Devastating Remark

Interpersonal relationships are complicated and often messy, and humans are emotional beings. In the course of a conversation, someone will say something that will cause another person to have an emotional breakdown, externally or internally. External breakdowns will reduce a character to a weeping mess, with Inelegant Blubbering or Running Away to Cry being common results. Internal breakdowns are often the result of a character entering Heroic Safe Mode or going full Heroic BSoD.

Sometimes the person who said it will immediately regret it, perhaps not even knowing the remark would provoke a reaction until it did. Or they realize they crossed a line, but now that it's said, it can't be unsaid. It could have been something private which has now been made public, an Old Shame or past trauma that they never wanted brought up again, or a Death Notification. This may, intentionally or not, cause the subject to stop dead in their tracks.

Frequently overlaps with Wham Line and Did You Think I Can't Feel? Sometimes the remark can be an Ironic or Meaningful Echo and, while an Armor-Piercing Question or Armor-Piercing Response can overlap, a Devastating Remark doesn't necessarily need these tropes to work on its own.

Compare to Break Them by Talking, a more deliberate effort than Devastating Remark. Also compare Kirk Summation and Misery Trigger. Supertrope to Minor Insult Meltdown. I Have No Son! is a common subtrope. See also More Insulting than Intended. Compare Close to Home and Trauma Button. May overlap with Corrective Lecture.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• BanG Dream!:
  • The owner of Space tells Kasumi that she is the worst member of Poppin' Party, which leaves the girl devastated and unable to speak for a time.
  • In Season 3, in a fit of rage at seeing that despite her best efforts, RAS is slipping in the rankings for the BanG Dream contest, CHU2 snaps at PAREO, telling her most ardent supporter that she's useless. PAREO is so hurt by the vitriol from the person she admired most that she returns to her hometown and starts going by her given name of Reona Nyubara again.
• Martian Successor Nadesico: Played for laughs twice in one episode.
  • In the first instance, Yurika asks what it means to be the captain, and Ruri launches into a lengthy explanation of trends and traits in captains which Megumi sums up by saying "It's saying it doesn't matter who the Captain is." Yurika runs off crying. Ruri calls Megumi out on her cruelty.
  • In the second instance Yurika asks if all she's good for is performing funeral services for dead crew. Megumi, who had recently gotten into a relationship with Akito, whom Megumi knew the Captain was infatuated with, says that she might also be called on to perform weddings. Repeat Yurika running away crying loudly, and Ruri reaffirming that Megumi is truly cruel.
• My-HiME:
  • John Smith tells Natsuki that her mother tried to sell her to the Sears Foundation when she was a small girl, which leads to a lengthy Psychosomatic Superpower Outage. Natsuki is so depressed, she doesn't even try to put up a token resistance when Nao is threatening to gouge out her eye in revenge.
  • Being caught kissing a sleeping Natsuki, and accused of doing something to Natsuki in her sleep the night before didn't break Shizuru, who remained her usual serene self, even after being slapped by Haruka for insulting Yukino. But when she realizes that Natsuki overheard the accusations, she reaches out to try and comfort her. Natsuki recoils from Shizuru, shouting a Big "NO!" and hugging herself defensively. That moment is when Shizuru breaks, and it takes several episodes and a Big Damn Kiss to restore her to sanity.
  • Mai's relationship with Mikoto has always been unusual, dancing between Mai being a surrogate mother, Cool Big Sis, or Love Interest in Mikoto's eyes. When Nagi reveals the terms of the HiME Festival, Mai is one of those who advocates for finding another way. Yukino is told to kill Mai, or her beloved Haruka will be killed. Mikoto catches Yukino in the act, and would have killed her were it not for Mai's intervention. Mai berates Mikoto for fighting, and then, scared, tired, and emotionally hurt, Mai tells Mikoto that she's a burden. Mikoto, confused about why Mai is mad at her, begins to wail in tears and agony at feeling rejected.

Comic Books

• Generation X: Jubilee and Monet are spending the day together in New York, and the subject of Everett's recent death came up. Jubilee, whose parents were murdered, tries to offer heartfelt advice to Monet on coping with loss, Monet tears into her, "The first and only person in my life I have ever felt that way about, and he was just ripped away from me in an instant! I will never ever see him again! You have no idea what that's like! You have no idea how I feel! Do you!?" Then she sees Jubilee, her face scrunched in silent agony, tears streaming from her eyes. Monet has a Jerkass Realization and hugs Jubilee, saying, "Yes, of course you do, don't you."

Comic Strips

• Peanuts: In one arc, Marcie asks Peppermint Patty about her crush on Charlie Brown. Peppermint Patty denies it and asks who could love a loser like him. Charlie Brown then emerges from the bushes, clearly heartbroken, and walks off as Peppermint Patty tries in vain to apologize.

Fan Works

• Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail starts because of one of these. Chloe Cerise feels overshadowed by her father's career as a Pokémon Professor, and like nobody cares about her at all, not even her Childhood Friend Goh, since they never spend time together. He's rarely ever at school, meaning he's unaware of just how badly she's being bullied there. When she loses her temper and asks what he's doing while she's at school, Goh snaps back "I'm chasing my dreams — which is something you lack!" This drives her to flee the Institute in tears... and gets her picked up by the Infinity Train.
• Lost Latte: In "The Great Escape", Sora blames herself for Latte's supposed death. Mashiro attempts to console her, but Sora turns on her, ranting that if she hadn't suggested going out without Latte, Kabaton wouldn't have gone after her and Tsubasa. What really pushes Mashiro over the edge is when Sora claims she didn't help and that there's nothing anyone can do to fix it. Mashiro tearfully asks Sora if her and Tsubasa's efforts to find Latte's owners meant nothing to her. Sora is speechless, and Mashiro runs off sobbing.
• Prisoner of Glory: Yuri Hikawa weaponizes these, using them against rival gymnasts just before their routines in order to break their composure. For example, she calls Sumire Yoshizawa a "murderer" over what happened to her sister Kasumi.
• Windows of the Soul: Zigzagged. Natsuki has spent a good deal of time contemplating a potential relationship with Shizuru and comes to a conclusion. She starts her conversation with Shizuru by saying, "We can't continue like this." Shizuru is crushed, until Natsuki realizes how it sounded and amends by adding, "I mean... what I'm saying is, you can't hide your pain from me any longer. All of those things you wanted to say. And for me, as well, I can't hide anything or keep anything back. We care about each other."

Films — Animated

• The Emperor's New Groove:
  • As the climax begins, Yzma starts berating Kronk for the millionth time in the movie. However, it's when she pettily tells him that she never liked his spinach puffs that he bursts into tears and pulls a Heel–Face Turn.
  • This is preceded by Yzma using an Ironic Echo to answer Kuzco when he asks if she really wants him dead, and hearing his own words from her mouth forces him to fully accept his Jerkass Realization.
  • Yzma proves herself pretty good at this. Earlier in the film, Kuzco, thinking that she and Kronk have come to rescue him, starts to approach, only to hear the two revealing what they — and the entire kingdom — truly think of him:
    Yzma: Kuzco must be eliminated. The empire will finally be rid of that useless slug!
    Kronk: You got a point. Nobody really seems to care that he's gone, do they?
• Finding Dory: Marlin blows up at Dory after her forgetfulness results in her accidentally attracting the attention of a Humboldt Squid that attacks them and ends up hurting Nemo, and he says, "Just wait over there and forget! It's what you do best." This comment ends up making Dory have an emotional breakdown and indirectly gets her captured by the Marine Life Institute, and Nemo never lets his father forget his moment of cruelty.
• Finding Nemo: When Marlin says to Dory, "I don't want you with me", she bursts into tears, thinking this means he doesn't like her.
• Mickey's Christmas Carol: Isabelle (played by Daisy Duck) asks Scrooge if he's made his decision on whether or not he wants to marry her. He says he has, and her face lights up as hearts float around her. He then clarifies that he's made up his mind about foreclosing the mortgage because Isabelle was an hour late to pay him. The hearts around her then fall to pieces as she trudges out of there, sobbing. She then gives him an angry look, having lost all love she ever had for him, and slams the door.
• My Little Pony: The Movie (2017): When Twilight gets into an argument with the rest of the Mane Six after the former has attempted to steal Queen Novo's pearl, Pinkie accuses Twilight of not trusting her allies. Twilight then snaps and yells that she'd be better off without them. This shocks everyone else, especially Pinkie, and they leave Twilight as she can only shed Tears of Remorse over what she did.

