Broken Pedestal/Playing With

• Main
• Laconic
• Playing With
• Quotes
• All Subpages
• Create New

Broken Pedestal: A character's mentor or idol becomes loathed by them for evil actions.

• Straight: Bob once taught Chris noble martial arts, and Chris uses his ninja powers to catch Bob committing crimes.
• Exaggerated: Bob, once a pacifist and a lover of kittens, has crossed the Moral Event Horizon and is barely recognised as Chris' original mentor, such is the atrocity of his crimes.
• Justified: Bob became was forced into a life of crime from living in a Crapsack World.
• Inverted:
  • Bob used to train villains to commit crimes, and now does good acts instead.
  • Alternately, Chris is the one who starts committing crimes using the training he got from Bob, much to Bob's disgust when he finds out.
• Subverted: Chris has misinterpreted Bob's actions; he is in fact a Good person
• Double Subverted: Then Chris learns about all the downright nasty crimes Bob has committed.
• Parodied: Chris becomes disillusioned with Bob for horrendous crimes against fashion.
• Deconstructed:
  • Chris spirals into depression over the intense hypocrisy of Bob's good teachings and his current evil actions.
  • Alternatively, Chris finally realizes that Bob was always a simple asshole instead of the Knight in Sour Armor he always thought he was; it's just that he (and Bob) have never let himself admit it.
• Reconstructed:
  • Chris takes strength from his original teachings, and they allow him to call out his ex-mentor for his descent into villainy.
  • Alternatively, Chris realizes that what Bob does doesn't really matter as long as Chris is still a good person.
• Zig Zagged:
  • Bob appears to be committing crimes, but then it turns out he has good intentions behind them, according with his original teachings. Then Chris learns this is just a cover-up to commit horrendous acts - it then transpires someone told him this, and it is a blatant lie.
  • Chris catches Bob in a Face Heel Revolving Door.
• Averted: Bob has always been the same noble teacher.
• Enforced: The writers decide Bob needs some Character Development.
• Lampshaded: "You were once the noblest man on Earth, Bob. Now, I can't hold you in the same light I used to. Look at what you've done!"
• Invoked: Bob decides to go under an alias and commit crimes in another city. The city where Chris is now policing.
• Defied: Bob is highly disillusioned by the Crapsack World, but decides keeping his principles is more important, especially with all the people he influenced over his life looking up to him.
• Discussed: "That Bob has started beating up pensioners, raping kittens, and littering - how long before Chris finds him, and loses all faith in him?"
• Conversed: "Chris is going to be so pissed when he finds Bob doing all this stuff."

---

A true Troper would use the link back to Broken Pedestal. You taught me that. So...why?