Line #54 PlayingWith/BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil


1	'''Basic Trope''': A Cosmic Force makes sure that good and evil must always be equal.
2	* '''Straight''':
3	** The Good White Knight slays the Evil Black Sorcerer. As a result the Cosmic Force spawns an Evil Knight, a new Black Sorcerer, and the Doom Dragon to balance the sudden spike of good.
4	** The Evil Black Sorcerer kills the Good White Knight. The Cosmic Force then creates a RagtagBunchOfMisfits to balance this overwhelming evil.
5	* '''Exaggerated''':
6	** When the Good White Knight slays the Evil Black Sorcerer, the Cosmic Force spawns an entire ''army'' of Evil Knights and Doom Dragons who follow the Sorcerer of the Black Hole, all to balance the sudden spike of good.
7	** A balance must be kept between balance and imbalance.
8	* '''Downplayed''':
9	** The good White Knight slays the Evil Black Sorcerer. The Sorcerer's apprentice takes his place after his death, making the balance equal quietly.
10	** The good White Knight slays the Evil Black Sorcerer. After 10 years of peace, another one comes up in some form to fill the power void.
11	** [[OrderVersusChaos The Knight of Order slays the Sorcerer of Chaos]]. Because BothOrderAndChaosAreDangerous, the Cosmic Force spawns a new Sorcerer of Chaos to ensure the Knight of Order does not [[WellIntentionedExtremist go too far]].
12	** The balance is more a result of escalation between heaven and hell as factions. Just going straightforward to one or the other would result in other side contributing more and eventually turning the mortal world into just a massive battlefield. The 'cosmic force' is that both exist that conflict and escalation are inevitable. It is still possible to shift the balance permanently one way or another.
13	** Free will is the source of the balance -- disrupting the capacity for either will lead to people becoming predictable automatons.
14	* '''Justified''':
15	** When the Good White Knight kills the Evil Black Sorcerer, [[TheDragon his right-hand man]], inspired by the Cosmic Force, regroups elsewhere and becomes the new BigBad, finding that he is at least as good at creating Doom Dragons as the Sorcerer was.
16	** The Black Sorcerer was, for whatever reason, NecessarilyEvil. As bad as the Sorcerer is, someone has to carry the inherently corrupting mantle to keep ''worse'' things from happening.
17	* '''Inverted''': The Good White Knight kills the Evil Black Sorcerer, which is followed by the rise of the Magician of Light. Conversely, Evil Black Sorcerer kills Good White Knight which leads to the rise of the Evil Black Knight.
18	* '''Subverted''':
19	** 1.) The Good White Knight prepares to face the Sorcerer of the Black Hole, only to find that it was a friend in disguise, playing a practical joke on him. There never was any evil nor any balance to uphold.
20	** 2.) It was thought that there was a cosmic force "preserving the balance" because both sides kept on coming back. However, a brilliant young apprentice figured out what actually happened was that the dark magic infusing the Black Hole Sorcerer becomes available to another dark individual who wants to fill the power vacuum. He figures out how to capture it and convert it to neutral mana, bringing an end to it once and for all -- although he notes disturbingly that someone powerful enough could create another similar mantle.
21	** 3.) The so-called "Cosmic Force" that's been "preserving the balance" turns out to actually be the true BigBad. They spread this lie so the heroes would be resigned to fighting evil forever instead of looking for a permanent solution.
22	** 4.) The balance being preserved was not between "good" and "evil", but [[LightEmUp light]] and [[CastingAShadow dark]]. Once the Black Sorcerer and the White Knight work out their differences via YinYangBomb, the two reign benevolently over their respective realms.
23	* '''Double Subverted''':
24	** 1.) The Good White Knight prepares to face the Sorcerer of the Black Hole, only to find that it was a friend in disguise, playing a practical joke on him. However, it turns out that the friend really ''was'' the Sorcerer of the Black Hole using magic to conceal himself, hoping to lull the Knight into a sense of complacency.
