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Childhood Excuse (20-50)
- Film.Maleficent Mistress Of Evil: Queen Ingrith is Prince Phillip's secretly power-hungry mother who despises her husband as a fool for wanting peace between his kingdom and The Fair Folk. It's revealed she spread the fable of Maleficent being an evil sorceress, later framing her for cursing King John into a death-like sleep and the deaths of two of her poachers; in the process, she tries to ruin Aurora's bond with Maleficent. Ingrith has her poachers kidnap fae from the Moors and perform experiments to find a way to kill them, experimenting with red iron dust to kill a helpless sprite; her assistant in these experiments is a pixie whose wings she cut off. She lures the Moors into a church where she has red iron dust unleashed, killing dozens of them, while she oversees the massacre of the Dark Fae in the ensuing battle. When Ingrith tells Aurora a story of how she lost her brother and was exiled from her kingdom due to the fae, Aurora doesn't believe her and calls out her lies, with Ingrith admitting she's a fear-mongering tyrant. Ingrith seemingly kills Maleficent while her and Aurora's guard is down, and pushes Aurora off a tower as a diversion when Maleficent rises from the ashes during an escape attempt.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Backstory and motivations aside, Bond notes that "mad little" Alec is only using his Freudian Excuse as a cover for using the satellite to profit from an economic crisis, and that most of the people he's going to screw have nothing to do with whatever happened in the past. It does make sense from Bond's POV: 006 faithfully served MI6 for years before faking his death.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Justifies his actions through revenge and that he never wanted to be tethered to his sister. Madison rightfully throws this out and points out becoming a psychopathic monster is on him.
- Alternate Character Interpretation:
- Are Felix and Locus just regular UNSC recruits who were good enough to get "space-marine" armor like Carolina and Wash or are they actual Spartan II's? This would mean that they were abducted as children from families they'll never know, and horribly brainwashed and experimented on to be the perfect super soldiers. The only evidence against this is that Felix has a regular-sounding name, but Spartans were infamous in canon for their sociopathic and anti-social tendencies, which describe the duo fairly well. It would also explain their demonstrated inability to adapt to civilian life, Felix's confidence in being able to beat all the Reds and Blues and Agent Carolina, and color his comments about being "stronger and faster than you" in a whole new light. While this would not justify their crimes, it would make them effective dark foils to Master Chief, showing what he could have become if he never learned responsibility or compassion on the battlefield.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Lambeau is having nothing of Sean trying to excuse Will's behavior with the tough childhood he was having.
- Is one to posit that troubled people are the way they are because of a Dark and Troubled Past, hence why the Freudian Excuse has the name it is. When the Grand United Alliance of Good addressed the worst of the worst who dwell in the Grand United Alliance of Evil, he admits it's often more of an explanation and he's not condoning anything. Anyone who seems to be evil from the get-go he thinks it's because they aren't human and thus human psychology can't apply. Sometimes he's right, but sometimes he's not.
7. Characters.Harry Potter Marauders
- Dirty Coward: He sold out Lily and James Potter, betrayed the Marauders, and allied with the Big Bad Lord Voldemort, all out of a sense of self-preservation and wanting to save his own hide. While it shown that Wormtail's friends weren't exactly the greatest, they still would have laid down their lives for him and trusted him. When a few characters learn of what happened to Wormtail, the concensus is that even if Wormtail did feel left out, that was no excuse to do what he did, Wormtail has burned all of his bridges, and he doesn't deserve to be forgiven for any of it.
8. Recap.Gilmore Girls S 06 E 16
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Lorelai doesn't think Gigi's mom leaving her is any reason for her to act like a spoilt brat.
- Because of how he was so driven by the assassination of his father and brothers, Jasper approached the House of Family for solace and goodwill. Instead, the Heroic Protectors of Family bluntly refuted any attempts to make a relationship with Jasper, straightforwardly telling him that Travis killing his family doesn't justify him ordering a hit on Bishop just for revenge. Some of them even said he wouldn't have even known if he actually killed them at the time, because they seemed hard to tell apart from the employees. The Child Abuse Supporters don't really have much to add on regarding Jasper, though given that Jasper might have loved his father and brothers, striking a relationship may be intrinsically difficult.
10. SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.Infinity Train Blossomverse
- The story heavily focuses on bullying and depicts it very realistically. Case in point:
- Bullies don't always have an excuse for their actions or a horrible backstory. Some just want to single out and pick on others for being "weird" and "different", enjoy hurting others or, as shown with Nico's bullies, only pick on them because other people are doing it and they don't want to become a victim themselves. While many of Chloe's bullies did have a Freudian Excuse, it's made clear that it isn't an excuse at all.
11. Characters.The Millennium Trilogy
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Lisbeth tears down Mikael's attempts at pitying Martin, saying that even if it was his father Gottfried who taught him to be a killer, Martin was ultimately a disgusting woman-hater who chose to keep doing what he did.
12. Characters.Roll Over And Die Church Of Origin
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Flum genuinely pities Mother for what he went through, but states that it doesn't absolve her of the abuse he put the Children through and the horrors she inflicted upon the city and that, in Flum's opinion, Mother is irredeemable.
13. WMG.Bobs Burgers
- Throughout the series, it's shown because of how he was raised, Bob is determined to run his restaurant his way, no matter what, despite his lack of actual business management skills. The movie will feature some big name chef, either based on or played by Gordon Ramsay, that Bob tries to impress. However, when Not-Ramsay suggests making all the changes Bob was against, from the plaque to serving sweet potato fries, Bob starts to lose his cool. Just when Bob decrees the man his Broken Pedestal, Not-Ramsay quickly delivers a speech about how Bob's stubbornness is the reason he's stuck in Perpetual Poverty.Not-Ramsay: Okay... we get it, Bob. You told me how your father never appreciated you and tossed out the first Burger of the Day you ever made... You're not that 14 year old anymore, you're a grown-ass man with a wife and three kids who needs to make ends meet so that you can actually afford to by a phone that isn't older than your kids. As much as you don't want to hear this, I will tell you. You're not a restaurateur, you're a cook. That's all... You choose to stay behind the grill instead of talk with people, you refuse to serve things like sweet potato fries and make these constant burgers of the day because you're determined to make it work your way... when it barely works. You have no skills in actual management, seeing as you have little skill in hiring people, even admitting you can't afford to pay the legal amount. Even though Pesto is an idiot, he at least knows how to manage his business and attract his customers even if his food is disgusting. Good food... is the most important thing a restaurant needs... but it's not the only thing. Your décor is lackluster, restaurant is not a theme. You make decisions based on impulsive needs for your burgers to be loved instead of actual business ideas. Bob... the number one thing holding Bob's Burgers back isn't Pesto, or your dysfunctional kids... it's you. You need to drop your pride and either shape up... or shut down.
- The sad part is that this speech will work, and Bob will spend the next chunk of the movie in a Heroic BSoD. And perhaps that BSOD will encourage him to try and shut down the restaurant for good, believing that even if he did take Not-Ramsay's advice, it'd be too little too late.
l4. Recap.Stargirl 2020 S 1 E 07 Shiv Part One
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Cindy's birth mother died when she was young (later implied to be the result of something Cindy did, but this isn't elaborated on). While this engenders sympathy from Courtney, Rick points out that it in no way excuses Cindy's behavior.
15. Characters.South Park The Fractured But Whole
- Freudian Excuse: He tries to (rather unconvincingly) invoke this as he begs for mercy after receiving a beatdown. None of the kids buy it:"Please, I'm sorry! It's just that I like to be with children, you know, because I... Because I never had a childhood of my own. Yeah, that's it! I like kids 'cause I never had a childhood.
16. Recap.Hercules The Legendary Journeys S 3 E 12 Surprise
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Hercules admits he can certainly feel compassion over what Callisto experienced in her youth, but that doesn't change his view of what she became.
17. Recap.Lucifer 2016 S 05 E 08 Spoiler Alert
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Ella retorts "A lot of people have crappy childhoods, Pete. We don't become serial killers". Pete just shrugs at her remark.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: That said, he's never depicted in justified for this reason for using it to justify any of his abuse, and his failure to even attempt to change his behavior is largely a result of his own moral weakness.
