"Remember, Arthas: we are paladins. Vengeance cannot be a part of what we must do. If we allow our passions to turn to bloodlust, then we will become as vile as the orcs."
— Uther The Lightbringer to his student, prior to battle, WarCraft III
This trope is a Deconstruction of Pay Evil unto Evil and the Well-Intentioned Extremist. These stories center on a character who, believing they have been grievously wronged, feels compelled to punish the wrongdoer by any means necessary. In these stories, the character believes they must punish the wrongdoer by any means necessary because they've been denied justice. They believe in their moral superiority because they believe the justice system is broken and corrupted, allowing the wrongdoer to escape the consequences of their actions without punishment.
For this trope to apply, the character's actions and motivations for revenge must be acknowledged in-universe to be wrong. They are explicitly told through a scathing or passionate speech that their revenge will only worsen their situation. Frequently explaining the problems with their revenge quest, pointing out all the harm they've done to achieve their revenge, or explaining the flawed logic of their revenge quest. Both often point out how their vengeful actions have harmed others as well. Emphasizing that revenge will never heal wounds or correct any past wrongs.
Sins of Our Fathers is one of the biggest motivators of this; a character wants revenge but targets the child of the aggressor because they either resemble them in some way or they are desperately looking for closure by any means necessary, even if the child did nothing to deserve it. This trope is often accompanied by a Pyrrhic Victory for the one seeking revenge, as it can cost everything dear to them. They can be arrested, killed in a cycle of revenge, they can lose their freedom, or they can become guilt-ridden for only perpetuating the cycle of violence. Their loved ones can also abandon them for being a threat or for ignoring their pleas to move on and let go.
A Sub-Trope of Revenge Before Reason, where revenge is depicted as an amoral decision done in the name of justice, only to be told afterwards that it's no excuse for hurting people. Lighter examples of this trope can include "Anger Is Healthy" Aesop, where a character learns that it's good to be angry, but taking revenge is wrong. Obviously, Truth in Television and the reason we have law and justice system that although it is imperfect and there are fallacies, cycles of revenge and acts of vigilantism can be avoided with an external judgment that shouldn't be influenced by the emotions of the victims and their relatives.
Compare and Contrast Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse where someone uses their childhood as an excuse, only to be told that it doesn't give them the right to hurt others. Revenge is not justice is about someone using experience outside of their childhood to hurt someone, despite being told that they have no right to do this. Not to be confused with Was It Really Worth It? and Vengeance Feels Empty where a character is asked if their revenge brought them any peace or justice in the end, but it is a common question at the end of their revenge plots.
It may overlap with If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him! where a character is discouraged from murdering their enemy because they will become just as bad as them, if not worse. It may also overlap with Cycle of Revenge where revenge begets revenge. He Who Fights Monsters also correlates with this since revenge makes someone just as bad as their aggressor or a new brand of evil. For characters getting called out for holding grudges, but not necessarily taking revenge, see No Sympathy for Grudgeholders. See Fighting Back Is Wrong, where this can be a reason why characters get punished for getting back against their bullies, while their bullies usually get off scot-free.
In fanfictions, this trope is essentially a Deconstruction of Revenge Fic.
Vigilante Injustice can correlate with this when victims of a criminal choose to enact vigilante justice under the belief that the law enforcement officers aren't going to believe them or won't make the villain suffer enough. Only find out that the vigilante had just killed an innocent person or had just contaminated evidence that could have had the villain imprisoned.
This trope is the opposite of The Villain Must Be Punished, where characters acknowledge that retribution is justified. Contrast with more positive instances where Revenge Is Sweet, when Revenge and Justice come off as one in the same.
In-Universe examples only. Examples of the audience feeling this way usually go under Unintentionally Unsympathetic.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Bleach: Kaname Tosen constantly preaches about justice, but ultimately defies the trope when his motives are revealed: many years ago, an old friend of his was murdered by her husband, who got away scot free because he belonged to one of the Four Noble Families. Tosen lost faith in Central 46 and joined Aizen to get his revenge against the Soul Society, viewing it as a form of justice. When Komamura calls him out on his hypocrisy, Tosen retorts that, while forgiveness is a very noble thing, it is not justice.
- Case Closed: A major recurring theme in the series, as Conan/Shinichi believes that regardless of the victim's wrongdoings, the culprit is still responsible for their own actions.
- Daimos: Sayuri was an ordinary Shrinking Violet until her parents were massacred by the Baam-seijin. While an ordinary civilian, she managed to nick a gun and shoot an injured Baam soldier even though he was defenseless. Kazuya, an ordinary human (who also lost his father to the Baam), takes the hit and tells her that what she's doing isn't justified. He explains that there are good and bad Baam, just like there are good and bad humans, and even the woman he loves is a Baam.
- Fullmetal Alchemist: When the series starts, Scar is a Vigilante Man/Serial Killer who targets State Alchemists because many of them participated in the genocide of his people. While Roy Mustang, one of the participants in said genocide, views it as justice that one of the surviving Ishvalans would seek revenge, Ed rebukes it, stating outright that, regardless of his reasons, Scar is still involving innocent people in his rampage and candy-coating it by acting self-righteous and calling himself "an instrument of God". Several of Scar's fellow Ishvalan survivors, including his master, also tell Scar point-blank that no matter what happened to their people, what he's doing is wrong.
- Maria no Danzai: The titular Maria Akeboshi is on a mission to murder the Gang of Bullies that orchestrated her son's death and made it look like a suicide to evade justice for two years, killing them in karmic and ritualistic ways to maximize their fear and suffering before they die. Although the children on the receiving end of her wrath are sociopathic, irredeemable Asshole Victims who torment people daily, Maria knows that what she's doing is wrong and feels absolutely no catharsis from carrying out her plan — she's a complete Empty Shell, and she's fully aware that once her vengeance has run its course she'll have nothing left to live for.
- Moriarty the Patriot:
- For all that the Moriarty family is portrayed sympathetically, thanks to the suffering they've received at the hands of the current society, their actions are not portrayed as acceptable or forgivable. They were evil, and they all committed to devoting the rest of their lives to atoning for their crimes. William even outright states that he's never thought of his actions as justice, nor that he has any right to have done what he has. This trope is the entire theme of the series.
- Billy seeks out McGinty after McGinty killed Pat Garrett and destroyed his hometown to try to forgive him instead of seeking revenge...only for it to nearly fail because he was so tempted to take revenge himself. Fortunately, he manages to deliver McGinty over to the law.
- My Hero Academia: Tenya "Ingenium" Iida became a hero after he became his brother's successor when he was attacked by Stain and forced to retire. When Iida finally met Stain face to face, he ignored the injured hero and tried to attack him. During their fight, Stain chews Iida out for his need for vengeance and then drives the nail further by stating that Iida's actions are the furthest thing from being a hero. In an inversion of the trope, when Iida actually admits to these criticisms, Stain seemed unable to accept that he had really gotten through to him.
- Psycho-Pass: When Shinya Kougami finally confronts Shogo Makishima, who is responsible for the death of his Enforcer partner Mitsuru Sasayama and his demotion as a latent criminal, he tries to kill him only to be beaten like a pulp until Akane saves him. When he learns that Chief Kasei wants Makishima alive instead of arresting or killing him, Kougami chooses to leave the bureau to go after him, much to Akane's grief. Kougami is aware of this, which he mentions in his letter to her. When he eventually kills Makishima, Kougami is forced to escape Japan, leaving everything behind. As seen in Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System Case 3 - Beyond Love and Hate, Kougami is on a path of atonement after he realizes killing Makishima to avenge Sasayama's death cost him everything and is haunted by Makishima's ghost wherever he goes. That's why he warns Tenzing, whose parents were murdered by guerrillas, that avenging their deaths wouldn't give her justice.
- Voltes V: Nakamura's arc is learning this. He accuses Kenichi of not understanding how he feels, but Kenichi reminds him that his mother died sacrificing herself to save the Voltes team from the Boazanians.
