Prayer of Malice
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I pray your brakes go out running down a hill. —"Pray For You" by Jaron and The Long Road to Love
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A character is praying to God or to other similar deity known to be benevolent and merciful. However, this devotee is praying for malice, begging God to be petty and cruel. (The technical name for this kind of thing is "Imprecatory prayer".)
For example, a Racist Grandma may pray that the good lord get all "niggers" killed, a Heteronormative Crusader may pray that the sweet local gay couple will get HIV, anyone may pray that his rich uncle or unliked neighbor will die or get raped or whatever, and so on.
If the character does this in a way that superficially comes across as very sweet and innocent, it may be Sugary Malice as well. Simply praying for victory in a conflict does not count, however.
No Real Life Examples, Please - keep the real life issues to how they are portrayed in media.
Comic Books
- In Chick Tracts, this is sometimes done by Catholics, non-evangelical Protestants, and so on. Within the context of the Author Tract, this "proves" that only evangelicals are Real Christians.
Newspaper Comics
Film
- We Were Soldiers has Hal Moore running into one of his new lieutenants in an empty church, and offers to pray with him. It starts out decently enough.
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Moore: Our Father in Heaven, before we go into battle, every soldier among us will approach you each in his own way. Our enemies too, according to their own understanding, will ask for protection and for victory. And so, we bow before your infinite wisdom. We offer our prayers as best we can. I pray you watch over the young Jack Geoghegan. That I lead into battle. You use me as your instrument in this awful hell of war to watch over them. Especially if they're men like this one beside me, deserving of a future in your blessing and goodwill. Amen. |
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- Harry Powell's opening prayer from The Night of the Hunter, which speaks volumes about his character:
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Harry Powell: Well now, what's it to be, Lord? Another widow? How many has it been? Six? Twelve? I disremember. [tipping his hat] You say the word, Lord, I'm on my way...You always send me money to go forth and preach your Word. The widow with a little wad of bills hid away in a sugar bowl. Lord, I am tired. Sometimes I wonder if you really understand. Not that You mind the killin's. Yore Book is full of killin's. But there are things you do hate, Lord: perfume-smellin' things, lacy things, things with curly hair. |
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- Parodied/Lampshaded in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where the heroes pray for God not only to defeat their enemies, but to "blow them to tiny bits, in Thy Mercy".
- Day of the Wacko ends with the mock of a massive prayer (based on the popular Polish XVIII-century religious poem, no less) counting various accidents and unpleasantries praying people want to happen to their neighbours.
- In Spider Man 3, after Peter exposes him as a fraud and gets him fired from the Daily Bugle, Eddie Brock goes to church to pray for God to kill Peter.
Literature
- Older Than Radio example, Holy Willie's Prayer by Robert Burns.
- In A Song of Ice and Fire, there's a fairly sympathetic/understandable example with Arya Stark. Before she goes to sleep, she recites to herself a mantra which lists the names of her enemies, all of whom she plans to kill, and at one point, when she has an opportunity to engage in prayer, she recites the same list. She's a very angry ten year old, but you can't really blame her given all she goes through.
- The War Prayer by Mark Twain. After the congregation of a church prays for victory in a war, an aged stranger enters the church, claiming to be a messenger from God, and recites the unstated portion of their prayer, which calls for suffering upon suffering to be heaped upon their enemy.
- In the Cambridge Latin Course, one scene shows a thief stealing an offering made to the gods, only to find that it's inscribed with a prayer for the death of all thieves. In terror, he throws his booty back and runs away.
- This was actually a common practice in the Roman Empire; people would throw "curse tablets" into holy shrines imploring the gods to visit various misfortunes on those who'd wronged them.
- "Prayer of the Selfish Child" by Shel Silverstein, ending:
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And if I die before I wake |
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- This is one of the main elements of the plot in Lois McMaster Bujold's The Curse of Chalion. However, as it turns out, successfully praying for someone else's death will except in very unusual circumstances kill you too, and the gods will only answer your prayer if the person whose death you want actually deserves it.
- In Speaker For The Dead, Ender says Quim prays every day for him to die.
- Older Than Feudalism: Some of the Psalms in The Bible fit into this category.
Live Action TV
- In a family-friendly example from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody episode "Volley Dad," one of the nuns in Maddie's Catholic school prays that their volley ball team will viciously crush the opposing team.
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Nun: Okay, we are gonna stomp these losers right into the ground! Let us pray. Lord, please help us stomp these losers into the ground. Amen. |
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- Back when Stephen and Steven were still on The Daily Show, an "Even Stevens" segment had them debating whether Islam or Christianity was the one true religion. Needless to say, prayers of "Smite mine enemy" were evoked on both sides.
Music
- The song "Prayer to God" by Shellac, about a man praying fervently for his ex-girlfriend and her lover to die.
- "I Pray for You" by Jaron and the Long Road to Love. The whole song is basically this.
Tabletop Games
- Magic: The Gathering: As the leader of the theocratical white Phyrexian faction, Elesh Norn delivers friendly sermons like "May our blessings sever the tongues of the forsaken".
- Warhammer 40,000: Pretty much every prayer is this, given the setting. Prayers to Khorne usually consist of finding more blood-filled things to kill, prayers to the Emperor of killing the enemy dead.
Web Comics
- One Bug comic was supposedly a message from God, asking people to stop doing this.
- Purple Pussy, see page illustration. This comic is pretty weird, and the characters often come close to Villain Protagonist.
Western Animation
- In one of The Simpsons episodes where Sideshow Bob's after Bart, Bart prays to God to kill him.
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Bart: ...and please, God, kill Sideshow Bob! |
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- In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Frollo's song "Hellfire" includes a prayer to the Virgin Mary for Esmeralda to burn in hell or else become his.