Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

Jumping off the slippery slope is when a [[Anti-Hero|morally ambiguous character]] raises an ethical question by doing [[Shoot the Dog|morally ambiguous things]], but instead of answering those questions, the character [[Debate and Switch|closes the debate]] by going on to do something [[Moral Event Horizon|unquestionably and unforgivably evil]].

 

 

A form of [[Debate and Switch]], because they never ''really'' address the question of whether the original ambiguous action was acceptable or not. Also helps to [[Status Quo Is God|maintain the status quo]] by ensuring the main characters never question their own morality too closely. Compare [[Slowly Slipping Into Evil]] for a longer, more developed process of going from "ambiguous" to "evil".

 

{{examples}}

* Masterfully avoided in ''[[Higurashi]]''. {{spoiler|Shion goes insane and embarks on an attempt at revenge after the boy she loves, Satoshi, disappears. A lot of people are captured, killed or both, including her twin sister, her sadistic grandmother, and the village headman, who are all part of the village mafia. Then Shion goes after Satoshi's little sister, Satoko, because she's mad that Satoko's dependence on Satoshi wore him out. Shion captures Satoko and tortures her to death. ''Then she remembers that Satoshi's last request was that she care for Satoko for him.'' Shion was already crazy, but now she loses any pretense of acting for anything besides her own dark pleasure.}}

* ''[[Death Note]]'': Yagami Light begins using the supernatural notebook to rid society of criminals, but soon his black list expands to include anyone who stands in his way for any reason, starting with the FBI. Along the way, he coolly manipulates the feelings of both people and shinigami. Repeatedly stating that he plans to become the god of the new world he is trying to create doesn't help matters, either.

* ''[[Fushigiboshi no Futagohime]]'': Fine and Rein find out that Mirlo is in an [[Arranged Marriage]] with a rather undesirable dimwit, and are out to break it up. Reviewer Al1701 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQQ4wqYiE9Y pointed out] that this action seems short-sighted, since the deal for the marriage is in exchange for dimwit's father repairing the Waterdrop Kingdom's cloudmaker. {{spoiler|That is, until the whole [[Arranged Marriage]] turns out to be a big ruse by the Moon Kingdom chancellor. Doesn't stop this from being one of the best eps of the whole series.}}

* In ''[[Berserk]]'', no one ever really addresses Griffith's actions, since they're so amazed at how far he's willing to go in order to achieve his dream of having his own kingdom. Even if those actions may have included {{spoiler|whoring himself out to an old pedophile to raise funds for his army}}, or {{spoiler|planning assassinations to eliminate opponents}} or {{spoiler|kidnapping kids and using them as leverage against other opponents}}. However, the audience is shown this from a more sympathetic light, especially so after his {{spoiler|one year imprisonment and torture which destroyed any chance of him achieving his dream}} since he speaks of his dream so nobly and pure. And then the Eclipse happened. The audience [[Moral Event Horizon|lost all sympathy]] at that point.

 

== Comic Books ==

* [[Green Lantern|Hal Jordan]], who got so pissed off that the Guardians forbid him to use his ring to temporary recreate Coast City that he flew to Oa, maiming numerous other Green Lanterns in the way and stealing their rings (how did they survive the vacuum of space is unknown), killed Kilowog, killed Sinestro, absorbed the whole power of the main battery (destroying it in the process), became the villain Parallax and then <s>tried to destroy the universe in order to recreate it "the right way"</s> actually, successfully destroyed the universe, but then the heroes hijacked his attempt to recreate it to make an acceptably similar replacement. Of course, it was later retconned as he being [[Demonic Possession|possessed by the fear entity Parallax]], but still...

* Notably averted by Alan Grant's DC Universe character of Anarky: where originally the character was scripted to be willing to murder in pursuance of his anarchic philosophy, as written he upholds the same moral standards as Batman, which makes for some nice [[Not So Different]] interactions.

* Played with when Scans Daily showed a panel with [[Batman/Characters|Robin and the Spoiler]] foiling a convenience store robbery and Stephanie taking a soda. Tim assumes she's going to pay for it, while she explains that she's earned it as they saved the whole store. She grudgingly puts down some money when Tim explains that once you start like that, you soon bend all the rules.

