Cool Motive, Still A Crime: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Perp''': "It was a crime of love!"
'''Jake Peralta''': "Cool motive, still murder."
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Here you have it. A villain or a hero in a [[Jerkass]] moment claims they are like this because of something that happened in their past. A [[Freudian Excuse]] can justify their actions and make them sympathetic. Surely that means they have the high moral ground.
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** A show rather than tell version. Detective Leon Orcot is struck with survivor's guilt when he sees a former friend become a criminal and die by suicide in front of him. He says to D aloud that he wishes he had been the one to die instead because he must have failed his friend. D uses a butterfly to show Leon that scenario, where he became the criminal and his friend became the cop. It means that his little brother Chris never existed, let alone came to move with him. Leon, however, retains his memories of his previous life and keeps trying to hunt down D for answers, refusing to conform to this destiny. He wakes up after shooting himself in the head during a mirrored confrontation where his friend recognizes him at a standoff; while shaken if relieved to see that his little brother Chris is still in his apartment, he thinks about the fact that there was nothing he could have done to dissuade his friend from making a different choice.
** It's revealed that D's father hates humanity and is willing to wipe them out, while his grandfather and D himself are more willing to test humanity with magical creatures. {{spoiler|His reasons are that humans wiped out their family after one of their women turned down a member of the royal family, and the prince didn't take the rejection well. D, however, doesn't think that humanity deserves his father's genocidal weapon and says as much. When Leon uses his last bullet to kill D's father, he expects D to either kill him or let him die in revenge and says he won't fight. D saves him instead, and transports him to a hospital while Leon is unconscious.}}
* Precia Testarossa in the original ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (anime)|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'': wracked by guilt over accidentally killing her own daughter Alicia, she tried to resurrect her via a clone, but instead of getting Alicia back got Fate -- another, different, girl with her daughter's face and voice who calls her "mother" but ''isn't'' her daughter. The constant presence of the ''imposter'' trying to usurp the place of her true daughter is slowly driving her into madness. Of course, she was insane to start with, and is completely unable to see that her ''second daughter'' is a beautiful, loving girl who is utterly loyal to her despite the horrific physical and emotional abuse Precia subjects her to for the crime of not being Alicia. No one watching the end of this series would argue that Precia didn't deserve ''some'' sympathy for the crap her life devolved into but at the same time ''nothing'' excuses what she did after.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
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* ''[[Maus]]'' has Art confront this about his parents. Anja is deceased, so he was able to find catharsis about her death in a one-shot comic. That comic acknowledged that he regrets his mother's passing and that he was unable to understand her, but she was still unable to hide her demons from him, and he resented the toxic codependence. Vladek Spiegelman is also a piece of work; he's a hoarder, a cheapskate and a racist, as seen with the black hitchhiker. Art asks his stepmother Mala if it's the camps that made him that way. She scoffs and reminds Art that ''she'' was also a camp survivor, and you don't see her picking up telephone wire off the street or complaining loudly about money. What's more, Mala has talked to many fellow survivors, and none of them are like Vladek.
* ''The Wake'' arc in ''[[The Sandman]]'' has {{spoiler|Dream-Daniel confront his mother Hippolyta about this}}. He says that he understands that {{spoiler|she thought he was dead and was trying to avenge him by killing the original Morpheus. Nevertheless, allowing the Furies to rampage through the Dreaming ensured that the Baby Daniel would become the next Dream}}. Not to mention that {{spoiler|the murderer of the first Despair did not cause as much harm as she did, and his punishment is worse than hers. Dream-Daniel gives his mother eternal protection from Morpheus's allies and enemies, but also unofficially exiles her from the Dreaming}}. He hints, however, that {{spoiler|this sentence can change. Indeed, in the sequel series ''Justice Society of America'', Hippolyta and her resurrected husband are allowed back into the Dreaming after they both rejoin the Justice Society. Hippolyta for her part atones for the sensseless destruction}}.
* Kron Stone, the Venom of [[Marvel 2099]] and enemy of both Miguel O'Hara (Spider-Man 2099) and Jake Gallows (Punisher 2099), was a serial killer who'd butcher happy families, children included, before bonding with the Symbiote. His hatred for families stems from his awful childhood, where his neglectful father allowed his robotic maid to treat him like a dog (as in, forced him to sleep in a dog house, fed him kibble, made him wear a dog collar...) and left him with the belief that loving families are a lie. He tries to play the [[Freudian Excuse]] card when Jake is preparing to stab him to death as revenge for murdering his family, but he isn't having it, and only has this to say when asked if he knows what it's like to be abused the way he was.
