Line #77 Main/BurnTheOrphanage


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10	[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/LookingForGroup https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/burning_orphanage_0.png]]]]
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12	->''"Listen, like I told your captain, that orphanage attacked '''me'''. It was '''self-defense'''."''
13	-->-- '''Richard''', ''WebComic/LookingForGroup''
14
15	What can be more [[KickTheDog completely and pointlessly evil]]? Burning down an orphanage, of course! Besides, burning harmless orphans have an enjoyable smell.
16
17	Seemingly a DeadUnicornTrope, mostly used for ComedicSociopathy.
18
19	This is very, ''very'' rarely positive; the only way it can be is if it's an OrphanageOfFear, particularly if the fire-setter is someone who lived and suffered there and has chosen to LetThePastBurn -- hopefully having made sure that everyone gets out alive. Then again, such an act is sometimes used as a BloodbathVillainOrigin in which case the character may not be too concerned about who gets out alive (particularly if the [[KidsAreCruel other kids were cruel to them]]), and the [[EvilOrphanageLady management]] usually makes it so some of the orphans are unable to escape the fire.
20
21	Compare WouldHurtAChild.
22
23	----
24	!!Examples:
25	[[foldercontrol]]
26
27	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
28	* In ''Manga/{{Monster}}'', Johan orchestrated a riot amongst the staff and children in [[OrphanageOfFear Kinderheim 11]] that led to it burning to the ground. Given the events that took place inside, it was probably for the better.
29	* In ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'', this is a key part of the plot [[spoiler:by the main characters to break the kids out of Grace Field House so they can live in the outside world, as they would otherwise get shipped out and eaten by monsters, making it a heroic example and done from the inside]]. Norman, despite [[spoiler:getting shipped out early, manages to do this all on his own to the Lambda facility he was sent to for special experimentation, and he gathered a group of four other Lambda escapees who together specialize in burning down other such facilities]].
30	* More of a burn the temple, but this is what happened to [[spoiler:Anji]] from ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' [[BreakTheCutie that made him into a]] WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds; the temple where he has looking after orphans was burned down, and all the orphans killed, all because the mayor and his men sucking up to the Meiji government through its anti-Buddhist stance to sate their {{Greed}}. [[AssholeVictim No tears were shed for them when they died years later at the hands of a vengeful Anji.]]
31	[[/folder]]
32
33	[[folder:Comic Books]]
34	* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'':
35	** On at least one occasion [[OmnicidalManiac Judge Death]] went on a killing spree in an orphan shelter, and later, a ''maternity ward'' in a bet to lure Judge Anderson into a trap and kill her, knowing that she would immediately race to the children's rescue.
36	** His colleague Judge Fire gained his name when he burned down an elementary school with eighteen hundred students inside ([[AllCrimesAreEqual on the basis of "noise pollution"]]) even before they all became undead monsters.
37	* Long before he became ComicBook/{{Carnage}}, Cletus Kasady was sent to an orphanage as a child and burned the entire place down to get back at his abusive orderlies and peers.
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Fan Works]]
41	* ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheNightmaresOfFuturesPast'': One of Harry's memories from the BadFuture involves finding the aftermath of an orphanage in Manchester that was burned down by the Death Eaters, with some children as young as four or five. This is also the first nightmare Harry has at Hogwarts, and he wakes all his roommates up with his screaming.
42	* ''Webcomic/{{Rebloom}}'': When sneaking into the Vanilla Kingdom to retrieve her lost magic, White Lily Cookie suggests burning down a St. Pastry orphanage later -- ''after'' getting the orphans out, of course. The St. Pastry Order has been shown in canon to be [[PathOfInspiration somewhat nefarious]] even aside from their FantasticRacism against cake monsters and cookies like Red Velvet who are part-cake, so this is probably meant to read as a positive orphanage-burning.
43	* In ''Literature/ShadowrunStorytime'', the player character "Trout" became one of the most wanted men in Seattle when he shot up an orphanage. He justified it by claiming the kids were all from Mafia parents and Trout was yakuza.
