History KnightTemplar / LiveActionTV

** [[spoiler:[[TheMole Grant Ward]]]] was The Clairvoyant's ace in the hole, and at first was just a selfish thug in shining armor. The thing is, he's the exact opposite of what he seemed to be; he's even MORE talented than he looks, but has a disturbingly weak will. He's also not a good friend because psychological trauma (combined with his aptitude for TheEmpath) causes him to hurt people who show him too much affection, while instinctually worshipping those that he senses malice in. Once he's off the leash, he slowly loses his sanity while reframing the narrative to make himself look like a good guy and friend (which is the part everyone on Coulson's team hates because he is literally '''''eager''''' to hurt the people he '''''befriended''''' the most), which comes to a head when his insanity leads him to become the leader of HYDRA, and ends up enjoying the brutal suffering they cause "for the greater good" while most previous leaders were just paying lip-service. The worst part? His overwhelming hatred of kindness, sheer ruthlessness, self-righteous attitude, and '''''pathetically''''' weak will make him the '''''perfect''''' host for HYDRA's true leader, the Inhuman entity known as [[HumanoidAbomination Hive]]. Said true leader thinks he can bring peace to his people by [[spoiler:mutating all regular humans into obedient monsters]].

** [[spoiler:[[TheMole Grant Ward]]]] was The Clairvoyant's ace in the hole, and at first was just a selfish thug in shining armor. The thing is, he's the exact opposite of what he seemed to be; he's even MORE talented than he looks, but has a disturbingly weak will. He's also not a good friend because psychological trauma (combined with his aptitude for TheEmpath) causes him to hurt people who show him too much affection, while instinctually worshipping those that he senses malice in. Once he's off the leash, he slowly loses his sanity while reframing the narrative to make himself look like a good guy and friend (which is the part everyone on Coulson's team hates because he is literally '''''eager''''' to hurt the people he '''''befriended''''' the most), which comes to a head when his insanity leads him to become the leader of HYDRA, and ends up enjoying the brutal suffering they cause "for the greater good" while most previous leaders were just paying lip-service. The worst part? His overwhelming hatred of kindness, sheer ruthlessness, self-righteous attitude, and '''''pathetically''''' weak will make him the '''''perfect''''' host for HYDRA's true leader, the Inhuman entity known as [[HumanoidAbomination Hive]].
*** Said true leader thinks he can bring peace to his people by [[spoiler:mutating all regular humans into obedient monsters]].

* Vigilante in ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', a VigilanteMan who dismisses innocent people caught in the crossfire of his "war" on crime as "collateral damage."
* The [[spoiler:Vorlons]] in ''Series/BabylonFive'' are clear examples of this trope - they seek to maintain peace and order through the manipulation of the "lesser races", often using very morally questionable methods. By this standard, the [[spoiler:Shadows]] also qualify, as they truly believe that their [[TheSocialDarwinist Social Darwinist]] agenda of deception, violence, genocide, and MindRape is for the Greater Good.

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'':

* Iris Crowe on ''Series/{{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 are actually just {{MacGuffin}}s to distract us from the fact that Ben, the protagonist, is a fairly crappy savior. But Iris is just [[spoiler:a chip off the old block compared to her father, Lucius Belyakov, aka Management, who's 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]].
* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' 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]].

* A few unsubs in ''Series/CriminalMinds'' see themselves as heroic people ridding the world of evil by killing off acquitted criminals ("A Real Rain", "Reckoner"), vagrants ("Legacy"), or just general sinners ("The Big Game"/"Revelations").

** The Cybermen technically count as this -- they genuinely believe living humans are flawed and only want to help out by upgrading them.
** The Doctor himself is often very close to becoming his trope, as evidently seen in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars "The Waters of Mars"]]. Thankfully he subverts it. For now.
** As shown in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], [[spoiler:Rassilon]], who has always had a tendency towards this, managed to fit the trope even ''more'' after [[spoiler:his resurrection during the Time War]]. And this time, he turns [[spoiler:the rest of the Time Lords]] this way.

** BountyHunter Keisuke Nago in ''Series/KamenRiderKiva'' plays this trope so damn straight that, at times, he borders on 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]]". He's also a member of a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Fangire]]-hunting organization and believes that all Fangire are monsters to be slain - including those who are happy to co-exist peacefully with humans. [[CharacterDevelopment He does get better, though]]. Bonus points for his [[HenshinHero rider form]], IXA, sporting a heavy Paladin/Holy Knight motif.

* DCI Frank Morgan in ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'' is eventually revealed to be one of these. He began as a subversion of TyrantTakesTheHelm, 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 death of everyone on Hunt's team is a sacrifice Morgan can live with]].

* [[VigilanteMan Philip Karnowsky]] in ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'', who tracks down and kills any criminal who (in his eyes) got away with murder.

** Zein in ''Series/KamenRiderOutsiders'' seeks to impose a [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans malice-free utopia]] and concluded that [[FinalSolution humanity must be exterminated]] to make that utopia a reality. This puts ''Kamen Rider'' villains from previous Heisei to Reiwa seasons on a warpath against the tyrannical AI, and a resurgent [[spoiler:[[Series/KamenRiderDouble Foundation X]]]] gathering said villains [[LaResistance to band together against Zein]] as the eponymous [[AntagonistTitle Kamen Rider Outsiders]].

** You run into a lot of these in series where the monsters aren't AlwaysChaoticEvil. In ''Series/KamenRiderFaiz'', Masato Kusaka felt that ''every'' Orphenoch had to die, and more than once he's had to be pulled off of allies or poor schmoes who didn't ask to be born/sired/[[MadScientist mad scienced]] into monsterdom and have no intention of helping the evil organization TakeOverTheWorld. However, he's worked with one or two before because his DevilInPlainSight nature is an even ''bigger'' part of him than Knight Templar-dom, and he'll use anyone to get what he wants, including Orphenochs who aren't trying to kill anyone at the moment. But in the end, when more important things like [[GreenEyedMonster keeping Takumi away from Mari]] are out of the way, all Orphenochs must go.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' 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. It's generally regarded as one of the best episodes of the series.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':

** Angel turns against his friends for a few months as he goes on a crusade of punishing the guilty (Wolfram & Hart), rather than helping the helpless.
--->'''Angel:''' Let them fight "the good fight". Someone's gotta fight the war.

* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime'': The Children of the Light or Whitecloaks are an independent military organization dedicated to finding Darkfriends and rooting out evil and corruption wherever it may be found. In their ranks are "[[TortureTechnician Questioners]]", with them burning Aes Sedai, convinced they're all evil witches.

* Vigilante in ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', a VigilanteMan who dismisses innocence people cause in the crossfire of his "war" on crime as "collateral damage."

* ''Series/KamenRider'' series: