History Main / AttackOnTheHeart

In the center of the chest ([[https://www.newhealthadvisor.com/What-Side-Is-Your-Heart-On.html and tilted slightly to the left]]) lies the heart: an [[{{Understatement}} extremely important]] muscle that happens to be the sole thing responsible for moving blood throughout the entire body. As such, causing severe enough damage to it is one of the surest ways to kill someone. In real life, police and military personnel are trained to fire at the center of mass (read: chest/heart) [[TruthInTelevision specifically for this reason]]: it incapacitates or kills a target [[CombatPragmatist much more consistently than aiming for extremities]].

* A non-fatal example: early in the New52 run, ComicBook/WonderWoman gets shot in the heart by [[ManipulativeBastard Hades]] with the Eros' pistols [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished that she just relinquished]] [[{{Protectorate}} in exchange for Zola]] to get her [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe to love and marry him]]. After [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath convincing him to give up]], she leaves, but not before she returns the favor by shooting him with the aforementioned pistols into his heart, just as he gazes into the mirror Hephaestus left him, so that he may love himself.

[[caption-width-right:350:OnlyAFleshWound Luckily, it's {{only a|FleshWound}} [[AbnormalAmmo bullet]] [[CupidsArrow from Eros' pistols]]. [[ItMakesSenseInContext Yeah.]]]]

* ''Manga/RedSprite'': Tatsu kills Shepherd by stabbing him in the heart with his sword, but only penetrating up to the pericardium so he can electrocute it with his Thundercore powers. The resulting convulsions cause the heart to implode and crush itself.

* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': [[spoiler: Zarekos]] [[ResurrectiveImmortality temporarily]] kills Wemos - a vampire - by attacking his heart:

* ''[[Film/AssaultOnPrecinct131976 Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)]]'': In infamous scene, a member of the Street Thunder gang [[WouldHurtAChild kills a little girl]] by shooting her in the middle of her chest at point-blank range.
* ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'': Both Superman and Doomsday are stabbed through the heart, [[MutualKill simultaneously]]. [[spoiler: Superman got better.]]

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In ''A Private Little War,'' Spock is shot through the center mass by revolutionaries on planet Neural. [[spoiler: He only survived because his [[BizarreAlienBiology Vulcan heart is located where the Human liver is]].]]

--> '''Hades:''' That really hurt. But hey. At least I'm not dead!

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': This trope is [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] by Princess Bubblegum. She points out that it's a bad for her opponent - a walking heart by name of ''[[PunnyName Ricardio]]'' - to have his heart exposed.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen}}:'' When Anna was hit in the head by one of Elsa's ice beams, she was knocked out and got a permanent [[SkunkStripe white hair streak]]. The troll shaman manages to heal her, but warns that a similar strike to the heart would lead to a painful, slow, and inevitable transformation into solid ice that can only be reverted by "an act of true love."

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Cinder Fall kills Phyrra Nikos this way, by shooting her through the heart with an arrow.

This trope can easily overlap with ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice or InertialImpalement. [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampires]], which are otherwise immortal, can often be killed anyway by impaling them through the heart with a wooden stake: a depiction so common that it's [[WoodenStake a trope in it's own right]]. If the attack actually ''removes'' the heart from the body, the victim will often [[AndShowItToYou see their own heart]], [[BeatStillMyHeart still visibly beating]] before they die.

* ''Film/Equilibrium'': John Preston kills [=DuPont=] with a single gunshot to the heart.

* ''Film/Equilibrium'': John Preston kills DuPont with a single gunshot to the heart.

* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen:'' When Anna was hit in the head by one of Elsa's ice beams, she was knocked out and got a permanent [[SkunkStripe white hair streak]]. The troll shaman manages to heal her, but warns that a similar strike to the heart would lead to a painful, slow, and inevitable transformation into solid ice that can only be reverted by "an act of true love."

* While when Anna received an ice beam to the head on ''Westernanimation/{{Frozen}}'' she was knocked out and got a [[SkunkStripe white hair streak]], but the troll shaman manage to heal her, a strike to the chest led to a painful, slow transformation into ice that could only be reverted by "an act of true love." She ends up becoming a whole ice statue eventually, [[spoiler:but given that the ultimate change happened while Anna [[TakingTheBullet saved her sister Elsa]], the one who unwittingly froze her in the first place, she soon thaws, as the sacrifice was an act of love.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wonder_woman_8_shot_thru_the_heart.jpg]]

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': AttackOnTheHeart: In "The Toys of Caliban", Toby Ross accidentally kills his mother Mary when he removes her heart from her chest [[YourMindMakesItReal using his ability to manifest anything from a picture]]. He had seen a diagram of a heart in a magazine and wanted to know how it worked.

