History Main / DefectorfromDecadence

[[caption-width-right:350:Pouring one out for his dignity.]]

* Aldir in''Literature/TheBeginningAfterTheEnd'', One of the Asuras, [[spoiler:Aldir defects from Kezess 's service completely as Kezess's corruption and selfishness lead the Asura astray. After being ordered by Kezess to use the world eater technique to prevent Agrona from summoning the Legacy though the attempt failed but destroyed Elenoir completely driving the elves to near extinction. Aldir was forced to use the technique to prevent his clan from being purged from the great eight but he was extremely hesitant to use the technique in the first place. After seeing millions of lives that should have been saved by the Asuras yet were sacrificed coldly by Kezess Indrath then Seris Vritra confronts him and calls him out for the genocide he committed under Kezess's orders but emphasize how Agrona Vritra and Kezess Indrath are two beings no better than each other also informs him of Arthur Leywin's survival in Alacrya. He decides to rebel completely against by sparing the lances he was ordered to kill then sending them to the Djinn sanctuary to intercept another asura was send to purge the resistance. Later he departs Epheotus altogether after being banished from his clan under his request but killed soilders he trained send by Kezess to discredit Aldir in front of the Asuras but he was not alone in departing. There is also another Asura Wren who share the same opinion about Kezess Indrath and was never loyal to him.]]

* ''Literature/TheBeginningAfterTheEnd'', One of the Asuras, [[spoiler:Aldir defects from Kezess 's service completely as Kezess's corruption and selfishness lead the Asura astray. After being ordered by Kezess to use the world eater technique to prevent Agrona from summoning the Legacy though the attempt failed but destroyed Elenoir completely driving the elves to near extinction. Aldir was forced to use the technique to prevent his from being purged from the great eight but he was extremely hesitant in the first place. After seeing millions of lives that should have been saved by the Asuras yet were sacrificed coldly by Kezess Indrath then Seris Vritra calling him out for the genocide he committed under Kezess's orders but emphasize how Agrona Vritra and Kezess Indrath are two beings no better than each other also informs him of Arthur Leywin's survival in Alacrya. He decides to rebel completely against by sparing the lances he was ordered to kill then sending to the Djinn sanctuary to intercept another asura was send to purge the resistance. Later he departs Epheotus altogether after being banished from his clan under his request but killed soilders he trained send by Kezess to discredit Aldir in front of the Asuras but he was not alone in departing. There is also another Asura Wren who share the same opinion about Kezess Indraath and was never loyal to him.]]

* ''Literature/TheBeginningAfterTheEnd'', One of the Asuras, [[spoiler:Aldir defects from Kezess 's service completely as Kezess's corruption and selfishness lead the Asura astray. After being ordered by Kezess to use the world eater technique to prevent Agrona from summoning the Legacy though the attempt failed but destroyed Elenoir completely driving the elves to near extinction. Aldir was forced to use the technique to prevent his from being purged from the great eight but he was extremely hesitant in the first place. After seeing millions of lives that should have been saved by the Asuras yet were sacrificed coldly by Kezess Indrath then Seris Vritra calling him out for the genocide he committed under Kezess's orders but emphasize how Agrona Vritra and Kezess Indrath are two beings no better than each other also informs him of Arthur Leywin's survival in Alacrya. He decides to rebel completely against by sparing the lances he was ordered to kill then sending to the Djinn sanctuary to intercept another asura was send to purge the resistance. Later he departs Epheotus altogether after being banished from his clan under his request but killed soilders he trained send by Kezess to discredit him but he was not alone. There is also another Asura Wren who share the same opinion about Kezess Indraath and was never loyal to him.]]

* Moses in ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'' left the palace after learning that the slaves were his own people, and that Pharoah had ordered the murder of Hebrew children.

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}''
** ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars''

** ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers''

*** Blitzwing does this in the five-part Season 3 opener of the ''Franchise/TransformersGeneration1'' series, after seeing his fellow Decepticons manipulated by the Quintessons and how psychotic Megatron had become as Galvatron.
** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime''
*** Starscream ''attempts'' to do it in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' too, but this is scuppered by Arcee trying to murder him and make it look like she killed him as he was attempting to escape custody. Though given that it's ''[[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Starscream]]'', it's questionable just how honest his attempt really was.
*** Later into ''Prime'' Dreadwing defies this trope, after learning of Starscream's reviving his brother's corpse as a [[OurZombiesAreDifferent terrorcon]], and Megatron covering it up, he does deliver a useful relic to the Autobots, but he refuses to join Optimus Prime, delivering this line:

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Downplayed with Adar and the Orcs who follow him. At some point before the show, Adar got tired to watch Sauron sacrificing his "children" for his experiments, and forms a new faction. The Orcs are still an AlwaysChaoticEvil, but they have goals like trying to create a home for themselves rather then take over the world or mindless destruction. They do fight the heroic faction in order to fulfill their goals.

