History Main / GreyAndGrayMorality

Any betrayals within a GreyAndGrayMorality Universe will, by their very nature, be [[HazyFeelTurn]]s.

* Although ''NabariNoOu'' initially appears to be a case of BlackAndWhiteMorality, it's actually one of the rare cases where both sides are portrayed as more or less ''equally good'' -- There's an equal number of protagonists [[spoiler:and [[CompleteMonster complete monsters]]]] on each side, and most of them change sides [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor at least once]].

* The CivilWar in Bernard Cornwell's ''Starbuck Chronicles''. This is because rather than deal with the causes of the war he approaches it from the perspective of the individuals on both sides and finds that there are heroes and scoundrels on both sides. Emphasized by making the viewpoint character, Nathaniel Starbuck, a "Copperhead" (a Northerner who sided with the SOuth) and another major character, Adam Falconer, a "Scalawag" (a Southerner who sided with the North).

* {{Gone}}, by Michael Grant. All the characters are kids under the age of 15 who are trapped in a bubble without adults. On their 15th birthdays, they dissapear, too. That's called the "Poof". The heroes are trying to figure things out, put things back to normal, learn how to use their new powers, and figure out how to survive their 15th birthdays. The villains have mostly the same motivations, except that their meathods are different. The heroes sometimes do bad things, and the villains sometimes do good things. Basically, they all just want to survive. The exception is Drake, who Michael Grant has confirmed is pure evil, no shades of gray.
* [[FugueforaDarkeningIsland Fugue for a Darkening Island]] invokes this trope, 70's Britain split into civil war as thousands of African refugees flee into Europe to escape a nuclear war. The refugees are innocent and desperate, but often violent and thuggish. The fascist goverment is cruel and opressive, but the only thing preventing the total collapse of the country. The secesionist movement is liberal and free, but weak and elitist.

* The ''OldMansWar'' series: The Colonial Union really wants to protect and preserve the human race in a universe full of hostile aliens who want to eat them. But they're basically a military junta using some questionable, authoritarian methods: recruiting the majority of their soldiers from a planet (Earth) kept completely in the dark about the rest of the universe, and vat-growing a group of emotionally-stunted, effectively ChildSoldiers [[spoiler:from the bodies of the dead]] as Special Forces, restricting civilians from certain technological advances, and engaging in aggressively expansionist wars of colonization, steadily turning the rest of the galaxy against them. On the other side, there actually are many hostile alien races who want to eat humanity, but most end up joining the Conclave out of a desire to use diplomacy to try and minimize aggressive war and further bloodshed.

* In ''LonelyWerewolfGirl'' no one is really heroic in this tale, Kalix killed her father, Sarapen is batshit insane, the rest of the werewolves downright callous and manipulative, Moonglow cheats on her boyfriend, Daniel is trying to be a DoggedNiceGuy to Moonglow, Malveria a RetiredCompleteMonster, and the Avenaris Guild of werewolf hunters are trigger happy sociopaths.

*** Well, consider the fact that he [[spoiler: faced years of war against a sworn rival that, getting tired of battle, proposed a truce which Madara was FORCED into by his own clan. And when he saw something that would, in future, reduce his clan to Hashirama's slaves, he was deemed warmongering by his own clan (Whether he took his brother's eyes out or if he offered them to Madara is still to be confirmed, but let's suppose he spoke the truth just for the sake of argument). If you consider the ultimate fate of the Uchiha Clan, Madara's prediction came true and he was just a guy fighting for his family's safety and position, much like all villages fight for their own worldviews, and was betrayed by the same family, forcing him to become the coldhearted CompleteMonster he is today. Still, he does show caring for Sasuke's wellbeing, whether for his own goals or some sympathy for the boy, it's not clear yet. He can be a CompleteMonster or a TragicVillain]] Once again, this is WildMassGuessing/YourMileageMayVary.

* [[FugueforaDarkeningIsland Fugue for a Darkening Island]] Invokes this troupe, 70's Britain split into civil war as thousands of African refugees flee into Europe to escape a nuclear war. The refugees are innocent and desperate, but often violent and thuggish. The fascist goverment is cruel and opressive, but the only thing preventing the total collapse of the country. The secesionist movement is liberal and free, but weak and elitist.

((Fugue for a Darkening Island)) Invokes this troupe, 70's Britain split into civil war as thousands of African refugees flee into Europe to escape a nuclear war. The refugees are innocent and desperate, but often violent and thuggish. The fascist goverment is cruel and opressive, but the only thing preventing the total collapse of the country. The secesionist movement is liberal and free, but weak and elitist.

*** The Ottoman Empire might be what tipped the scales slightly for the Entente, what with its human rights disasters at the time.

* ''FalloutNewVegas'' has no "good guys." Just either factions that want to control the wasteland with an iron fist, or factions that want to nuke it.

