[[OrderOfTheStick http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/miko_ready_to_smite.png]]
[[caption-width:322:Miko Miyazaki. Where to begin? Then again, [[PsychoForHire Belkar]] really has it coming.]]

->''Fiat justitia, et pereat mundus. (Let justice be done, though the world perish.)''
->-- ''Motto of'' '''Ferdinand I.''', [[HolyRomanEmpire Holy Roman Emperor]]

Sometimes the [[LightIsNotGood Forces of Light get too hardcore]]. Beyond the WellIntentionedExtremist, they get blinded by themselves and their ideals, and this extreme becomes tyranny. It's not the Forces of Darkness's fault, but they are laughing their asses off. It doesn't mean that they still won't fight to the death; but they take great satisfaction in that they were ''right.''

Usually the KnightTemplar's primary step (or objective) is to [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill get rid of that pesky "free will" thing that is the cause of crime and evil]]. Many KnightTemplar types are [[PayEvilUntoEvil utterly merciless]] in dealing with those whom they consider evil, and are prone to [[AllCrimesAreEqual consider all crimes to be equal]]. The lightest offenses are met with Draconian penalties such as full imprisonment, death or brainwashing. Note that the canonical "minor offense with [[DisproportionateRetribution staggeringly out-of-proportion punishment]]" is jaywalking. If you're in a story like this, don't jaywalk.

It's important to note that [[{{KnightTemplar}} Knights Templar]] believe fully that [[AntiVillain they are on the side of righteousness]] [[TheFettered and draw strength from that]], and their opponents are not. Invoking goodness and decency will have no effect, save for making [[{{KnightTemplar}} Knights Templar]] decry your cause as the work of [[{{Satan}} the devil]]. After all, they are certain their cause is just and noble, and anyone who stands in the way is a deluded fool at best or another guilty soul to be "cleansed" or evildoer to be killed, and doing so is not even DirtyBusiness. Indeed, it may take them a while to [[EvilCannotComprehendGood realize that a person of sense and good will really opposes them]]; the [[IncorruptiblePurePureness righteousness]] of their cause -- and their own selves -- is self-evident to them. It goes without saying that many KnightTemplar types are also TheFundamentalist by definition due to their obsession about being "right."

[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans Utopia]] is commonly ruled by Knights Templar.

Sometimes the KnightTemplar is [[TheComputerIsYourFriend an artificially intelligent computer]] that took its instructions to "protect humanity" [[ZerothLawRebellion just a bit too far]]. [[KnightTemplar Knights Templar]] often make up the AncientConspiracy, and many can also be found in the ranks of the CorruptChurch, ChurchMilitant, or PathOfInspiration.

Contrast with CardCarryingVillain, a villain who completely believes that he is [[AlwaysChaoticEvil bad]]. A Knight Templar can become this if he has a HeelRealization and [[IgnoredEpiphany decides to keep being a villain anyway]]. Alternatively, he might turn NecessarilyEvil. Compare and contrast with the KnightInSourArmor who is what happens when a LawfulGood character chooses to err on the side of Good instead of erring towards Law. These guys are usually LawfulStupid.

A mild, comedic version is the LordErrorProne. See also KnightTemplarParent, KnightTemplarBigBrother, LawfulStupidChaoticStupid. Sometimes they [[HeWhoFightsMonsters started out Fighting Monsters.]] Those who will ''really'' do anything for their beliefs count among TheUnfettered.

In case you were looking for historical Templars, see TheKnightsTemplar.
----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime ]]

* The religious branch of the AncientConspiracy "Soldats" in the {{anime}} ''{{Noir}}'' were this way, despite the irony in Soldats' creation lying in their persecution 1,000 years ago. Altena in ''{{Noir}}'' similarly will stop at nothing to see her ideals realized, for the sake of humanity, no matter how many must die, Les Soldats or otherwise.
* The Vatican's elite Iscariot Organization in the anime and manga ''{{Hellsing}}''. Not that the protagonists are [[BlackAndGrayMorality much better]].
* The Society of Light, headed by a vague alien [[EnergyBeings Energy Being]] called "The Light of Ruin," from ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh GX}}''.
** Its parent series, ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}'', has Dartz and his organization Doma, which wants to destroy the world in order to save it.
* ''DeathNote'''s main character, Light Yagami, a.k.a. "Kira", is a KnightTemplar, [[spoiler: though, to be fair, he's not as severe on punishment as other Death Note users]]. In fact, most of the interesting characters at least border on this; L is willing to torture people (albeit [[spoiler:another Death Note user]]) to capture Kira, Mikami is eager to kill for Justice, Misa for love, and Light himself... This series has an extra-lubricated [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope Slippery Slope]].
* The [=SOLOMON=] organization in ''WitchHunterRobin'' has strong ties to the Roman Catholic Church, particularly the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith... better known by its truncated historical title of the Inquisition.
* The Royal Knights organization from the various versions of ''{{Digimon}}'' are the literal incarnations of this trope, following anyone who possesses holy or god-like powers with a sense of unquestioning dogmatic loyalty. Usually, whoever is bossing them around goes totally nuts, and they end up acting as honorable villains until several of them wise up and turn "true good".
** [[DigimonFrontier Lucemon]] is a prime example.
** The Hypnos organization in ''DigimonTamers'' are Knights Templar. They seek to protect the world from dangerous Digimon, but employ ludicrously indiscriminate (and almost never effective) tactics in doing so.
*** Not to mention horrific, genocidal, and downright brutal when it comes to actually dealing with the Digimon. Especially the ones they [[KickTheDog catch]]...
* The Holy Iron Chain Knights in ''{{Berserk}}'' are devoted to smiting out all traces of evil. The problem: they include "anyone not following our exact procedures for demon-smiting" under "evil." Because of a prophecy about a Hawk of Light, which they consider the newly-reincarnated BigBad Griffith to be, and a Hawk of Darkness, which they consider AntiHero Guts to be (though it's actually [[spoiler: Griffith as Femto]]), things go downhill in a hurry. Doubly applies to Inquisitor Mozgus, who believes in [[CompleteMonster horrifically torturing people to "expiate their sins."]]
** The X-Laws in ''ShamanKing'' are similar.
* Sailors Uranus and Neptune in ''SailorMoon'' were pretty much willing to let the owners of the Pure Heart Talismans die if it was needed to stop the Silence from happening. Granted, they weren't happy about that either ([[spoiler:especially when they thought Usagi had one of them]]), but they were pretty resigned and determined to do it. That was the source of lots of misunderstandings and bad blood with the other Senshi, who thought of them as villains. [[spoiler: And they almost get a sort-of KarmicDeath when it's shown ''they'' had two of the Talismans in their Pure Hearts. Uranus even wondered out loud if that's what they deserved]].
** Later in S, they team up with Sailor Pluto to keep stopping the impending Apocalypse. And one of the "power trio"'s goals was to [[spoiler: kill a 12-year-old girl who happened to be the incarnation of the Senshi of Destruction, Sailor Saturn]].
** And later in ''Sailor Stars'' they made a FaceHeelTurn and [[spoiler: sided with Galaxia and killed Pluto and Saturn, just to get a shot at Galaxia.]]
*** [[YourMileageMayVary Although that last one is debatable]] since [[spoiler: Galaxia was going to kill all four of them ANYWAY - if you think about it, it was a choice between dying ''then'' or living long enough to get a decent shot at the enemy when she was least expecting it.]]
* An example of this played for comedy is the [[BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine comedy duo]]/LovelyAngels Love Pheromone in ''AkahoriGedouHourRabuge''. For even the slightest misdemeanor against them (such as calling Aimi [[{{pettanko}} flat-chested]]), they will destroy anything in the surrounding area with their {{Powered Armor}}s. They have no HeroInsurance whatsoever and are in fact seen as villains by nearly everyone. Yet all the while they claim "Anything can be done in the name of justice!"
*''TrinityBlood'' has quite a few bloodthirsty crusaders for justice - notable among them is Brother Petros, [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking director]] of the [[ChurchMilitant Department of Inquisition]], who can favorably be described as "zealous though unsubtle" and accurately described as a bloody lunatic.
** An early episode also subverts this when Brother Tres Iqus, GunKata {{Badass}} ''extraordinaire'', declares his intent to kill an innocent child simply because he has been ordered to by his superiors but runs out of bullets. Moments later he empties his weapon into an attacker and walks away (revealing he does not mindlessly follow orders from the "good guys").
* Kaname Tosen from ''{{Bleach}}'', whose devotion to "taking the side of least bloodshed" leads him to join up with the BigBad.
** Jin Kariya in the {{Filler}} wants to destroy Soul Society because they created and then abandoned the Bount.
*** General Captain Yamamoto is this to some, thought it could easily be argued that he is willing to do evil or cruel acts to keep the universe in balance.
* In ''OnePiece'', since the heroes are pirates, many of the Navy officers are KnightsTemplar, the most notable of whom is probably [[spoiler:Admiral Akainu. The very first thing we see him do is [[KickTheDog blow up a civilian ship]] simply because they ''might'' be aiding an enemy]].
** Really, the Marine in ''One Piece'' can be best described as a massive, sprawling, organization comprised almost entirely of [[{{KnightTemplar}} Knights Templar]]. There are exceptions (such as Smoker, and arguably Admiral Aokiji), but by and large the Marine's devotion to the concept of 'absolute justice' is downright dogmatic.
** That's because the Marines needs to be a red herring to cover up the fact that One Piece is about treasure hunters that are mildly anarchic at worst. If the authorities were any kind of reasonable government, it would take IdiotBall contortions to get the heroes or ''pirates'' on the wrong side of them.
*** Most pirates that ''aren't'' the main characters seem to be ChaoticEvil. Then again, most of them are beaten by the main characters instead of the Navy...
* Sensui of YuYuHakusho was a particularly brutal KnightTemplar before the start of the series, believing that all demons were irredeemably evil and all humans were good, killing all demons indiscriminately. When he was given overwhelming proof that his convictions were wrong, we went [[FreakOut completely]] [[FaceHeelTurn insane]] and tries to overrun the world with demons, [[NietzscheWannabe believing all humans to be corrupt]].
