History Main / BadAssPacifist

** In "Gambit" [[spoiler:Picard discovers an ancient Vulcan weapon that can only be defeated by one of these. A mad Vulcan discovers the weapon and kills the criminals who helped her find it. She tells Picard that the weapon cannot be stopped, but Picard realizes that the weapon is powered by the violent thoughts of the target. Picard orders his crew to empty their minds of violent thoughts and the weapon is rendered useless.]]

* The Dalai Lama - while the current incarnation is a wonderful example (particularly in his ability to [[HonestAdvisor Speak Truth To Power]]), many of the prior incarnations have been pretty stellar, too.

** St. Lawrence of Rome, who was burnt to death as a martyr. His last words were "Turn me over, I'm done on this side."

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sojourner_Truth Sojourner Truth]] was born a slave, escaped to freedom in 1826, won a lawsuit against a white man to free her son Peter from slavery in Alabama, and became one of the most prominent abolitionists. Wiki/TheOtherWiki also informs us that " In 1858, someone interrupted a speech and accused her of being a man; Truth opened her blouse and revealed her breasts."

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_man Tank Man]] may not have accomplished his goal, but that photograph has yet to be matched in worldwide exposure of a single person's bravery amid insurmountable odds. It is pictured above.

* The Dalai Lama - while the current incarnation is a wonderful example (particularly in his ability to [[HonestAdvisor Speak Truth To Power]], many of the prior incarnations have been pretty stellar, too.

* Admiral Yang Wen-Li from ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'' epitomizes this trope. He understands the waste of human life and foolishness of the war he is fighting and is merciful to his enemies, but he is probably the best commander in the entire series.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'', we have the enormous Chien Po of the BigThinShortTrio of soldiers who befriend the title character. A man of imposing stature, he is nevertheless incredibly peaceful, reciting Buddhist mantras and generally being [[BigEater more interested in food]] than war glory. That being said, he ''will'' take up a sword and defend his friends and country if need be, although he doesn't like violence (he encourages the short-tempered Yao to relax with a chant, and later uses martial arts to defeat two enemy guards, then looks [[ApologeticAttacker genuinely upset]] at having hurt them). In one particularly amazing moment, Chien Po shows off a huge level of StoutStrength by hoisting Mulan, Shang, seven other soldiers, and a ''fully-grown horse'' backwards and against gravity to save them from falling off a cliff. He's clearly the strongest soldier in the entire Imperial Army, so it's lucky that he has such a strong pacifist side.

* Fluttershy from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. She never resorts to violence, even when enraged, and is the resident FriendToAllLivingThings. And yet she is able to: scold a nest of angry bees into not attacking, pacify an angry Manticore, admonish a dragon into submission, and make a cockatrice almost soil itself after she gave it [[DeathGlare "The]] [[MemeticBadass Stare"]] -- [[StaringDownCthulhu staring down]] a creature whose own stare was turning her into stone. In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E11KeepCalmAndFlutterOn Keep Calm and Flutter On]]", Fluttershy and her friends were given the seemingly impossible task of reforming [[spoiler:Discord.]] Fluttershy's effort to befriend him was key to actually accomplishing this goal. In other words, she managed to make a [[spoiler:[[RealityWarper reality warping]] MadGod]] do a HeelFaceTurn by simply being nice to him.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NW3RLnXmTY A story]] found on the ActuallyPrettyFunny page of Wiki/ThisVeryWiki about how a friendly black preacher, Wade Watts, changed the world view of a UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan leader.

* "The Reverend Mr. Black" is this to a T.

* Admiral Yang Wen-Li from ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' epitomizes this trope. He understands the waste of human life and foolishness of the war he is fighting and is merciful to his enemies, but he is probably the best commander in the entire series.

** ''UsefulNotes/RichardNixon'', raised as a Quaker, joined the U. S. Naval Reserve after four months at a dead-end job of replying to correspondence with the tire rationing division, was involved in ''UsefulNotes/WorldWarII'' in a logistics person in charge of loading and unloading aircraft as well as preparing manifests and flight plans for C-47 operations, and moved up from lieutenant junior grade to a Navy lieutenant, lieutenant commander, and eventually commander, followed by serving as Eisenhower's vice-president, and his eventual election as President in 1968.

