History Main / NotWorthKilling

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', nearly all of the citizens are enraged towards Homer for polluting the lake with his pig silo and forcing the EPA (led by [[BigBad Russ Cargill]] to contain Springfield inside a glass dome. [[spoiler: As such, they all carry torches to the Simpson house, [[IllKillYou not only with the intent to kill Homer for what he did]], [[FamilyExtermination but also Marge and the kids for being related to him]]. And upon Cargill's plan to blow up Springfield with a nuclear bomb, the townspeople tried to escape, only for Homer to [[FromBadToWorse accidentally blow their chance and set the bomb's timer in half]]. Despite having another chance to kill Homer for this, the townspeople instead throw rocks at Homer to make him leave their presence, knowing that killing him won't do any good as they're all gonna die with him sooner or later. [[TheAtoner Fortunately, Homer was able to rectify this by having Bart throw the bomb to destroy the dome and save the town]]]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', nearly all of the citizens are enraged towards Homer for polluting the lake with his pig silo and forcing the EPA (led by [[BigBad Russ Cargill]] to contain Springfield inside a glass dome. As such, they all carry torches to the Simpson house, [[IllKillYou not only with the intent to kill Homer for what he did]], [[FamilyExtermination but also Marge and the kids for being related to him]]. And upon Cargill's plan to blow up Springfield with a nuclear bomb, the townspeople tried to escape, only for Homer to accidentally blow their chance and [[FromBadToWorse setting the bomb's timer in half]]. Despite having another chance to kill Homer for this, the townspeople instead throw rocks at Homer to make him leave their presence, knowing that killing him won't do any good as they're all gonna die with him sooner or later. [[TheAtoner Fortunately, Homer was able to rectify this by having Bart throw the bomb to destroy the dome and save the town]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', nearly all of the citizens are enraged towards Homer for polluting the lake with his pig silo and forcing the EPA to contain Springfield inside a glass dome. As such, they all carry torches to the Simpson house, [[IllKillYou not only with the intent to kill Homer for what he did]], [[FamilyExtermination but also Marge and the kids for being related to him]], which forced the Simpson family to escape through a sinkhole. And upon the EPA's plan to blow up Springfield with a nuclear bomb, the townspeople tried to escape, only for Homer to accidentally blow their chance and [[FromBadToWorse setting the bomb's timer in half]]. Despite having another chance to kill Homer, the townspeople instead throw rocks at Homer to make him leave their presence, knowing that killing him won't do any good as they're all gonna die sooner or later. [[TheAtoner Fortunately, Homer and Bart were able to throw the bomb to destroy the dome and save the town]].

* In '''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', nearly all of the citizens are enraged towards Homer for polluting the lake with his pig silo and forcing the EPA to contain Springfield inside a glass dome. As such, they all carry torches to the Simpson house, [[IllKillYou not only with the intent to kill Homer for what he did]], [[FamilyExtermination but also Marge and the kids for being related to him]], which forced the Simpson family to escape through a sinkhole. And upon the EPA's plan to blow up Springfield with a nuclear bomb, the townspeople tried to escape, only for Homer to accidentally blow their chance and [[FromBadToWorse setting the bomb's timer in half]]. Despite having another chance to kill Homer, the townspeople instead throw rocks at Homer to make him leave their presence, knowing that killing him won't do any good as they're all gonna die sooner or later. [[TheAtoner Fortunately, Homer and Bart were able to throw the bomb to destroy the dome and save the town]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'': Beast seems to consider Gaston as such when he wins their climactic fight. While he's not persuaded by Gaston's begging, especially right after Gaston tried to kill ''him'', he had already promised Belle he would become a better person and simply tells Gaston to GetOut. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, this gives Gaston the opportunity to go for the dirty move when [[InTheBack Beast's back is turned]].]]

* ''Franchise/Pokemon}}'': Tyrannitar are perpetually seeking strong opponents to fight, but if they find something not worth their time, they'll just move on.

->[[caption-width-right:345:"I will definitely not regret this later when he comes for revenge at the end of [[DiscOneFinalBoss Disc 1]]. No sir."]]

