History Main / SuicidalPacifism

* Winston Churchill accuses Neville Chamberlain and Lord Hallifax of this in ''Film/DarkestHour'', over their insistence of trying to negotiate peace with the Nazis.

* In ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'', the {{Kid Hero}}es [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman draw no distinction between organic and digital life]] and [[DeconstructedTrope in contrast to the kill-or-be-killed battles of previous series]], attempt TalkingTheMonsterToDeath by any means necessary. This backfires when they start encountering {{mons}} that [[CerebusSyndrome refuse to listen to reason]], and they're called out by several Digimon for endangering themselves & others through their refusal to use lethal force. Unlike most examples, the kids realize that they can't sustain this forever and later on become willing to kill Digimon who have to be killed (albeit reluctantly), as seen in the case of Digitamamon, [[spoiler:Angoramon's former friend who degenerated into a SerialKiller]], and [=RareRaremon=], a mindless {{kaiju}} that was threatening a ZombieApocalypse. They also don't object when other Digimon go for the kill or sentence awful Digimon to a FateWorseThanDeath instead.

* In ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'', the {{Kid Hero}}es [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman draw no distinction between organic and digital life]] and [[DeconstructedTrope in contrast to the kill-or-be-killed battles of previous series]], attempt TalkingTheMonsterToDeath by any means necessary. This backfires when they start encountering {{mons}} that [[CerebusSyndrome refuse to listen to reason]], and they're called out by several Digimon for endangering themselves & others through their refusal to use lethal force. Unlike most examples, The kids realize that they can't sustain this forever and later on becomes willing to kill Digimon who have to be killed (albeit reluctantly), as seen in the case of Digitamamon, [[spoiler:Angoramon's former friend who has degenerated into a SerialKiller]], and [=RareRaremon=], a mindless {{kaiju}} that was ''threatening a ZombieApocalypse''. They also don't object when other Digimon go for the kill or sentence awful Digimon to a FateworseThanDeath instead.

* In ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'', the {{Kid Hero}}es [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman draw no distinction between organic and digital life]] and [[DeconstructedTrope in contrast to the kill-or-be-killed battles of previous series]], attempt TalkingTheMonsterToDeath by any means necessary. This backfires when they start encountering {{mons}} that [[CerebusSyndrome refuse to listen to reason]], and they're called out by several Digimon for endangering themselves & others through their refusal to use lethal force. Unlike most examples, TheLeader [[AllLovingHero Hiro]] realizes that he can't sustain this forever [[spoiler:especially after having unwittingly helped Angoramon kill his EvilFormerFriend Digitamamon]] and tries asking his AbsentMindedProfessor father who's lived among Digimon longer than he has for advice, but doesn't get much help. He even hesitates in the case of [=RareRaremon=], a mindless {{kaiju}} that was ''threatening a ZombieApocalypse''.

** Anakin, his apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, and some of their troops crash-land on Maridun, where they encounter a village of refugees. When the Separatists arrive, their leader blames the Republic for bringing them there and refuses to fight them for any reason. And when they are told that the Separatists are going to use their village as target practice, he decides to just sit there and let it happen. Some of the younger Lurmen go against his wishes and help the Republic forces defend their village though, meaning that this is was caused by a ruling ideological dogma, rather than it being a PlanetOfHats trait. This is egregious for two reasons. One is that, realistically, they should try to ''run away'' instead of fighting, due to Fight or Flight instincts (the leader does not indicate that he thinks the protagonists are lying about the attack). Secondly, the forces attacking the village ''[[MechaMooks are droids]]'', removing any ThouShaltNotKill justification. Also, this is just as much an example of a StrawCharacter.

* ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' has both Cell and Android 16 call Gohan on this trope, pointing out that he's refusing to fight even when it will mean the end of the world and everyone he loves.

