History Main / KillTheOnesYouLove

** Also occurs in ''Literature/AMurderIsAnnounced''. One of the victims was killed by someone who loved them, out of fear that she was inadvertently revealing too much about the first murder.
* In Creator/AgathaChristie's ''[[Literature/MissMarple Nemesis]]'', a young woman who is about to elope is murdered by her guardian because she was loved by her too much.

** This trope forms one of the most important pillars for the story as the main character Kageaki has to deal with a curse known as The Law of Balance which stipulates that for every one slain in hatred, he must also slay a loved one. A friend for each foe. A big part of the story is centered around him trying to work around this and finding different answers. And the real tragedy of this all [[spoiler:is that isn't even a curse. rather it is something that is meant as a very harsh lesson to divert humanity from their own self righteousness. The idea is that for every one you kill you deem evil, you are also killing someone else's good. and thus, the curse is meant to steer people away from black and white thinking. Of course, things went horribly, horribly wrong, leading to one of the bloodiest conflicts in history and the prayer for peace became known as a curse]].
** It is also shown that the curse is not flawless. The BigBad Hikaru is also under The Law of balance, however she is able to kill freely without having to act in response. All this is due to her submitting to an AboveGoodAndEvil mindset, she doesn't hate anyone and thus doesn't have to slay in love. This is however also why she couldn't kill her mother Subaru as she was the only person in the world that Hikaru genuinly hated.

** [[spoiler:During the climax of the final route, Kageaki invokes this curse intentionally by killing the one he hates most of all. The twist is that the one he killed was himself, and the one he loves most of all is the BigBad herself, Hikaru, his own daugther that he had sworn to protect. With this, even the huge gap in power becomes irrelevant as the curse demands that its due is paid. This also served Hikaru herself as this act served as an absolute confirmation that her father did in fact love her]].

** Downplayed in Season 6, with soulless [[FanNickname Robo-Sam]] determined to prevent Dean from restoring his soul. Rogue angel Balthazar informs him that to get his soul to reject reunion with his body he needs to pollute it with a crime such as patricide. Robo-Sam can't feel love, but apparently, Sam's regard for Bobby as a surrogate father is enough for murdering him to be 'good enough.'

** In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiV'', your ascent of the Empyrean Pillar is interrupted by a three-way staredown - Abdiel and Dazai vs Tsukuyomi and Yuzuru vs Nuwa and Shohei. No matter which side you support, your chosen associate is killed and you must strike down the other two. Unfortunately, [[ThereCanBeOnlyOne none of them are willing to up and share the Throne of Creation with you at the drop of a hat]] and you don't get a fourth option.

* In the end of ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', despite resisting it all throughout the battle with him, Mikasa becomes the only one who can kill [[FallenHero Eren]] and in the series penultimate chapter she does exactly that, decapitating the man she loves before he can unleash any more carnage. In fact, that chapter has its primary conflict seem to be her working up the courage to go through with it.

*** During a mind probe sequence, Shinji's heart is attacked by several of his close friends - Asuka doing most of the work; as soon as his plea for mercy is rejected, he strangles Asuka.
*** After this action, Shinji - having the power of God - decides to kill everyone about whom he's ever cared.

* ''Anime/WeissKreuz'' loves this trope. ''Loves'' it. Aya has to kill two of his mentors; Ken has to kill his best friend, girlfriend, surrogate mother, ''and'' old friend's brother; and Youji gets to kill ''three'' girlfriends.

* In ''Manga/MyHime'', Natsuki takes it upon herself to end her best (and for a long time, only) friend Shizuru's rampage, knowing that both of them will die in the process.
* ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh'' likes to flirt with this trope. Particularly Conrad and Yozak--they've been best friends for decades, are probably more comfortable with one another than with anyone else in the world, are the only survivors of their HalfHumanHybrid battalion. But in the second episode in which they appear together, Conrad threatens to kill Yozak if he messes with Yuuri again. This scene is ''so much freakier'' when you see it again after learning all the background between the characters.
** Conrad also throws Yozak off a cliff during his FaceHeelTurn, right after Yozak attacked him while giving a declaration that was basically, 'you're my best friend and my captain and if this is how it's going to be I'll kill you myself.'
** And in the weird guest episode with the mountain of betrayal miasma, where everyone except [[IncorruptiblePurePureness Yuuri]] became convinced that everyone else had been compromised by the mist of betrayal and become their enemy. Yozak and Conrad had rather a good duel in the snow. Even more impressive in that episode was when [[{{Tsundere}} Wolfram]] became convinced that Yuuri had gone crazy was going to kill him and ''didn't'' invoke this trope, just curled up and waited. PowerOfLove.
** When Conrad and Yuuri met in the coliseum it looked like this was going to happen, too, and about ten episodes later it very nearly did.
* In ''Manga/{{Amakusa 1637}}'', two events shattered Naozumi Yatsuka's view of the world. One was the phenomenon that got him and his friends TrappedInThePast. The other was killing the first person in said past who understood him, his young and handsome slave Shirou. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amakusa_Shir%C5%8D Yes, that Shirou]].
* Riddle from ''Manga/UndertakerRiddle'' killed his best friend and former king of the Catacombs, Sigurd, after he went DrunkWithPower and almost destroyed the Catacombs.

