Kill Me Now or Forever Stay Your Hand: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Jack wants to kill Tom. Very, very, very much. Or he is firmly convinced that it is [[Revenge|his duty]]. Often, both are true.

Tom is generally in some kind of superior position. He can be the boss, [[The Captain]], etc. Or he can just be more powerful, as in a better swordsman. And he is at least heroic, if not [[The Hero]].

 

 

They both get through it alive. Jack never tries to kill Tom. Though the exact degree of loyalty this inspires can vary widely. Generally indicates a moral improvement on Jack's part, all the way up to a full [[Heel Face Turn]].

 

Contrast [[Defeat Means Friendship]], [[Fire-Forged Friends]], [[Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal]], [[Cooldown Hug]] and [[Villain's Dying Grace]]. Somewhat of an inverse of the [[Scorpion Dilemma]]. Contrast [["Friend or Idol?" Decision]]. May forestall [[Klingon Promotion]].

 

* Toward the end of ''[[Witch Hunter Robin]]'', the eponymous pyrokinetic (now on the run) pulls this on her former partner Amon after learning he was assigned to take her down.

* Filia from ''[[Slayers]]'' Try does this with Jillas. When Jillas points a gun at her, she holds his hand with the gun and tells him to shoot. He's shocked and unable to do it, and eventually does a [[Heel Face Turn]] when she saves his life.

* In ''[[Code Geass]]'', Lelouch dared his fellow rebels, the Black Knights, to kill him when they questioned his leadership. They step back, in part because he also points out that they're completely screwed with out him acting as their [[The Strategist|strategist]]. One of them even [[Lampshade Hanging|comments]] that that must have taken an incredible amount of guts.

* In [[Utawarerumono]], After Hakouro completely defeats fellow Emperor and friend Kuya, he stands in front of her barely functional [[Humongous Mecha]]... and surrenders. If she kills him, she will have won the war she's practically lost, her country will flourish, and her people will no longer be [[Fantastic Racism|persecuted]]. Kuya realizes she can't kill a friend in cold blood, and moreover, that cooperation is what she should have tried, rather than forced unification. Unfortunately, things [[Mind Screw|go downhill]] [[Big No|from there]] [[Break the Cutie|rather quickly]].

* In ''[[Gundam Seed]]'', Lacus combines this with [[Full Name Ultimatum]]. It was probably Athrun's last chance to keep her as a fiancée despite their parents having now turned against an [[Arranged Marriage]] between them.

 

* Achilles to Briseis in the movie ''[[Troy]]'' with a knife to his neck. More like "kill me or [[Coitus Ensues|have sex with me]], [[Estrogen Brigade Bait|your choice]]."

* In ''[[The Princess Bride]]'', when Inigo and Westley are dueling, and Westley defeats Inigo. Inigo kneels and says "Kill me quickly." Westley says "I would sooner smash a stained glass window than kill an artist such as yourself. But since I can't have you follow me either---" He then knocks Inigo unconscious with the side of his sword.

* Joker in ''[[Dark Knight]]'' confronts the newly emerged Two-Face and when threatened with a gun, ''presses his head to the muzzle''. It works only because {{spoiler|Dent resorts to his trademark coin}}, but Joker actually approves of that.

 

== Literature ==

* In [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Shards of Honor]]'', Aral Vorkosigan deals with a mutineer by giving him a gun and sitting down with his back to him.

** "I told him I couldn't work with a man who made my shoulder blades itch, and this was the last chance I was going to give him for [[Klingon Promotion|instant promotion]]." The man is ''badass''.

** Unusually, Rawne had made an actual attempt to kill Gaunt earlier, on a battle field. Gaunt had knocked him unconscious and then, [[Embarrassing Rescue|despite his own injuries]], [[Turn the Other Cheek|carried Rawne to safety]].

* Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade, whose final command from the Emperor was to kill Luke, in [[The Thrawn Trilogy]].

