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Suicidal Pacifism (view source)

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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"We will not fight them at all. We would rather die than to kill others."''|'''Tee Watt Kaa''', ''[[Star Wars: theThe Clone Wars]]'' episode "Jedi Crash"}}
 
A person (or, in some cases, an entire nation) who believes that [[Actual Pacifist|actual pacifism]] is worth dedication even when the call for resistance is a [[Matter of Life and Death]]. Often, the suicidal pacifist won't even hide, preferring to [[Too Dumb to Live|ignore the threat]]. Though this ''may'' work occasionally, it will be their strategy of choice even against the [[Omnicidal Maniac]] and [[Complete Monster]].
 
When the hero tries to [[Captain Obvious|point out the flaws in their reasoning]] and convince them to defend themselves, [[Can't Argue Withwith Elves|they will preach]] that he cannot be trusted due to the blood on his hands. If he tries to argue that [[Martial Pacifist|peace and liberty must be defended]], they may imply [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him]]. Of course, once the [[Big Bad]] or [[Mooks]] arrive, he will be forced to take care of the problem.
 
Sometimes, the hero has to try [[Training the Peaceful Villagers]] or to [[Teach Him Anger]].
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* The people of Bandakar in the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series, pacifists who are fortunately immune to magical attacks, and not so fortunately helpless against the Imperial Order's dudes with swords. They eventually got over their pacifism and started defending themselves.
* ''[[The Stainless Steel Rat]] Gets Drafted'' includes a planet of suicidal pacifists. When their planet is conquered, they refuse to work for the conquerors and patiently wait for them to realize that the locals cannot be compelled by violence.
* In a short story in one of the ''[[Warrior Cats (Literature)|Warrior Cats]]'' [[Expanded Universe|Field Guides]], a Clan leader refused to fight, afraid to see his warriors injured - even announcing publicly at a Gathering that they were too weak for him to sanction a fight and politely asking the other Clans to stop hunting in ThunderClan territory. Of course, this was an open invitation to the other Clans to continue hunting there, since they would not be driven off. Eventually the spirit of the leader's mate visits him and explains to him that they need to fight battles, and he agrees.
 
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* One episode of ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation (TV)|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' had Picard and three other abductees put in a room. One of them was an alien from a completely pacifist culture who refused to help them escape, until their predicament and persistence made him change his mind.
* In the ''[[Star Trek: theThe Original Series (TV)|Star Trek the Original Series]]'' episode ''Mirror, Mirror,'' the Halkans tell the Empire that they are willing to "die as a race" to "preserve what we are."
** "Errand of Mercy" had an entire planet of [[Perfect Pacifist People]] who would not raise a hand against the Klingons invading their home planet, even when the Klingons start killing them. {{spoiler|Turned out they were [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] who only appeared in [[A Form You Are Comfortable With]] and they weren't really hurt at all.}}
* The Nox of ''[[Stargate SG -1]]'' are a subversion. They appear to have all the trappings of the trope, refusing even to fight the Goa'uld... until it's revealed that their technology is so far beyond that of the Goa'uld that they aren't really a threat, and their powers of invisibility and healing provide them with plenty of nonviolent ways of keeping themselves alive.
** Which makes their condemnation of the heroes seem a bit hypocritical or at least unfounded. It's all well and good to practice total pacifism when you have impenetrable defenses and perfect cloaking abilities (not to mention the ability to raise the newly dead) to survive, avoid, or undo the damage of any aggressor, but the people they condemn for using violence in self-defense have little choice other than simply being wiped out or enslaved.
** They are of course a great example of being Starfish Aliens.
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' the [[Another Dimension|Dimension of Lame]] (which is populated entirely by sickeningly sweet, naive, and innocent people) gets [[Demonic Invaders|invaded by demons]] from the [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Dimension of Pain]], who proceed to kill, devour, and rip out the souls of every human being who crosses their path. However, when a resistance group tries to organize, even the most psychotically violent individual on the planet can't do anything more than stub a demon's toe in self-defense without feeling unbearable guilt.
** Eventually the demons ''did'' begin to cooperate with the humans to a slight degree, but because the sheer number of helpless sheep to slaughter necessitated some organization on their part.
* Celia from [[Order of the Stick]] has shades of this. She's perfectly willing to use her flight to help other survive, but won't harm anyone alive even when they're trying to kill her and reanimate her corpse as a golem (she will zap golems, [[Stop Helping Me!|but that just made things worse]]). She also has no problem using her lightning zappy beams to create an impressive display as a set up to legally negotiating her way out of the situation.
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Anakin, a few other Jedi, and some clone soldiers crash land on Maridun, an entire planet of [[Actual Pacifist|Actual Pacifists]] in an episode of ''[[Star Wars: theThe Clone Wars]]''. When the Separatists arrive, the natives blame the Jedi for bringing them there, and their leader refuses to fight them for any reason.
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[Dichter Und Denker|German philosopher]] Oswald Spengler claimed in ''[[The Decline of the West (Literature)|The Decline of the West]]'' that this meant the preference of slavery over death (by fighting). As he explained: At the battle of Cannae, 50000 Roman soldiers died. When the Mongols overran the metropolises of China and the Muslim world, the population didn't want to fight them, and hundreds of thousands of people died. Per metropolis, that is.
* One ''[[Underground Comics]]'' artist had a father (also artist) who was like this. As he wrote in one comic, when the other kids would beat up the son for having "fish lips", the father would say "don't hit back, don't lower yourself to their level". [[Sarcasm Mode|Thanks, dad.]]
* Thích Quảng Đức, the Buddhist monk who set himself on fire in a Saigon street during the [[Vietnam War]] as an act of protest. Note that he was not protesting the war itself, but the South Vietnamese government's persecution of Buddhists.
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