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| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
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| 6 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=zthpr3rh7x0eut1zt4mh2vbh |
| 7 | %% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread. |
| 8 | %% |
| 9 | [[quoteright:279:[[Film/WildWildWest https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dr_-Arliss-Loveless-from-Wild-Wild-West_2240.jpg]]]] |
| 10 | [[caption-width-right:279:"It's me, dear friends -- alive and kicking![softreturn][[GallowsHumor Well, alive, anyway.]]"]] |
| 11 | |
| 12 | ->''"I've lost my better half!"'' |
| 13 | -->-- ''Samurai: Hunt for the Sword'' (outtake) |
| 14 | |
| 15 | %% One quote is sufficient. Please place additional entries on the quotes tab. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | A character gets cut (or, less often, blown or ripped) in half, usually during combat but occasionally in an accident, building collapse or some other scenario. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | In real life, this would be ''incredibly'' bloody. In fiction, this can be done any number of ways, with any level of blood, from [[BloodlessCarnage family-friendly versions]] like the battle droids in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' movies, to NightmareFuel-oriented ones that spare no detail. The cutting in half itself can be done either horizontally (at the waist, usually) or vertically (from scalp to groin, or vice versa), with the latter often occurring via CleanCut. Expect it to be BloodyHilarious if it occurs in a comedic setting. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Naturally, this happens a lot in anime or video games that feature HumongousMecha, and many series in general which use MechaMooks, due to the fact that [[NotEvenHuman you can slice up mecha all you like]] without spraying blood everywhere ([[AlienBlood at least, not human blood]]). |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Expect a character who ''survives'' this to become a MemeticBadass; see WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | A frequent result of a SingleStrokeBattle or a DiagonalCut. See also SawAWomanInHalf, the trick performed by a StageMagician. Not to be confused with the less literal [[GroinAttack meaning]]. Compare ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice and OffWithHisHead. For examples where the dismemberment happens after the character is dead see DismemberingTheBody. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Has absolutely nothing to do with Music/TheBeatles song "Yesterday", even though the name of the trope [[ThisIndexIsNotAnExample is taken from the lyrics]], and should not be confused with ICantFeelMyLegs, which is about losing function, not the actual parts of the body. Same holds true for the Music/StoneTemplePilots song "Creep", which has the same line in its chorus. Also has no relation to WasOnceAMan. A character who can split in half whenever they wish is using DetachmentCombat. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | !!This is usually a {{Death Trope|s}}, as you might think, so beware of unmarked spoilers! |
| 30 | ---- |
| 31 | !!Example subpages: |
| 32 | [[index]] |
| 33 | * HalfTheManHeUsedToBe/AnimeAndManga |
| 34 | * [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]] |
| 35 | * HalfTheManHeUsedToBe/LiveActionTV |
| 36 | ** ''[[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe/UltraSeries Ultra Series]]'' |
| 37 | * HalfTheManHeUsedToBe/VideoGames |
| 38 | * HalfTheManHeUsedToBe/WesternAnimation |
| 39 | [[/index]] |
| 40 | |
| 41 | !!Other examples: |
| 42 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 43 | |
| 44 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 45 | * During the Pop-Tarts "Hide and Seek" campaign, Chocolate-Vanilla Splitz was cut in half by a door. |
| 46 | [[/folder]] |
| 47 | |
| 48 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 49 | * ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'': In issue #3, Black Adam tears Terra-Man in half at the pelvis. |
| 50 | * ''ComicBook/TheAtom'': In ''ComicBook/AllNewAtom'', after a time-travel accident, Teddy Hyatt's right side is still alive and functional in the present while his left side is in the future, making him [[{{Squick}} a walking, talking anatomical cross-section.]] |
| 51 | * ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'': Nekron tries to do this to Sinestro. Sinestro uses the power of the white light to heal himself and resume his attacks. |
| 52 | * ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'': Grandma Rose's sister Briar is cut in half, then the Lord of the Locust has his insects [[TheWormThatWalks inhabit her body]] to resurrect her, but [[YouHaveFailedMe when they leave]] the halves of her body fall back apart. However, the Lord decides he still needs her, and [[PullingThemselvesTogether puts her back together]], for her to later do this herself to Tarsil. |
| 53 | * ''ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}'': In ''ComicBook/CatwomanWhenInRome'', ComicBook/{{Cheetah}} threatens to "slit ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} open from bottom to top," but is unable to carry out her threat. |
| 54 | * ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'': Superboy-Prime uses his heat vision to cut the superhero Bushido in half. |
| 55 | * ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast1992'': The Pendant of Courage gives Link the jolt he needs to cut a soldier in half. This sends the other mooks wailing out of the temple in terror. |
| 56 | * ''ComicBook/{{Negation}}'': After [[spoiler: Gammid kills Javi]], one of Javi's Ligis-bearer teammates, a teleporter, uses one of her portals to cut Gammid in half. He dies. |
| 57 | * ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'': |
| 58 | ** Roxy Richter suffers this fate after a SingleStrokeBattle with Scott. |
| 59 | ** Scott himself ends up on the receiving end in Volume 6 whilst battling Gideon in Ramona's mind. |
| 60 | %%* ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'': Done to Zombie Venom in the second issue. |
| 61 | * ''ComicBook/TheSentry'': |
| 62 | ** The Void, possessing the Sentry, pulls this on Ares. Vertically. With his hands. |
| 63 | ** Much earlier on, in New Avengers #3, a non-possessed Sentry does this to Carnage. |
| 64 | * ''ComicBook/SimonDark'': Simon tears Gus' first successful revived human in half, when the deformed man proves to be a remorseless furious murderer who nearly kills Tom and does kill Gus. It works out as a bit of karma since tearing his victims in half was the murderer's favorite way to kill his own victims. |
| 65 | * ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': |
| 66 | ** ''ComicBook/DarkEmpire'': The Jedi Knight Empatojayos Brand was mutilated by Darth Vader after the Clone Wars, losing the entire lower half of his body along with his arms. [[WeCanRebuildHim He was rescued by the Ganathan people and outfitted with a cybernetic floating body.]] |
| 67 | ** ''ComicBook/StarWarsInvasion'': |
| 68 | *** During the battle on Dibrook, Tsalok sends a message to his New Republic foes by hoisting one of their soldiers over his head, making sure he's well in view of them, and ripping him in half. |
| 69 | *** After his identity is discovered, the Yuuzhan Vong [[TheMole Mole]] is sliced in half from head to groin by Jacen and Jaina's lightsabers. |
