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[[quoteright:350:[[Film/SevenSamurai https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/seven_samurai_15.png]]]]

->''"Set aside your peaceful ways''\\
''And prepare for war''\\
''Melt down your plowshares''\\
''And take up your swords''
->''We will see the flesh laid low''
->''The bodies fall''
->''The Most High that none may know''
->''Watches us all..."''
-->-- '''The Sword''', "Hawks and Serpents"

For added effect, listen to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBXU1kckSdQ this]] while reading this page.


There's a big bad gang/army out there that wants to sack the peaceful village for whatever reason. TheProtagonist can't stop them by himself for whatever reason. Either way, it's time to teach the initially UntrustingCommunity how to fight and defend themselves. Expect some complaining about "[[SuicidalPacifism losing their peaceful way of life.]]" If there's a WastelandElder around, expect them to back the hero and shush the young'un.

The villagers will fight back with pitchforks, plowshares and {{improvised weapon}}s. It will also include many BambooTechnology traps involving previously innocuous items, like laundry buckets filled with boiling water. Usually, the outlaw band/army ''should'' have been able to beat them, had they taken the villagers seriously and fought with genuine strategy; but their downfall usually lay in rushing into traps.

In some instances, the villagers may have existed under the oppression of the hordes for years or even generations without even thinking of fighting back. Not, that is, until TheHero shows up. Basking in the [[MagneticHero glow of his shining example]], the common people finally rise up to combat the {{Evil Overlord}}s.

With the enemy dead or on the run, and the villagers converted to the notion of violence for self-defense, [[ButNowIMustGo the heroes leave]]. The young'un won't be complaining after that.

See also TheMagnificentSevenSamurai, TheParagon, PerfectPacifistPeople, HomeGuard, InstantMilitia, or HoldingOutForAHero. The village is often a DoomedHometown that fights back. Compare DefiantStoneThrow. Contrast OneManArmy, where this sort of thing is not necessary. Compare ''and'' contrast TorchesAndPitchforks, when the villagers take matters into their own hands and become an AngryMob.

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!!Example subpages:
[[index]]
* TrainingThePeacefulVillagers/{{Film}}
* TrainingThePeacefulVillagers/{{Literature}}
* TrainingThePeacefulVillagers/LiveActionTV
* TrainingThePeacefulVillagers/VideoGames
* TrainingThePeacefulVillagers/RealLife
[[/index]]

