Accomplice by Inaction

Igraine: I never did anything to hurt you!
Morgan: Indeed, my lady. You did nothing. You did nothing when my father had my mother killed so that you could sit in her place. As you did nothing when my father banished me.
Igraine: No queen questions her king.
Morgan: And I thought my opinion of you couldn't get any lower.

— Starz's Camelot (2011), during Igraine and Morgan's second scene together

Somebody was around as a crime was being committed, but did nothing. Now the victim wants them brought to account.

Audience and writer sympathy for each party (on one hand, the accusers, be they the victim or not, and on the other, the accused) can vary, depending on a variety of factors. The work can evaluate the so-called accomplice's responsibility for the crime simply by establishing whether it was done with the bystander being oblivious or knowing all along. If the accused witnessed the crime or had full knowledge of it and had all the power necessary to prevent it from happening but still chose to do nothing about it, then it's improbable the accused will get away scot-free. Double points if the accused approved of the crime. Occasionally, the accomplice will own up to their inaction in the face of injustice without any accuser being present.

Sometimes, there will be someone to point out that it also depends on whether that character refused to help, was also another innocent victim, or was simply incapable to offer help. Therefore, the accuser can really go anywhere between the top and the lower-middle part of the Sliding Scale of Antagonist Vileness (understandable if not a real Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds) if they are themselves unjust while addressing injustice.

Compare Failure-to-Save Murder, which has a strong overlap rate. Compare and contrast Cruel Mercy, which the non-intervention may be from the point of view of the inactive party, thus making the accusation justified to the most irrational, death-seeking victims.

Related to Bystander Syndrome, Moral Myopia, All-Powerful Bystander (who is likely to be seen as this), Lawful Stupid, and While Rome Burns. For the (almost) opposite, see You Were Trying Too Hard.

Sometimes characters (or a whole work) condemn this accusation as a Logical Fallacy. See also Hitler Ate Sugar, Villain-by-Proxy Fallacy, With Us or Against Us.

Contrast Betrayal by Inaction, Murder by Inaction, Lethal Negligence.

Examples:

Fan Works

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Anime & Manga

7 Seeds:
- Ayu believes herself partly at fault for her bullies' deaths because she knew the branches they were using to make chopsticks out of were poisonous, but said nothing. She only explained when one of them accuses her of intentionally poisoning the food. It is probable that Ayu let this happen because they would just use her as their servant. However, she did not feel relieved for that.
- Ban refused to stop the others from Team Summer A from fatally shooting their teacher when they awoke in the future. It's unclear if he was so broken from the final test, where he was incapable of saving several people despite being The Medic, that he honestly believed he was incapable of saving him through his medical knowledge... or showed a darker side by letting the others get away with it, and refusing to administer help to someone he thought didn't deserve it.
In Attack on Titan, Floch, when criticizing Eren's decision to use the Titan serum to save Armin's life rather than Erwin's, a decision that Eren had convinced Levi to accept, also calls out the other Survey Corps members for not intervening to try to stop Eren.
In Berserk, in Lost Children during the pseudo-elf attack on Jill's village, Guts stops them from killing a little boy named Thomas, and then uses the boy as live bait on the end of his sword to lure the elves into a fire trap. Thomas is traumatized, but his life is saved as a result. After the elves are gone the villagers come out of their houses and call Guts despicable for using a child like that, but he throws their hypocrisy back in their faces by saying, "You people make me laugh. When this kid ran out, did even one of you unlock your door?"
Discussed in Digimon Adventure 02. While he didn't actively participate in Ken's campaign as the Digimon Emperor, and tried to serve as his Morality Pet, Wormmon still stood back and and did nothing while Ken enslaved and tortured countless innocent Digimon. In "United We Stand," he states outright that because of this, he's just as guilty for the Emperor fiasco as Ken himself.
In Eternal Sabbath, the abusive mother of the young girl Yuri was herself horrifically abused by her violent father as a child. However she eventually admits that, while she hated and feared her father, she hated her mother just as much if not more for being too cowardly to try protecting her beyond meekly asking him to stop. Whenever her father beat her, her mother would buy her candy to try apologizing to her, but she could never even taste it.
Fruits Basket: While he didn't directly abuse Yuki in his childhood, Ayame still did nothing to stop his parents and Akito from tormenting his younger brother to the point of trauma, going so far as to ignore Yuki and walk away while he was begging him for help. Yuki still holds a grudge against Ayame for his inaction, and it's one of Ayame's greatest regrets in life.
Is It My Fault That I Got Bullied?:
- Shoji Ryoko, the person who seemingly organized the middle-school reunion Shinji attended is guilty of this. When she saw Shinji and his Gang of Bullies brutally torture Aizawa inside the science room, she simply said "Oh, I can see you guys are busy", closed the door and walked away without lifting a finger to help him. This hurt Aizawa more than the torture itself because it signified to him that he was completely alone. We never see what Aizawa did to her, but whatever it was, it was enough to bring her to tears and make her cut all further contact with Shinji.
- The school principal doesn't do anything when confronted with the problem of bullying instead opting to cover it up in order to maintain his school's "bully-free" reputation and staging an Engineered Public Confession in order to scapegoat Aizawa. By the time Aizawa is done with him, both his personal reputation and his school's reputation are in complete shambles.
- Himekawa tries to invoke this on her classmates, telling them that they are just as guilty since they saw what her and the Gang of Bullies were doing to Shiori and chose not to intervene. The rest of the class responds by telling her not to lump them with the likes of her, since they never actively did anything cruel to Shiori, also commenting on the fact that Himekawa's parents were former delinquents. It's then that Aizawa walks in the classroom and calls her out on being a Hypocrite. That said, Shiori later calls out her entire class on how quick they were to condemn her bullies only after they were publicly exposed while pretending nothing was going on while Shiori was actually being bullied right in front of them, even joining their chants on forcing her to apologize to the bullies once she fought back.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Stone Ocean: Romeo Jisso, Jolyne's former boyfriend, stood by and said nothing to her defense after she was framed and incarcerated for a hit-and-run and ended up unknowingly assisted Pucci in having Jotaro Lured into a Trap.
- JoJolion: Tsurugi ends up following alongside Jobin's orders in their plan to obtain the Locacaca, and when Yasuho's Stand is getting drowned in the toilet, Tsurugi could only stand idle without attempting to saving her.
Kino's Journey:
- The citizens of the Coliseum country ultimately let their king do as he pleases because he gave them what they wanted. Possibly because of this, Kino doesn't have a problem with decreeing that the citizens must fight to choose a new king, resulting in the populace turning on and killing each other.
- Kino herself becomes this when she meets a man who agrees to travel with a woman in atonement for killing the latter's fiancee. The woman, unwilling to forgive the man, shoots him to death, then says Kino could have stopped her if she wanted to. Kino nonchalantly says she has no desire to play god.
- In Photo's introductory episode, she feels this way when the merchant family who enslaved her die from eating poisoned herbs, since she didn't try hard enough to stop them from doing so.
Maken-ki!: During season 2's fifth episode, Aki tells her parents she's dating Takeru to avoid being pressured into marriage. So her parents have him kidnapped and stranded on an island with her in hopes they'd "make memories" together. When Haruko and Himgami find out, they race to the island under the assumption that Takeru has run off with Aki, who could have cleared up the confusion by explaining what really happened. Instead, Aki lets Takeru take a beating for a situation that wasn't his fault. At the end of the episode, she admits that she didn't say anything because seeing Haruko and Himegami jealous of her, made her feel young again.
My Hero Academia:
- Following the Kamino Ward Incident, during which five of Class A's students provide a small, but critical moment of aid in the rescue of a kidnapped classmate, Class A's teacher Aizawa takes them to task afterward for going off on their own and against instructions. He berates not just the five who went out, but the rest of the class who were fully aware of what they were planning and did nothing to stop them beyond futile attempts at persuading them not to go. Aizawa goes on to declare that had the Kamino Inicdent not become such a Game Changer and that they would soon need every Hero they could get (due to All Might retiring), he would have expelled the entire class save the kidnapped classmate and two others who were, at the time, unconscious in the hospital from a prior attack and unable to intervene.
- In the same episode, Tsuyu had a lot of regret when realizing her usual Brutal Honesty about the situation (going so far as to compare the students on the mission to villains) was too harsh, and doing nothing at all hurt even worse. She avoids them until she finds the courage to tearfully apologize and set things straight.
- In the Internship arc, Midoriya and Mirio, while out on patrol, happen upon Eri, a young girl in bandages, at which point Overhaul, the Yakuza boss their hero agency is investigating, comes to retrieve her, saying that she's his daughter. Midoriya realizes that something's up, as does Mirio, but they follow Sir Nighteye's orders not to interfere (albeit reluctantly in Midoriya's case), letting Overhaul leave with Eri. It later turns out that Overhaul has been submitting Eri to horrific abuse, using her body to create bullets capable of destroying people's Quirks. Midoriya and Mirio are both horrified over what they allowed to happen, and swear to save Eri.
- Tenko Shimura (also known as Tomura Shigaraki) grew up in an abusive household, with his father Kotaro locking him out of the house and even hitting him for being interested in heroes. While Kotaro's wife, daughter and in-laws didn't approve of his treatment, they also didn't stand up to him, either, and told Tenko to endure it. Shortly after they finally put their foot down, Tenko's Decay Quirk activated, resulting in his family's deaths.
- Rei Todoroki, Shoto's mother and Endeavor's estranged wife, acknowledges herself in the aftermath of the Paranormal War Arc that she herself is accountable for turning a blind eye to Enji's mistreatment of their kids, and Toya (alias Dabi) in particular. Toya himself lashes out at his mother when she tries to convince him to stop training, telling her that she also has a hand in his ordeal, mostly because she enabled it by choosing to do nothing, even though she could.
In Persona 5: The Animation, Ren happens upon Youji Isshiki being beaten up by loan sharks, and simply walks off, letting it happen. By this point, Ren's learned that Youji was abusive to his niece Futaba while caring for her, so it's clear that he has no intention of helping Youji.
Strawberry Fields Once Again: In a previous timeline, two female employees at a TV station suspect that their producer drugged their coworker Pure Sakurasaka's drink, since the victim appears drunk despite not having had any alcohol, but say nothing. It's implied that the darker-haired woman is jealous of the victim for having received opportunities despite her lack of seniority, while the lighter-haired woman may be bitter about a past failed relationship with the producer. Luckily, Akira Kouno comes to the rescue and forces the producer to flee.