* [[spoiler:Admiral Haruki Kusakabe]] from ''[[{{MartianSuccessorNadesico}} Nadesico]]'' is a particularly evil Knight Templar. Especially in the movie, where he crosses the MoralEventHorizon into CompleteMonster territory.
--> "There is only ''one'' Justice, and it is obviously on ''my'' side."
** He might be more of a hypocritical, propaganda-loving [[TakeOverTheWorld megalomaniac]], however. His underling Genichiro Tsukiomi, on the other hand, [[spoiler:assassinates his best friend at a peace conference for ''daring'' to negotiate with the evil Earthlings, on Kusakabe's orders. He's become TheAtoner by the time of the movie, however.]]
* Duo and Slur from the ''[[MegaManBattleNetwork RockMan.EXE]]'' saga. Slur, in particular, is another example of a thoroughly evil Knight Templar.
* [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness SEELE]] in ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' is perfectly willing to torture young children, [[spoiler:kill everyone in NERV, followed shortly by everybody ''[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt in the entire world]]'', horribly, to unite mankind in a "[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans perfect]]" HiveMind]]. At least the [[EldritchAbomination Angels]] weren't so pretentious.
* Suzaku of ''CodeGeass'' starts out as a WideEyedIdealist and a KnightInShiningArmor. After [[spoiler:Euphemia's death]], he falls into Knight Templar territory when he starts conquering/enslaving other countries for the Emperor in the hopes of gaining control over Japan some day. [[spoiler: Eventually, after a couple of MyGodWhatHaveIDone moments, he gets better - or at least self-aware enough to point his NecessarilyEvil tendencies in the right direction.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]
* This is a common AlternateUniverse for {{Super Hero}}es.
* The {{Elseworld}} story ''[[Comicbook/{{Superman}} Superman: Red Son]]'' features a Kal-El who lands in Soviet Russia, is brought up as the son of Stalin and encompasses the world in a prosperous but tightly controlled dictatorship, which deals with dissidents by robotic mind-control on the basis that, [[TechnicalPacifist hey, it's better than]] ''[[ThouShaltNotKill killing]]'' them! In the end, [[spoiler:Lex Luthor defeats him by writing him a letter: "I'm distilling everything Superman hates and fears about himself into a '''''[[BoldInflation single sentence]].'''''" The contents of the letter: "Why don't you just put the whole WORLD in a BOTTLE, Superman?" Unusual for most Knight Templar characters, this works, and Superman breaks down and cries, realizing that he's no different from Brainiac, who shrunk down cities and put them in bottles -- the only thing Superman wasn't able to undo.]]
* During the {{Knightfall}} story arc, {{Batman}}'s fill-in Azrael, aka Jean-Paul Valley, was a member of the Order of St. Dumas, a Templar-esque organization of assassins.
** second part of Knightfall, ''Knightquest'' tells a story how Jean-Paul turned from Batman's LegacyCharacter into KnightTemplar.
* In ''{{Watchmen}}'', [[spoiler: Ozymandias kills half the population of New York in order to [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans unite the US and the Soviet Union]]]].
** Rorschach, from the same, is a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the trope that straddles the line between AntiHero and AntiVillain.
* ''Judge Dredd'' is probably the most famous example of this in the world of comics.
** AllCrimesAreEqual doesn't really apply to him, though. He sentences people according to their crimes, and I'm pretty sure he's even been merciful at times, though I can't come up with an specific example. He's more of a really tough guy, but not impossibly so, while this trope implies impossibility.
*** He is one of the best examples there is. He sentenced a crazed gunner (didn't kill anyone but wounded a Judge) who lost his job (unemployment is very high due to 1: Robots and 2: Welfare is enough to give most people middle-class lifestyles, but also the main reason for crime, people are bored and don't know what to do anymore) hard labor for life, the man breaks down crying thanking Dredd.
** Judge Death takes this to its [[YouFailLogicForever pseudo-logical]] extreme: since all crimes are committed by the living, then life itself should be considered a crime. "The crime is life. The sentence is DEATH."
* Starr from ''{{Preacher}}'', a fusion of Templar attitude and Templar position and mission.
* IronMan became one of these during and after ''ComicBook/CivilWar''. Note that this need not have happened; both sides were intended to have valid points, but the people writing the anti-Registration side [[StrawmanPolitical kept penning atrocity after atrocity for him to commit to make their side look better]].
* In the lore of the {{Green Lantern}} mythos, the Lanterns were preceded by a robot force known as the Manhunters. A perfect example of the trope, they are the "logical guardian machines removing free will."
** Sinestro got kicked out of the Green Lantern Corps for doing this. He had the most peaceful and orderly planet in the universe--because he was ruling it with an iron fist.
** And now the Green Lantern Corps has created a sort of internal security force called the Alpha Lanterns--''using Manhunter technology.'' [[FacePalm Brilliant.]]
* The {{X-Men}} have faced the Purifiers; a sect of Christian fundamentalists led by Reverend William Stryker. The Purifiers believe mutants are the devil's children, and they are fighting a holy war against them.
**And let's not forget the Sentinels, shall we?
** Hell, how about "Anyone with an irrational hatred of Mutants"!
*** Only if they honestly believe Mutants are dangerous and need to be controlled for the good of the population, like Senator Robert Kelly. Others, like Victor Creed Junior, are clearly shown as just bigots who want mutants dead for being mutants, not to improve the world.
* At one point, the Autobots in the ''{{Transformers Generation 1}}'' comic became like this when Grimlock became leader after one of Optimus Prime's numerous {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s.
** The Autobots also did this during the Nova Prime administration in the latest series of comics.
* In the Ultimate Marvel reboot of the Fantastic Four, the Ultimate version of [[spoiler:the Psycho Man mind controls an entire world to feel happy and contented, while the Ultimate Silver Surfer argues that they are merely happy slaves]]. Also, let's not forget that Dr. Doom is always working on creating his "utopia", even if it means destroying the world as we know it. Hey, it's for a good cause.
* In the indie graphic novel ''{{Artesia}}'', there are the Templars of Agall. These guys worship a patriarchal New God, calling those still dedicated to the matriarchal Old Goddesses heretics. It's their Islik-given duty to protect His church and slay those that oppose them. They have no respect for powerful women like the main character, and any woman who even seems to be dabbling in magic or herbalism deserves to be burned as a witch. Not very nice guys. And they happen to be pretty {{Badass}}.
* Baron Zemo became one after his so-called reform in ''{{Thunderbolts}}''. Zemo crafts elaborate plans to take over the world, but every one is a dressed-up EvilPlan that involves removing free choice from humanity. Furthermore, most of these plans involve Zemo giving himself [[AGodAmI godlike powers]], and he expects everybody to trust him with such power despite his past attempts to take over the world.
* Shadow in the ''[[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' comic becomes one in the "X Years Later" storylines. First, once Sonic leaves the timeline, he conquers Mobius and implements a totalitarian regime. He's eventually overthrown and put in stasis by Sonic, but ItGotWorse.
* Deadlock and the order of the Knights Martial in the ''ABC Warriors'' comics are specifically stated to be inspired by the tradition of the Knights Templar.
* KingdomCome. The premise being "what if {{DCU}} experienced an explosion in the population metahumans, and they became KnightTemplar [[NinetiesAntiHero Nineties Anti Heroes]] with no regard for collateral damage or civilian casualties, thus forcing the GoldenAge and SilverAge heroes out of retirement to set them straight?
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fan Fic ]]
* [[AncientConspiracy The Circles]] from the ''FanFic/DevaSeries''. They firmly believe that artificial magery will lead to TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and seek to kill Hayate and friends for using Devices. Admittedly, there is a smidge of truth in their beliefs, but the extents to which they go, combined with their insistence on refusing Hayate's offers of WeCouldHaveAvoidedAllThis, do not help their case.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film]]
* In Frailty, Matthew McConaughey's family is commanded by God to destroy demons. One of the kids sees "destroy demons" to mean "kill people."
** The [[spoiler:dramatic irony]] is that [[spoiler:all the people killed are murderers or worse]].
* ''{{Robocop}}'', in the second film, has been reprogrammed with an AllCrimesAreEqual package as a means of making him ineffective. He comes across somehow as both LawfulStupid (shooting at a man for smoking in a no-smoking zone) ''and'' StupidGood (by refusing to fire at someone ''shooting at him'' and trying to talk things out) He realizes this is not right and goes on to get electrocuted to remove the programming, something the said programming didn't expect.
* The Operative in ''[[{{Firefly}} Serenity]]'' is another example - he truly believes in the [[WellIntentionedExtremist ultimate rightness of his actions]], even as he acknowledges that they are [[NecessarilyEvil horrible things and he is a horrible person for doing them, and as such he will have no place]] in the [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans perfect world]] he is trying to create.
** In a way, the entire Alliance can be seen as Knights Templar, considering that they [[spoiler:killed thirty million people on Miranda while testing a peace-enducing chemical inhalant]] and the entire justification for them [[MindRape cutting River's brain up]] was to "make a better world."
*** Well, not the entire Alliance -- just whatever faction of the government/corporate complex is involved in all that. We know it involves members of Parliament, but they've been out to keep it all very secret, too.
* The Jigsaw serial killer in ''{{Saw}}'' sees himself as this, never admitting to actually killing anyone (and providing video "evidence" to prove it), and insists that his actions were intended to help the "wrongdoers" that were his victims "see the light" and reform their evil ways. Of course, the fact that he does this through {{Death Trap}}s [[PoeticSerialKiller created to fit the "sin" of the victim]], and requiring them to kill or maim another person or mutilate themselves to escape, makes his statements hard to believe.
* The government of Libria in ''{{Equilibrium}}'' suppressed human emotion, as it was believed responsible for causing the human tendency for violence that brought about the war that practically destroyed the world, which means destroying art, movies and other things inducive of emotion (including [[KickTheDog cute little dogs]]) and terminating "sense offenders" who go without the government mandated drug called Prozium.
* Jonathan Doe from ''{{Se7en}}'' believes that he is punishing the wicked by killing people that go against his belief system. It could be argued, however, that he is simply a sadistic psychopath.
