Kill Me Now or Forever Stay Your Hand: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Trigun]]'': The manga versions of Vash and Wolfwood have a moment like this, where they're having a fairly friendly moment, Wolfwood stares a Vash's back and thinks, ''he's open, I could kill him right now;'' the motivation being that Vash is Knives' twin brother and if Knives by ''himself'' is a threat, {{spoiler|and Knives' orders to him as Chapel were to protect Vash, and if the [[Big Bad]] wants him protected,}} well... And he doesn't. And then Vash looks around at him, one of those really sad smiles he does, and Wolfwood sort of smiles and thinks Vash knew exactly what he was thinking. They're kind of messed-up for best friends.

* In ''[[Gundam Seed]]'', Lacus combines this with [[Full Name Ultimatum]]. It was probably Athrun's last chance to keep her as a fiancée despite their parents having now turned against an [[Arranged Marriage]] between them.

== Films ==

* Delivered by Mal in ''[[Serenity]]'' trying to talk down a psychotic River, only to be rapidly rescinded when she cocks the gun she's holding in reply.

* Joker in ''[[Dark Knight]]'' confronts the newly emerged Two-Face and when threatened with a gun, ''presses his head to the muzzle''. It works only because {{spoiler|Dent resorts to his trademark coin}}, but Joker actually approves of that.

== Literature ==

* In [[Dune|Dune Messiah]], the second Dune book, Duncan Idaho comes back to life with the help of [[Science Is Bad|magical Tleilaxu scientists]] who brainwash him to kill Paul-Muad'Dib. Paul knows this, and deliberately gives Idaho a chance near the end of the book to kill him. {{spoiler|Idaho snaps out of his brainwashing and lets Paul live, regaining his memories from before death in the process.}}

** In the sequel "God Emperor of Dune", {{spoiler|this has become the ''standard'' method used to awaken the memories of Duncan Idaho's series of clones}}

* In Jim Butcher's [[Dresden Files]] novel ''Small Favor'', when Nicodemus points out to Harry that they don't trust him, Harry demands that Michael speak to him alone, and has him draw his sword. Whereupon Harry gets the sword to point at his throat and demands his trust. He convinces him sufficiently that Michael points out the evidence that his mind's been tampered with, and when Harry reacts, carefully tends him.

* In [[Andre Norton]]'s ''The Beast Master'', Hosteen has to persuade an alien that a spaceship, landing in a forbidden area, is not a human ship but that of their enemies. He concludes by giving him a knife and telling it to drive it home if he doesn't believe him.

** And it is Judas who comes to him during the eponymous temptation and confronts him for having shirked his duty to the world in favor of a simple life with a loving family and children.

* The short short [http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/velez/LAS100/tellez.htm "Just Lather, That's All"] by Hernando Téllez, in which a barber in Colombia during [[wikipedia:La Violencia|La Violencia]] has a leader of a guerilla group come to him for a shave, apparently not realizing he's an enemy, and vacillates between just doing his job and slashing the man's throat while he has him in the chair. He recalls all the people the captain has had murdered and mutilated and listens to him talk about what they plan to do to the ones they've recently captured, but ultimately decides he can't kill him and just finishes shaving him. The captain thanks him, pays him, and pauses before leaving to say, "They told me that you'd kill me. I came to find out. But killing isn't easy. You can take my word for it."

== Live-Action TV ==

* In the season 2 finale of ''[[Warehouse 13]]'', Myka uses this tactic to talk {{spoiler|H. G. Wells}} down from her world-destroying plan.

* In ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' prequel book "[[Start of Darkness]]", {{spoiler|Xykon to Redcloak}} at the end, is an incredibly dark and tear-jerking version that involves {{spoiler|Xykon}} betting on {{spoiler|Redcloak killing his own brother}}, with the twist that {{spoiler|Xykon}} was never in any danger to begin with, but just wanted to make sure {{spoiler|Redcloak}} would actually {{spoiler|disintegrate his own brother}} for {{spoiler|Xykon}}'s (or {{spoiler|"the plan's"}}) sake.

* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' does not have characters ''this'' dramatic, but [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-01-02 that's where AI trust issues usually end up].

== Western Animation ==

* On [[The Venture Brothers]], Sergeant Hatred uses this as a last ditch attempt to win Hank's respect and loyalty. Of course, Hank was simply being a typical rebellious teenager and had no interest in killing him, but that didn't stop Hatred from turning the scene into a full-blown, deadly serious [[Large Ham|melodramatic]] affair.

== Real Life ==

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]

[[Category:Hero Tropes]]

[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]

[[Category:Redemption Tropes]]