History Main / GuiltRiddenAccomplice

* John Grisham's ''Literature/TheAssociate'' has a rare case of a guilt-ridden ''mastermind''. [[spoiler: Baxter Tate, accused but never convicted of rape back in college, goes through rehab and decides to patch things up with the woman who accused him. The problem is, it's the evidence of this rape and the possibility of being labeled an accomplice that's being held over protagonist Kyle [=McAvoy=]'s head by a mysterious conspiracy, and so the conspiracy has Tate killed to keep their leverage.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Discworld}}:'' ''Literature/FeetOfClay'' has the Golems who made the Golem King. After it goes completely insane and murders someone, the golems responsible are so horrified they start killing themselves, [[spoiler: because they used their own clay to make the King]].

* ''Literature/ForeverAndADeath'': The captain of Curtis's yacht is confused and conflicted about the whole coverup and murder plot. [[spoiler: Soon he is DrivenToSuicide]].
* ''Literature/GhostStory'' reveals Molly Carpenter to be one of these. Harry -- her teacher in magic and the BigGood who protected Chicago -- has been murdered. [[spoiler: The truth is that he was trying to escape AFateWorseThanDeath by committing suicide, and asked her to assist him with it. Harry hired a sniper, Molly [[ItMakesSenseInContext erased his memories of the plan afterwards]], and everything went as planned. Except for the fact that, with [[TheDreaded Harry]] gone, a ''lot'' of supernatural predators that would otherwise have stayed away are descending upon Chicago, and the city's living defenders are left severely weakened and comparatively ignorant about the supernatural world. Also, Harry's TrueCompanions are traumatized by his death, and Molly has to live with the guilt of that ''and'' the pain of undergoing TrainingFromHell at the hands of a sadistic Fae to get strong enough to defeat said predators.]] She believes that all of that could have been prevented if she'd had the courage to tell someone else [[spoiler: what Harry was planning,]] and she's not wrong. Morals of the story? Do not let [[TheHeroDies the hero die]] or pledge UndyingLoyalty towards someone with depression.

* One ''Series/MidsomerMurders'' episode had a young boy who'd apparently hanged himself decades earlier, causing his single mother to commit suicide shortly after. It was actually [[spoiler: an accident: the boy wanted to join the village "cool" kids, who put up a noose and told him to stand tiptoe on a chair with his neck in the noose as an initiation. The boy slipped while they weren't looking,]] and they kept mum about the whole thing for years. Then one of them got the news that he had a terminal illness, and went to confess [[spoiler: to the priest who, it turns out, was the boy's father]] who goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

* The Genie from ''WesternAnimation/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp'' is very clearly traumatized by the many horrible things he's been forced to do when his lamp was in the possession of Merlock, even though the only two he explicitly names are sinking {{Atlantis}} and destroying Pompeii. As he points out, he's ''compelled'' to obey the bearer of the lamp, no matter how much he hates the wish, and Merlock is an EvilSorcerer with a magic talisman that grants him ''unlimited wishes''. Throughout the film, he's terrified of the possibility of his lamp falling back into Merlock's clutches, and when it finally happens, he becomes a meek, downcast and miserable shadow of himself. In the film's climax, a cruel Merlock orders the Genie to use his powers to throw Scrooge out of his castle, which is currently [[FloatingIsland flying several thousand feet in the air]]. The Genie visibly fights against the wish, and in the end, all he can do is apologize to Scrooge.
* The Huntsman from ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' is horrified by the Queen's order to kill Snow White and bring her the girl's heart. He tries to talk her out of it, and only agrees when she makes it clear it'll be ''his'' life if he says "no." Even so, he's overwhelmed by guilt, and upon seeing her kindness and innocence, can't go through with it, instead letting her go and [[DeathFakedForYou faking her death]].

* A key part of the Creator/AlfredHitchcock movie ''Film/{{Rope}}''. A key difference, however, lies in that it is not the anxious Philip that keeps making mistakes but rather the cool, suave and entirely unrepentant Brandon who enjoys letting hints drop to make himself feel more intelligent, all the greater for the glory of getting away with it (despite rubbing the clues in the victim's familiar ones faces numerous times), a fact which actually irks Philip even more.

