Prayer of Malice: Difference between revisions

'''Geoghegan:''' ''Amen.''<br />

'''Moore:''' ''Oh, yes, and one more thing, dear Lord, about our enemies, [[Mood Whiplash|ignore their heathen prayers and help us blow those little bastards straight to Hell.]] Amen.'' }}

{{quote| '''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.}}

* 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.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* 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.

* 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.

* This is one of the main elements of the plot in Lois [[Mc Master]] Bujold's ''The Curse of [[Chalion]]''. However, as it turns out, ''successfully'' praying for someone else's death will {{spoiler|except in very unusual circumstances}} kill you too, and {{spoiler|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.

 

== [[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.

{{quote| '''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. }}

 

== [[Music]] ==

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[Purple Pussy]]'', see page illustration. This comic is pretty weird, and the characters often come close to [[Villain Protagonist]].

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

{{quote| '''Bart''': ...and please, God, ''kill Sideshow Bob!''<br />

'''Marge''': No, Bart! You can't ask God to kill someone!<br />

'''Homer''': [[Comically Missing the Point|Yeah! You've got to do your own dirty work!]] }}

 

{{reflist}}