History Main / IndirectSerialKiller

* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': Malty S. Melromarc is a VillainousPrincess who gives out {{False Rape Accusation}}s to innocent victims, which would result in the death penalty for everyone except [[TheHero Naofumi Iwatani]] since he's one of the Four Cardinal Heroes, and is [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou too important to kill]].

* ''Manga/OshiNoKo'': Aquamarine Hoshino becomes convinced that this trope is in effect when [[spoiler:his mother is murdered by the same person who killed him in his past life]], owing to the fact that [[spoiler:his killer knew that Ai was staying at the hospital where he worked before he was murdered]]. His objective in pursuing a career in the entertainment industry is to identify the mastermind in order to exact revenge.

* This is basically the MO of Johann Liebert in ''Manga/{{Monster}}'' who has the uncanny ability to manipulate other people to kill for him in any number of ways, whether by bribing them, convincing them that he's their son, or even by pretending to be an alien.

* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': Malty S. Melromarc is a VillainousPrincess who gives out {{False Rape Accusation}}s to innocent victims, which would result in the death penalty for everyone except [[TheHero Naofumi Iwatani]] since he's one of the Four Cardinal Heroes, and is [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou too important to kill]].

* Many ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fanfics [[AdaptationalVillainy portray]] [[BitchInSheepsClothing Lila]] as this; [[FandomSpecificPlot a common backstory for Lila]] involves one or more other students in her previous school(s) having [[DrivenToSuicide died of suicide]] as a result of Lila turning their friends against them or [[MaliciousSlander spreading rumors]] that destroyed their reputation. In some fanfics, Lila is merely [[LackOfEmpathy uncaring]] about her victims, while in others, Lila ''actively goes out of her way to bully people into suicide.''

* ''Film/{{Seven}}'': [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with the villain John Doe. He models his murders on the SevenDeadlySins, but strictly speaking, he only directly kills two people himself: the Gluttony victim, who he force-feeds to the point of collapse and then kicks in the stomach, and [[spoiler:Tracy Mills, who he beheads to make himself the Envy victim.]] The other victims don't technically die by his hand: the Greed victim is made to cut off a pound of his own flesh and bleeds out; the Sloth victim is tied to a bed for a year and given just enough food and water to survive; the Lust victim is raped by a man wearing a bladed dildo (who only does it at gunpoint); the Pride victim chooses to swallow a bottle of pills that Doe taped to her hand after he cuts off her nose; and the Wrath victim is [[spoiler:David Mills, who doesn't die but instead goes to prison for killing Doe in revenge for the aforementioned murder of his wife Tracy.]] Of course, anyone in their right mind knows that Doe ''is'' responsible for all of the deaths even if he didn't "officially" kill all of his victims, but Doe himself is utterly insane and genuinely thinks that there's a distinction between his actions and murder.

* ''Film/{{Us}}'': Red, a.k.a. [[spoiler:the original Adelaide]], is an example. She led the uprising of the Tethered and convinced the Tethered to kill their originals, and is the matriarch of the Tethered Wilsons, who are shown killing others. However, Red's desire to make the Wilsons suffer means that she doesn't end up killing any of them with her own hands before dying herself. She is still indirectly responsible for thousands (potentially millions) of deaths across the United States.

* ''Literature/TheChaosCycle:''

* ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'': A gravely ill Literature/HerculePoirot reunites with his [[TheWatson old friend Hastings]] for one last case. Poirot tells Hastings that one of the guests at the hotel he is staying at is a serial killer who Poirot does not know how to stop. It turns out that the killer has been psychologically manipulating people into murdering people they hate. Since the killer took no direct action in the murders and has no connection to the people who are being murdered he/she cannot be arrested. After the murderer [[spoiler:almost tricks Hastings into committing murder]] Poirot [[spoiler:takes matters into his own hands and kills the murderer.]]

* ''Series/TheBlacklist'': "[[Recap/TheBlacklistS1E18MiltonBobbit Milton Bobbit]]": Milton Bobbit, aka "The Undertaker", is No. 135 on the Blacklist and specialises in running a MurderInc. Bobbit uses the fact he works at an Insurance Company to scout for [[TerminallyIllCriminal terminally patients and offers them financial security for their families if they become his paid assassins]] and [[MurderSuicide kill themselves after the assassination]]. Bobbit uses them to off anyone who was involved in a clinical drug trial that has left Bobbit and others terminal.

** In the two-parter "[[Recap/CriminalMindsS4E25ToHell To Hell]]...[[Recap/CriminalMindsS4E26AndBack And Back]]" features [[EvilCripple Mason Turner]] a man paralyzed from the neck down who has his mentally handicapped brother Lucas kidnap and murder people and perform experiments on their corpses.
** "[[Recap/CriminalMindsS5E3Reckoner Reckoner]]": Judge Boyd Schuller is VigilanteMan who after discovering that he is [[TerminallyIllCriminal terminal]] decides to target those who have harmed children. He uses hitman Tony Mecacci to carry out the hits and kill his victims in ironic but fitting ways.