Comic Books
- Absolute Power (2024) explains that part of Amanda Waller's resentment of superheroes stems from her husband being condemned for his attempt to get revenge for the rape and murder of their daughter, which resulted in a Mutual Kill, whereas Batman and the GCPD successfully captured Joe Chill, the killer of Thomas and Martha Wayne.
- In Avengers: The Children's Crusade, a few Armor Piercing Questions from Billy and Tommy made The Avengers and the X-Men realize that they weren’t really going after Wanda Maximoff to fix anything, and just wanted to punish her. When they learned that she was Brainwashed and Crazy during the events they wanted revenge for, everyone just went home.
- Batman: Depending on the Writer, Bruce Wayne walks a very, very thin line between both sides of this equation, and it is actually one of the biggest reasons he absolutely refuses to kill criminals, even the ones that most people would not care to see gone like the Joker. As he sees it, the moment he starts killing crooks, he will just find reasons to keep on going, and that is the moment he really would not be any different from all of the psychos in Arkham Asylum.
- In The Button, after Reverse-Flash is seemingly killed by Dr. Manhattan, The Flash begins investigating his death and takes no pleasure in it, asserting that it doesn't change his past actions and isn't justice. Barry would later defeat Thawne once and for all by preventing him from becoming evil in the first place.
- In Doomsday Clock, Rorschach's successor is inspired by Batman telling him You Are Better Than You Think You Are to follow in his footsteps. When Ozymandias is shot by the Comedian, he tells Rorschach that he'll finally get to avenge his parents. Rorschach then asserts that he wants justice, not revenge, and stops his bleeding to make sure he rots in prison.
- The Punisher: This is a typical topic of conversation for any person who tries to talk Frank Castle into stopping his vigilante war. As they see it, murdering criminals for the sake of getting even for the death of his family is wrong (depending on the universe, the people who committed the murders were the very first criminals Frank killed, so he already got his pound of flesh, too). What they never seem to understand is that Frank generally doesn't care about either cause; while his reasons vary Depending on the Writer, the most common are that a) he sees it as a dirty-but-more-effective version of traditional superheroics, b) he hit the Despair Event Horizon after his family was killed and is just trying to die doing something semi-constructive that he's undoubtedly good at, and c) he was already a Blood Knight teetering on the edge of Moral Sociopathy with his family to rein him in. Now that they're dead, Frank is restricting himself to complete assholes because otherwise he'd just be going on an indiscriminate murder spree.
Fan Works
- Aftermath - Ten Years Later deconstructs the common plotline of Lila and everyone who fell for her lies in "Chameleon" and beyond being punished once she's exposed as a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who willingly worked with Hawkmoth. Not only did she wind up in prison, but everyone who didn't explicitly side with Marinette gets Convicted by Public Opinion and condemned... and are still being harassed, shunned, mistreated, and in one notable case even attacked with intent to kill a full decade later. When Marinette pays Lila a visit, Lila calls her out on only coming to rub her loss in her face, and on ignoring the Disproportionate Retribution everyone else has been suffering.
- Azul Dragalia: During "Shifting Visions", Zena notes that the only thing that's brought all of Tobias' forces together is their shared hatred and trauma over all the Ilian Church has done. She wonders, "Can genuine connections truly be formed in such a way?"
- Begrudging Assistance Requests: Ellie joins forces with Dmitri in hopes of hunting down Henry and making him pay for his betrayal. She's so dead-set upon this that she betrays Dmitri by murdering Grigori. When Dmitri confronts her about this, he dismisses her excuses in this fashion and throws her back in the Wall, under maximum security.
- The Best Case Scenario is a matter of persepctive: "Hurt" revolves around an Older and Wiser Spinner trying to explain to Himiko's little brother Kento that while he'd thought joining the League of Villains was an act of justice, he wasn't actually accomplishing anything good. All he was doing was lashing out, taking out his frustrations on those who weren't responsible for his problems... and making the Fantastic Racism against those with Heteromorph Quirks even worse, since the bigots just used him to justify their cruelty.
- Cinders and Ashes: the Chronicles of Kamen Rider Dante has this as a Central Theme, especially for the first half. Hoshi was briefly on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge through writing stories of his OC fighting caricatures of cyberbullies that drove his friend to suicide. However, Hoshi eventually realizes this, and the climax of his character arc in the first quarter is to rationalize that what he did wasn't justice, something he would later teach Yuichi during his introductory arc.
- Danganronpa: Paradise Lost heavily discusses the matter in the final Class Trial; both Junpei and Momiji are established to have orchestrated the Killing Game to get revenge for their own personal tragedies. Both of them are openly condemned by the protagonists for continuing their scheme even when evidence comes to light that their intended target is trying to atone for her crimes.
- Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail: Parker Cerise has been reeling from the trauma of his beloved sister Chloe running away from home, which led to several painful revelations. Like how most of her classmates were bullying her, something they cheerfully brag about to Parker's face. He learned that she felt neglected by their father, abandoned by her Childhood Friend, overshadowed by Ash... and that if things don't change, she might stay on the Train forever, or return there even after coming home. When the worst of her bullies proves completely unapologetic, Parker unleashes the Unown with the intent of getting "justice" in his sister's name. This only serves to make matters far worse for everyone involved; his desire for vengeance upon everyone who'd wronged his sister, even those who had simply been Innocently Insensitive or unaware of how badly she was struggling, causes a lot of pain and suffering and turns public opinion against the Cerises.
- In It's Just a Light Rain (But the Storm's Still Comin'), Ann is convinced that Akira caused Shiho's Attempted Suicide. As the Thieves are preparing to infiltrate the Penitentiary of Regret, Morgana pointedly asks her whether she wants Akira to have a Heel Realization and turn himself in, or just wants to void his Karma Houdini Warranty... and rejects her answer of "Can't it be both?"
- Shadows over Meridian: Vera's grandfather was known as the Nest Butcher, slaughtering many Mogriffs. When Metalbeak slew him in front of a young Vera, she grew obsessed with avenging him, not just by killing his murderer, but by wiping out all of the Mogriffs. She's repeatedly called out on this Moral Myopia by many on both sides of the conflict, and while Metalbeak still believes the Butcher deserved to die, he recognizes how he sparked off this Cycle of Revenge and regrets that aspect of his actions.
- A Tale Of Spirits: Following the battle at the North Pole, Aang has to convince Chief Arnook that executing all of the Fire Nation soldiers they captured won't bring back his daughter.
Films — Animated
- Over the course of Batman vs. Robin, Bruce Wayne often reminds his son Damian of the words "Justice, not vengeance" so he gives up the ways drilled into him by the League of Assassins. By the time of Batman: Bad Blood, Damian has finally taken it to heart.
- Subverted in Frozen (2013). When Elsa begins fighting back against the Duke of Weselton’s guards and nearly kills them, Hans tells her not to be the monster they think she is- but as soon as Elsa relents one of the guards tries to shoot her anyway, which suggests she would have been right to kill them.
- ParaNorman: The witch, Agatha, was persecuted for her supernatural powers and eventually executed. During her trial, she cursed her accusers to return as zombies, subjecting them to the same torment she felt at their hands. However, this does not come to pass until Norman fails to keep her spirit asleep and Agatha exacts vengeance by wreaking havoc on the town. Eventually, Norman points out that as awful as everyone was to her, that does not give her the right to cause suffering, and she's no better than the townsfolk.
- Transformers One: What definitively shatters Orion and D-16's friendship is their conflicting views of how to overturn Sentinel's regime. Orion seeks, and succeeds, in exposing the false Prime's crimes to Iacon, rendering him virtually powerless, so that a new, better system can be built, but D-16 will only be satisfied with personally destroying Sentinel and all he's built in recompense for everything he's taken from him. Despite Orion pleading with his friend that an execution would be exactly what Sentinel would do, D-16 remains committed to his revenge, even when it seemingly comes at the cost of Orion's life after he steps in front of D-16's shot when he moves to blast a defenceless Sentinel.
Films — Live Action
- Batman Begins: Discussed. Seven years after Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered, he returns to Gotham City to attend the public trial of Joe Chill, who agreed to cooperate with Gotham's DA in taking down the Falcone crime family in exchange for early release from prison. When Rachel Dawes, Bruce's childhood friend and the DA's assistant, tries to dissuade Bruce from going (as she was the one who was going to drive him to the trial), Bruce firmly insists on going, as unbeknownst to Rachel, Bruce had fully intended on killing Joe Chill himself. Shortly after the trial's conclusion, one of Falcone's hitmen gets to Joe and kills him before Bruce can. Frustrated that Falcone had escaped justice again, Rachel and Bruce later discuss how Falcone managed to pull it off, which Bruce noted that he should thank Falcone for it, only for Rachel to point out that what he wanted was revenge, not justice, and imported the importance of an impartial judicial system, which Bruce complains as being broken. Disgusted, Rachel drives Bruce up to a diner that Falcone frequents, making sure to drive him by the countless homeless encampments along the way to show Bruce just how bad Gotham's crime families have been making things for Gotham citizens and how much they're destroying everything Bruce's parents have fought for and pointing out that Joe Chill himself was a victim of Falcone's criminal empire, despite his crime. She then promptly slaps Bruce after he reveals the revolver he planned to kill Joe Chill with, and tells him how ashamed his parents would be of him. Bruce ultimately takes the lecture to heart, and it's the starting point on his journey to becoming the Dark Knight.
- Batman Forever: After Two-Face kills Dick Grayson's family, he immediately plans to kill him for revenge, and Batman spends the film trying to talk him out of it. When Dick finds out Bruce's secret, he wants to join so he can find Two-Face, but Bruce rejects him because he knows from personal experience that revenge won't undo the damage done to him. Dick does eventually take this to heart and eventually saves Two-Face, only for the latter to betray him immediately afterwards. In the climax, Bruce causes Two-Face's death by throwing coins in the air as Two-Face is flipping his own coin, which causes him to lose balance when he tries to catch the original and tumble to his death.
- Cape Fear (1991): Max Cady wants revenge because his lawyer, Sam Bowden, buried evidence that could have saved Max 14 years in prison (where it's implied that he was sexually assaulted there and he felt especially vulnerable due to his illiteracy). However, in the climax, it's revealed that the evidence that could have saved Max was that his victim was promiscuous, something Sam points out as ridiculous and evil. Max doesn't accept this and prepares to murder him for violating his oath as a lawyer.
Sam: Just because she was promiscuous didn't give you the right to rape her! You bragged to me that you beat two prior aggravated rapes. You were a menace.
Max: You were my lawyer! You were my lawyer, that report could have saved me fourteen years!
Sam: You're probably right.
Max: You self-righteous fuck! - In Clash of the Titans (1981), Calibos begs his mother Thetis to convince Poseidon to unleash the Kraken on Joppa to punish Perseus for chopping off his hand. When he calls it "justice", his mother responds with "Justice, or revenge?" Thetis does here as he asks eventually, but only after Queen Cassiopeia carelessly commits blasphemy against Thetis herself.
- Falling Down: Foster's rampage is caused by stress revolving around the loss of his job, marriage, and access to his child, and the general degradation of modern society. It gradually gets more dangerous and destructive. He busts up a shop because the owner was rude to him and all his merchandise was offensively overpriced, he attacks some thugs for trying to rob him and subsequently drive-by-shoot him, he lets an angry old man die from a heart attack after trying to hit him with a golf ball just because he was passing through the golf course, destroys a road to give a wasteful construction crew something to really fix, he kills a man for breaking his daughter's birthday gift and trying to turn him into the police, and Prendergast believes he might be planning to kill his ex-wife, daughter, and himself. Sergeant Prendergast empathizes with him because he lost his daughter to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, but he rejects Foster's excuse because none of these things gave him the right to go on a rampage.
Serg. Pendergast: Let's meet a couple of police officers. They're all good guys.
Bill Foster: I'm the bad guy?
Serg. Pendergast: ...Yeah.
Bill Foster: How did that happen? I did everything they told me to. Did you know I build missiles?
Serg. Pendergast: Yeah.
Bill Foster: I help to protect America. You should be rewarded for that. Then they give it to the plastic surgeon. You know, they lied to me.
Serg. Pendergast: Is that what this is about? You're angry because you got lied to? Is that why my chicken dinner is drying out in the oven? Hey, they lie to everybody. They lie to the fish! But that doesn't give you any special right to do what you did today. - Girl Fight invokes this as Haley and her mother come to feel that the girls who brutalized the latter should not be punished too harshly after being confronted by Alexa's grandmother, who accuses them of being vindictive. A number of viewers disagreed, however, as the beating was not only extremely vicious, but few of the girls expressed any remorse for it, making it feel like they got off rather lightly, with most only getting a year or two in prison.
- Gran Torino: In a deconstruction of vigilante justice, Walt's attempt to help the Vang Lor family by assaulting a gang member leads to a drive-by shooting, the injuring of Thao, and the kidnapping and rape of Sue. While Thao desires revenge, Walt imprisons him so he can't take revenge, since Walt knows from experience that killing others isn't as glorious as Thao thinks. Walt instead orchestrates his own death, sacrificing himself so that Spider and the gang can be arrested.
- Hot Fuzz: Frank Butterman is the chief of police in Sandford, whose wife committed suicide after Sandford lost Village of the Year 20 years ago because of travelers. After her death, Frank convinced the Neighbourhood Watch Association to punish all crimes and imperfections with the death penalty (ranging from stealing from the shops to simply having an annoying laugh) and brainwashed the police force into rationalising these deaths as accidents. When Nicholas Angel heard of these crimes, he assumed it was all part of a grand money-making scheme and was absolutely horrified by their pettiness and sheer ruthlessness.
Nicholas Angel: How can this be for the greater good?
Neighbourhood Watch Association: The Greater Good
Nicholas Angel: SHUT IT! These people died for no reason, no reason whatsoever! - This is a running theme in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- Unlike in the comic event, the conflict in Captain America: Civil War is about this trope. Bucky Barnes has done some terrible things as the Winter Soldier, but he was also brainwashed into them, and, when in his right mind, is Steve's friend. Steve forgives him and tries to get him help for his brainwashing problem, while Tony fails the test by attacking Bucky and Steve after he's shown evidence that Bucky, as the Winter Soldier, killed his parents, though T'Challa views Steve and Bucky as falling into this as well, saying all three have let vengeance consume them. T'Challa almost falls into this trope (Zemo assassinated his father), but stops himself when he sees what revenge has cost the others. Baron Zemo also falls into this, as he successfully destroys the Avengers for their role in Sovokia's destruction... but not only was that manipulated by outside causes, the Avengers not being together means that Earth doesn't have a coherent defense force when Thanos comes calling.
- Erik Stevens/Killmonger in Black Panther claims his actions are necessary to make things better, but appears to be more obsessed with revenge against everyone who has wronged him; the world in general for racism existing, Wakanda for not helping, and T'Challa in particular for T'Chaka killing Erik's father. He has genuinely good points about the problems Wakanda's isolationism has caused, but T'Challa says that his methods (essentially, start a high-tech worldwide race war) are just going to make everything worse, and decides to open the secret technological wealth of Wakanda to the world in a responsible way.
- Spider-Man: No Way Home has this with Spider-Man vs the Green Goblin. Peter-2 has to stop Spidey from murdering the Goblin in his rage over Aunt May's death, both to stop Peter from becoming a murderer and because while the Goblin is an irredeemable monster, Norman Osborn can still be saved by administering an antidote, and the Goblin getting killed would take Norman with him. Notably, the final fight takes place on a giant statue of Captain America's shield... on the inverse side, showing how Peter's motivation is the opposite of the justice Cap championed.
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always: Zack hears that Minh wants to take down Robo-Rita for killing her mom, and is angry that the morpher isn't working for her. He's quick to realize that she's driven by a desire for revenge rather than doing the right thing to protect Earth, and warns her that what she's doing isn't justice, but revenge, and a mission of revenge never ends well.
- The Purge: Anarchy: Sergeant Leo Barnes participates in the Purge to kill the drunk driver who accidentally killed his son in a car accident, but was freed on a technicality. Cali tries to discourage him with this reasoning, but he continuously brushes her off. However, when he does come face to face with man, he ultimately can't bring himself to kill him. This proves to be a Karmic Jackpot for him, as the man assists Cali and Eva to take Leo to the hospital when he nearly succumbs to gunshot wound, and the sequel reveals that Leo has moved on and taken up a job as a presidential candidate's head of security, clearly much happier than he was before.
- Saw: John Kramer was a civil engineer who was obsessed with control until a series of tragedies put him on death's door. After surviving a suicide attempt, he decided to help people reform by putting them through various death traps that would make them "appreciate life". However, as the series goes on, the victims he targets aren't random, and they tend to be people who did him a great wrong (from denying him treatment for his cancer or denying him insurance that would support his wife when he dies). His reasoning becomes especially petty since he starts sacrificing innocent people to prove a point to his victim (one such example being sacrificing a chain-smoking janitor in Saw VI to motivate William and make it easier for him to pass his first trap).
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024): Super Sonic has Shadow dead to rights and is about to deliver the killing blow as revenge for Shadow critically wounding Tom. However, Sonic remembers Tom's words from the beginning of the movie, which prompts him to stop. As he tells Shadow, "There are no winners with revenge."
- They/Them (2022): When Molly tempts Jordan to help her target more conversion camps, they turn their back on her, wanting nothing more than to leave with their friends and make a new life with them.
Literature
- Aesop's Fables: In "The Horse And The Stag", a horse is feuding with a stag, so they strike a deal with a hunter: they'll allow the hunter to put a bit and bridle on and ride them so they can hunt down and kill the stag together. Once the deed is done, the horse asks for its freedom, only for the hunter to refuse, enslaving the horse as it's too useful for them to release. The moral of the story is that revenge isn't worth it since the price of revenge outweighs the benefits.
- Dragon's Bait: As the story progresses, Alys goes from wanting to hurt the people responsible for her father's death and the loss of their tin shop to realizing it's not going to do anyone justice. Ultimately, she has Selendrile burn the tin shop as a gesture of justice, thereby removing the source of greed that drove her enemies to accuse her of witchcraft.
- The Dresden Files: Battle Ground (2020): After Rudolph accidentally shoots and kills Karrin Murphy due to his Reckless Gun Usage, Dresden goes into a cold rage and attempts to murder Rudolph with magic (which is important, because you can't use magic for anything you don't truly believe in) in revenge. His close friends Sanya and Butters attempt to talk him down, but Dresden ignores them and attacks them when they attempt to get between him and Rudolph. So confident is Dresden in his actions that he attempts a Bare-Handed Blade Block on the holy sword Fidelacchius, believing the weapon cannot hurt him because his actions are righteous. It is only after his hand is burned by Fidelacchius that Dresden comes to his senses and realizes how close he came to crossing a line he could never come back from.
- The core message in Ringing Bell: Chirin strives to be as strong as the Wolf who killed his mother so he can avenge her. When he finally does so, not only does he realize he'd come to love the Wolf to a point he regrets killing him, but he realizes he can't return to being a normal sheep due to what he became to achieve his goal. Thus, he implicitly dies alone.
- The Roads Must Roll: In this Robert A. Heinlein story about an insurrection by the technicians who keep the vital Moving Roadways rolling, the body of a young cadet who had been sent out as a messenger at the outbreak of the rebellion is recovered. Shortly thereafter, the protagonist, Gaines (the Chief Engineer of one of the "Road-Towns") is addressing a group of the slain man's fellow cadets: "You saw Hughes brought in—how many of you want a chance to kill the louse that did it?" Several cadets eagerly step forward — and are coldly dismissed by Gaines, ordered to turn in their weapons and return to their quarters, as Gaines declares the suppression of the insurrection will not be a matter of "private revenge" or a "hunting party". It isn't even perhaps so much a matter of justice as of pure practicality; Gaines is an engineer, and wants to regain control over the roads (and restore their functions) with an absolute minimum of further material damage — and, to be fair, with a minimum of further bloodshed, to the general public, to his own forces, or even to the rebels themselves.
- A Song of Ice and Fire: When Princess Elia Martell and her two children were brutally killed by two of the Lannisters' bannermen during Tywin Lannister's sacking of King's Landing, her brothers, Doran and Oberyn, plotted to avenge their deaths where they plan to destroy House Lannister and restore House Targaryen back into power by having Doran's eldest daughter, Arianne, to marry Viserys Targaryen. However, their plan hit a few snags where Viserys is killed by Khal Drogo for insulting him, meaning Quentyn, Doran's eldest son, has to be the one to forge an alliance with Daenerys Targaryen, which leads him to his death after he failed to tame one of Daenerys's dragons. Then, Oberyn volunteers to be Tyrion Lannister's champion during the Trial by Combat because Elia's killer, Ser Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane, happens to be his opponent, which also leads to his own death via Mutual Kill. In turn, Oberyn's three eldest bastard daughters, the Sand Snakes, demand "justice" for his death. But at that point, Tywin Lannister is killed by Tyrion, who escaped to Essos. Despite the deaths of the people responsible for the deaths of their relatives, Doran and the Sand Snakes still want vengeance, much to the grief of Oberyn's paramour, Ellaria Sand, who points out that the destruction of House Lannister will not bring back Elia and Oberyn.
- Star Wars: Discussed in Revenge of the Sith, though one of the speakers is actively trying to corrupt the other person:
Anakin: Revenge is never just. It can't be...
Palpatine: Don't be childish, Anakin. Revenge is the foundation of justice. Justice began with revenge, and revenge is still the only justice some beings can ever hope for. - Kaladin Stormblessed from The Stormlight Archive has to learn this twice, both by experiencing it for himself and watching someone else. Having been branded a slave as part of an elaborate plot by Meridas Amaram, the man who allowed his kid-brother to die on the frontlines, he spends the majority of books 1 and 2 brooding over exacting his revenge. Little does he know that doing so would break his oath as a Surgebinder to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Later, he finds that the reason he and his brother were sent to war in the first place was the responsibility of King Elhokar, who also allowed the deaths of fellow slave Moash's grandparents. Kaladin has to decide for himself if he should let Moash get his revenge, get involved for his own ends, or keep his oaths.
- He later learns the hard way how badly this can turn out. Not only does he end up befriending Elhokar, but finds out that Elhokar is both technically innocent and actually a pretty stand-up guy when he wants to be - especially after considering that Dalinar, uncle to the king and the man who gave Kaladin and Moash their freedom back, genuinely loves his nephew for all the guy's faults. Then Moash gets his hands on Elhokar. It's shown in gruesome detail how revenge not only hurts the people you hate; it can destroy the lives of everyone around them, too, with Kaladin as the prime example.
Live-Action TV
- In The Acolyte, Osha failed Jedi training because of her inability to grasp this principle, as she was never able to get over her need for revenge against her sister, Mae. Her Master talks her down from killing her when they meet again, but the more they interact, the more incensed she becomes. As part of their Hourglass Plot, Mae is the one who ends up learning the lesson at the end, realizing that Vengeance Feels Empty and she'll only truly be satisfied if Master Sol faces justice for his crimes. Unfortunately, Osha decides that what he's done is unforgivable and completes her fall to the Dark Side by killing him out of revenge.
- The Arrow tries to teach fellow vigilante Huntress this, but the lesson doesn't take—not least because at that point in the series Oliver Queen wasn't very different in the 'justice' he was dealing out, as he later acknowledges.
- Better Call Saul: After major character Nacho Varga is killed, Mike goes to deliver the news of this to his father, promising that there will be "justice" for them. Manuel Varga rejects this. Whatever vengeance he has planned is just revenge and will not bring him peace. He rejects Mike with "You gangsters, you're all the same."
- Blue Bloods: In "Sins of the Father", an aggrieved father targets the crew of a porn studio after his daughter apparently committed suicide after being fired from it, and justifies himself by quoting from the Bible.
Jerry Phillips: "For if there was harm, you shall appoint as penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth." Exodus 21:23.
