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Usually, the villain will make this promise to anyone who helps him, or to someone they feel indebted to, are friends with, or are in love with. If the villain ''really'' likes this person, expect them to sweeten the deal with a [[Shiny New Australia]]. This is generally played for laughs, since few "realistic" villains are quite so egomaniacal that they bandy out the lives of others this way
If said to a hero, it may because they're [[Friendly Enemy|Friendly Enemies]]. An [[Omnicidal Maniac]] may either express a desire to preserve one person or event that they like, or say that it's the one thing they'll miss after destroying the world. If they believe the person or people they spare have some sort of [[Uniqueness Value]], that's [[Sparing the Aces]].
An alternative reason for a villain to invoke this trope is to leave behind a witness to tell of their misdeed, intending for it to have a demoralizing effect on the villain's enemies.
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{{examples}}
* For ''[[Baccano!]]'s'' Ladd Russo and Lua Klein, nothing says [[Mad Love|love]] like "I'll kill you last."▼
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* Marik Ishtar from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series]]'' has to following evil monologue:▼
{{quote| With his help I shall defeat you and then conquer the world! [[Evil Laugh|Ah-hahaha!]] [[Distracted By the Shiny|Oh hey look a bird!]] [[Pet the Dog|Isn't it just the cutest little guy]]-- I mean no! In my new world all birds will be enslaved! ''Especially this one!'' And he shall be named Mr. Tweetums, because it is ''very evil!'' Ah-hahaha! Now be gone Mr. Tweetums. I am trying to stalk my nemesis.}}▼
** He also likes Joey, who will be killed last.▼
** Evil Bakura quotes the ''[[Commando (film)|Commando]]'' exchange with Pegasus.▼
▲* For ''[[Baccano]]'s'' Ladd Russo and Lua Klein, nothing says [[Mad Love|love]] like "I'll kill you last."
** Ladd also says something along those lines to Graham Spectre ("No, I won't...I like brazen and impudent guys that only I'm able kill"), at which point Graham [[Ho Yay|starts fanboying him like nobody's business]].
* The [[Big Bad]] of [[Fullmetal Alchemist]] didn't ''say'' anything until he'd [[Batman Gambit|already made his move]], but once they're the only two left alive he gives something along the lines of this trope to Van Hohenheim, "in gratitude for giving me life." Poor man had had [[Genre Blind|no inkling]] Homunculus was evil until then, and they had even established in conversation that he was basically his father.
** This might help explain his somewhat ambivalent attitude toward his [[Hot-Blooded|second]] and [[Gentle Giant|third]] sons. After one goes all [[Omnicidal Maniac]] on you and [[What Have I Become?|turns you into]] an [[I Am a Monster|immortal]] [[Catch Phrase|monster]]....
* In ''[[Aura Battler Dunbine]]'', when the bad guys arrive on Earth announce their plan to conquer it, they say they will spare the city of Boston out of respect for one of their pilots who came from there.
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* In the ''[[Death Note]]'' fic ''[[A Cure for Love]]'' Light says the following to L [[Open Mouth, Insert Foot|without really thinking about what he said]] [[Murder Is the Best Solution|because killing people who annoy him has almost become an automatic response]]:
{{quote|
'''L''': I'm not doing anything stupid, Light. Apart from speaking to you.
'''Light''': [[Kill You Last|Good, because I would hate to kill you.]]
'''L''': [[Deadpan Snarker|Mmm... I'm sure you would.]] }}
▲* Marik Ishtar from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!:
▲{{quote|
▲** He also likes Joey, who will be killed last.
▲** Evil Bakura quotes the ''[[Commando (film)|Commando]]'' exchange with Pegasus.
* In the B-Movie
▲== Films ==
▲* In the B-Movie, Evil Alien Conquerors, said conquerors tell a normal human, when he helps them, that he will die painlessly. It's something of a [[Running Gag]], to the point that he eventually waves them off with a parting "Die painlessly" to theirs.
* In the ''[[Saturday Night Live|Coneheads]]'' movie, this is what Mr. Conehead says to the woman who sabotages her driving exam in an attempt to start an affair with him. He won't sleep with her, but promises she'll be on the protected list once his people invade.
* [[Transformers Film Series|Megatron makes the offer to Sam]]: "Give me the Allspark, and you may live to be my pet."
** Becomes a major plot point in the [[Transformers: Dark of the Moon|third film]]. {{spoiler|Carly's boss Dylan, and some of his associates, are the descendents of humans who worked for NASA when the ''Ark'' was discovered on the moon. To ensure that no other human learned of this, Soundwave and Laserbeak forced NASA's employees to keep quiet about the discovery, lest they be killed off. Dylan turns out to be one of the few humans chosen to be spared after the Decepticons enslave humanity, possibly to work as a liaison between the 'Cons and the human slaves. It's also revealed that the various deaths in history related to NASA were Soundwave and Laserbeak getting rid of "loose ends."}}
* Col. John Matrix ([[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]) tells this to one of the villains in ''[[Commando (film)|Commando]]''. Later, [[High Altitude Interrogation|he's hanging him over a long drop]] by his leg:
{{quote|
'''Sully''': Yes. That's right Matrix, you did!
