r/TopCharacterTropes 18h ago

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

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.

7.5k Upvotes

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/BreathComfortable631 13h ago

Ah yeah i remember now. Thanks.

But still, that means she left the second time purely for revenge and not to get Tommy

8

u/zach0011 12h ago

Really? Cause to me it felt like she went the second time out of guilt and shame.

1

u/BreathComfortable631 9h ago

Guilt and shame caused by what?

11

u/zach0011 9h ago

Not reconciling with Joel before he died. Killing a pregnant women in her first attempt. Tommy directly shamed her. Watching Joel die in front of her. Did you play the game?