History Main / ColdSniper

* Ex-colonel Sebastian Moran is this in [[SherlockHolmes Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows]].

* Colonel Moran, TheDragon to Professor Moriarty of the SherlockHolmes stories, was a decorated soldier before turning to crime, and Holmes refers to him as "one of the best shots in the world." In one story, he baffles the police by killing a man [[ImprobableAimingSkills with a revolver bullet fired through a partially-opened window by an air rifle.]]

* Koch from the German WorldWarII drama ''[[Series/UnsereMuetterUnsereVaeter Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter]]'' is a subversion. He's initially presented as cold and trigger-happy - at one point he's about to shoot a [[KickTheDog cute little kitty]], prompting Friedhelm to snidely remark, "You like shooting, don't you?" Turns out the reason he goes after animals is because it reminds him of time spent hunting with his father as a child, and in any case, the first time we see him point his gun at a human is when [[spoiler: he attempts to protect a Jewish girl from the ''Sicherheitsdienst'']].

* In the ''StarWarsTheCloneWars'' episode "Hostage Crisis", a group of bounty hunters led by Cad Bane take over the Galactic Senate building. One of them, Aurra Sing, first takes out most of the Senate guards outside with a long range sniper rifle from a nearby building.

* The titular Jackal from Frederick Forsyth's ''TheDayOfTheJackal''. Forsyth repeatedly mentions that the emotions he displays on his face never reach his eyes and his frostiness intimidates the underworld members he gets his supplies from. Arguably one of the most "classical" examples. Once flaws start showing up in his plan, however, he gets emotional and careless, going into VillainousBreakdown.

* In the ''{{Halo}}'' novels, Spartan-058, Linda, is known as the foremost sniper specialist of the Spartans, with ImprobableAimingSkills taken UpToEleven, and has been since about the age of twelve. She takes sniping as a challenge, even being shown to [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome shoot pilots out of Banshees while hanging upside down by a single cord wrapped around her foot.]] And that was a day after she had been brought BackFromTheDead. Once she gets into position, her mind enters a Zen-Buddhist state and her kills are reported in an icy-cold voice. She works better without a spotter, and fits the LoneWolf description better than any other Spartan.
** Several of her fellow Spartans have noted that she makes sniping an art.

* {{DCU}} Antihero/Villain Deadshot claims not to care if anyone lives or dies, including himself.

* In the IDW Transformers line, Perceptor becomes one after a brush with death convinces him that he needs to be more combat effective. He adds multiple upgrades to himself that give him superior targeting and weapon stability, then [[AttackItsWeakPoint snipes the vulnerable spots]] on [[CombiningMecha Monstructor]].

** Both sides of his characters are best shown in TheMovie ''Anime/LupinIIIEpisodeZeroFirstContact'': Jigen spent half of the movie being a cold sniper and trying to kill Lupin, then, when both are prisoners of the main villain, Lupin's latest way to humiliate their captor force Jigen to try and stifle a laugh before cracking down.

*** The Eldar Rangers and Pathfinders are some of the scariest and hardest to kill long-range infantry out there, and due to their [[PlanetOfHats traditional]] [[OurElvesAreBetter Eldar arrogance]] they consider killing humans/Orks/Tau/whatever to be the same thing as killing animals.

* ''LupinTheThird'''s Daisuke Jigen. ''Outside of battle'', however, he's a sardonic DeadpanSnarker - no-one can be completely serious around [[CrazyAwesome Lupin]], after all.
** Both sides of his characters are best shown in TheMovie ''Episode Zero: First Contact'': Jigen spent half of the movie being a cold sniper and trying to kill Lupin, then, when both are prisoners of the main villain, Lupin's latest way to humiliate their captor force Jigen to try and stifle a laugh before cracking down.

* ''SuperSentai'': The Blue Rangers, either RedOniBlueOni or TheLancer, is often the ColdSniper. Dekaranger's Hoji is THE personification, being blue, obnoxiously cool and collected, and the team's resident sniper. Paralleled by [[Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger Tsubasa]], [[GouGouSentaiBoukenger Souta]] and [[EngineSentaiGoOnger Gunpei]].

** Theres also the fact that often, the sniper will see his target's face, and then snuff his life out. It's a very different thing from shooting someone in the heat of battle, It's simply killing someone, holding the "Live or Die" power over someone else and having to pick die because it's the sniper's job. These days most modern armies don't pick who's the best at shooting, they pick the ones who won't be mentally scarred from it.

->''"(1) Emotional balance. The sniper must be able to calmly and deliberately kill targets that may not pose an immediate threat to him. It is much easier to kill in self-defense or in the defense of others than it is to kill without apparent provocation. The sniper must not be susceptible to emotions such as anxiety or remorse. Candidates whose motivation toward sniper training rests mainly in the [[GloryHunter desire for prestige]] [[InvokedTrope may not be capable of the cold rationality that the sniper's job requires.]]"''

