Basic Trope: Common civilians screw over the heroes.
- Straight:
- Hiro, Ichigo, Dash, Kowalski and Rachel are passing through the town of Redvale. That night, the innkeeper contacts Emperor Evulz' soldiers, hoping to turn the heroes in and collect the bounty on their heads.
- Captain Hero routinely saves the town on an almost weekly basis. Despite this, most of the townsfolk just view him with derision and fear.
- Exaggerated:
- While the heroes are sleeping, the mayor rallies the whole town to attack, overpower, and capture the unwary party.
- The town not only is willing to sell the heroes out to the Emperor, they believe that the heroes are somehow to blame for Evulz's existence (even if that does not makes any damn sense) and thus their betrayal is Laser-Guided Karma.
- Downplayed: Emperor Evulz shows up and asks the innkeeper which way the heroes went, and although the innkeeper isn't about to go out of his way to screw over the heroes, he tells him, "Thattaway."
- Justified:
- The villagers don't believe such a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits could possibly defeat the Emperor, and believe they'd be better served by the reward money/getting in good with Evulz.
- The Mayor was appointed by Emperor Evulz, and knows that if the heroes succeed, he'll lose his power and position.
- All the citizens of Redvale know is that there's a bounty on the group's heads; they aren't aware that it's because they're trying to save the world.
- Humans Are Flawed and emotional creatures. Even if The Hero manages to save most of the townsfolk, those they couldn't save will have family grieving for their loss and will be looking for someone to vent their anger towards, of which The Hero is often present for since the villain only ever shows up when attacking the town.
- Inverted:
- When Redvale is attacked, Kowalski and Rachel argue that it's more pragmatic to escape and ensure their own survival than to risk their lives defending the town.
- The Heroes find themselves at the mercy of the Emperor, only for the villagers to suddenly appear and manage to rescue the heroes and help them escape.
- Subverted: Though the innkeeper recognizes Hiro and his band as outlaws wanted by the Emperor, he keeps silent, supporting their efforts to overturn the evil regime.
- Double Subverted: The innkeeper doesn't betray them... but his son also recognizes them, and wants the reward.
- Parodied: The heroes are abducted in their sleep and dragged into the forest, as part of an eccentric festival.
- Zig Zagged: The innkeeper considers turning the heroes over, but balks at the thought of betraying his customers. However, the reward money is too tempting, since that much cash would allow him to move his family out of the empire. So he informs the Emperor, but only after luring Ichigo away from the group because he Wouldn't Hurt a Child. When she comes back, he gloats about what he did, which turns out to be a ploy to tell her how to find them. Ichigo, being quite powerful for her age, manages to save the others — and it's hinted the innkeeper knew she was powerful enough to do this, and even if she failed, she'd still be safe and he'd still get the money.
- Averted: The town's people pay no attention to the heroes.
- Enforced: "What's Darker and Edgier than heroes betrayed by the people they're trying to save?"
- Lampshaded: "You townspeople suck! We're trying to help you!"
- Invoked: Emperor Evulz learns that Hiro and his friends are in that area and sends his soldiers to interview the locals, offering vast rewards in exchange for any information leading to their capture.
- Exploited: Emperor Evulz spreads rumors about untrustyworthy townpeople to make the heroes too paranoid to stay in towns, thereby denying them supplies and recruits.
- Defied:
- The mayor of Redvale makes every concession possible to assure the heroes of their safety and imprisons anyone who thinks of betraying them.
- "You will either help me stop Evulz or I will kill as many of you as I can before you or Evulz take me down, and I can assure you that the ones who try to betray me will get the very worse. And Evulz will fuck up whoever remains, and the rep of every single man, woman, child and dog in this town will go to hell. So either way you're gonna get bloody noses today. It's your choice whether or not something good will come from it." The townsfolk decide that Hiro is the lesser evil and thus worth supporting.
- Evulz, who considers Hiro a Worthy Opponent, makes clear that anybody who tries to kill Hiro or otherwise try to "help" Evulz by being an obstacle to Hiro will be swiftly and brutally killed. The townsfolk do not need be helpful, but ungratefulness (and especially treason) will not be rewarded.
- Discussed: "Gee, maybe you should recommend Evulz to change his name to Frank Miller and this town to Hadleyville while we're at it?"
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed:
- The villagers of Redvale betrayed the heroes to gain Evulz's good graces and/or reward. Evulz, being evil, doesn't care and continues treating them horribly.
- The townspeople bitterly cut off Hiro's attempt at Shaming the Mob by revealing that many of them were refugees from other reprisals of Emperor Evulz — reprisals that came as a result of believing in their ability to stand up to the emperor as long as they believed in themselves and wandering plucky heroes like him. Eventually, this causes Hiro to shoot back by simply telling them that they are beyond saving and proceeding to leave them to their deaths by telling them that, should they survive, they will get a bitter taste of their own medicine once Evulz dies. A tragedy strikes Redvale in the future and no one helps them because of their reputation.
- The Hero figures that if the town won't give them some form of respect and continues to treat them worse than the villains, they might as well join the villains side.
- Reconstructed: Though Redvale's betrayal shakes the team to their core, Hiro becomes even more determined to liberate the region so that they won't live in such fear and feel they have to hurt heroes anymore. And once the region is saved, Redvale is now being mistrusted by all the other towns in the region for betraying the heroes.
- Played For Drama:
- A few years after the incident, Hiro - now a Fallen Hero - destroys Redvale in a most gruesome manner as revenge. He then has to consider if he is any better than Evulz himself.
- Redvale is Dash's hometown, forcing her to choose between helping her True Companions or turning on the party and standing with the people she grew up with.
- The heroes are given undeniable, objective proof and facts by people and faraway authorities who used to be at Redvale or visited there the townpeople's true, unbearable colors and what Redvale actually is: it's a particularly depraved place where even most of the seemingly pleasant villagers are actually and unequivocally bigoted, sick, unjustifably remorseless, and horrendously savage, in addition of being all former prisoners of the very worst kind, with even the children being no better at all. They also have intentionally hidden their all of their darkest, irredeemable actions from the rest of the world, thanks to the help of Emperor Evulz and corrupt people there through false promises and bribes, the heroes decided that they (the vast majority of Redvale) need to be taken to justice for more than treason.
- Once Emperor Evulz fell, the people of Redvale were executed swiftly by the Emperor Reginald for betraying the heroic cause and were wiped from the annals of history; thus, his fall from grace was a beginning of a new problem the heroes must face.
Back to Ungrateful Townsfolk, and we don't want to see you villagers again, after you purposefully left us for dead and did horrible things to us.
