Malicious Slander: Difference between revisions

[[File:Threat Or Menace 701.jpg|link=Spider-Man|frame|[[I Take Offense to That Last One|"Hey! It's not slander!]] ''[[Insistent Terminology|Slander is spoken! In print, it's libel]]''." ]]

 

 

Rumor, gossip, tale-bearing. Ever present whenever people talk, and sometimes [[Abomination Accusation Attack|truly vile]]. And when they are malicious tales about [[The Hero]], they are an unbounded source of problems for him.

See also [[Bearer of Bad News]], who may be accused of this.

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]] - R'' entirely revolves around some protegee of Pegasus trying to revenge (and revive) his master after being told that Yugi murdered him.

** Ironically enough, in the manga, Pegasus WAS murdered...just not by Yugi. The murderer, funnily enough, doesn't even appear in the series.

* The main plot of ''[[Shina Dark]]'' is that the demon king Exoda awakens after a lengthy slumber to find his secluded island full of young girls claiming to be "sacrifices" - because someone came up with the idea that the demon king demands a thousand women to be his concubines. Exoda is ''not'' happy to find the slanderous text going into detail about what he supposedly do to the girls, roughly ''ten each night''. He is outright disturbed to find a ''prepubescent child'' among the crowd. At one point he laments that people come up with new slander every time he goes into slumber, which suggest this is only the latest in a long line of indignities.

* This is the backstory of ''[[One Piece]]'s'' Nico Robin in a nutshell. After becoming the only survivor of an incident where the World Government decimated her home island, said Government spread these about her to convince people to turn her in to them. Among these were that Robin was some kind of [[Sobriquet|"Demon Child"]] and that she sank several battleships during the incident(those ships were sank, but by a giant who had defected from the Marines, not Robin.).

 

== Ballads ==

* In the [[Child Ballad]] ''Sir Aldingar'', when the queen rebuffs the title knight, he puts a leper in her bed and accuses her of adultery to the king.

 

* A sizable chunk of the drek [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]] deals with can be blamed on J. Jonah Jameson's blatant slander in the ''Daily Bugle''.

** "[[I Take Offense to That Last One|In print, it's libel]]."

*** It's actionable, either way.

**** Only if Spiderman ever takes the Bugle to court. (Which he did, once, but unfortunately his overenthusiastic lawyer then included Peter Parker in the suit...)

 

== Fairy Tales ==

* In ''[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/038.htm The Grateful Beasts]'', Ferko's brothers tell the king that he is a magician, and the king orders Ferko to perform three [[Impossible Task|tasks]] in atonement; his own daughter the princess argues with him until he imprisons her in a tower.

 

== Film ==

* The film version of ''[[The Running Man (film)|The Running Man]]'' has the main character subjected to this.

* The entire plot of the film ''Doubt'' revolves around a priest accused of misconduct with a young boy. No hard evidence is discovered to either prove or disprove the charge, fueled entirely by rumors, suspicions and one nuns conviction of their truth. The priest himself makes a sermon condemning gossip and rumor-mongering, pointing out that even if the rumor is proved to be false it can never be unsaid. {{spoiler|Eventually, the implication is that he ''was'' guilty, as he agrees to a transfer and coverup once the nun leading the attack reveals that she managed to track down a nun from his last posting who could corroborate the story...except she later reveals that she had never managed to find the old nun at all.}}

 

== Legends ==

* [[wikipedia:Genevieve of Brabant|Genevieve of Brabant]], the wife of palatine count Siegfried of Treves, was accused of adultery by a rebuffed would-be lover and had to live in [[The Lost Woods|the woods]] with her son (She had actually been put in death row, but the executioner took pity on her and let her go.) Fortunately, she had magical help from a magical roe deer, who helped [[Fallen Princess]] Genevieve get food while residing in a cavern. When her husband finds out about the deceit, he goes to search for Genevieve and their kid, and thanks to the roe he finds them and asks for forgiveness.

** It's apparently based on the real life story of [[wikipedia:Marie of Brabant|Marie of Brabant]], only that Marie wasn't as lucky as Genevieve and ''did'' end up executed.

