History Main / IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim

* Played straight in many Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon movies, one notable example being ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'':
-->'''Scar:''' What are you going to do? You wouldn't kill your own uncle, would you?\\

* At the climax of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'', Tarzan has an easy opportunity to off Clayton with his own gun. After Clayton taunts him to go ahead and do it, Tarzan comes to his senses and throws said gun away in disgust.

* Hans does this to Elsa in ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'', when he pleads with her not to kill Weaselton's guards in self-defense. This momentarily stops Elsa in her tracks and makes her realize what she has done. [[spoiler:However, given Hans's status as TheEvilPrince, it is clear that he only does it to get Elsa off-guard and purposely knock her unconscious with a chandelier so he can take her to the castle so as to maintain a good image in the eyes of his subjects.]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Actually [[LampshadeHanging discussed in-depth]] in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. Aang, a pacifist monk, agonizes about how he can stop main villain Ozai without killing him. When Aang consults with the avatars of his former lives on what to do, the show subverts this trope: as Chosen One, Aang's duty is to protect the world - if the only way to save countless lives and stop Ozai is to kill him, Aang must do it, even if it means sacrificing his own personal convictions. Even the previous airbender Avatar, who shared Aang's pacifist spiritual beliefs as an Air Nomad, told him that an Avatar has to place the good of the world above his own spiritual well-being, and if a threat to the world is so extreme that it's impossible to defeat non-lethally, it becomes his duty to kill.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'':
** Spoken by Elisa to Goliath in the premiere, as Goliath held the villain David Xanatos over the edge of his own building (although she compares the act to something the ''other'' main villain, Demona, would do).
** The show elaborates in another episode, saying killing someone in the heat of battle was all right, but attacking a defenseless enemy with the ''direct'' intent to kill was wrong. It's not that all instances of killing are wrong, but that ''murder'' is wrong.
** Goliath [[AesopAmnesia has to relearn this lesson a lot]], as there are a number of occasions after Xanatos where he almost kills someone in blind rage but is talked out of it. Although he can be excused for it, as his entire existence before coming to Manhattan was to fight and kill threats. You can't just decide something one time and rewrite what might be centuries of attacking on your first instinct.
* Subverted in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/MightyMax''. Norman is facing down a rival barbarian who killed his family. The bad guy uses this line because it's the last card in his deck. Norman smiles and says "I can live with that", then knocks him off a cliff.
* Used in the ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons'' episode "The Dragon's Graveyard", where Hank refuses to finish Venger on the grounds that if he did, "We'd be no better than you are."
* Subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE20BatgirlReturns Batgirl Returns]]". When Catwoman is about to drop Roland Daggett into his own vat of acid, Batgirl calls out "If you drop him you'll be just like him!" to which Catwoman replies [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids "Oh]], [[ShutUpKirk grow up"]]--and lets go. Daggett survives, being saved by Batgirl.
* Appears once in the 2003 ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 TMNT]]'', when Angel stops Casey from killing Hun, but the rest of the series says it's okay to kill villains, and in fact the turtles do kill (or sort-of-kill) a number of villains during the series.
* Used three times if not more in ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines''. One is when Optimus Primal was thinking of using the Plasma Energy Chamber to destroy Megatron and everything else technological on Cybertron, in order to stop his tyranny. Cheetor flat-out tells him "You fire this thing, and you're ''no'' better than he is!". Another time is after Botanica joins the Maximals and uses it as her justification to not get involved with the actual fighting: "The more we fight like Megatron, the more we become like Megatron". Fortunately she realizes that it's also her world and her fight, so she joins the battle in time to save the others from Obsidian and Stryka. A variant, though not actually about killing, when [[spoiler: Tankorr is revealed to have the spark of Rhinox, and he is awoken to this, he decides both the Maximals and Megatron need to go and he, Tankorr, should be ruler. Cheetor decides to reformat Tankorr to make him Rhinox again, but Optimus stops him, saying "Rhinox has made... his choice. If we tamper with his mind, then we're no better than Megatron. Let him go."]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E22 Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish"]] has Burns sending assassins after Abe, trying to drown his grandson, etc... and yet, when Abe has Burns cornered...
-->'''Burns''': Don't kill me!
-->'''Abe''': [[Awesome/TheSimpsons I ain't gonna kill ya. That'd be cowardly. Monty Burns cowardly. I just wanna watch you squirm.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':
** In the episode "Hereafter", Superman appears to be killed by Toyman when performing a HeroicSacrifice.
--->'''Toyman:''' What are you gonna do to me?\\
'''Franchise/WonderWoman''': I'm gonna punch a hole in your head.\\
'''Franchise/TheFlash''': We don't do that to our enemies.\\
'''Wonder Woman:''' Speak for yourself.\\
'''Flash:''' I'm trying to [[MoralityChainBeyondTheGrave speak for Superman]]. ''[she releases him]''
** When Big Barda is ready to kill Granny Goodness, ComicBook/MartianManhunter stops her. Interestingly, he only says that the EnemyCivilWar needs to continue and does not mention this trope.
** This is the case with Huntress in the episode "Double Date." She is about to kill Steven Mandragora, the mobster who had her parents murdered while she was a child right in front of her eyes. Then Mandragora's son runs out and the look in her face after seeing him clearly says that if she kills him right in front of his child, she'll be just like him.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', The Monarch actually invokes this on Dean for ''tattling'' so Dean won't spill the beans about him breaking into Dr. Venture's lab just to screw around. And it ''works.''
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "For The Love Of Gargamel", Papa Smurf tells his little Smurfs that leaving Gargamel and Azrael in their [[TakenForGranite self-petrified state]] would make themselves no better than their enemies. It ends up becoming the justification for many a SaveTheVillain moment in the cartoon show, despite how {{ungrateful|Bastard}} Gargamel ends up being.
* Invoked (in a more comedic context) in the episode of ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' that has Foxxy Love turning into a minstrel and being arrested by some CulturePolice. When she is thrown into the paddy wagon, she sees herself surrounded by a number of other politically-incorrect cartoon characters from the past, who tell her that they are all being taken to a prison facility. At the prison, after briefly being incarcerated, the caricatures are forced to board a conveyor belt that dumps them into a vat at its end, where they are [[CessationOfExistence permanently erased]]. The other housemates show up for Foxxy just in time and confront the BigBad in charge of the genocide plot (who, judging by his voice and headgear, is obviously [[spoiler: Mickey Mouse]]). Spanky Ham gives an impassioned speech, arguing that if [[spoiler: Mickey]] exterminates all the caricatures because of embarrassment at the racism they embody, he will be just like the Nazis, and thus racist himself. [[spoiler: Mickey]] briefly seems to [[HopeSpot consider this argument]], but then just laughs and starts the conveyor belt. Foxxy dies, but Captain Hero manages to reverse Earth's rotation to bring her back to life for a (sort of) happy ending.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': In "Speak No Evil", Fingers (a gorilla given human-level intelligence) has caught the poacher who captured and sold him and his mother, but is dissuaded from killing him when Batman points out that he's [[HumansAreBastards behaving like a human]].
%%* This happens in at least one episode of the original ''[[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]''.
* ZigZaggingTrope in ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}'' where the villainous Van Pelt is an InvincibleVillain with ResurrectiveImmortality so simply "killing" him isn't an option in the first place, so the heroes instead devise a plan to trap him forever in a pit, which would potentially be a FateWorseThanDeath. The problem is that Van Pelt is not simply a person, but an actual creation of the game itself, so when their plan actually does work, Jumanji responds by literally transforming ''Peter'' into the next Van Pelt, and Peter Van Pelt gloats that if the other characters kill him, they will just transform into Van Pelt as well. The only way to get Peter back was to rescue Van Pelt from the prison they put him in, making it a bit of an intentional SpaceWhaleAesop.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': In the episode "Voyage of Temptation", Merrick is at the mercy of Obi-Wan and [[ActualPacifist Duchess Satine]] and quickly taunts them over this; if Satine kills him, then she's betraying her beliefs and making herself a hypocrite in the eyes of her people, and if Obi-Wan kills him, he'll lose Satine's respect. Unfortunately for Merrick, [[InTheBack Anakin is perfectly okay with murder.]]
-->'''Obi-Wan:''' ''Anakin!''\\
'''Anakin:''' ''What?!'' He was gonna blow up the ship!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Said by Green Lantern verbatim in ''Videogame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' when Batman comments on using a Kryptonite weapon to fight [[spoiler:that dimension's Superman]]. However, Batman comments that it will just incapacitate him.
* In ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Conviction'', the final boss gives you a choice to either kill him or spare him, either of which nets you an achievement. In the twist ending, if you spare him, Grim kills him instead.
* In ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'', the boss gives you this choice but the player kills him mid-sentence instead.
* The 360 game ''VideoGame/NinetyNineNights'' has the two main characters in different play throughs in the same situation where they get a chance to kill the main villain. The noble Aspharr spares the goblin king and is bathed in holy light for his mercy. The vengeance driven Inphyy kills him and the holy powers she had been using the entire game reverse on her making her the new villain. The game also features the second corollary of this trope in that in the course of sparing this guy you killed thousands of his soldiers, his priests and various commanders (Not to mention kings of other races) with no such karmic backlash.
* ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars: Dual Strike]]'' features [[BigBad Von Bolt]] - an old man using technology to sucking the life force from the land in order to extend his own life - saying this to [[MessianicArchetype Jake]] in his {{Not So Different|Remark}} speech during the game's ending; if Jake shoots him, they'll both be guilty of the same thing: killing others to save themselves. The game then lets the player decide. [[spoiler:If you say yes, Jake destroys the MacGuffin Von Bolt uses to drain the land's life force and dooms him to die of old age; if you refuse, Hawke [[ShootTheDog shoots Von Bolt]].]]
** {{Invoked|Trope}} in ''Advance Wars: Days of Ruin''. [[spoiler:Lin (good girl who frequently has AntiHero tendencies)]] is about to kill [[spoiler: Greyfield/Sigismundo (evil megalomaniac who borders on AGodAmI in his insanity)]], when he tries to pull off a speech like this trope, saying she'll be just like him if she kills him. However, unlike other examples, this isn't portrayed as a real moral dilemma so much as just [[spoiler:Greyfield/Sigismundo]]'s cowardly attempt to save his own life. [[spoiler: Lin]] considers his argument, admits he's completely correct, then kills him anyway. His death is karmic in the sense that he had tried to make himself a prisoner of war so he wouldn't be shot, when [[spoiler:he himself had murdered a prisoner of war against the wishes of Captain Brenner/O'Brian,]] causing the good guys to rebel against him in the first place.
* This was the whole plot behind Guile's ending in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII''. He wants to kill Bison to avenge his friend Charlie's death, then his daughter Amy and his wife Jane dissuade him. Note that Jane was more concerned about Guile killing Bison in cold blood than asking him to come back home, until Amy chimes in and says that they both want him to return.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'' light side ending. [[spoiler: Galen Marek (formerly Starkiller) rescues the leader of the newly founded Rebel Alliance, defeating both Darth Vader and Palpatine in the process. He's stopped from finishing Palpatine off by a Jedi who tells him that doing so will cause him to fall to TheDarkSide. Despite the fact that said Jedi is a leader of the rebel alliance and who's very purpose is to KILL THE EMPEROR.]]
*** The sequel has a better-justified example. The same Jedi as before prevents the player character from summarily executing Darth Vader, not on any flimsy Jedi grounds, but so the Rebel Alliance can make a political example of him and ''then'' execute him, thus distancing the Alliance from the Empire's rule of tyranny. The final scenes (and film canon) indicate this still wasn't a great idea, but it is a logical plan.
** ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' for Juhani and Carth's quests. Xor is a disgusting slaver who [[spoiler: cheerfully took part in the Cathar genocide, killed Juhani's father, and tried to buy Juhani herself as a SexSlave]]. Saul Karath was Carth's former commanding officer who betrayed the Republic and carpet-bombed Carth's homeworld. After defeating them, you can encourage them to "finish the job," or invoke the trope.
--->'''[[spoiler: Sunry]]:'''You think I'm some kind of monster, don't you? All I did was kill a Sith! How many Sith have you killed? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?\\
'''[[spoiler: Carth]]:''' You're talking about acts of war. We're just defending ourselves! You murdered your girlfriend in her sleep.
** Subverted at the end of ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight]]'' after the final battle between Kyle Katarn and Jerec. [[spoiler:Jerec taunts Kyle, "Strike me down and the power of the Dark Side will be yours! I'm sure you haven't forgotten, I was the one who murdered your father." Kyle replies that he hasn't forgotten, pulls Jerec's lightsaber into his hand, and then tosses it where Jerec can easily reach it. Jerec takes it up, screams, and makes a final desperate lunge, where Kyle easily cuts him down.]]
* Discussed in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'', when Marta fatally cuts down a villain trying to kill Emil she starts to break down thinking she's just like they are. Emil reassures her with the distinction that the villain attacked out of rage while she did it to defend a loved one.
* Commander Shepard of ''Franchise/MassEffect'' can address this subject on several occasions:
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'', after helping resident CowboyCop Garrus Vakarian track down a MadDoctor who'd previously escaped justice, Shepard can either encourage Garrus to [[NoNonsenseNemesis just shoot him]], or persuade him to arrest the doctor and bring him in to stand trial. If the player opts for the latter, he tries to attack, forcing them to gun him down. When Garrus points out the futility of trying to arrest him, when he just ended up dead ''anyway'', Paragon Shepard reasons that while they can't always predict other people's actions, that doesn't mean they should stoop to the same level.
*** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' s/he can use this again, twice, during Garrus' loyalty mission, first by preventing him from killing a DirtyCop. Played with in this instance, as Garrus still decks him. ([[ExactWords "I didn't shoot him."]]) Later, [[GoThroughMe Paragon Shepard can interpose him/herself]] between Garrus' rifle and the man who betrayed his team to their deaths. If Shep keeps this up, it turns out the target [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone is already near his breaking point from remorse]] and will turn himself in afterwards.
*** Shepard says the same thing if he prevents Mordin from killing Maelon, and to Jack regarding Aresh (adding YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre in with the latter).
** In another instance, Shepard confronts a soldier at the end of a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the {{Mad Scientist}}s who used him as an unwilling test subject, and again has to choose between encouraging him to finish the job or persuading him to let the law handle it. In this case, [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner Shepard]] has the [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] of "[[ShootTheDog let me kill him]], [[DiplomaticImpunity because I can get away with it legally and you can't]]."
* If you don't bring the [[spoiler:seaplane parts]] back to [[spoiler: Christine and Jade]] in ''Imprisoned'', your character has one of these moments after [[spoiler: killing Kyle]], and [[spoiler: lets himself die in the lab explosion]].
* In ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'', Uther the Lightbringer warns Arthas that "vengeance cannot be part of what we must do. If we allow our passions to turn to bloodlust, then we will become as vile as the Orcs". This is proved right as Arthas becomes obsessed with destroying Mal'ganis and upon defeating him with Frostmourne, becomes the commander of the Undead Scourge, who ironically replace the orcs as the antagonists of the series.