->''"(1) Emotional balance. The sniper must be able to calmly and deliberately kill targets that may not pose an immediate threat to him. It is much easier to kill in self-defense or in the defense of others than it is to kill without apparent provocation. The sniper must not be susceptible to emotions such as anxiety or remorse. Candidates whose motivation toward sniper training rests mainly in the desire for prestige [[InvokedTrope may not be capable of the cold rationality that the sniper's job requires.]]"''

* Manga/YuYuHakusho offers an interesting twist with the villain Kaname "Sniper" Hagiri. Per say, he doesn't actually ''use'' a real sniper rifle (he ''does'' use a pistol), but he can flick objects (marbles, dice, ''[[UnusualAmmo a tank truck filled with fuel]]'') with ''insane'' force and accuracy. Moreover, his "territory" lets him imprint enemies with bulls-eyes that attract anything he throws with deathly speed. That said, personality-wise he fits the bill of the ColdSniper quite well - out of all the Sensui Seven, he's the least emotional and crazy, and fights purely methodically. (Though he can also be NotSoStoic, and after Itsuki he is the most unfalteringly loyal to their leader Sensui.)

* In ''Jarhead'' Swoff is drifting into this trope, and repeatedly references his need for 'the red mist'.

* In the [[WorldWarIII alternative history]] novel series 'The Zone', the British sniper Clarence fits the trope of the cold, methodical sniper with personality problems (he is killing Russians to avenge his dead family, and suffers from a chronic phobia of body contact). The [[SociopathicSoldier psychotic German beauty Andrea]] sticks with him only long enough to pick up his skills, but she kills out of sheer sadistic pleasure.

* In the {{Halo}} novels, Spartan-058, Linda, is known as the foremost sniper specialist of the Spartans, with ImprobableAimingSkills taken UpToEleven, and has been since about the age of twelve. She takes sniping as a challenge, even being shown to [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome shoot pilots out of Banshees while hanging upside down by a single cord wrapped around her foot.]] And that was a day after she had been brought BackFromTheDead. Once she gets into position, her mind enters a Zen-Buddhist state and her kills are reported in an icy-cold voice. She works better without a spotter, and fits the LoneWolf description better than any other Spartan.

* Ernest Cobb from Series/{{Alcatraz}} is one who uses his abilities for random killings

* The canon NPC Stanley Chang in ''TabletopGame/UnknownArmies''[[hottip:* :he's in the Lawyers, Guns and Money sourcebook]] is a painfully shy, timid man; the only time other people don't make him nervous is when he's looking at them through his scope from a good distance away.

* Tarantula [[spoiler:aka Lundi's brother Jean Jacques Cortot]] in ''Manga/HonooNoAlpenRose''. He works for Count George de Germont, who is associated with ThoseWackyNazis. [[spoiler:However, he refuses to work for him after when the Count wants to kill General Guisan.]]

* Koch from the German WorldWarII drama ''[[Series/UnsereMuetterUnsereVaeter Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter]]'' is a subversion. He's initially presented as cold and trigger-happy - at one point he's about to shoot a [[KickTheDog cute little kitty]], prompting Friedhelm to snidely remark, "You like shooting, don't you?" Turns out the reason he goes after animals is because it reminds him of time spent hunting with his father as a child, and in any case, the first time we see him point his gun at a human is when [[spoiler: he attempts to rescue a Jewish girl from the ''Sicherheitsdienst'']].

* Shinon from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius'' is the bow-wielding variant of this trope. Even in the end when the CharacterRollCall comes up and every unit congratulates you for winning the war he calls you a "snot-nosed whelp."

** Judging from the unused voice clips, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen it seems likely he was originally going to be one.]]

* In the {{Halo}} novels, Spartan-058, Linda, is known as the foremost sniper specialist of the Spartans, and has been since about the age of twelve. She takes sniping as a challenge, even being shown to [[ImprobableAimingSkills shoot pilots out of Banshees while hanging upside down by a single cord wrapped around her foot.]] Once she gets into position, her mind enters a Zen-Buddhist state and her kills are reported in an icy-cold voice.

* Thane Krios from ''MassEffect2'' was trained to be a ColdSniper who killed for the greater good. He is rather personable and spiritualistic, if a bit quiet, when not on the job. Of the other sniper rifle users in the game, Garrus is a FriendlySniper, Zaeed is a PsychoForHire, [[spoiler:and Legion is a robot and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality can't be judged by human standards]].]]
** Renegade!Infiltrator!Shepard, generally. Paragon!Infiltrator!Shepard would be a FriendlySniper. Ashely in the first game is the only other squadmate who can use sniper rifles, but character-wise she prefers assault rifles so she can't be categorized here.

* Nack from {{Fanfic/PrisonIslandBreak}} talked about his job as a [[PunchClockVillain professional assassin]] as if it was a day job.