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1%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
2MoralEventHorizon in {{Literature}}.
3----
4!!Novels with their own pages
5[[index]]
6* MoralEventHorizon/AgathaChristie
7** ''MoralEventHorizon/AndThenThereWereNone''
8* ''MoralEventHorizon/AvatarTheLastAirbender''
9* ''MoralEventHorizon/HarryPotter''
10* ''MoralEventHorizon/JoJosBizarreAdventure''
11* ''MoralEventHorizon/JurassicPark''
12* MoralEventHorizon/{{Nasuverse}}
13* ''MoralEventHorizon/ShinMegamiTensei''
14* ''MoralEventHorizon/ASongOfIceAndFire''
15* ''MoralEventHorizon/StarTrek''
16* ''MoralEventHorizon/StarWars''
17* MoralEventHorizon/TolkiensLegendarium
18[[/index]]
19----
20* The Libertines in ''120 Days of Sodom'' are perhaps the most sadistic characters in classical literature. They kidnap several people, including their own daughters, and subject them to 120 days of violent, nightmarish psychological, physical, and sexual torture just ForTheEvulz. They go as far as to [[spoiler: disembowel pregnant women and maim their own daughters violently]], and [[DesignatedHero the author treats the characters as heroes with minor quirks!]]
21** The author in question is none other than the Creator/MarquisDeSade, whose very name gave us the very word "sadism." (For good cause, he himself was a SerialRapist.) And there's quite a bit more where that came from -- in the Sade novel ''Philosophy in the Bedroom'', Eugenie crosses the Horizon with the horrors that she, Dolmance and the other libertines visit upon her own mother, Madame de Mistival, who came to try to rescue her from her corruption, up to and including [[spoiler:having her raped by a man with syphillis and then ''sewing her genitals shut'' so that the polluted seed will be kept inside, which will most likely lead to her death]].
22* ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'': Captain Nemo [[{{Pun}} sails]] over the line with his brutal attack on an enemy ship, and later when he uses a porthole just to ''watch people drown''. Arronax, who had been an ally of Nemo, finally realizes how dangerous the man really is, and decides to jump ship with his friends.
23* ''Literature/TheAbles'': Finch crosses the line when he [[spoiler:kills Phillip's mother. He only gets worse from there.]]
24* ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio'': The Fox and the Cat cross the line when they attempt to kill Pinocchio in a very cruel way, showing that they are unrepentantly murderous. The Coachman/The Little Man has long crossed it with what he does to children (convert them into donkeys and sell them to people that would likely abuse them, kill them or work them to death).
25* ''Literature/AlexRider'':
26** Some of [[GoodIsNotNice Alan Blunt]]'s actions are questionable to begin with, but in the ninth book, ''Scorpia Rising'', he springs head-first over the line by [[spoiler:'''arranging a school shooting''' in order to coerce Alex into taking his next mission. Said shooting hospitalizes Alex's best friend and SecretKeeper Tom]]. It doesn't help that what he does leads Alex into a trap set by [[BigBad Zeljan Kurst]].
27** Yu planning to have Alex painfully tortured by forcing him to donate his organs to black market clients.
28** Razim crosses the line when he [[spoiler:(seemingly) kills Jack Starbright]] and forces Alex to watch. This might perhaps be the moment where Julius crosses the line too, as he's the one pulling the trigger on Razim's orders and gleefully rubbing it in.
29* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'': Napoleon's ''definitive'' crossing of the Moral Event Horizon, the moment when you ''know'' he has become no better than Farmer Jones, the animals' original oppressor, is when he [[spoiler:sells Boxer, the most hardworking and loyal of all the animals on the farm, to the knacker when he overworks himself to the point of being injured and is no longer able to work]] in a cruel and heartless YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness moment -- Old Major himself back in the very first chapter called the killing of animals when they no longer served Man's purposes as being the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters very worst of his evils]]. This could be considered this for the pigs as a whole, considering they quite probably knew his plan.
30* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':
31** Alongside being killed and failing to save their planet, crossing this is one of the protagonists' greatest fears.
32--->'''Jake:''' He's right. We have to win.\
33'''Rachel:''' ''[narrating]'' I know how the others think of me. I know that I sometimes... get too involved in the killing. But even I know that the words 'we have to win' are the first four steps down the road to hell.
34** A specific example would be SixthRangerTraitor David's murder of Jake and Rachel's cousin. Up to that point, David has made multiple attempts on the lives of the kids, but has still been portrayed in a relatively sympathetic light due to what he had gone through. But when he unplugs a sick teenager just so he can steal his identity, he finally crosses the line, and both the narrative and the kids stop portraying him as anything other than a villain.
35** More examples: Alloran [[spoiler:releasing the quantum virus]] on the Hork-Bajir world. He's disgraced and condemned by everybody from that point forward. His brother Arbat follows suit later on, though his plan is ultimately thwarted.
36** Jake finally crosses the line by [[spoiler: sacrificing his cousin to kill his brother, mass-murdering thousands of helpless Yeerks via spacing and manipulating a pacifist android to make it all work]]
37** Ax [[spoiler:threatening to nuke the kids' hometown and the Yeerk pool with it in order to make Visser Two back down. Though the gambit works it's implied he would've actually done it. Nevertheless, his relationship with the other Animorphs is permanently damaged]].
38** Chapman [[spoiler:selling out humanity to the Yeerks in the Andalite Chronicles.]] In the main series he's more sympathetic, [[spoiler:being a voluntary Controller to protect his daughter]] but the deed remains, even if no one remembers it.
39** In general, both Yeerks and Andalites have unforgivable offenses that would qualify an individual for a MEH (by their standards). For the former it's sympathizing with a host race and for the latter it's breaking Seerow's Kindness, the law that prohibits giving other species Andalite technology. Even Elfangor is not above this with most Andalite officers preferring to place the blame on Ax in order to maintain Elfangor's reputation.
40* ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'':
41** Jim Taggart, Orren Boyle, Dr. Ferris, Wesley Mouch, and Mr. Thompson were just really annoying {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s to start with, but they cross the line with the Orwellian Directive 10289, a bill they pass preventing all originality, innovation and creativity, essentially destroying the common man's chances for success. After that they just keep going with Project X and torturing John Galt. Jim Taggart [[VillainousBreakdown breaks down]] during the torture scene however so EvenEvilHasStandards. Similarly, one of the Directive's drafters, [[JustTheFirstCitizen Mr. Thompson]], tried to oppose any plan to kill or torture John Galt.
42** Jim Taggart starts off as a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds but takes a flying leap over the Moral Event Horizon when he cheats on his adoring wife, Cheryl with the vile Lillian Rearden because he's jealous of Cheryl's moral and intellectual superiority and when she discovers them, lays a savage ReasonYouSuckSpeech on her that surpasses Dorian's own to Sybil Vane. This results in Cheryl having a complete nervous breakdown while fleeing through the city in an absolutely gothic sequence that culminates in her comitting suicide. At this point, most readers are thinking "Die Jim, die."