** ''[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Command_Decision Command Decision]'', another [[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Star Wars EU]] story by [[Timothy Zahn]], has a version of this. Thrawn's captain is infuriated by the tactics he's using and ''could'' mutiny with a general who wants to - but after some agonizing he doesn't, and Thrawn knew he wouldn't. That part of [[The Plan|the scheme]] was to make this captain realize that he did trust Thrawn to know what he was doing.

* While Bink and Chameleon in ''[[Xanth|A Spell For Chameleon]]'' do not actually want to kill Trent, they certainly regard him as "Evil Magician Trent", mistrust him, and would cause his defeat if they could. Their [[Strange Bedfellows]] situation caused them to reevaluate him, but a particularly important event was when Trent handed Bink his sword, to keep guard, and went to sleep. Chameleon explicitly states that an evil man [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|would not have trusted them]].

* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''The Traitor's Hand'', how [[Ciaphas Cain]] got Beije to stop trying to arrest him. To be sure, he was wearing armor at the time, but he didn't know if it would save him.

{{quote|''We don't have any more time to waste on these ridiculous fantasies. If you're going to shoot us, you'll have to do it [[In the Back]].''}}

* In the ''Cirque Du Freak'' novels, Mr. Crepsley gives Darren a chance to kill him when he lets him control his spider. It turns out that he had taken most of the poison out of the spider, meaning he was never in danger.

* In ''Kitty and the Midnight Hour'', after {{spoiler|Cormac}} tells Kitty that he will never shoot her by accident, she walks up to him and tells him to do it if he intends to do it on purpose.

* Richard in ''[[Richard III]]'' uses a slightly modified version of this on Lady Anne. "Take up the sword again, or take up me."

* At the end of ''Brotherhood of the Rose'' CIA-trained assassin Saul is sneaking up on the hotel where his surrogate father, [[Diabolical Mastermind]] Elliot, is staying...only to find Elliot standing out in the open waiting for him, clearly exposed to his fire. {{spoiler|Elliot asks for an end to this conflict between him and his 'son', and to be allowed to retire peacefully. Saul nearly shoots him anyway, but realises he could have been killed while they were talking. So he agrees to a truce and follows Elliot into his hotel room where he gets jumped by Elliot's bodyguards. After all, as Elliot says, what's to stop Saul from changing his mind later on? This way he can dispose of Saul without alarming the hotel guests. [[Backstab Backfire|Saul is able to overcome the attack and promptly submachine-guns Elliot to death]]. No point in making the same mistake twice.}}

** In the sequel "God Emperor of Dune", {{spoiler|this has become the ''standard'' method used to awaken the memories of Duncan Idaho's series of clones}}

* In Jim Butcher's [[Dresden Files]] novel ''Small Favor'', when Nicodemus points out to Harry that they don't trust him, Harry demands that Michael speak to him alone, and has him draw his sword. Whereupon Harry gets the sword to point at his throat and demands his trust. He convinces him sufficiently that Michael points out the evidence that his mind's been tampered with, and when Harry reacts, carefully tends him.

* In [[Andre Norton]]'s ''The Beast Master'', Hosteen has to persuade an alien that a spaceship, landing in a forbidden area, is not a human ship but that of their enemies. He concludes by giving him a knife and telling it to drive it home if he doesn't believe him.

* Used in Orson Scott Card's ''Ender in Exile''. However, while [[Dead Guy, Junior|Achilles Jr.]] does stop short of killing Ender, he does beat the shit out of him.

* ''[[The Dark Tower|The Gunslinger]]'' by Stephen King: In a [["Friend or Idol?" Decision]], the [[Dark Is Evil|Man in Black]], who [[The Gunslinger]] has been pursuing for years in hopes of revenge for the destruction of his kingdom, shouts ''"Come now... or find me'' never!"<ref>Unfortunately, the Gunslinger's [[Tagalong Kid|child companion]] is [[Literal Cliff Hanger|hanging over a precipice]] [[What the Hell, Hero?|at the time]]...</ref>

* ''[[The Dark Tower|Wizard and Glass]]'' by Stephen King: In a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], Roland, [[The Gunslinger]] has been on a lengthy tirade against the [[Spiteful AI]], Blaine.

