Asshole Victim: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}{{Needs Image}}

The frequent impression left is that [[Pay Evil Unto Evil|"the victim had it coming"]] - an author has a corpse-shaped hole in the story, and decided to fill it with a character the audience won't mourn.

# It's not as depressing;. given that, forFor these shows to work, [[Tonight Someone Dies]] is a given,; having an Asshole Victim bringsmakes upthe audience feel less ofguilty about the "Tonight,notion of someone willbeing be killedmurdered for yourtheir entertainment" [[Fridge Logic]].

Also shows up in Horrorhorror and Suspensesuspense films, for much the same reasons; ([[Everyone Is a Suspect]] frequently gets replaced by a [[Clear My Name]]). However, it will generally not apply to victims of [[The Scourge of God]], except sometimes when said scourge is a [[Poetic Serial Killer]]. Criminals in a [[Colliding Criminal Conspiracies]] generally are this.

For [[Kick the Dog|dog kickers]] who kick an asshole (not necessarily fatally), it's [[Kick the Son of a Bitch]]. Can also be an invoked [[Take That, Scrappy!]] moment. See also [[Disposable Fiance]], which is similar in several respects. When the victim was as asshole for things they did in the process of trying to survive, it's [[Death By Pragmatism]].

In accordance with the "[[wikipedia:Just world hypothesis|Just-world hypothesis]]," people may perceive ''any'' victim as an [['''Asshole Victim]]''' just to keep their belief that people get what they deserve intact.

* One of the most prominent aspects of the series ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' is the fact that while the [[Tyke Bomb|Diclonius]] tend to have a murderously misanthropic view towards humans, said humans [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|tend to be savagely cruel and inhuman]]. It's hard to feel sympathy towards some of the murder victims, when said victims just [[Moral Event Horizon|beat the dog to death in front of its kind but quiet owner, when it was the only thing that she loved in the world, force her to watch, and laugh at her.]] They act so ''surprised'' when she slaughters them. Then again, unless you were in on the conspiracy, the expectation that she ''could'' was probably reserved for people on hard drugs.

* Dallas Genoard from ''[[Baccano!]]!'' is pretty much a [[Jerkass]] to end all [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]]es, which is why not many people are angry at seeing [[Noble Demon|Luck Gandor]] give him the [[Cement Shoes]] treatment.

* Taken [[Up to Eleven]] with the second victim in ''[[Bio -Meat: Nectar]]'', an old woman. When we first see her, she's mocking and ridiculing the lead character's mother for daring to not have a husband. (It's implied very shortly after that she was previously married and her husband died, or at least ran out on her) Next, we see her berating a neighbor for roof tiles falling into her yard during an earthquake -- thenearthquake—then further insulting them for daring to suggest they could '''clean up''' the tiles to make it up to her. Next, when she first sees a Bio Meat, she mistakes it for a pig, and calls Animal Control... and when they turn out to be taking too long, she decides to try to ''stab it to death with a broom handle for no reason''. She gets picked off shortly thereafter, but she's ''still'' not done being an asshole, as she had decided to attack it in front of a little girl, who gets so traumatized by witnessing what happens to the woman that all she can do when the Animal Control officers finally arrive is repeat the [[Madness Mantra]] "Little piggy dragged off the big lady..."

** ''[[Bio -Meat: Nectar]]'' even includes Name Tropers, listed in the credits as "Asshole Victims" in the fifth volume. This is a group of the main characters' fellow middle school students who are saved from being eaten when Bio Meats swarm the school by the quick thinking and leadership skills of one main character, and then given an avenue of escape and communication with the outside world by the inventiveness of another, though said escape route has to be used sparingly and carefully lest the Bio Meats use it to invade the safe room. Just as the last of the main characters leaves through the escape route to bring back help, the "Asshole Victims:"

* In ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]]'', most of Johnny's victims are this. Or are implied to be people like this. Or hung out with people like this. Or stood too close to people like this (i.e. around two kilometers). Come to think of it, Johnny doesn't really discriminate once he's gotten going, but it takes a soon-to-be [[Asshole Victim]] to trigger his homicidal rampages... [[Hair-Trigger Temper|Mostly]]. Most of the people he takes back to his [[Torture Cellar]] (who ''will'' be dead pretty soon) are prime examples however. Or at least implied to be.

* In the backstory of ''[[Kingdom Come]]'', [[Nineties Anti-Hero|Magog]] kills the Joker while he's in police custody. Of course, this is '''[[Complete Monster|The]] [[Monster Clown|Joker]]''' we're talking about here, and he was arrested because he went on a rampage in the ''Daily Planet'' offices and killed 75 people -- includingpeople—including Lois Lane. When Superman protests, the public sides with Magog for this very reason.

