->''"In some remote corner of the universe, poured out and glittering in innumerable solar systems, there once was a star on which clever animals invented knowledge. That was the highest and most mendacious minute of 'world history' - yet only a minute. After nature had drawn a few breaths the star grew cold, and the clever animals had to die."''
--> -- '''FriedrichNietzsche''', ''[[http://web.archive.org/web/20060616081519/http://www.geocities.com/thenietzschechannel/tls.htm On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense]]''.

The Straw Nihilist is a specific type of ThePhilosopher who delivers {{Despair Speech}}es and {{Breaking Lecture}}s about Life, The Universe, and Everything (or at least how meaningless it is to fight for any of them), often ChewingTheScenery about how the hero/audience lives on an InsignificantLittleBluePlanet and there is no such thing as morality or values in the first place (probably because of having realized that [[BlueAndOrangeMorality morality is subjective]] and [[MightMakesRight often dictated by the victors]]). Often AboveGoodAndEvil, due to the Straw Nihilist's {{Armor Piercing Question}}s about "WhatIsEvil"

These are one of the inhabitants of the cynicism side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism. Their ability to play [[MindScrew existential mind games]] and [[WhatYouAreInTheDark force the audience into ethical dilemmas]] make them a popular sage in the OntologicalMystery genre and amoral {{Crapsack World}}s. Sometimes they serve as MrExposition, while other times, everything they say is a FauxlosophicNarration or even a RedHerring, or they're a mix of all of them. But if done badly, they can end up looking like a gratuitous scene of {{Wangst}}, making people only get puzzled on why they haven't killed themselves yet.

The StrawNihilist's behavior is often expected to be like that of TheHedonist, since if he doesn't subscribe in morality then he [[TheUnfettered has no restraint in pursuing his desires.]] Said hedonism can serve as a justification on why he has not killed himself yet, because [[ItAmusedMe he's having too much fun]]. In more straightforward ScienceFiction and {{Fantasy}} stories, they are usually villains [[OmnicidalManiac who are always preaching hate and plotting destruction]], and can get really [[LargeHam over the top]] in their behavior. They also often use NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished and BeingGoodSucks as {{Freudian Excuse}}s on why they have a nihilistic outlook on life.

Compare TheSocialDarwinist and TheFatalist. Contrast TheAntiNihilist, who also thinks life has no inherent meaning yet reaches inverse conclusions about morality and the value of life. See also TheUnfettered, what they end up as because of their dedication to their philosophy. This trope mostly applies to a negative portrayal of existential nihilism. For a true approximation of moral nihilisim, see AboveGoodAndEvil and BlueAndOrangeMorality.

Section 23 of FriedrichNietzsche's ''Beyond Good and Evil'' includes an admonition, in Walter Kaufmann's rendering, that there are "a hundred good reasons why everyone should keep away from [Nietzsche's philosophy] who - ''can''." The straw nihilist is someone who should have kept away, but could not.

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!!Examples:
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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga ]]
* ''Anime/TheBigO'': Schwarzwald rants about the insignificance of the human race in a world without a past. He gloats about how only he knows what a cosmic fraud we all live in. Even [[spoiler: after he dies]], he still manages to show up and narrate all the real big MindScrew episodes. It turns out that [[spoiler: he was right. Everyone is living in a crappy play that's full of {{Plot Hole}}s.]]
* "Shadow" from ''GateKeepers'' is another Straw Nihilist, who's in league with the bad guys because he's disgusted with humanity's evils.
* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': Sensui, the rogue Spirit Detective. He went on to use [[BrownNote the Chapter Black]] to turn the people that would become his team into Straw Nihilist people as well.
* The Anti-Spirals from ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' look like an entire race of these at first with their obsession to impose absolute despair in all Spiral Energy-utilizing races until one realizes that [[spoiler:in the end they reveal themselves to be {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s who thinks that the Spiral races' reproduction, hopefulness and over-ambitiousness will eventually destroy the universe, hence why they want to crush all the Spirals' hopes. So, their brand of straw-nihilism is more like extreme Malthusianism]].
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}''
** Rau Le Creuset, the chief antagonist in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED''. It sends him into OmnicidalManiac territory.
** In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny'', [[BigBad Chairman]] [[DarkMessiah Durandal]] and [[TheDragon Rey]] [[ManipulativeBastard Za Burrell]] are interesting variants of this. They're both convinced the world is cold, terrible place, but are terrified of ending up like Rau. Instead, they become a pair of {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s, out to inject meaning into the world [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans no matter what the cost]].
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''
** Neji Hyuuga is a good example: he constantly talks about how pointless everyone is any how [[YouCantFightFate anyone who tries to fight his own fate is doomed to fail]]. Even more notable, he says this while ''[[ScrewDestiny trying to fight his own fate]]'', as Naruto points out. This trait disappeared following his HeelFaceTurn. Apparently, Naruto [[DefeatMeansFriendship beat it out of him]].
** Pain, leader of Akatsuki also possessed traits of StrawNihilist, believing that the only way to enforce peace on the world is to make everyone suffer horribly as he did.
** Possibly taking things one step too far, the series BigBad [[spoiler:Tobi/Obito Uchiha]] revealed in chapter 467 that his ultimate plan is [[spoiler:[[AssimilationPlot to brainwash the entire world]]]] because "There is no such thing as hope!"
** [[BiggerBad Madara Uchiha]] is probably the biggest example in the series. He's the one who made [[spoiler:[[BigBad Obito]]]] this way.
* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist''
** Kimblee, and to a certain extent [[spoiler:Dante]], from the anime, although [[spoiler:Dante]] really just uses it to justify her own [[VainSorceress abhorrent selfishness]]. In Kimblee's case, he doesn't even make an exception for himself; all life is worthless, including himself, [[TheUnfettered and everything is allowed]] because there are no worthy standards.
** Manga Kimblee is more or less the opposite of his anime portrayal, being an AffablyEvil SocialDarwinist BloodKnight who believes that people are always capable of surprising you and greatly appreciates strong convictions. The StrawNihilist of the manga would probably be Pride, who believes everything and everyone who is not himself or Father is pointless. [[spoiler:He is eventually defeated by Kimblee after the latter becomes disgusted by his lack of convictions.]]
%%%* ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'':
%%%** Legato Bluesummers is a personification of this concept.
%%%** Knives is too, though his belief differs slightly in that it's everyone EXCEPT him and his brother that should kill themselves.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Ohm constantly laments about the pointlessness of life and seeks to "save" people from suffering and desire by ending their lives.
* ''MagicKnightRayearth'': Debonair believes that the world of Cephiro without its [[BarrierMaiden Pillar]] is doomed to fall, and that suits her just fine, as [[TheHeartless the survivors' continued despair grants her power]].
* Diva from ''Anime/BloodPlus'' wants to turn every human on earth into a Chiropterans (monsters, pretty much), because humans treat her as nothing more than a monster.
