History UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom / LiveActionTV

* Plenty of this in ''Series/{{Doomwatch}}'', unsurprisingly. For instance in the debut episode a laboratory is developing a solvent designed to destroy plastic waste. The solvent gets onto the pen of the Minister's secretary, which she later used to sign a cheque for her cousin who was an airline stewardess, transferring the solvent onto the plane and causing it to crash. Later a member of Doomwatch investigating the crash unwittingly carries the solvent onto another aircraft, putting it in jeopardy as well. When the Minister says his secretary never went into the research lab, Dr. Quist proves that the Minister himself carried it out on his dictaphone which he then handed to the secretary to be transcribed. Realising the press and political opposition will end his career [[ShameIfSomethingHappens if this gets out]], the Minister defers a public test of the solvent and agrees to be more cooperative about sharing information with Doomwatch so they can do their job properly.

* Plenty of this in ''Series/{{Doomwatch}}'', unsurprisingly. For instance in the pilot episode a Minister's secretary uses her pen in a laboratory developing a solvent designed to destroy plastic waste. Somehow the solvent got onto the pen, which she later used to sign a cheque for her cousin who was an airline stewardess, transferring the solvent onto the plane and causing it to crash. Later a member of Doomwatch investigating the crash unwittingly carries the solvent onto another aircraft, putting it in jeopardy as well.

*** Then again, that war led to the further entrenching of the alliance between the Federations and the Klingons, a revolution against the Cardassian military leadership, peaceful relations with the Romulans, and internal reforms in the Dominion. In the long run the galaxy may be better off, but at what cost?

** In one episode, the detectives are investigating the rape and murder of a woman who fled her abusive husband. They find that she was working as a stripper and quit after recognizing one of her neighbors as a customer. Said neighbor promptly told her husband, unaware of what kind of man he really was, and the man tracked his wife down and killed her.

** Mr. Gold's [[KickTheSonOfABitch pursuit for revenge at the end of Season 3]] winds up severing the ties with that arc's BigBad and her AmplifierArtifact. This results in the magic triggering her [[spoiler:TimeTravel spell which got Emma and Hook trapped in the past where they, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero along with several other things]], end up bringing with them a golden urn that spills over, leading to the release of Elsa and the first half of Season 4's plot]].

*** And within ''Better Call Saul'' itself, there are a few unwitting instigators who set Saul, then known as Jimmy [=McGill=] down his path to becoming an AmoralAttorney and a literal criminal lawyer, namely an unnamed con artist whose "advice" to a young Jimmy about "wolves and sheep" and Jimmy's own GoodIsDumb and gullible father who fell for that aforementioned con artist's grift. His AllofOlderBrother also shares a good amount of the blame as well.

** Hank Schrader just wanted to show his brother-in-law about a basic day at his job. He accidentally ended up creating ''Heisenberg''.
** Walt letting [[spoiler: Jane die]] causes her father's deep depression which he worsens when [[spoiler: he accidentally causes a ''mid-air collision'' leading to deaths of hundreds of people.]]
** Similarly, Walt's AlcoholInducedIdiocy when he ''could'' have let Gale take the fall for being Heisenberg bites him really hard when [[spoiler: Hank fully devotes his resources into investigating Gus, which Walt desperately tries to avoid by causing an accident which almost ''kills both of them''.]]
** Jesse's insistence on revenge regarding the murder of his girlfriend's brother leads to [[spoiler: Gale's death after Gus deems Walt dangerous, which leads to Brock getting poisoned, Gus's death and his business collapsing, as well as Mike's death.]]

** Skyler giving away Walt's money to Ted to cover their tracks leads to [[spoiler: Walt's emergency plan to poison Brock to bring Jesse back to his side and kill Gus.]]
** Gale's involvement in Pollos Hermanos becomes this as [[spoiler: he is killed by Jesse, his trail makes Hank investigate Gus which leads to his death, as well as Gale's gift to Walt busting him at an inopportune moment.]]
** As Saul brings up in his [[Series/BetterCallSaul spin-off]], almost ''every'' entry of the above can be traced back to him being hired to help Walt and Jesse out in bailing out Badger, since he ends up being the key to introducing Walt to Gus and all the problems that followed, starting from [[spoiler:Gus' last-minute deal that led to Walt withholding Jesse's half of the money, leading to Jane blackmailing Walt and subsequently Walt letting Jane die...]]
*** And within ''Better Call Saul'' itself, there are a few unwitting instigators who set Saul, then known as Jimmy [=McGill=] down his path, namely an unnamed con artist whose "advice" to a young Jimmy about "wolves and sheep" and Jimmy own GoodIsDumb and gullible father who fell for that aforementioned con artist's grift.

** By never going public with the Mad King's plan to destroy King's Landing with wildfire, Jaime left the door open for Cersei to eventually find and employ it herself. Hundreds if not thousands of people died along with a good chunk of the city, all because he kept silent.

