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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"You keep what you kill."''|'''Creed of the Necromongers''', ''[[The Chronicles of Riddick]]''}}
Like bragging rights, an [[Clingy MacGuffin|object]], [[The Magnificent|a title]], or a [[Someone Has to Do It|job]] is passed from the defeated to the winner. Sometimes, though, defeat means death. '''You Kill It, You Bought It''' means that whoever kills the owner gets the possession, no matter if the kill was intentional or not. This is often the only way [[Loyal Phlebotinum]] can change hands.
So, it usually goes like this: [[The Hero]] accidentally does something to kill the previous owner, so he's [[Clingy MacGuffin|stuck with the possession]] even though the death wasn't his fault. The rest of the plot involves the hero either trying to cope or trying to get rid of it.
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This is distinct from [[Klingon Promotion]] because that is restricted to killing someone deliberately, for the express purpose of gaining their position. This trope doesn't need it to be deliberate and it's not about a position. See also [[Challenging the Chief]], a subtrope of [[Klingon Promotion]], which also has cases where someone accidentally ends up involuntary manslaughtering their way into an unwanted role.
Contrast [[First-Episode Resurrection]], where the hero gets powers from dying him- or herself. Also see [[Someone Has to Do It]]. Related to [[Subbing for Santa]]. Sometimes applies to a [[Legacy Character]]. Can result in [[And Then John Was a Zombie]]. See also [[Power Copying]]. Compare [[Finish Him!]]. See [[Finders, Rulers]] for when this is affected by looting a [[MacGuffin]] off the corpse.
{{deathtrope}}
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'': The students each keep the charms from the Assassins they defeat/kill/[[Never Say "Die"|send to the Shadow Realm]].
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* Subverted in ''[[Code Geass]]'': {{spoiler|A sufficiently powerful Geass User can kill the immortal who gave them their powers, thereby becoming an immortal themselves. The subversion is that most immortals ''want'' to be killed (because [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]]?) and typically trick their partners into going through with it.}}
** Interestingly enough, {{spoiler|Lelouch becomes the Emperor of Brittania and then Suzaku becomes ''Zero'' by both killing the previous holder of those titles. These were just part of Lelouch's final [[Xanatos Gambit]] rather than a tradition, though.}}
* In ''[[Baccano!]]'', an immortal who "eats" another immortal receives all of their knowledge and memories in the process. The demon who set the rules ''claims'' that it's so that he gets something out of the contract when the last immortal gets sick of living and summons him again to be devoured, but you can't help but wonder if he didn't just want to see Szilard [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|totally lose his shit and start killing everyone]] {{smallcaps|[[For Science!]]!}} (which he does).
* The only way to get the Number One headband in ''[[Afro Samurai]]'' is to kill the one who has it, but they have to have the Number Two headband, which is ''also'' obtained by killing whoever has it.
** The difference is that while the Number One can only be challenged by Number Two, Number Two can be challenged by ''anyone''. An episode ''does'' show more headbands (at least up to Number Seven, IIRC), but their purpose is never explicitly explained in the series.
* The Chimaeran society in [[Jyu-Oh-Sei]] pretty much runs on a combination of this and the [[Klingon Promotion]]. {{spoiler|Justified in that the entire system was set up to breed a new, hardier line of humans that could survive in the alien solar system after Earth was destroyed.}}
== Comic Books ==
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* In ''[[Agents of Atlas]]'', you become Gorilla Man by killing the previous Gorilla Man. This means that you become immortal-unless-killed but are transformed into a gorilla.
* In ''[[The Metabarons]]'', each Metabaron must kill his father in ritual combat to succeed him as the next Metabaron.
* In Marvel's Original Sin event series, Nick Fury kills Uatu the Watcher, and as punishment is chained to the moon and forced to take the Watcher's role of watching the world but never interfering.
* In the ''[[Ranma ½]]/[[Sailor
* Downplayed in ''[[Fallout Equestria Project Horizons (Fanfic)|Project Horizon]]''. After Blackjack and her companions kill
▲* In the Ranma/Sailor moon crossover Curses Aren't the Only Change, Haruka ends up defeating the leader of a ninja clan and being told she is the new leader. This means she is way too busy to help when she is told she is a Sailor Senshi.
* ''[[A Growing Affection]]'' has this be one of the ways to became Raikage and Mizukage.▼
▲* Downplayed in [[Fallout Equestria Project Horizons (Fanfic)|Project Horizon]]. After Blackjack and her companions kill {{spoiler|Deus}}, Blackjack gets all the credit and technically becomes a Reaper. She's annoyed at her newly-increased notoriety, but the holding the title effects her very little.
