Et Tu, Brute?: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"We flatter those we scarcely know,''<br />

''We please the fleeting guest,''<br />

''And deal full many a thoughtless blow''<br />

It doesn't even have to be anything as dramatic as switching sides, or selling out to the [[Big Bad]]. If [[The Lancer]] makes a few scathing comments about their leadership skills, or [[The Smart Guy]] holds the hero responsible for his [[Dead Little Sister]], the results can be as devastating as though they'd painted a target on their pal's head and handed out sniper rifles.

Can be played for comedy, if the hero's reaction is clearly an overreaction -- survivingoverreaction—surviving a cave in, an ambush, and a death trap without breaking a sweat, only to burst out into tears when his [[Forgotten Birthday|girlfriend forgets his birthday]], for example. Generally though, it's anything but funny; most people can relate to having someone important let them down. Even when it's an overreaction, which may just reveal exactly how much stress the character is under.

A second version of this trope is where the hero has already given their buddy a second chance, overlooking past (or even current) misdeeds in the interest of preserving the friendship, deciding to accept their pal just the way they are, warts and all... as long as their misdemeanors are confined to people who ''aren't'' the hero or their immediate family. Should that unspoken truce be broken, a massive [[Freak -Out]] is probably only seconds away.

A third version of this trope comes when the hero or the villain develops a bond with someone, only to discover that the person in question [[False Friend|was never his friend, and in fact just pretended to be one]]. Often followed by the obvious next question, [[Was It All a Lie?]]

This is, of course, [[Truth in Television]] -- the—the vast majority of us care ''far'' more about what our parents, friends, and family think than what Joe Bloggs down the street may say about us.

Particularly brutal if the victim is betrayed by the ones who supposedly rescued him from a [[Friendless Background]], or if they [[I Just Want to Have Friends|desperately seek friendship above all else]]. A [[Sadistic Choice]] or [[Because You Can Cope]] excuse may be made if the victim's "betrayer" felt as though they had no choice but to abandon them.

{{examples|Examples:}}

* ''[[Kaleido Star]]''{{'}}s Sora puts up with a hell of a lot of grief in the second season -- notseason—not that the first season was a picnic, bu tbut still. At various points in the storyline, she is demoted, fired, paired up with a partner who verges on sociopathic and spends the whole series struggling to earn the title of Kaleido Star -- aStar—a title which she had won fair and square by the end of the first season, only to be usurped by [[TheAlways MinnesotaSomeone FatsBetter|a newcomer who wields far more power than any newcomer to the troupe has a right to]]. Through most of it, she remains perky and cheerful, convinced that everything will work out all right in the end... but when Layla, Sora's idol, suddenly turns on her and sides with Sora's rival, the poor girl finally cracks.

* In the anime/manga ''[[Berserk]]'', Griffith faces all sorts of challenges to his dream without flinching, but when his best friend, the protagonist Guts, leaves him, {{spoiler|he throws his dreams away with a stupid mistake.}} A year later, after {{spoiler|being broken in both body and spirit,}} he clings to his humanity and even his hope...until he finds out {{spoiler|that Guts and his other friend, Casca, are in a relationship and are discussing the necessity of leaving him behind.}} ''Then'' he snaps, resulting in an epic [[Face Heel Turn]] as {{spoiler|he makes a [[Deal Withwith the Devil]] to become the fifth member of the Godhand and sacrifices the Band of the Hawks, [[Oh Crap|saving Guts and Casca]] [[It Got Worse|for last]]}}.

** However, both Nami and Robin "betrayed" the crew to protect them. Nami despite stealing the ship returned it to them and told them to get off the island before Arlong could stop them. And Robin made a deal with Spadam to take her if he let the rest of the crew go free.

* ''[[Pet Shop of Horrors]]'' demonstrates the second type of [[Et Tu, Brute]]?. Leon is convinced that Count D is a serial killer by proxy. Yet the two form a fairly intense friendship regardless, with Leon spending most, if not all, of his spare time with D. Despite the constant banter and Leon's empty threats of arrest, the detective is clearly fond of D, and while he can't disregard the Pet Shop's body count, he doesn't let it disrupt their personal relationship. What ''does'' cause the breakdown in their association seems relatively minor by comparison to murder, but the intensely personal nature of the betrayal makes the difference: {{spoiler|D sends Leon's little brother Chris, who D and Leon have been looking after for the past year, back to his adoptive parents (actually his aunt and uncle) without telling Leon what's happening. Moreover, Leon is distressed by D's apparent lack of regret or sorrow over losing Chris.}}

* A variation occurs in ''[[Code Geass]]''. About 2/3 of the way through the first season, Lelouch learns that his best friend Suzaku is the person who's been constantly wrecking his plans. Rather than feeling betrayed, he simply redoubles his attempts to recruit Suzaku for [[La Résistance]]. At almost the exact same point in the second season, after lots of misunderstanding and misdirected rage, the two are close to patching up their friendship...when soldiers rush in and arrest Lelouch for being a terrorist. Lelouch '''thinks''' Suzaku betrayed him (he didn't, he was followed), but it pretty well marks the absolute death of their friendship and the moment Lelouch stops showing Suzaku any form of respect or mercy.

