History Main / TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized

[[caption-width-right:337:[-[[Theatre/TheScarletPimpernel "Hail Her Majesty: MADAME GUILLOTINE!"]]-] ]]

* ''Literature/IndustrialSocietyAndItsFuture'': Kaczynski says a revolution against industrial society could be done using peaceful means, but he's still more than willing to use violence assuming it's necessary (this is not at all surprising given his real mail-bombing campaign).

* A couple examples from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** Jet's Freedom Fighters are not a particularly nice bunch. Despite being a charming group of kids who initially help out Team Avatar, they're actually willing to do pretty terrible things to wipe out the Fire Nation. At one point, they attempt to flood a town filled with innocent civilians, simply because the Fire Nation was occupying it. To their credit, the group realizes their mistake and makes a HeelFaceTurn shortly after the flooding fiasco. Despite [[TheAtoner efforts to do the same]], Jet himself ends up stuck in the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, though he eventually ends up on the right side, yet his whole movement eventually fell apart.
** The Omashu Resistance also does some unscrupulous things in their efforts to drive out the Fire Nation occupying their city. The first thing we see them do is attempting an assassination of the governor's family, including his infant son. Again, they perform a HeelFaceTurn shortly afterwards.
* The main antagonists of the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' are the Equalists, a revolutionary group dedicated to seizing more power for [[MugglePower non-benders]] and attempting to [[AntimagicalFaction bring down bending altogether.]] After a terrorist attack in a public event, they end up ''bombing the city'' -- and while the show can't explicitly say civilians died, anyone looking at the wreckage knows they did.
** The Red Lotus in Season 3 desire to bring down the very concept of government so that humanity as a whole will be free and live as they should, with no nations of any kind and in total anarchy. [[BombThrowingAnarchists Suffice to say]], they're quite ruthless and violent, and ultimately their efforts end in vain as most of them end up dead or see the arrival of a true tyrant in Kuvira after their actions destroyed the Earth Kingdom.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Tim manages to stumble into the middle of a revolution in the small dictatorship of Transbelvia where, while their opponents are still worse, the revolutionaries do such things as blow up places full of civilians to try and kill members of the regime who happen to be visiting.

* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', the flashbacks to the mid-1860s in the manga around the beginning of the Jinchuu arc and the Remembrance {{OVA}}s, and Ishida's group in Peacemaker Kurogane. However, in reality, the first wave of "Patriots of the Restoration" was a lot worse than shown in Ruro Ken, murdering any merchant who had dealings with westerners.

* ''Literature/RebuildWorld'': In the {{Cyberpunk}} setting, where a collection of MegaCorp form the government in the region the characters live in, the local rebels are known as the Nationalists. They are supported by a collection of independent nations to the west of the Corporate Government, with the stated goal of restoring national sovereignty. Most of their troops seem to be a FullConversionCyborg. They are always seen doing criminal acts, and one of their goals is to prepare a FinalSolution for the DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals known as Old World Connectors. Notably, a lot of their supposed activities are actually a FalseFlagOperation launched [[WeAreStrugglingTogether by different factions within the government.]] Their most prominent representative is the WarriorPoet [[IHaveManyNames Kain/Nergo]].

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': In the CyberPunk setting, where a collection of MegaCorp form the government in the region the characters live in, the local rebels are known as the Nationalists. They are supported by a collection of independent nations to the west of the Corporate Government, with the stated goal of restoring national sovereignty. Most of their troops seem to be a FullConversionCyborg. They are always seen doing criminal acts, and one of their goals is to prepare a FinalSolution for the DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals known as Old World Connectors. Notably, a lot of their supposed activities are actually a FalseFlagOperation launched [[WeAreStrugglingTogether by different factions within the government.]] Their most prominent representative is the WarriorPoet [[IhaveManyNames Kain/Nergo]].

* ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOFOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'': In the AlternateTimeline Marie Route, the OpportunisticBastard Earl Garrett, an officer within the Principality of Fanoss, launches a MilitaryCoup with the other WarHawk faction members to depose Princess Hertrauda, using her as TheScapegoat for their failed war against The Holfort Kingdom. [[spoiler:Leon, who swears a DeclarationOfProtection to Hertrauda at her dying sister's LastRequest, crushes them in a MookHorrorShow and arrests Garrett.]]

