History Main / MoralityKitchenSink

** On down toward the villain end, you have Zaeed, a rather unpleasant [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenary]] with [[LackOfEmpathy no empathy]], [[BrokenBird Jack]] the [[HeroicSociopath convict]] and [[BloodKnight Grunt]] the [[AxCrazy violent]] [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy krogan]] [[SuperSoldier super soldier]]. [[AntiHero Rene]][[ChaoticNeutral gade]] Shepard also fits in here.

** In the middle, we have [[BrokenAce Mira]][[IceQueen nda]] ([[KickTheDog who has]] [[InsufferableGenius her moments]]), [[CowboyCop Gar]][[KnightInSourArmor rus]] (who is a decent person but [[WellIntentionedExtremist rather doesn't like criminals]] and [[spoiler: [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge takes retribution a little too far at times]]]]), [[BadassBookworm Mor]][[GoodIsNotNice din]] ([[IDidWhatIHadToDo who will happily do bad things]] [[ShootTheDog to stop even worse things happening]]), and [[ColdSniper Tha]][[WarriorPoet ne]], (who is a [[HitmanWithAHeart kind-hearted assassin]] who only [[PayEvilUntoEvil kills bad people]]).
** On down toward the villain end, you have Zaeed, a rather unpleasant [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenary]] with [[LackOfEmpathy no empathy]], [[BrokenBird Jack]] the [[HeroicSociopath convict]] and Grunt the [[AxCrazy violent]] BloodKnight. [[AntiHero Rene]][[ChaoticNeutral gade]] Shepard also fits in here.

** In the middle, we have Miranda [[KickTheDog (who has her moments)]], Garrus (who [[WellIntentionedExtremist rather doesn't like criminals]]), Mordin [[IDidWhatIHadToDo (who will happily do bad things]] [[ShootTheDog to stop even worse things happening)]] and Thane, a [[HitmanWithAHeart kind-hearted assassin who only]] [[PayEvilUntoEvil kills bad people]].

* While the first ''MassEffect'' had this to an extent, the second game features it a lot. Furthest toward the hero end, we have "pure" [[NeutralGood Para]][[TheMessiah gon]] Shepherd. Slightly down from him/her, we've got Jacob, who seems to be [[TokenGoodTeammate a good man]], just involved with bad people. In the middle, we have Miranda [[KickTheDog (who has her moments)]], Garrus (who [[WellIntentionedExtremist rather doesn't like criminals]]), Mordin [[IDidWhatIHadToDo (who will happily do bad things to stop even worse things happening)]] and Thane, a [[HitmanWithAHeart kind-hearted assassin who only]] kills bad people]]. On down toward the villain end, you have Zaeed, a rather unpleasant [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenary]] with [[LackOfEmpathy no empathy]]. Even closer to the far end, you have the [[AffablyEvil surprisingly charming]] [[MagnificentBastard Illusive Man]], [[BrokenBird Jack]] the [[HeroicSociopath convict]] and Grunt the [[AxCrazy violent]] BloodKnight. Last but not least, there is [[CompleteMonster Morinth]].
** Don't forget the BlueAndOrangeMorality of different cultures, most obviously the geth. For this reason, [[spoiler: Legion's loyalty mission]] has one of the most contentious choices in the game. Not to mention that, in MassEffect2, it would take an entire page to list all the alignments you can play Shepard as, depending on whether you use Charm/Intimidate options, the cutscene actions, the ordinary dialogue wheel choices, how permissive you are to your crew, etc. etc....
*** Said page would be the cause of Mass Effect breaking the wiki... again.

* While the first ''MassEffect'' had this to an extent, the second game features it a lot. Furthest toward the hero end, we have "pure" [[Paragon Shepherd.]] Slightly down from him/her, we've got Jacob, who seems to be a good man, just involved with bad people. In the middle, we have Miranda (who has her moments), Garrus (who [[KnightTemplar rather doesn't like criminals]]), Mordin [[IDidWhatIHadToDo (who does bad things to stop even worse things happening)]] and Thane, an [[CareerKiller assassin]] who only kills bad people. On down toward the villain end, you have Zaeed, a [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenary]], though he's not too selective about who he kills. Even closer to the far end, you have the [[AffablyEvil surprisingly charming]] [[MagnificentBastard Illusive Man]]. But there are those without any decency at all, namely people like [[CompleteMonster Nassana Dantius and Morinth]].

* ''CodeGeass''. There is ''one'' genuinely, unquestionably good person, Euphemia. There is ''one'' genuinely, unquestionably evil person, Luciano Bradley. Every other character's alignment can be debated. The main character himself can be convincingly argued to fall under [[http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=code+geass+alignment#/d2gaid4 any morality alignment]].

