempting to avoid being corrupted by them himself. As the series progresses, he shows himself more and more willing to use the devices of Chaos against itself, applying a sort of "ends justifying the means" logic to his actions.

* Subverted in Creator/TerryPratchett's non-''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel, ''Literature/{{Nation}}''. The heroine has been warning the hero about the BigBad, who, as typical in Pratchett, is far more of a monster than any creature with a face full of tentacles. In the middle of fighting said BigBad, this goes through the hero's head:

* ''Missionaries'', by Lyubov and Yevgeny Lukin. Nerdy guys found a portal into the past (''as they [[AlternateUniverse thought]]'') and tried to stop an European colonization via giving the locals-to-be-colonized [[BambooTechnology somewhat more advanced]] weaponry. They succeed... but the local development was a bit faster and [[AlternateTechline not in the way]] than they imagined -- and the European exploration slower. So it ended up much the same way, only with the roles changed, "ethanol-powered turbine polymaran rocket plane carriers vs. caravels" being an obvious CurbstompBattle.
--> How it came to this? How we who hated missionaries became missionaries ourselves before we knew! Missionaries of rocket launchers...

* The Children of the Light of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' also fit: originally, they were created to find and destroy Darkfriends, but by the time the story takes place, they have begun to persecute anyone who can use the Power, as well as anyone who disagrees with them.

* Franchise/StarWarsLegends:

* At the end of the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/GreyKnights'' novel ''Hammer of Daemons'', Alaric expresses concern that the plan he concocted to bring down Drakaasi's Chaos lords and escape makes him less of a Grey Knight. He even outright compares himself to a rebellion-fomenting cultist.

* The Kingpriest from ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' started out as a MessianicArchetype, but as he became increasingly confronted with corruption in the world, his quest to purify it became more and more [[KnightTemplar unhinged]]. In the end, he was hardly better than the people he was fighting and [[TheCaligula was completely insane to boot]]. The scary thing was, up to the very end, he was ''still'' charismatic enough to convince people that he was still the same kind and pious man who took the throne decades ago.

* Robert S. Pierre and Oscar Saint-Just in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series, although it is very difficult to realize this. Unlike most examples, these two were ''never'' "good guys", but they were originally explicit in their devotion to ''{{Pragmatic|Villainy}}'' [[PragmaticVillainy Villainy]].

** Saint-Just crosses the line for his actions as head of [=StateSec=] and for [[spoiler:killing millions of people with an atomic weapon to put down the [=McQueen=] coup]]. But with Pierre, we get enough of a portrait of his origins, original idealistic intentions, and failure to fix a system that just can't be fixed, that we [[AlasPoorVillain feel somewhat bad when he dies]]. The Pritchart administration even admits that Pierre's policies as Chairman improved the Republic's economy and education in the long run, which redeems him a bit further.
* In Philip Pullman's ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'', two of the major nemeses--Lord Asriel and Marisa Coulter--embody Sydney Harris's maxim over the course of the trilogy. [[spoiler: Asriel moreso since Mrs. Coulter was a power-hungry monster from the start. Also, Nietzsche's reference to The Abyss will become particularly relevant.]]
* It's implied (or at least believed by non-witchers) that the three main causes of death for [[Franchise/TheWitcher Witchers]] are monsters, angry/scared peasants (as a monster), and other Witchers.

* Fëanor and his sons from ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. They are fighting [[GodOfEvil Morgoth]] but in the process engage in kinslayings of other Elvish groups due to the Oath of Fëanor, for which they are cursed. By the end Fëanor and six of his sons are dead and the only survivor is unable to return to Valinor due to the Oath.
** Saruman from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. He begins as leader of the Wizards who were sent to fight [[BigBad Sauron]]. Eventually, from studying the ring and power of Sauron he decides to join them, intending to get the ring [[TheStarscream himself]] to rule Middle-Earth. In this case it is more pride and intolerance than any revenge or anger at the monsters.
** It is claimed using the ring against Sauron would cause this to happen due to the ring's [[ArtifactOfDoom corrupting influence]]. It leads to Boromir attacking Frodo to try to get the ring, before a WhatHaveIDone reaction.

