Genocide Dilemma/Playing With
Basic Trope: The heroes hesitate on whether or not to wipe out an Always Chaotic Evil race.
- Straight: Maxine is a demon slayer who finds a MacGuffin that will allow her to wipe out the demons once and for all, but she's all too aware of the moral ramifications of doing so.
- Exaggerated: Maxine crushes an anthill. As soon as he sees this, he crosses the Despair Event Horizon.
- Downplayed: There are three people in a species, all complete monsters, and he has a way to kill them, so Maxine is slightly saddened.
- Justified: Maxine has been warned against becoming She Who Fights Monsters.
- Inverted: Would Be Rude to Say Genocide
- Subverted: ???
- Double Subverted: ???
- Parodied: The demons are actually corrupted human souls, and "killing" them would in fact be purifying them and allowing them to go to Heaven. Maxine is aware of this, but still wangsts about how she'd be crossing the Moral Event Horizon.
- Deconstructed: Lucas calls Maxine out on her hypocrisy for hunting demons but being unwilling to destroy them as a race. This leaves Maxine with two choices: either use the MacGuffin and bear the moral consequences, or stop fighting and sit at home drowning her sorrows while the Legions of Hell roam the earth.
- Reconstructed: ???
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Guilt-Free Extermination War
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: "If I destroy the demons, will I be any better than them?"
- Invoked: One of the demons gives Maxine a Not So Different speech just as she's about to use the MacGuffin.
- Exploited: While Maxine is distracted, one of the demons sneaks past it and uses it to wipe out his species.
- Defied: "It's my duty to defend humanity. I'm going through with this."
- Discussed: "Look, we've already tried reasoning with them. If we don't do this, we might as well be taking their side." "I know, but that doesn't make it any easier."
- Conversed: ???
- Played For Laughs: Maxine agonises over whether or not to wash her hands with antibacterial soap, since she sees it as mass murder.
- Played For Drama: After much hesitation, Maxine activates the MacGuffin and kills all the demons. She then decides "there's one last demon I need to deal with", goes away and turns her gun on herself.
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