Danny Reagan: [angrily] "Do not take vengeance against evil, but wait for the Lord and He will avenge you." Proverbs 20:22. - Bones: When the woman who stole Cam's identity was caught, she had to decide whether to press additional charges. Arastoo gave her a speech about revenge, possibly making her a monster, and she ultimately didn't approve of the additional charges.
- In The Boys (2019), the Villain with Good Publicity Blue Hawk cripples A-Train's brother Nathan, leading A-Train to brutally murder him in retaliation. When Nathan finds out what he's done, he's disgusted, telling him that justice would've been putting him behind bars and that he refuses to have a murderer around his kids, yelling at him to Get Out!.
- The edict against using powers for personal gain in Charmed (1998) applies to revenge, and is thus punished by swift karmic retribution. Good witches are intended to protect the innocent, not punish the guilty. Played for laughs at one point when Paige's use of a spell to punish a serial harasser backfires into giving her gargantuan boobs. Played much more drastically in an earlier episode where a far pettier act of revenge resulted in a Bad Future where the merely inconvenienced "victim" led a genocidal witch hunt and all the Charmed Ones were a lot more selfish.
- Criminal Minds: Unsubs who kill for revenge are ultimately treated the same as any other killer. There's a good reason for this: On more than one occasion, the unsubs actually succeeded in killing the primary target of their rage, only to find that this didn't actually fix their internal traumas or improve their life for very long, so they attempt to relive that excitement by killing people who only slightly resemble their initial targets. And in the end, they are still killing to make themselves feel better, not for actual justice. In other cases, their "revenge" is actually massive cases of Disproportionate Retribution, such as Norman Hill, the "Road Warrior", who began his killing spree because a woman was rude to him in traffic!
- Doctor Who:
- In "The Christmas Invasion", after asking the Tenth Doctor about other alien invaders, Harriet Jones orders the destruction of the Sycorax spaceship, and the Tenth Doctor calls her out on this because the Sycorax were retreating at this point. However, Harriet Jones justifies her decision by pointing out that the Sycorax had killed two people while he was unconscious and very nearly killed one-third of the human race by using blood control to force them to commit suicide. However, the Doctor ignores her excuses and causes her to lose her position as Prime Minister. When Harriet returns, she still stands by her decision and sees the Dalek invasion as further proof of her method.
- The Thirteenth Doctor has a black-and-white take on morality and forbids revenge killing — however, very few people actually agree with her on this since the enemy hasn't done anything to deserve this kind of clemency. In "Arachnids in the UK", she shames Jack Robertson for killing the Spider Mother despite the creature already dying a slow and painful death by suffocation. In "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" and "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos", she shames Graham and Karl for taking revenge despite having legitimate reasons to hate Tim Shaw (he tried to kill Karl and he killed Grace, Graham's wife and Ryan's grandmother). In "War of the Sontarans", she shames the General for blowing up the Sontarans because they were retreating; however, the Sontaran General pretty much told her that he and his army will return once they restock their supplies and those same Sontarans are the ones who gleefully massacred the British army.
- The Flash (2014): In Season 7, Joe agrees to help new police detective Kristen Kramer track down her brother Adam, who was responsible for luring Kramer's unit into an ambush. However, he clearly states that he only does so to bring Adam to justice and that if Kramer's hunt for him turns into revenge, she's on her own.
- Game of Thrones: Unlike her book counterpart, Ellaria Sand demands justice for Oberyn's death, which was rejected by Doran because Oberyn volunteered in the Trial by Combat and Ellaria should have known that because she witnessed it. When Ellaria tells Doran to use Myrcella Baratheon, who is engaged to his son Trystane, as a hostage because she's Cersei's daughter despite that she has no connection to Oberyn's death, Doran is appalled by this and tells her that they don't hurt little girls. However, Ellaria is still determined to get revenge by enlisting Oberyn's bastard daughters, the Sand Snakes, who share the same cause as hers. After failing to abduct Myrcella and receiving a pardon from Doran for her actions, Ellaria poisons her instead. Then, she and the Sand Snakes murder Doran and Trystane because they don't support their revenge plans and take control of Dorne so they can forge an alliance with Daenerys Targaryen and Olenna Tyrell. However, these actions lead to their downfall, where two of the Sand Snakes are killed during Euron Greyjoy's ship raid. Ellaria and her daughter are captured and brought to Cersei, who gives them her own brand of justice by forcing Ellaria to watch her own daughter die with the same poison used to kill Myrcella. In the end, not only does Ellaria's quest for vengeance lead to the demise of her family, but it also leaves Dorne without a leader until an unnamed Martell prince takes over Dorne in Season 8 and supports Daenerys.
- Kamen Rider Zero-One tries to have this aesop. The final arc sees As orchestrating a climactic duel against Aruto and Horobi (each of whom has destroyed the other's Morality Pet - Horobi deliberately and Aruto accidentally - and are on the warpath) by arming them with Ark Drivers, which will supposedly trigger an all-out Robot War even though there's little in the show's internal logic to support that. But while Aruto is still subject to this moral by a hologram of his father, who notes the anger in his heart and reinforces the idea of "strength of heart," Horobi was still a murderous terrorist who at that point was hell bent on killing as many people as possible and who never properly apologizes after being Easily Forgiven, so destroying him, even in revenge, would have been a justifiable response.
- Slasher: In Season 5, as Kenneth figures out that the Widow is targeting people who victimized Margaret Mehar, he says that while he understands what the person is doing, killing them is the wrong way to do it. The Widow herself, Regina Simcoe, agrees that justice negates the need for revenge, but the city is so corrupt and horrible that revenge is the only thing she has left, and Kenneth ultimately agrees.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Battle" has Ferengi Captain Daimon Bok gift the derelict Federation ship Stargazer to the Enterprise. The captain's underlings murmur that gifting a prize is "bad business." The Captain has plans to avenge his son's death by creating infighting between the Stargazer and the Enterprise via Mind Control. The scheme unravels, and Captain Bok is relieved of command by his First Officer for "conducting an unprofitable venture."
- The Swamp Fox: Marion has to accept this after Col. Horry gives him a What the Hell, Hero? speech and gets him to realize that his quest for vengeance against his nephew’s killer is hurting his brigade and the war itself.
Mythology and Religion
- The Bible gives mixed messages on this (from a Doylist perspective, not all of the scripture was written at the same time or by the same people). The books of Mosaic law, beginning with the Book of Exodus, echo the Code of Hammurabi that one who causes harm to another should suffer equal (but not greater) harm in return (Ex. 21:22-25
, Lev. 24:17-22, Deut. 19:16-21). The Book of Proverbs, however, commands the reader to not take vengeance but let God handle it (Prov. 20:22). In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus repudiates the eye for an eye commandment, saying that one is not to resist an evil person: "if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also" (Matt. 5:38-40).
- Of the seven deadly sins Wrath is seen as the 3rd deadliest sin with the other two being Envy and Pride. To avoid the sin of wrath, people are encouraged to forgive their abusers or move on from their rage by allowing God to sort out their grievances or sense of injustice.
Romans 12:19: Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written "Vengeance is mine, I will repay" sayeth the Lord.
1 Samuel 24:12: May the LORD judge between you and me! And may He take vengeance upon you for me, but my hand will never touch you.
Roleplay
- Dino Attack RPG: A major aspect of Talia Kaahs's character is her seeking revenge against Dr. Rex for abducting her and ruining her life. While this merely served as her personal motivations in the original RPG, the Expanded Universe stories Scars and Because Of You explored it in greater depth to show why her lust for revenge ultimately causes her to question whether she's a genuinely good person. In particular, George Ogel gives Talia Kaahs a major "The Reason You Suck" Speech when he finds out that she decided to assassinate Dr. Rex in an Alternate Timeline, ultimately forcing her to admit to herself that her selfish quest for revenge is not the same as seeking justice.
Talia Kaahs: I'd say what I did was no different from self-defense.
George Ogel: No, seeking revenge is not self-defense.