** "[[Recap/CSIS12E8CrimeAfterCrime Crime after Crime]]": Detective Stanley Richardson is a VigilanteMan and KillerCop who on his deathbed decides to punish criminals who got away with their crimes. He uses his old friend Detective Sam Vega to carry out the crimes and even sets up [[spoiler:Vega's death via the police as Vega is secretly another one of the criminals on his hit list.]]
** "Check In and Check Out": Trent Reager is a voyeuristic motel owner who enjoys watching people and craves seeing more elaborate carnage. He uses the fact that he controls the motel to secretly have a room have a canister of LSD to douse his customers and cause them to go nuts and murder their friends or family members.
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'': Dr. Emmet Meridian, the VillainOfTheWeek in "Shrink Wrap", was a therapist who manipulated powerful female clients into committing suicide. He prescribed them antidepressants they didn't need, took them off them once they were addicted, then spent his sessions with them talking about how suicide is noble and takes all your pain away.
* ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'': "[[Recap/DiagnosisMurderS6E9MurderTimesFour Murder x 4]]": Ernest Rogin heads an [[MurderInc assassination business]] which he disguises as an Insurance company. Rogin uses [[TerminallyIllCriminal terminally ill patients as his pet assassins]] to kill off anyone he's paid to get rid of.
* ''Series/{{Fargo}}'': In Season 1, mysterious hitman Lorne Malvo is fascinated by the search to find the weakness in everybody that he can exploit, to see what it takes to turn a civilized person into an animal. To this end, he likes talking strangers into committing horrific acts of violence, and when they call him for help afterwards, he records their conversation on cassette tapes. He likes spending his leisure time playing back the evidence of their crimes. By the end of the season, he has a whole suitcase full of tapes.
* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'': The episode "[[Recap/GothamS1E6SpiritOfTheGoat Spirit of the Goat]]" revolves around Gordon and Bullock trying to capture what they think is a CopycatKiller of a serial killer called The Goat. It turns out that both this Goat and the previous one [[spoiler:had been hypnotized by their therapist, who was [[PsychoPsychologist convinced that unleashing a serial killer was a form of therapy for all of Gotham]]]].
* ''Series/{{Elementary}}'': Moriarty is a DiabolicalMastermind who uses assassins as proxies to kill any of their enemies for them without having to lift a finger. Moriarty is indicated to have hundreds of deaths due to how successful this is.

* ''Series/HawaiiFive0:'' The ArcVillain of Season 7 is Dr. Madison Gray doesn't kill directly. Gray is a PsychoPsychologist who manipulates her clients into becoming {{serial killer}}s for the sheer fun involved.
* ''Series/LawAndOrder'': In the episode "[[Recap/LawAndOrderS5E12Progeny Progeny]]" former priest and anti-abortion activist Drew Seeley encourages his followers to kill abortion doctors, even acquiring and distributing the name and address of one of them. When said doctor dies, he denies any responsibility, although is openly gleeful about how many dead doctors there are. Later in the episode, he ends up confessing while using the justification defense in an attempt to further his anti-abortion cause. Unfortunately for Seeley, [=McCoy=] is able to tear this defense to shreds.
* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': In [[Recap/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnitS9E6Svengali "Svengali"]], Morten has multiple crazy fans who believe that he's a great artist and want to do his work for him after he's imprisoned for the series of murders that he physically committed. One of his fans sends a pizza bomb to Olivia (though it doesn't go off), and Cecilia murders a woman and then fakes her own kidnapping.
* ''Series/{{Luther}}'': [[RetiredMonster William Carney]] aka "The Shoreditch Creeper" was already a particularly vicious serial killer back in the eighties. In the present as a sick, frail old man in a nursing home, upon getting in contact with the disturbed Paul Ellis, the son of one of his victims, Carney manipulates Ellis into carrying on his killing spree, going after the victims who managed to escape him.

* Ryan O'Reilly from ''Series/{{Oz}}'' never kills anyone himself (except for one special occasion). His way of dealing with a prisoner he wants dead is convincing someone else that they should kill him, [[ManipulativeBastard and making them believe it was their own decision.]] He reveals to Patrick Keenan that this is his preferred way of killing people, but that he'll make an exception for him. By the end of the series, he's killed over a dozen people this way.
* ''Series/TheRookie'': Implied with [[ManipulativeBastard Jason Wyler]], Bailey Nune's [[DomesticAbuse abusive ex-husband]]. Whilst the exact number of victims isn't given, [[KnowledgeBroker Oscar Hutchinson]] warns [[TheHero John Nolan]] not to take the fact their are no violent crimes associated with him as a sign he's not willing to use violence, as during his incarceration numerous inmates who crossed him ended up shanked by a third party whom he "whispered into the ears of."
* ''Series/SafeHouse'': PlayedWith with the second season's antagonist [[MalevolentMaskedMan the Crow]]. His MO is to break into married couple's homes, restrain the husband and abduct the wife at gunpoint, with him killing the wives and hiding the bodies to the point they are never found. However, as the police eventually realise his actual targets are the husbands with the entire event deliberately designed to [[DrivenToSuicide drive them to suicide out of grief and guilt]].
* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': The villain of the first episode "A Study in Pink" manipulates his victims into suicide by abducting them and challenging them to a game -- he puts two pills in front of them, one safe and one poisoned, challenges them to pick one pill and take it while he takes the other. [[TheUnreveal It's never revealed]] how he consistently manipulates the victims into taking the poison pill.
* ''Series/SilentWitness'': [[ManipulativeBastard Jim Bell]] from "Deadhead" is a particularly twisted psycho who draws feelings of supremacy out of ending lives without having to lift a finger. Using an online unofficial chatroom for people suffering from suicidal thoughts, Jim targets the especially vulnerable and subtly pushes them deeper and deeper into depression, all whilst pretending to be their friend and a fellow sufferer, until they are driven to kill themselves. Its revealed that Bell's first victim was none [[{{Patricide}} other than his own loving father]].
* Desiree Atkins from the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "[[Recap/SmallvilleS02E02Heat Heat]]" was a BlackWidow with LivingAphrodisiac powers who tended to marry wealthy men and then manipulate others into killing them.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': This is the [[OurSirensAreDifferent Siren's]] MO from "[[Recap/SupernaturalS04E14SexAndViolence Sex and Violence]]". First, it takes the form that its [[ShapeshiftingSeducer targets desire the most]], and then it infects them with its venom. That way, it compels its victims to kill the person they were the closest to in order to prove their love and devotion to the Siren. Afterwards, the Siren abandons its victims and finds a new target.
* ''Series/{{Terriers}}'': Hank definitely thinks Tom Cutshaw is one, as he hired Zeitlin who had three people killed [[spoiler:including Jason]] in order to make sure the Ocean Beach development happened, and also [[spoiler:had Mickey Gosney killed, presumably to cover up [[TheUnreveal whatever he did to children south of the border.]]]] Cutshaw denies knowing about it, but his denial leans heavily on the TechnicalDistinction.
-->'''Cutshaw:''' I'm not a developer by trade. I made my money in tech. But I do know this...if the water comes out when I turn on the tap, it doesn't happen magically. Or if there's gasoline when I stop at the pump. For the world to function, a thousand things have to go right every minute. And they have to go right quietly. That's why I hired Mr. Zeitlin...to make sure that these things happened quietly. So we could have [[spoiler:a brand-new airport.]]
* ''Series/WakingTheDead'': "Shadowplay" involves the Cold Case squad reinvestigating a series of brutal crimes where in each event a mentally unstable woman claimed she was driven to murder by a mysterious figure called "[[ManipulativeBastard The Shepherd]]." Their investigation realising the Shepherd is not a delusion, but a twisted psychopath who targets women he knows to be mentally ill, and [[MindRape psychologically tortures]] them until they become his killers.

