Abandonment-Induced Animosity

Wanda: You've been very bad, Maryann!
Maryann: You two deserted me!
Wanda: Oh, sweetie, we didn't desert you. You abused our magic, took out Archduke Ferdinand, and plunged the world into World War I!
Maryann: Yeah? Well, now I'm gonna take you out! What do you say about that?!

— The Fairly OddParents!, "Hassle in the Castle"

You, Bob, and Alice are escaping from the Emperor Big Bad's Inescapable Fortress of Inescapability... but you're too slow and get stuck behind a locking door. But it's okay, you know that Alice and Bob are your True Companions! They'll come back! No One Gets Left Behind, right? Right? Umm... Guys?

This trope is when the villains or heroes leave a member of their party behind (either intentionally or not), and the abandoned turns on them as a result. Maybe The Dragon or the Big Bad managed to convince them to switch sides using this reason. Maybe the abandoned doesn't change sides but simply decides that they want to get even. Maybe the villain doing this to one of their mooks causes them to join the heroes in retaliation. If/when the abandoned sees their former allies again, expect a "The Reason You Suck" Speech directed at the abandoners. If the abandoned learns/believes that they've been replaced, then expect the abandoned to be twice as angry (possibly at the replacement as much as the abandoners). However, how long they stay angry or bitter over the abandonment varies with the character. Some may stay angry at their former friends for years, even if it was an accident, while others may only need a heartfelt apology before they're willing to forgive them.

Compare/contrast Left for Dead. Subtrope of Cynicism Catalyst and Freudian Excuse (especially if this trope is a villain's Start of Darkness). A subversion of No One Gets Left Behind and Easily Forgiven. May involve Rejection Projection. If the heroes realize what they've done but are too late to go back or apologize to the abandoned, then a My God, What Have I Done? moment may occur, possibly followed by a What the Hell, Hero?. If the Big Bad was shocked/appalled at the heroes for doing this, then see Even Evil Has Standards. If the abandoner left the abandoned due to their unhealthy fixation on them and/or belief that they're entitled to have the abandoner, then the abandoned might have a If I Can't Have You… mentality. Being left behind may also result in a Tragic Villain.

See also Tragic Abandoned Toy, Parental Abandonment, Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You, Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil, and Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• In the Doraemon episode "Shizuka-chan Disappeared!?", Shizuka is turned into a cat and meets another cat named Nora who hates humans. Nora explains the reason why he hates humans: his original owner put him in a box and abandoned him in a park when he was younger.
• Fairy Tail: Ultear resents her mother, Ur, for dumping her at a magic research facility to be treated as a guinea pig, and for taking Gray and Lyon under her wing shortly afterward, convincing Ultear her mother had abandoned and replaced her. Since Ur's death, Ultear went down a dark path studying forbidden time magic so she could go back in time and kill Ur herself. She later learns through Ur's Ghost Memory that her hatred was based on a gross misunderstanding—Ur left her to be treated for a fatal disease, never knowing what tortures the doctors would put Ultear through, and was tricked into thinking her daughter had died—and realizes her drive to kill Ur was just an excuse to see her one more time.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean: Prior to the events of the story, Jotaro Kujo had abandoned his daughter, Jolyne, because he didn't want her getting involved in the world of Stand Users, and only came back for her whenever she got in legal trouble, which she did on purpose so that she could see her father again. When Jolyne finds herself in Green Dolphin Street Prison, Jotaro comes to break her out, but Jolyne wants absolutely nothing to do with him, calling him out on supposedly being a deadbeat dad.
• My Hero Academia:
  • After the death of her husband at the hands of All For One, Nana Shimura placed her son Kotaro in the child custody system, disavowing that she ever had a son and even fixing it so that Gran Torino or All Might couldn't locate him. This ends up backfiring horribly as Kotaro, not knowing the actual reason his mother gave him up, grew up into a Jerkass with a jaded view of hero society, believing that heroes were people who saved strangers but didn't care about their own families. Even worse, he was an Abusive Parent to his son Tenko who wanted to be a hero. His harsh treatment would end up contributing to Tenko becoming the villain Tomura Shigaraki.
  • Near the end of the Paramount Liberation War, All For One, having taken over Shigaraki's body, ordered a retreat of all the remaining uncaptured forces. Spinner tried to protest that they were leaving behind Mr. Compress, Himiko Toga, and Gigantomachia, but All For One overruled him, saying the losses were on Shigaraki's head and he needed to be punished for them. This would come back on All For One as Gigantomachia didn't appreciate being abandoned by his master after years of his Undying Loyalty. As such, when Gigantomachia is freed during the Final Battle, rather than continuing to serve All For One like the villain had expected, his Blind Obedience has been shattered and he instead turns against his former master.
• Transformers: Armada: The two-parter episode Past reveals that Wheeljack was once an Autobot who looked up to Hot Shot and became good friends with him. However, their friendship was tragically broken when during a fire, Wheeljack was trapped under rubble, and Hot Shot, unable to pull him out, left to get help despite the former's protests. However, his superior officers prevented him from going back, opting to allow Wheeljack to die rather than risk the entire unit. Despite his efforts to go back anyway, Hot Shot didn't make it far due to the heat. Instead, Megatron came across and rescued Wheeljack amidst the rubble, who in turn switches allegiance to the Decepticons and harbors a deep hatred towards Hot Shot for seemingly abandoning him.
  • This is Played Even Straighter in the original Japanese version of the show, Micron Legend, where Hot Shot's actions are actually even worse than the American counterpart. For starters, he actually does abandon Wheeljack, not because he was trying to get help, but out of cowardice and fear for his own life. His claims for getting help were not at all genuine and were used as an excuse to abandon him, and finally, him going back into the fire to save Wheeljack? That was only because the second-hand guilt of abandoning him set in, on top of the fact his superiors weren't going to send in a rescue team.

