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Because they were nerds too? what does that have to due with anything?
Changed line(s) 14 (click to see context) from:
** Dark Willow started out wanting revenge against Warren for what her did to her girlfriend, Tara, then moved onto his friends because they were nerds too, and soon escalated into CardCarryingVillain territory, until she eventually [[OmnicidalManiac tried to destroy the world]]. Willow was brought back from the abyss by [[ThePowerOfLove Xander]].
to:
** Dark Willow started out wanting revenge against Warren for what her did to her girlfriend, Tara, then moved onto his friends because they were nerds of guilt by association too, and soon escalated into CardCarryingVillain territory, until she eventually [[OmnicidalManiac tried to destroy the world]]. Willow was brought back from the abyss by [[ThePowerOfLove Xander]].
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Changed line(s) 25 (click to see context) from:
** The Doctor has spent a ''lot'' of time fighting monsters and staring into the abyss, to the point that it's been stated (and demonstrated) several times that part of what keeps the Doctor from going full-on dark side (even though he can be pretty damn dark under the right circumstances) is his companions. We've seen him be pulled back from the brink of going too far by his friends, and when he doubted he was a good man, ''Clara'' never did. "Don't be a warrior - be a Doctor."
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Changed line(s) 22 (click to see context) from:
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The TechnicalPacifist Doctor has killed ''very many'' Cybermen and Daleks. He has annihilated various monsters of the week and entire fleets of enemy spacecraft, as well as, presumably, his own people. The Doctor seems to swing back and forth on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism quite frequently. In one case, he was attacked by creatures who wanted to steal his immortality. [[AndIMustScream They got their immortality all right]]. Getting the Doctor personally angry is, in his own words, "not a good place to stand." This theme is frequently explored in the revival series, though it turhe Twelfth Doctor's Series 8 character arc: He's unsure whether he's "a good man" because of all he does for the sake of saving the day. In "Into the Dalek" a malfunctioning, dying Dalek has switched sides, but when it's repaired, it returns to its old ways. The Doctor [[spoiler: melds his mind with "Rusty" to show it the beauty of life... but it sees how much the Doctor hates the Daleks. That hatred is so strong and, to a Dalek, beautiful that it once more is willing to destroy its own kind. Rusty even claims that the Doctor is the truly "good Dalek" in this situation, calling back to the Ninth Doctor's similar encounter]].
to:
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The TechnicalPacifist Doctor has killed ''very many'' Cybermen and Daleks. He has annihilated various monsters of the week and entire fleets of enemy spacecraft, as well as, presumably, his own people. The Doctor seems to swing back and forth on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism quite frequently. In one case, he was attacked by creatures who wanted to steal his immortality. [[AndIMustScream They got their immortality all right]]. Getting the Doctor personally angry is, in his own words, "not a good place to stand." This theme is frequently explored in the revival series, though it turhe especially in Twelfth Doctor's Series 8 character arc: He's unsure whether he's "a good man" because of all he does for the sake of saving the day. In "Into the Dalek" a malfunctioning, dying Dalek has switched sides, but when it's repaired, it returns to its old ways. The Doctor [[spoiler: melds his mind with "Rusty" to show it the beauty of life... but it sees how much the Doctor hates the Daleks. That hatred is so strong and, to a Dalek, beautiful that it once more is willing to destroy its own kind. Rusty even claims that the Doctor is the truly "good Dalek" in this situation, calling back to the Ninth Doctor's similar encounter]].
**The Doctor has spent a ''lot'' of time fighting monsters and staring into the abyss, to the point that it's been stated (and demonstrated) several times that part of what keeps the Doctor from going full-on dark side (even though he can be pretty damn dark under the right circumstances) is his companions. We've seen him be pulled back from the brink of going too far by his friends, and when he doubted he was a good man, ''Clara'' never did. "Don't be a warrior - be a Doctor."
Changed line(s) 44 (click to see context) from:
* This was the origin of the title character in ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess''. Xena first raised an army to protect her village from a warlord, but her brother was killed in the process. She proceeded to actively seek out possible enemies of Amphipolis and destroy them; it was not until her first encounter with Caesar that she abandoned this as an excuse.
to:
* This was the origin of the title character in ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess''.''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'', who started out as a villain on ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' before making a HeelFaceTurn in her return arc. Xena first raised an army to protect her village from a warlord, but her brother was killed in the process. She proceeded to actively seek out possible enemies of Amphipolis and destroy them; it was not until her first encounter with Caesar that she abandoned this as an excuse.
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** [[spoiler: Jack Bauer]] takes this trope UpToEleven in the second half of the eighth season, when he gets his hands on a murderer. [[spoiler: Jack eventually backs down when he realizes what the consequences (to innocent people) will be if carries out his revenge]].
to:
** [[spoiler: Jack Bauer]] takes this trope UpToEleven in the second half of the eighth season, when he gets his hands on a murderer. [[spoiler: Jack eventually backs down when he realizes what the consequences (to innocent people) will be if carries out his revenge]].revenge, stopping short of falling as far as Tony did]].
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Changed line(s) 22,35 (click to see context) from:
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The TechnicalPacifist Doctor has killed ''very many'' Cybermen and Daleks. He has annihilated various monsters of the week and entire fleets of enemy spacecraft, as well as, presumably, his own people. The Doctor seems to swing back and forth on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism quite frequently. In one case, he was attacked by creatures who wanted to steal his immortality. [[AndIMustScream They got their immortality all right]]. Getting the Doctor personally angry is, in his own words, "not a good place to stand." This theme is frequently explored in the revival series, though it turned up in the classic series as well.
** Season 18 of the original series was presided over by a script editor with the pet idea that the Doctor (the Fourth at the time) was 'a [[HorrifyingHero monster that]] [[CreepyGood fights monsters]]', so every story in it indulges in this theme - some in greater detail than others. For instance, the backstory to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warriors Gate"]] is that when the Tharils' slaves overthrew their masters, they crushed them under their own heels.
** Well illustrated in the Ninth Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek "Dalek"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just die?\\
'''Dalek:''' [[AC:[[NotSoDifferent You would make a good Dalek.]]]]
** Donna says in [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]], after the Tenth Doctor destroys the Racnoss, "I think sometimes you need somebody to stop you." -- since he became the LastOfHisKind, the influence of a [[MoralityPet companion]] ideally should serve to keep him from [[MoralEventHorizon becoming too monstrous]].
** And then there's the Tenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars "The Waters of Mars"]]:
-->[[spoiler:'''The Doctor:''' Do you know who that leaves? ME!! It's taken me all these years to realize it, [[AGodAmI but all those laws of time are mine.]] And they will obey ME!]]
** In the Tenth Doctor's final TV appearance as a regular, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], they go into detail about what was going on at the end of the Time War. [[spoiler:After both sides had done too much messing around with [[NegativeSpaceWedgie space wedgies]] and [[TemporalParadox paradoxes]], the [[TimeyWimeyBall fabric of time]] was irreparably damaged (though in a localized area). Countless Daleks and Time Lords alike were being slaughtered over and over again in endless time loops and Gallifrey itself had basically turned into hell. When the Doctor ended the war, he sealed off the area the war encompassed in a time bubble, preventing it from extending further throughout the universe.]] If the Doctor hadn't ended it the way he did, [[spoiler:the Time Lord leadership would have destroyed all of reality because they (and they alone) would be able to survive outside of time as [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence beings of pure energy and information]]]].
** In the Eleventh Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], the [[spoiler:the thing imprisoned in the Pandorica, the nameless, fearless, bloodthirsty monster so terrifying and destructive that it has become renowned as a dark fairytale, turns out to be the Doctor himself.]] To call the two-word reveal a WhamLine for the Doctor is an understatement. He seems more shaken at the idea of ''being'' [[spoiler:the thing in the Pandorica]] than at the fact that he's getting [[spoiler:locked inside.]]
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes To War"]], he's told even more explicitly that he's turning into this, not just that people see him as TheDreaded. He even admits it himself, in a cold warning cum threat to Madame Kovarian after she mockingly says, "The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules."
--->'''The Doctor:''' Good men don't need rules. ''Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.''
** As one can tell, the ''less'' dark Eleventh Doctor frequently had to face this, and we got some good insight into his more anti-heroic moments. Cyborg dude persecutes town to get at a guy. Cyborg proves to have a point when it comes to that guy. The Doctor is ready to hand him right over, and Amy is the one to say WhatTheHellHero. It turns out that it's less that the Doctor thinks he ''owns'' time and space because he's the last Time Lord; he feels he's the only one to protect it, and that he may as well have pulled the trigger on everyone ever hurt by those he ''didn't'' take down, like the Daleks, Master, etc. He walks a very fine line between getting the job done [[IDidWhatIHadToDo even if it means getting dirty]], and becoming a KnightTemplar. It really puts the times the Tenth Doctor made you ask "isn't he supposed to be the good guy?" in new light.
** This is part of the Twelfth Doctor's Series 8 character arc: He's unsure whether he's "a good man" because of all he does for the sake of saving the day. In "Into the Dalek" a malfunctioning, dying Dalek has switched sides, but when it's repaired, it returns to its old ways. The Doctor [[spoiler: melds his mind with "Rusty" to show it the beauty of life... but it sees how much the Doctor hates the Daleks. That hatred is so strong and, to a Dalek, beautiful that it once more is willing to destroy its own kind. Rusty even claims that the Doctor is the truly "good Dalek" in this situation, calling back to the Ninth Doctor's similar encounter]].
** Season 18 of the original series was presided over by a script editor with the pet idea that the Doctor (the Fourth at the time) was 'a [[HorrifyingHero monster that]] [[CreepyGood fights monsters]]', so every story in it indulges in this theme - some in greater detail than others. For instance, the backstory to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warriors Gate"]] is that when the Tharils' slaves overthrew their masters, they crushed them under their own heels.
** Well illustrated in the Ninth Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek "Dalek"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just die?\\
'''Dalek:''' [[AC:[[NotSoDifferent You would make a good Dalek.]]]]
** Donna says in [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]], after the Tenth Doctor destroys the Racnoss, "I think sometimes you need somebody to stop you." -- since he became the LastOfHisKind, the influence of a [[MoralityPet companion]] ideally should serve to keep him from [[MoralEventHorizon becoming too monstrous]].
** And then there's the Tenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars "The Waters of Mars"]]:
-->[[spoiler:'''The Doctor:''' Do you know who that leaves? ME!! It's taken me all these years to realize it, [[AGodAmI but all those laws of time are mine.]] And they will obey ME!]]
** In the Tenth Doctor's final TV appearance as a regular, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], they go into detail about what was going on at the end of the Time War. [[spoiler:After both sides had done too much messing around with [[NegativeSpaceWedgie space wedgies]] and [[TemporalParadox paradoxes]], the [[TimeyWimeyBall fabric of time]] was irreparably damaged (though in a localized area). Countless Daleks and Time Lords alike were being slaughtered over and over again in endless time loops and Gallifrey itself had basically turned into hell. When the Doctor ended the war, he sealed off the area the war encompassed in a time bubble, preventing it from extending further throughout the universe.]] If the Doctor hadn't ended it the way he did, [[spoiler:the Time Lord leadership would have destroyed all of reality because they (and they alone) would be able to survive outside of time as [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence beings of pure energy and information]]]].
** In the Eleventh Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], the [[spoiler:the thing imprisoned in the Pandorica, the nameless, fearless, bloodthirsty monster so terrifying and destructive that it has become renowned as a dark fairytale, turns out to be the Doctor himself.]] To call the two-word reveal a WhamLine for the Doctor is an understatement. He seems more shaken at the idea of ''being'' [[spoiler:the thing in the Pandorica]] than at the fact that he's getting [[spoiler:locked inside.]]
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes To War"]], he's told even more explicitly that he's turning into this, not just that people see him as TheDreaded. He even admits it himself, in a cold warning cum threat to Madame Kovarian after she mockingly says, "The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules."
--->'''The Doctor:''' Good men don't need rules. ''Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.''
** As one can tell, the ''less'' dark Eleventh Doctor frequently had to face this, and we got some good insight into his more anti-heroic moments. Cyborg dude persecutes town to get at a guy. Cyborg proves to have a point when it comes to that guy. The Doctor is ready to hand him right over, and Amy is the one to say WhatTheHellHero. It turns out that it's less that the Doctor thinks he ''owns'' time and space because he's the last Time Lord; he feels he's the only one to protect it, and that he may as well have pulled the trigger on everyone ever hurt by those he ''didn't'' take down, like the Daleks, Master, etc. He walks a very fine line between getting the job done [[IDidWhatIHadToDo even if it means getting dirty]], and becoming a KnightTemplar. It really puts the times the Tenth Doctor made you ask "isn't he supposed to be the good guy?" in new light.
** This is part of the Twelfth Doctor's Series 8 character arc: He's unsure whether he's "a good man" because of all he does for the sake of saving the day. In "Into the Dalek" a malfunctioning, dying Dalek has switched sides, but when it's repaired, it returns to its old ways. The Doctor [[spoiler: melds his mind with "Rusty" to show it the beauty of life... but it sees how much the Doctor hates the Daleks. That hatred is so strong and, to a Dalek, beautiful that it once more is willing to destroy its own kind. Rusty even claims that the Doctor is the truly "good Dalek" in this situation, calling back to the Ninth Doctor's similar encounter]].
to:
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The TechnicalPacifist Doctor has killed ''very many'' Cybermen and Daleks. He has annihilated various monsters of the week and entire fleets of enemy spacecraft, as well as, presumably, his own people. The Doctor seems to swing back and forth on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism quite frequently. In one case, he was attacked by creatures who wanted to steal his immortality. [[AndIMustScream They got their immortality all right]]. Getting the Doctor personally angry is, in his own words, "not a good place to stand." This theme is frequently explored in the revival series, though it turned up in the classic series as well.