* John Grisham's ''Literature/TheAssociate'' has a rare case of a guilt-ridden ''mastermind''. [[spoiler:Baxter Tate, accused but never convicted of rape back in college, goes through rehab and decides to patch things up with the woman who accused him. Problem is, it's the evidence of this rape and the possibility of being labeled an accomplice that's being held over protagonist Kyle [=McAvoy=]'s head by a mysterious conspiracy, and so the conspiracy has Tate killed to keep their leverage.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Discworld}}:'' ''Literature/FeetOfClay'' has the Golems who made the Golem King. After it goes completely insane and murders someone, the golems responsible are so horrified they start killing themselves, [[spoiler:because they used their own clay to make the King]].

* ''Literature/ForeverAndADeath'': The captain of Curtis's yacht is confused and conflicted about the whole coverup and murder plot. [[spoiler:Soon he is DrivenToSuicide]].
* ''Literature/GhostStory'' reveals Molly Carpenter to be one of these. Harry — her teacher in magic and the BigGood who protected Chicago — has been murdered. [[spoiler:The truth is that he was trying to escape AFateWorseThanDeath by committing suicide, and asked her to assist him with it. Harry hired a sniper, Molly [[ItMakesSenseInContext erased his memories of the plan afterwards]], and everything went as planned. Except for the fact that, with [[TheDreaded Harry]] gone, a ''lot'' of supernatural predators that would otherwise have stayed away are descending upon Chicago, and the city's living defenders are left severely weakened and comparatively ignorant about the supernatural world. Also, Harry's TrueCompanions are traumatized by his death, and Molly has to live with the guilt of that ''and'' the pain of undergoing TrainingFromHell at the hands of a sadistic Fae to get strong enough to defeat said predators.]] She believes that all of that could have been prevented if she'd had the courage to tell someone else [[spoiler:what Harry was planning,]] and she's not wrong. Morals of the story? Do not let [[TheHeroDies the hero die]] or pledge UndyingLoyalty towards someone with depression.

* In ''Literature/TheMugAndSpoon'', Marie is extremely conflicted about [[spoiler:the scam that involves her posing as a fairytale princess to attract a rich husband]]. After she ends up marrying a man she really loves, she can't bring herself to lie to him and soon tells him everything about [[spoiler:the scam]], asking him to keep it a secret.

* One of the victims in the ''Series/ColdCase'' episode "Blood On The Tracks", who wanted to turn himself and his friends in for a crime they were involved in a decade prior that left another friend dead (the other being the only one who supported him in this). Very tellingly, the killers ended up being the two who not only wanted to keep everything quiet, but were least affected by what they had done.
* Parodied on the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' BeachEpisode when Joey had to come clean about [[spoiler:peeing on Monica's leg after she is stung by a jellyfish]].

* The murder victim from the episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' that dealt with female-on-male rape turned out to be one of these. She and a couple of friends raped a male stripper at knifepoint during her bachelorette party. Years later she was confronted by her victim and she felt guilty enough to confess her crime and turn over the names of her accomplices. When she told the other women her plans, they killed her to cover up their crime.
* One ''Series/MidsomerMurders'' episode had a young boy who'd apparently hanged himself decades earlier, causing his single mother to commit suicide shortly after. It was actually [[spoiler:an accident: the boy wanted to join the village "cool" kids, who put up a noose and told him to stand tiptoe on a chair with his neck in the noose as an initiation. The boy slipped while they weren't looking,]] and they kept mum about the whole thing for years. Then one of them got news that he had a terminal illness, and went to confess [[spoiler:to the priest who, it turns out, was the boy's father]] who goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
* During ''Series/OneLifeToLive'''s legendary gang rape storyline, one of the rapists, Powell Lord was this, having been bullied into committing the rape by the other two. The guilt drove him so mad that he tried to kill himself... and a year later, became a serial rapist himself.

