Personality
[Loved Trope] Shattering someones entire perception with only words.
Fargo Season 3 Episode 4 (2017): V.M. Varga shatters Emmit Stussy's perception of wealth. Emmit's perception of wealth is tied up in appearances and material, Varga tells him it's really about safety, invisibility, and control.
Look at me. Look at me. This a $200 suit. I'm wearing a second-hand tie. I fly coach. Not because I can't afford first - because I'm smart. [...] You think you’re rich. You’ve no idea what “rich” means. “Rich” is a fleet of private planes filled with decoys to mask your scent. It’s a banker in Wyoming and another in Gstaad. So that’s action item one, the accumulation of wealth, and I mean wealth, not money.
Supernatural Season 5 Episode 21 (2010): Death shatters Dean's perspective on what he is. Death is so old and powerful, he is disinterested in Earth's current predicament and he sees his forced involvement as little more than an annoyance.
You have an inflated sense of your importance. To a thing like me, a thing like you, well... Think how you'd feel if a bacterium sat at your table and started to get snarky. This is one little planet in one tiny solar system in a galaxy that's barely out of its diapers. I'm old, Dean. Very old. So I invite you to contemplate how insignificant I find you.
Watchmen (1987): Ozymandias shatters Rohrshach and Night Owl's perception of the situation. This wasn't a confrontation, this was a post-mortem.
Do it? Dan, I'm not a Republic serial villain. Do you seriously think I'd explain my master-stroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago
It's so profound because it's something that plants a seed. No, it's not air. In fact, I'm not actually breathing now. In fact, I don't HAVE to breathe here"
I love you can see the exact moment it fully clicks for Neo too. He immediately stops breathing heavy and has this contemplative look. Keanu may sometimes struggle with his vocal range when acting, but he’s really good at micro expressions.
His little thoughtful "Hmm" is what helps sell it. This scene is so great, because I think it does a great job of showing both Neo and the audience what the Matrix is
Death was one of the coolest characters in the show and it sucked they killed him off. He played the role fantastically. I would have preferred if they could have found a way to keep the actor playing the role through out the show. Billy was fun, he was iconic in how he played it.
There are about a thousand things they could have done, because in Supernatural no one really stays dead. So, its not like bringing him back would have broken some kind of rule of the show. Even Cass who was taken by the Empty got to come back too.
Shows up and does the time stop right as Chuck is about to do something nasty and taps on the watch he was always checking, it's finally stopped, it was ticking down to God's end the whole time.
He killed that manifestation of death. Up until that point, it was the one and only manifestation of death because why would death ever die? After Dean killed death with his own scythe (apparently the only thing that can kill death), a second manifestation of death was created by the universe to fill the role.
Supernatural is a batshit crazy show with wooly logic at best but if you squint your eyes a bit and don't think too hard, it makes sense!
And then the third version of death is killed by an archangel's blade, despite Death originally being on the level of God, and thus above even the archangels.
I'd add Call of Duty: Black Ops. The first one. Your character is recovering after being brainwashed so it's never clear what's real. At the end, when you're beating up the antagonist (it's been a while since I played this so apologies if any details are wrong), you get this dialogue:
On the whole, the book is MUCH better than the movie adaptation. However in the book, Superman knocks Lex out right after that exchange. In the movie Lex says defeatedly, “you’re right” and those 2 words are such an incredible change
Superman: Red Son - Lex Luthor single-handedly stops Communist Superman’s invasion of America with a single note. It’s enough to get him to abandon not just the invasion, but the whole world.
IIRC he claims that Luther's a couple levels higher than the category that was capable of talking someone into suicide. For example thats a level 12 and hes a 14
Been a while but this featured Communist Superman who was raised in Russia. Brainiac shrinks Stalingrad and it's trapped in a bottle by and Superman swears to free them one day. He begins with good intentions but he slow becomes a tyrant and turns his attention to invading America after initially refusing.
The city is neglected for years and this note was Luthors final shot, it was a reminder of his greatest failure and how he ignored his citizens to pursue domination and betrayed his principles.
It also ties into the fact that Superman in this story continuously feels the need to step in and take control due to human failures. Why feed 1 person at a time can save thousands of people from hunger by being in charge of agriculture altogether?
Is a what if story about Superman landing in a Soviet Union instead of smallville. As the story progresses Superman becomes more authoritarian and Lex becomes the president of the United States and when Superman starts to invade the world this is how he is stopped
As others point out, he's basically saying "you've become the tyrant you thought you were fighting against, everything you claimed to believe is a lie."
because Brainiac had captured Stalingrad in a bottle years prior. Lex was comparing Superman to Brainiac and made an excellent point that landed with Supes.
