Hitman with a Heart

"Thane seems like the strong, sensitive, murdering type. You know those are always great to have around. A real cuddler."

- Joker, Mass Effect 2

So, let's says there is this guy who happens to be a hitman. Best in town. He will usually be an urban legend moving swiftly beneath the concrete jungle, leaving no evidence behind and fulfilling his jobs with the utmost care up to the point of perfection. Mossad? CIA? KGB? Doesn't matter, his targets drop like flies. No job is too hard and there is no one he can't kill. Or is there? For perhaps even this cold hearted killer can't bring himself to kill an innocent bystander (usually a kid). And not only does he not do his job, but he then turns against his employer to save the life of the very same person he was supposed to kill. This guy we're talking about? He's a hitman with a heart.

A common trope in a number of dark comedy and action movies is to have a sympathetic assassin as either the protagonist or a secondary character. Although their entire job is to commit murder for money, the audience is encouraged to sympathize with the character. This is rarely a case of Evil Is Cool, since not only is the assassin presented as a sympathetic human being with some positive traits, he is usually also shown to be rather uncool, being neurotic, reclusive or otherwise damaged.

Sometimes the hitman will have a code that makes him more easily acceptable by audiences, such as only killing criminals, or refusing to kill women and children, or not going after the family of his targets. He may take pains to make his hits painless, possibly even Cradling Their Kill. Or he may be saddled with a child or an innocent to protect. Commonly he will have to turn on his old employers (be they Government types or Mafia dons) after he refuses to perform a certain hit and has to deal with a Contract On the Hitman.

A blend of The Atoner and Professional Killer. Frequently is a A Lighter Shade of Grey. May result from falling In Love With the Mark. If this trope comes in the backstory variety, it's a Sympathetic Murder Backstory.

Anime and Manga
": Listen..don't forget what I told you...before we left. It's the last lesson...this old fool can give you. Th-the last few years...we spent together...w-weren't so...bad..."
 * The two main ladies of Noir, Kirika and Mireille, pick and choose which assignments they'll take; nevertheless it's shown that this takes a heavy toll on at least one of them spiritually; so the other suggests that they'll "look for the light" in the last episode.
 * Weiss Kreuz follows a team of four of these.
 * Train Heartnet of Black Cat is this Trope.
 * Arguably Bandou from Elfen Lied could be counted for this Trope. Despite his intro as a Psycho for Hire and the other times where he acts the part after, he's not all bad, specially towards Shrinking Violet Mayu... but he's still one of the biggest Jerkasses in anime.
 * Heero Yuy from Gundam Wing is an interesting case; he begins the series as a trained assassin/soldier who resents himself for feeling guilt over killing (and repeatedly attempts suicide), but his interactions with the rest of the cast lead to him valuing his life and maturing into a confident, compassionate guardian angel.
 * According to the manga,


 * Zabuza Momochi of Naruto fits this trope, after his Morality Pet Haku is killed and remains so for approximately five minutes before his Redemption Equals Death.
 * Technically every single sympathetic character in Naruto fits this Trope. They're all assassins. Remember Hinata, the cute blushing one; yeah she once buried a guy alive (albeit in the anime). And which rookie was the first one to be shown killing someone onscreen? If you guessed Sasuke, you're wrong. It was Choji.
 * Which would mean that every single character in the Naruto series fits this trope, as even the villains are always eventually portrayed as sympathetic.
 * Both Ein and Zwei of Phantom of Inferno follow this trope, to some degree or other.
 * Madlax is an assassin at the beginning of the series, and is a generally kind and friendly young woman, although she doesn't seem particularly torn up about her massive body count.
 * The titular character of Crying Freeman, Yoh "Crying Freeman" Hinomura may epitomize this trope. A former artist, Hinomura is kidnapped and brainwashed to be a hitman (even eventually taking over his mob), but retains his sense of morality. His codename comes from his reaction to his new career -- whenever he kills, he silently cries for his victims. His wife Emu Hino (who actually was his target at first, but he preferred to take her in rather than killing her) is similar, becomming a master swordswoman with a cursed sword. Both grow into their roles, but retain their honor and humanity.
 * Ogami Itto from Lone Wolf and Cub also partially averts this trope; he becomes an assassin as a consequence of the only way he can satisfy his honor as a devout Buddhist while taking revenge on the clan that framed him for treason. Ogami usually goes after deserving targets, but will kill innocents if asked; one story has him attempting to kill a "living Buddha" -- an extraordinarily enlightened Buddhist monk.
 * He also tends to do missions for free if the mood takes him-if the circumstances intrude upon him, thrusting him into the middle, or if the nature of the mission impresses him deeply enough.
 * in the Trigun manga turns out to be one of these after it's revealed he's an operative from the Eye of Michael assassination outfit. Probably also in the anime, though it's not clear exactly what he was trained for there it was probably assassination.
 * Franca and Franco from Gunslinger Girl, the latter more so than the former. They are very dicriminating about their targets and Franca refuses to kill children, in part because of the ideal she fights for in the first place, to the point where she'd rather let a mission be jeopardized rather than let Pinocchio kill his neighbor and would've tried to steer away from Rico had not Franco forced their car back and hit Rico.
 * Golgo 13 partially averts this trope; Duke Togo(Golgo 13 himself) is willing to take any assignment without any moral qualms or visible emotion. However, the stories present his victims as somewhat deserving of their fate (unless the victim is a witness, who Duke will kill just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time); also, Duke will occasionally go out of his way to put a job to a more morally tidy end.
 * Berserk played with this trope when

