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| 12 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1319491359061843600 |
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| 15 | [[quoteright:350:[[Literature/TheButterBattleBook https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/l6wilizc_9985.jpg]]]] |
| 16 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"Fight! Fight for the Butter Side Up! Do or die!"'']] |
| 17 | |
| 18 | ->'''Lister:''' Do you mean they had a war over whether the doughnut diner hats were red or blue?\ |
| 19 | '''Holly:''' Yeah. Most of them were killed fighting about that. It's daft really, innit?\ |
| 20 | '''Lister:''' You're not kidding. They were supposed to be green. |
| 21 | -->-- ''Series/RedDwarf'' |
| 22 | |
| 23 | The protagonists encounter two (or more) groups who are in a [[SeriousBusiness deadly serious]] conflict over what the protagonists (and likely the audience) perceive to be a trivial and petty difference or issue. Like [[Literature/GulliversTravels which end of the egg to crack first]], [[Literature/TheButterBattleBook or whether toast should be eaten butter side up or down]], or even body features such as which [[Recap/StarTrekS3E15LetThatBeYourLastBattlefield half of their face is black and which is white]]. Or it can involve a situation that doesn't actually exist, such as [[Film/DrStrangelove one side believing that the other side plans to sap and impurify their precious bodily fluids]]. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | This trope is often paired with AnAesop about how what we consider life-and-death, irreconcilable differences may be based on cultural norms and would seem just as petty from an outsider's perspective, and maybe we should reconsider our intolerance. If the writer wants to be extra {{Anvilicious}} about the message, expect the alien group to counter any perplexed queries about why they're willing to segregate, oppress, ostracise, or even kill each other over something so asinine with a retort like ''"humans kill each other over less"''. Like what pigment their skin has, whose parents they were born from, which phrases they pray with, what political party they support, and what gender they were born with. And the aliens killing each other over what color hat they wear are ''far'' above that kind of petty bickering. The fact that they're comparing what select groups of humans do (or [[ValuesDissonance did waaay back in human history]]) to [[PlanetOfHats their entire species]] being willing to kill each other over this stuff won't really be addressed. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Depending on how [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism idealistic]] the story is, the protagonists may persuade the aliens/elves/mutants/pastry chefs to reconcile their differences or accept their differences and finally give living peacefully a shot. However, if it's going for the DownerEnding, then expect the hero's efforts to be for naught as the conflict escalates and they wipe each other out. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | Most early instances of FantasticRacism were based on groups at odds over superficial matters but if the groups have real and important differences, it can fall into a poor analogy that trivializes their conflict just because it's analogous to some real-world group of humans that are at odds for some mundane reason. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | A SubTrope of SeriousBusiness. Related to HumansKillWantonly and FantasticRacism. See FelonyMisdemeanor for when it's humans acting like this, and it doesn't (usually) end in war. Compare PretextForWar, where two sides seize upon any reason they can to go to war, without actually caring about the reason itself. When it's a mere domestic squabble, it might be a ToiletSeatDivorce. See also BlueAndOrangeMorality, which can potentially justify this trope. Sometimes, the real reason is the pride of the rival parties - if so, this would be HonorBeforeReason. |
| 32 | |
| 33 | Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease |
| 34 | ---- |
| 35 | !!Example subpages: |
| 36 | |
| 37 | [[index]] |
| 38 | * SillyReasonForWar/{{Literature}} |
| 39 | [[/index]] |
| 40 | |
| 41 | !!Other examples: |
| 42 | |
| 43 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 44 | |
| 45 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 46 | * Played with among the ProudWarriorRaceGuy Giants in the Little Garden Arc of ''Manga/OnePiece''. Dorry and Broggy have been fighting (as in, straight-up brawling) each other for decades on end, such that they don't even remember what they were fighting for. The original dispute? ''Who caught the bigger fish?'' This is related to SeriousBusiness and, again, the ProudWarriorRaceGuy trope, so their pride is respected in-universe even as the audience is expected to laugh at the cause for a decades-long bout between comrades. |
| 47 | * In ''Literature/{{Slayers}} Gorgeous'', heroes... er, ''[[AntiHero protagonists]]'' Lina Inverse and Naga the Serpent find themselves caught in a civil war between a local lord and his daughter, who's raised an army and marched on the palace. Her reason for rebellion? She wants a bigger allowance. |
| 48 | ** And she already ''gets'' a pretty large one (which she is using to bankroll her rebellion - why her father is still paying her allowance while she's rebelling is never brought up), which is why her father is so worked up about her demands -- a raise from 50 gold a month to 200 a month is ''not'' chicken feed. Even Lina and Naga think her father is justified in being annoyed when they find out she wants quadruple her monthly allowance. |
| 49 | ** And it also happens in ''Slayers: Great'', where the father and son of a famous golem-making family, Galia and Huey, are fighting a personal battle that they eventually try to settle by building giant golems and having them fight each other. The reason: Galia is obsessed with making [[{{UsefulNotes/Kawaisa}} Kawaii]] golems, to the extent he builds his mega-golem in the form of a {{Chibi}} Lina Inverse, even going so far as to spend time and effort causing it to make cute sound effects when it steps or does anything. Huey, on the other hand, is into ultra-realistic golems -- and his favorite source material are beautiful, buxom women. His mega-golem is designed as a humungous statue of Naga, and [[BoobBasedGag he devotes effort to making sure the breasts jiggle like hers]]. When they finally reconcile, their first combined effort golem is a ''WesternAnimation/BettyBoop'' reference; a SuperDeformed woman's face atop a realistically sculpted sexy woman's body. |
| 50 | * In one episode of ''Anime/SpaceDandy'', the ''Aloha Oe'' crew crash on a moon where war has raged for 10,000 years... over whether to wear undies or vests. The planet the moon belonged to was destroyed about 10,000 years ago and both sides are down to the [[LastOfHisKind last of their kind]]. They drag Dandy and Meow into the war since Dandy wears undies and Meow wears something vest-like. |
| 51 | * In most of the series in the ''Franchise/YuGiOh'', the only thing silly about the conflicts seems to be how [[SeriousBusiness the card game is used to dispute it.]] The reason for the conflict itself is anything but silly. (In ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'' a WellIntentionedExtremist is trying to prevent a BadFuture, threatening the lives of millions in the process; ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL'' is an OrderVersusChaos clash with both sides focused on genocide.) However, in ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'', the card game ''itself'' is the focus of the conflict, where an inter-dimensional war has been started over ''which Special Summoning technique is superior.'' [[spoiler: However, it was revealed to be a ploy created by the Professor to gather as many captured souls and use them to fuse the four dimensions.]] |
| 52 | [[/folder]] |
| 53 | |
| 54 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 55 | * In an {{Homage}} to Creator/DrSeuss, one issue of ''ComicBook/TheDefenders'' has the Defenders finding themselves in a dimension with two lands named 'Here' and 'There' who are locked in a war. The Defenders eventually learn that the reason for the war is that the people of 'There' objected to the people 'Here' referring to their land as 'There', when it was obvious that they were really 'Here' and the other side was 'There'. The story also may be an allusion to Creator/RudyardKipling's poem ''We and They'', in which an obviously British child is incensed because: |
| 56 | -->''And They live over the sea,\ |
| 57 | While We live over the way,\ |
| 58 | But--would you believe it?--They look upon We\ |
| 59 | As only a sort of They!'' |
| 60 | * During his NotSoDifferentRemark/rant in ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'', the Joker remarks that the last world war was caused by a dispute over how many telegraph poles Germany owed as war reparations. Which, true or not, he evidently finds hilarious. While Germany having fallen in arrears in its delivery of telegraph poles did not cause a war, it was the reason given by France for occupying the Ruhr Valley in 1923. One British observer commented that this was the most devious use of wood since UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar. |
| 61 | * Italian media make a habit of remarking that WarIsHell in the clearest possible way, so of course ''ComicBook/RatMan1989'', a series thriving on insanity and [[CrossesTheLineTwice jokes you laugh about in spite of yourself]], would try and come up with the stupidest possible reason in the ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' parody: the country of [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Euthanesia]] has been in the grips of a genocidal civil war between the Farawi and the Dellabona-Prati tribes, that started because the Farawi lived on the apartment above the Dellabona-Prati and walked around in clogs all the time, and some of the individual atrocities in the conflict are sparked by other violations of the condo regulations. |
| 62 | * In the comic book ''[[ComicBook/TheSmurfs Smurf Versus Smurf]]'', a civil war erupts in the Smurf village over whether the word "[[{{Smurfing}} smurf]]" should be used as an adjective (south end) or a verb (north end). This gets funnier in languages that allow for many composite words (e.g. Dutch and German) because now the war is about whether the proper term is "corksmurf" or "smurfscrew". As a whole, this was parodying the language divide issues in UsefulNotes/{{Belgium}}. In the [[WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981 1981 animated series]], this led to the creation of the first [[TheOlympics Smurfic Games]], thereby averting the war scenario. |
| 63 | * One of the earliest ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' stories, "ComicBook/RevolutionInSanMonte", has Clark sent to cover a war in a small South American nation. After uncovering a corrupt weapon manufacturer and the US senator collaborating with him, Clark drags the opposing generals into the forest and demands they settle it by fisticuffs. The generals admit to having no clue what they're fighting about, and quickly make peace when Clark explains that the whole war is [[WarForFunAndProfit a scam to sell armaments]]. |
