Knife Nut

""Guns for show, knives for a pro.""

- Soap, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

There are two things about knives that make them special in movies and television. First, they are Badass, since there is nothing more humiliating than being beaten with a blade shorter than your palm. Second, they are scary, as a single glimmer from its profile in Ax Crazy hands has been known to provoke screeches of horror (that and the possibility that they're more painful than any gunshot will ever be). And sometimes, it is both.

Finally, they're generally easier to obtain and own legally than guns.

Throwing knives are also a very popular ranged weapon in fiction, despite not being very well suited for combat in real life. (It's very hard to get them to hit point-first when aiming at a moving target.)

Subtrope of Weapon of Choice. Contrast with Never Bring a Knife to A Fist Fight. May lead to a Knife Fight. Related to Kukris Are Kool, Machete Mayhem.

Anime and Manga

 * Tenten in Naruto carries thousands of knives and knife variants in her scroll witch she summons and throws at high speed from midair
 * Yu-Gi-Oh!: Yami Bakura. Especially in Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series. "I like knives. They make me feel all tingly."
 * Chloe and Lady Silvana in Noir and Nakhl in Madlax (almost) never use any weapons other than ritual daggers in combat and are nigh undefeatable with them.
 * Fullmetal Alchemist
 * Maes Hughes uses push knives, of course adding to his status as Ensemble Darkhorse. His skill makes him the fastest to, and he even did it twice. Of course  He can throw his knives, which are not in any way suited toward throwing, to impale skulls. They're called push knives for a reason.
 * Barry the Chopper likes to cut up helpless people for fun.
 * Rin from Mnemosyne is virtually a female version of Hughes, barring the fact that she's immortal. Stoic Spectacles? Check. Investigative line of work? Check. Obfuscating Stupidity? Check. And of course, push knives? Check.
 * Wonderfully ridiculed in Azumanga Daioh.
 * In Berserk Judeau's weapon of choice are throwing knives. They're later incorporated into 's arsenal following.
 * In One Piece:
 * Dracule "Hawk Eye" Mihawk kicks Zoro and his three sword technique's butt with a 4 inch manicure knife.
 * Not half the badass Mihawk is, but we briefly meet a villain named 'Big Knife' Sarquiss because... well, his knife is really big.
 * Buggy the Clown also has shown a tendency to use knives.
 * Kuro(u)do(u) Akabane (aka Dr. Jackal) from GetBackers pulls off Diagonal Cuts in rapid succession with his (wait for it) scalpels, when he's not throwing them en masse ("Deadly Rain!"). And you don't want to know where he stores them...
 * Arguably Alexander Anderson from Hellsing could be considered a Knife Nut, if you just replace knife with holy socket bayonets. Much like Akabane, he can shoot countless amounts of these blades with deadly accuracy and slice entire subway cars in half with them easily. In one author's note section, Hirano goes so far as to say that the reason Anderson can produce so many out of Hammerspace is because he's actually fourth-dimensional.
 * Asakura Ryouko, the Girl with Psycho Weapon in Suzumiya Haruhi. Worse yet, it's a combat knife with nasty spikes on the backside. And Asakura can be scary. Very scary.
 * Tsukihime:
 * Shiki Tohno is the prime example: early in the story, he uses a fruit knife to cut someone into 17 pieces over the course of... one second. This isn't even touching the main ability of Shiki; he can see the "concept of death" on anything under Gaia. Cutting the lines causes irreversible (and often dismembering) damage; striking the very center of something's "meaning of existence" ends its lifespan, destroying it so completely only memory remains. He could actually cut the lines or points with anything from a pencil to a corkscrew, because it's just a matter of tracing lines with something sharp for him. But since Shiki prefers his knife over everything else, and because of certain sides of himself he's not initially aware of, he's the ultimate Knife Nut. Despite being a carefree, somewhat-irresponsible goof.
 * When trapped in a dreamworld, Shiki's swisscheesed and patchwork memories, unique heritage, and personal fears of himself leads to the creation of an evil reflection of himself called "Nanaya," with whom he has some crazy knife-fights in Kagetsu Tohya. In Melty Blood, "Nanaya" later makes a reappearance, but in the real world, thanks to The Night of Wallachia's rumor-materializing power.
 * The Big Bad, Roa, also fights with a knife... mainly because his host wants to. Roa, having gone through, can actually see the "life" in living things, similar to how Shiki sees "the end" in anything.
 * Shiki even mentions that, for him, there can no other weapon than the knife. Fortunately, the knife suits his fighting style very well and his ability to erase anything with a single precise stab.
 * Ryogi Shiki, despite her main ability being with swords, favours knives for the convenience of being able to carry them around unnoticed in public. The sixth movie pokes fun at this trope when Shiki steals a school dining hall knife only to be discovered by Azaka, who immediately takes it away from her. Shiki looked pretty sullen after losing it.
 * In the novel, she then subverts this by pulling out the other knife she stole, once Azaka locks up the first one in her cabinet. She then reveals that the real reason she was sullen was that she wanted one to use, and one for a souvenir... not that a mere lock would have kept her away from it if she really wanted it, but still.
 * Cinque of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha comes equipped with an Eyepatch of Power and a set of exploding throwing knives, and had killed an S-Rank mage on one of her earlier missions. Generally not someone you want to mess with.
 * While doing an Homage to John Woo, Haruko of FLCL suddenly gains the ability to deflect dozens of bullets at once using a razor, which Amarao finds both shocking and absolutely ridiculous. Contributing to this ridiculousness, the bullets were not simply deflected, but are shown on the ground cut in half lengthwise.
 * Despite the fact that nearly everyone else uses machine guns and other firearms, Chane Laforet of Baccano! uses small throwing knives as her weapon of choice. She's skilled enough to deflect bullets and throw them with pinpoint accuracy.
 * Throwing knives are also Ken's specialty in The Daughter of Twenty Faces. It's worth noting he isn't very "nutty" about it, however, just very good with throwable sharp objects.
 * Dio Brando of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is infamous for his use of throwing knives. He can also stop time to make sure that they hit their target. He actually only used the knives during one fight, after just sort of finding them lying around, but they eventually became a symbol of the character. This screen visually sums up this trope so well, particularly the "nut" part.
 * Humongous Mecha that rely largely on Humongous Combat Knives include Arm Slaves, EVA units (especially Asuka and Unit 02), Terminus-Class LFOs, and basic Aestivalis frames. Mecha with combat knives demonstrate all the fun melee tropes you see in Super Robot Sword Fights while being more "realistic." All of these examples also come with machine guns, however, the guns are mostly useless.
 * The guns used by the Arm Slaves may be relatively useless against other Arm Slaves, but they're quite useful against tanks, infantry, and other classes of Mooks.
 * Especially since Arm Slaves come equipped with two kinds of knives- a regular close-combat variety with a chainsaw edge and a throwing variety laden with plastic explosives.
 * Kino of Kino's Journey is in one episode ordered to disarm at gun-point, and proceeds to spend a considerable amount of time pulling knives out of her clothes- and this from a character who also carries two pistols at all times.
 * Including one with a blade surrounded by four .22 firing chambers (an actual design, though without the Laser Sight).
 * In the novels, Kino is shown to buy knives from nearly every shop she visits, often just because they "look pretty."
 * Basilisk has all three of these: Akeginu, Hotarubi (from the Iga) and Kagerou (from the Koga) using knives as their Weapons of Choice, in addition to their own powers.
 * In Axis Powers Hetalia, Belarus is a cute-looking loli girl with a knife. She's the little sister of a male Yandere, Russia. Do your maths.
 * Shenhua of Black Lagoon is as good with knives as Revy is with guns.
 * Palm Siberia from Hunter X Hunter definitely qualifies.
 * See this manga page for Palm at her craziest.
 * Kallen of Code Geass has a knife disguised as a wallet that she ends up pulling on several of the main characters. The only reason it doesn't show up more is that she's also The Ace.
 * weapon of choice tends to be a switchknife that.
 * Gunslinger Girl's Pinocchio (particularly the manga version), cites knives to be his favorite weapon.
 * Gunsmith Cats. Career Killer Natasha Radinov uses a Spetznaz knife that shoots its spring-loaded blade.
 * Mirai Nikki's Gasia Yuno is a knife nut, which makes sense, because she's nuts in general.
 * Full Metal Panic!. Xia Yu Lan likes machettes, at one stage battling Melissa Mao with one in each hand. Even though Mao was armed with a rifle she was lucky to escape with her life.
 * And this skill of hers can be traced back to its origins: Gauron. After all, he was the one that took Yu Lan in, and trained and raised her. It's revealed in the novels that Gauron's Weapon of Choice and specialty is with knives. Sousuke learned this the hard way during his first fight with him.
 * Hei from Darker than Black mostly uses knives and a retractable steel wire (used sort of like a cross between a whip and a Grappling Hook Pistol). The knives are usually attached to said wire so even if a thrown knife doesn't kill someone (which is usually the case), he can still use it to zap them.
 * Colice from Gun Blaze West has throwing knives as her weapon of choice.
 * Tomonori Komori from Narutaru not only carries a knife of his own, but his shadow dragon, aptly named Push Dagger, is also shaped like a giant knife.
 * Gundam Seed and the Cosmic Era works in general
 * The Strike Gundams' and Impulse Gundam's standard armaments include a pair of anti-armor combat knives stored in the hip portions of their armor. A pair of rocket-propelled ballistic knives (The "Stiletto") can be found in the same place on the Earth Alliance's mass-produced Dagger-L's and Windams. As the Strike Gundam's pilot, Kira makes use of the knives numerous times, while Mu La Flaga, as the Brainwashed and Crazy Neo Roanoake, uses a Stiletto to destroy the shield of Kira's Freedom Gundam a few years later.
 * Godchild's Cassian is a fan of throwing knives. He's actually a rather calm person, though.
 * Belphegor. He's a knife-wielding psychopathic assassin in the Varia.
 * Valmet from Jormungand, while not gun shy in the slightest, seems to enjoy opportunities to do some knife work. In fact, her solution to taking out a bullet-proof van chasing her car in the first chapter was to draw her blade and tell her driver to get closer.
 * The Nightmare Fetishist narrator in Goth becomes one of these over the course of the series. He gets his first set of knives from a collection left behind in a home that a Serial Killer had abandoned and quickly becomes proficient with them, his own homicidal urges being a strong source of motivation.
 * Daggers were Thorfinn's Weapon of Choice for close combat pre time-skip, but he is good at throwing knives too.
 * Izaya from Durarara!! is quite fond of using a switchblade (hidden under his sleeve) as his main weapon of choice. He even uses it to shave a man half bald at one point!
 * After being blackmailed and broken by her Complete Monster of a teacher, Chizuru Honda of Bokurano started to carry a knife with her at all times. She threatens Kako with it when he was about to rape her in her house, and.
 * The titular character of Violence Jack. Due to not remembering his name, he named himself after his signature jackknife.