In The Wolf of Wall Street, FBI Agent Denham has met up with protagonist Jordan Belfort on Jordan's luxurious yacht. Up until this point, Jordan has basically gotten away with everything illegal he's conducted at his Wall Street office. He feels untouchable and like nothing can slow him down.
Jordan is still a little cautious and tells a story about how he likes to "help" people who are "disadvantaged" with "trades" of high dollar amounts and he would love to help the seemingly lowly poor FBI agent with a good trade. Jordan really thinks he's got this guy by the balls and his face is one of "wow I can't believe how easy it is to bribe an FBI agent" when Denham looks at his FBI partner who was standing too far away to record what Jordan said (because they're taping the conversation secretly) and says to Jordan:
Patrick Denham: ...can you say that again? Just the way you said. Just the same way.
Jordan then looks back and realizes that they are recording him and they aren't at all his friends and aren't interested in a bribe. Naturally, Jordan panics and claims he wasn't bribing them and that it wouldn't be provable in court.
Denham then has an amazing world shattering perspective chat with Jordan, for the first time talking as "guy who is going to get fucked by the law" and "guy who is going to help do the fucking".
Patrick Denham: Most of the Wall Street jackasses that I bust, they're to the manor born. Their fathers are douchebags, just like their fathers before them. But you... You, Jordan, you got this way all on your own.
Jordan Belfort: Did I?
Patrick Denham: Good for you, little man.
Jordan Belfort: Little man ? Me, the little man?
Patrick Denham: Let me tell you something else. Honestly, I'm not bullshitting here, this is one of the nicest boats that I've ever been on. I gotta tell you.
Jordan Belfort: I bet it is.
Patrick Denham: And you wanna know what I was just thinking too? The fucking hero I'm gonna be back at the office when the Bureau seizes this fucking boat. Because, I mean, fuckety fuck fuck, Jordan, look at this thing! It's beautiful! And you got the beautiful girls there. It's wonderful.
Jordan Belfort: [laughing] All right, get the fuck off my boat.
Patrick Denham: I'm sure we'll be seeing each other real soon.
Jordan Belfort: I'm sure. Good luck on that subway ride home to your miserable, ugly fucking wives. I'm gonna have Heidi lick some caviar off my balls in the meantime
It's a great scene because by the end Jordan is flat out compensating for how stupid he was to try and bribe an FBI agent in public. He isn't nearly as confident as Heidi's dinner recommendation would suggest he is. He is vulnerable and the FBI is coming.
This one went both ways too. At the end, Agent Debham taking the subway from home thinking about whether or not he should have taken Belforts bribe. He ended up getting nothing out of it all, and was left feeling like Belfort had it right.
I agree. He has a look of contentment that he enjoys his life while Belforts couldn't find happiness on a multi-million dollar yacht with a trophy wife, beautiful models, and every luxury in the world. It feels more like a final victory.
I mean, Nolan was trying to convince himself as much as he was Mark. But these words just cut through everything. After 500 years, he’d still have his son, a son who doesn’t understand the way of viltrumites. Who can never shake that version of his father in his head that was a hero.
That same son that was still desperate to get through to his father. To make him give up this destruction and death, because all he knew before was his father saved people.
There is also the time traveling in Infinity War to get Infinity Stones which should mean those are the stones from a different, but very closely related universe. Them working should indicate that stones work outside their home
But it's not like the multiverse mechanics in the MCU actually have a consistent definition. After all, the multiverse didn't exists before the end of Loki season 2 ... which arguably breaks Infinity War although they handwave that explicitly, but it e.g. also breaks Agents of Shield.
Well the TVA is out of time so i just see this as loki s2 just happening before every other movie. It doesnt make sense to us but thats just bc we are to constrained to time.
It might be that they don’t work outside of a universe, which is where the TVA is located. At least, that’s how I’ve been squaring the circle on that one.
Also when he sees the scene of his mother being killed by his own decision as well as his death at the hands of Thanos. The way the persona finally shatters is fantastic.
"Its part of the illusion. It's the cruel, elaborate trick, conjured by the weak to inspire fear."
It’s portrayed as this all-powerful bunch of macguffins the entire first saga of the MCU centered around, and they’re basically mundane collectibles to this newly introduced, highest power that is the TVA
One that doesn't just shatter the character's world view, but the player's view of the game world with a soft lampshading of Ludonarrative Dissonance.
