History Main / PragmaticHero

A Pragmatic Hero lacks the "moral cleanliness" of an IdealHero. When fighting evil, they are willing to commit acts that you would expect from a villain rather than a hero. However, Pragmatic Heroes have morally good intentions and generally hold themselves to strict moral standards -- it's just that those standards aren't always what others might expect from an ideal hero. This type of hero tends to be much more concerned with whatever heroic business the plotline has assigned them than the niceties of proper heroic etiquette. However, with the exception of unintentional mistakes, they will rarely if ever commit a villainous deed that doesn't further the cause of good in a way.

A Pragmatic Hero lacks the "moral cleanliness" of an IdealHero. When fighting evil, they are willing to commit acts that might not exactly be associated with a typical hero. However, Pragmatic Heroes have morally good intentions and generally hold themselves to strict moral standards -- it's just that those standards aren't always what others might expect from an ideal hero. This type of hero tends to be much more concerned with whatever heroic business the plotline has assigned them than the niceties of proper heroic etiquette. However, with the exception of unintentional mistakes, they will rarely if ever commit a villainous deed that doesn't further the cause of good in a way.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' is ultimately trying to protect the world (and reality in general) from potentially dangerous items. This occasionally means they are forced to do morally ambiguous things for the sake of their mission. Among other things, many of the items captured are non-malevolent sentients or even humans. Knowing that a child RealityWarper is rarely more than a childhood trauma away from [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds initiating an apocalypse]], and that even [[LethalHarmlessPowers the most innocuous items]] can be abused in the wrong hands, the foundation [[IDidWhatIHadToDo does what it has to do]].

* Rossiu from ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' is a {{Deconstruction}}, as his cold pragmatism and willingness to ShootTheDog would be fairly justified in a more realistic series, but in an [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism ultra-idealistic]] world where the RuleOfCool is a law of physics and being HotBlooded is the answer to ''every'' question, trying to be a Pragmatic Hero is [[GenreBlindness suicidally misguided]].

* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Myne's mentor Ferdinand is overall a good man, but he lives in a world where AristocratsAreEvil and are seen as being too soft if they don't execute lower-ranking people who don't fall in line. As a noble semi-retired from politics, Ferdinand frequently finds himself needing to ShootTheDog or order people whose disobedience he can't ignore to be executed.

* In ''Fanfic/TheUltimateEvil'', the {{demon slay|ing}}er Nataline Homato doesn't rule out killing humans -- namely those who are [[DemonicPossession possessed by demons]] or are [[WonderTwinPowers Others]] to them -- if she believes that the world can be kept safe from demons that way, making it initially hard for her to work with the more upright [[WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures Chans]].

* ''Fanfic/HeroesNeverDie'': Dying countless times has given Izuku a very pragmatic approach to life. Unlike in canon, he doesn't use the hero costume his mother made for him because it was too cheap to be suitable in real combat; he feels guilty but refuses to compromise. He also gives Uraraka a very frank assessment of her costume along these lines, specifically informing her that high heels are ''never'' appropriate for hero work.

* ''[[Manga/SailorMoon Minako Aino]]'', of all people, graduated to this at the end of ''Manga/CodenameSailorV'' when she [[spoiler:killed Ace, her crush for being Kunzite's {{Dragon}}]]. Had shades of this since the start, as her first kill was [[spoiler:Higashi, the disguised youma on which she had a crush on]], but she was holding hope she could ''save'' [[spoiler:Higashi]], while she attacked to kill when facing [[spoiler:Ace]].

* Chloe Price in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/21824710/chapters/52084066 Path of the Jedi: The Mandalore Catalyst]]'' is willing to assassinate Nathan Pris'kott to prevent him murdering or harming anyone else she cares about. While she and Max Starfield are infiltrating the Pris'kott stronghold of Ebon Vella later on, she stops Max from protecting a couple being assaulted by corrupt guards, knowing that such heroics will only draw unwanted attention from the Pris'kotts and make it impossible for them to get to Nathan.

* "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/673301 We Are Not Shining Stars]]" features a low-key example of this when the characters of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' are placed in the universe of ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003''. While ''Serenity'' survives the Cylon attack, the crew initially keep the ship's existence secret from the rest of the human resistance on Caprica, as ''Serenity'' lacks weapons or an FTL drive that could help them fight or flee from the Cylons. [[spoiler:Once Helo, Kara and Sharon join the group, Sharon is able to help them steal a Cylon raider so that Kaylee can add its FTL drive to ''Serenity'', allowing them to take the entire resistance to the fleet in one ship where a raider would have been too small to take more than a few]].

