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These Hands Have Killed (view source)

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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 Onon These Hands|blood on my hands]], and I'll never be the same again..."
 
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 -- onlyliterally—only with acknowledging the shedding.
 
This is a [[Sub-Trope]] to [[My God, What Have I Done?]] -- the—the character in question experiences that guilt while staring horrified at his hands -- andhands—and [[Blood Onon 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]].
 
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== 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| '''Ed:''' You delivered a baby. You {{spoiler|game me an arm and a leg}}. These hands...were not made for killing.}}
* 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 [[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]] manga, after Takuo Shibuimaru gets hit by a truck as a result Light Yagami writing his name in the titular notebook, Light does this in a back alley. [[Ignored Epiphany|At]] [[A God Am I|first.]]
* 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 Fifty 50-Foot Whatever|giant acid rain mutant monster]]. Pinned down and unable to run, she busts out her trusty [[Revolvers Are Just Better|revolver]] and unloads into the monster, after which her hands tremble violently and her breathing stagnates. This is especially traumatic considering not only that Sakura had previously been played up as a [[Friend to All Living Things]], but this is the most violent thing that ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)|any rendition of Sakura]]'' had ever done, or ever would do again (barring the rest of the chapter / OVA).
** 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.
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== 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 (Literaturenovel)|Twilight]]'' movie.
** [[Everything's Better Withwith Sparkles|*sparkles*]]
* 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 (Filmfilm)|The Neverending Story]]'', the Rock Biter is unable to keep his friends from being pulled away into the Nothing. He sits, staring down at his massive stone limbs, and says slowly, "They look like big, strong hands, don't they?"
* Subverted in [[John Woo]]'s ''[[Broken Arrow (1996 (Filmfilm)|Broken Arrow]]''. After the main villain crushes his benefactor's windpipe, he reflects that it's the first time he's directly killed anyone. While he's killed before, it was only in the Air Force, not seeing death up close. He scoffs "I don't see what the big deal is."
* 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 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mega Man]]'' defeats Wily in his fortress, has these lyrics:
{{quote| If I've a heart made of steel<br />
Then does that mean I cannot feel?<br />
Remorse for everything I've done<br />
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 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mega Man]] 2 The Powers Fighters'' this happens to Mega Man after {{spoiler|Dr. Wily [[Hannibal Lecture|convincing him that he's as bad as him for destroying his evil robots]].}} It takes all of about 10 seconds for Dr. Light to snap him out of it.
* This is used to explain why Regal keeps himself handcuffed in ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]''. He switched to killing things with his legs.
* 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 ''[[EveEVE Online]]'' chronicle ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150427081645/http://www.eveonline.com/background/potw/default.asp?cid=14-07-05 Hands of a Killer]'', where the [[Heroic Sociopath|owner of said hands]] gleefully admits that while he has never committed physical violence, he is nevertheless responsible of [[A Million Is a Statistic|deaths of countless people]], [[We Have Reserves|including his own crew]]. It's all a part of his recruiting speech.
* In the ending of [[Play Station 3]] [[Updated Rerelease]] of ''[[Eternal Sonata (Video Game)|Eternal Sonata]]'', Frederic Chopin does this when he wakes up following his defeat in battle and sees that Polka is gone and that the world around him hasn't changed. He blames himself for not being able to do anything to stop her sacrifice. "Why? The dream was at an end. Oh no. It can't be. Not Polka."
 
== Web Animation ==
 
* Dust of ''[[BunnykillBunny Kill]] 5'' does this after {{spoiler|snapping out of his [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] state and realizing that he's just killed his friend Snowball while under the influence of the [[Psycho Serum]]}}.
 
== Web Comics ==
 
* In ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'', even though she hasn't actually killed, [http://egscomics.com/?date=2004-05-03 Grace looks at her bloodied hand after savagely attacking Damien which reminds her that Damien's hands looked like that after he killed]. This causes her to stop attacking and actually [[Apologetic Attacker|apologize]] to Damien.
 
== Web Original ==
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[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:Drama Tropes]]
[[Category:Darkness Visible]]
[[Category:Stock Phrases]]
[[Category:Surprise Tropes]]
[[Category:Hand Tropes]]
[[Category:These Hands Have Killed{{PAGENAME}}]]
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