| 64 | [[/folder]] |
| 65 | |
| 66 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 67 | * In ''Comicstrip/{{Dilbert}}'', Elbonia erupted into civil war between the left-handed and right-handed people. Dilbert quickly lost patience trying to explain that it's "an arbitrary distinction." ("Geez, you lefties are thick. I'm glad ''I'm'' [[HypocriticalHumor normal]].") |
| 68 | [[/folder]] |
| 69 | |
| 70 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 71 | * In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/25198051 Chaldea Daily Life]]'', the French servants declare war on the English servants after overhearing Saber Mordred say "-fuck Marie Antoinette", with the English Servants joining on the "besmirched honor" of Artoria Lily during that confrontation. After a series of battles that left some servants dragged in and others burdened, including raiding the French's food and "stealing" the Round Table, Artoria Lily and Marie Antoinette are able to put an end to the war by arranging a marriage between both versions of Marie and Mordred. |
| 72 | * In ''Fanfic/ChrysalisVisitsTheHague'', at one point, the lawyer Estermann recounts the events kicking off the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Jenkins War of Jenkin's Ear]] (see the RealLife section below) to his case worker Lyra Heartstrings, making the point that impressions don't need to be factual to have an impact. |
| 73 | * ''FanFic/FantasyOfUtterRidiculousness'': A MeleeATrois between Marisa, Alice, Patchouli, Reisen and Reimu was initiated because... of a drawn-out SeinfeldianConversation. Lampshaded by Reimu to Kiva, pointing out that fights in Gensokyo have started for far less. |
| 74 | * In ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'', Prince Blueblood mentions that during his career as a diplomat, he's encountered people who would declare war over getting their grandparents names wrong and other, equally stupid things. |
| 75 | * In ''[[FanFic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse An Awkward Day]]'', Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of Cavallia is completely dumbstruck when she learns that Equestrian armies are massing on the border between the two realms. Equestria and Cavallia have been close allies for fifteen hundred years, and Cadenza is a close friend of Princess Luna. The only explanantion she can think of is that Luna is falling into the same madness that took Celestia a few centuries previously. She flies to Canterlot, and there finds out what happened. The castle major-domo had staged ''a fake coup'' in order to convince Luna that she needed to install some stairs to her room. The coup's armies weren't even supposed to go to Cavallia, they were supposed to go to Caballeria. |
| 76 | * In the ''[[VideoGame/{{Civilization}} Civilization III]]'' fanfiction ''Vegetarian Vengeance'', the Indians end up going to war with Rome over ''the contents of Caesar's sandwich!'' |
| 77 | * In ''Fanfic/TheUnfantasticAdventuresOfBizarroNo1'', the Bizarro Justice League goes to war with the [[ManOfKryptonite Blue-Kryptonite Men]] because they refuse to fight the Bizarro race. |
| 78 | * In ''Fanfic/TheUniversiad'' the Originals once fought a civil war over a paper shortage. Justified because ''paper'' was the only non-renewable resource they had on their growing post-scarcity, immortal community at the time. |
| 79 | * The [[Franchise/LyricalNanoha TSAB]] certainly views the beginning of the war between the [[Franchise/SailorMoon Moon Kingdom]] and Dark Kingdom as this in ''FanFic/WhiteDevilOfTheMoon'': because Beryl, jealous that Endymion fell in love with Serenity instead of her, incited the war. (The fact that [[TheCorruption she was actually being puppeteered by Queen Metalia]] is "conveniently" left out.) |
| 80 | * Parodied in ''Fanfic/XMenTheEarlyYears''. In one chapter Warren implies that men start wars because of women. Later Scott concludes Warren's wrong, and men start wars to get the Hell away from women. |
| 81 | * PlayedForDrama in "Fanfic/ShortestWarEver". In a FantasyConflictCounterpart to the Cuban Missile Crisis, a nuclear war between two alliances on an alien planet starts simply because a radar operator makes a mistake: their side begins an all-out "retaliation" against an attack that never actually took place, and then the other side responds to ''that'' launch. |
| 82 | [[/folder]] |
| 83 | |
| 84 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 85 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Animalympics}}'', an announcer speculates that Kit and Rene falling in love during their marathon, and crossing the finish line simultaneously, could start a war over ''the medal-count''. |
| 86 | * The [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1939]] [[Creator/MaxAndDaveFleischer Fleischer Studios]] animated adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/GulliversTravels'', the holy war over egg ends was changed to a fight over which sappy love song should be played at the wedding of the Prince of Blefescu and Princess of Lilliput: "Faithful" or "Forever". In theory, this is supposed to have been a nod to the satirical tone of the source material, but the film plays it ''completely serious''. [[spoiler: Gulliver suggests that the couple [[TakeAThirdOption combine both songs]] to settle the matter, and it works.]] |
| 87 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheHobbit'' (Creator/RankinBass version) had Bilbo deliberately sit out of the Battle of the Five Armies, as he couldn't help but find [[GoldFever the reason for it]] to be this. |
| 88 | * ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'' has the parents of South Park calling for war with Canada because they didn't want to take responsibility for letting their kids see an R-rated movie made by Canadian filmmakers. (And [[TheyKilledKennyAgain Kenny]] died attempting to imitate one of the movie's more inane comedy scenes, making the outrage seem more justified.) |
| 89 | * In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueTheFlashpointParadox'', WorldWarIII started over a lovers' quarrel. In the BadFuture, ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} cheated on his wife Mera with ComicBook/WonderWoman, leading to Mera attempting to MurderTheHypotenuse and getting killed herself. Diana sends her [[DecapitationPresentation headless corpse]] back to the Atlanteans, who then declare war on the Amazons but both sides just end up killing more humans than each other before nearly destroying the planet. In the [[ComicBook/FlashpointDCComics original comic]] they at least had the excuse of being manipulated into it. |
| 90 | [[/folder]] |
| 91 | |
| 92 | [[folder:Films -- Live Action]] |
| 93 | * ''Film/CanadianBacon'' is a satire about how, in the mid-1990s, American society is too peaceful and needs an enemy to work against, so the president attempts to start a new cold war with Canada, prompted by a hockey riot that ignited when an American [[BerserkButton insulted Canadian beer]]. |
| 94 | * Parody-CannibalFilm ''Film/CannibalWomenInTheAvocadoJungleOfDeath'' is about two [[StrawFeminist feminist]] [[AmazonBrigade tribes]] who have fallen out over whether [[{{Gendercide}} men should]] [[CannibalTribe be eaten]] with guacamole dip, or with clam dip. |
| 95 | * Played for absurdly dark laughs (if not flat-out chillingly straight) with the {{Trope Namer|s}} GeneralRipper in ''Film/DrStrangelove'': his reason to send bombers into Russian airspace with orders to nuke everything that moves is because, essentially, he's blaming them for his sexual hangups. Specifically, he assumed the feeling of post-orgasm lassitude was a plot by Communists to sap--or at least defile--Americans' "vital bodily fluids." |
| 96 | * In ''Film/DuckSoup'', a devastating war between two countries begins because of Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho) taking offense at getting called an "upstart". Rather a ''BerserkButton'', wouldn't you say? To make things even worse, Rufus and the president of the other nation call a truce a couple of times to negotiate a possible cease-fire and Rufus is the one who decides to continue the war ''both'' times; the first time because he cannot recall the insult that made him angry and his counterpart helpfully mentions it (which ticks him off again) and the second time ([[HereWeGoAgain before we cut to end credits]]) by Rufus getting angry over the mere ''[[RejectionProjection possibility]]'' of the ambassador refusing to shake his hand. |
| 97 | * ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'': [[LaResistance The People's Front of Judea]], the Judean People's Front and the Campaign for a Free Galilee [[WeAREStrugglingTogether all seem to hate one another]], possibly because they can't agree on who hates the Romans the most, to the point where the People's Front of Judea and the Campaign for Free Galilee start fighting one another over who gets to carry out a stealth mission to weaken the Romans… while already on said mission and surrounded by enemy soldiers. When Brian urges them to unite against their common enemy, they all assume he's talking about the Judean People's Front. |
| 98 | * ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'': The film starts with a dispute over tariffs that make the Trade Federation upset enough to blockade Naboo as a means of protest. It could possibly have been resolved peacefully (the blockade itself is perfectly legal) had Darth Sidious (aka Senator Palpatine) not been a TreacherousAdvisor to them who convinced them to take their grievance much further into unethical and immoral actions, which eventually triggered the Clone Wars, [[ThePurge Order 66]], and Palpatine's rise to power. |
| 99 | * In ''Film/RRRrrrr'', two prehistoric tribes are at war because one has shampoo and the others are trying to get the formula. |
| 100 | [[/folder]] |
| 101 | |
| 102 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 103 | * ''Series/BabylonFive'': Rather than hold elections or have kings, the Drazi randomly divide their population between "green and purple" scarf wearers, fight non-lethally, and [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership the side with most victories got to rule]] for the next 5 years. This causes all manner of problems in "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS02E03TheGeometryOfShadows The Geometry of Shadows]]" when the faction war breaks out on the station in the vicinity of non-Drazi, especially when the greens decide that the 'non-lethal' part of the rules can be glossed over in the interest of victory. And it turns out there [[LoopholeAbuse Ain't No Rule]] that says the leader of a certain faction has to be a Drazi themselves, as opposed to, for example, a human Earthforce officer who takes the green leader's scarf just to make a point. They freely admit that that part is stupid, but the rules of the conflict predate contact with other species and the ObviousRulePatch is still caught up in committee. Creator/JMichaelStraczynski doesn't miss the opportunity to [[{{Anvilicious}} drop an anvil here]] when the Green Drazi leader argues that the scarves are just as important to the Drazi as national flags are to humans, though Ivanova attempts a retort that human flags theoretically mean something more than "I literally pulled this color scarf out of a barrel". |
