History Main / MoralityKitchenSink

** The Dicathians, given how the continent is the homeland of the main protagonist and his family, are presented as the good guys which they mostly are. However, they exhibit their fair share of corrupt individuals, mostly among the noble houses. In the leadup to the Alacryan invasion, it is revealed that the dwarven kingdom of Darv has been heavily compromised by the Alacryan spy network and most of its leadership (barring Buhnd and House Earthborn) are willing LesCollaborateurs. Following [[spoiler:the Alacryan conquest of Dicathen, a sizeable amount of Dicathian noble houses immediately become LesCollaborateurs to their new overlords with Arthur being forced to deal with them during the retaking of Xyrus]].

** The asuras of Epheotus come off as [[AloofAlly Aloof Allies]] at first given their relatively hands-off approach in supporting the Dicathians. Come the aforementioned Volume 8, and it is revealed that [[spoiler:the Indrath Clan, the rulers of the asuras, are a faction of genocidal KnightTemplar[=s=] who have no regard for the lives of the lessers and are just as bad as the Vritra whose StartOfDarkness they triggered when they exiled them for threatening to expose their crimes. From that point onward, the asuras become a mix of mostly BlackAndGreyMorality, with some having a borderline HumansAreInsects attitude towards the lessers and others misguidedly following the Indrath. However, there are a few among the asuras who are truly benevolent, such as Arthur's deceased ParentalSubstitute Sylvia and her daughter and Arthur's bond Sylvie ([[spoiler:which is rather ironic considering both are from the aforementioned Indrath Clan with Sylvie being part-Vritra as her father is the BigBad)]].

%%** From Volume 10 onward, the morality of the war shifts between [[spoiler:Arthur and his allies (the Dicathians, Seris's faction of Alacryan rebels, and even a few asuras, being the grey), the Vritra Clan, the Alacryans who have remained loyal to them, and a few Dicathian LesCollaborateurs (unambiguously evil), and the Indrath Clan and the rest of the asuras (a mix between black and grey with the Indrath being unambiguously evil)]].
%%** Really, there are only a few individuals who can be considered unambiguously good. These include Arthur and his family, his deceased ParentalSubstitute Sylvia and her daughter and Arthur's bond Sylvie ([[spoiler:which is rather ironic considering both are from the aforementioned Indrath Clan with Sylvie being part-Vritra as her father is the BigBad)]], and a good majority of the Dicathians. While Arthur is meant to be the BigGood, he is a case of GoodIsNotNice and [[GoodIsNotSoft Not Soft]], as he can be ruthless should the situation call for it.

* ''Literature/TheBeginningAfterTheEnd'':
** The main conflict of the novel focuses on the DivineConflict between the asuras of Epheotus and the exiled Vritra Clan, with both sides pitting the continents of Dicathen and Alacrya against each other in a ProxyWar to the main conflict. At first, it seems to be an instance of BlackAndGreyMorality. The Vritra and their Alacryan underlings seem to be AlwaysChaoticEvil, the Dicathians, while being the good guys, have had their fair share of corrupt individuals with some among their number even throwing their lot with the enemy, and the asuras come off as [[AloofAlly Aloof Allies]].
** Then comes the WhamEpisode that is Volume 8, which reveals [[spoiler:the Indrath Clan, the rulers of the asuras, are a faction of genocidal KnightTemplar[=s=] who have no regard for the lives of the lessers and are just as bad as the Vritra whose StartOfDarkness they triggered when they exiled them for threatening to expose their crimes. On top of that, Arthur ends up living among the Alacryans and comes to realize that they have been as much victims of the DivineConflict as the Dicathians which further alters his perspective on the war and who his enemies really are]].
** From Volume 10 onward, the morality of the war shifts between [[spoiler:Arthur and his allies (the Dicathians, Seris's faction of Alacryan rebels, and even a few asuras, being the grey), the Vritra Clan, the Alacryans who have remained loyal to them, and a few Dicathian LesCollaborateurs (unambiguously evil), and the Indrath Clan and the rest of the asuras (a mix between black and grey with the Indrath being unambiguously evil)]].

** Really, there are only a few individuals who can be considered unambiguously good. These include Arthur and his family, his deceased ParentalSubstitute Sylvia and her daughter and Arthur's bond Sylvie ([[spoiler:which is rather ironic considering both are from the aforementioned Indrath Clan with Sylvie being part-Vritra as her father is the BigBad)]], and a good majority of the Dicathians. While Arthur is meant to be the BigGood, he is a case of GoodIsNotNice and [[GoodIsNotSoft Not Soft]], as he can be ruthless should the situation call for it.