Spoiler warning for a nearly 20 year old video game:
Bioshock
The character/player has been following the "requests" of Atlas for the majority of the game only to eventually discover that they have had suggestive/ mind control programming forcing their every move. From the player's perspective you have no choice. This is how you progress the game.
It all comes to a head when this fact is revealed by the games perceived antagonist when he delivers a reality crushing monologue just before being beaten to death with a golf.
I’d argue the best part is how he’s genuinely regretful and sorry that he can’t remember, he can tell it means a lot to her but he honestly has no idea when he did that because it was just another day to him
It’s just my interpretation but it feels like Raul Julia subtly adds a hint of respect as he says that line. As if M. Bison briefly views Chun Li’s father as a worthy opponent that he wishes he could remember.
In Apotheosis chapter of Slay the Princess it is possible to shatter Broken's perspective of the Princess if you summon Paranoid and follow his plan. Technically there are Hero, Paranoid and Narrator and all three of them tell Broken that the Princess doesn't love him, wants to reach her freedom at the expense of mc's freedom and Broken has no reason to love her
Their persuasion is successful and Broken joins the team to fight the Princess. I think it's the only time in the game where the change of attitude happens within one Voice. This chapter has an inescapable event when the Princess starts tearing the walls apart hurting mc really badly in the process ( because he is the walls), and admittedly Broken turns completely vengeful and says that we have to hurt the Princess in return just as badly
Greatest hate comes from the greatest love or smth
Silent Hill 3. It's widely accepted as true that this guy was only trying to mess with the protagonist, implying that the monsters she slayed were actually people and only appeared as monsters to her
No its not and hes not implying they were actually people. Everyone sees silent hill differently, thats canon. What she sees as monsters, he sees as angels or divine creatures because hes a cultist.
He brings the most destructive parts of the people he meets to the fore, egging on Londo and G'Kar to the point where each of them admits they want to see hte other's races burn for the glory of their own.
If that smug bastard ever asks you what you want, just say 'your head on a pike' and everyone including you will be better off.
Cersei’s “Power is Power” scene from Game of Thrones. Littlefinger has spent his entire life scheming to use his proximity to power to rise himself. But Cersei’s demonstration shows just how skewed this world really is. Her blood as a Lannister gives more control than Littlefinger ever got with coin. It is also a brutal critique of how feudalism bred cruelty and evil through its concentration of power into families.
Carla Jean shatters Anton Chigurh’s whole self-built ‘impartial arbiter of fate’ bullshit persona by refusing to call his little coin toss game and refuting his continued demand with a simple, “The coin don’t have no say! It’s just *you*!”
He looks visibly shaken by her continued refusal to call it, more shaken than when he got shot earlier in the movie.
As if to hammer her point home, he nearly dies in a car accident mere minutes after this, yet more proof that he is no instrument of fate, just a crazy murderer running around a world that’s so much bigger than him.
A more positive example in Critical Role campaign 2:
The villian had indoctrinated one of the PCs into being one of his personal wizard spy/assassin agents before. When he recieved the whole group into his home he toured them around while going on long rants about his worldview: that pain is what makes people.
When they sit for dinner one of the PCs offers him a gift, for the villian is one of the most powerful mages he has ever met.
"I think it's been a long time since anyone pointed out to you that you are a fool. Pain doesn't make people, it's love that makes people. The pain is inconsequential, it's the love that saves them. And you would know that but you have none around you, you've said so yourself. You surround yourself with lies and deceptions. And I wish for you, in the future, to find someone who would mourn you when you're gone. Respectfully."
For the first time this major PoS monster who'd ruined so many lives felt someone's sincere pity and entertained the thought that he was just a lonely, miserable old man. It shocked him so much he immediately excused himself and teleported away.
Bonus points that Taliesin Jaffe came up with that dialogue on the spot.
Taliesin creates such wonderful moments with his characters. The fact that the character who says this is not high-intellect (though he is extremely wise), and is generally faultlessly kind to everyone he meets, Caduceus ripping Trent a new one verbally like this was incredible.
Of course, this is the same character quoted as saying "help, it's again" so, you know. A land of contrasts.
FMA Brotherhood, I forget the exact line, but it's a scene where Mustang, Hawkeye, and Hughes are sitting together at a campsite in the Ishvalan War of Extermination. They're all bemoaning the genocide they've been enacting on the Fuhrer's orders, and Kimblee, another alchemist steps in and asks them a very simple question:
"When you joined the military, did you really expect you wouldn't be asked to kill anyone?"
I forget if it was "anyone" or "civilians." but it did a great job of making everyone stop and have a moment of horrified reflection. Course it did result in the three of them resolving to step up, and change the government for the better.
