History Main / ItGetsEasier

->''"You could not even guess at the things that I have done. Awful, evil, obscene. The telling of them alone could make you puke...They nag at me from time to time, but I tell myself I had good reasons. The years pass, the unimaginable becomes everyday, the hideous becomes tedious, the unbearable becomes routine. I push it all into the dark corners of my mind. And it's incredible; the room back there. Amazing. What one can live with."''

%%* Heavily lampshaded in ''Literature/TheFamiliarOfZero'' by Prof. Colbert.

** [[Characters/CodeGeassSuzakuKururugi Suzaku Kururugi]] protested about using violence and other extreme measures ''at first''. Not any more.
* Specifically referenced by Andrew Waltfeld in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', and implied to be the case with Mu La Flaga as well, in a deliberate aversion of ItNeverGetsAnyEasier. Waltfeld tells Kira that the first time he had to kill in battle, it made him sick, but after a while he got used to it just as he'd been told he would. And the reason he brought it up was to suggest that [=WMDs=] are the same way.
* In ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', Ritsuko tells her younger, more idealistic assistant Maya these exact words when she voices moral objections to the MadScience they are currently involved in. The result varies by continuity; In the classic series, Maya never really hardens and just gets [[BreakTheCutie progressively more freaked out]] by the apocalyptic horrors she has to witness, in ANIMA, she eventually takes over Ritsuko's position as the technical division's leader without discarding her ethics, while the Rebuild movies show her having become a hardened, abrasive BrokenBird after the TimeSkip, acting even colder than Ritsuko, who interestingly became a bit ''less'' cynical over the years, but still has no qualms about killing an innocent boy who just happens to be the resident ApocalypseMaiden. After a catastrophe that practically rendered the planet uninhabitable, most of the cast has come to share her attitude...

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', [[Characters/DeathNoteLightYagami Light Yagami]] is horrified after realizing that he actually killed his first two victims (which is emphasized more in the manga than the anime), but finds killing everyone else easier after resolving to change the world even if it is extremely painful for him. [[spoiler: Eventually, he doesn't care if he has to kill all the people around him as long as it doesn't hinder his goals.]] It's implied some of this might the effect of the Death Note (as during his MemoryGambit Light is almost a different person, horrified by the idea that he could have been Kira), but other characters claim it's a natural result of Light's extreme personality being given such a dangerous item.
* In ''Anime/{{Simoun}}'', the Sibyllae are originally [[InsistentTerminology very clear]] that they are priestesses, ''not'' soldiers. They are not "fighting," they are "inscribing Ri Maajon." They are not engaged in a "sortie," they are "offering prayers to Tempus Spatium." However, by the time we get halfway through the series, when their country has been at war on multiple fronts for several episodes, they are "on patrol" and "in battle." The newest Sibyllae are fine with that, since they only joined after the war had begun, but for the original members, it is something of a shock once it is pointed out how much things have changed since the beginning.

--> '''Fortis:''' You may resist with the mindset that murder is a crime. However, you'll get used to it. We did too.
* Discussed and played with to various effects in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''.
** TortureTechnician Djel Sanes explains that it was difficult to torture people at first, but over time he came to enjoy making other people suffer. He reassures the heroes it will be the same for them.
** Averted with [[spoiler:Annie Leonhart, Reiner Braun, and Bertolt Hoover]]. Once their identities are exposed, it becomes quite clear that while they are for the most point able to kill without mercy in the moment, doing so has left them deeply traumatized. Rather than getting easier, for these {{Tyke Bomb}}s it has become harder as they've come to understand the reality of their actions.
** After killing to save a comrade, [[spoiler:Armin]] is shown throwing up repeatedly in the woods. When Mikasa is asked whether she or Eren felt that way after the first time they killed, the audience is not shown her response to this question. Levi reassures that shooting was the right thing to do, but falls short of invoking this trope.
* This is probably the CentralTheme of ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners'': Shiki is a perfect killer, who can destroy pretty much anything and anyone, and some parts of her psyche desperately want her to embrace her murderous nature, but knowing better than anyone how slippery that slope is, she [[InexperiencedKiller repeatedly refrains from killing other humans]] (non-human and superhuman entities are [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman fair game]]) even when she thinks they really deserve to die. The final chapter even drops the explicit Aesop that when a person murders another person, they basically destroy themselves, as well. Ironically, [[spoiler:Shiki kills another human for the first time in the same movie]]. This is also presumably a core component of why Shiki's [[{{Yakuza}} grandfather's]] philosophy is that a human can only ever kill one other person - the act of murder irrevocably changes the murderer into something slightly less than human.
* In ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'', David initially passes on guns and his first kill is hindered by his own inner conflict between his old life with Gloria and his new life as an edgerunner. However, by the end of the series, he guns down targets without hesitation and utilizes heavier weapons to annihilate those in his path. He admits to Lucy that he lost track of the accumulated body count.

* In the ''Manga/{{Warrior Cats|Manga}}'' graphic novel ''ComicBook/WarriorCatsTheRiseOfScourge'', it is shown that Scourge, the leader of [=BloodClan=], started innocent but found it easier to kill as time went on.
* This is one of the many reasons Franchise/{{Batman}} doesn't kill. If he resorts to the one first kill (he says is often all too easy to fall into it), he may become jaded to humanity and not be able to stop. [[note]]This is the ''modern-day'' interpretation of the Dark Knight. In the early years of the character -- the late 1930s -- Batman often killed people and carried a gun.[[/note]]
** The Batman example is also an in-universe tactic. In ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'', Robin points out that Batman ''scares'' the crooks, but doesn't actually ''hurt'' them -- Batman is quick to point out that he uses it as a psychological weapon, in that the crook thinks he's [[NotWorthKilling not worth the effort]]. Whenever he needs that extra "oomf", Batman always lets drop that there are a ''lot'' of unsolved murders in Gotham, so [[BlatantLies who's to say he doesn't kill...]]
** From ''ComicBook/BruceWayneFugitive'':
--->'''Checkmate Operative''': We have no evidence of Batman ever having killed.\\
'''Batman''': I fail to see why you think I'd leave any.
* In ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004'', a JLA comic, Jean Loring, the Atom's ex-wife, attempts to put the ComicBook/ElongatedMan's wife, Sue Dibny, into fake danger so that all heroes, including her ex-husband, would [[LoveMakesYouEvil come closer to their loved ones]]. After she accidentally kills her, she goes [[FreakOut completely nuts]] and has no problem with putting others in mortal danger. Through this, she indirectly causes two more deaths, and even more indirectly causes the death of Firestorm. ([[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Alternately]], [[spoiler:Jean is lying about it being an accident; she clearly meant from the beginning to kill Sue (no one "just happens" to be carrying a flamethrower) and one or two other people to cover her tracks.]] Mind, Jean's still clearly nuts, and her first kill visibly shook her more than the ones she arranged later.)
* In ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan'', 355 gets more and more trigger-happy as the series progresses. And she ''hates'' herself for it.
%%* Much of ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'' concerns itself with exactly this trope. It loops around to death being quite bloody horrible once again.
* ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'' has King Mob, quipping about how after the fifth time, it doesn't feel like murder anymore.
* ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'': Rorschach is depicted as a Batman-like character who frightens villains rather than killing them, until he crosses the line by slaughtering a child-killer, after which Rorschach routinely kills bad guys justifying it by referring to them as "dogs that need to be put down". The film version of the comic also implies this with regards to Silk Spectre II and Nite Owl who are shown slaughtering a group of attackers without blinking an eye.
%%* Shows up in [[SignatureStyle a lot]] of Creator/WarrenEllis's work.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''Seven Little Killers'', [[spoiler:Canada]] becomes a killer. He says that it's like smoking. You hate it at first, but grow to enjoy it. [[spoiler: It amounts to him asking America if he can just kill everyone, instead of all of their complicated plans.]]