Comic Books

 * Hitman (natch) features a number of assassins of varying degrees of callousness. The star of the book only kills people whom he regards as "deserving it" (ie. Mafia dons, super-criminals etc), although characters do point out the stupidity of this from time to time. He was also sick on Batman's boots once, which is awesome. The hero's best friend only acts the same for the sake of the friendship.
 * Kev Hawkins, ex-SAS trooper and current assassin/dirty tricks man for the British Government, is portrayed as a colossally messed up loser who just happens to be rather good at killing people. He first appeared in the Comic Book The Authority. A major plot point Kev wondering 'What if they order me to kill someone innocent'?
 * King Mob, one of the stars of The Invisibles, is a trained assassin who slowly becomes more and more disgusted at the murders he's committed and eventually takes a vow of Technical Pacifism.
 * Finnigan Sinister and Ramone Dexter from Sinister Dexter follow this trope to a certain degree. While they adhere to the "Gun Shark Code" which means they won't kill police or innocents, they will happily take on any contract reasoning that the target must be guilty of something at leat since they have a price on their head.
 * Subverted in The Darkness. Jackie Estacado is a mob hitman, but only kills other mobsters, not innocent people. A woman wants revenge on him for killing her husband, an innocent person. Turns out he really was innocent--he was an undercover FBI agent.
 * X-23 from the X-Men series of books seems to somewhat fit this. Granted she lacks any major moral compass but she still does her best to protect her friends. Wolverine as well, unfortunately he has a code of morals and now that he remembers his past seems racked with guilt.
 * Deadpool is a merc who will gleefully kill his targets while spouting corny one-liners, but he does have standards. In a recent story he plans to draw out his evil clone by publicly threatening to do something he would never do - kill a child.
 * In the Grant Morrison run on Animal Man, Mirror Master drew the line at killing a mother and her children and helped the bereaved take revenge when someone else lacked the same scruples.

