History Main / PillowPistol

* ''Film/KillBill'': In Volume 2, after a brief fight with Karen Kim when ambushed in her hotel room, Beatrix pulls her gun from her pillow resulting she and Karen pointing their guns toward each other.

* Happens in ''Film/MurderOnTheOrientExpress1974'' (as well as in the [[/Film/MurderOnTheOrientExpress2017 2017 adaptation]]). On first entering the murder victim's room, Poirot notes the pistol ready under his pillow and the strange fact that he didn't try to defend himself with it while being stabbed multiple times. He quickly establishes the victim was [[SlippingAMickey drugged beforehand]].

* One home defense book recommended placing the gun between the mattress of the bed as it will move about less there. Under the pillow there's a risk of the gun shifting (as you move about during sleep) and falling to the floor, or of the trigger inadvertently being pulled while the sleeper is unconsciously moving around.

* Sousuke of ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' usually sleeps holding either a Glock or combat knife to his chest. This is maybe the ''third'' [[AnOddPlaceToSleep most]] [[InstantWakingSkills unsettling]] [[WakeUpFighting sleep]] [[SleepsWithBothEyesOpen habit]] he's picked up over the years.

* ''LightNovel/SkyWizardsAcademy'': After she got injured in a fight, Yuri [[WakingUpElsewhere wakes up in an unfamiliar bed]] with the rest of platoon E601 nearby and is very upset when she finds out [[UndressingTheUnconscious she had to be undressed while unconscious]]. During the ensuing NakedFreakOut, she [[PervertRevengeMode suddenly pulls a gun on Kanata]], with the weapon seemingly coming from out of nowhere. Rico later explains that the gun is hers, and she keeps it under her pillow to defend herself from stalkers.

* In the ''Franchise/MassEffect[=/=]VideoGame/{{FEAR}}'' crossover ''Fanfic/{{Harbinger}}'', Commander Shepard's intense, growing paranoia (fostered by equal parts of living in a CosmicHorrorStory and a history of fighting out-of-control psychics) leads to him sleeping with a pistol under his pillow. Ashley notes that he uses the pistol because once she and Shepard started sharing a bunk, there wasn't enough room for the two of them and the ''shotgun''.

* In the opening sequence of ''Film/TheIpcressFile'', Harry Palmer takes a gun out from under his duvet.

Compare HiddenSupplies, CantBatheWithoutAWeapon. Not to be confused with VictoriasSecretCompartment, or for PillowFight where the pillow ''is'' the weapon. See also PillowSilencer which can overlap with this trope depending on the context..

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[[quoteright:332:[[Webcomic/{{Dreamless}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_dreamless20090112.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:332:"...I WILL win this pillow fight, at any cost!"]]

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* In [[http://xkcd.com/225/ this]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip Richard Stallmann keeps a pair of katanas under his bed.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In the ''Manga/BlackButler'' manga Ciel has a pistol under his pillow. Once when Sebastian wakes him Ciel points the gun at him due to a nightmare he had just had. He lowers the gun when he realizes it's just Sebastian.
* [[{{BFS}} A bit too big to fit under his pillow]], but Guts from ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' ''always'' sleeps with his sword.
* Variation: In the ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'' anime, Deunan starts her first night in Olympus trying to sleep in a bed, but it's apparently been so long since she slept in one that [[PrefersRocksToPillows she can't]]. She ends up curled up on the hardwood floor clutching her service pistol.

* Sousuke of ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' usually sleeps holding either a Glock or combat knife to his chest. This is maybe the ''third'' [[AnOddPlaceToSleep most]] [[InstantWakingSkills unsettling]] [[WakeUpFighting sleep]] [[SleepsWithBothEyesOpen habit]] he's picked up over the years.
* ''LightNovel/SkyWizardsAcademy'': After she got injured in a fight, Yuri [[WakingUpElsewhere wakes up in an unfamiliar bed]] with the rest of platoon E601 nearby and is very upset when she finds out [[UndressingTheUnconscious she had to be undressed while unconscious]]. During the ensuing NakedFreakOut, she [[PervertRevengeMode suddenly pulls a gun on Kanata]], with the weapon seemingly coming from out of nowhere. Rico later explains that the gun is hers, and she keeps it under her pillow to defend herself from stalkers.

* One ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'' story had the title EvilVizier buy a set containing a pair of magic shoes, a gun that would make their wearer run in a straight line when fired and a "finish" flag that was the only thing that could stop the shoes. The night before the big day, Iznogoud slept with the gun under his pillow and bound with a wrist strap. [[spoiler:This doesn't stop a vengeful character from hiding the magic shoes within Iznogoud's baggy regular shoes.]]