Comic Books

 * Johnny C. from Johnny the Homicidal Maniac IS this trope. The guy detests guns, and twin daggers are his trademark weapon of choice (though he does use a taser occasionally)
 * Hondo Karr of Star Wars Legacy is a Stormtrooper that favors twin vibrodaggers.
 * Mack "Clownface" Delgado in Body Bags doesn't need a gun, because he's "learned how to throw a knife at a velocity that makes its impact like a mortar round." In addition to that trick, he's been shown to perform a Diagonal Cut on two guys in one swipe and cut a gun in half.
 * X-Men character Warpath currently dual-wields knives made of vibranium as his signature weapons in X-Force. Noteworthy in that he is not Ax Crazy at all.
 * Short time X-Man and heroic sociopath Marrow, also from the X-Men comics, almost always uses bone knives which grow from her own body as weapons. She is drawn with them on nearly each cover she appears on.
 * The Corinthian, in his first appearance as a villain in Sandman, seems very fond of knives. This is both for creepy purposes (menacing a victim with one in his hand, taking a felled mugger's switchblade and opening it in front of his face while commenting on how nice a knife it is...) and for much more practical ones.
 * Diabolik, the Villain Protagonist of the Italian comic of the same name.
 * Victor Zsasz.
 * Dagger, a minor member of Batman's Rogues Gallery.
 * Also Batman's son, Damian.
 * Here's some obscure ones from DC Comics: The assassins Hellhound, Brutale, and Lady Vic all make use of a variety of knives, as does the serial killer Murmur. Wonder Woman occasionally ran into a mercenary who called herself Moot, who favored a stiletto she called "The Moot Point". On the heroes' side, Nightblade and Black Condor II are both noted as skilled knife throwers.
 * Elizabeth Rose.
 * Many members of the G.I. Joe team (as well as Cobra) are skilled with knives, but Snake-Eyes has collections of them. His spike-knuckled trench knives get mentioned more than a few times during the Marvel Comics run alone, and his third costume (assembled from parts taken from his Cobra interrogators) has a pair of knives mounted right on his chest.

Fan Fiction

 * Shinji Ikari in Points of Familiarity.

