"[Burns] became consumed by greed, he'd steal from anyone . . .
and when he tried to steal our sunlight, he crossed the line from everyday villainy into cartoonish supervillainy!"
—
Smithers* after mistakenly believing himself to be the one who shot Burns
,
The Simpsons, "Who Shot Mr. Burns, Part 2"
This is when either an enemy of a major villain, or maybe a minion who
turned against them, explains to others the nature of their
conflict, typically when the
villain is not around, likely after the villain has either been
defeated or is at least
temporarily out of power. An alternative title for this, "explaining the villain explains the conflict," refers to the notion that explaining what happened makes the actions of the villain's enemy or former rival more understandable.
Note that this is not a
Motive Rant; the tone of the conversation will be very calm and gentle despite the subject matter, as indicated by many of the examples...
Compare
Kirk Summation, which is addressed to the actual villain. See also
You're Insane.
May be spoken
Above The Ruins. Not to be confused with
How We Got Here.
Examples include:
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Anime and Manga
- Bleach has Ichigo deliver one about Aizen.
Film
- Perhaps most famously (if lamely) in the Alfred Hitchcock film, Psycho.
- In this scene
from The Lion King 2.
Simba: Scar couldn't let go of his hate, and in the end, it destroyed him.
Kovu: ... I've never heard the story of Scar that way. He truly was a killer.
Simba (while brushing the remains of burned plants): Fire is a killer. Sometimes what's left behind can grow better than the generation before, if given the chance.
- Troy: The Trojan priest says this when they find the beach abandoned. (It's a Trap.)
Plague! Don't get too close, my lord.
King Priam: What happened here?
They desecrated the temple of the gods, and Apollo desecrated their flesh.
They thought they could sack this city in a day. Now look at them... fleeing across the Aegean.
- Chuckles the Clown does this in Toy Story 3 to explain Lotso's turn to evil.
- The film (and comic) version of Sin City has a scene in which Cardinal Roarke explains to Marv why his adopted son ate people and subsequently admitted to joining in.
Live Action TV
Video Games
- In the postgame in Pokemon Platinum, you come across an old man who explains why Cyrus was after a world without emotion. Of course, the old man (probably) doesn't know that you're the one who defeated Cyrus, or even that you ever met him. He's just a grieving grandfather who blames himself for his grandson turning out like that.
- Subverted towards the end of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: After Link defeats Ganondorf's first form, Zelda's Crystal Prison slowly moves towards the roof and dissipates, and Zelda looks at Ganondorf's body and says "Ganondorf, pitiful man. Without a strong, righteous mind, he could not control the power of the gods." Then they realize the place is collapsing, that Ganondorf is using his "last breath" to bury Link and Zelda in the remains of the castle... of course, after they escape, it turns out Link has to fight another of Ganondorf's forms, confirming that Zelda's earlier line isn't really an AFTER action villain analysis.
Western Animation