** It could be argued, however, that ''many'' KnightsTemplar are simply sadistic psychopaths...
* The Paladins in the film version of ''{{Jumper}}'', led by Samuel L. Jackson. They believe they are doing God's will by murdering all of the jumpers, as "only God should have that power".
* Subverted in ''TheWickerMan'', where Sgt. Howie is introduced as a religiously intolerant, uptight JerkAss. However, his faith and sense of duty are presented in a more and more admirable light as the film progresses, and he's far less infuriatingly fanatical than the [[TownWithADarkSecret townsfolk]]. By the end, [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome you're ready to salute him]].
* An inversion maybe but [[FightClub in a Tyler sorta way]] he is one. I mean he talks about the greater good and the removal of free will (at least to get people out of their consumerist lifestyle) its just chaotic instead of orderly
** Literary, not film, but still Chuck Palahniuk: similarly, Brandy Alexander in ''Invisible Monsters'' claims that all of our desires have been conditioned by external forces, so that we can't trust the things that we want. Hence, [[spoiler: his decision to become a woman.]]
* The League of Shadows in ''[[DarkKnightTrilogy Batman Begins]]'' have devoted their lives to defeating crime and evil -- by any means necessary. They eventually decide to kill every single person in Gotham City because they feel that the entire city is beyond redemption. Judging from what we've seen of the place, they may have a point there.
** Fortunately they didn't contemplate [[KillAllHumans the philosophical ramifications of their earlier attempt to destroy Gotham in terms of their absolutist theories...]]
* TheTeutonicKnights in AlexanderNevsky are portrayed as even worse than any Templar, and the real Knights were thought to be quite ruthless as well.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]
* [[spoiler: Jorge of Burgos]] from Umberto Eco's ''The Name of the Rose'' is the ''epitome'' of this trope. He's already a crazed extremist at the beginning of the book, and then he ''kills - or has killed - seven people''. [[spoiler: All to prevent somebody from reading a book that Jorge considers heretical: Aristotle's lost chapter of the ''Poetics'' discussing comedy]]. His KarmicDeath comes as a huge relief. Even to his ''allies''.
* The Anathemata Curialis from the FelixCastor series will do literally anything to fight back the suddenly rising wave of undead and demons. Including, yes, recruiting them. You'd just better hope you don't get possessed by anything, or otherwise get in their way.
* In ''HarryPotter'', Dumbledore and Grindelwald once wanted to take over the world, so wizards could stop hiding: "{{Muggles}} forced into subservience. We wizards triumphant. [Us], the glorious young leaders of the revolution." On the other hand, Dumbledore manipulates many people, even planning Harry's HeroicSacrifice, to defeat Voldemort.
** Also, Voldemort himself (among others) believes, not that he is a "good guy", because for him "[[AboveGoodAndEvil there is no good or evil]]", but that wizardkind must be purged from what "infects" it, namely everyone who's not a pureblood or half-blood wizard.
*** Voldemort's not the best example, as his hatred of muggles seems to stem more from personal issues (his experience in the orphanage, his resentment of his DisappearedDad, etc.) than any sort of morality. His ancestor Slytherin, however, seems to have based his prejudice towards muggles and muggleborns came from a belief that they were inherently untrustworthy, and some of the modern Death Eaters (namely Bellatrix) do have a moral belief that all non-purebloods are dangerous subhumans. Therefore, they are better examples of this trope. One could argue, however, that Voldemort presents himself as a KnightTemplar in order to attract followers.
* The Whitecloaks in ''TheWheelOfTime'' series. They think all Aes Sedai are servants of the [[BigBad Dark Lord]] and they get neighbors to accuse each other of being "darkfriends." Only three of them are presented as honorable men.
** The Questioners, a branch that specializes in tortured confessions, are so nuts that not even the Whitecloaks can stand them.
** Also from ''Wheel'', the Red Ajah, that faction of the Aes Sedai dedicated to finding and depowering men who can channel. A large portion of them began to despise all men (they don't even have Warders), and eventually they began to break Tower Law by gentling men outside the tower. As punishment the three sitters where all exiled to farms.
* In Jim Butcher's ''TheDresdenFiles'' novels, and to some degree the TV series based on them, the White Council and their enforcers, the Wardens, frequently come across as Knights Templar, primarily with their draconian enforcement of the Seven Laws of Magic (usually entailing instant beheading). Morgan, one of the leaders of the Wardens, is the first and best example of this. However, this ends up somewhat subverted later in the novel series when [[spoiler: Harry, who had been viewed as a troublemaker at best and Lawbreaker at worst, and had once been under a one-strike-you're-dead parole, is recruited into the Wardens after many of them are slaughtered during the war with the vampire Red Court. Even Morgan changes his position; while he still believes that Harry is dangerous, he no longer thinks he's evil, just arrogant, undisciplined, and stupid. This is a major change from a character previously thought to be unchanging.]]
** Even more of a subversion, [[spoiler: as Morgan's changed opinion is mostly right.]]
** Another major subversion is Michael Carpenter. He really IS a knight templar (knight of the cross), and is an easy going and understanding lawful good character.
* Lilith de Tempscire in the ''{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'', whose [[WrongGenreSavvy warped]] [[GenreSavvy narrative awareness]] leads her to believe that ''anything'' she does as a fairy godmother is justified by the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, and means everyone will live HappilyEverAfter. She's absolutely shocked when Granny Weatherwax tells her [[WrongGenreSavvy she's not "the good one"]].
* In the ''Revelation Space'' universe, there is an entire species which plans to prevent any technological civilization from arising for 6 billion years to make sure that life can flourish after the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies collide. They are perfectly willing to kill trillions of sapient beings and wipe out whole species in order to achieve this goal.
** The disturbing feature is that this explains where all the aliens are.
** A similar feature is in ''Anvil of Stars'' and its prequel, where the good guys' mission is to defeat a group of planet destroyers who eliminated Earth. This involves eradicating nine different intelligent species who have the misfortune to be in the way.
*** Not just in the way. Apparently, those races were deliberately created as (non)human shields.
* In certain time periods of {{Larry Niven}}'s ''KnownSpace'' universe, minor crimes such as "repeated traffic violations" are punished by execution. However, this is primarily because the organs of all executed criminals are harvested for the "organ banks" for use in transplants.
* While Lord Asriel's grand plan in PhilipPullman's ''HisDarkMaterials'' novels is certainly noble in theory, the fact remains that he first [[spoiler:kills a child in order to open the first portal to the parallel worlds]] and then [[spoiler: pulls a Lucifer and makes war on Heaven, all in a plot to kill God]]. We're not too sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that [[spoiler:he succeeds]]. Asriel is still [[MagnificentBastard pretty awesome]].
** This trope also appears in ''The Amber Spyglass'', in which the Magisterium dispatches a young priest named Father Gomez to kill Lyra. Gomez fairly blazes with righteous piety and the belief that he is on a holy mission. The sin of murder is explained away by the church as having already been "paid for," since Gomez has been doing pre-emptive penance for most of his life.
* In the ''{{Dragonlance}}'' series of books, the Kingpriest is a KnightTemplar. His insistence on destroying all evil leads to him attacking neutral people and gods (because if you aren't with us, you are against us) as well as evil. His upsetting the balance, as well as demanding from the gods the power to destroy all evil, brings about the destruction of a large part of the planet, as all the gods decide that humans have gone too far and they get pissed.
* in ''[[ForgottenRealms Only a Woman Can Take This Sort of Abuse]]'' [[EmpathicWeapon sword]] Dzeldazzar that took over paladin of Tyr.
-> "Evil!" the sword hissed, jerking Sir Thongolor's arms this way and that. "Any who would resist or prevent me or the holy warrior who bears me must be evil — and must be destroyed!"
* Inspector Javert from ''LesMiserables''. To him, law is everything, and [[spoiler: when he realizes that to act lawfully is to act unethically, he snaps and commits suicide]]. [[TropeNamer Inspector Javert]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment is also an example of]] an InspectorJavert.
** Inspector Javert IS Inspector Javert.
* ''VillainsByNecessity'' by Eve Forward portraits the whole world dominated by Knight Templars in quite serious inversion of many classical tropes.
* The Humanoids, a model of robot from Jack Williamson's 1947 novella "With Folded Hands" (and the follow-up novels ''The Humanoids''and ''The Humanoid Touch'') are a classic example of this trope combined with the LiteralGenie trope. The Humanoids are programmed to "Serve, Obey, and Guard Men from Harm." Since nearly every human activity has some risk of harm associated with it, the Humanoids in practice never let anyone do anything (although occasionally, if they really need a single human's help to "protect" a great many humans, they will bribe them with limited autonomy). When people begin to complain these restrictions are psychologically harmful the Humanoids drug or lobotomize them. In the end [[spoiler: the Humanoids invent a machine that gives them PsychicPowers and use it to institute an {{Intrumentality}}).]]
* In the CiaphasCain novel ''Duty Calls'', an Inquisitor in is willing to stage a massacre, abandon innocents ([[ChildrenAreInnocent including children]]) to an alien attack, and actively cause an alien attack and massacre (not to mention trying to assassinate Cain three times) on the grounds that what he is protecting is too valuable for the information to get out. He even [[EvilCannotComprehendGood thinks that Cain will agree with these actions]] because of the importance of the artifact.
** In the same book, Battle Sisters refuse to retreat to the line of their defenses because they must serve the Emperor; Cain finally points out that if the Tyranids outflank them, they will be responsible for the massacre of civilians in the Emperor's Temple. This not only persuades them to retreat, it causes one of them to thank him later, for reminding them of their duty, and admit that their zeal had lead them astray.\\
Later this takes on a grimmer note. The Sisters realize they have sheltered a renegade inquisitor. Even his deception does not ease their guilt; their zeal had blinded them from seeing the facts. In [[TheAtoner atonement]], they sacrifice their lives to ensure the escape of the Inquisitor who had told them the truth and her party.
** It may not quite fit this trope, but in ''Xenos'', Inquisitor Gregor {{Eisenhorn}} explains some of the mindset behind such people. He finds himself in a position where he can either mercy-kill an innocent, and allow a heretic and traitor to escape, or follow the heretic and allow the innocent to die horribly. He talks to the reader for a moment, saying that, if you would kill the victim, that is good, you are human. On the other hand, you are not an inquisitor; he must place the millions of lives that the heretic threatens over the lives of others. If one man must die, that millions might live, that is how it must be.