* Daniel Suarez' ''Daemon'' and its sequel ''Freedom tm'' where the reader's perceptions of who the good guys and bad guys are is constantly changing.

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* Comes with the the territory of being based on the DungeonsAndDragons alignment system in the ''OrderOfTheStick''. You have good characters doing good things because it's the right thing to do, bad people doing bad things for a greater good, and bad people doing bad things for amusement.

* ''DragonAge'' ''Origins'' has shades of this. The only wholly villainous faction are the Darkspawn and even they become more sympathetic in ''Awakening''. ''DragonAgeII'' takes it even further to the point that there is no BigBad responsible for everything going wrong. Every major faction in the game is sympathetic to some degree and all of them are partially responsible for the DownerEnding. The games do have a few truly heroic and truly monstrous people, but they have surprisingly little impact on the setting as a whole.

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* Comes with the the territory of being based on the DungeonsAndDragons alignment system in the ''OrderOfTheStick''. You have good characters doing good things because it's the right thing to do, bad people doing bad things for a greater good, and bad people doing bad things for amusement.
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* AvatarTheLastAirbender fits. Most of Team Aang is unequivocally good and the most powerful members of the Fire Nation are power-hungry sociopaths, but almost everyone else falls somewhere in between. [[spoiler: Baa Sing Se]] turns out to be a CrapsaccharineWorld, and the Northern Water Tribe has some pretty sexist moments. The rank-and-file and civilians of the Fire Nation are more often misguided patriots than outright evil. You could make a decent argument that the whole series is a subversion of the AlwaysChaoticEvil trope.

* ''FalloutNewVegas'' is very much this.

* The Show of Deadwood uses this to some extent; much of the early part of Season one casts the character of Al Swearengen as the most morally corrupt character in town. That is, of course, until Cy Toliver shows up, who quickly quickly steals the spotlight as villain most evil. Al is made to look almost a hero as the result. This is possibly subverted however, as the show in general uses the morality kitchen sink, and both Cy and Al do indulge in purely "good" acts on occasion.

* CodeGeass. There is ''one'' genuinely, unquestionably good person, Euphemia. There is ''one'' genuinely, unquestionably evil person, Luciano Bradley. Every other character's alignment can be debated. The main character himself can be convincingly argued to fall under [[http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=code+geass+alignment#/d2gaid4 any morality alignment]].

* A common part of FireEmblem.
* TheElderScrolls - There are no morality bars. In Oblivion there was a fame-infamy bar, but the two don't always sync up. Therefore, the choices of the player determine where on the scale the protagonist falls, and it could be absolutely anywhere, embodiment of IncorruptiblePurePureness KnightInShiningArmor to CompleteMonster and anything in between. The [=NPCs=], being pre-written, are also suitably vague and varied.

* The GeneForge series. There are anywhere from two to five factions the player can join in each game. With the possible exception of 2's [[AGodAmI Barzites]] and 5's [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Taygen]], they pretty much all have arguments in their favor. While the world itself is more about GrayAndGreyMorality, the individual sides play out this trope. The WellIntentionedExtremist tends to be the most common type in each, but they all have their share of saints and monsters, and everything in between.

* FalloutNewVegas is very much this.

* Comes with the the territory of being based on the DungeonsAndDragons alignment system in the OrderOfTheStick. You have good characters doing good things because it's the right thing to do, bad people doing bad things for a greater good, and bad people doing bad things for amusement.

* The WhateleyUniverse does this in spades. Start with the heroes of Team Kimba. They range from the 'I don't even want to hit people' attitude of Phase to the 'I had to slaughter a hundred bad guys to rescue people' switch of Tennyo to Bladedancer, who killed an ordinary family man in cold blood to prevent a possible BadFuture. The villains are all over the place too. Supervillain Dr. Diabolik is apparently a great father, and his children have said he only does the things he does to advance mankind.

* ''FullmetalAlchemist'' - The Elric brothers and Winry are the most purely heroic characters; the heroes from the State Military are more gray, being former war criminals who want to atone for their sins; Greed and Scar are fairly sympathetic antagonists [[spoiler:until they become {{Anti Hero}}es]]; there's Barry the Chopper who is the TokenEvilTeammate for the State Military heroes- he's clearly Evil; finally, the other villain characters are definitely very far down toward the evil extreme of the scale.

* ''FullmetalAlchemist'' - The Elric brothers and Winry are the most purely heroic characters; the heroes from the State Military are more gray, being former war criminals who want to atone for their sins; Greed and Scar are fairly sympathetic antagonists [[spoiler:until they become {{Anti Hero}}es]]; there's Barry the Chopper who is the TokenEvilTeammate for the State Military heroes- he's clearly Chaotic Evil; finally, the other villain characters are definitely very far down toward the evil extreme of the scale.

