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Shoot the Dog: Difference between revisions
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** Of note is the {{spoiler|[[Fan Nickname|Euphinator Incident]]}}, in which Lelouch {{spoiler|accidentally commands Euphemia to murder an entire stadium of families who were going to start a new life under peace. The only way to stop this is to kill Euphemia. }}
*** Also, this is the most "kinder" explanation suggested for {{spoiler|Lelouch ordering the massacre of children in the Geass Cult. Said children were already trained as [[Tyke Bomb|Tyke Bombs]], so Lelouch fans think that they wouldn't have been ever able to adapt themselves to society - like it happened to Mao and Rolo.}} [[Internet Backdraft|The subject is very, VERY prone to bring up flame wars, though.]]
*** Of course, considering how powerful {{spoiler|Geass Users can be, even children,}} it would be nearly impossible to achieve victory without killing them. Lelouch's other plan, using his own Geass, suffers from one problem: {{spoiler|Geass that do not require eye-contact.}} Though Lelouch does acquire {{spoiler|Jeremiah,}} who can make that possible, the same event leaves him without the desire to do so.
*** Additionally, there is the incident where Rolo ganks a fellow intelligence operative for accidentally walking in on a conversation about Geass. Rolo specifically invokes this trope when Viletta criticizes him for doing so.
* ''[[Trigun]]'': When Zazie the Beast, a particularly cruel member of the Gung-Ho-Guns who happens to [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|look like a pre-teen]], was gunned down by Wolfwood before he could kill another person. This enraged Vash, who has an extremely strict code against not killing anyone no matter what.
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* In the [[Legend of Galactic Heroes]] Gaiden ''Disgrace'', sweet innocent old lady Johanna tells Kircheis he'll have to shoot her to stop her destroying critical evidence against her husband (guilty of causing the deaths of any number of people). Kircheis just can't bring himself to do it; luckily {{spoiler|(and tragically) Keyserling, who was in love with Johanna and previously orchestrated the coverup to protect her husband, arrives to do it for him}}. Kircheis later thinks that Reinhard would have fired had he been in the same situation, and that's why it's important for them to stick together. Perhaps a reversed example as it's the sidekick, Kircheis, who needs the main character, Reinhard, to shoot his dogs for him.
* In ''[[Elfen Lied]]'', during the finale {{spoiler|Kouta}} is forced to fulfill {{spoiler|a childhood promise}} to {{spoiler|Lucy}} and kill {{spoiler|her when she poses a danger to the world.}} She is also literally {{spoiler|falling apart}} so it could be a doubled-up example. Though both of her {{spoiler|good personas urge him to this while they have control he }} at first lacks the will to do it. The {{spoiler|third persona, said to be the voice of her murderously-programmed DNA, then asserts control, but is ultimately in so much pain, she too urges him to do it, and this time he does.}}
** In an earlier event that serves as the anime finale, {{spoiler|Chief Kurama kills his daughter Mariko for reasons including: the fact that she has a mutation that quite arguably makes her the most dangerous person in the world, her having killed someone and being willing to do so again, and the [[Big Bad]] having [[Action Bomb|planted a bomb in her]] and uses it [[I Have Your Wife|to force the chief to do things]] that include killing other people's children. Oh, and in the anime, [[Together in Death|Kurama also dies with Mariko]].}} Some would view {{spoiler|Kurama}} as an [[Anti-Villain]] or [[Anti-Hero]] because of this and similar incidents: he keeps killing children not because he likes it, but because of the [[Crapsack World|mutation that makes them mass-murderers]].
