History PunchClockVillain / Literature

* In ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsImASupervillain'', Penny's parents imply that most supers on both sides are just in it for the brawl, rather than an actual desire to do good or evil. Lucyfar, especially, is noted to switch between hero and villain on the fly.

* [[http://www.bartleby.com/148/3.html An Irish Airman foresees his death]] by Yates can be both this trope and PunchClockHero, depending on whether you're an Irish airman or an adversary of an Irish airman. It has this as the third and fourth lines:
--> Those that I fight I do not hate,
--> Those that I guard I do not love.
* Gand Ioratth in ''Voices'', the second in the Literature/AnnalsOfTheWesternShore trilogy. He's the leader of the occupying Ald army in Ansul, which is incredibly oppressive (books destroyed, religious freedom crushed, women raped and old men beaten, etc), so naturally most of the population hates him and the local RebelLeader wants him dead. The first time Ioratth appears in the flesh, though, he's being impeccably courteous to Orrec (the previous book's hero), shows vocal disdain for his rude, zealot son, and we're told that he treats his Ansul lover well. Ioratth is actually quite pleased when he gets orders telling him to be ''less'' oppressive because he considers the whole venture to be a waste of time; he's only doing it because he's an OldSoldier following orders.

* In accordance with the TruthInTelevision mentioned below, the British heroes of the ''Literature/AubreyMaturin'' series and their French opponents often enjoy each other's company when on land or after one of them has surrendered. One reoccurring Punch-Clock Villain is Captain Christy-Palliere, who eventually becomes their ally in ''The Hundred Days'' when the French military forces split between Bonaparte and Louis XVIII.
* The demons, or spirits as they like to be called, are portrayed this way in ''Literature/TheBartimaeusTrilogy''. [[spoiler: At least until the third book.]]
* In several place, Literature/TheBible mentions tax collectors as among the most disliked members of society. Back then they were considered little more than thieves employed by the government. The Roman Empire often made use of "Tax Farming," the practice of selling the authority to gather tax moneys. The purchaser could squeeze people as hard as they liked under the tax laws, and any extra they got was profit. This practice was common in Europe through the Middle Ages, and is likely the cause of the heavy taxes often mentioned in Robin Hood and similar stories. That makes this trope OlderThanFeudalism.

* In ''Literature/{{The Dark Tower|2004}}'' (the final book of Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheDarkTower'' series), it's revealed that many of the BigBad Crimson King's Minions were in actuality Punch Clock Villains, with the most prominent example being the [[ChurchgoingVillain decent, devoutly religious]] warden of the prison community where the "Breakers" -- psychics who work to "break" the beams that hold all existence together -- are held. He fully expects to go to Heaven once the job of destroying the Multiverse is complete, and to be well-received there.

** The Chattering Order of Saint Beryl, a group of Satanic nuns who are fairly ordinary people aside from helping to bring about Armageddon (via swapping the Antichrist for the baby of another family), and who regard AxCrazy animal-sacrificing Satanists in the same way that most moderate Christians regard certain "fire and brimstone" extremist Christians. This is played for ironic laughs at the moment when the nuns do the switch, when the text informs us that it's possible that the nuns, as part of some dark satanic ritual, did something so terrifyingly horrible and evil to the baby who was swapped for the Antichrist that we would be horrified to our souls to hear of it; however, we can imagine that they made sure that the baby was given to a lovely family who would raise him well if we want to make ourselves feel better. It was later revealed to be the second option all along. Well, what did you expect?

* In {{Literature/Apollos Grove}}, a mercenary band attacks the temple of Apollo at Delphi in order to kidnap the Oracle. The captain of the band kills a temple priest without a second thought and threatens to massacre the entire temple group. But he does so with no hostility, explaining that everything he's doing is a business decision. He also urges the priests to bury their dead colleague, as he died with courage and conviction.

* Some of the Franchise/StarWarsLegends novels which focus on people working for the Empire embrace this trope.

* ''Literature/TheMentalState'' features a character called 'Big Billy'. He serves as TheDragon to his brother, '[[AngryBlackMan Little Mickey]]'. Although he is willing to beat up anyone who opposes his brother, he only does this because he promised one of their relatives that he would protect Mickey at all costs. He even has a daughter that he cares about deeply.

