History Main / PacifismBackfire

One of the many ways to CreateYourOwnVillain. May stem from GoodCannotComprehendEvil. Compare HeadInTheSandManagement, which sometimes overlaps with this, and TheFarmerAndTheViper (aka "Hospitality Backfire"). Compare also WeHaveBecomeComplacent when a community that has never experienced war for a long time is forced into a war situation and they are unable to fight back. See also NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished, NiceJobBreakingItHero, SuicidalPacifism, and NeutralityBacklash. SurrenderBackfire is similar, where one who willingly gives up to the enemy has worse results than fighting back.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', with the background of [[ProudWarriorRace Mandalore's bloody past]], Duke Adonai Kryze ushered Mandalore in an age of the New Mandalorians, who follow {{Actual Pacifist}} ideology (with exceptions such as self-defense). After his death in the recent civil war that took place over ten years before the present, his eldest daughter Duchess Satine continues his ideals by having Mandalore lead the neutral side of the Clone Wars, albeit struggles to do so with pressures from the war as well as internal pressures from nationalist-extremists who are upset over their loss of culture, which causes Mandalore to be stepped on by the Republic, the Separatists, and Death Watch on numerous occasions. This conflict eventually leads to another civil war that leaves Mandalore vulnerable, which ultimately ends with the planet being occupied by the Republic and later made into a colony for several decades after the Republic transitioned into the Galactic Empire. As some viewers have pointed out, this might've been less of a problem if Satine had chosen to let Mandalorian principles continue in some way while establishing other rules that could keep the troublemakers in check, instead of doing things like exiling anyone who wants to preserve the warrior culture.

** Other authors take a more sympathetic stance, attributing his choices to being sheltered and raised by an [[AbusiveParents emotionally abusive]] ControlFreak. They also tend to point out that Marinette didn't inform him of Lila's threats, having him realize and recognize his mistakes by seeing firsthand just how awful Lila is (or by having Marinette tell the full story to Chat Noir), triggering a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment where he works to redeem himself by attempting to take down Lila. Examples of this type include ''Fanfic/JerkInSheepsClothing'',''Fanfic/MarinetteDupainChengsSpitePlaylist'', and ''Fanfic/TellingLiesNoMama''.

* This trope applies to Adrien Agreste in many ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' "[[AccuationFic Salt fics]]" following the events of "Chameleon", where he asks Marinette not to expose Lila’s BlatantLies of glamour and grandiose to their clueless classmates to avoid her getting akumatized. There are [[DependingOnTheWriter many different interpretations of his advice from fanfic writers]]. Some bitter fans use this ill-fated advice to write him off as a DirtyCoward who [[BetrayalByInaction blatantly ignores the harm Lila's lies cause, even when he sees Marinette being bullied and ostracized by the class]], and often have ended their stories with him being ostracized himself, stripped of his Miraculous, put back in homeschooling to be all alone, and/or rejected by Ladybug and all his other love interests except Lila. Other writers are kinder to Adrien, remembering other details in the episode and/or series, like how Adrien is [[AbusiveParent emotionally abused by his father]] and how Marinette conveniently left out Lila's bullying threats to her when she found out Adrien knew of her lies as well. They write him finding out just how bad Lila is, perhaps through a balcony visit to Marinette as Chat Noir, where she gives him the full story she kept from Adrien. After that, Adrien has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment and works harder to redeem himself, working to take down Lila, or at least trying his best to.
** Examples of the former version: ''BurningBridgesBuildingConfidence''; ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies''; ''Fanfic/RaiseYourVoiceAgainstLiars''
** Examples of the latter version: ''Fanfic/JerkInSheepsClothing''; ''Fanfic/MarinetteDupainChengsSpitePlaylist''; ''Fanfic/TellingLiesNoMama''

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** Just before the start of the [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 Digimon World Tour]], The digidestined are attacked by group known as the Daemon Corps. While they initially try to talk to them, thinking them as lost digimon similar to others, this notion is immediately dashed, with the opposing forces attacking the city with gleeful abandon. While Yolei and Cody still try to talk them down, the other digidestined realize that they have no choice but to put them down much the former's horror. Thus learning that sometimes lethal force is necessary.
** Henry Wong of ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' has his ardent refusal to have his partner Terriermon fight (caused by a traumatic event in their shared past where Henry's choices got Terriermon nearly fatally hurt) nearly get both of them plus Takato and Guilmon killed. And it ''still'' takes him a while to get comfortable with the idea of fighting sometimes being necessary. Episode 45 (The dub anyway) reveals that this is due to using his martial arts to hurt a neighborhood kid, it's never revealed whether it was justified or not, which scared him so much he decided that fighting at all was never good.

