Selfish Good, Selfish Evil

"Look at them. Can you not hear their souls crying out?! You abandoned them! Your real family! You threw them away like trash. Fool. If you turned your back on something you wanted, YOU DON’T DESERVE TO CALL YOURSELF "GREED"!"

—Ling Yao, Fullmetal Alchemist

Some characters are righteous and upstanding human beings who always look out for others. Others are so insane that their very existence distorts the universe around them. And still others just want to watch the world burn. But, there are those select few who don't think that being a moral crusader or a schizophrenic elf who wears potato sacks are good ideas. They only burn the world if it helps them achieve some ulterior objective. When characters change alignments, they often spend a little time in one of these states before completing their character change.

A Selfish Good character appears just as righteous and moral as a Lawful Good, Neutral Good, or Chaotic Good character. But their reasons are different: They are one of the good guys, or maybe even The Hero, because of the reputation and prestige it gives them. If everyone thinks you're the infallible hero (or at least one of his friends), will anyone ever suspect that you are the one who plundered all of their worldly possessions? Of course not. This "alignment" is more closely related to Lawful Neutral than anything Good-based.

This can also operate as a kind of subset of Jerk with a Heart of Gold when there's a bit more of an emphasis on the "Good" than the "Selfish"; for example, perhaps the character is on the side of the "good guys" seemingly only for the prestige and the hot girls. But then he gets offered a pretty legitimate opportunity at greater power and self-aggrandizement by the villain or just circumstance... if he'll just turn on his fellows, who he seemingly doesn't really care about. And then... he doesn't. Usually with a mention of how that "isn't his style", or somesuch, perhaps with a wink at the audience that tells you he isn't just in it for the "big benefits". He'll still chase skirts and probably is in it mostly for the cash and the poon, but the "Good" here does mean something.

A Lawful Selfish character abides by society's rules and regulations, often rising to a position of power, but does so in order to accumulate enough power to make himself the supreme ruler of everything. Can be The Chessmaster or the Amoral Attorney.

A Neutral Selfish character has no friends and no enemies. After all, a friend is someone who asks for a discount and an enemy is someone you aren't paid to fight. They're generally Private Military Contractors or plain old Hired Guns, frequently overlapping with Sociopathic Hero. Do not attempt to steal from them.

A Chaotic Selfish character is the one who seems to be totally unpredictable, maybe even insane, but in the end there is a method to his madness. He helps and hinders the heroes and the villains to help his own agenda, and doesn't even bother with the Face Heel Revolving Door: He just sits on top and leans a bit to either side. Most non-evil Chessmasters and Magnificent Bastards are of this alignment. See also Wild Card.

A Selfish Evil character may well say, "In the land of the blinded, the one-eyed man is king." They push everyone around them, possibly the whole world, down, just to lift themselves up.

This overlaps with Mr. Vice Guy, especially in the non-Evil cases. Evil Virtues, It's All About Me and Pragmatic Villainy can apply to Selfish Evil. The Ubermensch can run the spectrum of Selfish alignments depending on the position of the Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism. Contrast the Knight Templar, who does not know that what he is doing is not necessarily "good".

Examples of Selfish Good, Selfish Evil include:

