History Main / ChildrenForcedToKill

* ComicBook/{{X 23}}, the X-Men's resident TykeBomb, was created from Wolverine's DNA and born and raised to be an assassin. Over the course of several years, she killed hundreds of people before eventually escaping from the lab. The bad guys still got the last laugh in the end, since [[spoiler: her mother was exposed to a "trigger scent" that caused X-23 to fly into an involuntary rage, effectively forcing Laura to kill her own mother.]]

* ComicBook/{{X 23}}, the X-Men's resident TykeBomb, was created from Wolverine's DNA and born and raised to be an assassin. Over the course of several years, she killed hundreds of people before eventually escaping from the lab. The bad guys still got the last laugh in the end, since [[spoiler: her mother was exposed to a "trigger scent" that caused X-23 to fly into an involuntary rage, effectively forcing Laura to kill her own mother. /spoiler]]

* ''Fanfic/YourMoveInstigatorDrawYourWeaponAndHoldYourTongue'' is set in an AlternateUniverse where [[ForWantOfANail the Third Shinobi War]] continued for years past its canonical ending. Sakura, Kiba and Tenten are among the children deemed disposable enough to be shunted into special classes at the Academy and forced out onto the front lines to fight as ChildSoldiers. At the start of the series, Sakura and Kiba are both five, with Kiba getting his first kill by ripping out an enemy's throat. He attempts to brag about how this means he scored his first kill younger than his sister Hana did, only to have to [[VomitDiscretionShot duck away and vomit]].

* The prequel novel to ''VideoGame/MarySkelterNightmares'' reveals that [[TheBerserker Blood Skelter]] was discovered after a tragedy in which a ten-year-old Red Riding Hood inadvertently caused a fellow Blood Maiden to go insane by splashing [[AlienBlood Marchen blood]] all over them, resulting in said Blood Maiden lashing out and Red Riding Hood instinctively impaling them with her freshly-gifted pair of [[ShearMenace person-sized scissors]]. In ''Mary Skelter 2'', this trope ends up [[spoiler:DoubleSubverted: Otsuu rescues Little Mermaid from her predicament before Red Riding Hood arrives and thus [[ForWantOfANail prevents the original tragedy from happening]], but it ultimately ends up creating [[ButterflyOfDoom an even worse timeline]], so Otsuu and Little Mermaid revert things to the original timeline...[[ShootTheShaggyDog resulting in Mermaid's novel death right before the closing credits.]]]]

* Every one of the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' at one time or another.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', a clip from ''The Rusty Venture Show'' shows a young Rusty traumatically having to shoot a bad guy to save his father. Just one of the [[DysfunctionJunction many little events]] that screwed up Rusty.
** He also briefly mentions being forced to kill a man using a house key at age ten. Played for pitch-black laughs.

* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' is all about this. The oldest girl is 16 and the youngest can't be older than 12, but they're all government assassins.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/49914115/chapters/126013318 Lunar Lamentations]]'' offers a variant: in addition to being raised as ChildSoldiers, Naruto, Sakura and Shikamaru are forced to learn how to ''torture'' by Ibiki, who mistakenly believes this is the best way to combat their growing disillusionment with Konoha and make them ''useful''. Instead, their time at T&I has only made the trio even more distrustful of authority and desperate to prove their loyalty so that they don't end up getting tortured themselves.

-->''"It's not the same as killing the dead ones…"''

* In ''[[Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm Ghosts of the Past]]'', the Red Son is just a teenager and is forced to kill everyone in the Red Room's way by his programming. Given additional punch by the reveal that he's [[spoiler: Harry. Or to be more specific, he's Harry's body after his mind was removed to protect and the MacGuffin it was contained in was swiped by the Red Room.]]

* In the ''Manga/DeathNote'' {{Dark|Fic}} KidFic ''FanFic/ShadowOfTheValley'' [[VillainProtagonist Light]] forces his 12-year old daughter [[OriginalCharacter Hikari]] [[SerialKillerKiller to follow in his footsteps]].

* The Loud children in ''Fanfic/RickAndTheLoudHouse'' sometimes have to resort to killing in self-defense when the moment calls for it. One good example would be in "Look Who's Spelling It Out Now", where Lincoln shoots a cat-like alien who came close to killing Lucy in the head.

Note: Children who kill when they don't have to aren't this: that's some form of EnfantTerrible.

