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alt title(s): What The Hell Hero; Calling The Hero Out; My God What Have You Done; What The Hell Hero Speech
Sarda shows us how it's done

Sometimes the author doesn't realize his hero just wiped out all the Ewoks, or consciously lets a Take That turn the sweet Friend To All Living Things into a cruel monster just to get laughs. This can lead to Moral Dissonance when we realize the hero's been a bad, bad puppy, and worst of all no one seems to notice or care.

Yet other times, 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. More extremely, it can be the first step towards Anti Hero-dom or a full-blown Face Heel Turn.

If nothing else, it shows the fans that the author knows their hero did wrong, thereby averting Moral Dissonance. This time, at least.

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. Almost never applies to those dang 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 Its All About Me attitude (or, at best, Moral Myopia), though a Heel Realisation might clue them in,perhaps leading to Villainous BSOD. 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. My God What Have I Done may be a self-inflicted version. Counterpart to villains' Pet The Dog. Can come right off the heels of a character-specific Wait What Whoa, or, in a video game, a Sadistic Choice is foisted on the player.

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 Jerk Ass but no one calls him on it in the series, then take your example to Jerk Ass Stu, Moral Dissonance or Designated Hero.

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