Shoot the Builder: Difference between revisions

Subtrope of [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]].

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* Part of Franky's backstory in ''[[One Piece]]''. His mentor Tom built the ship used by the Pirate King, and was killed in part due to guilt by association, and in part due to hoping that talent wouldn't be used by pirates again. Franky survived the same fate, and eventually became a pirate.

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* The comic version of ''[[Watchmen]]'' has the {{spoiler|experts who made the fake alien}} killed via a bomb on their boat. And then, the [[Evil Plan]] involved a ''deadly pyramid of killers that will kill the previous killers'' so no one could connect the deaths.

* [[Green Arrow|Green Arrow's]] [[Stalker with a Crush]] Cupid murdered her hairdresser after she got a really good haircut so that no one else could have hair that good.

== [[Film]] ==

* In the film of ''[[Watchmen (film)|Watchmen]]'', all the scientists involved in the reactor/energy weapon are killed and then vaporized.

* In ''[[Once Upon a Time In Mexico]]'', Agent Sands kills a cook who made a dish Sands likes particularly well. As Sands sees it, he has restored balance, and can look back with enjoyment on that meal as a one time moment of perfection.

== [[Literature]] ==

* The nuclear engineer in [[The Sum of All Fears]] was killed by the terrorists as soon as they believed the bomb was finished. They probably should have let him triple check everything first.

** Invoked by one of Sybil Ramkin's ancestors to Bergholt Stuttley Johnson, although in this case ''before'' Johnson made him anything; he'd already had a reputation as "Bloody Stupid" Johnson for years by that time.

* In the original ''[[Phantom of the Opera]]'' book, the Shah in Shah (King of Kings of Persia), who hired Erik (the titular phantom) to be his architect for a palace at Mazenderan ''where you could not utter a word but it was overheard or repeated by an echo'' tries to do this. Doesn't work.

* In ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', King Maegor [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|the Cruel]], who organized the completion of the royal palace and King's Landing, had the architects, masons, etc. murdered so that he would be the only one who knew the location of all of the secret passages.

* ''[[Cryptonomicon]]:'' The final step in the WW-II Japanese plan to build a super-secret underground vault for their plundered wealth was to flood it with water, with all of their slave labour sealed up inside along with all the gold. Fortunately for some of the workers, one of their leaders knew what was coming, and designed in a back-door escape route.

== Religion and Mythology ==

* [[Subverted]] by King Minos and Daedalus from [[Classical Mythology]]. Minos only locked the famous architect away, because he still wanted to use his talent. Even when Daedalus advised Ariadne the best way to help Theseus, Minos didn't kill him, but imprisoned in the labyrinth. Some versions of this myth suggest, that Minos spared Dedalus' life, not only because of his talent, but also frienship they shared.

* Occurs in some variations of stories from [[Hindu Mythology]] with either Viswakarman, the divine Architect Of The Devas, or more commonly Maya,<ref>not to be confused with Maya the cosmic illusion, Maya the goddess, or [[Mayincatec|Maya the people]]...bloody Hindus</ref> the Architect of the Asuras.

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* It's been mentioned in ''[[Shadowrun]]'' supplements that the best way to keep a new computer system secret is to kill the designer after he's finished creating it.

* In the ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' Tomb King army book, it's mentioned that it was expected of Necrotects to be buried with their pharaoh in the grandiose pyramid they designed. Refusing was not exactly illegal, but [[Make It Look Like an Accident|accident-prone]].

== [[Video Games]] ==

** That said, the buildings don't die with him, so if you get as far as killing the Engineer and still get blown away by the turret, well...that's stupid and embarrassing. Hang your head in shame.

* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'': The description for Calo Nord's battle armour says that he killed the craftsman who made it for him in order to appease his ego, ensuring the armour would always be unique.

== Web Original ==

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Evil Tropes]]

[[Category:This Index Is Useless]]

[[Category:Villains]]