Comic Books

The Punisher 2099: This is the main motivation of "Public Enemy". A genetically-engineered super soldier, he bears a grudge against the corporation Alchemax for murdering his parents. Even after tracking down and killing everyone involved in the Red Dog project, he still feels like the really guilty party hasn't been punished. He then witnesses a crazed gunman about to kill a woman, while dozens of pedestrians either ignore it or talk about what a shame it is. After rescuing her, a crowd of people gather around him to tell him what a hero he was. Incensed at their inaction, he murders them all on the spot. He realizes that the people he truly hates are the public, which allows bad things to happen while claiming innocence. He kills more crowds of people who were witnesses to crimes and did nothing to stop them, eventually coming into conflict with the Punisher. During a battle between the two, he's surrounded by a crowd of people who were related to his victims. They all attack him with bricks, pipes, and whatever else they have on hand. As the crowd swarms him, Public Enemy yells out encouragement to them, overjoyed that they're finally doing what he wanted them to do even as they tear him apart.
Spider-Man:
- A variation of this trope in Spider-Man's origin story — he stands by idly as the burglar who later would murder Uncle Ben escaped — of course continues to be the driving motivation for Spider-Man himself.
- In The Spectacular Spider-Man, this was part of a very large plotline involving Tombstone and Daily Bugle editor Joe Robinson. Tombstone had bullied Joe when they were kids, and eventually, Joe witnessed Tombstone - now a hitman working for the Kingpin kill a man, and after the thug threatened him, he kept quiet for decades. In the present time, Joe finally came forward when the Kingpin used the assassin in a failed attempt at Spidey, but Joe was arrested and convicted of withholding evidence. (In truth, both the DA and judge were bought by the Kingpin; this led to another storyline where Tombstone attempted to gain revenge on him in prison, which eventually ended in Joe gaining a Presidential pardon; still, the issue with Tombstone lasted much longer...)
The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers: Invoked when Squadron X were killed. The Decepticons were all arrested, but because it was on a neutral world they couldn't be held. Impactor took a gun, locked himself in, and shot them all to death. All the Wreckers stood by except Springer(who tried to stop him, but couldn't as he was injured) and let him. Afterward, they confessed to Springer that they were too stunned or scared to stop him, and had fallen under Bystander Syndrome. Springer, tired of all the death, believed them and Impactor was jailed alone. Much later in life, Roadbuster confessed to a comatose Springer that they did nothing because they agreed with Impactor and were unwilling to stop him, afterward they just wanted to avoid prison time.
Watchmen: After the Comedian shoots a woman who'd just slashed his face (in anger at being told that he intended to abandon her after getting her pregnant), Dr. Manhattan calls him out on his action. In response, the Comedian says Dr. Manhattan just stood there and let it all happen when he could have easily used his immense powers to stop it, which he says is proof that Dr. Manhattan's losing sight of his humanity.
In W.I.T.C.H., Ari of Arkhanta, who possesses a slave he uses only for his greedy motives, has a massive grudge against the oracle of Kandrakhar, the benevolent figure who saves everyone's life once a week. Why? Unlike the man, who obsessed about changing his son, the Oracle didn't ever try to "cure" the child's autism.
In "Dignity and Respect: A Training Guide on Homosexual Combat Policy," a comic book designed to explain the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, the final story involves how to deal with homophobia. Three soldiers are talking with Sgt. Gates in earshot, with the female of the three saying she has a date, the first of the men remarking that he'd believe Gates had a date with a man before he'd believe the woman does, and the other man asking Gates if he would like a hot date. At that point, the First Sergeant walks by and calls all three of the soldiers on the carpet for harassing Gates, despite the fact that the female soldier said nothing.

Films — Animation

In The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Zira blames Kovu after Nuka dies in the fight with Simba.
Kovu: I did nothing!
Zira: Exactly! And in doing so, you betrayed your pride, betrayed Scar!
Kovu: I want nothing more to do with him!
Zira: You cannot escape it! Nuka is dead because of you! You've killed your own brother!
Kovu: NO! [runs off]

Films — Live-Action

The Assistant: A major theme of the film is that everyone who is aware of the president's Casting Couch activities is complicit in them, whether by actively covering them up or simply perpetuating the system.
Beauty and the Beast (2017) states it's why the Sorceress changed the castle servants into furniture and kitchen utensils. Yes, they didn't refuse the old woman charity, but they also didn't stop the Prince's abusive father from raising him to become a selfish jerk, and they did nothing to help her while he was giving her unmitigated cruelty.
Coming Home in the Dark: The central crux of the film. Two violent drifters recognize Hoaggie from their time at a Boarding School of Horrors. He eventually admits that he did personally witness horrific abuses by the staff but did nothing to stop it and has tried to put it behind him. The two drifters still see him as culpable.
The Danish film Festen (The Celebration), set during a family reunion for a 60th birthday party, centers on the revelation by eldest son Christian that he and his twin sister were sexually abused by their father. When his mother tries to intervene, he calls her out for ignoring the abuse and says, "I'm so grateful to have such a twisted hypocrite for a mother. I wish you were dead."
The Dark Knight has this somewhat as the reason for Harvey's rampage, as he goes after everybody who had something to do with Rachel Dawes's death. He goes from blaming the man who had her strapped to a bomb to blaming the people who originally hired him before he started acting out on his own to blaming the people who were actively trying to save her but had allowed corrupt cops to remain on the force.
In Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), Madison Russell is this to her mother Dr. Emma Russell, who used lies to rope her into an eco-terrorist plot to release the Titans and restore nature's balance by claiming it's to help people, neglecting to tell Madison it would be at the cost of millions of innocent lives. Madison mainly just watches everything happen from the sidelines out of blind trust in her mother. She eventually wises up, rebels against Emma, and helps save the world. Despite not suffering legally for her complicity, Madison must now live with guilt for it for the rest of her life.
Guilt by Association: Susan and numerous other people are convicted even if they only knew about drug dealing by others but didn't report it. According to the laws, not doing so makes them equally guilty and co-conspirators in the crimes.
In Kill Bill, that's precisely why the Bride went after Sophie Fatale. Sophie didn't participate in the execution of the Bride, her husband-to-be, and her friends at the wedding in El Paso, but she was present and watched it happen, even casually answering a professional phone call while the Deadly Vipers Assassination Squad was beating the Bride to a pulp before Bill shot her in the head. In the end, the Bride lets her live but not before severing her arm as punishment for doing nothing about the whole ordeal, even for seemingly approving of it.
Lone Star (1996): A recurring motif in the flashbacks is how Hollis is present while Wade is killing or extorting people, not really helping him but not doing anything to stop him either. Eventually, he can't take any more of this and shoots Wade to keep him from killing again.
In Natural Born Killers, after Mickey kills Mallory's abusive father, Mallory kills her mother because she never did anything to try to stop her Dad.
Night Watch: A cornered vampire girl blames the Night Watch (ostensibly the good guys) for her turning into a vampire and subsequent crimes since the vampire who turned her was doing so legally under the Balance Between Good and Evil treaty, so the Night Watch couldn't intervene.
Piggy: Sara witnesses a stranger drag Alpha Bitch Maca inside his van, and Former Friend Claudia banging on the van's window and begging Sara for help. Since the stranger is the only one who has shown the bullied teen any kindness, she just waves in acknowledgement as he drives off. Later, when questioned by the police, she does not say anything about him.
Khan cites this trope in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Ceti Alpha V was a habitable planet when Khan and his followers were dumped there by Kirk. A year later, a natural disaster caused the planet to suddenly become much less habitable. For this, Khan blames Kirk because he "never bothered to check on our progress."
In Saw III, Danica Scott is put on a "Jigsaw test" for witnessing a kid getting run over by a car with a drunk driver, and failing to both report the incident to the nearby authority and turn up in court as a witness in the past. Danica has no way to save herself from the test and must depend on Jeff, the father of the deceased kid, who is hellbent on revenge.
In Tales from the Hood 2, the Robo Patriot judges Mr. Beach's two aides to be just as guilty for their complicity in his crimes, as neither of them ever objected to his behavior. In the first movie, three white cops beat a black activist to death and frame him as a heroin addict, while a black officer watches. 1 year later, the activist comes back as a zombie, and after killing the white cops, does the same to the black cop for doing nothing.
Talk to Me: Riley becomes possessed by a spirit masquerading as that of protagonist Mia's mother Rhea. Eager to talk to that spirit, Mia stops the others from blowing out the candle, despite clear warnings of the approaching 90-second mark and that the spirit will "want to stay". It does, and Riley pays the immediate consequences.
Urban Legend: The protagonist is pursued by the killer for her role in a car crash as a teenager. The protagonist's friend was driving the car and chased another car, causing it to crash and kill the occupants. The protagonist laughed along rather than tell her friend to stop doing this.
In Jess Franco's Venus In Furs, Jimmy witnesses three people assaulting and murdering Wanda, and does nothing. His monologue suggests that this is more than Bystander Syndrome—he considers himself somehow simpatico with the killers.