* ''ComicBook/AllNewUltimates'': [[Characters/MilesMoralesSpiderMan Bombshell]] finally has Diamondback at her mercy. Just one explosion to blow up her head, and avenge her boyfriend. But no, she decides to let her go.

->''"I'll tell him that the substitute Shinigami he was worried about...turned out to be a piece of trash that wasn't even worth killing."''

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', this trope is considered by the krogan race to be the ''ultimate insult'' one can give to an enemy. As a {{Proud Warrior Race|Guy}}, krogan social status is [[EnemiesEqualsGreatness determined by the enemies they make and even more so, the enemies they have killed]]. If one decides that they won't kill you, it's no act of mercy; it means you're considered less than noteworthy in a krogan's eyes while they go on to look for a better, proper enemy to kill. They extend this facet of their culture to other races as well; the long list of enemies comprising the Commander's RoguesGallery, from the already-killed to the soon-killed to the eventually-killed, is precisely why most krogan pay [[WorldsBestWarrior Shepard]] tremendous respect, despite the fact that s/he's a human.

* Franchise/HarryPotter
** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'' Harry ''was'' going to kill Sirius, but [[ThouShallNotKill couldn't bring himself to do it]]. [[MiscarriageOfJustice Fortunately too!]]

* PlayedForLaughs in [[https://www.nerfnow.com/comic/3188 this]] ''WebComic/NerfNow'' strip where Angie decides an enemy is not worth killing because they don't give out enough XP or drop valuable enough loot to be worth the effort.

** ''Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger'' (''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'') has a subversion: [[spoiler:Wolzard (Koragg) has a [[JekyllAndHyde suppressed good side]] which leads to him finding excuses to let the Rangers live, the main one being that it's dishonorable to slay an unworthy opponent. When a Ranger confronts him, Wolzard gives the standard 'unworthy opponent' speech, and the hero responds with a volley of lightning bolts. Wolzard is ''completely'' unharmed, but decides anyway that the hero's worth fighting after all and proceeds to utterly mop the floor with him. (He still lets him go in the end.)]]

* In the first act of ''Film/{{Napoleon}}'', a Royal Navy officer aboard the ''HMS Agamemnon'' spots the ship ''Le Hasard'' making its way from Corsica to mainland France, and asks his superior if they should fire on the suspicious-looking craft. His superior replies that it's not important enough to be worth wasting ammunition. And so Captain [[EarlyBirdCameo Horatio Nelson]] can only glare at the departing ship, somehow sensing that he will have a long military rivalry with one of its passengers: future French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (then a young army officer).[[note]] Unfortunately, director Abel Gance was never able to make the other five films in his planned Napoleon hexalogy, the first few of which would have continued the thread of Napoleon's rivalry with Nelson until the latter's death at Trafalgar in 1805.[[/note]]

** In ''[[VideoGame/SonicStorybookSeries Sonic and the Black Knight]]'', after Sonic's first showdown with King Arthur, the king remarks that Sonic is "a fool of a knight not even worth slaying" before departing. This bites him in the ass later on, as Sonic takes the opportunity to [[TaughtByExperience learn and grow stronger]] in order to defeat him.

* ''Literature/TheBearAndTheDragon'': Played with. While the Chinese are invading Russia, a Russian tank unit hooks up with a grizzled old Soviet Army soldier named Pavel, who fought the Germans during World War 2. He's a deadly effective sniper, and at one point they're watching a small unit of Chinese soldiers. One of them is a Lieutenant, and the commander of the Russian tank unit asks him if he'd like to snipe him. The old soldier scornfully replies that he wouldn't waste a bullet on a Lieutenant.
--->'''Pavel''': Shooting a Lieutenant is no different than shooting a private. There are so many of them.

---'''Pavel''': Shooting a Lieutenant is no different than shooting a private. There are so many of them.