** In Tides of War, Jaina temporarily becomes racist and almost wipes out Orgrimmar. Kalec and Thrall point out that if she does this she'll be no better than Arthas (in fact, given that Arthas was acting out of a misguided sense of compassion, she'd be worse.) Fortunately it gets through to her, and she calms down to the point where she's still mad, but no longer racist.
** In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft: Wrath of the Lich King'' [[BlackKnight Darion Mograine]] suggests using the Scourge's own tactics against them to [[KnightInShiningArmor Tirion Fordring]]. Tirion (correctly) states that doing so would make them no better than the enemy they are facing. Darion scoffs at this and says something along the lines of "then you've lost already". Turns out that Tirion was right, in the end, though.
** A minor villain in ''Battle For Azeroth'', Grozztok the Blackheart, tries to invoke this when you kill him, claiming that you are no better than he is for killing him. Given that he not only attacks you first but is trying to unleash an EldritchAbomination upon the world, it's a fairly ridiculous claim.
* In ''VideoGame/CallOfJuarezBoundInBlood'', William tries to prevent Ray from killing an unarmed bad guy with this and the story of Jesus forgiving one of the murderers crucified alongside him. Ray's reaction? "The Lord forgave him... a cold-blooded murderer? Well, that's good to know." Then he shoots the baddie dead.
* Played straight in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' when [[spoiler: Ken]] tries to kill [[spoiler: Shinjiro]] as revenge for [[spoiler:Shinjiro accidentally killing Ken's mother]]. The response is along the lines of "If you kill me, you will be just like me", though he's more referring to the guilt [[spoiler:Ken]] would feel from killing than the crime he would have committed. Of course, [[spoiler: Shinjiro]] is [[PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou still fully prepared to die]]. Not that it matters because [[spoiler: Ken]] plans on [[DrivenToSuicide killing himself]] after doing the deed as his finding his mother's killer was the only thing keeping him alive, which [[spoiler: Shinjiro]] immediately protests when he finds out. However, Strega interferes and [[TakingTheBullet it goes downhill from there.]]
* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': The Protagonist and [[TheLancer Ryuji]] initially bring this up as their reason for not HeelFaceBrainwashing the school's physically abusive PE teacher Suguru Kamoshida. If the process goes wrong, the teacher could die, which would make the heroes far worse than even a monster like Kamoshida. And then Kamoshida [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil gleefully crosses]] the MoralEventHorizon, leaving the protagonist and Ryuji with much fewer qualms about dealing with him.
* Also played straight in ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei: VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'' with Keisuke when the party tells him that by letting Yama kill people considered "evil", he's just guilty as them.
* Used rather cleverly in ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'': killing its human host doesn't affect Diablo at all, so the hero tries to imprison the Lord of Terror in his own body. It doesn't work, and by the end of the second game he literally ''becomes'' Diablo.
* Attempted by the preacher in ''VideoGame/{{GUN}}'' as he's pleading for his life, but subverted by Colton White in a TalkToTheFist moment.
* Used in ''VideoGame/{{Oni}}'': at the end of the penultimate mission, Konoko is given the choice of killing or sparing [[spoiler: Griffin]], with this trope hinted at.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Rosenkreuzstilette}}'', [[spoiler:after defeating Iris and reminding her afterwards that the reason she won was because everyone was cheering her on and the reason Iris lost was because couldn't believe in others nor love her fellow man, Tia tells her to give up. Since Tia is a good-natured girl, this possibly implies that Tia refuses to kill Iris because she doesn't want to be a murderer just like her]]. [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]], however, [[spoiler:as Iris doesn't get the clue and attempts to destroy the castle in which they're fighting. In the sequel, Iris concocts another mischief that involves kidnapping Tia and then mind-controlling her. Then, the trope is eventually subverted: Tia's best friend, Freudia, takes up the protagonist role to rescue Tia, and, when faced with the same situation with Tia, shows no mercy by freezing Iris for eternity and tossing her to some place unknown, subjecting her to a FateWorseThanDeath, as she will be unable to do anything for eternity except stay put in the ice prison]].
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'':
** In the DLC "Honest Hearts", siding with Joshua Graham and his quest to destroy the White Legs tribe (the villains) will end with him about to execute Salt-Upon-Wounds, the war chief of the White Legs and a man who's committed countless atrocities. You can then stop him with this argument. Interestingly, after you've talked Joshua down, you can kill Salt-Upon-Wounds yourself.
*** Going with Graham and then convincing him to spare Salt-Upon-Wounds' life is essentially the closest to the GoldenEnding that you can get with the DLC (although being a CrapsackWorld there really aren't any true Golden Endings). The Sorrows lose their innocence, but at the same time they realize that they can be strong without being like the White Legs. At the same time, this ending is the only one in which Graham finds a measure of peace in his life for the first time since his days in the Legion. However, you can also request that Graham simply fight Salt-Upon-Wounds in a "fair" fight and at least let him die on his feet, which results in Graham's personal demons being at the least sated.
*** Oddly, when you find Joshua Graham holding Salt-Upon-Wounds hostage, Joshua immediately executes two kneeling, unarmed White Leg prisoners before asking you what Salt-Upon-Wounds' fate should be. [[WhatMeasureIsAMook Neither your character nor Joshua brings this up during the discussion]].
** During Rose Of Sharron Cassidy's (Cass) companion quest, you can invoke this after it is revealed that [[spoiler: Alice [=McLafferty's=] of the Crimson Caravan and Gloria Van Graff]] have been working together to annihilate smaller caravan companies, like Cass's. After finding out about this, Cass will immediately decide to bring them to justice by means of the end of her shotgun, but you can convince her that it would be better to find evidence of their crimes and turn them into NCR authorities, which will take ''far'' longer to get results, but will could damage both parties more in the long run and allow the both of you to walk out with clean hands.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'' has Noel Kreiss, who is constantly struggling with this when it comes to the villain Caius Ballad, who wants Noel to kill him. "Noel, born at the end of days. You understand the true meaning of life. But know this: you will kill me, Noel."
* In the confrontation with Nobumasa in ''VisualNovel/YoJinBo'', Nobumasa is quick to declare [[BloodKnight Ittosai]] as a killer {{Not So Different|Remark}} from himself. As a result, while all of the other guys end up killing Nobumasa in self-defense, Sayori urges Ittosai to refrain lest he prove Nobumasa right, and TheCavalry does the honors instead just in the nick of time to keep Nobumasa from skewering both of them.
* At the end of your first Neutral run in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', you have the option to kill [[spoiler:Flowey, who, aside from being the most vicious antagonist thus far, has told you at every encounter that "in this world, it's kill or be killed"]]. Their last words if you do? [[spoiler:"I knew you had it in you."]]
* At the end of ''VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves'', Lazarevic [[StrikeMeDown tries to goad Drake into finishing him off]] in order to prove they're not so different. Drake refuses... [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope but only]] so he can let the Guardians of Shambhala tear Lazarevic limb from limb instead.]]
* In ''VisualNovel/IkemenSengoku'', Masamune's route has the modern-day main character struggle with the reality that she may have to kill to protect herself and the people she loves in the war-torn Sengoku period she accidentally time-traveled to. Even after she learns how to use a rifle for self-defense, she can't bring herself to shoot an enemy poisoner because she fears what she may become if she kills another human being -- and it's implied later on in Masamune's route that if she ''had'' given up her idealistic convictions and learned how to pull the trigger, she could have gone down the same dark path as Kennyo, a once-gentle soul who [[HeWhoFightsMonsters became consumed by the same hatred and violence he detested]].
* A variant can happen during ''VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns: Hong Kong''. [[MonsterKnight Gaichû]]'s personal quest sees him [[TiredOfRunning try to kill his former squad of Red Samurai]] who have [[SternChase been hunting him from Japan]] ever since he became a ghoul. [[spoiler:Should you succeed, Gaichû, still angry at the Red Samurai being so mired in FantasticRacism that [[JustThinkOfThePotential they refused to see how he could still be worthy of them]], ghoul or no, attempts to ghoulify his former squad leader Ishida as a form of revenge. The PlayerCharacter can let this happen or point out that he's taking it too far for no benefit. In the latter case, Gaichû will realize he's being led by the same bling anger and superiority complex that made the Red Samurai hunt him in the first place, and instead severs his ties to the past by [[CoupDeGrace killing Ishida cleanly]].]]
* ''VideoGame/DisneysVillainsRevenge'': If you try to poison Queen Grimhilde by adding a poison apple to her ageing potion, the Blue Fairy will reprimand you, stating "If you use the poison on the queen, ''you're'' the one being wicked and mean. Just save Snow White and her seven friends. That is the way to the happy end. Remember, let your conscience be your guide."
* In ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfWar'':
** Shelob repeatedly insists that Celebrimbor taking down Sauron will simply replace one overlord with another, and for this reason is very reluctant to return The New Ring to the protagonists.
** Celebrimbor himself scoffs at the idea on the basis that his ring is "pure", and thus wouldn't allow Sauron to control him like the Nazgul rings did to their wielders. However as the game goes on, his rallying speeches shift from deposing Sauron to ''[[MindRape Dominating]]'' him, proving that the [[CassandraTruth prophetic spider was entirely correct]].
** Talion eventually clues in on this and [[spoiler:refuses to follow Celebrimbor's lead. Unfortunately that leaves him for dead and forces to pick up a ''Nazgul'' ring to try and keep the fight against the Dark Lord]].
** In Eltariel's DLC, she is entirely aware of this threat, and while she wields the Ring's power of immortality, she refuses to brainwash any orc, instead earning their allegiance by helping them out.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Although never actually spoken, it is heavily implied (and even nearly subverted) during the scene at the Huntsman's treehouse in ''Series/TheTenthKingdom'', when Wolf is about to kill him with the magic axe and Virginia stops him.
-->'''Virginia:''' No! We can't kill him.\\
'''Wolf:''' Of course we can, ''he'd'' kill us!\\
'''Virginia:''' That's not the point, he's helpless!\\
'''Wolf:''' ''Exactly'' why we should kill him ''now''!\\
'''Virginia:''' Wolf, no!\\
'''Wolf:''' Awwww, he's gonna come after us!\\
'''Virginia:''' I don't care, we're not killing him.\\
'''Wolf:''' You're gonna regret this moment.
** And of course, [[ImplacableMan he's right]].
* ''Series/TwentyFour'''s Jack Bauer [[AvertedTrope doesn't bother with this trope]], killing several villains in cold blood including [[spoiler: his mentor Christopher Henderson, who no longer has any reason to continue being a bad guy at the time of his death.]]
** Played straight in the final season where on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge Jack slaughters countless members of the current conspiracy-of-the-day in ways that cross even his own personal lines. In one of the last hours, he holds another of them in on it, Jason Pillar, hostage, and with whatever composure he has left Pillar screams that by this point Jack is as much a murderer as they are. The fact that in this rare case he's actually right hurts, and in the end when he sobbingly begs Jack not to shoot him because [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes he wants to see his own daughters again]] Jack [[spoiler: ultimately ''can't'' bring himself to kill him]].
* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'':
** Variant. Deathlok is trying to interrogate Skye for information. She realizes that CantKillYouStillNeedYou applies to her, so Deathlok then gives TheMole a heart attack and threatens to let him die if Skye doesn't give him the information.
--->'''Skye:''' You think I don't want to see him suffer?\\
'''Deathlok:''' Not suffer. Die.\\
'''Skye:''' He's a murderer.\\
'''Deathlok:''' Yes, he is. Are you?
** Skye does break down and give Deathlok the information he wants--but later bitterly says it wasn't worth it, and she should have just let him kill TheMole. The next time she sees him, she shoots him in the back three times and leaves him for dead, without the slightest twinge of remorse (though he does survive).
--->'''Skye:''' I'm still glad I shot you.
* Played with in an episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}''. Knox is at least partially responsible for Fred's death, but Angel starts a long speech about how he won't hurt Knox because he, Angel, has dedicated himself to protecting all human life. However, Wesley interrupts the speech--[[ShutUpKirk by shooting Knox.]]
-->'''Angel''': Were you even listening?
* Sort of inverted in an episode of ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'' ("The Tale of Cutter's Treasure"). [[spoiler: The main character was fighting a pirate ghost, and was about to finish him off with a dagger...then realized that the ghost was trapped guarding his treasure, and wanted to be at peace. They decided that after all the people he killed in life he didn't deserve it, and did the [[CruelMercy LESS MERCIFUL thing by LETTING HIM LIVE.]]]]
* A variation (and eventual subversion) occurs in the ''Series/BabylonFive'' episode "Deathwalker" when the title character flaunts her miracle cure to Commander Sinclair, a miracle cure that requires the death of another living being to manufacture. "The billions who live forever will be a monument to my work, and the billions who are murdered to buy that immortality will be the continuance of my work. Not like us? You will ''become'' us." The subversion comes when the deal is made to research her cure anyway... only to have the Vorlon ambassador destroy her ship, claiming the younger races were not ready for immortality.
** In "In the beginning" (a spin-off depicting the Earth-Minbari war) Dr. Franklin is revealed to have gathered extensive biological information on Minbari after he tried to cure a group of sick aliens, but he's unwilling to pass the info to the military since they'll most certainly use it to create bio-weapons and he considers using it to be as bad as the genocide that Minabari are inflicting.
** Also in the season three episode "Dust", Ivanova is about to let loose the full power of Babylon 5's defense grid on the Psi-Cop Alfred Bester only to be stopped by Sheridan. He even incorporates the trope name in the speech (somewhat), telling Ivanova to fight Bester and evil baddies like him without becoming them.
*** Sheridan later sacrifices dozens of innocent and disabled telepaths to undo the Psi Corps-supported coup. But he spares Bester's girlfriend because he's a ''good guy''.
* Subverted (and possibly lampshaded) in the ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' episode "Blackmarket". Lee is holding the big bad at gunpoint, and the big bad claims that Lee will not shoot because "You're not like me." When Lee does not lower the weapon the man starts to say it again and Lee shoots him dead. [[WordOfGod The producers]] [[CanonDiscontinuity say this never happened]], and all events from that episode (With the exception of the death of ''Pegasus'''s CO) are never referred to again.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'':
** Early in season one, in "[[Recap/BreakingBadS1E3AndTheBagsInTheRiver The Bag's in the River]]", Walt is faced with this choice when he has Krazy 8 chained up in a basement. Hilariously he makes a pros and cons list, balancing "Judeo-Christian values" versus "He will kill you and your family"
** The trope is also applied to a literal extreme, as Walt absorbs traits from many of the people he kills. A few examples: he is seen [[spoiler: cutting the crust off his sandwiches]] after [[spoiler: killing Krazy 8]], and suddenly starts [[spoiler: drinking his whiskey on the rocks]] after [[spoiler: killing Mike Ehrmantraut]].
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** Faith pulls this on Buffy to break a MexicanStandoff where she and Buffy both have knives to the other's throat. Unique in that Faith seems to somewhat ''want'' Buffy to kill her and thus become like her, as some form of revenge. Yeah, Faith [[AxCrazy had issues...]]
** In "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E21GraduationDayPart1}} Graduation Day, Part 1]]", Xander raises this concern, when Buffy is intent on killing Faith. Not only does she ignore him, after she failed and Faith wakes up from her coma, Buffy follows her onto ''Series/{{Angel}}'' for another go.
** In Issue #8 of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight'', Buffy finally says what we all think of when this trope is done poorly.
--->'''Willow:''' You know what I mean. It's not like we can just stake these grunts in the heart, right? Not killing humans is what separates us from the bad guys.\\
'''Buffy:''' No, not being ''bad'' is what separates us from the bad guys.
