History Main / AsLongAsThereIsEvil

* Death in ''Literature/GoodOmens'' makes this sort of a speech after the other three Horsemen of the Apocalypse have been defeated. He claims to be necessary for ''reality''. War, Famine, and Pollution (Pestilence quit around the time penicillin was discovered) are all creations of human beings, and as such will come back soon, but he's been around long before any of them, and can't be destroyed at all.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has the Book of Vile Darkness work like this in 5th Edition. Literally, AsLongAsThereIsEvil somewhere, anywhere, in the entirety of the multiverse, the book cannot be permanently destroyed [[note]]It can be temporarily destroyed, but always reforms[[/note]]. Should all evil cease to exist in the multiverse, the book spontaneously combusts. Also, while pages can be torn from the book, the dark lore on them always finds its way back into it, usually when someone adds new pages to it.

* It is eventually revealed that the BigBad of ''Manga/UshioAndTora'', Hakumen no Mono (The White-Faced One), possesses a variation of this: [[spoiler:while it ''is'' born out of the "darkness" and evil of the world, that doesn't guarantee its survival. Instead, people's fear and hatred towards it makes it grow bigger and stronger. Moreover, any attack fueled by hatred will at best fail to kill it, at worst fail to cause any of damage at all; only attacks fueled by the will to save others can permanently kill it]].

%%* The Demon Prince in the book ''Literature/BlueMoonRising''.

** In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'', the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Schwarzwelt]] is Mother Earth's respose to civilization hitting a peak of corruption, exploitation of the environment, consummerism, violence, and self-destruction. In fact, we're told that this is not the first time civilization was wiped clean by the Schwarzwelt. While various factions in the Law and Chaos endings take control of it to reconstruct the world to suit their ends, the Neutral ending destroys the entity behind it and seals it away, with the [[EsotericHappyEnding vague hope that mankind will learn from this close-call with ultimate destruction]]. However, ''Strange Journey [[UpdatedRerelease Redux]]'', states that humanity learned nothing, and the Schwarzwelt will continue to manifest again and again . The New Neutral route ends with the Protagonist becoming an immortal guardian of humanity, observing it from afar, with the sole purpose of stopping the Schwarzwelt every time it opens, and it's heavily implied he'll be at it for all eternity.

** Nyarlathotep in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}'' is the embodiment of humanity's destructive impulses. Even when he's well and truly defeated at the end of ''Eternal Punishment'', it's stated that he cannot be completely destroyed and may return someday.
** Nyx from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' is the AnthropomorphicPersonification of death and therefore cannot die -- the heroes are forced to [[SealedEvilInACan seal it away again]] to keep it from destroying the world, knowing full well it may return later if any more meddling {{Straw Nihilist}}s come along and try to re-summon it. In ''The Answer'', the new chapter for ''Persona 3: FES'', it's revealed that the seal isn't to protect mankind from Nyx, but to protect Nyx from the desire of death that called Nyx down (Erebus the death monster) -- she truly doesn't wish to destroy the world, and is happy when the heroes defeated her in ''The Journey'' (the original storyline), but as long as humanity desires death, Erebus will exist forever.

** Inverted in [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts1 the first game]]; Sora states that even the greatest Darkness had to contain a spark of light that could never be extinguished. So, As Long as There Is Evil, there is Good.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'': At the end of Riku's story, Ansem states that he can return using his darkness that he gave to Riku. In the final battle in "Kingdom Hearts 358/2Days", he's proven right.

* This trope seems to be a recurring theme of the ''Persona'' series:

** Inverted in the first game; Sora states that even the greatest Darkness had to contain a spark of light that could never be extinguished. So, As Long as There Is Evil, there is Good.

--->'''YHVH''': Death shall not take me. My existence is eternal... I have lost but one of my forms... Such trifles will not sway the fate of this world from its course.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' [[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-eu9o8-MRUnV6Rpuzu6YSuM0Ue3CrYiKwRzISRVvFHQ/edit reveals]] why Hyrule and the rest of the world is still plagued by evil. After being defeated by Link, Demise informs Link, that the hatred and grudge of him and the entire demon race ('''"Mazoku"''') he spawned, is always evolving and will spawn incarnations (such as Vaati and Ganondorf), which shall haunt not only the Gods and the surface dwellers for all eternity, but also those who try to stand in the way of the demons ('''"Spirit of the Hero"''') and the descendants of Hylia's mortal bloodline ('''"Divine Blood"''').

* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Hawk and Dove", though the heroes foil Ares's evil scheme to use a golem fueled by ThePowerOfHate in a war, he points out that "as long as there is prejudice, ignorance, inequality, I'll be there."

For the really determined hero who has accepted the fate of fighting this evil, the classic response is, "And so will I." as a challenge to the villain any time, anywhere. Otherwise the only decent reply is TheWarHasJustBegun. Sometimes, "[[SealedEvilInACan sealing]]" the villain provides a more long-term solution than killing them. Yeah, they can (and probably ''will'') escape eventually, but it'll take longer than it would to resurrect them.

