History Main / CartesianKarma

* Subverted (at least from [[FantasticLegalWeirdness from a strictly legal standpoint]]) in ''TabletopGame/MutantCityBlues'': brainwashing powers and gadgetry consistently leave behind evidence of their use (such as lingering unusual brain activity that can be seen with an MRI), so if the police investigation finds said evidence the courts will find your brainwashing as extenuating circumstances for your crime.

* ''Manga/FairyTail'': Jellal is back on the side of the angels after his stint trying to resurrect Zeref with the Tower of Heaven (which he was brainwashed into by Ultear pretending to be Zeref), but the Magic Council (as well as several others he wronged during this time) are not buying it. It especially doesn't help that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he can't forgive himself]] and becomes TheAtoner to the point he has a worrying habit of being willing to try and pull off a HeroicSacrifice or even offer a PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou to the ones he's especially wronged.
* ''Manga/HareGuu'': In the episode "Confusion Jungel," Guu uses her powers to [[FreakyFridayFlip swap Haré and Dr. Clive's bodies]]. While at first annoyed with the situation, Haré soon discovers the doctor's kinder, more professional side, leading him to think the doctor [[LiteralTransformativeExperience isn't as bad a person as he thought he was]]. However, when he wakes up the following morning, back in his own body, Haré is [[spoiler:confronted by an angry mob of young women that Dr. Clive groped and molested while in Haré's body. Obviously, they wouldn't believe Haré if he told them that he and the doctor had swapped bodies, so poor Haré is punished with a bare-bottomed spanking for the doctor's actions.]]

* This sort of thing appears to happen a lot in ''Franchise/StarTrek''. A character is temporarily possessed by a more powerful force or otherwise suborned against their will to perform actions contrary to their own interests or inclinations. But they then carry on in post afterwards with no sanctions once they're free of possession, or can demonstrate that they were not in control of themselves at the time. [[note]]This appears to be a "Get Out of Jail Free" card in the ST continuum.[[/note]] The only time this issue appears to have been addressed is when Captain Picard was assimilated into the Borg Collective and is used to co-ordinate their strategy against the Federation. The pilot of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' opens with a freed Picard ferrying Commander Sisko to his new command. Sisko is one of the very few survivors of the Borg attack that used Picard to plot and lead its strategy. Sisko's commanding officer and his wife were killed in that offensive. Therefore his attitude to Picard is one of very thinly disguised hostility, loathing and hatred. Picard understands this, realizes this is part of his Cartesian Karma, and allows Sisko to express his deep hostility and bitter resentment.

So your characters were previously {{brainwashed|AndCrazy}}, betrayed the heroes, went on their own sort of rampage and needed saving to return to their ideals. Luckily, the good guys manage to accomplish this through laborious amounts of screaming, fighting them, and [[ThePowerOfLove friendship power.]] And now that character is back to normal, yay! Everything should be all strawberries and hotcakes, right? I mean, they've clearly come to their senses and are back on the right of things.

* ''Fanfic/CrimsonAndNoire'': Compared to canon, the former Akumas faced this even after Crimson Beetle and Lady Noir told the public that they were made to do so by Monarch. Many former victims like Ivan, Aurore, and Mylene are orchestrated due to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy actions committed outside of their control]]. Both Marinette and Adrien are taking steps as both heroes and civilians to put a stop to this [[BlamingTheVictim victim blaming]].

* ''Fanfic/DistortionsSymphogear'': Samantha Acampona blames Miku for [[YouKilledMyFather killing her brother]] even though she did so while brainwashed by Dr. Ver. She justifies this by claiming that Miku allowed herself to be brainwashed.

* The ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/16829794/chapters/39506794 How Miraculous Should Have Ended]]'' version of "Princess Fragrance" plays this for laughs; Prince Ali is weirded out by Rose and chooses to go with Chloé instead due to Rose's actions when she was akumatized into Princess Fragrance.
* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/42374949 Kill count]]'' is a ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' AU where devices called Karma Balances can reveal a person's kill count. These kill counts also count when someone was an [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Akuma]] or had a [[{{Tulpa}} sentimonster made from their emotions]], even when it was out of their control and Ladybug was able to bring the dead back. Ondine is barred from various swim tournaments because she drowned over two million people in Paris as Syren, while Adrien [[spoiler:was forced to lay low and even step down as Chat Noir after it was found out that he killed the entire world as Chat Blanc]].