* In ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1'', the cops towards the end of the book are "a couple of intelligent caring guys that you'd probably quite like if you met us socially!"

** The Mandalorians are an odd case of this to the Empire. Sure, they contract with the Sith as hired guns, but it's a StealthInsult. Their true motive is to test their might against the ''best'' -- the "best" in their eyes are the Republic and the Jedi, who they will praise to the hills as being {{WorthyOpponent}}s and honorable fighters. The Sith and the Empire? Meh. They're good for a paycheck, and ''slightly'' better about honoring contracts than the Hutts.

*** Binder makes a return in ''Literature/SkinGame'', where he ends up on the same team as Harry (not entirely voluntarily on the latter's part). He gets enough screen time to establish that he really does practice what he preaches: he's in it for the money, personal sentiments beyond that are unprofessional. When, to no ones surprise, the whole job becomes a mess he gets frustrated at the general lack or professionalism [[spoiler:(including that of his former partner) and helps the heroes make a clean getaway. In exchange for his share of the money, of course.]]

** As did Randall and a passing customer in ''Film/{{Clerks}}'', considering the deaths of civilian contractors on the half-built second Death Star. Although it's played with as the passing customer, himself a building contractor, brings up the example of a job he turned down for a prominent mobster that a friend of his took instead, only for his friend to be killed in a drive-by shooting targeting the mobster. The contractor argues that just as his friend knowingly took a dangerous job for a person targeted by powerful enemies despite being fully aware of the risks he might face, so to did any independent contractors working on the Death Star knowingly take a job working on a massive battleship during a civil war despite being a huge target for the other side, and so should have accepted any risks that came along with it.

* In Creator/RaymondBrigg's ''Literature/FungusTheBogeyman'', [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight Bogeymen]] scare people because it's their job. The eponymous Fungus has a bit of an existential crisis about it, wondering "what's it all about".

* Yassen Gregorovich from the ''Literature/AlexRider'' series. While he works for SCORPIA, a NebulousEvilOrganization that hires out its employees to commit assassinations, terrorist plots, and other atrocities for whoever pays them, he's only in it for the money and is something of a NobleDemon. He even [[spoiler:[[RedemptionEqualsDeath sacrifices himself]] to save Alex in ''Eagle Strike'', when BigBad Damian Cray kills him as punishment for refusing to kill Alex, which he does because Alex's father [[IOweYouMyLife saved his life once]]]].

* Yassen Gregorovitch from the ''Literature/AlexRider'' series. While he works for SCORPIA, a NebulousEvilOrganization that hires out its employees to commit assassinations, terrorist plots, and other atrocities for whoever pays them, he's only in it for the money and is something of a NobleDemon. He even [[spoiler:[[RedemptionEqualsDeath sacrifices himself]] to save Alex in ''Eagle Strike'', when BigBad Damian Cray kills him as punishment for refusing to kill Alex, which he does because Alex's father [[IOweYouMyLife saved his life once]]]].

* Yassen Gregorovitch form ''Literature/AlexRider''. While he works for SCORPIA, a NebulousEvilOrganization that hires out its employees to commit assassinations, terrorist plots, and other atrocities for whoever pays them, he's only in it for the money and is something of a NobleDemon. He even [[spoiler:[[RedemptionEqualsDeath sacrifices himself]] to save Alex in ''Eagle Strike'', when BigBad Damian Cray kills him as punishment for refusing to kill Alex, which he does because Alex's father [[IOweYouMyLife saved his life once]]]].

* Yassen Gregorovitch form ''Literature/AlexRider''. While he works for SCORPIA, a NebulousEvilOrganization that hires out its employees to commit assassinations, terrorist plots, and other atrocities for whoever pays them, he's only in it for the money and is something of a NobleDemon. He even [[spoiler:[[RedemptionEqualsDeath sacrifices himself]] to save Alex in ''Eagle Strike'', when BigBad Damian Cray kills him as punishment for refusing to kill Alex, which he does because Alex's father [[IOweYouMyLife saved his life once]].