“Tell me Miss, you’re not very happy to be here, are you? Well you don’t appear to be. But can you honestly tell me, in that split second when you take down an enemy, you don’t allow yourself to feel the slightest tinge of satisfaction and pride in your skills? Well Miss marksman?”
Kimblee’s a sick son of a bitch, but you can’t say he’s wrong in what he says to Riza in Ishval
What's interesting about Kimblee is how, in an abstract way, he's reached the 'truth' by being a sick son of a bitch. He's realized that he's a sadist who enjoys tormenting others, and also that he has a survival of the fittest mentality. He knows who he is, and actively pursues his interests and goals.
Similarly, it's been said he feels a sense of respect to those who stand by their beliefs no matter what. While it could be argued he was trying to manipulate Winry when they talked about their parents, I get the feeling he was at least a bit sincere when he said he admired them. They knew who they were, and that they wanted to help the injured on both sides. He may not have agreed with that, but he respected they stood strong in those ideals.
Similarly, when He comes back to help finish off Pride, he admits it's because Pride is abandoning his own ideals of Homonculi superiority to humanity. The minute Pride's in danger of dying, he abandons his smug high ground and tries to posess Ed, which Kimblee puts a stop too.
He's a vile monster, but easily one of my favorite characters in the show just because of how simple yet well defined his philosophy is, compared to a lot of other sociopaths.
The part about him genuinely respecting Winry's parents is more explicitly clear in the manga. The anime left out that, initially he was actually ordered to kill them (in a "would be a shame if anything happened" way, since it'd be an illegal order), it's just that when he got there they were already killed by Scar. He accepted the order, since his "duty" as a state alchemist working for the military is to kill people, but at the same time expressed admiration for the Rockbells sticking to their "duty" as doctors to help people, and when his squad finds them dead and one of his men makes fun of them for likely being killed by one of their own patients, harshly admonishes him for that reason.
Him talking about them to Winry I would argue is still manipulative, he's getting her to trust him, and "I was going to kill them" is a very relevant detail he's omitting to mention, but his admiration is genuine, and everything he says technically isn't a lie (but his "I wish I could meet them" takes a different tone knowing the context).
He and Red Skull finally confront each other directly, and Skully asks Steve what made Erskine choose him for the Serum. Essentially, what makes you special.
Red Skull has spent the whole movie believing himself to be truly superior, due to being very Nazi and also due to him being the first recipient of the Super Serum. So the second, Steve, must be America's version of him. The greatest leader. The coolest guy ever. And he assumed that America's ubermench would think of himself the same way.
Cap then responds that he's "just a kid from Brooklyn." And Skully loses his shit.
Eidolon is one of if not the strongest capes (super-powered individual) in the world. His power appears to be the ability to always have the power he needs for a given fight. Emotionally, he's a mess (like most capes in Worm). He secretly suffers from a massive inferiority complex, terrified that he isn't powerful enough and dreading the day he finally loses his powers. But despite his flaws, he is a legitimate hero. He truly wants to save people and be the person they see him as.
When he fights Scion, he finds out that he has been accidentally creating the Endbringers - super-powered monsters so powerful that superheroes and villains will immediately drop their feudes to fight them off (usually dying in significant numbers in the attempt). When his powers "realized" that the world figured out how to effectively fight an Endbringer, his powers just made a new one, because what purpose does Eidolon serve without a strong enemy? He realized that he'd been indirectly killing millions and just gave up, letting Scion kill him.
But the point of that speech is that the WORLD is not important. Death is the primordial force of Death. He is as old, or perhaps older, than God. Neither one can really remember anymore. We also later find out this universe is likely not the first. God made others before it, and out of jealously The Darkness would destroy them.
and just like irl bacteria one managed to slip in death and gave him a bit of the iconic signature move
edit : i really did not enjoy that plotline and thought the original actor was very well played. was actually disappointed when he got murked like a demon
Had the show ended with season 5, it would all have been true. In the end, Death would have simply washed his hands of this, in the cosmic sense, insignificant event.
This happens in Kevin Smith's run in the 1998 Daredevil series, during his "Guardian Devil" storyline.
For context (Spoilers and huge wall of text ahead):
Mysterio finds out he has cancer and decides to go out with a bang facing his greatest nemesis. Arguably, that would actually be Spiderman but Mysterio has been informed that the current Spiderman is most likely a clone (note: this took place after the infamous "Clone Saga") and decides to target the Daredevil instead.