* Batman in the two films directed by Creator/TimBurton. While he seems to generally avoid killing, he racks up quite a body count.[[note]]He blows up Ace Chemicals with several of Joker's thugs inside, pulls a WalkingTank off a clocktower, and causes Joker's death; He kills a few of Penguin's thugs in the sequel[[/note]] There is one time he is clearly smiling after trapping a thug in a hole with a bomb. However, in ''Film/BatmanForever'', he explains to Robin that he has come to regret killing and has cleaned up his act.

** ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'': Being a Jedi doesn't stop Qui-Gon from manipulating Boss Nass into providing a transport to the capital of Naboo, trying to swindle Watto out of a hyperdrive generator, cheating at gambling to free a slave, or subverting the authority of the Jedi Council to ensure that Anakin is trained as a Jedi.

** Like Daenerys, Jon Snow has to start climbing the learning curve at top speed when he joins the Night's Watch and he's also compassionate, heroic, and is always trying to do the right thing. While he has many traits of a "classic hero," is described as a [[https://youtu.be/yarEbKyk8PU?t=146 "classic hero"]] by [[WordOfGod author, George R. R. Martin]], and is trying to protect people, he also finds out that doing the right thing, as well as his Stark traits of honor and duty, put him at odds with other members of the Night’s Watch -- learning that doing what's right and going by the Watch's [[TeamSwitzerland tradition]]/[[LawfulStupid rules]] don’t always go hand in hand. Jon's continued efforts to do the right thing and his sympathy for the Wildlings -- who Jon has to explain are ''people too,'' which contrasts the entrenched, traditional views of some Watch members -- do ''not'' earn him the best reputation from some fellow members. While he maintains his morality, compassion, and drive to save people, this strains his personal safety and well-being, meaning the [[TheStoic stoic]] aspects of his personality ramp up when he is elected [[AChildShallLeadThem Lord Commander]], whereupon he sends his friends away to do other jobs for the Night's Watch and isolates himself to try and focus on only duty (while strong emotions, like [[RelativeButton his love for his mostly-lost family]], continue to dog him) in an effort to observe the leadership advice his father and Maester Aemon had given him. When necessary, Jon will go against tradition and opinions of fellow Watch members for the sake of doing the right thing -- like his efforts to save Wildling men, women, children; protecting people in need; and teaming up with [[EnemyMine Wildling warriors]] to [[WeAREStrugglingTogether fight everyone's true enemy]], [[GreaterScopeVillain the Others]]. In addition to Jon's humanitarian reasons for rescuing the Wildlings, he also makes a pragmatic argument to his opposers that they can't risk letting the Wildlings die, as anyone who dies north of the Wall would become part of the aforementioned [[ZombieApocalypse giant army of the dead]], which is coming for them ''all'' and they need a way to defend against this.

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', Armsmaster, a BadassNormal GadgeteerGenius, is a clear example of this. He notes to [[VillainProtagonist Taylor]] that she should avoid fights where she can, develops technology specifically to incapacitate the villains of his city, and [[spoiler:gets several supervillains deliberately killed in order to give him a chance to kill [[OmnicidalManiac Leviathan.]]]] Although it should be noted that he also has an attention-complex during this time of the story, so he's just as likely doing these things to the glory and fame.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Giles, later in the series. [[spoiler:For example, he has no problem with killing the unwilling human host of a GodOfEvil in order to also kill the god.]] Buffy avoids this. Faith doesn't, when a good girl she will ShootTheDog and seek out RevengeByProxy, as well a keeping a cynical, pragmatic and decadent attitude, but is altruistic just the same.

* In ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'', General Pikalov decides to take the high-range dosimeter near the core himself after Legasov informs him how dangerous it will be. This is partly because Pikalov is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, but the subtext is that Pikalov knows that the double-talking plant managers, Bryukhanov and Fomin, will immediately try and discredit anyone who doesn't collossally outrank them.

