History Main / BenevolentMonsters

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'''s entire premise is based on this trope.

->''"Pokémon only do bad things because master bad."''

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* ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'': The Hork-bajir are fearsome looking creatures with blades sticking out in almost every direction, but when they are introduced, Elfangor stresses that they are good people when they don't have a Yeerk in their brain. The blades are actually for slicing apart the plants they eat on their homeworld. The Animorphs actually manage to free a few and find out it's true, they're some of the most chilled out characters in the series, if a bit dim.

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** There was three Malamar in the X and Y series who, rather than having been psychopaths that sought to TakeOverTheWorld because of circumstance, [[AvertedTrope were simply just evil]].

** There was three evil Malamar in the X and Y series who, rather than having been psychopaths that sought to TakeOverTheWorld because of circumstance, [[AvertedTrope were simply just evil]].

* ''Series/SesameStreet'' has long made a point of featuring the cuddliest of monsters, from Elmo to [[OurVampiresAreDifferent the easily-amused Count]], to the [[HorrorHunger ever-hungry Cookie Monster]]. The worst of the lot is usually Oscar, who's just the Grouch. Indeed, some of the nicest monsters are the toughest, scariest-looking, like Herry and Frazzle. In many of Herry's early appearances, he appears to be mean or frightening, but ends up showing his friendly side (often after he unintentionally scared others off).

* MonsterTown. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Which is a functional villiage of monsters]]. Usually, the inns and shop prices are hightened to encourage you to leave them alone.

* Gibdo the Yeti from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''.

* MonsterTown. [[Which is a functional villiage of monsters]]. Usually, the inns and shop prices are hightened to encourage you to leave them alone.
* MonsterPartyMember

** In fact, "monsters" in Discworld mostly have the same moral spectrum as humans so several of them are this. Angua is a MonsterAdventurer (though her parents are guilty of at least FantasticRacism and her brother is an outright villain). Margolotta, Otto von Chriek and ''many'' others are FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires. The first ''orc'' to show up in Discworld is a BadassBookworm who tries to achieve worth by doing good work and not hurting people. The monstrous monsters like Wolfgang, Dragon King of Arms and Mr. Gryle (a banshee...yes, [[ArtisticLicenseMythology a male banshee]]) are actually the minority of villains; most books' antagonists are humans.

* ''Series/TheMuppets'': Similar to Sesame Street below, the Muppets have a wide range of monsters, some of which are likely to eat you, but also a lot who are generally friendly, particularly Sweetums, a 7 or 8 foot tall...thing who's usually quite agreeable and helpful.

* ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'': The Hork-bajir are fearsome looking creatures with blades sticking out in almost every direction, but when they are introduced, Elfangor stresses that they are good people when they don't have a Yerk in their brain. The blades are actually for slicing apart the plants they eat on their homeworld.

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* ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'': The Beast starts out more or less as a monster in every measure but under Belle's influence he begins to show such qualities as kindness, thoughtfulness, selflessness and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking table manners]] over time.
* The title characters in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoxtrolls'' are kind-hearted creatures that do little more than take trash to their underground lairs to make contraptions. The people above ground, however, fear them because they don't know what they really are, and are goaded along by the film's real BigBad, who plots to use them to advance his social status.
* In ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs2'', Chester V draws Flint and crew to the island by warning him of the human-eating Cheespider, with its taste for Live Corp. employees and its plans for global domination, but as the heroes explore the island, it seems that almost no other species on the island poses them any threat. Indeed, Flint's dad's biggest problem is [[ItMakesSenseInContext the mischief from the pickle people]]. [[spoiler: It turns out that, in stark contrast to the first film, even the Cheespider is benevolent; the animals all hate Live Corp, which has evil designs for the FLDSMDFR and the unnatural wildlife]].

* Dreamworks' ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon''
** In the first film, despite the dragons menacing Berk, [[SubvertedTrope stealing their sheep and burning down their homes]], it turns out that they do this at the behest of a colossal dragon queen. On their own, [[DoubleSubverted they integrate with such ease into Viking life]] that it boggles the mind. Indeed, as far as the movie is concerned, the Dragon Manual listing the threat of some dragons is a string of {{Informed Attribute}}s.
** In ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'', the entire weight of dragon villainy rests on the shoulders of [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters one man]], BigBad [[MeaningfulName Drago]]. In ''this'' movie, dragons only do bad things when made to do so by a bad man.

* Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' features this as the foundational WorldBuilding point -- monsters scaring children at night is just business. Indeed, monsters would be perfectly content to leave humans alone if they weren't dependent on human children for energy. Same goes for ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'', the prequel. Besides the heroes, many of their co-workers and classmates are exceedingly unscary.
* The monsters in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'' have no malicious intent whatsoever, and are merely imprisoned to keep from scaring people with their presence. At least one, the Missing Link, likes to scare people for laughs, but otherwise they're pretty decent.

* The title character in ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' is an ogre who, while anti-social, isn't malicious in any way. He mostly plays the part to scare people away so he can live in peace. Once he's friends with you, he's loyal and true, if a bit cranky.
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** The [[Film/Godzilla2014 2014 US version of Godzilla]] is capable of causing tsunamis just by walking out of the water. He doesn't mean to, of course. It's just that he's so huge he ends up causing destruction by ''accident''. For the most part, he prefers to spend his time swimming peacefully in the oceans and feeding on Earth's natural radiation sources. The only reason he even showed up in civilization in the first place was to fight the comparatively more vicious MUTO.

-->--'''Ekans''', ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' ("Island of the Giant Pokemon")

* {{Godzilla}}'s various incarnations have fallen under this as have other monsters in the Toho universe.

** The film WarOfTheGargantuas features the two titular monsters. One of them, Gaira, is a horrific green giant who feeds on human flesh. The other, Sanda, is also a giant, but he's far more peaceful due to being raised by humans rather than eating them. Sanda even performs a HeroicSacrifice to save mankind from his brother's voracious appetite by fighting him to the death.

!!Examples

* {{Comicbook/Princeless}}: The dragons breathe fire and eat knights because it is the cultural expectation of the humans that they will protect the princess until a worthy suitor comes to slay it and rescue the princess. The dragons are intelligent and generally don't realize that they're supposed to just die for the sake of the hero. Adrienne actually befriends her dragon and informs her of this. Sparky is resultingly horrified and happy to change the status quo.

* In {{Webcomic/Meadowhawk}}, the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]] still have all the fangs, claws and spikes from the bad old days, but in modern times they're almost invariably pacifists and usually don't even eat meat.

--> '''Ekans''', ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' ("Island of the Giant Pokemon")