** During Jaal's LoyaltyMission, one of the Roekaar taking part in a faked bombing of the Forge, a sacred site to angara, breaks and tells Jaal, his brother, what's going on. Then his sister shoots him in the back, and has her own MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment (the brother lives, and thanks to angaran social norms, isn't that upset over the whole deal).
** A mission on Voeld has Ryder encounter a pair of turians playing scavenger in the cities the kett have destroyed. One of them cracks and tells Ryder what they're doing out of guilt, prompting her angaran contact in a nearby town to remark she didn't have the heart for it anyway.

* ''VideoGame/WildArmsMillionMemories'' does this with [[spoiler:Antenora. She genuinely feels bad about abducting Yulie because the girl had healed her beforehand so frequently stops by Yulie's cell to check on her and explain herself. Yulie's kindness and understanding, paired with what Odessa have in store for her, only makes Antenora feel worse, so she decides to let Yulie go and urges her to run when the battles around them start getting messy.]]

* The Huntsman from ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' is horrified by the Queen's order to kill Snow White and bring her the girl's heart. He tries to talk her out of it, and only agrees when she makes it clear it'll be ''his'' life if he says "no." Even so, he's overwhelmed by guilt, and upon seeing her kindness and innocence, can't go through with it, instead letting her go and faking her death.
* The Genie from ''WesternAnimation/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp'' is very clearly traumatized by the many horrible things he's been forced to do when his lamp was in the possession of Merlock, even though the only two he explicitly names are sinking {{Atlantis}} and destroying Pompeii. As he points out, he's ''compelled'' to obey the bearer of the lamp, no matter how much he hates the wish, and Merlock is an EvilSorcerer with a magic talisman that grants him ''unlimited wishes''. Throughout the film, he's terrified of the possibility of his lamp falling back into Merlock's clutches, and when it finally happens, he becomes a meek, downcast and miserable shadow of himself. In the film's climax, a cruel Merlock orders the Genie to use his powers to throw Scrooge out of his castle, which is currently [[FloatingIsland flying several thousand feet in the air]]. The Genie visibly fights against the wish, and in the end, all he can do is is apologize to Scrooge.

* A key part of the Creator/AlfredHitchcock movie ''Film/{{Rope}}''. A key difference, however, lies in that it is not the anxious Philip that keeps making mistakes but rather the cool, suave and entirely unrepentant Brandon who enjoys letting hints drop to make himself feel more intelligent, all the greater for the glory of getting away with it (despite rubbing the clues in the victim's familiar ones faces numerous times), a fact which actually irks Philip even more.
* David Reynolds from ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107401/?ref_=nv_sr_1 The Liars Club]]'' is starting to doubt his best friend's innocence regarding the rape and murder of a fellow friend. But he's of the "kept silent" variety who continued to destroy evidence with the rest of the group.
* Rachel from ''Film/TheHauntingOfSororityRow'' starts to show signs of this trope.
* Cleon from ''Film/DeadPresidents'' is of the broke down and squealed variety.
* The protagonist of ''Film/{{Armored}}'' quickly goes from accomplice to SpannerInTheWorks when the thieves' hideout is found to be not as secluded as they thought and his friend tries to solve the problem by killing the witness, breaking the head organizer's deal with the protagonist that there would be no casualties.

* ''Literature/ForeverAndADeath'': The captain of Curtis's yacht is confused and conflicted about the whole coverup and murder plot. [[spoiler:Soon he is DrivenToSuicide]].

** Notably, after Harry comes back to life, she welcomes him with open arms, letting him stay in her apartment even after signs of TheCorruption begin to show. [[TrueCompanions Admittedly,]] [[HotForTeacher she]] probably would have done that anyway, but one gets the feeling she's trying to atone.

