History Main / RuleOfEmpathy

* AmoralAttorney Jeff Winger [[DiscussedTrope delivers a lecture]] on this in the Pilot of Series/{{Community}}. Ironically, it's a subversion of PetTheDog.

* In ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', Judge Doom [[NightmareFuel memorably]] vaults over the MoralEventHorizon by painfully [[KickTheDog murdering an innocent]] just to prove he can. Who is this innocent? A cartoon shoe. Take an ordinary shoe, draw a face on it, have it make cute squeaking noises and nuzzle up against people's legs just like a friendly cat, and the audience will be horrified when it's killed in cold blood.
* {{Pixar}} uses this trope a lot. Over the years, they've made us empathize with [[PixarShorts desk lamps]], [[ToyStory plastic toys]], [[ABugsLife ants]], [[MonstersInc the monsters that live in your closet]], [[FindingNemo fish]], [[{{Cars}} cars]], [[{{Ratatouille}} rats]], and [[{{WALL-E}} robots]].

* In any given ''HonorHarrington'' book, the good people, even if on the wrong side, are generally the ones who like or at least respect Honor personally. For example, the first book ends with [[spoiler:Honor about to chew Sonia Hemphill out.]] Several books later, the two are apparently on speaking terms, and Honor has admitted the other woman was essentially right in her viewpoint.

* [[TheSarahConnorChronicles Cameron]] is a cold, emotionless, and [[RobotGirl literal killing machine]] who at one point leaves a man and his sister who helped her to die because they don't matter to her anymore. That doesn't change the fact that she is a ''deeply'' sympathetic character who rapidly obtained EnsembleDarkhorse [[TheWoobie Woobie]] status because of both how interesting she was and all the crap she puts up with [[IronWoobie without complaint]] for the Connors.

* In ''TheHungerGames,'' this is present as a part of the universe. When Haymitch is trying to mentor Katniss, he tries very hard to make her ''likable,'' to make her someone the audience will sympathize with. Sympathy will equal sponsors and money for necessities in the arena, and could therefore make the difference in the Games. Peeta, it turns out, is a natural at invoking the RuleOfEmpathy at the drop of a hat. Katniss is not.

* ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop''. How can you make the audience consistently laugh at TheChewToy without [[DesignatedMonkey starting to feel sympathy]] ''for him''? Especially if his main {{foil}} is a complete idiot who causes a lot of problems? Easy: engineer the perfect {{Woobie}} (sweet, subjugated, sensitive, and harmless), make TheChewToy treat him like crap, and show as many of his reactions as possible, playing them completely straight in stark contrast to the rest of the show's comedic nature. Usually what Pete goes through can be justified by PJ episodes, but "Bringin' on the Rain" was a Pete episode that used this a lot.

** However, the article misrepresents the nature of the theory: Dunbar's number (the actual scientific name for the concept, which according to TheOtherWiki varies in estimation between 100 and 230, rather than the concrete 150 given by Wong) refers to the number of people with whom one can maintain ''meaningful social relationships'' (i.e. know ''personally'') at any given time; Wong's article implies that it describes the number of people for whom one can feel ''any empathy at all''. One can easily extend basic empathy to strangers without knowing them intimately.

** It is basically true. The numbers have a small error-margin to account for certain personal differences, but otherwise the article is essentially accurate. AND to add insult to injury, fictional characters can count too. So if you spend your time reading a lot of books (or media of choice) and really getting to know the characters, you're cutting back the number of real people you can meaningfully get to know.

* Discussed in [[http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html this]] ''{{Cracked}}'' article. Although how [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkeysphere valid]] it is, I've no idea.

** If you don't give even the slightest a damn about the pharaoh after what happens to Yugi in the Orichalcos arc, then you have no soul.

* ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}'' (a series which, to most fans, thrives on NarmCharm) tends to get this a lot.

* An IKEA advertising campaign [[AWorldwidePunomenon lampshaded]] this. One example showed a desk lamp be replaced and left out in the rain on the curbside. Cue sad music. The ad then proceeded to tell viewers they were crazy for having feelings for a lamp.

* An interesting example is Rosa from UminekoNoNakuKoroNi. Throughout the arcs, she tends to have one of the shortest lifespans of any of the characters, only once making it past the second twilight, and she often dies in very heinous and cruel ways. However, she just about never becomes TheWoobie because the audience still holds a grudge against her for how she abuses [[CreepyChild her daughter, Maria]]. In a weird way, those two facts wind up sort of balancing each other out so that the audience can still hope that she eventually makes it out, but doesn't overly sympathize with her.
* The reason most of Kenji's gang and many minor characters in [[TwentiethCenturyBoys 20th Century Boys]] [[spoiler: survived while more than 90% of the world's population was wiped out.]]