** "Bad Seed" see's Tony facing up against [[FalselyReformedVillain William McAdams]] aka Mack The Knife, a budding serial killer back in the seventies who was caught after disembowelling two women, and has been recently released as he's supposedly cured. In reality, Mack is just as evil as ever, and now unable to carry out his own murders has found a vulnerable young man who is convinced is his son, and is using him to carry on his killing spree.
** "Torment" is an adaptation of the book, ''The Torment of Others'', and as such shares the same killer: [[spoiler:Jan Shields, the police officer who manipulates and brainwashes weak-willed and mentally ill men into brutally torturing and then killing prostitutes.]] The killer is given a FreudianExcuse, though: [[spoiler:she murders by proxy because she herself was raped as a teenager and she demands the men enact the crime that was done to her.]]
* ''Series/TheXFiles'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS05E08Kitsunegari Kitsunegari]]", Robert Patrick Modell, a previous MonsterOfTheWeek with a CompellingVoice, seems to have changed his ''modus operandi'' to be this... [[spoiler:but in reality, it's the work of his lost fraternal twin Linda, who attempts to use her own CompellingVoice to get Mulder to kill Scully.]]

* ''Podcast/DiceFunk'': In [[Recap/DiceFunkSeason4Valentine the 4th season]] it's revealed near the end that [[spoiler:Catarina Brooks' rampage, where she killed three [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Branch Heads]] of [[MegaCorp Crown Corp]], as well as several of their employees, was engineered by [[BigBad Solomon Luna]], who manipulated events to cause her SanitySlippage so she would kill the Branch Heads and allow Luna to consolidate his power in Crown Corp.]]

* ''VideoGame/CriminalCaseGrimsborough'': The ArcVillain of the University cases is the Rorschach Reaper, so named because they leave Rorschach tests at the scenes of various crimes. The Reaper is eventually revealed as [[spoiler:psychology student Tess Goodwin, who uses hypnosis and subtle manipulation to have her targets kill people by convincing them that it's [[MadnessMantra "the right thing."]] Tess herself only murders one victim as part of a XanatosGambit to get herself arrested since the pinnacle of her research involves Detective Jones killing the player character at her command. Thankfully, Officer Ramirez saves the day before Jones can commit the crime.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'': This is the series' premise. Monokuma never commits murder himself, instead limiting himself to executing people who attack him or who are convicted of murder by their peers. Instead, he traps a group of mentally vulnerable high schoolers in a ClosedCircle and telling them that the only way to get out is to get away with murder. And if that's not enough to instigate murders, he knows the students' psychological weaknesses and will offer 'motives' to drive at least one of them to murder; for example, the first motive given is to imply that their friends and family outside the ClosedCircle might be dead and the only way to find out for sure would be to commit murder and escape. [[spoiler:Sayaka takes the bait because she's psychologically dependent on her friendship with her idol group, though she ultimately doesn't have the stomach to go through with her ploy and is instead killed by Leon after he disarms her]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}}'': The Oracle is an agent of [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness The Orange Clan]] who repeatedly commits serial killings in the form of ritual sacrifices by possessing random people and using them to commit murders. As a result, most of his possessed targets either committed suicide or went insane after upon seeing what they've done.
* ''VideoGame/Persona4'': Subverted. [[spoiler:Adachi]] murders two people by shoving them into the TV World for the Shadows inhabiting it to kill and, for his own amusement, encourages [[spoiler:Namatame]] to continue the killings under the mistaken belief that he was saving future targets by sending them into the TV World. However, thanks to the Investigation Team's efforts, all of [[spoiler:Namatame]]'s would-be victims survive.
* ''VideoGame/TheCatLady'': [[spoiler:Adam is a paralysed young man who can only communicate with eye movements, his father helped set up a system for him to use this to interact with technology. He uses this to go on the internet and convince people to kill themselves. He also somehow convinced his father to set up a device that will release poison gas in their homes as a failsafe measure in case anyone comes to stop him, he uses this to try and kill the protagonist and her friend but it ends up killing only his father]].

* '''[[{{Chessmaster}} Authority]]:''' Many corrupt authority figures, such as [[HangingJudge judges]], [[AmoralAttorney lawyers]], [[AristocratsAreEvil nobility]], and many others, use their authority to have people killed; some of them are {{Knight Templar}}s who believe that their murders are for a greater good, others are {{sadist}}s who like the idea of using their power to kill people legally, and still others are simply corrupt people who see the lives of innocent people as a fair price to pay to achieve their goals.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainLaserhawkABloodDragonRemix'': In Episode 3, Alex Taylor uses promotional glasses rigged with [[MindControlDevice mind control technology]] to turn the humans in the audience of a wrestling match to massacre the hybrids around them.
[[/folder]]

* ''Series/{{Elementary}}:'' Moriarty is a DiabolicalMastermind who uses assassins as proxies to kill any of their enemies for them without having to lift a finger. Moriarty is indicated to have hundreds of deaths due to how successful this is.