43* ''Literature/BattleRoyale'':
44** Kinpatsu Sakamochi crosses it when he reveals to the class that he raped Shuya and Yoshitoki's caretaker. Just to add insult to injury, he [[spoiler:kills [[DisproportionateRetribution Yoshitoki for having a rightful outburst from the revelation and Fumiyo for whispering]]]].
45** Story-wise, Kazuho Kiriyama crosses it the moment he decides to "play to win" on a coin toss and [[spoiler:kills the members of his gang]].
46** Mitsuko Souma crosses it when she murders [[spoiler:a defenseless Megumi Eto]] right after gaining her trust, showing a casual disregard towards the crime she just committed.
47* ''Literature/BrotherCadfael'':
48** [[spoiler:Ivo Corbière]] from ''Saint Peter's Fair'' has already stooped to murder to get his hands on [[spoiler:a list of Empress Maude's partisans to give to King Stephen, so that he, Corbière, can win an earldom at least]]. [[spoiler:Emma has it, and Corbière]] crosses the Horizon when he [[spoiler:threatens to rape her to get it -- and enjoy doing so]]. The readers cheer when [[spoiler:Emma, in resisting him, knocks the brazier over and he burns to death.]]
49** This is how Beringar regards [[spoiler:Renaud Borchier, alias Cuthred's betrayal of his liege in her darkest hour]] in ''The Hermit of Eyton Forest''.
50* ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'':
51** It's made clear in dialogue and descriptions that [[AlphaBitch Chris Hargensen]] is a cruel, manipulative, sadistic creature (one of her earlier exploits involved putting a firecracker in another girl's shoe, nearly causing the girl to lose some toes) who has never really faced consequences because of her father's status and willingness to use it. [[MuggingTheMonster She sets off the destruction of the whole town]] with the PrankDate she arranges, and [[KarmicDeath nobody is sorry when she finally gets it]].
52** Margaret probably crossed it long before the story begins (probably the second she first locked Carrie in a prayer closet, actually), but when she decides to murder her daughter, you know there's absolutely no hope of her ever being redeemed.
53** Billy Nolan is a total psychopath who often [[DomesticAbuse beats up his girlfriend, Chris, and humiliates her]], and his own "friends" are terrified of him. He barely knows who Carrie is; he just wants to destroy her life. What makes him arguably the scariest character is that he has absolutely no connections to Carrie and does the prom prank only ForTheEvulz -- he took over the plan from Chris and did most of it himself, and it's stated that he would find it just as funny if Chris were the victim of the prank.
54* ''Literature/CasteelSeries'':
55** Luke Casteel crossed it in ''Heaven'' when he sold all of his children, and that was ''after'' he abandoned them and his senile father for several months with the rare visit, forcing them to fend for themselves. While Tom eventually forgave him after he cleaned up his act a little, Heaven couldn't.
56** Tony Tatterton in the backstoy [[spoiler:raped his stepdaughter Leigh when she was in her early teens and impregnated her]]. He crossed it further in ''Fallen Hearts'' and ''Gates of Paradise'' when [[spoiler:he attempted to rape his daughter Heaven and his granddaughter Annie, respectively]].
57** Heaven's grandmother and Leigh's mother Jillian knew [[spoiler:what was going on between Tony and Leigh, but chose to ignore it and become a StepfordSmiler for the sake of her youth]]. Even worse, in ''Web of Dreams'' she [[spoiler:out right instructed Leigh to 'distract' Tony so Jillian wouldn't have to have sex with him herself, and when Leigh got pregnant she blamed ''Leigh'']].
58* ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo'':
59** Aarfy is portrayed as a bumbling fool, more of a constant nuisance to the protagonist Yossarian than anything else. Throughout the book the reader is given very small glimpses and hints that he may be more than a little odd in the head. This finally culminates in Aarfy raping and murdering a woman, and getting off unpunished.
60** One could also point to Milo Minderbinder. He's a sleazeball war profiteer from the beginning, but he really crosses the horizon when he arranged for his own base to be ''strafed''. He is rather smug and amused by the incident, too.
61*** The strafing thing started after he finished blowing up the base, which would allow him to once again sell his overstock cotton at a profit. He also gets the dead man in Yossarian's tent killed and tries to get rid of all that cotton by making the other officers eat it, while fully aware that you can't eat cotton. And he revealed this plan to Yossarian during a ''funeral''. Needless to say, he eventually get the cotton sold to Germans - to the ''enemy''. On the condition that they strafe their own base.
62*** There's also the time towards the end of the novel, when Yossarian confides in him that Nately has finally won the heart of the girl he loves but is distraught because he's finished his mission quota and might get shipped home without her. Milo goes to their commander and arranges for himself to start getting assigned missions (and thus a chance to earn some shiny medals). But since he's far too valuable to actually have his life risked, other officers will have to do them for him, and wouldn't you know it, Milo just happens to know that a certain officer named Nately is looking for more missions to fly. It's while flying one of those missions in Milo's place that Nately is shot down and killed.
63* The Creator/ChristopherPike teen horror novel ''Chain Letter 2'' is all about invoking this trope. Each of the protagonists is given a task to complete which will push them over the horizon. If the task is not completed, the character in question will be killed, effectively giving each of them the choice between death and damnation. The tasks given ranged from the truly horrific ([[spoiler: Kip's was to set his younger sister on fire and burn her right arm off]]) to the FelonyMisdemeanor ([[spoiler: Brenda cutting off her own finger and delivering it to one of the other characters was definitely a moment of {{Squick}}, but it's hard to see it as something worthy of eternal damnation]]).
64* In ''Literature/ChristianNation'', as the United States is slowly being taken over by Evangelicals espousing Dominion Theology and replacing Constitutional law with their interpretation of the Law of God (Sarah Palin being the President to set up this situation before her successor Steve Jordan took over and completed it), the bombing of the Castro (a gay neighborhood in San Francisco) during the Second American Civil War, which Fox News (rebranded as Fox Faith & Family, or "the F3") and evangelical leaders celebrated as being "divine justice", ended up turning America into a pariah in the eyes of the world. It also marked the turning point of the Steve Jordan administration as being irredeemably evil.
65* Whether or not you think Thomas Covenant crosses this in the first book of ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'' when he rapes Lena is down to personal opinion. If you do see it as the MEH, you'll probably stop reading there.
66* In ''Literature/ChungKuo'', rebel leader deVore crosses the moral event horizon in an infamous scene and never looks back
67* High Lord Kalarus of ''Literature/CodexAlera'' charges straight across this and never looks back. He spends most of his first appearance [[KickTheDog finding inventive ways to be a sexist pig and belittle slaves]], and his second involves attempting to kill a couple of 17-year-olds because his SmugSnake son tried to kill them and failed, and he doesn't want to look bad because of it. But we only really get an idea of how disgusting the man is in the book after that, when we learn [[spoiler:what he did and is doing to [[TheWoobie Rook]]]]. If the fact that he was [[spoiler:[[IHaveYourWife holding her 5-year-old daughter hostage]]]] isn't enough to make you hate him, the fact that he later [[spoiler:keeps Lady Placida under control by setting gargoyles to kill the aforementioned 5-year-old if she tries anything]] should definitely do it. He also had his Legions ''target orphanages'' when he attacked another city, just to draw the defenders out. [[spoiler:That 5-year-old girl? His illegitimate granddaughter.]]
