History Main / KarmicDeath

'''As a DeathTrope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

No matter how evil the villains are, the good guys can't just ''[[ThouShaltNotKill kill]]'' them: heroes are supposed to be better than that. They need to stay pure and noble (or innocent); role models, exemplars of solving their problems without resorting to bloodshed. If they take another person's life, no matter how justified, they will lose their moral edge, but when the villains are just [[PutOnAPrisonBus arrested and hauled away by the police]], this isn't satisfying. For one, they have a tendency to [[CardboardPrison escape]]. For another, the mundane workings of the criminal justice system seem woefully inadequate to hold or to punish a really ''evil'' villain. We, the viewers, want to see real justice administered, and we don't trust human hands (or [[TheDogBitesBack at least not ''heroic]]'' human hands]]) to administer it.

No matter how evil the villains are, the good guys can't just ''[[ThouShaltNotKill kill]]'' them: heroes are supposed to be better than that. They need to stay pure and noble (or innocent); role models, exemplars of solving their problems without resorting to bloodshed. If they take another person's life, no matter how justified, they will lose their moral edge, but when the villains are just [[PutOnAPrisonBus arrested and hauled away by the police]], this isn't satisfying. For one, they have a tendency to [[CardboardPrison escape]]. For another, the mundane workings of the criminal justice system seem woefully inadequate to hold or to punish a really ''evil'' villain. We, the viewers, want to see real justice administered, and we don't trust human hands (or [[TheDogBitesBack at least not]] ''[[TheDogBitesBack heroic]]'' [[TheDogBitesBack human hands]]) to administer it.

So, the writers arrange for the villain to die in a manner [[HoistByHisOwnPetard that is completely his own fault,]] or, at least, [[SelfDisposingVillain obviously not the hero's.]] If he dies [[BackstabBackfire right in the act of attempting to kill the hero]], this gives a particularly nice [[{{karma}} karmic zing]]. If he attacks ''after'' being defeated and then spared by the hero, this is one of the rare circumstances where the hero can dispatch the villain personally and still come across as blameless.

Note that this only applies if the villain is clearly human, or the show universe's nearest equivalent. If they change into some kind of [[OneWingedAngel monster]], they are [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman no longer protected]] by this trope: the hero might hesitate to kill another human, but a mutated, horrendous beast is fair game — doubly so when the villain took this form for the sole purpose of murdering the hero. The trope may still apply if the villain's inhuman nature somehow allows him to escape justice at the mortal heroes' hands; in such a case, their doom would come from a completely unexpected quarter, such as [[TheDogBitesBack previously abused minions]] finding and shattering the villain's SoulJar to avenge themselves, without any involvement from the heroes whatsoever (and the minions possibly not even pulling a HeelFaceTurn) and if a KarmaHoudini finally becomes the receiving end of this trope, this is KarmaHoudiniWarranty.

So, the writers arrange for the villain to die in a manner [[HoistByHisOwnPetard that is completely his own fault,]] or, at least, [[Self Disposing Villain obviously not the hero's.]] If he dies [[BackstabBackfire right in the act of attempting to kill the hero]], this gives a particularly nice [[{{karma}} karmic zing]]. If he attacks ''after'' being defeated and then spared by the hero, this is one of the rare circumstances where the hero can dispatch the villain personally and still come across as blameless.

It's more common in Western markets, as a result of [[MediaWatchdog heavy censorship]] and the general reluctance among writers to feature their character (usually in a show with a younger [[{{Demographics}} demographic]]) doing such acts as killing, especially if they're [[KidHero underage]]. Occasionally known by the older demographic as "getting one's comeuppance." Given that there is a certain charm to {{SelfDisposingVillain}}y, this trope can show up in works that allow the hero to kill people; it's just that it's much more common for it to show up in situations where the hero has a no-kill policy for one reason or another.

So, the writers arrange for the villain to die in a manner [[HoistByHisOwnPetard that is completely his own fault,]] or, at least, [[SelfDisposingVillain obviously not the hero's.]] If he dies [[BackstabBackfire right in the act of attempting to kill the hero]], this gives a particularly nice [[{{karma}} karmic zing]]. If he attacks ''after'' being defeated and then spared by the hero, this is one of the rare circumstances where the hero can dispatch the villain personally and still come across as blameless.