44	* ''Fanfic/TheWitchOfTheEverfree'' has a rare non-evil example: Sunset Shimmer destroyed the orphanage she grew up in ''accidentally'' after some bullies who thought she was magically weak [[MuggingTheMonster dared her to cast a spell]]. She responded by putting [[ExplosiveOverclocking every bit of power she could]] into a light spell. Nopony died, but a few were pretty seriously injured, and the building itself was toast.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
48	* Referenced in ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' (the movie), when Zurg draws out Buzz by threatening to hit "The Planet of Widows and Orphans" with his MindControl ray.
49	-->'''Buzz:''' You fiend!\
50	'''Zurg:''' Heh-heh. [[FlawExploitation I knew]] that [[BatmanGambit would get him]].
51	* In ''WesternAnimation/HulkVs'', Sabertooth says that after he and Lady Deathstrike get done sadistically killing Wolverine, they're going to drop the Hulk on an orphanage for shits and giggles.
52	* Ratigan of ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'' drowned orphans and widows, possibly [[ForTheEvulz just for fun]].
53	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Igor}}'', when Igor and his friends are looking for Eva, they follow her trail to a Home For Blind Orphans, where they hear yelling inside[[note]][[NotSoDire Actually from Eva]] ''[[NotSoDire playing]]'' [[NotSoDire with the orphans]][[/note]].
54	-->'''Igor:''' Oh, my god! She's killing blind orphans! That's so...evil! I mean, which is great, but—''[[EvenEvilHasStandards blind orphans?!]]''
55	* ''WesternAnimation/WakkosWish'': The Warner siblings originally lived in an OrphanageOfFear, which they now miss dearly after it was shut down during Von Plotz merciless taxation of Acme Falls, because life on the streets is even worse than the orphanage was.
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
59	* ''Film/LastManStanding1996''. Before the character puts on a appearance, there are various references to Hickey having done this at the age of fifteen, and while the story might have been exaggerated in the telling Hickey certainly never denies the crime.
60	* The townsfolk in the TV movie ''Love Takes Wing''. On the one hand, they believed that the orphans were spreading cholera. On the other hand, they wanted to [[MoralEventHorizon burn down an orphanage]]. Somehow the town is portrayed as generally a nice place to live in the sequel.
61	* Milder variation: In ''Film/TheMuppetChristmasCarol'', the ghostly Marley brothers (Jacob and Robert, played by JustForFun/StatlerAndWaldorf) reminisce about the year they shut down the orphanage on Christmas, leaving the kids in the snow with their [[CrossesTheLineTwice frostbitten teddy bears]].
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Literature]]
65	!!!By Author:
66	* In some of Creator/MarquisDeSade's works, libertines discuss this idea, saying they should destroy orphanages and hospitals. This is a result of both their contempt for the weak and simply liking to kill. Of course, in their view that's ''[[BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad good]]''.
67
68	!!!By Title:
69	* Invoked by [[TheCaligula High Lord Kalarus]] in the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' while besieging the city of Ceres. In order to lure out the city's defenders who have holed up in the fortified center, he has his men attack orphanages ''and'' a street where retired ''legionares'' are living out their pensions. It works; as one character points out, no matter how stoic or cynical one may be there's only so many times one can see a child or elder killed before it becomes too much to bear.
70	* From ''Magazine/{{Cracked}}'' magazine:
71	-->If they ever make a sequel [of ''Film/{{Volcano}}''], they should save a city from a glacier by burning down an orphanage.
72	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': The positive LetThePastBurn version appears in ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'', where the thought of torching the nightmarish Girls' Working School where they were confined is the main thing keeping Tonker and Lofty ([[{{Pyromaniac}} especially Lofty]]) going. At the end of the book, the School burns down under "mysterious circumstances".
73	* The ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' short story "The Terror of the Umpty Ums" by Creator/StevenMoffat features a [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast DeathBorg 4000]], disguised as a young boy with psychological issues in a children's home, planning to burn it down until he's stopped by the Doctor hacking into his communicator. [[spoiler:Because he's actually a young boy with psychological issues, and the voice he's hearing is his conscience taking the form of his favourite fictional hero.]]
74	* ''Literature/TheHouseOfSilk'' is a Sherlock Holmes story by Anthony Horowitz. In the story a criminal organization is using an orphanage as a front for their business. Holmes beats the bad guys, shuts down the orphanage (not sad), and returns home. But he is uneasy and leaves Watson there. He returns to 221b Baker's Street hours later reeking of smoke.
