History Main / BackstabBackfire

* Subverted in ''[[ForgottenRealms The Silent Blade]]'' by R.A. Salvatore. Drizzt Do'Urden and Artemis Entreri have engaged in a duel to the death to determine once and for all who is the better fighter. Entreri ultimately loses, although even Drizzt acknowledges that his loss has more to do with bad luck than any lack of skill on his part. Entreri doesn't care, and tells Drizzt to finish him since he cannot live with the knowledge that he was beaten. Drizzt refuses, and begins to walk away. Entreri runs at him from behind and cries out in rage—his goal, as it turns out, is to alert Drizzt to his attack so that Drizzt will be forced to kill him. And Drizzt does defend himself by turning around and stabbing Entreri. However, a protective spell cast on Entreri without his knowledge protects him and mortally wounds Drizzt instead...so while Entreri was not playing this trope straight by trying to kill Drizzt, his attempt to get ''himself'' killed backfired.

* Subverted in ''[[ForgottenRealms The Silent Blade]]'' by R.A. Salvatore. Drizzt Do'Urden and Artemis Entreri have engaged in a duel to the death to determine once and for all who is the better fighter. Entreri ultimately loses, although even Drizzt acknowledges that his loss has more to do with bad luck than any lack of skill on his part. Entreri doesn't care, and tells Drizzt to finish him since he cannot live with the knowledge that he was beaten. Drizzt refuses, and begins to walk away. Entreri runs at him from behind and cries out in rage—his goal, as it turns out, is to alert Drizzt to his attack so that Drizzt will be forced to kill him. And Drizzt does defend himself by turning around and stabbing Entreri. However, a protective spell cast on Entreri without his knowledge protects him and mortally wounds Drizzt instead...so while Entreri was not playing this trope straight by trying to kill Drizzt, his attempt to get ''himself'' killed backfired. [[UnderStatement He was NOT happy.]]

* Scar in ''TheLionKing''.
** Once if you only count the hero-villain instance of Scar refusing to "[[IronicEcho run away and never return]]" but twice if you also count what happens to him when surrounded by his hyena ex-minions after trying to blame them for everything.

* In the final issue of the "Kitty Pryde & [[{{Wolverine}} Wolverine]]" limited series, Logan had defeated Ogun and brought him to his knees. He spared Ogun's life and began to walk away alongside Kitty. Ogun produced a knife and rushed at the two of them from behind. Wolverine noticed it in time to tell Kitty to use her phasing power, causing the knife to pass harmlessly through her. He then stabbed Ogun with his claws, killing the villain.

* Subverted in [[ForgottenRealms "The Silent Blade"]] by R.A. Salvatore. Drizzt Do'Urden and Artemis Entreri have engaged in a duel to the death to determine once and for all who is the better fighter. Entreri ultimately loses, although even Drizzt acknowledges that his loss has more to do with bad luck than any lack of skill on his part. Entreri doesn't care, and tells Drizzt to finish him since he cannot live with the knowledge that he was beaten. Drizzt refuses, and begins to walk away. Entreri runs at him from behind and cries out in rage—his goal, as it turns out, is to alert Drizzt to his attack so that Drizzt will be forced to kill him. And Drizzt does defend himself by turning around and stabbing Entreri. However, a protective spell cast on Entreri without his knowledge protects him and mortally wounds Drizzt instead...so while Entreri was not playing this trope straight by trying to kill Drizzt, his attempt to get ''himself'' killed backfired. [[UnderStatement He was NOT happy.]]

* MST3K episode "Cave Dwellers" has another variant: TheHero's sidekick, who's been off BehindTheBlack or some such during the Big Fight, shows up just in time to kill the Villain as he tries to backstab the Hero.

* In the VideoGame ''Flushed Away''.
* [[spoiler:Navarro]], when he tries to kill Drake after their battle at the end of [[UnchartedDrakesFortune Uncharted: Drake's Fortune]]

* Bubbleman did a variation: He claims that he would make the bubble traps go away, but when Megaman.EXE spares him, Bubbleman instead makes the bubbles start to accelerate their countdown time.
* In StarWarsBattlefront: Elite Squadron, X2 had defeated X1 on Mustafar, X1 declares that X2 should kill him and thus turn to the dark side. However, X2 decides not to, with the DS version that he'd rather "lock his pieces up". This wasn't the answer X1 was looking for, however, so he levitates his discarded lightsaber, ignites it, and then attempts to kill X2. Unfortunately for him, X2 saw it coming, backflipped over the blade, resulting in X1 accidentally impaling himself, and then [[DisneyVillainDeath proceeds to fall off the edge into a flowing lava river]].

