And Your Little Dog, Too



""I'll get you, my pretty -- and your little dog too!""

- The Wicked Witch of the West, The Wizard of Oz

When the villain targets an innocent for the sole purpose of showing how evil he is, and that innocent just happens to be something the hero cares a lot about -- which justifies the hero kicking butt over it.

A hero, for the most part, is not supposed to care what happens to himself. However, once the villain has threatened that one thing that the hero must protect, he will commit to opposing the villain.

Whether it's the Distressed Damsel, the hero's hometown, or the hero's family, once the villain has found a hero's "weak point," nothing less than his complete destruction will get him to leave the hero's world alone -- even when attacking this "weak point" consistently brings the hero down on his head with more than the usual enthusiasm.

Sometimes there's a particular reason for this obsession, such as Blackmail, or some other Offer The Hero Can't Refuse, but for the most part, it's a plot device used by the writer to get the hero involved.

Beware. If the hero attempts Refusal of the Call despite this, he will be punished because The Call Knows Where You Live.

Compare Kick the Dog, for a more proactive villain. Contrast Revenge by Proxy. See Even Mooks Have Loved Ones for when it's done to a minion. When used to top off some other unspeakably evil acts, some (arguably heartless) people may view this as a case of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking.

Anime and Manga

 * Lone Wolf and Cub (one of the Western names for this was Shogun Assassin) had the main character (Ogami Ichirou) killing hundreds of the Shogun's troops, very violently. Said Shogun declares that he's willing to leave Ogami alone, but just to be a snit, his dear infant son Daigoro must die. ...so Ogami, as the good Papa Wolf that he is, destroys the rest, resulting in the viewer concluding that Shogun was an idiot for not predicting that.
 * In episode 7 of One Piece, when Buggy learns how much Luffy values the straw hat he got from Shanks, he tries to destroy it... which only provokes Luffy further. (To be fair, Buggy hates Shanks even more than he hates Luffy)
 * Bleach is pretty fond of these, the lead being The Messiah he can't actively seek combat so they use this as a method to make him. For example:
 * In the Shinigami Arc, the hollow that killed his mother (for worse, he was a little child back then, and she died protecting him).
 * In the Soul Society Arc, he was allowed to fight because they were going to execute his friend Rukia.
 * During the Arrancar's attack on the real world, they attacked his friends and family.
 * In the Hueco Mundo Arc, they forced his other friend Orihime to go with them via Sadistic Choice -- it's even pointed out for that final closure (just in case taking poor Orihime away wasn't enough) that the Big Bad wants to destroy his home town so that he has fuel for his MacGuffin.
 * Justified as
 * Due to their nearly symbiotic relationship, the weapons and technicians in Soul Eater frequently have each other as their Berserk Button, especially the female characters for the male ones.
 * In Mai-HiME, at least Mai is provoked this way when the first Monster of the Week targets her ill and weak-willed brother Takumi. Later events, in a subversion of this trope, imply that this is the standard method of "initiation" for most HiMEs, with the monster attacks carefully planned by the Powers That Be specifically to attack their loved ones to draw them into fighting.
 * In Weiss Kreuz, to get back at Ran "Aya" Fujimiya for his part in killing their boss, the Schreient girls kidnap his comatose little sister Aya-chan and hold her hostage, intending to kill her in front of him. This results directly in Aya rejoining Weiss to hunt them down and kill them.
 * Claymore: Threaten to rape/disfigure/brutalize the mightiest of an order of demonslayers pledged not to take human life? She says "Fine, I don't care," and thinks uncharitable thoughts. Kick around the girl that was following her around? She draws the guy's own sword and makes perfectly clear that, if the order in question has to put her down, he will still be dead. The failure of the bandit in question to keep that hint in mind when he finds said girl in a village the Claymore he threatened just left kicks off a Roaring Rampage of Revenge that was both brief... and total.
 * The Team Rocket trio's obsession with Ash's Pikachu in Pokémon is a classic example of this trope.
 * Lampshaded in this VG Cats strip. Really, aside from a bad attitude about Poke Balls, Pikachu wasn't much different from any other Pokemon.
 * In Saint Seiya, Dragon Shiryu was almost dead by the hand of Cancer Deathmask, a purely evil Golden Saint who was completely immoral about murder, even killing children for the lulz. Cue to the image of Shiryu's stepsister Shunrei praying far, far away in the Rozan cascade..
 * In the Ea Cycle Morjin threatens to kill Valashu's family.
 * In Chrono Crusade, Rosette and Chrono probably would have never gotten into the demon-hunting business at all, much less try to stop Aion's plans, if it hadn't been for him kidnapping Rosette's brother in the first place. (That being said, he did have a good reason to go after Joshua.)
 * Literal non-example, in Black Lagoon Balalaika reminds the leaders of the other criminal organisations that her organisation will destroy anyone gets in their way,. And their families. And their pet dog, if necessary.
 * In the Read or Die TV series, both groups of The Men in Black choose to repeatedly target a normal writer for their sinister plan, despite it being easy enough to just find someone else. This leads her friends, various heroines who used to work for the groups, to rebel against them.
 * In Dragon Ball, when Frieza kills Krillin, who had already been resurrected once by the Dragonballs, and was, at that point, unable to be brought to life again. Killing Goku's best friend makes him angry enough to trigger his first Super Saiyan transformation, and beat Frieza to a pulp.
 * Worse...Frieza right after killing Krillin also threatens to do the same to Goku's son, Gohan. It really set him over the edge.