* 12-year old Maria shot a man in ''Fanfic/EchoesOfEternity'' in order to save her friend Shadow.

* In ''Literature/{{Velocity}}'', by Creator/DeanKoontz, 14-year-old Billy Wiles (later the protagonist of the book) has to kill his homicidally deranged father to protect himself and his wounded mother. Then he's forced to MercyKill his mother, whose injuries were probably not survivable anyway.

->''"Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch—this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy."''

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', Ward's father was abusive, and taking young Ward with him while hunting down bandits might have been one of his nicer traits. Ward knows how to kill when he's nineteen, and as he has been ObfuscatingStupidity since he was twelve, one can draw some conclusions ... it is not mentioned whether his father stopped taking him along when it seem like Ward had brain damage from being beaten, but it is pretty clear he started this early.

* In ''Velocity'', by Creator/DeanKoontz, 14-year-old Billy Wiles (later the protagonist of the book) has to kill his homicidally deranged father to protect himself and his wounded mother. Then, he's forced to MercyKill his mother, whose injuries were probably not survivable anyway.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[WaxingLyrical 'Cause kids with guns.]] [[Music/{{Gorillaz}} Kids with guns.]]]]

* In the ''Anime/LoveLive''[=/=]''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' crossover ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/16211390/chapters/37890257 Honoka's Bizarre Adventure: µ's Is Unbreakable]]'', Honoka's journey as a Stand user begins with an encounter with the criminal stand user Yoshikawa Fuhai, who attacked her family's candy shop and nearly killed her parents. After facing him in a battle to the death where she unlocks her Stand's powers, Honoka realizes that if she lets him live, he'll return to threaten her loved ones again. [[spoiler:So she uses her Stands to [[LiterallyShatteredLives break apart his flattened, wall-attached body into pieces]]. While it was self-defense as he tried to kill her and Yoshikawa is still alive (albeit [[AndIMustScream in literal pieces and unable to reform]]) the experience is haunting for Honoka, seeing herself as a murderer]].

* ''LightNovel/BlackBullet'': Several cursed children are often forced to be ChildSoldiers for criminal gangs, governments, and Civil Security Companies. In particular, [[NiceGirl Tina]] [[FriendlySniper Sprout]] was forced to be an assassin sniper by [[BigBad Ayn Rand]] to kill [[BigGood Seitenshi]], but has also shown [[ReluctantWarrior hesitation on killing people]].

* ''LightNovel/FateZero'': [[spoiler:Kiritsugu's DarkAndTroubledPast kicks off when his surrogate big sister, Shirley, turns into a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Dead Apostle]] after drinking one of his [[MadScientist father]]'s potions in an attempt to prove Kiritsugu's dad wasn't an evil person. Kiritsugu later comes across Shirley, who begs him to MercyKill her, but he doesn't. As a result, [[FromBadToWorse the entire island turns into Dead Apostles]]. Kiritsugu, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizing his mistake]], confronts his father, who is planning for their escape since the infection has gathered the attention of the Mage Association and their mercenaries, who want him dead. Realizing that his father has no regret for what happened to Shirley and the island and only cares about Kiritsugu so that he can have someone to continue his work, Kiritsugu kills him to prevent further deaths. And it goes downhill from there...]]

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'': Shino Asada was eleven years old when an armed thief attacked the post office she was in. When the thief threatened to shoot one of the workers, Shino bit him and grabbed his gun, shooting him when he attempted to get it back. She came out of it with PTSD and an acute phobia of guns (to the point she will collapse just from ''someone making a finger gun''), along with getting shunned by pretty much everyone, including ''her own mother''.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[WaxingLyrical Turning us into monsters.]] [[Music/{{Gorillaz}} Turning us into fire.]]]]

* One of the matches in ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' was [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Luigi]] vs [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Tails]]. Since these are battles to the death, KidHero Tails would need to kill Luigi in order to win. [[spoiler:In the end, he does.]]
** Another one was [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Gaara]] vs [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Toph Beifong]], wherein the latter is only 12 years old. [[spoiler:Like Tails, she does kill Gaara.]]

* A major plot point of ''Fanfic/TheSevenHunters''.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* In ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'', [[spoiler:Carl's shooting saves the lives of both his parents within a day of each other.]]
-->''"It's not the same as killing the dead ones…"''

* Some of the stuff that happened during the Grazton arc of FanFic/TheTaintedGrimoire was at least partly because Cid and Ensei wanted to avoid this trope. [[spoiler: They now accept that given their circumstances, they can't avoid it and the younger members of Clan Gully will be ready for it should they have to kill someone]].

