When characters
In-Universe call out one of the heroes for doing something clearly unheroic, if not outright heinous.
Occasionally, an author will drop some
gray into his otherwise flawlessly good guy hero... and have others
notice. This can add guilt and remorse to a character as they
feel shame for their evil actions, and legitimately have to fight to
restore their name,
undo the harm, or simply live with the guilt and shame of it. In this case, you can expect to hear some variation of "Haven't you done enough already?" More extremely, it can be the first step towards
Anti-Hero-dom or a full-blown
Face Heel Turn. A
Redemption Quest is usually considered the most noble or morally good way to respond to this.
It shows the fans that the author knows their hero did wrong, thereby averting
Moral Dissonance.
The opposite of
Protagonist-Centered Morality; contrast also
Designated Hero and
Hero Insurance. See also
What Is Evil? and
Not So Different for when a
villain is the one pointing this out, or acting as though there's something to point out to mess with the hero. (A variation is when the villain will
praise the hero, which
the hero will find profoundly humiliating.)
Almost never applies to those
Powers That Be who have an
Omniscient Morality License, although characters who
Rage Against the Heavens might attempt it. Likewise, villains tend to be immune to this thanks to their
It's All About Me attitude (or, at best,
Moral Myopia), though a
Heel Realisation might clue them in, perhaps leading to a
Villainous BSOD. (Then again, this trope doesn't really apply to
villains who aren't even trying to do anything decent for the world in the first place.) Those pesky
Trickster Mentors may also find themselves on the receiving end of
Rage Against the Mentor.
Some video games offer dialogue trees or something similar that might allow your character to call someone out for their horrible behaviour, which can be immensely satisfying. If your character is the one being called out, it's
What the Hell, Player? My God, What Have I Done? may be a self-inflicted version. Can come right off the heels of a
Sadistic Choice foisted on the player in a video game. The hero may attempt to invoke
I Did What I Had to Do as his justification, though this does not always succeed. Of course, those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, and one should beware of his own
Moral Myopia leading to
The Complainer Is Always Wrong. Results may vary against the
Sociopathic Hero or
The Unfettered; beware you don't get a
Shut Up, Kirk! or
Hannibal Lecture in response.
Et Tu, Brute? may also counts as this when a hero does not make a full
Face Heel Turn, but gets called out for nearly betraying his allies.
Important note: This article is
exclusively about scenes where the hero is called on his morally ambiguous or directly evil actions by characters
in the story.
If the Designated Hero is a Jerkass (or worse), but no one calls him on it in the series, then take your example to Moral Dissonance or Designated Hero. Reviewers can call out the
Moral Dissonance in their reviews, but they themselves are not engaging in What the Hell, Hero? as they are not part of the series being criticized (though this line can be blurred if they have some sort of skit depicting the events as that technically could be considered fan fiction).
