The Butcher: Difference between revisions

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* The main villain from the 70s [[Super Robot]] anime ''[[Zambot 3]]'' is called "[[Department of Redundancy Department|Killer the Butcher]]" - as if just "butcher" wasn't evil enough.

* The main character of ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'', Kenshin Himura, is also known as the Hitokiri Battousai, or "the Manslayer." Being [[The Atoner]] of a violent past as an assassin, Kenshin both subverts this as a peaceful man who adheres to [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]] (going so far as to use a reverse-bladed sword to knock opponents out), and plays it straight when an enemy pushes him far enough that his [[Super-Powered Evil Side|murderous golden-eyed "Battousai" side]] kicks in.

== [[Film]] ==

* In the film version of ''[[Wanted]]'', the Butcher is a brutal knife fighter.

* Bill "The Butcher" Cutting, the [[Magnificent Bastard]] extraordinaire from ''[[Gangs of New York]]''. Bill runs his gang from his butcher shop and uses his skill with knives to his advantage in gang rumbles. He even tutors the art of knife-fighting using a suspended pig carcass.

* In ''[[Hitch]]'', the ancestor of a main character is called "The Butcher" for the usual reason. Hitch thought he was just an ordinary butcher and is distressed when the descendant bursts into tears at the mention of his name.

* "Butcher" Brown (AKA "The Butcher of Barcelona") in ''[[The Guns of Navarone]]''.

* In the DTV movie ''The Butcher'', Eric Roberts character has this nickname. He hates it.

* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' introduced King Cleon, who styles himself "the Great" but who most refer to as The Butcher King. He did use to be an actual butcher, but lives up to the traditional implications as well. Also, Gregor Clegane's in-house torturer is known simply as The Tickler.

* In ''[[Wild Cards]]'', superpowered secret serviceman Billy Ray goes by 'Carnifex', although he's more of a violent Jerkass than anything else.

* In James Patterson's ''Cross'', the main antagonist is nicknamed The Butcher. By Himself.

* ''The [[Vorkosigan Saga]]'': Aral "Butcher of Komarr" Vorkosigan. A rare not-actually-[[Earn Your Title|earned]] title, though.

* Dirk Provin, the protagonist of Jennifer Fallon's ''Second Sons'' trilogy acquired the nickname 'The Butcher of Elcast'. This was the result of being given credit for the Lion of Senet's scheme to pressurize an enemy by executing people at random until the man gave in, and was a case of twisting Dirk's words. The reputation sticks with him and he had at times to take advantage of it, as well as crafting a ruthless persona. It should be noted he was barely 16 when he acquired the name.

* In the ''[[Flora Segunda]]'' books, an important figure in the setting's history is called the Butcher Brakespeare. Let it be noted that this trope is ''not'', in fact, '''[[Always Male|Always]]''' Male; the details establish the Butcher as a legendary [[Fiery Redhead|Fiery Redheaded]] [[Lady of War]] [[Whip It Good|with a whip.]]

** She's really more of a [[Cute Bruiser]], as she very much lacks the grace and elegance associated with a [[Lady of War]].

* In [[Tanith Lee]]'s "Elle Est Trois (La Mort)", one of the three aspects of Death, personified as a woman, is La Tueuse (The Butcher).

* In Melanie Rawn's ''Exiles'' Series, Auvry Feiran is referred to as "The Butcher of Ambrai" because he led a major military attack on the city that utterly destroyed it. Oh, and it was the home of his ex-wife, their young daughter, and her entire extended family.

* Abdul the Butcher, the antagonist in the [[Fighting Fantasy]] gamebook ''Seas of Blood''.

* In the [[Star Trek Novel Verse]], the infamous Trill murderer "the Butcher of Balin" has been mentioned. In [[Star Trek Mirror Universe]], meanwhile, the Tellarite Gral (in the Prime Universe a diplomat) is known to the Terran Empire as "The Butcher of Berengaria".

{{quote| "Well, sir," replied the Canadian, whose enthusiasm had somewhat calmed; "it is a terrible spectacle, certainly. [[The Hunter|But I am not a butcher. I am a hunter,]] [[The Butcher|and I call this a butchery]]."<br />

"[[The Hunter|It is a massacre of mischievous creatures,"]] replied the Captain; "and the Nautilus is not a butcher's knife." }}

* Backyard abortionist 'Butcher George' in the [[Phryne Fisher]] novel ''Cocaine Blues''.