* ''Fanfic/EquestriaGirlsFriendshipSouls'': This is the crux of Rarity's fears about herself, as she realizes she has a surprisingly ''easy'' time being willing to resort to fatal means of defeating her foes compared to the rest of her friends. She also recounts how she got into a scuffle with a robber and in order to protect Sweetie Belle she stabbed the man through the stomach with his own knife, and what disturbed her was how clinically she did so and how she didn't feel disturbed about the act itself. [[spoiler:Coming to terms with this and being willing to ''choose'' when [[DirtyBusiness to make that choice]] [[IDidWhatIHadToDo and own up to the consequences]] rather than hold herself back or immediately go to that killer instinct is what lets her complete her Fullbring.]]
* Cú Chulainn in ''Fanfic/FateOfTheClans'' was responsible for the deaths of ''millions'' during the course of a mere ''20 years or so'', most of these occurring during the seven years he fought in Literature/TheCattleRaidOfCooley. It's safe to say he's used to killing.
* ''Fanfic/WingsToFly'' gives it a bit of a zigzag, in which a pilot notes that he's killed a few dozen human opponents, but there are a few he doesn't remember at all and he could only describe the full fight with maybe five or six of them. The memories of his human kills are flat now, the emotion drained from them, as well. On the other hand, he can describe every moment of every fight that lead to his [[AttackDrone Mobile Doll]] kills and those memories still have a physical effect on him: they never got any easier because they were [[WhyWontYouDie never easy to kill.]]
* Defied in ''Fanfic/IncarnationOfLegends''. When Bell tells [[spoiler:Artoria]] he wishes the pain of killing and committing less than moral acts would go away, she tells him he shouldn't think like that. Feeling guilt when he takes a life means that he can still be 'human', with Bell ultimately coming to accept the burden of [[ItNeverGetsAnyEasier it never getting easier]] instead.

* ''FanFic/ThePiecesLieWhereTheyFell'': [[spoiler: Night Blade, following his TheseHandsHaveKilled moment, is even ''more'' disturbed by the fact that he wasn't as disturbed by it as he should have been. Xvital feels the same way as the battle with Sharp Point's hench-ponies goes on.]]

* In ''FanFic/ABrighterDark,'' Garon tells this to Corrin after she's just committed her second massacre, in order to help her move past it. He explains that the second time is the worst, because the first time you have justifications that forced it to happen and from the third time onward, you've just come to terms with it and have become numb.
* The first time Emberpaw hunts prey in ''Fanfic/LittleFires'', she's noticeably unnerved. It's much gorier and less pleasant than she imagined. To make it worse, she swore she heard the mouse say "Not yet" in fear.
* Sakura lampshades the idea in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8510543/28/Alternate-Beginnings-of-an-Uzumaki A Scarecrow's Worst Friends]]'', citing that when she first joined ANBU, the idea of drowning someone in their own vomit seemed nasty. But now, she still giggles when remembering [[NoodleIncident that one time in River Country]].
* Rusty is disgusted and horrified the first time he kills a cat in ''Fanfic/BloodRustyAU''. He can't help but feel bad for the cat and his loved ones, even wishing sometimes that he had been the one that died and was left to rot in an alley. This quickly changes as Rusty becomes more engrained with his life as a [=BloodClan=] cat. A few weeks later he barely blinks an eye when [[spoiler:his half-brother Scourge [[SiblingMurder forces his two siblings to jump into a river]].]]
* In ''Fanfic/MastermindStrategistForHire'', Izuku goes from nearly having a HeroicBSOD over being responsible for the death of a Pro Hero to planning more murders without a second regard for the victims over the course of a few months.
* In ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'', Mad-Eye Moody notes that the Killing Curse doesn't damage the soul -- rather, it's the act of murder which does that. Later, Quirrel says that to cast the curse once requires that you hate someone enough to end their life without concern, and asks Harry what it would take to be able to cast it at will. [[spoiler: The answer is apathy, a disregard for all life. And practice.]]
* In ''[[Fanfic/SupernovaOnePiece Supernova]], when Luffy accidentally kills a bandit in the beginning of the story, Shanks tells him that it will get easier. Some people will be so easy that Luffy forgets about it the next day. The important thing is that Luffy never enjoy it.
** Later, Luffy passes this advice on to Chopper after he [[spoiler:accidentally kills Wapol.]]
* ''Webcomic/{{Springaling}}'': Springtrap describes his killing of kids as getting easier for him to achieve over time. While his first kill freaked him out and it took years before he tried again, by the end of his spree it evolved into an urge to off kids and he says he was ''proud'' at the time for managing to kill a party of five in one go.
-->'''Springtrap''': I didn't get upset anymore. I got better at it. Practice makes perfect.
* In ''Fanfic/TorqueJakAndDaxter'', [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Torn]] gently assures a shellshocked Keira after she was forced to kill [[spoiler:Erol]] that it gets easier.

* The opening of the 2006 film version of ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' almost spells out this trope:
-->'''Dryden''': How did he die?\\
'''[[Film/JamesBond Bond]]''': Your contact? Not well.\\
'''Dryden''': Made you feel it, did he? Well, you needn't worry. [[KilledMidSentence The second is]]--\\
'''Bond''': ''[shoots Dryden]'' [[BondOneLiner Yes. Considerably.]]
* ''Film/{{Dredd}}''. Cassandra Anderson, a rookie Judge being assessed in the field by Judge Dredd, has a ThousandYardStare the first time Dredd orders her to execute a criminal. By the climax of the movie, she shoots perps without hesitation.

* In the film adaptation of ''Theatre/TheCrucible'', the first hanging has the girls who had falsely accused them flinching and wincing while the rest of the villagers are cheering. But after the second and third and fourth hangings, they are cheering just as happily as the villagers.
* ''Film/DarkBlue'' has a poignant moment after Bobby kills his first suspect. His partner, Eldon, recounts his first kill, and how much it affected him. He says that, even though killing is a normal part of his job now, he still thinks about that first one.
* ''Film/DeathWish'': Paul is not very comfortable fighting criminals early on in the film. At first, he beats up a mugger with a sock filled with quarters, then goes home, taking a drink of whisky to calm his nerves. Paul also vomits after killing his first criminal. After this, he starts gunning them down without hesitation.

* In ''Film/SilverLode'', Ballard references this concept early on when Mitch suggests using violence against [=McCarty=].
-->"You kill one man, it's not so hard to kill a second one. Third one's easy."
* In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels, Anakin kills dozens of Sand People out of anger, and is consumed by guilt afterward. A few years later, he's hesitant to kill [[spoiler: Count Dooku]], and eventually does so with reluctance at Palpatine's insistence. Later in the film, he helps kill [[spoiler: Mace Windu]] in a situation of extreme duress, but shrugs it off rather quickly. From there he moves on to watching Palpatine [[spoiler:order the deaths of Jedi all over the Galaxy as he himself marches to the Jedi temple to kill everyone inside, including the children.]] About seventeen years later, Anakin, now badass Sith Lord Darth Vader, has no problem with Grand Moff Tarkin blowing up a planet containing billions of innocent people and is murdering his own subordinates via Force Choke with alarming frequency. A literal case of TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget.
** Implicitly, thanks to his job as top enforcer and commander-in-chief of a galaxy-spanning totalitarian empire, Vader has tons of OffstageVillainy amounting to innumerable atrocities, ''especially'' because of this trope and the ease at which he is committing evil in the movies. The Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse confirmed this, for example having a lethal and highly-contagious biological weapon developed on the Falleen homeworld; and when it escaped and started infecting people in the capital city, the entire area was sealed-off and "sterilized", ie. [[OrbitalBombardment annihilated via turbolaser fire from orbiting Star Destroyers]], killing millions of people.
* The last line of the horror film ''Film/TheStrangers'' is Pin-Up Girl telling Dollface, "It'll be easier next time."

