Tropescilloscope: I Did What I Had to Do

An after-the-fact justification for morally questionable but necessary actions. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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