** In S5's "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E22TheGift}} The Gift]]" Giles decides not to expose Buffy to these moral questions with Ben/Glory, and kills Ben/Glory himself.
** In S6's "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E20Villains}} Villains]]", when Warren accidentally shoots and kills Tara while trying to kill Buffy, Willow [[SuperpoweredEvilSide goes insane with grief]] and fully intends to kill him. Buffy desperately tries to reason with Willow by invoking this, insisting that if she does this, she lets Warren destroy her as well; Willow is beyond caring, and the episode ends with her [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing Warren]] and finally [[FlayingAlive flaying him alive]].
* The opening episode of ''Series/CrimeStory'' has Detective Torello thwarting a robbery of a department store by Ray Luca's mob - he storms into Luca's storefront hideout and is ready and willing to shoot him on sight. Instead, he kicks Luca's chair out from under him, fires a bullet into the floor an inch from his head, and growls that he's going to take Luca down legally. Luca never bats an eye through all this - it's a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for both of them.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'':
** Played bizarrely straight (and by a character who should have known better); an episode of the second season ends with one of the agents pondering, apropos of almost nothing, how much difference there REALLY is between the offenders that they hunt, and the agents themselves. In this corner, an antisocial, sociopathic recidivist murderer who was abused by his parents for fifteen years and slaughters innocent women purely for the sexual thrill that it gives him. In the opposite side, an agent with ten or fifteen years of experience in fieldwork with the FBI who is willing to fire their weapon ONLY in the cause of self-defence or the preservation of another life (and even then, only with utmost angst over the decision afterward), and who has dedicated their professional life to the incarceration of those who would commit such heinous crimes. Yeah, that's a real slippery slope right there.
** In an episode of season three, a man takes it upon himself to rescue his kidnapped daughter, but is interrupted from killing him by Agent Reid, who tells the man that if he kills the kidnapper, he'll introduce a cycle of violence into his daughter's life. As he pleads with the father, asking him when the violence will stop, [[spoiler:the man whispers, "Tomorrow," and shoots the kidnapper in the head]].
* Common in ''Series/DoctorWho'', where the highly moral Doctor often must make a difficult decision between killing his enemies (technically a violation of his principles, though he's forced to do so more often than not) or showing mercy at the risk of them going on to hurt others. He often settles for giving them a fair chance to leave peacefully, even pleading with them to "just walk away."
** The Doctor almost references this trope by name in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]" when he hesitates in killing a large number of baby Daleks, stating that if he did so he'd "become just like them". In the new series episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek Dalek]]", the Doctor IS prepared to simply blow away the titular creature, but Rose pulls this trope on him.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel "The Age of Steel"]]: Mickey persuades Jake not to kill a controlled Cybus guard by pointing out that doing so would make him no better than a Cyberman.
** And yet sometimes his "mercy" is pretty severe, as in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood The Family of Blood]]", where [[spoiler:one member is put into a field, alive and conscious, as a scarecrow and another is trapped in a mirror — every mirror]].
** A noteworthy example in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E6TheDoctorsDaughter The Doctor's Daughter]]", when he seems about to kill a man in vengeful anger but then puts the gun down, explaining, "I never would", despite his rage.
** Completely forgotten in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes to War]]", as the Doctor blows up an entire Cyberlegion just for a dramatic entrance. Although, to be fair, Cybermen are humans who have had all their emotions removed, and who probably would have preferred to die rather than be converted.
** He does, however, start to slide down that slippery slope when he attempts to [[spoiler: kill the doctor that the Gunslinger is trying to kill for making him]] in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E3ATownCalledMercy A Town Called Mercy]]". Luckily, Amy is there to snap him out of it. To be honest, [[spoiler:the Doctor is not a fan of Kahler-Jex, who created cyborgs to go to war, killing thousands to bring about peace, though it is hypocritical to judge Jex when the Doctor practically committed genocide to end the Time War, making him [[LastOfHisKind the last Time Lord]]]].
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E10TheBattleOfRanskoorAvKolos "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos"]]: The Doctor uses this argument when she hears that [[spoiler:Graham]] is planning to kill [[spoiler:Tzim-Sha, who was responsible for his wife's death]]. Eventually, [[spoiler:Graham]] agrees, and decides on a FateWorseThanDeath for the villain instead.
** The Ranskoor example is subverted in the next episode, [[Recap/DoctorWho2019NYSResolution "Resolution"]], where the Doctor plots to kill [[spoiler:the Dalek]] without a single word about the morality of the action. Several people pointed out that, in hindsight, this makes her argument in the previous episode not a moral warning, but rather a simple statement of fact. If [[spoiler:Graham]] had killed [[spoiler:Tzim-Sha]], he would become a killer... like the Doctor.
--->'''The Doctor:''' I learned to think like [[spoiler:a Dalek]] a long time ago.
*** She does, however, make a point of giving [[spoiler:the Dalek]] a fair chance to walk away, and even makes sure her companions heard her do it. It doesn't work, [[AlwaysChaoticEvil for obvious reasons.]]
* ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'':
** Uncle Jesse has instilled in his nephews, Bo and Luke, that for as wily as Boss Hogg is and for as much grief and trouble as he and Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane has caused the Duke family through the years -- simple harassment to outright framing the Duke boys for various crimes to trying to illegally foreclose on their property -- they have a moral obligation and duty to rescue and aid Hogg (and/or Rosco, when necessary) whenever their lives are threatened. Jesse has told Bo and Luke that, if they were ever to allow Boss or Rosco to die at the hands of criminals, they would be disinherited and disowned as they would be just as responsible for allowing their deaths to happen as if they had pulled the trigger themselves.
** In the Season 2 episode "Grannie Annie", after Boss is kidnapped by a counterfeiter and his bodyguard who plans to brutally kill him (after believing he double-crossed him), Rosco begs Bo and Luke to go after the counterfeiter and save Boss' life; Bo and Luke balk and all but outright refuse, but after Rosco gives a tear-stained, impassioned plea telling them that if they don't go after Boss's captors and allow him to be killed, he will hold them accountable for the rest of their lives and never forgive them ... and (although unstated) they will be just as bad as Boss was. The Duke boys agree and save Boss's hide.
* Used and justified in the ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' three-part episode "Look At The Princess". At the end of the trilogy, Crichton has [[MagnificentBastard Scorpius]] at his mercy and is ready to shove him into a vat of acid; however, at the last minute, he finds himself unable to go through with the murder, and lets Scorpius off with a warning. Later, it's revealed that this had absolutely nothing to do with any fine motives on Crichton's part- he literally ''couldn't'' do it because [[spoiler: the neurochip Scorpius had implanted in his brain wouldn't let him]]. Of course, even if he had been able to overcome [[spoiler: the chip]], it probably wouldn't have done much good, because as soon as Crichton has left the room, Scorpius casually reveals that his [[HellBentForLeather gimp suit]] can't be so easily dissolved by the acid.
* Subverted and yet played straight in an episode of ''Series/{{Fastlane}}''. Billie has the criminal who ruined her life at gunpoint when one of her male partners arrives and yells, "Don't do it! Not like this! (Dramatic pause) Use my gun! It has a larger caliber so it will be more satisfying." Her other partner has a similar do-it-this-way comment (which I can't remember), but they're both using reverse psychology to convince her not to kill the criminal. Maybe. Well, she doesn't, anyway.
* Hilariously played with in ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', where Mal wins a sword fight and is encouraged to kill his opponent who is beaten and lying on the ground. He's told it's a matter of honor, but Mal responds, "Mercy is the mark of a great man." Then ''stabs'' him (slightly).
-->'''Mal:''' Guess I'm just a good man. ''[stabs opponent again]'' Well, I'm all right.
* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'' ChristmasEpisode [[Recap/TheFlash2014S2E9RunningToStandStill "Running to Stand Still"]], [[Franchise/TheFlash Barry]] has to talk down Patty from murdering Mark Mardon, the man who [[YouKilledMyFather murdered her father]]. As Patty is a cop and she's holding the defeated and helpless Mardon at gunpoint, Barry points out that Mardon isn't worth Patty going to jail for murder, and throwing away everything she's worked for. Patty listens and chooses to arrest Mardon instead.
* Discussed in the ''Series/{{Flashpoint}}'' episode "Clean Hands", while the team is escorting a prisoner. When his partner mentions she's tempted to harm the prisoner, Ed invokes this trope, saying he wants to have [[TitleDrop clean hands]] when he hugs his children that night. [[spoiler: When the episode's antagonists turn out to be fellow law enforcement officers, the team invokes this trope again while trying to talk them down.]]
* ''Series/HomicideHunter'''s Joe Kenda is very proud of the fact that he never fired his gun in his 20-something years as a cop, because he thinks it would have been stooping to the level of the criminals he was trying to catch:
-->"If you pull that trigger, you become like them. And I'm '''''not''''' like them."
* In episode 9 of ''Series/IZombie'', Liv, after eating the brain of a soldier with PTSD, decides that the best method for dealing with [[BigBad Blaine]] is killing him. As she is about to snipe him, she decides that if she does kill him, she will be no better than him (it should be noted that while Liv [[OurZombiesAreDifferent eats brains from dead bodies in the morgue and uses them to solve crimes]], Blaine kidnaps his victims, violently murders them, and sells them to clients that he infects with zombieism, and does all of this while running what is effectively a Zombie Mafia). [[DeconstructedTrope Immediately after Liv makes her decision]], [[BoomHeadshot Blaine shoots her boyfriend in the head]].
* Used in episode "The Scent of Roses" of ''Series/KnightRider''. After his wife was killed just moments after they were wed, Michael Knight chases down the killer and begins to beat him, but KITT stops him.
-->'''KITT:''' Michael, Michael, stop it! You wouldn't be able to live with yourself!
* Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}, being a TechnicalPacifist, was rather fond of pulling this gem out whenever his sidekick-of-the-week had the villain at their mercy.
* In the 1998 series ''[[Series/Merlin1998 Merlin]]'', Vortigern kills the KnightTemplar King Constant and takes his throne, then promptly turns into an even worse king himself. Merlin comments, "And one tyrant smoothly passed the crown to another, even worse."
* Done in a comedic effect in ''Series/MockingbirdLane''. Although Herman doesn't kill Steve ([[spoiler:he actually died falling down the hidden staircase,]]) Grandpa installs Steve's heart to replace Herman's failing one. Herman then takes Steve's place as an [[ScoutOut Explorer Scout]] leader, the only type of socializing Steve did after his wife died.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'':
** In the first season, flashbacks reveal Snow White willingly lost her memories of Prince Charming and the effect [[TookALevelInJerkass began to darken her personality]]. Because of this she ultimately decides to kill Regina since she's responsible for her misery. Prince Charming eventually learns that if she succeeds, she'll [[CorruptTheCutie become as corrupted as Regina]] and sets out to both stop her and restore her memories of him.
** In season 2, [[spoiler:Snow actually goes through with it when she tricks Regina into killing her even more evil mother Cora. When Regina pulls out her heart to take revenge, she sees there's now a black mark on it and ''puts it back'', wanting to see Snow continue down this path until she becomes evil herself]].
* Justified in the 2006 ''Series/RobinHood'' series: Prince John promised that if Robin kills the Sheriff, then John will kill all the Peasants in Nottingham.
* In ''Series/RobinOfSherwood'', Robin says they can't kill Gisbourne while they hold him captive, because then they'll be just like him. The notably less idealistic Will Scarlet retorts "Who says we're not?"
* In ''Series/TheShield'', Vic Mackey regularly breaks the law to catch criminals. One could argue that he's better than the criminals, because he's breaking the law to keep his precinct safe. But then Internal Affairs lieutenant Kavanaugh develops a vendetta against him, and resorts to breaking the law to bring him down. So... he becomes a corrupt cop to bring down a corrupt cop. One of the most justified examples of "You will be no better than him", since if you think that breaking the law to catch a criminal is acceptable, then Vic should be allowed to do his thing. And if you think that it's not acceptable, then Kavanaugh's actions are not justified.\\\
Of course, Vic Mackey doesn't just bend the rules to get results. He pulls heists to enrich himself (such as the Armenian money train) and even murdered a fellow detective just to protect himself and his questionable methods (which Kavanaugh seeks to prove). He goes out of his way to antagonize Kavanaugh (such as sleeping with his mentally ill ex-wife and bragging about it to him). Kavanaugh may have crossed the line in "framing a guilty man" and ultimately paid with his career and freedom for his transgressions, but he avoided the MoralEventHorizon. Mackey crossed it in the pilot episode with no regrets.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'':
** Said word for word in "Fragile" by Clark to convince a second generation meteor freak not to kill her similarly-powered father.
** One of the only times Clark has intentionally killed an opponent was when he faced the alien warrior, Titan. Clark reflects that, for a moment, he actually ''enjoyed'' it. He also clearly killed Brainiac ([[JokerImmunity or tried to]]), rationalizing that [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman machines aren't alive]].
** In a different twist, Chloe tries to convince Clark that Lex is a big threat and Clark can't just let him walk away. Clark asks if this means he must kill and says that it would make him [[NotSoDifferentRemark just like Lex]].
** A postmortem version. Clark says something like this after he finds out that Oliver killed [[spoiler:Lex Luthor]].
* In an episode of ''Series/StargateSG1'', Daniel Jackson and Captain Samantha Carter come across a vat of young Goa'uld symbiotes, Daniel is about to shoot it when Captain Carter says that if he does he will be as bad as the Goa'uld. They begin to walk away but then Daniel suddenly turns and fires at the vat anyway, killing the symbiotes.
** Subverted in ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Shephard and Michael fight on the roof-tops. Michael hangs from the roof by his fingernails. Earlier in the episode, Michael had threatened Teyla's baby. Teyla stamps on one hand and then the other; Michael falls to his doom. Mom morality pwns Hollywood morality.
** This is part of the philosophy of the Ancients in ''Series/StargateSG1''. They believe in the free will of every being and even though they have the power to eliminate every threat in the galaxy, they still don't do it. This, however, is taken to such an extreme that one can only declare them [[NeglectfulPrecursors guilty]].
*** Then again, later seasons reveal the existence of the Ancients' evil counterparts, the Ori. A rival group of ascended beings who are more than happy to maintain complete control within their galaxy by enslaving ''everyone''. The Ancients were actually exiled by them because of this difference in philosophy, so it makes sense the Ancients themselves would be really worried about slipping down the slope if they start interfering and solving mortals' problems. They ''do'' prevent the Ori from acting directly in our galaxy, but the Ori's followers are free-willed (if misled) mortals, so the Ancients don't do anything to stop them.
*** The slight flaw in this argument is that many of the "threats" arise from leftover Ancient technology strewn all over the galaxy, thus providing countless opportunities for younger species to advance their technology far ahead of their morality. If the Ancients had bothered to clean up after themselves, their hands-off policy would be more laudable.
* ''Series/{{Supergirl 2015}}'': After Agent Liberty tortures a woman to death [[FantasticRacism for being an alien]], her (human) boyfriend decides to [[PayEvilUntoEvil torture Agent Liberty to death]]. Supergirl tries to talk him down, but he's not interested.
--> '''Supergirl:''' If you kill him, what does that make you?\\
'''Manchester:''' The intolerant Left.
* In ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' franchise, this trope has not only been belabored to death, it's been resurrected and kept in a shipping container to be brought out every other episode, even though it smells worse than a four year-old walker by now.
* This is why ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' insists on Tesla stun-guns and bronzing. As Artie puts it, killing "taints your soul."

