History Main / GreyAndGrayMorality

* ''ThePillowman'' uses it to stunning effect. From the beginning, Tupolski is clearly the hero of the story, Katurian is a MagnificentBastard writer and murderer, and Ariel is the grey between the two, clearly being opposed to Katurian but constantly going against Tupolski. It's turned completely on it's head when [[spoiler:Katurian is revealed to be innocent, or at least under extenuating circumstances for the three murders he ''did'' commit. From that point onward, Tupolski is still pushing to execute Katurian and Ariel loses all of his nerve. It ends on a technicality, that Katurian confessed to murders he didn't commit, and the agreement was that they would save his legacy if he confessed truthfully, so they are "entirely within [their] rights to burn all of Mr. Katurians work".]]

** Similarly, Wolf and/or Coyote, depending on the region and tribe (and even storyteller). Sometimes, he's a Prometheus-like creature who stole fire from the Gods to give birth or help humanity. Sometimes he's just looking for a meal, and isn't any more harmful than WesternAnimation/BugsBunny. Sometimes, he's a rapist coward who murders men, women, and children by tricking them into deadly games. One rape of a woman lead him into pitying her and helping her give birth, while others have him return food and protect those he stole from. He's a complicated case.

* In ''Literature/DarkOnesMistress" the MC Clarabelle learns the ruler of her kingdom (the Dark One of the title) uses criminals in the royal army, keeping them leashed by way of [[spoiler:stealing their souls]]. Innocents people sometimes get caught in this web and while killing him off is the only way to free them, it would basically [[spoiler:unleash hell on the populous]].

A result of the above is that Grey and Gray Morality has one potentially great advantage: It can be easier to maintain suspense regarding the ending. In BlackAndWhiteMorality and BlackAndGrayMorality situations, the ending is [[TheBadGuyWins almost]] always a [[TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin forgone conclusion; good wins in the end]], it's just a matter of how. In a Grey-and-Grey situation, either side might conceivably win, or both, or neither. Another great advantage of this kind of moral model is that the experience can end up entirely different between two viewers: one viewer may prefer to side with Faction A over Faction B for any number of different reasons, and another viewer may think the opposite for other reasons. Properly written, this can make for some ''very'' interesting story-telling. {{Video Game}}s in particular are a good medium for this, due to their interactive nature.

* A main theme of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', according to its creators, is that almost nobody is truly good or truly evil. Antagonists aren't permanent, and are all multi-faceted with a chance of [[HeelFaceTurn redemption]]. The protagonists also have the capacity to become [[FaceHeelTurn malicious and harmful]]. However, they are very unlikely to become largely 'evil' compared to 'evil' characters becoming 'good', making the show lean slightly towards WhiteAndGreyMorality at times. The major theme of season 3 is showing that while the Crystal Gems were fighting for a good cause against Homeworld's imperialist conquering, Gems on both sides suffered a lot during the Gem war. Rose Quartz was always implied to have done many questionable things during her time, with Garnet saying out right that she kept many secrets from them. As Bismuth's reappearance in the present day proved, the decisions of a leader are never easy. When Bismuth presented her with a weapon known as the Breaking Point that was capable of shattering Gems, effectively fragmenting their beings into several self-aware pieces that are subjected to AFateWorseThanDeath, Rose wouldn't stand for the thought of shattering as it would taint her belief that all life was worth giving a chance and making them no better than the Diamonds. Bismuth understandably upset seeing her friends broken in battle and having her creation rejected, faught Rose to take back the weapon for herself, forcing Rose to bubble Bismuth who was too dangerous to be set free. Yet she never told any of the Crystal Gems what happened to their friend, making them believe she was lost. For all that, Jasper reveals a few episodes later during one hell of a VillainousBreakdown that the vicious, uncaring soldier who spared no pity for others came back to Earth to get revenge on Rose for shattering Pink Diamond, an act equivalent to deicide in Homeworld society. As a Ruby and later Garnet confirmed, Rose went against her own morals because she felt it was for the greater good, so that Earth, humanity, the Crystal Gems, and Steven to exist, compromises had to be done. And for all that, the Homeworld Gems who faught in the war are crushed to know that all their sacrifice and centuries of fighting were for nothing. As Greg said back in season 1, "There's no such thing as a good war, Kiddo."