Comic Books

 * In Watchmen, while Rorschach is being taken back to his cell one of the prisoners threatening him promises to kill his mother, kids, sister, and...dog.
 * Similarly, Rorschach kills the dogs of a child-killer before killing the killer himself. Granted, the killer had fed the bodies of his victims to the dogs, but they're just dogs.
 * Squirrel Girl is convinced that she and the other Great Lakes Avengers shouldn't try to fight a villain who is on the verge of destroying the entire universe, and that they should leave it up to more powerful heroes. Until it is pointed out that if the universe goes, all the squirrels go with it. No! Not the squirrels!

Films

 * The Wizard of Oz is the Trope Namer. The Wicked Witch of the West declares, "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!" just to show how evil she is by threatening Dorothy's beloved pet. It's actions like this that prove the Witch is evil, to justify Dorothy's eventual melting of the Witch.
 * In No Country for Old Men, Llewellyn calmly advises Chigurh not to threaten his wife. And then
 * It's even worse than that,
 * Cyrus "the Virus" Grissom of Con Air just might have lived and escaped if he didn't make the terminally stupid mistake of telling Cameron Poe (the hero) "Before I kill you, I'll let you know that the last thing that little Casey Poe (your daughter) will ever smell will be my stinking breath." Sure enough, cue Heroic Resolve from Cameron, and a hilarious Karmic Death under a rock-crusher (don't ask) no more than five minutes later.
 * Debbie in Addams Family Values uses the line "I'll get you, and your little hand too!" as she drives away from Fester in a Shout-Out to The Wizard of Oz.
 * Lampshaded in Kung Pow! Enter the Fist, in a scene where all the main character's friends die one by one, ending with his dog. They all get better, except.
 * Subverted in The Usual Suspects. Drug dealers rape Keyser Soze's wife, cut his son's throat in front of his eyes, then threaten to kill the rest of his family unless he hands over his turf. He responds by killing the two of the drug dealers, then the rest of his family, then hunting down the drug dealers' families and everyone they've ever known or done business with, purely to make sure everyone knows who the original Magnificent Bastard is. Or at least, that's what we're told.
 * Do not kidnap Newt and turn her into a cocoon. . "Get away from her, you bitch!" indeed.
 * Biff A has done this to Lorraine A in Back to The Future Part II. When Lorraine A threatens to walk out, Biff A threatens to also cut off her children - leaving Lorraine A with no choice but to stay.
 * If the Green Goblin of the first Spider-Man movie really fancied himself a "villain" like he so proudly did, he surely would have knew that telling Peter that "M.J. (your girlfriend) and I... we're gonna have a hell of a time!" while waving a phallic weapon in his face would give Peter the righteous rage to kick his armored-ass to hell and back; and Peter did.
 * To top it off, in the sequel, the one thing that has Peter spring back into action and regain his powers is Dr. Octopus kidnapping Mary Jane.
 * In fact, all three movies involved kidnapping Mary Jane at the climax. How very original of them.
 * In The Patriot, it is Col. Tavington's pathological targeting of Benjamin Martin's family that turns the protagonist from a mild-mannered pacifist to a furious hatchet-wielding 'ghost' who wins the Revolutionary War single-handed empowers militia forces and inspires his compatriots to victory.
 * In Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Darth Vader threatens to try and turn Leia to The Dark Side, prompting Luke to attack him with renewed vigour. Possibly an Invoked Trope, as both Vader and the Emperor wanted Luke to be angry so it would be easier to turn him to the Dark Side.
 * Jack, who provides the page quote, didn't know what movie he was in because you don't mess with the Zohan!
 * Mrs. Deagle in Gremlins literally threatens the little dog too.
 * Lampshaded in The Western movie Silverado (1985) when corrupt town sheriff Cobb indicates to Paden that he'll harm the dwarf female bartender if Paden moves against him, even though Cobb acknowledges she has nothing whatsoever to do with their dispute. He does however know Paden (whom he used to work with when they were robbers) got caught while protecting a wounded dog he'd previously claimed to despise, so figures the threat will make Paden back off. It works at first, but the bartender figures out what's happened and talks Paden into fighting Cobb anyway.
 * The Dark Knight. Who else but Maggie Gyllenhaal could be worthy of turning Harvey Dent into Two Face?
 * In Zoolander, a protester shouts to Mugatu "Screw you, and your little dog too!".
 * in Shooter when
 * In Jumper, the villainous Paladins claim that they hunt Jumpers because only God should have that power and mortals will abuse it. Considering David's behaviour, they might have a point. Then they  for little good reason.
 * In Jumper, the villainous Paladins claim that they hunt Jumpers because only God should have that power and mortals will abuse it. Considering David's behaviour, they might have a point. Then they  for little good reason.

Literature

 * A literary example: In The Aeneid, Aeneas' rival and counterpart Turnus kills Aeneas' good friend, the innocent youth Pallas; at the end of the epic, Aeneas is about to spare Turnus' life when the sight of a baldric stolen from Pallas reminds him of the murder and drives him into a killing rage.
 * Also, Older Than Feudalism -- Hector killing Achilles' very good friend and cousin Patroclus, causing Achilles to come out of his tent, return to battle full of Unstoppable Rage, and whoop Hector's ass. (To be fair, Hector thought Patroclus was Achilles. Achilles on the other hand, maliciously desecrated Hector's corpse.)
 * Patroclus' helmet came off before Hector killed him - Hector knew who he was. However, he didn't necessarily know that Patroclus and Achilles were as close as they were.
 * In The Dresden Files the  threatens Harry with this.


 * In the third Young Wizards book, High Wizardry, the Lone Power (a.k.a. Satan) tells Dairine that It's going to punish her by instigating a nuclear holocaust on Earth, and, well... It really shouldn't have done that.
 * A particularly cruel example in Holes, where after the town had found out about Miss Katherine and Sam's relationship, they also killed Sam's beloved donkey Mary Lou, right after killing Sam himself.
 * In the Dale Brown novel Wings of Fire the Libyans kill  and abet   killing.
 * In Air Battle Force, General Gryzlov threatens Patrick McLanahan's friends, bases, crews, aircraft and son. He tries to make good on this in Plan of Attack, but doesn't completely succeed.
 * In the Honor Harrington books, Cordelia Ransom, head of Public Information, planned to kill Nimitz, Honor's treecat companion, purely to break her before the cameras.

