"Burns became consumed by greed, he'd steal from anyone...and when he tried to steal our sunlight, he crossed the line from everyday villainy into cartoonish supervillainy!"
— Smithers, The Simpsons, "Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part Two"
This is when either an enemy of a major villain, or maybe a minion who turned against them, explains to others the nature of their conflict, typically when the villain is not around, likely after the villain has either been defeated (that is, during The Summation) or is at least temporarily out of power. An alternative title for this, "explaining the villain explains the conflict," refers to the notion that explaining what happened makes the actions of the villain's enemy or former rival more understandable.
Note that this is not a Motive Rant; the tone of the conversation will be very calm and gentle despite the subject matter, as indicated by many of the examples...
Named for the after-action reports
filed by military officials following a combat engagement, also used for post-game play-by-play analysis of sporting events; not directly related to After-Action Report as a form of fan literature.
Sub-Trope of Recap by Audit (the aftermath of an event reveals or sums up what happened). Compare Kirk Summation, which is addressed to the actual villain. Not to be confused with How We Got Here. See also You're Insane!.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Bleach: Both primary villains of the series get a speech like this from someone involved in their ultimate defeat. They're treated as the personal opinions of the characters themselves, as the narrative chooses not to definitively prove or disprove their conclusions.
- Ichigo speculates about Aizen's motives after their battle at the end of the Deicide Arc, ultimately surmising that Aizen felt alienated from others due to his overwhelming power, and that deep down what he really wanted was to be just like everyone else.
- Interestingly, the series' last chapter has Aizen himself giving one about the Quincy Emperor Yhwach. Aizen determines, from Yhwach's dying words, that he only wanted to combine all the realms into a single existence without death out of fear of his own mortality.
Comic Books
- Many a Batman story ends on this note. In Lighter and Softer stories of past generations, he's more likely to shake his head at the villain's wasted potential as a benefactor of humanity. In Darker and Edgier modern stories, he's more likely to reflect on how the villain is a Shadow Archetype and reflection of what he could've become had just one thing gone wrong with his upbringing.
- Robin (1993): Tim often reflects on the circumstances which led to the villain he fought in the issue to a criminal lifestyle. He's usually sympathetic to their plight but never feels it excuses whatever they did to bring them to his attention.
Films — Animation
- In The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Simba and Kovu reflect on Scar and his problematic legacy:
Simba: Scar couldn't let go of his hate, and in the end, it destroyed him.
Kovu: ... I've never heard the story of Scar that way. He truly was a killer.
Simba (while brushing the remains of burned plants): Fire is a killer. Sometimes what's left behind can grow better than the generation before, if given the chance. - Chuckles the Clown does this in Toy Story 3 to explain Lotso's turn to evil.
Films — Live-Action
- Aliens has an expository scene with the surviving marines hypothesizing about the life cycle of the aliens and that there has to be a queen laying the eggs. They're right.
- Bride of the Monster has a very brief one in the film's final line, after Bela Lugosi's Mad Scientist character gets killed by his own radioactive octopus:
He tampered in God's domain.
- Subverted at the end of The Day of the Jackal, where Mallinson and Inspector Thomas discuss the villain they spent the movie pursuing, and concede that he will remain a Riddle for the Ages:
Insp. Thomas: But if the Jackal wasn't Calthrop, then who the hell was he?
- Predator (1987).
Mac, to Dillon, describing the encounter with the Predator: Those eyes...disappeared. But I know one thing, Major... (pause) I drew down and fired right at it. Capped-off two hundred rounds and then the Mini-gun; the full pack. Nothin'...nothin' on this earth could have lived...not at that range.
[Later]
Schaefer: He uses the trees. - Perhaps most famously (and more than a little extensively) in the Alfred Hitchcock film, Psycho, where a psychiatrist breaks down the motives and psychology of the killer, even taking time to correct misconceptions by his audience.
- The film (and comic) version of Sin City has a scene in which Cardinal Roarke explains to Marv why his adopted son ate people and subsequently admitted to joining in.
- Troy: The Trojan priest says this when they find the beach abandoned. (It's a Trap.)
Plague! Don't get too close, my lord.
King Priam: What happened here?
They desecrated the temple of the gods, and Apollo desecrated their flesh.
They thought they could sack this city in a day. Now look at them... fleeing across the Aegean. - Valentine: At the end of the film after Adam guns down the Cupid Killer and unmasks them to reveal Dorothy, he and Kate discuss Dorothy while waiting for the cops to arrive. Adam's theory is that Dorothy finally snapped after years of loneliness and the only way to alleviate it was going on a killing spree. However, it circles right back into a Motive Rant because Adam was the real killer all along. Having been framed by Dorothy for sexually assaulting her years ago, he'd never gotten over what she and her friends (minus Kate) did to him until he started murdering her friends, leaving Dorothy for last so he could frame her for his crimes like she framed him.