Comic Books

• X-Factor (2006): Cortex was once one of Jamie Madrox's dupes, sent on a one-way time travel trip to the future by the X-Men (a fact Jamie didn't know about before he sent the guy). He succeeded in getting the information, but had no way to get back, and somehow wound up being Reforged into a Minion by an alternate reality's Doctor Doom. When he finally comes face-to-face with Jamie, he's pretty pissed about the fact Jamie and the X-Men never gave him a second thought, and so while he's not happy about the whole being turned into a cyborg killer, he is taking a little satisfaction at getting some payback.

Fan Works

• This trope is essential to the plot of ~99% of all Revenge Fics.
• In the Marvel Cinematic Universe fanfic The Artist's Garden at Madripoor, Steve goes to Madripoor in order to acquire the last component for the Quantum Tunnel and discovers that Sharon is the Power Broker, the city's Judge, Jury, and Executioner. She refuses to give him the component unless he hands over his shield or Sam's wings (which she stole for him and led to her becoming a fugitive) as well as more or less stating that she's largely uninterested in bringing back everyone who disappeared in the Snap because it could threaten her position. When Steve angrily asks what happened to the woman he used to know, Sharon bitterly fires back that "That woman died when [he] abandoned her," causing Steve to feel anger and guilt for failing to find her and causing her fall from grace. He resolves to actually help her, such as getting her a long overdue pardon.
• Ben 10: Unlimited: When Verdona (the last surviving relative Ben Tennyson has) finds him in the DCAU, he is fairly cold to her at first. He rhetorically asks her where she was when their family needed her most (in other words, when they were all being killed). She admits her mistakes and gives a sincere apology, swearing that, from then on, she'll be there whenever he needs her. Knowing that losing their family hurt her as much as it hurt him, Ben can't stay mad and forgives her.
• CONSEQUENCES (Miraculous Ladybug): Lila, once caught for one of her many crimes, will often claim that her mother abandoned her in her time of need... ignoring the fact that Mrs. Rossi is usually doing the only responsible thing a parent can do in such a situation by ensuring Lila faces the best legal punishment for her crimes and attempting to clean up the messes her lies resulted in. Even her disowning her daughter due to the sheer scale of the crimes she committed is treated as justified.
• In Farther's Day (a Doki Doki Pre Cure story), it is revealed that Sharuru's father Marcel cheated on his wife Leverett and then divorced her, leaving the family as a result. Sharuru begged him not to leave her, but he just harshly shoved her to the ground, claiming that she was no longer his daughter. Because of this, Father's Day is a very heartbreaking day for Sharuru, as it reminds her of what she has lost.
• Downplayed in The Humanity of Spider-Man; Spider-Man admits to Iron Man that one reason he doesn't want to join the Avengers is because he's a little upset that neither they nor SHIELD were around to help when the Lizard attacked NYC (and killed Captain Stacy). Iron Man sheepishly admits that he has a point.
• I am not Done (MHA): Due to a Trauma Conga Line of losing his father, being neglected by his mother, being physically scarred by his Barbaric Bully and not having a single person even try to help him, Izuku is extremely bitter and reluctant to trust anyone.
• If Wishes Were Ponies: Harry Potter learns upon his return to the Wizarding World that Dumbledore had left him with the Dursleys and had all but ensured that he had no contact with the wizarding world until he was old enough to go to Hogwarts. Thus, no one helped him when the Dursleys were abusing him; the Equestrians and (much later) the Muggles did. This leads to Harry having a serious problem trusting wizards/witches (along with human adults in general). He admits to truly trusting no one but children and Equestrians.
• In A Little Red and Blue, Sharon is inadvertently sent to the year 1944 by Wanda and is later found by the past Steve and Bucky, introducing herself to them as "Kate". She is initially rather hostile to the past Steve because of the fact that in her time, he abandoned her after she stole his shield for him to stay in the past with her aunt Peggy. She eventually warms up to him, even giving him some advice on how to better help the common people, and the past Steve develops feelings for her, even trying to convince her to join him as part of the Howling Commandos. When Sharon is sent back to the present, she comes across the present Steve who explains that he didn't actually stay in the past and that part of what inspired Peggy, particularly founding S.H.I.E.L.D., was Steve telling her Sharon's advice to him.
• Moving On: Marinette ends up moving schools due to the class' bullying (all of it due to Lila's lies) getting too bad. She isn't willing to talk to Alya, Nino, or Adrien (although she talks to Chat Noir) for a few months after, and is both infuriated that they believed Lila over her and sad that they betrayed her so easily. Adrien, to his credit, realizes fairly quickly that he screwed up, and works to try and earn back Marinette's trust. Alya and Nino, however, continue to believe that Marinette was in the wrong until Ladybug says on Chloé's podcast that Rena Rouge and Carapace are retired until further notice due to bad behavior on the parts of their civilian identities.
