History Main / SelectiveSlaughter

* In a ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' episode, a hitman (who's trying much too hard to present himself as a sophisticated assassin type) turns himself and the woman who hired him in after she found out new information about the death of her daughter and changed targets, because the hitman didn't want to kill a woman.

** And previously, in the first movie, he was prohibited from harming employees of the company that made him.
* The Predator, in [[Film/{{Predator 2}} the second movie]], attacks a subway train full of people and kills only those who were armed [[spoiler: except for the policewoman, whom was spared because [[InfraredXrayCamera he could see]] that she was pregnant.]]

* The Peacemakers from ''LightNovel/ScrappedPrincess'' can kill everyone except for Pacifica, the person they ''have'' to kill, because [[spoiler:she was genetically engineered to be as much like their original master as possible]].

* Brock Sampson of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' cannot kill women or children. He's not above killing anything else under the sky with gusto, and he'll even maim women (considering he plucked out his lover's eye), but his mentor taught him not to kill women or children as it's basically the [[MoralDissonance only moral high ground they can actually claim over their enemies]]. They're also probably just not covered by his license to kill (even though the undead apparently are).

Generally, if the person affected by selective slaughter is a villain the FlawExploitation is treated as ingenious on the part of the heroes, but if the person is TheHero, it's considered low. Yeah, a bit of a DoubleStandard. Unless of course it is done specifically to introduce [[BlackAndGrayMorality a little grey to the heroic side]]. This very often results in a GoThroughMe scenario.

* In a ''Series/CSINewYork'' episode, a hitman (who's trying much too hard to present himself as a sophisticated assassin type) turns himself and the woman who hired him in after she found out new information about the death of her daughter and changed targets, because the hitman didn't want to kill a woman.

Generally, if the person affected by SelectiveSlaughter is a villain the FlawExploitation is treated as ingenious on the part of the heroes, but if the person is TheHero, it's considered low. Yeah, a bit of a DoubleStandard. Unless of course it is done specifically to introduce [[BlackAndGrayMorality a little grey to the heroic side]]. This very often results in a GoThroughMe scenario.

* Enishi in ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' is unable to harm young women and becomes violently ill if he tries due to what happened to his sister (and he was witness to) and this becomes a crucial plot point twice: [[spoiler:He didn't really kill Kaoru, he just abducted her and left a very realistic dummy to serve as a body, and in the final fight with Kenshin, Kaoru throws herself between them and stops him before he kills Kenshin]].

Generally, if the person affected by SelectiveSlaughter is a villain the FlawExploitation is treated as ingenious on the part of the heroes, but if the person is TheHero, it's considered low. Yeah, a bit of a DoubleStandard. This very often results in a GoThroughMe scenario.

* In ''Film/DjangoUnchained'', Django is mad enough to kill every white person in and around Candyland, making a special detour just to off the white mastiff handlers who train large dogs to rip black people limb from limb, and [[spoiler:did this to D'Artagnan, making this a case of stone cold vengeance]]. However, during the final showdown, he takes care to courteously ask the black slaves present to leave the house. Apart from the one who actually [[spoiler:not only ''has'' benefitted from being a slave but was also just as much a tormentor of the slaves and the one who destroyed his plans and hopes of leaving with Brunhilde, Candy's Uncle Tom estate manager Stephen, who he saves for last.]]

* In MercedesLackey's ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Oathbound]]'' series, the sword Need has a ''geas'' that prohibits the wielder from harming women, and at least one villain has used a GenderBender to get around this.

* In ''Film/DjangoUnchained'', Django is mad enough to kill every white person in and around Candyland, making a special detour just to off the white mastiff handlers who train large dogs to rip black people limb from limb. However, during the final showdown, he takes care to courteously ask the black slaves present to leave the house. Apart from the one who actually [[spoiler: not only ''has'' benefitted from being a slave but was also just as much a tormentor of the slaves and the one who destroyed his plans and hopes of leaving with Brunhilde, Candy's Uncle Tom estate manager Stephen, who he saves for last.]]

* Patrick Bateman from AmericanPsycho seems to be unable to kill people who love him. He wants to kill his coworker, Luis Carruthers, but when he learns that Luis is in love with him, he's physically unable to do it.

* In ''Film/DjangoUnchained'', Django is mad enough to kill every white person in and around Candyland, making a special detour just to off the white mastiff handlers who train large dogs to rip black people limb from limb. However, during the final showdown, he takes care to courteously ask the negroes present to leave the house. Apart from the one who actually ''has'' benefited from being a slave, Candy's Uncle Tom estate manager Stephen, who he saves for last.

* Averted in Warhammer40K: The Chaos god [[WarGod Khorne]] ''used'' to be the god of martial honor and prowess, whose [[BloodKnight followers]] would not attack defenseless victims. Nowadays, "Khorne cares not from where the blood flows, so long as it flows", and the only distinction is that they'll leave defenseless targets alone only as long as there's a WorthyOpponent nearby.

* Jack Noir, one of the villains in {{Homestuck}}, is unable to attack Jade after [[spoiler: Bec was prototyped, as Jack gained Bec's affection for Jade along with his power.]] This is used by Dave during a fight.

* In ''Film/DjangoUnchained'', Django is mad enough to kill every white person in and around Candyland, making a special detour just to off the white mastiff handlers who train large dogs to rip black people limb from limb. However, during the final showdown, he takes care to courteously ask the negroes present to step to one side out of the line of fire. Apart from the one who actually ''has'' benefited from being a slave, Candy's Uncle Tom estate manager Stephen, who he saves for last.