Films — Live-Action

• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: When Elliot's mother suggests calling his father, Elliot says he's in Mexico with his new wife. Their mother tearfully says their father hates Mexico, suggesting he'd rejected taking her there when they were married. Michael calls Elliot out for being insensitive, though that wasn't his intent.
• Galaxy Quest:
  • Jason Nesmith is in the restroom at a convention when he overhears a couple of the backstage hands talking about how his castmates can't stand him and how he gets off on the praise of a bunch of obsessed loser fans. Nesmith is stunned to hear this, and is in silence for a good while, before snapping at fanboy Brandon later at the convention, who was asking him a technical question. Gwen knows at that point that something is truly wrong with him, as she'd never seen him lose it with a fan.
  • Jason's explosive outburst at Brandon crushes him, and when Jason calls him later on the Vox, Brandon's voice is obviously quavering while trying to explain that he knows the difference between reality and TV until Jason tells him it's real, and Brandon gleefully shouts, "Oh my God, I knew it! I KNEW IT!!"
• M*A*S*H:
  • Frank tells an orderly that he's responsible for a patient's death. The young man believes him and is reduced to a sobbing mess. This results in Duke belting Frank.
  • O' Houlihan tries to give Col. Blake an ultimatum, either have the MPs arrest the crew of The Swamp or she'll resign her commission. Blake, fed up with her, responds, "Goddamnit, Hot Lips, resign your goddamn commission!" O' Houlihan leaves, in shock, wailing about her commission.
• In The Menu, Chef Slowik whispers into Tyler's ear something disparaging after the latter's terrible cook. This causes Tyler to hang himself.
• Sunset Boulevard: When Joe finally gets tired of Norma Desmond's antics and decides to leave her for good, she threatens, yet again, to commit. Joe, by now unimpressed, snaps "Oh, wake up, Norma, you'd be killing yourself to an empty house. The audience left twenty years ago!" This brutal admission of Norma's greatest fear — the fact that she's not a star anymore — ultimately proves too much for her, though, and she snaps completely, shooting and killing Joe.

Literature

• Otherside Picnic: When Sorawo says she doesn't want to return to Otherside because of the inherent danger, Toriko, still desperate to find and rescue the missing Satsuki, is left devastated and wanders into Otherside on her own. This causes Sorawo to realize that she'd hurt Toriko and go in on a rescue.
• Ramona Quimby: Ramona calls her sister Beezus "pizza face", an insult she'd heard around the playground, but was unaware of the meaning. But she knew she'd messed up when Beezus's face crumpled in eminent tears, as Beezus believed Ramona was deliberately attacking her with her acne problem, which she was sensitive about.
• Savvy: Zane has very low self-esteem and commonly gets a voice in his head yelling, "WORTHLESS!" because of a teacher calling him that before the events of the book.
• Terra Ignota: As part of his inhuman ability to read people, J.E.D.D. Mason demonstrates several times that he can break people with just a single, emotionally devastating comment. He's so good at it that one character, a famously objective special investigator, initially suspects that he's telepathic, in a setting where psychic powers don't exist.
• In The Underland Chronicles, 7-year-old Hazard says, when he hears about the death of his paternal grandmother, that he doesn't know how to feel because she rarely spoke to him, likely because she and his father (who had been killed in battle less than a year earlier) hated each other. This statement is the proximate cause of her husband, Hazard's grandfather, having a stroke.
• Vampire Hunter D: Lamika is utterly stunned and stricken when her father, Count Magnus Lee, reveals that she is a half-breed, and that her mother was a human. She decides from that point on that if she is not a full vampire, then she would rather Face Death with Dignity.

