History Main / ApeShallNeverKillApe

* The novelization to ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'' says that Mogwai are incapable of killing each other. However, this is {{averted}} by the Gremlins, who aren't safe even from each other. They're frequently shown murdering one of their own or doing things like throwing acid in another Gremlin's face.

* Those who engage in animal cruelty (up to including killing them) tend to be given a far less harsher sentence compared to those who do the same to a fellow man. Animal cruelty? Just a fine and a month of prison. Torture or kill a person? Death penalty (or life imprisonment on countries that lack them)!

* ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'' is the {{Trope Namer|s}}, although it ultimately does not play this trope straight.

* ''Manhwa/SkeletonSoldierCouldntProtectTheDungeon'': The skeleton soldier tries not to kill other skeletons. They don't share this sentiment, so he has to kill them in self-defense.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': Non-villain example: The Hobbits are big on not killing each other. During the Scouring of the Shire sequence, Frodo's orders are not to kill the Hobbits working with the evil Men who have taken over the Shire. He says, ''"No hobbit has ever killed another hobbit on purpose in the Shire and it is not to begin now."''
** However, the Miller Sandyman says that he heard that Frodo's mother pushed Frodo’s father into a river, and he pulled her in after him. So even if it’s only MaliciousSlander, the idea of killing another hobbits is not new in the Shire. And Sméagol killed Déagol a lot of time ago, before Sméagol would be transformed into Gollum.
*** Sandyman may not have suggested deliberate murder, but stupid horseplay gone terribly wrong; Frodo's mother was a Brandybuck, who know how to swim in Brandywine River, while most Hobbits never learn such skill, which Frodo's mother might have forgotten.
*** Technically Sméagol and Déagol are river folk; similar to Hobbits, but they are never said to be the same race. Also, they were not of the Shire, indeed predating the Shire's founding, and Frodo's quote includes the distinction.
** The elves are similarly good to one another. There have been three elf-on-elf battles, detailed in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', but they were so notable as to each be historical events (the "Kinslayings"), and were all tied to an illicit oath taken by the Elf-King Fëanor concerning the Silmarils, legendary gems that provided the book's title.

* ''Literature/FromTheNewWorld'': A thorough {{Deconstruction}} of this concept. Humans do not kill humans -- even the idea is repugnant and incomprehensible. Not only are they socially conditioned to have a [[PerfectPacifistPeople very strong aversion to killing or violence]], [[spoiler: they were also biologically modified with a death feedback response, a "self-destruct mechanism" that kills them with their own PK power should they ever kill another member of their species]]. The non-human bakenezumi have no such aversion to killing other bakenezumi and even fight wars for territory and slaves (under human supervision, as a controlled outlet for their aggression). This seems to play into the human perception of the bakenezumi as sub-human and potentially dangerous, [[spoiler: though it certainly doesn't stop humans from using the bakenezumi in order to kill those humans who show signs of throwing off the social conditioning or who otherwise pose a threat to their social order]]. Finally, it's revealed in the very last episode that [[spoiler: the bakenezumi were originally humans who lacked PK. Without the ability to give them a death feedback response, the same scientists who created the death feedback response instead mutated them into creatures that would no longer be recognized as "human," thus allowing humans to control them through the threat of violence even while creating their ideal pacifist society]].

** By the end of the manga, it has been made ''very'' apparent that the precursors to the Titans, [[spoiler:the Eldians]], did not abide by this trope. Hell, the progenitor of the Titans was ''hunted for sport by her own husband''!

