History Main / MoralityKitchenSink

* The ''VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar'' mod, ''{{VideoGame/Thera}}'' is a standalone mod set in a LowFantasy AfterTheEnd scenario with a bunch of {{Fantasy Counterpart Culture}} factions duking it out. They all morally run the gamut between white, black and every shade of grey, with the majority falling into grey.
** The closest there is to a good guy is [[TheGoodKingdom Avalon]], which is basically [[KingArthur Arthurian]] England which [[LawfulGood places the protection and prosperity of its people as its ultimate priority, with all citizens and the king under the rule of law]]. That said, they still maintain close ties with the brutally dogmatic Inquisition, and they have a very backwards view of things like scientific development.
** A very good example of a morally grey faction is the Uruk Dominion. Basically, they're a city-state reminiscent of [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Isengard]], which came to be after a GladiatorRevolt. It's the only place in the world where the Uruks, Ly Kan and Reptarri are truly free, and their long-term goal is to free the other members of their oppressed races. But not so fast. They breed vast armies of warriors using breeding facilities, using human women, ones that the Uruks have ''[[{{Hypocrite}} captured and enslaved]]'' themselves.
** Probably the closest this game has to a bad guy is a tie between the Warriors of Kukulcan or the Grand Duchy of Dracule. The former is an unholy mix of a {{Mayincatec}} ReligionOfEvil and TheHorde, united and driven by the worship of the god Kukulcan and [[AbsoluteXenophobe their hatred of everyone else]]. The latter is basically Transylvania under the rule of Vlad the Impaler, with all the [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence brutality]], [[DecadentCourt corruption]], [[MightMakesRight barbarism]], [[EvilOverlord brutal kings]] and [[TheDungAges harsh lifestyles for the common folk]] turned UpToEleven.

** The overarching conflict between the humans and elves is GreyAndGrayMorality verging on EvilVsEvil: both sides have historically been extremely ruthless and seem to be motivated primarily by power combined with fear and hatred of the other side.

* ''Fanfic/CodePrimeR1Rebellion'': In order from Whitest to Blackest.
** White: The Autobots are White, being a race of freedom fighters who are TheFettered and devoted to protecting all other beings in the universe.
** Near-White: The Black Knights and Lelouch are slightly greyer than the Autobots (being willing to use people like Diethard, but still have genuinely good motives and fairly high standards).
** Light gray: Suzaku occupies a darker shade of grey, having genuinely good motivations but performing villainous actions to achieve them.
** Neutral Grey: Occupying the grey area would be the various innocent civilians on both sides, who want nothing to do with the conflict but are apathetic to the causes of the fighting.
** Dark Grey: Charles, [[spoiler:Marianne, and V.V.]] are slightly worse then Suzaku, having understandable motivations but having both goals and actions that are far from ideal.
** Near-Black: The Britannian Military is made up of Imperialistic Conquerors but they still have families, loved ones, and respectable ideals and morals.
** Black: The Decepticons are unambiguous villains, with only the occasional NobleDemon.
** [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Blue and Orange]]: [[spoiler:Mao]].

* For ''Fanfic/CodePrimeR1Rebellion'':
** White: The Autobots.
** Near-White: The Black Knights.
** Light gray: Suzaku.
** Neutral Grey: Most of the civilians and the Ashford Student Council.
** Dark Grey: Dreadwing, Charles and his allies.
** Near-Black: The Britannian Military.
** Black: Most of the Decepticons.

* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'': This is usually how the games start: humanity has been plunged into a terrifying environment where the EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is either looming on the horizon or is a very recent memory, [[FantasyKitchenSink all manner of mythical beings]] are running rampant, and a [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits bunch of humans of varying personalities, backgrounds, and degrees of morality and idealism]] are just trying to stay alive, with finding a solution to the mess an ever-present ([[ActionSurvivor but often secondary]]) concern. Then [[LawfulEvil Law]] and [[ChaoticEvil Chaos]]-aligned beings start pressuring the heroes to take a stance. By the third act, almost everyone [[WithUsOrAgainstUs will have taken a side]] and [[MortonsFork demand you do the same]]. Should you choose neither, you end up as [[OnlySaneMan one of the few sane people]] in an EvilVersusEvil scenario.

