A Karma Houdini is a villain who is never punished (or is insufficiently punished) for their evil actions by the end of a story, thus escaping justice and "pulling a Houdini" (disappearing) from the way of karma. As such, when the story is over, the villains are not really defeated; they remain in position to continue their misdeeds, either towards the protagonists or a new target; or in the most extreme cases, are still as much of a threat as they were before.
Note: No matter how painless the death is, deceased villains automatically do not count as Karma Houdinis. The only way for a dead character to count is if it is of natural causes (e.g. Jschlatt).
A second thing to note is that villains whose status is dependent upon player choice cannot qualify unless they do not receive punishment for their actions in any possible ending of the game.
A final thing to note is that redeemed villains can never ever qualify as they no longer have a need to be punished, regardless if their redemption seems forced.
See the trope page that this category is named after
A Karma Houdini happens when:
- The villain is thwarted but not aptly punished in the resolution. This often happens when a villain is simply humiliated or harmed in a comical manner, but only face a temporary punishment when they deserved worse, not enough to prevent them from striking again in the next episode, season or installment. (e.g Satoru Gojo)
- The villain makes an escape at the story's climax. Probably the most common type. Often the villain escapes while the heroes are preoccupied with some other danger (usually that they created), sometimes because in most stories preventing whatever disaster is caused by a villain is more important than going after them. Sometimes this is done to set up a sequel or another season, or at least leave the story open for one (e.g. Whisk and Tatanga).
- The villain simply exits the story after performing their action, and is not encountered by the hero again. This usually occurs with minor antagonists (as opposed to central ones), as the most common scenario for this type of Karma Houdini is that the protagonist simply escapes the villain, who is not seen again because they are not relevant to the rest of the story.
- The villain is forgiven at the last second, without being trully redeemed. These villains spend the story causing strife, but when the conflict is over the protagonists do not bear them any ill will, and in some case welcome them in their group of friends. They do stop doing evil but never apologize and do not display any intention to bettering themselves, and their misdeeds are swept under the rug.
- The villain outright wins at the end of the story, defeating the hero and succeeding in all their evil plans. For extremely obvious reasons, this is by far the least common type and can reasonably be expected to occur only in the very darkest of stories, and is in fact very common in modern horror films (e.g. DJ Hallyboo, Sir Alistair, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Staron the Destroyer.)
- The villain is more of a jerk and thus many don't see the need to punish them (in general, they punish themselves). These kinds of villains are usually from sitcoms or children's cartoons, and thus are not really threats. Because of this, many heroes simply let the villain do what they want (e.g. Team Killer Ink).
- The villain is ousted and/or exiled but not brought to justice. These villains are driven out by the hero or some other force of good but is not aptly defeated.
- The Villain is imprisoned/killed but escaped/came back and return to do their schemes. If a villain is killed or imprisoned but later escaped/back to life to do their usual evil they can count as long they not brought to justice again ex. imprisoned again or killed again for good.
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