These Hands Have Killed: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
During an important part of the story, our hero, or just the character in focus, kills someone or something. This death could be popping his [[It Gets Easier|murder cherry]], or it could just be one of the first kills [[Kick the Morality Pet|he thinks is wrong]]. Even if it was self-defense and completely justified, he still feels guilt-ridden. He looks down in a [[My God, What Have I Done?]] moment, shocked at his hands because they just became accomplices in taking a life.▼
"These hands have killed! I've got [[Blood
▲During an important part of the story, our hero, or just the character in focus, kills someone or something. This death could be popping his [[It Gets Easier|murder cherry]], or it could just be one of the first kills [[Kick the Morality Pet|he thinks is wrong]]. Even if it was self-defense and completely justified, he still feels guilt-ridden. He looks down in a [[My God What Have I Done]] moment, shocked at his hands because they just became accomplices in taking a life.
Could be followed by [[Out, Damned Spot!]], but it doesn't have to be. This has nothing to do with washing one's hands of blood, metaphorically or
▲"These hands have killed! I've got [[Blood On These Hands|blood on my hands]], and I'll never be the same again..."
This is a [[Sub
▲Could be followed by [[Out Damned Spot]], but it doesn't have to be. This has nothing to do with washing one's hands of blood, metaphorically or literally -- only with acknowledging the shedding.
{{deathtrope}}
▲This is a [[Sub Trope]] to [[My God What Have I Done]] -- the character in question experiences that guilt while staring horrified at his hands -- and [[Blood On These Hands]]. If this trope is in a character's backstory, it's [[Sympathetic Murder Backstory|Sympathetic Murder Backstory.]] If a character is contemplating his or hands for an entirely different reason, usually drug-related, then see [[Contemplating Your Hands]].
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== Anime and Manga ==
* In [[Fullmetal Alchemist]], Ed tells {{spoiler|Winry}} not to kill Scar, so that they don't have to go through this.
{{quote|
* In [[Sailor Moon]], Haruka/Sailor Uranus looks at her hands as she ponders what she's done. She hasn't killed anyone innocent, but only because Sailor Moon and friends stopped her.
* Subverted in ''[[Code Geass]]'', where when Lelouch first uses his geass to kill the Britannian soldiers, he is stunned for a few seconds afterwards.....before showing his [[Slasher Smile|evil grin]] for the first time, hinting at his [[Magnificent Bastard]] status.
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* In ''[[Gundam Wing]]'', Zechs Merquise ( {{spoiler|aka Milliardo Peacecraft}}) liberated the Sanc Kingdom, but refuses to become the new ruler on the grounds that "his hands are stained with too much blood".
* [[Rurouni Kenshin]] says something close to the trope phrase in the opening to his super-long flashback arc about {{spoiler|his wife Tomoe, whom he had inadvertently killed some thirteen years previous as the climax of his career as an assassin.}}
* In the [[
* In the ''Tokyo Revelations'' arc of [[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]], Sakura is tasked with finding and retrieving some jewel to pay Yuuko back with. Along the way, she gets ambushed by a [[Attack of the
** Also {{spoiler|Clone}}!Syaoran when he realized that [[My God, What Have I Done?|he had just]] {{spoiler|killed Clone!Sakura}}.
* In [[Digimon Adventure 02]] after Ken's [[Heel Face Turn]] he looks at his hands and says this as he's wallowing in self-pity about the things he did as the Digimon Emperor.
== Comic Books ==
* Leetah in [https://web.archive.org/web/20140307223353/http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ15/oq15-26.jpg this scene] from ''[[Elf Quest]]''. She's struck by the enormity of her hands, which have hitherto only brought healing, being able to kill, even in self-defense. Also, she does this so much that the warrior Elves she and the Wolfriders are bunking with tell her to stop admiring her hands and get to practical matters.
** Julia Ecklar turned this moment into a song entitled Healer's Hands. Mp3s of it can be found in various collections.
* Cassandra Cain ([[Batgirl]]) has had at least one flashback to doing this after ripping a man's throat out with her bare hands. It did not help that she was around eight at the time. What makes it worse is her super ability to read body language. Turns out the body language of a dying person is pretty unpleasant.
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== Film ==
* "This is the skin of a KILLER!" in the ''[[Twilight (
** [[
* In ''[[Equilibrium]]'' after John Preston stops taking his medicine he pulls this trope when he catches a dying resistance fighter in his arms that his partner shot, almost transfixed by the blood on his gloves and gun.
* ''[[Total Recall]]''. Quaid does this right after he slaughters the five agents trying to kill him on Earth, before he goes back to his "wife" Lori. He actually has their blood on his hands at the time.
* In ''[[The Neverending Story (
* Subverted in [[John Woo]]'s ''[[Broken Arrow (1996
* Lenina Huxley in ''[[Demolition Man]]'', though she deals with it okay after Spartan points out it was self-defense.
* In ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'', Luke has an instant of this, though it's because he cut through Darth Vader's prosthetic arm in anger, has his own [[Artificial Arm]], and grasps [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him|what he's doing]].
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== Music ==
* In [[The Megas]] album [[Get Equipped]], the song Lamentations of a War Machine/End Song, taking place after ''[[Mega Man (
{{quote|
Then does that mean I cannot feel?
Remorse for everything I've done
My hand's a smoking gun! }}
* [[Tosca]]: Cavaradossi and Tosca sing a whole duet about it.
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* ''[[Tomb Raider]]: Anniversary'' (pictured): {{spoiler|Lara has exactly this reaction after killing Larsen.}}
* In ''[[Mega Man (
* This is used to explain why Regal keeps himself handcuffed in ''[[
* Kiryu's "victory" animation in ''[[Godzilla]]: Unleashed'' has him look at his hands, then pull them down his face screaming.
* In ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'', James' reaction to killing {{spoiler|Eddie}} in self defense is like this, but it's ironic because {{spoiler|he's already killed his wife, although he's blocked it out of his mind}}.
* In [[Final Fantasy 7]], Barret tries to make peace with his old friend, Dyne, by mentioning the man's daughter (whom Barret had rescued and adopted after their town was destroyed). Dyne refuses, noting that not only would she not remember him, but that his hands are too stained to carry her any more. Then he jumps off a cliff, leaving Barret to admit that [[Moral Dissonance|his hands aren't any cleaner.]]
* Inverted in ''[[
* In the ending of [[Play Station 3]] [[Updated Rerelease]] of ''[[
== Web Animation ==
* Dust of ''[[
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[
== Web Original ==
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[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:Drama Tropes]]
[[Category:Stock Phrases]]
[[Category:Surprise Tropes]]
[[Category:Hand Tropes]]
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