History Main / MutualKill

* [[http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/dailylifeofadinosaur/a/protoveloc.htm Protoceratops vs Velociraptor]] shows the trope is OlderThanDirt.

[[caption-width-right:250:Franchise/{{Superman}} and his opponent both meet their [[{{Pun}} Doomsday]]...[[DeathIsCheap For a while, anyway.]]]]

** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'': Gothmog gives Ecthelion several wounds, but Ecthelion charges at Gothmog, impaling him with the spike on his helmet and knocking them both into a fountain where they both drown.

** When the hero, Yu-Long, and his supposed rival, Jin-Fu, are engaged in a DuelToTheDeath, they suddenly realized several enemy mooks surrounding them, ready to finish off the survivor, under the villainess Chien-Ying's instructions. So they instead pretend to thrush their swords into each other's guts and keel over, PlayingPossum... and as soon as the mooks come over to investigate, Yu-Long and Jin-Fu quickly leap to their feet and starts taking names.

* Downplayed at the end of ''Film/{{Fearless 2006}}'', where Jet Li's character could have created a near simultaneous death of he and his opponent by delivering a fatal blow, but instead only made the motions without delivering lethal force behind the strike.

* ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'': After the film's climactic battle, wherein Godzilla has killed the two [=MUTO=]s, he collapses as well, seemingly from both his own wounds and exhaustion. [[spoiler:Then it turns out he's NotQuiteDead.]]
* At the end of ''Film/TheGrey'', Creator/LiamNeeson's character is the [[FinalGirl last one left]] after the wolves and the Alaskan environment kill off all the other plane crash survivors one-by-one. He finds himself in the middle of the wolves' den (which he thought he was walking away from all this time). In a BolivianArmyEnding, he grabs a knife, tapes broken bottle shards to his fist, and rushes the alpha wolf, who rushes him. TheStinger reveals that they killed each other.

* ''Film/{{Sweetwater}}'': [[spoiler:Josiah and Jackson]] manage to shoot each other dead simultaneously near the end of the film.
* ''Film/SoulOfTheSword'', a martial arts movie, ends with the hero - having earned the long-coveted title, "The King of Swords" [[LonelyAtTheTop at the cost of sacrificing everything dear to him]] facing his last challenger. They ultimately kills each other in the ensuing duel.

** The duel between [[FragileSpeedster Oberyn Martell]] and [[MightyGlacier Gregor Clegane]] in ''A Storm of Swords''. Oberyn manages to stab Gregor several times with his poisoned spear, bringing him to the ground, but gets too close, allowing [[RedBaron The Mountain that Rides]] to pound him to death with his fist. The poison causes a long, agonising death for Clegane over the next few days [[spoiler:although it is not yet clear ''how truly'' dead he is]].
** King Robert Baratheon and the boar; he misses with his spear and the boar gores him but he stabs it with a knife afterwards. He eventually succumbed to his wound. [[spoiler:Though true credit for the kill might belong to Cersei and Lancel; she had him spike Robert's wine to slow his reflexes, him being too badass even in his drunken and overweight state to normally lose to a pig.]]
** In the backstory, most dragon-on-dragon combat during the Dance of the Dragons ended with both dragons dead or mortally injured. The Battle Above the God's Eye, where both dragons and dragonriders involved killed each other in an airborne duel, is particularly notable.

*** Finrod is wounded to the death as wrestling with a werewolf and slaying it with his bare hands and teeth.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls The Doctor Falls]]" has an interesting example with [[TheNthDoctor two different versions of the same character]]. [[spoiler:Missy stabs the Harold Saxon version of the Master, so that he'll regenerate into her. He's so angered by her doing this because she's siding with the Doctor that he shoots her when she turns around.]]
-->'''[[spoiler:The Master]]:''' You see, [[spoiler:Missy]], this is where we've always been going. This is our perfect ending. We shoot ourselves in the back.

** During the Battle of Winterfell, [[spoiler:Lyanna Mormont]] is being crushed to death by a giant wight, but with the last of her strength manages to [[EyeScream stab it in the eye]] with dragonglass, killing it.
** In the penultimate episode, Sandor fights his brother Gregor to the death inside the Red Keep, but isn't really getting anywhere until he charges him and causes them both to plunge to their deaths.