Films
"Rincon: I like knives."
 * Kick-Ass has a scene where Mindy (aka Hit-Girl) when asked what she wants for her birthday, replies (after first worrying her father by pretending to want a puppy and a doll) that she'd love "a Benchmade Model-42 Butterfly Knife". On the day in question, she receives a matching set of them and is overjoyed. She even proceeds to demonstrate just how good she is with them in a display of twirling.
 * Robert Rodriguez often casts Danny Trejo with these types of roles.
 * Soap from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels reveals that he has a collection of large knives, and delivers a speech about how they're more practical than guns, concluding, "Guns for show, knives for a pro." The rest of the gang is creeped out. As the sole member of the group with an honest trade, this is both ironic and fitting. His job as a cook would presumably make him comfortable with knives and butchering.
 * The eponymous protagonist of The Chronicles of Riddick.
 * Nadia from Pandorum is this.
 * Leon explicitly postulates that the better you are, the closer you can get to your victim: sniper rifles are for beginners, and only a real pro uses a knife.
 * In The Matrix Reloaded, the Twins initially fight with straight razors.
 * In the 80s Van Damme movie Cyborg, Van Damme awesomely used dozens of knives as he carved his way through gangs and bandits in an After the End setting.
 * In the scary category, the shower scene of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho involves a screaming woman, a big knife, and scary music.
 * Most Steven Seagal characters.
 * Colette in Ratatouille, revealed when she "briefs" Linguini.
 * In The Dark Knight the Joker carries a number of knives on him. He states that they're his preferred weapon because he can savor his victims' subtle changes in expression as they die. He even carries a potato peeler.
 * Sweeney Todd infamously used the barber's straight razor for his killings. Between him and Jack the Ripper, the razor soon developed a reputation as a murder weapon.
 * In the Lord of the Rings films, when his bow wasn't practical (which, given his skill, wasn't often), Legolas brought out a pair of fine elven knives. In the book he has only one long knife.
 * V in V for Vendetta carries an arsenal of knives under his cloak.
 * The eponymous character of Crocodile Dundee always carries a gigantic hunting knife around with him as a trademark. When a New York mugger tries to menace him with a switchblade, Dundee is famously unimpressed and presents his own, saying, "That's not a knife! That's a knife!" in his Broad Strine.
 * Mutt from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and his switch-blade, which he can be seen playing around with in a couple scenes.
 * Rambo just can't live without one. He actually makes a knife himself in the fourth film.
 * Repo! The Genetic Opera
 * Luigi Largo. He's known to have sex with the stab wounds he's inflicted, among other delightful things.
 * The Repo Man himself, though his "companion" technically makes him a Scalpel Nut.
 * Detective Somerset in Se7en is a completely sane heroic example, always carrying a switch blade wherever he goes and practicing throwing it at night.
 * Bill "The Butcher" Cutting from Gangs of New York, who is a gang leader and a professional butcher who practices knife-fighting on meat. The character was based on a real gang leader/butcher called Bill "The Butcher" Poole.
 * Alfred the Battle Butler from Hudson Hawk has spring-loaded knives hidden under his sleeves, which eventually lead to his death.
 * The Hunted could be more appropriately titled "Ode to Knife Nuts." For the final fight, the two fighters subconsciously agree to stop the chase just long enough to chip/sharpen their own. Then they rip each other to freaking shreds.
 * A rather unusual example is Guiron from the Gamera films. His own head is a giant knife which he uses to slice his enemies to pieces.
 * Britt (James Coburn) in The Magnificent Seven. His weapon of choice is a throwing knife. His introduction to the audience is him being being forced into a face-off against a guy who fancies himself a gunslinger: his gun against Britt's throwing knife. Britt wins. This isn't to say that he's not also a very good marksman with a gun.
 * The Butcher in Wanted is the knife instructor for the Fraternity, pointing out that knives don't jam or run out of ammo. His words are backed up beyond all expectation when he shows his ability to deflect bullets by slicing them in midair.
 * The Yakuza leader in Versus wields switchblades.
 * Malak the thief in Conan the Destroyer.
 * In Kill Bill, Vivica A. Fox's character "Copperhead" is apparently a knife nut. The Bride seems to know this about her and chooses to face her in a knife fight rather than bring along her Cool Sword. Once they reach an impasse, they make plans to square off in a second knife fight. Although Copperhead ultimately
 * In Pulp Fiction, Mia Wallace describes her character from Fox Force Five as the knife nut of the group.
 * Jack, the psychotic Triad assassin played by Wu Jing in Sha Po Lang, does most of his killings with his tanto knife.
 * Colonel Quaritch in Avatar doesn't go in for half-measures: he outfits his AMP Suit with a freakin' huge combat knife.
 * Inglourious Basterds: Lt. Aldo Raine and Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz love their knives. Stiglitz's knife even has the phrase "My Honor is Loyalty" engraved on it, which is ironic since . Presumably it's an SS-issue dagger.
 * Saso, from Prince of Persia the Sands of Time, though he doesn't limit himself solely to knives.
 * Serial Killer O'Ryan in Suspect Zero uses a long, curved dagger as his Weapon of Choice, both for killing his victims and his signature of removing their eyelids.
 * Rincon from the movie Zombie Strippers.


 * Christmas from The Expendables, who would get into occasional discussions with Stallone's character over the age-old "guns vs. knives" debate. Gunnar also uses a huge bowie knife, but it doesn't get much usage until the end.
 * Mississippi (James Caan) in El Dorado. He is brilliant with throwing knives.
 * Colt Hawker in Visiting Hours prefers using his trusty switchblade to kill his female victims.
 * The killer in Intruder is fond of using huge kitchen knives.
 * Ben Echmeyer, a minor character in The Men Who Stare at Goats, briefly demonstrates his "shock and awe" knife technique with two bayonets from his knife collection. Among other skills.
 * Every killer in the Scream series has used a Buck 120 model knife almost exclusively.
 * Lynne from The Warrior's Way.
 * Matsu in the Joshuu Sasori series favours a common kitchen knife generally, or on occasion a tanto or a scalpel.