* In ''Film/TrueRomance'', Virgil the enforcer takes a breather from beating on Alabama to explain his experience with this trope, ending with, "Now I kill 'em just to watch their expressions change." Virgil unforgettably played by James Gandolfini before his [[Series/TheSopranos big promotion]].

* Zig-zagged in the form of a page quote in the ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' book ''Necropolis''. A medic is describing his mindset to survive during his long service to the Imperium.
-->The worst campaign, I think, was the first I fought alongside. Since then, I have seen much, much more and things that were far worse, but I have blocked it out. The soul can stand only so much before it shatters.
* Pick any Creator/BaenBooks MilitaryScienceFiction novel. Notably, ''The Disunited States of America'' by Creator/HarryTurtledove, where a kid fakes being a soldier but ends up doing the job for real.

* In ''Literature/TheTruth'', Mr. Pin spells this out when his sanity starts getting away from him because he's realized that the people he's killed are closer than he thinks, and are just itching to get their revenge. Killing one person, that's a MoralEventHorizon; killing twenty is just, well, more of the same.
* In ''Literature/TillWeHaveFaces'', when Orual is about to [[CombatByChampion fight in single combat]], the captain of the guard makes her kill a pig to get her first time over with this way.
* In Creator/JohnGrisham's first novel ''A Time to Kill'', the guy who kills the two guys who raped his kid daughter thinks that it was harder to kill the first Viet Cong fighter.
* In the ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' novel ''The Eyre Affair'', Acheron Hades describes murder as "like eating a packet of shortbread" -- once you start, there's no reason to stop, since the worst they can do is execute you once.

* Similar to the Batman example, Literature/HerculePoirot gives this as a justification for bringing killers to justice (after they killed once, they will kill again to avoid being discovered, and each kill will be easier than the previous one). [[spoiler:This is an important plot point in [[Literature/{{Curtain}} his final case]].]]
* In ''Literature/LifeOfPi'', the main character is introduced as devoutly religious, intelligent and a vegetarian, but when he has to survive, he abandons all morals. Killing becomes easier, and soon he is doing things like sucking fluid from fish eyeballs and eating faeces [[spoiler:and human flesh]]. He explicitly states that he goes from crying over a flying fish that flopped into the lifeboat to exulting in the fact that he managed to hook and kill a dorado -- and later on, he grabs and slaughters two meerkats without hesitation, [[spoiler:so he can rub his feet in their viscera to cool them after he steps on the acidic surface of the island]].
* In the ''Literature/XWingSeries'', rookie pilot Gavin Darklighter helps out during the Krytos Plague pandemic on Coruscant, trying to find victims to get them treated before it's too late, and call for cleanup teams when it ''is''. In the end stages, the Krytos plague, which was [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke engineered by Imperials]], basically liquefies those who contract it. Finding a particularly bad one, someone who'd barricaded himself up when he knew how sick he was getting, makes him [[VomitingCop vomit]], but he pulls himself together, does his job, and confesses to his love interest that a year ago he would have run screaming. He's changing, and it scares him.
-->'''Asyr''': It's called maturing, Gavin, and not everyone likes it.\\
'''Gavin''': Thanks, but I still have to wonder if it's right that we can see something like that and just continue on.\\
'''Asyr''': We continue on, my dear, because we must. [...] Our mission is to fly our X-Wings, to locate and destroy the kind of monsters who would do this kind of thing. Doing that requires all the maturity we can muster.

* [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] in the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series, with the titular weapon. The Sword of Truth inflicts guilt on its wielder every time they kill a person. However, the first time a person kills, the sword inflicts significantly more, to acclimate itself to its new wielder. It's a plot point that being very angry insulates someone somewhat to the sword's guilt, but [[spoiler: the MercyKill mode of the sword]] insulates the user completely, because [[spoiler: the user is inflicting guilt on himself or herself without the help of the sword]].
* Creator/IanFleming inverted the trope regularly in his ''Literature/JamesBond'' novels. Despite the statement made in the 2006 version of ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'', quoted at top, in the original novels and short stories Bond is often depicted as actively avoiding having to kill more than is necessary, leading to some dangerous scenarios for 007, such as in the short story "[[Literature/ForYourEyesOnly From a View to a Kill]]" in which Bond is nearly killed by a man whom he spared. He had to commit two premeditated duty kills to get his "license to kill", but it's implied that this is demonstrate that Bond can kill in cold blood, rather than that it gets easier to do so.
* ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft The Last Guardian]]'' by Jeff Grubb has this line used by Medivh after he [[spoiler: attacks Khadgar and Garona]].
* Deconstructed in ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'', a TieInNovel of ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' which depicts Prince Hans of the Southern Isles' life before the film's events. As a young kid, he was [[FreudianExcuse mocked]] by his family for his [[ARealManIsAKiller unwillingness to murder people]], especially since his kingdom is a totalitarian dictatorship. Having had enough of it, [[WellDoneSonGuy Hans]] decides that if he wants to earn their respect, then he'll have to accept whatever tasks they give him, even if it involves violence against their subjects. However, it also changes him into a cold-hearted man incapable of bonding with others so he doesn't feel disturbed by the killing. Fast forward three years later, by the time he's in Arendelle, he resorts to his family's tactics in order to become its ruler despite vowing not to use them originally.
* Strongly implied in the first book of ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' trilogy, wherein Katniss spends much of the first part of the book being concerned about killing people, but once she starts to do so, after a brief moment of self-reflection that mostly focuses on the potential reaction of the family of her victims, she appears to shrug it off and is soon actively planning killing scenarios and, ultimately, [[spoiler: putting down Cato without much hesitation, albeit as a mercy kill]].
** In the third book [[spoiler: she kills dozens or possibly hundreds of people indiscriminately, including one scene where she gets in a firefight in a crowded street full of civilians. She has to defend herself with automatic weapons fire and admits that she has no idea what she's shooting at. She almost never sets out to murder people ([[PresidentEvil with two prominent exceptions]]) but WarIsHell.]]
* This is how BlackMagic works in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. See, magic works via your beliefs and emotions. In order to cast a spell, you have to absolutely believe that you're doing the right thing with it (it's a plot point in ''Turn Coat'' that the PlotTriggeringDeath victim was not killed by magic despite the suspect being capable of it [[spoiler: because the culprit was mind-controlled and so could not believe in the cause]]). The Laws of Magic are against things like murder, MindRape, and EldritchAbomination summoning. People who break those laws are accepting that these horrible things are right to do, so even if they ''do'' have good reason at first (Harry murdering Justin [=DuMorne=] with magic because [=DuMorne=] was a warlock trying to mind control him and Elaine, [[spoiler: Molly altering her pregnant friend's mind to get her off of drugs]]), not catching them and putting a stop to them really quick tends to lead them to going down the slippery slope ''fast''. This is why the Wardens have a one-strike-you're-out policy unless another wizard puts their life on the line to grant a warlock a second strike; it's really just putting them out of everyone's misery.
* ''Literature/SandmanSlim'' notes that by the third murder, killing becomes a routine.

