Actual Pacifist: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Bleach]]'':

** Chad used to be a real thug when he was younger. It wasn't until his one in his abuelo (grandfather) took a beating for him without flinching or fighting back and told him that his powerful fists were not meant for hurting people that Chad took his Actual Pacifist stance. As the series progresses, however, he changes ''again'', this time vowing only to ever use his strength to protect others and never himself.

* Gennosuke from ''[[Basilisk]]'' is an interesting example of this. He never starts a fight in the whole show and even orders his own people not to kill the Iga ninjas. On the other hand he eventually decides he has no choice but let the Kouga annihilate the Iga. The few times he does fight (quite brutally in fact) his power means that he never has to engage in any actual violence.

 

* Doctor Leslie Thompkins in ''[[Batman]]''.

* Juggernaut in ''Age of Apocalypse'' is a monk named Cain. When Damask and Dead Man Wade launch an attack on Avalon he refuses to fight. Eventually the internal struggle of whether or not to help people by inflicting physical damage to others causes him to have an aneurysm.

* ''[[Orient Men]]'', in the beginning of his appearances, was the kind of superhero who attempted to combat crooks by waxing poetic to them about the error of their ways. Later on, when the superhero status became [[The Artifact]], many his adventures involved helping epople solve their conflicts peacefully.

* Reese from ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]''. In real life she is an ER nurse and so refuses to take part in any act of violence, even in game. She plays a cleric of a pacifist god.

 

== Fan Works ==

** Though they do make exceptions to protect one another. And John has more of a temper than the others and does open a can of nonlethal whoop-ass on a few people, always while protecting one or more of the others.

* In ''[[Ponies Make War]]'', Twilight Sparkle becomes one after being freed from the [[Artifact of Doom|Sliver of Darkness]] {{spoiler|(or to be more accurate, her dominant [[Split Personality|personality]], Sparkle, does)}}, to the point that she can't even fight [[Mooks|Puppets]], even thought they're not even sentient or really alive. {{spoiler|This lasts until her personalities [[Split Personality Merge|fuse back together]], and she starts kicking ass.}}

 

== Film ==

* Brother Gilbert of ''[[Dragonheart]]'' displayed this trait early on, but when war with Einon became inevitable he unwilling agreed to use his [[Badass Preacher|previously undiscovered (but historically justified) archery skills]]. Even then, he kept all but one of his shots non-fatal and was reciting biblical lines as he did so.

** (Shoots an enemy in the ass-cheek) [[Crowning Moment of Funny|"Turn the other cheek now, brother."]]

{{quote|'''Gandhi:''' In this cause, I too am prepared to die. There's no cause for which I'm prepared to kill.}}

* The title aliens in the 60s film ''The Monitors'' They are driven from Earth when they realize that the only way to pacify humanity would be to use violence themselves.

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Animorphs]]'': The Pemalites ''[[Suicidal Pacifism|were]]'' examples of this trope until they met the Howlers, Crayak's shock troopers. Their android creations, the Chee, have pacifism hardwired into them - given how powerful they are, this grates on the main characters from time to time. The one time Erek (the main Chee character) was able to override his pacifism, he effortlessly wiped out a Yeerk force that would have slaughtered the team, but couldn't cope with the idea of doing that all the time and willingly returned to normal. Not even Marco could really blame him.

** The Hork-Bajir originally had no concept of violence. When the Yeerks - parasitic slugs that infest the brain and thereafter control the body - started conquering them, it didn't occur to most of them to fight back. Dak Hamee, the Hork-Bajir equivalent of Einstien, wasted several minutes in his first-ever fight trying to figure out how it had been ''possible'' for the other Hork-Bajir to cut him.

* In [[Larry Niven]]'s ''[[Known Space]]'' The goal of Arm was to turn all of humanity into such, as it was the only way we'd survive. It was working pretty well using mandatory drugging and population controls to breed out much of the violent tendencies. Some violent folks are kept inside ARM to react to situations as they come up, but can't leave the building until medicated. Then we meet the Kzini and pacifism is a trait that becomes a luxury...

* In Tim Powers' ''Expiration Date'', Sullivan is forced to become this when the hands of [[Harry Houdini]]'s ghost become permanently bonded to his own hands. The ghostly hands refuse to wield weapons or even play violent video games.

** Likewise, Moist von Lipwig is a con man and oftentimes [[Magnificent Bastard]] who is nonetheless much more comfortable with being threatened by violence than the other way 'round. He never physically attacks anyone, and becomes extremely nervous when put into the position to freely do so.

* In the [[Star Trek Novel Verse]], the Halkans insist there is no violence of any kind in their hearts. As a result of this, anyone capable of violence cannot be truly Halkan. In [[Star Trek: The Lost Era]], Halkan character Lojur is even exiled from the planet for using violence in defense of his village. It was under attack by murderous raiders, but even then the majority of his people found fighting inconceivable.

** The Caeliar from ''[[Star Trek: Destiny]]''. They would rather die in the millions than harm another being, or even allow harm to come to another if they can prevent it. When the human characters they're holding captive rebel, they're convinced to co-operate when a human shoots his own colleague.

* [[Anne of Green Gables|Anne Shirley's]] middle son Walter is absolutely opposed to fighting, and hates the idea of violence. All well and good, until the beginning of World War One.