• Null: Jaune becomes pissed at one of his former allies for abandoning him in a pretty vile way during the fic. Blake, who is one of Jaune's closer comrades while he's allied with the White Fang against Chivalric Arms, all but throws him to the wolves in the middle of Vale, expecting him to be killed or recaptured by the conspiracy (though she doesn't voice it since that would involve admitting she ironically did wrong when she was trying to make a Heel–Face Turn). Needless to say, Jaune is utterly pissed when he and Blake cross paths again following the formation of Team RWBY. Throughout Jaune's later Enemy Mine with Team RWBY, he's resisting the strong temptation to put a bullet through Blake's skull, and he doesn't miss an opportunity to needle Blake on her moral hypocrisy.
• Owl's Hell That Ends Well:
  • Played for Drama with Octavia. Due to gaslighting by her cruel kidnapper and a couple later factors, Octavia believes that Stolas abandoned her out of the blue one night when she was just seven, and as a result, several years after she last saw or heard from her original parents she's disowned Stolas and grown to despise him and fear ever crossing paths with her once-idolized original father again. The belief that her parents suddenly gave her away to her former captor purely for "being a bother", and that Stolas replaced her with a hellhound girl who was initially less well-behaved than she ever was, has also given Octavia lots of abandonment-related anxieties and issues which cause a lot of drama between her and the rest of I.M.P.. Even when Octavia finds out that Stolas didn't abandon her at all, she still can't quickly shake all her sore feelings towards him, particularly her feelings that he replaced her by adopting and growing close to Loona in her absence.
  • Loona too has a case of this in her backstory. Her original emotional pillar was an older hellhound named Claw who took her in for years, until the latter betrayed and attacked her while they were stealing food, damaging Loona's ear, and leaving her lying prone and wounded to be caught and enter the hellhound adoption system. Loona makes it clear that she's cut all her ties to Claw as a result, and that she hopes it hurt Claw if she felt any remorse for her betrayal.
• Pokémpanions: In Mon in the Moon, Mewtwo's flashback reveals that he was abandoned by his parents before he even opened his eyes for the first time. This is one of the many reasons he feels like all living beings are cruel and hateful, and he wants to throw the planet into the sun (until his Heel–Face Turn, that is).
• Riding a Sunset: When Hot Rod and Bulkhead get to Earth, they are happy to see Bumblebee after several hundred years. However, a miscommunication leads Hot Rod to believe Bumblebee, after all their time apart, has replaced him with Charlie as his best friend. This leads to him being fairly antagonistic to 'Bee and Charlie for a while, until Ironhide and Optimus manage to tell Charlie why Hot Rod feels the way he does, and she manages to talk to/get through to him.
• Scarlet Lady: Near the end of Season 5, Chloé publicly announces her intent to leave Paris and head to New York with her mother. This news is initially met with celebration; however, the public turns upon her en masse once it's revealed that she's their Nominal Heroine Scarlet Lady, as they all realize she was effectively abandoning them and leaving them without the Miraculous Cure to repair the damage from akuma attacks. Naturally, Chloé just thinks everyone's being needlessly dramatic.
• Shards of a Memory: Karai was raised to believe that Tang Shen (who, in this AU, lived while Hamato Yoshi died) abandoned her when she was a baby. Hence, every time she sees Master Shard, she's out for blood (especially because she believes that Shard replaced her with the Turtles and April).
• The Spectacular Spider-Man: Lost in Gotham: Peter Parker fears that his friends and family back in his New York all hate him due to his being Trapped in Another World after pulling a Heroic Sacrifice. He feels he deserves it as well, believing that without a Spider-Man, his New York is doomed. He's proven wrong halfway through the fic: Aunt May's just happy that he's still alive, and New York is okay because Gwen Stacy took up the mantle of Spider-Man.
• In The Storms of War, Steve refuses to let Sharon, who was recently injured during a mission and hasn't fully recovered yet, accompany him, Sam, and Wanda to Wakanda when they receive a distress signal, stating that it's too dangerous for her to go, upsetting her, which isn't helped by the fact that he had already basically left her behind after she stole his shield for him. Later, when Steve assists Sharon in evading the police after an undercover mission, despite her insistence she could handle it on her own, Sharon accuses Steve, based on the aforementioned events, that he thinks she isn't good enough to be a part of his team. This causes Steve to admit that he's scared of losing Sharon and the two have sex.
• In the Encanto fic The Two Seers, Mirabel holds animosity towards her birth parents (but mostly Alma) for throwing her out when she got the same gift as Bruno and forcing her and the only father she's ever known to live in the walls.
• A Thing of Vikings: Drago and the rest of the Pechenegs thought Kurya died in the attack on Bianjing, but he survived, and once he found out Drago took his father's place, he agrees to help the Chinese fight against him.
• Turtle Kittens: Shredder spends years trying to find Tang Shen, infuriated over the fact that she fled Japan after the death of Yoshi. He refuses to believe that her reasons for doing so were justified, seeing as how he (who's arguably worse here than in canon) killed Yoshi and drowned Miwa in a river, then raped Tang Shen. He's so convinced that Tang Shen is meant to be his that he tries to destroy any life she builds for herself that doesn't include him, which leads to him trying to kill the Turtles like in canon. Yeah, can't imagine why she didn't want to stay...