* In ''[[Star Wars]]'' there is Kardue'sai'Malloc (aka Labria), the Devaronian in the Mos Eisley cantina, who was called the Butcher of Montellian Serat. During the height of the Empire's reign and before the events of ''A New Hope'', Malloc was part of the Devaronian Army and under the command of the Empire. He was ordered to put down a rebellion in the city of Montellian Serat and accomplished this by shelling it until the rebels surrendered. Immediately afterwards, he received orders to take all of his troops and move to intercept more rebels. Unable to process the prisoners, and directly ordered to not leave guards behind, he resorted to what seemed to be his only option--he had his men kill every last one of the seven hundred people. Not long after, he resigned from the military and went into hiding, his war crime earning him the name and a five million credit bounty.

* The title character of the ''[[Babylon 5]]'' episode "Deathwalker," Jha'dur, is named such for the war crimes that she carried out during the Dilgar War, and was responsible for cruel experiments on Na'Toth's grandfather and other people, which led to Na'Toth swearing vengeance upon her.

** In the same vein, Sheridan's nickname among Minbari is "Starkiller", for his taking out their flagship ''Black Star'' during the Earth/Minbari War. This was the Earth Alliance's only major victory in a largely one-sided war, making the use of the moniker a sign of hypocritical sour grapes.

* In one episode of ''[[Monk]]'', the victim turns out to be a war criminal known as the Butcher of [[Ruritania|Zemenia]].

* In ''[[Leverage]]'', "The Wedding Job", the following exchange occurs during a con operation at a wedding where one of the con artists, Elliot, is acting the part of the chef:

** Later it's [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]]: "Have you ever been to Kiev? The ''cake maker'' of Kiev could whup all our asses, and this is the ''Butcher''."

** The nickname also turns out to be [[Justified Trope|quite appropriate]], as the [[The Butcher]]'s weapon of choice is, in fact, a butcher knife.

* Hilary Briss, Demon Butcher of Royston Vasey, on ''[[The League of Gentlemen]]''. He sells some mysterious and highly addictive form of meat to his "special customers". We never learn exactly what it is, but it is implicitly both highly illegal and hideously immoral. The show's creators have [[Jossed]] speculation that it was [[I'm a Humanitarian|human flesh]], claiming cannibalism was far too "mundane". It's something even worse...

* Season six of ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' has the episode "Remembrance of Things Past", where an UnSub dubbed "The Butcher" (he stabs his victims, then sodomizes them, then electrocutes them, possibly not in that order) is one of Rossi's [[That One Case|unsolved cases]]. He stops killing for twenty years {{spoiler|because Rossi was too close to catching him, then develops Alzheimer's, and resurfaces trying to recreate his previous kills that he cannot remember}}.

* ''[[El Internado]]'' has Ritter Wulf, who was nicknamed "The Butcher of Belzec" because he was a sort of Mengele in said concentration field.

* ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' has Butcher Boy, teen sidekick to villainous playboy crime boss Murder Man. He wields dual cleavers and is fond of taking limbs from his opponents.

* ''[[Warhammer]]'' has Ogre Butchers, who use actual butchery to fuel their magic. They also look the part, with a bloodstained apron and an assortment of cleavers and tenderizers.

== [[Theater]] ==

* [[Shakespeare]]'s ''2 Henry VI'' features a minor character called Dick the Butcher who takes part in an uprising in London. Although he's another actual butcher, he is comfortable with butchering ''people'' as well (he's the character who says the famous "kill all the lawyers" line), and, more to the point, his name foreshadows the coming of Richard III, who makes his first appearance at the end of the play (and is often called a butcher by other characters).

== [[Video Games]] ==

* "The Butcher" in the first ''[[Diablo]]'' game is a demon with a huge cleaver who's taken up residence in the church and slaughtered many of the townsfolk. He's easily the hardest monster you'll face for several floors.

** There's a boss in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' called The Butcher, a cleaver and meathook wielding Abomination who even says "Aah, fresh meat!" when pulled. This, of course, was a deliberate shout out to the guy above.

