History Main / AlwaysChaoticEvil

* The Skeksis in ''Film/TheDarkCrystal''. [[spoiler: Justified in that they're the other half of a species that accidentally split itself into good / evil races.]] Supplementary materials, most notably the comics ''ComicBook/TheDarkCrystalCreationMyths'' and ''Series/TheDarkCrystalAgeOfResistance'', explore this a bit: they weren't inherently evil, just hedonistic (though some were assholes from the start), but eventually became despots once they realised they weren't immortal. Some can even turn good completely, suggesting full moral agency.

*** Making things worse, Nephandi reincarnate like normal Mages do and the result is called a Widderslainte. Widderslaintes are living arguments against free will, people who were born evil because of crimes they committed in previous lives. They start as [[EnfantTerrible sociopathic bullies]] and escalate from their, especially if they get magic again. While it's not utterly impossible for Widderslaintes to reject their evil tendencies, and a small number actually do, it's extremely hard because they still have inverted Avatars (the part of a Mage that allows one to use magic) meaning they have an incorporeal OmnicidalManiac [[EnemyWithin living inside their]] ''soul'' and mentally abusing them throughout their entire lives.

*** Pretty much played straight with the Black Spiral Dancers. They were once Garou who descended into the Wyrm's very own home in an attempt to destroy it. They lost and were forced to "dance the Black Spiral." This had [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil severe]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation consequences]] on their psyches. Any one who enters that monstrosity is doomed to a life of depravity and madness.

** Most Black-aligned races in spite of Wizards of the Coast fervently insisting that DarkIsNotEvil. Black is the color where you find most demons, imps, horrors, nightmares, nightstalkers, hags, harpies and zombies. In fact, it's actually notable when they receive any sort of depth, such as Kaladesh's Aetherborn race, who are not evil but rather hedonistic (they have short lives and live them to the fullest). Vampires tend to get hit particularly hard, with even excursions into other colors on some planes (Innistrad's vampire aristocrats are red as well as black and Ixalan's vampire conquistadores are white as well as black, while Ravnica's mind-vampires are blue/black) not really making them any more friendly.

** Even so, Phyrexians in their newest form seem to move away from this trope. Ever since the Phyrexians took over the five-mooned metallic plane of Mirrodin, turning it into New Phyrexia, there have been five different factions corresponding to each of the five colors instead of all being aligned with black mana like the old Phyrexians, and each being lead by a praetor, each with their own brand of pitch-dark evil... except the red praetor, Urabrask the Hidden, who, true to his red mana alignment (Red is associated with all emotions, both positive and negative), is a lot more individualistic and merciful than the other praetors, and therefore leads the only Phyrexian faction capable of free will and compassion. Probably due to this, he is the only Phyrexian leader who plots against the other praetors not simply to gain power but to actually work against New Phyrexia as a whole. This is mainly because New Phyrexia's goal to assimilate the multiverse strongly goes against Red's value of self-determination (his faction still "compleats" people, but only takes volunteers).

* Played with by the mermaids in ''Manga/HekikaiNoAion''. They're introduced this way, but Sheila complicates things by demonstrating that the mermaids are just as capable of friendship and empathy as humans...but they still need to cause natural disasters that kill humans ''en masse'' in order to eat, so humanity will never be able to live in peace with them.

** Mainly averted with the rest of the setting -- even [[ImAHumanitarian the Varatjul and the Dune People]] have an explanation for what they do (the Varatjul because [[MoralMyopia they don't view other humans as being truly sapient]]; the Dune People are {{Crazy Survivalist}}s who, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero thanks to the Solars]], have come to view the world in terms of Us vs. Them, with "them" being [[AbsoluteXenophobe "everyone who is not a Dune Person"]]).

** ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' plays it straight, with the only significant difference being how much more willing it is to describe the kind of evil they are. For example, any drow who displayed compassion or altruism would get hunted down and killed, or bugbears not simply being another goon-monster but a species of freakishly large yet uncannily sneaky serial killers who thrive on murder.

** Most Black-aligned races in spite of Wizards of the Coast fervently insisting that DarkIsNotEvil. Black is the color where you find most demons, imps, hags, harpies and zombies. In fact, it's actually notable when they receive any sort of depth, such as Kaladesh's Aetherborn race, who are not evil but rather hedonistic (they have short lives and live them to the fullest). Vampires tend to get hit particularly hard, with even excursions into other colors on some planes (Innistrad's vampire aristocrats are red as well as black and Ixalan's vampire conquistadores are white as well as black, while Ravnica's mind-vampires are blue/black) not really making them any more friendly.

