History Main / CynicismCatalyst

** Inari's adoptive father Kaito was brutally beaten and executed by corrupt businessmen's thugs when he tried to stop them from taking over their village. Inari then angrily declared heroes don't exist and nothing can stop bad guys.

%% Uncomment only if your provide an explanation how the example fits the trope.

Many works will be dedicated at least in part to getting this character to open up, let it go and move on. This makes them vulnerable to {{Morality Pet}}s and [[EpiphanyTherapy sudden bursts of moral insight]]. Sadly, [[IgnoredEpiphany sometimes they just can't do it or they feel that it's too late]].

Expect a HollywoodAtheist to have one of these to explain why he or she does not believe in God. An outright villain will generally not have a Cynicism Catalyst: The trope is reserved for those who are still attempting to do good, leaving it the domain of the AntiHero, the AntiVillain and the WellIntentionedExtremist.

* The main character of ''Manga/BladeOfTheImmortal'' put down his sword after his Bounty Hunter lifestyle led him to accidentally kill his sister's husband (he'd never met him before), causing said sister [[TheOphelia to mentally revert to a child-like state]] to cope. He picks it back ''up'' after his refusal to fight later resulted in his sister being graphically sliced to pieces. The story deals with his need to balance the two extremes; of course, the whole thing leans more towards violence, but generally it's for a good cause.

* In ''Dr Koto'', a journalist come to ruin Koto's life again, full of bitterness after his little sister died from Koto's lack of care.

** Inari's adoptive father Kaito was brutally beaten and executed by corrupt business men's thugs when he tried to stop them from taking over their village. Inari then angrily declared heroes don't exist and nothing can stop bad guys.
** Konan and Nagato/Pain became villains after the death of their best friend Yahiko, when their faction was betrayed.

*** Actually, Kamui and Kotori's case is an [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of sorts. Before her death, Kamui is apathic, at most, to his role in the End of the World. While he does take a side before her death, it's the event itself that makes him determined to protect his loved ones that are left, and, thus, to embrace his role as a Dragon of Heaven.

* Happens to Guts ''twice'' in ''{{Manga/Berserk}}''. Guts' first traumatizing experience was at the age of 6 or 7 when [[spoiler:he was raped by a male soldier at the convenience of his adoptive father [[AbusiveParents Gambino]], who he later had to kill when he got drunk and tried to murder him]]. After this, Guts had almost lost all of his trust in people. In his teen years, he joins the Band of the Hawk and over the course of the Golden Age storyline, Guts' trust in people starts to build up as the themes of [[ThePowerOfTrust camaraderie,]] [[ThePowerOfFriendship friendship,]] [[ThePowerOfLove and love]] prevail. Tragically, an even greater and more horrifying event happened during the Eclipse, where [[spoiler:all of his friends were sacrificed and eaten by hordes of demons and his lover was horrifically raped to insanity in front of him at the convenience of his former best friend, [[FaceHeelTurn Griffith]], who did it all to become a demon god.]] This event all but utterly crushed Guts' spirit, to the point of becoming a ruthless AntiHero on the verge of [[HeWhoFightsMonsters losing his humanity to his undying hatred for Griffith and the demons]]. The Conviction Arc has him realizing that he fucked up big-time in leaving Casca alone to fight his demons and going through hell and high water to rescue her, picking up a new circle of TrueCompanions along the way. He then goes on a quest to [[FindTheCure find a way to cure Casca of her Eclipse-induced madness]], but the monster that Guts had to become through years of battle with the demons has never fully left him, and now takes the form of a monstrous EnemyWithin.

* In ''Manga/MarchComesInLikeALion'', the deaths of his parents and sister are a large part of what sets up the foundation for Rei's negative outlook on life, and forcing him to consider things no kid would normally do, such as lie about his own interests in order to avoid being institutionalized by his surviving family.