* Occurs towards the end of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]''. {{spoiler|Anew Returner has managed to break the [[Mind Control]] of [[Big Bad]] Ribbons Almark and is about to surrender to her lover, Lockon, who is urging her to have a [[Heel Face Turn]] so she can join Celestial Being for real. However, Ribbons takes control again as soon as Lockon lowers his guard, forcing teammate Setsuna to kill Anew. Understandably, [[Heroic BSOD|Lockon takes it badly]], but sorta recovers in a surprisingly short time.}}
** A similar example happened in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny]]'': {{spoiler|In episode 32, Shinn [[Defusing the Tykebomb|manages to calm Stellar down]] when she [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|destroys everything in her path]] due to being terrified of her own possible death. Their reunion is short-lived when she spots Kira/Freedom Gundam; Stellar then recalls [[Manipulative Bastard|Neo]]'s words (if she doesn't fight, she will die, and so will her friends and loved ones) and ''massively'' freaks out. Shinn tries to calm her down again to no avail.., until Kira intervenes and destroys the Destroy Gundam, killing Stellar in process.}}
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* [[Dark Magical Girl|Reiha]] from the ''[[Vampire Princess Miyu]]'' TV series views her killings of humans [[Enemy Mine|when she teams up]] [[Teeth-Clenched Teamwork|with Miyu]] like this. Specifically seen with {{spoiler|Kayo's [[Knight Templar Big Brother]], who goes all [[Knife Nut]] on Miyu when under a Shinma's [[More Than Mind Control]]; Reiha freezes him to death and even reprehends Miyu when she questions her. Miyu has no option but biting the grieving Kayo, turning her into an [[Empty Shell]].}}
* Literally what the [[Anti-Hero]] Ogami does in ''[[Code Breaker]]'' right in the first chapter, though replace "Shoot" with "Break the Neck of." The aforementioned dog got mortally wounded trying to protect Sakura from a bunch of gang members, and Ogami, before burning and killing all of the bad guys, goes up to the dog and commends it for its efforts to save Sakura. And then promptly snaps its neck to "help the pain."
* In ''[[Nabari no Ou]]'', {{spoiler|Aizawa kills a mission target when Kumohira's moral code makes him hesitate.}}
* ''[[Noir (anime)|Noir]]'': {{spoiler|It turns out that this is the entire purpose of the assassin duo named Noir, by becoming [[The Scapegoat|a scapegoat of sorts]] for humanity, killing people so that others don't have to.}}
* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', [[The Gunslinger|Mana]] tends to do this sort of thing, such as being willing to K.O. people who are in danger of triggering the [[Power Incontinence]] of [[The World Tree]]. Most recently, she {{spoiler|was literally going to shoot Fake!Asuna<ref>with non-lethal ammo</ref> to determine whether she was real or not. Negi stopped her, though.}}
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** Probably doesn't count; this was less a case of an unreasonable or questionable action the heroes would morally oppose doing, so much as Goku acting solely on his [[Blood Knight]] tendencies and wanting to fight Vegeta again (and risk the planet's destruction again, [[Death Is Cheap|Not that that matters in Dragonball Z, but...]]). It turned out well in the end, but at the time it just made Goku seem like he valued fighting more than the planet and his friends/family.
* ''[[Gunslinger Girl]]'' has {{spoiler|Jose and [[Too Good for This Sinful Earth|Henrietta]]}} do this simultaneously in chapter 83 as part of their earlier [[Suicide Pact]].
* Near the end of ''[[Digimon Tamers]]''. Janya Wong figures out a way to defeat the [[Big Bad|D-Reaper]]. However, this method has the nasty side effect of forcing all Digimon (specifically, the ones that just helped save the world) back into the Digital World, with no guarantee that they could ever return. At a loss for any other options, Janya goes through with it, even going so far as to trick his Digimon-loving son into helping. (Henry's reaction to this varies by translation: he forgives his father in the original Japanese, but the English dub strongly implies the opposite.)
* In ''[[Bleach]]'', at one point the quincies kill a large number (tens of thousands) of hollows, a kind of monster that [[Was Once a Man]]. Because this eliminates the soul of the hollow in question entirely, the Soul Reapers are forced to respond by killing a corresponding number of ''their own citizens'' to maintain the balance and prevent the universe from breaking.
