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)

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