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Of course, this is often more than a [[Thanatos Gambit]] -- the villain doesn't necessarily intend to die. In these cases it's enough that they provoke the hero into making the attempt. Once the hero has turned on them with intent to murder, the villain has already proven their point.
The other times, the villain ''really'' does want to die. [[I Cannot Self-Terminate|But they can't]], so they [[Suicide
Whether this works or not depends largely on the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]], but it does make for great dramatic tension no matter what. Heck, at least part of the time, the villain is [[You Wouldn't Shoot Me|taunting the hero because they know he won't do it]]. Of course, this also means that the success or failure of this gambit hinges on whether or not the hero has any preexisting qualms about killing. Said villain might try this on an [[Anti-Hero]] (especially with [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|more extreme cases]]) and get his ass handed to him, due to the hero's [[The Unfettered|lack of such moral restraints.]]
[[Genre Savvy]] villains beware, this can also easily backfire if the hero realizes what the villain is trying to trick him into doing precisely ''[[Your Approval Fills Me
Can overlap with [[What You Are in
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Monster (
* Kurt Godel in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''.
** Later, {{spoiler|Dynamis}}.
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* In ''[[Trigun]]'', Legato Bluesummers tries to goad Vash the Stampede into killing him. Vash is a [[Technical Pacifist]] who believes "no one has the right to take the life of another"; Legato knows that forcing Vash to betray his beliefs and kill him is the single most abhorrent thing he can do to Vash.
{{quote| '''Legato''': ''It's alright, kill me. It's simple. All you need do is pull the trigger. Once you've killed me, this will all be over. Come on. Time to choose. You have free will.''}}
* Used in ''[[Lost Universe]]'' very much like ''Star Wars'', with a twist. Just as Kain Blueriver is about to use a newfound ability to supercharge his [[Psychoactive Powers]] with [[Unstoppable Rage]] to slay Darkstar, [[Morality Chain|Millie]] arrives just in time to reveal that's exactly what Darkstar wants, as part of a [[Thanatos Gambit]] in which Kane's fury and self-loathing will [[Sealed Evil in
* ''[[Naruto]]'' inverts this: {{spoiler|Naruto is willing to let Sasuke kill him if it will turn him to the side of good. Barring that, he's [[Taking You
* Explicit in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (
** Envy actually gets very frustrated about this and tries to start him up again, because he knows he's not surviving this time and wants to bring Mustang down with him. And then Ed ''[[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?|sympathizes]]'' with him, which disturbs him so much he commits suicide then and there.
* Uttered by {{spoiler|Yomi}} to Kagura at the end of ''[[Ga
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* [[Trope Namer|Named]] for Palpatine doing this a lot, including saying the exact trope name, to Luke in ''[[Return of the Jedi]]''. Given he had years to work on Anakin and mere minutes with Luke, he must have been damn good to almost succeed too. In fact, he ''would'' have succeeded, if he had shut his mouth [[Villain Ball|for just five minutes]]. It's worth noting that this is explicitly not a [[Thanatos Gambit]]; the real plan is to get Luke to [[Self-Made Orphan|kill Vader]], giving [[The Emperor]] a fresh, young apprentice rather than a crippled (and [[Bastard Understudy|dangerously ambitious]]) [[The Dragon|Dragon]].
* The end of ''[[Se7en]]'': {{spoiler|John Doe uses the head of Mills' wife to provoke Mills into killing him in order to complete the seventh sin, Wrath}}.
* Invoked in a way similar to ''Se7en'' in ''[[No Budget|Jim Haggerty's The Slasher]]'', wherein the titular slasher tries to goad the officer hunting him into executing him once caught. {{spoiler|The detective refuses, leading the slasher to mock him mercilessly about how he'll get off easy with a good lawyer. Before his trial, however, the detective [[Do
* Possibly played with in ''[[
* Done by {{spoiler|Nitti to the protagonist Eliot Ness}} in ''[[The Untouchables]]''. He's really just playing a [[Batman Gambit]] to toy with him, except it backfires. [[Car Cushion|Badly.]]
* [[The Joker]] in ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', as mentioned in the comic book section.
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== Live-Action TV ==
* in an early episode of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', Dean does this to a very pissed-off Sam who's had his head messed with by a ghost. Dean even hands Sam a gun and tells him to do it. Sam does. The gun isn't loaded. Dean's not stupid. In season 4, [[Big Bad|Lilith]] pulls this with Sam when he'd rather reunite with his brother than {{spoiler|kill her like she wants him to so he'll inadvertently start the apocalypse}}.
* A wily serial killer who Gibbs caught years before [[NCIS]] started asked to see Gibbs again days before his execution date, taunting and teasing that he'd tell where the bodies are kept. This is the guy who turned Gibbs from a jovial jokester like DiNozzo into the jaded guy he is in the show. He ''wants'' Gibbs to kill him in attempt to ruin Gibbs, since he's not even a day away from execution.
== Videogames ==
* Inverted in ''[[No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle]]'' by [[The Hero|Travis]] right before the [[One-Winged Angel|last part]] of the final battle.
{{quote| '''Travis:''' ''Come on, prez! Unleash your hate! Your anger! Everything! I'll take it all, '''and fucking kill you with it!'''''"}}
** And before then by Pizza Batt.
* {{spoiler|Terumi}} quotes the [[Trope Namer]] verbatim to {{spoiler|Noel}} in ''[[Blaz Blue]]: Continuum Shift''. {{spoiler|Unlike Palpatine, he succeeds. Noel gets [[Drunk
* In ''Star Wars: [[The Force Unleashed]]'', the Light Side Ending has Starkiller defeat Palpatine in a boss battle. Palpatine groans and says, "You were destined to destroy me. Do it. Give in to your hatred!" When Kota manages to talk Starkiller down, Palpatine gets really pissed and blasts Kota with Force Lightning for interfering.
** In the second game, Darth Vader dares Starkiller to kill him when Vader is defeated. {{spoiler|If you try it, Vader's Dark Apprentice will jump in and kill Starkiller.}}
* In the final chapter of ''[[
{{quote| '''Sarevok:''' ''Yes! Stoke that infernal wrath of yours!''}}
* In ''[[Dawn of Sorrow]]'', Celia attempts this on Soma Cruz, in a gambit to make him the Dark Lord. Whether she succeeds or not depends on if Soma has a certain amulet equipped. If she does, it leads to a [[Bad End]] and a new game play mode where Soma is the final boss.
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== Webcomics ==
* In ''[[The Order of the Stick
== Western Animation ==
* [[Lex Luthor]] does this to Superman in ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', taunting Supes to kill him for {{spoiler|apparently causing Flash' death}} so he will become like his [[Knight Templar|Justice Lord]] [[Fallen Hero|counterpart.]]
* Megatron does this to [[Viewpoint Character|Jack]] in ''[[
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