Moral Event Horizon/Web Comics: Difference between revisions

** Quain'tana crossed it for many people at the realization that {{spoiler|she had ordered her own daughter raped in an attempt to conceive an heir}} and then {{spoiler|stole the baby Mel managed to have with Zhor}} on top of the many, ''many'' [[Abusive Parents|horrible things]] she's done to her other children, but those particular moments seemed particularly callous and cruel compared to the others.

*** And now we have [http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=7838 this]. Now we as the audience know that her paranoia and distrust of Mel is actually not unjustified since she's literally in bed with the enemy, but breaking your own daughter's arms? That's ''way'' too much. Even worse in that she originally wanted Lulianne, one of the few people Mel can call a friend, to do it, but later did the deed herself. At least {{spoiler|Syphile}} attacked her with the express intent to kill, making her death more justifiable.

* In ''[[Scary Go Round]]'', former [[Designated Hero]] Rachel Dukakis-Monteforte's psychopathic jealousy of universally popular heroine Shelley Winters finally drives her to arrange Shelley's death via [[All Bikers Are Hells Angels|biker gang]]. The author confirms her crossing of the M.O.E. by having her sell her soul to the devil and [[Put On a Bus|skip town]]. When she returns a few years later, it's only to have [[Dropped a Bridge On Him|a bridge dropped on her]].

* In [[User:Mr Death]]'s now finished ''[http://as.crowdedstreet.net/Something/ Something!]'', largely a retelling of ''[[Mega Man X]] 4'' and ''[[Mega Man X]] 5'', [[The Mole|Double]], who had been established as a villain, but had mainly been the butt of jokes, ended up crossing the line in the eyes of the comic's readership when it was revealed he was the one who sent Iris to her [[Plotline Death]]. The incident changed the outlook, in general, from "I can't wait to see the fight with him" to "Sonuvabitch needs to ''die''."

* Admiral Blake in ''[[Terinu]]''. Supervising Terinu's arrest and detention in a biological research lab? Decidedly unpleasant. Arranging for his daughter Leeza to be fired from her job and forcing her into being the boy's guardian after she rescues him from said facility? Definitely not good. {{spoiler|Having Leeza arrested and order Terinu's assassination to cover up a centuries old act of genocide?}} The readers were howling for his blood.

* [[Subverted]], after a fashion, in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' when Aylee has a [[Face Heel Turn]], and attacks the [[Main Characters]]' Halloween party. She doesn't actually kill anyone, but she makes it perfectly clear that she ''could'', taunts Riff at how helpless he was at protecting anyone, and threatens to do it for real if he meddles in her affairs again. The subversion comes when we find out {{spoiler|that this wasn't actually Aylee, but an evil clone instead, which couldn't cross the [[Moral Event Horizon]] since it was a [[Complete Monster]] right from the beginning}}.

* In ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', we got an example that was more subtle than most, but still important, in the flashback to the Court's early history. [[Dogged Nice Guy]] / [[Stalker With a Crush]] Diego reacts to his vehement rejection by Jeanne by {{spoiler|nominating her as the sacrifice for a plan to "protect" the Court from the magical influences of Gillitie Wood.}} Even after ''that'', he still had groups of people who insisted it was just a misguided plan to play hero, that he really didn't mean it, or even that Jeanne ''deserved'' it, {{spoiler|1=until the next page went up, wherein Diego ''[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=657 smiles at an unknowing Jeanne's fear] of being sent down into the ravine.''}} After that, even the people who'd previously defended him wanted him dead.

* Even after he'd pulled a heinous stunt like {{spoiler|utterly ''humiliating'' Ally in front of the cancer patients she was a nurse for}}, Keith in ''[[Fans]]'' still had some [[Draco in Leather Pants]] status from the people who believed he was still just on his revenge kick for [[Freudian Excuse|the mental torture Ally had put him through years ago.]] Then he {{spoiler|murdered Rob, who was both in love with him and was his most fervent supporter, in cold blood for power.}} Any and all sympathy vanished, and the forum unanimously cheered for an asskicking at the least.

