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| 6 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 13 | [[quoteright:297:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pillow_kill_9156.jpg]]]] |
| 14 | [[caption-width-right:297:[[WesternAnimation/Sealab2021 Vaya con Dios, amigo.]]]] |
| 15 | |
| 16 | ->''"I can see you don't want to talk about this, Mr. Crawley," I said, "and that you're about to try to fabricate. So, before you say anything, you should know that, if I sense you're lying, or even being incomplete, I'm going to pull that pillow out from under your head and smother you with it. Take a moment and imagine what that'll be like." I smiled as though I had just wished him a nice day.'' |
| 17 | -->-- '''Literature/JohnRain''', ''Winner Take All'' |
| 18 | |
| 19 | When you want someone to [[DeadlyEuphemism go to sleep for a really, really long time]], all you need is a nice soft pillow. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Fiction, especially in visual media, has a hard time conveying the idea of deadly force. While BoomHeadshot is a pretty clear indication that Bob isn't getting up again, RuleOfPerception means that a character without obvious lethal injuries may not seem 'dead' to the audience. This is why suffocation and strangulation -- the amount of time it takes to kill someone by cutting off their oxygen and the chance they can be revived afterward -- are treated so inconsistently. A minor character might die in seconds but another can be choked until they go limp and (especially if they're a major character) wake up perfectly fine. Bob may fall into water, [[HollywoodDrowning thrash and splash for a bit]], and then go under for good, while Alice can lie at the bottom of a pool for an hour and still be revived by a KissOfLife. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | So it's tropable that quick and certain death by suffocation is available through nothing more than a standard pillow -- press one to your victim's face and they will struggle a few seconds, squirm a few seconds more, and then expire. Once dead, they are dead for real, with no chance of revival. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | While there is some justification for this (characters murdered by pillow are often weakened, sick, or injured), this trope employs ''considerable'' artistic license. An ordinary pillow is quite porous and will allow some air to get through, so even if it were pressed as tightly against the victim's nose and mouth as possible (despite struggling and all), it will still kill much more slowly than other methods which entirely cut off the victim's air supply. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Named after the fatal vorpal sword in Lewis Carroll's Literature/{{Jabberwocky}}, although, admittedly, the pillow variety rarely goes snicker-snack. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | '''Unmarked spoilers abound,''' this trope being about a "foolproof" method of inflicting nigh-instantaneous death and all. Watch yourself. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | Often combined with SickbedSlaying. Compare InstantSedation and InstantDeathBullet for similar examples of the unrealistically quick dispatch of a human being. Occasionally overlaps with SinisterSuffocation and even MercyKill. |
| 32 | ---- |
| 33 | !!Examples: |
| 34 | |
| 35 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 36 | |
| 37 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 38 | * ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' uses this trope in a more realistic fashion than the standard. [[StrawNihilist Revy]] appears to try killing her father this way, but simply uses the pillow to muffle the blast from her gun. |
| 39 | * This is the way [[spoiler:Nogiku kills Nina]] in ''Manga/{{Kasane}}''. Somewhat justified here, as the victim neither has the means (she can't move) [[MercyKill nor the will to resist]], and this method is the least likely to leave traces of murder. |
| 40 | [[/folder]] |
| 41 | |
| 42 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 43 | * Franchise/{{Batman}}: ''ComicBook/DarkVictory'' - Alberto Falcone is killed by his sister Sofia in exactly this manner. Semi-justified in that Sofia is a very strong woman and Alberto is very frail - she didn't suffocate so much as crush him. |
| 44 | * When Tommy's mother in ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'' recovered from cancer, she disowned him, subsequently cutting him off from the Elliot family fortune in retaliation for his continuing relationship with Peyton. As a result, Tommy killed her by smothering her with a pillow, while Peyton killed their lawyer and destroyed Mrs. Elliot's new will. |
| 45 | * The "instant strangulation" trope is averted in the 2008 remake of ''ComicBook/UnknownSoldier''. The main character uses a makeshift garrote to quietly kill a ChildSoldier and thinks to himself how it takes a long time to strangle a person, even a young boy. Even he's surprised, and he's a doctor. |
| 46 | * Exaggerated in the Creator/RichardSala story "Where Is Christine Brooder?", which includes a subplot about a SerialKiller whose m.o. is to smother his victims with a pillow...while they're standing upright, at bus stops, in broad daylight. |
| 47 | [[/folder]] |
| 48 | |
| 49 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 50 | * The climax of ''Fanfic/{{Cain}}'' features [[spoiler:VillainProtagonist Bakugou working up the willpower to murder his lifelong victim Izuku while the latter is sleeping in the Yuuei health office. Thankfully he's stopped by Eraserhead and Recovery Girl]]. |
| 51 | * In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7762399/1/Death-of-an-Evil-One Death of an Evil One]]'', House Elves would sometimes kill those who threaten their way of life (like Hermione) that way, and then hide all traces. |
| 52 | * ''Fanfic/ADragonsRoar'': This is how Aerys is killed at the start of the CivilWar, Rhaella smothering him after sex (with Rhaegar's explicit blessing). |
| 53 | * Greg attempts to suffocate his dad in ''Fanfic/DiaryOfAWimpyKidRichAndFamous''. [[spoiler: It doesn't work.]] |
| 54 | * Averted in ''Fanfic/IfThemsTheRules'', when Buck attempts to smother an ill Tom Riddle, it takes a while for Tom to start blacking out and is struggling the whole time. |
| 55 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12709174/1/The-Karma-Circle-Chances-On-Top-of-Chances The Karma Circle: Chances on Top of Chances]]'', Gaz is smothered by a pillow in the hospital, with it being noted that it's only working because she was still weak from the stomach flu that put her in the hospital in the first place. As she's in a GroundhogDayLoop, this happens to her several times before she figures out how to fight back. |
| 56 | * In ''FanFic/AThingOfVikings'': [[spoiler: Father Hendricksson ]]attempts to smother Ruffnut with a pillow after baptizing her in her sleep in order to get rid of her pagan influence [[spoiler: and make it look it she died from the aftereffects of childbirth.]] However Einar catches him and intervenes on the attempted assassination. |