* Rokudo Mukuro from ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' is very jaded like this. Which makes it all the funnier that he actually [[spoiler: [[RivalsTeamUp ends up being one of Tsuna's guardians]]]].
* ''Manga/BlackCat'':
** Creed's whole goal is to cleanse the world of [[PunyEarthlings weak people that don't have superpowers]] and rule the remaining people as King [[HoYay with Train as his Queen]]. Er, partner.
** Leon Elliot. "The good people... the naive people... they die first." Leon is one bleak-minded little jerk, stemming from a history of very grim life experiences. He's not quite Creed yet, but he's getting there.
* [[spoiler: Rei]] and Mitsuki from ''{{Doubt}}'' believe that the world is full of dirty liars who deserve to die.
* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': Vicious is a slightly less over the top and more realistic version of this trope than many, being a nihilistic, ruthless, sociopathic {{Yakuza}} who holds that there is nothing in this world to believe in.
%%% BE SURE to double-indent the first example when uncommenting the second!
%%%** Vincent, the BigBad from the movie, also fits.
* Takasugi Shinsuke from ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' had once fought to drive the Amanto aliens out of Japan, but after his side lost, he grew to believe that Japanese society, having been corrupted by alien influence, needed to be utterly destroyed. Now he lives to destroy. Everything.
* ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'':
** To an extent, Sousuke (at least [[DefrostingIceQueen before he meets Kaname]]). Especially noticeable during TSR, after he [[spoiler:thinks that Kaname is dead]] and starts going on a ''very'' StrawNihilist-ish rant, saying that humans are just meatbags that die.
** [[BigBad Gauron]] is a StrawNihilist as well, albeit less [[TheStoic emotionless]] and more [[AxCrazy gleefully psychotic]].
* Johan Libert from ''Manga/{{Monster}}'' likes to ''create'' these but isn't really one himself as he does believe in something bigger. Unfortunately, what Johan believes in is '''[[ForTheEvulz evil]]'''.
* The Yagami-esque VillainProtagonist of ''Lost+Brain'' finds all of humanity worthless, until he discovers control through hypnotism. [[spoiler: One year later, he's gotten a good portion of the school under his control and successfully engineers the death of a member of government; however the biseinen inspector who introduced him to hypnotism in the first place is already on to him.]]
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** Ulquiorra Cifer is a personification of this way of thinking. Throughout the series, he is outspoken in his belief that the bonds and emotions of humans are meaningless, and that nothing can come of their struggling. This philosophy becomes the center of his conflicts with both Ichigo Kurosaki and Inoue Orihime. His character poem in the twenty-second tankoban of the series is themed on the belief that the world and all things living on it are without significance. [[spoiler: Also, when Barragan identifies the "ways of death" over which each member of the Espada govern, it is revealed that Ulquiorra is the avatar of nihilism. He subverts this trope with his final epiphany in chapters 353 and 354.]]
** Nnoitra, a DeathSeeker who has no problem with killing [[WouldHitAGirl anyone who gets]] [[WouldHurtAChild in his way]] and who states that he believes the only point of living is dying (subverted somewhat in that he is very clear and specific about the kind of death he wants to have).
* ''Manga/BlackLagoon'':
** Revy is a genuine nihilist in that she denies the existence of meaning, at least academically. For practical purposes, however, she'll preach the virtues of money and guns over God and love, since this is what she has been able to rely on in her life. She initially has great difficulty dealing with Rock's idealism, threatening to kill him if he ever moralises to her again. Revy herself elaborates that "nothing's worse than being treated like some whore by your companions", but in recent chapters, it is suggested by one character that she attacks idealists because their ideology contradicts her assertion that the world is a terrible place.
** By the end of the (anime) series, Rock himself confesses to be a nihilist, just with a positive attitude where the StrawNihilist is characterized by its decidedly negative attitude, here speaking of saving an innocent girl's life:
--> '''Rock:''' "It's not an obligation. And it's got nothing to do with justice. The only reason I wanna do it is because it's my hobby."
** In the same conversation, Balalaika reveals herself to be one of these as well, [[TheBaroness to absolutely]] [[LadyofWar no one's]] [[BloodKnight surprise.]]
--> '''Balalaika:''' In the grand scheme of things, our lives are meaningless. They're light as air...like a candy wrapper.
* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' has [[spoiler: The Lifemaker, the BigBad that Nagi faced off against. Nagi's response? "'''SHUT THE HELL UP!'''"]]
** Fate has also shown these tendencies; claiming that everyone are just soulless puppets, etc. [[spoiler: Although he has a basis for this belief, as the Magic World, along with it's native inhabitants, may have been created by Fate's master.]]\\
\\
Tsukuyomi was amused by the fact that despite supposedly holding these beliefs, Fate later on starts to experience human qualities like attraction and opinion, unbefitting of a lifeless soldier for a cause he may or may not believe in. The fact that she takes a nearly patronizing stance towards him after finding this out probably makes Tsukuyomi herself the best example in the series. And yes, she does believe that life is meaningless aside from the small joys that can be grasped (in her case, [[AxeCrazy causing bloodshed]]).\\
\\
Hell one of her recent lines is almost a creed for this character type. "....do you truly believe I am doing this for money?.... ahahah you are such a child. There is no meaning in this world, [[PsychoForHire I seek naught but blood and carnage]]."
** Yue Ayase pretty much felt that the world was without meaning following the death of her grandfather, who happened to be a philosopher. Luckily, she got better when she befriended Nodoka, Haruna, and Konoka.
* ''Manga/SoulEater'' has a resident MadScientist, Franken Stein, who had apparently been one of these for a while -- we even got a flashback of Stein telling Spirit "God is dead." It is up for debate if he got better, as Spirit did seem to renew some faith in the human race, [[AxCrazy but]]...
* In the ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' movie ''The End Of Evangelion'', Shinji Ikari got a taste of this trope (Rei even gave him a chance to be an OmnicidalManiac), but rejects it by rejecting [[AssimilationPlot Instrumentality]].
** [[Main/AvertedTrope Averted]] with [[Main/BridgeBunny Shigeru Aoba]]. [[Main/WordOfGod Word of God]] has it that he's a Nihilist, but he's still shown to be easy-going and generally a decent person.
* ''Anime/ErgoProxy'': DarkMessiah Raul Creed becomes this as he loses his sanity over the course of the show.
* Genkaku from ''Manga/{{Deadman Wonderland}}'' believes that he's saving people by killing them.
* Musashi from ''Manga/{{Karakuridouji Ultimo}}'' has a moment of this trope, responding to Yamato's search for a point with "Facts are all there is. Looking for a point is pointless."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* The Comicbook/{{Batman}} graphic novel ''TheKillingJoke'' created the characterization of the Joker as StrawNihilist who will do anything to prove to Batman that life is one big joke and that the only sensible response to it is give into madness.
* In the MarvelUniverse, The "Mad Titan" {{Thanos}} usually pulls this archetype off with a spectacular amount of wit and style.
* Carnage from ''Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}'' doesn't believe in order and morality, and kills people for fun.
* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' "Chapter VI: The Abyss Gazes Also", skirts around this trope. The focus character, a psychiatrist trying to interview Rorschach, finds himself falling deeper and deeper into nihilism with each session. [[spoiler:He hits rock bottom, declaring that man is just a successful virus on a ball of dirt - but he gets better towards the end, when he re-encounters his estranged wife, having decided that [[TheAntiNihilist helping people is all we have.]]]] The chapter title is lifted from a [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Nietzsche quote]] (quoted in full at chapter's end).
* Lampshaded in the {{DCU}} where nihilist Kid Amazo (whose intro features him talking to a Nietzsche bust that talks back to him, just to give you an idea that this is a guy with the combined powers of the Justice League and is completely off his rocker) is preparing to fight the League after a FaceHeelTurn and begins a StrawNihilist speech to the bust. The bust points out that Kid Amazo is doing things that go against what Nietzsche believed. It was promptly smashed.
* [[http://wildstormresource.wetpaint.com/page/TAO+(bio) Tao]] from the {{Wildstorm}} Universe. As mentioned in Ed Brubaker's Sleeper: "The Tactical Augmented Organism (Tao) looked at life and saw Chaos and Order. Humanity's denial of Chaos appalled him.So he would tear it all down and fill the world with chaos,if only to watch mankind cling to their illusions as they burned around them."
* Comicbook/{{Batman}} villain Mr. Zsasz became a serial killer after having an epiphany that all life is meaningless; that people are nothing more than purposeless "zombies", and killing them is the only way to liberate them from their emptiness.
** This may be a reference to SerialKiller Carl Panzram, who described himself as "the man who goes around doing good." In the sense that he thought he was doing people a favour by killing them.
* ''StormWatch'': {{Lampshaded}} with Father, the villain of WarrenEllis's first issue. A Nietzsche-obsessed superhuman murderer created by a neo-nazi EvilutionaryBiologist, he had been [[SealedEvilInACan trapped in a mountain]] by said creator for having several flaws-- for instance, being insane. Upon escaping, he proceeds to kill every person he encounters while quoting butchered Nietzsche at them, and sometimes at their corpses. This is apparently his entire plan. In his mind, he is the {{Ubermensch}}, and is "bringing joy to the ordinary man by dint of his existence-- by destroying them."
* Momo in ''{{Persepolis}}''. His arguments are actually refuted by Marjane, who has seen people find meaningful purposes for themselves despite the world's senselessness and cruelty.
* ''A God Somewhere'': This is a possible interpretation of Eric, the main character, who, when confronted about [[spoiler: raping his sister-in-law and crippling his brother]], says "Wrong is just a word people made up. It has nothing to do with the real world." shortly before [[spoiler:breaking out of prison and killing dozens of people for no reason]]. Near the end of the story, in the wake of his demise, a subculture of people who look up to Eric has apparently developed, and some of them can be seen hanging out on a street corner, where their response to something an old man angrily says to them is "Wrong is just a word people made up, bitch!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:FanFic]]
* ''ImmortalitySyndrome'' turns its sufferers into this in the PowerpuffGirls DarkFic of the same name and its sequels. It's WhoWantsToLiveForever cranked UpToEleven, caused by [[CameBackWrong coming back wrong]] and remembering how you died -- [[TheNothingAfterDeath and what came after]].
* Played with in ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6598678/1/When_The_Stars_Turn_To_Ashes When The Stars Turn To Ashes]]'' The character Byron Parris talks like this character type (and the high-minded protagonist dislikes him for it) but is also something of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
* Tod Barringer in the '' The Hunger Games'' fanfic ''[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/AnUnsungSong An Unsung Song: The Tale of the 405th Hunger Games]]''.
* In chapter 44 of the ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' story ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4096894/44/YuGiOh-Soul-of-Silicon YuGiOh! Soul of Silicon]]'', the heroes contend with an Archfiend of Gilfer, who calls himself a Lord of Nothingness, gives several speeches about how life is meaningless, and tries to convert others to Nihilism. Part of the reason he is a nihilist is because the card Archfiend of Gilfer has to die to use its effect. His attitude is reflected in his Clear Deck, in which his cards benefit from the absence of Attributes, high scores, and cards in the hand and punish the opponent for having these. [[spoiler:After Ren defeats him, Ren points out that in trying to spread Nihilism, the message that life has no purpose, he has given himself a purpose. Archfiend of Gilfer has a massive FreakOut over this LogicBomb.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/{{Collateral}}'': Sociopathic and deadly assassin Vincent shoves cab driver Max Durocher out of a self-deceptive rut as he forces Max to drive him to various "jobs" one night in L.A. [[spoiler:Near the end Max snaps, admits that Vincent was right and fights back, eventually killing his captor]].
* Agent Smith in ''Film/TheMatrix'' sequels. In ''Revolutions'' he goes into a long rant about why Neo bothers to continue fighting him and that "Only a human mind could come up with something as insipid as love!" and "Why, Mr. Anderson!? ''Why!? Why do you persist!?''" Ironically, Neo's response is something a Nietzschean Ubermensch might actually say: "Because I choose to."
* Played for laughs in ''TheBigLebowski'' with the three evil German nihilists, and their amusing CatchPhrase "We believe in nothing!" often applied free of any particular context. They're very enthusiastic about their nihilism, and love to bring it up. [[spoiler: Their nihilism, however, doesn't stop them from whining about how "It's not fair!" when it turns out their attempt to extort money out of the heroes by pretending they've kidnapped a woman when she hasn't even been kidnapped has been rumbled.]] Walter retorts [[spoiler: Fair! WHO'S THE FUCKING NIHILIST HERE!]]
--> Say what you will about the tenets of [[NaziGermany National Socialism]], but at least it's an ''ethos''.
%%% * Zé do Caixão, or "Coffin Joe" as he is called in the English subtitles, AntiHero ''(HERO?)'' of a series of Brazilian horror movies.
* In his ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' speech at the end of ''Film/WithnailAndI'', it's debatable whether Withnail is talking about his sexuality or confirming an absolute nihilism.
* The BigBad from ''Film/{{Sunshine}}'' (2007) uses this as an excuse to kill the astronauts going to recharge the dying sun.
-->''"We are dust, and to the dust, we shall return. It is not our place, to challenge God!"''
* ''MatchPoint'' - the VillainProtagonist uses his nihilistic philosophy as justification for murder.
* Characters based on Leopold and Loeb (such as the protagonists of Creator/AlfredHitchcock's ''Theatre/{{Rope}}'') are pretty much always portrayed as Straw Nihilists.
* The main villain of ''The Genius Club'', Armand, rants that humans have no purpose and God doesn't exist, until the dying sage and the genius garbage man both discuss their confrontations with death. [[spoiler: In the end, he really just had an identity crisis.]]
* ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'':
** SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker definitely fits this description. At the beginning of the movie, he even paraphrases a quote from Nietzsche: "I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you... stranger."
