Tropescilloscope: Freudian Excuse

A traumatic incident (whether some abuse by a deranged parental figure or something else) that makes a villain or any character the way they are. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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More Tropes Slap-Slap-Kiss Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome In the Back Running Gag Gilligan Cut Parental Abandonment The Reveal Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Ironic Echo Ghost Fiction Match Cut Only a Flesh Wound Twist Ending Smug Snake German Films Driven to Suicide Easily Forgiven All There in the Manual Exact Words Storming the Castle Title Drop I Need a Freaking Drink Humans Are Bastards Jerk with a Heart of Gold Bloody Hilarious Dull Surprise Cool Guns Off-into-the-Distance Ending Action Girl Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Four-Temperament Ensemble Book-Ends In Name Only From Nobody to Nightmare Took a Level in Badass Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Artistic License – History Rewatch Bonus Laser-Guided Karma Our Zombies Are Different The Casanova Fan Disservice Dirty Coward Plot Hole Heroes Want Redheads Meaningful Background Event Ungrateful Bastard Psychopathic Manchild Properly Paranoid O.O.C. Is Serious Business 20 Minutes into the Future Spiteful Spit Freudian Excuse Sealed Evil in a Can Christmas Movies Index The Oner "Well Done, Son!" Guy Ass Shove Artistic License – Gun Safety Artistic License – Physics The Load Fat Bastard Berserk Button Sole Survivor Male Gaze Determinator aka: The Determinator Rich Bitch Asshole Victim Horror Comedy Real Life Writes the Plot Becoming the Mask The Alleged Car Shout-Out Crazy Jealous Guy Cloudcuckoolander A.I. Is a Crapshoot Shown Their Work Awesome, but Impractical The Atoner Wicked Cultured Show Within a Show Japanese Films Chase Scene She Cleans Up Nicely Crapsack World War Is Hell Flipping the Bird From Bad to Worse Nice Hat Karma Houdini Reasonable Authority Figure Improbable Aiming Skills Major Injury Underreaction Author Avatar Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Roaring Rampage of Revenge Ambiguously Gay As You Know Kick the Dog Shut Up, Hannibal! Celebrity Paradox Mystery and Detective Films Tranquil Fury Cat Fight Arch-Enemy Drugs Are Bad The Chick Your Cheating Heart Break the Cutie Here We Go Again! Important Haircut Armor-Piercing Question Brutal Honesty Boom, Headshot! Authority Equals Asskicking Captain Ersatz Rule of Funny Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Too Dumb to Live Face–Heel Turn Love at First Sight Epic Fail Bullying a Dragon Disney Villain Death My God, What Have I Done? Children Are Innocent Stealth Pun Hong Kong Films Honor Before Reason Determinator Not What It Looks Like An Arm and a Leg Would Hit a Girl Dutch Angle After the End Fire-Forged Friends Suspiciously Specific Denial Never Found the Body Annoying Younger Sibling Faking the Dead Henpecked Husband Race Against the Clock Fate Worse than Death Kick the Son of a Bitch Dramatic Gun Cock Psycho for Hire Failed a Spot Check Soundtrack Dissonance Big Applesauce Suspiciously Similar Substitute It Will Never Catch On Truth in Television Offscreen Teleportation Chiaroscuro Calling the Old Man Out Rule of Three Film Noir Index Artistic License – Military The Stinger Pretty in Mink Scary Black Man Action Genre Establishing Character Moment Mr. Fanservice Bait-and-Switch Anguished Declaration of Love Military and Warfare Films Sacrificial Lion What You Are in the Dark Eiffel Tower Effect All Just a Dream The Hero Non-Indicative Name Crucified Hero Shot The '60s Naked People Are Funny Famous Last Words Dogged Nice Guy Decoy Protagonist La Résistance Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Groin Attack Wham Line Vitriolic Best Buds Taking the Bullet Hidden Depths May–December Romance Hollywood Darkness Mexican Standoff Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Extremely Short Timespan Cool Old Lady Badass Grandpa Victoria's Secret Compartment Television Movie Index Mr. Exposition Re-Cut Corrupt Corporate Executive Jerkass Has a Point Slasher Movie The Starscream Bloodless Carnage Hollywood Law "Awesome McCool" Name Chekhov's Gun Smoking Is Cool Card-Carrying Villain Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Punny Name Papa Wolf Genre Shift Kill 'em All The Brute Loads and Loads of Characters Deus ex Machina Bury Your Gays Adorkable Woman Scorned Ambiguous Ending Tempting Fate Unreliable Narrator Adult Fear Exactly What It Says on the Tin Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Psychological Thriller