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