Selfish Good

Anime and Manga

  • Slayers: Lina Inverse switches between this, and Chaotic Good proper. She's DEFINITELY selfish, but at the same time has a good heart, at least in the novels. She cares about people who get hurt... ...but not about property damage.
    • Which again applies mostly to anime. In the novels, she shows far more restraint, preferring to earn rewards without causing much stir.
  • Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist, as the page's quote alludes to. As his name suggests, he's the personification of greed, but interestingly enough, this is often viewed in a positive light. While he claims that his subordinates are merely possessions, because they are his, and killing them would equate to stealing from him, he is very protective of them. When he's reincarnated into the body of Ling and he unknowingly kills a former henchman (who dies desperately telling Greed that he's his friend), he suddenly remembers his past life, and Ling chews him out by saying that someone who doesn't cherish something that's theirs, even friends, doesn't deserve the name "Greed". After that point, he performs a Heel Face Turn, and eventually realizes that, of all the things in the world that he wants, the thing that he wanted most was friends.
    • After this, Greed even makes a reference to a variation of this. He claims that, at least in his view, greed and selfishness are not necessarily the same thing, defining greed as simply being to want something, even a generally positive want like wanting to be free or wanting a loved one to be happy.
  • The first Lockon Stratos from Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is a borderline case. He is a Nice Guy, yes. But what keeps him from being an overall good person is his desire for Revenge.
    • Setsuna F. Seiei, who was tricked into murdering his own parents by his now mortal enemy, Ali Al-Saachez - who is also both Lockons' mortal enemy, also qualifies, except that he is a truly dedicated Chaotic Good instead of True Neutral. Like Lockon, Setsuna also has a strong desire for revenge, but he always believes he and his friends can make a difference to the world even if it means making hard decisions, such as killing any arms holder in his sight to the point of disobeying orders from Celestial Being. He gets better in the latter half of the 2nd season, though, and eventually, it is revealed that Setsuna has a stronger heart of gold than even the first Lockon.
  • America from Axis Powers Hetalia tries to be Lawful Good, but his Adult Child tendencies make him this instead.
    • England too, but in a different way. He's not as childish as America, but can be pretty selfcentered and even clingy at times. He even sides with Austria during the War Of The Austrian Succession just to kick France's butt, and once he did, he quickly revoked their alliance.
    • The main cast (except, perhaps, for Germany and Italy) spend Paint It, White! trying to save the Earth, all while being self-centered and bickering with each other. Most of them openly admit at least once that they hate the idea of working together, but still do so anyway.
  • Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna in Armored Trooper VOTOMS. Sure, they only care about getting rich at most, but when it comes to looking over and saving Chirico, who helps them in spite of not for their interest, they don't hesitate in doing so.

Comic Books

  • The superhero team The Front Line from No Hero. In the words of their leader: "The more people alive there are, the more people there are to earn money that will eventually be given to me. Also, the more people there are to breed girls whom I will eventually fuck."

Film

  • Captain Amazing of Mystery Men is responsible for Casanova Frankenstein's release to keep his backers happy, despite being the city's only Big Good.
  • The Doc from Back to The Future steals plutonium from Libyan terrorists who in turn stole it from a power plant. Although the Doc wasn't going to hurt anyone with the plutonium—unlike the terrorists—not returning it to the power plant still makes him guilty of possessing stolen property. But how else was he going to power his Time Machine? He needed that plutonium For Science!
  • Ghostbusters: Peter Venkman is another "emphasis on Good" example. He's pretty much in the paranormal business for the money and the opportunity to meet bales of cute women - but if you threaten someone he cares about, God help you, even if you are a god.
  • Han Solo, even after he came back at the end, although he definitely leaned on the good side of this trope:

Luke: I knew you'd come back! I just knew it!
Han: Well, I wasn't going to let you get all the credit and take all the reward!
Leia: Hey, I knew there was more to you than money!

Literature

  • Ciaphas Cain switches between this and Lawful Selfish. Maybe.
  • In The Divine Comedy, the fate of this sort of people is apparently the planet Mercury. They're still in Heaven, but not as high as, say, martyrs or philosophers.
  • Tiffany Aching of the Discworld series may be this (or an Inversion, considering what is being used for what) thanks to this epiphany:

All witches are selfish, the Queen had said. But Tiffany's Third Thoughts said: Then turn selfishness into a weapon! Make all things yours! Make other lives and dreams and hopes yours! Protect them! Save them! Bring them into the sheepfold! Walk the gale for them! Keep away the wolf! My dreams! My brother! My family! My land! My world! How dare you try to take these things, because they are mine!

