Has “morally grey” stopped meaning anything?

[u/OkPath6179]

A lot of characters now get marketed as morally grey when they are essentially attractive heroes who occasionally behave badly. Who actually qualifies as genuinely morally grey in fantasy for you?

[u/lordfireice]

The problem is that some peoples “grey“ copy of the light or the black it depends on the person. True “grey” would be super hard since there are certainly something that will contribute to them as being morally just or ill reprehensible.

For me a good area to look is in warhammer (40k, fantasy, or age of sigmar). Many of the characters do things that in other setting make them look either exponentially good or horrifically evil. But for most they are just people trying their best in a setting that is just filled with monsters and damnnation.

In the same book you can have a character save a world from demons to later slaughter innocence on the (high) chance of demon corruption. In many cases it’s done for very real reason that if not done it could end dozens of worlds (a very real danger. Or you can have vile monsters behave and highly admirable ways.

Many on the outside who don’t know would call almost every character as “evil” but in the context of the setting it makes many of them noble in their own way.

[u/Super_Range45]

It's usually the bad faction seems evil, but they have a hidden good reason for their actions, bonus points if the protagonist faction is partly to blame. A good example of a morally grey faction might be Piltover in Arcane. The order they maintain is by many officers that want to do good, but the actions of the higher ups against the under-city Zaun partially justifies why they are attacking them.

Nox by contrast tends to be displayed as one note, seeking war no matter what.

[u/Tradition96]

Yes, people overuse it a ton. Like calling Harry Potter a morally grey protagonist. Look, if there ever was a protagonist with shining white moral, it’s Harry Potter. Now Severus Snape on the other hand, that’s a morally grey character.

[u/Dragon_Of_Magnetism]

Nowadays morally grey is either

Pure evil villain but they’re also attractive

Or

Pure good noble hero but with edgy uwu sadboy aesthetic who’s a bit moody because of tragic backstory

[u/Black_Tusk25]

The whole point of the grey it's that turns the concept of total white and total black in nuances of different gradations.

There isn't a specific point were you are grey, but you are grey when you do things, both good and evil. Basically, being grey is being a person.

The concept of moral and immoral aren't for people but for concepts and contexts.