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| - It's human nature to focus on the negative, to overreact to slights and swear Disproportionate Retribution on the perpetrator far in excess of the crime. Then there are times when characters are kind to each other, going out of their way to be nice and help someone else for no other reason than Good Feels Good thanks to the benevolent part of human nature. They'll wish they hadn't. Cue them having a life debt for the hero, becoming a True Companions -- helpful, annoying, or overwhelming) that the heroes can't shoo off because the receiver's technically good, too.
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| abstract
| - It's human nature to focus on the negative, to overreact to slights and swear Disproportionate Retribution on the perpetrator far in excess of the crime. Then there are times when characters are kind to each other, going out of their way to be nice and help someone else for no other reason than Good Feels Good thanks to the benevolent part of human nature. They'll wish they hadn't. The receiver will proceed to make it his life's work to repay this minor favor done with no intent for reward with a lifetime of devoted friendship and service. It might be because the receiver has never been helped or shown kindness before, or having a rather strange set of personal ethics; whatever the case he considers this small service to be the most selflessly wonderful thing done for him, ever. Cue them having a life debt for the hero, becoming a True Companions -- helpful, annoying, or overwhelming) that the heroes can't shoo off because the receiver's technically good, too. If the receiver's ethics are so skewed that his idea of good are truly at odds with the good of the hero, then you have the Poisonous Friend. Expect Stop Helping Me! to be uttered sometime. See also Does Not Know How to Say Thanks for a Trope that can lead to this. Contrast Dude, Where's My Reward? where the reward is smaller (instead of bigger) than what you have deserved, and Androcles' Lion and Character Witness, who give a pretty much proportionate reward. Examples of Disproportionate Reward include:
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