History Main / ContemptCrossfire

A three-character dynamic where Alice and Charlie are diametrically opposed on some subject, with Bob leaning slightly towards one and is disrespected, dismissed or ignored for it by both sides. Bob is often derided by extremists on his own side as being too soft while the opposition sees him as being affiliated with said extremists, while any attempt at defending his views are seen as defending the extremists', and any attempt at conciliation is treated as high treason. Even a MistreatmentInducedBetrayal won't get him any favors with the opposition, and he may even be RewardedAsATraitorDeserves or at least be the target of many a PretenderDiss.

Note that Bob can be meant to be sympathetic (for example, if Alice is a FanHater, Charlie a FanDumb, and Bob a non-obsessive fan of the same work--or, alternately, Alice and Charlie are part of rival gangs, and Bob is the police officer just trying to keep the peace) or unsympathetic (Alice is resisting her country's invaders, Charlie is one of the invaders, Bob is TheQuisling, David just wants the fighting to stop--or, alternately, Alice is an honest cop, Charlie is a mob boss, and Bob is a heroin dealer who is making life difficult for both of them).

See also GoldenMeanFallacy, MediationBackfire, and WeAREStrugglingTogether.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Being an Eleven who serves in the Britannian military, [[Characters/CodeGeassSuzakuKururugi Suzaku Kururugi]] gets a lot of this. The Japanese despise him as a sellout and traitor, while the Britannians look down on him for being an Eleven. Best shown when he tries to put a stop to a fight between Tamaki and two Ashford school boys, and gets insulted by both sides.

** The Norma are discriminated by the Mana users for the fact that they shatter Mana on contact (not to mention that they were programmed by Embryo to do so to placate them), expelled from Mana society and sent to a PenalColony where they are used as CannonFodder against extradimensional [=DRAGONs=] [[ChildSoldier from the age of twelve]]. The [=DRAGONs=] themselves, who are similarly opposed to Embryo, the architect of the world, the slaughter of their kind, and the Normas' predicament, at first lack empathy for the Norma, seeing them as accessories to Embryo's crimes, and obliterate half of their base, Arzenal, killing off several Norma in the process, and their leader almost executing Ange, who was nearly killed twice by both sides already. It takes Sala to slowly form an alliance between the two.
** Alektra is a very beleaguered, borderline sympathetic case. Having been outed as a Norma as a child, and failing with Libertas and her comrades against Embryo, she has had a long standing vendetta against the World of Mana, to the point she'll use anyone. When Ange returns and offers the idea of allyship with the [=DRAGONs=], she accepts, but her idea is to use them as CannonFodder against Embryo, [[ShameIfSomethingHappened using Ange's loyal maid Momoka as leverage]]. Ange rightfully seethes with indignance, calling her out for [[HeWhoFightsMonsters becoming as bad as Embryo]].

* In ''A Lazy Guy Woke Up As A Girl One Morning'', the boys and girls of the third-year class argue which of them should get Yasuda, the lazy guy-turned girl, because the boys realize that Yasuda's laziness [[TheLoad causes them to lose while he's on their team]], and the girls don't want to give up the advantage by having to take him onto their team now that he's a girl.

** During the "Man of Stone" arc, Rawlins' DirtyCoward, SmugSnake and ChronicBackstabbingDisorder tendencies are so exacerbated he ends up making General Zakharov look good, and Zakharov's strategy for luring mujaheddin out of cover involved pushing their families (babies included) off a cliff in front of them. By contrast, Zakharov has the greatest respect for Frank, deeming him a Russian born in the wrong country by mistake, and whatever feelings Frank had, he at least gives Zakharov a MercyKill. Rawlins's death is considerably messier.

* Famously happened in the ComicBook/{{Batman}} / ComicBook/CaptainAmerica [[ComicBook/BatmanAndCaptainAmerica crossover comic book]]. Since Red Skull is a Nazi, Red Skull is held equally in contempt not only by the heroes, but by ComicBook/TheJoker as well (since, by Joker's own admission, Joker is still a proud American even if he is AxeCrazy).

