Strike Me Down

""Take your Jedi weapon. Use it. I am unarmed. Strike me down with it. Give in to your anger!""

- Emperor Palpatine, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

When a character, usually after a defeat, commands the victor to kill them. Whether because they have despaired due to their defeat, were already a Death Seeker, or just because their Pride won't let them rest knowing they were beaten. They will also ask this if it is a Mercy Kill, and they are threatened by a Cruel and Unusual Death or a Fate Worse Than Death if the victor doesn't do this. Either way, they figure dying is better than going on living.

...Or do they? Alternatively, their death could be just the beginning, and they are using this opportunity to set their Xanatos Gambit in motion as being spared would be great but their death leads to other benefits. Then again it could be the latest move in Xanatos Speed Chess, as a Secret Test of Character, or even as the final step in their Batman Gambit. Of course, they could also just be doing it to screw over their enemy even in defeat.

Either way, it is crucial to them that they be killed, and if the potential killer be reluctant, they may try to provoke them in any way they can, whether through a particularly vicious Break Them by Talking or perhaps revealing (or lying) that they have his wife.

Please don't confuse with Smite Me Oh Mighty Smiter. Contrast Get It Over With, where the character usually doesn't want to die but sees it as a foregone conclusion. See also Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred.

Anime & Manga

 * One Piece had Zoro order Hawk Eyes to do this to him after he lost the duel. At first it seems that Mihawk complied, but Mihawk made sure the wound was non-lethal so they could duel again in the future.
 * This is the whole point of the two Mikos true purpose in Kannazuki no Miko:one must kill the other in order to fix the damage done to the world by Orochi. Too bad they are eternally in love with each other.
 * In Bleach, Ulquiorra asks for this before he dies. Ichigo doesn't, and, well,.
 * In Trigun, Legato uses his Mind Control powers to make a group of civilians tie up Meryl and Millie and hold them at gunpoint in view of Vash. This is an attempt to force Vash to break his refusal to take life, as any attempt to non-lethally subdue Legato would give him time to make his mind control victims shoot Meryl and Millie. Vash eventually stops Legato by.

Comic Books

 * from Watchmen. "Do it!"
 * Green Goblin does a legitimate version of this in the "Return of the Green Goblin" storyline; after receiving a righteous beating from Spidey, he quietly asks him to just kill him and end it (the story had revealed that he has considered killing himself probably more than once, but simply cannot do it).

Film
"Obi-Wan: If you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
 * Star Wars
 * The Emperor, in Return of the Jedi and more explicitly in  . The way he goes on you'd think his death would make him more powerful than ever before. According to the Expanded Universe, it did.
 * From A New Hope:


 * In the film Se7en, the villain John Doe pulls a powerful Strike Me Down (although more accurately described with Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred; also a Batman Gambit.

Literature
"."
 * From Harry Potter, a Thanatos Gambit is set in place  when he urges.


 * In The Elenium, a mortally wounded Martel asks for Sparhawk to finish him off. Sparhawk tells him there's no need.
 * Yellowfang from the first book of Warrior Cats does this out of pride.
 * To quote Glokta from the First Law, "I am ready." He says this a number of times.

Live Action TV

 * In Luther, tries to make the title character do this because he doesn't want to live with the shame of having his crimes exposed. Luther, however, decides to give him Cruel Mercy instead.

Video Games
"Jerec: Strike down and realize your true power as a Dark Jedi - your true power!"
 * This line is invoked twice in Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. The first is when Kyle has to choose between the Light or Dark Side :


 * Second time is in the Light Side ending, after Kyle has defeated Jerec. Again, Jerec is trying to goad Kyle into tapping into his dark side potential:

"Jerec: I am defenseless! Strike me down, and the the power of The Dark Side will be yours.... I'm sure you haven't forgotten I was the one who murdered your father."

"Rahn: Why hesitate? Strike me down."
 * The line also shows up in the prologue, when Jerec has captured Qu Rahn, a Jedi Knight and friend of Kyle's father.


 * in Persona 3 requests -- or rather, demands this of SEES.
 * In Knights of the Old Republic, after your duel with Bastila on the Star Forge, she asks you to kill her. You can oblige her or, if you try and fail to convince her to turn back to the Light Side, she attacks you and makes you kill her.
 * Subverted in the sequel, where you can't kill the Big Bad after (s)he says this. Nope, you've got another fight on your hands instead.

Web Comics

 * Drowtales:.
 * In Order of the Stick, Belkar keeps provoking Miko into fights so that he can try to pull this on her and make her fall from paladinhood. Mostly because it would be funny. When she finally does fall, it actually @#!*% him off - both because he can't kill a paladin and.
 * Near the end of the Battle for Gobwin Knob in Erfworld, Wanda is lying broken and beaten before Prince Ansom and begs him to strike her down, just to let her touch "them" (the Arken Pliers). Ansom is so creeped out by it that he leaves her where she is without attacking again. Things might arguably have gone much smoother for him shortly there-after if he had just done as she asked at first. But then again, maybe not...
 * goaded Thaco to kill him, believing it would grant him a form of immortality. Thaco let him live.
 * Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi: After losing their epic fight, Mandark begs Dexter to kill him, having lost all will to live . Dexter refuses.
 * A particularly memorable instance occurs in Homestuck, since among other things it results in :