History Main / TragicMistake

* When ''[[ComicBook/HunterZolomon Hunter Zolomon]]'' from Franchise/TheFlash was in the FBI profiling a serial killer, Hunter predicted that the guy wouldn't have a gun, and thus urged his team to make the arrest without waiting for backup. He turned out to be wrong, and the killer shot him in the knee, crippling him, before gunning down his father-in-law. For his mistake, Hunter was crippled for life, divorced by his wife, and discharged from the FBI. His desire to undo this mistake put him on the path to becoming [[EvilCounterpart Zoom]]. [[spoiler:Except years later it turns out there was no mistake -- Hunter had correctly assessed the situation and things would have ended there and then if a time-travelling Professor Zoom hadn't given the killer a gun in order to start Zolomon down the road to becoming Zoom]]. Ironically when his ex-wife Ashley Zolomon learn of Hunter's transformation into Zoom she considered leaving Hunter and getting him discharged from the FBI a terrible mistake and would leave her entire career at the FBI behind to come to Keystone City to take over his former spot as the local meta-human profiler to help reform Hunter.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': Sayaka's decision to become a MagicalGirl is named by Homura as a big mistake that she will never be able to take back or recover from. Because Kyubey is treacherous, because Sayaka's seemingly selfless wish was made with SecretlySelfish intentions, and because [[spoiler:until Madoka's wish]] all those who make the contract with Kyubey are doomed to become witches, Homura is right. Sayaka commits a further act of Hamartia by refusing to cleanse her Soul Gem, because she's in despair from seeing Kyousuke Kamijou (her childhood friend, on whose behalf she made the wish, and who she never had the courage to confess to -- which isn't helped by a certain reveal about what mahou shoujo are leading her to believe that she is no longer human) accepting Hitomi Shizuki's LoveConfession. Her despair not only turns her into a witch, but leads to both her own death and that of her rival-turned-friend Kyouko Sakura.
** For the villains' side: [[spoiler: The Incubators never expected that Homura's seemingly simple wish would cause an infinitely amplifying chain reaction that would derail their entire system since it ended up creating a God and a Devil with powers beyond anyone's control.]]

* In ''{{WesternAnimation/Amphibia}}'', on the day the girls were sent to Amphibia, Marcy learned that [[spoiler:she and her family were moving out of Los Angeles]]. Shaken by the news, she [[spoiler:used the knowledge she had recently gained concerning the Calamity Box to manipulate her friends into stealing it, thus purposefully sending to them Amphibia so she could have adventures with them forever and never be alone. Unfortunately, she is quickly manipulated by King Andrias (who she saw as a friend and mentor) as a means to recover and restore power to the Calamity Box, which will allow him to to conquer the multiverse. She also ends up OnlyMostlyDead while trying to rectify all this]].

* In ''{{WesternAnimation/Amphibia}}'', on the day the girls were sent to Amphibia, Marcy learned that [[spoiler:she and her family were moving out of Los Angeles]]. Shaken by the news, she [[spoiler:used the knowledge she had recently gained concerning the Calamity Box to manipulate her friends into stealing it, thus purposefully sending to them Amphibia so she could have adventures with them forever and never be alone. Unfortunately, she is quickly manipulated by King Andrias (who she saw as a friend and mentor) as a means to recover and restore power to the Calamity Box, which will allow him to to conquer the multiverse. She also ends up NotQuiteDead while trying to rectify all this]].

* In ''{{WesternAnimation/Amphibia}}'', Marcy's biggest mistake was that she did not have the courage to tell Anne and Sasha that [[spoiler:she and her family were moving]]. Instead, she [[spoiler:sent herself, Anne, and Sasha to Amphibia on purpose so she could have adventures with them forever, confessing she did not want to be alone. And not just that, she was manipulated by King Andrias who she saw as a friend and mentor only to discover he was planning to use the Calamity Box to conquer the mulitverse, and she ends up seemingly killed while trying to rectify all this]].

* When ComicBook/SpiderMan arrogantly refused to stop for five seconds to stop a crook rushing past him, telling the cop chasing the guy that it wasn't his job, his life was changed forever; the same crook would later murder his beloved Uncle Ben. While that mistake [[SuperHeroOrigin defined what he is]], [[ComesGreatResponsibility the lesson]] was learned in the harshest way possible.

The literary term for this is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamartia hamartia,]] a Greek term from Aristotle's ''Poetics'' (and an admittedly vaguely-defined one--it can also be interpreted as a FatalFlaw). Which also means this device is OlderThanFeudalism.

