History Main / StrawNihilist

The basis for the Straw Nihilist is often extreme existential apathy: We are the Void of Consciousness in feverish excitement - if the character is an Eastern Hindu or Buddhist Monk, or mere fluctuations of energy if a Western scientist. So what's the point in [[WideEyedIdealist trying to hope and fantasize]] in a [[CrapsackWorld world full of suffering and destruction where]] [[MightMakesRight morality is dictated by force]]? Good, evil, morality and thought are nothing but illusions of Nothingness.

* ''Series/StrangerThings'': The show’s main antagonist, Vecna says that he is "freeing" his victims by killing them. His MotiveRant towards Eleven before being cast into the Upside Down reveals that he believes the society humanity has created makes life utterly pointless, so in his twisted mind, he is "freeing" everyone he kills from their meaningless existence.

* This is fundamentally the philosophy of Rebrov, the main antagonist of ''The Lazarus Project''; the Project is an organisation dedicated to preventing the end of the world through using time travel, and Rebrov is a previous member of the project as a ‘mutant’ able to [[RippleEffectProofMemory naturally recall the events of previous time loops]] when the system resets. After a particularly traumatic series of loops where he and his lover lost their newborn son (subsequently replaced with a daughter) to prevent a nuclear war, Rebrov becomes fixated on the idea that they aren’t meant to save the world, as the planet essentially “wants” to die and the Lazarus Project are delaying the inevitable.

* ''VideoGame/Destiny2'': The Witness, BigBad of the "Light and Dark Saga", is an unusual example. Billions of years ago, a highly advanced alien species came to the the usual conclusion about the universe being meaningless chaos and nothing mattering in the grand scheme of things. Instead of falling to despair or insane violence, however, they were ''infuriated'', and performed a MergerOfSouls to unite into an entity capable of wielding the power to reshape the universe into one that ''does'' have meaning. Unfortunately, this is bad news for everyone currently living inside said universe, as the Witness's vision for it starts with 'unchanging stasis' and only gets worse from there.

* In the British TV series ''Series/TheFall'', the serial murderer/rapist the police are seeking defends his acts by quoting Nietzsche at length (though he does appear to feel somewhat bad about them, but rationalizes away these impulses he cannot control).

* ''Film/MissionImpossible'': Solomon Lane is considered a nihilist since as his time as an MI6 assassin deepened his anarchistic worldview as he was skeptical about the motives of governments and saw them as corrupt and destructive organizations, all ultimately equal to their egoism and their actions, with the sole aim of leaving everything as it is - for everyone: price. In the climax of ''Fallout'', he was driven by this one goal at the time and is even willing to sacrifice his life for it - even his goal is to die, even though he has options to escape.

* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'':

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]'': [[BrokenBird Susabi]] the fucking downer who tosses such gems as "you must hide your gentleness, lest it become your weakness" and "the world is one big joke" to a ''child''.

* ''Film/MissionImpossible'': Solomon Lane is considered a nihilist since as his time as an MI6 assassin deepened his anarchistic worldview as he was skeptical about the motives of governments and saw them as corrupt and destructive organizations, all ultimately equal to their egoism and their actions, with the sole aim of leaving everything as it is - for everyone: price. In the climax of ''Fallout''he was driven by this one goal at the time and is even willing to sacrifice his life for it - even his goal is to die, even though he has options to escape.

* ''Franchise/MissionImpossible'': Solomon Lane is considered a nihilist since as his time as an MI6 assassin deepened his anarchistic worldview as he was skeptical about the motives of governments and saw them as corrupt and destructive organizations, all ultimately equal to their egoism and their actions, with the sole aim of leaving everything as it is - for everyone: price. In the climax of ''Fallout''he was driven by this one goal at the time and is even willing to sacrifice his life for it - even his goal is to die, even though he has options to escape.

* ''Film/TheEmptyMan'': [[spoiler: Amanda and the Pontifex Society believe that loss is nonexistent and that nothing is real to the world and that The Empty Man, an EldritchAbomination will help humanity to discover the truth of life.]]

We use "[[TheWarOnStraw Straw]]" as part of the title because it's a stereotype that rarely applies to real nihilists. Note that nihilism in its simplest form is the belief that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.[[note]]The key words here are "objective" and "intrisic"; one can be a nihilst and believe that meaning, purpose, and value are imposed subjectively by people. [[/note]]However, the conclusion that life has no meaning does NOT automatically [[BrownNote cause someone to commit suicide or go insane]]. Indeed, most philosophers who specialise in the subject are rather well--adjusted instead of the self-harming and/or psychotic types often portrayed in fiction, and it is possible for one can have a nihilistic outlook on the world at large, and still adhere to personal moral values. See TheAntiNihilist for examples of such subversions.