Tabletop Games
- This is the whole point of the Oath of Redemption Paladin in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Redemption Paladins follow the ideal that justice means allowing everyone a chance to redeem themselves (often, Redemption Paladins are examples of this mindset working). Though anyone who thinks 'believes in second chances' equates to 'timid and weak' with any sort of Paladin absolutely deserves their upcoming righteous ass-kicking. In contrast, there is also the Oath of Vengeance Paladin sub-class, which essentially vows never to accept this trope when it comes to their sworn enemy/enemies
- Pathfinder: While Shelyn, goddess of beauty and romantic love, and Sarenrae, goddess of healing and the sun, are on cordial terms with Calistria, goddess of lust, one source of disagreement between them is that Calistria is also goddess of revenge. Shelyn and Sarenrae, in contrast, command their followers to spare the lives of enemies who are willing to repent. The alignment system seems to side with Shelyn and Sarenrae: Calistria is Chaotic Neutral (meaning she can sponsor Chaotic Evil divine spellcasters), while Shelyn and Sarenrae are both Neutral Good.
Theatre
- The Merchant of Venice: A major aesop in this play is that revenge gets you nowhere. Shylock wants revenge on Antonio for constant anti-Semitic harassment, so he demands a pound of Antonio's flesh when Antonio can't pay a debt to him. After all the plot has happened, Antonio (and his new wife Portia) can not only pay down the debt with regular money, but triple it, meaning that Shylock would get a massive payout for letting his revenge go. Instead, he insists on mutilating/killing Antonio... which is when he learns that not only is the contract invalid, but that his attacks on Antonio (along with the fact that Antonio is Christian and Shylock is Jewish) mean that now his property is to be forfeit to Antonio, and he's forced to convert to Christianity. A rather disproportionate punishment by modern standards, but it still counts for the trope because it's made explicit that Shylock wouldn't have been punished if he hadn't insisted on revenge.
- Invoked rather cynically in Richard III, when Richard, who has had his brother Clarence falsely imprisoned, blames this on Queen Elizabeth and her relatives but states he will pray for them rather than seek revenge:
Rivers: A virtuous and a Christian-like conclusion,
To pray for them that have done scathe to us.
Richard: So do I ever- (aside) being well-advised.
For had I cursed now, I had cursed myself.
Video Games
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has this as one of its major themes. The game opens up with Spider-Man hunting for his Uncle Ben's killer, only for a Serial-Killer Killer to beat him to it; shortly afterwards, Peter finds he feels no peace or satisfaction from it, and spends the rest of the game hunting for the killer. During the Final Boss, he counters the killer's "Not So Different" Remark by retorting that feeling anger and the desire for revenge is human; what's important is whether or not he acts on those feelings.
Spider-Man: It's not wrong to feel emotions like that. It's wrong to act on them.
- This is explored in a few character arcs in Baldur's Gate III:
- Astarion is a vampire spawn who has spent centuries being tormented and abused by the vampire lord Cazador, only being freed thanks to a chance encounter with an illithid invasion. He spends most of the game trying to get back at Cazador before Cazador recaptures him, but also fantasizes about becoming as powerful as Cazador so he can Never Be Hurt Again. While helping him hunt down and kill Cazador is unambiguously presented as a heroic thing to do, the flip side comes when he tries to hijack Cazador's Ascension ritual for his own purposes. It would definitely be karmic for Cazador to be sacrificed in the same ritual he planned to use Astarion for, but the power the ritual grants Astarion will serve to corrupt him into a megalomaniac little better than his former master.
- Gale eventually grows to nurse a grudge against Mystra, the Goddess of magic. His relationship with her had already fallen apart thanks to a reckless gesture from him that cursed him with a horrific infliction, but what really ends up upsetting Gale is when Mystra tries to pressure him into committing a Heroic Sacrifice to destroy the Absolute. As a result, he begins to consider her a callous God with no regard for his life and wants to pursue divinity himself to get even with her. This time, talking him out of his vengefulness is treated as the right thing to do, as if Gale follows Mystra's request to return the Crown of Karsus after destroying the Absolute, she cures him of his affliction, allowing him to start anew as a professor. Egging him on, however, can easily blow up in his face if he tries to usurp Mystra's domain, and even if he doesn't, his new life as a God of Ambition alienates most of the people around him and turns him into a more distant figure who's clearly lost a lot of his humanity.
- During Gunvolt's True Final Boss fight in Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, there's a part during the Boss Banter where Gunvolt tries to warn Copen that getting vengeance sucks, in reference to him killing Asimov to avenge Joule's death in the previous game and the Heroic BSoD he subsequently suffered from prior to the start of 2. Copen, who's not only already head-deep in vengeance but also (wrongly) believes that Gunvolt killed his sister Mytyl, is far too angry to listen.
- Batman: Arkham Knight: Killer Croc is on a rampage in Season of Infamy, when Batman and Nightwing investigate the scene they find out Croc wants revenge because the prison staff tortured him through scientific experiments and worsened his condition as a result. Nightwing understands why Croc wants revenge, but Batman points out that he still killed people, and he needs to face justice for that. This trope is Reconstructed, as while Killer Croc does have to pay for his crimes, Batman ensures the corrupt warden who carried out the immoral experiments is also brought to justice, turning him over to the GCPD and having him locked up in a cell right next to Croc for an extra dose of karma.
Batman: What happened to you was wrong. But you killed people. You have to pay for that.
Killer Croc: When does warden pay?
Batman: He’ll face justice for his crimes. - Bully: Zig-Zagging Trope in chapter 4, A Healthy Mind In a Healthy Body, and Other Lies. Jimmy enlists the Nerds in his fight against the jocks because they have been bullying everyone since the start of the game, and the Nerds want revenge as well for being bullied by them. In their revenge plot, Earnest makes Jimmy take illicit photos of Mandy, the head cheerleader and a bully herself, in order to rile up the Jocks (in actuality, Earnest was just being a creep and wanted those photos for himself). The nerds are attacked later on by the jocks for what happened, and later on, Jimmy meets a distressed Mandy, who tells him that the photos have been printed all over town, and she feels that her life has been ruined by it. In an inversion of the trope, Mandy accepts that she's been a terrible person and says she deserves it, while Jimmy volunteers to take the posters down after internally realizing that he and the Nerds have taken their revenge too far since they've effectively ruined Mandy's life and caused lifelong trauma. Since then, Mandy has been attracted to Jimmy, and she has become a lot nicer.
- Dead Rising 3: Zhi is the first optional psychopath Nick faces, and he's the embodiment of the deadly sin of wrath. After fighting Nick, Zhi laments about how life has dealt him more than a few bad cards; he was fired, his wife left him for another man, his kids disrespect him, and he's now suffering from a zombie outbreak. However, Nick responds to his self-pity by saying that none of these things gave him the right to kill others, especially when his victims had nothing to do with the tragedies that befell him or even realised how they offended him in the first place.
Zhi: Spirit of universe has slaughtered my happiness and so I must slaughter too. All who disrupt my garden of peace shall die! [spits at corpses]
Nick: Oh God. You did this! These people were just looking for safety, you had no right to kill them! - Devil Survivor: This is the party's, especially Midori's, argument against Keisuke going on a murderous rampage with Yama because the public treated demon tamers with prejudice and scorn.
- Dynasty Warriors:
- After his family was killed by Cao Cao, Ma Chao swore to bring justice to him. However, his quest for justice led to collateral damage, where Wang Yi's entire clan was killed. Because of this, Wang Yi swears vengeance on Ma Chao, which makes the latter's goal for justice very hypocritical.
- After Guan Yu was betrayed by Wu and slain at Fan Castle, while Zhang Fei was murdered by his own men who fled to Wu, Liu Bei swore to avenge the deaths of his sworn brothers by waging war against Wu despite the warning from Zhao Yun and, to some extent, Zhuge Liang. However, this leads to his defeat where Lu Xun commenced a fire attack on the Shu's main camp, leading Liu Bei to realize that he ignored his ideals and virtues for vengeance. By then, he retreats back to Baidi Castle, where he dies, leaving his son and Zhuge Liang to take care of his kingdom.
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Twice during the Companions questline.
