Break the Haughty: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

In fiction, it's dangerous to carry one's head [[Smug Snake|too high.]] What kind of character is used for this story varies; it can be anyone from a [[Jerkass]] to a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]. Extra points if the character has not only a high opinion of themselves, but also a low opinion of everyone else.

 

{{examples}}

* Both [[Pride]] and [[Big Bad|Father]] get a taste of this in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]''. Pride, the [[Anthropomorphic Personification|incarnation]] of the homunculi's [[Humans Are Flawed|superiority complex over humankind,]] is pushed to the brink and tries to save himself by taking over Ed's body. [[Psycho for Hire|Kimblee,]] [[Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth|who had managed to keep his individuality after being devoured,]] [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|condemns Pride for his hypocrisy]] and destabilizes him long enough for Ed to gain the upper hand and deconstruct him, reducing him to a harmless human infant with no memory of ever being a homunculus. As for Father, shortly before Pride's fall, he [[Evil Gloating|gloats at Ed, Al, Izumi, and Roy]] about how the Truth only gave them [[Disproportionate Retribution|what they deserved for their "arrogance"]]; after he's defeated and appears before the portal, [[Ironic Echo|Truth turns his words back on him]] right before the portal drags him into oblivion.

* In ''[[Kaleido Star]]'', May Wong thought she could [[Hard Work Hardly Works|skip the "hard work"]] and become the star while breaking her rival Sora and charming her idol Leon. Well, when Leon {{spoiler|deliberately ''dropped'' her during an act as a test of strength, seriously injuring her in the process}}, she was ''brutally'' proven wrong and had to start from scratch.

 

 

* The fanfic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5385837/1/Poor_Princess Poor Princess]'' puts [[Spoiled Brat|Princess Morebucks]] from the ''[[Powerpuff Girls]]'' through the wringer, beginning with her getting [[I Have No Son|disowned by her father]].

* {{spoiler|Brox and, to a lesser extent, Grunnel}} in ''[[With Strings Attached]]''.

* A number of [[Katharine Hepburn]] films revolve around Hepburn's character getting this treatment, as in ''[[The Philadelphia Story]]'' and ''[[Woman Of The Year]]''.

* This is the driving motivation behind the [[Villain Protagonist]]s in ''[[The Final]]''. Rather than kill their [[Alpha Bitch|pretty]], [[Jerk Jock|popular]] classmates, they instead [[Cold-Blooded Torture|horribly torture and mutilate them]] so that, when they go back to school crippled and disfigured, they will know what it's like to be at the bottom of the [[Popularity Food Chain]].

* It was quite ''fun'' watching the victims' terror just before they were attacked in ''[[Dead Friend]]'' (aka The Ghost), considering what haughty bitches they were in the past. The movie even emphasizes how cruel and nasty they were in flashbacks.

* James Bond goes through this in ''[[Casino Royale]]'', first getting lectured by M, {{spoiler|then loses to Le Chiffre in Poker, then gets captured, stripped, and tortured via [[Groin Attack]]<ref>which he admittedly takes in stride</ref>}}, but the one that really does him in is falling in love with {{spoiler|and getting betrayed by}} [[Femme Fatale|Vesper Lynd]]. [[Big Bad|Le Chiffre]] himself goes through this as well after his [[Evil Plan]] fails, {{spoiler|getting attacked by the Africans he owes money to, losing to Bond after he thought Bond was out of the game}}, and then [[Incredibly Lame Pun|dying after scratching Bond's balls]].

* After revealing himself to be a reckless and arrogant [[Blood Knight]] and instigating a war between the Frost Giants and Asgard, [[Thor (film)|Thor]] was cast out of Asgard by his father, Odin, and forced to live as a mortal to teach him humility.

* Abbot Cellach, from ''[[The Secret of Kells]]''. He controls the Village of Kells and has them build a wall around it to protect them from [[Horny Vikings|the Viking invaders.]] However, he doesn't let the monks do ''anything else'' and punishes to anyone who tries. {{spoiler|Then the Vikings break down the gate, climb over the walls, burn the village down, and shoot him with a burning arrow. The people he was trying to save die because he paid more attention to the wall than the steps into the only protected building in Kells, and he ''gets stabbed'' trying to get to Brendan, who he had locked in the Scriptorium prior to the invasion as punishment for illuminating. Said Scriptorium burns down, and he’s lead to believe for nearly twenty years that he had caused the death of his twelve-year-old nephew.}}

* Sister Clodagh's arc in ''Black Narcissus'' is all about this trope: she's too proud of her new position as the Order's youngest Superior, lacks the spiritual resources to adequately counsel her nuns (one of whom is {{spoiler|rapidly going insane}}), and is increasingly beset by memories of her own [[Unrequited Love]].

