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| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
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| 6 | ->''"The Council was divided. Mine was the deciding vote. They killed him. I was furious. I never knew myself capable of such rage. All I could see was death."'' |
| 7 | -->-- '''Delenn''', ''Series/BabylonFive'' |
| 8 | |
| 9 | A Tragedy of Impulsiveness is when something terrible is caused by someone's impetuousness or irrational impatience at exactly the wrong moment. This trope's power comes from the fact that [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot if characters had thought before they acted, the tragedy could have been avoided]]. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | From [[WindmillCrusader seeing enemies where there are none]], to [[EmptySwimmingPoolDive jumping in a swimming pool before checking for water]], to [[WhatDoesThisButtonDo messing with]] the {{Big Red Button}}s on the MadScientist's machines, acting without considering consequences can cause catastrophic calamities. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | This is most likely to be caused by LeeroyJenkins, or any HotBlooded character in general. If the character is normally more stable, chances are this happens during a MomentOfWeakness or when he's being BlindedByRage. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Related to TragicMistake, GreenEyedMonster, ThirdActMisunderstanding, PlethoraOfMistakes, DistressBall, CycleOfRevenge, AttentionDeficitOohShiny, and NiceJobBreakingItHero. See also FawltyTowersPlot, which is this trope's comic cousin--caused by (often impulsively) compounding lies, and blowing up in the liar's face (typically causing embarrassment rather than death or suchlike). Can overlap with TheSociopath, as sociopaths are known for their poor impulse control, which often leads to their misfortune or downfall. |
| 16 | ---- |
| 17 | !!Examples: |
| 18 | |
| 19 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 20 | |
| 21 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 22 | * ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'': With FantasticRacism against Digimon running rampant, Mimi impulsively decides to fight a rampaging Ogremon in front of the press, hoping to prove to the world that not all Digimon are bad. Unfortunately, during the fight, Togemon accidentally shoots down a news helicopter, which only ends up making public opinion against Digimon even worse. |
| 23 | * ''Manga/ElfenLied'': Even after being explicitly told ''only'' to track [[VillainProtagonist Lucy]] down and ''not'' to engage her, Nana decides to try and take Lucy down herself in the hopes of [[WellDoneSonGuy making Kurama proud]]. The end result: Lucy [[AnArmAndALeg tears off all of her limbs one by one]]. |
| 24 | * ''Manga/FruitsBasket'': In the backstory, it turns out Kagura is indirectly responsible for [[spoiler:the death of Kyo's mother. Wanting to try on his bead bracelet, Kagura forcibly took it against his will, only to find out the hard way that it was a RestrainingBolt keeping his true form, a [[PunishedWithUgly monstrous, foul-smelling beast]], in check. Kagura immediately ran away in fear, which caused Kyo's mother to keep him isolated until the stress of raising and hiding her "monstrous" son, coupled with her husband's [[DomesticAbuse emotional abuse]], [[DrivenToSuicide drove her to suicide]].]] |
| 25 | * ''Literature/GarbageBrave'' has the circumstances of Tsukuru. Summoned, along with the rest of his class, they are all sold off to various countries, to battle numerous "Demon kings." Tsukuru's main skill being [Cooking]. Rather than ask about his sub-skills, ''all'' the bidders demand he be taken off the stage, so he's shoved through a gate, supposedly to a random country. Instead, he winds up in a stupidly overleveled dungeon, to be LeftForDead, filling him with a desire for bloody vengeance against everyone involved. |
| 26 | * The first half of ''Anime/GundamBuildDiversReRise'' is caused by Kazami. When he, Hiroto, May and Parviz get Freddie's call for help, his need to show off and be loved shunts the four into what they think is a secret mission within the game. They help the Resistance fight off the mysterious One-Eyes and they confront the BigBad, Alus. During this, Kazami, ''still'' thinking this is a game despite the fact that both May and Hiroto realizing something is not right, blurts out where the Resistance is located. [[spoiler:Alus proceeds to use his KillSat to effectively ''nuke the Resistance from existence'' and the four realize that they weren't in a game anymore.]] |
| 27 | * ''Anime/HealinGoodPrettyCure'': Because [[spoiler:she wanted to protect the infected sculptures in episode 10, Cure Grace, rather than fighting together with her fellow Cures like Rabotin explicitly alarmed her to, rushes to attack the Megabjögen all by herself, ending up worsening the attack and get Latte even sicker. Of course, by the next episode, Grace manages to redeem herself by helping fight off the remains Megabjögen.]] |
| 28 | * In ''Manga/HeavensLostProperty'' Sugata's backstory has him deciding not to do a safety check on [[spoiler:his brother's hang glider after they get into an argument]]. Naturally, it was the one day that a screw was loose. |
| 29 | * ''Literature/TheHeroIsOverpoweredButOverlyCautious'': The titular hero's cautiousness is due to his past experience with this kind of tragedy. [[spoiler:When Aria summoned him to Ixphoria, Seiya tried to defeat the demon army as quickly as possible so that the people of the world won't have to suffer longer than necessary. While he has noble intentions, his lack of preparation gets him and his party killed by Ixphoria's Demon Lord, who uses one of his secret skills to revive himself. If Seiya had taken the time to research the Demon Lord's weaknesses and prepare accordingly, he would have won and not suffer the thought of his beloved and their unborn daughter getting devoured.]] |
| 30 | * This is how [[StarterVillain Raynare]] got herself killed off in the first arc of ''Literature/HighSchoolDXD''. Bored with the scouting role she'd been assigned, she decided to kill her quarry in the cruelest way possible for a laugh before focusing on her side project. If she'd stopped to think about ''why'' her top boss cared so much about a kid with "just" a Twice Critical, she might have changed her priorities - stealing Twilight Healing was nice, but [[StoryBreakerPower Boosted Gear]] is so much better, and her actions put her on the wrong end of it. |
| 31 | * ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': |
| 32 | ** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'': Pucci's StartOfDarkness began after [[spoiler:he discovered Weather Report, his long-lost brother is the man dating his sister and out of concern for her safety, hired thugs in an attempt to break them up, which instead led to Perla taking her own life]]. |
| 33 | ** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'': Johnny was besieged by his father to kill his pet mouse, he instead let it go free, but later, his brother Nicholas died in a race when Danny ran by and scared his horse. |
| 34 | * ''Anime/KillLaKill'': After Ryuko learns that [[spoiler:she is infused with Life Fibers, just like her biological mother [[BigBad Ragyo]]]], [[GoMadFromTheRevelation she begins to lose her mind]] [[SanitySlippage so much]] that she cuts all ties with everyone, including Senketsu, losing her ability to listen to reason as a result. When Ragyo and Nui lure Ryuko into go to Honnouji Academy, Ryuko makes the decision to go by herself. If she had listened to Mikisugi's warnings that it was a trap, and reconsider her sudden resentment towards Senketsu in the first place instead of blaming him for what happened, Ryuko wouldn't have been captured and forced to wear Junketsu, which turned her BrainwashedAndCrazy. After finally managing to break free, Ryuko admits to her allies that she really should have done things with a more clear head. |
| 35 | * ''Anime/MouryouNoHako'': The whole plot wouldn't have happened, [[spoiler:if Yoriko hadn't shoved Kanako]]. And half of the plot wouldn't have happened if [[spoiler:Amemiya hadn't stolen the box]]. |
| 36 | * ''Anime/SakuraWars2000'': After getting off on the wrong foot with the other members of the Imperial Flower Combat Troupe in the first episode, Sakura, rather than wait for them to calm down and apologize like Yoneda explicitly warned her to, rushes in and tries to patch things up right away, ending up ruining an interview Sumire was having and heavily damaging the [[AMechByAnyOtherName Kobu]], which leads Sumire to [[DownerEnding throw her out of the team completely]]. Of course, by the next episode, Sakura manages to redeem herself by helping fight off a demon attack. |
| 37 | * In ''Manga/TrashSkillGacha'', Duke Bahurst throws a public tantrum, accusing his youngest son Crest of lying about a prophetic dream involving his god-given skill because he couldn't use it right away. This is bad enough in itself, but rather than keep his promise of a one-week cool-off period to Ellis, the boy's former fiancée from another duke house, the duke summarily exiles Crest to the [Lower World], a near certain death-sentence, because he sees the kid as a murderer who escaped justice by daring to survive his mother's DeathByChildbirth. The very next day, this bites him in the face when he's summoned before the king and hears the pope had a prophetic dream that confirms what Crest said, and that Crest's skill will be needed to deal with an incoming horde of monsters. Cue an epic OhCrap |
| 38 | [[/folder]] |
| 39 | |
| 40 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 41 | * ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'': The "Home Schooling" arc starts off with Victor Mancha deciding to hack a Russian computer in order to steal music files, all in hopes of impressing Nico so that she'd take him back. His actions result in a drone crashing into the Runaways' house, killing Old Lace and causing poor Klara Prast to go berserk with terror, trapping everyone inside the wreckage of the house with her vines. The crash also attracts a paramilitary unit to their house, some of whom are accidentally killed by Klara. And finally, Chase's shady uncle shows up, because it turns out the house belongs to him. The Runaways are thus once again forced to... run away. |
| 42 | * ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': |
| 43 | ** In ''ComicBook/WarWorld'', super-villain Mongul kidnaps three of Superman's friends to force the Man of Steel to retrieve an artifact guarded by the Martians. Superman was so worried about his friends and so certain that he could thwart Mongul that he fought ComicBook/MartianManhunter rather than explaining his plight so both heroes could come up with a plan (although, to be fair, J'onn didn't even consider to work together either). |
| 44 | ** In ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'', ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} decided the best and quickest way to help a [[Characters/GLRedLanternCorps Red Lantern]] get her mind back was taking a tank of lake blood and ripping it open over the city that Sheko was in. Unfortunately, Atrocitus was present, and he took control of the blood rain, making it into a tornado. Supergirl tried to fix the blood storm, igniting it with her heat vision... and unintentionally setting the city on fire. Her teammates angrily said that she had to learn to think before acting. |
| 45 | ** Invoked in ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl''. After finding out about [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]]'s kidnapping, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} decides to fly to Gotham, ignoring ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}'s ban on superhumans. ComicBook/WonderWoman tries to warn her against being impulsive: |
| 46 | --->'''Wonder Woman:''' No. Let her go. She needs to learn that there can be painful consequences to rash actions. |
| 47 | ** In a ''ComicBook/Supergirl2005'' tie-in issue for the ''ComicBook/AmazonsAttack'' storyline, in where the Amazons went to war against the US, Supergirl and ComicBook/WonderGirl suddenly come up with a "brilliant" plan to end the war: kidnapping the President and bringing him to Queen Hyppolita to engage in peace talks with her. Predictably, their plan went awry: the Amazons shot the Air Force One down and almost killed the President, and Kara and Cassie's reputations suffered a severe blow. After fending an Amazon squad off, Kara flies to New York to help, although Cassie points out that acting without thinking got them into that mess. |
| 48 | --->'''Wonder Girl:''' But we were only trying to--\ |
| 49 | '''Supergirl:''' Doesn't matter. I have to make up for this somehow, before it's too late. I have to balance the scales.\ |
| 50 | '''Wonder Girl:''' How? By flying off half-cocked again, after what we just did...?\ |
| 51 | '''Supergirl:''' I can't do nothing, Cassie! |
| 52 | ** In ''ComicBook/TheLastDaysOfSuperman'', Clark Kent nearly gets killed because Jimmy Olsen was so eager and impatient to open a strange alien casket and find out the contents that he did not even think of taking basic precautions, as moving it to a safe environment. |
| 53 | [[/folder]] |
| 54 | |
| 55 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 56 | !!!''{{Crossover}}s'' |
| 57 | * ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has Harry being unfortunately prone to this in the first book and at the start of the second. |
| 58 | ** In the first case (in chapter 70 of the first book), Daken provokes him into forgetting that he's a GlassCannon and attacking him and the HYDRA assault force head-on. Harry, enraged beyond belief by [[spoiler: Luna's]] death, takes the bait and nearly manages to power his way through... then Daken [[spoiler: kills]] him. However, he gets away with 'only' significant trauma for this one as his protection comes from the Phoenix. In other words, woe unto Daken. After that, he wises up, in terms [[CombatPragmatist more pragmatic fighting]]. |
| 59 | ** In the second case, in ''Forever Red'', Harry gambles everything on [[spoiler:following an uncertain Maddie back into the Red Room and talking her into a HeelFaceTurn]]. This goes horribly wrong: it turns the world upside down and nearly drives him insane. From then on, he's sealed as an ApocalypseMaiden and so hideously traumatized that he spends the rest of the book [[MentalHealthRecoveryArc coming to terms with it]]. |
| 60 | * ''Fanfic/ContractLabor'': Motoko overhears Kitsune on the phone with Haruka. Based on [[OutOfContextEavesdropping Kitsune's side of the conversation]], she leaps to the worst possible conclusion: that Keitaro assaulted Naru. She promptly ambushes him upon his return, in full PervertRevengeMode, only to get knocked out cold by Kanako. Had she actually bothered ''asking'' Kitsune first, she would have learned that Keitaro had actually ''saved'' Naru from being kidnapped, and wouldn't have set her subsequent HumiliationConga into motion, as she's expelled from the Hinata Inn and loses her status as HeirToTheDojo. |