To clarify, this is '''not''' supposed to be [[IncitingIncident an event that gets the plot moving]]. The Tragic Mistake occurs well after the plot has been set in motion--it's the TragicHero's personal point of no return.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': The irreversible choice that leads to Griffith's downfall and brings all of the Hawks down with him is his tryst with Princess Charlotte immediately after Guts leaves the Band of the Hawk. From this follows his arrest and torture, the outlawing and near annihilation of the Band of the Hawk, and the whole chain of events leading up to the Eclipse--by which time Griffith has hit the DespairEventHorizon and is persuaded to sacrifice the lives and souls of all of his followers in order to ascend to demonic godhood. The cause of this mistake was that Griffith couldn't reconcile his ambition with his human emotions--he grew to care about Guts as more than a mere pawn, but couldn't admit his feelings to Guts or himself, nor abide not being able to control Guts's destiny. That created a void that he impulsively tried to fill with sexual conquest and control over someone else. This is just the biggest mistake in the Golden Age Arc, since Guts and Casca might be said to have made crucial mistakes of their own which contributed to that ending:

** Casca's great mistake just before the Eclipse was telling Guts to leave her and Griffith behind and follow his own dream. Griffith happened to overhear the entire conversation, which drove him off the deep end, causing him to abscond with the wagon, crash in the shallows, and reunite with the Crimson Behelit at the moment when he was most emotionally vulnerable to temptation. Casca's FatalFlaw was the combination of her loyalty toward Griffith, her dutiful and self-sacrificing nature, and the conflict that those first two created with the fact that her true romantic feelings were towards Guts. Even though she was forced to realize how physically disabled Griffith was by his torture, and knew how much Guts' departure had devastated him, she either ignored or failed to see the warning signs of how Griffith's feelings of despair, jealousy, and spite were metastasizing into something dangerous. Griffith had always been the savior from her childhood, and even though she later learned of his human weakness she never could have imagined him turning on her and Guts. When Griffith made an unwanted advance on her while she was changing his bandages--essentially AttemptedRape if not for his physical disability--she was devastated but couldn't admit to herself or to Guts that that's what had just happened. Instead of reacting with anger, she gave Griffith what he wanted least: [[DontYouDarePityMe pity]]. Casca decided to stay with Griffith, but Griffith would always know that she did it out of pity and would never love him the way that she loved Guts. Worse, she told Guts to leave when she knew that he was the person that Griffith most cared about, because she didn't want Guts to give up his dream for the sake of her and Griffith, and felt intense guilt for not staying at Guts' side like they'd promised as lovers. In order not to have made that mistake, she would have had to not be Casca anymore, since her tragic mistake was something she did out of her noble but flawed sense of self-sacrifice and obligation.

** Suzaku commits two major tragic mistakes. The first is killing his father, which more or less guarantees Britannia's conquest of Japan and results in Suzaku becoming a DeathSeeker. The second is [[spoiler:having the FLEIJA loaded onto the Lancelot- since Suzaku is still under the effects of a Geass that compels him to "Live!" he's compelled to fire it when Kallen's about to kill him and he has no other options to fend her off, thus destroying Tokyo, killing millions of people and causing him to take part in the Zero Requiem to atone for this action]].
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': Sayaka's decision to become a MagicalGirl is named by Homura as a big mistake that she will never be able to take back or recover from. Because Kyubey is treacherous, because Sayaka's seemingly selfless wish was made with SecretlySelfish intentions, and because [[spoiler:until Madoka's wish]] all those who make the contract with Kyubey are doomed to become witches, Homura is right. Sayaka commits a further act of Hamartia by refusing to cleanse her Soul Gem, because she's in despair from seeing Kyousuke Kamijou (her childhood friend, on whose behalf she made the wish, and who she never had the courage to confess to -- which isn't helped by a certain reveal about what mahou shoujo are leading her to believe that she is no longer human) accepting Hitomi Shizuki's LoveConfession. Her despair not only turns her into a witch, but leads to both her own death and that of her rival-turned-friend Kyouko Sakura.
** For the villains' side: [[spoiler: The Incubators never expected that Homura's seemingly simple wish would cause an infinitely amplifying chain reaction that would derail their entire system since it ended up creating a God and a Devil with powers beyond anyone's control.]]
** In the spinoff, ''Manga/PuellaMagiOrikoMagica'', Madoka makes such a mistake when she goes over to help Homura, thereby resulting in [[spoiler:Oriko being able to kill her with her final attack, thus causing Homura to reset time so that she can prevent Madoka's death]].