| 70 | * ''ComicBook/SullivansSluggers'': A couple of examples happen. When the townsfolk transform, one guy sitting in the bleachers is bitten in half. Later, in the farmhouse's CreepyBasement, among all the corpses of victims past, is the upper half of a cheerleader. |
| 71 | * ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'': In [[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Remain_in_Light_3_of_5:_The_Divided_Self issue 19]], MadDoctor Pharma challenges Ratchet to a surgical contest, where Pharma will cut a patient (Ambulon) in half and Ratchet will have to repair him. Ratchet reassures Ambulon that bisection at the waist is easy to fix, but Pharma clarifies that he meant ''[[https://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/9/92/Ambulondeath.jpg lengthways]]''. |
| 72 | * ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'': |
| 73 | ** ComicBook/{{Ultimate|XMen}}'s ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} went up against his universe's [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]]. And gets pulled in ''half''. He then proceeds to [[GoodThingYouCanHeal crawl up a]] mountain to find his legs. |
| 74 | ** ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': Captain America cut Herr Kleiser in half with his shield. It's only a temporary thing thanks to his great healing speed, but still... |
| 75 | * ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo'': In ''Space Usagi'', the titular character does this to his lord's murderer with help from a modified katana. |
| 76 | * ''ComicBook/XMen'': In the story arc ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'', Magneto finishes Apocalypse off by ripping his cyborg body in half vertically. |
| 77 | [[/folder]] |
| 78 | |
| 79 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 80 | * In one ''ComicStrip/{{Belvedere}}'' strip Belvedere and his owner are both in karate gis, with Belvedere in an attack pose and his owner neatly cut in two at the waist. |
| 81 | -->'''Guy in background:''' How was that for a karate chop? |
| 82 | [[/folder]] |
| 83 | |
| 84 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 85 | * ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': After her rebirth transformed [[TwoBeingsOneBody alongside San]] into Monster X, Vivienne Graham at one point rips one of Alan Jonah's men in half at the waist -- and she does it ''by accident''! |
| 86 | * ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'': [[KillerRobot Shadow]] slashes [[SnarkyNonhumanSidekick Jack]] right in half. |
| 87 | * In ''Fanfic/DespairIsland'', a dark reimagining of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'', contestants who have been voted off are killed in front of their team-mates. In the case of best friends Katie and Sadie, this involves them being sawn in half. (This is not a double elimination. Sadie is the first of the two girls to die, leaving Katie grief-stricken. When it's her turn for the chop, Katie tries to attack Chris (the host) but is quickly overpowered. Chris then orders that she be subjected to the same fate as Sadie.) |
| 88 | * In ''Fanfic/{{Fractured|SovereignGFC}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[=/=]''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]], Samantha Shepard's lower half is turned into paste by an angry Brick. Only some fancy [[TimeStandsStill time-stopping technology]] saves her from certain (second) death. |
| 89 | * In the ''Animorphs'' fanfic ''[[Fanfic/{{Eleutherophobia}} Ghost in the Shell]]'', [[spoiler:Margaret in snow leopard morph]] bites Tom in cobra morph in half. Fortunately, he doesn't die instantly. |
| 90 | * Near the end of the original [[http://kleinerkiller.deviantart.com/gallery/41037509 Yognapped]], this happens to [[spoiler: [[BackForTheDead Skylord Lysander]]]]. |
| 91 | * In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' fic "[[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/7020330/1/Hold-On-Girl Hold on Girl]]'', Mara Jade Skywalker not only force-chokes her captor but literally rips him in half with the force. |
| 92 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' fic, ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'', Teth Adom's people are attacked with technology from Apokolips, which Queen Bee had dealings with, so he was already pissed at her. [[spoiler:When she tried using her [[CharmPerson powers]] against him, he ''literally'' tore her in half]]. |
| 93 | * In ''[[Fanfic/TheUltimateEvil The Stronger Evil]]'', this is how [[spoiler: Daolon Wong]]'s CruelAndUnusualDeath comes to an end -- after Shendu has been pounding him into the pavement for a few minutes, he takes the bloody mess that's left and rips it in half. |
| 94 | * This happens unsurprisingly often in the ''Fanfic/AllGuardsmenParty'': |
| 95 | ** Nubby loses both legs to a swipe from a forcesword and has them replaced with augmetics. |
| 96 | ** Sergeant Gravis gets bisected through the lungs by a Hive Tyrant's bonesword. He survives, though the party accidentally misplaces the crate holding his lower half. |
| 97 | ** A few enemies get this treatment including a Khonate mutant that gets bisected by Cutter as well as the Heretek that takes down Cutter when the latter beats him in melee. |
| 98 | * In the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' fangame, [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Gaston]] suffers this fate in addition to DisneyVillainDeath in a manner very similar to that of Darth Maul. |
| 99 | %% * Only 2 people so far was cut in half in Gunner's Genocide, Joker was trying to say that the fighters never reject Gunner but she kills him in half anyways and in part 22, Corrin sacrifices himself to prevent Byleth from dying. |
| 100 | * In ''Manga/MaidensIllusionaryFuneral'', Yukari gets ''vertically'' bisected by Youki. It barely slows her down. |
| 101 | * ''Fanfic/TalesOfTheOtherverse'': In the "A World Without Heroes" story arc, Rogue rips into half a thug whose goons have just murdered a child in cold blood. |
| 102 | -->ComicBook/{{Rogue}} shook herself out of shock as anger and rage poured in. She stepped forward, wanting to reach [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]]'s side, to help her tear these… animals apart. The leader had turned to run and she caught him by the upper arms. He was no longer human. He was an obstacle. Without a second thought, she flung her arms wide, opening her hands to let the two pieces of the leader fly in opposite directions. |
| 103 | * ''Fanfic/QueenOfShadows'': Near the end of the Battle of Tobe, Kamisori stabs Rokutaro InTheBack with his claws and pulls him apart horizontally. |
| 104 | * ''Fanfic/MortalKombatKhronicles'': This is how Scorpion finishes off [[spoiler: Quan Chi at The Battle of Armageddon]] by spearing him the chest with his flaming chain-spear, then wrapping the flaming chain around his body and pulling it, burning him in half. |
| 105 | * ''Fanfic/VoyagesOfTheWildSeaHorse'': One of the things that [[spoiler:Nabiki Tendo]] does after first eating the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampire]] Mythic Zoan [[PowerUpFood Devil Fruit]] is attack a [[BigCreepyCrawlies humanoid tick]], skewer it on her hands, and then split it in half vertically, in a move the author has admitted was inspired by one of [[Franchise/MortalKombat Shao Khan's Fatalities]]. |
| 106 | [[/folder]] |
| 107 | |
