History Main / LooksWorthKillingFor

A SuperTrope of VainSorceress and BloodBath. SisterTrope to ImmortalityImmorality. Contrast SoBeautifulItsACurse, in which a character's beauty brings them misery.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E143QueenOfTheNile Queen of the Nile]]", Pamela uses a scarab to suck the life force out of men and transfer it to herself to maintain eternal beauty.

->''I've really stopped at nothing''\\
''Murder, treachery and lying''\\
''Whatever it takes to keep my looks''\\
''You really can't blame a girl for trying''
-->--'''Yzma, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=374xW4zZbZA Snuff Out the Light,]]''' ''[[WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove Kingdom of the Sun]]''

[[AC:AnimeAndManga]]
* The ''Manga/JunjiItoKyoufuMangaCollection'' story "Flesh-colored Horror" has Chikara's mother and her macabre sense of beauty that she tries to inflict on her son. Her husband, now deceased, created a serum that causes the flesh to cleanly separate from the muscle and she becomes obsessed with this "perfect" new aesthetic. She tricks her sister into using the serum and then demands they treat Chikara as well. While his aunt sabotaged the formula to protect him, he's still regularly subjected to the grueling treatment process, turning the boy into a sullen, violent, diseased-looking wreck. The removable skin must be treated with brine to stay fresh, and it must be worn like a jumpsuit to prevent damage to the muscle.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* For a while in the late 1990s, ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' villain the Vulture used advanced technology to steal the youth and vitality of others in order to restore and maintain his own.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', Mother Gothel psychologically abuses Rapunzel so she will stay voluntarily in the tower, then becomes a PsychoKnifeNut when she escapes--all because she needs the magic in Rapunzel's hair to stay eternally youthful.
* As shown by the page quote, Yzma from ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' originally acted like this before her role was retooled, committing "murder, treachery, and lying" in order to find a potion that would give her eternal youth. She even wants to ''block out the sun'' in revenge for how it shriveled her skin and aged her.
* In ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman'', Ravenna restores her own youth and beauty by [[LifeDrinker draining them out of young village women who catch her eye.]] She also wants to eat Snow White's heart to gain immortality.
* The Sanderson Sisters in ''Film/HocusPocus'' drink the souls of children to extend their youth.
* This is the motivation that drives the plot in ''Film/DeathBecomesHer''.
* ''Film/TheLeechWoman''. June needs to murder men by getting at their sweet pineal gland juice along with a special African flower extract. The reverse happens when drinking a ''woman's'' pineal juice.

[[AC:Legends & Folklore]]
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bathory Countess Elizabeth Bathory]] is alleged to have [[BloodBath bathed in virgin's blood]] in the belief that it would keep her looking young.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* The book ''Literature/{{Fairest}}'' is basically all about this trope. Ivi, the new queen of Ayortha, basically blackmails the main character Aza into being her singing voice (as a beautiful singing voice is one of the most important things to Ayorthaians). And if her ''physical'' beauty is threatened in any way, you'd better watch out...

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In the episode "Queen of the Nile", Pamela uses a scarab to suck the life force out of men and transfer it to herself to maintain eternal beauty.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E12TheRoyale The Royale]]", the fictional villain of a simulator of a cheesy TheForties potboiler namechecks the trope after killing a lovestruck bellboy.
-->'''Mickey D:''' You shoulda listened to me, kid. No woman's worth dying for. Killing for. Not dying for.
* In the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode “Redux”, the heroes discover that Chrissy Parker has been draining the life force from her victims in order to stay young, and has been doing so for 80 years.
* An episode of ''Series/{{CSI}}'' featured a sufferer of a rare disease who ate other people's organs so she wouldn't be disfigured by it (it's left ambiguous as to whether it makes any difference). It's made clear she was using it to preserve her looks rather than her health to avoid making her UnintentionallySympathetic.

[[AC:TabletopGames]]

** Inverted by Lucius the Eternal of ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'''s Emperor's Children. He used to be the [[PrettyBoy most beautiful]] of them all, but after two fights broke his nose and scarred him, he started scarring his own face before every battle, and these days [[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/File:Luciusart.jpg is absolutely hideous]]. He also slowly reincarnates into whoever killed him.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* Reaver in ''VideoGame/FableII'' has made a DealWithTheDevil with The Shadow Court, rendering him immortal and perpetually young in exchange for him providing them with {{Human Sacrifice}}s.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', Penelope Spectra is a ghost who becomes Amity Park High's school counselor and purposely lowers the students' self-confidence, then uses their negativity to keep herself beautiful.

->''I've really stopped at nothing''
->''Murder, treachery and lying''
->''Whatever it takes to keep my looks''
->''You really can't blame a girl for trying''

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]

[[AC:Film]]

[[AC: Literature]]

[[AC: Live-Action TV]]

[[AC:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':

** Inverted by Lucius the Eternal of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'''s Emperor's Children. He used to be the [[PrettyBoy most beautiful]] of them all, but after two fights broke his nose and scarred him, he started scarring his own face before every battle, and these days [[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/File:Luciusart.jpg is absolutely hideous]]. He also slowly reincarnates into whoever killed him.

[[AC:Video Games]]