History Main / TheChainOfHarm

** BarbarianHero Karlach's ArchEnemy [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Lord Gortash]] sold her in a DealWithTheDevil that saw her DraggedOffToHell and conscripted into the [[ForeverWar Blood War]]. Late in the game you discover that Gortash went through the same thing as a child, having been [[AbusiveParents sold by his parents to a warlock]] [[spoiler:who's later revealed to have been [[GreaterScopeVillain Raphael]], who treated him as a servant in Hell]]. Karlach lampshades this trope, noting that people who've been fucked over by life feel they have no choice but to "fuck back". Although it's ZigZagged by Gortash's mother's claims that he was simply [[TheAntichrist born evil]], but even if it were true their actions didn't help matters.

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'': Astarion's vampiric master, Cazador, is an abusive, power-mad sadist who takes delight in torturing his thralls, with his thralls being unable to retaliate due to his control over them. This changes when Astarion becomes infected with a mind flayer tadpole that removes many of his weaknesses, including Cazador's control over him. [[spoiler:When Astarion learns of Cazador's plan to become a Vampire Ascendant, he plans to usurp the ritual for himself, specifically so he can NeverBeHurtAgain. If the player helps Astarion become a Vampire Ascendant, he ends up becoming DrunkOnTheDarkSide and, himself, turns into an abusive, power-mad sadist. Conversely, convincing Astarion to not go through with the ritual will see the cycle of abuse broken, as Astarion goes on in the PlayableEpilogue to become a good guy ([[AntiHero relatively speaking]]).]]

** Most notably, the Gods' [[JerkassGods questionable treatment]] of Salem (who also already had to deal with having an {{Abusive Parent}}) is part of what motivates her to become the BigBad (the other reason being she went AxCrazy from TheCorruption), taking out her anger and hatred for [[WhoWantsToLiveForever her fate]] on [[OmnicidalManiac humanity]] and [[PsychoExGirlfriend her former lover]]. She initially claims that it's because [[MasterRace the new, magicless humans are inferior]], though after [[spoiler:Ozma]]'s betrayal, her reasoning shifts to destroying humanity because humanity is what matters most to [[spoiler:Ozma]] — it's the best way to hurt him. This also indicates she just wanted to hurt humanity in the first place because they were the only people outside of her family whom she could vent out her frustrations on. Cue the in-fighting in humanity over how to stop Salem… otherwise known as the entire show.
** Salem's [[AbusiveParent abusive mentorship]] of Cinder (who is based on Literature/{{Cinderella}} and is shown in Volume 8 to ''also'' hail from a background of abuse) clearly frightens and intimidates Cinder… who sees Salem as a role model for empowerment and tries to emulate her, most noticeably on Emerald. Emerald is unable to realize her situation is abnormal and abusive because she doesn't have anything else to compare her current position to.

** [[spoiler:In Cazador's crypt, you can find the skull of Vellioth, Cazador's former master. Reading its memories reveals that Vellioth was a similarly cruel bastard to Cazador; when Cazador tried to contact an old friend, Vellioth forced him to watch as he bled said friend dry, and when Cazador tried to kill him, Vellioth sentenced him to eleven years of impalement -- not for the murder attempt, but for failure.||

* ''Fanfic/VowOfNudity'': Consciously averted by Spectra (a changeling) when she's forced to choose whether she should reveal her professor's secret ([[spoiler:harboring a enemy soldier under her classroom]]) to the university. She ultimately decides, despite her misgivings, that she's going to give her the benefit of the doubt and keep her secret, simply because she refuses to perpetuate the cycle of mistrust she's all-too-frequently experienced from the other side.

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'': Astarion's vampiric master, Cazador, is an abusive, power-mad sadist who takes delight in torturing his thralls, with his thralls being unable to retaliate due to his control over them. This changes when Astarion becomes infected with a mind flayer tadpole that removes many of his weaknesses, including Cazador's control over him. [[spoiler:When Astarion learns of Cazador's plan to become a Vampire Ascendant, he plans to usurp the ritual for himself, specifically so he can NeverBeHurtAgain. If the player helps Astarion become a Vampire Ascendant, he ends up becoming DrunkOnTheDarkSide and, himself, turns into an abusive, power-man sadist. Conversely, convincing Astarion to not go through with the ritual will see the cycle of abuse broken, as Astarion goes on in the PlayableEpilogue to become a good guy ([[AntiHero relatively speaking]]).]]

** In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:Howard's father used to be physically abusive to him, meaning that he likely learned and perpetuated his own troubled childhood. [[BreakingTheCycleOfBadParenting It is hinted that like Tony, he did try to be a better parent]] even if he didn't fully succeed.]]

