History Main / UngratefulBastard

* In ''Film/WarFroPlanetOfTheApes'' has Caesar expresses this to Col. [=McCullough=]:

** Cersei Lannister never has anything good to say about Tyrion or Loras, despite both of them being vital in saving her and Tommen's lives at the battle of Blackwater. Tywin even calls her out on her ingratitude for the Tyrells. Probably the most blatant example of this was her framing Ned Stark as a traitor after he warned her to save herself and her children; though it was mixed with PragmaticVillainy, since they would be forced to go into exile if she accepted Ned's scenario.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Tywin Lannister. Tyrion not only carried out his father's orders in Kings Landing in reigning in Joffrey and Cersei, but he personally planned the city's defense, fatally weakened Stannis' forces, and personally led the fight against the remaining attackers despite Cersei and Joffrey's idiocy and spitefulness hampering him at every turn, ''including'' trying to assassinate him on the battlefield. Without these efforts Tywin's relief force would have been facing a far larger, better organised, and untouched army, who by the time he arrived would have likely killed both his grandson and daughter, as well as taken the city and thus made his attempted counter attack both pointless and nigh suicidal. Tywin ''thanks'' Tyrion by ignoring him for several weeks as he was wounded, and when Tyrion brings up his grievances, he gives his son a few concessions such as a larger room "more suited to your name", a position where he can continue serving his family, and a suitable wife in due time... then he flatly refuses to officially make Tyrion his heir, unleashes a spiteful tirade about how much he hates Tyrion, and threatens to kill the next whore he catches him with. This is taken UpToEleven in Season 4. Joffrey was, Tywin admits in front of his dead body no less, not a wise king. So even if Tyrion was guilty, which of course he wasn't, Tywin and company should really be thanking him for the getting the millstone out of the way but instead he lets him take the fall for Joffrey's oh so terrible murder. It's the equivalent of a wife and husband having a domestic argument and the husband grounding the child for daring to speak out against the horrible wife causing problems, "How dare you disrespect her, even though she's been a pyscho towards me and I should really be thanking you." Never have the words NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished been more appropriate as far as Tyrion's concerned.

** If your Desert Ranger squad saves the town of Highpool from raiders at the start of the game, everyone hates you because of an incident 15 years ago where [[VideoGame/Wasteland your predecessors]] shot a boy and his dog in self defense while fixing their water purifier. Despite the fact that everyone would be dead if not for you, one of the candidates for mayor wants to support the Rangers' rivals, the Red Skorpions, in spite of the fact that they ignored their distress calls and you didn't. Getting them to continue supporting the Rangers requires nothing less than fixing their water purifier again, stopping their irrigation system from exploding, performing surgery on all their wounded, putting out a fire, and reuniting a man with his dog.

* In ''Literature/{{Speak}},'' Melinda befriends the new girl, Heather, goes with her to a model shoot to support her, and assists her in her first Martha Project in order to help her get into the [[AcademicAlphaBitch popular Martha clique,]] only for Heather to later ditch her completely in favor of the Marthas, due to Melinda's unpopularity. She pays dearly for it later when she comes back to Melinda to beg her for help decorating the school gym for the homecoming dance, [[LaserGuidedKarma only to find out that Melinda's not interested.]]

* In ''Literature/TheAmazingDaysOfAbbyHayes'' book ''The Best Is Yet To Come,'' when an old friend of Abby's mother named [[GranolaGirl Laurie]] comes over to visit for the summer along with her daughter, [[BrattyHalfPint Wynter,]] Laurie gets Abby to babysit Wynter for several hours a day. This doesn't seem so bad until we find out that Wynter is a huge spoiled brat and will only listen to Abby when she buys her candy, cookies, and various other sweets, forcing Abby to use up more and more of her own money to buy sweets to pacify Wynter. This goes on for several days until Laurie declares that she won't pay Abby at all (Laurie is a wealthy musician and could ''easily'' pay Abby what she owed her with more than enough money to spare) because she [[FelonyMisdemeanor found chocolate in Wynter's sleeping bag that Abby gave to her.]] Granted, Abby's mother ''did'' eventually make Laurie pay up after arguing with her, but still...wow.

* In ''Literature/{{Speak}},'' Melinda befriends the new girl, Heather, goes with her to a model shoot to support her, and assists her in her first Martha Project in order to help her get into the popular Martha clique, only for Heather to later ditch her completely in favor of the Marthas ("Look, you can't eat lunch with me anymore. I'm sorry. Oh, and don't eat those potato chips. They'll make you break out.") She pays dearly for it later.