!!Other examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}'' uses the trope and ends the episode with a subtle but ominous picture of one of the formerly peaceful (not to mention god-like powerful) aliens callously trampling over a flower.
* ''Manga/{{Drifters}}'' has the oppressed elf farmers being trained by samurai.
* Parodied in ''Anime/FullMetalPanicFumoffu'', when Kaname and Sousuke are assigned the task of training up the comically pacifist school rugby team for what will be their last match should they lose. After Kaname's [[SaveOurTeam more genre-appropriate]] measures fail to get through, Sousuke steps up to the task. The only problem is that Sousuke, not having the slightest clue about how rugby is played, just decides to put them through ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' (complete with direct quotes from the infamous Gunnery Sergeant Hartman). The end result [[RugbyIsSlaughter is nearly as disastrously violent]] as its inspirations'.
* Primarily averted in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', given that the setting revolves around villages filled with incredibly powerful ninja, but it's PlayedStraight in a BigDamnHeroes moment near the very end of the Land of Waves arc, which takes place in the only known country with no ninja village. In this case, though, it's less "Training the Peaceful Villagers", and more "''Inspiring'' the Peaceful Villagers".
* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', the Toy Soldier realized he couldn't protect Rebecca forever due to his fragile toy body, so he trained her so she would be able to protect herself. [[spoiler: Bonus points for ToughLove because it was later revealed Rebecca is his ''daughter''.]]
** Briefly mentioned during the Crew separation arc, where Brook tried to train the villagers who thought he was the devil (long story) into fighting back against the people who kidnapped some of their women. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome It didn't work, since even with training, they had no real experience whatsoever, and Brook ended up fighting the kidnappers by himself.]]
* ''Anime/SamuraiSeven'', being a ''Film/SevenSamurai'' adaptation with mecha added.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/BlazeOfGlory'': ComicBook/KidColt suggests this in Issue #3, but he draws the line at teaching [[ComicBook/{{Gunhawks}} Reno's]] son Cass how to fight because he won't let him go down the same path as he did.
* ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'': When their revered Mother of Memory is entrapped on the spirit plane by an enemy they can't begin to comprehend, the peaceful Sun Folk ask the few remaining Wolfriders to teach them weapon skills. No, they never use their skills in any useful way during the main storyline, but at least learning to shoot arrows makes them feel like they're doing ''something''.
** The issue was more that the Wolfriders were leaving, and since the arrival of the Wolfriders had precipitated the departure of Rayek, their previous warrior-defender, they felt that they would have no more protection. Plus their healer was leaving them at the same time.
* ''ComicBook/GrooTheWanderer'': Done darkly in an early comic. Groo trains a peaceful village to fight against two hordes of bandits. In the process, [[DestructiveSaviour the village and all its crops are destroyed.]] Having no other way to make a living now, the villagers and the bandit hordes unite into a single, massive bandit army that overruns nearby cities.
** Darkly and surprisingly often -- another, even earlier story had women being kidnapped by an airship. Groo "trains" the villagers (with the usual complaints of the attack having been less painful and going into battle being safer than Groo's training). Turns out that the women were being held in a... basically a resort... and had no intention of leaving, and that they rather resented being "rescued". A later story involved bandits riding giant birds, and while Groo's "training" more or less worked, his help, as usual, backfired spectacularly.
* ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures'': Done in an issue of ''Marvel Adventures: Avengers'', where the Avengers have to train a village to fight off a warlord and his minions. The Avengers fight along with the villagers in versions of their costumes modified to look as if they're villagers themselves, to try and make sure that the warlord won't just regroup and come back the moment he thinks the Avengers have left.
** Even more, Cap couldn't lead them because it would tip the warlord off - he had ''Wolverine'' lead them. It was like a dream come true to him.
* ''ComicBook/ThrudTheBarbarian'': Shamelessly parodied in one story. The Xena-eat-your-heart-out-gorgeous warrior woman Lymara shows the village women how to kill two men. She drops her sword and bends over to get it, giving the men a great view of her cleavage. The two men stop and leer. She swiftly beheads them both with a cry of "Hah! Sexist pigs!" Then she looks at the (realistic) peasant women for a moment and asks, "On second thoughts, who knows how to shoot a bow and arrow?"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''Fanfic/ChrysalisVisitsTheHague'', the Royal Guard is seen levying Ponyville civilians in preparation for a large-scale search of the Everfree Forest for changelings.
* [[FanFic/EnemyOfMyEnemy Murphy's Militia]].
