History AntiVillain / Literature

** Also, by the end of the {{Mistborn}} trilogy, it becomes obvious that [[spoiler: the Lord Ruler]] was this. [[spoiler: He took power to stop an OmnicidalManiac from getting loose and destroying the world]], and many of his more evil acts were th result of [[spoiler: said OmnicidalManiac constantly assaulting his psyche over a thousand years, slowly driving him insane.]]

** [[YourMileageMayVary To some]], Tyrion seems headed for this, as some fans consider the early books (particularly his actions at the end of the third book) to be his StartOfDarkness.

* ''TreasureIsland'''s Long John Silver is more clearly a villain, but was sympathetic enough for Robert Louis Stevenson to allow him not only to live but to escape with a good deal of treasure.

* {{Fablehaven}} has The Sphinx who had a DarkAndTroubledPast and simply wished never to be a slave again. He also knew the Demon Prison would eventually fall and tried to speed things up and release the demons on his own terms.However so many people got killed because of him and the people who he intends to help rightfully hate him for it,and then he gets AFateWorseThanDeath at the end. Even after he's revealed to be playing both sides,he's still AffablyEvil at the most.
* TerryPratchett's [[{{Discworld}} Lord Vetinari]] is essentially a Bond villain made good, with deathtraps and a lap animal (a dog, though, not a cat), but he is more sympathetic than other villains of the series and is shown to be an effective leader, wanting the best for his city. He is also fully aware of this, and explains it at length to then-Captain Vimes. In short, he is an EvilOverlord who happens to be a ReasonableAuthorityFigure. In no book is he actually an ''antagonist''. Although sometimes his schemes result in problems for other characters.
** In a true PetTheDog moment, it's revealed in the last two books that Vetinari's dog, Wuffles, had at some point passed away, and (according to gossip from the palace) every week Vetinari pays a visit to Wuffles' grave in the palace grounds and leaves a dog biscuit there.
* In PiersAnthony's ''{{Incarnations of Immortality}}'' series, various {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s are actually offices, called Incarnations, that have been held by a series of human souls. The BigBad of the first five books is Satan, the Incarnation of Evil, who is trying to take ultimate power from God, the Incarnation of Good, while the other Incarnations try to thwart his plans. The sixth book tells Satan's side of the story. Satan discovers that God hasn't been doing his job properly, instead preferring to do nothing but admire his own greatness. As a result of God's negligence, many souls aren't going to the afterlife they deserve. The only way Satan can fix this is to either find a way to force God to retire, or to gain ultimate power himself by causing the population of Hell to exceed that of Heaven--and, needless to say, the other Incarnations aren't very helpful. At the end of the seventh book, the governments of the mortal world ''impeach'' God, allowing his replacement to begin cleaning up the mess the previous one left behind in alliance with Satan.
** It helps that, as in Incarnation, "Satan" is really a nice but flawed guy named Parry, who managed to kill the previous Satan almost by accident. This let him take the office, and prevented a more qualified (Read: Actually evil) candidate from being given the position.

*** Chronos was also the only incarnation that acted nicely to him, so in tricking him, Satan ruins his friendship with that Chronos and his successors (well, Predecessors, but it's a complicated story).
*** He prevents it out of a friendship with the Jewish God. Not only that, but one of his first acts after he assumes the office of Satan (which in turn is because his wife was murdered) is to spare Poland from the Black Plague, because of a girl that reminds him of said dead wife. Of course, he was the one that started the plague in the first place but it still counts.

* Gentleman Johnnie Marcone of ''TheDresdenFiles'' plays this trope to a tee. Despite being an illustrious crime boss and a self-confessed [[CompleteMonster professional monster]], his organization of the Chicago underworld has served to actually decrease and civilize crime. He's also helped (or sought the help of) protagonist Harry Dresden far more than he has opposed him. Marcone also has [[EvenEvilHasStandards very strict rules]] regarding criminal enterprises that exploit children operating in his town (i.e. DON'T) and at one point in ''Small Favor'' [[spoiler: after enduring a week's torture at the hands of the Denarians, he silently refuses to be rescued first before Harry and the Knights have freed the Archive, a twelve-year-old girl, and then shelters her with his own body while escaping.]]