* When ComicBook/SpiderMan arrogantly refused to stop for five seconds to stop a crook rushing past him, telling the cop chasing the guy that it wasn't his job, his life was changed forever; the same crook would later murder his beloved Uncle Ben. While that mistake [[SuperHeroOrigin defined what he is]], [[ComesGreatResponsibility the lesson]] was learned in the harshest way possible.
* When ''[[ComicBook/HunterZolomon Hunter Zolomon]]'' from Franchise/TheFlash was in the FBI profiling a serial killer, Hunter predicted that the guy wouldn't have a gun, and thus urged his team to make the arrest without waiting for backup. He turned out to be wrong, and the killer shot him in the knee, crippling him, before gunning down his father-in-law. For his mistake, Hunter was crippled for life, divorced by his wife, and discharged from the FBI. His desire to undo this mistake put him on the path to becoming [[EvilCounterpart Zoom]]. [[spoiler:Except years later it turns out there was no mistake - Hunter had correctly assessed the situation and things would have ended there and then if a time-travelling Professor Zoom hadn't given the killer a gun in order to start Zolomon down the road to becoming Zoom]]. Ironically when his ex-wife Ashley Zolomon learn of Hunter's transformation into Zoom she considered leaving Hunter and getting him discharged from the FBI a terrible mistake and would leave her entire career at the FBI behind to come to Keystone City to take over his former spot as the local meta-human profiler to help reform Hunter.
* When ''[[ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} Selina Kyle]]'' from ''{{Franchise/Batman}}'' is the protector of the residents of Gotham's East End and carrying out an ambitious career as a cat burglar, her little sister Maggie and childhood friend Sylvia Sinclair move into the area. Despite their shaky history, Selina still trusts Sylvia, even telling Sylvia her sister is living there too. Sylvia ends up betraying her by allying with Black Mask and telling him her identity. Because of this, Black Mask kidnaps Selina's sister and her husband Simon Burton. Simon is tortured to death, while Maggie is tortured to insanity.

* Reiko Mitamura in ''Fanfic/WhereTalentGoesToDie'' [[spoiler:cheats on a test, rather than risk getting a bad grade]]. Although it seems relatively innocuous, it comes back to haunt her in the second Chapter, when Monokuma gathers information on everyone- from dark secrets to personal weaknesses- and threatens to make them public knowledge unless someone commits murder. Mitamura, [[FatalFlaw obsessed with]] [[ThePerfectionist being perfect]], [[spoiler:is thus unable to resist the pressure, and commits murder in order to graduate and keep her secrets hidden]].

** Another point of no return for Anakin was when he impulsively (and unnecessarily) refuses to see Padmé Amidala, his wife, trying to talk him down, and Obi-Wan Kenobi stowing away on her ship, [[WithUsOrAgainstUs as anything but an attack on him]]. This results in him Force choking his wife and dueling with his former Jedi Master, ending with him having his three remaining limbs chopped off and getting burned very badly by the lava. The old Anakin might have been able to find a way to save his wife from dying in her childbirth, but after waking up in the black suit, he realizes that his own fear and anger ended up killing her.
** The Jedi as a whole had this when they made the decision to fight in the Clone Wars without hesitation. As the novelization says explicitly, the Clone Wars themselves were the ultimate Jedi Trap as it put the Jedi in hte prefect position for their clones to turn on them.

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda 2'', [[BigBad Lord Shen]] is told by the protagonist that it's not too late; that he can choose who he is, and doesn't have to be defined by his desire for revenge on his family. Shen explicitly chooses to continue fighting, and dies in the battle.
* ''Film/NicholasAndAlexandra'' features a scene in which Russia is teetering on the brink of getting involved in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Count Witte, the OnlySaneMan in the government of Tsar Nicholas II, begs the Tsar not to go to war, laying out in excruciating detail all the disasters that will follow. Nicholas orders mobilization anyway. This leads directly to Russia's defeat, UsefulNotes/RedOctober, and Nicholas and all of his family getting murdered by the Bolsheviks.
* In ''Film/NewJackCity'', there's the old man who was forced out of the Carter Apartments when Nino took it over by force. The old man confronts the drug lord and even pulls a gun on him. Instead of Nino having the man dealt with, he lets him go and jokes about what he did, not taking him seriously. When Nino is finally arrested, he's able to smooth talk his way to getting a one year prison sentence. He brags in front of the media, only for the [[ChekhovsGunman old man]] he didn't take seriously to show up and kill him with the same gun during the post trial press conference.
* ''Film/CarlitosWay'' also had the above example of sparing someone he shouldn't have. Carlito had the troublemaking Benny Blanco at his mercy but let him live because he was a reformed man. Carlito also knew never to trust Pachanga and said he'd take care of him but he never found the time.
* ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}''
** Tommy [=DeVito=] killing a "made man" who insulted him leads to his own murder later, just as he is about to become a made man himself. This mistake sprang directly from his own notorious HairTriggerTemper, which wasn't helped at all by Billy Batts (the made man in question) bringing up Tommy's past as a [[ShoeShineMister shoeshine boy]] and deliberately antagonizing him.
** Jimmy Conway having the crew who robbed the Lufthansa airport killed. Henry realizes that Jimmy will turn against him too and thus snitches against him later.
* ''Film/{{Casino}}''. Nicky Santoro's antics lead to him getting banned from Vegas city limits. This becomes the beginning of the end of mob rule in Vegas.
* Maximus from ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' just wants to go home after years of military campaigning but he makes the mistake of accepting Emperor Marcus Aurelius' plea to help restore Rome into a republic again. Things fall apart for him from there.

