Revenge by Proxy: Difference between revisions

* In ''[[Elfen Lied]]'', Lucy does this to Kurama... repeatedly. Turns out {{spoiler|he was responsible for a bullet (intended for Lucy) hitting her only friend at that time<ref>Kohta probably doesn't count at this point since he just watched her rip his sister in half and kill his father</ref> and then told her he could save the girl if Lucy gave herself up... which leads to Lucy spending the rest of her childhood and her teenage years being a guinea pig while her friend dies anyway.}} By the end of the manga, Kurama has watched just about everyone he ever cared about die, appear to die, or be terribly maimed.

* [[Mobile Suit Gundam|Char Aznable]] not only used ''his best friend'' in exacting this, but also [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|talked plenty of cold-blooded smack]] to him for good measure.

'''Garma''': "You've double-crossed me, Char?!" }}

** He then goes on to betray every member of the victim's family, killing them all in revenge for their father having killed his. The amusing part? Their dad, Degwin, is killed partway through the series by oldest son Gihren, making Char's revenge [[Sins of Our Fathers|truly pointless]].

* The 2009 ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'', Nero goes overboard doing this to Spock.

* ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', in {{spoiler|Two-Face}}'s crossing of the [[Moral Event Horizon]]:

"I'm about to..." }}

* In the 2004 film version of ''[[The Punisher]]'', Castle had one of these inflicted on him as revenge for causing the death of Howard Saint's son in a drug bust.

** It seems he ''was'' planning it from the start, but then backed off the idea when [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] Max Shreck convinces him to [[Villain with Good Publicity|run for Mayor]] as part of his own plan, and when he turns out to be [[Devil in Plain Sight|fairly popular]] with the public due to his tragic backstory, which he milks for all its worth.

* In the first ''[[Superman (film)|Superman]]'' movie, General Zod vows to do this to Jor-El:

* Freddy Krueger in ''[[A Nightmare on Elm Street]]'', a child killer who was executed [[Vigilante Execution|vigilante-style]] by the parents of Elm Street, decides to get revenge on them through their still-living children through their dreams.

* The conflicts in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' films (especially the prequels) are basically caused by the Sith getting revenge on the Jedi by destroying their order and taking over the galaxy for their devastating defeat a thousand years before the events of the films (and many more wars and defeats thousands of years before that). Of the four Sith seen in the movies two were never Jedi or wronged by a Jedi (that we know of) and of the two Sith who were Jedi one voluntarily left the Order out of ideaological differences while the other had [[More Than Mind Control]] worked on him by one of the non-Jedi Sith (though to be fair, Anakin thought the Jedi were holding him back from saving his wife). A few Sith we've seen in the [[Expanded Universe]] have personal grudges against the Jedi Order or a Jedi in particular, but for most of them their dogma insists they do everything they can to make the Jedi miserable because Sith Hate Jedi and the Jedi tend to stand in the way of their galactic conquests. One notable example of [[Revenge by Proxy]] in the films is Anakin's slaughter of the Tusken Raiders that tortured his mother to death, which included the women and children of said tribe that likely had nothing to do with his mother's death. [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|He didn't care]].

* Loki's plot to take control of Earth in ''[[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]]'' is largely driven by [[The Unfavourite|jealousy]] and [[The Resenter|resentment]] towards his {{spoiler|adoptive}} [[Dysfunctional Family|brother Thor]], as well as rage at being deceived about {{spoiler|[[Evil Orphan|his true ancestry]]}}. He wants to subjugate the entire population of Earth--a planet which Thor treasures and protects--thereby wiping out many of the people that Thor cares about. In addition, Loki feels that he was cheated out of his rightful place as the ruler of Asgard.

== Literature ==

* Ben on ''[[Lost]]'' wants to do this to Charles Widmore -- off Penny because Widmore's men offed his (stolen) daughter.

* In the pilot of ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', the mother of a wizard Uther executes puts it this way:

** {{spoiler|Fortunately, Merlin is able to stop her.}}

*** The irony is that this is really just the circle of revenge going full circle {{spoiler|Uther started his crusade against wizardkind after his wife died by a spell that allowed her to be pregnant with Arthur}}. So Uther's crusade falls under this trope, in a bizarre way.

* A variation occurs in "The Watchmaker's Apprentice," a tale sung by the revenge seeker. After being mistreated (so he claims) and fired by the watchmaker, he contemplates how best to destroy him. He got inside of the shop without problem, but as he said, neither theft nor property destruction would satisfy him. Suddenly, inspiration occurs, and, with an intimate knowledge of clockwork, he constructs a special pocketwatch:

The next week a young man stopped by in the shop, took a shine to a timepiece, and paid on the spot. He wound it, and wore it, and at six on the dot, [[Moral Event Horizon|he]] ''[[Moral Event Horizon|came to a messy and permanent stop.]]'' Now Mr. McArthur's got blood on his hands. And he barely made bail, he's a ruined man. And surely he knows who his downfall was planned by. It's all worked out like clockwork. }}

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'': [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0628.html here]. Months after the party kills a young evil black dragon, the dragon's mother hunts down and subdues one of the protagonists. {{spoiler|But rather than killing Vaarsuvius, she expresses her intention to take it out on V's children, instead:}}

** And then the it's used even more drastically on the mother dragon, {{spoiler|when Vaarsuvius uses a single spell to ''instantly kill'' at least several dozens of creatures who are directly related to the dragon -- though that one is less revenge and more overblown preemptive strike, as Vaarsuvius's justification is not wanting anyone like that dragon to threaten the family again.}}

*** {{spoiler|Too bad V missed Tiamat.}}

** Actually he explains his reasons to Batman, his condition to cold has destroyed his body leaving him nothing but a head that can connect to his suit. He feels he can't return to his wife looking like this. And figured if he can't be happy with what he valued most, then no one else should.

** First he targeted a paleontologist who spent years reconstructing a dinosaur skeleton by shattering it. Then he destroyed a prominent artist's latest and greatest painting -- and the artist is too old to make another one. Then he targets Bruce Wayne by attacking his surrogate family:

** Finally, he targets Batman by attacking what he values most: ''all of Gotham''.

* Wheeljack does this in [[Transformers Armada]]. He ends up taking Sideswipe hostage to get back at Hot Shot for supposedly abandoning him.