Genocide Backfire/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: They were supposed to all have been killed off, but one got away.

  • Played Straight: Emperor Gluteus Maximus III has been ruling quite happily over The Empire of Ancient Grome, but one day, his high priest comes to him with news that a powerful leader from Tropestan will overthrow him. Gluteus orders all people from Tropestan to be killed. But Bob manages to survive...and fulfills the prophecy later.
  • Exaggerated: Emperor Gluteus Maximus III has Tropestan carpet-bombed, reducing the entire nation to scorched earth. Then it turns out that an entire Ragtag Bunch of Misfits survived the destruction, and the Emperor has given them all a reason to be very angry with him.
  • Justified: There's very often at least one Guile Hero who manages to save someone in these instances...and then Laser-Guided Karma takes care of the rest.
  • Subverted: Gluteus is sure his armies have destroyed everyone.
  • Double Subverted: But he didn't account for a trader who was away at the time of the siege, or a small child who remained well-hidden...or even his favorite wife.
  • Deconstructed:
    • The person(s) whose people were all killed off may very well want revenge, even if Gluteus Maximus III is no longer alive.
    • Alternatively: The prophecy was invented as part of an Evil Plan by the Evil Chancellor in order to both kill off the hated Tropestanians and remove the obstacle in his way to power in a way that no one would suspect him.
  • Reconstructed: Gluteus Minimus (his son) has ascended the throne, and feels horrible about what his father did. So he makes a formal apology, and enacts laws that ensure that those who did survive are treated better in the future.
  • Parodied: The survivor is Tropey the Wonder Dog, and The Dog Bites Back...literally.
  • Lampshaded: "I thought I killed all of you!"
  • Averted:
  • Enforced: Rule of Drama
  • Invoked: Bob's mother hides him in the wilderness.
  • Defied:
    • Emperor Gluteus Maximus III decides that killing thousands of innocent people is wrong...not to mention a big loss in terms of their taxes and tribute. So he figures that if one of the Tropestanis does stage a coup or something, he'll deal with those individuals then, but isn't going to destroy an entire nation.
    • The soldiers double and triple check every single last one of the huts and houses in Tropestan, the wilderness areas surrounding it, etc, to be sure that no one survives.
  • Discussed:
  • Conversed:
  • Played For Laughs: See "Parodied"
  • Played For Drama: Almost always is.

Now go back to Genocide Backfire, and pray to god that there's no one left.

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