History BlackAndWhiteMorality / Literature

* In ''Literature/LordOfTheWorld'', ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld: [[SaintlyChurch devout Catholics]] and [[HollywoodAtheist murderous Marxists]]. All Protestant Christians have either apostasized or been reconciled with the Church, Jews are never mentioned at all, and all other religions have merged into one amorphous mass of superstition endemic to [[YellowPeril “the East”]] that no educated man believes anyway. Skeptics not only hate all morality and decency and lack any respect for human life, but will support the persecution and murder of Christians, implied to be because they know they are wrong and just want to sin. In the book’s worldview, being a good person who does not follow canon law to the letter is [[OxymoronicBeing a contradiction in terms]].

* The ''Literature/SymphonyOfAges'' series: [[PuritySue Rhapsody]] and those who love her: Good except for Michael, who has the hots for Rhapsody and is evil. Those who don't love Rhapsody: Evil.

* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'': The heroes are good and noble, and always right, while the villains all KickTheDog like they're in an international dog-kicking competition.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' books, despite its comedy and acknowledging the complexity of life, ultimately sees things in this light. The motif comes closest to the surface in ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'' when Granny Weatherwax explains her life philosophy: evil is [[{{Dehumanization}} when you treat people like things]]. That's as simple as it gets to her; if you treat people like people, [[GoodIsNotNice even if you're nasty about it]], you're ultimately 'white that got grubby', and not black. This dichotomy runs through most of the books as well, with the difference between the heroes and the villains ultimately being that villains are the ones who can view life -- and the abusing and ending of it -- as simply a means to an end, while the heroes will treat people, even the villains, ultimately as ends in and of themselves.

* Subverted in ''Literature/TheBrightestShadow''. The world is more {{GreyAndGrayMorality}} but the Hero sees the world in black and white, brutally murdering anyone in their way. The focus is on how horrifying it would be for characters labeled evil in someone else's story.

* The ''Literature/SymphonyOfAges'' series: [[PuritySue Rhapsody]] and those who love her: Good. Those who don't love Rhapsody: Evil.
** Except for Michael has got the hots for Rhapsody and is evil.

* Also deconstructed in ''Literature/AWizardInRhyme'' when a college student gets transported into a FantasyCounterpartCulture version of France, where God and Satan are very real, saying damn really means you are sending said person to hell, and magic works on this principle. Being from our world, the rigid code causes a lot of problems as he adjusts.

* Subverted in ''Literature/TheBrightestShadow''. The world is more {{GreyAndGrayMorality}} but the Hero sees the world in black and white, brutally murdering anyone in their way. The focus is on how horrifying it would be for characters labeled black in someone else's story.

* Subverted in ''The Brightest Shadow''. The world is more {{GreyAndGrayMorality}} but the Hero sees the world in black and white, brutally murdering anyone in their way. The focus is on how horrifying it would be for characters labeled black in someone else's story.

* In the ''Literature/FairyOak'' series the townspeople are all good (okay, maybe not the female Spleenworths), the Terrible 21st and everything to have to do with it is evil.

* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'': [[LaResistance The Varden]] and Elves are good, TheEmpire is evil.
** Eragon tries to give this a significant amount of thought, as a number of characters point out that he's fighting because other people told him to, however right they may be. After a significant amount of angst, Eragon comes to the bizarre and defeatist conclusion that [[spoiler: he has to cross the ocean to train the next generation of riders. He left behind civilization, everything he fought for, the chance to shape the creation of the next major golden age, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and the chance to get into Arya's (the only woman for whom he could hold genuine affection)]] [[AuthorTract tight leather]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking pants]].]]

* ''Literature/TheCrimsonShadow'': There is basically no ambiguity in the sides during the series. On the good side are people rebelling to be free against [[EvilSorcerer evil wizards]] with a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil wholly evil race as]] their [[{{Mooks}} minions]]. At worst, good guys Luthien and Oliver work as thieves, but even then their only victims are [[AssholeVictim exploitative collaborting merchants]]. On the bad guys' side, there is a [[TokenGoodTeammate single female mage]] who's just misguided rather than purely evil.

* The page quote comes from ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', which actually ''averts'' this as a series; the setting is rife with GrayAndGreyMorality. The speaker, however, believes fervently in this. Just to drive the point home, a book later one character is handed an onion, half of which is black with rot... [[BrickJoke and he cuts off the rotten bit and gladly eats the rest]]. Apparently Melisandre's never faced a famine.
* Also deconstructed in ''Literature/AWizardInRhyme'' when a college student gets transported into a FantasyCounterpartCulture version of France, where God and Satan are very real, saying damn really means you are sending said person to hell, and magic works on this principle. Being from our world, the rigid code causes a lot of problems as he adjusts.

* Taylor Anderson's ''Destroyermen'' series. The American/Lemurian alliance is good, the Grik and any Lemurians or humans who don't support the alliance are bad.

