History Main / VillainsWantMercy

* ''Literature/TheMisfitOfDemonKingAcademy'': When Anos throws Emilia Lud(o)well to the ground of the arena following the murder attempt on his mother and fanclub who were all hybrid demons, he fatally wounds her and explains to her that she has around a minute to live. She initially does not beg, but he twists his blade which culminates in her begging for mercy as she is bleeding out with Anos telling her to be louder about it. Ultimately, he stabs her to death before reincarnating her into a completely naked HumanDemonHybrid to humiliate her.

Sometimes when the heroes defeat the BigBad, he [[GracefulLoser goes down gracefully]]. Sometimes [[GetItOverWith he realizes he's doomed and demands you stop fooling around]]. Sometimes he tries to [[TakingYouWithMe take the heroes with him]]. Sometimes the villain is so badass he just [[DefiantToTheEnd stays defiant]] and [[{{Determinator}} won't stop fighting]] until he's DeaderThanDead and [[UnwantedRescue sometimes a villain may rather die than accept charity or mercy from their enemies.]] [[WellThisIsNotThatTrope This trope is not about those villains]].

In popular works, such as ''Film/JamesBond'' and such, where killing the villain is considered standard operating policy, you will rarely, if ever, actually see someone begging for mercy and then be killed by the hero as the resulting MoodWhiplash would be too great and might result in the audience turning against the hero. Of course, there are always DarkerAndEdgier exceptions, such as with ''Series/TwentyFour'' and its licenced-to-kill lead character Jack Bauer. If the villain has been particularly merciless, than the refusal to give the requested mercy can be played up as a heroic moment, as the villain has just proven themselves to be a hypocritical coward who deserves whatever punishment the hero dishes out to them!

When the hero does this, it is AintTooProudToBeg. Also see PleaseIWillDoAnything. Compare ISurrenderSuckers if the villain uses the surrender to trick the hero. Contrast a version of EmbarrassingRescue where [[SaveTheVillain the hero offers or attempts to help the villain of his own volition]] and the villain refuses, preferring to die rather than accept help from his enemy. If the villain begs to be incarcerated to escape someone rather than begging for his life, it falls under PreferJailToTheProtagonist.

* A dark variation of this trope is in play in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'': [[spoiler:Shogo Akuji murdered Johnny Gat's girlfriend Aisha, then [[LastDisrespects crashed her funeral]] in order to start a fight with Johnny. This gets him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from Johnny Gat (after Johnny gave him a chance to simply walk away) that ends with the Ronin captain being tossed into a coffin. Shogo begs for a MercyKill instead of being BuriedAlive, but Gat and the Boss ignore him and silently bury him.]]

'''Bruce:''' Give me ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis one. Good. Reason]].''

** After being defeated, [[ScarySarecrows Cornrad]] tries to talk Crowdee out of dropping him to his DisneyVillainDeath. The crow ignores him as he does it.