** Most Black-aligned races in spite of Wizards of the Coast fervently insisting that DarkIsNotEvil. In fact, it's actually notable when they receive any sort of depth, such as Kaladesh's Aetherborn race, who are not evil but rather hedonistic (they have short lives and live them to the fullest). Vampires tend to get hit particularly hard, with even excursions into other colors on some planes (Innistrad's vampire aristocrats are red as well as black and Ixalan's vampire conquistadores are white as well as black, while Ravnica's mind-vampires are blue/black) not really making them any more friendly.

** Most Black-aligned races in spite of Wizards of the Coast fervently insisting that DarkIsNotEvil. In fact, it's actually notable when they receive any sort of depth, such as Kaladesh's Aetherborn race, who are not evil but rather hedonistic (they have short lives and live them to the fullest). Vampires tend to get hit particularly hard, with even excursions into other colors (Innistrad's vampire aristocrats are red as well as black and Ixalan's vampire conquistadores are white as well as black, while Ravnica's mind-vampires are blue/black) not really making them any more friendly.

** Most Black-aligned races in spite of Wizards of the Coast fervently insisting that DarkIsNotEvil. In fact, it's actually notable when they receive any sort of depth, such as Kaladesh's Aetherborn race, who are not evil but rather hedonistic (they have short lives and live them to the fullest). Vampires tend to get hit particularly hard, with even excursions into other colors (Innistrad's vampire aristocrats are red as well as black, and Ixalan's vampire conquistadores are white as well as black) not really making them any more friendly.

** Most Black-aligned races in spite of Wizards of the Coast fervently insisting that DarkIsNotEvil. In fact, it's actually notable when they received any sort of depth. Vampires tend to get hit particularly hard with even excursions into other colors not really making them any more friendly.

** Even so, Phyrexians in their newest form seem to move away from this trope. Ever since the Phyrexians took over the five-mooned metallic plane of Mirrodin, turning it into New Phyrexia, there have been five different factions corresponding to each of the five colors instead of all being aligned with black mana like the old Phyrexians, and each being lead by a praetor, each with their own brand of pitch-dark evil... except the red praetor, Urabrask the Hidden, who, true to his red mana alignment (Red is associated with all emotions, both positive and negative), is a lot more individualistic and merciful than the other praetors, and therefore leads the only Phyrexian faction capable of free will and compassion. Probably due to this, he is the only Phyrexian leader who plots against the other praetors not simply to gain power but to actually work against New Phyrexia as a whole. This is mainly because New Phyrexia's goal to assimilate the multiverse strongly goes against Red's value of self-determination (his faction still "compleats" people, but only takes volunteers). Ironically, the praetor heading up the charge to compleat the multiverse is Elesh Norn the Grand Cenobite and now self-proclaimed Mother of Machines, [[LightIsNotGood the one aligned with white mana]]. White is usually the most merciful color and strongly associated with Lawful Good, but its values of order and community can also lend themselves to Lawful Evil when combined with Phyrexian zealotry.

** Even so, Phyrexians in their newest form seem to move away from this trope. Ever since the Phyrexians took over the five-mooned metallic plane of Mirrodin, turning it into New Phyrexia, there have been five different factions corresponding to each of the five colors instead of all being aligned with black mana like the old Phyrexians, and each being lead by a praetor, each with their own brand of pitch-dark evil... except the red praetor, Urabrask the Hidden, who, true to his red mana alignment (Red is associated with all emotions, both positive and negative), is a lot more individualistic and merciful than the other praetors, and therefore leads the only Phyrexian faction capable of free will and compassion. Probably due to this, he is the only Phyrexian leader who plots against the other praetors not simply to gain power but to actually work against New Phyrexia as a whole. This is mainly because New Phyrexia's goal to assimilate the multiverse strongly goes against Red's value of self-determination (his faction still "compleats" people, but only takes volunteers). Ironically, the praetor heading up the charge to compleat the multiverse is Elesh Norn the Grand Cenobite, [[LightIsNotGood the one aligned with white mana]]. White is usually the most merciful color and strongly associated with Lawful Good, but its values of order and community can also lend themselves to Lawful Evil when combined with Phyrexian zealotry.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has a few of such races, given [[LongRunners how long the story has gone on and how many planes have been detailed]], but the most prominent would be the Phyrexians, bio-technological assimilators native to the "clockwork hell" plane Phyrexia who served as the villains of the core plot for ''years'' in real-time.
** Even still, Phyrexians in their newest form seem to move away from this trope. Ever since the Phyrexians took over the five-mooned metallic plane of Mirrodin, turning it into New Phyrexia, there have been five different factions corresponding to each of the five colors instead of all being aligned with black mana like the old Phyrexians, and each being lead by a praetor, each with their own brand of pitch-dark evil... except the red praetor, Urabrask the Hidden, who, true to his red mana alignment (Red is associated with all emotions, both positive and negative), is a lot more individualistic and merciful than the other praetors, and therefore leads the only Phyrexian faction capable of free will and compassion. Probably due to this, he is the only Phyrexian leader who plots against the other praetors not simply to gain power but to actually work against Phyrexia as a whole. This is mainly because Phyrexia's goal to assimilate the multiverse strongly goes against Red's value of self-determination (his faction still "compleats" people, but only takes volunteers). Ironically, the praetor heading up the charge to compleat the multiverse is Elesh Norn the Grand Cenobite, [[LightIsNotGood the one aligned with white mana]]. White is usually the most merciful color and strongly associated with Lawful Good, but its values of order and community can also lend themselves to Lawful Evil when combined with Phyrexian zealotry.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has a few of such races, given [[LongRunners how long the story has gone on and how many planes have been detailed]], but the most prominent would be the Phyrexians, bio-technological assimilators native to the "clockwork hell" plane Phyrexia who served as the villains of the plot for ''years'' in real-time.

