Basic Trope: A person must suffer for misdeeds when they were turned evil against their will.
- Straight: After being brainwashed by Emperor Evulz, Bob is brought back to his senses, but is a pariah in the city and is forced into jail for the crimes he committed while under Evulz's sway.
- Exaggerated: Bob was brainwashed by Emperor Evulz. Despite Bob turning back to normal, his friends abandon him (even when they were aware he was brainwashed), his family disowns him (even his own pet), society hates and fears him, the other villains find him abhorrent, and he is sentenced to 750 years in prison for all his crimes.
- Downplayed: Most citizens say that they don't blame Bob, but those who were attacked by him while he was under Evulz's sway still have mild cases of PTSD and try not to interact with him.
- Justified:
- The society that Bob lives in is concerned about punishing evil regardless whether or not it's beyond their control.
- Bob can't prove that Emperor Evulz brainwashed him. To muddle things further, he had a similar personality and a history of violence before being brainwashed — maybe he could have worked for the Emperor for coin or petty revenge, who knows?
- Bob's actions when he was under Evulz's sway caused serious and lasting harm that can't be undone. People may well have been traumatized, maimed, crippled or even killed as a result of those actions, and brainwashed or not, the people hurt by this and their loved ones aren't going to forget it.
- Evulz's brainwashing was not an entirely involuntary process, and Bob at least partially allowed himself to be brainwashed due to coercion or More than Mind Control.
- Someone has to be The Scapegoat, otherwise it's just going to be a lot of unresolved anger all around, since Evulz is nowhere to be found and persecuted. Who else is better to become this than Bob?
- Inverted:
- Bob underwent Heel–Face Brainwashing and became model citizen of the year. The brainwashing is undone and he is back to his evil ways, but he's still looked up to and admired.
- Bob does not get credit for the good things he did while brainwashed because he did not do it of his own volition.
- Bob’s allies beat him badly while he is brainwashed, and when he breaks free, he doesn’t immediately forgive them for this, noting that attacking him ultimately did nothing.
- Subverted: Bob is sent to prison, but it turns out it's a pretense to monitor him to see if he's still brainwashed. Once he's considered in the clear, he's let off on good behavior.
- Double Subverted:
- The police don't blame him for what he did while brainwashed, but he's Convicted by Public Opinion.
- 99.9% of the police is willing to let him go, but Chief Inspector Jeegvert will never be satisfied and swears he will maintain constant vigilance on Bob until the end of their days.
- Parodied:
- Bob is wearing a gigantic Hypno Trinket that is glowing and buzzing with radio sounds and is moving around as stiffly as Robbie the Robot, while Emperor Evluz in the background is holding a remote control, laughing manically, and bragging about how his 'puppet' will do whatever he tells him. After Bob is freed, police tackle him to the ground and arrest him, while completely ignoring Emperor Evulz.
- Alice is mind-controlled into running around naked. When the mind control is broken, she is arrested for public indecency.
- A group of bullies forcibly strip Alice in front of a crowd. The police arrest her and force her to kneel and grovel the bullies and crowd for forgiveness for “exposing” herself in front of them.
- Zig Zagged: The police say they don't blame Bob, but have to give the victims closure. So, they make a big show out of carrying out his punishment, while at the same time secretly aiding his escape. He's still banned from re-entering the town, though; after all, the villagers still think he's locked up.
- Averted:
- Bob doesn't get punished for committing crimes due to the brainwashing.
- Bob did it on his own will, regardless of what everybody else thinks (whether or not they would punish him for what he did while "brainwashed", anyway).
- Enforced: Moral Guardians are afraid that a character being shown to commit crimes yet receiving no punishment will send the wrong message to children who do not grasp the nuance of someone being brainwashed.
- Lampshaded: "Have you guys forgotten that I was brainwashed?!"
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: Emperor Evulz deliberately brainwashes Bob in order to use him as a scapegoat.
- Defied:
- While some members of Team Good are initially hostile or suspicious of Bob due to his actions while under the control of Emperor Evulz, they are promptly reprimanded by a Reasonable Authority Figure for Blaming the Victim.
- The law places the entire blame of Bob's actions strictly on the man who brainwashed him, phrasing it as "someone shoots up a school and you're gonna put the blame on the gun? Not the people who manufactured the gun, not the laws being so lax you could buy the gun, not the people who sold the gun, not the dude who used the gun — but only the gun?". Depending on Bob’s willingness to be brainwashed (or how hard he tried to shake it off, or how obviously he is lying that he was not in control) he may still be slapped with a Felony Murder charge.
- Discussed: "So even after you're brainwashed by an evil emperor, you still get punished anyways?"
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: After Bob is back to his old self, the first thing he does is go back to the town by himself to help fix the damage. He's covered in injuries when he gets back.
- Deconstructed: Bob sees this punishment as unfair and sees everyone, even his own friends, as bastards for not understanding he was brainwashed. For the first time in his life, he makes a willing decision to turn evil and seeks to destroy everyone for this karma.
- Played For Drama: Emperor Evulz is too powerful to attack directly, so the townspeople arrest and stone Bob to death because they need someone to blame.
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