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{{trope}}
[[File:Brutus_betrayal.jpg|200px|thumb|right|[[Trope Namer]]]]
{{quote|''"We flatter those we scarcely know,''
''We please the fleeting guest,''
''And deal full many a thoughtless blow''
''To those who love us best"''|'''Edna Wheeler Wilcox'''}}
Some heroes and heroines can take a huge amount of trouble and danger in their stride. [[Big Bad]] out to get them? Yesterday's news. [[Death Trap
▲Some heroes and heroines can take a huge amount of trouble and danger in their stride. [[Big Bad]] out to get them? Yesterday's news. [[Death Trap|Death Traps]] to the left and right of them? Snore. [[The End of the World As We Know It]]? They already know, thanks, they're working on it. These characters know what a burden rests on their shoulders, and don't let it get them down.
There's one thing that can bring a seemingly invincible character to their knees, though: betrayal.
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Having the entire [[The Empire|evil empire]] out to get them isn't a big deal, as long as they have their posse of friends, or their [[True Companions]] watching their backs. If one of the chosen few should renege, though, the hero will [[Heroic BSOD|completely go to pieces]].
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
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
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]]
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
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
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** This happens to Trunks and Goten; they were more than willing to fight Buu alongside Vegeta until he (apparentely) offed Trunks (who was briefly shocked by his dad doing this to him), after which Goten entered a very brief [[Heroic BSOD]] after this before Vegeta took him out as well. Obviously, this was due to [[Redemption Equals Death|Vegeta needing to be alone]] to sacrifice himself against the monster he brought into this world.
* ''[[Magical Project S]]'': Sammy the magical girl had no problem beating the monster of the week until she discovered her worst enemy was her best friend Pixy misa, she couldnt believe it, the same happened to Misao (aka Pixy Misa), shen ran away from her home and her school when she believed that she had betrayed her best friend.
* ''[[Kaleido Star]]''{{'}}s Sora puts up with a hell of a lot of grief in the second
* Hot Shot manages to hold off the bulk of Megatron's Decepticons in ''[[Transformers Armada]]'' (albeit while wielding the Star Saber). However, when {{spoiler|Sideways}} betrays him and defects to the Decepticons, he falls to his knees and passively lets the Decepticons beat him into a metallic pulp.
* 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
* Subverted in the anime/manga ''[[One Piece]]'', where Luffy is twice betrayed by his own [[True Companions|crew members]], in favour of working for the bad guys. Instead of breaking out, however, he goes after them, beats their baddie bosses, and wins them back.
** 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.
** It's actually a double subversion, since Luffy didn't know about their benevolent hidden agendas...
* ''[[Pet Shop of Horrors]]'' demonstrates the second type of
** Arguably, it's D's reaction (or lack thereof), to the above event that constitutes a "betrayal" to Leon: {{spoiler|for one, D doesn't send Chris back, Chris decides to go by his own free will, and two, since Chris is talking again, he couldn't stay in the petshop even if he wanted to. This is emphasized in the end of that chapter, and even earlier in the story.}} What really gets to Leon is D being (acting?) completely indifferent over witnessing {{spoiler|Monica's}} death and {{spoiler|distancing himself from Leon, treating him and, as Leon feels, Chris too, coldly and indifferently, as he did when they first met.}}
* 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.
** Then after being exposed to Lelouch's [[Broken Pedestal]], Suzaku quickly becomes a Knight {{spoiler|of Zero, to be specific, the Knight above Knight of Rounds}} and [[The Dragon]] to the Emperor {{spoiler|Lelouch}}. So...
** And that apparent betrayal is followed by one on part of the Black Knights, who were [[False Reassurance|falsely convinced by Schneizel]]. [[Chew Toy|Murphy's Law really has it in for Lelouch here.]]
* If Kazuki has any plot relevance in a particular arc of ''[[
* Dio from ''[[Last Exile]]'' despises and fears his [[The Caligula|sister]], but he can handle facing her as long as he has [[Battle Butler|Luciola]] on his side. When he believes (possibly correctly) that Luciola has betrayed him to her, he snaps and hits him across the face.
* Yomi from ''[[Ga
* Utena is stabbed by Anthy in the second to last episode of ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]''.
* The Kira Task Force in ''[[
* In ''[[
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* 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.