** And perhaps the most ultimate example, is that of Jack Vessalius, who started his StartOfDarkness when [[spoiler:he met Lacie, Oswald's sister, who gave him a reason to exist. He both fell in love with her and yet hated her, but he could only feel alive when she was with him. It is when she dies and Oswald informs Jack of it that Jack becomes a villain and starts [[SanitySlippage falling down the slippery slope to insanityville]], eventually trying to destroy the entire world for her, by using his chain the B-rabbit to do so.]]

* Kousei from ''Manga/YourLieInApril'' stopped playing the piano and became a very cynical boy since his mother died; at least until he met Kaori and slowly reignited his passion of music.
* Naofumi of ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' was a NaiveNewcomer who was genuinely friendly and eager until he was robbed, framed for rape, had his name smeared throughout the country, and was thrown out on the street in his underwear. And all of this occurred in the span of one day. After this he became a jaded cynic who was incapable of trusting anyone other than slaves.

** Shinya Kougami's descent to a latent criminal is brought by the brutal death of his Enforcer and close friend, Mitsuru Sasayama. When he found out that Makishima is one of the two people responsible for his death and the Sibyl System ordered the bureau to capture him alive instead of executing him, Kougami ended up leaving the bureau to take matter into his own hands.

** Suzaku Kururugi changed when Euphemia died in the hands of Zero. When he found out that Zero is his best friend Lelouch, he felt betrayed and had him captured and delivered to the Emperor where he earned a promotion as a Knight of Rounds and had his best friend's memories of his mother, his sister and his Zero identity temporarily erased.
** Cornelia li Britannia hated the Japanese because she believed that her half-siblings, Lelouch and Nunually, were reportedly dead while exiled in Japan. Then, her sister, Euphemia, was killed by Zero, who turned out to be her supposedly dead half-brother, much to her despair. A similar level of cynicism and biterness in other royals, such as Clovis, can also be attributed to the believed deaths of Lelouch and Nunnally.

* ComicBook/{{Magneto}}'s Cynicism Catalyst is the Holocaust and other tragic events. After he escaped Auschwitz, he got married to a Gypsy girl named Magda who also ran away from there, moved to Ukraine with her and tried to continue living his life. Then his daughter Anya was killed by a mob and Magda left him after he crossed her personal MoralEventHorizon by [[PapaWolf killing them all]]. Even ''then'', it was still several years (and other crap getting piled on him) before he went completely batshit. Some consider his Moral Event Horizon that turned him into the BigBad working for the CIA to capture Nazis. He captured one that was working for the United States. As punishment for 'crossing the line' (the captured Nazi was working with the CIA to best the Soviet Union), Magneto's handler killed his lover and tried to kill him after giving him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. [[BullyingADragon Antagonizing Magneto thusly was not a good idea]] and it did not go the way the CIA expected.

* From the ''ComicBook/XMen'', Colossus, the big armored Russian: when his younger sister and local DarkMagicalGirl [[Comicbook/IllyanaRasputin Illyana/Magik]] died of the Legacy Virus in the early 90's, he went all gloomy and pulled a FaceHeelTurn to join Magneto's side for a while. He then got back, and then he died. And got back again. It's complicated. Illyana came back as well. ItMakesSenseInContext.

* Lara, the little girl who secretly rebuilt the battered robot paratrooper Mongrol in ''ComicBook/ABCWarriors''. Her death, compounded with the electric torture that fully returned him to live, took such a toll on his psyche that he was left a single-mindedly violent monster who knows only rage and confusion. According to the narration, in his broken mind he sees and hears Lara always, encouraging his quest for vengeance against the enemy forces that killed her.

* Various retellings of Comicbook/DoctorStrange's origin story give him one to explain how he became DrJerk. In the first version he didn't have any real excuse; he was just an ass.

* In ''Season 5'' of ''FanFic/TheFlashSentryChronicles'', it’s revealed that a Royal Guard named Noble Banner had rescued Cold Steel from the north, and brought him back to Canterlot to train him. When Noble Banner was sent on a mission to the Badlands, he never came back, which lead to Cold Steel to become the apathetic pony that he is in the present.