* A major plot point of ''Fanfic/TheSevenHunters''.
* Part of [[spoiler:Rose's]] background in the Series/DoctorWho Alternate Universe fic ''[[http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=57612 Duplicity]]''.
* ''Fanfic/ReBoundRWBY'': Neo was raised by Raven from age six to be an assassin. She made her first kill at eight and was already going solo at nine.
* 12-year old Maria shot a man in ''Fanfic/EchoesOfEternity'' in order to save her friend Shadow.

* ''Fanfic/MyHeroAcademiaUltraAchievement'': During the USJ incident, [[spoiler:Aoyama]] kills a villain that was about to murder two of his classmates[[spoiler:, [[WhatYouAreInTheDark even though]] [[HeelRealization he knows]] [[BigBad All for One]] will target him as a result]].
* In the ''Anime/LoveLive'' / ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' crossover ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/16211390/chapters/37890257 Honoka's Bizarre Adventure: µ's Is Unbreakable]]'', Honoka's journey as a Stand user begins with an encounter with the criminal stand user Yoshikawa Fuhai, who attacked her family's candy shop and nearly killed her parents. After facing him in a battle to the death where she unlocks her Stand's powers, Honoka realizes that if she lets him live, he'll return to threaten her loved ones again. [[spoiler:So she uses her Stands to [[LiterallyShatteredLives break apart his flattened, wall-attached body into pieces]]. While it was self-defense as he tried to kill her and Yoshikawa is still alive (albeit [[AndIMustScream in literal pieces and unable to reform]]) the experience is haunting for Honoka, seeing herself as a murderer]].

* Likewise in ''Film/SinNombre'' a gang leader forces a boy to kill a rival gang member held prisoner to be accepted into their gang. Said dead rival is then cut into pieces and fed to dogs.
* ''Film/TheQuickAndTheDead'' had [[spoiler:The Lady, as a young girl, attempt to [[ShootTheRope shoot a hanging rope in two to save her father]], but she missed the rope and hit him [[PrettyLittleHeadshots square in the forehead]] instead.]] Not forced to kill her father, but forced to take an action that took her father's life.

* ''Film/BloodDiamond'' has [[ChildSoldiers an army of children]] forced to kill during the Sierra Leone Civil War.

* ''Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter'' has a climax where [[spoiler:Tommy Jarvis, a 12-year-old kid, kills Jason in self-defense]].

* ''Film/HornetsNest'' features Italian kids taking up arms against the Nazis after their parents are massacred by the SS.

* Some beasts pulled into the fighting in the ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' novels were quite young (as young as preteens - [[ImprobableAge or younger]]). Some of whose reactions were understandable, [[CreepyChild while others]] [[NotAGame were not]].
* Creator/{{Saki}}'s "The Easter Egg".

* The premise of ''Literature/BattleRoyale'' is that a group of 64-ish students are taken to an island and [[InvoluntaryBattleToTheDeath forced to kill]] each other until [[ThereCanOnlyBeOne only one survives]]. Adding to the "forced" aspect is the fact that they're wearing explosive collars and if no one dies for twenty four hours, the guys in charge will kill everyone...
* ''Literature/TheTomorrowSeries'': Ellie and her friends didn't set out originally to be guerrillas...
* In the ''[[Literature/{{Dragonlance}} Dark Disciple Trilogy]]'' this is the most terrible facet of the Children of Chemosh. This otherwise NighInvulnerable version of TheUndead created by Chemosh can only be destroyed if a child strikes them. The destruction of the creature is so horrifying that it also traumatizes the child and robs them of their youthful innocence forever.