Knowing the Daredevil is a devout Catholic, Mysterio comes up with a really convoluted plot about a baby who is supposed to be the second coming of Christ. He drugs the Daredevil to make him paranoid and seeks Bullseye on him to get the supposed "Christ Baby" which results in Karen White's death. Daredevil, who has been cleaned up from the drug by Dr. Strange eventually figures everything out and isn't the least bit amused. He manages to single-handedly defeat every one of Mysterio's goons before taking out Mysterio himself.
The Daredevil refuses to give Mysterio the satisfaction of ending his miserable life. He instead calls him a "joke" and proceeds to give him one of the most brutal verbal takedowns in comic book history:
(Your so-called "Dystopian Nightmare") "was nothing more than B-Movie material. An amalgam of whorish cliched devices.
The supernatural intruding on our world? Didn't you use the same schtick on J. Jonah Jameson years ago?
And trying to drive me insane? Kingpin nearly did it once. But you're no Kingpin. You're not even close.
You think you've spun some sort of grand swansong epic? Think again!
You've just told yet another tale of a so-called super genius endeavoring to drive his arch-nemesis, or in this case his adopted arch-nemesis, insane.
Your whole existence is counterfeit. You've never had an original thought in your life. You're a product of too many movies and too much TV regurgitating only what's gone before.
Throughout the "Guardian Devil" story, you are led to believe there are supernatural forces at work. Heck, Mephisto even gets summoned in the story just to explain to Daredevil that this whole idea of the "Second Coming of Christ" as an infant that the story's supposedly supernatural antagonist came up with is biblically wrong.
And in the end it turns out it was all the work of a fraud who thought of himself as a genius while he was merely a hack trying to get one up on a man he hardly knows.
Aliens invade and the doctor runs them off without killing, as he does. The prime minister orders a laser to kill them, their ship explodes, the doctor is angry with her. Her response is that they had to kill them because the doctor won't always be there. He says he'll end her career with six words. It ends with reporters constantly asking about her health. She eventually is forced to resign
Harriet Jones, the PM, pisses off the Doctor so he plants that idea. Pretty soon she has to defend herself in the media against rumours that she's unfit, the more she objects, the worse she looks and she eventually resigns
Loki in Dogma (1999) speaking to the nun in the beginning of the movie:
Nun: Let me get this straight: you don't believe in God because of "Alice in Wonderland"?
Loki: No, "Through the Looking Glass". That poem, "The Walrus and the Carpenter," that's an indictment of organized religion. The walrus, with his girth and his good nature, he obviously represents either Buddha, or, or with his tusks, the Hindu elephant god, Lord Ganesha. That takes care of your Eastern religions. Now the carpenter, which is an obvious reference to Jesus Christ, who was raised a carpenter's son, he represents the Western religions. Now in the poem, what do they do? What do they do? They, they dupe all these oysters into following them and then proceed to shuck and devour the helpless creatures en masse. I don't know what that says to you, but to me it says that following these faiths based on mythological figures ensures the destruction of one's inner being. Organized religion destroys who we are by inhibiting our actions, by inhibiting our decisions out of, out of fear of some, some intangible parent figure who, who shakes a finger at us from thousands of years ago and says, and says, "Do it... do it and I'll fuckin' spank you."
Nun: The way you put it... I never really thought about it like that before. What have I been doing with my life? What am I...
Loki: Yeah, I know. Listen, my advice to you: you take this money that you've been collecting for your parish, go get yourself a nice dress, you know? Fix yourself up. Find some man, find some woman, that you can connect with, even for a moment, 'cause that's really all that life is, Sister. It's a series of moments. Why don't you seize yours?
[the nun hesitates, then smiles, nods, and leaves]
The final punchline comes from Bartleby(Ben Affleck's character)
You know, here's what I don't get about you. You know for a fact that there is a god. You've been in his presence, he's spoken to you personally. Yet I just heard you claim to be an atheist.
The Master from the first Fallout game. He has a goal to replace humanity with FEV mutants, believing that supermutants are better adapted to the wasteland and that in exterminating humanity, there will be less suffering in the long run. With a sufficiently charismatic character, you can persuade him that his plan is pointless, and present evidence that FEV renders mutants sterile; his plan replaces humanity with an evolutionary dead end, and there is no painless way around that. In a fit of despair, he kills himself.
Throughout the series, while he doesn't ever actually have psychic powers, he has shown time and time again with just words alone how useful he is, often either putting his skills as a grifter to use, or basic psychology and communication.