75	* Played for humor in Creator/RobertSheckley's short story, "Triplication", where a man is in court for burning down an orphanage. His lawyer explains that on the planet Altira III, orphanages are used for training assassins, and his client has probably saved thousands or millions of innocent lives. The charges are dismissed. A few years later, the guy is back in court, and again, he has a good excuse for burning down an orphanage, and gets off. It isn't until the third time, after he burns down an orphanage on Earth, that the truth comes out: he simply ''likes'' burning orphanages.
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
79	* Creator/BobMonkhouse said he'd been typecast in his serious drama roles (using AssholeVictim Sylvester Le Vey from ''Series/JonathanCreek'' as an example) as "the sort of man who would keep his cocoa warm by burning down an orphanage".
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Music]]
83	* If it counts, the eponymous pirates of the Music/AbneyPark song "Airship Pirates" shoot down a ship with "a crew of nuns and orphans".
84	[[/folder]]
85
86	[[folder:Tabletop RPG]]
87	* ''{{TabletopGame/Champions}}''. The supervillainess Bora was raised in an orphanage. On the day she left it, she used her super powers to destroy it with a blast of wind, completely uncaring about the children inside.
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder:Theme Parks]]
91	* In ''Ride/TheAmazingAdventuresOfSpiderMan'' at Ride/UniversalStudios, an unintentional instance occurs in the ride's queue line, where news footage is shown of a burning orphanage, which was said to have been set aflame due to a gas line rupture that occurred when the Sinister Syndicate levitated the building.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Video Games]]
95	* In ''1701 A.D.: The Sunken Dragon'', Diego del Torro burns down the orphanage in your city in Mission 2.
96	* Terumi burned down the orphanage that housed Ragna, Jin, and Saya in ''VideoGame/{{BlazBlue}}'s'' backstory.
97	* Lynx, evil panther-man villain of ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', burned down an orphanage (in flashback), in case it wasn't already apparent that he'd crossed the MoralEventHorizon. On top of that, he killed Lucca to do it, one of the main characters from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', since the orphanage was in Lucca's house.
98	* In ''Videogame/TheDarkness'', Paulie Francetti blows up the orphanage where Jackie grew up with a bazooka.
99	* A rare sympathetic example in an official short for ''VideoGame/DontStarve'' - after Willow lost her only defense against the shadow creatures that harassed her, having had it taken away by the matrons in her OrphanageOfFear, it was this, or die.
100	* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' contains a side quest where you have to hunt down a criminal inside an orphanage. Once inside, you find a site that more closely resembles an slaughterhouse.
101	* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'', an early human personal story quest has the player character overhearing the local bandits' plans to burn down both an orphanage and a soldier hospital. Naturally, the player character is [[SadisticChoice only able to save one]].
102	* In ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'', you can find an orphanage that, rather than being burned, was FLOODED... with all the children still locked inside... clawing at the door to get out while the waters inexorably rose... all while the manager was off somewhere drinking. Several of the children have lingered as ghosts - one desiring revenge over the manager, the other merely wanting to find peace and move on. You can track down the manager for them, and find that he's been [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone reduced to a human wreck by guilt]]. He's terrified of returning to the orphanage, but you can drag him back there anyway, and once faced with the anger and pain of the children's spirits, he'll accept his fate... whatever that may be.
103	* In the second chapter of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'', an orphanage is burned down [[spoiler:by the local mayor, so he can buy up the land and turn it into a luxury housing development]].
104	* In ''VideoGame/LiveALive'', the Bright Sparks Orphanage is set on fire by the Crusaders after Akira discovers the conspiracy behind the liquified humans. Thankfully no one is hurt, and it's restored later.
105	* In ''VideoGame/MSSagaANewDawn'' the orphanage in which our main hero Tristan grew up in was burned down, pushing him onwards to seek justice.
106	* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}''. On the "Lungfishopolis" level, you rampage across a tiny town in a parody of AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever movies as terrified citizens scream around. Several of their lines refer to the orphanage, which you apparently keep just missing while destroying the generic-looking buildings.
107	** A slightly later line reveals that the building you destroyed ''really was'' the orphanage. The ''[[KickTheDog puppy]]'' orphanage. How could you?
108	** Later played dead serious when it's revealed that Milla used to work at an OrphanageOfLove that burned down, and worse, because of her telepathy [[NightmareFuel could feel the children inside begging her to save them as they died]].
