All The Tropes

Sore Loser

There are many ways of facing a defeat. Sometimes, some people will admit defeat, compliment the one who bested them and in case of death, Go Out with a Smile. Sometimes.... not.

"You win? Aaugghh! You won last time! I hate it when you win! Aarrggh! Mff! Gnnk! I hate this game! I hate the whole world! Aghhh! What a stupid game! You must have cheated! You must have used some sneaky, underhanded mindmeld to make me lose! I hate you! I didn't want to play this idiotic game in the first place! I knew you'd cheat! I knew you'd win! Oh! Oh! Aarg!"
—Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes

The Sore Loser is a character who doesn't take defeat very well, no matter what kind of defeat was it. Unlike the graceful one, the Sore will get very snippy and bad tempered, insult his opponent, accuse him of cheating, rant about his "superior skills" and in some extreme cases even try to kill his rival himself. Depending on the setting, he could do things like Flipping the Table, throw away the cards he was using, angrily swipe all the remaining pieces from the chessboard and so on. In a fighting series, the loser will usually lose his calm behaviour, resort to cheap tricks in order to win, adopt a more ruthless and brutal strategy or unleash a Dangerous Forbidden Technique just to have a chance. Leaving in anger is also an alternative.

Of course, if the opponent engages in Unsportsmanlike Gloating, he's basically giving you a license to react this way. The winner's reaction is a good way of telling who you're actually supposed to root for.

It is often the launching pad for Villainous Breakdown, attempted "The Reason You Suck" Speech and in some extreme cases, One-Winged Angel. Contrast Graceful Loser. If I Can't Have You could be considered as the romantic version of this trope.

Examples of Sore Loser include:

Anime and Manga

  • Gaara in the first part of Naruto start as cool and stern in battle, as nothing can virtually harm him. As Lee (and later Sasuke) start breaking through his defense, he reacts badly (namely, he ends up crushing Lee's legs and in the second battle starts turning in the Shukaku demon).
    • Madara. Just Madara.
  • Several villains from One Piece, but Don Krieg takes the cake: being pummeled several times in a row and slammed head-first in a ship didn't stop him from throwing a fierce rant about how he was supposed to be the stronger... the Gin stops him with a Megaton Punch to the gut.
  • After Vegeta from Dragon Ball loses his cool after being injured twice in a row by Goku's Kaiohken attack, he decides to blow the Earth up (what he came to do in the first place) with his Galick Gun.
  • Nnoitra Gilga from Bleach. On a second thought, also Luppi, Jirobo Ikkanzaka, Mayuri Kurotsuchi and eventually Aizen himself.
  • Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh. Panik even more so.
    • Bandit Keith too. "No one beats Bandit Keith."
  • Ash Ketchum from Pokémon gets really upset at the end of the first season when his friend beats him during a tournament, causing him to be eliminated. Though this was mostly how he was defeated, his Charizard fell asleep in the middle of the match (this was during a time when Charizard refused to obey Ash's orders and would only listen if his opponents were strong). As that was his last Pokemon, Ash wound up losing by disqualification.
  • The usually cold and confident Ryuugo Daimaru from Gamaran goes apeshit on his brother Sakon when he's incapacitated in battle. It bites him in the ass later when an enraged and crazy Sakon tears his spine out.
  • Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion certainly comes across as a sore loser, though to be fair she is pretty much on a downward spiral to insanity.
  • Clotho Bauer and Muruta Azrael of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED are a dark take on this trope. The former's a Sociopathic Soldier who views fighting as a game, and in his own words, hates to lose. The latter's a Corrupt Corporate Executive who knows real people are dying but honestly, couldn't care less, and sees the entire thing in terms of winning and losing. Azrael actually dies while ranting about how "I can still win. I always win!"
  • Paptimus Scirocco from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam ain't much better. The last thing he does as he dies is use his powers to Mind Rape The Hero into a coma, though given that said hero just killed him in nightmarish fashion, it's a little understandable.
  • Flare Corona from Fairy Tail. As soon as she realized that her opponent was actually beating her, she used her hair to threaten a 6-year old girl in the audience to force her opponent to step down.


