History Main / KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand

** This Troper heard that the person who warned Alexander that his doctor was a 'traitor' was Alexander's enemy, who was attempting to kill him by getting him to ''stop'' taking his medicine.

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* At the end of ''Brotherhood of the Rose'' CIA-trained assassin Saul is sneaking up on the hotel where his surrogate father, DiabolicalMastermind Elliot, is staying...only to find Elliot standing out in the open waiting for him, clearly exposed to his fire. [[spoiler:Elliot asks for an end to this conflict between him and his 'son', and to be allowed to retire peacefully. Saul nearly shoots him anyway, but realises he could have been killed while they were talking. So he agrees to a truce and follows Elliot into his hotel room where he gets jumped by Elliot's bodyguards. After all, as Elliot says, what's to stop Saul from changing his mind later on? This way he can dispose of Saul without alarming the hotel guests. Saul is able to overcome the attack and promptly submachine-guns Elliot to death. No point in making the same mistake twice.]]

* After Hakouro completely defeats fellow Emperor and friend Kuya, he stands in front of her barely functional HumongousMecha... and surrenders. If she kills him, she will have won the war she's practically lost, her country will flourish, and her people will no longer be [[FantasticRacism persecuted]]. Kuya realizes she can't kill a friend in cold blood, and moreover, that cooperation is what she should have tried, rather than forced unification. Unfortunately, things [[MindScrew go downhill]] [[BigNo from there]] [[BreakTheCutie rather quickly]].

Jack finds himself in a situation where he could kill Tom -- either at all, or [[WhatYouAreInTheDark without reprisal]]. Usually, Tom knows that Jack wants to kill him and has [[RefugeInAudacity set this up]], although this can sometimes be [[ObfuscatingStupidity hard to establish]]. Always, he is expressing [[PowerOfTrust some degree of trust]] in his safety with Jack, and always, Jack has not planned to kill him there.

* Toward the end of ''WitchHunterRobin'', the titular pyrokinetic (now on the run) pulls this on her former partner Amon after learning he was assigned to take her down.

** And it is Judas who comes to him during the titular temptation and confronts him for having shirked his duty to the world in favor of a simple life with a loving family and children.

** ''OutboundFlight'': Kinsman Doriana, an agent of Sidious, had come along to watch a Neimoidan with a Trade Federation fleet destroy Outbound Flight. This didn't work out so well, since Thrawn's tiny picket force [[CurbStompBattle utterly destroyed that fleet]] except for one command ship and took Doriana and the Neimoidan hostage. Thrawn also eventually killed the Jedi on Outbound Flight with Doriana's help (long story), ''and'' smacked around another alien force while he was at it, and the Neimoidan wanted to then kill Thrawn so no one would know what happened to Outbound Flight. And Doriana, realizing what all of that together means, doesn't...and eventually Thrawn joins the Empire.

Contrast DefeatMeansFriendship, FireForgedFriends, HelpFaceTurn, CooldownHug and MyRevengeIsMercy. Somewhat of an inverse of the ScorpionDilemma. Contrast FriendOrIdolDecision. May forestall KlingonPromotion.

* ''GarthMarenghisDarkplace''. Garth bares his chest to a trio of supernatural claymore-armed Scotsmen seeking revenge for Garth's discriminatory comments against the Scots. Deciding that he's shown "the courage of a highlander (Scottish person)" they present Garth with a kilt and bagpipes and let him live.

-> '''Doriana''': *puts blaster down* "Don't be absurd, Vicelord. [[ThePrincessBride I would sooner shatter a thousand-year-old crystal as]] [[SparingTheAces kill a being such as this]].

* While Bink and Chameleon in ''[[{{Xanth}} A Spell For Chameleon]]'' do not actually want to kill Trent, they certainly regard him as "Evil Magician Trent", mistrust him, and would cause his defeat if they could. Their StrangeBedfellows situation caused them to reevaluate him, but a particularly important event was when Trent handed Bink his sword, to keep guard, and went to sleep. Chameleon explicitly states that an evil man [[EvilCannotComprehendGood would not have trusted them]].

* Delivered by Mal in ''{{Serenity}}'' trying to talk down a psychotic River, only to be rapidly rescinded when she cocks the gun she's holding in reply.

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* Achilles to Briseis in the movie ''{{Troy}}'' with a knife to his neck. More like "kill me or [[CoitusEnsues have sex with me]], [[EstrogenBrigadeBait your choice]]."
* A nearly perfect example happens in the movie ''{{In Bruges}}'' when Harry Walters confronts his hitman Ken for not killing Ray. It's partially subverted in that Harry still shoots Ken in the leg. [[spoiler:It's fully subverted later when Harry finds out Ray is still in Bruges; Harry then shoots Ken in order to stop Ken from stopping him so he can kill Ray.]]
* Delivered by Mal in ''{{Serenity}}'' trying to talk down a psychotic River, only to be rapidly rescinded when she cocks the gun she's holding in reply.
* Joker in ''DarkKnight'' confronts the newly emerged Two-Face and when threatened with a gun, ''presses his head to the muzzle''. It works only because [[spoiler:Dent resorts to his trademark coin]], but Joker actually approves of that.

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
* Toward the end of ''WitchHunterRobin'', the titular pyrokinetic (now on the run) pulls this on her former partner Amon after learning he was assigned to take her down.
* Filia from ''{{Slayers}}'' Try does this with Jillas. When Jillas points a gun at her, she holds his hand with the gun and tells him to shoot. He's shocked and unable to do it, and eventually does a HeelFaceTurn when she saves his life.
* ''KujibikiUnbalance'': President uses a form of this to keep her ninja-Miko subordinate in line (both from the first time they meet to the very end when she's accused of "losing her way"), and she never need lift a finger to do it.
* Thorfinn from ''VinlandSaga'' joins a group of vikings for the sole purpose of killing their leader, Askeladd. However, he refuses to kill Askeladd in anything besides an honorable duel.
** [[spoiler:subverted in that Askeladd is killed by Canute before Thorfinn's thirst for vengeance can subside.]]
* [[spoiler:Ulquiorra]] from ''{{Bleach}}'' does this [[spoiler:while he's dissolving into ash]].
** Sosuke Aizen has this sort of relationship with pretty much all of his minions. Especially [[spoiler: Gin and Baraggan.]]
*** [[spoiler: Subverted when Gin reveals that he had been trying for years to be in a position where he COULD kill Aizen. And he takes his chance as soon as it arrives. And fails.]]
* In ''CodeGeass'', Lelouch dared his fellow rebels, the Black Knights, to kill him when they questioned his leadership. They step back, in part because he also points out that they're completely screwed with out him acting as their [[TheStrategist strategist]]. One of them even [[LampshadeHanging comments]] that that must have taken an incredible amount of guts.

->-- ''Outbound Flight''

-> '''Doriana''': *puts blaster down* "Don't be absurd, Vicelord. [[ThePrincessBride I would sooner shatter a thousand-year-old crystal as kill a being such as this]].

--> ''Outbound Flight''

* In Christopher Stasheff's ''[[WarlockOfGramaraye The Warlock In Spite of Himself]]'', Rod Gallowglass has his servant Big Tom lower him from a roof so he can see something. Afterward, he tells him a story from Japan about an overlord, who had a subordinate who wanted to rebel: he invited the man into a garden and gave him his own sword to carry on the grounds he was old and tired, and they talked, and the subordinate was faithful for the rest of his life. Big Tom admits to being a spy, and is faithful for the rest of his life, [[spoiler:which is about eighty pages long]].

* Achilles to Briseis in the movie ''{{Troy}}''. More like "kill me or [[CoitusEnsues have sex with me]], [[EstrogenBrigadeBait your choice]]."

* Joker in ''DarkKnight'' confronts the newly emerged Two-Face and when threatened with a gun, ''presses his head to the mouth of the barrel''. It works only because [[spoiler:Dent resorts to his trademark coin]], but Joker actually approves of that.

* Both the book and the musical of ''LesMiserables'', between [[spoiler: Jean Valjean and InspectorJavert.]] No HeelFaceTurn here - [[spoiler: [[InspectorJavert Javert]]]] [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]] rather than live in a world where his enemy does the right thing, and ''he'' is in the wrong.

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Compare GetItOverWith.

Contrast DefeatMeansFriendship, FireForgedFriends, HelpFaceTurn, CooldownHug and MyRevengeIsMercy. May forestall KlingonPromotion.

* In ''HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', Dumbledore tests [[spoiler:Draco]] this way, knowing [[spoiler: Voldemort has given Draco the task of killing Dumbledore]]. He doesn't believe that the character he tests has it in him to kill. [[spoiler: He's right. [[ItWasHisSled Snape]] [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready does it instead.]]]]