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My God, What Have I Done?

Ivan the Terrible has just murdered his son in the heat of the moment

◊. Look at his eyes. Look at them.

◊

"What have I done? Sweet Jesus, what have I done? Become a thief in the night, become a dog on the run? Have I fallen so far, and is the hour so late, that nothing remains but the cry of my hate?

— Jean Valjean, after attempting to rob a priest who had just given him shelter, Les Mis�rables

Well-intentioned but misguided character — very likely a Tragic Hero or Anti-Villain — comes to realize that his actions have caused incredible damage, physical pain, emotional pain, or even loss of life. The usual line that comes after this is the title of the article (sometimes, without the "My God"). Tears of Remorse may accompany it.

Often the realization only comes when someone/something close to the person is hurt or destroyed. In quite a few cases, that "someone/something close" is the very entity he was trying to get rid of to begin with.

Usually delivered dramatically, sometimes, well, over-the-top. A villain might utter this line if they're about to take the Last-Second Chance. Or a hero after being freed from The Virus, being Brainwashed and Crazy, or a Superpowered Evil Side, or after making an unintentional but catastrophic mistake.

Sometimes followed by Must Make Amends, other times by an Ignored Epiphany.

Compare These Hands Have Killed, which can occur even the first time the character has killed, even justifiably.

Example subpages

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Ballads

Child Ballad 54, "The Cherry-Tree Carol",
"Oh, what have I done, Lord?
The bandit in "Bonnie Banks o'Fordie" has one when he learns that the girl he just murdered is his sister. It ends with him stabbing himself.

Machinima

Freeman's Mind gives us this line during Half-Life's 'Resonance Cascade Incident':
Freeman: "Oh no, this is not good! This is a bad experiment! We are bad people! Why did we usher forth the green apocalypse!?"
In Clear Skies 3, Hausmann does this during the final battle and surrenders rather than see more of his people killed.

Tabletop Games

Magic: The Gathering: In Judgment, Kamahl pulls a "Dear Fiers, what have I done?" (with a nice, hearty Big "NO!") after mortally wounding his sister Jeska in a fit of Mirari-induced temper.
Warhammer40000: A lot of people who are being mind-controlled by the Chaos gods are only able to break free immediately after they've done something they really shouldn't have, such as betraying their adopted father and dooming the galaxy to an eternity of war or betraying their entire legion and mortally wounding their adopted son.

Visual Novels

Part of the meltdown of Acro in Ace Attorney. You don't actually see the moment onscreen but the aftereffects are obvious during his breakdown. In attempting to murder Regina he accidentally killed her father, to whom Acro and his brother owed everything. As Sympathetic Murderers go he's high on the list.
Archer from Fate/stay night as revealed in UBW route. He is trying to kill Shirou, himself from past, because he wants to prevent him making a pact with world to protect people, because it'll only make him one who kills some to save many.
One of the extended bad endings in the PS2 version of School Days has Kotonoha murder Sekai in cold blood and then offer herself to Makoto, who was watching. Makoto's horrified reaction causes Kotonoha to realize what she has done, and she breaks down in tears.