* PlayedForDrama in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''--Cassie's TenMinuteRetirement in book #19 comes largely from the fact that she's stopped being freaked out by killing, and her fear that she's becoming deadened to emotions in general. In ''The Andalite Chronicles'', Alloran tells Elfangor and Arbron: <It's always hard the first time. And it never gets easy.>

--> '''Catherine''': "You know, the first night I met him, he told me it doesn't get any easier." *breaks her interlocutor's neck* "It was a very kind lie."
* ''Literature/TheQueensThief''

* In ''[[Literature/BekaCooper Bloodhound]]'' Beka Cooper overhears a torturer admit that she took this job because it would help her support her young son better than a riskier position, but she's become so inured to violence that she's started to hit her child.

* Mentioned in the closing monologue of "And the Desert Shall Blossom" from ''Series/AlfredHitchcockPresents''; [[spoiler:Tom and Ben eventually graduate from killing desperate criminals to innocent passerbys. This is mostly an excuse for their censor-mandated OffscreenKarma.]]

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': The first time Walter White directly kills someone, he is left a sobbing mess. [[spoiler: As the series goes on, and as the bodies pile up, he doesn't seem to be as disturbed when he kills, and in season 5, starts to be able to even order the deaths of men with little concern.]]
* ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire''. Jimmy Darmody tells Nucky Thompson this when the latter hesitates before executing him. It turns out to be true, as Nucky does become more ruthless.

* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': Invoked, of all places, in one episode. Woody, upset that he has told a lie, worries about the consequences.

* The fourth episode of ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'' follows a liquidator squad that has been tasked with "animal control", which is shooting animals within the Exclusion Zone so that they won't leave and spread radioactive contamination--and these are mostly pets and livestock. Pavel, a new conscript, has never shot anything before and freezes after shooting a dog but failing to kill it. Bacho, a hardened veteran of the Afghan war, has to finish the job to keep the animal from suffering. Later, he shares the story of the time he first shot a man, being horrified at the thought of being a person who had killed, and then coming to terms with the idea that he could have been that person all along, he just hadn't known it. The important thing is to do the job, and to not let the animals suffer.
* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': The trope forms part of the rationale behind the "red test" in which an operative must perform his or her first kill before being promoted to agent. Disturbingly, the kills are of the cold-blooded variety: assassinations and murders, rather than kills in the heat of battle. Sarah and Casey's high body count (and both being willing to kill in cold blood when necessary) attest to the clear implication that it gets easier. The actual episode in which Chuck undertakes his test ("Chuck vs. the Final Test") is built around Sarah being reluctant to allow Chuck to cross the line ([[spoiler:ultimately, Casey secretly makes the kill instead of Chuck; Chuck's actual first kill occurs much later and is not cold-blooded in nature.]])
* By comparison, ''Series/CovertAffairs'', also set within the CIA, does not require its hero, Annie Walker, into a red test and in fact gives her missions despite her not completing firearm training ([[spoiler:she eventually does pull the trigger for the first time]]).

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': Alas, poor John Crichton learned to kill in order to survive the Uncharted Territories. He also went pretty crazy, though whether it was the killing, the utter weirdness, the many, many aliens who decided to stick things in his brain and swirl it around a bit, or some combination thereof is anyone's guess.
** Crichton almost certainly had military training, given that he was former space shuttle pilot and they're nearly always drawn from Air Force or Navy pilot ranks. But in the modern era, air-to-air combat is rare and thus few fighter pilots have actually killed anybody. Thus, this trope still holds true over the course of the series.
** Crichton went out of his way to avoid killing anyone for most of the first season; his first kill is in episode 18 and was caused by mind control, which caused him considerable distress. After that it was like a switch was flipped in his head, and he dispassionately finished off the surviving enemies at the end of the episode by himself. In later episodes he's just as quick to kill as the professional fighters in the crew.

* ''Series/{{Fringe}}'': In a second-season episode, after Peter is forced to kill someone for the first time, Olivia recalls her first kill and how it took time for her to get over it. But judging by the rather high body count she's amassed, "It Gets Easier" clearly applies.

** Sylar goes down that road. After he kills for the first time, he tries to commit suicide (but is stopped by Elle and Noah). We all know how this story continues.
* ''{{Series/Hightown}}'': Osito tells Junior after the latter is traumatized by helping to kill someone that it was the same for him at first. Eventually, however, it stopped bothering him. Since he continues to kill people, the obvious message was that the same thing would happen with Junior.

* Comedic example: In ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'', Dave Foley plays a character doing a monologue about being a mass murderer. He says the second kill is easy. "The third time you start to get cocky so you gotta be careful. Y'know, you gotta stay humble or you make dumb mistakes."
** And his somewhat similar "bad doctor" character winds up his monologue by saying he's got to go tell the family his patient didn't make it:
--->''[sadly]'' "It's the hardest part of being a doctor... ''[shrugs]'' I ''think''."
* ''Lady Blue'', an obscure 1980s series featuring a female Film/DirtyHarry-like policewoman character who has killed so many people she no longer bats an eyelash when she has to fire her gun. The original pilot TV movie calls this into question when she finds herself at an inquiry over her actions.

** It is established that in the service's earlier days as "NIS", agents underwent a similar "red test" scenario, carrying out assassinations as a rite of passage. Jenny Shepherd failed her initial assigned kill, though she goes on to commit numerous kills (both hot- and cold-blooded) before the one kill she did not complete years earlier [[spoiler: results in her death]].

* ''Series/{{Nikita}}'': The concept is referenced several times in the 2010 version, with the title character, a HitmanWithAHeart, driven to take down the organization called Division in part because they made her a cold-blooded killer. Like ''Chuck'', above, Division recruits are also required to complete a cold-blooded kill before being promoted to field agent status. Alex makes her first kill by accident (they were struggling for the gun and it went off), then executes her former pimp after he tortured her, and is soon getting into pitched gun battles with the best of them.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': {{Averted|Trope}} in episode "Matsya Nyaya". A woman betrays her boyfriend and partner in crime, and shoots him InTheBack, then goes to shoot John Reese. John is able to stall her when he says the first time was easier because she's thought about it for a long time and psyched herself up to do it. Sure enough, she cannot kill a tied-up stranger in cold blood, and flees (only to promptly get shot by [[AlwaysABiggerFish someone more ruthless]]).
* ''Series/QuantumLeap'': Reversed the first time Sam Beckett killed a man. The man in question is a former French Resistance fighter who is said to have killed his own mother during the UsefulNotes/SecondWorldWar. After a scuffle, Sam backs away holding a bloodied knife as the man smiles up at him knowingly, whispers "The next time, it will be easier" and dies.

** Both Charlie and Aaron have demonstrated this, from being hesitant to use deadly force in the episode "[[Recap/RevolutionS1E1Pilot Pilot]]" to both becoming efficient killers by [[Recap/RevolutionS1E5SoulTrain episode 5]] (with Charlie killing ''in cold blood' on at least one occasion ([[Recap/RevolutionS1E2ChainedHeat episode 2]]) and agreeing to do so, [[spoiler: though she ultimately doesn't go through with it]], on another ([[Recap/RevolutionS1E6SexAndDrugs episode 6]])).

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Jokingly referenced:

* ''Series/TheUnit'' built an episode around the trope when a unit member begins to have second thoughts about the fact their job is to kill people. After soul searching and discussions with his commanding officer and a priest, the character not only agrees that it gets easier, but he acknowledges that he actually ''likes'' killing, which is described as being pretty much a requirement for the job. The message is delivered with a bit of irony given the mission that sparks the soul-searching - to protect someone from being assassinated by using a sniper rifle capable of killing someone in a crowd with little risk of collateral damage to innocents - doesn't actually fall into the category of cold-blooded murder.

