History Main / MistreatmentInducedBetrayal

* ''Fanfic/TheDragonAndTheButterfly'': Hiccup, after years of bullying and neglect from the people of Berk, finally finds a friend in Toothless the Night Fury. Once the two are discovered, Hiccup directly defies Stoick's orders, frees Toothless from a public execution, and the two fly away. The Vikings see this as a betrayal, as only cowards fly. However, it's made clear that Hiccup had no other choice: he could allow Toothless to die, or [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere the two could run away and try to find a place they could live free]].

* ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk:'' General Fortean treats his staff, Dr. [=McGowan=] in particular, poorly, sneering at them for showing any glimpse of hesitation or empathy, while refusing to take any accountability for making them do these things. The only reason most of them put up with it is a feeling that they owe him, but eventually Dr. [=McGowan=] gets so fed up with Fortean's insanity that she seizes command of his operation from him, and lets the Hulk... [[KickTheSonOfABitch do his thing]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', when Mr. Incredible grabs Mirage and threatens her life, Syndrome [[FlawExploitation calls his bluff]], knowing Mr. Incredible couldn't hurt a helpless woman. While he was spot on about Mr. Incredible, he completely failed to realize that Mirage would be upset at being treated as expendable, and might admire Mr. Incredible for his concern. She [[EvenEvilHasStandards already had doubts after Syndrome ordered missiles launched at a plane with children in it.]]

* ''LightNovel/TheHeroWhoSeeksRevengeShallExterminateWithDarkness'': Victoria was such a BadBoss, most of her servants do not come to her aid when she screams for help.

* ''LightNovel/IzureShinwaNoRagnarok'': The main antagonist of the first volume, [[spoiler:Freyja]], used [[spoiler:Brunhild]] as a decoy to fool the other contestants in Ragnarok and later tries to dispose of her minion when she gets placed under a {{Geas}}. Unsurprisingly, the minion cuts off her boss's escape when the latter is on the losing end of a fight with the protagonist, who at least protected [[spoiler:Brunhild]] for his own reasons.

** ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': After so many times being kept prisoner, thrown as a weapon to dangerous foes, and then captured and jailed again, Hulk joined the Maker, Kang, and Quicksilver, becoming openly evil in the process.

-->-- '''[[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee's]]''' review on ''VideoGame/FiftyCentBloodOnTheSand''

* ''Manga/InuYasha'': Naraku kept Kagura's heart in his possession at all times as insurance against betrayal. Kagura got so sick of Naraku treating her like a slave she actively colluded with the good guys anyway. Probably remembering the end that [[spoiler:Kagura]] came to, Kanna gave Naraku the metaphorical finger by [[spoiler:dying of suicide as ordered, but without taking Inu-Yasha and his TrueCompanions with her. [[DeathEqualsRedemption She even gives Kagome advice on Naraku's weakness]] [[SubvertedTrope when one shard]] hits her eye]].

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'': After spending her entire life being verbally abused and made an unwilling accomplice to criminal acts by her creator Szilard Quates, [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent Ennis]] betrays him and aids in his destruction at the hands of [[TheMafia the Martillo family]] after he finally goes that step too far by ordering the deaths of two innocent people [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe who had previously shown kindness to Ennis]]. What makes this example especially galling is that Szilard admits ''every'' homunculi he created before Ennis did the exact same thing; this guy just CANNOT stop abusing his creations, [[AesopAmnesia no matter how often it drives them into revolting against him]].

* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'': The vampire lord Conrad von Carstein's downfall was the result of this. Because of his ineptitude at magic, he was forced to employ necromancers to animate his troops, but resented their talent, murdered those who commented on it, and executed a number of them in a fit of paranoia. During his final battle, the necromancers deserted him en masse, causing most of his army to literally fall apart and costing him what little sanity he had as he tried and failed to hold it together by himself.

** The Literature/HorusHeresy was helped along in its beginning due to the fact that a lot of the Primarchs were bitter towards the Emperor for one reason or another. While some were at first manipulated by the Chaos Gods (Horus and Fulgrim) or joined out of their own reasons (Mortarion was loyal to Horus due to feeling more comfortable around him than the other primarchs, Alpharius and Omegon were doing it in an effort to save the galaxy from Chaos) others joined Horus because of ways that the Emperor had angered them, such as Lorgar being desperate for an object of worship after the Emperor humiliated him and his Legion, or Perturabo (the Iron Warriors had constantly been used as a besieging force, causing year after year of hellish attrition warfare) or Kelbor Hal, the Fabricator General of Mars that was annoyed that he had to share the fruits of Mars' labor with the Imperium.

* Iron Jane in ''Webcomic/EverydayHeroes'' [[http://eheroes.smackjeeves.com/comics/1991017/nobody-can-stop-him/ turns against her team leader]] [[spoiler:after she watches him kill her best friend]].

* [[WeAllLiveInAmerica If you've read history books]], [[PopCulturalOsmosis or even watch enough tv and movies]], they always portray UsefulNotes/BenedictArnold as a {{Jerkass}} who betrayed his colony after it rebelled seemingly for the hell of it. But according to Arnold himself, colonial command had not acknowledged his role in any early American successes in the war, including Saratoga, which was the battle that convinced France to enter the war on behalf of the Americans and was won almost entirely by Arnold; at the time this was the highest insult to an officer. Then, when he was military governor of Philadelphia, his political opponents charged him with corruption (accusations that were not baseless, it must be said), and he was officially reprimanded for it. Also, he was an [[GreenEyedMonster extremely jealous man]] who thought he deserved all the promotions other officers were obtaining. So, he offered to betray the Americans in return for a hefty sum of money and a generalship in the British army. In return, he offered them West Point (which at the time was named Fort Arnold, for him). Days afterward, Washington offered him command of approximately half the Continental Army. He refused, citing a leg injury he received at Saratoga, and asked for West Point instead. His plan would have succeeded, except his contact in the British Army was captured the night Arnold gave him the information (on paper) about the fort that the British would have used to take it.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Fractured}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'']] [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]], [[spoiler:Evil Shepard]] insults Lilith one time too many, causing her to both recognize what a wreck she is and the various demerits of working for an InsaneAdmiral/that admiral's nutty commander. She ends up assisting the heroes in taking over her boss' ship, and ultimately [[spoiler:crashes that ship into Pandora's north pole, destroying all Reapers]].