19. Anime.Belle 2021
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: The Lonely woman who lied about her home life eventually comes forward as having a baby-looking avatar, the same one who first hated on Belle's singing. She tries to justify she chose a baby as her avatar so she could have attention. Hiroka (as her own avatar) points out that having a baby avatar is no excuse to act immature or hate upon people. Not that the woman listens anyway.
Zero Context (15-50)
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse is the evil counterpart of Freudian Excuse.
2. Characters.The First Law Union Military
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: After Brint tells Vick his numerous reasons for turning she traitor, she points out that everyone has endured tragedy and lost loved ones, but that does not entitle Brint to help start a war that'll just get more people killed.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Billy points out how his actions have made him as bad as his parents.
4. Theatre.Love In Hate Nation
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Miss Asp uses the cruel things done to her as the reason for her doing the same to the inmates of Nation.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Despite the above named excuses Na and Lim never condone the bullies' actions if the crimes are inexcusable. In particular, while Lim understands Yeri's trauma, she thinks it doesn't justify her actions, considering Yeri also ruined the lives of Mr. Go's family when she drove him to suicide.
6. YMMV.Bojack Horseman S 5 E 10 Head In The Clouds
- Accidental Aesop: Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse, but it's also no contest. Even if BoJack isn't suffering "the most" from his actions, he's definitely suffering. The question is what the solution should be for his suffering, which he and Diane eventually agree should be detox.
- Despite all the abuse she had put Izzy and Addy through, the sisters still cared for their mother enough to place her in a decent hospital. After her final confrontation with Florida Man, Izzy decides to finally visit Morrigan at said hospital, even admitting that the reason she conquered Florida was to gather the emotional strength just to do it. Throughout her first (and final) visit, she admits to her mom that, despite knowing her Freudian Excuse, she can't bring herself to forgive her but won't hate her either and just wants to move on without her constantly in her mind. That said, she does give her mom this final goodbye....
8. Characters.Sweet Enchantments
- Freudian Excuse: After learning about Kamila's background and how she's treated by the people in it, the heroine thinks it explains some of her behavior and can't help but feel sorry for her. She doesn't think it excuses her, though.
9. Recap.Daredevil 2015 S 2 E 3 New Yorks Finest
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Matt claims that everybody has lost someone and that this is still no excuse for Frank to kill. He even gives Frank a mocking "boo-hoo," akin to Rocket and Drax.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Zanthus refuses to let Adam use his past as justification for hurting Eirian and others just for being human, as there were plenty of people who had suffered like he had and don't allow their pain to change them for the worse.
11. SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.Video Games N To Z
- Valkyria Chronicles:
- After Welkin reads Faldio's journal, discovering that he was the one who shot Alicia, causing her dormant Valkyria powers to awaken, he confronts him on the matter in Varrot's office and asks if he really did do the deed, which the latter admits. Enraged, Welkin slugs Faldio and blasts him for his actions, believing it only escalated the conflict between Gallia and the Empire, while Faldio argues that he did what he had to do to ensure Gallia would stand up the threat. Varrot interrupts their debate while acknowledging their logic, but states that infighting among comrades is unacceptable, Freudian Excuse be damned. For his transgression, Faldio is sent to the stockade until further notice. Now, at this point, you would think that since he was justifed in hitting Faldio, Welkin would get off the hook. Well, think again, because he's stuck with 24 hours in isolation, though it's practically a slap on the wrist compared to Faldio's punishment.
- In the Knights of the Dinner Table monthly comic book, the character of Brian Van Hoose began as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold Rules Lawyer and Troubled Abuser but changed into a Villain Protagonist who has indulged in acts of cowardice and treachery against his alleged friends far beyond the Comedic Sociopathy of this sort of comic book, including ruining a friend's credit rating, framing a friend for his own misdeeds, and harassing innocent relatives of his friends. Brian's ability to avoid consequences for his actions have devolved from a Karma Houdini to Joker Immunity badly rationalized by a Freudian Excuse and usually resulting from his victims' sudden saddling with the Idiot Ball. Every time anyone has pointed out that Brian's Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse, most often the girlfriend of one of his frequent victims, he or she is punished as a Cosmic Plaything and Chewtoy for the next several issues. The sad thing is that Brian's Creator's Pet status is the Jumping the Shark moment for an originally excellent comic books series.