Spiritual Successor Final Girl Wretched Hive Manchild The '90s Closed Circle Babies Ever After The Mafia Badass Normal Alliterative Name Stalker with a Crush Shell-Shocked Veteran Catapult Nightmare Only One Name Canadian Movies Pay Evil unto Evil Beard of Evil Deal with the Devil Thriller Romantic Comedy Eldritch Abomination Villain Opening Scene Captain Obvious Adaptation Distillation Chekhov's Gunman Mind Screw Destination Defenestration Disproportionate Retribution Villain Song Undying Loyalty I Did What I Had to Do It Can Think Worthy Opponent Oh, Crap! Suddenly SHOUTING! Beta Couple Made of Iron Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Plucky Comic Relief Earn Your Happy Ending Get Out! Cat Scare Anachronic Order Actor Allusion Despair Event Horizon Posthumous Character Hypocritical Humor What the Hell, Hero? Motor Mouth You Killed My Father Reckless Gun Usage Really Gets Around Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Cool Car Heroic BSoD Biopic Accidental Murder Adults Are Useless Peek-a-Boo Corpse My Greatest Failure Even Evil Has Loved Ones Pyrrhic Victory Last-Name Basis Author Appeal Intrepid Reporter Due to the Dead Australian Movies The Chessmaster Ms. Fanservice The Smurfette Principle The Cavalry Rasputinian Death Older Than They Look Redshirt Army Not So Different Bound and Gagged Gratuitous English Hero of Another Story Immune to Bullets Unwitting Instigator of Doom Stylistic Suck Break the Haughty Bald of Evil Evil Brit Recycled IN SPACE! What Happened to the Mouse? Dying Moment of Awesome Evil-Detecting Dog Ambiguous Disorder Did Not Get the Girl Adaptational Villainy Karmic Death Sinister Minister The '50s Shipper on Deck Chekhov's Skill Good Is Not Nice Anachronism Stew You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Manly Tears Woman in White For the Evulz Flashback Well-Intentioned Extremist And Starring Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Paper-Thin Disguise Stuff Blowing Up Jerk Jock Badass Boast Logo Joke Documentary Sexy Discretion Shot Eye Scream Creepy Child British Films Gold Digger Didn't Think This Through Meaningful Echo Aluminum Christmas Trees The Alcoholic Parental Substitute Mugging the Monster Man on Fire The Remake Dissonant Serenity Refuge in Audacity Cassandra Truth Crazy-Prepared As Himself Word of God As Long as It Sounds Foreign Actually Pretty Funny World of Ham Kill It with Fire The '80s Skewed Priorities Brainless Beauty Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Reality Has No Subtitles Developing Doomed Characters Department of Redundancy Department Cain and Abel Canon Foreigner Unusual Euphemism Extreme Doormat Anti-Hero Punch-Clock Villain Coming-of-Age Story Daylight Horror Bad "Bad Acting" Sir Swears-a-Lot Fiery Redhead Loophole Abuse Deadpan Snarker Neck Lift Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Wounded Gazelle Gambit Mama Bear Science Fiction Films Costume Porn Never My Fault The '70s Bad Boss Death by Irony Poor Communication Kills Casting Gag Alpha Bitch Guile Hero B-Movie Reality Is Unrealistic Fake Shemp Historical-Domain Character Dressing as the Enemy Framing Device An Aesop Evil vs. Evil Bond One-Liner Playing Gertrude Blood from the Mouth Black Comedy Rape The Quiet One Villain Protagonist Animal Motifs Whole Plot Reference Very Loosely Based on a True Story Adaptational Heroism Heroic Sacrifice Expy No Name Given Once More, with Clarity! Bland-Name Product The Musical Pragmatic Adaptation Arc Words Alas, Poor Villain Funny Background Event Creator Cameo The Big Guy All There in the Script Bolivian Army Ending Fantasy Films Friend to All Children Bring My Brown Pants All for Nothing Hypocrite Face Death with Dignity Frame-Up Blackmail Bittersweet Ending The Dog Bites Back Not So Stoic Malevolent Masked Men Tagline Dark and Troubled Past Cold-Blooded Torture Curse Cut Short Those Two Guys Instant Death Bullet Fish out of Water Take a Third Option Pet the Dog Those Two Bad Guys Broken Pedestal As the Good Book Says... Shirtless Scene Noodle Incident The Bad Guy Wins Obfuscating Stupidity Dual Wielding Monumental Damage Knife Nut The Great Depression Evil Plan Country Matters Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Needs Wiki Magic Love Took a Level in Jerkass The Ditz Artistic License – Biology Daddy's Girl Training Montage Dwindling Party Scenery Gorn Does Not Like Shoes You Have Failed Me Dumb Blonde Italian Films Deliberately Monochrome Overly Long Gag A Minor Kidroduction Retirony Pretty Little Headshots Based on a True Story Room Full of Crazy Happily Married Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Adaptational