* In ''Literature/KafkaOnTheShore'', the character reads about Adolf Eichmann's trial. The man calmly planned the logistics for the holocaust, but thought of himself as just a clerk doing his job.

* Lawrence Block's Keller is just a normal guy who likes dogs and stamp collecting and just happens to be a ProfessionalKiller.
* Every ObstructiveBureaucrat in most Creator/FranzKafka novels.

** Czernobog is almost a literal example. Every winter he becomes dark, bad-tempered, and fond of caving in heads with hammers, and is the incarnation of a rather nasty god--although not evil in the strictest of senses, being still relatively friendly to the heroes. When springtime comes he transforms into his much nicer brother Bielebog.

** Not quite a villain but Professor John Hicks - er, Hix, Head of the Department of necro- er, Post-Mortem Communications, is required by University Statute to commit ''moderately'' evil acts. These include pressuring people to attend community theatre productions. He's also required to make tasteless remarks and use BrutalHonesty in staff meetings. His department is surprisingly popular with students, partly because part of the job is hunting down ''unofficial'' evil wizards and enforcing the monopoly (i.e. you get to throw fireballs at people) and partly because nobody expects them to obey the whole "wizards are celibate" thing.

** The gunnery officer who hit the final button to fire the superlaser was one of the main characters. He is immensely humanized; we learn that what he'd always wanted was to fire the biggest gun, that he sort of cheated in arm wrestling because a tendon had been torn and reattached in a stronger place, that he backed up his fellow gunners. He also followed orders. [[EarthShatteringKaboom The prison planet]], well, it was inhabited almost entirely by convicts, but some of them had been political prisoners or wrongfully convicted or guards. He saw Alderaan, though, as his personal MoralEventHorizon, making him one of the biggest mass-murderers ever, bringing him misery beyond his wildest dreams. He was the one saying "Stand by" when the Death Star was in range of Yavin - he knew that if he refused they would just get another gunner and give him a death mark, but he desperately didn't want to fire again and was fervently hoping that something would come up. And it did. Poor bastard.

** The Mandalorians are an odd case of this to the Empire. Sure, they contract with the Sith as hired guns, but it's a StealthInsult. Their true motive is to test their might against the ''best''--the "best" in their eyes are the Republic and the Jedi, who they will praise to the hills as being {{WorthyOpponent}}s and honorable fighters. The Sith and the Empire? Meh. They're good for a paycheck, and ''slightly'' better about honoring contracts than the Hutts.

* Kronmir of ''Literature/TheTraitorSonCycle'' isn't antagonistic to the Red Knight - he's simply been hired by his enemies, and is simply doing his job. Even the Red Knight understands it - when Kronmir realizes just how off his rocker his employer is and bails out, the Knight employs him.

* While some of the [[EvilWitch Black Ajah]] in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' are genuinely evil, many joined it only for the opportunities of power it gave, and are not particularly keen on that whole world-destroying stuff.

* Count Bela de Magpyr from ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'', sure he's a neck biting vampire, but in the words of his Igor "only adventurouth femaleth over the age of theventeen and looking good in a nightie" is who he goes for, and it's soon revealed that he has quite a camaraderie with the townsfolk, and actually likes phoenixes, who themselves hate evil. He makes a point of filling his lair with anti-vampire weapons that make it convenient to kill him temporarily, which he treats like a long nap and gets cranky if he's resurrected too soon. This was largely PragmaticVillainy; he knows that if he's enough of a nuisance the villagers would start fighting back seriously he wouldn't stand a chance, as his successor learns the hard way.

* After [[spoiler: Voldemort's Death Eaters take over the Ministry of Magic]] in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', the [[spoiler: normal Ministry workers become this. They publish anti-[[{{Muggles}} Muggle]] propaganda and persecute Muggle-born wizards]], even if they don't believe in it themselves.
* Most of the henchmen of Hellion's Henchmen from ''Literature/SuperMinion''. Some believe in the organization (which does a lot of good, for all that they are technically criminals) and a few are interested in climbing the ranks and becoming full supervillains, but for most of them it's just an occasionally-scary job that pays well.
* Lewis of ''[[Literature/{{Touch 2017}} Touch]]'' certainly seems to be this. He makes a point that his work as a tracker is something he does only to get the various factions of New York to leave him in peace.