| 104 | * ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Tucker Wells trained hell hounds to attack the prom. It's revealed that he did this because a girl he asked to the prom rejected him (she wasn't even mean about it). The girl in question would have already graduated, Tucker just [[InsaneTrollLogic declared war on the concept of prom]]. |
| 105 | * In one episode of ''Series/ColdCase'' the team comes across a family that has lost 4 sons successively in a years-long feud with a drug dealer. What started the whole thing? The smallest son ran into a dealer with his kick scooter and the dealer stole it. The eldest son went to ask the dealer for it back, tried to grab it by force and was killed. Then the second son tried to avenge the elder's death and everything went downhill from there. The scooter in question was actually [[spoiler:a prize the youngest son won at a contest and a symbol that the impoverished family, or at least the youngest son, could have a future. Which only makes it worse]]. |
| 106 | * The ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' two-parter "Nuts to War" had the two-legged dinosaurs going to war against the four-legged dinosaurs over pistachios. A subplot involved the Baby's own personal war against a mammal who had stolen his cookie. At least this one is more justified, as the Baby is a baby and his feud came when Fran didn't believe there was a "cookie creature", telling Baby that it's between them. |
| 107 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E6TheDoctorsDaughter "The Doctor's Daughter"]], humans and the Hath have been in a endless struggle for control of a colony on Messaline [[ExactWords for generations]]. The war has gone on so long neither side remembers what started it, but they're both hell-bent on fighting until the other side is wiped out. The plot twist is that the war has been going on for only seven days. They're all artificially gestated in machines (an army can be cranked out in a couple hours) with such high casualty rates that nobody from the original "generations" has lived through the entire war. Both sides were on the original colonization ship together, built the colony, and later squabbled over what to do after their commander died which turned into an armed conflict. |
| 108 | * ''Series/{{Galavant}}'': Galavant and Richard meet some dwarves and giants who are locked in an epic struggle to the death over their height differences. Except the dwarves are very tall and the giants are very short, so they're all the same height. Galavant and Richard have difficulty differentiating their friends from their foes in the final battle. |
| 109 | --> '''Richard:''' Everyone! Time out. Show of hands, who here's a dwarf?\ |
| 110 | ''[dwarves and a few giants raise their hands]''\ |
| 111 | '''Richard:''' Right, and who's a giant?\ |
| 112 | ''[giants and a few dwarves raise their hands]''\ |
| 113 | '''Richard:''' Well this isn't going to work.\ |
| 114 | '''Galavant:''' Okay, okay. Let's go shirts and skins. |
| 115 | * In ''Series/GoodOmens2019'', War manages to disrupt a peace conference and restart a war over the order in which the various parties sign the peace treaty. It's implied that War is a walking ConflictBall and that people in her vicinity will seize any reason they can think of to start fighting. |
| 116 | * ''Series/RedDwarf'': |
| 117 | ** Cat's people wiped themselves out fighting a war over what color the hats at Lister's hot dog stand were supposed to be. What's particularly sad is [[ShootTheShaggyDog that neither side got it right]]. |
| 118 | ** In the novelization, it again conjures the dispute over the Nicaean Creed, as the dispute is over Lister's name -- the difference between the two guesses is one letter, and yet again, ''both'' sides were wrong, as both added an extraneous "c" to the beginning of the name; although, admittedly, the ones who thought he was Clister were at least ''slightly'' closer than the ones who thought he was Cloister. |
| 119 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 120 | ** The ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" featured two aliens with their face divided in two halves by black and white, one with the right side white and left side black and the other with the colors reversed. One is a lawman out to capture the other for [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything inciting "race riots"]], and after he hijacks the ''Enterprise'' to help him return the fugitive to their planet, they discover it had long since destroyed itself in a race war. Despite this, they just keep fighting and descend to their ruined world, after which a dejected Kirk orders the ''Enterprise'' home. |
| 121 | ** An episode of ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' featured a slightly updated version of the same basic plot - a [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror War on Terror]] allegory instead of a Civil Rights one, and not ''quite'' as {{Anvilicious}} - with the titular ship getting caught in the middle of a war started by religious schism over whether creation took nine days or ten. At the end of the episode, it turns out their civilisation had destroyed itself, just like the previous incident. |
| 122 | ** The Star Trek episode "A Taste of Armageddon" has neighboring planets Eminar and Vendikar fighting for the silliest reason of all: it's easier to continue their centuries-long computer-simulated war than it is to organize a cease-fire. If it weren't for the executions, it'd be just a game. When Kirk destroys the computer, they quickly come to a peace treaty, since they have no actual hostility or disputes. |
| 123 | ** Vulcans and Romulans had been in conflict for so long that for a long time, everyone forgot that they ever had a common ancestry. It was eventually revealed that the conflict started with a hundred-year long war, that was ignited by a misunderstanding, that was caused by a [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Q]] attempting to [[WhoWantsToLiveForever commit suicide]]. |
| 124 | * ''Series/TheTomorrowPeople1973'': "The Blue and the Green" has ''most of the world's population'' on the verge of mass violence and riots between those who preferred the color blue to those who preferred the color green. It eventually turned out that this was being psychically induced by the onset of the pupal stage in a brood of aliens left as eggs on Earth during the fall of Rome. The Tomorrow People save both the aliens and the Earth by ''knocking everyone on the planet unconscious and giving them violent dreams'' to provide the necessary psychic energy to the aliens in a comparatively harmless way. |
| 125 | * Averted in ''Series/TheWestWing'' as Kate Harper finds a way to defuse the situation, but the buildup of tensions after Canadian ranchers take American hunters hostage leads to a rather amusing B-story. |
| 126 | * ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'': In a game of "News Flash", Colin claims that the nuclear war going on behind him was started over an argument about "who was [[TheOtherDarrin the better Darrin]]." Made funnier by the fact that he can't see what's happening on the green screen; he's simply answering the question "what caused all this?" |
| 127 | [[/folder]] |
| 128 | |
| 129 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 130 | * Music/{{Genesis|Band}}: [[Music/SellingEnglandByThePound "The Battle of Epping Forest"]] describes a battle between two gangs over "gangland boundary". By the middle of the song, though, one of the gangsters says "I'm breaking the legs of the bastard that got me framed!", thus revealing the pretext of the fight. [[AndThatsTerrible This is a bad reason to fight over]], [[spoiler: more so since all of the so-called soldiers die and the gang bosses settle the matter with a coin toss anyway]]. |
| 131 | * Music/{{Nena}}: The song "99 Luftballons" (also released in English as "99 Red Balloons") records the beginning of WorldWarIII happening because of a misunderstanding that occurs when [[TitleDrop 99 red balloons]] float away accidentally from a park and were registered by radar (doesn't really helps that both sides are full of trigger-happy [[GeneralRipper General Rippers]] and [[ColonelKilgore Colonel Kilgores]] that "want to be [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Captain]] [[CowboyCop Kirk]]"). |
| 132 | [[/folder]] |
| 133 | |
| 134 | [[folder:Mythology and Religion]] |
| 135 | * In Literature/TheBible: |
| 136 | ** Literature/BookOfJudges, Samson killed a thousand men ([[WithThisHerring with a]] [[ImprovisedWeapon donkey's jawbone]]), burned down the Philistines' granaries and vineyards, and humiliated their gods, and for what? His wife was given to Samson's companion by her father, a Philistine.[[labelnote:*]]The same wife he married during the lion and honey riddle arc.[[/labelnote]] The Israelites and the Philistines already had tense relations with each other, and since Samson did that stuff [[OneManArmy by himself (with the spirit of God causing him to Hulk out)]], this one looks to be more of a RoaringRampageOfRevenge than an all-out war. |
| 137 | ** The Literature/BookOfCorinthians deals with a church divided over a number of incredibly petty issues that Paul spends the entirety of two epistles mediating with using Christian principles. Those issues include which preacher is the best, who it's okay to sleep with, what kind of food it's okay to eat, what language it's ok to pray in, and whether or not people will be raised from the dead. |
| 138 | * Creator/{{Homer}}'s ''Literature/TheIliad''. Yes, a ten-year siege over a jilted husband. No-one questions this enough to stop fighting in the original, but commentary from Creator/{{Euripides}} onwards pulled the thread of that logic, e.g.: |
| 139 | -->'''Hector:''' She is not worth what she doth cost the keeping. |
| 140 | ** While it seems a silly reason now, it wasn't then. The men [[HonorBeforeReason were just keeping their oath]]. Every man who wanted to be a suitor for Helen had to agree to abide by her father's decision and defend the right of the chosen husband should anyone try anything funny. Also, Menelaus inherited his throne via his marriage to Helen - if he doesn't get her back, he loses the right to rule (and surely any king would be willing to start a war to avoid a SuccessionCrisis). |
| 141 | ** Also, Paris kidnapped Helen while being a guest at Menelaus' home, [[SacredHospitality a breach of hospitality]]. For most ancient societies, SacredHospitality was SeriousBusiness (to the point that, in the Iliad, two warriors on opposing sides ditched the battle to celebrate upon learning ''the grandfather of one of them had been guest of the grandfather of the other''), and a prince kidnapping a queen while being a guest was a perfectly acceptable reason for war. Menelaus declared war for ''that'' (and his right to rule, but would have done the same even if it didn't depend from Helen), Agamemnon joined him because it was his brother who had been besmirched by this breach, and the rest of the Greeks joined due their oath or because they were Agamemnon's subordinates. |