▲* [[A Growing Affection]] has this be one of the ways to became Raikage and Mizukage.
== Film ==
* As the page quote shows, "You keep what you kill" is the core creed of the Necromongers in ''[[The Chronicles of Riddick]]'', and Riddick proves this twice: once by killing a Necromonger with his own knife (which he got to keep) and the other time by {{spoiler|killing the Lord Marshal (with the aforementioned knife, even) and [[Klingon Promotion|taking his place as their ruler]]}}.
* ''[[The Santa Clause (film series)|The Santa Clause]]'', where the title of Santa Claus is like this.
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'': Soon in third movie, we learn that whoever kills Davy Jones has to take his place. Cue dilemmas for Will, who {{spoiler|swore an oath to kill Davy Jones}} and Jack, {{spoiler|who thinks it would be ''freaking awesome'' to be immortal.}}
** Except that he wouldn't be able to go to rum to get port...wait...that came out wrong...
* Parodied in the [[Abbott and Costello]] film ''The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap''. Lou accidentally kills an infamous gunslinger, and local law says that he must take care of the man's family. It turns out that the gunslinger had a very loud wife and a dozen unruly children. Lou eventually becomes sheriff of the town, and carries around a picture of his new family which he shows to anyone who looks like they might cause trouble. However, this eventually [[Hoist by His Own Petard|blows up in his face]] when the local outlaws learn that a railroad will be going through the widow's property and paying her a fortune for it, [[Stop Helping Me!|thanks to a lie Bud cooked up to get Lou off the hook]]. Lou whips out his picture and nearly gets killed by the greedy outlaws.
* Subverted in ''The Wizard of Gore''; after being sent on a drug-fueled hallucination adventure, Ed is knife-detoxed by Montag the Magnificent and offered the chance to take his place as a drugged up slave to "The Magician". Ed manages to invert his situation, drugging "The Magician" and taking over the entire operation himself.
* In "The Game" of the ''[[Highlander]]'' universe, when one Immortal kills another, he receives all the deceased Immortal's ability and memories through the Quickening.
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** The ending of ''Halloween II (2009)'' on the other hand ends with Laurie becoming as crazy, evil and twisted as Michael, even briefly putting on his mask, after killing him.
* The country of Arko in Philosopher in Arms follows the law of 'what kills, becomes'. Killing an Arkan in a lawful manner results in the killer inheriting all of his property, including his wife, children, slaves, and job, as the hero finds out when he defeats
▲== Literature ==
▲* The country of Arko in Philosopher in Arms follows the law of 'what kills, becomes'. Killing an Arkan in a lawful manner results in the killer inheriting all of his property, including his wife, children, slaves, and job, as the hero finds out when he defeats {{spoiler|Riji}} in the Mezem.
* Played with in [[Brandon Sanderson]]'s Stormlight Archive, the most common way by far of aquiring Shards is to kill a Shardbearer, however, it is nearly impossible to kill a shardbearer unless you already have both Plate and Blade yourself, so you will generally just win the right to choose who gets the shards.
* The office of [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] in Piers Anthony's ''[[Incarnations of Immortality]]'' series passes this way. Normally Death wears impenetrable armor, but sooner or later every Death gets careless...
** This is also true for the office of Evil, which passes on in <s>the exact same way.</s> a similar manner, being transferred to whomever successfully cons the title away from the incumbent. If the incumbent resigns and/or gets killed, the most evil person on Earth is drafted for the job.
* In the [[Clive Barker]] short story and film ''The Midnight Meat Train'', the main character kills the butcher who provides food for the underground cannibals, and is then drafted as the new butcher.
* In [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''A Princess Of Mars'', the first [[John Carter of Mars]] novel, Carter kills a Green Barsoomian, and finds he inherits all the warrior's
* Among the Children of the Light in the [[Wheel of Time]], there is an almost-forgotten section in their law entitled Trial by the Light. One Child claims his right to Trial by the Light to bring another to justice, then the two fight a lethal duel, and the loser's rank and property are forefit to the victor. Galad invokes this to {{spoiler|become Lord Captain Commander of the Children of the Light}}.
** There is also the tradition of Blademasters. One of the two methods of becoming a Blademaster is to kill a Blademaster in fair single combat with swords, upon which you get his rank and his sword (traditionally marked with a heron).