| 61 | * In ''Fanfic/EchoesOfYesterday'', Victoria Dallon sees what she believes is a dealer peddling drugs and she attacks him right away rather than wait and assess the situation. It's only after crippling the man she finds out he's an undercover cop and she's just busted an operation of the local anti-narcotics brigade. |
| 62 | * ''Fanfic/FantasyOfUtterRidiculousness'': [[WesternAnimation/MegasXLR Megas's]] fight against [[Franchise/TouhouProject Yuuka]] in the Extra Stage is due to the latter incorrectly believing that Coop had damaged several flowers in the Garden of the Sun, thus triggering her primary BerserkButton. Due to her rashness, [[spoiler:said Garden is mostly reduced to a giant crater by story's end, something which almost pushes her over the edge]]. |
| 63 | * ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainMelancholyAfterlife'': Chloe finds herself in a Catch22Dilemma where she can't become a trainer without a Pokémon, but her father won't let her have one until she becomes a trainer. She decides to try and resolve this herself by going out and catching one on her own, without waiting for Goh, Ash, or somebody else to accompany her. This leads to the Spearow Incident, which leads in turn to the chain of events that lands her on the Train in the ''[[Fanfic/InfinityTrainBoilingPoint Boiling Point]]'' universe. |
| 64 | * ''Fanfic/LastChildOfKrypton'': After [[spoiler:Gendo almost got his best friend killed during the Bardiel disaster]], Shinji resolves to stop Gendo and rallies several of his friends. Kaji is against it because he thinks that fighting Gendo there and now is a bad, dumb idea, and he thinks Shinji is being too impulsive and hasty, but he joins them anyway. Unfortunately, Gendo was prepared for their arrival, their assault failed, and [[spoiler:Maya lost an arm]]. Later Kaji rebuked Shinji for its impulsiveness. |
| 65 | * ''Fanfic/LegacyOfTheEnginseers'': When Sophia claims that Taylor deliberately attacked her because she is a Ward, the PRT takes her word (and that of Sophia's high school principal) at face value and promptly declare Taylor a villain, force her father to sign over guardianship over her and out Taylor on live TV under threats of Taylor being under a Kill Order, and Piggot crafts a draconian contract that would essentially put Taylor under something akin to slavery. Then Taylor publishes mountains of proof that not only was ''she'' the actual victim of Sophia's attacks, but also that Sophia had been brutally bullying her for more than a year and that none of the adults meant to stop this did anything. End result: any chance of Taylor having a normal life is completely destroyed, she is forced to escape to Mars to avoid both the Protectorate and the gangs - all of which are intent in forcibly recruiting her, Sophia is arrested and trialed for triggering a massive manhunt and the Protectorate and PRT lose a lot of reputation for their disproportionate actions against a teenage girl who was the victim of someone they were meant to keep restrained. |
| 66 | * ''Fanfic/TheLittleStark'': The story opens with one such act, as an eight-year-old Ariel decides to sneak into Ursula's domain and peek into her cave, just to satisfy her own childish curiosity. Ursula catches her in the act and turns her into a human, forcing her to desperately swim for the surface before she drowns. |
| 67 | * ''Fanfic/{{Snakeskins}}'': |
| 68 | ** Rose deciding to jump back to the spider's nest has a heavy cost, as [[spoiler:Charlie]] pays with their life and [[spoiler:Scorpious]] [[AnArmAndALeg loses a leg]]. |
| 69 | ** The death of [[spoiler:Soren]] was also caused by James' recklessness and {{Barbaric Bully}}ing, as he didn't consider how his tricks could turn out to be fatal. |
| 70 | * In ''Fanfic/WeightOfTheWorld'', Ruby impulsively jumps into a fight between [[spoiler:Japan and Neo]], despite being ordered to stay out of it and the fact that [[spoiler:Japan was winning]]. Because of her recklessness, [[spoiler:Neo is able to cut out Ruby's eye. Ruby falls unconscious because of her injury, which means she doesn't activate Silver Eyes, thus leaving the [[EnemySummoner Grimm Dragon]] unfrozen and free to spawn more Grimm in Beacon]]. |
| 71 | |
| 72 | !!!''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' |
| 73 | * ''Fanfic/ATheoryOfButterfliesAndOtherInsects'': After spending nearly a month locked up in Toad Tower, health gradually worsening due to the toads not knowing what sort of nutritional needs humans have, Marcy is so desperate to escape that she seizes the first opportunity that she sees, [[spoiler:attracting the herons passing by the tower by making a racket and mimicking a mating call]]. This has ''massive'' ramifications for everyone there, as [[spoiler:the toads suffer heavy casualties, and Grime uses this to {{Blackmail}} her into working for him on pain of revealing how she was responsible for the incident]]. |
| 74 | |
| 75 | !!!''Franchise/DanganRonpa'' |
| 76 | * ''Fanfic/DanganRonpaAssassinatingFriendship'': ''Junk Hand, Hoping for a Flush'' features a series of these, as [[spoiler:the surviving Madarai siblings]] target one of the other survivors, thinking they're the Agent of Despair. This causes the death of [[spoiler:Sasshiki Madarai]], and Nagito impulsively [[spoiler:abandons [=K1-B0=] for his CrimeOfSelfDefense]]. This, in turn, spirals into a bloody confrontation where both sides are convinced the other ''must'' be the Agent of Despair. |
| 77 | |
| 78 | !!!''Franchise/TheDCU'' |
| 79 | * In ''Fanfic/HereThereBeMonsters'', Billy gets unusually angry at Mary and Freddy because they look more concerned with their relationship's issues than with investigating whatever Doctor Sivana is currently up to, so he decides to fly to Venus and attack Sivana's base without their help. He gets beaten and captured. |
| 80 | |
| 81 | !!!''Franchise/HarryPotter'' |
| 82 | * In ''[[https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-29273-51/cmdruhura+Off+The+Top+Of+My+Head.htm But Verify]]'', Harry learns Hermione's been getting paid two thousand galleons monthly for the last couple years from his vaults and immediately confronts her about it. Without giving Hermione a chance to defend herself, Harry furiously declares he never wants to see her again, forcing Hermione's magic to transport her away as he just accidentally set the terms for her Life Debt towards him. It's not until months later that Harry receives a letter from Hermione explaining she actually investigated things and found out that ''Dumbledore'' had set up the vault and deposited a single knut in it, started making the monthly transfers, and then transferred the money into his own vault. Harry alienated one of his best friends (along with her parents) because he went off half-cocked and didn't think things through. |
| 83 | |
| 84 | !!!''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' |
| 85 | * ''Fanfic/StitchingHearts'': A child Alfred breaks a promise to Matthew on the playground - the promise that he wouldn't take revenge on Matthew's bullies - and as a result, becomes distant from his brother and casts doubt all over his delicate relationship with Arthur. |
| 86 | |
| 87 | !!!''Franchise/KungFuPanda'' |
| 88 | * ''Fanfic/TheVow'': When Lord Shen [[JustThinkOfThePotential experiments obsessively on the warfare potential of black powder]], his parents consult [[{{Seers}} the Soothsayer]] who foretells Shen's downfall at the hands of a "Warrior of Black and White". Shen overhears this and proceeds to find pandas and massacre them, resulting in his exile, and years later, in his ultimate defeat. He never stops to consider that part of the prophecy which said that the Warrior of Black and White would defeat him ''if'' he continues the dark path he has chosen to fulfill his ambitions. |
| 89 | |
| 90 | !!!''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' |
| 91 | * ''Fanfic/{{Syngenesophobia}}'': When Lincoln calls his sisters out on how they didn't take ''him'' into account when planning out the Sister Fight Protocol, not even letting him access ''his own room'' and generally treating him like crap, they promptly ''snap'' and subject him to a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. By the time they realize what they're doing and stop themselves, it's already too late: Lincoln is bruised, battered, and ''terrified''. Lynn outright admits later that in the moment, she'd only cared about hurting him as much as possible. |
| 92 | |
| 93 | !!!''Manga/LoveHina'' |
| 94 | * ''Fanfic/AnAlternateKeitaroUrashima'': |
| 95 | ** While visiting the bakery Keitaro's parents run, Su thinks nothing of helping herself to some brownies without asking first. These turn out to be part of an important order, and Su's dismissive attitude towards the whole situation only [[DiggingYourselfDeeper makes matters worse]]. |
| 96 | ** Naru becomes a social pariah after she's witnessed impulsively [[spoiler:attacking Keitaro for the 'high crime' of talking to Mutsumi]]. |
| 97 | ** Mokoto draws her katana in public to threaten Keitaro, and the thoughtless act [[spoiler:is witnessed by the police, promptly getting her arrested]]. |
| 98 | ** In Chapter 16, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Naru and Makoto overreacted to Takaya trying to talk to Su about how uncomfortable she was making his sister. Assuming he ''must'' have been harassing her, they beat him badly enough to hospitalize him]]. |
| 99 | * ''Fanfic/ForHisOwnSake'': |
| 100 | ** When Naru is working at the Kuromitsu Inn, she attacks a man for supposedly "planning something perverted" with a woman he was with [[spoiler:who happens to be his wife]]. She later [[spoiler:gets arrested for assault]]. Even worse, the man she attacked [[spoiler:was a career adviser who was going to help her plan out her job path once she graduated from school, but that's [[NiceJobBreakingItHero now blown out of the water]]]]. |
| 101 | ** Su [[spoiler:unleashes an army of mecha-tamas upon the Kuromitsu Inn guests, directed to pursue and explode]], thinking that this would "cheer everyone up". All she does is cause trauma to all who were unwillingly pulled into her "game", then eventually [[spoiler:gets stopped and arrested by the police and Japanese Self-Defense Forces]]. To make it worse, [[spoiler:inspection of her room uncovers four nuclear reactors, mind control helmets, and other illegal technology, making it all but impossible to bargain for her release]]. And then it turns out [[spoiler:said technology entered Japan via Molmol's palace, severely cooling both countries' relationship]]. |
| 102 | |
| 103 | !!!''Franchise/MassEffect'' |
| 104 | * Repeatedly used in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12662796/1/The-Fourth-Council-Race The Fourth Council Race]]''. Turians shooting unknown ships on sight then destroying a small ship launching a "cyber attack" (actually humanity's first contact package) results in the First Contact War. The president of the United States refusing to join the new Systems Alliance because the USA wouldn't have control over it eventually leads to the country splintering into over half a dozen different countries. The Council fleet sent to stop the turians attacking a new race is sent through the relays in parade formation (flagship first) at Matriarch Benezia's insistence which results in the destruction of the human frigates closely monitoring said relay when they can't dodge in time. |
| 105 | |
| 106 | !!!''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' |
| 107 | * ''Fanfic/{{I See What You Do Behind Closed Doors|MiraculousLadybug}}'': Adrien decides to justify his [[BlatantLies claim]] that he was "too distracted by his thoughts" to [[BetrayalByInaction help Marinette deal with her bullies]] by confessing to her that he's Chat Noir. While he ''does'' briefly acknowledge what a huge risk he's taking, he immediately decides that it's WorthIt so that he can keep pretending that he's dating Ladybug... unaware that [[LovesMyAlterEgo he actually IS]]. And Marinette is decidedly ''not happy'' with him ignoring all her warnings about the importance of keeping their secret identities ''secret''... |
| 108 | * ''Fanfic/MarinetteDupainChengsSpitePlaylist'': When Nino suggests that Alya should consider stepping away from the Ladyblog for a while, in order to give herself time and distance to think about recent events, Alya instead impulsively decides to delete the whole thing outright. |
| 109 | * ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/42123138 Never to Be]]'' has a personal tragedy for Chat Noir: after learning that Ladybug is engaged, he rage quits, ducking around a corner and throwing his ring back her way. While this is purely heat of the moment, and he immediately regrets it, it's too late to take it back, and he realizes that he'd not only thrown away any chance of reconciling with her but wasn't able to say goodbye to Plagg. |
| 110 | * In ''Fanfic/OfPatienceAndPettiness'', Adrien comes to suspect that NewTransferStudent Eden is actually Ladybug, and impulsively accuses her of this in front of the whole class. Upon hearing this, Alya immediately turns on Eden, refusing to give her any chance to defend herself as she [[WhatTheHellHero rips into her]], demanding to know if [[WasItAllALie their friendship was fake]] and she was stringing her along the whole time. Their impulsive attack leads to Eden having a tearful breakdown [[spoiler:and her akumatization into Asian Beetle]]. |
| 111 | * ''Fanfic/{{Recklessness|MiraculousLadybug}}'' features Alya impulsively deciding that she should use a [[RealityWarpingIsNotAToy reality-warping Wish]] to [[MundaneUtility discover Hawkmoth's]] SecretIdentity. Despite knowing Marinette wouldn't approve, Alya attempts to steal the Ladybug Earrings and Black Cat Ring, leading to [[spoiler:Adrien getting akumatized and Marinette murdered]] -- consequences Alya [[NoSympathy brushes]] [[LackOfEmpathy off]] since she knows the Wish will just alter reality. However, she [[DidntThinkThisThrough fails to consider]] just ''how'' [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor her Wish might be fulfilled]]. |
| 112 | * ''Webcomic/ScarletLady'': |
| 113 | ** Alya's so keen to prove her theory that Marinette might be Scarlet Lady that she just can't wait long enough to ''ask'' her friend. So she takes advantage of how her bestie has given her the combination to her locker to access it, searching for proof... and is caught in the act by Chloé, who proceeds to get her slapped with a week's suspension. This leads to Alya getting akumatized into Lady Wifi and telling ''Hawkmoth'' who she thinks the heroine is. |