  • Horace Slughorn from Harry Potter can be seen as this. He is undeniably helpful to those around him, helping to get people the recognition they deserve based on their talents. The early implication is that he does this simply to build connections, because of the benefits of knowing lots of important people. However, his later behavior (His great personal shame at giving Voldemort the knowledge he needed to become immortal, as well as personally fighting Voldemort in the Grand Finale) suggest that he is a genuinely good and friendly person at heart, just perfectly willing to reap the benefits of such behavior, and rather more interested in peace and relaxation than the self-sacrificing main characters.
  • Nicholas Van Rjn in Technic History is an interstellar businessman that trades honestly, refuses to exploit natives, and uses his Corporate Samurai to keep the peace. He claims that it is because there is more profit in the long run in that then in being an outright Evil Overlord. One suspects that he really does have a personal code of honor which he does not tell anyone about but at the least he sees no reason not to acknowledge his own self-interest pretty frankly.

Live-Action TV

  • Robert Hawkins from Jericho. He's partially responsible for the nuclear weapons, but despite his manipulations he is only trying to rise in the community for his family's sake. Could also be Lawful Selfish.
  • Simon Tam from Firefly is a twist on this subtrope: He's not acting for his own interest, but to protect River. Although, she doesn't really need that much protection... at least not from Reavers!
    • Most of Firefly's characters except Jayne (see below) and maybe Book.
  • Rachel in Glee. Lampshaded in one episode by Finn who points out that even when she acts unselfishly, in the long run she's doing it for selfish reasons.

Tabletop Games

  • An issue of Dragon included philosophies Celestials could have which would pit them against the heroes. One of these is "The means justify the ends"; as long as you've done "the right thing" it's perfectly acceptable for the results to benefit you more than anyone else.

Theatre

  • Madame Morrible in Wicked, especially the musical. Arguably, Galinda started out as a bit Selfish Good as well; she cared more about appearing good so that people would like her than about doing good. In the end she's become truly good though.

Video Games

  • Good Cole from In Famous. It's implied that the only reason he's good is so that the entire city isn't trying to kill him.
  • Zelos Wilder from Tales of Symphonia is a good example of the "Selfish Good" variety. For most of the game he's seemingly following you around just out of curiosity and because he wants to get into the skirts of either Colette or Sheena. You can dig into his backstory a bit during the game to flesh out his motivations, though, and if you're on decent terms with him for The Very Definitely Final Dungeon, he'll seem to betray you at first at the promise of even greater power and prestige (as he says, he's "always on the winning side")... and then it turns out he didn't, because he can't be that much of a bastard to people who've been genuinely nice to him. Besides, if he betrays you guys, who'll comfort Colette and Sheena?
  • From Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Gabriel Belmont, who ironically shares the same seiyuu as the Selfish Evil Ali Al-Saachez below, is honestly selfish in nature, concerned more of resurrecting his own wife than of fulfilling his duty as a member of the Brotherhood of Light. However, he also frequently shows the good in him; his heart is still strong enough to not only achieve his own personal goal, but to seek salvation for the humanity as well, thank to the constant encouragement from the soul of his dearest love. Even after he becomes Dracula, he simply hides in darkness instead of trying to harm other humans like Matthias Cronqvist does.
  • Frank West of Dead Rising probably fits into this trope well, along with reckless Chaotic Good. Saving the world's ass and uncovering the ugly crimes done by the villains are not the only reasons he is in Williamette Mall; he's also got an opportunity of covering a big story to grab and making a name of his own as a freelance journalist. It helps that Capcom is intending to give him a Wolverine Publicity in their coming new games.
  • Meria of Knights in The Nightmare is the player character Willimgard's steadfast ally in clearing demons out of Aventheim. Of course, she's sticking to you because she wants to kill her Enemy Without and steal the powers of the powerful demon Zolgonark, and she's not strong enough to do these things on her own. This doesn't stop her from developing a deep trust in Willimgard and risking her life for him repeatedly, but she's very clear from step one that It's All About Me.
  • The titular character in Legacy of Kain is trying to make the world a better place and fights evil to do it. The catch is that Kain is a hardcore Heroic Sociopath, and while he's trying to make the world a better place, in his mind the best thing for the world would be for him to rule it as a God-Emperor over the Vampires. Given Kain's status as The Chosen One and the role of Vampires in the metaphysical well-being of Nosgoth, this actually would work out well for the world in an ideal situation, which is what Kain strives for. Thus he falls into Selfish Good, fighting for the good of the world but only because it lines up nicely with his selfish goals of conquest.
  • Atton Rand in Knights of the Old Republic 2 - he has two motivations, depending on the gender of the Player Character. Either he wants to do good because of his crippling guilt about his past activities, or because the loves the Exile and will do anything for her. The player can be this as well - unlike in many other games, asking for (but not demanding) rewards gets you just as many morality meter points as not.

