History Main / YouWillBeSpared

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->"''You're a funny guy, Sully, I like you. [[BlatantLies That's why I'm going to kill you last.]]''"

If said to a hero, it may because they're [[FriendlyEnemy Friendly Enemies]]. An OmnicidalManiac may either express a desire to preserve one person or event that they like, or say that it's the one thing they'll miss after destroying the world. If they believe the person or people they spare have some sort of UniquenessValue, that's SparingTheAces.

** He also likes Joey, who will be killed last.
** Evil Bakura quotes the ''Film/{{Commando}}'' exchange with Pegasus.
* For ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'s'' Ladd Russo and Lua Klein, nothing says [[MadLove love]] like "I'll kill you last."
** Ladd also says something along those lines to Graham Spectre ("No, I won't...I like brazen and impudent guys that only I'm able kill"), at which point Graham [[HoYay starts fanboying him like nobody's business]].
* The BigBad of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' didn't ''say'' anything until he'd [[BatmanGambit already made his move]], but once they're the only two left alive he gives something along the lines of this trope to Van Hohenheim, "in gratitude for giving me life." Poor man had had [[GenreBlind no inkling]] Homunculus was evil until then, and they had even established in conversation that he was basically his father.
** This might help explain his somewhat ambivalent attitude toward his [[HotBlooded second]] and [[GentleGiant third]] sons. After one goes all OmnicidalManiac on you and [[WhatHaveIBecome turns you into]] an [[IAmAMonster immortal]] [[CatchPhrase monster]]...
* In ''AuraBattlerDunbine'', when the bad guys arrive on Earth announce their plan to conquer it, they say they will spare the city of Boston out of respect for one of their pilots who came from there.
* In ''{{Claymore}}'', the freshly resurrected and awakened Hysteria says that she'll spare any Claymore who removes the sword from her neck. One steps up and does so, and she keeps her word, avoiding that Claymore while slaughtering the rest. Also a prime example of EvenEvilHasStandards.
* In ''JojosBizarreAdventure'', Nazi officer Stroheim goes to a group of Mexican prisoners and makes them choose which one of them will [[{{Ghostapo}} be sacrificed to the "man in the column"]]. One boy stands up to offer himself to save the rest, and Stroheim is [[YouAreACreditToYourRace so impressed by his bravery]] that he chooses to spare him and kill the rest.

* ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'' - Peter and Kitty Pryde hit the mall on their first date and joke about the modern miracle that is the corn-dog on a stick. Kitty quips that when the mutants take over the world, the inventor of the corn-dog will be spared. She has to explain she was kidding when Peter looks nervous.
** [[ForeShadowing Little did they know....]]

* In the ''[[SaturdayNightLive Coneheads]]'' movie, this is what Mr. Conehead says to the woman who sabotages her driving exam in an attempt to start an affair with him. He won't sleep with her, but promises she'll be on the protected list once his people invade.
* In the first ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'' film, Megatron makes the offer to Sam: "Give me the Allspark, and you may live to be my pet."

--> ''Wicked Witch'': The last to go. She'll see the first three go before her.

* UrExample: In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', when Odysseus gives his name to the Cyclops as "Noman", the Cyclops says that he will eat "Noman" last out of thanks for giving him the wine. (It may or may not have been the giant's sick idea of a joke.)
** This also doubles as a [[KickTheDog kick the dog moment]] to make him evil enough that the audience can enjoy him getting brutally blinded later. Capturing, enslaving and killing intruders wouldn't make him particularly bad in the eyes of Homer's audience (eating them is a bit over the top, though). Deliberately insulting the holy laws of hospitality by expressly making this Odysseus' "guest gift" is sacriledge though, and that's a completely different matter.

* In the book ''AbrahamLincolnVampireHunter'' the main vampire--though not exactly a villain--would say, every time he and Abraham Lincoln met, and he didn't kill him--or the vampire would save him--he'd ask why and the vampire would say "Some people are just too interesting to kill." Then in the end, when Abraham Lincoln died [[spoiler: and the vampire brought him back as a vampire himself, he said, "Some people are just too interesting to let die."]]
* TheOnion's ''Our Dumb Century" features Hitler saying this about the Japanese.

* Because they had an unwitting hand in his genesis, a BigBad tells the {{Lexx}} crew that they will be [[OmnicidalManiac the last in the universe to die]].

* [[YoungDracula Ingrid]] tells her therapist this after the therapist helps her get past her VillainousBSOD. The therapist believes that her ability to make such jokes is a good sign.

* The first scene of the ''Series/{{Blade}}'' series pilot subverts the trope after Blade chases down a vampire in Russia and acquires some information from him at swordpoint.

* How Alquist ended up as [[TheLastOfHisKind the last human in R.U.R.]] After the robots took over the factory he was dragged before the one in charge, the usually human hating Radius, who took one look at him and told the other robots to leave him be because 'he works with his hands like a robot'.