* Discussed, to great length for a childrens book, in ''Literature/TheBrothersLionheart''. Orvar, one of the two leaders of the resistance against Tengil, is a good man, but fanatical in his hatred of everything Tengil stands for. In the end, Jonathan (the elder of the two titular brothers) chooses to go up against [[TheDragon Katla]] alone, just as much to end Katla's rampage as to ensure that Orvar can't get his hands on the magical artefact Tengil uses to control Katla, since that would inevitably turn him into Tengil 2.0.

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfDorsa'': The Imperial holdouts fighting the mountain folk have steadily become more like them, dressing as they do, scavening their weapons and using brutal tactics. Megs, one Imperial band's leader, reflects on this and admits it's happening, though she sees no other way to survive.

* Simony of ''Literature/SmallGods'' has devoted himself to taking down [[BigBad Vorbis]] and the Quisition, but it's when he starts [[spoiler: planning to use an ally's death as a martyrdom symbol rather than staging a rescue]], people begin to realise something is badly wrong. [[WhatTheHellHero Callouts from Urn and Brutha]] appear to come just in time.

* In ''Creator/GeorgeOrwell'''s ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' the animals initially intend to make an equal society, [[spoiler:but the pigs make small changes to the laws until the pigs are indistinguishable from the humans they once hated.]]

* In ''Literature/CodexAlera'', by Creator/JimButcher, it turns out that Attis Aquitane, one of the villains trying to overthrow Gaius Sextus the First Lord, came to be where he is because [[spoiler: he was one of the best friends of Septimus, the assassinated Princeps. He was so disgusted with the corrupt politics of the nobility and Sextus's refusal to do away with it that when Septimus was killed, he decided the best way to end it was by using that same corruption to take over as First Lord himself.]]

** They did not oppose the Legislaturalists because they were an evil regime, but because they were an ''incompetent'' regime that could not adequately govern the state of the Peoples Republic of Haven, which was on a fast track to complete collapse. Saint-Just himself says that he does not care who holds power, or what they use it for, as long as they use it ''well''. However, once they staged their coup and assumed complete control, they began to fall into the exact same traps and patterns of the Legislaturalists, including the promotion of personnel based on their political connections instead of skill, and the forgiveness of their errors because of those same connections. That specific action was one of the [[TheLastStraw final straws]] that instigated their coup, but their planned reforms and actions are slowly pushed further and further into the background as they become more and more preoccupied with simply maintaining control.

* In Philip Pullman's ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'', two of the major nemesises--Lord Asriel and Marisa Coulter--embody Sydney Harris's maxim over the course of the trilogy. [[spoiler: Asriel moreso since Mrs. Coulter was a power-hungry monster from the start. Also, Nietzsche's reference to The Abyss will become particularly relevant.]]

* The Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures novels, which featured a Doctor who, in the name of defending the universe from evil, would not only ShootTheDog but subvert history over a hundred years to make sure the dog and the gun were in the right place, and then [[EarthShatteringKaboom blow up the planet]] just to be on the safe side, often contemplated the Nietzsche quote.

* In ''Creator/GeorgeOrwell'''s ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' the animals initially intend to make an equal society [[spoiler:but the pigs make small changes to the laws until the pigs are indistinguishable from the humans they once hated.]]

* Alan Blunt, head of MI6 in the ''Literature/AlexRider'' series, is willing to engage in a number of questionable practises in a bid to get reluctant teen spy Alex Rider to go on the missions Blunt wants him to undertake. He finally crosses the MoralEventHorizon in ''Scorpia Rising'' when [[spoiler:he stages a school shooting (injuring one of Alex's friends) in a bid to convince him to do one last mission.]] At the end of the novel, when he is confronted by his second-in-command Mrs Jones over his actions, he recites the Nietzsche quote.

** Saruman from ''TheLordOfTheRings''. He begins as leader of the Wizards who were sent to fight [[BigBad Sauron]]. Eventually, from studying the ring and power of Sauron he decides to join them, intending to get the ring [[TheStarscream himself]] to rule Middle-Earth. In this case it is more pride and intolerance than any revenge or anger at the monsters.

* ''Literature/DresdenFiles'':