* While the first ''MassEffect'' had this to an extent, the second game features it a lot. Furthest toward the hero end, we have "pure" [[NeutralGood Paragon Shepherd.]] Slightly down from him/her, we've got Jacob, who seems to be a good man, just involved with bad people. In the middle, we have Miranda (who has her moments), Garrus (who [[KnightTemplar rather doesn't like criminals]]), Mordin [[IDidWhatIHadToDo (who does bad things to stop even worse things happening)]] and Thane, an [[CareerKiller assassin]] who only kills bad people. On down toward the villain end, you have Zaeed, a [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenary]], though he's not too selective about who he kills. Even closer to the far end, you have the [[AffablyEvil surprisingly charming]] [[MagnificentBastard Illusive Man]]. But there are those without any decency at all, namely people like [[CompleteMonster Nassana Dantius and Morinth]].

* ''ThereWillBeBrawl'' uses this a lot. Farthest towards the "Hero" side would be [[TheStoic Luigi]] and [[TheCutie Red]], who genuinely want the best for the Mushroom Kingdom and its inhabitants, and work to solve the mysteries in the show ''without'' resorting to more extreme methods like [[FallenHero Mario or Link.]] Characters closer to the "Villain" side are people like [[NeutralEvil Wario]], who's only out for his own self-interests, then [[spoiler: [[LawfulEvil Zelda]]]] who forcibly attempts to usurp the Kingdom's power, and finally [[ChaoticEvil Kirby]] at the most extreme, who just likes killing people and sowing fear among the populace.

* ''KingdomHearts'', particularly in its later installments, is surprisingly dependent on this trope for a Disney property. Sora's pretty close to the hero extreme (though he's more personally-motivated than he seems), while the Disney villains actually ''come'' from 'verses with BlackAndWhiteMorality. The grey areas range from Roxas (whose lack of memories sometimes leads to a sense of AmbiguousInnocence) and Riku and Axel (who are so devoted to their friends that they'll [[ShootTheDog shoot whatever dogs]] are necessary to save them) to [=DiZ=] (who works for the same end as the good guys out of a need for revenge) and Organization XIII (which, in itself, has everything from the apathetic Demyx to the EvilOverlord Xemnas).

* Comes with the the territory of being based on th DungeonsAndDragons alignment system in the OrderOfTheStick. You have good characters doing good things becuase it' the right thng to do, bad people doing bad things for a greater good, and bad people doing bad things for amusement.

* The WhateleyUniverse does this in spades. Start with the heroes of Team Kimba. They range from the 'I don't even want to hit people' attitude of Phase to the 'I had to slaughter a hundred bad guys to rescue people' sitch of Tennyo to Bladedancer, who killed an ordinary family man in cold blood to prevent a possible BadFuture. The villains are all over the place too. Supervillain Dr. Diabolik is apparently a great father, and his children have said he only does the things he does to advance mankind.

* In David Weber and Linda Evans' ''HellsGate'' series both Sharonans and Aracans are a hodgepodge of good, bad and in between, although Sharona does generally come off as ALighterShadeOfGray

* CodeGeass. There is ''one'' genuinely, unquestionably good person, Euphemia. There is ''one'' genuinely, unquestionably evil person, Luciano Bradley. Every other character's alignment can be debated. The main character himself can be convincingly argued to fall under [[http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=code+geass+alignment#/d2gaid4 any morality alignment]].

* CodeGeass. There is ''one'' genuinely, unquestionably good person, Euphemia. There is ''one'' genuinely, unquestionably evil person, Luciano Bradley. Every other character's alignment can be debated. The main character himself can be convincingly argued to fall under [[http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=code+geass+alignment any morality alignment]].

* CodeGeass. There is ''one'' genuinely, unquestionably good person, Euphemia. There is ''one'' genuinely, unquestionably evil person, Luciano Bradley. Every other character's alignment can be debated. The main character himself can be convincingly argued to fall under ''any'' morality alignment.

See also ShadesOfConflict, SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes. When you've got a specific group to which this trope applies, you've got a FourPhilosophyEnsemble. Compare TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil along with WhiteAndGreyMorality. Contrast BlackAndBlackMorality, where nothing is good or morally ambiguous about the characters. Also contrast WhiteAndWhiteMorality where nobody is truly evil.

See also ShadesOfConflict, SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes. When you've got a specific group to which this trope applies, you've got a FourPhilosophyEnsemble. Compare TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil along with WhiteAndGrey morality. Contrast BlackAndBlack morality, where nothing is good or morally ambiguous about the characters. Also contrast WhiteAndWhite morality where nobody is truly evil.

See also ShadesOfConflict, SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes. When you've got a specific group to which this trope applies, you've got a FourPhilosophyEnsemble. Compare TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil. Contrast BlackAndWhiteMorality.