109	* In ''VideoGame/SilentHill4'', [[TheAntichrist Walter Sullivan]] burned down Hope House when he murdered Jasper Gein by [[KillItWithFire immolation]].
110	* Not [[HanlonsRazor as much evil, as dangerously incompetent]], but the management of the Shalebridge Cradle orphanage in ''VideoGame/ThiefDeadlyShadows'' allowed a fire to spread through it, forcing them to relocate the surviving children. Of course, they were the same people who [[OrphanageOfFear semi-converted it into an asylum]]...
111	* Mine has an orphanage bulldozed in ''VideoGame/Yakuza3'', though at least the children weren't inside at the time.
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:Web Comics]]
115	* Black Mage discussed burning down an orphanage early in ''WebComic/EightBitTheater'', after White Mage was horrified that he burned down the retirement home.
116	** When he tries to prove that Black Magic isn't inherently evil, she gives him the scenario of an orphanage being on fire. Before she can even finish asking what he'd do, he gleefully starts describing the spells he'd use to pick off the survivors.
117	* ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'': In "Space Savers", King Radical claims that he's stealing a warhead so he can fire it at an orphanage. However, given that we later learn that this is something of a non-standard warhead, it's possible that Radical's plan was [[VillainWithGoodPublicity ultimately benign]].
118	** Yeah, [[http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/20p75 it was]]. But since he left the warhead with McNinja, he had to demolish it a mundane, non-radical way off-screen.
119	* In ''Webcomic/DaisyOwl'', Steve accidentally presses a self-destruction button in the orphanage.
120	* Axel of ''Webcomic/AnsemRetort'' does this ''in the first strip''.
121	* Lothar Hex in ''Webcomic/ExterminatusNow'' tells a story about him hiding in an orphanage once. He blinded all the children so they couldn't recognize him and killed the youngest one to scare the others into silence.
122	* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': The "Comically evil guy" is introduced [[https://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2388 plotting to burn an orphanage]] as a distraction for the rest of his evil plan. However, he's eaten by a vampire before he can actually do it.
123	* In a flashback in ''Webcomic/{{Hellbound}}'', TheDitz struggles in her bonds as she's being [[BurnTheWitch burned at the stake]] and accidentally throws firebrands into an orphanage or children hospital.
124	* In ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'', [[http://lfgcomic.com/page/4 Richard says]] "that orphanage attacked me." Later made into a [[TheMerch t-shirt]] and web ad with flames in the background.
125	* ''Webcomic/MegaTokyo'': In the early page [[https://megatokyo.com/strip/33 "Sony buys hell"]], Sony executives congratulate themselves on causing the Playstation 2 shortage in its early days, and discuss plans to "Cause a major earthquare under an orphanage in New Delhi" ForTheEvulz.
126	* ''Webcomic/MomImSorry'': As part of Yongsik Ma's plan to evade the police and become a free man, he kidnaps Ijun, drops him in an orphanage, ties up all the adults, and douses the place in gasoline. [[spoiler:Then he finds out he has been scammed of his lifespan, so he lights the place on fire as he dies. All the kids are rescued, but Henry dies from smoke inhalation after his efforts to rescue them.]]
127	* Reginald accidentally does this in ''Webcomic/{{Nedroid}}''.
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Western Animation]]
131	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': Cheryl Tunt is an outspoken ChildHater for most of the series run. Then in Season 6 she plans to use her 1 $Million reward from the CIA (for taking part in a dangerous FantasticVoyagePlot) to buy an orphanage for the sole purpose of burning it down.
132	-->'''Cheryl''': Wahhh! Porridge! Waaah!\
133	'''Pam''': ''(horrifed)'' Well... maybe she'll die.
134	* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter Griffin tries to impress his manager in an attempt to get promoted, and does so by destroying a competitor's billboard across the street - only for him to have wired the explosives wrong and ends up burning down the childrens hospital next door instead. He's horrified at first, but declares victory after the fire spreads to the billboard.
135	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In ''WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'' episode ''Hell Toupee'', Snake is sentenced to death by electric chair under the 'three strikes' law; one of the strikes was torching an orphanage. (The other two were blowing up a bus full of nuns and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking smoking a cigarette in a no-smoking zone]].)
136	[[/folder]]

Context Main / BurnTheOrphanage