History Main / EvilWillFail

* ''ComicBook/TheBlackRing'' has this with Lex Luthor. He's brave and intelligent enough to go toe-to-toe with the most powerful beings in the universe, and come out on top... but even without Superman there, he foils himself by being petty and spiteful. In the finale, he gains omnipotence, but throws it away after a few minutes because he isn't allowed to hurt Superman.

* ComicBook/NormanOsborn essentially became the most powerful man on earth for two years (six months in-universe) in ''ComicBook/DarkReign''. Unfortunately for him, his mental instability and arrogance eventually led to his downfall more than any single hero ever could, and everyone except him knew it was going to happen.

** Coulson tells Loki that no matter what he does, he will not win against them.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', what always sets [[BigBad Voldemort]] back is his inability to understand ThePowerOfLove.

** Cersei can't stop the downward spiral of her city because she's [[ImproperlyParanoid amazingly paranoid]] and appoints people based on perceived loyalty to Cersei herself rather than competence, because she sees any sign of the latter (usually in the form of questioning [=WTF=] she thinks she's doing) as a sign of betrayal. [[spoiler: Unsurprisingly, this also meant that she replaced the ''truly'' loyal people with people who were just really good at lying to her, and after she falls from power, they all desert. The only exception is the MadDoctor Qyburn, presumably because anyone saner than Cersei would be demanding his head on a pike sooner or later.]]

** [[TheDragon Tywin Lannister]] [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zags]] this: politically, he is a paragon of PragmaticVillainy, and his many extremely ruthless decisions are always well-planned, and consequently he is one of the most competent and long-lasting rulers in the books. [[spoiler:Personally, however, he is too arrogant or hateful to accept when he really is in trouble, and it gets him killed by his own son Tyrion who he always despised and dismissed as a worthless freak.]]

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': House Bolton, probably the most unambiguously cruel and evil house in the series, [[spoiler:is destroyed by their own penchant for cruelty and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder backstabbing nature]] after the last remaining member Ramsay Bolton, who killed everyone else in the family, gets fed to his own dogs when his KarmaHoudiniWarranty runs out]]. Furthermore, despite their faction's successes Joffrey Baratheon and Tywin Lannister are killed as a result of their evil actions.

** In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', once [[HypercompetentSidekick Princess Azula]] actually gets the power she desires and becomes [[EvilOverlord Fire Lord]], things quickly go downhill for her even without Team Avatar's intervention. Driven by paranoia, sociopathy, and [[HeelFaceTurn the pain of betrayal from her former "friends"]], she banishes all her servants, alienates her closest allies, starts [[{{Hallucinations}} seeing things]], and overall plummets into VillainousBreakdown.
** In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', season 4 sees Kuvira undone by her own hubris. She systematically goes from state to state in the Earth Kingdom, occupying the country with her own loyal troops, and instituting puppet governors, as a means of seizing power for herself as a dictator. As the other nations are in no position to interfere, being an internal Earth Kingdom matter, both they and the true Earth King are powerless to stop her. She would have been completely successful [[spoiler:had she not flown too close to the sun by invading the United Republic, with an army that could not match that of the United Forces were it not for her HumongousMecha, which Team Avatar manages to destroy.]]

* In the Season Five finale of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', [[DarkMagicalGirl Starlight Glimmer]] ''narrowly'' averts this trope because as it turns out, her time travel plot for vengeance against the Mane Six (Stopping Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom, thus preventing them from getting their connection) would lead to the [[ButterflyOfDoom world being destroyed]] several times over, which she never takes into account until Twilight shows her the damage of what she's really doing.
** In the series finale, [[VillainTeamUp Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow]] manage to use Grogar's bell to empower themselves, DePower Discord, and take over Equestria. But as [[CardCarryingVillain a group of self-professed friendship-haters]], [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome they're naturally terrible at any semblance of co-operation]], and all the strife they've created has brought back [[EmotionEater the Windigos]], which means [[MeaninglessVillainVictory all they'll rule will be a frozen wasteland]] if they don't find a method to deal with them, which, naturally, they can't agree on. Once the heroes rally ''all Equestria'' against them they quickly resort to bickering and [[NeverMyFault blaming each other]], which seals their fate.

Suddenly his subjects seem a bit less cowed by his killing and imprisoning their loved ones, and [[MachiavelliWasWrong his every effort to bring them in line just make things worse]]. One or two of his plans don't quite go off as expected, thanks to [[WeAreStrugglingTogether infighting between his lieutenants]]. And maybe his paranoia is getting the better of him, and he's starting to let slip the civil facade that keeps him from being an utter monster.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E65TheObsoleteMan The Obsolete Man]]" is about a librarian named Rodney Wordsworth, condemned to death for his "obsolete" skillset and belief in God. He requests his execution to be carried out by setting off a bomb in his apartment, and during his final hours, he is visited by the Chancellor who issued his death sentence. Wordsworth traps the Chancellor in the room with him; though he attempts to keep a brave face, the Chancellor eventually breaks down and begs to be released. Though Wordsworth spares the Chancellor and calmly faces the explosion to come, his execution was being televised, so other members of the state were able to see the Chancellor's display of weakness. The evil state the Chancellor so worshiped turns on him for his cowardice. As he is dragged away by a mob of people proclaiming him "obsolete", narrator Creator/RodSerling gives this quote:

