History Main / PoisonIsEvil

* In ''Literature/TheBible'', the famous Exodus 22:18 verse "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (King James Version translation) has often been claimed to refer to a poisoner instead of a sorceress.

** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' has the first cases of murder (and attempted murder) via poison. [[spoiler: In chronological order, Dahlia [[MurderBySuicide tricks Terry Fawles into suicide]] via drinking poison, poisons Diego Armando for looking into her (he survives, but is left in a coma), and poisons Phoenix's cold medicine, but he doesn't have a chance to take it before Mia reveals the poison]]. The poisoner is also willing to kill via stabbing and electrocution when necessary, but poison is something of their WeaponOfChoice.

** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' has the first cases of murder (and attempted murder) via poison. [[spoiler: In chronological order, Dahlia [[MurderBySuicide tricks Terry Fawles into suicide]] via drinking poison, poisons Diego Armando for looking into her (he survives, but is left in a coma), and poisons Phoenix's cold medicine, but he doesn't have a chance to take it before Mia reveals the poison]]. The poisoner is also willing to kill via stabbing and electrocution when necessary, but poison is something of their WeaponOfChoice. *** ''Trials and Tribulations'' also has Furio Tigre and Viola Cadaverini in the third case; the former poisoned Glen Elg and the latter's creepiness is emphasized by hinting that she poisons food she serves- though Viola doesn't ''actually'' poison anyone during the investigation. [[spoiler: The epilogue hints that she sent poisoned food to Furio Tigre to get back at him for using her as a pawn.]]

** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' has the first cases of murder (and attempted murder) via poison, all by the same culprit. [[spoiler: In chronological order, Dahlia [[MurderBySuicide tricks Terry Fawles into suicide]] via drinking poison, poisons Diego Armando for looking into her (he survives, but is left in a coma), and poisons Phoenix's cold medicine, but he doesn't have a chance to take it before Mia reveals the poison]]. The poisoner is also willing to kill via stabbing and electrocution when necessary, but poison is something of their WeaponOfChoice.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the MadScientist captain of the 12th Division and the TokenEvilTeammate for the 13 Court Guard Squads, uses a Zanpakuto with poisonous abilities.

* In the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, in all cases involving poison [[spoiler: (three beverages, one bottle of cold medicine, and one bottle of nail polish)]] the poisoners turn out to be reprehensible villains. The villain most fond of poison, [[spoiler: Dahlia Hawthorne,]] is a ruthless sociopath and BitchInSheepsClothing who is universally seen as one of the series' most despicable culprits.

Poison is seen as the most vile form of murder also because using it definitely shows ''mens rea'', mind to murder and both intention and determination to commit a murder. Clearly, someone who uses it to commit a murder is committing intentional and premeditated murder; it's hard to argue otherwise. Poison is also considered the weapon of {{Dirty Coward}}s everywhere: using it does not require physical prowess or mental courage.

* In ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'', where despite everyone being ninjas, mostly only villains rely on combat that involves something other than direct confrontation, although to be fair the heroes themselves rarely remark on it being "bad" in and of itself. Pre-timeskip, some of the only users of poison are the 2 Rain ninja during the start of the Zabuza arc, and Kankuro (who becomes a good guy, but his poison focus is introduced when he's a villain). Later on, we get Sasori (who focuses on poison in the same way Kankuro does) and it's not until MUCH much later that Sakura uses her medical expertise to make a poison kunai as one of the only purely heroic examples.

The use of poison in combat, such as PoisonedWeapons, is widely seen as cheating and dirty fighting, primarily employed by [[DirtyCoward cowardly villains]] or villainous {{Combat Pragmatist}}s who care nothing about honor, only about results -- usually the poison-using villain's aim is to either murder someone, gain an unfair advantage, or render someone helpless who would otherwise have wiped the floor with them in a stand-up fight. Depending on the effects of the poison in question, things can get awfully [[MoralDissonance dissonant]] when other non-poisonous abilities exist (blinding flashes or holy power that weakens TheUndead, for example) that do pretty much the same thing as what the poison does and are used quite freely by heroes to bring down their opposition. Because of this, poison's limitation to villains can sometimes take on the status of DesignatedEvil. The fact that poison can be used to take down a physically stronger opponent is why it is sometimes referred to as a "woman's weapon"[[note]]In terms of sheer numbers, more poisoners are male, if only because men commit the vast majority of murders in general. But in terms of percentage, the proportion of female murderers who use poison is several times larger than the proportion of male murderers who use poison.[[/note]], and why it's also a favored tool of [[EunuchsAreEvil villainous eunuchs]].

