A Scapegoat is a villain that is punished much more than he/she would actually deserve. By definition, it is the opposite of a Karma Houdini.

Just being a "bad guy" and having bad intentions is never enough to suffer such a punishment, which must be given according to acts. Some villains, however, are submitted to a retribution that can be very harsh, even unfair, thus winning over the audience's sympathy.

The very definition of a Scapegoat is an individual framed for something done by someone else, although Scapegoats also include:

1. Villains whose fates are so horrific that the audience feels pity for them (e.g. Princess Peach being turned into an eldritch horror after being left in her destroyed, Eldritch goop-covered castle for 4 months).
2. Villains who are subjected to some horrendous torture as a way of karma that they did not deserve. (e.g. the Health Inspector and Eteled)
3. Villains that have horrible lives that almost never improves or even gets worse (e.g. Spyro Doomfire, Toad and Chef Pee Pee)
4. Minions that are often unfairly abused or killed by their master (e.g. Darktoon, Snakebite Andi, and Dark Danno), or at worse have to pay for something their master did (e.g Koopa Troop) unless the minion deserves it for committing heinous crimes (e.g. RXQ).
5. Tragic villains who, in the end, suffered more than they made others suffer or whose tragic past far outweighs their actions.
6. Remorseful villains who wanted to redeem themselves, but either was rejected or died before they could (e.g. Boss Demon).
7. Incompetent villains, whose defeats (recurring or otherwise) are often humiliating, degrading and typically they did nothing too heinous to warrant it (e.g. SMG3 and King K. Rool).
8. Comical villains whose ineptitude leads to them being defeated or punished in a slapstick manner, sometimes brutally so. (e.g. Minoru Mineta)
9. Villains who are constantly revived and killed over again. (e.g. Doofy the Dragon and Dr. Eggman)
10. Anti-villains who intend to do good and never resort to dirty tactic, but just go about it the wrong way. (e.g. Ruby Diorite)
11. Affably evil villains who only wanted to get along with the heroes, or other particular characters, but are disrespected, scolded or badly admonished for doing so, even if they never did anything that particularly bad.
12. Jerks or otherwise not very antagonistic villains who constantly have to put up with the protagonist's annoying behavior, stupidity, arrogance, etc. or just evil teachers with an unteachable student (e.g. Mario)
13. Insecure villains who wanted to make friends in the first place, but the people are too scared and/or disgusted by their looks, which drove them to villainy in the first place.
14. Villains by Proxy who never wanted to be villains in the first place, yet still get punished for their evil actions anyway.
15. In Love villains who are regularly cheated or abused by their crush, yet keep protecting and taking care of them out of devotion.
16. Juvenile Delinquents who despite being too young, are still killed or imprisoned, unless they deserve it for committing heinous crimes.
17. Possessed/Brainwashed villains who instead of snapping out of their influences, had to be killed in the end.
18. Villains who, in spite of doing absolutely nothing to deserve it, became a damned soul.
19. Villains who are just wild predators acting by their natural instincts, who despite this are killed or are receiving torture regularly.
20. Imprisoned villains who are incarcerated in horrible prisons which there is no exit, in which they actually don't deserve.
21. Suicidal villains that have killed themselves because they thought it was the solution, when actually they didn't actually habe to die (e.g Sweetie Belle from "The Price You Pay", in which she felt so guilty after she indirectly killed Diamond Tiara, causing her to believe that she believes that she needs to be punished for it, which she would result in making a cloth doll of herself that had catnip used for it and purposely gave the doll to Opalescence to have her tear the Sweetie Belle doll apart as a way to kill herself in the Epilogue of the story). Many of these villains are Tragic, Remorseful, or Cowards, plus some of them sacrifice their lives in order to protect and/or save their loved ones.
22. Villains who get a tragic sendoff: they might not even have a tragic/sympathetic background, have any positive qualities, be affable or anything, but their deaths are still silent moments where the characters show a deeper, more complex personality and that they may not be entirely evil, maybe showing insecurity as their primary motive and/or trying to fit in.

Notes[]

• Certain villains must be qualified for this category if they face at least three, four, or numerous defeats from Web series’ or Fangames. However this rule doesn't apply to other villains that go far too heinous with their crimes and are not On & Off.
• Villains who are tragic and/or insecure are not automatically qualified, as some can commit too heinous crimes (e.g. Cyalux Clover and Bête Noire).
• Villains do not automatically qualify as a scapegoat if their comeuppances are justified and well-earned, and their crimes far outweigh their feelings for sympathy, no matter how excessive their punishments were (e.g. Francis and Mr. Krabs).
• /!\ Complete Monsters, Near Pure Evils and Hate Sinks will NEVER qualify as they are in their normal senses, display little to no redeeming qualities and the acts they do are mostly or always taken seriously. Therefore, basically every defeat and/or death they get are equal to what they have done and their defeat or death, regardless of brutality, is warranted. Often, their actions are so vile and loathsome, that the fate they've earned is nothing compared to what they did to their victims. That said, there are at times where they start out as a scapegoat due to abuse, torture, etc. (e.g. The Tortured One and Reckloo) before becoming devoid of any sympathy.