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Moral Event Horizon
| “ | The time has come. Execute Order 66. | „ |
| ~ Emperor Palpatine crossing one of the most famous Moral Event Horizons by initiating "Order 66" and therefore having almost every Jedi in the galaxy killed. |
The "Moral Event Horizon", or "MEH" for short, refers to an action by a wrongdoer that is so vile that it usually eliminates audience sympathy for the villain and solidifies the fact that they are unrepentantly evil and will not be redeemed. It is basically the negative, villainous alternative/complete opposite to the Goodness Zone.
While popularized by TV Tropes, this term had not gained its name from that site, but rather from the scientific fact that nothing can escape a black hole is referred to as the boundary of the region from which no escape is possible and is known as the event horizon, hence the name.
A villain who crosses the horizon, or enters the black hole, has no hope of escaping except under extremely rare, extraordinary circumstances. All villains who fall under Pure Evil are by definition beyond the Moral Event Horizon. However, crossing the Moral Event Horizon does not necessarily make a wrongdoer as such, it only means that they are irredeemably evil. Some villains have or almost crossed the Moral Event Horizon, or done something despicable enough to make the fans believe they did so, only to later redeem completely or partially.
A strong example of a Purely Evil villain would be either a villain who (in addition to having no or a very poor excuse for being evil) commits multiple especially heinous Moral Event Horizon-worthy deeds, or if the line in question proves to be heinous enough.
The notable consequence on the villains' reputation whom crosses MEH would lead either Unspeakable Evil mere mention of their name as a taboo and believed to bring bad luck to those who utter it (or in extreme causes disease, death, or other preternatural curses) or they themselves becoming Damned Souls when they died.
However, characters who cross the Moral Event Horizon are not always fully villainous, as they, in some cases, can be committed by heroes who are doing it for a good cause. However, if a hero does cross the MEH, then the hero becomes morally ambiguous.
By definition, a character can only cross the Moral Event Horizon once; however, it is possible for a villain to have more than one event as a potential Moral Event Horizon, such as the various adaptations of the Joker of DC Comics and Makuta Teridax of BIONICLE. Other villains have more than a potential and often leave an impact on the public that they do wicked things all the time and commit Moral Event Horizon acts like a hobby, such as Lord Voldemort of the Harry Potter book series, Sir Isaac Ray Peram Westcott of the Date A Live light novel series, Emperor Palpatine of the Star Wars movie franchise, Darkseid of DC comic franchise, Carnage of the Marvel comic franchise and Bobble the Clown of the SCP mythos.