Web Original

  • Apparently, Yahtzee plays this type of character in Fallout 3.
  • Captain Hammer of Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog appears to only want to be a Superhero for fame, money, and chicks. And so he can beat up supervillains. At one point he saves a homeless shelter from being torn down using his reputation just so he can get into the pants of a girl working there.
  • When he's in a "deconstruction of a sue" mode, Linkara is in the "saving the world" business for the ego boost it gives him.

Western Animation

  • Peter Griffin goes between this and Chaotic Selfish.
  • Stan Smith and his wife Francine had their moments of selfishness, but mostly Stan. Recent episodes consist of them having their marriage close to being on the rocks.
  • The South Park gang are like this as well as Neutral Selfish in several episodes. The most triumphant example for either example would have to be "A Ladder to Heaven", in which, the eponymous structure was only built so that the boys can get the ticket stub for the candy shopping spree from Kenny. However, when Cartman drank Kenny's ashes under the belief that it's chocolate milk mix, they share the chubby shell, for a few episodes since, and Cartman sees what goes on in Kenny's life, including when Kenny put the ticket stub in a box.

Real Life

  • There's a certain degree to which society itself only functions because of this. Without naming names, a lot of people only play by the rules because they can't get away with not doing so. It's the reason House's situation is such a popular fantasy; he's invaluable to the point that he can misbehave any way he pleases with little danger of losing his job (very much not the case in real life, mostly because the majority of humanity is inclined to assume that you can be right, or an asshole, but not both).
    • An entire section of moral philosophy is based on reciprocal altruism, i.e. "Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." Morality seen as self interest with an indefinitely long view.
  • The economic principle of "the invisible hand" is basically this.
    • Alternatively, Malthusian, Marxist or Hobbesian economists will line humanity up under the Lawful Selfish or Selfish Evil sides, so it really just depends on whom you agree with.

Lawful Selfish

Anime and Manga

  • Asuka Langley Soryu of Neon Genesis Evangelion: She's concerned with self-aggrandizement, and her method of choice is exceeding authority's expectations.
    • Arguably Shinji as well, due to being an EXTREME "Well Done, Son" Guy. He WILL impress Gendo, and his method of doing so happens to be following all of his orders... with the occasional spattering of reluctance.
    • Ritsuko definitely qualifies too.

Live-Action TV

  • Gaius Baltar of Battlestar Galactica. He spends much of the series playing both sides of the human/Cylon conflict to some degree, but for the first few seasons (at least) his motivation can always be boiled down to "protecting the one he loves" and "don't get Gaius Baltar killed."

Web Original

  • Vork from The Guild, but only in-game. He's perfectly willing to steal electricity and use anything that people probably won't miss, including his elderly neighbor's wi-fi bandwidth and tool shed. He might think of himself as Lawful Pragmatic out-of-game, since aside from electricity and bandwidth he only takes things that are technically free (regardless of implied contracts, such as getting a cup of water and all the ketchup packets he could carry from a fast-food place without buying anything).

Neutral Selfish

Film

Jackie: "Aren't you on Arklon's side?"
Lyranna: "I'm on my own side."