* In ''Series/HeroesReborn2015'', [[spoiler:the original Avengador]] is ambushed by several assailants and takes them all out before being shot by a woman, whom he dispatches moments later with a cool knife throw.
* In ''Series/{{Justified}}'' Raylan almost convinced two criminals to drop their guns and surrender to him when they realize that only one of them will be able to make a deal for immunity and the other will go to prison for a long time. They turn on each other and before Raylan can stop them, they shoot each other. One dies instantly and the other sustains a fatal wound.
** Towards the end of the series [[spoiler:Catherine]] unloads a revolver into [[spoiler:Mikey]], but he's still able to crush his assailant's windpipe before succumbing to his injuries.
** Subverted in the final gunfight of the show. [[spoiler:Raylan gets into a quickdraw duel with Boone. At first it seems like both men manage to get a hit in before dropping. While Raylan got Boone through the chest, Boone's attempt at a headshot resulted in the bullet only grazing Raylan's head. It did destroy [[SignatureHeadgear his signature hat]], though.]]

* In ''Series/OrphanBlack'', [[spoiler:Siobhan and Ferdinand]] towards the end of the show. They agree to disarm after some GunpointBanter, but [[spoiler:Ferdinand]] has a second gun hidden and shoots [[spoiler:Siobhan]]. [[spoiler:Siobhan]] manages to get to an armchair with their own second gun hidden in it and shoots [[spoiler:Ferdinand]] before dying.

** During the 8th Edition event "Psychic Awakening", Ragnar Blackmane of the Space Wolves attacked Ghazkghul Thraka's orks in an effort to kill the Warboss once and for all. Ghazgkhul smashed Ragnar to a pulp, but Ragnar succeeded in cutting off Ghazkghul's head. Thanks to massive ammounts of surgery, both of them got better and TookALevelInBadass (Ragnar was rebuilt as a Primaris Marine, while Ghazkghul had his head stapled on to a bigger and stronger body).

* Theatre/{{Hamlet}} and Laertes. Hamlet survives just long enough to take final vengeance upon Claudius before dying from being poisoned by Laertes' sword.
* ''Theatre/NoPlaceToBeSomebody'': At the climax, Maffucci shoots Sweets, but not quite soon enough to stop Sweets from stepping forward and sticking a knife in Maffucci's heart.

** In ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'', even the basic [[StandardFPSGuns assault-rifle-equivalent weapons]] have projectiles just slow enough for this to happen with considerable frequency thanks to the series' RocketTagGameplay, with players calling this "trading". You're probably going to trade with another player at least once a match in lower ranks and Turf War, and absolutely ''will'' trade multiple times in higher ranked matches. The most amusing occurrence of this tends to be when two Roller users collide head-on.

* Occurs three times in [[LetsPlay/MindcrackServer Mindcrack Ultra Hardcore]]: once in Season 6, [[spoiler:when Pause and Nebris manage to stab each other at the exact same moment when both were already near death]], then again in Season 7, [[spoiler:when [=BDoubleO=] kills Pause but gets burnt by Pause's Fire Aspect sword]], and finally, once in Season 11, [[spoiler:when Nebris gets killed by Pyro, but Nebris' wolf kills Pyro afterward]].

** Likewise, light cruiser HMAS ''Sydney'' and German auxiliary cruiser ''Kormoran'', which sank each other 19 November 1941. Notably, on paper ''Sydney'' should have been the clear winner of their fight with superior armor, armaments, and overall capabilities [[CurbStompBattle that would easily destroy her opponent if utilized correctly]], but ''Kormoran'' had the [[CombatPragmatist decisive advantage of surprise]], having managed to lure ''Sydney'' in so close without revealing her true nature most of ''Sydney's'' crew weren't even at battle stations. By the time ''Kormoran'' dropped her disguise as a merchant vessel and opened fire with everything she had, ''Sydney'' was too close for her own initial salvo to actually hit and she was utterly raked by gun and cannon fire cutting through defenseless crewmen, lost her bridge officers in the opening seconds, an exploded spy plane on her deck raining burning fuel down everywhere, and two of her four main turrets were rendered inoperable. A torpedo spread from ''Komoran'' tearing through ''Sydney's'' bow and leaving her all but dead in the water was the final straw that allowed the German vessel to finish her off into a burning wreck with no survivors, but even then the damage ''Sydney's'' remaining two turrets managed to inflict on ''Komoran'' in turn before that point forced the German crew to abandon ship due its severity.

* ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'': It happens with the third ComicBook/{{Robin}}'s father Jack Drake and Captain Boomerang. Boomerang [[ComicBook/BlackestNight would]] [[BackFromTheDead return]]. (No pun intended)

* ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'': Yorimitsu and his {{anthropomorphic|Personification}} sword Onigiri after the latter discovered that he ''[[TomatoInTheMirror isn't]]'' an anthropomorphic sword and that his master had been lying to him about his identity the whole time in order to use him to commit genocide against ''[[HunterOfHisOwnKind his own kind]]''.

** Likewise, light cruiser HMAS ''Sydney'' and German auxiliary cruiser ''Kormoran'', which sank each other 19 November 1941.

* The late comedian Norm Macdonald joked about how anyone who died of cancer (which would include himself) actually achieved this. After all, if the person dies, the cancer dies too. No one actually loses the battle with cancer, at worst it ends up being a draw.

* In ''Fanfic/{{A New World|IcedFairy}}'', this is the result of the fight between [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Sakuya and Youmu]].

* In the lore of the ''Videogame/{{Diablo}}'' franchise, history began with a fight between the two creator gods, Anu and Tathamet, which ended with each killing the other. Anu's corpse went on to form Heaven, and Tathamet's, Hell.

* ''Manga/InuYasha'' starts out with Inuyasha fatally wounding his girlfriend Kikyou, and her [[SealedEvilInACan sealing him]] by shooting and pinning him to a tree with her sacred arrows. It's later revealed that the one who truly injured Kikyou was her StalkerWithACrush Naraku, who intended for her to fully pull the trope on Inuyasha so he would have the Shikon Jewel ''and'' [[IfICantHaveYou tear them apart]].
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''

* The backstory of ''Anime/RecordOfLodossWar'' involves this: both broadly with the Gods of light and darkness and specifically with the last two standing: Marfa and Kardis. The effects of their final clash (which neither survived) cracked the continent of Alecrast and gave birth to the island of Lodoss.
* In the third season of the first anime of ''Anime/SailorMoon'', the Sailor Guardians trick Cyprine and Ptilol of the Witches 5 into doing this to each other via Sailor Mercury filling the air with fog, which she can see through with her digital visor, and then getting the twins into the perfect positions to blast each other while she evades them.
** In the first season's GrandFinale, this takes place thrice. Jupiter unleashes all her lightning energy to kill two of the Doom and Gloom Girls, Venus applies her Crescent Beam directly to the forehead of one of them before succumbing to the injuries the other inflicted on her, and Mars uses her last Fire Soul to kill the last D&G girl standing before she can kill Moon. (And the Senshi ultimately are revived thanks to Usagi's last wish on the Silver Crystal.)

* ''Manga/{{Semelparous}}'': {{Invoked}} by the [[HumanAliens mures]] in chapter 14 against Youko: they create a [[HumanoidAbomination human-type kaiju]] out of her own {{Doppelganger}}, meaning that as long as at least one of them is in the VoidBetweenTheWorlds, if one dies, the other dies too. They end up [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice running each other through]]... which sends Youko's girlfriend Yorino on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

* Wolfwood and his former mentor in the ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' anime. The good guy survives long enough to get to a church and decide to NOT light up one last cigarette (honoring a request made earlier by an unrealized love-interest that he stop smoking), instead tearfully telling God that he doesn't want to die, and then dies on his knees.

** Per ''Literature/FireAndBlood'', the Kingsguard twins Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk Cargyll slew each other. The reports differ on the details—either it was a duel lasting more than an hour, where the bystanders didn't intervene because they couldn't tell which twin was which; or after a single stroke by both sides.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'': In ''[[Literature/StarWarsAhsoka Ahsoka]]'', it's invoked by Ahsoka and Rex when they create a fake grave for Rex with a headstone claiming that he died killing her.

*** HEMA rules are still evolving, but as a rule, it's meant to emulate a fight that you want to survive. A double hit awards generally awards no points, and in some scoring systems, too many bad-faith double hits result in both fighters scoring a loss in a tournament.

* This can easily happen using most hand weapons. Most weapons, when wielded, inherently create an opening when used to attack. For example, someone using a rapier in a lunge is vulnerable to a counter-attack. The lunging swordsman would defend against this by either by having an off-hand parrying implement or assuming their opponent wants to live and will defend rather than simply counter-attack into the lunge. Japanese swordsmanship is perhaps the only style to make a virtue of cutting your enemy down as he does you. Since sword-fighting occurred before modern medicine, there were all kinds of lethal but not-instantly-incapacitating wounds, like punctured lungs or bowels. Then there's head trauma, which can cause sudden death hours after "''recovery''".

* Rubén Blades' song ''Pedro Navaja''[[note]](a cover version of Mack the Knife)[[/note]] is about the titular Pedro, a ''very'' feared criminal, stabbing and killing a StreetWalker. The woman, however, has the last laugh: before perishing, she pulls out her gun and shoots him dead.

** In ''Hornblower During the Crisis'', the disgraced Commander Meadows shatters the skull of a French officer with his cutlass during a boarding action, but in return the Frenchman runs Meadows through. Seeing the results, Hornblower muses that it's an example of what his fencing teacher called a "coup des deux vieves" -- a "reckless attack that makes two widows."

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie''. The Storm King throws an obsidian orb at the Mane 6 in an attempt to [[TakenForGranite turn them to stone]], but his former servant, Tempest, takes the hit for them, in close enough proximity to the Storm King that he is petrified along with her. While the Storm King [[DisneyVillainDeath falls]] and [[LiterallyShatteredLives shatters]], the Mane 6 save Tempest from the same fate and restore her.

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': In ''War of Honor'', a Manticoran cruiser and an Andermani cruiser end up opening fire on each other during a period of particularly high tension between the two nations. Later investigation shows that the Manticoran warship actually had the Andermani ship handily outmatched, but suffered a lucky hit that left her crippled. Both ships ended up destroying each other with their missile salvos.

** Two minor characters died this way during a sea battle, one impaling the other on a sword and getting decapitated in turn. It was referred to as a "two widows' blow".
** Horatio destroys or cripples three French ships at the cost of the ''Sutherland'' at the end of ''Ship of the Line''.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls The Doctor Falls]]" has an interesting example with [[TheNthDoctor two different versions of the same character]] – [[spoiler:Missy stabs the Harold Saxon version of the Master, so that he'll regenerate into her. He's so angered by her doing this because she's siding with the Doctor that he shoots her when she turns around.]]

* On ''Series/{{Justified}}'' Raylan almost convinced two criminals to drop their guns and surrender to him when they realize that only one of them will be able to make a deal for immunity and the other will go to prison for a long time. They turn on each other and before Raylan can stop them, they shoot each other. One dies instantly and the other sustains a fatal wound.

* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'':

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode "Phobos Rising" involves two Martian bases belonging to the opposite sides of a SpaceColdWar. When Earth appears to be destroyed, both sides assume the other one is responsible. The communication blackout resulting from the planetary explosion prevents a normal conversation and the bases launch missiles at one another. The two commanders finally manage to establish contact, but one is killed before being able to self-destruct the missiles. Both bases end up being destroyed (having no [[PointDefenseless anti-missile defenses]]) with only two survivors (one from each side). The survivors learn that Earth is fine. It was the Moon that was accidentally destroyed, and the debris blocked the view of Earth. A later episode set in the same StoryArc has both sides finally come to nuclear blows on Earth, ending all life on the planet.

* An episode of ''Series/SevenDays'' starts with a new US Navy destroyer patrolling international waters in Asia, when they encounter a Chinese sub. We're not shown what happens from the location, but see the diagram on a screen of both vessels launching torpedoes at each other (destroyer first) and blowing up. It's initially assumed that the culprit is the female captain of the destroyer (the first in the US Navy, who also happens to be the ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'''s Chief Engineer), who cracks under pressure. However, when Parker goes back in time to save the ship, it turns out that [[spoiler:the visiting admiral is an anti-Commie nut who wants to start a war with China in order to crush them before they're a full-fledged superpower. He's only stopped when the President himself calls him up with a WhatTheHellHero attitude and the sailors refuse to follow the admiral's orders]].

* In the GrandFinale of ''Series/{{The Strain|TVSeries}}'', [[spoiler:Mr. Quinlan]] manages to tear out the throat of The Master in Palmer's body prompting a NoHoldsBarredBeatDown from him. However, this doesn't kill The Master as he just transfers his consciousness to [[spoiler:Ephraim Goodweather]] afterward.

* Subverted in the teaser sequence of ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Ice". Two men in an Alaskan scientific outpost -- who we later find out were infected with a parasite that caused them uncontrollable fits of rage -- are pointing guns at each other. It seems headed for this trope until they wordlessly confer with each other, and then moments later it becomes a mutual suicide instead.

** ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'': Margaret stabs Carrie and Carrie strikes back, telekinetically giving her mother cardiac arrest. Carrie survives after this exchange long enough to cause [[AlphaBitch Chris Hargensen]] and [[JerkJock Billy Nolan]] to have a fatal car crash before the combination of shock, blood loss from the knife wound, and overstraining her body finishes her. [[Film/{{Carrie}} The movie version]] has Carrie telekinetically crucifying Margaret in a doorway with assorted kitchen implements after Margaret stabs her. Carrie is then finished off by the burning, collapsing house.

* In ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'': Roam strikes down Agahnim in his returned appearance in the Dark World, but at the cost of his own life. This also causes Ganon to manifest before Link and Zelda.

** The anime opens with Kouga Danjo and Ogen of the Iga, the grandparents of the StarCrossedLovers Kouga Gennosuke and Iga-no-Oboro, performing one. Danjo, suspecting that Ogen is not playing fair in the contest between Kouga an Iga, stabs her with a needle in the back of her throat; however, she pulls the needle out and stabs ''him'' fatally, avenging herself. Then she sadly recalls their shared DarkAndTroubledPast [[note]]They were to be married, as Gennosuke and Oboro were. Danjo's clan ambushed the Iga fleeing from their village (which was under attack by someone else) in an attempt to wipe them out, ruining the wedding plans; it's not fully clear if Danjo was on it or not.[[/note]] and sheds tears as she dies next to him.

** The anime opens with Kouga Danjo and Ogen of the Iga, the grandparents of the StarCrossedLovers Kouga Gennosuke and Iga-no-Oboro, performing one. Danjo, suspecting that she's not playing fair in the contest between Igas and Kougas, stabs her with a needle in the back of her throat; however, she pulls the needle out and stabs ''him'' fatally, avenging herself. Then she sadly recalls their shared DarkAndTroubledPast [[note]](They were to be married, as Gennosuke and Oboro were. Danjo's clan ambushed the Iga fleeing from their village (which was under attack by someone else) in an attempt to wipe them out, ruining the wedding plans; it's not fully clear if Danjo was on it or not.)[[/note]] and sheds tears as she dies next to him.

* ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'': After the film's climactic battle, wherein Godzilla has killed the two [=MUTO=]s, he collapses as well, seemingly from both his own wounds and exhaustion. [[spoiler: Then it turns out he's NotQuiteDead.]]

* ''Film/{{Sweetwater}}'': [[spoiler: Josiah and Jackson]] manage to shoot each other dead simultaneously near the end of the film.

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'': During the climax, Harry shoves the Sword of Gryffindor into the Basilisk's mouth as the basilisk sinks one of its venomous fangs into Harry's shoulder. [[spoiler: Thankfully {{subverted|Trope}} for Harry, though, as Fawkes the Phoenix uses healing tears to save Harry.]]

* ''Literature/IAmMordred'': [[spoiler: Mordred and Arthur]] go out this way.

-->'''[[spoiler:The Master]]:''' You see, [[spoiler: Missy]], this is where we've always been going. This is our perfect ending. We shoot ourselves in the back.

** Subverted in the final gunfight of the show. [[spoiler: Raylan gets into a quickdraw duel with Boone. At first it seems like both men manage to get a hit in before dropping. While Raylan got Boone through the chest, Boone's attempt at a headshot resulted in the bullet only grazing Raylan's head. It did destroy [[SignatureHeadgear his signature hat]], though.]]
* An episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' had an investigation into the murder of a man who was revealed to be HIV-positive. The killer turns out to be [[spoiler: a woman he infected who's now dying from AIDS.]]

* In the ''Series/{{Revolution}}'' episode "The Stand", [[spoiler: Danny]] shoots down a helicopter with a rocket launcher. A second helicopter crashes as a result but peppers him with machine gun fire on the way down.

* In Cernd's epilogue for ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal'', it turns out this is how he dies. [[spoiler: The killed killer is his son, who went on an anti-druid rampage due to his disgust at being neglected in favor of Cernd's druidic calling his entire life.]]

* In the ''VisualNovel/FateHollowAtaraxia'' game, [[spoiler: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pFwBq0DDes pairing Fragarach]] (retaliates by altering time to kill the attacker's Noble Phantasm and cancel the attack) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pFwBq0DDes with Gae Bolg]] (reverse cause-and-effect)]].

* ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'': Happens a lot in the Book of Armageddon, depending on who you send to fight whom. [[spoiler: Canonically, only Mercedes suffers this fate as she and Onyx destroy each other during their battle. However, in the incorrect pairings, this is a more frequent occurrence, particularly in battles against Darkova or The Cauldron.]]

* Near the end of ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'', Katsuragi shoots [[spoiler: Yasuko]] in the back, resulting in a fatal wound. However, before her death, she manages to retaliate by popping a headshot right back at Katsuragi.

** "Goomba vs. Koopa" and "Justin Bieber vs. Rebecca Black" are more straight examples: [[spoiler: The Goomba tries to knock the Koopa into lava, but the pit is too small and the Koopa rebounds off a wall, killing the Goomba and his friends. But the Koopa is unable to stop itself before landing in an even bigger pool of lava, incinerating it and forcing a draw. Rebecca Black attempts to do Bieber by jump on top of a car and having the driver run him over. However, the driver crashes killing them both, along with the driver himself, the Jonas Brothers, and Miley Cyrus]].
** Also happens in "All Might vs. Might Guy". [[spoiler:Might Guy kills All Might with the Night Guy, but dies almost immediately afterwards, succumbing to the cost of the Eighth Gate]]. Unlike the other straight examples, this one is ''not'' counted as a draw -- [[spoiler: As Guy scored the killing blow before the Eighth Gate killed him, it counts as his win]].

* ''VideoGame/MegaManZero2'': [[JapaneseBeetleBrothers Kuwagust Anchus and Herculius Anchus]] attempt a pincer attack on Zero during their rematch at [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Yggdrasil]] in a LastDitchMove to destroy the crimson reploid. Zero dodges their attack and the following collision destroy them both.
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManZero4'', [[spoiler:Zero personally kills Dr. Weil by detonating [[KillSat Ragnarok's]] core, only to be caught up in the resulting explosion, resulting in his own demise]].

** King Robert Baratheon and the boar; he killed it with his spear, but it still managed to gore him (always a risk; see boar hunting in the RealLife section below), and he eventually succumbed to his wounds. [[spoiler:Though true credit for the kill might belong to Cersei and Lancel; she had him spike Robert's wine to slow his reflexes, him being too badass even in his drunken and overweight state to normally lose to a pig.]]

* ''Literature/TheBible'': In 2nd Samuel 2:12-16, David's army (under Joab's command) and Ishbosheth's army (under Abner's command) meet at the pool of Gibeon and have a contest of twelve soldiers each from both armies. As verse 16 states, "Each one grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent's side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath Hazzurim, which is at Gibeon."