** Even still, Phyrexians in their newest form seem to move away from this trope. Ever since the Phyrexians took over the five-mooned plane of Mirrodin, turning it into New Phyrexia, there have been five different factions corresponding to each of the five colors instead of all being aligned with black mana like the old Phyrexians, and each being lead by a praetor, each with their own brand of pitch-dark evil... except the red praetor, Urabrask the Hidden, who, true to his red mana alignment (Red is associated with all emotions, both positive and negative), is a lot more individualistic and merciful than the other praetors, and therefore leads the only Phyrexian faction capable of free will and compassion. Probably due to this, he is the only Phyrexian leader who plots against the other praetors not simply to gain power but to actually work against Phyrexia as a whole. This is mainly because Phyrexia's goal to assimilate the multiverse strongly goes against Red's value of self-determination (his faction still "compleats" people, but only takes volunteers). Ironically, the praetor heading up the charge to compleat the multiverse is Elesh Norn the Grand Cenobite, [[LightIsNotGood the one aligned with white mana]]. White is usually the most merciful color and strongly associated with Lawful Good, but its values of order and community can also lend themselves to Lawful Evil when combined with Phyrexian zealotry.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has a few of such races, given [[LongRunners how long the story has gone on and how many planes have been detailed]], but the most prominent would be the Phyrexians, bio-technological assimilators who served as the villains of the plot for ''years'' in real-time.
** Even still, Phyrexians in their newest form seem to move away from this trope. Ever since the Phyrexians took over five-mooned Mirrodin, turning it into New Phyrexia, there have been five different factions corresponding to each of the five colors instead of all being aligned with black mana like the old Phyrexians, and each being lead by a praetor, each with their own brand of pitch-dark evil... except the red praetor, Urabrask the Hidden, who, true to his red mana alignment (Red is associated with all emotions, both positive and negative), is a lot more individualistic and merciful than the other praetors, and therefore leads the only Phyrexian faction capable of free will and compassion. Probably due to this, he is the only Phyrexian leader who plots against the other praetors not simply to gain power but to actually work against Phyrexia as a whole. This is mainly because Phyrexia's goal to assimilate the multiverse strongly goes against Red's value of self-determination (his faction still "compleats" people, but only takes volunteers). Ironically, the praetor heading up the charge to compleat the multiverse is Elesh Norn the Grand Cenobite, [[LightIsNotGood the one aligned with white mana]]. White is usually the most merciful color and strongly associated with Lawful Good, but its values of order and community can also lend themselves to Lawful Evil when combined with Phyrexian zealotry.