* VideoGame/{{Brigador}} has two factions rising up against the brutal dictatorship that lorded over the third-world planet of the game -- the "Solo Nobre Concern", a collection of {{Mega Corp}}s that fight against the Loyalist government so they can establish their hypercapitalist regime, and pay their mercenaries to destroy property and kill civilians, and the Corvids, a far-left collection of radical collectivists, anarchists, and other far-left philosophies that use suicide bombers disguised as civilians and civilian centers as {{human shield}}s. Both sides rampage through populated cities with glee

* ''Series/CarnivalRow'': The Faun cultists slaughter a human bigot in a ritualistic manner, and then kill one of their kind who's a servant to impersonate him in an attempt to murder the Chancellor. All this only leads to harsh measures against all the Fae in retaliation, likely fomenting further unrest.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' takes place during the Skyrim CivilWar, which pits the [[VestigialEmpire crumbling Cyrodiilic Empire]] against the [[HornyVikings Nordic]] Stormcloak rebels, led by [[RebelLeader Ulfric Stormcloak]]. The war itself is a sterling example of GreyAndGrayMorality and BothSidesHaveAPoint in action, neither side is "right", and both sides have negative aspects. That said, the actions of the Stormcloaks do cause them to fit the bill as violent revolutionaries in line with this trope. Most Stormcloaks display a noticeable degree of FantasticRacism against non-Nord races (with plenty of "Skyrim is for the Nords" rhetoric), especially toward the refugee Dunmer, and their rebellion is perceived by Empire-supporters as [[HonorBeforeReason ill-timed and short-sighted]], especially in the face of the true threat of the [[AntiHumanAlliance Aldmeri Dominion]]. Further, Ulfric has taken some rather "uncivilized" (at least from the perspective of his opponents) actions leading up to the war. When the Reachmen (see below) captured the Nord city of Markarth, Ulfric led the Nord militia which aggressively and violently drove the Reachmen from the city. Further, Ulfric instigated the civil war itself by killing High King Torygg in a duel to the death for the throne (citing an archaic but legitimate practice among the Nords as a pretext for this). Stormcloak wins by using the [[LanguageOfMagic Thu'um]] to kill Torygg. Victorious, Stormcloak and his followers feel that he should be named the new High King of Skyrim. The Jarls of Skyrim, who vote for the new High King, [[SuccessionCrisis are torn]] due to Stormcloak's use of the Thu'um being seen as cheating. Eastern Skyrim secedes under Stormcloak's leadership, while western Skyrim (backed by the Empire) supports Torygg's widow, Elisif, for the throne.

The anti-trope to TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified, this is a considerably DarkerAndEdgier version of LaResistance. This is different from the TheRemnant, in that [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the remnant are the leftover of the Empire after it has fallen]]. However, it is important to mention that these rebels tend more often than not to be portrayed heroically (at least at first). The rebels are all [[AntiHero anti-heroes]] at best, as brutal or more so than their enemies. At worst, for every idealist, there are five extremists who genuinely believe that they have the right to be as cruel and brutal to the opposition as possible, thugs who signed up for the looting, and/or psychos who just want an excuse to rape and kill people (if the RebelLeader is one of these, then it might be an indication that the rebellion is villainous in this case, or, at the very least, is one hell of a FallenHero if they weren't always like that). No matter whose side you're on, it's sacrifice, honor, duty, and "shut up and follow orders!" They will usually be led by a rebel version of GeneralRipper, or possibly a subversion of that archetype. The more desperate the circumstances, the more brutal the rebels get; expect lots of RapePillageAndBurn on any village that they even ''suspect'' isn't sympathetic to their cause, ColdBloodedTorture and other forms of extreme cruelty towards [=POWs=], and lots of MakeAnExampleOfThem to frighten those who are on the fence into supporting them, often in the form of [[CruelAndUnusualDeath horrifically brutal]] [[PublicExecution public executions]]. Depending on the nature of the conflict, genocide may or may not wind up entering the picture; if the ruling power is largely comprised of one specific ethnic or religious group, it's probably a safe bet that all members of that group will be targeted, and if the revolution is successful under these circumstances, a FinalSolution of some sort is all but guaranteed.

* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, Skrull Kill Krew.

* ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'': V makes no bones about the fact that he is a terrorist. [[note]]But he also recognizes that such a person (or monster) has no place building or living in the new world that will rise from the ashes of the old (the one he plans to burn down). He is an agent of death and destruction, a weapon to be cast away when it has served its purpose.[[/note]]

** Both the UFLL and APR in ''VideoGame/FarCry2''. Sure, they both claim to be fighting for their people's best interests, but really they're both as corrupt and vicious as each other. [[spoiler:The game's ending has the player rejecting both factions and siding with The Jackal, and [[KillEmAll killing every named leader in either faction]].]]