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* This is very much true in UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}. Even in the earliest books of the Old Testament, personally carrying out revenge by death is outright forbidden. In fact, not paying evil unto evil, but rather with forgiveness, is a fundamental aspect of Biblical Christianity.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/NightfallSeries'': [[spoiler: Myra has a chance to kill Prince Vladimir, but in a very dishonorable way that would destroy her humanity. Different from most examples because the war is not over and killing the Prince would make a difference]].
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':
** When the war ends, Jake refuses to kill Visser One. Tobias, enraged, demands to know why, claiming that Visser One was the one responsible for the entire war. Jake replies quietly that they "don't kill prisoners."
** The Visser immediately mocks his hypocrisy; Jake has just killed seventeen thousand unarmed, helpless Yeerks. Not to mention he and the others had blown up the shopping mall to take out the Yeerk pool beneath it, which killed thousands of unhosted Yeerks and hundreds of innocent people.
** Rachel is about to kill Tobias' captor Taylor, but Tobias urges her: "Be Rachel. Not her."
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', Harry stops [[spoiler:Sirius Black and Remus Lupin]] from killing [[spoiler:Peter Pettigrew]], who had betrayed Harry's parents' whereabouts to Voldemort, because he was sure his father wouldn't have wanted his old friends to become murderers, even in revenge for his own death. Notably, however, he didn't regard this as any kind of mercy for [[spoiler:Pettigrew]]'s sake, and was happy for him to go to [[CruelMercy Azkaban prison]]. [[spoiler: Sadly, unforeseen circumstances interfere and Pettigrew escapes with ultimately disastrous long-term consequences, though the 'mercy' itself has slightly more positive results.]]
* A variation is used in book two of ''Literature/TheBartimaeusTrilogy'': TrueNeutral (or [[NobleDemon so he claims]]) djinni Bartimaeus persuades [[spoiler:Kitty]] to save [[spoiler:Nathaniel]] by hinting that, 'If you let him die, you'll be just like ''me''.'
* Used in ''Literature/{{Komarr}}'' by Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold. Komarran terrorists are about to activate their new weapon, [[spoiler:which they think will lead to a bloodless coup, but which will actually blow up the space station it's positioned on,]] in revenge for the Barrayan massacre of Komarran hostages a generation ago. When the army closes in, they threaten to murder their hostages, [[spoiler:Ekaterin Vorsoisson and Aunt Vorthys,]] if Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan doesn't order the army to back off. Miles tells them, "Please observe that you have now gone as far as you can without turning yourselves into a perfect replica of the enemy you set out to oppose." [[spoiler:The terrorists surrender, but partially because Ekaterin had already destroyed their device.]]
* In Literature/TheDresdenFiles universe, the highly addictive nature of black magic means the White Council enforces this for any type of magical killing of a human. So, someone who uses black magic to kill a human, even if that human was a black-magic murderer themselves, will almost always [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jump off the slippery slope]] and become a serial murderer themselves.
** It's worth noting that this applies specifically to using ''magic'' to kill. The Council couldn't care less about a wizard using mundane means like, say, a ''gun'' to do the same and is itself altogether too fond of enforcing its own death penalties for breaking the Laws of Magic (typically by beheading) even at the first offense for Harry's comfort. This is because any magic which breaks said Laws results in TheCorruption, which is permanent and cannot be removed. We get to see it first hand several times, and it is never pretty. [[spoiler: The White Council also possesses a magical artifact known as the Black Staff, which prevents said corruption. They use it liberally.]]
** In ''Literature/FoolMoon'' there's an aversion: When Tera West hears this line she replies, "No I won't. I'll be alive, and he'll be dead." It's likely intended as one hint among several that, unlike [[spoiler:all the other werewolves in the book]], she's actually [[spoiler:a wolf who can take ''human'' form]].
** It also pops up in short story ''The Warrior,'' where Michael has a SwordOverHead moment with the man who [[spoiler:kidnapped and nearly blew up one of his daughters]]. Harry talks Michael down, saying he's already beaten and harmless, that's not who he is and if the man ''really'' has to die, to let Harry do it.
* Literature/{{Discworld}}:
** ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'' implies that Sam Vimes believes something like this. He's all right with killing someone by accident, but a pre-meditated killing leaves him deeply troubled. In the next City Watch book, ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'', the ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' parallel is even more explicit, as he's now shown to be perfectly willing to kill other people intentionally when he's in the middle of a pitched battle.
** In ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'', he has no choice but to kill [[BigBad Wolfgang]] but refuses to deliver any of the {{Bond One Liner}}s that came into his head because he feared becoming what Wolfgang was.
* Another Terry Pratchett book, ''Literature/{{Nation}}'', has this discussed as a theme, though the focus is more on the ''thinking'' like the villain, than the actual act of killing. First Mate Cox is cruel and evil, enjoying killing simply for the joy of it. When he mutinied against TheGoodCaptain, said captain nearly fell for this trope. Later, Mau is afraid of thinking like him, but decides that any hunter must think like their prey, yet does not turn into it.
* The Bandakarians in the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' book ''Naked Empire'' believe something akin to this in relation to ''all'' killing. [[WhatAnIdiot Including that in battle.]]
* Subverted in ''Literature/ShadowOfTheGiant'', when Bean grabs [[MadScientist Volescu]], a man who tried to redesign the human race by [[spoiler:replacing them with people like Bean: super-smart but doomed to die by age twenty or so, and also is directly responsible for Bean being like that]], by the throat and threatens to kill him:
-->'''Petra:''' Please don't kill him, Bean. Please.\\
'''Bean:''' Remind me why.\\
'''Petra:''' Because we're good people.\\
'''Volescu:''' ''[laughs]'' You live by murder. How many people have you both killed? And if we add in all the Buggers you slaughtered out in space...\\
'''Petra:''' Ok, go ahead and kill him.
** [[spoiler:They end up not killing him in the end, if for no other reason than he has information they need.]]
* In book ten of ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', with Sunny captured by Olaf and one of his top goons heading towards them, the kids decide to set a trap to gain a hostage of their own to possibly trade for their sister. But before they do it, they have an epiphany: if they capture this woman, it will make them evil like Olaf, so they surrender to her and she takes them to Olaf. And these kids are supposed to be the smart ones in a world of [[AdultsAreUseless useless adults]].
* Franchise/StarWarsLegends:
** Unintentionally invoked by the [[EliteMooks Dark Jedi]] [[AntiVillain Yun]] after he's defeated by Kyle Katarn in the novelization of the PC game ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Knight]]''. After Kyle disables Yun's sword arm, the younger man spits [[DefiantToTheEnd "So, kill me, Rebel, just as I would kill you!"]] Kyle is about to, when he realizes that he doesn't ''want'' to do what Yun would. He doesn't want to be the kind of man who would kill without reason, and Yun is no longer a threat. This act of mercy also starts Yun on the path to his HeelFaceTurn ([[spoiler:and, unfortunately, RedemptionEqualsDeath]]).
** Obi-Wan's dilemma towards the end of ''Literature/StarWarsKenobi''. Let [[spoiler:Orrin Gault]] go free and he'll tell the entire galaxy that there's a Jedi hiding on Tatooine, but killing him just to keep him silent isn't in his nature either--it's "something you would do." He eventually [[TakeAThirdOption takes a third option]].
* In Literature/ThePendragonAdventure, it's brought up several times by characters that Bobby, as leader, shouldn't become a killer. You'd think it was the usual argument about morals, and being just like [[BigBad Saint Dane]], and it partially is, but [[spoiler: in the second to last book, when Bobby, blinded with rage, pushes Naymeer out of the helicopter, it's revealed that him [[NiceJobBreakingItHero taking a life was the final step needed for Saint Dane to take over all of Halla, which is everything that does and ever will exist]]]].
* Played with in ''Literature/StarTrekTheGenesisWave''. The Bolian colonists on Myrmidon have seen their planet terraformed into an uninhabitable jungle by the [[PlantAliens Lomarians]]. When they fight the Lomarians by setting the jungle alight, becoming frenzied and desperate, Mr. Mot sadly reflects that they've sunk to the level of the enemy; single-mindedly destroying an entire environment and those who call it home. However, while he acknowledges that his people are indeed "just like" the Lomarians, and is saddened by it, he doesn't actually condemn them or say they were wrong; at least in this case, becoming "just like him" is seen as a sad necessity.
* Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt: Drizzt Do'Urden has been in a position of wondering whether to spare his ArchEnemy Artemis Entreri, considering leaving him alive also as potentially unethical because he's just going to kill more innocents if he lives. Not that it matters much what he decides, as Entreri has JokerImmunity. Drizzt also used to be determined never to kill his fellow drow, because [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder that's what they always did to each other]] and [[DefectorFromDecadence that was what he didn't want to become like]]. Once they catch up to him in his new life and start attacking, though, he quickly stops angsting over that because it would be stupid. Basically, he realises it's not this trope when it's self-defence.
* In Creator/SarahAHoyt's ''Literature/DarkshipThieves'', Thena wants to kill [[spoiler:her father]], both for justice and because [[spoiler: he wants to transplant his brain to her body. She fails. Kit points out that it proves being his clone didn't make her like him]].
* In ''Literature/VenissUnderground'', Nicola invokes this when pleading for Salvador not to kill her:
-->'''Nicola:''' Do you want to be as cruel as those ''humans'' in your holograph show? To be no better than the worst of what we are?
* In ''Literature/TheGolgothaSeries'', a recurring theme of ''The Shotgun Arcana'' is heroes having villains at their mercy but choosing not to kill them because, as heroes, they have to hold themselves to a higher moral standard.
* In ''Literature/ChanceAndChoicesAdventures'', the bandit Gus has attacked the heroes countless times, burned down their farm, was finally captured and is being transported to Little Rock for trial when he attacks again and tries to strangle Ann with a chain. Noah stops the attack and tries to strangle Gus back, only to be stopped by Sheriff Smitty who insists that everyone deserves a trial and even completely evil people can't just be executed out of rage.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
** In ''Forest of Secrets'', when the other Clans demand to know why [=ThunderClan=] is sheltering the evil Brokenstar, Bluestar explains that killing a blind, defeated cat (or leaving him to die in the forest) would make them just as bad as Brokenstar himself was.
** In ''Veil of Shadows'', the rebels discuss whether to kill the impostor-Bramblestar; Bristlefrost points out that if they do that, they'll be no better than he is.
[[/folder]]