* If Kazuki has any plot relevance in a particular arc of ''[[Get BackersGetBackers]]'', this will happen.

* Yomi from ''[[Ga -Rei Zero]]''. Short story: she killed a fellow exorcist who is also a fellow clan member, in defense and in a partially-justified rage. She expected her fiancee and her little sister to come to her defense, since she lost her capability of speaking after that battle. However, her fiancee never come for her due to family honor. The final straw was her coming to a conclusion that even her little sister believe that she's guilty, and then she gone the [[Berserk|Griffith]]'s way.

* The Kira Task Force in ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'' reacted to this when they finally find out [[Villain Protagonist|Light]] is Kira in the end.

* In ''[[Striker SStrikerS Sound Stage X]]'', Teana is rather badly shaken by the discovery that {{spoiler|Runessa Magnus, whom she come to trust enough to offer her a permanent partnership,}} is the mastermind behind their current case.

* In the comic series ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'', Jesse quickly forms a best buddies relationship with Irish vampire Cassidy, indeed travelling across half the world to save him at one point. It's not long however before Cassidy is trying it on with his girlfriend and later after Jesse's apparent death manages to seduce her, getting her hooked on drugs in the process. Safe to say, when Jesse comes back (after learning a long line of similar screw ups in Cassidy's past) he's not best pleased.

* In the film of ''[[Prince of Persia]]'', when the King of Persia was {{spoiler|apparently assassinated by his own son Dastan, the king's last word was "Why?"}}

* ''[[Tron Legacy (Film)|Tron: Legacy]]'' : Flynn Sr. is pretty much broken ''already,'' but then he gets a good, solid look at the distinctive [[Tron Lines]] on Rinzler and realizes...

{{quote| '''Anakin:''' The Jedi turned against me, don't ''you'' turn against me!}}

* The [[Live Action Adaptation]] of ''[[MW (Manga)|MW]]'' has Father Garai attempting to betray Michio Yuki over to the police, something he wouldn't do in the manga.

* Fredo betrays his brother Michael in [[The Godfather (Film)|The Godfather]]

{{quote| '''Michael''' I know it was you Fredo. You broke my heart, you broke my heart}}

* In ''[[The Bible (Literature)|The Bible]]'', Judas betrays Jesus. The Jews that once supported Jesus now fervently denounce and mock him, calling for his crucifixion. But it's subverted in that Jesus knew about the Judas's betrayal ahead of time.

{{quote| ''"{{spoiler|Ana}}," he said, almost choking on the words. "You. . . you think that I. . . How could you think that I would. . . .?"<br />

He turned his face aawy. It couldn't have been a tear. Not from {{spoiler|Morgan}}. He wouldn't shed tears if he had to execute his own mother.<br />

* This was the tragedy of the Marauders In ''[[Harry Potter]]'', as explained in ''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (novel)|Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]''. Peter Pettigrew, one of the four iconic best friends, betrays James Potter to Voldemort and sent him to his death, after James' best friend Sirius Black entrusted Peter with the secret of the Potters' hiding place. Sirius went to pieces upon discovering Peter's betrayal. And after Peter, rather than owning up to his betrayal when Sirius chased him down in a grief-stricken fury, framed Sirius for the Potters' murder and Peter's own killing spree, Sirius was so heartbroken that he broke down into hysterical laugher and was dragged off to Azkaban without struggling.

* ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'' got into this when Cassie let Tom get away with the morphing cube.

* [[Jeeves and Wooster (Literaturenovel)|Bertie Wooster]]'s reaction whenever he feels he's been betrayed or let down by [[The Jeeves|Jeeves]]. It even merits a ''[[Julius Caesar]]'' [[Shout -Out]] in "Jeeves and the Old-School Chum". (For the record, Jeeves had {{spoiler|taken their lunch out of the car before they went golfing}}.)