** The Wolf never shows anything but unrelenting contempt for his victims, decrying their combat ability and weakness. Said victims are also the most hated people in all Westeros (Gregor Clegane, Ramsay Bolton, Petyr Baelish, Euron Greyjoy, and Cersei Lannister). Euron's crew doesn't lift a finger to help him after the Wolf beats him in a duel.

* ''Film/DjangoUnchained'': Django explains that "house niggers" (slaves who serve in a plantation's mansion rather than in the fields) are the lowest of the low, being looked down by whites for being black and hated by other slaves for their cushy job and [[TheQuisling Quisling]]-like position.

* ''Film/MenInBlack'': The cephalopoid who James Edwards (later known as Agent Jay) chases in his first scene is not only on the run from the NYPD, but knows that if his boss (the Bug) finds him, he'll [[YouHaveFailedMe kill]] him too. J lampshades it by saying that the cephalopoid is "pissing everybody off."

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': Aftran (a Yeerk) has some difficulty convincing the Animorphs that there is such a thing as peaceful Yeerks who oppose taking unwilling hosts, as they've known nothing but Yeerks trying to kill them. Meanwhile the militaristic Yeerks see the peace movement as traitors to the cause and hunt them down.

** ''Blackadder Goes Forth'': Captain Blackadder finds himself with an antagonistic relationship with Captain Darling, who abuses his position under General Melchett to make Blackadder's life miserable (and is constantly belittled by Blackadder), but he's ignored and mistreated by the general in turn. It's a sign of just how badly they know they're screwed in the final episode when Darling is volunteered for the big push and neither of them snarks at the other.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'': the game centers on the conflict between the Maverick Hunters (and Zero in particular) and their supposed partners, the Repliforce (and their higher-up Colonel in particular). Iris -- Zero's girlfriend of sorts and Colonel's sister -- got caught in the tension between the two, with Colonel refusing to stop the coup d'etat and Zero being vehement on stopping Colonel's group at any cost. Iris tries to make the two stop fighting, to no avail. This culminates in [[spoiler:Zero slaying Colonel, then a distraught Iris merging Colonel's robotic core with hers and then fighting Zero, who then has to take her down in self-defense. Iris' body got overclocked and she died peacefully on Zero's arms. Cue Zero's anguished scream about questioning his (lack of) reason for fighting and the subsequent RoaringRampageOfRevenge, especially once he knows who's the real mastermind behind the (largely unnecessary and avoidable) conflict of the 2 groups.]]
* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'': Runaway [[ArtificialHuman synths]] truly have it bad from everybody. The Institute that made them considers them to be malfunctioning equipment which must be forcibly subdued, brought back and mind-wiped. Synths are ''terrified'' of this prospect, seeing having their mind wiped as akin to death. However, the wasteland they escape to isn't welcoming of them either, due to long standing paranoia about synths being part of the Institute's KillAndReplace manipulation of society, as well as possibly being OmnicidalManiac types, owing to a decades-old massacre. The only people sympathetic to their plight, the Railroad, have to work in secret.

*** Corrin ends up becoming an enemy to both sides for the first half of Revelation, as neither of their families understand why they would choose neither side. Once the two royals learn the truth, though, Corrin achieves the unlikely feat of getting them to band together against their true enemy.

*** Acheron is a young and ambitious noble of the Leicester Alliance who is not well liked among his peers, especially after he betrays them to their enemies in Part 2, but his enemies don't seem to hold him in any higher regard. [[spoiler:On the Crimson Flower route, Acheron stays with the Alliance, with Leonie(if she was not recruited) openly disdaining him as the least important noble in the Alliance, and Acheron can be killed during that battle(unless he escapes after Leonie or the Alliance General replacing her is killed)]].
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes'', Count Varley, Bernadetta's [[AbusiveParents father]], becomes bishop of the newly formed Southern Church, which causes the Central Church to view him as an enemy and try to have him assassinated. Edelgard and the rest of the Empire don't care for him due to him being a {{greed}}y DirtyCoward, and specifically chose him to draw the ire of their enemies. If Count Varley gets killed, Hubert will be annoyed that his death necessitates finding a new bishop, while even [[NiceGirl Bernadetta]] barely reacts.

