Revenge by Proxy: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''The history of warfare is similarly subdivided though here the phases are retribution, anticipation, and diplomacy. Thus, retribution: “I’m going to kill you because you killed my brother.” Anticipation: “I’m going to kill you because I killed your brother.” And diplomacy: “I’m going to kill my brother and then kill you on the pretext that your brother did it.”''|''[[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]''}}

 

 

 

It works.

 

Compare [[Sins of Our Fathers]]. Note that if the actual wrongdoer is unavailable, the trope is [[Sins of Our Fathers]]; to be [[Revenge By Proxy]], the attacker has to be able to attack the original instead, and choose a different victim. See also [[Revenge Through Corruption]] when the method of revenge is trying to inflict a [[Face Monster Turn]] on someone the character cares about. Threatening to do this is [[I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* In the first episode of ''[[Black Jack (Manga)|Black Jack]] 21'', an Italian billionaire blames the Japanese Medical Board's head, for not letting Black Jack operate without a license; he is convinced that Black Jack could've saved his son (and, to be fair, he's probably right). He contacts certain 'associates' ... and the same day, the son of the Medical Board Chairman is gunned down by a mob assassin. The boy survives, but only just barely, with the bullet stopping right next to his heart... and there's only one doctor in the world who could possibly save him. The Surgeon with Hands of God. Black Jack! Cue the Chairman agreeing to release Black Jack, AND pay him an exorbitant fee, for the life-saving operation...

* Because [[Haruhi Suzumiya]] is being too boring, Ryoko Asakura attempts to kill the person closest to her, in order to get her to react.

* In ''[[Full Metal Panic]] TSR'', {{spoiler|Gauron}} attempts to do this to Kaname to get to Sousuke (knowing that that would affect him more than if Sousuke himself was hurt or killed). Of course, [[Your Mileage May Vary|depending on the person]], what {{spoiler|Gauron}} did can either be interpreted as [[Revenge By Proxy]] or [[Murder the Hypotenuse]] (in which case he was actually thinking he's doing Sousuke a ''favor''). Or, knowing {{spoiler|Gauron}}, it's possible it's just both, and he can't make up his mind what exactly he wants.

* 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.

{{quote| '''Char''': "Hey, Garma! Do you read me? Blame this on the misfortune of your birth!"<br />

'''Garma''': "What?! Misfortune?!"<br />

* In the ''[[Firefly]]'' fanfic ''[[Forward (Fanfic)|Forward]]'', Adelei Niska kidnaps {{spoiler|River and Jayne}} and tortures them specifically to get at Mal.

* Very common in [[Naruto]] fanfics, when either young Naruto is nearly beaten to death by villagers or Iwa is out for his blood because he looks like the Fourth Hokage

* Serves as the sole motivating force in too many [[Hurt Comfort Fic]] stories to even ''begin'' to list.

* ''[[Ponies Make War (Fanfic)|Ponies Make War]]'': After the Mane Six and the [[La Résistance|Loyalists]] manage to {{spoiler|[[Storming the Castle|retake Canterlot]]}}, [[Big Bad|Titan]] sends [[The Dragon|Terra]] to destroy Ponyville. As Luna points out, it's not about gaining any strategic advantage, Titan just wants to punish them for defying him.

** ''[[The Dresden Files|Dead Beat]]'': {{spoiler|Mavra}} threatened Murphy to get Harry to do what she wanted him to. Harry did it, then informed her that if she ever threatened Murphy again, he would, and I quote, "kill you so hard your last ten victims would make miraculous recoveries." We haven't seen {{spoiler|Mavra}} since.

* In Simon Spurrier's [[Night Lords]] novel ''Lord of the Night'', the priest kills Cog, a [[Gentle Giant]] utterly loyal to Mira, who is unconscious, before he turns on Mira. This is a mistake.

* In Harper Lee's ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'', after Atticus Finch defends a black man whom Bob Ewell's daughter accused of raping her, Ewell is infuriated, and attempts to punish Atticus by attempting to murder the latter's children. This revenge makes even less sense than the trope usually would, since the man in question was innocent -- Bob Ewell ''himself'' was the one who beat up his daughter -- and Atticus actually lost the case due to a racist jury.

** The case still exposed Ewell as [[Complete Monster|the scum of the earth]], and he probably wanted revenge for humiliation.

** There's a smaller example when a station containing twenty-two Bothans is shot down because of one particular species who believe that the punishment for a murder calls for either the death of the murderer or ten innocents related to the murderer for each person killed - two of those people had been killed in a skirmish earlier. Rogue Squadron is furious at this concept of justice, but those people also sabotaged their X-Wings so that they can't interfere.

