Basic Trope: A pacifist is forced into a situation in which they can only succeed by use of violence. Or a non-pacifist who doesn't kill his enemies is forced into a situation where dealing a lethal blow is necessary.
- Straight: Alice is an Actual Pacifist, but when Big Bill Baine holds her sister hostage, Alice is forced to shoot him in the head. This saves Alice's sister and any attempt to disarm the hostage-taker would have resulted in a murder-suicide.
- Exaggerated: Alice is such a pacifist that she won't even swat a fly that's biting her. Yet when the newly installed Rebel Government of General Baine is executing innocent people by the thousands, Alice takes it upon herself to remove the tyrants by detonating a weapon of mass destruction at General Bill's headquarters. It works; the Reign Of Terror ends, a new (moderate) government takes over, the killings stop, and Alice lives the rest of her life as though nothing happened (no guilt, no reprisals, etc). At worst, when the memories of the assault come to haunt her, they're quickly handwaved away with I Did What I Had to Do.
- Downplayed:
- Alice shoots the hostage-taker to prevent him from killing her sister, but Alice aims for the arm to ensure he is non-lethally subdued.
- Alice uses an As Lethal as It Needs to Be weapon (or a stun gun) on Bill Baine, so as to bring him alive before the court.
- Justified:
- The world is full of cruel people who will ultimately only understand force, and sometimes it is not possible to subdue them without violence.
- Baine is aware of Alice's pacifism and is banking on her being too softhearted to attack him. Unfortunately, he ends up antagonizing her and compels her to break her code to deal with him permanently.
- Inverted:
- Subverted:
- It turns out that Bill Baine was ready to get down to talks and to surrender; murdering him was unnecessary.
- Killing Bill means that the whole Baine family and/or gang is out after Alice now, so she's pretty much in even direr straits.
- Charlie attempts to invoke this trope when Alice is deliberating how to deal with Baine, telling Alice she needs to stop being so naive. But then Bill asks to negotiate, and Charlie admits that he just wanted to see a killing.
- Double Subverted:
- Then it turns out that once Bill Baine would have got what he wanted, he'd have pulled the 'I Lied' card. So Alice was right after all when she shot him down.
- Bill's family and/or gang are as Ax-Crazy as Bill, if not worse. They would have come after Alice anyway, for any reason (or worse yet, for no reason). At least killing Bill means she has gotten rid of one of their stronger fighters, making the upcoming siege a bit easier.
- Bill's negotiations were actually just a trick to get into position for an attack on Alice, so attacking on Charlie's recommendation would have actually been a better choice.
- Parodied: Violence is literally the solution to a math problem.
- Zig Zagged: Alice is finally forced to gun down Bill Baine after spending the story trying to find a peaceful solution. This removes the threat but creates an Evil Power Vacuum where several would be successors duke it out to claim his old position. Alice initially believes that her actions only made things worse, however the chaos is not only seen as preferable to Bill's particular brand of order, but is also temporary. The various new factions are ultimately brought down by more violence, and afterwards, a new state of affairs is established that leaves everyone far better off.
- Averted: Violence Is Not an Option.
- Enforced: "Let's show everyone, pacifists included, that sometimes you have to strike back."
- Lampshaded:Ben: Alice, do you really believe that justice only comes from violent fights and bloodshed? You think it's always necessary to kill to—?
Alice: Do you believe that justice will come from turning the other cheek? Especially if facing a ruthless murderous bastard like Bill Baine? - Invoked:
- Exploited: Bill Baine urges Alice to strike him down with all hatred.
- Defied:
- Ben restrains Alice before trying to talk to Bill Baine.
- "Violence" and "action" don't need to be iron-clad synonyms. Ben utilizes a non-lethal method (such as riot foam) to stop Bill Baine.
- Bill Baine pulls out a bomb with a Dead Man's Switch with a thousand different sensors that prevent any kind of retaliation that may kill, knock out, injure or even upset Bill. If Alice doesn't want her sister and herself to become a bloody coat of paint, a different solution will need to be found.
- Discussed: "You pacifists are such strange people. You don't understand that for some people... you're not so much of an inspiring example, but rather easier prey."
- Conversed: "I'm wondering just how tough life was to Alice that she never even considers negotiations and goes straight to force."
- Implied: Alice mentions she used to be part of a group of Absolute Pacifists who were massacred by Bill Baine for interfering with his rule. She's the only member left. Alice in the present day is a hypercompetent Action Girl with a very high kill count.
- Deconstructed: Alice breaks her vow of nonviolence to kill Bill Baine, but it doesn't magically solve all of their problems. The issues that lead to his rise to power and the ones created by his rule still exist, exacerbated by the ensuing chaos.
- Reconstructed: While killing Bill Baine didn't immediately solve every issue resulting from his rule, it was still necessary. Nothing was ever going to improve as long as he remained in power, and he was rapidly worsening the situation. Had Alice not killed him, things would have just gotten worse, including the resulting Evil Power Vacuum, which was inevitable anyway. Alice ultimately bans together with her allies to defeat the new would-be Evil Overlords and fill the vacuum with a new, more benevolent system made to keep the peace and protect the people from tyranny.
- Played For Laughs: Alice's downright schizophrenic the way she switches between whining that she doesn't want to hurt anybody and her acceptance to hurt people, not to mention how good she is at unleashing violence.
- Played For Drama: Alice's reluctance to accept that the only way this situation will be resolved is to hurt or kill someone is empowered by a lot of inner turmoil that only grows worse, maybe even becomes a full-blown Crisis of Faith.
- Played For Horror: Alice goes past accepting this trope and full-blown embraces it, and this becomes Alice's Start of Darkness.
Think whatever you want, you naive non-violent newbies. One day I'll surely see you come to my place and admit I was right and sometimes you just have to fight.
