Kill Us Both: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

Sometimes a [[Big Bad]] is bigger and badder than expected and the heroes are unable to take him down by conventional means. One of the heroes may get lucky and restrain the villain, either physically or by trapping the villain's malevolent spirit within their own body, but this presents a problem. At any second the villain may break free from the character's control and continue on in his or her rampage. This is especially problematic if the character restraining the villain is the strongest member of the heroes' team; if the best the ''strongest'' hero can do is mildly inconvenience the villain for a short time, then the ''rest'' of the heroes aren't going to stand much of a chance against the villain once they break free. Sometimes the hero who is doing the restraining will recognize this fact, and from their mouth will issue forth the ominous phrase which heralds the sad solution to this problem:

 

 

{{examples}}

* Mikage from ''[[Jubei-chan]]: Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch''. At one point during her duel with the [[Big Bad]], she holds him down and begs the heroes to run her through. As this is a rather non-serious series that would suffer from having a [[Downer Ending]], the order is refused and the [[Big Bad]] throws her off. In the manga, this was done by undead but friendly Koinosuke, and the heroine ''does'' run them both through. However, Jubei-chan's sword doesn't kill people, but restores them, so Koinosuke becomes fully resurrected.

* Goku's first death in ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', where he grabs Raditz long enough for Piccolo to blast them both.

* Yu-Gi-Oh. Battle City Finals. (At least in the English version. I don't know anything about the original.) Atem vs. Marik's evil(er) side. If Atem defeated him, the real Marik would be trapped in the Shadow Realm. Marik wasn't technically a hero, but Atem had promised his sister that he would save the real Marik. When the real Marik realized that Atem wasn't attacking because he didn't want to break his promise and trap him in the shadow realm, Marik gave a little speech that basically boiled down to an apology and this trope. It was also a Heel Face Turn.

 

* Meggan from Marvel's ''[[Excalibur (Comic Book)|Excalibur]]'' recently did this, and her order was soon reinforced by her husband, Captain Britain, after she told him that refusing to do this would doom the universe. It was a moment of utter nobility from her and this troper is torn between wanting that beautiful, shining moment ("You are Captain Britain. I am your woman. And this, my love, is what I was born to do!") to be her last heroic seconds for all time, and wanting Marvel's [[Death Is Cheap]] policy to kick in after a suitable mourning period.

** As of the "Vampire State" storyline in Captain Britain and MI:13 she's [[Back from the Dead]] after becoming an even greater hero [[Like a Badass Out of Hell|in Hell]]. By 'hero'...She came out completely uncorrupted, and in fact probably made some of the demons rather much nicer.

 

* In one of Sonny Chiba's ''[[Street Fighter]]'' movies, a girl whom he has sold into sexual slavery grabs him and begs her brother to stab the both of them. This tactic doesn't work, though. This example is interesting in that neither Sonny nor any of the other characters are particularly "heroic", but some of them do care deeply about each other.

* The "Pour The Lead!!" moment in ''Alien 3'', when the Charles S. Dutton character Dillon screams at the rest of the prisoners to go ahead with the plan to kill the Alien even though it will mean his own death.

* In "Platoon," the climatic final battle involves the Company's position being over-run by the [[Viet Cong]]. The situation is so desperate, it only ends when the Company Commander (played by Dale Dye) requests "final protective fire," asking bombers to bomb his own position.

 

* In the final ''[[Harry Potter]]'' book, Harry discovers that he himself is the accidental, seventh Horcrux (a part of Voldemort's soul), and accepts the necessity that he face death at the unknowing hands of Voldemort to destroy it.

* In the [[Thursday Next]] book ''Lost in a Good Book'', Spike tells Thursday that he's got a Supreme Evil Being trapped in his skull and the only way to get rid of it is for her to shoot him. Naturally, Thursday refuses - something Spike hadn't expected, as his ''real'' plan was to get Thursday to shoot a blank at him and thereby force the SEB out of his head.

* A variation of the [[Spot the Imposter]] version occurs in ''Digital Knight''. [[Jason Wood]] is in a room with his friend Verne and a werewolf who has assumed Verne's form. Unable to tell them apart by visual observation, Wood shoots them both without prompting: his gun is loaded with silver bullets, which are lethal to werewolves and harmless to vampires such as Verne.

