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95 statements
17 feature instances
9 referencing feature instances

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Default to Good	comment	Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })Fairly often in fiction, a Dedicated Loner character will appear. He (or more rarely, she) is pretty useless, evil, or just a little strange. However, sometimes these Switzerland types are in possession of just enough power to sway the final battle, should they choose to get involved. If they do, the chances are excellent that they'll end up throwing in with the Good Guys at the very last minute and providing the decisive element in the victory over evil. Sometimes they provide a little more decisive element than necessary. These unaffiliated loners may initially refuse to join a side for many reasons. They may not care about the conflict in question ("Eh, meet the new boss, same as the old boss"), or may not care enough to consider it worth risking their own precious skins ("I'm not stupid, I'm not expendable, and I'm not going,") or may have reasons to hate both sides of the fight equally ("A plague on both your houses; I hope you annihilate each other completely and leave the world a better place.") Generally, they relish their uninvolved status, although you may see them randomly helping out the Good Guys (or even the Bad Guys) once or twice just because it livens up a dull day. Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })Occasionally, this particular loner gets stuck with what might be called a "destiny choice", especially if he appears in Epic Fantasy — the character's personal salvation depends on his making the "right" choice at a certain juncture. The salvation of the rest of the World As We Know It becomes something of an afterthought. The moment of choice will be accompanied by loud exhortations from the Good Guys to "Choose well!" If the loner character manages to screw up "the big choice", it's definitely a subversion. If you want to bring one of these guys over on to your team, there are a couple of simple suggestions you might want to follow: If You Are The Good Guys: Don't attempt to bribe him through false displays of affection. He'll see right through it and scorn you for the attempt. Bribing with cold hard cash or other valuable commodities might work, but make sure the bribe is of an appropriate size; these guys never come cheap. They will be offended if the offered price undervalues their worth. Generally, trying to guilt them into helping you out won't work either, although there are exceptions. Your best bet is to win them over with a genuinely unforced gesture of friendship or affection, with no agenda behind it. Picking an attractive member of the appropriate gender to offer this gesture may be effective, but again, don't pander or it will backfire. You can also try reason: "Do you want to live in the kind of world the Big Bad is going to create? No? Then make yourself useful!" The odds are in your favor if you don't mess it up by being too obvious. Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_3'); })If You Are The Bad Guys: Whatever you do, do not choose this character as a subject to randomly display how evil you are. If he wasn't inclined to help those other twits out at first, dropping him into a tank of flesh-devouring blood eels to prove your villain credentials won't help. He'll happily forget whatever grudge he had against the Good Guys and join up with them in order to take you down. Displays of affection are out since you're Evil. But, since you are Evil, chances are you can outbid the Good Guys either in mercantile goods or in offers of worldly power. Good, in addition to being dumb, is also often cash-strapped. Remember that the odds are against you in this effort, however; if the loner refuses your carefully considered and politely delivered bribe, kill him immediately. Do not take half measures! These types are noticeably difficult to dispose of, and if you fail to kill him, well...remember what we told you about the tank of blood eels? Same deal, only more so. Note that this is not the same as either a Heel–Face Turn or a Face–Heel Turn. Someone who Defaults To Good was neither a Heel nor a Face to begin with; they are affiliated with neither side until some critical point very late in the story. For most of the tale, they are looking out solely for themselves, or possibly affiliated with a third group that is not taking an active part in the main conflict. Defaulting To Good is sometimes a Changed My Mind, Kid moment. Compare Rousseau Was Right. Examples:
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Default to Good / int_1c25dba1	type	Default to Good
Default to Good / int_1c25dba1	comment	In Suikoden V, Gizel Godwin's Fatal Flaw is that he simply cannot resist pissing off neutral factions with his intrigues. The vast majority of Falena's factions considered the whole Prince vs. Godwin fight to be not their problem, or else actively supported the Godwins, but due to something that the Godwins either did in the Back Story or during the game's story, became enemies of the Godwins and supported the Prince's army. By the end of the game, the entirety of Falena has either rallied behind the Prince or been wiped out in the fighting.
