History Main / Kneecapping

-->'''Hugh Dennis:''' "Get the [[https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Golden_Snitch snitch]]!" said Harry. "I'll tie him down and you can drill through his kneecaps."

[[caption-width-right:204:[[MemeticMutation Too bad it wasn't an]] [[VideoGame/Skyrim arrow.]]]]

Often used by a CombatPragmatist. Compare AgonyOfTheFeet for other mobility hampering injuries, and AnArmAndALeg for occasions when the legs are lost completely.

[[caption-width-right:204:Too bad it wasn't an [[MemeticMutation arrow.]]]]

-->-- ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', "War Stories"

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'': Slon gets shot in the knees near the end of season two of the anime.

** In the season 6 episode "Today I Do", a self-ascribed motivational speaker turned serial killer shatters the kneecap of her most recent victim with a hammer after the victim refuses to eat the popcorn she made for her. She later turns this into a self-help lesson, by teaching the victim to "walk in the face of adversity".
** In another Season 6 episode, "Into The Woods", one of the kid hostages helps the other flee by hitting the [=UnSub=]'s bad leg via log.

* In the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "War Stories", this is how [[BadassPreacher Shephard Book]] gets around the whole "don't kill" rule.

** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E14BadGirls Bad Girls]]", rookie Watcher Wesley Wyndam-Pryce tries to negotiate a HostageForMacGuffin trade, but the demon Balthazaar would rather pull off his kneecaps. Fortunately Angel does a BigDamnHeroes.
** In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' spin-off, Wesley has TookALevelInBadass so [[BadBoss does this to a Wolfram & Hart flunky]] in "A Hole in the World" because he's not putting his full attention into saving Wesley's LoveInterest.

* ''Series/LoveHate''. The IRA do this to Aido, kicking off the plot of series 3.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. John Reese's trademark combat tactic, to the point where his handiwork is instantly recognizable to anyone who's familiar with him. He frequently shoots assorted bad guys in the knee to stop them from pursuing him rather than killing them. Fortunately for him, his targets are almost always too busy clutching their knees and groaning to shoot at him from the floor. It eventually becomes the trademark tactic of ''everyone'' who [[ThouShaltNotKill uses a firearm in Team Machine]].
* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Runner", [=CI5=] are investigating The Organisation (an expy of the IRA but with Scots). [[CowboyCop Bodie]] roughs up one of them, so he tries sniping Bodie's knee with an Armalite in a retribution hit. Fortunately Bodie happens to walk behind something at that moment, so the shot misses.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''Film/{{Daredevil|2003}}'', the eponymous vigilante does this to the Kingpin, allowing him to overpower the villain [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking who has him outmatched up to that point]]. ''On both knees at once'' shall we add, and it's quite painful for the Kingpin.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', this is the general modus operandi of the [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins Penguin Mafia]]. You can even acquire one of their kneecapping sticks for your own use as a weapon.

* In ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', [[TheChick Kaoru]] ends up fighting [[CreepyCrossdresser Kamatari]] in a one-on-one matchup after Misao is taken out. Her final move (after her bokken and Kamatari's scythe are both broken) is to break Kamatari's kneecap with the handle of her wooden sword.

* In ''Film/{{Daredevil|2003}}'', the eponymous vigilante does this to the Kingpin, allowing him to overpower the villain. ''On both knees at once'' shall we add, and it's quite painful for the Kingpin.

* ''Film/DjangoUnchained'': [[spoiler:Django]] does this to [[spoiler:Stephen in the climax. [[UpToEleven BOTH knees]]]].

* In ''Film/ABetterTomorrow'', the character Mark gets shot in the knees in the restaurnat shootout scene.

** In ''Film/OnceUponATimeInMexico'', when the Mariachi finally confronts Marquez, he blows both of the evil general's kneecaps out with a sawed-off shotgun before delivering final vengeance by blowing his head off.

* Figure skater and Olympic hopeful Tonya Harding's then-husband attempted to help her [[JustForPun get a leg up]] on rival skater Nancy Kerrigan by paying off her bodyguard to attack Kerrigan's (right!) knee shortly before the 1994 Winter Olympics, in hopes of taking Kerrigan out of the competition. The attempt failed, since Kerrigan still won the silver medal; Harding came in 10th.

The act of deliberately damaging someone's knees to incapacitate them or limit their mobility. This can be performed by shooting the victim's kneecaps, or by striking them with kicks, melee weapons, or other up close and personal means.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In ''Ghosts of the Past'', sequel of ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Bucky Barnes demonstrates his proclivity for using this tactic to temporarily disable his opponent.
** And in chapter 30, Syrus was going to pull this on [[spoiler: Stevie]], a thirteen-year-old boy, with a MAC-10 machine pistol, out of sheer spite.

* In ''FanFic/NewKidOnTheBlock'', the Kid accidentally does this to Zoom. He wasn't expecting Zoom to be as breakable as he was.