** In Supergirl #34 Kara fights Silver Banshee in a baseball field. Several spectators throw their cups at her and shout that she ruined the game and trashed the field (disregarding that Silver Banshee also destroyed the place and Supergirl saved their lives). They scream that they don't need her and want her to go away until she flies away... and then they demand that she cleans the mess up. So... they tell they don't need her and want her gone until she goes away.... and then they want her stay to help?
** In ''Comicbook/ActionComics #285'', Superman reveals his cousin's existence to the world, showing footage of Kara helping him save people dozens of times. At the beginning the public praises her, but as soon as she has -temporary- trouble dealing with an EldritchAbomination, people complains about her being overrated and worse than her cousin.

* Comicbook/ThePunisher, being a cynical, dark [[SociopathicHero sociopathic antihero]] who is utterly determined to rid the living world of criminals is almost always this trope, even in cases when the criminal(even one as small-time as a retired ''thief!'') in question helped him. He's not only this to his enemies, but his allies as well. Even for the innocent, getting even a thank you out of Frank requires you to go above and beyond the call of duty.

* In ''FanFic/OriginStory'', the UngratefulBastard is the entire United States government. Alex prevents an oil tanker from breaking up, and thus stops it from dousing the Florida coast in crude oil, and their response is to call SHIELD and the Avengers down on her head. Again.

* [[TheHero Woody]] has his moment in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2''. Buzz and friends go to great lengths to get up to the apartment and rescue him from toy collector Al, who is preparing to send him to Japan. The most prominent expression of this is when Buzz gives a heartfelt speech about how he once taught him that [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory life was only worth living if he was loved by a child]] and he came to rescue him because he believed him. His response? "Well, you wasted your time." Although Woody does see Buzz's point and tries to leave with him almost immediately afterward.

* [[spoiler:[[SouthernGentleman Lotso]]]] in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3''. [[spoiler:Woody and [[TheLancer Buzz]] risk their lives to save him near the end, then when he has a chance to save them with no risk he deliberately leaves them to die in the incinerator.]]

* Happens in ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'' and ''Film/EscapeFromLA'', both of which end with Snake screwing over an ungrateful president. In the first one, the president shows no respect for any of the people who ''died'' in the process of getting him out of New York. The president in ''Escape from L.A.'' makes the president in ''Escape From New York'' seem like an nice guy.

* In ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'' this seems to be the case on the surface, but is subverted. While Optimus Prime [[spoiler:kills Megatron, despite the fact that he helped him defeat a mutual enemy]] it's made clear Megatron's actions were purely out of self-interest, and that aside, he was personally responsible for the death of one of Prime's comrades. Even his alleged "surrender" seemed to be nothing more than an act of mockery.
* Played horrifically straight by humanity in ''Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction''. The Autobots have defended humanity from invasion, even at the cost of their own world being reborn. Humanity's response to this is to help an intergalactic BountyHunter kill the remaining Autobots and harvest their bodies for the raw materials to make consumer goods. For profit. There have actually been camps hoping humans get wiped out in the next movie because of this.

* No matter how many times Literature/HarryPotter saves his school, the students of Hogwarts will still turn against him on a moment's notice on the strength of lies purported by the government. Meanwhile, Harry never shows any gratitude to Snape for saving his life in the first book, or for attempting to save him and his friends from Sirius Black (at the time believed to be a mass murderer), or for saving their life ''again'' in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]''. Snape's a dick to Harry, but you'd think saving his life would merit at least a "thank you" from a kid whose defining characteristic is love. [[spoiler:Harry finally gives Snape his due after he learns the truth by petitioning that Snape be awarded an Order of Merlin (posthumously) and naming one of his sons after him (Albus Severus Potter).]]
** Then again Harry's animosity has much to do with Snape treating him like crap for no good reason. In the case of Sirius Black, Harry knew that Sirius was innocent by that time and didn't think that Snape's motivation was altruistic but merely revenge against his old enemy.

* In ''Literature/AlexisCarew: Mutineer'', Alexis is reassigned to Captain Neals, who is horribly sexist and free with the lash. Against her better judgement Alexis rescues him from Hanoverese captivity despite the fact he continuously tried to haze her into resigning, pulled an UriahGambit to get her killed or captured, and disrated her when she refused to beg forgiveness on bended knee and had her flogged. The moment the escapees are picked up by friendly forces, he orders her and the other crew arrested for mutiny. [[spoiler:Fortunately the CourtMartial goes in her favor.]]

** Subverted in the finale, when Merlin [[spoiler:tells a dying Arthur his secret. At first, Arthur feels angry and betrayed and tells Merlin to get away from him. Then [[FridgeLogic he realizes]] how much Merlin has done for him and Camelot and is grateful. His last words:]]

** In ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce'', it was revealed in his BackStory that Ransik was this to Dr. Ferricks after he used a special serum to save him from Venomark's venom by stealing all his serum, destroying his lab, and nearly killing him. [[spoiler:This lead to Ferricks' transformation into Frax and his StartOfDarkness]].

* Elliot of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' qualifies with her behavior towards Dr. Cox in later seasons. In a few episodes, Elliot would rant at Dr. Cox about how he has never helped her. Not counting that he helps her in all of these episodes and other times, he punched out the CHIEF OF MEDICINE for her, risking his job. Though she was a bit ungrateful, she did have a point, as [[TheMentor Dr. Cox]] supported and helped JD out a lot than any of the other interns/residents.

* The Bible – particularly the Gospels – contain many parables and passages about gratitude:

** The fairies are a prime example, but really, EVERYTHING in the game that accuses Serge and company of wrong doing is full of itself. Especially the Green Aesops toward the game's ending. The dwarves get on Serge for killing the Hydra. Said dwarves are also the guys who have been trying to kill you, no questions asked, since you got into the Marsh. Then said dwarves go off and slaughter the fairies. Save the fairies, and they act like you're the murderers. Then there's the whole "Reptites evolved more closely with the planet!" Which is a load of crock, since the Reptites were building giant castles and actively waging war, while the humans had been peaceful, and lived in harmony with nature. Nevermind the parts where the dragons try and blame you for Lavos' crimes. Chrono Cross takes place in a WORLD of ungrateful bastards.

* In ''Videogame/DarkSoulsIII'' ''The Ringed City'', it is revealed that [[spoiler:the Pygmies were not the enemies of the gods scheming to replace the Age of Fire as Kaathe claimed. They ''revered'' the gods of Anor Londo and fought the Everlasting Dragons alongside them. Gwyn repaid their devotion by giving them a beautiful city to call home and even sent his youngest daughter to live with them...all to trap them in a GildedCage for eternity. Gwyn feared the power of the Dark Soul so much that he even placed a seal of fire upon humanity to keep that power in check, which became ''the Dark Sign''. The Undead Curse, the cycle of linking the First Flame...all of it was due to a ungrateful deity's fear of his own devoted subjects.]]

** Rhe bride orders Maid Maleen [[BrideAndSwitch to take her place at the ceremony]] under threat of death, and Maid Maleen returns as soon as the ceremony is done. [[http://www.erstwhiletales.com/maidmaleen-25/#.T298etm6SuI The bride snaps at her.]]

* Commander Feral in ''WesternAnimation/SWATKats'' has been personally saved by the SWAT Kats dozens of times, as well as seeing them save the city. This does not change his opinion that they are dangerous vigilantes who should leave protecting Megakat city to [[RedShirtArmy The Enforcers]].
** "The Dark Side of the SWAT Kats" features what might be an amazingly fitting inversion involving ''the same character''. When the SWAT Kats find themselves in a MirrorUniverse where their equivalents are evil, they plead with Feral to check out Pumadyne labs to see that a bomb detonator was stolen by that universe's evil SWAT Kats. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure He comes to believe them]] enough to check it out, and when the evil SWAT Kats show up and attack, admits they were telling the truth. He still thinks the Enforcers can handle it alone, though; and he might have a point, in a setting where a lone Enforcer helicopter reacts to animated skeletons by casually obliterating them with [[GatlingGood Gatling fire]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''