The reasons and debate on whether revolutions have to be, or inevitably will be un-civilized are quite complex and a subject of study by many historians. Most revolutions do not happen in a vacuum of ideological freedom. Luck, chance and {{Realpolitik}} play a major role, and even the most severe revolutionaries like UsefulNotes/CheGuevara, UsefulNotes/LeonTrotsky or even Robespierre did not start out as politically radical to begin with, rather they radicalized as a result of circumstances and existing pressures. And of course, even if a Revolution is successful, TheRemnant of the earlier regime might decide to foment allies from neighbouring nations who also feel that the BalanceOfPower is becoming upset, and the existing revolution is creating a bad example for their own people. The end result can be that a revolution on behalf of the people ends up becoming a power-play between governments of two nations, neither of them really have the best interests of the people on the ground.

* In ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' Rock encounters an ex-Japanese Red Army member in "Lock And Load Revolution". The old man was an idealist working for a world revolution, [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids and verged into terrorism]]. After the movement fell, he joined forces with other terrorists, in present, an Islamic group led by a Lebanese Jihadist. Also, the super-{{Meido}} Roberta was a Cuban trained assassin and a FARC guerrilla who became disillusioned when she realized she was just a guard dog for TheCartel.

* ''Anime/Metropolis2001'': The Zone 1 rebels are shown to lash out against the defenseless robots, and launch a violent assault against the Marduks working for the Red Duke. Ultimately, they fail because their uprising was engineered by their opposition, and the rebel leader falls to a trap alongside his troops.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', perennial anti-hero Sasuke Uchiha announces he intends to become Hokage and change the world so that no-one will have to suffer like he did. [[spoiler:He later clarifies that he intends to do so by sealing away the Tailed Beasts and killing the Five Kage while they're still trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, as well as anyone else who tries to stop him, starting with Naruto]].

** The success of the Revolutionary Army's ideals being spread around the world? Mostly owed to good-old-fashioned warfare. [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified Then again, against the corrupt World Government, not exactly a hard choice.]]
** The Sun Pirates, a pirate crew of former Fish-men slaves under the command of the Fish-man Fisher Tiger, fight the World Government's oppression with violence, assaulting ships to free the slaves. However, in his deathbed, Fisher Tiger admits that his actions would just lead to more violence since humans and fishmen would never get along this way.

* This is a major issue in ''ComicBook/BeastWarsUprising''; the Resistance has noble motives for rebelling against the Builders, but Lio Convoy’s “[[ShootTheDog no matter the cost]]” attitude quickly leads to them becoming a bunch of ultra-ruthless psychos that are hardly any better than the Builders and drive out all the sane members for [[SarcasmMode the hideous crime]] of not playing jump rope with the MoralEventHorizon. By the end, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Lio comes to deeply regret everything about the Resistance]] and [[spoiler:the [[EarnYourHappyEnding happy ending]] only comes about, in-part, because the most of the radicals die [[HeelRealization or learn their lessons]] in the Vehicon Apocalypse.]]

In fact, after the Rebels won at Endor, destroying the Death Star, one of the first acts of the New Republic they established was to execute Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik for war crimes after he was captured in this battle. With Palpatine and Vader dead, he was pretty much one of the highest ranking Imperials captured. Tragic fact that Teshik was one of the few decent Imperials.

* The secession of Westerguard in ''Fanfic/WhatAboutWitchQueen'' zig-zags this and [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeVillified the opposite]]. On one hand, large majority of population is with the secessionists and Hans makes sure to arrest rather than kill the opposing forces. On the other, ship sequester [[GoneHorriblyWrong turns into bloody mess]], and friendly fire issues are visited.
* ''Fanfic/ByTheHandsOfThePeople'' is a two-shot where a rebel army kidnap Queen Elsa and her sister. They later execute a RulingFamilyMassacre on the two. The entire time, Elsa refuses to fight her own countrymen, so neither sister put up a resistance.
* Prior to ''Fanfic/{{Queens}}'', the Evil Queen turned against the Storyteller and lead a Rebellion with various other Rebels who didn't like their destinies. She poisoned the world of Wonderland and corrupted countless fairy-tales.

* ''Film/AcrossTheUniverse2007'': The anti-war group Lucy is in turns violent after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_University_protests_of_1968 Columbia University occupation]] gets shut down. She walks in on them building pipe bombs, and says sorrowfully that she thought it was the government who used them. Later they [[HoistByHisOwnPetard accidentally blow themselves up]].

* In ''Film/{{Che}}'', UsefulNotes/CheGuevara makes no bones about the fact that violence is a necessary part of revolution. He openly admits in his speech at the UN to having overseen the executions of both former members of the Batista regime and people convicted of conspiring against the Castro government. He also rejects the head of the Bolivian Communist Party's call to hold off an armed revolution and try for a political solution, insisting that imperialism ''cannot'' be defeated peacefully, and that an armed struggle is the only path to freedom.