| 114 | ** When Marinette takes advantage of their "date" to snatch Evillustrator's stylus, he angrily declares that she's no better than [[TheBully Chloé]]. Marinette's so infuriated by the comparison that she impulsively approaches to call him out, giving him a chance to recover his stylus, trap her and Chat Noir, and escape. |
| 115 | ** Late in Season 5, [[Characters/ScarletLadyChloeBourgeois Chloé Bourgeois]] becomes so desperate to convince her mother that she's just as, if not even ''more'' "exceptional" than Marinette that she reveals [[spoiler:her secret identity to all of Paris]]. This costs her dearly, as it [[spoiler:shatters what remained of the BrokenPedestal Scarlet Lady was standing upon, as the public learns their {{Nominal Hero}}ine was willing to completely abandon them and demands she hand her Earrings over to the ''REAL'' heroes]]. |
| 116 | * ''Fanfic/VillainOfYourOwnStory'': Impulsiveness is one of Alya's {{Fatal Flaw}}s: |
| 117 | ** The moment she learns about [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor the Wish]], she ''immediately'' wants to use it, dismissing all warnings about how dangerous it is to use a [[RealityWarpingIsNotAToy reality-altering ability]] and insisting they just have to keep it simple... without thinking through [[JackassGenie all the ways]] [[ExactWords her phrasing could be interpreted]]. |
| 118 | ** AU Alya was so eager to prove herself an IntrepidReporter that she posted anything 'newsworthy' she heard about on her blog without checking her sources...including MaliciousSlander. This landed her in serious trouble, to the point her family was forced to move in hopes of giving her a fresh start in Paris. |
| 119 | ** When she gets her hands on the Butterfly Brooch, she's eager to become a real-life superhero...but disappointed to learn [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway Nooroo specializes in]] SuperEmpowering. So she impulsively decides to create a 'fake supervillain', becoming Hawk Moth in hopes of luring out heroes with more powerful Miraculi for her to steal and use for her ''own'' heroic debut. |
| 120 | * ''Fanfic/WeightOffYourShoulder'': When Ladybug informs Chat Noir that she suspects [[spoiler:Gabriel Agreste]] is Shadow Moth, her partner flies into a rage, refusing to hear out her reasoning and impulsively attacking her. This forces her to strip him of the Ring. Later, when Shadow Moth is unmasked and arrested, Adrien realizes she was right all along and that he screwed himself over by acting without thinking. |
| 121 | |
| 122 | !!!''Franchise/MyHeroAcademia'' |
| 123 | * ''Fanfic/{{Death Daggers|MHA}}'': While dealing with a SmugSnake who manipulates emotions, Izuku, Ochako, Tenya, and Shouto are so overcome with rage that once Ochako ensnares her would-be assailant with her powers, the boys encourage her to drop him from a great height. [[AssholeVictim He dies on impact]], [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone much to their immediate horror]]. |
| 124 | * ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/40192773 Disciplinary Action]]'' has Principal Nedzu muse about how this ''[[AvertedTrope doesn't apply]]'' to Katsuki's behavior during his training exercise. While reviewing the footage, he hears Katsuki [[EvilGloating gleefully proclaim]] that "I'll mess you up just enough not to be disqualified!", proving that he's not just caught up in the heat of the moment: he is both fully aware of how much damage he can potentially do to Izuku and actively '''intending''' to hurt him as much as possible without risking punishment. Naturally, this blatant declaration of intent to harm ensures that his KarmaHoudiniWarranty expires, as Nedzu has him [[spoiler:expelled from U.A]]. |
| 125 | * ''Fanfic/{{Haigha}}'': During the Sports Festival, Katsuki impulsively decides to attack Shinsou ''after'' their match has already ended, on live television. This spur-of-the-moment decision gets him [[spoiler:expelled from the Hero Course -- the only reason he isn't expelled outright is that Nedzu wants to prevent him from going full villain]]. |
| 126 | * Twice in ''Fanfic/HorizonStarDriven'': |
| 127 | ** First, All Might tries to arrest Izuku while the latter is testing out his HoverBoard, refusing to believe the boy made it himself. As All Might has already crushed one of Izuku's dreams, his actions cause the boy to accuse him of trying to make him suicidal. |
| 128 | ** Second, when Izuku is testing his new HoverBoard, Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady are given the go ahead to approach but attack Izuku without giving him a chance to explain, made worse by the fact everything he was doing was perfectly legal. Nedzu notes the two will likely be hearing all about it from their lawyers, especially since Izuku has video evidence. |
| 129 | * ''Fanfic/{{Think Before You Speak|MHA}}'': After his brother is injured by a training accident at U.A., Tensei vents to the media, SayingTooMuch and implicitly blaming one of Tenya's classmates. Not only does this get him into serious trouble for casting aspirations on a child, he only had secondhand information from Aizawa, who deliberately misled him about what happened, falsely blaming ''Midoriya'' as part of a scheme to boot the kid out of the Hero Course. Had Tensei only waited until Tenya could share his side of the story, or for his parents to discuss the matter with him before issuing their own statement, an awful lot of embarrassment and heartache could've been avoided. |
| 130 | * ''Fanfic/WhisperedTribulation'': Acting on circumstantial evidence, Aizawa and two of his coworkers [[WouldHurtAChild kidnap a student]] they [[MistakenForSpies suspect might be a mole]], with the intent of torturing a confession out of him. Principal Nedzu finds out and intervenes, and it's repeatedly stressed throughout the story that Aizawa's actions were uncalled for. |
| 131 | |
| 132 | !!!''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'' |
| 133 | * ''Fanfic/KitsuneNoKenFistOfTheFox'': |
| 134 | ** Naruto impulsively attacking Gaara one night kicked off the 365 days' chaos. |
| 135 | ** When Naruto rushes to rescue Hanabi from Mizuki's gang, he ends up [[spoiler:getting captured, held hostage, and nearly butchered by Akatsuki]]. Minato [[LampshadeHanging comments on this]] afterwards, while preparing to help him train. |
| 136 | ** This also plays a significant role in the BackStory. Nine years prior, [[spoiler:Jiraiya chose the wrong place to get frisky with an ambassador, triggering an ''accidental missile launch''. Desperate to cover his ass and avoid an international incident, Jiraiya lied, claiming the soldiers killed by this were terrorist sympathizers who got blown up by a weapon they were smuggling. Unfortunately, two of the people killed in this incident were Gaara's parents, and when he learned the AwfulTruth, he set out to get revenge on everyone responsible]]. |
| 137 | * ''Fanfic/{{What You Knead|Naruto}}'': Despite insisting that he's 'Konoha's best spymaster', Jiraiya has a terrible tendency to follow his worst impulses. When he's not [[DirtyOldMan indulging his vices]] -- something he frequently does on a whim, without considering the potential consequences -- he frequently acts on information that's faulty, incomplete, outdated, or just flat-out ''wrong''. Former friend and teammate Orochimaru gleefully [[FlawExploitation exploits this]], tricking him into [[spoiler:chasing false intelligence out of Konoha so that he won't interfere with his plans for the Chuunin Exams]]. |
| 138 | |
| 139 | !!!''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' |
| 140 | * In the ''Fanfic/{{Ancienverse}}'', Gladion's desperation to escape his mother's influence by any means necessary leads directly to the major loss the heroes suffer at the climax of ''Love in the Time of Trials''. |
| 141 | |
| 142 | !!!''Franchise/ASongOfIceAndFire'' |
| 143 | * ''Fanfic/TheBloodsOfBolton'': |
| 144 | ** When her brother Domeric grows ill, Drucilla forbids anyone from cutting off his legs to stop the spread of his infection, as she knows that horseback riding is his favorite thing in the whole world. Though she meant well, this ultimately seals his fate; had his legs been amputated, he probably would have survived. |
| 145 | ** {{Inverted|Trope}} when Drucilla sends out messages begging for help against Ramsay. While the higher lords see this as the impulsive act of a hysteric child, Sansa sympathizes with her and asks her parents to foster her at Winterfell. This thusly serves as a boon for House Bolton, as it provides her with a second chance to convince Robb Stark to wed her. |
| 146 | * ''Fanfic/{{Lyssophobia}}'': Rhaegar impulsively declares Lyanna to be the Queen of Love and Beauty, crowning her as such. Later, he decides to elope with her. Both of these decisions turn out to have deeply tragic consequences. |
| 147 | |
| 148 | !!!''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' |
| 149 | * ''Fanfic/IslandOfTheSlaughtered'': Duncan gets the group lost while looking for food; however, since so many of them were together, the Man wouldn't come after them. But when Noah insulted his navigational skills, Duncan led the group to toss Noah out and abandon him. Upon realizing this got Noah ''killed'', Duncan is left [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone guiltstricken]]. |
| 150 | |
| 151 | !!!''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' |
| 152 | * ''Fanfic/IfWeFallDown'': Chara and Asriel originally planned for the latter to absorb Chara's soul so he could pass through the barrier and convince humans that there was nothing to fear from monsters, so that they could collect the remaining six souls peacefully and without further violence. However, when Chara unexpectedly wakes up inside of Asriel, they decide to take their body up and lay it to rest among the golden flowers, thinking this would demonstrate his compassion. Instead, Asriel was [[MistakenForMurderer mistaken for their murderer]]. Then Chara noticed [[spoiler:Those People looking at their body before turning away, uncaring]], pushing them over the edge and making them abruptly decide on a ''new plan'' to [[spoiler:KillAllHumans, deeming them to be BeyondRedemption]]. |
| 153 | [[/folder]] |
| 154 | |
| 155 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 156 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'': In general, Merida tends to make decisions without thinking them over and it's one of the reasons for the conflict in the film. Her impatience and unwillingness to listen to Elinor's advice cause her to hire a witch for a fate-changing spell that transforms Elinor into a bear. |
| 157 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'': |
| 158 | ** Elena destroying Miguel's personal guitar to make an example of why the Riveras don't want music in the first place caused him to run away in hurt and anger, and then gave him the opportunity to steal Ernesto's guitar to participate in the talent contest. |
| 159 | ** Miguel's attempt to use Ernesto's guitar to participate in a talent contest ends up causing him to cross over into the Land of the Dead and steadily transform into a skeleton over time. |
| 160 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'': Anna asks for Elsa's blessing to marry Hans, [[FourthDateMarriage despite not having thought her decision through]]. After Anna starts talking about inviting his family over, Elsa, who secretly struggles with PowerIncontinence, panics and orders the castle gates closed again. This freaks out LockedOutOfTheLoop Anna, who says she [[GoMadFromTheIsolation can't take living in isolation]] anymore, and she tugs Elsa's hand as Elsa starts to leave, which makes one of Elsa's [[MagicFeather gloves]] come off, freaking [[PowerIncontinence Elsa]] out further. Elsa then snaps at Anna's [[ArmorPiercingQuestion begging for an explanation]] and [[RageBreakingPoint impulsively shoots ice spikes at her]]. Elsa then flees without explanation, contributing to a HeroWithBadPublicity situation and keeping her from realizing an EndlessWinter's started. |
| 161 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'': During the climax of the film, Mansley, blatantly refusing to accept that the Giant isn't a threat, furiously snatches the radio out of Sgt. Rogard's hands and orders the ''Nautilus'' to launch the nuke at the Giant. It's only after he does so that he remembers that the nuke is targeted to the Giant's current position, and the Giant is standing right in the middle of Rockwell, less than five feet away from him. [[spoiler:The Giant takes off into space, getting hit by the nuke in a HeroicSacrifice. Only then does the military realize the Giant was never a threat.]] |
| 162 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea'': Melody in general rushes into decisions without properly thinking them over and misjudges evil beings, and it's one of the reasons for Atlantica's near-downfall. She gave [[BigBad Morgana]] the [[MacGuffin trident]] largely to spite Ariel for lying about Melody's mermaid heritage her entire life. [[OhCrap Melody realizes what]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero a bad decision]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone that was seconds later]]. Too late. |
| 163 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'', this is the trigger for the climax. Upon seeing Pocahontas and John Smith kissing, a jealous Kocohum attacks John in a rage. Thomas, who had followed John Smith, tries to come to his aid and shoots Kocohum. The end result is Kocohum dead, John Smith captured and set to be executed, and the settlers and Pocahontas's people on the verge of war. |
| 164 | [[/folder]] |
| 165 | |
| 166 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 167 | * ''Film/{{Adalen 31}}'': The bitter, rancorous strike of the workers at a wood pulp mill leads to the mill owners calling in scabs, which leads to the strikers attacking the scabs, which leads to the owners calling in the army to protect the scabs, which leads to the army opening fire on marching strikers, killing five. What the strikers didn't know is that right before the march, the county board had voted to stop the scabs from working, which would have negated much of the tension and rendered the march moot. |
| 168 | * ''Film/AlphaDog'' has Johnny Truelove and his gang of drug dealers has a grudge against Jake Mazursky, who owes their leader money. While driving down the street, they notice Jake's little brother, Zack, walking alongside the road. Without stopping to think of the consequences, they kidnap him in order to teach his brother a lesson. Even afterward, Zack preferred hanging out with his kidnappers to going home. He liked the gang and was perfectly willing to tell the police that he'd run away. [[spoiler:They eventually realize what dire consequences, namely hard time, their actions could actually have, so they kill the boy. A tragic ending that could have been avoided had one of them actually stopped to think "Hey wait, killing a 15-year-old kid might get us into some trouble!". All of the gang involved wound up in prison for kidnapping and murder.]] |