** Season 18 of the original series was presided over by a script editor with the pet idea that the Doctor (the Fourth at the time) was 'a [[HorrifyingHero monster that]] [[CreepyGood fights monsters]]', so every story in it indulges in this theme - some in greater detail than others. For instance, the backstory to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warriors Gate"]] is that when the Tharils' slaves overthrew their masters, they crushed them under their own heels.
** Well illustrated in the Ninth Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek "Dalek"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just die?\\
'''Dalek:''' [[AC:[[NotSoDifferent You would make a good Dalek.]]]]
** Donna says in [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]], after the Tenth Doctor destroys the Racnoss, "I think sometimes you need somebody to stop you." -- since he became the LastOfHisKind, the influence of a [[MoralityPet companion]] ideally should serve to keep him from [[MoralEventHorizon becoming too monstrous]].
** And then there's the Tenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars "The Waters of Mars"]]:
-->[[spoiler:'''The Doctor:''' Do you know who that leaves? ME!! It's taken me all these years to realize it, [[AGodAmI but all those laws of time are mine.]] And they will obey ME!]]
** In the Tenth Doctor's final TV appearance as a regular, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], they go into detail about what was going on at the end of the Time War. [[spoiler:After both sides had done too much messing around with [[NegativeSpaceWedgie space wedgies]] and [[TemporalParadox paradoxes]], the [[TimeyWimeyBall fabric of time]] was irreparably damaged (though in a localized area). Countless Daleks and Time Lords alike were being slaughtered over and over again in endless time loops and Gallifrey itself had basically turned into hell. When the Doctor ended the war, he sealed off the area the war encompassed in a time bubble, preventing it from extending further throughout the universe.]] If the Doctor hadn't ended it the way he did, [[spoiler:the Time Lord leadership would have destroyed all of reality because they (and they alone) would be able to survive outside of time as [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence beings of pure energy and information]]]].
** In the Eleventh Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], the [[spoiler:the thing imprisoned in the Pandorica, the nameless, fearless, bloodthirsty monster so terrifying and destructive that it has become renowned as a dark fairytale, turns out to be the Doctor himself.]] To call the two-word reveal a WhamLine for the Doctor is an understatement. He seems more shaken at the idea of ''being'' [[spoiler:the thing in the Pandorica]] than at the fact that he's getting [[spoiler:locked inside.]]
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes To War"]], he's told even more explicitly that he's turning into this, not just that people see him as TheDreaded. He even admits it himself, in a cold warning cum threat to Madame Kovarian after she mockingly says, "The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules."
--->'''The Doctor:''' Good men don't need rules. ''Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.''
** As one can tell, the ''less'' dark Eleventh Doctor frequently had to face this, and we got some good insight into his more anti-heroic moments. Cyborg dude persecutes town to get at a guy. Cyborg proves to have a point when it comes to that guy. The Doctor is ready to hand him right over, and Amy is the one to say WhatTheHellHero. It turns out that it's less that the Doctor thinks he ''owns'' time and space because he's the last Time Lord; he feels he's the only one to protect it, and that he may as well have pulled the trigger on everyone ever hurt by those he ''didn't'' take down, like the Daleks, Master, etc. He walks a very fine line between getting the job done [[IDidWhatIHadToDo even if it means getting dirty]], and becoming a KnightTemplar. It really puts the times the Tenth Doctor made you ask "isn't he supposed to be the good guy?" in new light.
** This is part of theturhe Twelfth Doctor's Series 8 character arc: He's unsure whether he's "a good man" because of all he does for the sake of saving the day. In "Into the Dalek" a malfunctioning, dying Dalek has switched sides, but when it's repaired, it returns to its old ways. The Doctor [[spoiler: melds his mind with "Rusty" to show it the beauty of life... but it sees how much the Doctor hates the Daleks. That hatred is so strong and, to a Dalek, beautiful that it once more is willing to destroy its own kind. Rusty even claims that the Doctor is the truly "good Dalek" in this situation, calling back to the Ninth Doctor's similar encounter]].
** Season 18 of the original series was presided over by a script editor with the pet idea that the Doctor (the Fourth at the time) was 'a [[HorrifyingHero monster that]] [[CreepyGood fights monsters]]', so every story in it indulges in this theme - some in greater detail than others. For instance, the backstory to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warriors Gate"]] is that when the Tharils' slaves overthrew their masters, they crushed them under their own heels.
** Well illustrated in the Ninth Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek "Dalek"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just die?\\
'''Dalek:''' [[AC:[[NotSoDifferent You would make a good Dalek.]]]]
** Donna says in [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]], after the Tenth Doctor destroys the Racnoss, "I think sometimes you need somebody to stop you." -- since he became the LastOfHisKind, the influence of a [[MoralityPet companion]] ideally should serve to keep him from [[MoralEventHorizon becoming too monstrous]].
** And then there's the Tenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars "The Waters of Mars"]]:
-->[[spoiler:'''The Doctor:''' Do you know who that leaves? ME!! It's taken me all these years to realize it, [[AGodAmI but all those laws of time are mine.]] And they will obey ME!]]
** In the Tenth Doctor's final TV appearance as a regular, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], they go into detail about what was going on at the end of the Time War. [[spoiler:After both sides had done too much messing around with [[NegativeSpaceWedgie space wedgies]] and [[TemporalParadox paradoxes]], the [[TimeyWimeyBall fabric of time]] was irreparably damaged (though in a localized area). Countless Daleks and Time Lords alike were being slaughtered over and over again in endless time loops and Gallifrey itself had basically turned into hell. When the Doctor ended the war, he sealed off the area the war encompassed in a time bubble, preventing it from extending further throughout the universe.]] If the Doctor hadn't ended it the way he did, [[spoiler:the Time Lord leadership would have destroyed all of reality because they (and they alone) would be able to survive outside of time as [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence beings of pure energy and information]]]].
** In the Eleventh Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], the [[spoiler:the thing imprisoned in the Pandorica, the nameless, fearless, bloodthirsty monster so terrifying and destructive that it has become renowned as a dark fairytale, turns out to be the Doctor himself.]] To call the two-word reveal a WhamLine for the Doctor is an understatement. He seems more shaken at the idea of ''being'' [[spoiler:the thing in the Pandorica]] than at the fact that he's getting [[spoiler:locked inside.]]
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes To War"]], he's told even more explicitly that he's turning into this, not just that people see him as TheDreaded. He even admits it himself, in a cold warning cum threat to Madame Kovarian after she mockingly says, "The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules."
--->'''The Doctor:''' Good men don't need rules. ''Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.''
** As one can tell, the ''less'' dark Eleventh Doctor frequently had to face this, and we got some good insight into his more anti-heroic moments. Cyborg dude persecutes town to get at a guy. Cyborg proves to have a point when it comes to that guy. The Doctor is ready to hand him right over, and Amy is the one to say WhatTheHellHero. It turns out that it's less that the Doctor thinks he ''owns'' time and space because he's the last Time Lord; he feels he's the only one to protect it, and that he may as well have pulled the trigger on everyone ever hurt by those he ''didn't'' take down, like the Daleks, Master, etc. He walks a very fine line between getting the job done [[IDidWhatIHadToDo even if it means getting dirty]], and becoming a KnightTemplar. It really puts the times the Tenth Doctor made you ask "isn't he supposed to be the good guy?" in new light.
** This is part of the
Changed line(s) 51 (click to see context) from:
* A mayor plot point in both seasons of Argentinian HBO crime series ''Epitafios'', appearing in season 1 [[spoiler: with Renzo, who murders Costas in cold-blood after his murder spree (including Laura)]] and in season 2 it comes back with a vengeance with [[spoiler: both Marina and Renzo, the former shooting her brother's murderer and the later [[MoralEventHorizon burying the main villain of the season... ''alive'']]]].
to:
* A mayor plot point in both seasons of Argentinian HBO crime series ''Epitafios'', appearing in season 1 [[spoiler: with Renzo, who murders Costas in cold-blood after his murder spree (including Laura)]] and in season 2 it comes back with a vengeance with [[spoiler: both Marina and Renzo, the former shooting her brother's murderer and the later [[MoralEventHorizon latter burying the main villain of the season... ''alive'']]]].''[[MoralEventHorizon alive]]'']].
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Changed line(s) 81 (click to see context) from:
* Antonia of ''Series/TrueBlood'' was a witch who was raped and murdered by vampires in the middle ages. When she comes back as a spirit, the next logical step is to attempt genocide against the entire vampire race, attacking and imprisoning everyone that stands in her way.
to:
* Antonia of ''Series/TrueBlood'' ''Series/TrueBlood'':
**Antonia was a witch who was raped and murdered by vampires in the middle ages. When she comes back as a spirit, the next logical step is to attempt genocide against the entire vampire race, attacking and imprisoning everyone that stands in herway.way.
**In season 6, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv_E0sYqzPA Bill Compton asks his protegee/surrogate daughter Jessica to keep him grounded]] after he drinks the blood of Lilith and gains new abilities like being able to move objects with his mind, or survive being staked. To explain why he needs Jessica to ground him, he cites the story of General Sherman from the Civil War: a man who hated war, but who became more and more ruthless as he gained power and rose in rank, to the point of his army burning down towns on their march to the sea.
**Antonia was a witch who was raped and murdered by vampires in the middle ages. When she comes back as a spirit, the next logical step is to attempt genocide against the entire vampire race, attacking and imprisoning everyone that stands in her
**In season 6, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv_E0sYqzPA Bill Compton asks his protegee/surrogate daughter Jessica to keep him grounded]] after he drinks the blood of Lilith and gains new abilities like being able to move objects with his mind, or survive being staked. To explain why he needs Jessica to ground him, he cites the story of General Sherman from the Civil War: a man who hated war, but who became more and more ruthless as he gained power and rose in rank, to the point of his army burning down towns on their march to the sea.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 32,35 (click to see context) from:
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes To War"]], he's told even more explicitly that he's turning into this, not just that people see him as TheDreaded. He even admits it himself:
--->'''The Doctor:''' Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many of them.
** As one can tell, the ''less'' dark Eleventh Doctor frequently had to face this, and we got some good insight into his more anti-hero-y moments. Cyborg dude persecutes town to get at a guy. Cyborg proves to have a point when it comes to that guy. The Doctor is ready to hand him right over, and Amy is the one to say WhatTheHellHero. It turns out that it's less that the Doctor thinks he ''owns'' time and space because he's the last Time Lord; he feels he's the only one to protect it, and that he may as well have pulled the trigger on everyone ever hurt by those he ''didn't'' take down, like the Daleks, Master, etc. He walks a very fine line between getting the job done [[IDidWhatIHadToDo even if it means getting dirty]], and becoming a KnightTemplar. It really puts the times the Tenth Doctor made you ask "isn't he supposed to be the good guy?" in new light.
** This is part of the Twelfth Doctor's Series 8 character arc: He's unsure whether he's "a good man" because of all he does for the sake of saving the day. In "Into the Dalek" a malfunctioning, dying Dalek has switched sides, but when it's repaired, it returns to its old ways. The Doctor [[spoiler: melds his mind with "Rusty" to show it the beauty of life...but it sees how much the Doctor hates the Daleks. That hatred is so strong and, to a Dalek, beautiful that it once more is willing to destroy its own kind. Rusty even claims that the Doctor is the truly "good Dalek" in this situation, calling back to the Ninth Doctor's similar encounter]].
--->'''The Doctor:''' Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many of them.
** As one can tell, the ''less'' dark Eleventh Doctor frequently had to face this, and we got some good insight into his more anti-hero-y moments. Cyborg dude persecutes town to get at a guy. Cyborg proves to have a point when it comes to that guy. The Doctor is ready to hand him right over, and Amy is the one to say WhatTheHellHero. It turns out that it's less that the Doctor thinks he ''owns'' time and space because he's the last Time Lord; he feels he's the only one to protect it, and that he may as well have pulled the trigger on everyone ever hurt by those he ''didn't'' take down, like the Daleks, Master, etc. He walks a very fine line between getting the job done [[IDidWhatIHadToDo even if it means getting dirty]], and becoming a KnightTemplar. It really puts the times the Tenth Doctor made you ask "isn't he supposed to be the good guy?" in new light.
** This is part of the Twelfth Doctor's Series 8 character arc: He's unsure whether he's "a good man" because of all he does for the sake of saving the day. In "Into the Dalek" a malfunctioning, dying Dalek has switched sides, but when it's repaired, it returns to its old ways. The Doctor [[spoiler: melds his mind with "Rusty" to show it the beauty of life...but it sees how much the Doctor hates the Daleks. That hatred is so strong and, to a Dalek, beautiful that it once more is willing to destroy its own kind. Rusty even claims that the Doctor is the truly "good Dalek" in this situation, calling back to the Ninth Doctor's similar encounter]].
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** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes To War"]], he's told even more explicitly that he's turning into this, not just that people see him as TheDreaded. He even admits it himself:
himself, in a cold warning cum threat to Madame Kovarian after she mockingly says, "The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules."
--->'''The Doctor:''' Good men don't need rules.Today ''Today is not the day to find out why I have so many of them.
many.''
** As one can tell, the ''less'' dark Eleventh Doctor frequently had to face this, and we got some good insight into his moreanti-hero-y anti-heroic moments. Cyborg dude persecutes town to get at a guy. Cyborg proves to have a point when it comes to that guy. The Doctor is ready to hand him right over, and Amy is the one to say WhatTheHellHero. It turns out that it's less that the Doctor thinks he ''owns'' time and space because he's the last Time Lord; he feels he's the only one to protect it, and that he may as well have pulled the trigger on everyone ever hurt by those he ''didn't'' take down, like the Daleks, Master, etc. He walks a very fine line between getting the job done [[IDidWhatIHadToDo even if it means getting dirty]], and becoming a KnightTemplar. It really puts the times the Tenth Doctor made you ask "isn't he supposed to be the good guy?" in new light.