Film — Animated

• Bolt: Mittens is a major version of Cats Are Snarkers and she's generally grumpy and cynical. When Bolt says he still wants to go back to his owner Penny, Mittens loses her temper and tells him that Penny never loved him. Bolt refuses to believe this, and then Mittens reveals that her former owners declawed her and moved away, leaving her behind in the process.
  Mittens: (sighs) They leave her, wondering... what she did wrong.
• Coco: Mama Imelda was so heartbroken by her husband abandoning her and their daughter for his music career that she banned music from the house and enforced the ban for generations. It took five generations until someone (Imelda's great-great grandson) challenged the rule. This leads to the revelation that Hector tried to come back, but Ernesto de la Cruz poisoned him and stole his songs. Once the Riveras knew the truth, music was reintroduced to the family.
• This happens often in Kung Fu Panda:
  • Kung Fu Panda: Tai Lung was raised by Shifu to believe that he was destined to be the Dragon Warrior. However, Oogway saw that Tai Lung was an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy and decided he couldn't be trusted with the Dragon scroll. Because Shifu simply went along with Oogway's decision instead of defending Tai Lung, the snow leopard believes that Shifu abandoned him, and has nothing but contempt for his adoptive father.
  • Kung Fu Panda 2: Lord Shen believes that his parents abandoned him when they banished him from their city, and his modus operandi when he returns decades later is to get revenge by tarnishing their legacy and taking over China. He's conveniently forgetting that he was banished because he committed genocide.
• The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part: After Rex Dangervest ended up stranded at Undar of the Dryar System, he came to the realization that he couldn't trust anybody else. This is because he's actually a version of Emmet from an alternate timeline where he failed to make it through the Stairgate and his friends were too distracted partying at the Systar System to rescue him.
• Puss in Boots (2011):
  • Kitty Softpaws' owners declawed and abandoned her. This is the reason she has trust issues (and a nasty habit of backstabbing people), though it turns out that once you gain her trust, she's quite loyal.
  • Humpty Dumpty, it turns out, is pretty sore at his titular childhood blood brother and old friend for abandoning him during a botched robbery years ago; albeit one which Humpty outright deceived Puss into accidentally committing, which ruined Puss's old life, and Puss only abandoned him once he realized what Humpty did to him. And he makes it known with several of his actions to manipulate Puss in the movie's present, like getting him unconscious in the desert and drawing the attention of buzzards to him.
• Steven Universe: The Movie: Spinel used to be the playmate and best friend of Pink Diamond. So it's no surprise that, upon learning her "friend" abandoned her for six thousand years, Spinel is less than pleased. This trauma led her to seek revenge on her son Steven.
• This happens once or twice in the Toy Story films:
  • In Toy Story 2, Jessie wants to go to a museum and not be played with anymore because she feels betrayed by Emily, her former owner who stopped playing with her and eventually gave her up for donation.
  • In Toy Story 3, Lotso's hatred of humans and any toys loyal to them stems from his child, Daisy, accidentally leaving him at a park and replacing him when she couldn't find him again.

Film — Live-Action

• Child's Play (1988): The film's living Chucky doll is inhabited by a dying criminal after his partner abandons him during a botched robbery. Said partner is then killed by the doll in an act of revenge later in the film.
• Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: When Forge became Kira's caretaker after Edgin and Holga got arrested, he convinced Kira that her father abandoned her to go treasure hunting and was caught, heavily implying that he abandoned her. Hence, when her father and Holga finally make it back to her after two years of imprisonment, she's cold towards him. It's only at the end does she learn the truth; that her father was trying to get an artifact to bring her mother back and was captured because he'd been betrayed.
• Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): It's pretty clear during the tail end of Emma Russell's video call to the Argo when she starts arguing with Mark, that she's really bitter that her ex-husband abandoned her and Madison for the last five years, starting when they needed him more than ever while they were grieving Andrew's death to the Titan battle; and she calls him out. Emma also demonstrates that she's willing to (hesitantly) leave Mark to die as a necessary collateral of her plan, in contrast to how she refuses to compromise on her daughter's life. A deleted scene that was shot for the movie, and the novelization's expansion, both take the "Animosity" a little further, confirming that Emma has projected by telling Madison that Mark was a useless drunk in an effort to alienate him from her.
• Haunted Mansion (2023): It's shown that the Hatbox Ghost's Start of Darkness happened as a result of his cruel father throwing him out of their home for crying too much at his mother's funeral. None of the family's friends helped him, leading him to disappear for decades until reappearing after the "mysterious death" of his father. He spent the rest of his life taking his revenge on the very class of people who betrayed him, murdering many of them.
  Bruce: A murderer in life, now a murderer in death.
• Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey: After being abandoned by Christopher Robin when he moved away, Pooh and the other inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood were forced to eat Eeyore in order to survive. This traumatic act caused them to despise humanity and seek revenge against Christopher.
• X-Men: Days of Future Past: One of the reasons Charles is on the outs with Magneto is his turning on Charles and leaving back in the 60s, taking Mystique with him (though the fact Erik did so after accidentally crippling Charles didn't help).
  Charles: YOU ABANDONED ME! You took her away from me and you abandoned me!
• In X-Men: The Last Stand, Mystique takes a cure dart to save Magneto, and loses her powers as a result. Instead of thanking her or helping her, Magneto simply abandons her (as she's not a mutant anymore). This kills any loyalty she has for him and turns her into one of his enemies.