* [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim Films — Live-Action]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* At the climax of ''Film/{{Blindspotting}}'', Collins holds [[spoiler:the killer cop]] at gunpoint, [[spoiler:struggling with whether to kill the man who shot an innocent and still haunts him. He ultimately tells the cop a version of this and walks out, unsatisfied]].
* In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'': Palpatine invokes this trope in regards to Luke vs Darth Vader. "Your hate has made you powerful. Now, fulfill your destiny and take your father's place at my side." Luke takes note of what he has just done (cut off his father's hand), looks down at his own robotic hand, and realizes that he is well on his way to doing just that. Then he throws away his lightsaber.
-->'''Luke''': Never. I'll never turn to the darkside.
** It's not specifically ''killing'' that Jedi must avoid (though they certainly ''prefer'' non-lethal options whenever possible). Jedi can and do kill when there's no other option, and Luke had certainly killed before. It's killing ''out of hatred'' that leads a Force-sensitive to the Dark Side. And since the Dark Side is [[TheCorruption highly addictive]], once a Jedi turns down that path it's very difficult for them to turn back. Luke was [[ThePowerOfHate consumed by rage]] when he overpowered Vader and was on the verge of killing him, so going through with the act would've corrupted him to the point that Palpatine might well have been able to convert him into a new Sith Lord.
%%* ''Series/KnightRider 2000''.
* The final battle of ''Film/MagnificentWarriors'' concludes with the Japanese forces occupying the rural town of Kaal defeated, with their leader, General Toga, being the invaders' SoleSurvivor. One of the town soldiers who earlier on witnessed his mother being killed by General Toga tries to bayonet the general, but the heroine Ming stops him, name-dropping this trope and saying "they're better than the invaders".
* Subverted in ''Film/RushHour2''. Lee has Ricky Tan, the BigBad at gunpoint, when [[WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied Ricky starts taunting him]], and Lee's partner Carter tells him, "He's trying to trick you, don't go too far." That is until Ricky says Lee's father was "pathetic," at which point Carter changes his tune to "[[KillHimAlready Shoot his ass!]]"
* ''Film/{{Spectre}}'': After the FinalBattle, defeated BigBad Franz Oberhauser/[[spoiler:Ernst Stavro Blofeld]] attempts invoking this and the StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred tropes on Film/JamesBond, wanting to see if he’ll take the bait and stoop to his level. [[spoiler:Bond hesitates, but ultimately decides not to and instead has him arrested, feeling that it’s NotWorthKilling Blofeld in revenge and sink to his level, and murdering him would still not [[VengeanceFeelsEmpty give him the satisfaction]] or bring him back the allies and friends he lost over the years. It also [[EvilCannotComprehendGood leaves Blofeld confused at Bond’s rationale to spare him despite being behind all the tragedies Bond suffered over the years.]]]]
* Rather bafflingly employed in the finale of ''Film/RoadHouse'': Creator/PatrickSwayze is unable to kill the evil crime lord, [[WhatMeasureIsAMook despite having killed his henchmen in hilariously violent ways (ripping out throats, etc.) just moments earlier.]] Then the [[TheCavalry townsfolk that the crime lord had previously bullied show up and blast him with shotguns anyway]]. ... Hooray?
* While it isn't a villain, this trope is basically what stops Sarah Connor from killing Miles Dyson in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''. She sees in that moment that if he kills ''him'', she'll be just like the other Terminator who tried to kill her to change the future. Indeed, up until the point where she's right up close to Miles with a gun to his head, Sarah is acting ''scarily'' like a Terminator herself during the scene, coldly and mechanically attempting to blow him away [[DissonantSerenity with a complete lack of emotion]].
* Played straight in the finale of ''Film/PrinceCaspian''. Caspian decides at the last moment not to kill Miraz in an arranged duel, even though he's fully prepared to hack-and-slash his way through Miraz's army a few moments later, had no trouble chopping up bad guys at the castle a few nights before, and could probably fill a book with unassailable reasons that necessitate Miraz's death.
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
** Played dead straight in ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'', by Logan's squeeze Kayla, in regards to him killing off Sabretooth and/or Stryker. Two men, who have been rounding up mutants like cattle, are effectively above the law, and ''will'' most likely continue to hunt Logan down as long as he lives. All of which could be solved by a little extra stabbing...
** Played even straighter in ''Film/XMenFirstClass'', where [[spoiler:Magneto kills Shaw and becomes the new face of mutant supremacism]].
** Subverted to hell and gone in ''Film/Deadpool2016''. Colossus ''begins'' to give Wade one of these speeches. Wade and Francis share a [[ContemptCrossfire "this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard"]] look despite the fact that Colossus' speech is the only thing keeping the latter alive at the moment. Wade gets bored and shoots Francis in the head.
** Played dead straight in ''Film/Deadpool2'', where this trope taking effect creates a serial killer and so preventing the initial killing of the villain becomes a major goal.
* Subverted in ''Film/{{Darkman}}'''s climax, when Darkman is holding the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive villain Strack]] by one leg [[RooftopConfrontation over the building scaffolding]].
-->'''Strack:''' Go ahead, do it, do it, Westlake! But think of this: you let me die, and you become as bad as me—worse! [[ExploitedTrope Haha, you can’t. I know you too well. Dropping me—it’s not really an option for you.]] [[WrongGenreSavvy It’s not something you could live with;]]\\
''[Darkman closes his eyes, lets him go]''\\
'''Darkman:''' [[BondOneLiner I’m learning to live with a lot of things.]]
* Done mind-bogglingly badly in ''[[Film/TheBladeMaster Cave Dwellers]]''. As Ator is about to kill the villain, his old mentor declares that to kill him would be murder, and that "It would make us no better than the barbarians!" ([[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Tom Servo]] points out, "We ''are'' barbarians!") Ator drops his sword, turns around... and is only saved from a BackStab by his Asian sidekick nailing the villain with a throwing knife.
-->'''Joel:''' ''[as Ator]'' Then why the heck did I hang-glide in here, anyway? [[note]] ''Don't'' ask about the hang-glider.[[/note]]
* Subverted in ''Film/{{Train}}''. When the head of the organ harvesters who've killed most of the protagonists is at the mercy of the FinalGirl, she tries this.
-->'''Dr. Velislava:''' You do this, you are exactly like us.\\
'''Alex:''' Maybe I am. ''[proceeds to beat Velislava up and then burn her to death]''
* Played straight in ''Film/{{Mannequin}} 2: On the Move''. The Prince has the Count by the throat, dangling over the edge of a hot-air balloon basket, high above the streets of Philadelphia. He decides that he can't kill the Evil Count. Of course, as soon as lets the Count back in the basket, the Count reminds us that he has no hesitations about killing others.
* At the end of ''Film/TheSaint2017'', Simon finally catches his parents' assassin but cannot go through with killing him and instead has him arrested.
* ''Film/BatmanBegins'':
** Invoked in when Bruce Wayne (not yet Batman), refuses to kill a criminal as part of his training.
--->'''Henri Ducard:''' Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share.\\
'''Bruce Wayne:''' That's why it's so important. It separates us from them.
** During the climax of the film, after Batman defeats Ra's al Ghul, he doesn't kill him because that would give Ra's the final victory, but finds a loophole. Since they are on a train that's going to crash...
--->'''Batman:''' I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you.
* Both [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings the film]] and [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings book]] versions of ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy have this regarding trying to use the Ring. Film Galadriel puts the most [[OneWingedAngel dramatic]] point on it. Unlike most of the characters who want to claim it, she's probably not deluding herself about her ability to do so, but it all still ends with Middle Earth under the rule of a [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen "dark"]] overlord.
* ''Film/SuspectZero'': The film's antagonist O'Ryan ultimately wishes to drive FBI Agent Mackelway to kill him, in an effort to force Mackelway down the path to taking over his mission as a [[spoiler: SerialKillerKiller]].
* This trope is delivered word for word by Morgan Freeman's character in the end of ''[[Film/DannyTheDog Unleashed]]''.
* Spoken almost word for word by the {{Love Interest|s}} to Latif in ''Film/TheDevilsDouble.''
* In the first ''Film/LethalWeapon'' movie, Riggs and Joshua fight on Murtaugh's front lawn. Just as Riggs has Joshua in a killing pose, he stops, saying Joshua isn't worth it. As two uniformed officers are taking Joshua into custody, he grabs a gun and starts taking aim at Riggs. Murtaugh and Riggs both open fire on him, justifiable defense.
* In ''Film/ScannersIITheNewOrder'', this seems to be the reason why David doesn't kill Forrester at the end and to make it clear to the public that scanners are not a threat to them.
* Played with in ''Film/BestSeller'', where the protagonist doesn't kill the BigBad not to show he's better than him, but that he's better than the [[PsychoSidekick sociopathic hitman with whom he's teamed]].
* Shere Khan from ''Film/TheJungleBook2016'' exploits this by telling Mowgli to fight him with the torch he's carrying (like his father did) so he can be like man. Mowgli defies him by throwing the torch into the water behind him... [[XanatosGambit but that's what Shere Khan wanted]]: to leave Mowgli with no weapons to fight with.
* In ''Film/MississippiBurning'', Ward warns Anderson to not go after Clinton Pell who just beat the hell out of his wife for ratting out the location of the bodies.
-->'''Ward''': I'm telling you to stop. We're not killers. The difference between them and us.
* In ''Film/OpenRange'', after the first half of the climax, [[CoolOldGuy Boss]] has to stop [[TheGunslinger Charlie]] from executing a heavily injured henchmen in cold blood, saying that if he goes through with that, he's no better than the ProfessionalKiller who murdered their friend at the beginning of the movie.
* ''Film/HannieCaulder'': This is basically what Price implies when he warns Hannie that taking revenge will change her forever, and Hannie's reaction after he finishes the Clemens brothers implies that he was right.
-->'''Thomas Price:''' Win or lose, you lose, Hannie Caulder.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Hugely averted in ''Comicbook/TheAstoundingWolfMan'' where Gary sets out to kill [[spoiler:Zechariah]] for what the latter did to his life. When Gary finally gets the chance he takes it.
* This is why Franchise/{{Batman}} does not kill criminals.
** This is invoked maybe half the times he goes up against ComicBook/TheJoker. The comic book series also highlights [[TheFarmerAndTheViper the cost of Batman's decision]]: Joker's victims are estimated in the ''thousands'', all of whom Batman is indirectly responsible for. Of course, it's debatable whether Batman is the one truly at fault, as opposed to Gotham's criminally negligent penal system.
** Seen in the CrisisCrossover ''Comicbook/InfiniteCrisis'', when he very nearly blows the head off of Lex Luthor's AlternateUniverse doppelganger and (of course) relents. 15 years ago, he nearly did the same to NinetiesAntiHero The Reaper.
** In ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'', Dick Grayson (Comicbook/{{Nightwing}}), and Tim Drake (Robin), come upon Bruce Wayne just as he has apparently killed the {{mook|s}} who was attacking him. An outraged Nightwing declares: "killing this creep doesn't make you as bad as the slime we used to fight, it makes you ''worse'', because THEY never stood for anything!" [[spoiler:Of course, it turns out Bruce had used a move that makes the victim ''[[NotQuiteDead appear]]'' to be dead for a little while.]].
** In ''Under the Red Hood'', Batman openly admits that he fantasizes about killing the Joker ''every single day'', but won't because he believes that if he starts killing, he won't be able to stop. Used to justify [[JokerImmunity why he hasn't taken out the Joker]] at the very least, given how the latter is utterly beyond redemption and has racked up a ridiculously substantial body count. But if it's okay for Batman to kill someone, it might be okay for Batman to kill ''anyone''.
** In ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'', the Joker pokes fun at this idea. Even he believes that Batman probably could kill the Joker without becoming anything like him. He taunts Batman and asks him what is the ''real'' reason Batman won't kill him. [[spoiler:It's because Batman has a similar "delusion" as the Joker that his life follows a theory of narrative causality. Killing the Joker would simply force Gotham to send someone worse to challenge Batman.]]
** ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' complicates things; [[spoiler: when Batman has a chance to sit on Metron's seat, granting him near omniscience, he asks the chair ''who is'' the Joker. Several issues and months later, Batman reveals to Hal Jordan what he learned: There is not one, but ''three'' Jokers]].
** In at least one case this is a literal trope with Batman and Joker: One of the alternate Batmen [[ComicBook/DarkNightsMetal from the Dark Multiverse]] killed his Joker. The moment he did so, Joker's heart released a special Joker Toxin that turns whoever kills him into the new Joker. Hence the Batman who Laughs, and a very good reason to not have Batman kill the Joker.
* Subverted in ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' #73, when Comicbook/{{Vixen}} thanks ComicBook/{{Huntress}} for "not giving in" and executing evil cult-leader Sovereign Brusaw, to which Huntress replies "Don't thank me... The truth is, my crossbow jammed."