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* ''[[Thorgal]]'' has one case of this when Thorgal and [[Clingy Jealous Girl|Shania]] end up petitioning one of the gods for the return of Thorgal's wife. Said god lives on a box floating in the middle of a void filled with threads, with each thread representing a single human life. All the god requires to return Thorgal's wife is for Thorgal to take his bow and fire an arrow in any given direction, which will be certain to at some point sever a thread and kill ''someone''. When Thorgal can't bring himself to do it, Shania takes the bow from him and does it instead. {{spoiler|The thread she severs turns out to be her own.}}
* In ''[[52]]'', [[Batman: The Animated Series|Renee]] [[Gotham Central|Montoya]] and [[The Question]] are at the wedding of [[Black Adam]] and [[Isis (comics)|Isis]] looking for a [[Suicide Attack|suicide bomber]]. When they find the bomber they discover that it is a young girl, just a kid, but they are too far away from her to reach her before she detonates her bomb. Since an explosion in this crowded space would result in hundreds, possibly thousands of deaths Renee realizes she has no choice and shoots the bomber, killing her before she can activate the device. Charlie, and later Black Adam himself, [[You Did Everything You Could|assure her that she had no choice]], but Renee [[My God, What Have I Done?|is traumatised by the fact that she]] [[These Hands Have Killed|just killed a little kid]].
* One absolutely [[Tear Jerker/Comics|heartbreaking]] example appears in ''[[Ultimate X-Men]]''. An unfortunate teenager wakes up one morning and discovers that he's a mutant [[Blessed with Suck/Comic Books|whose sole ability is to emit an]] [[Instant Death Radius]] [[Walking Wasteland|of a few hundred feet that kills every living thing around him]]. By the time he realizes what's happening, he has unwittingly killed his entire town including his family and friends. Frightened out of his mind, he hides in a nearby cave. Then [[Wolverine]], who is able to survive thanks to his [[Healing Factor]], appears. He gives the kid a beer and tells him what happened. In the end, to keep the kid from accidentally hurting anyone else and to keep his existence a secret (since news of a mutant with that kind of power would destroy any chance of peace between mutants and humans), Wolverine kills him. By that point it's almost a [[Mercy Killing]] since the kid can't live with being responsible for so much death.
* In ''[[The Walking Dead (comics)|The Walking Dead]]'', {{spoiler|one of the childer in the group, Ben, kills and cuts apart his twin sibling. This prompts an eight-year-old Carl Grimes, son of the protagonist, to shoot Ben, because he was "too dangerous".}}
* In ''[[Green Lantern]]'' ''Corps'' #66, the combined corruption of Parallax and the Black Lanterns have made it impossible to heal {{spoiler|Mogo}}. As long as {{spoiler|Mogo}} is active, he will continue to send out Parallax corrupted Green Lantern Rings across the universe, dooming countless billions to die by the hands of those who should be their champions. Faced with no alternative, {{spoiler|John Stewart channels Black Lantern energy and ''destroys Mogo''.}}
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* ''[[Mad Max]] 2'' has a rather tragic literal example.
* Done with somewhat [[Narm|Narmful]] offhandedness in ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]''; once when Rasczak shoots his sergeant after she's caught by the Bugs ("[[Foreshadowing|I'd expect any of you to do the same for me!]]"), and then when Rico, of course, shoots a Bug-bitten Rasczak.
* In ''[[X-Men: The Last Stand|X Men the Last Stand]]'', when Jean Grey has completely lost control of her alternate personality "The Phoenix", Wolverine is the only one with the fortitude (both moral and physical) to put her down in the end, despite being in love with her. To take the edge off the trope, she regains enough control to request that he kill her. In the original comic saga, Wolverine pointedly ''can't'' bring himself to do it.