Adam: All I can think is... if someone is that lonely or that angry, they can learn to hide it. But inside, it never dies. It just stays there, eats away at you, until one day, you have to do something about it.
Literature
- In Another Note, Mello does this for Beyond Birthday, saying he could understand why B did what he did.
- Also a recurring feature in the work of Agatha Christie as an alternative to a Summation Gathering, with villain exposés delivered by Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple or another detective to an assembled group of people after, not before, the villain has been identified and taken into custody, committed suicide, or been killed. This usually happens following a Wham Line, a surprise arrest, or another very sudden and as yet unexplained reveal of the villain.
- Occasionally subverted, when it is revealed that the main villain is actually present in the room, and is not the person who just got taken into custody, died, or played along with the detective so to catch the true culprit off guard. Examples include Cards on the Table and At Bertram's Hotel.
- The Beginning After the End:
- The Vritra Clan, the main antagonists of the novel, appear right from the start as Arthur encounters a few of their members (Cadell and Uto) and the ramifications of their actions (the deaths of Sylvia and Alea, the mutated elderwood guardian in the Dire Tombs, and the cases of berserk students throughout Xyrus Academy). However, Arthur and the audience aren't properly introduced to the Vritra Clan until Windsom first appears in Volume 4, who as Kezess's Emissary from the Divine provides exposition about the Vritra and the Divine Conflict they caused that serves as the main Myth Arc of the novel. Notably, the exposition Windsom provides sees the first mention of Agrona, the leader of the Vritra and the Big Bad of the novel.
- In her Video Will to him, Sylvia tells Arthur that he is not ready to know the full truth about her death and that only once his mana core reaches the stage past white will he hear from her again. It is not until the start of Volume 8 that he receives her second message, which reveals the truth about the Divine Conflict. Far from the aloof yet benevolent protectors of the world, Kezess and the Indrath are in fact genocidal Knight Templars who caused Agrona and the Vritra's Start of Darkness when they exiled them from Epheotus for threatening to expose their atrocities. If that was not enough, Sylvia then reveals to Arthur that Agrona's plan to win the war involves investigating the ruins of the race the Indrath had exterminated in order to uncover their lost knowledge so that he can wield the power of Fate itself.
- The Berenstain Bears Big Chapter Books: In The Berenstain Bears and the Galloping Ghost, after the "Galloping Ghost" is exposed as Billy Bogg in a costume, Brother explains what's been going on and why the youngest Bogg Brother did what he did — the Bogg Brothers had been hired by a group of real-estate bears in Big Bear City to sabotage Miss Mamie's riding academy so they could buy the land cheap, and Billy dressing up as the ghost was just the latest part of their scheme. Chief Bruno subsequently confirms it by questioning the Bogg Brothers themselves, and then has their bosses arrested by the Big Bear City police.
- The Magicians: Jane Chatwin explains to Quentin how the Beast became a supernatural monster: Martin Chatwin gave up his humanity in exchange for power and the opportunity to stay in Fillory because he was the target of a sexual predator on Earth.
- The Poet: The Detective Mole ending has Bob Backus, the agent in charge of the FBI task force hunting a serial killer, actually be the serial killer. Afterwards the FBI tries to figure out what was going on with Bob Backus. Apparently when he was a boy, his father would cuff him to the towel bar in the shower if Bob wet the bed. Jack himself noticed how Bob was a Neat Freak. An old girlfriend said that Bob wanted her to shower both before and after sex.
- Happens frequently in the Sherlock Holmes stories.
- Worm: Skitter, the Villain Protagonist, is analyzed several times in this fashion. Dragon notes her sliding further into acts of villainy and speculates that her past as a bullied teenager has led to a severe distrust of authority, and the government's therapist for superheros, Mrs. Yamada, analyzes her repeatedly and discovers a pattern with her escalating her levels of force in response to threats to her father.
Live-Action TV
- Game of Thrones: After trying and executing Littlefinger for treason in Season 7, Sansa and Arya stand on the battlements of Winterfell and discuss him, with Sansa admitting he did have some redeeming qualities.
- It Conquered the World. "He learned almost too late that man is a feeling creature, and because of it, the greatest in the universe..." A catchphrase of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Doubles also as a Patrick Stewart Speech.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Galadriel demands information from a captured Adar about Sauron's whereabouts, which he offers. Galadriel learns from him about Sauron's true goals of trying to gather the power of the unseen world by doing torturous experiments on the Orcs that followed in the Forodwaith. Adar relates further turning on Sauron and killing him for treating the Orcs so cruel, and later becoming their new leader. Galadriel has hard times believing what she is hearing and becomes infuriated at Adar, almost killing him in a fit of rage.
