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