# Accidental good guys? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 22, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accidental-good-guys/735468 "2015-10-22T16:29:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accidental-good-guys/735468/1 "2015-10-22T16:29:13Z")
My son’s class had a book fair recently, and he ended up choosing a _Minions_ book. This got me thinking. The premise of the _Minions_ movie is that, throughout history, the Minions have sought out the most despicable person they could find to be their master. However, their incompetance usually ends up killing their master. Rinse & repeat. So, in a way they end up making the world a better place, by killing off the villains they’re trying to serve. Is there a literary term for someone who tries to be a villain, but winds up doing good? I think “antihero” doesn’t really describe it, because an antihero is really just anybody who doesn’t fit the traditional “heroic” mold. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accidental-good-guys/735468/2 "2015-10-22T16:36:27Z")
Not a literary term at all, but in Yiddish, the Minions are prime examples of “schlimazels.” ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accidental-good-guys/735468/3 "2015-10-22T16:51:07Z")
[Homer](https://simpsonswiki.com/w/images/thumb/f/f7/Homer_word.jpg/250px-Homer_word.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Gothic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Gothic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gothic)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accidental-good-guys/735468/4 "2015-10-22T17:03:55Z")
Gollum. ---
**Author:** ![bunyupp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@bunyupp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bunyupp)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accidental-good-guys/735468/5 "2015-10-22T17:30:00Z")
[John Rabe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rabe). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accidental-good-guys/735468/6 "2015-10-22T19:40:15Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Not a literary term at all, but in Yiddish, the Minions are prime examples of “schlimazels.” Actually they would be _schlemiels_, while the villains they killed would be the _schlimazels._ (The traditional formulation is that the \*schlemiel \*is the one who spills the soup, while the _schlimazel_ is the person he spills it on.) However, there is no implication that a _schlimiel_ is trying to help the _schlimazel_, nor that the _schlimazel_ is a bad person. I can’t see how this fits. > [@bunyupp](#): > > [John Rabe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rabe). As far as I can see, he was trying to do good by his actions. He didn’t do good while trying to do evil. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accidental-good-guys/735468/7 "2015-10-22T19:56:35Z")
David Brin wrote a couple of stories on this theme: [The Giving Plague](http://www.davidbrin.com/givingplague.html) and [The Fourth Vocation of George Gustaf](http://mreadz.com/new/index.php?id=68489). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accidental-good-guys/735468/8 "2015-10-22T20:28:45Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > As far as I can see, he was trying to do good by his actions. He didn’t do good while trying to do evil. Sure, he was one of those nice Nazis. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accidental-good-guys/735468/9 "2015-10-22T20:36:44Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Sure, he was one of those nice Nazis. 😃 Oskar Schindler would be a better example, since he started out just wanting to make some money off Jewish labor. But he ended up saving his workers deliberately, not by accident. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accidental-good-guys/735468/10 "2015-10-22T20:39:59Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Sure, he was one of those nice Nazis. 😃 Just like that bum, Schindler! ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accidental-good-guys/735468/11 "2015-10-22T21:00:44Z")
TV Tropes has a page called Nice Job Fixing It, Villain, which seems to fit. > **[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NiceJobFixingItVillain)** > > Basically, the heroes have a problem. It could range from personal, to being vital in their quests. Then an antagonist does something, either accidentally or deliberately but with an unintended effect, that instead fixes this problem nicely. It's … ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accidental-good-guys/735468/12 "2015-10-23T01:23:50Z")
How about the Hero of Canton, the Man they Call Jayne? He definitely intended the “steal from the rich” part, but the whole “give to the poor” thing was just a panicked accident.