History Main / BenevolentAbomination

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': While "abomination" is perhaps a bit of a stretch, the [[RiddleForTheAges incredibly mysterious]] Tom Bombadil fits the trope well. To begin with, no one's sure what the heck he even ''is''--he's definitely not a human, hobbit, wizard, elf, or any other known species. He claims to remember "the first raindrop and the first acorn," and it's hinted that he was around before Middle-Earth itself was created. Tom is also the most powerful creature in the entire world: the [[ArtifactOfDoom One Ring]] has no effect on him, and it's said that even if Sauron's forces took over the entirety of the world, Tom's home would be the last area to fall. For all his strength, though, Mr. Bombadil lives simply as a jolly, food-loving fellow who likes to tell stories, pick flowers for his wife Goldberry, and entertain guests with songs and stories... when he's not utterly destroying any monster who threatens those guests.

** Yog-Sothoth, the Lurker at the Threshold, serves as one of these, to the point where he's almost a TokenGoodTeammate among his fellow Outer Gods. He [[TheOmnipresent exists simultaneously at all points in time and space]] and so [[TheOmniscient knows everything]], and is surprisingly willing to share that knowledge with his loyal followers. He's also known for having casual chats with human beings and even granted the occultist Randolph Carter a wish on one occasion. There are several stories where Yog-Sothoth is [[SummonBiggerFish invoked against less powerful deities]] as a protector; in Lovecraft's own final tale, "The Haunter of the Dark," the protagonist fervently prays to Yog-Sothoth to save him from the titular monster. Even Yog's appearance is less nightmarish than the other Eldritch Abominations: while they're monstrous, he takes the form of a series of glowing spheres. It's somewhat [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] in that Yog-Sothoth can still drive people insane and operates on BlueAndOrangeMorality; he's just generally nicer about it than the rest of the group.
** Kthanid, Cthulhu's brother from ''Literature/TitusCrow'', is the head of the Elder Gods, eldritch entities who are "the good guys" against the Outer Gods and Great Old Ones. He looks exactly like him, save the fact he has orange eyes. Whereas Cthulhu radiates evil, people in Kthanid's presence feel benevolence - and he backs it up by making sure to protect the title character, even if it requires some scheming.

* The obscure Creator/{{Marvel}} superhero Straw Man, he's a scarecrow shaped thing who is first introduced keeping the demon Kalumai a SealedEvilInACan, he possesses a gaze that can induce fear in others and he likes to kill Kalumai's cultists in creative and brutal fashion, but he is still unambiguously a good guy.

* ''WebVideo/MyLittlePonyTheMentallyAdvancedSeries'': Zig-zagged with Thrackerzod. Her intents to kill Twilight Sparkle are wicked, and to even exist in physical space she needs to take over the body of a child, but to the rest of the Crusaders she's surprisingly cordial and lenient. Even when they aggravate her, she sticks with them out of seemingly genuine camradery, and when the universe is reset (which she's aware of) she makes sure to immediately go re-befriend them.

* ''WesternAnimation/Nimona2023'': The title character is some sort of PerpetuallyProtean being who is so durable that being cut with a whirling saw blade, impaled with a sword, and shot with an arrow [[FeelNoPain doesn't hurt her]], being blasted head-on with [[spoiler:a WaveMotionGun]] can't kill her, and can easily take on huge groups of knights by herself. Her shapeshifting powers are apparently without limit, as she's shown turning into animals, people, cartoon characters, and [[spoiler:even a {{kaiju}} at the end]]. She's shown to be [[spoiler:''at least'' one-thousand years old and has not aged at all, making her probably immortal]]. However, despite the CardCarryingVillain persona she puts on, she is completely benevolent and [[IJustWantToHaveFriends only wants to have friends]].