* The SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' takes this even further. There are some outright evil characters, but all of the series' major villains are [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well Intentioned Extremists]] who [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans genuinely believe that they are making the world a better place]]. While [[TheHero Korra]] and most of her allies are unquestionably good, a major part of her character arc is rejecting BlackAndWhiteMorality and understanding that [[VillainHasAPoint her enemies can have worthwhile ideas.]]

** Dark gray: Duncan, the juvenile {{delinquent}}. He’s an experienced knife fighter and tends to view girls as objects, but he has too many PetTheDog moments to be a “black”.

* ''LightNovel/TheAsteriskWar'': Only the protagonists and Sylvia are in the White area of morality. Several characters like Claudia are willing to use underhanded means to achieve noble goals. Others like Irene and Orphelia used to be good people until they were forced into villainy by circumstances beyond their control. The Integrated Enterprises Foundation is a power-hungry MegaCorp that keeps entire countries in poverty simply because it's profitable to them.

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'', a crossover between ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' and ''Franchise/Godzilla'' has characters from all over the spectrum. From the shiny white Mane 6 and Princesses, to the pitch black [[OmnicidalManiac Omnicidal Maniacs]] who revel in destruction. Among the heroes' allies are the incredibly destructive but noble Kaiju. Among the villains' forces are the Dark Hunters, who are also [[NobleDemon capable of heroism and decency]] went not working for the bad guy.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' is a '''''huge''''' example of this. The protagonists are [[ChaoticNeutral morally ambiguous]] pirates that are motivated by self-interest and [[ToBeAMaster personal goals]] rather than any abstract moral considerations, but tend to do good anyway by defeating more evil pirates (or marines) that happened to [[ItsPersonal do something to offend them]]. Other pirates can be anything from ChaoticGood adventurers to selfish {{Jerkass}}es. Likewise Marines can be anything from [[HeroAntagonist legitimate heroes]] to [[PunchClockVillain guys who just want a check]] to [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-meaning extremists]] to [[KnightTemplar Knight Templars]]. One Piece characters have all kinds of varying motivations and alignments - it very much depends on the individual person rather than what group they belong to.

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': The series began as a group of kids training to be hunters who specialize in killing Grim, an always chaotic evil race who prey on humans and fanas. However as the series goes on you are shown other organizations with their own motive and reason to fight, and even among the heroes each one has different motives to solve the same problem and tend to have trouble trusting each other.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': The series began as a group of kids training to be hunters who specialize in killing Grim, an always chaotic evil race who prey on humans and fanas. However as the series goes on you are shown other organizations with their own motive and reason to fight, and even among the heroes each one has different motives to solve the same problem and tend to have trouble trusting each other.
[[/folder]]

* ''WebAnimation/RWBY'': The series began as a group of kids training to be hunters who specialize in killing Grim, an always chaotic evil race who prey on humans and fanas. However as the series goes on you are shown other organizations with their own motive and reason to fight, and even among the heroes each one has different motives to solve the same problem and tend to have trouble trusting each other.

[[Folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/RWBY'': The entire series is based around a forever war let by the Big Good Ozpin and Omnicidal Maniac Salem and the main characters are solders fighting in said war. However Ozpin's inner circle
[[/folder]]

* ''Webcomic/VoldemortsChildren'' contains almost every stripe and shade of hero, anti-hero, bystander, anti-villain, and villain imaginable, from the (usually) morally upstanding [[PragmaticHero Hermione Granger]] and zir assistant and close friend Tonks to the murderous yet ethically-deliberate [[WellIntentionedExtremist Harry Potter]] to the seemingly incomprehensible [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Luna Lovegood]] and the cruel yet possibly broken [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Voldemort]]. The work excels at providing characters of a veritable rainbow of moralities.

** ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' is practically a case study of this trope. On one end of the scale, there are the Radiants, who are all trying very hard to do the right thing at every turn, but who often disagree on just what the right thing is - they are all on board with [[WeHelpTheHelpless protecting the innocent,]] but each order of Radiants has its own ideas of just who needs the most protecting and how to go about it - and who are also very capable of making mistakes, especially since each one is in some way [[BrokenAce "broken."]] On the other we have Odium, the embodiment of God's passion and rage without any of God's gentler virtues to temper it, and thus horrendously evil by most definitions - but nonetheless someone who can honestly claim that [[NecessaryEvil without him and what he represents, humans would be incapable of being human.]] In between the two, we have an entire CrapsackWorld full of people who aren't ''evil'', per se, and who might if pressed on the subject admit that they'd ''like'' to be good, but who nevertheless feel like they have to look after themselves by whatever underhanded means are available because [[InherentInTheSystem everyone else is doing it]] and trying to have morals just turns you into a DoomedMoralVictor. And then there's the listeners / parshendi, who looks an awful lot like someone's LegionOfDoom but who are in fact [[spoiler: the original inhabitants of Roshar who were invaded and ultimately enslaved by the humans, meaning that they are pretty much in a position to wage a GuiltFreeExterminationWar on the humans, something that many of the heroes openly acknowledge while still having no intention of letting their people get exterminated.]] Add to that at least two factions who both think that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans, and one who thinks that the human conscience is inherently flawed and that [[KnightTemplar following a pre-existing code of conduct with psychotic strictness]] is the only morally permissible option. Yeah, if Sanderson hasn't represented every imaginable shade of morality in this series, it certainly isn't for lack of trying!

* ''Manga/Berserk'' is full of walking examples of this.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' is a '''''huge''''' example of this. The protagonists are [[ChaoticNeutral morally ambiguous]] pirates that are motivated by self-interest and [[ToBeAMaster personal goals]] rather than any abstract moral considerations, but tend to do good anyway by defeating more evil pirates (or marines) that happened to [[ItsPersonal do something to offend them]]. Other pirates can be anything from ChaoticGood adventurers to selfish [[JerkAss jerkasses]]. Likewise Marines can be anything from [[HeroAntagonist legitimate heroes]] to [[PunchClockVillain guys who just want a check]] to [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-meaning extremists]] to [[KnightTemplar Knight Templars]]. One Piece characters have all kinds of varying motivations and alignments - it very much depends on the individual person rather than what group they belong to.

* In ''{{Webcomic/Roommates}}'', well, technically there are forces of good and evil but those are generally A) [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil too busy stalling eachother]]. B) Not allowed to (directly)interfere with the free will of people. So the main characters include a chaotic jerkass trickster with BlueAndOrangeMorality and ItAmusedMe attitudes and an extremely disillusioned LawfulNeutral ex-cop, and this is just the beginning.

* ANY large group of people will invariably have members of all moral and ethical stances

* FanFic/PonyPOVSeries: You've got flawed heroes who, while good, are not perfect ([[GodIsFlawed not even Celestia]]), [[spoiler:the Draconequi who have a form of BlueAndOrangeMorality, and range from ChaoticGood to ChaoticNeutral,]] [[spoiler:the Alicorns, who are LawfulGood but some members are willing to sacrifice the needs of the few for the needs of the many (for the most part)]], and Discord's pitch black morality.

* FanFic/PonyPOVSeries: You've got flawed heroes who, while good, are not perfect ([[GodIsFlawed not even Celestia]]), [[spoiler:the Draconequi who have a form of BlueAndOrangeMorality, and range from ChaoticGood to ChaoticNeutral,]] [[spoiler:the Alicorns, who are LawfulGood but some members are willing to sacrifice the needs of the few for the needs of the many (for the most part)]], and Discord's pitch black morality.