| 169 | * The entirety of ''Film/TheBadLieutenantPortOfCallNewOrleans'' is this, especially at the beginning, where Terrence [=McDonagh=] jumps in water to save a prisoner without checking how deep it is, thus screwing up his back, getting him promoted and addicted to cocaine. |
| 170 | * ''Film/BlackPanther2018'': King T'Chaka impulsively responding to his brother N'Jobu drawing a gun on Zuri by fatally stabbing him rather than disarming him with a non-lethal attack leads to N'Jobu's son Erik becoming Killmonger, the film's BigBad and Wakanda's greatest enemy, in a relentless quest to avenge his father. |
| 171 | * ''Film/CarlitosWay'': Carlito Brigate himself is pretty level-headed, but his lawyer friend David Kleinfeld dooms the entire cast by impulsively killing his mob boss client during a jailbreak. This might be a subversion, though, as Carlito suspects that Kleinfeld planned to kill the mob boss all along and played Carlito himself for a fool. |
| 172 | * ''Film/DeathSentence'': In the beginning of the film, Nick Hume is outraged when he learns that Joe Darley, the murderer of his son, Brendan, would be sentenced to only 3 to 5 years of jail time. He proceeds to take matters into his own hands by forcing the District Attorney to drop the case and ultimately get revenge by killing Joe himself. Thus, this action results in a CycleOfRevenge, with Billy (Joe's brother) and his gang of killers going after Nick. |
| 173 | * ''Film/DjangoUnchained'': Schultz is so disgusted at Candie's brutality that when Candie demands a handshake as an act of respect, Schultz instead shoots him dead. He apologizes to Django that he couldn't help himself, just a second before he's gunned down and Django is dragged away and captured. |
| 174 | * ''Film/FatalAttraction'': Dan Gallagher could have avoided everything that came after had he just stopped, thought of his wife and child, and said "No, thanks" to [[{{Yandere}} Alex Forrest.]] |
| 175 | * ''Film/HereComesMrJordan'' and its remake ''[[Film/HeavenCanWait1978 Heaven Can Wait]]'' use the plot of a man plucked out of coming death by an overzealous guardian angel. In each case, the angel is stunned to hear the guy wasn't scheduled to die for another fifty years. ''Heaven'' has the angel's supervisor chewing him out on assuming there's "no possible way" someone could survive when scores of people have cheated certain death. |
| 176 | * How the story begins in ''Film/TheMachinist''. Prior to the events of the film, [[spoiler:Trevor Reznik kills a boy in a hit-and-run accident when he tries to light a cigarette while driving. As a consequence, he has hallucinations about several individuals to cope with it.]] |
| 177 | * ''Film/JurassicParkIII'': Dr. Grant's assistant, Billy Brennan, steals ''[[RaptorAttack Velociraptor]]'' eggs, planning to sell them on the mainland in the hopes of getting funding to keep his and Alan's dig site going. He even admits he took the eggs on an impulse; as a result, the raptors end up chasing the group down and killing Udesky. When Alan finds out, he wastes no time giving Billy a WhatTheHellHero, especially after he claims he did it "[[WellIntentionedExtremist with the best intentions]]." |
| 178 | -->'''Alan''': Some of the worst things imaginable have been done with the best intentions. You know what, Billy? As far as I'm concerned, you're no better than the people that built this place. |
| 179 | * PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/TheNakedGun'', where Frank Drebin shoots five actors ("Good ones!"), because he thought that they were killing a guy. It was just a production of ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar''. |
| 180 | * In ''Film/{{Scarface 1983}}'', Tony Montana's aggressiveness certainly didn't win him any allies, but you know he's doomed when he [[spoiler:calls off the hit on the journalist by killing Alejandro Sosa's henchman, Alberto the Shadow]]. It was for a good reason, but if he'd thought out his actions he could have avoided the situation without antagonizing the only person who could have fixed the mess he was in. Then later, [[spoiler:instead of trying to fix the situation, he kills Manny Ribera (his best friend), in a fit of rage, driving Gina (his own sister), to try to kill him.]] |
| 181 | * In the original film ''Film/{{Scarface 1932}}'', no drugs are involved, but Tony Camonte [[spoiler:ends up killing Guino Rinaldo (his best friend), when he thinks the guy's abusing Cesca (his sister). Turns out they married in secret because his sister knew Tony would never approve. Oops.]] |
| 182 | * ''Film/DeepwaterHorizon'': As the film begins, the ''Horizon'' is 43 days behind schedule on the well they've been drilling. BP is riding them to get it finished and ordering measures taken to try and make up lost time, measures that have the Transocean people scratching their heads. When Mike asks a few roughnecks if it's stupid what they're doing, they say they're not sure it's stupid, but it "ain't smart". Eventually all this leads up to an uncontrolled pressure buildup that causes a blowout and eventual explosion. |
| 183 | * ''Film/{{Everest 2015}}'': Comes up in a number of ways but the most prominent perhaps is when Doug insists on reaching the summit, despite being more than an hour after the 2:00 turnaround time. Rob, against his better judgement, allows it. As a result, when the storm rolls in, the two of them are much higher on the summit than everyone was expecting and no one can get to them with fresh O2 bottles. |
| 184 | * ''Film/StarWarsEpisodeIIIRevengeOfTheSith'': Anakin's fall to the Dark Side could've been avoided had he chosen to not stop Mace Windu from killing Palpatine in the heat of the moment. A much clearer example of this trope occurs in the final act, where in his rage and impulsiveness, Anakin force chokes Padmé, who was pregnant with twins, and indirectly causes her death as a result. |
| 185 | * ''Film/GleahanAndTheKnavesOfIndustry:'' Most of Gleahan's problems would be solved if he would take a moment to step back and consider the situation. But no, he's dead-set on finishing his quest however he can. |
| 186 | * ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': The heroes on Titan are facing off against Thanos, and have managed to subdue him long enough to attempt to take the Infinity Gauntlet off his hand. Star Lord demands to know where Gamora is, and becomes shocked when he learns [[spoiler:Thanos killed her to acquire the Soul Stone]]. Enraged, he attacks Thanos and accidentally screws with the effort that kept Thanos tied down, and soon Thanos is free, allowing him to pummel the heroes [[spoiler:and eventually killing half of the universe when he obtains all the Infinity Stones.]] |
| 187 | * Incensed when she discovers her husband's repeated adultery and moreso when he informs her that he's leaving her for his latest fling--an 18-year old au pair, ''Film/BlueJasmine'' calls the FBI to report his shady financial dealings and promptly dooms the entire family--her husband is arrested and commits suicide, her stepson turns his back on her, and she's left friendless and broke. |
| 188 | [[/folder]] |
| 189 | |
| 190 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 191 | * Creator/AgathaChristie: |
| 192 | ** ''Literature/CatAmongThePigeons'': One of the murders was completely [[spoiler:unpremeditated. Ms. Chadwick went to inspect a suspicious light while bringing a sandbag, and upon finding her rival Ms. Vansittart there with her back turned, was unable to resist the urge to strike her down, something she instantly felt horrified over.]] |
| 193 | ** ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile'': |
| 194 | *** Had [[spoiler:Simon Doyle]] let the rock fall on [[spoiler:Linnet Ridgeway]] instead of instinctively pulling her away, he and three other characters would have still been alive by the end of the novel. |
| 195 | *** [[spoiler:He and Jacqueline]] also might have got away with it if, immediately after the murder, [[spoiler: he hadn't dipped Linnet's finger in her own blood and used it to write a J on the wall]], intended as a transparent attempt to implicate [[spoiler: Jacqueline]], thereby making [[spoiler: her]] look innocent. In fact, it's so transparent as to prove [[spoiler: the murderer wanted to "prove" her innocence, and why do that if she wasn't involved]]? It also proved that [[spoiler: two people were involved: the cool, rational planner (Jacqueline), and the dramatic, impulsive dumbass who pulls idiot stunts right out of pulp crime fiction (Simon)]]. This tells Poirot exactly what he's looking for. |
| 196 | ** ''Literature/TheMirrorCrackdFromSideToSide'': [[spoiler:Marina Gregg]]'s poisoning of [[spoiler:Heather Badcock]] was unpremeditated and carried out in a fit of murderous rage. Had the means to do so not been immediately at hand, she would have had time to calm down and the tragedy would not have occurred. For that matter, [[spoiler:if Heather had listened to her doctor and not been a star-struck fan, the tragedy that prompted the murder would never have occurred.]] |
| 197 | ** In "The Idol House of Astarte" from ''Literature/TheThirteenProblems'', the murder was [[spoiler:unpremeditated and was immediately regretted. The killer's motive was both to remove his romantic rival for the woman he loved and simultaneously to inherit the victim's wealth; after the murder he became a DeathSeeker and died honourably.]] |
| 198 | * ''Literature/AiNoKusabi'': [[spoiler:GreenEyedMonster Guy]] has decided to [[spoiler:"rescue" Riki from Iason]]. He failed to consider a couple of key things. First off is the fact that [[spoiler:Iason is a Blondy]] and therefore, bigger, faster and stronger than he is. It's an inevitable CurbStompBattle. Second, he never considered [[spoiler:what Riki thinks of this plan. He tries to stop it because he never agreed to it]]. End result; [[spoiler:Iason and Riki die while Guy himself survives to think about what just happened that got his beloved killed.]] |
| 199 | * Subverted in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' book ''Literature/GravePeril'': the various vampires under Bianca are explicitly goading Harry to attack them and breach SacredHospitality so that they can kill him, and when he's finally pushed far enough, he snaps and [[KillItWithFire burns them all]] in a moment of outrageous anger. He promptly regrets this, as the Red Court uses Harry's "unprovoked attack" under the Unseelie Accords to declare war on the White Council of Wizards, which rages on for the next nine books and claims a terrible price on both sides, and many innocent bystanders. But it's subverted because [[spoiler: Harry was actually expected to meekly accept Bianca's terms of armistice, or otherwise get his ass killed. The Red Court ''was'' planning on attacking the White Council eventually, but while Harry's attack provided the perfect ''casus belli'' for going to war, the Red Court wasn't ready to properly crush the White Council, and as a result, the war dragged on for the better part of a decade and ended with the Red Court utterly annihilated.]] Harry's impulsive act was actually ''a good thing'' in the long run. |
| 200 | * One of Creator/DaleBrown's novels touches briefly on an in-universe aversion; apparently the US Air Force has quite an extensive background certification process for pilots wishing to take a posting where they may be called upon to deploy nuclear weapons (which seemed to happen at least [[OnceAnEpisode once in every volume]] at one point in the series), which is temporarily suspended in the event of personal crises like getting divorced. Brown being a former Air Force pilot himself, and the absence of any large and faintly glowing craters where US towns and cities used to be, suggest that this is TruthInTelevision. |
| 201 | * Chris Wooding's novel ''The Fade''. [[spoiler: Orna, believing her master is selling her people out to the enemy Gurtan forces, kills him and the Gurtan official he's doing a deal with in a fit of rage. Then she reads the papers they were about to sign and realises it was a ''peace'' deal. So the war would have ended and she would have been reunited her with her son if she had only held herself back.]] |
| 202 | * ''The Fuck-Up'' by Arthur Nersesian: The book is about a guy doing one of these things after the other, starting small and gradually escalating until his whole life is a horrible mess. The FreudianExcuse is that his girlfriend broke up with him in the beginning of the book and it upset him so much that it made him act stupid, then all the mess that ensued continued to make him more emotional and stupid. |
| 203 | * In ''Literature/GrandmasterOfDemonicCultivationMoDaoZuShi'', while Jiang Yanli meant well, her decision to [[spoiler: run into a battlefield where there were fierce corpses and murderous cultivators]] wasn't the best or the wisest time to try to talk to Wei Wuxian. And sure enough, [[spoiler: some cultivators weren't able to avoid her and accidentally injured her and Jiang Yanli would end up TakingTheBullet for Wei Wuxian when someone tried to kill him.]] |
| 204 | * ''Literature/HarryPotter'': |
| 205 | ** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'': |
| 206 | *** Harry had been told many times not to trust his visions, and then completely forgets that Snape had means to contact Sirius. If he had gone to Snape before attempting to contact Sirius himself (and getting caught by Umbridge in the process), the whole misunderstanding/deception that led to Sirius's death probably would have been prevented. |
| 207 | *** Even if their mutual distrust and loathing would have prevented Harry from talking to Snape, there was a forgotten ChekhovsGun that he'd buried in the bottom of his trunk: a device which would presumably let him bring Sirius to him (and which he'd refrained from using because he thought it would be dangerous for Sirius to reveal himself). [[spoiler:It turned out to be a two-way mirror, which would have been a far better communications method than the fireplace he'd used before--and therefore a far better method of verifying Sirius's status.]] |
| 208 | *** After Harry is caught by Umbridge, he ''does'' try to tell Snape by coded message, but takes Snape's reaction (or lack of reaction) as a sign that he didn't get it. It never occurs to him that for the same reason Harry is talking in code in the first place, Snape could hardly acknowledge that he understood the message even if he did (which, as it turns out, he did). |
