History Main / PunishedForSympathy

* PlayedWith in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/44607043/chapters/121613383 A Price to Pay]]'': Gabriel Agreste gets into a car accident that claims the life of Tom Dupain-Cheng, then [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney bribes his way out]] of having to deal with any legal repercussions. But he's still ConvictedByPublicOpinion and despised for refusing to take any responsibility for his mistake... and Adrien, who stood by and defended his father, is tarnished by association. The twist is that this was actually a case of BalancingDeathsBooks: reality was altered by Hawkmoth/Gabriel [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor making a Wish]], and Tom's life was the price of bringing his wife Emilie back to life. Gabriel and Adrien had expected to [[KarmaHoudini get away clean]] since nobody would be aware of what they'd done in the original reality, but the Wish ensured that Gabriel would ''still'' be connected to his victim's death in the new world.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Buffy goes out of her way to be kind and welcoming to Faith, and even tries to help Faith after her StartOfDarkness, [[TheFarmerAndTheViper only to have Faith try to kill her or ruin her life multiple times]]. By the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "[[Recap/AngelS01E19Sanctuary Sanctuary]]", Buffy has finally gotten sick of it.

** In [[Literature/BookOfExodus Leviticus 10:1-6]]: Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abihu, were burned to death by God for offering strange fire which they were commanded not to bring. He then invokes this trope by warning Aaron that He'll kill him and the rest of the Israelites should he mourn for their losses.
** In [[Literature/BookOfExodus Numbers 16:41-50]]: The Israelites [[JewishComplaining complained]] to Moses about God burning 250 of the other Israelites to death for burning incense. God's response? He gets angry and starts killing 14,700 more of the Israelites.

** Joab calls out David for publicly mourning the death of his son Absalom, telling him that had his servants died instead of Absalom, he would be okay with it.

** {{Downplayed|Trope}} in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E06CaptivePursuit Captive Pursuit]]". Sisko chews out Chief O'Brien for helping Tosk escape the Hunters (technically it was a minor PrimeDirective violation in addition to resulting in the death of one of the Hunters). However, the Hunters had attacked Deep Space 9 to get to Tosk, and the subtext of the scene makes it pretty clear that Sisko's only doing it because he's required to, and that O'Brien knows it.

* Occurs to Hiccup in Dreamworks' ''WesternAnimation/{{How to Train Your Dragon|2010}}'', when his father discovers that Hiccup's success against dragons comes from understanding them rather than ruthlessly destroying them. Once Hiccup's compassion for the Night Fury Toothless comes to light, Stoick drops the hammer: "You're not my son."
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', Frollo orders Phoebus to burn down a mill with the miller and his family still inside. Not only does Phoebus refuse, but when Frollo sets the fire himself in his crossing of the MoralEventHorizon, he goes in to rescue the family. Frollo would have had him executed for treason right then and there, had Esmeralda not come to the rescue.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', we learn that Peter's silver hand was enchanted by Voldemort to strangle him if he so much as seriously thought about helping Harry, [[spoiler:which it does in the end]].
** Also anyone suspected of or caught helping Muggle-borns or the Order are punished.
* Downplayed in ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]''; Dante is scolded by Virgil when he weeps at the pitiful appearance of the soothsayers in Malebolge. He learns his lesson and bluntly ignores the damned who plead with him in the Ninth Circle of Hell.
* In ''Literature/LeiaPrincessOfAlderaan'' it's very risky for Leia, her family, and others involved somehow in the Senate to show more than a vague general sympathy for anyone TheEmpire has decided to punish. The Empire will allow charity missions to feed, heal, and clothe victims of Imperial policy -- generally those who were unable to meet high Imperial quotas and were subsequently driven into poverty -- but shows a certain contempt even there, and corrupt officials sometimes just take any donated supplies for themselves. Sympathy that goes beyond meeting immediate, urgent needs is too much like questioning the Empire itself.
** This is a worse problem for Leia in her work in the Apprentice Legislature. One assignment is to advise on how to punish a planet's government and people for refusing to refuel a TIE convoy. It comes up that the people in question had only had enough fuel on hand to cover their own emergency services. Any suggestion that these were extenuating circumstances is suspect and tantamount to treasonous anti-Imperial sentiment.

* In ''Literature/LeiaPrincessOfAlderaan'' it's very risky for Leia, her family, and others involved somehow in the Senate to show more than a vague general sympathy for anyone TheEmpire has decided to punish. The Empire will allow charity missions to feed, heal, and clothe victims of Imperial policy - generally those who were unable to meet high Imperial quotas and were subsequently driven into poverty - but shows a certain contempt even there, and corrupt officials sometimes just take any donated supplies for themselves. Sympathy that goes beyond meeting immediate, urgent needs is too much like questioning the Empire itself.

* In the ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'' book, ''Hells Foundations Quiver'', an Inquisitor in charge of a concentration camp finds himself about to be painfully executed because he had the morality to feed one of the captives of the camp - who was from the section of the camp for people being held on suspicion of heresy and had not been convicted of anything yet - a little girl who was trying to get medicine for her sick father. Fortunately, before the execution can take place, Dialydd Mab manages to rescue the little girl and her family by FakingTheDead for them and, while he is unable to rescue the Inquisitor, grants him a MercyKill instead of the torture he'd have suffered otherwise.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Buffy goes out of her way to be kind and welcoming to Faith, and even tries to help Faith after her StartOfDarkness, only to have Faith try to kill her or ruin her life multiple times. By the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "Sanctuary," Buffy has finally gotten sick of it.