* Daniel Suarez' ''Literature/{{Daemon}}'' and its sequel ''Freedom[[superscript:TM]]''. Apart from Roy Merritt, who earns immortalisation as a genuine embodiment of justice, the reader's perceptions of who the good guys and bad guys are is constantly changing.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': At the furthest extreme of the Hero end we have Michael Carpenter, [[RedBaron the Fist of God]], who only fights monsters, has a grand total of one recorded instance of swearing in the series proper (which was in a side story), and is all around about as wholesome as a person can be. Slightly away from the good extreme would be the majority of the series other heroes e.g. [[TheHero Harry Dresden]], he's a generally upstanding guy with a '''''massive''''' case of ChronicHeroSyndrome, but isn't above a bit of pragmatism if it's necessary. More towards the middle of the scale is [[MagicalSociety The White Council]] which is made up of plenty of KnightTemplar {{Jerkass}}es, but has methods which are shown to oftentimes be necessary. The main representative of dark grey is John Marcone, who is a ruthless crime boss, but ends up [[EnemyMine joining forces]] with Dresden more often than opposing him and '''''[[BerserkButton will not]]''''' [[EvenEvilHasStandards tolerate any violence against children]]. And when it comes to his usual criminal activities, he believes, as characters of his type often do, that crime's going to exist no matter what, and it's better than it be controlled by someone like him than descend into every-gang-for-itself warfare. As for the monsters of the setting, we have any one the supernatural villains, e.g. the Skinwalker, a terrifying and sadistic monster whose [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm true form]]'s mere sight is enough to send Harry into a HeroicBSOD. To top it off, we even have BlueAndOrangeMorality in the form of [[TheFairFolk the fae]], whose Winter Court [[spoiler:guards the universe against monsters from Outside, who don't ''enter'' reality so much as ''parasitize'' it]], and whose Summer Court [[spoiler:protects the universe from the Winter Court]]. On top of that, we find that Winter has the ability to be ''logical'' and stay its hand when it's best to in the long term, while Summer is more prone to going off half-cocked (and when a fae as powerful as the leaders of the courts does that, we can be talking armageddon.)

* Justified in the ''Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings'' series. The Six Duchies folk, the Bingtowners, and the Outislanders all have very different standards of morality, depending on their previous histories, and even those groups are not morally homogenous, with each individual character bringing their own reasons and morals to the story.

* The main cast of ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' runs the gamut from [[TheCape do-gooder "boy scout" heroes]] like Ray, to {{Pragmatic Hero}}es like Sara, to [[AntiHero well-intentioned but often selfish characters]] like Rip, to [[NobleDemon seemingly villainous characters with a hidden good side]] like Snart, all the way to [[HeroicComedicSociopath Mick Rory]], an unrepentent thief, murderer, and arsonist who only joins the team's ostensibly heroic mission because he likes the company and because it gives him lots of opportunities to indulge his violent tendencies. Then you have the purely villainous ComicBook/VandalSavage.
* ''[[{{Series/The100}} The 100]]'' makes sure that black, grey and white are represented among all of the three main groups (sky people, grounders and mountain men). Clearly good characters, such as Clarke and Lincoln, can do or turn a blind eye to terrible things, and act selfishly. Monsters such as Pike and Cage are still shown to care about their people. And most characters are just grey (Lexa, Jaha), conflicted (Finn,Dante Wallace), or bounce all over the range (Murphy, Bellamy).
* ''Series/TheFive'': Mark is a decent person, who just wants to find Jesse. Pru is an alcoholic, but also a decent person at heart. Slade is decent and devoted to helping homeless young people, but willing to kill. [[spoiler: Frank]] is also sympathetic in spite of his crimes, along with Payne. But then you have people all the way down the scale, like Jakob Marosi.

* While all Table Top Role Playing Games allow you to make a character who is anywhere on the map, different games have within their "default" tone different views. Please consider a game's "normal" tone and not what players might decide to do. For example, you ''could'' play a completely virtuous character in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'', but that doesn't change the fact that it's a dark and grimy cyberpunk world where amoral mercenaries work for backstabbing corporations and inhuman spirits.

* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' has Praetoria, which was assumed at first to be a standard MirrorUniverse. [[{{Retcon}} Then we find out]] in ''Going Rogue'' that Praetoria is actually very much this. The members of the Resistance and Loyalists alike are scattered all across the morality spectrum.

* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' was more black-and-white early on with its underlying Demacia (good) vs Noxus (evil) backstory, but it has become far more complex over the years, with Demacia being rewritten as a LawfulNeutral kingdom with occasional KnightTemplar tendencies and Noxus developing into a SocialDarwinist culture that values honor as well as strength. Individual characters can fall anywhere on the scale regardless of origin, and include various shades of MartialPacifist, AntiHero, WellIntentionedExtremist, and CardCarryingVillain. Add a few [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] into the mix alongside BlueAndOrangeMorality spirits to round out the cast and you have a rather complex scale with characters falling all over the place.

* ''VideoGame/ChroniclesOfElyria'', will have characters on a spectrum of good and evil, helped by the fact that much of the conflict will be between political entities with [[GreyAndGrayMorality no obviously evil faction]]. Of course, some players are likely to become the more sophisticated version of griefers, even if they will have to evade the authorities.

* The ''VideoGame/NexusWar'' lore is largely about deconstructing BlackAndWhiteMorality. The series ''presents'' itself as [[TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil Black vs White vs Grey]], but the seemingly all-important KarmaMeter is a charade set up by the most belligerent angelic and demonic deities to force people to take sides and reward their followers solely for keeping the conflict going. Even the angels are divided into zealots who fall easily into KnightTemplar territory and more conciliatory angels whose kindly ways make them vulnerable to a PacifismBackfire. Much of the roleplaying in this setting revolves around trying to find a definition of good and evil that doesn't just play into the pantheon's warmongering hands.

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' has this in ''spades.'' The kids are more or less good, and the underlings are more or less antagonistic, but once you hit Hivebent things start getting complicated. [[spoiler:Trolls are various shades of gray, ranging from sweet little Nepeta to Kanaya's GoodIsNotSoft attitude to BaseBreakingCharacter Vriska and her HeelFaceRevolvingDoor tendencies to Eridan's straight-up FaceHeelTurn in a last-ditch attempt at survival,]] [[spoiler:carapacians are really more of a GreyAndGrayMorality than it seems at first,]] [[spoiler:the [[EldritchAbomination Horrorterrors]] just want to be left alone,]] [[spoiler:[[SatanicArchetype Doc Scratch]] is AffablyEvil and really just Lord English's pawn anyway,]] [[spoiler:[[OurAngelsAreDifferent cherubs]] are [[BlueAndOrangeMorality just plain weird]],]] [[spoiler:and one could even argue that even [[BigBad Lord English]] can't really help what he's doing, since he's [[InTheBlood evil by nature]], and the only other choice he ever had was for [[TheDreaded Yaldaboath]] to kill him.]] Just try and keep track of all that.

* ''Fanfic/PrisonIslandBreak'', a Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog fanfic, takes place in a prison, and almost all the characters are morally dubious criminals, including those Sonic allies himself with. The most obvious exception is BigBad Mephiles.

* FanFic/PonyPOVSeries: You've got flawed heroes who, while good, are not perfect ([[GodIsFlawed not even Celestia]]), [[spoiler:the Draconequi who have a form of BlueAndOrangeMorality, and range from ChaoticGood to ChaoticNeutral,]] [[spoiler:the Alicorns, who are LawfulGood but some members are willing to sacrifice the needs of the few for the needs of the many (for the most part)]], and Discord's pitch black morality.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' is a '''''huge''''' example of this. The protagonists are [[ChaoticNeutral morally ambiguous]] pirates that are motivated by self-interest and [[ToBeAMaster personal goals]] rather than any abstract moral considerations, but tend to do good anyway by defeating more evil pirates (or marines) that happened to [[ItsPersonal do something to offend them]]. Other pirates can be anything from ChaoticGood adventurers to [[SelfishnessTropes selfish]] [[JerkAss jerkasses]]. Likewise Marines can be anything from [[HeroAntagonist legitimate heroes]] to [[PunchClockVillain guys who just want a check]] to [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-meaning extremists]] to [[KnightTemplar Knight Templars]]. One Piece characters have all kinds of varying motivations and alignments - it very much depends on the individual person rather than what group they belong to.