** This is part of the Twelfth Doctor's Series 8 character arc: He's unsure whether he's "a good man" because of all he does for the sake of saving the day. In "Into the Dalek" a malfunctioning, dying Dalek has switched sides, but when it's repaired, it returns to its old ways. The Doctor [[spoiler: melds his mind with "Rusty" to show it the beauty of life... but it sees how much the Doctor hates the Daleks. That hatred is so strong and, to a Dalek, beautiful that it once more is willing to destroy its own kind. Rusty even claims that the Doctor is the truly "good Dalek" in this situation, calling back to the Ninth Doctor's similar encounter]].
--->'''The Doctor:''' Good men don't need rules.
** As one can tell, the ''less'' dark Eleventh Doctor frequently had to face this, and we got some good insight into his more
** This is part of the Twelfth Doctor's Series 8 character arc: He's unsure whether he's "a good man" because of all he does for the sake of saving the day. In "Into the Dalek" a malfunctioning, dying Dalek has switched sides, but when it's repaired, it returns to its old ways. The Doctor [[spoiler: melds his mind with "Rusty" to show it the beauty of life... but it sees how much the Doctor hates the Daleks. That hatred is so strong and, to a Dalek, beautiful that it once more is willing to destroy its own kind. Rusty even claims that the Doctor is the truly "good Dalek" in this situation, calling back to the Ninth Doctor's similar encounter]].
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** Here's a capper: In the ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan comic "The Swords of Kali", the Twelfth Doctor paraphrases the trope-naming quote to warn Rani Jhulka about the dangers of seeking revenge...and then adds "Should '''never''' have given that quote away [to Nietzsche]. Could've dined out on it all across the universe."
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** Here's a capper: In the ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan comic "The Swords of Kali", the Twelfth Doctor paraphrases the trope-naming quote to warn Rani Jhulka about the dangers of seeking revenge... and then adds "Should '''never''' have given that quote away [to Nietzsche]. Could've dined out on it all across the universe."
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'''Dalek:''' [[AC:You would make a good Dalek.]]
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'''Dalek:''' [[AC:You [[AC:[[NotSoDifferent You would make a good Dalek.]]]]]]
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* This was the origin of the title character in ''XenaWarriorPrincess''. Xena first raised an army to protect her village from a warlord, but her brother was killed in the process. She proceeded to actively seek out possible enemies of Amphipolis and destroy them; it was not until her first encounter with Caesar that she abandoned this as an excuse.
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* This was the origin of the title character in ''XenaWarriorPrincess''.''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess''. Xena first raised an army to protect her village from a warlord, but her brother was killed in the process. She proceeded to actively seek out possible enemies of Amphipolis and destroy them; it was not until her first encounter with Caesar that she abandoned this as an excuse.
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* Eric van Helsing from ''YoungDracula'' is a comedic version of this.
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* Eric van Helsing from ''YoungDracula'' ''Series/YoungDracula'' is a comedic version of this.
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* Several episodes of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine' had various members of the crew struggling with exactly this
** The two-part episode 'Homefront/Paradise Lost' features [[spoiler: Admiral Layton, whose concern that the Federation wasn't taking the Dominion seriously enough leads him to fake a Dominion attack, attempt a coup, and order one Starfleet ship to fire on another.]] Luckily, Sisko manages to get in his way.
** 'In the Pale Moonlight' has Sisko resort to several underhand tactics [[spoiler:and eventually condone a murder]] in order to coerce the Romulans to ally with the Federation against the Dominion. The final scene of the episode has Sisko chillingly coming to the realization that he can, in fact, live with what he's done.
** 'Extreme Measures' has Bashir commit a form of Mind Rape against Section 31 operative Luther Sloan in order to save Odo's life.
** The two-part episode 'Homefront/Paradise Lost' features [[spoiler: Admiral Layton, whose concern that the Federation wasn't taking the Dominion seriously enough leads him to fake a Dominion attack, attempt a coup, and order one Starfleet ship to fire on another.]] Luckily, Sisko manages to get in his way.
** 'In the Pale Moonlight' has Sisko resort to several underhand tactics [[spoiler:and eventually condone a murder]] in order to coerce the Romulans to ally with the Federation against the Dominion. The final scene of the episode has Sisko chillingly coming to the realization that he can, in fact, live with what he's done.
** 'Extreme Measures' has Bashir commit a form of Mind Rape against Section 31 operative Luther Sloan in order to save Odo's life.
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* Several episodes of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine' Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine had various members of the crew struggling with exactly this
** The two-part episode'Homefront/Paradise Lost' *Homefront/Paradise Lost* features [[spoiler: Admiral Layton, whose concern that the Federation wasn't taking the Dominion seriously enough leads him to fake a Dominion attack, attempt a coup, and order one Starfleet ship to fire on another.]] Luckily, Sisko manages to get in his way.
**'In *In the Pale Moonlight' Moonlight* has Sisko resort to several underhand tactics [[spoiler:and eventually condone a murder]] in order to coerce the Romulans to ally with the Federation against the Dominion. The final scene of the episode has Sisko chillingly coming to the realization that he can, in fact, live with what he's done.
**'Extreme Measures' *Extreme Measures* has Bashir commit a form of Mind Rape against Section 31 operative Luther Sloan in order to save Odo's life.life.
*** Sloan himself (and his organization, Section 31) also fall under this trope, doing pretty much whatever they want in their role.
** The two-part episode
**
**
*** Sloan himself (and his organization, Section 31) also fall under this trope, doing pretty much whatever they want in their role.
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* Several episodes of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine' had various members of the crew struggling with exactly this
** The two-part episode 'Homefront/Paradise Lost' features [[spoiler: Admiral Layton, whose concern that the Federation wasn't taking the Dominion seriously enough leads him to fake a Dominion attack, attempt a coup, and order one Starfleet ship to fire on another.]] Luckily, Sisko manages to get in his way.
** 'In the Pale Moonlight' has Sisko resort to several underhand tactics [[spoiler:and eventually condone a murder]] in order to coerce the Romulans to ally with the Federation against the Dominion. The final scene of the episode has Sisko chillingly coming to the realization that he can, in fact, live with what he's done.
** 'Extreme Measures' has Bashir commit a form of Mind Rape against Section 31 operative Luther Sloan in order to save Odo's life.
** The two-part episode 'Homefront/Paradise Lost' features [[spoiler: Admiral Layton, whose concern that the Federation wasn't taking the Dominion seriously enough leads him to fake a Dominion attack, attempt a coup, and order one Starfleet ship to fire on another.]] Luckily, Sisko manages to get in his way.
** 'In the Pale Moonlight' has Sisko resort to several underhand tactics [[spoiler:and eventually condone a murder]] in order to coerce the Romulans to ally with the Federation against the Dominion. The final scene of the episode has Sisko chillingly coming to the realization that he can, in fact, live with what he's done.
** 'Extreme Measures' has Bashir commit a form of Mind Rape against Section 31 operative Luther Sloan in order to save Odo's life.
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* In ''Series/TheManInTheHighCastle'' this is a general theme for the resistance. While doesn't apply to ''all'' of them all the time, in order to keep their fight up they have had to make moral sacrifices. The most prominent example is [[spoiler:George Dixon. Dixon]] wants nothing more than to see America free from Nazi rule. [[spoiler:to achieve that end he spies on people using the Nazi's own surveillance lines, even other people he is suppose to be on the same side with. He is willing to kill any Nazi for his cause, even the civilians. He plans to have the senior most Nazi officer killed by his own people by revealing that his son has an incurable genetic illness, even though that will kill an innocent child in the process. Juliana says he is just as evil as the Nazis and his response is that they must be eviler to win and then justifies his actions by arguing that the boy he would kill is sick anyway. He dies in a Nazi uniform, a disguise he was wearing at the time, when Juliana refuses to let him do this.]]
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* In ''Series/CriminalMinds'', the Nietzsche quote is used three times, once in the first episode, once in the hundredth episode,and once in the two hundredth, episode. It's referenced in the season four finale during the finale voiceover ("How many more times will [my team] be able to look into the abyss"). However, the BAU doesn't really fit this trope, and, in the hundredth episode, [[spoiler: it's pretty clear that Hotch did the right thing]]. However, Gideon's departure from the team is due to his fear and realization that he's been staring into the abyss for too long and can no longer see humanity past it. He leaves to wander the world for a while and restore his faith in humanity.
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* In ''Series/CriminalMinds'', the Nietzsche quote is used three times, once in the first episode, once in the hundredth episode,and once in the two hundredth, hundredth episode. It's referenced in the season four finale during the finale voiceover ("How many more times will [my team] be able to look into the abyss"). However, the BAU doesn't really fit this trope, and, in the hundredth episode, [[spoiler: it's pretty clear that Hotch did the right thing]]. However, Gideon's departure from the team is due to his fear and realization that he's been staring into the abyss for too long and can no longer see humanity past it. He leaves to wander the world for a while and restore his faith in humanity.
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* In ''Series/CriminalMinds'', the Nietzsche quote is used three, once in the first episode, once in the hundredth episode,and once in the two hundredth, episode. It's referenced in the season four finale during the finale voiceover ("How many more times will [my team] be able to look into the abyss"). However, the BAU doesn't really fit this trope, and, in the hundredth episode, [[spoiler: it's pretty clear that Hotch did the right thing]]. However, Gideon's departure from the team is due to his fear and realization that he's been staring into the abyss for too long and can no longer see humanity past it. He leaves to wander the world for a while and restore his faith in humanity.
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* In ''Series/CriminalMinds'', the Nietzsche quote is used three, three times, once in the first episode, once in the hundredth episode,and once in the two hundredth, episode. It's referenced in the season four finale during the finale voiceover ("How many more times will [my team] be able to look into the abyss"). However, the BAU doesn't really fit this trope, and, in the hundredth episode, [[spoiler: it's pretty clear that Hotch did the right thing]]. However, Gideon's departure from the team is due to his fear and realization that he's been staring into the abyss for too long and can no longer see humanity past it. He leaves to wander the world for a while and restore his faith in humanity.
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* In ''Series/CriminalMinds'', the Nietzsche quote is used twice, once in the first episode, and once in the hundredth episode. It's referenced in the season four finale during the finale voiceover ("How many more times will [my team] be able to look into the abyss"). However, the BAU doesn't really fit this trope, and, in the hundredth episode, [[spoiler: it's pretty clear that Hotch did the right thing]]. However, Gideon's departure from the team is due to his fear and realization that he's been staring into the abyss for too long and can no longer see humanity past it. He leaves to wander the world for a while and restore his faith in humanity.
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* In ''Series/CriminalMinds'', the Nietzsche quote is used twice, three, once in the first episode, and once in the hundredth episode,and once in the two hundredth, episode. It's referenced in the season four finale during the finale voiceover ("How many more times will [my team] be able to look into the abyss"). However, the BAU doesn't really fit this trope, and, in the hundredth episode, [[spoiler: it's pretty clear that Hotch did the right thing]]. However, Gideon's departure from the team is due to his fear and realization that he's been staring into the abyss for too long and can no longer see humanity past it. He leaves to wander the world for a while and restore his faith in humanity.
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* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** In his youth, Robert Baratheon led a rebellion to depose the cruel and paranoid Mad King Aerys II, but as king he resorts to increasingly unsettling means to keep his own dynasty on the throne.
** Daenerys believes so firmly in SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil that she views any punishment she inflicts on the slave masters as justice.
** In his youth, Robert Baratheon led a rebellion to depose the cruel and paranoid Mad King Aerys II, but as king he resorts to increasingly unsettling means to keep his own dynasty on the throne.
** Daenerys believes so firmly in SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil that she views any punishment she inflicts on the slave masters as justice.
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* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'s'':
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* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'s'': ''Series/{{Dexter}}'':
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* In the ''Series/StarTrek'' episode "The Savage Curtain," The Excalbians notice that both the "good" team and the "evil" team used the same tactics. Kirk explained it was ''the reason'' that they fought, the Enterprise crew was threatened if the good team didn't fight while the bad team was offered "power" if they won.
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* ''CSINewYork'' had a soldier-wannabe who went off his meds and [[TheSchizophreniaConspiracy became paranoid]] that America "wasn't ready" for a terrorist attack. So what does he do? [[KnightTemplar He plants bombs and blows people up]], while playing CriminalMindGames with Mac and the cops.
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* ''CSINewYork'' ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' had a soldier-wannabe who went off his meds and [[TheSchizophreniaConspiracy became paranoid]] that America "wasn't ready" for a terrorist attack. So what does he do? [[KnightTemplar He plants bombs and blows people up]], while playing CriminalMindGames with Mac and the cops.
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* This happened to Jim Lahey in ''TrailerParkBoys''. He was driven to great depths of depravity in his effort to save his home from the villainous machinations of Ricky and Julian. Truly, those two criminals were the shit-abyss Lahey looked into and never quite got out of.
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* This happened to Jim Lahey in ''TrailerParkBoys''.''Series/TrailerParkBoys''. He was driven to great depths of depravity in his effort to save his home from the villainous machinations of Ricky and Julian. Truly, those two criminals were the shit-abyss Lahey looked into and never quite got out of.
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** Not even taking into account [[spoiler:Dean]] over his season 9-10 story arc, with the season 9 finale taking a rather literal interpretation of this trope.
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* One season 9 episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' had a serial killer found dead in the same manner as his victims. [[spoiler:Turned out, it was the lead investigator who killed him, because her mentor committed suicide from the stress of trying to catch him. However, it meant that she inadvertently killed his last victim, who had been abducted but not killed yet. When Olivia takes her back to her apartment to get the gun, she tearfully quotes the page title word for word before blowing her brains out.]]
