History Main / AttackOnTheHeart

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "The Toys of Caliban", Toby Ross accidentally kills his mother Mary when he removes her heart from her chest [[YourMindMakesItReal using his ability to manifest anything from a picture]]. He had seen a diagram of a heart in a magazine and wanted to know how it worked.

[[caption-width-right:350:Luckily, it's only [[CupidsArrow a bullet from Eros' pistols]]. [[ItMakesSenseInContext Yeah]].]]

* Zigzagged in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/Futurama'', where Leela attacks a monster clearly based on Zoidberg by cutting out his heart, only for him to laugh it off because he has an extra heart. She cuts that one out too, and he proclaims that he is dead. However, his severed head stays alive for the rest of the episode.

-->'''Julia''': We can break his heart.
-->'''Theodosia''': Yes. I can reach into his chest and crush his beating heart.
-->'''Julia''': I meant metaphorically...

Because filmmakers [[ArtisticLicenseBiology aren't necessarily familiar with anatomy]], on occasion a wound will treated as damaging the heart [[HeartInTheWrongPlace even though it's clearly not in the center of the chest]]. Instead, they place the wound beneath the left shoulder, where the heartbeat can be felt. [[RealityIsUnrealistic That would be the aortic pulse, not the heart itself]]. That said, almost ''any'' penetrating wound to the thorax has a high chance of being fatal due to the number of important organs and (more significantly) major arteries and veins. In fact, a shot to the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aorta Aorta]][[note]] the largest artery in the body where all blood travels through from the heart [[/note]] is often considered ''more fatal'' than being shot in the heart, since the victim would likely bleed out more rapidly from the former than the latter. The heart itself ''can'' also be affected by shock damage even if the injury itself misses, so there could realistically be no difference.

* Zigzagged in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/Futurama'', where Leela attacks a monster clearly based on Zoidberg by cutting out his heart, only for him to laugh it off because he has an extra heart. She cuts that one out tood, and he proclaims that he is dead. However, his severed head stays alive for the rest of the episode.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': The ''VideoGame/Fallout'' series is generally known for its preference towards [[BoomHeadshot Headshots]], since the head is the body part the player can shoot in V.A.T.S. that’ll cause the most damage (and is the hardest to hit). However, ''New Vegas'' also has a perk that the player can choose called “Center of Mass”, where the player gets a 15% Damage Bonus to any shot to the torso region with V.A.T.S., which makes its damage pretty close to headshot damage while being ''much easier'' to hit than the target’s head.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': The ''Franchise/Fallout'' series is generally known for its preference towards [[BoomHeadshot Headshots]], which is the body part the player can shoot in V.A.T.S. that’ll cause the most damage (and is the hardest to hit). However, ''New Vegas'' also has a perk that the player can choose called “Center of Mass”, where the player gets a 15% Damage Bonus to any shot to the torso region with V.A.T.S., which makes it pretty close to headshot damage.

Because filmmakers [[ArtisticLicenseBiology aren't necessarily familiar with anatomy]], on occasion a wound will treated as damaging the heart [[HeartInTheWrongPlace even though it's clearly not in the center of the chest]]. Instead, they place the wound beneath the left shoulder, where the heartbeat can be felt. [[RealityIsUnrealistic That would be the aortic pulse, not the heart itself]]. That said, almost ''any'' penetrating wound to the thorax has a high chance of being fatal due to the number of important organs and (more significantly) major arteries and veins. The heart itself ''can'' also be affected by shock damage even if the injury itself misses, so there could realistically be no difference.

* ''Literature/TheInheritanceCycle'': Shades are sorcerer's who have been possessed by one or more spirits. They are extremely difficult to kill as destroying their body will leave them temporarily disembodied and make them reappear elsewhere in their spirit form until they recover their physical form. The only way to kill a Shade is to stab them through the heart, as Eragon and Arya proceed to do with Durza and Varaug respectively.