History Main / AboveGoodAndEvil

* Huey Laforet from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' is this trope via his several hundred year ForScience ambition. Everyone and everything in this world, including his own daughter, is nothing more than components of a grand experiment -- ethics be damned. Even amongst his peers he is considered the creepiest of the lot.

* A rare heroic example is Touma, the main character from ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' who considers good and evil to be mere shackles, and just does whatever he feels is right at the time, even if that means saving the very same villain he just punched out seconds before. In the WorldWarIII arc, Touma even gives Accelerator some huge CharacterDevelopment by telling him that his thoughts that he is a villain are just holding him back.

* Gilgamesh from ''LightNovel/FateZero'' describes himself as such. He is absolute. As a true king, justice is unnecessary to him. It is an interesting case as it is not necessarily considered an evil point of view, though Saber is disgusted. [[spoiler:It might even be taken literally, as even all the world's evil is unable to corrupt such an "absolute existence".]]

* Momonga from ''LightNovel/{{Overlord}}'' develops this mindset as a consequence of being so much more powerful than most of the New World and the EmotionSuppression that comes with his new lich body. He essentially loses empathy for anyone outside of Nazarick and generally regards the New World's people as lesser beings. All he cares about is expanding the glory of Nazarick.
* The Lord of Nightmares from the ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' continuity is Above Good and Evil, and creator of both. She represents the primal chaos from which all things emerge, and can side with creation just as easily as with destruction. Most people are only aware of her destructive side, and consider her the Dark Lord above the Dark Lords. They don't know how often she helps Lina ''kill'' Dark Lords.

* This is how Merlin (yes, ''that'' {{Merlin}}) operates in his appearance in ''[[VideoGame/FateGrandOrder Fate/Grand Order]]''. Everything he does is done for the sake of protecting and guiding humanity to a happy ending, and a combination of his [[{{Seers}} Clairvoyance]] and half-incubus blood leaving him with a LackOfEmpathy towards individuals means that he literally doesn't care who he needs to manipulate or use to reach that ending. He even goes as far as to state that he's the sole truly sinless person in the world, since he feels absolutely no guilt for anything he's done (well, [[MyGreatestFailure almost anything]].

* This is how Merlin (yes, ''that'' {{Merlin}}) operates in his appearance in ''[[VideoGame/FateGrandOrder Fate/Grand Order]]''. Everything he does is done for the sake of protecting and guiding humanity to a happy ending, and a combination of his [[Seers Clairvoyance]] and half-incubus blood leaving him with a LackOfEmpathy towards individuals means that he literally doesn't care who he needs to manipulate or use to reach that ending. He even goes as far as to state that he's the sole truly sinless person in the world, since he feels absolutely no guilt for anything he's done (well, [[MyGreatestFailure almost anything]].

* This is how Merlin (yes, ''that'' {{Merlin}}) operates in his appearance in ''[[VideoGame/FateGrandOrder]]''. Everything he does is done for the sake of protecting and guiding humanity to a happy ending, and a combination of his [[Seers Clairvoyance]] and half-incubus blood leaving him with a LackOfEmpathy towards individuals means that he literally doesn't care who he needs to manipulate or use to reach that ending. He even goes as far as to state that he's the sole truly sinless person in the world, since he feels absolutely no guilt for anything he's done (well, [[MyGreatestFailure almost anything]].

* This is how Merlin (yes, ''that'' [[{{Merlin}}]]) operates in his appearance in ''[[VideoGame/FateGrandOrder]]. Everything he does is done for the sake of protecting and guiding humanity to a happy ending, and a combination of his [[Seers Clairvoyance]] and half-incubus blood leaving him with a LackOfEmpathy towards individuals means that he literally doesn't care who he needs to manipulate or use to reach that ending. He even goes as far as to state that he's the sole truly sinless person in the world, since he feels absolutely no guilt for anything he's done (well, [[MyGreatestFailure almost anything]].