* ''Series/{{Luther}}:'' [[RetiredMonster William Carney]] aka "The Shoreditch Creeper" was already a particularly vicious serial killer back in the eighties. In the present as a sick, frail old man in a nursing home, upon getting in contact with the disturbed Paul Ellis, the son of one of his victims, Carney manipulates Ellis into carrying on his killing spree, going after the victims who managed to escape him.

* Desiree Atkins from the ''{{Series/Smallville}}'' episode "[[Recap/SmallvilleS02E02Heat Heat]]" was a BlackWidow with LivingAphrodisiac powers who tended to marry wealthy men and then manipulate others into killing them.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'': "[[Recap/TheXFilesS05E08Kitsunegari Kitsunegari]]": Robert Patrick Modell, a previous MonsterOfTheWeek with a CompellingVoice, seems to have changed his ''modus operandi'' to be this... [[spoiler:but in reality, it's the work of his lost fraternal twin Linda, who attempts to use her own CompellingVoice to get Mulder to kill Scully.]]

* ''VideoGame/CriminalCaseGrimsborough'': The ArcVillain of the University cases is the Rorschach Reaper, so named because they leave Rorschach tests at the scenes of various crimes. The Reaper is eventually revealed as [[spoiler:psychology student Tess Goodwin, who uses hypnosis and subtle manipulation to have her targets kill people by convincing them that it's [[MadnessMantra "the right thing."]] Tess herself only murders one victim as part of a XanatosGambit to get herself arrested since the pinnacle of her research involves Detective Jones killing the player character at her command. Thankfully, Officer Ramirez saves the day before Jones can commit the crime.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheCatLady'': [[spoiler:Adam is a paralysed young man who can only communicate with eye movements, his father helped set up a system for him to use this to interact with technology. He uses this to go on the internet and convince people to kill themselves. He also somehow convinced his father to set up a device that will release poison gas in their homes as a failsafe measure in case anyone comes to stop him, he uses this to try and kill the protagonist and her friend but it ends up killing only his father.]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''Franchise/AceAttorney''
** The very first example is Redd White, who made his fortune by using his information trading company Bluecorp to blackmail influential figures, and he's been doing this so long that Phoenix's mentor Mia has a file of people he has DrivenToSuicide that would be enough to ruin him if he were ever to be connected to the deaths. So he gets his hands dirty for the first time by [[MentorOccupationalHazard bashing Mia's head in with a miniature Thinker statue]].
** Manfred Von Karma is a [[AmoralAttorney corrupt prosecutor]] whose desire for a 'perfect win record' of guilty verdicts (obtained by JuryAndWitnessTampering, evidence tampering, and intimidating judges) has led to one confirmed unjust conviction (Jeffery Master from ''Ace Attorney Investigations 2'') and, given the state of the ''Ace Attorney'' legal system, probably many more. While we can't know how many of said individuals were executed (Jeffery Master was merely imprisoned), it's almost certain he'd have enough murders to be considered a serial killer if he didn't have the state do his dirty work. [[spoiler:The one person he killed himself was Gregory Edgeworth, and then only after he stumbled on a perfect opportunity to kill Gregory with no one knowing the culprit.]]
** The crowning example is probably [[spoiler:Simon Keyes]], from ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations2''. This person only has one direct kill to their name, and it's arguably self-defense, [[spoiler:since the impostor Di-Jun Huang fired on him first, and he had no easy way to escape the situation because he was in a hot-air balloon]], but all but one of the other murders can be traced back to their manipulation. They even boast that they never told their victims to commit murder; they just gave them information that [[BatmanGambit they knew would prompt violence]]. Edgeworth only manages to find out that they did anything at all because Sirhan Dogan was blind and Horace Knightley couldn't read Braille, so their correspondence chess game against each other must have had an intermediary to translate.
** In ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney 2: Resolve'', the BigBad [[spoiler:Mael Stronghart prides himself as to having technically "done nothing wrong" when revealed to have been the mastermind behind all the major conspiracies of the game. He blackmailed, pressured, and manipulated many people involved in the Justice system into killing his targets and covering up his crimes to rise up to power, planning to get rid of the crime that was plaguing London no matter the cost. He uses this to his advantage by manipulating the court in the final case of the game, telling him how even though he has committed crime, it was necessary to build the strong Justice system it was as of today, [[NearVillainVictory almost managing to weasel himself out of it]].]]
* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'': This is the series' premise. Monokuma never commits murder himself, instead limiting himself to executing people who attack him or who are convicted of murder by their peers. Instead, he traps a group of mentally vulnerable high schoolers in a ClosedCircle and telling them that the only way to get out is to get away with murder. And if that's not enough to instigate murders, he knows the students' psychological weaknesses and will offer 'motives' to drive at least one of them to murder; for example, the first motive given is to imply that their friends and family outside the ClosedCircle might be dead and the only way to find out for sure would be to commit murder and escape.[[spoiler: Sayaka takes the bait because she's psychologically dependent on her friendship with her idol group, though she ultimately doesn't have the stomach to go through with her ploy and is instead killed by Leon after he disarms her.]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': Malty S. Melromarc is a VillainousPrincess who gives out {{False Rape Accusation}}s to innocent victims, which would result in the death penalty for everyone except [[TheHero Naofumi Iwatani]] since he's one of the Four Cardinal Heroes, and is [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou too important to kill]].

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* ''WebVideo/PopCrossStudios'': Ulitus, the (initial) BigBad of ''WebVideo/TayrunsAdventuresAndBeastChronicling'', wants to KillAllHumans in his world and replace them with the dragons and beasts that he prefers, but despite being a powerful Overseer, Ulitus is [[AGodIAmNot not a god]], and he therefore is more limited in what ways he can kill humans by. To make up for this, he plans on using [[CharacterNarrator Tayrun]] as his UnwittingPawn by killing his only family members thanks to his PlagueMaster and WeatherManipulation abilities, and then encouraging Tayrun's growing cynicism and bitterness by [[BanOnMagic hiding the presence of magic from him]], until eventually Tayrun's cynicism turns him into a MisanthropeSupreme who would happily [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery kill all humans]] for Ulitus -- after which Ulitus implies that he'd then decide YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness for Tayrun. Luckily for Tayrun, Ulitus' plans are derailed thanks to the unexpected arrival of [[SpannerInTheWorks Mikayla Maciel]], who successfully opens Tayrun's eyes to the reality of magic, and then teams up with over heroes to expose Ulitus' crimes and defeat the Overseer -- whereupon Tayrun instead [[ExposeTheVillainGetHisJob replaces Ulitus]] and vows to undo all his atrocities upon their world.
[[/folder]]

* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': Malty S. Melromarc is a VillainousPrincess who gives out {{False Rape Accusation}}s to innocent victims, which would result in the death penalty for everyone except [[TheHero Naofumi Iwatani]] since he's one of the Four Cardinal Heroes, and is [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou too important to kill]].

* ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'': [[spoiler:Justice Lawrence Wargrave is a combination of this and a HangingJudge. Being fully aware of his own sociopathic nature, he pursued a career in law to be able to murder within the acceptable bounds of society by [[SerialKillerKiller targeting the guilty]]. His elaborate murder spree on the island is a deliberate deviation from his ''Modus Operandi'' so he can end his killing career with a bang.]]

* One possible interpretation of ''Film/BasicInstinct'' is that Catherine Tramell purposely drives other people into becoming murderers rather than being one herself. At the end of the second movie ''Risk Addiction'', she explicitly tells [[spoiler:the protagonist]] that she manipulated him into committing all the murders, and in the first movie, it is possible that [[spoiler:Beth]] committed the murders under Tramell's influence. The WhamShot of an ice-pick underneath Catherine's bed at the end of the first movie would suggest it's a combination of indirect and direct.

* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'': The series is predicated around a mastermind taking a group of high school students, isolating them from the outside world, and forcing them to kill each other and get away with it in order to leave. This is even [[spoiler:Team Danganronpa's MO for the game show (with the same premise, to boot)]] in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony''.

* ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'': Charles Augustus Milverton is an ImmoralJournalist who blackmails others into becoming killers. This is because Milverton enjoys hurting people and because it allows him to profit more from selling the stories in his newspaper.

** Redd White was a CorruptCorporateExecutive that would use his company Bluecorp to dig up dirt on people, and {{blackmail}} said people for money; if they didn't or wouldn't pay up, Bluecorp would release their secrets. Many of White's victims [[DrivenToSuicide died of suicide]] because of this, and [[SexyMentor Mia Fey]] [[MentorOccupationalHazard was killed by White directly]] [[HeKnowsTooMuch for discovering the connection between the suicides and Bluecorp]].
** Manfred Von Karma is a [[AmoralAttorney corrupt prosecutor]] who obtained a 40-year winning streak of guilty verdicts with dishonest tactics such as forging and destroying evidence, [[JuryAndWitnessTampering bullying witnesses]], and forcing {{False Confession}}s out of people; [[spoiler:he's confirmed to have directly killed only one person, Gregory Edgeworth,]] and while it's never stated if anyone died as a result of his corrupt tactics, it is certainly [[ImpliedTrope heavily implied]].

** [[spoiler:Simon Keyes, the BigBad]] from ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations2'' only killed [[spoiler:one person, the Fake Di-Jun Huang]] directly; the rest were killed via [[spoiler:[[TheChessmaster by manipulating other people's emotions]] so that they ended up doing the killing for him. He]] even tries to exploit this trope by pointing out that [[spoiler:he [[LoopholeAbuse never actually told]] the people involved to kill anyone, he just gave them certain information and they simply reacted by committing murder.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'': The series is predicated around a mastermind taking a group of high school students, isolating them from the outside world, and forcing them to kill each other and get away with it in order to leave. This is even [[spoiler:Team Danganronpa'd MO for the game show (with the same premise, to boot)]] in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony''.

* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'': The series is predicated around a mastermind taking a group of high school students, isolating them from the outside world, and forcing them to kill each other and get away with it in order to leave. [[spoiler:This is even Team Danganronpa'd MO for the game show (with the same premise, to boot) in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony''.]]

* ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'': "[[Recap/DiagnosisMurderS6E9MurderTimesFour Murder x4]]": Ernest Rogin heads an [[MurderInc assassination business]] which he disguises as an Insurance company. Rogin uses [[TerminallyIllCriminal terminally ill patients as his pet assassins]] to kill off anyone he's paid to get rid of.

!!Examples

* One possible interpretation of ''Film/BasicInstinct'' is that Catherine Tramell purposely drives other people into becoming murderers rather than being one herself. At the end of the second movie ''Risk Addiction'', she explicitly tells [[spoiler:the protagonist]] that she manipulated him into committing all the murders, and in the first movie, it is possible that [[spoiler:Beth]] committed the murders under Tramell's influence.

* ''Film/EightyEightMinutes'': Though Jon Foster was a SerialKiller (and rapist) of women in person, when he gets imprisoned for murder, he orders his LoonyFan [[spoiler:Lauren]] to re-enact his murders so that he can go free or at least avoid execution.