| 108 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 109 | * Blackburn, the PsychoKnifeNut assassin in ''WesternAnimation/{{Boogie}}'', does this a ''lot''. His intro is a DeathMontage where he slaughters several members of a mafia gang, at least two of which get separated from the waist with plenty of animated blood. |
| 110 | * Apparently in the backstory for a background character in ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'' -- when Victor first encounters him, he splits in half vertically to get around the young man. |
| 111 | * In ''WesternAnimation/DCShowcaseBatmanDeathInTheFamily'', one of the possible deaths Black Mask can suffer involves Jason (as Red Hood) firing a projectile at his glass, which then breaks it with a sonic device and causing a large shard to slice him in half vertically. |
| 112 | * Aquaman, Starfire, and Black Manta suffer this fate in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDarkApokolipsWar'', Aquaman by Darkseid's omega beams and both Starfire and Black Manta by Paradooms. |
| 113 | * This is a plot point in ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}'', where Ian's attempt to bring his father BackFromTheDead for a day [[CameBackWrong only brings back his legs]], giving him and Barley the rest of the day to restore his top half. |
| 114 | * At the beginning of ''Animation/TheReturnOfHanuman'', Rahu and Ketu were cut in half. Their bodies were reattached, only that their lower halves were switched. |
| 115 | * In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'', Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are all poofed by [[BigBad Spinel]] when she simultaneously bisects them at the waist with her [[SinisterScythe Gem rejuvenator]] ([[BloodlessCarnage ungorily]], as their bodies are made of HardLight) right at the end of her VillainSong. Steven, in turn, uses her weapon against her, bisecting her head and chest ''vertically''. |
| 116 | * ''Franchise/ToyStory'': |
| 117 | ** Overlaps with SmolderingShoes in the FakeOutOpening of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'': when Buzz leaps over Zurg, the latter hits him with a single blast from his ion blaster upon him landing, destroying his upper body and leaving only his legs behind. |
| 118 | ** This happens to a stuffed blue zebra in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'', being ripped in half by a cat. He's a stuffed toy, though, so he's quite alright. |
| 119 | * In ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine,'' Paul invokes the line in a less morbid instance. Going backwards in the Sea of Time, the Beatles and Old Fred regress in age. Also a nod to Paul's song "Yesterday". |
| 120 | [[/folder]] |
| 121 | |
| 122 | [[folder:Gamebooks]] |
| 123 | * One of the bad endings of the ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' gamebooks, ''Literature/CryptOfTheSorcerer'', can have this happening to you when you're infiltrating the lair of the kaiju-like giant monster, the Gargantis. You can choose to have yourself lowered into its lair from a pit -- at which point the Gargantis will suddenly grab you from below and chomp you into half from the waist. Bon appetit... |
| 124 | * ''Literature/LoneWolf'': |
| 125 | ** This is the fate of a [[TheUndead Vordak]] in Book 5, ''Shadow on the Sand'', if you have [[InfinityPlusOneSword the Sommerswerd]]. |
| 126 | --->[[SecondPersonNarration You]] strike again, curving the golden blade in a great arc. It bites into the Vordak's neck, tearing through its unnatural body, and severing it diagonally from collarbone to hip. |
| 127 | ** In ''The Skull of Agarash'', Lone Wolf kills a ravenous Anapheg by bisecting it vertically, from groin to skull, with one upward slash of the Sommerswerd, leaving two near-perfect symmetrical halves. |
| 128 | [[/folder]] |
| 129 | |
| 130 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 131 | * Used in an 1814 German poem by Ludwig Uhland: |
| 132 | -->''Zur Rechten sieht man, wie zur Linken, Einen halben Türken heruntersinken.'' |
| 133 | -->''To the right one sees, as to the left, half a turc sink down.'' |
| 134 | * In the first part of ''Literature/{{Aztec}}'' one of the masons in the limestone pit gets this when a large cube of limestone falls on him. His lower half is resting a little ways away, and his upper half is sealed flat by the rock. He lives long enough to make his deathbed concession, then when they try to carry him out of the quarry, everything falls out. |
| 135 | * A rare semi-physical example in the ''Literature/CallahansCrosstimeSaloon'' book ''Lady Slings the Booze'': Arethusa might have started off as just TwinTelepathy, but grew into a case of SingleMindedTwins -- one mind, two bodies -- during her upbringing in a very strange cult. Because of this, her bodies are more 'right hand' and 'left hand', and when one dies at the climax, she feels literally cut in half, even losing her ability to play the piano. She does, though, recover as best she can by the end, and shows up elsewhere in the series after the closure of Lady Sally's Place. |
| 136 | * Happens to Kid Sampson in ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo'' when [=McWatt's=] practical joke of buzzing the beach goes horribly wrong. |
| 137 | * Interesting variation in ''The Cloven Viscount'' by Italo Calvino: the title character is a nobleman who got cut in two (vertically) during a fight against Turkish forces. But, amazingly, both halves survive, one evil and the other good. |
| 138 | * ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' |
| 139 | ** This happens to one of the mobsters in the [[Literature/TheDrawingOfTheThree second]] book when he is [[UnfriendlyFire accidentally]] strafed with machine-gun fire. |
| 140 | ** Before that, Odetta loses her legs thanks to Jack Mort pushing her in front of a train. Later, Roland possesses Jack's body and makes him do it to himself-except aims the impact point just a bit higher. |
| 141 | * ''Literature/DaughterOfTheSun'': Orsina, when attacked by a priestess of Iius, slices her in half defending herself. |
| 142 | * This is taken to a strange extreme in ''Literature/{{Deathstalker}}'': The character 'Half A Man', a former investigator, is sliced in half ''vertically'', the missing half of his body replaced by a sinister energy being. Eventually, that side ''devours'' him, and he's well aware that it's happening for quite some time. |
| 143 | * ''Literature/{{Deeplight}}'': An unnamed Leaguer at Wildman's Hammer is sliced in half [[spoiler:during Jelt's rampage]]. |
| 144 | * ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'' has a darkly humorous version where the group encounters a bunch of satyrs. AlcoholInducedIdiocy ensues, and one of the satyrs finds himself split in half... and the only thing that disturbs him is that he can't hold his wine anymore (he doesn't have organs or blood either, just sort of sketches). The bottom half-a-satyr just keeps trundling alongside them, occasionally falling over, and is eventually exchanged by Christopher for entry into the fairy city. |
| 145 | * This is the fate of Navarog in ''Literature/{{Fablehaven}}''. In dragon form, he's a huge, almost-untouchable monstrosity... but in human form, well, Raxtus [[JustEatHim got hungry.]] |
| 146 | * In ''Literature/GardensOfTheMoon'', book one of the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' series, the wizard Hairlock gets cut in half in the middle of a battle, and keeps himself alive briefly with magic. It turns out this has been planned for and he is waiting to complete a spell to transfer his soul into a little marionette. |