* In 2013, a gunman broke into a school in Decatur, Georgia with an AK-47 type weapon, intending [[WouldHurtAChild to open fire on children]] and first responders. However, front office worker [[http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/21/us/georgia-school-gunshots/index.html Antoinette Tuff]] stood her ground and... ''talked'' with him, telling him about her own struggles, sympathizing with his anger, and eventually persuading him to put down his gun and give himself up to the police. What could have been [[AdultFear a massacre on the scale of Sandy Hook]] was averted merely with kind words.

* After the murder of a British soldier in Woolwich, England in May 2013, a whole series of attempted far-right demonstrations (for those where any people actually bothered to turn up) sprung up around the country and tried targeting mosques. What did a mosque in York do when it found itself victim to one of these demonstrations? It invited in the EDL and BNP members who had marched on it in for [[SpotOfTea tea and biscuits]], plus a friendly game of football (soccer to you yanks). The end result? The fascists left without causing any damage or further fuss.

* Broken Sword and the calligraphy school he lives at in Zhang Yimou's ''{{Film/Hero}}.'' During a rain of arrows on the school by the Qin army, the artists continue to write at their desks, even as many are killed in the assault. When Broken Sword's brush is destroyed by an arrow he snatches an arrow out of the air, breaks the tip and uses it as a brush. Finally, rather than allow the Qin emperor to be assassinated, the same one who ordered the destruction of his school, Broken Sword convinces the movie's protagonist to spare him, realizing that the end to war only emperor can achieve is too important to prevent.

* The nameless Archdeacon from ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}''. He never raises a hand during the movie, but his authority alone is enough to keep even KnightTemplar Judge Frollo in line. That and the fear of God he puts into him during the opening.

* The nameless Archdeacon from ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. He never raises a hand during the movie, but his authority alone is enough to keep even KnightTemplar Judge Frollo in line. That and the fear of God he puts into him during the opening.

* [[RebelliousPrincess Relena Darlian-Peacecraft]] from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing''. [[GoThroughMe Jumps in front of a gun]] to save a guy who had a gun pointed at ''her'' just a minute ago and tells her would-be saviour off for his crude methods. Later flies an airplane in between two [[HumongousMecha gigantic machines of mass destruction]] in mid-combat to save the same guy's ass once again and tell his attacker that his cruelty and underhanded tactics are a disgrace to the name, country, and ideals he claims to stand for (namely, hers). Would rather have her country surrender than let her pacifist ideals be the cause of bloodshed, and makes such a large impression while doing exactly that that the people attacking her country promptly "invite" her to become their figurehead, so they can convince the masses that they were on the side of the good guys all along. [[spoiler:She accepts and [[ReassignmentBackfire makes them regret it.]]]] Physically insignificant, but her sheer strength of will and unwavering idealism earns her the admiration of everyone from the guy who started out wanting to kill her to the resident MagnificentBastard, as well as a promising career as a politician. [[spoiler:Lady Une, the woman who assassinated her father]]. To drive the point further, by the end of the series [[spoiler: Lady Une ''gives'' Relena a gun and asks her to take revenge properly, but she ''refuses'' to do so and says it's useless.]]

* [[RebelliousPrincess Relena Darlian-Peacecraft]] from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing''. [[GoThroughMe Jumps in front of a gun]] to save a guy who had a gun pointed at ''her'' just a minute ago and tells her would-be saviour off for his crude methods. Later flies an airplane in between two [[HumongousMecha gigantic machines of mass destruction]] in mid-combat to save the same guy's ass once again and tell his attacker that his cruelty and underhanded tactics are a disgrace to the name, country, and ideals he claims to stand for (namely, hers). Would rather have her country surrender than let her pacifist ideals be the cause of bloodshed, and makes such a large impression while doing exactly that that the people attacking her country promptly "invite" her to become their figurehead, so they can convince the masses that they were on the side of the good guys all along. [[spoiler:She accepts and [[ReassignmentBackfire makes them regret it.]]]] Physically insignificant, but her sheer strength of will and unwavering idealism earns her the admiration of everyone from the guy who started out wanting to kill her to the resident MagnificentBastard, as well as a promising career as a politician. [[spoiler:Lady Une, the woman who assassinated her father]]. To drive the point further, by the end of the series [[spoiler: Lady Une ''gives'' Relena a gun and asks her to take revenge properly, but she ''refuses'' to do so and says it's useless. ]]

* Tohru Honda from ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' [[spoiler:[[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight speaks gently]] to Akito Sohma, who is in the midst of her VillainousBreakdown... and it ''works''. (To put it on perspective, she did this towards an older woman who is lashing out in both fear and madness-- ''and has been swinging a bloodied knife around''.) When Tohru nearly falls victim to DeathByFallingOver, rather than gloat, Akito screams for help, marking the beginning of her HeelFaceTurn]]. And even earlier, she successfully got [[spoiler:Kyo]] to calm down when [[spoiler:he was in his cursed form -- again in perspective, cursed!Kyo is foul, huge, smells like rotten flesh, and also totally desperate, as it's the trademark of the cat's position as TheUnfavorite]].