*** This was in direct response to Harry saying that eventually he will take Marcone out, but he was far down his todo list.
** Lash [[spoiler:the copy of the fallen angel Lasciel created to tempt Harry into a DealWithTheDevil]] also fits this trope. Over the course of the three books she's present in, she becomes increasingly more sympathetic until she ultimately [[spoiler:suffers [[RedemptionEqualsDeath death by redemption]]]].

** Kumori, who is only a necromancer because she wants to have a world where no one needs to die, spent some of her powers literally keeping death from claiming a gun downed man until the paramedics could stabilize him, and after the hero wouldn't agree to join with them asked him to leave the fight since her master would have no problems killing him.
* Jarlaxle of R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt novels leads a band of amoral mercenaries, switches sides at the drop of of a pimp's hat depending on who pays better, thrives in the twisted city of Menzoberranzan, aids the AlwaysChaoticEvil antagonists in their goal to kill Drizzt/take over Mithral Hall, and steals an artifact of tremendous power with the explicit intent of using it to further his goals. He was also close friends with Drizzt's (mostly moral) father, does not even entertain the thought of raping a woman he finds attractive [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty who is quite definitely under his power]], engineers the escape and survival of Drizzt from certain (eventual) death, shows mercy on enemies whom he thinks may be useful, has never murdered anyone the reader is aware of (killed in battle or self-defense, yes), and seems genuinely interested in redeeming or at least reforming the stone-cold assassin Artemis Entreri. [[spoiler:When that fails, he instead teams up with the bloodthirsty maniac Athrogate, who for all his antiheroic sociopathy has a fascinating quirk in attempting to rhyme everything he says.]]

** Let's also not forget that his theft of the artifact was doubly evil from a certain point of view, being as how the artifact was sentient and pure evil, and was known for mind-controlling even incredibly strong-willed people and taking divine intervention to destroy. Based off the novels (especially the newer series featuring Jarlaxle as the lead character), Jarlaxle is incredibly resourceful and has enough magic trinkets to be borderline invincible. If an AlwaysChaoticEvil entity gained control of his mind, there's no telling what havoc could be wrought (and almost ''was'' wrought during the time he possessed the artifact, he's not as strong as he thinks he is) upon the multiverse. Artemis Entreri, the assassin Jarlaxle was 'reforming,' prevented said havoc from happening.
** And Artemis Enteri himself, the cold-blooded assassin who's killed more bad guys then Regis (a main protagonist). Artemis kills two mooks in the first scene to show us that he's evil, then only kills bad guys from that point on.
** Obould Many-Arrows. Not a nice guy. Waged a bloody war against the heroes, but was doing it largely for(from his perspective) noble reasons; trying to elevate his people from savage cavemen into an actual civilization. Also, when he fights Drizzt, he does it face to face and fairly, when Drizzt himself [[CombatPragmatist pulls a whole lot of dirty tricks.]]
* One of the reasons Chinese novelist JinYong is considered such a great writer is for never making his characters evil for the sake of it, such as is the case of the entire antagonistic cast of ''The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber'', in which they are all provided with understandable motivations, albeit couple with less than honorable m.o.

* Mertil tyl Loesp, in ''Matter'' by IainBanks, starts off as a classic power-hungry regicide and presumed Big Bad perfectly happy to order a genocide simply to tarnish the King's reputation. He later becomes far more sympathetic and conflicted character, who consciously changes his mind, considers war to be a last resort and genuinely wants to come to an agreement with Prince Oramen, who begins to suspect what really happened to his dad. He wavers between Villain and Anti Villain through much of the book, but sadly, it doesn't matter, as he and the prince [[spoiler:are both suddenly and horribly killed by the ''real'' Big Bad's dramatic, cityfucking entrance.]]