* It's not a murder-mystery, but Steve in the remake of ''[[Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)|Dawn of the Dead]]'' more than qualifies. When he finally gets zombified and then shot in the head you're likely to cheer, same goes for CJ.

* ''[[Sorority Row]]'' probably has a record for the number of deliberately unsympathetic victims; out of all the people killed maybe one or two qualify for [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] status. The killer actually [[Lampshadeslampshade]]s how horrible the murdered characters all were.

** That's because the [[EC Comics|EC horror comics]] it's influenced by are just chock-full of [[Asshole Victim|Asshole Victims]] and [[Karmic Death|Karmic Deaths]]s.

* Most of the victims in ''Madhouse'' -- a—a proto-slasher movie set in a BBC studio -- donstudio—don't really deserve to die. However, it's hard to feel sorry for the actress who plays Vincent Price's [[Dark Mistress|assistant]], or for his insane stalker, or for her ''completely'' insane parents.

* Both used and subverted in the film ''[[Heathers]]'' -- most—most of the victims are (or seem to be) [[Asshole Victim|Asshole Victims]] but then through the heroine's eyes we see how their deaths affect their loved ones, and see her realize that being an asshole ''isn't worth killing someone over.''

* None of the humans in ''[[Predator|Predators]]s'' are particularly nice, but Stans, a condemned murderer takes the cake for being the most unsympathetic. Even so, he gets a [[Dying Moment of Awesome|pretty badass sendoff]].

* In ''[[Dogma]]'', Loki visits a boardroom of [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Corrupt Corporate Executives]]s, lists their individual sins (idolatry, adultery, statutory rape, intolerance, etc.), then kills them.

* {{spoiler|[[Villain Protagonist|The main character, Tony Montana]]}} from ''[[Scarface]]'' might as well be the ultimate kind of this trope. Although he gets a [[Redemption Equals Death]] moment when he {{spoiler|[[Even Evil Has Standards|refuses to blow up the journalist's car, along with said person's wife and children by killing Sosa's hitman.]]}} {{spoiler|Tony}} also paid the price for said incident, however, when {{spoiler|Sosa sent his men to attack him.}} His death wasn't played out in a [[Alas, Poor Villain]] moment either. By the end, we still retain some sympathy for him, but he is still an asshole from start to finish, including when {{spoiler|he killed Gina's future husband, Manny Ribera, because of his over-protectiveness for said sister.}}

** Ratchett in ''[[Murder on the Orient Express]]'' is worth mentioning in particular, being doubly an [[Asshole Victim]]. He's portrayed as a total jackass from the minute he steps on board, so we don't feel too guilty when he's splattered across a Pullman carriage for our entertainment. As we learn more about him after the murder, it becomes even clearer just how deserving he was of his fate. Poirot eventually lets his murderers go.

** Mrs. Boynton in ''Appointment with Death''. After she spends the first part of the book psychologically torturing her family, one could be forgiven for cheering when a public-spirited individual does away with the old crone. Except that the actual killer was more ''private''-spirited in their reasons--theyreasons—they were afraid Boynton would expose their criminal past.

** Mr. Shaitana in ''Cards On the Table'', who has a collection of successful murderers -- themurderers—the ones he knows got away with it -- andit—and invites them to a party calculated to make them squirm. Christie plays with this one, as Poirot immediately points out that this is not a safe hobby. Much of the book is spent trying to find out what murders the suspects previously committed.

** Colonel Protheroe of ''[[Murder at the Vicarage|The Murder at the Vicarage]]'' is the most despised man in the village; even the local ''vicar'' says that killing him would be a service to the community. However, yet again, the murder turns out to have been committed for purely selfish motives.

** The most evil being Charles Augustus Milverton, who got rich by [[Blackmail|blackmailingblackmail]]ing people (only to ruin them anyway, [[For the Evulz|for the fun of it]]). Holmes let the murderer go.

* ''[[Harry Potter and Thethe Goblet of Fire (novel)|Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]'' starts with the local Muggles' viewpoint of the murder of the Riddle family, for whom no one wastes any breath feeling sorry. That said, they didn't sympathize with the man suspected of the murder either, even though he was never charged.

** Loxias was such a [[Complete Monster]] that everyone--includingeveryone—including his own mother--confessedmother—confessed to killing him. His murder was never solved.