| 142 | ** Creator/{{Herodotus}} cites this absurdity as evidence for a slightly different theory about UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar. Egyptian priests told Herodotus that Helen never made it to Troy, because she and Paris were shipwrecked in Egypt along the way, and the Egyptians decided to hold onto Helen for her husband until he came to get her. The Greeks think the Trojans are just lying when they say that Helen is not in Troy, hence the ten year war. Herodotus argues that this makes more sense than Homer's version, because the King of Troy "assuredly was not so mad, nor yet the others of his house, that they were desirous to run risk of ruin for themselves and their children and their city, in order that [Paris] might have Helen as his wife" |
| 143 | ** Thersites, a commoner in the Mycenean army, calls Agamemnon out on this at one point, telling the Myceneans they should go home and let their king deal with his own problems, especially since the elites in the army help themselves to plunder and women captured by the common soldiers. Odysseus promptly beats Thersites with a staff for this, telling him that commoners need to shut up. At one point in the Iliad they even try it - Menelaus and Paris duel, with the winner getting Helen. Menelaus won, but then Aphrodite got a Trojan soldier to break the truce, restarting the war. |
| 144 | ** To make it even worse, one version of Greek Myth claims that it was caused originally by the [[JudgementOfParis vanity of three goddesses]] (the winning goddess awarding Helen to Paris as a reward, neglecting to check whether or not Helen was married or even aware of the deal), which, in turn, was started by Eris, who was angry for not being invited to a party. In short, going by this story, the long, bloody conflict was started out of spite and jealousy. |
| 145 | * In the Armenian legend "Literature/AraTheHandsome", Queen Semiramis of Assyria goes to war with Armenia because King Ara refused to marry her (besides being politically advantageous, Ara was, as you might have guessed, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin handsome]]), so she wanted him [[IWantThemAlive brought back to her alive.]] |
| 146 | * In the [[Myth/CelticMythology Irish epic]] ''Literature/TheCattleRaidOfCooley'', Queen Medb of Connacht started a war with Ulster in order to take possession of a bull. Why did she want the bull? To beat her husband in a "Who's the richest" competition. It should be noted that while [[TheRustler cattle-raiding in itself]] ''was'' a common reason for war in Iron Age Ireland, Medb's decision to [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill raise thousands of soldiers across the WHOLE of Ireland,]] and then timing her assault to happen [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown while the men of Ulster were suffering a curse that put them out of action]] place this ''particular'' raid firmly in WarIsHell. |
| 147 | [[/folder]] |
| 148 | |
| 149 | [[folder:Puppet Shows]] |
| 150 | * On ''Series/FraggleRock'', two groups of Fraggles apparently once went to war because they didn't share the same sense of humor. A repetition was averted when it turned out that both groups laughed at the sight of two Fraggles getting hit with a PieInTheFace. |
| 151 | [[/folder]] |
| 152 | |
| 153 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 154 | * ''Radio/BleakExpectations'': In the series 4 finale, the main characters travel to Russia, which is in the middle of a civil war, the "Crimeariver War". As it turns out, the reason for this war was an argument over how to spell "Czar". One faction goes with "czar", the other "Tzar". And this is the sixth of their "[[{{Pun}} Czar Wars]]". |
| 155 | [[/folder]] |
| 156 | |
| 157 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 158 | * Any given Beholder in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is engaged in a never-ending race war against any Beholders not of its breed, killing them on sight. While there are some varieties that are vastly different in terms of appearance and philosophy, they will fight over any difference at all, even ones that anyone other than a beholder would never notice. Of course, there is the true Beholder, whose form would clearly be the correct form for a beholder to have. Unfortunately, whenever any beholder sees it the thing looks exactly like them. |
| 159 | ** Zigzagged with Blood War, a ForeverWar that rages between the LawfulEvil Baatezu (Devils) and ChaoticEvil Tanar'ri (Demons). When introduced in ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'', it was a combination of this, EvilVersusEvil, and OrderVersusChaos: a pointlessly bloody war over which of their specific takes on evil was superior, played for a mixture of BlackComedy and bleakness. It was also being deliberately encouraged by both the NeutralEvil Yugoloths (who were profiting off of both sides) and by the denizens of the Upper Planes (who ''really'' didn't enjoy the prospect of the combatants deciding to attack them instead). In subsequent editions, the Blood War slowly began to stray away from this pointless nature. In particular, in the [[TableTopGame/NentirVale World Axis version]] released as part of 4th edition, it actually became a multi-layered conflict: ostensibly, the root cause was over the Heart of the Abyss, the ultimate embodiment of evil that created all of demonkind and one small shard of which, when stolen by Asmodeus the first devil, allowed him to kill his godly master and become a god instead. On a deeper level, the conflict was because devils are {{Fallen Angel}}s who seek to conquer the multiverse, whilst demons are {{Elemental Embodiment}}s of corruption and evil that seek [[OmnicidalManiac to annihilate everything]], making them fundamentally opposed. Finally, the Blood War was a handy way for the demons to both organize themselves by focusing on a specific target ''and'' also gave them some protective cover, since the various other factions of the multiverse would ignore them so long as they were fighting with the devils -- not realizing how much headway this was giving the demons. |
| 160 | * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': |
| 161 | ** The game encourages this when players need to justify why the Ultramarines and Salamanders, two indisputably good SpaceMarine chapters in a setting filled with BlackAndGrayMorality, are fighting each other. Obviously they were sent to retrieve a holy relic independently of each other or something like that, now roll to see who goes first. |
| 162 | ** In other bits of background fluff, this is why the Imperial Guard tries (unsuccessfully) to adopt a standardized uniform across the countless regiments raised from across the galaxy - there have been occasions when two loyalist forces ended up fighting because they looked so different, each assumed the other was the enemy (the "standard" green uniform is originally Cadian, with most regiments following their example). |
| 163 | ** [[BloodKnight Orks]] (and [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Orcs]]) don't really ''need'' any reason to kill their enemies (or each other) beyond boredom, but they're good at finding justifications because it's more fun for them that way. For example, the two Greenskin gods are Gork and Mork, one the god of brutal cunning (he hits you when you're not looking), the other of cunning brutality (he hits you ''really'' hard even when you are looking). The question of which is which regularly leads to a happy round of religious warfare, at least until the Greenskins find something more interesting to fight. |
| 164 | ** The backstory of the late 90's [[GaidenGame spin-off game]] ''TabletopGame/{{Gorkamorka}}'' involved a load of Orks stranded on a desert planet after their ship crash-landed. Repairs slowed as a civil war spread over which deity the vessel better resembled, to the point that the ship was destroyed. Afterward the name ''Gorkamorka'' was chosen as a compromise, and reconstruction nominally continued, though the "Gorkers" and "Morkers" kept fighting. A DownerEnding in any other universe, but here, it just kind of makes sense. [[ShootTheShaggyDog Oh, and the world they landed on is strongly hinted to be a]] [[SealedEvilInACan Necron Tomb World]]. |
| 165 | * Meanwhile, in ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'', just about any non-Black Orc unit has to make a Leadership test at the start of each turn they aren't in combat (called an Animosity test, in game). If they fail, they have a 1 in 6 chance of attacking the nearest friendly unit, a 1 in 6 chance of charging the nearest enemy unit, and a 4 in 6 chance of basically grinding their advance to a halt as they start bashing each other out of boredom. They'll even do this despite having a Black Orc Boss or Warboss in the unit... who will basically kill any troublemakers the first time they start punching each other up. And they can potentially go right back to doing this even after he cracks some heads together! |
| 166 | ** In ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'', Orcs have a special rule that requires them to make a willpower check to ''avoid'' picking a fight with the nearest Orc if given the slightest provocation to do so -- with exceptions if any [[BadBoss Black Orcs]] are nearby or the orc is already in melee with someone. |
| 167 | ** Also in ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'', [[FrenchJerk Bretonnian]] [[AristocratsAreEvil nobles]] are noted to be notoriously thin-skinned and will war with each other for the silliest of reasons (such as an flippant insult) if not restrained by their liege lords. This is especially true in regions of Brettonia where there are no orcs or beastmen to fight. In fact, one particular pair of FeudingFamilies are still going at it over an alleged ravishing that happened several hundred years ago (if it happened at all) and which both sides claim to be the victimized party in. The feud is so formalized the time and place of any battles are agreed upon in advance, fought according to a timetable, and are apparently a great spectator sport for neighbouring nobility and peasants. |
| 168 | ** Dwarfs maintain the Book of Grudges, which lists every single slight against their race (Including any perceived slights incurred while settling an existing grudge, and any slights incurred while settling ''that'' grudge, ad infinitum), and are grimly dedicated to settling accounts by blood or compensation. This could very well mean that an army of Dwarfs will attack your keep because your great-great-grandfather uttered an ill-timed short joke. A ''White Dwarf'' battle report featured a Dwarf king leading a bloody siege against an Imperial noble because of his horrible betrayal of the Dwarf engineers who helped build the castle - the noble shortchanged them by twelve gold crowns. The hardcover Empire army book for 8th edition mentions a similar event happening in 2410, when dwarfs raze Fortress Kreighof to the ground after realising their payment was two and a half pennies short of the twelve dozen wagonloads of gold they had been given. |