* One of the early plot points of ''The Crimson Badger'' of ''FanFic/TheUrthbloodSaga'', where Urthblood arrives at [[{{Literature/Redwall}} Redwall Abbey]] to help them prepare for the coming dark times he's seen in a [[FateAndProphecyTropes prophetic vision.]]
* ''FanFic/TheEquestrianWindMage'': When Ganondorf arrives in Equestria in Season 2, Vaati suggests that it might be necessary for his monsters to train the citizens of Ponyville how to fight, in order to better their chances of defending themselves.
* In ''Fanfic/ProjectDelta'', the attack on Mindoir turns out differently largely due to Jane doing everything possible to invoke this trope.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* The Ant Colony from ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife''. Even the grasshoppers recognize the Ants' potential threat (They outnumber the grasshoppers, 100 to 1), but the Ants don't... until it is expressly spelled out for them.
* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3'', after some advice from Po's adoptive father Mr. Ping, Li Shan decides to aid his son Po in helping him defeat Kai and his Jade zombies by offering him and the other Pandas a chance to train Kung Fu. Po having previously been angry at his father for lying, eventually accepts, regaining back some of the faith and trust he lost for his father.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Frighteningly prevalent with experienced players in ''TableTopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''.
** The degree to which this can work varies by edition. As of 4E, you can arm everyone in town with reasonable gear and give them weeks of training, but they'll still have exactly one hit point and die from the indirect side effects of a single enemy's attacks. Third edition let them live long enough to buy the heroes time and/or provide flanking bonuses. Second edition would let them win almost any fight hands-down through mob rules for overbearing.
** Once used to [[http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59107 defend a village]] against a rampaging horde of kythons. This was not the worst thing in the campaign.
* Though perhaps more frightening when done in ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}''. [[TrainingFromHell Tiger Warrior Training]] can turn even the smallest peasant villager into a lethal combatant.
** Also, one of the secondary signature Zenith Caste Solars, Karal Fire Orchid, does this in her origin story.
** Infernals can't train them anywhere near as well ([[FaustianRebellion yet]]), but can provide the peaceful villagers with ''power-enhancing mutations'' to make them just as dangerous. If you really want an unholy terror, get a mixed Circle to use multiple Charms of this sort on the same group of villagers, then hold off the monsters with firebreathing, taloned {{Super Soldier}}s.
* Happens in one of the ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' Society modules taking place in the Asian-inspired continent. A village holding the lost heir to an artifact's power is annually attacked by bandits at harvest time. It is up to the [=PCs=] to train the villagers to defend themselves in the upcoming battle. It's a WholePlotReference to Film/SevenSamurai.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'', mercenaries are often hired to do this.
* This is in the backstory of Mortarion, Primarch of the Death Guard SpaceMarine legion in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''. He was adopted by one of the overlords of the planet he was found on, but later escaped into the valleys, where the air was breathable for normal humans, and trained them to resist the overlords (who used them as slaves and experimental subjects), forming the Death Guard (not originally Marines, but the legion took the name) to fight. The Salamanders' Primarch pulled off a similar trick, beating Eldar raiders around the head with his blacksmithing hammers.
** Also a tactic sometimes used by the Space Wolves, as described in the codex. An example has a squad of grey hunters being ordered to evacuate the main spaceport to allow orbital bombardment of it to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. The Space Wolves, in their rebellious natures, instead decided to stay and not evacuate the spaceport, to train the local populace until the enemy arrived so they could defend the spaceport instead of losing it forever.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
%%* In Webcomic/KarateBears this is a common theme
* Subverted in ''Webcomic/LadySpectraAndSparky'' when Lady Spectra convinces a not-so-peaceful village to wage their revolution with non-lethal weapons.
* Played straight in ''Webcomic/NoNeedForBushido'' when the four-man band of protagonists attempts to avert a war. It's worked thus far.
* ''Webcomic/PlanetOfHats'' episode "[[http://www.mezzacotta.net/planetofhats/episodes/0026.html Errand of Mercy]]" presents Kirk and Spock's mission to protect the peaceful Organians from the ravages of the Klingons, and makes specific references to all three of ''Film/SevenSamurai'', ''[[Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960 The Magnificent Seven]]'', and ''Film/BattleBeyondTheStars''.
