History NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished / Literature

* [[TheLegendOfDrizzt Drizzt's]] good deeds in the early part of his life caused him no small amount of grief. During his first surface raid he spared the life of a little elf girl and faked her death. Unfortunately, Lolth knew about this and didn't like that he ''wasn't'' an AxCrazy child murderer. She demanded a sacrifice from his house, and his father Zaknafein sacrificed himself in Drizz't's place. When the little elf girl he spared grew up, she mistakenly blamed Drizz't for the massacre that claimed her family that night due to her trauma. She spent her entire life hunting him and nearly killed him only to die in the attempt. Then there was the time he stumbled upon a gang of barghest whelps that had murdered a farming family and avenged them by killing the whelps. This earned him misplaced blame for the murders (as a Drow, he was a prime suspect) and the ire of a persistent bounty hunter. This trend more or less ended after he met his TrueCompanions, who made sure Drizz't would get better PR.

** And of course Jaime Lannister, who, despite being a member of the Kingsguard and sworn to protect the king, killed the Mad King Aerys to prevent him from murdering every person in King's Landing. Unfortunately, no one understood why he did it, and he was forever branded with the title "[[TheOathbreaker Kingslayer]]".

* In MichaelConnelly's ''The Reversal'', Jason Jessup's [[AmoralAttorney defense attorney]] complained to the judge about the prosecution only releasing part of the data they intend to use against Jessup. Prosecutor Margareth McPherson (nicknamed Maggie McFierce) replied they were still within the deadline and suggested the defender believed no good deed should go unpunished.

* ''FightingFantasy'' was notorious about the "magical beggar" trope. Virtually every beggar you would meet would give you help that is far more valuable than the single coin you had to donate to them. In one book this is explained by the generosity of your donation: sure, you give a single gold piece every time, but the standard currency for those parts is ''copper''.

* In ''Literature/TheHouseOfNight'', [[spoiler:Stevie Rae saves Rephaim's life. In the end, this small act is the catalyst for Stevie Rae's boyfriend Dallas to go over to the dark-side when he finds out she's been hiding him this whole time]]. Stevie Rae is also MistakenForCheating.

* ''Literature/TheHouseOfNight'': [[spoiler: Stevie Rae saves Rephaim's life. In the end, this small act is the catalyst for Stevie Rae's boyfriend Dallas to go over to the dark-side when he finds out she's been hiding him this whole time.]] Stevie Rae is also MistakenForCheating.

*** For example, Harry's unwillingness to let evil triumph because he refused to save someone started a war that caused an uncertain (but extremely high) number of deaths and made him even more of a social pariah among the wizarding community than he was before.
*** Probably the clearest example is when one of Harry's enemies gifts him his own tombstone. It reads "Harry Dresden: He died doing the right thing."

* In MichaelConnelly's The Reversal, Jason Jessup's [[AmoralAttorney defense attorney]] complained to the judge about the prosecution only releasing part of the data they intend to use against Jessup. Prosecutor Margareth McPherson (nicknamed Maggie McFierce) replied they were still within the deadline and suggested the defender believed no good deed should go unpunished.

* In ''Literature/TheBible'', [[TheMessiah Jesus]] resurrects the dead, feeds the hungry, heals the sick and disabled, teaches the way of the right and has done no wrong. He becomes hated by the Pharisees and is put on the cross.

* In NeilGaiman's ''{{Neverwhere}}'', Richard helps out a homeless person and becomes an {{Unperson}} for his trouble.

* The ''SherlockHolmes'' story "The Gloria Scott" has Holmes' friend's father escape from a convict ship, but turn back to save a man's life... only for him to blackmail his rescuer and ultimately drive him to suicide.

* [[TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]] could be the poster child for this trope. No matter how many times he saves the world, no matter how many times he does the right thing, ''breaking even is coming out ahead for him''. And he doesn't come out ahead very often.
** For example, Harry's unwillingness to let evil triumph because he refused to save someone started a war that caused an uncertain (but extremely high) number of deaths and made him even more of a social pariah among the wizarding community than he was before.
** And let's not forget poor [[spoiler: Murphy.]] In Proven Guilty, [[spoiler: she abandons an investigation to help Harry save a teenage girl who is the daughter of a genuine KnightInShiningArmor, by going through ''the heart of Winter itself'', with no guarantee that she'll come out alive, the odds stacked against her. She doesn't even hesitate to help. Her reward? A demotion, and a warning that she'll get fired if it happens again. ]]
*** [[spoiler:As of ''Changes'', she is fired. For exactly the same reason.]]
** Probably the clearest example is when one of Harry's enemies gifts him his own tombstone. It reads "Harry Dresden: He died doing the right thing."