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* In [[Tamora Pierce]]'s [[Tortall Universe|Lioness Quartet,]] Alanna winds up killing a desert tribe's shaman in a fight, and is told that she ''must'' now take his place.
* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'':
** {{smallcaps|Death's}} job was shown to work this way in ''[[
** ''[[
**
* In ''[[Harry Potter]] and the Deathly Hallows'' a central plot point is that wands may switch allegiance to whoever kills or defeats the former owner, which is why wands of wizards who die natural deaths are usually destroyed or buried with their owner; they will not accept a new master. These facts are of particular importance relating to {{spoiler|the Elder Wand}}.
** What most wizards don't realize, and what ends up being a major plot point at the end of the book, is that {{spoiler|killing your opponent isn't necessary, you just have to somehow deprive them of their wand. Even if it's not the wand in question, you will still have mastery over it}}. This throws a wrench in {{spoiler|Dumbledore's plan to leave the Elder Wand without a master: he originally intended to let Snape kill him, which would mean the wand still belonged to him in death.}} Instead, {{spoiler|Draco disarms Dumbledore, unwittingly becoming the Elder Wand's master, meaning that ''Harry'' later becomes its master when he disarms Draco}}. This means that {{spoiler|when Voldemort, who thinks that he is the wand's master because he killed Snape, tries to duel Harry with the Elder Wand, it obeys Harry, not Voldemort}}. Confused? You're not alone.
* In ''The Last Light of the Sun'', there's a mercenary organization which you can only join by defeating a current member in ritual combat.
* This is how First Mate Cox becomes chief of the cannibalistic Raiders in ''[[Nation]]''. In that case, he ''meant'' to kill the previous chief; he just didn't know he'd get the job afterward.
* This is the usual (but not the only) method of obtaining Shardblades and Shardplate in ''[[The Stormlight Archive]]'', although it wasn't always that way. It's usually done deliberately although it's possible that
* In ''[[Malevil]]'', Emmanuel finds himself in this position after killing Wahrwoorde. His tormented family quietly accepts that Emmanuel is their new tyrant, to be abused (raped in Miette's case) at his leisure. He makes it clear that he has no intention of being anybody's master.
* In [[Harry Harrison]]'s ''[[Deathworld 2]]'' (AKA ''The Ethical Engineer'') Jason dinAlt crash-lands on a planet that turns out to be a [[Lost Colony]]. Him and his reluctant companion (the man who kidnapped him, actually) are almost immediately captured by a nomad called Chaka, who adds them to his group of slaves. Later on, Chaka reaches the border of his territory and meets with another nomadic slaveowner. They have a fight, and Chaka ends up killing him and taking his slaves. Jason sneaks into Chaka's sleeping area at night and kills him. All the slaves automatically start calling Jason Chaka. So not only does whoever kills a slaveowner keep his possessions, they also take his name.
* An interesting case in [[Sergey Lukyanenko]]'s ''Spectrum''. The protagonist is a private investigator who specializes in looking for people who have travelled off-world. He tracks his target (a young woman whose wealthy father is very worried) to a planet of advanced [[Human Aliens]]. On his way, he is attacked by some sort of beam weapon that he barely escapes. When he finally finds the girl and explains to her that he's not here to harm her, her [[Human Alien]] colleague (who is also secretly enamoured with her) is revealed to be the shooter. He once again attempts to kill the protagonist but some quick thinking by the latter results in the former dying. The local law enforcement explains that their laws grant the victim of an attempted murder the right to claim the assailant's possessions, including his or her spouse. The protagonist agrees to keep the beam rifle but refuses the rest, especially the man's wife. The officer agrees it's a wise choice, as the woman would then simply divorce him and keep half of ''his'' possessions. Even though their culture refuses to share advanced technology with other cultures, this law supercedes everything else, meaning the protagonist gets to keep the weapon.
▲== Live Action TV ==
* On the fourth season of ''[[Charmed]]'', Cole becomes the [[Big Bad]] after defeating him in battle.
* In the fifth season of ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'', Hercules ends up in Ireland, where he meets Morrigan (loosely based on the Morrigan of Irish mythology) who ends up killing a godly incarnation of "Justice". Morrigan then inherits that same position.
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** Confirmed during "In The Beginning", where Londo tells the story of the Earth/Minbari war to the heirs of that family.
* In the [[Doctor Who]] episode ''The Deadly Assassin'', the Doctor is framed for the murder of the Lord President of Gallifrey, and surprises everyone by [[Refuge in Audacity|announcing his candidacy]] to succeed him. It's a play for time.
