Cool Motive, Still A Crime: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' goes into this more sympathetically: Jacob Marley sends three ghosts of Christmas to save his former partner and protegee Ebenezer Scrooge from eternal damnation. The Ghost of Christmas Past reveals that the reason why Scrooge is so cold-hearted is not just that he lost his love Belle; he had a neglectful father that shunted him off to boarding school, and his sister Fanny, the only family member we see treating him well, died. Ebenezer acknowledges his faults; the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows that unless he changes, Scrooge will die alone, and London will be happier for it. By this point, however, Ebenezer is not just worried about his own soul; he frets that {{spoiler|his employee Bob Cratchit will lose his son Tiny Tim}}. The first thing he does on waking up during Christmas morning is to {{spoiler|ask a boy to buy a giant turkey for the Cratchits, and to surprise them with the food for Christmas}}.
* ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' goes into this more sympathetically: Jacob Marley sends three ghosts of Christmas to save his former partner and protegee Ebenezer Scrooge from eternal damnation. The Ghost of Christmas Past reveals that the reason why Scrooge is so cold-hearted is not just that he lost his love Belle; he had a neglectful father that shunted him off to boarding school, and his sister Fanny, the only family member we see treating him well, died. Ebenezer acknowledges his faults; the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows that unless he changes, Scrooge will die alone, and London will be happier for it. By this point, however, Ebenezer is not just worried about his own soul; he frets that {{spoiler|his employee Bob Cratchit will lose his son Tiny Tim}}. The first thing he does on waking up during Christmas morning is to {{spoiler|ask a boy to buy a giant turkey for the Cratchits, and to surprise them with the food for Christmas}}.
* Happens in ''[[Harry Potter]]'' from time to time.
* Happens in ''[[Harry Potter]]'' from time to time.
** ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince|Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]''
** ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (novel)|Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]''
*** 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.}}
*** 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.
*** 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.
** ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'': Lily Evans before she was Lily Potter called out {{spoiler|Severus Snape for this when she hit her [[Rage Breaking Point]]. She knew he had a hard life, because they were neighbors and he confided in her about his Muggle father being abusive. Severus couldn't figure out why his mother, a brilliant witch, married a lout like him. In fact, Lily and Snape remained friends for a while despite being Sorted into different houses, and tried to steer him away from Slytherin's pureblood sentiment, as well as the gangs of bullies that emerged. It didn't work; Snape fell deeper into his interest with the Dark Arts, leading to "arrogant toe-rag" James Potter bullying him in turn since James's family had people killed by Dark Art users, and they became bitter rivals. Then Lily attempted to rescue Snape from James's latest humiliating spell after they took their OWLs, and Snape returned the favor by calling her a Mudblood. Everyone was shocked at this, including Snape himself, and Lily for the first time ever used his [[Embarrassing Nickname]] "Snivellus" before turning her back on him. Later when he camped out in front of the Fat Lady in an attempt to apologize, Lily said she knows it wasn't an accident and he can't explain it as such; he's been warped by the pureblood sentiment so much that he's going to join Voldemort's genocidal campaign when he graduates Hogwarts. She also reveals that she spent ''years'' justifying Snape's bad behavior to her other friends, who thought she deserved better, and now is asking herself why she didn't see what he was becoming. Lily also reminds Snape that she's no different from any Muggleborn witch, as he just established by calling her a Mudblood, so what makes him think the Death Eaters will spare her? And she's right; thanks to Snape informing Voldemort about half the prophecy that he was able to overhear, Voldemort makes plans to go after the Potters}}. Notably, while {{spoiler|Snape}} goes [[Never My Fault]] about how {{spoiler|unlike him, James eventually made amends for his assholery and married Lily}}, he refuses to use or tolerate the term "Mudblood" ever again, as shown when he admonishes {{spoiler|Phineas Nigellus for calling Hermione that}}, and he never forgives himself for {{spoiler|indirectly targeting Lily with the hatred that governed most of his life}}.
** ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (novel)|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'': Lily Evans before she was Lily Potter called out {{spoiler|Severus Snape for this when she hit her [[Rage Breaking Point]]. She knew he had a hard life, because they were neighbors and he confided in her about his Muggle father being abusive. Severus couldn't figure out why his mother, a brilliant witch, married a lout like him. In fact, Lily and Snape remained friends for a while despite being Sorted into different houses, and tried to steer him away from Slytherin's pureblood sentiment, as well as the gangs of bullies that emerged. It didn't work; Snape fell deeper into his interest with the Dark Arts, leading to "arrogant toe-rag" James Potter bullying him in turn since James's family had people killed by Dark Art users, and they became bitter rivals. Then Lily attempted to rescue Snape from James's latest humiliating spell after they took their OWLs, and Snape returned the favor by calling her a Mudblood. Everyone was shocked at this, including Snape himself, and Lily for the first time ever used his [[Embarrassing Nickname]] "Snivellus" before turning her back on him. Later when he camped out in front of the Fat Lady in an attempt to apologize, Lily said she knows it wasn't an accident and he can't explain it as such; he's been warped by the pureblood sentiment so much that he's going to join Voldemort's genocidal campaign when he graduates Hogwarts. She also reveals that she spent ''years'' justifying Snape's bad behavior to her other friends, who thought she deserved better, and now is asking herself why she didn't see what he was becoming. Lily also reminds Snape that she's no different from any Muggleborn witch, as he just established by calling her a Mudblood, so what makes him think the Death Eaters will spare her? And she's right; thanks to Snape informing Voldemort about half the prophecy that he was able to overhear, Voldemort makes plans to go after the Potters}}. Notably, while {{spoiler|Snape}} goes [[Never My Fault]] about how {{spoiler|unlike him, James eventually made amends for his assholery and married Lily}}, he refuses to use or tolerate the term "Mudblood" ever again, as shown when he admonishes {{spoiler|Phineas Nigellus for calling Hermione that}}, and he never forgives himself for {{spoiler|indirectly targeting Lily with the hatred that governed most of his life}}.
* ''[[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}}.
* ''[[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:
* The sequel series ''Heroes of Olympus'' has a few:
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