Badass No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Mistaken for Gay Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Batman Gambit Nice Guy Film Series Gone Horribly Right Black and Gray Morality Animated Credits Opening Creative Closing Credits Be Careful What You Wish For Obviously Evil Moment Killer Guns Akimbo Grievous Bottley Harm Villain with Good Publicity Bilingual Bonus Antagonist Title Homage Dirty Old Man Translation Convention Manipulative Bastard Body Horror Demoted to Extra Diabolus ex Machina Madness Mantra Visual Pun Contrived Coincidence '80s Hair Femme Fatale Parental Incest Not So Above It All Not Quite Dead Big "NO!" Every Car Is a Pinto Narrator The Lost Lenore Police Brutality Only Sane Man Totally Radical Half the Man He Used to Be Action Survivor Informed Ability French Films More Dakka Death by Adaptation Badass in a Nice Suit Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Fingore Same Language Dub Big Eater The Mole Hoist by His Own Petard Intergenerational Friendship Bar Brawl Fun with Acronyms Scare Chord Precision F-Strike Lighter and Softer Leitmotif Rule of Symbolism The Stoic Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" The Sociopath Gorn Wrong Genre Savvy Genre Savvy Unusually Uninteresting Sight Defiant to the End Names to Run Away from Really Fast Film Noir The Hero Dies Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Broken Aesop Handicapped Badass Fourth Date Marriage Freeze-Frame Bonus Catch-Phrase Zombie Stories Never Trust a Trailer Real Life Romantic False Lead Amoral Attorney Spared by the Adaptation Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Damsel in Distress It's Personal Dark Action Girl Adaptational Attractiveness Beware the Nice Ones Those Wacky Nazis Horror Films Greater-Scope Villain Early Installment Weirdness I'm a Humanitarian Redemption Equals Death Curb-Stomp Battle Car Fu Award-Bait Song The Film of the Book Deconstruction Your Head A-Splode No OSHA Compliance Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Random Events Plot Black Best Friend Covers Always Lie Rule of Cool Amusing Injuries Only Known by Their Nickname N-Word Privileges Fainting No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Vacation Films Together in Death Killed Mid-Sentence Silence Is Golden Bottomless Magazines Dirty Cop The Faceless Defrosting Ice Queen Lampshade Hanging Slasher Smile Interrupted Suicide Red Shirt Evil Is Petty And I Must Scream Fatal Flaw Obstructive Bureaucrat Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience The Cameo Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality folderlabel Betty and Veronica The Smart Guy The Dragon Air-Vent Passageway Disney Death Self-Deprecation Protagonist Title Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Taking You with Me Gory Discretion Shot Affably Evil Badass Longcoat Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Red Right Hand Death of a Child Corpsing Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Yandere Deliberate Values Dissonance Red Herring Sassy Black Woman Soft Glass Insult Backfire Cool Old Guy Back from the Dead Facial Horror Expository Hairstyle Change Improbable Weapon User Morality Pet Badass Bookworm Outrun the Fireball Token Minority Sadistic Choice Large Ham Dark Reprise Disguised in Drag Rape as Drama Laughing Mad Big Damn Heroes Gainax Ending Naïve Newcomer A God Am I Vomit Discretion Shot Anyone Can Die Bavarian Fire Drill Reality Ensues Only in It for the Money Stepford Smiler Credits Gag For Want of a Nail Evil Counterpart Ax-Crazy Parental Neglect Dark Is Not Evil Bloodier and Gorier Drowning My Sorrows He Who Fights Monsters Let's Get Dangerous! Leaning on the Fourth Wall Brick Joke Adaptation Dye-Job There Is No Kill Like Overkill It's All About Me The End... Or Is It? Sports Stories Action Prologue Serial Killer Double Entendre A Father to His Men Video Credits Market-Based Title Manic Pixie Dream Girl Meaningful Name The Dreaded Neck Snap Black Dude Dies First Super Strength Retired Badass True Companions You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Idiot Ball Pimped-Out Dress Foil Product Placement Adapted Out The Power of Love Bond Villain Stupidity The Un-Reveal Better to Die than Be Killed Off with His Head! Bare Your Midriff An Axe to Grind Butt-Monkey Sequel Hook The Bully Bunny-Ears Lawyer Tap on the Head Almost Kiss Dramatic Irony No Celebrities Were Harmed Music Stories Camera Abuse Darker and Edgier Evil Is Hammy Shower Scene A Date with Rosie Palms Central Theme Knight Templar Up to Eleven And the Adventure Continues Red Eyes, Take Warning Hope