** And let's not forget poor [[spoiler: Murphy.]] In Proven Guilty, [[spoiler: she abandons an investigation to help Harry save a teenage girl who is the daughter of a KnightTemplar, by going through ''the heart of Winter itself'', with no guarantee that she'll come out alive, the odds stacked against her. She doesn't even hesitate to help. Her reward? A demotion, and a warning that she'll get fired if it happens again. ]]

* In ''[[TheChroniclesOfPrydain The Black Cauldron]]'', Taran [[spoiler:gives up his magical brooch to "buy" the titular cauldron, only to find out it can't be destroyed without letting someone willing die]]. Eilonwy tries to comfort him by pointing out that while he doesn't have [[spoiler:the brooch]] anymore, no one can take away the fact that he did something truly honorable. [[spoiler:And then he is pretty much forced to give up that very thing, when the only person around to help move the cauldron only will do so on the condition that Taran lie and say the other person found and retrieved the thing]].

* A staple of ''TheDresdenFiles''. One of the most major examples being that Harry's unwillingness to let evil triumph because he refused to save someone resulted in starting a war that caused an uncertain (but extremely high) number of deaths and made him even more of a social pariah among the wizarding community than he was before.
** Probably the clearest example is when one of Harry's enemies gifts him his own tombstone. It reads "Harry Dresden: He died doing the right thing."

** And let's not forget poor [[spoiler: Murphy.]] In Proven Guilty, [[spoiler: she abandons an investigation to help Harry save a teenage girl who is the daughter of a KnightTemplar, by going through ''the heart of Winter itself'', with no guarentee that she'll come out alive, the odds stacked against her. She doesn't even hesitate to help. Her reward? A demotion, and a warning that she'll get fired if it happens again. ]]

* In ''HarryPotter'', Dumbledore takes an orphaned boy off to Hogwarts and gives him an education in magic. That boy grows up to be [[BigBad Voldemort]]. He does the same thing for Harry, of course, and this causes less disaster (eventually); though his attempts to protect Harry lead to some nasty things, particularly [[spoiler:Sirius's death]]. Harry gets a Deed of his own in the end of book 4: he and Cedric end up cooperating to finish the final task in the Triwizard Tournament, so Harry convinces him that they should take the Cup simultaneously and become co-victors. [[spoiler:They are unexpectedly whisked off to a graveyard in the middle of nowhere, and Cedric, who [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness was not part of the bad guys' plan]], is pointlessly executed. If Harry had been selfish and taken the Cup for himself, Cedric would have survived...''and'' he could have told Dumbledore about the Portkey, possibly giving him a chance to prevent Voldemort's resurrection]].

* A staple of ''TheDresdenFiles''. One of the most major examples being that Harry's unwillingness to let evil triumph because he refused to do the right thing resulted in starting a war that caused an uncertain (but extremely high) number of deaths and made him even more of a social pariah among the wizarding community than he was before.

** And let's not forget poor [[spoiler: Murphy. ]] In Proven Guilty, [[spoiler: she abandons an investigation to help Harry save a teenage girl who is the daughter of a KnightTemplar, by going through ''the heart of Winter itself'', with no guarentee that she'll come out alive, the odds stacked against her. She doesn't even hesitate to help. Her reward? A demotion, and a warning that she'll get fired if it happens again. ]]

In ''Literature/AcrossTheUniverse'', the book ends with [[spoiler:Amy and Elder dismantling the machine that pumps tranquilizers into the water supply, giving the people of ''Godspeed'' back their emotions]]. The sequel describes in disturbing detail how [[spoiler:this leads to mass suicides, panic attacks, riots, and overall dissent.]]

* ''ToKillAMockingbird'', by Harper Lee, where the whole story revolves around a good deed that is punished, namely the protagonist's father, a defense attorney, making the unpopular decision to defend a black man who has been falsely accused. Even more so the reason that the black man is in trouble in the first place was because he did a number of good deeds for a troubled young white woman because he felt pity for her.