* The trope is discussed shortly after the climax of ''Utopia''. [[spoiler:When forced to choose between saving the insane New Law robot Prospero and the virulently anti-New Law and anti-No Law Simcor Beddle, Caliban decides that Prospero's willingness to kill humans and Beddle's willingness to kill robots were equivalent acts of evil. But Prospero had destroyed other robots, even other New Law robots to achieve his goals, and Caliban had no evidence that Beddle had or was willing to kill other humans for gain. This made Beddle marginally less loathsome than Prospero, and so Caliban shot his friend and rescued his enemy]]. So basically, an ape that will not kill ape is a ''better'' ape than one that will, but that isn't enough to make the first ape a ''good'' ape in absolute terms.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': Although the Death Claws, America's genetically-engineered leftovers from the all-destructive great war, are extremely aggressive creatures little better than animals that attack humans on sight, it's implied (from the modified talking Death Claws in the second series) that their basic pack-based society has a rigidly hierarchical, peaceful, ethical pack-based basic society. They were extremely loyal to the pack as a whole, treating it as a family unit rather than having individual families. Fights within a pack are unheard of, and the pack's leader controls many aspects of life, such as choosing and matching female and male deathclaws for reproduction.

* Those who engage in animal cruelty (up to including killing them) tend to given a far less harsher sentence compared to those who do the same to a fellow man. Animal cruelty? Just a fine and a month of prison. Torture or kill a person? Death penalty (or life imprisonment on countries that lack them)!

* ''LetsPlay/NewLifeSMP'': {{Discussed|Trope}} and averted. As a Blazeborn in her second life, [=GeminiTay=] has no qualms killing other Blazes, but also asks the viewers of her 5th episode if it is morally wrong for a Blazeborn like her to, in theory, make a Blaze farm to obtain resources.

* Creator/VladimirVasilyev's ''Literature/WolfishNature'' duology takes place in an alternate world where humans evolved from dogs. One of the defining moments of ''canus sapiens sapiens'' history is the Bio-Correction in the 18th century, when the "wolf gene" was bred out of every person on Earth, essentially creating this trope. The mere thought of killing another human is repulsive. Doing it usually means the person goes insane after the act. Only trained agents (and then only if they go through proper mental conditioning) have a chance of coming out of a mission where they are forced to kill with their psyche relatively intact. Even then they still spend weeks or even months in psychological recovery. There have been no wars since the Bio-Correction. The plot of the duology involves the discovery of an enclave of "wolves" - non-corrected humans who can still kill. It's not so much that the whole world is afraid of them. It's the fact that any country with a live specimen can use that to clone a whole army of merciless killers. At the end of the second novel, [[spoiler:the protagonist finds out from a geneticist that the Bio-Correction was a lie of the ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve variety - if people are conditioned to think they're incapable of killing and will go insane if they do, then this is what will happen. ArtisticLicenseBiology here-Any decent geneticist understands that aggression is not a single gene that can be surgically removed. Then again, most non-geneticists will gladly believe in LegoGenetics, especially in a world where GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke is true. This seems to imply that all geneticists since the 18th century have been in on the secret and have been keeping it from others.]].p

** [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968 The first film]] mentions a sacred scroll that hints at the concept: "Beware the beast Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed". However, as the Real Life section shows, actual primates ''do'' kill each other.

* The novelization to ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'' says that Mogwai are incapable of killing each other.

** The Founders' highest (or even ''only'') law is "no Changeling has ever harmed another" (until [[spoiler:Odo does it]], and they ain't too happy about that, as you might imagine). Indeed, it's less a law than a simple, unshakable truth. [[spoiler:However, as the founders and leaders of the Dominion, a classic example of TheEmpire, they've harmed pretty much everyone else.]] Although there are times when they only follow this rule in spirit, as they have allowed harm to come to Odo by not intervening when inflicted by someone else; in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E21TheDieIsCast The Die is Cast]]", [[spoiler:the Changeling posing as Lovok]] does not intervene when Garak tortures Odo, but he does go back and help the two of them escape. Also, in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E26TheAdversary The Adversary]]", the Changeling saboteur tries to convince Odo to escape with him, but is willing to leave him to die with the humanoids if he won't come. Then in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E26BrokenLink Broken Link]]", they afflict Odo with an infection that will kill him unless he returns to the Great Link for judgment. In this case at least, they admit to internal conflict over the decision (unheard of among the Founders otherwise). The novels explain that the Changelings are no longer capable of reproducing after the "Progenitor" left, so a dead changeling affects the whole race.