| 209 | ** In the {{Backstory}} of the series, Severus Snape has two such moments: first, he allowed his rage and humiliation get the better of him for a single moment and [[spoiler: with a single undeserved slur, he destroyed his friendship with Lily, who he was in love with]]. Second, by being eager to serve Voldemort, [[spoiler: he relayed to him the prophecy of Sybill Trelawney, which became the reason for Voldemort to try to kill Harry]]. |
| 210 | * Probably the ur-example: ''Literature/TheIliad'' (Paris stealing Helen, Achilles and Agamemnon fighting over Briseis, etc.). |
| 211 | ** ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' has some examples, too (like most of the sailors' deaths), but it isn't really a tragedy. |
| 212 | ** And of course ''Literature/TheAeneid'', which is sort of a Roman crossover fanfiction to the other two, has its fair share as well. |
| 213 | * Upton Sinclair's ''Literature/TheJungle'': Jurgis Rudkus beat up his wife's boss after finding out [[spoiler:that he was raping her via coercion]], which indirectly led to all the tragedy of the rest of the book. Even a modicum of thought would have told him that beating the guy up was a bad idea which would only end with horrible consequences. |
| 214 | * Zakath's backstory in ''Literature/TheMalloreon'' involves him having his fiancee executed and discovering afterwards that she was not part of the conspiracy to kill him. |
| 215 | * In ''Literature/MysticRiver'', [[spoiler:Silent Ray (Brendan Harris' brother) and John O'Shea]] were the ones responsible for [[spoiler:Katie's (Jimmy Markum's daughter) murder]], which occurred because of [[spoiler:a DeadlyPrank via a loaded gun. John was holding the gun to scare Katie when it went off by accident. Fearing that the victim would tell someone, Silent Ray beat Katie up with a hockey stick. Afterward, John killed her on the spot.]] |
| 216 | * In ''Literature/NativeSon'', Bigger Thomas accidentally kills Mary Dalton by suffocating her with a pillow while trying to keep her quiet so he wouldn't be seen in the same room as her. He feels no remorse for her death, but realizes that if he is caught he is likely to be sentenced to death for [[MurderersAreRapists not only murder but rape]] due to the stereotypes of black men at the time. He unsuccessfully attempts to avoid this fate with increasing desperation and impulsiveness. |
| 217 | * While there was certainly enough kindling and fuel to set the world aflame in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', the reader can point to three impulsive acts that caused the conflagration that metaphorically (and in the case of the Riverlands, literally) burned Westeros down: [[spoiler: Jaime tossing 7 year old Bran out the window in order to silence him. Catelyn mistakenly arresting Tyrion based on the false belief that HE had tried to kill her son Bran. And finally Joffrey going off script by calling for Ned Stark's execution which prompted all out war.]] |
| 218 | ** Before the events of the story Ned's older brother Brandon Stark, noted for being HotBlooded, was enraged when Prince Rhaegar Targaryen abducted his sister Lyanna. Brandon marched into Kings Landing with a handful of men openly demanding the prince "come out and die." The Mad King did not take kindly to this threat, executing Brandon's noble entourage and all their fathers. Brandon himself died alongside his father in a cruel execution. The fallout from this was all out war and rebellion. |
| 219 | * ''The Last Command'' of ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' simultaneously subverts and inverts this. During a tense peace conference with some native aliens on a very dangerous planet, Han and Chewie spot a predator stalking the gathering. Chewie reacts faster, shooting the predator dead with his laser crossbow. Mara Jade points out it's probably a bad idea to fire weapons during a peace conference, to which Han replies that it's also a bad idea to let the conference get eaten. It looks like the distrustful and violent aliens are about to attack our heroes, when one of them asks why their Wookiee is armed. Since this is a former Imperial world, the last Wookiees these natives would have seen would have been Imperial slaves, definitely not allowed to carry weapons. By showing that Chewbacca was armed, they proved to the natives that they were not the same as the Empire, and secure their aid. |
| 220 | * In ''Mapleshade's Vengeance'' of ''Literature/WarriorCats'', [=ThunderClan=]'s horrific treatment of Mapleshade and her kits comes across as this. After the kits' father is revealed to be Appledusk of [=RiverClan=], who caused the deaths of two [=ThunderClan=] cats, the whole Clan is enraged. Their leader, Oakstar sentences Mapleshade and her kits to exile, and Mapleshade's former mentor Bloomheart coldly agrees that they don't belong in [=ThunderClan=]. Frecklewish screeches at them, calling them "half-Clan creatures" and shouting for them to be driven out (especially jarring, considering how much she loved them when she thought they were her brother's kits). Not one cat speaks up for the kits or their mother. Not one cat stops to think and realize that they're just kits, and that they shouldn't be held responsible for what their parents did. Blinded with fury, the Clan drives Mapleshade and her kits out—and when the dust has settled and [=ThunderClan=]'s anger has stilled, possibly enough to come to their senses, it's too late to make amends, [[spoiler:because the kits have drowned in the river while trying to cross to [=RiverClan=]. Furthermore, this is Mapleshade's StartOfDarkness toward becoming the most feared cat in the Dark Forest, where she would plot revenge on [=ThunderClan=] for all eternity.]] |
| 221 | * Protagonist James [=McCarthy=] of ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr'' is hair-triggered and impulsve; to offer one of the more prominent examples, he very publicly humiliates a poltically-connected fellow officer, and a vengeful general retaliates by getting [=McCarthy=] kicked off an important scientific mission. An enraged [=McCarthy=] immediately charges off on a different unscheduled scouting trip into deeply hostile territory and gets [[UriahGambit abandoned and left to die.]] An unknown benefactor finally sends a rescue team, but several of [=McCarthey's=] own team die in the process of evacuating. |
| 222 | [[/folder]] |
| 223 | |
| 224 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 225 | * ''Series/{{The 100}}'': Peace talks between the 100 and the Grounders break down when Jasper notices there are armed Grounders hiding just outside the peace conference (a.k.a. doing the exact same thing Jasper is); he immediately assumes they're planning an ambush or assassination, and starts shooting at them. This transforms the 100's conflict with the Grounders from a series of small skirmishes to an all-out war. |
| 226 | * Delenn in ''Series/BabylonFive'', as shown in flashbacks during "Atonement" and "In the Beginning", gave the deciding vote to declare war on the humans during a spurt of grief and rage over the death of her mentor Dukhat. [[TheAtoner She spends years afterwards trying to make up for it.]] Interestingly, the Minbari war is a double-dose of this trope on both sides: the attack that killed Dukhat was started because the human ships assumed the massively powerful Minbari sensors (which were wreaking havoc with the human's less-advanced computers), sensor stealth technology (which prevented the humans from getting any readings from the interior of the ships, like energy buildup of charged weapons) and open gun ports meant the Minbari were preparing to attack, and the humans struck first in perceived self-defense. Half the Grey Council wanted to try and figure out if it had all been just a tragic misunderstanding, but Delenn was having none of that. |
| 227 | ** The ''In the Beginning'' TV movie reveals that Londo was afraid something like this might happen and counselled [=EarthForce=] to send a single unarmed ship to initiate First Contact with the Minbari. Since the humans were still riding on their surprise victory over the Dilgar, they arrogantly assumed they can handle anyone and ignore him. Boy, are they proven wrong. Sheridan also thought it's a bad idea to send an impulsive commander to a First Contact situation, but his concerns were brushed aside. |
| 228 | ** During the series itself, Lennier commits such a tragedy in "Objects At Rest" when he [[spoiler:is overcome by jealousy towards Sheridan and leaves him to die]]. While this act ultimately fails, Lennier is still [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone overcome by regret]] and flees the ship. Delenn comments on it afterward, clearly thinking of her own past moment of impulsiveness as well: |
| 229 | --->"There are moments when we all become someone else, something other than what we are. It takes only a moment, but we spend the rest of our lives looking back at that moment in shame." |
| 230 | * ''Series/{{House}}'': In the Season 7 finale, "Moving On", Gregory House himself loses his temper after [[spoiler:seeing Lisa Cuddy talking with Julia and her husband in her house, because he overheard the couple suggest to Cuddy about having Jerry Barrett as her suitor]]. He proceeds to [[spoiler:crash his Dodge Dynasty car into his ex-girlfriend's house in retaliation for her breakup with him. His moment of irrationality lands him in prison in Season 8.]] |
| 231 | * ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': In the pilot, Daemon overhears Viserys arguing with his small council over whether to replace him as heir with Rhaenyra. While Viserys refuses to choose between his brother and his daughter, it affects Daemon emotionally enough that he goes to self-medicate via drinking and visiting a pleasure house and making a toast to his deceased nephew. Whatever form his speech actually takes, it gives Otto Hightower the chance to turn the brothers against each other and prompts Viserys to banish Daemon and choose Rhaenyra as his heir after all. |
| 232 | * ''Series/{{JAG}}'': In "Father’s Day", Corporal Wetzl runs a tank over his CO’s tent, claiming to be distracted about the divorce from his drug-addicted wife and impending custody hearings on their infant son. Frustrated by the countless lies spun in court and in the media by his wife and her lawyer, he takes action of his own, commandeering a tank with his son inside. He blows up a TV van and gets into a stand-off. Eventually Harm and Mac manages to get him to surrender by bringing his grandmother on the spot. |
| 233 | * [[spoiler:Guy killing Lady Marian]] in Season 2 of ''Series/RobinHood'' is what cause the death of many other characters throughout Season 3 when she puts herself between King Richard and Guy of Gisborne's sword. This in itself is not the deciding action, but when [[spoiler:Marian impulsively (and unnecessarily) tells Guy that she "would rather die than marry you!" and that she's in love with Robin Hood, Guy kills her in return, leading to one death after another in Season 3]]. |
| 234 | * ''Series/TheShield'': In Season 5, Lt. Jon Kavanaugh had plans to arrest the Strike Team for harboring a fugitive (none other than Curtis Lemansky). He proceeds to put the aforementioned plan into action by persuading David Aceveda to feed circumstantial (and completely false) evidence to Vic Mackey, telling him that Lem was planning to sell out to the IAD by revealing the information about the Money Train Heist. [[spoiler:Shane Vendrell, upon learning this, tries to persuade Lem, his friend and fellow team member, to agree with his relocation to Mexico. When Lem refuses, Shane acts on the misconception about his friend's betrayal and throws a grenade into Lem's car, killing him.]] |
| 235 | * Narrowly averted with Vala in ''Series/StargateSG1''. When battling the dragon (ItMakesSenseInContext), Daniel figures out that the key to victory is to speak the name of the person who set up the whole quest in the first place: Morgan Le Fay. Vala then charges out into the middle of an open field to confront the beast while shouting "Morgan Le Fay!" not realizing that they need to use Morgan's name in Ancient, Ganos Lal. It is only Daniel's quick thinking that saves her. |
| 236 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': In season 9, Dean is so determined to kill Abbadon that he [[spoiler: willingly obtains the Mark of Cain from Cain himself without bothering to learn about the ramifications]]. As a result, he's slowly [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity transformed into a crazed murderer]], and briefly [[spoiler: a demon]]. |
| 237 | * ''Series/TheWire''. In season 2, Ziggy Sobotka loses his temper after being insulted one time too many by Glekas and [[spoiler: shoots Glekas to death and wounds a stock boy. Ziggy immediately regrets the decision and confesses to the crime. His actions further result in The Greeks cleaning out Glekas's store before the detail can raid it, and Ziggy's peril is used as leverage to buy Frank's silence, which ends in Frank's death.]] |
| 238 | [[/folder]] |
| 239 | |
| 240 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 241 | * ''You Lost My Memory'' by Music/{{Skyclad|Band}} ("...because of mere trivia misunderstood"). |
| 242 | * Implied in Music/TheyMightBeGiants' song "ECNALUBMA", which tells the story of its protagonist bruised and battered, lying in wait for medics to arrive, after "a day of impulsive fun". |
| 243 | [[/folder]] |
| 244 | |
| 245 | [[folder:Religion and Mythology]] |
| 246 | * Extremely common in Myth/ClassicalMythology in general, though, so who knows what the actual UrExample is... |
| 247 | ** PandorasBox, proof that curiosity killed the Classical utopia. |
| 248 | ** Persephone's [[FoodChains six pomegranate seeds]]. |
| 249 | ** Hera deliberately invokes this, causing an UnstoppableRage to fall upon Heracles (who was already a guy infamous for his temper tantrums). |
| 250 | ** Arachne and her poorly-thought-through tapestry subject. |
| 251 | ** Orpheus getting too excited and looking back before his beloved made it out the underworld. |
| 252 | * ''Literature/TheBible'': |
| 253 | ** Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. The only rule in the Garden of Eden given by God was not to eat the Forbidden Fruit, but {{Satan}} (as a snake) tricked them into it. Cue humanity being kicked out of paradise for all eternity. |
| 254 | ** Also, the CainAndAbel plot where the older brother kills his younger brother out of jealousy. |
| 255 | [[/folder]] |
| 256 | |
| 257 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 258 | * ''Le Cid'' (adapted from the same story ''Film/ElCid'' is) may be the poster child for this. Two old military officers have an argument that degenerate so much that Don Sanche wants a duel to death with the Count. As he is too old for this, he puts his son in charge of this. And he does. Seriously, couldn't the Count try to arrange things with Don Sanche rather than duel to death with ''his daughter's fiancé'', which means whatever the outcome of the duel is, her heart will be broken? |
