Kill the Ones You Love: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Sometimes, a character you care for is going to die. Rather than killed off by the bad guys or some cosmic whim, though, the murderer is [[True Companions|another character who cares very much for the deceased]]. Perhaps your little sis has become a [[Tragic Monster]] and you have to [[Staking the Loved One|stake them]] or maybe you have to [[Fighting Your Friend|Fight Your Friend]] to the death. Occasionally it's a case of [[Shoot the Dog]] or [[Mercy Kill]]. In any case, the characters know each other, as well as their relationship to each other. And the killer knows that the other has to die for anything to be resolved. In some cases leads to [[Cradling Your Kill]].

 

In video games, this is invariably a [[Player Punch]]. This trope usually doesn't villainize the killer, since the now-dead character generally has to be killed to right wrongs, or at least keep the story going. Doesn't stop him or her from [[Heroic BSOD|feeling like crap]] afterwards, though.

 

{{deathtrope}}

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'': Shinji killing his only friend Kaworu, in order to save humanity. Kaworu actually ''[[Go Out with a Smile|smiles]]'' when he tells Shinji he has to die...

* ''[[Baldr Force EXE]]'': Tohru has to kill Ren to keep her from destroying everything in the Wired.''

* Raziel from ''[[Angel Sanctuary]]'' forces himself to shoot his beloved superior Zaphikel when the latter transforms into a ghoul.

* ''[[Code Geass]]'': Lelouch (as Zero) is forced to shoot Euphemia after he accidentally Geasses her into killing all the Japanese, sending her on a rampage. Just as he does it, he mentally bids her farewell, and even thinks to himself that she was his first love. He's later shown angsting over it.

** And then there's the finale, where Suzaku, disguised as Zero, stabs Lelouch in a [[Thanatos Gambit]]. He's shown crying while doing it.

*** It's also especially tragic because everybody except Lelouch thinks Suzaku is dead and since he was an accomplice in the [[Zero-Approval Gambit]], he can't go public or he'll ruin Lelouch's plans. Also, he can't take the easy way out because his "live" Geass forces him to do exactly that.

* In the ''[[Claymore]]'' universe, this sort of thing happens all the time due to the whole [[I Cannot Self-Terminate]] thing. The first instance occured in the very first volume when Clare was called upon to [[Mercy Kill]] her girlhood friend Elena.

* In ''Project ARMS'', all of the heroes say, in no uncertain terms, that they won't hesitate to kill Ryo if he's taken over by the Jabberwock. Given that he fears that happening to him, it's actually ''comforting''. At the end of the manga, he remembers this when he has to bring himself to kill Katsumi, who is possessed by Alice. Fortunately, she gets better.

* This is the entire point of the Sacrifice of ''[[Berserk]]'', as first revealed in the Guardians of Desire arc. By consigning that which you most love to be eaten by demons, the would-be Apostle (or Godhand) cuts himself or herself off from humanity and opens himself or herself to evil. Unlike most of the examples on this page, this act is presented as a monstrous betrayal of everything the person holds dear and a crossing of the [[Moral Event Horizon]], both because of the [[Cruel and Unusual Death|Cruel And Unusual Deaths]] often suffered by those who get the Brand put on them and due to the added little detail that anyone sacrificed in the creation of a demon gets his or her soul condemned to Hell for all eternity.

** Conrad also throws Yozak off a cliff {{spoiler|during his [[Face Heel Turn]], right after Yozak attacked him while giving a declaration that was basically, 'you're my best friend and my captain and if this is how it's going to be I'll kill you myself.'}}

** And in the weird guest episode with the mountain of betrayal miasma, where everyone except [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|Yuuri]] became convinced that everyone else had been compromised by the mist of betrayal and become their enemy. Yozak and Conrad had rather a good duel in the snow.

*** Even more impressive in that episode was when [[Tsundere|Wolfram]] became convinced that Yuuri had gone crazy was going to kill him and ''didn't'' invoke this trope, just curled up and waited. [[Power of Love]].