* Joe Keller of Arthur Miller's ''All My Sons'' is warm, likable, friendly fellow who genuinely loves his son and his wife. He also [[spoiler: deliberately sold defective parts to the Airforce that got 21 pilots killed and framed his partner for it. Eventually, his justifications get broken down and he kills himself offstage at the end of the show]]

* Clarence Potter from HarryTurtledove's eleven-books-and-counting AlternateHistory Timeline 191 series. His three-decade love-hate relationship with Jake Featherston, the Adolf Hitler {{Expy}}, goes to the extent that he attempts to kill him at one point (but ends up saving his life). He eventually begins to warm up to Featherston because he feels Featherston has revitalized the CSA. All of his actions are for the good of the CSA, and not the evil Freedom Party, and after the war he tells a young man whose rants reminds him of Featherston to forget the hate. He eventually ascends to MagnificentBastard and KarmaHoudini status by [[spoiler:personally destroying Philadelphia with a nuclear weapon.]]

*** There's no virtue in wanting to protect your country from the damage an insane leader could do? At one point he attempts to assassinate Featherston for the good of the Confederacy, even though he knows he will not survive the attempt. While he does support the Population Reduction (as, it should be noted, do most Confederate whites), he plays no part in it; if he had, he would have been so charged by the War Crimes Tribunal [[spoiler:who, it should be noted, specifically acquit him of atrocity, saying he acted only as a soldier would do]].
* [[TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn]] wants to crush the [[TheAlliance New Republic]] (which he [[InsistentTerminology insists]] on calling [[LaResistance the Rebellion]]). He wants to unite the galaxy so that it capitulates to a single rule--TheEmpire. He plans to let an insane Dark Jedi attempt to convert Luke, Leia, and Leia's children into weapons for the Empire's use. And he does it... because he knows that something horrible, powerful, and truly evil is coming, and that only by standing united and using everything at its disposal will the galaxy have a chance, so if some people must die or some freedoms must be sacrificed, so be it. Better that than extinction.

*** He formed the Empire of the Hand, which in [[OutboundFlight Survivor's Quest]] looks to Mara Jade like an Empire that has everything she loved about ''her'' Empire--order, discipline, people who know when to ''stop'' infighting, the chance to do a challenging investigation--and none of the things she hated, like constant suspicion and paranoia, sanctioned genocide, [[WeHaveReserves callous disregard for the troops]], [[FantasticRacism rampant speciesism]], and [[AMillionIsAStatistic mass-murderers high up in the government]].
*** The New Republic is shown to be so screwed up that a large number of fans either disown swathes of the EU or are extremely pro-Imperial. Seriously, their incompetence is staggering... more people get killed in one battle than all the atrocities done by Palpatine!
*** Pellaeon, Thrawn's understudy, mostly served as the [[TheIshmael viewpoint character]] for the readers to see Thrawn through. [[HandOfThrawn In later books]], he's picked up on some of his boss's tactics and is distinctly non-evil, though of course very Imperial. He was behind the [[VestigialEmpire Imperial Remnant]] realizing that they were outmatched and making peace with the Republic, after which point he really couldn't be called the villain at all. Bad NJO garden metaphors notwithstanding.