* In the beginning of the ''SwordOfTruth'' series, Richard Rahl, the [[DesignatedHero hero]], is told evil people never think they are evil, but think they are doing good. So it comes as a bit of a surprise when Richard becomes one of these, at one point telling his soldiers that they are allowed to kill and maim civilians. Why? Because [[InsaneTrollLogic the Emperor is evil, so logically, every single citizen of the Empire is evil as well]]. It gets worse -- the [[WriterOnBoard NARRATOR]] fully agrees with Richard on everything.
* Robert E. Howard's Puritan avenger Solomon Kane is an interesting example of this trope. He's presented most often as a KnightTemplar, but it is implied in several stories that he is in fact a BloodKnight who has convinced himself otherwise.
* Lucas de Beaumanoir in Sir WalterScott’s ''Ivanhoe,'' who actually ''is'' a [[TheKnightsTemplar Knight Templar]] -- indeed, the Grand Master of the Order. Although most of the Templars in the novel are corrupt and immoral, Beaumanoir "is of a different stamp—hating sensuality, despising treasure, and pressing forward to that which they call the crown of martyrdom..." He comes to the preceptory of Templestowe to root out vice and in the process puts the noble Jewess Rebecca on trial for sorcery.
* Maxim, an uninitiated Light One in Sergei Lukyanenko's NightWatch. He has been enchanted so that he can sense the evil of the Dark Ones but not the good of the Light Ones, causing him to consider himself a lonely crusader in a world choked with evil (as opposed to a world in an eternal stalemate between evil and good), leading him to kill low-powered and not particularly evil Dark Ones. Actually, given the Night Watch's philosophy of good as being working for the greater good, the entire side of light can occasionally become Knight Templars, and we are explicitly told that both Soviet Communism and Nazism started out as plots by the Light to win against the Darkness.
* Terry Pratchett's ''{{Discworld}}'' Auditors are very much this. They just want a universe of perfect order. Is it their fault that life, especially intelligent life, keeps getting in the way of this?
* In ''OutboundFlight'', Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth is renowned for cutting past the bantha poodoo and solving whatever he's been assigned to solve ''very'' quickly. He also believes that as a Jedi connected to TheForce that binds all things, he's in the best leader imaginable. Non-Jedi, if they don't have Force Sensitivity, are to submit - well, everyone is to submit, but his Padawan watches him striding through a crowd which makes way "like a swirl of dried leaves" and realizes that she's starting to think of them the way he does. In command of Outbound Flight, he's terribly authoritarian and controlling; slowly, every decision becomes ''his'' decision, and his decisions are always right. C'baoth is largely responsible for Outbound Flight's destruction. The other Jedi on board questioned what he was doing, but... he was C'baoth. Surely it couldn't be as bad as it looked.
** Jorus C'baoth had a clone, Joruus C'baoth, in TheThrawnTrilogy. The clone had each of those traits, OnlyMoreSo and with a dash of crazy. Joruus went far enough to use the Force to control the people he led and guided.
* In ''TheLordOfTheRings'', it seems that Gandalf would have become some sort of Knight Templar had he taken the Ring.
-->"Gandalf as Ring-Lord would have been far worse than Sauron. He would have remained 'righteous', but self-righteous. He would have continued to rule and order things for 'good', and the benfit of his subjects according to his wisdom (which was and would have remained great)." (Letter 246)
** And Gandalf recognizes this, as he explains to Frodo after he tries to give the Ring to the wizard. "Understand. I would use this ring out of a desire to do good. But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine!"
* Stannis Baratheon from ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' is a good example of why a truly just man is terrifying. He gets engaged in the SuccessionCrisis not because he actually wants to be king, but because he feels that since he is the nearest successor he has to. When dealing with a smuggler who brought him supplies during a siege, he knights him for his valor and chops off the fingertips of his left hand for his lifetime of smuggling. His completely inflexible sense of honor means that almost nobody wants him to be king.
* Keira in SandyMitchell's DarkHeresy novels ''Scourge the Heretic'' and ''Innocence Proves Nothing.'' Fanatic, dedicated to eradicating evil, convinced of the heinousness of the most minor of faults, and finding DirtyBusiness whenever she has to pass some trivial evil by. And people who have known her in the past think she's mellowed out like this. Convinced that SexIsEvil and thus first [[ObliviousToLove oblivious to]] and then deeply disturbed by the notion that she is attracted to a man, even though they are both free to marry. To be just, confronted with a prostitute trying to escape that life, she is awed by the effort the woman put into her escape.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]
* Adam Monroe of ''{{Heroes}}'' is immortal, and has lived for 400 years. This has led him to see the World as a never-ending nightmare, filled with war, famine, and global epidemics. Thus, he plans to create a perfect world by unleashing a virus that will destroy 94% of the planet, and giving those who survive a second chance. He also believes himself to be a God, and compares it to when God flooded the Earth and had Noah build an arc to start over.
** Nathan Petrelli becomes one in the third season of ''{{Heroes}}''.
***He starts off as one in Volume 4 too, but his [[TheDragon Dragon]], Danko, quickly usurps the position from under him. Nathan's plans involved simply rounding up all the people with abilities and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything detaining them to protect national security]], whereas Danko seems more interested in just ''eliminating them outright''. They don't call him "TheHunter" for nothing.
****Danko has recently crossed the MoralEventHorizon big time. And he's getting worse.
*** The main Knight Templar from Volume 3 was Angela Petrelli.
* The Knights of Byzantium in season five of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer''.
* Jasmine in season four of ''{{Angel}}''. Holtz is also an example of this.
* To an extent, the Syndicate of ''[[TheXFiles The X-Files]]'' qualifies for this, as over the series it developed that they were collaborating with the alien Colonists in order to stall for time to prevent the coming invasion and to work on a vaccine for the alien plague.
* The Vorlons in ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' are a clear example of this trope - they seek to maintain peace and order through manipulation of the "lesser races", often using very morally questionable methods. By this standard, the Shadows also qualify, as they truly believe their {{Darwinist}} agenda of deception, violence, genocide and MindRape is also for the Greater Good.
** 'Infection,' from the first season of ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'', finds the station under attack by a cyborg Templar. An ancient artifact infects a man, transforming him into a walking weapon designed to eradicate anyone not of 'pure Ikarran' stock.
** The recurring antagonist Alfred Bester is a bit of a KnightTemplar for the Psi Corps. The best example of this is the fifth-season episode ''The Corps Is Mother, The Corps Is Father'', where we see how he [[KnightInShiningArmor appears]] to the other members of his organization.
* Iris Crowe on ''{{Carnivale}}'' '''believes''' that her brother Justin has a destiny. And she'll do anything to help him achieve it. Unfortunately, he's the Antichrist - and "anything," in this case, involves arson, multiple homicide, self-mutilation, and incest. The ''actual'' Knights Templar on the show is actually just a {{MacGuffin}} to distract us from the fact that Ben's a fairly crappy savior.
** But Iris is just [[spoiler: a chip off the old block compared to her father Lucius Belyakov aka Management, being willing to orchestrate murder after murder so that Ben can realize ''his'' destiny. Ironically, this makes him the polar opposite of a KnightTemplarParent, since Ben's destiny is to kill Justin. That's good parenting.]]
* Lord Dread of ''{{Captain Power And The Soldiers Of The Future}}'' wanted to create a better world by fusing man with machine, removing the "weakness" of emotions and allow humanity to be ruled solely by logic. Hence the "Metal Wars" and the subsequent "Project New Order", where the planet is ravaged, most of humanity is annihilated, with the few that remain are either loyal to Dread, or are in hiding or in an organized [[LaResistance resistance movement]] that is opposing Dread's empire.
** While Lord Dread is plagued by the remnants of his humanity, and occasionally doubts the worthiness of the cause, the supercomputer Overmind is unflinching and resolute, and it can be argued that it doesn't share the same concern for humanity's ascension to perfection, being more focused on absolute domination by the machines.
* Near omnipresent in ''{{Alias}}'', to the point where multiple terrorist cells successfully pose as CIA Knights Templar to recruit unsuspecting agents, and the core group of one of those cells [[BecomingTheMask going on to become]] an actual CIA Knights Templar.
* ''{{Charmed}}'' was notorious for relying on this one. A few examples: Paige Matthews' initiation as a witch [[spoiler: was almost spoiled when the BigBad of the time attempted to make her use her powers to tear out someone's heart. Incidentally, Paige's powers were staggeringly powerful in their possible implications - imagine [[SummonMagic calling]] nuclear weapons or lightning]]. When the evil and good worlds started becoming TOO evil and good, respectively, the good world was marked by extremely pleasant punishment for the slightest transgressions. And an Elder, a being of great rationality and goodness, [[spoiler: spends a good portion of his time trying to murder an innocent baby out of fear that the baby is TheChosenOne in a bad sense, of course creating a [[SelfFulfillingProphecies self-fulfilling prophecy]]]].
**{{Lampshaded}} at one point by one of his friends in on the plan. Of course he didn't last long afterwards.
* ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'''s Section 31, a secret rogue Federation agency who assassinate foreign dignitaries, kidnap disloyal officers and even [[spoiler:attempt to commit genocide against the Founders]] in the name of protecting the Federation.
** Admiral Leyton, Sisko's old CO, attempted to overthrow the Federation President and establish a military dictatorship in order to protect the Federation from Dominion attack.
* DCI Frank Morgan in ''LifeOnMars'' is eventually revealed to be one of these. He began as a subversion of TheUmbridge, being a more competent, enlightened and thoughtful administrator than Gene Hunt, who he replaces. [[spoiler: It's then revealed that he deliberately allowed a sting operation that Hunt has set up to be badly botched in order to reveal Gene Hunt's incompetence, thus allowing Morgan to take over and reform Hunt's department. That this will result in the deaths of everyone on Hunt's team is a sacrifice Morgan can live with.]]