* At the end of the second season of ''[[The Mandalorian]]'', the title character accidentally invokes this when he defeats Moff Gideon and takes the Darksaber from him with the intent of handing it over to Bo-Katan as the mark of her leadership of Mandalore -- only to learn that it cannot be given, it must be taken from a defeated foe, and Bo-Katan refuses to fight him for it.
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], [[Myth and Legend]] ==
▲== Mythology ==
* There is a Japanese legend about a treasure which was guarded by a dragon. Many people tried to slay the dragon, but apparently none succeeded, even though some of them were very strong warriors. It turned out that if the warrior in question actually killed the dragon, once he saw the treasure he became a dragon himself, and guarded it from now on. The curse was only destroyed when the next winner proved his wisdom and threw the treasure in the sea.
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Dungeons
** In ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' the title of Magister and accompanying special powers are "inherited" by winner once Magister is defeated. This leads to Magisters being extremely dangerous wizards even ''before'' taking said powers, so while formal challenge and non-lethal combat are quite acceptable, victory usually was achieved via killing one's predecessor in some sort of surprise attack. Sometimes even
*** Could be considered a subversion, as [[Word of God]] claims that the Magister's title is {{spoiler|actually [[Schmuck Bait]], instigated by Mystra so that hyperaggressive wizards have a prize to kill one another over, rather than leave them running loose and causing havoc for everyone else.}}
** The 3rd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide says that because goblins are [[Lawful Evil]], their government is rulership by the strong. This means that if the goblin king is killed, the killer usually takes the king's place.
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** It also forever stains the soul/essence/ethereal wahoo of the vampire who did it. This is actually a problem largely because there are vampiric powers that allow for the seeing of souls/essences, and diablerie basically gives your essence a flashing neon sign advertising what you did.
** Furthermore, souls consumed through diablerie are ''not'' destroyed: they are perfectly preserved inside their killer's body forever, with the ability to read his mind and access his senses. Particularly strong-willed souls can take over the body and resume their previous existences.
* Inverted with [[Warhammer
== Video Games ==
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* ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'': Whoever kills the spirit eater will almost certainly become its next host body.
** Well, it's more an issue of proximity, it seems - if you took him out with an arrow to the face and someone else happened to be standing closer, ''they'd'' likely pay for your trigger-happy tendencies. ''And then they'd eat you.''
* One ending in ''[[Princess Maker]] 2''
* It is stated in the Secret Reports of ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' that the guy who kills the Composer becomes the Composer. Three people Neku encounters have this intention; first is Joshua, {{spoiler|who is lying through his teeth because he ''is'' the Composer}}, the second is Beat, {{spoiler|who just wants to restore Rhyme}}, and the third is {{spoiler|a revived Sho Minamimoto for he-of-the-[[Fan Nickname|Jesus Beam]] only knows why}}. It never comes to it, mind, but that tidbit is there for you to know.
* In the first ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]'', Lenneth recruits at least three souls {{spoiler|Jelanda, Jin, and Gandar}} by killing them herself.
** In ''[[Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria]]'', {{spoiler|Hrist decides the quickest way to make sure Arngrihm stops being an obstacle is to kill him and force him to serve her. By the time it stops working, she's about ready for her own [[Heel Face Turn]]}}.
** Jin's recruitment in the first game is a specific reference to the Japanese example in Mythology above, {{spoiler|although Lenneth solves the problem by, well, killing Jin/the monster to take his soul (playing the trope straight in a fashion different from the myth).}}
* At least three Dragoon Spirits in ''The [[Legend of Dragoon]]'' were transferred in this fashion.
* This happened to the hero in the first [[Diablo]] game. After killing Diablo and removing the soulstone from its forehead and freeing his former host, the hero rams the thing into his own forehead, becoming Diablo and taking his place, which brings us full circle to where we started.
* In [[Phantom Brave]], if you kill people, you will be able to summon them as Phantoms. Naturally, this fun system leads to the cold-blooded murders of old men and blacksmiths by a cute little girl.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Blood]]'', the dark god Tchernobog turns out to be {{spoiler|the force that binds reality together.}} Guess who's responsible for that after you kill him?
** This ends up being one of the major forces behind the plot in ''Blood 2'' - Caleb's refusal to use these powers for [[Really 700 Years Old|over a century]] results in creatures from another reality invading his.
