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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Anakin:''' When I got to them, we got into [[Trope Namer|aggressive negotiations.]]
'''Padme:''' Aggressive negotiations? What's that?
'''Anakin:''' Ah, well, it's negotiations [[Dissimile|with a lightsaber]].
|''[[Attack of the Clones|Star Wars: Attack of the Clones]]''}}
The [[Big Bad]] and the Hero meet in peace. Whether the intent is malicious or benign, both sides seem willing to talk it out, at least for now. And anyways, you can't just lop off somebody's head during parley, right? [[Tempting Fate|Eh... right?]]
Apparently not, considering the fact that somebody involved in the parley has just busted out swords, guns, or a [[Humongous Mecha]]. Both sides can pull one of these, though it usually happens when a Mook from one side of the conflict goes to negotiate with the other sides. There are exceptions, however, where many members from both sides participate. In this case, somebody pulling this trope can spark an all-out [[Battle Royale With Cheese]], resulting in a [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]] if the hero was aiming for peace. Villains (or [[Anti
In a series on the cynical end of the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]], a character that does this is either being [[Badass]] for silencing the enemy, or is just being really stupid. Seeing as pulling this trope tends to cause war to break out, there aren't many idealist series with this in them, but characters that do invoke this trope tend to be just incredibly stupid.
Note that, in the long term, regardless of who initiates this trope or why, the main accomplishment will be that the other side simply won't trust them to negotiate in good faith. Which might be good (albeit horrifically immoral) if you can completely wipe out the enemy in this one attack, but will absolutely come back to bite you in the butt later if the enemy has the upper hand.
Contrast and compare with [[Shoot the Messenger]], in which a messenger, who comes in peace, but only to deliver a message, is killed. The two tropes can overlap, as well: if the victim of the invoker of this trope delivers a message and is negotiating, it is both tropes at once.
See Also: [[I Surrender, Suckers]], [[Gunboat Diplomacy]].
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== Anime
* In ''[[
** {{spoiler|And then [[Power Incontinence|unintentionally with Euphemia]].}}
* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]
* {{spoiler|Danzo}} was going to do this in ''[[Naruto]]'', but was interrupted by {{spoiler|Sasuke busting in.}}
== Comic Books ==
* The title characters in the ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'' have had their [[PC
== Comics ==▼
▲* The title characters in the ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'' have had their [[PC|PCs]] do this at least once, while parleying with some orcs. Both Sara and B.A. Felton were ''not'' pleased by this.
* In ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]'' prequel book ''[[Start of Darkness]]'', we see that this is how The Dark One ultimately met his end: he was murdered while attempting to negotiate a peace settlement with the human, dwarven, and elven kings. Rather than ending the war, it made things ''far'' worse, as the goblins swarmed upon their enemies, inflicting huge losses in vengeance for their fallen warlord.▼
* In the ''[[Sinister Dexter]]'' story "The Why-Shaped Cut", leaders of the global criminal syndicates meet in [[Truce Zone|The Reef]] to discuss how to divide up [[Mega City|Downlode]] after the war between Senor Apellido and The Mover ends. When John Crash discovers that Carrie Hosanna is planning on betraying the rest of them and seizing Downloder for the Mangapore [[Yakuza]], he starts firing, and all Hell breaks loose.
* ''[[Hagar the Horrible]]''. "Where are you going?", "To make peace with the English." "If you are making peace why do you need all the weapons" "Well we have to negotiate first."▼
== Films -- Live Action ==
* In ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean|Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End]]'', this is played with. One pirate shoots another for questioning the pirate code. However, nothing really major
* In the movie ''[[
{{quote|
'''Leonidas:''' Madness? ''[[Punctuated!
** Based on a [[Real Life]] example, where when Xerxes' father Darius' messenger demands earth and water as tributes, the Spartans tell them to "dig them out themselves." Athenians did the same. Sparta shoved them into a well, Athens off a cliff.
** Later in the movie, Leonidas mentions that he hopes Xerxes is dumb enough to try this, saying that if they assassinate him during parley, all of Greece will go to war. Regicide during parley would prove to all Greeks that the Persians can't be trusted.
* In ''[[The Fifth Element]]'', Korben Dallas negotiates by shooting the leader of the Mangalores, knowing that the rest of them will give in.
{{quote|
'''First Mate:''' Where did he learn to negotiate like that?
'''President:''' [[Deadpan Snarker|I wonder.]] (''glares at General Munro, who looks uncomfortable'') }}
* Inferred to have happened in ''[[Gladiator]]'', as the Roman negotiator is returned headless by the barbarians.
* In the extended ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|Lord of the Rings]]'' films, Aragorn answers the Mouth of Sauron's demands and insinuations by beheading him with Anduril. In the books, he is merely sent off in a rage; in the theatrical cut, the negotiation does not appear at all.
* In ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'', the Trade Federation does this to the Jedi. They escape, however.
{{quote|
** The [[Trope Namer]] is from ''Attack Of The Clones'', as mentioned above. Incidentally, this scene was improvised by Hayden Christensen and [[Natalie Portman]], which explains why the dialogue is less stilted than in the other love scenes. The [[Call Back]] to the scene during the arena battle ("You call this a diplomatic solution?", "No, I call it aggressive negotiations.") was written afterwards.
* ''[[Braveheart]]'': William Wallace kind of does this when he angers the English generals when they are parleying to start the first battle.
** [[Hoist
* ''[[Men in Black (
** Do they skip step
== Literature ==
* In ''[[Halo|Contact Harvest]]'', a nervous Grunt attacks a marine during a diplomatic meeting and {{spoiler|starts the entire Human-Covenant war.}} The "negotiations" involved the Brutes demanding the humans hand over the planet with everything on it. There was not way this was going to end well.
* In one of the ''[[Myth Adventures]]'' books, Skeeve is parleying with the head of the opposing army when suddenly he realises the opposing army has been moving into position to attack him while he's distracted by the peace talk. He complains that this is a breach of protocol, and is informed that yes, it is, but it also works extremely well.
* In ''Mission of Honor'', [[
* There are actually a few examples in the ''[[Bridge Trilogy]]'' by [[
* Obligatory ''[[
** Parodied in ''[[
* The main character of ''[[
** This is also a trait of the Order of the Blackened Denarius, to the point where Dresden only agrees to a meeting with them because he knows it isn't in their best interest to attack him just yet. He arranges to have backup nearby in case he's wrong.
* Invoked but ultimately subverted in ''[[
* The beginning of [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|the new ''Battlestar Galactica'']], there's no actual negotiations at all: the Cylons, after years of not showing up the annual diplomatic meeting, show up and kill everyone with barely a word.
▲== Live Action TV ==
*
** The battlestars would have had a chance, if Baltar hadn't sabotaged most of the ships and insisted on keeping the Vipers in the hangar bays.
* In one episode of ''[[Star Trek:
* One episode of ''[[MacGyver]]'' features the very careful aversion of this trope: Mac acts as a go-between for two groups who recognize the need for peace, but can't be together for more than a few minutes without hurling insults, at the very least. He keeps them apart by putting them in comfortable suites at opposite ends of a skytram, and relays only written materials.
▲== Myths & Religion ==
* In the [[King Arthur]] myth, his final battle with Mordred started this way. Neither side trusted the other, and brought plenty of heavily armed soldiers along to the negotiations. The fighting started when one soldier, bitten by an asp, drew his sword to kill it. Both sides had been warned to expect treachery, and responded immediately. Due to the confusion and disorganization, both sides were essentially wiped out.
▲== Newspaper Comics ==
▲* ''[[Hagar the Horrible]]''. "Where are you going?", "To make peace with the English." "If you are making peace why do you need all the weapons?" "Well, we have to negotiate first."
== Tabletop Games ==
* Can be pretty common in ''[[Rogue Trader]]'' games.
* Quite likely to happen whenever the player characters in any tabletop RPG attempt diplomacy, because there's almost always at least one player who thinks negotiation is boring and would rather have a big fight.
== Video Games ==
* ''[[
* The Renegade-unlock sidequest in ''[[Mass Effect]]'' has Shepard sent to negotiate with a self-styled warlord. Said warlord's negotiation style is to start by insulting Shepard, and then make several increasingly unreasonable demands, and becoming hostile if Shepard even questions the demands. At any point during the "negotiation," Shepard has the option of getting fed up and attacking the warlord{{spoiler|, which was Admiral Hackett's idea in the first place}}.
** Almost all ways of solving problems nonviolently using renegade options, especially in ''[[Mass Effect]] 2'', such as getting past a guard, or having someone reveal information. Sometimes it crosses into [[Badass Boast]] territory.
* Evoked for laughs in ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Suikoden III]]'' opens with uneasy peace negotiations between the Grassland clans and the Zexen Confederacy, with [[The
* ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' weapons sometimes imply this trope as a pun - notably, ''The Negotiator'' rocket launcher, and it's upgraded form, ''The Arbiter''. Said to quickly conclude legal disputes across the galaxy!
* ''[[Mech Commander]]'' has an "honor guard" scene similar to the ''Mercenaries'' example above. Blindingly obvious, since your tactical officer says that [[Tempting Fate|they don't expect any trouble]].
* In the ''[[
* In the the backstory of ''[[Star
* In ''[[Sacrifice]]'', playing Persephone's campaign leads to this as all of her 'homeland assaults' on the other gods start out as diplomacy missions that go sour when the other party tries to kill you. So you have to kill them instead to leave.
== Web Comics ==
* In
{{quote|
'''DM:''' What? You attack him? During parlay? This is the third time you've killed someone during negotiations!
'''Legolas:''' And they keep falling for it! It's hilarious!
'''DM:''' You're supposed to be a king! Can't you at least pretend to be one for a few seconds?
'''Aragorn:''' If I hadn't shot him Legolas would have.
'''Legolas:''' He's right, too. I was just about to announce my attack. }}
* ''[[Darths and Droids]]'': Naturally, Jim is fond of this trope. Although he claims to need a laser blaster to properly negotiate, because the lightsaber's reach isn't good enough.
* ''[[
* In the backstory of ''[[
* In ''[[
▲* In ''[[
== Western Animation ==
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[
{{quote|
'''Megatron:''' "Under normal circumstances, yes." }}
== Real Life ==
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* Considering how often negotiations come at the end of a war, this is a very common trope in real life.
* The Mongols were renown in ancient times for their aversion of this trope; they believed very strongly in Diplomatic Immunity for both sides of the equation, and if they called you out to negotiate that was all they were going to do (for today). The Mongol Empire ended up destroying one of its neighboring civilizations utterly for mistreating a messenger.
* A commentary anecdote attached to ''[[The Art of War]]'' (Chapter III, verse 4) tells how one ruler made the mistake of sending his chief strategist as an envoy to the enemy who had them surrounded. It was a mistake two ways, because the strategist was so rude that he gave the enemy leader an excuse to execute him. Then the message came: "Your staff officer was without propriety. I have beheaded him. If you wish to submit, do so immediately. Otherwise defend yourself." The ruler surrendered, because he'd needed that strategist not just for plans but to stiffen his spine. The enemy leader had '''known''' this would happen.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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