* The ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode "The Trial of Henry Blake" puts this into perspective: in an attempt to have Henry relieved of duty as commanding officer of the 4077th, Margaret and Frank have him charged with a number of crimes, including giving aid and comfort to North Koreans. In actuality, Henry had been contributing penicillin, among other drugs, to an elderly American nurse who ran a clinic in enemy territory dedicated to aiding poverty-stricken civilians, and was doing so long before the war even began.
* The ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Prisoners" has the team imprisoned for trespassing unmarked territory and giving a small amount of assistance to a native they met.
* The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E23IBorg "I Borg"]] has Picard refuse to use Hugh, a Borg drone they rescued, as a TyphoidMary for a cyberweapon that would theoretically destroy the Borg Collective. He had come to see Hugh as a person instead of a mindless enemy. In the episode's sequel, "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E24S7E1Descent Descent]]", Admiral Nechayev is unpleasantly astonished at this, dresses down Picard for placing his conscience at a higher value than the lives of Federation citizens, and gives him a direct order that, if a similar opportunity presents itself, he is to take advantage of it. Picard later admits privately that while his choice in "I Borg" may have been the ''moral'' choice, it may not have been the ''right'' choice. [[spoiler: Of course, it turns out the ''Enterprise'' crew had actually made Hugh a TyphoidMary for [[HumanityIsInfectious a sense of individuality]] instead...]]
* {{Downplayed}} in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E06CaptivePursuit Captive Pursuit]]". Sisko chews out Chief O'Brien for helping Tosk escape the Hunters (technically it was a minor PrimeDirective violation in addition to resulting in the death of one of the Hunters). However, the Hunters had attacked Deep Space 9 to get to Tosk and the subtext of the scene makes it pretty clear that Sisko's only doing it because he's required to and that O'Brien knows it.
* A paradoxical example appears in "To See the Invisible Man", a segment on ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985''. A man is punished for "coldness" by becoming a pariah whom no one is allowed to acknowledge. Eventually he serves out his sentence and is allowed to reenter society. But when he sees someone being punished in the same way, he now has too much compassion and empathy to ignore them, which leads to another punishment.

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]

* In ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'', healers say that [[DeliberatelyPainfulClothing barbed clothing]] is a self-inflicted punishment for being healers.
* The plot of ''VideoGame/Disgaea4APromiseUnforgotten'' is more or less driven by the fact that the BigBad Nemo was [[spoiler:once a human who was injured in a war and helped by an enemy nurse called Artina, who was executed as a traitor for it (and ended up convincing Valvatorez to give up blood, allowing Nemo to take over his position)]]. Thus leading to his StartOfDarkness (and [[spoiler:her becoming the angel Vulcanus]]).
* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': Paladin [=DeSelby=] is sentenced to death for disobeying Lord Kemm's order to LeaveNoSurvivors among [[spoiler:the [[CorruptChurch Magisters]]]]. She argues that the people she spared were mere boys who had nothing to do with the higher-ups' crimes, but only the player character can get her off the hook. Justified when Lord Kemm [[spoiler:is revealed to be a MoleInCharge, undermining the Paladins on the villains' behalf.]]
* The backstory of ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'' has the Five Oddballs ostracized and defeated by Eichi's unit, fine, which splits up once this is done. Later on, one of the Oddballs, Wataru, joins fine, causing Natsume to see him as a traitor. {{Downplayed}} in that Natsume still admires Wataru and they still get along, this has just tarnished Natsume's opinion of Wataru.
** A much darker version happens within Akatsuki - when Souma finally finds out exactly what his seniors are planning for Kanata, someone he cares very deeply about, he's extremely upset and [[WhatTheHellHero tries to convince them that what they're doing is wrong]]. Unfortunately, Keito is too deep into it by this point and becomes very angry, yelling at him and expelling him from the unit. In the long-run, however, [[MoralityPet Souma]] does manage to help them both [[TookALevelInKindness Take A Level In Kindness]] and they're both extremely grateful to him for it.

[[folder:Web Video]]
* Part of [[TheBigGuy Grog's]] backstory in ''WebVideo/CriticalRole''. While he was part of the [[RapePillageAndBurn Herd of Storms]], he was beaten to near-death by his [[EvilUncle uncle Kevdak]] for refusing to kill an elderly gnome non-combatant. Grog was nursed back to health by the gnome's granddaughter, a cleric, and ended up HappilyAdopted by them.

* Occurs to Hiccup in Dreamworks' ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'', when his father discovers that Hiccup's success against dragons comes from understanding them rather than ruthlessly destroying them. Once Hiccup's compassion for the Night Fury Toothless comes to light, Stoick drops the hammer: "You're not my son."

* PlayedWith in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/44607043/chapters/121613383 A Price to Pay]]'': Gabriel Agreste gets into a car accident that claims the life of Tom Dupain-Cheng, then [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney bribes his way out]] of having to deal with any legal repercussions. But he's still ConvictedByPublicOpinion and despised for refusing to take any responsibility for his mistake... and Adrien, who stood by and defended his father, is tarnished by association. The twist is that this was actually a case of BalancingDeathsBooks: reality was altered by Hawkmoth/Gabriel [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor making a Wish]], and Tom's life was the price of bringing his wife Emelie back to life. Gabriel and Adrien had expected to [[KarmaHoudini get away clean]] since nobody would be aware of what they'd done in the original reality, but the Wish ensured that Gabriel would ''still'' be connected to his victim's death in the new world.