History Main / MotiveDecay

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'': The villainous Rothbart's initial goal is to take over King William's kingdom. He kills William, then kidnaps his daughter Odette, turns her into a swan, and will only set her free if she agrees to marry him, making him legally the next king. So far so good. But when he learns that her true love Prince Derek (the only one besides himself who can break the spell, with a vow of everlasting love) has found her, he resolves to kill them both. It never seems to cross his mind that killing Odette will ruin his plan to legally claim her father's throne.

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-->'''Oliver''': You used to tell me I could be more than just the Hood and my father’s mission, that I had a responsibility to help those who were helpless in a more direct way. What happened to that, John? What happened to us?\\
'''John''': I… I don’t know. Slade? The League? Darhk? They’ve been taking all our time.\\
'''Oliver''': They’ve been nothing but a distraction, and the city hasn’t changed. Not enough.

* ''Fanfic/FrozenTurtles'': The Shredder starts off wanting to kill the Turtles and Elsa and their friends to eliminate a threat to his criminal empire and his own personal power. But by the climax of ''Into the Unknown'', all he wants is to kill them [[spoiler: [[OmnicidalManiac and everyone else in both worlds]]]] [[GenericDoomsdayVillain because he can]]. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even his minions are disturbed by the change in attitude]].

* Victor Helios in Creator/DeanKoontz's ''[[Literature/DeanKoontzsFrankenstein Frankenstein]]'' series first desires to eliminate humanity and replace it with a masterrace of his own creation, and eventually take over the world and the universe. In the sequel series, [[spoiler:his clone who has his memories and personality now just wants to wipe out humanity and then kill himself when it is completed for some reason]]. This is explained by Koontz as the next logical step to the original motivation, even though they are two completely different things.
* [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Artemis]] in the book ''Acheron'', one of the most recent books in Sherrilyn Kenyon's ''[[Literature/TheDarkHunters Dark Hunter]]'' series starts out as a friendly and curious goddess at the beginning of the book. At the end, you just want to smack her for her [[JerkassGod unadulterated meanie]] abilities.
* OlderThanSteam: {{Satan}} in Creator/JohnMilton's ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' initially views corrupting mankind as a continuation of the fight for freedom from God. When he realizes that his rebellion against God has been a terrible mistake from the start, he decides that [[ThenLetMeBeEvil he can no longer be good]] and must embrace [[BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad evil as his good]]. Later on, his motives further degrade to something akin to "Since I'm evil now, I must cause God as much trouble as possible." This decay is likely deliberate, as the whole arc of Satan being diminished in mind (as well as [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman stature]] -- from towering angel to serpent) exemplifies [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide just how destructive evil can be to its practitioners]].
* Middle-Earth:

* Played straight as an arrow in the ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'' book series. In the first book of the series, Jacen Solo has visions of galaxy-wide destruction, including his dueling and killing Luke, that can only be prevented by [[ItsTheOnlyWay accepting the teachings of the Sith]]. Lumiya, a former Vader apprentice, softens the blow by teaching Jacen that through careful discipline and sacrifice, he can avoid falling into darkness like Vader and the Emperor. However, with each successive book, his altruistic motives are shown less and less, slowly replaced by ever-increasing anger, distrust, intolerance, and desire for power. All of the culminates when he [[spoiler: kills Mara Jade]], who had caught onto his downfall, for a reason (or at least a rationalization) that makes almost zero sense ''and is later completely abandoned by the series''. In a later book, he Force-chokes a young lieutenant to death for a perceived error, despite the fact she followed all standard procedures and was commended earlier in the book for her attention to detail. At this point, almost all trace of his benevolent motives are gone and all that remains is the Dark Side.

