History Main / CreateYourOwnHero

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', Muzan Kibutsuji, progenitor of all demons and the strongest of them all, reigned in the shadows almost entirely unopposed by the Demon Slayer Corps who never got anywhere close to defeating him for four hundred years after one legendary slayer posed Muzan a threat, but ultimately he managed to escape. Muzan then killed the series's protagonist entire family, save his little sister who became a demon instead, Tanjiro was out on a errand at the time, now with the weight of his lost family on his shoulders and hope of one day curing his sister Nezuko he enrolls in Demon Slayer Corps to hunt Muzan down. The irony of this situation only increases as the series' plot unfolds, it is revealed [[spoiler:Muzan went absolutely paranoid with fear after said legendary slayer Yoriichi Tsugikuni almost killed him, Muzan tried to eradicate anyone who could ever have learned Yoriichi's Sun Breathing style, something that could pose a threat to him, but he couldn't ever know that Yoriichi coincidentaly passed on the Sun Breathing to Tanjiro's ancestors and they preserved it not as a tool of combat but as a religious ceremony instead, with them living in seclusion no one knew Sun Breathing was preserved after all official disciples were killed. In short, with Muzan killing Tanjiro's family on a random whim to see if demons useful to him could be born he accidentally made the last inheritor of Sun Breathing start a quest to take him down]].

* In ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', the Church of the Three Heroes works with King Aultcray to summon the Four Legendary Heroes, but both proceed to treat one of them like crap for several reasons. Naofumi Iwatani, the man in question, is forced to strike on his own with zero external support, unlike the other three, and not only becomes the only one of the four that is actually worthy of being a Hero, but he ends up being the focal point of the efforts to destroy the Church and render the King completely powerless.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': The episode ''[[Recap/TransformersG1WarDawn War Dawn]]'' shows a young Autobot named Orion Pax being gunned down by Megatron, and later rebuilt as Optimus Prime.

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' uses this twice, in the same campaign, with the same character. Jim Raynor was originally a marshal on a backwater Confederate world of Mar Sara. When Mar Sara fell victim to a Zerg invasion, Raynor took matters into his own hands rather than wait for Confederate backup, and destroyed an infested Command Center. [[UngratefulBastard The Confederacy responded by placing Raynor under arrest for destroying Confederate property]]. Enter the Sons of Korhal, a rebel group led by the charismatic Arcturus Mengsk, who were evacuating Mar Sara and offered Raynor a way out, which he accepted. But later, Mengsk [[MoralEventHorizon crossed the line]] by deliberately luring a Zerg invasion to the Confederate capital world of Tarsonis, ''and'' abandoned Raynor's LoveInterest, Sarah Kerrigan, when her outpost got overrun by Zerg. These led Raynor to split with Mengsk, and he formed Raynor's Raiders to combat Mengsk's new regime -- [[FullCircleRevolution which quickly became as oppressive and corrupt as the one it replaced]].

* ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'': Had [[spoiler:HADES]] not tried to kill Aloy the moment he saw her, then she may never have left the Nora tribe's Sacred Lands. It's possible she would have eventually found out about [[spoiler:the end of the old world, the role of the machines, and her power as a clone of Elisabet Sobeck via the door in All-Mother Mountain]] eventually, but the odds of that happening early enough to lead to her being able to defeat [[spoiler:HADES prior to his assault on the Spire]] are practically zero given the tribe's isolationist customs and their gerontocratic system of government, meaning that it would be decades before Aloy would even knowshe had to, [[spoiler: as only women with living grandchildren are even allowed near that door, and Aloy doesn't even have a boyfriend]].

--->'''Cooler (seconds before he's incinerated by the sun)''': I don't believe it. I could have killed him. I let him go. I let him go!