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* One season 9 episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' had a serial killer found dead in the same manner as his victims. [[spoiler:Turned out, it was the lead investigator who killed him, because her mentor committed suicide from the stress of trying to catch him. However, it meant that she inadvertently killed his last victim, who had been abducted but not killed yet. When Olivia takes her back to her apartment to get the gun, she tearfully quotes the page title word for word before blowing her brains out. However, she herself was actually a subversion -- her only victim was an unrepentant psychopath; it was heavily implied that, had he been caught, he would've misled the cops and caused them be too late to save his last victim anyway just ForTheEvulz; and, given the time frame, her torture-caused gangrene was most likely too severe to be survivable anyway. Even the guy's own mother felt that the investigator did more good than harm.]]
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* In ''Series/{{Community}}'', this happens to [[SoapboxSadie Britta]], [[BewareTheNiceOnes Shirley]], and [[TheCutie Annie]] when they use [[AmbiguousDisorder Abed's]] BrutalHonesty to take down a number of [[AlphaBitch Alpha Bitches]] who humiliate other women. They end up indiscriminately pointing out the flaws of everyone, until it reaches the point [[MetaGuy Abed]] invokes HoistByHisOwnPetard by giving the former {{Alpha Bitches}} the perfect insults to use on them.
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* In ''Series/{{Community}}'', this happens to [[SoapboxSadie Britta]], [[BewareTheNiceOnes Shirley]], and [[TheCutie Annie]] when they use [[AmbiguousDisorder Abed's]] BrutalHonesty to take down a number of [[AlphaBitch Alpha Bitches]] who humiliate other women. They end up indiscriminately pointing out the flaws of everyone, until it reaches the point [[MetaGuy Abed]] invokes HoistByHisOwnPetard by giving the former {{Alpha Bitches}} Bitch}}es the perfect insults to use on them.
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* In ''Series/{{Community}}'', this happens to [[SoapboxSadie Britta]], [[BewareTheNiceOnes Shirley]], and [[TheCutie Annie]] when they use [[AmbiguousDisorder Abed's]] BrutalHonesty took down a number of [[AlphaBitch Alpha Bitches]] who humiliate other women. They ends up indiscriminately pointing out the flaws of everyone, until it reaches the point [[MetaGuy Abed]] invokes HoistByHisOwnPetard by giving the former AlphaBitch the perfect insults to use on him.
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* In ''Series/{{Community}}'', this happens to [[SoapboxSadie Britta]], [[BewareTheNiceOnes Shirley]], and [[TheCutie Annie]] when they use [[AmbiguousDisorder Abed's]] BrutalHonesty took to take down a number of [[AlphaBitch Alpha Bitches]] who humiliate other women. They ends end up indiscriminately pointing out the flaws of everyone, until it reaches the point [[MetaGuy Abed]] invokes HoistByHisOwnPetard by giving the former AlphaBitch {{Alpha Bitches}} the perfect insults to use on him.them.
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* In ''Series/{{Community}}'', this happens to [[SoapboxSadie Britta]], [[BewareTheNiceOnes Shirley]], and [[TheCutie Annie]] when they use [[AmbiguousDisorder Abed's]] BrutalHonesty took down a number of [[AlphaBitch Alpha Bitches]] who humiliate other women. They ends up indiscriminately pointing out the flaws of everyone, until it reaches the point [[MetaGuy Abe]] invokes HoistByHisOwnPetard by giving the former AlphaBitch the perfect insults to use on him.
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* In ''Series/{{Community}}'', this happens to [[SoapboxSadie Britta]], [[BewareTheNiceOnes Shirley]], and [[TheCutie Annie]] when they use [[AmbiguousDisorder Abed's]] BrutalHonesty took down a number of [[AlphaBitch Alpha Bitches]] who humiliate other women. They ends up indiscriminately pointing out the flaws of everyone, until it reaches the point [[MetaGuy Abe]] Abed]] invokes HoistByHisOwnPetard by giving the former AlphaBitch the perfect insults to use on him.
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* In ''Series/{{Community}}'', this happens to Abed when he is taking down a number of [[AlphaBitch Alpha Bitches]] who humiliate other women. He ends up indiscriminately pointing out the flaws of everyone.
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* In ''Series/{{Community}}'', this happens to Abed [[SoapboxSadie Britta]], [[BewareTheNiceOnes Shirley]], and [[TheCutie Annie]] when he is taking they use [[AmbiguousDisorder Abed's]] BrutalHonesty took down a number of [[AlphaBitch Alpha Bitches]] who humiliate other women. He They ends up indiscriminately pointing out the flaws of everyone.everyone, until it reaches the point [[MetaGuy Abe]] invokes HoistByHisOwnPetard by giving the former AlphaBitch the perfect insults to use on him.
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* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The TechnicalPacifist Doctor has killed ''very many'' Cybermen and Daleks. He has annihilated various monsters of the week and entire fleets of enemy spacecraft, as well as, presumably, his own people. The Doctor seems to swing back and forth on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism quite frequently. In one case, he was attacked by creatures who wanted to steal his immortality. [[AndIMustScream They got their immortality all right]]. Getting the Doctor personally angry is, in his own words, "not a good place to stand."
** As Donna says in [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]], "I think sometimes you need somebody to stop you." -- since he became the LastOfHisKind, the influence of a [[MoralityPet companion]] ideally should serve to keep him from [[MoralEventHorizon becoming too monstrous]].
** In the Tenth Doctor's final TV appearance, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], they go into detail about what was going on at the end of the time war. [[spoiler:After both sides had done too much messing around with [[NegativeSpaceWedgie space wedgies]] and [[TemporalParadox paradoxes]], the [[TimeyWimeyBall fabric of time]] was irreparably damaged (though in a localized area). Countless Daleks and Time Lords alike were being slaughtered over and over again in endless time loops and Gallifrey itself had basically turned into hell. When the Doctor ended the war, he sealed off the area the war encompassed in a time bubble, preventing it from extending further throughout the universe.]] If the Doctor hadn't ended it the way he did, [[spoiler:the Time Lord leadership would have destroyed all of reality because they (and they alone) would be able to survive outside of time as [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence beings of pure energy and information]]]].
** The TechnicalPacifist Doctor has killed ''very many'' Cybermen and Daleks. He has annihilated various monsters of the week and entire fleets of enemy spacecraft, as well as, presumably, his own people. The Doctor seems to swing back and forth on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism quite frequently. In one case, he was attacked by creatures who wanted to steal his immortality. [[AndIMustScream They got their immortality all right]]. Getting the Doctor personally angry is, in his own words, "not a good place to stand."
** As Donna says in [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]], "I think sometimes you need somebody to stop you." -- since he became the LastOfHisKind, the influence of a [[MoralityPet companion]] ideally should serve to keep him from [[MoralEventHorizon becoming too monstrous]].
** In the Tenth Doctor's final TV appearance, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], they go into detail about what was going on at the end of the time war. [[spoiler:After both sides had done too much messing around with [[NegativeSpaceWedgie space wedgies]] and [[TemporalParadox paradoxes]], the [[TimeyWimeyBall fabric of time]] was irreparably damaged (though in a localized area). Countless Daleks and Time Lords alike were being slaughtered over and over again in endless time loops and Gallifrey itself had basically turned into hell. When the Doctor ended the war, he sealed off the area the war encompassed in a time bubble, preventing it from extending further throughout the universe.]] If the Doctor hadn't ended it the way he did, [[spoiler:the Time Lord leadership would have destroyed all of reality because they (and they alone) would be able to survive outside of time as [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence beings of pure energy and information]]]].
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* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
**''Series/DoctorWho'': The TechnicalPacifist Doctor has killed ''very many'' Cybermen and Daleks. He has annihilated various monsters of the week and entire fleets of enemy spacecraft, as well as, presumably, his own people. The Doctor seems to swing back and forth on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism quite frequently. In one case, he was attacked by creatures who wanted to steal his immortality. [[AndIMustScream They got their immortality all right]]. Getting the Doctor personally angry is, in his own words, "not a good place to stand."
" This theme is frequently explored in the revival series, though it turned up in the classic series as well.
**As Season 18 of the original series was presided over by a script editor with the pet idea that the Doctor (the Fourth at the time) was 'a [[HorrifyingHero monster that]] [[CreepyGood fights monsters]]', so every story in it indulges in this theme - some in greater detail than others. For instance, the backstory to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warriors Gate"]] is that when the Tharils' slaves overthrew their masters, they crushed them under their own heels.
** Well illustrated in the Ninth Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek "Dalek"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just die?\\
'''Dalek:''' [[AC:You would make a good Dalek.]]
** Donna says in [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]], after the Tenth Doctor destroys the Racnoss, "I think sometimes you need somebody to stop you." -- since he became the LastOfHisKind, the influence of a [[MoralityPet companion]] ideally should serve to keep him from [[MoralEventHorizon becoming toomonstrous]].
** In the Tenth Doctor's final TV appearance, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], they go into detail about what was going on at the end of the time war. [[spoiler:After both sides had done too much messing around with [[NegativeSpaceWedgie space wedgies]] and [[TemporalParadox paradoxes]], the [[TimeyWimeyBall fabric of time]] was irreparably damaged (though in a localized area). Countless Daleks and Time Lords alike were being slaughtered over and over again in endless time loops and Gallifrey itself had basically turned into hell. When the Doctor ended the war, he sealed off the area the war encompassed in a time bubble, preventing it from extending further throughout the universe.]] If the Doctor hadn't ended it the way he did, [[spoiler:the Time Lord leadership would have destroyed all of reality because they (and they alone) would be able to survive outside of time as [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence beings of pure energy and information]]]].monstrous]].
**
**
** Well illustrated in the Ninth Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek "Dalek"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just die?\\
'''Dalek:''' [[AC:You would make a good Dalek.]]
** Donna says in [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]], after the Tenth Doctor destroys the Racnoss, "I think sometimes you need somebody to stop you." -- since he became the LastOfHisKind, the influence of a [[MoralityPet companion]] ideally should serve to keep him from [[MoralEventHorizon becoming too
** In the Tenth Doctor's final TV appearance, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], they go into detail about what was going on at the end of the time war. [[spoiler:After both sides had done too much messing around with [[NegativeSpaceWedgie space wedgies]] and [[TemporalParadox paradoxes]], the [[TimeyWimeyBall fabric of time]] was irreparably damaged (though in a localized area). Countless Daleks and Time Lords alike were being slaughtered over and over again in endless time loops and Gallifrey itself had basically turned into hell. When the Doctor ended the war, he sealed off the area the war encompassed in a time bubble, preventing it from extending further throughout the universe.]] If the Doctor hadn't ended it the way he did, [[spoiler:the Time Lord leadership would have destroyed all of reality because they (and they alone) would be able to survive outside of time as [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence beings of pure energy and information]]]].
Changed line(s) 25 (click to see context) from:
** In the episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], the [[spoiler:the thing imprisoned in the Pandorica, the nameless, fearless, bloodthirsty monster so terrifying and destructive that it has become renowned as a dark fairytale, turns out to be the Doctor himself.]] To call the two-word reveal a WhamLine for the Doctor is an understatement. He seems more shaken at the idea of ''being'' [[spoiler:the thing in the Pandorica]] than at the fact that he's getting [[spoiler:locked inside.]]
to:
** In the Tenth Doctor's final TV appearance as a regular, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], they go into detail about what was going on at the end of the Time War. [[spoiler:After both sides had done too much messing around with [[NegativeSpaceWedgie space wedgies]] and [[TemporalParadox paradoxes]], the [[TimeyWimeyBall fabric of time]] was irreparably damaged (though in a localized area). Countless Daleks and Time Lords alike were being slaughtered over and over again in endless time loops and Gallifrey itself had basically turned into hell. When the Doctor ended the war, he sealed off the area the war encompassed in a time bubble, preventing it from extending further throughout the universe.]] If the Doctor hadn't ended it the way he did, [[spoiler:the Time Lord leadership would have destroyed all of reality because they (and they alone) would be able to survive outside of time as [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence beings of pure energy and information]]]].
** In the Eleventh Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], the [[spoiler:the thing imprisoned in the Pandorica, the nameless, fearless, bloodthirsty monster so terrifying and destructive that it has become renowned as a dark fairytale, turns out to be the Doctor himself.]] To call the two-word reveal a WhamLine for the Doctor is an understatement. He seems more shaken at the idea of ''being'' [[spoiler:the thing in the Pandorica]] than at the fact that he's getting [[spoiler:locked inside.]]
** In the Eleventh Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], the [[spoiler:the thing imprisoned in the Pandorica, the nameless, fearless, bloodthirsty monster so terrifying and destructive that it has become renowned as a dark fairytale, turns out to be the Doctor himself.]] To call the two-word reveal a WhamLine for the Doctor is an understatement. He seems more shaken at the idea of ''being'' [[spoiler:the thing in the Pandorica]] than at the fact that he's getting [[spoiler:locked inside.]]
Changed line(s) 28,35 (click to see context) from:
** Well illustrated in the Ninth Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek "Dalek"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just die?\\
'''Dalek:''' [[AC:You would make a good Dalek.]]
** The ''less'' dark Eleventh Doctor has had to face this, and we got some good insight into his more anti-hero-y moments. Cyborg dude persecutes town to get at a guy. Cyborg proves to have a point when it comes to that guy. The Doctor is ready to hand him right over, and Amy is the one to say WhatTheHellHero. It turns out that it's less that the Doctor thinks he ''owns'' time and space because he's the last Time Lord; he feels he's the only one to protect it, and that he may as well have pulled the trigger on everyone ever hurt by those he ''didn't'' take down, like the Daleks, Master, etc. He walks a very fine line between getting the job done [[IDidWhatIHadToDo even if it means getting dirty]], and becoming a KnightTemplar. It really puts the times the Tenth Doctor made you ask "isn't he supposed to be the good guy?" in new light.
** The backstory to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warriors Gate"]] is that when the Tharils' slaves overthrew their masters, they crushed them under their own heels.