| 259 | * ''Theatre/TheLieutenantOfInishmore'' -- because when you tell [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Mad Padraic]] that his cat is doin' poorly, and it turns out to be BlatantLies, he's not going to listen to reason, he's not going to be kind to that other cat you picked up, and in fact the only thing stopping him from killing the men he holds responsible is [[MoreDakka three more men with guns barging in on the little house.]] |
| 260 | * ''Theatre/OedipusTheKing'': Prior to his arrival back to Thebes and becoming a king, the eponymous character killed (unbeknownst to him) his father for basically cutting him off at the crossroads. Before that, when he first heard the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother, he impulsively fled from Corinth and resolved never to see the parents who raised him again, not stopping to remember that the reason why he consulted the oracle in the first place was doubt whether those parents were his real parents or not. He married his mother, completing the other half of the famous complex, at leisure though. |
| 261 | * Similar to the ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' example below, in ''Theatre/WestSideStory'', Tony tries to stop a fight, but Bernardo (his girlfriend's brother) kills Tony's best friend Riff, and an enraged Tony kills Bernardo. |
| 262 | ** And later after that, Anita tries to deliver a message for Tony from Maria. But harassment from the Jets lead to her blurting out that Chino killed Maria in a moment of hatred. Needless to say, this lie leads to the DownerEnding of the play. |
| 263 | * Creator/WilliamShakespeare: |
| 264 | ** ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'': In Act 3, the eponymous main character, after blowing his first chance to kill Claudius, strikes out blindly when he thinks he has Claudius again, only for it to turn out that he's actually killed Polonius, the father of the woman he loves, which sends his entire life straight to hell for him. |
| 265 | *** Hamlet is also an inversion, as it is Hamlet's ''failure'' to make up his mind to act that causes much of the tragedy. |
| 266 | ** In ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing'', several characters [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope by making Claudio believe Hero died of grief after he jilted her. She's actually quite alive. |
| 267 | ** In ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'', the title character, with only circumstantial evidence and testimony from Iago, the ManipulativeBastard, believes that his wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him. He proceeds to have Cassio, her supposed lover, killed, and ultimately kills Desdemona himself. When the truth is revealed, it drives him to suicide. |
| 268 | *** A common joke amongst Shakespeare buffs is that had the impulsive, quick-to-anger Othello and the ponderous, witty Hamlet been placed in each others' plays all of the problems would have been solved by the end of the first act and nothing would have gone wrong at all. Sort of negates the point of tragedy, though. |
| 269 | ** ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'': In Act 3, Romeo's friend Mercutio fights Tybalt (Juliet's cousin) for Romeo's honor, and dies before Romeo can stop the fight. [[UnstoppableRage An enraged Romeo]] immediately kills Tybalt. More drama ensues, including Romeo's banishment, which causes his mother to die of a broken heart. In Act 5, when Romeo gets to Juliet's tomb, he comes across Count Paris, who's guarding the tomb. Without provocation other than being attacked for trying to vandalize the Capulet's tomb, he kills Paris in a fight, and then kills himself in front of Juliet's grave (thinking she's dead), causing his lover to kill herself. |
| 270 | ** The later acts of ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'' threaten to turn into this. Sir Toby and Fabian bait on Sir Andrew to attack "Cesario" on sight. This backfires on them when they meet up with Cesario's identical twin brother, Sebastian, who, unlike [[SweetPollyOliver Cesario,]] is a good fighter. Anthony, who [[HoYay loves Sebastian]], enters the fray, which gets him into trouble with the local Duke, who is the ''"real"'' Cesario's employer. And the Duke loses his temper when [[GreenEyedMonster he finds out that his beloved, Olivia,]] [[LesYay has married Cesario]]. This being a comedy, however, things work out all right. |
| 271 | * In ''Theatre/BeyondTheHorizon'', Robert and Ruth decide to get married the night before Robert is supposed to go off to sea. Robert then elects to stay home instead of becoming a sailor. Faced with Ruth's rejection, Andrew decides on the spot to go off to sea instead of his brother. The result is tragedy and despair for all concerned, and three ruined lives, as all three of them made the wrong choices. |
| 272 | [[/folder]] |
| 273 | |
| 274 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 275 | * ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': Since he was young, Ryan Flores has had more initiative and desire to be treated better. A flashback shows once hung out with a street gang and participated in illegal racing. This caught Ann's attention who proceed to slap him for this, and caused the crowd he's hanging out with to retaliate, which caused [[spoiler:Amok to awaken within Ann, injuring several people and accidentally attacked Ryan, [[EyeScream damaging his eye]]]]. The incident did cause Ryan to mellow out, but still wanted to make it up by searching [[{{Panacea}} N540]] for Ann. |
| 276 | * ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' |
| 277 | ** [[spoiler:Johnny Silverhand himself [[TheLostLenore ended up killing the love of his life Alt Cunningham]] when he hastily disconnected her from the [[EvilInc Arasaka]] network, leaving her consciousness behind as a VirtualGhost. Had Johnny simply waited a few seconds more to unplug her cyberjack, she would've had the time to get back in her body and out of the net. Her interactions with Johnny in 2077 make it clear that [[NotSoStoic she's still angry with him over it]], [[PetTheDog but still cares for him despite it]]]]. |
| 278 | ** [[spoiler:Yorinobu Arasaka [[{{Patricide}} killing Saburo Arasaka]] was clearly a spur-of-the-moment decision brought about by his long-buried hatred for his father getting pushed to the surface by Saburo both disowning him and bringing up how his deceased mother would be ashamed of him. While Yorinobu ''had'' been planning to betray his father and [[GenocideFromTheInside take the entire corporation down in flames]] before this point, his reaction afterwards makes it clear he knows he just screwed up. If it weren't for [[PlayerCharacter V]] and Jackie happening to be at the wrong place at the wrong time for Yorinobu to pin the blame for the murder on, things would have gone downhill for him ''fast''.]] |
| 279 | * The backstory to ''VideoGame/{{Disciples}}'' series can partly be blamed on this as well. According to the lore, the world of Nevendaar was created by the Bethrezen, the most beloved of the Highfather's angels. He asked other deities to fill the world with landscape features and living beings, himself creating humans as a finishing touch. Everything seemed fine. Then he went to get the Highfather to show him his creation, leaving the other angels to watch over Nevendaar. Unfortunately, the other angels were jealous of Bethrezen's status and sabotaged Nevendaar. By the time the Highfather arrived to see the world, it was burning with fire and hatred, as the various races were at war. Enraged, he immediately assumes Bethrezen to be responsible and entombs him within the molten core of Nevendaar as punishment. Knowing he was punished unjustly, Bethrezen spends 10,000 years in anger at the Highfather and the mortal races for ruining his creation. He creates a demonic army called the [[LegionsOfHell Legions of the Damned]] and sends them to the surface (unable to leave himself due to a magical seal) to burn Nevendaar and open the seal. The demons come out in the forests of the Elves, who flee in panic towards higher ground, which happens to be in the lands of the Mountain Clans. Seeing great numbers of Elves advancing towards them, the Dwarves impulsively attack, assuming it to be an invasion. The Elven gods Gallean and Solonielle go to the Dwarven god Wotan and demand that he punish his creations for killing many Elves. Enraged, Wotan kills Gallean and hurls his heart towards the sun. Solonielle manages to save the heart before it's burned, but she herself is horribly burned by the sun and becomes the fleshless goddess Mortis. Determined to make the Dwarves pay and resurrect her beloved Gallean, Mortis kills an entire race of people and then raises them to be her [[TheUndead Undead Hordes]]. And it [[CrapsackWorld only gets worse from there]]. |
| 280 | * ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' has a bad habit of jumping to conclusions, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero often leading to the problem he's trying to solve getting worse before he can fix it.]] |
| 281 | ** In ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'', he accidentally [[spoiler:[[SealedEvilInACan releases Nightmare Wizard]] from the Fountain of Dreams, by fixing the Star Rod that King Dedede shattered for the sole purpose of sealing Nightmare away.]] |
| 282 | ** In ''VideoGame/KirbySqueakSquad'', he infamously goes on a rampage across Dreamland over someone stealing his cake. He assumes every member of the main cast, King Dedede, Meta Knight, and the new villains, the Squeaks, have stolen it at one point or another, and beats the crap out of them all accordingly. A frame perfect look at the intro cutscene reveals that the true culprit was [[spoiler:a completely random [[MascotMook Waddle Dee]].]] |
| 283 | * In the prologue of ''Videogame/TheLiarPrincessAndTheBlindPrince'', the wolf tried to keep the prince from seeing her true identity by covering his eyes with her paws, forgetting in her panic that they had sharp claws. She ended up [[EyeScream slashing his eyes]] by accident, setting in motion her quest to heal him. |
| 284 | * ''VideoGame/LiveALive'': [[spoiler:Oersted]], the hero of the Middle Ages chapter, wakes up late one night after [[spoiler:failing to SaveThePrincess]] and heads to his king's throne room to find [[spoiler:the Lord of Dark]] there! He fights and defeats him, only to find it was [[spoiler:an apparition and that he had actually struck down his king.]] Had he stopped for a moment and asked why [[spoiler:the Lord of Dark was just chilling in the good king's throne room]], this could have been averted. This mistake sets off a chain of events that [[spoiler:leads to his downfall]]. |
| 285 | * The main plot of ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom'' is kicked off when Lord Zetta reads an insulting passage in the [[CosmicKeystone Sacred Tome]] (claiming that he's an idiot who will destroy his Netherworld due to idiocy) and sets it on fire out of sheer spite. This results in the destruction of his Netherworld, naturally. |
| 286 | * ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'': What caused the asari Ark to be missing in the first place. [[spoiler:Their Pathfinder's bodyguard Sarissa Theris decided to steal some kett navigational data, figuring it might come in handy. The kett responded by chasing the ''Leusinia'' across space. During one fight, Pathfinder Ishara was cornered by the kett, and Sarissa decided to save the data rather than Ishara. When the truth of this gets out to the Ark's command staff, the captain is furious that one of Sarissa's "harebrained stunts" got them into the mess they were in.]] |
| 287 | * ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheOrigamiKing'': When folding him, the Origami Craftsman wrote [[spoiler:"Dearest Olly, may you become a fair and kind king."]] on the paper that comprises Olly's body. When Olly saw the message, he couldn't read it, mistook it for vandalism, and invaded the Mushroom Kingdom prior to the Origami Festival to gather materials to fold 1000 origami cranes, all to wipe out the entire Toad species. Had Olly asked someone to read the "scribbles" before he went flying off the handle, the entire plot would have never happened. [[spoiler:He actually does have the message read to him, but it's while he is dying as a result of all the atrocities he committed. Having his paper folded into the thousandth crane to undo all of his handiwork was his idea of penance.]] |
| 288 | * {{Downplayed}} in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2''. [[spoiler:Had Arthur Morgan paid more attention to Thomas Downes' symptoms, he may have not resorted to physical violence to avoid catching his illness. However, it's not necessarily ''entirely'' Arthur's fault, as Leopold Strauss told him that he would need to be rough with Thomas.]] |
| 289 | * Usually in ''Videogame/SengokuRance'', Rance's instincts are spot on, and doing the first thing that leaps to mind works out pretty well for him. The exceptions are generally anything involving Miki, the Demon King, such as when she suggests he try to shatter the ice [[spoiler:holding his slave, Sil]]. If you let him follow her advice, [[spoiler:Sil dies.]] |
| 290 | * The entire plot of ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'' as revealed in ''Specter of Torment'' started [[spoiler:after an adventurer named Donovan went with his friend and partner Luan to acquire a magical amulet from a tower for Luan's son to protect him. They encountered Shield Knight, who came to the Tower of Fate in order to destroy the amulet due to it being cursed and dangerous and warned the men to abandon claiming the amulet. However, Donovan refused to listen and fought her. When everything began to collapse, he still refused to leave without the amulet despite both Shield Knight and even Luan's pleading against it, even attacking the latter for trying to dissuade him. When he grabs the amulet, the floor collapses and he and Luan plummet to their doom. Meanwhile, Shield Knight is possessed by the power within the amulet and turns into the Enchantress, the BigBad and the latter transforms the barely alive Donovan into Specter Knight and makes him recruit the Order of No Quarter]]. |
| 291 | * ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'': Sonic's tendency to smash first and ask questions later is {{deconstructed|Trope}} in this game. |
| 292 | ** First, he recklessly charges in and kicks the Cacophonic Conch out of Eggman's hands, completely ignoring Tails' warnings to stay back. As it turns out, said conch was a RestrainingBolt Eggman was using to control the Deadly Six, thus allowing the Deadly Six to turn on Eggman and [[EvilerThanThou usurp his plans and operations]]. |