Literature

• In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the memory of Tom Riddle (while explaining why he changed his name to Lord Voldemort) blames his father (also named Tom Riddle) for abandoning him before he was born because the father discovered that the mother was a witch. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince would elaborate on this a bit more; the real reason Tom's father left was because his mother was doping him with love potions until she was pregnant (she stopped giving him potions because she thought he would stay of his own free will for the child's sake).

Live-Action TV

• Boardwalk Empire: When the Commodore backs Jimmy's play to take over Atlantic City, most of Nucky's wards go over to their side, leaving only meek Damien to meet with Nucky to pledge his allegiance. Nucky promises him that after he deals with Jimmy, he'll remember who stayed... and who didn't.
• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: In one of the show's most heartbreaking moments, Will (despite acting nonchalant about his father leaving him as a child and trying to bond with Lou) finally tells Uncle Phil about how angry and devastated he is over the fact that his father doesn't care about him. No wonder we never saw Lou again...
  Will: (crying) How come he don't want me, man?
• Friends: In "The One With Joey's Bag", Phoebe finally meets her father, and makes it clear that she's hurt and furious at him for abandoning her and Ursula as a child. He admits that she's justified in feeling that way.

Tabletop Games

• Warhammer Fantasy: The Chaos Dwarfs came about after the distant eastern frontier of the dwarf civilization was cut off from the rest during the Coming of Chaos. Praying to the dwarfish Ancestor Gods got no results, and they became increasingly desperate to survive until they struck a bargain with an evil fire god named Hashut. Now a heavily corrupted Evil Counterpart Race, the Chaos Dwarfs harbour an intense grudge towards the rest of dwarfkind and the Ancestor Gods, who they believe abandoned them in their hour of need.

Theatre

• Be More Chill: Downplayed. After Michael is abandoned by his best friend Jeremy due to the SQUIP convincing him it will be better for his popularity, Michael is initially reluctant to help Jeremy, even as Jeremy's father begs him. Even after agreeing to help, he refuses to give Jeremy the Mountain Dew Red to deactivate the SQUIP until Jeremy apologizes (in spite of the fact that multiple students' free wills are in danger at the time).
  Michael: (singing) Everything felt fine, when I was half of a pair. But through no fault of mine, there's no other half there.
• In Shrek: The Musical, Farquadd states that his father abandoning him is the reason why he wants to be a powerful ruler. The end of the show reveals not only was Farquadd half-dwarf (his father is Grumpy), but that he wasn't abandoned, he was kicked out because he was a 28-year-old loser mooching off of his parents.

Video Games

• Another Code: Ashley's relationship with her father sours between games. Granted, their relationship was already rocky due to him pretending to be dead for most of her life, but she was at least optimistic about them becoming a family at the end of Two Memories. Fast-forward two years to the sequel, and she's completely jaded towards thanks to him almost immediately burying himself in work to the point she hasn't seen or talked to him for a year (six months in Recollection). The only reason she bothers to come to Lake Juliet is because she promised her Aunt Jessica, and she resists his attempts to reestablish a familial bond until he admits that this second instance was because he was trying to investigate the circumstance that led to the death of Sayoko, Ashley's mother.