So, the writers arrange for the villain to die in a manner [[HoistByHisOwnPetard that is completely his own fault.]] Or, at least, [[SelfDisposingVillain obviously not the hero's.]] If he dies [[BackstabBackfire right in the act of attempting to kill the hero]], this gives a particularly nice [[{{karma}} karmic zing]]. If he attacks ''after'' being defeated and then spared by the hero, this is one of the rare circumstances where the hero can dispatch the villain personally and still come across as blameless.

Note that this only applies if the villain is clearly human, or the show universe's nearest equivalent. If they change into some kind of [[OneWingedAngel monster]], they are [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman no longer protected]] by this trope: the hero might hesitate to kill another human, but a mutated, horrendous beast is fair game — doubly so when the villain took this form for the sole purpose of murdering the hero. The trope may still apply if the villain's inhuman nature somehow allows him to escape justice at the mortal heroes' hands; in such a case, their doom would come from a completely unexpected quarter, such as [[TheDogBitesBack previously abused minions]] finding and shattering the villain's SoulJar to avenge themselves, without any involvement from the heroes whatsoever (and the minions possibly not even pulling a HeelFaceTurn). And if a KarmaHoudini finally becomes the receiving end of this trope, this is KarmaHoudiniWarranty.

It's more common in Western markets, as a result of [[MediaWatchdog heavy censorship]] and the general reluctance among writers to feature their character (usually in a show with a younger [[{{Demographics}} Demographic]]) doing such acts as killing, especially if they're [[KidHero underage]]. Occasionally known by the older demographic as "getting one's comeuppance." Given that there is a certain charm to {{Self Disposing Villain}}y, this trope can show up in works that allow the hero to kill people; it's just that it's much more common for it to show up in situations where the hero has a no-kill policy for one reason or another.

No matter how evil the villains are, the good guys can't just ''[[ThouShaltNotKill kill]]'' them: heroes are supposed to be better than that. They need to stay pure and noble (or innocent); role models, exemplars of solving their problems without resorting to bloodshed. If they take another person's life, no matter how justified, they will lose their moral edge.

But when the villains are just [[PutOnAPrisonBus arrested and hauled away by the police]], this isn't satisfying. For one, they have a tendency to [[CardboardPrison escape]]. For another, the mundane workings of the criminal justice system seem woefully inadequate to hold or to punish a really ''evil'' villain. We, the viewers, want to see real justice administered, and we don't trust human hands (or [[TheDogBitesBack at least not]] ''[[TheDogBitesBack heroic]]'' [[TheDogBitesBack human hands]]) to administer it.

* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' is fueled by DeathByIrony, with the executions of the killers in the DeadlyGame being typically tailored to either the killer's [[TheAce Ultimate talent]], their personality, or both at once. However it's ZigZagged by the fact that the killers are just as likely to be victims of circumstance rather than bad people due to the way the game is structured, but the KillerGameMaster [[BigBad Monokuma]] doesn't care about circumstances [[HopeCrusher and just wants everyone to suffer]]. There ''are'', however, some people who ''really'' had their deaths coming.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndzln1UEyf0 official music video]] for Music/{{Foster The People}}'s "Music/BestFriend" revolves around an envy-maddened supermodel wannabe, who discovers [[YouAreWhoYouEat she can steal desired traits from other supermodels by swallowing them whole and alive]] is ultimately killed when [[SpitOutAShoe she fails to successfully barf up the dress of her latest kill]], choking to death due to it lodging in her throat.

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuMNfb3sCKM this]] YouTubePoop, Ugandan pastor and real-life HeteronormativeCrusader Martin Ssempa suffers this when [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames Hectan]] accidentally [[TeleFrag teleports directly over his hand]] while Ssempa is graphically describing sexual fisting as a degenerate act attributed to gays, causing the former to be fatally impaled through the anus by the latter's arm. This, in turn, causes Ssempa's followers to violently turn against him for committing the act he himself had taught them to demonize, and Dr. Rabbit, who had saved King Harkinian from a gay-hating mob incited by Ssempa in a previous video, [[KickTheSonOfABitch refuses to do the same for him]].