{{quote|No, but I know what it's like to have your family butchered by a crazy with a sob story.}}
== [[Fan Works]] ==
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** You can make a drinking game for every time [[Heel Face Revolving Door]] characters Loki and Wanda Maximoff face this from protagonists and antagonists alike. Case in point:
*** The ''Thor'' series makes it clear that it was very uncool of Odin to hide Loki's true parentage from him. He's forced to reveal to Loki, after the latter's skin turns blue from touching the Cube, that he basically kidnapped him from Jotunheim and raised him as his son. His intention was that Loki could be a peacemaker between the two enemy races, but both Thor and Loki were raised to see the Jotuns as monsters, something that Loki brings up tearfully. Nevertheless, when Thor finds out, he makes it clear that he doesn't care if Loki is not related to him; they are brothers, and thus Loki has no excuse for his trauma-induced actions. The first movie has Thor call out Loki for sending a Destroyer on Earth to finish him and endanger innocents in the process, and Odin while saving Loki while falling off the Bifrost says he knows that Loki didn't enact this scheme of wiping out the Jotuns to please his adopted father. In the second movie, Odin puts Loki on trial for attempting to invade Earth while allied with Thanos and killing innocents; he says the only reason Loki is not facing the usual sentence of execution is Frigga interceded on his behalf. ''Thor Ragnarok'' has Thor point out, after tazing Loki for a betrayal attempt, that Loki ''chooses'' to be a chronic backstabber rather than the hero he was meant to be. Loki takes this to heart by helping Thor fight Hela, and later in ''Avengers: Infinity War'' {{spoiler|sacrifices his life in a longshot attempt to assassinate Thanos before he can kill Thor}}. The ''Loki'' series has an alternate Loki watch {{spoiler|his prime self's death with a tearful expression, and later apologize to a hologram of Sif for his actions}}.
*** Meanwhile, Wanda's backstory is tragic. She and her brother Pietro lost their parents in a bombing, and Stark missiles destroyed their apartment. When Hydra recruited them, Wanda takes the opportunity to [[Mind Rape]] Tony after he storms their compound, determined to make him suffer as much as she did. Her selfishness leads to Tony creating Ultron, and Ultron going rogue. Pietro was the more reasonable of the siblings, suggesting they just kill him while he's incapacitated and they get their revenge. She does the same to the rest of the team, which leads to Hulk rampaging in Johannesburg while mind-raped. Tony feels guilty on learning why Wanda hates him, but Bruce is not sympathetic when he revives and she tries to stop him from putting Jarvis into the Ultron body they stole from Ultron; he says he doesn't need to turn green to snap her neck and nearly acts on that threat by putting her in a chokehold. Wanda herself gets a horrible [[Heel Realization]] on learning that Ultron is going to wipe out everyone in Sokovia in his quest to make the world perfect, meaning she enabled him to cause much worse collateral damage than Tony ever did directly or indirectly. Clint has a more evenhanded approach when she freezes up during the final battle on sensing Pietro's death; he tells Wanda she has a choice to make, to either stay out of the fight to avoid being a liability or step in to make up for her past harm. In ''[[Captain America: Civil War (film)| Civil War]]'', General Ross says that he knows Wanda didn't mean to cause a fire in Lagos but still injured innocents and that is why the Avengers need accountability. Following the battle with Thanos, {{spoiler|losing Vision and attempting to create an idyllic sitcom-style life where she has children with him and brings back Pietro backfires horribly; Agatha of all people makes Wanda review her life and ask what her excuse is for imprisoning a bunch of people who would have legitimately become her neighbors. [[Your Approval Fills Me with Shame|She admires the power]]}}. Later on, ''
** In ''[[Guardians of the Galaxy]]'', Drax the Destroyer essentially drunk-dials [[Big Bad|Ronan the Accuser]] in hopes of avenging his wife and daughter, who Ronan murdered in the past. Instead of getting revenge, Drax's recklessness leads to Knowhere (the Guardians' pit stop) being nearly obliterated by the fleet Ronan sends after them. When Drax explains himself to Rocket Raccoon, the latter isn't impressed and takes him to task over selfishly getting people caught in the crossfire in his quest for vengeance against the hated terrorist. His shaming definitely gets to Drax, and is the thing that kicks his [[Character Development]] into gear.