Literature

Animal Farm: Benjamin the donkey is this in a sense. He knows what the Pigs are up to and how downhill things'll go but we don't see him warn the other animals or do anything about it, allowing the revolution to go full circle. However, given that Napoleon responded to one of the few organised attempts to push back against his increasingly authoritarian leadership by ordering the mass execution of the animals concerned, choosing to keep his head down and his mouth shut is not an unreasonable reaction if the alternative is becoming a Doomed Moral Victor.
In A Brother's Price, the princesses' late father is mentioned to have been an Extreme Doormat, who stood by and watched while his son-in-law emotionally abused the younger princesses, and one time even tortured and raped one of them in the room next door. Though it is not clear whether the latter is just an exaggerated accusation- he might not have been there at the time. There is also Eldest, the eldest princess, who could have divorced their husband. She was told about his crime afterwards, but did nothing, because the (very beautiful) husband had her wrapped around his little finger.
In Samuel Richardson's Clarissa (1747-48), the longest book ever written in the English language, the heroine's mother and her aunt look like this from a modern reader's perspective because they never oppose the father when he does his best to force the heroine into an arranged marriage. Richardson seemed to partially agree, at least for the good aunt Hervey, whom he describes in the preface as "lacking the courage to go against so strong a stream, [and] sailing with it".
Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky. "Fedka the convict" bugs Nikolai Stavrogin for some money, and Stavrogin eventually complies. Afterwards, Stavrogin realizes why Fedka was asking for the money—in a very indirect way, Fedka was offering to kill Stavrogin's wife and brother-in-law in exchange for cash. Realizing this, Stavrogin leaps into action and... does nothing, until his wife and brother-in-law die at Fedka's hand. He outright says, the morning after, that even if he isn't legally guilty of the murders, he considers himself morally guilty.
The Divine Comedy: The vestibule of Hell contains people who weren't actively evil, but were too cowardly or apathetic to do anything to stop it. Dante specifically points out Pontius Pilate as being here, as he could have saved Jesus but chickened out instead.
In Dragon Bones, Ward and his younger brother Tosten are bitter about their mother, Muellen, never doing anything against their abusive father, instead drugging herself as an escape. For some reason, they never accuse their uncle Duraugh or their aunt Stala, both of whom would have been more capable of stopping the abuse, of the same. In book 2, Ward specifically tells Tisala that one reason he’s attracted to her is precisely because she’s strong and fierce enough to defend her children if need be.
In The Fountainhead, Gail Wynand was once nearly beaten to death as a youth by a drunken longshoreman. Wynand dragged himself to a saloon and asked for help for the first and last time in his life when the saloonkeeper found him. The saloonkeeper simply went back inside without a word. Years later, the now wealthy and powerful Wynand still remembered the longshoreman and the saloonkeeper. Wynand never did anything to the longshoreman. He utterly ruined the saloonkeeper's life, driving him to suicide.
In The Irregular at Magic High School, the narration makes a point of telling us that, had Tatsuya known about the plot to bomb a stadium full of innocent people, he would have done nothing to stop it, although he was fully capable of doing so.
Found in Jane Austen's works and played differently:
- Love and Freindship, this is used for comedic effect, when Laura and Sophia are furious with the latter's cousin, Mac Donald, because he didn't sigh or weep when he heard that they had been abandoned by their grandfather. He just saved them, providing them with shelter, food, and stability.
- Played for Drama in Sense and Sensibility, since the eldest brother refuses to give anything to his sisters despite his father's unofficial will and his promise at his father's deathbed. They despise him for his neglect and for being a condescending, pitiless, Innocently Insensitive weakling.
- Mary Crawford of Mansfield Park doesn't seem like a malicious and unworthy woman for Edmund; she is lively and engaging and even saves Fanny from Mrs. Norris at one point. But she refuses to do or oppose anything if it would interfere with her own comfort, and barely protests her brother's plan to woo and then dump Fanny just to satisfy his ego.
- In The Watsons (unfinished novel), the heroine despises the brother who gained financial independence and could have helped her sister, while she, despite being in a higher situation, couldn't do anything, but he chose not to do anything except invite his favorite sister occasionally.
Celine Raphael's La Demesure: This biopic is a testimony of her life as a child and young teenager with an unbelievably physically and emotionally abusive Stage Dad.
- Céline's mother never confronted the father about the abuse in the first years, and the reader may assume that they didn't know. Then, halfway through the book, she writes about how unsettling it must have been for her mother and sister to hear all the abuse from behind the closed door of the room her father locked her in for practice. She never had a grudge against her mother.
- Céline's little sister, Marie, had a limp. When she was invited to walk with Céline and their father, she would be hit with a stick if she didn't follow quickly enough. Céline wasn't abused if Marie came on the walk, but she was abused if she didn't, so she (and their mother) would yell at her if she refused to go on a walk.
- Céline had a P.E. teacher who taunted her for failing to attend his classes (because her father forbade her to, for practice) out of pure anger towards her and her family, enjoying superior social standing and being allegedly able to break rules. It is one of the rare people she seems to still resent and look down upon.
Left Behind: In "Glorious Appearing", during Jesus' judgment of the "sheep and goats", Jesus judges the "goats" for doing nothing good for "the least of My brethren" — which in the context of the series was talking about God's people Israel — saying that what they didn't do for them, they also didn't do for Him. In other words, they're just as guilty as if they were actively harming the Jewish people.
Lonesome Dove: Jake Spoon falls in with a group of questionable companions because he's trying to make it across dangerous territory and knows there is safety in numbers. Spoon doesn't assist with their lawbreaking, and becomes increasingly horrified as they turn out to be psychotic murderers as well as thieves - but he's too scared to either try to fight or run. When the band is captured by Spoon's old associates, he's somewhat relieved at first, but then realizes they intend to hang him alongside the outlaws. Spoon pleads that he didn't kill anyone and planned to ditch the gang at his first opportunity, but Gus tells him that he'd been a little bit slow finding a chance with all the atrocities they'd had time to commit. This is especially poignant because Gus and the rest of the posse actually believe that Spoon was just a lackwit tagalong and not a dangerous criminal himself.
In the Discworld Night Watch, Vimes accuses the old, bad Watch when his squad says that they shouldn't be targeted by the mobs because they didn't do anything. Vimes agrees—they didn't do anything to try to protect innocent people from the State Sec or criminals alike, and that's why they're in trouble now.
In Renegades, this is the protagonist, Nova's, motivation, as she blames the Renegades for her family's death, as they promised to protect them, but they weren't there when a gunman came and shot them all.
In A Song of Ice and Fire book A Clash of Kings, Robb Stark catches seven enemy soldiers massacring his men, so he has them all hanged. One of them protests that he did not actually participate in the stabbing; he merely watched. Robb concludes that because he merely watched and did not intervene, he still counted as a guilty accomplice, so the man was hanged along with the others.
The Novelization of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock has David committing this. Whereas the movie has David using the highly unstable protomatter in the Genesis device, the book instead has the rest of the development team using it instead. While David did have misgivings and even verbally objected over the protomatter, Saavik berates him as he ultimately did nothing to stop his colleagues.
The ninth poem of La Vita Nuova accuses those who see the poet struck to death by beauty of sinning if they do not comfort the poet in his weakness.
This is Mapleshade's reasoning in Warrior Cats for attacking Frecklewish, who saw Mapleshade's kits in the river but did not try to help them. Granted, Frecklewish could not swim and assumed the kits would be saved by RiverClan warriors, but Mapleshade is too filled with hatred by this point to listen.
In Worm, Taylor says in a "Reason You Suck" Speech that Charlotte is almost as guilty as the rest of the school for watching as Taylor was constantly bullied by Emma and Sophia.

Live-Action TV

On The 100, Clarke and Lexa know that Mount Weather is going to launch a missile at a village. They could evacuate the village in advance of the missile, but that would tip off Mount Weather that they have an informant inside the mountain. To preserve this secret, Clarke and Lexa tell no one about the missile and simply save themselves. Abby and Octavia, who were in the village when it hit, do not take this well.
The 4400: In "Rebirth", NTAC discovers that Edwin Mayuya, a Rwandan member of the 4400, emigrated to the United States in April 1994 using a false identity. His real name is Edwin Musinga, and he is wanted by the Rwanda government for aiding and abetting the Tutsi genocide. Musinga was a Hutu who ran a clinic that primarily catered to Tutsis. The police approached him and asked if he would allow the clinic to be used as a safe house for the Tutsi. He agreed and the word quickly spread among the local Tutsi community. Within three hours, the clinic was full. However, unbeknownst to Musinga, it was a trap. The police returned and slaughtered the Tutsi. While Musinga did not kill anyone personally, he did nothing to prevent the massacre as he blamed the Tutsi for the Hutu President of Burundi Cyprien Ntaryamira's plane being shot down.
In Babylon 5, the whole plot where Londo could have stopped everything bad that happened to the Narns with "One word."
Barney Miller: In "Noninvolvement", Wojo arrests Al Mitchell for not getting involved to stop a pursenapper, only prompting him by saying "Grab him" instead of identifying himself as an officer. After Mitchell protests the circumstances of his apprehension, he has a disagreement with Arnold Ripner, and after Wojo offers Mitchell a bowling ball, he declines it because it has 2 finger holes, dropping the charges after Wojo offers Mitchell an apology.
Camelot: Morgan's reason for hating Igraine is apparently this, as Igraine never opposed her father when he tried to destroy her childhood. It appears later on that there is also a dose of Irrational Hatred in this since Igraine couldn't have escaped Uther's will (he was really a domineering violent king). When Morgan stabs Igraine in the season 1 finale, her stepmother reveals that Uther wanted to kill his own daughter and that she convinced him to simply send her away in a convent to protect Morgan.
Charité at War plays in Nazi Germany and makes this a huge theme; protagonist Anni has to recognize this about herself. Like many others, she isn't exactly a full-on Nazi, but she never did or said anything when "undesirables" were systematically sorted out and murdered by the eugenics programme. That attitude is decried by dissidents like her brother Otto, but it's still extremely prevalent — even Professor Sauerbruch, a supporter of the resistance, is not innocent of it. Anni learns to acknowledge her guilt.
Control Z:
- Raúl, aka the hacker, in the murder of Luis as he had set up the fight between him and Gerry in the first place but did not do anything to intervene when it quickly escalated, aside from only desperately pleading with Gerry to stop, to no avail.
- Quintanilla as well, even lampshaded by Luis's mother. When Quintanilla found out about the fight, he locked Gerry up, only for him to be released by Alex on the hacker's orders, so Quintanilla handled the situation very poorly.
- The students themselves, who witnessed the fight, also didn't do anything to prevent Gerry's violent rampage from going any further, even some of their pleas for Gerry to cool down didn't help at all.
- Gerry became The Bully at the school (even towards Luis) as a result of his father's emotional abuse, especially after Gerry showed him a drawing Luis made of him, which led to his father making a homophobic comment about it. Gerry's mother, on the other hand, is more calm, understanding, and possibly open-minded than her husband, yet she was unable to prevent the abuse from going any further.
- Alex, Gerry and Pablo in Susana's accidental murder caused by Sofía, Javier, María, Claudia and Raúl. While Alex and Gerry can only watch in horror as the six of them fight over the stolen money bag for their own purposes, Pablo, who witnesses the murder outside of the school premises, simply leaves her to bleed out on the sidewalk by taking the money and driving off in his car.
Criminal Minds uses it sometimes as character backstory, regarding the target of the unsub's anger.
- One of the unsubs in the episode "The Perfect Storm" had an abusive father and brother. When the police finally got involved, the mother covered for them, claiming the unsub was lying about the abuse. The person the unsub blames most is, of course, the mother for enabling the abuse, not the father and brother for actually enacting it.
- Likewise, in the Poorly Disguised Pilot for Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, the European unsub was abused by his father, but his American stepmother and stepsiblings were spared the abuse (it's never specified how aware of the situation they were, but no indication was given that they participated). Thus, his rage is targeted towards American families (with particular hatred for the father figures).
- One episode had an unsub going after the bullies who drove his friend to suicide in high school. Well, one of the bullies, and also the parents of the girlfriend of another bully (he was out of town), and also the principal who he felt didn't do enough to remedy the situation, and also a substitute teacher who did help break up a prank, but apparently not well enough.
- The unsub in "Elephant's Memory" targets his revenge attacks at the actual people who he feels actively harmed him (the football team who bullied him, his negligent father, and his girlfriend's abusive father). It's Reid who insists on assigning responsibility to those who could have stepped in sooner, but didn't. He outright tells a room full of police officers that they could have prevented his murder spree.
The season 1 CSI episode "Blood Drops" has the team investigating a murder scene where the parents and two sons of a family were killed in their home, but the two daughters survived. Turns out Dad had been sexually abusing the older teenage daughter, leading to the birth of the younger one. He then turned his attention to the younger daughter, who was seven at the time. The teenage daughter hired her boyfriend and some of his friends to kill Dad to stop the abuse, and she had the other family members killed because they never tried to stop Dad.
Dark Desire: Eugenia's father, who was also a cop himself, didn't do anything to stop his daughter's rapist, telling her that they shouldn't get involved in such troubles.
Desperate Housewives has this as the main motive of Paul Young in Season 6, after the titular housewives knew he was framed for murder and refused to do anything to assist. Further, they also refused to visit him or show him any kindness.
In the third season of Game of Thrones, several guards help Lord Karstark kill two young Lannister squires who'd been held hostage, as revenge for the deaths of Karstark's children. Robb orders the men responsible hanged, and when one protests that he was only the watcher, Robb decides to have him hanged last so he can watch the others die.
The Haunting Hour: In "Mrs. Worthington", the titular villain planned to punish Nate's mother for not doing anything to stop Molly from bullying Nate.
Justified
- Hunter Mosley was the sheriff of Harlan County when Henry Crowder kidnapped, raped and murdered Mosley's young niece. Henry fled and the other members of the Crowder family refused to reveal where he was hiding. Mosley made a Deal with the Devil with a Miami drug cartel and with their help located Henry and murdered him in revenge. He then went after the other Crowders and while he could not have them arrested as Henry's accomplices, there were plenty of other crimes they were guilty of and could be sent to prison for. Even years later he still holds a grudge against the Crowders even though the remaining members of the family had no role in the matter.
- Ava Crowder was abused for years by her husband Bowman until she finally had enough and shot him dead. All the locals knew what was happening and have no real problem with what she did since they feel that Bowman deserved what happened to him. However, when they try to express this sentiment to her she rebukes them because none of them tried to help her when she was abused so their words mean nothing to her. The only one to apologize for his inaction is Bowman's brother Boyd and Ava forgives him after he risks his own life to save her from his father Bo Crowder.
- This trope is inverted by Limehouse who runs the black community of Noble's Holler. It's long been understood that any women fleeing domestic abuse could take refuge there (their husbands understood that they were't welcome in that part of town, and any who tested that were aggressively corrected). As a result, Limehouse now has a network of grateful women feeding him information, cementing his status as the local Knowledge Broker.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: One Red Herring (played by a young Emily VanCamp) stood by while her boyfriend attacked her family and did nothing, although she ends up not being held morally or legally culpable since it turns out she was too high to be able to process how to intervene despite wanting to.
Canonically, on Once Upon a Time (2011), this is probably supposed to be Regina's motivation for extracting revenge on Snow White, who was manipulated by Regina's mother Cora into revealing the identity of Regina's lover, all despite swearing to never to say a word about it to Cora, who then killed him. This is left ambiguous and she may believe that Snow White was more than negligent and planned it all from the start.
Regina: (having an Indulgent Fantasy Segue about strangling the girl) My mother corrupts young souls. If you had been stronger, none of this would've ever have happened...
Seinfeld's infamous two-parter Grand Finale involves the gang watching a fat guy get carjacked and mugged and just standing there videotaping the whole thing while making fun of his weight the whole time, only to run afoul of a "Good Samaritan Law" requiring them to assist anyone they see in danger. The prosecutor then proceeds to track down every single person they've ever pissed off over the course of the entire series and has them testify about their horrible character, which gets them found guilty and sentenced to a year in prison.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In the episode "Duet," it turns out that Kira's Cardassian prisoner is pretending to be an infamous war criminal. He was actually a minor functionary who simply did his job while the war crimes were going on all around him. He feels so guilty about his silent complicity that he wants to get himself executed in a public reckoning for his people's crimes.
One episode of Supernatural features a psychic boy out to kill his abusive father and uncle. He's also after his mother, because she didn't do anything to stop it.
Subverted in an episode of Taggart; members of a criminal gang are being murdered and the prime suspect is the daughter of a have-a-go-hero who got beaten to death for his trouble (by the leader, the other gang members just stood by). They arrest her after she shoots said leader however when they try to call her out for killing the other gang members, she denies it. They realize that said leader had manipulated her into shooting him (he was wearing a bullet proof vest) and was the one who killed his former partners in crime.
In the That '70s Show episode "Halloween", the gang breaks into their old elementary school, which burned down years before for some Halloween hijinks. Just as they decide to leave because they're not having any fun, Jackie and Donna come in with their old permanent records. When they look into Hyde's file, it says that he's a born criminal with no future because he smashed a girl's diorama, which he denies doing. Eric then confeses that he smashed the dioram because he was jealous of how much better hers was. Hyde then starts blaming Eric for how he has been treated by everyone, saying that he was pegged as a troublemaker because Eric just stood by while their teacher yelled at him for something he didn't do.
In V (2009), this culminates for Erica after she must watch her ex-husband die in her arms because of an attack by the aliens, just after escaping that everyone thinks was a kidnapping, and is just narrowly cleared of accusations of being The Mole. But this is not over, because she must bear her son Tyler's sneering comments about how she couldn't save her husband and should have, leading to Failure-to-Save Murder. She is understandably angry and depressed and this sounds shocking to her, just like the cases of teenagers chastising the church for not meddling in V politics. Though, when you read Tyler's previous actions, you realize that he often blamed her for not helping the cute (ruthless homicidal totalitarian) and charismatic Hive Queen of the Vs, his friends, or himself when she could barely intervene.

