Basic Trope: The Hero fulfills a goal, only to learn it has unintended consequences that make things worse in some fashion.
- Straight: Our hero Albert and his companions find the Dragon Breaker Blade, a legendary sword said to be capable of slaying the draconic beasts controlled by Emperor Evulz. However, finding the sword and bringing it out into the open gives Emperor Evulz a chance to steal the blade, meaning that one of the biggest threats to his power is now safely under his control.
- Exaggerated:
- Removing the sword made the ruins they were hidden inside collapse; the displaced monsters attacked the nearby villages and now roam the countryside slaughtering innocents. Meanwhile, Emperor Evulz has his forces seize the sword and uses his dark magics to twist the blade so that it now enhances his powers... whoops!
- Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom
- Downplayed: Removing the sword releases some chaotic spirits that begin to wreak minor havoc in a nearby village. This results in an optional sidequest to destroy the spirits you accidentally released.
- Justified: The Dragon Breaker Blade is, as far as Albert and his party know, the only means of slaying Emperor Evulz's hordes, and they have no reason to assume Evulz's knowledge of their plan.
- Inverted:
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain
- You Did the Right Thing
- Nice Job Fixing It, Hero; Albert is knocked out through a wall by Emperor Evulz and finds a gun, but not just any gun, the Angelic Ark Rifle and is able to defeat evil with a holy bullet. Albert uses it on Emperor Evulz and the day is saved!
- Subverted:
- Emperor Evulz's minions steal the sword, but it turns out Albert has prepared a fake double and let them steal the fake, giving him at least a week until Evulz sees through the ruse, while having the original safe in his sheath.
- Alternately, letting Emperor Evulz steal the sword is a very bad thing, since Albert and his companions have no way of slaying Emperor Evulz's hordes. However, one of Emperor Evulz's minions is destined to destroy the Eldritch Abomination that plans to devour the world. If Albert and his party had destroyed Emperor Evulz's minions before the Eldritch Abomination could be stopped, they would have left the world utterly defenseless against the Eldritch Abomination. Albert and his companions still have to get the sword back, since Emperor Evulz still has every intention of conquering the world, but at least now their world won't be a demonic god's supper.
- The sword was cursed and backfired on Emperor Evulz just as he started to use it.
- At first, all hope seems lost...but then, Alice is revealed to carry the Blood of the Stars, which gives her access to a powerful spell that can One-Hit Kill all of Evulz's draconic beasts.
- When Evulz tries to make his escape, Faye says she's not having it and teleports the sword back to them. Probably should've thought of that, huh, Evulz?
- Even if Albert didn't go after the Dragon Breaker, Evulz would have gotten it himself anyway.
- Double Subverted:
- Emperor Evulz expected it, and had already calculated it is more beneficial to him to lull Albert into a false sense of security, have him use it to weed out more rebellious elements of his army, then grab it afterwards.
- The party killed that minion in the process of taking the sword before the Eldritch Abomination even appeared.
- Albert mocks Emperor Evulz while waving a ring that neutralizes the curse in laughter. Evulz takes the ring and equips it.
- Evulz kidnaps her and renders her defenseless when she reveals this.
- Parodied: Albert, exploring the ruins hiding the sword, is shouted at by Evulz's minions, bored with his slow progress, who are waiting by the entrance. When he emerges, they greet like old buddies and he happily gives them the sword.
- Zig Zagged: The Dragon Breaker Blade is stolen... but it turns out to be fake... but then the ruins collapse letting loose all manner of monsters... but when Albert kills The Starscream, it turns out he had a dead man's switch-equipped Fantastic Nuke hidden under Emperor Evulz's lair.
- Averted: Albert fights off Evulz's minions using the sword. It was still in his hands.
- Enforced:
- Executive Meddling ordered this thrown in as Diabolus ex Machina, to make the game "serious".
- Having the hero responsible for the Eldritch Abomination's appearance provides him with a good and believable motivation to risk life against such a mighty foe.
- Lampshaded: Albert, robbed of the sword by Emperor Evulz's minions, sighs that he could have seen it coming.
- Invoked: Emperor Evulz deliberately spread the tales of the Dragon Breaker Blade and monitored the ruins where it most likely were concealed, knowing that many would-be heroes would kill themselves trying to find the weapon — and once someone did, he could have his forces sweep in and steal it.
- Exploited: Afterwards, Bob convinced the king that he is a better hero than Albert.
- Defied:
- "No way am I going for this Dragon Breaker Blade and letting Evulz get it!"
- The heroes destroy the Dragon Breaker Blade immediately.
- Discussed: "So, we're going to get this sword?" "Uh huh..." "And what exactly will prevent Evulz from stealing it from us?" "Well... <whisper whisper>"
- Conversed: "Have you noticed how heroes always need to find some MacGuffin only to have it stolen by the bad guy?"
- Deconstructed:
- Albert has a massive My God, What Have I Done? Heroic BSoD upon learning that all their efforts just made the situation worse. It severely shakes his faith in himself and their chances of defeating the Emperor, and he has to rebuild his confidence before they can move on.
- Once they find out about Albert's big screw-up, his allies and the citizenry start to lose faith in him and his ability as the Hero to get things done, potentially compounding his already huge guilt.
- What the Hell, Hero?
- Reconstructed: However, this also makes him more determined to defeat the Emperor once and for all.
- Played For Laughs: The quest for the sword is played out in Monty Python-esque style with heroes bickering about how it's going to be stolen, while Emperor Evulz is comically inept and has to rely on even dumber heroes to further his schemes.
- Played For Drama: In trying to stop Emperor Evulz, Albert accidentally helps bring about the sort of destruction he was trying to prevent.
- Implied: When Albert tries to take the Dragon Sword from Evulz, everyone seems suspicious he might "screw it up again".
Smooth move, Troper, you broke this page. Back to Nice Job Breaking It, Hero before you make it worse!