We use "[[TheWarOnStraw Straw]]" as part of the title because it's a stereotype that rarely applies to real nihilists. Note that nihilism in its simplest form is the belief that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.[[note]]The key words here are "objective" and "intrisic"; one can be a nihilst and believe that meaning, purpose, and value are imposed subjectively by people.[[/note]]However, the conclusion that life has no meaning does NOT automatically [[BrownNote cause someone to commit suicide or go insane]]. Indeed, most philosophers who specialise in the subject are rather well--adjusted instead of the self-harming and/or psychotic types often portrayed in fiction, and it is possible for one can have a nihilistic outlook on the world at large, and still adhere to personal moral values. See TheAntiNihilist for examples of such subversions.

We use "[[TheWarOnStraw Straw]]" as part of the title because it's a stereotype that rarely applies to real nihilists. Note that nihilism in its simplest form is the belief that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. However, the conclusion that life has no meaning does NOT automatically [[BrownNote cause someone to commit suicide or go insane]]. Indeed, most philosophers who specialise in the subject are rather well--adjusted instead of the self-harming and/or psychotic types often portrayed in fiction, and it is possible for one can have a nihilistic outlook on the world at large, and still adhere to personal moral values. See TheAntiNihilist for examples of such subversions.

We use "[[TheWarOnStraw Straw]]" as part of the title because it's a stereotype that rarely applies to real nihilists. Note that nihilism in its simplest form is the belief that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. However, the conclusion that life has no meaning does NOT automatically [[BrownNote cause someone to commit suicide or go insane]]. Indeed, most philosophers who specialise in the subject are rather neurotypical instead of the self-harming and/or psychotic types often portrayed in fiction, and it is possible for one can have a nihilistic outlook on the world at large, and still adhere to personal moral values. See TheAntiNihilist for examples of such subversions.

** [[spoiler:The End]], the BigBad of ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' and the GreaterScopeVillain of the franchise as a whole, believes that life itself is a "teeming chaos" that must be "brought to order", and is certain that the combined efforts of Super Sonic and [[spoiler:the Titan Supreme]] won't be able to defeat it, comparing them to the lengths that the Ancients went to when imprisoning it. It declares Sonic's past foes finite, while declaring itself infinite, even to the point of considering itself as "nothing". To drive this home, the last lines of its monologue are as follows:

** [[spoiler:Merlina]] of ''[[VideoGame/SonicStorybookSeries Sonic and the Black Knight]]'' is a rare truly sympathetic example. [[spoiler:She loves her world, but upon discovering that her world is doomed to end in ruin and warfare since it's Myth/ArthurianLegend, she became depressed and occasionally wondered why they should accomplish anything.]] And unlike most villainous nihilists, who use this as an excuse to commit massive atrocities with no care for others, [[spoiler:[[WellIntentionedExtremist her solution was to try to find a way to make her world eternal to avert the destruction, even if that eternity came at a cost]]]].

** [[spoiler:The End]], the BigBad of ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' and the GreaterScopeVillain of the franchise as a whole, believes that life itself is a “teeming chaos” that must be “brought to order”, and is certain that the combined efforts of Super Sonic and [[spoiler:the Titan Supreme]] won't be able to defeat it, comparing them to the lengths that the Ancients went to when imprisoning it. It declares Sonic's past foes finite, while declaring itself infinite, even to the point of considering itself as "nothing”. To drive this home, the last lines of its monologue are as follows:

* Lord Cronal, BigBad of the Franchise/StarWarsLegends novel ''Literature/LukeSkywalkerAndTheShadowsOfMindor''. He was raised by a cult of [[DarkSide darksiders]] called the Sorcerers of Rhand, who believe that the will of the universe is that entropy and destruction are the only constants, and work to bring this about. At one point Cronal mentally disparages [[LawfulEvil Palpatine]] for attempting to create when he should have destroyed. He's certainly no hypocrite though, since he joined ''another'' cult known as the Prophets of the DarkSide and after siring his daughter [[VideoGame/JediKnightDarkForcesII Sariss]], despised her for being created and had her raped by [[VillainousIncest himself]] and [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil his fellow cultists]]. All of which means that yes, there are people out there in the galaxy who are [[EvenEvilHasStandards nastier than]] [[SocialDarwinist the Sith]].

* ''Film/TheEmptyMan: [[spoiler: Amanda and the Pontifex Society believe that loss is nonexistent and that nothing is real to the world and that The Empty Man, an EldritchAbomination will help humanity to discover the truth of life.]]