In good, interesting storytelling, as well as in real life, it is entirely possible for people and characters to be in shades of grey even as morality is in black and white.
Take Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, for example.
This is practically The signature of morality in black and white done well.
Good is good and evil is evil.
But if you hunt around, you can find characters with morally ambiguous shades of grey.
Take Boromir. A signature flawed hero. Yes, he is primarily a hero. And yes, he is flawed.
Take the orcs. Villains, right?
But in reality they're nothing more than Sauron's slaves.
And Saruman can be taken as a major example of a grey area character.
Sure, he ends up a villain. But he sure does not start out that way. And he sure gets a major push into villainny by the Dark Lord Suaron.
Surely he, too, is as much tragic victim as villain.
But the ultimate grey area character in Lord of the Rings is Denethor.
The Steward of Gondor.
He is in the story mainly as an antagonist.
Someone set against our heroes.
But get to know his story, really know it, and Denethor the Steward becomes a great epic hero- and a heroic tragedy.
We just see him at his worst, just before his tragic fall.
There are more grey area characters in The Silmarillion. Arguably the character of Feanor is as completely a grey area character as Denethor- and nearly as amazing a tragic character.
Nearly. Not quite. I for one was deeply moved by Denethor's true story as a tragic hero.
And yet all through it good and evil themselves, as principles, are still in stark black and white.
Good is good. Evil is evil.
For your consideration.
Denethor, I will remember your great deeds and your suffering. Always.
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson