History NeverMyFault / Literature

* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'':
** In Creator/MichaelCrichton's novel, Hammond [[note]]who's more of a JerkAss than in TheFilmOfTheBook[[/note]] has a long internal monologue in which he blames everyone except himself for the disaster. Then he [[KarmicDeath gets eaten]].
** Gennaro is a largely irresponsible man who has allowed significant monetary investment in a project he did very little checking on, under a man (Hammond) he knew to be unsavory, and yet whenever something goes wrong he's the first one to start bitching at someone else. Eventually Grant [[WhatTheHellHero calls him on it by slamming him into a wall]] and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech spitting it all into his face]].

** According to Malty, everything bad that happens to her is always the fault of someone else. When you pay attention to all the times she pathetically [[VillainsWantMercy begged for her life]], you'll notice that she never [[TheUnapoligetic explicitly apologizes for her actions]]. It's another dead giveaway that she is incapable of feeling anything resembling remorse or shame. Suffice to say, her mother had none of this and rescinded Malty's status as a princess from her out of disgust for her daughter's actions.

** Bianca has this pretty hard. In ''Literature/StormFront'', the title character comes to talk to her, and she attacks him. After he defends himself and leaves, she's emotionally out of control to the point that she kills her lover/slave. And that's Dresden's fault because he dared to defend himself. In ''Literature/GravePeril'' she has the Red Court trick Dresden into an outright war in "revenge" for his "crime."

** In the second half of ''The New Prophecy'', Squirrelflight never takes any responsibility for the part she plays in her falling out with her LoveInterest, Brambleclaw, as she always blames him for "unfairly refusing to listen to her warnings about his half-brother, Hawkfrost's, untrustworthiness." True, Brambleclaw never really took Squirrelflight's suspicions seriously, and Hawkfrost does turn out to be a villain when he tries to murder Firestar, but until then, Squirrelfligh doesn't have any actual proof for her suspicions, basing them on her own instincts, Hawkfrost's arrogant and ambitious attitude, and on her sister, Leafool's, negative opinion of Hawkfrost. Furthermore, whenever Squirrelflight tries to "warn" Brambleclaw, she always does so in a rather rude, harsh, hostile, and somewhat judgmental manner, and even accuses him of being disloyal to their Clan even though he hasn't actually done anything disloyal yet, which only ends up pushing Brambleclaw away from her and further into Hawkfrost's influence. Even after they reconcile, Squirrelflight never apologizes for her behavior.

*** The prologue has Needletail scolding two [=ShadowClan=] cats for blaming themselves, saying that Rowanstar is to blame for not being a strong leader. This is after she and her fellow apprentices had constantly rebelled against Rowanstar and helped Darktail overthrow [=ShadowClan=]. Even Yellowfang [[LampshadeHanging calls her out for coming to that conclusion]].
*** In the same book, Sleekwhisker very similarly blames Rowanstar (now Rowanclaw again) for her "miserable life" and the deaths of some of her Clanmates because he didn't defeat Darktail. Again, this after she and the other apprentice willingly joined Darktail and treacherously helped him overthrow Rowanstar and take over [=ShadowClan=]. What makes it worse, however, it that Sleekwhisker willingly helped Darktail murder one of her own Clanmates (who happens to be Needletail) with any hesitation or an ounce of remorse.

** Gennaro, too, is a largely irresponsible man who has allowed significant monetary investment in a project he did very little checking on, under a man (Hammond) he knew to be unsavory, and yet whenever something goes wrong he's the first one to start bitching at someone else. Eventually Grant [[WhatTheHellHero calls him on it by slamming him into a wall]] and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech spitting it all into his face]].

* ''Life’s Little Annoyances'', by Ian Urbina: The author used to bring home ice cream, eat some, and leave the rest in the fridge. Then someone would eat most of the rest, without permission. Hiding the ice cream didn't stop her. Writing his name on top didn't stop her. Urbina was going to move out anyway, so he bought some Cookies and Cream ice cream...and covered it in a thin layer of salt. The thief complained about being punished for something they clearly weren’t supposed to do in the first place; Urbina was just taking his ice cream "too seriously" and being "passive-aggressive" and she claimed she had a "pathological weak spot" for ice cream, so Urbina should really be more sympathetic to her condition.

* A downplayed, more sympathetic version with Gollum in ''Literature/LordOfTheRings''. The Smeagol part of him was going to turn good until Frodo admitted the true purpose of the quest is to destroy the Ring. He then blames the Ring for making him want to kill Frodo, even though it's obvious at this point he had turned bad of his own volition.

* Crayon will not admit he caused 60% of his own team's deaths from 'Call of Duty: Object Oblivion Edition' from Lucas Edward's ''Literature/ObjectOblivion''.
* Literature/{{Oblomov}} is completely unable to change his life by himself; when he gets unhappy he decides to blame Sachar instead. Now Sachar is a JerkAss and whatnot, but still MisBlamed.

* ''Website/TheOnion''[='s=] Jean Teasdale is an odd example since she does this not out of egotism but out of her [[CloudCuckoolander complete lack of understanding]] [[ThePollyanna about how the real world works]], even when the evidence is right in front of her face. She got fired for browsing [=eBay=] instead of working, but she insists it's because the boss just didn't like her. In a more extreme example, another article has her talk about how a local magazine called her the worst columnist ever, and she proceeds to completely ignore the reasons they give ([[HypocriticalHumor which she demonstrates perfectly in that very article]]) and conclude that they can't handle her sassy, in-your-face style.

* The title character of ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray'' is never able to hold himself accountable for his sinful actions. When Sibyl commits suicide, [[TheHedonist Dorian Gray]] views her death as a tragic drama in order to avoid responsibility. He even blames Basil for what he has become, and kills him. From Dorian's perspective, it was the knife that killed Basil, leaving Dorian himself blameless. He is always surprised when the eponymous painting proves otherwise. The implication is that he never takes the blame for his crimes because it is the painting, not he, that carries evidence of his guilt (Victorian culture believed that BeautyEqualsGoodness was true).
* ''Literature/RodAllbrightAlienAdventures'': In book 1, a bully tries to beat up Rod, but aliens super-accelerate the intended victim so he dodges. The bully breaks his hand on the hard surface behind Rod, and later gets his father to sue Rod's family for damages. [[spoiler: Later, fortunately, when the bullies' ringleader, a disguised evil alien, is brought to justice, the alien's "father" confronts the bully and his father with the true story.]]

* After being overthrown in the backstory of ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror,'' Dayless the Conqueror -- genocidal, tyrannical SerialRapist that he was -- still saw himself as the just and rightful ruler of [[WorldInTheSky Tellos]], and had every intention of [[WeWillMeetAgain returning to power and taking revenge]]. It took ten years of exile before the HeelRealization fully kicked in.
* In the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' spoof "The Case of the Stolen Cigar Case" by Bret Harte, Holmes -- already portrayed as an absolutely terrible friend to Watson -- accuses the doctor of stealing his cigar case, having [[InsaneTrollLogic infallibly deduced]] that nobody else could be responsible. When Watson discovers the case was in the desk drawer the entire time, Holmes is livid that Watson would attempt to return it by stealth in such a manner, rather than admit his crime.

* In ''Literature/SpocksWorld'', the BigBad, [[spoiler:Spock's former fiancee]], seems to have this problem. "My mate took a suicidal risk because my mate thought that my constant brooding about my last encounter with you was romantic? Obviously, it's all your fault."

** [[BigBad Odium]] ''doesn't'' do this, but he does encourage mortals to have this attitude, including his own minions. He does this because [[spoiler:he's the god of uncontrolled emotion and if someone blames him for all their bad decisions, they implicitly surrender their agency to him, giving him more underlings. It's an inversion of GodNeedsPrayerBadly.]]

* In Creator/PGWodehouse's ''Literature/{{Ukridge}}'' stories, Ukridge will never admit that his latest GetRichQuickScheme (and he has a lot of them) was a lousy idea in the first place. The circumstances which caused their failure couldn't have been foreseen and were outside his control. If everyone had just been more broad-minded and cooperative, and not hounded him over every little problem, he'd soon have been in a position to repay everyone. It's really their own fault that they're out of pocket, but instead of being grateful for what he tried to do for them, they subject him to relentless persecution. Or so he'll tell you -- at length.

* ''Literature/WalkersCrossing'':
** RightWingMilitiaFanatic and ConspiracyTheorist Mr. Sheldon burns down his barn because he left his heater on and propped it up against the wood. Even after his friends and the arson inspector tell him that the fire was clearly an accident, he insists that the government burned down his barn to punish him for his beliefs.
** After [[spoiler:Gil is arrested]], Doris Walker wails about how she never taught her children to hate anyone. This is despite how she spends most of the book congratulating Gil for his involvement in a Neo-Nazi group and taking passages from the Bible out of context to claim that people of different races shouldn't live near each other.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series:

** Captain Lord Pavel Young is a poster child for the AristocratsAreEvil trope and assumes that everything bad that happens to him is the fault of other people because, for him, ItsAllAboutMe. Usually, the target of his blame is Honor herself (whom he never calls by name, always "that bitch"). He seems to be pathologically incapable of realizing other people aren't as narcissistic and self-centered as him.

*** Even after he ''dies'', this happens. He hired an assassin to duel Honor's boyfriend. Honor duels and kills the Assassin, and challenges Young for hiring the assassin. He shoot her early, which is punishable by death. Honor and the Master Of the Field shoot him dead, but some of the papers sneer at Honor for breaking the rules. Ignoring how Young broke 'em first, and he would've died anyway, and Honor had a right to shoot in self-defense if nothing else.