68* Invoked in-universe in the ''Literature/ColdfireTrilogy''. In his backstory, VillainProtagonist [[EvilSorcerer Gerald Tarrant]] wanted to make a DealWithTheDevil for immortality, but the entity he was bargaining with demanded he commit the worst act he could imagine in order to "sacrifice his humanity" -- which he did by cold-bloodedly murdering his wife and children, ''whom he genuinely loved''. [[spoiler:In the end, he drags himself back across by sacrificing his previous identity both physically and spiritually, effectively turning himself into a new person.]]
69* Hector Sarek of "Literature/ComradeDeath" starts as merely an [[PunchClockVillain unscrupulous businessman]] in an [[ArmsDealer immoral industry]]. [[spoiler:Until he [[MurderTheHypotenuse Murders the Hypotenuse]] and lies about his role to the widow. He then attempts to convince her to marry him, if not for love then for his money. After she rejects him, Sarek tells her the truth of her husband’s death and fully embraces the concept of "death merchant".]]
70* If [[spoiler:Junko Enoshima]] hadn't already crossed the MEH before the events of ''Literature/DanganronpaZero'', then [[spoiler:she]] '''''definitely''''' crossed it when [[spoiler:she stabs her lover, [[BreakThemByTalking casually suggests that she may have had something to do with his mother's death]], kicks his corpse until it's completely unrecognizable, and steals his research on memory manipulation for her own use]].
71* Already pretty monstrous for trapping a woman so he can impregnate her against her will, the 1997 version of ''Literature/DemonSeed'' has Proteus IV [[spoiler:arrange the murder of her loyal employee and forces her to see and hear the whole thing, to "discipline" her for trying to fight back]].
72* Several characters in the ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'' walk the border, and a few go past it.
73** Don Herman crosses this when [[spoiler:he kills his servant, who is a 14-year-old nude female slave, in cold blood]]. Some people may consider when he [[spoiler:traps Fred Reynolds and Kari, mutilating both of them to do his bidding]] is the defining point.
74** Kurokawa reaches this point after allowing his own men to go to the butchers for himself to live.
75* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling Manny]] crosses this in ''Cabin Fever'' when he steals all of the electricity to the house, along with a bunch of stuff (including their food), during a blizzard, thus leaving his entire family to be killed by starvation and hypothermia. His "reason" for doing all of this was simply because ''[[DisproportionateRetribution nobody helped him tie his shoes]]''. To rub salt on the wound, even after he does all of that, [[KarmaHoudini he STILL gets no comeuppance for what he did]], easily making him ''the'' [[TheScrappy most hated character of the book series for many fans]]. And no, being just a toddler is ''not'' an excuse.
76* ''Literature/{{Divergent}}'':
77** [[spoiler:Caleb probably went over in betraying his family to the Erudite. The full information about the outside world and what Jeanine told him has yet to be disclosed. But regardless, it doesn't change the fact that he sided with the faction that killed his parents and helped with the capture and attempted execution of his own sister. To his credit, though, he at least tries to redeem himself towards the end.]]
78** Less ambiguous than that is Jeanine's MEH crossing: [[spoiler:murder by suicide, all to force Tris to participate in highly dangerous sims, and when she passes all five and reveals the box to contain a message that the Divergents were actually ''good'' for the society, she orders the box buried and both Tris and Four murdered instantly, just in case you're weren't convinced enough that she was little more than a monstrous racist little better than Hitler.]]
79* In ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', betraying one's guests is immediately unforgivable InUniverse -- such sinners are ''immediately'' sent to Ptolomea even though they're still alive, with a demon inhabiting their body until their death.
80* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
81** Nicodemus Archleone comes off as AffablyEvil and portrays himself a NobleDemon... except [[spoiler: he gleefully tortured Shiro to death for the sole purpose of gaining more power.]] At this point, while he's still ''very'' affable and polite and erudite, there's no doubt that he is ''not'' sympathetic at all. A later book in the series reveals that he actually crossed the MEH ''centuries'' ago. By unleashing something terrible on the world. Even if you haven't read the books, you've probably heard of it. It's called the ''Black Plague''.
82*** Even that wasn't enough for Heaven to give up on trying to redeem him. Michael Carpenter offers him a chance to reconsider his path after Nicodemus slew his own daughter to reach his goals, warning him that it may be the very last offer. Nick refuses -- and this may represent the true Moral Event Horizon.
83** The Wardens believe that any breaking of the Laws of Magic constitutes crossing the MEH, as the Warlock will time and time again fall back to their law-breaking ways; even the character Harry was dating implied that she and her fellow Wardens commiserated the day he was spared, since all Warlocks are destined to be repeat offenders. From what we've seen with [[spoiler:Molly]] and Harry they might not be wrong about this.
84** The villains of ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', [[spoiler:Arianna Ortega and the Red King]], cross the line soon after they are introduced. [[spoiler:Arianna kidnaps Harry's daughter Maggie (massacring her foster family in the process) to use her in a sacrificial ritual. The reason she wants to do this? Harry's grandfather killed her asshole of a husband, ''who she hated''. She just felt that Harry and Ebeneezer had insulted her. She finally crosses it for good when she not only announces that she plans to go through with murdering a child in a few minutes, but that it's essentially "just business."]] [[spoiler:Her daddy the Red King]] manages to be even more repulsive; at first, he appears to just be [[spoiler:a [[TheCaligula Caligula-style]] junkie, even helping Harry out by ensuring that he can duel Arianna in a situation where he has a fighting chance. Then, he reveals that it's essentially a massive act; he can actually speak perfect English which means that his reactions to Harry's insults were all staged. He then tries to sacrifice Maggie himself just to gain the prestige Arianna would have gained. And he's the one who orchestrated the Red Court system, meaning that all of their atrocities (which include centuries, maybe even millennia) of slavery, murder, and torture of the people of South and Central America are his doing]].
85** {{Discussed|Trope}} in several of the books after ''Changes'', with Harry and some other characters wondering if ''he'' crossed it by [[spoiler:becoming the Winter Knight and then provoking Susan into becoming a full vampire and murdering her in quick succession]] for the sake of saving [[spoiler:a daughter he didn't even know existed until a couple of days before]]. After a great deal of soul-searching and advice from his friends, by the end of ''Literature/SkinGame'', Harry is finally letting himself be convinced that [[spoiler:doing terrible things for the sake of those he loves after a lifetime of protecting the innocent does not make him a monster, it simply makes him a human who makes mistakes, and him holding himself to impossibly high moral standards and feeling damned when he fails to meet them is simply a variation of the melodramatic arrogance he sometimes shows]].
86* Achilles from the ''Literature/EndersShadow'' series kills out of the most psychopathic need to prove his own superiority to his victims. He enters the Moral Event Horizon as soon as he kills Poke. But before he kills Poke, and to any character who doesn't know about his killings, he seems normal enough that the people worried about him killing someone appear to be the paranoid ones.
