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Et Tu, Brute?: Difference between revisions
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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 overreaction—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.
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This is, of course, [[Truth in Television]]—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}}
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* 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 with 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]]}}.
* 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 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.}}
** 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.]]
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* Utena is stabbed by Anthy in the second to last episode of ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]''.
* The Kira Task Force in ''[[Death Note]]'' reacted to this when they finally find out [[Villain Protagonist|Light]] is Kira in the end.
* In ''[[
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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.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons
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== [[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 ally—which he usually has the option of forgiving. (Doing so helps determine [[Multiple Endings|what ending the game gets.]])
* 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 ''[[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.
** 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 ''[[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 ''[[
* In ''[[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 ''[[
* 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 ''[[Infamous (video game series)|In Famous]]''.
* While we never see [[Featureless Protagonist|Cipher]]'s reaction to {{spoiler|his trusted [[Wing Man]] Pixy}}'s betrayal in ''[[Ace Combat Zero:
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* 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] ''[[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.
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