| 147 | * ''Literature/{{Genome}}'' begins with the protagonist leaving a hospital where he recovered after being bisected. His legs had to be regrown for several months since the ship where the accident happened had only one spare medical chamber and thus only one half could be saved; otherwise, legs could just have been reattached. |
| 148 | * A petite enemy soldier in ''Literature/AHarvestOfWar'' gets this, courtesy of the protagonist and her {{BFS}}. |
| 149 | * Two examples in ''Literature/HeartOfSteel'': |
| 150 | ** Alistair Mechanus is this when the story starts, having rebuilt himself as a cyborg after trauma in his backstory. |
| 151 | ** Julia's soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend Jim gets torn in half at the beginning of the novel and is rebuilt as a (rather clunkier) cyborg. |
| 152 | * ''Literature/InheritanceTrilogy'' has [[BlindSeer Oree Shoth]] ''accidentally'' slice several men in half when her PortalPicture results in a PortalCut. |
| 153 | * In the second Literature/{{Mistborn}} book, resident ActionGirl Vin slices a villain in half with a [[{{BFS}} koloss sword longer then she is tall]]. As well as his horse. |
| 154 | * In ''Literature/TheNekropolisArchives'' novel ''Dark War,'' Tavi gets bitten in half by a rampaging dinosaur. However, due to being a lycanthrope with a powerful healing factor, he is able to survive. |
| 155 | * In the ''Literature/NemesisSeries'', Red Steel managed to lose his lower body at one point in the past. He spent a couple years [[HealingFactor regrowing it,]] but he did manage to get back out there. |
| 156 | * ''Literature/TheSagaOfTheJomsvikings'': In the battle of Hjorunga Bay, the warrior Thorkel Midlong splits Bui's chin with a sword-blow, but Bui returns the blow while Thorkel slips on the wet planks and topples against the gunwale, and "the blow struck him in the middle, and he was cut in two against the gunwale." |
| 157 | * In ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror,'' Daylen notes how [[MadeOfPlasticine messy]] fighting with [[CoolSword Imperious]] can be, as it's more than capable of cleaving through multiple limbs and bodies in one swing. Lyrah, due to her specialized SuperStrength, can achieve the same effect with a steel warsword. |
| 158 | * Creator/LFrankBaum's ''SkyIsland'' has the Blue government practice of slicing two persons in half and recombining them with each other. They attempt it with Cap'n Bill and (a donkey?) Fortunately, Cap'n Bill escapes. |
| 159 | * In Creator/ToniMorrison's ''Literature/SongOfSolomon'', Guitar Bain's father was killed when his body was sawn vertically on an industrial saw, and thus was lain in the tomb with both halves facing each other. |
| 160 | * In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' books: |
| 161 | ** Darth Vader [[YouHaveFailedMe executes someone]] in ''Literature/SplinterOfTheMindsEye'' by using his lightsaber to bisect him from the crown of his head right down. |
| 162 | ** A disguised Corran Horn uses the same technique on a 3PO unit belonging to the Blackstar Pirates in ''[[Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy I, Jedi]]'' as part of a dramatic display meant to frighten them. |
| 163 | ** Lightsaber combat refers to this technique as ''[[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sai_tok sai tok]]''. It's Sithly in nature (even when it's necessary to kill, a Jedi shouldn't feel a desire to mutilate his enemy's body), hence Jedi almost never use it on sentients. Jedi Master Cin Drallig, however, expresses the opinion that when fighting a Sith Lord, no technique should be considered off limits to stop the threat they represent. |
| 164 | ** [[ActionGirl Mara Jade]] does this to some wolvkils in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse novel ''Literature/SurvivorsQuest''. |
| 165 | * Richard inflicts this fate on some of his enemies in ''[[Literature/SwordOfTruth The Sword of Truth]]''. It helps that his sword can magically cut through anything. |
| 166 | * ''The Teacher From The Black Lagoon'', a rather peculiar picture book, sums it up in four sentences: |
| 167 | -->''"This is a boy." She takes a big bite. "This is half a boy. Now you've learned fractions."'' |
| 168 | * When Sigurd, the hero of ''Literature/VolsungaSaga'', is stabbed in his sleep by Gutthorm, he throws his sword after Gutthorm, slicing him in half. |
| 169 | %%* This happens in the ''Literature/WarlockOfGramarye'' novel ''The Warlock in Spite of Himself''. |
| 170 | * ''Literature/{{Worm}}'': |
| 171 | ** Taylor has most of her body below the waist incinerated by Scion, and only survives thanks to an EmergencyTransformation. |
| 172 | ** [[MadDoctor Bonesaw]] at one point is cut in half. She's more annoyed at how long it's going to take to find a new set of legs that match her than about the damage; she'd reinforced her body and set up enough redundancies that she was still mobile and using her ''spine'' as a third limb. |
| 173 | * A comedic yet gruesome example happened in volume 7 light novel of ''Eiyuu Kyoshitsu'' where Earnest and Lunaria fused into a single girl for the very first time but despised each other so badly that they end up pushing their fused forms apart vertically via brute force. The audience around them watched in horror throughout the process, with sounds of tearing flesh, bones and ligaments. When they did successfully split vertically into half, their shared halves collapsed onto the floor, disfigured and twitching, with a spinal cord seen in the middle between their split halves. [[Main/GoodThingYouCanHeal Thankfully, they both have the powers of demons to regenerate their bodies instantly.]] This scene was entirely omitted and changed in the manga version. Despite their differences, they acknowledge the power boast that their fusion forms could perform in battle and utilise it again in the later part of the story against tough opponents. |
| 174 | [[/folder]] |
| 175 | |
| 176 | [[folder:Manhua]] |
| 177 | * Used as a frequent gag in the ''Manhua/OldMasterQ'' comic strips, due to the DeathIsCheap and NegativeContinuity nature of the comic. Notably one {{wuxia}}-themed strip have Master Q and an unnamed challenger slashing at each other, only to result in a MutualKill where [[https://i0.hdslb.com/bfs/article/53bef0aca0658709d602ac8a579f3d1918062798.jpg@942w_1439h_progressive.webp the challenger is halved below the waist while Master Q gets it vertically]]. |
| 178 | [[/folder]] |
| 179 | |
| 180 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 181 | * Happens to the Kagamine twins in the Music/{{Vocaloid}} song "Wide Knowledge of the Late, Madness." They later get stitched back together and become ConjoinedTwins in "Dark Woods Circus." |
| 182 | * The final sixth of "Falling Down" by Cunninlynguists makes grim humor from this during a machine gun rampage. "Walk in the Dollar Store and just let off / Now even the manager's body is 50% off!" |
| 183 | * In one of Music/JohnLennon's posthumous anthologies, there is a recording that parodies the [[TropeNamer trope-naming]] Music/TheBeatles song, "Yesterday", and goes like this: "I'm not half the man I used to be / 'Cuz now I'm an amputee" |
| 184 | * In Music/TwentyOnePilots music video for their song "House of Gold", both band members are performing while cut in half. |
| 185 | * Music/IronMaiden's mascot, Eddie, on the cover of ''Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son''. |