** The Space Pirates Balban ''Series/SeijuuSentaiGingaman'' are undone more by infighting and backstabbing than anything else, as [[spoiler:Illiess' plot to remove Budoh from command [[ForWantOfANail sets off a chain of events]] that leads to the Gingaman reclaiming the Lights of Ginga, which not only costs the Balban their best chance to revive the Daitanix[[note]]with the forestall leading to it starting to rot, which contributes to its eventual destruction[[/note]] but also helps the Gingaman deal with the Balban's strongest members and eventually leads to Budoh's death; for her treachery, Illiess is killed and Bucrates, the Balban's wise guy, is kicked out for cooperating with her. Desiring revenge, Bucrates trains Hyuuga to destroy Captain Zahab's immortality-granting jewel, which in the end helps him and the heroes do so, meaning Illiess singlehandedly brought the downfall of her organization out of greed]]. Even more pronounced is that the Balban were defeated the first time for this exact same reason as their [[MonsterOfTheWeek Majins]] fought one another so much they couldn't work together to fight the original Gingaman, leaving them to be defeated and sealed away (which is why this time around, Zahab insisted each one of the factions take turns trying to defeat the Gingaman).

* In the Legend of Zelda crossover Bonus Links, the BoTW era Link explains that, while the Calamity ravaged Hyrule, it still survives in his era and that Demise’s curse will lose every time.

This trope is rather rare, only appearing in odd mixes of realism-meets-idealism. On the one hand, it may seem naive to imply that a system won't work just because it's morally offensive. On the other hand, there is no perfect EvilEmpire in history like the ones we often see portrayed in fiction, because simply put, nothing is perfect. Just as a StepfordSuburbia rubs us the wrong way in their eerie sense of too-perfect "goodness," a completely devoted following of faceless foot soldiers in a well oiled machine of an empire ruled by a tyrant with complete control over his subjects smacks a bit of fairy-tale "evil."

Ultimately, this is a trope in a story that reminds us that battles aren't always won by the genius of the victorious general, but also the mistakes of the defeated one. Note that this doesn't have to be about a large group of evil: it could just as easily be an individual. Whether it's an excess of {{Greed}} or {{Pride}} that does the villain in, valuing negative-sum interactions, a mentality of [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder always defecting]] on the PrisonersDilemma, or the simple fact that victims of oppression will eventually rebel, Evil as a lifestyle or system cannot endure.

Inversion of NoDelaysForTheWicked. Aversions can be examples of EvilVirtues, PragmaticVillainy, or outright {{Karma Houdini}}s. Compare FascistButInefficient and BeingEvilSucks.

** The downfall of the Reconstructive Experiment Empire Mess in ''Series/ChoushinseiFlashman'' comes less from the Flashmen themselves and more it getting destroyed from within by a three-way EnemyCivilWar, provoked by their ruler's egocentrism. By the time the FinalBattle rolls around, it's hardly much of a final battle at all. [[spoiler:Both [[TheRival Sir Cowler]] and [[BigBad Lah Deus]] had been picked off by the Flashmen in the episodes before, the [[SpaceBase Laboh]] is heavily damaged and unable to fly, the only remaining members of Mess (not counting the leftover [[{{Mooks}} Zolohs]]) are [[EvilGenius Lee Keflen]] and Leh Nafel, and the Mess are purposeless now that Lah Deus is gone, having existed solely as a means to transform him into the UltimateLifeform. Although Keflen has his own ambitions, the best he can do is create one last MonsterOfTheWeek to fight the Flashman before going down in what amounts to not much of a fight.]]
** ''Series/ChoujuuSentaiLiveman'' -- the Liveman don't ''defeat'' Volt so much as ''outlast'' it. (It's worth noting that, given when it was made, this isn't a metaphor for the Cold War so much as the ruthlessly competitive element of then-modern society.) The ways in which Bias squandered his (at first) loyal Lieutenants' time with competition rather than coordination and cooperation -- all the way up to just before the finale -- made Volt's ultimate self-implosion inevitable.
** ''Series/ChikyuuSentaiFiveman'' has the Zone Army falling apart at the seams when [[spoiler:it's revealed the seeming BigBad, Empress Meadow, was in fact an illusion, created by the GeniusLoci serving as the Zone's SupervillainLair, Vulgyre, for the entire series. It's ''real'' goal was to obtain the death energy of 1000 destroyed planets so it could transform into its [[OneWingedAngel Super Galactic Beast]] form. Doldora has a complete VillainousBreakdown at this revelation, and Vulgyre ends up turning her and Zaza into a combined monster form.]]

