Villainous BSOD: Difference between revisions

The exact reaction depends on the villain and the weight of his sins. One that hadn't yet gotten to do much more than [[Poke the Poodle]] or [[Kick the Dog]] once may survive with emotional counseling. If he crossed the [[Moral Event Horizon]]? The black hole he's become will finally crush him. Things can get really interesting if the character, through his own fault, invited in [[Mind Control]], [[Demonic Possession]], or [[The Virus]], and entirely remembers all the evil things he did under its control—that wouldn't have happened if he'd fought it off, but which he had no control over.

 

 

Despite the intense emotional anguish this causes, Heroes can pull this with impunity since it's not killing anyone (directly, anyway), saves lives, and in the long run is a fairly elegant form of justice that may even bring about a [[Heel Face Turn]]. Then again, they may do this knowing the effects are temporary and only do it to weaken the villain psychologically long enough to kill him. Even normal, moral people can turn evil, and they may reason they don't want to give him a second chance.

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* It's impossible to tell how many of these Akito from ''[[Fruits Basket]]'' has. When {{spoiler|Hatsuharu almost beats her up for imprisoning Rin, during conversations about Shigure and Ren's relationship, when she stabs Kureno, and when Tohru falls from a cliff in front of her. She consequently goes through a very angsty, somewhat suicidal, phase. She ends up being saved from herself by Tohru's friendship and Momiji's statement that Akito should treasure the ones she cares for}}.

* In ''[[Star Wars]] [[Tales of the Jedi]]'', Ulic Qel Droma suffers a rather massive one when he murders his own brother in a fit of rage. Before he had been a borderline [[Complete Monster]], kept from being a true one only by the delusion that he was doing the right thing. After murdering Cay, Ulic finally faces what he's become and simply breaks down sobbing while cradling his brother's corpse. Ironically, crossing the [[Moral Event Horizon]] finally forced him to change for the better. Raana Tey also undergoes this. After suffering an increasing breakdown over 12 issues, committing a multitude of atrocities against the protaganist, her plans go to hell, and when she's trapped Zayne tries to save her despite all the things she's done. This causes Raana to realize that she's the villain and not Zayne, and that he is in fact not the monster she think's he is. She dies less then a minute later, and her last words are essentially a plea for forgiveness from her mistress and from Zayne.

 

* In the ''[[Death Note]]'' fic ''[[Shadow of the Valley]]'' Light has one when he sees a grave robber defacing {{spoiler|L Lawliet}}'s grave.

* In the ''[[Death Note]]'' fic ''[[A Cure for Love]]'' Light after he {{spoiler|loses L}} in both the deleted scenes and in the main story. It's the variation where "the villain becomes ''more dangerous''" as Light goes off the [[Morality Chain]].

 

== [[Film]] ==

{{quote|'''Ghost Rider''': A thousand souls to '''BURN!!!'''}}

* In ''[[The Neverending Story (film)|The Neverending Story]] II'', Bastian beats [[Anthropomorphic Personification|The Emptiness]] by wishing she had a heart. The result is that she is filled, and as she realizes what she's done/is doing, she weeps [[Swiss Army Tears|a single tear]] that [[Puff of Logic|undoes her]].

* Galbatorix in the final novel of ''[[The Inheritance Cycle]]'' ...and how! Eragon channels his [[Applied Phlebotinum]] to force Galby to understand the suffering his actions has caused. Galbatorix promptly turns himself into a literal nuclear bomb, complete with earth-shattering explosion and massive radiation fallout.

* [[Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn]] {{spoiler|have the Storm King suffer this as the climax of the last book.}}

** The film adaptation does have Voldemort briefly experiencing the trope whenever his horcruxes are being destroyed (in one instance, when he was bombarding Hogwart's barrier with spells, after firing a huge beam from his wand upon a horcrux being destroyed, he stares in shock, looks at his arm, and leaves without a word. Both the movie and the novel also implies that this is the reason why Harry and his friends were able to track down the remaining horcruxes.

* When [[Inspector Javert]] from ''[[Les Misérables]]'' finds that Jean Valjean, while still a criminal, is a ''good person,'' Javert simply cannot reconcile his previous black and white system of morality with this demonstration that all along he had been wrong in his belief that what is lawful and what is right were one and the same. He [[Driven to Suicide|jumps off a bridge]] and drowns. His final song in [[Les Misérables (theatre)|the musical]] is essentially a summation of his Villainous BSOD.

* Very common in ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' among people tainted by Chaos, when Chaos ceases to blind them:

* Elizabeth Bathory in ''[[Count and Countess]]'' upon realizing that her closest handmaid has betrayed her and Vlad has stopped writing back to her. Her letters become notably shorter and more frantic before altogether stopping.

 

* Almost happens to a literally heartless giant in ''[[The Storyteller (TV series)|The Storyteller]]''. The young hero goes on a [[Fetch Quest]] to locate the giant's heart (his source of weakness- otherwise, he's invincible). When the hero finds it, he briefly threatens the giant, but decides instead to have mercy and give it to the giant, who already had some [[Noble Demon]] qualities, so that he may feel remorse for his evil deeds and change for the better. Then, the hero's less-heroic brother grabs the giant's heart and [[Deadly Change-of-Heart|smashes it]].

* This is exactly what the Gypsies did to ''[[Angel]]'' after he killed a daughter of their clan. The curse turned him into the [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire]] he is today.

== [[Music]] ==

* One interpretation of Golden Earring's "Twilight Zone" is that it's about a spy-turned-killer having a self-inflicted Villainous BSOD moment.

 

== [[Parody]] ==

* The guy who encouraged Palpatine to go into politics has one of these in ''[[Robot Chicken]] [[Star Wars]]: Episode III'' when he realizes the tyrannical rule Palpatine has imposed over the [[The Empire|former Republic]]. However, just as he raises his [[Ray Gun|blaster]] to his head to [[My God, What Have I Done?|commit suicide]], his attention is [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny|suddenly diverted]] by [[Wheel of Fortune]].

* Nox from ''[[Wakfu]]'' has one, when his ultimate plan fails and he is confronted by angry Yugo. The sight of the [[Big Bad]] crying silently is unbearable even to the hero, who stops enraged Sadidas from enacting their vengeance.

** It is heavily implied that {{spoiler|Two-Face}} experiences this in his final appearance. {{spoiler|He developed a third personality called The Judge, one that even he isn't aware of, and while in Arkham Asylum in the ending of the episode, Two-Face is deliberating in a court in his mind and, while staring blankly, pleads guilty.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Character Reaction Index]]

[[Category:Evil Tropes]]

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Sadness Tropes]]

[[Category:This Index Has Had a Hard Life]]

[[Category:Redemption Tropes]]