** The Doctor is this, [[spoiler:at one point sacrificing the city of Pompeii to prevent the world from being ruled by the Pyroviles]]. However, this tends to vary between incarnations, and sometimes even episodes. In one episode the Doctor will be willing to commit genocide against a destructive race and in the next, he'll be refusing to wipe out the Daleks (AKA the worst things in the universe). A big theme of the revived series is whether the Doctor is a messianic figure or a narcissist hypocrite who looks down on others for not following his high and inconsistent standards. The [[Creator/PeterCapaldi Twelfth Doctor]] in particular does a lot of soul-searching over what kind of a man he is and how his first companion Clara gradually becomes more pragmatic due to his influence. It's telling that Twelve comes to regard himself not as a hero or even a good man, but rather an idiot who passes through the universe helping others, forever striving to live up to a heroic ideal he's set up for himself and not always succeeding at it. As he puts it to Clara in "Flatline" when she asks if she was a good Doctor in his stead during the crisis of the week, he says she was exceptional but "Goodness had nothing to do with it" -- she had to do the kinds of pragmatic things she had been criticizing him for in previous episodes, such as lying and not stopping to mourn death, to save the day.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' has Kaede Akamatsu. For the first time in the franchise, the protagonist is given the right to lie in amidst of the Class Trial and commit perjury in order to get the culprit. [[spoiler:She also tries to outright kill the mastermind, and winds up being the first 'culprit' (except [[FrameUp not really]]) as a result.]]

* ''VideoGame/HeroKingQuestPeacemakerPrologue'': Spiderweb sees her allies as pawns to maintain the Dark Realm's stability, but she is also pragmatic enough to know that she should treat her allies well in order to maintain their loyalty. However, it's implied she believes in racial harmony beyond mere pragmatism, since she is upset at all the harm the Dark Ones went through under her sister. [[spoiler:In the ending, she's willing to stage a false flag operation near the Dark Realm's borders to justify a war against the Silver Kingdom and Scarlet Empire, but scraps that plan once the enemy declares war on her first. Another of her plans is to instigate the Bloody Duke to start a civil war in the Scarlet Empire and weaken them from within, leading to the plot of the next entry, ''Glorious Princess''.]]

* During ''LetsPlay/AnalogControl'''s LetsPlay of {{VideoGame/Fable}}, the hosts’ protagonist, Arseface, shifted between pragmatic heroism, ChaoticEvil and [[AccidentalHero Accidental Heroism]] at sporadic intervals. Perhaps most notably when he freed a whorehouse full of reluctant sex workers… because he figured it would be a good story to pick up chicks with.

** Avatar Kyoshi let a dictator fall to his death in her time and took full responsibility for it in an early season 2 episode. In a conversation with her spirit towards the end of season, Aang says that she didn't kill him, he was too stubborn to move. Kyoshi says she doesn't see the distinction because she was willing to kill him if push came to shove. Avatar Yangchen, who shares Aang's religious belief in pacifism, calls him out for being selfish for being unwilling to kill the Fire Lord if given no other option because as the Avatar his duty is to the world not to his own beliefs.

* Lee Everett in ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' can be pragmatic depending on player choice. Typically pragmatism is the smarter choice but is also typically the choice Clementine doesn't like -- it pretty much boils down to [[VideoGameCaringPotential how much you don't want to disappoint her]].

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* WebVideo/MatthewSantoro, the protagonist of his web series. In ''A New Planet & Antimatter!", for example, he believes that the antimatter isn't safe with the scientists who have it because it could accidentally destroy the world. He's correct, but he resorts to the questionable act of having [[{{Nerd}} Eugene]] sneak into the research facility with the antimatter and steal it, in order to ensure the safety of the world.

* ''Manga/FairyTail'' story ''Fanfic/AngelsBreath'' has Ryusuke Yugure, a genuinely nice man with [[{{Jerkass}} some]] [[DeadpanSnarker unsavory]] tendencies who is perfectly willing to torture an enemy to get information on a group who may endanger his guild.
* In ''Fanfic/PastContinuous'' Eleya isn't overly fond of the Cardassians but she notes early on that CDF officers like Berat ''should'' be involved in the operation to eject Loriss from Deep Space 9, because they saw Dominion War-era Dominion tactics and planning as friendlies, meaning they have a potentially useful perspective the Federation and Klingons don't have (demonstrated by Berat seeing a detail in Loriss' formations that Eleya and Admiral Marconi couldn't). She comments that a bit of the Vulcan "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations" mantra rubbed off on her from a Vulcan operations officer (probably T'Var).
* WordOfGod states that Sarutobi is aware of more than Naruto realizes in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3665921/1/Black-Flames-Dance-In-The-Wind-Rise-of-Naruto Black Flames Dance in the Wind: Rise of Naruto]]''. He doesn't have Naruto arrested because the crimes he does know about aren't worth losing a jinchuuriki that's S-ranked at graduation. However there are other crimes that he would arrest Naruto for, he just doesn't know about them.
* In ''Fanfic/TheUltimateEvil'', the {{demon slay|ing}}er Nataline Homato doesn't rule out killing humans -- namely those who are [[DemonicPossession possessed by demons]] or are [[WonderTwinPowers Others]] to them -- if she believes that the world can be kept safe from demons that way, making it initially hard for her to work with the more upright [[WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures Chans]].
* Naruto during the second exam in ''Fanfic/Team7Ascension'' declares a no survivors policy whenever their alliance defeats another team. He doesn't like the idea, but they can't afford to have someone come after them for revenge, especially when other alliances are far larger than theirs. This is in stark contrast to Chouji who refuses to kill after his first (accidental) kill.
* Ethan Sunderland, [[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas aka the Courier]], is depicted as this in ''[[Fanfic/MassFoundations Mass Foundations: Redemption in the Stars]]''. To start, he killed a barbarian thug, stopping him from mugging him and looted the corpse for anything of value to use. He agreed to work with Cerberus on a project to repair his [[InterdimensionalTravelDevice Transportalponder]], [[spoiler:abandoned Liara and Feron at the mercy of Tazzik when things turned for the worse in their pursuit of Shepard (though he was willing to rescue them at any cost)]], and took a Blue Suns centurion hostage to extract information on Liara's and Feron's coordinates from her comrades. On the other hand, he assisted the [[TheFederation NCR]] during his travels in the Mojave. He was also squeamish working with Cerberus but didn't see much of a choice but to go along.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10199357/1/Let-the-Storm-Rage-On Let the Storm Rage On]]'' establishes Hans as one of these. As one of his brothers puts it, Hans will lie, trick, use force, or even play nice to get what he wants, and he uses all of these and more. But he is firmly the hero of the story, working tirelessly to save his persecuted subjects on multiple occasions.