** Tokio unintentionally served as one for Goh when he was unable to keep his promise to meet up (due to being too sick). Goh misinterpreted this as deliberate, convincing himself that building friendships with other people just wasn't worth it, and that Pokémon were better since they couldn't betray you.
** Chloe becomes one for Goh as the story goes on, because he can't understand how much he hurt her. All he wants is for her to come back so things can go back to the way they were except Chloe is unable to return due to many factors: she can't leave the Train until the number on her hand drops to 0, she's currently tasked to stop a cult, and she doesn't want to return if Goh isn't willing to change himself because she knows Goh will abandon her to chase after Mew once more.

* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'': Marianne, after seeing her fiancée with another women right before their wedding. She gives up on love and becomes a sword-wielding warrior.

* ''Film/LakeviewTerrace'' is about a cop (played by Creator/SamuelLJackson) who will go to any lengths, including intimidation, violence, and murder, to get the interracial couple who just became his new neighbors to move. The event that ultimately drove Turner to focus his rage on the couple is revealed to be the death of his wife, who was killed in a car accident while on her way to meet her white boss who she was having an affair with.

* ''Film/SplitSecond'': In a flashback it's shown how Stone was fairly well-composed before his partner was killed by the monster he has since been pursuing. Stone blamed himself (especially because he was having an affair with his partner's wife) and became a paranoid, rude [[CowboyCop gunslinger]] in response.

* ''Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye'''s Holden Caulfield is angry, depressed and prone to failing out of school largely because of his little brother Allie, who died of leukemia.

* Zachary State in ''Literature/TheMentalState'' is a genuinely kind and understanding person who goes to great lengths to make friends and be a good friend in turn. However, this all changes when he is forced to watch his girlfriend getting raped. The event triggers his latent sociopathy and he changes into 'Zack', a considerably more ruthless, manipulative and conniving man with delusions of grandeur.

** Oberyn and Doran Martell, who wants revenge on the Lannisters for the brutal rape and murder of their sister Elia. It's clear that Elia's death had a big effect on both of them, but particularly Oberyn, since he matured quite a bit afterward.

** Jaime Lannister became one of the most despised men in Westeros for [[TheOathbreaker breaking his oath]] and killing [[TheCaligula Aerys II Targaryen, a.k.a. "The Mad King"]], [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight which he did to save hundreds of thousands of people]]. The fact that he did become so hated for what he considers to be his most heroic and selfless act made him an extremely bitter man. Even before that, Jaime became extremely jaded when he realised his appointment to [[PraetorianGuard Aerys's Kingsguard]] was not a result of him being a ChildProdigy MasterSwordsman, but so the King could use him as a hostage against Jaime's father, and was forced to stand by and watch in silence as Aerys wantonly indulged his penchant for cruelty.

* The Independents' crushing defeat at the Battle of Serenity Valley is presented as this for [[TheCaptain Malcom Reynolds]] in ''{{Series/Firefly}}''. Before then, even in the thick of battle he was always ready with a smile and a quip to his companions (though it's not made clear if it was genuine or a mask he wore to keep morale up for others and himself) and he had at least some faith in God. Their loss at Serenity and the war in general made him a lot [[HurtingHero more]] [[BrokenHero sober]] and caused him to lose his faith, [[ChronicHeroSyndrome though he never quite lost his sense of heroism]], [[KnightInSourArmor as much as he might try to deny it]].

** The biggest instance of this in the entire Buffyverse in what happened to Wesley. His attempt at saving Connor from a dangerous prophecy ends up going completely awry when he gets his throat slit, causing Connor to be tossed in a hell dimension. Despite everyone knowing that he was just trying to help, all of Wesley's friends ended up shunning him, especially Angel, who tries to smother him to death as revenge. From that point on, Wesley had become one of the most broken, cynical characters in the series.

* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'''s Jack Harkness had a tortured little brother. He thought he was responsible for this, having let go of his brother's hand while running way from the creatures who tortured him; and (or so we were told) angsted over it ever since.

* In the final episode of ''Series/BlackBooks'' it is revealed in response to Manny's TheReasonYouSuck speech that [[spoiler:Bernard's girlfriend died]], triggering his transition into JerkassWoobie. Slightly subverted in that we are unsure how much of a bastard he actually was before she died, and whether he's just using it as an excuse. Also could be subverted with the reveal that [[spoiler:she didn't actually die, but he believed she did so it still counts]].

** Nate Ford, whose son died when the insurance company he worked for refused to pay for the treatment that could have saved him. This led to Nate quitting his job, divorcing his wife and becoming an alcoholic.

* Al Calavicci in ''Series/{{Quantum Leap}}''. His younger sister Trudy was mentally handicapped and spent most of her life in and out of mental institutions, as was commonplace in the time they were young. When Al was old enough to gain custody of her, he went back to the institution for her but found out that she had died of pneumonia. The anger in his voice when he asks, "How does a sixteen year old girl die from pneumonia in 1953?" says a lot about how heavily the topic weighs on him.

* Zero Day was this for Taiga Hanaya in ''Series/KamenRiderExAid''. He bet everything on saving his patient, failed and lost his position, license and sense of selfworth. He used to be kind soul devoted to his job, but feeling betrayed (and loathing himself more than anyone else could) made him the selfish jerk he is in the main story.

* The ''Theatre/MrsHawking'' play series: For Malaika in ''Gilded Cages'', [[spoiler: when their plan to feed her starving village fails, Victoria disappears on her, and her entire life is ruined when she is arrested for what they did. She loses all faith in being able to count on others, particular white people or those more privileged.]]

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' does a bunch of this with Cyan, who was unable to save his [[ILetGwenStacyDie wife]] and son in the siege of Doma. After an initial fit of berserker rage, he swears vengeance against Kefka for robbing him of his family. His latent guilt over the loss causes a HeroicBSOD later in the game, when the heroes must journey into Cyan's subconscious to slay his psychological demons, [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext who turn out to be the Three Stooges]].

*** Wakka lost his parents when he was still a kid, resulting in him getting a PromotionToParent for his little brother Chappu. Even as Chappu became TheAce, still Wakka felt responsible for him and that he had to be a protective big brother. Then Chappu broke with Church teachings to join the Crusaders, who use forbidden technology in their fight against the EldritchAbomination Sin, and died in his first battle. Wakka responds by blaming Chappu's death on the Crusaders' use of forbidden weapons, and becomes an almost fanatical follower of the religious laws who doesn't tolerate any challenges to the faith of Yevon.

* The heavy amount of angst that the title character of ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' carries with him is a direct result of the murder of his wife and baby girl three years ago by junkies hopped up on the designer drug Valkyr, and was the reason that he joined the DEA in order to root out the source of the drug. And it only piles up with the rising body count. Some of the later plot points rely on it.

** The death of Alicia, Regal's fiancée, who he killed after she was mutated into a monster and begged him to kill her caused Regal to become TheAtoner to the n-th degree. He eventually makes peace with her ghost, who is in a position to tell him that she didn't want him to torture himself in that manner personally. He keeps torturing himself, though. At least until the BigBad is taken down, in which he's fulfilled his promise to atone for his crime.

*** ''Persona 3 Portable'' puts a very different spin on this if you play as a female main character. Akihiko is motivated to become stronger not simply to save others, but to avoid feeling the pain of being powerless to save someone who is precious to him. His social link halts when he senses the heroine is becoming too important to him, because as he later explains after some character development, it was easier to not let things become too important than to risk losing them. But after said character development, his motivation shifts from pain avoidance to a true desire to protect the people he cares about.

