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{{trope}}
{{quote|''Thane seems like the [[Tall, Dark and Handsome|strong]], [[Warrior Poet|sensitive]], [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|murdering]] type. You know those are always great to have around. [[Romance Sidequest|A real cuddler.]]''|'''Joker''', ''[[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 2]]''}}
 
So, let's says there is this guy who happens to be [[Professional Killer|a hitman]]. Best in town. He will usually be an urban legend moving swiftly beneath the concrete jungle, leaving no evidence behind and fulfilling his jobs with the utmost care up to the point of perfection. Mossad? CIA? KGB? Doesn't matter, his targets drop like flies. No job is too hard and there is no one he can't kill. Or is there? For perhaps even this cold hearted killer [[Never Hurt an Innocent|can't bring himself to kill an innocent bystander]] (usually a [[Wouldn't Hurt a Child|kid]]). And not only does he not do his job, but he then turns against his employer to save the life of the very same person he was supposed to kill. This guy we're talking about? He's a [[Title Drop|hitman with a heart]].
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A common trope in a number of dark comedy and action movies is to have a sympathetic [[Career Killers|assassin]] as either the protagonist or a secondary character. Although their entire job is to commit murder for money, the audience is encouraged to sympathize with the character. This is rarely a case of [[Evil Is Cool]], since not only is the assassin presented as a sympathetic human being with some positive traits, he is usually also shown to be rather ''uncool'', being neurotic, reclusive or otherwise damaged.
 
Sometimes the hitman will have a [[Badass Creed|code]] that makes him more easily acceptable by audiences, such as only killing criminals, or [[Never Hurt an Innocent|refusing to kill women and children]], or not going after the family of his targets. He may take pains to make his hits painless, possibly even [[Cradling Their Kill]]. Or he may be saddled with a child or an innocent to protect. Commonly he will have to [[Defector From Decadence|turn on his old employers]] (be they Government types or Mafia dons) after he refuses to perform a certain hit and has to deal with a [[Contract Onon the Hitman]].
 
A blend of [[The Atoner]] and [[Professional Killer]]. Frequently is a [[A Lighter Shade of Grey]]. May result from falling [[In Love Withwith the Mark]]. If this trope comes in the backstory variety, it's a [[Sympathetic Murder Backstory]].
{{examples}}
 
== Anime and Manga ==
* The two main ladies of ''[[Noir (Animeanime)|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.
* Train Heartnet of ''[[Black Cat (Mangamanga)|Black Cat]]'' is this Trope.
* Arguably Bandou from ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' could be counted for this Trope. Despite his intro as a [[Psycho for Hire]] and the other times where he acts the part after, he's not all bad, specially towards [[Shrinking Violet]] Mayu... but he's still one of the biggest [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]] in anime.
* Heero Yuy from ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' is an interesting case; he begins the series as a trained assassin/soldier who resents himself for feeling guilt over killing (and [[Driven to Suicide|repeatedly attempts suicide]]), but [[Character Development|his interactions with the rest of the cast]] lead to him valuing his life and maturing into a confident, compassionate guardian angel.
** According to the manga, {{spoiler|Heero was raised (sorta) by another [[Hitman Withwith a Heart]], Odin Lowe (the assassin of the first Heero Yuy, actually). Lowe's death scene in ''Episode Zero'' says it all.}}
{{quote| {{spoiler|Odin}}: Listen..don't forget what I told you...before we left. It's the last lesson...this old fool can give you. Th-the last few years...we spent together...w-weren't so...bad...}}
* Zabuza Momochi of [[Naruto]] fits this trope, after his [[Morality Pet]] Haku is killed and remains so for approximately five minutes before his [[Redemption Equals Death]].
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* X-23 from the ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' series of books seems to somewhat fit this. Granted she lacks any major moral compass but she still does her best to protect her friends. Wolverine as well, unfortunately he has a code of morals and now that he remembers his past seems racked with guilt.
* [[Deadpool]] is a merc who will gleefully kill his targets while spouting corny one-liners, but he does have standards. In a recent story he plans to draw out his evil clone by publicly threatening to do something he would never do - kill a child.
* In the [[Grant Morrison (Creator)|Grant Morrison]] run on ''[[Animal Man (Comic Book)|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.
 
 
== Films -- Live-Action ==
* In ''[[Grosse Pointe Blank]]'', the [[Hitman Withwith 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.
* Leddo from ''[[The AlzheimersAlzheimer Case (Film)|The Alzheimers Case]]'' refuses to kill a child which gets him into a lot of trouble.
* ''[[Ghost Dog]]: The Way of the Samurai''
* In ''Leon'' (AKA ''[[The Professional]]''), Jean Reno's hitman is almost childlike in his innocence and simplicity. He takes in a young girl after her family is killed by criminals, and has a strict code against killing women or children.
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** The McManus brothers as well, knocking unconscious the wife of one of their victims rather than killing her. They are also not pleased when Rocco wants to kill Smecker, who let them off at the beginning of the film--or when Rocco holds a gun to a priest's head.
* The deeper incarnations of [[James Bond]]. The [[Bond One-Liner]] version doesn't count, though.
* The film version of [[The Bourne Series|Jason Bourne]] is this trope played completely straight, with the added twist of [[Amnesiac Dissonance|amnesia]] ''caused'' by, among other things, his {{spoiler|unwillingness to kill a father in front of his children, which would force him to [[Leave No Witnesses|kill them all]]}}, despite [[Cursed Withwith Awesome|training]] as an assassin and [[Mind Control|conditioning]] for obedience. When he is confronted with that situation, it results in a cognitive dissonance that effectively ''breaks'' his conditioning, resulting in amnesia exacerbated by two almost-lethal gunshot wounds.
* ''You Kill Me'' features Ben Kingsley as a mob hitman with the flaw of alcoholism- in a subversion, he has no moral qualms about killing (he likes it, as it the only thing he's good at) and just wants help with his drinking so he can go back to his job. He does, however, feel guilt because some of his targets died slower and more painfully due to his drinking problem, and tries to make up for it (it was with gift cards, but it's the thought that counts).
* ''[[In Bruges]]'' is about two likeable hitmen dealing with the aftermath of the younger one accidentally {{spoiler|killing a little boy}} during his first hit. The older one is then assigned to off the younger one, but reflexively throws the job when he sees his target about to take his own life in grief. Did I mention it's a dark comedy?
* ''[[The Punisher|Punisher]]: War Zone'' has Frank Castle go through an existential crisis of [[Heroic BSOD]] proportions after killing an undercover FBI agent.
* Robert Rath, the [[Cold War]] veteran killer played by Sylvester Stallone in ''[[Assassins (Filmfilm)|Assassins]]'', as opposed to his antagonist, young up-and-comer Miguel Bain (Antonio Bandaras).
* Lok and O, the rival assassins from ''[[Fulltime Killer]]''. The film starts out like a knock-off of ''Assassins'', justified by the fact that the cinephile Lok purposefully apes the film, but eventually both assassins are revealed to be surprisingly nice guys. The main female character ends up dating both of them.
* Averted in ''[[The Mechanic]]'' (1972), in which the sociopathy of the protagonist (played by Charles Bronson), and his young protege (Jan-Michael Vincent) are highlighted in several ways -- for instance Bronson realises Vincent has what it takes to be his understudy when the latter watches a former girlfriend who's slit her wrists to get his attention bleed over the course of several hours (she lives, but only because they give her the car keys so she can drive herself to the hospital). A more subtle scene is when Bronson is at the hospital, he walks past a young boy with an artificial leg without even a sympathetic glance.
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* A variant in [[Star Trek Forged in Fire]]. Klingon servitor Do'Yoj is tasked with killing the infant Qagh, so as to conceal the shame of his albinism from the Klingon Empire. She refuses to go through with it; she just leaves him in the mountains instead. Of course, she expects this will kill him anyway, but at least her knife isn't tainted with a child's blood.
* Shane {{spoiler|Fortunato}} and Carpenter from Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer's novel ''Agnes and the Hitman''. Shane leaves work at a critical time when his uncle Joey, who he hasn't heard from in a while, calls him home to look after grumpy cook Agnes, who has people gunning for her because {{spoiler|she is likely sitting on a five million dollar fortune}}; he then proceeds to fall in love with her over breakfast, pick up fondant for her, and get her a bridge, all in between taking out the odd assassin who shows up in the middle of the night, beating the crap out of dead-beat mobsters, carrying out an official mission, and {{spoiler|solving and avenging his parents murder}}. Likewise, Carpenter is an {{spoiler|ordained priest who takes his girlfriend out to the movies when she's feeling down, and also officiates said girlfriend's daughter's wedding when the original priest turns out to be a putz.}}
* The huntsman from "[[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (Literaturenovel)|Snow White]]", who is hired by the queen to assassinate the fairest of them all, ultimately can't bring himself to do so. Instead, he kills a boar and lets Snow White go.
* Ajutasutra in [[Belisarius Series]] is a variation of this. He has [[Undying Loyalty]] to Narses the Roman traitor who is sort of his [[Parental Substitute]]. When Narses is ordered to assassinate Rana Sanga's family, he instead orders them hidden and Ajutasutra helps to engineer it. He also, on Narses' orders, tracks down the family of Dadadj Holkar, an official on the opposite side in order to help Narses have a good relation with both sides.
 
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*** Was this before or after she used the dance instructor and then {{spoiler|walked away to let her be killed because Cameron no longer needed her?}}
*** They stole the [[McGuffin|Turk]], they knew who they were. Cameron clearly saw them as a threat or hinderence to the mission.
* After she leaves Moya, Aeryn on ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'' works as one of these for a while. John asks when she became an assassin and she replies "When I found a cause that required it." Later on she says she would have done the killing even without pay, because the person deserved it so much.
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'': Edgar is a [[Super Speed]] assassin, but he has said things like "I've only killed when I've absolutely had to" that imply he doesn't really like what he does. Mixed with some [[Pet the Dog]] moments, this makes him something of an [[Iron Woobie]].
* The titular hero of ''Callan'' played by Edward Woodward, better known as [[The Equalizer]].
* Subverted in an early episode of ''[[Criminal Minds (TV)|Criminal Minds]]''. The hitman felt extremely uncomfortable with killing women... didn't stop him from doing it, however.
* Timon from ''[[Rome]]'', Atia's Jewish servant/bodyguard/hitman, eventually grows a conscience due to the influence of his religious cousin, who moves into town and begins calling him out on his criminal activities and the effect they have on his wife and children. This pays off in causing Atia's sadism to backfire on her; when she kidnaps Servilia and inflicts hours and hours of [[Cold-Blooded Torture]] on her, intending to kill her in the end, she expects Timon to carry it all out without question, but he finally turns on her [[Neck Lift|("I am not an animal! I am not a fucking animal!")]] and lets Servilia go.
* Richard Harrow from ''[[Boardwalk Empire]]'' is a very interesting treatment of this trope. He's a horrifically scarred veteran of [[World War One]] who essentially got [[Facial Horror|half his face blown off]]. Combined with his crushing shyness and awkwardness, this makes him [[The Woobie]] and we feel our heartstrings tugged when he makes friends with Margaret's children and we see his dream of having his face whole again and being in love. Then when he shoots a 12 year old boy during a job or suggests wiping out an entire family in order to make some crooks come out of hiding, we get reminded that his job in the war was being a [[Cold Sniper]], and he still is one at times.
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** Also, Volke, From ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' 9 and 10, counts.
* Blue from [[Assassin Blue]] only kills because he thinks doing so will end the war sooner. However, {{spoiler|he turns on his boss when he realizes he's being sent to kill innocent people.}}
* Mona Sax from ''[[Max Payne (Video Gameseries)|Max Payne]]'' claims not to kill nice guys {{spoiler|going so far as protecting Max when she is supposed to kill him}}, in the sequel she is perhaps a literal example as she {{spoiler|refuses to do kill Max whom she was hired to kill, since she has fallen for him}}.
* 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.
* Tommy in [[Mafia]], to the point that he {{spoiler|lets two marks go because he knows them personally, which comes back to bite him in the ass}}.
* Thane Krios from ''[[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)|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|Mooks]].
* [[Playing Withwith a Trope|Played with]] in ''[[Dragon Age]]'' with Zevran. While he professes to enjoy the art of killing and has no moral qualms with the act, he only took the contract on the [[Player Character]] because he thought the Warden would [[Death Seeker|kill him]]. He really feels tremendous guilt for at least one of his kills. If the player gets to know, he'll find out Zevran's [[Tyke Bomb|training began as a child]], and he was really a glorified slave. He kills because he knows nothing else. A romanced Zevran can be persuaded to give up the lifestyle altogether. The overall impression is that of a broken, damaged man who, while not entirely penitent, at least has some regrets.
** It's revealed that {{spoiler|Leliana's past as a bard also involved assassinations. While she}} and Zevran both admit they enjoyed the killing or at least the "hunt" (with varying degrees of glee), a conversation between them reveals they also made sure to kill their targets as cleanly and quickly as possible.
* The Sniper from ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'', while not especially sympathetic in history, has a family which disapproves of his career choice; he nonetheless loves them dearly. He is enraged at the Administrator when it is revealed she is using his parents as blackmail material. The other assassins have [[Pet the Dog]] moments as well, having done volunteer work as mall santas and given candy to trick or treaters.
* The [[Bounty Hunter]] of [[Star WarstheWars: 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.
 
== Western Animation ==
 
* 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 (Animation)|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.
 
== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Dead Winter (Webcomic)|Dead Winter]]'': Monday doesn't show off his sympathetic side very often, but he does [[Pet the Dog]] a few times.
* ''[[Errant Story]]'': Jon [http://www.errantstory.com/2004-04-05/214 has a soft spot][http://www.errantstory.com/2004-04-07/215 for anything with ovaries].
 
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== Web Original ==
* [[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 (Roleplay)|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.
* Desta T'Res of [[Cerberus Daily News]] is a rather open version of this. She only kills people she thinks deserve to die, generally murderers and slavers. Her employers are generally aware of this.
 
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