** Two-Face, who decides the flip of a coin is as good a way to decide life and death as anything.
* ''{{Cube}}'' seems to be about the {{gorn}} but is really an exposition on different roles that people play representing different philosophies in society. The protagonist's big secret [[spoiler: is that he is a nihilist]]
* [[spoiler:Lotso]] in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' feels that he and the other toys are all [[spoiler:"just trash waiting to be thrown away!"]]
* The villainous Clinton Stark of ''[[SevenFacesOfDrLao 7 Faces of Dr. Lao]]'' claims to be one of these, opining to the film's hero, "There's no such thing as the dignity of man. Man is a base, pathetic, vulgar animal." It's eventually revealed that he secretly doesn't want to believe that, and that all he goes into all his evil schemes hoping they will fail, but they never have.
* "[[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Walter]]" from the German film ''Film/{{Sterne}}'', who has recently arrived in Bulgaria after witnessing the horrors of war at Leningrad, and is disturbed by the treatment of prisoners in the nearby concentration camp, but also believes himself incapable of doing anything about it. He opines to Ruth, "It took millions of years for humans to evolve from chimpanzees, yet the chimpanzees better off than we are."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Dora from ''TheMothDiaries'' is not just a Straw Nihilist, she's writing a book about a dialogue between Nietzsche himself and Brahms. She gets into a few arguments over the former's teachings with Ernessa. As to whether the book is completed [[spoiler: before her death]] or not, we never find out. Please correct me if I'm wrong on this detail.
* FyodorDostoevsky loves this type of character; in fact, Dostoevsky was a major influence on Nietzsche himself, and the Nietzschean Ubermensch has strong similarities to Raskolnikov.
** Ivan Karamazov and Smerdyakov both fit the trope in ''TheBrothersKaramazov''. One could make the case that Fyodor Karamazov is also a StrawNihilist, but he's more of a libertine than a nihilist.
** The famous novella ''NotesFromUnderground'' features a protagonist who rants against the Nihilists, the {{Straw Nihilist}}s of the time, yet fits the trope pretty well himself.
%%%** And of course, Rodya Raskolnikov from ''Literature/CrimeAndPunishment''.
* Creator/HPLovecraft, pioneer of the CosmicHorrorStory, takes the StrawNihilist mentality UpToEleven (without the OmnicidalManiac sociopathy though), with his stories focusing on the insignificance of human life compared to the indifference of the cosmos as a whole, vast eldritch discoveries and other {{things man was not meant to know}} out there. Lovecraft even developed an entire philosophy called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmicism Cosmicism]].\\
\\
In Lovecraft's short story ''The Silver Key'', his AuthorAvatar Randolph Carter ponders about the matter, and concludes that aesthetics are the only value worth sustaining in a universe without direction or meaning. In a way he fits the {{Ubermensch}} category better than this one, since he creates his own values after realizing the insignificance of the current ones. Of course he had his best experiences in dreams, and in the end flees the material world completely, making him also a rather extreme lotus eater.
* Cronal, BigBad of the StarWarsExpandedUniverse novel ''Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor''. He was raised by a cult of darksiders called the Sorcerers of Rhand, who believe that the will of the universe is that entropy and destruction are the only constants, and work to bring this about. At one point Cronal mentally disparages [[LawfulEvil Palpatine]] for attempting to create when he should have destroyed. All of which means that yes, there are people out there in the galaxy who are nastier than the Sith.
* Literature/{{Discworld}}:
** In ''Night Watch'', the bad guy Carcer is said not to be insane but rather too sane, in that he can do whatever the hell he wants because he knows that laws and things are just arbitrary lines the normal folk draw in the sand to pretend they're safe. Needless to say, [[LawfulGood Vimes]] [[BerserkButton does not]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome take this well]].
** Although he channels his cynicism much more constructively than most people on this page, [[TheChessmaster Lord Vetinari]] also occasionally holds such rants. Once at the end of {{Discworld/GuardsGuards}} when he lectures Sam Vimes. And then there's his little annecdote in {{Discworld/UnseenAcademicals}}, when he tells about the time he saw an otter and her children devour a still living salmon and the eggs it was carrying.
-->'''Vetinari:''' One of nature's wonders, gentlemen: Mother and children dining on mother and children. And that's when I first learned about evil. It is build in to the very nature of the universe. Every world spins in pain. If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.
** In a bit of a subversion, Death maintains that things like justice, mercy and duty are lies, but says that the entire point in believing in those lies is that it's what makes them real.
* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'':
** Although ordinarily he is not of this view, when [[TheChosenOne Rand Al'thor]] has a long overdue psychotic break and cracks after [[spoiler: almost killing his father out of paranoia and misplaced rage]] he rants about the pointlessness of existence in this fashion, railing against the actions of all being forgotten and then repeated thanks to the series' conceit of {{Reincarnation}}, and he comes within a few seconds of destroying or at least irrevocably damaging all of reality in a desire to end it all before he talks himself down via a conversation and eventually a [[spoiler: SplitPersonalityMerge with the voice in his head]], and can be found in the quotes page of this trope.
** [[TheDragon Ishamael/Moridin]] from the same series, however, gives every sign of being a straight example, being the only one of the GodOfEvil's minions who not only truly understands [[OmnicidalManiac its nature]], but actually joined it for the express purpose of putting reality out of its misery. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that Moridin is flat-out ''suicidal'', and his nihilism seems to stem from projecting his own suicidal tendencies on the universe at large]].
* M. Herron's thriller ''Why We Die'' is built around this philosophy, and begins with the narrator [[AuthorFilibuster directly lecturing the reader]] about how people's purpose in life is to die and be buried. It's a bit . . . [[{{Narm}} overblown]].
* [[{{The Draka}} The Draka]] [[{{TakeOverTheWorld}} conquer the world]] in the name of their [[{{ForTheEvulz}} collective sovereign will]] and genetically engineer themselves into a race of very literal [[{{Superior Species}} Übermenschen]]. This is justified within the timeline itself, as Nietzsche relocated to the colony of Drakia after he was rejected in his homeland.
%%%* In ''{{Lullaby}}'' by ChuckPalahniuk, Mona's boyfriend Oyster.
* ''Literature/TheIliad'': Achilles predates Nietzsche by millennia, but he resembles this form of Straw Nihilist. He gets an absolutely epic rant about how life and the heroic code are meaningless, and they're all going to die and be forgotten anyway. He goes so far as to wish everyone but himself and Patroclus dead in the hope that then, their glory might actually endure. It's incredibly bitter, incredibly powerful, and is this trope all over.
* The father and son encounter a starving one in ''TheRoad''. The son takes offense at the man's comments and gives him food, apparently as a way to prove the guy wrong.
%%%* Bazarov in ''Fathers and Sons'' is one.
