History Main / UnintentionallyKarmic

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': Beavis and Butt-Head's stupidity has often gotten other people punished or humiliated. Nevertheless, their victims sometimes end up deserving it due to being either as unpleasant as they are or too irresponsible to prevent the fiasco from happening themselves. Two episodes that come to mind are "Prank Call" and "Drones".

* ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'': Hastings unwittingly causes a poisoning attempt to backfire on the perpetrator when he [[spoiler:swings around a rotating bookcase-table, swapping the two coffee-cups on it, one being Mrs Franklin's and the other being a poisoned one she prepared for her husband, which results in her drinking her own poison and dying.]]

The Unintentionally Karmic comes in many different shapes and forms. They can be TheDitz, TheKlutz, the {{Manchild}}, the IdiotHero, the LoonWithAHeartOfGold, the KindheartedSimpleton, the BumblingSidekick, CaptainOblivious, the CloudCuckooLander, ThePollyanna, and the WideEyedIdealist, or, for a group, GullibleLemmings.

This trope is an inversion of TheFarmerAndTheViper, where the kindness of the good one bites the good one, not the evil one, in the butt, while with the Unintentionally Karmic, it's the other way around. Compare BewareTheNiceOnes and BewareTheSillyOnes, when the nice and silly ones deliver karma when showing their bad sides, unlike when they are nice but still ruin things, or KarmicTrickster, where the good guys humiliated or frustrated the bad guys with the intention to do so. Compare KickTheSonOfABitch for when someone ''did'' intend to be mean, not realising the recipient was mean too, or PayEvilUntoEvil, where someone will give a bad person their just desserts in a very deliberate, dark and often poetic fashion.

* In the backstory of ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'', a backstage hand is distracted by the performance of Ernesto de la Cruz, and accidentally moves a lever that drops a giant bell on the latter, crushing him to death. This serves as karmic justice for murdering Hector, although the karmic justice for stealing Hector's credit and legacy is yet to come.

** Squidward himself becomes this to [=SpongeBob=] via SwappedRoles in "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS5E7ToLoveAPattyBreathOfFreshSquidward Breath of Fresh Squidward]]" when he [[ItMakesSenseInContext gets a personality change from being electrocuted]] and gives [=SpongeBob=] ATasteOfHisOwnMedicine by infuriating him with the same clingy treatment and upstaging him.

This trope is an inversion of TheFarmerAndTheViper, where the kindness of the good one bites the good one, not the evil one, in the butt, while with the Unintentionally Karmic, it's the other way around. Compare BewareTheNiceOnes and BewareTheSillyOnes, when the nice and silly ones deliver karma when showing their bad sides, unlike when they are nice but still ruin things, or KarmicTrickster, where the good guys humiliated or frustrated the bad guys with the intention to do so. Compare KickTheSonOfABitch for when someone ''did'' intend to be mean, not realising the recipient was mean too.

* ''Anime/OsomatsuSan'': The Matsuno brothers will sometimes cause trouble for selfish con-artist Iyami without even trying to.

* ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'': The titular Bean Scout does double duty both to [[GrumpyBear rude, cankerous]] [[PointyHairedBoss abusive Scoutmaster]] Lumpus and to [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]], [[ItsAllAboutMe egotistical]] BarbaricBully and fellow camper Edward.

** The titular [[IdiotHero dimwitted yellow sponge]] and his [[FatIdiot even more dimwitted pink starfish friend]] were this in the beginning to their GrumpyBear {{Narcissist}} neighbor Squidward Tentacles, whose suffering at the hands of their stupidity and backlash at their attempts to help or have fun were supposed to be cosmic retribution for his overblown ego and IrrationalHatred of his town and everyone in it. But as the series progressed and {{Flanderization}} kicked in, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick's antics and idiocy became overblown to the point where Squidward went from KarmicButtMonkey to JerkassWoobie.

* ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'': Hastings unwittingly causes a poisoning attempt to backfire on the perpetrator when he [[swings around a rotating bookcase-table, swapping the two coffee-cups on it, one being Mrs Franklin's and the other being a poisoned one she prepared for her husband, which results in her drinking her own poison and dying.]]

