Betrayals hurt, but look at us cinephiles and bookworms who constantly agree to subject ourselves to the same feeling, multiple times (as if being betrayed by people from our real lives isn’t enough).
Betrayals are such strong dramatic beats in movies because they mirror real life, connecting the characters with the audience through a shared feeling of grief, hurt, and regret.
Now, considering you’re still reading this article, I’m sure you don’t mind triggering your trust issues just a bit more.
Here is a list of the worst, most shocking, and heartbreaking moments of betrayal in movie history.
Most Shocking Betrayals In Movie History
1. Fredo Betrays Michael—The Godfather Part II
Why is it that more often than not, it is your own blood that betrays you?
In The Godfather: Part II, Michael Corleone, the now head of the Corleone crime empire, is under constant threat of death. But not even in his wildest dreams did it occur to him that it could be his own brother plotting with a rival gang to get him killed.
After surviving a fatal hit, Michael’s search for the culprit ends at his brother, Fredo, who conspired against him out of resentment. Michael hugs Fredo in a warm embrace and whispers into his ear, “I know it was you, Fredo,” shortly before sending him to the heart of Lake Tahoe forever.
2. Scar Kills Mufasa—The Lion King
Another heartbreaking fratricide is when Scar kills Mufasa. It’s a pivotal moment of treachery that drives the entire narrative of The Lion King. Scar kills his elder brother for the throne, believing it was unjustly denied to him. In a desire to usurp power, Scar orchestrates a meticulous plan to get rid of Mufasa without really getting his hands dirty.
He begins by endangering his nephew, the young cub Simba, knowing that his father would definitely come to save him. When he does, Scar refuses to help and, very conveniently, lets Mufasa fall off the cliff, where he is trampled by stampeding wildebeests.
His last words to Mufasa are, “Long live the king!” as he witnesses Mufasa fall to his death.
3. Cypher Betrays Morpheus and the Crew—The Matrix
This is often compared to Judas’ betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver—but Cypher betrays Neo and the team for a steak dinner! The steak is the representation of his entry back into the Matrix. Cypher wasn’t able to handle the truth after all, and betrayal was the only way to reverse his decision of taking the red pill instead of the blue one, nine years ago.
If not for Dozer, he might have pulled the plug on Neo’s body, too! I guess it’s a good thing Neo was the Chosen One.
4. Rose’s Love Is Bait—Get Out
I literally didn’t go on any dates for a couple of months after I watched Get Out. The racism is bad, but the betrayal? Harsh, fatal, and a psychological scar!
Imagine dreaming of having a life with someone one day, only for that person to plan to end yours over the upcoming weekend. Eventually, it is revealed that she has been doing this for a long time now, dating Black men and bringing them home to get them killed at the hands of her parents.
To think that every moment she spent with Chris and every time she told him that she loved him was laced with such malice and backed by such a fatal ulterior motive simply breaks my heart.
5. HAL 9000 Goes Haywire—2001: A Space Odyssey
HAL is just a supercomputer, yet his betrayal of the Discovery One space crew stings hard, even on this side of the screen.
HAL 9000 was sent to assist the crew on the spaceship as they set out to investigate a loud radio signal coming from the monolith; instead, he malfunctions trying to reason between two commands in his programming and turns against the crew, plotting to kill them.
He doesn’t go for the kills directly. Rather, he puts on a mask of innocence while he slowly pulls the plug on each one of them. Without even getting his hands dirty, he wipes out four out of the five crew members, until Dave Bowman finally realizes his truth and manages to disable him before HAL kills him too.
6. Lotso Is a Deceptive Toy—Toy Story 3
You know those people who wish ill of others, just because they were seriously wronged once? Lots-o-Huggin’ Bear, aka Lotso, is one of those people—sorry, toys.
A seemingly jovial and amicable purple, strawberry-scented teddy bear, at first, Lotso comes off as a harmless cynic who is only guilty of annoyingly imposing his traumatized and skeptical worldview on other toys.
But eventually, his true colors are revealed when he leaves the toys to die in an incinerator. Whether you’re an adult or a kid, you won’t be able to stop yourself from tearing up in this scene.
7. Ash Is a Synthetic—Alien
A humanoid android (a synthetic), Ash keeps his identity hidden for the longest time to prevent anyone from knowing that he isn’t human and is also working for Weyland-Yutani. He pretends to be the crew’s comrade while prioritizing the mission, the capture of the xenomorph, over the lives at all times.
Knowing full well that, as an android, he cannot be infected like the rest of the crew, he breaks the quarantine procedure by allowing an infected member onto the spaceship, then goes on to kill Ripley in cold blood. Thankfully, Ripley and other crew members realize his intentions before more people are killed and manage to disable him.
8. There Never Was an Aaron—Primal Fear
This one is my favorite (and is heartbreaking and unnerving), the one that reminds me to never judge people by their faces or words. You say something? Prove it!
After Aaron is arrested for murdering an archbishop, neither the world nor a single piece of evidence supports him. The only man who bets everything on him is Martin Vail, his defense attorney. He fights single-handedly against the entire world, the justice system, the media, and the public to save Aaron from going to jail.
So when Aaron tells him, “There never was an Aaron, counsellor,” it is a mic drop moment. Everyone had told Vail that Aaron was a liar; he listened to no one. But now Aaron is sitting before him, nonchalantly confessing that he had cooked up an entire sob story to evade the law. The fact that Aaron was able to fool a top-notch attorney by pretending to have DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder), a syndrome in which the patient develops an alter ego that can function individually, while taking over the original personality, really gives us the perspective of how manipulation works.
What could Vail do now to stop his world from crumbling before his eyes?
Let us know which of these betrayals hit you the hardest.