* Creator/RoaldDahl's ''Literature/TheBFG''. Giants is never killing giants; only humans is. In fact, the BFG claims that humans are the only species on the planet that kill their own kind. Not true in RealLife. In [[WesternAnimation/TheBFG the cartoon]], Fleshlumpeater tries to kill the BFG after his plan to imprison the evil giants is exposed, on the basis that he [[NoTrueScotsman doesn't consider him a true giant anymore, but a "human bean"]].
** To be fair to the BFG, even though it might have been known at the time period the book took place in that animals kill their own kind, even if the BFG is the smartest of the giants he might have simply been unaware of the truth, and he certainly feels that [[FateWorseThanDeath imprisoning the other Giants in a pit that it would be impossible to get out of where their only food is the worst food in the world]] isn't a bad idea.
** There is a moment when the giants do try to eat the BFG when they are first imprisoned in the pit, but that is more because they won't have any humans to eat and he gets away in time.

** Similarly, TheDothraki are forbidden from spilling blood in Vaes Dothrak... and all the merchants employ very large men with garrottes for security.

* ''VideoGame/{{Arknights}}'': The Sankta follow a set of Laws which appear to be supernaturally enforced, and one of said laws forbid them from pointing their patron firearms at another Sankta. Violating the law results in the Sankta becoming "fallen", stripping them of the racial empathy and affinity for firearm Arts. "Guide Ahead" shows that exceptions to the law exist, as it does not prevent Sankta from fighting each other with other methods like hand-to-hand combat and explosives [[spoiler:or if the Law accepts their actions, as Andoain and the Pope would found out]].

* In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E3ThePowerOfTheDaleks The Power of the Daleks]]", the first Second Doctor story from ''Series/DoctorWho'', a Dalek asks a human why they kill each other, not understanding it at the time. Of course, in later stories, Daleks started killing each other too, however in those instances the Daleks in question saw the other Daleks as [[ANaziByAnyOtherName impure]], and thus [[NoTrueScotsman not truly Daleks]].
* The Terrians in ''Series/{{Earth 2}}'' are actually incapable of attacking their own kind. A bad guy takes advantage of this by wearing a necklace of Terrian bones, and until it's removed they can't kill him. Of course, when it does finally get taken off, he's dragged underground pretty quickly.

** The Founders' highest (or even ''only'') law is "no Changeling has ever harmed another" (until [[spoiler:Odo does it]] - and they ain't too happy about that, as you might imagine). Indeed, it's less a law than a simple, unshakable truth. [[spoiler:However, as the founders and leaders of the Dominion, a classic example of TheEmpire, they've harmed pretty much everyone else.]] Although there are times when they only follow this rule in spirit, as they have allowed harm to come to Odo by not intervening when inflicted by someone else--in "The Die is Cast," [[spoiler:the Changeling posing as Lovok]] did not intervene when Garak tortured Odo, but he did go back and help the two of them escape. Also in "The Adversary", the Changeling saboteur tries to convince Odo to escape with him, but is willing to leave him to die with the humanoids if he won't come. Then in "Broken Link", they afflict Odo with an infection that will kill him unless he returns to the Great Link for judgment. In this case at least, they admit to internal conflict over the decision (unheard of among the Founders otherwise). The novels explain that the Changelings are no longer capable of reproducing after the "Progenitor" left, so a dead changeling affects the whole race.
** The Ferengi follow this to a lesser extent: while murder of individuals and the like happens, Quark has a big speech to Sisko in which he points out that while Humans look down on the Ferengi for being greedy capitalists, the Ferengi themselves look down on the Humans and think they're "better". Ferengi never engaged in genocide, slavery, or atomic warfare, which Human history is full of. Indeed, the Ferengi have never even fought a large-scale interstellar war, instead peacefully resolving disputes by (ruthlessly) applying economic pressure, subjugating their own women, and selling weapons to other people who commit genocide and engage in atomic warfare. There's also Rule of Acquisition #17 -- A contract is a contract is a contract...but only between Ferengi.