[[folder:Film]]
* Film/JamesBond, and it was even used against him in ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' when the FemmeFatale he slept with [[ItWorksBetterWithBullets unloads it during the night]].

* In the opening sequence of ''Film/TheIpcressFile'', Harry Palmer takes a gun out from under his duvet.
* Lily Dillon (Anjelica Huston) in ''Film/TheGrifters''.
* Happens by accident near the end of the book ''Film/WagTheDog'' is based on: two characters have sex after one gives the other a pistol as a present. They fall asleep with the pistol there, a bad guy breaks in and gets the last surprise of his life. [[LampshadeHanging The narrator comments that it was like a movie]].
* In ''Film/HarlemNights'', Dominique (Jasmine Guy) reaches for a pistol to use on a post-coital Quick (Eddie Murphy), only to find out Quick discovered the pistol before they'd had sex (while placing his own pistols under the pillows) and emptied it. [[spoiler:He uses his own to kill her after she fails.]]

* In the documentary ''Film/BowlingForColumbine'', Moore interviews James Nichols, brother of the Oklahoma City Bombing accomplice Terry Nichols. James shows Moore the loaded gun he keeps under his pillow, and a subtitle then tells us that James has put the gun up to his head.
* In TheFilmOfTheBook ''Film/PrinceCaspian'' the queen has essentially a Pillow Crossbow.
* This trope is played with in one of the ''[[Film/LaraCroftTombRaider Tomb Raider]]'' movies. The male lead goes to put his gun under his pillow, apparently the bed was already taken by Lara as there was already a pair of pistols under the pillow.
* Midway through ''Film/MillersCrossing'', a gang of {{mooks}} storms former-mook-turned-mob-boss Leo O'Bannion's house in the middle of the night as part of an attempted coup. The first two get taken out with one of these. For the others, [[MoreDakka he's got a Tommy gun in his wardrobe]]. [[ImprobableAimingSkills And damn if he ain't still an artist when using it, too]].
* Riggs in ''Film/LethalWeapon'' sleeps with his service pistol. At least, he would if he slept.
* Porter in ''Film/{{Payback}}'', while sleeping on his ex-wife's couch, wakes up and still has the gun in his hand.
** He also kills his old partner with it, using a pillow as a makeshift silencer.
* Not involving a pistol but worthy of noting here; Creator/RogerMoore's character in ''Film/ShoutAtTheDevil'' hides his cash bag under the pillow when he stays the night at a hotel room in Africa. The next day he discovers someone has cut a hole through the bed and removed it!
* Happens in ''Film/MurderOnTheOrientExpress1974'' (as well as in the 2017 adaptation). On first entering the murder victim's room, Poirot notes the pistol ready under his pillow and the strange fact that he didn't try to defend himself with it while being stabbed multiple times. He quickly establishes the victim was [[SlippingAMickey drugged beforehand]].
* ''Film/QueenOfOuterSpace''. The eponymous Queen Yllana is captured in her bedchamber and is told she has a choice between ordering her forces to surrender or be killed. She appears to collapse on her bed in defeat, only to grab a RayGun from under her pillow and [[DefiantToTheEnd open fire]].
* The plot of ''Film/{{Inception}}'' involves industrial spies who use TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture technology to infiltrate their targets' dreams. In the BatmanColdOpen the target is Japanese businessman Saito, who realises what is happening and wakes up to find himself not in his BigFancyHouse but lying in bed in his secret love nest. He immediately takes a gun from under his pillow and points it at Arthur, who's trying to drug him unconscious again.

* In ''Film/TheCarRoadToRevenge'', Talen's gang attempt to abduct Daria from her house, but are thwarted when she pulls a HandCannon out from under the pillow and shoots several of them.
* ''Film/{{Fantomas}}'': In the third movie, Comissioner Juve keeps a gun under his pillow; apparently only when in the Scottish castle and on the current mission. [[spoiler:The gun will suddenly disappear...]]

* In the 1979 Disney comedy ''A Spaceman in King Arthur's Court'', the eponymous astronaut demonstrates a laser gun for King Arthur, who commands him to guard it well in case it falls into the wrong hands. Myth/{{Merlin}} decides to steal it, and while searching the astronaut's room finds it hidden under the pillow. Apparently because they haven't invented firearms yet, this is regarded as something new.