| 57 | * Subverted in ''Fanfic/TheUnfantasticAdventuresOfBizarroNo1'' due to Bizarro and his family's backwards nature. Bizarro stuffing a pillow over Bizarro ComicBook/LoisLane' head is their idea of foreplay. |
| 58 | * In ''Fanfic/WarOfRemnantARWBYAnthology'', this is how [[spoiler: Glynda {{mercy kill}}s her wife, Gannet, after the latter had been paralyzed from the neck down and suffered a miscarriage as a result, begging Glynda to put her out of her misery.]] |
| 59 | [[/folder]] |
| 60 | |
| 61 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 62 | * ''Film/{{Amour}}'' has [[spoiler:Georges MercyKill his wife Anne in this way.]] This death is on the more realistic (and genuinely upsetting) end of the spectrum, as it shows how much effort the character in question has to exert in unflinching detail. |
| 63 | * In ''Film/BlackCougar'', one of the villains tries to kill a witness in this manner. Luckily, Black Cougar saves her. |
| 64 | * [[spoiler: Greta]] is killed this way in ''Film/BloodAndBlackLace''. |
| 65 | * In the opening of ''Film/BlownAway'', Creator/TommyLeeJones's character murders his cellmate by shoving a pillow over his face to muffle his cries as he repeatedly shanks him to death. |
| 66 | * ''Film/{{Body}}'': Tired of waiting for Arthur to die, Cali takes matters into her own hands and smothers him with a cushion. |
| 67 | * Perhaps the earliest example of this trope in film. [[Creator/BorisKarloff John Gray]] the cadaver seller in ''Film/TheBodySnatcher'', based on the crimes of Film/BurkeAndHare (see Real Life below), smothers [[Creator/BelaLugosi Joseph]] to death (without a pillow) by pinning him down and forcefully pressing a hand over the nose and mouth. Joseph struggles and suffocates for a couple of minutes before expiring. |
| 68 | * In ''Film/TheComedyOfTerrors'', this is how Trumbull disposes of his first (onscreen--it's stated that he's killed several others in the past, likely by the same method) victim in an effort to drum up business for his struggling funeral parlor. This plan goes awry when [[spoiler:the elderly victim's young widow immediately leaves town with all his money and possessions (she doesn't even pay off the servants)]]. |
| 69 | * Near the end of ''Film/DeadAgain'', the detective is given the key to the murder mystery after talking to a housebound old woman. The woman is subsequently visited by the murderer, who gently makes sure she's comfortably tucked up in bed and then suffocates her with her pillow. |
| 70 | * In ''Film/DeathWalksOnHighHeels'', the killer murders Nicole by smothering her with a cushion: the only one of his victims he does not kill by [[SlashedThroat slitting their throat]]. |
| 71 | * Played with in Creator/JohnWaters' ''Film/DesperateLiving'': it doesn't take more than a few seconds for maid Grizelda Brown (Jean Hill) to kill Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole)'s husband, but then again a 400lb woman sitting on a man's face ain't exactly a pillow... |
| 72 | * A different version in ''Film/Dillinger1973''. Dillinger's gang have to flee their hideout after G-Men attack, but one of them is too wounded to flee, so Pretty Boy Floyd covers his face with a pillow and shoots his pistol into it. This is right in the middle of a gunfight involving automatic weapons, so it's more like a blindfolded execution than a covert murder. |
| 73 | * In ''Film/{{Emelie}}'', the eponymous babysitter attempts to do this to one of her charges, only to realize he's no longer in the bed. |
| 74 | * ''Film/TheEscapist'': After [[ChairmanOfTheBrawl battering Tony with a chair]], Lacey grabs a pillow and attempts to finish him off with it. He might have succeeded if Frank hadn't hauled him off. |
| 75 | * Subverted in ''Film/TheGodfather Part II'' when a hitman is shot dead just as he's about to carry out a SickbedSlaying. |
| 76 | * In ''Film/TheGoodSon'' Henry attempts to do this to his sister Connie after he had earlier tried to drown her by pushing her onto thin ice, he stops because he notices his mother is in the room and pretends he was fluffing her pillows to cover it up. |
| 77 | * Toyed with in ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' when Angel Eyes ("the Bad"), played by Creator/LeeVanCleef, does the SickbedSlaying of his erstwhile employer by first covering over the guy's face with the pillow, then shoots twice through it into the guy's face. |
| 78 | * ''Film/GoreOrphanage'' has the trope performed with a [[spoiler:teddy bear]]. |
| 79 | * ''Film/TheGreyZone'': In the opening, the Sonderkommandos smother one of their own with a pillow as a {{mercy kill}}. |
| 80 | * ''Film/{{Haywire}}'' plays with the trope by having the protagonist appear to start to apply the pillow to a defeated opponent -- only to instead fire her gun through the pillow to kill the guy instead. |
| 81 | * The old Hong Kong horror film ''Film/HellHasNoBoundary'' has a rather disturbing and graphic example, where a little girl is killed by [[OffingTheOffspring her own parents]] using a pillow. |
| 82 | * Subverted in ''Film/IngloriousBasterds''. During his murder-montage, Hugo Stiglitz is seen shoving a pillow over the face of a Gestapo officer... then ''NightmareFuel stabbing him in the face repeatedly, THROUGH the pillow.'' |
| 83 | * ''Film/{{Jigsaw}}'': At the barn game's climax, John reveals that Anna smothered [[OffingTheOffspring her infant child]] (whose name nor gender are never stated) with a pillow in a fit of rage from hearing them cry, and subsequently made her husband Matthew believe he did it by accident. |
| 84 | * In ''Film/Joker2019'', while Arthur Fleck was visiting his mother, Penny, in the hospital [[spoiler:after finding out he was adopted, he kills her by using her pillow.]] |
| 85 | * ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom''. When Lockwood finds out what Mills has been up to behind his back, he demands that Mills phone the police and turn himself in. The mobile phone Lockwood points to is resting on top of a cushion that Mills decides to use instead. It helps that Lockwood is a crippled, dying old man on life support. Plus, as we only see the lead-up and not the act itself, we don't know how long it took or how easy it was. |
| 86 | * In ''Film/LadyFrankenstein'', Charles murders Thomas by suffocating him with a pillow while he having sex with Tanya. |
| 87 | * In ''Film/TheLovedOnes'', Lola uses a pillow to suffocate [[spoiler:Bright Eyes, who is actually her mother]]. |
| 88 | * ''Film/ManBitesDog'' has [[SerialKiller Ben]] and his crew murdering a family, ending with a young boy who gets suffocated viaa pillow into the face. Ben was trying to save on bullets. |
| 89 | * ''Film/TheManWhoCameBack'': Worried that Caleb is going to tell the truth about Paxton's KangarooCourt, Billy smothers him with a pillow. |
| 90 | * In ''Film/{{Mudbound}}'', Jamie smothers his father to death in retaliation for the brutal torture and mutilation of Ronsel. |
| 91 | * In ''Film/MurdersInTheRueMorgue1971'', Cesar and Madeline smother Marot with a pillow and hide his body in his sarcophagus in the crypt. However, Marot survives by the using the [[ChekhovsSkill deep breathing trick]] he had earlier used to [[FakingTheDead fake his suicide]]. |