| 186 | * In the Music/{{Vocaloid}} song "50/50", Hatsune Miku is upset that her friend Mari-chan is spending time with a new boyfriend instead of her. She cuts him in half so they can share. |
| 187 | -->"Mari-chan and I go halfsies on everything." |
| 188 | * "Super Skier" by the Chad Mitchell Trio describes a man who suffers the vertical variation, caused by him [[MadeOfPlasticine hitting a pine tree]]. The opening of the song mentions requiring ''three'' toboggans for all of his pieces, implying he suffered further dismemberment postmortem. |
| 189 | [[/folder]] |
| 190 | |
| 191 | [[folder:Mythology & Religion]] |
| 192 | * Native American legends tell of Odzihozo, a giant who was so impatient during his creation that even when he was not yet fully made, he set out on a quest to change the world. However, he had only half a body with no legs at that time, and as he dragged his body around, he [[AccidentalHero created valleys, lakes, and rivers in his wake.]] Eventually, after hauling and heaving himself across the continents for centuries, he was so exhausted that he crawled up a hill and stayed there forever, and seeing what he had done, he turned himself into a mountain so that to this day he admires his creation. Or that of his behind, actually. That makes him more of "Half the Man He Was Supposed to Be". |
| 193 | * One Eskimo tale tells of a beautiful bride desired by two brothers. Unable to decide who should have her, they each grabbed her from an end and pulled, resulting in one having the upper torso and other the hips and below. Being clever artificers, they quickly carved out a wooden replacement for the missing half, thereby explaining why the women of one tribe were so clever with beadwork (having been descended from the woman with the living upper torso) while the other tribe excelled at dancing (having been descended from the woman with flesh legs). |
| 194 | * Another story implies this. Two women came to King Solomon, each claiming that they were the mother of a particular baby. The king thought about it for a while, and then came to the decision that the baby should be cut in half. Naturally, the woman who protested was the real mother, and while the other woman didn't think half a child was fine, she simply said basically that if she couldn't have the child, [[IfICantHaveYou at least the other woman wouldn't either]]. |
| 195 | * Jewish tradition upholds that the prophet Isaiah met his end by being sawn in two, as one of the deaths of the heroes of faith in the ''Literature/BookOfHebrews''. |
| 196 | * The manananggal, a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampiric monster]] from Filipino mythology, is characterized by its ability to separate its torso from its legs as it flies through the night searching for its favorite food of unborn fetuses. [[WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody It can function just fine without being in one piece]], but it must always return to its legs before daylight, or else the sun will destroy it. |
| 197 | [[/folder]] |
| 198 | |
| 199 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 200 | * In the ''Podcast/CoolKidsTable'' game ''Creepy Town'', Ethan gets cut in half with a chainsaw. |
| 201 | [[/folder]] |
| 202 | |
| 203 | [[folder:Roleplay]] |
| 204 | * ''Roleplay/DinoAttackRPG'': Poor Randal. Before he died, his lower half was disintegrated by Paulie Gonepus's Maelaser. |
| 205 | * Happened to Rodolphus Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback on ''Roleplay/HonorableHogwarts''. They ''really'' don't like {{Canon}} characters there. |
| 206 | [[/folder]] |
| 207 | |
| 208 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 209 | * Dorn Graybrook in the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''. A red dragon damaged boy's left side including biting off an arm and leg, after eating or incinerating most of the people Dorn knew including his parents. Then wizard made him new appendages and used half-golem as a gladiator until he grew up. Then Dorn got rid of the wizard and became a mercenary, seeking missions that involve dragon-slaying. |
| 210 | * Long before "half-golem" became a standard template in 3E, the ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' setting was home to Desmond [=LaRouche=], an NPC from Nova Vaasa who'd lost one side of his body in a laboratory explosion, and had it replaced with a golem half. |
| 211 | * Happens to too many people to list in ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings''. The CCG set "A Perfect Cut" refers to a specific SingleStrokeBattle that ended this way. |
| 212 | * Occasionally depicted in ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' card art. [[http://magiccards.info/som/en/127.html Slice in Twain]], [[http://magiccards.info/9eb/en/2.html Vengeance]], and [[http://magiccards.info/mbs/en/59.html Burn the Impure]] are some examples. |
| 213 | ** As well, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, the guildmaster of the Azorius Senate on Ravnica (as of the original Ravnica set) is legless (and blind), floats around in his magically hovering throne, empowered to legislate utterly by the guildpact. |
| 214 | * A lot of the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' backstory has this, usually about Space Marines. Particularly about World Eaters. And ESPECIALLY about Kharn the Betrayer, whose axe, [[NamedWeapons Gorechild]] is stated as capable of splitting an armoured space marine from crown to crotch, or something along those lines. Also, the damage rules from 40k roleplay games mention that characters can lose legs from enemy attacks. |
| 215 | --->'''''TabletopGame/BlackCrusade'' rules:''' Losing both legs renders the character half the person he was, but the good news is he also becomes half the target. |
| 216 | %%** One surprising aversion is [[http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/File:Chapter_Master_Sarpedon.jpg Sarpedon]], who runs around on spider legs due to mutation and not a botched surgery. |
| 217 | [[/folder]] |
| 218 | |
| 219 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 220 | * Johnny Eck, a sideshow performer born without a pelvis, was billed as "Half-Boy" because his truncated body resembled this trope's outcome. At one point, he and his normal-looking twin brother worked with a magician to subvert the usual SawAWomanInHalf routine: his brother would "volunteer" to be bisected on stage, the magician would covertly switch the twins while pretending something had GoneHorriblyWrong with the trick, after which Johnny would run around the stage on his palms, shouting that he wanted his legs back. |
| 221 | * [[JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples Done in]] ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' where the titular character is reported to have sliced Macdonwald "from the nave to the chaps" right before the play begins. This is done to establish right away how bloodthirsty [=MacBeth=] is. |
| 222 | * In ''Theatre/{{Starship}}'', Commander Up reveals that this had been done to him during the Robot Wars; however, he had been bisected "vertically! hot-dog style, not hamburger style" and the missing half replaced by robot parts. |
| 223 | * Theatre/{{Magic Goes Wrong}}: The benefactor of the show ends up being sawn in half for real after the Great Sophisticato and the Mind Mangler botch their "saw a woman in half" trick. [[spoiler:She later turns up perfectly fine at the very end]].[[/folder]] |
| 224 | |