* Done in ''[[The Sand Pebbles]]'' by Jake Holman ([[Steve McQueen]]). After Po-han is captured and is being tortured, {{spoiler|the San Pablo is leaving the dock where Po-han is being tortured. Holman is ordered not to fire at the Chinese who are torturing Po-han, so Holman shoots Po-han to put him out of his misery.}}
* Subverted in ''[[Zombieland]]''. Wichita asks Tallahassee and Columbus to perform a mercy killing on her "infected" sister, Little Rock, when she stops them, and insists that she be the one to do the deed. {{spoiler|She then promptly turns the gun on the two men so that she and her sister can steal their weapons and vehicle.}}
* ''The Assassination of Richard Nixon'': This trope happens near the end of the movie involving Sam Bicke(Sean Penn).
* ''[[The Fly]]'' 2: When Martin (Brundlefly's son) had to put a mutated golden retriever in horrible pain out of its misery by suffocating it with chloroform, after his employer promised him he put it down two years ago. Most gut-wretching scene ever.
* In the ''[[Kingdom of Heaven]]'''s Director's Cut, {{spoiler|Princess Sybilla [[Tear Jerker|tearfully]] [[Offing the Offspring|poisons her own son to death]], having found out that the child is an [[Ill Boy]] afflicted with leprosy - therefore he's condemned to a life of incurable pain, like his uncle King Baldwin.}}
* In ''[[The Warlords]]'', Jet Li is a general whose army has been laying siege to a well fortified town for over a year with neither side making any progress. The Empress tires of the stalemate and has given him a deadline of a few more days. His supplies are running out, and so is the food supply of the besieged town. Both armies are about to starve to death. Li's second in command negotiates a truce with the town's leader, and they agree to surrender the town to Li's army on the condition that they share their food with his people. Li however did not authorize this agreement and afterwards arrives at the cold reality that there is only enough food for his own army to survive for a few more days; were he to share that food with the enemy's troops, neither army would survive. He reluctantly orders the massacre of the entire town that had just surrendered to him. Unarmed, they are all shot down in a hail of arrows. Li's supplies were enough to sustain his army long enough to reach the next town.
* ''[[The Guns of Navarone]]''. Captain Mallory has discovered that Anna is a traitor and is forced by the circumstances to execute her. As he prepares to do so, Anna's friend Maria shoots her instead so Mallory doesn't have to.
* One of the alternate endings for ''[[Se7en]]'' had Somerset {{spoiler|shooting John Doe for killing Mills' wife so that Mills won't have to go to jail for it}}.
* ''633Squadron''. Norwegian resistance leader Lieutenant Erik Bergman has been captured and taken to the local Gestapo HQ for torture and interrogation, so RAF Wing Commander Roy Grant goes over and delivers a precision strike with a single Mosquito, both to silence Bergman and to put an end to the torture.
* In 2010's ''[[The Expendables]]'', Barney is forced to kill Gunner when he goes rogue in a drug-induced homicidal rampage. Averted when it is revealed in the end that it was merely a [[Disney Death]].
* Averted in ''[[Shoot'Em Up (film)|Shoot Em Up]]'', where Clive Owen's Mr Smith refuses to shoot an Alsatian to cover his escape, because he likes dogs.
* In ''[[Fresh]]'' (1994), the title character literally shoots the dog, when it's clear he won't be able to look after it, {{spoiler|after his friend who was taking care of it dies}}.
* [[Daniel Craig]]'s character in ''Defiance'' shoots his horse so that the people in his camp can eat again.
** Similarly, in ''[[True Grit]]'', Rooster shoots the horse when it is unable to carry on due to exhaustion, and he carries Mattie on foot.
* In ''[[Equilibrium]]'', lots of cute little puppies are about to be executed. Cleric John Preston saves one, and to protect it, wipes out an entire squad of soldiers.
* In ''[[The Lincoln Lawyer]]'', {{spoiler|investigator Frank Levin}} is found dead in his home - and his dog has been shot and killed too.