| 92 | * In ''Film/TheNakedGun'', a hypnotized doctor is about to suffocate Nordberg with a pillow before Frank Drebin interrupts him. The doctor throws the pillow at Drebin as he flees, and it [[RuleOfFunny inexplicably]] sticks to Drebin's face. It takes him several seconds of struggling to rip it off. |
| 93 | * In the Telugu film ''Film/{{Narasimhudu}}'', it is revealed in {{Flashback}} late in the film that the bad guys, who work for a corrupt politician, did this to [[spoiler:Chitti, Narasimha's little sister who they had recently raped]], in a SickbedSlaying at the hospital. The reason they did this was to [[spoiler:silence her as a witness]], and it would be the final straw that sent Narasimha on the RoaringRampageOfRevenge that he has been on all movie. |
| 94 | * In ''Film/TheNotoriousDaughterOfFannyHill'', the Countess of Roxbury attempts to smother Kissey with a pillow. [[spoiler:She succeeds.]] |
| 95 | * The Hindi film, ''Film/{{Omkara}}'', being a direct remake of Othello, has this in the end. It's a lot longer than five seconds. The scene actually goes on a painfully long time, but in the end, you know what happens. |
| 96 | * After [=McMurphy=] gets a lobotomy in ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'', Chief Bromden decides to [[MercyKill put him out of his misery]] by suffocating him with a pillow. |
| 97 | * Esther does this to Danny in his hospital bed in ''Film/{{Orphan}}''. He doesn't die, but is left in worse shape than he was before. |
| 98 | * Not shown, but in the backstory of ''Film/TheOthers2001'', [[spoiler:this is how Grace killed both of her children, as revealed during the seance in the finale.]] |
| 99 | * Ben Healy attempts to do this to Junior in ''Film/ProblemChild'', but ultimately doesn't go through with it. He is still holding the pillow for a couple of scenes afterwards, though. |
| 100 | * In ''Film/PromisingYoungWoman'', [[spoiler:Al Munroe]] smothers [[spoiler:Cassie]] by clamping a pillow over her face. It is an overall more realistic take on the trope as he plants his knee on the pillow and leans on it with with his full body weight for about two full minutes of screentime before she expires. |
| 101 | * In the Creator/JessFranco film ''Film/SheKilledInEcstasy'', Mrs. Johnson uses this method to dispatch one of her victims after [[OutWithABang seducing her]]. More plausible than most examples, as the weapon she uses is an inflatable plastic cushion rather than a standard porous fabric pillow. |
| 102 | * Narrowly averted in ''Film/SleepingWithTheEnemy''. When Martin visits Laura's blind mother in the nursing home and tricks her into giving him information, it's ''heavily'' implied that he's about to smother her with a pillow - but a nurse walks in just in the nick of time, and he instead tucks the pillow behind her head. |
| 103 | * ''Film/SoftAndQuiet'': [[spoiler:this is how the gang (chiefly Leslie) attempt to silence Anne after their "prank" on her household goes sideways. Unfortunately for the gang, it's harder to pull this off in real life than in the movies, and the final scene shows Anne catching her breath after having played dead during the ordeal]]. |
| 104 | * In ''Film/{{Superdome}}'', the killer enters Rita's hotel room with a HairpinLockpick and smothers her in her sleep. |
| 105 | * In ''Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby'', Cal tries to do this to end his friend's suffering. Since Ricky Bobby isn't suffering at all, just napping, he fights Cal off. |
| 106 | * ''Film/TheatreOfBlood'': When Psaltery thinks his wife is guilty of adultery, he smothers her with a pillow. |
| 107 | * In ''Film/TigerHouse'', Shane tells Kelly he performed a MercyKill on Callum's father, who was dying of cancer, by smothering him with a pillow. |
| 108 | * In ''Film/TowerOfLondon1962'', Richard and Sir Ratcliffe murder the princes in the tower by suffocating them with pillows as they lie in their bed. |
| 109 | * In ''Film/TheUncanny'', Janet murders Miss Malkin by smothering her with a pillow. Miss Malkin puts up more of a struggle than victims of this trope usually do, and Janet ends using her entire body weight to pin the pillow over her face. |
| 110 | * In ''Film/VanillaSky'' this is mixed to a disturbing degree with OutWithABang. |
| 111 | * ''Film/WhereTheTruthLies'': Reuben killed Maureen by smothering her with a pillow it turns out. |
| 112 | [[/folder]] |
| 113 | |
| 114 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 115 | * In "By These Presents", by Creator/HenryKuttner, a person signs a DealWithTheDevil (complete immortality and invulnerability unless he commits suicide)... and immediately does this to his disabled mother. [[spoiler:That's because the devil took as surety the man's conscience. At the end, he returns it. By then, this case is far from the only reason that the devil gets the man's soul a few seconds later.]] |
| 116 | * Creator/CliveCussler's Literature/DirkPittAdventures novel ''Night Probe'' features a murder carried out by this method to facilitate its concealment. The victim is sufficiently frail and weak that his death is not unexpected in any case, and is too feeble to put up a significant struggle. The murderer uses theatrical makeup to conceal the bruising on the inside of the victim's lips from the pillow pressing them against his teeth. |
| 117 | * The ''Literature/ClassicSingaporeHorrorStories'' short "Paint it Black" has the GoldDigger, Jessica, who married an old Indian billionaire and strategically arranged for the billionaire's first two wives murdered. With the billionaire about to die of heartbreak from his family being ruined, Jessica decide to hasten the process by getting rid of him personally. Said murder happens in a lavish bedroom full of satin pillows and silk blankets, and the writer Damien Sin leaves the details to the readers' imagination. |
| 118 | * ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': In ''Literature/ColdDays'', Mab's first attempt to kill Harry as part of his 'physical therapy' is to try to smother him with his pillow. Its effectiveness is justified by the fact that Harry has basically been in a coma for over six months, and even then he is able to escape it, with difficulty. |
| 119 | * In ''Literature/DeathComesAsTheEnd'', a variation is used on one of the victims who is smothered with linen sheeting used to wrap a mummy. In other words, the killer mummifies the victim alive. |
| 120 | * In the third book of the ''Literature/GriffinsDaughter'' series: Sonoe, the royal consort (who's also TheMole for the BigBad) performs a SickbedSlaying on King Keizo this way. Doubles as a MercyKill, as Keizo was currently suffering from a plague with a low survival rate, and she wanted to spare him the suffering of that, plus the HellOnEarth she was about to help unleash. |
| 121 | * ''Literature/HungersAsOldAsThisLand'': [[spoiler:BigBad Gerard Bancroft]] meets his end this way. After being ambushed in his home and trying to convince his killers to spare him by pointing out that shooting him would just attract attention, [[spoiler:Esther and Siobhan]] smother him to death with a pillow. |
