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