** Subverted by Kenpachi. He decides Nnoitra is not worth killing once there's no fight left in him, and prepares to just leave him alone, hoping to fight him again some other day once he gets stronger. [[DontYouDarePityMe Nnoitra gets offended by the act of 'mercy' and charges Kenpachi]], who decides that this makes him worthy of being killed and cuts him down mid-stride.
** Ginjou does this to [[spoiler:Ichigo after [[TheReveal he revealed his true colors]] and [[PowerParasite steals Ichigo's Fullbring]]]].

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[[quoteright:345:[[Webcomic/CluelessHero https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clueless_hero_farm_boy.png]]]]
->[[caption-width-right:345:"I will definitely not regret this later when he comes for revenge at the end of [[DiscOneFinalBoss Disc 1]]. No sir."]]

-->'''Lothos''': She is not ready yet.
-->'''Amilyn''': What? Dinner's off!?

-->'''Crazy Monk''': Are you going to kill me?
-->'''Brainsucking Alien''': Oh, [[YourBrainWontBeMuchOfAMeal there's nothing in your head of any use]].

* Nemesis in ''Film/ResidentEvilApocalypse'' effortlessly mows down an entire squad of S.T.A.R.S while leaving the EthnicScrappy L.J. untouched. [[RoboCam We see L.J. through Nemesis's eyes]] and he's identified as "Armed Civilian. Threat: Minimal". When L.J. throws down his gun, the reading changes to "Noncombatant. Threat: None" and Nemesis walks away.

* In ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} Breaking Dawn Part 1]]'', when Bella is feared dead, Jacob blames Edward and tells him to his face, "I won't kill you. That would be too easy. [[CruelMercy You deserve to live with this]]."
* In ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' [[Characters/BatmanPoisonIvy Poison Ivy]] is about to {{kiss|OfDeath}} Commissioner Gordon before deciding to spare him, saying that he's way too old for her.
* In ''Film/TheCrossing'', General Howe doesn't want to bother with finishing off the Continental Army in the middle of winter, so he leaves a small force of Hessians to keep an eye on them while he and his army winter in New York. [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington Washington]] is incredulous, and also, insulted.
* In most of the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' films, Terminators have a habit of hijacking a vehicle, then ordering the driver to "get out". Presumably, scaring the driver out of the vehicle is less time-consuming than killing him and dumping his body outside. They'll also eagerly use non-lethal attacks if it's the fastest and most effective way to get non-targets out of their way.

* ''Film/NevadaSmith'' (1966). Creator/SteveMcQueenActor's character hunts down the men who murdered his parents one by one. The final villain he shoots several times non-fatally until he pleads for Smith to GetItOverWith. Smith just rides off, saying he's not worth it.
* At the end of the FinalBattle in the Film/JamesBond movie ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', [[spoiler:Blofeld]] is severely injured after his helicopter crashed onto the Westminster Bridge. As 007 approaches [[spoiler:Blofeld]] crawling away from the wreckage, he offers Bond into FinishHim. But after some initial hesitation, Bond tosses his Walther PPK away and states he's "out of bullets", and leaves him to be arrested by [[BigGood M]]. [[spoiler:This also left [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Blofeld a bit perplexed as to why 007 chose to spare him]] despite their CainAndAbel relationship. And [[EvilCannotComprehendGood it also escapes Blofeld's mind]] in the fact that despite being a ProfessionalKiller, there [[EveryoneHasStandards are certain moral lines even Bond won't cross]], and [[HeWhoFightsMonsters while 007 may finally get his revenge, killing Blofeld won't do much]].]]
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar:'' When Nebula tells Thanos that he should have killed her when he had the chance, Thanos taunts his least-favorite "daughter" that he didn't want to waste the spare parts.
** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': Carol spares her EvilMentor, [[spoiler:Yon-Rogg]], finally seeing him as a pathetic man to whom she has nothing she needs to prove. Instead, she [[spoiler:sends him back to the Kree home planet and alert the [[GodEmperor Supreme Intelligence]] that she is coming to end the Kree's reign of terror]].
* In the ending of ''Film/OutlawKing'', [[spoiler:Robert the Bruce utterly crushes Edward II's army at the Battle of Loudon Hill, and then also defeats the boy prince in a personal confrontation. At this point Edward [[VillainousBreakdown actually has a panic-attack]], [[VomitIndiscretionShot vomits]] and cries out in terror as he crawls and stumbles away through mud and over the bodies of his slain Englishmen. The scene is clearly pathetic to Robert and the assembled Scots and none move forward to finish him off.[[note]] Had Edward actually been present at the battle - which most historians believe he was not - the Scots might have believed he wasn't worth ''killing'', but he would have been deemed too valuable as a hostage to be allowed to escape.[[/note]]]]
* In the first act of ''Film/{{Napoleon}}'', a Royal Navy officer aboard the ''HMS Agamemnon'' spots the ship ''Le Hasard'' making its way from Corsica to mainland France, and asks his superior if they should fire on the suspicious-looking craft. His superior replies that it's not important enough to be worth wasting ammunition. And so Captain [[EarlyBirdCameo Horatio Nelson]] can only glare at the departing ship, somehow sensing that he will have a long military rivalry with one of its passengers: future French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (then a young army officer).[[note]] Unfortunately, director Abel Gance was never able to make the other five films in his planned Napoleon hexalogy, the first few of which would have continued the thread of Napoleon's rivalry with Nelson until the latter's death at Trafalgar in 1805.[[/note]]