** When Conrad and Yuuri met in the coliseum it looked like this was going to happen, too, and about ten episodes later it {{spoiler|very nearly did.}}

 

 

* The ending to ''[[Million Dollar Baby]]''. The film's star boxer has suffered a career-ending injury, is paralyzed below the neck, has no hope of recovery beyond being immobile for the rest of her life, and is actively suicidal but incapable of successfully completing the act due to her injuries. Her manager later makes the painful decision to cut off her life support and give her a massive dose of tranquilizers to avert her prolonged suffering.

* In John Woo's ''[[The Killer]]'', the title character has to put a bullet to Sidney, his best friend, in an [[I Cannot Self-Terminate]] moment, after he went through serious hell to get the money the Killer needs to have Jenny's eyes fixed to him and got shot by the bad guys.

* [[Double Subverted]] in ''[[Kill Bill]]''. At first, all we see of The Bride is her [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] against Bill, her ex-lover, but after she kills him, she breaks down sobbing for several moments.

* ''[[Shaun of the Dead]]'': Shaun shoots the [[Not Using the Z Word|zombie]] Barbara after her transformation.

* ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'' has a sickening version. According to a legend, when Keyser Söze was a small-time gangster, someone once tried to take him down by going after his wife and children. He came home to find them being held hostage, guns and knives being held to them, pleading eyes, etc. Not to be cowed, he ''killed them all himself'', then the shocked hostage-takers, [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|"then their parents, then their parents' friends..."]]

* Will Smith's dog in ''[[I Am Legend]]''.

* Both the film and book version of ''[[Of Mice and Men]]'' show two examples. The first is a subversion depicting a man who has to have someone shoot his rabies-infected dog. He laments that he didn't do it himself. It is later brutally invoked when George has to kill Lenny to save him from an angry mob.

 

 

* Averted in the story of the Sacrifice of Isaac in [[The Bible]]. It turned out to have been a [[Secret Test of Character]] for Abraham.

* Speaking of sacrifices: Agamemnon had to kill his [[Offing the Offspring|daughter]] Iphigenia so that the Greek fleet could sail...(opinions differ as to whether he actually did the deed.)

* In the finale of the novel ''[[Of Mice and Men]]'', George has to kill his best friend Lennie to save him from being lynched after the latter [[And Call Him George|kills Curley's wife by breaking her neck by accident]].

* Rosemary Sutcliffe's ''Mark of the Horse Lord'' begins with the gladiator hero having to kill his best friend in the arena.

* At the climax of ''[[The Dresden Files|Changes]]'' Harry has to kill Susan once she fully turns into a Red Court vampire, turning their bloodline curse back against the Red Court and wiping them out.

 

 

* Steven Moffat's not letting off with this trope either, playing it heartbreakingly straight with Rory, who accidentally shoots Amy in an attempt to hold off Auton control of his mind.

** This trope is a major deal in the series. It is also the background of recurring antagonist [[Blood Knight]] Gordon Walker, whose sister was turned into a vampire.

*** And Sam's mid-Season Two insistence that Dean promise to do just that if Sam goes darkside. Dean promised. He was lying.

*** This is also the scenario that gives Bobby the [[Fridge Logic]]-freaky line "nobody kills me in my house but me!"

*** There's also the [[Bad Future]].

* [[Buffy]] to Angel in the season two finale is the obvious one (although [[Unexplained Recovery|He recovered]]).

** Also in ''Angel'', Gunn stakes his sister after she is turned into a vampire.

 

 

== Theater ==

* Judas in musical ''[[Jesus Christ Superstar]]'' (the Biblical text itself could be basis for this trope too, depending on how you look at it).

I'd save him all the suffering if I could }}

* ''[[Othello]]'' is led by the lies of [[Manipulative Bastard]] Iago to do this to his wife Desdemona.

