History Main / SheatheYourSword

* This is done in some ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' games. Well, to an extent.

** There's a much-maligned three-episode arc where protagonist Duncan [=MacLeod=] is the ChosenOne to fight against the evil demon Ahriman. Violence won't work in this battle, and the only way to defeat Ahriman is for Duncan to achieve inner peace.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "Warriors' Gate," the time-sensitive Biroc tells the Doctor to "do nothing" in the face of impending doom. "Of course," the Doctor muses, "if it's the right sort of nothing." Meanwhile, the insane Captain Rorvik's attempts to "get something done" result in that same impending doom.
** The final episode of the classic series, "Survival" is about The Doctor and Ace refusing to do violence to keep themselves from being transformed into violent [[CatFolk cat aliens]].
-->'''The Doctor''': If we fight like animals, we'll die like animals!

* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Justice", the crew are aboard a penal space station with a section where it's impossible to commit a crime and anyone who attempts it becomes the victim (for example, the punishment for arson is being set on fire). [[spoiler:This works in their favor when an almost-unbeatable droid tries to murder them]].

* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E21AllHellBreaksLoosePartOne "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One" (S02, Ep21)]], Sam realizes that the only way to frustrate the Yellow-Eyed Demon's plan is to get the Special Children to stop fighting each other and work together. Sam even convinces Jake to put down his weapon after Sam puts down his knife. But this was a SubvertedTrope as Jake was not convinced and didn't really need a weapon with his SuperStrength.

The reasons behind this vary-- sometimes the opponent is literally fueled by the hero's aggressive energy (or is a literal figment of the hero's imagination) so putting a stop to their hostility the enemy will literally weaken (and/or cease to exist). Maybe the opponent has an overdeveloped sense of honor and refuses to strike down someone who won't keep their weapon in hand. Or perhaps the confrontation was [[LetsYouAndHimFight just a big misunderstanding]] (PoorCommunicationKills, you know), and standing down will buy time for both sides to figure out that they shouldn't even be fighting each other in the first place. (Some {{Crossover}} stories are prone to this, with the heroes from each series somehow finding themselves in the others' crosshairs.) Overlaps with KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand, where Luka confronts an aggressive Alice with nonaggression and hopes to win by getting her to stand down too.

* Offscreen in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23034028/chapters/55083382 Baby Boom]]'', the White Rabbit learns that in a prior timeline, [[spoiler: after establishing that Hawkmoth had learned all their identities,]] the Miraculous holders gave all of their Miraculous back to the Guardian, who took them away from Paris, and then they publicly confronted Hawkmoth to let him know that the Ladybug and Black Cat were gone. It worked; he sent a few minor akumas to probe their defences, but getting no reaction, he didn't take it any further. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, it turned out that there were bigger threats to come than Hawkmoth, and without the Miraculous, humanity was vulnerable to them.]]

*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E03TheHouseOfQuark The House of Quark]]", the title Ferengi is challenged to a duel to the death by a Klingon named D'Ghor. Fighting would almost certainly get him killed, but refusing would dishonor the Klingon woman he's been trying to help. His solution is to show up, throw his weapon aside, kneel down, and dare the Klingon to murder him in cold blood, without any honor or glory. [[spoiler:D'Ghor goes right ahead and tries it, but Chancellor Gowron stops him and, disgusted at such a dishonorable act, discommendates him on the spot]]. A SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for Quark for sure.

** In ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater Snake Eater]]'', the player cannot damage The Sorrow -- He's already dead! The only option is to wait for him to kill you, then use the [[spoiler:Revival Pill]]. Getting as far as possible before being instant killed will net you some special camo, though.

** Though all of Ponyville's residents put up a valiant fight against the Tantabus in ''Do Princess Dream of Magic Sheep'', they're clearly not able to actually ''harm'' it. They can stagger it, slow it down, and cut it apart, but it just reforms and keeps advancing on its rift to the waking world. It's not until the ponies stop fighting instead rally around Princess Luna to forgive herself that the Tantabus can actually be defeated: Luna lets go of her guilt and it is reabsorbed back into her.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E26OceanGem Ocean Gem]]," after being freed from the mirror, Lapis Lazuli steals all of the Earth's oceans and turns the water into a giant tower. Fighting her proves to be impossible because she can produce infinite numbers of water {{Mook}}s which simply reform if defeated. Steven goes up her water tower to talk to her, and finds out that she is using the tower to try and escape Earth. He uses his powers to heal her cracked gem which allows her to regain full control of her powers. She thanks Stephen, sprouts some water wings, and flies away, returning the oceans to normal as she no longer needs them since she can get around on her own.

** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E7Dragonshy Dragonshy]]," a dragon has fallen asleep in a nearby cave, and the smoke from his nostrils will soon cover all of Equestria. Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Rarity all try convincing him to leave the cave and fail, while Rainbow Dash's attempt to fight him also fails because she is a little pony and he is a massive dragon. Fluttershy finally manages to cow the dragon by yelling at him in defense of her friends, and then politely asking him to go somewhere else.
** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E6BoastBusters Boast Busters]]," Trixie boasts that she once saved the town of Hoofington by defeating an Ursa Major, a gigantic bear made of stars. Snips and Snails go into the forest to wake up what they think is an Ursa Major (actually an Ursa Minor) so they can see Trixie fight it, but she's not magically strong enough to, and confesses that her previous boast was a lie to make herself look more impressive. Twilight saves the town by playing a lullaby to lull the Ursa Minor to sleep, giving it a huge container of milk, and floating it back into its cave.

* Gandhi's resistance to the British empire. If the citizens had actively fought back against the empire (instead of resisting passively), they would have been violently suppressed by Britain's superior military, and the rest of the world would have thought it justified since the soldiers were only defending themselves. This only worked because of the British not really registering how brutal their regime was until they had to enforce it on people who refused even token resistance. Gandhi himself admitted it wouldn't have worked on someone like the Nazis, who just didn't care.

** The first boss you encounter in "Videogame/FinalFantasyVI" is a snail with a shell that absorbs attacks and counters with a massive jolt that could wipe your party at its low level at that point in the game, so your NPC allies hint for you to hold off attacking while it withdraws into its shell. You CAN actually destroy the shell if you keep yourself healed long enough for it to run out of mana, however, which will reward you with your first ether if you kill it with a looooooot of patience for all the health points you need to whittle down.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' had Cecil go through this to cast off his dark past and become a Paladin. Considering the message that you got if you attacked ("A true paladin... will sheathe his sword."), this is probably the TropeNamer. The literal reason behind this working becomes a GuideDangIt moment in the US port of the SNES version. You win because you're fighting [[EnemyWithout yourself, but still as a Dark Knight]] who keeps using its "Darkness" ability, which damages every unit [[CastFromHitPoints at the cost of its own HP]] until it kills itself. However, in the US version [[DummiedOut you didn't have this when Cecil was still a Dark Knight]], so you'd have no idea that he was losing health. Of course, with sufficient LevelGrinding, you could get bigger healing potions that could restore all of your health at once, leaving you free to attack. With enough of these, you could whittle down the Dark Knight quite easily. Yes, you ''can'' defeat your inner darkness by beating the crap out of it!

* ''VideoGame/{{Metro 2033}}'': More along the lines of "Hold your fire", in the levels Library, Depository, and Archives, the player is pitted against the Librarians, horrifically ugly ape-like mutants that even on the easiest difficulty have no problem killing the player in just a few hits. Before the player actually comes face-to-face with these beasts, however, an oft-ignored or unheard bit of dialogue from one of Artyom's NPC comrades tells the player "Never let them out of your sight, show them your back, you'll die. If a beast gets nervous, move away, but slowly." These words ring true, if the player is confronted by a Librarian they can stand their ground without firing a shot, and so long as they slowly back away if the Librarian slinks in closer and do not turn to flee, the Librarian is most likely to turn away and disappear into another section of the Library. It is actually possible to get through the entirety of all three levels with this method, and in the higher difficulties (Ranger and Ranger Hardcore) it is almost essential to try this the majority of the time, as Librarians can soak up bullets like they're made of steel, and ammunition is painfully scarce in either of these difficulties.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'': In "[[Recap/ThePowerpuffGirlss3E6ThreeGirlsAndAMonsterMonkeySeeDoggyTwo Three Girls and a Monster]]", the girls can't defeat a monster despite their best efforts, and Blossom and Buttercup argue over how to fight it. Bubbles politely asks it to leave, and it does. Afterwards, she yells at her sisters, "''That's'' how you get rid of a monster, you [[BigStupidDooDooHead big, fat, doo-doo-headed]] ''[[BigStupidDooDooHead ninnies!]]''"''

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'': In "[[Recap/ThePowerpuffGirlss3E6ThreeGirlsAndAMonsterMonkeySeeDoggyTwo Three Girls and a Monster]]", the girls can't defeat a monster despite their best efforts, and Blossom and Buttercup argue over how to fight it. Bubbles politely asks it to leave, and it does. Afterwards, she yells at her sisters, "THAT'S HOW YOU GET RID OF A MONSTER, YOU BIG, FAT, ''DOODOO-HEADED NINNIES!!!"''

-->'''Superman:''' ''(kneeling)'' They surrender.

** In ''Superman and Spider-Man'', Kal-El defeated the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] by allowing him to whale on his indestructible body until the Hulk wore himself out and reverted back to Banner. Doubly so, he also spotted and destroyed a microscopic irritant that was keeping the Hulk enraged.

* The way ComicBook/ScottPilgrim deals with [[spoiler:The Negascott]].

* In ''[[ComicBook/{{Swordquest}} Swordquest: Earthworld]]'', the protagonists learn that battles aren't always won by violence.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Jedi Knight|DarkForcesII}}: Mysteries of the Sith'', the only way to defeat Kyle after his fall to TheDarkSide is to deactivate your lightsaber and basically [[IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight dare him to kill you]]. There's a helpful hint in the form of a wall carving of a female Jedi with her saber deactivated in front of her, something you wouldn't expect to find in a Sith temple.

*** Like the Whelk and the Guard Scorpion right below, the first boss of ''FinalFantasyV'' is the Wing Raptor, which will shield itself every couple of turns, bolstering its defense and countering with the "Claw" attack if it's hit in that state. Good time to make use of those potions or just defend -- it's not like there's much else one can do at that point.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E26OceanGem Ocean Gem]]," after being freed from the mirror, Lapis Lazuli steals all of the Earth's oceans and turns the water into a giant tower. Fighting her proves to be impossible because she can produce infinite numbers of water {{Mook}}s which simply reform if defeated. Steven goes up her water tower to talk to her, and finds out that she is using the tower to try and escape Earth. He fixes her broken gem with his healing spit, which allows her to sprout water wings and fly away.

* The ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' episode "The Vanishing Dead" had Ares defeated this way. At this point in the series, Ares was being portrayed as more of a formless GodOfEvil who primarily acted through possessing the bodies of the dead and being something of a [[EmotionEater psychic vampire]], feeding off the violence and aggression of others. When Hercules finally fully uncovers Ares' plan to start a war between two kingdoms and confronts him in the body he's possessing, Ares starts slinging magical lightning at Hercules, and no matter how Hercules fights he can't get the better of Ares. When Hercules remembers that Ares draws his power from violence and aggression, however, he stops trying to fight back and gets the soldiers of the two kingdoms to lay down their weapons and refuse to fight. Ares quickly becomes weaker, and finally is no longer even able to continue possessing the body he had been using.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "Warriors' Gate," the time-sensitive Biroc tells the Doctor to "do nothing" in the face of impending doom. "Of course," the Doctor muses, "if it's the right sort of nothing." Meanwhile, the insane Captain Rorvik's attempts to "get something done" result in that same impending doom.
** The final episode of the classic series, "Survival" is about The Doctor and Ace refusing to do violence to keep themselves from being transformed into violent [[CatFolk cat aliens]].
-->'''The Doctor''': If we fight like animals, we'll die like animals!

* ''Series/{{Highlander}}'':
** There's a much-maligned three-episode arc where protagonist Duncan [=MacLeod=] is the ChosenOne to fight against the evil demon Ahriman. Violence won't work in this battle, and the only way to defeat Ahriman is for Duncan to achieve inner peace.
** Garrick, an immortal bent on getting revenge on Duncan, tormented Duncan somehow with visions and illusions, then told him he had to lay down his sword to stop it. It was all a ploy to make Duncan an easy kill. Fortunately Duncan wised up just in time to save his neck.
* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Justice", the crew are aboard a penal space station with a section where it's impossible to commit a crime and anyone who attempts it becomes the victim (for example, the punishment for arson is being set on fire). [[spoiler:This works in their favor when an almost-unbeatable droid tries to murder them]].

