This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
I know this is odd point, but Vlad the Impaler is a great big hero in Yugoslavia. He actually wasn't so much ruthless as involved in a very ruthless situation between the Turks of the Ottoman Empire, and the Christians in Eastern Europe. Apparently thy love him over there. In any case, the guy wasn't crazy. He was on the defending side, not the attacking side. I think it might be polite not to inclue him, considering. Doing things to make a point to the enemy isn't a crazy action. or if it is, then a lot more people will be included in that little real life area. Some of them might be our presidents. So is it OK to just remove old Drac?
Kendrakirai: Hey, I'll have you know that 'axe' is a perfectly normal way of spelling it! So there! Just because you americans can't spell things... ;)
Ununnilium: Heh heh. Actually, it would've been fine, except I just wanted it to sync up with the trope name. Looks better that way, IMHO.
thespian: is Faith from Bt VS an example of this, do you think?
Susan Davis: Drusilla certainly is. Faith... in season 3, she's a borderline case (crazy, or just out of control?). Later on, she reforms. Oh, and welcome! :-)
KF: Think a Shining reference might be warranted? Guesss Who: Probably
Johnny The Homicidal Maniac is definitely one, but the fact that he is aware of this seems to subvert it.
Seth: Set up a redirect at Axe-Crazy because i keep misspelling/Using the actual spelling of it. Who says Ax?
Citizen: It's funny, but now that you mention it, "Axe" is starting to look more correct, and I usually complain about those darn extra vowels. :P // Moving on, this page DEMANDS a picture of Rena... But I'm having more trouble than I expected finding a good picture of her in the last arc. Well, I'll go ahead and put up this one for the time being. Guesss Who: I was thinking of American Psycho, myself. That bit on the staircase where he's saying 'hah!', maybe . . ?
shortbusrider: I wrote up an entry for Rorschach, but I'm not sure that he qualifies. Could a more experienced troper have a look and submit it, if appropriate?
- Rorschach in the comic series Watchmen is another good example. Although he operates by a strict moral code, he also believes that the entire world is sinful and corrupt. Thus, he is free to commit assault, torture, and murder in pursuit of his goals (e.g. an elderly reformed ex-villain, dying of cancer, was beaten by Rorschach and stuffed into a fridge). Despite ostensibly being a crimefighter, he is at the top of the "Most Wanted" list. Frequently breaks into the home of his only remaining friend.
- He's crazy all right, but not Ax-Crazy. He only ever kills two people in his long career, and they both deserved it. While he may not be pleasant to be around, I think to be Ax-Crazy you need to be a constant danger to everyone you meet.
- Two that the police has connected him to. He tells his shrink he used to "let them live". . . But he's clearly not Ax-Crazy, he follows a very strict personal law.
- I'd offer The Comedian, in comic and film. His moral code is incredibly loose, and in fact appears to be limited primarily by what his teammates manage to hold him back from doing. Then he goes and works for the government killing everyone who could possibly expose any wrongdoing by the authorities, including (it's implied) pretty much every one of his former teammates who didn't conform to "average Joe Citizen normal", drop entirely out of view, and/or reveal themselves to the world; and having killed off or been left behind by all his "friends", the only person he can confide in during his life-ending tearful redemption is someone he spent much of his time beating half-dead and dumping on the cops, who himself is going to be all-dead soon thanks to agonizing cancer (because the resulting painkiller addiction isn't eating him up fast enough to win the race).
- He's crazy all right, but not Ax-Crazy. He only ever kills two people in his long career, and they both deserved it. While he may not be pleasant to be around, I think to be Ax-Crazy you need to be a constant danger to everyone you meet.
Robert Bingham: I figured as long as the "protagonist with Ax-Crazy moments" thing got lumped in, I might as well put down the Revy example from Black Lagoon — she's usually good about keeping her guns aimed at the right targets no matter how pissed off she gets, though the "Whitman Fever" that she went into in the Nazi arc, when she almost killed those non-combatants and had to be stopped by Dutch, is certainly telling.
- She did kill them in the manga. And isn't just about any resident of Roanapur a deserving target?
Adam850: Aren't Trigger-Happy and Ax-Crazy two different things?
Removed the following, because it's just a restatement of the trope's description:
- Characters with hair trigger tempers and a tendency for extreme violence tend to fall into this trope (as well as probably being some of the most accurate depictions of psychopaths in fiction).
Why do the quotes at the top of the page keep getting removed?
Willy Four Eyes: There's too many of them?
Willy Four Eyes: Pulled this entry:
- * Psychotic supervillain assassin Deathlist, who has killed more superheroes than anyone in history. Oh sure, he's perfectly happy killing with guns, energy weapons, missiles, you name it. But he does love those knives. Since he's a cyborg (preserved head with force field from the neck up, completely robotic from the neck down), he has plenty of sharp objects he can pop out.
- Reason: No reference, and a Google search for the character's name turns up nothing useful. I have a sneaking suspicion I know who put it there (the Whateley editor again)...and I was right.
Trigger Loaded: Took out:
- In God Hand, Olivia gave the titular God Hand to Gene after he got his own arm cut off trying to rescue her from some thugs. She then forces him to follow her around and kill thugs, demons, and worse. Whenever he tries to argue, she threatens to take the arm back. With a hatchet.
Wanders Nowhere: Hannibal Lecter, Buffalo Bill, et al, are somehow not on this list. =O Did we just forget, or are we counting Hannibal as some kind of subversion because he's such a calculating killer? I'd say chewing people's faces off is pretty Axe Crazy, and he's one of the archetypes of Hollywood Crazy.