** If anything, Geoffrey Deacon in ''The Nine Tailors'' is BEYOND an [[Asshole Victim]], so foul and evil that he is by most readings the real villain of the book. Made even more unusual for a mystery novel by the fact that Lord Peter and seven local residents killed him by accident.

** ''Murder Must Advertise'': Victor Dean was a [[Blackmail|blackmailerblackmail]]er.

* Usually not seen in [[Discworld]], where posthumous dialogue between victims and Death tends to paint all but [[Complete Monster|the worst]] villains in a sympathetic light. Used straight with Homicidal Lord Winder from ''[[Discworld/Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'', though: a paranoid former Patrician so universally despised that, when an ''undisguised'' assassin walked up to him in the midst of a grand ball, the majority of guests either allowed it to happen, or actively distracted Winder's few supporters. Partially averted, because the target's paranoia was so great that the assassin (a young Vetinari) didn't actually have to strike him down; rather, the stress of the confrontation caused the deranged Lord Winder to suffer a fatal heart attack.

* [[The Black Fleet Crisis]] of the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] presents us with not one but ''two'' [[Asshole Victim|Asshole Victims]] who take turns victimizing each other. The Empire violently oppressed the Yevetha, a (literally) bloodthirsty [[Exclusively Evil]] race of aliens who believe all other species are disgustingly inferior. The Yevetha violently rebelled against them, seized the Empire's ships in a bloody coup, and enslaved the surviving Imperial soldiers. The Imperial slaves later violently rose up against their Yevethan masters and stole the ships back, robbing the Yevetha of the core of their fleet and ensuring the New Republic's victory against the Yevetha. Later the brutal Yevethan dictator, Nil Spaar, is stuffed in an escape pod by the Imperials and dumped into hyperspace.

** In the sequel ''[[Moon Over Soho]]'' the woman, who is now known as "The Pale Lady" racks up another three victims. All of whom were sexual deviants of one kind or another (including a corrupt ex-police officer with a taste for ''real'' [[Catgirl|Catgirls]]s).

* Arguably, in [[Fyodor Dostoevsky|Dostoyevsky's]] ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'', Raskolnikov justifies his murder of the landlady because she's a skinflint.

* Probably happens on ''[[Bones]]'' with about the same 50/50 frequency as other crime shows. An example is a [[Parody]] of ''[[The Office]]'', where a hateful manager is dumped down an elevator. It turns out she had an aneurysm burst when one of the couple she busted for a forbidden affair -- oneaffair—one of whom she was already blackmailing to sleep with her -- threwher—threw a stapler at her head in frustration, and the two dumped her body in a panic.

** There are actually some exceptions scattered throughout the show's long run of some perfectly nice people getting killed, but one in particular stands out as a very deliberate subversion of this trope. It centers around this [[Smug Snake]] [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] where everything about him just seems to ''scream'' [[Asshole Victim]]... until we get to the halfway point and the murder victim is the exec's much nicer brother.

* Many ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'' episodes. In one episode in particular, in which the killer was acquitted by the jury. Jack McCoy's philosophical reaction is that this sometimes happens "when your victim is sleazier than your perp." In this case, the victim was a [[Dragon Lady]] who let the killer's underage son run up $50K in sex line charges, whom it also turns out was running a sex slave ring.

** Another was set up to look like a type 3, since the victim was a neo-naziNazi child molester. Turned out that the murderer was a brilliant but unbalanced writer who basically killed a stranger on impulse. The rest of the episode was about whether he should be executed, turning this into a type 2 (since it would be hard to sympathize if he'd killed a pregnant mother of three).

** Still another had a sleazy paparazzo (who had just [[Karma Houdini|Karma Houdinied]]ed his way out of a Manslaughter charge) was shot to death outside of his favorite eatery. When the patrons realized who'd been shot... [[And There Was Much Rejoicing|they burst into applause.]]

* ''[[Homicide: Life Onon the Street]]'' once had them investigate two suicides caused by a particular nasty piece of work, who was going to reveal their extramarital affairs. This wasn't blackmail, as he was going to reveal regardless, and only giving them a few days warning, as his Moral Judgment. The SOB was killed by the photographer who he blackmailed into being his accomplice.

** Similarly, the entire cast of the movie ''[[Clue (film)|Clue]]'' was either the [[Blackmail|blackmailerblackmail]]er, his accomplices, or the blackmailed suspects (who all survive the movie), except, of course, {{spoiler|FBI agent Mr. Green.}}

* Subversion in one ''[[CSI: Crime Scene Investigation]]''. The victim is an asshole to his four co-workers, all of whom were the only ones to have access to the room he died in. The audience is led to believe that a combination of two or more of the four are the ones who offed the [[Jerkass]] (all of whom are pretty jerkassy themselves). Turns out it was the janitor cleaning the vents, who killed the man when his hammer fell out of the pocket and through the grate. He didn't know the guy and removed the hammer because he didn't want to go back to jail.

