"Pokémon only do bad things because master bad."
— Ekans, Pokémon: The Series, "Island of the Giant Pokémon"
Monsters are born of human fears. Ghoulies, ghosties, long-leggety beasties, and Things That Go "Bump" in the Night, and they all share a common factor — they threaten. Their claws are sharper, their muscles are stronger, their fangs tear faster... you can generally count on monsters to be capable of hurting things, usually you.
And then there are these guys. These monsters aren't after you. They don't want to hurt you. Mostly, they want nothing to do with you in the first place. They might even be kind to you if you encounter them.
Benevolent Monsters are fantastic creatures that are usually no more dangerous than Real Life flora and fauna. Many times, they will even be safer, despite any indication of powers or prowess to the contrary. Any threat they pose to the good guys is often due to Poor Communication Kills (it could be that the Monster Is a Mommy) and may even be a case of Let's You and Him Fight, with the monsters joining forces with the heroes to take on the villains. Settings with Benevolent Monsters are usually the best residence for the Zombie Advocate, though be on the watch for Van Helsing Hate Crimes.
Note that for Benevolent Monsters to be in effect, non-maliciousness must be the default state of all or most of the monsters, so that malice or villainy becomes the rare exception to the rule. This can also apply to certain species of monster within a work, rather than all the varied types (i.e. the vampires in Setting X are all evil, but the werewolves are all Benevolent Monsters).
All of the above types of monsters are usually depicted as being evil and scary. Also closely related to the Reluctant Monster, which is a monster that may look frightening, but has no actual desire to harm people. Also see Dark Is Not Evil, where characters themed around dark or terrifying things are actually benevolent or at least not malicious, and Face of a Thug, which has the same general "looks scary but is actually nice" dynamic as this trope without necessarily being about monsters specifically. See also Domesticated Dinosaurs, where this trope applies to prehistoric animals.
Compare this trope with Humans Are the Real Monsters, which is this trope's blood brother; after all, if the monsters aren't evil, then somebody else probably is. Compare and contrast with the Non-Malicious Monster, which is a monster that really is very dangerous, but is not consciously evil or malevolent; it is simply acting out of animalistic instinct (i.e. killing and eating people just to survive). Lastly, there's Not Always Evil, which would be when the monsters in question have other interests besides being villains all the time.
As this is frequently a form of The Reveal, unmarked spoilers abound. Beware.
Sub-tropes[]
- Ascended Demon: A benevolent demon who has defected from the side of Hell to Heaven despite their unholy origins.
- Benevolent Abomination: An Eldritch Abomination who is good-natured and very friendly towards humans, instead of being evil or dangerously amoral.
- Big-Hearted Bigfoot: A tall, hairy ape creature who is a Gentle Giant.
- Chummy Mummy: An undead mummy who doesn't bring horrible mummy curses with them.
- Delightful Dragon: A giant reptilian creature that acts more like a really big Lovable Lizard, rather than an evil monster or savage beast.
- Friendly Ghost: When the phantom haunting your house turns out to be a rather chill and laidback roommate.
- Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: A benevolent bloodsucker who wants to peacefully coexist with normal humans as much as possible.
- Vegetarian Vampire: A hematophagous being who refuses to attack people for their blood, preferring much less violent alternatives to sate their bloodthirst.
- Friendly Skeleton: An undead skeleton who just wants to party during the Day of the Dead.
- Friendly Zombie: An undead revenant who has no desire to attack living people for their brains.
- Gorgeous Gorgon: Female monsters who still are pretty or beautiful despite their inhuman appearance, when combined with a straightforward application of Beauty Equals Goodness.
- Innocent Aliens: Friendly extraterrestrial visitors who sincerely come in peace, without any intentions of attacking Earth, kidnapping humans, or rustling cattle.
- Mammal Monsters Are More Heroic: Mammal-like monsters are portrayed in a more sympathetic light than non-mammalian ones.
- Monster Adventurers: Monsters in an RPG Mechanics 'Verse or Standard Fantasy Setting who are fantasy heroes.
- Monster Façade: A monster who is scary but has a heart of gold on the inside.
- Token Heroic Orc: A rare good member of an otherwise Always Chaotic Evil monster race.
- Hunter of His Own Kind: Sometimes, a monster hunter happens to also be the same kind of monster they hunt, fighting off more malevolent members of their kind in order to protect humans.
- Pro-Human Transhuman: When ex-human or post-human monsters remain loyal to their normal human brethren instead of betraying them.
- Reluctant Monster: A monster who just wants to have fun instead of hurting people, unlike the other evil members of their species.
- Wonderful Werewolf: A lycanthrope who acts more like a Noble Wolf (or a Big Friendly Dog) than a Savage Wolf.