| 122 | * In Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{It}}'', this is how 5-year-old Patrick Hockstetter kills his baby brother Avery, but he does it by pressing the baby's face into the pillow rather than holding a pillow to his face. |
| 123 | * In ''[[Literature/TheBelgariad The Mallorean]]'', Silk smothers a number of people offscreen as vengeance for the death of a fellow spy, in order to MakeItLookLikeAnAccident. However there's no indication given that it was instantaneous or easy. Then he runs short on time and has to start using knives... |
| 124 | * ''Literature/IveGotYouUnderMySkin'': |
| 125 | ** Betsy Powell was smothered to death with her own pillow; her body was found with the pillow over her face and her hands still clutching the edges of the pillow in a futile attempt to push it away. |
| 126 | ** [[spoiler:Jane]] attempts to smother [[spoiler:Muriel]] with a pillow too, although this time the intended victim is able to sink her fingernails into the killer's hands, giving her just enough time to shove the pillow away and scream for help. |
| 127 | * ''Literature/NativeSon'' features a particularly extreme version of this trope. Not only does the victim die from suffocation by the pillow, but the person killing her didn't even realize what he was doing. What's more, a third person in the room didn't realize what was going on because the sound of the smothering was so negligible. |
| 128 | * Done by [[spoiler:Bromden]] to [[spoiler:[=McMurphy=]]] in ''Literature/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'', as a MercyKill. |
| 129 | * Mentioned by the narrator of the short story ''The Scarlet Ibis'' by James Hurst. He recalls feeling so bad for his younger brother for the medical condition that he was born with that he thought of smothering him with a pillow to [[MercyKill end his misery]]. However, the trope is [[DefiedTrope defied]] when he sees his younger brother smiling at him, finally concluding that his brother is more than just an EmptyShell and choosing to let him stay alive. |
| 130 | * ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': |
| 131 | ** Daenerys Targaryen [[MercyKill does this]] to [[spoiler:Khal Drogo]], who has been rendered a SoullessShell. |
| 132 | ** Ser Osney Kettleblack also does this off-screen to the old High Septon under orders from Cersei. |
| 133 | ** Invoked when Lord Tywin complains about the excessive violence one of his henchmen used to kill a three-year old princess, when [[DoWrongRight gentle words and a soft pillow could have done the job with less fuss]]. |
| 134 | * In ''Literature/TheRemittanceKid'' by Creator/JTEdson, one of the anarchists sneaks into a hospital disguised as a priest and uses a pillow to smother a wounded accomplice before he can talk to the police. |
| 135 | * The SickbedSlaying of Alan Venters in ''{{Literature/Trainspotting}}'' is carried out by this method. |
| 136 | * In the first book of the ''Literature/WarOfTheSpiderQueen'' series Pharaun confirms Lloth's silence by going to a brothel full of deposed drow noblewomen and having a chat with an ex-priestess. She wants to be released from that horrible place in exchange, and since she knows too much anyways Pharaun does so by smothering her with a pillow, since they charge extra for killing prostitutes and it doesn't leave a mark. |
| 137 | [[/folder]] |
| 138 | |
| 139 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 140 | * Series/{{Angel}} tries this on Wesley in "[[Recap/AngelS03E17Forgiving Forgiving]]", but it doesn't work. (Some fans speculate that this was deliberate; he could have killed Wes easily in other ways, but he was really just making a point.) |
| 141 | * In ''Series/TheBlacklist'', Reddington kills Lizzy's father this way. |
| 142 | * ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'' subverts the vorpal part by showing [[DeconstructedTrope the impracticality of the method]]: Eli tries to kill the survivor of the Woods Massacre when he reappears, badly wounded, by smothering him with a pillow in a hospital. It takes a very long time, though, makes enough noise to raise suspicions from the patient in an adjacent bed, and Eli is clearly exhausted by the time Van Alden and his agents come in - with the survivor wheezing, but still very much alive. |
| 143 | * In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' |
| 144 | ** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E22TheGift The Gift]]", Giles pulls off a Vulcan nose-pinch grip to kill Glory's host. |
| 145 | ** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E21WeightOfTheWorld Weight of the World]]", Buffy also does this to Dawn during her HeroicBSOD dream. |
| 146 | * ''Series/CarnivalRow'': [[spoiler: Piety]] kills [[spoiler: Absalom]] using this, when he won't reveal what she wants to know. |
| 147 | * Subverted on ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': Casey plays up this trope when a villain attempts to smother him in his hospital bed. Said villain falls for it, removes the pillow... and promptly gets a bonsai tree smashed over his head. |
| 148 | * ''Series/ColdCase'': In "Sherry Darlin'", it looks as if the main suspect James is about to confess to smothering his grandmother with a pillow. however, at the last moment, he decides he cannot go through with it. His girlfriend, who had put him up to it, takes the pillow and does it herself. |
| 149 | * Subverted in the Swedish series ''Series/CrimesOfPassion'' - a murderer sticks a pillow over AmateurSleuth Puck's face, but after leaving, she regains consciousness. |
| 150 | * In ''Series/CriminologistHimuraAndMysteryWriterArisugawa'', the killer of "Smashing a Show Window" deals with his victim by suffocating her with a cushion while she's watching a horror film. After the deed is done, her hand keeps the pillow in place until the last bit of life leaves her and it falls from her limp body. |
| 151 | * ''Series/{{CSI}}'': The first VictimOfTheWeek in "Cockroaches" is killed this way. The hitman originally planned to shoot him, but finding the victim asleep, he smothered him instead. |
| 152 | * ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': |
| 153 | ** One of the killers in "[[Recap/CSINYS02E13 Risk]]" uses a small pillow from the victim's office couch to smother him while he's napping, then fashions a noose and tosses the man out the high-rise window to make it look like a suicide. |
| 154 | ** In "[[Recap/CSINYS03E09 And Here's to You, Mrs. Azrael]]," a mother unknowingly does it to her own daughter. She believes the girl in the hospital was the driver of the car in which her daughter died; however, due to their similar appearance, there was mistaken identity as to who survived and who died. The girl tries to tell her mother, but she doesn't get it and smothers her to death in the hospital bed. |
| 155 | * In the third season of ''Series/Dark2017'', Adam suffocates Hannah because she knew too much about time travel. He then carried her daughter away as if nothing had happened. |
| 156 | * ''Series/DeathInParadise'': Used in "A Personal Murder" to slay the VictimOfTheWeek (who suffers from sleep apnea and bad heart). |
| 157 | * ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'': |
| 158 | ** Played for laughs in "It May Look Like a Walnut", when Rob, overly absorbed with watching a scary TV show, obliviously starts pillow smothering Laura, with comical arm flailing included. |
| 159 | ** In "[[Recap/TheDickVanDykeShowS5E30LongNightsJourneyIntoDay Long Night's Journey into Day]]", Millie and Laura are home alone while their husbands and kids go on a fishing trip. Laura happens to start coughing right after hearing a creepy noise. Trying to muffle the coughing, Millie holds a pillow over her head. Laura eventually fights free and tells Millie she almost smothered her. |
| 160 | * ''Series/TheDoctorBlakeMysteries'': Used to kill the VictimOfTheWeek in "Room Without a View". {{Justified}} as the victim is passing out drunk and in no state to put up any resistance. |
| 161 | * ''Series/EmpressOfChina'' has [[spoiler: Princess Gaoyang]] kill Princess Anding this way with a handkerchief. Justified, considering we are talking about a newborn victim, and that the culprit is seen strangling her beforehand. |
| 162 | * ''Series/FatherBrown'': |
| 163 | ** A blackmailer who is passing-out drunk is smothered to death with a ''teddy bear'' in "The Theatre of the Invisible". |
| 164 | ** In "The Cat of Mastigatus", the would-be killer, realising that the victim was still alive, sneaks into her hospital room and attempts to finish the job with a pillow. |
| 165 | ** In "The Queen Bee", the VictimOfTheWeek, who is laid up in bed with a broken leg, is smothered with a pillow. |
| 166 | * ''Series/AFrenchVillage'': |
| 167 | ** [[spoiler:Jules]] smothers [[spoiler:Kurt]] with a pillow, who had previously asked that he be killed as [[MercyKill a mercy]]. It's unclear if he did this for mercy though or because [[spoiler:Kurt]] slept with his wife. |
| 168 | ** Later it seems like [[spoiler:Lucienne]] will kill [[spoiler:Jules]] this way too. It's {{subverted}} however, and he's still living decades later as an old man. |
| 169 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'': This is Daenerys' method of euthanizing a catatonic Drogo. |
| 170 | * ''Series/GinnyAndGeorgia'': Georgia smothers Tom Fuller using a pillow in his bed as a MercyKill. |
| 171 | * In the ''Series/{{Haven}}'' episode "Magic Hour Part 2", [[SerialKiller The Bolt Gun Killer]] finishes Noelle off this way after tracking her down after shooting her in the woods. She was bleeding out and probably would not have survived without medical attention anyway. |
| 172 | * ''Series/{{Harrow}}'': Used to murder the VictimOfTheWeek in "Lex Talionis" ("The Law of Retaliation"): an elderly patient in a nursing home. The murderer first straps the victim to the bed to reduce the struggling. |
| 173 | * ''Series/{{Inside No 9}} '': Used in the episode ''Simon Says '' by protagonist Spencer on his LoonyFan [[spoiler: Simon]] as a form of self defence when he thinks [[spoiler: Simon has murdered another fan in front of him. Turns out the other man is actually alive and well, [[GoneHorriblyWrong the whole ordeal was planned as part of Simon’s audition.]]]] |
| 174 | * In ''Series/IZombie'', Blaine uses a pillow to smother his vegetative grandfather as part of a plan to get revenge on his own father. |
| 175 | * In ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', Ray realises [[spoiler: he's possessed by Neron]] when [[spoiler: he finds himself attempting this on Nora against his will]]. |
| 176 | * ''Series/LivingWithYourself'': Occurs in the last episode, attempted by [[spoiler: Miles Elliot on his clone]]. Subverted that [[spoiler: Miles only managed to knock out his double, and suddenly has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment and quickly resuscitates him. They both survive and decide to co-exist alongside each other, especially how Kate Elliot in a later scene is revealed to be pregnant with Miles' (or the clone's? It isn't made clear.) baby]]. |
| 177 | * ''Series/MajorCrimes'': In "Poster Boy", the SerialKiller slams his third victim on to the bathroom floor and then smothers her with a pillow as he cannot risk any noise alerting the neighbours. |
| 178 | * In ''Series/MercyStreet'', Frank, a Confederate soldier disguised as a dentist's assistant, smothers a Union officer who is laid up in Mansion Street Hospital with a pillow and steals some plans from his room. |
| 179 | * ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': |
| 180 | ** During the denouement of "[[Recap/MidsomerMurdersS3E3 Judgement Day]]", Barnaby and Troy run up to Bella's bedroom. She is dead. Marcus says that he didn't want Bella to be put back in the loony bin. It would have destroyed her. So he gave her sleeping pills and then... A pillow. |
| 181 | ** In "[[Recap/MidsomerMurdersS4E2 Destroying Angel]]", Karl Wainwright gets suffocated by a pillow. |
| 182 | ** In "[[Recap/MidsomerMurdersS10E4 The Axeman Cometh]]", the second VictimOfTheWeek is smothered with a pillow as he lies drunk in the back of his Cadillac. The killer then shoves the car into the swimming pool. |
| 183 | ** The first VictimOfTheWeek in "[[Recap/MidsomerMurdersS12E6 The Creeper]]". This instance is more realistic than many examples as the victim was drunk, drugged and [[spoiler:there were two people holding the pillow over his face]]. |
| 184 | * ''Series/MissFishersMurderMysteries'': Used as a murder weapon in "Blood & Money". A piece of down found on the VictimOfTheWeek becomes a vital clue. |
| 185 | * ''Series/MoneyHeist'': In the Season 2 premiere, Helsinki does this to Oslo to MercyKill him from the severe head trauma he received late in Season 1. |
| 186 | * ''Series/{{Monk}}'': The killer from "Mr. Monk and the Very, Very Old Man" does this in the episode's opening scene. Not as much of a stretch as some other examples, since the victim was in fact very, very old, as the episode's title may imply. We don't see exactly how long it takes him to die, but the death is apparently quick and clean enough that no one at first suspects foul play. |
| 187 | * ''Series/MurderSheWrote'': Used to kill the VictimOfTheWeek in "The Error of her Ways" (who had already been shot). |
| 188 | * ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': |
| 189 | ** In the episode featuring ''Series/MasterNinja'', Joel and the 'Bots cut back to Dr. Forrester down in Deep 13, and he's shown hastily trying to kill TV's Frank this way. In the "Poopie" outtake reel, this was one of many, ''many'' scenes which forced Frank into [[{{Corpsing}} a fit of giggles]]. |
| 190 | ** In the first episode of Season 8, featuring ''Film/RevengeOfTheCreature'', Pearl Forrester admits that she killed her son in this manner after her plan to raise him correct the second time around (he was turned back into a baby in the Season 7 finale) failed. |
| 191 | * ''Series/NewTricks'': Used to kill the VictimOfTheWeek (who is ChainedToABed) in "Prodigal Sons". |
| 192 | * In ''Series/NipTuck'', after a plane crash, Julia thinks that her mother is dying and euthanizes her with a pillow. It turns out not to be her mom after all. Whoops. |
| 193 | * ''Series/{{Norsemen}}'': Orm tries and fails to kill his mortally wounded brother Olav with a pillow, forcing him to reach into his gaping chest wound and strangle his heart instead. It's presented as a demonstration of how [[SissyVillain pathetic]] Orm is that he couldn't even smother someone who couldn't raise his arms to fight back. |