{{quote|'''SD''': "It just starts with stealing a soda after saving the store...next thing you know, you're hacking up people and putting them in your freezer!" }}

* Dealt with in a two-issue arc of ''New [[X-Men]]'' involving Prodigy, a student at the Xavier Institute with the ability to absorb the knowledge of anyone in the immediate vicinity, but ''only'' as long as they're in the immediate vicinity. When Emma Frost discovers that he's subconsciously put a block in his mind that prevents him from retaining the knowledge permanently, David asks Emma to remove the block, figuring he'll be able to do so much good for the world that way. The story then fast-forwards a few months, and David is already head of his own [[Mega Corp]] that has developed cures for cancer and AIDS. How did he achieve this breakthrough? {{spoiler|He killed his friend, the healer Elixir, and harvested his organs}}. Okay, that's certainly bad, but we're still at the point where it can be argued to be worth it. The next issue fast-forwards again, to twenty years later, and David is now the President, and has united most of the world's countries into a utopian [[One World Government]]. And he's also {{spoiler|planning the genocide of the Chinese because they refused to join}}. Okay, ''now'' he has to die. Fortunately {{spoiler|the whole thing turns out to be an illusion, courtesy of Dani Moonstar, in an effort to convince him to leave the block in}}.

 

* Ho-oh from ''[[Poke Wars]]'' wants Pokémon-kind to live in a utopia and he limits his targets to humans only and tries limit the damage he causes. {{spoiler|He soon starts engaging in things like ordering wanton killing of Pokémon contrary to his ideals, utterly ruining the environment and not giving a damn about it, and generally being a filthy hypocrite.}}

 

== Film ==

* Yoda warns of the danger of the Dark Side, giving a slippery slope argument on how it works: "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate... leads to suffering." However it is exceedingly rare for somebody to not simply go to hate and Dark Side in the EU.

** Anakin in ''[[Star Wars]]''. Specifically, note how quickly he goes from {{spoiler|agonizing over his role in Mace Windu's death}} to {{spoiler|killing children without a problem}}. Anakin finally slips so far, his own wife, Padme, loses the will to live and eventually dies, and Obi-Wan Kenobi is forced to duel him, ending gruesomely. In order to keep Anakin alive, Darth Sidious subjects him to painful body reconstruction. The final push to the Dark Side comes from Sidious himself- when Anakin asks if Padme is still alive, Sidious tells him in his anger, he killed her. In pure disbelief of this, Anakin's true powers of the Force flare up, and he screams out in despair, fully overtaken with pain and hate, completing his transformation into Darth Vader.

* The character of {{spoiler|Amanda}} in the ''[[Saw]]'' movie series makes Jigsaw look downright merciful by the third movie. Of course, this was the fault of Jigsaw himself, who made her a murderer in an attempt to "help her", much to his shame when he realizes this. It didn't help any that {{spoiler|Jigsaw's other protégé, Hoffman, was already far down the slope, tugging on her leg at the time.}}

* ''[[Magnum Force]]'' has Dirty Harry dealing with cops who have been executing guilty criminals who escaped justice due to technicalities. When he refuses an offer to join them, they try to murder Harry, thus proving they didn't have a complex or unorthodox sense of justice after all, they just like killing.

* Loki arguably did this in between ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]'' and ''[[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]]''.

** It may even be ''definite'' that Loki did this, seeing as his actions went from more [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulative]] in ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]'' to straight-up [[Big Bad|evil]] in ''[[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]]''.

 

== Literature ==

* Gerak in season 9 of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''. At least he got a [[Redemption Equals Death|redemptive death]], though.

** The Ori could stray into this. At first it seems that, while their practices are primitive, their ultimate goals are noble enough, helping others to achieve ascension. Then it's revealed that this is all a lie, and the Ori are manipulating people's belief to gain more power.

* Similar to the ''[[Magnum Force]]'' example, season two of ''[[Murder One]]'' featured a storyline about Clifford Banks, a serial killer who tracked down and executed criminals who escaped justice, or had an unsuitably short prison sentence. He started out on this path through the murder of his retarded brother, he never kills innocent people, and throughout the arc a few people comment that "sometimes the streets need sweeping." Any moral ambiguity is then done away with by the lawyers finding out that Clifford actually killed his brother himself over his frustration about giving up his whole life to care for him, causing a mental breakdown that directed his guilt outwards onto other criminals.

* In the pilot episode of ''[[The Shield]]'', Vic Mackey partakes in numerous criminal acts including the use of excessive force during arrests, working with a drug dealer and beating a suspect with a phone book in order to make him talk. Then, at the end of the episode, he {{spoiler|shoots another police officer in the face to prevent him from gathering evidence against Vic's team}}.