** In ''Warlords of Draenor'', Gul'dan and his followers fit this role. Not only are they enemies to the Alliance and Horde(as well as their draenei and orc allies), but also to Grommash's Iron Horde, which rejected Gul'dan's offer of power thanks to a time traveling Garrosh's help. [[spoiler:When Gul'dan becomes the final antagonist of the expansion, Grommash fights alongside the heroes to stop Archimonde.]]

** In ''Legion'', the Nightborne who collaborated with the Burning Legion are enemies to the Alliance, the Horde and many of their own people. Even the Legion don't regard them very highly, with Tichondrius mocking them for failing to defeat the intruders.

* In ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaWarriorWithin'', Shahdee ends up in one just before the second fight with her. On one end is the Prince, who is there to kill the Empress of Time and wants Shahdee dead for attacking him at sea and killing his crew. On the other end is the Empress herself, who not only wants to kill the Prince, but also [[YouHaveFailedMe wants to kill Shahdee for her failure to stop the Prince]]. [[spoiler:Shahdee ends up turning on Kaileena right then and there, only for the Prince to unwittingly come to Kaileena's rescue]].

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', [[KnightTemplar Miko Miyazaki]] not only ends up being hated by the eponymous party of adventurers, but [[TheFriendNobodyLikes her fellow Paladins hate her, too]]. Unsurprisingly, [[BigBad Xykon]] and his minions don't think much of Miko when they interact. After Miko [[spoiler:assassinates her liege lord Shojo for supposedly betraying her and her fellow Paladins]], she's become a pariah from both the good and evil sides. Even when she [[spoiler:loses her powers]] she's unwilling/unable to see that it's all her fault.

* Frizz and Nug, two unwilling cronies in ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'', are regularly abused and PressGanged by the BigBad Zordrak or his CoDragons, Sgt Blob and Urpgor. The heroes meanwhile either don't know or don't care that either of them are TheDragAlong and [[GoodIsNotSoft often repel them just as violently]]. The two Urpneys are so aware of their doomed position against either that most episodes they are more focused on evading their job altogether instead of committing much evil.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQlgmh34xqw One episode]] sees Summer held hostage by a Council Rick. Rick makes it clear he's going to ShootTheHostage, until Morty threatens to shoot Rick... leading to Rick admitting it ''was'' a bluff. Council Rick admits it had him going, calling Morty a fucking moron, an opinion repeated by Summer and Rick. All three calling him an idiot causes Morty to snap and shoot Rick... who takes advantage of the distraction to kill Council Rick (Morty's gun was fake, as stated by a note attached to the gun... [[NotAnAct which Morty evidently only read]] ''after'' the shooting).

** In the Syrup Village arc, not only do Luffy and his friends hate the Black Cat Pirates for being accomplices to Captain Kuro the ArcVillain, but Kuro himself considers them expendable, using an attack that harms his own men. When Luffy is prepared to finish off Kuro, Kuro's men cheer him on, but Luffy [[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame reminds them they're still his enemies]].
** The Seven Warlords of the Sea are pirates who work with the World Government in exchange for a certain amount of license to operate with impunity. Law-abiding citizens hate them for being criminals who went unpunished for their crimes and are likely plotting against the government, while pirates consider them "government dogs" who sold out. As a result, [[spoiler:virtually no one complains when the World Government dissolves the Seven Warlords system and immediately moves to capture the remaining Warlords]].
** Donquixote Homing [[DefectorFromDecadence decided to part ways with the rest of the Celestial Dragons in order to live as an ordinary human]], but found that the common people despised the Celestial Dragons so much that they sought brutal revenge against him and his family. Meanwhile, the other Celestial Dragons looked down on Homing and refused his request to have his sons reinstated as nobles. This culminated in Doflamingo killing Homing in a futile attempt to return to the nobility.
** Kurozumi Orochi, the tyrannical shogun of Wano, is despised by nearly all of his country, save for a handful of loyalists. He even ends up attracting the contempt of his ally Kaido, despite the fact that they are both enemies of the samurai, and [[spoiler:Kaido decapitates Orochi [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness once he's no longer useful]], even if the decapitation doesn't actually kill Orochi.]]
* In ''A Lazy Guy Woke Up As A Girl One Morning'', the boys and girls of the third-year class argue which of them should get Yasuda, the lazy guy-turned girl, because the boys realize that Yasuda's laziness [[TheLoad causes them to lose while he's on their team]], and the girls don't want to give up the advantage by having to take him onto their team now that he's a girl.
* In ''Manga/KarakuridoujiUltimo'', Dr. Dunston, who created robots that are pure good and pure evil, encounters a group of bandits who are JustLikeRobinHood. He remarks that the good robot, Ultimo, would consider the bandits criminals who deserve punishment, while the evil robot, Vice, would kill them ForTheEvulz. However, this is subverted when Ultimo sees the bandits' sense of camaraderie and protects them from Vice.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', Those Who Slither In The Dark, an antagonistic faction, end up drawing the contempt of both sides of the war between [[spoiler:the Adrestian empire and the rest of Fodlan]]. Their allies despise them and only work with them out of convenience, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness disposing of them after the war ends]] in [[spoiler:the route in which Byleth joins Edelgard]], and leaving behind instructions to ensure their defeat in [[spoiler:the Golden Deer and Church routes]].

* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', Officer Jimmy Hernandez has the misfortune of not being as ruthless or corrupt as his fellow [[DirtyCop C.R.A.S.H.]] officers [[BigBad Frank Tenpenny]] and [[TheDragon Eddie Pulaski]], so they hold him in contempt and often mistreat him in rather petty ways. Meanwhile, [[NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters Carl "C.J." Johnson]], who already has a low opinion of the police and is forced to do Tenpenny's dirty work, doesn't have any respect for Hernandez, calling him Tenpenny and Pulaski's "bitch."

* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', *Officer Jimmy Hernandez has the misfortune of not being as ruthless or corrupt as his fellow [[DirtyCop C.R.A.S.H.]] officers [[BigBad Frank Tenpenny]] and [[TheDragon Eddie Pulaski]], so they hold him in contempt and often mistreat him in rather petty ways. Meanwhile, [[NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters Carl "C.J." Johnson]], who already has a low opinion of the police and is forced to do Tenpenny's dirty work, doesn't have any respect for Hernandez, calling him Tenpenny and Pulaski's "bitch."

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', Yarne's Paralogue has your faction, Chrom's Shepherds, arrive at a village that is being caught in the crossfire between feuding bands of mercenaries. You can choose to ally with one of the factions, at the cost of losing some of the items you can gain, or you can oppose both, resulting in the bitter enemies deciding to GangUpOnTheHuman.
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', Those Who Slither In The Dark, an antagonistic faction, end up drawing the contempt of both sides of the war between [[spoiler:the Adrestian empire and the rest of Fodlan]]. Their allies despise them and only work with them out of convenience, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness disposing of them after the war ends]] in [[spoiler:the route in which Byleth joins Edelgard]], and leaving behind instructions to ensure their defeat in [[spoiler:the Golden Deer and Church routes]].

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', [[KnightTemplar Miko Miyazaki]] not only ends up being hated by the eponymous party of adventurers, but [[TheFriendNobodyLikes her fellow Paladins hate her, too]]. Unsurprisingly, [[BigBad Xykon]] and his minions don't think much of Miko when they interact. After Miko [[spoiler:assassinates her liege lord Shoujo for supposedly betraying her and her fellow Paladins]], she's become a pariah from both the good and evil sides. Even when she [[spoiler:loses her powers]] she's unwilling/unable to see that it's all her fault.

* ''Film/MenInBlack'': The cephalopoid who James Edwards (later known as Agent Jay) chases in his first scene is not only on the run from the NYPD, but knows that if his boss (the Bug) finds him, he'll kill him too. J lampshades it by saying that the cephalopoid is "pissing everybody off."

** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'': Gilderoy Lockhart, MilesGloriosus extraordinaire, is loathed by students ([[ChickMagnet well, male students]]) and staff alike.
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'': Harry puts himself between Sirius Black trying to murder Peter Pettigrew to avenge the murders of Harry's parents and Sirius' imprisonment. Harry does this not because he has any sympathy for Pettigrew (he rejects his sniveling attempts at gratitude) but because he wants to think his father wouldn't have approved of his friends killing each other (not to mention that leaving Pettigrew alive to face trial is a CruelMercy).
** Pettigrew appears as this even later: when he tries to get credit for being Lord Voldemort's sole servant between Voldemort's rebirth and the Azkaban breakout, Voldemort laughs at him, pointing out Pettigrew stayed on out of fear of Voldemort's retribution rather than any loyalty or devotion (such as the Lestranges). Even Snape gets in on it, snidely suggesting that he recommend Pettigrew for more dangerous missions than being Snape's housekeeper.