| 293 | ** When Sonic, Tails, and Eggman learn that the Deadly Six are using Eggman's life-sucking machine to drain their world dry, Tails immediately states that Sonic's first instinct would be to smash it, which he doesn't even bother to deny. Eggman quickly calls him out on it and explains that smashing it would cause an explosion that would incinerate everything within a hundred miles of the thing. |
| 294 | ** Later in the game, Sonic's impulsiveness ends up triggering a trap, but gets Tails captured instead, leading to Tails being partially roboticized by the Deadly Six. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Suffice it to say, this was an eye-opener]]. [[spoiler:Lucky for Sonic that Tails managed to fiddle with the machine just enough to retain his free will before it could activate.]] |
| 295 | * In the backstory of ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', the king of all monsters, in a fit of rage [[spoiler:after the death of his son]], declared war on humanity. Later, when he calmed down and his better nature gained control, he realized that he couldn't take back his decree because it finally brought hope back to his miserable subjects. It may or may not have helped the other monsters, but [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone it drove the king to misery and self-loathing]] [[spoiler:after he was responsible for [[WouldHurtAChild the deaths of six human children]] and his wife left him in horror and disgust]]. |
| 296 | [[/folder]] |
| 297 | |
| 298 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 299 | * ''VisualNovel/CafeEnchante'': |
| 300 | ** In the past, [[spoiler: Titania's sister Banshee]] had good intentions but their decision to wage a one-person war against [[spoiler: the Yggdrasil]] to protect Titania would end disastrously. Not only would [[spoiler: Banshee]] die in the process, the fallout caused [[spoiler: the Yggdrasil]] to go berserk, now requiring [[spoiler: monthly quotas of fairy souls to sustain itself]] and [[spoiler: the newly born Canus needing to kill half of the fairy population to calm the Yggdrasil]], resulting in Canus being widely feared. |
| 301 | ** In Il's route, when [[spoiler: Solitus reveals that everything about Il was fake and copied from an otome game]], Il tries to explain himself to Kotone but Kotone unconsciously stepped back and demanded to know who he really was. It would eventually result in [[spoiler: Il breaking down and losing his emotions and any form of agency]] and Kotone would later regret reacting the way she did. |
| 302 | * ''VisualNovel/CorpsePartyD2DepthsOfDespair'': |
| 303 | ** The game opens with one, leading directly from [[MultipleEndings one of the endings]] of ''VideoGame/CorpsePartyPC98'': Ayumi and Satoshi try to resurrect their fallen friends mere hours after they escaped the cursed school. For bonus points, the spellbook they're using isn't even fully translated into Japanese. Cue them going right back into the cursed school. |
| 304 | ** Ayumi appears to love this exact idea as even in other adaptations. In the modern game's canon, she and Naomi screw around with the Book of Shadow, resulting in the second and third games. In the ''Musume'' manga, she invokes black magic out of nowhere which leads to a sudden bad ending. |
| 305 | * ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'' gives the [[spoiler:avalanche]] caused by the protagonist and Tamara. [[spoiler:They force open the door of their crashed cable car instead of waiting for help, causing 12 deaths.]] This becomes a subversion if the protagonist chooses Rachel over the other girls in his class. A skier herself, Rachel realizes that [[spoiler:an avalanche could have taken place anyway, and that in that situation, the protagonist and Tamara would’ve likely died as well]]. |
| 306 | * In ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'', when [[spoiler: Kazuma was about to ring the call bell]] and under the wrongful assumption that they were going to call the police on them, [[spoiler: Nina]] panicked and reacted in a way that led to [[spoiler: Kazuma]]'s accidental death, something that [[spoiler: Nina]] was deeply remorseful about. |
| 307 | * ''VisualNovel/LongLiveTheQueen'': Bad things, including some of Elodie's deaths, can happen because of failed Composure checks, which evaluate her ability to stay calm in a crisis. This can cause Elodie to automatically [[spoiler:eat the poisoned chocolate if she has none of the other skills that will make her suspicious of it; merely postponing eating it will save her life, as it will result in a servant with a sweet tooth getting to it first]]. The skill also needs to be quite high to prevent a HeroicSacrifice from being AllForNothing. |
| 308 | * Implied to be the case with the [[MultipleEndings Axe Ending]] in ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'': [[spoiler:[[AxCrazy Clover]]]] works out a plausible but completely wrong solution to [[spoiler:who killed her brother]] and acts on said misconception, killing [[spoiler:both suspected murderers and the protagonist's {{Love Interest|s}} before turning on the protagonist himself]]. Averted in the [[GoldenEnding True Ending]], where [[spoiler:the protagonist befriends her]] and inadvertently stumbles across a crucial clue that indicates [[spoiler:[[FakingTheDead her brother is still alive]]]]. |
| 309 | * Kouji suffers this in one of the endings of ''VisualNovel/SayaNoUta''. After discovering [[spoiler: that his girlfriend was chopped up by Saya and Fuminori and [[BodyInABreadbox refridgerated]] to be eaten]], he impulsively calls Fuminori and tries to take him and Saya on alone, instead of calling OccultDetective [[spoiler:Ryuko]] to set-up a better plan (which leads to a different ending.) Since Kouji loses the fight with Fuminori and Saya in both endings, without [[spoiler:Ryuko]] around to pull a BigDamnHeroes moment, he gets killed instead. |
| 310 | [[/folder]] |
| 311 | |
| 312 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 313 | * In ''WebVideo/CounterMonkey'', [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]] describes a ''TabletopGame/ThievesWorld'' campaign he ran which went horribly OffTheRails because one of the players not only interrupted the DM, but rolled a crit for his declared action. The result caused him to unwittingly inflict FacialHorror on a NighInvulnerable WarGod avatar, who was supposed to be [[TheCavalryArrivesLate the cavalry]]. Instead, the campaign twisted into said avatar's RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the group, gradually [[EscalatingWar escalating into a city-wide guerrilla war of ever-increasing brutality from both sides of the conflict]]. |
| 314 | ** This gets [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by the episode's titles; the original intended title (seen in the address bar) was "Poor Impulse Control", while the official title is "Don't Interrupt". |
| 315 | * ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'': Some battles occur when one fighter is just minding his/her own business and the opponent quickly confuses him for an enemy. Other times, one fighter will wrong the other by mistake, causing the opponent to retaliate. When it happens, usually the one who started it is the one to lose the battle. |
| 316 | ** ''[[Franchise/StarFox Fox McCloud]] vs. [[ComicBook/BuckyOHareAndTheToadWars Bucky O'Hare]]'': [[spoiler:Bucky picked the wrong toad to croak, and he and his entire crew paid the price by one vengeful fox.]] |
| 317 | ** ''[[Franchise/PowerRangers White Tigerzord]] vs. [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Epyon]]'': [[spoiler:Tommy orders Saba to begin a check of the Tigerzord's systems to which Saba readily responds by testing the weapons immediately. Only just before the Tigerzord's cannons fire does Tommy think to check if the weapon safety systems are online which leads to the cannons misfiring and accidentally hitting Noin's Mobile Suit, killing her. It eventually leads to their own demise at the hands of a very angry Zechs Merquise and Epyon.]] |
| 318 | ** ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}} vs. Franchise/{{Digimon}}'': [[spoiler: Red, after failing to catch Agumon in a Pokéball, immediately sics Charizard on him just as Tai returns instead of reasoning with the Digimon Tamer. This leads to both the deaths of Red and Charizard.]] |
| 319 | ** ''[[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Amy Rose]] vs. [[Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld Ramona Flowers]]'': [[spoiler:Sonic, on an average day of running from Amy, shoots through Scott and Ramona's place so fast he knocks them around by accident. Amy arrives too late to catch him, and as she's fuming in place Ramona gets up and mistakes Amy for the one who seemingly attacked them, striking without warning. This causes Amy to turn her anger out on Ramona instead, and this leads to Ramona's death in front of a horror-stricken Scott.]] |
| 320 | ** ''Franchise/PowerRangers vs. Anime/{{Voltron}}'': [[spoiler:Hunk in the Yellow Lion notices the Rangers teleport in and goes over to say hi to them. The Power Rangers mistake the Yellow Lion for an enemy, immediately call in their Zords to form the Megazord, prompting the lions to form Voltron in response. This leads to the Megazord's destruction and Power Rangers' death.]] |
| 321 | ** ''ComicBook/{{Raven}} vs. [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Twilight Sparkle]]'': Both sides are responsible in some way. [[spoiler:Twilight tries a spell on interdimensional teleportation without bothering to study up on it, leading to Raven being transported to Equestria in the middle of playing with pony dolls. Raven, instead of talking it out, attacks Twilight in response to the whole situation. Both their actions result in Twilight getting pancaked into the ground by an overprotective Soul Self at Mach 36. Unfortunately for her, the series is called Death Battle for a good reason, so Twilight certainly died upon impact, [[AmbiguousEnding although the animation makes it ambiguous if she really died]] [[ThinkOfTheChildren due to the creators not wanting to scar any kids who happened to watch this show]].]] |
| 322 | ** ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot vs. Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'': Possibly the most tragic example in a Death Battle yet. [[spoiler:Crash kills Sparx the Dragonfly, Spyro's adoptive brother, assuming him to be an average annoying insect. This causes Spyro to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge and eventually unleash his SuperpoweredEvilSide, resulting in Crash and Aku Aku both being atomized via Aether Breath. Now the Wumpa Islands are defenseless, and Spyro is possibly [[FallenHero trapped in this state]].]] |
| 323 | ** ''ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}} vs. ComicBook/{{Shazam}}: [[spoiler:Carol comes across Shazam crouching over an ATM leaking money into the street and [[MistakenForThief mistakes him for a thief]], when he actually just damaged the ATM by accidental electrocution, and he didn't even take any money. When Billy tries getting out of dodge, Carol flies after him, intent on bringing him in. Ultimately, Billy proves to be Carol's superior in terms of power, and he kills her.]] |
| 324 | ** ''WesternAnimation/Ben10 vs. ComicBook/GreenLantern'': [[spoiler:Hal Jordan catches Ben Tennyson sprinting around the streets as XLR8 and, after detaining him non-lethally in a construct bubble, asks him to peacefully give Hal the Omnitrix, a dangerous weapon. Instead of talking his way out, Ben turns into Four Arms and tries to beat Hal up. After the battle escalates, an injured Hal decides to go back in time and cut off Ben's Omnitrix arm before stamping him into a pulp with a boot construct.]] |
| 325 | ** ''[[Manga/{{Naruto}} Sasuke]] vs. [[Manga/YuYuHakusho Hiei]]'': [[spoiler:Sasuke sees Hiei strolling through a forest and asks him where he's going. Hiei bluntly replies "That's not your concern," and Sasuke replies by attacking him. The fight ends with Sasuke being cut to pieces by Hiei.]] |
| 326 | ** ''[[Characters/MarvelComicsMilesMorales Miles Morales]] vs. WesternAnimation/StaticShock'': [[spoiler:Miles Morales attacks Static Shock, thinking he was his arch-nemesis, Electro, due to his electric powers. When he realized his mistake, it was already too late as Static was willing to kill him over it. Soon enough, it happens and Miles was [[NoBodyLeftBehind completely destroyed]].]] |
| 327 | ** ''[[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Leonardo]] vs. [[Franchise/PowerRangers Red Ranger Jason]]'': [[spoiler:Jason sees Leonardo and thinks he was one of Rita's mutant minions despite the latter protesting. He proceeds to attack him and eventually, Jason wins.]] |
| 328 | ** ''[[WebComic/OnePunchMan Genos]] vs. ComicBook/WarMachine'': [[spoiler:Rhodey confronts Genos for blowing something up, and Genos, mistaking Rhodey for an evil cyborg, attacks him. The fight ends with Rhodey forcing Genos to blow himself up trying (and failing) to take War Machine with him, and then Rhodey stamps on his disembodied head to finish the fight.]] |
| 329 | ** WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom vs. WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong: [[spoiler:Danny was returning the artifact back from a thief who stole it, but Jake assumes Danny was said thief and attacks him in dragon form without clarifying that Danny was the thief. This ends in Jake getting disintegrated and his soul sucked into the Fenton Thermos.]] |
| 330 | ** [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Zuko]] vs. [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia Shoto Todoroki]]: It's extremely tragic when both sides realize they're not so different from each other. [[spoiler:Shoto is just walking in the woods when Zuko's training accidentally launches a projectile towards him. When Zuko tried to defend himself, his method reminded Shoto [[DarkAndTroubledPast of his past]], enraging him further. This eventually leads to Zuko dying at Shoto's hands.]] |
| 331 | ** ''ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} vs. ComicBook/SpiderGwen'': [[spoiler:Gwen accidentally teleports into the Batcave, and Barbara attacks her unprovoked. Despite Gwen making it clear she doesn't want to fight, and repeatedly trying to leave, Barbara continues to come at her, and eventually Gwen ends up cutting her throat.]] |
| 332 | ** ''[[Manga/OnePiece Sanji]] vs. [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Rock Lee]]'': [[spoiler:Rock Lee is having curry at Sanji's restaurant when he openly complains that Sanji's curry is mild. Sanji [[CantTakeCriticism replies]] by jumping over the counter and attacking him due to perciving it to be already perfect. By the end of the battle, Sanji has lost a leg and Lee has lost his life.]] |
