History Main / VillainByProxyFallacy

* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' has numerous examples where the actual murderer gets a plea bargain relatively early in the episode so that the prosecutors can go after the "real villain"; these "real villains" included gun manufacturers/dealers, doctors/psychologists who prescribed/didn't prescribe medication, girlfriends who bought their boyfriends a jacket of the wrong color...

* The trope is parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Brother From Another Series", when Sideshow Bob, actually innocent and reformed for once, actually helps Bart and Lisa thwart his criminal brother Cecil from sabotaging a construction project he and Bob are working on together. In the aftermath, Chief Wiggum sends him to prison along with Cecil on general principle.

* On ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Warren shoots and kills [[spoiler:Tara]] and is in turn apparently killed in revenge by [[spoiler:Willow]], after which [[spoiler:she]] also vengefully targets his former partners Jonathan and Andrew, despite their lack of involvement in the shooting... and when Buffy and the Scoobies prevent these murders, [[spoiler:she]] blames and attacks ''them''!And then she tries to destroy the world.

* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXIII'' has Hope. During his character arc, he blames his mother’s death on Snow, who in fact saved her life and tried to dissuade her from leaving her child to take up arms, instead of the military that not only sentenced her to death in the first place but fired upon and killed her. Though a conversation with Lightning has him explain that he is after said military as well.

* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXIII'' has Hope. During his character arc, he blames his mother’s death on Snow, who in fact saved her life and tried to dissuade her from leaving her child to take up arms, instead of the military that not only sentenced her to death in the first place but fired upon and killed her.

* On ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Warren shoots and kills [[spoiler:Tara]] and is in turn apparently killed in revenge by [[spoiler:Willow]], after which [[spoiler:she]] also vengefully targets his former partners Jonathan and Andrew, despite their lack of involvement in the shooting... and when Buffy and the Scoobies prevent these murders, [[spoiler:she]] blames and attacks ''them''!

* One of the reasons Jews were discriminated against for many centuries in Christian-dominated societies was the belief (however erroneous) that Jews were responsible for Jesus' crucifixion. Never mind that Jesus himself was Jewish, and [[CompletelyMissingThePoint the circumstances of his death and resurrection form the central tenets of]] ''[[WhatAnIdiot Christianity itself]]''.

* One of the reasons Jews were discriminated against for many centuries in Christian-dominated societies was the belief (however erroneous) that Jews were responsible for Jesus' crucifixion. Never mind that Jesus himself was Jewish, and]] [[CompletelyMissingThePoint the circumstances of his death and resurrection form the central tenets of]] ''[[WhatAnIdiot Christianity itself]]''.

* One of the reasons Jews were discriminated against for many centuries in Christian-dominated societies was the belief that Jews were responsible for Jesus' crucifixion. Never mind that [[CompletelyMissingThePoint Jesus himself was Jewish, and]] [[WhatAnIdiot the circumstances of his death and resurrection form the central tenets of]] ''[[WhatAnIdiot Christianity itself]]''.

* One of the reasons Jews were discriminated against for many centuries in Christian-dominated societies was the belief that Jews were responsible for Jesus' crucifixion. Never mind that Jesus himself was Jewish, and the circumstances of his death and resurrection form the central tenets of ''Christianity itself''.

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': The Compass Killer. Driven insane from the grief and the brain damage that ensued from a madman entering his office and blowing away everybody inside with a shotgun (including his wife) before killing himself, architect Hollis Eckhart started killing everybody that had anything to do with it. The guy who sold the madman the gun, the shrink that didn't diagnose the shooter as an unstable man, the guard that didn't search the shooter thoroughly... and himself, for putting his wife in danger. It didn't helped in any way at all that the madness which made him decide to perform these acts also made him identify innocent people as those that were the targets of his vengeance.

** Prior to that moment, it had never been stated that Ronan was working for Thanos when he killed Drax's family. The film makes it appear they were only currently working together so Thanos would destroy Xandar in exchange for Ronan acquiring the Infinity Stone.