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* [[League of Legends]]: If any enemy hero has a buff which was granted by killing a neutral opponent ("jungling"), killing that hero will transfer that buff to the killer. Except for one special buff, gained by killing the game's [[Bonus Boss]] during a round, which simply goes away.
* In the ''[[Chzo Mythos]]'', anyone killed with Frehorn's Blade becomes a powerful spirit, but is at the command of their killer. A loophole exists for those who kill themselves with the blade. Since you get put in command of yourself, like you already are, you just become a powerful spirit with no downside. {{spoiler|This is how Malcolm Somerset becomes the Caretaker.}}
* [[Space Pirates and Zombies]] practically runs with this trope. You want a ship, beat the nine shades of it, get the blueprints, and you can use it afterwards. Then, capital ships happen and make you realize there is a reason they are called capital ships.
* In the [[Rance]] Series, killing the Demon King means that you become one yourself. Considering that [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]...
== Web Comics ==
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** It appears this is how Tavor became the [http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/490 King of Legare].
* [[Sam and Fuzzy|Sam]] didn't actually kill the heads of the Ninja Mafia, but everyone else in the room was dead, so...
* In ''[[The Non-Adventures of Wonderella]]'' there are ninjas who [http://nonadventures.com/2013/05/11/banana-havok/ follow whoever defeated their last master].
== Web Original ==
* This is how the last of [[The Holders]], the Holder of Legion, got his job. In turn, if you complete the stupendous task of gathering the other 2537 Objects, your only way to get the final one is to kill him and become Holder of Legion yourself.
* In episode 4 of the flash animation series ''Bad Guys'', ''Bad Guys Go To Hell'', the green guy killed the devil and took his place as ruler of Hell. Then it turns out the blue guy ''killed'' ''[[God]]'' last week [[Oh Crap|and took his place]] as [[God Is Evil|supreme deity]]. Now everyone in Heaven has to spend an eternity in hard labor building Him a giant palace. The Bad Guys quickly decide that Hell is better since you "only" get hot pokers shoved up your ass over there, and just go to Hell. Going back and forth between the two places isn't very hard anyway since they are right next to each other.
{{quote|
* In Karen Wehrstein's Philosopher in Arms, the protagonist is forced into a gladiator-like fighting arena. When the fighters kill someone, they inherit everything they have. Since these fighters are all forced into the arena, that usually just means slaves, jewelry, and other gifts from fans, but the protagonist has to kill one man who was integrated into society and returned to the arena just to fight him. He ends up inheriting the man's home, wife, children, and teaching position at the university.
* According to [[The Dark Id]], [[Drakengard|Caim]], after {{spoiler|being killed}}, went on to become the new Grim Reaper after submitting an application that said, "I murdered the shit out of the last guy."
* ''[http://johnsu.deviantart.com/art/Rat-King-186410917 Rat King]'' by JohnSu on [[Deviant ART]].
== Western Animation ==
* A ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|Simpsons]]'' Treehouse of Horror had Homer become the Grim Reaper this way.
* In ''[[Metalocalypse]]'', Charles indicates that the only way to get his job as CFO for Dethklok is to kill him first. But since [[Arc Words|fucking with his bread-and-butter]] is a bad idea, he's dispatched everyone whose come to take his job.
* In ''[[Futurama]]
** Indeed, they have placeholder portraits for "Fry's assassin" and "Fry's assassin's assassin"
{{quote|
*** Those assassins utterly fail to drink Fry, because he is solid, not liquid like Trisolians.
* Subverted in ''[[The Venture Brothers]]''. Rusty discovers a
* One episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'' plays with this trope more humorously. The Grim Reaper visits Peter's house and he twists and breaks his ankle. While he is resting comfortably in the house, he [[Subbing for Santa|tasks Peter with killing people for him]] - though this happens because while he's incapacitated, no one can die and Peter screws up and lets the world know, causing chaos. Thus, Peter takes on the job because ''someone'' has to do it.
* On an episode of the animated series of ''[[Jumanji]]'', there was a part where the heroes trick the hunter Van Pelt into falling off a cliff. Before Van Pelt does however, Peter somehow grabs his whip. Over the episode, Peter gradually morphs into Van Pelt because "[[Someone Has to Do It|there must always be a Van Pelt. It's the rules of the game.]]" He even goads Alan into killing him just so ''Alan'' can become Van Pelt.
* In ''[[Shadow Raiders]]'', this is the official law for royal succession on Planet Bone. They may be [[Proud Warrior Race
== Real Life ==
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[[Category:Death Tropes]]
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