Hitman with a Heart: Difference between revisions

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* The two main ladies of ''[[Noir (anime)|Noir]]'', Kirika and Mireille, pick and choose which assignments they'll take; nevertheless it's shown that this takes a heavy toll on at least one of them spiritually; so the other suggests that they'll "look for the light" in the last episode.

* ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'' follows a team of four of these.

 

 

* ''[[Hitman (Comic Book)|Hitman]]'' (natch) features a number of assassins of varying degrees of callousness. The star of the book only kills people whom he regards as "deserving it" (ie. Mafia dons, super-criminals etc), although characters do point out the stupidity of this from time to time. He was also sick on Batman's boots once, which is awesome. The hero's best friend only acts the same for the sake of the friendship.

* Kev Hawkins, ex-SAS trooper and current assassin/dirty tricks man for the British Government, is portrayed as a colossally messed up loser who just happens to be rather good at killing people. He first appeared in the [[Comic Book]] ''[[The Authority]]''. A major plot point Kev wondering 'What if they order me to kill someone innocent'?

* In the [[Grant Morrison]] run on ''[[Animal Man]]'', Mirror Master drew the line at killing a mother and her children and helped the bereaved take revenge when someone else lacked the same scruples.

 

 

* In ''[[Grosse Pointe Blank]]'', the Hitman with a Heart lead turns down a French government commission to blow up a Greenpeace boat by saying, "No way-I have scruples." That the French [[wikipedia:Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior|did this in real life]] (with their own agents, not a hitman) makes this line a joke, but also a reference to the somewhat thin line between assassins and terrorists. Indeed, one of the film's villains, hired to assassinate the protagonist is mentioned as being a former member of a violent Basque separatist group.

* ''The Matador'' stars Pierce Brosnan as a lonely, damaged hitman who's starting to lose his edge.

 

 

* Vlad Taltos of Steven Brust's ''[[Taltos]]'' series. Also, his wife Cawti, whom he met when she killed him (temporarily).

* Rild-Sugata in [[Roger Zelazny]]'s ''[[Lord of Light]]'', who became a follower (or even the follower) of his original target.

***As it happens he also kills, maims and (possibly) tortures pimps for fun to a degree unusual in a series where [[Pay Evil Unto Evil|abusing pimps]] is a running gag. He clearly has a [[Berserk Button|personal grudge]] against them for the way they treat their slaves, and one might wonder if there is something untold in his [[Backstory]] to account for it.

 

 

* On ''[[General Hospital]]'' the romantic male lead that all the women think is the bestest father/friend/lover ever is Jason Morgan the brain-damaged hitman. He's an unironic [[Marty Stu]].

 

 

 

* Altair of ''[[Assassin's Creed]]''.

* The two main characters of [[Rail Shooter]] arcade game ''Cooper's Nine''.

* Agent 47 from the ''[[Hitman]]'' series does not kill innocents unless absolutely required, such as when he kills a postman in one mission of Blood Money because the package he was delivering was Code Red, and in the last mission when he {{spoiler|kills a priest and reporter for knowing too much about him}}. Otherwise, 47 fits this trope perfectly, the storyline and game discourage it, and any other bloodshed is left up to the player.

* Jaffar from ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' 7, who defrosts thanks to the friendship (and love, if you support them to A level) of his boss's daughter, Nino.

** Also, Volke, From ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' 9 and 10, counts.

* Depending on how you play, the [[Player Character]] can be one of these in the [[Elder Scrolls|Dark brotherhood quest]] line as several quests allow (or encourage) you to not kill certain people.

* Nathyrra's backstory in [[Neverwinter Nights|Hordes of the Underdark]] paints her as one.

* Thane Krios from ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''. [[Warrior Poet]], [[Religious Bruiser]], optional romance for a female Shepard...and an extremely good assassin who viewed his body as a tool for his employers, with no more independent morality than Shepard's gun. Regardless, this guy is [[The Atoner]], and even mentions atoning for his sins several times.

** It's worth mentioning the sin that seems to be bothering him the most is not having been fast enough in his last contract to prevent [[Innocent Bystander|innocents]] from being killed by his target's [[Mook]]s.

* The [[Bounty Hunter]] of [[Star Wars: The Old Republic]] can be played as this, a [[Consummate Professional]], or a [[Psycho for Hire]], depending on the choices of the player. Light side bounty hunters will try to minimize violence and sometimes end up sparing their marks, while Dark Side Bounty Hunters sometimes go out of their way to be as sadistic as possible, even when their contract doesn't call for it.

 

 

* The robot X9 from ''[[Samurai Jack]]'', unlike the other robots of the X's series, he has a heart due to a emotion's chip installed in his brain, in fact he was so sympathetic to the audience that his death against Jack was one of the saddest moments of the series.

* [[Heroic Sociopath|Brock Samson]] on ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' was trained as a [[Career Killers|deadly, omnicompetent super-agent]], but his mentor impressed upon him a strict rule against killing women or children. He also appears to care for his charge's children even more than [[Jerkass|Dr. Venture]] does himself. But that last bit is not the least bit difficult to achieve.

 

* ''[[Dead Winter]]'': Monday doesn't show off his sympathetic side very often, but he does [[Pet the Dog]] a few times.

 

 

* [[Dorf Quest]] features Goldmoon, the head of thieves' guild, who only accepts jobs against evil and corrupt. Thanks to her principles, her guild is more or less divided into two: Those who share her views, and those who'd like to kill and replace her for more lucrative jobs.

* [[Behind the Veil]] features Jack Raven, a former assassin who, after being confronted with the ramifications of some of his hits decided to only accept contracts on those people who he felt were more evil than he was.