A character has given a speech about how poor and oppressed he is, that he's a victim of circumstance, and everybody seems to be out to get him.

The problem is that the character making all these statements is a ''villain''.

This can be played several ways. A ManipulativeBastard will describe a situation to make a third party think that the ManipulativeBastard is a good guy, and the ''real'' good guys are mean and evil and out to get him for no good reason. The {{Jerkass}} may legitimately believe the grievances - but the audience can usually recognize a pity party over self-inflicted wounds.

Whether the other characters believe the {{crocodile tears}} also depends on who they are. The naive, ignorant of the current situation, will usually buy it. Characters who were there will know better. When a hoodwinked character realizes that they've been fooled, they will not be happy.

On the rare occasion a good guy tries to perform this action, they are usually branded as [[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong whiners]] because MightMakesRight.

This may take the form of a FreudianExcuse if the villain legitimately believes what they're saying. See also WoundedGazelleGambit. Compare WhatIsEvil & PlayingSick.

Very often TruthInTelevision.


[[folder: Anime & Manga]]
* Anime/{{Vandread}}: During their KangarooCourt, one of the female pirates says the government is 'playing the victim' when the judge says they are trying to topple the government.
* In the first episode of ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'', Chiaki discovers that two of her "friends" are Contractor special agents that are hunting her. When she starts running from them, one says that [[ItsAllAboutMe that's not very friendly of her]]. Given that Contractors are fairly emotionless, this amounts to "just because I'm an emotionless killer doesn't mean I don't have feelings", and thus isn't meant to be taken very seriously.
* Done by Villetta of Anime/CodeGeass, [[spoiler:when she claimed during the final episode that she just wanted somewhere to belong, even though her past was part of the Britannian royal unit and a proud racist]]. Potentially also [[spoiler:when she, alongside Ohgi, testifies against Lelouch on account of Geass leading up to the Black Knights' betrayal, even though she had earlier been keeping surveillance over Lelouch on behalf of Britannia as part of an attempt to keep him from his rebellion alongside the Black Knights, specifically because she couldn't be affected by Geass anymore and may have known more than what she was letting on]]. Played all too straight with Schneizel [[spoiler:that same episode when he claimed he could be under Lelouch's Geass and not know it]].
* Also pulled by [[spoiler: Yuzuha]] in the TenchiMuyo: ''Daughter of Darkness'' movie. Particularly jarring because [[spoiler: she]] does it [[spoiler: after cruelly killing her own "daughter", Mayuka, and mocking her friends's grief at her death. ]]
* Used to agitate Medaka in MedakaBox by Kumagawa as [[spoiler:after he and Zenkichi appeared to have died after their Student Council battle. However the events that cause their supposed death were due to Zenkichi actions so technically Kumagawa was the victim. Kumagawa made this statement after his powers brought him back though. Also, Zenkicki [[NotQuiteDead was brought back by someone else, though he wasn't dead.]]]]
* Your average ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Gundam]]'' antagonist faction (usually spaceborne) absolutely ''loves'' to play this trope. Nine times out of ten they'll claim the local protagonist (Earth) faction is this tyrannical regime that has pushed them to the breaking point[[note]]which is ironically true more often than not[[/note]], and that everything the antagonists do in reprisal (up to and including genocide through nukes, poison gas, [[{{BFG}} colony sized BFGs]], [[CruelAndUnusualDeath remote controlled flying blades and motorcycle battleships]]) is all justified. Also nine times out of ten they'll have a legion of fanboys in RL that will [[RootingForTheEmpire not only agree with all of these claims]], but decry the [[DesignatedVillain heroes]] for "daring" to stand against them. Special mention goes to the Principality of Zeon from the original series for not only claiming that they were fighting a war of conquest (as in it involved an Earthside invasion) in the name of "Independence" from Earth[[note]]which it had held long before said war[[/note]], but for nobody in-series ''ever'' calling them on their BS (much less their invoking this trope) throughout ''Gundam'''s thirty plus year long run.
* Thunder McQueen's primary character trait (suicidal tendencies aside) in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' is constantly thinking of himself as a victim, even when he's clearly doing something wrong, like stealing money from Hermes. Whitesnake comments that this victim complex makes him a truly evil individual even though he isn't actively malicious.