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'':
** [[spoiler:On Titan, Thanos has finally been subdued enough from the combined efforts of Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Starlord, Drax, and Mantis to where they can finally try to get the Infinity Gauntlet, with everyone but Mantis holding him in place with their various weapons/abilities while Mantis herself has Thanos asleep with hypnotism. Unfortunately, once Quill finds out how Thanos got the Soul Stone, namely by killing Gamora to get it, he cannot contain his rage and decks Thanos, throwing the heroes' meticulous set-up off and allowing Thanos to throw them all off and ultimately score his victory, during which 50% of the universe's population is wiped from existence. "[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Aw, man...]]", indeed.]]
** [[spoiler:In Wakanda, just as soon as Thanos kills Vision and gets his hands on the Mind Stone, completing the Infinity Gauntlet, he is attacked by Thor, whose new [[WeaponOfXSlaying Thanos-killing axe Stormbreaker]] lives up to its purpose and gravely wounds Thanos with a well-placed throw to the chest. Thor walks up to the defeated Thanos, but because he was driven by a desire for revenge after being ForcedToWatch Thanos kill Loki, Thor decides to twist Stormbreaker further into Thanos' chest, instead of withdrawing it and decapitating him, just to savor his vengeance and make Thanos die as painfully as possible. This proves to be a fatal mistake on Thor's part, as Thanos is able to still kill half the universe and then escape victorious (and very much alive). Thanos even says it himself - "You should have gone for the head."]]
* In ''Film/TheFly1986'', just as they're celebrating Seth finally managing to transport living matter via the telepods Veronica learns that her jealous ex-lover/editor Stathis intends to undercut her plans for a book on their development. She leaves to confront him, leaving Seth alone but promising to return after she's settled things -- and she does, a few hours later. Alas, in the interim Seth suspects that she is cuckolding him, gets drunk, and decides to jump ahead to the intended GrandFinale of his experiments by teleporting himself...and doesn't notice that a fly is in the telepod with him when he does so. As the telepods aren't programmed to transport more than one living being at a time, its computer ''fuses'' Seth with the fly on a molecular-genetic level, and from this point onward he is a DoomedProtagonist undergoing a SlowTransformation.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'''s characters tend to fall victim to the inevitable hubris of their {{Tragic Flaw}}s, but a couple of them can pin their failure to definitive points of no return. Eddard turning down the help of Renly and Littlefinger and warning Cersei that he knew her secret, expecting her to flee to safety, resulted in [[spoiler:her killing the king and installing her son, who has him executed for treason]]. Robb's decision to marry Jeyne Westerling [[spoiler:sets off the events leading to the Red Wedding]]. Theon Greyjoy's choice to hold Winterfell kicks off what is arguably the series' most tragic character arc. Arguably, leaving Winterfell in the first place is Catelyn Stark's tragic mistake, because everything that she does after leaving merely makes things worse for her family, and all of her attempts to make up for it just make things snowball until [[spoiler: her husband and sons have all lost their heads (to her knowledge), her daughters are both missing, and most of her friends are dead or in chains.]]
* ''Literature/ThingsFallApart'': Okonkwo raises the political prisoner Ikemafuna like his own son for three years, and then the village elders decree that the boy must be executed. The oldest man in the village warns Okonkwo to have nothing to do with the killing, or else it would be an offense to the gods, as if he had killed his own child. Okonkwo disobeys, and help to kill the boy so as not to appear weak before the other men. The fallout: The gods send bad luck in Okonkwo's way, culminating in an accidental killing that forces him to go into exile for seven years. In that time, white colonists move into the Ibo village; without Okonkwo's leadership the Ibo get taken advantage of and lose their will to fight for themselves. Okonkwo, upon returning, tries and fails to organize a resistance, and hangs himself.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** Harry suffers a {{Deconstruction}} of the KidHero trope in ''Order of the Phoenix'', where he refuses to be taught Occlumency by Snape because of their hatred and mistrust for each other, which [[spoiler: allows Voldemort to send him a false vision of Sirius held captive so that Harry could run to his rescue. This results in Sirius' death, since in his impulsiveness Harry also neglected a device which would have allowed him to connect to Sirius immediately and verify that he's fine]].
** Sirius makes a couple long-term mistakes: He hates his house-elf Kreacher, eventually causing his MistreatmentInducedBetrayal which [[spoiler: resulted in Sirius' death]]. He also offers to act as a decoy SecretKeeper for the Potters with the real one being [[spoiler: Peter Pettigrew]], which results in the latter betraying the Potters to their death and framing Sirius for it.
** Severus Snape [[spoiler: ruined his friendship (and any chance for romance he might have had) with Lily when he chose the Dark Arts]] and became a zealous Death Eater. He then [[spoiler: relayed a prophecy to Voldemort which cause him to target Lily's son, resulting in the murder of her and James]].
** Albus Dumbledore [[spoiler: was tempted to start a plot against Muggles with Grindelwald, and in his lust for power caused his sister's death when his brother confronted Grindelwald]].
** Horace Slughorn's vanity allowed Voldemort to flatter him too much and in a moment of LooseLips revealed to him information about [[spoiler: making seven [[SoulJar Horcruxes]] for maximum power]].
* ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' makes the mistake of reneging on his promise to make a companion for the Creature, thus directly leading the creature to seek revenge on him by killing Henry Clerval and Elizabeth, which in turn leads to Frankenstein pursuing the creature until his death.