** There's a scene when Jesse comes back and sees his girlfriend kissing Cassidy and faints.
* Basically Tim's (the third Robin) reaction to realizing the [[Bad Future]] (caused by [[Fallen Hero|the fall of his hero friends]]) he'd been obsessively trying to find ways to avoid was [[The Chessmaster|Batman]]'s idea of a [[Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday|test]].
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== [[Film]] ==
* 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?"}}
* In the film ''[[Red Dawn]]'', the Wolverines seem to have no problem performing guerilla warfare against the occupying Soviet forces, gunning down countless Soviet soldiers. However, it's only when one of their members betrays them to the Soviets (he was captured, and they forced him to betray his buddies, otherwise they'd kill his father), and they are forced to kill him, that they realize how deep in the war they are in. After that, things progressively go downhill for the Wolverines.
** [[Fridge Logic]] sets in when you realize that no more soldiers came after them following the discovery, and they could've saved their morale ''and'' their teammate by just giving {{spoiler|Darryl}} a little time to "expel" the tracking bug.
*** They didn't shoot him because of the bug. They shot him [[The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized|because he'd betrayed them]].
* ''[[Tron
* Happens in ''[[The Lion King]]'' when [[Big Bad|Scar]] throws [[Big Good|his brother]] to his death.
* In ''[[Cars 2]]'', Lightning McQueen gets this after {{spoiler|his best friend Mater causes him to lose a race in the World Grand Prix.}}
* In ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'', the horribly [[Wrong Genre Savvy]] [[Dark Messiah|Anakin]] assumes this is what's happening to him.
{{quote|
* The [[Live Action Adaptation]] of ''[[
* Fredo betrays his brother Michael in [[
{{quote|
== [[Literature]] ==
* In ''[[
* In [[Jim Butcher]]'s [[Dresden Files]] novel ''Turn Coat'', {{spoiler|Morgan}} survives just fine being on the run for his life after being framed for murder. But let him learn
{{quote|
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.
[[Sand in My Eyes|But for a fraction of a second, something shone on one of his cheeks]].'' }}
* 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.
** This trope is also heavily toyed with when {{spoiler|Snape kills Dumbledore.}}
* ''[[
* [[Jeeves and Wooster (
{{quote|
"You, Jeeves?" I said, and I should rather think Caesar spoke in the same sort of voice on finding Brutus puncturing him with the sharp instrument. }}
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* The new [[Battlestar Galactica]] has some examples. These include: Starbuck's infidelity between Lee and Samuel Anders(Lee also does the same to his wife during this), Gaeta's [[Start of Darkness]] and participation in a coup, Ellen Tigh's infidelity, Saul Tigh's murder of his wife, Baltar's desertion of his cult, and Cavil's actions towards ''anyone'' who disagrees with him.
* One [[Star Trek:
* A better Star Trek example comes from [[Deep Space Nine]] when a recurring character reveals himself to have been a mole for the terrorist/freedom-fighters the Maquis. Although the Maquis in general are depicted as a moral grey zone for the show (their cause is sympathetic but their methods illegal), Cpt. Sisko takes it VERY personally. The former Mole even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this trope in a later episode after the Maquis have been all but eliminated, pointing out to Sisko that it wasn't their agenda or even their methods that pissed off Sisko so much, it was the BETRAYAL by those Masquis who had once been Star Fleet officers, turning their backs on the Federation.
* Comedically referenced in the ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' episode ''[[Riding With Death]]'', when a rift occurs between the protagonist and his obnoxious [[The Deep South|redneck]] buddy. Crow mournfully supplies: "Et tu, Billy Bob?"
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** Let's not forget Giles during the 'crucisomethingorothermentum'. Although, he ''does'' condemn it even before he does it, he was [[Just Following Orders]].
** Wesley, on the Angel side, betraying Angel and taking Connor.
* 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.}}
* In the [[White Collar]] episode 'The Dentist of Detroit' Mozzie is in danger from the Detroit Mob, and when Peter and Neal try to help him, Neal is forced to 'betray' him by giving him up to Peter as the Dentist of Detroit, to which Mozzie responds 'Et tu, Neal?' in a facsimile of this trope.
* Brutus betrayal and assasination of Caesar is recreated in ''[[
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons
== [[Theatre]] ==
* [[Older Than Steam]]: The trope name comes from [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Julius Caesar (
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[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
* The first major blow in the [[Break the Haughty]] act played on Luke in ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'' is {{spoiler|his mentor Van betraying him and leaving him for dead}}.