* Played straight at the end of ''Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood'', when ComicBook/TheQuestion begs Huntress not to kill Santo Casamento; [[spoiler:she does it anyway]].
* Kremlin references the trope in ''ComicBook/ExMachina'' Special #2 and states how he thinks such is an out of date, fairy tale ideal.
* Averted/Played with in ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo'' when [[spoiler: A now elderly Skorzeny informs him that he was the one that killed Nikola Tesla, Robo's creator, during WWII, and he did it to steal the man's inventions to use against Robo, who was at the time serving in the US Army. Robo picks up a gun, aims... and then puts the gun away, informs the Nazi that he knows he's dying of cancer, and that he won't be dying like a soldier, instead dying alone, in a hospital bed, in agony]].
* In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'' Comicbook/{{Batgirl}} gives Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} the speech when the latter wants to kill Lex Luthor. She even says: “Don't drop to his level, Kara”.
-->'''ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}:''' Stop. I need him alive.\\
'''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}:''' But why?\\
'''Batgirl:''' Because… Because he has to suffer for his crimes! And because you — you're better than vengeance! You're… Hope. If you let him change that… If you let him bring you down… Then he really has destroyed the last child of Krypton.
* Franchise/{{Superman}}:
** Superman's long lived in fear of sliding down this slippery slope, and, in the Silver Age AlternateContinuity story ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow'', it comes to pass when Superman, in order to save himself, his remaining friends, the world and possibly the entire universe, is forced to deliberately kill the villainous [[spoiler: Mr. Mxyzptlk]]. While everyone else tries to convince him that his decision was clearly justified, he refuses to take the risk, cites this very reasoning as a condemnation of his actions, and so carries out a promise that if he should ever take a life, it would be the end of Superman. [[spoiler: As it turns out, he fulfills his promise by stripping himself of his powers and living the rest of his life as an anonymous human, which actually gives him a [[IJustWantToBeNormal happy ending]] after all.]]
** Averted in one post-Crisis arc when Superman is brought to an alternate universe where three Kryptonians, each more powerful than he is, released from the Phantom Zone end up killing all life on Earth. When they promise to find their way to Superman's universe and do the same thing, he feels he has no choice except, as the representative of justice on the planet, to execute them through kryptonite exposure. When he gets back home the next story arc has him suffering a HeroicBSOD as he deals with the choice he made. As he explains to the alien Cleric near the end of his self-imposed exile, he comes to realize he ''didn't'' have a choice: he wanted to TakeAThirdOption, but realized that no court on Earth would even try them and even if he could have, they would have broken free and destroyed that Earth as well.
* Franchise/SpiderMan does it often.
** In Comicbook/TheNightGwenStacyDied, enraged over the Goblin killing Gwen, Spider-Man nearly beats him to death, but recoils because of this trope.
** Peter uses that argument while arguing with [[Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}} Clint Barton]] and the rest of the ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' that thinks about killing ComicBook/NormanOsborn, and not so long ago stopped [[spoiler: Harry Osborn]] from killing his old man by saying, that if he'll do it, he will become exactly that kind of man his father always wanted him to be.
** Peter got one at the end of the Grim Hunt story, where he's shown a vision of the future if he kills [[spoiler: the just-resurrected Kraven the Hunter]]. The reaction of the fandom was... [[MisaimedFandom unexpected]], as the two page spread that encompassed the vision not only showed Peter apparently becoming a complete and utter badass, but featured the fan-favorite "Happy Birthday" costume. Cue the fans shouting "Kill the guy!" at their comic books.
** In ''ComicBook/SpiderManNoir'', this gets played interestingly because Spidey gets this lecture from Aunt May (who doesn't know his true identity) ''after'' he's already killed the Vulture - even though he was going to kill and eat her and she knew he did the same to her husband! During the lecture, Peter thinks to himself that she doesn't understand... but after she says she doesn't want to live in a world where men kill each other like animals, he realizes ''he'''s the one who didn't understand. He tries to live up to her expectations when he raids the Goblin's torture house, where he doesn't kill any of the Goblin's men except Kraven, and only in self-defense. He even refuses to kill the Goblin when given the chance, because he wants to see him properly brought to justice.
* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}:
** Wolverine regularly tells younger, softer, less inclined characters to back off or stay outside before going in to finish off the bad guys. Normally, he states in some manner that only people who are going to do "what needs to be done" should go in. This is actually one of the reasons Wolverine is even included on some of the teams he's been on. For example during ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet affair ComicBook/NickFury explicitly states this is the reason for his inclusion "... because when it comes down to it, none of you are killers. He is." The same reason applies for why Fury brought the ComicBook/IncredibleHulk in as well.
** Played straight in one issue of Wolverine's self-titled comic, when confronting Reno and Molokai, hitmen who had murdered Jubilee's parents. ComicBook/JubileeMarvelComics settles for a GroinAttack on both of them.
---> '''Wolverine''': Heck, they killed your parents. It's a good killin', ain't it? Ain't it?\\
'''Jubilee''': You kill people! You've killed so many, and...\\
'''Wolverine''': Yeah. You wanna sit up some night with me and talk to all of 'em?
** Wolverine inverted the usual technique once when he defeated his old teacher, the {{ninja}} Ogun, held him helpless, and called on Comicbook/KittyPryde to avenge herself on the man who kidnapped her, brainwashed her into nearly killing Wolverine, and tried to over-write her mind with a duplicate of his own. She grabbed a sword, charged, but in the end could not go through with what boiled down to outright murder... proving to all present that her soul remained her own.
--->'''Kitty''': It was very close. I wanted to so much -- Logan, what if I had...?!\\
'''Wolverine''': *wordlessly [[ShootTheDog retracts his claws]]*
* In a later issue of ''ComicBook/GenerationX'', Jubilee learns that the grandfather of one of her classmates ordered the killing of her parents, and goes after him. The rest of the team go after her, prepared to cite this trope at her, when they discover that she never intended to kill the guy.
--> '''Synch''': We were afraid that, hanging with Wolverine, you would have wanted to...\\
'''Jubilee''': You guys don't get it, do you? It's '''because''' of Wolverine that I won't kill.
* Everyone's favorite many angled one, Shuma-Gorath, is immortal for this very reason -- anyone who kills him will start to become a new Shuma-Gorath (unless they have a similar level of immortality). Comicbook/DoctorStrange took his own life rather than allow that to happen, which ''still'' didn't work. Fortunately an ally was able to purge Shuma's energies from Strange and bring him back.
* Lampshaded during ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'', when Miek kills the Imperial Headman who murdered his father in front of him, in view of the man's own children. The Headman notes that Miek is now just like him.
* The subject doesn't come up much in ''ComicBook/SinCity'', although the series makes no qualms about presenting its {{Antihero}}es as batshit insane in some cases.
* In Denny O'Neill's ComicBook/TheQuestion, Vic Sage finally takes down the first arc's BigBad, the corrupt Reverend Hatch, and explicitly invokes this Trope. "I could kill you... but then I'd be something just like you. Something ''vile''. So I won't." He turns his back and walks away... Hatch draws a concealed weapon... and then Myra shoots Hatch in the back. "Maybe he wouldn't... but ''I'' will."
* Played with in issue #20 of IDW's ''ComicBook/TransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye''. Ratchet tries to give this speech to First Aid when the latter wants to go track down and kill one of the arc's villains, but the latter ain't buying it.
-->'''Ratchet:''' '''No.''' If we kill him, we're no better than him. If we kill him, he wins.\\
'''First Aid:''' Yeah, except—we '''are''' better than him and he '''doesn't''' win. He doesn't '''anything'''. He's '''dead'''. That's the point.
* In ''ComicBook/UncannyAvengers'' ComicBook/{{Magneto}} kills the ComicBook/RedSkull, and ComicBook/{{Rogue}} responded by declaring that he's 'just like him'. For reference, Magneto is a mutant who survived the Holocaust, and recently lost his best friend, [[ComicBook/ProfessorX Charles Xavier]]. Red Skull is a Nazi who not only took part in the Holocaust, but has set up a ''new'' series of Concentration Camps for mutants and [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Inhumans]] on the grounds of Genosha, the sovereign nation Magneto previously controlled that was a safe-haven for mutants, and is keeping things in control using the ''stolen brain of Charles Xavier''. He also had Magneto tortured for god-knows how long [[note]] during which he had used MindRape to ruin every important memory Magneto had by implanting the memory of Hitzig, the Nazi general responsible for the worst times Magneto suffered during the Holocaust, into them[[/note]]. And, when he was briefly ''not'' attacking him, Red Skull began throwing taunts at him about how Xavier never cared about him and generally egging him on until Magneto crushed his head under a large rock. And yet, Rogue believes Magneto is ''just as bad as the Red Skull'' because he chose to kill him here. [[{{Hypocrite}} This is after, mind,]] Rogue had tried to kill [[ComicBook/ScarletWitch Wanda]] (and would have succeeded if not for TimeTravel) in a premeditated attack, and previously killed the Grim Reaper (albeit accidentally), while their team includes Wolverine (who has killed countless people, including his own son, and doesn't feel any guilt for them), [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] (who recently killed one of the {{Big Bad}}s of the book), ComicBook/CaptainAmerica (who while he doesn't go out to kill, ''has'' killed in the past and previously fought in war, and is indirectly responsible for Red Skull's last death), and Scarlet Witch (who is not only directly responsible for the death of three Avengers ([[DeathIsCheap who all, fortunately, came back by this point]], but still), but also responsible for the mutant Decimation, and thus indirectly responsible for all the depowered mutants who died as a result).
* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': Dredd accompanies academy trainee Cadet Giant on a mission to catch his mother's killer, a member of a group of [[SnuffFilm VI-Zine]] dealers. He convinces the boy to arrest the perp instead of executing him by arguing that it would mean Giant's expulsion and lower him to the criminal's level. If a Judge kills (and they very often do), it's supposed purely professional and not for personal vengeance.
* ComicBook/UltimateMarvel:
** ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'':
*** Jean says this to Wolverine when he's about to kill Wraith, the colonel from Weapon X who tortured him, if only because a Mutant killing a human will prove everything the media says about Mutants is right. Wolverine doesn't care, so she saves Wraith herself (though she does take the time to tell Wraith not to even think about thanking her). In the next arc, Wraith returns and abducts all the X-Men, Jean included.
*** Jean doesn't approve killing the soldiers of Weapon X, even after the torture they put the X-Men through.
** ''ComicBook/UltimateDaredevilAndElektra'': Elektra threatens Trey, and leaves. She doesn't scare him. Rather, she prompts him to escalate the action.
* A variant is seen in ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}} and the Soldier of Love'', where even as Emp puts herself between the defeated MagicalGirl burnout and Ninjette's blade she understands the main issue was what could have brought her friend out of a [[LotusEaterMachine wish-fufillment induced happy-happy dreamland]] straight into a laser focused killing rage with no outside stimulus.
-->You're '''better''' than this [[YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious Kozue]]. You're better than '''[[AbusiveParents him]]'''.
[[/folder]]

