Looting the Body

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Okay, so you found a dead body. What do you do with it? In Real Life, one would report the discovery to the police (or possibly to the family of the deceased). In this trope, however, you steal from the dead, scavenging anything of value or use. It's not as if anyone is going to find out.

This is the behavior that distinguishes the Kleptomaniac Hero. Compare and contrast with Plunder.

Not to be confused with Grave Robbing (stealing the actual corpse), Human Resources (stealing parts of the corpse), or archaeology (taking the deceased's stuff after he's been buried).

As a Death Trope, Spoilers ahead may be unmarked. Beware.

Examples of Looting the Body include:

Fan Works

• In Final Stand of Death, Nick Diamond is confronted by Debbie Matenopoulos finds a mixtape belong to one of the Spice Girls in his possession. Nick tries to denied stealing, yet alone kidnapping.
• Amusingly averted in the RWBY/The Gamer Crossover fic The Games We Play. Jaune's Semblance gives him a video game interface to his life, including loot drops when he kills Grimm. But he doesn't have to search their bodies for the loot – it appears neatly stacked on the ground next to them after they die.

Film

• Discussed in The Princess Bride:

Miracle Max: He's only mostly dead. If he were all dead, there's only one thing you can do. Inigo Montoya: And what's that? Miracle Max: Go through his pockets and look for loose change.

Video Games

• Of course after killing someone, the player in the Grand Theft Auto series has the option of stealing from the body, either money or a weapon.
• Duke Nukem would often steal from the bodies of the aliens after killing them, mostly ammo or weapons he can use.
• Honestly, loot that automatically drops after you defeat something in RPGs or MMORPGs is actually the game handling your character ransacking the corpse they just made.

Western Animation

• In the Futurama episode "Luck Of The Fryrish", Fry considers this, thinking his brother Yancy took over after he was gone, right down to his dream. This ended up being averted after Fry learns the grave was actually his nephew's, and his achievements were in honor of Fry.