** Unity gets back on track, but largely by making both sides too ineffectual to amount to anything. The Continental Assassins are so wrapped up in arcane rules and hierarchy that they butt heads with Arno on just about everything, despite the fact that he's pretty much the only member getting anything accomplished. (In one revealing scene, he brings Belloq to justice after Belloq murdered their Mentor and gets ''punished'' for it.) They completely fail to prevent a bloody revolution, protect their most powerful ally, the King, or stop any of the atrocities that happen after his death. Meanwhile, the Templars have a ludicrously complicated scheme to portray the King as an out-of-touch petty tyrant so that the people will overthrow him, which will lead to chaos and teach them to hate that, but realize that the ''real'' problem was an absolute ruler who ''lacked order'' and that putting the Templars into power was the solution...[[InsaneTrollLogic or something]]. Arno singlehandedly thwarts them at every turn, and despite the fact that he isn't popular at all within the Assassin organization and was never particularly heroic to begin with, making him the ''perfect'' candidate for a Shay-esque turn, they ''never'' even attempt to win him to their side. Ultimately their plan succeeds, ''but they gain nothing from it because Arno killed them all''. As for Arno himself, he starts out as a good-for-nothing young punk a la Ezio and gets drawn into the Assassins out of a desire for revenge, but never truly embraces their way of thinking and is motivated primarily by his love for Elise (which...doesn't end well). In the end, he's been kicked out of the Order, he's all alone in a land ravaged by war and chaos, he has no ambitions or plans for the future, and he pretty much just wants to leave France and never return.

*** The third game introduces a bit of 'Black' into the mix: [[spoiler:Juno, who manipulated Assassins and Templars alike to bring about her own resurrection so she could conquer humanity. It didn't quite work out for her.]]
** Black Flag took a step backward. At first the Templars are seen to be participating in activities that, while unsavory by today's standards, were fairly typical for privileged men of the era. (One even chides an associate who expresses disgust at his dealing in slaves, asking how subjugating black men is morally worse than subjugating all men.) Edward becomes a privateer and later pirate for the sole purpose of getting rich, and he's point-blank about this to everyone he meets. When he meets the Assassins (whom he learns absolutely nothing about beforehand), they're portrayed as stubborn, unpleasant, highly territorial recluses. However, through a series of mutual struggles Edward becomes sympathetic to the Assassins' cause (they're fighting to prevent the native peoples from being enslaved, for one), ultimately adding their symbol to his flag, and learns that the Templars intended to use the Sage as part of a plot to take over the English government. While far less blatant than in [=AC2=], we never get the sense that anyone with a morally sound outlook would want anything to do with the Templars, while the Assassins at the very least are trying to stop them.

** Unity gets back on track, but largely by making both sides too ineffectual to amount to anything. The Order is so wrapped up in arcane rules and hierarchy that they butt heads with Arno on just about everything, despite the fact that he's the only Assassin who's getting anything done. (In one revealing scene, he brings Belloq to justice after Belloq murdered their Mentor, and he gets ''punished'' for it.) They completely fail to prevent a bloody revolution, protect their most powerful ally, the King, or stop any of the atrocities that happen after his death. Meanwhile, the Templars have a ludicrously complicated scheme to overthrow the King so that the people will learn to fear chaos and adopt the Templar ethos ([[InsaneTrollLogic or something]]), and, despite being thwarted at every turn by Arno...who, you'll remember, isn't popular at all within the Assassin organization and was never particularly heroic to begin with, making him the ''perfect'' candidate for a Shay-eque turn...never make any attempt to convince him to join their side. Ultimately their plan succeeds, ''but they gain nothing from it because Arno killed them all''. As for Arno himself, he starts out as a good-for-nothing young punk a la Ezio and gets drawn into the Assassins out of a desire for revenge, but never truly embraces their way of thinking and is motivated primarily by his love for Elise (which...doesn't end well). In the end, he's been kicked out of the Assassins, he's all alone in a land ravaged by war and chaos, he has no ambitions or plans for the future, and he pretty much just wants to leave France and never return.

* ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' is built around this trope.
** In the first half, among [[BigBad Zagato's]] followers, Alcyone [[LoveMartyr obeys him out of love]], Ascot only wants to be with his summoned beasts, Caldina is OnlyInItForTheMoney, Inouva follows Zagato [[IOweYouMyLife because the latter never judged him by race]], and [[spoiler:Zagato only wanted to protect Emeraude from the Magic Knights, whom she summoned [[SuicideByCop to force them to kill her]] lest she harm Cephiro with her inner conflict between her [[StarCrossedLovers love for Zagato]] and her [[BarrierMaiden duty as Pillar]]]]. On the heroes' side, Clef is unambiguously good but has to put some spin to his explanation of the Magic Knights' mission because [[spoiler:[[AwfulTruth Emeraude's situation is simply too complicated]]]], and the Magic Knights [[spoiler:ultimately succeed in killing Emeraude, only to [[BreakTheCutie cause them so much heartbreak]] Clef [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone ultimately came to regret his actions]]]].
** In the second half, Autozam, Chizeta and Fahren meant well even while invading Cephiro to make its leaders become Pillars -- Eagle wanted to clean his polluted planet [[spoiler:but also to put Cephiro and himself to sleep to avert another Pillar crisis, fearing [[HeterosexualLifePartners his best friend Lantis]] will kill himself trying to destroy it]]; Tarta and Tatra wanted to relieve Chizeta's population pressure; and Princess Aska only wanted it for fun until Fuu convinced her to be more mature with what she really wanted in life. None of them wanted to deliberately do evil, yet each one had goals that would have eventually hurt others. In the end all three make their peace both with Cephiro and each other. The only unambiguously evil character throughout the series is anime-exclusive Lady Debonair -- [[spoiler:[[TheHeartless who is nothing more but the personification of Cephiro's despair following Emeraude's death]]]].

** Unity gets back on track, but largely by making both sides too ineffectual to amount to anything. The Order is so wrapped up in arcane rules and hierarchy that they butt heads with Arno on just about everything, despite the fact that he's the only Assassin who's getting anything done. (In one revealing scene, he brings Belloq to justice after Belloq murdered their Mentor, and he gets ''punished'' for it.) They completely fail to prevent a bloody revolution, protect their most powerful ally, the King, or stop any of the atrocities that happen after his death. Meanwhile, the Templars have a ludicrously complicated scheme to overthrow the King so that the people will learn to fear chaos and adopt the Templar ethos ([[InsaneTrollLogic or something]]), and, despite being thwarted at every turn by Arno...who, you'll remember, isn't popular at all within the Assassin organization and was never particularly heroic to begin with, making him the ''perfect'' candidate for a Shay-eque turn...never make any attempt to convince him to join their side. Ultimately their plan succeeds, ''but they gain nothing from it because Arno killed them all''. As for Arno himself, he starts out as a good-for-nothing young punk a la Ezio and gets drawn into the Assassins out of a desire for revenge, but never truly embraces their way of thinking and is motivated primarily by his love for Elise (which goes pretty much nowhere). In the end he's been kicked out of the Assassins, he's all alone in a land ravaged by war and chaos, he has no ambitions or plans for the future, and he pretty much just wants to leave France and never return.

** Black Flag took a step backward. At first the Templars are seen to be participating in activities that, while unsavory by today's standards, were fairly typical for privileged men of the era. (One even chides an associate who expresses disgust at his dealing in slaves, asking how subjugating black men is morally worse than subjugating all men.) Edward becomes a privateer and later pirate for the sole purpose of getting rich, and he's point-blank about this to everyone he meets. When he meets the Assassins (whom he learns absolutely nothing about beforehand), they're portrayed as stubborn, unpleasant, highly territorial recluses. However, through a series of mutual struggles Edward becomes sympathetic to the Assassins' cause (they're fighting to prevent the native peoples from being enslaved, for one), ultimately adding their symbol to his flag, and learns that the Templars intended to use the Sage as part of a plot to take over the English government. While far less blatant than in AC2, we never get the sense that anyone with a morally sound outlook would want anything to do with the Templars, while the Assassins at the very least are trying to stop them.

** In the first game, the overarching theme (which is echoed by Lucy in the present day) is that while the Templars' goals are honorable, the methods they go about attaining them are unacceptable, and thus it's up to the Assassins to thwart them. The entire game is Altair taking out a series of Templar agents (all nasty at best and murderous at worst), each of whom, in dying, tries to convince Altair (unsuccessfully) that he was in the wrong, interspersed with a series of conversations with Al-Mualim which reveal little. In the end, it turns out that Al-Mualim was secretly a double agent who had Altair kill the Templars to prevent them from recovering the Apple of Eden, which he uses to ''enslave the entire population of Masayaf''. (He ''did'' genuinely want to bring an end to the Crusades, but because he wanted the Holy Land for himself, not out of any honorable desire for peace.) In the end, none of the unequivocally evil Templars are vindicated in any way, and Altair not only fully redeems himself but completely patches things up with his rivals eventually succeeds Al-Mualim as grandmaster.