* The angels in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' have this rule. When angels start turning up dead, Castiel seeks assistance from the Winchesters to help figure out what high ranking demon had figured out a way to kill angels. It literally never occurs to Castiel that an angel could turn on other angels as they are literally siblings. Castiel is shocked and in denial when the highest ranking demon they could find laughs and says demons could only dream of being able to kill angels.

--> '''Dean:''' Demons, I get. People are crazy.

* The Vampires of ''Series/TrueBlood'' have nothing but contempt for humans and will kill them at leisure if they can get away with it. But kill another Vampire and you are in for a world of hurt.
** There are cases of vampires killing other vampires, but the smart ones do it in secret and clean up the mess afterwards. When Bill kills Longshadow (Eric's bartender), who was trying to kill Sookie (who had exposed his embezzlement of Eric's money), Eric (being the vampire sheriff of the county) is required by law to report the crime. When Bill points out that Eric would've killed Longshadow anyway for stealing from him, Eric agrees but claims he would've been more discreet than doing it in front of witnesses. Due to the mitigating circumstances, the Magister decides to impose a lenient punishment on Bill, and sentences him to turning Jessica Hamby into a vampire.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

->'''Female Changeling:''' As I said, I wish the circumstances of this meeting were different. You killed a Changeling, Odo.\\
'''Odo:''' He was trying to kill my friends. I had no choice.\\
'''Female Changeling:''' Of course you had a choice, and you chose to side with the Solids. To protect them, you were willing to violate the most sacred law of our people.\\
'''Odo:''' No Changeling has ever harmed another. \\
'''Female Changeling:''' Until you.
-->-- ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E26BrokenLink Broken Link]]"

* Played with by [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien the Presger]] in The ''Literature/ImperialRadch'' Trilogy. The Presger acknowledge two types of life, "Significant" life, and non-Significant life. While treating non-Significant life [[TheRightsOfASuperiorSpecies as entertainment or art projects]]. Presger will not harm Significant species, nor will they permit Significant species to harm each other. The Presger force any species they recognize as Significant to sign treaties enforcing this, with the understanding that if they break said treaty it will be Very Bad for them. However, the Presger do not understand 'individuality' or 'identity' in any form recognizable for a human, so Significant species are fully allowed to make war on and destroy members of their own species without fear of Presger involvement. [[spoiler:The Presger apparently realized the Radch was doing something harmful to the rest of humanity, and armed the Gaarsedai inner council with Presger handguns to teach Anander Mianaai a small lession about the treaty's limits.]]

* Creator/VladimirVasilyev's ''Literature/WolfishNature'' duology takes place in an alternate world where humans evolved from dogs. One of the defining moments of ''canus sapiens sapiens'' history is the Bio-Correction in the 18th century, when the "wolf gene" was bred out of every person on Earth, essentially creating this trope. The mere thought of killing another human is repulsive. Doing it usually means the person goes insane after the act. Only trained agents (and then only if they go through proper mental conditioning) have a chance of coming out of a mission where they are forced to kill with their psyche relatively intact. Even then they still spend weeks or even months in psychological recovery. There have been no wars since the Bio-Correction. The plot of the duology involves the discovery of an enclave of "wolves" - non-corrected humans who can still kill. It's not so much that the whole world is afraid of them. It's the fact that any country with a live specimen can use that to clone a whole army of merciless killers. At the end of the second novel, [[spoiler:the protagonist finds out from a geneticist that the Bio-Correction was a lie of the ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve variety - if people are conditioned to think they're incapable of killing and will go insane if they do, then this is what will happen. ArtisticLicenseBiology here-Any decent geneticist understands that aggression is not a single gene that can be surgically removed. Then again, most non-geneticists will gladly believe in LegoGenetics, especially in a world where GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke is true. This seems to imply that all geneticists since the 18th century have been in on the secret and have been keeping it from others.]].

* ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'':