Pyrrhic Villainy: Difference between revisions

 

== Anime andManga ==

** Chairman Keel seemed quite pleased with the outcome. Presumably they are among the people who can't "imagine themselves in their own hearts", so no free resurrection card for them, but that's apparently what they wanted.

*** Shinji, arguably, fits this trope better. In both endings this is what he wanted. In both endings he got better, but after getting what he wanted...well, Alexander the Great might have wept over no more worlds to conquer but thanks to Shinji there's no longer a world.

** Gendo certainly didn't get what he wanted. Rei rejected him in favor of Shinji, and it's implied that he is not reunited with Yui in the psuedo-afterlife that is Third Impact.

* Harry McDowell in the anime version of the game franchise ''[[Gungrave]]'' first just wanted enough power to live his life freely and protect the people important to him. With time he succeeds in rising to the top of [[The Syndicate|Millennion]] and making it more powerful than the law itself, but only by losing sight of his original goals and betraying almost everyone he cares about. He's driven to kill both Brandon, his best friend whom he relied on in all his life (leading to some spectacular [[Villainous Breakdown|Villainous Breakdowns]]), the fatherly prior head of the organization and his wife, Brandon's sweetheart. Twenty years later, though, he's finally able to face Brandon and come to terms with his life.

** Conversely, in the game's continuity he shows no remorse for killing Brandon/Grave (Harry in the game's storyline is depicted as little more than a complete prick). Either way he still wanted Mika, the innocent daughter of Grave's former love interest dead. {{spoiler|Harry even had Big Daddy used as a guinea pig and mutated him into an acid flame-spewing monstrosity, just to ''see what kind of effects Necro-Rise/S.E.E.D. would have on him'' and has no qualms about siccing Big Daddy on Grave as the [[Final Boss]] of the game. As a result, Harry dies, Grave lives, and moves on with his "life" with Mika.}}

 

== [[Fan Fiction]] ==

* On a similar note, I read a ''[[Star Wars]]'' fanfic where Anakin wins the duel with Obi-Wan on Mustafar, but Padme dies before Palpatine's ship arrives. Anakin promptly turns on Palpatine and kills him, and spends some time ruling the galaxy, searching for a way to bring Padme and the twins [[Back From the Dead]], slowly going crazier all the while. Naturally it's a massive case of [[Came Back Wrong]] when he finally does try to bring Padme and the twins back, and Anakin responds by wreaking havoc on the galaxy in his fury. In the end he returns to Mustafar, where he spends eternity sitting on a throne in the middle of the hellish wasteland, surrounded only by the bodies of Obi-Wan and Palpatine, (and maybe Padme) and talking to the bodies as though they were still alive.

 

 

 

== Film - Live-Action ==

* Daniel Plainview's empty isolation and drunken insanity at the close of ''[[There Will Be Blood]]''.

* The movie version of ''[[The Talented Mr. Ripley]]'' has Ripley {{spoiler|having to kill everyone he likes in order to get away with it}}. The book ends by indicating that he'll never be able to look at another policeman without that flash of alarm that says "This is it - he's the one - he ''knows''." Not a way ''I'd'' like to live my life.

* ''[[Star Wars]]'': Anakin Skywalker is a prime example of the by the end of the prequel trilogy. Sure, he's won the war, and his turn to [[The Dark Side]] has allowed his [[Evil Chancellor]] partner to take over the galaxy, but he's lost the pregnant wife he did it all for, had his limbs chopped off, and been burned to hell by magma.

* By the end of ''Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid'' it's clear that Garrett realizes that he will lead a conflicted, unhappy life and will be chiefly remembered for killing his friend. Billy, meanwhile, will have most of his bits of sociopathy forgotten by an adoring public. (To an extent this extends to other portrayals of the two, including ''Young Guns 2'').

* In ''[[House of Flying Daggers]]'', [[The Mole]] for [[La Résistance]] accomplishes his mission to perfection, but loses the [[Action Girl]] he loves, and [[If I Can't Have You|later kills her]] while fighting [[The Rival]] who had won her love.