** The [[ZombieApocalypse Flood]] had killed or infected trillions of people, but their leading hive mind, [[EldritchAbomination Gravemind]], sincerely believes that he simply [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans bring peace and prosperity]] to a galaxy which simply doesn't understand the Flood due to ignorence and fear.

** The [[ZombieApocalypse Flood]] had killed or infected trillions of people, but their leading hive mind, [[EldritchAbomination Gravemind]], sincerely believes that he simply [[UtopiaJustificeTheMeans bring peace and prosperity]] to a galaxy which simply doesn't understand the Flood due to ignorence and fear.

** The [[ZombieApocalypse Flood]] had killed or infected trillions of people, but their leading hive mind, [[EldritchAbomination Gravemind]], sincerely believes that he simply [[UtopiaJustificesTheMeans bring peace and prosperity]] to a galaxy which simply doesn't understand the Flood due to ignorence and fear.

*** Even that isn't a perfect example though. Hitler was obviously a CompleteMonster along with most of the Nazi leadership, but the majority of the German soldiers were fighting for their homeland and their way of life. Last time they lost the Triple Entente(That's the US, France, and Britain) forced them to accept total responsibility for WWI and pay off an enormous amount of debt which ruined their economy. Most people had no clue about the Holocaust either. The camps themselves were run specifically by people who were identified by the higher-ups to have sociopathic tendencies.

* ''Naruto'', anyone? There are five major Ninja Villages (and a slew of smaller ones), each calling their sides to be the righteous, superior one, only allying when there's a bigger threat. Don't mind the fact that each and everyone of them [[{{Tykebomb}} train children]] [[ChildSoldiers into ninjas]] [[PersonOfMassDestruction with techniques capable of leveling cities]]. Don't mind the fact that the Leaf Village mistreats Naruto out of mindless fear, the villains are Orochimaru (If you Wild Guess, you may think of him as a victim. If the village mistreats Naruto for protecting them, why not the snake-looking kid too?), [[spoiler:Pain/Nagato, whose parents, best friend and [[AndYourLittleDogToo DOG]] were killed by Leaf ninjas]], [[spoiler:Sasuke, who, if you think clearly, is not totally wrong of wanting to, at first, kill the village elders, who ordered]] his family to be massacred by [[WhatTheHellHero HIS OLDER BROTHER]]. And there's [[WellIntentionedExtremist Danzo]], who is a massive prick who is willing to destroy all other villages if needed, just because he sees the Leaf Village as the superior one, even killing any leaf ninjas whom he sees as defiant. Since everyone is fighting for their own point of view, Good and Evil are pretty much useless.
** On the other hand, very few will disagree that [[spoiler:Madara]] is an [[CompleteMonster irredeemable asshole]].

** Or to become one.
** I would disagree. Especially in R2, it is very much a case of {{Grey and Gray Morality}}. After all, the [[spoiler:[[TheEmperor Evil Emperor]] is motivated pretty much the same way as Lelouch, and both do some pretty nasty things.]]. In the end, [[spoiler:Lelouch becomes the new Emperor and is deliberately even more oppressive]].
** The only [[CompleteMonster really]] [[ForTheEvulz evil]] guy in the show is [[BloodKnight Luciano]] [[PsychoForHire Bradley]]. Everyone else got [[WellIntentionedExtremist some]] [[KnightTemplar reason]] to do all the stuff the are [[MoralEventHorizon planning]] [[{{Instrumentality}} to do]].
** The ''only'' one? Well, you could argue that [[spoiler: Schniezel]] is insane... If you want to give him an '''excuse'''.
** [[spoiler:Schniezel]] was about as insane as [[spoiler:Lelouch and Suzaku]] were. All of them wanted world peace, and none of them gave a toss about how many innocent lives they had to sacrifice to get it.
** Main difference between them is that [[spoiler: Schniezel]] was planning this all since at last season one, while [[spoiler:Lelouch and Suzaku]] were trying to stop him at any cost after they realized what he was planning (the only thing that surprised them was [[spoiler:Nunnally]]). The bringing world pace part was more as a "clean our mess".
*** They could have went with a much less bloody path that would also guarantee freedom instead of what was really a huge gamble (since nature abhors a vacuum, and nations will always find reasons for conflict). Really, the only reason they bothered with this method was because [[spoiler:Lelouch had lost all hope following Nunnally's apparent death and the Black Knights' betrayal and was [[DeathSeeker too set upon having himself killed to escape his misery]] [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds to approach it in the right mind]]]]. Really, they were making an even bigger mess with the Zero Requiem, one that would in no way guarantee that people would be motivated to keep such terror from happening again. Lelouch said it himself that the whole idea was a huge gamble.

* In ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'', opponents NERV/SEELE and the Angels have a common goal: destroy the opponent and initiate Third Impact for their own means.

* NERV/SEELE vs. the Angels in ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'': both well-intentioned but destructive and morally ambiguous.