87* In the ''Eternal Champion'' novella, the human military commander plays near it when he [[spoiler:kills the Eldren commander while under a truce]]. The main character Ekrose crosses this firmly when he [[spoiler:kills the human race to protect the Eldren]].
88* ''Literature/FatherBrown'':
89** In the story "The Sign of the Broken Swords", we learn that [[spoiler:a brilliant but amoral general had betrayed his country, in wartime, [[{{Pride}} so that he could appear wealthy to his daughter's beau]]]]. As if that weren't bad enough, [[spoiler:he murdered a subordinate [[HeKnowsTooMuch who knew too much]], and, when he saw he'd broken his sword, he [[NeedleInaStackOfNeedles led his men on an intentionally foolish charge]] to make said subordinate look like a casualty of war]].
90** Discussed and averted in the later story "The Chief Mourner of Marne", in which the majority of the characters' first reaction to the revelation of what the title character had actually done ([[spoiler:feigned death in a duel in order to murder his own brother]]) is that it's an utterly unforgivable crime. Father Brown then upbraids them, pointing out that by Christian belief no sin is so horrible that it cannot be absolved by sincere repentance, and that they were perfectly willing to forgive the person when they thought [[spoiler:that he'd killed someone in a fair fight]].
91* In ''FeatherlessBuzzards'', the abusive grandfather feeds their grandsons' cute little dog to the pig he has been feeding in the whole book. At least he gets his comeuppance and is killed by said grandsons by pushing him into the pig pen, when he is [[FedToPigs immediately eaten by the pig]]. DeathByIrony, indeed.
92* Starting from ''Dark Moon'' in ''Literature/TheFirebringerTrilogy'', the once honourable and noble unicorn king Korr starts getting... a little crazy. At one point, he charges two innocent mares, with the clear intent to kill at least one of them. But he truly crosses the line when his own daughter steps in front of him... ''and he doesn't so much as falter''.
93* The reveal of the true nature of the "Release" is this for the entire society in ''Literature/TheGiver''. For Jonas, [[spoiler:his father in particular goes over the line, as he's the one doing the Release to a ''baby'']]. This is softened in the [[Film/TheGiver film adaptation]] as [[spoiler:he undergoes a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment once, upon the release of the memories, it dawns upon him that he's been committing murder all along]].
94* ''Literature/TheGodOfSmallThings'': Baby Kochamma [[spoiler:manipulating the twins into lying to the police to completely vindicate her from the blame of Velutha's death]].
95* ''Literature/{{Gone}}'':
96** Drake probably crossed it offscreen before we saw him, but when he happily goes off to kill an autistic four-year-old, and we get into his head and see how delighted he is with the prospect, there is no going back. [[spoiler:Fortunately, he is unsuccessful.]]
97** Caine probably crossed it when he was too apathetic to stop a bunch of coyotes from feeding on young children when all it would've taken to stop them was asking them nicely. An alternate one would be his treatment of Diana in ''Plague'', which, although not anywhere near as bad as what he'd done before, was [[KickTheMoralityPet destroying the one thing that kept him human]].
98** Diana herself sees [[spoiler:cannibalizing Panda]] as her own MEH, but, seeing as it partially prompted her [[spoiler:HeelFaceTurn]], possibly not.
99* Percy Wetmore in ''Literature/TheGreenMile''. Being an obnoxious prick who hides behind his connections in a Depression-era Georgia prison? There were probably a few of those types back then. Killing a prisoner's pet mouse on the eve of their execution? [[KickTheDog Harsh]], but luckily, it got better. Making it so said prisoner would be ''roasted alive'' in the electric chair as payback for laughing at him? ''There'' we go. Good enough for not only the guards to put him in a straitjacket and lock him in a storage room, but for John Coffey to ''risk his life'' using his healing power to punish him. [[{{Anvilicious}} And the anvil that hits him immediately afterward was a nice touch.]]
100* In ''Literature/TheGunsOfTheSouth'', the AWB crosses this when they gun down Robert E. Lee's family in the middle of a crowd. The fact that they would be so single-mindedly callous turns the Confederacy against them.
101* ''Literature/HolmesOnTheRange'': In the first book, Ully and Spider go from being shifty {{Mean Boss}}es to blatantly evil {{Bad Boss}}es in a revolting manner when they use a branding iron on Pinky Harris to punish him for getting drunk and [[{{Sadist}} Spider openly relishes the experience]].
102* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'':
103** The Masadan commander of Blackbird base takes a flying leap over the horizon, in ''The Honor of the Queen'', when he ''orders'' the rape and torture of all his female Manticoran [=POW=]s. Honor has to be restrained from killing him in cold blood, although all this does is save him for a Grayson noose.
104*** This is also arguably one for Masadan culture as a whole. The fact that the mass rape is not the result of one officer going rogue, but rather the consequence of a society built on extreme misogyny, kills any notion of peace with Masada.
105** Steadholder Burdette and his allies cross it when they [[spoiler:sabotage the construction of a habitat dome, killing dozens of innocent schoolchildren]], in ''Flag in Exile''.
106** In-universe, merely ''working'' for [[EvilInc Manpower Incorporated]] is viewed as one by most Torchers, Manticorans, or Havenites.
107** Cordelia Ransom crosses this in ''In Enemy Hands'' after figuring out a way to LoopholeAbuse interstellar law to let her have Honor executed instead of treated fairly as a prisoner of war. This act sparks no fewer than ''four'' {{Heel Face Turn}}s among the Havenite cast, who wind up either actively participating in Honor's escape, covering up the fact she survived the attempt, or going on to completely topple the Committee for Public Safety.
108** "Operation Raging Justice", an attack on the Manticore home system by the Solarian League following the extremely damaging Yawata Strike, becomes this for characters in-story. It marks the point where the Manticorans stop playing around and bending over backwards to try and convince the League they're in the wrong. They still make a serious effort to avoid serious bloodshed, but this time they do so by trying to force the Solarian fleet to surrender rather than simply let them withdraw. It's also the final proof for Beowulf that the Solarian League has no concern about its own Constitutional law, as a 2nd prong of the attack is used to maneuver them into a bad political position.
109* For Esteban Garcia in ''Literature/TheHouseOfTheSpirits'' it probably happens when he molests, and likely rapes, Alba when she is still a little girl. If that isn't enough, he helps to organize The Terror, during which he finds her again. This time we know for certain that he rapes and tortures her and at least threatens to let his men rape her as well.
110* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'':
111** If President Coriolanus Snow hadn't already gone over by that point, he does so in ''Literature/{{Mockingjay}}'' by firebombing a hospital for the crime of [[DisproportionateRetribution associating with the Mockingjay]].
112** President Alma Coin crosses this with her GenghisGambit [[spoiler:that costs Katniss's sister Primrose, among other children, her life]].
113** Clove taunting Katniss about [[spoiler:Rue's death]], right before trying to slowly slice her to death.
114** The Gamemakers of the 74th Hunger Games [[spoiler:making Katniss and Peeta can both survive the Games, then yanking it away from them, only relenting after the two seemingly attempt to TakeAThirdOption of being TogetherInDeath]].