13. FireEmblemThreeHouses.Tropes E To M
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Discussed. In his supports with Byleth, Sylvain mentions that his brother, Miklan, trapped him in a well and abandoned him in the mountains as a child, all because Sylvain was born with a Crest and as a result, Miklan was disinherited from the family. Byleth is clearly disgusted by this information.
14. WesternAnimation.Elena Of Avalor
15. Characters.The Twelve Kingdoms
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: In the novels, while Chuukin immediately understands why Lady Riyo became the way she is, she still strips her of all their servants rather than leave them to suffer under her.
Other (9-50)
1. WesternAnimation.Batman Gotham By Gaslight
- Hate Sink:
- Same can be said about Jack the Ripper, who deals out Freudian Excuse after Freudian Excuse, but it makes him not sympathetic at all.
Zero context, but elsewhere in the page is described both as a childhood excuse (beaten by nuns as an Orphan) and adulthood (treated STDs as a doctor, presumably from prostitutes)
2. Script.Extreme Prejudice 2019
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse:
- This is the key point of the whole story. Fraser may have suffered a great deal, being used alongside his foster siblings as a meal ticket, as cheap labour, and being forced to fend to themselves. That, and he was bullied as well. Madison sexually harrassing him doesn't help. However, that doesn't justify a mass shooting, and using that as a reason is ultimately petty. But Fraser is fully aware of that, and couldn't care less.
Fraser seems to have both a rough childhood and adulthood even if it doesn't nearly cover the severity of his crimes.
3.
- Toy Story 3: Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear is the ruler of Sunnyside Daycare, and oppresses the other toys through brute force and violence. Originally the favorite toy of a young girl named Daisy, Lotso was mistakenly lost and replaced, leading him to believe that all toys were worthless and unloved. Taking over Sunnyside, Lotso subjects the toys in the Caterpillar Room to horrid mistreatment from the younger children. When Andy's toys request that they be relocated to the Butterfly Room, Lotso resets Buzz Lightyear and has him beat down his friends, showing a cold satisfaction while doing so. When Woody frees the toys and they attempt to escape, Lotso has Chatter Telephone beaten in order to get him to explain Woody's escape plan before ordering the toys disposed of in the dumpster. When his minions turn on him and he is taken to the dump, along with Andy's toys, he abandons them to burn to death in the incinerator, ignoring that they had previously saved his life. While he has a tragic backstory, Woody himself calls him out on how weak it is, stating that Lotso had abandoned her, not the other way around. Sociopathic and misanthropic, Lotso may have appeared innocent, but was depraved at his core.
Being a toy he doesn't really age.
4. Characters.Fist Of The North Star Kenshiro
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: There are two kinds of villains in Ken's eyes: Those who deserve his sympathy and those who don't. Colonel is such military villain who Ken doesn't give his sympathy to, since despite Colonel's attempts to build an army to prevent the catastrophe of another nuclear war, Ken outright tells him "You have only exchanged one mistake for another" since he and his army has murdered innocents and have left children sorrowful and orphaned.
Seems more like a Deconstruction of Well-Intentioned Extremist
5. Characters.Final Fantasy XIV Ascians
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: During the final confrontation of Shadowbringers, he rants at length about how all he wants is to restore his people's world and kingdom that Hydaelyn "robbed" them of and expose the hypocrisy of the Light to the Shards and the Source. As the Scions point out, while he has every right to be angry about his own losses, that doesn't give him the right to murder millions of people just to get his own back and even if those living within the Source and the Shards are "lesser", they still have a right to live.
6. DeconstructedTrope.Dragon Ball
- The Buu Saga provides a deconstruction of Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse. Majin Buu kills because he has the mind of a child and doesn't know any better, and it's all he knows, which is why he continues his rampage even without Babidi to order him around. While Goku is somewhat sympathetic, Piccolo rebukes it, declaring outright that one's background does not excuse acts of evil. He's soon proven wrong when Hercule, of all people, ultimately manages to end up befriending Buu because of Buu's child-like nature and very nearly manages to convince him to stop his killing ways. This means that if the Z-Fighters had taken the time to try and explain things to Buu instead of trying to deal with him the same way they did with every other enemy they fought beforehand, they very likely could have avoided a lot of bloodshed.