* ''FanFic/TalesOfKittyWhiskersAndLadybug'': In ''Turnabout Akuma'', Mike Meekins is tried for the murder of his boss Rekta Resu when he shot and killed her as the akuma Bad Badger. This ends up {{Subverted|Trope}} when Apollo is able to prove through video evidence and witness testimony (including Rekta, who was [[BackFromTheDead restored by the Ladybug Cure]] that Meekins was BrainwashedAndCrazy and has no recollection of being under Hawkmoth's control. It sets the precedent that any destruction or death caused by an akuma will be charged to Hawkmoth once Ladybug and Kitty-Whiskers defeat him.

* Done so in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', to a more general sense. After being brainwashed by [[spoiler:the Condesce]] into turning evil, [[spoiler:Jade is eventually killed by Aranea, and Paradox Space declares her death [[KarmicDeath just]], nullifying her God Tier immortality. It must be noted that Aranea has a hand in that decision, using her abilities as a Sylph of Light to cause a "Lucky 8reak". Shortly after, the same thing happens to Jane, who was also brainwashed; Aranea wasn't directly shown impacting the decision this time, but since her situation was no different from Jade's, it's likely that Aranea's manipul8ion that caused Jade to die simply remained consistent from then on and caused Jane's death, too.]]

* ''Manga/HareGuu'': In the episode "Confusion Jungel," Guu uses her powers to [[FreakyFridayFlip swap Haré and Dr. Clive's bodies]]. While at first annoyed with the situation, Haré soon discovers the doctor's kinder, more professional side, leading him to think the doctor [[LiteralTransformativeExperience isn't as bad a person as he thought he was]]. However, when he wakes up the following morning, back in his own body, Haré is [[spoiler:confronted by an angry mob of young women that Dr. Clive groped and molested while in Haré's body. Obviously, they wouldn't believe Haré if he told them that he and the doctor had swapped bodies, so poor Haré is punished with a bare-bottomed spanking for the doctor's actions.]]

* The ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/16829794/chapters/39506794 How Miraculous Should Have Ended]]'' version of "Princess Fragrance" plays this for laughs; Prince Ali is weirded out by Rose and chooses to go with Chloé instead due to Rose's actions when she was akumatized into Princess Fragrance.

* ZigZagged in ''Fanfic/LeaveForMendeleiev'' when [[SpoiledBrat Chloé]] is banned from her mother Audrey's fashion show for two reasons. One is that she stung Audrey while she was [[BrainwashedAndCrazy akumatized into Queen Bee]]. The other is because she previously stole one of Marinette's designs and attempted to pass it off as her own.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' will sometimes require characters to receive an Atonement from a cleric even for actions that were performed under magical mind-control, due to trickery, or otherwise involuntarily or unwittingly. However, in such a circumstance, the cleric does not have to make the personal sacrifice of experience points normally required by the Atonement spell.
* The ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' have a lot of this.
** Including Laeral Silverhand donning a relic of the local evil death-god and catching a bad case of artifact possession. Of course, as a {{semidivine}} being herself, she recovered after the crown was destroyed, but people threw suspicious glances for some time. Eventually this died down to lame taunts about bad luck with headgear from a political opponent, though.
** ''Elminster Ecologies'' [[http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13961 appendix II]] is [[FictionalDocument narrated by]] a rather grumpy druid, so the approach is rather simple, and not quite unreasonable:

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': During the ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' arc, Doctor Octopus controlled Spider-Man's body. After Peter gets his body back, many of his prior relationships are strained, especially that with his former lover, ComicBook/BlackCat, who has made a FaceHeelTurn and doesn't believe or care that it was Octavius in Peter's body when she was attacked.

** After ComicBook/JeanGrey has been brought back from the TheDarkSide in ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'', she's found guilty of genocide and sentenced to death by the Shi'ar empire, despite the empress' romantic relationship with Charles Xavier. Unfortunately for everyone, fighting for her life reawakens Marvel Girl's Dark Phoenix side.
** Her beau ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} faces similar problems being imprisoned in the wake of ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'' after he [[spoiler:took over the world and killed Charles Xavier]] while under the Phoenix's influence.

** His teacher and role-model Kaito, who is made into a living rag doll for the ants to manipulate that Gon desperately wishes to bring back. The realization that [[spoiler:he can't do so, and Kaito truly is 'dead' is what pushes Gon into a DeadlyUpgrade.]]

** After ComicBook/JeanGray has been brought back from the TheDarkSide in ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'', she's found guilty of genocide and sentenced to death by the Shi'ar empire, despite the empress' romantic relationship with Charles Xavier. Unfortunately for everyone, fighting for her life reawakens Marvel Girl's Dark Phoenix side.

** After ComicBook/Jean Gray has been brought back from the TheDarkSide in ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'', she's found guilty of genocide and sentenced to death by the Shi'ar empire, despite the empress' romantic relationship with Charles Xavier. Unfortunately for everyone, fighting for her life reawakens Marvel Girl's Dark Phoenix side.