* In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', Bane presents himself as a revolutionary trying to free Gotham from the control of its corrupt elite. His methods? Gather an army mostly made up of mercenaries and [[spoiler: escaped convicts, trap most of Gotham's police underground, put all members of high society and other dissidents through a KangarooCourt, and threaten to detonate a nuke if anyone tries to interfere.]] And through all of this, [[spoiler: Bane is not remotely interested in helping Gotham. The entire point of the "revolution" is to spread chaos and distract the populace from his true plan of destroying Gotham. Given that Bane is an extremist member of the already extreme League of Shadows though, whose agenda was more draconian and anti-crime, Banes revolutionary rhetoric might not have been all that honest to begin with.]]

* ''Film/NoGodNoMaster'': Luigi Galleani calls for massive bloodshed to bring down the system, which his followers carry out through bombings. Other anarchists such as Emma Goldman denounce this however.

* In contrast to the rebels of the later films, the Separatists in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels are almost entirely shown as being evil. Their rebellion against the republic is little more than a big business backed attempt to rule the galaxy in the name of profit, with all of the big names fully aware of this. Being controlled by a [[EvilOverlord Sith lord]] and a [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul homicidal cyborg]] certainly didn't help their cause's reputation either. It's only the planets that revolt against the Republic in hope of receiving Confederacy assistance that actually believe in the moral cause beyond lip service.

* In ''Film/ToKillADragon'', after the Dragon is slain, the city descends into anarchy, so rape, robbery and senseless violence ensue.

* A problem for Pancho Villa in ''Film/VivaVilla''. Madero coaxes Pancho into supporting him by saying that the revolution needs to be civilized, and that Pancho needs to fight as an organized army and not murder the enemy soldiers he captures. Pancho is reluctant, but agrees, and does become civilized for a time. But after Madero is killed Pancho fights back in his old prisoner-killing bandit style, which costs him the support of idealists like Don Felipe. And when he takes over as President of Mexico, Pancho is an incompetent administrator, which he eventually admits.

** ''Literature/{{Demons}}'' argues that violence is a tool of binding revolutionaries together in a single unit, since everyone is equally dehumanized and guilty, and molded on the path to discipline. The revolutionaries in the book are so obsessed with this form of discipline that they never think of actual political ideology. So they become corrupt and abusive, led by Pyotr Verkhovensky, their ideologist who preaches about the necessity of wiping out millions of people for the victory of the revolution and finally kills [[spoiler:one of his own cell members on the suspicion that he could be TheMole. Likewise, the original ideologist of the group, Nikolai Stavrogin, who they all believe to be a ByronicHero, is in fact a self-destructive nihilist reeling from guilt at the time he raped a little girl]]. What is even worse, the leader of this group has a prototype from real life -- Sergey Nechaev, one of the most infamous Russian terrorists of that time.

* This is a major theme in ''Mockingjay'', the last book in ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' trilogy by Suzanne Collins. By the end the rebellion only avoids simply becoming a direct copy of the EvilEmpire they were trying to replace by a narrow margin.

* In ''Literature/ThePowderMageTrilogy'' it opens with the hero leading a coup against a corrupt king. The first act of said revolution is killing almost every mage in the Royal Cabal in their sleep. It escalates into mass public beheadings of the nobility (including the king), riots, and a war with a neighboring country.

* The theme of ''The Resistance Trilogy'' by Clive Egleton, set in a [[AlternateHistory Soviet-occupied Britain]]. Innocent bystanders get killed and those at the sharp end find themselves manipulated, or even targeted for killing, by their superiors. In the final novel the Soviets are pulling out of Britain due to war with China. This should be a time of victory, but instead the 'moderate' wing of LaResistance forms an alliance with TheQuisling government to destroy their hardline members (including the protagonist). The novels end on a former Resistance member, now Minister of the Interior, announcing new anti-terrorist measures to counter 'subversion'.

* A recurring element in the ''Literature/TakeshiKovacs'' trilogy, where the ruling Protectorate is repressive and fascist but there's a lack of good alternatives. Kovacs is reluctant to join the neo-Quellist revolution in ''Woken Furies'' because in his experience, revolutionaries rarely turn out to be better than the people they're overthrowing. He had personal experience with this in ''Broken Angels'' with Joshua Kemp, a charismatic revolutionary who used Quellist rhetoric to justify using nuclear weapons on innocent civilians.