-->Now if you have a taste for this experience
-->If you're flushed with your very first success
-->Then you must try a twosome or a threesome
-->You'll find your conscience bothers you much less

[[folder:Tabletop [=RPGs=]]]
* The [[KarmaMeter Morality]] systems in ''TabletopGame/TheWorldOfDarkness'' games are based on the notion that doing bad things to others gradually grows easier (although the specifics are different for each gameline), although you can use experience points to buy back morality.
** Of note, however, is in the God-Machine Chronicle and rules update for the ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' is that normal playable humans should never get to the point that killing is simple and not a ding on the Morality gauge. Specific types of supernatural being, on the other hand, handle this differently.
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' suggests, as an optional rule for "realism", representing this by starting the characters out with the Reluctant Killer disadvantage and then letting them buy it off..
* Breaking the Laws of Magic with BlackMagic in ''TabletopGame/TheDresdenFiles'' [=RPG=] adaptation gives you a bonus to future violations of the same law ([[OffWithHisHead assuming you get to live long enough to use it]]).

* Downplayed with the title character of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', as indicated by the page quote. He's a soldier at the outset, true, but he quakes at the cold-blooded murder of his king. Come the later acts and he's sanctioning the murder of innocent children and men who are merely prophesied to do him harm.

--> ...I'm not ready yet. I don't know how it's done. I'm going to take lessons. I mean to begin with a guinea pig, and work my way through the animal kingdom till I come to a Second Trombone.
* Discussed in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', in Act V, Scene 1. Hamlet and Horatio come across a gravedigger and his helper, who are singing and cracking jokes as they prepare a new grave. Hamlet asks what kind of insensitive man could do such a thing, to which Horatio replies "Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness."
* In ''Theatre/TheMarioOpera'', Mario's doubt and anger at killing the first Goomba soon fades as he realizes how right it felt, and before long he's slinging fireballs and jumping on Koopas with abandon.

** Snake gives this speech to Meryl in the first ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''.
*** Snake's brother Liquid gives a more vitriolic version to Snake in the same game, accusing him of enjoying it. Inverted in ''Guns of the Patriots:'' if the player kills an exorbitant amount of enemy soldiers during any one chapter, Snake will have a flashback to the scene with Liquid, and he throws up. For Old Snake, killing gets harder, sort of; more precisely, he gets sick when he realises how easy it's gotten.
** One of the major plot points in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' is the PMC's trying to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope by [[spoiler:using the Sons of the Patriots system to regulate soldiers' emotions.]] Everything is manipulated so that war literally feels like a video game to them. But when [[spoiler: SOP is hijacked,]] reality comes crashing down, and battle fatigue sets in. What's worse, SOP didn't actually get rid of the emotions: it bottled them up so that when the system was interfered with, they all came rushing to the surface at once. Watching the formerly calm soldiers writhe on the ground, bawling hysterically, or laughing uncontrollably as they beat each other to death with their bare hands, is a very disturbing scene to watch, potentially even ''more so'' when you know ''why''.

