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