* ''Series/TwentyFour'': In season 8, [[spoiler:Kamistan President Omar Hassan]] is assassinated by [[spoiler:Samir Mehran]], nearly destroying Allison Taylor's chances of having a peace treaty signed. Already growing desperate thanks to sacrifices she's made out of her own family in the past few years and horrified at the thought that they could be for nothing, she winds up siding with [[PresidentEvil Charles Logan]] in an attempt to get it back on track. The problem with this? One of the parties in the signing, the Russian Government, has several corrupt members in their ranks [[spoiler:up to and including the President]], and they were the ones who masterminded the attacks of the day, including [[spoiler:Hassan]]'s death. This means that if the treaty is signed they're allowed to go scot-free, and the worst thing is that [[spoiler:even after discovering their involvement Taylor chooses to still go ahead with it and protect them, even going so far as to have anyone attempting to reveal the truth incarcerated or otherwise silenced. She does ultimately realize what she's done and call off the treaty, but at this point thanks to her own crimes it at the very least cost her her presidency.]]

** Arguably, one of the most tragic — because it is clearly depicted as a mistake — involves Clara Oswald in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E10FaceTheRaven "Face the Raven"]]. [[spoiler:Clara has a death sentence intended for a friend transferred to her in the mistaken belief that the episode's antagonist, Ashildr, would never harm her. She's wrong and ends up killed as a result (later episodes play the TimeyWimeyBall on this last point, but the end result remains unchanged).]]

** In season four, Dean Winchester demands Sam to dissolve his alliance with the demon Ruby and giving up drinking demon blood to gain the power to defeat Lilith, as per the angels' requests/warnings, or walk out and "not be brothers anymore". Since Dean [[BerserkButton calls him a monster]] and "closes that door" on him [[ParentalAbandonment just like their father did]], and Sam believes what he's doing is the only way to prevent the Apocalypse, it's more believable how Ruby and the [[LightIsNotGood angels]] deceive Sam. He becomes Lilith's/Ruby's UnwittingPawn and, in his efforts to stop the Apocalypse, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero unintentionally busts Lucifer out of Hell]] to start TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
** In season six, [[spoiler:Castiel]] chooses not to seek Dean's help [[spoiler: in fighting the civil war in Heaven,]] and instead makes a DealWithTheDevil, [[spoiler:[[MindRape breaks Sam's mind]], and [[MoralEventHorizon kills his angel friends]] so he can gain the power of Purgatory's souls to win the war]] to prevent the Apocalypse from being restarted. ''Then'' he [[spoiler:[[AGodAmI declares himself the new god]].]] In season seven, [[spoiler:[[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope things go downhill from there]] as Castiel's actions unleash [[EldritchAbomination unkillable monsters]] on the world.]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}''
** Aenarion the Defender taking up cursed Sword of Khaine and marrying Morathi leads to the creation of the Dark Elves.
** Caledor the Warrior shaving the beard of a Dwarf emissary leads to a war that decimated both races.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''
** The Emperor making Horus Warmaster and returning to Terra. In a similar vein, Lion El'Jonson sending Luther and half the Dark Angels home.
** Fulgrim replacing his sword Fireblade with the daemonic Silver Blade.
** Magnus using warp telepathy instead of astropathy, accidentally destroying the prototype webway, marked him and his legion out for destruction.

** Victor Steiner-Davion's flaw was trying to ape his father's methods rather than finding his own solutions when problems arose; the decision to use a body double of Thomas Marik's son was supposed to be a pragmatic one to buy time--but unlike his father, who laid down the plan in the first place, Victor lacked the {{Magnificent Bastard}}ry to pull it off because he was too soft-hearted to clean up all the loose ends. The end result is that the great nation his parents forged split back in two, half of it hates him, several dozen of his planets fall into chaos, and his sister eventually ends up becoming his worst enemy in her scheming to (successfully) dethrone him.

** Takashi Kurita himself had many great victories to his name, but his mistake was in placing far too much trust in his District Warlords, almost all of whom managed to start wars that the Combine could ill afford and sapped what would have been the otherwise militarily strongest nation of much its strength at the most inopportune times--leading eventually to Takashi being dethroned by his own, much more pragmatic but reasonable son, Theodore.