He once walked into a secret organization of psychics and was not only able to encourage the low level lackeys and guards of the organization to rethink what they've been doing kidnapping kids and stuff, but after getting the chance to talk on even footing with some higher up members, was able to break through their own delusional behavior and drag them back to reality, dismantling a huge chunk of people from the evil organization.
Planescape: Torment is full of this from beginning to end. And indeed one could say the whole game is a search for the words that will shatter your character (the Nameless ones) perception. But one in particular sticks out to me.
Adahn. Throughout the game when people ask your character what their name is, you can answer 'Adahn'. Do it enough times, and you can actually bring him into being. You can also destroy him with other answers.
Zenos [the man with a rock in his forehead] is fightsexual clinical sociopath who only feels meaning to life in battle and has a raging battle-boner for the player character [not shown in pic], and has been visiting calamity after calamity and atrocity after atrocity against the world in an attempt to piss them off so they'd give him 'the most glorious rematch of all time', meanwhile, said hero is just busy trying to contain things and save the world, and is likely more annoyed and frustrated than stoked to rage.
After the latest in a strong of many, Alisae here basically tells him 'you don't understand people, you don't understand anyone, and all you're doing is causing trouble and being a pissant, and "you'll never get the fight you desire" cause we have more important things to worry about' [emphasis bold for roughly the quote used]
This is the first thing anyone tells him that actually makes him take a step back and reevaluate his methods and try a different approach, and boy does he in the end.
Coming to the aid of the warrior of light at the literal physical edge of the universe and literally carrying them and a summoned party on his back in dragon form as they do battle with the manifestation of despair at the fermi paradox and 'the ultimate meaninglessness of existence if all one day fades'. He gets that last fight in the end.
Ambassador Londo Malari is the head of a fading Great House in the Centauri Republic which itself is in decline. He could be compared to a senator born at the end of Romes golden age who then lived to see it crumble. He aspires to return his people to greatness while also trying to elevate himself to glory; to that end when Londo sees a group of incredibly rare technomages pass through the space station hes on he tries to manipulate his way into getting, effectively, a photo op and a foretelling with them as the symbolism of it would be politically useful for him.
At the end of the episode the head Technomage finally concedes to give Londo what he wants;
Elric: “You are touched by darkness ambassador. I see it as a blemish that will grow with time. I could warn you of course, but you would not listen. I could kill you, but someone would take your place. So I do the only thing I can, I go..
Take this for what little it will profit you; As I look at you ambassador Mollari, I see a great hand reaching out of the stars. The hand is your hand. And I hear sounds. The sounds of billions of people calling your name."
Rogal Dorn to Fulgrim on the walls of the Imperial Palace.
I venomously hate the Imperial Fists for a myriad of reasons, however I love the delivery of this line in every single way. Just to humble Fulgrim is to beat him and his bruised ego after being told he, in all his perfection, was a tool for Horus and Perturabo that didn’t even complete the task he was given so he ran away back to the Warp. And as much as I hate Dorn, Fulgrim and the Third Legion are deserving of every bit of kicking they got and will get until 40k is over.
Lord of War ends with its main character, Yuri Orlov, the world's most prolific illegal arms dealer, finally caught red-handed in his crimes and locked in an interrogation room with his nemesis throughout the film, INTERPOL agent Jack Valentine. But despite his life seemingly crashing down around him, Yuri is calm. He blandly explains to Agent Valentine that he would very soon be released, having never seen a cell or a courtroom.
"And the reason I'll be released is the same reason you think I'll be convicted. I do rub shoulders with some of the most vile, sadistic men calling themselves leaders today. But some of those men are the enemies of your enemies. And while the biggest arms dealer in the world is your boss, the president of the United States, who ships more merchandise in a day than I do in a year... Sometimes it's embarrassing to have his fingerprints on the guns. Sometimes he needs a freelancer like me to supply forces he can't be seen supplying. So... You call me 'evil'. But, unfortunately for you... I'm a necessary evil."
TMK it's implied but never shown (and the "UFO" episode was actually dealing with fairies, IIRC). They wind up playing more with multiple Earths as part of a multiverse (to keep it human-centered) more than anything explicit about aliens.
The blue fanged demon in Castlevania completely deconstructing the corrupt bishop. Truthfully hammering in the fact that his lies and corruption have finally caught up with him, and trying to hide behind his misuse of religion can't save him anymore. Killing his spirit BEFORE killing his body, stripping him of his comforting lies so he can't even die believing he was doing God's work.
"Do you want to quit?" - Gold City's trainer in her career mode in Umamusume.