Films -- Live-Action

 * In Grosse Pointe Blank, the Hitman With a Heart lead turns down a French government commission to blow up a Greenpeace boat by saying, "No way-I have scruples." That the French did this in real life (with their own agents, not a hitman) makes this line a joke, but also a reference to the somewhat thin line between assassins and terrorists. Indeed, one of the film's villains, hired to assassinate the protagonist is mentioned as being a former member of a violent Basque separatist group.
 * The Matador stars Pierce Brosnan as a lonely, damaged hitman who's starting to lose his edge.
 * Leddo from The Alzheimers Case refuses to kill a child which gets him into a lot of trouble.
 * Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
 * In Leon (AKA The Professional), Jean Reno's hitman is almost childlike in his innocence and simplicity. He takes in a young girl after her family is killed by criminals, and has a strict code against killing women or children.
 * Bruce Willis's character from The Whole Nine Yards and sequel The Whole Ten Yards
 * Mr. Goodkat (also played by Bruce Willis) and  from Lucky Number Slevin
 * John Lee (played by Chow Yun-Fat) from The Replacement Killers, who gets into trouble for
 * John Woo's The Killer, whose title character (also played by Chow Yun-Fat) accidentally blinds a beautiful singer during a hit and sets out to perform one last hit to get the money to have her eyes fixed. His employer, on the other hand, tries to have him killed rather than hand over the money to him, which results in things going right to hell.
 * Il Duce from The Boondock Saints, who has a very Leon-esque code concerning women and kids, and who turns out to be.
 * The McManus brothers as well, knocking unconscious the wife of one of their victims rather than killing her. They are also not pleased when Rocco wants to kill Smecker, who let them off at the beginning of the film--or when Rocco holds a gun to a priest's head.
 * The deeper incarnations of James Bond. The Bond One Liner version doesn't count, though.
 * The film version of Jason Bourne is this trope played completely straight, with the added twist of amnesia caused by, among other things, his, despite training as an assassin and conditioning for obedience. When he is confronted with that situation, it results in a cognitive dissonance that effectively breaks his conditioning, resulting in amnesia exacerbated by two almost-lethal gunshot wounds.
 * You Kill Me features Ben Kingsley as a mob hitman with the flaw of alcoholism- in a subversion, he has no moral qualms about killing (he likes it, as it the only thing he's good at) and just wants help with his drinking so he can go back to his job. He does, however, feel guilt because some of his targets died slower and more painfully due to his drinking problem, and tries to make up for it (it was with gift cards, but it's the thought that counts).
 * In Bruges is about two likeable hitmen dealing with the aftermath of the younger one accidentally during his first hit. The older one is then assigned to off the younger one, but reflexively throws the job when he sees his target about to take his own life in grief. Did I mention it's a dark comedy?
 * Punisher: War Zone has Frank Castle go through an existential crisis of Heroic BSOD proportions after killing an undercover FBI agent.
 * Robert Rath, the Cold War veteran killer played by Sylvester Stallone in Assassins, as opposed to his antagonist, young up-and-comer Miguel Bain (Antonio Bandaras).
 * Lok and O, the rival assassins from Fulltime Killer. The film starts out like a knock-off of Assassins, justified by the fact that the cinephile Lok purposefully apes the film, but eventually both assassins are revealed to be surprisingly nice guys. The main female character ends up dating both of them.
 * Averted in The Mechanic (1972), in which the sociopathy of the protagonist (played by Charles Bronson), and his young protege (Jan-Michael Vincent) are highlighted in several ways -- for instance Bronson realises Vincent has what it takes to be his understudy when the latter watches a former girlfriend who's slit her wrists to get his attention bleed over the course of several hours (she lives, but only because they give her the car keys so she can drive herself to the hospital). A more subtle scene is when Bronson is at the hospital, he walks past a young boy with an artificial leg without even a sympathetic glance.
 * Wesley Gibson in Wanted tries to be a good guy. He is reluctant to kill someone just because a machine printing out a piece of cloth says so. He wants to be sure they are really bad people before offing them, but gets sweet talked into it by another assassin.
 * Subverted in the original comic: Wesley is a Complete Monster Supervillain who happily rapes and slaughters because as a Supervillain he has the authority to get away with anything he does.
 * The protagonist of Little Odessa, although the heart in question is a rather cold one.
 * The titular protagonist of Elektra is an assassin for hire; when she finds out that her targets are a girl and her father, it promptly leads to her Heel Face Turn.
 * Road to Perdition.
 * Vincent of Collateral is familiar enough with the trope to pose as one of these. It's an out-and-out lie, though--he's actually an unpleasant combination of the Social Darwinist and Nietzsche Wannabe archetypes.
 * Eponymous character from Hitman is even more sympathetic than his video game predecessor. Although still a cold professional he appears to possess more empathy and insight than most characters from the movie.
 * Mark Wahlberg plays this type of character in The Big Hit. He has no problem executing targets but has a soft spot for women, whether he personally knows them or not. He is also slavishly devoted to his love interests and is eager to please his friends. His kindness is frequently abused.

