User blog comment:Queen Misery/New Standards/@comment-3581997-20150807030127/@comment-2059440-20150807030730

this came to me after I realized the entirety of post-apocalyptic fiction deals with heroes that commit horrible things to survive, yet they ultimately save the world (or part of it).. these characters were being added to this wiki because they didn't fit the "traditional" hero role and it hit me.. "Good is Not Nice".

Heroes (especially in modern media) are very rarely "nice" but they fight for "good" (or ultimately defend / benefit their setting).. many modern villains appear to have positive traits but still fight for "bad" (as they will ultimately harm their setting, intentionally or not).

Instead of focusing on individual acts I've decided we should focus on a character's journey and judge them on what ultimate fate their actions created (did they end up benefiting or harming their world?).. if they did horrible things but ultimately benefited their world - well, that's just a Flawed Hero.

A villain can take many paths but all paths will end in an ultimate fate (to harm their world).