* [[Fringe]]: Walternate originally just wanted to save his universe, even if it meant destroying a parallel universe and its inhabitants. Then he attempted to {{spoiler|kill his son and the mother of his grandchild.}}

* An episode of ''[[MacGyver]]'' involved a business owner attempting to have the Challengers Club shut down because one of its members stole a truck from his printing business. What could have been a two sided conflict between a racist business owner - albeit one who had a legitimate axe to grind - and a teenager conditioned by poverty and racism to view white people as the enemy shifts step by step into a case of the boy being a clear cut victim of The Man. First it turns out the business owner framed the kid for stealing the truck as a pretext to have the Challengers Club shut down. Then he escalates to murdering the club owner. Then it turns out he prints white supremacist propaganda and thinks "niggers should be drowned at birth".

 

== Tabletop RPG ==

* ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' has an actual mechanic for this: acting like an inhuman, unprincipled bastard will make you more of an inhuman, unprincipled bastard.

** This applies to all World of Darkness games and is a large part of the new system.

** Tau as well, when one considers that its for the greater good for sterilization policies, and special "helmets" for their bug allies.

 

== Video Games ==

** I interpreted it as more of her being consumed with hatred of the people she views as responsible for lover's death, combined with her being suicidal/ slightly unhinged over her own part in it.

* Subverted in ''[[Rondo of Swords]]''. After a very harsh [["Friend or Idol?" Decision]] that ends up on the favor of the Idol, Serdic experiences an immediate Karmic backlash, complete with [[Dark Messiah|title change]], [[Discard and Draw|power swap]], and [[Evil Makeover|costume switch]] to reflect his [[Shoot the Dog|dog shooting]]. While his Nakama repeatedly [[What the Hell, Hero?|accuse or suspect him of jumping off the slope]], Serdic experiences no lapse in emotional or moral health. The epilogue also reveals that he was a just and well-loved ruler with a happy marriage.

** CJ's transformation ''is'' surprisingly gradual for a [[Grand Theft Auto|GTA]] game, actually. At first he's trying to protect his family and friends. Then he's manipulated into killing people, where if he doesn't, either he or his family will get killed. As the game continues, he eventually decides to kill the people who manipulated him. If you play a [[Pacifist Run]] (damn near impossible, but let's assume), then the only people CJ will kill are people that are threatening him, or people that he's threatened into killing.

*** [[Disproportionate Retribution|And some people who were rude to his sister.]]

** And, while we're on Warcraft games, as you play the human campaign of Warcraft III, Arthas starts out as a dedicated disciple of Uther Lightbringer (even though Arthas is a prince, Uther's military rank is higher than Arthas's, and they both respect that) but gradually starts betraying more and more people, and becomes less and less concerned with the whole reason he's fighting the Undead in the first place. Eventually, {{spoiler|he totally betrays Azeroth, dresses in Undead armor, and kills his own father. In fact, in World of Warcraft, the very throne room in which he killed his father is now directly above Undercity, the Capital City of the Undead.}} In his case his abrupt descent was exacerbated by him taking up a cursed sword that stole the soul of ''anyone'' it touched.

** After Deathwing, the [[Big Bad]] in the Cataclysm expansion, is ultimately destroyed, the Horde and Alliance turn on each other big time. In particular, {{spoiler|the Horde Warchief, Garrosh Hellscream, is showing signs of going off the deep end, and is currently forecast as the end boss of the next expansion}}.

* In ''[[Mitadake High]]'' it is common for someone to RP themselves going insane as a result of the madness going on around them. Unfortunately, not everyone is any good at it.

* In ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Path of Radiance'', the country of Crimea is good with bits of gray, Daein is dark gray but with evil leaders, and conservative Begnion was in the middle with its corrupt Senate but well-intentioned leaders. When the sequel rolled around and Begnion would be the main antagonist, well you bet that country started being ruthless.

** Johnny Gat qualifies as well.

 

* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' paladin Miko Miyazaki starts out as a narrow-minded, [[Holier Than Thou]] [[Knight Templar]] who the titular Order despise and even her own comrades tend to look for excuses to send her off on missions to distant lands that keep her out of town for long periods. Then she {{spoiler|overhears Lord Shojo talking to Roy and Belkar about their plans to do the dirty work behind the paladins' backs, ignores his [[I Did What I Had to Do|perfectly good arguments about why he had to do it,]] declares him guilty of treason and executes him on the spot. She's IMMEDIATELY stripped of her powers by the gods for murdering an unarmed octogenarian and goes into a psychotic breakdown when she refuses to accept that she could have been wrong.}}

*** Hinjo argues against that justification right there though: he heard all the same things she did but restrained himself from leaping to the same conclusions and abandoning the code of laws he had sworn to uphold.