• Henry Stickmin Series: In Fleeing the Complex, the "Ghost" ending requires you to convince Ellie to give you a boost up out of your cell, and then leave her behind. The "Toppat Civil Warfare" route of Completing the Mission follows on from this ending, with Ellie having escaped the Complex herself and rallied the Toppat Clan against you in search of revenge.
  Ellie: I helped you escape, and you just... left me...
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance: At one point in the game, you're faced with a Sadistic Choice: Nightcrawler and Jean Grey are both being held in cages suspended over an abyss. If you open one cage, the other cage automatically plummets into the void. In the game's Epilogue, the Watcher tells you the outcome of each of your decisions- saving Nightcrawler results in Jean Grey eventually returning to Earth as the Dark Phoenix, furious at you for abandoning her to her fate. This is still generally seen as the "better" outcome, given that saving Jean results in Nightcrawler's mother, Mystique, assassinating Professor X. And if you have Magneto in your party, you can have him use his magnetic powers to hold up both cages.
• Middle-earth: Shadow of War: Towards the climax, Talion and Celebrimbor have a falling-out when Talion decides to Mercy Kill Isildur instead of Dominating him, and learns that his partner plans to enslave and replace Sauron instead of killing him like they originally planned — and after that, he'll take over Mordor and all of Middle-earth just like Sauron wanted to. Talion bluntly refuses to help Celebrimbor anymore, whereupon the Wraith coldly states that Talion is only an expendable host, and offers both himself and the New Ring to their new Elven ally Eltariel. Eltariel, who has grown bitter and desperate to finally end her war with Sauron's Nazgul servants and go home, accepts Celebrimbor's offer, and both Elves leave, whilst Talion, deprived of both things keeping him anchored in the living world, starts bleeding out from the Slashed Throat that originally killed him. Years later, in the Blade of Galadriel DLC, it's made clear in several exchanges of dialogue that Talion still resents Eltariel and Celebrimbor for abandoning him to die, and that bitterness is exploited by Sauron to finally break Talion's willpower and corrupt him into a full Nazgul.
  Eltariel: Talion, do not betray the man you were.
  Talion. You speak to me of betrayal? You abandoned me. You and Celebrimbor. I have fought this war alone.
• StarCraft: This is how Arcturus Mengsk creates Sarah Kerrigan. After destroying the Psi Emitters and luring the Zerg to Tarsonis in the next-to-last mission in the original Terran Campaign, Mengsk leaves a then-Ghost Kerrigan at the mercy of the Zerg. This causes her to be taken over by the Overmind and be reborn as Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades. In short, by leaving behind a person who, in supplementary material, was revealed as the instrument of the deaths of his family, Mengsk created the being that led to his ultimate downfall several years later.

