Category:Karma Houdini

A "Karma Houdini" is a villain who is never adequately punished for their evil actions by the end of a story, thus escaping justice and "pulling a Houdini" (disappearing) from the way of Karma. Generally such an occurrence falls under one of five types:

1. The villain is defeated, but simply is not aptly punished in the resolution. This often happens when a villain is simply humiliated or harmed in a comical manner when the audience's impression is that they deserve worse. (Example: Lady Tremaine in the Disney version of Cinderella).

2. 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 at least leave the story open for one. (Example: Dr. Wily in every Megaman game).

3. The villain simply exits the story after performing their function, and is not encountered by the hero again. This usually occurs with secondary 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. (Example: All of the villains in Pinocchio (Honest John Foulfellow, Stromboli and The Coachman).

4. The villain is "redeemed"/forgiven after having crossed a Moral Event Horizon, or at least way too easily for the amount of harm they've already caused. (Example: Sour Kangaroo).

5. 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. (Example: Audrey II in the most common ending of Little Shop of Horrors).