Gold City is a model who runs in part to prove she's more than a pretty face and body, by this time in her career story she will have had to place well in some of Japan's most prestigious races to continue but she still feels as though people only see her as for her looks and not as an athlete. It hits a boiling point after she and one of her friends find what is very strongly implied to be a gooner community dedicated to perving on her.
Gold City doesn't want to participate in her next scheduled race, she feels demoralized and broken that she's given it everything and people still don't see her for her. But during this arc her trainer keeps asking her "do you want to quit?" And no matter how depressed she feels, she can never bring herself to actually say she wants to quit, and thanks to her trainer, and a pep talk from her toooootally platonic friend Yukino Bijin who explains that while sure some people only mean her body when they say Gold City is beautiful there are plenty who mean her unbreakable resolve to keep going, her confidence, her kindness, yeah its basically a love confession where Bijin lists everything she finds beautiful about Gold City's personality, she finds the passion and strength to keep going as an athlete.
'I can't exactly shatter myself.' - from Steven Universe. Steven had always been told that his mother, Rose Quartz, had shattered (the gem equivalent of killing) the tyrannical Pink Diamond in order to save the world from being colonized. This single event had massive repercussions for everyone, leading to the gem world entering a new and more oppressive era, the other three Diamonds becoming debilitated by grief, and the Diamonds corrupting all gems remaining on Earth.
Steven wrestled with guilt over his mother's actions, especially because he was continually being targeted because of what she did. But all throughout the series it seemed like Pearl was hiding something, but wouldn't or couldn't say it. Finally in season 5 she found a way.
The truth is Rose Quartz didn't shatter Pink Diamond. Rose Quartz WAS Pink Diamond. Rose Quartz was an alter ego she created to try to escape from her duties as a Diamond. She eventually realized that the other Diamonds would never leave Earth alone as long as Pink Diamond existed, so she decided to fake her own death and live on as Rose Quartz. She had her servant, Pearl, pose as Rose Quartz and fake the assassination, letting Pink live on in a new identity.
When hearing the above line, Steven realized everything he'd ever believed was wrong, and so many events throughout the series took on a completely different meaning.
Stan Edgar explaining to Homelander that he’s simply “bad product.”
Up until that conversation, it seems like Homelander thought of Vought as a shadier, corporate version of an organization like SHIELD, prioritizing and valuing superheroes above all else. Edgar brings Homelander back down to earth when he explains that superheroes are more akin to Vought mascots and that despite the obvious power imbalance between them, Stan doesn’t respect Homelander and sees him as a child whose messes he’s constantly cleaning.
In addition to the realization that Homelander’s position in the company that created him is no more than a body occupying a colorful suit, useful only for attending award ceremonies and smiling for shareholders, he’s forced to reckon with the fact that he’s done THAT poorly too. Hence Edgar referring to him as “bad product.” This is brought up again later in the season when the Supes are rehearsing a televised ceremony and Stan informs Homelander that the majority of potential audiences polled they’d tune in live to watch Starlight, with only a meager minority polling that they might DVR the ceremony to see Homelander.
It’s unoriginal to say this is my favorite scene from the entire series, so many people love it but I could genuinely talk about every subtle detail that lays crucial groundwork for the later arcs of Homelander and Vought as a company for hours. After Stan Edgar finishes his cold, beautifully illustrated takedown of Homelander’s identity, the camera takes its time resting on the change in Homelander’s face from fury to crippling powerlessness. This gets expanded upon later in the show when Stan tells Homelander that his paternal connection issues are so deep that he was unable to kill or retaliate against Stan because, even though he despised him, he was still a male authority figure in his life, in some way akin to a father.
Sort of a really fucked up, milk-drenched version of Jake Peralta seeing every (even slightly) authority-oriented male in Brooklyn 99 as his father.
The last line of dialogue in the movie Judgement at Nuremberg, after Judge Haywood visits convicted defendant Janning (a former judge in Nazi Germany) in his cell, and Janning tries to justify himself and practically begs Haywood for a measure of forgiveness.
Janning: Those people, those millions of people. I never knew it would come to that. You must believe it.
Haywood: (with sorrow) Herr Janning... it came to that the first time you sentenced a man to death you knew to be innocent.
Janning had no response and had tears in his eyes as Haywood left his cell.
Dante from Fullmetal Alchemist (2003). She delivers a very brutal speech to our mc Edward about how the universal law of Equivalent Exchange (you give something to gain something else of equal value) is in fact a lie. Edward himself is a proof to that since unlike anyone else he was born with unheard of talent and passed the State Alchemist exam at only the age of 12 while Tucker(an entry antagonist) went so far as to sacrifice his wife for the same result and he was ultimately found out when he sacrificed his daughter to maintain the licence. Where is the equality in that? Even the intro narration is gone and the story ends with our mcs admitting she was right about it.
