Guilt-Free Extermination War: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Either we spread and wipe out the Bugs, or they spread and wipe us out - because both races are tough and smart and want the same real estate."''|'''Juan "Johnny" Rico''', ''[[Starship Troopers (novel)|Starship Troopers]]''}}

This is when ''both sides'' have '''no issues''' in trying to destroy the other side, and the only way that the war will end is with one side's destruction. Peace is not an option, and the only end is when the other side is destroyed entirely and there are no survivors. It may not even be a war: it may just be a natural enemy that is a constant danger to the [[Heroes]], like the [[Zombie Apocalypse]]. Don't expect [[An Aesop]] or musing about how war is terrible or [[The Hero]] is [[He Who Fights Monsters|becoming like their enemies]]. There won't be an [[Genocide Dilemma|agonizing decision about whether or not it's okay]] to [[Curb Stomp Battle|decimate enemy forces if the chance arises]]. These enemies aren't just okay to kill individually like [[What Measure Is a Mook?|Mooks]], these enemies are okay to '''exterminate''' in their entirety. However, one side keeping the other around as [[I'm a Humanitarian|food]] or [[Face Full of Alien Wingwong|nurseries]] fits in as well.

== Comics[[Comic Books]] ==

* In the ''[[Metabarons Universe]]'', humanity is threatened by an alien invasion. Rather than waste resources fighting a war, they agree to a battle between two champions. The loser commits "immediate racial suicide.". This is perfectly in keeping with the ''Metabarons'' storyline, where everything is cranked [[Up to Eleven]].

== [[Film]] ==

** The US President actually does probe for peace even after they destroy every major city on Earth, with an alien that had just slaughtered a team of scientists no less; the response was a [[Mind Rape]] that would have killed him if the alien wasn't shot, and it showed him that their entire civilization is based upon this, moving from one world to another, wiping out the natives, using up all the resources, and then moving on to the next planet to repeat.

* ''[[Old MansMan's War]]'' by John Scalzi initially presents humanity in a constant state of war with other species for colonies, using a similar justification to that of [[Starship Troopers (novel)|Starship Troopers]] (one of Scalzi's inspirations) in that "this galaxy ain't big enough for the two of us". But {{spoiler|it is subverted in later books by the Conclave}}.

* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'': the humans and elves vs the armies of Mordor. The closing section of ''[[The Hobbit]]'' talks quite pleasantly about the goblins being hunted into extinction in the Misty Mountains, without any hint that anyone ''could'' have a problem with this.

* [[The Bible]] is the [[Ur Example]], as the Hebrews are ordered by [[God]] to displace and destroy the Canaanite people. This is supposed to be okay because they practice child sacrifice and temple prostitution, and also [[Because Destiny Says So|because the '"curse of Canaan'"]] [[Fate and Prophecy Tropes|says it will happen]]. It's up to the reader whether this is [[Values Dissonance]] or not.

* The Martians in ''[[The War of the Worlds (novel)|The War of the Worlds]]'' have this attitude toward humanity; the humans are too busy being terrified and/or dying to return the sentiment.

* The humans on [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|the ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'']], for the most part, believe this since the Cylons wiped out 99.99999% in the pilot. They will frequently torture and kill captured Cylons because they're "[[Ridiculously-Human Robots|just machines]]" and don't really feel pain. People who object are typically just written off as incredibly naive or crazy. {{spoiler|During the series, however, this attitude decreases to the point where the humans and some rebel Cylons form an alliance against the rest of the Cylons}}.

** Tyranids exist to eat, breed and absorb the best characteristics of every species that they can get their claws on—only characteristics that facilitate those three imperatives, of course.

* [[Dungeons and& Dragons]] has the [[Evil vs. Evil|Blood War]] between the Lawful Evil devils/baatezu and the Chaotic Evil demons/tanar'ri, it's been raging for milleniamillennia and is unlikely to end until and unless one or both sides gets totally exterminated. Which is fortunate for everybody else because the fiends could probably wipe out the celestials and everybody else in the multiverse if they weren't so busy fighting each other.

** In general, there's a standing order in [[The Federation|Council Space]] that all [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot|AIs are to be terminated on sight]]. The exceptions are those which are authorized by controversial research companies such as Synthetic Insights. Knowing that every organic in the galaxy is united to kill them without a second thought, many synthetic creatures (such as the geth) shoot first and ask questions later.

* ''[[StarcraftStarCraft]]'': the [[Horde of Alien Locusts|Zerg]] are a race burdened with a hard-coded biological imperative, instilled by the Xel'Naga, to assimilate and destroy other species. The absolute best that could possibly be done short of true extermination is destroying the Overmind to reduce them to merely ''very'' dangerous animals. {{spoiler|Turned on its head when it turns out the Overmind [[Thanatos Gambit|intentionally got itself killed]] to place Kerrigan as its successor and finally relieve the Zerg of this compulsion, and on top of that they may be the ''only'' thing standing between the other races and an unknown party that will otherwise destroy all life in the galaxy -- the Overmind executed this gambit because otherwise the Zerg would destroy all other life, then be destroyed in turn by this new threat.}}