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