Live-Action TV

• Avataro Sentai Donbrothers: Momoi Taro's tendency towards Brutal Honesty makes him a dispensary of remarks like these; resulting in at least five people mutating into Hitotsu-Ki from the stress over the course of the show. In #16, calling Jiro a "comrade" when the latter demonstrated an ambition to lead shatters him emotionally and awakens his Split Personality, which spends the episode systematically disabling each of Taro's team-mates and is only barely stopped.
• The Brittas Empire: Gordon Brittas has an unnatural talent for these, as his attempts to engage with people prove Innocently Insensitive enough to put them into tears. The most notable example however comes from "Mums and Dads", when Colin shows off a way to get the pianist they plan to get in to play on a piano left sideways — namely through the use of a hoist for disabled swimmers. Brittas isn't amused and tells Colin to essentially bugger off by locking himself up in the attic storeroom. Colin's response after he leaves shows that, as much of a loyal Hero-Worshipper he is of Brittas, even he was hurt by this.
  Tim: Are you alright, Colin?
  Colin: I know he doesn't mean to, Tim, but sometimes Mr. Brittas can be really hurtful.
• House of Anubis:
  • After Mara learns that Jerome had cheated on her, she becomes obsessed with hurting him back. In one standout moment, when she discovers her relation to a deceased lord and is eager to collect his money, he attempts to help her, only for her to coldly shut her down by calling him "the son of a thief" — despite having gotten to know and care about his father a year before that. Jerome leaves the room in shock and pain, while everyone else is stunned at her for going that far.
  • When Fabian gets turned into a Sinner, he loses any empathy for his friends and takes part in a few Kick the Dog moments. Most notably, when he and KT come across a heartbroken and crying Joy in the hallway, she requests his help and advice, needing some comfort from her best friend. He uses their hug to instead whisper cruel things to her, telling her that everyone hates her among other things. Joy is left as even more of a wreck afterwards, confused and hurt, as Fabian smugly leaves her there.
• Kaamelott: The master-at-arms is a firm believer in Volleying Insults and the Fisticuff-Provoking Comment, hurling abuse at his opponent whenever they're training (even King Arthur) and telling them to do the same. Arthur halfheartedly comes up with "your father only has one leg", which causes the master-at-arms to completely break down. However, when he reminds Arthur of the time his father fell asleep in a barn and was shat on by a billy goat... "Okay. Bloodbath it is." The Stinger shows Arthur covered in bruises, but he and the master-at-arms are still fighting each other.
• M*A*S*H: "Maj. Fred C Dobbs". During a session in OR, Frank is exceptionally short with Ginger, a nurse who was seen sporadically through the first three seasons. Frank snaps at her repeatedly, then tells Maj. Houlihan that he doesn't want Ginger at his table any longer as "she's an incompetent bungler". Ginger leaves the OR in tears, and it takes a concentrated effort by Hawk and Trapper to lift her spirits again.
• Roseanne: In "Fights and Stuff," Roseanne and Dan have a brutal argument that's initially sparked by Dan's health (and specifically his refusal to take care of himself after a heart attack), but quickly turns into them venting all of their long-held anger at each other. They mostly match each other's rage until Dan snaps "Boy, I tell ya, I wish I'd never married..." Though he doesn't finish the thought, it completely shatters Roseanne, and she's left speechless, which never happens to her.
• Yellowjackets: In "Two Truths and a Lie", Misty and Crystal are exchanging silly secrets. Misty's final secret is a straight example for Crystal. She is horrified at what her "bestie" Misty did and calls her a psycho:
  Misty: The night after the plane crashed, when everybody was asking for my help and... and treating me like I was actually useful... I found the plane's emergency transmitter. And I... I destroyed it.

Radio

• Adventures in Odyssey: Eugene begins laughing at Connie when she suggests that she would like to be a teacher. Incensed by his dismissive attitude, Connie angrily pokes at his most vulnerable spot: "Well, at least I have a driver's license!" The fact that she hits Eugene with his greatest weakness, as well as the ferocity with which she does so, leaves Eugene stunned and their employer, John Whitaker, with a Sympathetic Wince.

Video Games

• Arcana Heart: During Elsa's Memories storyline in 3, after watching her partner Clarice threaten a friend in jealousy and then feign an apology, Elsa takes her somewhere private and then threatens to sever their relationship entirely, having Clarice be forced to return to the Vatican while Elsa remains in Japan. The intensity hits Clarice hard, and leads her to become near-suicidal until the two make amends.
• Resident Evil 6: Chris and Leon are speaking over comms. After Leon asks that Chris rescue Sherry and Jake, Chris asks him to wait before hanging up. Chris hesitates, before telling Leon that Ada is dead. Hearing that the woman he's loved for the past 15 years is dead completely stuns Leon to the point of shutting down and throwing himself into survival mode.