25	** 2.) The brilliant young apprentice becomes the inspiration for Sorcerers of Order and Chaos, who twist the neutral mana to either side based on what they saw in said apprentice; those who enforce stability or change the status quo.
26	** 3.) The BigBad is actually the Grey Neutral Sage, who is a WellIntentionedExtremist. There is no "cosmic balance" to uphold, but the heroic faction [[WeHaveBecomeComplacent tended to rot in prolonged periods of peace]]. The threat of Evil Black Sorcerers hovering over them inspires new generations of heroes and keeps them from fighting amongst themselves.
27	** 4.) The definition of "Balance" shifts from the conflict of the Black Sorcerer and the White Knight to their unity, and there is always a risk of them having a falling out.
28	* '''Parodied''': It should be clear that the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil as a moral imperative or otherwise good screams out for parody. (If it's a fact of nature that we are stuck with, or the best that we can do, not so much.)
29	** The Cosmic Forces only have Pathetic Goblins available to balance good and evil after the Sorcerer dies... so they send in 999,999,999 of them to make sure that all is balanced.
30	** A balance must be kept between Balance and Imbalance.
31	** The Evil of the imbalance set up by a sudden influx of Good itself restores the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil -- problem solved.
32	** The Evil of the imbalance set up by a sudden influx of Good itself restores the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil. This means the Evil is no longer there, and the world is in Imbalance, meaning the Evil is there and the world is Balanced, [[LogicBomb meaning]][[YourHeadAsplode ...]]
33	** Evil and Good have literal spawn points, and any time one or the other is defeated a new one appears instantly.
34	** The Evil of the imbalance set up by a sudden influx of Good is insufficient to restore the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil. More Evil is needed. More Evil is less evil than Less Evil.
35	*** ... consequently, More Evil introduced due to the imbalance is counterproductive to the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil. The Balance can't win.
36	** The Cosmic Force is walking down the park when it notices the Good White Knight enjoying a cone of ice cream. It steals his ice cream and throws dirt in his face. All in the name of Balance!
37	* '''Zig Zagged''': The so-called "Cosmic Force" that's been "preserving the balance" turns out to actually be the true BigBad. Once it is dealt with, no more Black Sorcerers are spawned. No more Good White Knights spawn either, because they have no Evil Black Sorcerers to fight. Everyone after that is a Grey MagicKnight.
38	* '''Averted''':
39	** When Good wins, there is no Cosmic Force creating more Evil to balance the scales.
40	** Good and evil don't have any cosmic significance.
41	** Evil is treated as an unbalancing force and is eradicated with extreme prejudice.
42	** The standard meanings of "good" and "evil" (the latter meaning "very bad") are taken literally.
43	* '''Enforced''': The writers are trying to explain why villains continue appearing no matter how many the heroes defeat.
44	* '''Lampshaded''':
45	** "I've killed another Black Sorcerer, a Dark Necromancer, and an [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Embezzling Vizier]] ''just today''! How many times can evil keep rising up against me?!"
46	** Someone warns the MainCharacters against doing Good or destroying the Evil, because that would upset the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil, [[AndThatsTerrible and that would be terrible.]]
47	** The leaders of Good and Evil perform a ritual that binds their fates together in order to bring about peace. They exposit on this in the first chapter/episode etc.
48	* '''Exploited''':
49	** After a failed invasion, the Evil Black Sorcerer asks the Good White Knight to slay him, thereby causing a replacement to spawn in the Evil Empire, since this is faster than walking back.
50	** Evil Black Sorcerer: "If we can induce in some of our opponents the notion of the Balance between Good and Evil, they may hesitate to fight our evil."
51	* '''Defied''':
52	** The Good White Knight writes a letter of requests to the Cosmic Force, asking it not to create any more Evil after slaying the Evil Black Sorcerer.
53	** The Good White Knight imprisons the Evil Black Sorcerer rather than killing him. The Sorcerer still exists, so it's balanced, but he's kept from actually doing anything bad.
54	** Evil rarely respects the balance between Good and Evil.