 

== Literature ==

** In Exodus, this is applied to the whole of Egypt. Pharaoh defies Yahweh, refusing to free the Hebrew slaves. Yahweh proceeds to turn the Nile to blood, unleash hordes of frogs, lice, and beasts, inflicts a plague on the animals and boils on the humans, [[Kill It with Fire|rains burning ice]] on the land, sends a swarm of locusts to attack their fields, covers the land in darkness, and kills every Egyptian firstborn save Pharaoh. Pharaoh gives in, [[Ignored Epiphany|but changes his mind]] and ends up [[Too Dumb to Live|dying]] because of it.

* Josef K., the protagonist of ''[[The Trial]]'', is a pompously self-important bank manager whose reaction on being arrested in his apartment is outrage at such minor officials daring to bother ''him''. Over the course of the novel he finds out that he has much less power than he thought. Whether any moral lessons emerge is questionable, though.

** Gilderoy Lockhart may also be a partial example, starting when he is forced to follow through on all his {{spoiler|bogus}} claims.

* The female alien spaceship captain Thora da Zoltral in the longrunning (1961-ongoing) German [[Science Fiction]] series ''[[Perry Rhodan]]''. Considering that her people, the humanoid Arkoniden, were (in)famous for their arrogance and haughtiness towards "lesser" races, as well as their ruthless empire-building and [[Manifest Destiny]] worldview (basically imagine the Roman and British Empires and Imperial Japan rolled into one), Thora had a lot of pride to swallow when circumstances forced her to accept help from and to ally with the "barbarians" from planet Earth, who had just performed their first manned moon landing and discovered the shipwrecked alien spaceship there. Her brother, the gentle and open-minded scientist Crest, fared a lot better in adjusting his mindset to new ideas.

* This is pretty much the main plot of ''Eustacia Goes to the [[Chalet School]]''. Take the titular girl, an [[Insufferable Genius]] with academic parents, a [[Missing Mom]] and a set of relatives who barely pay attention to her. Put her in the Chalet School, where her arrogance and tale-bearing make her unpopular with the other girls. Add a nasty accident that results in Eustacia being seriously injured and disabled, and voila! You have a sadder, wiser and nicer character who realises the error of her ways.

* Lionblaze from ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' started out arrogant and battle obsessed, and trained under his grandfather [[Big Bad|Tigerstar]] to become a great warrior. Then in at the end of the ''Power of Three'' arc, he learned that {{spoiler|he was actually a bastard, and Tigerstar was just using him for his power}}. He still remained somewhat arrogant, until ''Night Whispers'', where his love interest Cinderheart left him because he had to focus on his destiny and couldn't be distracted, leading to him becoming much more humble and less battle-hungry.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* There are several episodes of ''[[The Prisoner]]'' in which Number Two's over-confidence in his ability to break Number Six ends up being his own downfall. One episode in which this theme is used very prominently is "Hammer Into Anvil".

* Pretty much the entire point of ''[[Leverage]]''. Typically, the villain is some type of corporate sleaze who tends to be either arrested, finanically ruined, and/or put through a [[Humiliation Conga]] by the end of the episode.

* Played with in ''[[House (TV series)|House]] M.D.'' in the Tritter subplot and subsequent rehab, but subverted in the end when House reveals he's still...well, House.

** Played straight in the Season 5 finale. {{spoiler|He realizes that he's going insane and finally casts aside his pride to get treatment}}.

** Subverted in "Major Topper", where Winchester was set up for this, but it turned out he was right/had been telling the truth.

* Jool from ''[[Farscape]]'' looked perfectly set to be [[The Scrappy]] in her first appearance. Most of the rest of her time on the show consisted of this trope applied very thoroughly, with her suffering such indignities as being told [[I Ate What?|the liquid she's been drinking is actually urine]], and having to slog through a waist high swamp of bat feces.

 

 

** This happened to Vaarsuvius again {{spoiler|when s/he confronted Xykon ''alone''.}} Vaarsuvius seems to believe that only sheer magical power can fix things. And we thought it was just [[Rule of Funny|funny]] because s/he was a mage!

** And let's not forget Miko, the haughty, self-righteous paladin who is convinced that she is an avatar of the gods. Not only does she {{spoiler|discover how very untrue this is when she loses her paladin status}}, she is eventually {{spoiler|bisected. [[Nightmare Fuel|Alive]].}}

* The main cast of [[Rumors of War]] gets booster shots of Break the Haughty to immunize them against a [[Humiliation Conga]], though Nenshe may be [[Lonely at the Top|setting himself up]] [[How the Mighty Have Fallen|for a fall]] [[Ineffectual Loner|by skipping out]].

* Alejandra Coldthorn from [[Las Lindas]] finally gets her break the haughty moment during the harvest festival. A classic example of the [[Rich Bitch]], she gets brought down to earth thanks to Idward accidentally [http://laslindas.katbox.net/?p=343 exposing] her in front of a huge crowd.

 

== Web Original ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]

[[Category:Just for Pun]]

[[Category:Redemption Tropes]]

[[Category:Tear Jerker Tropes]]