Leave Behind a Pistol: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Ronald''': Half-charged? You've seen the crazy ones, this won't stop them!<br />

Sometimes, good guys -- or friends of [[The Hero|good guys]] -- [[Face Heel Turn|go bad]]; they [[Betrayal Tropes|turn traitor]], [[Knight Templar|go too far in pursuit of good]], or [[He Who Fights Monsters|have stared into the darkness for too long and let it corrupt them]]. Sometimes when they do, their former friends have to bring them in.

We may then see the hero walking down a corridor. And hear a single gunshot from the room they've just left.

A variation is shown in works that feature [[Pirate|pirates]]; a pirate marooned on a [[Desert Island]] (in fiction, at least) is usually left a pistol, powder, and shot to kill himself before he dies of thirst/starvation/boredom.

Has nothing to do with the common [[Retroactive Preparation|time-traveller's gambit]] in which a gun is deposited where you know an ally (or an alternate you) will be needing one later.

== Anime and Manga ==

* In the end of the first episode of ''[[Mnemosyne]]'', Maeno gets hit by [[Cloning Blues]] hard, so Rin just hands him a loaded gun and leaves. Although it looks like he kills himself, it is later revealed that he wavered in the last moment, being left with just a light scratch on the forehead. In the end, he stays with Rin for the half of the series.

* Dutch and Revy of ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' does a variation of this to a Neo-Nazi leader. Subverted in that the man doesn't have the courage to kill himself and tries to shoot them instead (they don't leave the room), only to find that the gun has no bullets. It's unknown what they would have done had he pulled the trigger on himself (which they correctly assumed he wouldn't), but you can easily imagine what they did after he didn't.

** To clarify, the two are betting on which one of them the Neo-Nazi [[Black and Grey Morality|will try to shoot first]], the hulking black man Dutch, or the Chinese-American woman Revy. {{spoiler|"It wasn't much of a bet."}}

* The finale of ''[[Point Break]]'' is something like this: Bohdi is caught bang to rights, but is given the option of dying in the surf. Which he takes, of course.

* The climax of ''[[wikipedia:36 Quai des Orfèvres (film)|36]]'' is a subversion -- after confronting Klein, Vrinks ''does'' leave behind a pistol, but Klein doesn't use it, instead running outside to taunt Vrinks. Then a [[Chekhov's Gun]] fires.

** [[Truth in Television]]: [[Pirate|Pirates]] really did maroon captains they were displeased with and give them such a gun.

** Before Barbossa maroons both Jack and Elizabeth, he gives Jack his pistol back (still with a single shot). Jack points out that, as there's two of them, a gentleman would give them a pistol each, to which Barbossa suggests that ''Jack'' can be the gentleman, by shooting Elizabeth and starving to death himself. Ouch.

* ''Escape to Athena'' (1979). David Niven (playing the leader of the POW's) gives Roger Moore (playing the German commandant) a choice between aiding the Greek Resistance or being killed by them. When the commandant asks if there's any other option, Niven wordlessly chambers a round into his P-38 and removes the magazine, leaving the weapon with the commandant. He elects not to kill himself.

* Towards the end of the made-for-TV movie ''Tempting Fate'', Bollandine (Abraham Benrubi's character) is exiled by the [[Dystopia|government]] to a cabin in the woods with a pistol with one bullet. He's about to use it when other exiles show up, at which point he elects to join them instead.

{{quote| '''Dantes''': You didn't think I'd make it that easy, did you?}}

* Played with in ''[[Where Eagles Dare]]''. A suspected traitor is given a gun, but when his treason is revealed on the plane ride at the end of the movie, and he tries to shoot the main character, we find that the firing pin had been removed. The main character gives the traitor the chance to leave the plane before it lands and he would get arrested. He takes it.

{{quote| '''Kaminsky:'''"This must be what they mean by "poetic justice." Because of you, a lot of people are dead. And now it's your turn."<br />

'''Prosecutor:''' "No, no, no..."<br />

''(Kaminski walks out. From behind the closed door comes the sound of a single gunshot as the prosecutor chooses to "resign.")'' }}

** In the unedited version, the prosecutor tries to back-shoot Kaminski after being given the gun, and is blown away for his trouble.

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[The Departed]]'': an [[Shell-Shocked Veteran|understandably mentally unstable]] Billy Costigan asks his shrink for a Valium prescription. She hands him ''one'' pill. "Why don't you just give me a bottle of scotch and a handgun to blow my fucking head off!" She eventually gives it to him, [[Good Is Not Nice|the jerk...]]

* Played straight-ish in ''[[The Last Samurai]]'', when one of Omura's henchmen leaves a kodachi rather than a pistol with Katsumoto to commit seppuku--ritual suicide--with.

*** Only if the Daimyo thought the samurai deserved it, and he felt magnanimous enough to grant that blessing. If the Daimyo felt the samurai needed not just to die but also suffer to expiate his dishonor...

**** The head cutting thing is optional. The 2nd was originally there to cut off the head if 1st showed hesitancy. Later, they started doing it as a mercy kill once they person performed the minimum action on their own, or were too badly injured to finish the job themselves.

{{quote| "There is not enough anti-venom for the two of us. How you choose to leave this world is up to you."}}

* A scene filmed for ''[[Aliens]]'' has [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Carter Burke]] [[Face Full of Alien Wingwong|impregnated]] and cocooned to the wall. Ripley gives him a grenade to detonate and moves on. The scene has never been included in any release of the film, [[Word of God|apparently]] because it breaks up the tension of the final segment, plus it would raise potential plotholes with regard to the alien lifecycle. However, the scene is included in the novelization and the ''Newt's Tale'' comic series.

* ''[[Things to Come]]'' (1936). John Cabal leaves his pistol with a dying enemy pilot as [[Deadly Gas]] is floating towards him.

** In ''Without Remorse'' the traitor who betrayed the POWs is given much the same choice with a large quantity of heroin.

* In the [[James Bond]] short story ''[[Octopussy]]'', Bond offers this option to Major Smythe, telling him he will return tomorrow to arrest him. Bond thinks he has taken it when Smythe shows up drowned, but he actually decided to fight the charges and drowned in an unrelated accident.

** Another Christie short story ends with the murderer, dismissing Poirot's theory as a load of nonsense, going off to shoot rabbits. Everybody involved is well aware he's going to have "a hunting accident".

* One of the [[Sherlock Holmes]] short stories (title lost in the mists of memory) involves a man who did something so reprehensible by the standards of the day that Holmes gives him the opportunity to shoot himself in shame before the police are summoned. AFAIR this was the only Holmes story with that outcome.

** Wasn't that the blackmailer? If so, it was because the whole affair would be wrapped up with far fewer tears if he died wihout exposure to proper authorities.

** No, the blackmailer is killed by one of his victims, a young woman whom Holmes and Watson choose not to tattle on.

* In [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''[[John Carter of Mars|The Chessman of Mars]]'', when they decide to proclaim A-Kor jeddak of Manator:

{{quote| ''"There can be but one jeddak in Manator," said the chief who held the dagger; his eyes still fixed upon the hapless O-Tar he crossed to where the latter stood and holding the dagger upon an outstretched palm proffered it to the discredited ruler. "There can be but one jeddak in Manator," he repeated meaningly.<br />

== Live Action TV ==

** In another episode, he offers a gay airman implicated in a murder the chance to fly one last mission in The Battle Of Britain. His plane is shot down. He does not bail out.

* Several episodes of ''[[Mission Impossible]]'' ended this way.

* Implied in one episode of ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'' (the new version): Baltar and Boomer (who is beginning to suspect that she is a [[Manchurian Agent|Cylon agent]]) have a long conversation discussing how she needs to "do what's right for herself." As Baltar leaves, a gunshot is heard from the room behind him.

** Something of a subversion. She missed.

* A mini-series on the Dreyfus Affair had the title character being offered this after his arrest for espionage. As Dreyfus is innocent, he naturally refuses.

* Subverted in one ''[[Sharpe]]'' episode. Sharpe remarks that leaving a disgraced officer in a room with a loaded pistol might be the gentlemanly thing to do, but of little use to the regiment or the officers family. He gives him a chance to lead a suicidal charge instead.

* [[Black Comedy|Actually]] [[Played for Laughs]] in the "Roger of the Raj" episode of ''[[Ripping Yarns]]''. At dinner one night, as the ladies are leaving, one officer [[Did I Just Say That Out Loud?|blurts out, "We'll be in to spank you later, you firm-buttocked Amazons, you."]] As everyone stares at him, his commanding officer says, "I think you know what to do," and he apologizes, steps outside and shoots himself. One by one, each of the other officers decides to rebel against the social order by committing another crime against etiquette, like [[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?|passing the port the wrong way around the table]], and then voluntarily does the honorable thing.

{{quote| "All right, I'll go. But I want you to know I don't care, do you hear? I don't care! If that's the way you want to pass the port, you pass it -- but you can pass it without me."}}

* A similar case happens in ''[[Prison Break]]'', where Agent Mahone tells C-Note that his wife will go free if he uses what is in the package Mahone gives him. C-Note opens it to find a rope, already tied in a noose. C-Note tries to use it, but the guards manage to pull him off just in time. Subverted in that this isn't about honor at all.

* In ''[[Blake's Seven|Blakes Seven]]'', Avon captures a professional Federation [[Torture Technician|torturer]] and teleports him to an underground cave with a limited air supply. He offers the man a "way out" if he tells him what he wants to know about his [[It's Personal|ex-lover]] who was supposedly tortured to death. After the man breaks down and tells Avon all he can, Avon coldly teleports away, leaving him his "way out": a loaded gun.

** Similarly, Ludwig Beck offered to commit suicide after being arrested for his role in the Valkyrie plot. Unfortunately subverted, since [[Nightmare Fuel|he survived the gunshot]] and a sergeant had to deliver a coup de grace.

* [http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/wwII-a-f.html Thomas Baker] subverted this trope while badly injured and retreating from a Japanese attack. He told another soldier that he was slowing down the retreat too much, so he asked to be left behind with a loaded pistol. He was last seen sitting against a tree, calmly holding a pistol loaded with 8 rounds. When they went back for his body, they found it in the same place, [[Improbable Aiming Skills|facing 8 dead enemy soldiers.]]

** You forgot to mention he requested a new pistol because [[Badass|his was too damaged from '''melee combat''' to shoot]].

** Sergeant Thomas Baker received the posthumous Congressional Medal of Honour for the feat. Talk about [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] !

== Video Games ==

* One of the weapons you can pick up in ''[[Dawn of War]] 2'' mentions that leaving a shotgun with a single shell in it in the cell of someone charged with treason is common practice on Meridan. Considering the alternatives that have been described for treason convictions in the setting, this is a ''ridiculously'' merciful and humane act.

* Variation : In ''[[Tenchu]]: Steath Assassins'', you confront a corrupt government minister. Rather than killing him, you offer to assist him (by delivering a coupe de grace) if he chooses an honorable death by seppuku.

** There is a pistol left behind though. His. Which you can then run in and take. It's the unique black revolvers only NCR rangers have, and it's the only way to get one without killing a Ranger yourself.

* In Metal Gear Solid 3, after you are tortured by volgin, Ocelot puts a Single Action Army with no ammo into your holster.

== Web Original ==

{{reflist}}