'''Matrix''': [[I Lied]]. ''(Drops Sully to his death.)'' }}
* [[Anti-Hero]]-ic version in ''[[Blade|Blade 2]]''. Blade gets information out of a Vampire Mook, saying, "Tell me what I want to know, and I'll consider you as a loose end." The Mook spills the beans, and Blade actually lets him get away, even when he runs into him again later on. Of course, [[Brick Joke|at the very end]], Blade catches up to the guy in a sleazy porn theater about three countries away: "Well you didn't think I forgot about you did you? <Brain-stab>"
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* In ''[[Hellboy (film)|Hellboy]]'', Rasputin says "It will be quick" to Professor Bruttenholm right before he kills him. It appears to be true.
* During a flashback in ''[[Secondhand Lions]]'', Hub has The Sheik, who has tried to kill him on several occasions, defenseless, and at his mercy. He decides to spare him, and leaves him with this.
{{quote|
* ''[[The Wizard of Oz]]'' has the "I'll kill you last" version.
{{quote|
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* [[Ur Example]]: In ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]'', when Odysseus gives his name to the Cyclops as "Noman", the Cyclops says that he will eat "Noman" last.
* A rare heroic version in [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Have Space
* In ''[[
* Inverted by Virigar [[Our Werewolves Are Different|the Werewolf King]] in [[Ryk Spoor]]'s ''[[Jason Wood|Digital Knight]]'', when he tells Jason Wood, "I'm minded to let you live for a while.... So you will suffer all the more while everything you value is destroyed before your very eyes!"
* In the book ''Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter'' the main
* [[The Onion]]'s ''Our Dumb Century" features Hitler saying this about the Japanese.
* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'': After {{spoiler|
* In ''[[The Onion]]''
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==▼
▲== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Friends]]'' has this exchange from Phoebe: ''When the revolution comes, I will have to destroy you all... except you, Joey.''
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' has [[Foe Yay|Sylar informing Mohinder]] "I wasn't begging for my life... I was offering you yours."
* Because they had an unwitting hand in his genesis, a [[Big Bad]] tells the [[Lexx]] crew that they will be [[Omnicidal Maniac|the last in the universe to die]].
{{quote|
* On ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', the demons assisting Lucifer will be killed as soon as Lucifer is finished with the humans and angels if not sooner. Any demon caught assisting Team Free Will will be granted [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|immortality]] [[And I Must Scream|instead]].
* ''[[Lost]]'' inverts the "I'll kill you last" variety. Said by Ethan to Charlie, this is a ''threat'': Charlie will see all his friends die before he's killed.
** "What They Died For" plays it straight with the Man in Black offering to spare Penny if Widmore tells him what he needs to know.
* [[Young Dracula|Ingrid]] tells her therapist this after the therapist helps her get past her [[Villainous BSOD]]. The therapist believes that her ability to make such jokes is a good sign.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', season 6: While drowning sorrows and bemoaning their (lack of) love lives together, Spike tells Anya that she's the only one he wouldn't bite if he didn't have his [[Restraining Bolt]]. He respects women who say exactly what's on their minds (even if they happen to be off their rocker like Drusilla).
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'' has [[Omnicidal Maniac]] Gig, who mentions if he gets control over the hero's body he will destroy everything, ''"except maybe those hotpods. Those are good. I'll keep those."''
* Saren ''attempts'' to [[Invoked Trope|invoke]] this in ''[[Mass Effect]]'' by making organics useful to the [[Big Bad]].
** Even though the whole point of what they were trying to do was to kill them all. {{spoiler|Saren was brainwashed into thinking he could actually have a few organics be spared so the next evolution of species/their own would be able to recover much faster.}} Then again, who would think that as the races of the galaxy would have a heads up?
** In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' we learned that {{spoiler|a certain amount of people would be spared. [[Fate Worse Than Death|Though they]] [[Slave Mooks|probably will]] [[And I Must Scream|wish they hadn't.]]}}
* This is one of the taunts in [[Command
* Inverted in ''[[Star Control 2]]''; if you [[Nonstandard Game Over|surrender to the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za]], they will tell you that all of your crew will be spared, but your main character will be executed.
* [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Axenos]] from [[Wizard 101]] inverts this trope by combining it with [[Mercy Kill]]. Since the player (accidentally) releases him, he thanks them and promises to kill the first [[Fate Worse Than Death|so they would be spared from witnessing the horrors he'd bring about on the Spiral]].
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[PvP (webcomic)|
▲* In ''[[PvP (webcomic)|Pv P]]'', after horrifying him by [[Story-Boarding the Apocalypse]], Scratch reassures a quivering Skull that ''his'' death will be painless.