* In ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'', Frankenstein's creation [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumps off the slippery slope]] this way, by eventually extending his (previously [[KickTheSonOfABitch justifiable]]) hatred of his abusive creator to cover said creator's family, murdering people for the crime of sharing the Frankenstein bloodline.

* Tthis is a common fallacy of numerous MoralGuardians who want revenge or justice on someone who commits murder after watching a television show or playing a MurderSimulator. This can go from the works' writers, to the producers or developers, channels who broadcast the show or stores that sell the game, anyone who had advertised in the production or promoted the show or game, sometimes escalating all the way up to anyone who watched the show or played the game.

* More a justice by proxy failure, but this is a common fallacy of numerous MoralGuardians in that they not only want revenge or justice on someone who had killed after watching a television show or playing a MurderSimulator, they want revenge or justice on the show or game that was watched or played, on the writers, on the producers or developers, on channels who broadcast the show or stores that sell the game, anyone who had advertised in the production or promoted the show or game, [[OverusedRunningGag on other similar shows and games, similar genres, books and films that are similar, musicians that had their songs used or have similar music, fans who had watched any of these shows, or films, or played any of these games, or listened to any of this music...]]
** A similar demand made by these groups is that gun manufacturers and sellers should be prosecuted if the people they sell guns to commit suicide, rape, murder, etc. with their products. The fact is that U.S. laws don't necessarily hew to this trope, and immunize manufacturers from being sued for criminal misuse of their products. Other manufacturers who make things that can easily kill people, even when working exactly as they should, are given the same protection (for example, you can't sue the makers of Prestone because a BlackWidow poisoned her husband with it, or go after General Motors because a maniac used one of their trucks to plow onto a busy sidewalk). On the other end, a seller can only face charges if they knowingly sell to someone who is legally prohibited from purchasing or owning weapons, such as a convicted felon.

* One of the reasons Jews were discriminated against for many centuries in Christian-dominated societies was the belief that Jews were responsible for Jesus' crucifixion (never mind that Jesus himself was Jewish, and the circumstances of his death and resurrection form the central tenets of ''Christianity itself!'').

* A major point of contention between the SpaceWolves and the Inquisition in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. After the First War for Armageddon, the Inquisition decided that the Guardsmen and civilians who'd fought might be corrupted by Chaos (or start [[ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow talking about what they'd seen about Chaos]]), and enacted a mass sterilization and forced labor program for the civilians and shot down the [[SinkTheLifeboats Guard transports]]. This did not sit well with the SpaceWolves, who had fought alongside these men and women, and took it upon themselves to rescue all those that they could without opening fire on Inquisitorial ships. The Inquisition failed to take the hint and almost started a civil war with the Wolves.

* From the very beginning, ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'' makes a large deal out of the fact that various parties are trying to kill the female protagonist Lynne. At one point, the BigBad tries to frame her for murder. Why? [[spoiler:Back when she was a child, he was fleeing the police when he came across her playing in the park, so he took her as a hostage. If she hadn't been there, he would have never gone that far. Therefore she was partially responsible for ruining his life, even though it was ''his'' choice to take her hostage from the cops that were ''already'' chasing him.]]
* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXIII'' has Hope. During his character arc, he blames his mother’s death on Snow, who in fact saved her life and tried to dissuade her from leaving her child to take up arms, instead of the military that not only sentenced her to death in the first place but fired upon and killed her.

** A similar demand made by these groups is that gun manufacturers and sellers should be prosecuted if the people they sell guns to commit suicide, rape, murder, etc. The fact is that U.S. laws don't necessarily hew to this trope, and immunize manufacturers from being sued for criminal misuse of their products. Other manufacturers who make things that can easily kill people, even when working exactly as they should, are given the same protection (for example, you can't sue the makers of Prestone because a BlackWidow poisoned her husband with it, or go after GM because a maniac used one of their trucks to plow onto a busy sidewalk). On the other end, a seller can only face charges if they knowingly sell to someone who is legally prohibited from purchasing or owning weapons, such as a convicted felon.