** The Rutans from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E1HorrorOfFangRock "Horror of Fang Rock"]] may be this in their long war with the Sontarans.
** Season 18 was precided over by a script editor with the pet idea that the Doctor was 'a [[HorrifyingHero monster that]] [[CreepyGood fights monsters]]', so every story in it indulges in this theme - some in greater detail than others.
** In the ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan comic "The Swords of Kali", the Twelfth Doctor quotes the trope namer to warn Rani Jhulka about the dangers of seeking revenge...and then adds "In "The Swords of Kali", the Doctor brings up the trope-naming quote to warn Rani about seeking revenge...and then says "Should '''never''' have given that quote away. Could've dined out on it all across the universe."
--->'''The Doctor:''' The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just die?\\
'''Dalek:''' [[AC:You would make a good Dalek.]]
** The ''less'' dark Eleventh Doctor has had to face this, and we got some good insight into his more anti-hero-y moments. Cyborg dude persecutes town to get at a guy. Cyborg proves to have a point when it comes to that guy. The Doctor is ready to hand him right over, and Amy is the one to say WhatTheHellHero. It turns out that it's less that the Doctor thinks he ''owns'' time and space because he's the last Time Lord; he feels he's the only one to protect it, and that he may as well have pulled the trigger on everyone ever hurt by those he ''didn't'' take down, like the Daleks, Master, etc. He walks a very fine line between getting the job done [[IDidWhatIHadToDo even if it means getting dirty]], and becoming a KnightTemplar. It really puts the times the Tenth Doctor made you ask "isn't he supposed to be the good guy?" in new light.
** The backstory to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warriors Gate"]] is that when the Tharils' slaves overthrew their masters, they crushed them under their own heels.
** The Rutans from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E1HorrorOfFangRock "Horror of Fang Rock"]] may be this in their long war with the Sontarans.
** Season 18 was precided over by a script editor with the pet idea that the Doctor was 'a [[HorrifyingHero monster that]] [[CreepyGood fights monsters]]', so every story in it indulges in this theme - some in greater detail than others.
** In the ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan comic "The Swords of Kali", the Twelfth Doctor quotes the trope namer to warn Rani Jhulka about the dangers of seeking revenge...and then adds "In "The Swords of Kali", the Doctor brings up the trope-naming quote to warn Rani about seeking revenge...and then says "Should '''never''' have given that quote away. Could've dined out on it all across the universe."
to:
** Well illustrated in As one can tell, the Ninth Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek "Dalek"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just die?\\
'''Dalek:''' [[AC:You would make a good Dalek.]]
** The''less'' dark Eleventh Doctor has frequently had to face this, and we got some good insight into his more anti-hero-y moments. Cyborg dude persecutes town to get at a guy. Cyborg proves to have a point when it comes to that guy. The Doctor is ready to hand him right over, and Amy is the one to say WhatTheHellHero. It turns out that it's less that the Doctor thinks he ''owns'' time and space because he's the last Time Lord; he feels he's the only one to protect it, and that he may as well have pulled the trigger on everyone ever hurt by those he ''didn't'' take down, like the Daleks, Master, etc. He walks a very fine line between getting the job done [[IDidWhatIHadToDo even if it means getting dirty]], and becoming a KnightTemplar. It really puts the times the Tenth Doctor made you ask "isn't he supposed to be the good guy?" in new light.
** This is part of the Twelfth Doctor's Series 8 character arc: He's unsure whether he's "a good man" because of all he does for the sake of saving the day. In "Into the Dalek" a malfunctioning, dying Dalek has switched sides, but when it's repaired, it returns to its old ways. Thebackstory Doctor [[spoiler: melds his mind with "Rusty" to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warriors Gate"]] show it the beauty of life...but it sees how much the Doctor hates the Daleks. That hatred is so strong and, to a Dalek, beautiful that when it once more is willing to destroy its own kind. Rusty even claims that the Tharils' slaves overthrew their masters, they crushed them under their own heels.
Doctor is the truly "good Dalek" in this situation, calling back to the Ninth Doctor's similar encounter]].
**The For a non-Doctor example, the Rutans from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E1HorrorOfFangRock "Horror of Fang Rock"]] may be this in their long war with the Sontarans.
**Season 18 was precided over by Here's a script editor with the pet idea that the Doctor was 'a [[HorrifyingHero monster that]] [[CreepyGood fights monsters]]', so every story in it indulges in this theme - some in greater detail than others.
**capper: In the ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan comic "The Swords of Kali", the Twelfth Doctor quotes paraphrases the trope namer trope-naming quote to warn Rani Jhulka about the dangers of seeking revenge...and then adds "In "The Swords of Kali", the Doctor brings up the trope-naming quote to warn Rani about seeking revenge...and then says "Should '''never''' have given that quote away.away [to Nietzsche]. Could've dined out on it all across the universe." "
--->'''The Doctor:''' The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just die?\\
'''Dalek:''' [[AC:You would make a good Dalek.]]
** The
** This is part of the Twelfth Doctor's Series 8 character arc: He's unsure whether he's "a good man" because of all he does for the sake of saving the day. In "Into the Dalek" a malfunctioning, dying Dalek has switched sides, but when it's repaired, it returns to its old ways. The
**
**
**
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** In the ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan comic "The Swords of Kali", the Twelfth Doctor quotes the trope namer to warn Rani Jhulka about the dangers of seeking revenge...and then adds "In "The Swords of Kali", the Doctor brings up the trope-naming quote to warn Rani about seeking revenge...and then says "Should '''never''' have given that quote away. Could've dined out on it all across the universe."
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* The re-imagined ''{{Series/Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' saw the Resistance on New Caprica using suicide bombers against the Cylon occupation force. Colonel Tigh gives us this quote. He's being partly sarcastic, though.
to:
* The re-imagined ''{{Series/Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' Galactica|2003}}'' saw the Resistance on New Caprica using suicide bombers against the Cylon occupation force. Colonel Tigh gives us this quote. He's being partly sarcastic, though.
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* Most of the Argent family from ''Series/TeenWolf''. Their role seem to be keeping supernatural creatures in line, but can be just as cruel as the werewolves. Chris Argent is more of a KnightTemplar, but has no qualms about threatening sixteen-year-olds. Victoria is fine with torturing ordinary humans that do not even know werewolves exist just to create job vacancies for Hunters. Kate and Gerald were each an outright psychopathic ManipulativeBastard.
* Eben from ''Series/TheSecretCircle'' seems to have become this from fighting John Blackwell.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'', episode "Grotesque":
** It featured [[TheProfiler an FBI agent who became so obsessed with "getting into the head" of a serial killer that he was chasing]] that he soon turned evil and began murdering people in a manner similar to that used by the serial killer. Well either that, [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane or he was possessed by the same demon that made the other man a serial killer]]. This was Mulder's former boss, and Mulder wound up having to stop him. He ended up being a BrokenPedestal for Mulder and other agents.
** When Mulder was working on this case, he was sinking into the darkness as well, because he also needed to get into the killer's head. Both Scully (his partner) and Skinner (his current boss) were extremely worried. Ultimately, Mulder subverts the trope - he was messed up, but he got better once the case was resolved.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** Dark Willow started out wanting revenge against Warren for what her did to her girlfriend, Tara, then moved onto his friends because they were nerds too, and soon escalated into CardCarryingVillain territory, until she eventually [[OmnicidalManiac tried to destroy the world]]. Willow was brought back from the abyss by [[ThePowerOfLove Xander]].
** The whole concept of a "Slayer" is based on this. A Slayer is supposed to fight demons, but her powers are demonic in nature. She is not expected to be nice to those whom she runs into in life and her life is short, nasty, and brutish. Several episodes (the one involving the First Slayer and an alternate universe version of Buffy, among others) deal with this.
** Faith's character arc embodies this, presenting her as a [[EvilCounterpart dark mirror]] to Buffy. Faith is shown to not only slay demons, but to enjoy it 'a little too much' and she is very brutal about it. This was partly because her Watcher was murdered by a demon, but also because she resented anyone having power over her.
** The Season 3 episode "Gingerbread" begins with Buffy's mom finding two young children after what looks like a magical rite. She responds by organizing the other parents in Sunnydale into an organization to go after witches (and Slayers.) The episode ends with them all trying to burn ''their own children'' at the stake.
** This literally happened to Forrest.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
** Holtz is so obsessed with obtaining "justice" against Angelus that he followed him into the future, disregarded all the myriad evidence of Angel's reformation, and did all he can to make Angel suffer psychologically. Although, at the end, he seems to make a comeback when he mentions that love has overcome hate. This turns out to be a ruse; he even uses his own death as further fuel to get Connor to take his revenge for him.
** Angel himself goes pretty far into this territory in season 2, and he seems to do it deliberately, re-shaping himself into someone willing to use evil methods to wipe out evil.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The TechnicalPacifist Doctor has killed ''very many'' Cybermen and Daleks. He has annihilated various monsters of the week and entire fleets of enemy spacecraft, as well as, presumably, his own people. The Doctor seems to swing back and forth on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism quite frequently. In one case, he was attacked by creatures who wanted to steal his immortality. [[AndIMustScream They got their immortality all right]]. Getting the Doctor personally angry is, in his own words, "not a good place to stand."
** As Donna says in [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]], "I think sometimes you need somebody to stop you." -- since he became the LastOfHisKind, the influence of a [[MoralityPet companion]] ideally should serve to keep him from [[MoralEventHorizon becoming too monstrous]].
** In the Tenth Doctor's final TV appearance, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], they go into detail about what was going on at the end of the time war. [[spoiler:After both sides had done too much messing around with [[NegativeSpaceWedgie space wedgies]] and [[TemporalParadox paradoxes]], the [[TimeyWimeyBall fabric of time]] was irreparably damaged (though in a localized area). Countless Daleks and Time Lords alike were being slaughtered over and over again in endless time loops and Gallifrey itself had basically turned into hell. When the Doctor ended the war, he sealed off the area the war encompassed in a time bubble, preventing it from extending further throughout the universe.]] If the Doctor hadn't ended it the way he did, [[spoiler:the Time Lord leadership would have destroyed all of reality because they (and they alone) would be able to survive outside of time as [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence beings of pure energy and information]]]].
** And then there's the Tenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars "The Waters of Mars"]]:
-->[[spoiler:'''The Doctor:''' Do you know who that leaves? ME!! It's taken me all these years to realize it, [[AGodAmI but all those laws of time are mine.]] And they will obey ME!]]
** In the episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], the [[spoiler:the thing imprisoned in the Pandorica, the nameless, fearless, bloodthirsty monster so terrifying and destructive that it has become renowned as a dark fairytale, turns out to be the Doctor himself.]] To call the two-word reveal a WhamLine for the Doctor is an understatement. He seems more shaken at the idea of ''being'' [[spoiler:the thing in the Pandorica]] than at the fact that he's getting [[spoiler:locked inside.]]
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes To War"]], he's told even more explicitly that he's turning into this, not just that people see him as TheDreaded. He even admits it himself:
--->'''The Doctor:''' Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many of them.
** Well illustrated in the Ninth Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek "Dalek"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just die?\\
'''Dalek:''' [[AC:You would make a good Dalek.]]
** The ''less'' dark Eleventh Doctor has had to face this, and we got some good insight into his more anti-hero-y moments. Cyborg dude persecutes town to get at a guy. Cyborg proves to have a point when it comes to that guy. The Doctor is ready to hand him right over, and Amy is the one to say WhatTheHellHero. It turns out that it's less that the Doctor thinks he ''owns'' time and space because he's the last Time Lord; he feels he's the only one to protect it, and that he may as well have pulled the trigger on everyone ever hurt by those he ''didn't'' take down, like the Daleks, Master, etc. He walks a very fine line between getting the job done [[IDidWhatIHadToDo even if it means getting dirty]], and becoming a KnightTemplar. It really puts the times the Tenth Doctor made you ask "isn't he supposed to be the good guy?" in new light.
** The backstory to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warriors Gate"]] is that when the Tharils' slaves overthrew their masters, they crushed them under their own heels.
** The Rutans from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E1HorrorOfFangRock "Horror of Fang Rock"]] may be this in their long war with the Sontarans.
** Season 18 was precided over by a script editor with the pet idea that the Doctor was 'a [[HorrifyingHero monster that]] [[CreepyGood fights monsters]]', so every story in it indulges in this theme - some in greater detail than others.
* Happens in the episode of the ''Series/TwilightZone'' "The Mirror". In this episode, a rebel overthrows a dictator in a banana republic. However, the dethroned dictator says the rebel will learn the consequences of ruling by force (i.e. killing people to maintain power). The new ruler becomes more and more paranoid, using more and more vicious measures to maintain his rule, proving he indeed became just like the dictator he deposed.
* ''Everyone'' in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' has this problem ''all'' the time. It's not just the contact-with-evil, that is, the 'Monsters' part; it's also the 'Hunts' part, the ''violence'' inherent in the lifestyle. Most (if not all) hunters are this, being pushed into hunting after having a loved one murdered by one of the monsters, which leads many to be obsessed with revenge.
** Gordon Walker is the purest example, becoming worse than the monsters he hunts taking them out. For a series that can succumb to the temptation of explicitly spelling out character psychology as frequently as ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' (how many times has someone told Dean that he lacks self-esteem, is afraid of being alone, is dead inside, yadda yadda yadda), Gordon was thankfully handled with restraint. In his three individual episodes, he comes off as just a sadistic bastard, but put them together and the story is all there: his family blamed him for letting his sister disappear (they wouldn't believe that she had been vamped), and he [[StakingTheLovedOne hunted her down and killed her]], refusing to admit that it was out of anger instead of necessity. But inside, he is so guilt-ridden that he is desperate for everyone to see the world in terms of black-and-white (which would justify his actions), with Gordon on the side of the good guys (thus his creepy obsession with getting Dean's approval).
