Discussion History Main / WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds

The name PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery (\\\"my\\\") \\\'\\\'does\\\'\\\' sound almost like a synonym for \\\'\\\'this\\\'\\\' trope doesn\\\'t it. Then again, given all the hair-pulling that was done separating out the two tropes, (just look at the post up top!) I\\\'m reluctant to try and rename \\\'\\\'that\\\'\\\' trope, especially because I really like the name for \\\'\\\'this\\\'\\\' trope. But yeah, the two names are similar. It makes sense if you imagine the villain actually \\\'\\\'saying\\\'\\\' \\\"I want to put them all out of my misery.\\\" It\\\'s a very self-pitying thing to say since the currently-named PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery is a trope about self-pity, or rationalization.

Whereas the WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, based on preponderance of examples became more of a poetic name for characters of the sort Ambar described, e.g. Carrie, who the \\\'\\\'audience\\\'\\\' pities even if you \\\'\\\'did\\\'\\\' put a nuke in their hand you could understand them putting the button but accept that they had to be stopped. I hope that makes sense :-)

There was a good reason to split the two, because when this page described both types, and they are sort of inverse of one another, well, you can imagine the opening that led to people putting in examples of every type of villain in-between... As can be seen from the examples listed up top, all of which got moved to PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery when the trope was split. And the consensus trope definition is now as Ambar stated...

The name PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery (\\\"my\\\") \\\'\\\'does\\\'\\\' sound almost like a synonym for \\\'\\\'this\\\'\\\' trope doesn\\\'t it. Then again, given all the hair-pulling that was done separating out the two tropes, (just look at the post up top!) I\\\'m reluctant to try and rename \\\'\\\'that\\\'\\\' trope, especially because I really like the name for \\\'\\\'this\\\'\\\' trope. But yeah, the two names are similar. It makes sense if you imagine the villain actually \\\'\\\'saying\\\'\\\' \\\"I want to put them all out of my misery.\\\" It\\\'s a very self-pitying thing to say since the currently-named PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery is a trope about self-pity, or rationalization.

Whereas the WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, based on preponderance of examples became more of a poetic name for characters of the sort Ambar described, e.g. Carrie, who the \\\'\\\'audience\\\'\\\' pities even if you \\\'\\\'did\\\'\\\' put a nuke in their hand you could understand them putting the button but accept that they had to be stopped. I hope that makes sense :-)

There was a good reason to split the two, because when this page described both types, and they are sort of inverse of one another, well, you can imagine the opening that led to people putting in examples of every type of villain in-between.

As can be seen from the examples listed up top, all of which got moved to PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery when the trope got split. And the consensus trope definition is now as Ambar stated...

(Hey, maybe PutThemAllOutOfTheirMisery would be a \\\'\\\'\\\'better\\\'\\\'\\\' name for \\\'\\\'that\\\'\\\' trope!)

Ambar, The definition we settled on for WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds is, indeed as you stated. And you probably just described it more concisely than we did, when we split the two tropes and cleaned up the page.

(Hey, maybe PutThemOutOfTheirMisery would be a \\\'\\\'\\\'better\\\'\\\'\\\' name for \\\'\\\'that\\\'\\\' trope!)

The name PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery (\\\"my\\\") \\\'\\\'does\\\'\\\' sound almost like a synonym for \\\'\\\'this\\\'\\\' trope doesn\\\'t it. Then again, given all the hair-pulling that was done separating out the two tropes, (just look at the post up top!) perhaps its best to leave sleeping dogs lie and not try to rename it again. It makes sense if you imagine the villain actually \\\'\\\'saying\\\'\\\' it. \\\"I want to put them all out of my misery.\\\" It\\\'s a very self-pitying thing to say since the currently-named PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery is a trope about self-pity, or rationalization.

Whereas the WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, based on preponderance of examples became more of a poetic name for characters of the sort Ambar described, e.g. Carrie, who the \\\'\\\'audience\\\'\\\' pities even if you \\\'\\\'did\\\'\\\' put a nuke in their hand you could understand them putting the button but accept that they had to be stopped. I hope that makes sense :-)

There was a good reason to split the two, because when this page described both types, and they are sort of inverse of one another, well, you can imagine the opening that led to people putting in examples of every type of villain in-between.

The name PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery \\\'\\\'does\\\'\\\' sound almost like a synonym for \\\'\\\'this\\\'\\\' trope instead of \\\'\\\'that\\\'\\\' trope. Then again, given all the hair-pulling that was done separating out the two tropes, perhaps its best to leave sleeping dogs lie and not try to rename it again. It makes sense if you imagine the villain actually \\\'\\\'saying\\\'\\\' it. \\\"I want to put them all out of my misery.\\\" It\\\'s a very self-pitying thing to say since the currently-named PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery is a trope about self-pity, or rationalization.

Whereas the WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, based on preponderance of examples became more of a poetic name for characters of the sort Ambar described, e.g. Carrie, who the \\\'\\\'audience\\\'\\\' pities even if you \\\'\\\'did\\\'\\\' put a nuke in their hand you could understand them putting the button but accept that they had to be stopped. I hope that makes sense :-)

There was a good reason to split the two, because when this page described both types, and they are sort of inverse of one another, well, you can imagine the opening that led to people putting in examples of every type of villain in-between.

The definition we settled on for WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds is, indeed, what you said and you probably described it more concisely than the snipped page description.

Some Guy, I can do some work on this some time but you\\\'re probably right that a shorter description helps.

Regarding PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery, the idea originally was to have a trope for characters like Mr. Freeze from \\\'\\\'{{Batman}}\\\'\\\', if that helps. When the overlap with this trope was pointed out, folks looked at this page and saw it was spammed with tons of examples of characters who were essentially JerkassWoobie or DracoInLeatherPants.

It was decided to take characters who wanted to kill everyone for rational reasons, or they were able to rationalize and articulate their vision for the future, i.e. to get back at someone for killing their wife by destroying the entire city, to cure the Earth of its human problem, that sort of thing.

The name PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery \\\'\\\'does\\\'\\\' sound almost like a synonym for \\\'\\\'this\\\'\\\' trope instead of \\\'\\\'that\\\'\\\' trope. Then again, given all the hair-pulling that was done separating out the two tropes, perhaps its best to leave sleeping dogs lie and not try to rename it again. It makes sense if you imagine the villain actually \\\'\\\'saying\\\'\\\' it. \\\"I want to put them all out of my misery.\\\" It\\\'s a very self-pitying thing to say since the currently-named PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery is a trope about self-pity, or rationalization.

Whereas the WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, based on preponderance of examples became more of a poetic name for characters of the sort Ambar described, e.g. Carrie, who the \\\'\\\'audience\\\'\\\' pities even if you \\\'\\\'did\\\'\\\' put a nuke in their hand you could understand them putting the button but accept that they had to be stopped. I hope that makes sense :-)

There was a good reason to split the two, because when this page described both types, and they are sort of inverse of one another, well, you can imagine the opening that led to people putting in examples of every type of villain in-between.