*** There's also another boss nicknamed "The Butcher," his real name is Theolen Krastinov. [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|You know when a doctor is referred to by this title, he's absolutely not a nice guy.]]

** And now he's back in ''[[Diablo III]]'', as the boss of Act I. He's got new abilities too, such as a meat hook to grab you, a charge move, and others. Not to mention that the floor in his arena periodically catches fire...

* In ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]: Vice City'', the main character Tommy Vercetti is known as "The Harwood Butcher" because of a hit that went down badly.

* In ''[[Fallout 2]]'' the player can choose from a variety of nicknames before entering the boxing ring. Among those are names like "Butcher", "Chainsaw", etc.

* Pops up briefly in ''[[Lost Odyssey]]'', where one of the Dreams of a Thousand Years concerns a long-dead general who was known simply as 'The Butcher', due to his habit of slaughtering EVERYONE who got in his way - destroying entire villages, leaving no survivors, so as to ensure that there wouldn't be any surviving brothers or sons who would later seek him out for vengeance. Believing in this philosophy, he actually takes pride in his nickname. He came to a rather horrid end...

* Villainous [[The Evil Empire|Coalition]] ace star pilot Ivan Petrov from the space fighter combat game ''[[Starlancer]]'' is nicknamed "The Butcher" for his participation in several war crimes.

* [[Player Character|Commander Shepard]] of ''[[Mass Effect]]'' - with the Ruthless background - has the nickname "Butcher of Torfan" from participating in a military of the Batarian criminal base Torfan, in which Shepard pursued and killed even surrendering enemies, the pursuit heedlessly causing the deaths of 3/4ths of his/her's own unit.

** Similar to ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' above, ''[[Mass Effect]] 2'' uses the name Carnifex, which is Latin for "butcher". It is the name for a brand of pistol, however. Clearly, its designers were saavy to this trope.

* In ''The Darkness,'' a game based on a [[The Darkness|comic series of the same name]], the mob cleaner that everyone uses is named Butcher Joyce, not because he's a violent, bloodthirsty psychopath (quite the opposite, actually, he's one of the nicest guys in the game), but because he hacks up bodies and makes them disappear.

* ''[[Castlevania]]'' has two examples

* ''[[Shadow Hearts|Shadow Hearts: From the New World]]'' has the Butcher creature apppearing earlier in the Game. It is described as the "[[Our Ghosts Are Different|Resentful thoughts left behind by]] [[Blood Knight|men who killed only for pleasure]]". Appearance-wise, it wears a blood-stained apron and carry a large meat cleaver. It also has a slob of meat for head and half the ribcage of a cow as a crude shield of some sorts.

* ''[[Shank]]'' has a boss named "the Butcher", who is fought inside a meat-packing plant and uses a [[Hooks and Crooks|grappling hook]] for a weapon.

== [[Literature]] ==

*** In a sense, Vimes' reputation is not totally undeserved. As we see in ''Thud!'', Sam Vimes is quite capable of slaughtering his way through a group of armed soldiers equipped with axes and Steampunk-style flamethrowers. Of course, he was possessed by a quasidemonic entity of pure vengeance at the time. But given that he managed to expel said entity by sheer inner force after the fight, that may not count. Vimes probably deserves the title, at least from the point of view of his enemies, by virtue of extraordinary [[Badass]]-ery.

** Doesn't actually using a giant butcher's cleaver as a melee weapon in ''Guards! Guards!'' count for anything? The occasion is used to point out the sheer practicality of picking a weapon designed purely for chopping flesh.

* In [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''Barrayar'' books, Aral Vorkosigan earns the name "The Butcher of Komarr" for supposedly having ordered the massacre of two hundred strong Komarran Senate after they surrendered on terms during the Conquest of Komarr. In fact, he had nothing to do with it and it was the sort of military behavior he abhorred. However, he was in charge at the time, so he got blamed despite killing the officer who gave the order on the spot with his bare hands -- plus his political enemies kept saying there had been "secret orders", a rumor he found it impossible to disprove.

