Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Difference between revisions

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* In [[G. K. Chesterton]]'s ''Paradoxes of Mr. Pond'', a Prussian officer is not quite telling a subordinate to murder another soldier by shooting him [[In the Back]], and explains he chose him for two reasons: one was his shooting ability, and the other was the time he had shot an old woman for not giving him information. The officer explains that he exerted influence to avoid the soldier's being charged.

* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Brothers of the Snake]]'', when they locate civilians, they bring them to safety, and Priad promises to protect them. {{spoiler|When they reveal themselves as [[Religion of Evil|cultists]], he slaughters them with the rest.}}

** {{spoiler|Of course they don't really count as civilians then.}}

* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[The Golden Oecumene|The Phoenix Exultant]]'', Atkins is glad that Daphne and Phaethon survived so that he can report no civilian casualities—at least, he says it's his motive.

* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' story "[[Beyond the Black River]]", after all the slaughter he sees the Picts inflict, it is the sight of two mutilated civilians—one a woman—that enrages Balthus.

* In ''[[A Night in the Lonesome October]]'' it's not even limited to humans. The canine narrator accepts that before the end some Players (and maybe even [[familiar]]s) will kill each other, though deems it less than necessary, but really doesn't like involvement of others, warned normal animals away from the site of ritual and twice actually referred to them as "civilians".

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** Some Khornite berserkers—include World-Eaters—sought out "worthy foes" and ignored those who could not fight.

*** That said most don't, hey Khorne cares not for whom the blood flows

* Whether a Merc follows orders to shoot civilians (a bad idea for the penalties it gives) is the quickest way to tell if any given merc in ''[[Jagged Alliance]] 2'' falls under the [[Psycho for Hire]] label.

* [[Enforced Trope|Enforced]] in the German and Japanese versions of ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2'': the whole point of the "No Russian" mission is to shoot the civilians. However, the local [[Moral Guardians]] made that impossible by giving you a [[Nonstandard Game Over]] when you do as much as graze a civilian with a stray bullet.

** In the other versions the player can choose to do this anyway (the outcome's the same either way).

** Disturbingly averted by the players who tested that level. Reportedly, ''every single player'' opened fire on the civilians despite no prompt to do so being given.

** Indeed, the technical "rules" of the Grail War call for the Masters and Servants to avoid civilian casualties, for the pragmatic reason of not drawing attention to themselves (this is also policy among magi in general). How strictly this is followed depends on the Master in question; Ilya and Rin, for instance, refuse to attack Shirou near witnesses, while Caster is perfectly willing to (covertly) drain civilians for power, and [[Fate/Zero|Ryuunosuke and Zero Caster]] openly flout the rule by [[Complete Monster|kidnapping and torturing people]].

* A variant of this is enforced in the ''[[Pokémon]]'' series; while Pokemon-on-Pokemon violence is acceptable and a part of everyday life and human-to-Pokemon violence is considered either [[Bullying a Dragon]] (Pokemon is wild) or abuse (Pokemon belongs to abusing trainer), commanding an attack on a trainer or other human is either in bad form or outright illegal, unless used as a criminal suppression tactic (e.g. Lance in Mahogany), and even then if other options remain nonviable. While it ''may'' be implied that villainous teams can do this on a whim, not even [[Pokémon Black and White|Team Plasma]] goes that far in the game continuity. On the other hand, [[Elephant in the Living Room|the Donphan goes on a rampage]] throughout ''[[Pokémon Special]]'' due to its [[Darker and Edgier]] nature, and [[Pokémon Colosseum|Cipher]] will attack or even kill humans who obstruct its operations in any continuity.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]