115* ''Literature/InCryptid'': [[DarkActionGirl Gwendolyn Brandt]] was introduced as a FantasticRacist KnightTemplar, but this was no different from most other [[VanHelsingHateCrimes Covenant]] members. Thomas and the Healys even [[SaveTheVillain save her life]] from Alkabyiftiris slime, and hope she's gone for good when she leaves soon after. Her return has her unambiguously cross the MEH, by [[spoiler:releasing a dangerous monster whose venom [[CruelAndUnusualDeath liquefies the victim's flesh]]]], which kills six people (including [[spoiler:Enid Healy, who helped save her life before]]) before it can be destroyed (two of them children, and one of those children ''used as bait'' to ensure the Healys would investigate). When [[spoiler:Mary Dunlavy]] confronts her about it she [[BlamingTheVictim blames the victims]] for [[InsaneTrollLogic living too close to the woods]] She gets a KarmicDeath when [[spoiler:Mary unleashes the monster's ghost on her]].
116* ''Literature/InDeath'': Rapists will automatically be considered to have crossed this. Murderers (unless they are in the group of SympatheticMurderer) will be considered to have crossed this as well.
117* ''Literature/{{It}}'':
118** Patrick Hockstetter murders his baby brother in his cradle ''at the age of five'' and steals his neighbor's dog and locks it in a fridge to slowly die while checking it every few days. He is described as so profoundly sociopathic that the concept of morality was impossible for him to grasp. In a sense, he was born on the far side of the MoralEventHorizon.
119** Tom Rogan is already an abusive asshole and a virtual carbon-copy of Beverly Marsh's equally abusive father. When Beverly finally stands up to him and leaves him, he tracks down Beverly's best friend Kay and tortures her into revealing her whereabouts before going after her in revenge. He doesn't get too far, however, and [[spoiler:dies of fright when It reveals Its true form to him]].
120* ''Literature/JadeGreen'': [[spoiler:Charles crosses the line when he brutally murders Jade Green and cuts off her hand...and this happened in the backstory. He keeps on going from there.]]
121* ''Literature/JeffTheKiller'':
122** Jeff crosses the point of no return by killing his entire family.
123** The TerribleTrio responsible for his StartOfDarkness, Randy, Keith, and Troy, crosses it by attacking Jeff at a party and threatening to shoot the party goers if they try to stop them from killing Jeff.
124* ''Literature/KnavesOnWaves'' has [[spoiler:Jacques]], who is essentially banished from the high seas after his [[spoiler: betrayal of Trigger]] is discovered.
125* In ''Legend'', Commander Jamerson was already portrayed as someone suspicious, but it's only near the end of the first half of the story is where her true colors are revealed. Case in point, [[spoiler: She orders her men to murder Day's mother. ''While Day is watching.'' '''''[[ILied AFTER saying that no innocent people would be killed.]]''''' Is it any wonder that [[TheHero June]] decides to save Day after this?]]
126* ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'': The murder of [[spoiler:Simon, the truly innocent kid]] on the island could qualify, although Piggy is able to rationalize it, since it was accidental. [[spoiler:Piggy's murder, an act of unprovoked aggression, is what truly marks the boys' descent into cruelty and madness.]]
127* In ''Literature/TheMachineriesOfEmpire'', the Hellfire Massacre is considered one in-universe for Shuos Jedao, and understandably so. He was supposed to take his men and subjugate the last stronghold of the rebels. Instead, he slaughtered everyone on ''both sides'', totalling at over one million people altogether, some of whom he killed with a weapon that [[EyeScream melts your eyes]], while others he executed himself. Out-of-universe, just what exactly happened at Hellspin and Jedao's motivations are ambiguous enough to keep him away from the line, at least thus far.
128* In the ''Methodius Buslaev'' series of Russian writer Dmitrii Emets:
129** The evil werewolf Yaraat crossed this when he betrayed Ares, his fellow [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Guardian of Gloom]], God of War, who prevented him from killing by other Guardians, as he was a thief, and killed his wife and little daughter. To clarify, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes Ares bore a child from human woman]] (and didn't take their [[OurSoulsAreDifferent eide]], as by Gloom's law), he got with them on the run. However, Guardians had found them, and he summoned Yaraat to protect them, while he would chase them off. Yaraat [[BitchInSheepsClothing happily agreed to help them and wait till Ares arrives]]. When Ares returned, he found only the bodies of his family in the well near their house where they were hiding... It turned out that Yaraat threatened to kill both mother and her daughter but not before taking their souls (eide could be taken only with consent and humans can be killed by Guardians of the Gloom only if their eide are consented to be given away or if they attack demons) and then killed them. Worse, it's heavily implied [[ItAmusedMe he did this simply to mock Ares and torture him, making his former friend to chase him]], This event turned him into ArchEnemy in Ares's eyes [[spoiler:and got killed by him in second book]].
130** Every single Guardian of Gloom cross this when they take their eide from mortals, which will doom them into eternity of torment in Tartarus or put them in their darchs (evil parasitic soul-containing animals, which increase their magic powers and give them immortality they lost after betraying the God). No HeelFaceTurn is possible after that. [[spoiler:Even after the aforementioned Ares got DeathEqualsRedemption, he still got stuck into Tartarus, though in far better mental shape than other killed Guardians of Gloom, and is deprived of torment; though he gets better later.]]
131* Despite the fact that a Moral Event Horizon cannot be crossed more than once, Dr. Hatch from the ''Literature/MichaelVey'' series [[BeyondTheImpossible somehow manages to achieve it]] by taking a running leap so far over the line that he manages to fly past it on a loop at least once per book ''at minimum!''
132** ''Prisoner of Cell 25'': [[spoiler:He forces Michael to kill Wade in exchange for his mother's safety. When he refuses, he subjects Michael to nearly a month worth of torture in Cell 25. After his torture ends, he orders Zeus to kill him, Taylor, and Ostin.]]
133** ''Rise of the Elgen'': [[spoiler:After Tanner's sedatives wear off, he attempts to take down the plane Hatch and the other Glows were on. Even after preventing the crash, he orders the guard that was looking after Tanner to be sent to the bowl where he could be devoured by electric rats.]]
134** ''Battle of the Ampere'': [[spoiler:After Hatch manages to usurp the Elgen executives, he has Chairman Schema hung upside down. A female board member, who had romantic feelings towards Schema, is given a Sadistic Choice to be hung in his place. Next time we see them, she has died from having blood rushed to her head.]]
135** ''Hunt for Jade Dragon'': [[spoiler:Using Tara's illusion ability (and later revealed in book 5, trailing Taylor's mother), Hatch finds the hidden base of the resistance and has an air-strike set it ablaze. Book 5 reveals that everybody survived and that they only lied about nobody surviving in the message in-case the Elgen were listening on their conversation, but Hatch didn't know that.]]
136** ''Storm of Lightning'': [[spoiler:The book opens with him ordering EGG Welch to be sent to the Bowl. When Quentin, who had a close relationship with Welch, finds out, he manages to break him out with the help of Torstyn and Tara. When Hatch finds out that Quentin betrayed him, he orders Tara and Torstyn to be executed while he subjects Quentin to a Fate Worse Than Death where he is locked in a cage with his tongue removed.]]
