And Your Little Dog, Too: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''"I'll get you, my pretty -- [[Trope Namer|and your little dog too!]]"''|'''The Wicked Witch of the West''', ''[[The Wizard of Oz (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''}}

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.

 

 

Sometimes there's a particular reason for this obsession, such as [[Blackmail]], or some other [[An Offer You Can't Refuse|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.

 

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 ==

 

** 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. {{spoiler|And then, his ''dad'' got to off the hollow (now an Arrancar) that killed his wife and the lead's mom.}}

*** Justified as {{spoiler|an [[Invoked Trope]]. [[Batman Gambit|Aizen knew]] that this would turn Ichigo into [[Leeroy Jenkins]] and Soul Society would have to come save his ass.}}

* 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 ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'', to get back at Ran "Aya" Fujimiya for his part in killing their boss, the Schreient girls kidnap his [[Ill Girl|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 [[Obstructive Code of Conduct|pledged not to take human life]]? She says [[The Stoic|"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 '''[[Badass|total]]'''.

 

* A literary example: In ''The Aeneid'', Aeneas' [[The Rival|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.

*** 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 {{spoiler|Skinwalker}} threatens Harry with this.

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Skinwalker''': I will come for you. I will kill you. I will kill your blood, your friends, your beasts. I will kill the flowers in your home and the trees in your tiny fields. I will visit such death upon whatever is yours that your very name will be remembered only in curses and tales of terror.}}}}

* 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 {{spoiler|1=Paul McLanahan}} and abet {{spoiler|Pavel Kazakov's henchwoman}} killing {{spoiler|1=Wendy McLanahan}}.

* Used in, of all things, ''[[Professor Layton and the Unwound Future]]'', where the [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|kidnaps Layton's adopted daughter}} 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 [[Papa Wolf|make him]] ''[[Berserk Button|mad]]''.

* In ''[[Jade Empire]]'''s backstory, the Emperor punished {{spoiler|his traitorous brother Sun Li}} by ordering [[State Sec|the Lotus Assassins]] to kill his family. {{spoiler|The assassin ordered to do so rebelled halfway through and spared Sun Li's daughter.}}

 

== Web Comics ==

** Bad idea...

** Poor Appa.

* In the ''[[Ben 10]]'' episode Ken 10, Kevin Levin stomps Ken's electronic dog-thing, just to provoke the kid into attacking him. {{spoiler|It gets better by the end of the episode, naturally.}}

* In an episode of ''[[Space Ghost Coast to Coast|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.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Evil Gloating]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]