- After Skjor is killed by the Silver Hand before Aela the Huntress and the Dragonborn could meet up with him. Aela vengefully directs the Dragonborn in fighting the Silver Hand, and word of their assaults reaches Kodlak Whitemane. Kodlak summons the Dragonborn and calls them out on their revenge quest, stating their revenge ended when they killed Skjor's slayers, and their actions have started a cycle of revenge from the Silver Hand. Something Aela takes to heart when Kodlak is eventually killed by the Silver Hand.
- After Kodlak is killed by the Silver Hand, Vilkas demands that the Dragonborn accompany him in wiping out the Silver Hand and recovering the fragments of Wuuthrad. When Vilkas returns and goes to the Underforge, Aela reprimands him for his desire for revenge. When the circle enters Ysgramor's Tomb, Vilkas refuses to go any further because he feels unworthy; he agrees that he took things too far and let vengeance rule his heart.
- Ghost of Tsushima: The Iki Island expansion has Jin travelling to Iki, the place where he watched his father get killed as a boy. He spends some time not only fighting off Mongols, but learning the hard way the effect his father's army had all those years ago when trying to invade the island and take it over, going so far as to adopt a pseudonym to avoid association with him with the locals. Jin befriends and teams up with a local raider, later learning that he was the one who dealt the killing blow to Lord Sakai. Initially angered, Jin can nonetheless not bring himself to kill his friend, and in the end chooses to forgive him. Jin does not want to repeat his father's mistakes and acknowledges that though the raiders can be a bit brutal, they aren't bad people; they (like him) have just been trying to defend their home. Characters seeking an eye for an eye (typically with the unrepentant Mongols) is a theme throughout the main plot of the game, so Jin acknowledging that it isn't applicable here and choosing to break the Cycle of Revenge with his father's killer is especially noteworthy.
- God of War:
- Kratos wanted revenge against Ares for tricking him into murdering his wife and daughter. When he succeeds in killing Ares, Kratos doesn't feel any better, and he resorts to killing himself, but is saved by the Olympians, who give him Ares' title as the God of War. In the sequel, he decides to kill Zeus and anyone who gets in his way. Hermes and Hera try to tell him that his crusade against the gods has only brought him more nightmares and thrown Greece into chaos, claims that Kratos ignores until he kills Zeus. Once Kratos killed Zeus, he realized what he had done, and he seemingly commits suicide, only for that to fail and for Kratos to spend the next 150 years regretting what he did and hating himself. This incident is what motivates Kratos to try to discipline his son to ensure that he doesn't go down the same path as he did. Centuries later, when encountering a man who similarly wanted revenge against his family for being wronged, Kratos tries to talk him out of it, but said man brushed it off, forcing Kratos to Mercy Kill him just before he could kill his own mother.
Hermes: I thought Spartans fought with honor, and yet, you seek to kill me when I have no way to defend myself? Not fair! ...But you have your own sense of honor. Right, Kratos? And what has that honor brought you? Nothing but nightmares of your failure! Today, you may defeat me. But in the end Kratos, in the end, you'll betray only yourself.
- Inverted in God of War (PS4): during his journey to Jotunheim, he meets Mimir and takes him along for the rest of the journey with Atreus. After Atreus falls sick, Kratos and Mimir travel to Helheim, and Mimir learns of Kratos's true identity as the Ghost of Sparta. While Kratos believes that his actions were wrong and he should still hide his past, Mimir believes the Olympians had it coming and that he should be honest with Atreus.
- This trope is a major theme in God of War Ragnarök. Freya starts the game hating Kratos and Atreus for killing her son Baldur to protect her, but soon realizes that getting her revenge won't change anything and decides that while she doesn't forgive Kratos, she can't bring herself to kill him. Similarly, at the end of the game, the heroes all have perfectly justifiable reasons for hating Odin and wanting him dead, but resolve to defeat him out of justice, not revenge; choosing to put his soul into a Jotunheim marble instead of outright killing him, but Sindri takes the choice of what to do with it out of their hands.
- Kratos wanted revenge against Ares for tricking him into murdering his wife and daughter. When he succeeds in killing Ares, Kratos doesn't feel any better, and he resorts to killing himself, but is saved by the Olympians, who give him Ares' title as the God of War. In the sequel, he decides to kill Zeus and anyone who gets in his way. Hermes and Hera try to tell him that his crusade against the gods has only brought him more nightmares and thrown Greece into chaos, claims that Kratos ignores until he kills Zeus. Once Kratos killed Zeus, he realized what he had done, and he seemingly commits suicide, only for that to fail and for Kratos to spend the next 150 years regretting what he did and hating himself. This incident is what motivates Kratos to try to discipline his son to ensure that he doesn't go down the same path as he did. Centuries later, when encountering a man who similarly wanted revenge against his family for being wronged, Kratos tries to talk him out of it, but said man brushed it off, forcing Kratos to Mercy Kill him just before he could kill his own mother.
- Injustice: Gods Among Us: After The Joker drugged Superman with Kryptonite-laced fear toxin and tricked him into killing his pregnant wife Lois Lane and detonating a nuclear weapon that destroys Metropolis, the Man of Steel not only kills the clown in revenge, he adopts a Knight Templar Well-Intentioned Extremist stance on crime. He even blames Batman for allowing the clown to run amok and putting him in Arkham Asylum, an infamous Cardboard Prison whose criminals don't reform. However, anyone can notice Superman was clearly motivated by revenge and not altruism when it comes to the post-Metropolis crimes he commits, such as brutally crushing any opposition to the One Earth Regime he established, and frequently gets condemned by the Insurgency for breaking the no-kill rule.
- The Last of Us Part II has this as a Running Theme: Abby wants revenge because Joel killed her father, the surgeon who was going to sacrifice Ellie to make a cure for the outbreak. Once Abby kills Joel, she gives Ellie a reason to want revenge, and everyone in Abby's group believes she went too far in killing Joel. They understand her reasoning to kill Joel, but decree that she went too far in beating him to death. Abby even agrees in the end by saying it didn't bring any peace or bring her father back. Ellie also realises that killing Abby won't undo the damage done to her or bring Joel back. She ultimately decides to spare Abby so she doesn't lose anything else in her life.
- Mass Effect 2:
- Garrus Vakarian's loyalty mission consists of him seeking revenge on a former comrade who betrayed his vigilante group on Omega to the gangs, getting all of them but Garrus killed. The Paragon route has Shepard interpose themself between Garrus and his target to block his shot; talking to him reveals that the man is wracked with guilt over his actions. Garrus lets him go, and he turns himself in to the authorities.
- Discussed by Thane Krios, who spent years tracking and killing his wife's murderers, but became a Disappeared Dad to his son Kolyat as a consequence, which is the hook for his loyalty mission.
Thane: Removing evil from the world is not the same as adding good.
- Double Subverted in No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. Travis Touchdown is trying to avenge Bishop after he was killed under Jasper Batt Jr's order, who ordered the hit out of revenge for Travis killing his family in the first game. In the fight against Margaret Moonlight, the lyrics to Philistine berate Travis and the player for thinking revenge makes them a better person than their enemies. It's not until he fights Alice Twilight that he finally absorbs the lesson that killing is wrong and violence is not as glorious as he once believed.
"you act as though payback
makes you a noble man is that a fact?
Well, you're a goddamn philistine" - South Park: The Fractured but Whole plays this for laughs: Mitch Connor's backstory is that he walked in on his dad having sex and felt so traumatized that he spent most of his life looking for the person who did it. In the end, Mitch's mother turns up, reveals she was the one who fucked Mitch's dad, and pleads with Mitch to forgive her. Mitch refuses to forgive her, despite a drunk Stephen Stotch saying he should, and the resulting fight between Mitch and his mother leads to their deaths. The main clincher to this, of course, is that Mitch Conner is just Cartman's Hand Puppet and everything here is just him making up a backstory on the fly to get out of trouble (which works because South Park adults are typically morons).
- Spider-Man (PS4): Dr. Octavius wants revenge because Norman Osborn ruined his career years ago and continues to cause trouble for him even after. When Octavius's tentacles begin to chip away at his inhibitions, he becomes more and more desperate for revenge. At first, Peter assumes that it was the tentacles manipulating him until he discovers that Octavius was always in control, and he knew all along that Peter was Spider-Man. Finally realizing that his friend and mentor was willing to sacrifice countless civilians to hurt Osborn and that their friendship meant nothing to him, Peter finally drops the special treatment and defeats him.
