About: A Lighter Shade of Black   Sponge Permalink

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While Evil Versus Evil may be fun, it carries the risk of Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy. People just DO like having someone to cheer for. But if both sides are equally reprehensible, there's really no point to it. Or maybe the villain is such a Magnificent Bastard with many a Crowning Moment of Awesome (or generally just damn cool) that it's way easier to side with them. Especially when their enemy is an Eldritch Abomination, Complete Monster or somesuch. If they shoot way over the line, the character in question may end up doing a Heel Face Turn. Examples of A Lighter Shade of Black include:

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  • A Lighter Shade of Black
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  • While Evil Versus Evil may be fun, it carries the risk of Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy. People just DO like having someone to cheer for. But if both sides are equally reprehensible, there's really no point to it. Or maybe the villain is such a Magnificent Bastard with many a Crowning Moment of Awesome (or generally just damn cool) that it's way easier to side with them. Especially when their enemy is an Eldritch Abomination, Complete Monster or somesuch. If they shoot way over the line, the character in question may end up doing a Heel Face Turn. Examples of A Lighter Shade of Black include:
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  • While Evil Versus Evil may be fun, it carries the risk of Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy. People just DO like having someone to cheer for. But if both sides are equally reprehensible, there's really no point to it. So that's where this trope kicks in. It basically means that the author is clearly trying to portray one side of the conflict as the better or more symphathetic one, so the audience can root for them. Since both sides are supposed to be villains, this isn't that hard. You just need to give your Lighter Black a little edge on the sympathy meter. The idea is to have the audience say "Yeah, Alice may be evil, but at least she's not half as bad as Bob!" This can be done in many ways. Give your villain the Sympathetic POV. Have them Pet the Dog, be a Noble Demon or invoke Even Evil Has Standards. Perhaps they're simply a smaller threat to the world. Maybe their goals are, or used to be, somewhat sympathetic. Maybe they have many Evil Virtues. Or, when compared to the opposition, their cause still seems a little more "right" or their character "pure" than that of the enemy. Since we want them to win, this may lead to a villainous version of Right Makes Might and Pure Is Not Good. Or maybe the villain is such a Magnificent Bastard with many a Crowning Moment of Awesome (or generally just damn cool) that it's way easier to side with them. Especially when their enemy is an Eldritch Abomination, Complete Monster or somesuch. If they shoot way over the line, the character in question may end up doing a Heel Face Turn. See also A Lighter Shade of Grey, Nominal Hero, and Shades of Conflict. Examples of A Lighter Shade of Black include:
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