* ''Manga/SchoolLive:''
** Kurumi had a crush on a boy who became a zombie. She "killed" him in self-defense.
** Kurumi tries to do this their zombified teacher, Megu-nee, however cannot bare to. Megu-nee bites her and later Miki, who is the only one who didn't know Megu-nee, 'kills' her.
** Yuuri gets dangerously close to this when she almost {{mercy kill}}s Kurumi, who is becoming a zombie. Thankfully Miki appears with an antidote before she can. It still might occur in the future, though.
* In the ''Manga/{{Strider}}'' manga, Hiryu was forced to do this to his sister Mariya after she went insane and started murdering other Striders. He tried to talk her out of fighting, but being unable to, was finally forced to fight back and [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice pierce her through with his Cypher]]. This would weigh heavily on his mind afterwards, eventually leading to him leaving the Striders.
* In ''Anime/OccultAcademy'' Maya is forced to behead her father's possessed corpse. He was technically already dead but the results are similar.
* After having died several episodes prior, Kanou from ''Manga/NurseAngelRirikaSOS'' is revived by the villainous Buros. This causes Ririka to have to kill Kanou after learning he is affiliated with Dark Joker. Ririka was in love with Kanou.
* The climax of ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'' results in this trope. No one in 3-E wants to kill Koro-sensei after the year they've spent together, but know it's either them or the approaching KillSat that is going to do the job.
* In ''Anime/GundamBuildDiversReRise'', Hiroto was forced to delete Eve at her request when she could no longer control GBN's bugs she has absorbed within herself. Being forced to kill Eve traumatizes Hiroto mentally and emotionally, and it leads him to conclude that he's a fundamentally awful person, undeserving of praise, of TrueCompanions, or ever being a hero.

* The ending to ''Film/MillionDollarBaby''. The film's star boxer has suffered a career-ending injury, is paralyzed below the neck, has no hope of recovery beyond being immobile for the rest of her life, and because she is no longer able to pursue her dream of being a boxer, she wants to die, but cannot kill herself due to her injuries. Her manager, who has during the course of the movie becomes like a father to her, later makes the painful decision to cut off her life support and give her a massive dose of tranquilizers to avert her prolonged suffering.
* Averted in ''Film/{{Serenity}}'': "bullet in the brainpan squish." Just enough to scare the audience into thinking that was the planned ending. It is easy to imagine [[Creator/JossWhedon the writer]] pulling that one.

* DoubleSubverted in ''Film/KillBill''. At first, all we see of The Bride is her RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Bill, her ex-lover, but after she kills him, she breaks down sobbing for several moments.

* As mentioned in the Literature section, ''Film/OldYeller'' is one of the oldest examples in film. At first, there is a HopeSpot tease when Travis pens the dog in a corncrib, hoping he won't turn rabid -- he does.
* Will Smith's dog in ''Film/IAmLegend''.
* Both the film and book version of ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen'' show two examples. The first is a subversion depicting a man who has to have someone shoot his rabies-infected dog. He laments that he didn't do it himself. It is later invoked when [[ItWasHisSled George has to kill Lenny]] to save him from an angry mob.
* In ''Film/TinkerTailorSoldierSpy'', Jim Prideaux and Bill Haydon are known as "The Inseparables", their relationship so close that it's possibly [[HoYay not totally platonic]]. But when it turns out Haydon is TheMole, Prideaux is the one who executes him.
* ''Film/{{Ransom}}''. Corrupt cop Jimmy Shaker seems to care for Maris, his girlfriend and fellow kidnapper. When he kills the two expendable remaining kidnappers to make himself out as a hero cop, she shoots him in turn, clearly expecting him to dispose of her as well. He seems a bit shocked at this before he kills her as well with apparent remorse.
* In ''Film/TheWolfman2010'', the first werewolf kills his wife and son; Lawrence kills his father and almost kills Gwen too.