** The main conflict of the novel focuses on the DivineConflict between the asuras of Epheotus and the exiled Vritra Clan, with both sides pitting the continents of Dicathen and Alacrya against each other in a ProxyWar to the main conflict. At first, it seems to be an instance of BlackAndGreyMorality. The Vritra and their Alacryan underlings seem to be AlwaysChaoticEvil, the Dicathians, while being the good guys, have had their fair share of corrupt individuals with some among their number even throwing their lot with the enemy, and the asuras come off as [[AloofAlly AloofAllies]].
** Then comes the WhamEpisode that is Volume 8, which reveals [[spoiler:the Indrath Clan, the rulers of the asuras, are a faction of genocidal KnightTemplar[=s=] who have no regard for the lives of the lessers and are just as bad as the Vritra whose StartOfDarkness they triggered when they exiled them for threatening to expose their crimes. On top of that, Arthur ends up living among the Alacryans and comes to realize that they have been as much victims of the DivineConflict as the Dicathians which further alters his perspective on the war]].
* From Volume 10 onward, the morality of the war shifts between [[spoiler:Arthur and his allies (the Dicathians, Seris's faction of Alacryan rebels, and even a few asuras, being the grey), the Vritra Clan and the Alacryans who have remained loyal to them (unambiguously black), and the Indrath Clan and the rest of the asuras (a mix between black and grey with the Indrath being unambiguously black)]].
* Really, there are only a few individuals who can be considered unambiguously good. These include Arthur's deceased ParentalSubsitute Sylvia and her daughter and Arthur's bond Sylvie ([[spoiler:which is rather ironic considering both are from the aforementioned Indrath Clan with Sylvie being part-Vritra as her father is the BigBad)]].

* In ''Fanfic/TheLegendOfTotalDramaIsland'', most of the cast are varying shades of gray, but the following are notable and/or representative:
** Black: Chris, {{the host}}. He shows a callous disregard for human life.
** Near-Black: Heather, the {{alpha bitch}}. She seems to enjoy her antagonist role a little too much to be a “gray”; but unlike Chris, she draws the line at the prospect of bloodshed.
** Dark Gray: Duncan, the juvenile {{delinquent|s}}. He’s an experienced knife fighter and tends to view girls as objects, but he has too many PetTheDog moments to be a “black”.
** Neutral Gray: Chef Hatchet, Chris' aide. He’s a textbook PunchClockVillain. He understands and accepts the role of hardship in separating the game's contenders from the pretenders, but when approached with proper deference [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure he can sometimes be persuaded]] to give the petitioners more help than his duties require [[TheStarscream or even technically allow]], although he won't do anything that would affect the course of the game.
** Light Gray: Katie and Sadie, the [[HeterosexualLifePartners co-dependent clones]]. They’re friendly, loyal and supportive, but are also willing to [[BewareTheNiceOnes get their hands dirty to get what they want]].
** Near-White: Courtney, the [[GoGetterGirl Muskies' nominal leader]]. She is well-meaning and compassionate, but is also willing to do [[IDidWhatIHadToDo what she thinks she must]].
** White: Bridgette, the {{granola girl}}. She’s almost [[IncorruptiblePurePureness incorruptibly pure]] and is the only contestant known to have mourned the [[RedShirt dead interns]] from the beginning.
* ''Fanfic/MyFathersSon'': Every person has their own ways of acting, and every lord and soldier has their own codes of conduct to achieve their ends. While people like Rhaegar and Rhaella are more toward the White side, their own impotence in the face of more forceful personalities sometimes drags them down from being true paragons. Others like Tywin and Doran are in the dark grey: ruthless and cynical, but understand how politics work pretty well, and still care for their own. Even the god of death is spiteful, but also is carrying out his grandfather's wishes as a Freudian Excuse. Of course, there's also the truly repugnant like those Euron leads around.
* ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' has a lot of the moral spectrum represented, [[spoiler: notably between Ash Ketchum and many other characters who are implied to be his half-siblings]].

* ''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.
* In ''Fanfic/TheRoboutianHeresy'' Primarchs can be divided into several sections based upon their morality.
** White: Angron.
** Near-white: Sanguinius, Magnus, Konrad Curze.
** Light gray: Perturabo, Horus, Jagathai Khan.
** Neutral gray: Lorgar, Roboute Guilliman, Fulgrim.
** Dark gray: Mortarion, Alpharius Omegon, Lion El'Johnson, Leman Russ.
** Near-black: Rogal Dorn, Ferrus Manus.
** Black: Corvus Corax, Vulkan.
* ''Fanfic/{{Spectrum}}'', a ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfiction, being an Anti-TCB deconstructionist story, falls squarely in the camp of "Conversion is bad and wrong" in its portrayal of the central conflict, factions and characters may range from one end of the [[{{Pun}} spectrum]] to the other.