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Default to Good / int_3d181c16	comment	In The Fionavar Tapestry, by Guy Gavriel Kay, the big Destiny Choice goes to Darien, son of the Big Bad. He chooses for Light (of course) and, well, you can guess how that ends up.
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Default to Good / int_43576f5	comment	Gabriel winds up doing this in Supernatural. He helps advance the villain's agenda in his second appearance, and tries to advance it in his third, because he thinks the whole destined mess should be gotten over with as quickly as possible, but he doesn't actively back either side. His official story is he doesn't care; it's pretty clear he doesn't want to be responsible for either side losing because he cares about them both, but then:
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Default to Good / int_4ab17360	comment	Inuyasha: Sesshomaru's personal goals left him in conflict with Inuyasha's group but uninterested in either the Big Bad or the plot-driving Dismantled MacGuffin. However, the Big Bad kept trying to manipulate his Sibling Rivalry to take out the heroes and his Morality Pet to neutralise his own power. This drove Sesshomaru from being a random element, through the The Only One Allowed to Defeat You and I Was Just Passing Through Anti-Villain stage, into being an openly helpful Anti-Hero. Without Sesshomaru throwing his lot in with the good guys, the Big Bad and Artifact of Doom could never have been defeated. In short, the Big Bad should have read the 'If You're the Bad Guy' advice.
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Default to Good / int_526d4c5c	comment	Knights of the Old Republic: Jolee Bindo is technically of neutral alignment, and doesn't really see the whole Light Side and Dark Side conflicts the same way as the rest of the party, pointing out that this latest conflict isn't much different than any other conflict. Heroes and tyrants rise and fall, historians sort out who goes where and the galaxy keeps running. However, as much of a good show he puts up about being neutral, he often pushes for light-side actions, gets very snarky at a Player Character picking a petty dark side action, and is the first to speak up against Bastila and the case she makes for joining her and ruling the Sith. He may veer into Good All Along, because he knew what the Player Character was the whole time and joined to keep an eye on them, but he's just not the Jedi definition of "good."
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Default to Good / int_53a73ca0	comment	Asajj Ventress from Star Wars: The Clone Wars seems to routinely default to good after her master's betrayal causes her to undergo a significant Morality Adjustment that eventually has her end up falling somewhere between Anti-Hero and Anti-Villain status.
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Default to Good / int_56e1779c	comment	In Kill Six Billion Demons, the powerful angel called Vigilant Gaze Purges the Horizon is introduced as a ponderous observer who makes no judgement and takes no action. Two books later, he's impressed enough with White Chain being the only angel who's actually trying to do good, particularly in contrast with the Omnicidal Maniac Knight Templar Juggernaut Star, that he sides with White Chain. His dialogue suggests he was always theoretically good, but taking it into practice is another matter.
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Default to Good / int_6ac55ec7	comment	In Dungeons & Dragons cosmology, St. Cuthbert, the god of justice and retribution, may be the Ur-Example for that setting. He has Lawful Neutral as an In-Universe alignment, but sources say that he sides with Good when given the choice, because Evil beings break laws more often than Good ones. (He does not allow evil worshippers, and many Paladins are among his clergy.)
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Default to Good / int_701f0ece	comment	Guts, from Berserk, was a freelancing career mercenary who only went where the money was and didn't pick sides. When he's first introduced as a teen mercenary, he's fighting for the Tudor Empire (and they won the battle because of Guts), but then immediately leaves the job after his contract is fulfilled. But after being spotted by Griffith and his mercenary army, of which Guts helped fight against, Guts was recruited to the Band of the Hawk, who were employed by the Kingdom of Midland to help fight against Tudor. When Guts went from default to the side of Midland, the kingdom got a HUGE advantage during the war.