Manhwa

My Love Tiger: Aya is suffering from an illness. Rang-ii's saliva could cure her, but Aya seems to hold a grudge against her and refuses to receive treatment. As Sunghoon spends more time learning about Aya's past, it's revealed that Aya's father actually sought for Rang-ii's help in the past, but as she was sleeping to regain her strength, her servant turned him away. Another reason why she turned him away was that the father committed horrid crimes to reach Rang-ii's seal cave. Technically Rang-ii was sleeping at the time, and didn't know any of that happened. But as part of her growth, she learns to take responsibility anyway and apologize to Aya before pleading to let Rang-ii save her.

Music

"The Night Will Only Know" by Garth Brooks has a pair of cheating lovers witnessing the murder of a woman. The killer goes free because the lovers don't want to confess to their adultery.
A widely-circulated Urban Legend about Phil Collins's "In The Air Tonight" is that the song is about an incident where Collins witnessed a man refusing to help a drowning victim. In one version, he allegedly sang the song to the man in concert after arranging a front-row seat. The man was supposedly Driven to Suicide afterward.
R.E.M.: "Begin the Begin" applies this trope to a political context with the lines "silence means security, silence means approval," contrasting this with the other lyrics that advocate political activism.

Myths & Religion

The Bible:
- Two examples in the Books of Samuel:
  - Eli the high priest in 1st Samuel is regarded as this by God for not taking a more proactive stance to remove his wicked sons from serving as priests, and thus was cursed to die on the same day as his sons.
  - King David in 2nd Samuel, by failing to provide justice for his daughter Tamar when she was raped by her half-brother Amnon. This brought on Amnon's death by Absalom, and later Absalom's seditious plot to overthrow his father and take over the kingdom, promising better justice to the people of Israel.
- Books of Kings: In the Book of 1st Kings, although Queen Jezebel was responsible for the death of Naboth the Jezreelite in order to seize his property for King Ahab, God held the king responsible for just letting his wife go through with the arranged murder without saying anything to her about the law of Moses prohibiting the king from seizing another man's property.
- In the Book of Ezekiel, God warns Ezekiel a few times that if he as a watchman does not warn the people of Israel to repent so that they will not die because of their sins, and they end up dying, then He will hold him responsible for their deaths.
- The Four Gospels: Matthew 25:41-45 indicates those who neglect to do good when the Day of Judgment will be cast into Hell with those who actively seek to do evil.
  "41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
  42 For I was hungry, and you gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink:
  43 I was a stranger, and you did not take me in: naked, and you did not clothe me: sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me.
  44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not help you?
  45 Then shall he answer them, saying, truly I say unto you, Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did it not to me."
- Epistle of James: James 4:17 shows us what theologians call the "Sin of Omission". It's not just doing evil that is sinful, but also not doing good when given the chance.
  "Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin."
The Odyssey: Ulysses is constantly blamed for the amount of mind-boggling STUPID his crew members wreak. They are always eager to disobey the orders of the superior forces, and when he tries to apologize to them, he is usually held responsible.
The Puranas:
“Standing by and allowing a sin to happen is as good as committing that sin yourself.”
Electra has the poor Chrysothemis, who seems to be blamed for not really taking a side in the terrible family conflict. She is sweet and is well-adjusted, so she probably will have an easy life.
Arthurian Legend:
- After Lancelot hesitates a second and then jeopardizes his reputation and future for Guinevere — by getting in cart, making him look like someone going to his execution — in some versions of Arthurian legend, she refuses to even look at him. He thinks this is because he demeaned himself and is thoroughly humiliated. Actually, it is because he didn't totally humiliate himself immediately.
- In The Once and Future King, King Arthur and quite a few others are this in regards to the adulterous affair between Guinevere and Lancelot. The reason for it is that everyone knows that the sentence for adultery is burning at the stake, and no one, least of all Arthur, wants to see the two killed. As a result, the affair becomes something of an open secret, with everyone refraining from pressing the matter. When Mordred and Agravaine bring the matter to Arthur, not only are their brothers angry with them for drawing attention to the issue, but Arthur says that he won't help or hinder them in their efforts to prove the adultery (though he does openly admit he hopes Lancelot will kill all their witnesses).

Podcasts

In In Strange Woods, investigative journalist Brett Ryback uses his podcast and interviews to let the residents tell their stories in their own words, keeping himself on the outside of the story deliberately. Eventually, he realizes that by keeping critical information to himself he helped endanger the teens of Whitetail, and at the very least did nothing to stop the feuding.

Stand-Up Comedy

Defied by George Carlin when he discussed why he didn't vote during elections during his 1996 special Back In Town:
George: I don't vote, because I firmly believe that if you vote, you have no right to complain. I know some people like to twist that around and say, "If you don't vote, you have no right to complain." But where's the logic in that? Think it through: If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent politicians, and you screw things up, then you're responsible for what they've done. You voted them in. You caused the problem. You have no right to complain. I, on the other hand, who did not vote — who, in fact, did not even leave the house on Election Day — am in no way responsible for what these politicians have done and have every right to complain about the mess you created. Which I had nothing to do with. Why can't people see that?

Tabletop Games

One Vampire: The Requiem antagonist is a vampire who annoyed the wrong Prince and spent several years being used as a decoration at the Prince's parties, generally with his ribcage split open to hold cold drinks. Since escaping, he's become a horror story among monsters for hunting down and brutally murdering everyone he remembers ever seeing at those parties in retribution.