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E65TheObsoleteMan The Obsolete Man]]" is about a librarian named Rodney Wordsworth, condemned to death for his "obsolete" skillset and belief in god. He requests his execution to be carried out by setting off a bomb in his apartment, and during his final hours, he is visited by the Chancellor who issued his death sentence. Wordsworth traps the Chancellor in the room with him; though he attempts to keep a brave face, the Chancellor eventually breaks down and begs to be released. Though Wordsworth spares the Chancellor and calmly faces the explosion to come, his execution was being televised, so other members of the state were able to see the Chancellor's display of weakness. The evil state the Chancellor so worshiped turns on him for his cowardice. As he is dragged away by a mob of people proclaiming him "obsolete", narrator Creator/RodSerling gives this quote:

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' is well-known for [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished its good characters being punished for doing good]], but often, the mindlessly evil don't fare much better. It includes a large plethora of varied shades of "evil," but whenever one of the really bad ones takes power, various things go to hell in a handbasket for them as a result of their generally callous and power-hungry worldviews.

** Cersei can't stop the downward spiral of her city because she cares more about appointing people to positions of power who are loyal to her (and only her) than ones effective at doing their jobs. [[spoiler:Not only that, but as soon as she falls from power, the "loyal" people she appointed immediately turn against her, the only exception being MadDoctor Qyburn, presumably because no sane/competent ruler would let him perform his experiments.]]

* At the end of ''Film/TheWickerMan1973'' TheBadGuyWins, when protagonist Sergeant Howie learns that the whole purpose of his presence on the island was the be used as a HumanSacrifice to the pagan gods to revitalize the failing crop harvests. However, just as he is about to be left to burn alive in the titular Wicker Man, Howie points out that he believes the crop failures are simply being caused by poor farming conditions and that [[MeaninglessVillainVictory his sacrifice will do nothing]], and come next year the whole fiasco will be repeated all over again, but by then only [[BigBad Lord Summerisle]] himself will be seen as a suitable sacrifice, meaning that both [[ManipulativeBastard the villain]] and [[FolkHorror the island]] are doomed.

* ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'' (fan-made): the reason the All-Consuming Darkness still has yet to actually exterminate the Hopeful despite having destroyed their entire Kingdom centuries ago is that, being a BackgroundMagicField that warps people and urge them to follow their darkest tendencies, its servants usually are StupidEvil depraved psychopaths who do a very poor job at keeping a low profile, to the point [[ReligionOfEvil Dark Cults]] usually get found out and taken down by the authorities even ''without'' a Princess around to fight them. The backstory actually reveals they used to be routinely [[CurbStompBattle Curb-Stomped]] when Princesses were at the peak of their power, and only managed to get in their current dominating position because the Hopeful Kingdom [[DividedWeFall was suffering infighting at the time]].

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Elan's father Tarquin knows he's eventually going to be defeated, but he is currently living the high life and will eventually go down in such a blaze of glory a story will be written about it, which freaks Elan out as those are the kinds of stories Elan loves as a bard. Tarquin's downfall comes from [[spoiler:being too much of a ControlFreak in regards to making himself the BigBad to Elan's TheHero and using his twin son's as pawns in that story. This costs him a valuable friend and ally and his own mental state after Elan tells him outright Tarquin is only an ArcVillain.]]

* Subverted and {{lampshaded}} in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. The Drow culture is made of ChronicBackstabbingDisorder because their goddess enables their behavior. However, she also is the thing that keeps their society functioning since the goddess knows that otherwise, their society would collapse. However, it is still played somewhat straight in that the only thing keeping the Drow culture together is literal divine intervention and without it, would've ended quickly: the glimpses that are provided in the novels show a culture that's far too disfunctional to survive in a situation where they ''weren't'' beset by enemies from every direction, much less in the DeathWorld of the Underdark.

** The downfall of the Reconstructive Experiment Empire Mess in ''Series/ChoushinseiFlashman'' comes less from the Flashmen themselves and more it getting destroyed from within by a three-way EnemyCivilWar, provoked by their ruler's egocentrism. By the time the FinalBattle rolls around, it's hardly much of a final battle at all. [[spoiler:Both [[TheRival Sir Cowler]] and [[BigBad Lah Deus]] had been picked off by the Flashmen in the episodes before, the [[SpaceBase Laboh]] is heavily damaged and unable to fly, the only remaining members of Mess (not counting the leftover [[{{Mooks}} Zolohs]]) are [[EvilGenius Lee Keflen]] and [[DarkChick Leh Nafel]], and the Mess are purposeless now that Lah Deus is gone, having existed solely as a means to transform him into the UltimateLifeform. Although Keflen has his own ambitions, the best he can do is create one last MonsterOfTheWeek to fight the Flashman before going down in what amounts to not much of a fight.]]

