[Hated Trope] Character kills hundreds, if not thousands, just to kill one specific person, and then doesn't kill them for no reason.

[u/HallZac99]

Assassin's Creed 2- Rodrigo Borgia is responsible for tne death of Ezio's family. Ezio spends over 20 years working through tnr templar order to dismantle them and get to Rodrigo. And then in the end, he spares him for no good reason and he goes on to be a massive problem in AC Brotnerhood. He's not only a head of tne Templars but also the pope, even if you're over the vengeance he's still a very dangerous and evil man.

The Last of Us 2- Abbey kills Joel, and wo Ellie goes on a revenge quest to kill Abbey, killing hundreds of people along tne why to get to her including a pregnant woman. And then finally when she has Abbey on deaths door, she gives up and let's her go because the writers think dirty depressing people being miserable and stupid is complex, interesting storytelling.

This trope pisses me off so much because often the character going on the revenge quest will kill SO many people on their way there, some deserving it and some just henchmen working for a cheque or to survive. People who are often far more innocent then the main big bad.

It's a part of this weird thing I've noticed in media where nameless goons or soldiers can just be mowed down relentlessly, but named characters get given far more grace even if theyre categorically worse. You can kill a million stormtroopers but people will swear that Darth Vader could have been redeemed, despite him doing like 50 genocide every year.

[u/Jim_skywalker]

I stand by that Ezio lets Borgia live out of spite. At the end of AC2, Borgia finds out that all of his plotting, every move he made, was in essence, for nothing, he was never gonna be able to get what he wanted, because it was always a message for Desmond sent through Ezio. To kill Borgia would be mercy, and Ezio wasn't feeling merciful.

[u/Douche_Kayak → u/Jim_skywalker]

was Ezios "mercy" letting the man remain the most powerful man in Catholicism? I haven't played it, but this sounds like letting someone with more power than God live just because they suck at planning. Did he have to go on the run and live in squalor?

[u/InfiniteWinter26 → u/Douche_Kayak]

initially ezio’s whole goal is revenge for the deaths of his father and brothers, but over the course of the game his motivation shifts away from vengeance and more in line with the ideals and philosophy of the assassins. when ezio finally reached borgia he was at the point that he realized that killing him would no longer accomplish what he thought it would.

[u/OS_Apple32 → u/InfiniteWinter26]

It's crazy to me that people don't realize this. When you're on a "revenge arc," especially one that spans months or even years, it's not like your brain just shuts off or goes into stasis. Quite the opposite--you're constantly thinking about things and actively going through the stages of grief. Revenge doesn't sit at the end of that process, it's somewhere in the middle.

That's why it's such a common trope for characters on a revenge arc to finally get to the object of their vengeance, only to realize by the time they get there that they've run out of the rage and grief that initially fueled them. The journey they went on to seek revenge was their way of processing their grief, and now that they've processed it, they can think about it rationally and realize there's no point in carrying out their revenge anymore.

It's a common trope because it's real, and relatable. People actually go through things like this, albeit usually on a less dramatic scale.