Kirk Summation: Difference between revisions

* Judai/Jaden on ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' loves these, usually couching them in terms of "the true meaning of the game". His opponents hardly ever buy it. In the original Japanese it's not so bad, but in the English version it always comes across as ridiculous given the situation, which someone always [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]]: i.e. "You know Jaden -- he loves giving this speech."

** At one point, he decides the speech won't do anything, so he just goes straight to the asskicking.

** In the original ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', it was [Yami] Yugi and the "heart of the cards".

* Vash from ''[[Trigun]]'' sometimes engaged enemies in this because of his aversion to killing.

* Not a villainous example, but [[X Wing Series|Wedge Antilles]], on a world of [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Proud Warrior Race Humans]], repeatedly hints at his disgust for a moral system that revolves around killing for honor. The native fighter acting as his guide falls for him, sees that she has no chance, and tries to go through honorable suicide-through-combat. He stops her when he sees what she's doing, and they have an exchange where he tries to convince her not only to stay alive, but to see and move past the flaws in her culture's beliefs.

{{quote|'''Wedge:''' Circular thinking. I'm honorable because I kill the enemy, and I kill the enemy for the honor. There's nothing there, Cheriss. Here's the truth: I kill the enemy so someone, somewhere -- probably someone I've never met and never will meet -- will be happy. [...] I told you how I lost my parents. Nothing I ever do can make up for that loss. But if I put myself in the way of people just as bad as the ones who killed my family, if I burn them down, then someone else they would have hurt gets to stay happy. That's the only honorable thing about my profession. It's not the killing. It's making the galaxy a little better.}}

* High-King Kallor of the ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'' once boasted to Caladan Brood of the many kingdoms he had raised, ruled, and then destroyed. He asked if Caladan could understand what that meant. And Caldan calmly replied "Yes. You never learn."

 

'''Willow:''' It's way too late. You know, it didn't have to be this way. But you made your choice. I know you had a tough life. I know that some people think you had a lot of bad breaks. Well, boo hoo. Poor you. }}

** Buffy tended to come across this trope whenever there was a recurring villain, or a [[Face Heel Turn]], either subverting it or playing it straight at random. In a later season, Anya lampshades the arbitrariness of the gang's mercy ("Spike has some sort of get out of jail free card that doesn't apply to the rest of us...")

** ''[[Doctor Who]]'' also featured a full-out subversion in "The Christmas Invasion", where the Doctor gets halfway through a speech before realizing that he's just been reciting the opening lines of "Circle of Life" from ''[[The Lion King]]''.

** In the Series 4 finale, Martha Jones even goes against her UNIT orders, to give {{spoiler|the Daleks}} the chance to stop because "there's one more thing the Doctor would do."

** "I used to have so much mercy. You get one chance. Just one," in "School Reunion" sums it up perfectly.

* From ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', when the mane six face off against Discord for the second time:

{{quote|'''Discord''': Will you ever learn?

* A short but sweet one from Batman to Red Hood/ {{spoiler|Jason Todd}} in their final confrontation in [[Under the Red Hood]]:

{{quote|You say you want to be better than me. But it won't happen! ''Not like this!''}}