My God, What Have I Done?: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"The awful daring of a moment's surrender

''which an age of prudence can never retract."''

 

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]].

* In [[Adrian Tchaikovsky]]'s ''[[Shadows of the Apt|Dragonfly Falling]]'', Fenise asks "What have I done?" as she realizes why she won't kill Thalric.

* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter|Prospero Lost]]'', Miranda leads a boat that is pursuing hers on a route that ends with his crashing and dying. In ''Prospero In Hell'', she learns he wasn't an enemy. Nearly has [[Tears of Remorse]].

* [[The Atoner|Jean Valjean]] of [[Les Misérables]] has a [[Heroic Blue Screen of Death]] based on this trope after he robbed a child. The robbing happened right after his encounter with [[The Messiah|Bishop Myriel]], who gave him a second chance at freedom after Valjean betrayed the Bishop's trust and robbed from him. The combination of these two events cause a guilt trip several pages long.

* Tsion Ben-Judah's reaction in in the [[Left Behind]] book ''Desecration'' when he realizes he has given away the location of where the Israeli Jews would flee to according to what the [[Book of Revelation]] says about the matter (the deserted city of Petra), fearing that he has messed up God's plan. He gets some reassurance from one of the Tribulation Force members that God may have intended for Tsion to let slip the location of where the Jews would flee to in order to lure Nicolae Carpathia's forces into a trap God has set up for them, which is all according to the Word of God.