* ''SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'' has OmnicidalManiac Gig, who mentions if he gets control over the hero's body he will destroy everything, ''"except maybe those hotpods. Those are good. I'll keep those."''
* Saren ''attempts'' to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' by making organics useful to the BigBad. Even though the whole point of what they were trying to do was to kill them all. [[spoiler: Saren was brainwashed into thinking he could actually have a few organics be spared so the next evolution of species/their own would be able to recover much faster.]] Then again, who would think that as the races of the galaxy would have a heads up?

* This is one of the taunts in [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquer Red Alert 2]]. The exact wording depends on the faction, ranging from "I promise amnesty for you and your troops" for the Americans, to "Surrender now and I'll kill you quickly" for the Cubans.

* [[SealedEvilInACan Axenos]] from {{Wizard101}} inverts this trope by combining it with MercyKill. Since the player (accidentally) releases him, he thanks them and promises to kill the first [[FateWorseThanDeath so they would be spared from witnessing the horrors he'd bring about on the Spiral]].
* VideoGame/WeaponLord has an interesting integration of this and GameplayAndStoryIntegration, as sparing an opponent instead of killing them in Story mode will force you to fight them again before fighting Zarak. Sparing certain people can also net you a different Story Ending.

* In ''Webcomic/PvP'', after horrifying him by StoryboardingTheApocalypse, Scratch reassures a quivering Skull that ''his'' death will be painless.
* ''VGCats'' plays with this [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=199 here]] with the [[PathOfInspiration The Church Of The]] OneWingedAngel [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Of Latter-Day Summons]].

* ''DominicDeegan'' uses this when Snow Song is thinking about how she'll destroy the town in a restaurant, but then the waitress gives her some chocolate cake on the house:

* BobAndGeorge [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/041121c For being entertaining opponents]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has Stewie, who has said this to Peter (Your death shall be quick and painless) when he turned off the mind-numbing Teletubbies show, and again to Flappy (Good news! I've decided not to kill you!) to let him know that his pancakes were satisfactory.

* This line from Dr. Robotnik in an episode of ''AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog''...

* The JusticeLeagueUnlimited episode ''Alive'' offers Darkseid's take:

* This is supposedly one of the reasons to worship {{Cthulhu}}. Upon his rising, cultists will be devoured first, sparing them what happens next.

* On ''[[{{Lolcats}} I Can Has Cheezburger?]]'': [[http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/08/12/funny-pictures-i-eets-yoo-last/ A promise made by a cute little tiger cub.]]

* In ''TheOnion''`s "Our Dumb Century", this is the Nazis' response when (as the headline says) ''Non-white Japan allies with White Supremacist Nazi Germany in Well-Thought Out Scheme''.

* On WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall, because he defeated someone who was a nuisance to it the Entity ''does'' save Linkara for last and lets him run and hide after [[spoiler: it absorbs everyone else]] - but it's waiting when he comes back out.

* Near the end of browser game ''WebComic/DemonThesis'', [[spoiler:EldritchAbomination Mesmerus begins crossing over from his dimension to our world thanks in large part to the main characters being his {{Unwitting Pawn}}s]] and states that the main characters will be killed quickly and at the same time, as that seems the most humane thing to do and he owes them that much for inadvertantly helping him as they have.

* This trope most likely lay at the heart of the cynical German-Japanese military alliance during WorldWarII from at least the Nazis' perspective (but possibly the Japanese as well). A paranoid, virulently racist, white supremacist country decides to team up against other enemies with a nation they probably deem subhuman when it gets down to it. [[http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/000120.html This article]] from ''Our Dumb Century'' puts it best.

* There was a persistent UrbanLegend floating around in the British media in the wake of the July 2007 suicide bombings in London about a woman stopping to assist a gentleman of Middle Eastern extraction with some problem or other -a lost contact lens, directions, whatever- and being told "don't take [[UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground the tube]] on $DATE". If this exchange ever took place in any form outside someone's especially vivid imagination, it was a subversion; none of the quoted dates ever seem to match up to a known terrorist plot, successful or otherwise, and the person dispensing this advice was almost certainly taking the piss.

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** We can one-up that one with the story of [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20441_6-people-saved-by-literally-last-person-they-expected_p2.html Ernest Hess]], a Jewish former soldier in Nazi Germany, who was spared from all persecution, harassment and even death by his former military subordinate... AdolfHitler. Yes. You read that right.

* A posthumous variant is employed in ''SamAndFuzzy'', in which [[spoiler:Mr. Blank]] states that he made [[spoiler:Mr. Black]]'s death as quick and painless as possible because the person in question "had earned it"... [[ToThePain But the person he's talking to is]] ''[[ToThePain not]]'' [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown going to be in for the same treatment]].
* In ''{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3047 a succubus to Crimney]].

* ''{{Friends}}'' has this exchange from Phoebe: ''When the revolution comes, I will have to destroy you all... except you, Joey.''