* In ''VideoGame/VacantSky'', the main character Auria struggles to cope with the knowledge that she's just killed a human being after panicking and killing [[spoiler: the husband of their hostess]]. Though she shows remorse afterward, the subsequent journal entry combined with the fact that the event song is called "A Farewell to Innocence" implies that it only goes downhill from here.
* ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'': The titular character starts the game as an ApologeticAttacker and cries things like "I'm sorry!" and "No..." the first few times she kills someone. If you decide to become an instrument of alien genocide, her quotes change to things like "Hah... YOU DIE!" and "AAAARGH!"
* In the 2nd chapter of ''VideoGame/TheSpiritEngine'', one of your team members stops just short of HeroicBSOD when you have to kill a team of thoroughly JerkAss bounty hunters. In the 3rd chapter, s/he's not too happy about having to kill an assassin. In the last one, they're casually slaughtering dozens of [[PunchclockVillain soldiers]] without so much as a sigh. It's similar in the sequel, although not as pronounced.
* This is the trope Jason Brody's development is based around in ''VideoGame/FarCry3''. He starts out as a privileged upper class post grad looking to enjoy the jungle paradise with his friends while trying to ignore his slowly-building feelings of DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife, and ends up getting kidnapped and nearly sold into slavery. In the process of escaping he watches his brother die in his arms, and moments later makes his first kill in self-defense, which nearly causes him to break down were it not for the disastrous circumstances of his escape. He also shows reluctance to even buy a gun knowing he's going to be using it on people, even protesting that he's never actually ''fired on'' somebody. As the game goes on though, and he ranks up a body count most military platoons would be jealous of, this trope ends up causing him to devolve into a all-out BloodKnight. [[spoiler: In the good ending, he fully recognizes that [[HeWhoFightsMonsters he has become a monster]] due to his kill count, while desperately hoping that there is a way for him to come back from the abyss he's fallen into.]]
-->'''Jason''': Hey, I got a crazy question. You won first place at that swimming championship this year, right?\\
'''Daisy''': Yeah, the 400 meter.\\
'''Jason''': What did it feel like, winning? Not afterward, on the podium. But in the water, when you hit the pad.\\
'''Daisy''': Like I was really...present. Like the whole world was me.\\
'''Jason''': You know...I never thought I'd be able to kill someone. The first time, it felt wrong. Which is good, right? But now... it feels like winning.
* Jak mentions something to this effect as a BondOneLiner to [[spoiler: Mizo]] at the end of ''VideoGame/JakXCombatRacing'', after the latter alludes to Jak leaving other important characters to die in the previous two games:
-->'''[[spoiler:Mizo]]:''' You have a habit of leaving people to die, don't you?\\
''pause''\\
'''Jak:'''...you get used to it.\\
''EXPLOSION''
* In ''VideoGame/ShadowComplex'', protagonist Jason Fleming was trained from a young age by his father to have an easier time when he enlists in the Army...except, much to his father's chagrin, he never enlists, saying that he doesn't want to kill anyone. During the game, he puts the skills his father taught him to good use, as [[spoiler: terrorists kidnapping his girlfriend]] have given him a good reason to kill. Early into the game, he comments that a giant spider-mech is something he can "shoot without feeling guilty," although the driver pops out of the hatch soon after and becomes Jason's next kill. Shortly after ''that,'' Jason comments, "Killing's getting easier, not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing...[[spoiler:it's a good thing]]."
* Surprisingly, [[RabidCop Carter Blake]] from ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' pulls this trope to comfort Jayden if the player made him [[spoiler:shoot Nathaniel.]]
* [[Franchise/MegaMan X]] was supposed to come across this trope after ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'' after spending [[VideoGame/MegaManX his series]] repeatedly trying to make sure ItNeverGetsAnyEasier, and had it not been the ExecutiveMeddling, he would completed this turn into a KnightTemplar villain in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' and forced Zero to put him down. Instead, he recognized this was happening and TookAThirdOption to take himself out of the action and hoped others would be able to continue his work. Unfortunately, Copy X had neither the life experiences nor the ethics testing necessary to be the ruler necessary to maintain peace between humans and Reploids, becoming the KnightTemplar instead.
* [[PlayerCharacter Walker]] gets a heavy dose of this in ''Videogame/SpecOpsTheLine''. At the beginning, he is shocked when he has to kill [[spoiler: American soldiers]]. As the game goes on, he looses his reluctance and later becomes ''bloodthirsty''. Best exemplified after the game's most famous part. [[spoiler:After Walker accidentally kills civilians with white phosphorus bombs, he begins to lose more and more of his sanity and hallucinates frequently.]]
** It applies to his support team as well. Lugo goes from expressing shock and horror at the viciousness of Walker's actions to [[spoiler:casually shooting an unarmed man three times in the head without a second's hesitation,]] whereas after [[spoiler:Lugo]] gets lynched Adams positively ''begs'' Walker to let him fire upon the unarmed civilians who lynched him.
* In the first game of the ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' series, Troy paraphrases this trope on very rare occasions: "It gets easier every time." [[spoiler:If you pay attention to what he's doing whenever he says this (killing a cop), you'll get a hint as to his [[TheMole true motivation]] for joining the Saints]]
* Implied in ''Franchise/TombRaider''.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderAnniversary Anniversary]]'', immediately after Lara kills [[spoiler:Larson]], she just stares down at her hands with a visibly horrified expression, trying to rub imaginary blood off them. [[spoiler:Larson]] was canonically Lara's first ever human kill, and [[FridgeHorror consider how many mercenaries she coldly slaughters in games set afterwards]]...
** It comes up again in the [[VideoGame/TombRaider2013 2013 reboot]]. Lara's first human kill leaves her a traumatized, bloody and sobbing mess. Afterwards Roth tells her it can't have been easy to have killed someone, but she responds that what terrifies her even more is how easy it actually was (granted, it was a life-or-death situation with a heavy subtext of attempted sexual assault or even rape, so...) In-story it eventually does get easier, so that by the time [[spoiler: of Roth's death]], Lara has come to accept death as part of the reality she's found herself in, and has made a conscious decision to fight back against the Solarii. [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Of course, by that point the player has probably racked up a body count in the hundreds already, so that somewhat undermines the narrative...]]
* Hibiki of ''[[VideoGame/TheLastBlade The Last Blade 2]]'' is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone visibly horrified]] the first five or so times she kills (strictly kills - non-lethal wins don't count) an enemy. After the sixth time (as progressively hinted at by her increasingly unhinged win quotes), her win pose changes to one implying she has [[BloodKnight come to enjoy the act]].
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' has a game mechanic for this: witnessing violent deaths causes a dwarf to grow jaded. Since jaded dwarfs are less likely to cause DisasterDominoes (a.k.a. "tantrum spirals") players actually ''try'' to expose their dwarfs to as many violent deaths as possible. [[CruelPlayerCharacterGod Like by having kittens plummet to their deaths in the middle of the dining hall, so the maximum number of dwarfs see them explode into chunky gore]].
* PlayedForLaughs and [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated]] in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'''s Citadel DLC, where Wrex notes that [[CharacterDevelopment Liara seems to have grown up a lot]] as she's not showing any of the worry or emotional concerns before a fight. Liara notes that killing people becomes less troubling after the first few hundred. Wrex agrees.
* ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'' shows this in the very first mission. Jacket will throw up after killing the homeless guy (this is probably his first kill, while in the game you have already killed other dudes, the timeline's a bit fuzzy.)
** The [[VideoGame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber sequel]] muddies this even further by revealing that [[spoiler:Jacket was a former Spec-Ops soldier.]]
** It's possible that Jacket has this reaction because the hobo he kills was the first relatively innocent person he murdered.
* This is actually a plot point in ''{{Videogame/Undertale}}''. Specifically, [[spoiler:your [[ExperiencePoints EXP]] and [[CharacterLevel LV]], or [[FunWithAcronyms LOVE]], actually stands for "'''Ex'''ecution '''P'''oints" and "'''L'''evel '''o'''f '''V'''iolenc'''e'''" respectively. Your attack power gets stronger because, the more enemies you've already killed, the less morally conflicted you become about killing; the less conflicted you become, [[GainingTheWillToKill the more willing you become to go through with killing again]], and your HP gets higher because it becomes easier for your SOUL to bear the stress of resorting to uncompromising violence]].
* In ''VideoGame/BluePlanet'', protagonist Noemi Laporte is fearing the effects of this trope, as she was raised in a pacifist culture who are now fighting a war purely out of necessity. The trope is then played with: it ''doesn't'' get easier for her to kill other people... because it was never hard in the first place. All of the death and destruction she causes has none of the normal effects on her psyche others suffer. This is even more frightening to her, given what it implies about what kind of person she is...
* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', after Elizabeth [[spoiler:gets her first kill and goes through a HeroicBSOD,]] Booker tells her that the horror does quickly fade away, you never come to terms with who you are as a person because of what you've done.
--> '''Elizabeth''': Do you ever get used to it? The killing?\\
'''Booker''': Faster than you can imagine.\\
'''Elizabeth''': How do you do it? How do you forget? How do you wash away the things you've done?\\
'''Booker:''' (heavy sigh) You don't. You just learn to live with it.
* Several examples in ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', Inigo ''hates'' the fact that this is the case for him, in contrast to [[ItNeverGetsAnyEasier Owain]]. Previously, they'd only fought [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Risen]], and Owain says it was hard the first time he had to kill an actual person. To Inigo's dismay, however, he's lost count of how many times he's killed, and they've all run together for him.[[note]](This conversation occurs in the Harvest Scramble DLC.)[[/note]]
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', Many of the units are shaken [[BleedEmAndWeep the first time they kill an opponent]], all having a special line of dialogue for that occasion, but don't comment on any later kills. However, some remain an ApologeticAttacker, or otherwise display hesitation in their generic critical hit or kill lines. After the time-skip, most of this hesitation disappears, and characters such as Ignatz who had previously been uncomfortable as soldiers now seem to have gotten used to it.
*** Averted with the Ashen Wolves if you happen to deploy them in the same chapter's mission. They do not have any comments about killing because they had already stained their hands with blood prior.
*** Also averted with Linhardt, though in the opposite direction. Even after the timeskip he ''never'' gets over his discomfort with violence and killing and gets queasy at the sight of blood.
* In ''VideoGame/FistOfTheNorthStarLostParadise'', a long-running subplot about a serial killer known as "The Ripper" finally culminates with Kenshiro confronting the man in question[[spoiler:(who turns out to have been Jagre's coworker and friend Isuka all along)]], who assumes midway through his motive rant that [[NotSoDifferentRemark Kenshiro has this kind of feeling when killing people after getting used to it for so long]]. Of course, as anyone would know about Kenshiro, he only does his [[YourHeadAsplode famous]] [[YouAreAlreadyDead kills]] out of necessity, so he's [[WellThisIsNotThatTrope not amused about hearing this]].
* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'': ''So'' much could have been resolved if an alternate version of ComicBook/{{Superman}} had just stopped after killing the Joker and explained how he felt after being tricked into killing his wife Lois Lane and nuking Metropolis. Instead, the [[ComicBook/InjusticeGodsAmongUs tie-in comics]] show that despite his good intentions, he's forced to commit morally gray acts after being confronted by a stream of bad events. Superman did have pangs of regret initially, but eventually, he becomes so completely desensitized that he instead ''[[IgnoredEpiphany blames]] [[NeverMyFault others]]'' like Batman for ''his'' actions. Ironically, the bad deeds Superman did were part of [[GreaterScopeVillain the Joker's]] long-term plan to see if someone would break and become just as evil as he is from [[StrawNihilist his twisted viewpoint.]]
* Killing [[UndeadChild zombie children]] in ''VideoGame/{{Cataclysm}}'' dings your character's [[SanityMeter morale]]. As you kill more of them, the penalty gradually goes down until it goes away altogether.
* ''VideoGame/GhostOfTsushima'': While Jin is no stranger to killing, he balks at the idea of [[CombatPragmatist assassinating his foes]], being a {{Samurai}} with a strict sense of honor. Toward the beginning of the game, his assassinations are drawn-out, clumsy and noisy, with [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Jin lying on the ground staring at nothing]] in the cutscene after the first one. As you upgrade your tanto knife and Jin becomes more and more acclimated to fighting dirty, his assassination style becomes more and more fluid, going from clumsy to mechanical and efficient, before the final upgrade becomes the lethal equivalent of an OffhandBackhand.