Film

  • Death from Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, who keeps demanding rematches every time he loses.
  • The Predator, who, once defeated, attempts to self destruct with an explosive powerful enough to destroy a sizable area around him, and judging by his Evil Laugh, he hoped to catch the person who defeated him in it too.
  • In Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, after Holmes completely checkmated Moriarty, he responded by threatening to kill Sherlock and Watson and his wife.


Literature

  • In A Song of Ice and Fire and its TV adaptation, when Ser Gregor Clegane is unhorsed in a tourney, he calls for his sword and proceeds to decapitate his steed and attempt to murder his victorious opponent in full view of the King and his court.
  • Conall Haldane loses an informal archery match to Dhugal McArdry early in The King's Justice and "all but slammed down his bow, though he did manage a stiff little bow of acknowledgment before stalking off sullenly toward the stables". This is noticed and commented upon; Kelson says his cousin "hasn't yet learned the graceful art of losing."


Video Games

  • Lakhesis in the second God of War is at first polite and even flirty towards Kratos. Then the "petulant mortal they were controlling" kick her curvaceous ass, prompting her to become suddenly far harsher.
    • In the sequel, Hermes too is quite bratty.
  • Rothschild in Musashi: Samurai Legend: As he pulls a Load-Bearing Boss on Musashi after his defeat.
  • To some extent Nines Rodriguez from Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines. He constantly talks about how the Anarchs are the best and the Camarilla is shit and acting cool, but if you disagree with his view he'll get awfully snippy and even refuse to talk with you. Not that Prince Lacroix and Ming Xiao are any better mind you, and ditto for Andrei.
  • Masamune Date from Samurai Warriors 1 has this attitude sometimes.
  • In one of the Crash Bandicoot race games, the Big Bad is basically this.
  • Ace Hardlight in Ratchet: Deadlocked.
  • Laharl, the protagonist of Disgaea, shows up as a Hopeless Boss Fight in Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories. If you do manage to beat him, he's so upset he destroys the world. Now that's sore!
  • The King of Fighters: Rugal Bernstein. Nothing says "Waaah, I can't handle defeat!" like a Villainous Breakdown followed by blowing up your own aircraft carrier with everyone else still on it. One would think that a Blood Knight would enjoy having a strong opponent to face again at a later date...
    • His son Adelheid takes his own defeats in grace and stride. His daughter Rose however.....
    • The "Loveable" Igniz in KOF 2001 won't accept anything less then godhood. Once you beat him, his response is to send the meteor base your fighting on (long story) crashing into the Earth.
  • In Devil May Cry, after his retreat from your first bossfight with him, Phantom will chase Dante down some incredibly narrow corridors. Even Dante found this to be dickish.
    • In the third title, Beowulf is the only defeated Devil (except for Leviathan) that won't bow to Dante, and he rather flee, swearing revenge.
  • In Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Riddler constantly mocks and insult Batman's intelligence as he solves his hidden riddles. However, once Batman completes over half of them, Riddler starts to get angry and accuses him of cheating and looking up the answers online.
  • Batman: Arkham Knight, Harley is even worse than the Riddler, taking being arrested by Batman with all the dignity of a kindergartner. He has to carry her as she futilely kicks, hits him, and cries like a baby.
  • Razor in Need For Speed: Most Wanted. Bad enough the guy's a cheating bastard who gyps you out of your precious ride at the start of the game by cutting the gas line. Once you rise through the ranks and beat him in a fair race (while he's in your prized ride, no less), the guy tries to sic his cronies on you after you win. Luckily your female partner who also happens to be an undercover cop is there to prevent this from happening.
  • If you beat a Slytherin at anything in one of the Harry Potter games, expect one of two responses:
    1. They declare that you cheated
    2. They declare that they didn't really try anyway.

Western Animation

  • Hades in |Hercules takes the victories of the titular hero over his monsters badly.


Myth and Legend

  • The Greek Gods: according to myth, Arachne, after claiming she was a better weaver than Pallas Athena, actually won a weaving contest against the goddess, and then was turned into a spider out of spite.
  • Thor from Norse Mythology. In one myth he, Loki and another guy are invited in Utgard (the capital of the giants) and are humiliated in a series of challenges (the giants were cheating). When Thor fails his task (drinking from an apparently bottomless jug) he furiously demands two more chances to prove his power.


Real Life

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