** It happens many, many times in the ''[[CSI]]'' franchise, usually coupled with a [[Sympathetic Murderer]]. Examples include:

** In "Angels", the victim is a child molester who had kidnapped two boys from GuatamalaGuatemala and beat them as well as molested them. Elliot even says killing the guy was a public service, but they still go after his killer.

** Toyed with maybe, the killer is racked by guilt for quite some time and probably only did what they did in the end because they felt '''directly''' responsible for having saved his life earlier (having shouted a warning when an assassin was spotted). The scene where the assassin explains [[Nightmare Fuel|exactly what happened back home]] makes you realize that this dictator is waaaaaaaay past [[Asshole Victim]] and well into the [[Complete Monster]] zone.

* ''[[The Onedin Line]]'' has a storyline in series one with a discussion of a disputed death of a shipmate, covered up by the original captain but which probably was murder, four years prior to the events of the series. When Annie calls it a brutal murder, James claims he was a brutal man - so that's all right then...

* The ''[[City Homicide]]'' episode "Cut and Dried" has a convicted child molester murdered in prison, and few of the detectives are motivated to investigate too thoroughly. It's then subverted when it turns out he was genuinely repentant, was intending to give evidence against the pedophile ring he belonged to, and was in fact silenced by two of the prison ''guards''.

* Pretty much everyone on ''[[Oz]]'' qualifies for this, since they're in a maximum security prison. Especially nasty pieces of work were William Cudney, who murdered the son of the doctor that gave His wife an abortion, and MalcolnMalcolm Coyle, who murdered an entire family including an infant for fun. Even inmates who committed murder were appalled by Their crimes.

* At the beginning of season nine of ''[[Two and Aa Half Men]]'', it is implied that Charlie may have been shoved in front of a train by a girlfriend who caught him cheating. His funeral is full of women talking about the STDs they got from him and a man who wants to collect $30,000 in what are implied to be drug-related debts.

* "I Remember Larry" by [["Weird Al" Yankovic|Weird Al Yankovic]] has the eponymous Larry do all sorts of horrible things to his neighbor, who eventually snaps.

{{quote|''And one fact most astounding to them quickly came to light--

''That '''every''' moment of the Count was vouched for on that night.

''The castle folk by ones and twos came forward on their own

''To swear the Count had never once that night been all alone.

''So though the Tower had been locked tight, with two keys to the door,

''One his, one hers; the Count of guilt was plain absolved for sure. }}

* "38 Years Old" by [[The Tragically Hip]] is about a man imprisoned for murdering his sister's rapist.

{{quote|"''[[Technical Pacifist|You just got your ass kicked trying to play-fight a pacifist]] <br />

''Plus [[Angrish|got called a Faggot by a Gay-Rights Activist]]<br />

''In broad daylight, hey guys<br />

''[[Passive-Aggressive Kombat|My place for a lesson in aggression in passiveness]] }}

** In other media, whenever Zeus or another godsgod is overthrown the Olympians are portrayed as having it coming by emphasizing their [[Jerkass]] side.

== Tabletop[[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Persona 4]]'' had Kinshiro "King Moron" Morooka, a [[Jerkass]] [[Sadist Teacher]]/[[Gonk|Steve Buscemi-lookalike]] who puts the Main Character on his shit list only after just meeting him. That being said, it avoids the [[Unfortunate Implications]] that it's okay to kill [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]]es. Even the main characters remark that while they hated him, [[Alas, Poor Scrappy|he didn't deserve to end up dead]].

** Ironically, this winds getting such a massive case of [[Alas, Poor Scrappy]] it winds getting subverted, especially because his replacement is such a shameless, spiteful whore that even the teenage guys who hated the first person hate the successor MORE because she manages to outdo the [[Asshole Victim]] she replaced in being a [[Jerkass]], and this is so bad it overpowers any of her [[Ms. Fanservice]] tendencies. And, considering how ass ugly (in temperament and appearance) who she replaced was, that is quite a feat.

** Later in the game, the PC gets to do play detective/lawyer again, but this time the trope is completely inverted: though the victim is a Dark Jedi -- andJedi—and as such, no girl scout -- herscout—her murderer is even worse. And infuriatingly vital for the Republic's war effort.