* The Inner Party from ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' is an entire social caste of Straw Nihilists, and they happen to rule everything. Ingsoc is pretty much the Straw Nihilist of political systems, being built to completely corrupt ThePowerOfLove (the Eastasian counterpart of Ingsoc's actual ideology is also known as the "Obliteration of the Self", which from the name can be easily seen as Nihilism incarnate). The Inner Party is completely amoral (nothing was illegal, since there are no longer any laws) but if they notice a single sign of individuality and love, called "thoughtcrime", they capture the thoughtcriminals but instead of killing them, they torture them and make them literally live their worst nightmares, but all of this is not to interrogate them, but to traumatize them and drop them into {{despair event horizon}}. They leave the majority in immutable poverty, the superpowers in perpetual war and the entire world in DespairEventHorizon. You cannot reason with them or express love on them, ever. Why? Simply because their only motivation is "pure power".
--> '''O'Brien''': "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever."
%%%* The titular protagonist of ''Les Chants de Maldoror''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''{{Skins}}'': Tony, a vaguely sociopathic lead character in British drama is a rare comedy example. He is seen on multiple occasions to be reading ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' one of Nietzsche's seminal works. This is reflected in how he manipulates his friends in increasingly cruel ways for his own personal amusement. He's stated in his tie-in blog and videos that the only purpose of anyone is to entertain him.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'':
** Arthur Petrelli believes himself to be a {{Ubermensch}} better than normal people and free from moral constraints. Just to hammer this point home, in series three he is seen reading Nietzsche shortly before telling his son Peter that he is "Better". Ironically subtler villains Linderman and Adam Monroe did a better job of representing this trope than Arthur ever did.
** Adam in particular. He believes he is better, that humankind is worthless and life is pointless. However he also adds a dash of DarkMessiah as he seeks to change the pointlessness of life but forcing mankind to experience a terrible cataclysm and taking the survivors as his followers to build a better world. So he's a fusion of this trope and KnightTemplar[=/=]WellIntentionedExtremist
* Dr. Gregory House of ''{{House}}'' acts this way, and it is implied that the only reason he saves lives is because he likes solving mysteries, [[DrJerk not because he cares if the patient lives or dies]]. He suspects everybody of hiding something or lying to him.\\
\\
We're never truly sure what his motivations are. Usually he is in it for the challenge, but we're sometimes led to believe that he cares. House tries to subvert this by revealing how selfish he is, but it's pretty ambiguous.\\
\\
On the other hand, a perfectly valid AlternateCharacterInterpretation is that he is ''actually'' an {{Ubermensch}} in the making, on the threshold of becoming one but uncertain if he is quite ready to take the leap. As such, he's hidden his actual, personal BlueAndOrangeMorality behind the mask of somewhat more socially-acceptable nihilism.
* Connor from ''Series/{{Angel}}'' reached his peak of {{Straw Nihilist}}-ness in the Season 4 finale, and gave a rant that still sends chills down the spine.
--> ''"There's only one thing that ever changes anything. And that's death. Everything else is just a lie. You can't be saved by a lie... you can't be saved at all."''
** Ironically, he was in fact "saved by a lie", with Angel making a deal that wiped everyone's memory and placing Connor in a home with a loving family believing he was their natural born son.
* The sci-fi series ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' has an entire race of folks called Nietzscheans. They were originally humans who decided to live by Nietzsche's writings. They left Human territory to found their own colonies, genetically enhanced themselves, separated in to clans (called "Prides"), and generally don't like anybody but themselves.
* The famous-within-the-fandom 'Death And Dust' speech from StephenColbert. Even better because the character is (usually) a die-hard Catholic. Shortly after the 2000 Florida recount, having decided that all the debate and argument is irrelevant and who's President doesn't even matter:
-->'''Stephen''': You see, nothing means anything. Mankind is just a random collection of self-replicating protoplasm, floating in a godless universe where the stars blindly run and however frantically we may try to deny it, all our efforts amount to nothing more than death... and dust.\\
''[long pause]''\\
'''Stephen''': [cheerful] Oh, and I'm having a Christmas cocktail party...
* ''{{Oz}}''. Lemuel Idzik, the mentally-ill murderer of [[spoiler:Kareem Said]], who he'd met years before in Istanbul. [[spoiler:Said]] gave a passionate speech about how life was meaningless because the universe would one day end. Lemuel took the lesson to heart and tries to commit suicide by killing two people in Oz -- to his dismay he doesn't get the death penalty by reason of his insanity.
%%%* ''{{Dollhouse}}'':
%%%** Alpha, even referring to himself [[spoiler:and Echo after he forces her to undergo a composite event]] as {{Ubermensch}}.
%%%** During the second to last episode [[spoiler: One of Boyd's rants pretty much labels his worldview as such.]]
* Subverted in ''Series/RedDwarf'': the Inquisitor is a Simulant, a race of psychotic, violence-crazed humanoid robots created to fight wars for humanity, which humanity then attempted to shut down after they proved too sadistic. Equipped with a unique self-repair system of incomparable capability, the Simulant who became the Inquisitor survived until the end of time, and then beyond. Drifting in nothingness, he came to the conclusion that there is no such thing as God, no such thing as an afterlife, and that the purpose for existence is to live a worthwhile existence. Constructing a time machine, the Inquisitor now roams existence, meeting and judging each individual person who has ever and will ever live. If they fail to justify the life they have lived, he erases them and replaces them with a parallel version -- a sperm that didn't make it, an egg that wasn't fertilized. Of course, if, in due "time," they too prove themselves unworthy of the gift of life, then they are erased and another parallel version is given existence in their place. The Inquisitor's end-goal is to ensure that the universe is populated only by the worthy, those who truly have made the best of having been born.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' likely has more than can be easily counted, but one of the earliest appears in "Tomb of the Cybermen" in the form of Eric Klieg, who wishes to use the power of the Cybermen to lead the intellectual party to conquer the Earth under his rule. Needless to say, he and his LadyMacbeth wife overestimate his ability to [[EvilIsNotAToy control the Cybermen]].
* Simon Munnery's sketch show ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Ryhh4Ixac Attention Scum]]'' is a mockery of this trope, by throwing out feeble, nonsensical [[YouBastard insults of how the viewer sucks]], like "a fast reader" or "parodies of each other", while claiming that your only purpose in life is to... stand in line... and you will die.
* On ''Series/BurnNotice'', PsychoForHire Larry waves off the immorality of killing people for money (or just for fun) with his mantra of "some people live, some people die."
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Dean Winchester of is a rare heroic example of this, although [[TraumaCongaLine considering the way his life is going]], it's not entirely unjustified.
-->'''Dean:''' ''There is no higher power, there's no God. There's just chaos and violence and random, unpredictable evil that comes out of nowhere and rips you to shreds."
* In ''Series/TheSopranos'', Anthony Jr. briefly becomes one in season 2 as part of a teenage rebellion. To his parents' dismay he suddenly starts espousing a nihilistic worldview, questions the purpose of life, name-checks Nietzsche, and declares that GodIsDead.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Musical]]
* Stephen Sondheim's ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'' gives a [[VillainSong rousing number]], "Epiphany," devoted to the worthlessness of the human race and how we all deserve to die. From which point on he cuts a bloody swath in accordance with those precepts. Accompanied by dramatic chorus about moralizers and hypocrites.