| 194 | * ''Series/NoughtsAndCrosses'': Jack smothers Danny in the hospital with a pillow, to make his death seem like a result of the injuries the police inflicted on him and incite the Noughts into revolting from outrage over it. |
| 195 | * On ''Series/OrphanBlack'', [[spoiler:Grace]] attempts this on [[spoiler:Helena]]. [[spoiler: Subverted; Helena survives and turns the tables on Grace by strangling Grace to unconsciousness.]] |
| 196 | * ''Series/PennyDreadful'': Overlaps with SickbedSlaying. Brona's affliction is pretty advanced tuberculosis, for which she is bedridden and in constant pain. At Ethan's request, Victor comes to assist in making her final moments more comfortable... Except that Victor also requires a beautiful female corpse to create a bride for his creature, necessitating a conveniently wound-free execution technique. Absurdly, he is able to send Ethan out for something down the hall and finish killing her before Ethan has even returned. |
| 197 | * Played with on ''Series/ThePretender'' when Miss Parker pretends to kill Jacob (Sydney's comatose twin brother). |
| 198 | * In third season of ''Series/{{PrisonBreak}}'' Lechero is killed by this trope. |
| 199 | * In ''Series/{{Revenge}}'', after Michelle Banks paralyzes Aiden with a poison, this is how Victoria finishes him off. |
| 200 | * Commented on rather hilariously, during an episode of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'': |
| 201 | -->'''Nancy:''' Arnie's always whining that I'm smothering him. |
| 202 | -->'''Roseanne:''' If you can still hear him whining, you ain't holding the pillow down hard enough. |
| 203 | * Played for laughs on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' in the "The Day [[{{Music/Beyonce}} Beyoncé]] Turned Black" skit. A terrified white mother, not wanting her son to live in a world where [[ItMakesSenseInContext Beyoncé is black]], does this to her son after he falls asleep. |
| 204 | * Subverted on ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' during an ImagineSpot. J.D reflects on the fact that the new Chief of Medicine is very friendly and personable with her coworkers, but very cold-blooded toward the patients. In the ImagineSpot this is illustrated by her realizing that one patient's insurance won't cover any more time in the ICU, so she responds by attempting to smother him with his pillow. He survives and she keeps trying again while shouting WhyWontYouDie. |
| 205 | * ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'': |
| 206 | ** PlayedForLaughs and {{Subverted}} when George is in the hospital and is in "[[{{Wangst}} so much pain]]" that he asks Jerry to end his life this way. Jerry says "You mean like this?" and puts the pillow over his face for a second, and George starts yelling. |
| 207 | ** In another episode, a hospitalized Mr. Pitt asks Elaine to get him another pillow from the other side of the room. After she picks it up, she notices that he has fallen asleep. Moments later, a nurse walks into the room, [[NotWhatItLooksLike sees Elaine tiptoeing towards a sleeping Mr. Pitt holding a pillow]], and assumes the worst. |
| 208 | * In Season 2 of ''Series/ShamelessUS'', Frank's abusive mother, Peggy, is dying of cancer. Rather than wait to die in pain, she has Sheila smother her with a pillow. Of course since her fight-or-flight response kicks in, Sheila has to sit on her face with the pillow to get her down. |
| 209 | * ''Series/ShaunMicallefsMadAsHell'': In a season 10 episode, Shaun throws to a segue with the words "In some other news..." The scene then cuts to someone in bed being smothered with a pillow, before cutting back to a bewildered Shaun: |
| 210 | -->'''Shaun:''' I said "some other news"! Not "smother news"! |
| 211 | * Happened near the end of season eight of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' to a depowered supervillain. |
| 212 | * In ''Series/{{Sonny With A Chance}}'', Sonny pulls a variation of this on Chad calling it P.F.S (Pillow in the Face Syndrome). |
| 213 | * ''Series/TheSopranos'': In the first season finale, after Uncle Junior's arrest, Tony heads to the Green Grove nursing home, and grabs a pillow, intending to smother his elderly mother to death, because she tried to have him knocked off. He's only stopped because she had an apparent stroke shortly before he arrived and is being wheeled away for treatment. |
| 214 | * ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. Even in the future they do this, with a killer trying to smother a comatose Quark before he wakes up and identifies him from an earlier attempt. The episode was a homage of murder mysteries, so perhaps he had tradition in mind. It's a particularly ridiculous use of this trope, since he tried it seconds after stabbing a guard to death. Regardless, the SickbedSlaying gets averted when Quark's brother walks in and starts screaming, causing Odo to arrive with a bunch of guards. When Rom realises he's saved his brother's life (meaning he doesn't inherit the bar) he starts screaming all over again, waking Quark up from his coma. |
| 215 | * ''Series/TheTruthSeekers'': {{Exaggerated|Trope}} with one murderer who smothered two young children while committing a different crime. Investigators think he used a couch cushion, but it's revealed that he did it {{accidental|Murder}}ly by hugging their faces to his body for a few seconds. |
| 216 | * In ''Series/TheTudors'' Margaret uses a pillow to kill her husband, the king of Portugal. He does struggle quite a lot, but the attempt is successful. |
| 217 | * ''Series/TwinPeaks'', Leland Palmer suffocates Jacques with a pillow in a few short seconds; granted, the man was already injured and in hospital, but it was an extremely quick suffocation nonetheless. Made all the worse by the fact that they referred to the act of smothering with a pillow as strangulation in the following episode. |
| 218 | * ''Series/{{Under The Dome}}'': Christine kills Eva this way. |
| 219 | * Used in ''Series/{{Weeds}}'', after switching off the life support fails to have the desired effect. "Shane, get mommy a pillow." |
| 220 | * ''Series/{{Wiseguy}}''. In "Postcard From Morocco" Carole does a HeelFaceTurn and decides to secretly gather evidence on her lover and co-conspirator, Mafia boss Rick Pinzolo. While they're in bed together she presses him for information on a contract killing he arranged, them after he falls asleep takes out a tape recorder. Turns out Rick is only pretending to be asleep, as he suddenly grabs the pillow and smothers Carole to death. |
| 221 | [[/folder]] |
| 222 | |
| 223 | [[folder: Music]] |
| 224 | * ''Music/TheyMightBeGiants'': "2082" is a song about a guy who travels into the distant future, only to find himself still alive over a thousand years in the future, leading to him [[TemporalSuicide putting his future self out of his misery]]. |
| 225 | -->''You must honor and respect the older fellow\ |
| 226 | Even as you suffocate him with his pillow'' |
| 227 | [[/folder]] |
| 228 | |
| 229 | [[folder:Mythology & Religion]] |