!!Examples:

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/SevenSeeds'': When the Teams of Autumn, Winter, Spring and the rest of Summer A learn that [[spoiler: Ango tried to rape Hana, and Hana is currently presumed dead after being sucked into an icy river's whirlpool]], Aramaki disarms one of the guys and expresses his wish to kill him, but says right away that he won't... because if he does, he won't be any better than he.
* In ''[[Manga/BakiTheGrappler New Grappler Baki]]'', Katsumi Orochi gets beaten the hell out of him by an escaped mass murderer named Dorian. When Retsu Kaio returns the returns a beating to him, Katsumi enters the scene and soaks Dorian with gasoline and is about to torch him, when he suddenly stops and says that if set him on fire, he would cease to be a true Karateka, so he walks away. Then he goes: "Actually, that wouldn't bother me at all." Cue the BBQ/delicious subversion.
* In ''Manga/Brave10'', Isanami tries to stop Saizo from killing a defeated Kamanosuke when he has him in a SwordOverHead situation, despite the fact that Kamanosuke had beat her up, strung her up on a tree, and threatened to rape her because he thought it might make Saizo angrier. [[InLoveWithYourCarnage Kamanosuke's disappointed that Saizo listens to reason]].
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Suzaku comes within an inch of [[NearRapeExperience using drugs to interrogate Kallen]]. He only stops because he believes his final words to her, "You will follow my orders," is what Lelouch does with Geass.
* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', Ryuk tells Light that if he kills all the bad people in the world, then he himself will be the only bad person left. Light promptly deflects the suggestion and proclaims his desire to be the God of a new, perfect world.
* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'': In the climax of the first season episode "The False Kidnapping and Murder Case," Conan uses this trope to convince Akiko to let Mr. Takei live even though he financially ruined her family and drove her father to kill himself, her mother, and her little brother. As Conan points out, Mr. Takei may be a greedy bastard, but he's still the only family his daughter Naoko (the subject of the episode's titular case) has, and if Akiko kills him, she'll be doing the same thing to Naoko that he did to her. Realizing this, Akiko is moved to tears and thanks Conan for stopping her.
* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'':
** Subverted in ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad''. [[spoiler: Marcus and Shine Greymon have defeated Kurata's OneWingedAngel form, and effectively have him completely beaten and begging for mercy. Not a single one of Marcus' allies pull this trope on him, instead actually '''encouraging him to kill him!''' What avoids making this a StartOfDarkness is that Kurata '''is really''' that much of an evil bastard.]]
** Deconstructed in ''Adventure 02''. Evil Digimon are released into the human world and Yolei and Cody are horrified when their Digimon are forced to kill them. It's quickly pointed out that the evil Digimon had no problems about killing innocent people and they would have killed Yolei and Cody had their Digimon not saved them. They tried to send them back to the Digital World but no other options were available.
** Played straight in ''Anime/DigimonTamers''. [[spoiler: Jeri stops Gallantmon from landing the killing blow on Beelzemon because she knows that won't bring back her partner.]]
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** When Vegeta is finally taken down by Son Goku and his TrueCompanions, he tries to crawl back to his space pod and make his escape. Kuririn grabs Yajirobe's katana, intending to put the heavily wounded Vegeta down once and for all. But Goku stops Kuririn and asks him to let Vegeta live. In some versions of the English dub, he justifies this by telling Kuririn that killing Vegeta in cold blood will make them just as bad as he is. The original story averts this, however: Goku doesn't care about the morals of the situation, he only wants Vegeta to live so he can fight him again, even though he knows this potentially puts the Earth at tremendous risk. Goku even admits this is a selfish request.
** Goku decides not to finish off Freeza after defeating him in battle, which is an extremely hard decision for him to make. He even gives him some of his energy. However, when Freeza uses the donated energy to attack Goku one last time, Goku changes his mind and goes for the killing blow after all. Only later do we find out that Freeza survived it.
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
** Several characters attempt to keep [[spoiler:Roy from killing Envy]]. At least [[spoiler:Riza]] has no qualms about executing him and offers to [[VengeanceDenied do it in his place]], but they all agree on the ''detail'' that subjecting him to horrible torture first is taking it [[MoralEventHorizon a step too far]]. Scar adds an extra spin by pointing out that if Roy goes through with it, he'll be just like ''him''. For added nuance, the reason for this isn't because he was going to horribly torture him, since at that point it would be near impossible to hurt [[spoiler:Envy]] without killing him anyway, but because of the reasons for doing so. Roy was going to kill him for personal reasons like vengeance instead of duty, and since his goal was to become [[spoiler:leader of the country]], he simply can't afford to become the sort of person ruled by his emotions, and specially by bad ones like anger and revenge. If he does, the ''horrifying'' mental toll this whole deal is taking on Roy [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope will send him straight]] into the HeWhoFightsMonsters path.
** Earlier, when Winry discovers that Scar was the one who [[YouKilledMyFather killed her parents]], she picks up a dropped gun and is on the verge of shooting him for it. Scar states outright that [[PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou she has every right to do so]], but Ed vehemently protests against doing so, talking her down while Al chases Scar off.
--->'''Winry''': But that man... You said that he was the one who killed my mom and dad. He tried to kill you and Al too, Ed. But I couldn't... why not?\\
'''Ed''': Remember in Rush Valley? You delivered that baby, you saved two lives. And you gave me an arm, and a leg, to replace the ones I lost. It's your hands. They weren't meant to kill. They're meant to give life. That's why.
** In the ''[[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist anime version]]'', Ed spends every fight with Scar telling him that the slaughter of alchemists and Amestrian troops isn't the answer, and that he must be brought to justice for those crimes as well as [[spoiler: [[MercyKill killing Tucker's daughter]]]]. Each time, Scar shows Ed more and more horrible deeds he's avenging, which Ed always brushes aside. Eventually, upon confronting Scar in Lior when Scar's about to [[spoiler:secretly evacuate the city of civilians, lure in the Amestrian army, and kill all of them to make the Philosopher's Stone]], Scar pounds into Ed that [[spoiler:Lior was purposely sabotaged by Amestris, Amstrian troops have been brutalizing the city, alchemists are killing civilians in the streets right now, and the girl Ed thought he saved in his previous visit (standing right in front of him, unable to speak due to mental trauma) was raped and used as a tool to create even more violence,]] and that ''[[BreakThemByTalking all of it was partly Ed's fault]]''. Ed still refuses to condone what Scar is doing, but when Scar orders him to get out of Dodge [[spoiler:with the refugees]], [[HeroicBSOD Ed shuts up and meekly complies]].
* In the ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' novels, this is pretty much what Tessa tells Sousuke during the Behemoth arc, when he decides that shooting Takuma would be an effective action to take. "It would be the most logical and secure route, but we can't go about it that way," she said as though trying to convince herself. "If we were to kill him, we would be no better than them. Our organization would lose all meaning." Sousuke is slightly skeptical about this (seeing how Kalinin, his adoptive father whom he was always taking orders from, undoubtedly would have done what he was about to do), but nevertheless follows orders, seeing how he [[TheStoic doesn't really care either way]]. Of course, later on, the fact that she let Takuma live [[HonorBeforeReason led to a]] ''[[HonorBeforeReason huge]]'' [[HonorBeforeReason amount of destruction]]...
* In ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'', Mikiya doesn't want Shiki to kill [[spoiler:Lio]], despite him being a crazy cannibalistic superman, because he feels that Shiki isn't and shouldn't become a murderer. [[spoiler:At first she defers to his wishes. Then Lio stabs Mikiya in the eye, seemingly killing him. An enraged Shiki then kills him anyway. Mikiya, after he wakes up, is somewhat annoyed, but seeing that Shiki's murderous side remains under control, says that he'll get over it.]]
* The titular character in ''Anime/GingaDensetsuWeed''. So much, especially during the final episode in which [[spoiler: Weed has the chance to finally avenge his fallen comrades by killing Hougen once and for all. His father intervenes and is about to kill him when Weed pushes him out of the way, claiming that his father would be no better than Hougen if he'd killed him]]. There's quite a few examples in this series, suffice to say.
* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', the first major villain invokes this in an attempt to save his hide. As it turns out, the hero had no intention of killing him, with the implication that death was too ''good'' for him, and instead [[FateWorseThanDeath permanently merges him]] [[AndIMustScream into a rock]].
* Used in ''Manga/OmamoriHimari''. Made especially justified by the fact that the girl that Shizuku wanted to kill wasn't the man who killed her family. The girl was the ''great-granddaughter'' of the man who genocided the Mizuki race, and happened to be completely ignorant of her long-deceased ancestor's crimes.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'':
** [[spoiler: Saji Crossroad]]'s justification for not pulling the trigger on [[spoiler: Setsuna F Seiei]] in , although it remains to be seen how long he can hold on to his convictions.
** [[spoiler: Louise]] is warned that her desire to kill [[spoiler: Nena Trinity]] to [[spoiler: avenge her family's death]] will make her no better. Indeed, when she actually [[spoiler: DOES kill Nena, she becomes just as psychotic as she was. Thanks to ThePowerOfLove in the final episode, she manages to get better though]].
* ''Anime/NarutoShippuden'', has Pain saying this to Naruto, [[spoiler:and he should know, [[StartOfDarkness he's already gone down that road]]]].
* Turns up in the climax of the final episode of ''Anime/{{Noir}}''. [[spoiler: Not that that stops the protagonists from killing off Altena anyway.]]
* ''Anime/Persona4TheAnimation'': In episode 23, the Investigation Team argues about throwing Namatame into the TV World and leaving him to die, like he did to most of them and Nanako. Yu, in full TranquilFury mode, very nearly does so, but stops at the last second and makes this argument, promptly silencing those in favor of doing so and making them see sense.
* This is found a lot in ''Manga/RaveMaster'' the reason Haru gives for not wanting to kill his enemies is because he'll be just as bad as them. He didn't actually kill anyone [[spoiler: besides Doryo]].
* In the second season finale of ''Manga/RozenMaiden'', Jun utters the line when Shinku was about to kill Barasuishou. [[spoiler:[[PacifismBackfire Bad move]]. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero She uses the chance]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone to defeat Shinku]]]].
* In the StoryWithinAStory of the music video arc of ''Manga/SkipBeat'', Kyoko's character, an angel, is forced to murder Sho's character, a demon, in order to protect her friend. This fills Kyoko's character with such guilt and rage that she becomes like a demon herself.
* {{Subverted|Trope}} in ''LightNovel/TheTestamentOfSisterNewDevil''. Basara uses this reasoning to stop Mio from finishing off Zolgia, who murdered her foster parents and took Maria's mother hostage as leverage to get the powers Mio inherited from her father the Demon Lord Wilbert. [[spoiler:Actually, Basara had promised Lars in exchange for his help rescuing Mio that ''he'' would get to kill Zolgia, since Mio's foster parents had also run the orphanage where Lars grew up.]]
* Vash, the MartialPacifist hero of ''Manga/TriGun'', goes through the tortures of the damned rather than kill anyone specifically to avoid this trope. Accordingly, the entire last half of ''Manga/TriGun'' has the BigBad sending [[QuirkyMinibossSquad his suicidal followers]] to try and forcefully {{invoke|dTrope}} it. [[spoiler:Despite the last of them finally succeeding in his mission, it is, in the end, {{averted|Trope}}.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