* While Velociraptors in previous ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' movies were either hungry territorial animals or glorified [[Serial Killer|serial killers]] in dinosaur bodies, the ones in the [[Jurassic Park III|third movie]] are in full-on [[Mama Bear]]/[[Papa Wolf]] mode, and menace Alan Grant's team out of a desire to protect their eggs... which his assistant Billy stupidly stole despite his clear warning against tampering with raptor nests. While Billy did it so he could secure funding for Alan's research expeditions, Alan makes it absolutely clear that good intentions or no, Billy's willingness to compromise their rescue mission and endanger the lives of everyone involved has caused him to lose all respect for his protégé. {{spoiler|While he eventually forgives Billy, it's only after he sacrifices himself to save a young boy from a flock of vicious Pteranodons and barely survives.}}
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' goes into this more sympathetically: Jacob Marley sends three ghosts of Christmas to save his former partner and protegee
* Happens in ''[[Harry Potter]]'' from time to time.
** ''[[Harry Potter
*** Dumbledore and Harry discuss this about {{spoiler|Merope Gaunt slipping a love potion to her crush Tom Riddle and drugging him for months. When she stopped drugging him, he ran for his life, leaving her destitute just as she was about to have their child. She died, and Tom Riddle Jr. aka Lord Voldemort was sent to a Muggle orphanage. They both acknowledge that she was in a bad situation, with her father and brother being abusive while treating her as unpaid labor and hexing any Muggle that so much as breathed on their property. Dumbledore asserts, however, that using a love potion on Tom Sr. was rape regardless of Merope's desperation. Tom Sr. had every right to leave her; if it had been a Muggle roofie, it would be just as horrific.}}
*** Harry eventually comes to this conclusion about {{spoiler|Severus Snape}} after the latter's actions in this book. He did feel bad for him after learning {{spoiler|that his father was exactly the arrogant bully that Snape kept describing and humiliated Snape just for being in the way.}} Then he finds out that {{spoiler|Snape was the one who overheard part of Trelawney's prophecy, which led to Voldemort deciding to kill the Potters. Harry is righteously furious and calls out Dumbledore for not telling him, screaming at him for defending Snape's assholery at every turn.}} Dumbledore says that {{spoiler|Snape also came to warn the Order, surrendering to Dumbledore personally, because he didn't want a family with a baby to die, even if it was the family of his sworn rival}}. Harry can sense that Dumbledore's lying, but the point still stands when {{spoiler|he relates this to the Order after Snape kills Dumbledore, and no one knows it was pre-planned between the men; Lupin is incredulous and says, "And Dumbledore believed him? Snape hated James."}}. Sure, Harry eventually forgives the man in ''Deathly Hallows'' {{spoiler|after seeing that he was flawed but eventually well-intentioned in the end}}, but the rest of the Wizarding World debates if he was just selfish or misguided.
** ''[[
* ''[[Percy Jackson & the Olympians]]'' also has this in the last book regarding {{spoiler|Luke and the half-bloods that sided with him. When he and Nico visit his mother to obtain her blessing, Percy certainly pities Luke on realizing that his mother lost her mind trying to be the Oracle and wasn't able to be a parent. Hermes was also no help, as is typical for the Greek gods. At the same time, Percy commits to stopping Luke because the latter has Kronos possessing him. Sure, Luke ends up making the decision to pull a [[Heroic Suicide]] when he hurts Annabeth in battle, but he himself acknowledges that he'd rather reincarnate and live a better life than face the judgement of Hades for his actions, since Hades doesn't give second chances}}.
* The sequel series ''Heroes of Olympus'' has a few:
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** Angel himself fears his [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] Angelus, who is essentially a soulless monster with a brain. His low point in season 2 is when his sire Darla revived as a human but Wolfram & Hart used Drusilla to make Darla a vampire again, against her will; Angel, to bring Angelus back, let the two rampage on the Wolfram & Hart employees, locking the doors, and then fired his friends when they told him it was not the right or mature action. On top of that, Cordelia is enraged on learning he gave away her clothes, a wardrobe she struggled to maintain as an unemployed actress. Angel tries to use Darla to lose his soul, only to learn that sex won't do it anymore. He has a [[Heel Realization]] when learning that Cordelia kept monster hunting to deal with the visions she received, being kidnapped by eye monsters, and she calls him out while barely conscious for firing them. It takes a few episodes for the team to forgive him; they say that they know he suffered, but that was not an excuse for trying to dive into evil and treat them like garbage. As punishment he has to work at a kiddie desk while being the lowest-paid Angel Investigations employee, which he admits fair enough, but he feels guiltiest about nearly letting Cordelia get killed. Cordelia forgives him after he buys new stylish clothes for her wardrobe, making up for his earlier "charity"; Wesley takes longer, glaring at Angel for buying back Cordelia's goodwill.