* ''FanFic/EscapeFromTheMoon'': In the sequel ''The Mare From the Moon'', Spliced displays a touch of this when she chooses to help Twilight with Spike, out of a desire to avoid being punished by certain individuals for causing harm by deliberate inaction.
* Jim from ''Fanfic/BecomingTheMaskTrollhunters'' falls under the AntiHero [[Analysis/AntiHero scale]] of this trope. Much of Jim's inner monologue involves cold, logical, and rather disturbing observations of the people around him, making various comments about his loved ones under a plan to help keep them alive in a future where Gunmar reigns supreme (like [[spoiler:including Toby [[PeopleFarms as a part of breeding stock]] and having Barbara be a doctor for said breeding stock]]).
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11322176/1/To-Protect-Everything To Protect Everything]]'', Sengoku may find the idea of enlisting the aid of pirates via the Seven Warlords distasteful, but he nonetheless approves of Captain/Commodore/Rear/Vice Admiral Luffy's engagement to Boa Hancock. Regardless of his feelings on the matter, he knows that having her and her nation forming stronger ties with an upstanding marine insures their increased cooperation.
* Jaune Arc in ''Fanfic/NotThisTimeFate'' chooses not to enter Beacon, and plans to stay as far from the conflict as possible due to the way his GroundhogDayLoop semblance works. The longer he survives after Beacon's Initiation, the further Jaune gets sent back upon death; so if he can last a few years, he'll hopefully have enough time to prepare and actually SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.
* Fishlegs in ''Fanfic/ProdigalSon'' is an expert at playing politics in Berk, having been able to manipulate things so that they come out positively, having convinced the village into thinking that [[spoiler:Astrid was secretly in a relationship with Hiccup]], both saving her life and eventually securing her as heir to the chiefdom, and later manages to convince Stoick to allow "Prometheus" to explain himself while still coming across as being as anti-dragon as the rest of the villagers.
* In "[[https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-20099/grundy+Shaking+The+Cycle.htm Shaking the Cycle]]", Dawn Thrace- Dawn Summers (''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'') sent to Caprica as the sister of Kara Thrace (''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'')- tends to present herself as this when telling her human allies not to kill Cylons, arguing that killing the C-Bucs' doctors and Sharon would risk giving the Cylons access to dangerous information about the humans' tactical abilities. While this argument is completely valid for the doctor, in Sharon's case Dawn has already come to trust Sharon enough that she wants Sharon to stay around for personal reasons rather than pragmatic ones.

