History Main / UpsettingTheBalance

** Balance and harmony play a more central theme in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', eventually culminating in the conflict between [[spoiler:Raava and Vaatu, the spirits of order and chaos respectively.]] Every 10,000 years, an event known as [[YinYangClash Harmonic Convergence]] occurs, and these [[spoiler:ancient spirits would have the opportunity to fight for the fate of both the {{Spirit World}} and the world of the humans]]. Had Korra failed to defeat [[spoiler:Vaatu, and his human ally Unalaq, they would have rewarded civilization with an era of darkness]], effectively throwing "balance" as a concept out the window.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': As it turns out, the reason why Remnant is stuck in a {{Forever War}} was because [[BigBad Salem]] [[spoiler:asked the Brothers of Light and Darkness to bring [[BigGood her loved one Ozma]] back from the afterlife. After the Brothers had an argument about what was actually happening, they eventually killed him off again and cursed Salem with {{Complete Immortality}}. As long as she doesn't accept the balance between life and death, she can never [[BarredFromTheAfterlife pass on]].]] Not that she learned her lesson, of course. She then takes this trope further by [[spoiler:convincing humanity to attack the Brothers, ruining the relatively healthy relationship between creator and creation. The Brother of Destruction promptly erased humanity and both Brothers left Salem behind for a long time before bringing back humanity in a weaker form]].

* ''Literature/TheScholomance'': {{Justified|Trope}} by the balance being the self-contained ecosystem of the titular WizardingSchool's PocketDimension. [[KidHero Orion]] has saved over 600 students' lives from the local monster population, meaning the Scholomance has to support more people with less mana, the monsters' FoodChainOfEvil is starving from the bottom up, and the most powerful monsters are getting desperate enough to act out.

** Father was also punished in the finale for [[spoiler: absorbing the {{Gate Of Truth}} to acquire [[GodhoodSeeker the power of God]]... only to lose that power as soon as [[BigGood Hohenheim's]] transmutation circle is activated to reverse Father's transmutation. Without any more souls to sustain him, the Dwarf in the Flask was then pulled back into the Gate that he was summoned from hundreds of years ago]].

* In the prologue of ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'', TheTrickster demigod Maui steals the legendary Heart of Te Fiti, a MineralMacguffin that grants Te Fiti--the PhysicalGod who begat all life on Earth--the power of creation. This leads to a slew of horrific events, including the ferocious attacks of the fire demon Te Ka, Maui himself being separated from the source of his powers (a giant fishhook) and stranded for centuries on a small island, and--worst of all--the generation of a slow WorldWreckingWave that spreads rot and decay to all natural life on the Polynesian Islands (and, it is implied, will continue until the whole world is ruined). [[spoiler: As it turns out, this trope was in effect all along: Te Ka ''is'' Te Fiti, whose anger and pain at losing her Heart transformed her into the demon and led her to start destroying life instead of creating it. After Moana returns the Heart, Te Fiti is freed from her anger, and she promptly sends out a WorldHealingWave to fix the damage she caused in her rage.]]

** In ''So You Want to be a Wizard'', the first book of the series, main characters Nita and Kit are forced to use what's known as a "blank check" spell to recover a TomeOfEldritchLore needed to stop the [[BigBad Lone Power's]] plans. The spell basically asks the Universe to perform a great magical action (in this case, moving an entire creature's lair JustOneSecondOutOfSync to protect his hoard of treasure), and in exchange, the Universe can ask for repayment of an equal or greater amount, "filling in" the check as it sees fit. We only discover the price demanded in the second book, ''Deep Wizardry'': the Universe fully expects [[spoiler: Nita to ''die'' in another ritual. The only way she's able to get around it is by transferring her role in that ritual to a willing being; when this creature fulfills her part by dying himself, the Universe considers the ledgers balanced]].

* In ''WebAnimation/{{Glitchtale}}'', an animated series based off of ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', Frisk goes BeyondTheImpossible to prevent Sans from getting killed in a Genocide Route. This sets up the rest of the story by causing Chara to come back to life, the SAVE file to corrupt, [[spoiler: the RESET button to be unusable, and a [[ObviousRulePatch checksum]] in the form of the [[HumanoidAbomination Bête Noire]] to be created]].