** The Space Pirates Balban ''Series/SeijuuSentaiGingaman'' are undone more by infighting and backstabbing than anything else, as [[spoiler:Illiess' plot to remove Budoh from command [[ForWantOfANail sets off a chain of events]] that leads to the Gingaman reclaiming the Lights of Ginga, which not only costs the Balban their best chance to revive the Daitanix[[note]]with the forestall leading to it starting to rot, which contributes to its eventual destruction[[/note]] but also helps the Gingaman deal with the Balban's strongest members and eventually leads to Budoh's death; Illiess is killed and Bucrates, the Balban's wise guy, is kicked out for cooperating with her. Desiring revenge, Bucrates trains Hyuuga to destroy Captain Zahab's immortality-granting jewel, which in the end helps him and the heroes do so, meaning Illiess singlehandedly brought the downfall of her organization out of greed]]. Even more pronounced is that the Balban were defeated the first time for this exact same reason as their [[MonsterOfTheWeek Majins]] fought one another so much they couldn't work together to fight the original Gingaman, leaving them to be defeated and sealed away (which is why this time around, Zahab insisted each one of the factions take turns trying to defeat the Gingaman).

** The Space Pirates Balban ''Series/SeijuuSentaiGingaman'' are undone more by infighting and backstabbing than anything else, as [[spoiler:Illiess' plot to remove Budoh from command sets off a chain of events that leads to the Gingaman reclaiming the Lights of Ginga, which help them deal with the Balban's strongest members and eventually leads to Budoh's death; for her treachery, Illiess is killed and Bucrates, the Balban's wise guy, is kicked out for cooperating with her. Desiring revenge, Bucrates trains Hyuuga to destroy Captain Zahab's immortality-granting jewel, which in the end helps him and the heroes do so, meaning Illiess singlehandedly brought the downfall of her organization out of greed]]. Even more pronounced is that the Balban were defeated the first time for this exact same reason as their [[MonsterOfTheWeek Majins]] fought one another so much they couldn't work together to fight the original Gingaman, leaving them to be defeated and sealed away (which is why this time around, Zahab insisted each one of the factions take turns trying to defeat the Gingaman).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': [[BigBad Syndrome]] tries to [[EngineeredHeroics set himself up as a superhero]] to prove that [[FantasticRacism the world doesn't need supers]] by letting loose a robot on a major city, which was already programmed to outwit and stop supers. Unfortunately for him, Syndrome doesn't realize that means the robot's smart enough to stop ''him'', too, immediately shooting the controls from Syndrome and incapacitating him. It's left to [[BadassFamily the Parr family]] and Frozone to stop the robot, saving the day and restoring the public perception of supers, too.

** Zig-zagged in season 2 of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans''. [[AristocratsAreEvil Gjallarhorn]]'s corruption leads to a CivilWar within the organization, which ends with the BigBad restructuring it into a more democratic organization for [[PragmaticVillainy sheer efficiency's sake]]. At the same time, the BigBad himself [[KarmaHoudini gets away]] even though he was also highly corrupt, having elected himself the sole leader of the now reformed Gjallarhorn and become a VillainWithGoodPublicity for his policies and for helping to end the human debris practice. Basically, the villain was smart enough to see this trope coming and curb it before it could happen.
* As part of its [[DeconstructorFleet deconstruction of several tropes]] relating to the BlackAndWhiteMorality trope, ''LightNovel/AvestaOfBlackAndWhite'' takes a pretty bleak look at this trope. [[spoiler:It is revealed that in order for this kind of morally binary system to work as portrayed in most fantasy, then the whole system has to be rigged with free will being removed from the equation. This is best exemplified with the supposed BigBad Nadare who is fated to always fail regardless of her actions. Her sole purpose is to simply act as an administrator for this farce of a system and to be a FinalBoss for whatever hero faces her down, after which her death will trigger the reset of the world to start the whole thing over again, just with the roles switched. And as she is the de-facto leader for the rest of the forces of evil, including the other Archdemons, this ends up extending to them as well with all of them being in the dark on how true victory is impossible for them. However, in a massive subversion, Nadare had used her position as an administrator to set things up in such a way as to where the only way to beat her is to be stronger than the system itself, and as she has the karma of eternal failure, fate itself will make it so that whatever hero manages to kill her will be powerful enough to challenge the very architects of the system. In short, [[FailureGambit she set things up so that her final failure would be the ultimate middle finger to the powers that be]]]].

* ''ComicBook/TheBlackRing'' has this with Lex Luthor. He's brave and intelligent enough to go toe-to-toe with the most powerful beings in the universe, and come out on top... but even without Superman there, he foils himself by being petty and spiteful. In the finale, he gains omnipotence, but throws it away after a few minutes because he isn't allowed to hurt Superman.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': [[BigBad Syndrome]] tries to [[EngineeredHeroics set himself up as a superhero]] to prove that [[FantasticRacism the world doesn't need supers]] by letting loose a robot on a major city, which was already programmed to outwit and stop supers. Unfortunately for him, Syndrome doesn't realize that means the robot's smart enough to stop ''him'', too, immediately shooting the controls from Syndrome and incapacitating him. It's left to [[BadassFamily the Parr family]] and Frozone to stop the robot, saving the day and restoring the public perception of supers, too.