Literature

 * The Fremen of Arrakis from the Dune series are an entire society of knife nuts. Every man, woman, and adolescent wields a curved crysknife made from the tooth of a 400 meter-long Sand Worm, and they train their entire lives to become impossibly deadly with it. They practically worship their knives. For instance, their knives are never allowed to leave the planet, anyone who owns one cannot leave the planet without their permission, and any outsider who sees the blade of a crysknife must either be cleansed or killed. Their obsession comes in surprisingly handy given that Energy Shields (which explode if hit by an energy weapon) have made melee combat the standard for infantry soldiers.
 * Each member of the Black Dagger Brotherhood gets a custom-made, matched-to-the wielder set of black knives, perfect for stabbing the Lessening Society members back to the Omega. They are hand forged (literally) by Vishous.
 * Aly from Trickster's Choices and sequel. She gets this from her father, who exhibits the same prowess in the Song of the Lioness series.
 * Briar from the Circle of Magic. Seems to be Tamora Pierce's favorite weapon for commoners.
 * Terry Pratchett's Discworld series features a multitude:
 * Jonathan Teatime is a knife-wielding, psychopathic assassin in Hogfather
 * Carcer Dun is a knife-wielding, psychopathic Serial Killer who always has an extra one.
 * Pteppic is a certified assassin and Pharaoh of Djelibebyi. When he finds of that his "companion" feels naked without her many bracelets, he has to admit that he feels naked without his knives.
 * Assassins in general are known to conceal so many knives on their person that they could qualify as a live-in kitchen.
 * In Jingo, Carrot runs across a knife nut boy. After a brief interview, Carrot discovers that the boy does not have enough gum to share with his playmates, but has more than enough knives for everyone.
 * Lord Vetinari keeps a drawer full of sharp, pointy greetings for rude callers.
 * Valentinian in the Belisarius Series is a subversion. He always makes sure to have a large number on hand and takes good care of them -- but is convinced the most foolish and intensely dangerous way way to fight is with a knife (there is no parrying, little room to maneuver and remain within weapon range, and it is hard to retreat from). He only has them around for emergencies; they're a light load for the potential use, and he's as expert with them as with any other weapon.
 * In Snow Crash, Raven, named by Hiro Protagonist as "the baddest motherfucker in the world," is an Aleut from a tribe that perfected the art of making glass knives with monomolecular edges that cut right through kevlar. Raven carries an arsenal of them, using them for throwing and fighting. Before the story begins, he steals a nuclear warhead from a submarine after slaughtering the entire crew with his knives. Uncle Enzo, the leader of the Mafia as well as an ex-commando, always carries a straight razor in his pocket. In the end,
 * Chisel of Illegal Aliens who carries hundreds of them at any given point in time..
 * In the Fingerprints series, one villain says the memorable lines, "I wonder how many cuts it will take you to die? I bet thousands and thousands..."
 * Sonia Steiglitz, the beautiful and sadistic daughter of the ex-CIA chief/archaeologist villain of The Takers, a modern Two Fisted Tale homage by Jerry Ahern. She uses guns when necessary, but prefers a knife.
 * A large number of the characters in the Wheel of Time series seem to be knife nuts, as Mat, Thom, Min, Faile, and many Aiel, at the least, are all experts at wielding and throwing knives, usually pulled from all around their person with no explanation how so many weapons could fit on them.
 * In Malazan Book of the Fallen, Kalam Mekhar, Rallick Nom, Crokus, and Apsalar all use daggers and throwing knives to impressive effect against better-armed enemies. Most of the assassin characters in the series, especially the Malazan Claws, are armed with pairs of knives.
 * In The Edge, Declan is quick with his blades and has a canvas roll of knives he cleans regularly. The little boy Jack is awed by the display. Later Declan baits a trap for Jack with a particular knife he'd been eyeing, and then bribes him into cooperating with the knife.
 * Almost everyone in the titular unit of the Warhammer 40,000 Gaunt's Ghosts books is able to use a knife well. In particular, Rawne's skill with them is demonstrated through the conspicuous aversion of There Will Be Toilet Paper when using his straight silver to shave in Ghostmaker.
 * In Andrew Vachss's Burke books, Michelle is said to be very fast with a straight razor.
 * In The Belgariad, Silk, Liselle, Sadi, Relg and Beldin all have a fondness for knives in combat. Silk usually carries at least three or four, Sadi poisons his, and Relg's has all sorts of sticky-out bits that do all kind of nasty things both on the way in and on the way out again. Beldin's has hooks. Liselle is straightforward and discreet about hers, at least compared to the others. She only carries a couple of small simple daggers.
 * Lots in Terry Brooks' Shannara series. Brooks seems to view the knife as a nice, lightweight weapon, and many characters, heroic and villainous carry them in addition to (or in some cases in favour of) heavier blades. This leads to an awesome Knife Fight between one of the heroes' and The Dragon in the climax of Voyage of the Jerle Shannara.
 * In The Princess Series Talia is skilled in hand to hand combat and can use many weapons well but knives tend to be her primary weapon of choice.
 * Ferahgo in the Redwall book Salamandastron is notorious for his knife collection and skill with using them.
 * Clove's preferred weapons in The Hunger Games are a jacket full of knives. And she never misses.
 * The Dresden Files
 * "Gentleman" John Marcone of seems to materialize them from thin air and is very good with them.
 * Vittorio Malvora also uses them. Harry points out that when you've had centuries to practice and can launch them at a hundred miles per hour,you make up for the fact that thrown knives aren't particularly good weapons.Hell even when one missed the hit from handle caused Harry's hand to go numb.
 * In Dragaera, the knife is often the preferred weapon of Jhereg assassins, such as Vlad Taltos, who keeps a small arsenal of them hidden about his person. He uses quite a bit of throwing knives, but they're mostly useful as distractions: they hit hilt first, make the other guy flinch, or just make a minor wound. His wife Cawti is a fellow assassin who is known as "The Dagger of the Jhereg."
 * Bèbelle from Malevil. A Creepy Crossdresser who pretends to be a woman to get close enough to cut throats.
 * Annabeth from Percy Jackson and The Olympians; knives are used by clever fighters according to Luke, and since she is a child of Athena, she uses one as her weapon of choice.
 * Blade from the Endworld series carries a pair of Bowie knives that he loves obsessively on his person at all times.
 * All Tomorrow's Parties features the Taoist assassin, who takes meticulous care of his tanto, practices an Argentine school of knife fighting considered mythical within the setting, and is ridiculously deadly with his blade. While not knife nuts per se, Rydell and Chevette wind up carrying a ceramic switchblade and a knife with a pattern-welded blade made from the drive chain of a 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, respectively. Both are used at crucial points in the plot.
 * The Nightside books have Razor Eddie, Punk God of the Straight Razor, who unsurprisingly wields an absurdly sharp straight razor. It's mystically bonded to his very being. Bad Penny also carries a brace of silver daggers, one blessed, the other cursed. When she uses both simultaneously, it's noted that some gods would die from such a blow.
 * Alex from A Clockwork Orange carries a straight razor, or as he terms it, his "fine starry horrorshow cut-throat britva".
 * Tarzan is pretty much defined by his hunting knife, to the point that those who only know the character from adaptations can be forgiven for not knowing that he's also a gifted marksman.
 * David Gemmell's Waylander is best known for his trademark two-shot crossbow, but carries a crapload of knives for use when he's fired both bolts. He's specifically described as a capable swordsman, but a brilliant knife-fighter.
 * The Ysabel Kid from J. T. Edson's Floating Outfit series is an expert with the Bowie knife.
 * Time Scout includes Sven Bailey, Jack the Ripper and his mad cultists.
 * In Dracula, Quincy Morris carries around a large bowie knife as part of his characterization as an American cowboy. Later he's upstaged by Arthur Holmwood, who busts out a kukri from his days in the military.
 * The eponymous character of The Acts of Caine.
 * Earl Dumarest, in the series by E.C. Tubb, was perfectly willing to use pistol, rifle, laser, whatever, if it was the most effective weapon for the job at hand. But he was never without his knife, which from the description was more-or-less a Bowie. Planetary authorities who put death penalties on carrying an unlicensed gun were usually (a little bit) more relaxed about the knife. Earl having Super Reflexes meant he could on occasion draw and accurately throw that knife to kill someone who'd already leveled a gun at him. He also sometimes earned money with it in the arena on the more barbaric or decadent worlds.