** In ''[[Shadows of the Empire]]'', Prince Xizor wants to shame Vader and kill his son for two reasons. One, because that would leave him that much closer to the Emperor. Two, because the Empire set up a biological weapons lab on his homeworld and when some particularly nasty disease escaped, Vader ordered that the region around the lab, for about a hundred kilometers or so, be bombarded from orbit to sterilize it, and Xizor's [[You Killed My Father|family]] was in that region.

* In the [[Agatha Christie (Creator)|Agatha Christie]] novel ''Pocket Full of Rye'', this was Ruby MacKenzie's original plan. Because Rex Fortescue left her father to die of a fever on an expedition to Africa, {{spoiler|when Rex's son Percival comes down with pneumonia, she gets herself assigned as Percival's nurse, intending to let him die of neglect.}} She couldn't go through with it, however, and chooses a different revenge: {{spoiler|she marries Percival so that in time she will inherit the money Rex Fortescue scammed out of her father.}}

* In ''[[Twilight (Literature)|Twilight]]'' series book ''[[New Moon]]'', Victoria chases after Bella because {{spoiler|Edward and his family had killed her mate}} in the previous book. This continues into ''[[Eclipse]]'' as well with an epic battle {{spoiler|it ends when the Cullens team up with the werewolves to kill Victoria and her band of infant vampires}}

* In the ''[[Magic the Gathering]]'' short story "The Theft of Bayende, Heart and Soul" featured in the ''Tapestries'' anthology, ''both'' of the protagonists do this. The wizard Noranda-Zang has spent ten years searching for Thane, the man who killed him in battle (He Got Better obviously). When he finally reaches Thane's home, he discovers Thane's pregnant wife Bayende. He and his pet shade then ''brutally'' murder her and leave the ruined corpses of Bayende and her unborn child for Thane to find. Thane then spends ''twenty'' years searching for Zang. When he finally reaches Zang's home, he discovers Zang's son. Thane drains the life from the young man and leaves his body for Zang to find. Zang does so just as Thane is leaving the scene, and his anguished screams fill the air. The ending makes it clear that [[Revenge By Proxy]] resolved nothing, and that both of them would continue to fight each other for the rest of their lives even though both of them had lost what they cherished most.

* In Andy Hoare's [[White Scars]] novel ''Hunt for Voldorius'', Nullus reports that killing a thousand people for each revolt is stopping the resistance. Later, he uses the threat on Malya to get her to serve as Voldorius's equerry.

* In [[PD James|P. D. James's]] {{spoiler|Original Sin}}, the killer's goal is revealed to be this.

* ''The Dragon Rises'' by Adrienne Martine-Barnes has this codified as law: "we are a culture with strong bonds of family. We now hold that the suffering of the guilty party's family is a deterrent to crime. Few persons are so dead to family feeling that they would wish to endanger their innocent wives or husbands or children. This, at least, is the theory."

* Polish author and artist Bruno Schultz, who was forced to live in the ghetto at Drohobycz during [[World War II]], was under the protection of German Gestapo officer Felix Landau, who admired his work, and was shot and killed by another officer in revenge for Landau killing the officer's "personal Jew."

* In the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi Code of Hammurabi] of ancient Babylonia, the punisments for certain crimes are examples of this (as well as [[Values Dissonance]]).

* For some crimes ancient Egyptian law heavily punished both the criminal and their family.

* In ancient China, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_familial_exterminations Nine Exterminations] provided for the execution of the criminal, and his entire family within two generations (very briefly: anyone who shares the same grandparent, plus their spouses, plus the families of their spouses).

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

* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', Vriska {{spoiler|1=gets [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004478 revenge on Terezi] via DOUBLE proxy-she mind controls Tavros to use HIS animal mind control powers to mind control Terezi's dragon lusus to awaken Terezi's dreamself while mind controlling Terezi into looking directly into the BLISTERING ALTERNIAN SUN!:}}

* [[Oglaf]] has [http://www.oglaf.com/ulric/ this comic.]

* In [[Kevin and Kell]], some coyotes who don't like Bruno's "trans-diet" operation attack his best friend Rudy, as it is implied that they could not defeat Bruno himself. They later come back with a larger pack and attack Bruno himself, though.

* Variation in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': Ozai may not have been responsible for the death of Iroh's son, but he was quite callous about the fact that it had happened and tried to use the tragedy to get Iroh's birthright transferred to himself. Then-Fire Lord Azulon ordered him to kill his own son as punishment for his disrespect. At least, that's the story [[Big Bad|Ozai]] and [[The Dragon|Azula]] tell...

** Also hopefully suggested by {{spoiler|the man who killed Katara's mother, since his mother is at best... unpleasant. Katara doesn't go for it.}}

* After ''[[Batman the Animated Series]]'' gave Mr. Freeze a redemptive send-off in the movie ''Sub-Zero'', he returned in the revamped series determined to make others suffer as he had by taking away whatever they valued most. The especially monstrous part is that he does it to people who have no connection to him whatsoever. He just doesn't want anyone else to be happy.

** 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.