** All the Winchesters have been like this (mixed in with that good old DeathSeeker attitude) at some point. John was this way about everything related to Mary's death.
** Dean was like this this after John died and he had that big-secret-that-totally-wasn't weighing on his shoulders, and has had such moments of ruthlessness every time his family leaves him or lets him down or he's really freaking out about his brother. Such as when he encounters Gordon in season two after his father dies; when he so loses faith in his brother that he agrees to the angels' plan in season five even though it will destroy most of the world; and in season seven when he [[spoiler:kills Amy Pond ([[Series/DoctorWho not that one]]) because he can't trust a monster not to kill again, complete with a [[Film/KillBill Beatrix Kiddo]] moment with the woman's son afterward.]]
** Sam was this after Dean died in ''Mystery Spot'' and the season three finale. While he thinks killing Lilith is the only way to prevent the Apocalypse and feeding [[PsychoSerum demon-blood]]-fueled powers also lets him save the hosts when exorcising demons, his obsession with gaining the power to kill Lilith [[spoiler:leads him to break the final seal, releasing Lucifer from Hell]].
** Future Dean in "The End" (5x04). After losing his brother and failing to stop the apocalypse, he becomes heartless and unsympathetic, willing to sacrifice all of his loyal friends for a chance to kill Lucifer.
** In seasons 6 and 7, [[spoiler:re-angelified Castiel]] has taken a particularly nasty route to this, starting with a DealWithTheDevil, moving on to murder and betrayal, and then JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope with murder and MindRape of friends even ''before'' diving into WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity.
* Eric van Helsing from ''YoungDracula'' is a comedic version of this.
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'s'':
** The title character, a VillainProtagonist, inverts this, as his fight makes him ''less'' of a monster than he would be otherwise. He's more a combination of EvilVersusEvil and EvenEvilHasStandards.
** [[spoiler: ADA Miguel Prado]], however, falls into this after his brother is killed, leading him to find out Dexter's secret and learn his methods, leading him to [[spoiler: [[MoralEventHorizon kill defense attorney Ellen Wolf]],]] and [[spoiler: attempting to murder [=LaGuerta=], before Dexter kills him off.]]
* A mayor plot point in both seasons of Argentinian HBO crime series ''Epitafios'', appearing in season 1 [[spoiler: with Renzo, who murders Costas in cold-blood after his murder spree (including Laura)]] and in season 2 it comes back with a vengeance with [[spoiler: both Marina and Renzo, the former shooting her brother's murderer and the later [[MoralEventHorizon burying the main villain of the season... ''alive'']]]].
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'':
** HRG. While much of what he does is for Claire, working to capture the monsters in Level 5 shaped him into the unscrupulous operative he is today
** Peter is also headed down this path in Season 3 of ''Heroes'', when [[spoiler: taking Sylar's power in order to save the world caused him to also gain Sylar's hunger]].
* One season 9 episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' had a serial killer found dead in the same manner as his victims. [[spoiler:Turned out, it was the lead investigator who killed him, because her mentor committed suicide from the stress of trying to catch him. However, it meant that she inadvertently killed his last victim, who had been abducted but not killed yet. When Olivia takes her back to her apartment to get the gun, she tearfully quotes the page title word for word before blowing her brains out.]]
%%* ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Law and Order: SVU]]'''s Chester Lake.
* This was the origin of the title character in ''XenaWarriorPrincess''. Xena first raised an army to protect her village from a warlord, but her brother was killed in the process. She proceeded to actively seek out possible enemies of Amphipolis and destroy them; it was not until her first encounter with Caesar that she abandoned this as an excuse.
* ''CSINewYork'' had a soldier-wannabe who went off his meds and [[TheSchizophreniaConspiracy became paranoid]] that America "wasn't ready" for a terrorist attack. So what does he do? [[KnightTemplar He plants bombs and blows people up]], while playing CriminalMindGames with Mac and the cops.
* ''Series/TwentyFour'':
** In season seven, [[spoiler: Tony]] displays this trope. To the point where he actively kills innocent people, and the FBI agents trying to find him, all so he can have revenge.
** [[spoiler: Jack Bauer]] takes this trope UpToEleven in the second half of the eighth season, when he gets his hands on a murderer. [[spoiler: Jack eventually backs down when he realizes what the consequences (to innocent people) will be if carries out his revenge]].
* The re-imagined ''{{Series/Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' saw the Resistance on New Caprica using suicide bombers against the Cylon occupation force. Colonel Tigh gives us this quote. He's being partly sarcastic, though.
-->"Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We're evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go. I'm surprised you didn't know that."
* A patient, Curtis Ames, from ''Series/{{ER}}'', was a good man who crumbled under the loss of his right arm, the divorce of his wife, his children calling another man "dad", and losing his job. He sought to [[RevengeByProxy get even with Kovac]], who had treated him.
* ''Series/DarkShadows'' has Reverend Trask, a self-styled witch hunter who had undoubtedly killed many innocent women. As a ghost, he's finally talked into a HeelFaceTurn thanks to the opportunity to finally destroy a real witch.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': considering who the series's ultimate BigBad is, this can be inferred as the reason for much of the Others's villainous behavior.
** Ben Linus especially. He only kills those he sees as trying to hurt the island, dedicating pretty much his entire life to protecting it for Jacob. To quote him: "When I'm at war, I'll do what I need to do to win, but I will not kill innocent people."
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'':
** Eli David, Ziva's father, is pretty obviously this. He crossed the MoralEventHorizon, and it is obvious that he does so because of his determination to protect his people against vicious enemies.
** Jenny Shepherd is this about Rene Benoit.
* In ''Series/CriminalMinds'', the Nietzsche quote is used twice, once in the first episode, and once in the hundredth episode. It's referenced in the season four finale during the finale voiceover ("How many more times will [my team] be able to look into the abyss"). However, the BAU doesn't really fit this trope, and, in the hundredth episode, [[spoiler: it's pretty clear that Hotch did the right thing]]. However, Gideon's departure from the team is due to his fear and realization that he's been staring into the abyss for too long and can no longer see humanity past it. He leaves to wander the world for a while and restore his faith in humanity.
** Interestingly enough, Gideon's reason for departing from the BAU was actually Creator/MandyPatinkin's given reason for leaving the show. When asked about it, he said that the longer he was on the show, the more and more cynical and depressed its subject made him, and he felt he had to get the hell out before it wrecked him.
* ''Series/TheMentalist'':
** Patrick Jane is so much this when it comes to Red John. The show even goes so far as to hang a lampshade on it in the season 3 episode "Red Moon:"
--->'''Jane:''' I have spent enough time with that creep. Staring into the abyss--you know, it's not healthy.
** The only real difference between the way the two use people is that Red John's manipulations end in murder, whereas Jane's tend to end in arrests...but also frequently destroyed relationships, families, and psyches.
* In ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'', [[spoiler:Harry Woolf]] spends much of his career as a copper watching his nemesis become rich through illegal means while he only gets a comparatively paltry wage. To make up for this, [[spoiler:he has banks robbed and blames the crimes on his enemies, has one of the underlings of his nemesis murdered, and betrays his protégé, Gene Hunt.]]
* This happened to Jim Lahey in ''TrailerParkBoys''. He was driven to great depths of depravity in his effort to save his home from the villainous machinations of Ricky and Julian. Truly, those two criminals were the shit-abyss Lahey looked into and never quite got out of.
* ''Series/VeronicaMars'' implies that Keith and Veronica's career choices are starting to take their toll on the characters's well being and sense of morality.
* In ''Series/{{Community}}'', this happens to Abed when he is taking down a number of [[AlphaBitch Alpha Bitches]] who humiliate other women. He ends up indiscriminately pointing out the flaws of everyone.
* Antonia of ''Series/TrueBlood'' was a witch who was raped and murdered by vampires in the middle ages. When she comes back as a spirit, the next logical step is to attempt genocide against the entire vampire race, attacking and imprisoning everyone that stands in her way.
* ''Series/{{Merlin}}'':
** King Uther. He lashes out at the death of Ygraine due to the magic used to conceive Arthur, and launches into the Great Purge, killing everyone in Camelot even suspected of using magic, and forever banning magic in the kingdom. Except he invented most of the 'monsters' in his grief.
** Merlin himself. During the course of the series, he has constantly lied to hide his magic, committed countless murders and on one occasion betrayal, and can be just as ruthless as his arch-nemesis Morgana. If not for his loyalty to Arthur, he could go to the very deep end.
** Likewise, Morgana started off as a heroine in series 1-2, someone who would defy the king to help, for example, Merlin's village fight off the bandits attacking it, or demand of Arthur that he save Gwen, a mere servant in Uther's eyes. As time goes on, and [[spoiler:she develops magical powers, and Uther kills others who she knows who he suspected of sorcery (notably Gwen's father and the druids who take her in),]] her attitude to Uther becomes more and more poisoned, until [[spoiler:she attempts to kill him twice. The first time, in a subversion to the trope, she performs a HeelFaceTurn when she sees that he is truly sorry for what he has done. On the second occasion, after Uther has continued as he was, she becomes fully committed to killing him]], and by the end of her training with Morgause, she is willing to manipulate and kill anyone who stands in the way of her destroying Uther, and everyone related to him.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest:''
** Reese is a very self-aware version.
** His mentor Cara Stanton was even more aware of it, and even tells him such when he joins the CIA: "We don't walk in darkness, we ''are'' the darkness."
** FBI Special Agent Donnelly is an interesting example. Being a SympatheticInspectorAntagonist, he seems to be a generally capable, upstanding lawman who is chasing what he is sure to be a well-funded terrorist group (In reality, Team Machine). However, over the course of the series his methods become more and more extreme, to the point of labeling four men who, as far as he knows, could just be bankers as terrorists and holding them against their rights, and even going so far as to almost allow a possibly innocent man to be beaten to death by prison inmates (hoping he would reveal his combat training). Eventually, he stops trusting anyone and loses the respect of Carter. [[spoiler:Donnelly finally gets his man due to his Paranoia, but because he assumed the situation was less complicated than it was, he ended up dead for his trouble.]]
* ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'' gives us Col. Ray Butts, who apparently was born mean and became meaner from being a Marine lifer--he's racist against [[ArtificialHuman InVitros]], picks pointless fights with the Wildcards, antagonizes [=McQueen=] by taking the squad away from him for a mission he won't explain to anyone, and changes mission parameters mid-mission, again without any sort of explanation. It gets to the point where the squad briefly wonders if he might have killed his previous squad members when they fight a dead marine's body on the planet. [[spoiler: the squad was actually killed by chigs when they wanted to wait for reinforcements--causing Butts to leave them in disgust to do the mission on his own]]
* In ''[[Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand Spartacus War Of The Damned]]'': A number of the rebels are showing signs of this, as seen when they slaughter innocent civillians including children. Spartacus wants them to be better than the Romans, but is unable to keep them in line. Gannicus is aware of what they are becoming, but seems to have resigned himself to the inevitability of it.
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' gives us [[ComicBook/{{Huntress}} Helena Bertinelli]], who is initially shown as a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds type because her father killed her fiancee. Naturally, she wants revenge on her father. However, her plot involves [[MoralEventHorizon killing and maiming multiple innocent people.]] LikeFatherLikeSon at its worst.
** The Dark Archer's character arc is precisely this. It just happened long enough ago that he is virtually indistinguishable from a KnightTemplar.
** As expected from a character inspired by [[{{Franchise/Batman}} the epitome of avoidance of this trope]], the titular Arrow struggles with this in some form or another every season.
* The lead character of ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' -- who is not the eponymous Lecter but rather FBI [[TheProfiler profiler]] Will Graham -- is CursedWithAwesome[[AwesomenessByAnalysis ness By Analysis]]. He inspects the crime scenes of serial killers and reconstructs means, motive and pathology from them - almost literally reliving the crime as it was committed. Needless to say, what he finds in the minds of those killers is pure NightmareFuel, and basically every character in the cast cautions Graham's FBI superior and Will himself about the possibility of this trope. And then we add the fact that the eponymous Lecter is TheCorrupter, who has every reason to push Graham into that abyss...
* ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' The Dark Quickening is this. It's what happens when a good immortal takes in to much evil from the others they defeat and corrupts them.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' has this in spades:
** The first and most obvious example is the Narn. They used to be a peaceful and technologically primitive race before the Centauri conquered their planet and enslaved them. After decades of fight, the Narn managed to force the Centauri out... And promptly started using the technology they stole from the Centauri to conquer their neighbours while they prepared their revenge against the Centauri.
** [[{{Irony}} Ironically]], the Centauri themselves (whose RPG rulebook even starts with Nietzsche's trope-naming quote). Before first contact with the Xon, the other sentient race of their own homeworld, they were peaceful artists who had even rejected the very concept of war. Then a naval expedition reached the Xon lands, causing the Xon to find out about them and attack the Centauri, killing and enslaving many of them. By the end of the war, that also included a brief alien invasion from the Shroggen, no Xon was alive, and the Centauri were a fledgling empire ruled by a DeadlyDecadentCourt and bent on expansion to get even with the Shroggen and protect other races. With time, they forgot their motivation.
** The Minbari in general and their Warrior Caste in particular. After the last war against [[AbusivePrecursors the Shadows]] they spent a thousand years to prepare for the next, and just as it was coming [[PoorCommunicationKills a screwed-up first contact with Earth caused the death of their political and religious leader]], prompting them to start a genocidal war in spite of the humans trying to surrender multiple times. They stopped and surrendered right after destroying the last of Earth's military and a few minutes before actually enacting the genocide, thanks to [[spoiler: finding out evidence that Minbari souls are reincarnating in humans]], but, partly because the motivation was kept from the public, it takes a while for the Warrior Caste to stop behaving like everyone is beneath them (the first time we see a Minbari warship in the series, it repeats the same mistake that caused the war. Thankfully Delenn was there to explain that custom).
