History Main / GoodWitchVersusBadWitch

* Yubaba and Zeniba from ''SpiritedAway''.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TheWizardOfOz http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xp5b59yh_1968.jpg]]]]

** ''The Tin Woodman of Oz'' {{downplay}}s the Witch of the East's wickedness: the tinsmith who gave the Tin Woodman and the Tin Soldier their tin bodies tells about having injured himself severely, and going to the Witch who readily heals him.

** The {{Downplayed}} WickedWitch Mombi in ''TheMarvelousLandOfOz'' is minor witch living in isolation with Tip. She develops delusions of grandeur, and winds up facing Glinda, against whom she is no match.
** One of the Ruth '''Plumley''' (check spelling) Thompson novels upgrades Mombi to the former Wicked Witch of the North, defeated by the Good Witch of the North.
** NotSoEvil: In ''The Tin Woodman of Oz'', the tinsmith who gave the Tin Woodman and the Tin Soldier their tin bodies tells about having injured himself severely, and going to the Wicked Witch of the East who readily heals him.

* [[spoiler: Anthy Himemiya]] from ''RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' keeps struggling between her "good witch" and "bad witches" roles. [[spoiler: In the end, she decides to go "Good witch" and frees herself of her brother and manipulator Akio/Dios, leaving Ohtori Academy to search for the disappeared Utena.]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheSims 2'', good witches wear white and gold robes, neutral ones wear gray ones with green trim, and bad witches wear black and purple ones. There is a sliding scale of good and evil; practicing or studying [[PokeThePoodle evil]] [[KickTheDog spells]] can turn a good witch bad, and vice versa

In many of the original myths and legends, spirits and monsters are not explicitly said to be good or evil. Often, they're just mischievous or powerful with a sense of "humor", and reasonable people give them lip service but otherwise leave them alone. After centuries of [[MemeticMutation modifying]], [[MoralGuardians demonizing]] and [[AdaptationDecay adapting]] the stories, sometimes certain terms became associated with [[CharacterAlignment certain deeds]]. Sometimes this is a simplification to appeal to or educate young audiences, who supposedly [[ViewersAreMorons require clear morality in characters]].

* Yubaba and Zeniba from SpiritedAway.

* In MahouSenseiNegima Magister Magi help people as his job, still most of them seem do it because of good will. By contrast [[NobleDemon Evangeline]] states, that when you ask an evil mage for help, you have to pay a price.

* The two brothers in ''VampireDiaries'' are a clear example. Stefan is a FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire while his brother Damon is going around killing people.
* In ''{{Smallville}}'', most surviving Kryptonians that Clark Kent meets are evil or just plain arrogant, and don't understand why Clark is trying to stop them from hurting people or taking over the world, as they feel that they have the [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers right to do whatever they feel like]].

* Turned upside-down and inside-out with TrueBlood. Since the release of "New Blood", originally designed to be an easily-mass-produced synthetic blood for medical transfusion, the vampires of the world [[TheUnmasquedWorld stop living in secret]] and much, MUCH publicity effort is made to separate the "myth" of the "bloodthirsty maniac" vampire with the "reality" of the "cultured, fully nuanced people who now can sate their unique metabolism with the fake stuff." There's even implicit invocation of this trope in the description of their subculture. It's utter nonsense: while there are several "good" vampires, most of the ones trying to act saintly are just trying to fend off the vamp-hating masses and are at the core every bit as bad they're made out to be.

* George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, tries to invoke this trope in the BBC/Starz series ''The White Queen'' when he hires a sorcerer to protect him and his wife from the curses laid on them by his sister-in-law, Queen Elizabeth (the consort of Edward IV, not her more famous great-granddaughter). Unfortunately for him, the sorcerer he hires is just a charlatan, while Elizabeth's magic is all too real.[[note]]Yeah, they took [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory some liberties with the historical record.]][[/note]] Additionally, George is really one of the villains, or at least antagonists, of the series, and is generally probably the least sympathetic character, whereas Elizabeth is the title character and protagonist, so our sympathies naturally lie with her.