{{quote| I quivered like an aspen. I stared at the man. Aghast. Shocked to the core.<br />

* One [[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]] had an abandoned Romulan prison camp full of Klingons, in which the two cultures merged and interbred. When Worf arrives and tries to teach the half-breed children about Klingon honor, the former Romulan prison commander sets up to execute him, and is standing there with his disruptor trained on Worf and all of the children go over and interpose themselves. He looks like he is about to pull the trigger anyway, but then his half-Klingon daughter (who has a crush on Worf) walks over to join them and utterly crushes his resolve.

* In ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', Morgana leads Uther on to believe she's close to him, although they argue at times, and then she {{spoiler|betrays him and seizes the throne. Ditto could be said for her and Arthur.}}

* Brutus betrayal and assasination of Caesar is recreated in ''[[Rome (TV)|Rome]]'' without the actual sentence being pronnounced. Ciaran Hinds' [[Facial Dialogue|facial expression]], especially his eyes, carries the question "Et tu, Brute?" silently. Very effective.

* ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' 4th edition mentions in the ''[[Codex Of Betrayal]]'' articles, which chronicle the origin of devils and their war against the god known only as He Who Was. It's said that when [[Satan|Asmodeus]], leader of the rebellion, convinced Greyon, HWW's favorite angel, to side against him, the god cried such tears as to drown mountains, and after such a betrayal, his heart was no longer in the war.

* [[Older Than Steam]]: The trope name comes from [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Julius Caesar (Theatretheatre)|Julius Caesar]]''. As the assassins attack, Caesar defends himself... but when he sees Brutus, his best friend, among the assassins, he gives up and lets himself be murdered - he didn't care about a bunch of ''strangers'' armed with pointy things, but having his buddy stab him is another story entirely. The full quote is: "''Et tu, Brute?'' Then fall, Caesar." Marc Antony during Caesar's funeral would say of Brutus's betrayal that his was "the most unkindest cut of all."

* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' Sazh had no problem fighting with Vanille against PSICOM until {{spoiler|he realized that Vanille was the reason his son became a l'Cie he was about to kill her and commit suicide. He fortunately came back to his senses.}}

* [[Halo]] The Arbiter fought against the flood and humanity with no problem at all but when he realized that {{spoiler|the Prophets (who gave him a second chance as The Arbiter) betrayed him along with all the ones of his kind, The Arbiter himself was betrayed by Tartarus,}} he couldn't accept the truth until {{spoiler|The Gravemind with the help of Master Chief}} showed him the truth.

* Video game example: The ''[[Suikoden]]'' series. A running theme through the games is the main hero having to deal with the betrayal of a close friend or ally -- whichally—which he usually has the option of forgiving. (Doing so helps determine [[Multiple Endings|what ending the game gets.]])

* The ''[[Mass Effect (Video Game)|Mass Effect]]'' series has plenty of examples, beginning with the second death in the series: [[Sacrificial Lamb]] Nihlus is shot in the back of the head by his old colleague Saren.

** Shepard him/herself can do this in ''[[Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 3]]'' for various reasons. A particularly bloodthirsty player can personally kill four close friends - {{spoiler|Mordin, Wrex, Legion and the Virmire Survivor}} - in a single playthrough.

* In ''[[StarcraftStarCraft]] there tend to be a lot of instances of people betraying others. In SCII, {{spoiler|Tychus reveals that he was given an order to kill the newly de-infected Kerrigan, regardless of the fact that she's no longer zerg, and as a result Raynor has to kill him.}}

* In ''[[Mega Man X (Video Game)|Mega Man X]] 7's'' prologue, when Axl and Red Alert were infiltrating the base of a maverick. His second in command seemingly finds him, and then while leading him away, he shot the guy in the back. However, in this case, it was a subversion, as the actual second in command had actually been killed earlier by Axl, and the "second in command" who shot his boss was actually Axl.

* Cole Phelps in ''[[LAL.A. Noire]]'' has no problem working with Roy Earle, despite the fact they don't like each other until {{spoiler|he discovers he's the one who reported his affair with Elsa to the corrupt officials.}}

* {{spoiler|1=Zeke Dunbar to Cole MacGrath}} in ''[[In FamousInfamous (Videovideo game Gameseries)|In Famous]]''.

* While we never see [[AFGNCAAPFeatureless Protagonist|Cipher]]'s reaction to {{spoiler|his trusted [[Wing Man]] Pixy}}'s betrayal in ''[[Ace Combat Zero: theThe Belkan War]]'', many players were emotionally shaken by it.