** In the first game, the overarching theme (which is echoed by Lucy in the present day) is that while the Templars' goals are honorable, the methods they go about attaining them are unacceptable, and thus it's up to the Assassins to thwart them. The entire game is Altair taking out a series of Templar agents (all nasty at best and murderous at worst), each of whom, in dying, tries to convince Altair (unsuccessfully) that he was in the wrong, interspersed with a series of conversations with Al-Mualim which reveal little. In the end, it turns out that Al-Mualim was secretly a double agent who had Altair kill the Templars to prevent them from recovering the Apple of Eden, which he uses to ''enslave the entire population of Masayaf''. (He ''did'' genuinely want to bring an end to the Crusades, but because he wanted the Holy Land for himself, not out of any honorable desire for peace.) In the end, none of the unequivocally evil Templars are vindicated in any way, Altair not only fully redeems himself but eventually succeeds Al-Mualim as grandmaster, and the Abstergo high command orders Desmond's murder, stopping only after Lucy intervenes.

** In the first game, the overarching theme (which is echoed by Lucy in the present day) is that while the Templars' goals are honorable, the methods they go about attaining them are unacceptable, and thus it's up to the Assassins to thwart them. The entire game is Altair taking out a series of Templar agents (all nasty at best and murderous at worst), each of whom, in dying, tries to convince Altair that he was in the wrong (with at best minimal success), interspersed with a series of conversations with Al-Mualim which reveal little. In the end, it turns out that Al-Mualim was secretly a double agent who had Altair kill the Templars to prevent them from recovering the Apple of Eden, which he uses to ''enslave the entire population of Masayaf''. (He ''did'' genuinely want to bring an end to the Crusades, but because he wanted the Holy Land for himself, not out of any honorable desire for peace.) In the end, none of the unequivocally evil Templars are vindicated in any way, Altair not only fully redeems himself but eventually succeeds Al-Mualim as grandmaster, and the Abstergo high command orders Desmond's murder, stopping only after Lucy intervenes.

* The ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series makes this very clear. While the Assassins are made out to be selfless shadow figure heroes of the people and the Templars the [[BigBad evildoers]] of the world, it would be more accurate to say both parties seek for a world of peace and prosperity, they just apply different methods.
** From nearly everything we've seen of the established Assassins and Templars, it's plainly obvious that the Assassins have admirable goals (promote the arts, protect free speech, replace myth with scientific knowledge, etc.), while the Templars are at best petty tyrants. Where the gray creeps in (and drives the series) is their attitudes toward humanity at large. The Templars think that the pitiful masses are too ignorant and foolish to be trusted with freedom, and, evil or not, it would be better for the world if they were enslaved (and you certainly can make a case for that). The Assassins think that freedom should be protected at all costs, even if it ends up hurting humanity (and you can make a case for that as well). As of Revelations, it remains to be seen which side is right...which is just how Creator/UbiSoft likes it.
** The historical backdrops as well. Creator/UbiSoft make a big point of presenting all sides as sympathetically and flawed as possible while still maintaining historical accuracy. For [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII the third game]], which is set in UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, UbiSoft have made it very clear to depict the war as this, in the face of widespread criticism. The British of course have their share of {{Evil Brit}}s and atrocities, but want to hold their empire together more than anything else, while it's made very clear that the Colonials want freedom, but don't really care for ''[[TheHero Connor]]'s'' freedom, and in fact Connor points out the [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocrisy]] of wanting freedom while owning slaves. Then there's [[spoiler:George Washington destroying several native villages, including Connor's home village, which is TruthInTelevision]].
** The third game introduces a bit of 'Black' into the mix: [[spoiler:Juno, who manipulated Assassins and Templars alike to bring about her own resurrection so she could conquer humanity.]]

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''. Although the main quest is pretty much black-and-white, the politics in Vvardenfell are very clearly Gray And Gray. House Hlaalu, for example, is open-minded but corrupted, House Telvanni is honest but elitist, House Redoran is strong but xenophobic, the Empire often ranges from oppressive to a little bit too lax, the Dunmer Temple is kind and charitable but has Knights Templar (the Ordinators) and is to some degree a CorruptChurch, and the three [[PhysicalGod god-kings]] to which it is devoted are respectively benevolent but pathologically dishonest, egotistically psychotic, and dead. House Dagoth are portrayed as evil, but still remain somewhat gray. At most the main quest is closer to BlackAndGrayMorality.

* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry''. Though Tom is often out to harass, kill, and eat Jerry, you can't overlook the fact that Jerry is extremely sadistic, and sometimes isn't even provoked. But that still doesn't excuse Tom, who often brings his punishment upon himself, and at the beginning of the majority of the episodes is bullying Jerry. At times its hard to tell who the victim is; sometimes its neither (and occasionally it's both).

* A main theme of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', according to its creators, is that almost nobody is truly good or truly evil. Antagonists aren't permanent, and are all multi-faceted with a chance of [[HeelFaceTurn redemption]]. The protagonists also have the capacity to become [[FaceHeelTurn malicious and harmful]]. However, they are very unlikely to become largely 'evil' compared to 'evil' characters becoming 'good', making the show lean slightly towards WhiteAndGreyMorality at times.

* ''LightNovel/MaoyuuMaouYuusha'' deconstructs the BlackAndWhiteMorality prevalent in many other fantasy works when the Demon Queen reveals the truth to the Hero about the human-demon conflict: neither side are wholly good or evil, just the individuals and their actions. On one hand, the war helped unite feuding kingdoms against a common enemy. On the other hand, opportunists came in to exploit civilians and get rich off the war. Both the Demon Queen and the Hero, who can pride themselves of ALighterShadeOfGrey, now set off to cut through the war and find a more peaceful solution.

* The fraternity from ''Film/{{Neighbors|2014}}'', especially Teddy, are depicted surprisingly sympathetically, while Mac and Kelly do some pretty dark things during the feud. Neither side comes across as fully bad or fully good.

** The main Baratheon family is a mixed bag, because King Robert is shown as a charismatic ruler who is at least GenreSavvy enough to surround himself with able advisers. On the other hand, his son [[spoiler:(by his wife Cersei through BrotherSisterIncest with Jaime)]] Joffrey is psychotic, immature and capricious, with his only redeeming trait being his yearning to win his father's approval.

* ''Literature/BlackCompany'' by Glen Cook at best. Most prevalent in the first book, and then appearing here and there throughout the series.

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'': The episode "If It's Doomsday, This Must Be Belfast" explores this. One of the villains, [[ForTheEvulz for the heck of it]] plants a nuclear bomb in three areas of ethnic conflict, and gives detonators to one member of each side, in an attempt to prove humanity will destroy itself. The individuals from each conflict act petty, stubborn, and have their fingers on the button at one point. But neither side is portrayed as truly malicious, just a product of conflicts that go back generations. And when shown a vision of nuclear war, they agree to dismantle the nukes. This would have been a fine message had it not for the [[SoBadItsGood poor but unintetionally hilarious writings]] (Turning what would be an analysis on sectarian conflict into a WestSideStory-esque gang feud), [[ArtisticLicense little (or lack of)research]] (Usage of Fenian Prots instead of its usage as separate terms of Fenian for Catholic and Prots for Protestants) , and [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent ridiculous dialogue]]for the Belfast inhabitants.

* In ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', the central conflict in the game is extremely lacking in details, but what details we do know ultimately make it an example of this. The conflict between Fire and Dark seems clear-cut at first, but we're shown numerous instances of how LightIsNotGood and DarkIsNotEvil throughout the games. On the other hand we're also shown numerous instances of LightIsGood and DarkIsEvil at the same time. The message of the games seems to be that ''anything'' can be an evil, corrupting influence if taken too far.

* In ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', the central conflict in the game is extremely lacking in details, but what details we do know ultimately make it an example of this.

** The game also takes measures to humanise the previously AlwaysChaoticEvil Raiders through EnemyChatter and WhatMeasureIsAMook. Some are [[CardCarryngVillain psychos who enjoy their line of work]], and some are obviously strung out and tormented by what they have to do to survive. Shooting Raiders dead will sometimes cause their allies to cry out in anguish and horror.

* ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'': First, there is the Damned 33rd, who can only maintain order in a crumbled society through draconian martial law; then there is the Emirati insurgency, defending their people against what they see as murderous invaders; the Exiled 33rd, rebelling against a leadership they view to be suicidal and insane; the CIA, who on Riggs' side attempt to prevent a larger war from breaking out at the cost of ending this one, and on Gould's side prioritize rescuing the populace; and of course the player's faction, Delta Squad, who are only trying to "save the day". [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the conflicting interests of all these groups will result in almost everyone dead, in no small part due to your own actions.]]