| 169 | *** Though the empire-shattering war between the [[ElvesVsDwarves High Elves and Dwarfs]] might have been inevitable, and the main cause was a Dark Elven {{false flag operation}} that attacked a Dwarf caravan, it could have been avoided had the High Elven King not ordered that the Dwarf ambassador be [[TraumaticHaircut shaved]] and sent home in disgrace. The Dwarfs refer to the ensuing conflict as the [[SeriousBusiness War of Vengeance]], while the Elves call it the War of the Beard. |
| 170 | ** The hardcover Tomb Kings army book for 8th edition mentions the ongoing (it started in 210, Imperial Calender, so it's been raging for over ''2300 years'') "War of the Hammer", between dwarfs and the undead legions of King Alkharad. The cause? The Hammer of Algrim, an ancient dwarf-forged weapon. Problem is that it contains, as its centerpiece, a bronze coin minted for King Alkhared before the fall of Nehekhara. The dwarfs won't give it up because it was forged by a dwarf; the Tomb King refuses to lose one of his coins. |
| 171 | *** In one of the ''Literature/GotrekAndFelix'' books the pair are temporarily allied with a Tomb Prince in service to Alkhared's dynasty, and it turns out he and Gotrek had previously fought on opposite sides of one of these battles. When Felix asks why they don't just take the coin off the hammer and each take the part they actually care about, both act as if he's a complete idiot. In the end of the story they duel for the hammer, mostly just for the fun of it. |
| 172 | [[/folder]] |
| 173 | |
| 174 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 175 | * In ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'', the Kingdom of [[{{Ruritania}} Cohdopia]] had, a few years prior, split into the Kingdom of Allebahst and the Republic of Babahl in a vicious civil war. While the exact points of contention of the war were never outright stated, one of them was about which nation owned the legitimate copy of a solid gold statue of their first king. Even Kay [[LampshadeHanging points out that it's a rather childish point of conflict]]. [[SheepInSheepsClothing Ambassador Palaeno]] agrees, but says the people of Babahl and Allebahst still consider it SeriousBusiness, and the conflict between the nations cannot be resolved before it's determined which nation owns the bona fide article. |
| 176 | * In ''VideoGame/AtelierIris3GrandPhantasm'', the Kuma (bear-like beastmen) and Fairies are fighting over the Posporia [[AnotherDimension Alterworld]], and trade dominance back and forth over the game. Why are they fighting? Because [[spoiler:the Fairies wrote all over the Kuma Chief's clothes as a prank, and the Kuma thought the Fairies had issued a challenge. Now both sides fight because they've been fighting for so long]]. Their young get together in neutral zones and commiserate over how idiotic they think their parents are acting. |
| 177 | * ''VideoGame/BattlefieldHeroes''. The nationals apparently cheated during an Olympic cycling event and then mocked the king's mustache. The royals proceed to launch a full-scale invasion. |
| 178 | * ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'': |
| 179 | ** ''Dawn of War: Dark Crusade'': Both General Alexander's 1st Kronus Regiment and Brother-Captain Thule of the Blood Ravens 4th Company are trying to liberate the planet Kronus for the Imperium. The problem is that Alexander refused Thule's order to evacuate his men (because the Blood Ravens are also after some chapter relics they want to keep secret), so the two end up clashing, which canonically ends with Alexander's retreat and Thule ordering the surviving Guardsmen shipped off to Segmentum command, with his compliments for following their orders. This move did not endear the Blood Ravens to Imperial Bureaucracy, coupled with their penchant for secrecy some organizations went so far as to call them heretics. |
| 180 | ** ''Dawn of War: Soulstorm'': The plot can be sums up as the Sisters of Battle (backed up by Inquisition) being self righteous zealots with no common or military sense whatsoever and Boreale being a complete idiot. |
| 181 | * ''VideoGame/DefenseOfTheAncients'' has two gods at war with one significant difference: one blue, one red. They wage massive war [[ItAmusedMe to amuse themselves]]. |
| 182 | * ''VideoGame/DigimonWorldNextOrder:'' |
| 183 | ** The Ohguino Wastelands are divided between two factions: Meat-lovers and vegetarians, in an all-out war. [[spoiler:They're being played by Myotismon, who wants to develop on the land they're both occupying.]] |
| 184 | ** A post-game quest deals with the various Scum Digimon (Numemon and Sukamon) declaring war on ''toilets''. Pretty much every other character is baffled by the sheer passion they have about this. [[spoiler:It's an inside job of a Sukamon who wants to trick King Sukamon into giving up his power.]] |
| 185 | * ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress''. "The War of Ignition was waged by The Imperial Fells on The Council of Lances. One of the most significant causes of the conflict was a dispute over the treatment of plants." |
| 186 | ** This is often the main cause of war between the elves and anyone else. Unless the anyone else involved is controlled by the player, in which case odds are that the war started because the player decided that the best economic resource to trade to the elven emissaries was MAGMA. |
| 187 | ** Players have also waged war on [[spoiler:the underworld itself]] on the robust grounds of "why the hell not". |
| 188 | * PlayedForDrama in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''. On the surface, the Civil War is about religious freedom, the Empire having signed a treaty with the [[OurElvesAreDifferent Thalmor]] outlawing the worship of Talos. The Stormcloaks accuse the Empire of being oppressive elven puppets, and the Empire accuses the Stormcloaks of being racist traitors. The thing is, the Empire never really enforced the Talos ban except in the most flagrantly public cases, and before the Civil War just about every home in Skyrim had a shrine to Talos so they could worship in private. And [[ScrewYouElves EVERYONE hates the Thalmor]]. So in practice, the war is between those who want to worship Talos openly and make war on the elves now, and those who want to worship Talos in private until the Empire has the strength to fight the elves later. To make things even worse, some characters imply that the late High King Torygg may very well have agreed with Stormcloak leader Ulfric about openly defying the Talos ban, if Ulfric had just asked him instead of Shouting at him until [[YourHeadAsplode his head exploded]]. |
| 189 | * ''Videogame/EuropaUniversalis'' is played between nations; declaring war on another nation requires a casus belli ('cause for aggression') which can take a number of forms and has different effects on the peace settlements that result from the war. The 'Diplomatic Insult' casus belli can be used to attack a nation that has recently insulted you (over border disputes, recent aggression against their neighbors, buttering toast on the wrong side...) The resulting conflict is called a War of Honor and only has one effect on the peace: [[BraggingRightsReward double the normal Prestige gain for making them admit defeat]]. |
| 190 | ** However, since the winning nation doesn't have to demand what they actually declared for, it's possible to have a war over an insult that results in the defeated nation being totally annexed. Don't insult France, kids, it's not worth it. |
| 191 | * "The Crystal War" in the backstory of, and eventually ''Wings of the Goddess'' expansion for, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', that resulted in two continents being consumed, with tens of thousands dead, and originally [[spoiler:[[BadGuyWins victory for the Shadow Lord]]]]. This caused [[spoiler:a [[BadFuture timeline]] so [[CrapsackWorld damn wretched]] that the Goddess, Altana, intervened back during the War to stymie the Shadow Lord and create a peaceful future, which unintentionally [[TimeyWimeyBall split the bloody timeline]], resulting in the timeline the Player Character exists in. ''[[SerialEscalation This]]'' [[SerialEscalation drew the attention]] of Atomos, The Devourer, an entity that exists outside of time, to devour the timeline it deems "unnecessary."]] So what caused all that mess? A fool LoveTriangle. Years before the war, an expedition to the [[GrimUpNorth uncharted Northlands]] was commissioned. One member of that expedition [[spoiler:lured another member of the expedition away, and [[MurderTheHypotenuse tried to kill him]] due to the female member favoring the latter over the former, and due to the former's distrust towards the latter's desire to establish peace with the beastmen tribes. She suspected something was up, followed them, and ended up eating the blow meant to kill the former. The killer fled the scene, rejoined expedition, and told them the victims had fallen off a cliff. He led them away from the actual site of the encounter, causing the expedition to assume them lost. The original target survived long enough to have the [[DespairEventHorizon grief over his loved one dying]] to [[DealWithTheDevil bargain with The Dark Lord for power to get his justice]],]] which turned him into the Shadow Lord that united the beastmen and began the War. |
| 192 | * In ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaReBirth1'', three of the four goddesses nearly start a new CPU war over whether you should spritz lemon on deep-fry or not with Vert and Noire on the yes side and Blanc on the no side (Neptune tries to stay neutral and is called out on it). The war is only averted because [[BigBad Afoire]] tries to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt smash the four lands of Gamindustri into each other]], meaning they have bigger concerns. |
| 193 | * ''VideoGame/IslandWars'' has two small islands wage war on each other in order to... blow up each other's palm trees. In the sequel, the invasion mode has an invading force try to destroy the island's palm trees. |
| 194 | * ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'': |
| 195 | ** The Cola Wars were fought between the followers of [[BlandNameProduct Dyspepsi-Cola and Cloaca-Cola]]. This set a precident in ''etiquette.'' The forbidden topics for polite conversation are religeon, politics, and beverage preferences (talking about, er, the real third topic is actually a damage type, thus it'd be not just rude, but actively harmful to do so). |
| 196 | ** The war between the Hippies and Frat Boys gets started over the (apparent) murder of an animal mascot. At least the latter groups were raiding and killing each other well before the mascot's death (or before you have any quest relating to the war), and were in an arms buildup at the time of it. The mascot was just the final straw. |
| 197 | * ''VideoGame/KukooKitchen'' features a war between the forces of the galaxy's president and his former scientist friend involving the canine protagonist Chill-Li's food, which the latter tries to steal as EdibleAmmunition. After the initial battle where you serve the former's pilots, we learn it started because he sent the scientist an e-mail inviting him to the new shopping mall that the latter misread [[spoiler:and, as we later find out, was part of his scheming robotic butler Fred's plan to take over the galaxy]]. |