* ''The Little Drummer Girl'' (a John Le Carre novel) a Palestinian terrorist comments that it's quicker to have the weapon by the side of the bed.

* Earl of Coris, spymaster of Corisande in ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'' series, sleeps with a dagger under his bed when [[spoiler:in exile in Delferahk]] and it's implied that he did that for much longer time. Not that it helps him anyhow when [[spoiler: [[ImplacableMan Abrahim]] ]] pays him a nighttime visit.

* Averted in the ''Literature/AnitaBlake: Vampire Hunter'' series of books by Laurel K. Hamilton, where the titular heroine has a special holster attached to her headboard specifically for a Firestar 9mm. Apparently she has had problems in the past with zombies/werewolves/minions breaking and entering...

* In ''Chronicles of a Death Foretold,'' it is mentioned that Santiago's father once kept a loaded gun in his pillow until one day it blew a hole in the wall when the maid was changing the bed. He still has an unloaded gun in his pillow, though.

* In Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy, while worried about Noghri attempting to capture her, Leia keeps her lightsaber under her pillow as she sleeps. When some do come in the night for her, she throws the pillow first as a distraction.
* In ''I Am American And So Can You'', Creator/StephenColbert recommends sleeping with a gun under the pillow and blasting away at anything that wakes you up. [[FootnoteFever Footnotes and sidebars strongly discourage it.]]
* One of the Literature/FuManchu novels has a grizzled explorer preferring to keep his pistol hanging on a hook beside his head rather than under his pillow.
* Variant in ''Literature/ElevenTwentyTwoSixtyThree'': the protagonist conceals a pistol inside a pillow and uses it to the muffle the gunshot when he [[spoiler: kills Frank Dunning for the second time.]]
* In Creator/CJCherryh's ''Literature/Foreigner1994'' Bren, the human ambassador to an alien race, is given a gun by one of the alien leaders as a gift and keeps it in his bed. He ends up needing it as an assassin tries to kill him soon after.

* ''Series/TheKingsWoman'': Ying Zheng sleeps with a sword beside him. [[ProperlyParanoid It saves his life when Han Shen attempts to assassinate him.]]
* Burt with his .50 Desert Eagle in ''Series/{{Tremors}}: The Series'', in the episode: "A Little Paranoia Among Friends."

* Sarah does this in ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles''. [[CrazyPrepared She also keeps a shotgun behind the wallpaper, and lines the easy chair with Kevlar]].

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Kate tells Gibbs that she sleeps with one. His reaction: "Good girl!"
** So does Ziva. At least one man has nearly suffered fatal consequences from waking her up.
* ''Series/BabylonFive's'' Security Chief Garibaldi pulls his PPG out from under his pillow in one episode when he's woken up by suspicious noises from his shower.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Harmony drives away fellow vampire and ex-boyfriend Spike with a stake she keeps in her bed. Spike reacts to it like you would to a loaded gun. "You kept that in our bed? Do you know how dangerous those things are?"

* ''Series/TheEqualizer''. In "Splinters", [=McCall=] does some TrespassingToTalk.
-->'''[=McCall=]:''' I think you should know that the gun you keep under your pillow...''(holds up revolver)''...is elsewhere.
* ''Series/TheGeorgeLopezShow'': In one episode, Carmen wakes up Jason in the middle of the night, causing him to spring from the couch, [[WakeUpFighting brandishing a baseball bat]] while shouting "[[WakingNonSequitur I DIDN'T TOUCH YOUR DAUGHTER, MR. LOPEZ!]]".
* ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls'': Max sleeps with a knife under her pillow because she can't afford a home security system and is also a "cutter".
* ''Series/ShadowAndBone''. On being placed in a [[GildedCage luxurious room in the Little Palace]], the first thing Alina does is search it until she finds a makeshift weapon, a letter opener that she hides under her pillow. Growing up in a orphanage had taught her the [[ProperlyParanoid importance of always having a weapon available]].
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. In "The Most Toys", VillainOfTheWeek Kivas Fajo mentions that he sleeps with one of his rare prototype Varon-T disruptors under his pillow, "and I sleep very well". This is used as a ChekhovsGun when Data and Varria try to sneak off the ship while he's asleep; the alarm goes off and he soon comes running with the disrupter in his hand.
* Captain Lorca of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' sleeps with a phaser under his pillow. The trope is quickly deconstructed - the likelihood of him ever getting to use it against an enemy who infiltrates a federation starship and makes it to the captain's quarters are rather low. Instead, he pulls it on Admiral Cornwell [[WakeUpFighting when she wakes him]]. She considers it not as a sign of him being prepared, but of him [[MaskOfSanity being utterly broken from the loss of his previous ship, and having cheated his way through his psych evaluations]]. [[spoiler:However, the later revelation of him being a ruthless [[MirrorUniverse Terran]] suggests a different explanation: like every Terran officer, he's constantly paranoid of someone desiring a KlingonPromotion, hence the phaser and the reaction]].
* ''Series/ThePunisher2017''
** Curtis Hoyle sleeps with a gun under his pillow. We see him take it out instinctively when Micro comes pounding on the door in the middle of the night to summon Curtis to provide emergency medical work on Frank Castle. In the season 1 finale, he tries to reach for it when he finds Billy Russo in his apartment asking him to betray Frank...only Billy has taken the gun.
--->'''Russo:''' You looking for this?
** When Russo escapes in Season 2, Agent Madani (who was shot by Russo, her ex-lover) is shown sleeping with a gun under the pillow next to her. However this is presented as a sign of her unresolved trauma than being ProperlyParanoid, though Russo ''does'' turn up in her apartment later. As with Curtis, he makes sure to confiscate the gun (and a backup pistol she hides in the kitchen cupboard) before confronting her.

