History Main / AttackingThroughYourself

* ''Manga/SevenDeadlySins'': Cusack's Resonant allows him to establish a link with a target through eye contact, after which his target will be forced to imitate Cusack's movements. [[spoiler:He uses this to force Arthur to [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice stab himself]] with Excalibur.]]

* ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'': If sufficiently desperate, Nobara can use her own body as the "straw doll" for her Resonance technique as long as she has a body part belonging to her target at hand. In the case of the Death Paintings, it becomes particularly effective since their own cursed technique is infused into their blood, which they infected Nobara with, providing her technique with a much more powerful link to her target on top of using her own body. This means every time Nobara sticks a nail into herself Eso and Kechizu are struck with their own poison and weakened enough that Yuji and Nobara can fight back on even ground.

* In ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'''s final boss fight, [[spoiler:the Hollow Knight begins to stab himself multiple times in an attempt to a) buy time for the Knight to heal or damage him some more, and b) legitimately attempt to damage the infection inside of him (though it does nothing). Because the Hollow Knight isn't the final boss; he's a vessel for the source of the infection, [[LightIsNotGood the Radiance]], and he's trying to free himself and help the Knight to destroy her.]]

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'': during his fight with Vamp, Raiden is trapped in a choke-hold from behind. This prompts Raiden to use his own katana to stab himself (and therefore Vamp) through the abdomen. Unfortunately [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Vamp is a vampire]], and he responds by pulling the blade in deeper and twisting it so Raiden is [[HoistByHisOwnPetard further injured by the move.]]

Whether due to extreme CombatPragmatism, being a [[ExaggeratedTrope next-level]] CombatSadomasochist, or simply [[DesperationAttack the lack of any other viable options]], a character attacks their opponent through their own body. So it's a variant of ShootTheHostage and DeliberateInjuryGambit, except the hostage is the one inflicting the injury on themselves, and/or the deliberate injury is self-inflicted. The hope is that the attack hurts the opponent even more, taking him out of the fight or at least setting him up for follow-up attack (either by the wounded but still functional attacker, or by that character's allies if the character's attack incapacitates himself as well).

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/{{Tekken}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yoshimitsu_harakiri_0.png]]]]

* In both the ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' and ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'', Yoshimitsu is able to stab his sword through himself to damage his enemy. The attack does serious damage to himself, but even more to his enemy if it successfully connects. The damage it deals to his opponent actually takes effect prior to the damage it deals to him, so doing it successfully at low health will cause a victory rather than a draw.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/{{Tekken}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yoshimitsu_harakiri.png]]]]

Can be a variant of SuicideAttack and/or DeathOrGloryAttack, and even in mild examples the attack would effectively be CastFromHitPoints. Compare PullYourselfDownTheSpear and KickingMyOwnButt.

->''"Did Scarlet Witch just [[Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard John McClane]] a spell through herself at Banner?"''

-->-- '''WebVideo/CinemaWins''', "[[https://youtu.be/9H1OhvTyyxU Everything GREAT About Avengers: Age of Ultron]]"

* An interesting variation in ''Film/XMen1'', when Magneto has bound the X-Men with metal plates from inside the Statue of Liberty's head. To neutralize Wolverine's claws, he points them inward at Wolverine's chest before clamping metal over them. Wolverine escapes by popping his claws through his own chest and shoulders to cut the metal behind him, freeing himself. Because he's [[HealingFactor Wolverine]], the wounds don't affect him in the final fight with Sabretooth, [[spoiler: but when he gives his powers to Rogue to heal her from the life-draining effects of Magneto's machine, the wounds reopen and he almost bleeds out.]]

* ''Literature/AmericanGods'': When [[spoiler:Mr. World comes up behind Laura, trying to talk her out of throwing his stick/spear down the hill, Laura]] stabs the stick through herself and into him. [[spoiler: Although she dies, her magical coin turns her back into a zombie.]]

