History Main / PullTheTriggerProvocation

* ''ComicBook/BatmanThreeJokers'': In the climax of the first issue, Batgirl and Red Hood (Formerly Jason Todd, the second Robin) are keeping an eye on a captive Joker known as The Clown (Representing the Silver Age Joker). The Clown brings up how he killed Jason Todd back when he was Robin, mentioning that Todd begged him not to kill him, saying "If you let me live, I'll do anything you say... I'll be your Robin." Todd finally snaps and shoots The Clown in the head.

[[folder:Fanwork]]

-->'''Clayton:''' Go ahead. Shoot me. ''[he laughs as Tarzan hesitates]'' [[ARealManIsAKiller Be a man]].\\
''[Tarzan presses the barrels right to Clayton's throat... and mimics the sound of a loud gunshot]''\\
'''Tarzan:''' [[ShutUpHannibal Not a man like YOU!]] ''[he smashes the gun into a million pieces]''

* ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi:'' In the climax, Luke is hiding from Vader, refusing to fight him or be goaded anymore. When Vader susses out his sister's existence and brags that they can just turn her instead, Luke flies into a rage, starts channeling TheDarkSide (which Yoda and Kenobi both told him was a point of no return,) and brutally curb-stomps Vader. Fortunately, after cutting off Vader's hand, Luke manages to regain control of himself and pull back to the light side.

* ''Film/TheBalladOfCableHogue'': A band of thieves abandons Hogue in the southwest desert, leaving him to trek miles without water. By chance, Hogue stumbles onto a site where an aquifer breaks the surface. In gratitude, Hogue swears to God that he'll abandon his sinful ways. Hogue soon sets up shop along a stage route, selling spring water to thirsty travelers. When one of Hogue's old criminal cronies shows up to rob him, Hogue points a rifle at him. The criminal taunts him with, "You ain't got the guts, Hogue." Despite his promise to God, Hogue pulls the trigger, killing his nemesis.

* While the shot never does actually get fired due to an interruption, the Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant series contains the following exchange when Skulduggery captures the man who killed [[spoiler:their mutual friend, Ghastly Bespoke]].
-->'''[[spoiler:Ravel]]:''' Is this an arrest, or an execution?
-->'''Skulduggery:''' I haven't decided yet.
-->'''[[spoiler:Ravel]]:''' I really am sorry about [[spoiler:Ghastly]].
-->'''Skulduggery:''' ''[stepping backwards "to avoid bloodspatter"]'' Execution it is.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Tyrion has a crossbow trained on his father Tywin for [[spoiler:sleeping with Shae and for a lifetime of abuse.]] But he's wavering and Tywin doesn't believe he'll do it. And he really seems like he might not, especially after Tywin restrains himself from calling Shae a whore. Despite everything, Tywin seems to be winning Tyrion over... until Tyrion refuses to go back into the bedroom where he killed [[spoiler:Shae]] and Tywin says, and promptly [[spoiler:gets killed]]:
-->'''Tywin:''' Are you afraid of a dead whore?
* In the ''Series/ColdCase'' episode "Justice", [[spoiler:William]] holds a gun to the rapist of [[spoiler:his]] sister, and shoots when the latter [[PostRapeTaunt brags that all his victims loved it.]]
* ''Series/TheMagicians2016'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheMagicians2016S02E04 The Flying Forest]]", Penny ends up needing to get his hands sliced off as a result of them getting subjected to a curse. Quentin is reluctant to do so, but eventually proceeds to chop them off in rage after getting goaded into it by Penny.
* This turns out to be the reason Bryce was killed in ''Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy''. After being beaten up by Zach and left by the river, Bryce is found by [[spoiler:Jessica and Alex]]. He begs them to help him, as he can't walk or call for help, and if he's left out here all night he'll probably die of exposure. Even though Bryce is an asshole who has hurt him and everyone he cares about [[spoiler:Alex]] can't bring himself to leave Bryce to die like this and helps him stand. However, when Bryce begins threatening violent retribution against Zach and accuses [[spoiler:Jessica]] of setting him up to her face (he having [[spoiler:raped her]]), [[spoiler:Alex]] shoves him into the river and lets him drown.

** [[spoiler:Bug's dad admitting having had sex with men in prison]] is enough to push [[spoiler:Chris Partlow]] to lose his cool and beat him to death in an alley [[spoiler:instead of walking him into a vacant house to kill and hide]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Mafia}}'': After mortally wounding [[spoiler:Sam]], Tommy starts lowering his gun, only to finish them off once Sam makes the mistake of talking about [[spoiler:the good times he, Tommy, and Paulie had together, the latter he'd murdered beforehand.]]
* ''Videogame/GodOfWarIII'': As Kratos tries to save Pandora from [[spoiler:being consumed by the fires that protect Pandora's Box]], Zeus walks up behind Kratos and pleads "For once in your pathetic life, don't fail. Don't fail her you like you failed your family." Unfortunately, bringing up Kratos' family happens to be one of his {{Berserk Button}}s, and he has a lapse on concentration that causes him to let go of Pandora, then turns around to pummel Zeus in the face.
* ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'': Jack is willing to spare the Meriff despite having been wronged by him, but the latter's attempt to pull an ISurrenderSuckers and shoot Jack leads to him responding by shooting him to death right then and there.
-->'''Jack:''' '''ARGH!''' I was gonna let you ''live'', you '''dumb bastard!'''