* The ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' episode "The Vanishing Dead" had Ares defeated this way. At this point in the series, Ares was being portrayed as more of a formless GodOfEvil who primarily acted through possessing the bodies of the dead and being something of a [[EmotionEater psychic vampire]], feeding off the violence and aggression of others. When Hercules finally fully uncovers Ares' plan to start a war between two kingdoms and confronts him in the body he's possessing, Ares starts slinging magical lightning at Hercules, and no matter how Hercules fights he can't get the better of Ares. When Hercules remembers that Ares draws his power from violence and aggression, however, he stops trying to fight back and gets the soldiers of the two kingdoms to lay down their weapons and refuse to fight. Ares quickly becomes weaker, and finally is no longer even able to continue possessing the body he had been using.

* The plot of ''Series/FutureMan'' is kicked off by Josh managing to beat the final level of an incredibly difficult game by unequipping all of his gear and simply running all the way to the end goal.

* ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'':
** ''VideoGame/Mother3'' has a very, ''very'' tragic variation of this. The [[DragonTheirFeet last battle]] with TheDragon comes only moments after the reveal that [[spoiler:said dragon is your long-lost twin brother, who was kidnapped, forcibly turned into a robotic chimera, and brainwashed. During the battle, the knowledge of this leaves you unable to attack (later on you can ''try'', but those attempts are pretty much you closing your eyes and half-heartedly swinging), so all you can do is defend and heal as [[IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight you, your father, and the spirit of your dead mother try to reach him.]] In the end, he regains his senses, but then turns his own attack on himself and [[DiedInYourArmsTonight dies in your arms.]]]]
** In fact, no final boss in the ''MOTHER'' series is ever defeated through attacking it directly, though ''MOTHER 3'' is the only one in which you do nothing but defend. In [[VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings the first game]], [[spoiler:you have to sing all the parts of the song that you'd been gathering throughout the game to remind Giegue of the people who raised him and to get him to surrender of his own will]], and, in [[VideoGame/EarthBound1994 the second game]], [[spoiler:Paula has to use the up-to-then practically useless Pray command in order to allow the prayers of every other character in the game, plus the player themself, to overpower Giygas]].

** In one miniseries, he was challenged to a fight by a normal human being, despite Midnighter's protestations that he'd absolutely destroy the guy. However, his opponent refused to make the first move, frustrating Midnighter's combat analysis and resulting in a draw, of sorts. Might be a partial example, as [[spoiler:the guy was secretly an android sent to disrupt the team from the inside, so Midnighter might not have been able to analyze him properly.]]

** In "Dragonshy," a dragon has fallen asleep in a nearby cave, and the smoke from his nostrils will soon cover all of Equestria. Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Rarity all try convincing him to leave the cave and fail, while Rainbow Dash's attempt to fight him also fails because she is a little pony and he is a massive dragon. Fluttershy finally manages to cow the dragon by yelling at him in defense of her friends, and then politely asking him to go somewhere else.
** In "Boast Busters," Trixie boasts that she once saved the town of Hoofington by defeating an Ursa Major, a gigantic bear made of stars. Snips and Snails go into the forest to wake up what they think is an Ursa Major (actually an Ursa Minor) so they can see Trixie fight it, but she's not magically strong enough to, and confesses that her previous boast was a lie to make herself look more impressive. Twilight saves the town by playing a lullaby to lull the Ursa Minor to sleep and giving it a huge container of milk.

** In ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'', one of the great labors that Superman completed before his death is confronting the Ultra-Sphinx and answering his riddle in order to save Lois's life. The question is "What happens when the unstoppable force meets the immovable object?"

* This has been used both by and against Characters/TheAuthorityMidnighter, whose ability to [[AwesomenessByAnalysis analyze a person's fighting abilities]] borders on CombatClairvoyance.

SubTrope of NoHarmRequirement as well as being its LogicalExtreme. With this trope the matter of having to avoid violence and causing harm isn't just an issue of desire or mandate--the characters are '''have''' to avoid violence to have any hope of success at all.