* Damon "Demon" Larkham in Creator/MatthewReilly's ''Scarecrow''. He runs a ruthless, highly efficient (they ''exterminate the Taliban'') and technologically advanced band of mercenaries (called [[ShoutOut IG-88]]), but he still gets beaten by the heroes. [[spoiler: At the end of the novel, he and his men corner [[TheLancer Aloysius Knight]]. Just as Knight has a huge OhCrap moment, Larkham gives a short speech about how "what happens on the field stays on the field," congratulates Knight, then walks away.]]
* Inigo Montoya even [[LampshadeHanging points out his own status]] as a Punch Clock Villain in ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'', telling Westley that "there's not a lot of money in revenge."
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** Bronn has almost no scruples and will do just about anything for money, whether it's heroism or skulduggery.
** Most Lannisters who are not in the main line of succession are more affable and sympathetic than the descendants of Tywin Lannister. They basically carry their tasks out of duty to their household.
** There are a fair number of Freys who are not particularly proud of [[spoiler: their roles in the Red Wedding,]] but still carry out their household duties.
** Sandor Clegane is an example of an originally innocent and still rather kind-hearted individual who was molded into a villain out of continuous sheer abuse from a young age, specifically to serve his lord as TheBrute -- he both hates it and hates himself for also loving it on some levels. [[spoiler:He might have gotten some redemption by shunning his Hound persona and (purportedly) becoming a grave-digger.]]

** Count Bela de Magpyr from ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'', sure he's a neck biting vampire, but in the words of his Igor "only adventurouth femaleth over the age of theventeen and looking good in a nightie" is who he goes for, and it's soon revealed that he has quite a camaraderie with the townsfolk, and actually likes phoenixes, who themselves hate evil. He makes a point of filling his lair with anti-vampire weapons that make it convenient to kill him temporarily, which he treats like a long nap and gets cranky if he's resurrected too soon. This was largely PragmaticVillainy; he knows that if he's enough of a nuisance the villagers would start fighting back seriously he wouldn't stand a chance, as his successor learns the hard way.
* In ''Literature/KafkaOnTheShore'', the character reads about Adolf Eichmann's trial. The man calmly planned the logistics for the holocaust, but thought of himself as just a clerk doing his job.

* In ''Literature/{{The Dark Tower|2004}}'' (the final book of Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheDarkTower'' series), it's revealed that many of the BigBad Crimson King's Minions were in actuality Punch Clock Villains, with the most prominent example being the [[ChurchgoingVillain decent, devoutly religious]] warden of the prison community where the "Breakers" -- psychics who work to "break" the beams that hold all existence together -- are held. He fully expects to go to Heaven once the job of destroying the Multiverse is complete, and to be well-received there.
* Captain Ramballe of the French army that invades Russia in ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' is very much this. He sits down with Pierre in occupied Moscow and offers him dinner and wine, discussing how the Russians performed splendidly at the Battle of Borodino, commending them for such a fine job at defending their own country.
* In ''Literature/IfThisGoesOn'' a science fiction novella by Creator/RobertAHeinlein, our hero is captured by the evil government. He notices that the several torturers for the government show no pleasure in their job, they are strictly business. It is implied that anyone who likes to inflict pain is not permitted in that job, as they are supposed to get information, not necessarily hurt people (although that is always an option if they think it will help).
* Sergeant Zim and the other Boot Camp [=NCOs=] from the book ''Literature/StarshipTroopers''. While not technically evil, their job is to make sure that the 90% who can't cope with being in the M.I. or don't want the franchise bad enough drop out as early as possible. It is stated that the suffering they induce is too impersonal to be the work of a bully, that "Basic training is made AS HARD AS POSSIBLE, and for good reasons", and that all [=NCOs=] are decent (by NCO standards) to the ones who are left, when they know they are going to hack it. It's even pointed out that bullies tend to make bad instructors, since people who dole out misery for their own pleasure might get bored of it and start goofing off.
* In accordance with the TruthInTelevision mentioned below, the British heroes of the ''Literature/AubreyMaturin'' series and their French opponents often enjoy each other's company when on land or after one of them has surrendered. One reoccurring Punch-Clock Villain is Captain Christy-Palliere, who eventually becomes their ally in ''The Hundred Days'' when the French military forces split between Bonaparte and Louis XVIII.

