History KarmaHoudini / Folklore

** The goddess Nemesis was all about preventing Karma Houdinis. In fact, she was the ''goddess'' of karma.
** In one story King Midas has to judge who is the best musician, Apollo or Pan. Apollo punished him with having donkey ears merely for choosing Pan's music over his own.
** There are a few times when some god goes too far and upsets [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Zeus himself]], which pretty much always ends badly for them. Zeus himself is never punished by anyone.
** Medea first fell in love with Jason and helps him fulfilling the task her father gave to him. She used her magic to make her love reciprocal (Jason was already married to Hypsipyle in some versions). After she decided to flee with him, in order to delay her father, she killed her brother Absyrtus, cut his body into pieces, and strewed them on the road. When she found out her husband was about to marry another girl, she killed the young woman (and by accident, the woman's father) and the children she had had with Jason. Later she also tried to poison Theseus, the son of Aegeus, who she'd married, and managed to escape once again. There is no known story of her being punished for all her crimes. For some authors, she died in Colchis and after her death ended in the Elysian Fields (the ''paradise'') where she married Achilles. Some versions like [[Theatre/{{Medea}} Euripides' play]] portrait Medea as a less evil person, where she only killed her brother through an accident, and Jason was a jerkass, who wanted to marry another woman.

* Myth/AztecMythology: Tezcatlipoca is a rare example of a TricksterGod who never faces any repercussions for their actions, due to him also being one of the (and sometimes ''[[TopGod the]]'') most powerful gods in the pantheon. This leads to him doing things like [[OmnicidalManiac destroying the world four times]], either directly or through manipulating other gods, taking human form and killing crowds of people in creative ways for sheer amusement, and driving [[TokenGoodTeammate Quetzalcoatl]] to suicide by making him get drunk and commit incest, without anybody even attempting to punish him (though his actions in the last case were technically ForTheGreaterGood). It's particularly striking when comparing him to other TricksterArchetype figures who end up failing at least sometimes.
* Literature/TheBible:
** Aaron created the Golden Calf, and not only is he not punished for idolatry, ''he becomes the HighPriest!'' And only his descendants can be priests of the Israelites. Some interpretations try to soften this by saying the people forced him to make the calf, but he still gets off without a punishment (unless you consider some of his sons being smote by God, but that was for their own actions). Later on, Aaron and Miriam complained to God about Moses, but only Miriam was punished with a skin disease.
** In the Literature/BookOfJeremiah, Ishmael son of Nethaniah escapes with eight of his men after being defeated. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] since one can assume he goes to Hell when he dies.
** ProtagonistCenteredMorality ensures that Israelites who massacre enemy civilians, take women as [[SexSlave Sex Slaves]] and do other things that would today be considered morally unconscionable go to Heaven without their actions ever being condemned by virtue of being God's chosen people.

* Literature/TheBible: Aaron created the Golden Calf, and not only is he not punished for idolatry, ''he becomes the HighPriest!'' And only his descendants can be priests of the Israelites. Some interpretations try to soften this by saying the people forced him to make the calf, but he still gets off without a punishment (unless you consider some of his sons being smote by God, but that was for their own actions). Later on, Aaron and Miriam complained to God about Moses, but only Miriam was punished with a skin disease.

* Myth/AztecMythology: Tezcatlipoca is a rare example of a TricksterGod who never faces any repercussions for their actions, due to him also being one of the (and sometimes ''[[TopGod the]]'') most powerful gods in the pantheon. This leads to him doing things like [[OmnicidalManiac destroying the world four times]], either directly or through manipulating other gods, taking human form and killing crowds of people in creative ways for sheer amusement, and driving [[TokenGoodTeammate Quetzalcoatl]] to suicide by making him get drunk and commit incest, without anybody even attempting to punish him. It's particularly striking when comparing him to other TricksterArchetype figures who end up failing at least sometimes.