== Video Games ==

* Minerva from ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' Shadow Dragon wants to be the one to kill her brother Michalis, an enemy of the protagonist's group:

'''Minerva''': ...I love him enough to spare him death on some stranger's sword, do you see? Let him be punished by my hands. }}

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 3'' has a ''huge'' one in the form of a [[Player Punch]]. The player, as Naked Snake, is actually ''forced'' to press the button and shoot The Boss while she's down. Let's just say that any player who's ''human'' [[Tear Jerker|felt as depressed as Snake doing that]].

** The end cutscene twists the knife by revealing that The Boss was a [[Fake Defector]] after all, and it was her sworn duty to be killed by Snake in order to prevent a nuclear war.

** The Boss had to experience something similar: She ended up having to go to Tselinoyarsk in 1962 to fight The Sorrow, and the flashbacks shown when Snake regains consciousness implies that she was unwilling to kill The Sorrow. Peace Walker explains the exact circumstances of what happened: The Philosophers forced them to fight each other to the death under the threat of Ocelot's life if both survive.

** Or, in fact, if you take any other path. You can't be allied to both Chiaki and Isamu after all, you'll have to fight at least one of them.

* ''[[Silent Hill Homecoming]]'' has this as the first of two choices (or three, depending on which ending you're going for) that ''[[Multiple Endings|determine the ending you get.]]'' Your mom is strapped to a device and is obviously in pain, and you are given the choice to either end her life or try to get her off. ''[[Mercy Kill|Killing her]]'' leads to a better ending.

** ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'' has Willimgard unwittingly kill his own son, who's been turned into a werewolf, and later the now-harpy Pisce as well. The narrator [[What the Hell, Hero?|calls him out on the latter]].

** ''[[Gungnir]]'' zigzags the trope much in the same manner as ''Riviera'', but ultimately averts it [[Darker and Edgier|against all odds]]: despite the huge, dramatic battle between Julio and [[More Than Mind Control|Ragnus]], Julio doesn't kill his brother at the end of it, and after a lot of [[Was It All a Lie?|yelling at the party]], Ragnus gets up and walks away.

** It's part of the backstory of four members of the main cast for similar reasons (we play Lloyd and Genis as they're made to kill Marble, {{spoiler|Regal killed his lover}} and {{spoiler|Kratos killed his wife}}.)

** In an alternate route, it's possible to fight and kill {{spoiler|Zelos}} - very close to one member of the cast (who mourns him) and a character many [[Player Punch|players adore]].

** Subverted when Lloyd has to fight {{spoiler|his father, who fully intends to die but ends up saved against his will.}}

** The last boss battle is against {{spoiler|Mithos in child form}} and you can have {{spoiler|Genis}}, who befriended him, [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|join in the fight]].

* ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'': In Zoey's backstory, she shot her father so that he would not become infected after being bit. However, It's heavily implied that he was a carrier (immune), but Zoey couldn't have possibly known this...

* Imaginary!Barry in ''[[Alan Wake]]'''s second DLC "The Writer" lampshades this with the line "'kill your darlings'" as Alan goes to the Cabin for the final battle.

* ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' is madly in love with this trope. In the prologue, Aveline is forced to kill Wesley, her husband, to save him from the Darkspawn taint, unless Hawke does it for her. Later on, Anders has the choice between either killing {{spoiler|his ex-lover Karl, or leaving him to remain Tranquil, which he and Karl both regard as a [[Fate Worse Than Death]].}} Hawke may be forced to {{spoiler|[[Mercy Kill]] a tainted sibling}}, and Merrill may have to kill {{spoiler|her mentor and adoptive mother, Keeper Marethari, as well as potentially her ''entire clan''.}} Varric ends up having to either {{spoiler|[[Mercy Kill]] his brother Bartrand, or spend the rest of his life caring for him as he has been driven completely insane by the idol (after Bartrand tried to kill him).}} Fenris may kill {{spoiler|his sister, in revenge for having given him to Danarius as a slave.}} And in the endgame, Hawke may {{spoiler|kill his/her lover, if s/he romanced Anders and chooses to kill him after he blows up the Chantry.}} [[Up to Eleven|Damn.]]

 

 

[[Category:Death Tropes]]

[[Category:Sadness Tropes]]