55	** "Maybe Balance is the best one can hope for, but we only have a chance of even reaching that if Good aims beyond."
56	** "You know what? Fuck the balance, I'll find [[TakeAThirdOption someplace neutral]], instead. This whole "Good vs. Evil" thing got stale."
57	** The Evil Black Sorcerer, tired of endless war, decides that [[EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce after his next victory]], [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery there won't be a universe left to balance]].
58	* '''Discussed''': "One should realize that the notion that Good and Evil must be kept in balance is nonsense incarnate, or Orwellian {{doublethink}}. When we say that it's good that Good and Evil be in balance and bad (or evil) that Good and Evil be out of balance, we clearly aren't balancing this particular good and evil."
59	* '''Conversed''': ???
60	* '''Implied''':
61	** The finale to every installment in the series shows a new evil [[SealedEvilInACan waking from a can]] immediately after the heroes defeat the last one.
62	** The heroes wind up in a BadFuture where Evil has wiped out Good. They return to the past [[SetRightWhatOncewentWrong and wipe out Evil]], only to return and find the same BadFuture.
63	* '''Deconstructed''':
64	** 1.) The Good White Knight, finding that evil continues to rise up no matter what he does, becomes bitter and gives up, refusing to fight the never-ending evil if he can't make a difference in the world.
65	** 2.) Evil and Good are forced to coexist, which means they're in almost constant conflict. After thousands of years of this, the land the work takes place in is a miserable, ruined, wasteland, with disgusted and weary heroes battling it out with equally disgusted and weary villains. Neither can wipe the other out, no one can actually accomplish anything constructive, and everyone's pretty unhappy. This leads to the [[EvilVersusOblivion forces of Oblivion]] gaining clout when it comes to [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery ending the pain of conflict]] by aiming towards [[OmnicidalNeutral destroying both sides]] by all means necessary.
66	** 3.) Because the [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed world is constantly endangered by Evil]], and the fact that Good isn't proactive about stopping said evil, all the people who are thoroughly (and unanimously) fed-up with the [[ForeverWar neverending war of Good and Evil]] began enlisting the help of neutral-aligned wizards to conjure dimensional gateways to realms free of such endless conflict. There, the people started their new lives truly free of such worry.
67	* '''Reconstructed''':
68	** 1.) The Good White Knight's job is smiting evil when it pops up. In this way, he's similar to a pest exterminator. Sure it's a dangerous job but it has plenty of job security.
69	** 2.) Evil and Good are forced to coexist, which means they're in almost constant conflict. To prevent widespread destruction (what's the point in ruling a nuked crater or terrorizing an empty town?), they agree to ritualistic combat like CombatByChampion. They may not be able to wipe each other out but they can certainly get the other under their thumb for a while or at least gain bragging rights.
70	** 3.) In the realm of neutral-aligned wizards, the people who traveled there discover that [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil they have brought Evil and Good with them]]. Arguments continue to arise as some of them sway towards one side or the other. In their efforts to prevent such a conflict, a new balance is created between Good and Evil and Neutral, with the Neutral faction trying to stamp out both of the other two.
71	** Good people recognize that the Balance is the best we can hope for, but if we try for more, we get a better chance of reaching the balance, or at least minimizing the degree of imbalance in Evil's favor.
72	** Good finally wins out in the end -- thus most of everyone in the world becomes bored, complacent, depressed, and anxious in a world without adversity. The forces of good then must become evil to force some kind of change. New heroes rise up to fight them and the cycle continues that way.
73	* '''Played For Laughs''': ThePowersThatBe look upon the setting as a game of Whack-A-Mole.
74	* '''Played For Drama''': The EnigmaticMinion is trying to preserve a balance between good and evil as he aids both sides and keeps either from growing too powerful. This is because GodAndSatanAreBothJerks, and the "balance" being preserved is simply making sure humanity doesn't get screwed over by either. Heroes, villains and neutrals seek meaning in a conflict that will never end.
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76	Back to BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil
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78	%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:

Context PlayingWith / BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil