Friendly Fire Index

"Friendly fire--isn't."

Combat or other dangerous elements in a setting or plot conflict increase the drama by exponentially increasing the danger to the characters. But sometimes that danger comes from an unexpected angle. You look up to see who is on the other end of the knife you've just been stabbed with... and it's your best friend!?! This sort of thing can occur by accident, by treachery, or, perhaps most tragically, because they had to.

In Real Life, friendly fire usually occurs as a case of mistaken identity: innocent civilians, allies, or neutral forces, are mistaken for enemy forces and fired upon, or else the attacker simply didn't know the friendly unit was in the line of fire. While it might be hard enough to imagine the horror of killing someone you like accidently, in fiction, to play the drama up even more, the attacker often is all too aware of what they are doing.

Note: Please place non - Trope examples in the subtropes listed rather than listing them here.

There are many forms of Friendly Fire, from nastiest to least nasty: == Category A: Deliberately, out of a callous disregard for life (note: doing any of these invariably marks you as a Villain or, less often, someone very low on the Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes) ==


 * Bad Boss: mistreats his own minions for trivial reasons.
 * Kick the Dog: commit an unnecessary evil act to show the audience you're not nice.
 * We Have Reserves: callously place minions in a situation where they will be slaughtered, as part of a strategy.

Category B: Deliberately, out of treachery

 * The Starscream: a mook who serves the Big Bad but intends to overthrow him.
 * The Dog Bites Back: A minion takes his revenge after being the subject of too many Kick the Dog moments.
 * Unfriendly Fire: A murder disguised as a combat death (Fragging).
 * Please Shoot the Messenger: A letter instructs the recipient to kill the man who delivered it. The sender, the messenger, and the recipient are supposedly on the same side.

Category C: Deliberately, due to being faced with a choice between evils

 * Dying as Yourself: The way to cure a victim of The Corruption is to mortally wound them, resulting in an Obi-Wan Moment.
 * Kick The Dog Out The Door
 * Kill Us Both: To stop an enemy for good, you've got to ask your friends to do this.
 * Mercy Kill: to kill someone quickly who would otherwise face a painful or ignoble death.
 * I Cannot Self-Terminate: Someone wants to die, but doesn't have the means to do it, so the hero has to do it for them.
 * Sadistic Choice: a villain gives a hero a choice between letting one of two people die.
 * Shoot the Dog: to prevent a more innocent or pure hero from having to kill someone, another hero does it.
 * Shoot the Hostage: to stop an enemy, one must risk harming a hostage used as a Human Shield.

Category D: Due to an error in judgement

 * Friend or Foe: mistaking an ally for an enemy. This is Truth in Television on the battlefield.
 * He's a Friend
 * Kick the Morality Pet: go too far and hurt an ally, prompting a Heel Realization.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: a realization that good intentions have caused great harm.
 * Self-Offense

Category E: Completely unintentional

 * Cartwright Curse: a character's love interests have a high mortality rate, through no fault of their own.
 * Friendly Target: by choosing to face an enemy, you place your friends in danger.