** [http://www.erfworld.com/book-2-archive/?px=/2009-12-08.jpg Horrified?] Really? At what point does Stanley appear to be even bothered, let alone horrified, by her request? He mulls the issue over for a bit, then refuses permission because he thinks Wanda's been "out of hand" lately and he doesn't want a decrypted caster anyway.

** Maybe... or maybe she just wanted a chance to put Jack (her friend from the old Faq) on her side specifically, since anyone she rezzes with them has their loyalty aligned to HER not Gobwin Knob.

* The inspector in ''Chisuji''. First he decided to take justice in his own hands against the criminal who killed his wife and sent his daughter in a coma; then he saw the killer's girlfriend holding said daughter's plush toy, and... [[Discretion Shot|snapped]].

* Eridan in ''[[Homestuck]]'' was introduced as a [[Butt Monkey]] [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]] [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]], but some of his later appearances have shown that {{spoiler|he pulled a [[Face Heel Turn]] and plans to ally with the [[Big Bad]], then proceeds to slaughter his teammates and destroys the one thing that could have saved his people, which he was ''trying to protect''.}} This is not foreshadowed whatsoever.

** {{spoiler|Eridan was explicitly stated upon his introduction to have genocidal tendencies and slaughters the custodians of young trolls, leaving them defenceless against the many, many hazards of Alternia, on a regular basis. He has been a monster from day 1, but it was treated as a joke up until this point. It was foreshadowed in the sense that somebody beating you with a stick foreshadows you waking up with some lovely bruises tomorrow.}}

 

 

== Western Animation ==

** And the Justice Lords from a parallel Earth. Superman abandoning [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]] to stop Luthor from starting a nuclear war: justifiable. The entire team doing away with the concept of [[Joker Immunity]] altogether and resorting to killing and lobotomizing on a semi-frequent basis: arguable. Setting up a totalitarian state in which elections do not happen until the Justice Lords say they do and people can be arrested for complaining too loudly: seems unnecessary.

** And for that matter, Doctor Destiny's origin story in "Just a Dream". At first, he seems to be a fairly decent guy whose big mistake was simply getting hired as a guard by [[Lex Luthor]], and the story starts raising questions about [[What Measure Is a Mook?]] and the hypocrisy of the henchmen going to prison and having their lives ruined while the villains themselves keep getting away scott-free. But once he gains superpowers himself, his [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] throws him right off the slippery slope, and into [[Complete Monster]] territory that even Lex never touched, with lemming-like gusto.

** It's implied he had already fallen that far long before they met him- the plan was already in place and he had apparently been attacking travelers indiscriminate to their threat-level for a while now. Not to mention his "enforcers" thought nothing of Jet ordering them to kill Sokka. It's not entirely clear whether he truly regretted his actions for being ''morally wrong''.

*** It seemed like he didn't really regret his actions per se, more that he realized maybe he was going too far and started trying to rely on his team to keep him from sliding. But when he KNOWS there are Fire Benders hiding in plain sight within the city, he still just can't let it go.

** This is what leads to {{spoiler|Zuko's eventual [[Heel Face Turn]]. He'd been hesitating for a while, thinking that his family really were good people, despite all the massive evidence otherwise: its when his Father and sister create a plan to burn an entire country to the ground that he realises they've jumped off.}}

* From the [[Sequel Series]], ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'', Tarrlok starts out as a Jerkass and manipulative self-serving politician. Then he goes completely off the deep end {{spoiler|imposing a curfew on all non-benders and arresting anyone who complains or even has connections with Equalists. He arrests Korra's friends to blackmail her to join him and when she refuses, attacks her and reveals himself to be a bloodbender. By the end of the episode, he's got her locked in the back of a Satomobile to take her somewhere she'll never be found.}}

 

== Real Life ==

** [[Alternative Character Interpretation]] LG refused to join an illegal trust so as to litigate their legal monopoly derived from their patent rights.

* There was a time when Robespierre was an ardent anti-capital punishment activist who was fighting the really obvious injustices of his time. [[Those Who Fight Monsters|His rule]] would later be called [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|The Reign of Terror]].

** Subverted- He knew what he was doing was immoral, but [[I Did What I Had to Do|he did what he had to.]] [[Your Mileage May Vary]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Writer Cop Out]]

[[Category:Plots]]

[[Category:Sturgeon's Tropes]]

[[Category:Character Derailment Tropes]]

[[Category:Corruption Tropes]]