History Main / BloodOnTheseHands

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'' has Bernardo [=deLaPaz=] admit that when they, as the new Lunar government, publicly out those members of the revolution who were actually paid informants of the overthrown government, those they expose as traitors will be murdered by members of the public. "I will not duck the responsibility. Their blood will be on my hands."

-->-- '''WilliamShakespeare''', ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', Act II, scene ii.

* A major preoccupation of RurouniKenshin, who's been WalkingTheEarth as TheAtoner for ten years when the series starts. The closest he ever comes to actually saying the trope name is during the prologue to the long Bakumatsu flashback sequence within the Jinchuu arc.

* Lelouch Lamperouge from ''CodeGeass'' is a recent example. He doesn't make a big deal out of death because (as he puts it in the first episode), "No matter how much you cry and scream, it won't bring them back." Instead, he thinks the best thing one can do for the dead is to carry out their wishes for them so their death wasn't [[SenselessSacrifice meaningless]]. By the point he [[DespairEventHorizon thinks his beloved sister (the person for whom he did everything) is dead]], he enacts a plan to [[SilentScapegoat scapegoat himself to the world]]. When his sister turns up alive and well, his resolve is shaken, but he sticks it out and allows himself to be killed, hoping that it will give her a happy and peaceful world.

* In WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth still envisions the blood, and cannot mentally remove it.

* ''CallOfDuty 4'', after Victor Zakhaev kills himself to avoid being captured:

* Bruce Wayne uses this line (#1) in ''TheDarkKnight'' after Joker kills several civilians because Batman didn't reveal his identity.

* In JamesSwallow's {{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/BloodAngels novel ''Deus Sanguinius'', after Gallio, Vode, and all their men are murdered, Rafen thinks it's his fault for having sent the message; their blood was on his hands.

* In the {{Discworld}} novel ''Wyrd Sisters'', the Macbeth Expy Lord Felmet has blood red hands from the night he murders King Verence until the night he dies. However, the fact that he uses progressively harsher methods to remove the blood (including sandpaper and a metal file) implies that maybe the reason it doesn't come off is because the blood is coming from an actual wound rather than karma.

* ''{{Dracula}}''
-->'''Renfield''': I'm loyal to you, Master, I am your slave, I didn't betray you! Oh, no, don't! Don't kill me! Let me live, please! Punish me, torture me, but let me live! I can't die with all those lives on my conscience! All that blood on my hands!
* Bruce Wayne uses this line (#1) in ''TheDarkKnight'' after Joker kills several civilians because Batman didn't reveal his identity.
* In ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', Jake Sully - a former Marine who might know first hand - tries to keep SmugSnake Selfridge from destroying a Hometree full of Na'vi children by telling him that he doesn't want that kind of blood on his hands. It doesn't work.

* ''Webcomic/OrderOfTheStick'': [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0547.html O-Chul disclaims responsibility: the act is on your hands, not mine.]]

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* RobertAHeinlein's ''TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'' has Bernardo [=deLaPaz=] admit that when they, as the new Lunar government, publicly out those members of the revolution who were actually paid informants of the overthrown government, those they expose as traitors will be murdered by members of the public. "I will not duck the responsibility. Their blood will be on my hands."

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-->-- '''WilliamShakespeare''', ''{{Macbeth}}'', Act II, scene ii.

* In ''{{Film/Avatar}}'', Jake Sully - a former Marine who might know first hand - tries to keep SmugSnake Selfridge from destroying a Hometree full of Na'vi children by telling him that he doesn't want that kind of blood on his hands. It doesn't work.

* In GeneStrattonPorter's ''{{Literature/Freckles}}'', one villain objects to killing Freckles because he does not want this trope. They could have prevent him from seeing anything.

* ''{{Series/Heroes}}'': Chapter Sixteen 'Unexpected'

* {{DragonForce}}'s "Through the Fire and Flames":

* In ''Film/TheAvengers'', Black Widow explains that she works with SHIELD because "I got red in my ledger." She initially means she owes a debt [[spoiler: to Hawkeye for saving her]], but [[BigBad L]][[ManipulativeBastard o]][[SmugSnake k]][[CompleteMonster i]] points out [[spoiler: the numerous deaths she has caused or been responsible for]], "Your ledger is dripping, ''gushing'' red."

The visual twin to the phrase is TheseHandsHaveKilled, and the two are frequently paired up.

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* In ''[[{{Lensman}} Grey Lensman]]'', hero Kimball Kinnison indulges in this when trying to make Clarissa [=MacDougal=] understand what marrying him could entail. She basically tells him to can the dramatics; she knows perfectly well what his job entails.

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* Any athlete, medical practioner, or *ahem* murderer will tell you that blood actually is a pain to get off your hands when it dries. It's very sticky and requires some scrubbing with good soap, and forget it if it gets on your clothes. There's a reason that detergents brag about being able to get blood stains out. What? Why is everyone looking at me like that?
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* ''{{Babylon 5}}'': Knives

* ''[[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Battlestar Galactica]]'': Collaborators

* ''{{Lost}}'': One of Us

* ''{{Monk}}'': Mr. Monk Meets the Godfather, who was chopping up fish at the time.

* Referenced/subverted in ''{{Bones}}'': "The Hole in the Heart":

* Music/IronMaiden's ''Blood on the World's Hands''.
* {{DragonForce}}'s ''Through the Fire and Flames'':

* The Used's ''Blood on My Hands'':

* In WilliamShakespeare's ''{{Macbeth}}'' both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth still envisions the blood, and cannot mentally remove it.

* Visually done by WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic after he's recalled memories of being bullied due to ''{{Doug}}''. He then looks freaked and puts his hands back down.

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* In GeneStrattonPorter's ''Freckles'', one villain objects to killing Freckles because he does not want this trope. They could have prevent him from seeing anything.

* In JamesSwallow's {{Warhammer 40000}} BloodAngels novel ''Deus Sanguinius'', after Gallio, Vode, and all their men are murdered, Rafen thinks it's his fault for having sent the message; their blood was on his hands.

'''Angela''': Booth, [[LiteralThinker she means literally]].

'''Angela''': Booth, [[LiteralSpeaker she means literally]].

* TheBible. Pilate washes his hands to get the figurative blood of Jesus off of them. History lesson: it doesn't work.

* One {{Harry Potter}}/{{XMen}} [[http://bobmin.fanficauthors.net/Mutant_Storm/index/ crossover]] has Harry killing two Death Eaters - one of them with his bare hands, and then [[ShowerOfAngst sitting in a shower for about an hour making washing motions with his hands...]]

* Visually done by TheNostalgiaCritic after he's recalled memories of being bullied due to ''{{Doug}}''. He then looks freaked and puts his hands back down.

* ''BattlestarGalactica'': Collaborators

* ''Dracula''

* Balsa from ''SeireiNoMoribito'' doesn't use the phrase directly, but her entire life so far has been about saving ten lives because she feels responsible for her foster father having had to kill ten men (his own best friends to boot) to keep her alive.

* IronMaiden's ''Blood on the World's Hands''.