History PragmaticVillainy / Literature

* ''Film/GodzillaVsKong -- The Official Movie Novelization'': Like in the film, [[Characters/MonsterVerseRenSerizawa Ren Serizawa]] objects to Walter Simmons' order to immediately infuse Mechagodzilla with the synthesized HollowEarth energy, because they haven't had any time to begin studying the energy and gain even a surface understand of how it might affect the Mecha's systems, and because he's worried that Godzilla is ''so'' close to their headquarters that he'll likely destroy it and kill them faster than they can get the activated Mecha outside for combat. The novel makes it clear that Ren would much rather postpone Mechagodzilla's activation, and he even contemplates luring Godzilla away from the city by relaying a signal to another Apex facility; ''not'' because he has any empathy for [[LackOfEmpathy the eight million innocent people whom he and Simmons are putting in Godzilla's warpath]], but because he wants to buy more time to examine the Hollow Earth energy and ensure it won't have any undesirable side-effects on Mechagodzilla.

*** Bane forces the healer Caleb to save Bane's life by threatening Caleb's daughter. After he is healed, he briefly considers killing them but decides to let them live since he might need Caleb's abilities again one day.

-->"Put aside the [[NoBiochemicalBarriers profound biological differences]] that must exist between the hypothetical aliens and ourselves; imagine that we constitute an interstellar gastronomic delicacy. Why transport large numbers of us to alien restaurants? The freightage is enormous. Wouldn't it be better just to steal a few humans, sequence our amino acids or whatever else is the source of our delectability, and then just [[CloningBlues synthesize]] the [[ImAHumanitarian identical food product]] from scratch?"

* In ''LightNovel/IzureShinwaNoRagnarok'', the warring gods put their previous war on hold when they realized they were razing the very lands that they were fighting over. Their current rules now limit them to an island for their battlefield.

* ''Film/GodzillaVsKong -- The Official Movie Novelization'': Like in the film, [[Characters/MonsterVerseHumans Ren Serizawa]] objects to Walter Simmons' order to immediately infuse Mechagodzilla with the synthesized HollowEarth energy, because they haven't had any time to begin studying the energy and gain even a surface understand of how it might affect the Mecha's systems, and because he's worried that Godzilla is ''so'' close to their headquarters that he'll likely destroy it and kill them faster than they can get the activated Mecha outside for combat. The novel makes it clear that Ren would much rather postpone Mechagodzilla's activation, and he even contemplates luring Godzilla away from the city by relaying a signal to another Apex facility; ''not'' because he has any empathy for [[LackOfEmpathy the eight million innocent people whom he and Simmons are putting in Godzilla's warpath]], but because he wants to buy more time to examine the Hollow Earth energy and ensure it won't have any undesirable side-effects on Mechagodzilla.

** Similarly, Sauron doesn't torment or question Pippin through the palantír -- because "he wanted [Pippin], quickly, so he could [[ColdBloodedTorture deal with]] [him] in the Dark Tower, slowly."

* Sandra Arminger of the ''Literature/NovelsOfTheChange'' is the voice of reason to [[EvilOverlord her husband's]] pure sadism. His vainglory, too; there are times when she exhorts him to make a kill that he perceives as damaging to his reputation. [[spoiler: Once her husband is dead and there's a firm peace between Portland and the other nearby nations]], she becomes so bloodlessly pragmatic that she comes off as a particularly intrigue-oriented ''good guy''.

* The Gandor Family in ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' stays steadfastly out of the drug trade, sticking with [[NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters relatively less objectionable crimes]] like bootlegging and gambling. This is due to [[EvenEvilHasStandards actual moral objections]] on the part of Keith Gandor, but the other two Gandor brothers, Luck especially, recognize that it's also because their relatively small organization is not equipped to compete with the larger organized crime families currently running drugs.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Even when he considered himself a villain, Accelerator buys his groceries and meals instead of taking them by force. When questioned about this by Last Order, he explains that although he's powerful enough to just take anything he wants, it's too much hassle to have to deal with the authorities and others futilely trying to fight him off. Buying stuff without making a fuss means he gets it quickly and without any problems. Having everyone in the city hate him for fighting the police would be very annoying.

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'':

* ''LightNovel/HowNotToSummonADemonLord'': Medios is a slave trader. She does not abuse her slaves and makes sure they are well educated and all their needs are met. Her reasoning is that this results in HappinessInSlavery, meaning everyone is satisfied and her slaves don't try to escape or resist their masters, resulting in higher profits for her.

* ''LightNovel/LordMarksmanAndVanadis'':

* In ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'', several students falsely accuse Catarina of bullying Maria (which she was guilty of in the original FictionalVideoGame, but not in [[AlternateTimeline main story]]). However, Catarina's friends stand up for her and disprove the accusations. Some time later, Geordo and Catarina realize that the students would normally never even attempt to make false accusations against Catarina since, as the daughter of a duke, she outranks her accusers. It turns out that [[spoiler:the students had fallen under the sway of a dark magic user]].

* In ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'', several students falsely accuse Catarina of bullying Maria (which she was guilty of in the original FictionalVideoGame, but not in [[AlternateTimeline main story]]). However, Catarina's friends stand up for her and disprove the accusations. Some time later, Geordo and Catarina realize that the students would normally never even attempt to make false accusations against Catarina since, as the daughter of a duke, she outranks her accusers. It turns out that [[spoiler:the students had fallen under the sway of a dark magic user]].

** In ''Literature/DarthBane'', Bane forces the healer Caleb to save Bane's life by threatening Caleb's daughter. After he is healed, he briefly considers killing them but decides to let them live since he might need Caleb's abilities again one day.

** Even in the pre-Ridcully days of the book series, Wizards in the ''Discworld'' series avoided using deals with demons for much of anything, because they realized all the power in the bargain would come from the demon and that thus "using it for their own purposes was like beating mice to death with a rattlesnake".

** Lara Raith qualifies as well. She helps Harry out each time because doing so will increase her own political power.