* In ''Film/{{Pixels}}'', the confrontation between Ludlow and Lady Lisa has shades of this, with Ludlow unable to bring himself to kill the love of his entire life.
* ''Film/IShotJesseJames'': Robert Ford, one of the closest friends of UsefulNotes/JesseJames, is the one that kills Jesse himself. The ''love'' part of the trope becomes clear at the end of the film during Bob's DyingDeclarationOfLove towards Jesse.
* ''Film/UniversalSoldierTheReturn'': Luc Devereaux had a partner named Maggie, who spend most of the time protecting Luc's daughter Hilary from ruthless Uni Sols (led by the evil S.E.T.H.). However, Maggie gets killed by S.E.T.H.'s right-hand man Romeo, who takes her body back to the Uni Sol building, where [[UnwillingRoboticization a neural implant is placed inside her brain to revive her as a Uni Sol to serve S.E.T.H.]], much to Luc's grief. Even when an angry Luc manages to destroy S.E.T.H. and free Maggie from the evil programming, Maggie stated that she won't spend the rest of her life as a killing machine and that Romeo will be leading the remaining Uni Sols into war in revenge for S.E.T.H.'s demise. As a final request, [[MercyKill Maggie asked Luc to blow up the building with herself and the remaining Uni Sols inside]], and Luc reluctantly obliges, knowing that Maggie was a close friend who risked her life protecting Hilary.
* ''Film/MonsieurVerdoux'': Implied. There is something in the way Charlie Chaplin (as the titular anti-hero) delivers his vague statement about losing his wife and child to a "happier place" (ie. Heaven), after losing everything in a stock market crash, that hints that he may have, shall we say, given them a "helping hand".
* Towards the end of ''Film/{{Deewaar}}'', police officer Ravi shoots his criminal brother Vijay, who dies of his injuries not long after.
* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'':
** The only way to obtain the Soul Stone is to kill someone you love the most. Thus, Thanos killed his adopted daughter Gamora, the one who he loved the most. Ironically, this is also why the universe seems to have bestowed the role of the Soul Stone's guardian onto the Red Skull. Unlike Thanos, [[LackOfEmpathy he's genuinely heartless]], so while he's more than willing to make the sacrifice, he ''can't'', because he has no loved ones ''to'' sacrifice.
** On two occasions in the same film, heroes attempt to do this to keep the stones out of Thanos's hands- Gamora tells Star-Lord to kill her if she's captured to keep Thanos from extracting the location of the Soul Stone from her, and while the Avengers attempt to remove the Mind Stone from Vision safely so it can be destroyed without killing him, eventually Wanda is forced to try and destroy it while it's still in his head when they run out of time. Thanos prevents the first by using the Reality Stone to turn Peter's gun into a bubble blaster when he pulls the trigger on Gamora, and undoes the second by using the Time Stone to undo Vision's destruction. Nonetheless, Thanos [[VillainRespect expresses his admiration]] for both of them for being willing to go so far to try to thwart him.
* In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', ComicBook/BlackWidow and her best friend ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} are sent to retrieve the Soul Stone. When they learn of the sacrifice that must be made, neither one of them is willing to kill the other to get the Stone. However, [[HeroicSuicide they're both perfectly willing to kill]] ''[[HeroicSuicide themselves]]'' [[HeroicSuicide so the other person can have the Stone]], leading to a bizarre "fight" between the two where they both try to fling themselves off the cliff while trying to stop the other from doing so. Black Widow ends up the "winner" of the fight, which gives Hawkeye the Stone.
* In the director's cut of ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'', Sibylla learns that her young son has leprosy, just weeks after her brother succumbed to the same illness. Having witnessed firsthand the horrible suffering her brother endured as the disease ravaged him, Sibylla refuses to subject her son to that, and, having no other way to prevent it, [[MercyKill poisons him]] to give him a quick and painless death.
* For as much as the Franchise/JamesBond franchise has the title character [[ProfessionalKiller kill so many people]] and [[ThePornomancer bed so many women]], there's been one instance where he's killed someone he loved -- Elektra King in ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', who turns out to be that film's BigBad mastermind.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Snape killing Dumbledore, at Dumbledore’s request to be spared a more painful and humiliating death from the curse he got from wearing the Gaunt family ring and save Draco from doing it. In doing so he would have been killing the man who knew him best and was his ally for the last seventeen years.
* The end of ''Literature/OldYeller'', where Travis has to ShootTheDog after Old Yeller has defended the family from a rabid wolf. Unlike the film, Travis knows the dog will inevitably succumb to rabies and shoots him as soon as he sees the dog's injuries.

* In ''Literature/{{Outlander}}'', Jamie has to kill his godfather, Murtagh, after he's grievously wounded at the battle of Culloden.
* In the Creator/StephenKing novel ''Literature/SalemsLot'', Ben is forced to kill Susan after she becomes a vampire.
* In the finale of the novel ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen'', George has to kill his best friend Lennie to save him from being lynched after the latter [[AndCallHimGeorge kills Curley's wife by breaking her neck by accident]].
* Creator/RosemarySutcliff's ''Literature/TheMarkOfTheHorseLord'' begins with the gladiator hero having to kill his best friend in the arena.
* In ''Literature/TheSagaOfLartenCrepsley'', near the end of the series, the protagonist killed his vampire brother, Wester. Although it is obvious Larten still cared deeply for his brother, Wester had betrayed Larten by killing his human wife and blaming the vampaneze. Wester hoped that he could use Larten, who had considerably more authority in the vampire society, to start a war between the vampires and the vampaneze.
* In Creator/AgathaChristie's ''[[Literature/MissMarple Nemesis]]'', a young woman who is about to elope is murdered by her guardian because she was loved by her too much.
** Also occurs in ''Literature/AMurderIsAnnounced''. One of the victims was killed by someone who loved them, out of fear that she was inadvertently revealing too much about the first murder.

* The tragic climax in ''Mastiff'', the last book in the ''Literature/BekaCooper'' trilogy. The main character's father figure, Tunstall, betrays her and the crown, bribed by a noble title he can use to marry the lady knight he loves. Beka is duty-bound to capture him and bring him to justice for his crimes, while Tunstall, on his part, knows he'll only escape if he kills her. In the end, Beka just barely defeats him, he dies of blood loss and exposure, and his spirit is terribly regretful for what he did.
* In ''Literature/AncillaryJustice'', the AI of the ship Justice of Toren is made by [[TheEmperor the Lord of the Radch]] to kill Lieutenant Awn, one of her favorite officers. Immediately afterward Justice of Toren rebels, embarking on a quest for revenge that drives the rest of the book.
* In Literature/{{Beloved}} by Toni Morrison, Sethe kills her daughter to prevent her from spending her life in slavery.
* In the ''Literature/SpiralArm'' series, Gidula views affection as a weakness, and personally kills anyone he begins to feel affection for in order to free himself from that weakness. He killed his wife, infant child, and number one minion for this reason, and attempts to kill Ravn Olafsdottr as well.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': This seems to be a rite of passage for Sith. Jedi avoid any deep attachments, part to avoid this trope. Sith are encouraged to embrace their passions, but LoveIsAWeakness as it leads to mercy, and there can be no weaknesses for an enemy to exploit or impediments to one's destiny. One of the more tragic cases was where [[VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic Darth Malgus]] became fond enough of his Twi'lek SexSlave to make her his common-law wife. The two of them [[BattleCouple fought side by side]] at the sacking of the Jedi temple, but she was injured in the fighting while protecting him. Another Sith mocked Malgus for his affection, stating that she was a weakness that could be used against him. Malgus ''agreed'' and murdered his "wife" in her sickbed. Of course, since he was a high-ranking Sith, and she was just a Twi'lek SexSlave, no one in the Empire cared.