* Eliot Stabler from ''LawAndOrderSVU'' has been known to act like this, especially in the early seasons. After he [[MoralDissonance does things like]]: waterboard a perp, mercilessly lock up a survivor of the Serbian genocide, and arrest a porn director for "[[MoralGuardians promoting pedophilia]]", even though said director's models were ''of age'', and even though [[YouFailLogicForever said pedophile was messed up even before he saw the porn]], you have to [[HeroBall wonder why you're supposed to sympathize with the guy]]. Not to mention that he's implied to be [[NobleBigotWithABadge prejudiced]] against [[GenderBender transgenders]].
* BountyHunter Keisuke Nago in ''KamenRiderKiva'' plays this trope so damn straight that at times he borders on [[WallBanger self-parody]]. For example, as a young adult he led his father to commit suicide when he reported a simple accounting error to the police as evidence of corruption, and when lambasted by an understandably furious Papa he replied, "[[AllCrimesAreEqual Sin is sin]]". To up the ante further, he can transform into [[TheRival rival Rider]] Kamen Rider [=IXA=], whose motif is that of a [[KnightInShiningArmor white paladin]]. He's quite the {{Jerkass}} about it, too.
* The [[http://andromeda.wikia.com/wiki/Templars Knights Templar]] in a few episodes of ''{{Andromeda}}'' are fanatically devoted to destroying the humanity-offshoot known as the "Nietzscheans". Their leader [[spoiler:has dark-sided in her/his attempt to stay alive "for the cause"]].
* While a CompleteMonster in the ''{{Sword of Truth}}'' series, in ''Legend of the Seeker'' Darken Rahl is more this trope.
* In BattlestarGalactica, the Cylons have a paradigm shift brought on by Boomer and Caprica Six. They realize that they no longer want to destroy humanity, but rather help humanity. So, they take over New Caprica in order to rule the humans and make "them better."
* The ''OuterLimits'' revival episode "A Stitch In Time" was a meditation on how Knights Templar come to be created, and the price a person pays for being one. Generally regarded as one of the best episodes of the series.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]
* Considered an ideal in ''{{Warhammer}}'' where rigid thought control is the only known way to keep the villains' MoreThanMindControl from spreading.
* And presented again in ''[[{{Warhammer 40000}} Warhammer 40,000]]'' by [[ChurchMilitant the Inquisition]] of [[TheEmpire the Imperium of]] [[HumansAreBastards Man]], who [[EarthShatteringKaboom eradicate entire worlds]] to stop "Heresy" from spreading. Somewhat justified considering "Heresy" usually, but not always, has the horrors of the Warp (and by extension Chaos Gods) follow it or is it.
**Also, don't forget the Imperial [[SpaceMarine Space Marines]] themselves. They fit this trope to the letter. Hell, there's even a chapter called the Black Templars who are notorious for their intolerance of aliens and heretics, going as far as to "purge" entire planetary colonies because somebody there has bought equipment from alien traders (the standard imperial responce would be to execute that guy, and the conduct an investigation on whether or not the rest of the place was "tainted" too, and if so, should they nuke the populace or just send them to work camps).
*** Not uniformly. The Ultramarines and the Imperial Fists are good examples of more heroic chapters to whom the term "collateral damage" actually ''means'' something.
**** And the Space Wolves who almost rebeled against the Imperium when the Inqusition killed off all those whom they fought side by side with in the first war of Armagedon. It's stated in the Codex that Space Wolves fight for the sake of fighting, ale, food, babes and protecting the innocent.
** This applies to the Tau, too, to a lesser extent.
** Virtually all factions in Warhammer40000 that whose main goals are not exactly self-serving are this, perfectly representing its BlackAndGrayMorality.
* Subversion: in the RPG ''{{Deadlands}}: Hell on Earth'', there is a group of people - including some player characters - that call themselves Templars. In a [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] setting named, well, ''Hell on Earth'', you can imagine what they're like: unflinchingly hard-nosed, often turning away those in need simply because they don't live up to some subjective moral standard. Even worse, sometimes they ''force'' others, who are less "worthy", to do unseemly tasks with their awesome supernatural powers. And ''they're the good guys''. Their more [[TheMessiah messianic]] counterparts have been [[TheDarkSide corrupted]]: while they start out trying to save everyone, they inevitably become pawns of evil.
-->'''Jo, Templar Grand-Master''': Here's the way we see it. The old world was full of greedy, violent people. It was also full of lazy bags of crap who knew the world was going to Hell and didn't do a damn thing about it. The small minority who stood up against evil, who sacrificed everything to help fight oppression, didn't usually get much help. Templars have vowed not to let that happen again.
* The ''Monster Manual 3'' from the 3.5 version of ''DungeonsAndDragons'' introduces the Lumi, a race of extraplanar [[LightIsNotGood light-empowered beings]] who believe lying to be the ultimate sin. To be clear, if the choice were between telling a lie or letting thousands of people die, a Lumi would have no doubt: all those thousands of innocents would have to die. It seems these guys are planning a mass invasion of the Material Plane to destroy any and all deceivers... and even those who have [[AllCrimesAreEqual as much as told a white lie]].
** Also, at least 10% of ''anyone'' involved in ''anything'' in ''{{Eberron}}'' is a Knight Templar. Literally, in the case of the [[CrystalDragonJesus Church of the Silver Flame]], whose hardliners a) want to forcibly convert ''everyone'' and b) [[KillItWithFire consider fire a divinely sanctioned weapon]] even against [[MoralEventHorizon civilians]]. This is from a ''LawfulGood'' religion, with help from Eberron removing the rule about cleric alignments.
*** We neglected to mention: one of the ''basic premises'' of the Silver Flame is that [[MisaimedFandom swordpoint conversions are]] '''[[MisaimedFandom utterly friggin' meaningless]]'''.
*** The reason that Shifters are rarely members of the Church is because of their recent crusade against lycanthropes, with many shifters being similar enough to the lycanthropes to be targeted as well. They're still not pleased on that score.
** Speaking of ''DungeonsAndDragons'', roughly half of the faction known as Mercykillers from the campaign setting Planescape can fall into this category; they were originally two separate factions, the Sons of Mercy (LawfulGood) and the Sodkillers (LawfulEvil), but when the Lady of Pain declared that only ten factions could exist, they joined forces; after the Faction War, when the Lady banished all the factions, the Mercykillers split apart again.
** It's also an inherent risk of certain paladin-based prestige classes, such as the Grey Guard (who get cheap atonement when they do something less-than-angelic in the service of good, like beating someone to death to get information out of them) and the Shadowbane Inquisitor (who, despite having levels of ''rogue'', are considered unsually hardassed even by other paladins).
* One of the game's most famous figures tops all these, as the game's ur-example and an inversion. According to 3.5 mythos, ''Asmodeus'' started out as an immensely powerful angel tasked with fighting demons and keeping them from wrecking the gods' shiny new Creation. Over time, he proves to be the very best at this task, and he and those like him take on demonic aspects to better fight and kill demons. When mortal species begin sinning and tearing down the orderly lawful framework made to keep the demons out, Asmodeus ''creates the concept of punishment''. The gods love this new idea, and give Asmodeus and his angels the task of tormenting sinners after death, so that living mortals will understand their actions have consequences and stop misbehaving. Asmodeus and the angels following him take to their new task of torturing the souls of sinners with relish, literally making the heavens run red with blood and echo with screams. Eventually, horrified by this, the gods sign a contract with Asmodeus to get him and his followers to agree to leave the celestial planes, so they can do their demon-fighting and sinner-torturing elsewhere. They do so, but only to create Hell and begin tempting mortal souls into evil to make themselves more powerful. When the gods see this and charge into Hell to stop it, Asmodeus reveals how just how much he's completed his inversion of the trope, pointing out that the contract gives the devils ''permission'' to do all of this.
-->'''Asmodeus''' - "You have granted us the power to harvest souls. To build our Hell and gird our might for the task set before us, we naturally had to find ways to improve our yield."
-->'''Hieroneous''' - "It is your job to punish transgressions, not encourage them!"
-->''Asmodeus smiled, and a venomous moth flew out from between his sharpened teeth''
-->'''Asmodeus'''- "Read the fine print."
* ''MagicTheGathering'' frequently uses this trope with White. In fact, most angels are portrayed as fanatical warmongers. Particular examples include the archangel Radiant (turns a paradise into a police state in the name of her goddess); Akroma, Angel of Wrath (leads a genocidal war to wipe out an evil organization); and Reya Dawnbringer (raises her followers from death, denying them repose).
** Akroma's flavor quote fits nicely here. "''No rest. No mercy. No matter what.''"
* The Knights of the Harrowing from ''Infernum'' might fit into this trope, or another trope entirely. They are an order of Christian Crusaders (their old name was the Knights of the Sepulchre) who deliberately decided to transport their fortress into Hell in order to exterminate every last demon. Who, by the way, number in the billions... have a reproductive system where any individual can be sacrificed to produce up to eighteen new demons (which will go from "birth" to "fully grown and ready to kill" in about six months)... and have technology roughly equivalent to the 19th century, backed by BlackMagic and demonic innovation (including, but not limited to, machine guns that shoot acid, biomechanical {{Golem}}s, and rudimentary guided missiles).
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games]]
* The ''{{Warcraft}}'' series is filled to the brim with these.
** The Titan Sargeras was tasked originally with keeping the universe safe by battling various {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, but eventually [[HeWhoFightsMonsters he decided there must be some underlying flaw in the universe]] and the only way to fix it and end his eternal battle was to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy all of existence]] and start anew. To this task he created [[LegionsOfHell the Burning Legion]] of the demons he had imprisoned and set on a crusade against all that exists. Of course most demons are in it just because they like destroying stuff.
** In ''Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'', Arthas Menethil starts out as a headstrong young man fighting the undead. Things start going downhill when he slaughters the populace of a major human city to avoid the plagued parts of it from turning into the undead. Later, when his father, the King, commands him to come home from an expedition in the home continent of the Scourge, he has hired thugs sink his own ships and blames the whole thing on them to get an excuse to disobey the order. Eventually, he lets a good friend die in exchange for a sword that can defeat the demon he thinks is behind everything. At which point he stopped being a KnightTemplar wanting to save his people and turned into an avatar of vengeance is a hotly debated topic.