Live-Action TV
"Hold a knife like this (normally), cuts through an onion. Hold a knife like this (switches to a backhand grip), cuts through, like, eight yakuza in four seconds. Screams, blood, carnage. People are like knives. Everything's in context."
 * Locke is something of one in Lost. He boarded the plane for a survivalist adventure in spite of his handicap and brought a bag filled to bursting with various knives. When Locke shows off his collection, the other survivors are creeped out, which goes along with the way the first few episodes tease Locke as some sort of psycho-killer. He later proves adept at hunting and butchering wild boar with only his knives.
 * Alpha in Dollhouse
 * Cameron in The Sarah Connor Chronicles, despite being an emotionless cyborg seems to have a thing for large hunting knives. She also carries what looks like an Exacto knife on her for when she suddenly has the need for cutting things, as opposed to punching them through walls.
 * Sarah Walker in Chuck embodies this trope as well. In the pilot episode alone, she manages to take down three NSA agents in a crowded nightclub while dancing, and follows this up by stopping an NSA SUV by throwing a knife into a one-and-a-half-inch button from twenty feet away. A later episode reveals that this is a skill she already had before the CIA recruited her.
 * In another episode, she hurls a knife through her beeping alarm clock instead of simply pressing the snooze button. So clearly she really likes knives.
 * And the Greta (played by Summer Glau) have a tendency to get out her switchblade for everything.
 * Firefly's Jayne Cobb has a number of large, heavy, nasty-looking hunting knives in addition to his collection of guns.
 * The cast of NCIS follows Gibbs' Rule No. 9: "Never go anywhere without a knife." Ziva David is especially enthusiastic, with an extensive selection, and she holds a knife-throwing class for the team, naturally hitting the target over the heart in her demonstration. Tony hits the stomach, McGee doesn't even get the knife to the target, and Lee lets the knife slip out of her hand, almost hitting Gibbs in the face.
 * Star Trek. Everyone in the Mirror Universe, though the women seem to be the only ones who actually use them.
 * On Top Gear's Bolivia special in 2009, the normally even-tempered James May seems quite pleased to get his hands on a machete.
 * "I'll cut your ****ing head off; you will need to beep that, BBC 2."
 * Heroes: Season 4 character Edgar mainly uses knives with his Super Speed combat skills.
 * Ronon has as many knives on him as you need. He has a hell of a time getting through airports.
 * Al Swearengen in Deadwood is a skilled knife-fighter who cuts a number of throats through the series. He is a self-confessed terrible shot with a gun, and at one point curses himself for sticking with knives rather than learning to shoot properly.
 * In Deadliest Warrior, the NAVY Seal Rob Roy...goes a little crazy. Just a little.
 * Obligatory Buffy the Vampire Slayer examples. There's Faith and her large knife, and Willow attacks Glory with a bag of knives as part of a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. During a nightmare Faith has about bring hunted and killed Buffy becomes this.
 * Larry from Burn Notice prefers to use knives.
 * Trini Kwan wields twin daggers called the Power Daggers. And of course there's Tommy's Dragon Dagger, which is also a flute.
 * Eliot from Leverage can edge up on this sometimes. Justified as he's also a chef when he's not killing people.


 * The Wicked Witch of the West is this in Lost in Oz, even wearing knives over her hands.
 * Morgana in series four of Merlin carries a knife with her at all times.

Music

 * Sometimes lost in translation, but Mack the Knife uses a knife. Some versions are more explicit than others.
 * Lemon Demon wrote a song that fits the trope, 'Knife Fight'.
 * Tom Waits has an instrumental song called "Knife Chase" on his Blood Money album. It comes from the musical Woyzeck, where it's the backing music to... well, Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
 * The Flash Girls' song "A Girl Needs A Knife" is pretty much made of this trope.
 * The Sentinel by Judas Priest: Knife Nut + Cold Sniper.
 * While the Insane Clown Posse are more associated with hatchets, Violent J had a solo track on The Amazing Jeckel Brothers titled "I Stab People". He followed up with a song called "Still Stabbin' " on the later album Bizaar.
 * Fun With Knives by Velvet Acid Christ

Musicals

 * After she is rescued from the Wolf, Little Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods is rarely if ever seen without her knife. It's implied that she becomes rather obsessed with hunting down wolves for her
 * Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Sweeney Todd's weapon of choice is the straight razor.
 * Billy Bigelow in Carousel uses a knife in the robbery-gone-wrong that results in his suicide.

Newspaper Comics

 * Willie Garvin in Modesty Blaise.
 * Saxon Kenchu in Candorville collects knives, and at one point gave a speech about how they were the first weapons ever developed and they allowed humanity to triumph over a world full of hostile predators. He initially seems Axe Crazy, but this is partially subverted--

Tabletop Games

 * Dark Eldar in Warhammer 40,000 and Dark Elves in Warhammer Fantasy Battle Fantasy do seem to have a lot of knives on them most of the time. And their Spikes of Villainy all over their armor.
 * Lelith Hesperax, just to put some specifics out there. Most Dark Elves in Fantasy use swords more than knives, though.
 * To elaborate on just how much of a knife-nut Lillith is; she carries two very sharp, pointy knives as her main weapon of choice, her fingernails have knifeblades surgically attatched to the underside of them (and for good masure she keps the natural part filed to a point), with the same deal for her toes. She also carries razorblades between her toes, to add a little extra kick. Lastly, her very long, very thick hair is filled with razorblades and wire. Sh can effortlessly and gracefully kill you with any of these whilst making the battle look like a pornography (helped by her Stripperiffic outfit (which is practically made out of knives).
 * The Invisible Blade prestige class in Dungeons & Dragons 3.5.
 * The Soul Knife is a Psionic Class in Dungeons & Dragons 3.5. Their mind is a weapon, and that weapon is a knife.
 * There are also the prestige classes Daggerspell Mage and Daggerspell Shaper, arcane caster/rogue and druid/rogue hybrids, repectively, that gain special abilities when wielding daggers.
 * The Whisperknife is a halfling only prestige class that specializes in light thrown weapons, usually daggers.
 * Many rogues in Fourth Edition Dungeons & Dragons use daggers as their Weapon of Choice. One Paragon Path, Daggermaster, even allows the rogue to specialize in using them to deadly effect.
 * Knives are part of standard Al Amarjan dress in Over the Edge. They're mostly used to open up chip packets and the like.
 * In the old Warhammer Battle skirmish-based spin-off, Mordheim, there's a special mercenary character called Johann The Knife... and he has a special rule called Knife Fighter Extraordinare that allows him to bypass the limit of three knives thrown during his turn, allowing him to throw six knives per turn if he doesn't move. He's so good with knives that they count for swords during battle.

