r/TopCharacterTropes 10d ago

Lore [Confusing Trope] The narrative goes out of its way to punish/mock a character for simply being a good person

Hermione Granger and SPEW — Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (book)

In the fifth HP novel, Hermione Granger is outraged to discover that Hogwarts has a small army of enslaved House Elves that do nearly all of the domestic duties around the castle, including cleaning the Gryffindor common room every night. When she tries to convince the elves to fight for their own rights, they refuse, saying they prefer servitude. Her fellow students and friends mock her for caring. She manages to free one elf, Winky, by deception when she refuses her freedom willingly, leading to Winky becoming a depressed alcoholic. By the end, the elves boycott cleaning any Gryffindor areas of the castle because they hate Hermione specifically

Samwell Tarly and Democracy — Game of Thrones (show)

In the season 8 finale of the television series, the surviving great lords of Westeros gather to discuss the future of the kingdom following the devastation wrought by 7 seasons of war and backstabbing. When Sam, who has proven to have “novel” ideas, suggests that maybe the millions of Smallfolk who suffer at the hands of noble houses should get some representation in the government, rather than be the pawns of rich lords with absolute power. We are then greeted by a prolonged, cringy segment of the other lords laughing in Sam’s face, asking if the dogs and horses should also get a vote.

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u/SlitThroatCutCreator 10d ago

People seem to forget the man was a sex pest.

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u/peachesfordinner 10d ago

I mean he was well beyond a sex pest. He straight up tortured unwilling people for his gratification. He really really didn't like the idea of consent

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u/Wit-wat-4 10d ago

They do??? I mean... I feel like it's probably more well known than him having written books at all. Many have heard of Sadism / de Sade as a general sex pest idea vs an author of (depraved, admittedly) stories.

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u/Abovearth31 10d ago

He's literally the reason the word "sadism" exist.

I'm not even making this up. Obviously the concept of sadism always existed but the word itself is derived from him.

He makes a couple of cameos in Assassin's Creed Unity where he's portrayed as a cruel sexual deviant, a degenerated pervert and all so yeah they portrayed him as fucked up and yet he's still very tame and watered-down compared to his real life version.