History Main / MurderMakesYouCrazy

* Used in DresdenFiles and the reason for the First Rule - magic is an expression of will given form so using it to kill someone is particularly warping.

* ''EvilDead 2'' - Ash, [[WhatHappenedToMommy after being attacked by his possessed girlfriend Linda]].

* ''WorldOfDarkness'': Due to the way [[KarmaMeter Morality system]] is designed, this trope is almost unavoidable. When you murder someone, your psyche cracks a bit and make it easier the next time you have/want to do it again. Do this often enough, and you turn into Hollywood-style psycho, known as [[HunterTheVigil Slashers]].

Normally, in RealLife (although there may be exceptions), a person is ''already'' crazy and/or violent before they contemplate murder. In television however, circumstances will cause you to commit murder, and then you keep killing. No, this trope is '''not''' about murder where you have to keep killing in order to ''hide the evidence''. Instead, it's about murder ''actually warping the mind'', either by [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone guilt]] or as the [[NeverMyFault process of rationalizing the murder]] sets in.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': In the manga ([[DependingOnTheWriter but not the anime]]), [[spoiler:Sayaka]]'s final straw is her murder of two random guy who, all things considered, doesn't really deserve being killed in cold blood. [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie By her own admission, she is such a fool]].

* ''PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': In the manga ([[DependingOnTheWriter but not the anime]]), [[spoiler:Sayaka]]'s final straw is her murder of two random guy who, all things considered, doesn't really deserve being killed in cold blood. [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie By her own admission, she is such a fool]].

* In DoctorWho, The Doctor tries to advise his daughter [[spoiler: grown in a military cloning device as a soldier]] that violence is not the answer. There have been more than a few times where people go WhatTheHellHero to The Doctor, so he's definitely speaking from experience, when he believes war can mess one up.
* BuffytheVampireSlayer's[[spoiler: Faith]] starts to go off the deep end after she [[spoiler: kills a man who she thought was a vampire.]] Angel later tries to help her come around by establishing common ground. He calls the ability to kill without remorse the ultimate freedom, and a freedom that will drive anyone mad. And of course [[AxCrazy he's taking from experience]].

* {{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}'s[[spoiler: Faith]] starts to go off the deep end after she [[spoiler: kills a man who she thought was a vampire.]] Angel later tries to help her come around by establishing common ground. He calls the ability to kill without remorse the ultimate freedom, and a freedom that will drive anyone mad. And of course he's taking from experience.

* ''A Cruel God Reigns'' Jeremy suffers multiple [[spoiler: nervous break-downs, hallucinations, and becomes a drug addicted prostitute]] as an after effect of killing his step-father and his mother (although his mother was an accident.)

* In ''Manga/A Cruel God Reigns'' Jeremy suffers multiple [[spoiler: nervous break-downs, hallucinations, and becomes a drug addicted prostitute]] as an after effect of killing his step-father and his mother (although his mother was an accident.)

* In ''A Cruel God Reigns'' Jeremy suffers multiple [[spoiler: nervous break-downs, hallucinations, and becomes a drug addicted prostitute]] as an after effect of killing his step-father and his mother (although his mother was an accident.)

* Light Yagami of ''Manga/DeathNote'', in the anime only. He's an ordinary school student until he write the first name. After that, he develops delusions of grandeur and wants to cleanse the world of evil (leaving himself as the only evil person, as Ryuuk points out). In the manga, this first target is skipped over, showing instead Ryuuk showing up after he's already killed numerous targets.

* ''OracleOfTao'' has Ambrosia who is more or less a little crazy already (being a MoodSwinger SugarAndIcePersonality with a LiteralSplitPersonality), but in a Bad Ending she goes noticeably over the edge after killing [[IncorruptiblePurePureness an angel]]. She starts talking about "balancing the scales" (which, since she [[spoiler: created the universe from a DreamApocalypse]], means basically destroying everything), and goes on a homicidal rampage, even killing her own party.

* Both ''{{Macbeth}}'' and his wife has this happen to them after their murder of Duncan.

* There is an actual condition called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which happens mainly to ex-soldiers, and is pretty much the RealLife basis for the ShellShockedVeteran.

Normally, in RealLife (although there may be exceptions), a person is ''already'' crazy and/or violent before they contemplate murder. In television however, circumstances will cause you to commit murder, and then you keep killing. No, this trope is '''not''' about murder where you have to keep killing in order to ''hide the evidence''. Instead, it's about murder ''actually warping the mind'', either by [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone guilt]] or as the [[NeverMyFault process of rationalizing the murder]] sets in.

The name of this trope is from LoveMakesYouCrazy, so contrast this. Also related to ItGetsEasier, and possibly ShellShockedVeteran.

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
* In CageOfEden, this is what [[BrokenAce breaks the ace]], Kouhei. Well, this combined with [[spoiler: a head injury that damages his ability to feel responsible for his own actions... After killing the pilot during a panic, he feels incredibly guilty and paranoid. When one of the girls he's traveling with claims she saw him murder the pilot, he kills her to protect his secret, and then gets told that she had been manipulated into saying that and hadn't known all along. Realizing that he'd murdered her pointlessly, combined with the brain damage which made it impossible for him to 'feel people looking at him', makes him go off the deep end and kill more people, even when it serves no purpose. He even bullies and tricks the other students with him into doing the same thing so that they end up crazy like him (minus the head injury).]]

[[AC:Comic Books]]

[[AC:Film]]

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:Video Games]]

* ''OracleOfTao'' has Ambrosia who is more or less a little crazy already (being a MoodSwinger SugarAndIcePersonality with a LiteralSplitPersonality), but in a Bad Ending she goes noticeably over the edge after killing [[IncorruptiblePurePureness an angel]]. She starts talking about "balancing the scales" (which, since she [[spoiler: created the universe from a DreamApocalypse]], means basically destroying everything), and goes on a homicidal rampage, even killing her own party.

[[AC:Real Life]]

* There is an actual condition called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which happens mainly to ex-soldiers, and is pretty much the RealLife basis for the ShellShockedVeteran.

[[AC:Literature]]
* Used in DresdenFiles and the reason for the First Rule - magic is an expression of will given form so using it to kill someone is particularly warping.

* Light Yagami of ''DeathNote'', in the anime only. He's an ordinary school student until he write the first name. After that, he develops delusions of grandeur and wants to cleanse the world of evil (leaving himself as the only evil person, as Ryuuk points out). In the manga, this first target is skipped over, showing instead Ryuuk showing up after he's already killed numerous targets.

* There is an actual condition called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which happens mainly to ex-soldiers, and is pretty much the RealLife basis for the ShellShockedVeteran.

Normally, in RealLife (although there may be exceptions), a person is \'\'already\'\' crazy and/or violent before they contemplate murder. In television however, circumstances will cause you to commit murder, and then you keep killing. No, this trope is \'\'\'not\'\'\' about murder where you have to keep killing in order to \'\'hide the evidence\'\'. Instead, it\'s about murder \'\'actually warping the mind\'\', either by [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone guilt]] or as the [[NeverMyFault process of rationalizing the murder]] sets in.