Basic Trope: A weapon that heals the target rather than harming it.
- Straight: Hiro's teammate Morgana has a staff called the Love-Me Tinder, which heals anyone she smacks it with.
- Exaggerated:
- Morgana's healing weapon is a set of pink flame-engulfed throwing knives which are much larger than you'd expect a girl so small and cute to be carrying...
- Hiro is inflicted with a status effects. Morgana pulls out a flamethrower and sets him on fire. And then the ailments are gone! (Hiro's clothing is gone too.)
- Downplayed: Morgana's staff hurts like a regular staff, but removes status effects upon the target.
- Justified:
- The knives are blessed by a goddess of war and victory.
- Or the Healing Shiv was enchanted by an evil wizard to cause as much pain as possible, but the spell went wrong, causing it to have the opposite effect, which fits with its unsuitability as a standard weapon.
- Or, ditto, and leaving this person alive causes more pain in the long run.
- It's not a flamethrower, it's a special spray of healing Nano Machines.
- It's a normal flamethrower, but the particular character she's using it on is healed by fire.
- The combat knife is the Closest Thing We Got to the surgical knife we need.
- Inverted: Revive Kills Zombie
- Subverted: The "healing staff" turns out to be an ordinary staff one can channel healing magic through. Simply hitting someone with it hurts them...
- Double Subverted: ...but that's just because healing magic is a bit painful.
- Parodied: The healing shiv, though extremely effective, is a jet-black, spiky, gigantic axe, and its wielder is intent upon healing even complete strangers with it.
- Zig Zagged: Morgana's knives do damage to enemies, but heal most of her allies, allowing her to fling them at will without worrying about hurting any of her friends... except for Marina, who is naturally weak against fire, which trumps the healing enchantment on the blades. Similarly, monsters who can absorb fire damage are also healed by the blades, so the player has to keep that in mind and make sure not to use it under those circumstances.
- Averted: There are no healing weapons.
- Enforced: The game designers were too lazy to make an extra animation for healing.
- Lampshaded: "Whoever designed this thing doesn't really understand the purpose of weapons..."
- Invoked:
- "I made this knife for the solution to one of my puzzles."
- Morgana is a cleric and enchanted her weapon with a spell that cures light wounds.
- Exploited:
- Hiro impales himself with several Harpoons of healing, in order to power his Healing Factor.
- Evulz swaps out Hiro's sword for a copy that is exactly the same except for the Healing Shiv enchantment. Hiro suddenly finds himself making Evulz ever stronger.
- On top of the above, Evulz swaps out Morgana's knives for a mundane equivalent, such that she hurts Hiro instead of helping.
- Defied:
- "Quick, pull out your Knives of Healing and stab me!" "That is the single most stupid thing you have ever said to me."
- "Can I have some medical equipment that doesn't make me look like an axe murderer?"
- Discussed: "Why does that sword heal people?" "There was a label mix up on the rune-book."
- Conversed: "Wouldn't it be awesome if we made Morgana's knives heal people instead of hurt them?"
- Deconstructed: The weapons still hurts just as bad and it is commonly used by Lord Mephisto for Cold-Blooded Torture.
- Reconstructed: However Hiro is enough of a badass that he regularly stabs himself with a healing knife to keep on fighting.
- Played For Laughs: Chase is terrified of Morgana's knives and doesn't want to be hit by them, even though they'd just heal his wounds. Cue Morgana chasing her wounded comrade all over the battlefield trying to "help" him.
- Played For Drama: Morgana tests her brand-new weapon by attacking General Wolf with it, inadvertently healing him.
- Plot Foundation / Played for Symbolism: Morgana is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and is prone to Anger Born of Worry, both of which are reflected in her weapon: a device that looks intimidating but is ultimately used with the best of intentions. It's part of her characterization.
Back to- OW! Don't HIT me with that! ... oh, right it's a Healing Shiv.
