Basic Trope: Murder victims become evil ghosts.
- Straight: Bob was a normal guy before someone attacked and killed him one night. Now he's a murderous ghost who will kill anyone who interacts with any of the items or people he left behind.
- Exaggerated: Bob was an All-Loving Hero before someone tortured him to death. Now he's a murderous ghost who wants nothing more than to trap the entire world — including his girlfriend Alice, his best friend Charlie, his Friendly Rival Dracone, and his sister Eva — in a Fate Worse than Death.
- Downplayed: Bob was a normal guy before someone killed him. Now he intends to stalk down and kill his murderer, and he will probably Pay Evil unto Evil to anyone he encounters on the way who does similar things.
- Justified: Ghosts are explicitly shards of strong dying emotions. Bob was in blind delirious anger as he was betrayed before dying.
- Inverted: Bob was a killer in life, but becomes a Friendly Ghost after his intended victim kills him in self-defense.
- Subverted:
- While Bob's ghost is dangerous he is simply reliving his trauma and is not aware of his actions. When he's lucid, he turns out to be a Non-Malicious Monster.
- Bob was a normal guy before someone attacked and killed him. When someone comes into his house and begins to clean out his things, Bob's ghost attacks him...but it turns out said person hired Bob's killer.
- Bob was bound by Ned the necromancer after his murder as an undead servant. Once Ned is killed Bob's agenda is far more benign - wanting to say goodbye to his wife and children before he moves on.
- It turns out Bob deliberately spread the story he was murdered in order to get would-be exorcists to come help him. He's actually just evil.
- Double Subverted: ...However, after Bob kills everyone associated with his murder, he goes on killing.
- Parodied: Alice asks "Why are you going after me instead of your killer, rapists, or at least a lawyer?" Bob hadn't thought of that and promptly goes after Asshole Victims.
- Zig Zagged: Some murder victims become evil ghosts, but others become Friendly Ghosts who don't want anyone else to suffer like they did.
- Averted:
- There are no ghosts in the story.
- All ghosts in the story maintain the same morality they had in life.
- Enforced: The author wants to write a horror story but the publisher wants to make the killer semi-sympathetic.
- Lampshaded: After escaping an attack from Bob's ghost, Alice remarks that his violent death really did a number on his psyche.
- Invoked: Alice the Card-Carrying Villain targets Bob, an upstanding member of his community, so that the story of his ghost will horrify and demoralize the people who knew him.
- Exploited: Alice tricks Carol into visiting Bob's Haunted House to dispose of her, secretly knowing that Bob's ghost can no longer tell friend from foe.
- Defied:
- Alice decides at the last minute to spare Bob's life because she's afraid of the things his ghost could do.
- Bob's ghost realizes that his anger is spiraling out of control and decides to go into the light before he can hurt anyone.
- Discussed: Alice the Hunter of Monsters warns her trainee Carol not to pull her punches with ghosts out of sympathy, explaining that they always end up evil, no matter how they started out.
- Conversed: Alice and Bob argue over whether the portrayal of murder victims as evil ghosts counts as victim-blaming.
- Implied: Alice is exploring a Haunted House and narrowly escapes Bob's furious ghost. Later, she finds family pictures that all show Bob as a happy, loving man.
- Played For Laughs: It turns out Bob has been attacking everyone because he has very bad vision and he mistook everyone he saw for his killer. Once someone gives him his glasses, he realizes his mistake.
[screech] You have disturbed a victimized Playing With page. DIE!