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Default to Good / int_846beec3	comment	Subverted, then played straight by Rabat in Vandread flees before the final battle at the end of season 1. Despite pleas from the crew of the Nirvana, he never comes back. Then at the end of season 2, he not only fights in the final battle, but brings a whole fleet with him!
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Default to Good / int_86814e56	comment	Twice in Final Fantasy VI. First is the mayor of Narshe, who insists on staying neutral despite having already been invaded by the Empire once; only a second (and much larger-scale) invasion finally sways him. Later comes Setzer, who wasn't a fan of the Empire but refused to officially take sides until the Returners convince him, in part with a rigged coin toss. (The SNES translation mistranslated Setzer's view, though, making his joining the Returners seem more like a Heel–Face Turn. The GBA translation is more true to the Japanese original.)
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Default to Good / int_9f8a2211	comment	During the Civil War Crisis Crossover event, the Anti-Registration side led by Captain America attempted to recruit Namor to their cause. Despite Namor being predisposed towards them thanks to his old friendship with Cap (and the fact that Susan Richards, who he still carried a torch for, was doing the asking), he declined since in his role as King of Atlantis he felt a schism between Cap and Iron Man to not be his problem. He eventually leads an army of Atlanteans to aid Cap's forces in the final battle, partially because Iron Man's Pro-Registration side tried to pressure him into formally siding with them, something the notoriously independent-minded Namor considered insulting. Cap's decision to surrender makes his choice pointless.
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Default to Good / int_ac67074d	comment	Red X from Teen Titans. While on the whole an unrepentant thief and a Chaotic Neutral character who is on his own side, whenever it really counted, he chose to side with the heroes rather than the villains. Especially notable considering the fact that in both cases he did have the option to just walk away and choose neither side.
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Default to Good / int_bbe42b2	comment	Subverted in an episode of She-Ra: Princess of Power. Both the Rebels and the Evil Horde court a magical being (in the form of a talking tree) to get it on their side. Just when you think it'll go with the good guys, instead it says, "I choose to - think about it" and vanishes.
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Default to Good / int_c02a73bd	comment	Subverted in Exit Fate. The Hero, Daniel Vinyard, assumes that Pereious and the mountain tribes are going to do this after Almenga's unexpected acts of aggression and, if not, that he'll be able to convince them due to knowing that he's a Magnetic Hero. Turns out, the big guy actually wants nothing to do with the upcoming war, is going to stay completely neutral in the fight, and even flat-out tells Daniel that they're still enemies (albeit this one has a Worthy Opponent vibe to it).
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Default to Good / int_d3634dbb	comment	The real ur-example has to be Rick, the original Mr. "I stick my neck out for no one," from Casablanca. He pulls it off so well he gets Captain Renault to turn right after him.
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Default to Good / int_e6267766	comment	From the Star Wars Legends, Talon Karrde, Mara Jade, and the rest of the Smugglers' Alliance in The Thrawn Trilogy. Took a Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal to convince Karrde and Jade, and they had a hard time convincing the others. When they tried to do so, perhaps having realized his previous mistake with Karrde's organization, Thrawn gave specific orders to leave the other smugglers alone so that they'd continue to have no dog in the fight. A less intelligent informant of Thrawn's managed to ruin this in a play for personal glory, bringing most of the other major groups on board with forming the Smugglers' Alliance.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Default to Good	processingCategory2	Heel/Face Index
Default to Good	processingCategory2	Neutrality Index
Vandread / int_40fec5b4	type	Default to Good
To Have and Have Not / int_40fec5b4	type	Default to Good
Two Rode Together / int_40fec5b4	type	Default to Good
The Belgariad / int_40fec5b4	type	Default to Good
The Dark is Rising / int_40fec5b4	type	Default to Good
The Thrawn Trilogy / int_40fec5b4	type	Default to Good
deathhunters (Roleplay) / int_40fec5b4	type	Default to Good

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