** Crowley himself has reflected that while the wages of sin are Death, you get to clock off early on Fridays and as Sloth is a Sin, nobody bothers if you take the occassional duvet day.[[note]]Or in his case, a duvet century. Crowley skipped a whole hundred years of the mediaeval era by being asleep and left the humans to get on with it, unassisted.[[/note]]

* Derk from ''Literature/DarkLordOfDerkholm'' is this trope in the extreme. He's a completely sweet and loveable wizard whose only wish is to work on his [[MixAndMatchCritters experimental creatures]], but due to the extremely oppressive "boss" of his ''entire world,'' he's forced to play the BigBad in his world for "tourists."
* ''Literature/AmericanGods''
** A disturbing example in the form of a glance inside the head of a kindly Nazi working the gas chambers in a concentration camp: "... and if there is anything he feels bad about, it is that he still allows the gassing of vermin to affect him. Were he a truly good man, he knows, he would feel nothing but joy as the earth is cleansed of its pests."
** The antagonists of the novel (the modern [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Anthropomorphic Personifications]] like Media and the Technical Boy) also turn out to be this in the scene at the hotel. It turns out that [[spoiler: they ''aren't'' evil, or at least not any more so than the old gods. The whole conflict is a set-up by Wednesday and Loki]].
** Czernobog is almost a literal example. Every winter he becomes dark, bad-tempered, and fond of caving in heads with hammers, and is the incarnation of a rather nasty god--although not evil in the strictest of senses, being still relatively friendly to the heroes. When springtime comes he transforms into his much nicer brother Bielebog.

* Some of the Franchise/StarWarsLegends novels which focus on people working for the Empire embrace this trope.
** ''Literature/StarWarsAllegiance'' has five stormtroopers whose consciences eventually override their willingness to take orders, though admittedly they didn't have a choice about leaving.
** ''Literature/DeathStar'' is about a collection of people working on, well, the Death Star. A trooper, a gunnery officer, a cantina operator, a couple of convicts, a surgeon, a pilot, a librarian. It's also about Admiral Motti, Grand Moff Tarkin, and Darth Vader, so it's partly a VillainProtagonist novel, but the other characters all assumed the Death Star would never be used on an inhabited world. As the surgeon tells Leia while he's treating her after torture, [[ResignationsNotAccepted he can't leave]].
** The gunnery officer who hit the final button to fire the superlaser was one of the main characters. He is immensely humanized; we learn that what he'd always wanted was to fire the biggest gun, that he sort of cheated in arm wrestling because a tendon had been torn and reattached in a stronger place, that he backed up his fellow gunners. He also followed orders. [[EarthShatteringKaboom The prison planet]], well, it was inhabited almost entirely by convicts, but some of them had been political prisoners or wrongfully convicted or guards. He saw Alderaan, though, as his personal MoralEventHorizon, making him one of the biggest mass-murderers ever, bringing him misery beyond his wildest dreams. He was the one saying "Stand by" when the Death Star was in range of Yavin - he knew that if he refused they would just get another gunner and give him a death mark, but he desperately didn't want to fire again and was fervently hoping that something would come up. And it did. Poor bastard.
** As did Randall and a passing customer in ''Film/{{Clerks}}'', considering the deaths of civilian contractors on the half-built second Death Star. Although it's played with as the passing customer, himself a building contractor, brings up the example of a job he turned down for a prominent mobster that a friend of his took instead, only for his friend to be killed in a drive-by shooting targeting the mobster. The contractor argues that just as his friend knowingly took a dangerous job for a person targeted by powerful enemies despite being fully aware of the risks he might face, so to did any independent contractors working on the Death Star knowingly take a job working on a massive battleship during a civil war despite being a huge target for the other side, and so should have accepted any risks that came along with it.
** Also, from the Literature/NewJediOrder books is [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Yuuzhan Vong]] Shaper Nen Yim. While most of her colleagues are straight {{Mad Scientist}}s, Nen Yim is legitimately trying to produce useful research that will help save her species from extinction, and she bears the victims of her experiments no malice or real ill-will. She ends up doing a HeelFaceTurn after realizing that her people have gone ''very'' wrong in the distant past and will rush headlong to their own self-destruction if they keep going like they have been.
** All the others keep telling the non-{{Mad Scientist}}s that they have a god-provided GreatBigBookOfEverything which includes every design they could possibly ever need and the means to repair anything. [[spoiler: Turns out that their current tech level is as far as the book goes, and there's no workable tech to repair what is already dying.]] When Nen Yim finally finds this out she very nearly [[GoMadFromTheRevelation gets a permanent home on the funny farm]].
** ''The Old Republic: Deceived'' has Vrath Xizor, a mercenary working for a Hutt cartel. In his very first scene he develops some respect for Zeerid Korr, as both are former soldiers, and is not pleased that he may have to kill him. [[spoiler:And in his very dark final scene, long after Vrath has already completed his objective, Zeerid outright murders him anyway after he fails to convince him he is no longer a threat.]]
** The Mandalorians are an odd case of this to the Empire. Sure, they contract with the Sith as hired guns, but it's a StealthInsult. Their true motive is to test their might against the ''best''--the "best" in their eyes are the Republic and the Jedi, who they will praise to the hills as being {{WorthyOpponent}}s and honorable fighters. The Sith and the Empire? Meh. They're good for a paycheck, and ''slightly'' better about honoring contracts than the Hutts.
* The demons, or spirits as they like to be called, are portrayed this way in ''Literature/TheBartimaeusTrilogy''. [[spoiler: At least until the third book.]]