Spot Eureka Moment Unspoken Plan Guarantee Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Advertised Extra "Shaggy Dog" Story Foregone Conclusion Death Seeker Downer Ending Epic Movie Russian Films Humiliation Conga Dramedy Historical Villain Upgrade No-Sell Domestic Abuse Revenge Attempted Rape Jump Scare He Knows Too Much Big Bad Five-Man Band Hell Is That Noise Line-of-Sight Name Small Name, Big Ego Cowboy Cop Historical In-Joke Bi the Way Genre Throwback Depraved Bisexual No Antagonist Agony of the Feet Death by Sex "The Reason You Suck" Speech I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Mundane Made Awesome Vomit Indiscretion Shot Unresolved Sexual Tension Mad Scientist Big-Bad Ensemble Call-Forward Heel Realization Disappeared Dad Works Set in World War II All Girls Want Bad Boys Lock and Load Montage Star-Crossed Lovers Would Hurt a Child Big Bad Duumvirate Retcon Silent Movie Serious Business Combat Pragmatist Call-Back Maybe Ever After Spell My Name with an "S" Eyepatch of Power Overprotective Dad Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Married to the Job Empathic Environment Green-Eyed Monster Continuity Nod Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique In Medias Res Sequel Escalation Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Toplessness from the Back Our Vampires Are Different Superhero Evil Laugh She's Got Legs Anti-Villain Police are Useless Not Using the "Z" Word Rousing Speech Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Index of Film Westerns Heterosexual Life-Partners Even Evil Has Standards Dropped a Bridge on Him Brother–Sister Incest The Place Adaptation Name Change The X of Y Villain Ball Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Grey and Gray Morality "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue How We Got Here Light Is Not Good Fanservice Cruel and Unusual Death Jerkass Implacable Man Irony Aside Glance Conspicuous CG Wham Shot Historical Hero Upgrade Bowdlerise The Lancer Ascended Extra Male Frontal Nudity One Steve Limit Darkest Hour The Voiceless Not Even Bothering with the Accent Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Abusive Parents Everyone Has Standards Funny Foreigner Meet Cute Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Belligerent Sexual Tension Death Glare Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Riddle for the Ages Ship Tease Have a Gay Old Time Drives Like Crazy Novelization The Ghost Time Skip Fantastic Racism Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Stock Footage Drill Sergeant Nasty Animal Title Index Character Development MacGuffin Pre-Mortem One-Liner Auto Erotica Faux Affably Evil BFG Broken Bird Say My Name Take That! Heel–Face Turn Mood Whiplash Scenery Porn Martial Arts Movie Imagine Spot Gender Flip Love Triangle Affectionate Parody One-Man Army One-Word Title Sanity Slippage Apocalypse How Missing Mom Vampire Fiction Enemy Mine Big Brother Instinct Adaptation Expansion Early-Bird Cameo All Men Are Perverts No Ending Evil Sounds Deep Slashed Throat Red Oni, Blue Oni Politically Incorrect Villain Villainous Breakdown Breaking the Fourth Wall My Beloved Smother Distracted by the Sexy timeperiod Improvised Weapon Cluster F-Bomb Hooker with a Heart of Gold I Have Your Wife Kubrick Stare Eagleland Insistent Terminology Jitter Cam Stealth Hi/Bye Throwing Your Sword Always Works Pragmatic Villainy Mighty Whitey Accidental Misnaming Straight Gay NO INDOOR VOICE Blatant Lies Blood Knight Spanner in the Works The Ace Left the Background Music On Hate Sink Dies Wide Open Kids Are Cruel Nothing Is Scarier Camp Gay Artistic License – Law Ripped from the Headlines Rated M for Manly Mercy Kill Public Domain Feature Films The Stoner This Is Gonna Suck Hero Antagonist Getting Crap Past the Radar Mooks Setting Update Offscreen Moment of Awesome Insane Troll Logic Arranged Marriage Composite Character Ominous Latin Chanting Black Comedy Put on a Bus Abhorrent Admirer Leave the Camera Running Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Comically Missing the Point Double-Meaning Title The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Danny Peary Cult Movies List Fanservice Extra Chewing the Scenery Big Fancy House Sci-Fi Horror Hair-Trigger Temper I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Trailers Always Spoil Does This Remind You of Anything? Fatal Family Photo Race Lift Mythology Gag The Vamp Age Lift Artistic License – Geography Made of Explodium Demonic Possession Foreshadowing Shoot the Shaggy Dog Make It Look Like an Accident Beauty Is Never Tarnished Men Are the Expendable Gender Cool Shades