* Inverted in the ''Manga/SoulEater'' manga. [[spoiler:After spending their entire life as their mother's personal, human Guinea pig, Crona has effectively gone insane. Then their mother, Medusa, suddenly starts apologizing to them for everything she's done and even hugs them, calling them "her pride." The fact that Crona has never seen Medusa act in a way besides "abusive mother," Crona gets convinced that this is not the real Medusa, and completely butchers her. The end of the chapter implies that this is part of Medusa's plan.]]

** Subverted with Don Krieg's top fighter Gin. When the starving Gin came to Baratie, the other cooks refused him food since he had no money. Sanji, who himself had experienced starvation as a child, is unable to deny a starving person food and saved Gin's life. He does the same for Don Krieg, who then tries to take over the Baratie and kill everyone. But Gin is unable to finish off the man who saved him and begs Krieg to spare Sanji. Krieg views this as a betrayal, fires off a poison gas bomb, and demands Gin leave his gas mask off and die. At this point, you'd expect Gin to turn against such a horrible boss and side with Sanji. Gin does at least save Sanji from the gas, [[UndyingLoyalty but still refuses to turn against Krieg]].

** A proxy example in the case of Comicbook/{{X 23}}: At first, Dr. Sarah Kinney was firmly ForScience in the creation of the OppositeSexClone of Wolverine, but as her immediate superior, Xander Rice's, abuse of the girl mounted (highlights: constant physical and emotional torture, placing her in the care of a psychopathic handler, exposing her to lethal doses of radiation at the age of ''seven'' to forcibly activate her HealingFactor, and ''denying'' her anesthesia ''at the same age'' during the surgery to rip out her claws one by one to bond them with adamantium) combined with the project lead's apathy (if not complicity) in the abuse, she grows increasingly disillusioned with the project and is finally driven to turn X loose on the installation and escape. Considering X herself spent ''ten minutes'' beating Rice to death '''''with her bare hands''''', [[ItsPersonal it was just a tiny bit personal]] for ''her'', as well.

* ComicBook/InjusticeGodsAmongUs: In ''Year Five'', [[spoiler:The Flash, who was was having a serious conflict of loyalties, was considering going back in time to stop the events that led to the rise of the Regime. However, after being abandoned by his friends and loved ones, including Iris, he was convinced that the events were something the people deserved. Making this an example of MistreatmentInducedBetrayal [[BetrayalByInaction By Inaction]].]]

* In the Literature/{{Worm}} fanfic, ''FanFic/{{Intrepid}}'', this is the reason Rune finishes her HeelFaceTurn in 8-01 because Kaiser electrocuted her for the sake of torture.

* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'':

* ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech'':

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* This is why Creator/PattyJenkins and Creator/JamesGunn left the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse and joined the rival Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse. Jenkins was originally tapped to direct ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' but left due to CreativeDifferences with the Marvel executives. She would end up directing ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', which not only became a critical and box office hit but also ensured that she would get rehired for the sequel with a lucrative pay raise. Gunn, the director of the ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' and [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 its sequel]], was fired by Disney in 2018 over several raunchy jokes he made on Twitter a decade before; although Gunn apologized for those tweets repeatedly and the ''Guardians'' cast and fans campaigned to get him back on, Disney refused to rehire him until March 2019. In the interim, Gunn was hired to write and direct a sequel to ''Film/{{Suicide Squad|2016}}'', which he will complete first before resuming work on the third ''Guardians of the Galaxy''.

* Many members of the [[UsefulNotes/NuclearWeapons Manhattan Project]] were Jewish scientists who were forced to emigrate to America thanks to [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Nazi Germany's]] crackdown on non-[[MasterRace Aryan]] citizens within their border.

* During UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, escaped slaves were more than happy to provide assistance and information to the Union Army, for obvious reasons. Things [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge only got worse]] for their former masters when the Union Army started accepting black enlistees.

* ComicBook/InjusticeGodsAmongUs: In ''Year Five'', [[spoiler:The Flash, who was was having a serious conflict of loyalties, was considering going back in time to stop the events that led to the rise of the Regime. However, after being abandoned by his friends and loved ones such as Iris, he was convinced that the events was something the people deserved. Making this an example of MistreatmentInducedBetrayal [[BetrayalByInaction By Inaction]].]]

** In [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime]], Greed was already notably rebellious, but his treatment by [[spoiler:Dante]] and the other homunculi, including being sealed in a chamber for long periods, leads him to hate them so much he willingly tells Ed how to kill them.

** ''ComicBook/RevolutionInSanMonte:'' CorruptCorporateExectutive Emil Norvell hires a band of mercenaries to take out Superman. Once they (presumably) do just that, Emil decides to stiff them out of paying and even threatens to call the police on them. The next evening, the mercenaries decide to take revenge on Norville for backstabbing them, [[SaveTheVillain forcing Superman to save his life]].

* ''Franchise/XMen'':