[[folder:TV Tropes]]
* The EvilOverlordList has advice on avoiding this kind of scenario.
** "If an enemy I have just killed has a younger sibling or offspring anywhere, I will find them and have them killed immediately, instead of waiting for them to grow up harboring feelings of vengeance towards me in my old age."
** "Orphans will be placed in foster-homes, not abandoned in the woods to be raised by creatures of the wild."
** "Prior to kidnapping an older male scientist and forcing him to work for me, I will investigate his offspring and make sure that he has neither a beautiful but naive daughter who is willing to risk anything to get him back, nor an estranged son who works in the same field but had a falling-out with his father many years ago."
** "If I know of any heroes in the land, I will not under any circumstance kill their mentors, teachers, and/or best friends."
** "I will be an equal-opportunity despot and make sure that terror and oppression is distributed fairly, not just against one particular group that will form the core of a rebellion."
** "I will have a staff of competent detectives handy. If I learn that someone in a certain village is plotting against me, I will have them find out who rather than wipe out the entire village in a preemptive strike."
* JustForFun/TVTropesAdditionalEvilOverlordVows has a few more.
** "If I ever have a child, I will keep them as happy as possible, as an unloved child would likely betray me and defect to my enemies."
** "Whenever I take over another country, I won't force them to give up their culture and follow mine."
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' uses this twice, [[UpToEleven in the same campaign, with the same character]]. Jim Raynor was originally a marshal on a backwater Confederate world of Mar Sara. When Mar Sara fell victim to a Zerg invasion, Raynor took matters into his own hands rather than wait for Confederate backup, and destroyed an infested Command Center. [[UngratefulBastard The Confederacy responded by placing Raynor under arrest for destroying Confederate property]]. Enter the Sons of Korhal, a rebel group led by the charismatic Arcturus Mengsk, who were evacuating Mar Sara and offered Raynor a way out, which he accepted. But later, Mengsk [[MoralEventHorizon crossed the line]] by deliberately luring a Zerg invasion to the Confederate capital world of Tarsonis, ''and'' abandoned Raynor's LoveInterest, Sarah Kerrigan, when her outpost got overrun by Zerg. These led Raynor to split with Mengsk, and he formed Raynor's Raiders to combat Mengsk's new regime -- [[FullCircleRevolution which quickly became as oppressive and corrupt as the one it replaced]].

* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'': The titular bandicoot and his sister Coco were ordinary bandicoots until they were mutated by the vil scientist Dr. Neo Cortex as part of his plan for world domination. The two bandicoots escaped Cortex's clutches and have frequently opposed him ever since.

** One of the reasons Dante became a demon hunter was to eventually find and kill the demon that killed his mother. In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'' that demon, Mundus, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain makes the foolish mistake]] of luring Dante to his island in an attempt to kill him. Worse, Mundus' cruel treatment of his minion Trish causes her to pull a HeelFaceTurn and lend her power to Dante in his climactic battle with the villain.
** A quite literal case with Lucia, the {{Deuteragonist}} of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry2''. She is revealed to be one of the [[ArtificialHuman demons created by]] [[BigBad Arius]] but was discarded for being a "defect". She is adopted by the demon hunting clan of the Vie du Marli and kills Arius in the game's climax.

* On ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', it's eventually revealed that Mojo Jojo was once Professor Utonium's lab partner and caused the Chemical X to be added to the formula the girls were made from. Realising this causes Jojo to suffer a VillainousBreakdown. In another episode it gets even worse for him when [[spoiler:he tries going back in time to RetGone the girls and ends up giving Utonium the idea to create them in the first place.]]

** [[TheParagon Luke Skywalker]] in ''Franchise/StarWars'' had no intention of fighting TheEmpire until they [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive massacred his family]], and in fact he was planning to ''join'' them until then ([[ZeroPercentApprovalRating purely out of]] SmallTownBoredom). Thanks to TheEmperor's needless cruelty and the [[ArmiesAreEvil Stormtroopers]]' "shoot first, ask questions later" method of enforcing Imperial rule, plenty of Rebels had stories just like Luke's and had nothing left but to dedicate their lives to revenge.

** [[TheParagon Luke Skywalker]] in ''Franchise/StarWars'' would never have fought TheEmpire if they hadn't [[DoomedHometown massacred his family]], and in fact he was planning to ''join'' them until then. Thanks to TheEmperor's needless cruelty and the [[ArmiesAreEvil Stormtroopers]]' "shoot first, ask questions later" method of enforcing Imperial rule, plenty of Rebels had stories just like Luke's and had nothing left but to dedicate their lives to revenge.