| 225 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 226 | * Happens to Alternate Tuyet in ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' after a PortalCut. |
| 227 | [[/folder]] |
| 228 | |
| 229 | [[folder:Urban Legends]] |
| 230 | * Scotland's [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meggernie_Castle Meggernie Castle]] is reputedly haunted by the ghost of a woman, supposedly the wife of the castle's previous lord, who was bisected from the waist in an attempt to get rid of her corpse and now roams the castle in two halves. Her upper body usually loiters in the bedroom where she meets her end, while her lower body roams the courtyard, trying to locate her upper half to no avail. |
| 231 | * The ''Teketeke'' is a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teke_Teke Japanese ghost]] which used to be a schoolgirl who died after falling on a set of railroad tracks and subsequently having the lower half of her body crushed. She now roams the earth by crawling on her hands, carrying her upper body around. There is a film based on this very legend. |
| 232 | [[/folder]] |
| 233 | |
| 234 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 235 | * In ''[[VisualNovel/{{Jisei}} Yousei]]'', Dr. Johansen's body is found cut in half by the bell that crushed him. This becomes even more horrific when Kangai's [[PsychicPowers kansei]] reveals that Johansen was still alive when Naoki and Aaron found him and that, given the time frame for the murder, he had to have been alive for at least ''several minutes'' after getting crushed before he finally succumbed to blood loss. |
| 236 | * In ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', this fate befalls your companion Ban if the Killer Peach is destroyed and seeks vengeance against Akira's friends -- when Akira finds them a few days later, they've been split cleanly in half from skull to pelvis, each half of their body splayed out on the elevator floor. |
| 237 | * ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'': This is how Rosa kills Sakutaro. In the manga, it's portrayed as OffWithHisHead instead. |
| 238 | [[/folder]] |
| 239 | |
| 240 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 241 | * This happens ''a lot'' in ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'', often being the killing blow or a precursor to it: |
| 242 | ** The first time this happens is in "[[VideoGame/{{Battletoads}} Zits]] vs. [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Leonardo]]", with Leonardo slicing Zits in two for the kill. |
| 243 | ** "[[VideoGame/DarkStalkers Felicia]] vs. [[VideoGame/BlazBlue Taokaka]]" is similar: Felicia gets sliced in two by Taokaka. |
| 244 | ** Then there's "[[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] vs. [[Franchise/MortalKombat Raiden]]", where Raiden gets his lower half obliterated by Mjolnir. Thor then finishes him by hurling him into the sun. |
| 245 | ** "Shao Kahn vs. [[Franchise/StreetFighter M. Bison]]" has Kahn literally ripping Bison in two. |
| 246 | ** "Franchise/{{Terminator}} vs Franchise/{{Robocop}}" has this happen. Specifically, Terminator gets his lower half blasted off. This doesn't end the fight right away, though Terminator does end up losing anyway. |
| 247 | ** "[[Franchise/PowerRangers Tigerzord]] vs [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Epyon]]" ends this way -- at least before the disembodied top half of the Mega Tigerzord explodes. |
| 248 | ** In "Franchise/{{Kirby}} vs. [[Franchise/DragonBall Majin Buu]]", Kirby slices Buu in half with the Ultra Sword, but due to Buu's incredible regenerative abilities, this accomplishes nothing and he puts himself together right away. |
| 249 | --->'''Majin Buu''': Waaa! You hurt Buu! (reforms himself) Almost.\ |
| 250 | '''Kirby''': (facepalms) |
| 251 | ** In [[ComicBook/XMen Beast]] vs. [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} Goliath]], the fight ends with Goliath tearing Beast in half. |
| 252 | ** In [[Franchise/StreetFighter Cammy White]] vs. [[Franchise/MortalKombat Sonya Blade]], this is the ultimate fate of Cammy. |
| 253 | ** The vertical variety happens at the end of "[[Manga/OnePiece Zoro]] vs. [[Manga/FairyTail Erza]]" after a SingleStrokeBattle, with Erza on the receiving end. |
| 254 | ** The vertical variety also happens in ''[[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Metal Sonic]] vs. [[VideoGame/MegaManX Zero]]'', with Zero bisecting Metal Overlord vertically. |
| 255 | ** In the ending of ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]] vs. [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Vergil]]'', this is the ultimate fate of Vergil, who is sliced in two after Sephiroth's Super Nova overtaxes his healing factor. |
| 256 | ** In "[[Manga/{{Naruto}} Jiraiya]] vs. [[Franchise/DragonBall Master Roshi]]", this trope is combined with InertiaIsACruelMistress. The result? Jiraiya getting punched in half by an unconscious Master Roshi. |
| 257 | ** "[[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Ganondorf]] vs. [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} Dracula]]" is another example. This time, after the Triforce of Power is overwhelmed, Dracula proceeds to quite literally tear a now-defenceless Ganondorf apart. |
| 258 | ** "[[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Leonardo]] vs. [[Franchise/PowerRangers Red Ranger Jason]]" ends this way, with a dash of DefeatEqualsExplosion, from the latter's series. Specifically, [[spoiler:after breaking the Odachi, Jason bisects Leo, who then explodes.]] |
| 259 | ** Then there's "[[Franchise/StarWars Obi-Wan Kenobi]] vs. [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Kakashi]]", which, similarly to "Zoro vs. Erza", ends with a SingleStrokeBattle. Kakashi's upper body then falls, courtesy of a clean cut from the Jedi's lightsaber. |
| 260 | ** Yet again for the "[[VideoGame/{{Warframe}} Excalibur]] v. [[VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance Raiden]]"). After several minutes of trading off hits, it finally ends with Excalibur's supercharged Slash Dash cutting Raiden in half, after which he explodes. |
| 261 | * ''WebAnimation/{{Dreamscape}}'': Happens twice in Episode 7. First is when Melinda turns into Ghost Melinda and slashes Keedran's serpentine body into pieces with her SinisterScythe. This also doubles as TongueTrauma, since she slices CHEN's tongue into pieces too. The second time is when she horizontally bisects Betty, but since she has a cybernetic lower-half, she feels no pain. |
| 262 | * ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': A BrainwashedAndCrazy Amber horizontally bisects Killer with a gamma ray burst. He puts himself back together by {{Tele Frag}}ing his two halves together! |
| 263 | -->'''Killer''': Hmm, honestly I wasn't sure that was going to work. |
| 264 | * Happens a lot in ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'', most notably to The Mole in the "The Carpal Tunnel of Love" music video. |
| 265 | * ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': The WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail "shapeshifter" has Strong Bad end up as Half the Man He Was Trying to Become -- he tried to imagine himself with the power to [[ExactWords "turn into almost anyone in the world"]] and that's exactly what happens: His attempt to become the King of Town makes him into ''almost'' the King of Town, namely the right half of him. Amusingly, the Cheat doesn't even notice [[BehindTheBlack until Strong Bad turns to the camera]], revealing his missing left half. Then when Strong Bad tries to game this by turning into Bubs-from-the-waist-up (since he's always behind the counter of his concession stand), he, of course, turns into Bubs-from-the-waist-down instead. |
