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Stories where the main character succumbs to "evil"
The title pretty much says it all. The "evil" could be just switching sides to what was initially thought as the antagonizing force, or could be giving in to what we as the reader know is evil. Thanks in advance!
It's impossible to answer this without massive unexpected spoilers.
The trailer already spoiled this so I don't feel as bad
In Dune we see Paul Atreides story as one of a revenge. There are some hints that it includes huge war and posing as a messiah to simple people. The way it plays out by Messiah of Dune goes completly off the rails with billions across multiple planets dead.But it gets better, or worse, book spoilers ahead
In Children of Dune, Paul's son Leto II is played as a free spirited fellow that wants to unchain people from this messianic myth of his father and also maybe overthrow his aunt Alia that got possessed by her Harkonnen uncle. He does some funky stuff to his body and runs around the desert like Sonic the Hedgehog. The EndEven more book spoilers
In God Emperor of Dune, Leto II is thousands of years old half prophet, half worm but also 100% tyrant ruling over what is left of human civilization with an iron ~~fist~~ appendage. He also can't be killed because he's pretty much last person with precognition abilities around.No idea how to name this part
Eventually Leto II gets killed. Turns out it was all part of the plan to scatter humanity, condition it against authoritarianism and prevent bigger issues.So I guess he was okay? Just needed to kill tens of billions. Supposedly it was the only way. I don't know, man. Those Atreides are so self important that maybe they made it all up.
TL;DR: SHADDAM IV DID NOTHING WRONG
There's one book I like called Shinsekai Yori (From the New World) which has this. It starts out with the main character growing up in a slightly messed up fantasy world and trying to figure out what's going on, and by the end, well I'm posting in this thread because the main character has become fairly evil at that point. It's really a very interesting book.
Of course the downside is it's never been translated to English officially, there's a very good unofficial translation on some WordPress page, but you can't get it as a physical book.
Thank you, I appreciate the recommendation. I'll find it and try and make an epub for my e-reader. Sounds exactly like what I am looking for!
If is the same story I'm thinking of, there was an anime and manga, and I believe both of those were officially translated and released English side.
There is, although the manga is a practically unrelated spinoff that isn't worth reading unless you want some yuri fanservice.
The anime, otoh, I've only heard good things about, but I haven't seen it myself
I watched the anime way back in the day, does the book diverge from the show significantly or am I just not remembering the show as well as I thought I did?
It kind of gives it away in the title, but Patrick Süskind's 1985 novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer follows the story of a promising perfumer with an incredible sense of smell. It's a really great read and there was also a movie made in 2006, but I've not seen it before, so I can't say how good it is.
I'm torn on mentioning this - on one hand, it's a supremely powerful example to me and still makes me cry after all this time; and on the other hand, it's a massive spoiler... Oh well, lol. Read at your own risk.
Spoilers
I've mentioned it in another thread before, but the visual novel Umineko comes to mind, in a way. The bulk of the first half of the story has the protagonist, Battler, arguing with the witch, Beatrice, trying to prove that her and her magic aren't real by explaining her supposed magical murders with human methods (it, uh, makes sense in context, really).Because he's an 18-year-old boy who's mainly motivated by the fact that Beatrice pisses him off, he ends up blinding himself to his own feelings towards her and what she's trying to tell him - to the point that he doesn't realize it until he's all but killed her. It's only when time's run out and everything seems to be over that he takes a step back and really thinks about everything she's been trying to tell him throughout the story - and as soon as he understands what's really going on with her... Well, I guess I'll leave it at that, lol.
It's not really a "good vs. evil" thing in final analysis, though it looks that way on the surface - but the full implications of his change of heart and what it means, both for himself and Beatrice, never fails to get me choked up, especially with how the story ends.
I think many Poe stories would fit. The Tell-Tale Heart, The Premature Burial, Fall of the House of Usher, The Cask of Amontillado
The Revenge of the Sith novelization (and labyrinth of evil before it) tells an amazing story about the fall of Anakin Skywalker and the galactic Republic.