History Main / TheOathBreaker

->''"I'm the bloody Kingslayer, remember? When I say you have honour, that's like a whore vouchsafing your maidenhood."''
-->-- '''Jaime Lannister''', ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''

* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'', paladins who break their oaths and lose their holy powers will be approached by the Oathbreaker Knight, himself a former Paladin of Conquest who tired of serving an EvilOverlord and turned his back on his oath to do good on his own terms. Once he appears, you can ask him to help you become an Oathbreaker, trading in the powers you held before for new, darker powers.

** The man gracing the page image is Jaime Lannister; the broken oath and consequences thereof define large chunks of his character, as well as earning him the nickname "The [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Kingslayer]]" after killing Aerys II Targaryen, who he swore to protect. Even though Aerys had a nickname of his own ("The [[TheCaligula Mad]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast King]]"), [[NotWhatItLooksLike the circumstances he and Aerys' body were found in]] made it seem he only did so to benefit [[ThePatriarch his father]] [[FamilyValuesVillain Tywin]], [[TheStarscream if not himself]]. Jaime's refusal to explain himself doesn't help matters much. [[spoiler:He eventually deconstructs this by pointing out the ConflictingLoyalty of his oaths mean he can't possibly keep them all. He killed Aerys when the Mad King attempted to burn down King's Landing and told Jaime to kill Tywin. Trapped between oaths, Jaime chose the option that saved 500,000 innocents. At the same time, ironically enough, he kept his vow to keep the king's secrets, the only oath which didn't conflict, even though it destroyed his honour and good reputation as a KnightInShiningArmor. Talk about being an Oathkeeper!]]

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* As Website/TheOtherWiki says, the most commonly accepted etymology derives the word "warlock" from the Old English ''waerloga'' meaning "oathbreaker" (from ''waer'' "promise, agreement" and ''loga'' "deceiver").
* Literature/BookOfJudges has Samson. As a Nazarite, he is not supposed to drink alcohol, touch a dead thing or cut his hair. By the end, none of these were kept.[[labelnote:note]]In fact, it's said that the reason he lost his strength after his hair was cut was that it was the only vow he ''hadn't'' broken until then.[[/labelnote]]
[[/folder]]

* Film/{{Dragonheart}}: A rare positive and sad example of this. [[spoiler:Bowen swears an oath as a Knight of the Old Code that he would do anything for Draco in exchange for Draco saving Einon. At the end of the movie, Draco asks Bowen to slay him since that's the only way to stop Einon -- who turned out to be a tyrant -- for good (Einon and Draco's lives are linked due to Draco sharing his heart with Einon). When Bowen refuses to kill his friend, Draco tries invoking the oath Bowen made long ago. Bowen still refuses. In the end, Bowen only relents and does as Draco requests after seeing Einon revive again and realizes Draco was right.]]

* Film/{{Dragonheart}}: A a rare positive and sad example of this. [[spoiler:Bowen swears an oath as a Knight of the Old Code that he would do anything for Draco in exchange for Draco saving Einon. At the end of the movie, Draco asks Bowen to slay him since that's the only way to stop Einon -- who turned out to be a tyrant -- for good (Einon and Draco's lives are linked due to Draco sharing his heart with Einon). When Bowen refuses to kill his friend, Draco tries invoking the oath Bowen made long ago. Bowen still refuses. In the end, Bowen only relents and does as Draco requests after seeing Einon revive again and realizes Draco was right.]]

** During the [[ComicBook/WonderWoman2023 Dawn of DC series]] Wonder Woman [[RunningTheGauntlet runs a gauntlet]] [[spoiler: against the three Wonder Girls, in constets of their own choosing]] and makes them swear an oath, [[spoiler:[[SeriousBusiness as amazons]] to, [[UnwantedAssistance leave her alone]]]] until her investigation is over. [[TheAce After she's gone]] they decide [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight they're just going to find another way]]. It helps that [[spoiler:Wonder Girl #2 is an ''honorary'' amazon]].

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'': During the [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Golden Age]] the Amazons of Paradise Island became such by taking oaths to, among other things, never kill another human and follow Aphrodite's law which includes only the Champion being allowed a life outside of Paradise Island. When Dalma finds remaining on Paradise Island while Diana gets to go have adventures unbearable, she tries giving up her immortal life by leaving the island and going to America to become a boxer. Aphrodite's response is to order her dragged to Reformation Island and locked in a [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul Venus Girdle]].