* ''WesternAnimation/Nimona2023'': The title character is some sort of perpetually shapeshifting being who is so durable that being cut with a whirling saw blade, impaled with a sword, and shot with an arrow [[FeelNoPain doesn't hurt her]], being blasted head-on with [[spoiler:a WaveMotionGun]] can't kill her, and can easily take on huge groups of knights by herself. Her shapeshifting powers are apparently without limit, as she's shown turning into animals, people, cartoon characters, and [[spoiler:even a {{kaiju}} at the end]]. She's shown to be [[spoiler:''at least'' one-thousand years old and has not aged at all, making her probably immortal]]. However, despite the CardCarryingVillain persona she puts on, she is completely benevolent and [[IJustWantToHaveFriends only wants to have friends]].

** The Vorlons claim to be this, guiding races like the Minbari against the Shadows.[[spoiler:SubvertedTrope - they are in a long war with the Shadows any only care if the younger races keep fighting]]
** Kosh was an exception to the Vorlons - in the words of several characters, he cared about the younger races. But he was "good" by the BlueAndOrangeMorality of the Vorlons. At one point he put two of the main characters in a test of their commitment that nearly killed them.
** Lorien is true to this trope [[spoiler:after he meets Sherridan]] - he works with the younger races to end the Shadow War and he convinces all the First Ones to leave the galaxy. He appeared as an old humaniod but his true form was an orb of light with tentacles of light.

** Played with in the episode "[[Recap/LoveDeathAndRobotsAllThroughTheHouse All Through the House]]". In it, Santa is portrayed as a {{Santabomination}}; a grotesque red xenomorph-like creature that drinks through a straw-like tongue, and can identify the concepts of goodness and naughtiness through smell. Despite it's horrifying appearance, it lives up to its benevolent status by regurgitating the perfect gifts for children it approves of, and even gives an AffectionateGestureToTheHead to reassure anyone that see it that it means no harm. However, the children that were unfortunate enough to witness it lie awake for the whole night, [[AmbiguousSituation wondering what would've happened to them if they hadn't been good]]... [[ImpliedDeathThreat Especially after an ominous warning that it leaves for them before leaving]]:

[[quoteright:300:[[Webcomic/{{Swords}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/swordswebcomicpicklejar_0.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Even if the Everstabbed [[ImpossiblePickleJar couldn't manage to open the jar]], it was nice of them to try.]]

* Mantorok in ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' is much more benevolent to humanity, compared to the three other Ancients. The worse Mantorok has done to humanity was eating two Khmer guards, which earned Pious Augustus's mocking for resorting to eating "flesh and blood," and sacrificing a few individuals to prevent the total extinction of humanity. [[spoiler:Its ability to manipulate time and space not only pushes humanity to stop the Ancient's plans but also allows the three Ancients to destroy each other before merging the timeline that ensures all three of their deaths. What it plans to do with the humans afterward is unknown.]]

* ''Series/StarTrek''

* ''Series/StarTrek'' has the Medusans, a race of EnergyBeings introduced in the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E5IsThereInTruthNoBeauty Is There In Truth No Beauty?]]". The Medusans are powerful telepaths who are also friendly with the Federation, their thoughts being described as "sublime". Unfortunately, their physical appearance is so repellent to most corporeal lifeforms that looking at one causes [[BrownNote insanity and subsequent death]]. As such, their dealings with Starfleet must be carried out via psychic intermediaries or from within special containment suits. Only Spock and Dr. Jones are shown to be able to withstand the effects of looking directly at a Medusan with the help of a special visor, owing to the former's Vulcan mind and the latter being blind.

* ''Series/StarTrek'' has the Medusans, a race of EnergyBeings introduced in the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E5IsThereInTruthNoBeauty Is There In Truth No Beauty?]]". The Medusans are powerful telepaths who are also friendly with the Federation, their thoughts being described as "sublime". Unfortunately, their physical appearance is so repellent to most corporeal lifeforms that looking at one causes [[BrownNote insanity and subsequent death]]. As such, their dealings with Starfleet must be carried out via psychic intermediaries or from within special containment suits. Only Spock is shown to be able to withstand the effects of looking directly at a Medusan with the help of a special visor, owing to the unique characteristics of his Vulcan mind.