* The operatic version of ''Theatre/{{Woyzeck}}'' has [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate The Doctor]], who gives us this little gem.
--> "Haven't I told you that the urethral sphincter is subordinate to the will?"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* In a strip of ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin says, "The problem with people is that they don't look at the big picture. Eventually, we're each going to die, our species will go extinct, the Sun will explode, and the Universe will collapse. Existence isn't only temporary, it's pointless! We're all doomed, and worse, nothing matters!" Of course, he's using this as an excuse to not do his homework.
* Rat in ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine''. He constantly sees the worst in others and looks at life as hopeless since the world will end. He was even able to get Pig and Zebra into his "End-o'-the-world" box, where they just get drunk out of beer-drinking hats.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Standup Comedy]]
* [[Creator/NormMacDonald Norm [=MacDonald=]]]. Imagine if SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker from ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' decided not to blow shit up and instead became a stand-up comic.
* PattonOswalt parodies this by crossing it with the TheFundamentalist:
--> "I DID NOT SPEND MY LIFE [[StrawNihilist NOT RAPING AND KILLING PEOPLE]] TO [[TheCakeIsALie NOT GO UP IN THE SKY AND HAVE ... CAKE!]] [[PunctuatedForEmphasis SKY CAKE!]]"...So the next time you see some [[TheFundamentalist douchebags in front of an abortion clinic, or trying to ban]] a Literature/HarryPotter novel, just go, "Oh, Sky Cake. Why are you so delicious?!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''ForgottenRealms'': Tharizdun, the God of {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s, has many of these traits; it's just that instead of sitting around preaching about it, he's chained in the Far Realm driving people mad and plotting to destroy everything, everywhere.
** Shar, the goddess of bitterness and oblivion, is the FR goddess of nihilism. Her adherents are not permitted to hope, or to plan for the future without a dispensation from her priesthood.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'':
** Archaon, Chosen of Chaos fits the actual Nietzsche mold fairly closely, believing that human society is irredeemably corrupt, and that a new form of society most be built. Of course, he thinks this should be done by killing everyone and turning the world over to {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. He also held to the unrelenting pessimism, calling all human gods lies/liars, and believing this to such an extent that he was horrified to discover a {{Physical God}} had reincarnated to stop him -- despite the fact that he had just won the fight.
** ''DarkHeresy'', the RPG of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', has the Pilgrims of Hayte, a cult based around the notion that life is meaningless and thus willing to end it on a [[OmnicidalManiac scale as large as possible]]. The outer layers believe that they worship Chaos for its closely fitting ideology while the inner circle knows that Chaos is just as strict, unforgiving and ultimately meaningless a master as the Emperor - and thus, a tool to be used. Which they relatively often get away with, if you consider "despoiling 3/4 of a planet and then abandoning your cult to its fate when the cavalry arrives" to be "getting away with it".
** ''{{TableTopGame/Warhammer 40000}}'' is rife with Straw Nihilists in its setting, especially among Chaos, the Necrons, and sometimes a few Imperials. [[CrapsackWorld It's obvious why.]]
* ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'':
** The Bleak Cabal are a subversion, as they are generally nice fellows despite their belief that the universe makes absolutely no sense.
** Furthermore, there's the Doomguard, whose members know that the entropy of everything is inevitable -- in fact, the core of Doomguard philosophy is that trying to hinder entropy is inherently futile and some of its more extreme members even try to hasten along the process.
* The Rakdos guild in ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' have spells like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=107517 Nihilistic Glee]]. They're also the 'hedonist' and 'sociopath' guild; their general theme is being the life of the party... and, sometimes, its death.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', despite predating Nietzsche, preaches nihilism with the best of them. The famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy is summarizes it, but he eventually subverts actually becoming a straw nihilist by drawing purpose from his father's death.
* ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' doesn't start off this way, but by the end? The titular character's soliloquy following LadyMacbeth's death ("Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow") is one of the more eloquent statements of the idea. His motives in the last act are his giving into this trope, made all the more terrifying because the amoral universe was of his own creation.
* ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'': The operatic version turned Iago, a villain who normally did it ForTheEvulz, into one of these with his VillainSong "Credo in un Dio crudel."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Albedo from the ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' series is a particularly horrifying and sadistic StrawNihilist, gleefully traumatizing MOMO for no apparent reason and strewing his throne room with the corpses of other little girls. He [[HealingFactor tends to self-mutilate]] when he's bored, and talks a lot about how wonderful death is. He [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope totally cracked]] when he realized he would [[WhoWantsToLiveForever live on]] after Nigredo and Rubedo die. ''I'm practicing so that when they die, I won't cry'', anyone?
* Kefka from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity evolved]] from a MonsterClown with nihilistic tendencies into a fully fledged StrawNihilist upon [[spoiler:[[OneWingedAngel becoming the most powerful physical being on the planet]] halfway through the game]].
-->''Why do people rebuild things they know are going to be destroyed? Why do people cling to life when they know they can't live forever? Think how meaningless each of your lives is!''
* Seymour from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', unloved and alone since his mother's death, wants to harness Sin and annihilate all life on Spira to put an end to pointless suffering. Two years later Shuyin from ''Final Fantasy X-2'', eternally enraged and bitter at the world that let his one true love die, wants to harness Vegnagun and annihilate all life on Spira to end the existence of a world that he now sees as a pointless mockery. Clearly a lot of baddies on Spira didn't get enough hugs.[[note]]Although in the world of Spira, the difference between the living & the dead isn't readily apparent (more than one character in the games is actually an Unsent...), & the dead hold onto their memories & ability to interact with the world. So killing everyone to end all suffering can seem to make a certain amount of sense, as it would be far from oblivion... er, well at least until being dead make you crazy and turn into a Fiend.[[/note]]
* The backstory of Dark Matter, a (thankfully [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu defeatable]]) EldritchAbomination that serves as the perennial antagonist of the ''{{Kirby}}'' games, makes it clear that its actions are meant to turn the universe into a place where no one can be happy, so that everyone can share in its sorrow and loneliness. Guess it's kind of hard to make friends when you're a sentient force of pure BlackMagic. Ironically, Kirby's best friend technically is one as well.
* Adam, leader of the Delphi cult in ''TraumaCenter'', who spread the GUILT plague to give humans the "blessing" of death they "deserve." He may or may not have included himself.
* ''StarWars: KnightsOfTheOldRepublic II'':
** Darth Nihilus, an aptly named Sith Lord, pursues the destruction of all life because "all life exists to feed his hunger." At least this is how Visas describes him.
** By contrast, [[spoiler:the character Kreia]] [[{{Ubermensch}} follows Nietzsche's philosophy much more closely]]; her meditations on pity and suffering are practically a Cliff's Notes version of ''Daybreak''.
