Basic Trope: The idea that only villains use poison to kill their enemies, or that using poison is a villainous trait.
- Straight: When Alice is poisoned in Detective Bob's apartment, Bob assumes, rightly, that it's the work of his arch-enemy, Tom the Crafty.
- Exaggerated:
- Tom poisons everything in Bob's apartment, from his letters to his eclairs to his poodle's fur, just to make sure Bob is thoroughly poisoned.
- The heroic characters consider any use of poison to be crossing the Moral Event Horizon. Every other tactic, no matter how underhanded, is used by heroes and villains alike.
- Even most villains are too disgusted by poison to use it.
- Downplayed:
- Tom, though a crafty murderer, would only use poison under desperate circumstances, and desperate circumstances drove him to it.
- Though only the villains will poison someone else, the heroes still use cyanide pills to poison themselves if caught or mortally wounded.
- Both villains and heroes use poison, but the heroes are more reluctant, and feel extremely guilty afterwards.
- Using Poisoned Weapons is considered acceptable among heroic characters. Poisoning food and drink is not.
- Justified:
- Tom has had the most experience with poison and other harmful chemicals during his life, so he takes his knowledge with him to use in his killings.
- The poison murder of Alice is considered particularly vile because it was undoubtedly intentional and premeditated - and Tom is one of the few people capable of doing such a thing.
- Poison is considered the weapon of the cowardly and weak: using it does not require physical prowess or mental courage. The heroes shun poisoners for these reasons.
- The poisons in the fictional universe are known to cause slow and painful deaths. As a result, they're only used by vile murderers who want to inflict excessive suffering upon their victims.
- The poisons are highlighted as indiscriminate and horrible for collateral damage.
- Inverted:
- Bob would easily choose to poison Tom, so as to discreetly stop him from his malicious deeds.
- Only the heroes use poison.
- Poisoning someone with sodium thiopental
is seen as humane (or at least as humane as killing someone in the first place can be) because it gives the victim a quick and relatively dignified death. More violent ways to kill are seen as villainous. - Alice's poisoning is survivable if she receives treatment in time. Tom knows this, which hints that he's a redeemable character who had doubts about killing Alice.
- Subverted:
- Bob assumes it's Tom that poisoned Alice, but in actuality it was the relatively innocent Alan.
- Alice's husband poisons her dinner, after years of abuse and death threats from the evil Alice.
- Doubly Subverted:
- Tom pushed Alan into poisoning Alice.
- But Alice's husband is still portrayed as a murderer for doing so.
- Parodied:
- Tom has his own line of specialty poisons, advertising them like perfumes and selling them off to any evildoers interested.
- When Tom is finally captured and sentenced to death, Bob suggests execution by cyanide. Everyone else is horrified and says that not even Tom deserves that... before cheerfully suggesting that he should instead be tortured to death over several weeks.
- The standard punishment for murder is 200 years in jail. The use of poison is considered an aggravating circumstance, and those guilty of it have another 1000 years tacked on to their sentence for no reason.
- Zig-Zagged:
- Tom's repertoire includes poison, but he knows many more killing crafts, and will use them depending on his victim of choice.
- Alice's husband poisons her after years of death threats and abuse from the evil Alice. The morality of his action is discussed and examined from all sides, ultimately leaving it ambiguous whether Alice's husband is to be considered good or evil for what he did.
- Poision's morality is considered heavily based on of what type of poison is used and in what context. Slow and agonizing ones are always looked down upon. Powerful warriors seldom use poison because they don't feel they need it, but it can be justified for use by non-combatants in self-defense to prevent the strong from bullying the weak. Primitive cultures are considered honorable if they fight with poison however, but only if they don't also use steel - it is considered a fair leveling measure. The most moral characters use poisons which are either nonlethal or if absolutely necessary to ensure a painless death.
- Poison is evil applies as a cultural norm more as every fantasy race has a weakness that is taboo. Values Dissonance is in play. Humans play it straight and consider iron weaponry honorable. Snakemen consider using Ice Magic taboo instead and even consider venom holy. The Fair Folk find the use of Cold Iron unforgivable and hold the magic of winter sacred.
- Averted: Bob and Tom are equally fond of using poison to wipe out their enemies, and each have their reason, for better or worse.
- Enforced: "We need to make Tom look as evil as possible. And come on, what's more evil than a drink that kills you from the inside?"
- Rightly or wrongly a string of poisonings was linked to a fictional portrayal ratings board specifically called for it to be vilified.
- Lampshaded: "Alice is poisoned! It has to be the work of Tom the Crafty; nobody else could be so cruel!"
- Invoked: "If I use poison, they'll know not to underestimate my delicious depravity!"
- Exploited:
- A detective works to find which suspect has the most experience with poison, in order to find the murderer.
- Tom the Crafty is part of a villainous organization. To undermine its operation, Anti-Hero Charlotte poisons several of Tom's underlings, knowing they'll put the blame on him.
- Defied: "Poison doesn't make you evil: EVIL makes you evil. It's unreasonable to assume some is a villain just because they're a chemist."
- Discussed: "What is it with Tom and poison? It's not like five seconds and a handgun wouldn't work!"
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: People who work with poisons are ostracized and hated. The Big Bad poisons the town but since everyone who works with poisons got run out of town, there is no one left to research the chemical and make an antidote.
- Played For Laughs: Alice the Paladin refuses chemotherapy for cancer on the grounds of it being always morally wrong.
- Reconstructed: Most of the people who choose to work with poisons have evil intent, but join with the heroes in Enemy Mine situations to provide antidotes.
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