* Averted and played straight in ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': The villainous teams of each game tend to favor using at least one line of Poison type Pokemon, but there's also a Poison-type Gym Leader in ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', as well as one in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', and nothing stops you from using Poison types, [[TierInducedScrappy aside from their general crappiness in battle]].
** Notably, it took until ''Generation VII'' for there to be a Poison-type Legendary Pokémon (not counting Arceus holding the Poison plate), with every other type getting a legendary representative rather earlier.
** In addition, in the first games the only Ghost types were also Poison types and they were somewhat evil (possessing channelers in the Lavender Tower).

* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'': Cheshire is a PsychoForHire who specializes in poisons.

*** ''Book of Exalted Deeds'' spells out poison that does ability damage or drain as inherently evil because it "causes undue suffering in the process of incapacitating or killing an opponent." It also introduces "ravages", which have exactly the same effect as poisons, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality except that they are okay because they inflict damage via the creature's evil rather than via its biological processes]]. Confusingly one of the listed ravages is "purified coautl venom", drawing attention to how [[ContinuitySnarl couatls still have poisonous attacks]] while being [[LawfulGood Always Lawful Good]].

* In the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, there are at least three incidents involving poison and beverages. There is also a case involving poisoned [[spoiler: cold medicine]] and a case involving poisoned [[spoiler: nail polish]]. All are the work of villains. [[TheHero Phoenix Wright]] says at one point that the two things he cannot forgive are poisoning and betrayal[[note]]In context, taking advantage of someone's feelings for you in order to manipulate that person[[/note]]. Though he's pretty justified in his opinion: [[spoiler: One of those cases turned out to be a plot to murder ''him.'']]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* In French law, poisoning is still defined as a crime independent of murder itself. It used to be punished by harsher sentences because poison was seen as a vile and dishonorable way to kill someone.
* The use of poisons or chemical warfare is a war crime under the [[UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar Second Hague Convention and the Geneva Protocol]].
* In the United Kingdom, before capital punishment was abolished in 1964, there was an unwritten rule that poisoners were always hanged. Poisoning was considered as the most vile form of murder, and poisoners were never pardoned. Albert Pierrepoint, the most notorious British executioner, mentioned in his memoirs that the poisoners he hanged died as cowards -- murderers who'd used knives [[FaceDeathWithDignity faced the noose most bravely]], while ''all'' poisoners [[AintTooProudToBeg broke down and begged]] when they were escorted to the gallows.
[[/folder]]

The use of poison in combat, such as PoisonedWeapons, is widely seen as cheating and dirty fighting, primarily employed by [[DirtyCoward cowardly villains]] or villainous {{Combat Pragmatist}}s who care nothing about honor, only about results -- usually the poison-using villain's aim is to either murder someone, gain an unfair advantage, or render someone helpless who would otherwise have wiped the floor with them in a stand-up fight. Depending on the effects of the poison in question, things can get awfully [[MoralDissonance dissonant]] when other non-poisonous abilities exist (blinding flashes or holy power that weakens TheUndead, for example) that do pretty much the same thing as what the poison does and are used quite freely by heroes to bring down their opposition. Because of this, poison's limitation to villains can sometimes take on the status of DesignatedEvil. The fact that poison can be used to take down a physically stronger opponent is why it is sometimes referred to as a "woman's weapon"[[note]]In terms of sheer numbers, more poisoners are male, if only because men commit the vast majority of murders in general. But in terms of percentage, the proportion of female murderers who use poison is several times larger than the proportion of male murderers who use poison.[[/note]], and why it's also a favored tactic of [[EunuchsAreEvil villainous eunuchs]].

The use of poison in combat, such as PoisonedWeapons, is widely seen as cheating and dirty fighting, primarily employed by [[DirtyCoward cowardly villains]] or villainous {{Combat Pragmatist}}s who care nothing about honor, only about results -- usually the poison-using villain's aim is to either murder someone, gain an unfair advantage, or render someone helpless who would otherwise have wiped the floor with them in a stand-up fight. Depending on the effects of the poison in question, things can get awfully [[MoralDissonance dissonant]] when other non-poisonous abilities exist (blinding flashes or holy power that weakens TheUndead, for example) that do pretty much the same thing as what the poison does and are used quite freely by heroes to bring down their opposition. Because of this, poison's limitation to villains can sometimes take on the status of DesignatedEvil. The fact that poison can be used to take down a physically superior person is also why it is sometimes referred to as a "woman's weapon"[[note]]In terms of sheer numbers, more poisoners are male, if only because men commit the vast majority of murders in general. But in terms of percentage, the proportion of female murderers who use poison is several times larger than the proportion of male murderers who use poison.[[/note]], and poisoning is also a favored tactic of [[EunuchsAreEvil villainous eunuchs]].