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' the protagonist and his named enemies show good amount of it, though for different reasons: Mistral plainly does not have strong attachments; Monsoon is a StrawNihilist; Sam claims to have justice as his reasons, but has no issues with collateral damage or temporary teaming with bad guys to wait for a proper moment to strike back; Armstrong is a SocialDarwinist; and Raiden is nicknamed "Jack the Ripper" for a reason. However, probably only Monsoon is the pure example of this trope -- others do have a sense of right and wrong, even if it is not the same as the social norm.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', due to his insane intellect (confirmed by the Galactic Federation to be the smartest mammal in the galaxy) and his portal gun revealing to him infinite realities that allow him to avoid punishment for his misdeeds and infinite versions of his family members (which he views as replaceable), Rick views morality as something utterly meaningless. Considering [[CrapsackWorld how the universe is]] his beliefs are more often than not justified: whenever Morty or Summer attempt to do "good" things like saving an imprisoned gaseous alien, freeing a planet from a HiveMind, or trying to give a snake planet hope, it tends to cause ''severe'' repercussions with Rick pointing out every step of the way that they should have just not gotten involved.

** Most of the various forms of deity qualify. While the mortals of Tamriel often regard the Divines as outright "Good" and some of the Daedric Princes (Azura, Meridia) as well, scholars both in-universe and out among the fandom argue that the deities follow BlueAndOrangeMorality above mortal understanding, with none wholly good or evil. The "Good" ones only seem that way because what they seek to accomplish is generally beneficial or benevolent toward mortals, while the "Evil" ones are more likely to harm mortals with their actions. For instance, Mehrunes Dagon is the Daedric Prince of Destruction, but is no more "evil" than a tidal wave or an earthquake.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* [[UsefulNotes/LackOfEmpathy Sociopaths]] are usually the natural version of this trope. They are not "evil", per se; their social conscience is just weak ("socio-" = social, "-path" = disorder), so they have the ability to easily disregard good and evil when they feel like it. A sociopath does not always base actions on good and evil; some sociopaths can be harmless, good, or even heroic, but their quality of goodness hinges on whether they personally ''want'' to do what happens to be needed, or whether they see a benefit to being good. If you have a sociopathic friend, sometimes the only way to persuade them of anything contrary to what they want is through cold hard logic based on best individual benefit, stripped of ethical relevance. And that's assuming they're rational people and they agree with you.
* Good career diplomats and intelligence officers often develop a version of this trope where good and evil fade into nothingness before [[MyCountryRightOrWrong nation.]] ''Bad ones'' replace Nation with [[CorruptBureaucrat Promotion]].
* Several Christian philosophers, most prominently Creator/CSLewis, invert this trope and speak of people being below good and evil of certain kinds, because they lack the ability to go right and therefore cannot go wrong either. As Lewis puts it (somewhat paraphrased) "It is not the ordinary selfish man that one makes an Inquisitor or a Hitler from, but the great saint or the great patriot."
* This is the essence of real-life JustFollowingOrders. Since you effectively give up your right to conscientious objection (at least in the U.S. and Canada) when you join the military, if you're told to do something and it's a lawful order you're doing it whether you think it's a good or evil act. That said, thanks to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust certain]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre unpleasant]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre events]] in recent history, many modern militaries do qualify that this obligation only applies to ''lawful'' orders, and that indeed claiming "We were JustFollowingOrders" for participating in ''unlawful'' acts is not a sufficient defense: it's even expected of soldiers to be able to recognize an unlawful order and not realizing an order is unlawful won't save a soldier from being punished.
[[/folder]]

* [[BigBad Mok]], the antagonist of ''WesternAnimation/RockAndRule'', [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this as a reason why he sees no problem with summoning an EldritchAbomination to slaughter tons of people [[DisproportionateRetribution because his last concert didn't totally sell out]]. When Zip, his [[Manchild childish and obliviously innocent]] henchman, watches an Uncle Mikey cartoon about [[BlackAndWhiteMorsality how you should be good instead of evil]], he asks Mok if what they're doing is evil. Mok's response is to say [[GrayAndGreyInsanity they've grown beyond such concerns]].

* ''Webcomic/KarateBears'' displays this in [[http://www.karatebears.com/2011/09/share-with-friends.html Sharing With Friends]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'': Buddha, who's [[ALighterShadeOfGray neutral]] in regards to {{Satan}} and {{God}}, but is also PalsWithJesus and quite possibly the nicest example of a being beyond good and evil ever.
* In ''Webcomic/TalesOfTheQuestor'' [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00779.html the philosophy of Rosad the Monster-maker and his followers]].