* In the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series, this explicitly happens to BigBad Ma'ar, alongside and combined with his VillainDecay. In the Mage Wars he was a WellIntentionedExtremist who united the barbarian tribes and sought to impose a UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans. Through successive reincarnations and overuse of BloodMagic, he eventually devolves into a twisted, megalomaniacal schemer whose grandiose plans to TakeOverTheWorld end up thwarted by generation after generation of heroes. This all turns out to have been a scheme of [[ThePowersThatBe the gods]], who needed his knowledge to avert the return of the magical Cataclysm that started with his original death.

* Intentionally explored in ''Literature/TheMachineriesOfEmpire'' with [[spoiler:Nirai Kujen]]. He started out as a WellIntentionedExtremist who genuinely wanted to create a society of peace and prosperity even if it was a totalitarian state with no free will and perpetual war with all its neighbours, but when he found himself tormented by conscience he intentionally turned himself into a sociopath via brain surgery and psychological conditioning. Unfortunately, he didn't realise that he would completely lose his ideals and end up being indirectly or directly responsible for centuries of torture, repression, imperialism and genocide, solely so that he could [[spoiler:live forever in luxury]].
* In ''Literature/TheSneetchesAndOtherStories'', the Star-bellied Sneetches initially use their stars to flaunt their superiority over the plain bellied ones. When the latter actually obtain stars, however, the original star-bellies protest, [[TallPoppySyndrome believing they are still the better Sneetches regardless]], and remove their stars and consider plain bellies to now be the top option. The process repeats until none of the Sneetches on either side can even remember what clique they were in originally.
* {{Lampshaded}} in ''[[Literature/TheCircleOpens Magic Steps]]'', when Alzena's internal monologue notes that she used to love Nurhar and care for the Dihanurs, before the [[LovecraftianSuperpower unmagic]] started eating away at her. Unfortunately, by the time she notices this she's way beyond saving.
* ''Literature/TheLostFleet'': Senator Costa starts out wanting to military strengthen the Alliance's military and weaken their bitter and longtime enemies to end a ForeverWar. Then she becomes a major force behind a dangerous and ill-advised AIIsACrapshoot project that nearly destroys the Alliance from within due to her paranoia about not being able to trust the military to do what she wants anymore, even though the original war is over. As of ''Boundless'', Costa seems primarily focused on trying to avoid punishment for her role in the fiasco.

** Alpharius [[spoiler: and Omegon]], as revealed in the book ''Legion'', sided with Horus [[spoiler: to ensure that Chaos ultimately lost the war]]. There are several problems, however: first is that the Alpha Legion is notoriously decentralized and secretive, second is that Alpharius was reportedly killed during the Heresy, and third is that [[spoiler:Omegon at some point began plotting behind his twin's back]]. The net result is that we can't be sure who the modern Alpha Legion is following or what their ultimate goals are, assuming it even has a unified agenda anymore.

* Heroes in ''TabletopGame/BeastThePrimordial'' originated as a sort of balancing tool for the Primordial Dream: their job was to keep Beasts in check. Modern ones have largely, although not universally, degenerated into callous narcissists interested solely in killing Beasts for glory.
* ''TabletopGame/DeltaGreen'': What leads to [[TheMenInBlack Majestic-12's]] demise. The group originnaly made a pact with TheGreys to have their technology in exchange for allowing the greys to experiment on humans, as the MJ-12s Steering Committee saw as the only way humanity could actually compete and fight with the other [[EldritchAbomination more powerful aliens]]. Some elements inside it started to see that MJ-12 degenerated into almost woshipped Grey technology for its own sake like a CargoCult instead of protecting the United States and Humanity as it was their original mission. Eventually those who thought like that work to take down Majestic from the inside with the help of Delta Green and turn into "The Program".

* Nicholas from WesternAnimation/TheCareBearsMovie just wanted to cast a spell over the two remaining people in the world to get them to feel hatred. In the Dwedit [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvfkvw-luGU Jamez Bond]] flash movie, he now wants to take over the world.

--> '''Marik:''' "No, I don't want to kill you. I just want to destroy you a little is all."

