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->''"Man has killed man from the beginning of time, and each new frontier has brought new ways and new places to die. Why should the future be different?"''
-->-- '''Colonel Corazón Santiago''', ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri''

{{Conflict}} is the driving force of nearly any story. It provides suspense, [[StuffBlowingUp action]], [[TheQuest adventure]], [[SeinfeldianConversation conversation]], {{contemplat|eOurNavels}}ion, [[CharacterDevelopment development]] and [[Administrivia/NotSelfExplanatory football hooligans]].

With that in mind, it's inevitable that the combinations of conflict will be well charted and mapped. A fight may be between [[IdealHero a too-good-to-stand hero more wholesome than Mom and apple pie]] and a [[CutLexLuthorACheck serial bank robber who uses a gun that turns things into gold]]. It may be [[LoveTriangle a pair of teenaged brothers who like the same girl]]. But there is a certain tenor to the conflict that goes hand in hand with whether or not one of the participants is, in fact, a horrible person. Maybe there are actions that can be taken against ThoseWackyNazis that would be extreme against the WellIntentionedExtremist. Maybe the KnightTemplar goes about his war in a different way from the DarkMessiah. The stakes are certainly higher when TheHero is up against an OmnicidalManiac rather than an IneffectualSympatheticVillain, and so the tension is heightened.

In any case, morality is a big part of conflict and with morality, the shades of black, white and grey that a story carries with it. Remember, though, just as LightIsNotGood and DarkIsNotEvil, it is the actions of the people involved rather than their image that determines whether they are Good People, Bad People or Guess It Doesn't Matter People.

Compare GoodAndEvilForYourConvenience.

Not to be confused with CoolShades or SinisterShades, though those may be involved somewhere.
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![[SuperTrope Sub-tropes include]]:
[[index]]

* '''[[BlackAndWhiteMorality Black vs. White]]''': Doesn't need too much explanation. [[Literature/HarryPotter Harry against Voldemort]], [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} Belmont Family versus Dracula]], [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Gondor against Mordor]], [[{{Franchise/Transformers}} Autobots against Decepticons]], etcetera. When there are a lot of other conflicts on the side, this tends to be the one most emblematic of the series. The WorthyOpponent may deign to work for the CardCarryingVillain to get the chance to fight the MessianicArchetype, but the story isn't so much about the first as it is about the last two.
** '''GrayingMorality''' is a gradual subversion of the Black and White narratives, as the moral conflict becomes more nuanced with more shades of gray evolving. {{Ideal Hero}}es becomes {{Anti Hero}}es, while the Bad Guys become {{Anti Villain}}s. May turn into full GreyAndGrayMorality given enough time, or in more idealistic settings, WhiteAndGreyMorality.
* '''[[GoodVersusGood White vs. White]]''': Both sides are heroic, but neither side can agree on an issue, causing a conflict in which BothSidesHaveAPoint.
* '''[[WhiteAndGreyMorality White vs. Grey]]''': A lot of conflicts between the IdealHero and the AntiHero or AntiVillain tend to lean on this side.
* '''[[TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil White, Grey and Black Conflict]]''': There are three factions, one the clear cut good guys, one the clear cut bad guys and one that doesn't fit either.
** '''White and Grey vs. Black''': The core good guys don't do bad things, but there's other groups in the world who hate the villains just as much and [[PayEvilUntoEvil are willing to do nasty things to them]] that the heroes don't have to.
** '''White/Grey and Black vs. Black''': Basically, where the heroes are [[EnemyMine forced to team up]] with bad and not-so-good people to take down other bad people.
** '''White and Grey vs. Grey and Black''': When you want one side to be good guys yet still have moral ambiguity in both parts of the conflict.
** '''White vs. Grey (and sometimes White) and Black''': The villains are mixed in with people who aren't puppy-killing evil. Often leads to the dilemma that one must hurt the non-villains.
** '''White vs. Grey vs. Black''': Where the conflict is a MeleeATrois between a good faction, a morally complex faction, and an evil faction who don't ever (or at least rarely ever) team up with each other.
* '''[[GreyAndGrayMorality Grey vs. Gray]]''': More [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]] works tend to fall here, although still more idealistic than Evil vs Evil or Black and Gray. Revenge stories, such as CycleOfRevenge and FeudingFamilies often present such a conflict. Don't have to go Grey to get a well-developed character or anything, but it does make it easier. See also UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist for a frequently grey conflict that doesn't have to be realistic. (Handled poorly, risks becoming ALighterShadeOfGrey.)
** '''ALighterShadeOfGrey''' happens when both sides are still morally ambiguous/neutral overall, but one is more good than the other. Handled poorly, this can become BlackAndWhiteMorality.
** '''MoralDisambiguation''' is a subversion of Grey vs. Gray that moves towards BlackAndWhiteMorality.
** '''Grey vs. Grey and Black''': A subgroup of GreyAndGrayMorality. Basically, both sides are handled with great moral ambiguity, but the enemy side is made clear by there being also some Black individuals in place along with the AntiVillain, WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, WellIntentionedExtremist, KnightTemplar, etc. Only recently put up and worth serious contemplation, especially in regards to the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism.
* '''[[BlackAndGrayMorality Grey vs. Black]]''': The protagonists aren't the nicest guys in the world, and may even be out and out assholes, but we root for them because the people they fight are even worse. Often present in DarkerAndEdgier works. Handled poorly, this can become ALighterShadeOfBlack.
* '''[[EvilVersusEvil Black vs. Black]]''': EnemyCivilWar, ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''. The most cynical and dark works often fall here. If handled poorly, tends to lead to TooBleakStoppedCaring due to it being impossible to root for anyone in the story.
** '''ALighterShadeOfBlack''' is an attempt to avert this by making one villain the clearly more sympathetic one.
* '''Grey vs White and Black''': Sometimes due to their ambiguity, both White and Black picks on Grey separately.
* '''[[BlueAndOrangeMorality Blue vs. Orange]]''': A story where one or more of the sides is not so much good/evil/neutral as ''alien'' or just bizarre. May use OthernessTropes.
* '''[[MoralityKitchenSink Black vs. White vs. Grey]]''': For works trying to be "realistic" while still having distinct "good guys" and "bad guys".

Also not to be confused with ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' (which technically falls under Grey vs. Grey);. The names of the kinds of conflicts listed above probably comes from the convention that LightIsGood and DarkIsEvil (or [[LightIsNotGood vice]] [[DarkIsNotEvil versa]]). Contrast NoAntagonist. See also AlikeAndAntitheticalAdversaries.
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