** And it is Judas who comes to him during the eponymous temptation and confronts him for having shirked his duty to the world in favor of a simple life with a loving family and children.

* The short short [http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/velez/LAS100/tellez.htm "Just Lather, That's All"] by Hernando Téllez, in which a barber in Colombia during [[wikipedia:La Violencia|La Violencia]] has a leader of a guerilla group come to him for a shave, apparently not realizing he's an enemy, and vacillates between just doing his job and slashing the man's throat while he has him in the chair. He recalls all the people the captain has had murdered and mutilated and listens to him talk about what they plan to do to the ones they've recently captured, but ultimately decides he can't kill him and just finishes shaving him. The captain thanks him, pays him, and pauses before leaving to say, "They told me that you'd kill me. I came to find out. But killing isn't easy. You can take my word for it."

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* In an episode of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', Nathan Petrelli was going to assassinate Mr. Linderman (the season [[Big Bad]]). After pulling a gun on him, Linderman laughed and convinced Petrelli to join him. This wasn't a complete example, as Linderman made it quite clear that Petrelli would be killed immediately if he killed Linderman.

* Another episode has some Secret Service agents trying to stop Peter, Claire and Nathan from getting to Sylar (who has disguised himself as Nathan). Claire steps in front of the guard with the gun and says "I can either tell you what's going on now, or I can tell you after you shoot me." Averted because thanks to her powers she wouldn't actually die if they shot her.

** And in the previous season Adama does this with both Kara and Colonel Tigh, in order to shame them over their spreading malcontent after the events on New Caprica.

*** Even earlier, the Cylon who would come to be known as Athena inverts trope when, as a prisoner of the Colonials on Kobol, she is handed a chance to kill Adama and escape, but instead saves his life, proves she could have killed him right then if she wanted to, then hands her gun back to her captors.

* In the season 2 finale of ''[[Warehouse 13]]'', Myka uses this tactic to talk {{spoiler|H. G. Wells}} down from her world-destroying plan.

 

* In ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' prequel book "[[Start of Darkness]]", {{spoiler|Xykon to Redcloak}} at the end, is an incredibly dark and tear-jerking version that involves {{spoiler|Xykon}} betting on {{spoiler|Redcloak killing his own brother}}, with the twist that {{spoiler|Xykon}} was never in any danger to begin with, but just wanted to make sure {{spoiler|Redcloak}} would actually {{spoiler|disintegrate his own brother}} for {{spoiler|Xykon}}'s (or {{spoiler|"the plan's"}}) sake.

 

== Western Animation ==

* On [[The Venture Brothers]], Sergeant Hatred uses this as a last ditch attempt to win Hank's respect and loyalty. Of course, Hank was simply being a typical rebellious teenager and had no interest in killing him, but that didn't stop Hatred from turning the scene into a full-blown, deadly serious [[Large Ham|melodramatic]] affair.

 

== Real Life ==

* Alexander the Great, when bedridden with illness, is said to have done something like this to a doctor whose loyalty he suspected. When warned that the doctor might try to poison his medicine he invited the doctor to his bedside. He then downed the medicine in one gulp and told the doctor that he didn't know anything about medicine, but he did know people and he knew that he would never betray him. The medicine was not poisoned, nor was any subsequent medicine.

* '''[[Napoleon Bonaparte|Napoleon]]:''' "Here I am. Kill your Emperor, if you wish."

* Before [[Theodore Roosevelt]] became president, while he was away on a hunting trip, someone hired a man named Paddock to either scare him off his land or just shoot him off it. When Teddy came back and found out that Paddock had be hired to kill him, he personally went to Paddock's house and told him "I understand you have threatened to kill me on sight. I have come over to see when you want to begin the killing.” Obviously, the threats ended then and there.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]

[[Category:Hero Tropes]]

[[Category:Plots]]

[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]