* In ''[[Lord of War]]'', [[Villain Protagonist]] and weapons smuggler Yuri Orlov manages to evade the law and escape a long stay in prison to continue his gunrunning. However, this comes at the cost of his brother and uncle being killed, his parents disowning him, and his one true love divorcing him and taking his only son with her. He was also only released due to being useful to the U.S. Government and he's fully aware they can have him [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|disposed of]] if he stops being so. This is hammered home by the Interpol agent chasing him saying that he would like to wish that Yuri would go to Hell, but he's already there. Of course, ''YMMV'', and [[Complete Monster|less fettered]] character interpretations exist.

* In the Hong Kong action crime drama ''Sha Po Lang'' (or ''Kill Zone'' in the U.S.), {{spoiler|Triad crimelord Wong Po, the villain played by Sammo Hung, defeats the hero Inspector Ma played by Donnie Yen, by sending him right out a window. But tragically, this results in the death of not only Ma, but Wong's beloved wife and child when [[Car Cushion|Ma's body falls on their waiting car with them still inside]]}}.

* ''[[Real Steel]]'' has {{spoiler|Zeus declared the winner of the match between him and Atom despite the latter knocking the former out, keeping his status as the unbeatable champion. However, Zeus is booed by the crowd who embraces Atom as the "people's champion."}}

 

 

== Literature ==

* [[The Bible|Judas Iscariot]] may be an example. Sure, he got a tidy sum for betraying [[Jesus]], but, according to Matthew, he was so overcome with guilt afterwards that he hanged himself.

** Exactly how things worked out for Judas varies a bit depending on who's telling it. The Gnostic ''Gospel of Judas'' (rejected when New Testament's contents were formalized) even claimed that Judas "betrayed" Jesus under Jesus's orders.

* ''[[The Shield]]'''s Vic Mackey ends up with a cushy job as a Federal Agent, after burning every bridge imaginable with his family (disowned him and in witness protection), his friends (one killed his entire family/self and left a note blaming Vic for turning him into such a monster while the other, who's loyalty to Vic was never in question, was made into the scapegoat for Vic's crimes), and pretty much had ALL of his sins exposed to the world, as part of an immunity deal he landed as part of his job. Worse, his cushy job is a desk job, which plays against Vic's strengths as a law enforcement agent and his boss, horrified at the fact that Vic conned her, has vowed to make Vic's life a living hell in desperate hope to making him void his immunity deal, costing him his job and freedom. And even if he survives, after three years the Feds can fire Vic and with his sins all public knowledge, means that Vic will never gain employment in law enforcement again, denying him the justification he used to hide from his crimes. [[Humiliation Conga|Karma is a bitch, Vic.]]

* {{spoiler|Lucas North}} from ''[[Spooks]]''. He succeeds in selling [[MacGuffin|the Albany file]] to the Chinese, but in the process destroys the life he built and {{spoiler|causes the death of the woman he loves}}. And to top it off, {{spoiler|the weapon Albany is a blueprint for turns out not to work}}.

* In the ''[[Star Trek]]'' episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield," the ship is occupied by two aliens from a species where half are black on their right side and white on their left, and the other is the opposite, and the former have set themselves up as the societal superiors of the latter, in an obvious metaphor for the racism prevalent at the time. The black-on-the-right one is chasing the white-on-the-right one as a criminal, and ultimately succeeds in forcing the crew to return to his home planet, where his prisoner can be judged. However, they find that while the chase was going on, the war between the two sides escalated until every single person on the planet was killed. The two aliens promptly accuse each other of their people being responsible, and teleport down to the planet to continue their war, as Kirk somberly notes that their hatred for each other is all they have left.

