History Main / ObliviousGuiltSlinging

[[AC: Comics]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WebComics]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* In ''FrozenEssence'', being nice and helpful to [[spoiler:Varian]] causes him to become visibly uncomfortable and tell Mina outright that helping him will not help her. [[spoiler:It doesn't stop him from helping Oryon capture and attempt to reseal her, although he's clearly wracked with guilt/doubt about this. On the other hand, pulling this off on him ''again'' during his path with the right choices does result in him having a change of heart at the last minute about his plan to reseal Mina.]]

This trope is also used to build suspense, as the guilt-ridden character wonders whether or not to go through with the deception. Compare InsultFriendlyFire, when Alice accidentally insults Bob without realizing she's done so (at least at first).

* In one episode of ''{{Arthur}}'', Arthur's dad scores him a backstage pass to a concert, because he's catering for the band. He tells Arthur he can invite his friends, but Arthur's fantasy the band taking him luging suffers a FantasyBackfire when he imagines a dozen kids showing up, so he says he doesn't think they'd want to go. The next day Buster tells him that he's going to see if his reporter mom can get them backstage, and Binky offers him a spare ticket closer to the stage. He invites everyone.

* In one episode of ''{{Arthur}}'', Arthur's dad scores him a backstage pass to a concert, because he's catering for the band, and Arthur considers not telling his friends. The next day Buster says that he's going to see if his reporter mom can get ''both'' of them backstage, and Binky offers him a spare ticket closer to the stage. He tells them.

* ''AllCreaturesGreatAndSmall''. Tristan, having [[BrilliantButLazy failed his finals]] once again, hid it from his brother and dropped smoking, alcohol and laziness in order to get him in a mellow mood. Siegfried was so impressed that, after proposing a toast to Tristan, he offered him a partnership in the practice -- once he'd got his degree, of course. The audience cringes on Tristan's behalf for a good five minutes (Peter Davison does horrified/guilty/hurt puppy very well); after the explosion Tristan bounces back into his usual form, completely unruffled. The same cannot be said for the audience, who now want to strangle him.

* In one episode of ''{{Necessary Roughness}}'', RayJ tells his mother about his car breaking down. Dani initially scolds him for not having it serviced earlier, but then thanks him for being honest with her. Of course, his car was actually stolen after he snuck into a club with TK the night before.

* Happened in ''[[TeenTitans Teen Titans]]'', in the episode "Betrayal". The same night Terra is given the word to deactivate the Titans' security and let Slade's army of robots in for an all out onslaught against the Titans, the Titans comment on what a great friend Terra is and how valuable she is to the team, and how good friends like her don't come along every day. She obviously feels guilty, even insisting they don't have to be grateful since she's just doing her job (as a Titan). She betrays them anyways.

* Iago in ''[[{{Disney/Aladdin}} The Return Of Jafar]]''. Jasmine tells Iago she was wrong about him, and he almost tells her he's a traitor, but baulks when Jafar silently threatens him. When Jafar comes in to praise him for his treachery, he visibly shudders, and when Aladdin thanks him for the lovely day out, he looks like he wants to be sick.

This trope is also used to build suspense, as the guilt-ridden character wonders whether or not to go through with the deception.

* ''[[StarWarsExpandedUniverse Classic Star Wars]]'' has a story in which Vader hires an actor to impersonate Obi-Wan and lure Luke into a trap. Luke is ''overjoyed'' at the prospect of his teacher surviving, and openly so. This guilts the actor severely, and Luke pulls him into situations where to deflect suspicion he ''has'' to do what Obi-Wan would... and in the end he has a literal ObiWanMoment and dies to save Luke. Who may, possibly, have been not so oblivious after all - he doesn't seem surprised when the actor confesses while dying in his arms.

* ''{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}'' example (because there has to be one): In the third season episode "Lovers' Walk", Willow and Xander develop a sudden attraction to each other. At the same time, Oz gives Willow a present to celebrate her new identity as a witch. Willow, who already felt bad, is driven nearly frantic by this, and sets out to find a way to stop things with Xander before they go any further.

'''Examples:'''

----
<<|NarrativeDevices|>>
<<|{{Dialogue}}|>>

* Iago in ''The Return of Jafar''. Jasmine tells Iago she was wrong about him, and he almost tells her he's a traitor, but baulks when Jafar silently threatens him. When Jafar comes in to praise him for his treachery, he visibly shudders, and when Aladdin thanks him for the lovely day out, he looks like he wants to be sick.

* In ''{{Merlin}}'', one episode had King Uther tell Gaius "You're the only one I can trust in the fight against magic." Gaius then shares an uncomfortable glance with his protege, Merlin.

* In ''HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'', [[spoiler:Ginny is distraught after the attack on Mrs. Norris and Ron helpfully assures her that "they'll catch the maniac who did it and have him out of here in no time." Way to go, Ron. (To be fair, Ginny probably didn't suspect herself yet at that point.)]]

* ''HannahMontana'': Miley does something mean to someone who tirelessly forgives her by saying how nice she is and how it was really his/her fault right before Miley does something ''worse''. It might not be very noticeable if they didn't do this ''every single episode''.

* In the final episode of ''HannahMontana'', Miley seriously considers accepting a movie role, which would require her to go back on her promise to go to college with Lilly. When she tries to talk to Lilly about it, Lilly starts gushing about how happy she is that Miley is going to college with her instead of going on a world tour or accepting some movie offer.

Another common type of this is the opposite: one Alice is about to tell Bob something that would hurt him in some way - usually by confessing a lie or an action - only for Bob to, right before Alice is about to say so, gush about how Alice would never hurt him and how truthful she is or how proud the thing she lied about doing makes him feel, thus making Alice unable to face the disappointment of Bob finding out the truth and ''keep'' lying as apposed to revealing it. Usually an aspect of a "snowball lie."

** Bit invoked; one of the rats had a strong suspicion about this, and was making pointed comments on purpose.