* The first season of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' ends with Jackie and Jade successfully destroying the demon Shendu by blowing up his [[TakenForGranite statue form]] after robbing him of the [[MagicalAccessory Twelve Talismans]] that grant him his powers, including immortality. Instead of celebrating, though, [[BigGood Uncle]] outright panics and tells them that they've [[NiceJobBreakingItHero messed up big time]]--to successfully balance the universe, they had to ''seal'' Shendu, not kill him. His absence creates an EvilPowerVacuum, and each subsequent season sees the Chan Clan dealing with a new BigBad or BigBadEnsemble that's trying to fill the void (in order: Shendu's own siblings, Uncle's EvilCounterpart Daolon Wong, the AffablyEvil Tarakudo, and Drago, Shendu's son from the future who wants to prove himself EvilerThanThou); in Season 5, the good guys actually consider [[GodzillaThreshold letting Shendu out]] to push the balance back in their favor (the Powers That Be can apparently only stand one planet-destroying threat at a time). [[spoiler: It isn't until the GrandFinale that the group is ''finally'' able to seal a fully-powered Shendu, along with Drago, within the void, which fulfills the universe's sense of balance and stops the constant threat of full-scale destruction.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Wishfart}}'' episode "Cartwheel! Cartwheel! Cartwheel!", Dez grants Akiko's wish to be alive, but is told by the King of the Underworld that by doing so he has upset the balance between the living world and the ghost world, resulting in TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt unless Akiko turns back into a ghost or someone else takes her place. Dez volunteers to do the latter, only for Akiko to decide to do the former instead claiming that Dez is too soft to live in the underworld and that she has grown tired of being alive anyway.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Wishfart}}'' episode "Cartwheel! Cartwheel! Cartwheel!", Dez grants Akiko's wish to be alive, but is told by the King of the Underworld that he has upset the balance between the living world and the ghost world, resulting in TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt unless Akiko turns back into a ghost or someone else takes her place. Dez volunteers to take her place, but Akiko decides to return instead, saying that Dez is too soft to live in the underworld and that she has grown tired of being alive anyway.

** Father was also punished in the finale for [[spoiler: absorbing the {{Gate Of Truth}} to acquire [[GodhoodSeeker the power of God]]... only to lose that power as soon as [[BigGood Hohenheim's]] transmutation circle is activated to reverse Father's transmutation. Without anymore souls to sustain him, the Dwarf in the Flask was then pulled back into the Gate that he was summoned from hundreds of years ago]].

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': As it turns out, the reason why Remnant is stuck in a {{Forever War}} was because [[BigBad Salem]] [[spoiler:asked the Brothers of Light and Darkness to bring [[BigGood her loved one Ozma]] back from the afterlife. After the Brothers had an argument about what was actually happening, they eventually killed him off again and cursed Salem with {{Complete Immortality}}. As long as she doesn't accept the balance between life and death, she can never [[BarredFromTheAfterlife pass on]].]] Not that she learned her lesson, of course. She then takes this trope further by [[spoiler:convincing humanity to attack the Brothers, ruining the relatively healthy relationship that between creator and creation. The Brother of Destruction promptly erased humanity and both Brothers left Salem behind for a long time before bringing back humanity in a weaker form]].

* In ''WebAnimation/{{Glitchtale}}'', an animated series based off of ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', Frisk goes BeyondTheImpossible to prevent Sans from getting killed in a [[KillEmAll Genocide Route]]. This sets up the rest of the story by causing Chara to come back to life, the SAVE file to corrupt, [[spoiler: the RESET button to be unusable, and a [[ObviousRulePatch checksum]] in the form of the [[HumanoidAbomination Bête Noire]] to be created]].

This trope often leads to HorrorHatesARulebreaker, especially in GothicHorror works. It is also often the justification of PredationIsNatural - predators killing prey is part of this balance, and hurting the predators to protect the prey disturbs it. It is also commonly used as an arbitrary rule to enforce a FantasticAesop.