* In ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaWarriorWithin'', Shahdee ends up in one just before the second fight with her. On one end is the Prince, who is there to kill the Empress of Time and wants Shahdee dead for attacking him at sea and killing his crew. On the other end is the Empress herself, who not only wants to kill the Prince, but also [[YouHaveFailedMe wants to kill Shahdee dead for her failure to stop the Prince]]. [[spoiler:Shahdee ends up turning on Kaileena right then and there, only for the Prince to unwittingly come to Kaileena's rescue]].

* ''Manga/HeroUnionBBS'': The premise of the series is various people TrappedInAnotherWorld having an interdimensional social network where they can communicate and ask for help. One such person explains that they're in an adventuring party of attractive young women (gaining them the contempt of the more involuntarily celibate posters) and that the party is split into two groups who hate each other for political and religious reasons (but the only thing they agree on is how much they hate the person asking for help). The posters are still split, but when the OP reveals that they're a girl (so not an UngratefuBastard living out a tsundere harem fetish as they first thought), the entire forum immediately helps her to get out of there.

* In ''VisualNovel/PlumbersDontWearTies'', you, the player, end up in one. Midway through the game, you are required to choose an extremely disgusting story choice, in which Thresher tries to extort sexual favors from Jane, the female lead and a job applicant, which results in your score permanently going negative and the narrator calling you out on it. Some time later, a StrawFeminist shows up and [[[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext usurps the narrator's position] but is no happier with you, and proceeds to pick up where he left off in criticizing your story choices. After the original narrator returns, he continues his criticism.

* ''Film/MenInBlack'': The cephalopoid James Edwards, later known as Agent Jay, chases in his first scene is not only on the run from the NYPD, but knows that if his boss, the Bug, finds him, he'll kill him too. J lampshades it by saying that the cephalopoid is "pissing everybody off."

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', [[KnightTemplar Miko Miyazaki]] not only ends up being hated by the eponymous party of adventurers, but [[TheFriendNobodyLikes her fellow Paladins hate her, too]]. Unsurprisingly, [[BigBad Xykon]] and his minions don't think much of Miko when they interact. After Miko [[spoiler:assassinates her liege lord Shoujo for supposedly betraying her and her fellow Paladins]], she's become a pariah from both the good and evil sides.

* in the fourth book of ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'', Alfred stands in an almost literal example of this, when Samah blames him for helping the Ancient Enemy, the Patryn, and being unworthy of a Sartan, and Haplo, the Patryn helped by alfred, blames him for being Sartan and expresses disgust in the idea of being allied with one. All Alfred wants is to stop them fighting/

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': One episode sees Summer held hostage by a Council Rick. Rick makes it clear he's going to ShootTheHostage, until Morty threatens to shoot Rick... leading to Rick admitting it ''was'' a bluff. Council Rick admits it had him going, calling Morty a fucking idiot, an opinion repeated by Summer and Rick. All three calling him an idiot causes Morty to snap and shoot Rick... who takes advantage of the distraction to kill Council Rick (Morty's gun was fake, as stated by a note attached to the gun... [[NotAnAct which Morty evidently only read]] ''after'' the shooting).

* In the aftermath of ''ComicBook/AvengersArena'', Arcade's attempt at showing he's a worthy contender in the villain circle backfires hard: all of the other heroes out there want his blood in retaliation for forcing a bunch of teenagers into a DeadlyGame but don't really give more of a damn about him now than they did before, and all of the other villains think even ''less'' of him now because they believe he's incredibly stupid because he had to go after teenagers ("easy targets") to make a plan that worked and they also consider said plan to be copycat crap (Arcade himself acknowledged InUniverse that he [[PlagiarismInFiction "borrowed" the idea]] from ''Literature/BattleRoyale'').