* ''Theatre/OedipusTheKing'' straddles the line between being undone by a fatal flaw and being screwed over by fate. The crime for which he was punished was that he killed his father and married his mother - but due to circumstances completely beyond his control, Oedipus never knew that they were related to him. On the other hand, you could say that this wouldn't have happened if Oedipus had not, in his pride, quarreled with and killed another chariot driver - a chariot driver who ultimately turns out to be his father.

** ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'': In Act 3, the eponymous prince learns that Claudius was indeed guilty of murdering his father, and catches Claudius unawares while praying. Instead of avenging his father right there, Hamlet decides that it's not good enough - he wants Claudius to die with unpaid sin on his soul, so killing him in the act of confessing won't do. Hamlet resolves to kill Claudius later. The fallout: Hamlet does attempt to kill Claudius later, during his confrontation with his mother, only to kill Polonius instead by mistake. The death of Polonius drives Hamlet's lover Ophelia to madness and death, angering her brother Laertes enough to challenge Hamlet to a duel - the duel that ultimately results in the death of nearly every named character.

** ''Theatre/KingLear'': Lear's mistake comes in the very first scene, when he banishes Cordelia and Kent - two of the three characters who are actually on his side - and then vests the power of his kingdom jointly in Goneril and Regan, his two evil daughters. It only takes him a few scenes to realise his error, but the fallout is severe: the deaths of Cornwall, Gloucester, Cordelia, Goneril, Regan, Edmund, and finally, Lear himself. The ending also implies that Kent is about to kill himself too, leaving only Edgar and Albany behind to pick up the pieces.

* In ''Theatre/LesMiserables'', Eponine doesn't take Valjean's advice not to return to the barricade because she is hopelessly in love with Marius.

* In ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'', there's Bitter Springs. It was a little settlement in a canyon for the Great Khans, a tribe that constantly harassed the NCR as they took over the region and expanded their territory. Eventually, soldiers were sent in to destroy the "base" at Bitter Springs and a group of 1st Recon NCR snipers deployed around the canyon's exit to ensure none of them managed to escape...but as the place burned, the Khans tried to get their women and children out first. Add in some confused communications, and the higher-ups still gave the order to fire. Result: 1st Recon snipers gunning down wounded non-combatants as they tried to run. Anyone who was there carries serious psychological scars, even though it was years ago by the time of the game.
* ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'': In chapter 8 ("The Gate"), Captain Martin Walker makes the call to use white phosphorous mortars on a group of enemy soldiers, wiping them out to the last man in a painful, slow, poisonous conflagration. Witnessing the aftermath horrifies him - [[spoiler:but his mind cracks ''completely'' the moment he realizes that 47 of the civilians he and his crew were trying to rescue were caught in the blaze as well. When he chooses to push ahead anyway, claiming the circumstances gave him "no choice", he damns both himself and everyone around him in not admitting to his own faulty judgement.]] In the final chapter he realizes that it's completely too late to turn back... or he can still decide to go back home with all of the shell-shock and face his punishment in both life and court for his mistakes.
** Another tragic mistake happened several missions before The Gate, when Walker made the decision to push further into Dubai to [[spoiler:contact the CIA upon learning that the 33rd Infantry has gone rogue]], instead of requesting evac and getting himself and his team the hell out of there as someone doing recon is supposed to do. This leads to Walker [[spoiler:leading his team into what he and they know is a trap to rescue a CIA agent who is being tortured, and ultimately leads to him falling off a skyscraper (symbolizing his eventual downfall)]]. The result is that Walker and his team cannot safely leave Dubai beyond this point, setting the stage for the subsequent bad decisions (including the white phosphorus) that [[spoiler:ultimately doom Walker, his team, and Dubai]]. In order for Walker not to have made that mistake, he would have had to not be Walker -- he made this mistake out of a desire to find his personal hero, Colonel John Konrad, who saved his life long ago, and [[HeroicWannabe out of a desire to be a hero himself]].
* ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'': [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans Jowy]] had the heroes in an Ambush and could've easily killed them off - except [[MagnificentBastard Shu]] threw [[MoralityPet Pilika]] at him. He lets the group go, deciding he couldn't risk harming her. His strategist remarks he blew his chance. The fallout: The War continues on, turning in the hero's favor, and Jowy is ousted from the throne. ([[MultipleEndings What happens depends on the player's choice.]])
* In ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'', [[spoiler:Akane]]'s tragic mistake is when she runs back to get [[ItWasAGift the doll]], [[spoiler:getting herself caught by Hongou and forced into the incinerator]]. Up until that point, she was entirely a victim of circumstance: but her mistake- [[IdiotBall stupid though it was-]] added a layer of moral ambiguity to her continued struggle for survival. [[spoiler:She ends up murdering several people in order to achieve her goals]].
* There's one in [[spoiler:Hanako]]'s path in ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo''. If Hisao makes the wrong choice at the second-to-last branch [[spoiler:by treating her too carefully, deciding for her that she can't handle the trip into town]], the final choice that would have led to the good or neutral endings instead leads only to the bad.

