History Main / AttackOnTheHeart

* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'': When Anna is hit in the head by one of Elsa's ice beams, she's knocked out and gets a [[LockedIntoStrangeness permanent white hair streak]]. The troll shaman manages to heal her, but warns that a similar strike to the heart will lead to a painful, slow, and inevitable transformation into solid ice that can only be reverted by "an ActOfTrueLove".

* ''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.

[[quoteright:350:[[Comicbook/WonderWoman2011 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wonder_woman_8_shot_thru_the_heart.jpg]]]]

-->-- ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', "The Wish"

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasGreatAdventureIntoTheUnderworld'' has Doraemon and the gang facing a new threat, the all-powerful demon Lord Demaon, whose sole weakness is his heart. Trying to attack it as harder than it sounds, however, because it turns out Demaon's heart is not ''in'' his body, but is a floating lump of flesh in outer space.
* ''Manga/DrPrisoner'': Tsukishima, the female protagonist got hit from the force of a bomb explosion. The impact of the explosion has caused cardiac tamponade to Tsukishima's heart. Fortunately, Reiji is there to save her life.

* The page image is ironically a non-fatal example: early in the ComicBook/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.

* ''Fanfic/TheArithmancer'': In the sequel ''Lady Archimedes'', Hermione's medical research leads her to develop a variation on the Sumerian Strike Hex, which is no more powerful than being punched in the nose — but her version delivers that force directly to the heart in a way designed to cause cardiac arrest. ''And'' it can penetrate single-layer shields. [[spoiler:She almost kills Bellatrix Lestrange with it in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, but another Death Eater, Rookwood, was smart enough to revive her.]]
* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': [[spoiler:Zarekos]] [[ResurrectiveImmortality temporarily]] kills Wemos - a vampire - by attacking his heart:
--> cracked-open ribcage, grabbed the beating heart, and plucked it from its exposed perch in a shower of blood. Immediately, the separated organ and its owner dissolved.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}:'' When Anna was hit in the head by one of Elsa's ice beams, she was knocked out and got a [[LockedIntoStrangeness permanent 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 ActOfTrueLove."

* ''Film/{{Assault on Precinct 13|1976}}'': In an 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.

* In ''Literature/{{EndgameTrilogy}}'' [[spoiler: Kala's]] is stabbed into the heart by [[spoiler: Baitsakhan]]. [[spoiler: However, it doesn't kill her immediately.]]
* in ''Literature/{{The Grimrose Girls}}'', [[spoiler: the fake Penelope]] is killed by being stabbed in the heart. Her blood stains her killer's clothing over ''their'' heart, as if they were wounded as well.

* ''{{Series/Highlander}}'': Tessa, presumably. The bullet hit her right in the heart area and killed her instantly. At least one immortal died their first death due to stabbing in the heart as well.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek''

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Captain Picard has an artificial heart as a result of an incident in his youth, he proudly antagonized a [[ProudWarriorRace Nausican]], who then [[DisproportionateRetribution stabbed him through the heart]]. Since then, [[LiteralChangeOfHeart he's been a much more mellow individual]].
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': [[spoiler: After overhearing Ziyal's confession of freeing war prisoners, Damar summarily executes her by shooting her in the heart with a phaser.]]

--> '''Hades''': [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction That really hurt.]] But hey. At least I'm not dead!
* In ''Videogame/{{Lugaru}}'', Turner always throws his knives at the heart.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': This trope is {{discussed|Trope}} 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.

A fairly common, yet equally interesting method of [[SubvertedTrope subverting]] this trope is to have a character be hit where their heart ''should'' be, [[OrganDodge only to survive because they have]] the rare condition [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextrocardia Dextrocardia]], where instead of facing to the left, the heart is mirrored,[[note]]usually along with most or all of the other internal organs, as dextrocardia is a subtype of -- and often accompanied by -- [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situs_inversus situs inversus totalis]][[/note]] with its apex instead being on the right side of the chest. Assuming the attack doesn't damage anything else in the area the attacker was aiming for, survival in this manner can be TruthInTelevision.

A fairly common, yet equally interesting method of [[SubvertedTrope subverting]] this trope is to have a character be hit where their heart ''should'' be, [[OrganDodge only to survive because they have their]] HeartInTheWrongPlace; or, to use more scientific language, have the rare condition [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextrocardia Dextrocardia]], where instead of facing to the left, the heart is mirrored,[[note]]usually along with most or all of the other internal organs, as dextrocardia is a subtype of -- and often accompanied by -- [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situs_inversus situs inversus totalis]][[/note]] with its apex instead being on the right side of the chest. Assuming the attack doesn't damage anything else in the area the attacker was aiming for, survival in this manner can be TruthInTelevision.

