History Main / LetsFightLikeGentlemen

* The various [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_war Laws of war,]] governing the conduct of belligerent nations. The big ones are against ''perfidy'': While DressingAsTheEnemy is allowed, fighting while dressed so is not allowed. [[ShootTheMedicFirst Attacking a vehicle or building bearing the Red Cross or a related symbol]] is not allowed, as is using such for combat purposes (storing ammo, or the like). Attacking someone bearing a white flag is disallowed, as is [[ISurrenderSuckers using it falsely]]. This can be problematic when fighting those who are the worst kind of {{combat pragmatist}}s, though these laws do take such dirtiness into account since force against the enemy is proportionate to the threat: Dirtier enemy tactics means higher threat which simply means hitting the enemy harder than ever before, and hiding ammunition or soldiers in protected areas means that area forfeits its protection and becomes a valid military target, allowing for more effective and indiscriminate attacks on the entire area.

* The various [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_war Laws of war,]] governing the conduct of belligerent nations. The big ones are against ''perfidy'': While DressingAsTheEnemy is allowed, fighting while dressed so is not allowed. [[ShootTheMedicFirst Attacking a vehicle or building bearing the Red Cross or a related symbol]] is not allowed, as is using such for combat purposes (storing ammo, or the like). Attacking someone bearing a white flag is disallowed, as is [[ISurrenderSuckers using it falsely]]. This can be problematic when fighting those who are the worst kind of {{combat pragmatist}}s.

** In the 2008 adaptation, ''Film/PrinceCaspian'', [[GuileHero Edmund]], presenting the challenge, takes part in the goading ([[DeadpanSnarker "So, you are bravely refusing to face a swordsman half your age."]]) and gives Glozelle and Sopespian the opening to push him into it. He does offer a pause, 'respite', for Peter to get fixed up after his shoulder is dislocated, but [[FauxAffablyEvil sardonically]], as a way of demonstrating his superiority. Furthermore, unlike the book, he ''does'' try to cheat, trying to get one of his underlings to assassinate Peter if the duel starts going poorly. When Peter starts getting the upper hand, he makes frantic expressions at said underling, who shows no signs of intervening. That being said, he ''is'' willing to FaceDeathWithDignity, telling Caspian to [[StrikeMeDownWithAllYourHatred prove he's worthy of being a Telmarine King]] after Peter wins and leaves his life in Caspian's hands.

** In the 2008 adaptation, ''Film/PrinceCaspian'', [[GuileHero Edmund]], presenting the challenge, takes part in the goading ([[DeadpanSnarker "So, you are bravely refusing to face a swordsman half your age."]]) and gives Glozelle and Sopespian the opening to push him into it. He does offer a pause, 'respite', for Peter to get fixed up after his shoulder is dislocated, but [[FauxAffablyEvil sardonically]], as a way of demonstrating his superiority. Furthermore, unlike the book, he ''does'' try to cheat, trying to get one of his underlings to assassinate Peter if the duel starts going poorly. When Peter starts getting the upper hand, he makes frantic expressions at said underling, who shows no signs of intervening. That being said, he ''is'' willing to FaceDeathWithDignity, telling Caspian to [[StrikeMeDownWithAllYourHatred prove his worthy of being a Telmarine King]] after Peter wins and leaves his life in Caspian's hands.

** Subverted quite brilliantly in one fight. When Vimes asks an angry blacksmith if he wants to fight by the rules, the blacksmith scoffs at him. Vimes responds by rapidly taking him down with dirty fighting moves.

* The wizarding world (and the supernatural world at large) has codified rules for dueling in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', mirroring ''code duello''. This comes up twice, first when Harry is challenged to a duel by Count Ortega of the vampire Red Court. [[spoiler:Ortega is all but winning when he reveals that he's cheating, and will kill everyone that's with Harry watching the duel, which gives Harry the heroic resolve to start winning, prompting Ortega to freak the hell out and cheat much more overtly.]] The second happens when Harry gets royally pissed at a couple of scheming White Court vampires, and demands a duel as redress. [[spoiler:He mostly gives a good account, but as soon as he starts winning, they cheat.]] It doesn't help that duels are to the death, either by design (using lethal weapons) or by result (demanding death as the outcome for a loss) giving the losing side little reason ''not'' to cheat if they don't want to die. And it turns out that there are very few beings, even nigh-immortal beings, that aren't afraid of death.

* In ''Film/DunePartTwo'', Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Creator/AustinButler) very much likes it when a WorthyOpponent presents himself to him and doesn't resort to dirty tricks in combat, which is the case against Paul Atreides/Muad'Dib (Creator/TimotheeChalamet) at the end. Earlier, during the Harkonnen GladiatorGames he's participating in for his birthday, he's pleased to find out that the final Atreides prisoner who's pitted against him is not drugged and thus presents something of a challenge. Feyd-Rautha even deactivates his own DeflectorShields for that fight.

* ''Literature/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'': The [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Otherworlder]] [[TheBerserker Shogou Taguchi]] derides [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Geld]] as a "coward" for wearing armor and demands him to drop his sword and shield to fight him hand-to-hand. Geld replies that his logic makes no sense since they're in the middle of a life-or-death battle and that there's nothing dishonorable about coming from an [[CombatPragmatist advantageous position]] against your enemy. If anything, it shows how seriously you treat them as a threat. Of course, Shogou was [[SubvertedTrope never actually interested in a fair fight]], he just wanted to see if he could trick the "pig" into dropping his gear. Eventually, however, Geld ''does'' drop his gear to fight with his bare hands [[spoiler:after Shogou's cowardness and jerkassery leads to butchering his allies for a powerup [[TranquilFury which pisses Geld off]]]], showing firsthand he ''didn't'' need it to deliver a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to his [[VillainsWantMercy now-begging opponent]].