* In ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'', Hiroim the Shamed is a member of the Hulk's [[TrueCompanions Warbound]], sworn allies for life. Hiroim, however, was ostracized from his people for breaking a previous Warbound pact, and accordingly given the appellation of "the Shamed" to forever mark his treachery.
* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', written by Creator/NeilGaiman, Roderick Burgess says this to the cultist who betrayed him. : "As this blood is shed, so spills your blood, Ruthven Sykes, adept of the 33rd, whose secret name is Ararita... Traitor and Oath-Breaker." [[YourHeadAsplode Cue skull implosion.]]
* While ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} of the ''ComicBook/XMen'' has numerous other issues, one thing that people throw in his face every now and then is how he married Madelyne Pryor, fathered a child with her, and then ditched them the minute Jean Grey came back from the dead. (During ''Inferno,'' Mr. Sinister claims to have psychically manipulated Cyclops into that betrayal, but even Creator/ChrisClaremont, the guy who wrote that story, considers it a blemish on Cyclops' character.)
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'': During the [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Golden Age]] the Amazons of Paradise Island became such by taking oaths to, among other things, never kill another human and follow Aphrodite's law which includes only the Champion being allowed a life outside of Paradise Island. When Dalma finds remaining on Paradise Island while Diana gets to go have adventures unbearable, she tries giving up her immortal life by leaving the island and going to America to become a boxer. Aphrodite's response is to order her dragged to Reformation Island and locked in a [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul Venus Girdle]].

* In ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', while he has no problem with crime in general given that his is a mafia boss, Elias dislikes [[DirtyCop HR]] because they are all this, breaking their oaths as police officers by becoming a crime ring no better than himself.

* ''Literature/{{Pact}}'' and ''Literature/{{Pale}}'': Oaths sworn by mystic practitioners form the core of the magic system. If a practitioner breaks an oath of any kind, their word loses its value. For minor things like small lies, this merely means a loss of power, but an outright oathbreaking can undo or poison anything a practitioner has done and permanently remove their ability to use magic, in addition to turning the world against them in retribution. This is called becoming "Forsworn" and is [[FateWorseThanDeath one of the worst things than can happen]] to someone.

** Charles Abrams is Forsworn by his acquantaince, Alexander Belanger, who lures him into violating a years-old promise of hospitality by getting him drunk and starting an argument about the prison system (which Charles, an ex-con, had strong opinions on) leading Alexander to suffer a minor injury. Charles is condemned in the eyes of the universe and suffers great misfortune, even with the protection of local Others he'd helped in the past keeping him alive. [[spoiler:It gets bad enough that eventually he and his co-conspirators build the Hungry Choir as a weapon of vengeance against Alexander, and when that goes wrong due to his Forsworn status and the intervention of the Carmine Beast, becoming an Incarnate Ritual that lures hundreds of people to their deaths, he lashes out again, directing the Choir to kill the Carmine Beast so that he can usurp her as the Judge of northern Ontario]]

** In ''Skin Game'' [[spoiler:Karrin Murphy, wielding one of the Holy Blades, breaks the implicit promise for anywho take up the sword: You are not the judge nor executioner, do not strike down the defenseless in wrath. When Harry's life was threatened and her enemy had "surrendered", she is goaded into striking the then defenseless and weaponless man and it broke the power in the blade]].

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Literature/{{Pale}}'': Oaths sworn by mystic practitioners form the core of the magic system. If a practitioner breaks an oath of any kind, their word loses its value. For minor things like small lies, this merely means a loss of power, but an outright oathbreaking can undo or poison anything a practitioner has done and permanently remove their ability to use magic, in addition to turning the world against them in retribution.

* In ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'', 6000 years ago, the great mage Brimir summoned the elf Sasha and made her his {{Familiar}}. A familiar is bound to protect and serve their master. Eventually, Sasha broke her oath and murdered Brimir. [[DiedDuringProduction The author died before the series was finished and a full explanation was given]], but it is implied that she did it because Brimir was planning genocide against her race.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'': During the [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Golden Age]] the Amazons of Paradise Island became such by taking oaths to, among other things, never kill another human and follow Aphrodite's law which includes only the Champion being allowed a life outside of Paradise Island. When Dalma finds remaining on Paradise Island while Diana gets to go have adventures unbearable she tries giving up her immortal life by leaving the island and going to America to become a boxer. Aphrodite's response is to order her dragged to Reformation Island and locked in a [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul Venus Girdle]].