* [[TheParagon Luke Skywalker]] in ''Franchise/StarWars'' would never have fought TheEmpire if they hadn't [[DoomedHometown massacred his family]], and in fact he was planning to ''join'' them until then. Thanks to TheEmperor's needless cruelty and the [[ArmiesAreEvil Stormtroopers]]' "shoot first, ask questions later" method of enforcing Imperial rule, plenty of Rebels had stories just like Luke's and had nothing left but to dedicate their lives to revenge.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'': Supposedly, all members of Celestial Being are hand-picked by VEDA, the supercomputer in charge of the organization's operations. However, it turns out that [[spoiler:Setsuna, the main protagonist, was NOT. The BigBad, Ribbons Almark, manipulated VEDA into choosing Setsuna as a Gundam Meister. The reason he did this was because he caught sight of Setsuna staring at his Gundam with an almost religious awe during one of his missions, which fed into his god-complex and lead to him JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, and wanted to keep Setsuna around to further feed his ego. Guess who winds up being one of the biggest key players in Ribbons' defeat, as well as the overall success of Celestial Being's true mission?]]

* In ''Film/StreetFighter'', Chun-Li says to M.Bison that her father used to lead an uprising against him when he was killed, supposedly by one of Bison's cronies, and it drove her to avenge him. Bison's response?

** ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3'': Arkham's murder of his wife Kalina Ann results in their daughter Mary, now known as Lady, becoming a demon hunter and killing him.

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'', Jolyne Cujoh was thrown into Green Dolphin Street Prison by [[spoiler:[[BigBad Enrico Pucci]], the prison's pastor and]] an ally of DIO who planned to use her to lure her father Jotaro to the prison so that he could steal his memories and discover how to achieve heaven. Jolyne didn't figure into his plans at all as anything besides bait, as he thought she was an ordinary teenage girl who wouldn't pose any threat to his plans. However, after seeing her father rendered comatose by his [[FightingSpirit stand]] while he attempts to break her out of prison, Jolyne becomes determined to recover her father's mind and shows [[spoiler:Pucci]] that he drastically miscalculated which Joestar was the real threat to his plans.

* ''LightNovel/DateALive'': The reason why Shido and the Spirits exists in the way we know is all because of the BigBad, Isaac Ray Peram Westcott. You can hate him with all your might but without this guy, the story of Date A Live would have never existed. If Westcott had not caused the destruction of China and Eurasia with the summoning of the First Spirit, Tohka, Yoshino, Kurumi and many other Spirits who appears on the series would have never existed and they would have been raised as normal humans, given their background where all Spirits were humans once with the exception of Mio Takamiya, also known as the First Spirit. It was also Westcott's atrocity in kidnapping Mana who lead Shido to his first death. As soon as Shido refused to give Mio to him, Westcott shot him and killed him right in front of Mio, resulting in the Spirit "eating" Shido to give birth to him again in her womb in an attempt to revive him; this resulted in Shido being reborn as a Spirit able to seal the power of other Spirits. Without Westcott's corruption, Elliot and Karen would have never created Ratatoskr, the main heroic faction of the series that has been around since from Volume 1, helping Shido and saving all Spirits from DEM's threat. He is also this one for Mana Takamiya. If Westcott decided to kill Mana years ago, she would have never existed in the series and consequently she would never have saved Origami and the SSS Wizards from Minerva Liddell. Not to mention that without Mana, with the powers of an Adeptus Wizard given by Westcott, she would have never saved Shido from Kurumi Tokisaki and many of DEM's minions.

** Bruce confronts mob boss Carmine Falcone who had recently had the murderer of Bruce's parents killed to prevent him from testifying against the mob boss. Despite Bruce's goal being to prove not everyone in Gotham is afraid of Falcone, Falcone gives the Wayne heir a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how completely out of his element he is when it comes to dealing with the mob. This results in Bruce going on his journey across the globe that would help shape his core philosophies as Batman.
** Not only did Henri Ducard aka [[spoiler: the real Ra's al Ghul]] provide Bruce the skills to become Batman but [[spoiler: he reveals that the League of Shadows deliberately exacerbated the poverty and corruption within Gotham to "make everyone a criminal". In other words, if not for the League, Joe Chill probably never would have killed the Waynes and Bruce would have never ended up becoming Batman]].