* The ''ComicBook/MightyMorphinPowerRangersBoomStudios'' annual short "The Trial of Astronema" is about Karone being put on trial in a KangarooCourt for the crimes she committed as Astronema, her brainwashed evil alter-ego.
* During the ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' arc, Doctor Octopus controlled Franchise/SpiderMan's body. After Peter gets his body back, many of his prior relationships are strained, especially that with his former lover, ComicBook/BlackCat, who has made a FaceHeelTurn and doesn't believe or care that it was Octavius in Peter's body when she was attacked.

* In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'', Cyclonus is infamous among the crew of the Lost Light for having fought for Galvatron during the war, and was involved in several atrocities. Most Autobots consider him basically a Decepticon, despite the fact that he is technically unaligned (the [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience purple paint job]] can't help). In fact, Cyclonus was under the influence of The Darkness when this occurred, and thus unable to resist Galvatron's commands. He seems to not make too much of issue of it however, not caring about the Autobots' approval.

** After Jean Gray has been brought back from the TheDarkSide in ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'', she's found guilty of genocide and sentenced to death by the Shi'ar empire, despite the empress' romantic relationship with Charles Xavier. Unfortunately for everyone, fighting for her life reawakens Marvel Girl's Dark Phoenix side.
** Her beau ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} faces similar problems being imprisoned after he [[spoiler:took over the world and killed Charles Xavier]] while under the Phoenix's influence.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/34188727/chapters/85125118 Tales of the Mysterious and Miraculous Kitty-Whiskers Soot-Fur, and... Ladybug]]'': In ''Turnabout Akuma'', Mike Meekins is tried for the murder of his boss Rekta Resu when he shot and killed her as the akuma Bad Badger. This ends up {{Subverted|Trope}} when Apollo is able to prove through video evidence and witness testimony (including Rekta, who was [[BackFromTheDead restored by the Ladybug Cure]] that Meekins was BrainwashedAndCrazy and has no recollection of being under Hawkmoth's control. It sets the precedent that any destruction or death caused by an akuma will be charged to Hawkmoth once Ladybug and Kitty-Whiskers defeat him.

* ''Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy'': {{Inverted|Trope}} with Kyp Durron, who, under the influence of TheDarkSide and Exar Kun's possession, destroys two solar systems and billions of their inhabitants. The New Republic decides there's NoAdequatePunishment and remands him to Luke Skywalker; after Kyp gets some EpiphanyTherapy and risks his life to destroy the superweapon he used, Luke [[KarmaHoudini simply forgives him]]. The public reaction to this decision haunts the Jedi Order for decades after.

* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'': It's revealed at the end of the game that the AmnesiacProtagonist, The Nameless One, is damned to Hell for all eternity no matter how you played him due to actions he did before becoming amnesiac. [[spoiler:[[NoodleIncident Whatever it was the First Incarnation did]], it crossed an InUniverse MoralEventHorizon and nothing can change that; becoming immortal was the First Incarnation's vain attempt [[TheAtoner at getting enough time to make up for his sin]], and then the fact that he gets IdentityAmnesia every so often when he resurrects just made things infinitely worse; even all the combined good of all his good incarnations were drowned out by the evils of his evil ones, nevermind that those evils were drops in the ocean of his original sin.]] In any ending where The Nameless One is allowed to permanently die (as opposed to being imprisoned, having his body permanently destroyed or is RetGone through a loophole), he ends up in Hell.

* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'': The playable incarnation of The Nameless One is damned to Hell for all eternity no matter how you play him, as was every single incarnation of him up to that point. [[NoodleIncident Whatever it was the First Incarnation did]], it crossed an InUniverse MoralEventHorizon and nothing can change that; becoming immortal was the First Incarnation's vain attempt [[TheAtoner at getting enough time to make up for his sin]], and then the fact that he gets IdentityAmnesia every so often when he resurrects just made things infinitely worse. In any ending where The Nameless One is allowed to permanently die (as opposed to being imprisoned, having his body permanently destroyed or is RetGone through a loophole), he ends up in Hell.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'', Elastigirl takes down the Screenslaver and has him arrested. He turns out to be a decoy Screenslaver who was an UnwittingPawn that Evelyn used and is actually an innocent pizza delivery guy.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'': In "Mime for a Change", after the evil Mister Mime is turned back into Rainbow the Clown, his cheerful song of thanks is [[MoodWhiplash interrupted by the Girls beating the snot out of him]] and Rainbow being taken to jail for all the trouble his alter-ego caused. Though, since he was last seen at the Powerpuff Girls's party it can be assumed that they straightened everything out.