[[folder: Fanfic]]
* One of the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fanfic compilations plays with this with a story where the holographic Ming the Merciless knockoff Dr. Chaotica has been reprogrammed from being a shallow powermonger to a complex "my father never loved me, everyone at school ostracized me" pile of wangst. [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Paris]] is infuriated. He wanted to have fun, not worry about motivations.
* Creator/CoriFalls's renditions of TerribleTrio [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Jessie, James and Meowth]] practically ''live'' on this trope. Even after they "go good" they continually describe themselves as "victims of circumstance" to explain away their former lives of crime.
* [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Caster]] does a slightly variant of this in ''Fanfic/FateStayNightUltimateMaster'' to convince [[Ben10UltimateAlien Ben]] to associate with her: she relates her [[Theatre/{{Medea}} whole origin story]] to him, accentuating the victim aspect of her life (which is true), but carefully neglecting some details so he will feel sympathy for her.
* In ''FanFic/AndAgain'', [[VisualNovel/DanganRonpa Naegi]] has to deal with this in the first trial he faces: [[spoiler:Sayaka]] acts like he's turned on them and making false accusations, and he struggles to convince the others they're really the murderer without revealing [[GroundhogPeggySue how he knows this]].
* In ''FanFic/ForHisOwnSake'', [[Manga/LoveHina Naru]] uses this tactic when called before the Tokyo University school board to explain why she [[ATragedyOfImpulsiveness attacked an innocent man]]. Specifically, she claims she was acting on instinct because she's so used to [[UnprovokedPervertPayback defending herself from]] Keitaro, proceeding to describe him as a shameless pervert who's made her life a living nightmare.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* Scar tries this in ''Disney/TheLionKing'' after Simba has him on the ropes, blaming the hyenas for leading him astray. It bites him in the ass later. [[EatenAlive And the rest of his body.]]
* Ratigan does this in ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective'', lamenting on how, because of Basil, he hasn't had a moment's peace of mind in years. The "insufferable pipsqueak" has ''ruined'' his [[SarcasmMode freedom to commit crimes]]!

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* This is Commodus' shtick in ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''. If he's not murdering, or ordering people to be murdered, expect him to be whining about how awfully vilified his altruistic self is.
* Regina George pulls this off in ''Film/MeanGirls'' when she puts a negative entry in the Burn Book (which she wrote with her friends) about herself and promptly gives it to the principal.
* In ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet'', Jordan Belfort's narration tries to paint himself as an innocent victim who is being targeted by Patrick Denham and the FBI because they are jealous of his life of luxury and don't want him to be successful. However, it's obvious to the audience that the only reason he became successful is because he's a thief who steals money from people through stock fraud and Denham is pursuing him because he's breaking the law