* In ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'', Scout-as-narrator explains that children of lawyers often assume that whatever colleague their parent goes up against in court is a bad guy, only to be mystified by the sight of them acting like friends when court's not in session. By the time of Tom Robinson's trial, Scout and Jem have outgrown this, and they're familiar enough with the prosecutor, Mr. Gilmer, to recognize and appreciate the tricks he employs, all in the spirit of a fair trial. [[InnocentInaccurate Neither of them is quite old enough to realize]] until the guilty verdict that that's not what's going on this time, and for the case of a black man accused of raping a white woman, no one's bothered hitting any punch clock. There is also a subverted example: upon witnessing the way Mr. Gilmer speaks to Tom Robinson, a sickened Dill storms out of the courtroom. Scout attempts to explain to him that Gilmer is only doing his job and is attempting to rattle Tom; Dill immediately retorts that he's aware of that, but Gilmer's job certainly doesn't require him to be so racist and dehumanizing towards Tom, and that Scout's father Atticus never resorted to such tactics in his own cross-examinations.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''
** ''Literature/TurnCoat'': The summoner-for-hire Binder. He's not exactly a villain, he just wants the bounty on [[spoiler:Morgan]]. Technically the people hunting for [[spoiler:Morgan]] are actually the good guys. Regardless he doesn't have anything against anyone there personally, it's just that our heroes happens to be on the other side of the issue. [[spoiler:Harry lets him walk away from the whole thing for this (and other) reason(s).]]
*** Binder makes a return in ''Literature/SkinGame'', where he ends up on the same team as Harry (not entirely voluntarily on the latter's part). He gets enough screen time to establish that he really does practice what he preaches: he's in it for the money, personal sentiments beyond that are unprofessional. When, to no ones surprise, the whole job becomes a mess he gets frustrated at the general lack or professionalism [[spoiler:(including that of his former partner) and helps the heroes make a clean getaway. In exchange for his share of the money, of course.]]
** Subverted by some of the other creatures Harry encounters. They try to play this card with varying success over the course of the series.
* While some of the [[EvilWitch Black Ajah]] in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' are genuinely evil, many joined it only for the opportunities of power it gave, and are not particularly keen on that whole world-destroying stuff.
* ''Literature/ComradeDeath'': Hector Sarek once sold farm equipment for his company and when they became a weapon manufacturer he started selling guns instead. It was just his job [[MoralEventHorizon until]] [[WarForFunAndProfit it became his life's work]].
* In Creator/JackVance's ''Literature/PlanetOfAdventure,'' the hero is once approached by a well-dressed man who introduces himself, informs him that the Assassin's Guild has taken out a contract on him, and asks him to roll up his sleeve. HilarityEnsues.
* In Bernhard Schlink's ''Literature/TheReader'', a former concentration camp guard is on trial as a war criminal, mainly because she was given the task of making sure that none of her prisoners escaped during a march. On an overnight stop, the prisoners were locked in a church, which caught on fire. Rather than risking disobeying orders by showing the prisoners mercy, the guards chose to leave them locked inside while the building burned to the ground. When confronted about it, she seemed confused that she was on trial despite having followed her orders, and asked the judge, "What would you have done?" This from a woman who had at other times shown kindness to the prisoners.
* In several place, Literature/TheBible mentions tax collectors as among the most disliked members of society. Back then they were considered little more than thieves employed by the government. The Roman Empire often made use of "Tax Farming," the practice of selling the authority to gather tax moneys. The purchaser could squeeze people as hard as they liked under the tax laws, and any extra they got was profit. This practice was common in Europe through the Middle Ages, and is likely the cause of the heavy taxes often mentioned in Robin Hood and similar stories. That makes this trope OlderThanFeudalism.
* In Theodore Cogswell's short story ''Wolfie'', Dr. Arsoldi is a sorcerer (in denial as to his accomplice's demonic nature) in New York City specializing in helping murderers commit the perfect crime. He also has to stand security; [[YouHaveFailedMe if the murder falls through, it's off to Hell he goes]]. At the time the story starts, he's already had one close call. [[spoiler:Naturally, the next job is a textbook case of EpicFail.]]
* In ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings The Two Towers]]'', Sam reflects over a fallen foe (a member of an army marching in support of the Dark Lord, not an orc), "He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace." A version of this rumination was given to Faramir as a speech in the Extended version of the movie.
** The Orcs are a subversion. At first, they sound for all the world like grousing Tommies straight out of Creator/RudyardKipling, grumbling about the lack of entertainment and decent food... until you realize they tend to alleviate both by [[PsychoForHire torturing a captive to death and eating him.]]
* ''Literature/InDeath'': Sylvester Yost from ''Betrayal In Death'' is very much this. He kills people because he's paid to, and he looks at what he does as a job in which he puts a number of years into it, and then he can retire and live in what he considers relative peace. Don't believe for a minute that he's a great guy, however. On the job, he rapes his target and strangles him or her with silver wire. He is TheSociopath and needs to be stopped.