* Huey Laforet from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' is this trope via his several hundred year ForScience ambition. Everyone and everything in this world, including his own daughter, is nothing more than components of a grand experiment- ethics be damned. Even amongst his peers he is considered the creepiest of the lot.

* ''Manga/FairyTail''

--->'''Makarov''': It doesn't matter if you say the true origin of Magic is "Darkness." It doesn't matter if you say it's "Light" either. Magic is alive. Its place changes over time and it grows along with us. Magic is anything you can think of. It can be felt in infinite ways... as light, as darkness, as red, or as blue and it is living freely, together alongside Fairy Tail. All of this I learned from you, Master Precht.
** Invel Yura and August of Alvarez's [[PraetorianGuard Spriggan 12]] have similar views, both of them believing anyone can use "light" or "dark" magic for good or evil and that in end they're both just a source of power. Taking it even further, [[spoiler:they are both well aware their Emperor Spriggan is in fact [[TheDreaded Zeref]] with all that entails, and they are still [[UndyingLoyalty unquestionably loyal]] to him.]]
* Gilgamesh from ''LightNovel/FateZero'' describes himself as such. He is absolute. As a true king, justice is unnecessary to him. It is an interesting case as it is not necessarily considered an evil point of view, though Saber is disgusted. [[spoiler: It might even be taken literally as even all the world's evil is unable to corrupt such an "absolute existence."]]
* ''Manga/MedakaBox'': [[spoiler: Ajimu, who has almost 13 quadrillion super powers]] is this, and states that life, death, love, hate, etc. is meaningless garbage. [[spoiler:This is because she is under the delusion[[note]]or, depending on one’s perspective, [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall perfectly accurate assessment]][[/note]]that she is a character in a comic book.]]

* Yato of ''Anime/{{Noragami}}'' is a god, and therefore does not care at all and [[spoiler: has killed many people and shinki before.]]
* The Great Forest Spirit from ''Anime/PrincessMononoke''. It is a nature deity of life and death, and accordingly [[BlueAndOrangeMorality does not ascribe to any sort of mortal thought process]]. It creates life and kills in equal measure and with total casualness, to the point that it's mere ''footsteps'' [[WalkingWasteland cause plants to spontaneously flourish and rot wherever it goes]]. Put simply, like [[NatureIsNotNice nature itself]], it is not benevolent or malevolent; it simply ''is''.

-->'''Zoro''': Pirates are scum! Who would want to be one?
-->'''Luffy''': Does it matter? You're known as an evil pirate hunter.

-->The universe doesn't care how many people you have killed (except if you believe in supernaturally enforced Karma I guess), so you getting arrested or killed shouldn't be objectively better than anyone else.

* [[WordOfGod Word of]] Creator/GeoffJohns says that [[ComicBook/BlackestNight Nekron]] was intended to be this.

* ComicBook/DoctorFate sometimes slips into this. DependingOnTheWriter he's concerned solely with maintaining the balance between Order and Chaos (in some takes on the character, he's actually a Lord of Order, so sometimes this isn't so much a matter of "balance" for its own sake and more a case of "we can't let Chaos win"). It's perhaps best seen in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice.''

** ComicBook/{{Galactus}} is a PlanetEater who often uses this justification; he (and other [[ThePowersThatBe Cosmic Beings]] of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse) claim that he will one day do something that ''more'' than makes up for the uncounted trillions of deaths he causes, which sort of falls under TakeOurWordForIt, since you'd have to wait ''billions'' of years to find out what that is. Galactus has always been treated not as a villain, but as a force of nature who really is above good and evil and takes no pleasure in consuming worlds.

* ''ComicBook/NewGods'': ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} likes to ''claim'' to be this, but it's quite clear that if he's not simply evil he's a pretty good facsimile thereof. One of the ''nicest'' things about Darkseid is that he's got a sense of honor (dark and twisted though it may be), which is more than one can say of most of his minions.