** After Palpatine and Vader were killed, it's explicitly stated in multiple sources that had the various Grand Admirals banded together and attacked the Rebellion/New Republic, they would have overwhelmed them. However, the power vacuum led to pretty much everyone with more than one Star Destroyer declaring themself a warlord and setting up their own power base. This made it pretty simple for the New Republic to pursue a "divide and conquer" strategy. As it is, by a decade after Endor, the Empire is on its last legs; just fifteen years after Endor, what's left of the Empire comes to the New Republic to request an armistice.
* ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}:''
** Coulson tells Loki that no matter what he does, he will not win against them.
---> '''Coulson:''' You’re going to lose. It's in your nature. You lack conviction.
** Also, later on, Tony does the same thing.
--->'''Tony:''' There's no throne. There is ''no'' version of this where you come out on top. ''Maybe'' your army comes, and ''maybe'' it's too much for us, but it's all on you. 'Cause if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it.
* In the film version of the musical ''Theatre/{{Camelot}}'', Arthur tries to convince Mordred that evil winds up destroying itself. He claims the best that evil can ever get is a MeaninglessVillainVictory, because while evil ''can'' be triumphant for a time, it can ''never'' be happy, and it inevitably causes its own downfall as a result.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' is well-known for [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished its good characters being punished for doing good]], but often, the mindlessly evil don't fare much better. It includes a large plethora of varied shades of "evil," but whenever one of the really bad ones takes power, various things go to hell in a handbasket for them as a result of their generally callous and power-hungry worldviews.
** Joffrey Baratheon is a SpoiledBrat who has no sense of self-control or restraint, making enemies of both the rich and the poor, just because he loves to flaunt his power and his prestige. [[spoiler:This gets him assassinated by poison. Because he's such an asshole, nobody is really sure who did it (because everybody has some reason to do it by this point) and nobody cares enough to find out.]]
** Cersei can't stop the downward spiral of her city because she cares more about appointing people to positions of power who are loyal to her (and only her) than ones effective at doing their jobs. [[spoiler:Not only that, but as soon as she falls from power, the "loyal" people she appointed immediately turn against her, the only exception being MadDoctor Qyburn, presumably because no sane/competent ruler would let him perform his experiments.]]
** [[PosthumousCharacter The posthumous]] [[TheCaligula caligula]], Mad King Aerys, whose insanity caused him to alienate everyone in the Seven Kingdoms [[spoiler:and eventually got him killed by a member of his own Kingsguard, Jaime Lannister, who he ordered to burn down the entire city of King's Landing when it looked like they were about to lose the war]].
** By the end of the fifth book in the series, [[SerialKiller Ramsay Bolton's]] continual aversions of his father's PragmaticVillainy are undermining their entire family, and it seems very unlikely that any rule of his would be sustainable.
** [[TheDragon Tywin Lannister]] [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zags]] this: politically, he is a paragon of PragmaticVillainy, and his many extremely ruthless decisions are always well-planned, and consequently he is one of the most competent and long-lasting rulers in the books. [[spoiler:Personally, however, he is too arrogant or hateful to accept when he really is in trouble, and it gets him killed by his own son Tyrion who he always despised and dismissed as a worthless freak.]]

* In ''Literature/TheStand'', Randall Flagg's half of civilization begins to deteriorate when the presence of so many volatile personalities mix in one society, fear stops being as effective for control, and every minor failure makes the BigBad himself go into fits of rage and lose his focus, causing errors in judgement.
* ''Literature/TheSwordOfTruth'' series includes an empire that is completely oppressive to individuality and self-interest. As a result, when a high-ranking member falls in love and is confronted with the dissonance of what he feels and what he believes, he [[spoiler:commits suicide]].

* In ''Literature/KingCrow'', Cormac's "prophecy" amounts to this:
--> "Tell me, do you believe your position to be secure?" Cormac asked the tyrant softly.\\
"Who says it isn't?" demanded Bregant, looking about.\\
"Listen," said Cormac. "My visions have told me the fate of all tyrants such as you. Beware the knife at your back, the mole at your feet, and the weapon that breaks in your hands. You will never be safe. Even the hills are crowned with fire, and that fire will come to consume you."
* Invoked by ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer''. [[EvilPrince Jared]] is a rotten ruler, with a ZeroPercentApprovalRating -- refugees are pouring out from his country, and one by one he's pissing off all of his neighboring rulers. Which means [[TheHero Martris]] has no trouble finding supporters to help him seize the throne.
* ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' is a notable inversion of this trope: the evil Big Brother governments of the world have things so completely under control and so tightly locked into their plans, that the book ends with the "resistance" depicted as a myth and the protagonist of the story successfully brainwashed into obedience. Although the appendix does talk about Ingsoc in the past tense, implying that in the end, evil failed after all.

* The three villainous protagonists in ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales''' "The Pardoner's Tale" end up killing each other due to their greed.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', what always sets [[BigBad Voldemort]] back is his inability to understand ThePowerOfLove.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Redwall}} Mariel of Redwall]]'' one good character chastises an evil one for thinking he'd ever win, since it's evil's nature to defeat itself. The series shows that villains are generally too power-hungry and back-stabbing to ever actually be efficient in the long run. Half their defeat comes from this without any effort by the good characters at all.

* Once someone is in Purgatory in ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', they are destined to reach Heaven, no matter how many serpents and demons try to stop them.

