Warning Mistaken for Threat

Alien: Hey, hey! We just came to warn you!
Jenny: Warn us?
Alien: Yeah! What'd you think we were doing?
Jenny: Uh... Attacking?

— My Life as a Teenage Robot, "Stage Fright"

Some villain threatens another character with doom. No matter what, they will be defeated and... wait, they're not evil, and that threat was actually a warning?

This trope is when someone is warned about some disaster and that someone mistakes it for a threat and the person warning them for evil, either due to Ambiguous Syntax or the warner's behavior.

This can potentially overlap with Apologetic Attacker. Not to be confused with Cassandra Did It as this assumes ill intentions before a calamity occurs instead of afterwards.

As this is a revelatory trope sometimes, spoilers will be found ahead.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• In the beginning of the Lost Children arc of Berserk, Guts warns a small band of bandits that are messing with Jill that if they do not clear out of the cave, they're going to die. The bandits think that Guts is threatening them (since "you're going to die" can easily mean "I'm going to kill you"), but Guts is actually warning them about the demon-tree that is about to come to life and come after him because of the Brand he bears. Sure enough, the bandits promptly die when the tree attacks.

Comic Books

• A variation occurs in Astonishing X-Men when Colossus and Kitty Pryde first encounter Dafi. She tells them to come with her, which they interpret as a threat, before Dafi clarifies that it was a request; it's just that Kitty and Piotr's translators can't properly translate the nuances in her language.
• She-Hulk: In the first arc of the 2005 series, She-Hulk finds herself defending Charles Czarkowski, a man who was caught on camera shooting an innocent man. Charles claims he had been sent a message from the future, with the messenger being that man, who said that he was going to kill him. It is ultimately revealed that the man was Charles himself; he had altered his appearance using a DNA scrambling device and had attempted to send himself a warning before jumping back in time to escape the Time Police. The warning had been undermined by him looking at his reflection and realizing that he was the man who was supposedly coming to kill him, setting in motion the events of his own trial. Even worse? The time cops catch up to him and force him to travel back, completing the loop.

Fan Works

• Learning How to Be a Princess: When Willow and Gus reveal that they know Luz is a princess, she abruptly demands that they be quiet, dragging them towards a secluded area. Both assume that she intends to silence them for knowing too much, spurring Gus to start begging for mercy... before Luz explains to both that she just wanted to take them somewhere private, as discussing government secrets in the middle of a marketplace isn't the best idea.
• Played With in Team 8: After Neji subjects Hinata to a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, then callously insults her afterwards, making clear that he doesn't feel the slightest bit of remorse for what he's done, Shino calmly asks what sort of flowers would be appropriate for his funeral. While this is taken as a direct threat, he's actually referring to the fact that Naruto is going to be Neji's next opponent, indirectly warning him that his teammate is going to be hellbent on kicking his ass.
• In The Writing on the Wall, Daring Do leads a team of archeologists into an ancient structure. The walls are covered in inscriptions that Daring assumes are merely empty threats meant to scare off tomb robbers. The "tomb" is actually a nuclear waste disposal site, and the inscriptions are warnings that anyone who tries to explore the place will likely die a horrible death due to radiation poisoning.

Films — Animation

• In Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, the ghost of the pirate captain Morgan Moonscar carved the words "Get Out!" and "Beware" into the kitchen wall of the mansion. Mystery Inc. later learns that he was simply trying to warn them about Simone and Lena's true nature as life-draining werecats.

Films — Live-Action

• In Exodus: Gods and Kings, Moses tries and fails to persuade Ramses to free the Hebrews, telling him "This goes beyond you and I, this is about Egypt's very survival," and ultimately tells Ramses to "protect your child, protect your child," with Ramses commenting "Is that a threat?" when in fact it was an attempt to avert the upcoming final plague.
• In Knives Out, Marta finds a morphine-overdosed Fran, who barely manages to wheeze out, "You did this... won't get away with it..." before losing consciousness. Marta, although she didn't hurt Fran, accepts the blame, since she thinks her covering up the true circumstances behind Harlan's death is what led to this. However, she later realizes, Fran was saying "Hugh did this," was trying to warn her.
• Small Soldiers: One of the first lines Archer the Gorgonite speaks to Alan is the Arc Words "There will be no mercy." Alan actually inquires if this was meant to be a threat, but Archer can only repeat the line, as he hasn't learned enough English to be conversant. Alan soon learns the "no mercy" part applies to the Commando Elite, whose only purpose is to attack, fight, destroy the Gorgonites and their perceived allies.
• The Thing: Garry shoots the hysterical Norwegian in self-defence. Unbeknownst to him, the Norwegian is actually trying to warn them that the dog is a killer alien lifeform.
• Urban Legend: The stuttering gas station attendant chases the opening victim Michelle Mancini, hammering on her windows and scaring the hell out of her. She thinks he's attacking her and runs away fast, only to realize that he was trying to warn her about the killer hiding in the back of her car.