* This trope applies to Adrien Agreste in many ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' “salt” fics following the events of “Chameleon”, where he asks Marinette not to expose Lila’s BlatantLies of glamour and grandiose to their clueless classmates to avoid her getting akumatized. There are [[DependingOnTheWriter many different interpretations of his advice from fanfic writers]]. Some bitter fans use this ill-fated advice to write him off as a DirtyCoward who [[BetrayalByInaction blatantly ignores the harm Lila’s lies cause, even when he sees Marinette being bullied and ostracized by the class]], and often have ended their stories with him being ostracized himself, stripped of his Miraculous, put back in homeschooling to be all alone, and/or rejected by Ladybug and all his other love interests except Lila. Other writers are kinder to Adrien, remembering other details in the episode and/or series, like how Adrien is [[AbusiveParent emotionally abused by his father]] and how Marinette conveniently left out Lila’s bullying threats to her when she found out Adrien knew of her lies as well. They write him finding out just how bad Lila is, perhaps through a balcony visit to Marinette as Chat Noir, where she gives him the full story she kept from Adrien. After that, Adrien has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment and works harder to redeem himself, working to take down Lila, or at least trying his best to.

** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode " The Survivors", the crew comes across a Douwd, a near Q-level race. He just wanted to live in peace with his human wife, so he retired to a small colony planet. A group of Husnock (another alien race) attacked but the Douwd are all pacifists so he didn't join the fight. The attacking Husnocks killed everyone else on the planet, including his wife, so in retaliation, he killed every member of the Husnock ''everywhere in the universe''.

** In an episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' the crew comes across a Douwd, a near Q-level race. He just wanted to live in peace with his human wife, so he retired to a small colony planet. A group of Husnock (another alien race) attacked but the Douwd are all pacifists so he didn't join the fight. The attacking Husnocks killed everyone else on the planet, including his wife, so in retaliation, he killed every member of the Husnock ''everywhere in the universe''.

* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'': Balian refuses to betray and kill his prospective liege (and political enemy), the warmongering Guy de Lusignan because of chivalric HonourBeforeReason. Had he done so, he'd be free to marry Guy's wife Sibylla and hopefully negotiate a peaceful settlement with the Saracens. Instead, Guy seizes power and declares war, leading to many more deaths at the disastrous Battle of Hattin and the following Siege of Jerusalem.

* ''Fanfic/ANorthernDragoness'': Baelor's particular interpretation of the Faith of the Seven has led him to refuse to appoint a Master Of Laws (despite the fact that the Father's domain includes justice) and to apologize to Dorne and bribe them to make peace after they broke hospitality and killed several of his kin. This has undermined the already fragile Tagareyn authority and is threatening to plunge the realm back into civil war.

* [[http://www.snopes.com/college/homework/writing.asp There's a piece of Internet humor floating around]] where a StrawFeminist and a StrawMisogynist are partnered up for a school project and tasked with taking turns writing segments for a tandem story. The girl is focused on writing a bad, PurpleProse-laden ChickFlick, the boy on a cheesy, juvenile sci-fi action movie, and each segment of their "story" spitefully derails the previous one's plot. When the girl abruptly ends the boy's AlienInvasion plot with peace talks, the boy retaliates by writing in a ''second'' AlienInvasion that the now-demilitarized Earth is powerless to resist, ending both all life on Earth and the "story" itself, as both sides degenerate into complaining and name-calling.

* [[http://www.snopes.com/college/homework/writing.asp There's a piece of Internet humor floating around]] where a StrawFeminist and a StrawMisogynist are tasked with taking turns writing a story. The woman writes a bad ChickFlick, the man a cheesy sci-fi action movie, with each one derailing the previous one's plot: the woman's character ends the man's MartyStu rampage with peace talks, the man uses this trope to write another AlienInvasion, until both degenerate into name-calling.

* In ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'', Vash the Stampede will ''not'' kill his enemies... nor hurt them in any major way... and the show takes great pains to show that it's a noble calling, but possibly misguided considering the CrapsackWorld circumstances (Vash's body is a mass of scars, the sixty billion double dollar bounty (until it's removed) means that anybody with a gun and a desperate need of money (which is practically the whole planet) is out to get him, he's constantly arguing with his companions (or at least Wolfwood) about the usefulness/futility of his ThouShaltNotKill code, the QuirkyMinibossSquad and the BigBad are out to make Vash suffer by any means possible, which usually involves killing everything that moves [[AndYourLittleDogToo and going the extra mile with anybody that Vash so much as gave the time of the day to]], increasing in cruelty/kill count up to ApocalypseHow levels as the series goes on...)

** Just before the start of the [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 Digimon World Tour]], The digidestined are attacked by group known as the Daemon Corps. While they initially try to talk to them, thinking them as lost digimon similar to others, this notion is immediately attacking the city with gleeful abandon. While Yolei and Cody still try to talk them down, the other digidestined realize that they have no choice but to put them down much the former's horror. Thus learning that sometimes lethal force is necessary.

** Just before the start of the [[DigimonAdventure02 Digimon World Tour]], The digidestined are attacked by group known as the Daemon Corps. While they initially try to talk to them, thinking them as lost digimon similar to others, this notion is immediately attacking the city with gleeful abandon. While Yolei and Cody still try to talk them down, the other digidestined realize that they have no choice but to put them down much the former's horror. Thus learning that sometimes lethal force is necessary.