| 198 | -->'''President:''' My friend, we shouldn't be fighting. Please sign peace for the good of the people. |
| 199 | -->'''Scientist:''' I was not the one that started this! [[NeverMyFault This was all your fault]], for sending me that hideous e-mail! |
| 200 | -->'''President:''' Eh? Which e-mail? |
| 201 | -->'''Scientist:''' The last one you sent me! |
| 202 | -->'''President:''' The one in which I invited you to the grand opening of the shopping mall? |
| 203 | -->'''Scientist:''' Shopping mall? FRED! WHAT DID THAT E-MAIL SAY?? |
| 204 | -->'''Fred:''' I don't know, sir. You were the only one who read it. [[{{Foreshadowing}} You probably misunderstood what the message said...]] |
| 205 | -->'''Scientist:''' Ouch! |
| 206 | -->'''President:''' Oh dear! All of this ruckus is based on nothing? Because you misunderstood an e-mail? It doesn't matter, friend, forget all of this. Come to my ship and have a meal with me. We have with us a new chef whose food you will certainly enjoy. |
| 207 | * In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', though you never find out the ''specific'' reason the Ikana Kingdom was at war with whatever rival nation the Garo Robes came from, King Ikana laments after his defeat how his kingdom was destroyed and his now undead people cursed for entirely pointless and petty reasons. |
| 208 | --> '''King Ikana:''' Will you stop?!!? What fools! Haven't you begun to understand? The kingdom being ruined and us left in this state... Isn't it petty, little battles like this that have caused it? Believing in your friends and embracing that belief by forgiving failure... These feelings have vanished from our hearts! |
| 209 | * ''VideoGame/MysticArk''. We never find out [[NoodleIncident exactly what started]] the longstanding feud between the crews of the Bloodhook and the Gunboss, but when the captains of the two ships are asked just what they were fighting for, neither one can offer any answer other than embarrassed silence. |
| 210 | * ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'' has an event where the United States seizes a Japanese fishing boat, causing a small international incident. In early versions of the game, ArtificialStupidity and lack of deescalation measures meant that the United States and Japan would usually proceed to go to war over it. |
| 211 | * ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': |
| 212 | ** The Team Magma/Team Aqua war as seen in ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', its UpdatedRerelease ''Pokemon Emerald'', and its remakes ''Alpha Sapphire'' and ''Omega Ruby''. One side wants to reduce the oceans because more land is good for humanity, at the expense of Pokemon. The other wants to flood part of the landmass because more water is good for Pokemon, at the expense of humanity. The result? Either the sun turns baking hot, the rain falls uncontrollably, or you get ''both'' ridiculous weather conditions alternating rapidly back and forth. No matter what happens the entire Hoenn region is almost rendered unlivable for both Pokemon and humans alike if not for the timely intervention of our heroes. |
| 213 | ** ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'': The two brothers destroyed Unova in a battle over what was arguably a theoretical debate on philosophy--or, rather, they were fighting over whether it was better to live your life according to your ideals, or to live your life searching for the truth. The brothers weren't even fighting over ''specific ideals''; they were just fighting over the ''concept'' of ideals themselves. The sequel reveals that they were incited to war by their own ambitions, as anthropomorphized by another legendary Pokemon. |
| 214 | ** ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus:'' The divide between the Diamond Clan and the Pearl Clan is over which Pokémon created Hisui and is therefore "Almighty Sinnoh"; Dialga or Palkia. Both clans are no longer actually fighting about this, but relations are still extremely strained. Once they find out both sides were wrong, there's more than a few [=NPCs=] talking about how embarrassing the situation feels. |
| 215 | * The conflict between the Federation and the Revolutionaries in ''VideoGame/RType Tactics II: Operation Bitter Chocolate'', thank to the newly found ExcusePlot. The reason they fight each other is nothing else but the dispute over the Force Device weapon system with the R-Fighters. Still, they both fight the real evil against them both -- [[EldritchAbomination the Bydo]]. |
| 216 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}}'', the goblin village is locked in a conflict over which armor color to wear, green or red. It is up to the player to resolve the conflict. These being [[TooDumbToLive goblins]], in the end they decide on brown, the color that their armor originally had before they started fighting over red and green. |
| 217 | * In ''VideoGame/SailorMoonAnotherStory'', Sailor Jupiter ends up in the middle of two villages feuding with each other. Eventually, she discovers that the feud began when one village chief eloped [[MySisterIsOffLimits with the younger sister of the other]]. Their children, [[StarcrossedLovers who had been dating each other]] [[SurpriseIncest until they learned they were cousins]], are naturally very annoyed at this, and it's implied that the rest of the respective villages share a similar sentiment. |
| 218 | * ''VideoGame/ShootasBloodAndTeef'': The Orks from ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' will find any reason to go to war, but this one is especially ridiculous -- our Ork protagonist Gargaz got his Hair-Squig stolen by their Warboss then punted off the aircraft, and thus takes over an army of Goff Klan Orks to rampage across the planet of Looteus and get it back. |
| 219 | * ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'': This is basically what Splatfests are. There are two teams in the [[VideoGame/Splatoon1 first]] [[VideoGame/Splatoon2 two]] games, and three teams in [[VideoGame/Splatoon3 the third]], and they choose between a certain topic, and then compete over which is better. The topics in question have a wide variety of ranges, such as [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Pokemon Red or Pokemon Blue,]] [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants SpongeBob or Patrick,]] Rock, Paper, or Scissors, etc. The topics even vary depending on the region. {{Downplayed}}, since at the end of the day, it’s still just a friendly competition. |
| 220 | * In ''VideoGame/StarControl'', the humans and VUX go to war because a human called an alien "ugly". This had actual plot impact. (If the human commander insults a Spathi's appearance, the Spathi will merely insult them back.) In addition, the Orz got [[StarFishLanguage *frumple*]] and *danced* with the Androsynth, and can go to war with the human commander if you ''ask them the wrong questions'' about it. The Ilwrath sparked wars ForTheEvulz and the player can literally force them to commit mutual genocide with another race just by messing with their broadcasts. The VUX case is even sillier: the VUX already wanted to kill all humans at first sight because we are just that ugly to them and only declared war over the insult as an excuse. The VUX declared war on humans merely because humans are an eyesore to them. |
| 221 | * ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''. The whole battle between RED and BLU is an ExcusePlot, a feud between two idiot brothers when their jerkass father gave them a bunch of worthless land for the exact, written reason of fighting over. Said brothers have constructed immortality machines in an attempt to outlive each other, and hired armies of mercenaries, all so they can conquer [[RuleOfFunny a bunch of gravel]]. (The situation is made worse by the Announcer, who secretly owns the controlling stock in both RED and BLU and used their resources to take over the world. She keeps RED's and BLU's mercs attacking each other so Redmond, Blutarch, and the rest of the planet don't notice.) The Mann vs Machine update has [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore altered]] the status quo...but only in the loosest sense of "continuity"--in game, any player can choose any battleground they wish. |
| 222 | ** The Soldier/Demoman war was started in story because the Administrator hated friendships, and meta-wise over a new unlockable, which turned out to be a pair of boots that lowered explosion damage when worn. |
| 223 | *** Subverted in that while the Administrator did hate friendships, she was more concerned over the fact that the Blu Soldier and the Red Demoman might start talking about her and Mrs.Pauling which could have caused both them and the rest of their teammates to realize the Administrator had secretly been working for both sides the entire time, thus putting her entire world domination plan in jeopardy. Frankly conspiring to destroy their friendship was an outright necessity. |
| 224 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'', you may frequently find yourself stuck in the middle of a goblin invasion, which can result in the wholesale slaughter of your [=NPC=]s, and which only ends after the player has killed dozens of goblins. According to the pacifist Goblin Tinkerer, the goblins are waging war over cloth (which is also a reference to the fact that you can summon an invasion with the Goblin Battle Standard.) |
| 225 | * In ''VideoGame/YokaiWatch2'', it's revealed that the Yo-kai have been engaged in a civil war that's lasted hundreds of years, with the field being split into the "Bony Spirits" and the "Fleshy Souls". The two sides really don't like each other, and you're told the war began due to either side finding the opposing factions' beliefs disgusting. Then you find out that this disgusting belief is [[spoiler:whether cream or custard filled doughnuts are better, and Arachnus and Toadal Dude's argument over which type of doughnut would be the best birthday present for Lord Enma eventually dragged the other Yo-kai into this]]. Nate/Kate mentions how much of a silly it is to even argue about something like that, let alone have a war over it, particularly since they're basically the same thing anyway. |
| 226 | * In the ''VideoGame/{{Zork}}'' games, a bloody war was fought between the city-states of Phee and Bor. What was it over? Whether the name of the river that started near Phee and ended near Bor should be named Pheebor or Borphee. |
| 227 | [[/folder]] |
| 228 | |
| 229 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 230 | * ''WebAnimation/AnimatorVSAnimation'': In the ''Animation VS Minecraft'' short "[=PvP=]", Green starts a brawl over conflicting building space. It escalates to a war when Red gets involved. |
| 231 | * In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'', an Imperial planet descends into civil war over an argument the Emperor has with Rogal Dorn over which day it is best to eat tacos. |
