History Main / LodgedBladeRemoval

After someone has been stuck with a knife, they pull it out. Maybe to be thrown away contemptuously to show that they are immune to such a trifling injury. Or because they're in the thick of battle and can't fight with it sticking out of them. Or because they don't know that no matter how much it hurts, it's best not to try and take it out. It'll either be pulled out with no reaction beyond hissing in pain or with an accompanying scream. It doesn't have to be a knife. It can also be a spear, arrow, stick, broken bottle, etc. Bottom line, it's in them and they're going to take it out ''right now.''

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'': Discussed. In the finale, Izaya is [[spoiler:stabbed with a ballistic knife by Vorona, which stays lodged in his abdomen]]. He later [[spoiler:wakes up on the way to a doctor outside Ikebukuro and]] notices the knife still in him [[spoiler:with Celty's shadows around it, stopping the bleeding]]. Kine advises Izaya not to remove it as if he did, he would bleed out in the car and die.

* ''Series/KungFu'': Caine is shot in the back by an arrow that ''goes all the way through him.'' While clearly suffering from pain and shock, he breaks off the barb of the arrow and throws it away, then reaches behind his back to pull out the shaft, then turns to face his attacker. Shocked by his toughness, the attacker flees. Caine immediately passes out. His friends do show up in time to save his life.

* Averted in ''Series/{{The Punisher|2017}}''. Frank goes to the isolated mountain hideout of an old friend. His friend shoots him in the shoulder with an arrow, not knowing it's Frank. Frank doesn't try to pull the arrow out, instead snapping off the shaft close to the point of entry in order to have more freedom of movement, since he and his buddy are about to be attacked by a Spec Ops team. Later, when his medic buddy is treating him, the medic says trying to pull the arrow out would only cause more damage. Therefore, he has to make an incision in Frank's back and push the arrow all the way through. This treatment method is not ''necessarily'' true. In an operating room with a trained team of surgeons, the arrowhead would have been painstakingly extracted back through the existing wound with as little additional tissue damage as possible. Frank's buddy, however, didn't have the time or tools to do all of that.

* Justified in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Q-pid". When Troi accidentally shoots Data with an arrow, he pulls it out, but that's because he's an android.

* ''Series/OurFlagMeansDeath'': In "[[Recap/OurFlagMeansDeathS1E06TheArtOfFuckery The Art of Fuckery]]", Stede ''tries'' to do this after stabbing Ed (who asked Stede to stab him, mind you). What actually happens is a lot of screaming (Stede in fear, Ed in pain) and groaning to the point where [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything it sounds like something entirely else]], much to the horror of an eavesdropping Izzy.

* Averted in an early ''Franchise/DocSavage'' story. Doc is in a hospital and comes across a doctor who has been stabbed in the chest, with the knife left in place. Doc immediately comes to his aid and warns him ''not'' to try to pull the knife out. The doctor coughs weakly and replies that he knows better than that.

** ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'': Dante casually pulls [[{{BFS}} his sword, Rebellion]], out of his chest after Nero impales him with it.

* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': In [[https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/dungeon-keeper-ami-sailor-moon-dungeon-keeper-story-only-thread.30066/post-6355702 "Out-of-Dungeon Experiences"]], [[spoiler:DemonicPossession Ami does this to herself after an AssassinationAttempt involving being stabbed with two weapons(one InTheBack). She can do it because she has a HealingFactor due to possessing an ice golem possessing body at the time, which makes her a bit harder to kill.]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

* A DefiedTrope in ''WesternAnimation/{{Wizards}}'', when good wizard Avatar intervenes in the trial of Elinore, who stands accused of killing the fairy Sean. Avatar receives a fairy arrow in his left shoulder but does nothing about it. This forbearance convinces the fairy king that Avatar and Elinore are not hostile, and that their claim of only passing through to confront the evil wizard Blackwolf is true. Avatar and Elinore get teleported to the snowy mountains at the edge of the fairy kingdom, and only then does Elinore extract the arrow from Avatar.

* ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'': Loki and Thor fight each other and the latter implores his brother to see the horrors of his attack on New York and stop. Loki appears to be considering his words for a few moments before stabbing Thor with a push knife and getting away. Thor proceeds to simply pull it out and toss it before immediately going back to the fight, merely looking frustrated. Justified since he's a god.
* {{Invoked|Trope}} in ''Film/BlackPanther2018'': after [[spoiler:[[BigBad Killmonger]]]] is stabbed in the chest in his duel with T'Challa, he leaves the blade in to [[GracefulLoser have a short conversation]] and [[LastRequest watch the sunset]], then pulls it out and quickly dies of blood loss.

* ''Film/Deadpool2016'': Deadpool impales Francis through the leg with his katana, which goes all the way through his leg and into the concrete lane divider of the highway. Francis can't pull the sword out because it's wedged too deeply into the concrete, so he breaks off the hilt. This lets him pull his leg off of the sword, instead of pulling the sword out of his leg.
* ''Film/ForkliftDriverKlaus'' has a box cutter, placed on a box the titular character is hoisting, fall on a worker's head. When bell rings for lunchtime, he removes it and comes out with only a stunned expression and a stumbling gait while the box cutter the breaks.
* ''Film/TheHobbit'': the dwarf Bifur had an axe-head lodged on his forehead off-screen and it cut through his brain deep enough to make him unable to speak the Common Tongue (all his quotes are in Khuzdul, which make him unintelligible to the audience). The blade is eventually removed in the [[Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies third movie]] courtesy of an orc headbutting him right before falling to his death. Amusingly, Bifur instantly regains the ability to speak Westron and lets out his frustration with the following quote:
--> '''Bifur''': You know where you can stick that? *points to the axe-head that his cousin Bombur just recovered*

* In ''Film/TheMartian'', the hero has been impaled in the stomach by an antenna and it needs to be removed. Can be seen here: [[https://youtu.be/QJE_nzWIfDw?t=30 antenna removal]]
* Film/MrAndMrsSmith2005: Played for laughs. During the climactic battle, Jane accidentally (or possibly accidentally on purpose) hits John in the leg with a thrown kitchen knife. He barely reacts, except to be clearly frustrated with her, and pulls it out saying "We'll talk about this later!"

* Averted in ''Series/ThePunisher2017''. Frank goes to the isolated mountain hideout of an old friend. His friend shoots him in the shoulder with an arrow, not knowing it's Frank. Frank doesn't try to pull the arrow out, instead snapping off the shaft close to the point of entry in order to have more freedom of movement, since he and his buddy are about to be attacked by a Spec Ops team. Later, when his medic buddy is treating him, the medic says trying to pull the arrow out would only cause more damage. Therefore, he has to make an incision in Frank's back and push the arrow all the way through. This treatment method is not ''necessarily'' true. In an operating room with a trained team of surgeons, the arrowhead would have been painstakingly extracted back through the existing wound with as little additional tissue damage as possible. Frank's buddy, however, didn't have the time or tools to do all of that.

** [[spoiler: During the final mission, [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge American Venom]], [[ActionGirl Sadie]] ends up being ambushed and stabbed in the gut by one of Micah's men. After Charles shoots her assailant, she pulls the blade out and promptly collapses on a nearby rock. [[IWillOnlySlowYouDown Sadie stays behind with injured Charles]], [[InTheEndYouAreOnYourOwn leaving John to face Micah alone.]] [[SubvertedTrope Or not]] - [[MadeOfIron unlike Arthur, Sadie survives her wound, makes her way up the rest of the mountain, and arrives in the middle of the final shootout to get a drop on Micah.]]]]

* In ''WebAnimation/{{Underverse}}'', Underfell!Sans attempts to kill Cross by [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaling him]] with a BallisticBone. Cross just laughs and pulls it out before continuing the fight, even though the bone was covered in his blood.

** In the first episode Prince Guysbert gets his head impaled on a sword and is immediately written off as dead. However he doesn't actually die until the sword is removed eight episodes later, and his brain falls out.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'': During their climactic duel, Megatron hurls a sharp piece of debris at Optimus Prime, impaling him on the left side of his abdomen. Optimus avoids a couple of follow-up shots from Megatron's fusion cannon before punching him into a wall and then takes the time to remove the debris. Unfortunately, Megatron is wily enough [[AttackTheInjury to strike at the wound]], first with a laser sword and later with several shots from a laser pistol, the combined damage eventually turning out to be fatal. In Optimus' defense, the debris was large enough to clearly be a hindrance in the fight, so leaving it in wasn't an option.

Sister trope to WeHaveToGetTheBulletOut. Related to AnnoyingArrows. Depending on how the person reacts, both MadeOfIron and DentedIron can come into play. If the person makes things worse or even dies by pulling the object out, it's a SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.

SisterTrope to LodgedBladeRecycling, which occurs when the weapon, upon removal, is then used against their attacker. Examples involving this should be listed on that page and not here.

[[folder:FanFic]]

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

[[folder:Web comics]]
* Captain Tagon in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' had a weapon malfunction, and was going to use grenades. The opponent had a knife and hit Tagon in the eye, only for him to remove the knife and use it to finish the attackers. The next strips involve Taylor getting information on becoming a surgeon to fix the bleeding in the eye.
[[/folder]]

* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': In [[https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/dungeon-keeper-ami-sailor-moon-dungeon-keeper-story-only-thread.30066/post-6355702 "Out-of-Dungeon Experiences"]], [[spoiler:DemonicPossession Ami does this to herself after an AssassinationAttempt involving being stabbed with two weapons(one InTheBack). She can do it because she has a HealingFactor due to an ice golem possessing her body, which makes her a bit harder to kill.]]

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': Lust is stabbed in the head by Hughes after she attempts to kill him for getting too close to discovering the plans for Amestris. As he runs off to call Mustang, she pries the knife out of her forehead and voices her annoyance at the situation. Justified since she's an immortal homunculus with a HealingFactor.
** During a fight with Lan Fan, Envy takes a kunai to the head, which they respond to by angrily ripping the blade out and using it for an unsuccessful sneak attack. While they complain that she killed them for the third time in a row, being a homunculus, Envy can easily heal from the damage and death usually doesn't stick.

* ''Film/TheHobbit'': the dwarf Bifur had an axe-head lodged on his forehead off-screen and it cut through his brain deep enough to make him unable to speak the Common Tongue (all his quotes are in Khuzdul, which make him unintelligible to the audience). The blade is eventually removed in the [[Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies third movie]] courtesy of an orc headbutting him right before falling to his death. Amusingly, Bofur instantly regains the ability to speak Westron and lets out his frustration with the following quote:

After someone has been stuck with a knife, they pull it out. Maybe to be thrown away contemptuously to show that they are immune to such a trifling injury. Or because they're in the thick of battle and can't fight with it sticking out of them. Or because they don't know that no matter how much it hurts, it's best not to try and take it out. It'll either be pulled out with no reaction beyond hissing in pain, or with an accompanying scream. It doesn't have to be a knife. It can also be a spear, arrow, stick, broken bottle, etc. Bottom line, it's in them and they're going to take it out ''right now.''

This is a sub-trope of ArtisticLicenseMedicine, but characters who don't have a medical background really ''can't'' be expected to be aware of this. Instinct takes over sometimes. A foreign object is in you, it hurts, do your best to take it out. Definitely a subtrope of WorstAid. In fiction, people do this and tend to come out just fine, however in RealLife this does go against all medical advice. If someone is stabbed and the implement is still in place, medical wisdom is that it is best to leave it alone until such time as a trained medical professional who knows what they are doing can remove it under proper conditions. This means carefully immobilizing it as best as possible and transporting them to a hospital with it still in place.

* ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'': [[spoiler:Shirase]] manages to get [[spoiler:Chuuya]]'s guard down and stabs him with a butterfly knife, though the boy at least has the sense to escape before pulling it out. Possibly justified given the blade was coated in rat poison and [[spoiler:Chuuya]] is a street kid who likely wouldn?t know it's unsafe. However, the injury is treated as serious but not life-threatening.

** [[spoiler:Captain Buccaneer is stabbed through the abdomen by Wrath and passes out for a bit. When he comes to, he considers the blade before realizing pulling it out would meaning bleeding out and dying. However, while the battle continues, Fu is fatally slashed by Wrath, negating his suicide attack. Just in that instant, Buccaneer uses Fu as a cover, pulls the sword out of his stomach and stabs it through Fu and into Wrath. He does shortly after, but his act prevents the other man's sacrifice for being in vain]].

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

* A DefiedTrope in ''WesternAnimation/{{Wizards}}'', when good wizard Avatar intervenes in the trial of Elinore, who stands accused of killing the fairy Sean. Avatar receives a fairy arrow in his left shoulder, but does nothing about it. This forbearance convinces the fairy king that Avatar and Elinore are not hostile, and that their claim of only passing through to confront the evil wizard Blackwolf is true. Avatar and Elinore get teleported to the snowy mountains at the edge of the fairy kingdom, and only then does Elinore extract the arrow from Avatar.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'', after the attack by Robin Hood, Shrek finds an arrow lodged in his bum. He accepts it but Donkey freaks out that Shrek is going to die. To get Donkey out of the way, Fiona sends him of on a WildGooseChase and eventually pulls the arrow out. Shrek doesn't really feel it until she actually removes it.

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

* ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' has a duel between the T-800, protector of John Connor, and the T-1000, sent to expunge John Connor. Having knocked the T-800 onto the steel foundry's walkway grating, the T-1000 slams a length of pipe like a spear through the T-800's torso, pinning the older terminator in place. This also drains the T-800's main battery, and it shuts down. However, once the T-1000 goes searching for John Connor, the T-800 activates a reserve power cell, and pulls the pipe all the way through itself. No longer pinned to the grating, the T-800 rejoins the fight.

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* In ''{{Series/Bones}}'' there's an episode where Brennan does this when she gets stabbed in the arm. And it may be a case of TooDumbToLive because as a forensic anthropologist she ought to have enough anatomical knowledge to know better.
* Played for laughs on ''Series/TheCarolBurnettShow''. One skit features Carol and Creator/TimConway as a clumsy couple trying to save money by renovating their mountain cottage themselves. As they enter, Tim is carrying a bunch of tools, including a big screw driver. Carol bumps into him, shoving its blade into his gut. She asks if he's bleeding, he says, "only internally" and pulls it out and tosses it aside. He suffers no ill effects, but bumbles around not accomplishing much other than hitting Carol on the head, knocking her down, and so forth. It ends with the entire cottage falling in after they toss paper cups into the unfinished fireplace.
* ''Series/{{Casualty}}'': Pretty much any time anyone gets stabbed, impaled etc., you can expect to see them screaming "Get it out, get it out!" despite the medical personnel trying to explain why this is a terrible idea -- and, if they turn their backs for more than ten seconds, the patient will probably try and pull the thing out themselves. One episode had a man with a crowbar stuck through his leg, which he wrenched out himself in the hospital foyer, nicking an artery in the process. He survived, but only because, being in the hospital already, they were able to treat him in time.
* Discussed in an episode of ''Series/CSIMiami'' when the friend of a stabbing victim attempted to help by pulling out the blade. It's explained to him that pulling the blade out was the absolute worst thing he could have done, and that it should have been left in place until a proper medical professional could have removed it.

* Averted in ''Series/ThePunisher2017''. Frank goes to the isolated mountain hideout of an old friend. His friend shoots him in the shoulder with a arrow, not knowing it's Frank. Frank doesn't try to pull the arrow out, instead snapping off the shaft close to the point of entry in order to have more freedom of movement, since him and his buddy are about to be attacked by a Spec Ops team. Later, when his medic buddy is treating him, the medic says trying to pull the arrow out would only cause more damage. Therefore, he has to make an incision in Frank's back and push the arrow all the way through. This treatment method is not ''necessarily'' true. In an operating room with a trained team of surgeons, the arrowhead would have been painstakingly extracted back through the existing wound with as little additional tissue damage as possible. Frank's buddy, however, didn't have the time or tools to do all of that.

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'': Getting [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaled]] is a RunningGag in the series and if the impaler isn't taking the sword out, the impalee is. {{Justified|Trope}} since the characters are all demon hybrids with {{Healing Factor}}s.

* At the end of the Azure Moon route of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', [[spoiler:Edelgard, seemingly in a last ditch effort to kill Dimitri, throws the dagger he gave her at him, piercing him in the chest. This fails to kill him, however, and Dimitri quickly pulls the dagger out of his chest with seemingly little injury. Given that he was wearing armor at the time, it's possible that the dagger didn't go far in enough to do any major damage]].

[[folder:WebAnimation]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

** Also in the first episode, Elfo accidentally stabs an ogre in both eyes, and the daggers remain in his sockets until season 4, when Elfo removes them only for the ogre to beg for him to put them back as they [[HighPressureBlood gush blood]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': In "XCIII", Jack gets knife stuck into his chest while fighting the Daughters of Aku. In the next episode, he spends some time with the knife still in him until he painfully pulls it out and seals the wound.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'': During their climactic duel, Megatron hurls a sharp piece of debris at Optimus Prime, impaling him in the left side of his abdomen. Optimus avoids a couple of follow-up shots from Megatron's fusion cannon before punching him into a wall and then takes the time to remove the debris. Unfortunately, Megatron is wily enough [[AttackTheInjury to strike at the wound]], first with a laser sword and later with several shots from a laser pistol, the combined damage eventually turning out to be fatal. In Optimus' defense, the debris was large enough to clearly be a hindrance in the fight, so leaving it in wasn't an option.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film - Animated]]

[[folder: Film - Live Action]]

* * ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'': Getting [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaled]] is a RunningGag in the series and if the impaler isn't taking the sword out, the impalee is. {{Justified|Trope}} since the characters are all demon hybrids with {{Healing Factor}}s.

*** Trish impales Dante with the Force Edge, upon which he stands up, chides her, pulls the sword out of his chest and throws it to the ground.

** [[spoiler: During the final mission, [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge American Venom]], [[ActionGirl Sadie]] ends up being ambushed and stabbed in the gut by one of Micah's men. After Charles shoots her assailant, she pulls the blade out and promptly collapses on a nearby rock. [[IWillOnlySlowYouDown Sadie stays behind with injured Charles]], [[InTheEndYouAreOnYourOwn leaving John to face Micah alone.]] [[SubvertedTrope Or not]] - [[MadeOfIron unlike Arthur, Sadie survives her wound, makes her way up the rest of the mountain and arrives in the middle of the final shootout to get a drop on Micah.]]]]

* In ''WebAnimation/{{Underverse}}'', Underfell!Sans attempts to kill Cross by [[ImpalledWithExtremePrejudice impaling him]] with a BallisticBone. Cross just laughs and pulls it out before continuing the fight, even though the bone was covered in his blood.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'': During their climatic duel, Megatron hurls a sharp piece of debris at Optimus Prime, impaling him in the left side of his abdomen. Optimus avoids a couple of follow up shots from Megatron's fusion cannon before punching him into a wall, and then takes the time to remove the debris. Unfortunately, Megatron is wily enough [[AttackTheInjury to strike at the wound]], first with a laser sword and later with several shots from a laser pistol, the combined damage eventually turning out to be fatal. In Optimus' defense, the debris was large enough to clearly be a hindrance in the fight, so leaving it in wasn't an option.

* Played for laughs on ''Series/TheCarolBurnettShow''. One skit features Carol and Creator/TimConway as a clumsy couple trying to save money by renovating their mountain cottage themselves. As they enter, Tim is carrying a bunch of tools, including a big screw driver. Carol bumps into him, shoving it's blade into his gut. She asks if he's bleeding, he says, "only internally" and pulls it out and tosses it aside. He suffers no ill effects, but bumbles around not accomplishing much other than hitting Carol on the head, knocking her down, and so forth. It ends with the entire cottage falling in after they toss paper cups into the unfinished fireplace.

* ''Fanfic/ThisBites'': During his fight against the Amigo Pirates on Little East Blue, Cross gets a dagger thrown in his back by Largo, which he proceeds to rip out in defiance of Largo's assumption that this takes him out of commission. Chopper calls him out on this when patching him up after the fight, pointing out how lucky he was that nothing vital got in the initial attack or damaged by its rough removal.