* In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', Mondo Owada, insecure and desperate to measure up to his older brother Daiya, the founder and leader of the Crazy Diamonds biker gang, challenges Daiya to a street race. Mondo, desperate to win, almost gets hit by a truck, but [[HeroicSacrifice Daiya saves him at the cost of his own life]], and in his dying moments, [[LastRequest asks Mondo to keep their biker gang together]]. Unfortunately, this means that Mondo can't let anyone find out about what happened under any circumstances. [[spoiler:Monokuma threatens to reveal people's dark personal secrets if someone doesn't commit murder, pushing Mondo to his breaking point, resulting in him accidentally murdering Chihiro in a fit of rage]].

* In ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'', Eridan's mistake is [[spoiler:killing Kanaya and Feferi]] because of his envy and despair. He [[spoiler:dies horribly]] because of that, and it's entirely his own fault. From that point on, ''nobody'' considers him anything more than a serious danger to their survival.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor'', Esteban felt like he was AlwaysSecondBest, like he was invisible. He ended up [[spoiler:helping Shuriki take over his kingdom, which led to the deaths of Elena’s parents, Elena being trapped in her amulet, and his Abuelos and youngest cousin being sealed in a painting. He came to regret it, but he refused to tell his remaining family of his involvement. Once Elena finds out his secret, she disowns Esteban and made it clear she will never forgive him no matter how sorry he is]].

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'''s characters tend to fall victim to the inevitable hubris of their {{Tragic Flaw}}s, but a couple of them can pin their failure to definitive points of no return. Eddard turning down the help of Renly and Littlefinger and warning Cersei that he knew her secret, expecting her to flee to safety, resulted in [[spoiler:her killing the king and installing her son, who has him executed for treason]]. Robb's decision to marry Jeyne Westerling [[spoiler:sets off the events leading to the Red Wedding]]. Theon Greyjoy's choice to hold Winterfell kicks off what is arguably the series' most tragic character arc [[spoiler:("Reek, Reek, it rhymes with weak")]]. Arguably, leaving Winterfell in the first place is Catelyn Stark's tragic mistake, because everything that she does after leaving merely makes things worse for her family, and all of her attempts to make up for it just make things snowball until [[spoiler: her husband and sons have all lost their heads (to her knowledge), her daughters are both missing, and most of her friends are dead or in chains.]]

* In ''{{WesternAnimation/Amphibia}}'', Marcy's biggest mistake was that she did not have the courage to tell Anne and Sasha that [[spoiler:she and her family were moving]]. Instead, she [[spoiler:sent herself, Anne, and Sasha to Amphibia on purpose so she could have adventures with them forever, confessing she did not to be alone. And not just that, she was manipulated by King Andrias who she saw as a friend and mentor only to discover he was planning to use the Calamity Box to conquer the mulitverse, and she ends up seemingly killed while trying to rectify all this]].

* In ''{{WesternAnimation/Amphibia}}'', Marcy's biggest mistake was she did not have the courage to tell Anne and Sasha, that she and her family were moving. Instead, she sent herself, Anne, and Sasha to Amphibia on purpose so she can have adventures with them forever, she admits this and confessing she did not to be alone. And not just that, she had been manipulated by King Andrias who she saw as a friend and mentor only to discover he is planning to used the Calmaity Box to conquer the mulitverse and she ends up seemingly killed.

[[/folder:WesternAnimation]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/Amphibia'', Marcy's biggest mistake was she did not have the courage to tell Anne and Sasha, that she and her family were moving. Instead, she sent herself, Anne, and Sasha to Amphibia on purpose so she can have adventures with them forever, she admits this and confessing she did not to be alone. And not just that, she had been manipulated by King Andrias who she saw as a friend and mentor only to discover he is planning to used the Calmaity Box to conquer the mulitverse and she ends up seemingly killed.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Amphibia'', Marcy's biggest mistake was did not have the courage to tell Anne and Sasha, that she and her family. Instead, she sent herself, Anne, and Sasha to Amphibia on purpose so she can have adventures with them forever, she admits this and confessing she did not to be alone. And not just that, she had been manipulated by King Andrias who she saw as a friend and mentor only to discover he is planning to used the Calmaity Box to conquer the mulitverse and she ends up seemingly killed.

* In ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'', V siding with [[spoiler:[[MegaCorp Arasaka]]]] and choosing to [[spoiler:live out the rest of their life after being terminally diagnosed leads them to the realization that the betrayal they did to try and save themselves was [[AllForNothing for nothing]]. Johnny is gone but he (and Jackie) continues to haunt V's conscience and V's other friends are distant towards them, meaning that the rest of their short life is likely going to be lonely and full of nightmares... culminating by them throwing away the [[TragicKeepsake bullet necklace]] in despair. Chose poorly, indeed. This variant of "The Devil" ending is arguably the worst ending a player can get next to "The Reaper".]]

