History KnightTemplar / Literature

* ''Literature/CityOfLight'': Rahze and other Atma Knights come off as leaning this way, convinced that everything they do is completely right and using tactics like assassinations or seizing control of governments when necessary. [[spoiler: When they are recovering from attack, the neighboring countries, which resented their interference, take the opportunity to throw the "advisers" they had out then retaliate on them.]]

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': [[spoiler:Despite being on the side of the "good guys", Plutarch Heavensbee is ok with sacrificing some lives to achieve the goals of the rebellion]].

* Lucas de Beaumanoir in Sir Creator/WalterScott's ''Literature/{{Ivanhoe}},'' who actually ''is'' a [[TheKnightsTemplar Knight Templar]] -- indeed, the Grand Master of the Order. Although most of the Templars in the novel are corrupt and immoral, Beaumanoir "is of a different stamp -- hating sensuality, despising treasure, and pressing forward to that which they call the crown of martyrdom..." He comes to the preceptory of Templestowe to root out vice and, in the process, puts the noble Jewess Rebecca on trial for sorcery.

* ''InDeath'': Donald Dukes from ''Purity In Death'' is very much this. He actually believes that he is so ''right'' that he has to murder every person who does not fit in his warped vision of the world.

* Keira in SandyMitchell's ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'' novels ''Scourge the Heretic'' and ''Innocence Proves Nothing'' - fanatic, dedicated to eradicating evil, convinced of the heinousness of the most minor of faults, and finding DirtyBusiness whenever she has to pass some trivial evil by. And people who have known her in the past think that she's mellowed out like this. Convinced that SexIsEvil, she's first [[ObliviousToLove oblivious to]] and then deeply disturbed by the notion that she is attracted to a man, even though they are both free to marry. To be just, confronted with a prostitute trying to escape that life, she is awed by the effort the woman put into her escape.

* In the ''RevelationSpace'' universe, there is a species which plans to prevent any technological civilization from arising for 6 billion years to make sure that life can flourish after the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies collide. They are perfectly willing to kill trillions of sapient beings and wipe out whole species in order to achieve this goal.

* The Anathemata Curialis from the ''FelixCastor'' series will do anything to fight back the suddenly rising wave of undead and demons, including, yes, recruiting them. You'd just better hope that you don't get possessed by anything, or otherwise get in their way.

* Sun Wukong from the novel ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', when it comes to dealing with demons and bandits, who he sees as evil monsters who prey on the weak (especially those who want to eat Xuanzang). This is most notably seen during the White Bone Demon and the {{Doppelganger}} chapters. In some adaptions, Xuanzong kicks Wukong out not because what he did (like killing innocent humans who were all actually demons in disguise or groups of bandits), but because of his Knight Templarish attitude.

* The government in ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'', when pushing the Ludovico treatment in an attempt to reign in crime. When confronted by the prison chaplain that the treatment takes away a person's choice to willfully be good, the Minister of the Interior replies that they're "not concerned with motives, with the higher ethics".

* Lucian Gregory in Creator/GKChesterton's ''TheManWhoWasThursday''

** On the other hand, [[spoiler:Dumbledore]] manipulates many people, even planning [[spoiler:Harry's HeroicSacrifice]], to defeat Voldemort.

** On the other hand, the Aurors, who hunt down Dark Wizards for the Ministry, can sometimes be this, particularly [[ProperlyParanoid Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody]], who's heavily scarred and has lost several limbs while single-mindedly doing his job. He doesn't even trust his ''allies''.
*** Moody is actually an aversion. He is notably one of the only Aurors who refused to use the Unforgivable Curses when their use was made legal against Death Eaters. He didn't cross that line.

* SimonRGreen gets a big kick out of this trope, by setting up Knights Templar as the opposition and then [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone pulling their self-righteousness out from under them]]. Sometimes ([[spoiler:e.g. the Removal Man from ''[[{{Nightside}} Unnatural Inquirer]]'']]), it's by revealing to the Templar that he's unwittingly been serving the forces of evil, other times, by simply proving to them ([[spoiler:the Walking Man from ''[[{{Nightside}} Just Another Judgement Day]]''; the terrorists from ''Shadows Fall'']]) that they're unquestionably in the wrong.

* The commonwealth Police in Linda Nagata's ''The Bohr Maker'', particularly kristin, it's Chief who is willing to terrorize, torture and even kill innocents, subvert legal procedure and at the end nuke a colony of thousands to protect her vision of Nature's "purity".

** In ''Xenos'', Inquisitor Gregor {{Eisenhorn}} explains some of the mindset behind such people. He finds himself in a position where he can either mercy-kill an innocent and allow a heretic and traitor to escape, or follow the heretic and allow the innocent to die horribly. He talks to the reader for a moment, saying that, if you would kill the victim, that is good, you are human. On the other hand, you are not an inquisitor; he must place the millions of lives that the heretic threatens over the life of one. If one man must die, that millions might live, that is how it must be.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', [[spoiler:Dumbledore]] and Grindelwald once wanted to take over the world, so wizards could stop hiding: "{{Muggles}} forced into subservience. We wizards triumphant. [Us], the glorious young leaders of the revolution." On the other hand, [[spoiler:Dumbledore]] manipulates many people, even planning [[spoiler:Harry's HeroicSacrifice]], to defeat Voldemort.

* In the Literature/CiaphasCain [[hottip:*: HERO OF THE IMPERIUM]] novel ''Duty Calls'', an Inquisitor is willing to stage a massacre, abandon innocents ([[ChildrenAreInnocent including children]]) to an alien attack, and actively cause an alien attack and massacre (and trying to assassinate Cain three times) on the grounds that what he is protecting is too valuable for the information to get out. He even [[EvilCannotComprehendGood thinks that Cain will agree with these actions]] because of the importance of the artifact.

* While Lord Asriel's grand plan in PhilipPullman's ''HisDarkMaterials'' novels is certainly noble in theory, the fact remains that he first [[spoiler:kills a child in order to open the first portal to the parallel worlds]], and then [[spoiler: pulls a Lucifer and makes war on Heaven, all in a plot to kill God]]. We're not too sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that [[spoiler:he succeeds]]. Asriel is still [[MagnificentBastard pretty awesome]].

** Averted by the templars themselves; they disaprove of Dragonetz' mill but do not try to kill him over it.

** Voldemort himself (among others) believes, not that he is a "good guy", because for him "[[AboveGoodAndEvil there is no good or evil]]", but that wizardkind must be purged of what "infects" it - namely, everyone who's not a pureblood or half-blood wizard. He's not a perfect example though: he's got daddy issues at the heart of his motivations.

* ''VillainsByNecessity'' by Eve Forward portrays a whole world dominated by Knight Templars, in a quite serious inversion of many classical tropes.

** Another major subversion is Michael Carpenter. He is a Knight Templar (Knight of the Cross), and is probably one of the best examples of LawfulGood done right: compassionate, kind, and all that other good-aligned stuff while still being a total {{Badass}}.

* In the Literature/CiaphasCain novel ''Duty Calls'', an Inquisitor is willing to stage a massacre, abandon innocents ([[ChildrenAreInnocent including children]]) to an alien attack, and actively cause an alien attack and massacre (and trying to assassinate Cain three times) on the grounds that what he is protecting is too valuable for the information to get out. He even [[EvilCannotComprehendGood thinks that Cain will agree with these actions]] because of the importance of the artifact.