** Captain Lord Pavel Young is a poster child for the AristocratsAreEvil trope and assumes that everything bad that happens to him is the fault of other people because, for him, ItsAllAboutMe. Usually, the target of his blame is Honor herself (whom he never calls by name, always "that bitch"). It starts with his receiving a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from Honor in their academy days when he tried to rape her. Years later, he leaves Honor horribly understaffed at Basilisk Station but blames her when she proves far more effective than he himself ever so much as tried to be.

** [[TheAlcatraz Azkaban]] is essentially this trope incarnate in the Wizarding Society, or at worse, British society as the many inmates in there are obviously minor to middle criminals and blatant [[TheScapeGoat Scapegoats]] that powerful families use to avoid the consequences of their illegal practices and dark ties to Voldemort. The [[HangingJudge Judges ]] are either bribed or are in on TheConspiracy fueling the various, [[RunningGag VARIOUS ]] problems that our Heros have to navigate.

* The protagonist of ''FFF-Rank Trashero'' has a serious problem with this. After his first round of ten years suffering under sadistic instructors, exploitative nobility, and idiotic companions, Kang Han Soo is left with a rather extreme [[ItsAllAboutMe egocentric]] view of his adventures even as he's forced to [[NewGamePlus relive them]] due to having "bad character". As he tries to tackle all of the problems he remembers from the first time using what are, to him, perfectly logical means, he continually runs afoul of the simple fact that he does not understand how to get along with people and [[DidntThinkThisThrough not considering the long-term consequences of his actions]]. Every time this happens, he [[IgnoredEpiphany blatantly ignores]] all evidence related to a mistake on his part and instead assumes it's because someone else is interfering or screwing him over.

* In the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' spoof "The Case of the Stolen Cigar Case" by Bret Harte, Holmes -- already portrayed as an absolutely terrible friend to Watson -- accuses the doctor of stealing his cigar case, having infallibly deduced that nobody else could be responsible. When Watson discovers the case was in the desk drawer the entire time, Holmes is livid that Watson would attempt to return it by stealth in such a manner, rather than admit his crime.

** Sansa Stark used to be this. She witness Joffrey attack her younger sister, Arya, who was in defense of her friend, but her pet direwolf Nymeria jumped to her defense and chomped down on Joffrey’s arm, but Arya forced her to run away since Cersei is sure to want her dead. Rather than defend her sister, Sansa sides with Joffrey and lied over their roles in the fight, since she really wants to marry him while [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter believing]] he’s a PrinceCharming. But Cersei spitefully forces Sansa’s pet direwolf, Lady, to be the one killed in place of Nymeria. Sansa is heartbroken over this, but she blames her sister over her direwolf’s death. Even though she lied over Joffrey’s role while refusing to backtrack the lie, even as Lady is sentenced to death. For a little bit she hated Cersei for ordering Lady’s death but quickly forgave her and blamed the event solely on Arya. Sansa even goes as low as to tell Arya that [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead it should have been her and Nymeria that died instead of Lady.]] By the end of ''Literature/AGameOfThrones'', Sansa finally sees Joffrey [[TheCaligula for the monster he is]]. Come ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'', Sansa admits to Margaery and Olenna over Joffrey’s fault in starting the fight.

* Franchise/StarWarsLegends:

* ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants''

* In ''Literature/BeastTamer'', two of the story's first antagonists are completely incapable of admitting fault for their actions. Arios Orlando blames anybody and everybody he can when his evil schemes come home to roost. Edgar Fromage, heir to the lordship of Horizon, the town, blames his knights and the protagonist Rein for screwing up his little fiefdom tyranny, and bringing him to justice. Problem is, Edgar started it by going after Rein's companions Sora and Luna first, refusing to heed "no" and violently tried to take the two fairies from him by force, learning for the first time in his life what it means to bite off more than you can chew and that wanting something doesn't automatically mean owning it!

** In the second half of ''The New Prophecy'', Squirrelflight never takes any responsibility for the part she plays in her falling out with her LoveInterest, Brambleclaw, as she always blaming him for "unfairly refusing to listen to her warnings about his half-brother, Hawkfrost's, untrustworthiness." True, Brambleclaw never really took Squirrelflight's suspicions seriously, and Hawkfrost does turn out to be a villain when he tries to murder Firestar, but until then, Squirrelfligh doesn't have any actual proof for her suspicions, basing them on her own instincts, Hawkfrost's arrogant and ambitious attitude, and on her sister, Leafool's, negative opinion of Hawkfrost. Furthermore, whenever Squirrelflight tries to "warn" Brambleclaw, she always does so in a rather rude, hostile and somewhat judgmental manner, and accuses him of being disloyal to their Clan even though he hasn't actually done anything disloyal yet, which only ends up pushing Brambleclaw away from her and further into Hawkfrost's influence. Even after they reconcile, Squirrelflight never apologizes for her brhavior.