** Lisa rarely acknowledges when someone does something nice for her though mostly her family who she has a very WhatHaveYouDoneForMeLately attitude towards. Despite being the obvious favorite to the point where Homer and Marge are willing to screw over Bart just to make it more [[TheSimpsonsS9E3LisasSax convenient to help her]] she still has a massive case of MiddleChildSyndrome. This is especially seen with Bart who has done numerous nice things for her to the point of making multiple [[HeroicSacrifice Heroic Sacrifices]] [[note]]some examples include the two of them throwing the hockey game where they're pitted against each other on "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E8LisaOnIce Lisa on Ice]]" (not to mention the good memories from that episode that led them to throw the game), Bart taking the fall for Lisa when she steals the teacher's editions in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E18SeparateVocations Separate Vocations]]," Bart telling Lisa she's not ugly and helping her walk in high heels in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E4LisaTheBeautyQueen Lisa the Beauty Queen]]," Bart standing up to Nelson when Nelson steals Lisa's cupcakes for Mrs. Hoover in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E5BartTheGeneral Bart the General]]," [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E1StarkRavingDad the song "Lisa, It's Your Birthday"]], Bart using his $500 to buy Lisa a copy of Bleeding Gum Murphy's record in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E22RoundSpringfield Round Springfield]]", and Bart getting the beach kids to sign Lisa's yearbook in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E25SummerOf4Ft2 Summer of 4'2]]""[[/note]] which Lisa doesn’t even bother to remember as seen in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E11OnAClearDayICantSeeMySister On A Clear Day I Can't See My Sister]]". Even as early as the first season Lisa showed this attitude in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E11TheCrepesOfWrath The Crepes of Wrath]]" after Bart gave her a present she said it was the first unselfish thing he’d ever done completely forgetting how he defended her from being harassed by Nelson 6 episodes earlier.
** In the episode, "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS20E12NoLoanAgainNaturally No Loan Again, Naturally]]", the family is forced to sell the house after some financial trouble. Flanders buys the house, agrees to keep them as tenants, and he then brings the house up to code, but then Homer complains when Flanders mentions they're late on the rent, and calls the local news to do smear piece against him. [[BullyingTheDragon It's not too surprising when Flanders evicts them.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''

* In the episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' titled "Slave the Day," the Girls save Big Billy's life. He's so grateful that he tries to do everything he can for them, but this leads to him being a hindrance more than anything else, so they eventually [[UnwantedAssistance (rather bluntly) tell him to leave them alone]]. Hurt, Billy teams up with the rest of the Ganggreen Gang to lure them into a trap, but he ultimately can't go through with it since [[IOweYouMyLife they still saved him regardless]] and betrays the Gang, saving the Girls at the last second. How do they respond? Beat him within an inch of his life anyway. To be fair, however, he did tie them to the tracks in the first place. So this is somewhat justified.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine''

** Bill Cipher accuses Mabel of being this in regards to Dipper, drawing attention to all the sacrifices he made for her happiness without ever getting anything in return. Notably, [[JerkassRealization Mabel acknowledges that]] [[VillainHasAPoint he has a point]]. Unfortunately, [[AesopAmnesia she doesn't quite learn her lesson]]: [[spoiler: when Dipper decides to accept apprenticeship with Ford, rather than sacrifice her happiness for Dipper's sake like he did for her countless times, Mabel chooses to selfishly give the rift to Blendin just for the chance of having an eternal summer and prevent Dipper from leaving her. As a result, Bill is able to emerge from the rift and take over Gravity Falls.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' episode 'Carl Wheezer, Boy Genius" Carl, of all people, is is this Jimmy even though saved his and his girlfriend, Elke's lives, but Carl wanted Elke to believe the lies he told her in his letters, so he kept doind this until Elke admitted she was lying to him the whole time.

** In Episode 92, after [[NighInvulnerable Quack Quack]] saves Kaeloo, Stumpy and Mr. Cat from being impaled with sharp objects and then crushed to death by jumping in front of them, Mr. Cat's response is to call him a show-off. Yes, really.

-->'''[[ItMakesAsMuchSenseInContext Puffball]]''': ''(to Jack)'' What were you expecting, a hug and a kiss?

* In ''{{Team 8}}'', Naruto's team of himself, Shino, Hinata and Kurenai fights a team of missing-nin that kidnapped Konohamaru and Hinata's younger sister Hanabi. After being released, Hanabi shows little gratitude toward her rescuers, particularly her older sister Hinata, and expresses disdain toward her for getting knocked out first.

* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'', when Athena sacrifice herself to save her father Zeus from being stabbed to death by Kratos, Zeus barely reacts to it and just flees while just leaving her there. In fact, it is Kratos whom ironically shows more grief to her death.