** Even still, Phyrexians in their newest form seem to move away from this trope. Ever since the Phyrexians took over Mirrodin, turning it into New Phyrexia, there have been five different factions corresponding to each of the five colors instead of all being aligned with black mana like the old Phyrexians, and each being lead by a praetor, each with their own brand of pitch-dark evil... except the red praetor, Urabrask the Hidden, who, true to his red mana alignment (Red is associated with all emotions, both positive and negative), is a lot more individualistic and merciful than the other praetors, and therefore leads the only Phyrexian faction capable of free will and compassion. Probably due to this, he is the only Phyrexian leader who plots against the other praetors not simply to gain power but to actually work against Phyrexia as a whole. This is mainly because Phyrexia's goal to assimilate the multiverse strongly goes against Red's value of self-determination (his faction still "compleats" people, but only takes volunteers). Ironically, the praetor heading up the charge to compleat the multiverse is Elesh Norn the Grand Cenobite, [[LightIsNotGood the one aligned with white mana]]. White is usually the most merciful color and strongly associated with Lawful Good, but its values of order and community can also lend themselves to Lawful Evil when combined with Phyrexian zealotry.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has a few of such races, given [[LongRunners how long the story has gone on and how many planes have been detailed]], but the most prominent would be the Phyrexians, who served as the villains of the plot for ''years'' in real-time.
** Even still, Phyrexians in their newest form seem to move away from this trope. Ever since the Phyrexians took over Mirrodin, turning it into New Phyrexia, there have been five different factions corresponding to each of the five colors, and each being lead by a praetor, each with their own brand of pitch-black evil... Except the red praetor, Urabrask the Hidden, who, true to his red mana alignment, is a lot more individualistic and merciful than the other praetors, and therefore leads the only Phyrexian faction capable of free will and compassion. Probably due to this, he is the only Phyrexian leader who plots against the other praetors not simply to gain power but to actually work against Phyrexia as a whole. This is mainly because Phyrexia's primary goals strongly go against two of red's strongest points: freedom and emotion.

** [[OurArchonsAreDifferent Archons]] are an interesting case of Always Lawful Evil, since they embody [[LightIsNotGood white]]'s more cruel traits like fanaticism.

** Outside of ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}'', Illithids are a universally evil alien race of psychic slavers. The Elder Brains that rule their civilization are even worse. Not only does their life-cycle demand the sacrifice of sapient humanoids for new illithid to come to be, but they gain nourishment from sentience. In the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', there is ''one'' good Illithid, and that one is a very unusual case. Fortunately for everyone else in the setting, Illithid society is a mere shadow of what it used to be thanks to their former slaves, the Githyanki and Githzeri, rising up against them. As a result, the Illithids are {{pragmatic|Villainy}} enough to rein in their desire to eat brains long enough to trade and make deals with other races. That said, your chances of leaving with your brain intact after running into an Illithid in a dark alley are next to none.

** Goku, the one consistently heroic Saiyan, even though generally peaceful and even a protector, was {{flanderiz|ation}}ed as TheCape in the anime adaptations, especially the movies. This was opposed to his original manga personality of someone who, though still moderately heroic, was mostly driven by a selfish desire for a good fight at the end of the day. This was walked back in ''Super'', where the change in personality was jarring to many fans who weren't familiar with the manga [[note]] Although admittedly ''Super'' does flanderize Goku’s worse qualities to a greater extent than the original manga [[RuleOfFunny for the sake of comedy]]. [[/note]]

** Most of the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demon Realm race]] play this straight in ''Dragon Ball'', as Garlic Junior, Lucifer, Dabura, Towa, Demigra and numerous other demons are extremely tyrannical and besides some care for family members in Towa and Dabura’s case have little to no redeeming qualities simply doing things ForTheEvulz. The few exceptions are Spike the Devilman (who while a bit arrogant a good guy who gives Goku’s Spirit Bomb energy and has an attack that targets the evilness inside a person’s heart), Melee and Shola (who help out kid Goku out in the original ''Manga/DragonBall'') and Fu (who as seen in ''Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2'' is not genuinely evil, just ChaoticNeutral).

* The titular Demons in ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'' as a whole- save measly three exceptions [[TokenHeroicOrc Nezuko, Yushiro and Tamayo]]- are all ravenous canniballistic predators. Many commit atrocites above and beyond basic man-eating. This is however {{PlayedWith}}, as many demons have tragic or otherwise human reason for their evil; the enduring narrative is akin to the Oni folklore said demons are really modeled after, losing their humanity was the path to become truly evil, that’s why human slayers are mostly honorable people, while demons went completely evil, in the setting.

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' have their personalities dictated by five "Attributes" that form a TacticalRockPaperScissors system in the games; Data, Vaccine, Virus, Free, and Variable. Virus-type Digimon tend to be violent, with a thirst for power and domination with prominent examples being the Vamdemon variants or any with [[OurDemonsAreDifferent "devi"]] in their name. However, this trope is actually ''PlayedWith'' in terms of Virus-types. [[Anime/DigimonTamers Guilmon]] and [[Anime/DigimonGhostGame Gammamon]] are protagonist Digimon; despite both of them have a SuperpoweredEvilSide, the former has its ''natural'' Gallantmon Mega form as a Virus-type too and the latter's "SuperpoweredEvilSide" is actually [[spoiler:a ''different'' Digimon inhabiting his body]]. Others like [=BlackWarGreymon=] and Guardromon are {{Noble Demon}}s or had managed a successful HeelFaceTurn like ''Ghost Game's'' Mummymon. All-in-all, Virus types have an equal proclivity to goodness as they would with evil, and evil Vaccine-types such as Cherubimon: Vice and Data-types like [[Anime/DigimonFrontier Dynasmon]] had existed.

