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