* Done spectacularly in the 2004 remake of ''[[Dawn of the Dead 2004]]''; not only is an infected character shot to protect the group, but it is given a huge build up with people taking responsibility over the deed, goodbyes being made and last words being said. And then said character {{spoiler|[[Tear Jerker|is left to die naturally, and only killed by necessity when he becomes a zombie]].}}
* In ''[[Lean on Me]],'' many of Joe Clark's actions have some arguable moral ambiguity to them, from chaining and locking school doors (in violation of fire safety rules) on being told that someone from inside the school let an expelled student into the building, to firing a teacher for picking up trash during the school song for which everyone was told not to move.
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* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Warhammer 40000]] [[Gaunt's Ghosts|Gaunts Ghosts]]'' novel, [[The Mole]], revealed at the end, sneers that Gaunt has no proof and won't shoot him without it -- he's read his file. Rawne retorts that [[The Mole]] hasn't read ''his'' file and shoots him.
* In the fourth book of ''[[Codex Alera]]'', Lord Kalarus has bound one of the Great Furies, the animating spirit of a ''volcano'', to him, so that when he dies it will erupt and destroy the nearby city of Kalare ''plus'' all the refugees that will have flooded to the city, the armies of Kalarus, ''and'' the armies of the First Lord that will be laying siege to the city. First Lord Gaius Sextus does not approve, and with the help of Amara and Bernard goes through a rather grueling ordeal to sneak in close enough to prevent this. {{spoiler|Since he could not prevent the release of the Fury, instead he releases it early, reasoning that this way, even though the city still dies, the thousands of refugees and soldiers that would have been caught in the later blast are spared.}}
* In ''[[The
* Nonfiction example, Karen Pryor wrote a whole book about [http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Shoot-Dog-Teaching-Training/dp/0553380397/ how not to do this.]
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' book ""Changes"", {{spoiler|Harry does this brutally. A great ritual has built up enough magic to enable a sacrifice to destroy an entire bloodline; Harry and his family is the target for this, but the [[Complete Monster|Red Court Vampires]] aren't being picky. And by the time they get there, the ritual AHS to go off, or the results won't be pretty. So what does Harry do? He prods his ex-lover and mother of his child to ask [[The Mole]] [[Armor-Piercing Question|questions that lead to her going berserk]], murdering him, drinking his blood, and completing her [[Body Horror|change into a Red Court Vampire]]. The resulting distraction allows Harry to disable everyone else there, and [[Mercy Kill|use the newest vampire of the Red Court]] as a sacrifice to target the spell. It's also a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], but ''damn.''}}
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* Anita of ''[[Anita Blake]]'' {{spoiler|brutally tortures and kills a man to gain information about where Richard's mother and brother are being held}} in Blue Moon. She decided to do it instead using slower methods due to the revelation that {{spoiler|they were being tortured and raped.}} Several of Anita's people begged to be allowed to ''[[Shoot the Dog]]'' for her, but she decided she couldn't ask anyone to do something she refused do herself. This is the moment she identifies as being the trigger for setting her on the path of becoming a sociopath.
* The nigh-pacifistic Atticus Finch in ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'' shoots a rabid dog. The fact that he took off his glasses and fired [[Instant Death Bullet|just one shot]] from a good distance, astonishing his son, makes it arguably a [[To Kill a Mockingbird/Awesome|Moment of Awesome]].
* In ''[[Moses Man of the Mountain]]'', in divergence with the [[The Bible|biblical]] version of events, Moses is forced to {{spoiler|kill Aaron on Mount Sinai because of his poisonous influence on the Hebrews}}.
* ''[[Honor Harrington]]'': Citizen Admiral {{spoiler|Thomas Theisman}} decides that Haven has had enough show trials:
{{quote|''[[Pre-Mortem One-Liner|Goodbye,]] {{spoiler|[[Pre-Mortem One-Liner|Citizen Chairman.]]}}''}}
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** Buffy herself has had to shoot the dog. In "Becoming, Part II", {{spoiler|seconds after her vampire boyfriend Angel has his soul restored, the ritual he performed when he was the soulless Angelus kicks off and threatens to drag all of Earth into Hell. The only way Buffy can save the world is by killing Angel and consigning him to Hell instead... which she does. }}
** Wesley tries to get the group to do this when the [[Big Bad]] of Season 3 tries to bargain with them using Willow as a hostage. Wesley argues that the potential death of tens of thousands if they accept the deal far outweighs the certain death of one person if they refuse. {{spoiler|Willow's boyfriend Oz breaks the [[Applied Phlebotinum]] that would be used to destroy the Box of Gavrok. The Scoobies give the [[Big Bad]] the box in exchange for Willow, deciding to simply ignore Wesley from that point on. It's in stark contrast to the ''[[Angel]]'' spin-off where Wesley's sort of advice tends to be the decision that's often much more likely to be taken.}}
* The crew in ''[[Angel]]'', consistently and awesomely due to this show being [[Darker and Edgier]] than its parent show. For example, Wesley torturing a female druggie, Angel allowing Darla and Drusilla to kill a lot of Wolfram & Hart employees, and pretty much anything the recurring villain Holtz ever does.
* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'' has several examples:
** Section 31 is a secret group in Starfleet, which [[Utopia Justifies the Means|performs rather shady actions while giving Starfleet plausible deniability]]. Suspicious fans wondered if this was [[Lampshade Hanging]] to explain how the on-screen portrayal of the Federation became less idealistic over time.
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** Mind you, {{spoiler|reports of her death might have been exaggerated.}}
** Don't forget Al-Queda-style suicide bombing and planned genocide via biological weapon!
** Canine execution via firearms starts up in the pilot miniseries and just keeps on going. Leaving behind ships that can't jump to FTL and Helo gunning down a man trying to jump onto an already-full Raptor are just two of the ugly decisions characters make. And [[It Got Worse|things get worse as the series progresses.]]
** Things get pretty dark pretty damn fast on that show.
* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Doctor has often found himself taking this role; it's especially become a character trait in his ninth and tenth incarnations. Instances include, in "Dalek" sealing his companion in a bunker with a Dalek in order to prevent the Dalek from escaping, and drowning the ''children'' of a [[Giant Spider]] [[Hive Queen|Empress]] in "The Runaway Bride" rather than letting them devour the Earth.
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* ''[[Lost]]'': Eko shoots a man to keep his little brother from having to do so.
** Later, a flashback shows Sayid killing a chicken on his father's order after his older brother refuses to do so.
** And let's not forget the time {{spoiler|Sayid shot 12-year-old Ben Linus}} to try and avert all kinds of bad stuff in the future.
* Played with in the ''[[Bones]]'' episode "The Man in the Cell". Bad guy Epps goes over the balcony rail, Booth lunges and [[Take My Hand|catches his wrist]], there's a long moment (and some really creepy dialogue from Epps)... and then Epps is street pizza. Did Booth let go or not? This turns into a sub-arc over the next few episodes.
* ''Terminator: [[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' finds a new dog to shoot in virtually every episode (as could be expected, given the [[Endofthe World As We Know It|consequences of failure]] and the presence of an emotionless android and a paranoid future soldier in the regular cast). For instance, in an early episode, the benign terminator Cameron prevents John from saving a suicidal girl, reasoning that he could draw attention to himself and risk getting exposed and drawing the attention of other terminators. The biggest example is Andy [[Meaningful Name|Good]], an innocent computer engineer who will one day invent SkyNet, who literally gets shot (though Sarah's pretty upset about it).
