History Main / GoodRunningEvil

* The ''MassEffect 2'' DLC "Lair of the Shadow Broker" ends with Commander Shepard and Liara T'soni killing the Shadow Broker and Liara decides to take over his organization and use it to help Shepard fight the Reapers.

* {{Angel}} Taking over Wolfram and Hart in season 5.

This is often a SubTrope of MoleInCharge.

* Averted in ''AirGear'': Ikki is asked to take the position as leader of Genesis, but he turns it down.

* There is one train of philosophical thought that proposes this is how Heaven and Hell work. If God is all powerful, and if He created everything, and if He has a plan for everything, then logically Hell operates because God wants it to operate. And since God's plan predetermines everything that happens in the universe, this includes everything that happens in ''Hell'', too. Thus, God is actually running Hell[[hottip:*:Technically Hell does not exist yet: people are to be sorted into Heaven or Hell on Judgement's Day and no earlier]].

* There is one train of philosophical thought that proposes this is how Heaven and Hell work. If God is all powerful, and if He created everything, and if He has a plan for everything, then logically Hell operates because God wants it to operate. And since God's plan predetermines everything that happens in the universe, this includes everything that happens in ''Hell'', too. Thus, God is actually running Hell.

* In ''{{Torchwood}}'', Captain Jack was pressured into working for Torchwood Three back when it still part of Torchwood One's conspiracy to seize alien tech for the British Empire and hunt down the Doctor. He was given the opportunity to reinvent the organisation when [[spoiler: its previous leader went mad and killed everyone]].

This is rarely an easy task, of course: the bulk of the conspiracy is still made up of evildoers and scum, and solo heroes may well end up with an entire {{Nakama}} of nothing but {{Poisonous Friend}}s. Sometimes the hero will even need to hide their real motives from their assorted underlings. This plot can also often involve the hero becoming [[TheManBehindTheMan the Man In Front of the Man]] and having to answer to TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness.

%%Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1297813334037120100

[[quoteright:204:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/heroesbuyevilinc_1951.gif]]

This is rarely an easy task, of course: the bulk of the conspiracy is still made up of evildoers and scum, and solo heroes may well end up with an entire {{Nakama}} of nothing but [[PoisonousFriend Poisonous Friends]]. Sometimes the hero will even need to hide their real motives from their assorted underlings. This plot can also often involve the hero becoming [[TheManBehindTheMan the Man In Front of the Man]] and having to answer to TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness.

Spoilers ahead.

** This might be a possibility for the third game concerning Cerberus. Having a private organization with more resources than a large colony with none of that Council red tape to tie Shepard down would be very tempting. Of course, that option likely involve a lot of subterfuge, sabotage, and outright murder; in other words, Renegade path. So it might be shaky to say it's "Good" Running Evil.
** The Paragon ending of ''Mass Effect II'', however, has Shepard essentially blowing off the Illusive Man and taking the ''Normandy'' for his/her own, being sure to tell TIM who's running the show in the process - so, maybe less "Good Running Evil" and more "Good Dragging Evil To Greatness, Whether It Wants It Or Not".

* There is one train of philosophical thought that proposes this is how Heaven and Hell work. If God is all powerful, and if he created everything, and if he has a plan for everything, then logically Hell operates because God wants it to operate. And since God's plan predetermines everything that happens in the universe, this includes everything that happens in ''Hell'', too. Thus, God is actually running Hell.

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* In ''SwordOfTruth'', [[spoiler:Richard [[strike:Cypher]] Rahl is given control of his ancestral nation of [[TheEmpire D'Hara]], as well as an entire legion of [[ColdBloodedTorture Cold Blooded Torturing]] [[BreakTheCutie Broken Cuties]], the Mord-Sith.]]

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* In ''TheSandman'', after [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]] quits, throws everyone out of Hell, and hands the keys over to Morpheus, God decides that Hell will be run directly by Heaven from now on and appoints to angels to be his overseers there.

* In ''SwordofTruth'', [[spoiler:Richard [[strike:Cypher]] Rahl is given control of his ancestral nation of [[TheEmpire D'Hara]], as well as an entire legion of [[ColdBloodedTorture Cold Blooded Torturing]] [[BreakTheCutie Broken Cuties]], the Mord-Sith.]]

* In ''CodeGeass'', Lelouch has been fighting Britannia's tyranny; he then [[spoiler: succeeds Charles as emperor, only to become the series' DesignatedVillain himself. However, he realizes he can still bring about the future he'd hoped for in that role.]]

* While ''{{Drowtales}}'' is a GreyAndGrayMorality, the Vloz'ress clan is pretty much the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture nation - equivalent]] of a VillainousHarlequin. After [[spoiler: the death of Sene'kha, the real power behind the throne,]] Lavova tries to take over, only to find EnsembleDarkhorse [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?id=1429 Keil waitng for her]].

Spoilers ahead in the examples.

* Averted in AirGear: Ikki is asked to take the position as leader of Genesis, but he turns it down.

* Currently, Daredevil is ostensibly running the evil ninja assassins called the Hand.

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* In ''SwordofTruth'', [[spoiler:Richard [[strike:Cypher]] Rahl is given control of his ancestral nation of [[TheEmpire D'Hara]], as well as an entire legion of [[ColdBloodedTorture Cold Blooded Torturing]] [[BreakTheCutie Broken Cuties]], the Mord-Sith.]]

This is rarely an easy task, of course: the bulk of the conspiracy is still made up of evildoers and scum, and solo heroes may well end up with an entire {{Nakama}} of nothing but [[PoisonousFriend Poisonous Friends]]. Sometimes the hero will even need to hide their real motives from their assorted underlings. This plot can also often involve the hero becoming [[TheManBehindTheMan the Man In Front of the Man]] and having to answer to TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness .

Spoilers ahead in the examples

* In AirGear there is a subversion whit Ikki is asked to take the position as leader of Genesis but he turns it down.

* After "The five books of Blood", DC heroine Renee Montoya finds herself the leader of the "Religion of Crime" that she had been hunting down for more than a year because she (accidentally) caused the death of their previous leader

* In ''{{Torchwood}}'', Captain Jack was pressurised into working for Torchwood Three back when it still part of Torchwood One's conspiracy to seize alien tech for the British Empire and hunt down the Doctor. He was given the opportunity to reinvent the organisation when [[spoiler: its previous leader went mad and killed everyone]].
* Subverted in ''ThePrisoner'' episode "Free For All". Number 6 is elected to the position of Number 2, technically putting him in charge of the Vil

* In ''SwordofTruth'', [[spoiler:Richard [[strike:Cypher]] Rahl is given control of his ancestral nation of [[TheEmpire D'Hara]], as well as an entire legion of [[ColdBloodedTorture Cold Blooded Torturing]] [[BreakTheCutie Broken Cuties]], the Mord-Sith.]]


reply:
There's two examples I can think of where the hero starts out working for the organisation owing to a lack of options, and a hope they can make things less bad, and then has the opportunity to take control.

* In ''{{Superman}}: World of New Krypton'', General Zod is severely injured before he can unleash his plan to invade Earth. While he recovers, the supreme commander of New Krypton's military forces is ... Commander Kal-El. Kryptonian foreign policy suddenly becomes a lot more diplomatic; unfortunately, it's temporary.
* In ''{{Torchwood}}'', Captain Jack was pressurised into working for Torchwood Three back when it still part of Torchwood One's conspiracy to seize alien tech for the British Empire and hunt down the Doctor. He was given the opportunity to reinvent the organisation when [[spoiler: its previous leader went mad and killed everyone]].