 

* The first season finale of ''[[Supernatural]]'' has John Winchester restraining the demon that has possessed him. Killing him will kill the demon, but in the end Sam is unable to do it and the demon escapes.

** Later, Sam ends up trying to pull off the same tactic with himself possessed by Lucifer. He loses control to Lucifer, and later regains control long enough for a [[Heroic Sacrifice]].

* This was done in [[Choujin Sentai Jetman]]'s finale in [[Humongous Mecha]] form, with [[The Hero]] in one mech asking [[The Lancer]] in another to stab both him and [[The Big Bad]]. He does so and the two blow up. Though the hero's fine.

 

* Occurs in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' with Grey Fox helping against Metal Gear Rex where if the player attempts to fire, Snake says "No! I can't do it!" and again in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'' with Raiden fighting Vamp as a callback to the first.

* A variation of this happens in the RPG (and, by extention, the novelisation of) ''[[Betrayal at Krondor]]''. At the end of the game, two dark elves, one a [[Noble Demon]]/[[Anti-Hero]] allied with the good guys and the other one of the multiple [[Big Bad]]s, are locked in combat over the Lifestone that traps the essences of the Valheru, an ancient race that had enslaved the world of Midkemia centuries ago. During the battle, both of them become possessed by the Valheru. Two mages - Pug, one of the greatest magicians in existence and Owyn, an apprentice magician and a close friend of Gorath, the 'good' dark elf - witness the scene. Pug realizes what's happening and tells Owyn that both dark elves must be killed in order to prevent the essences of the Valheru from escaping. Owyn is in desperate denial for a moment until Gorath yells at him to do it. ''"Save my people, Owyn! Save me!"'' Needless to say, heartwrenching events ensue.

* In [[Homeworld]]: Cataclysm, after the scientists aboard the spaceship accidentally unleash [[The Virus]], they frantically demand that their section is jettisoned before [[The Virus]] spreads to the rest of the ship. [[High Octane Nightmare Fuel|You can hear their screams dying out as the section drifts away]].

 

* Used with a twist in ''[[Order of the Stick]]'', where Soon demands that the spell to [[Sealed Evil in a Can|seal the rift leading to the Snarl]] be cast before he ''and a teammate'' are clear. (Although he may have thought it would get both him and his teammate.)

** Also played with [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0397.html earlier in the comic], when Vaarsuvius walks in on Elan and his [[Evil Twin]] Nale locked in battle. The trope is used by Nale, immediately [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by the [[Genre Savvy]] Elan, only to have Vaarsuvius provoke Nale into revealing his identity by [[I Shall Taunt You|insulting his schemes]].

 

* In [[John Dies at the End]], the malevolent spirit version comes up. Dave volunteers to absorb a shadow demon into himself so John can shoot him in the temple and hopefully kill the demon, but instead, a young woman lets the demon possess her and manages to kill it with her pure heart.

 

* Done by the warden of "The Boiling Rock" in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. Whatever you may think of the man, you have to admit it takes balls to willingly have yourself boiled alive in a superheated lake rather than let some prisoners ruin your perfect record. The best part is that in his introductory scene, he had told a prisoner, in no uncertain terms, [[Foreshadowing|that he would do exactly that.]]

{{quote|'''Warden:''' ''(shouting from the gondola he's being held hostage on)'' CUT THE LINE!!

* In ''[[X-Men: The Animated Series]],'' Wolverine was fighting an impostor, and one of the Wolverines told Jubilee to blast them both. Jubilee blasts the other one... who turns out to be the real one. The impostor knew Jubilee would expect the real Wolverine to say that, and so he said it first.

 

* Most militaries throughout the world maintain a concept known as requesting "final protective fire." The name is, as you would assume knowing it is a military term, a bit of a euphemism. What it means is that when a military position is being over-run by the enemy, the commander of the position can request that artillery or air-assets fire directly on his own position, in the hope that enough of the enemy will be killed, and enough of his men will survive, so that the position can be held.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Death Tropes]]

[[Category:Friendly Fire Index]]