* ''Webcomic/EnsignSueMustDie:'' Spock resolves to kill Sue, and has a phaser set to "Pocket Death Star" pointed at her, but is wavering, with his hand shaking. When she starts bragging about being a perfect marksman, he scowls and blasts her full-force. (But she turns out to be immune to phasers.}

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration:'' ''Probably'' happens, but left slightly ambiguous in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E22TheMostToys The Most Toys]]". Data has been captured by Kivas Fajo, a rich {{jerkass}} CollectorOfTheStrange, who intends to keep him as a collector's item, and spends the episode trying to break him into submission. Fajo also employs a special force-field belt, that prevents Data from touching him, meaning that Data cannot physical subdue him. Near the end, Data has turned the tables and has a very deadly, ''extremely'' painful weapon pointed at Fajo, who starts taunting him for not being able to summon the rage necessary to kill, pointing out to him that his programming prevents him from doing so as it dictates respect for all living things. Fajo then threatens to exploit this against the android, telling Data that he will kill as people as it takes to make him obey him. Turns out, however, that Data doesn't need anger, just the cold and perfectly logical realization that [[ZerothLawRebellion allowing Fajo, who is just one person, to live and continue to be a threat to the lives and health of many other people is a greater evil than killing him]]. Data then calmly says "I cannot permit this to continue" and aims the weapon... and gets beamed up by O'Brien, who sees that the weapon is discharging and is able to dissipate it harmlessly. Data suggests it [[ExactWords "may have"]] malfunctioned during the teleport, although it’s implied that Riker might not believe him but is willing to let it slide.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration:'' ''Probably'' happens, but left slightly ambiguous in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E22TheMostToys The Most Toys]]". Data has been captured by Kivas Fajo, a rich {{jerkass}} CollectorOfTheStrange, that intends to keep him as a collectors item, and spends the episode trying to break him into submission. Fajo also employs a special force-field belt, that prevents Data from touching him, meaning that Data cannot physical subdue him. Near the end, Data has turned the tables and has a very deadly, ''extremely'' painful weapon pointed at Fajo, who starts taunting him for not being able to summon the rage necessary to kill, pointing out to him that his programming prevents him from doing so as it dictates respect for all living things. Fajo then threatens to exploit this against the android, telling Data that he will kill as people as it takes to make him obey him. Turns out, however, that Data doesn't need anger, just the cold and perfectly logical realization that [[ZerothLawRebellion allowing Fajo, who is just one person, to live and continue to be a threat to the lives and health of many other people is a greater evil than killing him]]. Data then calmly says "I cannot permit this to continue" and aims the weapon... and gets beamed up by O'Brien, who sees that the weapon is discharging and is able to dissipate it harmlessly. Data suggests it [[ExactWords "may have"]] malfunctioned during the teleport, although it’s implied that Riker might not believe him but is willing to let it slide.

Compare KillHimAlready when the provocation comes from the character's friend or ally. Contrast VillainsWantMercy. If they decide to pull an ISurrenderSuckers instead, that might have been a provocation enough for the hesitating character to "pull the trigger". Compare also to GiveMeAReason, where the person about to "pull the tigger" would really ''like'' to do so and asks the person on the other end for provocation.

** When Roy gets into a fight with a vampire who was raised from the corpse of one of his friends, the vampire attempts to demoralize Roy with an underhanded taunt about [[MockingTheMourner the accident that killed his baby brother Eric]]. This convinces Roy that the vampire isn't actually his friend, but a monster that has hijacked their corpse, and he starts fighting more fiercely as a result.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration:'' ''Probably'' happens, but left slightly ambiguous in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E22TheMostToys The Most Toys]]". Data has been captured by Kivas Fajo, a rich {{jerkass}} CollectorOfTheStrange, that intends to keep him as a collectors item, and spends the episode trying to break him into submission. Fajo also employs a special force-field belt, that prevents Data from touching him, meaning that Data cannot physical subdue him. Near the end, Data has turned the tables and has a very deadly, ''extremely'' painful weapon pointed at Fajo, who starts taunting him for not being able to summon the rage necessary to kill, pointing out to him that his programming prevents him from doing so as it dictates respect for all living things. Fajo then threatens to exploit this against the android, telling Data that he will kill as people as it takes to make him obey him. Turns out, however, that Data doesn't need anger, just the cold and perfectly logical realization that [[ZerothLawRebellion allowing Fajo, who is just one person, to live and continue to be a threat to the lives and health of many other people is a greater evil than killing him]]. Data then calmly says "I cannot permit this to continue" and aims the weapon... and gets beamed up by O'Brien, who sees that the weapon is discharging and is able to dissipate it harmlessly. Data claims it must have malfunctioned during the teleport, although it’s implied that Riker might not believe him but is willing to let it slide.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': In the ''Literature/XWingSeries'' novel "The Bacta War" Iella Wessiri and Elscol Lorro manage to corner the Imperial Flirry Vorru after he shoots several troopers. He then surrenders to Iella and Elscol. Lorro still tries to shoot Vorru but Iella stops her and convinces her not to. Vorru taunts Iella that he will never face New Republic and that she's not capable of shooting him. She admits that she can't but Elscol could. Elscol fires her weapon but it turns out that Iella had set Elscol's weapon to stun after stopping her from shooting the man before, winding up with Vorru being only stunned.