Nothing is more satisfying than watched a {{Jerkass}} or a CardCarryingVillain on the receiving end of LaserGuidedKarma. Most of the time, it's handed to them by TheHero, who did it with every intention of making the bad guy pay for his crimes and mistreatment of others.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "Griffin the Brushoff", Pinkie Pie meets Rainbow Dash's childhood friend Gilda, who pushes Pinkie away and acts completely hostile toward her. At first, Pinkie is very upset but tries to brush off Gilda's hostility as her being jealous. When she witnesses Gilda bullying Fluttershy though, Pinkie Pie takes action by throwing Gilda a party in hopes of softening her up and becoming actual friends with her. Instead, Gilda becomes hostile toward everyone at the party after falling into too many pranks set by Rainbow Dash that Pinkie unknowingly leads her into and reaching a RageBreakingPoint which results in Rainbow Dash breaking her friendship with Gilda. Subverted in Gilda's next appearance where Pinkie not only manages to befriend Gilda, but also helps her mend her friendship with Rainbow.

** Once or twice, they are unintentionally karmic even for others outside Angelica. In "Grandpa's Bad Bug", Grandpa Lou [[PlayingSick pretends to have caught a bug]] so that he'll be able to take a nap. [[LiteralMinded The kids think there is an actual insect inside him]]. Their attempts to get rid of it (i.e. pinching his uvula with pliers) inconvenience Lou greatly, and when they put "good bugs" on his bed to drive out the bad one, he worries that karma's after him, so [[HonestyAesop he finally admits to Didi and Stu that he lied.]]

** Squidward himself becomes this to [=SpongeBob=] via SwappedRoles in "Breath of Fresh Squidward" when he [[ItMakesSenseInContext gets a personality change from being electrocuted]] and gives [=SpongeBob=] ATasteOfHisOwnMedicine by infuriating him with the same clingy treatment and upstaging him.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Island''[='s=] Final Three, Heather gets a lot of much-owed comeuppance from the eliminated contestants she bullied and manipulated, as they were asked to describe the worst dares one could be forced to do as part of the big challenge. Of course, none of them knew that Heather would get the full brunt of it as Gwen and Owen teamed up to avoid most dares. The creame de la creame is the final dare that gets Heather eliminated--it comes from Lindsey, Heather’s former BetaBitch who Heather used and manipulated throughout the season and who Heather threw under the bus to save herself from elimination. Her dare is to let Chef shave their head. Heather kicks the electric razor away at the last minute, rejecting the dare, only for the razor to fall on her head and shave her hair off anyway, meaning she is now bald ''and'' eliminated.

** Squidward himself becomes this to [=SpongeBob=] via SwappedRoles in "Breath of Fresh Squidward" when he [[ItMakesSenseInContext gets a personality change from being electrocuted]] and gives [=SpongeBob=] ATasteOfHisOwnMedicine by infuriating him with the same clingy treatment and upstaging his life.

** Squidward himself becomes this to [=SpongeBob=] via SwappedRoles in "Breath of Fresh Squidward" when he [[ItMakesSenseInContext gets a personality change from being electrocuted]] and gives [=SpongeBob=] ATasteOfHisOwnMedicine by infuriating him with the same clingy treatment and upstaging his life. Unfortunately, [=SpongeBob=] [[MoralMyopia doesn't exactly learn from this]] and eventually [[KickTheDog disowns the now-changed Squidward]] by tossing him out of ''his own party''.

** [[SwappedRoles Squidward himself becomes this to [=SpongeBob=]]] in "Breath of Fresh Squidward" when he [[ItMakesSenseInContext gets a personality change from being electrocuted]] and gives [=SpongeBob=] ATasteOfHisOwnMedicine by giving him the same clingy treatment and winning the "Employee of the Month". Unfortunately, [=SpongeBob=] [[MoralMyopia doesn't exactly learn from this]] and eventually [[JerkassBall disowns the now-changed Squidward]] by tossing him out of ''his own party''.

** [[SwappedRoles Squidward himself becomes this to [=SpongeBob=]]] in "Breath of Fresh Squidward" when he [[ItMakesSenseInContext gets a personality change from being electrocuted]] and gives [=SpongeBob=] a TasteOfHisOwnMedicine by giving him the same clingy treatment and winning the "Employee of the Month". Unfortunately, [=SpongeBob=] [[MoralMyopia doesn't exactly learn from this]] and eventually [[JerkassBall disowns the now-changed Squidward]] by tossing him out of ''his own party''.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': The titular dimwitted yellow sponge and his even more dimwitted pink starfish friend were this in the beginning to their GrumpyBear {{Narcissist}} neighbor Squidward Tentacles, whose suffering at the hands of their stupidity and backlash at their attempts to help or have fun were supposed to be cosmic retribution for his overblown ego and IrrationalHatred of his town and everyone in it. But as the series progressed and {{Flanderization}} kicked in, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick's antics and idiocy became overblown to the point where Squidward went from KarmicButtMonkey to JerkassWoobie.

