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