Video Games

In Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten Judge Nemo considers everyone evil because no one but Artina helped him when he was tortured as a prisoner of war, but what really pushed him over the edge was when Artina was executed for her kindness to him.
In Ensemble Stars!, Natsume calls out Tsumugi for just sitting back and allowing Eichi to systematically destroy the Oddballs, claiming that knowing about a crime and doing nothing about it is the same as committing the crime itself. Except Tsumugi wasn't an idle bystander. He actually provided Eichi with a lot of insight and ideas, including bringing Natsume's existence and potential as an Oddball to his attention.
Final Fantasy:
- In Final Fantasy VI, General Leo confesses to Terra that he feels this way about Kefka using the Slave Crown to take away her free will, and says that because he didn't do anything to stop it, he considers himself no better than Kefka.
- In Final Fantasy XV, Ravus never forgave the kingdom of Lucis or its king, Regis, for abandoning his home of Tenebrae to be conquered by the Empire of Niflheim. Strangely, he decides to carry out his revenge by allying himself with Niflheim to help them conquer Lucis.
Fire Emblem:
- Bloom of Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War is outraged if his niece Tine faces him in battle because he treated her kindly after abducting herself and her mother, Tailtiu, back to the family home in Tine's infancy. But although Bloom did not kill Tailtiu, he didn't lift a finger to stop his wife from abusing her until she died for shaming the family. And he doesn't like the Child Hunts much, but nor does he do anything to prevent them from being carried out on his lands. The second time Tine faces him, Tine holds him as responsible for her mother's death as if he'd done it himself because he sat back and allowed it to happen.
- In Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, Hector comes across his friend Eliwood under attack in Santaruz and notices a guard standing by. He asks the guard if he's planning on doing nothing, but the guard replies that it's none of a "foreign lordling" like Hector's concern. Hector then kills the guard and joins the fight to help Eliwood, remarking after the battle that the guard "was planning on seeing (Eliwood) die."
- Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Sanaki accuses Hetzel of doing this for over twenty years when she finds out that he could've at least tried to stop his superiors from committing atrocities over the years, one of which was locking her away. Needless, to say, he does not walk away alive.
- In Fire Emblem Engage, late in the game, Mauvier, one of the Four Hounds, along with his fellow hound Marni, accompanies Alear and their army to Lythos and confronts the Hounds' leader Zephia. In the ensuing confrontation, it turns out that Zephia put a magical helmet on Veyle, suppressing Veyle's true personality and allowing her artificial evil personality to be dominant. Marni then tries to break the helmet, but while she damages it, she fails. Zephia then kills Marni on the spot, resulting in Mauvier doing a Heel–Face Turn. Through it all, Griss, the other Hound, does nothing, instead remaining with the Hounds until he and Zephia die of their wounds fighting Alear two chapters later, and Mauvier holds him accountable for Zephia's actions.
Judgment: Chief Prosecutor Kunihiko Morita was part of the The Conspiracy around AD-9, ensuring that no interference, legal or otherwise, came to it. His reason for this is that he lost his mother and brother to dementia, and believes that with AD-9, nobody else will go through the same pain as he did. Yagami, for his part, is not only void of sympathy for Morita, but points out that his inaction not only led to an innocent woman being murdered, but also led to her boyfriend being wrongfully accused of and put on death row for said murder. Near the end of the game, it's revealed that AD-9 was doomed to fail no matter what was done, resulting in anyone who receives the drug dying a horrible death with their eyes turning blue, making Morita concealing the truth absolutely pointless.
In Kingdom Hearts II, during the first visit to the Land of Dragons, when Mulan is exposed as a woman, Shang realizes that Sora, Donald and Goofy knew the truth and kept it from him, so he gives them the same punishment.
Minecraft: Story Mode: Lukas doesn’t participate in teasing Jesse’s gang like the rest of the Ocelots, but he doesn’t try to stop it either; instead he tries to shift around it. This leaves Jesse’s gang wary of him until he proves himself later in the game.
In the game Misao, Kudou saw Misao being bullied, but didn't speak up about it, abandoning her despite the two of them formerly being friends. In the game proper, as a vengeful spirit, Misao punishes him for this by running him over with a car (original version) or crashing the theater's stage lights onto him (remake).
Persona:
- Persona 5:
  - This is a major theme of the game. Many of the villains bring up the fact they can do the horrible things they've done because the general public are more interested in being told what to do than doing what's right on their own. This is a deliberate commentary on Japanese culture and society, specifically how societal harmony and stability is given priority at the cost of the well-being of individuals, which leads to willful ignorance, blindness or so on of the problems, because confronting them would be "rocking the boat".
  - One notable specific example is with Student Council President Makoto Niijima. Makoto struggles with her inability to really help others along with how she suspected Evil Teacher Kamoshida's abuses, but never did anything about it due to the corrupt principal (in the Conspiracy's pocket) covering up these abuses and downright blackmailing her into staying away from these incidents with the threat of not giving her a letter of recommendation. Ann calls her out on this though Makoto counters by saying that Ann did the same when she wasn't there for Shiho (her best friend). When Makoto unlocks her Persona and joins the Thieves, both apologize to each other, Makoto for this and Ann for her projecting her own shame on Makoto.
  - Comes to a head in the final dungeon, which turns out to be the Mental World of the entire population of Tokyo, Mementos, who would rather turn a blind eye to corruption in authority to maintain societal order. They collectively represent the Deadly Sin of Sloth.
- In Persona 5 Strikers, Zenkichi ends up falling into this in his backstory. He starts to realize that Corrupt Politician Jyun Owada was the one who killed Zenkichi's wife Aoi in a hit-and-run accident, but backs off the investigation after Owada threatens Zenkichi's daughter Akane, resulting in an innocent man being blamed for the accident. While Zenkichi had understandable reasons for this course of action, he's deeply ashamed when Akane's Shadow calls him out on it, resulting in him awakening his Persona, Valjean.
- Likewise in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, the Phantom Thieves' battle theme, Invitation To Freedom, serves as a "The Reason You Suck" Speech taunting their enemies for underestimating them as "bored teenagers," and asking how many times the listener ignored cries for help by people suffering.
Phantom Brave: Midway through the game, Marona is hired by the Elder of Desert Island to stop a rampaging Raphael, only for the culprit to be an impostor, upon which said Elder uses Loophole Abuse to cheat her out of her rightful pay. The real Raphael, who showed up to help her stop the impostor, hears the entire exchange and promptly starts going on an actual rampage to teach him a lesson. Immediately, the Elder proceeds to beg Marona for help in stopping said rampage, promising to pay her if she does; instead, Marona refuses to help him and walks away, leaving Desert Island to Raphael's mercy.
Godot in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations hates Phoenix Wright because he did nothing to protect Mia Fey from being murdered, never mind that Phoenix couldn't have done anything under the circumstances, wasn't even physically there at the time, and knew nothing of the danger she was in. We learn during the final case of the game that Godot's hatred is actually displaced anger at himself for not protecting Mia, never mind the fact that he was in a coma at the time of her death. Once he realizes that Phoenix is carrying on Mia's legacy and doing right by her memory, he admits that he's the one who killed Misty Fey (as part of a very elaborate plot to protect Mia's sister Maya) and congratulates Phoenix on a job well done.
Portal 2. During the Final Boss fight against Wheatley, he suffers a severe Villainous Breakdown, in which he - among other things - expresses resentment against Chell for not catching him at the beginning of the game (something which, by the way, is impossible to pull off). For a robot, he sounds awfully close to tears...
Wheatley: And another thing! You never caught me! I told you I could DIE falling off that rail, and you DIDN'T CATCH ME! YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY!
In Shinrai: Broken Beyond Despair, during the climax, the rest of the cast besides Raiko becomes erroneously convinced that Kamen is the murderer, and Rako has to prove them wrong. Once Raiko is successful, Nobara admits that she didn't want to believe Kamen was guilty, but didn't speak up in the latter's defense, so she apologizes. Kamen doesn't seem to have any hard feelings toward Nobara or the others who took a more active role in accusing her, though, probably because her actions that night made her look incredibly suspicious.
Stray Gods:
- A significant factor in the relationship between Persephone and Apollo. At one point, Persephone managed to escape the underworld, homesick and done with being mistreated by Hades. When Hades caught up to her and went to take her back to the Underworld, Persephone called out to Apollo to help her, but he did nothing. She is still bitter about it to this day, with an allied Persephone citing that incident as the one that led to her being distant from the other Idols. Apollo doesn't disagree, in turn telling an allied Grace that the only reason he chose not to help her was that it would have started a war between Hades and the others, and that he can still picture her expression as Hades dragged "his prisoner" back.
- Orpheus accuses Persephone of this in Act 3. He knows Hades had no intention of ever giving Eurydice back to him and intentionally set him up to fail, so he is furious with what Hades did. However, he also blames Persephone for standing by when she knew as well as he does that Hades had no intention of allowing Orpheus a fair chance, and turning her back on him. Persephone for her part can note that Hades would physically abuse her if she stepped out of line and she had no way of helping Orpheus even if she wanted to.
Timecrest: the Player themselves can do this in Timecrest 3: Luthor. Specifically, when Luthor asks the Player to not rewind time after jumping off the Sovereign Eye, the Player can listen to his request and he ends up committing suicide with the Player as an accomplice for assisting in his suicide by doing nothing. Even more, this option is necessary in order to obtain the Altered Future ending.
In Until Dawn, the prank on Hannah mainly involved Mike, Emily and Jessica. The others weren't as involved. Ashley gleefully observed it. Matt filmed it. Sam's involvement was unclear; she does tell the others that the prank was cruel, but she went upstairs to either warn Hannah or tell her Mike is ready for her. The only innocent ones would be Josh and Chris, both of whom were passed out drunk, and Beth. Because of Josh's mental state after the deaths of his sisters, they viewed all the friends as this way and are even implied to blame themselves as well.
Valkyria Chronicles:
- General Jaeger was aware that Maximillian never truly loved Selvaria, but in actuality was manipulating and abusing the latter's affections for him in order to achieve his ends. However, he could do nothing about it as much as he wanted to because Maximillian was his boss and because his homeland's independence depended on being in his service. He spends most of the game keeping his distaste to himself but still treating Selvaria with kindness to make up for his inability to intervene on her behalf. When Maximillian orders Selvaria to use her Final Flame, he breaks his silence and calls him out on it. However, it is too little too late as Selvaria had crossed the Despair Event Horizon by that point and already made up her mind to die. After he is defeated by Squad 7, he has a Heel Realization and leaves Maximillian's army out of remorse for doing nothing about his behaviour.
- The Anime of the Game has Johann, a lowly foot soldier, take General Jaeger's role of being a powerless spectator to Selvaria's situation. While he does give Maximillian a well-deserved "The Reason You Suck" Speech after Selvaria's death, his goodwill is rewarded with being shot in cold blood.
In Virtue's Last Reward, Luna believes this to be true of herself, since they knew about the Nonary Game and the players, but got ordered to remain silent. Indeed, she's actually programmed to die if she disobeys orders.
Luna: [as they're being shut down for good] "I watched six people die and did nothing. I deserve this."
Watch Dogs: Legion: One of the trailers uses a modernized version of "First they came..." to explain why everyone and their grandmother^note is capable of rising up against the fascist Albion instead of continuing their movement routines:
First, they came for the foreigners, and I did not speak up, because I am not a foreigner. Then, they came for the protestors, and I did not speak up, because I am not a protestor. Then they came for the journalists, and I did not speak up, because I am not a journalist. Then they came for the street artists, and I did not speak up, because I am not a street artist. And I realized, that eventually, they'd come for me. And there would be no one left to speak for me.
World of Warcraft: Grand Magister Rommath (along other blood elves) hate the Kirin Tor because they did nothing when every elf in Dalaran, a city many of them considered home, was imprisoned and sentenced to death because of a false accusation.
Rommath: "A monumental betrayal. In Dalaran, beneath the ever watchful eyes of the Kirin Tor."
Aethas Sunreaver: "They really had nothing to do with —"
Rommath: "I assume you mean that the Kirin Tor did nothing. Did nothing to prevent it, did nothing to stop it. And instead left us to rot in the prisons beneath a city many of us called home as much as ever we did Silvermoon."
- Related is the reason the blood elves were imprisoned in the first place. Garrosh infiltrated the Sunreavers and used the Sunreavers' portal network to steal the Divine Bell. The Sunreavers themselves knew nothing about this plan—but Jaina Proudmoore, head of the Kirin Tor, believed otherwise, and accused them of looking the other way while Garrosh did his thing.