* Every one of the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' at one time or another.
* ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'': In ''Queste'', [[spoiler:Septimus and Jenna are forced to throw the [=InHabited=] Toll-Man into the Abyss to escape from the [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Thing]] that is controlling his body.]]
* Done with downright creepy frequency and [[AngstwhatAngst casualness]] in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''. In one incident, Aslan even keeps away the adult soldiers when Susan is threatened by wolves, so that Susan's brother Peter, a mere child, can prove himself capable of fighting the wolves. The fact that this could have gotten Susan killed is never discussed, nor is the morality of turning Peter into a soldier.
* Gregor from ''Literature/TheUnderlandChronicles'' has latent warrior skills that makes him skilled at assassination. In fact, [[spoiler:if he finds himself near death, he involuntarily goes berserk and kills anything in fit of rage.]]
* Horseshoes from ''Literature/SecretAgentsFour'' wrangles with himself after he's forced to kill a guard. [[spoiler: It all turns out to be a misunderstanding, and he ends up learning he didn't actually kill the guard.]]
* Alindar from ''Literature/TheRedVixenAdventures'' was taken in by pirates after her family was murdered by them. By age eight she was a {{Child Soldier|s}} being forced to hunt down other children aboard the ships they attacked.
* In the first ''Literature/WingsOfFire'' book, the adolescent Tsunami is forced to kill her opponent in a [[InvoluntaryBattleToTheDeath life or death duel]]. Tsunami tries to convince Queen Scarlet to let them both go after her opponent is unable to battle, but Scarlet refuses to let that happen.

--> ''"I don't like killing people. I'm sure it can't be right."''

* In ''Series/CriminalMinds'' episode "North Mammon" an [=UnSub=] kidnaps three girls and imprisons them in his basement cellar, he will let two of them go if they kill one of them.
** The guy in "Psychodrama" tried to force young boys to kill, or otherwise just attack, their mothers under threat of death.

* The reason the fourth episode of ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' was yanked from broadcast was because the killer of the week brainwashed children into killing their families. Bryan Fuller felt that it was too reminscent of certain events.
* To a lesser extent in ''Series/KidNation''. The children end up having to kill chickens to feed themselves.
* Comes up in an episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit''. The individual in question is an adult by the time of the episode, but as a child, he was forced to become a {{Child Soldier|s}} in Uganda, and he's permanently traumatized by his experiences and the memory of the people he was forced to kill, [[spoiler:leading to him [[DrivenToSuicide committing suicide]] at the end of the episode.]]

* In the [[AfterTheEnd world]] of ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'', 14 year old [[{{Deuteragonist}} Ellie]] is forced kill not only [[TechnicallyLivingZombie Infected Humans]] but other humans too in self-defense. The Resort level particular has Ellie taking on an entire town of bandits by herself and killing their leader at the end.
* Can happen in ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead''. For example, Clementine can have to [[spoiler: shoot The Stranger to save Lee if he fails to protect himself]], or even [[spoiler: shoot an infected Lee before he turns - if he tells her she has to do it.]]

** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsT'' follows suit with [[Manga/MagicKnightRayearth Hikaru, Umi and Fuu]]. Since they're older than Wataru (they are in their early teens whereas Wataru is a fourth-grader), they immediately know that they're fighting other humans and thus actually urge the enemy pilots to activate their EjectionSeat whenever their suits are about to explode. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:they cannot defy the trope when it comes to Princess Emeraude, just like in the original series.]]

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' has this when you take into account [[spoiler: [[TheHero Luke]] [[YoungerThanTheyLook is actually seven]] which makes his entire freak out and inability to adjust to having to kill humans both more understandable and more horrifying.]] [[GoldDigger Anise]] is thirteen and a [[ChurchMilitant fon master guardian]] but doesn't seem to suffer in this regard.
* The prequel novel to ''VideoGame/MarySkelterNightmares'' reveals that [[TheBerserker Blood Skelter]] was discovered after a tragedy in which a ten-year-old Red Riding Hood inadvertently caused a fellow Blood Maiden to go insane by splashing [[AlienBlood Marchen blood]] all over them, resulting in said Blood Maiden lashing out and Red Riding Hood instinctively impaling them with her freshly-gifted pair of [[ShearMenace person-sized scissors]]. In ''Mary Skelter 2'', this trope ends up [[spoiler:DoubleSubverted: Otsuu rescues Little Mermaid from her predicament before Red Riding Hood arrives and thus [[ForWantOfANail prevents the original tragedy from happening]], but it ultimately ends up creating [[ButterflyOfDoom an even worse timeline]], so Otsuu and Little Mermaid revert things to the original timeline...[[ShootTheShaggyDog resulting in Mermaid's novel death right before the closing credits.]]]]
* ''VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel'' has the main cast kids ranged from 4 to 12 piloting a giant tank through their war-torn country to fight back against an invading military force, realizing early on that they have to take lives in order to save their friends and family. This hits them as early as the first chapter.
--->'''Malt:''' [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone We just... killed someone...]]

