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My God, What Have I Done?: Difference between revisions
removed redundant examples parameter; "fan fiction"->"fan works"; pohtole texts, italics on work names
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{{quote|''"The awful daring of a moment's surrender
''which an age of prudence can never retract."''
|'''[[T. S. Eliot]]''', ''[[The Waste Land]]''}}
A misguided character comes to realize that his actions have caused incredible damage, physical pain, emotional pain, or even loss of life. What usually follows is the character uttering some variation on the trope title, optionally accompanied by [[Tears of Remorse]] and/or a [[Thousand-Yard Stare]].
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Often the result if the protagonist becomes an [[Unwitting Pawn]]. Sometimes combined with [[Heroic BSOD]]; common with [[Villainous BSOD]]. Can be a self-inflicted [[What the Hell, Hero?]]. Contrast [[I Did What I Had to Do]], [[Be All My Sins Remembered]], and [[I Regret Nothing]]. Compare [[It's All My Fault]], [[Heel Realization]] and [[Kick the Morality Pet]]. See also [[Out, Damned Spot!]], [[Being Evil Sucks]], [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]], and [[Sympathetic Murder Backstory]]. May be the result of an all too successful [[Pygmalion Plot]] to [[Teach Him Anger]].
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
* Sayaka from ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' has this reaction when she makes Madoka cry after she yells at her for not using her latent power to fight witches. Unfortunately, this realization helps push her towards the {{spoiler|[[Despair Event Horizon]] and she becomes a witch.}}
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* In ''[[Invincible]]'', the titular character reacts this way after accepting [[An Offer You Can't Refuse]], even though it was the only way to avoid an [[Earthshattering Kaboom]]. So when he says the trope's title out loud, the character making the offer responds "You have saved the lives of every living thing on this planet".
* Katara has one of these in the ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' fanfic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4252182/1/The_Chong_Sheng_Trilogy_Peace The Chong Sheng Trilogy]'', after {{spoiler|going on a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] when Jet is tortured and murdered in cold blood right in front of her. She uses said cold blood to literally rip apart anyone wearing Fire Nation armor, even the ones surrendering or running for their lives. It results in a [[Heroic BSOD]] that nearly [[Driven to Suicide|drives her to suicide]].}}▼
▲== Fan Fiction ==
* In a ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' fanfic
▲* Katara has one of these in the [[Avatar: The Last Airbender]] fanfic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4252182/1/The_Chong_Sheng_Trilogy_Peace The Chong Sheng Trilogy]'', after {{spoiler|going on a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] when Jet is tortured and murdered in cold blood right in front of her. She uses said cold blood to literally rip apart anyone wearing Fire Nation armor, even the ones surrendering or running for their lives. It results in a [[Heroic BSOD]] that nearly [[Driven to Suicide|drives her to suicide]].}}
▲* In a ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' fanfic, [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5353458/1/Blast_to_the_Past Blast to the Past] Princess Elise managed to prevent the Metarex from changing the past, (without Eggman, they'd have no competition, and most likely none of the events of the Sonic games would have never happened) but latter finds out - much to her shock and disgust - {{spoiler|that ''she'' was the one caused the events that [[Sonic Underground|started it all,]]}} something that was just as bad when {{spoiler|[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 video game)|Sonic was killed because of "That damned demon within her."]]}} Silver and Blaze managed to convince her that Sonic played an important factor in everyone's lives, {{spoiler|[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3272287/1/Sweet_Dreams almost the same way that Eilse convinced him.]}}
* In the ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' doujinshi ''Besame Mucho'', Spain gets one of these (quoting the trope name included) when standing in front of a destroyed house in a village his army just slaugtered. He is passing by when he sees a dead child's arm peeking out of a pile of wreck, and it makes him remember about Romano. Something was in my eye when he says that they just killed people, who were the same as him or little Romano. His companion's answer? "You are wrong. You are not human.". [[Tear Jerker]], indeed.
* Also in ''Axis Powers Hetalia'', this is lampshaded by an authoress in the notes of the first chapter of her intense FACE bondage-dominance foursome. Repeat, the /first/ chapter.
* This shows up in two different ways in the ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' post-Third Impact fanfic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5334678/1 Scar Tissue]'':
** Asuka, who has been physically and sexually brutalizing Shinji for months, has minor moments of this whenever her temper finally abates, then has a ''massive'' moment of this coupled with [[Villainous Breakdown]] when {{spoiler|she finally beats Shinji badly enough to nearly kill him}}. The fic starts after this moment; when it's not filling in backstory, it's detailing her attempts to atone for her actions.
** Shinji, on the other hand, blames '''himself''' for everything Asuka has done to him, seeing his actions during the canon story (especially the hospital scene in ''[[
* In yet another ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' fanfiction 'Let me be Your Savior' Romano/Lovino has one after stumbling across his brother (Italy/Feliciano) {{spoiler|after Romano/Lovino had violently raped him}} crying, and it finally hits him that what he's been doing is wrong. This scene is a nice breakthrough, seeing as Romano/Lovino had seemed to cross [[Moral Event Horizon]] before.
* The ''[[My Little Pony:
** A similar thing occurs in chapter 10 of ''[[Ace Combat: The Equestrian War]]''. {{spoiler|Fluttershy}} saved Cloud Kicker's life, but believes her actions partially led {{spoiler|Razor's death}}. She utters the actual quote (without the "My God" part) and until her friends comfort her later on, along with {{spoiler|Princess Celestia stating that Razor died in the explosion caused by [[Wave Motion Gun|The Burning Talon's]] overheating}}, she is reduced to [[Heroic BSOD|crying]] [[These Hands Have Killed|and blaming herself]].
* ''[[Past Sins
{{quote|{{spoiler|"I do not need to be told the heinous nature of my actions!"}}}}
* During the final few chapters of ''[[The Legend of Spyro: A
* ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4625774/1/The_bLegend_b_of_bSpyro_b_bNew_b_bFrontier_b The Legend of Spyro: New Frontier]'' has one from Cynder after {{spoiler|she almost kills Spyro}}, even quoting the trope name (minus "My God").
* Phoenix Wright in the ''[[My Little Pony:
* ''[[Inner Demons]]'': Twilight is horrified when she {{spoiler|accidentally [[Taken for Granite|petrifies]] Princess Celestia in a fit of rage about the prophecy}}... at least until she's consumed by her [[Enemy Within|"Queen of Darkness" persona]] and goes from regretting it to [[Kick the Dog|bragging about it]].
** Shining Armor also has this reaction when he realizes that {{spoiler|the "Cadence" he slept with was actually [[Brother-Sister Incest|Queen!Twilight in disguise]]}}.
*In the ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' fanfic
== Films -- Animated ==
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