Live Action TV
"I will go to the animal shelter and get you a kitty cat. I will let you fall in love with that kitty cat, and then, on some dark, cold night, I will steal away into your home and punch you in the face."
 * Invoked in the second episode of Frasier.
 * The original series of The Black Adder has the villainous Witchsmeller Pursuivant burning an innocent old woman as a witch, and her cat on a correspondingly smaller stake. He later sneers in the face of the cat-loving Percy that he burnt "Mistress Scott...and her pussycat!" He gets a spectacular comeuppance, after which Percy wisely comments, "I SAID he shouldn't have burnt that cat..."
 * Rita Repulsa in Power Rangers refused to attack any city other than Angel Grove, despite it being the one city that was protected by a force capable of challenging her.
 * This is the one thing that consistently works on Captain Kirk. In one Star Trek: The Original Series episode, Klingons find that torturing Kirk himself is useless but torturing Chekov snaps him instantly; in another, the Psychopathic Manchild points a gun at Spock to get Kirk to comply. It works.
 * At one point in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Herc goes into the underworld to visit his family, who were murdered by Hera. With his family is their dog, and on the commentary, Kevin Sorbo notes something like, "You can tell she's evil, she even killed my dog!"
 * In the second season premiere of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a rather enraged Sarkissian attempts to get revenge on the Connors by assaulting their house, car bombing Cameron, and beating the Connors senseless. Sarah and John are unable to resist....until Sarkissian tries to rape Sarah. John very quickly drops all pretenses of Thou Shalt Not Kill, and delivers a highly righteous (if offscreen) ass-kicking.
 * This is later shown on a flashback.
 * On Angel, Daniel Holtz starts out by getting revenge on Angelus - by harassing the souled Angel. Initially, Angel responds with sympathy and guilt with what his soulless self did to the troubled man - and tries to simply reason with him. When Holtz starts to threaten Angel's (innocent) friends, that's when Angel realizes that more drastic action needs to be taken.
 * Subverted rather hilariously in this threat from Sue Sylvester:

"Sylar: What was your brother's name again, Larry? Larry: Lyle. Sylar: Right, he's gonna die too."
 * A recurring tactic of immortals in the Highlander tv series, although there is a practical purpose to it. By destroying their loved ones they hope to cripple their will to live, making them an easier fight. Naturally, this can backfire.
 * In Heroes Sylar gives us this exchange:


 * In Supernatural, people do this to the Winchesters pretty often (in the form of "I'll kill your brother" or Shame If Something Happened), and it's always a bad idea.

Music

 * One of Breaking Benjamin's songs, "Home", makes a lot of The Wizard of Oz references, including this line, "cause I’m gonna get you and your little dog too".

Tabletop Games

 * Quite literal in the board game expansion of Kill Doctor Lucky. Aptly named Kill Doctor Lucky and His Little Dog Too.

Toys

 * Compared to the Transformers, humans are tiny, weak, and fragile, but possess heart and guts far beyond their size... which makes the Autobots extremely protective of them. Naturally, the Decepticons just have to pick on the humans instead of quietly sneaking off and conquering a planet the Autobots haven't adopted yet.

Video Games

 * If players in Fable II didn't have sufficient motivation to stop Lucian before, they will once he
 * Keep in mind this is after he.
 * In Fallout 3 Enclave Dragon Autumn shoots a research assistant in the head to 'motivate' the main characters father. This despite the fact that he had total control over the situation, and she couldn't possibly have been a threat.
 * Judgment Six (J6), the grouping of major corporations behind the worldwide tournaments in the Virtua Fighter series, is responsible for assassinations, blackmail, white-collar theft, and illegal, clandestine Super Soldier projects, among others. This matters little to fisherman and wrestler Jeffry McWild... until J6 antagonizes him by kidnapping the great white shark that he has been after for at least a decade. Refusing to let anyone else catch the "Great Satan", Jeffry enters the fifth tournament to retrieve his longtime nemesis from J6's clutches.
 * The Big Bad of The Darkness video game (if you don't count the Darkness itself) is a mob boss named Paulie "Kill The Children Too" Franchetti.
 * Parodied in Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1, when.
 * In Bioshock  threatens to kill all the rescued Little Sisters: "When you're cold and stiff, I'm going over to Mother Goose's house, and I'm going to take it apart, piece-by-piece and brat-by-brat. Consider it your legacy."
 * The sniper from Warcraft 3 will, if you click enough, say "I shot the sheriff...and the deputy...and your wee doggy too!
 * Used in, of all things, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, where the Big Bad in order to make absolutely sure that Layton will pursue him. The irony is that Layton, being Layton, would have gone after him anyway -- all this trick did was make him mad.
 * In Jade Empire's backstory, the Emperor punished by ordering the Lotus Assassins to kill his family.
 * In the Champion mission of Assassin's Creed Revelations, you initially have to defend a printer from the eponymous Templar. In the second part, the Champion goes after the printer's father instead.