* In StarTrekTheNextGeneration most of Data's interactions with his crew mates can be attributed to this. He's reasonably convincing as a sentient being and is probably one of the most sympathetic characters in the entire franchise, but he lacks emotions and empathic awareness and several characters have argued that he is effectively a highly complex walking computer which may or may not have a soul. Yet the crew encourages him to create and socialize, many consider him a friend, and treat him as if he were fully capable of feeling. They even encouraged him to form a romantic relationship even though this, technically, should be impossible. Actors from the show have stated that half Data's appeal comes from the empathy we feel towards him: we feel what Data cannot feel, and feel sorry because he can't.

* Karst's [[YouKilledMyFather storyline and motivations]] make her one of the most sympathetic characters in the ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' series, and a fandom favorite. Even though she's trying to [[RevengeMyopia avenge her mass-murderer of a sister]], and otherwise has as little character development as the rest of the cast.
** ''GoldenSunDarkDawn'' milks this one for all it's worth with [[spoiler: the Grave Eclipse over Belinsk. The nameless [=NPCs=] of Belinsk get killed off? Okay, this is bad and we need to stop it. The little girl with the violin gets killed? We'll get those jerks for that! [[SacrificialLion Briggs gets killed]]? *[[{{Angrish}} inarticulate scream of rage]]*]]

* Karst in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun: The Lost Age'' has a large fan following, and not just because of [[MsFanservice what she wears]]. Her relatively large amount of screentime and [[YouKilledMyFather easily-relatable]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge motivation]] make her the most sympathetic [[AntiVillain antagonist]] in the series, and one of the most well-developed and sympathetic ''characters'' in the series, as well (though, considering it is ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'', [[FlatCharacter that's not saying much]]).

-->-- '''Jeff Winger''', ''{{Community}}''.

* AmoralAttorney Jeff Winger [[DiscussedTrope delivers a lecture]] on this in the Pilot of {{Community}}. Ironically, it's a subversion of PetTheDog.

* Karst in ''GoldenSun: The Lost Age'' has a large fan following, and not just because of [[MsFanservice what she wears]]. Her relatively large amount of screentime and [[YouKilledMyFather easily-relatable]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge motivation]] make her the most sympathetic [[AntiVillain antagonist]] in the series, and one of the most well-developed and sympathetic ''characters'' in the series, as well (though, considering it is ''GoldenSun'', [[FlatCharacter that's not saying much]]).

* Pretty much the whole point of ''Webcomic/WarbotInAccounting is to make the audience feel pity for another literal killing machine. Unlike [[TheSarahConnorChronicles Cameron]], however, this machine has no face, voice, appendages, ability to emote, and is basically a box with a giant camera lens coming out of the center. It works. [[TearJerker Painfully well]].

* In StarTrekTheNextGeneration Most of Data's interactions with his crew mates can be attributed to this. He's reasonably convincing as a sentient being and is probably one of the most sympathetic characters in the entire franchise, but he lacks emotions and empathic awareness and several characters have argued that he is effectively a highly complex walking computer which may or may not have a soul. Yet the crew encourages him to create and socialize, many consider him a friend, and treat him as if he were fully capable of feeling. They even encouraged him to form a romantic relationship even though this, technically, should be impossible. Actors from the show have stated that half Data's appeal comes from the empathy we feel towards him: we feel what Data cannot feel, and feel sorry because he can't.

* One of the shorts of AeonFlux viciously subverts this, showing a series of characters, each given screen time alone and characterization to make the audience connect with them, and each of whom becomes the subsequent {{Mook}} for another character that the audience is being told to empathize with.

* The reason most of Kenji's gang and many minor characters in [[TwentiethCenturyBoys 20th Century Boys]] survived while more than 90% of the world's population was wiped out.

* ''Sisterhood'' series by FernMichaels: The author proves to have difficulty using this trope. The Vigilantes are a group of women who should have your sympathy, with their {{Dark And Troubled Past}}s. Unfortunately, they prove to be politically incorrect, abusive to victims, sexist, acting more like {{Straw Feminist}}s than real feminists, dishing out a FateWorseThanDeath than a CoolAndUnusualPunishment, and acting like spoiled little girls who have never really grown up than actual women. They basically get away with all of this! It's no wonder other characters, including some of the villains, prove to be way more likable in comparison!