* ''Literature/{{Deathstalker}}'': The Masked Gladiator [[spoiler: aka Finlay Campbell]] is fighting a winged genetically-engineered creature in the Arena, which grabs him from behind and carries him into the air, intending to impale him on one of the Arena's flagpoles. The Masked Gladiator can't attack the creature behind him effectively, so stabs through his own gut to hit the creature solidly enough to make it and he fall to the ground, where the Gladiator beheads it. The Gladiator makes a show of the wound not slowing him down. . . until he gets back to his private quarters, where he needs to quickly hop into a regeneration machine before he passes out.

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': In Act 6 Act 6 Act 2, [[spoiler: Aranea attempts this when Jane has her in headlock, levitating a sword to stab them both in the stomach. Since Aranea's ring made her immortal, this would have worked, but Aranea is interrupted and it doesn't happen.]]

->''"Did Scarlet Witch just [[PersonAsVerb John McClane]] [[Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard a spell through herself]] at Banner?"''

* [[Franchise/MarvelUniverse Marvel Comics]] villain Nitro is a mutant with the power to blow himself up, turning into a gaseous state until he chooses to reform physically, where he can do it again (thus, his entire point is this trope {{exaggerated|Trope}}). He's a sadistic MadBomber who fights heroes and causes casualties and property damage with this ability, most notably [[ComicBook/CivilWar causing the deaths of over 600 people in Stamford, Connecticut.]]
* When [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Frank's]] getting his ass kicked by [[DarkActionGirl Elektra]] in Jason Aaron's run of ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'', he finally manages to nail her when she jumps onto his back... by shooting her in the chest ''through his own shoulder''. [[MadeOfIron True to form]], this effectively ends their fight and sets her up for a bullet to the head; Frank, on the other hands, walks it off.
* In Frank Miller's ''ComicBook/{{Ronin}}'' (DC Comics), a young, nameless samurai confronts the demon Agat. The samurai has a sword which is fueled by the blood of an innocent. The samurai waits for Agat to approach him from behind, then stabs the sword through his own body into the demon.
* Used in an ExpandedUniverse ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|Legends}}'' story pitting Darth Vader against a resurrected Darth Maul; Vader stabs himself through the chest [[BadassBack to kill Maul]].

* A slight variant in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'': in a story related by Ironfist, Impactor nonlethally fires a few shots through Springer's midsection at the latter's behest--who fortunately has circuit dampeners to deal with the pain--to get the jump on the infamous Squadron X, saving their lives and winning the battle. [[spoiler: The story is later revealed to be false. In reality, it was [[KnightTemplar Impactor's]] idea to shoot through a completely unwilling Springer--who has ''no'' circuit dampeners.]]
** The situation is later reversed in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersRequiemOftheWreckers'' [[spoiler: with both parties willing.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

Can be a variant of SuicideAttack and/or DeathOrGloryAttack, and even in mild examples the attack would effectively be CastFromHitPoints. Compare PullYourselfDownTheSpear.

* [[Franchise/MarvelUniverse Marvel Comics]] villain Nitro is a mutant with the power to blow himself up, turning into a gaseous state until he chooses to reform physically, where he can do it again (thus, his entire point is this trope UpToEleven). He's a sadistic MadBomber who fights heroes and causes casualties and property damage with this ability, most notably [[ComicBook/CivilWar causing the deaths of over 600 people in Stamford, Connecticut.]]

Whether due to extreme CombatPragmatism, being a [[UpToEleven next-level]] CombatSadomasochist, or simply [[DesperationAttack the lack of any other viable options]], a character attacks their opponent through their own body. So it's a variant of ShootTheHostage and DeliberateInjuryGambit, except the hostage is the one inflicting the injury on themselves, and/or the deliberate injury is self-inflicted. The hope is that the attack hurts the opponent even more, taking him out of the fight or at least setting him up for follow-up attack (either by the wounded but still functional attacker, or by that character's allies if the character's attack incapacitates himself as well).

