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Due to [[Plot Armor]] (except in case of a [[Sacrificial Lion]]), attempts to assassinate a main character hardly ever succeed.
The assassin may be killed by his target, have poisoned himself before the mission, commit suicide, [[You Have Failed Me|be executed by his leader or organisation]] (or alternatively [[Contract
A character can evolve into a real 'assassin outclasser' when recurrent assassination attempts fail, which makes the character in question even more cautious, which makes the failure of more assassination attempts even more likely. But such can only happen if the majority of assassins were defeated by the target him/her/itself (and not by a bodyguard or similar), since this title demands that the target defeat - "outclass" - the assassins. The trope itself, however, is just about assassination attempts failing because of the target (like in [[Tales of the Otori]]) or some "protector" (see [[
Sometimes, this a running gag. In many cases, that situation leads to a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] or "[[Who's Laughing Now?]]" for the assassin's target, but sometimes it can horribly fail, when the lucky streak breaks and the target cannot defend themselves sufficiently anymore, either because of [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil|further, much more skilled]] assassins that were sent or because the target became overly self-confident and careless after outclassing various assassins.
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Killing an Assassin Outclasser usually is a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for the assassin. It will often be a [[Rasputinian Death]], since these people are... not easy to kill.
If the assassin refuses to finish the job instead of failing or is [[Talking the Monster
{{deathtrope}}
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* Hilariously, the Assassin class servants, ''named Assassin'', have a terrible track record.
* In ''[[Berserk]]'', anyone who tries to kill {{spoiler|Griffith}} will die. Period.
* Reima sends a bunch of assassins after Fuga in ''[[Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin]]'' after he runs away from home. Thanks to his own ability and Riki's help, Fuga gets away relatively unscathed.
* ''[[Outlaw Star]]'' had a guy who was a specialist in assassinations for the Anten Seven. He was assigned to kill Gene while Gene was staying at a local resort. The guy disguised himself as a tourist in an effort to get close to Gene, but kept getting derailed by accidents.
** This also happened with Suzuka. She spent her introductory episode trying to kill Gene's friend and financier, only to let up and join him until such time as her employer was bankrupted by said friend.
* In ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'', Farfarello holds the honor of being Weiss' only known target to completely escape death. It reaches [[Karma Houdini]] levels when you sit back and realize he's murdered two teenage girls (both of whom were love interests for main characters), his own mother, tortured countless religious men, and actually has the happiest ending in the series: he settles down with the woman he loves and only ever cameos again.
* In ''[[
** Ace used to try and murder Whitebeard whenever he saw the chance. Judging from the flashback examples, Ace never managed to cut even a hair on his head.
* Bernard Wiseman tries to fell the eponymous Gundam in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0080 War in The Pocket]]'', and it looked like he'd be successful too before he was impaled by the Gundam in battle. The Gundam didn't get away without losing an arm, its head, and a good chunk of the torso though.
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** Not only is he unkillable, but Vimes provides a unique opportunity for the Assassin's Guild. Unlike the Patrician, who tends to make sure [[Cessation of Existence|Nothing]] [[Unusual Euphemism|happens]] to people who make attempts on his life, Vimes tends towards relatively nonlethal measures of self defense, provided his [[Berserk Button|family is not targeted]]. Thus, the Assassins use him for a training exercise... in ''humility''. Indeed, Vimes seems to take a perverse pleasure in [[Properly Paranoid|booby-trapping his home]].
** Also, in ''Thud!'', some religiously fanatic Dwarves try to attack his family: One of them gets roasted by ''twenty six'' dragons after his flamethrower utterly fails to harm his target, one is stabbed by [[Battle Butler|Willikins]] and one is knocked out and dies from poison he took before.
** Also from ''[[
** In ''[[Discworld
** Also, Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully, who by virtue of his position is a prime target for [[Klingon Promotion]]. He rarely kills attempted assassins, but always at least breaks a limb. Much like Vetinari and Vimes, the other wizards realized it was simply too much trouble to try and kill him and have since largely given up the "Pointy Shoes" tradition.
** Moist von Lipwig in ''Making Money'' discovers another side to the Assassins and might have finessed them into keeping him alive. He is under a suspended Guild contract that will only be activated if he fails to keep the dog Mr Fusspot alive and healthy. If the dog, who has become chairman of the Royal Bank and thus a highly important player of the game, dies, so does Moist. Therefore to allow Moist to keep the dog alive and to allow a Guild member a chance to earn the money if he doesn't, Moist - and dog - need to be bodyguarded and kept alive by the Guild.... and this dog is politically important, don't forget...
* Another Pratchett example: This is a great part of ''[[
** [[Fridge Horror|Doesn't that mean he's effectively murdering]] [[Alternate Universe]] [[Fridge Horror|versions of himself who otherwise would have survived?]]
* Steven Brust's ''[[Dragaera]]'' novel ''Yendi''. During a turf war Vlad Taltos survives multiple assassination attempts. He finally realizes that he shouldn't have been able to survive them that easily and realizes that there's something deeper going on.
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* In [[Amanda Downum]]'s ''[[The Bone Palace]]'', Savedra, the Crown Prince's transsexual mistress, repeatedly dispatches assassins sent to kill her, the Prince, or for that matter his wife. Not that either of them is that defenseless either, especially the rather Amazonian warrior Princess.
* In Lynn Abbey's ''Beneath the Web'', after ''many'' failed attempts, the assassins' guild declares [[Badass|Prince Rinchen sorRodion]] too difficult to kill, and refuses to take any more contracts on him.
* In ''[[
* Eugenides from [[The
== Live Action TV ==
* Done in an episode of ''[[
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== Video Games ==
* In ''[[
* Sissel's first few jobs in ''[[Ghost Trick]]'' are to protect Lynne and her associates from blue-skinned assassins. In some instances they actually succeed, but Sissel goes back and changes events to thwart them.
* ''[[
* Kaguya from ''[[
* Zevran in ''[[
* In ''[[Mafia:
* ''[[The Ship]]'', what with the objective of the game being to assassinate other players. Killing innocent NPCs or players whom are not your current target penalizes your score, but (if you can figure out who it is) you are free to kill your own assassin. And take his wallet.
* [[
* When you first meet Sheena in ''[[
* Failing to assassinate someone in the ''[[Total War]]'' games will often lead to the target developing paranoia and becoming even harder to assassinate. Due to [[Artificial Stupidity]] the AI may sometimes try to serially assassinate your most valuable general, who only becomes better and better at outclassing the more they try.
** Which can be funny moments in there own [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMlu7ZleclI 18 seconds into this shogun 2 clip.]
* In ''[[
* A bunch of assassins (players) set loose on one another is the entire premise of the multiplayer element in the ''[[
* Parodied in ''[[
* ''[[Video Game/Hitman|Hitman]]: Blood Money'' features a mission where the player character 47 must locate three other assassins before they can kill their target.
* In the "Tribunal" expansion pack to ''[[
* In ''[[Tropico]] 3'' and ''4'', one possible random event is an assassin being sent after El Presidente; the player can choose to hide in their mansion for several months until the assassin gets bored and leaves, bribe the assassin to leave, attempt to arrest the assassin with the [[Secret Police]], or hire an even better assassin to assassinate the assassin before he can assassinate you.
* [[Ace Attorney]] Investigations 2 plays with this trope. The first case features an assassination attempt on a foreign presedent, which fails. {{spoiler|But it turns out to have all been staged. The president was trying to Invoke this trope in a desperate attempt to salvage his declining popularity.}}
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== Web Comics ==
* The Hegemonic Brute of the Alpha session in ''[[
== Western Animation ==
* Brock Samson in ''[[
* In ''[[
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