** Strange FridgeLogic: Phoebe and Joey are the poorest friends. The kind of "proletariat" revolution Phoebe presumably was alluding to would destroy all others: Rachel on account of being from a rich family, Chandler due to working for a large corporation, Monica and Ross for being somewhat-high-class (bourgeois). Joey is poor and "produces culture" (so to speak). None of the other Friends produce culture, nor do they work in the industry.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars "The Waters of Mars"]], The Doctor meets a woman in 2059 whom he knows is critically important to history. She reveals that the reason she's in space is because she was spared by a Dalek [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E12TheStolenEarth during their invasion of Earth fifty years earlier]]. She never knew why, but The Doctor knows that it's because of her importance to the future; she's a "fixed point in time".

* Right before the FinalBattle of ''[[VideoGame/EarthboundZero MOTHER]]'', Giygas offers to spare Ninten, and ''only'' Ninten, and take him back to Giygas' world [[spoiler:out of lingering sentimentality for Ninten's grandmother Maria who was Giygas' ParentalSubstitute when he was a baby.]] Ninten of course refuses, and the battle commences.

* As recounted by David Cullen, immediately before the [[{{UsefulNotes/Columbine}} Columbine High School shooting]] began this happened:

* As recounted by David Cullen, immediately before the [[UsefulNotes/Columbine Columbine High School shooting]] began this happened:

* As recounted by David Cullen, immediately before the Columbine High School shooting began this happened:

* In the ''Manga/DeathNote'' fic ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/616971/chapters/1112940 To Feel Alive]]'' Ryuk says this to Light, promising to make his death would be quick and painless--much to Light's annoyance.

* The first scene of the ''BladeTheSeries'' pilot subverts the trope after Blade chases down a vampire in Russia and acquires some information from him at swordpoint.
-->'''Blade''': You can go.
-->'''Vampire''': You are kidding, yes?
-->'''Blade''': Yes. [[OffWithHisHead *whack*]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E16TheWatersOfMars "The Waters of Mars"]], The Doctor meets a woman in 2059 whom he knows is critically important to history. She reveals that the reason she's in space is because she was spared by a Dalek [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E12TheStolenEarth during their invasion of Earth fifty years earlier]]. She never knew why, but The Doctor knows that it's because of her importance to the future; she's a "fixed point in time".

** This also doubles as a [[KickTheDog kick the dog moment]] to make him evil enough that the audience can enjoy him getting brutally blinded later. Capturing, enslaving and killing intruders wouldn't make him particularly bad in the eyes of Homer's audience (eating them is a bit over the top, though). Deliberately insulting the holy laws of hospitality by making this Odysseus' "guest gift" is sacriledge.

* How Alquist ended up as [[TheLastOfHisKind the last human in R.U.R. After the robots took over the factory he was dragged before the one in charge, the usually human hating Radius, who took one look at him and told the other robots to leave him be because 'he works with his hands like a robot'.

* AntiHero-ic version in ''BladeII''. Blade gets information out of a Vampire Mook, saying, "Tell me what I want to know, and I'll consider you as a loose end." The Mook spills the beans, and Blade actually lets him get away, even when he runs into him again later on. Of course, [[BrickJoke at the very end]], Blade catches up to the guy in a sleazy porn theater about three countries away: "Well, you didn't think I forgot about you did you? <Brain-stab>"

** Nazi Germany was, in some sense, full of this trope. Many high ranking Nazi party officials, military officers, and government bureaucrats had friends and relatives who were Jewish or, more often, had recent Jewish ancestry, and in fact, quite a few had recent Jewish ancestry themselves. An entire legal process was created (described in detail in the book ''Hitler's Jewish Soldiers'' by Bryan Mark Riggs) whereby such people might apply for legal exceptions that spared them persecution--at least for the time being. Some high ranking Nazi leaders on trial at Nuremberg even used the help they had given their friends in securing these exemptions in attempt to demonstrate that they were not hardcore Nazis. For example, Goering talked about how he helped his friend General Erhard Milch, whose father was Jewish, stay in "his" Luftwaffe (incidentally, Milch was himself on trial for war crimes at Nuremberg). Doenitz used the help he had given Captain Bernhard Rogge (who would become famous as the captain of the German raider ''Atlantis'') who had a Jewish grandfather, as his defense. According to Riggs, several hundred thousand such exemptions were granted throughout the Nazi era.

* Another OlderThanFeudalism heroic one is in ''TheBible''-Rahab is told that she and her family will be spared after hiding the Hebrew spies from the soldiers of Jericho.

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' we learned that [[spoiler:only the most advanced races are wiped out in each Cycle. During the Prothean's Cycle for example, the ancestors of the present day races were spared. The Reaper Cycle is actually a rather warped attempt to ''preserve'' organic life in the galaxy by periodically hitting a ResetButton on civilization to prevent an all out RobotWar that would completely wipe out life.]]

-->'''Light''': [[KillYouLast Good, because I would hate to kill you.]]