** The situation is later reversed [[spoiler: with both parties willing.]]

* ''Literature/AmericanGods'': When Mr World comes up behind Laura, trying to talk her out of throwing his stick/spear down the hill, Laura stabs the stick through herself and into him. Although she dies, her magical coin turns her back into a zombie.
-->''The boundary between sensation and pain had diffused since she had died. She felt the spearhead penetrate her chest, felt it push out through her back. A moment's resistance - she pushed harder - and the spear pushed into Mr. World.''

* At the climax of ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard'', Gabriel holds [=McClane=] at gunpoint, only for him to maneuver in such a way that the gun fires through [=McClane=]'s existing shoulder wound into Gabriel's.

* An interesting variation in ''Film/XMen1'', when Magneto has bound the X-Men with metal plates from inside the Statue of Liberty's head. To neutralize Wolverine's claws, he points them inward at Wolverine's chest before clamping metal over them. Wolverine escapes by popping his claws through his own chest and shoulders to cut the metal behind him, freeing himself. Because he's [[HealingFactor Wolverine]], the wounds don't affect him in the final fight with Sabretooth, [[spoiler: but when he gives his powers to Rogue to heal her from the life-draining of Magneto's machine, the wounds reopen.]]

* Ryo Saeba of ''Manga/CityHunter'' famously once shot through his own hand in order to catch a bad guy off guard.
* [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Saya Otonashi]] of ''Anime/BloodPlus'' is grabbed by Karl from behind. But Solomon arrives and cuts off Karl's arm which gives Saya the opportunity to finish him by stabbing herself with her sword which skewers Karl. Because her sword is soaked with her blood after she stabbed herself, Karl ends up getting crystallized.

* In Frank Miller's ''Ronin'' (DC Comics), a young, nameless samurai confronts the demon Agat. The samurai has a sword which is fueled by the blood of an innocent. The samurai waits for Agat to approach him from behind, then stabs the sword through his own body into the demon.

* [[Franchise/MarvelUniverse Marvel Comics]] villain Nitro is a mutant with the power to blow himself up, turning into a gaseous state until he chooses to reform physically, where he can do it again (thus, his entire point is this trope UpToEleven). He's a sadistic MadBomber who fights heroes and causes casualties and property damage with this ability, most notably [[ComicBook/CivilWar causing the deaths of over 600 people in Stamford, Connecticut.]]
* When [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Frank's]] getting his ass kicked by [[DarkActionGirl Elektra]] in Jason Aaron's run of ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'', he finally manages to nail her when she jumps onto his back... by shooting her in the chest ''through his own shoulder''. [[MadeOfIron True to form]], this effectively ends their fight and sets her up for a bullet to the head; Frank, on the other hands, walks it off.
* In ''ComicBook/DarkNightsMetal'', Damian Wayne is confronted with his evil counterpart from Earth -22, who tries to get Damian to join Barbatos' forces. After Green Arrow attempts to kill the Dark Robin with a Nth Metal arrow, Damian gets used as a HumanShield and is shot through the chest. As the Dark Robin taunts Damian over it, the latter responds by shoving the arrow through his chest to impale and kill the Dark Multiverse monstrosity.
* A slight variant in ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers Last Stand of the Wreckers]]'': in a story related by Ironfist, Impactor nonlethally fires a few shots through Springer's midsection at the latter's behest--who fortunately has circuit dampeners to deal with the pain--to get the jump on the infamous Squadron X, saving their lives and winning the battle. [[spoiler: The story is later revealed to be false. In reality, it was [[KnightTemplar Impactor's]] idea to shoot through a completely unwilling Springer--who has ''no'' circuit dampeners.]]

* In the first season finale of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', Oliver stabs himself through the chest with an arrow in order to attack the Dark Archer.

->''"Did Scarlet Witch just [[PersonAsVerb John McClane]] a spell through herself at Banner?"''

->''"Did Scarlet Witch just John [=McClane=] a spell through herself at Banner?"''

* At the climax of ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard'', the BigBad holds [=McClane=] at gunpoint, only for him to maneuver in such a way that the gun fires through [=McClane=]'s shoulder into the BigBad's heart.