* In ''Webcomic/CollegeRoomiesFromHell'', when Roger kills a number of Damascus's henchmen, and when Margaret kills [[spoiler:Mrs. Pepitone]], they're completely dumbstruck, and may or may not have had ill-advised sex. This is the ''only'' time any of the henchmen are given a second thought, even by ''their own side''.
* In [[http://iwd.fetchquest.com/archives.php?type=iwd&c=241 this strip]] of ''In Wily's Defense'', Megaman refutes this after killing [[spoiler: Skull Man.]]

* ''Webcomic/MarbleGateDungeon'': In Colleen's backstory chapter, we see her [[https://marblegate.webcomic.ws/comics/202/ becoming acclimated to butchering sheep]].

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', the thief [[LoveableRogue Refan]] gradually stops worrying about the people he's killed as he turns more and more into HeWhoFightsMonsters who succumbs more and more to his [[SuperPoweredEvilSide demonic side]] in order to have revenge on those who have wronged him. At one point he comes to realize how far he's fallen but tries to justify it as being the only course of action to take in order to make sure the people who have hurt his loved ones won't hurt anyone ever again...even if it means abandoning his human side and siding with the demon hordes against humans to get the job done properly.
* ''WebAnimation/SonicForHire'' started with Sonic actively against hurting people. Early on, Kirby forces him to kill someone or else he'll eat Sonic. Sonic beats the enemy to death while sobbing. From hereon, Sonic became significantly more and more okay with killing until he actively runs a Hockey Team over with a Zamboni. It snowballs from there as he kills nearly everybody he comes across.
[[/folder]]

* There's a psychological condition in real life that ''is'' this trope; it's called "Rapid Habituation."

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', Light is horrified after realizing that he actually killed his first two victims (which is emphasized more in the manga than the anime), but finds killing everyone else easier after resolving to change the world even if it is extremely painful for him. [[spoiler: Eventually, he doesn't care if he has to kill all the people around him as long as it doesn't hinder his goals.]] It's implied some of this might the effect of the Death Note (as during his MemoryGambit Light is almost a different person, horrified by the idea that he could have been Kira), but other characters claim it's a natural result of Light's extreme personality being given such a dangerous item.

** Lelouch fits this to a T. He discovers the results of his actions, [[IgnoredEpiphany goes crazy for a bit]], does ''even worse'' things, and, eventually, has to bluff through his own emotional pain to do the worst/best thing possible.
** Suzaku protested about using violence and other extreme measures ''at first''. Not any more.

* A variation of this trope that has nothing to do with death: actors, actresses and fashion models who undertake their first nude and or sexual scenes on camera or pose nude for the first time often report that after a very difficult first time, subsequent occasions become less stressful. A recent example of this is Creator/KimKardashian, who is on record as having become emotional over posing nude for several magazines back in 2011, most notably ''W'' and ''Playboy'' (her nervousness was chronicled in the episode of ''Series/KeepingUpWithTheKardashians'' that covered the ''Playboy'' shoot).[[note]]Those who remember that she was having sex on camera years before this might think that this was all put on for the sake of the TV show.[[/note]] Fast-forward to 2015 and she's doing nude spreads (albeit tasteful ones) left, right and centre without batting an eye.

* Zig-zagged in the form of a page quote in the book ''Necropolis'' by Creator/DanAbnett. A medic is describing his mindset to survive during his long service to the Imperium.

* In the Literature/AlexRider novel ''Scorpia'', Alex goes undercover and fakes an assassination, when he claims he felt nothing when he killed his victim the AffablyEvil henchman says that's normal and tells him that eventually he'll start to like it.
* Mr. Pin in ''Literature/TheTruth'' spells this out when his sanity starts getting away from him because he's realized that the people he's killed are closer than he thinks, and are just itching to get their revenge. Killing one person, that's a MoralEventHorizon; killing twenty is just, well, more of the same.
* In Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/TillWeHaveFaces'', when Orual is about to [[CombatByChampion fight in single combat]], the captain of the guard makes her kill a pig to get her first time over with this way.

* Acheron Hades, in ''Literature/TheEyreAffair'', describes murder as "like eating a packet of shortbread" -- once you start, there's no reason to stop, since the worst they can do is execute you once.
* In Creator/TanyaHuff's ''[[Literature/ConfederationOfValor Valor's Choice]]'', Lieutenant Jarret is shaken by having killed someone for the first time, and asks Torin if it ever gets easier. Her response is along the lines of, "yes, sir. I'm sorry to say that it does."
* Similar to the Batman example, Literature/HerculePoirot gives this as a justification for bringing killers to justice (after they killed once, they will kill again to avoid being discovered, and each kill will be easier than the previous one). [[spoiler:This is an important plot point in his final case.]]
* In ''Life of Pi'', the main character is introduced as devoutly religious, intelligent and a vegetarian. But when he has to survive, he abandons all morals. Killing becomes easier, and soon he is doing things like sucking fluid from fish eyeballs and eating faeces [[spoiler:and human flesh.]] He explicitly states that he goes from crying over a flying fish that flopped into the lifeboat to exulting in the fact that he managed to hook and kill a dorado - and later on, he grabs and slaughters two meerkats without hesitation, [[spoiler: so he can rub his feet in their viscera to cool them after he steps on the acidic surface of the island.]]

* In ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'', a JLA comic, Jean Loring, the Atom's ex-wife, attempts to put the ComicBook/ElongatedMan's wife, Sue Dibny, into fake danger so that all heroes, including her ex-husband, would [[LoveMakesYouEvil come closer to their loved ones]]. After she accidentally kills her, she goes [[FreakOut completely nuts]] and has no problem with putting others in mortal danger. Through this, she indirectly causes two more deaths, and even more indirectly causes the death of Firestorm. ([[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Alternately]], [[spoiler:Jean is lying about it being an accident; she clearly meant from the beginning to kill Sue (no one "just happens" to be carrying a flamethrower) and one or two other people to cover her tracks.]] Mind, Jean's still clearly nuts, and her first kill visibly shook her more than the ones she arranged later.)

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', Inigo ''hates'' the fact that this is the case for him, in contrast to [[ItNeverGetsAnyEasier Owain]]. Previously, they'd only fought [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Risen]], and Owain says it was hard the first time he had to kill an actual person. To Inigo's dismay, however, he's lost count of how many times he's killed, and they've all run together for him.[[note]](This conversation occurs in the Harvest Scramble DLC.)[[/note]]
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'':
** Many of the units are shaken [[BleedEmAndWeep the first time they kill an opponent]], all having a special line of dialogue for that occasion, but don't comment on any later kills. However, some remain an ApologeticAttacker, or otherwise display hesitation in their generic critical hit or kill lines. After the time-skip, most of this hesitation disappears, and characters such as Ignatz who had previously been uncomfortable as soldiers now seem to have gotten used to it.

*** Also averted with Linhardt, though in the opposite direction. Even after the timeskip he ''never'' get's over his discomfort with violence and killing and get's queasy at the sight of blood.