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** And in the third season episode "The Long Way Back", {{spoiler|Michael shoots his "partner" Strickler, upon finding out that he had arranged for Fiona to be kidnapped and handed over to any one of the various people who wanted her dead, simply because she was a potential red flag in Michael's file. Of course, Strickler had already pulled a gun on him at that point, and was not particularly inclined to let Michael do anything to prevent the plan from going through.}}
* Gibbs shooting through Agent {{spoiler|Michelle Lee}} to take out {{spoiler|the Weatherman}} in ''[[NCIS]]''.
** {{spoiler|And she asked him to do it!}} Complete [[Tear Jerker]], right there.
* Season 2 of ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]'' sees Gene Hunt literally shoot the dog.
* Mal of ''[[Firefly]]'' is the rare lead character who never needs a side character to shoot the dog for him. He's more than willing to kill someone to protect his crew, and he does it on multiple occasions, even when killing them isn't strictly necessary.
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** In ''The Train Job'', he kicks the [[King Mook]] into Serenity's engines-- literally shredding the man into a mist of blood-- because he threatened to hunt them down over a deal gone bad.
** In ''The Message'', he shoots Tracy for trying to take Kaylee hostage, when a simple explanation of the situation would have solved everything. But would Tracy have listened?
** The culmination of Mal's "[[Shoot the Dog]] for the crew" mentality is shown in ''Ariel'' where he fully intends to space ''one of his own crew'' for trying to sell out two others for reward money.
* [[House (TV series)|House]] had its doctors treat an Idi Amin-analogue called Dbala. Cameron says repeatedly that she hopes he dies, and even makes moves toward convincing his second-in-command to seize power by killing him, but still treats him as best she can. {{spoiler|Then her husband Chase instinctively calls out a warning that thwarts an assassin. Later, he hears the assassin's backstory (and some of the dictator's genocidal rant), and decides he can't live with having saved this monster's life, so he fakes a test result, deliberately causing the dictator's death, which eventually causes Cameron to leave him and PPTH.}}
* ''[[Farscape]]'' has Crais offering to execute Aeryn's mother (who was sent to hunt them down and kill them) after they capture her so Aeryn doesn't have to witness it. He doesn't actually 'shoot the dog', he fakes it and offers a proposal to Aeryn's mom where she returns to the Peacekeepers and says the job is done in exchange for her life. Technically averted...
** No, technically [[Double Subversion|doubly subverted]]. In a later episode, Crais DOES shoot Aeryn's mother to save Aeryn's life. Which is exactly the kinda material this trope is made of.
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** It's worth noting that, whether true or not, this is also Arcturus Mengsk's stated reason for pretty much everything he does.
* [[Sonic Battle|Emerl]]. [[Sonic the Hedgehog/Tear Jerker|That is all]].
* Solar Boy Django, the protagonist of ''[[Boktai]]'' has been forced to kill off, or very nearly do so, a member of his immediate family during each of his series three games after they are enslaved by the forces of darkness. The only thing that makes it slightly easier (or even worse) for him is that they [[I Cannot Self-Terminate|beg him to do so]].
* Zero had to make this decision at the end of ''[[Mega Man Zero]] 4''. Confronted with the [[Complete Monster|monster]] that was [[Big Bad|Dr. Weil]], the latter boasts how a hero like Zero would never bring himself up to kill a human like Weil, or else he would forever be branded a Maverick. Fortunately, [[Mega Man Zero/Awesome|Zero]] [[Shut UP, Hannibal|doesn't]] [[World of Cardboard Speech|care.]] -- An unfortunate mistake Weil has made, since Zero was not created according to the [["Three Laws"-Compliant|Three Laws of Robotics]] anyway.
* Throughout ''[[Metroid Prime]] 3: Corruption'', Samus is forced to fight and kill Rundas, Ghor and Gandrayda in order to save them, in a manner of speaking, from their total Phazon corruption. Possibly doubles into a [[Kick the Dog]] moment immediately afterwards, as {{spoiler|an incorporeal [[Evil Twin|Dark]] [[Big Bad|Samus]] appears and absorbs their bodies into its own.}}
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