The use of poison in combat, such as PoisonedWeapons, is widely seen as cheating and dirty fighting, primarily employed by [[DirtyCoward cowardly villains]] or villainous {{Combat Pragmatist}}s who care nothing about honor, only about results -- usually the poison-using villain's aim is to either murder someone, gain an unfair advantage, or render someone helpless who would otherwise have wiped the floor with them in a stand-up fight. Depending on the effects of the poison in question, things can get awfully [[MoralDissonance dissonant]] when other non-poisonous abilities exist (blinding flashes or holy power that weakens TheUndead, for example) that do pretty much the same thing as what the poison does and are used quite freely by heroes to bring down their opposition. Because of this, poison's limitation to villains can sometimes take on the status of DesignatedEvil. The fact that poison can be used to take down a physically superior person is also why it is sometimes referred to as a "woman's weapon".[[note]]In terms of sheer numbers, more poisoners are male, if only because men commit the vast majority of murders in general. But in terms of percentage, the proportion of female murderers who use poison is several times larger than the proportion of male murderers who use poison.[[/note]]

Historically, this trope is most traditional in Western Europe and its descendants -- others rarely cared unless there was a breach of SacredHospitality or fair duel. In tropical regions hunting with poisons was widespread; in Hindu tradition, poisonous critters are just another fact of life, and cobras even revered sometimes. China didn't see poisons as something special, nor did Steppe peoples[[note]]for the authors of [[UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan Temujin]]'s biography the only dramatic point was in how his loyal follower did SuckOutThePoison[[/note]], Russians shrugged[[note]]even the author of "The Word of Igor's Campaign", a thinly veiled [[HordesFromTheEast anti-Horde]] pamphlet, offhandedly mentioned [[PoisonedWeapons poisoned arrows]] once without any judgement[[/note]]. Americans risk to run into TheSavageIndian with it, but the choice of setting usually averts this.

-->-- '''Katniss''', ''[[Literature/TheHungerGames Hunger Games: Mockingjay]]''

* In one sidequest of ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'' you need to help a soldier find a weapon for her promotion exam. One of the options is a poisoned claymore, though she is unaware of this. [[spoiler: If selected, she will fail the trial for winning by dishonorable means.]] Interestingly this is a case of in-game DeliberateValuesDissonance as you get the weapon from a Nopon merchant. Likewise, the game's Nopon party member specializes in poison and status ailment attacks. The [[HumansByAnyOtherName homs]] (or at least their military) believe in this trope while the Nopon have no such stigma.

[[folder: Myth and Religion]]

[[folder: Web Animation]]

** Traditionally, the only "iconic" dragon with a poison-based BreathWeapon is the Green Dragon, one of the Usually Chaotic Evil Chromatics and known for being particularly malicious and cruel.

* All times when poison comes up in the Franchise/EvilliousChronicles involve it being used to kill people--a particular example is the light novel LightNovel/GiftFromThePrincessWhoBroughtSleep, with the titular gift being the [[GratuitousGerman wrong]] kind of [[BilingualBonus gift]].

** There are also plenty of villains who aren't afraid of using poisoned weapons, including Don Krieg, Crocodile, Wanze, and Duval.
* Bizarrely exists in ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'', where despite everyone being ninjas, mostly only villains rely on combat that involves something other than direct confrontation, although to be fair the heroes themselves rarely remark on it being "bad" in and of itself. Pre-timeskip, some of the only users of poison are the 2 Rain ninja during the start of the Zabuza arc, and Kankuro (who becomes a good guy, but his poison focus is introduced when he's a villain). Later on, we get Sasori (who focuses on poison in the same way Kankuro does) and it's not until MUCH much later that Sakura uses her medical expertise to make a poison kunai as one of the only purely heroic examples.

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', one of the many "second generation" Dragon Slayers that Natsu encounters is Cobra, the Poison Dragon Slayer. He is, unsurprisingly, evil.

* In the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, there are at least three incidents involving poison and beverages. There is also a case involving poisoned [[spoiler: cold medicine]] and a case involving poisoned [[spoiler: nail polish]]. All are the work of villains. [[TheHero Phoenix Wright]] says at one point that the two things he cannot forgive are poisoning and betrayal. Though he's pretty justified in his opinion: [[spoiler: One of those cases turned out to be a plot to murder ''him.'']]