* Luca Blight from ''SuikodenII''. Being the genocidal psychopath that he is, he could very well carry out his plan to [[OmnicidalManiac eradicate humanity]] by himself. To be fair, he's [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumped off the slippery slope]] some time before the game began.
* ''FireEmblem'':
** [[spoiler:Sephiran]] manipulated events in two games in order to prove to his patron goddess that the two races of Tellius were unable to live in peace, and thus should be destroyed. [[spoiler:Sephiran]] had [[spoiler:attempted to bring the two races to live in harmony for over several centuries, since a previous war between the two was the reason the goddess nearly destroyed the world in a flood]]. But a [[spoiler: nearly genocidal massacre of the Heron branch of the Laguz race and the resulting reprisals decades previous to the game's start]] convinced him that the situation was unsalvageable, and that he should wake up his goddess so she could pass judgment.[[labelnote:spoiler note]]Sephiran may be a subversion, as battle conversations with him imply that he regrets his actions somewhat, and that he ''wants'' to die (at the time, he's guarding the entrance to Ashera). If you satisfy certain conditions after beating the game once, Sephiran will actually renounce his old views and join your party for the final battle.[[/labelnote]]
** In the 6th game, there's the BigBad Zephiel, who started out as a WellDoneSonGuy, trying to appease his father and is generally a nice boy. But his father is such a {{Jerkass}} that attempted his life so many times, Zephiel finally snapped, killed his father, starts to conclude that humans are evil, since they also bring out the emotions that made his father jealous to him. Thus, he began a campaign of conquering Elibe, and when he does, he planned to surrender the land and the human race to the Dragon race. Of course he failed in the end.
* ''Videogame/{{Persona}}'' games
** All of the human villains of ''{{Persona 3}}'' fit into this trope. [[spoiler:One -does- admit to being in it for the power he'll supposedly be given over the world if he brings about the Fall, but ultimately, because the Fall is [[ApocalypseHow the Fall]]...]]
** In ''{{Persona 4}}'', we have [[spoiler:Shadow Teddie]], who, being a manifestation of repressed nihilistic feelings and hidden existential dread, fits quite well. His most powerful (well, it would be if it wasn't telegraphed) attack is called Nihil Hand.
** [[spoiler: Adachi]] claimed that all life was troublesome and pointless and that the world should just end.
** [[spoiler:Takahisa Kandori]] states that life is meaningless after he becomes a God. It's justified in that his DEVA machine [[spoiler:contacted Maki Sonomura's thoughts.]]
* ''SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters''
** Gig has this attitude towards humans. And with him being a GrimReaper, it goes without saying that the world he was responsible for was ''not'' having a good time until he got retired.
** In the Demon Path, [[spoiler:Shauna becomes this after Trish's suicide]]
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'':
** Fortune. After losing her parents, husband, and her unborn child of three months, she joins the military, only to find that bullets and bombs can't hurt her. Fortune then goes on with the mission of using Arsenal Gear to use its hydrogen bomb just to kill as many people as possible since no one can kill her.
** And Wolf. She was waiting for someone to kill her, killing as many people as possible before then.
* Sargeras in the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' universe was driven insane by the depthless evil of the demons he fought, and because of this he began to believe that the Titans' mission of creating new worlds was utterly pointless, and that chaos is the natural state of the universe. He created the Burning Legion, a massive demonic army, to revert the universe from an ordered one to a chaotic one. Even after Sargeras was apparently killed (officially he's "absent"), [[WordOfGod Chris Metzen]] has stated that the Legion's current commander, Kil'jaeden the Deceiver, still follows his master's philosophy.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' there's Sync. [[spoiler:He's a [[CloningBlues failed Clone]] of a CreepyChild (according to the manga: Sync's original likes keeping people as pets) that was thrown alive into a volcano. ''He Lived.'']] His response? Essentially, [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum he wants to die, and take the whole, meaningless world with him.]]
* [[spoiler: Kerghan]] from ''ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura:'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkBrIrQikWY his motive rant says it all.]] He's a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], because he isn't being nihilistic, he's being compassionate in a very warped way. He's proposing a [[{{Ubermensch}} constructive solution]] to the pain of all living beings. (Yes, "kill the world" is constructive in this sense. It solves the problem he's trying to solve, it's just not a solution that anyone else likes.)
* [[TheDragon Ramirez]] from ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' holds to the view that all of humanity is either corrupt (stating that they are driven by greed, hatred and bigotry) or weak (showing contempt for those who are incapable of defending themselves from him, or of using what power they possess to forcibly change the world), and uses these beliefs to justify attempted (and not-so-attempted) genocide. Curiously, he also holds to a somewhat more accurate Nietzschean philosophy, given that he believes his master, [[BigBad Lord Galcian]], to essentially be an {{Ubermensch}}, stating that Galcian is driven only by the will to power and the desire to use it to change the world, and that only such a man can unlock the world's true potential. [[spoiler:He goes fully StrawNihilist (not to mention OmnicidalManiac) when Galcian is killed, stating that the heroes have condemned the world by killing the only person who was capable of saving it.]]
* Cyrus from ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' claims that life is meaningless, so it's perfectly acceptable for him to destroy the entire universe and create a new one in which he is a god and little things like emotions and the human soul do not exist: "The incomplete and ugly world we have now can disappear. I am resetting everything to zero. Nothing can remain. It is all for making the ultimate world. A world of complete perfection. Nothing so vague and incomplete as spirit can remain."
* Haer'Dalis from the ''BaldursGate'' series, as a member of the Doomguard (see ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' examples above), is a StrawNihilist, albeit a rather chipper one. At one point he states that he finds all the destruction wrought by the Bhaalspawn to be marvelous.
* The Reason of Shijima in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne''. Sponsored by the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Assembly of Nihilo]], with the {{Ubermensch}} Hikawa as its leader, it seeks to destroy and reconstruct the world as a place of utter, absolute stillness. It is a reality where mankind is subsumed into infinite peace and unity, with no passion, no conflict, and the total eradication of human consciousness and individuality. Should the Demifiend (the player) choose to support this Reason, the game ends with [[spoiler:Hikawa congratulating him on an infinite, barren plain of complete silence and the bluest sky you have ever seen]].
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'':
** Jin Kisaragi is revealed to have this kind of view in ''Continuum Shift''; one translation of his words to Tsubaki in his Arcade mode story contains the line "The only truth in this world is death".
** Hazama wants to destroy the current world because it's filled with "LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES!" Also because [[ForTheEvulz he just enjoys it]].
* Mephiles the Dark from ''{{Sonic the Hedgehog 2006}}'', especially in the Showdown with Mephiles cutscene, where he, in a manner similar to Agent Smith in The Matrix Revolutions, questions why Shadow even attempts to oppose him and defend humanity when he will inevitably be persecuted.
-->'''Mephiles:''' Why bother fighting at all? Why defend those who will only persecute you later?
* ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'': Dr. Weil, shortly after explaining his particularly horrific [[AndIMustScream origin for his]] [[WhoWantsToLiveForever immortality]] to Zero, undergoes an immense rant about how justice and freedom are worthless ideals, and then as his opening quote even dismisses ideals themselves as being meaningless or a lie.
