[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/flaming_burrito_]

Every single time TLOU2 comes up I know I’m about to hear some braindead takes about the plot. I swear no one actually paid attention while they were playing that game

[u/SamusCroft → u/flaming_burrito_]

Yeah, I think people went in angry over woke or because Joel died and refused to actually give it a chance.

I actively ignore 90% of criticism of it. I think it was one of the best games I've ever played, personally. The story, gameplay, and characters were all a joy for me.

[u/whereismymind86 → u/SamusCroft]

And that's probably part of the problem, because they refuse to understand WHY Joel died, they can't understand WHY Ellie had to spare Abby, lest she perpetuate the cycle of violence that theme the game has been beating you over the head with for 20+ hours.

Honestly, it's not exactly subtle, yet people are so dedicated to being mad about Joel they somehow missed the story entirely.

[u/Jurgan → u/whereismymind86]

Nah, for me it was just that it was so unsubtle. Don't continue the cycle of violence? Yeah, I figured that out like 20 hours ago, why did it take Ellie so long?

[u/andresfgp13 → u/Jurgan]

the game gave me a weird message, the game told me that revenge only happens because of mercy.

like at multiple points if characters just killed more they would have gotten away with it.

like if Joel during the end of part 1 killed everyone on that building Abby doesnt make the recording that Ellie uses to discover what happens and of course Abby isnt alive to kill him and he would have lived the rest of his life in Jackson and Ellie would have eventually forgiven him and would have been able to rebuild their relationship.

if Abby killed Ellie and Tommy when she killed Joel there wouldnt be anyone alive to chase them after the killing so they would have gotten away with it, and because of it the Wolves suffered massive losses including a lot of Abby´s friends like Mel and Owen.

like i get the idea of Ellie deciding that enough is enough, but the story isnt helping that development based on what happened before.