* Euphemia vi Britannia from ''Anime/CodeGeass'' is one of the nicest people you could ever meet, would never hurt a fly, and dreams of peace and equality between Britannians and Japanese. And being so good and noble, even [[TheChessmaster Lelouch]] can't bring himself to kill her, and her path to giving the Japanese their rights utterly derails his ambition to take power through bloody revolution. [[spoiler: Sadly, it wasn't meant to be.]]

* Eiffel from ''Podcast/Wolf359'' is a lazy, irresponsible ActualPacifist and proud founder of Team What's Wrong With Handcuffs. He also outsmarted a scientific genius with nothing but a voice modifier and a cigarette, and [[spoiler: survived for over 180 days on a broken ship in deep space by freezing himself to the point of losing his hair, nails and half his bodyweight]]. Yikes.

* Fluttershy from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. She never resorts to violence, even when enraged, and is the resident FriendToAllLivingThings. And yet she is able to: scold a nest of angry bees into not attacking, pacify an angry Manticore, admonish a dragon into submission, and make a cockatrice almost soil itself after she gave it [[DeathGlare "The]] [[MemeticBadass Stare"]] -- [[StaringDownCthulhu staring down]] a creature whose own stare was turning her into stone. In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E11KeepCalmAndFlutterOn Keep Calm and Flutter On]]", Fluttershy and her friends were given the seemingly impossible task of reforming [[spoiler:Discord]]. Fluttershy's effort to befriend him was key to actually accomplishing this goal. In other words, she managed to make a [[spoiler:[[RealityWarper reality warping]] MadGod]] do a HeelFaceTurn by simply being nice to him.

* [[BadassPreacher Martin Luther King Jr.]] The man was faced with violence and hate over and over again, never involved himself in either, and changed the world.

* As said in other tropes, Creator/ChuckNorris in real life avoids getting into fights. One time a local tough guy tried to bully Norris into giving him his seat at a bar and Norris quietly complied. Later, tough guy realized who he was talking to and asked Norris why he didn't kick his ass. Norris replied "What would it prove?"

* Creator/FredRogers [[note]]was [[UrbanLegend not a military sniper]], but he[[/note]] once faced down a [[HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee hostile U.S. Senate committee]] that was threatening to cut a $10 million government grant for Creator/{{PBS}}. He simply gave a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXEuEUQIP3Q six-minute speech]] describing [[Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood his TV show]]. The grant was ''increased'' to $20 million.

* When the government started cracking down on protestors in Turkey in 2013, a performance artist known as "[[http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/06/19/turkey-protests-standing-man.html Standing Man]]" (or in Turkish, ''Duran Adam'') [[note]]real name Erdem Gündüz[[/note]] responded by simply walking into Taksim Square, putting his hands in his pockets, and silently standing motionless. Gradually onlookers started to join him, eventually sparking a series of similar demonstrations. Turkish officials remarked, "This is not an act of violence. We cannot condemn it."

--> ''Well done to the gentleman for keeping his calm, even though he may speak a different language or possibly have non-national heritage, he is a much better representative of England than she ever could possibly be!''

* ''VideoGame/{{Iconoclasts}}'' has the main character, [[WrenchWench Robin]]. Only armed with a stun gun and a wrench, she still manages to prove able to hold her own against the hostile wildlife and the [[ChurchMilitant One Concern]], [[spoiler: and at the end of the game, she almost singlehandedly topples the Tri religion and kills what was believed to be the in-universe equivalent of God.]] Also a downplayed example, as [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman she does kill hostile wildlife and destroys]] [[MechaMooks One Concern robots]], and [[spoiler: she does have to kill one person in the whole game: Agent Black.]]

* Orpheus qualifies in ''Theatre/{{Hadestown}}''. By the time the show is done, Orpheus has descended to Hadestown, made his way in way making the stones weep, endured a beating at the hands of Hades' workers, and [[spoiler:starts the downfall of Hadestown as an authoritarian regime.]] Put best with the show's advertising: A kingdom will fall for a song."