History Main / AmbiguouslyEvil

* [[http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Ulysses Ulysses]] from ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' is this. He seems destined to end up fighting [[TheHero The Courier]] in some sort of legendary battle. Joshua Graham implies that he [[spoiler: might have ties to Caesar's Legion]]. He carries the flag of the Old World on his back, which has [[VideoGame/Fallout2 connotations]], and ''Old World Blues'' hints pretty strongly that he wants to [[spoiler:do ''something'' in The Divide, related to waking up the Old World]]. Though audio files from the same add-on detail him rescuing [[spoiler:Christine]] from the Big Empty and nursing them back to health.
** Eventually, he's revealed to be a [[spoiler:WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds of sorts on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the Courier for destroying a nation in-the-making, with his ultimate plan being to use [=ICBMs=] to cut off the NCR supply lines, leading to the NCR, Legion, and the Mojave destroying each other so that a new nation may rise from the ashes of the Old World symbols.]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'': After witnessing his sister be callously killed by nobility in order to kill her kidnapper, lowborn Delita Heiral begins to scheme and plot his way to power. In the process, he uses both his old friend [[TheHero Ramza]] and the princess of the realm Ovelia as pawns to get what he wants. The game leaves it ambiguous whether he had any true feelings towards either of them, but [[spoiler:sadly Ovelia comes to believe that he never loved her and only used her to to become king. On her birthday, she stabs him believing that he plans to dispose of her just like she believes he disposed of Ramza (who everyone believes died), forcing him to kill her in defense.]]

* ''VideoGame/HeroKingQuestPeacemakerPrologue'': In the ending, Sanguine proposes unsealing the Dark Mother so that the Dark Realm gains an advantage against the human nations. Spiderweb notes that Sanguine must have her own motive for this goal, but this has yet to be revealed.

* ''VideoGame/PeacemakerSeries'': The Light Spirit appears to be the BigGood of ''VideoGame/DiceAndTheTowerOfTheReanimatorGloriousPrincess'', but in ''VideoGame/HeroKingQuestPeacemakerPrologue'', she's the deity of a racist and misogynistic religion, making her seem to be an example of LightIsNotGood. It's unknown if she's just pretending to be benevolent to humans or if the Cerulean Land misinterpreted her teachings.

** Lelouch. How sympathetic and selfish are his goals? And do his goals justify his means of trying to achieve them? [[spoiler: In the end, though, this is made less ambiguous by his Zero Requiem. Lelouch adopts the role of an evil emperor and arranges his own assassination by Zero, now being played by Suzaku, so that the world can finally be at peace.]]

* This trope is the whole point of ''Series/{{Dexter}}''. The title character is a serial killer, but has a very strict code that forces him only to target people whom he can prove beyond a reasonable doubt have themselves murdered innocent people (he has occasionally made exceptions for rapists, but the general idea is the same), and only if they have escaped attempts to bring them to justice legitimately. On the other hand, he doesn't actually care about saving innocent lives; his code is mostly designed to allow him to most effectively get away with killing people by targeting those that society does not particularly care about.

* ''Webcomic/TheBikiniBottomHorror'' has SpongeBob himself. In the comic's epilogue, it's revealed that he knew about the Tortured One (a gigantic clone of Patrick used as a source of Krabby Patty meat) and gave Patrick an under-cooked patty on purpose, causing Patrick to assimilate the Tortured One's memories. The Tortured One then proceeds to rampage through Bikini Bottom, destroying the Krusty Krab, and after its defeat [=SpongeBob=] opens his own restaurant. While the implication is that [=SpongeBob=] masterminded the Tortured One's rampage from the very start to destroy his competition, it could just as easily have been revenge on Mr. Krabs for mistreating his friend that simply [[GoneHorriblyRight spiraled out of control]].

* ''Webcomic/TheBikiniBottomHorror'' has [[spoiler: [=SpongeBob=] himself]]. In the comic's epilogue, it's revealed that he knew about the Tortured One (a gigantic clone of Patrick used as a source of Krabby Patty meat) and gave Patrick an under-cooked patty on purpose, causing Patrick to assimilate the Tortured One's memories. The Tortured One then proceeds to rampage through Bikini Bottom, destroying the Krusty Krab, and after its defeat [=SpongeBob=] opens his own restaurant. While the implication is that [=SpongeBob=] masterminded the Tortured One's rampage from the very start to destroy his competition, it could just as easily have been revenge on Mr. Krabs for mistreating his friend that simply [[GoneHorriblyRight spiraled out of control]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': [[Characters/AmphibiaKingAndrias King Andrias]] doesn't do anything evil onscreen until season 2's finale, but there are hints dropped throughout the second season that something is... ''off''... about him. He claims that his ancestors that used the box were "scientists and peaceful explorers" while looking away from the camera, and his last scene in "A Day at the Aquarium" has him making a "proposition" to Marcy with an ominous musical cue. "The First Temple" ends with him reporting to some enigmatic being underneath Newtopia that "the prophecy" is being undone, and they will have their revenge. All and any ambiguity gets thrown out the window in the season 2 finale once Andrias makes it clear that his ancestors were not "frail explorers" but violent conquerors of worlds, and he will continue that legacy at any cost.