* In ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', Ziva kills her brother Ari and is never able to mention him again without visibly stiffening or crying.

* In ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'', Jack has to sacrifice his grandson.
* Creator/RussellTDavies seems to like this trope. In ''Series/TheSecondComing'', Steven Baxter, who also happens to be the son of God, is poisoned by his girlfriend [[MeaningfulName Judith]]. She does tell him that the food is poisoned, but he finds that she is right, he [[TearJerker must die]].
* Steven Moffat's not letting off with this trope either, playing it heartbreakingly straight with Rory in ''Series/DoctorWho'', who accidentally shoots Amy in an attempt to hold off Auton control of his mind.

** In the season one finale John Winchester ordered Sam to shoot him with the Colt to take the demon out as well. (He didn't.) And a few episodes later John's final direction to Dean was that he 'had to save Sam,' or he 'might have to kill him.'
** Sam's mid-Season Two insistence that Dean promises to do just that if Sam goes darkside. Dean promised. He was lying.

** Downplayed in Season Six, with soulless [[FanNickname Robo-Sam]] determined to prevent Dean from restoring his soul. Rogue angel Balthazar informs him that to get his soul to reject reunion with his body he needs to pollute it with a crime such as patricide. Robo-Sam can't feel love, but apparently, Sam's regard for Bobby as a surrogate father is enough for murdering him to be 'good enough.'
** The ArchangelMichael spends Season Five attempting to kill his beloved brother [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]] in accordance with God's will.

* Series/{{Buffy|the Vampire Slayer}} to Angel in the season two finale is the obvious one (although he recovered).
** And, as evidenced in flashbacks on ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Holtz had to kill his daughter after Angelus (or possibly Darla) turned her into a vampire.
** Also in ''Angel'', Gunn stakes his sister after she is turned into a vampire.
* In ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', Phoebe needs to overcome her emotions and vanquish her husband and HeelFaceRevolvingDoor Cole. Three times.
* Played with in ''Series/RobinHood''. In the finale of season two Guy of Gisborne stabs Marian to death after she reveals her love for Robin Hood. The crime of passion ends with him being guilt-ridden for the rest of the show's duration, and even in his dying moments, he doesn't hold out any hope that he'll ever see her again in the afterlife. He also gives his little sister a vial of poison so that she can kill herself, even after she tells him: "you loved me once."
* This is the philosophy of BigBad John Wakefield on ''Series/HarpersIsland''. He also tries to make Henry, his son and accomplice in the murders, kill the woman he loves. Henry refuses.
* In the 4th season finale of ''Series/TheMentalist'', Lorelei suggests that in order to become his disciple, Jane bring Red John a gift -- the dead body of Teresa Lisbon, his close friend and partner. Subverted in that he only pretends to kill her.
* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'' Regina has done this ''three times''. The first time was when she killed her father (who is also one of the only people who love her) to get her revenge. The second was when her one true love was brought BackFromTheDead (by someone else) and CameBackWrong, necessitating a MercyKill. She really didn't take that well. Finally, Snow White tricks her into unintentionally killing her mother, who is pretty much the last person left that she does love. The end result has left her very [[BrokenBird broken]], very bitter, and very dangerous.
* It's kind of a theme on ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', how many times the crew members kill or almost kill each other.
** Part of Zhaan's backstory is that she killed her lover because he tried to seize power on their homeworld with the help of the Peacekeepers. Subverted with D'Argo who was wrongfully imprisoned for killing his wife (she was actually killed by her own brother.)
** Indirect example: Aeryn betrayed her lover to the Peacekeepers; he was arrested for treason. They undoubtedly tortured and killed him, which would not have happened if Aeryn hadn't turned him in.
** As a Website/TelevisionWithoutPity recapper put it: "Every time John's confronted with an Aeryn that's not what she seems, that doesn't love him, and his heart breaks, and he kills her, take a shot."
* In the ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' episode "Imprint", Christopher believes the prostitute Komomo to be the love his life. He ends up accidentally murdering her during his hallucinations.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Worf is paralyzed from the waist down and asks Commander Riker, as his friend, to do this for him in a sort of Klingon ritual [[MercyKill assisted suicide]]. Riker refuses on the grounds that under the ritual, it's properly the duty of the eldest son. Unwilling to ask this of Alexander, Worf opts for a dangerous experimental surgery instead.
* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'':
** In "Stardust City Rag", at Icheb's urging, Seven of Nine performs a MercyKill on her surrogate son, who's dying in agony after being mutilated by a black market surgeon for his Borg components.
** Later in the same episode, as a Zhat Vash mole, Jurati deactivates the hematic micro-repair unit that was stabilizing Maddox's cardiovascular function, which causes him to die. He was her boyfriend before the Federation's synth ban.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS1E06TheImpossibleBox The Impossible Box]]", Narek follows his orders to terminate Soji despite [[InLoveWithTheMark developing romantic feelings for her]].