| 230 | * In [[Literature/BooksOfKings 2nd Kings]] from ''Literature/TheBible'', Hazael the servant of King Ben-Hadad of Syria smothers his king to death by placing a wet cloth over his face, thus becoming king after him. (See Real Life below.) |
| 231 | [[/folder]] |
| 232 | |
| 233 | [[folder:Pinball]] |
| 234 | * Creator/{{Capcom}}'s unreleased ''Pinball/{{Kingpin}}'' has the "strangulation is instant death" version of this trope with the death of the mobster Jimmy. |
| 235 | [[/folder]] |
| 236 | |
| 237 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 238 | * In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', Monks of the Empty Fist can temporarily add abilities to {{improvised weapon}}s that would normally not suit the weapon. Thus you can use a literal Vorpal Pillow. |
| 239 | [[/folder]] |
| 240 | |
| 241 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 242 | * In ''Theatre/{{Ebenezer}}'', [[spoiler:Jacob Marley kills Fran]] this way, then lies she died in childbirth. |
| 243 | * ''Theatre/{{Fangirls}}'': When Edna asks Salty for advice on how to resolve the situation with Harry, Salty ([[ItsForABook who thinks he is giving her advice on how to create a dramatic story]]) tells her that she has to kill him. After hanging up on Salty, Edna picks up a pillow and marches offstage with a determined look on her face. [[spoiler:She doesn't actually get around to killing him.]] |
| 244 | * ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'': this is how Othello kills Desdemona, though she's able to wake up and give a short speech before keeling over again. |
| 245 | * ''Theatre/SpidersWeb'': At the climax of the play, the murderer's identity is revealed to the audience when he attempts to suffocate Pippa with a sofa cushion while she's napping in the drawing room, to prevent her revealing something that might give away his motive. |
| 246 | [[/folder]] |
| 247 | |
| 248 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 249 | * ''VideoGame/{{BioShock 2}}''. Eleanor, the victim, gets better, but she is technically dead long enough to damage ''[[{{Synchronization}} you]]''... |
| 250 | * In ''VideoGame/CrusaderKingsII'', if you plot to [[WouldHurtAChild murder a child character]], one of the possible event chains to execute the plot involves bribing a maid to smother the child with a pillow. |
| 251 | * ''Franchise/{{Hitman}}'': |
| 252 | ** ''VideoGame/HitmanContracts'': |
| 253 | *** In the "Beldingford Manor" mission, you can kill Lord Winston Beldingford using a pillow. Amazingly, the rather long and loud struggle does not wake his young concubine sleeping next to him. |
| 254 | *** On a later mission, you can drown one of the targets as he floats on a pool. Similarly, the guard nearby doesn't bat an eye to his struggle, which is even louder. |
| 255 | ** In ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'', one of the targets in the Sapienza mission, Silvio Caruso, can admit to 47, while disguised as his therapist, that he killed [[MyBelovedSmother his abusive mother]] by smothering her with a pillow. [[KarmicDeath 47 can pay the favor back to him.]] |
| 256 | ** In ''VideoGame/Hitman2'', you can disguise yourself as a retired KGB spy's nurse, then take him to a bedrest with a pillow. [[spoiler:Janus begins monologuing about 47's past and how pointless and inefficient the bio-engineered assassin project was, at which point 47 can shut him up with the fluff under his face.]] |
| 257 | ** In ''VideoGame/{{Hitman 3}}'', 47 can kill Alexa Carlisle with a pillow when she goes to her panic room for a CatharticScream. |
| 258 | * ''VideoGame/ProjectZomboid'' Bob can kill his injured wife with a pillow as a way to escape the tutorial, but not before giving one of the most tear jerking last words ever. |
| 259 | * ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'': Infamously, this is what [[spoiler:James did to his wife]]. May be justified due to the circumstances, but ultimately the game leaves it up to the player to either understand or condemn the action. |
| 260 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'', this is how the Fatebinder can choose to dispatch [[spoiler:the last heir to the throne of Stalwart: [[WouldHurtAChild an infant in her crib]]. Without knowledge of the [[LoopholeAbuse Edict of Storms' loopholes]], [[ShootTheDog it might be the least bad choice]]]]. |
| 261 | [[/folder]] |
| 262 | |
| 263 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 264 | * Butch of ''Webcomic/ChoppingBlock'' once [[http://choppingblock.keenspot.com/d/20010511.html gifted]] his [[MyBelovedSmother mother]] a pillow with a card saying "Happy Smother Day". However, due to the comic's ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' parody, it's unclear whether she was still alive at the time. |
| 265 | * ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'': After the Orcs set a curse upon the human kingdoms for their genocidal crusade, a lot of mutant babies were disowned / murdered by their parents. One of them used a pillow. |
| 266 | ** When a pillow is used (backed with a spell that makes it cling to the victim's face) on an adult, it chokes the target unconscious but, removed in time, causes no further damage. |
| 267 | * Referred to in [[https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/emmy-the-robot/crying-baby/viewer?title_no=402201&episode_no=19 this]] ''Webcomic/EmmyTheRobot'' strip. As part of her Nandroid education, Emmy suggested doing this to quiet a crying baby so as not disturb their parents' rest, unaware that such an act would prove fatal. |
| 268 | * In [[https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2019/12/18/title this]] ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'', Gabe is on his deathbed and he tells Tycho he got around to reading ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell,'' thinking it's a wash and Tycho would love it. Tycho had told him about the series fifteen years ago, though Gabe says he would remember if he did and Tycho can borrow it when he's done. That's when Tycho says there's a book Gabe read that's in very small print and starts smothering him with a pillow. |
| 269 | * In Webcomic/{{Whomp}}, [[{{Jerkass}} M Dude]] [[https://www.whompcomic.com/comic/fight-for-your-right-to-slumber-party tells Ronnie that this was how you pillow fight and he tries it out on Agrias.]] |
| 270 | * Referenced a couple of times in ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive''. |
| 271 | -->"I'm not gonna wake up to find you standing over my bed holding a pillow again, am I?" |
| 272 | -->"You were uncomfortable. You needed another pillow under your head." |
| 273 | -->"You drove across town at three AM because you 'knew' I needed another pillow?" |
| 274 | [[/folder]] |
| 275 | |
| 276 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 277 | * PlayedForLaughs in [[http://www.rebelscum.com/Hasbro-Star-Wars/The-Black-Series/Figures/18-Darth-Plagueis/image27.asp this action figure diorama]], which depicts what ''really'' happened to [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Plagueis]]. Apparently our galaxy is not the only one with vorpal pillows. |
