In fiction, underdogs often win. And underdogs are often tend to be shown as virtuous whereas in reality they have often turn pretty brutal after long oppression.

In reality, those with power usually win. Power begets more power for a long time until things structurally change, usually after centuries.

Fiction does tend to emphasize the exceptions. We don’t focus on the norms; we focus on the outliers.

So reality is filled with norms, and fiction is filled with outliers.