* ''Fanfic/HeroesNeverDie'': Dying countless times has given Izuku a very pragmatic approach to life. Unlike in canon, he doesn't use the hero costume his mother made for him because it was too cheap to be suitable in real combat; he feels guilty but refuses to compromise. He also gives Uraraka a very frank assessment of her costume along these lines, specifically informing her that high heels are ''never'' appropriate for hero work.
* "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/673301 We Are Not Shining Stars]]" features a low-key example of this when the characters of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' are placed in the universe of ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003''. While ''Serenity'' survives the Cylon attack, the crew initially keep the ship's existence secret from the rest of the human resistance on Caprica, as ''Serenity'' lacks weapons or an FTL drive that could help them fight or flee from the Cylons. [[spoiler:Once Helo, Kara and Sharon join the group, Sharon is able to help them steal a Cylon raider so that Kaylee can add its FTL drive to ''Serenity'', allowing them to take the entire resistance to the fleet in one ship where a raider would have been too small to take more than a few]].
* ''Fanfic/DarthVaderHeroOfNaboo'': Vader urges Padme to be this, suggesting that she should engage in backdoor dealings with less than savory — but powerful — groups that share her contempt for the Trade Federation in order to oppose the Naboo blockade, rather than relying on the corrupt and inefficient Senate bureaucracy.
* Chloe Price in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/21824710/chapters/52084066 Path of the Jedi:The Mandalore Catalyst]]'' is willing to assassinate Nathan Pris'kott to prevent him murdering or harming anyone else she cares about. While she and Max Starfield are infiltrating the Pris'kott stronghold of Ebon Vella later on, she stops Max from protecting a couple being assaulted by corrupt guards, knowing that such heroics will only draw unwanted attention from the Pris'kotts and make it impossible for them to get to Nathan.

* Benson on ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' is the [[GrumpyBear grouchy]], [[HighPressureEmotion hot-tempered]] boss who is always threatening to fire the main characters, Mordecai and Rigby, unless they repair the damage caused by the MonsterOfTheWeek. Despite this, he is portrayed to be [[BenevolentBoss an honest, courteous, and kindhearted person]] who cares about his co-workers, [[FireForgedFriends even his mischievous slacker underlings]]. This was beautifully demonstrated in the episode "Benson Be Gone" which is basically [[spoiler: him getting fired and replaced with a female boss who ends up being another eldritch monstrosity, leading to Benson [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome returning to save the day in epic fashion]]. ]]

* Salvor Hardin in the ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'' series has this as an explicit goal. One of his more famous quotes is "Never let your sense of morality get in the way of doing what's right."

* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', the Whistlers are a very pragmatic family. Some of their great-grandmothers were executed for treason, but no one ever considered taking revenge on the royal family; they ''were'' criminals, and that's the price you pay. Jerin, therefore, is quite a pragmatic hero. At the start of the novel, without regard for his own reputation and chastity, he leaves the house guarded only by his preteen sister, carries a wounded soldier to the family farm, and strips off her clothes, chaperoned only by his toddler sisters. Later on, [[spoiler: after he's been kidnapped]] he gives his word of honor to [[spoiler: make no attempts to escape if his companion is spared]] He later admits that he had no intention to keep his word.

* Eric Finch from ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' is ruthless in his pursuit of V, but ultimately noble enough to clearly understand that the regime he's serving is horrible. In the end, it doesn't take much for him to accept that V is correct and walk away.

* Eric Finch from ''ComicBook/VForVendetta''.

* ''ComicBook/{{Huntress}}'' is pretty much the same as Wonder Woman and has no problem using lethal force if she feels it's necessary. Naturally, she and Batman don't tend to get along. However, unlike Wonder Woman, Huntress' chip on her shoulder means she is more likely to pursue lethal force than Diana and with not as good judgment.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman''. (Post-''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'')While she will always try to find a peaceful solution first, she is a warrior at heart and not hesitant to kill if she feels she needs to. Maxwell Lord learns this the hard way. This does mean she will sometimes butt heads with some of the heroes, especially Batman and Superman, the other members of the Trinity.

However, if their [[ShootTheDog methods]] ''are'' [[UpToEleven excessively violent]] or otherwise distasteful, they've become {{Unscrupulous Hero}}es. Compare GoodIsNotNice if the "good guy" extends his jerkassery towards non-villainous characters as well and GoodIsNotSoft in for the instances when they get their hands bloody in the name of the greater good while remaining more or less decent people.

** Korra's allies are also pragmatic in how they deal with villains. Suyin deliberately kills P'li by wrapping a metal breastplate around her head as she's about to fire her ability. Mako also kills Ming-hua by shooting lightning up her water arms when she lures him down to an underground pool.

* Ange in ''Anime/CrossAnge'' is willing to dirty her hands if need be, but she's doing it so that her squadmates are safe from harm -- even if she has to KillSteal from them. She is also disgusted with the society of mana after witnessing its harsh bigotry when she's nearly executed for being a Norma and wishes to destroy it, but it remains to be seen how far she will go. She was definitely disgusted when she found out [[spoiler:the [[=DRAGONs=]] she and her comrades had been killing were part-human]].