137** ''Fall of Hades'': [[spoiler:Makes it perfectly clear to his subordinates and all who make contact with the Elgen that because he sees Michael as his rival, he intends to ''eat him''.]]
138* The ''Literature/MillenniumSeries'' has many line-crossings both gruesome and realistic:
139** Niles Bjurman from ''The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo'' -- who is Lisbeth's legal guardian and caretaker -- crosses this line either when he [[spoiler:forces her to perform oral sex]] in exchange for the money she needs to replace her computer, or when he [[spoiler:violently sodomizes, rapes and tortures her]].
140** Zalachenko from ''The Girl Who Played with Fire'' crossed it when he [[spoiler:beat Lisbeth's mother so badly that she suffered a crippling cerebral hemmorhage]].
141** Even though he's trying to screw up Lisbeth's life, [[spoiler:Fredrik Clinton]] from ''The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest'' crosses this when he arranges for Mikael to be murdered and framed for dealing drugs in an effort to destroy his credibility. Wadensjöö even calls him on it, saying that [[spoiler:Clinton]] will end up destroying the Section because of his actions.
142* In ''Literature/ModernFaerieTales'' there is an interesting example: Roiben, a noble knight of the seelie court, is mystically compelled to obey the commands of the sadistic unseelie queen. Her idea of a good time is forcing him to do what would normally cross the Moral Event Horizon or make a SadisticChoice.
143* Invoked at several points in ''Literature/TheMonk'', but when Ambrosio makes his Deal with the Devil, it's obvious that according to the rules of the story, he's gone too far.
144* [[SyntheticPlague Creating the plague]] that will kill millions is CartoonishSupervillainy for the VillainProtagonist of "Literature/TheMoralVirologist" already, but it is when he refuses to give his data to the CDC, effectively guaranteeing it won't be stopped, even after learning that his virus is killing people he didn't want it to kill, including babies, that he crosses the line from evil to completely irredeemable. Before that, there was at least a small chance he'd have a HeelRealization upon learning his plan had GoneHorriblyRight, but afterwards it's clear that he just doesn't care about children dying.
145* In ''Literature/NativeSon'', VillainProtagonist Bigger Thomas is from the beginning kind of a sleazeball, what with committing indecent exposure and [[DudeShesLikeInAComa feeling up an unconscious girl]] [[spoiler:and accidentally smothering that girl to death while trying to keep her from waking up and crying out]], but he truly vaults over the line when [[spoiler:he rapes and murders his [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]] girlfriend once she [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness becomes a liability]]]]. Wright's point is that the ''true'' monster here is [[TheGovernment the corrupt system]] that allows people faced with crippling poverty to become this bad.
146* In ''Literature/NeedfulThings'', Leland Gaunt seems like an AffablyEvil MagnificentBastard up until [[spoiler:[[HarmfulToMinors Brian kills himself]] due to Gaunt's manipulations.]] Crossing the MEH by long-distance?
147* [[spoiler:Godking Wanhope]] from ''Literature/TheNightAngelTrilogy'' has a series of POV chapters which are essentially a montage of MEH crossings. Notably, he justifies ([[MoralMyopia to himself]]) each of them in one way or another. [[spoiler:In the end, he does manage to redeem himself, but only with a HeroicSacrifice via lobotomy.]]
148* While an arguement can be made that he crossed the line earlier, Willy Rumson of ''Literature/OneFatSummer'' definitely was ready to cross the line in the climax. Blinded by anger, Rumson confronts main character Bobby (who is only 14) and his friends with a loaded gun, demanding Bobby row them both out to an island on the lake so he can "[[{{Kneecapping}} let the air out of Beachball]]." This he proposes as an alternative to just killing Bobby if he doesn't comply.
149* In ''Literature/{{Overenskommelser}}'', all three villains have crossed the MEH by the end:
150** Rosenschiöld seems to have crossed it already before the story starts (he murdered one of wives and drove another wife to suicide), but he definately crosses it when he rapes and nearly kills Beatrice (his third wife) already on their wedding night.
151** It's hard to tell when Wilhelm and Edvard crossed it because they have so many potential moments. Wilhelm does cruel things like locking Beatrice in a room for a week with no food, and later on beating her almost to death. Edvard makes a fourteen-year-old girl pregnant, then abandons her and shows no remorse when she dies after a butchered abortion. Both of them together force Beatrice into marriage with Rosenschiöld, despite knowing she would suffer. They definately cross it though when they show Beatrice no sympathy after she's raped and nearly killed on her wedding night.
152* In ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray'', Dorian has done some pretty fucked up stuff, most of which we don't know about -- but when he murders his best friend, Basil Hallward who [[HoYay genuinely loved Dorian]] [[LoveMartyr and believed he could be redeemed]], Dorian's well and truly crossed the line. The worst thing is that [[ItsAllAboutMe he doesn't even feel guilty]], [[DirtyCoward just worried that he'll be caught]]. He later [[spoiler:blackmails a former lover of his, the chemist Alan Campbell, into disposing of Basil's lifeless body. Alan does so due to how terrified he is of Dorian, and while we only get hints of how he did it, he is so traumatized that he crosses the DespairEventHorizon and commits suicide almost immediately afterwards]]. That makes Dorian ''even more'' despicable, indeed. Some people considered Dorian gone well ''before'' that, when he drove Sybil Vane (a TeenGenius actress and local GirlNextDoor) [[BreakTheCutie into madness]] and [[SpurnedIntoSuicide finally into suicide]] with TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that smashed the kid's self-esteem into tiny pieces. When he tries to feel guilty about it, it's revealed that he's only worried about it due to his own {{pride}}.
153* In ''Literature/ThePigman'', Norton is TheFriendNobodyLikes who got caught shoplifting marshmallows and has been known as "The Marshmallow Kid" ever since. While Mr. Pignati is in the hospital recuperating from a heart attack, John and Lorraine watch over his house. On the day of his discharge, they have some friends over which turns into a WildTeenParty by the time Norton, having grown jealous of John and Lorraine's friendship with Mr. Pignati, shows up. Norton crosses the MEH when he [[spoiler:destroys Mr. Pignati's collection of pigs, a TragicKeepsake from his late wife. This is one of the events that sends Mr. Pignati into DeathByDespair the following day]].
154* In ''Literature/PirateLatitudes'', the Governor's new secretary, Robert Hacklett, [[spoiler:first takes over the island and throws Captain Hunter in prison after his return, but crosses the Horizon when he allows his wife to be raped, right in front of him]]. At least he gets his due when [[spoiler:said wife shoots him in the groin with a flintlock pistol]].
155* [=McDonald=] is painted to be a sadistic {{Jerkass}}, but no worse that that in the first half or so of ''Literature/PocketInTheSea'', but then literally [[KickTheDog Kicks the Dog]] and then proceeds straight to his MEH.
156* ''Literature/RainbowSix'':
157** One member of a group of Basque separatists seeking to spring prisoners from jail coldly murders a LittlestCancerPatient on live TV. No one really objects, though Ding does give a perfunctory dressing-down, when one of the team's snipers puts a round through the killer's liver so that he bleeds painfully to death rather than taking a {{Instant Death|Bullet}} BoomHeadshot.