* ''[[VG Cats]]'' plays with this [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=199 here] with the [[Path of Inspiration|The Church Of The]] [[One-Winged Angel]] [[Final Fantasy|Of Latter-Day Summons]].
{{quote|
''"Oh no, you'll still die...but '''faster.'''"'' }}
* ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'' uses this when Snow Song is thinking about how she'll destroy the town in a restaurant, but then the waitress gives her some chocolate cake on the house:
{{quote|
* In ''[[8-
{{quote|
** Also, upon stumbling upon the Dark Warriors trying to steal the [[Cosmic Keystone
{{quote|
* ''[[Cuanta Vida
* ''[[Bob and George]]'': [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/041121c For being entertaining opponents]
* [http://buttersafe.com/2009/02/12/children/ This] ''[[Buttersafe]]''.
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'':
{{quote|
** Castle Heterodyne eventually uses the "I will kill you quickly" line on {{spoiler|Professor Tiktoffen, while crushing him to death.}}
* A posthumous variant is employed in ''[[Sam and Fuzzy]]'', in which {{spoiler|Mr. Blank}} states that he made {{spoiler|Mr. Black}}'s death as quick and painless as possible because the person in question "had earned it"... [[To the Pain|But the person he's talking to is]] ''[[To the Pain|not]]'' [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|going to be in for the same treatment]].
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' has Stewie, who has said this to Peter (Your death shall be quick and painless) when he turned off the mind-numbing Teletubbies show, and again to Flappy (Good news! I've decided not to kill you!) to let him know that his pancakes were satisfactory.
** In "Petarded", Peter says "When we retarded guys take over you will beg for mercy, and we will consider it".
* ''[[Futurama]]:'' Bender has said he might spare Fry when he kills all humans.
** At Fry's funeral (don't worry, [[All Just a Dream|he gets better]]):
{{quote|
** As of "Lethal Inspection", Hermes has been added to the list of humans to not kill.
** Robot Santa proclaimed his intention to kill the entire Planet Express team ... except Zoidberg, who hadn't been naughty and got a pogo stick instead.
* This line from Dr. Robotnik in an episode of ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]''...
{{quote|
* The [[Justice League Unlimited]] episode ''Alive'' offers Darkseid's take:
{{quote|
* In the fourth episode of ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'', Amon ambushes Korra and has a golden opportunity to {{spoiler|take her bending away}}, but doesn't take it because {{spoiler|that would make her a martyr}}. Instead he gives a [[Breaking Speech]] explaining that he'll save her for last.
== Other Media ==▼
▲== Other ==
* This is supposedly one of the reasons to worship [[Cthulhu]]. Upon his rising, cultists will be devoured first, sparing them what happens next.
* Seen on [[Image Boards|4chan]]: "youfunnyguyikillyoulast.jpg"
* On ''[[LOLcats|I Can Has Cheezburger?]]'': [http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/08/12/funny-pictures-i-eets-yoo-last/ A promise made by a cute little tiger cub.]
* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'', [[Big Bad]] [[Omnicidal Maniac]] Omega discussing his plans to conquer the universe with [[Mission Control]] Vic.
{{quote|
▲* In ''[[The Onion]]''`s "Our Dumb Century", this is the Nazis' response when (as the headline says) ''Non-white Japan allies with White Supremacist Nazi Germany in Well-Thought Out Scheme''.
* Dane Cook has a stand-up act about [[Because You Were Nice to Me|befriending]] the [[Loners Are Freaks|creepy loner]] in your office so that this happens when he inevitably snaps and goes on a rampage with a shotgun.
* On [[Atop the Fourth Wall]], because he defeated someone who was a nuisance to it the Entity ''does'' save Linkara for last and lets him run and hide after {{spoiler|it absorbs everyone else}} - but it's waiting when he comes back out.
== [[Real Life]] ==▼
▲== Real Life ==
* The author of ''A Hundred Little Hitlers'' (about Neo-Nazis), who is Jewish, apparently impressed one Neo-Nazi so much that he told her when he annihilated all the Jews, he'd spare her.
* This trope most likely lay at the heart of the cynical German-Japanese military alliance during [[World War II]] from at least the Nazis' perspective (but possibly the Japanese as well). A paranoid, virulently racist, white supremacist country decides to team up against other enemies with a nation they probably deem subhuman when it gets down to it. [http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/000120.html This article] from ''[[Our Dumb Century]]'' puts it best.
** Hitler also made offers of this kind to the UK during the early phase of the war, generally along the lines of "[[We Can Rule Together|Britannia can rule the waves and Germania the earth]]." The UK ignored them (they didn't even acknowledge they had received them), which is essentially a diplomatic way of saying, "f*** off."
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Stock Phrases]]
[[Category:Evil Gloating]]
▲[[Category:You Will Be Spared]]
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