Literature

Live-Action TV

Video Games

  • The player in Fable... NS only because there's no accurate prediction of player behavior. Can be many Selfishes.
  • The shopkeepers in Nethack. MOLOCH DAMN THOSE INVULNERABLE SHOPKEEPS!
    • By extension, any video game shopkeeper with a Shoplift and Die policy.
    • Any game with a shopkeeper and a world crisis. No Hero Discount, huh? If the world doesn't end, you're going to need those profits, after all.

Chaotic Selfish

Anime and Manga

  • Code Geass' Magnificent Bastard-like hero Lelouch, though ultimately his true motives are anything but selfish.
  • Graham Aker as "Mr. Bushido" from Mobile Suit Gundam 00. Although a rightful ace in the A-Laws, all that he really cares about is to defeat his dear Setsuna, and nothing else matters to him, let alone obeying orders by A-Laws at all.
  • One Piece villain Blackbeard probably fits into this alignment. He wants to be Pirate King and will do absolutely anything that will help him reach his goal, be it stealing, killing old friends, or starting a war. But he also avoids pointless fights and rarely hurts anybody unless he's provoked or wants something from them. He's also made it quite clear that he has nothing personal against Luffy or really anybody.
  • Hunter X Hunter gives us Monster Clown Hisoka, who while also quite evil is a pretty textbook case of this alignment. He kills, spares, and helps out a great number of characters for a great number of obscure reasons, and has been both a member of 'Team Gon' (specifically when that team consisted of Gon, Killua, and a bunch of guys playing deadly high stakes dodge-ball) and of the Genkei Ryodan. Also played them off each other with some truly masterful false information in the York Shin arc. It's all in service of his adrenalin junky/serial killer habit.
    • He fake-joined the Spider years ago to eventually set up a circumstance where he could fight its leader, the enigmatic Kuroro Lucifer, and he's keeping Gon and Killua around in hopes that they'll realize their potential and become 'ripe' to kill. Although he also totally checks out their butts on Greed Island.
    • Both Togashi and a lot of the fandom really like this guy.

Fan Works

Film

Literature

Live-Action TV

Video Games

  • Wario Land is normally in this trope's territory.
    • While on the subject of the Mario universe, we have Dimentio. He appears as one of Count Bleck's subordinates, but also aids the heroes in several occasions, but never seeming to be on either side. Turns out, he was on a side, his own.
  • Duke Nukem is right on the edge between this and Selfish Good, given that he is mainly motivated by women and kicking ass. In Duke Nukem Forever, all hope for Earth seems lost until the aliens make the stupid mistake of taking the women, which basically is what motivates him into getting into the action once again. Still doesn't stop him from doing things that are almost purely self-pleasing, like picking up a turd and using it as a weapon against the aliens.
  • Marisa Kirisame of Touhou Project is this, to an extent. It is made very clear (Without Jerk with a Heart of Gold undertones, mind you) that she is only beating up the Monster of the Week for the chance to steal their things/blow stuff up/beat things up/piss off Reimu and everyone else.
    • Though there are times when she isn't selfish, like the reason behind her boss fight in Imperishable Night. Marisa knows that the main characters caused the titular eternal night and wants to stop them. Why? Because youkai eat humans at night, and if the night is eternal youkai will eat till they pop. However, since this is a rather absurd reason (and youkai hardly eat humans anymore) it's likely Marisa pulled it out of her ass to have an excuse to fight the main character, so it might not be averted after all.
  • Desire, Yuuto's sword in Eien no Aselia. At first it appears to be a very evil weapon, urging Yuuto to plunder, kill and rape. However, it turns out it is literally incapable of acting otherwise[1] and still manages to be selfless on a few occasions, to its own surprise. Of the three swords that oppose it, two are worse. In the end, it is likely that if Desire had won over Oath in the end, instead of becoming the evil sword Rebirth that devours Shun it would have instead finally have been capable of rationality, as can be seen in the contrast between chaos (good) and order (bad) and the way it contrasts Oath.