Web Animation

Etra chan saw it!: Tachibana witnesses his son's bully being beaten up by someone else, however, he decides to not save him because he thinks it's a fitting punishment for him for bullying his son.
RWBY:
- Ilia invokes this to explain why she views the White Fang's violent terrorism against humanity as Necessarily Evil. As far as she's concerned, no humans are good or innocent - they either actively hate the Faunus or just stand back and let the hate happen. Ilia's words serve as a Call-Back to Volume 1 when Velvet, a rabbit Faunus, was being harassed by Cardin Winchester; although both Teams RWBY and JNPR all expressed disgust with Team CRDL's behavior and sympathy for Velvet's plight, they, including Blake, just stood back and watched it happen, doing nothing to intervene on her behalf.
- Blake herself doesn't deny Ilia's point, and later turns it around during her Rousing Speech to the people of Menagerie after the White Fang attack her home and nearly kill her parents. She points out that, just like the humans they condemn, they stand back and let the hate happen and are just fine with ignoring the White Fang's acts of violence as long as they don't directly affect them, which is not going to make things better for the Faunus in the long run unless they stop Adam from razing Haven Academy.
  Blake: We're just as capable of hate and violence as the humans, but I don't think any of us would jump at the chance to point that out. So why are we letting Adam do it for us? By doing nothing and staying silent, we let others speak and act in our place, and if we're not proud of the choices they make, then we have no one to blame but ourselves!

Web Comics

In Drowtales, Kousei, one of the few surviving Judicators, accuses the Holy Mother Valla'drielle of this while the rest of the Judicators were being killed. She doesn't exactly deny it, and it's implied that she willingly turned a blind eye to it because the Judicators were using her as a puppet and it allowed her to be rid of them without having to take direct action.
In the universe of Kill Six Billion Demons, the pacifistic masters of the martial art known as Ki Rata did nothing while the conquering god Yemmod ravaged their home world of Rayuba, other than take in and train one soldier whose family was murdered and home burned. By the time the soldier had finished his training, Rayuba was cold and lifeless. The first thing the former soldier did at this point was to murder all of the Ki Rata masters for their choice not to intervene. The soldier would then move on to kill Yemmod and usurp his godhood, becoming Solomon David, one of the seven current god-kings of the universe.
- During Maya's training to become a Master Swordsman, her master brought both her students to a mountaintop and showed them both a rat, telling them both to kill it. The second student immediately struck the rat in half. The master then asked them both which one of them had lost. Maya responds immediately that the other student had lost, by striking the rat down with no forethought or idea as to why the rat deserved to die. The master responded that was true, but that Maya had also lost: In deciding not to kill the rat, she must have decided that the rat deserved to live. Yet, she did nothing to stop the other student from killing the rat either: Had she truly thought the rat deserved life she should be willing to do anything, including striking down her fellow student, to make it happen.
Riverside Extras: Arguably, Ophelia when Meredith Baxter gets her fingers cut off. She feels bad about it.
Ophelia: "I am... extraordinarily sorry about what happened tonight. It wasn't my intention that anyone get hurt."
Meredith: "You did nothing."
Ophelia: "Please try to understand my position. If I had shown the smallest sliver of empathy - if I had begged - they wouldn't have stopped."
Meredith: "So you're blameless. How convenient."
- Ironically, Simon, who is more culpable for what happened to Meredith than Ophelia is, makes the same excuses when Ophelia calls him out on his part in the incident.
- Cynthia and Derry in "Queenside" when Ma forces Ophelia, theoretically equal in rank to the other Sisters, to dress and act as a maid at an official Rose-Ink parley to humiliate her and goad Simon. Derry has shown anger and remorse at her actions; Cynthia's feelings remain ambiguous.
Rooftop Swordmaster: Seyoung sets out a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against his Gang of Bullies, their parents for using their influences and money to cover up their children’s crimes, and has no intention of sparring their allies either. Because of all the hell his bullies has inflicted on him and his Only Friend, Seyoung deems their allies just as bad for trying to protect a group of people with the full knowledge they’re all monsters and not worth protecting, while never doing the same for him, a former victim of their evils.
Seyoung: The bastards committed a wrong, and they haven’t been punished, let alone repented for their crimes. Those protecting them, knowing what they done, are guilty. Those who turned a blind eye are also guilty. They must all be punished. It’s only fair.
Unsounded: Lemuel was supposed to be patrolling the night Duane was killed, but no patrols came when Duane was being chased through the streets in a very loud and bright spell-fight. Duane only starts accepting that Lemuel was involved six years later, when he can no longer ignore the signs that he was betrayed to his death and the experimentation that bound his soul to his rotting corpse.

Web Original

SCP Foundation: In the "Competitive Eschatology" canon, SCP-231-7 (an Apocalypse Maiden whom the Foundation routinely tortures to keep the Eldritch Abomination she's pregnant with in check) turns out to be the first of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. When she awakens and meets with SCP-343 (who is implied in the regular mythos and confirmed here to be the Abrahamic God), she wastes no time calling Him out for not using His omnipotence and omniscience to save her.
SCP-231-7: Don't talk to me about the Foundation. I'm not angry with the Foundation, I'm angry with you. They didn't know what they were doing. Thought they were saving the world. But you… You could have told the Foundation what I was. You could have just taken me away from them. You could have done something. Even just a word to O5-14… But you did nothing. Do you — of course you do. You know exactly what they did to me. You know every last detail. And. You. Did. Nothing.