* In ''Series/TheWire'' season 1, the nature of "The Game" of drug dealing has everyone looking out for themselves, to the point where innocent bystanders or even friends who might pose a risk have to be dealt with. It's this repeated brutality that ends up winning allies for the investigation team again and again from players who want out after someone they care about gets hurt.

** ''Series/ChoujuuSentaiLiveman'' -- the Liveman don't ''defeat'' Volt so much as ''outlast'' it. (It's worth noting that, given when it was made, this isn't a metaphor for the Cold War so much as the ruthlessly competitive element of then-modern society.) The ways in which Bias squandered his (at first) loyal Lieutenants' time with competition rather than coordination and cooperation -- all the way up to just before the finale -- pretty much made Volt's ultimate self-implosion inevitable.

** ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' notably averts it -- despite an EnemyCivilWar that went on in the later episodes, Venjix remains ultra-powerful, and still succeeds at his plans (mostly by way of [[spoiler:having turned ''half of Corinth'' into his [[ManchurianAgent sleeper agents]]; he'd only [[MonsterOfTheWeek followed the]] [[MakeMyMonsterGrow usual playbook]] to disguise this]]) and only by sheer luck do the Rangers finally stop him...and TheStinger implies he's [[NotQuiteDead still hanging on in some fashion]]. This, however, [[Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers took a long time to pay off]].
* In ''Series/BreakingBad'', every major player in the drug game -- the Cartel, Gus Fring, Walter White -- ends up falling due to infighting and a basic lack of trust among associates. Generally speaking, the closer to the black end of the BlackAndGreyMorality spectrum they are, the harder they fall. The DEA, while hard-working and occasionally heroic, mostly just picks up the pieces of the various turf wars and occasionally knocks off some low-hanging fruit.

** This culminated in ''Film/StargateContinuum'' where the Goa'uld, under [[PragmaticVillainy Ba'al]], have become an unbeatable force (thanks to Ba'al's [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight time travelling]]). However, the treacherous nature of the Goa'uld rears its head, and Ba'al is literally stabbed in the back, which ultimately leads to the final end of the Goa'uld Empire.
* ''{{Series/Babylon 5}}'': After the Centauri Republic conquers the Narn homeworld, Centauri ambassador Mollari demands that Narn ambassador G'Kar be ejected from the Babylon 5 Advisory Council (since he represents a government that no longer exists). Before leaving the council chamber, G'Kar invokes this trope:
--> '''G'Kar:''' No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, tyrants and dictators cannot stand. The Centauri learned that lesson once. We will teach it to them again. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': House Bolton, probably the most unambiguously cruel and evil house in the series, [[spoiler:is destroyed by their own penchant for cruelty and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder backstabbing nature]] after the last remaining member Ramsay Bolton, who killed everyone else in the family, gets fed to his own dogs when his KarmaHoudiniWarranty runs out]]. Furthermore, despite their faction's successes Joffrey Baratheon and Tywin Lannister are killed as a result of their evil actions.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E4MirrorMirror Mirror, Mirror]]", Kirk asks Mirror Spock about the Halkans' prediction that the Empire's subjects will eventually overthrow it. Mirror Spock concurs that the Empire will inevitably fall, a conclusion he states with the same matter-of-fact logical demeanor as his main universe counterpart.

** Of the Chaos Gods [[TheChessmaster Tzeentch]], the god of change, "magic", and plotting, is manipulating millions or billions of pieces across the galaxy in just as many or even more plans. It's speculated he's driving the galaxy toward some unknown goal, but the notion is dismissed by reasoning that ''he would die'' if his plans succeeded in some ultimate goal, because he'd have nothing left to plot against. So, he actually creates plans to run contrary to each other and even sabotages his own plans so they'll always backfire even if they can succeed by complete accident. All four of the major Chaos Gods qualify as [[MadGod Mad Gods]], but even among them Tzeentch has a reputation for being crazy and unknowable.