Web Animation

• Alphabet Lore: When F gets framed for spelling a bad word and the populous of letters turns against him, he looks to N (who he stood up for moments earlier) to return the favor. Unfortunately, N refuses to do so out of peer pressure. This betrayal leads F to his Start of Darkness. By the epilogue, N deeply regrets his actions and is sent back in time to make things right. And he does.
• Dingo Doodles: In Fools Gold, Erina, despite having a Vitriolic Best Buds relationship with Sips, still gets pissed off when he decides to leave the team, calling him selfish even though he's doing it to protect them from his curse. Once reunited, Erina constantly shuns Sips for abandoning them (despite doing the same thing to Gothi moments after Sips left). Later discussed and justified when Erina reminds Gothi that she had just gone through a Trauma Conga Line (which included learning her father was executed and getting dumped by her girlfriend) when Sips decided to leave, and reveals this wasn't the first time she'd been abandoned. So, she left Gothi before Gothi could leave her too.

Webcomics

• Brat-Halla uses Nordic mythology as the starting point for humour, concerning Odin and Freya's frequently despairing attempts to raise their divine children. The mythological story of Odin sacrificing one of his eyes for greater wisdom takes on a new twist when the discarded eye takes on a life and sentience of its own and swears vengeance on Odin for discarding and abandoning him, thus setting off an arc of tales in which Odin's Eye is the protagonist.