- Perry Mason often employed these to tie up loose ends after badgering the real culprit into a dramatic courtroom confession.
Video Games
- Age of Mythology: The scenario "Good Advice" sees Arkantos receive yet another prophetic dream from Athena, wherein she tells him what Gargarensis is truly after. She reveals that that Kronos has corrupted Poseidon into trying to release him and his titan brethren by playing into his jealousy towards Zeus, and in order to do so the gates to Tartarus must be broken which can only be done by mortal hands. This is where Gargarensis comes into play, as he believes Kronos and Poseidon will reward him with immortality should he free the titans. If that wasn't enough, the dream ends with Gargarensis and his minions destroying Atlantis, which is what happens at the end of the campaign as the last gate to Tartarus is located there.
- When she defeats Kefka one final time in Dissidia Final Fantasy, Terra reflects on his lust for destruction and concludes that he was trying to fill the void left by his broken heart.
- Injustice 2: After Regime Superman was defeated in the previous game, Batman reflects on his Start of Darkness in the opening, noting how the Joker, who is usually Batman's Arch-Enemy, goaded the Man of Steel into killing his own wife Lois Lane and nuking Metropolis out of pure sadism. Batman may be sympathetic to Superman's plight, but doesn't feel it excuses any crimes he committed for Lois's sake.
Bruce Wayne: In my years fighting crime, I've learned one truth... That every villain is the hero of his own story. Superman was no exception. The Joker drugged him, tricked him into killing his pregnant wife, Lois, and made him trigger the bomb that nuked Metropolis. So when Superman killed the Joker, I understood why. We all did. But once that line was crossed, there was no going back. He gave himself and the Justice League a new mandate. Stop all crime before it happened, by any means necessary. But he couldn't see his good intentions were leading him down a path of tyranny and evil. That's how our greatest hero became our greatest threat.
- The Last Story: In the epilogue, Lowell and Zael will discuss about Dagran's motivations. Among which is the fact that while this is all his own fault, Lowell feels that maybe they could have reached out to him more. Zael wonders whether he really meant when he called the mercenaries nothing but pawns for his revenge, considering how much Dagran seemed to genuinely care for them. In the end, they acknowledge that with him gone, they'll probably never know, but the mercenaries still make a grave for him, leave him flowers and thank him, since it was under his leadership and care that they even managed to survive for so long.
- Subverted towards the end of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: After Link defeats Ganondorf's first form, Zelda's Crystal Prison slowly moves towards the roof and dissipates, and Zelda looks at Ganondorf's body and says "Ganondorf, pitiful man. Without a strong, righteous mind, he could not control the power of the gods." Then they realize the place is collapsing, that Ganondorf is using his "last breath" to bury Link and Zelda in the remains of the castle...of course, after they escape, it turns out Link has to fight another of Ganondorf's forms, confirming that Zelda's earlier line isn't really an AFTER action villain analysis.
- In the postgame in Pokemon Platinum, you come across an old man who explains why Cyrus was after a world without emotion. Of course, the old man (probably) doesn't know that you're the one who defeated Cyrus, or even that you ever met him. He's just a grieving grandfather who blames himself for his grandson turning out like that.
- Star Fox: Assault: After beating the final boss, Fox pauses before making his escape to calmly muse on what the enemy was trying to accomplish and how it couldn't have worked.
Visual Novels
- A variant is done in the Ace Attorney trials. While Phoenix pieces together the actions of the guilty party to the court as the trial proceeds, it's usually not until the very end of the trial that all the pieces come together and the full motives of the killer are figured out. One notable case that plays this straight is Case 5-2, in which, following Le'Belle's freak out, Simon Blackquill revives him long enough to get his testimony offscreen. He then reports to the courtroom that Le'Belle's criminal activities were motivated by being bankrupt, something which hadn't been revealed before then (while the goal of Le'Belle was determined, why he did it all exactly was not).
- In the Unlimited Blade Works route of Fate/stay night Shirou analyzes Archer who has already been defeated. He realizes that despite his cynicism and attempts to Ret-Gone himself by killing Shirou, Archer never regretted his choices in life, only the consequences he faced after dying. That was why during their last fight Archer did not counter Shirou's final attack.
Western Animation
- The Simpsons episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns", quoted above.
- Frequently parodied in The Tick, when the eponymous hero gives one of his Cloudcuckoolander speeches concerning the villain which seldom make any sense.