* [[Neverwinter Nights]]: Everyone's reaction (possibly including the player) to {{spoiler|Aribeth's}} [[Face Heel Turn]].
* The ''[[
** Garrus's whole loyalty mission is entirely focused on him finding and dealing with someone who did this to him. After Shepard recruits him, he tells him about a traitor named Sidonis who sold out his squad to the various merc groups on Omega and told them where the squad were hiding, causing the mercs to track them down and kill everyone but Garrus. {{spoiler|You find out later that this wasn't ''quite'' the case, as the mercs actually threatened him at gunpoint for the location of the base, and he feels very guilty for actually giving in to their demands. While Garrus at first still wants to execute him for being a coward, you can convince him to back down.}}
** This also happened to Zaeed Massani, courtesy of {{spoiler|Vido Santiago. He and Vido founded the Blue Suns mercenary group as a business venture over twenty years ago. While mercenary groups aren't exactly known for being morally scrupulous, Zaeed tried to keep the Blue Suns fairly clean. Vido, objecting to this because it cut profits, turned Zaeed's men against him. He paid a group of them to hold him down while he shot Zaeed in the head ([[Badass|Zaeed survived]]).}}
** Shepard has a [[Heroic BSOD]] when {{spoiler|the Council pulls him off the hunt for Saren.}} For a Paragon Shepard, this comes as a real blow.
** Shepard him/herself can do this in ''[[
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* Cole Phelps in ''[[
* Dante in ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' is hired by Trish to look for Mundus in an island. This is because she's working for him. When Dante found that out, he is not happy about this. He and Trish finally make up in the end, anyway.
* {{spoiler|1=Zeke Dunbar to Cole MacGrath}} in ''[[
* While we never see [[
== [[Visual Novels]] ==
* {{spoiler|Tohsaka to Archer}} in ''[[Fate/stay
** Hell, this trope is the only reason Saber exists. {{spoiler|Although she fought virtually the entire world as King of England, and never lost a single battle for 12 years, she died at the hands of her own trusted men.}} As well as Archer, {{spoiler|Who ended up getting betrayed and killed by the very people he dedicated his life to protect.}}
* In the [[Science Fiction Visual Novels|science fiction visual novel]] ''[[
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In the webcomic ''[[Megatokyo]]'', Largo himself points out, in an unusually serious tone, how painful a betrayal can be. In fact much of his dislike for Miho, previously played for laughs, stems from her once being their friend online in an MMORPG gameverse (and seducing Piro's character) before viciously betraying them. This is hinted as part of the reason he is so mistrustful of relationships, something Erika brands as fairly laughable at first before realising how seriously he took it.
* In [http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/302 this] ''[[
** 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
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[[
* [[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Demona's [[Start of Darkness]] in ''[[Gargoyles]]'', resulting in the destruction of most of the Wyvern Clan.
* ''[[As Told
** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshade]]d when Ginger sees her friends defecting to the other side in "Battle Of The Bands"
{{quote|
* When Terra betrays the team in ''[[Teen Titans (
* Villainous example in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': {{spoiler|Azula's spiral down into [[Villainous Breakdown|complete insanity]] starts when Mai and Ty Lee betray her in "The Boiling Rock."}} Arguably, they were never {{spoiler|her friends to begin with; they were just scared of her.}}
** Though the relationship between Avatar Roku and Fire Lord Sozin became deeply strained when Roku made it clear that he would kill Sozin if he launched his planned war, they were still friends, as shown when Sozin showed up to aid Roku when his island suffered a massive volcanic eruption. The two men stood their ground and controlled the volcanoes until the villagers had escaped, at which point {{spoiler|Sozin realized Roku was vulnerable and betrayed him, leaving him to die on the island so he could fulfill his ambitions of world conquest}}.
* 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
* A rather depressing example comes from ''[[Batman:
* The ''[[Beetlejuice (
* Wonder Woman has no problem working together with Hawkgirl in ''[[Justice League]]''. That is until she found out she's been spying on her for the Thangarians. When Hawkgirl is back in the titular team, WW has a problem of trusting her due to this. Luckily, in that same episode, [[Vitriolic Best Buds|they're able to work together and make up in the end]].
* A relatively mild example occurs in the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Civil wars are often bloodier than "regular" wars because of this trope.
* 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]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
[[Category:Older Than Steam]]
[[Category:Trope Names
[[Category:Friendship Tropes]]
[[Category:Betrayal Tropes]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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