[[folder: Literature]]
* Willougby of ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility'' for the second type, trying to justify his behavior with ImAManICantHelpIt, but failing miserably. It might have worked if he had been relating the story to anyone who didn't personally know the people he hurt. The ridiculously rich John Dashwood and his wife also qualify, constantly espousing their apparent poverty to themselves and others to shirk the responsibility of being charitable to John's half-sisters.
* Mrs. Norris of ''Literature/MansfieldPark'' constantly preaches about all the hard work she does taking care of everyone and all the sacrifices she makes and, like Willoughby, seems to fully believe she's a kind, generous, caring aunt... when she's actually a stingy, vain, pompous, meddling, insufferable know-it-all who spoils one set of nieces and nephews only to make TheUnfavorite niece feel more horrible.
* This seems to be a common Creator/JaneAusten character -- the sociopathic ''Literature/LadySusan'' is so sick and tired of people ruining her plots, enlightening others about her lies, and disliking her once they find out how she mentally abuses her daughter and seduces married men. Why can't they just let her manipulate her [[UnwittingPawn Unwitting Pawns]] in peace?
* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', Keifer Porter was a master of this. We know that Trini thought he was stupid, and she might have told him so, but he managed to pull the "poor me, she provoked me" excuse after [[TapOnTheHead knocking her unconscious]], chaining her to his bed, and [[MoralEventHorizon torturing]] her. He had his eldest wives so wrapped around his little finger that he wasn't punished at ''all''. Fortunately, he died in an explosion before Trini had even recovered from the injuries. [[spoiler: His sister Kij got a lot of pity for losing Keifer, her sister Eldest and some mothers in that explosion ... even though her family had placed the bomb there in the first place, and the mothers' death was planned. Eldest and Keifer were accidents, but self-inflicted.]]
* Satan in ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' -- need we mention the [[DracoInLeatherPants frightening tendency to believe him]]?
* Cersei Lannister's "confession" to the High Septon in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' is her blaming everyone else for "forcing" her into sin. Not too suprising since she generally [[NeverMyFault blames everyone but herself for all of her problems.]]
* The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen considers doing this to the Emperor in Literature/{{Dune}}, thinking "Let him wrong me in that! I could place myself on the throne while still beating my breast over how I'd been wronged"

[[folder: Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Saffron does this to disarm Mal (quite literally) at the end of the episode "Trash". It's strongly implied that she's been carrying that card in her back pocket for a long time--and might even deserve it. Of course, her following actions sort of decrease our sympathy . . .
* In ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Phoebe tries using this to get the others to feel bad for her (usually by bringing up her mother's suicide) so she can avoid getting in trouble when she makes a mistake. As the series goes on, they all grow wise to this and refuse to accept it as an excuse for her behavior.
* ''Series/{{Oz}}'': The supposed victim? [[spoiler:Clayton Hughes]]. After talking a to inmate Simon Adebisi, a sense of purpose births in [[spoiler:Hughes]]- racial politics. After attempting to [[spoiler:kill Governor Devlin]], he is sent to the very prison he originally worked at. His defense? He's a political prisoner set up by an unjust system. What happens after that? [[FromBadToWorse Well...]]
* One female serial killer attempted to pull this one in ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' by saying that she was raped so many times that she can't remember, but Detective Benson doesn't fall for it. She just makes fun of it by saying "''Right, and your mother died, and your dad beat ya''".
* Prince Sprocket pulls this on Auric in ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'' to get him to attack the Rangers. Auric realizes he's been had when the Rangers refuse to attack back and tell him they serve under Zordon. Cue OhCrap from Sprocket.

[[folder: Music]]
* In Music/JayZ's song "99 Problems," he relates an incident when he was pulled over, portraying himself as a victim of racial profiling. In the incident in question, however, he '''was''' in fact carrying cocaine in a hidden compartment of his car, and only escaped arrest because the drug sniffing K-9 unit was delayed.

[[folder: Theater]]
* Shylock in ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice''. Note that most modern critics think Shylock [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation had a point]].
** Shylock's famous speech is referenced several times in the film ''Film/ToBeOrNotToBe''; given that several of the heroic characters are Jewish, the film takes the sympathetic modern interpretation. But at one point, TheQuisling argues in a similar manner that "Nazis are people too", and he is definitely not presented as sympathetic.