* ''Film/{{Seven}}'': [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with the villain John Doe. He models his murders on the SevenDeadlySins, but strictly speaking, he only directly kills two people himself: the Gluttony victim, who he force-feeds to the point of collapse and then kicks in the stomach, and [[spoiler:Tracy Mills, who he beheads to make himself the Envy victim.]] The other victims don't technically die by his hand: the Greed victim is made to cut off a pound of his own flesh and bleeds out; the Sloth victim is tied to a bed for a year and given just enough food and water to survive; the Lust victim is raped by a man wearing a bladed dildo (who only does it at gunpoint); the Pride victim chooses to swallow a bottle of pills that Doe taped to her hand after he cuts off her nose; and the Wrath victim is [[spoiler:David Mills, who doesn't die but instead goes to prison for killing Doe in revenge for the aforementioned murder of his wife Tracy.]] Of course, anyone in their right mind knows that Doe ''is'' responsible for all of the deaths even if he didn't "officially" kill all of his victims, but Doe himself is utterly insane and genuinely thinks that there's a distinction between his actions and murder.

** [[Recap/CriminalMindsS5E3Reckoner Reckoner]]": Judge Boyd Schuller is VigilanteMan who after discovering that he is [[TerminallyIllCriminal terminal]] decides to target those who have harmed children. He uses hitman Tony Mecacci to carry out the hits and kill his victims in ironic but fitting ways.

* '''[[{{Chessmaster}} Authority]]:''' Many corrupt authority figures, such as [[HangingJudge judges]], [[AmoralAttorney lawyers]], [[AristocratsAreEvil nobility]], and many others, often use their authority to have people killed; some of them are {{Knight Templar}}s who believe that their murders are for a greater good, others are {{sadist}}s who like the idea of using their power to kill people legally, and still others are simply corrupt people who see the lives of innocent people as a fair price to pay to achieve their goals.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder: Film -- Live-Action]]

* ''Film/{{Cure}}'': Kunihiko Mamiya is a master hypnotist who travels the land, brainwashing random people into either committing murder against people they harbor resentment towards, or simply killing themselves. [[spoiler: At the end, he even succeeds in transforming Detective Takabe into his successor, who ''also'' becomes a serial killing hypnotist.]]

* ''Film/{{Seven}}'': [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with the villain John Doe. He models his murders on the SevenDeadlySins, but strictly speaking, he only directly kills two people himself: the Gluttony victim, who he force-feeds to the point of collapse and then kicks in the stomach, and [[spoiler: Tracy Mills, who he beheads to make himself the Envy victim.]] The other victims don't technically die by his hand: the Greed victim is made to cut off a pound of his own flesh and bleeds out; the Sloth victim is tied to a bed for a year and given just enough food and water to survive; the Lust victim is raped by a man wearing a bladed dildo (who only does it at gunpoint); the Pride victim chooses to swallow a bottle of pills that Doe taped to her hand after he cuts off her nose; and the Wrath victim is [[spoiler: David Mills, who doesn't die but instead goes to prison for killing Doe in revenge for the aforementioned murder of his wife Tracy.]] Of course, anyone in their right mind knows that Doe ''is'' responsible for all of the deaths even if he didn't "officially" kill all of his victims, but Doe himself is utterly insane and genuinely thinks that there's a distinction between his actions and murder.

[[folder: Literature]]

* ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'': A gravely ill Literature/HerculePoirot reunites with his [[TheWatson old friend Hastings]] for one last case. Poirot tells Hastings that one of the guests at the hotel he is staying at is a serial killer who Poirot does not know how to stop. It turns out that the killer has been psychologically manipulating people into murdering people they hate. Since the killer took no direct action in the murders and has no connection to the people who are being murdered he/she cannot be arrested. After the murderer [[spoiler: almost tricks Hastings into committing murder]] Poirot [[spoiler: takes matters into his own hands and kills the murderer.]]

* ''Literature/TonyHillAndCarolJordan'': "The Voice" from "The Torment of Others" aka [[spoiler: Detective Sergeant Jan Shields]] is an egotistical sexual sadist driven by an obsession with [[ControlFreak having absolute control over other human beings]]. To that end, they brainwash the vulnerable Derek Tyler into being her "trained monkey" and has him brutally murder four prostitutes for her own pleasure. Following Tyler being arrested, the voice brainwashes another person to carry on their killing spree.

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': The villain of the first episode "A Study in Pink" manipulates his victims into suicide by abducting them and challenging them to a game - he puts two pills in front of them, one safe and one poisoned, challenges them to pick one pill and take it while he takes the other. [[TheUnreveal It's never revealed]] how he consistently manipulates the victims into taking the poison pill.

-->'''Cutshaw''': I'm not a developer by trade. I made my money in tech. But I do know this...if the water comes out when I turn on the tap, it doesn't happen magically. Or if there's gasoline when I stop at the pump. For the world to function, a thousand things have to go right every minute. And they have to go right quietly. That's why I hired Mr. Zeitlin...to make sure that these things happened quietly. So we could have [[spoiler:a brand-new airport.]]

[[folder: Podcasts]]
* ''Podcast/DiceFunk'': In [[Recap/DiceFunkSeason4Valentine the 4th season]] it's revealed near the end that [[spoiler: Catarina Brooks' rampage, where she killed three [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Branch Heads]] of [[MegaCorp Crown Corp]], as well as several of their employees, was engineered by [[BigBad Solomon Luna]], who manipulated events to cause her SanitySlippage so she would kill the Branch Heads and allow Luna to consolidate his power in Crown Corp.]]

[[folder: Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/CriminalCaseGrimsborough'': The ArcVillain of the University cases is the Rorschach Reaper, so named because they leave Rorschach tests at the scenes of various crimes. The Reaper is eventually revealed as [[spoiler: psychology student Tess Goodwin, who uses hypnosis and subtle manipulation to have her targets kill people by convincing them that it's [[MadnessMantra "the right thing."]] Tess herself only murders one victim as part of a XanatosGambit to get herself arrested since the pinnacle of her research involves Detective Jones killing the player character at her command. Thankfully, Officer Ramirez saves the day before Jones can commit the crime.]]

