Playing With / Punished for Sympathy

Basic Trope: A character is punished or receives ostracism for being sympathetic with the enemy.

• Straight:
  • General Sam puts Bob on probation for sparing an enemy's life.
  • Bob is the object of scorn and hatred because he was friendly to Alice, a social deviant.
• Exaggerated:
  • Bob is no longer in army service because he refused to kill the entire nation of enemy forces.
  • People are plotting to kill Bob because he forgave Alice for killing millions of people. They even went as far by considering Bob worse than Alice.
• Downplayed:
  • General Sam reprimands Bob for conspiring a plan to negotiate with the enemy forces instead of outright destroying them.
  • Bob is rebuked by his friends for being nice to Alice, who is a troublemaker in school.
• Justified:
  • The enemy in question was convicted of genocide, which is why standing orders are to shoot on sight. Therefore not only is Bob guilty of insubordination for refusing to kill him, but the person simply does not deserve sympathy.
  • The society values morality and the law, and those who don't adhere or value them are deserving of No Sympathy. So when Bob was being nice to Alice, this automatically labels him as a traitor and a reject of society.
  • Bob was supposed to discourage Alice for immoral behavior, but he's so much of a nice guy that he doesn't want to hurt her feelings.
  • Being nice to Alice means that she will use this as a means to cause even more trouble.
  • General Sam is the type of leader who considers showing feelings for his enemies as a sign of weakness.
• Inverted:
  • Bob is loved by many people because he shows his enemies no mercy.
  • Bob is chastised for being vengeful towards his enemies.
  • General Sam praises Bob for showing compassion towards his enemies, and his companions begin to respect him more.
  • Bob is hated for acting hostile towards his friends.
  • Bob is hated for being nice to his friends.
  • Bob is loved for treating his friends like shit.
  • Bob is loved for being loyal to his friends
  • Made Out to Be a Jerkass
• Subverted:
  • The Chew-Out Fake-Out.
    General Sam: (sternly) Private Roberts, do you mean to tell me you spared his life?
    Bob: Yes sir. (braces for chewing-out)
    General Sam: Mercy is the mark of a great man, son. Well done.
• Double Subverted: General Sam then punishes Bob anyway because, honorable as his actions were, he still violated orders.
  General Sam: ...Also, be careful around the other men, they might not think of this the same way I do.
• Parodied:
  • Bob explains that the reason he is now the ultimate villain because he is friends with Alice, a delinquent who listens to Gangsta Rap.
  • Bob is reading a comic book where a hero sends a villain to prison for stepping on a neighbor's grass. Bob then sympathizes the villain, only to later read the text where the hero calls him out for sympathizing the villain.
• Zig Zagged: General Sam dresses down Bob for violating standing orders in letting the enemy live, but then tells him that, as a man, not a superior officer, he approves of Bob's actions.
• Averted:
  • Bob isn't punished or despised for being nice to the enemy.
  • No one cares if Bob was being sympathetic to an amoral law-breaker.
• Enforced: "The series needs to be clear on moral absolutism. Let's have the characters give Bob shit for being nice to the villain."
• Lampshaded:
  • "This is fitting punishment for soldiers who spare the enemy!"
  • "Hey, look, it's the guy who's best buddies with the social reject!"
• Invoked: "Don't pity the enemy! If I ever catch any of you doing this, you're dead!"
• Exploited: Alice knows Bob pities her and is being punished for this pity; she combines this trope and her inevitable betrayal to hurt him even harder.
• Defied:
  • Showing mercy to the enemy is required by the rules and regs.
  • Bob calls out his criticisers.
  • Bob decides to keep quiet about his sympathy to avoid the backlash from others.
• Discussed:
  • "Bob deserves to be punished. After all, the enemies can defeat our nation at any given time."
  • "How dare you? HOW THE FUCK DARE YOU SPARE THAT SICK MONSTER AFTER ALL THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN HE MURDERED!?! Why could you possibly have let him go? Are you too spineless to kill someone even if he deserves it? Or do you just want to run out and hold hands with the rapists and sing Kumbaya together because you hate the idea of anyone being punished for anything at all? Soldiers! Next time you shoot him, or else I'll shoot you!
• Conversed: "Did they seriously write Bob getting a month of latrine duty for showing mercy to a defeated enemy?"
• Played For Laughs: In the court room, Bob pleads the judge to not sentence the defendant for 10 years in prison for spilling coffee on a co-worker. He is literally kicked out of the building.
• Played For Drama: Bob befriends Alice, a criminal who has escaped from jail. They had a meaningful friendship until the authorities decide to have Alice executed while Bob is spared only to be reviled by society as a whole.

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How dare you sympathize our enemy in this main page, You Bastard!! I hope you die a horrible death one day!

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