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimateSeries'' episode "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?", after CorruptCorporateExecutive Mockridge is nearly killed by Edward Nygma/The Riddler, who he had fired and ripped off, he is shown taking a shotgun with him as he goes to bed, unable to sleep well due to worrying Riddler would return to finish the job.

* WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries: The episode "[[Recap/TangledTheSeriesS1E12BigBrothersOfCorona Big Brothers Of Corona]]" shows us that Cassandra sleeps with a sword next to her bed, and when a noise wakes her up, she reaches for the sword to fight the intruder at her room, her best friend Rapunzel.

* ''Film/Fantômas'': In the third movie, Comissioner Juve keeps a gun under his pillow; apparently only when in the Scottish castle and on the current mission. [[spoiler:The gun will suddenly disappear...]]

* In Creator/CJCherryh's ''Literature/{{Foreigner}}'' Bren, the human ambassador to an alien race, is given a gun by one of the alien leaders as a gift and keeps it in his bed. He ends up needing it as an assassin tries to kill him soon after.

* Not involving a pistol but worthy of noting here; Creator/RogerMoore's character in ''Shout at the Devil'' hides his cash bag under the pillow when he stays the night at a hotel room in Africa. The next day he discovers someone has cut a hole through the bed and removed it!

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3590 Seymour has one.]]

* In the 1979 Disney comedy ''A Spaceman in King Arthur's Court'', the astronaut demonstrates a laser gun for King Arthur, who commands him to guard it well in case it falls into the wrong hands. Myth/{{Merlin}} decides to steal it, and while searching the astronaut's room finds it hidden under the pillow. Apparently because they haven't invented firearms yet, this is regarded as something new.

* In ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' General Maximus [[ProperlyParanoid sleeps with a daggar.]] When Quintus comes to wake him Maximus snaps it out instantly, ready to slice his throat, sheepishly smiling when he recognizes his friend.

Sometimes though there's also a more practical option where the gun or weapon is closeby or even right beside the owner as they sleep. This also especially fits if the weapon they have, isn't exactly capable of being hidden underneath a pillow.

* ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls'': Max sleeps under a pillow knife because she can't afford a home security system and is also a "cutter".

Compare HiddenSupplies, CantBatheWithoutAWeapon. Not to be confused with VictoriasSecretCompartment, or for PillowFight where the pillow ''is'' the weapon. See also PillowSilencer.

* ''Series/TheLastEnemy''

-->'''Billy Russo:''' You looking for this?
** When Russo escapes in Season 2, Agent Madani (who was shot by Russo, her ex-lover) is shown sleeping with a gun under the pillow next to her. However this is presented as a sign of her unresolved trauma than being ProperlyParanoid.

* ''Series/ThePunisher2017'': Curtis Hoyle sleeps with a gun under his pillow. We see him take it out instinctively when Micro comes pounding on the door in the middle of the night to summon Curtis to provide emergency medical work on Frank. In the season 1 finale, he tries to reach for it when he finds Billy Russo in his apartment asking him to betray Frank...only Billy has taken the gun.

--> '''Heavy:''' Yes. [[CompletelyMissingThePoint I must buy Sascha better bed]].