Do with Him as You Will/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: Hero hands the villain over to the villain's former victims.

  • Straight: Hiro and his friends have just ousted the corrupt official Iwan Tumuchs. Though he could easily execute Iwan himself, Hiro chooses to spare his life... and hand him over to Debora and her family, whom Iwan had tormented.
  • Exaggerated:
    • After breaking Iwan's stranglehold on the town, Hiro turns him over to the mob forming in the main square.
    • The Drifter visits one town after another, defeating any bad guys he finds. He never kills anyone himself, just hands them over to the same people they wronged and leaves...
  • Justified: Hiro and his party weren't as personally affected by Iwan's crimes, and feel his victims have the right to decide his fate.
  • Inverted: Hiro stops an angry mob from killing Iwan... because he wants the pleasure of killing him personally.
  • Subverted: Hiro hands Iwan over to Debora and her family, expecting them to kill him for how he treated them in the past. Debora instead declares that "We're better than him. We won't stoop that low."
  • Double Subverted: Upon hearing this, Iwan taunts their inability to act until her sister steps in and skewers him, much to his shock.
  • Parodied: ???
  • Deconstructed: Hiro does this to dodge any thoughts of If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him, while still getting to enjoy seeing people like Iwan punished. Marcy eventually notices and calls him on this.
  • Reconstructed: Hiro points out that leaving Iwan at the mercy of those he oppressed is a far more fitting end than a random stranger killing him.
  • Zig Zagged: Hiro hands Iwan to Debora and her family, claiming that as his victims, they should be able to be the ones deciding his fate. However, Debora hands Iwan back to Hiro, claiming that as his victor, he should be able to be the one deciding his fate. This goes on until Hiro accidentally throws Iwan to a nearby mob, who proceed to murder Iwan in a horrible and embarassing way.
  • Averted: Hiro always kills the villains himself when he gets the chance.
  • Enforced: "We don't want to portray Hiro as a cold-blooded murderer, since the fans will get the wrong idea. I know! Let's have him hand Iwan over the Debora's family when he's done with him!"
  • Lampshaded: ???
  • Invoked: See Deconstructed.
  • Exploited: Iwan pretended to be powerless so that Hiro would hand him over to Debora's family, where he would finish the whole masscare.
  • Defied: Hiro refuses to hand Iwan over to "mob justice," either killing him outright or throwing him in jail, away from those he wronged.
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: ???
  • Played For Laughs: Iwan's victims condemn him to a Fate Worse Than Death: an involuntary makeover, cutting off his hair!
  • Played For Drama:
    • After being violently disarmed, Iwan tries to flee. However, Hiro and his companions deliberately herd him towards the waiting mob.
    • Altenatively, Deborah's evil father kills Iwan himself, to show how dangerous he is.

Back to Do with Him as You Will.