* [[http://www.bartleby.com/148/3.html An Irish Airman foresees his death]] by Yates can be both this trope and PunchClockHero, depending on whether you're an Irish airman or an adversary of an Irish airman. It has this as the third and fourth lines:
--> Those that I fight I do not hate,
--> Those that I guard I do not love.
* ''Literature/TalesOfKolmar'' has the villain hire mercenaries to go after someone. She is defended by an ex-mercenary who sees through their attempts to get casually close and warns them that they can leave now and it'll be fine, but if they go after her they're all dead, and urges the youngest one to leave the profession. The mercenaries do go after their target and are repelled, losing several of their own. After that, shaken, the youngest one decides that he's had enough and quits, and all the older mercs are pleased for him, but they won't quit a contract. [[spoiler: All of them get killed.]]
* ''Literature/PrisonersOfPower'' aka ''Inhabited Island'' briefly explores the chilling effect of this trope being played seriously. A captured insurgent sneeringly tells his interrogators that their hate and passion makes them ineffective at cracking him, because it's just too easy for him to see them as enemies who must be defied. Now, when he had been tortured by some small-time drones, who didn't give a shit about him or the reasons he'd been tortured for, and showed more passion at filing the accompanying paperwork or cursing their wretched pay than at sawing off his arm, ''then'' he'd been terrified to the bone.
* Lawrence Block's Keller is just a normal guy who likes dogs and stamp collecting and just happens to be a ProfessionalKiller.
* A lot of side characters in Richard Stark's Parker novels (though not Parker himself) are just people happen to making a living through thievery. Most notable is Alan Grofield who thinks of himself as an actor, not a thief. Robbery is just what he does to keep his summer stock theater company afloat.
* In {{Literature/Apollos Grove}}, a mercenary band attacks the temple of Apollo at Delphi in order to kidnap the Oracle. The captain of the band kills a temple priest without a second thought and threatens to massacre the entire temple group. But he does so with no hostility, explaining that everything he's doing is a business decision. He also urges the priests to bury their dead colleague, as he died with courage and conviction.
* Lampshaded in Literature/{{Ivanhoe}}. It is noted that the Templar guards will execute Rebecca in a heartbeat but will not allow Bois-Guillbert to sexually harrass her ''before'' her sentence.
* ''Literature/AdventureHunters'': Zambwe is hired to capture the adventurers. He has no grudge against them nor any stake in the EvilPlan. [[spoiler: Once he has been paid for this job he disappears from the narrative.]]
* Ben's stepbrother is this in the children's novel ''Skymaze'', as the Matrix-esque game makes him a villain and forces him to try to kill Ben every time they play.