* Ragou and Cumore in ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'' take this trope [[Up to Eleven]]. In the first act of the game, [[Ax Crazy|Ragou]] is found to have been feeding some of the already-abused citizens of the town he governs to monsters for ''[[For the Evulz|entertainment]]'', claiming that the party doesn't understand the high class of taste it takes to find it amusing. Watching him walk away the first time he is caught is one of the most difficult parts of the game to sit through. In the second act, Cumore has been forcing citizens of the desert town he has jurisdiction over to search for an ancient and [[Physical God|powerful]] phoenix-like creature. They are literally dropped in the middle of said desert to search for said monster. Assuming they found the monster (no one does), it is more than capable of [[Your Head Asplode|instantly]] killing just about anything, including similar god-like creatures. When both are finally brought to justice, the legal system of Terca Lumireis [[Karma Houdini|lets both of them go with either a minor reduction in rank or no punishment at all]]. Both assholes meet their end -- Ragouend—Ragou is slashed across his back and dumped into a river; Cumore is backed into what is essentially a pit of quicksand -- atquicksand—at the hands of disgruntled Imperial soldier turned vigilante Yuri Lowell... whose reward is to get [[What the Hell, Hero?|ragged on it]] by his borderline [[Lawful Stupid]] friend and ex-comrade Flynn Scifo.

*** While not the victim of a standard homicide, [[Crime After Crime|Joe]] [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Darke]] of the fifth case could be considered an [[Asshole Victim]]. After killing around five people, he was executed based mainly on faked evidence that made it look like he had killed a sixth person.

* In ''[[Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors|Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors]]'', Ace/Hongou was the head of a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|corrupt corporation]] and recreated the Nonary Game for experimentation into [[wikipedia:Morphic field#Morphogenetic field|Morphogenetic Fields]]. The Ninth Man, who is betrayed by Ace and [[Your Head Asplode|explodes rather nastily]], was Kubota, was in charge of R on the Nonary Project. Nijisaki asd Musashidou were other members, killed by Ace to keep his identity secret. It just makes his [[Karmic Death]] in the "Safe" ending so much more fulfilling.

** [[Complete Monster|Teppai Hojo]] is a [[They Killed Kenny]] -grade example. Gets his brains bashed in by Keiichi in the Curse Killing chapter, his head split in half by Rena (shortly after Rina's deatah) in the Atonement chapter, and killed by Keiichi, Rena, and Shion in the Exorcism chapter. Two of these are as [[Knight Templar Big Brother|punishment for exceptionally nasty child abuse against Satako]].

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[Something *Positive]]'' has the completely evil Avagadro Pompey, who actually did die of natural causes, although nobody believes [[Jerkass|Kharisma]] when she said that, although she really was trying to kill him, all her murder attempts failed.

* [http://xkcd.com/562/ This] ''[[Xkcdxkcd]]''.

== Western[[Web AnimationOriginal]] ==

* ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]'' has an example in the episode "Heart of Ice", the origin episode of [[Anti-Villain|Mr. Freeze]]. On the outside, CEO Ferris Boyle of GothCorp seems like a pretty decent fellow, even gaining an award for being the "Humanitarian of the Year". But this couldn't be further from the truth. Not only did Boyle nearly kill Nora Fries by stopping her husband from freezing her until a cure could be found for her terminal illness but he ruins Victor's life forever by kicking him into a table full of chemicals, freezing him and forcing him to live in a subzero environment to survive. Even Batman is [[Oh Crap|horrified]] by Boyle's callousness and leaves him frozen from the waist down, while saying in disgust "Good night, Humanitarian."

* In ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force]]'', [[The Atoner|Kevin]] averts [[Save the Villain]] by leaving his nemesis Ragnarok fall in the Sun. Considering the guy was an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] who killed his father from cold blood and attempted to destroy Earth's sun for the sake of selling its energy, it's hard to blame Kevin for this act.

** And again in ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]'', Kevin, after turning psychotic again, goes on a [[Roaring Rampage Ofof VengeanceRevenge]] against several people, including Prison Director Morgg. While he fails to kill him, he still scares the crap of him, and most fans wouldn't have minded if he had succeeded, seeing as Morgg was a corrupted [[Complete Monster]] who hated and killed on of the prisonners for acting like [[The Mentor]] to other prisonnersprisoners, and later developped an alien drug traffic in the prison using the prisonners as labour slaves. Some fans even actually ''blamed'' Ben for saving this guy.

[[Category:VillainHentai BallTropes]]

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[[Category:VictimhoodMystery Tropes]]

[[Category:Crime and PunishmentVictimhood Tropes]]

[[Category:AssholeVillain VictimBall]]