* In ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'' ''[[Comicbook/{{Supergirl 1982}} Volume 2]]'' Barry Metzner -one of the teachers of the titular heroine- undergoes an experiment which transforms him into a mutated creature with great PsychicPowers but utterly devoid of humanity or compassion. He declares several times he is above of human laws and concepts of good and evil: " I am above such judgments as good, as evil! I am the judge! I am the ideal!"
-->'''Barry:''' Do not think me included in your laws, Supergirl — for I shall henceforth decide upon right and wrong! I am a law unto myself... and you shall all follow my commands... or suffer for your disobedience!
* Shockwave in the IDW continuity falls under the ForScience aspect. In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' [[spoiler: he was one of the few good higher class mechs and scientists, who strove to improve the lives of everyone and stop the energy crisis. He then had his emotions removed and his body mutilated by an enemy, he lost all of his empathy with it.]] Now Shockwave doesn't believe in good, nor evil, just logic. As such he feels no altruism nor malice. In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise'' he admits his goal is to create renewable energy and save the planet, all other mechs are raw materials or a means to an end. In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMaximumDinobots'', Grimlock's cost him a few million years of his time, Scorponok's blown off a piece of his chest and the Humans have tried to blow him up; when he outmaneuvers all of them, he doesn't go for revenge or even kill anyone, he just leaves because he just doesn't care. His actions in the present have him [[spoiler: creating an Ore which can resurrect cybertronians, and with it he turns life and death into mere data for him to manipulate.]]
* Dr. Manhattan from ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' expresses this attitude. He just did not care about humanity anymore, [[spoiler: until Laurie showed him the complexity and drama of human existence.]]
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'': Several gods Wondy interacts with feel this way, Zeus most prominently.

* ''ComicBook/XMen'' foe ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}} thinks morality is beneath him, instead regarding himself essentially as [[TheSocialDarwinist "evolution incarnate"]]. When ComicBook/{{Loki}} tried to organize a massive VillainTeamUp in the ''Acts of Vengeance'' crossover, he rejected membership outright since he didn't see himself as a supervillain.

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'', part of Elsa the Snow Queen's IAmBecomingSong "Let It Go" says, "No right, no wrong, no rules for me, I'm free!" She drops this when she returns to rule Arendelle properly.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'': [[BigBad Obake]] views himself as this. As far as he's concerned, the most important thing is the [[ForScience advancement of scientific knowledge]], without [[TheUnfettered restraints or limitations]]. If [[VisionaryVillain building a utopia of scientific research and genius]] means [[spoiler: destorying all of Sanfransokyo, and everyone in it]]? Well, that's a sacrifice worth making. It actually turns out [[spoiler: this is due to a brain injury he suffered in his youth that affects his moral center: he's literally ''incapable'' of telling right from wrong]]. Not that he's complaining, but again [[spoiler: that might just be the brain damage talking]].
* A mad scientist supervillain in ''WesternAnimation/MightyMax''. He turns his [[DevolutionDevice de/evolutionary ray gun]] on himself to increase his [[EvolutionaryLevels evolutionary level]]. The first time, he turned into a large brained psychic. When he returns for another episode, he turns it on himself again and turns into a multicolored orb of "pure thought". He uses it a third time and starts babbling about "ultimate knowledge" and "[[MediumAwareness hearing the music]]" before flying off. Wise fowl-man Virgil proclaims that he has "evolved towards the infinite, far beyond such primitive concepts like good and evil", which is funny considering Virgil is firmly on the "good" side.

* The newest incarnation of [[ForScience Entrapta]] from ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' is this. She sees no difference in reverse engineering First Ones tech to improve her kingdom and noodling with a piece of bad tech that turns her friend into a mindless berserker. While perfectly capable of working for the Alliance, the Horde simply has more advanced technology to study and [[spoiler:, when Hordak reveals he's trying to make an intergalactic scale portal,]] this inevitably causes her to pull something of a FaceHeelTurn.

Not to be confused with the book ''Beyond Good and Evil'' by Creator/FriedrichNietzsche [[note]]While he did speak of going "beyond good and evil", his conception of what that meant is quite different from what we usually see; to put it quite bluntly, the way "beyond good and evil" has been taken in wider culture is at best TheThemeParkVersion.[[/note]] or the unrelated [[VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil game of the same name]].

Associated with the {{Ubermensch}} and the StrawNihilist, along with any other things Nietzsche-related. Other people who can claim this trope includes particularly megalomaniacal {{narcissist}}s with [[AGodAmI delusions of godhood]], [[TheSociopath sociopaths]], [[ForScience scientists who do not let moral-societal opinions interfere with their quest for empirical knowledge]], [[BewareTheSuperman super-powerful beings corrupted by power]], or just someone with BlueAndOrangeMorality. It can be a sign of an EldritchAbomination and such creatures beyond standard human morality, thus very common in a CosmicHorrorStory and narratives where NatureIsNotNice.