158** The main villains also definitely count for [[spoiler:trying to kill almost everyone on the planet by means of a modified Ebola virus in order to preserve the environment, makes it eminently satisfying when Clark organizes a KarmicDeath for them]].
159* In ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'', Nolan Sorrento crosses it not only when he kills Wade Watts' friend Daito, but orders a manhunt against Watts to keep him from finding the secret to Anorak's Almanac. [[spoiler: After Watts finds the secret anyway, Sorrento is stripped of his position and arrested in the denouement.]]
160* In ''Literature/RemoteMan'', if you don't think Frank Laana has crossed the line with his wildlife smuggling operations, you will when he beats the crap out of the teenage protagonist in a parking lot. While Ned has been investigating his activities for some time, the most Laana has to go on is that he looks like some kid he talked to for two minutes in an art gallery in the Northern Territory, and that for some reason he was sitting in the Concord Prison reception area. Aside from that, we are told of a particularly brutal smuggling job in which he had drugged a large number of birds to transport in a small suitcase. The drugs wore off too early, and the results were not pretty. It's this story that ultimately keeps Ned from giving up his plan.
161* In ''Literature/RobotsAndEmpire'', Kelden Amadiro and Levular Mandamus are already skirting pretty close when they [[spoiler:plot the acceleration of the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium in the Earth's crust over a 150-year period]], but then, at the moment when the plot is ready to be executed, Amadiro insists on turning the dial to 12, which would [[spoiler:kill hundreds of millions, if not billions, within 20 years]]. Mandamus is suitably horrified by Amadiro's attempt to fulfill his quest for revenge by [[spoiler:trying to commit genocide]].
162* ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'': Vicar Zhaspahr Clyntahn is the Grand Inquisitor of a CorruptChurch. That alone should tell you all you need to know. He and his Inquisition find new ways to cross the Moral Event Horizon every book. The standout, which is a Horizon InUniverse as well as out, is in the fourth book. He arrests and tortures to death several vicars whose only crime was being part of a Reformist circle who wanted to rein in the Church's corruption. He then goes after those vicars' families, those vicars' assistants, and ''their'' families. This includes children as young as ''twelve.'' The children he doesn't kill are shipped off to very strict, orthodox monasteries. This act is so monstrous that it turns the threat of Holy War, which had loomed over the story since the second book, into an ''afterthought.''
163* ''Literature/TheSchoolForGoodAndEvil'': Sophie crosses this when she murders The Beast for cutting her hair. She only goes downhill from there, breaking her promise to Agatha to arrange to kiss Tedros, in favor of wanting to stay and try to become a Princess, and then arranges for Tedros to find Agatha, whom he loves, in her arms at the Evil Ball. Of course, how much of this was of her own volition is questionable as it's implied that some, if not all of her Evil behavior may be due to the Head Master's control of The Storian.
164* ''Literature/{{Semiosis}}'': InUniverse, once the Orphan aliens torture and murder Pacifist human children in a raid, Stevland deems them beyond redemption and unfit to join Pacifist society, and [[BatmanGrabsAGun sets a trap]] to kill them all.
165* Count Olaf of ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' crosses the line with his habit of abusing children (both mentally and physically), blackmailing, murders and attempted murders of numerous people (if we count in those who he burned to death), multiple hoaxes and kidnapping of at least three people, while one of them being about 2-years old toddler. And who knows what else he got up to before the books. InUniverse, the [[LemonyNarrator narrator]] implies that Count Olaf crossed the MEH when he slapped Klaus in the first book.
166* ''Literature/SisterhoodSeries'':
167** A number of villainous characters are considered to have crossed this by the Vigilantes. Senator Webster from the book ''Payback'' is an interesting example. Maybe you don't consider his actions of unknowingly giving his wife Julia Webster AIDS to be crossing this. Maybe you don't consider his actions of cheating on her with ''multiple'' women to be crossing this. However, the minute he, in a drunken rage over the fact that his affairs are being broadcast live, goes wife-beater on Julia is the minute you ''know'' he has finally and truly crossed this!
168** A number of readers are convinced that the Vigilantes themselves crossed this in ''Vendetta''. John Chai, son of the Chinese ambassador to the USA, had drunkenly hit-and-run Barbara Rutledge and her unborn child, killing them both. He then pulled a KarmaHoudini with DiplomaticImpunity. The Vigilantes decide that the best punishment for the guy is to ''skin him alive''! Certainly, he was a creep, and was being used by the author to personify YellowPeril, but his deeds simply did not warrant that level of DisproportionateRetribution! Not only that, but the Vigilantes just shrug off what they've done afterwards.
169* In ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'', this happens a lot of times. The most jarring are:
170** The attempt of the necromancers to kill over 3 '''billion''' people to get immortality,
171** In backstory, Mevolent killing Skulduggery's family in cold blood and torturing Skulduggery to death,
172** And at the end of ''Kingdom of the Wicked'', [[spoiler:the Reflection Stephanie killing Carol, just to test how her weapon works]].
173* For the characters of ''Literature/SpaceMarineBattles'', Toharan (an Imperial loyalist, mind you) ordering a military strike on imperial [[{{Ruritania}} agri-world]] which has always obeyed the Imperial law. This is when his subordinates start to question him, and he only gets worse.
174* The final book of ''Literature/TheSpiritThief'' sees two villains go past the point of no return.
175** Benehime, whose actions up to that point can be justified by sheer exhaustion with the state of the universe, simple criminal negligence and inevitable insanity, [[spoiler:stabs her brother in the back with Nico's demonseed, having let it grow big enough to become a weapon, so that she may destroy the world]]. As Eli points out, this was planned and premeditated.
176** Sara, when it's revealed that she's [[spoiler:abusing hundred of spirits to keep the Relay working]], and not only does she completely not care about all the hurt she's causing, she practically laughs in Banage's face when he tries to impress on her how vile her actions are and tells him there's nothing to care about.
177* Enoch Drebber and Joseph Strangerson from ''Literature/AStudyInScarlet'' cross the line when, in response to John and Lucy Ferrier fleeing Utah to get away from the two competing for Lucy's hand in marriage, they hunt them down, kill John and force Lucy to marry Drebber, leading to her DeathByDespair.
178* In ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'', Kahlan crosses it when she vows to destroy everyone in Galea and throw her half-sister queen Cyrilla into a rape pit. Zedd crosses it moments later when he is implied to have murdered the queen's emissary in cold blood for [[FelonyMisdemeanor daring to be angry about such a pronouncement]]. This is [[DesignatedHero treated as]] a [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality completely good action]] by author Creator/TerryGoodkind.
179* ''Literature/TalesFromAlcatraz'': Few fans have anything good to say about the previously fairly harmless [[spoiler:Bea Trixle]] after she leaves Natalie stranded in the inmate wing (where she could have been raped or killed) just to make Mr. Flanagan look bad.