* ''Fanfic/StormwolfAdventures'' has multiple factions, who are from morally white to morally black:
** White: Stormwolf, defenders of free will and the main protagonists. They only get violent with really bad criminals. Half of them are abuse survivors who want nobody to suffer the same fate.
** Light Gray: Resistance, who are also freedom fighters and sometimes ally with Stormwolf. They are more violent though.
** Gray: Scavenger Army, then [[spoiler:Rey by herself]]. She is driven by revenge and wants to [[TheAtoner atone]] for [[spoiler:what the Dark One made her do through an imprint]], can be brutal to enemies, but she has a very good reason to want revenge and doesn't attack innocents.
** Fanatical: Starfleet is the army of a PoliceState. Some of them are true heroes, but others believe [[KnightTemplar all enemies are evil and must be destroyed]], and their leader [[spoiler:saves worlds from existing threats so he can rule over them himself.]]
** Dark Gray: The Children of Oda Nobunaga want to see Japan unified and bring Oda back to life... and will do anything to do so. Similarly, the Revisionists want to change history to prevent tragedies from happening and don't care about the consequences.
** Dark: [[spoiler:Emperor Palpatine]] is a tyrant who wants to manipulate, corrupt and conquer everything. He is petty, a toxic influence to the protagonists and his followers are true villains themselves. However, he sees himself as NecessarilyEvil to stop...
** Black: The Black Legion are the true villains of the story. They are also tyrants like Palpatine who use worlds like factory farms, a lot of members eat people, all of them are misanthropes and they all worship their leader, the Dark One, as if he is a god. [[spoiler:Said leader isn't just a tyrant who corrupts people, but he is behind some of the imprints which force innocent people to be obsessed with abusers with no means of escape.]]

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': While there are many characters on the sliding scale of morality, most characters would fall into the darker end of the GreyAndGrayMorality zone and even darker, even playing around in BlackAndGrayMorality. An argument could be made that even more sympathetic characters like Ned Stark were eventually broken down and shown to be darker and less sympathetic than previously depicted. The story was more than happy to throw the gamut of powerful bad guys, from Gregor Clegane, Cersei Lannister, Ramsay Bolton and Joffrey Baratheon, while morally good characters were hard to come across; many were simply too weak and ineffectual, or were [[TooDumbToLive killed off from the start]].

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': While there are many characters on the sliding scale of morality, most characters would fall into the darker end of the GreyAndGrayMorality zone and even darker, even playing around in BlackAndGrayMorality. An argument could be made that even more sympathetic characters like Ned Stark were eventually broken down and shown to be darker and less sympathetic than previously depicted. The story was more than happy to throw the gamut of powerful bad guys, from Gregor Clegane, Ramsay Bolton and Joffrey Baratheon, while morally good characters were hard to come across; many were simply too weak and ineffectual, or were [[TooDumbToLive killed off from the start]].

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': While there are many characters on the sliding scale of morality, most characters would fall into the darker end of the GreyAndGrayMorality zone and even darker, even playing around in BlackAndGrayMorality. An argument could be made that even more sympathetic characters like Ned Stark were eventually broken down and shown to be darker and less sympathetic than previously depicted. Regardless, every one of the characters had their own unique shade of grey, with only a few characters like Jon Snow and Ramsay going to the extreme ends of Good and Evil.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': While there are many characters on the sliding scale of morality, most characters would fall into the GreyAndGrayMorality zone and even darker. An argument could be made that even more sympathetic characters like Ned Stark were eventually broken down and shown to be darker and less sympathetic than previously depicted. Regardless, every one of the characters had their own unique shade of grey, with only a few characters like Jon Snow and Ramsay going to the extreme ends of Good and Evil.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Or rather, white and black plus a thousand shades of dark grey. Between Ned Stark on the one hand and Ramsay on the other, every one of the characters has his own unique shade of grey. Game of Thrones' atmosphere was biased heavily in favor of darker characters.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Or rather, white and black plus a thousand shades of grey. Between Ned Stark on the one hand and Ramsay on the other, every one of the characters has his own unique shade of grey.

* ''Franchise/{{Hitman}}''. The protagonists are a ruthless hitman and his equally cold handler, the targets different shades of worse.

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' [[DarkerAndEdgier eventually]] [[CerebusSyndrome divulges]] into this [[spoiler:when the MythArc [[AnotherDimension interdimensional]] war was revealed]]. Sort by factions and individual characters, we have: White (the You Show Duel School, Yuya, Yuzu and Gongenzaka) vs. Lighter Grey (Yuto [[spoiler:plus [[HeelFaceTurn Selena]]]]) vs. Darker Gray (the BigGood LDS, Kurosaki [[spoiler:and [[TheHero Yuya]]'s [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Berserker mode]] for kicking only [[KickTheSonOfABitch assholes]]]]) vs. Black ([[spoiler:[[ForTheEvulz the]] [[LackOfEmpathy heartless]] [[AcademyOfEvil Aca]][[WarForFunAndProfit demia]]]]). Yugo at first was a big question mark, but turns out to be [[spoiler:White]], and the [[spoiler:Synchro Dimension is mostly Dark Grey with a few lighter exceptions]]. [[spoiler:Sora]] seems to go from Dark Gray to Black with a few PetTheDog moments, before beginning a HeelFaceTurn due to a HeelRealization. Unusual for a ''[[Franchise/YuGiOh YGO]]'' franchise because it focuses on a lot more characters at the same time than its predecessors, allowing for more shades of conflict during one arc. More amazingly, the anime has a [[GenreShift change in genre]] and in morality within only about ''30'' episodes, impressive for a Shonen series.

* ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'': The nature of the server gradually shapes into this as time goes on, eventually producing characters of [[BlackAndGreyMorality many]], [[GreyAndGrayMorality many]] moralities. This ranges from characters with lighter-grey morality like [[LovableRogue Tommy]], [[StepfordSmiler Tubbo]], and [[NiceGuy Ranboo]], outright morally ''dark'' characters like [[PresidentEvil Schlatt]] and [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Dream]], and everything in between. Several characters even toe the line between 'hero' and 'villain/antagonist' on a semi-regular basis, especially those who have [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds undergone a corruption arc]] to turn from morally light-grey to a much darker shade of grey.

* In ''Literature/{{Salvos]]'' has pretty much every flavor of morality possible, with the protagonist being a NobleDemon so noble, she's an IdealHero since her idea of "virtue" is close enough to humanity's and the reader's idea of virtue that she can easily just fake it and she's a legit champion of the downtrodden and oppressed, even her first act of fame was bringing down a greater demon on an omnicidal rampage with the backing of just two people, despite every single one of them being less than half its level, saving countless thousands of innocents. Humanity is a mixed bag from the most righteous like the Sanctum of the Elements and The Valiant Dreamers adventurer's company, to the utterly despicable Harried Vindicators assassins who will not stop until they've completed their contract, and will do any vile thing they have to in order to carry it out, even threatening helpless children. And other races aren't exempt either. We've got noble kobolds who want to reconcile with Humanity after thousands of years of senseless bloodshed to stop TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, while another faction of kobolds are fanatical fundamentalists that genuinely believe that exterminating every last man, woman, and child, heretic, heathen, and pagan is absolutely necessary to call back the Old Gods to fix the world for them, and will do anything to carry out the goal, even going around exterminating entire villages to try and provoke total war.

* ''Fanfic/TheButcherBird'': Inheriting the Manga/OnePiece world's kitchen sink, with the VillainProtagonist main crew often facing [[BlackAndGreyMorality far worse people]] while still being contrasted with both the KnightTemplar Marines and the [[HeroAntagonist legitimately good ones]] in said organization, as well as the Straw Hats themselves.

* ''Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':

* ''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.

* ''LightNovel/DateALive'': Characters range from idealistic heroes (Shido and his allies), the cynical but well-intentioned (Origami and the AST), [[AntiVillain Anti-Villains]] (Kurumi) and the supremely evil (Westcott).

%%* ''KarakuridoujiUltimo''. Naturally, as it's a series about the different kinds of good and evil.

* In ''LightNovel/IAmTheEvilLordOfAnIntergalacticEmpire'', the protagonist Liam is surrounded by objectively good people, but he thinks himself a "villain" because his actions would be scandalous by the standards of the Japan he grew up with but are actually incredibly virtuous by the standards of the universe he reincarnated in. His underlings are varying degrees of vindictive and bloodthirsty, though justified in their rage by their past experiences, with the occasional spattering of level-headed people. The antagonists range from simple jerks, to omnicidal madmen, and the BigBad is biologically compelled to drive people to despair for his amusement as good and wholesome emotions, like genuine gratitude, hurt and might even kill him!

* Creator/NeilGaiman's ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' was notable for dealing in multiple stories with highly gray, conflicted and deeply disturbed characters who are across the morality spectrum. Gaiman was also quite wary about invoking KarmicDeath and LaserGuidedKarma and as such a number of individuals who do bad, evil, and horrible things end up surviving and going unpunished. The protagonist, Dream of the Endless, is a primordial concept who has BlueAndOrangeMorality and a CodeOfHonour but he's also prone to jealous acts of cruelty, DisproportionateRetribution and much of his story-arc is about learning some humility. Most of his family are of a similar nature. The most likable, sane and "normal" of his family are ''Death'' and ''Destruction''.

* ''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/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/{{Spectrum}}'', a ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfiction, being an Anti-TCB deconstructionist story, falls squarely in the camp of "Conversion is bad and wrong" in its portrayal of the central conflict, factions and characters may range from one end of the [[{{Pun}} spectrum]] to the other.

* 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.

[[folder:Web Comics]]