History Main / GainingTheWillToKill

* ''Franchise/DragonBall'': Gohan, while being in several life or death fights throughout the series where he usually acted on instinct (and was never powerful enough to kill enemies on his own outside of filler arcs), was faced with the decision to consciously kill Cell during the Cell games. Despite being brutalized by Cell and watching him torment all the other Z fighters and threaten the planet, Gohan doesn't gain the will to kill until Android 16 reaches him. He explains that people like Cell will never listen to words, and that Gohan must kill Cell in order to protect everything he loves.

* Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs''. After killing the Joker in revenge for nuking Metropolis and the death of his wife Lois, an alternate version of Superman [[FaceHeelTurn snaps and]] [[KnightTemplar takes a]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist hardline approach]] [[HeWhoFightsMonsters to solving crime]]. Part of the conflict between him and Batman is him breaking of the ThouShaltNotKill rule. As time passes, he accepts [[PayEvilUntoEvil killing for justice]], but he also JumpsOffTheSlipperySlope, transforming him into an AxCrazy, raging maniac who reacts with ''[[DisproportionateRetribution outright brute force]]'' when others call him out on his actions. The way he [[spoiler:kills Shazam and Lex Luthor in a cold-blooded manner, and unleashes his thugs to quash any dissent against his rule]] shows the ruthless monster he's now become, a far cry from the idealistic hero he once was.

->“Do you know what separates people who have a Role from people who don’t, Catherine?” Black asked.
->I shook my head.
->“Will,” he said. “The belief, deep down, that they know what is right and that they’ll see it done.”
->“So tell me, Catherine Foundling,” he murmured, his voice smooth as velvet. “What do you think is right?”
->He spun the knife so that the handle faced me, the touch of his fingertips deft and light.
->“How far are you willing to go, to see it done?”

* Deconstructed in ''Literature/AFrozenHeart, a TieInNovel of ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' which depicts [[spoiler:Prince Hans's]] life before the film's events. As a child, he was mocked by his family for his unwillingness to murder people, especially since his kingdom is a totalitarian dictatorship. Having had enough of it, he decides that if he wants to win their respect, then he'll have to accept any task they give him, even if it involved violence against their subjects, but it also changes him into a ruthless man incapable of bonding with others as he's trained himself to remain detached in order to make the killing easier to reconcile. Fast forward three years later, by the time he's in Arendelle, he's so desensitized that he resorted to his family's tactics in order to become its ruler, despite having vowed not to use them originally.

* In the ''Burial at Sea'' DLC of ''Videogame/BioshockInfinite'', [[spoiler:Daisy Fitzroy's apparent attempt to murder a child is revealed to have been act set up by both her and the Lutece twins in order to force Elizabeth to mature through spilling blood, and thus the will to oppose Comstock.]] See the trope quote.

* ComicBook/CaptainBritain (aka Brian Braddock) was a fairly straightforward example of TheCape... until the day his nemesis, Slaymaster, fought Brian's sister [[ComicBook/{{Psylocke}} Betsy]] and beat her to within an inch of her life before ripping out her eyes. Slaymaster's [[FamousLastWords last words]] -- spoken as Brian Braddock stood over him, holding a large rock -- were: "Fool! [[TemptingFate You have not the strength to kill...]]"

* This was how Amadeus recruited Catherine in ''Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil'', as seen in the page quote - he catches her in the hands of rapist and murderer, and informs her that Imperial law would merely see them imprisoned for five years. He then tells her that there is another way, and offers her his knife as a test of her resolve. Afterwards, he tells her ItNeverGetsEasier, which she later [[spoiler:regards as [[ItGetsEasier a very kind lie]]]].

->''"What is the difference between a girl..."\\
"... And a woman?"\\
"Blood."''
-->-- '''The Luteces and Daisy Fitzroy''', ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite: Burial at Sea, Episode 2''

* ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'': The eponymous ''Sweeney Todd'' was originally a wronged man looking to get his daughter back from an evil judge and, who abducted the girl after raping Sweeney's wife and sending Sweeney himself to [[SentencedToDownUnder Australia]] on a trumped-up charge. That and kill the Judge and his right hand man for taking everything from him. That changes when a charlatan named Pirelli recognizes Sweeney as an escaped convict and threatens to turn him in, driving Sweeney to kill him. Sweeney has never killed before, but he shows no remorse for this act, deciding it was necessary to protect his cover. Sweeney finds he has no qualms about continuing to kill, and launches himself into a frenzied campaign of revenge against the world that wronged him by becoming a SerialKiller and handing the bodies over to his friend Mrs. Lovett for, er, [[TheSecretOfLongPorkPies disposal]].

