History Main / BuyThemOff

* ''HaibaneRenmei'': [[spoiler:Reki believes herself to be this, until Rakka helps her realizes that she has become TheAtoner for real.]]

->-- '''Jayne Cobb''', ''{{Firefly}}''

* In ''{{Community}}'' episode [[Recap/CommunityS1E18BasicGenealogy Basic Genealogy]] Pierce's solution to getting a family involves mass e-mails to his former step-children and writing checks.

* As repeatedly cited in ''{{Beowulf}}'', the concept of ''wergild'' or "blood-price" was once common among European cultures: the avoidance of a feud by settling on and paying an appropriate sum for the loss of kinfolk.

* All the time in the various ''LawAndOrder'' franchises.

May be a form of ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney, but the character does not have to be richer than others. Compare EveryManHasHisPrice for "bribery" in a more generic sense.

* In The {{Princess Bride}}, Inigo Montaya tells Rugen to offer him money, power, anything he wants; Rugen agrees to them all, and Inigo tells him he wants his father back and kills him.

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* ''BurnNotice'' explains that is possible to bribe even the most upstanding officials. To do so, convince them you think the bribe is a standard fee and make yourself as thoroughly unlikale as possible.

* CyranoDeBergerac: Used by Cyrano (an ImpoverishedPatrician) after he refuses to apologiyze to the Burgundy Teather's audience by the interrumpiton of [[ShowWithinAShow ''"The Clorise"'']] because ''"The Clorise"'' [[FanDumb was a bad play and all the assistants are wrong because they wanted to see it]], he pays Bellerose for all the entrance fees so they can give it back to the public. After that, Bellerose treats him with great respect.

[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* The MagicTheGathering flavor text for Reparations above was written by current Head Designer Mark Rosewater, who considered it his masterpiece. It was popular enough that in "Unglued", the first joke set, the card [[http://ww2.wizards.com/Gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Clambassadors Clambassadors]], has the flavor text, "Sorry we [[IncrediblyLamePun shelled]] your village - here's some gold."

* In Madeleine L'Engle's ''The Young Unicorn'', they learn at the end that the doctor who had done so much to help Emily after she had been blinded -- had been the person to blind her. (Albeit accidentally.)

* In CharlesDickens's ''ATaleOfTwoCities'', at the beginning, a rich man's carriage hits and kills a small child. The man in the carriage offers them money, which they refuse, than reluctantly accept.

* In ''{{Blassreiter}}'', after the bullies [[spoiler: [[DrivenToSuicide drive Malek's friend to suicide]]]], the father of one of the bullies pays the boy's parents off to keep quiet. [[spoiler: This leads directly into Malek's RoaringRampageOfRevenge.]]
* ''HaibaneRenmei'': [[spoiler: Reki believes herself to be this, until Rakka helps her realizes that she has become TheAtoner for real]]

* Pretty much the entire plot behind ''Film/ChangingLanes''. One rich lawyer guy gets into an accident with a not-rich not-lawyer guy and attempts to buy him off. Not-rich guy refuses, wanting to do the right thing of filing an insurance claim, but lawyer guy is in a hurry and blows him off. This seemingly random event culminates in an all-out war that almost ''kills'' both of them. [[spoiler: In addition, the lawyer finds out that his firm was and is stealing from a senile dead man, and that they are attempting to assuage their guilt by doing good works, claiming that they "do more harm than good". The lawyer guy doesn't like that.]]

* In DanAbnett's GauntsGhosts novel ''First & Only'', Gaunt learns, in the end, that his "Uncle Dercius", who had helped him so much as an orphan, was responsible for [[spoiler: his father's death]].

** At the end of ''Turn Coat'', when the money put in a bank account under Morgan's name is tracked back to [[spoiler:the White Court]], [[spoiler: Lara sends the White Council the heads of the culprits,]] and tells them they can keep the money. Harry comments on how the money assuages everything.

* The main characters try this in ''TheSecretHistory'', to prevent Bunny from telling the police about their accidental murder. It works for a while, but they [[spoiler: end up killing him just to be on the safe side.]]

* Jayne Cobb from ''{{Firefly}}'' [[spoiler: after he tried to sell out Simon and River to the Alliance]].

* CyranoDeBergerac: Used by Cyrano (an ImpoverishedPatrician) after he refuses to apologiyze to the Burgundy Teather's audience by the interrumpiton of [[ShowWithinAShow ''"The Clorise"'']] because ''"The Clorise"'' [[FanDumb was a bad play and all the assistants are wrong because they wanted to see it]], He pay’s Bellerose for all the entrance fees so they can give it back to the public. After that, Bellerose treats him with great respect.

* A heroic example can be found in ''ErrantStory''. Sarine desperately needs to get a warp gate connected up to the elven network,so instead of threatening the two mages she's kidnapped,she shows them a priceless LostTechnology artifact,which they can have if they'll help.

** A very good concept, since at the time the only option was [[CycleOfRevenge a blood feud that could last for decades and centuries]], as two clans kill each other's random members in retribution to other random killings for the same reason.

* As mentioned in TheDeathOfTheVazirMukhtar, the Qajar Persian government "apologised" for the destruction of Russian embassy and the death of the ambassador at the hands of an angry mob in 1829 by sending [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Diamond the Shah Diamond]] to St. Petersburg as a gift.

** It works for just about every evil act in the game, and even if you nuke Megaton, there are still other ways to get 100 karma back. Kill an "extremely evil" person! Do a big quest for free! ''Give a beggar some bottled water!''
*** To be fair, giving a beggar bottled water in ''Fallout 3'' is a big deal. In the CrapSackWorld that is the Capital Wastelands, clean water is a most precious resource indeed. Giving this away, for free, to someone who has nothing (and having absolutely nothing is saying much about the state a person is in, especially inside the ''Fallout 3'' world) is indeed the biggest of kind acts one could perform. There is a reason your character's karma meter resembles Jesus once you hit the 100% good side.
**** Because you kill evil people, and [[YourMileageMayVary sometimes]] [[MoralDissonance decent people]], cut off their fingers, and sell them?

* Subverted in ''{{Monster}}'', where it comes out that Schubert is so wracked with guilt over abandoning Margot Langer that he actually gives money to an ''impersonator'' using her name - he knows she's a fraud, but the symbolic act is the only way he knows how to apologize for his past sins.

* HaibaneRenmei: [[spoiler: Reki believes herself to be this, until Rakka helps her realizes that she has become TheAtoner for real]]

** Later, a man comes with the keys and asks Conan what he would pay for him. Then he revealed that Conan had killed his brother and asks his price again.

** At the end of ''Turn Coat'', when the money put in a bank account under Morgan's name is tracked back to [[spoiler:the White Court]], [[spoiler: Lara sends the White Council the heads of the culprits, and tells them they can keep the money. Harry comments on how the money assuages everything.]]

* Pretty much the entire plot behind ''Changing Lanes''. One rich lawyer guy gets into an accident with a not-rich not-lawyer guy and attempts to buy him off. Not-rich guy refuses, wanting to do the right thing of filing an insurance claim, but lawyer guy is in a hurry and blows him off. This seemingly random event culminates in an all-out war that almost ''kills'' both of them. [[spoiler: In addition, the lawyer finds out that his firm was and is stealing from a senile dead man, and that they are attempting to assuage their guilt by doing good works, claiming that they "do more harm than good". The lawyer guy doesn't like that.]]

May be a form of ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney, but the character does not have to be richer than others. Compare EveryManHasAPrice for "bribery" in a more generic sense.

May be a form of ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney, but the character does not have to be richer than others.