* ''Series/BabylonBerlin'' features a band of Trotskyists who plan to put a stop Josef Stalin's bloody reign in Russia from abroad. Literally the ''first'' thing they're shown doing is commandeer a train bound for Germany and execute all the engine-drivers.

* ''Series/SovietStormWorldWarIIInTheEast'' has the Soviet partisan movement in the German-occupied territories. Their methods include causing as much wanton destruction to German infrastructure and materiel as possible. On the side, they also execute collaborators and Nazi sympathizers, often brutally.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': The Bajoran Resistance. They were anti-heroes at the very best, had a running mantra of IDidWhatIHadToDo and were sometimes even explicitly referred to as "terrorists", and not just by Cardassians (though usually). Ditto the Maquis.

* Music/TheRevolutionWillNotBeTelevised by Music/GilScottHeron is the TropeNamer. In this musically accompanied poem Scott-Heron predicts that the revolution will not be broadcast on TV for you to enjoy from your lazy seat, but it will indeed be a real society changing revolt that is not to be taken lightly.

--> ''"You can only help one of your luckless brothers/By trampling down a dozen others."''

* This was the foundation behind the ''Theatre/TheScarletPimpernel'' franchise, with the underlying story being about a brave and heroic British aristocrat seeking to rescue French aristocrats from the revolution and its guillotines. The revolutionaries are portrayed as bloodthirsty, malicious and ignorant, whilst the audience's sympathy is expected to lie with the aristocrats who are being butchered in droves.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' has the land of Galt, a pastiche of Revolutionary France, which has devolved into a blood-soaked anarchy where different factions within the former revolution ascend and fall by whipping up the mobs against each other, resulting in an endless cycle of bloody revolution punctuated with gratuitous guillotining. They're so bad that everyone regards Galt as a pocket of blood-crazed madmen, with even the country of Andoran (a post-War of Independence America pastiche, who were inspired by the first Galtan revolution) and the goddess Milani (goddess of revolution and the opposition of slavery and tyrants), looking down on Galt and wanting nothing to do with it.
* ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'': The Ebb Revolutions on Mars were brutal socialist uprisings sponsored by the Soviets which usually involved a city's entire Silthuri, Kastari and Pilthuri castes being executed, along with anyone else deemed counter-revolutionary.

* ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'' is filled a bunch of extremely violent rebel movements who are either a) A fake movement or b) plans to start their rebellion by causing as much destruction.

* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', the floating city of Columbia is controlled by Zachary Comstock and the Founders, xenophobic white-supremacists who brutally oppress all black, Irish, Chinese and Indian citizens within the city. Opposing them is the Vox Populi, made up largely of the people mistreated by the Founders and led by Daisy Fitzroy. [[WellIntentionedExtremist The Vox Populi's grievances are understandable]], but they have degenerated into vicious marauders who mercilessly bully and butcher the citizens of the city. When the revolt gets underway, Booker and Elizabeth come across the aftermath of many a firing squad and towards the end, Fitzroy [[spoiler: even tries to kill Booker and Elizabeth.]]

* The "Settlement Defense Front" (SDF) from ''VideoGame/CallofDutyInfiniteWarfare'' organize themselves as a revolutionary group that is fighting against an oppressive and overreaching terrestrial government ([[TheFederation the United Nations Space Alliance]]). However they are violent and inhumane, slaughtering both military and civilian targets across the Solar System. Their real goal seems to be controlling the supply of Earth's fuel by disrupting the various outposts across the Solar System and seizing them.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' games, the Resistance is very, very much willing to use hardball tactics. The best example of this is the protagonist, the unleashing of whom on a target is not unlike using a tactical nuke, but in the manual it also notes that while General Maxis seems sincere in his ideals, the WEC has tried to get him to surrender himself, dismantle the Resistance, or do less drastically stupid things by threatening civilians. Maxis has never given in, nor tried a third option.