* {{Literature/Redwall}}: [[AlwaysLawfulGood If you're a mouse, otter, vole, badger, hedgehog, squirrel, or lapine, you're good]]. [[AlwaysChaoticEvil If you're anything else, you're evil]]. (Except for cats and birds - they're case-by-case. Voles can also go either way.) [[NoCartoonFish If you're a fish, you're dinner.]]

* Literature/SisterhoodSeries by Creator/FernMichaels: Almost all the good guys are handsome/beautiful, and the bad guys are either ugly as sin or ordinary-looking. The choices the characters make are unambiguously good or evil. The characterization of the characters is either good or evil.

* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'': The heroes are good and noble, and always right, while the villains all KickTheDog like they're in an international dog-kicking competition.
* In the ''Literature/TortallUniverse'' it's true that expressing any disdain for peasants is a clear sign that someone's a villain. In the first quartet, ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness,'' you can tell who's good and who's bad by how friendly they are to Alanna. The rigidness starts to loosen in ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'' (with some IDidWhatIHadToDo siuations), the hero of ''Litearture/DaughterOfTheLioness'' is a spymaster who gets her hands in all kinds of DirtyBusiness, and the ''Literature/ProvostsDog'' book have a kind of light-gray-and-black morality thanks to PoliceBrutality and TheNeedsOfTheMany--while Beka and her friends always try to do the most right thing they can, they face instituational limits.
* Deconstructed in ''Literature/WarriorCats''. Hollyleaf starts out with her absolute trust in the [[CodeOfHonour Warrior Code]], and believes that all who follow it are good, while those who don't are evil. After using the code to justify most of her actions, she learns that [[spoiler: her very birth broke the code]], and that someone she had respected had broken one of the code's core principles, but for a good reason. After learning this, Hollyleaf's mind was completely shattered, and she realized that her morality was flawed, leading her to [[spoiler: attempt to murder her own mother, then flee from the Clans.]]
** ''Literature/WarriorCats'' is at first an example of GreyandGrayMorality with [=ThunderClan=] and [=ShadowClan=] each having their good warriors (Firestar, Graystripe, and Yellowfang come to mind) and their bad warriors (Brokenstar, Tigerstar, and Darkstripe) but in the fourth series... Black-and-White Morality is in effect as the Clans go against [[spoiler: The Dark Forest cats]] who are indeed evil. Also in effect during the fight with Blood Clan who are (with few exceptions) very black.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' books, despite its comedy and acknowledging the complexity of life, ultimately sees things in this light. The motif comes closest to the surface in ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'' when Granny Weatherwax explains her life philosophy: Evil is [[{{Dehumanization}} when you treat people like things]]. That's as simple as it gets to her; if you treat people like people, [[GoodIsNotNice even if you're nasty about it]], you're ultimately 'white that got grubby', and not black. This dichotomy runs through most of the books as well, with the difference between the heroes and the villains ultimately being that villains are the ones who can view life -- and the abusing and ending of it -- as simply a means to an end, while the heroes will treat people, even the villains, ultimately as ends in and of themselves.

* Although the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' doesn't follow this in a meta sense, Granny Weatherwax is a firm believer in this. She refutes GreyAndGreyMorality by insisting that grey is only white that's got grubby.
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' feature this. Aslan and all he stands for are good, his enemies are evil, and anyone caught in between who isn't clearly either when introduced simply hasn't chosen their side ''yet'' (or, worse, is already evil and just lying about it -- [[spoiler:Nikabrik the dwarf]] in ''Literature/PrinceCaspian'' for example could be read either way).
* In ''Literature/AvalonWebOfMagic'', villains are always ObviouslyEvil (think excessive shadows, gloating, and poisonous magic)- unless disgusing themselves- and trying to achieve inarguably selfish goals through crimes of the first degree (murder, thievery, brainwashing). Is it realistic? No. [[RuleOfFun But it's]] ''[[RuleOfFun fun]]''. That said, the heroines are frequently tempted to do things they know are Evil ([[spoiler:that's how the series' villains ''became'' villains to begin with)]], and their friendship is important in part because it keeps them morally grounded.

** The Sparra, being a WackyWaysideTribe, tend toward neutral.
** There were a few exceptions-one sea rat was nice, and horrified by his captain's evil deeds, and one shrew murdered his chieftain, then took off with the sword of Martin the Warrior.

** Averted in ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin''. Túrin is well-meaning but also a morally ambiguous Jerkass who blows over the MoralEventHorizon when he murders a lame man in cold blood, his Lancer Androg is a serial rapist and murderer and the group's traitor, Mîm the Dwarf is a sympathetic AntiVillain whose actions are motivated by the relentless persecution his people suffered from the Elves as well as Androg's cruelty. Even after his betrayal he inists that Túrin be released unharmed.

* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'': The heroes are good and noble, and always right (at least as [[DesignatedHero defined by the series]]), while the villains all KickTheDog like they're in an international dog-kicking competition.

* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'': The heroes are good and noble, and always right (at least as [[DesignatedHero defined by the series]], while the villains all KickTheDog like they're in an international dog-kicking competition.

* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'': The heroes are good and noble, and always right, while the villains all KickTheDog like they're in an international dog-kicking competition.

* Deconstructed in ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'', a world in which the forces of light finally won a decisive victory over darkness a hundred and fifty years ago. By the time of the story's present, the heroes of the world run about unchecked and have no qualms hunting down [[NonMaliciousMonster Non Malicious Monsters]], brainwashing villains and robbing them of their free will, and committing genocide on AlwaysChaoticEvil races. They believe their actions are acceptable since they're "on the right side" but the [[VillainProtagonist Villain Protagonists]] of the story note that they seem more concerned with "Black and White" than "Right and Wrong."

* Deconstructed in ''Lierature/VillainsByNecessity'', a world in which the forces of light finally won a decisive victory over darkness a hundred and fifty years ago. By the time of the story's present, the heroes of the world run about unchecked and have no qualms hunting down [[NonMaliciousMonster Non Malicious Monsters]], brainwashing villains and robbing them of their free will, and committing genocide on AlwaysChaoticEvil races. They believe their actions are acceptable since they're "on the right side" but the [[VillainProtagonist Villain Protagonists]] of the story note that they seem more concerned with "Black and White" than "Right and Wrong."

** Averted in the wizards and muggles are, after all, human and have Free Will, and have difficulty knowing the right action. As a reformed murderer-by-magic, he knows one bad action won't necessarily condemn a soul to being evil.
** Many supernatural creatures like the Winter Fae, while evil by human standardsm operate by BlueAndOrangeMorality and are not considered objectively evil.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' starts out this way. Dumbledore is the BigGood, Harry and his friends are the heroes, the other students are generally nice except for the Slytherins, and Voldemort is the BigBad. As the series goes on, it adds more shades of gray with turncoats on both sides, a corrupt government opposing Voldemort, heroes [[PayEvilUntoEvil paying evil unto evil]], and Harry discovering that his father and Dumbledore have...complicated backstories. It's still essentially a "Good Guys vs Bad Guys" story, with villains [[ANaziByAnyOtherName clearly inspired by WWII]], and the hero and his two best friends who go through the whole story, including a civil war, without killing anyone ever.

** Outside of ''The Silmarillion'' there are many other examples. Gollum, Lobelia and Denethor (in the book, the movie plays him as more of a straightforward villain) are anything but clean-cut good or bad guys. Despite its lighter tone ''Literature/TheHobbit'' averts this a lot more than its darker sequel. Thorin is for the most part noble but also a greedy, proud jerkass who would risk a war to hang onto his gold, while Beorn is kind and friendly but kills an Orc and his Wolf mount after they already surrendered and puts their heads on pikes.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' books, despite its comedy and acknowledging the complexity of life, ultimately sees things in this light. The motif comes closest to the surface in ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'' when Granny Weatherwax explains her life philosophy: Evil is [[{{Dehumanization}} when you treat people like things]]. That's as simple as it gets to her; if you treat people like people, [[GoodIsNotNice even if you're nasty about it]], you're ultimately 'white that got grubby', and not black. This dichotomy runs through most of the books as well, with the difference between the heroes and the villains ultimately being that villains are the ones who can view life -- and the abusing and ending of it -- as simply a means to an end, while the heroes will treat people, even the villains, ultimately as ends in and by themselves.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' books, despite its comedy and acknowledging the complexity of life, ultimately sees things in this light. The motif comes closest to the surface in ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'' when Granny Weatherwax explains her life philosophy: Evil is [[{{Dehumanization}} when you treat people like things]]. That's as simple as it gets to her; if you treat people like people, [[GoodIsNotNice even if you're nasty about it]], you're ultimately 'white that got grubby', and not black. This dichotomy runs through most of the books as well, with the difference between the heroes and the villains ultimately being that villains are the ones who can view life -- and the abusing and ending of it -- as simply a means to an end, while the heroes will treat people, even the villains, ultimately as ends in and by themselves.

* ''Literature/TheDiscworld'' books, despite its comedy and acknowledging the complexity of life, ultimately sees things in this light. The motif comes closest to the surface in ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'' when Granny Weatherwax explains her life philosophy: Evil is [[{{Dehumanization}} when you treat people like things]]. That's as simple as it gets to her; if you treat people like people, [[GoodIsNotNice even if you're nasty about it]], you're ultimately 'white that got grubby', and not black. This dichotomy runs through most of the books as well, with the difference between the heroes and the villains ultimately being that villains are the ones who can view life -- and the abusing and ending of it -- as simply a means to an end, while the heroes will treat people, even the villains, ultimately as ends in and by themselves.