** ''Anime/GreatMazinger:'' The Mycenae play with this trope. The [[{{Robeast}} Warrior Monsters]] are HumongousMecha with the head of a Mycenae soldier implanted in the giant mechanical body. Since the soldiers are indoctrinated to attack and wipe out anything non-related to the Mycenae civilization, the trope is [[JustifiedTrope justified]]. On the other hand, the commanders of the army display different personalities and honorable qualities (specially Ankoku Daishogun), and though they are not portrayed as ''good'', neither are they portrayed as proud of being ''evil'', but a ProudWarriorRace who want to return to the surface world after being forced to [[BeneathTheEarth live underground for millennia]].

* ''Literature/{{Slayers}}''.

** After hearing both Jade and Jackie's side of what has happened, Jade's former teacher Liz Hartman decides that evil is a conscious choice and believes that like [[StockholmSyndrome Jade]], other dark entities the Chans have fought [[FreudianExcuse became what they are by their experiences]], saying that there is no such thing as inherent evil.

** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'': The Overlords of the Helheim Forest are evil without exception, aside from their nominal leader Roshuo. Roshuo is in a deep depression specifically because he made them this way when he originally gained the power of a god and, having been a SocialDarwinist at the time, gave them powerful bodies: all of the Overlords who weren't brutal or backstabbing enough died off centuries ago.

** Initially played straight with the Jem'Hadar in ''Deep Space Nine'', with an infant Jem'Hadar who quickly turns out exactly how everyone warned Odo he would. But eventually averted with a few individuals later, who show some ProudWarriorRace traits (mostly these are [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness immediately killed]]). The Jem'Hadar and Vorta were both justified as species genetically manipulated by [[VoluntaryShapeshifting The Founders]] to fight their wars for them. Both were addicted to a substance only the Founders could provide, and were indoctrinated in the idea that [[GodGuise the Founders were gods]]. Generally, they were {{Expendable Clone}}s, although [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep the Female Changeling]] did seem to [[PetTheDog mourn]] Weyoun 8's death.

* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': The Exandria campaign setting is a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-based high-fantasy world with D&D's malevolent [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears]]. This is {{Hand Wave}}d by them inheriting the Curse of Strife, inflicted by a GodOfEvil and {{War|God}} to drive them to acts of evil. A few non-evil goblinkin are met who were born in magically protected areas or were otherwise freed from the Curse.

** The ktuvoks. Their entire society is based on {{Brainwash|ed}}ing humans who are less advanced than they into obedient slaves, and they are so good at it that if humans are freed from their control, [[StockholmSyndrome the humans will ally themselves with the ktuvoks willingly]]. In addition, they attack all free human civilizations, using their slaves as [[{{Mooks}} Cannon Fodder]], laying everything to waste and committing every war crime in the book. They have no culture or learning to speak of, and merely steal the innovations of other races. (It’s implied that they’re [[CreativeSterility literally incapable of innovation themselves]].) And the worst part? The ktuvoks are severely restricted to where on the planet they can live; they cannot survive away from swamps. The only apparently reason that they take over much of the continent and turn humans into loyal slaves is to ''get female ktuvoks to mate with them.''' However, since their behavior seems to be a biological imperative, they’re really more like a force of nature than true villains.

* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm:'' worried that the descendants of Earth (humans, artificial intelligences, cyborgs, the genetically engineered, [[LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces etc]]) think too much alike due to their creators' inherent bias, a group of [=AIs=] created the [[http://www.orionsarm.com/xcms.php?r=oaeg-view-article&egart_uid=47e9add0e5e11 Bitenic Squids]], a highly diverse species with every newborn member being a blank slate. Those that can function in the wider world are all completely selfish and without empathy, and go insane easily.

* The ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' franchise has a few species that seem to fall into this. The most notable examples are gorillas (although the television series has some morally ambiguous gorillas), crocodiles (with the exception of Master Croc; according to WordOfGod he did a HeelFaceTurn), and ''especially'' wolves. Snow leopards aren't shown in a very positive light either, considering that this is the species of both [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Tai Lung]] and the [[SiblingsInCrime Wu Sisters]]. The young snow leopard Peng [[spoiler:Tai Lung's nephew]] is an exception. So much so that when he thought he ''might'' end up following Tai Lung's path [[spoiler:he temporarily gave up Kung Fu]].