** Hawke. Depending on how [[PlayerCharacter Hawke]] is played, personality wise, this can be played straight, {{averted|Trope}} or {{invoked|Trope}}, both from the beginning what with [[ItWasHisSled Bethany or Carver dying in the prologue]], and the Deep Roads expedition leading to your other sibling dying, becoming a Grey Warden or joining the Circle/Templars and [[WhamEpisode All That Remains]] in Act II where your mother dies. Even without taking into account the [[CosmicPlaything other things that can occur to Hawke and companions]] [[TraumaCongaLine throughout the game]], is it any wonder an otherwise [[TheParagon helpful and heroic]], or [[DeadpanSnarker wisecracking and jovial]] Hawke can become an [[AntiHero angry cynic]] over the course of the game.

** Sebastian has his ''entire family'', who were murdered by hired thugs and eventually his mentor Grand Cleric Elthina, whose murder reawakens his lust for vengeance.

* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', Raul Tejada's little sister Rafaela was killed (and likely worse) by raiders while trying to scavenge for supplies for her brother (then undergoing radiation sickness/ghoulification) centuries ago. Later on in his life he had a ReplacementGoldfish that was also killed. However the player, through talking with him and taking him to see various other [=NPCs=] can encourage him to pick up his guns and become a Vaquero once again. Young female Couriers might possibly serve as another substitute for Rafaela, especially if they're Hispanic.
** The sale of ColdSniper Boone's wife into slavery, forcing him to MercyKill her, at first appears to be the catalyst. However, his descent began well before that, when his batallion was ordered to massacre the Great Khans at Bitter Springs.

** About 4 years before ''VideoGame/FableIII'', Logan [[spoiler:goes on an expedition in Aurora, where his squadron is attacked by the Crawler, leaving Logan the only survivor. This, coupled with manipulation by Theresa, makes him realize that he must prepare Albion to fight the Crawler at any cost, even it it means becoming a tyrant.]]

* Archer from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' is a tragic case. He strove all his life as a crusader to save people, but was only met with mistrust and betrayal. He even sold his afterlife to the World as a Heroic Spirit in exchange for the power to save perhaps a hundred people that he was unable to save otherwise. Yet even after he was executed for trying to spark a war he had really been trying to prevent, [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished by one of the people he personally saved no less]], he was still [[WideEyedIdealist able to die without regret and never hated humanity]]. What turned him into the bitter and disillusioned figure we see in the games was finding out that the World only summons Heroic Spirits after a disaster has spiraled out of control and that instead of saving people, [[IronicHell his role was to kill everyone in the area regardless of guilt or innocence]].

** Miles Edgeworth in the ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' series was a excitable and energetic child that strove to defend the innocent like his father was doing as a defense attorney. One day, Edgeworth's father was killed and he was taken in by Manfred von Karma, who raised him to be a ruthless prosecutor. Edgeworth grew up thinking defense attorneys were scumbags and the guilty should be punished. His personality also changed greatly where he is very stoic, rarely emotes, and always tries to keep up a professional front instead of just being himself. Edgeworth does lighten up a little bit after some CharacterDevelopment, but he's no longer the energetic and eager person he once was.

** Ema Skye also goes through a cynicism phas in ''Apollo Justice'' where it's revealed she failed her forensics exam, thus she is shunted over to detective work instead of the forensics detective that she dreamed of becoming. Ema wanted to be in the field of forensics ever since she was a teenager, but her dreams being crushed left her very bitter and irritable. By the time of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'', she retakes her exam and passes it, becoming happy and chipper like she used to be.

* ''VisualNovel/{{Eliza}}'' has [[spoiler: Damian's death]], which served as one for Nora, since it caused her to leave the tech industry and become an anti-corporate musician (she's far from evil, but very much antagonistic to a lot of her colleagues). Evelyn, the main character, is a more downplayed example, since she was left more burnt out and traumatised (likely because [[spoiler: she basically came into the office one day, and found he'd died of a stress induced heart attack overnight]]) than outright cynical.