* In ''The Adventures of Prince Achmed'', the African Wizard is evil and the Witch of the Fiery Mountain is, well, at least an ally to any enemy of him.

* ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' has the White Witch Lana, who stands on the heroes' side, opposing the Black Witch Cia, who is the game's BigBad.

** Unless your name is [[WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog Captain Hammer]], anyway.

* In ''VideoGame/TheSims 2'', good witches wear white and gold robes, neutral ones wear gray ones with green trim, and bad witches wear black and purple ones. There is a sliding scale of good and evil; practicing or studying [[PokeThePoodle evil]] [[KickTheDog spells]] can turn a good witch bad, and vice versa.

* Granny Weatherwax from ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' is a Good Witch with some of the personality of a Bad one. ''Witches Abroad'' reveals that she was ''supposed'' to be the Bad Witch, until her "good" older sister Lili went evil and started calling herself [[MeaningfulName Lilith]]. Granny has never forgiven her for it, and lives in fear of "[[TheDarkSide turning to the bad]]" herself.

[[quoteright:300:[[Film/TheWizardOfOz http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The-Wicked-Witch-Dorothy-and-Glinda-the-wizard-of-oz-5020473-300-238.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?]]

* In ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful'', the first witches Oz meets are [[Creator/MilaKunis Theodora]] and her older sister [[Creator/RachelWeisz Evanora]]. Evanora offers Oz the throne and riches of the Emerald City if he fulfills the prophecy and kills the Wicked Witch. However, when he finds the Wicked Witch, he finds out that she's [[MichelleWilliams Glinda]] the Good, and Evanora is the wicked one. Evanora then [[spoiler:tricks her sister into eating a cursed apple which turns her into the heartless and green Wicked Witch of the West]].

* In ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'', Gandalf is a good wizard and Saruman is an evil wizard.
** Actually Gandalf, Saruman, Sauron and the Balrog are all higher beings known as Maiar.
*** Which doesn't change the fact that Saruman, while a demigod who started out good, had become evil by the time of ''The Fellowship of the Ring''.
**** If you really wanted to be specific, Gandalf and Saruman were Maia that took the physical form of mortal men to inspire them against the Forces of Sauron. The greatest of them decided that ruling them would be better. That's basically what the Wizards are in Middle-Earth, and a critical component is if their physical body dies, they no longer exist in Middle-Earth without a Deus Ex Machina. So their bodies can indeed bleed, be wounded, and die though they were immune to the passage of time like the Elves. They're not "exactly" equal to Sauron and the Balrog, who operate under different rules.
* Occasionally Literature/DorrieTheLittleWitch or her mother would clash with evil witches.

** Not sure whether or if in the books (this was from a graphic novel, so may not be completely legit), but at least a couple of Oz stories have implied others - even the Compass Rose method above is worthless, as there was a Wicked Witch of the South in one, and another mentions two enchantresses who, though not officially given 'Good Witch' status, fill that slot for the East and West. (One appears to be isolationist, and the other's caught in some kind of time loop.)

* In ''TheSims2'', good witches wear white and gold robes, neutral ones wear gray ones with green trim, and bad witches wear black and purple ones. There is a sliding scale of good and evil; practicing or studying [[PokeThePoodle evil]] [[KickTheDog spells]] can turn a good witch bad, and vice versa.

* George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, tries to invoke this trope in the BBC/Starz series ''The White Queen'' when he hires a sorcerer to protect him and his wife from the curses laid on them by his sister-in-law, Queen Elizabeth (the consort of Edward IV, not her more famous great-granddaughter). Unfortunately for him, the sorcerer he hires is just a charlatan, while Elizabeth's magic is all too real.[[note]]Yeah, they took [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory some liberties with the historical record]][[/note]] Additionally, George is really one of the villains, or at least antagonists, of the series, and is generally probably the least sympathetic character, whereas Elizabeth is the title character and protagonist, so our sympathies naturally lie with her.

* Order of the Phoenix vs Death Eaters in ''HarryPotter''.