Web Videos

3rd Life SMP: Right after Tango is executed by firing squad for breaking a server rule, everyone thinks that's that... until Bdubs tells Etho that he too must be punished for not reporting Tango for breaking the rules, causing him to be executed in the same way.
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: After Lizzie learns that Bing Lee simply left her sister Jane because his sister Caroline and his friend Darcy told him that she wasn't interested in him, she is about to forgive him. Then, she realizes that he understood the situation later, but couldn't muster the courage to do anything. And from that point, she hates him.
Screen Rant Pitch Meetings:
- Discussed in the pitch meeting for The Big Bang Theory. Leonard is described as the most socially adept of the group, and should be the one who best understands that his friends' behavior is inappropriate, but doesn't do anything to stop it, resulting in the Producer calling Leonard "an enabler."
- Also discussed in the SHAZAM! (2019) pitch meeting, when talking about Billy beating up the bullies who are attacking his foster brother Freddie.
  Producer: I mean, anyone who witnessed something like that would step in. That's horrible.
  Screenwriter: Actually, there's a big crowd of people watching.
  Producer: Oh, there is?
  Screenwriter: Yeah, they don't do anything, and Billy only steps in because the bullies make a joke about moms.
  Producer: Oh, being a passive onlooker is tight.
- In the Beauty and the Beast (2017) pitch meeting, the Producer can sort of understand why the Prince's servants get cursed for not doing anything about his bad behavior, but he's incredulous that their curse is worse than the Prince's (since they'll die if the Prince fails to break the curse), as well as the dog getting punished.
In Squaresville, it is hinted that the group of protagonists which we follow are a bunch of social outcasts. They are victims, if not of bullying, at least of condescending remarks from the other children, even the more "conformist" outcasts. The most jaded of them all, Esther, has a grudge against Shelly, a girl who "escaped" their current condition, and did nothing to help.

Western Animation

Amphibia: In "The Core & The King", Andrias considers Barrel's failure to stop Leif fleeing with the box due to his friendship with her as grave a betrayal of his trust as Leif stealing the box, and banishes him to the northern reaches accordingly.
In Castlevania, Dracula puts all of Wallachia to the slaughter for the murder of his wife, Lisa. It was the Bishop of a town that ordered Lisa burned at the stake for being a witch because she was a woman who wanted to study the sciences, but the townspeople did nothing to stop it, even cheering when Lisa was burned. He argued with his son that this trope would have been avoided if any of the bystanders stopped the execution, or at least defended her. It's that moment that convinces Dracula that Humans Are the Real Monsters and they all deserve to die.
Diane Nguyen from BoJack Horseman says that when her siblings and father beat her, her mother Ma would stand idly by, only snarking or being indifferent.
- Since most of the show focuses more on Beatrice's influence, we can see that BoJack's father Butterscotch was more hands-off with dealing with BoJack, with the exception of slapping him on Father's Day when he answered the Panama Canal question wrong or being dismissive when he was there.
Final Space, Todd H. Watson devotes his life to getting revenge on Gary Goodspeed for failing to save the Earth, which cost him his wife and child. And while his grief is sympathetic, this is treated as clearly being a case of Disproportionate Retribution because Gary and the Team Squad were the only people actively trying to save the Earth. Todd simply latched onto Gary as the target for his revenge because he overheard his name in communications during the disaster, and Gary is somebody he can lash out at as opposed to the planet-sized hand that pulled Earth through a rift into Final Space.
The Owl House: Alador does nothing to prevent Odalia's treatment of their daughter, and is so absent from Amity's life that he didn't even know she was dating Luz. Some of this is implied to be a form of abuse on Odalia's part holding the children or their marriage over his head to keep him working past the brink of exhaustion for her gain but he still hasn't made an effort to stand up to her. In "Reaching Out", Amity confronts him about it, and he resolves to do better, promising to talk to Odalia. He fully breaks out of this by "Clouds on the Horizon" after learning about the true nature of the Day of Unity.
South Park: In "Pre-School", Cartman, Stan, Kyle, & Kenny were at fault for getting troublemaker Trent Boyett sent off to juvie in pre-school for allegedly setting their teacher on fire. Butters, who witnessed the whole thing, refused to defend Trent, being more concerned about possibly getting into trouble with his parents. As a result, Butters is Trent's first victim when he's released and is brutally assaulted into a coma.

Real Life

This is very much Truth in Television in certain situations, as far as the legal system goes, since you can be prosecuted for not taking any action to help someone in peril (officially known as the duty to rescue concept). These are often tacked onto Good Samaritan Laws which protect people who try to help, but fail to do so, make it worse by accident, or other such technicalities like lack of consent.
- Duty to rescue falls under two broad categories. The first category is when the person in question created the dangerous situation that someone else needs to be saved from, they're responsible for doing so. The second is that people who are considered to be responsible for others (parents, the captain of a ship or airplane, an employer, a property owner who invites someone onto their property, and in many places, spouses) are required to rescue those they are responsible for.
The former slave Jermain Wesley Loguen had this to write to his former mistress.
Loguen: "Where are my poor bleeding brothers and sisters? Can you tell? Who was it that sent them off into sugar and cotton fields, to be kicked, and cuffed, and whipped, and to groan and die; and where no kin can hear their groans, or attend and sympathize at their dying bed, or follow in their funeral? Wretched woman! Do you say you did not do it? Then I reply, your husband did, and you approved the deed—and the very letter you sent me shows that your heart approves it all. Shame on you."
Céline Rapahaël, a Frenchwoman victim of a Stage Dad, wrote a book about the abuse she underwent. The examples are treated in the Literature section.
In "Srebrenica - A Cry from the Grave" (a documentary about The Bosnian Genocide), one woman whose son was killed in the Srebrenica massacre at one point says "We offer a prayer to those killed by our enemies; the Dutch enemies, and the Serb enemies". For those wondering why she considers the Dutch her enemies, it is because the (mostly Dutch) UN Peacekeepers tasked with protecting Srebrenica abandoned their checkpoints and allowed the Serbs to massacre the population. (To be fair to the Dutch, they were basically screwed over by the UN higher-ups: they were sent in without sufficient equipment or manpower, their requests for air support were denied, and they faced a far larger and better-armed Serb force.)
When crown prince Frederick of Prussia (later Frederick the Great) was captured in an attempt to flee the country in 1730, his friend Hans Hermann von Katte was court-martialed and found guilty of being an accomplice in the attempted act of desertion (and subsequently executed by order of the king Frederick William I) because he knew about Frederick's plans but did not report them to his superiors, as would have been his duty as a Prussian officer.
This is what doomed Erwin Rommel following the failed July 20 plot. Historians still differ as to his exact role, but at the very least, he knew about the plot and did nothing to stop it.
- And on the topic of Nazi Germany, there's the famous "First they came..." quote.
  Martin Niemöller: First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Socialist.
  Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Trade Unionist.
  Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew.
  Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.
- This also got people in trouble who knew about the Holocaust and did nothing to stop it, or who deliberately avoided knowledge of what happened to all those pesky Jews.
One of Alexander the Great's generals was executed either for being part of a plot against him or knowing about the plot but not reporting it.
In Mexico, there's a very specific word for this kind of behaviour, and it's named Alcahuete.
Martin Luther King Jr., in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, famously stated that the "white moderate" was a greater stumbling block to the erasure of racial injustice than the outright discriminatory racists due to the former's inaction against racially unjust laws. (See Quotes section for full quote)
According to the Athenian laws, during internal disputes, any citizen had to either join a faction or lose his rights.
When there is an Abusive Parent in a household of two parents, the other would be considered an accomplice by not standing up to the abuser for the sake of their children, even if there are circumstances where the unabusive parent would not be able to be in a position to help their children at all.
In psychology, enablement is this, as, if the enabler isn't outright encouraging a self-destructive/negative behavior in the other person, they're definitely not stopping or speaking out against it either.
People who identify as 'apolitical' are often hit with this trope, because, as we all know, All Issues Are Political Issues. It's especially prevalent in elections where an unpopular candidate has a chance of winning. For example, during the highly contentious 2020 US Presidential election, it became common on social media for people to write (paraphrased) "a vote for no candidate is a vote for Trump."
The famous (paraphrased) quote from Edmund Burke, "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing", is often used to push this trope in conjunction of With Us or Against Us. In accordance with this quote/mindset, if you, as a 'good man', do nothing, that means you're guilty of letting evil triumph when you could have taken action and stopped it. The depth of what constitutes as good or bad for different people depending on the culture they grow up with tends to get ignored.
This is part of the dilemma in the trolley problem. Pulling the switch means one person dies from your direct action. But not pulling means five people die from your inaction.
Chicago White Sox third basemen Buck Weaver did not participate in throwing the 1919 World Series. However, he did have knowledge of the conspiracy but failed to report it. As result, he received the same punishment as the conspirators: a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball.

Accomplice by Inaction
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