Disproportionate Retribution/Literature: Difference between revisions

** The Redwaller kids point out immediately afterwards that Asmodeus's poison corrupted his mind and made him go batshit crazy into ''thinking'' that the Redwallers were responsible, even though he decided to steal everything valuable in the abbey after they'd saved him from death.

* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' has a number of examples. Gregor Clegane typically crushes anything that so much as annoys him. He most notably held his little brother's face to a burning brazier for playing with one of his old toys, scarring him for life. Petyr Baelish's kingdom-conquering is mostly due to a grudge he nurses from being rejected by his childhood sweetheart for a wealthier and more dashing man. Tywin Lannister is well known for his harsh retribution. A popular song, "The Rains of Castamere" was written about how he completely wiped out two noble houses for being disloyal. The Freys have possibly the most shocking example: {{spoiler|After Robb Stark reneges on his wedding promise to House Frey, Lord Walder massacres Robb, his mother, most of his noble bannermen, and most of his army at the wedding feast of his uncle, thereafter called The Red Wedding.}} Joffrey Baratheon/Lannister is also know for this trope, typically cutting everybody's heads off for any act of defiance or making them duel to the death. He once even almost executed a person for getting a little bit too drunk and dishonouring himself in a tourney.

** In the first book, the staff taking care of the tomb of Darken Rahl's father were executed if a single petal fell off the flowers there or a single torch went out in Rahl's presence. And he considered himself merciful for allowing them a quick death in such cases.

** In one book, Kahlan looks through old records of trials, one of which includes an entry about a wizard who had been executed for being an incurable alcoholic. Her initial response is to think it's an example of this trope, but when she thinks about it, she realizes that, given the [[Person of Mass Destruction|raw destructive power of wizards]], it just wouldn't be safe to let the guy live.