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Author: kjnoren

Oct 26th 2013 at 3:58:40 PM

@JDogindy: There are several reasons why I think this should be the more general AbusingTheCorpse:

* First, I think there is a general tendency on TVTropes for doing unneeded binary splits, for eg doing the same trope for both men and women, or both heroes and villains. In lots of works, that binary split simply isn't present.
* The trope becomes simpler and more focused by concentrating on the ''action'' that is done. That way, the trope doesn't imply anything about the state of the mind of the one abusing the corpse, or his or her role in the story, or the motivation.
* You mention ForTheEvulz, and that's a pure state-of-mind (or motivation) trope. There are many other such, like WhatTheHellHero, or MoralEventHorizon, and so on. By not tying an action trope to a specific state-of-mind trope, the need for unneeded subversions or shoehornings become lesser. The trope becomes simpler, more concrete, and more focused.

The reason we get back to Achilles and Hector in the Illiad is because it's the by far most famous such example, and because it doesn't fit neatly into how you perceive the trope in its original form (heck, in the original form one is more likely to view Achilles as the villain and Hector as the hero). I think that would be a bad start for the trope.