History Main / MoralLuck

** THis was a case of ExecutiveMeddling. Creator Craig [=McCracken=] didn't intend for this climax of the story; Cartoon Network insisted on it.

* In ''The Cincinnati Kid'', as long as the title character is winning, he's a hero. When he finally loses, everyone is upset with him.

* A blatantly idiotic example occurs in the otherwise excellent ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Brothers". A boy pranks his younger brother which scares the brother enough for him to run and hide. While hiding the younger brother eats a fruit that leaves him so ill he nearly dies. The older brother is severely scolded for nearly killing his brother. However, while a little cruel for a prank there was no reason for the older brother to expect anything worse then his younger brother being frighted for a little while out of his prank. This feels particularly horrible since a child that young would likely already be horrible guilt ridden to the point of tears and any competent parent would go out of their way to tell the child that this wasn't his fault.

* Referenced in universe in ''[[Literature/VorkosiganSaga The Warrior's Apprentice]]''. Miles successfully predicts his enemy will attempt a flank attack and insists that all weapons be placed on the flank of the base to drive off the attack. When another man excitedly states he is a genius for predicting the maneuver Miles soberly reflects on what they would say if he had been wrong about the angle of the attack. Though this isn't a perfect example of this trope, as Miles was relying on more than dumb luck when he selected where to place the weapons.

* In most legal systems attempted murder is a much less serious crime than murder, even though the only difference is whether the attack succeeded in killing the victim (which in many cases can be entirely attributable to blind luck).

* A blatantly idiotic example occures in the otherwise excellent StarTrekTheNextGeneration episode Brothers. A boy pranks his younger brother which scares the brother enough for him to run and hide. While hiding the younger brother eats a fruit that leaves him so ill he nearly dies. The older brother is severely scolded for nearly killing his brother. However, while a little cruel for a prank there was no reason for the older brother to expect anything worse then his younger brother being frighted for a little while out of his prank. This feels particularly horrible since a child that young would likely already be horrible guilt ridden to the point of tears and any competent parent would go out of their way to tell the child that this wasn't his fault.

* In ''Film/TheCincinnatiKid'', as long as the title character is winning, he's a hero. When he finally loses, everyone is upset with him.

* A good chunk of ''Manga/YuGiOh'' revolved around congratulating Yugi/Yami for his "brilliant draws", basically his [[TheMagicPokerEquation tendency to draw exactly the card he needs at exactly the right time]] to win a duel.
** Of course, since magic is all but explicitly involved with making "the heart of the cards" ''actually do that'' for those [[EnlightenmentSuperpowers who know how to invoke it,]] it may actually be appropriate to congratulate him.

* In ''The Cincinnati Kid'', as long as the title character is winning, he's a hero. When he finally loses, everyone is upset with him.

* The Pandaren starter quests in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' feature reckless Ji Firepaw performing an action to save their moving island Shen-zin Shu. This act would have the creature but for the presence of Horde and Alliance healers. Counterpart Aysa Cloudsinger's reaction is a WhatTheHellHero to Ji.

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-->"Did I break it?"
-->"No."
-->"Well?"
-->"Well what?"
-->"Well, that's a big difference"
-->"Not really. He didn't mean to hurt your bike. He's just not very well co-ordinated. He was born that way. You and I are athletic. Not him."

* ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Willow's RoaringRampageOfRevenge is forgiven fairly easily, even though (in-universe) it was really just luck and timing which prevented her from bringing about the apocalypse.

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* A good chunk of ''Manga/YuGiOh!'' revolved around congratulating Yugi/Yami for his "brilliant draws", basically his [[TheMagicPokerEquation tendency to draw exactly the card he needs at exactly the right time]] to win a duel.

* A good chunk of ''Manga/YuGiOh!'' revolved around congratulating Yugi/Yami for his "brilliant draws", basically his tendency to draw exactly the card he needs at exactly the right time to win a duel.

* Referenced in universe in ''[[Literature/VorkosiganSaga The Warrior's Apprentice]]''. Miles successfully predicts his enemy will attempt a flank attack and insists that all weapons be placed on the flank of the base to drive off the attack. When another man excitedly states he is a genius for predicting the maneuver Miles soberly reflects on what they would say if he had been wrong about the angle of the attack. Though this isn't a perfect example of this trope as Miles was relaying on more then dumb luck when he selected where to place the weapons.

