Basic Trope: A character who is destined to end the world but does not want to.
- Straight: Alex is The Antichrist, but being a Noble Demon, he likes humanity.
- Exaggerated:
- Alex, an Eldritch Abomination and The Devil himself, is practically Messianic Archetype who tries to please humanity and stops The End of the World as We Know It that he's destined to bring forth, even becoming a full-blown Christ Figure in the process.
- Alex is the very manifestation of evil, and yet he chooses to reject his destiny and chooses to do good with his dark power.
- Downplayed: Alex's role is more to plunge the world into a dark age of misery and torment, but not outright destroy it. He instead just faffs about and life goes on more or less similarly to real life.
- Justified:
- The Power of Love shows him that Humans Are Special.
- Alex has free will, and ended up being raising by caring parents.
- Alex is lazy and doesn't want to have to do all that work.
- Alex has made friends with some of the humans.
- Alex thinks that destroying humanity is utterly pointless and doesn't see anything to gain from it.
- Alex is every bit as evil as he's supposed to be, but has decided that there's enough bad in the world that it's actually in the best interests of evil to not end it.
- Alex was raised by a loving family, with his father figure John teaching him to be a good, kind man. Alex ends up not wanting to destroy the world since his family has shown him that it's great, while his actual father Satan has done nothing but order him to cause destruction.
- Inverted:
- Dark Messiah.
- Alex is a Messianic Archetype, but he decides he wants to do evil.
- God wants to end the world and made the Prophecy of Alex to do it, Satan doesn't want to end the world and raised Alex to be good and Screw Destiny.
- Subverted:
- Alex starts out like this, but then turns evil due to a Cynicism Catalyst.
- Alex doesn't want to be the Anti-Christ, but unwittingly serves his purpose anyway.
- Double Subverted: Alex eventually decides that even if the world is filled with bad things, there are also good things within it and that alone is worth denying the apocalypse for.
- Parodied:
- "I am Alex The Antichrist, here to save the day from Pollution!"
- "Why would I want to exterminate humanity when they make such good food? Chocolate cakes, sirloin steaks, Caesar salad-Oh, and all the different kinds of cheese!"
- Zig-zagged: "I don't want to end the world, until my favorite show ends. But when that time comes-Wait...'recommended for you'? This show looks interesting."
- Averted:
- There is no Antichrist.
- Alternatively, Alex is destined to end the world and totally wants to.
- Enforced: We have to show people that you can Screw Destiny.
- Lampshaded: "So you're The Antichrist, but you're saving kittens from trees?"
- Invoked: "Don't worry, The Antichrist never likes their job."
- Exploited: "I knew you wouldn't do it, you like us too much."
- Defied: "You are going to destroy the world and like it."
- Discussed: "You don't have to destroy the world, Alex."
- Conversed: "Why did they bother making him The Antichrist?"
- Deconstructed:
- Alex learns You Can't Fight Fate.
- Alex learns that the fate could be fought, but it is a very bad idea since the end of the world is part of the setting's natural cycle of destruction and renewal, and holding it back would spell dire consequences far worse than if the world is destroyed in these 'Cyclic Apocalypses'. There's nothing evil about this and his prophecized role, and no real good reason why he shouldn't fulfill his destiny and end the world, at least within the context of the setting he's in.
- Satan decides to send agents to kill Alex when he refuses to bring about the end, grousing that he'll have to make another Anti Christ who will hopefully do as his hellish father commands.
- Reconstructed:
- Alex studied the Exact Words of the prophecy and found that it said nothing about being unable to recreate the world afterwards. Maybe even better than it was before.
- Alex accepts that carrying out the 'Cyclic Apocalypses' that he is destined to trigger is for the best, but point out that various forces of Evil and other vested interest had been wanting him to carry out his prophecized role in manners which would benefit only them at others' expenses - like remaking the next world in their own dark image. Even if holding it off forever is bad for the world, it would be in the world's interest for him to hold it off long enough to make sure no malicious force would mess with the process, and that he himself figure out how to do it right for the benefit of the next world.
- ...and by fate, we mean cause-and-effect & that some stupid prophecy can't change his decision.
- Alex decides to Screw Destiny.
- The would-be assassins are easily slain by Alex as he uses his powers to just erase them entirely. He may not want to end the world, but he'll still defend himself with the powers he's given.
- Played For Laughs: "I don't wanna destroy the world! *throws a temper tantrum*
- Played For Drama: Alex's eyes start glowing red: "I can't hold it off forever."
Back to Anti Anti Christ.