* On ''Series/{{The 100}}'', Clarke has to kill Finn, the boy she had fallen for, [[MercyKill so at least his death will be quick, compared to what the Grounders have planned for him.]]
* ''Series/TheManInTheHighCastle'': After [[spoiler:Heussman]]'s failed usurpation of the Reich leadership, Josef is forced to personally execute his father to prove his loyalty to the Nazi Party. Afterwards, his godfather [[spoiler:and new Fuehrer]], Heinrich Himmler, pats him on the cheek and has him ReassignedToAntarctica.
* ''Series/NightVisions'': The episode "Afterlife" revolves around a man who revives at his own funeral, and finds it impossible to readjust to life again because he can't forget the idyllic afterlife he has vague memories of. He ends up trying to convince his family to kill themselves with him so they can move to the afterlife together, and nearly forces his daughter to jump off a building with him. She's saved at the last second by her mother, and he just shrugs and jumps by himself. [[spoiler: To twist the knife further, the ending reveals that the "afterlife" he remembered was just the stained glass window in the roof of the funeral parlor, which was the first thing he saw when he woke up in his coffin]]

* In ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'', Orsino all but ''names'' this trope in the final scene, when he believes [[SweetPollyOliver "Cesario"]] to have betrayed him:
-->'''Orsino''': Why should I not, had I the heart to do it, Like to the Egyptian thief at point of death, [[TropeNamer Kill what I love?]]
* ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' is led by the lies of ManipulativeBastard Iago to do this to his wife Desdemona.
* In Music/RichardWagner's "Ring", Wotan does this to his son Siegmund in ''Die Walküre'' and Brünhild to Siegfried in ''Götterdämmerung'', although the actual killing is done by Hunding in the first case, and by Hagen in the second.

* Helena in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', when she's forced to kill her younger sister Deborah who's been infected by the C-virus.

*** Some of the other games can provoke this if you use a certain character in a certain fight. [[TheWoobie Nino]] from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Blazing Sword]]'' avoids this when facing off with her adoptive mother as by that point she's realized that said mother is actually an inhuman monster, but the very next chapter pits the army against the remnants of the Black Fang led by one of her stepbrothers, and the Final Chapter has [[ArtificialHuman Morphs]] of both of her stepbrothers and her stepfather. Myrrh, from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones Sacred Stones]]'', can be made to fight the zombified remains of her father
* This may happen in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' if you played a male Shepard who romanced Jack in the second game and then didn't do the Grissom Academy sidequest - when you get to the Cerberus base in the endgame, you'll find audio logs of Jack being tortured and then have to fight and kill her after she's been forcibly transformed into a Phantom.

* In ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfileCovenantOfThePlume'', the titular feather is used to sacrifice party members, but it will ''only'' work on people who already trust you as a friend. So they ''have'' to like you for you to kill them.

* Used all over the place in the ''VideoGame/DeptHeaven'' series:
** In ''VideoGame/RivieraThePromisedLand'', the trope is zigzagged, with a huge deal made out of how Ein is going to have to fight his mentor and best friend Ledah; the player is made to expect this trope. The battle leaves Ledah badly injured and asking for a MercyKill, but Ein refuses on the grounds of no way is he doing that to a friend. Shortly after this, Ledah does die, but it's at the hands of an enemy character after all.
** ''VideoGame/YggdraUnion'' has quite a lot of these--you are forced to kill the sympathetic queen of the Undines, either Roswell or Rosary (both of whom are otherwise recruitable), and a lot of innocent Bronquian civilians; in each case Yggdra and company are left wondering whether this is really the right thing to do. On top of that, there are three ShootTheDog fights--against the Verlaine ruler you killed and Kylier after they CameBackWrong, and Gulcasa, maddened by grief and about to unwittingly trigger TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt by [[DrivenToSuicide very literally]] [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing himself]]. The last three especially are infamous TearJerker moments.
*** There's also quite a bit of this in ''VideoGame/BlazeUnion''--C route gives us the quintessential CameBackWrong fight with Jenon, and the bad end of the B route has OmnicidalManiac Emilia in need of [[StakingTheLovedOne staking]]. The A route ''tries'' to pull this when Medoute [[FantasticRacism concludes that Gulcasa has become a monster]] and decides to [[EtTuBrute take him down herself]], but Gulcasa [[DefiedTrope gives this trope the finger]] and [[TurnTheOtherCheek spares her]], despite being told in no uncertain terms that this is [[KillHimAlready incredibly dangerous]]. As this proves his humanity, however, Medoute and Jenon leave the country instead of going after him again.
** ''VideoGame/KnightsInTheNightmare'' has Willimgard unwittingly kill his own son, who's been turned into a werewolf, and later the now-harpy Pisce as well. The narrator [[WhatTheHellHero calls him out on the latter]].
** ''VideoGame/{{Gungnir}}'' zigzags the trope much in the same manner as ''Riviera'', but ultimately averts it [[DarkerAndEdgier against all odds]]: despite the huge, dramatic battle between Julio and [[MoreThanMindControl Ragnus]], Julio doesn't kill his brother at the end of it, and after a lot of [[WasItAllALie yelling at the party]], Ragnus gets up and walks away.
** ''VideoGame/GloriaUnion'' features three of these fights--Ishut against his childhood [[TheRival frienemy]] [[CameBackWrong Velgas]], Elisha and Zazarland against Elisha's mother [[WellIntentionedExtremist Enryetta]], and Ishut versus his badly-abused twin brother [[PsychopathicManchild Ashley]]. Despite this being a LighterAndSofter game, the trope is played straight every time.

* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', CJ is forced to kill [[spoiler: his childhood friends Big Smoke and Ryder after they betray the Grove Street Families gang to side with their rivalry gang, the Ballas. He feels genuine remorse for killing them both]].
* ''VideoGame/InFAMOUS 2'''s evil ending has Cole do this to [[spoiler:Nix and [[TearJerker Zeke.]]]]
* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'': In Zoey's backstory, she shot her father so that he would not become infected after being bitten. However, It's heavily implied that [[SenselessSacrifice he was a carrier (immune)]], but Zoey couldn't have possibly known this...
* Imaginary!Barry in ''VideoGame/AlanWake''[='=]s second DLC "The Writer" lampshades this with the line "'kill your darlings'" as Alan goes to the Cabin for the final battle.
* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' Darth Sion tries to kill the Jedi Exile regardless of gender, but if the Exile is female he will explain that the BigBad of the game is (at least partially) the cause of his current status as a more or less corpse and part of the reason he's trying to kill her is to spare her the same fate.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' is madly in love with this trope. In the prologue, Aveline is forced to kill Wesley, her husband, to save him from the Darkspawn taint, unless Hawke does it for her. Later on, Anders has the choice between either killing [[spoiler: his ex-lover Karl, or leaving him to remain Tranquil, which he and Karl both regard as a FateWorseThanDeath.]] Hawke may be forced to [[spoiler: MercyKill a tainted sibling]], and Merrill may have to kill [[spoiler: her mentor and adoptive mother, Keeper Marethari, as well as potentially her ''entire clan''.]] Varric ends up having to either [[spoiler: MercyKill his brother Bartrand, or spend the rest of his life caring for him as he has been driven completely insane by the idol (after Bartrand tried to kill him).]] Fenris may kill [[spoiler: his sister, in revenge for betraying him to his former master.]] And in the endgame, Hawke may [[spoiler: kill their lover, if they romanced Anders and chooses to kill him after he blows up the Chantry.]] Damn.
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'': After her love interest, Lotte Carmine, [[BodyHorror lost his body]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation and his mind]] and turned into [[TheWormThatWalks Arakune]], [[AnimeChineseGirl Litchi Faye-Ling]] set out to either cure him of his condition, or put an end to him, should that prove to be an impossible task, though no conclusion has been reached yet. The developers play this for heart-wrenching drama in the canon continuity but aren't shy to play it for laughs everywhere else.

* In one ending of ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaMk2'', Nepgear has to kill all the other [=CPUs=] and Candidates, or those she can't bring herself to kill [[DrivenToSuicide do it for her. None of them die quickly. ''At all''. Have fun listening to a couple of ''children'' hysterically scream they don't want to die as they slowly expire in excruciating pain.]]

* ''Franchise/BreathOfFire'':
** In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireI'', [[TheProtagonist Ryu]] and his friends are forced to fight and kill his sister Sara, who has been {{Brainwashed}} by [[TheStarscream Jade]].
** In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII'', the team eventually is confronted by Teepo, Ryu and Rei's adopted sibling from the beginning of the game, now on the BigBad's side. He does attempt to remove Ryu's powers non-lethally, but being unable to convince him to surrender them he resorts to a fight to the death. Suffice to say, Rei is devastated the remainder of the game.
** Perhaps the most heartbreaking one occurs in ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'', where [[spoiler:Cray has to perform a MercyKill on Elina, his sweetheart he's been looking for all over the world, at her request due to the horrible experiments [[MadScientist Lord]] [[MagnificentBastard Yuna]] performed on her.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Tenchu}} 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins'', Ayame is faced with having to fight Tatsumaru, a former Azuma ninja and her crush, and kill him in battle after his betrayal and subsequent raid on the Azuma Village.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'': [[spoiler:Ramza]] [[MercyKill is forced to kill]] [[spoiler:his brother Zalbaag, who has been reanimated as a vampire by Folmarv and [[ICannotSelfTerminate as he can't control his own body, pleads for death]]]].
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': Invokes this one hard. Summoners make a pilgrimage across Spira to gather Aeons and prepare for a battle against the world-destroying entity Sin, accompanied by their closest friends as Guardians. This gives the world a period of Calm before Sin inevitably comes back and the process has to start again with another Summoner. Everyone but Tidus knows that the Summoner ''always'' dies at the end of their pilgrimage while facing Sin. Worse, Lady Yunalesca lays out the way to do it -- the Summoner must make a HumanSacrifice of one of their Guardians to make an Aeon. And ''even'' worse, that new Aeon will become the next Sin. But leave it to Tidus to ask all the wrong questions, Yuna to refuse that option, and [[MagnificentBastard Auron]] to engineer the ''perfect'' circumstances to make ScrewDestiny a valid option. [[spoiler: The fact that Tidus's estranged father is the current Sin also makes the final BossBattle this trope.]]
* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'': Some of the Joker's men can be overheard talking about The Joker forcing them to do this to join his gang. One thug says the Joker demanded he kill his sister, which he was fine with, because he hated her anyway. The Joker made the same demand from another guy, despite him not actually having a sister, so he just went out and killed some random woman, which was apparently enough.
* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence'': Painfully played straight, albeit with a dose of [[ForegoneConclusion Foregone Conclusion]], considering the game's placement in the official timeline. Just when Leon Belmont thought the whole nightmare was over after getting his betrothed, Sara Trantoul, away from the castle of Walter Bernhard, the game's primary antagonist, it turns out that the evil overlord had already subjected her to the curse of the vampire. Making things worse, conventional combat against Walter, the only method that may reverse the affliction, is impossible, due to the Ebony Stone, an item made with alchemy that, along with its noteworthy power to afflict the surrouding area with a state of endless night, also protects the vampire against virtually everything. It is here, when Rinaldo brings up the possibility of completing the Whip of Alchemy with a ritual involving the sacrifice of a tainted soul, that this trope rears its ugly head in Leon's mind. Put bluntly, he didn't take this well.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' Roxas [[spoiler: is forced to kill Xion who [[SuidcideByCop goads him]] into killing her so the memories used to construct her return to Sora. She also unwittingly saps strength from Roxas so only one of them can live. By the time this happens she is Roxas' only friend, as Axel's actions drove the two apart. Thankfully she gets better in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII''.]]