Literature
"To wit: Anyone worth Anhk-Morpork 10,000 or more was considered automatically capable of protecting themselves, or at least hiring people who could. Otherwise what was a person to do but sit with a loaded crossbow pointed at the door?"
 * Vlad Taltos of Steven Brust's Taltos series. Also, his wife Cawti, whom he met when she killed him (temporarily).
 * Rild-Sugata in Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, who became a follower (or even the follower) of his original target.
 * To make this clearer(?) - Rild is a religious assassin, directed by his Goddess (of Death, naturally) to kill this planet's version of the Buddha. Buddha is a fake, though - an immortal named Sam, who is trying to overthrow the Hindu pantheon(also immortal fakes). Rild converts to Buddhism (Samism?)and, it is strongly implied, becomes the real Buddha.
 * Carson Wells from No Country for Old Men is a perfect example, being an experienced yet sardonically humorous and kind hitman whose job is to track his complete opposite; Anton Chigurh, a staggeringly brutal and evil Psycho for Hire. Unfortunately,.
 * Andrew Vachss' character Wesley is the exact opposite of this trope. He pretends to follow a code, but only to avoid starting an argument with his Mafia clients.
 * Kincaid from The Dresden Files. He'll kill you if you harm Ivy or even threaten her happiness. Officially it's because he's paid for that.
 * From the same series, we have Stevie D, an assassin hired to kill Harry. Obviously, given that Harry is one of the most powerful wizards on earth, he fails, but not before shooting Butters in the back to clear his line of sight. After the battle, he is happy that, because he was not the target.
 * Also Rook, of Jim Butcher's Codex Alera: the "will do anything to keep her daughter safe" variant.
 * Jaqen H'ghar of A Song of Ice and Fire, who helped Arya because she saved his life. This is initially just a case of Balancing Deaths Books, but by the time of their parting he clearly bears her affection and even offers to take her under his wing.
 * Very, very averted in Dean Koontz's book Watchers. The hitman Vince De Nasco believes he has a "Gift" that allows him to absorb the life energy of anyone he kills. This leads him to desire immortality and godhood, which is his reason for becoming a hitman. He loves killing young people, as their life energy is less tainted by the world, and his biggest dream is to kill a pregnant woman, to receive both her energy and the unborn child's. At one point he brutaly tortures one of his targets before killing him upon learning the man is a habitual philanderer, and thus his life energy is too unclean.
 * Hawk from Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels is erudite, thoughtful, and has standards of conduct.
 * It might not fit exactly, but the Assassins' Guild in Pratchett's Discworld series has high moral standards, which essential bans non-contract targets from being killed (the rule is fairly un-policable though, so a few do indulge in this). Interestingly, the Thieves' Guild follows close to the same moral standards for their line of work, reduce collateral damage as much as possible.
 * The Assassin's Guild also refuses contracts on any target that they don't consider to have a fair chance at defending themselves (the rich are always fair game, as if they had thought to prepare they could have hired guards).


 * Lawrence Block's Keller series focuses on a lonely, whimsical hitman whose favorite pastimes are walking his dog, doing crossword puzzles, and working on his stamp collection. Despite basically being a sympathetic loser prone to introspective fantasies, he doesn't have any scruples about who he kills--the target, assorted people who get in the way (even if innocent), and sometimes his clients are all fair game. Somehow, he still comes across as likeable.
 * In one story, Keller discovered that his target was also his client: the man had terminal cancer and couldn't bring himself to commit simple suicide, so he needed a hitman to off him. Through an odd chain of events, he and Keller became more-or-less friends, and the fellow called Keller's boss to cancel the hit -- refund not required. The story ended with Keller planning to kill him anyway.
 * Fitzchivalry Farseer in the Farseer Trilogy works as assassin and diplomat for the Crown, as does his mentor Chade.
 * A variant in Star Trek Forged in Fire. Klingon servitor Do'Yoj is tasked with killing the infant Qagh, so as to conceal the shame of his albinism from the Klingon Empire. She refuses to go through with it; she just leaves him in the mountains instead. Of course, she expects this will kill him anyway, but at least her knife isn't tainted with a child's blood.
 * Shane and Carpenter from Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer's novel Agnes and the Hitman. Shane leaves work at a critical time when his uncle Joey, who he hasn't heard from in a while, calls him home to look after grumpy cook Agnes, who has people gunning for her because  ; he then proceeds to fall in love with her over breakfast, pick up fondant for her, and get her a bridge, all in between taking out the odd assassin who shows up in the middle of the night, beating the crap out of dead-beat mobsters, carrying out an official mission, and  . Likewise, Carpenter is an
 * The huntsman from "Snow White", who is hired by the queen to assassinate the fairest of them all, ultimately can't bring himself to do so. Instead, he kills a boar and lets Snow White go.
 * Ajutasutra in Belisarius Series is a variation of this. He has Undying Loyalty to Narses the Roman traitor who is sort of his Parental Substitute. When Narses is ordered to assassinate Rana Sanga's family, he instead orders them hidden and Ajutasutra helps to engineer it. He also, on Narses' orders, tracks down the family of Dadadj Holkar, an official on the opposite side in order to help Narses have a good relation with both sides.