Video Games

 * Stiletto Anyway in Anachronox uses plenty of throwing knives.
 * Vamp in Metal Gear Solid 2.
 * Gene from Portable Ops was pretty good with a knife as well.
 * Dolph in Suikoden V could carve out your liver and hand it to you, despite having one of the goofiest fighting stances ever.
 * Tonberries in Final Fantasy. Behold the evil!
 * Kiros in Final Fantasy VIII, double armed knives. His standing battle pose even makes him look like an Axe Crazy assassin at the first grace.
 * Knife kills in Counter-Strike are a particularly Badass Cherry Tapping.
 * Ryuji Yamazaki from Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters always carries one around wherever he goes. Just try not to get too close to him.
 * There's a reason Edge from Rival Schools chose his nickname. He loves to play with knives and uses them frequently in his arsenal of dirty tricks.
 * Although Lucas Kane in Fahrenheit (2005 video game) (Fahrenheit (2005 video game)) never uses a knife outside the opening sequence, he is depicted holding a bloody blade on every box art to underline the psychosis surrounding him throughout the game.
 * A knife called the "Vorpal Blade" is Alice's primary weapon in American McGee's Alice. It gets deadlier in Alice: Madness Returns
 * In Rise of the Kasai, while Tati does have access to other weapons including a huge axe, a deadly spear, and a supply of exploding toxic mushrooms, her favorite weapon is a pair of twin knifes that she especially uses to maul Kasai warriors.
 * Kevin Smith in Killer7 uses throwing knives as his primary weapon and a larger knife for close quarters combat.
 * Sakuya Izayoi from the Touhou series fights by throwing a seemingly infinite number of knives that she actually recovers between volleys by stopping time.
 * She has an Expy in Rosenkreuzstilette by the name of Sichte Meister, as well.
 * In Resident Evil 4, the protagonist Leon is a knife fighting expert who uses his knife for everything from breaking locks to taking down giant mutants, but his Axe Crazy Worthy Opponent Krauser cements his status as the game's Knife Nut by having a much bigger, nastier knife.
 * Ironically, Krauser's weakness in his boss battle is using the knife.
 * While calling her a nut would be an insult, Sheva stabs  seventeen times with a knife.
 * is portrayed as stabbing with her knife when other characters swipe.
 * Claire's opening video has her throwing a special forces knife into a zombie. She was trained by her brother after all, and they are much better with knives than any other character.
 * Larxene, the Psycho Electro Dark Action Girl of Kingdom Hearts.
 * One of the funnest parts of Assassin's Creed is to kill as many people as possible with your hidden blade. This is particularly fun with the beggars, who constantly harass you for coins, or the lepers, who are apparently well enough to push you two metres back whenever you get remotely near them.
 * Ezio Auditore packs a couple of them in the sequel, with extra features included. Along with a collection of knives (also swords and hammers) in his home, a couple of which border on BFS (BFK?) territory. The same assortment of knives are favored by NPC courteseans, friendly thieves, and Fragile Speedster enemies.
 * Canaan in Xenosaga Episode III
 * Hawkeye of Seiken Densetsu 3 demonstrates Dual-Wielding with knives. One of his techs, the "Flying Swallow Toss," involves tossing a barrage of knives at every target on the screen. One wonders where he keeps it all...
 * Rolento, military madman from the Final Fight and Street Fighter games.
 * Yōsuke Hanamura in Persona 4 uses knives in battle.
 * You can make a custom Knife Nut character in Jagged Alliance 2. Stealth and night ops specialties plus throwing knifes equals one-hit death for everyone on the opposing team.
 * Fire Emblem: Thief/Assassin/Rogue characters. In the early games, these are just swords animated as knives (particularly cool for the assassins). As of Path of Radiance, knives became their own weapon type, which thieving characters used exclusively and Sages could also use (though they'd have to forgo staves to do so), although this latter feature was no longer in effect in Radiant Dawn.
 * Peketo from The Black Heart; all his specials and some of his normal attacks involves the use of knives.
 * The Spy in Team Fortress 2 wields a butterfly knife that can be used for a one-shot kill backstab. This is awesomely subverted in the Sniper's introductory video, as like Crocodile Dundee above, the Sniper is an Aussie with a bigger knife (that does not have the backstab in-game).
 * Almost all of the Spy's unlockables follow this as well. Your Eternal Reward cloaks the victim's body while giving you their disguise at the cost of losing the disguise kit, and the Big Earner gives back some cloaking charge upon a kill with a slight health handicap. The Sniper got another big knife called the Bushwhacka, which crits when it would normally mini-crit in exchange for some fire vulnerability.
 * Players are encouraged to use the knife in Battlefield 2142, as it is always a one-shot kill.
 * Although lag will sometimes require you to make a second swipe, despite the "stab" noise.
 * Goro Majima of the Yakuza games. Just...Goro Majima.
 * The Rogue class in World of Warcraft is a good example of this trope, as some of their strongest moves require daggers while others are adjusted when wielding a dagger to compensate for the weapon's low damage per hit. The dagger's fast speed makes it good for triggering certain effects like poisons as well.
 * Combat rogues who take the Close Quarters Combat (dagger and fist weapon spec) talent get a bonus while using daggers and fist weapons that they won't if they use other weapon types.
 * Subverted and played straight with Mitadake High. The knife is the weakest weapon in the game except for the dead taser and the empty can of paint, but that doesn't stop people from enjoying them.
 * This may have something to do with the fact that, besides the Hammer and the weaker Nanatsu Yoru, the Knife is one of the only weapons that can kill without draining all of your energy.
 * Sherudo Garo, the Stage 2 boss and Big Bad of Time Crisis. Given how annoying knives are in the Time Crisis series, this also has the effect of making him into That One Boss.
 * Sarah Kerrigan in StarCraft, before and after her transformation. Before her transformation she likes killing with knives (no in-game ability, but in the novel Liberty's Crusade she takes out a room of guards on Antiga Prime), and after her transformation, she not only has knives on the end of each fingertip, but has wing-like appendages growing out of her back which end in...you guessed it... more knives.
 * * ahem* Queen of Blades.
 * Kyrie of World Destruction: Michibikareshi Ishi uses knives for his basic attack. All his attack spells involve either knives or throwing several knives. His Limit Break can throw up to sixteen knives that, due to lazy programming, hit every enemy.
 * A popular class combination inside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is an honourable mention - using the 'Tactical Knife' pistol attachment (holding a knife and a pistol out at the same time to strike faster), the 'Marathon' perk (to sprint forever), the 'Lightweight' perk (To move faster) and the 'Commando' perk (to be able to strike with the knife from farther away); you get a class nicknamed "witchblade"
 * Do not forget the final fight of the single player campaign! You fight the Big Bad with nothing but your knife,
 * Penny Arcade comments on] "witchblades" (check the 'News' section for more on their opinion).
 * Dorkly in "The Reality of Call of Duty Multiplayer" shows how "guns vs. knifes" works in CoD in general.
 * The Green Beret character from the Commandos series is something of a knife nut, even quipping that they should help an isolated group of Allied soldiers by "offering a hand. Or a knife." Plus, the Diver can throw knives from the second game on.
 * Hazama in BlazBlue uses twin butterfly knives in combat, and has several more hidden within his pockets.
 * Souji in Suika always carries a silver knife in his pocket, but isn't actually a murderer or anything. But he does consider using it at several points and appears to have a fairly violent side that he suppresses.
 * Konstantin Brayko in Alpha Protocol is a both a nutter and a knife fanatic. A Knife Nutjob, if you will. Michael himself uses a knife for stealth kills.
 * Ange Serena of Tales of Innocence. For a character whom most would dismiss as a White Magician Girl, she sure has some impressive melee combos with that knife of hers.
 * Danette of Soul Nomad uses two of them.
 * Shank uses two knives as his main melee weapons, if you couldn't tell by his name.
 * Ayame from the Tenchu series uses a pair of knives, specifically; kodachi.
 * In Mitsumete Knight, one of your eventual enemies,, uses them in battle. The Eight General Corkilneipha the Swift Thunder is another enemy Knife Nut, but of a different variety: rather than knives, he uses thunder-embued needles.
 * Seether from Wing Commander IV uses a double-bladed knife, first threatening Blair with it, then.
 * In the original Video Game/Goldeneye 007 for the N64, one level opens up with James Bond in a jail cell within a Russian satellite facility. Naturally he has no guns, but he can use the electromagnet in his watch to get some throwing knives from a drain(?). Said knives can be used to great effect, and re-used if retrieved. There's also a "hunting knife" available as a melee weapon via a cheat code.
 * Aht in Radiant Historia dual wields daggers as her weapon of choice. Most of her non-trap special abilities involve her throwing them, as well.
 * Rem from the upcoming game Final Fantasy Type-0 dual wields daggers.
 * The main character from Rush N Attack squares off against an army of soldiers, all clearly holding rifles (although few of them actually use them), but other than the occasional bazooka, fights solely with his knife. The HD remake most of the enemies also fight with knives or punch knives.
 * Warrant Officer Emile-A239 from Halo: Reach is never seen without his signature kukri, and is introduced while sharpening it on his armour. Ironically, he never uses it in combat.
 * Kai Leng in the Mass Effect series is apparently this. He hasn't appeared in the games yet, but he will appear in Mass Effect 3 where he will be gunning for Shepard. However, he did appear in the book Mass Effect: Retribution, where he killed a krogan with a knife and later killed SIX turians by himself with just a knife.
 * In Deception, he also
 * Kano and Frost from the Mortal Kombat series. They both dual wield them.
 * The Assassin class from Guild Wars. Even though the dagger is the lowest-damage weapon in the game, Assassins use them to great effect, often drawing out huge amounts of bonus damage from their skills.
 * They also have a few skills that allow them to throw knives for different effects.
 * Archduke Maximilian Von Reginrave, Big Bad of the first Valkyria Chronicles, has a collection of thousands of knives, and often carries several hidden on his person. He can use them very well. This is yet another manifestation of his raging paranoia, the result of him growing up as the hated bastard child of the Imperial royal family who's brothers constantly tried to get rid of.
 * Madotsuki from Yume Nikki is frequently depicted as one because of a widespread Player Tic which involves killing everyone, with the knife being the only weapon available.
 * As with almost every weapon-to-personality trope, Last Scenario completely averts this—the knife-using party member is the closest thing available to a Science Hero.
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Imperial Operatives specialize in knife attacks, and all Imperial Agents get an equipment slot for them. They are always used more like daggers though, gigantic daggers.
 * Several mooks in Batman: Arkham Asylum and its sequel. Zsasz definitely counts in both games as well.
 * Several mooks in Batman: Arkham Asylum and its sequel. Zsasz definitely counts in both games as well.