* ''Literature/TheScholomance'': {{Justified|Trope}} by the balance being the self-contained ecosystem of the titular WizardingSchool's PocketDimension. [[spoiler:[[KidHero Orion]] has saved over 600 students' lives from the local monster population, meaning the Scholomance has to support more people with less mana, the monsters' FoodChainOfEvil is starving from the bottom up, and the most powerful monsters are getting desperate enough to act out.]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleOfSeasons'' and ''VideoGame/OracleOfAges'', each game's BigBad has this as their plan. ''Seasons'' has [[GeneralRipper General Onox]] capture Din, the titular Oracle, to throw the seasons of Holodrum out of order (the main city of the game changes its time of year every few minutes or so), while ''Ages'' has [[WickedWitch Veran]] possess Nayru, the Oracle of Ages, to [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight mess with the time stream]] in Labrynna and cause all manner of trouble in the past and present. Playing a linked game reveals that Onox and Veran were actually [[TheDragon just minions]] of the BigBad Twinrova, who use the chaos in Holodrum and pain in Labrynna to light the Flames of Destruction and Sorrow, respectively, which are keys in their plot to resurrect [[GreaterScopeVillain Ganon]].

** Father was also punished in the finale for [[spoiler: absorbing the {{Gate Of Truth}} to acquire [[AGodAmI the power of God]]... only to lose that power as soon as [[BigGood Hohenheim's]] transmutation circle is activated to reverse Father's transmutation. Without anymore souls to sustain him, the Dwarf in the Flask was then pulled back into the Gate that he was summoned from hundreds of years ago]].

This trope often leads to HorrorHatesARulebreaker, especially in GothicHorror works. It is also often the justification of PredationIsNatural - predators killing prey is part of this balance, and hurting the predators to protect the prey disturbs it. It is also commonly used as an arbitrary rule to a FantasticAesop.

This trope often leads to HorrorHatesARulebreaker, especially in GothicHorror works. It is also often the justification of PredationIsNatural - predators killing prey is part of this balance, and hurting the predators to protect the prey disturbs it. It is also commonly used to enforce a FantasticAesop.

This trope often leads to HorrorHatesARulebreaker, especially in GothicHorror works. It is also often the justification of PredationIsNatural - predators killing prey is part of this balance, and hurting the predators to protect the prey disturbs it.

* ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'': Each Changeling Freehold is normally ruled by a rotating group of seasonal monarchs. When the Summer King of Miami staged a coup and declared himself the Freehold's highest power, not only has this destablized the weather in the region, it's also drawing the attention of {{the dreaded}} [[TheFairFolk True Fae]].

* In ''VideoGame/DiabloIII''', the Necromancers oppose Diablo and the Prime Evils for this reason. The Necromancer believes in a BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil, saying that while good should win msot of the time, it shouldn't win all of the time. This is because all that lives must die, and all that dies must find a way to assist the living (which the Necromancer refers to as the Great Cycle). But with the Prime Evils around raising the dead and using souls to do their dark work, this balance has been chaotically thrown off, prompting the necromancers into action.

* ''WebVideo/SquimpusMcGrimpus'': Parodied in "Animated Cartoon", when the [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys Fazbear Four]] notice that there are two vacant chairs at the table as they're about to sit down for pizza night. The normally sarcastic Freddy [[SarcasmFailure finds himself unable to come up with any snarky quips]], which Foxy finds unnerving:

* ''Literature/WaywardChildren'': In the [[DarkWorld Moors]], ArchEnemy pairs of {{Monster Lord}}s and {{Mad Scientist}}s compete, keeping each other in check. When [[VampireMonarch the Master]] tries to stamp out Doctor Bleak's lineage entirely in ''Come Dumbling Down'', however, it's enough of a threat to the (super)natural order that [[spoiler:the Drowned Gods themselves]] [[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant lend their support]] to Dr. Bleak's surviving apprentice.