* ''TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness'': The main reason almost all the truly evil factions in the setting still have yet to win is because they tend to have self-destructive practices.
** ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'': Belial's Brood always fail to grow truly powerful and influent like the main playable Covenants because they are satanistic {{Fully Embraced Fiend}}s who just ''won't'' acknowledge the need for the {{Masquerade}}-- meaning the authorities are usually fast to catch and kill them.
** ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken'': the Pure haven't exterminated the Forsaken yet despite widely outnumbering them because they [[WeAreStrugglingTogether can't get along with each other]]. Moreover, one of their three tribes, the Ivory Claws, have a major case of FantasticRacism and practice selective breeding... which means they struggle to maintain their number. And another one, the Predator Kings, are {{Evil Luddite}}s who hate and reject modern technology as a trick from humans to "cheat"- meaning they are fighting like animals and cavemen in a setting where everyone else has no qualm using PostModernMagic.
** ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'': The [[LesCollaborateurs Seers of the Throne]] still have yet to defeat the Orders of the Pentacles because they are a lazy, corrupt DecadentCourt whose practice of encouraging backstabbing actually almost destroyed them once. The backstory in their supplement reveals [[NearVillainVictory they had pretty much already won after the Fall of Atlantis]], only to almost ''immediately'' [[NiceJobFixingItVillain nearly destroy themselves with infighting]] -- and by the time they finally managed to place some semblance of rules to save their organization, the Pentacle had already recovered enough to be a threat to them once again.
** ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'': Most [[SerialKiller Slashers]] only survive either by constantly being on the move or living in remote locations because their AxeCrazy tendencies make them terrible at socializing and blending in (even social-oriented ones like [[ManipulativeBastard Charmers]] can only keep their MaskOfSanity for so long before [[BerserkButton someone accidentally brings up their trigger]]), and their killing spree inevitably end up bringing attention from the authorities and [[HunterOfMonsters Hunters]].
* ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'' (fan-made): the reason the All-Consuming Darkness still has yet to actually exterminate the Hopeful despite having destroyed their entire Kingdom centuries ago is that, being a BackgroundMagicField that warps people and urge them to follow their darkest tendencies, its servants usually are StupidEvil depraved psychopaths who do a very poor job at keeping a low profile, to the point [[ReligionOfEvil Dark Cults]] usually get found out and taken down by the authorities even ''without'' a Princess around to fight them. The backstory actually reveals they used to be routinely [[CurbStompBattle Curb-Stomped]] when Princesses were at the peak of their power, and only managed to get in their current dominating position because the Hopeful Kingdom [[DividedWeFall was suffering infighting at the time]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' has brought this up a number of times, namely when talking about Raiders.
* This happens regarding Caesar's Legion in most of the endings in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''. With no industry or agriculture to speak of and an outright rejection of most technology or science, the Legion lasts only as long as it has the charismatic Caesar to lead it. Once he dies (either from being killed by The Courier or [[spoiler: as a result of his brain tumor]]), his successor isn't able to keep things functioning and it quickly falls apart.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' has the case for Potema Septim, the "[[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Wolf Queen]]" of Solitude, in the backstory. Married off the Jarl of Solitude by her brother, Emperor Antiochus Septim, Potema was a prime ManipulativeBastard and [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]]. She lied to her new husband and got his son exiled to ensure that her own son, Uriel III, would take the throne of Solitude, and in time the Ruby Throne of all Tamriel. When her niece, Kintyra II, was declared heir instead of Uriel III, Potema engaged in a bloody conflict known as the [[CivilWar War of the Red Diamond]], and after years of violent conquest and inciting rebellion in Skyrim, Hammerfell, and High Rock, she captured and executed Kintyra II, put Uriel III on the throne, and killed anyone who disagreed. However, the loyalist forces, led by her other brother Cephorus, did not stop and fought against this puppet Emperor, with Uriel III himself dying a scant year or so into his rule when his caravan was intercepted by an angry mob who burned him to death. Upon hearing the news, what little humanity that remained in the Wolf-Queen was snuffed out, and her fury against the new Emperor Cephorus was terrible to behold. In her madness and spite, she began consorting with Daedra, and [[{{Necromancer}} raising the dead]] on both sides as zombies and skeletons [[CavalryOfTheDead to fight for her]]. Stories of the Wolf-Queen being tended to by skeletal chambermaids, [[OurLichesAreDifferent Lich]] advisors, and [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] lieutenants spread like wildfire, while any living servants who dared to offend her being sacrificed in bloody rituals to dark gods or [[FateWorseThanDeath worse]]. Her horrified allies abandoned her in droves. Eventually none who lived called themselves allies of the mad Wolf-Queen, and Solitude became a land of death. After alienating just about everyone else in Tamriel, their armies marched into Solitude and laid siege to the capital. Potema eventually died in her castle after a protracted, decade-long siege.
* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'': The BigBad, a NightmareFetishist for the concept of despair, sets up a ClosedCircle where some students are manipulated into murdering each other or become prisoners forever. Their plan works as always, but they cannot understand that every student that survives becomes more difficult to manipulate and they CantCatchUp with the hero: TheMole they planted makes a HeroicSacrifice and becomes a DoomedMoralVictor. The BigBad tries to kill the AmateurSleuth and blame the GreatDetective, causing the AmateurSleuth to become a MessianicArchetype. In the FinalBattle, they try again to get every survivor to betray the MessianicArchetype, incapable of realizing that this works only once and they would not do it a second time. Even when the BigBad still manages to control the situation, and they could easily retire and learn from their errors to torture their prisoners later, they cannot conceive that idea, so they prefer to destroy themselves because they are a NightmareFetishist for their own despair.