Otto: You should be on my side!
Peter: I WAS! - Star Wars: The Old Republic has Jun Seros, a Jedi who serves as the antagonist of the Bounty Hunter storyline, who wants to bring the protagonist to justice because they killed a fellow Jedi of his. While this does actually make the Bounty Hunter a legitimate war criminal (especially considering that they also blew up said Jedi's ship, killing countless Republic soldiers) Seros is primarily motivated by vengeance as his actions to take them down lead him to sacrifice lives and resources (including his friend's Padawan if you spared her) as well as forcing the Hunter into serving a brutal Sith Lord who directs them towards the Republic war effort, culminating in potentially assassinating/capturing the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. After beating him you can point out that all his actions have only succeeded in undermining the Republic and dooming the Supreme Chancellor, much to his horror.
- Until Dawn: Early in the game, the main characters unintentionally cause the deaths of Hannah and Beth Washington with a Deadly Prank, causing their brother to seek medical help to cope with the loss of his sisters. Josh decides to get revenge on his friends by playing a traumatising prank that involves creating near-fatal traps, faking his murder, and creating a fake serial killer who forces them to turn against each other. When the group finds out about Josh's prank, they are rightly pissed off with him, and the psychological manifestation of Dr. Hill berates him for traumatising his friends over what was clearly an accident, something they unwittingly caused and deeply regretted.
Dr. Alan Hill: You have gone too far now. Don't you see?! Huh?! Don't you see that this... torture porn has gone too far?! Now what gives you the right to play God, in these people's lives?! What makes you so special then?! Huh?! You're sick! You're a sick fuck! Now what the hell have you done to them?! Huh?! What the hell have you done to them, you psychopath?! Psychopath!
- WarCraft and World of Warcraft:
- One of the cornerstones of The Paladin is the acknowledgment that "vengeance cannot be a part of what we must do". Warcraft III centers around The Wise Prince and Paladin, Arthas Menethil, Slowly Slipping Into Evil as more and more of his people die in plots by The Undead and his increasing frustration with always being too late to save them, until he decides to forego the paladin oaths and begin his descent into Fallen Hero territory, eventually becoming a servant of the very undead he swore to destroy as his obsession with vengeance led to him picking up Frostmourne which promptly stole his soul in exchange for a hollow victory, after which Arthas returns to his kingdom, murders his father, and brings his kingdom to ruin, raising everyone he can find as undead.
- By the time of World Of Warcraft, Arthas has slain his mentor, Uther. When the Shadowlands expansion, centered around the afterlife, rolls around long after Arthas himself has been slain, we learn that Uther, now a Kyrian, with a bit of goading from a Forsworn, tossed Arthas' soul directly into The Maw without it receiving the Judgement of the Dead it was due under the guise of it being 'justice' for all the atrocities Arthas committed in life, and definitely not vengeance. This puts Uther in line with the rest of the Forsworn during a civil war between them and their Kyrian brethren, and when the Forsworn's connection to The Maw is revealed, Uther has a Heel Realization that no, what he did was very much vengeance, and his refusal to see that means he played a part in a plot that might have doomed the Shadowlands as a whole.
Websites
- This trope is the reason why one of the Common Mary Sue Traits listed on Springhole's now-deprecated Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test is "Is your character mainly driven by completely justified revenge?" (In other words, no matter how extreme the revenge, it in no way detracts from the character supposedly being a purely good hero.) "Completely" is the operative word here; otherwise, every Anti-Hero would have to answer yes to the question. It only applies if the narrative thinks the character did nothing wrong.
Web Videos
- Atop the Fourth Wall: Linkara often espouses this philosophy in defense of Thou Shalt Not Kill. For a notable example, when Green Arrow calls killing Prometheus after Justice League: Cry for Justice, Linkara promptly rebuts it.
Linkara: NO! Like every other repetition of that word, you mean revenge! Revenge. The most worthless of causes...
Western Animation
- The Arthur episode "Arthur's Big Hit" had Arthur punch DW after she destroyed his model plane by throwing it out of a window to make it fly. Their parents and Arthur's friends tell him off because Arthur should have known better than to hit his 4-year-old sister, but Arthur doesn't understand the issue since he warned D.W. plenty of times not to touch the plane and she tried to shift the blame on to Arthur by saying he built it incorrectly, as it was supposed to fly. So when Binky hits him for an unrelated reason, Arthur's parents call it karma by saying, "Now you know how D.W. feels.", and Arthur finally apologizes for lashing out.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: In "The Southern Raiders", Zuko reveals to Katara that he can help her find the man who killed her mother. This prompts her to go off on a quest to find the killer and take his life, despite Aang's warnings that nothing good ever comes from revenge, and murder is never the solution. Later, when Katara finally finds the killer, she sees what a pathetic man he is and lets him live, giving up on her quest but making it clear that she does not, and will never, forgive him.
- Batman: The Animated Series: In "Heart of Ice", this is the main reason Batman tries to stop Freeze from killing Ferris Boyle. Even though the man ruined his and his wife's lives, Batman still tries to save him out of principle. The caped crusader does give evidence of Boyle's wrongdoings and leaves him to be arrested.
Freeze: It can't end this way... Vengeance...
Batman: No. Justice. - Elena of Avalor: In the series finale, Elena learns from her parents the real reason why Esteban sided with Shuriki, and that wanting revenge against him won't bring them back, it'll just lead to bad decisions.
- Family Guy:
- Subverted in "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q". Quagmire suggests that he and the guys should kill Jeff (Brenda's violent boyfriend). Joe says he could easily arrest Quagmire just for saying that, and that no matter how awful Jeff is, it's still murder. However, Joe ends up changing his mind once he sees Jeff beating up Brenda, and allows Quagmire to murder Jeff so that Brenda can be free.
Joe: Let's waste this dick.
- In "Baby Got Black", Jerome's disapproval of Chris stems from his wariness of white people due to facing years of racial prejudice. Peter witnessed this firsthand while the pair was driving to Chris and Pam, as Jerome is stopped by a cop despite not committing any crimes, and Jerome admits to Peter that he gets pulled over multiple times a day. When Jerome and Peter do finally reach Chris and Pam, Peter forbids him from ever interacting with black people, per Jerome's wishes, something that shocks Jerome and makes him fully realise that he's encouraging segregation and similarly judging people because of the color of their skin.
- Subverted in "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q". Quagmire suggests that he and the guys should kill Jeff (Brenda's violent boyfriend). Joe says he could easily arrest Quagmire just for saying that, and that no matter how awful Jeff is, it's still murder. However, Joe ends up changing his mind once he sees Jeff beating up Brenda, and allows Quagmire to murder Jeff so that Brenda can be free.
- Invincible (2021): Zig Zagging. Powerplex (Scott Duvall) wants revenge against Mark because he holds him accountable for what happened to his family in Chicago after they were killed as collateral damage between Mark and Omni-Man's fight. Powerplex wanted revenge because he thinks Mark was let off easily and was given more reason to believe he was evil by nature for being a viltrumite. Powerplex's lust for vengeance resulted in the deaths of his wife and son, causing him to further blame Mark for ruining his life. Mark just pities him in the end and agrees that he has every right to be mad about this.
- The Ghost and Molly McGee: In "The Don't-Gooder", Molly gets tired of Andrea hogging all the credit and glory for her charity work. After Andrea beats Molly in a nougat-selling drive, Molly becomes obsessed with proving Andrea is a phony to the point even the revenge- and mischief-loving Scratch has concerns. Molly starts to feel ashamed when she learns Andrea was only stealing the spotlight in a desperate attempt to get the approval of her neglectful parents.
- In Justice League Unlimited, Huntress’s main arc is realizing that murdering the man who killed her parents is not justified. She realises that Madragora deserves to live so as not to let his innocent son feel the same pain she experienced from witnessing her parents' death with her own eyes. She believes that no child should be without a parent.