Literature

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: After Voldemort seizes control of the Ministry of Magic, Harry and his friends infiltrate the Ministry, with Harry using Polyjuice Potion to adopt the appearance of a wizard called Albert Runcorn. While inside, he gets into an argument with Arthur Weasley, who accuses Runcorn of selling out one of his colleagues to the Death Eaters. Harry tries to give Arthur a warning that he's under surveillance for being an undesirable, which Arthur takes as Runcorn threatening him.
• Magpie Murders: Joyce thought that her future mother-in-law Mary Blakiston hated her and wanted her gone due to her general aloofness and encouraging her to leave Robert. She was actually trying to tip Joyce off about Robert's violent and, in her mind, psychopathic nature. Downplayed in that Robert genuinely loved Joyce and posed no actual threat to her.
• In the second Origami Yoda book, Dwight's Origami Yoda gives the cheerleader Jen the rather menacing advice: "Zero hour comes! Prepare to meet your doom!" Dwight's rival Harvey reports this to the school and they assume this was a threat, leading Dwight to be nearly expelled. As it turns out, though, this was actually warning Jen to not blow off her book report, lest she get a zero and thus get kicked out of JV cheerleading.
• In the Xanth novel Ogre, Ogre, Smash Ogre tries to warn Tandy to stop when she's getting too close to a carnivorous tangle tree. Unfortunately, when he reaches out to pull her back, she thinks he's attacking her, so she runs away from him directly into the waiting tentacles of the tree.

Live-Action TV

• 24: During Day 1, then-Senator David Palmer learns that some of his associates are planning to kill his son Keith's therapist, Dr. Ferragamo, who has leaked to the press the fact that Keith accidentally killed his sister's rapist during a fight and that his mother Sherry had it covered up as suicide. Palmer attempts to warn Ferragamo, but the doctor misconstrues his warning as a death threat and angrily hangs up on him. Palmer then tries to go see him in person, but before he arrives, a fire breaks out in the doctor's office, killing him and destroying his records.
• Good Omens (2019): At the end of season one when Satan is approaching, Aziraphale holding his flaming sword urges Crowley to come up with something.
  Aziraphale: Come up with something, or... (distressed) Or I'll never talk to you again!
  • What he probably meant by that is that he literally will not be able to talk to Crowley or see him ever again if Satan restarts the Apocalypse - they will probably be locked away in Heaven and Hell without any possibility to reunite.
• Once Upon a Time: Elsa (from Frozen) demands that the main characters find her missing sister Anna, or else she will freeze the town and everyone in it. She doesn't care how threatening she sounds because, while she really has trouble controlling her ice powers without Anna's help, she believes they can't understand her Power Incontinence.

Video Games

• In one cutscene in Fable III, the tyrannical King Logan gives a speech to himself in the War Room about how Albion must follow his will or be destroyed. Later in the game, you learn that Albion is being threatened by The Crawler, and that his tyrannical laws were meant to bolster the nation's economy and military so it could defend itself, which gives the speech a whole new meaning..
  Logan: This is my Albion. Its cities will bow to my law or they will burn. Its mountains will bend to my will or they will fall. This is my Albion. Its people will do as I say or they will die. Its future will be as I decree or it will end. I have seen what must be done, and nothing will stand in my way. We will be greater and we will be stronger, no matter what sacrifices we must make. This is my Albion, and I will see it destroyed before I surrender it.
• Mass Effect. Saren will threaten Shepard and the rest of the galaxy throughout the game. These lines were prominently featured in the trailer to make the eventual reveal of him not being the real enemy all the more unexpected.
  Saren: Don't you understand? Everyone you know and love - everyone - you will all die. Join us. Is submission not preferable to extinction?
• In Undertale, if you start the Genocide Run, there will be two moments when the character Sans the Skeleton tells us that if we don't turn back and become a better person, we will have a bad time, which seems like Sans is threatening us with a fight. And while Sans is the Final Boss of the route (and quite a hard one), once you kill him, he says "don't say i didn't warn you", confirming that Sans was actually warning us, and his fight wasn't the "bad time". If you don't reset the game and continue on to kill Asgore and Flowey, you will find out that the "bad time" was actually the Fallen Child erasing the world and ruining all future True Pacifist endings.
  • Since most of the Genocide run consists of running back and forth to kill all the monsters in the area until there are no more left, none of them pose any challenge, all the puzzles are already solved for you and all the towns are empty except some of the shopkeepers, his warning also carries a more literal meaning to the player as the basic gameplay is stripped of the game's normal character and fun and purposefully made as tedious and samey as possible.

