Karma Houdini: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:news_064_8637news 064 8637.jpg|link=The Simpsons|frame|So, [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Burns]], I take it the doctors who helped you after you got shot [[Sarcasm Mode|don't deserve any credit]]?]]
 
{{quote|''"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never [[Bolt of Divine Retribution|incinerated by bolts of lightning]]."''|'''Calvin''', about [[Jerk Jock|Moe]], ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]''}}
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* [[Easily Forgiven|Redemption Is Cheap]] - It's all well and good for a villain to see the light and [[Heel Face Turn|change sides]], but once that switch is flipped it's all too easy to forget about all the mayhem he caused before that moment (especially if the [[A Million Is a Statistic|victims weren't named characters]]). Even if [[Redemption Equals Death]], one heroic act at the end may not be enough to make up for [[Kick the Dog|a long career of dog football]].
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]] - The story has left the villain behind, and other issues have taken over. Once the heroes have dealt with [[Omnicidal Maniac|Entropus the Destroyer of Worlds]], sometimes the story forgets that there's still an [[Evil Overlord]] ruling his kingdom with an iron fist. Or the storyline just focuses on other aspects, considering the villain's punishment no longer important.
* The setting is a [[Crapsack World]] and/or the victims were [[Asshole Victim|Asshole Victims]]s, and the author either doesn't feel the need to punish the character, or thinks that it would be out of place for the story. After all, if ''everyone'', including our protagonist, has a long list of black deeds in their backstory, what makes this guy so special?
* [[Doomed by Canon]] / [[Death by Origin Story]]: Sometimes, the villain may kill a character this way. Usually when that happens, they only get a slap on the wrist or get away with it since it would violate canon.
* Horrible History - The story is based on [[Based on a True Story|a true story]], where the antagonists were never brought to justice. If the writers care at all about historical accuracy, the villain will be a Karma Houdini by default.
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* Slipped the [[Sequel Hook]] - The writer may have left the villain alone so that he could return to cause more mayhem in a future sequel (and hopefully recieve his just desserts then). But sometimes the sequel [[Cut Short|never gets made]]...
** For a prequel or [[Interquel]], a villain is shown to be much more vile than they were in their original series, so the punishment they did receive in the end is not proportionate.
** The villain did receive punishment for their actions, but some time in the future another author or franchise resurrected (literally or figuratively) the character and retroactively made them a [['''Karma Houdini]]'''.
* [[Author Existence Failure]], leading to an [[Orphaned Series]] - The story is left on a dangling hook before the villain gets his comeuppance.
* A couple [[Double Standard]] tropes that overlap with this.
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Compare [[Butt Monkey]], for which a character ends up having many disproportionately bad things happen to them throughout the story (and may also technically qualify for this trope, as hard as that sounds). The extreme counterpart of that trope, [[Cosmic Plaything]], can be considered this trope's polar [[Opposite Tropes]].
 
Contrast [[Laser-Guided Karma]] for instances where the villain's comeuppance is swift and immediate, and [[Karma Houdini Warranty]], for when a notorious Karma Houdini's luck finally runs out.
 
{{noreallife|Calling real-life people "evil" is an extremely bad idea.}}
'''[[No Real Life Examples, Please]]''' The list of historical personalities who got away with their crimes is just too damn long.
 
{{Examples on subpages}}
{{examples}}
 
* [[Karma Houdini/Anime|Anime]]
* [[Karma Houdini/Comic Books|Comic Books]]
* [[Karma Houdini/Film|Film]]
* [[Karma Houdini/Folklore|Folklore]]
* [[Karma Houdini/Literature|Literature]]
* [[Karma Houdini/Live Action TV|Live Action TV]]
* [[Karma Houdini/Music|Music]]
* [[Karma Houdini/Newspaper Comics|Newspaper Comics]]
* [[Karma Houdini/Professional Wrestling|Professional Wrestling]]
* [[Karma Houdini/Radio|Radio]]
* [[Karma Houdini/Theater|Theater]]
* [[Karma Houdini/Video Games|Video Games]]
* [[Karma Houdini/Web Comics|Web Comics]]
* [[Karma Houdini/Web Original|Web Original]]
* [[Karma Houdini/Western Animation|Western Animation]]
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Tropes of Legend]]
[[Category:Evil Tropes]]
[[Category:Heel Face Index]]
[[Category:Morality Tropes]]
[[Category:Scrappy Index]]
[[Category:Karma]]
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:indexIndex]]
[[Category:Karma Houdini{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:No Real Life Examples, Please]]
[[Category:Depressing Tropes]]
[[Category:HeelThe FaceJerk Index]]
[[Category:Redemption Tropes]]
[[Category:Hentai Tropes]]