* In ''Literature/TheMugAndSpoon'', Marie is extremely conflicted about [[spoiler:the scam that involves her posing as a fairytale princess to attract a rich husband]]. After she ends up marrying a man she really loves, she can't bring herself to lie to him and soon tells him everything about [[spoiler:the scam]], asking him to keep it a secret.
* ''Franchise/{{Discworld}}:'' ''Literature/FeetOfClay'' has the Golems who made the Golem King. After it goes completely insane and murders someone, the golems responsible are so horrified they start killing themselves, [[spoiler:because they used their own clay to make the King.]]
-->''CLAY OF MY CLAY. GUILT. SHAME.''

* The murder victim from the episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' that dealt with female-on-male rape turned out to be one of these. She and a couple of friends raped a male stripper at knifepoint during her bachelorette party. Years later she was confronted by her victim and she felt guilty enough to confess her crime and turn over the names of her accomplices. When she told the other women her plans, they killed her to cover up their crime.

* Parodied on the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' BeachEpisode when Joey had to come clean about [[spoiler: peeing on Monica's leg after she is stung by a jellyfish]].

* A terrorist on ''Series/TwentyFour'' season 2 had second thoughts about their plan to trigger a nuke in LA. He and an accomplice end up killing each other.

* One ''Series/MidsomerMurders'' episode had a young boy who'd apparently hanged himself decades earlier, causing his single mother to commit suicide shortly after. It was actually [[spoiler:an accident: the boy wanted to join the village "cool" kids, who put up a noose and told him to stand tiptoe on a chair with his neck in the noose as an initiation. The boy slipped while they weren't looking,]] and they kept mum about the whole thing for years. Then one of them got news that he had a terminal illness, and went to confess [[spoiler:to the priest who, it turns out, was the boy's father]] who goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

* ''VideoGame/WildArmsMillionMemories'' does this with [[spoiler: Antenora. She genuinely feels bad about abducting Yulie because the girl had healed her beforehand so frequently stops by Yulie's cell to check on her and explain herself. Yulie's kindness and understanding, paired with what Odessa have in store for her, only makes Antenora feel worse, so she decides to let Yulie go and urges her to run when the battles around them start getting messy.]]
** [[spoiler: Rudy ends up siding with [[EvilOverlord Siegfried]], which leads to him reactivating the Yggdrasil System and causing Filgaia to go up in a ball of fire. Even though it was in exchange for an {{Enemy Mine}} against [[OmnicidalManiac Mother]], Rudy feels so guilty about it in the final chapter that, when called on it, ''both'' of his dialogue options are silent pauses.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FilmationsGhostbusters'': The Headless Horseman. Basically, Prime Evil enlisted his help in bankrupting a gold mine owned by [[TheHero Jake]]'s great-grandfather. (The ghosts scared all the miners away.) Jake made his distrust of the Horseman very clear, even as the ghost protested that he wanted to help and try to redeem himself. So very tragic, and that sad voice...

* Bianca from ''VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon'' is {{The Dragon}} to [[BigBad the Sorceress]] and helps her snatch the eggs from the dragon world. However, as the game goes on, it's very clear she doesn't actually want to hurt Spyro and Hunter and tries to warn them away to the point of begging by the time you reach Evening Lake. [[spoiler: When she discovers her boss only wanted the baby dragons for their wings and not to restore the Lost Worlds' magic, she immediately makes a {{Heel-Face Turn}}.]]

* Bianca from ''VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon'' is {{The Dragon}} to [[BigBad the Sorceress]] and helps her snatch the eggs from the dragon world. However, as the game goes on, it's very clear she doesn't actually want to hurt Spyro and Hunter and tries to warn them away to the point of begging by the time you reach Evening Lake. [[spoiler: When she discovers her boss only wanted the baby dragons for their wings and not to restore the Lost Worlds' magic, she immediately makes a {{Heel Face Turn.}}

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

** Notably, after Harry comes back to life, she welcomes him with open arms, [[InnocentCohabitation letting him stay in her apartment]] even after signs of TheCorruption begin to show. [[TrueCompanions Admittedly,]] [[HotForTeacher she]] probably would have done that anyway, but one gets the feeling she's trying to atone.