* The entire premise of [[Franchise/DanganRonpa the Danganronpa series]]. 15 to 16 high schoolers are imprisoned in a location (school, island, school respectively for the three main titles) and forced into a “killing game” by the sadistic teddy bear mascot Monokuma. The first person to kill someone else and not be voted as the killer in a trial by the (remaining) students gets to escape and live, while everyone else dies. If they are voted as the killer, they instead are executed by Monokuma in an ironic [[spoiler:(including a chef being cooked alive, a biker being forced into one of those motorcycle ball stunt cage and [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext turned into butter]] and a gambler who pretends to be European being burned at the stake and run over by a truck)]] and over the top fashion. Even if you don’t kill and aren’t killed, you have to send others to their death for doing so.
** In [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony the third game]], [[spoiler: Maki Harukawa's]] backstory involves [[spoiler: her]] being taken away from the orphanage by a group known as the Holy Salvation Society and being forced to become an assassin.

* This is standard in the setting of ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'', where children as young as 10 are expected to be able to defend themselves if need be, and the straightest example is when Ariel, who at the time is the equivalent of a 7 year old human child, [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=4501 is forced to choose]] between killing Mir'kiin, an asshole who had tried to kill her, and fighting her cousin to the death. She chooses to kill Mir'kiin, and it's heavily implied this leaves her with PTSD.

* The subject matter of [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=mercenary#/d5b7zbq Madgie, what did you do? XIX:Mercenary]] and, as the description put it, no one is exempt from fighting, even the youngest must fight, as in if they can hold a weapon and know what it is, they can fight.
** One a side note, it's also been pointed out that Bunny was surprised that Doki (the one leading this group) was affectionate and maternal towards them and that they mean a lot to her, thus if she didn't have to, she wouldn't be putting them up to it but she has no choice and they have no choice either, as per the lines:
--->"In whatever war that is going on, I was surprised that Doki was very affectionate with them and it occurred to me that, due to what was going on, she didn't want to put them up to killing as so to defend their turf or themselves but it was not like she could take them anywhere else or hide them for very long. As it seemed in the case of Violetta, who was minus a leg, they would have to be damaged in sort of way if they were to be out of duty. Doki's affection towards them proved what no one thought, it proved that they were not expendable weapons and, that to her, they were precious and that, if she didn't have to, she wouldn't be making them do what they are doing."

* One of the matches in ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' was [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Luigi]] vs [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Tails]]. Since these are battles to the death, KidHero Tails would need to kill Luigi in order to win. [[spoiler:In the end, he does]].
** Another one was [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Gaara]] vs [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Toph Beifong]], wherein the latter is only 12 years old. [[spoiler:Like Tails, she does kill Gaara]].

* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'': In "The Wasteland", [[spoiler: MT is forced to kill Agent Mace in self-defense, and it's not helped by [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath the gruesome way it ends up happening]]: she ''grinds him against the wheels of the Train'' while he screams in agony and [[GoryDiscretionShot we see Mace's leaking chrome body splatter against MT's face]].]]

* This is the whole premise of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', basically. Regular shinobi become genin at 12 and are expected to live the rest of their lives in the field infiltrating, guarding, fighting, and killing in an endless cycle of hatred and violence. For extreme examples we have shinobi like [[ChildProdigy Itachi]], [[UpToEleven who was exposed to war at four and made his first kill at seven]].

* In the ''Anime/LoveLive'' / ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' crossover ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/16211390/chapters/37890257 Honoka's Bizarre Adventure: µ's Is Unbreakable]]'', Honoka's journey as a Stand uder begins with an encounter with the criminal stand user Yoshikawa Fuhai, who attacked her family's candy shop and nearly killed her parents. After facing him in a battle to the death where she unlocks her Stand's powers, Honoka realizes that if she lets him live, he'll return to threaten her loved ones again. [[spoiler:So she uses her Stands to [[LiterallyShatteredLives break apart his flattened, wall-attached body into pieces]]. While it was self-defense as he tried to kill her and Yoshikawa is still alive (albeitt [[AndIMustScream in literal pieces and unable to reform]]) the experience is haunting for Honoka, seeing herself as a murderer]].

%%* In the ''Anime/LoveLive'' / ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' crossover ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/16211390/chapters/37890257 ]]''