 

== Literature ==

* In [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|A Civil Campaign]]'', Miles is surrounded by rumors that he killed Ekaterin's husband in order to woo her.

** It backfires in a scene that is blended [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] and [[Crowning Moment of Funny]], courtesy of Miles' father and Ekaterin herself.

* In Patrick Rothfuss's ''[[The Name of the Wind]]'', Chronicler attempts to get Kvothe to tell him his story, and Kvothe is indifferent to his [[Shrouded in Myth]] status. It's when Chronicler repeats some of the slanders that Kvothe is moved—and persuaded.

* Basically what the whole plot revolves around in Ian Mcewan's ''[[Atonement]]''.

* In [[Charles Dickens]]'s ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'', having put the most malicious interpretation on her actions possible, Madame Defarge plots to slander Lucie, her father, and her young daughter, denouncing them for conspiracy.

* In [[Patricia C. Wrede]]'s ''Thirteenth Child'', Eff's uncles, aunts, and cousins are continually intrepreting her acts in the worst possible light and spreading the tale.

* In [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''[[Xanth|Spell for Chameleon]]'', Evil Magician Trent declares that he had turned people to fish—but only with water; despite the stories he had not left them flapping about on land. He then points out that if he had won the war and the current king had lost it, they would be telling horrible stories about that king.

* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Chronicles of Chaos|The Orphans of Chaos]]'', {{spoiler|Miss Daw}} explains that being [[Made a Slave]] in Hera's household was not bad; when you remember the myths, remember also that the Muses—Zeus's bastard children—inspired them.

* In ''[[The Railway Series]]'', Diesel spreads slander to try and get rid of Duck. The Fat Controller sees through it, however, and manages to expose Diesel when he tries to do the same to Henry.

 

 

* In the musical ''[[13|Thirteen]]'', after Evan plays matchmaker for Brett and Kendra, Brett's jealous ex-girlfriend spreads a rumor that Kendra is cheating on Brett with Evan.

* Iago does this to Desdemona in ''[[Othello]]''.

* Used as the main plot device in ''[[The Children's Hour]]''. At a 1930s all-girls school, a bratty girl mad at her teachers conquers up a lie about them being lesbian lovers. Considering one of them was engaged, and this was the early thirties, it single-handedly ruined their lives.

* Accusations of witchcraft in ''[[The Crucible]]'' drive the plot, causing the deaths of many innocent people.

 

== Video Games ==

{{quote|"Don't believe everything you read in the papers."}}

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[Erfworld]]'': Charlie's answer to charges of having violated neutrality by helping one side for free.

** Actually, he simply denies helping them for free. He doesn't call it slander until they suggest he actually spent money helping them.

* ''[[Bob and George]]'': [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/020117c How keep Dr. Light from realizing you're evil? Why, say the guy who says that has turned evil.]

* In ''[[8-Bit Theater|8-bit Theater]]'', Garland starts an ad campaign linking the Light Warriors to recent attacks of terrorism. Inverted in that the Light Warriors ''are'' responsible for recent attacks of terrorism.

* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (webcomic)|No Rest for The Wicked]]'', [http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/03-48.html the witch complains of this.]

* In ''[[Our Little Adventure]]'' [http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0267.html used to supplement] a [[False-Flag Operation]].

 

== Web Original ==

* In the [[Whateley Universe]], Phase is a Goodkind. That means his family is the most famous, most important group of mutant haters on the planet. Phase is a mutant at [[Super-Hero School]] Whateley Academy. Pretty much everybody there assumes he's still a mutant-hating monster. In the beginning of "Ayla and the Mad Scientist", people are gossiping about him supposedly kicking Bladedancer out of Team Kimba, and all the horrible reasons that might be behind it. To make matters worse, Bladedancer asked to be tossed out of Team Kimba, so it's hard to deny.

 

== All The Tropes Wiki ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Evil Tropes]]

[[Category:Dialogue]]

[[Category:Truth and Lies]]

[[Category:Blame Tropes]]