Web Comics
"Hinjo: Nobody invades my city -- and absolutely NOBODY HURTS MY DOG!!!"
 * In Crimson Dark, Abraham Mensk makes this threat after losing a battle to Vaegyr Ward. Since Mensk is a loose cannon sociopath Vaegyr calmly orders the destruction of Mensk's ship. Unfortunately, Mensk is part a really large organization of revenge minded Space Pirates.
 * In Juathuur, Sojueilo kills Rowasu's team-mate. He swears to kill all of Sojueilo's team, finishing with Sojueilo herself.
 * Order of the Stick
 * Mentioned by name by Haley when she chastised Belkar for killing a prospective recurring villain.
 * From page 453:


 * Megatokyo invokes this trope word for word when Piro is playing a Harvest Moon game.
 * Exterminatus Now: When Rogue and Lothar finally come to blows, Lothar tells Rogue he'll have his village destroyed after he kills him.
 * Axe Cop advises people how to defy this when they become crime fighters (which he recommends as the ideal career) -- "Your family should hide in the bushes outside your house with guns every night. Because bad guys are always trying to kidnap your family if you are a crime fighter."

Web Original

 * In Sailor Nothing,

Western Animation
"Terry: "DON'T. TOUCH. MY. DOG!!""
 * The Powerpuff Girls Movie: After accidentally helping Mojo Jojo take over Townsville, the girls are too afraid, confused, and angry to return even though they can hear the people's cries for help... until Mojo goes after The Professor, and they return to kick butt and save him.
 * This one of several things that consistently provokes the Avatar State in the normally sweet and pacifist Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
 * In the first of season two, some unnamed Earth Kingdom general tries to provoke Avatar State by sinking Katara in rock.
 * Bad idea...
 * Poor Appa.
 * Do NOT threaten Aquaman's toddler son. Just... don't.
 * In the Ben 10 episode Ken 10, Kevin Levin stomps Ken's electronic dog-thing, just to provoke the kid into attacking him.
 * In an episode of Cartoon Planet, Zorak is forced by Space Ghost to give Brak lessons on being evil. He does this by telling him to threaten Space Ghost "and your little dog, too". Brak objects to the notion of harming Space Ghost's (non-existent) dog and asks him to blast Zorak, to which Space Ghost happily complies.
 * On Phineas and Ferb, you should never threaten the lives of Perry the Platypus' owners in front of him, even accidentally. Dr. Doofenshmirtz learns this the hard way.
 * In one episode of Batman Beyond, Terry is fighting a mutated Dr. Cuvier, and Ace, Bruce's pet Great Dane, is also present. Now, the two have had a turbulent relationship so far, but when Terry gets hit, Ace rushes in to fight off the monster, only for the monster to wrap its tentacles around Ace and tries to do him in. And that's when Terry got pissed.


 * In the final episode of Superman: The Animated Series, Superman gives Darkseid an And This Is For punch for Dan Turpin, whom Darkseid murdered at the end of his foiled invasion of Earth. Darkseid responds by claiming that "Had I known one human's death would pain you so, I would have killed more." When Darkseid gets the upper hand in their fight right after this, he adds "And kill more I shall! Carry that with you to oblivion, Superman!"