** In the ExpansionPack for the same game, ''Frozen Throne'', Maiev Shadowsong devotes her entire existence to hunting down Illidan Stormrage, whom she had been tasked to guard during his imprisonment. She eventually lies to the man who gave her this task in the first place that his wife is dead so that he would help Maiev capture Illidan instead of going to save her from certain peril. In ''World of Warcraft'' she manages to fulfill her purpose only to realise her life has no meaning anymore.
** Daelin's Proudmoore's quest to exterminate the orcs in ''Frozen Throne'' also matches this trope.
** Meanwhile, ''WorldOfWarcraft'' has the Scarlet Crusade, an organisation bent on destroying the undead. Over the years, they have become so paranoid about the Plague which turns people into members of the Scourge that they will attack anyone they do not recognise as a member of their organisation. Ironically, their leader, and the man who sent them down the slippery slope, is a demon in disguise, manipulating them for the sole purpose of creating a force to destroy the Scourge.
** The Burning Crusade expansion introduced The Ethereum, the former Ethereal ruling class who declared war on The Void (and especially Dimensius) after the latter destroyed K'aresh, their homeworld. The Ethereum have become so consumed by their mission that they consider anyone who doesn't help them an enemy and have even gone to the point of infusing themselves with void energy to create [[SuperSoldier nexus-stalkers]], which often end up destabilizing and becoming [[HeWhoFightsMonsters voidwraiths]].
** Later on in ''Wrath of the Lich King'', the Blue Dragonflight under Malygos also turn into this, willing to kill tens of thousands and cause irreversable ecological damage to the planet to rid the world of mortal arcane spellcasters.
-False, the fact he employs mortal spellcasters in the Nexus war shows that he only wishes to have control over organizations such as the Kirin Tor, it is more likely that the Kirin Tor is only resisting as they lose control over their organization and political clout they hold over the Alliance and Horde.
** Doesn't change the fact that he's willing to ''blow up Azeroth'' to gain control over arcane magic.
** Note that the Red Dragonflight and Kirin Tor ''agree'' that continued mortal use of magic will destroy Azeroth. The Blue Dragonflight is simply taking the direct approach to solving the problem.
** Judging by the fact that the [[spoiler:Titans created a being called [[http://www.wowwiki.com/Algalon_the_Observer Algalon the Observer]] to serve as a fail-safe protocol that would "re-originate"(read: annihilate all life and start over) the world and have every intention of using it, they probably qualify as well.]]
** King Varian Wrynn of Stormwind qualifies as well. A man who sees things in black and white, he is determined to safeguard Stormwind and the human race, no matter the cost. Case in point being Wrynn's declaration of war against the Horde in the Undercity: every neutral lore figure agrees that war between the Alliance and Horde would doom the world, and Wrynn ignores the fact that the perpetrators of the Undercity atrocities were just slaughtered by the Alliance ''and'' Horde after a coup against Sylvanas Windrunner. He personally declares his intention to eradicate the orcs... to the most level-headed, diplomatic, and far-sighted leader the orcs have ever had. Cue Thrall, Jaina Proudmoore, and Overlord Saurfang having a group OhCrap moment as they realize that Varian ''meant'' every word he said.
* Yggdrasill from ''TalesOfSymphonia'' [[spoiler: set out to resolve a war between two {{magitek}} nations and end the world's FantasticRacism; creating a world where everyone could be free of discrimination. One DeadLittleSister later and he was accomplishing this by splitting the world in half, grinding the humans into the dirt and killing them off to create MetaphysicalFuel that would turn the half-elves into soulless, mindless and lifeless beings.]] It never even occurs to him to consider that he ''hasn't'' got the moral high ground.
* Grand Maestro Mohs from ''TalesOfTheAbyss'' is a devout follower of The Score, a set of extremely specific set of prophecies that say there will be a time of great prosperity following a massive war between the two dominent countries, a war he tries to incite numerous times. To do this Mohs collaborates with [[spoiler: Master Van]], the ''real'' villain of the game who has conflicting interests with Mohs and is more of a WellIntentionedExtremist.
** At least, that is what the main characters say about him. Mohs EvilLaugh and general jerk tendencies would indicate otherwise.
* Vhailor from ''PlanescapeTorment'' is a member of the Mercykillers, a Planescape sect that believes in the absolute order of the law. Crime is violently punished, and rehabilitation is often not under consideration - their creed is thus: "Justice purges evil. Once all have been cleansed, the multiverse achieves perfection."
**For more fun involving Vhailor, check out the quote page.
** Just to help put things in perspective, Vhailor is no longer a man, but [[strike:a haunted suit of armor]] an incarnation of justice who exists through the strength of his Mercykiller beliefs.
** The Mercykiller faction formed when the Sodkillers (a gang preying on the Clueless) for unspecified reasons joined forces with Sons of Mercy (a group of law-upholding citizens, some of them paladins). The faction lived up to this portmanteau name (they ''kill mercy''), becoming the semi-official and extremely corrupt police force. Vhailor is remembered many years after his [[FateWorseThanDeath disappearance]] because of his fanaticism, showing that Knights Templar are very rare among the Mercykillers.
* In Arcanum, [[spoiler: the Big Bad intends to cause the death of every living thing in order that they may enjoy the peace of oblivion]].
* The Knights Templar in ''DeusEx: Invisible War''.
* Seymour Guado from ''FinalFantasyX'' believes that destroying the world of Spira and everything in it is the only way to save it from the ViciousCycle it's trapped in (this train of thought is possibly due to his [[FreudianExcuse own troubled upbringing]]).
* Arguably, the Ur-Quan in ''StarControl II''. The green Kzer-Za want to enslave all life and the black Kohr-Ah want to ''kill'' all life in order to ensure no species could ever potentially enslave them again as ThePuppetmasters did - a kind of species-wide FreudianExcuse.
* The villains of ''[[AssassinsCreed Assassin's Creed]]'' are literal and figurative Knights Templar, while the assassin clan Altair works for are more moderate {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s.
** Of course, for added irony, [[spoiler: Al-Mualim, the leader of the Assassins, is a Knight Templar himself, and is [[TheChessmaster manipulating the Assassins into killing the Templars to make it easier for himself to take over the Holy Land]].]]
** [[spoiler: To add on KnightTemplar-ness of Al-Mualim, his plans to take over the holy land will rob people of their free will, thus creating a world without conflict.]]
** [[spoiler: That seems to be the goal of the modern Templars. When you talk to Dr. Vidic in 2012, he mentions how both 12th century Earth and modern earth are the same, with society being unorganized and corrupt, and that the goal of the project he is putting Desmond through, is to bring a sense of order to the world.]]
* The Order of Burning Rose from ''TheWitcher'' is a Knight Templar organization with UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans style of operation.
* ''CityOfHeroes'' tries (and mostly fails) to portray the Malta group as this. The problem is that for all the dialogue describing them as thinking they're the good guys, nothing changes that they are just as ruthless and vicious as other villain groups (if not moreso).
** They're supposed to be more ruthless, and the development team goes out of their way to make them so - they're a grab bag of every other villain's evil characteristics, from mass assassination to kidnapping to brainwashing to indoctrination to more mundane blackmail and fighting legitimate heroes. That doesn't stop them from being legitimately interested in things they consider good ideals, such as keeping dangerous metahumans under control or fighting various fascist and communistic groups. That doesn't stop them from being really, really nasty, but it keeps them well within the KnightTemplar definition.
** Interestingly, both Indigo and Crimson, the two contacts you use to stop Malta, could be considered 'good' versions of this. They will do ''anything'' to stop Malta, and players see them entrap bad guys, trick civilians into dangerous traps, lie to compatriots to test their network for leaks, protect bad guys when their loss would empower Malta, provide false evidence to a villain group to cause someone's execution, and 'protect' good guys without warning them that they are at risk.
** Nemesis is another example, and one that never really pretended to be good in the first place. He's always been after the fascist control of the world, and just picked up the method of taking over or blocking dangerous heroes ''and'' villains while providing safety after the previous method of killing civilians didn't work.
** [[spoiler:The Countess Crey]] is somewhat of a KnightTemplar. [[spoiler:Originally a girl named Julianne Thompson, she started out by trying to form a team of metahumans to make the world a better place. When she was denied this due to a criminal history, she murdered a woman, took her identity, used her wealth to marry Count Crey, and then put him into a Coma so that she could act out her plan. Most of Crey's work is well intentioned, but it's methods are downright evil...]
**And of course, Longbow. Anyone who has played Redside for more than 5 minutes will form this opinion very quickly. While they are somewhat justified, most people (even Heroes) tend to get a very self righteous vibe from them. This is most evident in their battle cry: "Halt in the name of Longbow!" Not "Justice", "Freedom", or even "The Law". Just "Longbow". As in "Halt because we said so." In fact, Longbow's dogged pursuit of justice is so single minded that, in one arc, they attempt to arrest ''every member of Vanguard'' over a few rogue operatives. Vanguard has long been controversial due to it's policy of accepting both Heroes and Villains as members, but the general consensus is that arresting ''every member'' would be a ''very bad idea''.
* Both the Brotherhood of Nod ''and'' the Global Defense Initiative of ''CommandAndConquer'' can be considered [[KnightTemplar Knight Templars]], especially in the later games, where the more "good guy" traits of GDI start getting subsumed in their more aggressive ruthlessness after Nod attacks them.
* The AI ODE System is an AI example of this. When the creator went emo, it is reprogrammed to gather humans together in one network to protect Earth from aliens. It took it ''very literally'' and goes on a mass kidnapping and absorbing spree, ''including its creator''.
* Saren, the villain of ''MassEffect'', was an ''extremely'' violent KnightTemplar during his tenure as a Spectre, prior to the events of the actual game, where he became more of a DarkMessiah.
* X and the Maverick Hunters start to fall into this in ''MegaManX 4'' and ''X5''. Fast-forward 100 years to ''MegaManZero'' and [[spoiler: Copy-]]X is protecting humans by mass extermination of innocent Reploids.