* Happens to [[TheStarscream Starscream]] [[TooDumbToLive all the time]] throughout all Transformers continuities.

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-->-- '''The Tenth Doctor''', ''DoctorWho'', "The Christmas Invasion", the lying bugger that he is.

* The [[DoctorWho Tenth Doctor]] did this to his first opponent ''using a satsuma''. Which is a small fruit to the uninitiated.

* KungFuHustle

** Eis Shenron was a subversion. After being beaten by Goku, he begs for mercy. Nuova Shenron allows him to live even though he knows he deserves death under the condition that he surrender his dragonball. However, he decides to kill Goku in a sneak attack involving Ice blades. It's subverted because he actually DOES succeed in his backstab, blinding Goku from his ice blades. However, it still ultimately backfired due to Goku's other senses still being high enough for him to punch Eis in the gut and kill him.

* In Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron, X2 had defeated X1 on Mustafar, X1 declares that X2 should kill him and thus turn to the dark side. However, X2 decides not to, with the DS version that he'd rather "lock his pieces up". This wasn't the answer X1 was looking for, however, so he levitates his discarded lightsaber, ignites it, and then attempts to kill X2. Unfortunately for him, X2 saw it coming, backflipped over the blade, resulting in X1 accidentally impaling himself, and then [[DisneyVillainDeath proceeds to fall off the edge into a flowing lava river]].
** A variation occurs in TheForceUnleashed: After Palpatine was defeated by Galen Marek, Palpatine urges Marek to submit to the Dark Side and then kill him using the Dark Side. Marek, with some help from Koda, ultimately refuses. However, Palpatine doesn't try to backstab Marek. Instead, he tries to attack Kota for interfering, resulting in Marek holding back the Emperor's attacks long enough for the rebels to escape safely. It counts as a backfire because although Palpatine ultimately survived, those actions also ultimately robbed him of a proper replacement apprentice of Darth Vader, since his holding back the Emperor's powers (as well as [[HeroicRROD bearhugging the Emperor and then proceeding to detonate most of the throne room]]) [[HeroicSacrifice killed Marek in the process]].

* ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Commander Zhao attacks Zuko after losing a firebending duel. In the grand finale, [[spoiler:Ozai attacks an [[ThouShaltNotKill indecisive]] Aang, but is [[OffhandBackhand effortlessly restrained]] Aang ''still'' doesn't kill him, instead using a new skill to permanently de-power him.]]

* Happens to [[TheStarscream Starscream]] [[TooDumbToLive ALL THE TIME]] throughout pretty much all Transformers continuities.

TheHero and The BigBad have had their climactic battle. The Hero wins but chooses to spare the Big Bad, be it to prove he is better or because he doesn't want to kill. As the hero turns and walks away, triumphant, [[TheFarmerAndTheViper the villain lets out a scream of rage and charges after the hero, attempting to]] [[InTheBack stab him in the back]]. The Hero decides that one chance to change was enough; he won't give the villain a second. He either kills the Big Bad or disarms the villain entirely.

* Gaston in ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast''

If the BigBad was presumed to be ''dead'' but the scenario is otherwise identical, that's LookOutHesStillArmed.

Often sub-trope of KarmicDeath; here it is not Karma but the Hero who did the killing. The hero often uses an OffhandBackhand in this situation. Thematically related to NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight: By showing his lack of moral integrity, the villain dooms himself to defeat. It also allows the hero to kill the villain without the hero killing the villain in cold blood, because that would be unheroic. Unless the hero is a CombatPragmatist who doesn't have a problem with taking the most sensible but morally questionable course of action.

* ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Commander Zhao attacks Zuko after losing a firebending duel. In the grand finale, [[spoiler:Ozai attacks an [[ThouShaltNotKill indecisive]] Aang, but is [[OffhandBackhand effortlessly restrained]].]]

* ''HellboyII: The Golden Army''. [[spoiler: Hellboy spares Prince Nuada's life, because, due to a psychic link, if Nuada dies, his sister dies. Nuada attempts to attack Hellboy from behind, only to be stopped by his sister, who [[HeroicSacrifice shows this works in reverse, too]].]]

-->-- '''The Tenth Doctor''', ''DoctorWho'', "The Christmas Invasion"

* ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Between Zuko and Commander Zhao after the two hold a firebending battle. Also in [[spoiler:the grand finale.]]