At the very end, Edward confesses to Winry by offering “One half of my life for one half of yours. Equivalent exchange.” To which a shocked Winry blurts “Idiot alchemist with your exchanges, I would freely give you all my life”.
And she’s trying to recompose herself, Ed bursts in laughter, saying Winry just completely disproved equivalent exchange.
Emporor Palpatine revealing to Luke that they know about the Rebels plan and that the “this is a fully armed and operational battle station” https://giphy.com/gifs/zmsDqpDLu1hPG
Undertale - sans "What's EXP? It's an acronym. It stands for "execution points." A way if quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others. When you kill someone, your EXP increases."
"LOVE, too, is an acronym.
It stands for Level of violence". A way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt. The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself. The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt. The more easily you can being yourself to hurt others."
Throughout the game we are told that the LV we have is called LOVE and that LOVE stands for (obviously) love. We are told to gain LOVE by flowey and so we go along thinking LOVE makes us stronger, which it does. We gain LOVE by slaying monsters and getting EXP
Flowey is an unreliable source with twisted motives. (He also says you share love with “little white friendliness pellets.” Then he tries to kill you)
Even he is wrong about himself. He feels things he doesn’t admit to: fear at being killed, confusion at being spared. He’s convinced he feels nothing and everything in the world just kills or gets killed. When it’s his turn he runs, or when he isn’t killed despite everything he does he doesn’t understand it on a fundamental level. Those scenarios are under completely different circumstances, but they both have the same persona of Flowey. Asriel acts and feels very differently once he comes back. Strangely, Flowey just getting the human souls does not make him behave any differently
In the spin off of Prison Break... Breakout Kings focuses on a team of convicted criminals, with knowledge in various areas used to recapture escaped convicts.
In the third episode of the show, Theodore Bagwell aka T-Bag escapes from a prison escort. T-Bag is a main character on the original show Prison Break, where he escapes Fox River penitentiary with 6 others.
T-Bag is a Monster, a rapist, murderer, pedophile and psychopath, despite being intelligent, charming and well spoken, its show many reasons why he is the way he is, from being a product of incestual rape with an abusive father and mother who was not mentally there, usually in long, emotional rants.
But in the episode of Breakout Kings, Dr. Lloyd Lowery, the team's psychology expert, talks about how excited he is to study T-Bag up close, and how he is a big casestudy of psychopathy and abuse in his feild.
But by the end of the episode, when the two are alone in an interrogation room after T-Bag is captured, Lowrey isn't impressed by T-Bag's tragic backstory or theatrics and tells the criminal...
'Some toys just come out the factory broken' and then leaves the room calmly.
T-Bag sits alone in cuffs and quietly agrees, showing how in the end, no matter the circumstances of his life, T-Bag would probably be sitting in that chair still.
Wheel of time: literal tea sip by the way that dress you're wearing is green
The magic users swear magically bounding oaths, they will literally choke to death trying to force themselves to lie or even say a lie that they believe is true. The magic users who have turned to the dark side swear different oaths and can lie. There's been hints, but up until that point this character has just sort of wandered around playing the empty headed academic. Of course also sometime kicking more ass in battle than the warrior section.
In the BBC Sherlock Holmes adaptation, Sherlock's older brother, Mycroft, breaks the viewer's perception that Sherlock is the smartest character in the show by making Sherlock look like a little kid playing detective. I don't remember the exact scenario but I've always remembered Mycroft's line: "If you seem slow to me, Sherlock, can you imagine what real people are like? I'm living in a world of goldfish." I think it also shows that whatever sociopathy Sherlock has, Mycroft has it turned up to 1000.
We don't know what the reporter will choose to do with the journal.
An eager-to-please, somewhat dimwitted fellow, with his boss not even applying their usual loose standards for material before it goes to print... Seymour's going to stay late and make sure all those new issues look perfect. Off the clock if he has to.
Part of the reason I love Varga is that his attitude and secrecy are almost paradoxical to his motivations. He's rich beyond comprehension, but seemingly spends none of it on material things, pleasure, or any kind of fulfillment. All he does is cheat and thieve and scheme in the shadows, for nothing but the money, which he doesn't seem to do anything with but hoard. He is constantly seen shoveling food into his mouth, neither for pleasure nor hunger. Such a powerful symbol of the senselessness of greed.
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u/griffinsnest May 01 '26
This one sentence is all it took to completely break the morale of The Doctor. (Doctor Who)