| 232 | * In the ''WebVideo/MyLittlePonyTheMentallyAdvancedSeries'' short "Budget Impasse", the reason the whole war with Nightmare Moon started [[spoiler: was because Celestia refused to dress up as a banana]]. However, the ''Rainbow Dash Presents'' episode of "The Star In Yellow" implies [[spoiler:that may have just been the straw that broke the camel's back, as Luna has a DarkAndTroubledPast thanks to Celestia]]. |
| 233 | * Across both chapters of ''WebAnimation/TheNightlyNewsAtNine'', the colors Green and Orange are at war with each other, causing a ton of damage, because one Figurian decided to change their favorite color from green to orange. |
| 234 | * The entire conflict in ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' is initially presented as two color-coded teams fighting to control two bases in a box canyon, and a rare example where those involved in the conflict are fully aware of how silly it is (except for [[TheNeidermeyer Sarge]] and [[TheDitz Caboose]]). But later it's revealed [[spoiler: that the real reason for the war is to give the [[SuperSoldier Freelancers]] as many combat scenarios as possible, and that the soldiers recruited for the war were all military rejects who were put there as CannonFodder]]. |
| 235 | ** Season 14 does a CallBack to the original summation of the series when two colored groups of incompetent soldiers (Freelancers wearing blue, Charon soldiers wearing red) [[ReassignedToAntarctica whom their superiors sent to an isolated planet]] become rivals after two gunshots: the first accidental (one Blue thought he saw a spider, his attempt at shooting it hit a Red's leg) and the second on purpose to set up the conflict (realizing she'd receive a purpose in life by making enemies, the Blue leader shot her Red equivalent's foot). |
| 236 | --->'''Idaho''': Seriously!? So you're saying that only reason we need to be here is because they have a base over there and that the only reason they need a base is because we're here!? |
| 237 | [[/folder]] |
| 238 | |
| 239 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 240 | * In ''Webcomic/AntiheroForHire'', the main character is up on a space station prison where there is a turf war between the orange-shirted prisoners and the blue-shirted prisoners, for no other reason then the differences in their shirts. They admit that they're doing this because there's not much else to do. |
| 241 | * Ben Hed (of ''Webcomic/PixieAndBrutus'' fame) released a ''Webcomic/PetFoolery'' comic where, after 2000 years of war and bloodshed, the elves and the orcs are finally getting together to discuss peace. Since the war has gone on for so long, the initial reason for the conflict has been forgotten. The historians on both sides go back and forth with various acts of aggression, until finally they determine that the start of the war was triggered by an orc pranking an elf into sitting on an egg. |
| 242 | -->'''Orc soldier:''' ...this all started because of a ''prank''? |
| 243 | -->'''Elf soldier:''' ''Two. Thousand. Years.'' |
| 244 | * Invoked on the first page of ''Webcomic/GoneWithTheBlastwave'', as part of establishing the setting. The protagonists are fighting a war. But all the land is ruined, money is useless since there's nothing left to spend it on, and it's not about religion... so, why do they fight? [[spoiler: To win the war.]] |
| 245 | * In one ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'' storyline, carnivore propaganda splits rabbit society into antagonistic "ears up" and "ears down" factions. The purpose is to ensure ''no-one'' will support Kevin's place on the Rabbit Council (since he has one floppy ear). And just to prove how worthless the whole thing was, when voting day came, [[spoiler: every rabbit in the world suddenly had one ear up and one ear down. Just like Kevin's]]. |
| 246 | * ''Webcomic/ManlyGuysDoingManlyThings'': In the "generic spacefuture" Commander Badass hails from, no one fights for traditional reasons any more. Instead they fight for ''public opinion'', growing genetically engineered supersoldiers for the sole purpose of looking badass while fighting other genetically engineered supersoldiers. |
| 247 | -->'''Jones:''' So you're saying that in the future they send actual humans to fight and die for the sake of looking really badass?\ |
| 248 | '''Commander:''' Don' get me wrong, there's plenty a'real respectable causes t'fight for. But when people run outta those, it don't take 'em long t'find all sorts'a stupid shit t'keep busy with. |
| 249 | * The Finley/Lashway war in ''Webcomic/TheOverture'' began over a dispute as to who owned desolate rock. Desolate Rock is exactly what its name implies; a small, mile long island in the middle of the ocean with no natural resources or strategic value. |
| 250 | * The "pro-/anti- Skub" comic from ''ComicStrip/ThePerryBibleFellowship'', in which a brawl breaks out over two guys love/hate (PRO-SKUB vs ANTI-SKUB) of a brand of lotion. In certain circles, "Skub" has become a byword for pointless bickering over nonsense. |
| 251 | * Done during the Trent-Mercia War from ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''. It was waged partly because the king of Mercia [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=990721 said the Trent king's mustache smelled like parmesan]], and partly because, well, they're ''warlords''. [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=990720 Going to war is just part of the job description.]] |
| 252 | ** Upon being told this, Torg promptly asks if he can become a "keglord" or possibly a "Salma-Hayek-lord." |
| 253 | * In ''ComicStrip/WhatsNewWithPhilAndDixie'', two powerful forces [[https://web.archive.org/web/20150428205505/http://www.airshipentertainment.com/growfcomic.php?date=20091115 went to war]] over [[spoiler: stripes vs spots]]. |
| 254 | * [[http://xkcd.com/1285/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip presents a gang war about to break out [[GrammarNazi over a question of punctuation]]. |
| 255 | [[/folder]] |
| 256 | |
| 257 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 258 | * Website/{{Fenspace}} has the so-called "Tomed incident", which arose when some Trekkies and some ''Star Wars'' fans got into an argument over yield and feat calculations that became somewhat heated, and a series of bad decisions [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy made under the influence of alcohol]] caused an EscalatingBrawl that turned into a citywide riot. Both their respective factions consider this incident an OldShame in-universe. |
| 259 | * A Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse [[MemeticMutation meme]] consists of a three-panel comic that has [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] and [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Steve Rogers]] getting into a SeriousBusiness disagreement, usually about something mundane, like a TV show or food, followed by a smash cut to the title of ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', suggesting the two heroes come to blows over it. |
| 260 | * "[[https://www.ietf.org/rfc/ien/ien137.txt On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace]]" Is a famous essay by Danny Cohen on whether data should be transmitted from the most-significant bit to the least-significant bit or vice versa. It draws heavily on ''Gulliver's Travels'' down to the names for the sides: Big-Endian (most significant first) and Little-Endian (least significant first). To this day, those are the "official" names of those groups. |
| 261 | * ''Blog/ThingsMrWelchIsNoLongerAllowedToDoInAnRPG'': |
| 262 | -->625. I must remember before the next time I shave off the sleeping dwarf's beard and glue it to the sleeping elf, wars have been started that way. |
| 263 | [[/folder]] |
| 264 | |
| 265 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 266 | * ''WebVideo/SMPEarth'': The [[spoiler:Antarctic Empire]] and [[spoiler:Business Bay]] go to war after [[spoiler:Wisp calls [=TimeDeo=] bad at Skyblock]]. |
| 267 | [[/folder]] |
| 268 | |
| 269 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 270 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': In "[[Recap/AmphibiaS1E23CivilWart Civil Wart]]", the frog-people of Wartwood enter a civil war after watching a ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''-esque teenage romance movie and the InUniverse ShipToShipCombat escalates into actual conflict. |
| 271 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheGreatDivide The Great Divide]]" combines this with RashomonStyle, with Aang trying to settle an ancient grudge between two gangs, neither one of which can agree on what started the grudge. Since there was no way to know which side was right or wrong, Aang just fibs and tells both tribes the "real" story, exonerating both sides in the dispute over who started the grudge and making them think the reason for being at odds really was a silly one after all. |
| 272 | * ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'': In one episode, Ben and his friends go to a planet where it looks like the (comically identical) aliens are fighting over being different colors. Each gives group gives the "self-defense" excuse, then it appears to be a religious squabble, and ''then'' both generals admit to using war as a scapegoat for all their problems. In the end, Ben pulls a TakeAThirdOption by accidentally destroying the giant statue of their former united leader (while trying to paint it purple to stop the Blue vs. Red war), turning both sides against him. The episode ends with the same little alien girl who wrote to Ben asking for help at the beginning, writing him a letter about how much she hates him now (but she does reveal that her world [[ZeroApprovalGambit has finally found internal peace as they unify against their new common enemy]]). |
| 273 | * ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Ernie the Giant Chicken and Peter Griffin started a running series of battles over an expired coupon. Some time machine shenanigans in a later episode reveal that the chicken gave Peter the expired coupon because ''15 years'' earlier Peter had bumped into him at a high school dance. In a later battle, the two [[spoiler: make up and have dinner, but then fight for the right to pay for the meal]]. |
| 274 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'': In "The Bedrock Hillbillies", Fred inherits some land in a rather rustic area, only to find that a hundred-year-old feud between his family and another called the Hatrocks is still going strong. Fred knows nothing about how this fight started, but when Wilma manages to talk to a couple of them (they're polite enough to call a one-hour truce and even bring a pie with them) they find that it all started because one of Fred's ancestors made a very unflattering remark about a ''painting'' of the Hatrocks' long-deceased matriarch. (Wilma and Betty can't resist commenting on how absurd that sounds.) The events of the episode end with the feud being called off… [[HereWeGoAgain until Fred says the exact same remark about the painting]]. A future episode has the Hatrocks arriving to Bedrock to bury the hatchet because they admit it's stupid to continue the feud… and becoming TheThingThatWouldNotLeave. |