** The humans themselves. After the devastation of the [[HopelessWar Earth-Minbari War]], in which their allies abandoned them out of fear and the only help they received was weapons sold to them by the Narn, many humans, especially in the government, felt they had to do ''anything'' to prevent this from happening again, including [[spoiler: killing the president of Earth Alliance in a fake accident and [[DealWithTheDevil allying with the Shadows]]]].
** The episode "Infection" went into the history of the people of Ikarra 7, who were repeatedly invaded by aliens, and in a desperate attempt to throw off the invasion, built a dozen war machines to combat them. Unfortunately, the machines were programmed by religious fanatics who had a ''very'' narrow definition of "pure Ikarran" (the only people they would accept commands from--and ''no one'' met the definition), and the war machines destroyed ''everything''. As Sinclair put it to the last such machine:
--> '''Sinclair:''' You and the rest--you forgot the first rule of the fanatic: when you become obsessed with the enemy, you ''become the enemy''!
** In the episode "Dust to Dust", Ivanova ''almost'' uses the station's defense grid to shoot down recurring nemesis [[SmugSnake Bester]]'s fighter in what she would have [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident attempted to frame as an accident]]. Sheridan arrives in C&C in time to stop her, then admonishes her:
--> '''Sheridan:''' Fight them without ''becoming'' them.
* In the ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' episode "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road", Ellen eerily takes on many of the villain Moonface's mannerisms at the end. She gives [[spoiler:her dead husband]] the same treatment Moonface gave to his victims and kills [[spoiler:Moonface's insane captive Buddy]] to tie up all loose ends.
* In ''Series/{{Castle}}'', it's revealed that Detective Kate Beckett's mother was murdered as the result of a lengthy chain of events that resulted from a trio of cops who, cynical about the justice system's ability to effectively deal with the mob, eventually rogue in order to bring them down. In her efforts to expose the people behind her mother's death, it gradually becomes clear that Beckett is beginning to take on several similarities to these cops, including going rogue at times. [[spoiler: It's ultimately subverted; she ends up having an epiphany in which she realises she's in love with Castle, is throwing her life away on revenge and decides to step back and focus on building a life with him rather than spiral into self-destructive obsession.]]
* In the fifth season of ''Series/TheShield'', Jon Kavanaugh starts out as a well-meaning (if self-righteous) Internal Affairs officer investigating the corrupt Strike Team, especially [[VillainProtagonist Vic Mackey]]. But as the season progresses, Kavanaugh's quest to take Vic down becomes increasingly personal, desperate, and obsessive. In Season 6, Kavanaugh finally becomes a dirty cop himself, planting evidence and coercing false testimony against Vic, which leads to his own downfall. As Kavanaugh puts it in his final episode, "I framed a guilty man."
* In ''Series/TheEscapeArtist'', Will's position forces him to defend criminals who may well be horribly unpleasant sociopaths. [[spoiler:By the end, he ends up murdering Foyle and successfully getting ''himself'' out of a murder charge, although in a variation he's able to move on]].
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* Most of the Argent family from ''Series/TeenWolf''. Their role seem to be keeping supernatural creatures in line, but can be just as cruel as the werewolves. Chris Argent is more of a KnightTemplar, but has no qualms about threatening sixteen-year-olds. Victoria is fine with torturing ordinary humans that do not even know werewolves exist just to create job vacancies for Hunters. Kate and Gerald were each an outright psychopathic ManipulativeBastard.
* Eben from ''Series/TheSecretCircle'' seems to have become this from fighting John Blackwell.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'', episode "Grotesque":
** It featured [[TheProfiler an FBI agent who became so obsessed with "getting into the head" of a serial killer that he was chasing]] that he soon turned evil and began murdering people in a manner similar to that used by the serial killer. Well either that, [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane or he was possessed by the same demon that made the other man a serial killer]]. This was Mulder's former boss, and Mulder wound up having to stop him. He ended up being a BrokenPedestal for Mulder and other agents.
** When Mulder was working on this case, he was sinking into the darkness as well, because he also needed to get into the killer's head. Both Scully (his partner) and Skinner (his current boss) were extremely worried. Ultimately, Mulder subverts the trope - he was messed up, but he got better once the case was resolved.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** Dark Willow started out wanting revenge against Warren for what her did to her girlfriend, Tara, then moved onto his friends because they were nerds too, and soon escalated into CardCarryingVillain territory, until she eventually [[OmnicidalManiac tried to destroy the world]]. Willow was brought back from the abyss by [[ThePowerOfLove Xander]].
** The whole concept of a "Slayer" is based on this. A Slayer is supposed to fight demons, but her powers are demonic in nature. She is not expected to be nice to those whom she runs into in life and her life is short, nasty, and brutish. Several episodes (the one involving the First Slayer and an alternate universe version of Buffy, among others) deal with this.
** Faith's character arc embodies this, presenting her as a [[EvilCounterpart dark mirror]] to Buffy. Faith is shown to not only slay demons, but to enjoy it 'a little too much' and she is very brutal about it. This was partly because her Watcher was murdered by a demon, but also because she resented anyone having power over her.
** The Season 3 episode "Gingerbread" begins with Buffy's mom finding two young children after what looks like a magical rite. She responds by organizing the other parents in Sunnydale into an organization to go after witches (and Slayers.) The episode ends with them all trying to burn ''their own children'' at the stake.
** This literally happened to Forrest.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
** Holtz is so obsessed with obtaining "justice" against Angelus that he followed him into the future, disregarded all the myriad evidence of Angel's reformation, and did all he can to make Angel suffer psychologically. Although, at the end, he seems to make a comeback when he mentions that love has overcome hate. This turns out to be a ruse; he even uses his own death as further fuel to get Connor to take his revenge for him.
** Angel himself goes pretty far into this territory in season 2, and he seems to do it deliberately, re-shaping himself into someone willing to use evil methods to wipe out evil.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The TechnicalPacifist Doctor has killed ''very many'' Cybermen and Daleks. He has annihilated various monsters of the week and entire fleets of enemy spacecraft, as well as, presumably, his own people. The Doctor seems to swing back and forth on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism quite frequently. In one case, he was attacked by creatures who wanted to steal his immortality. [[AndIMustScream They got their immortality all right]]. Getting the Doctor personally angry is, in his own words, "not a good place to stand."
** As Donna says in [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]], "I think sometimes you need somebody to stop you." -- since he became the LastOfHisKind, the influence of a [[MoralityPet companion]] ideally should serve to keep him from [[MoralEventHorizon becoming too monstrous]].
** In the Tenth Doctor's final TV appearance, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], they go into detail about what was going on at the end of the time war. [[spoiler:After both sides had done too much messing around with [[NegativeSpaceWedgie space wedgies]] and [[TemporalParadox paradoxes]], the [[TimeyWimeyBall fabric of time]] was irreparably damaged (though in a localized area). Countless Daleks and Time Lords alike were being slaughtered over and over again in endless time loops and Gallifrey itself had basically turned into hell. When the Doctor ended the war, he sealed off the area the war encompassed in a time bubble, preventing it from extending further throughout the universe.]] If the Doctor hadn't ended it the way he did, [[spoiler:the Time Lord leadership would have destroyed all of reality because they (and they alone) would be able to survive outside of time as [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence beings of pure energy and information]]]].
** And then there's the Tenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars "The Waters of Mars"]]:
-->[[spoiler:'''The Doctor:''' Do you know who that leaves? ME!! It's taken me all these years to realize it, [[AGodAmI but all those laws of time are mine.]] And they will obey ME!]]
** In the episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], the [[spoiler:the thing imprisoned in the Pandorica, the nameless, fearless, bloodthirsty monster so terrifying and destructive that it has become renowned as a dark fairytale, turns out to be the Doctor himself.]] To call the two-word reveal a WhamLine for the Doctor is an understatement. He seems more shaken at the idea of ''being'' [[spoiler:the thing in the Pandorica]] than at the fact that he's getting [[spoiler:locked inside.]]
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes To War"]], he's told even more explicitly that he's turning into this, not just that people see him as TheDreaded. He even admits it himself:
--->'''The Doctor:''' Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many of them.
** Well illustrated in the Ninth Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek "Dalek"]]:
--->'''The Doctor:''' The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just die?\\
'''Dalek:''' [[AC:You would make a good Dalek.]]
** The ''less'' dark Eleventh Doctor has had to face this, and we got some good insight into his more anti-hero-y moments. Cyborg dude persecutes town to get at a guy. Cyborg proves to have a point when it comes to that guy. The Doctor is ready to hand him right over, and Amy is the one to say WhatTheHellHero. It turns out that it's less that the Doctor thinks he ''owns'' time and space because he's the last Time Lord; he feels he's the only one to protect it, and that he may as well have pulled the trigger on everyone ever hurt by those he ''didn't'' take down, like the Daleks, Master, etc. He walks a very fine line between getting the job done [[IDidWhatIHadToDo even if it means getting dirty]], and becoming a KnightTemplar. It really puts the times the Tenth Doctor made you ask "isn't he supposed to be the good guy?" in new light.
** The backstory to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warriors Gate"]] is that when the Tharils' slaves overthrew their masters, they crushed them under their own heels.
** The Rutans from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E1HorrorOfFangRock "Horror of Fang Rock"]] may be this in their long war with the Sontarans.
** Season 18 was precided over by a script editor with the pet idea that the Doctor was 'a [[HorrifyingHero monster that]] [[CreepyGood fights monsters]]', so every story in it indulges in this theme - some in greater detail than others.
* Happens in the episode of the ''Series/TwilightZone'' "The Mirror". In this episode, a rebel overthrows a dictator in a banana republic. However, the dethroned dictator says the rebel will learn the consequences of ruling by force (i.e. killing people to maintain power). The new ruler becomes more and more paranoid, using more and more vicious measures to maintain his rule, proving he indeed became just like the dictator he deposed.
* ''Everyone'' in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' has this problem ''all'' the time. It's not just the contact-with-evil, that is, the 'Monsters' part; it's also the 'Hunts' part, the ''violence'' inherent in the lifestyle. Most (if not all) hunters are this, being pushed into hunting after having a loved one murdered by one of the monsters, which leads many to be obsessed with revenge.
** Gordon Walker is the purest example, becoming worse than the monsters he hunts taking them out. For a series that can succumb to the temptation of explicitly spelling out character psychology as frequently as ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' (how many times has someone told Dean that he lacks self-esteem, is afraid of being alone, is dead inside, yadda yadda yadda), Gordon was thankfully handled with restraint. In his three individual episodes, he comes off as just a sadistic bastard, but put them together and the story is all there: his family blamed him for letting his sister disappear (they wouldn't believe that she had been vamped), and he [[StakingTheLovedOne hunted her down and killed her]], refusing to admit that it was out of anger instead of necessity. But inside, he is so guilt-ridden that he is desperate for everyone to see the world in terms of black-and-white (which would justify his actions), with Gordon on the side of the good guys (thus his creepy obsession with getting Dean's approval).
** All the Winchesters have been like this (mixed in with that good old DeathSeeker attitude) at some point. John was this way about everything related to Mary's death.
** Dean was like this this after John died and he had that big-secret-that-totally-wasn't weighing on his shoulders, and has had such moments of ruthlessness every time his family leaves him or lets him down or he's really freaking out about his brother. Such as when he encounters Gordon in season two after his father dies; when he so loses faith in his brother that he agrees to the angels' plan in season five even though it will destroy most of the world; and in season seven when he [[spoiler:kills Amy Pond ([[Series/DoctorWho not that one]]) because he can't trust a monster not to kill again, complete with a [[Film/KillBill Beatrix Kiddo]] moment with the woman's son afterward.]]
** Sam was this after Dean died in ''Mystery Spot'' and the season three finale. While he thinks killing Lilith is the only way to prevent the Apocalypse and feeding [[PsychoSerum demon-blood]]-fueled powers also lets him save the hosts when exorcising demons, his obsession with gaining the power to kill Lilith [[spoiler:leads him to break the final seal, releasing Lucifer from Hell]].
** Future Dean in "The End" (5x04). After losing his brother and failing to stop the apocalypse, he becomes heartless and unsympathetic, willing to sacrifice all of his loyal friends for a chance to kill Lucifer.
** In seasons 6 and 7, [[spoiler:re-angelified Castiel]] has taken a particularly nasty route to this, starting with a DealWithTheDevil, moving on to murder and betrayal, and then JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope with murder and MindRape of friends even ''before'' diving into WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity.
* Eric van Helsing from ''YoungDracula'' is a comedic version of this.
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'s'':
** The title character, a VillainProtagonist, inverts this, as his fight makes him ''less'' of a monster than he would be otherwise. He's more a combination of EvilVersusEvil and EvenEvilHasStandards.
** [[spoiler: ADA Miguel Prado]], however, falls into this after his brother is killed, leading him to find out Dexter's secret and learn his methods, leading him to [[spoiler: [[MoralEventHorizon kill defense attorney Ellen Wolf]],]] and [[spoiler: attempting to murder [=LaGuerta=], before Dexter kills him off.]]
* A mayor plot point in both seasons of Argentinian HBO crime series ''Epitafios'', appearing in season 1 [[spoiler: with Renzo, who murders Costas in cold-blood after his murder spree (including Laura)]] and in season 2 it comes back with a vengeance with [[spoiler: both Marina and Renzo, the former shooting her brother's murderer and the later [[MoralEventHorizon burying the main villain of the season... ''alive'']]]].
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'':
** HRG. While much of what he does is for Claire, working to capture the monsters in Level 5 shaped him into the unscrupulous operative he is today
** Peter is also headed down this path in Season 3 of ''Heroes'', when [[spoiler: taking Sylar's power in order to save the world caused him to also gain Sylar's hunger]].