Visual Novel

 * The [9]th Man of Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors threatens Clover with a knife at the start of the Game.
 * The mysterious killer in the Yarudora game Double Cast primary uses a knife, giving much tension in the scenes where he assaults the protagonist and/or his friends.

Web Animation

 * Mr. Stabby. True to his name, he has a penchant for stabbing people (and drowning puppies). Oh, and his theme song has such a serene-sounding tune.
 * Flippy from Happy Tree Friends uses a bowie knife.

Web Comics

 * Black Mage in Eight Bit Theater
 * Belkar "The Sexy Shoeless God of War" Bitterleaf in Order of the Stick is Dual-Wielding his knives.
 * OOTS also contains a subversion: in strip #393, Nale's knife is apparently no match for Elan's rapier and Elan mocks him for it.
 * A battle of the bad asses occurs in Rice Boy, when T-O-E and Angel Eye fight, both using knives.
 * John Burke in the now abandoned comic "Games of the Mad"
 * Oasis from Sluggy Freelance might use Improvised Weapons or laser cannons on occasion, but her favorite weapons are definitely knives. Whenever she comes Back from the Dead, she always seems to bring a few dozen knives along with her. That's all she needs to kill trained assassins, small armies, and chocolate ice cream.
 * Oooh, these knives!
 * The Jakeskin cultists in Templar, Arizona are armed with giant razor sharp knives from an early age.
 * Scott Meyer's friend, presumably.
 * Shadownova's Cameron Hunter. He's a Blood Knight and the Alt Text implies that he names them to boot.
 * Jack Noir/Spades Slick of Homestuck.
 * The hero has his trusty knives in Problem Sleuth.
 * The Purple Shirted Eye Stabber of Cyanide & Happiness fame.
 * Finland of Scandinavia and The World is always seen with a knife in his hand.
 * "Stabs" Doogan from Rusty and Co, notable for having more knives on her at any time than most monsters have Hit Points.
 * Elnor in Impure Blood.
 * Williams from Remus is one, with heavy emphasis on the "nut" part.
 * From String Theory, We have Professor Phineas Armastus, the resident psychopathic murderer of Nevada State Penientiary, can clear a room of guards armed with automatic rifles in a matter of seconds, with nothing but a pair of prison shanks. And then take their gummy bears.
 * Vekken va Kapo from Ley Lines is definitely a knife nut. It's plain to see and confirmed by Word of God. He carries at least 4 knives, hidden in his shirt.
 * In The Fancy Adventures of Jack Cannon, Jack's mother. Since she was also in charge of his Training from Hell, this means he is very good with knives as well.

Web Original

 * Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series has Bakura, who once states, "I like knives. They make me feel all tingly inside." He has also proposed to kill Yugi multiple times with knives.
 * Rhianna von Adolph from Open Blue uses a diamond-coated combat knife, which she tends to playfully toss into the air and catch whenever she's talking to somebody. She can either chuck this at people with alarming accuracy, or cut them up seven times before they hit the ground.
 * Many PPC agents use knives, or bladed weapons in general.
 * Dr. Kerzach's Weapon of Choice is his amorphous metal switchblade. He is quite proficient with its use as a weapon too.
 * Cutlerylover has a channel (as you can tell from the title) primarily focused on blades, knives in particular.
 * The Gaming Pixie in her review of Eversion. Also in her "gaiden review" of Yume Nikki.
 * Evan of Everyman HYBRID is an absolute fiend for knives, switchblades, cleavers, daggers, and knife gloves a la Freddy Krueger. He's rarely seen without some kind of cutlery in his hand, which is getting increasingly worrisome, as he seems to be on a greased slide to Ax Craziness.
 * EMERGENCY. MACHETE.
 * Quinsy Sharps in The Motley Two. He's literally described by the author as a "knife nut."
 * Kat and Mouse - Guns for Hire: Mouse is fond of all things sharp and stabby and carries an arsenal from throwing knives to her favorite wakizashis.
 * The nameless interviewee in the Terrible Interviewees Montage episode of Trope Of The Week makes Tom rather uncomfortable with his knife play.
 * Vadiir in Dark Dream Chronicle has racks of knives, including a kukri machete as his Weapon of Choice.
 * Daniel from Shiny Objects Videos.
 * Ato of The Questport Chronicles smuggles knives into the Questport Temple, where weapons of any kind are absolutely forbidden.