** His Caligula tendencies aside, Joffrey's insistence on trying to embarrass Tyrion just before he died of poison provided the perfect excuse to blame Tyrion of the crime, since he quite literally put the poisoned goblet in Tyrion's hand. This in turn leads to the complete upheaval of local politics when his mother badly mishandles things and drives Tyrion into the employ of Daenerys, which the various houses of Westeros will no doubt regret when she makes her way back.
** Tyrion Lannister:

* A particularly heartbreaking episode of ''Series/ColdCase'' gave us a girl who had a crush on the VictimOfTheWeek, who was a mentally-challenged teenager. One day alone in class, she tried to kiss him when her meathead boyfriend walked in and she lied and said ''he'' tried to sexually assault ''her'' so that she wouldn't get a "bad reputation", which essentially caused him to be beaten up by the said boyfriend and his gang of thugs (as well as his only friend, who was embarrassed by him), her parents deciding to file charges against him, him ending up in an institute instead where, due to his alleged sexual deviance, is in the worst tier of the facility where the care for the patients is horrifyingly neglectful, quite frankly. In addition to this, the boy's loving mother (and one of only two people at this point who gave a damn about him) is dying of cancer as all of this is occurring, the boy's [[JerkAss father won't take care of him because of his mental status]] and the boy's [[spoiler:caregiver, who was also dating the mother, takes him from the institute and [[TearJerker rather than have him live a life of loneliness and neglect, has him run over by a train.]]]] In present day, the girl FINALLY realizes the effect of her actions and is remorseful, but it's still too little, ''way'' too late.

** [[FriendToAllChildren Emu Hojo]]/''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' is the sweetest one out [[LackOfEmpathy the]] [[DoctorJerk Doctor]] [[StepfordSmiler riders]] and overally one of the nicest people in the series. Unfortunately, this causes a [[DisasterDominoes messy]] chain of events more than once. He sent fanmail to his idol. This pushed said idol of the [[StartOfDarkness deep end]] and kickstarted the series's events. He was a lonely child and wished for an ImaginaryFriend. This wish materialized as PsychopathicManchild EnemyWithin / EnemyWithout Pallad. This, along with [[HurtingHero many]] [[TheWoobie other]] [[IronWoobie things]], makes him one of the most tragic Kamen Riders of the franchies.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': In "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E5AVileHungerForYourHammeringHeart A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart]]", Louis de Pointe du Lac dejectedly wanders around New Orleans for years sending out telepathic messages meant for Claudia, in the hopes that she will hear him apologize and return home. The messages end up reaching an unintended target: a vampire called Bruce, who becomes aware of and intrigued by the existence of Claudia, and begins to stalk her, culminating in a [[ImpliedRape heavily implied sexual assault]].

* In murder mystery ''Series/HarpersIsland'', nine-year-old Madison is kidnapped by the AxCrazy BigBad, John Wakefield. When rescued, she goes along with the lies Wakefield told her to tell the others -- specifically that it was the Sheriff who kidnapped her. ''Even though she knew that Wakefield was evil.'' This gets several people killed.

* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': "In "Lord of the Tides", Princess Rhaenyra unknowingly destroys Westeros' last chance to avoid the [[SuccessionCrisis Dance of]] [[CivilWar the Dragons]] by asking her dying father, King Viserys, an innocent question at the wrong time. [[spoiler:Specifically, she asks him if it is indeed true, as he had told her, about Aegon the Conqueror's prophetic dream that one day their family would have to unite the realm against a terrible threat from the north. However, Viserys is doped up to the eyeballs and doesn't know who she is, let alone what she's talking about. Much later, after he's recovered long enough to persuade the various vying factions to seemingly put their differences aside -- for his sake if not the realm's -- Viserys remembers the conversation in his last few minutes of life, and says that it is indeed true about Aegon and [[TheChosenOne the Prince that was Promised]]. Unfortunately the person now with him is not Rhaenyra, but her stepmother Queen Alicent, who, knowing nothing of the context of his words, misunderstands what he's saying and is left believing her husband's dying wish was that their son Prince Aegon, not Rhaenyra, should succeed him.]]

* Halfway through Season 3 of ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', Simmons kills [[spoiler:Carter]] in revenge for the fall of HR. This causes Reese to go into a TenMinuteRetirement, requiring Fusco to track him down and drag him back to New York. This leaves Team Machine critically understaffed during their next case, while allows Decima to get a hold of the source code of the Samaritan AI, which would become the BigBad of the next two seasons. That's right: a revenge murder by a DirtyCop at the wrong moment nearly caused the entire world to be taken over by an evil supercomputer.

* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'': Logan Delos brought William to Westworld which set a chain of events where William becomes obsessed with Dolores and abandons Logan in the middle of the park, leading to his mental breakdown and drug addiction. Later, William buys the park which edges out Ford who becomes cynical about the guests' worst behavior. This culminates Ford's plan to free the Hosts in retaliation against humanity with Dolores getting out of the park, shutting down Rehoboam, and causing chaos to the entire world. Logan's simple gesture for William led to the rise of the Hosts with humanity on the brink of destruction.