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': In WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow, the neighborhood kids are so badly injured and furious by the Eds latest scam that they're no longer satisfied with simply beating them up; they're now perfectly willing to ''kill'' the Eds outright, with Kevin openly stating near the end of the film that they have to "pay with their lives."

* Deconstructed in ''Literature/AFrozenHeart, a TieInNovel of ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen}}'' which depicts [[spoiler:Prince Hans's]] life before the film's events. As a child, he was mocked by his family for his unwillingness to murder people, especially since his kingdom is a totalitarian dictatorship. Having had enough of it, he decides that if he wants to win their respect, then he'll have to accept any task they give him, even if it involved violence against their subjects, but it also changes him into a ruthless man incapable of bonding with others as he's trained himself to remain detached in order to make the killing easier to reconcile. Fast forward three years later, by the time he's in Arendelle, he's so desensitized that he resorted to his family's tactics in order to become its ruler, despite having vowed not to use them originally.

* In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', Adrian Gecko finds Exodia in a sealed chamber, and in order to obtain Exodia's power he decides to use his DesignatedLoveInterest Echo as a sacrifice, so he can become King of the alternate dimension and create a world void of poverty.

* Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs''. After the deaths of Lois Lane, his unborn child and his entire city as a result of ComicBook/TheJoker's machinations, an alternate version of Superman takes a [[WellIntentionedExtremist hardline approach]] to solving crime. Part of the conflict between him and Batman is him breaking of [[ThouShaltNotKill the no-kill rule]]. After killing the Joker in revenge for Metropolis, Big Blue had some pangs about it, but the damage he's done as the Regime's High Councilor could've been avoided had he explained how he felt about Lois and the baby's deaths. As time passes, he accepts [[PayEvilUntoEvil killing in the name of justice]], but it also eats away his [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope sanity]], transforming him into a raging maniac who reacts ''[[CantTakeCriticism extremely]]'' with [[DisproportionateRetribution outright brute force]] when others call him out on his actions.

** In fact, the only thing that saves Fajo is that Data was beamed out right as he pulled the trigger. The transporter chief informs the others that the disruptor was actually in a state of discharge, and had to be deactivated before materialization.

* ''Film/BatmanBegins''. After he has trained with the [[WellIntentionedExtremist League of Shadows]], Bruce's mentor asks him to do this as a show of his commitment after his last test. Namely, executing a prisoner who killed a fellow farmer for his land. This, the mentor says, is justice and balance and will prove that Bruce will do what is necessary in the field. Needless to say, the future Batman refuses, causing said mentor to later remark on his lack of 'courage to do all that is necessary' in comparison to himself and his plan to [[spoiler:destroy Gotham to scare the rest of the cities in the nation into reforming]]. Towards the end,[[spoiler: Batman does get Ra's at his mercy, and is asked again whether he now had that courage. He doesn't kill Ra's, but instead leaves him to die in the derailing monorail [[KarmicDeath that he himself had set in motion.]]

* ''FanFic/MegamiNoHanabira'': Played with: while the girls have no issue killing [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman demons]], they find themselves forced to take more and more violent action against their ever-mounting number of human foes. It culminates when [[spoiler: [[NiceGirl Sara]] kills [[TheSociopath Brother Chick]]: even though she had no conscious intention of doing so, her [[OlympusMons Fiend]] picked up on her murderous feelings and did what she wanted to do to Chick deep down. By the time they confront [[BigBad Father Phillips]], the one who ruined their lives and destroyed their city, they're fighting to kill, only sparing him when the realize that [[CruelMercy imprisonment would hurt a man with a]] [[AGodAmI god complex]] [[CruelMercy far more than simply killing him.]]