** In the episode "Born Again Krabs," when the Flying Dutchman is about to [[DraggedOffToHell take Mr. Krabs to Davy Jones' locker]] as punishment for his miserly ways, [=SpongeBob=] sticks up for him, wagering his own soul that Krabs is indeed generous. How does Krabs thank him for his help? By willingly selling [=SpongeBob's=] soul to the Flying Dutchman for all of the change in the Dutchman's pocket (a mere 62 cents) without hesitation. This was such a dick move that Squidward, who hates [=SpongeBob=] with a passion, is absolutely ''disgusted'' with Krabs and chews him out for it, outright telling him that he should be ashamed of himself.

* At the end of [[Creator/JohnHemry Jack Campbell]]'s ''Vanguard'' (of ''The Genesis Fleet'' prequel series), Lieutenant Robert Geary and Sergeant-turned-Major Melee Darcy have just saved the nascent colony of Glenlyon from the much better equipped Scathans, seeking to conquer Glenlyon. How does the Glenlyon Council thank them for doing the impossible, getting hurt in the process, and losing many of their sailors/soldiers? Why, a pat on the back and an assignment to a third-rate posting in the new Glenlyon fleet and ground forces, respectively (with Melee demoted back to sergeant). Naturally, both tell the Council (well, most of them, there ''is'' one decent and grateful politician on the planet, actually) to go to hell and resign. Of course, this is par for the course with the author, who isn't of a high opinion of most politicians. Notably averted with the government of Kosatka, who are extremely grateful to Geary and his crew for saving their planet from a hostile destroyer and send a ship of their own to help Glenlyon in return.

** Ash's Charizard used to a '''major''' example of this. When it was still a Charmander, its [[{{Jerkass}} former trainer]] abandoned it on a rock, leaving it on the brink of death on a rainy night. Ash had saved this Pokémon and took it with him on his journeys. It would eventually evolve into Charmeleon and start disobeying him. Upon evolving into a Charizard, its attitude doesn't improve much and actually costs Ash the Pokémon League Indigo Conference.

* At the end of [[Creator/JohnHemry Jack Campbell]]'s ''Vanguard'' (of ''The Genesis Fleet'' prequel series), Lieutenant Robert Geary and Sergeant-turned-Major Melee Darcy have just saved the nascent colony of Glenlyon from the much better equipped Scathans, seeking to conquer Glenlyon. How does the Glenlyon Council thank them for doing the impossible, getting hurt in the process, and losing many of their sailors/soldiers? Why, a pat on the back and an assignment to a third-rate posting in the new Glenlyon fleet and ground forces, respectively (with Melee demoted back to sergeant). Naturally, both tell the Council (well, most of them, there ''is'' one decent and grateful politician on the planet, actually) to go to hell and resign. Of course, this is par for the course with the author, who isn't of a high opinion of most politicians.

* In ''[[Literature/TheVampireChronicles Tale Of the Body Thief]]'' David Talbot is the only one of Lestat's friends willing to help him get his stolen body back. At the end of the novel Lestat "repays" David by [[spoiler: turning him into a vampire against his will.]]

* During the very beginning of ''VideoGame/GravityRush'' a father begs the PluckyGirl heroine to save his son, despite her having no memories of who she is and why she is different from normal people. Once she gets a grasp of her floating ability, she rescues the boy and even tries to save their house, only for both of them to blame her for their house being destroyed and accusing her of being evil. This becomes a constant theme throughout the game.

** In Episode 90, after [[NighInvulnerable Quack Quack]] saves Kaeloo, Stumpy and Mr. Cat from being impaled with sharp objects and then crushed to death by jumping in front of them, Mr. Cat's response is to call him a show-off. Yes, really.

--> '''Doug:''' ''[[VillainHasAPoint ...A guy like me, doesn’t have a lot to be thankful, but you, you got friends, a job, a nice work bed. You’ve got a good thing going here, never forget that]]''.
--> '''Rigby:''' ''What a windbag!, I thought he’d never shut up. I can’t believe you guys thought he was me. You must feel like idiots, right?''

** A more straightforward example would be [[HateSink Val-Yor]] from "[[Recap/TeenTitansS4E6Troq Troq]]". Despite the fact that Starfire save his life and helped fulfill the mission, he still continues to act racist towards her with only a half-hearted compliment. In addition, even though the Titans did just as much work as him in the mission, when they defend her, he immediately accused them to be just as bad as the Tamaraneans, having not changed his opinion on them in the slightest.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': {{Discussed|Trope}} by [[ItMakesSenseInContext Bobby when speaking to his younger self]], who had just killed his father, a {{Domestic Abuse}}r. His mother tells him [[ThouShaltNotKill "God is going to punish [him]".]]