** The higher ups in the organization seem to be {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s at best. However, for the lower-ranking members, dialogue that can be had with a bum being hassled by NSF mercs indicate that the NSF happily takes anyone in and arms them, and some people just use that as a chance to get free guns and ammo to do whatever they want.
** Enough investigation of NSF terminals reveals the higher ups do ''not'' approve of the worst behavior you see NSF grunts involved in, such as hostage taking and robbery, and are deeply concerned about the effects of this behavior on public perception of their cause. Yet they also recognize such behavior is hardly surprising, given that by necessity their organization is largely made up of poorly trained would-be revolutionaries of all descriptions fighting against a ruthless enemy that outguns them badly, causing bad decisions to be made in the heat of the moment.
* The mage revolt in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' is very brutal, and when [[OnlySaneMan Thrask]] goes down the hotheads take control and run away with it.
* The Freemen of the Dales from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' are deserters from the armies of both Empress Celene and Gaspard de Chalons who became weary of fighting a civil war and are attempting to claim the Dales. They are incredibly violent and will attack both the Inquisition and refugees fleeing the civil war on sight. As well, they are the [[UnwittingPawn unwitting pawns]] of the Elder One, as they were coaxed on by his servants and are used to transport red lyrium through the Dales to be used by the Red Templars.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' takes place during the Skyrim CivilWar, which pits the [[VestigialEmpire crumbling Cyrodiilic Empire]] against the [[HornyVikings Nordic]] Stormcloak rebels, led by [[RebelLeader Ulfric Stormcloak]]. The war itself is a sterling example of GreyAndGrayMorality and BothSidesHaveAPoint in action, neither side is "right", and both sides have negative aspects. That said, the actions of the Stormcloaks do cause them to fit the bill as violent revolutionaries in line with this trope. Most Stormcloaks display a noticeable degree of FantasticRacism against non-Nord races (with plenty of "Skyrim is for the Nords" rhetoric), especially toward the refugee Dunmer, and their rebellion is perceived by Empire-supporters as [[HonorBeforeReason ill-timed and short-sighted]], especially in the face of the true threat of the [[AntiHumanAlliance Aldmeri Dominion]]. Further, Ulfric has taken some rather "uncivilized" (at least from the perspective of his opponents) actions leading up to the war. When the Reachmen (see below) captured the Nord city of Markarth, Ulfric led the Nord militia which aggressively and violently drove the Reachmen from the city. Further, Ulfric instigated the civil war itself by killing High King Torygg in a duel to the death for the throne (citing an archaic but legitimate practice among the Nords as a pretext for this). Stormcloak wins by using the [[LanguageOfMagic Thu'um]] to kill Torygg. Victorious, Stormcloak and his followers feel that he should be the named the new High King of Skyrim. The Jarls of Skyrim, who vote for the new High King, [[SuccessionCrisis are torn]] due to Stormcloak's use of the Thu'um being seen as cheating. Eastern Skyrim secedes under Stormcloak's leadership, while western Skyrim (backed by the Empire) support Torygg's widow, Elisif, for the throne.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'', there are many factions triyng to overthrown the Colony government. Every Colony has at least one. In storyline, [[spoiler: Lane Hackers, Blood Dragons and Bundshchuh]] are even played as good guys. And even other factions like Mollys actaully have at least not ultimately evil intentions. But how all this factions making their point? By attacking innocent trade convoys not unlike other utterly criminal pirate factions without any morale.

* ''VideoGame/{{Homefront}}'': The protagonists joins the Resistance who are willing to use white phosphorous mortars on GKR mooks, who are portrayed as monstrous. But the Resistance are quite tame compared to the survivalists who are jerks to everyone who aren't on their side, and are very racist against Asians.

* It looks like ''VideoGame/SatelliteReign'' will fall into this. The organization you and your Agents belong to are nominally fighting against the oppressive {{Mega Corp}}s, but since this is a SpiritualSuccessor to ''VideoGame/{{Syndicate}}'', assassination, embezzlement, brainwashing civilians into involuntary meatshields and all other manner of morally suspect behaviour is definitely on the cards. [[spoiler:Then in the ending your benefactor ends up being ''worse'' than the BigBad, by using the hijacked satellite (which you helped doing in the final fight) to initiate the apocalypse.]]

** [[VideoGame/StarCraftI The first game]] has Sons of Korhal, a revolutionary group established after Terran Confederacy, dominant human faction in sector at the time, nuked their planet to kingdom come. They've been waging a guerrila war against the oppressive government ever since. Eventually, they succeed in overthrowing it by luring [[HordeOfAlienLocusts a horde of the Zerg]] to their capital world of Tarsonis, leading to a global slaughter and deaths of billions of people -- not just Confederate government officials, but countless innocent civilians. Soon, they establish a new government called Terran Dominion, a totalitarian dictatorship which turns out to be [[FullCircleRevolution just as oppressive as its predecessor]].

** Played straight again in ''VideoGame/StarCraftIINovaCovertOps'' [=DLC=] campaign with Defenders of Man, far less heroic anti-Dominion organization which seeks to depose its new emperor Valerian Mengsk, claiming that his leniency towards alien races puts humanity at danger. To make a point, they secretly stage a few invasions themselves, luring feral Zerg to Dominion worlds via psi emitters and launching unprovoked attacks on Tal'darim outposts, prompting them to retaliate. This of course leads to many senseless massacres and millions of civilian fatalities, just to further their cause.