* In ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'', the {{Kid Hero}}es [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman draw no distinction between organic and digital life]] and [[DeconstructedTrope in contrast to the kill-or-be-killed battles of previous series]], attempt TalkingTheMonsterToDeath by any means necessary. This backfires when they start encountering {{mons}} that [[CerebusSyndrome refuse to listen to reason]], and they're called out by several Digimon for endangering themselves & others through their refusal to use lethal force. Unlike most examples, [[AllLovingHero Hiro]] realizes that he can't sustain this forever [[spoiler:especially after having unwittingly helped Angoramon kill his EvilFormerFriend Digitamamon]] and tries asking his AbsentMindedProfessor father who's lived among Digimon longer than he has for advice, but doesn't get much help.

* Celia from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has shades of this. She's perfectly willing to use her flight to help others survive, but won't harm anyone alive even when they're trying to kill her and reanimate her corpse as a golem (she will zap golems, [[UnwantedAssistance but that just made things worse]]). She also has no problem using her lightning zappy beams to create an impressive display as a setup to legally negotiating her way out of the situation. It's lampshaded and justified in-universe as something almost akin to BlueAndOrangeMorality; as an Outsider[[note]]that is, a native denizen of a plane of existence other than the Prime Material -- Celia is a sylph, a race that looks like human-sized fairies of the "bug-winged elf" style which are native to the Elemental Plane of Air[[/note]], Celia will [[TheNothingAfterDeath fade away into nothing upon dying]] and cannot be restored. As such, all Outsiders in the Order of the Stick's multiverse are naturally averse to killing, unless they're evil. By comparison, humanoids treat death far more lightly, because they ''know'' for an objective fact that not only will their souls survive after death in one of myriad personally tailored paradises, but magic also exists that can almost casually revive those slain by violence. So, to a humanoid, death and killing are far less of a moral "deal" than they are to an Outsider. For her part, Celia thinks that respect for life is the norm, and it's really only villains and adventurers that deal out death so casually.

* [[UsefulNotes/DichterAndDenker German philosopher]] Oswald Spengler claimed in ''Literature/TheDeclineOfTheWest'' that this meant the preference of slavery over death (by fighting). As he explained: at the battle of Cannae, 50,000 Roman soldiers died. When the Mongols overran the metropolises of China and the Muslim world, the population didn't want to fight them, and hundreds of thousands of people died. Per metropolis, that is. The example of the Mongols is actually subverted: those cities who capitulated without a fight were generally spared widespread slaughter, and largely peacefully incorporated into the Empire. It was the ones who fought back who [[MakeAnExampleOfThem would be massacred as an example to the rest]]. This was common at the time elsewhere as well.

* In ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'', the {{Kid Hero}}es [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman draw no distinction between organic and digital life]] and [[DeconstructedTrope in contrast to the kill-or-be-killed battles of previous series]], attempt TalkingTheMonsterToDeath by any means necessary. This backfires when they start encountering {{mons}} that [[CerebusSyndrome refuse to listen to reason]], and they're called out by several Digimon for endangering themselves & others through their refusal to use lethal force.

* In ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'', the {{Kid Hero}}es [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman draw no distinction between organic and digital life]] and [[DeconstructedTrope in contrast to the kill-or-be-killed battles of previous series]], attempt TalkingTheMonsterToDeath by any means necessary. This backfires when they start encountering {{mons}} that [[CerebusSyndrome refuse to listen to reason]], and they're called out by several Digimon for endangering themselves & others through their refusal to use lethal force before learning that sometimes ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer.

* In ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'', the {{Kid Hero}}es [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman draw no distinction between organic and digital life]] and [[DeconstructedTrope in contrast to the kill-or-be-killed battles of previous series]], attempt TalkingTheMonsterToDeath by any means necessary. This backfires when they start encountering {{mons}} that [[CerebusSyndrome refuse to listen to reason]], and they're called out by several Digimon for endangering others through their refusal to use lethal force before learning that sometimes ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer.