** Just before the start of the Digimon World Tour, The digidestined are attacked by group known as the Daemon Corps. While they initially try to talk to them, thinking them as lost digimon similar to others, this notion is immediately attacking the city with gleeful abandon. While Yolei and Cody still try to talk them down, the other digidestined realize that they have no choice but to put them down much the former's horror. Thus learning that sometimes lethal force is necessary.

* In ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'', some enemies, if you take the pacifist route and spare them, can be encountered later. Several of them have reformed, though some of them have not. In one particular instance, [[spoiler:Ekun can be convinced to spare the children of [[CrusadingWidower a troll who killed his wife and family]]. If you do, the trolls will show up later, having joined Irovetti's army and killed more people in the process. Ekun will sourly note that he was right all along as you put them down.]]

* In ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'', Vash the Stampede will ''not'' kill his enemies... nor hurt them in any major way... and the show takes great pains to show that it's a noble calling, but possibly misguided considering the CrapsackWorld circumstances (Vash's body is a mass of scars, the sixty billion double dollar bounty (until it's removed) means that anybody with a gun and a desperate need of money (which is practically the whole planet) is out to get him, he's constantly arguing with his companions (or at least Wolfwood) about the usefulness/futility of his ThouShaltNotKill code, the QuirkyMinibossSquad and the BigBad are out to make Vash suffer by any means possible, which usually involves [[KillEmAll killing everything that moves]] [[AndYourLittleDogToo and going the extra mile with anybody that Vash so much as gave the time of the day to]], increasing in cruelty/kill count up to ApocalypseHow levels as the series goes on...)

* ''Film/MarsAttacks''. The U.S. tries twice to make peaceful contact with the Martians. The first time, the Martian ambassador and his soldiers [[CurbStompBattle wipe out the U.S. Army forces at the meeting site]]. The second time the Martian ambassador asks to address Congress. While he's doing so he and his soldiers [[KillEmAll destroy everyone there]]. Later on, the French government tries the diplomatic approach: not surprisingly, [[RuleOfThree it ends in a bloodbath]].

** What's [[FromBadToWorse worse]], [[StupidGood he doesn't learn from this mistake]]. In the tie-in novel ''Before the Storm'' he tries to pull the same stunt after [[YouAreInCommandNow becoming]] [[YoungAndInCharge King]] with [[OmnicidalManiac Sylvanas Windrunner]] - a woman who has [[CardCarryingVillain explicitly stated]] that she wants to bring an end to ''[[KillEmAll all life]]'' on Azeroth so that they can join her in Undeath - and also because of her prevailing philosophy of BewareTheLiving. An attempted truce [[ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime (which was initially started with good intentions from both sides)]] looked like it was working, and then [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes completely]] awry thanks to Sylvanas's [[ProperlyParanoid paranoia]] and [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centred perspective]].

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': In the books (in contrast to the films), after the siege of [[spoiler:Orthanc]], [[spoiler:Sauruman]] is permitted to go free. This allows him to make his way to [[spoiler:the Shire]] and take it over. [[spoiler: His ''eventual'' fate (murdered by Gríma) is still the same, though -- he just causes a lot more damage first.]]

* In the Thomas Dixon novel ''Fall of a Nation'', a combined suffragette/pacifist movement not only keeps the United States out of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI but also slashes its military. The war ends in a negotiated stalemate... and then the combined armies of Europe invade the United States! Mind you, this ''is'' the author of ''[[Film/TheBirthOfANation1915 The Klansmen,]]'' so ValuesDissonance may apply.

* In the Thomas Dixon novel ''Fall of a Nation'', a combined suffragette/pacifist movement not only keeps the United States out of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI but also slashes its military. The war ends in a negotiated stalemate... and then the combined armies of Europe invade the United States! Mind you, this ''is'' the author of ''[[Film/BirthOfANation1915 The Klansmen,]]'' so ValuesDissonance may apply.

* In the Thomas Dixon novel ''Fall of a Nation'', a combined suffragette/pacifist movement not only keeps the United States out of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI but also slashes its military. The war ends in a negotiated stalemate... and then the combined armies of Europe invade the United States! Mind you, this ''is'' the author of ''[[Film/BirthOfANation The Klansmen,]]'' so ValuesDissonance may apply.

* In the Thomas Dixon novel ''Fall of a Nation'', a combined suffragette/pacifist movement not only keeps the United States out of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI but also slashes its military. The war ends in a negotiated stalemate... and then the combined armies of Europe invade the United States!

** Also in ''Tamers'', the group fights over whether or not to allow their partners to use their CannibalismSuperpower and [[ExperiencePoints absorb the data of defeated Digimon]], eventually deciding not to in the hopes that the ones too violent to be spared would be [[BornAgainImmortality reborn elsewhere]]. It's eventually revealed at the Chuchidramon village that this is ''not'' the case, and they've only weakened themselves for the battles ahead.