In Love with the Mark: Difference between revisions

At first he'll make increasingly implausible excuses to his superiors at the [[Murder, Inc.|assassin's guild]] to [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones|justify not killing]] his [[Love Interest]], even [[I Was Just Passing Through|protecting her from rival hitmen]] until ultimately they decide he's gone rogue and put a [[Contract On the Hitman]]. Interestingly, whenever this happens the hitman was usually going to be betrayed anyway either by the client or his organization, and [[Heel Face Turn|the defection]] quite literally [[Redemption Earns Life|saves his life.]]

The former target cum [[Love Interest]] will of course be ''really'' freaked out [[Third -Act Misunderstanding|once she finds out]] the man she loves wanted to kill her not days ago, but usually rolls with it surprisingly well and trusts the hitman with her life implicitly. A weird sort of [[Stockholm Syndrome]] can be said to affect both: though their love is genuine, the situation is eerily similar. It seems the old assassin's maxim "Don't get involved with the mark, it can get messy" is putting it mildly.

Another [[Moral Dilemma]] facing the [[Hitman With a Heart]] is just what exactly to do vis-a-vis his [[What Measure Is a Mook?|former colleagues]] and innocents. Now that he's essentially done a [[Gender Flip|Gender Flipped]] [[High Heel Face Turn]] into at least being an [[Anti -Hero]], he can't just kill anyone he pleases. The [[Love Interest]] usually insists on [[Morality Chain|holding him to a more moral standard]], and only killing those who attack them or betrayed them.

{{examples|Examples:}}

* In ''[[Risky Safety (Anime)|Risky Safety]],'' the ''oni'' woman Kade was sent to assassinate one of the Momotaro men. He sensed her attack, blocked it...and then they saw each others' faces and fell in love. [[Star -Crossed Lovers|Much to their respective armies' dismay.]]

* The parents' backstory in ''[[Spy Kids]]''. They were secret agents working for different countries, were assigned to "take each other out," fell in love, got married, settled down, had kids, got kidnapped by a [[Depraved Kids' Show Host]]...You know, normal parent stuff.

** And from Blazing Sword (7), we've got Jaffar and Nino. A catch here is that they're both assassins in the organization now run by the [[Big Bad]]-- and are sent to assassinate the Prince of Bern, Zephiel (a hit put out by the Prince's [[Kick the Dog|Fox-kicking]] Bastard of a Father). However, the organization can't exactly get away with killing someone that important... so [[Evil Matriarch|So]][[Complete Monster|nia]] order [[Defrosting Ice Queen|the up-to-that-point completely heartless]] [[Tyke Bomb|Jaffar]] to kill ''her own daughter'' [[Token Mini -Moe|Nino]] as a second target, apparently unaware that [[Florence Nightingale Effect|Nino had actually saved Jaffar's life in the recent past]]. Needless to say, that didn't go over well in more ways than 1. Ultimately, this leads to a double [[Heel Face Turn]] and if they get an A-Support, they'll end up married (Although, [[Doomed By Canon|neither lives much longer after the game, sadly]].)