History Main / WhyDontYouJustShootHim

-> '''One-Armed Man''': I've been looking for you for 8 months. Whenever I should have had a gun in my right hand, I thought of you. Now I find you in exactly the position that suits me. I had lots of time to learn to shoot with my left.\\

'''Tuco''': When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk.

* BondVillainStupidity: The villain has the opportunity to kill the good guy, but leaves the good guy alive anyway, sometimes for no adequately-explained reason.

* JustHitHim: When a physically-imposing villain does try to kill the hero in a hands-on fashion, he opts to pick the hero up menacingly and throw them across the room a bunch, even though he could crush him or kill him with a few punches.

* WheresTheFunInThat: The villain gets a lot of glee from tormenting the hero that killing them right then and there wouldn't be as exciting.

''(Tuco kills him with the gun he has hidden in the foam of his bubble bath)''\\

If you, the viewer, are wondering why someone won't just shoot someone else, {{Headscratchers/Headscratchers}} is the place to ask.

Villains frequently find themselves in conundrums that could easily be solved by [[MundaneSolution finding the right person and]] [[BoomHeadshot putting a bullet in the offender's head]]. But for whatever reason, the villain continues to refrain from doing so.

There may or may not be some in-story justification for this failure to take the direct approach. [[WatsonianVersusDoylist The Doylist explanation]] will always boil down to "because if he ''did'' just shoot him, the story [[AnthropicPrinciple would be much shorter]], and [[TheBadGuyWins the bad guys would win]]."

* BondVillainStupidity: The villain has the opportunity to kill the good guy, but leaves them alive anyway, sometimes for no adequately explained reason.

* EvilGloating: Even when the villain intends to kill the hero in a straightforward fashion, they still feel the need to gloat about it immediately beforehand, thus giving the hero time to escape or fight back.
* FairPlayVillain: The villain deliberately gives the hero a way to survive, specifically because they think shooting the hero on the spot would be dishonorable, unsporting, or simply less ''fun''.
* JustHitHim: When a physically imposing villain does try to kill the hero in a hands-on fashion, he opts to pick the hero up menacingly and throw them across the room a bunch, even though he could crush him or kill him with a few punches.
* NoSneakAttacks: The villain never attacks from stealth without some kind of warning sign, and never attacks at times where the hero would be vulnerable (such as while they're asleep).
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: The villain wants no one else to kill the hero but them, and even ''saving'' the hero from certain doom, even though the other villain would just as easily dispose of their nemesis otherwise.

* FairPlayVillain: The villain deliberately gives the hero a way to survive, specifically because they think shooting the hero would be dishonorable, unsporting, or simply less ''fun''.

Villains frequently find themselves in conundrums that could easily be solved by [[MundaneSolution finding the right person and shooting them]], but for whatever reason, refrain from doing so.

* StatingTheSimpleSolution: Someone in the story [[LampshadeHanging points out]] that the above options are stupid and that a simpler, more direct solution exists - namely, by just shooting him. The villain may or may not take their advice.

{{Sub Trope}}s include:

Compare ThirdActStupidity, ContractualGenreBlindness and KillHimAlready (when the good guys are urging a quick kill). Contrast CombatPragmatist and NoNonsenseNemesis. Not to be confused with JustEatGilligan, although there can be overlap. Also contrast OnceIsNotEnough when the hero KO's the villain and then chooses to flee instead of finishing him off.

There may or may not be some in-story justification for this failure to take the direct approach. [[WatsonianVersusDoylist The Doylist explanation]] will always boil down to "because if he ''did'' just shoot him, the story would be much shorter, and [[TheBadGuyWins the bad guys would win]]."

Compare ThirdActStupidity, ContractualGenreBlindness and KillHimAlready (when the good guys are urging a quick kill). Contrast CombatPragmatist and NoNonsenseNemesis. Not to be confused with JustEatGilligan, although there can be overlap.