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 has a high chance of being 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.

* ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'': Marcus has a human heart despite being a HollywoodCyborg. Towards the ends of the film, a Terminator attempts to destroy his heart because [[AttackItsWeakPoint it's his only vulnerable spot]].

[[caption-width-right:350:Luckily, it's only [[CupidsArrow a bullet from Eros' pistols]]. [[ItMakesSenseInContext Yeah.]]]]

A fairly common, yet equally interesting method of [[SubvertedTrope subverting]] this trope is to have a character be hit where their heart ''should'' be, only to survive because they have their HeartInTheWrongPlace; or, to use more scientific language, have the rare condition [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextrocardia Dextrocardia]], where instead of facing to the left, the heart is mirrored,[[note]]usually along with most or all of the other internal organs, as dextrocardia is a subtype of - and often accompanied by - [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situs_inversus situs inversus totalis]][[/note]] with its apex instead being on the right side of the chest. Assuming the attack doesn't damage anything else in the area the attacker was aiming for, survival in this manner can be TruthInTelevision.

* In the [[Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa manga adaptation]] of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', Wolf Link defeats Dark Beast Ganon by biting his heart out.

** Kirei takes the cake in that he dies in ''every'' route via heart-related destruction, [[LivingOnBorrowedTime though he's able to power through for a time in some of them]]. [[spoiler:It was also how he was ''supposed'' to die back in ''LightNovel/FateZero'' before he got drenched in Grail mud.]]

* ''Literature/TheInheritanceCycle'': Shades are sorcerer's who have possessed by one or more spirits. They are extremely difficult to kill as destroying their body will leave them temporarily disembodied and make them reappear elsewhere in their spirit form until they recover their physical form. The only way to kill a Shade is to stab them through the heart, as Eragon and Arya proceed to do with Durza and Varaug respectively.

A fairly common, yet equally interesting method of [[SubvertedTrope subverting]] this trope is to have a character be hit where their heart ''should'' be, only to survive because they have their HeartInTheWrongPlace; or, to use more scientific language, have the rare condition [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextrocardia Dextrocardia]], where instead of facing to the left, the heart is mirrored, with its apex instead being on the right side of the chest. Assuming the attack doesn't damage anything else in the area the attacker was aiming for, survival in this manner can be TruthInTelevision.

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

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Cinder Fall kills Phyrra Nikos this way, by [[http://archive.is/xhKDF shooting her through the heart with an arrow.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Manga/DrPrisoner'': Tsukishima, the female protagonist got hit from the force of a bomb explosion. The impact of the explosion has caused cardiac tamponade to Tsukishima's heart. Fortunately, Reiji is there to save her life.

* ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'': Marcus has a human heart despite being a HollywoodCyborg. Towards the ends of the film, a Terminator attempts to destroy his heart because [[AttackItsWeakPoint it's his only vulnerable spot]].

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E19APrivateLittleWar 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]].]]
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Captain Picard has an artificial heart as a result of an incident in his youth, he proudly antagonized a [[ProudWarriorRace Nausican]], who then [[DisproportionateRetribution stabbed him through the heart]]. Since then, [[LiteralChangeOfHeart he's been a much more mellow individual]].
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': [[spoiler: After overhearing Ziyal's confession of freeing war prisoners, Damar summarily executes her by shooting her in the heart with a phaser.]]

* ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'': One of Koro-sensei's greatest weaknesses is his heart, located right underneath his tie. [[spoiler:When fighting against Kayano, Koro-sensei allows her to stab his heart in order to create an opening for Nagisa to distract her, thus letting Koro-sensei take out her tentacles before they fully exhaust her. Also, in the finale, Koro-sensei allows Nagisa on behalf of Class 3-E to assassinate him just before graduation day, by having Nagisa stab his heart.]]

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasGreatAdventureIntoTheUnderworld'' has Doraemonn and the gang facing a new threat, the all-powerful demon Lord Demaon, whose sole weakness is his heart. Trying to attack it as harder than it sounds, however, because it turns out Demaon's heart is not ''in'' his body, but is a floating lump of flesh in outer space.

** Lancer gets hit with True Assassin's Zabaniya in the Heaven's Feel route. The curse creates a copy of the victim's heart which True Assassin can then crush. This gets reflected in the victim. In Presage Flower, True Assassin took this a step further by ripping out Lancer's heart after it gets crushed then eats it.