Not born to understand human morality is not the usual Freudian Excuse
- The Last of Us Part II:
- Love is a very powerful motivator, but that doesn't mean all acts motivated by love have positive outcomes, and it can be all too easy for decent people to use pain to justify sadism and evil.
8. Characters.Blaz Blue Yuuki Terumi
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: He was created to serve as a lifeless tool of Master Unit: Amaterasu before realizing that he had no free will. Now that he's gotten out from under Amaterasu's thumb, he plans to achieve "true freedom" by destroying the current world and replacing it with one of his own. Because of all the hell he put them through and the fact that the world he wants would be a dystopia, the heroes have no sympathy for him.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Grace blames herself for Simon's death because she was the one that told him the lie that numbers increasing mean strength. The Cat points out that they both believed that lie and that got them into trouble. When they learned the truth Grace dealt with it and Simon didn't.
Adulthood Excuse (6-50)
1. Script.Extreme Prejudice 2019
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse:
- Averted with Jacob. He works in Trevor G. Browne High School, where he is constantly abused and disrespected by the kids. However, unlike Fraser's case, Jeff, while still arresting Jacob, expresses sympathy for what he went through, admitting that he went through similar stuff, but that it's hard to stay righteous with the load of crap thrown his way.
- Author's Saving Throw:
- Gin Ichimaru's Unintentionally Unsympathetic status in the Bleach canon is directly addressed here. When he explains his backstory to the Gotei 13, all of them, including Rangiku, are unmoved and bluntly point out that he often went above and beyond simply maintaining his cover.
3. Recap.Supergirl 2015 S 5 E 13 Its A Super Life
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Kara tells Lena that she can no longer use the excuse of Kara keeping her secret to justify her actions and from here on out, her choices (from working with Lex to trying to brainwash the world) are her own.
- What happened to Hector and his men, revealed by the ECHO logs in the quest "Echoes of the Past". They were promised a paradise by DAHL due to their service. They were told "Paradise" would be where they'd be, and Hector's men were celebrating due to the fact it'd mean rolling green hills, potable water, and so on. Despite their misfortune, one of Hector's men found some kind of "shiny alien artifact" which the Dahl brass found... Interesting. The last ECHO log takes an extremely dark turn, with a purposeful cave-in by DAHL trapping Hector and his men. Some of them had already gone insane, and thus were put down. Hector and his men are, like Zarpedon and her Lost Legion, victims of DAHL's corporate evil. And while it is tragic, it's still inexcusable for Hector and the New Pandora Army to take out their frustrations on the general populace. DAHL better answer for their actions in 3...
5. Characters.Cobra Kai John Kreese
- Dark and Troubled Past: It turns out that Kreese has a nightmarishly tragic backstory (mother committed suicide, made a POW in Vietnam, sweetheart died in an accident while he was at war, with his commanding officer purposely keeping it from him until they were forced to fight to the death), which explains (even if it in no way justifies) why he's such a monstrous sociopath.
6. Characters.Catwoman Selina Kyle
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Selina Kyle's childhood friend Sylvia Sinclair betrays her by allying with Black Mask and telling him her identity. Because of this, Black Mask kidnaps Selina's sister Maggie and her husband Simon Burton. Simon is tortured to death, while Maggie is tortured to insanity. When Selina confronts Sylvia, she thinks that Sylvia betrayed her because, during a heist gone bad, Selina was forced to leave Sylvia to be arrested. However, the true reason she betrayed Selina was that when they were teenagers working the streets together as prostitutes, Sylvia took Selina's place during their first time so Selina wouldn't have to go through with it. Selina didn't know how to handle Sylvia after the incident, which led to Sylvia's hatred of Selina because she felt Selina abandoned her. Selina points out that she was a kid and was afraid. She also says that she was not the only one who had a hard time on the streets and asks Sylvia if she really thinks that justifies what she has done.