* Creator/IanFleming inverted the trope regularly in his ''Literature/JamesBond'' novels. Despite the statement made in the 2006 version of ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'', quoted at top, in the original novels and short stories Bond is often depicted as actively avoiding having to kill more than is necessary, leading to some dangerous scenarios for 007, such as in the short story "[[Literature/ForYourEyesOnly From a View to a Kill]]" in which Bond is nearly killed by a man whom he spared.

* In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels, Anakin kills dozens of Sand People out of anger, and is consumed by guilt afterward. A few years later, he's hesitant to kill [[spoiler: Count Dooku]], and eventually does so with reluctance at Palpatine's insistence. Later in the film, he helps kill [[spoiler: Mace Windu]] in a situation of extreme duress, but shrugs it off rather quickly. From there he moves on to watching Palpatine [[spoiler: order the deaths of Jedi all over the Galaxy as he himself marches to the Jedi temple to kill everyone inside, including the children.]] About seventeen years later, Anakin, now badass Sith Lord Darth Vader, has no problem with Grand Moff Tarkin blowing up a planet containing billions of innocent people and is murdering his own subordinates via Force Choke with alarming frequency. A literal case of TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

-->I can beat up the demons until the cows come home. And then I can beat up the cows. But I'm not sure I like what it's doing to me. (...) To slay, to kill. It means being hard on the inside.

-->I've never told a lie before! Wait, that's a lie. It's getting easier! What's next, '''murder'''?

* ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'': After Karen Page murders James Wesley, she has a nightmare in which she imagines Wilson Fisk telling her this, a manifestation of Karen's fear that after having killed Wesley, killing will get easier and she'll turn into someone like Fisk.

-->"Future Hiro killed so much, he forgot it should be hard."

* ''Series/{{Holocaust}}'': At first, Dorf is unnerved at being involved with mass murders. He gets used to it though, with the prestige gained by his high position assuaging him.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. AvertedTrope in episode "Matsya Nyaya". A woman betrays her boyfriend and partner in crime, and shoots him InTheBack, then goes to shoot John Reese. John is able to stall her when he says the first time was easier because she's thought about it for a long time and psyched herself up to do it. Sure enough she cannot kill a tied-up stranger in cold blood, and flees (only to promptly get shot by [[AlwaysABiggerFish someone more ruthless]]).

-->'''O'Neill''': Something wrong?
-->'''Carter''': No. I've just never... [[RememberWhenYouBlewUpASun blown up a star before]].
-->'''O'Neill''': Well, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything they say the first one's always the hardest]].

* Comedic example: In ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'', Dave Foley plays a character doing a monologue about being a mass murderer. He says the second kill is easy. "The third time you start to get cocky so you gotta be careful. Y'know, you gotta stay humble or you make dumb mistakes."
** And his somewhat similar "bad doctor" character winds up his monologue by saying he's got to go tell the family his patient didn't make it:
--->''[sadly]'' "It's the hardest part of being a doctor... ''[shrugs]'' I ''think''."
* ''Lady Blue'', an obscure 1980s series featuring a female Film/DirtyHarry-like policewoman character who has killed so many people she no longer bats an eyelash when she has to fire her gun. The original pilot TV movie calls this into question when she finds herself at an inquiry over her actions.

** In ''Anniversary'', immediately after Lara kills [[spoiler:Larson]], she just stares down at her hands with a visibly horrified expression, trying to rub imaginary blood off them. [[spoiler:Larson]] was canonically Lara's first ever human kill, and [[FridgeHorror consider how many mercenaries she coldly slaughters in games set afterwards]]...

[[folder:Web Comics]]

%%* Heavily lampshaded in ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'' by Prof. Colbert.

* This is probably the CentralTheme of ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'': Shiki is a perfect killer, who can destroy pretty much anything and anyone, and some parts of her psyche desperately want her to embrace her murderous nature, but knowing better than anyone how slippery that slope is, she [[InexperiencedKiller repeatedly refrains from killing other humans]] (non-human and superhuman entities are [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman fair game]]) even when she thinks they really deserve to die. The final chapter even drops the explicit Aesop that when a person murders another person, they basically destroy themselves, as well. Ironically, [[spoiler:Shiki kills another human for the first time in the same movie]]. This is also presumably a core component of why Shiki's [[{{Yakuza}} grandfather's]] philosophy is that a human can only ever kill one other person - the act of murder irrevocably changes the murderer into something slightly less than human.

* This even extends to the animal kingdom to an extent. Predators have to be ''taught'' to kill for their own survival, and younger predators in general are more hesitant to kill their prey. This is usually why young predators (especially big cats) will sometimes care for young prey animals (which is their starting prey) and refuse to kill them. Eventually, though, the predator gets used to this part of its lifestyle. It ''has'' to, or epse a t won't survive.

* Implied in ''Franchise/TombRaider''. In ''Anniversary'', immediately after Lara kills [[spoiler:Larson]], she just stares down at her hands with a visibly horrified expression, trying to rub imaginary blood off them. [[spoiler:Larson]] was canonically Lara's first ever human kill, and [[FridgeHorror consider how many mercenaries she coldly slaughters in games set afterwards]]...
** It comes up again in the [[VideoGame/TombRaider2013 2013 reboot]]. Lara's first human kill leaves her a traumatized, bloody and sobbing mess. Afterwards Roth tells her it can't have been easy to have killed someone, but she responds that what terrifies her even more is how easy it actually was (granted, it was a life-or-death situation with a heavy subtext of attempted sexual assault or even rape, so...) In-story it eventually does get easier, so that by the time [[spoiler: of Roth's death]], Lara has come to accept death as part of the reality she's found herself in, and has made a conscious decision to fight back against the Solarii.
*** [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Of course, by that point the player has probably racked up a body count in the hundreds already, so that somewhat undermines the narrative...]]
*** Interestingly, Lara's first kill in the game is a deer she hunts for food. She actually ''apologizes'' to the animal for killing it afterwards.

* ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'': Said verbatim by Wilson Fisk:
-->'''Fisk:''' It's a difficult thing, isn't it? Taking a life. Feeling the weight and responsibility of all the years the person you've murdered has lived — moments that they've cherished, the dreams that they've struggled towards — gone, because of you. I want you to know something. Something important that I've learned: that it gets easier the more you do it.

-->'''Wilf''': The Master is going to kill you.
-->'''The Doctor''': Yeah.
-->'''Wilf''': Then kill him first.
-->'''The Doctor''': That's how the Master started. It's not like I'm an innocent. I've taken lives. And I got worse, I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own.

** In [[Anime/FullMetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]], Ed is upset over having to kill Greed, although he does mention that he accidentally killed minor villain Majahal much earlier in the series. He has no problem with using lethal force against homunculi from this point on, even (or maybe especially) against Sloth, [[spoiler:who was created when he tried to bring back his mother, and assumes her likeness]].

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', many of the units are shaken [[BleedEmAndWeep the first time they kill an opponent]], all having a special line of dialogue for that occasion, but don't comment on any later kills. However, some remain an ApologeticAttacker, or otherwise display hesitation in their generic critical hit or kill lines. After the time-skip, most of this hesitation disappears, and characters such as Ignatz who had previously been uncomfortable as soldiers now seem to have gotten used to it.

** It's also deconstructed, as the events slowly eat up his sanity until there's nothing but an utterly rage-filled maniac left who constantly rants about his FreudianExcuse and how [[UngratefulBastard "ungrateful"]] the populace is towards his authority. Things haven't changed much in ''VideoGame/Injustice2'', as Superman still retains his KnightTemplar views on crime and plans to [[spoiler:expand his tyrannical Regime into the Multiverse using Brainiac's Skullship, as shown in the [[BadEnding "Absolute Power"]] ending.]]