| 278 | * In Creator/BoBurnham's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt9c0UeYhFc music video to his song Repeat Stuff]], he suffocates one of his adoring fangirls in her bed before [[spoiler:[[BeatStillMyHeart tearing her still-beating heart]] out of her chest and ''[[PickyPeopleEater eating it.]]'']] |
| 279 | * Creator/DougWalker does this to Kyle Hebert, the narrator of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', in "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8lApFtXPEk Kyle Hebert Is An Asshole]]" |
| 280 | * In the Podcast/RiffTrax for ''Film/SantaAndTheIceCreamBunny'', Kevin suggests that Thumbelina is thinking about doing this to her mole fiancé, Mr. Digger. |
| 281 | -->'''Thumbelina, about a dead bird:''' I should cover him up. |
| 282 | -->'''Kevin, as Thumbelina:''' Mr. Digger, that is. With a pillow. While he sleeps. |
| 283 | * Viva La Dirt League averts this for laughs in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34yPfGn658E "Family Will"]]. |
| 284 | -->"You know that I can like, breathe through the pillow right?" |
| 285 | * Denied by ''Blog/ThingsMrWelchIsNoLongerAllowedToDoInAnRPG'': |
| 286 | -->748. Holding a pillow over a sleeping person's face is not a gnomish expression of affection. |
| 287 | [[/folder]] |
| 288 | |
| 289 | |
| 290 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 291 | * In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' one of Roland Daggett's men attempts to do this to Lucius Fox to keep him from spilling the shady practices he knows about the company. Luckily, Batman was waiting for this to happen and managed to get the drop on him. Unfortunately, Clayface has been waiting there as well, as he's looking to [[KillAndReplace bump the mook off so he can impersonate him]] and get in close to Daggett in revenge. |
| 292 | * ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Peter imagines doing this to Lois in one episode. He doesn't actually do this to her, though. |
| 293 | * ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': In "[[Recap/KingOfTheHillS8E16DaleTech Dale Tech]]", Dale believes Cotton is going insane and decides to "MercyKill" him by suffocating him with a throw pillow. He mentions ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'', saying to Cotton: "you're Creator/JackNicholson" before attempting to smother him. Cotton however fights him off and him smelling a distinctive hair product on the pillow leads him to solve the mystery of a series of home invasions happening at the Hill house. |
| 294 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013'' short "[[Recap/MickeyMouseS4E11ThePerfectDream The Perfect Dream]]", when Goofy calls a sleep-deprived Mickey in the middle of the night, Mickey actually smothers the phone with a pillow and Goofy reacts to it. |
| 295 | * In the "Franchise/ToyStory 4" sketch of ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'', Woody {{Mercy Kill}}s Buzz this way when he's effectively {{lobotom|y}}ized as a result of Andy using him as a bong. |
| 296 | * Marco tries to do this to Quinn in ''WesternAnimation/Sealab2021'', once Quinn falls into a coma. A nurse catches Marco, though, who insists he was just trying to [[BlatantLies take the pillow off]]. |
| 297 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 298 | ** Spoofed in an episode where Homer is in the hospital. When Moe and Barney visit with beer, Homer reacts with fear[[note]]Since it was an overshaken beer can that put him there in the first place[[/note]]. Barney says "I can't stand to see him like this!" and tries to smother Homer before [[Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest throwing a water fountain through a nearby window and escaping]], while a confused Homer and Moe look on. |
| 299 | --->'''Moe:''' He ''really'' needs a girlfriend. |
| 300 | ** In the episode which parodied the life of UsefulNotes/HenryVIII, Henry (played by Homer) is killed very hastily and very cleanly this way by [[UsefulNotes/CatherineOfAragon Margerine of Aragon]] (Marge). |
| 301 | ** Homer also does this to Kodos in a ''WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'' episode. |
| 302 | ** An assassin Mr. Burns hires attempts this on Abe. SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome happens instead. |
| 303 | [[/folder]] |
| 304 | |
| 305 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 306 | * This has been stated to be a leading cause of crib death in infants, whether inadvertently or deliberately. In the former case, the weight of the pillow itself provides all the force necessary for suffocation. |
| 307 | * When the notorious Edinburgh grave-robbers/cadaver-sellers William Burke and William Hare resorted to killing opportune victims, smothering was reportedly a preferred method as the corpse would be in good condition for selling to the local medical (dissection) school. |
| 308 | * This was reportedly how UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}} killed Emperor Tiberius. Most movie/TV adaptations seem to want to portray his death like this, at least, it might be CommonKnowledge. |
| 309 | * According to the chronicler Giovanni Villani, this is how Manfred, King of Sicily, killed his father, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, in 1250. The modern historians believe his death was natural though. |
| 310 | * If one believes the account of Sir Thomas More (not everyone does), this is how [[TheFateOfThePrincesInTheTower 12-year-old King Edward V of England and his little brother Richard were killed in the Tower of London]] in the summer of 1483, by two assassins who smothered them in their beds--on the orders of their uncle, UsefulNotes/RichardIII. |
| 311 | * Nur Muhammad Taraki, who led the original coup that eventually resulted in the UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan, was murdered in this way in 1979. Witnesses reported that he took 15 minutes to die, which makes it more plausible. |
| 312 | * Surviving Assyrian records confirm that the "son of a nobody" Hazael murdered King Ben-Hadad and [[KlingonPromotion seized his throne]]. In a plausible variation of this trope, according to Literature/TheBible (II Kings 8:15), Ben-Hadad was sick and weak, the murder weapon was a washcloth, and Hazael was careful to soak it first before using it to suffocate him. That is what we now call waterboarding, although it is far more commonly used as a torture technique rather than a means of execution. |
| 313 | * Some accounts of the Mossad's 2010 Dubai killing of Hamas money man Mahmoud al-Mabhouh [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Mahmoud_Al-Mabhouh#Cause_of_death suggest he died this way]], possibly quickened by the injection of drugs and/or electric shocks that paralyzed his muscles to make resistance impossible. The idea was to [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident make it look like a natural suffocation that happened by accident]]. |
| 314 | * Some conspiracy theroists say that SCOTUS Justice Antonin Scalia was executed this way as his body was found lying in bed with a pillow over his face. However Scalia was a 78 year old heavy smoker with severe sleep apnea, most likely the pillow naturally fell on his face in the night and that was enough. |
| 315 | [[/folder]] |
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