 

 

== Theatre ==

 

 

* At the end of ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'', Delita successfully manipulates his way to absolute power over Ivalice, destroying all of the competing factions and ascending to the throne by seducing and marrying Princess Ovelia. Unfortunately, his methods so thoroughly alienate his new bride that she decides she must have been part of his machinations too, and stabs him, possibly fatally. This forces Delita to kill her in retaliation, and he is left wondering if it was all worth it as he falls to his knees clutching his wound. (The painfulness of this scene is increased further if you believe that Delita genuinely loved Ovelia.)

* One of two inevitable outcomes of ''Nuclear War'' (the DOS game by New World Computing, not the actual political option). Either the last remaining ruler on Earth presides over a blasted wasteland, or the entire world is destroyed.

* In ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'', [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] Teyrn Loghain's plan to take the throne of Ferelden works like a charm ... up until the point where it sparks a civil war and causes riots throughout the country. Ironically, in an effort to protect Ferelden from Orlesian occupation, he's forced to act just as badly as the former conquerors he once struggled against. This sends him into a deep depression and eventually sparks a [[Villainous Breakdown]].

 

 

== Webcomics ==

*** Not necessarily. In a moment of frustration at being "distracted" from the next move, {{spoiler|Vaarsuvius off-handedly teleports the entire Azure navy to a new home; his actions also bring the party back together and get Roy finally resurrected. When bemoaning to Durkon about using the power sought for so long in such a brutish manner, Durkon points out that at least V actually accomplished ''something'', even if it wasn't what was planned on.}} Also, {{spoiler|Vaarsuvius did in fact accomplish the very thing the deal was made in the first place for (preventing family from being horrifically murdered by a Dragon), but it ultimately cost V the love of that family.}}

 

* The final Act of ''[[Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]'', [[Joss Whedon]]'s 2008 [[Web Original]] supervillain musical. {{spoiler|Dr. Horrible, attempting to kill Captain Hammer to both gain entry to the Evil League of Evil and win Penny's heart, indirectly causes Penny's death and Captain Hammer's humiliation. The final scenes show him living the high life of an A-List villain...but the final shot shows Billy, heart-broken and traumatized. The final song contrasts the reality of this to the lyrics where he describes that he has achieved everything he ever wanted.}}

** Listen to that song one more time. Its lyrics are dripping with double meanings. {{spoiler|"The world I wanted at my feet": the world is my oyster, or Penny - the "world I wanted" - lying dead at his feet?}} Also, "Everything you ever..." drifts off every time they sing it, leading the audience to fill in the last word with whatever they're expecting - wanted? feared?

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** [[Batman Beyond]] does a similar thing with Inque's daughter {{spoiler|who screwed her over and tried to kill her. She now lives in fear of the vengeance of the assassin who can be anywhere, as anyone or anything, seeing her in every shadow.}}

* Frequent theme in ''[[Venture Brothers]]'', but in one specific example the Monarch has kidnapped Hank and Dean and is holding them for a ten million dollar ransom, threatening Doc Venture that if he doesn't pay, some giant mechanical caterpillars will "destroy the only proof he's ever had sex."

{{quote| '''Doctor Girlfriend:''' How much did the caterpillars cost?<br />

** It was mentioned in that show that the reason he was asking for a ransom, which was against the usual guild rules, was that they were low on money.

** Actually it seems more Monarch was ransoming the boys since he was well aware of Venture's money woes and since his psychological torment seems to fall flat most the time he'd try torturing his wallet, though according to later episodes the Cocoon funds are running low, atleast not enough to afford a small army's worth of body armor.

* ''[[Total Drama World Tour]]'' Courtney finds out Gwen and her boyfriend Duncan kissed and vows revenge. She gets support from most of her team and eventually Gwen is voted off. However Gwen and Duncan remain a couple, while Courtney loses support from her team, fails in getting Duncan voted off, and gets voted off herself instead. And most of all, [[Love Martyr|blindly falls for Alejandro who is just using her]] and he loses anyway. So in the end, Courtney ends up with nothing and no one.

* ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]''. Lucius manages to push [[Wicked Weasel|the weavils]] off their land, but the mountain he was going to carve his face into ends up carved into a weevil head instead.

 

{{reflist}}