History Main / GoodHurtsEvil

[[AC:RealLife]]
* Ostensibly, the idea behind the Children's Crusade; send a bunch of [[ChildrenAreInnocent innocent little children]] to reclaim the Holy Land for Christianity by the sheer force of their goodness. [[RealityEnsues Unfortunately]], it [[{{Understatement}} didn't turn out so well]]. Turns out it was MOSTLY a scam to round up a bunch of kids with no families, take them to a foreign city, and sell them into slavery or similar unhappy fates.

* In ''{{Exalted}}'', the Unconquered Sun is the cosmic embodiment of virtue. As a result, it is within his power to deem which sorts of beings in Creation and beyond count as "creatures of darkness" (usually demons, the undead, and [[TheFairFolk Raksha]]). His chosen, the Solar Exalted, thus have access to Holy Charms that allow them to do ''extremely'' grievous damage to said creatures of darkness.

** The Dementors can be fought off by summoning a creature made of concentrated positive emotion.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/GoodHurtsEvil.jpg [[caption-width:360:[[ItBurns It buuuurns!]]]]

* A somewhat secularized version is played for laughs in TheSlayers when Lina turns GenkiGirl Amelia loose on Xellos. Since monsters in the slayerverse feed on negative emotions the full unbridled effect of Amelia's sheer perkiness alone (backed up by a rather insincere-sounding Xelgadis) is enough to completely debilitate one of the most powerful evil characters in the series.

Now the only reason it's probably discredited is that it's largely been absorbed by the HolyHandGrenade and SmiteEvil tropes- which could be an interesting cultural study, in that now apparently people no longer think that Good, itself, is invincible, but used correctly it can really kick ass! If it is used in modern works, it's usually in works centered squarely on the Idealistic side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, or at the very least in a work where the baddies ARE shadows/darkness and thus are physically erased by light. It's often a [[NimbusPrivileges Nimbus Privilege.]] ItBurns is a subtrope. The inverse of this trope is AllergicToEvil (for people) and {{Cross-Melting Aura}} (for [[ProtectivCharm holy artifacts]]). Might be a reason for TooSpicyForYogSothoth. See also ReviveKillsZombie.

Now the only reason it's probably discredited is that it's largely been absorbed by the HolyHandGrenade and SmiteEvil tropes- which could be an interesting cultural study, in that now apparently people no longer think that Good, itself, is invincible, but used correctly it can really kick ass! If it is used in modern works, it's usually in works centered squarely on the Idealistic side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, or at the very least in a work where the baddies ARE shadows/darkness and thus are physically erased by light. It's often a [[NimbusPrivileges Nimbus Privilege.]] ItBurns is a subtrope. The inverse of this trope is AllergicToEvil. Might be a reason for TooSpicyForYogSothoth. See also ReviveKillsZombie.

** Can lead to UnfortunateImplications, when Willow ''Rosenberg'' starts nailing up crucifices in her room to prevent vampire entry, and carries around holy water and crosses. The question is - why does the cross work, and not the Star of David? (or, later in the series, traditional Wiccan holy symbols?)
** If Adam is to be taken at his word, vampires are only weakened by the cross because they fear it so much. In "Who Are You", he trains a group of vampires to overcome their fear of crosses. Later on, they attack the patrons of a church, completely ignoring the fact that there are crosses in the church. Thus, the probable explanation for why the holy symbols of other religions don't affect vampires is because they don't fear them in the same way they fear the cross.

** The Dementors can be fought off by summoning a creature made of concentrated positive emotion. May be viewed as a subversion, as the Dementors seem to lack the higher consciousness necessary to be considered "good" or "evil".

* A minor version from ''[[CareBears Adventures in Care-a-Lot]]'': after seeing his plan to break up a band made of a few of the female CareBears thwarted by ThePowerOfFriendship, Grizzle comments, "This sickening display of friendship HURTS!" Trueheart asks if it isn't just the high heels he's wearing as part of his BosomBuddies disguise.

** In later comics, it turns out Fighter is the ONLY member of the party this doesn't apply too, as the other three all have negative reactions to a set of celestial weapons (although Thief and Red Mage just report uncomfortable heat and scalding, while BM bursts into flames).

** If Adam is to be taken at his word, vampires are only weakened by the cross because they fear it so much. In "Who Are You", he trains a group of vampires to overcome their fear of crosses. Later on, they attack the patrons of a church, completely ignoring the fact that there are crosses in the church. Thus, the probable explanation for the holy symbols of other religions don't affect vampires is because they don't fear them in the same way they fear the cross.

* Variation: In an episode of the 90s ''Incredible Hulk'' cartoon, GhostRider realises that Rick is a good kids when his {{hellfire}} doesn't hurt him.

* The idea behind the Children's Crusade; send a bunch of [[ChildrenAreInnocent innocent little children]] to reclaim the Holy Land for Christianity by the sheer force of their goodness. [[RealityEnsues Unfortunately]], it [[{{Understatement}} didn't turn out so well]]. Most of them got sold into slavery or suffered similar unhappy fates.
** [[DidNotDoTheResearch Not really.]]

* ''KingdomHearts'' plays this very straight in the ending of the first game when the light of the titular power destroys BigBad "Ansem" (actually [[spoiler:somebody else. YouShouldKnowThisAlready]]).

Now the only reason it's probably discredited is that it's largely been absorbed by the HolyHandGrenade and SmiteEvil tropes- which could be an interesting cultural study, in that now apparently people no longer think that Good, itself, is invincible, but used correctly it can really kick ass! It's often a [[NimbusPrivileges Nimbus Privilege.]] ItBurns is a subtrope. The inverse of this trope is AllergicToEvil. Might be a reason for TooSpicyForYogSothoth. See also ReviveKillsZombie.