** Barok van Zieks is introduced in ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorneyAdventures'' as a racist, [[ActuallyNotAVampire suspiciously vampire-esque]] aristocrat who is heavily implied to murder defendants that he fails to convict. [[VillainTakesAnInterest He also quickly becomes fixated on Ryunosuke]] and starts prosecuting every case Ryunosuke takes to the exclusion of all others. However, ''Adventures'' concludes without revealing van Zieks's motives or the true nature of the Reaper's "curse", only stating that [[YouRemindMeOfX Ryunosuke reminds him of a past traitor]] and [[SequelHook hinting at future revelations]]. The sequal ''Resolve'', however, does give the player the answers: [[spoiler:He's a KnightInSourArmor hampered by his FatalFlaw of {{Tragic Bigot}}ry, honest but [[UnwittingPawn unknowingly complicit]] in a conspiracy by his British colleagues that pinned the blame on the Japanese emissary he thought had betrayed him]].

* Hirofumi Yoshida in ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' is [[DissonantSerenity completely undisturbed after reducing a man to a puddle of blood]], and is revealed during his reintroduction in Part 2 to be working for a [[NebulousEvilOrganization shadowy employer]] seeking to keep Denji from working as Chainsaw Man anymore. Yoshida himself denies that his employer is evil, [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial though not in a very convincing way]], and is willing to negotiate a price to ensure Denji’s retirement instead of trying to intimidate or force him. Not helping matters is how he steps in during Denji and [[spoiler:Yuko]]'s fight only ''after'' it ended and Denji is ready to reveal his identity to a student he rescued; either his arrival was that conveniently timed or he ''[[MurderByInaction chose]]'' to let innocent people die just to keep his cover. [[spoiler:He finally shows his true colors in Chapter 132, no longer taking no for an answer and kidnapping Denji while [[IHaveYourWife holding his new family hostage]] to ensure his compliance.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/TheNightmareHouse'', Lola's nightmare involves a judge at her pageant calling parts of her face ugly, which prompts the parts to fall off until she's TheBlank. While Lola believes that this was the judge's intention, it's actually left unclear.

* ''Literature/TheGruffalo'' has the owl, snake, and fox. They invite the mouse to have lunch, tea, and a feast respectively and while the narrator does say that "the mouse looked good" and the mouse certainly thinks they want to eat him, it's still left unclear if that was actually true or if they were telling the truth.

* The Narrator from ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'' qualifies. In some endings, he helps you out (or tries to make you happy). In other endings, he is the BigBad.

* In ''Animation/FlowerFairy'', there are hints throughout Season 1 that Lucio might be secretly evil as early as his introduction, with protagonist An'an's fairy companion Kukuru immediately freaking out when he sees him capturing a fairy for himself. [[spoiler: The Season 1 finale reveals that he is fully on the heroes' side.]]

* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'': Troupe Master Grimm and by extension the [[{{Cult}} Grimm Troupe]]. A lot of characters feel something sinister about this group, but their actual goals are never clear. What does Grimm gain when supplying the Knight with a Grimmchild? What exactly does his "ritual" entail? Nobody really knows. At least, every member of the Troupe manages to be [[AffablyEvil very polite]].

* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'': [[CultLeader Troupe Master Grimm]] and by extension the [[{{Cult}} Grimm Troupe]]. A lot of characters feel something sinister about this group, but their actual goals are never clear. What does Grimm gain when supplying the Knight with a Grimmchild? What exactly does his "ritual" entail? Nobody really knows. At least, every member of the Troupe manages to be [[AffablyEvil very polite]].

** Gul Dukat quite deliberately uses this trope in all his appearances. True, he's one of the show's primary antagonists, responsible for many pre-series atrocities, and a SmugSnake on top of all that, but he claims it was all out of loyal service to Cardassia, he portrays himself as a family man forced away from his family time and again, and he does seem to genuinely respect his enemies. [[spoiler:This facade gets a little strained after he negotiates Cardassia's service to the Dominion, which wasn't good for anybody in the long run. Then his daughter betrays the Dominion, his second in command shoots her, he goes through a brief bout of insanity in which he realizes he wasn't evil ''enough'', and he allows himself to be possessed by what are essentially demons. Come season seven, he's Evil with a capital E.]]

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'':

* ''Fanfic/ObitoSensei'': Amegakure, which has gone from a small but industrial village to the ruler of the Nation of Rain. On the one hand, they seem to still be dedicated to bringing world peace, [[ForWantOfANail without Yahiko's death to drive Nagato to despair]], took in and raised several young shinobi who canonically were orphans like Haku, Kabuto, and Suigetsu, and during the Chunnin Exam seem to be the most open to working with shinobi of other villages. On the other hand, a lot of their beliefs, coming from Haku, have a noticeable KnightTemplar sound to them, and they also imprisoned their country's daimyo, setting up the Akatsuki as the de-facto leaders of the entire nation. On the ''other'' other hand, most of the people opposing them in the elemental nations are politically motivated, advocating the utter destruction of the village to preserve the current power balance, and said daimyo was both corrupt and inefficient, partially responsible for the country's neverending civil war. On yet ''another'' hand, we still don't know where Zetsu is in this AU...