* Myth/AztecMythology: Tezcatlipoca is a rare example of a TricksterGod who never faces any repercussions for their actions, due to him also being one of the (and sometimes ''[[TopGod the]]'') most powerful gods in the pantheon. This leads to him doing things like [[OmnicidalManiac destroying the world four times]], either directly or through manipulating other gods, and driving [[TokenGoodTeammate Quetzalcoatl]] to suicide by making him get drunk and commit incest, without anybody even attempting to punish him. It's particularly striking when comparing him to other TricksterArchetype figures who end up failing at least sometimes.

* Literature/TheBible: Aaron created the Golden Calf, and not only is he not punished for idolatry, ''he becomes the HighPriest!'' And only his descendants can be priests of the Israelites. Some interpretations try to soften this by saying the people forced him to make the calf, but he still gets off without a punishment (unless you consider some of his sons being smote by God, but that was for their own actions. Later on, Aaron and Miriam complained to God about Moses, but only Miriam was punished with a skin disease.

!!Fairy Tales:

!!Myths & Religion:

** Unusually, the child-eating giant is not outwitted and killed by Hop-o'-My-Thumb at the end, instead simply falling asleep and letting them get away. That said, he does have his treasure and seven-mile-boots stolen and accidentally murders his daughters.

* Many fairies who put curses on princesses/princes go unpunished. The evil fairy in "Literature/SleepingBeauty" goes unpunished in Perrault's version and in the Brothers Grimm's version (in contrast to Disney's version).

** The Yellow Dwarf and the Fairy of the Desert in Madame d'Aulnoy's FairyTale ''The Yellow Dwarf'' get no comeuppance after they have led Princess Toutebelle and the King of the Gold Mines to their deaths.

* Madame d'Aulnoy:

* "Literature/TheNixieOfTheMillPond": Losing her prize is the only bad thing that happens to the Nix after tricking an impoverished man, kidnapping his son and flooding the countryside in retaliation for his wife rescuing him.

* [[DependingOnTheWriter Depending on the version]], the Literature/{{Cinderella}}'s evil stepmother and her daughters often get no punishment at all for ''years'' of being abusive to her stepdaughter and treating her like a slave. In some versions the stepsisters either redeem themselves or are blinded by Cinderella's birds and in the Grimm version, one of them amputates her own toe and the other her heel in an attempt to fit the slipper (mutilating themselves for nothing). Although, in the last case, their mother advised them to do this, so only enforces ''her'' Karma Houdini status.
* In [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]], the goddess Nemesis was all about preventing Karma Houdinis. In fact, she was the ''goddess'' of karma.
** Though the Greek Gods themselves are apparently exempt from Nemesis' Karma. As long as they don't offend a god that's more powerful then them, (which happens only occasionally) any of the Greek Gods can do whatever they want to both each other and mortals. Neither other Gods or especially mortals are able to do anything about it. In fact, if a mortal is involved in the slight, even if it's not their fault, (i.e. Medusa or the various women Zeus has cheated on Hera with), it's always the MORTAL who gets punished.
** In on story King Midas has to judge who is the best musician, Apollo or Pan. Apollo punished him with having donkey ears merely for choosing Pan's music over his own.
** There are a few times when JerkassGods go too far and upset [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Zeus himself]], which pretty much always ends badly for them thanks to Zeus's status as Greek Mythology's undisputed king of DisproportionateRetribution. Zeus himself, of course, is never punished by anyone.
** Medea. She first fell in love with Jason and helps him fulfilling the task her father gave to him. She used her magic to make her love reciprocal (Jason was already married to Hypsipyle in some versions). After she decided to fly with him, in order to delay her father, she killed her brother Absyrtus, cut his body into pieces, and strewed them on the road. When she found out her husband was about to marry another girl, she killed the young woman (and by accident, the woman's father) and the children she had had with Jason. Later she also tried to poison Theseus, the son of Aegeus, who she'd married, and managed to escape once again. There is no known story of her being punished for all her crimes.
*** For some authors, she died in Colchis and after her death ended in the Elysian Fields (the ''paradise'') where she married Achilles.
*** Some versions portrait Medea as a less evil person, where she only killed her brother through an accident, and Jason was a jerkass, who wanted to leave her for another woman. It goes at least back to Euripides, who made her a sympathetic character in [[Theatre/{{Medea}} his play]] about her. He even let her talk against the oppression of women in ancient Greek society!
** Medea pales in comparison to King Minos. The guy steals youths and young women from Athens --yes, Crete won the war, but that's a harsh reparation to charge-- and has them fed to The Minotaur, but when he dies, he becomes a judge of the dead. Not only does he escape punishment, he's REWARDED.