Webcomics

• Loving Reaper: In "dimmed light", when a boy calls his dog a "stupid dog", we see the dog looking shocked with the words echoing in his head.
• NEXT!!! Sound of the Future: Shine, an aspiring Idol Singer who struggles with feelings of inferiority because of having a disability that prevents her from singing, gets told by her favourite idol Tech that being unable to sing makes her worthless. Shine spends the rest of the day in a haze and can't stop thinking about what she said, no longer admiring her the way she used to. Even though Shine doesn't think that she meant to hurt her that badly since she couldn't have possibly known that she can't sing, she can't figure out what else she could've meant by saying that.

Web Videos

• StacheBros: In "Mario's Magical Mirror", Mario finds the monotony of always rescuing Peach from Bowser boring, and when Peach asks if he finds her boring as well, Mario says he finds her especially boring. Peach is left distraught and tells Mario she plans to break up with him, to which Mario calls her "Miss Skanky [censored]". Peach is left crying and asking Mario when he became so mean.
• Steven He: Parodied. In the in-universe video games played by Steven's dad, in Asian Difficulty setting, the player can instantly die if they're given a simple statement that is treated as a Devastating Remark. The game marks the death cause as "Emotional Damage".
  Enemy: Steven, when did you get so fat? (dead, Emotional Damage)
  
  Villager: They sent you? (dead, Emotional Damage)
  
  Player: Hey, where did you go?
  NPC: Harvard.
  Player: (dead, Ultra Emotional Damage)
  
  Steven's dad: (throws sandal to the ground) E-MO-TIONAL DAMAGE!

Western Animation

• The Amazing World of Gumball: In "The Words", Gumball gets into an insult contest with a more-abrasive Darwin, and only wins after pulling out his trump card: "You are not my brother. YOU ARE JUST A PET! WHO GREW LEGS!" It wins Gumball the insult contest and proves his point that words can hurt, since it reduces Darwin to a bawling wreck. Gumball immediately realizes that he went too far.
• American Dad!: In "It's Good to Be Queen", Stan and Betty Sue make their way to the prom dance.
  Stan: That's a great story about being old and alone. It's like you've been walking around dead for 20 years and no one's had the decency to cremate you and sprinkle your ashes over Old Maid Mountain.
  Betty Sue: Wow, that's quite a line.
  Stan: Well, it's actually more of an assessment of your life.
  Betty Sue: No, I mean the line to get in. What you just said was emotionally devastating.
• The Loud House: In "Save the Date", several guys laugh at Lincoln for dating Ronnie Anne. To save face, he lies that he thinks she's "rude, gross and totally annoying" and that he'd rather lick the bathroom floor than kiss her. Then it's revealed that she was behind him all along and she takes off with a sad, angry look. Lincoln initially thinks nothing of it until Lori reveals that his statement made her cry. Later, when those same guys poke fun at Lincoln for the second time, he reiterates his exact words, and once again, Ronnie Anne is shown to have heard everything, and she turns away with tears in her eyes until he apologizes.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • Exploited by Rarity in "A Dog and Pony Show". One of the Diamond Dogs refers to her as a "mule". Cue Rarity playing it for all it's worth, with watering eyes, as she says, lip quivering, "Mules are ugly. Are you saying that I, too, am ugly?" When the other Diamond Dogs investigate why she's crying she takes it to Inelegant Blubbering, "He called me ugly!" It turns out that she was acting the whole time to make it a case of Pity the Kidnapper.
  • In "Tanks for the Memories", Rainbow Dash is in a funk because she doesn't want her tortoise, Tank, to hibernate. When Fluttershy says to her, "Your winter is going to be pet-less!", Rainbow Dash bursts into tears.
  • In "The Parent Map", the Cutie Map has summoned Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst to go on a mission together. Sunburst asks Starlight if she's excited to be going on a mission with him, and she replies with a very Blunt "No". Sunburst looks like the bottom just dropped out of his world. Starlight, to her credit, and demonstrating a huge degree of Character Development for her, quickly amends her statement to say that she's fine with going on a mission with him. It's where they're being sent that has her down. When Sunburst realizes that it's Sire's Hollow, their hometown, he suddenly shares Starlight's misgivings.

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