[[folder:Film]]

-->'''[[Creator/MelBrooks Torquemada]]''': I asked in a nice way, I said pretty please! I bent their ears, now I'll work on their knees!

* In ''Literature/FeetOfClay'', Angua explains that dwarves are so prone to "running at people and trying to bite their knees off" that [[PoliceCodeForEverything the Watch have a code for it.]] Knees are in fact frequently mentioned as a favorite target of dwarves who've gotten into a fight with a larger being, at least when they're not [[GroinAttack aiming a little higher]].

* ''[[Literature/CiaphasCain Death or Glory]]'': Cain's guide assumes he can do whatever he wants (in this specific case, get sloshed on duty) because Cain needs him.
-->'''Cain:''' You can find water without kneecaps, can't you?
* In ''Literature/HorusHeresy'', during his escape, Vulkan stops Curze by breaking his knees with a giant power-hammer.

* In an early example, ''{{Literature/Winnetou}}'' I has an example of this when Old Shatterhand is forced into a rifle shootout with Indian chief Tangua. After Old Shatterhand announced to aim for his right knee - and after his own shot went wide - Tangua turned sideways in order to offer a smaller target. Of course, Old Shatterhand aimed for the right knee, hit it - and the left knee, as it was in a line with it.

-->'''Xandri''': Looks like my heart is still harder than your kneecap.

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': In the season 6 episode "Today I Do", a self-ascribed motivational speaker turned serial killer shatters the kneecap of her most recent victim with a hammer after the victim refuses to eat the popcorn she made for her. She later turns this into a self-help lesson, by teaching the victim to "walk in the face of adversity".

--->'''Darla''': So many body parts, so few bullets. Let's begin with the kneecaps. No fun dancing without them.

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

* "Leg attacks" in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' are a special maneuver in which an infantry platoon or squad of battle armor troopers try to inflict crippling damage on an enemy HumongousMecha's leg joints and artificial muscles...[[PersonalSpaceInvader by actually climbing or jumping onto the moving machine's legs and planting explosives and/or attacking with their carried weapons]] and [[PowerFist Battle Claws]] (the latter being exclusive to Battle Armor). It's not quite as inherently dangerous a move as it may sound, but it ''does'' first of all require avoiding the guns of a target with potentially superior mobility long enough to actually get that close, may not do as much damage as hoped, and leaves the attackers potentially vulnerable to a retaliatory GiantFootOfStomping.

'''Big Tony:''' ''(shoots him in the knee with a [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter Tombstone]])'' Now you got a shitty leg!

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* In a March 2011 ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'' there's a distant flashback that shows Jin, before she became part of the Chimera, being shot through the back of the knee with an arrow.
** It gets worse on the next page where her feet/ankles are knifed.

-->'''Mordecai''': That is how one reasons with Viktor.

-->'''Dank's Father:''' Kicked you out! But...our family's been graduating from Filtch's for generations!\\
'''Dank:''' What are you going to do--kneecap the principal?\\

* ''Series/{{Buffyverse}}'':

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':

** The demon Balthazaar also orders it done to Wesley in the episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E14BadGirls Bad Girls]]", but Wesley wiggles his way out of it.
** Possibly slightly ironic, Wesley does it to a guy at Wolfram and Hart in "[[Recap/AngelS05E15TheGirlInQuestion The Girl in Question]]", when he finds the guy isn't working to save Fred.

* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Runner", [=CI5=] are investigating a political terrorist group called the Organisation (apparently a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of the IRA). [[CowboyCop Bodie]] roughs up one of them, so he tries sniping Bodie's knee with an Armalite in a retribution hit. Fortunately Bodie happens to walk behind something at that moment, so the shot misses.

* In ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonTwo'', [[spoiler:Kenny]] kneecaps [[spoiler:Carver]], before starting to viciously whack his head to a bloody pulp with a crowbar.

In real life, it is often not the kneecap itself that is the target of these attacks, as opposed to the joint and tissue beneath it. A piece of CommonKnowledge is that kneecaps don't repair when broken/shattered. They do when treated properly, it just takes a ''very'' long time. Additionally, unlike in film and television, you would ''never'' actually aim to shoot out someone's kneecap or leg to disable a target in such a manner (see the RealLife section below).

* The Elongated Crushblat in ''[[VideoGame/{{Pikmin}} Hey! Pikmin]]'' is a flamingo-like creature with abnormally long legs. To reach its body, Olimar has to throw Pikmin at his feather-ornated knees to make it crouch, allowing him to throw Pikmins at it.

* Knee-capping was often used as a punishment by the IRA and other Northern Irish paramilitary groups. There were four versions of it: A) [[ThisIsADrill a drill]] B) putting a gun at the back of the knee and firing C) a sledgehammer, and D) [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill cinder blocks]], originating with Protestant terrorists and gleefully adopted by their Republican counterparts. Many patients from the UK and Ireland will travel to have everyday hip or knee replacement surgeries in Northern Ireland because the surgeons there... well, let's just say they've had plenty of practice.