Live Action TV

 * On General Hospital the romantic male lead that all the women think is the bestest father/friend/lover ever is Jason Morgan the brain-damaged hitman. He's an unironic Marty Stu.
 * The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Terminators, despite their tendency to kill anyone who even slightly incoveniences them, have elements of this, though it's more to do with their programming than any sense of decency. Probably the best example is in "What He Beheld" when Cromartie has just wiped out an entire FBI HRT unit. The sole survivor, Agent Ellison, is desperately reloading his pistol when he looks up to see Cromartie standing right in front of him, pointing a pistol at his chest. Accepting the inevitable, Ellison closes his eyes and waits for death, but because he's neither a target or a threat, Cromartie simply walks away.
 * Later on, Cameron points out that Terminators "aren't built to be cruel," noting that while a Terminator will kill a target with ruthless efficiency, it won't torture or otherwise prolong the target's pain, and will actually try to help people who it isn't under orders to kill if that doesn't conflict with their mission.
 * Was this before or after she used the dance instructor and then
 * They stole the Turk, they knew who they were. Cameron clearly saw them as a threat or hinderence to the mission.
 * After she leaves Moya, Aeryn on Farscape works as one of these for a while. John asks when she became an assassin and she replies "When I found a cause that required it." Later on she says she would have done the killing even without pay, because the person deserved it so much.
 * Heroes: Edgar is a Super Speed assassin, but he has said things like "I've only killed when I've absolutely had to" that imply he doesn't really like what he does. Mixed with some Pet the Dog moments, this makes him something of an Iron Woobie.
 * The titular hero of Callan played by Edward Woodward, better known as The Equalizer.
 * Subverted in an early episode of Criminal Minds. The hitman felt extremely uncomfortable with killing women... didn't stop him from doing it, however.
 * Timon from Rome, Atia's Jewish servant/bodyguard/hitman, eventually grows a conscience due to the influence of his religious cousin, who moves into town and begins calling him out on his criminal activities and the effect they have on his wife and children. This pays off in causing Atia's sadism to backfire on her; when she kidnaps Servilia and inflicts hours and hours of Cold Blooded Torture on her, intending to kill her in the end, she expects Timon to carry it all out without question, but he finally turns on her ("I am not an animal! I am not a fucking animal!") and lets Servilia go.
 * Richard Harrow from Boardwalk Empire is a very interesting treatment of this trope. He's a horrifically scarred veteran of World War One who essentially got half his face blown off. Combined with his crushing shyness and awkwardness, this makes him The Woobie and we feel our heartstrings tugged when he makes friends with Margaret's children and we see his dream of having his face whole again and being in love. Then when he shoots a 12 year old boy during a job or suggests wiping out an entire family in order to make some crooks come out of hiding, we get reminded that his job in the war was being a Cold Sniper, and he still is one at times.