* Invoked in ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet''; a cutscene midway through the story mode has [[BigBad Brevon]] finishing off a random vigilante, who forcefully states that men like him "will always fail". Brevon [[OffWithHisHead makes his disagreement clear]], though the vigilante is proven right by the end, of course.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', once [[HypercompetentSidekick Princess Azula]] actually gets the power she desires and becomes [[EvilOverlord Fire Lord]], things quickly go downhill for her even without Team Avatar's intervention. Driven by paranoia, sociopathy, and [[HeelFaceTurn the pain of betrayal from her former "friends"]], she banishes all her servants, alienates her closest allies, starts [[{{Hallucinations}} seeing things]], and overall plummets into VillainousBreakdown.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', season 4 sees Kuvira undone by her own hubris. She systematically goes from state to state in the Earth Kingdom, occupying the country with her own loyal troops, and instituting puppet governors, as a means of seizing power for herself as a dictator. As the other nations are in no position to interfere, being an internal Earth Kingdom matter, both they and the true Earth King are powerless to stop her. She would have been completely successful [[spoiler:had she not flown too close to the sun by invading the United Republic, with an army that could not match that of the United Forces were it not for her HumongousMecha, which Team Avatar manages to destroy.]]
* Necrafa, the BigBad of ''WesternAnimation/{{Mysticons}}'', is ultimately defeated when [[spoiler:her [[TheDragon Dragon]] Dreadbane has in his possession the Macguffin that can destroy her, and is ready to hand it over to her on the sole condition she reciprocates his feelings. Being a BadBoss who despises him, she can't even tell him "I love you" in a convincing manner and, when he understandably hesitates, she just devolves into threatening him and shooting him with magic blasts. Realizing she never loved him, he just drops the Macguffin, allowing the heroes to get it.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', this is the FatalFlaw of [[BigBad Shendu]], who is [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder chronically treacherous]] in his [[ICanRuleAlone unwillingness to share power]] (like with his demon brethren) or riches (like the lost treasure he promised to reward [[TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily the Dark Hand]] with for restoring him). This betraying habit costs him important victories and advantages at different points of the series. After he betrays the Dark Hand at the end of the 1st season, [[TheDogBitesBack they follow him all the way to China in order to steal their promised reward]] and unknowingly bring with them [[LittleStowaway Jade]], who turns out to be [[BigDamnHeroes crucial in Shendu's defeat]]. In the 2nd season, Shendu has been reduced to a spirit and [[DemotedToDragon forced to work for his siblings]], who all [[BadBoss give him a hard time]] for never freeing them from their centuries-lasting imprisonment. In the 3rd season, he refuses to give [[spoiler:[[EvilSorceror Daolon Wong]]]] the reward he promised for resurrecting him and is ultimately brought down when [[spoiler:Wong's desire for revenge is serious enough to make him reveal the spell created to imprison Shendu after being [[DePower stripped of his own powers]] and arrested and by the end of the series, he's trapped in the demon realm fighting his own son]].
* In the Season Five finale of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', [[DarkMagicalGirl Starlight Glimmer]] ''narrowly'' averts this trope because as it turns out, her time travel plot for vengeance against the Mane Six (Stopping Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom, thus preventing them from getting their connection) would lead to the [[ButterflyOfDoom world being destroyed]] several times over, which she never takes into account until Twilight shows her the damage of what she's really doing.
** In the series finale, [[VillainTeamUp Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow]] manage to use Grogar's bell to empower themselves, DePower Discord, and take over Equestria. But as [[CardCarryingVillain a group of self-professed friendship-haters]], [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome they're naturally terrible at any semblance of co-operation]], and all the strife they've created has brought back [[EmotionEater the Windigos]], which means [[MeaninglessVillainVictory all they'll rule will be a frozen wasteland]] if they don't find a method to deal with them, which, naturally, they can't agree on. Once the heroes rally ''all Equestria'' against them they quickly resort to bickering and [[NeverMyFault blaming each other]], which seals their fate.

** Henry gets greedy and sets up his own operation that gets him arrested. Worse, he has no regrets over his life of crime other than getting caught.

** ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'' (fan-made): the reason the All-Consuming Darkness still has yet to actually exterminate the Hopeful despite having destroyed their entire Kingdom centuries ago is that, being a BackgroundMagicField that warps people and urge them to follow their darkest tendencies, its servants usually are StupidEvil depraved psychopaths who do a very poor job at keeping a low profile, to the point [[ReligionOfEvil Dark Cults]] usually get found out and taken down by the authorities even ''without'' a Princess around to fight them. The backstory actually reveals they used to be routinely [[CurbStompBattle Curb-Stomped]] when Princesses were at the peak of their power, and only managed to get in their current dominating position because the Hopeful Kingdom [[DividedWeFall was suffering infighting at the time]].

** [[TheDragon Tywin Lannister]] both averts this and plays it straight: politically, he is a paragon of PragmaticVillainy, and his many extremely ruthless decisions are always well-planned, and consequently he is one of the most competent and long-lasting rulers in the books. [[spoiler:Personally, however, he is too arrogant or hateful to accept when he really is in trouble, and it gets him killed by his own son Tyrion who he always despised and dismissed as a worthless freak.]]

** Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy in the ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse" employs this to great effect. Thrawn's [[WorthyOpponent not an outright horrible person]], but it's a series of unethical actions -- double-crossing Mara, deceiving the Noghri, trying to manipulate the smugglers -- that lead to his downfall due to [[HeelFaceTurn changed]] [[DefaultToGood allegiances]].