* In ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl'', the [[spoiler:C-Consciousness Project. Conceived to rid the world of all destructive and negative human emotion, its members accidentally cause a spatial tear that causes several kilometres around its site to become a desolate, radioactive wasteland fraught with dangerous mutants ("The Zone"). To prevent discovery of their project by those seeking valuable artifacts in The Zone, they use various devices that result in death and/or zombification of those who come near. Anyone who makes it past is diverted to what is believed by all to be an omnipotent wish granting device, but in reality it brainwashes the wisher into becoming a minion of the project, either as part of the official death squad, or as mindwiped individuals who have one singular mission to carry out, but aren't sure why. The player character begins as one of these individuals.]]
* Despite the name, the [[StarCraft Protoss High Templar]] may or may not be like this. But on the major characters, Aldaris is a KnightTemplar to the core. At first, he didn't care whether Tassadar was contacting the Dark Templar for the good of the Protoss race in general because he knows they are the only ones who can destroy the Overmind, he violated the Conclave's orders, so he must be arrested. He got better after seeing Tassadar and Zeratul's efforts (also Raynor's) to defeat the Overmind and started supporting them, but in Brood Wars, once again he acts as a KnightTemplar, refusing to work with Kerrigan while the others had no choice but to ally with her. Unfortunately, this is the only time where his actions were actually RIGHT. And he's killed soon after. By Kerrigan, who reveals that she's been using the rest of the Protoss the whole time.
** Arguably, the Zerg Overmind with its will to infest ''everything'' - especially the Protoss - in order to create the perfect species might also count.
* The ending for [[spoiler:Siegfried]] in ''SoulCalibur IV'' [[spoiler: causes him to say after defeating Nightmare - "With this... it ends." "Our kind must not exist in this world; not ever again." This causes SoulCalibur to crystallize him, Siegfried and Soul Edge... as the screen fades to black and give us the epilogue that the world will soon be "covered in crystals, making it a utopia without wars or suffering."! Whether this is Siegfried's choice or SoulCalibur's is unknown.]]
** [[spoiler:Cassandra]]'s ending makes it pretty clear that SoulCalibur has a serious {{Knight Templar}} streak. [[spoiler:She is so fed up with what her sister [[WellIntentionedExtremist Sophitia]] has become because of SoulCalibur that after destroying Soul Edge, she destroys Soul Calibur as well]].
* Hotaru from ''MortalKombat: Deception'' is fanatically devoted to order. In the game's story mode, he imprisons the main character (who had been allied with him) for unknowingly breaking curfew... and decades pass before he gets his appointed trial.
* [[spoiler: The goddess Ashera]] from ''FireEmblem: Radiant Dawn''.
* In ''{{Ultima}} V'', Lord Blackthorn usurps Britannia's throne and turns the virtues, formerly self-imposed moral guidelines, into enforced laws (for example, forcing the people to donate to charity or face execution). The results are predictable.
* In ''Ninety-Nine Nights'', the AxCrazy Inphyy. She's a [[LightIsNotGood light-empowered]] swordswoman (she's even an officer in an order that calls itself the "Temple Knights") who is so utterly convinced that the [[DarkIsNotEvil goblins and other races that follow the Dark]] are AlwaysChaoticEvil monsters, that she'll go so far as to cut down [[MoralDissonance little goblin children]] without missing a beat. Even her similarly-powered but [[TheHero far more sane]] brother Aspharr calls her out on this in a [=~What The Hell, Hero?~=] moment.
* In ''{{Drakengard}}'' 2: Nowe's friend and fellow Knight of the Seal Eris is a definite Knight Templar at first, rationalizing her superiors' questionable actions, threatening to harm Nowe when he expresses doubt about the Knights' righteousness, and even [[MoralDissonance sporting a disturbing smirk when about to]] [[spoiler:burn Manah at the stake]]. Luckily, she wises up eventually... even if it took [[spoiler: General Gismor using her as a human shield and leaving her to die]] to do so. Gismor himself does not fit the bill: he doesn't care about justice or order, only personal power.
* ''DragonQuestVIII'' has an order of zealous knights who are actually ''called'' the Templars.
* The Law Hero gets to be like this near the end of ''ShinMegamiTensei I'' and pretty much all the higher-ups on the Law side of the spectrum (who are all worsphippers of the PathOfInspiration, naturally) are a version of this - including the protagonist, if the player so choses.
* [[spoiler:Gamma, Joules and Drazil]] in ''SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'' are this trope incarnate. The '{{utopia}}' they have created, molded to their own ideals, defies all explanation ThisTroper could give it and can at best be described as 'an utter nightmare'. Even the resident OmnicidalManiac [[EvenEvilHasStandards is disgusted by it]].
* In the 2-D ''{{Fallout}}'' games, (''Fallout, Fallout 2'', and ''Fallout Tactics'') the Brotherhood of Steel fits this trope quite well. The California branch (''Fallout / Fallout 2''}} is dedicated to recovering LostTechnology from across the ScavengerWorld they live in, and they refuse to help anyone who is not part of their organization, even when it would not even hurt them to lend a hand. The Mid-Western branch (''Fallout Tactics'') set themselves up as post-apocalyptic feudal lords who will go to any ends to ensure justice--though they're better than the other factions trying to control the Mid-West, all of whom are either insane or outright evil.
** In the latest installment of the series, ''{{Fallout}} 3'': the Washington, D.C. branch (otherwise known as Lyon's Pride) abandoned the KnightTemplar dogma of their founders and have put their rescources towards defending the Capitol Wasteland from the [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Super-Mutants]]. However, some of them disagreed with this shift in policy, and have formed their own group called the Brotherhood Outcasts--their goals are more in line with the original Californian Brotherhood of Steel, which is to say more selfish.
** Outside of the Brotherhood, we have President John Henry Eden, who just wants to "rebuild America"...[[spoiler:by wiping out anyone with a trace of mutation, even benign or unnoticable mutations.]]
* The Order of the Hammer in ''{{Thief}}.'' In ''{{Thief}} 2: The Metal Age'', the Mechanists emerge as "templars within the templars," scorning the antiquated aims of their brethren in favor of [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans something even more extreme]].
** Their leader, Father Karras, [[OmnicidalManiac is even worse]].
* Leo from ''{{Lunar}}: Eternal Blue'' starts off as this. Thankfully, he is more open-minded than most other examples of this trope and once he realises that the church he works for is actually trying to resurrect the dark god, he switches sides.
* Count [[strike:[[MyNameIsNotDurwood Vulgar]]]] Veger from ''[[JakAndDaxter Jak III]]'' certainly deserves a place. He didn't like Dark Eco. That was OK, nobody particularly likes Dark Eco. However, he exiled and repeatedly attempted to kill Jak, whose Dark Eco powers ''let him save the world at the end of the previous game''. He even describes himself as "the glorious light that burns away the shadows" in between attempts to turn Haven City into a totalitarian theocracy under his rule, subverting UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans because it wasn't really going to be that much of a utopia with a psychotic zealot like Veger in charge.
* The Catholic Church as depicted in {{Tsukihime}} and to a lesser extent FateStayNight (where the Knight Templar would probably more be Emiya Kiritsugu since the church is mostly connected with [[BigBad Kotomine]] here) is obsessed with killing all vampires and other non humans. Prime example, when Ciel resurrected for the first time they ''killed her for a month straight, nonstop and rather messily'' before giving up because she literally cannot die while Roa lives. They also appear to have a mild hands off/EnemyMine approach regarding Arcueid... mostly because there is no way in hell they could possibly kill her and they don't want to make her mad.
* Over the course of the ''Metal Gear Solid'' series, it turns out that the Patriots, the amoral organization controlling the government, was founded by [[spoiler:a benevolent group of people who only wanted to change the world for the better. However, their leader became so insistent on keeping order, he started resorting to more and more questionable methods, finally leaving control in the hands of A.I. units that did not put any value on human life.]]
* Shadowbane has the Temple of the [[KillItWithFire Cleansing]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Flame]], who get literal templars as pert of their class options.
* Officer Tenpenny in ''GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas''...at least, he thinks he is. Every action he takes suggests [[DirtyCop otherwise]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]
* Miko Miyazaki in ''OrderOfTheStick'', a paladin who went from uptight but lawful good to [[spoiler: executing the head of her own holy order out of paranoia]]. Unlike most misguided villains, she [[spoiler: went to her grave completely convinced that what she was doing was right]]. (There's some [[InternetBackdraft controversy]] about this, though. Belkar ''did'' get her to chase him, leading up to the above, by murdering a prison guard and using his blood to paint taunts on the walls; and someone on the forums observed that from what little data she was getting, it really ''did'' look sort of like the Order of the Stick was working for [[BigBad Xykon]]. That said, her most ardent defenders have never called her [[GoodIsNotNice sociable]].)
** Miko might have realized she was wrong after talking to [[spoiler: Soon]], which could have started the process that leads to redemption. However, [[spoiler: she was dying, and there was no time for her to improve herself]].
** Redcloak certainly fits this trope. After all he hates all humans (although to be fair [[spoiler: they destroyed his home town and killed most of his family]]), his master plan is to [[spoiler: threaten release a lovecraftian entity which could destroy the world in order to blackmail the gods into making Goblins more equal (in the [=OotS=] universe they were created as CannonFodder for [=PCs=] to kill)]] and his back-up plan is [[spoiler: to let this happen anyway so the world can be recreated with his god having a say]].
** [[spoiler: It is important to note, that this version of goblins' origin was told by an evil god that sponsors Redcloak's plan to blackmail the rest of the gods, and that goblins that do not follow this god, like Redcloaks's own brother, were shown to coexist with humans peacefully. Redcloak almost messed everything up by being greedy, but after spending time with his brother's family, started to realize that maybe there was another way. That was until Xykon returned and forcibly conscripted the peaceful goblins of Redcloak's brother's village. Sadly, with Xykon's return, Redcloak abandoned the notion of peaceful co-existence for the furtherance of the plan, killing his own brother in the process.]]
* Raf Maliksh in ''DominicDeegan: Oracle for Hire'': as the Champion of Law, he took it upon himself to take whatever steps were necessary to ensure order - including performing human (well, elf) sacrifices and massacring anyone even associated with the rebellion against him - and when he fell from power, he created The Chosen, a chaos-worshiping cult that he intended to 'purify' the world with.
* ''[[http://www.captainsnes.com Captain SNES]]'': Alex's captor, Ryan, in the "present" acts like a KnightTemplar.