* {{Subverted}} in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''. Torg is trapped in a MirrorUniverse that is [[PlanetOfHats the very epitome of niceness and pacifism]], under attack from demonic hordes. He runs through a TrainingThePeacefulVillagers montage to teach them how to fight back. In their first and only battle, the one soldier smashes a demon's toe before running away in remorse, and TheMedic actually heals the ''enemy's'' wounds.
-->Mirror!Gwynn: If we must resort to brutality and violence to survive, then we have already lost!
-->Torg: Then go. Be lost.
* Played with in ''Webcomic/{{Starslip}}''. When a peaceful, telepathic race is exposed to galactic conflict for the first time:
-->It's amazing how fast a completely peaceful civilization can whip up a couple million shotguns.
* Also subverted in ''Webcomic/TalesOfTheQuestor'' where the town of Freedom Downs has a Farmer's Militia for self-defense and if Quentyn is any indication, [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00275.html the standard training]] he got long before he decided on his calling was damn good stuff.
** Alluded to earlier when Gilder wants to thrash Quentyn for his choice, but the village Man-At-Arms [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00031.html flatly says that Quentyn would have handed Gilder his ass.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BountyHamster''. Parodied in "The Good, the Bad, and the Adorable", most notably in the scene where the cute alien villagers decide that the best solution is to steal their saviour's spaceship and run away en masse.
* Creator/{{Filmation}} liked this trope, using it in episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Bravestarr}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower.'' Although in both cases, it was more a matter of getting the villagers to work up the courage to defend themselves than actually training them.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Centaurworld}}'''s first season ends with [[spoiler:Horse deciding to stay in Centaurworld in order to help prepare the peaceful centaurs for the coming war with the Nowhere King's army.]]
* A hilarious example in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E5TheBirdBotOfIceCatraz Birdbot of Ice-Catraz]]", in which Bender teaches the rapidly-multiplying penguins how to defend themselves against humans, [[SubvertedTrope only to have the flock be hilariously devoured by an orca in one gulp]]... On Pluto. The trope is played with at the ending, in which a pair of penguins pick rifles, and glare menacingly.
* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeRenegades'': In the fourth episode the Dreadnoks debut by taking over a peaceful town. The Joes show up and work with the bullied citizens and two emergency service workers to train them to fight back against the biker gang.
* ''WesternAnimation/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeasts'': In "[[Recap/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeastsS1E08TwinBeaks Twin Beaks]]", the gang encounters a community of raccoons living in resigned fear of a giant predatory bird and teaches them that they can fight back against it.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MaoMaoHeroesOfPureHeart'', Mao Mao hears word that his old partner Bao Bao is coming to Pure Heart Valley and decides to arm the local Sweetiepies with cheap spears, regardless of their fighting ability (or lack thereof) or number of fingers (or lack thereof).
-->'''Mao Mao:''' You pick up that spear, Kevin! Grab it...GRAB IT...!!
** Eventually we learn that Bao Bao poses no threat as he is [[spoiler: an unanthropomorphic dog]] in a WorldOfFunnyAnimals.
* Tragically {{subverted|trope}} in a {{flashback}} episode of ''Westernanimation/{{Phantom 2040}}'': at the end of the Resource Wars, the still-human Graft is drafted by [[{{megacorp}} Maximum Inc]] to clear out native villagers from the Amazon so that Maximum can strip the resources. Graft defies his employer and trains the villagers to fight back... but they still get massacred, and Graft is turned into a {{cyborg}}.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' had Jack teaching a group of peaceful monkey-men (and their human friend) to defend themselves from a thieving, bullying rival tribe, in exchange for their giving him some [[TrainingFromHell training]] to enhance his [[InASingleBound jumping abilities]].
-->Jump good!
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo'' is about the Hyperforce motivating a village of alien CatFolk to fight the mantis monsters that have been attacking their village. They give the villagers weapons and training to defend themselves.
* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka, along with four bounty hunters, teach the farmers of a small village to fight pirates and protect their homes.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats 2011}}'' episode "Berbils" has Panthro and the Cats' teach Ro-Bear Bill and the cute and cuddly Ro-Bear Berbils how to defend themselves from those who would use them as slaves.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' did this with a planet of "peaceful space turtles".
* The first episode created for ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' (chronologically the fifth episode) has this as a premise, the heroes trying to teach a peaceful society of blob-people to stand up against the bull-creatures who are stealing from them.
[[/folder]]
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