* In Dan Simmons' ''[[Hyperion]] Cantos'', Colonel Fedmahn Kassad is known as "The Butcher of South Bressia." This is a backhanded compliment acknowledging that Kassad, something of an "ultimate soldier" figure, accomplished a military feat thought to be impossible -- but that he had to stack the bodies of both his own forces and the enemy to the ceiling in order to do it.

* Nevil Clavain in ''[[Alastair Reynolds|Redemption Ark]]'' (2002) was dubbed "the Butcher of [[The Red Planet|Tharsis]]" for "authorising the use of red-mercury, nuclear and foam-phase weapons" in a battle there about [[Methuselah Syndrome|400 years before]] the main plot. In reality he saved lives by bringing the war to an end, but he still regrets what he had to do: "I've killed innocents for military ends. I've made orphans. If that's honour, you can keep it.".

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

== [[Video Games]] ==

* One of ''[[Dead Rising]]'''s bosses, Larry, is an actual butcher who worked for the mall's grocery store before all hell broke loose and he, like a good amount of the other survivors of the zombie outbreak, went criminally insane. He isn't outright homicidal as his title would suggest and is disturbingly cheerful and friendly when he views Frank as a "customer", but he's gone obsessed with his job and is encountered after he's caught hunting for new "meat" wherever he can get it {{spoiler|and finding it in the form of the injured [[Big Bad]]}}. Since zombie meat comes rotten, [[I'm a Humanitarian|he's eager to serve humans to humans]].

* One of the Cie'th missions of ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' has you going after "Zenobia The Butcher". When you get to the location, the large, particularily abominable Cie'th pops out and begins advancing at your party... Only to be taken out by a [[Mascot Mook|To]][[Boss in Mooks Clothing|nb]][[Killer Rabbit|er]][[Oh Crap|ry]], the ''real'' Butcher.

== [[Video Games]] ==

* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', if you choose the 'Ruthless' reputation-trait, you can - later in the game - run into your old commanding officer, who recognizes you as "The Butcher of Torfan", where you apparently sent your own men to their deaths, and killed slavers as they dropped their weapons in surrender - all in the name of ensuring the complete obliteration of the place.

** He [[Shout-Out|wears a Hannibal Lecter mask]] and his primary skill is sharpening his cleavers to 'motivate' your men. It's that kind of game.

* In ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'', you get the "Butcher of Ember" feat after being framed for massacring an entire village.

== [[Live Action Television]] ==

** Though [[Your Mileage May Vary|others]] say it's ''too generous''.

* [[wikipedia:Banastre Tarleton|Banastre Tarleton]], British Colonel (later General) of the [[The American Revolution]], who was called both "The Butcher" and "Bloody Ban" for his slaughter of Contentinal soldiers coming to surrender to him. The Americans were quick to lob this back at the Brits, using the cry of "Tarleton's quarter!" to mean "take no prisoners". He appeared in an number of American Revolution tales like Disney's The Swamp Fox and as part of the composite Tavington character in the movie ''[[The Patriot]]''.

* ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'' has the [[Clueless Detective]] Manzo the Saw who isn't particularly violent or competent. He's a parody of [[wikipedia:Hanzo Itami|Hanzo the Razor]], who did some pretty squicky things, but wasn't particularly bloodthirsty either.

** In fact, it's likely Manzo's nickname is meant to be ironic, because he isn't particularly sharp.

== [[Film]] ==

== [[Live Action Television]] ==

* Also in ''[[Porridge]]'', Fletch warns Godber that another prisoner is "The Butcher of Eastgate".(Or somewhere. I can't remember exactly)

{{quote| Godber: (nervously) "So what did he do?"<br />

* ''Megalania prisca'', a [[Badass|giant extinct monitor lizard]], has a genus name that was at first thought to mean "Giant butcher". However, it turns out that the name actually means "Giant wanderer". Shame, because the former meaning sounds much more fitting for such a [[Badass]] animal.

* The 19th century German bandit Johannes Bückler was mostly known as ''Schinderhannes'', or "John the Butcher". However, he had that name long before he became an infamous criminal since, like all the men in his family, he was a butcher by profession. While he did commit some cases of manslaughter during his criminal career, he wasn't exceptionally viscious, but his name probably helped a lot to make him one of the most well known bandits of the time.

== [[Video Games]] ==