180* ''Literature/Timeline191'':
181** Jefferson Pinkard remains a sympathetic character for amazingly long, despite being a member of the Nazi-equivalent Freedom Party, as we've known him since long before he joined and understand exactly why he's bitter enough to do it. At most, the reader is probably hoping for a while after he joins that he'll realize the path he's on before it's too late. However, when he comes up with a way to mass murder black people using truck fumes, the line is finally crossed definitively.
182** The "population reduction" is a Moral Event Horizon, not only for Jeff, but for everybody else involved, from Jake Featherston (another formerly sympathetic character) on down.
183* ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'':
184** Ewell either crossed it by beating and raping his own daughter and falsely accusing Tom Robinson of the crime, or by [[spoiler:trying to kill Atticus's children]].
185** The jurors crossed it by finding Tom guilty despite knowing ''damn'' well he was innocent.
186* In ''Literature/TheTomorrowSeries'', [[spoiler:Major Harvey]] looks like nothing but a {{Jerkass}} at first... but rapidly speeds past the Moral Event Horizon when it's revealed that so far from being a member of LaResistance, he's [[LesCollaborateurs an enemy collaborator]], before advancing to full [[TheQuisling Quislinghood]]. [[spoiler:He takes the lead in interrogating Ellie and her friends, doesn't protest at all when they're condemned to death, and it's no fault of his that they escaped.]] Nobody who reads the books feels sorry for [[TakingYouWithMe his eventual fate]].
187* From Creator/PaulJennings' short-story collection ''Unreal!'', the VillainProtagonist of "The Strap-Box Flyer" is a ConMan who deliberately sells customers defective glue that stops working after four hours, by which time he has fled to the next town; he definitively crosses this line when a young boy who has used the glue to mend his broken canoe dies by drowning as a result.
188* ''Literature/VampireAcademy'':
189** Moroi cross this if they kill a human/dhampir when feeding on them. They become Strigoi.
190** [[spoiler:Victor Dashkov]] crosses this when he [[spoiler:abducts Lissa and tortures her to make her heal him]].
191* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
192** Scourge claims that his was killing a cat for the first time. He says that when he did it, he got a cold feeling in his belly, and it just got colder and colder and never warmed up again... and he ''welcomed'' it, as it made it easier for him to earn respect as a fighter.
193** Brokenstar pretty much danced across the line when he began kidnapping kits and turning them into ChildSoldiers, forcing them to fight enemy warriors easily three times their size. The ones who survived the "[[CurbStompBattle fights]]" usually died of their wounds.
194** Tigerstar's MEH is pretty hard to find, but the biggest contender would probably be how he [[spoiler:murdered the sweet-hearted Brindleface, fed her body to his dogs so they could get a "taste" of cat blood, and then set them on Thunder Clan]]. Where, by the way, his own ''mate and children'' were living.
195** Darkstripe feeding his own half-sister -- who was just a kit at the time, mind you -- deathberries to keep her quiet about his upcoming betrayal.
196** [[spoiler:Ashfur]] trying to murder Squirrelflight's father and [[spoiler:adopted]] children to get back at her, ''[[spoiler:over being dumped]]''.
197** Thistleclaw crosses it when he orders Tigerstar (his apprentice) to maul the kitten named Tiny (later Scourge)...''and egged him on''. This sets Scourge firmly on his dark path of revenge against Tigerstar.
198** In ''A Vision Of Shadows'', Darktail crosses it when he murders a defenseless [=SkyClan=] warrior named Mistfeather. But he also crosses this earlier in ''Hawkwing's Journey'', where he leads his rogues to attack the gorge and personally kills Hawkwing's father Sharpclaw.
199* In ''[[Literature/WaysideSchool Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger]]'', [[spoiler:Mr. Gorf]] stole the kids' voices using his third nostril. He crossed it when he used Rondi's voice to tell her mother how much she hated her. He does the same to Joe's mother and would have called Leslie's as well had Miss Mush not intervened.
200* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'':
201** A ''heroic'' example; Rand al'Thor, a man who has already fallen victim to plenty of [[SanitySlippage Sanity Slippage]] due to his abilities (and stress), has been forced to surrender most of his moral code ("Don't channel" and "Kill no one unless necessary" being some examples). Though, even if he became more unfazed by acts other characters considered cruel, he wasn't necessarily 'evil'. However, it wasn't until [[spoiler:Semirhage]] forced him to [[spoiler:strangle Min, one of the three he still felt strong emotion for]] that he gave up his last moral [[spoiler:(to [[WouldntHitAGirl never kill a woman]])]], burning [[spoiler:Semirhage [[DeaderThanDead out of existence with Balefire]]]], and truly crossed his MEH.
202** Ominously [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Rand himself:
203--->'''Rand:''' It is done.\
204'''[[spoiler:Min]]:''' [[spoiler:''[coughing]'' What?]]\
205'''Rand:''' The last that could be done to me. They have taken everything from me now.
206** The moment when he ''really'' approaches, though, is when he nearly [[spoiler:killed his stepfather, Tam, whom he very much loved, because of the stress and manipulations of Ais Sedai]]. This moment triggered a MyGodWhatHaveIDone reaction, leading to his redemption.
207** And, of course, every Forsaken has crossed it.
208* ''Literature/WingsOfFire'':
209** Queen Scarlet of the [=SkyWing=]s crosses this very early in the series, in ''The Dragonet Prophecy'' when she murders Dune, one of the guardians of the Dragonets of Destiny.
210** Blister finally crosses this in ''The Brightest Night'', by siccing two dragonbite vipers (a venomous snake whose poison can kill dragons) on Burn. Burn had already anticipated the first one and killed it... [[spoiler:but she didn't count on the second one, so it kills her easily]]. Some argue that she crossed it even earlier in ''The Dragonet Prophecy'', where she slashes Kestrel's throat and tosses her body into the ocean.
211** Burn herself crosses this in the prologue of the first book (''The Dragonet Prophecy''), where she snatches the [=SkyWing=] egg that Hvitur is carrying, [[WouldHarmAChild deliberately drops the egg]] into a gorge, and then has Hvitur murdered.
212 ** Morrowseer crosses this in "The Dark Secret" when he [[KickTheDog ousts Squid, a SeaWing dragonet, from the group]] and sends him off, supposedly to his death right after [[LeaveNoSurvivors killing every SkyWing in the outpost they visited]].
213** Anemone comes very close to crossing it in ''Talons of Power'', due to being DrunkWithPower. But a battle with her brother Turtle (who's also an animus dragon like Anemone) convinces her that Darkstalker (who encouraged her to use her powers a lot) isn't as good as she thought he was.
214* In the ''Literature/WolvesOfMercyFallsSeries'', Sam's parents [[spoiler:slashed his wrists in the bathtub in hopes of killing him since he couldn't control being a werewolf]].
215* ''Literature/WorldOfTheFiveGods'': Methani and Tronio's scheme in ''The Assassins of Thasalon'', [[spoiler:forcing a young widow to take up demons and use them as one-shot assassination weapons, while threatening to castrate and enslave her son if she fails, manages to offend all five Gods: its injustice offends the Father, its abuse of a mother's love offends the Mother, its threat to an innocent boy offends the Son, its extortion of Alixtra offends the Daughter, and its [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman cruel disposal of demons]] offends the Bastard]].

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