* In ''Cibola Burn'', the fourth novel of ''Literature/TheExpanse'', [[spoiler: Murtry]] explicitly doesn't kill Amos and Fayez because both were crippled and they weren't worth either the time or the bullets to finish off.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' has a non-killing variant: Calvin is trying to fill balloons for a water fight, but keeps messing them up and splashing water on himself. By the time Hobbes arrives, Calvin is soaked from head to toe. Hobbes just says, “Gee, what’s the point?” and walks away.

* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', Sarkhan muses upon arriving in the alternate, dragon-ruled Tarkir he's created that his old enemy, Zurgo Helmsmasher (now Bellstriker) has sunk so far he's not worth the effort to kill. Ironically, the Zurgo Helmsmasher card was AwesomeButImpractical and saw no serious tournament play, while Zurgo Bellstriker's became an instant mainstay of red decks due to being a one mana 2/2.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}'': Several monster will not chase you if you're below a certain level, specified on the card. If you can't fight them, you automatically succeed in running away. This being ''Munchkin'', there have been cases where other players have played level up cards on the active player specifically to raise them to the cut-off limit just to avoid this.

-->'''Rodrigo:''' Get it over with then.
-->'''Ezio:''' No. Killing you won't bring my family back... I'm done.

--> '''Rico''': Considering the value of the Panauan buck, shooting you would have been more expensive.

* In the Genocide run of ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', [[spoiler: you can ditch Jerry and still qualify as genocidal. He's just that much of a pain in the ass to kill]].
* This is one of [[spoiler: Chunk's possible fates]] at the end of ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', he is considered such a pathetic threat that the player can choose to convince him to stay out of the way or outright ignore him and go straight to fight the real guards.
* In the "Bad" ending route of ''{VideoGame/TheWitchAndTheHundredKnight'', Metallia spared [[spoiler: Lucchini's]] life even though [[spoiler: Lucchini]] asked her to kill him, with Metallia explaining she should have the freedom to make that choice, not [[spoiler: Lucchini's]]. Metallia chose to [[spoiler: just simply sever her relationship with Lucchini]] and never want to see him again.

-->”Look, I don't do [[PetTheDog this]]... Uh, ever. But you guys are basically like kittens stuck on a leaking lifeboat in a typhoon. Just run.”
* In ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge''
** [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/001223c Bob decides that killing Megaman and George would only delay his fight with Protoman.]]

--> '''Thaco:''' [[spoiler:"You're not worth the XP I'd get for killing you."]]
** Of course, by recent ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' rules, [[spoiler: Thaco gets XP for "overcoming the challenge" that Dellyn poses, so]] he's really '''not''' worth killing at that point. But Thaco (as his name suggests) is used to the rules of older editions...