* One of the reasons Jews were discriminated against for many centuries in Christian-dominated societies was the belief that Jews were responsible for Jesus' crucifixion (never mind that Jesus himself was Jewish, and the circumstances of his death and resurrection form the central tenets of ''Christianity itself!'')

** A similar demand made by these groups is that gun manufacturers and sellers should be prosecuted if the people they sell guns to commit suicide, murder, rape, murder, etc. The fact is that U.S. laws don't necessarily hew to this trope, and immunize manufacturers from being sued for criminal misuse of their product. Other manufacturers who make things that can easily kill people, even when working exactly as they should, are given the same protection (for example, you can't sue the makers of Prestone because a BlackWidow used it to poison her husband, or go after General Motors because a maniac used one of their trucks to plow onto a busy sidewalk). On the other end, a seller can only face charges if they knowingly sell to someone who is legally prohibited from purchasing or owning weapons, such as a convicted felon.
* One of the reasons Jews were discriminated against for many centuries in Christian-dominated societies was the belief that Jews were responsible for Jesus' crucifixion (never mind that Jesus himself was Jewish!)

* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'': After Rachel dies, Harvey Dent confronts the people that he felt were responsible for her death, starting with SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker, the actual killer. The madman wins the coin toss and gets to live, so Harvey goes after the mob men and crooked cops he used to carry out his plan. The last person he targets is Commissioner Gordon, whose laissez-faire attitude toward the corruption in his department made the Joker's plan possible. But instead of taking it out on Gordon, [[RevengeByProxy Harvey attempts to kill his son]], in order to make Gordon feel the pain of losing a loved one like with Dent with Rachel. It should be noted, however, that before going after Gordon [[spoiler: he got half-blown-up by the Joker and was driven insane by it.]]

!!Examples:

* ''CSINewYork'': The Compass Killer. Driven insane from the grief and the brain damage that ensued from a madman entering his office and blowing away everybody inside with a shotgun (including his wife) before killing himself, architect Hollis Eckhart started killing everybody that had anything to do with it. The guy who sold the madman the gun, the shrink that didn't diagnose the shooter as an unstable man, the guard that didn't search the shooter thoroughly... and himself, for putting his wife in danger. It didn't helped in any way at all that the madness which made him decide to perform these acts also made him identify innocent people as those that were the targets of his vengeance.

* ''VideoGame/MuramasaTheDemonBlade'': In the PS Vita UpdatedRelease's DLC, Miike the nekomata starts killing everyone even remotely connected to her owner's murder, down to the servants who work for her enemy's clan.

* A major point of contention between the SpaceWolves and the Inquisition in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. After the First War for Armageddon, the Inquisition decided that the Guardsmen and civilians who'd fought might be corrupted by Chaos (or start [[ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow talking about what they'd seen about Chaos]]), and enacted a mass sterilization and forced labor program for the civilians and shoot down the [[SinkTheLifeboats Guard transports]]. This did not sit well with the SpaceWolves, who had fought alongside these men and women, and took it upon themselves to rescue all those that they could without opening fire on Inquisitorial ships. The Inquisition failed to take the hint and almost started a civil war with the Wolves.
* In the first book of Literature/TheSaxonStories, Ragnar tracks a man who betrayed him and attempted to murder his adopted son to a monastery. The bishop there tries to explain that the man is dying from his wounds and that anyone who seeks protection at a church is entitled to it. Ragnar grows more and more furious at the priest sheltering a man who betrayed his lord and attempted to murder a teenage boy, until he eventually decides that the priest and church must be evil if they allow evil men to take shelter, and slaughters the bishop, the rest of the monastery, and the man in question.