Western Animation

• Futurama: In the "Round Wheels" segment of "The Prince and the Product," Zoidberg is sick of constantly being left behind on missions (as their transporter has only six slots and their crew consists of seven cars), so he lures all his friends to their deaths and modifies himself with their spare parts.
• Gargoyles: Coldstone, upon being reanimated by Xanatos and Demona, is told that Goliath betrayed the clan to the Vikings and fled. This (along with the mental instability he has due to being three gargoyles trapped in one body), leads him to act sporadically and violently towards the Manhattan clan.
• Gravity Falls: "Not What He Seems" reveals that Stan felt this way about his twin brother Ford for a good while, because when their father kicked him out of the house, Ford did nothing to stop it. In Ford's defense, Stan had (accidentally) destroyed Ford's science project and ruined his chances of going to an exclusive university, with the prestige of attending such a school possibly setting the family up for life. Still, Stan was hurt that his best friend not only did nothing to stop their father from disowning him, but never even attempted to contact him for over a decade afterward, leading to the fight that got Ford trapped in the multiverse. He nevertheless works for decades to fix the portal and bring him back to their dimension.
  Stan: You left me behind, you jerk! It was supposed to be us forever! You ruined my life!
• Infinity Train: One of the reasons why Simon developed their hatred and mistrust of the Train's denizens is because their companion left them to die as a child when they were running from a monster, only surviving because Grace intervened. For their part, Samantha the Cat does feel bad about the incident, but refuses to own up and apologize even years later; at most, giving her former ward gifts as a shallow way to hold off their guilt.
• The Owl House: Played with in regards to Boscha. She initially acts resentful towards Amity for ditching her for Luz, but this ultimately turns out to be her hiding the fact that she sincerely misses the girl's companionship and desperately wants to rekindle their friendship. Much to Amity's surprise, since she assumed Boscha wasn't capable of having real emotional attachments.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Starlight Glimmer was abandoned by her best friend Sunburst when he got his Cutie Mark before her and got sent off to Canterlot to study. This made Starlight believe that the only way to true friendship is to get rid of all differences, including Cutie Marks, using her magic to steal them. Subverted when, by the time she actually reunites with Sunburst himself, she's been defeated twice and has undergone a Heel–Face Turn, leaving her more ashamed and embarrassed by how she's spent her life than angry at him.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
  • Catra's Start of Darkness comes from the fact that Adora left the Horde for the Princesses and a magic sword, viewing it as Adora choosing her new friends over her specifically. She carries the sting of Adora's defection for a long time after.
  • During a rescue mission to save Glimmer and Bow from the Horde, Entrapta is accidentally left behind, as they thought she was incinerated. Catra, upon finding Entrapta hiding in the walls, states that they most likely left her behind on purpose because they didn't like her. Entrapta is heartbroken when she realizes the likelihood of this and agrees to defect to the Horde as a result.
• Star Trek: Lower Decks: In the episode "Trusted Sources", it's revealed that the Ornarans (who were addicted to drugs supplied by the Brekkians when we last saw them in Star Trek: The Next Generation) have managed to rebuild their society after kicking their planet-wide addiction. However, because Starfleet essentially abandoned them to deal with the withdrawal symptoms with no help, the Ornaran government politely but firmly tells Captain Freedman that they don't want anything to do with Starfleet.
• Star Wars: The Bad Batch: The clones slowly but surely begin to hate/leave the Empire when it becomes clear that the new regime intends to decommission them without giving them any resources or knowledge of how to live like a civilian. Those who rebel and are captured are taken to a secret lab for potentially lethal experimentation. Rex and the Batchers (minus Crosshair) were among the first to leave.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars:
  • When it's discovered that Echo may be alive and is possibly giving battle strategies to the enemy, several people believe that the clone has pulled this trope due to being left for dead on a mission. Ultimately subverted; Echo had survived the explosion and had been turned into a living science experiment to help the Separatists. The second he's freed, he immediately starts helping the Republic again.
  • This trope was ultimately why Ahsoka left the Jedi Order. When she was accused of a crime, no one other than Anakin stood up to defend her, and the Council practically abandoned her to face execution. Even though Anakin found the real perpetrator and cleared her name, she was too hurt by the Council's abandonment to want to remain in the Order.
• Star Wars Rebels: Kallus eventually defected because of the events on the ice moon; while Zeb's friends didn't stop looking for him until they found him, the Empire gave up on Kallus within a day, and he would've been left to freeze to death he hadn't managed to hitchhike with a trader. The fact that they were ready to abandon him after all he'd done for them, as well as the cold greeting he got when he escaped the ice moon, eventually led to him leaving the Empire.
• Sym-Bionic Titan: General Modula betrays the royal family, invades Galaluna, and tries to kill Princess Ilana because he blames the king for leaving him behind to die on Mutradd. The king reacts with confusion when Modula reveals his involvement, claiming that he saw Modula get shot and killed by a Mutraddi blast with his own two eyes. Modula either doesn't believe him or doesn't care, insisting that he was abandoned and betrayed first.
• Transformers: Animated: Blackarachnia, formerly the Autobot cadet Elita-1, was accidentally left behind on a planet infested with giant spiders that she, Optimus, and Sentinel were visiting without permission. When left alone with the spiders, she was infected with their venom and turned into a techno-organic hybrid. She left the Autobots and let them think she was dead out of fear that she'd be dissected for study (as most Autobots are xenophobic towards organics) and joined the Decepticons since, while they likewise hate her organic half, she at least knows where she stands with them. She hates what she's become, but she hates Optimus and Sentinel even more because of what happened.
  Blackarachnia: It'll be a long time before I trust an Autobot. Especially you, Optimus.

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