** [[YourMileageMayVary To some]] Tyrion seems headed for this, as some fans consider the early books (particularly his actions at the end of the third book) to be his StartOfDarkness.
** Stannis walks a fine line between this and AntiHero. His two main advisors each represent one of these aspects, Davos the heroic side of him and Melisandre the villainous(though Melisandre is an AntiVillain herself).
* Nicola Ceaucescu from Paul Park's ''Roumania'' series. She actually becomes more interesting than the protagonist Miranda, who is basically a standard teenage fantasy heroine except not stunningly beautiful. Nicola(who was named after a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_Ceaucescu real-life Romanian dictator]] who is also referenced in a fictional book within the book, in a mindbending bit of meta) is beautiful and charming, and believes that her political manipulations are all for the good of her country. She is not all that competent as a villain, since she tends to be impulsive, melodramatic, and overemotional, with a stereotypical "artistic" temperament. She commits acts of evil like kidnapping and murdering the good guys and sacrificing men who love her, and then cries about it afterward. While her attempts at political intrigue and sorcery turn out badly, she is described as a brilliant artist on the stage, and is able to skillfully manipulate others with her beauty, charm, and acting abilities. While Miranda is described as not all that great-looking, Nicola is a famous beauty who can make men give up their lives for her even when they know she is evil, reinforcing the trope that Evil is Sexy. Nicola also has a sympathetic backstory as the daughter of a rural prostitute who ran away from home when she was very young, and lived on the streets before becoming a famous actress and luring a baron into marriage. She also has an autistic son, who was taken from her and forcibly institutionalized. She reveals a maternal streak towards her young henchman Kevin Markasev in addition to her son,[[spoiler: although she eventually makes Kevin martyr himself and honors him by making him a Romanian national hero.]] She gets lots of sympathy from the entire country when she writes and performs a tragic opera based on her own life, which gets a standing ovation and is eventually performed by others all over the world. [[spoiler: However, she gets killed right after her performance, and although her ghost returns to possess the heroine, she is eventually consigned to a gloomy afterlife.]] She's more of a fabulous theatrical diva than a MagnificentBastard, in spite of her manipulative nature.
* Clara Rinker from the books ''Certain Prey'' and ''Mortal Prey'', part of the ''Prey'' mystery series by John Sandford. She was such a popular character that she was brought back for a second book. While Carmel Loan, the client who she became friends with after performing a hit for her, was a total sociopath, Clara was quite likable. [[spoiler:Clara has a sympathetic backstory as a teen runaway who suffered sexual abuse, and became a professional hitwoman after a mobster found out she killed a rapist. She gets even more sympathy in the second book, as she sought revenge on the men who killed her fiance and shot her in the stomach, causing her to lose her unborn baby. Later on, the FBI take her mentally ill little brother into custody in order to get her to turn herself in. When he panics and commits suicide in jail, she loses the only person she had left in the world.]] She is also kind of a Magnificent Bastard, as she outsmarts the hero Lucas Davenport(who is supposed to be a genius), as well as the FBI, with elaborate schemes to take out FBI agents and the Mafia bosses who double crossed her. In person, she's actually very down-to-earth, friendly and personable, and is described as looking like a "cute, perky ex-cheerleader type". The chapters that describe her career, how she carefully planned out her hits and got away with them, and how she set up a legitimate business with the money she made are the most interesting parts of the book. Davenport is actually attracted to her and flirts with her a bit, and does sympathize with her difficult life. [[spoiler: Eventually Clara seems to go over the edge and become reckless after her brother dies, and she is eventually killed by the FBI.]] She is part of a trend where many female anti-villains often have to have some kind of history of abuse to make them more sympathetic, and often meet a tragic end instead of getting away with their crimes.
* Inspector Javert from ''LesMiserables'' is an honest policeman who truly believes he is doing the right thing in pursuing the fugitive Jean Valjean. He simply has a naive idealized view of the law and justice, and can't conceive of the idea that someone convicted of a crime could also be an essentially good person. After Valjean has him at his mercy but spares his life, he can't handle the idea that his lifelong belief in justice is flawed, and kills himself. The [[Theatre/LesMiserables musical adaptation]] makes this especially clear, as the character's signature song "Stars", in which he affirms that he will never stop until Valjean is brought to justice, could easily be mistaken as a hero's song if you don't know who it's about.
* Another VictorHugo example: Archdeacon Claude Frollo from ''Literature/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame}}'', despite being the novel's antagonist, was a good father figure for both [[TheGrotesque Quasimodo]] and his own loutish brother Jehan, and all of his villainous actions are motivated by his [[LoveMakesYouEvil inability to deal with his lust for La Esmerelda]]. While he does evil things, there's a great emphasis is on his incredible suffering. Of course, none of his sympathetic characteristics made it through the book's {{Disneyfication}}.
* Pretty much any version of the ''{{The Phantom of the Opera}}'' beyond the original novel (and that one movie * shudder* ) turns the titular character at least into this if they don't outright turn him into into the protagonist of the story.

** This is largely down to revisionism: CharlesDickens clearly saw Fagin as a CompleteMonster who corrupted vulnerable children, arranged for the arrest and execution of his accomplices to avoid sharing his loot and orchestrated the murder of Nancy after her HeelFaceTurn. Most adaptations, worried this comes across as anti-semitic (possible unintentionally, since reprints in Dickens' lifetime removed most of the references to Fagin being a Jew), portray him as someone forced into crime by being made a second-class citizen or even a loveable rogue and remove his more "evil" acts.

