History Main / BuyThemOff

-->-- Flavor text for the ''MagicTheGathering'' card [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=3549 Reparations]]

* The ''TabletopGame/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 [[{{Pun}} shelled]] your village - here's some gold."

** Used by Cyrano after he refuses to apologiyze to the Burgundy Theater's audience for interrupting ''[[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. He also uses it to bribe the Duenna to invoke LeaveTheTwoLovebirdsAlone with Roxane.

--> '''LE BRET''' ''(in Cyrano's ear):'' Your play!�your 'Agrippine!'

--> '''Cyrano (beginning to be tempted and attracted):''' In sooth, � I would...

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* Backstory to ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' given in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' has Sauron as something of this after the defeat of [[GodOfEvil Morgoth]]; he begs clemency from the emissary of the Valar and offers his services in fixing the damage done by his master. The narration states that he was not entirely insincere in such offers (even if only driven by fear), and certain other writings imply that Sauron ultimately contrived his decision to remain in Middle-Earth against the instructions to return to Valinor for judgement as an opportunity to do good works (even if jealousy of the Elves and Númenórëans helped his true nature reassert itself).

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** Used by Cyrano after he refuses to apologiyze to the Burgundy Theater's audience for interrupting ''[[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. He also uses it to bribe the Duenna to invoke LeaveTheTwoLovebirdsAlone with Roxane.

--> '''LE BRET''' ''(in Cyrano's ear):'' Your play!—your 'Agrippine!'

--> '''Cyrano (beginning to be tempted and attracted):''' In sooth, — I would...

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*** [[spoiler: In SkinGame, HARRY himself pays a Weregild, as he caused the death of a security guard. He tried to prevent it, but failed. The gild is paid to Marcone, in a bag full of diamonds.]]

* All the time in the ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' franchise.
* At one point in ''MyNameIsEarl'', Earl tries to teach someone else to do their own list. They end up just sending fruit baskets to everyone.

* In Alex Bledsoe's ''Burn Me Deadly'', when surrounded by Black River Hill people and one recognizes him as having punched him, Eddie offers money. Doesn't work, not surprising Eddie.

-->-- ''Flavor text for the MagicTheGathering card [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=3549 Reparations]]''

* Also done in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion''. The fine for murder is a fixed 1000 gold (plus the paltry 400 to 600 gold for assault). This is a game where it's common to have 10 to 20 ''times'' that amount by the late game, allowing you to murder someone in plain daylight, yield to the guards, pay off the fine and be on your merry way without spending more than a minute in jail.

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* One of the funnier scenes in ''FanFic/AScotsmanInEgypt'' is watching Scotland's best diplomat enter the Vatican (having accidentally caused the death of the previous two a few days apart, with the Pope savoring the groveling he's about to see) and plonk down a huge-ass sack of florins on the Pope's desk, and declare "Your Holiness. You have no problem with the Scottish Empire."

** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' lowers the assault fine to 40 gold. Nords... fight a lot. Especially against the Thalmor: You will NEVER get a murder fine from the cities if you murder a Thalmor in public. Everyone hates those fascists that much. In fact, the holds that are aligned with the Stormcloak faction will help you murder them, and then try to buy YOU off by bribing you with a "Let's sweep this assault fine under the rug, and you keep butchering Thalmor" deal.

* Jayne Cobb from ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' [[spoiler:after he tried to sell out Simon and River to the Alliance]].
** Also, the way he joined the crew; Mal and Zoe had been ambushed, and Mal offered Jayne a job with his own bunk and a larger share of the loot.

** At Act II Scene VII, De Guiche plans to BuyThemOff Cyrano with [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections an offering of patronage from his uncle]], [[ManBehindTheMan Cardenal]] [[MagnificentBastard Richelieu]]. The play notes indicate that Cyrano is tempted to accept.

* The Nobles of ''OnePiece'' seem to believe this about everyone, and [[EvilCannotComprehendGood are completely shocked when the person would rather beat them than accept the bribe]].