Because filmmakers [[ArtisticLicenseBiology aren't necessarily familiar with anatomy]], on occasion a wound will treated as damaging the heart [[HeartInTheWrongPlace even though it's clearly not in the center of the chest]]. Instead, they place the wound beneath the left shoulder, where the heartbeat can be felt. [[RealityIsUnrealistic That would be the aortic pulse, not the heart itself]]. That said, almost ''any'' penetrating wound to the thorax can be potentially fatal due to the number of important organs and (more significantly) major arteries and veins. The heart itself ''can'' also be affected by shock damage even if the injury itself misses, so there's some TruthInTelevision to this, as well.

* ''Manga/TokyoShinobiSquad'': Jin kills a yakuza gang member by flinging the gangster's knife back at him and using it as a lightning rod to electrocute him.

Because filmmakers [[ArtisticLicenseBiology aren't necessarily familiar with anatomy]], on occasion a wound will treated as damaging the heart [[HeartInTheWrongPlace even though it's clearly not in the center of the chest]]. Instead, they place the wound beneath the left shoulder, where the heartbeat can be felt. [[RealityIsUnrealistic That would be the aortic pulse, not the heart itself]].

* ''Literature/Dracula'': The titular Vampire is actually killed by a knife through the heart ([[WoodenStake not a stake]]) and being decapitated by another knife at exact the same moment.

Sometimes overlaps with ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice or InertialImpalement. If the attack actually removes the heart from the body, it can result in BeatStillMyHeart or AndShowItToYou. See also HeartInTheWrongPlace, if a wound is treated as destroying one's heart even though it's not in the center of the chest. Supertrope to WoodenStake, where impaling through the heart with wood specifically kills vampires.

Not to be confused with ShotToTheHeart, which is using a hypodermic needle to inject a life-saving chemical [[WorstAid directly into someone's heart]].

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising''. While being forced to travel inside of Hades after being eaten, Pit has a run in with the Lord of the Underworld's heart which serves as the boss for the chapter. The heart explodes upon defeating it, but Hades ends up being no worse for wear despite his heart being destroyed.
--> '''Hades:''' That really hurt. But hey. At least I'm not dead!

* In ''Videogame/Lugaru'', Turner always throws his knives at the heart.

* ''[[Film/AssaultOnPrecinct131976 Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)]]'': In infamous scene, a member of the Street Thunder gang [[WouldHurtAChild kills a little girl]] by shooting her in the chest at point-blank range.

Sometimes overlaps with ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice or InertialImpalement. If the attack actually removes the heart from the body, it can result in BeatStillMyHeart or AndShowItToYou. See also HeartInTheWrongPlace, if a wound is treated as destroying one's heart even though it's not in the center of the chest.

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': In one of the [[MultipleEndings routes]], Gilgamesh kills Illya by ripping her heart out.

In the center of the chest lies the heart: an [[{{Understatement}} extremely important]] muscle that happens to be the sole thing responsible for moving blood throughout the entire body. As such, causing severe enough damage to it is one of the surest ways to kill someone. In real life, police and military personnel are trained to fire at the center of mass (read: chest/heart) [[TruthInTelevision specifically for this reason]]: it incapacitates or kills a target [[CombatPragmatist much more consistently than aiming for extremities]].

Along with [[SlashedThroat throat-slitting]], [[OffWithHisHead decapitation]], and [[BoomHeadshot shots to the head]], this is one of the classical ways of killing someone in media - generally speaking, any character that takes a direct hit to the heart will either [[InstantDeathBullet die instantly]] or [[TimeDelayedDeath drop dead after just a few seconds]].

Sometimes overlaps with ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice or InertialImpalement. If the attack actually removes the heart from the body, it can result in BeatStillMyHeart or AndShowItToYou.

* ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'': Both Superman and Doomsday die this way, [[MutualKill simultaneously]]. [[spoiler: Superman got better.]]