* Nagarak in Karen Miller's ''GodspeakerTrilogy'' is the head priest of a ReligionOfEvil and a dour, grim, fanatic who ''frightens his own priests... and who sees Hekat as the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen bloodthirsty bitch]] she really is. Fortunately for him, Hekat fears the wrath of their god too much (not to mention considers him too unimportant) to try and kill him. And then [[spoiler: he finds out she had sex with the godspeaker Vortka, itself an abomination in their religion, and passed the child off as that of her in-reality sterile/spermatically deformed husband. She promptly lays him out with a divine curse of her own and rapes him to produce a second child capable of wielding the PowerCrystal she has found... but, conveniently, he dies from the curse, unlike Vortka, who was merely left infertile]].
* In ''Literature/HonorHarrington'', Rob S. Pierre of ''The Haven Commitee of Public Safety''. He took over from the Legislaturists sincerely planning reform and then realized his country was so far deep in a hole the only way out was to keep digging.
* Trenton Kalamack from ''TheHollows''. Good intentions, and generally a nice person, but [[IDidWhatIHadToDo willing to do whatever it takes]].

** Gollum from ''{{The Lord of the Rings}}''. Sure, he ''looks'' evil, but by the third book most readers see him as more pathetic than anything.
* Gale Wynand in ''TheFountainhead'', made more tragic in that towards the end of the book he tries to reform, fail and knows that he has failed.

** [[spoiler: and, [[TearJerker perhaps more memorably,]] Snape does too.]]

* The lieutenant in ''{{The Power and the Glory}}'' says he wants to "speak from his heart"... but he also says that he'll be speaking "from the end of a gun." For the people, of course.

** Also, by the end of the {{Mistborn}} trilogy it becomes obvious that [[spoiler: the Lord Ruler]] was this, [[spoiler: he took power to stop an OmnicidalManiac from getting loose and destroying the world]] many of his more evil acts were th result of [[spoiler: said OmnicidalManiac constantly assaulting his psyche over a thousand years, slowly driving him insane.]]

* Vicar Rhobair Duchairn becomes this starting in the second book of the ''{{Safehold}}'' series. Originally as [[SinisterMinister sinister a minister]] as the rest of the [[CorruptChurch Church of God Awaiting's]] leadership, he begins to rediscover his personal faith. In the third book, he warns a Reformist group that the fanatic Grand Inquisitor Clyntahn has found out about them; an act which helps reduce the damage Clyntahn does when he acts at least somewhat. In the fourth book he uses his position as the Church's treasurer to fully fund Church-run hospitals, soup kitchens, orphanages, and schools. The only reason he doesn't act more openly against Clyntahn's [[MoralEventHorizon excesses]] is because he's perfectly aware he (and more importantly, his family) will merely be added to the list victims without accomplishing anything.
* Jacqueline Carey's 'Banewrecker' and 'Godslayer' consist pretty much entirely of deconstructions of classic high fantasy villains, from the BigBad and TheDragon right on down the ranks.
* Stragos from the second ''GentlemanBastard'' book could be seen as this. While clearly a wicked man, he was fairly reasonable, and his ultimate fate is somewhat unfair given that much less sympathetic characters in the series get off much easier.
* The Captain in Brom's ''The Child Thief''. While the other [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Flesh Eaters]] are out to destroy Avalon through a combination of religious fanaticism and insanity caused by the island he's the OnlySaneMan who is motivated simply by a desire to return home and [[spoiler: risks his life more than once to protect Daniel after the latter's FaceHeelTurn]].
* [[TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea Captain Nemo]] is one of the classic anti-villains: the protagonists' captor but also their guide to a fantastic new world, with a murderous hatred for imperialism but also boundless compassion for the downtrodden, driven by rage but also by the intellectual passions; a scientist, a cult leader, an explorer, a terrorist. And we never find out ''why''. [[spoiler:Until the sequel.]]