* ''ComicBook/{{Cossacks}}'': At the beginning of the story, [[TheProtagonist protagonist]] Karlis (a 17th century Lithuanian Hussar) has enough of both the bloody battles he's forced to take part to and Sigismond (his brutal and ruthless Polish commander). He decides to desert and [[GoingNative goes native]] in a UsefulNotes/{{Ukrain|e}}ian UsefulNotes/{{Cossack|s}} settlement, where people really don't like to serve in the armies of the UsefulNotes/PolishLithuanianCommonwealth.

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[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/XWingRogueSquadron https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/different.jpg]]]]

->''"In all my travelling throughout the universe I have battled against evil, against power-mad conspirators. I should have stayed here. The oldest civilisation: decadent, degenerate, and rotten to the core!"''

* ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 3'':
** [[spoiler:Player character Yuri]] used to be a close friend and comrade of Makarov, the world's greatest terrorist. He started having second thoughts as the Ultranationalists became increasingly insane. Came to a head right before the infamous "No Russian" mission -- he tried to stop the massacre and Makarov shot him in the gut for it. He's now the only person in the world who hates Makarov more than ''Price''.
--->'''[[spoiler:Yuri]]''': I was a soldier of Russia. [[NeverHurtAnInnocent Not a taker of innocent lives]].
** Makarov is an inversion. He defected from the Ultranationalists after they took power because their rule was too soft, which is not how their original leader and his personal mentor Imran Zakhaev had conceived their party, even though they use his death as the basis for their rise to power.

* Mirage in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' defects from [[BigBad Syndrome]] due to him not valuing her life when Mr. Incredible threatened to kill her. She helps the Incredibles escape and make it back to Metroville to confront Syndrome and the Omnidroid v.10, thereby playing a significant part in his downfall.

* ''Franchise/DCUniverse'':

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'':

* ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'':

* The ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' start out living under the care of their obscenely wealthy parents. After discovering that money and prosperity are based on the murder of children they abandon them to be homeless rather than continue to benefit from it.

** [[spoiler:[[ChekhovsGunman Saint Miosgard]]]] also pulled a HeelFaceTurn, but unlike [[spoiler:Doflamingo's father]], he didn't renounce his position as a World Noble. This means that, since he's still considered above the law, he can assault other World Nobles with impunity, as he won't have an [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership Admiral]] sent after him in retaliation, which is shown at the Reverie where he [[spoiler:clubs Saint Charlos over the head with a mace to stop him from enslaving Princess Shirahoshi]].

* Many real-life [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Defectors defectors]] from communist nation-states were the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-25 elite]] of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Belenko society.]]

* Similarly, many of the Irish rebellions against British rule saw Irish Catholic soldiers defecting to join the rebels. By the Irish War of Independence, this had come to include English and Scottish Catholics of Irish descent.
* A really bizarre one was the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenian_raids Fenian raids,]] in which Irishmen based in the United States attacked British forts in Canada, which Washington supposedly ignored because they were still angry with Britain for toying with backing the Confederacy in [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar the late unpleasantness]]. And the Connaught Rangers, an all-Irish regiment of soldiers serving the British Empire in India, defected almost immediately upon hearing news of the Irish War of Independence. Moral of the story -- do not piss off the Irish.

** [[spoiler:Doflamingo]]'s father was a Tenryuubito until he decided to renounce the title to "live like real people". Note that his son did not take after him. Also note that the family outright went to hell after the defection.

** [[spoiler:Saint Miosgard]] also pulled a HeelFaceTurn, but unlike [[spoiler:Doflamingo's father]], he didn't renounce his position as a World Noble. This means that, since he's still considered above the law, he can assault other World Nobles with impunity, as he won't have an [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership Admiral]] sent after him in retaliation, which is shown at the Reverie where he [[spoiler:clubs Saint Charlos over the head with a mace to stop him from enslaving Princess Shirahoshi]].

** [[spoiler:Saint Miosgard]] also pulled a HeelFaceTurn, but unlike [[spoiler:Doflamingo's father]], he didn't renounce his position as a World Noble. This means that, since he's still considered above the law, he can assault other World Nobles with impunity, as he won't have an [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Admiral]] sent after him in retaliation, which is shown at the Reverie where he [[spoiler:clubs Saint Charlos over the head with a mace to stop him from enslaving Princess Shirahoshi]].

** Barristan Selmy is one, though he was also one after taking Robert's pardon after the Rebellion.