* {{spoiler|Tohsaka to Archer}} in ''[[Fate/stay Stay Nightnight]]'''s Unlimited Blade Works route. After keeping calm throughout the story, she's devastated and doesn't hide it terribly well when he betrays her ''twice.'' On the plus side, the event is a catalyst for {{spoiler|her [[Relationship Upgrade]] with Shirou. It's also a real bonding experience for her with Lancer.}}

* In the [[Science Fiction Visual Novels|science fiction visual novel]] ''[[Bionic Heart (Visual Novel)|Bionic Heart]]'', the protagonist ends up hiding a fugitive android in his apartment because she needs his help in her [[Ontological Mystery|ontological quest]]. If the main character chooses to confide in his best friend and coworker Tom, Tom ends up giving up both the protagonist and the android to the police, which leaves them in the hands of the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|corrupt corporate executives]] that were pursuing the android in the first place.

* In [http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/302 this] ''[[Looking for Group (Webcomic)|Looking for Group]]'' strip.

** It's interesting to note that it seems to have been played for laughs as well as (some) drama, instead of one or the other, but that's to be expected of LFG in general and Richard in particular.

** The real [[Et Tu, Brute]]? moment is when Cale learns that {{spoiler|Pella killed their own soldiers to force Cale to retreat and therefore survive}}. He knows that his allies aren't the most moral of people, but he thought that {{spoiler|she}} was more idealistic like him.

* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance (Roleplay)|The Gamers Alliance]]'', [[Magic Knight|Belial]] ends up betrayed by his niece [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|Desdemona]] who turns out to be working for his enemies.

* [[The Nostalgia Critic (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Critic]] has done this in both [[That Guy With the Glasses (Website)|That Guy With theThe Glasses]] anniversary specials: in the brawl to 2D Lee because he sided with the gamers over the critics, and in ''[[Kickassia]]'' to {{spoiler|Film Brain when he turned against Critic because he accidentally killed Santa Christ.}}

* ''[[As Told Byby Ginger]]'': When Ginger finds out from Courtney that Dodie and Macie teamed up with Miranda in an attempt to break up her and Darren up.

{{quote| "Et tu Dodie?"}}

* When Terra betrays the team in ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'', she is easily able to hunt down and defeat them one by one, because they're unable to fight a former friend using their full strength (save Raven, whom she actually provokes into doing so, which nearly backfires on her). When they do finally let loose, Terra goes down in minutes.

* A case where the betrayal actually does cause a [[Face Heel Turn]]: ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'', during Tai Lung's [[Start of Darkness]]. Shifu betrays his prize pupil and adopted son--notson—not by denying him the Dragon Scroll, but by raising him to believe he was ''destined'' to one day earn it as a matter of course, filling him with pride and dreams...and then, when Oogway advised otherwise, ''refusing to defend, stand up for, or even support his son''. No wonder the snow leopard got so pissed and went insane.

* A rather depressing example comes from ''[[Batman: theThe Animated Series]]''. In one episode, the Penguin is released from prison and declares that he's reformed and will become a model member of high society. A group of snobbish aristocrats decide to bring him into their social circle so that they can laugh at his social ineptitude and appearance. He generally doesn't care how life had gotten him down through the rest of the episode, but when he overhears the woman whom he had fallen in love with talking about this plot, he loses it. The real slap in the face is that he had genuinely reformed until this happened.

* The ''[[Beetlejuice (Animationanimation)|Beetlejuice]]'' cartoon has an instance. After Beetlejuice gets elected Mayor of the Neitherworld, he lets the success go to him. Lydia goes incognito as a special interest rep and bribes Beetlejuice into some questionable legislation that gets exposed. After being impeached, B.J. has an Et Tu when he learns that Lydia was behind his impeachment.

* A relatively mild example occurs in the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' episode "Ponyville Confidential". When the Gabby Gums column begins to print false-but-still-damaging stories of the mane six, it's initially suggested to Rarity that since Sweetie Belle works for the school paper, she might know who GG is. Rarity is immediately offended by the implication that her sister would associate with a pony with such blatant disregard for everyponys feelings. Her tune changes immediately once she discovers Sweetie Belle stole Rarity's diary and published it. To drive this home, Rarity confronts Sweetie with "Et tu, Gabby Gums?"

* According to Roman historian Suetonius, the ''real'' [[Gaius Julius Caesar|Julius Caesar]] said something similar, but it was actually in Greek: ''kai su, teknon?'' means "You too, my son?" Other accounts suggest that Caesar said nothing at all, but he pulled his toga over his head when he saw Brutus among the conspirators. Therefore, when people assert that Caesar said "Et tu, Brute?", it's in the same vein as [[Beam Me Up, Scotty]].

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