| 266 | * ''WebAnimation/ImAnton'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMzTy-YEYos Mitchell]] got split in half by a pole while leaning out the window in a moving train trying to get a selfie. However the Moroboshi hospital was able to reattach her two halves, making her whole again. |
| 267 | * Happens often to unfortunate {{Mooks}} in ''WebAnimation/MadnessCombat'', where any of our named heroes can effortlesly bisect a foe in a single swing of a sword. Though our heroes are not necessarily immune: Hank did once run afoul of a MAG Agent in the non-canonical ''Incident: 010A'', who bisects him by the simple expedient of picking him up and pulling him in half at the waist, and more canonically died in ''Apotheosis'' by expedient of a [[SuicideAttack bomb vest]] which he detonated when Jebus was about to execute him, blowing off Jebus' forehead and upper body, and leaving behind only the front half of Hank's body. [[DeathIsCheap Both Hank and Jesus got better]]. |
| 268 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': |
| 269 | ** This is the sad fate of Penny Polendina, who is split in half Frieza-style when Pyrrha Nikos uses her Semblance of magnetism to push back a [[MasterOfIllusion perceived]] wave of hundreds of wired-controlled swords, leading to the (real) wires wrapping around Penny and ripping her in half. |
| 270 | ** Obviously happened to [[FourStarBadass General Ironwood]] at some point since one side of his body is [[{{Cyborg}} cybernetic]]. [[WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody That he survived that long enough to become a ]] cyborg says a lot. |
| 271 | * In ''WebAnimation/{{Shrapnel}}'', Reznya tears a Ugandan Knuckles in two from head to toe, after he insults and spits on her after she helped to free him and the others. |
| 272 | * In ''[[WebAnimation/SockSeries Empire of Socks]]'', Gaeous gets cut in half vertically by Ceriazibus' [[OverlyLongTongue long sharp tongue]] as he's about to attack Sock. |
| 273 | [[/folder]] |
| 274 | |
| 275 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 276 | * In the FinalBattle of ''Webcomic/{{Earthsong}}'', the fairy warrior Tengu is nearly bisected when she's hit by a single arrow due to her size. [[spoiler:She requests that Nanashi allow her to die since she's awaiting execution back home and prefers to go out as a hero.]] |
| 277 | * ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': The Lord High Conservator cuts one of the Smoke Knights that have infiltrated his ship in half. |
| 278 | * ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': |
| 279 | ** [[spoiler: Feferi's dreamself got cut in half by Jack Noir shortly before the destruction of her session's Derse. Tavros' dreamself (on that session's Prospit, which fares no better) is soon afterward revealed to have been slaughtered in the same way.]] |
| 280 | ** [[spoiler: When Kanaya returns as a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent rainbow drinker]], she chainsaws Eridan, who originally killed her, in half.]] |
| 281 | ** Even before [[spoiler:the death of his dreamself]], Kanaya did Tavros the favor of [[ChainsawGood chainsawing off his legs]] so that they could be replaced with robot prosthetics. |
| 282 | ** And as of Act 6 Intermission 3 [[spoiler: this is the ultimate fate of Gamzee courtesy of an [[UnstoppableRage enraged Kanaya]]]]. In fact, this appears to be the ''only'' way to kill [[spoiler: Gamzee, as during his appearance in Caliborn's Masterpiece, he ends up bisected again with [[NoodleIncident no apparent explanation]].]] |
| 283 | * ''Webcomic/{{Jack|DavidHopkins}}'': Happens in "One Way to Win" when [[spoiler:half of Taylor's body is gruesomely forced out of the car by his kidnapped victim crashing into a tree.]] |
| 284 | * ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'': |
| 285 | ** Krunch does this to the dwarf that [[spoiler: killed his father]] by grabbing each arm and pulling. There were LudicrousGibs, of course. |
| 286 | ** His brother, Ray'd, later took [[ChaoticEvil Richard]] up on an offer to use a dwarf as a substitute for a wishing bone. After the deed, Richard admitted that he wished for the opportunity to pull a dwarf in half. |
| 287 | * ''Webcomic/{{Nebula}}'': What happened to [[spoiler:Ceres]] thanks to Sun swiping his hand clean through their torso. |
| 288 | * Has happened to ''Webcomic/{{Nodwick}}'' many times, including once when Piffany goofed while duct-taping him back together and accidentally attached his legs backward. |
| 289 | * In ''Webcomic/OneOverZero'', Zadok suffered this ''twice'', on both the top and bottom halves. Being a straw golem, however, he was able to be repaired each time. |
| 290 | * [[spoiler: Miko Miyazaki]] in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' [[spoiler:somewhat ironically, as she kills a previous villain this way in one of her first appearances]]. |
| 291 | * In ''Webcomic/OwMySanity'', the Shoggoth cuts [[EldritchAbomination Nancy]] in half. She is [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction annoyed]]. |
| 292 | * ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'': |
| 293 | ** [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/12/7/ Used here]] as a way to preserve team balance. |
| 294 | --->"Do I get a vote?"\ |
| 295 | "You're about to get two." |
| 296 | ** "[[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/8/26/ You understand there's more to]] ''VideoGame/{{Dissidia|Final Fantasy}}'' than [[TakeThat murdering]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Tidus]] over and over." |
| 297 | * In ''Webcomic/PowerpuffGirlsDoujinshi'', this is how Monkey [[http://ppg.snafu-comics.com/index.php?comic_id=270 kills Battus]]. |
| 298 | * ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': |
| 299 | ** Cindy is [[http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=000711 rendered "topless" in a most unpleasant way]] when one of the demon kittens slashes through her MadeOfPlasticine waist. This is actually one of the ''less'' gruesome deaths during the "KITTEN" StoryArc. |
| 300 | ** There was also a non-lethal version of this trope involving (who else?) [[BunglingInventor Riff]] building a portal generator and multiple people getting stuck in them up to their waists. |
| 301 | * ''Webcomic/Trevor2020'': This is [[spoiler: Colin’s]] fate once [[spoiler:Trevor]] gets ahold of him. |
| 302 | * ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': |
| 303 | ** One of Duane's assassins gets cut in half when he tries to chase Duane through a wall and Duane reinstates its solidity. |
| 304 | ** Jon gets killed when an errant spell on the battlefield cuts him in half at the waist. |
| 305 | ** Prakhuta used his newfound pymary to cut [[spoiler:Delicieu]] in half. ''Vertically''. |
| 306 | ** A wright tries to cast in a khert fire and gets torn in half in a ragged diagonal line starting with his hand splitting, and then following his arm through his body. |
| 307 | * ''Webcomic/VampireCheerleaders'': This is how [[spoiler: [[http://www.vampirecheerleaders.net/strips-vc/suki_dies Suki]]]] dies, during the ''"Adventures in Space... and Time?!"'' arc in vol.4, when she gets blown in half [[{{BFG}} by a railgun.]] Though it's {{subverted}}, shortly after their next time jump when [[spoiler: Suki recovers [[MyOwnGrandpa by feeding on Lorna Thurston]]]]. |