* ''[[Phule's Company]]'' had a recruit nicknamed "Mahatma" included in the last batch of unfit recruits dropped into The Omega Company. Why he joined the mercenary corps was never explained, but when their drill sergeant got to "you'll have to shoot back" part, he tried to ask something that obviously bothered him, but was was told to hold it for a while and... never brought up his problem again, the next part being a demonstration of [[Stun Guns|Zenobian stun-ray]] the company got for rent-a-cop job. The sergeant was left to puzzle over why they were given a recruit who acts slightly strange, but physically is in better-than-average shape, shows neither uncooperative attitude nor crippling mental problems and diligently studies the weapon issued to him.

 

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'':

** The Argolins from "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S18/E01 The Leisure Hive|The Leisure Hive]]" and the Dulcians from "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S6/E01 The Dominators|The Dominators]]" [[Planet of Hats|wore this hat]]. The Thals from the first Dalek story, "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S1/E02 The Daleks|The Daleks]]", as well, though they later dropped this stance rather than having the Daleks exterminate them all. All three races had previously survived a [[Nuclear War]], making them all three, in effect, a species-level example of [[The Atoner]].

{{quote|'''Simon''': I've never shot anyone before.

'''Shepherd Book''': I was there son. I'm fair sure you haven't shot anyone yet. }}

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* [[GURPS]] has two levels of this: Self Defense Only and Total Nonviolence. With Total Nonviolence you can only even defend yourself against things that aren't sentient.

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''

 

== Theatre ==

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'', you can meet a warrior-monk of the Erith-Agge; an order that has foresworn the use of violence until the day of the last battle when they will help decide the fate of the universe. Thus, despite being an extremely accomplished warrior, you need to help him recover a necklace he lost in a mugging—he has no problems with ''you'' mopping the floor with them.

* ''[[Star Wars Galaxies]]'' Pre-NGE featured Crafting, Medical, and Entertainer professions that actually made for a variety of non-combat roles you could mix and match. Post-NGE enforced this on Traders and Entertainers at first, then later gave them combat levels.

* It is possible to play an actual pacifist in both Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 by maxing out all of your social traits. You can even talk the final boss to death.

 

* Celia from ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' is like this.

** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0537.html "MOST people don't kill, Haley! That's why there are laws against murder. It's really only adventurers who think, 'How can I solve this problem? Oh, right, bloodshed!'"]

* ''[[Precocious (Webcomic)|Precocious]]'': [http://www.precociouscomic.com/archive/comic/2009/04/01 Refusing to enter a girl/boy war.]

* Peganone Silkweed from ''[[Our Little Adventure]]''. She gained all of her character levels in non-combat situations and is a public servant rather than an adventurer.

 

== Web Original ==

* Doc from ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' abhors violence in every way, even having joined the army as a conscientious objector. For this reason, he is a medic... and his extreme pacifism has earned him the undying hatred of ''both'' teams. For maximum hilarity, the [[Omnicidal Maniac|Omnicidal Hyper-Aggressive AI]] O'Malley [[Grand Theft Me|hijacks his body]] and attempts to use him in his ultimate goal of taking over the universe, and "crushing every living soul into ''dust!''"

** This pacifism is so extreme that when the Blues and Reds are in the middle of another fight, Church resorts to ''shooting Caboose in the foot'' to get him to cross to the other side, as even pretending to help the Blues against the Reds seemed too "aggressive" to Doc.

* Raven, from the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' is a mystic martial artist with minor darkness powers. She absolutely refuses to cause harm to another person, even in self-defense. However, she's a master of aikido, fast on her feet, and perfectly willing to let her opponents injure *themselves*. For instance, by punching walls when she ducks out of the way. She has perfected the art of "fighting" defensively.

* The main character in the short interactive fiction "The Life of a Pacifist" is one of these. Unfortunately, they're a video game developer, and they're currently working on a third person shooter and find the scenes within it horrifying. In the end, {{spoiler|they either quit, continue working despite themselves, or decide that nothing is wrong with it at all.}}

 

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Transformers Generation 1]],'' Beachcomber took it to the level of allowing Decepticons to take a powerful [[MacGuffin]] in a pretty area of forest rather than mention it to the Autobots and allow a fight to take place. In a later episode, First Aid allowed Swindle to get away with a component necessary for Metroplex to transform rather than shoot back.

* In ''[[The Boondocks]]'' episode "Return of the King", in an [[Alternate History]] universe Martin Luther King wasn't killed by an assassin, but put into a coma for 32 years, waking up significantly aged in a hospital bed on October 27, 2000. After the 9/11 attacks, King appears on TV, stating that his Christian faith teaches him to "turn the other cheek", even with respect to enemies such as Al-Qaeda. His commentary receives severe scorn from the White House Press Secretary, CNN and Time magazine, and causes his popularity to plummet.

 

== Real Life ==

* Many governments, even some of the most warlike in history, allow some people to avoid serving as a member of or contributing to violent military actions. Such people have proven themselves to be conscientious objectors, rather than merely opposed to the war in question. Many Conscientious Objectors will then volunteer for dangerous duties in wartime, such as [[The Medic|combat medics]]. One group of Mormon conscientious objectors in World War II were used as some of the first Smokejumpers. As in "parachuting into forest fires".

* St. Moses the Black, at least at the end of his life. Earlier on he was an undeniable [[Badass]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Idealism Tropes]]

[[Category:Peace Tropes]]

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]

[[Category:Morality Tropes]]

[[Category:Pacifist]]