** Happens in the season 4 finale. After {{spoiler|Connor kills Jasmine on seeing her true form, and realizing that she used him and Cordelia to come into being, he has a breakdown. Angel sees him holding a store hostage. Connor rants about the fact that Angel let Holtz take him as a baby, condemning him to a torturous existence as Holtz's pawn. Angel tries to point out that's between them, not these people. They end up coming to blows as Connor attempts [[Suicide by Cop]] and it seems to work as Angel slits his throat... only for it to be part of a condition for a reality-warping spell that would give Connor a life with a normal human family.}}
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''
**
** Buffy attempts to do this with Willow in the season 6 finale, along with [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him]]. She is grateful that Willow saved her life, and understands that {{spoiler|Warren needs to pay for shooting Tara as well. But she tells Willow that Warren is human, and he needs human justice. That is, the police. If Willow kills him in revenge, Buffy will have to treat her like a criminal}}. [[Wham! Episode|Her pleas don't work]].
* ''[[Brooklyn Nine-Nine]]'' has a few opinions on the tragic excuse for characters being a jerk:
** During the first Thanksgiving episode, Jake does all he can to extend a case on the night of Amy's Thanksgiving dinner so he doesn't have to spend time celebrating the holiday. He tells Holt that because his mom had to work two jobs as a waitress and a teacher, he was left to spend the day alone watching TV. Holt chides him because this event is important to Amy and he's dwelling on a past that no longer controls him. Jake has a change of heart, comes to Amy's celebration after Boyle saves it, and makes a sincere toast to the Nine Nine, his new family.
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** Dr. Cox got this from his therapist, who then fired him as a patient. The therapist says that Dr. Cox had a hard life with an abusive father, but Cox himself refuses to put in the work or change. If Dr. Cox listened to one person, then it would show he was actually putting in the work to undo the emotional damage that makes him an ass. Dr. Cox gets a [[Jerkass Realization]] when he yells at J.D. after taking his advice to do an honest physical on Dr. Kelso, and J.D. says that he's asking Doug to replace him on rounds.
** One new intern named Katie steals credit from Elliott and tries to manipulate her way to being seen as the best newbie. Carla sits her down for coffee and tells her off, saying the nurses see everything. Katie attempts to cry that she has emotionally abusive parents, and an alcoholic father to boot. Carla says, "Oh you poor thing," followed by "Heard it!" She says nearly everyone at the hospital has a tragic backstory, including herself and Dr. Cox. Unless Katie shapes up, the doctors and nurses will eat her alive.
* In Victor Larue's last appearance in ''[[Walker, Texas Ranger]],'' his lawyer attempts a sob story about Victor being a victim of child abuse which drove him [[Insanity Defense|insane so Victor wouldn't have to go to trial.]] A criminal psychologist points out that while Victor was insane, he knew right from wrong and was deemed fit to stand trial.
* A funny example of this trope happens with the villain of the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episode "The Most Toys": when [[Collector of the Strange|Kivas Fajo]] tries to justify kidnapping and enslaving [[Ridiculously Human Robot|Data]] he mentions that he grew up poor and homeless, only for Data to politely, but firmly call him out for trying to make excuses for his crimes. Fajo immediately drops the act and smugly admits that he lived a privileged life as the son of a successful thief.
== [[Music]] ==
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* The "Am I The Asshole" AITA Reddit operates on this for some of the entries.
** In the saga of Jorts the Cat -- for context, in a government office where a subordinate named Pam was trying to train office cat Jorts and said that the manager, Pam's boss, was ethnically discriminating about Jorts by saying that you can't expect him to be as smart as his furry tortoiseshell coworker Jean -- the update reveals that Pam may have been feeling insecure as a recent transition from volunteer to paid employee, projecting her insecurities on Jorts. The manager maintains, however, that "training" Jorts is a futile effort and only would stress the cat further, so Pam didn't have Jorts's best interests at heart. Plus, Pam confessed that she was buttering Jorts in margarine in an attempt to encourage him to groom himself better. (As one commenter put it, "I can't believe she fucking buttered Jorts.")
* ''[[(The Customer is) Not Always Right]]'' has a few of these moments:
** "[https://notalwaysright.com/its-way-too-early-for-this/262803/| It's Way Too Early For This]" had a kid call out his parents for this. Both parents are heavy snorers. One day, while blocking access to the coffee machine and the fridge, they each accused the other of waking them up with loud snores. The OP, their teenage child, was having none of it; they shouted, "“YOU WERE BOTH SNORING SO LOUDLY LAST NIGHT THAT IT WOKE ME UP AT 2:00 AM! YOU WOKE ME UP, AND THEN YOU WOKE YOURSELVES UP WITH IT!” that ended the fight, and they were able to get breakfast.
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