'''Tarzan''': Not a man like '''YOU!''' (''smashes the gun to pieces'')

** At the climax of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'', Tarzan has an easy opportunity to off Clayton with his own gun. After Clayton taunts him to go ahead and do it, Tarzan comes to his senses and throws said gun away in disgust.

** Hans does this to Elsa in ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'', when he pleads with her not to kill Weaselton's guards in self-defense. This momentarily stops Elsa in her tracks and makes her realize what she has done. [[spoiler:However, given Hans's status as TheEvilPrince, it is clear that he only does it to get Elsa off-guard and purposely knock her unconscious with a chandelier so he can take her to the castle so as to maintain a good image in the eyes of his subjects.]]

The hero has finally subdued the hordes of evil, thwarted the EvilPlan, and subdued the BigBad in one final showdown. However, the villain couldn't make things simple and die in battle. Now he's [[SwordOverHead helpless at the hero's feet]], and… the hero stops. Maybe he throws away his weapon and says, "I'm not like you." Maybe he was about to kill, but his companion shouts something like, "You're better than him!" Maybe the villain taunts them about being NotSoDifferent. Either way, he refuses to kill.

* ''FanFic/ToKillAThief'': [[spoiler:Miyako gets Dark Fin's manipulation into killing Jeanne]]. This is what Light wanted because of NotSoDifferent.

** In a different twist, Chloe tries to convince Clark that Lex is a big threat and Clark can't just let him walk away. Clark asks if this means he must kill and says that it would make him NotSoDifferent.

* ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars: Dual Strike]]'' features [[BigBad Von Bolt]] - an old man using technology to sucking the life force from the land in order to extend his own life - saying this to [[MessianicArchetype Jake]] in his NotSoDifferent speech during the game's ending; if Jake shoots him, they'll both be guilty of the same thing: killing others to save themselves. The game then lets the player decide. [[spoiler:If you say yes, Jake destroys the MacGuffin Von Bolt uses to drain the land's life force and dooms him to die of old age; if you refuse, Hawke [[ShootTheDog shoots Von Bolt]].]]

* In the confrontation with Nobumasa in ''VisualNovel/YoJinBo'', Nobumasa is quick to declare [[BloodKnight Ittosai]] as a killer NotSoDifferent from himself. As a result, while all of the other guys end up killing Nobumasa in self-defense, Sayori urges Ittosai to refrain lest he prove Nobumasa right, and TheCavalry does the honors instead just in the nick of time to keep Nobumasa from skewering both of them.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves'', Lazarevic [[StrikeMeDown tries to goad Drake into finishing him off]] in order to prove they're NotSoDifferent. Drake refuses... [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope but only]] so he can let the Guardians of Shambhala tear Lazarevic limb from limb instead.]]

This trope is grounded on the basis [[ThouShaltNotKill that the act of killing is always wrong]], no matter who it is directed against or how well-deserved, or even if it is done with the hope of preventing more evil in the future. This can come across as slightly disingenuous if the hero has [[WhatMeasureIsAMook slaughtered his way through dozens of faceless mooks]] just to reach the villain, only to hesitate or spare him at the end because "killing is wrong." In such a scenario, only CharacterDevelopment can make the disparity make sense. From a [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Doylist]] perspective, it is also a common justification for maintaining a villain's JokerImmunity.

With this trope in play, killing is treated as a special kind of evil. Even things like [[CruelMercy eternal imprisonment or horrible maiming]] are treated as more moral than a quick death. Anything really, just so long as the hero ''doesn't kill.'' A TechnicalPacifist is likely to go along these lines.

* Franchise/{{Wolverine}}:

** In "In the beginning" (a spin-off depicting the Earth-Minbari war) Dr. Franklin is revealed to have gathered extensive biological information on Minbari after he tried to cure a group of sick aliens, but he's unwilling to pass the info to the military, since they'll most certainly use it to create bio-weapons and he considers using it to be as bad as the genocide that Minabari are inflicting.

* The opening episode of ''Series/CrimeStory'' has Detective Torello thwarting a robbery of a department store by Ray Luca's mob - he storms into Luca's storefront hideout and is ready and willing to shoot him on sight. Instead, he kicks Luca's chair out from under him, fires a bullet into the floor an inch from his head and growls that he's going to take Luca down legally. Luca never bats an eye through all this - it's a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for both of them.

** Played bizarrely straight (and by a character who should have known better); an episode of the second season ends with one of the agents pondering, apropos of almost nothing, how much difference there REALLY is between the offenders that they hunt, and the agents themselves. In this corner, an antisocial, sociopathic recidivist murderer who was abused by his parents for fifteen years and slaughters innocent women purely for the sexual thrill that it gives him. In the opposite side, an agent with ten or fifteen years of experience in fieldwork with the FBI who is willing to fire their weapon ONLY in cause of self-defence or the preservation of another life (and even then, only with utmost angst over the decision afterward), and who has dedicated their professional life to the incarceration of those who would commit such heinous crimes. Yeah, that's a real slippery slope right there.

** He does, however start to slide down that slippery slope when he attempts to [[spoiler: kill the doctor that the Gunslinger is trying to kill for making him]] in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E3ATownCalledMercy A Town Called Mercy]]". Luckily, Amy is there to snap him out of it. To be honest, [[spoiler:the Doctor is not a fan of Kahler-Jex, who created cyborgs to go to war, killing thousands to bring about peace, though it is hypocritical to judge Jex when the Doctor practically committed genocide to end the Time War, making him [[LastOfHisKind the last Time Lord]]]].

** In the Season 2 episode "Grannie Annie", after Boss is kidnapped by a counterfeiter and his bodyguard who plans to brutally kill him (after believing he double-crossed him), Rosco begs Bo and Luke to go after the counterfeiter and save Boss' life; Bo and Luke balk and all but outright refuse, but after Rosco gives a tear-stained, impassioned plea telling them that if they don't go after Boss' captors and allow him to be killed, he will hold them accountable for the rest of their lives and never forgive them ... and (although unstated) they will be just as bad as Boss was. The Duke boys agree and save Boss' hide.

Of course, Vic Mackey doesn't just bend the rules to get results. He pulls heists to enrich himself (such as the Armenian money train) and even murdered a fellow detective just to protect himself and his questionable methods (which Kavanaugh seeks to prove). He goes out of his way to antagonize Kavanaugh (such as sleeping with his mentally-ill ex-wife and bragging about it to him). Kavanaugh may have crossed the line in "framing a guilty man" and ultimately paid with his career and freedom for his transgressions, but he avoided the MoralEventHorizon. Mackey crossed it in the pilot episode with no regrets.

** Subverted in ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Shephard and Michael fight on the roof-tops. Michael hangs from the roof by his finger-nails. Earlier in the episode, Michael had threatened Teyla's baby. Teyla stamps on one hand and then the other; Michael falls to his doom. Mom morality pwns Hollywood morality.
** This is part of the philosophy of the Ancients in ''Series/StargateSG1''. They believe in the free will of every being and even though they have the power to eliminate every threat in the galaxy, they still don't do it. This, however is taken to such an extreme that one can only declare them [[NeglectfulPrecursors guilty]].

** A minor villain in ''Battle For Azeroth'', Grozztok the Blackheart, tries to invoke this when you kill him, claiming that you are no better than he is for killing him. Given that he not only attacks the you first but is trying to unleash an EldritchAbomination upon the world, it's a fairly ridiculous claim.

* Played straight in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' when [[spoiler:Ken]] tries to kill [[spoiler:Shinjiro]] as revenge for [[spoiler:Shinjiro accidentally killing Ken's mother]]. The response is along the lines of "If you kill me, you will be just like me", though he's more referring to the guilt [[spoiler:Ken]] would feel from killing than the crime he would have committed. Of course, [[spoiler:Shinjiro]] is [[PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou still fully prepared to die]]. Not that it matters because [[spoiler:Ken]] plans on [[DrivenToSuicide killing himself]] after doing the deed as his finding his mother's killer was the only thing keeping him alive, which [[spoiler:Shinjiro]] immediately protests when he finds out. However, Strega interferes and [[TakingTheBullet it goes downhill from there.]]
* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': The Protagonist and [[TheLancer Ryuji]] initially bring this up as their reason for not HeelFaceBrainwashing the school's physically abusive PE teacher Suguru Kamoshida. If the process goes wrong, the teacher could die, which would make the heroes far worse than even a monster like Kamoshida. And then Kamoshida [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil gleefully crosses]] the MoralEventHorizon, leaving the protagonist and Ryuji with much less qualms about dealing with him.

:: Simba immediately followed this with offering Scar a particularly [[IronicEcho ironic]] form of CruelMercy, which, although, ''did'' lead to his death.

** Played straight in one issue of Wolverine's self-titled comic, when confronting Reno and Molokai, hitmen who had murdered Jubilee's parents. ComicBook/{{Jubilee}} settles for a GroinAttack on both of them.

(''Tarzan presses the barrels right to Clayton's throat, and imitates a gunshot'')\\

:: He immediately followed this with offering him a particularly [[IronicEcho ironic]] form of CruelMercy.
** At the climax of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'', Tarzan has an easy opportunity to off Clayton with his own gun. After the villain taunts him to go ahead and do it, he comes to his senses and throws said gun away in disgust.
-->'''Clayton''': Go ahead, shoot me! (''Tarzan hesitates, Clayton laughs'') Be a ''man''!\\
(''Tarzan presses the barrels right to Clayton's throat...and imitates a perfect gunshot'')\\

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood'', Batman explains that the reason he didn't kill the Joker after the latter killed [[ComicBook/RedHood Jason Todd]] was that if he went there, he'd never come back. Jason failed to understand the reason behind his statement, though.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'': At the climax, Tarzan has an easy opportunity to off Clayton with his own gun. After the villain taunts him to go ahead and do it, he comes to his senses and throws said gun away in disgust.

* Hans does this to Elsa in ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'' where he pleads with her not to kill Weaselton's guards in self-defense. This momentarily stops Elsa in her tracks and makes her realize what she has done. [[spoiler:However, given Hans's status as TheEvilPrince, it is clear that he only does it to get Elsa off-guard and purposely knock her unconscious with a chandelier so he can take her to the castle so as to maintain a good image in the eyes of his subjects.]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* Played straight in many Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon movies, one notable example being ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}''.

*** Jean told this to Wolverine when he was about to kill Wraith, the colonel from "Weapon-X" that tortured him. Wolverine did not care, so she had save Wraith herself.
*** Jean does not approve killing the soldiers of Weapon X, even after the tortures they gave them.
** ''ComicBook/UltimateDaredevilAndElektra'': Elektra threatened Trey, and left. He did not scare him. Rather, she prompted him to escalate the action.

The hero has finally subdued the hordes of evil, thwarted the EvilPlan, and subdued the BigBad in one final showdown. However, the villain couldn't make things simple and die in battle. Now he's [[SwordOverHead helpless at the hero's feet]], and… the hero stops. Maybe he throws away his weapon and says, "I'm not like you." Maybe he was about to kill, but his companion shouts something like, "You're better than him!". Maybe the villain taunts them about being NotSoDifferent. Either way, he refuses to kill.

Though it is not common, the hero's reason for sparing the villain is because he feels letting his adversary live, especially with the agony and humiliation of defeat, to be a [[FateWorseThanDeath fate worse than death]], even saying [[DeathSeeker "you will have a death wish when I'm through with you".]]

In such cases, killing is treated as a special kind of evil. Even things like [[CruelMercy eternal imprisonment or horrible maiming]] are treated as more moral than a quick death. Anything really, just so long as the hero ''doesn't kill.'' A TechnicalPacifist is likely to go along these lines.

** Subverted in ''Anime/DigimonSavers.'' [[spoiler: Marcus and Shine Greymon have defeated Kurata's OneWingedAngel form, and effectively have him completely beaten and begging for mercy. Not a single one of Marcus' allies pull this trope on him, instead actually '''encouraging him to kill him!''' What avoids making this a StartOfDarkness is that Kurata '''is really''' that much of an evil bastard.]]

* In ''LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai'', Mikiya doesn't want Shiki to kill [[spoiler:Lio]], despite him being a crazy cannibalistic superman, because he feels that Shiki isn't and shouldn't become a murderer. [[spoiler:At first she defers to his wishes. Then Lio stabs Mikiya in the eye, seemingly killing him. An enraged Shiki then kills him anyway. Mikiya, after he wakes up, is somewhat annoyed, but seeing that Shiki's murderous side remains under control, says that he'll get over it.]]

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' has a variant: Deathlok is trying to interrogate Skye for information. She realizes that CantKillYouStillNeedYou applies to her, so Deathlok then gives TheMole a heart attack and threatens to let him die if Skye doesn't give him the information.
-->'''Skye:''' You think I don't want to see him suffer?\\