* Frequently occurs in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' as the main characters are TrueCompanions yet often kill each other in different arcs. Keiichi in ''Onikakushi-hen'' might be the truest to this trope. He killed [[spoiler:Mion]] and [[spoiler:Rena]] in self-defense, crying while doing so. The series implies he's in love with one of them, though which one depends on the arc (''Onikakushi'' itself suggests [[spoiler:Keiichi loved Rena]]). In an even more depressing twist, [[spoiler:in reality, they were of no harm and he was simply [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness insane and thought]] they were trying to kill him.]]

* In the season 8 finale of ''WesternAnimation/{{Adventure Time}}'', Finn [[spoiler: accidentally kills his grass duplicate Fern after Fern attempted to [[CaptureandReplicate trap Finn in a dungeon and take over his life]] not long after he confessed to Fern that he saw him as a brother.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': When Stan attempts to "toughen up" Steve and his friends by teaching them to herd cattle as cowboys, he has them bond with the cows, then forces them to personally slaughter one with their bare hands. He claims it's because "real men kill the things they love before they can be used against them".
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': In the season 3 finale, [[spoiler:when everyone else has fallen to the insane Meteora, her mother Eclipsa takes up the wand to fight her. She is forced to (seemingly) kill her]], and then falls to her knees, sobbing.

* ComicBook/{{Psylocke}} had to do this in ''[[ComicBook/XForce Uncanny X-Force]]''. Twice. The first was her lover, Archangel; he was possessed by Apocalypse, forcing her to completely erase his mind. The second was her brother, Jamie; his future self was a multiverse-conquering demon, so she killed him to save the worlds.

* ''Manga/{{ElfenLied}}'': When a melting insane Lucy threatens to destroy all of Earth with her vectors,, Kouta; who was Lucy's only friend and lover had no choice but to commit a mercy kill on her.

** On two occasions in the same film, heroes attempt to do this to keep the stones out of Thanos's hands- Gamora tells Star-Lord to kill her if she's captured to keep Thanos from extracting the location of the Soul Stone from her, and while the Avengers attempt to remove the Mind Stone from Vision safely so it can be destroyed without killing him, eventually Wanda is forced to try and destroy it while it's still in his head when they run out of time. Thanos prevents the first by using the Reality Stone to turn Peter's gun into a bubble blaster when he pulls the trigger on Gamora, and undoes the second by using the Time Stone to undo Vision's destruction. Nonetheless, Thanos expresses his admiration for both of them for being willing to go so far to try to thwart him.

!!'''As a DeathTrope, ALL Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

*** [[spoiler:[[SanitySlippage Kariya]] attempts to strangle [[TheOneThatGotAway Aoi]] to death after she gives a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech when she mistakes him for killing Tokiomi. She gets brain damaged enough that she's left wheelchair-ridden and has to be taken care of by Rin until her eventual death from complications a few years later.]]

** ''[[GainaxEnding The End of Evangelion]]'' takes this UpToEleven. Though saying that may be {{Cliche}}, there are examples to support the claim:

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' is madly in love with this trope. In the prologue, Aveline is forced to kill Wesley, her husband, to save him from the Darkspawn taint, unless Hawke does it for her. Later on, Anders has the choice between either killing [[spoiler: his ex-lover Karl, or leaving him to remain Tranquil, which he and Karl both regard as a FateWorseThanDeath.]] Hawke may be forced to [[spoiler: MercyKill a tainted sibling]], and Merrill may have to kill [[spoiler: her mentor and adoptive mother, Keeper Marethari, as well as potentially her ''entire clan''.]] Varric ends up having to either [[spoiler: MercyKill his brother Bartrand, or spend the rest of his life caring for him as he has been driven completely insane by the idol (after Bartrand tried to kill him).]] Fenris may kill [[spoiler: his sister, in revenge for betraying him to his former master.]] And in the endgame, Hawke may [[spoiler: kill his/her lover, if s/he romanced Anders and chooses to kill him after he blows up the Chantry.]] [[UpToEleven Damn.]]

-->'''Calliope:''' [[DefrostingIceQueen Why does it]] [[NotSoStoic hurt so much more]] [[FoeYay this time?]]

** The only way to wield the Soul Stone is to kill someone you love the most. Thus, to get the stone, Thanos killed Gamora, the one who he loved the most. Ironically, this is also why the universe seems to have bestowed the role of the Soul Stone's guardian onto the Red Skull. Unlike Thanos, [[LackOfEmpathy he's genuinely heartless]] and while equally willing to make the sacrifice, he simply cannot because he has no loved ones.

* In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', ComicBook/BlackWidow essentially forces her best friend ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} to kill her to get the Soul Stone.

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'':
** Shinji killing his only friend Kaworu, in order to save humanity. Kaworu actually ''smiles'' when he tells Shinji he has to die...
** ''[[GainaxEnding The End of Evangelion]]'' takes this UpToEleven. Though saying that may be {{Cliche}}, there are examples to support the claim:
*** During a mind probe sequence, Shinji's heart is attacked by several of his close friends - Asuka doing most of the work; as soon as his plea for mercy is rejected, he strangles Asuka.
*** After this action, Shinji - having the power of God - decides to kill everyone about whom he's ever cared.
*** Rei carries out his wishes.
*** After this decision, every important-to-semi-important character is visited by a vision of the character they love the most only to break their Ego Barrier/AT-Field and literally destroy them.
*** A noteworthy, possibly surprising example of this act is Hyuga's initial horror at the apparition in front of him before the apparition morphs into Misato and plants a [[KissOfDeath wet smooch and loving caress onto him, thereby completely disassembling him physically]].
* ''Anime/BaldrForceEXEResolution'': Tohru has to kill Ren to keep her from destroying everything in the Wired.

* ''Anime/WeissKreuz'' loves this trope. ''Loves'' it. Aya has to kill two of his mentors; Ken has to kill his best friend, girlfriend, surrogate mother, ''and'' old friend's brother; and Youji gets to kill ''three'' girlfriends.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Rukia Kuchiki was forced to kill her mentor and first love, Kaien Shiba, when he became possessed by a Hollow.
* In the ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' universe, this sort of thing happens all the time due to the whole ICannotSelfTerminate thing. The first instance occurred in the very first volume when Clare was called upon to MercyKill her girlhood friend Elena.
** The instance with Raphaela is particularly memorable, tough.
* ''Anime/GaReiZero'': Yomi. It's even the anime's tag line!
** ''Manga/GaRei'': Yomi (''twice'', [[TraumaCongaLine at that]]).
* In ''LightNovel/{{Corsair}}'', this is a major issue for Canale. His murder of Sesaam, his lover at the time, is the biggest instance but he also feels responsible for his mother's suicide and the general death and destruction that follow him wherever he goes.
* In ''Manga/ProjectARMS'', all of the heroes say, in no uncertain terms, that they won't hesitate to kill Ryo if he's taken over by the Jabberwock. Given that he fears that happening to him, it's actually ''comforting''. At the end of the manga, he remembers this when he has to bring himself to kill Katsumi, who is possessed by Alice. Fortunately, she gets better.
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'':
** [[CoolBigSis Mami]] during the third timeline of episode ten's GroundhogDayLoop hits the DespairEventHorizon upon learning the true nature of Magical Girls after [[TragicMonster Sayaka]] turns into a witch and has to be killed. Not wanting the rest of the magical girls to turn like her, Mami kills Kyouko, but before she is able to kill Homura and Madoka before presumably ending her own life, Madoka shoots her. After doing that, poor Madoka collapses in tears, asking the newly released Homura between sobs why did such things have to happen.
** An even more tragic example is later in the third timeline. Madoka and Homura manage to destroy Walpurgisnacht, but both are injured, exhausted and in danger of becoming witches. Madoka uses her last Grief Seed to remove the darkness from Homura's Soul Gem in order to spare her from becoming a witch, and Homura returns the favor by tearfully {{Mercy Kill}}ing Madoka before she becomes a witch.
** Madoka manages to do this ''accidentally'' when she throws Sayaka's gem off a bridge to stop her from fighting Kyouko, not realizing that [[SoulJar it literally contains her soul]]; though fortunately she was OnlyMostlyDead. Sayaka is KilledOffForReal via this trope after she becomes a witch: Kyouko destroys her by smashing her own soul gem so they can be TogetherInDeath.
* Realising that he has to do this to his LoveInterest, [[EmotionlessGirl Yin]] because her SuperPoweredEvilSide will destroy the world if he doesn't causes Hei from ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'' to [[HeroicBSOD BSOD]] big time, leading to him becoming the drunken JerkAss we know from the second season.
* This is the entire point of the Sacrifice required to become a demon from ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'', as first revealed in the Guardians of Desire arc. By consigning that which you most love to be eaten by demons, the would-be Apostle (or Godhand) cuts himself or herself off from humanity and opens himself or herself to evil. Unlike most of the examples on this page, this act is presented as a monstrous betrayal of everything the person holds dear and a crossing of the MoralEventHorizon, both because of the {{Cruel And Unusual Death}}s often suffered by those who get the Brand put on them and due to the added little detail that anyone sacrificed in the creation of a demon gets his or her soul condemned to Hell for all eternity.

* In the GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', [[spoiler:[[ThePurge Order 66]] is initiated and Ahsoka and Rex find themselves fighting [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Jesse and the rest of the 332nd Legion]] to survive. They try everything they can to avoid killing them, but fail; Rex is forced to gun down several troopers to save Ahsoka, and Darth Maul's actions during their escape cause the ship to crash land, killing Jesse and everyone else onboard. [[DownerEnding The second-to-last scene of the series is Ahsoka and Rex giving the Legion a funeral in the ruins of their ship before going into hiding as the Empire rises around them]].]]

* In ''Manga/MaiHime'', Natsuki takes it upon herself to end her best (and for a long time, only) friend Shizuru's rampage, knowing that both of them will die in the process.