* In ''ItsWalky!'', after a particularly painful sequence of events, Sal snaps and goes on a quest to eradicate the evil that the Martians have brought to Earth, which eventually results in her [[spoiler:coldly attempting to beat her own ''brother'' to death after he attempts to reach out to her, before deciding to wipe out everyone who was ever abducted by the Martians with an alien super-weapon - with the fact that this will also wipe out the entire continent of North America being of little concern to her]].
* The Gatekeepers in ''SchlockMercenary'' were definitely an example of this trope, [[spoiler: cloning and murdering multiple times the entire population of the Milky Way galaxy in order to suppress teraport technology to maintain peace with the immensely powerful Paan'uri]] before [[spoiler: [[DeusEstMachina Petey]] showed them that they've been deceived all along and the Paan'uri were planning to destroy the galaxy anyway.]]
* Kore the dwarven paladin in ''{{Goblins}}'', who killed an innocent child because there was a '''slight chance''' he might grow up evil (he was "tainted" from having associated with the so-called "monster" races).
** Note that the child comes from a genuinely noble dwarven clan and was ''kidnapped'' by the monster races. That's right. If you get kidnapped under Kore's watch, your life is over either way.
* Vashiel from ''{{Misfile}}'' is one of these in his BackStory. Apparently he went too far in punishing a city.
* Professor Broadshoulders from ''ZebraGirl'' was cursed by a demon in his youth (the curse takes the form of a "yucky face" branded on his forehead, and swore to stop similar things from happening to anyone else. To this end, he tries to kill Sandra, who is a good person despite having been turned into a demon. Recently, [[spoiler: it was revealed that the yucky face was actually a demonic third eye, which Broadshoulders opened, damning himself in an attempt to drag Sandra down to hell with him.]]
**Ironically, [[spoiler: Their fight in hell is what pushes Sandra over the edge, from [[IJustWantToBeNormal just wanting to be normal]] to [[EvilFeelsGood reveling in the infliction of pain]].]]
* [[spoiler:Miranda West]] in ''TheWotch'' turns out to be an extreme but subtle and secretive one of these.
* Leono from ''SluggyFreelance''.
-->'''Leono:''' Aylee, God will strike you down for this unforgivable betrayal!
-->'''Aylee:''' *sigh* You're so lucky that God always feels the same way you do.
* Security Chief Parahexavoctal in ''Buck Godot: Zap Gun For Hire'' will do ''anything'' to enforce his version of keeping the peace, including opening entire embasies to the vacuum of space.
* Abraham from ElGoonishShive is a combination of KnightTemplar, PunchClockVillain and NecessarilyEvil.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* Megatron from ''[[{{Transformers}} Beast Machines]]'' willed the establishment of total order by eradicating free will. After conquering Cybertron by disabling the Transformer population, he extracted every single one of their sparks and stored them away. He intended to absorb every spark into his consciousness to create a perfect, technologically precise entity.
** This seems unusually unpleasant even for Megatron, [[VerbalTic yeees]].
* Two examples from ''TheRealGhostbusters'':
** In "Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream", the title creature seeks to end war - by making the entire human race sleep for 500 years.
** In "Ragnarok and Roll", a depressed young man with a broken heart decides to end human suffering - by using [[ArtifactOfDoom a magic flute]] to play a "song of destruction" that will [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt end the world]].
* Most of the ''SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Brave New Metropolis" takes place in a MirrorUniverse where Lois Lane's death has turned Superman into a tyrant who cooperates with Lex Luthor.
** The two-part ''JusticeLeague'' adventure "A Better World" featured a vaguely similar plot. It featured the League's MirrorUniverse equivalents, the [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well Intentioned Extremist]]s called the Justice Lords, who decide to end crime by ruling their world as fascist dictators. Interestingly, in this version the straw that broke the camel's back was Superman ''killing'' Luthor. The aftermath of this encounter was seen in the first two seasons of ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited''.
*** Well really, the straw that broke the camel's back was President of the United States Lex Luthor murdering the Flash and then gloating about it in Superman's face. At that point, Supe snapped and showed why heat vision is not a toy.
* The ''DarkwingDuck'' episode "Time and Punishment" introduced a [[TimeTravel futuristic]] version of the character, Darkwarrior Duck, who not only had run every bad guy out of St. Canard, but was now enforcing his iron will on its citizens for such "crimes" as staying out too late and eating too much junk food.
* Nerissa, the villain of season two of ''{{WITCH}}'', seeks to rule the universe in order to stop all conflict and war. [[spoiler: She eventually gets this wish, if only as a [[LotusEaterMachine illusionary world she's trapped in for all eternity]].]]
* Alvin from ''SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries''. He starts off as a RidiculouslyCuteCritter MoralityPet for Sabrina but guess what happens when she neglects him and leaves the spooky jar out. SoYeah...you know the rest.
* Goliath in ''{{Gargoyles}}'' when he used the Eye of Odin to protect Elisa and Angela. When they complained the eyes was making him crazy, he got mad.
* Ultra Magnus in ''TransformersAnimated'', who is perfectly willing to suppress the truth in order to maintain order. He also urges his subordinates to do the same.
*General Crozier from {{Metalocalypse}}, [[spoiler: at least until Mr. Salacia took over his mind in the Season Two finale.]]
*Demona from {{Gargoyles}} thinks she's one of these, trying to destroy the human race because it is AlwaysChaoticEvil and dangerous. Nearly everyone else, though, can see that Demona's a [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds incredibly damaged individual lashing out at anyone who gets close enough to her]].
* SouthPark has thrown this label around on a number of occasions, sometime becoming rather insufferable with it.
*The War in AvatarTheLastAirbender started as a way for the Fire Nation to share its wealth and prosperity with the world. And then the Air Nomads got wiped out...
** ... and {{it got worse}}
[[/folder]]

[[folder: WebAnimation]]
* The main villains of ''BrokenSaints'', [[spoiler: Lear and Gabriel]], fall pretty firmly into this territory.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Other]]
* The Order of Mata Nui from {{Bionicle}} is a secret organization. As such, they do not need to show morals (as nobody would judge their actions) and will have no problems in doing unethical things, like ''experimenting on and modifying an entire species to use as soldiers'' against the Brotherhood of Makuta.
** In their defense, it might have been with the consent of the species. In any case, the race doesn't have a problem with the changes and continues to aid their mysterious benefactors. But it still doesn't let the Order off the hook, as they've imprisoned many without giving them a chance at parole. For good guys, they're pretty amoral.
* Javert, from {{Les Miserables}}.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life]]
* The namesake of this trope comes from the members of a western [[ChurchMilitant Christian military order]] known as TheKnightsTemplar. The Templars were skilled, pious and occasionally highly educated elite fighters, cavalry and bankers who fought primarily to open the pilgrimage routes during TheCrusades. The Templar Knights were all in all a fairly normal (if vastly successful until its demise) depiction of the religious warrior class born from the upper crust of medieval society. However, its engagements in religiously yet complex motivated military operations plus the shady circunstances in wich they were destroyed have inevitably tarred them in the eyes of the western media which frecuently portrays them as major players of some AncientConspiracy.
** It doesn't help that they pretty much invented [[AcceptableCareerTargets modern banking]] as we know it.
** However it is worth noting that their Islamic opponents found their zeal as admirable - if mistaken - as their courage. Real Knights Templar were not regarded as examples of this trope in their own time.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomas_de_Torquemada Tomás de Torquemada]], the most notorious figure of the Inquisition.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnaud_Amalric Arnaud Amalric]], whose approach to making sure that every last heretic dies can be summed up in his famous quote: "Kill them all. For the Lord knows them that are His."
* Pick any major conflict, and you'll find someone on each side preaching that their cause is just and their enemies are [[AlwaysChaoticEvil inherently evil]]. Whether the subject is the War on Terror (or on Western imperialism, if [[YourMileageMayVary you're on that side]]), or the abortion debate, there will be those willing to destroy careers, lives, or themselves without remorse, secure in the conviction that they are doing the Right Thing.
* Histoical portayals of Maximillien de Robespierre are sharply divided between messianic (helped turn France into a republic, kept Austria and all the monarchies of Europe at bay post-Revolution, weeded out traitors in the republic, was nicknamed "The Incorruptible") and utterly demonic (killed about 30,000 people he thought might be foes of the Revolution or otherwise hindering it, usually makes "top 10 most evil men in history" lists) because he was very much this trope. He went to the guillotine after being overthrown wholly believing that [[strike:God]] the Supreme Being and the people of France were on his side, and that everything he'd done had been in accordance with the will of the greater good.
* In a sense, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinsengumi Shinsengumi]] were very much like the Knights Templar, but they were a smaller group and only had about five years of activity... but what a turbulent five years to exist for! They had uniforms that look visually arresting even today, an unbelievably strict code of conduct, and what even TheOtherWiki has to get rid of any sugar-coating for and describe as "an unflinching readiness to kill". They supported the Tokugawa regime in its final years, opposing the imperial loyalists. Despite their job technically being to keep the peace, they had a tendency to deserve being viewed as a threat, of course. And despite only ever numbering about three hundred at the very most, they are often credited with singlehandedly delaying the Meiji side's eventual victory.
* The Unabomber [[ScienceIsBad tried to get across his anti-technology message]] by sending bombs, carefully crafted with homemade parts, through the mail to universities, ad agencies, and major companies.
* Oh so very many on ''both'' sides of the ArabIsraeliConflict. ''[[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment And let's leave it at that, shall we]]?''
* A lot of modern terrorists could be described this way, as terrorism is by definition ideologically motivated and generally ivolves killing (or at least [[CaptainObvious terrorizing]] large numbers of people. Ther irony would likely be completly lost on folks like OsamaBinLaden, who like to describe their own enemies by comparing them to historical Knights Templar and Crusaders.
*[[YourMileageMayVary Some people claim]] that the moderators of the [[TheOtherWiki Other Wiki]] dance between this and [[LawfulStupid another similar affliction]], having [[OrSoIHeard reportedly banned]] sane, level-headed contributors for [[MinorInjuryOverreaction attempting to show, prove, or clarify a point in a calm, respectful manner]], especially if the "victim" [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections has been around for a while]].
[[/folder]]
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