| 275 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': The conflict between gargoyles and the [[HunterOfMonsters first hunter]] started because Demona casually scarred a kid named Gillecomgain after he caught her stealing food. He spent his life hunting her relentlessly, making revenge his lifelong goal. Several decades later, she finally unmasked him. He stared at her and asked if she remembered giving him his scars. [[ButForMeItWasTuesday Demona flatly replied "No"]]. |
| 276 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatNorth'': In "[[Recap/TheGreatNorthS4E04ReadyMayorWonAdventure Ready Mayor Won Adventure]]", when Honeybee becomes the interim mayor of Lone Moose, with Wolf assisting her much to her dismay, she approves Vera's request that allows her to move her fence five feet on her property, despite Wolf trying to warn her why she shouldn't do that and she chooses to ignore him. Later on, a town crier from the town of Whippleton announces to Honeybee that the town formally declares war on Lone Moose for breaking the Treaty of 1989, where if anything Lone Moose builds is built on Whippleton's territory (in this case, Vera purposely moving her fence five feet over their border), they have the right to declare war on the town. Also in the treaty, if Whippleton declares war, than their ally town, Ted's Folly, will join them and also declare war on Lone Moose. Wolf settles the conflicts by revoking all the laws Honeybee approved and has Vera's fence moved back. |
| 277 | * ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2002'': Adam reminds himself that he has to learn diplomacy etiquette because one wrong use of a spoon or fork during dinner with ruler of other country can cause a war. |
| 278 | * ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'': The episode about the Jersey Devil has the Quest team encounter two families who are descendants of the Redcoats and Minutemen and fighting over possession of the original Declaration of Independence. Dr. Quest resolves the conflict by explaining that they've lived in the deep woods so long they don't realize the Revolutionary War has ended ~200 years prior and they agree to live peacefully with each-other. |
| 279 | * ''WesternAnimation/JumanjiTheAnimatedSeries'': One episode is centered around the conflict between two warring tribes, one of giant black ants and one of giant red ants, with Judy, Peter and Alan caught in the middle. The former accuse the latter of stealing their "Black Bahoot" and the latter accuse the former of trying to steal their "Red Bahoot". The "Bahoot" turns out to be an apparently useless big ball of slime that, what do you know, happens to be colored black ''and'' red. This is supposed to teach an Aesop on getting along... [[AesopAmnesia until the episode ends with Judy and Peter arguing over who gets the last remaining cookie]], [[HereWeGoAgain just as they were doing in the beginning of the episode]]. |
| 280 | * ''WesternAnimation/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeasts'': This is a big part of Dave and Benson' backstories. 200 years before the events of the series, the former, with his Mute species, started a war against a group of humans, called "[[PunnyName fanatics]]", because none of them wanted to share an handheld fan, until only our Dave and Benson ended up as the last of each sides, and after a talk that made them realise how this war was pointless, they become friends. |
| 281 | * ''WesternAnimation/MerrieMelodies'': "The Fighting 69-1/2th" had two armies of ants at war over a picnic. At the conclusion, the family packs up their picnic, leaving behind a chocolate cake. The two ant generals decide to call a truce and divide the cake evenly, and the truce doesn't last long. The two generals are at odds over who gets the cherry on top, and it leads to yet another war. |
| 282 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyAndFriendsE60TheIceCreamWars The Ice Cream Wars]]", two ice cream makers become embroiled in a conflict fought with actual (if food-shooting) tanks, all because one of them accidently dropped a recipe in his ice cream and thought the other stole it. |
| 283 | * ''WesternAnimation/PeaceOnEarth'': The warring factions includes [[MeatVersusVeggies the meat eaters fighting vegetarians]], and flat-footed people fighting buck-toothed people. Though that last one is probably FridgeBrilliance, as the squirrels are likely unknowingly describing UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, with the "buck-toothed people" being [[BritishTeeth the British]], and the "flat-footed people" being the Germans (with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_feet fallen arches]]). Being completely ignorant of the gigantic clusterfuck of political causes of the conflict, they assume it's just [[HumansAreBastards monstrous humans]] murdering each other over trivial deformities. |
| 284 | * ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': |
| 285 | ** "[[Recap/PhineasAndFerbNerdsOfAFeather Nerds of a Feather]]" has armies of sci-fi and fantasy {{Fanboy}}s going to a war over a FandomRivalry, with Phineas and Ferb (who are fans of both ''Space Adventure'' and ''Stumbleberry Finkbat'') getting caught in the middle and trying to resolve things peacefully. |
| 286 | ** "[[Recap/PhineasAndFerbTheDoonkelberryImperative The Doonkelberry Imperative]]": The boys discover that all the industry in [[{{Ruritania}} Drusselstein]] is powered by "the Shaft", which is powered by [[HamsterWheelPower bunnies running on treadmills]]. The Shaft has recently upgraded from "bunny power" to "goat power", but the nation has split into two factions who can't agree on which direction the goats powering the Shaft should walk, and as a result the Shaft has ground to a halt. The two eventually resolve things, and the grateful citizens plan to celebrate Phineas and Ferb's help with a holiday in their honor... but as soon as the boys leave, the Drusselsteinians [[HereWeGoAgain immediately begin arguing over whether to call it "Phineas and Ferb Day" or "Ferb and Phineas Day".]] |
| 287 | * In ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', Rick's HiveMind girlfriend's slavery of an entire planet is presented as justified because the aliens in question were in the middle of a war over what nipple shape is superior. Imagine killing someone over whether they have an innie or outie bellybutton. |
| 288 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 289 | ** The bad blood between the Flanders' religion (the Western Branch of American Reform Presbylutheranism) and Catholicism goes back to when the former split off from the Catholic Church over the right to attend services with wet hair... which they've since abolished. |
| 290 | ** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E21TheFatherTheSonAndTheHolyGuestStar The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star]]" has a fight between churches to make Bart pick the "right" one. He comes to the conclusion that the minor differences aren't important and that they should bond over the big similarities. A thousand years into the future, Bart is considered the last prophet of God and two factions are at war over whether Bart's teachings were about love and tolerance, or understanding and peace. |
| 291 | ** The rivalry between Springfield and Shelbyville, which can turn violent at times, is because Springfield built a mini-mall that was purposely larger than a mini-mall Shelbyville built. Then, after Shelbyville made the world's largest pizza, Springfield burned down their city hall. Then Shelbyville spiked Springfield's water supply to get even. And on, and on, and on. Supposedly, the founders of the two towns, Jebediah Springfield and Shelbyville Manhattan, were once friends and partners, but broke into two factions simply because the former objected to the latter's desire to allow citizens [[KissingCousins to marry their cousins]]. |
| 292 | ** One ''Treehouse of Horror'' episode has France declare war on and nuke Springfield just because Mayor Quimby wouldn't apologize for saying that French people look like frogs. ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4gwj1wFVEU Which they did in the episode]].) |
| 293 | ** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E2ATaleOfTwoSpringfields A Tale of Two Springfields]]" sees the town tearing itself apart and finally dividing in two sections a la East and West Germany because of a chain of events which is started (and is mostly led) by Homer being unable to tolerate having to remember area codes. |
| 294 | * ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In a two-part episode, Cartman freezes himself and wakes up 1000 years in the future where [[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions religion no longer exists and everyone is an atheist]]. They self-righteously speak of how silly and ridiculous it was for the people of the past to wage war over religion. However, the entire world has become a war-torn wasteland because there are currently three atheist factions locked in an everlasting MeleeATrois over ''[[spoiler:what name to call the atheist society]]''. The faction of otters also included their views towards humans using tables rather than their tummies as illogical for another reason in their conflict with the other two atheist groups. In the altered future, there are still wars because the three groups are at war with the "French-Chinese" over legal ownership of Hawaii. The episode points out that no matter what people will always find some reason to declare war on others. |
| 295 | * ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS5E17 The Battle of Bikini Bottom]]", the titular fight -- an actual historical event that ends up being reenacted as a brawl between [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick -- was fought between fish over whether it was right to be clean or dirty. |
| 296 | ** However, this was stated to be the case by [[UnreliableNarrator Patrick]], as the participants in the reenactment society in-regards to the Battle say that what Patrick just said wasn't the reason for the fighting. |
| 297 | * ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' did an anti-prejudice story based on "The Parable of the Good Samaritan" involving two towns on neighboring mountain peaks called Flibber-o-loo, where people wear shoes on their heads, and Jibberty-lot, where people wear pots on their heads. The two towns were locked in an endless war of launching shoes and pots at each over whether shoes or pots were the better headgear. After a boy from Jibberty-lot (played by Junior) rescues a man from Flibber-o-loo (played by Larry), the war ends and the two towns switch to throwing flowers and candy at each other. |
| 298 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys'': In one episode, Eliza and Darwin end up on opposite sides of a war between two groups of monkeys who fight each other because one troop has stubby tails and the other has long tails. They attempt to reason with them, and finally Eliza gets them to see eye to eye when she makes them armor out of coconuts, which means they don't figure out who is on which side until after they fight. |
| 299 | [[/folder]] |
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