[[folder: Visual Novels]]

** [[spoiler: Simon Keyes, the BigBad]] from ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations2'' only killed [[spoiler: one person, the Fake Di-Jun Huang]] directly; the rest were killed via [[spoiler: [[TheChessmaster by manipulating other people's emotions]] so that they ended up doing the killing for him. He]] even tries to exploit this trope by pointing out that [[spoiler: he [[LoopholeAbuse never actually told]] the people involved to kill anyone, he just gave them certain information and they simply reacted by committing murder.]]

[[folder: Web Videos]]
* ''WebVideo/PopCrossStudios'': Ulitus, the (initial) BigBad of ''WebVideo/TayrunsAdventuresAndBeastChronicling'', wants to KillAllHumans in his world and replace them with the dragons and beasts that he prefers, but despite being a powerful Overseer, Ulitus is [[AGodIAmNot not a god]], and he therefore is more limited in what ways he can kill humans by. To make up for this, he plans on using [[CharacterNarrator Tayrun]] as his UnwittingPawn by killing his only family members thanks to his PlagueMaster and WeatherManipulation abilities, and then encouraging Tayrun's growing cynicism and bitterness by [[BanOnMagic hiding the presence of magic from him]], until eventually Tayrun's cynicism turns him into a MisanthropeSupreme who would happily [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery kill all humans]] for Ulitus- after which Ulitus implies that he'd then decide YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness for Tayrun. Luckily for Tayrun, Ulitus' plans are derailed thanks to the unexpected arrival of [[SpannerInTheWorks Mikayla Maciel]], who successfully opens Tayrun's eyes to the reality of magic, and then teams up with over heroes to expose Ulitus' crimes and defeat the Overseer- whereupon Tayrun instead [[ExposeTheVillainGetHisJob replaces Ulitus]] and vows to undo all his atrocities upon their world.

* '''[[DrivenToSuicide Suicide]]:''' People being mistreated to the point of being DrivenToSuicide is all too common both in real life and in fiction, but some people are so rotten that they are responsible for multiple suicides. For Indirect Serial Killers, people's suicides are a byproduct of their horrible actions, but some actively go out of their way drive people to killing themselves, whether out of some kind of sadistic pleasure from tormenting people to the breaking point or as a way of keeping their hands clean.

* '''[[ManipulativeBastard Manipulation]]:''' Manipulating people to killing your enemies is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Some might use seduction, creating or exploiting feelings of love and/or lust to convince others to kill for them. Others might create or exacerbate feelings of hatred, envy, spite, or other negative emotions with the end result being one person murdering the other. Still others might use [[MaliciousSlander slander]], gossip, rumors, etc. to create lynch mobs that they can use to keep their own hands clean.

* Many ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fanfics [[AdaptationalVillainy portray]] [[AlphaBitch Lila]] as this; [[FandomSpecificPlot a common backstory for Lila]] involves one or more other students in her previous school(s) having [[DrivenToSuicide committed suicide]] as a result of Lila turning their friends against them or [[MaliciousSlander spreading rumors]] that destroyed their reputation. In some fanfics Lila is merely [[LackOfEmpathy uncaring]] about her victims, while in others, Lila ''actively goes out of her way to bully people into suicide.''

* ''Film/EightyEightMinutes'': Though Jon Foster was a SerialKiller (and rapist) of women in person, when he gets imprisoned for murder, he orders his LoonyFan, [[spoiler:Lauren]], to re-enact his murders so that he can go free or at least avoid execution.

** Abaddon is a twisted demon who can influence peoples insecurities and paranoia and uses it manipulate them into killing their loved ones.
** Rusulka is a demon who targets men in happy relationships with women. She possess the women and helps to manipulate the men into snapping and killing the women by preying on their minds.

* ''Literature/TonyHillAndCarolJordan'': "The Voice" from "The Torment of Others" aka [[spoiler: Detective Sergeant Jan Shields]] is an egotistical sexual sadist driven by an obsession with [[ControlFreak having absolute control over other human beings]]. To that end they brainwash the vulnerable Derek Tyler into being her "trained monkey" and has him brutally murder four prostitutes for her own pleasure. Following Tyler being arrested, the voice brainwashes another person to carry on their killing spree.

* ''Series/TheBlacklist'': "[[Recap/TheBlacklistS1E18MiltonBobbit Milton Bobbit]]": Milton Bobbit, aka "The Undertaker", is No. 135 on the Blacklist and specialises in running a MurderInc. Bobbit uses the fact he works at an Insurance Company to scout for [[TerminallyIllCriminal terminally patients and offers them financial security for their families if they become his paid assassins]] and [[MurderSuicide kill themselves after the assassination]]. Bobbit uses them to off anyone who were involved in a clinical drug trial that have left Bobbit and others terminal.

** In the two parter "[[Recap/CriminalMindsS4E25ToHell To Hell]]...[[Recap/CriminalMindsS4E26AndBack And Back]]" features [[EvilCripple Mason Turner]] a man paralyzed from the neck down who has his mentally handicapped brother Lucas kidnap and murder people and perform experiments on their corpses.

* ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'': "[[Recap/DiagnosisMurderS6E9MurderTimesFour Murder x4]]": Ernest Rogin heads an [[MurderInc assassination business]] which he disguises as an Insurance company. Rogin uses [[TerminallyIllCriminal terminally ill patients as his pet assassins]] to kill off anyone he's paid to get rid off.
* ''Series/{{Fargo}}'': In Season 1, mysterious hitman Lorne Malvo is fascinated by the search to find the weakness in everybody that he can exploit, to see what it takes to turn a civilized person into an animal. To this end he likes talking strangers into committing horrific acts of violence, and when they call him for help afterwards, he records their conversation on cassette tapes. He likes spending his leisure time playing back the evidence of their crimes. By the end of the season he has a whole suitcase full of tapes.

* ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'': While Hannibal is a SerialKiller, he also takes pleasure in manipulating people to kill. He sends Nicholas Boyle to confront Abigail while she's alone. When she panics and kills him in self-defense, Hannibal pretends to be helping her but also manipulates her with a view to controlling her. It's heavily implied that he sent the patient who attacked Bedelia after her, and then used her [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill overkill]] against her. He then also manipulated Will into murder.

* ''Series/LawAndOrder'': In the episode "[[Recap/LawAndOrderS5E12Progeny Progeny]]" former priest and anti-abortion activist Drew Seeley encourages his followers to kill abortion doctors, even acquiring and distributing the name and address of one of them. When said doctor dies, he denies any responsibility, although is openly gleefully about about how many dead doctors there are. Later in the episode he ends up confessing while using the justification defense in an attempt to further his anti-abortion cause. Unfortunately for Seeley, [=McCoy=] is able to tear this defense to shreds.

* ''Series/{{Luther}}:'' [[RetiredMonster William Carney]] aka "The Shoreditch Creeper" was already particularly vicious serial killer back in the eighties. In the present as a sick, frail old man in a nursing home, upon getting in contact with the disturbed Paul Ellis, the son of one of his victims, Carney manipulates Ellis into carrying on his killing spree, going after the victims who managed to escape him.

* Ryan O'Reilly from ''Series/{{Oz}}'' never kills anyone himself (except for one special occasion). His way of dealing with a prisoner he wants dead is convincing someone else that they should kill him, [[ManipulativeBastard and making them believe it was their own decision.]] He reveals to Patrick Keenan that this is his preferred way of killing people, but that he'll make an exception for him. By the end of the series, he's kills over a dozen people this way.
* ''Series/TheRookie'': Implied with [[ManipulativeBastard Jason Wyler]], Bailey Nune's [[DomesticAbuse abusive ex-husband]]. Whilst exact number of victims aren't given, [[KnowledgeBroker Oscar Hutchinson]] warns [[TheHero John Nolan]] not to take the fact their are no violent crimes associated with him as a sign he's not willing to use violence, as during his incarceration numerous inmates who crossed him ended up shanked by a third parties whom he "whispered into the ears of."

** "Bad Seed" see's Tony facing up against [[FalselyReformedVillain William McAdams]] aka Mack The Knife, a budding serial killer back in the seventies who was caught after disembowelling two women, and has been recently released as he's supposedly cured. In reality Mack is just as evil as ever, and now unable to carry out his own murders has found a vulnerable young man who is convinced is his son, and is using him to carry on his killing spree.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'': "[[Recap/TheXFilesS05E08Kitsunegari Kitsunegari]]": Robert Patrick Modell, a previous MonsterOfTheWeek with a CompellingVoice, seems to have changed his ''modus operandi'' to be this... [[spoiler:but in reality, it's the work of his lost fraternal twin, Linda, who attempts to use her own CompellingVoice to get Mulder to kill Scully.]]

* ''VideoGame/CriminalCaseGrimsborough'': The ArcVillain of the University cases is the Rorschach Reaper, so named because they leave Rorschach tests at the scenes of various crimes. The Reaper is eventually revealed as [[spoiler: psychology student Tess Goodwin, who uses hypnosis and subtle manipulation to have her targets kill people by convincing them that it's [[MadnessMantra "the right thing."]] Tess herself only murders one victim as part of a XanatosGambit to get herself arrested, since the pinnacle of her research involves Detective Jones killing the player character at her command. Thankfully, Officer Ramirez saves the day before Jones can commit the crime.]]

** Redd White was a CorruptCorporateExecutive who would use his company, Bluecorp, to dig up dirt on people, and {{blackmail}} said people for money; if they didn't or wouldn't pay up, Bluecorp would release their secrets. Many of White's victims committed [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]] because of this, and [[SexyMentor Mia Fey]] [[MentorOccupationalHazard was killed by White directly]] [[HeKnowsTooMuch for discovering the connection between the suicides and Bluecorp]].
** Manfred Von Karma is a [[AmoralAttorney corrupt prosecutor]] who obtained a 40-year winning streak of guilty verdicts with dishonest tactics such as forging and destroying evidence, [[JuryAndWitnessTampering bullying witnesses]], and forcing {{False Confession}}s out of people; [[spoiler: he's confirmed to have directly killed only one person, Gregory Edgeworth,]] and while it's never stated if anyone died as a result of his corrupt tactics, it is certainly [[ImpliedTrope heavily implied]].

** In ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney 2: Resolve'', the BigBad [[spoiler:Mael Stronghart prides himself as to having technically have "done nothing wrong" when revealed to have been the mastermind behind all the major conspiracies of the game. He blackmailed, pressured and manipulated many people involved in the Justice system unto killing his targets and covering up his crimes to rise up to power, planning to get rid of the crime that was plaguing London no matter the cost. He uses this to his advantage by manipulating the court in the final case of the game, telling him how even though he has commited crime, it was necessary to build the strong Justice system it was as of today, [[NearVillainVictory almost managing to weasel himself out of it]].]]

[[/folder]]

[[/folder]]
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'''Indices:'''
MurderTropes
ChoosingDeath
{{Villains}}

SubTrope of SerialKiller (obviously). Compare MurderByInaction and PsychicAssistedSuicide.

* ''VideoGame/TheCatLady'': Adam is a paralysed young man who can only communicate with eye movements, his father helped set up a system for him to use this to interact with technology. He uses this to go on the internet and convince people to kill themselves. He also somehow convinced his father to set up a device that will release poison gas in their homes as a failsafe measure in case anyone comes to stop him, he uses this to try and kill the protagonist and her friend but it ends up killing only his father.