Western Animation

  • Roger from American Dad. He often comes up with crazy schemes for his own satisfaction.

Selfish Evil

Anime

  • Ali Al-Saachez, as mentioned above. Guess why he hates peace so much? He is a bloody mercenary who willingly kills anything that moves for his own personal gain - and for his own pleasure!
  • Father in Fullmetal Alchemist is willing to burn the entire world in his quest to become the ultimate being. He doesn't really care about anyone, even his own Dragon and sort-of son, Pride.
    • Dante of the 2003 anime version is an even better example. She's ready to make the lives of everyone in Amestris miserable, going so far as to commit genocide, on the offchance that someone will become desperate enough to create the Philosopher's Stone, which she can then steal and use to go on living forever.
      • Frank Archer might also count, as he's largely in it for his own self-aggrandizement, although he does appear to have some genuine loyalty to the government, no matter who runs it.
  • Yagami Light is completely willing to kill anyone that stands in his way and even innocent lives in order to protect his own ego as a god in the name of creating a new world of no crimes.
  • Grings Kodai only cares about himself and is willing to do anything (Blackmail, murder, destroying a small town's ecosystem... twice, electrocuting a baby in front of its own mother) to get what he wants.

Literature

  • In the words of Dumbledore: "Lord Voldemort has never had a friend, nor do I believe he has ever wanted one." As far as he's concerned, the Death Eaters exist to do what he tells them, regardless of the consequences to themselves or their families.
    • Lord Voldemort uses his natural charisma to manipulate a legion of followers solely to spread terror. Because of his past, Voldemort finds love a pointless emotion and a distraction from his desire for power and functional immortality, both of which he believes will free him from the threat of death. He has no feelings for any of his followers and is willing to sacrifice them to get what he wants. Of course, this proves to be a mistake.
  • Senna Wales from Everworld tends more and more towards this trope as the series progresses, and she uses more and more extreme measures to get what she wants. She tries to act like a Selfish Neutral, but on a good day she's a Well-Intentioned Extremist, and she's consistently a petty sadist who suffers from Moral Myopia and It's All About Me. Hel from the same series' is even more self-centred and selfish. She doesn't care about anyone other than herself, and will willingly let the world burn rather than releasing her favourite prisoners, Thor and Baldor. She could almost be seen as Senna's Shadow Archetype in that respect, and as an example of who she might become.

Live Action TV

Tabletop Games

  • Warhammer Fantasy Battle and its sci-fi counterpart is prone to this, especially the Skaven, whose entire society revolves around betrayal and backstabbing to reach any major position, and constantly looking out for your next in rank in case he wants your position. Naturally, this has appropriate consequences. The Dark Elves/Eldar are very similar in that regard, and only the most able leaders survive long enough to make a real impact.
  • From Exalted, we have Desus, a Complete Monster who has the world convinced he's good, noble, and pure-intentioned. He doesn't have any overarching plans; he just wants to cultivate his star power, to the point that he invented a custom Charm that causes people to rationalize his every action, no matter how atrocious, as being justified and even noble, as an always-on mental effect.

Video Games

  • Hector of the Dept. Heaven series, overlapping with Lawful Selfish. His plan involves coasting along the waves of Asgard's raging case of Fantastic Racism and manipulating everything in his way so that he can claim the gods' empty seat. And he's respected enough that no one dares question him.
  • While In Famous doesn't prevent the player from being sadistic, its "karmic choices" are generally between selflessness and this. For instance, you could deliberately expose yourself to a dangerous toxin, but if you'd rather be evil you can force a bystander to handle the toxin for you.
  • Kratos is a blood-thirsty monster whose only motivation of fighting is his own glory and revenge at the expense of tons of innocent lives - and for his own joy, not unlike Ali Al-Saachez. Good luck trying to stand in his way...

Web Comics

Western Animation

  1. ↑ It basically constantly feels that it is dying of thirst and that only the mana it gets from killing can help it
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