* One season 9 episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' had a serial killer found dead in the same manner as his victims. [[spoiler:Turned out, it was the lead investigator who killed him, because her mentor committed suicide from the stress of trying to catch him. However, it meant that she inadvertently killed his last victim, who had been abducted but not killed yet. When Olivia takes her back to her apartment to get the gun, she tearfully quotes the page title word for word before blowing her brains out.]]
%%* ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Law and Order: SVU]]'''s Chester Lake.
* This was the origin of the title character in ''XenaWarriorPrincess''. Xena first raised an army to protect her village from a warlord, but her brother was killed in the process. She proceeded to actively seek out possible enemies of Amphipolis and destroy them; it was not until her first encounter with Caesar that she abandoned this as an excuse.
* ''CSINewYork'' had a soldier-wannabe who went off his meds and [[TheSchizophreniaConspiracy became paranoid]] that America "wasn't ready" for a terrorist attack. So what does he do? [[KnightTemplar He plants bombs and blows people up]], while playing CriminalMindGames with Mac and the cops.
* ''Series/TwentyFour'':
** In season seven, [[spoiler: Tony]] displays this trope. To the point where he actively kills innocent people, and the FBI agents trying to find him, all so he can have revenge.
** [[spoiler: Jack Bauer]] takes this trope UpToEleven in the second half of the eighth season, when he gets his hands on a murderer. [[spoiler: Jack eventually backs down when he realizes what the consequences (to innocent people) will be if carries out his revenge]].
* The re-imagined ''{{Series/Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' saw the Resistance on New Caprica using suicide bombers against the Cylon occupation force. Colonel Tigh gives us this quote. He's being partly sarcastic, though.
-->"Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We're evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go. I'm surprised you didn't know that."
* A patient, Curtis Ames, from ''Series/{{ER}}'', was a good man who crumbled under the loss of his right arm, the divorce of his wife, his children calling another man "dad", and losing his job. He sought to [[RevengeByProxy get even with Kovac]], who had treated him.
* ''Series/DarkShadows'' has Reverend Trask, a self-styled witch hunter who had undoubtedly killed many innocent women. As a ghost, he's finally talked into a HeelFaceTurn thanks to the opportunity to finally destroy a real witch.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': considering who the series's ultimate BigBad is, this can be inferred as the reason for much of the Others's villainous behavior.
** Ben Linus especially. He only kills those he sees as trying to hurt the island, dedicating pretty much his entire life to protecting it for Jacob. To quote him: "When I'm at war, I'll do what I need to do to win, but I will not kill innocent people."
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'':
** Eli David, Ziva's father, is pretty obviously this. He crossed the MoralEventHorizon, and it is obvious that he does so because of his determination to protect his people against vicious enemies.
** Jenny Shepherd is this about Rene Benoit.
* In ''Series/CriminalMinds'', the Nietzsche quote is used twice, once in the first episode, and once in the hundredth episode. It's referenced in the season four finale during the finale voiceover ("How many more times will [my team] be able to look into the abyss"). However, the BAU doesn't really fit this trope, and, in the hundredth episode, [[spoiler: it's pretty clear that Hotch did the right thing]]. However, Gideon's departure from the team is due to his fear and realization that he's been staring into the abyss for too long and can no longer see humanity past it. He leaves to wander the world for a while and restore his faith in humanity.
** Interestingly enough, Gideon's reason for departing from the BAU was actually Creator/MandyPatinkin's given reason for leaving the show. When asked about it, he said that the longer he was on the show, the more and more cynical and depressed its subject made him, and he felt he had to get the hell out before it wrecked him.
* ''Series/TheMentalist'':
** Patrick Jane is so much this when it comes to Red John. The show even goes so far as to hang a lampshade on it in the season 3 episode "Red Moon:"
--->'''Jane:''' I have spent enough time with that creep. Staring into the abyss--you know, it's not healthy.
** The only real difference between the way the two use people is that Red John's manipulations end in murder, whereas Jane's tend to end in arrests...but also frequently destroyed relationships, families, and psyches.
* In ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'', [[spoiler:Harry Woolf]] spends much of his career as a copper watching his nemesis become rich through illegal means while he only gets a comparatively paltry wage. To make up for this, [[spoiler:he has banks robbed and blames the crimes on his enemies, has one of the underlings of his nemesis murdered, and betrays his protégé, Gene Hunt.]]
* This happened to Jim Lahey in ''TrailerParkBoys''. He was driven to great depths of depravity in his effort to save his home from the villainous machinations of Ricky and Julian. Truly, those two criminals were the shit-abyss Lahey looked into and never quite got out of.
* ''Series/VeronicaMars'' implies that Keith and Veronica's career choices are starting to take their toll on the characters's well being and sense of morality.
* In ''Series/{{Community}}'', this happens to Abed when he is taking down a number of [[AlphaBitch Alpha Bitches]] who humiliate other women. He ends up indiscriminately pointing out the flaws of everyone.
* Antonia of ''Series/TrueBlood'' was a witch who was raped and murdered by vampires in the middle ages. When she comes back as a spirit, the next logical step is to attempt genocide against the entire vampire race, attacking and imprisoning everyone that stands in her way.
* ''Series/{{Merlin}}'':
** King Uther. He lashes out at the death of Ygraine due to the magic used to conceive Arthur, and launches into the Great Purge, killing everyone in Camelot even suspected of using magic, and forever banning magic in the kingdom. Except he invented most of the 'monsters' in his grief.
** Merlin himself. During the course of the series, he has constantly lied to hide his magic, committed countless murders and on one occasion betrayal, and can be just as ruthless as his arch-nemesis Morgana. If not for his loyalty to Arthur, he could go to the very deep end.
** Likewise, Morgana started off as a heroine in series 1-2, someone who would defy the king to help, for example, Merlin's village fight off the bandits attacking it, or demand of Arthur that he save Gwen, a mere servant in Uther's eyes. As time goes on, and [[spoiler:she develops magical powers, and Uther kills others who she knows who he suspected of sorcery (notably Gwen's father and the druids who take her in),]] her attitude to Uther becomes more and more poisoned, until [[spoiler:she attempts to kill him twice. The first time, in a subversion to the trope, she performs a HeelFaceTurn when she sees that he is truly sorry for what he has done. On the second occasion, after Uther has continued as he was, she becomes fully committed to killing him]], and by the end of her training with Morgause, she is willing to manipulate and kill anyone who stands in the way of her destroying Uther, and everyone related to him.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest:''
** Reese is a very self-aware version.
** His mentor Cara Stanton was even more aware of it, and even tells him such when he joins the CIA: "We don't walk in darkness, we ''are'' the darkness."
** FBI Special Agent Donnelly is an interesting example. Being a SympatheticInspectorAntagonist, he seems to be a generally capable, upstanding lawman who is chasing what he is sure to be a well-funded terrorist group (In reality, Team Machine). However, over the course of the series his methods become more and more extreme, to the point of labeling four men who, as far as he knows, could just be bankers as terrorists and holding them against their rights, and even going so far as to almost allow a possibly innocent man to be beaten to death by prison inmates (hoping he would reveal his combat training). Eventually, he stops trusting anyone and loses the respect of Carter. [[spoiler:Donnelly finally gets his man due to his Paranoia, but because he assumed the situation was less complicated than it was, he ended up dead for his trouble.]]
* ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'' gives us Col. Ray Butts, who apparently was born mean and became meaner from being a Marine lifer--he's racist against [[ArtificialHuman InVitros]], picks pointless fights with the Wildcards, antagonizes [=McQueen=] by taking the squad away from him for a mission he won't explain to anyone, and changes mission parameters mid-mission, again without any sort of explanation. It gets to the point where the squad briefly wonders if he might have killed his previous squad members when they fight a dead marine's body on the planet. [[spoiler: the squad was actually killed by chigs when they wanted to wait for reinforcements--causing Butts to leave them in disgust to do the mission on his own]]
* In ''[[Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand Spartacus War Of The Damned]]'': A number of the rebels are showing signs of this, as seen when they slaughter innocent civillians including children. Spartacus wants them to be better than the Romans, but is unable to keep them in line. Gannicus is aware of what they are becoming, but seems to have resigned himself to the inevitability of it.
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' gives us [[ComicBook/{{Huntress}} Helena Bertinelli]], who is initially shown as a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds type because her father killed her fiancee. Naturally, she wants revenge on her father. However, her plot involves [[MoralEventHorizon killing and maiming multiple innocent people.]] LikeFatherLikeSon at its worst.
** The Dark Archer's character arc is precisely this. It just happened long enough ago that he is virtually indistinguishable from a KnightTemplar.
** As expected from a character inspired by [[{{Franchise/Batman}} the epitome of avoidance of this trope]], the titular Arrow struggles with this in some form or another every season.
* The lead character of ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' -- who is not the eponymous Lecter but rather FBI [[TheProfiler profiler]] Will Graham -- is CursedWithAwesome[[AwesomenessByAnalysis ness By Analysis]]. He inspects the crime scenes of serial killers and reconstructs means, motive and pathology from them - almost literally reliving the crime as it was committed. Needless to say, what he finds in the minds of those killers is pure NightmareFuel, and basically every character in the cast cautions Graham's FBI superior and Will himself about the possibility of this trope. And then we add the fact that the eponymous Lecter is TheCorrupter, who has every reason to push Graham into that abyss...
* ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' The Dark Quickening is this. It's what happens when a good immortal takes in to much evil from the others they defeat and corrupts them.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' has this in spades:
** The first and most obvious example is the Narn. They used to be a peaceful and technologically primitive race before the Centauri conquered their planet and enslaved them. After decades of fight, the Narn managed to force the Centauri out... And promptly started using the technology they stole from the Centauri to conquer their neighbours while they prepared their revenge against the Centauri.
** [[{{Irony}} Ironically]], the Centauri themselves (whose RPG rulebook even starts with Nietzsche's trope-naming quote). Before first contact with the Xon, the other sentient race of their own homeworld, they were peaceful artists who had even rejected the very concept of war. Then a naval expedition reached the Xon lands, causing the Xon to find out about them and attack the Centauri, killing and enslaving many of them. By the end of the war, that also included a brief alien invasion from the Shroggen, no Xon was alive, and the Centauri were a fledgling empire ruled by a DeadlyDecadentCourt and bent on expansion to get even with the Shroggen and protect other races. With time, they forgot their motivation.
** The Minbari in general and their Warrior Caste in particular. After the last war against [[AbusivePrecursors the Shadows]] they spent a thousand years to prepare for the next, and just as it was coming [[PoorCommunicationKills a screwed-up first contact with Earth caused the death of their political and religious leader]], prompting them to start a genocidal war in spite of the humans trying to surrender multiple times. They stopped and surrendered right after destroying the last of Earth's military and a few minutes before actually enacting the genocide, thanks to [[spoiler: finding out evidence that Minbari souls are reincarnating in humans]], but, partly because the motivation was kept from the public, it takes a while for the Warrior Caste to stop behaving like everyone is beneath them (the first time we see a Minbari warship in the series, it repeats the same mistake that caused the war. Thankfully Delenn was there to explain that custom).
** The humans themselves. After the devastation of the [[HopelessWar Earth-Minbari War]], in which their allies abandoned them out of fear and the only help they received was weapons sold to them by the Narn, many humans, especially in the government, felt they had to do ''anything'' to prevent this from happening again, including [[spoiler: killing the president of Earth Alliance in a fake accident and [[DealWithTheDevil allying with the Shadows]]]].
** The episode "Infection" went into the history of the people of Ikarra 7, who were repeatedly invaded by aliens, and in a desperate attempt to throw off the invasion, built a dozen war machines to combat them. Unfortunately, the machines were programmed by religious fanatics who had a ''very'' narrow definition of "pure Ikarran" (the only people they would accept commands from--and ''no one'' met the definition), and the war machines destroyed ''everything''. As Sinclair put it to the last such machine:
--> '''Sinclair:''' You and the rest--you forgot the first rule of the fanatic: when you become obsessed with the enemy, you ''become the enemy''!
** In the episode "Dust to Dust", Ivanova ''almost'' uses the station's defense grid to shoot down recurring nemesis [[SmugSnake Bester]]'s fighter in what she would have [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident attempted to frame as an accident]]. Sheridan arrives in C&C in time to stop her, then admonishes her:
--> '''Sheridan:''' Fight them without ''becoming'' them.
* In the ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' episode "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road", Ellen eerily takes on many of the villain Moonface's mannerisms at the end. She gives [[spoiler:her dead husband]] the same treatment Moonface gave to his victims and kills [[spoiler:Moonface's insane captive Buddy]] to tie up all loose ends.
* In ''Series/{{Castle}}'', it's revealed that Detective Kate Beckett's mother was murdered as the result of a lengthy chain of events that resulted from a trio of cops who, cynical about the justice system's ability to effectively deal with the mob, eventually rogue in order to bring them down. In her efforts to expose the people behind her mother's death, it gradually becomes clear that Beckett is beginning to take on several similarities to these cops, including going rogue at times. [[spoiler: It's ultimately subverted; she ends up having an epiphany in which she realises she's in love with Castle, is throwing her life away on revenge and decides to step back and focus on building a life with him rather than spiral into self-destructive obsession.]]
* In the fifth season of ''Series/TheShield'', Jon Kavanaugh starts out as a well-meaning (if self-righteous) Internal Affairs officer investigating the corrupt Strike Team, especially [[VillainProtagonist Vic Mackey]]. But as the season progresses, Kavanaugh's quest to take Vic down becomes increasingly personal, desperate, and obsessive. In Season 6, Kavanaugh finally becomes a dirty cop himself, planting evidence and coercing false testimony against Vic, which leads to his own downfall. As Kavanaugh puts it in his final episode, "I framed a guilty man."
* In ''Series/TheEscapeArtist'', Will's position forces him to defend criminals who may well be horribly unpleasant sociopaths. [[spoiler:By the end, he ends up murdering Foyle and successfully getting ''himself'' out of a murder charge, although in a variation he's able to move on]].
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