[[folder: Video Games]]
* Mithos in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', especially at the end of the game, right before the FinalBoss. Admittedly, his life had been [[DarkAndTroubledPast pretty rough]], what with [[DeadLittleSister his not-quite-dead sister Martel]] and the [[FantasticRacism racism of people towards half-elves]]. But, as Zelos says, it doesn't even come close to justifying all the things Mithos has done to save Martel and free the world of oppression, which includes [[NotSoDifferent forcing humans to work as slaves]] into research that would allow him to [[AndIMustScream turn everyone into lifeless beings]].
* Xemnas in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' laments how he and the rest of Organization XIII had no other choice than to take the actions they did, but [[AllLovingHero Sora]], [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness of all people]], says otherwise, and Xemnas drops the act and admits the truth.
** In fact Xemnas knows that [[spoiler: Nobodies can grow new hearts over time]] but lied to the other members of Organization XIII as a means to manipulate them.
** It [[NotHelpingYourCase doesn't help his case]] that [[spoiler: most of the other Organization members ''were'' turned into nobodies against their will -- by Xemnas (or rather, Xehanort) himself!]]
* Dr. Wily at the end of most ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' games.
** Often [[VideoGame/MegaManX genocidal]] [[VideoGame/MegaManZero mavericks]].
* The PC's love interest has this played on them in ''[[BaldursGate Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal]]'' [[spoiler: Of course, it's done by an undead monster to set up a rather brutal ambush.]]
* Mikan in SuperDanganRonpa2 legitimately thinks that she is a victim, and that nobody will "forgive her existence".[[spoiler: This attitude causes the characters to hesitate in a trial when they start finding out that evidence seems to point to her as the culprit, as she has been kind to them and nursed some of them back to health previously]]. This is a complicated example, as [[spoiler:Mikan ''has'' been the victim of a lifetime of unjustified abuse at the hands of her peers]]; this trope comes into play when [[spoiler:she uses this past to justify murdering two people.]]
* Lord Brevon from ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' is fond of doing this, claiming that all he's trying to do is fix his ship, get off Avalice and save his homeworld, and all the heroes are doing is delaying his departure and forcing him to take more drastic measures. Nevermind the fact that his plan involves murdering the king of Shuigang, brainwashing his son into being his obedient servant and starting a massive war between the three kingdoms of Avalice while he steals a MacGuffin that provides power to the entire planet. Also the whole "Evil intergalactic warlord" thing. And the fact that Torque rips his victim card to shreds by telling him that his own warmongering is the reason his homeworld is in trouble in the first place.

[[folder: Web Original]]
* A recurring trick for [[ManipulativeBastard Gaea]] from ''Franchise/{{Noob}}''. The most frequent form is putting on trademark PuppyDogEyes while telling a sob story that is a MetaphoricallyTrue version of reality on a good day. Even people that have spent enough time around her to know better get this treatment, with a response along the lines of "Where did you get the idea that I was such a horrible person ?".

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* Megatron in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' probably ''really does'' think that the Decepticons have been treated unfairly, having been driven from their home like common insects by the Autobots and gives a speech along these lines to turn the Constructicons.
** To be fair to him though, it seems this idea that Decepticons are the victim isn't entirely unfounded, what with Anti-Decepticon paranoia, no Decepticons allowed on Cybertron, and the fact that most of the Autobots are afraid of organic life.
* Cartman does this all the freaking time on ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. Like when he actually convinced himself that ''he'', rather than Jimmy, invented the "Fishsticks Joke", and proceeded to get mad at Jimmy for trying to claim credit.
** Another example- After making fun of Wendy's breast cancer class report, Cartman went crying to Wendy's parents to keep her from beating the snot out of him. After that [[spoiler:he kept it up and got the snot beaten out of him anyway]].
* Lex Luthor fits the first type in one ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode where he convinces the Amazo android that he is a victim of a vigilante Justice League- and elicits the android's help, at least temporarily, in bringing the League down. Later, in ''Justice League Unlimited'', he refines his arguments (claiming that though he has made mistakes, they were in pursuance of checking the dangerous power of an out-of-control Justice League) to great success for his presidential campaign.
* The Protester from ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfKorra'' enjoys goading benders, and when they are about to beat him up always shouts about how the benders are oppressing him and other non-benders. He does this at least once when Korra was about to beat him up so he'd tell her and Mako where Bolin might be after he was kidnapped by Chi-Blockers; but he's probably done it more than once
** Of special note is that he is a noted AttentionWhore by the creative staff and this is just his latest attempt. So we have no idea how many times he has played the victim card.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', Mojo Jojo gets an AnimalWrongsGroup to defend him against the Powerpuff Girls by crying that he's being oppressed whenever the girls try to stop him commiting crimes.


[[folder: Real Life]]
* TruthInTelevision, sadly. In fact there are too many examples to count, so [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment please don't add any]].