* An episode of ''Series/ThirtyRock'' has Jack, fed up with how much of a goody-goody [[IncorruptiblePurePureness Kenneth]] is, presents him with a moral dilemma by convincing him that they are trapped in an elevator with 8 other people, and there is only enough oxygen for 9 people. Then, he hands Kenneth a gun. Kenneth immediately [[AteHisGun puts the gun in his own mouth and pulls the trigger over and over]], demonstrating both that he would rather die than kill and that the gun wasn't loaded.[[note]]This is a rather [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness early episode]], before Kenneth is established to be immortal, as well as consequently possessing antiquated notions of who deserves to live.[[/note]

* The Sanc Kingdom of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing''. Its ruler was an ActualPacifist, but the country was crushed by the Earth Sphere Alliance. Interestingly, the narrative suggests that Actual Pacifism is a noble goal and ideal, but realistically you need to have ''some'' level of fighting capability, if only for defense against those who would abuse their power.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' the [[AnotherDimension Dimension of Lame]] (which is populated entirely by sickeningly sweet, naive, and innocent people) gets [[TheLegionsOfHell invaded by demons]] from the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Dimension of Pain]], who proceed to kill, devour, and rip out the souls of every human being who crosses their path. However, when a resistance group tries to organize, even the most psychotically violent individual on the planet can't do anything more than stub a demon's toe in self-defense without feeling unbearable guilt.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' the [[spoiler:Cleyrans]] have lived in isolation from the rest of the world (under the protection of an almost unbreakable natural defence) for so long that they have absolutely no self-defense skills at all. When they're attacked by the army of [[spoiler:Alexandria and their defence fails]], they naively try to reason with the soldiers and, unfortunately, die in droves.

* The citizens of Fisherman's Horizon in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' oppose the use of violence, maintaining their belief that conflict can and should be resolved through peaceful communication. When the army of the BigBad shows up to occupy the town, the mayor walks out alone to try to negotiate, refusing any help from the heroes with the argument that getting them involved will only escalate matters; he is nearly killed before the party intervenes. Notably, not everyone in town is of equal mind on the subject - Mayor Dobe's wife Flo is quick to change her tune and demand that the heroes do something about the situation when the soldiers start showing up.
* Discussed by Javik in one of his idle banters with Garrus on the Normandy in ''Videogame/MassEffect3''. Javik recounts that in his cycle, a race called The Syndril claimed to have found the path to eternal peace, but they were all wiped out by another race called The Ditakur who preferred war. And then there's the Reapers and their [[MoreThanMindControl indoctrination tactics]], which turned anyone who spend a long time in contact with them into this. Everyone who's indoctrinated will willingly drop down their weapons, convinced that the Reapers aren't here to wipe out all organic life in the galaxy and actively tries to sabotage any effort to stop them.

* Similarly, Norman Morrison, a Baltimore Quaker, self-immolated below Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's Pentagon office to protest U.S. involvement in the war.

* ''Series/MotherlandFortSalem'': Khalida rebukes Adil for using spells to kill two Camarilla when rescuing captured witch girls, saying even if maintaining their pacifism meant all of the Tarim died, they still shouldn't use violence.

* ''Series/MotherlandFortSalem'': Khalida rebukes Adil for using spells to kill two Camarilla when rescuing captured witch girls, saying even if maintaining their pacifism meant all of the Tarim died, they still shouldn't use violence.

This trope is about when they choose the latter, or at least they initially do. They often argue that fighting makes them NotSoDifferent from those threatening them and that HeWhoFightsMonsters [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim will become just like them]]. TheHero, if not also a pacifist, will likely treat the pacifists at best as [[HonorBeforeReason noble but foolish]] and at worst as TooDumbToLive. If he tries to argue that [[MartialPacifist peace and liberty must be defended]], the pacifists may respond that TalkingTheMonsterToDeath is more effective than fighting (to which the hero will respond that EvilCannotComprehendGood), or that any suffering they face -- including death -- is [[ThouShallNotKill preferable to killing]].

This trope is about when they choose the latter or some cases, they initially do. They often argue that fighting makes them NotSoDifferent from those threatening them and that HeWhoFightsMonsters [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim will become just like them]]. TheHero, if not also a pacifist, will likely treat the pacifists at best as [[HonorBeforeReason noble but foolish]] and at worst as TooDumbToLive. If he tries to argue that [[MartialPacifist peace and liberty must be defended]], the pacifists may respond that TalkingTheMonsterToDeath is more effective than fighting (to which the hero will respond that EvilCannotComprehendGood), or that any suffering they face -- including death -- is [[ThouShallNotKill preferable to killing]].