* In RobertEHoward's ''ConanTheBarbarian'' story "The Phoenix on the Sword", while Rinaldo views the king Conan deposed with stupid nostalgia, he is not acting out of personal ambition and really thinks he is helping the kingdom. Conan, on seeing it's him, appeals to him, though futilely.
* The TIE fighter pilot Qorl from the ''YoungJediKnights'' series fits pretty well into this trope throughout the first story arc. Shot down during the Battle of Yavin and left stranded in the jungles of Yavin IV for decades, his loyalty to the Empire [[PunchClockVillain never wavered]]. However, after his TIE is unintentionally and then forcibly repaired by the Solo twins and their friends, and even outfitted with a hyperdrive, he leaves at once to seek out the remnants of the Empire and takes up with a Dark Jedi upstart with grand visions named Brakiss. It doesn't take Qorl long to realize that most of these new Imperials lack the dedication and discipline of the men that he served with, and slowly loses his fanatical loyalty over the course of the books. Finally, when one of his most headstrong pilots breaks out of formation during the big battle at Yavin, ignoring reprimands and disobeying orders to return [[AxCrazy in order to gun down a helpless supply ship]], [[PetTheDog Qorl flies after him and blasts him out of the sky, saving the supply ship]]. Not long after, he's shot down for a ''second'' time and crash lands on Yavin IV, where he decides to spend the rest of his years after becoming disillusioned with what remained of the Empire.
* Lestat in ''TheVampireChronicles'': ''InterviewWithTheVampire''. He's controlling, egotistic, selfish, and proud; he also proves to be Claudia's main obstacle to freedom and Louis goes between tolerating him and flat-out hating him. But at the same time he's easily the most fascinating character in the story and his attitudes set him apart from other actual antagonists encountered later.
* {{Goosebumps}} is known for its black and white morality with the antagonists ranging from {{Complete Monster}} to somewhat sympathetic villain. However, in the first of the series, Welcome to Dead House, one of the living dead children, Karen Somerset (and her TV adaptation incarnation Karen Thurston) is one of the series' few anti-villains. She would rather just be Amanda and Josh's friend if she could but in order to stay alive they have to prey on the living. Karen is the only one of the living dead to thank Amanda at the end (either for freeing them from their {{Fate Worse Than Death}} or being her friend while she could.

* Corwin from the ChroniclesOfAmber is cynical, ruthless and manipulative (like the rest of his family), and clearly sees himself as, at best, an Anti-Villain, describing himself as "a part of that evil which exists to oppose other evil". He's more a JerkWithAHeartOfGold now, after experiencing a HeelFaceTurn brought on by EasyAmnesia.

* Inspector Javert from ''[=~Les Miserables~=]'' is an honest policeman who truly believes he is doing the right thing in pursuing the fugitive Jean Valjean. He simply has a naive idealized view of the law and justice, and can't conceive of the idea that someone convicted of a crime could also be an essentially good person. After Valjean has him at his mercy but spares his life, he can't handle the idea that his lifelong belief in justice is flawed, and kills himself. The [[Theatre/LesMiserables musical adaptation]] makes this especially clear, as the character's signature song "Stars", in which he affirms that he will never stop until Valjean is brought to justice, could easily be mistaken as a hero's song if you don't know who it's about.

* ArtemisFowl used to be this (of the VillainProtagonist persuasion), before he became the hero. Likewise with Butler, who's just doing his duty.

** Obould Many-Arrows. [[{{Understatement}} Not a nice guy.]] Waged a bloody war against the heroes, but was doing it largely for(from his perspective) noble reasons; trying to elevate his people from savage cavemen into an actual civilization. Also, when he fights Drizzt, he does it face to face and fairly, when Drizzt himself [[CombatPragmatist pulls a whole lot of dirty tricks.]]

** Lash also fits this trope. Once a fallen angel temptress, now she is literally just a shadow of her former self. Over the course of the three books she's present in, she becomes increasingly more sympathetic, until her host even starts to think of her as his imaginary friend. Ultimately, she suffers [[spoiler: death by redemption]].

* Rob S. Pierre of ''[[HonorHarrington The Haven Commitee of Public Safety]]''. He took over from the Legislaturists sincerely planning reform and then realized his country was so far deep in a hole the only way out was to keep digging.

** [[spoiler: and, [[TearJerkerperhaps more memorably,]] Snape does too.]]

** He's more of an out and out villain. He only opposes the Party because he doesn't want to hand his country over to a man he knows is nuts. He's supportive of, and plays a part in, the Population Reduction, and masterminded some of the worst atrocities of the war.