* In ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'', Mitzi believes this, but as an assassin-for-hire, it's more along the lines of not being picky about who signs the paycheck. It's also part of the reason with her family problems with Doc, as his using Franchise/{{Batman}} as a role model caused him to align himself on the ChaoticGood side instead of the family's TrueNeutral status.

* In ''Film/{{Thirst}}'', [[spoiler:Tae-ju]] takes this attitude to vampirism, comparing a vampire killing a human to a fox killing a chicken.

* ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' -- in the appropriately-named "Beyond Good and Evil" four-parter, Apocalypse declares he is "not malevolent. I simply ''am''." Eventually, after nearly destroying the world more than once, he starts to wonder if they actually have a point about the whole "malevolent" thing. He goes right back to destruction after that, though.

* The Ogres of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}''. Or more precisely, they're ''below'' good and evil. They have absolutely no concept of morality at all, although they may believe in MightMakesRight. To give you an idea: in their culture, iron is viewed as more valuable than gold, because with gold, you can buy an iron weapon from a merchant and lose the gold, but with an iron weapon, you can kill the merchant and then have both the weapon ''and all of his gold'' (and have him merchant for dinner).

* The Ogres of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}''. Or more precisely, they're ''below'' good and evil. They have absolutely no concept of morality at all, although they may believe in MightMakesRight. To give you an idea: in their culture, iron is viewed as more valuable than gold, because with gold, you can buy an iron weapon from a merchant and lose the gold, but with an iron weapon, you can kill the merchant and then have both the weapon ''and all of his gold''.

* The Third-party ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' book ''Ascension'' (which allows you to play as gods and other super beings) has the Apostasy ability which makes one beyond [[CharacterAlignment alignment]] and thus immune to spells or effects that work based on alignment such as a paladin's holy smite or the Unholy Breath effect.

* Similarily, the rules for Mythic characters in ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' include a Mythic path power called "beyond morality" which makes a character have no CharacterAlignment and thus be immune to alignment based effects or class restrictions on alignment.

-->'''Tarquin:''' Labels like "good" and "evil" are just words. Words with many possible [[CharacterAlignment capitalizations]].[[invoked]][[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0760.html here.]]

* ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'': King Kai describes Beerus, the God of Destruction, in these terms. When he tells Goku that Beerus tends to blow up a lot of planets, Goku immediately assumes that Beerus is a bad guy. King Kai responds that Goku's thinking about it the wrong way: Beerus's "job" and the whole reason for his existence is to destroy things, and his destruction of things is necessary for the upholding of cosmic balance across the universe. That said, Beerus's problem is the fact that [[BrilliantButLazy he spends most of the time he should be working sleeping]] and when he's awake his ''reasons'' for destroying planets are more often than not [[EvilIsPetty petty or spiteful]] (like because someone didn't give him good enough food).

Associated with TheUbermensch and the StrawNihilist, along with any other things Nietzsche-related. Other people who can claim this trope includes particularly megalomaniacal [[{{Narcissist}} narcissists]] with [[AGodAmI delusions of godhood]], [[TheSociopath sociopaths]], [[ForScience scientists who do not let moral-societal opinions interfere with their quest for empirical knowledge]], [[BewareTheSuperman superpowerful beings corrupted by power]], or just someone with BlueAndOrangeMorality. It can be a sign of an EldritchAbomination and such creatures beyond standard human morality, thus very common in a CosmicHorrorStory and narratives where NatureIsNotNice.

* In ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' ''Maximum Impact 2'', BigBad Jivatma invokes this trope in the Pre-Final Battle one-liner if you fight him with Kim Kaphwan:

* Whoever wrote the opening cinematic of ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' seems to believe this--Certainly, they existed: [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Those]] blinded by [[AmbitionIsEvil ambition]], [[YouKilledMyFather those]] consumed with [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge vengeance]]. But here, they do not exist; only [[LetsYouAndHimFight winners and losers]] here. For here, [[MightMakesRight THE MIGHTY RULE!]]

* Tarquin in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' displays this trope [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0760.html here.]]