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You Kill It, You Bought It: Difference between revisions
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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.
Another common version is that the position of [[The Grim Reaper]] works like this, so that if somebody is supposed to die and ends up killing [[The Grim Reaper]] in self-defense ([[Chess
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.
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== 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]].
* In ''[[X
** Also, {{spoiler|to become the Sakurazukamori, Seishirou had to kill [[Self-Made Orphan|his mother]], as she was the previous one. [[Klingon Promotion|It's implied that ''every'' Sakurauzkamori has done this]].}}
** It is worth noting that Subaru was offered a choice - {{spoiler|if he accepts Seishirou's eye (and thus his power), Seishirou lives on through Subaru taking up his place. If he doesn't, he has nothing to live for anymore.}}
** It was also implied that {{spoiler|Sakurazukamoris can only be killed by the one they love most}}
* One way to obtain possession of a ''[[
* 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 ''[[
* The only way to get the Number One headband in ''[[
** 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
== Comic Books ==
* Marvel's Shuma Gorath has near unlimited power in his home dimension but [[Doctor Strange]] manages to take over the body of another creature living here which let him best Shuma in combat. The one eyed octopus says Strange will lose anyway because a man can't beat Shuma with his own power without becoming another Shuma Gorath. Since Shuma is going to destroy the Earth, Strange kills him then kills himself so he won't turn. But then [[Unexplained Recovery|he got better]].
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
== Fanfiction ==
* 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.
* Downplayed in [[Fallout Equestria Project
* [[
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* ''[[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
* 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 ''[[
* The 1995 horror film ''Ice Cream Man'' ends with {{spoiler|Small Paul in an asylum after killing the killer ice cream man, hinting that he would be taking his place}}.
* In ''[[The Man
* In the end of the Fourth and fifth installments of ''[[Friday the 13th (
* One of the Chaos! comics has Laurie taking Michael's place after killing him in ''[[Halloween (
** 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.
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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 ''[[Discworld
** ''[[Discworld
** He also takes the place of [[Santa Claus|The Hogfather]] for a while, not because he killed him, but because someone else is trying to, and the role has to be filled.
* 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}}.
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* 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 ''[[
* 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.
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== Live Action TV ==
* On the fourth season of ''[[
* 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.
* In ''[[Lexx]]'', the "key" of the eponymous ship is passed on at death.
** The power can also leave if you are "Taken to the height of sexual ecstasy", which people would probably remember more easily if the most frequent captain weren't Stanley Tweedle, for whom that was never an issue ({{spoiler|other than that one time}}).
* In ''[[Dead Like Me]]'', the office of Reaper comes with an implicit (and unknown) quota of souls you have to reap before you are allowed to die. The last soul you reap becomes a Reaper to take your place.
* In an episode of ''[[Honey I Shrunk the Kids (TV series)|Honey I Shrunk the Kids]]'', Wayne has to take the place of secret agent Dalton Pierce after Pierce accidentally kills himself with Wayne's prototype laser shaver.
* On ''[[Babylon 5]]'', Londo is a member of a Centauri dueling society, where it is customary for the winner to take the loser's family into his own. Londo's friend, who is about to be disgraced for protesting the war, challenges Londo and purposely loses to save his family from being dishonored along with him.
** Confirmed during "In The Beginning", where Londo tells the story of the Earth/Minbari war to the heirs of that family.
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*** 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.
* A somewhat muted example, but ''[[
** 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.
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== Video Games ==
* [[Mega Man (
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Gotcha Force]]'', there's a chance (fairly high for [[Com Mons]], lowering for progressively more powerful ones) that anything you've killed in a level you've completed will be given to you for your own use. This is to encourage you to handle most of the killing duties.
* [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic]] {{spoiler|becoming the king}} at the end of ''[[Sonic and The Black Knight]]'' is a mix of this and "Ancient Tradition".
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** 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'' -- the absolute worst, score-wise -- has the heroine kill the King of the Underworld, only to discover that this rule applies to that position.
* It is stated in the Secret Reports of ''[[
* 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]]}}.
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* 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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* In [[Dragon Age]]: Origins - [[Expansion Pack|Awakening]], the Warden is now made the Arl of Amaranthine due to the fact that he/she killed Rendon Howe, the previous Arl in the original game and his lands are now Grey Warden property. Though this is less because the Warden killed the Arl and more because the Arl was considered a traitor and a criminal by the end of Origins, which led to his family losing their lands. And since Ferelden happened to own the Grey Wardens a great deal... Anyway, the point is that it wasn't all the important who killed Rendon Howe (he probably would have been eventually executed even if he had somehow survived his confrontation with the Warden).
* How ranking up is done in both [[No More Heroes]] and Madworld.
* In ''[[God of War (
* [[Mass Effect]] 2's DLC "Lair of The Shadow Broker" has you going up against the eponymous [[Knowledge Broker]] kingpin. Once you off him, {{spoiler|Liara takes over and aims to put a newer friendlier obscured silhouette face on the organization, as well as turn the monolithic info network fully towards Shepard's cause. Oh, and the Broker you killed got his position by killing the ''previous'' broker, so who's to say that that one [[Legacy Immortality|didn't do the same thing?]]}}
** Which becomes [[Hilarious in Hindsight]] when you remember that {{spoiler|one of two dialogue options to Liara at the end of her mini-questline is "Don't become the thing you're hunting." Ironic, much?}}
*** Technically, there was nothing that {{spoiler|forced Liara to be the new Shadow Broker. She could have simply left the headless organization to rot. However it was too good an opportunity to pass up, and seeing as how Liara was already pretty good with the [[Knowledge Broker]] business herself, it all worked out.}}
**** Liara's conscience {{spoiler|forces her to become the new Shadow Broker.}} The Shadow Broker keeps himself in power by regulating the flow of information to his clients - that way, nobody can gain a permanent advantage over the others. Some of the information his agents find could tip the balance of galactic politics or start wars. For this precise reason, his agents cannot sell any information without his say-so. {{spoiler|If he was to die, presumably all his agents would find themselves out of a job, but in possession of secrets worth trillions of credits. Guess what would happen next...}}
** In one of the comics which [[A Day in
* Being the Leveler in Myth appears to work like this, although with an extremely long delay
* This is how salvage works in a lot of the ''[[Mechwarrior]]'' games where it is implemented. If you manage to kill the 'Mech with a minimum of [[Stuff Blowing Up]], there's a very good chance that players can salvage their enemies' war machines. This is most often seen in games with "Mercenaries" figuring in the title or the protagonists' plotline.
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* 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 [[
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* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', Bun-Bun took over just about every holiday this way in a years-long subplot. He's finally defeated when {{spoiler|the groundhog shadow which is linked with Bun-bun kills and steals the position of the old year-- ''a few seconds before 12:00 AM, New Year's Day, where the old year will officially die taking Bun-Bun with him.'' Bun-Bun then has to go and hit the in-plot [[Reset Button]] to save himself.}}
* ''[[Errant Story]]'': In addition to more typical methods, any student who can successfully challenge the entire faculty graduates.
* Satan in ''[[The
* In ''[[
* Richard the Warlock from ''[[Looking for Group]]'' has inherited at least one title ("Mistress of Magma") that way, and considering his habits as well as his abundance of titles, possibly more.
** He actually explained his abundance of titles to a child once. [http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/105 You earn them based on kills.]
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