* Another VictorHugo example: Archdeacon Claude Frollo from ''{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame}}'', despite being the novel's antagonist, was a good father figure for both [[TheGrotesque Quasimodo]] and his own loutish brother Jehan, and all of his villainous actions are motivated by his [[LoveMakesYouEvil inability to deal with his lust for La Esmerelda]]. While he does evil things, there's a great emphasis is on his incredible suffering. Of course, none of his sympathetic characteristics made it through the book's {{Disneyfication}}.

* AntiVillain: ArtemisFowl used to be this (of the VillainProtagonist persuasion), before he became the hero. Likewise with Butler, who's just doing his duty.

* {{Goosebumps}} is known for its black and white morality with the antagonists ranging from {{Complete Monster}} to somewhat sympathetic villain. However, in the first of the series, Welcome to Dead House, one of the living dead children, Karen Somerset (and her TV adaptation incarnation Karen Thurston) is one of the series' few anti-villains. She would rather just be Amanda and Josh's friend if she could but in order to stay alive they have to prey on the living. Karen is the only one of the living dead to thank Amanda at the end (either for freeing them from their {{Fate Worse Than Death}} or being her friend while she could.

* The TIE fighter pilot Qorl from the ''YoungJediKnights'' series fits pretty well into this trope throughout the first story arc. Shot down during the Battle of Yavin and left stranded in the jungles of Yavin IV for decades, his loyalty to the Empire [[PunchClockVillain never wavered]]. However, after his TIE is unintentionally and then forcibly repaired by the Solo twins and their friends, and even outfitted with a hyperdrive, he leaves at once to seek out the remnants of the Empire and takes up with a Dark Jedi upstart with grand visions named Brakiss. It doesn't take Qorl long to realize that most of these new Imperials lack the dedication and discipline of the men that he served with, and slowly loses his fanatical loyalty over the course of the books. Finally, when one of his most headstrong pilots breaks out of formation during the big battle at Yavin, ignoring reprimands and disobeying orders to return [[AxCrazy in order to gun down a helpless supply ship]], [[PetTheDog Qorl flies after him and blasts him out of the sky, saving the supply ship]]. Not long after, he's shot down for a ''second'' time and crash lands on Yavin IV, where he decides to spend the rest of his years after becoming disillusioned with what remained of the Empire.

** Lash also fits this trope. Once a fallen angel temptress, now she is literally just a shadow of her former self. Over the course of the three books she's present in, she becomes increasingly more sympathetic, until her host even starts to think of her as his imaginary friend. Ultimatly, she suffers [[spoiler: death by redemption]].

** And Artemis Enteri himself, the cold-blooded assasin who's killed more bad guys then Regis (a main protagonist). Artemis kills two mooks in the first scene to show us that he's evil, then only kills bad guys from that point on.

* Mertil tyl Loesp, in ''Matter'' by Iain M Banks, starts off as a classic power-hungry regicide and presumed Big Bad perfectly happy to order a genocide simply to tarnish the King's reputation. He later becomes far more sympathetic and conflicted character, who consciously changes his mind, considers war to be a last resort and genuinely wants to come to an agreement with Prince Oramen, who begins to suspect what really happened to his dad. He wavers between Villain and Anti Villain through much of the book, but sadly, it doesn't matter, as he and the prince [[spoiler:are both suddenly and horribly killed by the ''real'' Big Bad's dramatic, cityfucking entrance.]]

* Clarence Potter from HarryTurtledove's eleven-books-and-counting AlternateHistory Timeline 191 series. His three-decade love-hate relationship with Jake Featherston, the Adolf Hitler {{Expy}}, goes to the extent that he attempts to kill him at one point (but ends up saving his life). He eventually begans to warm up to Featherston because he feels Featherston has revitalized the CSA. All of his actions are for the good of the CSA, and not the evil Freedom Party, and after the war he tells a young man whose rants reminds him of Featherston to forget the hate. He eventually ascends to MagnificentBastard and KarmaHoudini status by [[spoiler:personally destroying Philadelphia with a nuclear weapon.]]