* Creator/AndreiBelyanin's ''On-call Demon'' has the protagonist Abifasdon working as a collector for those who have sold their soul. His wife is working in Hell's Temptation Department, seducing humans and getting them to sell their souls for pleasure. Abifasdon's best (and only) friend is a SWAT-type angel who beats up Abifasdon every day. The main plot of the novel? Abifasdon and his wife trying to have a baby.

* Gand Ioratth in ''Voices'', the second in the Literature/AnnalsOfTheWesternShore trilogy. He's the leader of the occupying Ald army in Ansul, which is incredibly oppressive (books destroyed, religious freedom crushed, women raped and old men beaten, etc), so naturally most of the population hates him and the local RebelLeader wants him dead. The first time Ioratth appears in the flesh, though, he's being impeccably courteous to Orrec (the previous book's hero), shows vocal disdain for his rude, zealot son, and we're told that he treats his Ansul lover well. Ioratth is actually quite pleased when he gets orders telling him to be ''less'' oppressive because he considers the whole venture to be a waste of time; he's only doing it because he's an OldSoldier following orders.
* Literature/HumaneTyranny: Executing people for having the rotten luck of having their Social Security Numbers randomly selected through the LotteryOfDoom is just a job for Harvey and many others at the Population Reduction Agency.
* Kronmir of ''Literature/TheTraitorSonCycle'' isn't antagonistic to the Red Knight - he's simply been hired by his enemies, and is simply doing his job. Even the Red Knight understands it - when Kronmir realizes just how off his rocker his employer is and bails out, the Knight employs him.
* Military thriller ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' treats many of the soldiers and law enforcement officers fighting for the corrupt federal government this way. Most of them are actually either sympathetic to the secessionists, or if not that then largely neutral, and stay on the job only to feed their families in an economically corroding dystopia; only a small minority honestly believe in the unrealistic ideologies their superiors adhere to.

* Lewis of ''{{Literature/Touch}}'' certainly seems to be this. He makes a point that his work as a tracker is something he does only to get the various factions of New York to leave him in peace.

** ''Literature/TurnCoat'': The summoner-for-hire Binder mostly just wants the bounty on [[spoiler:Morgan]]. He doesn't have anything against Harry personally, it's just that he happens to be on the other side of the issue. [[spoiler:Harry lets him get away for this (and other) reason(s).]]
** Binder makes a return in ''Literature/SkinGame'', where he ends up on the same team as Harry (not entirely voluntarily on the latter's part) and gets enough screen time to establish that he really does practice what he preaches: he's in it for the money, grudges or other strong personal sentiments beyond that are unprofessional.

* ''Literature/PrisonersOfPower'' aka ''Inhabited Island'' briefly explores the chilling effect of this trope being played seriously. A captured insurgent sneeringly tells his interrogators that their hate and passion makes them ineffective at cracking him, because it's just too easy for him to see them as enemies who must be defied. Now when he had been tortured by some small-time drones who didn't give a shit about him or the reasons he'd been tortured for and showed more passion at filling the accompaning paperwork or cursing their wretched pay than at sawing off his arm, ''then'' he'd been terrified to the bone.