* Played for BlackComedy in ''VideoGame/ToothAndTail''. The entire plot hinges on a sort of reenactment of the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar '''[-[[RecycledInSpace WITH CUTE ANIMALS]]-]''', where a civilisation of animals refuse to eat grains and plants even though they're not in shortage and instead promote the "civilised virtue" of a carnivorous diet. The four factions, the Longcoats (republican capitalists), Commonfolk ([[RedScare communists]]), Civilised (the priesthood and noble class) and the KSR (StateSec) are actually pretty similar and only guided by a single principle: they want meat and don't want to share. When the pigs ([[CarnivoreConfusion who are docile and kept as livestock]]) start to die out due to over-consumption, the warring factions start ''eating each other's fallen''. [[spoiler:And then in the end it turns out the pigs had actually been secretly feigning their death, and once the factions have exhausted themselves in fighting each other, the pigs rise up and kill them all.]]

* The French Revolution in ''Literature/LookToTheWest'' starts out being as violent as our history's...and never really calms down. In the long term this has the effect of forcing nearly all reformist movements to be more nonviolent by default, just to avoid the comparison.
* Both this trope and it's inverse characterize the Red May Revolution in ''Literature/RedsARevolutionaryTimeline'' While the communist revolution in America doesn't lead to a Soviet style nightmare, it is far from a tea party. The revolutionaries may have the moral high ground in the face of the dictatorial reaction by the old regime, but they still have their own Red Terror and KangarooCourt system. Anti-authoritarian currents in American society appear to have won out by the present day, as the Red Terror seems to be pretty universally regarded as a mistake.
* In the short story ''Literature/TheRevolution'', the protagonist witnesses his wife, oldest son, and scores of others die at the hands of his own government. Once given the chance to [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge fight back]], he racks up 134 kills in just a few months, and vows to not stop until the rest of the tyrannical government is dead or about to hang.
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Under Ghira Belladonna's leadership, the White Fang was originally a peaceful protest group seeking to end the second-class-citizen status of [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]] and achieve equality with humans. Impatient with the slow rate of progress, Sienna Khan led a coup of the old order to establish a more militant organisation that is willing to use violence where necessary to achieve equality at a faster rate. Ghira Belladonna left the White Fang, disapproving of Sienna's methods even if they agree on the end-goal. However, Adam Taurus leads the Vale branch of the White Fang and is seeking a much more extreme form of terrorism. He has no interest in equality with humanity; he believes in Faunus superiority and wants humanity subjugated and enslaved to them. He uses violence as a standard tactic instead of a last resort and he has no problem in letting entire units of Faunus be killed if it will help him achieve his goal. He also has no tolerance for defection; defectors get hunted down and killed if they try and escape the organisation. [[spoiler:His willingness to destroy symbols of human authority, such as Beacon Academy, puts him at odds with Sienna Khan, who seems him as a threat to the White Fang's existence and ability to eventually achieve peace with humanity. He responds by killing her and taking her place as High Leader of the full organisation. When he learns that his defected ex-girlfriend and daughter of the original leader, Blake Belladonna, is attempting to recruit a Faunus army in Menagerie to protect Haven Academy from suffering Beacon's fate, he decides to honour a promise he once made to her -- to destroy everything she loves just for turning her back on him and his cause. He sends assassins to murder Blake's parents and capture her to send a message to Menagerie that Faunus are either with him or against him. It backfires on him when the Faunus, who had been reluctant to put their lives on the line for humans, are so angry with Adam turning on his own kind that they unite together, save Haven Academy from being destroyed, and alert the Mistral Police Force to what Adam's doing. Adam is forced to go on the run leaving behind a re-energised Ghira Belladonna, who decides to create a brand new equal rights Faunus organisation.]]
* ''TabletopGame/TechInfantry'' has various rebel factions, from the Christian Federation and their penchant for suicide-ramming freighters into enemy vessels, to the Liberation and their campaign of terror-bombings. Even the Resistance has as their main gripe the fact that supernaturally-powered humans are forced to serve in the Tech Infantry SpaceMarine forces. These forces are fighting against [[BugWar alien Bugs]] that want to eat everyone, other aliens that want to kill all humans and take their planets as living space, and still other aliens who want to enslave humans and work them all to death. This makes their occasionally violent tactics seem a bit extreme. Although the Earth Federation and the Middle Kingdom that replaces it are both quite nasty, the aliens -- especially the Bugs -- are usually worse, and the endless rebellions, mutinies, and civil wars make it darn hard to fight the Bugs as a united front.