* In ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'', V siding with [[spoiler:[[MegaCorp Arasaka]]]] and choosing to [[spoiler:live out the rest of their life after being terminally diagnosed leads them to the realization that the betrayal they did to try and save themselves was [[AllForNothing for nothing]]. Johnny is gone but he (and Jackie) continues to haunt V's conscience and V's other friends are distant towards them, meaning that the rest of their short life is likely going to be lonely and full of nightmares... culminating by them throwing away the [[TragicKeepsake bullet necklace]] in despair. Choose poorly, indeed. This variant of "The Devil" ending is arguably the worst ending a player can get next to "The Reaper".]]

* In ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'', V siding with [[spoiler:[[MegaCorp Arasaka]]]] and choosing to [[spoiler:live out the rest of their life after being terminally diagnosed leads them to the realization that the betrayal they did to try and save themselves was [[AllForNothing for nothing]]. Johnny is gone but he (and Jackie) continues to haunt V's conscience and V's other friends are distant towards them, meaning that the rest of their short life is likely going to be lonely and full of nightmares... culminating by them throwing away the [[TragicKeepsake bullet necklace]] in despair. [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Choose poorly, indeed]]. This variant of "The Devil" ending is arguably the worst ending a player can get next to "The Reaper".]]

* In ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'', V siding with [[spoiler:[[MegaCorp Arasaka]]]] and choosing to [[spoiler:live out the rest of their life after being terminally diagnosed leads them to the realization that the betrayal they did to try and save themselves was [[AllForNothing for nothing]]. Johnny is gone but he (and Jackie) continues to haunt V's conscience and V's other friends are distant towards them, meaning that the rest of their short life is likely going to be lonely and full of nightmares... culminating by them throwing away the [{TragicKeepsake bullet necklace]] in despair. [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Choose poorly, indeed]]. This variant of "The Devil" ending is arguably the worst ending a player can get next to "The Reaper".]]

* In ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'', V siding with [[spoiler:[[MegaCorp Arasaka]]]] and choosing to [[spoiler:live out the rest of their life after being terminally diagnosed leads them to the realization that the betrayal they did to try and save themselves was [[AllForNothing for nothing]]. Johnny is gone but he (and Jackie) continues to haunt V's conscience, and V's other friends are distant towards them, meaning that the rest of their short life is likely going to be lonely and full of nightmares. [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Choose poorly, indeed]]. This variant of "The Devil" ending is arguably the worst ending a player can get next to "The Reaper".]]

** For Chiaki Nanami and the rest of [[VisualNovel/SuperDanganRonpa2 Class 77-B]], their mistake is rushing off to save their teacher, Chisa Yukizome, from Junko Enoshima. [[spoiler:Unbeknownst to most of the class, Mikan Tsumiki has already been brainwashed into an Ultimate Despair, and pushes Chiaki into a trap, thus resulting in Chiaki being brutally killed and the rest of the class being brainwashed into Ultimate Despair]].

* When ''[[ComicBook/HunterZolomon Hunter Zolomon]]'' from Franchise/TheFlash was in the FBI profiling a serial killer, Hunter predicted that the guy wouldn't have a gun, and thus urged his team to make the arrest without waiting for backup. He turned out to be wrong, and the killer shot him in the knee, crippling him, before gunning down his father-in-law. For his mistake, Hunter was crippled for life, divorced by his wife, and discharged from the FBI. His desire to undo this mistake put him on the path to becoming [[EvilCounterpart Zoom]]. Ironically when his ex-wife Ashley Zolomon learn of Hunter's transformation into Zoom she considered leaving Hunter and getting him discharged from the FBI a terrible mistake and would leave her entire career at the FBI behind to come to Keystone City to take over his former spot as the local meta-human profiler to help reform Hunter.

** Julius Caesar and Niobe's extramarital affairs doomed then from the start.

* ''Literature/ThingsFallApart'': Okonkwo raises the political prisoner Ikemafuna like his own son for three years, and then the village elders decree that the boy must be executed. The oldest man in the village warns Okonkwo to have nothing to do with the killing, or else it would be an offense to the gods, as if he had killed his own child. Okonkwo disobeys, and help to kill the boy so as not to appear weak before the other men.
** The fallout: The gods send bad luck in Okonkwo's way, culminating in an accidental killing that forces him to go into exile for seven years. In that time, white colonists move into the Ibo village; without Okonkwo's leadership the Ibo get taken advantage of and lose their will to fight for themselves. Okonkwo, upon returning, tries and fails to organize a resistance, and hangs himself.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Harry himself, plus half the major adult characters:

** Horace Slughorn allowed Voldemort to flatter him too much and revealed to him information about [[spoiler: making seven [[SoulJar Horcruxes]] for maximum power]].