* In ''ThankYouForSmoking'', Nick is sent to deliver a briefcase of cash to a former cigarette spokesman who has terminal lung cancer. The guy clearly still hates the tobacco company, but Nick points out that he can't denounce them publicly and keep the money. He later tells his son that only a crazy person would turn down that much money, so as soon as he saw that the guy was sane, he had nothing to worry about.

* In MadeleineLEngle's ''The Young Unicorns'', 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 ''MissingMagic'', the main character's uncle/cousin dotes on him and even pays for the main character to go to a fancy magic school, despite the fact that he has no magic. It's later revealed that the uncle/cousin was the one responsible for removing the main character's magic by using him as a guinea pig for a new spell when he was just a toddler.

* In RickCook's ''Literature/LimboSystem'', Captain Jenkins is told that if he exchanges Dr. Tukiuji for the captive humans, a wereguild could be paid to his lineage.
* In MichaelFlynn's ''[[Literature/SpiralArm The January Dancer]]'', after a civil war, the losing side accepts werguild.

* In ''XenaWarriorPrincess'', Autolycus the thief (played by Creator/BruceCampbell) is about to kill the man who murdered his older brother years ago. When the man tries to buy him off by offering money, Autolycus gives him a HopeSpot by asking him how much he's willing to offer. When the man responds "All I've got!", Autolycus says that's not enough and prepares to kill him. [[spoiler:Xena stops Autolycus from crossing the line between thief and killer by asking him if this is really what his brother would have wanted.]]

* 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 [[{{Pun}} shelled]] your village - here's some gold."

* CyranoDeBergerac:

* 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.

* 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.]]

->-- ''Flavor text for the MagicTheGathering card [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=3549 Reparations]]''

* As repeatedly cited in ''Literature/{{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.
** A very good concept, since at the time the only other option was [[CycleOfRevenge a blood feud that could last for decades and centuries]], as two clans kill each others' random members in retribution to other random killings for the same reason.
** The [[http://www.keesn.nl/lex/lex_en1.htm Lex Frisionum]] (Law of the Frisian tribe) shows how complex and detailed the wergild could be. It is like a shopping list for the murder, rape, and pillage of other clans in the tribe, as long as the you were willing to pay the wergild to the survivors.
* As mentioned in TheDeathOfTheVazirMukhtar, the Qajar Persian government "apologised" for the destruction of the 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.
** Well, it really doesn't brighten your day to have [[MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong the czar]] grumpy at you.

* In Creator/CharlesDickens's ''Literature/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, then reluctantly accept.

->''"Nothing buys bygones quicker than cash"''
->-- '''Jayne Cobb''', ''Series/{{Firefly}}''

* AlphaProtocol: In some endings, Leland tries. Thorton / Scarlet shoot him in the face.

* In GrahamMcNeill's TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/{{Ultramarines}} novel ''The Killing Ground'', several characters attempt, through good works, to atone for their conniving at [[spoiler:a massacre]]. Some even admit to having done wrong before [[spoiler:they are killed]].

* A last-season episode of ''Highlander'' played with this. Immortal Willie Kingsley would allow himself to be hit by a car (usually a very expensive model with a rich person driving). His mortal wife, Molly, would then come running in playing the grieving widow, the expectation being that the car owner would buy her off for a large sum of money.

** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' lowers the assault fine to 40 gold. Nords... fight a lot. Especially against the Thalmor: You will NEVER get a murder fine from the cities if you murder a Thalmor in public. Everyone hates those fascists that much. In fact, the holds that are aligned with the Stormcloak faction will help you murder them.

* On ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'' this is Nucky Thompson's standard way of trying to make up for the mistakes he made or bad blood he caused. In season 4 he ends a MobWar with Joe Masseria by giving him a BriefcaseFullOfMoney to make amends for the killing of dozens of Masseria's men during a supposed truce.