* The {{Jerkass}} king in ''Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}'' who threatens to behead the miller's daughter unless she spins straw into gold. He gets the gold ''and'' the girl. Not to mention the miller himself, who boasted that his daughter could do it in the first place, simply because he wanted to sound important.
* Many fairies who put curses on princesses/princes go unpunished. The evil fairy in ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'' goes unpunished in Perrault's version and in the Brothers Grimm's version (in contrast to Disney's version).

* "Literature/PrinceLindworm": The Lindworm never faces any consequence for killing and eating two princesses.
* In "Literature/TheNinePeahensAndTheGoldenApples", the older princes go completely unpunished after trying to destroy their brother's relationship with his lover out of jealousy and spite.

** Several other fairy antagonists in Madame d'Aulnoy's stories get away with either placing curses on princesses/princes or holding them captive. The Fairy of the Spring in ''The Hind of the Wood'' goes unpunished for cursing Desiree to not see sunlight, and Ragotte in ''The Ram'' triumphs once the prince she turned into a ram dies.

* The Yellow Dwarf and the Fairy of the Desert in Madame d'Aulnoy's FairyTale ''The Yellow Dwarf'' get no comeuppance after they have led Princess Toutebelle and the King of the Gold Mines to their deaths.

** Medea. She first fell in love with Jason and helps him fulfilling the task her father gave to him. She used her magic to make her love reciprocal (Jason was already married to Hypsipyle in some versions). After she decided to fly with him, in order to delay her father, she killed her brother Absyrtus, cut his body into pieces, and strewed them on the road. When she found out her husband was about to marry another girl, she killed the young woman (and by accident, the woman's father) and the children she had had with Jason. Later she also tried to poison Theseus, the son of Aegeus, who she'd married, and managed to escape once again. There is no known story of her being punished for all her crimes. F

** Medea pales in comparison to King Minos. The guy steals youths and young women from Athens --yes, Crete won the war, but that's a harsh reparation to charge-- and has them fed to The Minotaur, but when he dies, he becomes a judge of the dead Not only does he escape punishment, he's REWARDED.

** Medea. She first fell in love with Jason and helps him fulfilling the task her father gave to him. She used her magic to make her love reciprocal (Jason was already married to Hypsipyle). After she decided to fly with him, in order to delay her father, she killed her brother Absyrtus cut his body into pieces and strewed them on the road. When she found out her husband was about to marry another girl, she killed the latter and all the children she herself had with Jason. Later she also tried to poisoned Theseus, the son of Aegeus she remarried and managed to escape once again. There is no known story of her being punished for all her crimes. for some authors, she died in Colchis and after her death ended in the Elysian Fields (the ''paradise'') where she married Achilles.

** Medea pales in comparison to King Minos. The guy steals youth from Athens, who had done nothing to harm him, and had them fed to The Minotaur, but when he dies, he becomes a judge of the dead, not only does he escpae punishment, he's REWARDED.
* In "Literature/TheLazySpinner" a husband only wants his wife to spin reals he needs. She being the lazy spinner of the title goes out of her way to trick him [[RuleOfThree three times]] that if he cuts wood for a real he will die. Then when she tricks him again by telling him he must watch over some boiling yarn or it will turn into tow, when in reality she just put tow in the pot. He agrees to shut up afterwards on her lack of spinning leaving the lazy wife to have won the story entirely.