** The Omashu Resistance also does some unscrupulous things in their efforts to drive out the Fire Nation occupying their city. The first thing we see them do is attempt an assassination of the governor's family, including his infant son. Again, they perform a HeelFaceTurn shortly afterwards.
* The main antagonists of the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' are the Equalists, a revolutionary group dedicated to seizing more power for [[MugglePower non-benders]] and attempting to [[AntimagicalFaction bring down bending all together.]] After a terrorist attack in a public event, they end up ''bombing the city'' -- and while the show can't explicitly say civilians died, anyone looking at the wreckage knows they did.
** The Red Lotus in Season 3 desire to bring down the very concept of government so that humanity as a whole will be free and live as they should, with no nations of any kind and in total anarchy. [[BombThrowingAnarchists Suffice to say]], they're quite ruthless and violent, and ultimately their efforts end in vain as most of them end up dead or see the arrival of a true tyrant in Kuvira, after their actions destroyed the Earth Kingdom.
* ''WesternAnimation/LibertysKids'' takes a surprisingly sophisticated look at UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution for its intended audience. For instance, while it treats the overall goals of the American Independence as a good thing, the negative elements like mob violence, slavery and the privations Native Americans suffered in the conflict are not overlooked while the British/Loyalist side are allowed to express their point of view.

* Both this trope and it's inverse characterize the Red May Revolution in ''Literature/{{Reds}}'' While the communist revolution in America doesn't lead to a Soviet style nightmare, it is far from a tea party. The revolutionaries may have the moral high ground in the face of the dictatorial reaction by the old regime, but they still have their own Red Terror and KangarooCourt system. Anti-authoritarian currents in American society appear to have won out by the present day, as the Red Terror seems to be pretty universally regarded as a mistake.

* Invoked by one of the guerillas Corinne joins up with near the end of Creator/JeanLucGodard's ''Film/{{Weekend}}'':

* The coup in ''Film/NoEscape'' is violent, bloody, and not only involves civilians but actively targets them.

* The [[Characters/XMenBrotherhoodOfMutants Brotherhood of Mutants]] from the ''Franchise/XMen'' comics are an example of a revolutionary group of this type that never seems to get very far with their revolution. The few times they ''have'' seized a measure of control, such as when Magneto took over the nation of San Marco in the 60s or when he (later retconned into an impostor of him) briefly seized control of New York during the "Planet X" story, out came the [[PuttingOnTheReich M-armband wearing stormtroopers]] and guillotines and, in the latter story, even ''[[UpToEleven crematoriums]]''.

* ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts}}'' featured the royal family of Homeworld as good guys, displaced from their home by violent revolutionaries under the leadership of the ObviouslyEvil Baron Karza. Karza's rhetoric seems to involve a lot of class warfare elements, with him promising immortality to the commoners.

See also FullCircleRevolution and RevolvingDoorRevolution.

If the rebels act like this trope but [[DesignatedHero are still treated like heroes]], than the result might be the audience RootingForTheEmpire.

The anti-trope to TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified, this is a considerably DarkerAndEdgier version of LaResistance. This is different from the TheRemnant, in that [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the remnant are the leftover of the Empire after it has fallen]]. However, it is important to mention that these rebels tend more often than not to be portrayed heroically (at least at first). The rebels are all {{antihero}}es at best, as brutal or more so than their enemies. At worst, for every idealist, there are five extremists who genuinely believe that they have the right to be as cruel and brutal to the opposition as possible, thugs who signed up for the looting, and/or psychos who just want an excuse to rape and kill people (if the RebelLeader is one of these, then it might be an indication that the rebellion is villainous in this case, or, at the very least, is one hell of a FallenHero if they weren't always like that). No matter whose side you're on, it's sacrifice, honor, duty, and "shut up and follow orders!" They will usually be led by a rebel version of GeneralRipper, or possibly a subversion of that archetype. The more desperate the circumstances, the more brutal the rebels get; expect lots of RapePillageAndBurn on any village that they even ''suspect'' isn't sympathetic to their cause, ColdBloodedTorture and other forms of extreme cruelty towards [=POWs=], and lots of MakeAnExampleOfThem to frighten those who are on the fence into supporting them, often in the form of [[CruelAndUnusualDeath horrifically brutal]] [[PublicExecution public executions]]. Depending on the nature of the conflict, genocide may or may not wind up entering the picture; if the ruling power is largely comprised of one specific ethnic or religious group, it's probably a safe bet that all members of that group will be targeted, and if the revolution is successful under these circumstances, a FinalSolution of some sort is all but guaranteed.