* Xykon in ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' zombified his grandmother and several other people, then had them kill his parents. After that, he was your basic sterotypical villain, doing evil things for no other reason than he can. He didn't really have a Moral Event Horizon, because he was a evil horror who thinks morals or even a reason for what you do is for pussies, '''ever since he was born.''' Oh, you want to know what he did at the top of the page, right? A group of paladins were standing aginst him, ready to fight to the death, and he threw a super bouncy ball with a Symbol of Insanity enscribed on it, causing them to go mad and slaughter each other. Only a few of them didn't go insane, on virtue of not seeing the ball, and the only one of them that survived was paralyzed by Xykon, so he would be forced to watch him zombify his dead friends. To give you the full quote of what Xykon said: "I tell you, Ugly, nothing's funnier than false hope. You really thought you had a chance there for a second. I mean, sure, I could've just blasted you all from above with fire and lightning and such... but I've always felt that when it's really important, it's worth it to go that extra mile. Don't you agree?"

* Veithel of [[Juathuur]] thinks she is past that {{spoiler|because she deserted the Juathuur, getting her master blinded in the process, and making everyone believe she was dead.}}

** Fans debate quite a bit as to whether Vriska has crossed this or not. Some viewers believe that she gleefully swan-dived over the line back when {{spoiler|she mind-controlled Tavros into jumping off a cliff}} and has only gone deeper since then, and some viewers think that she can still be redeemed. Given that she's easily [[Base Breaker|the most divisive character in the series]], this argument is not surprising.

*** And given that the author has [[Word of God|said outright]] that Vriska's [[Base Breaker|status]] is intentional and [[Trolling Creator|he does it to mess with the fanbase]], it's equally unsurprising that he pulled an even more confusing possible-example with her later when she {{spoiler|kills Tavros}}: she does something awful, then immediately goes into full-on [[Pet the Dog]] mode.

** While Doc Scratch does work for the comic's [[Bigger Bad]], Lord English, he always acted more [[Affably Evil]]. Then we saw how he treated Aradia's ancestor, the Handmaid. {{spoiler|Nearly suffocating her, beating her with a broom, keeping her alive for the sole purpose of using her to make her home planet a [[Crapsack World]], and finally, setting her up to be murdered by her successor.}} Yikes. And note that by the last point {{spoiler|she had been asking for death for millennia, begging for her slavery to Lord English to end}}.

* ''[[Fuzzy Knights]]'' rather plays with this a bit. {{spoiler|Hamaestra}} has been working on his plans for years, but thus far had remained at least a [[Technical Pacifist]]. He realizes that {{spoiler|killing The Fuzz}} will be crossing the line, and spends a strip getting completely drunk as he contemplates whether to do it or not, despite seeming completely confident when confronting his enemies later. The author's commentary included his thoughts that a lot of villains probably have times like that.

* In [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-07 this] ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlock Mercenary]]'' strip and the previous one, Petey [[Discussed Trope|discusses]] this trope with someone he prevented from crossing the line.

** [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-06-30 After taking a look] via spy cams in [[Mad Doctor|Dr.Pau]]'s facility {{spoiler|Kathryn}} evaluates the new information:

** Nega-Nick is already an [[Evil Overlord]] who [[You Have Failed Me|kills underlings for their failures]], but the he is revealed asa [[Complete Monster]] when he {{spoiler|1=tortures Nega-Ki, his accomplice in taking over the world, in front of Nick to force him to build Project Velociraptor so that he can use the MuTEX to escape, and once Nick caves in, threatens to torture a prisoner to death in front of him for every hour he wastes. [[Fridge Horror|Considering that external forces are preventing Nick from using Velociraptor, one has to wonder what would have happened if his friends hadn't shown up]].}}

* Dellyn Goblinslayer from ''[[Goblins]]'' is a horrible bastard who tortures so-called "monstrous races" to get a better understanding of their biology and kill them more efficiently (at least, that's what he says, but he's a horribly sadistic monster), so he's well past that point when we meet him. However, he becomes this in the eyes of Minmax (who doesn't know about the rest of his horrific actions) when he admits to healing his "pet" Yuan-Ti after beating and raping her into negative HP. He ponders over what Dellyn says for a moment, [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|then chucks the bastard through a window.]]

*** From the audience's point of view, if a character in ''Goblins'' qualifies for [[Complete Monster]] status they'll have crossed the event horizon during or shortly after their first appearance. Kore by murdering the Dwarf child in cold blood, Dellyn by carving the word 'monster' in Fumbles' head with his knife during their first torture session. {{spoiler|Psion-Minmax does this by telling Kin how he murdered her 817 times, and she remembers each of them thanks to the power of the Maze of Many, and how he intends to use the powers of the maze to wipe all all the characters currently inside completely from existence. Before killing her for the 818th time.}}

* In ''[[Captain SNES]]'', Mother Brain crosses this when she shoves Duke into the Omega Gate, thereby introducing permanent death into a world that had extra lives, continues, and save points.