** Roy Greenhilt has a dead little brother named Eric. Eugene's magic experiments were responsible, but Roy blames himself to a certain degree for failing to get his arrogant father's attention before the lab exploded. His comment on Eric's love of music and potential future as a bard may also provide insight on his relationship with Elan.

* ''Webcomic/ImTheGrimReaper'': Scarlet’s comes very early in the story. At first she’s more apprehensive about killing sinners, but when the seemingly nice young man she meets who’s marked as one turns out to be a cold blooded serial killer, she quickly becomes more jaded and willing to do the job.

* In ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'', after years of being the OnlySaneMan of a RagtagBunchOfMisfits, Arthéon got an in-game girlfriend whith whom he got along perfecty well. The girlfriend [[spoiler:interrupted their in-game wedding because she found out something more interesting to her was happening elsewhere]]. This prompted Arthéon to question all his current friendships lash out on pretty much everyone, including his own guild [[spoiler:by disbanding it]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ShadowRaiders''. Graveheart's younger brother perished in a raid Graveheart was leading against Planet Fire for energy; this explicitly caused him to renounce his position in the elite Quarriors and become a simple miner instead, and is implied to be the reason why he is so keen on the idea of peaceful trading replacing the former raid-based interactions between the worlds.

** In the first episode, before learning ThePowerOfFriendship, Twilight blew off her friend Moondancer's party to go and study. In Season 5, Twilight decides to [[MustMakeAmends try and make amends]] with her old friends, but finds that to Moondancer, who was very shy, the fact that Twilight (with whom she had the most in common) didn't show [[NeverBeHurtAgain was a real blow to her self esteem.]]

* Throughout ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', it is implied Rick became what he is as a result of an experience that occurred in his past. The circumstances of what happened isn't explained clearly, but overtime its hinted he lost something value in his life.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', despite The Diamonds' status as a DysfunctionalFamily, they still care for each other. Pink Diamond's death drove Yellow and Blue to grieve for her in countless centuries.

* The Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis and his daughter/heiress Christina had his son and her older brother die, respectively: Alexandre Onassis Livanos, who died in a plane crash at age 25 (which is a favorite topic among {{Conspiracy Theorist}}s). Both of his parents crossed the DespairEventHorizon at that: mother Athena Mary Livanos ("Tina") killed herself, Aristotles's already decaying health plummeted and he died a few months later. Christina outlived everyone for more than a decade, [[BrokenBird but she didn't have it much easier, either.]]
* Philip K. Dick's twin sister died when the two were only five weeks old. Being raised as a child with this knowledge (his mother allegedly claimed that the wrong child had died during an argument), the loss haunted PKD throughout his life. The figure of the mysterious, dark-haired and unattainable woman that is prominent in so many of his works (especially "Flow My Tears, the Police Said") is said to be based on PKD's imaginings of what his sister would have been like had she lived.

* Back in 2004, UFC middleweight Vitor Belfort's sister Priscila was abducted in Brazil, and for three years he used his fights as a soapbox from which to tell fans about this and solicit information and help. The distraction due to this contributed to his losses in this time. Unfortunately in 2007 a woman ended up confessing to her murder, though the Belforts didn't initially believe her (fearing rather the possibility of her covering for someone else). Nevertheless, it was only after this that his career turned around -- and at his UFC 142: RIO, her face was on his team banner.

** Varsuvius really screws up with that deal with the three fiends, but after [[spoiler:he/she finds out that his/her purge to end the cycle of revenge killed a LOT of humans (and their many, many in-laws), whose ancestor fell in love with a dragon]], the cynicism kicks in and makes him/her much less of a LargeHam and more of a Vulcan. In the next book, he/she doesn't show ANY haughtiness or flashy gestures at all when casting spells.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'': [[spoiler:Professor Callahan became the villain Yokai to avenge his daughter, who was enveloped in a malfunctioning experiment of Allstair Krei, whom he held responsible for it.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'': Marianne, after seeing her fiancee with another women right before their wedding. She gives up on love and becomes a sword-wielding warrior.