* ''WebVideo/CinemaSins'': Jeremy in later videos frequently forces in his trademark catchphrases and {{Running Gag}}s even when the original reason for doing so doesn't actually apply. For instance, in his early videos, he would sin uses of the phrase "DC Comics" due to the fact that the "C" in "DC" already stands for "Comics", making the "Comics" part redundant. However, in later videos, Jeremy started saying "DC Comics" and adding a sin any time something DC-related was mentioned in a movie, regardless of whether or not the phrase "DC Comics" was ever used in the movie.

** Even more pronounced is what happened to Sauron's former boss, [[GodOfEvil Morgoth]] (who is intended to be {{Satan}}). He started out wanting to create and be the God of his own universe. But as he realized that nobody but God could actually be omnipotent, he gradually descended into a pure OmnicidalManiac, with a corresponding loss of his power as the mightiest angel. At least Sauron kept the same basic ''goal'' (wanting to rule the world) in mind the whole time, even if the reason shifted from "I'm the only one who can run things right," to "UNLIMITED POWER!".

* ''WebVideo/CinemaSins'': Jeremy in later videos frequently forces in his trademark {{Catchphrase}}s and {{Running Gag}}s even when the original reason for doing so doesn't actually apply. For instance, in his early videos, he would sin uses of the phrase "DC Comics" due to the fact that the "C" in "DC" already stands for "Comics", making the "Comics" part redundant. However, in later videos, Jeremy started saying "DC Comics" and adding a sin any time something DC-related was mentioned in a movie, regardless of whether or not the phrase "DC Comics" was ever used in the movie.

* Victor Helios in Creator/DeanKoontz's Frankenstein series first desires to eliminate humanity and replace it with a masterrace of his own creation, and eventually take over the world and the universe. In the sequel series, [[spoiler: his clone who has his memories and personality now just wants to wipe out humanity and then kill himself when it is completed for some reason.]] This is explained by Koontz as the next logical step to the original motivation, even though they are two completely different things.

* Kariya Matou's motivation for entering the Holy Grail War in ''LightNovel/FateZero'' is that by winning, he'll be able to save his adoptive niece Sakura from the abuse of the Matou family patriarch Zouken and return her to her mother, a woman he loves. However, the strain of maintaining a Servant like Berserker and the Matou crest worms eating away at him causes his mind to deteriorate and he becomes obsessed with killing Tokiomi Tohsaka (Sakura's father, the man who unthinkingly gave Sakura to the Matous).

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', the Underminer bombastically rants about declaring "war on peace and happiness" so that "all will tremble before me". In ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'', it turns out all he actually wanted to do was to rob a bank.

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': In this ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' Franchise/MonsterVerse fanfiction, [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonTitansAndOtherCreatures Ghidorah]]'s backstory and further elaboration by Word of God reveal that Ghidorah is originally an InUniverse case of this trope. When it first committed planetary genocide, Ghidorah was only trying to make the excruciating TerribleTicking that commanded it to ceaselessly "'''Kill Them All'''" stop screaming in its [[MultipleHeadCase three heads]], but as Ghidorah committed extinction-level destruction again and again, its minds grew desensitized to the violence and then grew to ''enjoy'' it, until they went from merely being lost, tormented and bewildered animals seeking to PayEvilUntoEvil to instead being the utterly monstrous and malicious OmnicidalManiac we all know Ghidorah as.

** Related to the Satan example is [[EvilOverlord Sauron]] in [[Creator/JRRTolkien Tolkien's]] legendarium -- he starts out as a clever, ManipulativeBastard in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', who works with Morgoth only as part of his agenda to bring order to the world, then gradually degrades to the KillEmAll type seen in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. This was a deliberate piece of decay on Tolkien's part, due to his belief that evil usually starts out with some kind of high-minded ideal but its methods (and Sauron's [[DeathIsCheap multiple deaths]]) eventually ruin its practitioners, leaving them arrogant, hate-filled, mindless destroyers.