** Enji Todoroki, AKA Endeavor, not only caused his own wife and children to hate him because of his abuse and obsession to surpass All Might, [[spoiler:but is also responsible for the creation of Dabi, who happens to be his firstborn son, Toya, who was thought to have been dead. When Toya was born, he had a very promising future and had a decent relationship with his father, but when it's revealed he also inherited his mother's resistance to freezing cold, rather than his father's resistance to scorching heat, meaning that he would burn himself whenever he used his flames, Enji was disappointed so he stopped training with Toya in order to protect him, but also had his wife Rei produce more children in order to create one who had the perfect mixture of fire and ice quirks. Needless to say, Toya did not take this well at all. He kept pushing himself and burning himself over and over, hoping to get his father's love and attention again, only for Enji to tell him to stop as it's for his own good, while he trained with Shoto, whom he considered to be the child he was looking for. Toya begged his father to meet him at Sekoto Park to show him his progress, but when he didn't, Toya lost control of his emotions and quirk, resulting a forest fire that immolated his body. With this, Toya Todoroki died and Dabi, the monster fueled by hatred toward Enji Todooki, was born.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' goes into detail about how Doc Venture's youth as a boy adventure severely screwed him up, even though he still drags his boys along for similar adventures. Such an occurrence was {{lampshaded}} in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CHVLSY_Hrk this series recap]].

Contrast to CycleOfRevenge, which directly targets the person causing harm. Compare to RevengeByProxy, DelegationRelay, and TroubledAbuser. BreakingTheCycleOfBadParenting is an effort to {{avert|edTrope}} or {{def|iedTrope}}y this. If you were looking for examples of people using chains to harm others, see ChainPain.

* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', this is known as the Chain of Screaming. When someone screams at a subordinate, the subordinate must scream at someone lower, who in turn screams at someone else, and so on until someone screams at the original screamer and the cycle is complete. Marshall's attempts to break the chain do not go as well as he hoped.

** ...for [[spoiler: messing up the duo's money counting, to which she somehow [[KarmaHoudini didn't have to own up]].]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/AppleAndOnion'' episode "Apple's in Trouble" has the protagonists try to find out why Cheesesteak is bullying Apple, only to find a "classic chain reaction". Cheesesteak is mistreated by his boss Fried Shrimp, who is yelled at by Birthday Cake, who is upset that she isn't being catered by Turkey Leg, who is dealing with rats that disobeyed Gingerbread, whose dancing is disrupted by Root Beer Float, who is stressed out by Lemon Drop, who [[spoiler:was upset when Apple scolded her]].

** The Gods' harmful (and unresolved) mistakes cause a significant chain of harm in another of their worlds. [[spoiler:Namely, their homeworld. The brothers created the Curious Cat to heal and the Jabberwocker to kill, but when the Jabberwocker [[GoneHorriblyRight worked too well]] [[SoulEating and devoured the souls it destroyed]], the brothers fought and argued against each other over their mistakes, and they eventually resolved their conflict by ''neglecting their children''. The brothers' 'parent' decided the best thing it could do was set the brothers free to build new worlds - which was also a horrible mistake, as the Jabberwocker hadn't been dealt with and the Cat had unforeseen flaws that grew with neglect. Eventually, the Cat snapped and became obsessed with learning everything, even if he had to ''vivisect'' a little brat to get started]]. Had he not been dealt with, he could have become an even ''greater'' threat than ''Salem''. His manipulative actions also cause the adventurer [[spoiler:Alyx]] to grow paranoid, driving her to poison Jaune out of a perceived betrayal. Jaune grows fearful of watching others die as a result, and spends most of his life protecting a small group of artists. Eventually, those same artists realize [[KnightTemplar he stopped being their 'hero' and became their jailer]].

** Enji Todoroki, AKA Endeavor, not only caused his own wife and children to hate him because of his abuse and obsession to surpass All Might, [[spoiler:but is also responsible for the creation of Dabi, who happens to be his firstborn son, Toya, who was thought to have been dead. When Toya was born, he had a very promising future and had a decent relationship with his father, but when it's revealed he also inherited his mother's resistance to freezing cold, rather than his father's resistance to scorching heat, meaning that he would burn himself whenever he used his flames, Enji was disappointed so he stopped training with Toya in order to protect him, but also had his wife Rei produce more children in order to find the perfect mixture of fire and ice quirks. Needless to say, Toya did not take this well at all. He kept pushing himself and burning himself over and over, hoping to get his father's love and attention again, only for Enji to tell him to stop as it's for his own good. Toya begged his father to meet him at Sekoto Park to show him his progress, but when he didn't, Toya lost control of his emotions and quirk, resulting a forest fire that immolated his body. With this, Toya Todoroki died and Dabi, the monster fueled by hatred toward Enji Todooki, was born.]]

** Enji Todoroki, AKA Endeavor, not only caused his own wife and children to hate him because of his abuse and obsession to surpass All Might, [[spoiler:but is also responsible for the creation of Dabi, who happens to be his firstborn son, Toya. When Toya was born, he had a very promising future and had a decent relationship with his father, but when it's revealed he also inherited his mother's resistance to freezing cold, rather than his father's resistance to scorching heat, meaning that he would burn himself whenever he used his flames, Enji was disappointed so he stopped training with Touya in order to protect him, but also had his wife Rei produce more children in order to find the perfect mixture of fire and ice quirks. Needless to say, Toya did not take this well at all. He kept pushing himself and burning himself over and over, hoping to get his father's love and attention again, only for Enji to tell him to stop as it's for his own good. Toya begged his father to meet him at Sekoto Park to show him his progress, but when he didn't, Toya lost control of his emotions and quirk, resulting a forest fire that immolated his body. With this, Toya Todoroki died and Dabi, the monster fueled by hatred toward Enji Todooki was born.]]