| 333 | ** ''[[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Shadow]] vs. [[Anime/KillLaKill Ryūko Matoi]]'': [[spoiler: While the two are riding their motorcycles, Ryūko gets angry at Shadow cutting her off and dismissing her complaints about it, and attacks him despite Senketsu's attempts to talk her out of it. This eventually ends up with both Ryūko and Senketsu being vaporized by a Chaos Blast from Super Shadow.]] |
| 334 | ** ''[[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Blake]] vs. [[Manga/AttackOnTitan Mikasa]]'': [[spoiler:Mikasa finds Blake reading a book on a scaffolding and mistakes her for a stubborn civilian who missed the order to vacate the village before the Titans arrive. She then shoots Blake's book out of her hands, angering Blake into attacking her. By the end of the fight, Mikasa has died, and a Titan shows up at the village. Blake promptly goes into battle yet again, but now she's lost an arm.]] |
| 335 | ** ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse vs. [[WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil Star Butterfly]]'': [[spoiler:Star and Steven are competing in a sandcastle-building competition at a beach. Star tries building her sandcastle with magic, but it grows tall enough that it falls over on top of Steven, crushing his own sandcastle. Star's attempt to fix the castle with more magic only end up blowing it up. Star then interprets an unpleased Steven's frustration as grumpiness, and tries to cheer him up by shooting a Cupcake Blast at him, but he mistakes it for an attack and retaliates. By the end of the fight, Star ends up defending herself from a killing blow by incinerating Steven with a massive Mega-Explosive Crystal Laser, along with everyone else fighting on that beach, such as a bunch of watermelon Stevens, her own warnicorns, Spider with a Top Hat, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and a rabbit]].]] |
| 336 | ** ''[[WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty Rick Sanchez]] vs. [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]]'': [[spoiler:Rick and Morty accidentally rear-end the TARDIS in the Space Cruiser, and Rick [[NeverMyFault blames the Doctor over it]]. The Doctor however [[TurnTheOtherCheek forgives the two]] and lets things go, but Rick's insufferable ego perceives this as being dissed/ignored, causing him to chase the Doctor with intent to kill. This ultimately ends up with Rick not just dying, but [[RetGone being erased from existence]] due to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard his own actions]] against the Doctor.]] |
| 337 | * ''WebAnimation/DiamondInTheRoughTouhou'': This ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' video fanfic can pretty much be summarized as a series of impulsive actions by the main character, Brolli, and the rash actions of the Gensokyo residents in response. This escalates more and more throughout the series that causes [[spoiler: Gensokyo to nearly destroy itself in a massive war]]. |
| 338 | * ''Creator/TomCardy'': Tom's bard in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjlYFWLUDBQ "Perception Check"]] interrupts the DM partway through his description of a short hooded figure. Before the DM can finish, Tom ends up casting Vicious Mockery, gets a CriticalHit, and gives the hooded figure a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech by insulting their height, which is so devastating that it shatters the short person's mind. [[spoiler:Turns out that it was the kid that the party was searching for and hoping to rescue, and now they're dead. Undaunted, [[BlackComedy Tom loots the kid's body]].]] |
| 339 | * ''WebVideo/TwitchPlaysPokemon'' is based on and driven by this trope. 100,000 people playing one game...mons have been [[BusCrash accidentally]] [[KilledOffForReal released]], ''several'' battles have been lost, puzzles are solved only to be reset, all because of too many people randomly mashing buttons without a thought. |
| 340 | [[/folder]] |
| 341 | |
| 342 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 343 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': [[spoiler:Marcy Wu was not in a good state when she found the Calamity Box, having just been told by her parents that they were moving away, and made the rash decision that it was the solution to the problem of not wanting to be separated from her friends. They all pay for it]]. It's implied that Marcy has basically realized this by the time she and Anne meet up again in Newtopia, as she cautions Anne about making decisions with her heart, rather than her head. |
| 344 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': "[[Recap/ArcaneS1E3TheBaseViolenceNecessaryForChange The Base Violence Necessary for Change]]" ends on a horrifically dour note. Powder, after being told to stay at home, secretly follows her older sister Vi and their foster siblings to a warehouse where their adoptive father Vander is being held by Silco, in hopes that her improvised hexcrystal explosive can contribute to their escape. Instead, [[spoiler:the explosion actually ruins everything, as they were about to escape mostly unscathed before the explosive went off. The intense power of the blast ends up killing her foster family outright, with Vi only managing to survive thanks to Vander managing to pull a LastStand and HeroicSacrifice to get her out of the building before the mortal wounds he suffered claimed his life. To add insult to injury, Deckard, the primary target of the bomb and the closest one to the blast, survived virtually unscathed thanks to his mutation, meaning Powder's interference would have been pointless even if things went to plan.]] Needless to say, Vi is ''not'' happy when she connects the dots and sees her baby sister [[OpenMouthInsertFoot proudly run up to her gushing about how one of her inventions finally worked]]. A secondary example happens in the aftermath, as [[spoiler:rather than focusing on getting Powder and herself home safely, Vi gives in to her anger, scolds Powder and hits her across the jaw before storming off to calm down. This allows Silco to corner Powder and Marcus to capture Vi, and Powder is so devastated by her outburst that she runs to Silco and disowns Vi as her sister.]] |
| 345 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': This is what ultimately caused [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderZuko Prince Zuko]] banishment, though DisproportionateRetribution is at play. Iroh took him to a war meeting after Zuko begged to be included but warned him to not speak out of turn because Iroh knows what kind of man Ozai is. Then Zuko hears how a general wants to use Fire Nation recruits for cannon fodder; rather than nudge Iroh to respond to form an appropriate argument, he yells at the man. Ozai used this violation of etiquette as an excuse to challenge Zuko to an Agni Kai, scar his face when Zuko refused to fight, and banish him. [[spoiler:Zigzagged when Zuko later calls out Ozai for this, saying it was wrong and cruel to challenge his own son. He also says that [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Ozai banishing him actually did Zuko a favor because it opened his son's eyes to how the Fire Nation is a bastion of imperialism and entitlement]].]] |
| 346 | * ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': This contributed to [[Characters/BojackHorsemanBeatriceHorseman Beatrice Horseman]]'s StartOfDarkness. She started DatingWhatDaddyHates, eventually having a one-night stand with Butterscotch because of an offhand comment that Beatrice did whatever her father told her to do, making her question what probably would have been a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage. That one-night stand led to Beatrice getting pregnant with [=BoJack=], and it all spiraled out of control from there. As such, she's constantly PlayingTheVictimCard and [[NeverMyFault blaming her son for ruining her life]]. |
| 347 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': During the FiveEpisodePilot, this is what started [[FishOutOfTemporalWater the series' plot]]. When the Gargoyles invade the vikings' camp to save the captured humans, Hakkon and the Captain escape with Princess Katharine to use as a hostage. Thinking they killed her, the Magus became mad with grief, [[MisplacedRetribution blamed the Gargoyles]], and cursed them into eternal stone sleep. It was right before he was about to do the same to Goliath does he see the princess still alive, having been saved by Goliath, and immediately [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone becomes regretful of what he did]]. Even worse, Hakkon had earlier burned the page from the Grimorium [[ContrivedCoincidence that had the counterspell]], so he could not reverse it. |
| 348 | * ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': In the tragic backstory of the Pines family (spoiler alert), Stan Pines overhears a conversation between the school principal and his parents where his brother Ford is praised for his genius-level intellect, and it's suggested that he might end up going to an elite college on the West Coast. When their mother Caryn asks about Stan's future, the principal pulls no punches painting a bleak outlook for him, outright saying he's a "clown" who'll be "lucky" to graduate, scrape barnacles off a dock for a living, and stay stuck in New Jersey for the rest of his life. Hurt and heartbroken, that night he goes to the gym to clear his head, and in a moment of anger accidentally breaks Ford's homemade perpetual motion machine that could potentially have guaranteed his admission to the college. He immediately regrets what happened and tries to fix it, but the damage is done, and the next day when his action is discovered his angry father throws him out of the house, sparking over thirty years of tragedy and loneliness for both brothers. If he had bothered to talk to Ford about what was bothering him, not gone near the project, or just told Ford what happened in time, perhaps none of it would have happened. |
| 349 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': |
| 350 | ** [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E13MagicalMysteryCure "Magical Mystery Cure"]] (Season 3 finale): [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicTwilightSparkle Twilight Sparkle]] pulls this by [[WhatDoesThisButtonDo casting an unfinished spell without knowing what it does]]. The result? All her friends' cutie marks (for the uninitiated, basically their purpose in life) are switched, forcing them into each others' roles; [[AnimalsHateHim Rainbow Dash]] is forced to take care of the woodland creatures, [[ShrinkingViolet Fluttershy]] has to entertain crowds in Ponyville, [[GenkiGirl Pinkie Pie]] is stuck working day and night on an apple farm, [[{{Tomboy}} Applejack]] has to design dresses, and [[TheFashionista Rarity]] is responsible for [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows maintaining the weather]]. It doesn't end well. |
| 351 | ** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E20ForWhomTheSweetieBelleToils For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils]]" is an even less subtle example. Sweetie Belle goes through the Christmas Carol NightmareSequence to get a look at exactly what her decision to tamper with Sapphire Shores' fabric is set to do to Rarity's career and sanity. All out of simple spite and jealousy. |
| 352 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Lilith Clawthorne reveals to her sister Eda during their battle in "Agony of a Witch" that [[spoiler:the Owl Beast curse]] more-or-less springs from one of these. [[spoiler:Lilith was the one who placed the curse on Eda in the first place. They were close as kids, but Eda was the stronger magic user, no matter what Lilith did. So when they were pitted against each other in a witch's duel to see which one of them got to enter the Emperor's Coven, Lilith went to the black market and got a curse that was supposed to weaken Eda's powers for one day. However, Eda decided to forfeit the duel and let Lilith win. But as she did, the curse took effect, transforming Eda into an owl beast. Not only was cursing Eda pointless since she was planning on ThrowingTheFight to begin with, but the curse ended up becoming permanent, [[MeaninglessVillainVictory resulting in Lilith getting what she wanted at the cost of ruining Eda's life]]. Lilith's later actions are framed in the light of [[MustMakeAmends trying to make amends for what she had done]], knowing deep down that had she so much as talked to Eda, none of what happened would have come to pass.]] |
| 353 | * ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'': In "[[Recap/ThePowerpuffGirlsS2E7AVerySpecialBlossomDaylightSavings A Very Special Blossom]]", Blossom finds a set of Pro Excellence 2000 Golf Clubs in a ruined shop. Unable to resist her temptation, she steals the golf clubs to give to her father, Professor Utonium, for Father's Day. Not only does she get her father in trouble with the police, but she herself gets stuck with 200 hours of community service. |
| 354 | * ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The fifth season reveals [[spoiler:while [[Characters/StevenUniversePinkDiamond Pink Diamond]] was pleased at being given the Earth to be made into a colony, she sought to find a way to spare it, but being constantly ignored by the other Diamonds after she previously begged for a colony forced her to take drastic measures. Her faking her own shattering went wrong because she thought that the other Diamonds' aloof, ToughLove treatment of her meant they didn't actually care about her. Her death caused them to release the Corruption in revenge]]. |
| 355 | * ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': [[Characters/TeenTitans2003Terra Terra's]] entire story shows this twice. The first time is after Robin tells Terra he knows she can't control her powers, and Terra runs away under the assumption that Beast Boy lied to her about keeping it a secret[[note]]allowing her to fall under Slade's sway and become his apprentice[[/note]], unaware that Robin had simply figured it out and was unaware it was a secret. The second time comes when Beast Boy tells Terra that she has no friends after learning that she was TheMole, and immediately regrets this as Terra fully embraces villainy. |
| 356 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}'': In season two, Aqualad has supposedly killed Artemis and betrayed the team. Upon confronting him, an enraged Miss Martian doesn't hold back and unleashes her full mental power on him, {{Mind Rap|e}}ing him to the point that he's left catatonic. In the process, she reads his memories and learns the truth: Artemis' death had been faked and she and Aqualad were {{The Mole}}s. Miss Martian is [[HeroicBSOD naturally shaken]] to learn [[MistakenlyAttackedMole she destroyed the mind of someone who wasn't really a traitor]], not helped in the least by Beast Boy [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging congratulating her for it]]. |
| 357 | [[/folder]] |
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