Western Animation
"Tim-Tom: We could take out his tongue. Kevin: With a knife! Tim-Tom: Remove his heart. Kevin: Yeah, with a knife! Tim-Tom: A bigger knife! Kevin: Fucking knife!"
 * Mai in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
 * Brock Sampson of The Venture Brothers carries a large knife instead of a gun. Tim-Tom and Kevin, the Murderous Moppets, also show a particular fondness for stabbing things with their switchblades.


 * Razorback in Spiral Zone.
 * Roberto, a mentally unstable robot from Futurama has an obsession with stabbing things with his trusty "Stabbing Knife."
 * Ha hAAAaa!
 * Frances from The Weekenders judging by her catchphrase "I like pointy things!"
 * Mother Gothel in Tangled is shown using this to threaten people and actually uses it on
 * Early Cuyler from Squidbillies seems to have an infinite supply of identical buck knives along with his Sawed-Off Shotgun.

Real Life

 * Jim Bowie was so renowned for his skill as a knifefighter that the type of large hunting knife he carried became colloquially known as a "Bowie knife." He once brought a knife to a gun fight and won.
 * Singer and former actress Taylor Momsen has said she collects knives and enjoys playing with them.
 * Gurkha soldiers are so well-known for carrying their large, machete-like kukri that the knives are often simply called Gurkha knives.
 * Jack the Ripper and other assorted murderers.
 * Many gangs and thugs are known for carrying blades due to difficulty getting firearms. Examples include:
 * Triads, end up using a lot of cleavers and machetes.
 * In the Dominican Republic, locals can identify long-time gang members by their machete scars.
 * Yakuza have been known to use maguro bocho, with blades as long as 60 inches (150 cm) that are intended for cutting up the massive bluefin tuna.
 * In Singapore and other South-East Asian countries, the local variant of the machete, the parang, is commonly associated with the local gangs and secret societies.
 * Finnish people are often portrayed as knife-wielding nuts, especially by other Scandinavians. There is Truth in Television: knife is not only a weapon, but also a cooking and dining utensil and everyday tool, and almost everyone in Finland owns a puukko, the traditional Finnish knife. The knife has historically been the weapon of choice amongst Finns, and Finland is still amongst the top three knife crime countries in Europe (along with Norther Ireland and Scotland). In Finland, getting one's first knife is considered as getting to an age, both on boys and girls. Apart from spectacles, knives are the only civilian item that Finnish soldiers can carry while in uniform because they double as both a sidearm and a dining utensil.
 * The Finnish Army does not issue knives to the conscripts. The reason for this is [paraphrazed from the Soldier's Handbook] that "Finnish people are taught how to handle knives from childhood. It would therefor be pointless to issue knives to people who already have their own knives that they are already familiar with."
 * Conscripts that go through NCO or Reserve Officer School get knives for their graduation. That's right, in some countries you get a class ring, in Finland you get a knife!
 * There is a proverb in Russian, roughly translated: Q: Who are the bravest men in the world. A: The Finns. Finik (Finnish man) is the only man in the world who dares to sleep with a naked Finka'' (Literally "a Finnish woman", but means also a "knife" in Russian). [Finnish women have a reputation of Amazons in Russia.]
 * Knives are arguably used for cooking far more often than they are used for violence. Chefs and amateur cooks can get very passionate about knives and have extremely large and expensive collections in all shapes and sizes.
 * The "KA-BAR" used by the United States Military has been standard issue since WWII. It isn't just used in combat, it is also used to open cans, mark walls, cut lines and ropes, and dig trenches. Veterans often continue to use a KA-BAR (either the one from their tour of duty, or one bought as a civilian) in Civilian Life, since they like it so much. The name KA-BAR came from a poorly-written letter from someone whose rifle jammed and was forced to use one of their knives to kill a bear.
 * William Ewart Fairbairn, known today as the father of modern special forces and SWAT teams, the guy who could kill you three times with blade or pistol in the time it takes you to blink, repeatedly stated that if you were expecting trouble, one of the best tools to have at your side was a knife. Drawing on his police experience on the mean streets of pre-war Shanghai, he advocated a light double-edged knife, such as the Fairbairn-Sykes dagger he and his partner designed for use by British commandos, and use it "like a paintbrush." As he put it: "In close-quarters fighting there is no more deadly weapon than the knife."
 * The Sicarii were an ancient Jewish group of fanatic terrorists, who fought against the Roman occupation, and killed other foreigners and Jews they considered to be infidels, which basically meant everyone who wasn't one of them. They became so infamous that their name simply meant knife-people.
 * On the Greek isle of Crete, knives are a big part of the local culture.
 * Highlanders in the British army were restricted to carrying a maximum of 11 knives. And then there's the dirk and sgian dubh, two knives that go with traditional dress.
 * Knives are a versatile tool and compact enough to be easily carried. It is natural that someone going into the heather would have a few.
 * The Ottoman Empire, despite embracing any new innovation in military hardware, refused to use the bayonet. The logic for this is that the fighting style of the Ottoman musketeer/rifleman incorporated grapples and the use of nasty Middle Eastern/Central Asian knives such as the Kindjal,and the Jambiya, and the Bichaq..
 * Multiple murderer Donald Gonzalez actually was nicknamed "the Knife Nut" by the media.
 * Gabe Newell of Valve has an impressive knife collection in his office that has been shown off in a couple of video tours. No word on him actually using them on anyone, though.
 * Cassius Marcellus Clay was a Kentucky statesman and abolitionist. The American ambassador to the court of Russia during the 1860's, he was known to always carry a pearl handled Bowie knife, even to formal events. He's credited with writing a treatise on the history and use of the Bowie knife. He used his knife both in duels and to defend himself from the occasional would-be assassin.
 * Pocket multitool knives used to be an icon of The All-American Boy and were passed from father to son. The Boy Scouts can wax slightly mystical about pocketknives. Classic models include Old-Timers, Victorinox(Swiss Army), and Boy-scout knives. Swiss Army knives were as the name indicates made originally for the Swiss Army and came to America via American soldiers who knew a good thing when they saw one.
 * Knife collecting is a hobby known among a number of people and there are websites devoted to it.

Other

 * Dark Hunter Lariska in Bionicle uses poison tipped throwing knives.
 * A Philippine Urban Legend exists that warns people of Batangueños, for every one of them carries a balisong and will use it to settle matters of honor.
 * Justified in that Filipinos in general still prefer blades over guns.
 * Jeff the Killer is known to like his knifes.