* There's the story about the knight who has to find out what women most desire. He has a year and a day to find out, or he will be executed, and eventually promises to do the next thing an old crone asks of him in return for the secret (they want power in their relationships). She demands he marry him, and it turns out that she can make herself young and beautiful again. He lets her choose whether she will be beautiful in the day or night (or, depending on the version, beautiful and unfaithful, or old and true), and in return gets a beautiful wife all the time. Why did he have to find out what women most desire? He raped a girl, and in return gets a beautiful wife for it. There was absolutely no other punishment besides "find out what we want most and you can live."
* The {{Jerkass}} king in ''Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}'' who threatens to behead the miller's daughter unless she spins straw into gold. He gets the gold ''and'' the girl. Not to mention the miller himself, who boasted that his daughter could do it in the first place, simply because he wanted to sound important.
* The Yellow Dwarf and the Fairy of the Desert in Madame d'Aulnoy's FairyTale ''The Yellow Dwarf'' get no comeuppance after they have led Princess Toutebelle and the King of the Gold Mines to their deaths.
** Several other fairy antagonists in Madame d'Aulnoy's stories get away with either placing curses on princesses/princes or holding them captive. The Fairy of the Spring in ''The Hind of the Wood'' goes unpunished for cursing Desiree to not see sunlight, and Ragotte in ''The Ram'' triumphs once the prince she turned into a ram dies.
* Many fairies who put curses on princesses/princes go unpunished. The evil fairy in ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'' goes unpunished in Perrault's version and in the Brothers Grimm's version (in contrast to Disney's version).
* [[DependingOnTheWriter Depending on the version]], the Literature/{{Cinderella}}'s evil stepmother and her daughters often get no punishment at all for ''years'' of being abusive to her stepdaughter and treating her like a slave. In some versions the stepsisters either redeem themselves or are blinded by Cinderella's birds and in the Grimm version, one of them amputates her own toe and the other her heel in an attempt to fit the slipper (mutilating themselves for nothing). Although, in the last case, their mother advised them to do this, so only enforces ''her'' Karma Houdini status.

* In "Literature/TheLazySpinner" a husband only wants his wife to spin reals he needs. She being the lazy spinner of the title goes out of her way to trick him [[RuleOfThree three times]] that if he cuts wood for a real he will die. Then when she tricks him again by telling him he must watch over some boiling yarn or it will turn into tow, when in reality she just put tow in the pot. He agrees to shut up afterwards on her lack of spinning leaving the lazy wife to have won the story entirely.

* There's also the story about the knight who has to find out what women most desire. He has a year and a day to find out, or he will be executed, and eventually promises to do the next thing an old crone asks of him in return for the secret (they want power in their relationships). She demands he marry him, and it turns out that she can make herself young and beautiful again. He lets her choose whether she will be beautiful in the day or night (or, depending on the version, beautiful and unfaithful, or old and true), and in return gets a beautiful wife all the time. Why did he have to find out what women most desire? He raped a girl, and in return gets a beautiful wife for it. There was absolutely no other punishment besides "find out what we want most and you can live."

** Medea pales in comparison to King Minos. The guy steals youth from Athens, who had done nothing to harm him, and had them fed to The Minotaur, but when he dies, he becomes a judge of the dead, not only does he escpae punishment, he's REWARDED.

* There's also the story about the knight who has to find out what women most desire. He has a year and a day to find out, or he will be executed, and eventually promises to do the next thing an old crone asks of him in return for the secret (they want power in their relationships). She demands he marry him, and it turns out that she can make herself young and beautiful again. He lets her choose whether she will be beautiful in the day or night(or, depending on the version, beautiful and unfaithful, or old and true), and in return gets a beautiful wife all the time. Why did he have to find out what women most desire? He raped a girl, and in return gets a beautiful wife for it. There was absolutely no other punishment besides "find out what we want most and you can live."

** There are a few times when JerkAss gods go too far and upset [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Zeus himself]], which pretty much always ends badly for them thanks to Zeus's status as Greek Mythology's undisputed king of DisproportionateRetribution. Zeus himself, of course, is never punished by anyone.

** Medea pales in comparison to King Minos. The guy steals youth from Athens, who had done nothing to harm him, and had them fed to The Minotaur, but when he dies, he becomes a judge of the dead, not only does he escpae punishment, he's REWARDED.

** How about the story about when king Midas was supposed to judge if Apollo or Pan was the better musician, and Apollo punished him with having donkey ears just because he liked Pan's music better? Yikes!