-->'''Dr. Weil:''' Justice!? Freedom!? Worthless ideals! [[FantasticRacism You Reploids are just machines]], but you started a war a long time ago in the name of freedom! And humans! Look what they did to me! Driving me away while spouting the word "justice!" Zero, would you insist on saving them!? Controlling the Reploids is nothing! The destruction of all mankind is only fleeting! Not quite alive... Not quite dead... Forever, by my side! I'll make you suffer a fate far greater than anything ever experienced before![...]Ideals?! WHAT A LIE!!!
* In ''SuperPaperMario'', Count Bleck is revealed to have become a nihilist [[spoiler:after he lost his lover Timpani]], so he decided that life was meaningless and wanted to [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery destroy the entire multiverse]] with the Chaos Heart.
* [[spoiler:Downy Reed]] in ''VideoGame/DuelSaviorDestiny'' is perfectly okay with destroying the universe due to the death of his little sister and his inability to get revenge for it. Such an unfair world clearly shouldn't exist or something.
* In ''GrandTheftAutoBalladOfGayTony'', the protagonist meets a smoking, leather clad frenchman on the street who gives a speech that causes him to qualify as one of these. "I came to fuck and get high, what else is there? ... Family? I had a family once: meaningless. Honour!? Don't make me puke! No, the only thing that matters in this word is getting your rocks off... or getting so out of it that you don't even realise you aren't getting your rocks off."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/KidRadd'', [[spoiler:GI Guy, rather accurately observing that video game sprites like himself are created for the purpose of killing each other, tries to destroy the entire sprite world, and humanity with it]]. [[spoiler: Unlike most cackling madmen, he's convinced this is will be a mercy-kill and that it's in everyone's best interests.]]
* ''DominicDeegan: Oracle For Hire'' has Celesto Morgan, who is determined to "cleanse the world" by killing a lot of people he thinks deserve to die, as exemplified in [[http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2005-01-25 these]] [[http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2005-03-09 strips]]. Dominic hinges on being one for a while in the same story arc, until he is shown a group of people who willingly sacrificed themselves to protect their friends; this shakes him out of the "The world is horrific" viewpoint he was holding.\\
\\
It is worth noting that he isn't entirely evil -- in more recent strips he negotiates with Deegan and tries to make a peace offering. He still tries to kill people, but at least one was a psychopath and another was a crime lord. He's become somewhat of a KnightTemplar.
* Jack from ''AntiheroForHire'', as shown [[http://www.antiheroforhire.com/d/20041108.html here]].
* In ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', Lich von Vampire believes that all life exists to die. The cultists and Black Mage also seem to have a nihilistic philosophy. Possibly played for laughs, seeing as his point of argument was people building their homes where glaciers "would come screaming through" ''hundreds of thousands'' of years later.
* In ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20080722.html Galatea started out this way.]] She's one of the apparently rare cases where [[WhoopiEpiphanySpeech the hero successfully convinced her she was wrong,]] and [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath she lightened up a little.]]
%%%* ''The Bunny System'' [[http://wordpress.thebunnysystem.com/2004/06/18/nietzsche/ approach]]:
%%%--> So, ever read any Nietzsche?
* In ''{{Suppression}}'' Samantha Wight delivers a speech to this effect when she first appears, but on that same note believes their efforts to be so pointless that she lets them pass afterward. [[spoiler: Which they would have done if Bael's BerserkButton hadn't been pressed a few too many times.]]
* ''{{Homestuck}}'': [[spoiler: Jadesprite]], after her UnwantedRevival, starts taking this view. Jade ends up [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan calling her out on this.]]
* ''Webcomic/BallAndChain'''s Nihilist Greg is a reasonably benign example, played for laughs.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'':
** Daphne Rudko has a viewpoint that can best be described as this, viewing humanity as nothing but parasites that must be destroyed and life as bleak and torturous, causing her to play not as much out of wanting to live (though that was a big part of it) as wanting everyone else to die. Then again, she's probably one of the few [[JustifiedTrope justified]] [[StrawNihilist straw nihilists]] out there.
** Keith Christoph is a {{Deconstruction}} of this trope, as well as characters who become [[AxCrazy 'players']] right off the bat.
** Spoofed with Meredith Hemmings, who continuously makes statements of this nature. However, it's pretty clear that she's just a poser and wannabe {{Goth}}, and that she doesn't believe a word of what she's saying. As a result, many characters tend to be dismissive of her.
* [[http://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/a-prayer-to-futility A Prayer To Futility]] from TheWanderersLibrary is written from the perspective of such an individual.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Miss Bitters from ''InvaderZim''. She's played totally for laughs -- but given what happens in a typical episode of the show, she looks like an optimist. Her rants / lessons tend to consist of telling her students how pointless existence is and how they are all [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom doomed, doomed, doomed]]...
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak3z2Pm7Iwg "Satan" sequence]] in ''TheAdventuresOfMarkTwain'' (adapted from Twain's novella ''The Mysterious Stranger'') is one of the most frightening and disturbing examples. What's worse is that this was put in a family film.
* Professor Screweyes from ''WereBackADinosaursStory''. In a deleted scene (which really shouldn't had been censored), he claims that he believes that the world is senseless and cruel because, when he was a kid, a crow ''pecked his eye out'', and he dedicated his life to scare other people.
* [[EvilTwin Owlman]] becomes one in ''[[{{DCAU}} Crisis on Two Earths]]'' after he finds out that [[spoiler: there is a multiverse of universes out there, each Earth in each universe representing a different possiblity, [[AllTheMyriadWays and thus making choices ultimately pointless]] ]]. This actually takes a rather interesting twist in the final battle, [[spoiler:where Batman teleports Owlman and his [[EarthShatteringKaboom planet-destroying device]] to a barren, frozen wasteland of a parallel Earth. Owlman frees himself, then looks at the bomb, which is near the end of its countdown, and the Abort button is right there in front of him. Smiling, Owlman says "It doesn't matter." and lets the bomb go off, killing him.]]
* The Stunticon [[MeaningfulName Dead End]] got to be like this at times during the course of [[TransformersGeneration1 the original]] ''{{Transformers}}'' cartoon. It becomes a bit of a joke when you read his character biography, and learn that [[HypocriticalHumour he is quite vain about his appearance and constantly stays polished and detailed.]] Because if he's gonna die, he's going to leave behind a nice looking corpse.
--> '''Dead End:''' What does it matter if I meet my fate now, or when my circuits fail?
* Spider-Carnage in the GrandFinale of ''SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries''. An alternate-universe Peter Parker, he already at the brink of madness due to his version of TheCloneSaga - being possessed by the Carnage symbiote sent him to OmnicidalManiac-level out of the belief that life was meaningless. [[spoiler: It took a meeting with an alternate-universe Uncle Ben to make him snap out of it and fight off the symbiote's control.]]
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