* In ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'', the accidental death of Lois Lane and his unborn child at his hands and the destruction of Metropolis --all this orchestrated by the [[AxCrazy Joker]]-- were the [[StartOfDarkness reasons]] why [[TheCape Superman]] first became a WellIntentionedExtremist and KnightTemplar and finally turned in a EvilOverlord and OmnicidalManiac.

* In ''Manga/ZetsuenNoTempest'', Mahiro doesn't care about saving the world and just wants to kill his sister's killer - not to get revenge or because she'd want him to or anything, but because it wasn't fair. He doesn't seem to care much that his parents were also killed, though. Interestingly, it turns out the sister was also protagonist Yoshino's girlfriend, which is the reason he ends up joining Mahiro.

* In ''Manga/SangatsuNoLion'', the deaths of his parents and sister are a large part of what sets up the foundation for Rei's negative outlook on life, and forcing him to consider things no kid would normally do, such as lie about his own interests in order to avoid being institutionalized by his surviving family.

* ''Manga/{{Narutaru}}'' has Shiina Tamai's older sister, Mishou, who died few after Shiina's birth. Her death tore the family apart and it'd take more than a decade and ''another'' death to patch things up.

-> ''"Mom raised me to be a man of faith. I lost that faith at Serenity Valley."''

--> '''Kyle Rayner:''' Jen, I can't do this anymore.
--> '''Jen:''' Do what?
--> '''Kyle Rayner:''' Protect Earth. I've been thinking about something Brainwave said a few months back. About what drove him insane. He said that he had reached into the minds of millions, and all he found was hate. When I was Ion I felt it, too. Jen, there is good in this world, but it doesn't measure up to the bad. In the hearts of humanity, there is anger, there is rape, there is brutality... there is hate. It took this happening to Terry to... ...to break me. I can't help these people now. I don't want to. Earth will have to get by without me.
--> ''Green Lantern #155 (2002)''

* Leon Oswald from ''Anime/KaleidoStar'' has a dead little sister. Her name was Sophie, she was [[BrotherSisterTeam his partner]] as well, and was killed in a car accident before a big competition ''in front of Leon himself''. He [[MyGreatestFailure still blames himself]], and is always [[ReplacementGoldfish looking for someone like Sophie]] ([[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop to a pretty destructive extreme]]), which leads him to main girl Sora Naegino.

* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona'':

[[folder: Western Animation]]

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* ''Disney/BigHero6'': [[spoiler:Professor Callahan became the villain Yokai to avenge his daughter, who was enveloped in a malfunctioning experiment of Allstair Krei, whom he held responsible for it.]]

* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' opens with the reveal that [[Film/StarTrek2009 Nero]] was right to blame the Federation as this is why [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Picard]] left Starfleet: The Federation really did leave the Romulans to die and Picard was so disgusted he resigned.[[note]]This was a case of ThreatBackfire as Picard threatened to resign if Starfleet didn't help -- and they accepted his resignation[[/note]]

* In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', the ''fear'' of the loss of Padmé Amidala [[DeathByChildbirth by childbirth]] is what drives Anakin Skywalker over the edge to TheDarkSide. Before that, there was the death of his mother in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' which started his descent. For extra irony, she dies from childbirth because she loses her desire to live after seeing the monster Anakin becomes in trying to prevent her death.

* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' opens with the reveal that [[Film/StarTrek2009 Nero]] was right to blame the Federation as this is why [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Picard]] left Starfleet: The Federation really did leave the Romulans to die and Picard was so disgusted the resigned.[[note]]This was a case of ThreatBackfire as Picard threatened to resign if Starfleet didn't help -- the they accepted his resignation[[/note]]

* Ho from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' feels guilty for not being strong enough to protect his friends from a berserk stray warrior. It has made him rather jealous and loathing towards anyone with greater power than him, especially Bam.