* ''Anime/FushigiboshiNoFutagohime'': The Black Crystal. As long as there is despair and unhappiness for it to feed off of, it will ''never'' truly vanish. The best that can be done against it is to remove it from the world(s) in question and even then it'll just be free to attack another planet.

* In the ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Bionicle}} Mata Nui Online Game]]'', according to him at least, Makuta is the essence of destruction, and that he is inside anyone, no matter how innocent, as long as they have the capability of destruction. Oddly enough, he never says evil; he instead says that he is destruction.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has the Book of Vile Darkness work like this in 5th Edition. Literally, AsLongAsThereIsEvil somewhere, anywhere, in the entirety of the multiverse, the book cannot be permanently destroyed [[note]]It can be temporarily destroyed, but always reforms[[/note]]. Should all evil cease to exist in the multiverse, the book spontaneously combusts.

** Chaos is the malice in the hearts of people across the Universe, given a will of its own.

* Blizzard's other franchise, ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', introduced the Sha. Shadowy beings native to Pandaria, they [[TheHeartless feed on negative emotions]]. Their nature makes it impossible to kill the Sha; their physical form can be destroyed but the Sha itself will eventually reform if it finds a source of negative emotion.

* While being burned in a coffin, TheProtagonist of Music/KingDiamond's ''Conspiracy'' makes a dying promise:

** The same applies for the "Ancient Spirits of Evil" that he works for and invokes for his ByThePowerOfGreyskull

* In ''[[VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams Nights: Journey of Dreams]]'', Wizeman makes this claim in the "regular" endings.

* ''Literature/TheHalfMadeWorld'': As long as there is hatred and murder, there will be a Gun. As long as there’s a single drop of oil to be had, the Line will live on. These mystical factions are thus stuck in [[ForeverWar eternal warfare]], neither side ever truly winning. Or at least, that’s the way they tell everyone it is; [[spoiler:it’s increasingly implied that things used to be very different, and by the time of second book, the system is clearly starting to break down. A weapon that can permanently kill Guns and Engines is recovered, the Red Valley Republic is recovering, and the Line is collapsing station by station, [[JustBeforeTheEnd with the strong implication that the reign of Gun and Line is nearing an end]].]]

* In the [[Creator/{{Gonzo}} anime]] [[Creator\AtsuhiroTomioka adaptation]] of ''Anime/ChronoCrusade'', the Big Bad, [[CardCarryingVillain Aion]], uses this trait to come BackFromTheDead after the heroes defeat him -- he dies, but there's so much hatred in the area that he instantly rises. [[DownerEnding The anime ending]] also suggests that he might be TheHeartless.

* In the anime adaptation of ''Anime/ChronoCrusade'', the Big Bad, [[CardCarryingVillain Aion]], uses this trait to come BackFromTheDead after the heroes defeat him -- he dies, but there's so much hatred in the area that he instantly rises. [[DownerEnding The anime ending]] also suggests that he might be TheHeartless.

* In the anime adaptation of ''Anime/ChronoCrusade'', the Big Bad, Aion, uses this trait to come BackFromTheDead after the heroes defeat him -- he dies, but there's so much hatred in the area that he instantly rises. The anime ending also suggests that he might be TheHeartless.

* ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'': While Skynet, the rogue military AI that wages a RobotWar against humans in the franchise, does not get mentioned as it was in prior ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' films, humanity will keep on suffering as long as the military keeps on churning out [[AIIIsACrapshoot defense network computers like Legion]] that go rogue. Hence Judgment Day happens all the same, just later. In fact, after the John and Sarah Connor stop Skynet's birth in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', [[GenerationXerox Legion]] rises in its place to assume all of Skynet's familiar characteristics - causing Judgment Day, hunting down humans in the future, losing the Future War, and sending one of its infiltrator robots back to change everything.

*** The Nyx example happens as [[VideoGame/{{Persona}} in the original game]], an optional Snow Queen sidequest that has the "Night Queen" try to use people in order to set her free so she can freeze everyone alive in statues and live under an eternal night.

** In ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia Order of Ecclesia]]'', [[TreacherousAdvisor Barlowe]]'s true goal is to use Dominus in order to bring back Dracula, since he "reasons" that because he keeps coming back, that is mankind's true dream.

Compare StayingAlive, where the villain doesn't even die. Compare EmotionEater, which As Long as There Is Evil can be considered a variation of. Contrast AsLongAsThereIsOneMan; the heroic response but without the resurrection. Compare GoodNeedsEvil, InherentInTheSystem and InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves. Likely a GodOfEvil, MadeOfEvil, or an UltimateEvil. See WeWillMeetAgain for the more prosaic variant. See EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce for the extreme danger a single villain victory poses.