* The Dimensional Guardians from the web fiction serial ''Literature/DimensionHeroes'' find themselves being spared from death multiple times, often by the BigBad, who would much rather his servants take care of matters that are beneath him.
* In ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'' there is a psychic woman who had been mentally tormented by a demon for her entire life. After the human army conquers Hell, she finds and confronts her tormentor... who turns out to be a teenager, literally a {{Troll}} From Hell, for whom driving a random innocent person insane was just a game (well, you know the kind). She's about to shoot him, but after seeing him groveling and wetting himself with fear, she decides that he is not worth pulling the trigger.
* In ''WebVideo/CouriersMindRiseOfNewVegas,'' [[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas The Courier]] decides Benny is not worth killing ''yet.'' When The Courier finally catches up with Benny to avenge his own attempted murder, he's stunned to disbelief by the fact that Benny not only shrugged off seeing one of his victims BackFromTheDead, [[SuicidalOverconfidence but is now offering to]] [[WeCanRuleTogether let The Courier become his right-hand man when he takes over New Vegas]]. The Courier sees right through it but lets Benny go and kills the goon squad Benny sends up to dispose of him. As The Courier puts it, he wants Benny [[OhCrap to realize how fucked he is]] before killing him, and dealing with him while he still thinks on top of things would suck all the fun out of finally killing him.
* PlayedForLaughs in [[https://youtu.be/chsSC8I5b3Y "A Peppa Pig Magazine"]] by ''WebVideo/{{Caddicarus}}''. Caddy tries feeding a cutout of [[WesternAnimation/PeppaPig Daddy Pig]] to his dog, Stan, only for Stan to avoid eating it and leaves it on the floor instead.
-->'''Caddicarus''': Daddy Pig, you're not even good enough for the ''DOG'' to eat.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'': In one episode, after Kevin went around committing crimes and placing the blame on Ben, they end up in a showdown on a bridge. At one point, Kevin shifts back to his normal human form on accident and [[SwordOverHead is completely at Ben's mercy]], who is still using Fourarms. It seems like he's about to crush his skull with a well-placed fist or two but instead hits right next to him before walking away, remarking that Kevin's not worth it and never was. This, however, doesn't end up going well for him as he ends up needing to be saved by the guy who's been hunting him down the entire time due to Kevin's rage and hate at being told this causing him to go OneWingedAngel.
* In the sequel series, ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'', after getting hassled by [[TheBully school bullies]] [=JT=] and Cash, Ben is seemingly about to go alien on them... but then outright states that they aren't worth the trouble, instead opting to give them a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how they're nothing but sad, pathetic losers who bully others to make themselves feel big and that they need to grow up.
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' has JT and Cash being {{Fake Ultimate Hero}}es in "Reflected Glory". When Psyphon hears them boast about being the ones responsible for his master's defeat, [[AvengingTheVillain he arrives to Earth to destroy them]]. The two admit in tears making all this up, causing Psyphon to say the trope with disgust.

* In ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'', Osvald decides Stenvar isn't worth killing after his boss battle, despite the fact that Stenvar accepted a bribe from Harvey to get Osvald arrested for [[MiscarriageOfJustice a crime he didn't commit]]. Stenvar is so pathetic and greedy that Osvald sees [[CruelMercy burning all of Stenvar's money]] as a much better punishment.

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'': When Kratos and Atreus run into Modi after having defeated him, he is found [[IHaveNoSon completely beaten up by his own father Thor and left in disgrace]]. Kratos tells his son to leave him alone, stating this trope word-for-word as reason. However, Atreus disobeys him and [[TroublingUnchildklikeBehavior proceeds to execute Modi]] for [[YourMom insulting his mother Faye too many times]]. [[spoiler:By the end of the game, after Atreus is snapped out of his arrogance, he [[MeaningfulEcho repeats his father's advice to him]] to prevent him from strangling Baldur, and Kratos heeds his word. Too bad Baldur tries to strangle his mother Freya as soon as Kratos walks away, forcing the Spartan to step in and kill him after all.]]