History Main / KarmicThief

* ''Series/DowntownAbbey'': The Royal Dresser Miss Lawton [[TheHelpHelpingThemselves helps herself]] to small valuables from all the noble manors she visits in Queen Mary's entourage. She sees it as entirely justified due to the incredible privilege her "victims" enjoy.

* ''Literature/DowntownAbbey'': The Royal Dresser Miss Lawton [[TheHelpHelpingThemselves helps herself]] to small valuables from all the noble manors she visits in Queen Mary's entourage. She sees it as entirely justified due to the incredible privilege her "victims" enjoy.

Karmic Thieves are thieves who steal from people for selfish reasons but only steal from people that are portrayed as being [[AssholeVictim unlikable]]. Their targets will usually be wealthy, corrupt, or more often than not both at the same time. Expect a few KickTheDog moments just to make you really not like the victim. The target might even [[StealingFromThieves be a criminal himself]], who made his fortune by stealing, scamming, or extorting money from the poor, the middle-class, or even sympathetic rich people.

The Karmic Thieves’ actions are "[[CaperRationalization justified]]" because they're being done to someone that is seen as [[PayEvilUntoEvil deserving it]]. This turns the thieves into heroes for whom the audience can cheer more easily. If the thieves are themselves poor, the story might contain implicit themes of class conflict.

A Karmic Thief will never steal from those who are poor and honest. However, unlike a thief who is JustLikeRobinHood, a Karmic Thief is not interested in charity through giving away all their ill-gotten-gains to the poor (that's just a bonus). He may however be a RobinHoodlum.

* In ''Anime/AshitaNoNadja'', Black Rose steals not just from the rich, but from rich people who are also snobbish and spoiled. [[spoiler: (He ''is'' actually from a rich family, but left them when he was young.)]] Double if they are dumb enough to ''challenge'' him to steal from then, like SpoiledBrat Fernando's aunt did '''in public'''. He's also seen helping out poor people, like giving a humble widow enough money to buy medicine for her child, and discussing social issues with the title heroine Nadja [[spoiler: aside from being one of her two more important love interests... [[SiblingTriangle the other being his twin brother]].]]
* Psiren from ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' stole for her own selfish reasons, but only from the rich and became a celebrity in her hometown.

* In ''Franchise/LupinIII'', Lupin's schemes mostly focus on him stealing something from someone rich and powerful. It is usually obvious from the beginning that his targets are corrupt, tyrannical, or exploitative. Even when they seem initially seem nice or affable, they are often unveiled as evil by the end of the story.

** Fantomius-GentlemanThief (that's what's written on his CallingCard). Second son of an English duke, for some reason he decided to move to Duckburg, where he was exposed to the scorn of the local wealthy families (who, with the exception of the then-traveling Scrooge and his family, [[{{Hypocrite}} called him a lazy bum]]), and in revenge, he started robbing them of jewels and other precious art in the most showy way he could, while also giving whatever cash he grabbed along with the main target to the poor people. Finding his diary and his main hideout would be the events that motivated Donald Duck in becoming Paperinik.

* ''Film/ByHookOrByCrook'': The protagonist, Shy, plans to rob a bank, and in an early monologue implies that he wants to steal from "all the crooks in the world, like presidents, senators, cops".
* [[spoiler:Cousin Marv]] in ''Film/TheDrop'' thought he was this, stealing mob money from a bar they owned. In reality... he was being selfish and reckless.

** The crew of career criminal protagonists in ''Film/LockStockAndTwoSmokingBarrels'' decides to rob the much nastier gang of thieves who happen to live to next door to them to get themselves out of massive debt. Ironically, the profits they plan to steal from their neighbours are themselves being stolen from a group of drug dealers.

* Dennis Stanton in ''Series/MurderSheWrote''. He doesn't steal for karmic retribution on the his victims, though, but on their insurance company, which he holds responsible for his wife's death. With this in mind, one of his rules is he never steals anything with sentimental value that the insurance payout wouldn't be able to replace.

* ''Franchise/SlyCooper'' and his gang usually steal from very dangerous criminals. In a comic book, Sly told Carmelita that he will never steal anything from plain citizens. In his case, it's partly because they're generally good guys and partly because they believe that [[ChallengeSeeker stealing from criminals is where the true challenge lies for a master thief]].

* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'' and his gang usually steal from very dangerous criminals. In a comic book, Sly told Carmelita that he will never steal anything from plain citizens. In his case, it's partly because they're generally good guys and partly because they believe that [[ChallengeSeeker stealing from criminals is where the true challenge lies for a master thief.]]

A Karmic Thief will never steal from those who are poor and honest. However, unlike a thief who is JustLikeRobinHood, a Karmic Thief is not interested in charity through giving away all their ill-gotten-gains to the poor (that's just a bonus).

* Omar Little from ''Series/TheWire'' steals exclusively from drug dealers and other criminals, [[WouldNotShootACivilian refusing to harm or threaten anyone who isn't involved in the criminal underworld]]. This means that the police and the prosecutor's office are [[EnemyMine willing to work with him]] and overlook Omar's other crimes to take down far more dangerous drug dealers and hitmen, at least for a while. After Omar's war of attrititon with the Baltimore gangs increasingly leads to collateral damage and more bodies on the street, Bunk gives him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech and is initially willing to let Omar rot in prison when he's [[FrameUp framed for murder]]. Extras from the final season's DVD package show this goes all the way back to when he was a StreetUrchin, as he was so disgusted by a robbery that he and his older brother Anthony took part in, (stealing a few dollars from an ordinary working man at a bus stop) that he made Anthony give the money back at gunpoint. As he says at one point:

* Omar Little from ''Series/TheWire'' steals exclusively from drug dealers and other criminals, [[WouldNotShootACivilian refusing to harm or threaten anyone who isn't involved in the criminal underworld]]. Extras from the final season's DVD package show this goes all the way back to when he was a StreetUrchin, as he was so disgusted by a robbery that he and his older brother Anthony took part in, (stealing a few dollars from an ordinary working man at a bus stop) that he made Anthony give the money back at gunpoint. As he says at one point:

-->-- '''Katara''', ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' Ep. 9, "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheWaterbendingScroll The Waterbending Scroll]]"

* Lina Inverse of ''{{LightNovel/Slayers}}'': "I stole from bandits, so that makes it all right!"

* Psiren from [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]] of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' while she stole for her own selfish reasons, she does only stole from the rich and became a celebrity in her hometown.

A Karmic Thief will never steal from those who are poor and honest. However, unlike a thief who is JustLikeRobinHood, a Karmic Thief is not interested in charity through giving away all his or her ill-gotten-gains to the poor (that's just a bonus).

This is a SubTrope to CaperRationalization. This could overlap with StealingFromThieves if the target is also a criminal and not just a mere jerkass. Compare also to the LovableRogue, where the emphasis is on the likability of the thief rather than the idea that all his or her victims deserve their fates. See also ScoundrelCode.