| 308 | * In ''Webcomic/WhiteDarkLife'', the [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Head Maid]] was bisected in an [[NoodleIncident unfortunate event]] where she escaped from the city and went back again. |
| 309 | * ''Webcomic/{{Zomgan}}'': In episode one, Mirae On slashes a Zomgan's body vertically in half with a large bone. |
| 310 | [[/folder]] |
| 311 | |
| 312 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 313 | * In the nightmare "Unforgiving Visitor" on Website/NightmareProject is sliced in half by an evil angel wielding a BFS. |
| 314 | * ''[[http://www.reddit.com/r/TwoSentenceHorror/comments/wzcko9/in_exchange_for_my_help_i_will_take_half_of_your/ "In exchange for my help, I will take half of your treasure," was the deal he offered]]'' on the Two Sentence Horror subreddit. As it turns out, [[JackassGenie the treasure referred to was not the riches being offered]], and [[spoiler:the protagonist's wife gets cut in half]]. |
| 315 | [[/folder]] |
| 316 | |
| 317 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 318 | * ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': |
| 319 | ** From campaign 1: Grog's killing blow on [[spoiler:Kevdak]] consists of him dropping down from the sky, bringing his axe down on [[spoiler:Kevdak]]'s neck, and bisecting him from neck to navel. |
| 320 | ** From campaign 2: [[spoiler:When Jester gets the final blow on Lucien, Cognouza Incarnate, it's not enough to outright kill him, but it is enough to give Molly control over their shared body for a split second. Molly makes use of that time by literally tearing himself/Lucien in half with their bare hands, splitting them from the top of their head to midway down their torso. Surprisingly, this does not prevent the Nein from reviving him after.]] |
| 321 | * ''WebVideo/NightmareTime'': [[spoiler:Boy Jerry]] is killed via an axe swing that splits him in half, head to toe. |
| 322 | * ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'': This is how [[Toys/{{Barbie}} Ken]] "dies" after falling from a high place in "[=BroKen!=]". Cue the "In Half!" RunningGag for the rest of the episode, and even after that. |
| 323 | [[/folder]] |
| 324 | |
| 325 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 326 | * The medical procedure for amputating people at the waist is called ''Hemicorporectomy'' -- literally, the removal of half of the body. Usually done for terminal cases of pelvic cancer. It's as unpleasant as it sounds; it involves the removal of the legs, the genitalia (internal and external), most of the urinary system, the large and small intestines, pelvic bones, anus, and rectum. |
| 327 | * The medical term for this type of injury is "transection," and the standard example is a man who fell asleep on the railroad tracks. While survival is occasionally possible, most hospital [=ERs=] have standing "do not resuscitate" orders for patients who have been bisected in accidents. |
| 328 | * One of the nastier methods of execution used in ancient China was the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waist_chop waist chop]]. When the Yongzhen Emperor heard of one victim of this method who lived long enough to write the character ''cǎn'' (慘, meaning "awful/cruel/horrible") seven times in his own blood, he had this method abolished immediately. |
| 329 | * Described in horrific detail as happening to at least one Marine [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII on Iwo Jima]] in the book of ''Film/FlagsOfOurFathers''. |
| 330 | * UsefulNotes/FormulaOne driver François Cévert, while attempting to qualify for the United States Grand Prix in 1973. He presumably overcompensated going through the track's famous Esses complex, losing control and crashing hard into the barrier at nearly 90 degrees, actually uprooting the barrier. Cevert's body was cut in half [[DiagonalCut from his neck to just above his hip]]. |
| 331 | * [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dahlia Elizabeth "Black Dahlia" Short]] suffered this at the hands of her demented, unknown Serial Killer. |
| 332 | * The soldier in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:After_the_war_a_medal_and_maybe_a_job2.jpg this anti-World War I cartoon.]] |
| 333 | * A rare, but survivable birth defect in which a person is born without legs or pelvis can resemble this trope. |
| 334 | ** Johnny Eck (he appeared in the movie ''Film/{{Freaks}}'') was such a case -- he also was in a circus routine where he was part of a gag "sawing a person in half" trick, which genuinely freaked out many viewers. |
| 335 | * Ancient Japan allegedly had warriors [[KatanasAreBetter (and weapons)]] who trained to do this in a single sword stroke, the diagonal variation that is. |
| 336 | ** According to ''Series/DeadliestWarrior'', a more or less common way to both test recently forged katana ''and'' quickly execute already condemned criminals was to have a samurai bisect the prisoner with a single diagonal cut. |
| 337 | * A few shark attack victims were bitten in half. |
| 338 | * Most microbes reproduce by fission (literally splitting in two once they get big enough) |
| 339 | * During ''Series/BattleBots''' 2018 competition, the Icewave vs. Vanquish battle ended with Vanquish [[https://i.imgur.com/U91ia7h.mp4 literally ripped in two]] after a particularly strong attack from Icewave: Its wedge, top, left two wheels, and the parts connected to them were separated from the rest of the robot. Jack Tweedy, captain of Vanquish's team, said that this was due to some weak welding he discovered later. |
| 340 | ** Bifurcation is [[https://gfycat.com/illsaneamericanblackvulture surprisingly common]] in Battlebots. |
| 341 | * During a performance at the Creator/TakarazukaRevue Grand Theater in 1954, actress Hiromi Kazuki's costume was caught in the mechanics of the lift following the end of a scene and an upcoming quick change for the next scene. She was wearing an underskirt with a metal band about the waist, and when her costume became stuck she was unable to free herself. Her feet were dragged into the moving mechanism and the metal band cut into her torso, killing her. |
| 342 | * Meet [[https://abcnews.go.com/Health/slideshow/man-half-body-10272168 Kenny Easterday]], a man who was amputated at the waist from 6 months of age due to a disability called sacral agenesis. Despite all odds, he lived to age 42 before passing away in 2016. |
| 343 | * Another highly inspirational, heartwarming example with the story of [[https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/qian-hongyan-the-inspiring-story-of-chinas-basketball-girl-2013-9%3famp Qian the Basketball Girl]], a Chinese girl who lost the lower half of her body due to an accident at age 4, where her legs are replaced by a basketball. Against all odds, she continued living and grew up to become a champion swimmer. |
| 344 | * Prince Igor I of Kiev was allegedly lynched [[note]]for trying to tax the same tribe twice in a row[[/note]] by being tied to two trees bent to the ground, then ripped in half vertically. |
| 345 | * Olympic skier Gernot Reinstadler was killed when one of his skis got caught in a safety net, [[https://youtu.be/u8_-WBl7FiU pulling him in half]] [[note]]warning, the linked video is gruesome[[/note]] |
| 346 | [[/folder]] |
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