* ''FullHouse'': when the Tanners go to Disney World, Stephanie and Michelle line up for some kind of a draw. Michelle pushes ahead of Stephanie in the line, draws the winning ticket, and spends the rest of the day being treated as a princess. Stephanie resents Michelle for this, and the script is clearly on her side. Now, you could certainly see how pushing ahead of her sister wasn't a very nice thing to do. But the fact that she drew the winning ticket really was just dumb luck. It could just as easily have gone the other way - with Michelle drawing a losing ticket followed by Stephanie drawing the winning one. Presumably Stephanie wouldn't be resenting her sister ''then''.

* Lady Bracknell in ''Theatre/TheImportanceOfBeingEarnest'' embodies this. She admonishes Jack for being an orphan because it shows "contempt for the decencies of family life"; disapproves of sympathising will ill people because "illness is hardly a thing to be encouraged"; and even congratulates an offstage character for finally "making up his mind" to die.

-->"Heads you're a hero, tails you're a villain."

-->"I tossed a coin upward with a light laugh; heads you're a hero, tails you're a villain."

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* In the 2008 film ''Film/YesMan'', the protagonist Carl takes it upon himself to answer "yes" to every request put to him. As a loans request manager in a bank, he hence has to grant every loan request put before him (most of which are for small, silly indulgences). He later receives praise and a promotion from his superiors.
** Of course, it was entirely down to chance that the loan applicants he happened to see during this period were people who wanted fairly small loans which they were able to pay back; if they had happened to be people demanding larger loans which they could not possibly repay, Carl would have granted them nevertheless, and received blame from his superiors (and perhaps even been fired).

* Lampshaded in ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' just after the troll incident. Prof. [=McGonagall=] awards Harry and Ron five House points each "for sheer, dumb luck".
** Sure, there was luck involved, but also some skill.

** Of course, since magic is all but explicitly involved with making "the heart of the cards" ''actually do that literally'' for those [[EnlightenmentSuperpowers who know how to invoke it,]] it may actually be appropriate to congratulate him.

-->"I stood there with my hand full of strange coins, watching Ahern talk to a clerk. Four days. I tossed a coin upward with a light laugh; heads you're a hero, tails you're a villain." - Mirari.

* A good chunk of ''Manga/YuGiOh!'' revolved around congratulating Yugi/Yami for his "brilliant draws", basically his tendency to draw exactly the card he needs at exactly the right time to win a duel. Of course, since magic is all but explicitly involved with making "the heart of the cards" ''actually do that literally'' for those [[EnlightenmentSuperpowers who know how to invoke it,]] it may actually be appropriate to congratulate him.

-->''Heads, you're a hero. Tails, you're a villain.''

* In the 2008 film ''Film/YesMan'', the protagonist Carl takes it upon himself to answer "yes" to every request put to him. As a loans request manager in a bank, he hence has to grant every loan request put before him (most of which are for small, silly indulgences). He later receives praise and a promotion from his superiors. Of course, it was entirely down to chance that the loan applicants he happened to see during this period were people who wanted fairly small loans which they were able to pay back; if they had happened to be people demanding larger loans which they could not possibly repay, Carl would have granted them nevertheless, and received blame from his superiors (and perhaps even been fired).
* In the Antonioni film ''The Passenger'', JackNicholson's character decides he wants to leave his old life behind, and takes on the identity of an acquaintance who has just died. As it turns out, the acquaintance was an arms dealer running guns to rebel forces in north Africa, so that's what Nicholson's character starts doing. The over-all point of the film seems to be a nihilistic one: that it doesn't really matter what one does in life, and one shouldn't be bound by social roles or expectations. However, it's clear that the audience is supposed to sympathise with the rebels whom Nicholson's character is supporting. So while he appears not to care about the social consequences of his actions, he is still doing something good - or at least something not evil. It would be harder to see this character as heroic if he were running guns to neo-Nazis or the Taliban - even though he could just as easily have found himself doing just that!
* Lampshaded in ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' just after the troll incident. Prof. [=McGonagall=] awards Harry and Ron five House points each "for sheer, dumb luck". Sure, there was luck involved, but also some skill.

->''Heads, you're a hero. Tails, you're a villain.''