!!Examples

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcgee'': The ever-optimistic and extroverted Molly [=McGee=] cannot be scared away by [[GluttonousSlob slobby and gluttonous]] Scratch's attempts to frighten her out of the house, and in fact only irritates him with her never-ending positivity and misguided notion that they are friends.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "Griffin the Brushoff", Pinkie Pie meets Rainbow Dash's childhood friend Gilda, who pushes Pinkie away and acts completely hostile toward her. At first, Pinkie is very upset but tries to brush off Gilda's hostility as her being jealous. When she witnesses Gilda bullying Fluttershy though, Pinkie Pie takes action by throwing Gilda a party in hopes of softening her up and becoming actual friends with her. Instead Gilda becomes hostile toward everyone at the party after falling into too many pranks set by Rainbow Dash that Pinkie unknowingly leads her into and reaching a RageBreakingPoint which results in Rainbow Dash breaking her friendship with Gilda. Subverted in Gilda's next appearance where Pinkie not only manages to befriend Gilda, but also helps her mend her friendship with Rainbow.

[[folder:Film--Live-Action]]

* ''Film/DumbAndDumber'': Harry and Lloyd innocently prank kidnapper Mental by putting chili peppers in his food, not knowing of his stomach ulcer. When the hot peppers trigger his ulcer, the duo mistakes the rat poison pills Mental planned to slip them for his medication and give them to him, accidentally killing him.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcgee'': The ever-optimistic and extroverted Molly [=McGee=] cannot be scared away by [[GluttonousSlob slobby and gluttonous]] Scratch's attempts to frighten her out of the house, and in fact only irritates him with her neverending positivity and misguided notion that they are friends.
* ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'': Jimmy is literally the only cheerful person in the appropriately-named Miseryville, much to the chagrin of the town's tyrannical dictator Lucius, whose missions to spread misery always end in failure and humiliation thanks to Jimmy always befriending everyone and trying to have fun.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': The titular dimwitted yellow sponge and his even more dimwitted pink starfish friend were this in the beginning to their GrumpyBear {{Narcissist}} neighbor Squidward Tentacles, whose suffering at the hands of their stupidity and backlash at their attempts to help or have fun were supposed to be cosmic retribution for his overblown ego and IrrationalHatred of his town and everyone in it. But as the series progressed and {{Flanderization}} kicked in, Spongebob and Patrick's antics and idiocy became overblown to the point where Squidward went from KarmicButtMonkey to JerkassWoobie.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Island''’s Final Three, Heather gets a lot of much-owed comeuppance from the eliminated contestants she bullied and manipulated, as they were asked to describe the worst dares one could be forced to do as part of the big challenge. Of course, none of them knew that Heather would get the full brunt of it as Gwen and Owen teamed up to avoid most dares. The creame de la creame is the final dare that gets Heather eliminated--it comes from Lindsey, Heather’s former BetaBitch who Heather used and manipulated throughout the season and who Heather threw under the bus to save herself from elimination. Her dare is to let Chef shave their head. Heather kicks the electric razor away at the last minute, rejecting the dare, only for the razor to fall on her head and shave her hair off anyway, meaning she is now bald ''and'' eliminated.

[[/folder]]

* ''Webcomic/CursedPrincessClub'': Lorena becomes this to Suzanna Winchester once they meet. Suzanna is a smug, haughty fencer who [[UnsportsmanlikeGloating lords her undefeated status over overs]] and is deeply attracted to Prince Lance, and is [[GreenEyedMonster furious to hear that he has become engaged to Lorena]]. She tries to show Lorena up and steal Lance, but all her attempts fail. What's more, Lorena is under the impression that "Suzie" is her friend, and often embarrasses her with affection, and unwittingly flaunting Lance in Suzanna's face when she brings him to cheer her on.

And since whatever the Unintentionally Karmic is did was done with pure intentions, and because whatever bad luck they brought was well-deserved by the ones it struck, [[IdiotHoudini they themselves usually emerge unscathed from the fires they start]], as their good deeds only go wrong on the bad guys and almost always end well for other good characters, so no one worthwhile is complaining.

But what if the AllLovingHero doesn't ''mean'' to make the bad guy suffer? What if they're is too much of a NiceGuy [[GoodCannotComprehendEvil to understand true evil of the soul]]? What if the hero is actually trying to help or befriend the villain, but his attempts go awry and have the opposite effect, actually giving the bad guy his just desserts without really meaning to?