* Inspector Javert from ''LesMiserables'' is an honest policeman who truly believes he is doing the right thing in pursuing the fugitive Jean Valjean. He simply has a naive idealized view of the law and justice, and can't conceive of the idea that someone convicted of a crime could also be an essentially good person. After Valjean has him at his mercy but spares his life, he can't handle the idea that his lifelong belief in justice is flawed, and kills himself. The [[Theatre/LesMiserables musical adaptation]] makes this especially clear, as the character's signature song "Stars", in which he affirms that he will never stop until Valjean is brought to justice, could easily be mistaken as a hero's song if you don't know who it's about.
* Another Victor Hugo example: Archdeacon Claude Frollo from ''{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame}}'', despite being the novel's antagonist, was a good father figure for both [[TheGrotesque Quasimodo]] and his own loutish brother Jehan, and all of his villainous actions are motivated by his [[LoveMakesYouEvil inability to deal with his lust for La Esmerelda]]. While he does evil things, there's a great emphasis is on his incredible suffering. Of course, none of his sympathetic characteristics made through the book's {{Disneyfication}}.

** This is largely down to revisionism: Dickens clearly saw Fagin as a CompleteMonster who corrupted vulnerable children, arranged for the arrest and execution of his accomplices to avoid sharing his loot and orchestrated the murder of Nancy after her HeelTurnFace. Most adaptations, worried this comes across as anti-semitic (possible unintentionally, since reprints in Dickens' lifetime removed most of the references to Fagin being a Jew), portray him as someone forced into crime by being made a second-class citizen or even a loveable rogue and remove his more "evil" acts.

* In the last ''HarryPotter'' book, [[spoiler:the Malfoys became this]].

* The Captain in Brom's ''The Child Thief''. While the other [[NamesToRunAwayFromRealFast Flesh Eaters]] are out to destroy Avalon through a combination of religious fanaticism and insanity caused by the island he's TheOnlySaneMan who is motivated simply by a desire to return home and [[spoiler: risks his life more than once to protect Daniel after the latter's FaceHeelTurn]].

* Jefferson Hope from Arthur Conon Doyle's {{Sherlock Holmes}} novella ''A Study in Scarlet". Murdered two Mormon ex-suitors who forced marriage upon the love of his life, one for killing her father and the other for breaking her heart in a depressing, almost literal sense. Subsequently died of a debilitating heart condition, which he gained by pursuing them ruthlessly over two continents for several years, after being captured by Scotland Yard and Holmes. Died peacefully knowing he had his revenge.
* In RobertEHoward's ''ConanTheBarbarian'' story "The Phoenix on the Sword", while Rinaldo views the king Conan deposed with stupid nostaglia, he is not acting out of personal ambition and really thinks he is helping the kingdom. Conan, on seeing it's him, appeals to him, though futilely.

* Rob S. Pierre of ''{{The Haven Commitee of Public Safety}}''. He took over from the Legislaturists sincerely planning reform and then realized his country was so far deep in a hole the only way out was to keep digging.

* In RobertEHoward's ''ConanTheBarbarian'' story "The Phoenix on the Sword", while Rinaldo views the king Conan deposed with stupid nostaglia, he is not acting out of personal ambition and really thinks he is helping the kingdom. Conan, on seeing it's him, appeals to him, though futilely.

* Nagarak in Karen Miller's ''GodspeakerTrilogy'', who sees Hekat as the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen bloodthirsty bitch]] she really is. No wonder [[spoiler:Hekat kills him]].

** In a true PetTheDog moment, it's revealed in the latest book that Vetinari's dog, Wuffles, had at some point passed away, and that every week Vetinari pays a visit to Wuffles' grave in the palace grounds and leaves a dog biscuit there.
*** Although we were informed of this by [[UnreliableNarrator Cosmo Lavish.]]
*** Considering that he admired Vetinari for his ruthlessness, it's highly unlikely that he would have made this up.
*** Considering that [[MagnificentBastard Vetinari]] is a [[ManipulativeBastard fucking genius]], it's entirely possible that ''he'' would have made this up.

** Indeed, the only thing that stops Marcone from crossing the line into being an Anti-Hero is the fact that he indulges in so much evil off-page and the only time he helps Harry is when they have a mutual enemy. Marcone has outright said that the only reason he hasn't put out a hit on Harry is because he figures that it's only a matter of time before one of Harry's other enemies does the job for him.