Western Animation

• In Netflix's Castlevania, upon being arrested by the Bishop of Gresit and his goons for witchcraft, Lisa Tepes warned them desperately that a calamity would strike them if any harm were to befall her. They mistake the warning for a threat of Satanic retribution and burn her at the stake: while she herself wouldn't do them any harm, the fact that she's Dracula's beloved invites his unholy wrath on them when he finds out what they did to her.
• In the Looney Tunes short "Fox Pop", a fox overhears a radio commercial about how women love silver foxes (not realizing it was about fox furs), so he paints himself silver and gets himself trapped and sent to a fox farm. While there, one of the other foxes, acting like a tough prison inmate, informs him of a breakout and gives him a Throat-Slitting Gesture to indicate what will happen if he doesn't escape with them. The fox takes that as a threat and stays behind, thinking he will be safe there; but he realizes almost too late that it was a warning, not a threat, when the furrier approaches with an axe.
• In the Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart episode "Bao Bao's Revenge," Mao Mao finds a message in the King's castle written in bones: "Beware of the monster Bao Bao." Mao Mao, who was abandoned by Bao Bao (who is an ordinary dog) in the past, assumes that Bao Bao is the monster. It turns out Bao Bao was trying to warn him about a monster from one of their past adventures that was on its way to Pure Heart Valley.
• The My Life as a Teenage Robot episode "Stage Fright" had Jenny's school get its roof caved in by aliens warning them of malevolent invaders. But their frantic behavior combined with them simply saying "Alien invasion!" with no context lead to Jenny to believe that they were the invaders and waste her time beating them up rather than prepare for the fire aliens that would show up shortly after.
• In the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "Bridle Gossip", when approached by the Mane Six and Apple Bloom at the edge of Everfree Forest, Zecora shouts, "Beware, beware, you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!" The next day, the Mane Six come down with various afflictions and seek out the zebra, hoping to convince her to undo her curse. It turns out that Zecora wasn't threatening them with a curse but warning them about the plants they were standing in, which led to their illnesses.
• The Real Ghostbusters: In "X-Mas Marks the Spot", the Ghostbusters stumble through a temporal anomaly after getting lost and interrupt the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future as they prepare to put Scrooge through the events of A Christmas Carol. As the Ghostbusters catch them, Christmas Present calls out that if they don't let them go, Christmas will suffer. Given that they've long since been inured to threats (and Peter isn't too keen on Christmas anyway), the 'Busters ignore them...and then find out that their interference changed the past so that everyone hates Christmas the same way Scrooge did.
• Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?: In "The Seventh Inning Scare", the gang starts investigating a mystery involving a bull monster attacking Macklemore in a baseball stadium. The umpire says he got fired for saying the stadium would go down in flames and comments ominously that he'll show everyone. Daphne comments that they have the first suspect. However, the umpire wasn't behind the bull monster. When the trap accidentally breaks some gas lines and lights, resulting in an explosion when the gas ignites, the umpire says that he told his bosses to have those gas lines fixed.
• In The Simpsons episode "The Bob Next Door", Sideshow Bob once again escapes from prison, planning to kill Bart. Walt, his cellmate, writes, "Bart Simpson will die," which other people take as a death threat to Bart, when he's actually referring to Bob planning to kill Bart. Also not helping Walt was the fact that he and Sideshow Bob had their faces surgically switched ala Face/Off as part of Bob's escape plan, so it looked like Bob was still in prison and writing that threat.
  Walt Warren: I tried to warn you by writing "Bart Simpson Will Die" on the walls, bu-but you ignored me.
  Marge Simpson: You have to admit, "Bart Simpson Will Die" was kind of open to interpretation.

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