Video Games

 * Altair of Assassin's Creed.
 * Ezio from the sequel even moreso.
 * In fact, all of the Assassins are this concept. The entire purpose of the Assassin order is to safeguard the evolution of mankind into its own entity, and not to be bound by the dictates of others. The titular creed's tenets of "Nothing is true, everything is permitted" define this philosophy.
 * The two main characters of Rail Shooter arcade game Cooper's Nine.
 * Agent 47 from the Hitman series does not kill innocents unless absolutely required, such as when he kills a postman in one mission of Blood Money because the package he was delivering was Code Red, and in the last mission when he . Otherwise, 47 fits this trope perfectly, the storyline and game discourage it, and any other bloodshed is left up to the player.
 * He doesn't really fit the trope outside of the second game because most of the mentioned discretion is done out of pragmatism, not out of compassion. He shows no remorse or hesitation in killing the aforementioned innocents.
 * Jaffar from Fire Emblem 7, who defrosts thanks to the friendship (and love, if you support them to A level) of his boss's daughter, Nino.
 * Also, Volke, From Fire Emblem 9 and 10, counts.
 * Blue from Assassin Blue only kills because he thinks doing so will end the war sooner. However,
 * Mona Sax from Max Payne claims not to kill nice guys, in the sequel she is perhaps a literal example as she.
 * Depending on how you play, the Player Character can be one of these in the Dark brotherhood quest line as several quests allow (or encourage) you to not kill certain people.
 * Nathyrra's backstory in Hordes of the Underdark paints her as one.
 * Tommy in Mafia, to the point that he.
 * Thane Krios from Mass Effect 2. Warrior Poet, Religious Bruiser, optional romance for a female Shepard...and an extremely good assassin who viewed his body as a tool for his employers, with no more independent morality than Shepard's gun. Regardless, this guy is The Atoner, and even mentions atoning for his sins several times.
 * It's worth mentioning the sin that seems to be bothering him the most is not having been fast enough in his last contract to prevent innocents from being killed by his target's Mooks.
 * Played with in Dragon Age with Zevran. While he professes to enjoy the art of killing and has no moral qualms with the act, he only took the contract on the Player Character because he thought the Warden would kill him. He really feels tremendous guilt for at least one of his kills. If the player gets to know, he'll find out Zevran's training began as a child, and he was really a glorified slave. He kills because he knows nothing else. A romanced Zevran can be persuaded to give up the lifestyle altogether. The overall impression is that of a broken, damaged man who, while not entirely penitent, at least has some regrets.
 * It's revealed that  and Zevran both admit they enjoyed the killing or at least the "hunt" (with varying degrees of glee), a conversation between them reveals they also made sure to kill their targets as cleanly and quickly as possible.
 * The Sniper from Team Fortress 2, while not especially sympathetic in history, has a family which disapproves of his career choice; he nonetheless loves them dearly. He is enraged at the Administrator when it is revealed she is using his parents as blackmail material. The other assassins have Pet the Dog moments as well, having done volunteer work as mall santas and given candy to trick or treaters.
 * The Bounty Hunter of Star Warsthe Old Republic can be played as this, a Consummate Professional, or a Psycho for Hire, depending on the choices of the player. Light side bounty hunters will try to minimize violence and sometimes end up sparing their marks, while Dark Side Bounty Hunters sometimes go out of their way to be as sadistic as possible, even when their contract doesn't call for it.

Western Animation

 * The robot X9 from Samurai Jack, unlike the other robots of the X's series, he has a heart due to a emotion's chip installed in his brain, in fact he was so sympathetic to the audience that his death against Jack was one of the saddest moments of the series.
 * Brock Samson on The Venture Brothers was trained as a deadly, omnicompetent super-agent, but his mentor impressed upon him a strict rule against killing women or children. He also appears to care for his charge's children even more than Dr. Venture does himself. But that last bit is not the least bit difficult to achieve.

Web Comics

 * Dead Winter: Monday doesn't show off his sympathetic side very often, but he does Pet the Dog a few times.
 * Errant Story: Jon has a soft spotfor anything with ovaries.

Web Original

 * Dorf Quest features Goldmoon, the head of thieves' guild, who only accepts jobs against evil and corrupt. Thanks to her principles, her guild is more or less divided into two: Those who share her views, and those who'd like to kill and replace her for more lucrative jobs.
 * Behind the Veil features Jack Raven, a former assassin who, after being confronted with the ramifications of some of his hits decided to only accept contracts on those people who he felt were more evil than he was.
 * Desta T'Res of Cerberus Daily News is a rather open version of this. She only kills people she thinks deserve to die, generally murderers and slavers. Her employers are generally aware of this.