* In ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'' the monks who mastered the absurdly potent and dangerous [[SupernaturalMartialArts Ki Rata]] are sworn to never use it except to kill anyone else who tries to learn it (to be capable of doing so is why they practice it themselves). They hold to this principle so strongly the when their planet is attacked by the Demiurge Yemmod they refuse to do anything to stop him as he slaughters the people, razes the land, and ''destroys the sun''. The only thing they do is take in one refugee as an apprentice [[spoiler: who kills them for [[AccompliceByInaction their inaction]] once he's mastered the art]].

* In a short story in one of the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' [[ExpandedUniverse Field Guides]], Morningstar, a Clan leader refused to fight, afraid to see his warriors injured - even announcing publicly at a Gathering that they were too weak for him to sanction a fight and politely asking the other Clans to stop hunting in [=ThunderClan=] territory. Of course, this was an open invitation to the other Clans to continue hunting there, since they would not be driven off. Eventually the spirit of the leader's mate visits him and explains to him that they need to fight battles, and he agrees.
* ''Literature/TidesOfWar'' exaggerated [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft Baine Bloodhoof]], formerly a [[BewareTheNiceOnes docile tauren who turned ferocious when provoked]], into this. When Alliance soldiers were literally sieging onthe gates of Mulgore, the home of the tauren, Baine responded by banishing all tauren who [[CrimeOfSelfDefense defended themselves and Mulgore]].

** The Chee are a robot version of this. Their long-dead alien creators made is so they were unable to hurt anyone or take a life. This means that even when outright attacked, they can't use their incredible strength to fight back. When they're first introduced, some of the Chee are trying to change their programming; however, once one actually gets a chance to use their abilities, slaughtering a whole battalion of controllers, a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment ensues, and the option is never brought up again.

* Despite its reputation as a pro-pacifism show, ''Series/DoctorWho'' has occasionally included negatively-portrayed examples of this.

* ''Series/TheOutpost'': Talon's people were a group of Blackbloods who firmly believed that to kill anything (animals for food included) [[ThouShaltNotKill was wrong]]. Sadly, they were slaughtered by humans who empathically didn't share this view, with none fighting back.

* Celia from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has shades of this. She's perfectly willing to use her flight to help others survive, but won't harm anyone alive even when they're trying to kill her and reanimate her corpse as a golem (she will zap golems, [[UnwantedAssistance but that just made things worse]]). She also has no problem using her lightning zappy beams to create an impressive display as a set up to legally negotiating her way out of the situation. It's lampshaded and justified in-universe as something almost akin to BlueAndOrangeMorality; as an Outsider[[note]]that is, a native denizen of a plane of existence other than the Prime Material -- Celia is a sylph, a race that looks like human-sized fairies of the "bug-winged elf" style which are native to the Elemental Plane of Air[[/note]], Celia will [[TheNothingAfterDeath fade away into nothing upon dying]] and cannot be restored. As such, all Outsiders in the Order of the Stick's multiverse are naturally averse to killing, unless they're evil. By comparison, humanoids treat death far more lightly, because they ''know'' for an objective fact that not only will their souls survive after death in one of myriad personally tailored paradises, but magic also exists that can almost casually revive those slain by violence. So, to a humanoid, death and killing are far less of a moral "deal" than they are to an Outsider. For her part, Celia thinks that respect for life is the norm, and it's really only villains and adventurers that deal out death so casually.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarComTheUSSpaceForce'': Episode 8 features a farming community which is regularly plundered by bandits. The townsfolk hate being exploited this way, but their pacifist traditions prevent them from taking up arms to defend themselves, even though some of them clearly want to. They become {{Technical Pacifist}}s after discovering that they can use their solar mirrors to [[AttackReflector reflect the bandits’ own lasers back at them]].

* The most strict Jains would not use violence nor even in self-defense. Although this observance varies from sect to sect, is one of the reasons why is theorized that Buddhism spread much more internationally than Jainism as Buddhism has a more MartialPacifist approach.