Kill the Ones You Love: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'' loves this trope. ''Loves'' it. Aya has to kill two of his mentors; Ken has to kill his best friend, girlfriend, surrogate mother, ''and'' old friend's brother; and Youji gets to kill ''three'' girlfriends.

* In [[Naruto]], Sakura has decided to kill Sasuke with her own hands, to save their land and spare him from falling even lower than he already has. Subverted, as when push comes to shove, she can't bring herself to do it and is nearly killed herself.

* [[Bleach]]: Rukia Kuchiki was forced to kill her mentor and first love, Kaien Shiba, when he became possessed by a Hollow.

* In the ''[[Claymore]]'' universe, this sort of thing happens all the time due to the whole [[I Cannot Self-Terminate]] thing. The first instance occured in the very first volume when Clare was called upon to [[Mercy Kill]] her girlhood friend Elena.

** The instance with Raphaela is particulary memorable, tough.

* In ''Project ARMS'', all of the heroes say, in no uncertain terms, that they won't hesitate to kill Ryo if he's taken over by the Jabberwock. Given that he fears that happening to him, it's actually ''comforting''. At the end of the manga, he remembers this when he has to bring himself to kill Katsumi, who is possessed by Alice. Fortunately, she gets better.

* [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]: [[Cool Big Sis|Mami]] during the third timeline of episode ten's [[Groundhog Day Loop]] hits the [[Despair Event Horizon]] upon learning the true nature of Magical Girls after [[Tragic Monster|Sayaka]] turns into a witch and has to be killed. Not wanting the rest of the magical girls to turn like her, Mami kills Kyouko, but before she is able to kill Homura and Madoka before presumably ending her own life, Madoka shoots her.

* This is the entire point of the Sacrifice of ''[[Berserk]]'', as first revealed in the Guardians of Desire arc. By consigning that which you most love to be eaten by demons, the would-be Apostle (or Godhand) cuts himself or herself off from humanity and opens himself or herself to evil. Unlike most of the examples on this page, this act is presented as a monstrous betrayal of everything the person holds dear and a crossing of the [[Moral Event Horizon]], both because of the [[Cruel and Unusual Death|Cruel And Unusual Deaths]] often suffered by those who get the Brand put on them and due to the added little detail that anyone sacrificed in the creation of a demon gets his or her soul condemned to Hell for all eternity.

* [[Taimanin Asagi]] has Asagi doing this to Kyousuke close to the end. He had been turned into a monster, he was lucid at that moment, and she said "I love you" just before breaking his neck and killing him quickly. You would have to have a heart made out of stone not to feel anything over that.

** Conrad also throws Yozak off a cliff {{spoiler|during his [[Face Heel Turn]], right after Yozak attacked him while giving a declaration that was basically, 'you're my best friend and my captain and if this is how it's going to be I'll kill you myself.'}}

** And in the weird guest episode with the mountain of betrayal miasma, where everyone except [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|Yuuri]] became convinced that everyone else had been compromised by the mist of betrayal and become their enemy. Yozak and Conrad had rather a good duel in the snow.

*** Even more impressive in that episode was when [[Tsundere|Wolfram]] became convinced that Yuuri had gone crazy was going to kill him and ''didn't'' invoke this trope, just curled up and waited. [[Power of Love]].

** When Conrad and Yuuri met in the coliseum it looked like this was going to happen, too, and about ten episodes later it {{spoiler|very nearly did.}}

 

 

== Film ==

* The ending to ''[[Million Dollar Baby]]''. The film's star boxer has suffered a career-ending injury, is paralyzed below the neck, has no hope of recovery beyond being immobile for the rest of her life, and is actively suicidal but incapable of successfully completing the act due to her injuries. Her manager later makes the painful decision to cut off her life support and give her a massive dose of tranquilizers to avert her prolonged suffering.

* In John Woo's ''[[The Killer]]'', the title character has to put a bullet to Sidney, his best friend, in an [[I Cannot Self-Terminate]] moment, after he went through serious hell to get the money the Killer needs to have Jenny's eyes fixed to him and got shot by the bad guys.

* [[Double Subverted]] in ''[[Kill Bill]]''. At first, all we see of The Bride is her [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] against Bill, her ex-lover, but after she kills him, she breaks down sobbing for several moments.

* ''[[Shaun of the Dead]]'': Shaun shoots the [[Not Using the Z Word|zombie]] Barbara after her transformation.

* ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'' has a sickening version. According to a legend, when Keyser Söze was a small-time gangster, someone once tried to take him down by going after his wife and children. He came home to find them being held hostage, guns and knives being held to them, pleading eyes, etc. Not to be cowed, he ''killed them all himself'', then the shocked hostage-takers, [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|"then their parents, then their parents' friends..."]]

* As mentioned in the Literature section, ''[[Old Yeller]]'' is one of the oldest examples in film. At first there is a [[Hope Spot]] tease when Travis pens the dog in a corncrib, hoping he won't turn rabid -- he does.

* Will Smith's dog in ''[[I Am Legend]]''.

* Both the film and book version of ''[[Of Mice and Men]]'' show two examples. The first is a subversion depicting a man who has to have someone shoot his rabies-infected dog. He laments that he didn't do it himself. It is later brutally invoked when George has to kill Lenny to save him from an angry mob.

 

 

* Averted in the story of the Sacrifice of Isaac in [[The Bible]]. It turned out to have been a [[Secret Test of Character]] for Abraham.

* Speaking of sacrifices: Agamemnon had to kill his [[Offing the Offspring|daughter]] Iphigenia so that the Greek fleet could sail...(opinions differ as to whether he actually did the deed.)

* In the finale of the novel ''[[Of Mice and Men]]'', George has to kill his best friend Lennie to save him from being lynched after the latter [[And Call Him George|kills Curley's wife by breaking her neck by accident]].

* Rosemary Sutcliffe's ''Mark of the Horse Lord'' begins with the gladiator hero having to kill his best friend in the arena.

* At the climax of ''[[The Dresden Files|Changes]]'' Harry has to kill Susan once she fully turns into a Red Court vampire, turning their bloodline curse back against the Red Court and wiping them out.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* In the re-imagined ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'', Colonel Tigh has to poison his wife after she betrays the resistance on New Caprica (which she did to save his life).

* Steven Moffat's not letting off with this trope either, playing it heartbreakingly straight with Rory, who accidentally shoots Amy in an attempt to hold off Auton control of his mind.

{{quote| Bobby: She was the love of my life. How many times do I have to kill her?}}

** This trope is a major deal in the series. It is also the background of recurring antagonist [[Blood Knight]] Gordon Walker, whose sister was turned into a vampire.

*** There's also the [[Bad Future]].

* [[Buffy]] to Angel in the season two finale is the obvious one (although [[Unexplained Recovery|He recovered]]).

** Also in ''Angel'', Gunn stakes his sister after she is turned into a vampire.

* This is the philosophy of [[Big Bad]] John Wakefield on ''[[Harpers Island]]''. He also tries to make Henry, his son and accomplice in the murders, kill the woman he loves. Henry refuses.

 

 

* Used all over the place in the ''[[Dept Heaven]]'' series:

** In ''[[Riviera the Promised Land]]'', the trope is zigzagged, with a huge deal made out of how Ein is going to have to fight his mentor and best friend Ledah; the player is made to expect this trope. The battle leaves Ledah badly injured and asking for a [[Mercy Kill]], but Ein refuses on the grounds of no way is he doing that to a friend. Shortly after this, Ledah does die, but it's at the hands of an enemy character after all.

*** There's also quite a bit of this in ''[[Blaze Union]]''--C route gives us the quintessential [[Came Back Wrong]] fight with Jenon, and the bad end of the B route has [[Omnicidal Maniac]] Emilia in need of [[Staking the Loved One|staking]]. The A route ''tries'' to pull this when Medoute [[Fantastic Racism|concludes that Gulcasa has become a monster]] and decides to [[Et Tu, Brute?|take him down herself]], but Gulcasa [[Defied Trope|gives this trope the finger]] and [[Turn the Other Cheek|spares her]], despite being told in no uncertain terms that this is [[Kill Him Already|incredibly dangerous]]. As this proves his humanity, however, Medoute and Jenon leave the country instead of going after him again.

** ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'' has Willimgard unwittingly kill his own son, who's been turned into a werewolf, and later the now-harpy Pisce as well. The narrator [[What the Hell, Hero?|calls him out on the latter]].

** ''[[Gungnir]]'' zigzags the trope much in the same manner as ''Riviera'', but ultimately averts it [[Darker and Edgier|against all odds]]: despite the huge, dramatic battle between Julio and [[More Than Mind Control|Ragnus]], Julio doesn't kill his brother at the end of it, and after a lot of [[Was It All a Lie?|yelling at the party]], Ragnus gets up and walks away.

** ''[[Gloria Union]]'' features three of these fights--Ishut against his childhood [[The Rival|frienemy]] [[Came Back Wrong|Velgas]], Elisha and Zazarland against Elisha's mother [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Enryetta]], and Ishut versus his badly-abused twin brother [[Psychopathic Manchild|Ashley]]. Despite this being a [[Lighter and Softer]] game, the trope is played straight every time.

** It's part of the backstory of four members of the main cast for similar reasons (we play Lloyd and Genis as they're made to kill Marble, {{spoiler|Regal killed his lover}} and {{spoiler|Kratos killed his wife}}.)

** In an alternate route, it's possible to fight and kill {{spoiler|Zelos}} - very close to one member of the cast (who mourns him) and a character many [[Player Punch|players adore]].

** The last boss battle is against {{spoiler|Mithos in child form}} and you can have {{spoiler|Genis}}, who befriended him, [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|join in the fight]].

** And in the [[Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World|sequel]], the last two boss battles are {{spoiler|Emil VS Richter, in which Emil has always [[Ho Yay|idolized]] Richter and looks exactly like Richter's dead best friend}}, then {{spoiler|Emil VS his crush Marta and friend Lloyd}}, which is also a very effective and unexpected [[Player Punch]] since {{spoiler|Marta was the only other permanent member of your party for the entire game, and Lloyd is the hero of the first game}}.

* ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'': In Zoey's backstory, she shot her father so that he would not become infected after being bit. However, It's heavily implied that he was a carrier (immune), but Zoey couldn't have possibly known this...

* Imaginary!Barry in ''[[Alan Wake]]'''s second DLC "The Writer" lampshades this with the line "'kill your darlings'" as Alan goes to the Cabin for the final battle.