History Main / EvenMooksHaveLovedOnes

* A few deleted scenes for the first AustinPowers movie are cutaways about the friends and loved ones of guards Austin kills being informed; one the friends at his bachelor party wondering why he's late, and the other his girlfriend and her son (who considers the guard a substitute father figure). Most likely cut because [[TearJerker watching a family crying as their world collapses]] ''really'' isn't funny. It also makes Austin's [[BondOneLiner post-kill quips]] paint him as a CompleteMonster.
** Those scenes were present in the British release - perhaps they were cut for the American market, but they are part of the uncut film.

** Actually, those are the rules. When a Behelit activates, the dying owner is given a choice to either die or sacrifice whatever is most important to them and be reborn as a demon. The Count offers literally anything ELSE when presented with Theresia as the price, but it has to be Theresia because that's the only thing the Count cares about. That "anything" being for the Count to accept death, and since he's already a demon he's obviously going to Hell. Forever. God is a Jerkass in the Berserk universe, if not the ultimate evil.

* JamesBond tricks Hugo Drax into implying that Jaws' girlfriend will not be one of those be allowed to live according to his master plan in ''{{Moonraker}}'' in order to get Jaws to do a HeelFaceTurn.

** Similarly, Regulus Black, who was so much a Voldemort fanboy that he collected press clippings of his attacks, attempted to destroy one of Voldemort's [[SoulJar Horcruxes]] after Voldemort left the Blacks' loyal house elf Kreacher to die of an agonizing poison.

* ''Image Comics''. This shows up in one of the Tom Raney-drawn Stormwatch prequel comics. The Dragon is okay with nuking anyone -but- his family. Lord Helspon didn't care.

->'''Do you remember...the piranha plant you roasted in 5-1? And were you there when his family received the news about their son?'''

Henchie will ask if he can at least save this one person they love... and the boss will refuse. For extra sting the effort needed would be minimal ''and'' [[ItsAllAboutMe the boss will rail on the henchman for placing others above his goals]]. Worse is the variant where the boss [[ShootYourMate puts a gun in their hand]] and ''[[AndYourLittleDogToo tells them to shoot]]'' as a proof of their loyalty. Despite whatever horrible things they've done, the resulting [[ConflictingLoyalty conflicting loyalties]] nearly always come up on the side of the loved one. As you can guess, this {{egregious}} VillainousDemotivator will cause a MookFaceTurn [[HelpFaceTurn pretty darn fast]], or at least prompt the minion to release someone who ''can'' save the loved one... namely, the hero who is in the (actually) inescapable DeathTrap.

* Played straight in ''HarryPotter:'' Voldemort ''was'' going to spare [[spoiler:Lily Evans-Potter]] when [[spoiler:Snape]] asked him to, but as soon as [[MamaBear she made it slightly difficult]] (he would have had to ''push her out of the way'' and all) he just decided to kill her too. As a result [[spoiler:Snape]] sacrifices everything to ensure Voldemort's downfall, and the best part is that Voldemort seems [[EvilCannotUnderstandGood completely ignorant]] that he just gave one of his most promising lieutenants perfect reason to want him dead.

* Played straight in ''HarryPotter:'' Voldemort ''was'' going to spare [[spoiler:Lily Evans-Potter]] when [[spoiler:Snape]] asked him to, but as soon as [[MamaBear she made it slightly difficult]] (he would have had to ''push her out of the way'' and all) he just decided to kill her too.

* One of the [[PoulAnderson Dominic Flandry]] stories ended with Flandry successfully killing a Merseian agent who'd been stirring up rebellion on a Terran world. Then Flandry wondered if the agent had some children who couldn't understand why their father hadn't come home.

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* Played straight in a ''CaptainAmerica'' issue where Hydra was planning massive destruction across the US. Before launching the attack they had set up safe havens for family of members and had set up a department in charge of moving these people to safety. For an organization that kills its minions with impunity, they showed surprisingly good people skills on this one.

{{Mook}}s, EvilMinions and even TheDragon [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes have a family]], and can form romantic relationships and friendships just like normal people. On and [[PunchClockVillain off the clock]]. Their BadBoss however, usually [[EvilCannotComprehendGood doesn't understand]] or [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter seriously misjudges]] the emotional attachment present. Eventually, it results that the {{Big Bad}}'s EvilPlan calls for the indirect suffering or death of their friend/love interest/family member. Maybe the continent they live on is being targeted with their boss' orbital DeathRay. Perhaps their boss wants to kill all X's, and the significant other happens to be an X. Or the friend just so happens to be the hero.

->'''Do you remember...the piranha plant you roasted in 5-1?'''

Henchie will ask if he can at least save this one person they love... and the boss will refuse. For extra sting the effort needed would be minimal ''and'' [[ItsAllAboutMe the boss will rail on the henchman for placing others above his goals]]. Worse is the variant where the boss [[ShootYourMate puts a gun in their hand]] and ''[[AndYourLittleDogToo tells them to shoot]]'' as a proof of their loyalty. Despite whatever horrible things they've done, the resulting [[ConflictingLoyalty conflicting loyalties]] nearly always come up on the side of the loved one. As you can guess, this [[TVTropesDrinkingGame egregious]] VillainousDemotivator will cause a MookFaceTurn [[HelpFaceTurn pretty darn fast]], or at least prompt the minion to release someone who ''can'' save the loved one... namely, the hero who is in the (actually) inescapable DeathTrap.

-->'''Do you remember...the piranha plant you roasted in 5-1?'''
-->-- ''BrawlInTheFamily''

Of course, if you want to show how ''really'' nasty a minion can be, it could be [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in a MoralEventHorizon where they more than willingly accept the murder of their loved one. Bonus points if they made it slow and painful. Conversely, the hero may hold these loved ones in an inverted HostageForMacGuffin against the baddie. WhatTheHellHero indeed.

* In ''GundamWing: [[TheMovie Endless Waltz]]'', we are shown the background of real Operation Meteor supposedly carried by Gundam Pilots, [[spoiler:they were supposed to do ColonyDrop on Earth, and then using the destruction and chaos to use the Gundams to conquer Earth.]] Naturally, the pilots and the supervisors didn't really kosher with this, except for [[spoiler:the ''real'']] Trowa Barton, who [[spoiler:got shot by technician who had family on Earth. The current Trowa Barton is a another nameless technician who'd happen to be around, and then tasked by the supervisor to take the Gundam on earth and doing more specified task: make hell on OZ.]]

** Of course there were limits and this makes a Minion do a face/heel turn.

** Also used with the Malfoy family in ''Half-Blood Prince'' and ''Deathly Hallows'' - Voldemort punishes Lucius for his various screw-ups by letting Draco join the Death Eaters and putting him on what is essentially a suicide mission. Both Lucius and his wife Narcissa are obviously driven out of their minds with fear by this and Draco makes it pretty apparent by the end of the book that he is only going through with the mission to keep Voldemort from killing his parents. By the last book, it is pretty clear that none of the Malfoys want to serve Voldemort anymore and simply want to all get each other out alive. [[spoiler:This clears the way for Narcissa to actually ''lie to Voldemort's face'' about whether or not Harry is dead, ''just so that she and Lucius could find Draco again''. Keep in mind that Voldemort is a confirmed expert of Legilimency; lying to him and getting away with it is VERY difficult... [[MamaBear and she still did it and got away with it]].]].

-->-- ''BrawlInTheFamily

->[Luthor checks his watch and shakes his head]

* If there's a positive Intimacy between an Abyssal {{Exalted}} and his or her Lunar mate, almost ''none'' of the usual Abyssal rules apply to that person. The Abyssal can ''fight their Deathlord'' to protect the Lunar. Bear in mind, usually "fighting your Deathlord" is synonymous with "putting your character sheet into a paper shredder".