'''Basic Trope''': A person can be trusted not to kill someone, because if they wanted to they already would have.
* '''Straight''': Alice is wary of Bob, who responds, "If I wanted you dead, then you'd be in a coffin rather than standing in front of me right now."
* '''Exaggerated''':
** "If I wanted you dead, you'd be drawn and quartered years before I bothered giving the order."
** King Bob tells Queen Alice: "If I intended to make war on your kingdom, I would already have burned it to the ground."
* '''Downplayed''':
** "You have nothing to fear from me. I'm your loving father and need you for my evil plans. Also you'd be dead already."
** Bob swipes Alice's wallet from her left pocket and places it in her right pocket to show her that he could have easily robbed her.
* '''Justified''':
** Bob knows that Alice (who doesn't know about it) has a special ability, making only a few people like himself able to kill her.
** Bob just managed to sneak up on Alice without her noticing. The fact that he didn't take this opportunity to put a bullet in her is a good indication that he's not inclined to.
* '''Inverted''':
** Alice thinks, "If Bob wanted to kill me, he would have by now."
** When Bob threatens to kill Alice she replies "If you wanted to kill me, you would've done it by now."
** Bob shoots Alice: "If I needed you alive I wouldn't have done that."
** Dave is a doctor in a ZombieApocalypse with the ability to cure zombification (albeit through a slow and laborious process). He glances at, sees, walks up to his (zombified) mortal enemy, Emma, and says, "If I wanted you alive, I'd have cured you by now." Dave then shoots Emma in the head.
** Alice kills Bob and defends her decision with "He kept surveillance of my home and everything I loved 24/7, with his forces in constant alert, waiting for the perfect moment to kill us all. And he came here just to gloat about it. [[TooDumbToLive I wasn't going to let him do that]]."
** Bob approaches Alice and says "I wasn't going to approach you unless I had something really important to say. [[OneManArmy The fact that you can kill me any time you want]] means [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness I am going to be completely sincere with you right now]]."
** Alice demands Bob to let her kill him in exchange for [[IHaveYourWife letting Claire free]], "If I thought you would keep your word I would already be dead".
* '''Subverted''':
** Alice takes Bob at his word, but we find out this gives him the ability to kill her.
** Bob tells Alice that if he wanted to shoot her he would have, except [[ItWorksBetterWithBullets his gun has no bullets]], and once he is able to get a fresh clip he shots her.
* '''Double Subverted''':
** ...Then he still decides not to.
** Once Bob gets a fresh clip he fires at Alice, directly over her head.
* '''Parodied''':
** A mass murderer states, "If I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead. I mean, I already killed your [[MissingMom mother]], your [[DisappearedDad father]], your [[AndYourLittleDogToo dog]]... and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking your G.I. Joe toy]]."
** Alice and Bob get into a competitive one-up competition about who would have killed the other one first if they'd wanted the other one dead.
** Alice: "If you wanted me dead, you'd have killed me already." Bob: "I knew I was forgetting something." BANG!
** "Relax. If I wanted you dead, you'd already be... hmmm. Hm! Hm. That gives me an idea. Hey, where are you going?"
* '''Zig Zagged''':
** Alice takes Bob at his word, but we find out this gives him the ability to kill her. Then he still decides not to. Except this was another ploy to save face. Except he has, by this point, [[BecomingTheMask Become The Mask]], and now really doesn't want to kill her, but that doesn't mean he can't hurt her...which he doesn't anyway.
** Bob technically doesn't want her dead but he does want to extort her and is willing to kill her if she doesn't - it would still be a lose but he wants people to comply. However she is reluctant to cooperate and outlive her usefulness. Alice complies and even when eliminating witnesses could be helpful Bob lets her live because being known for killing people who comply results in them being ''less'' likely to comply or [[DefiantToTheEnd or die fighting him]] knowing they will die anyway.
* '''Averted''':
** Bob has the ability to kill Alice, but doesn't and doesn't ever ask for her trust.
** Bob has the ability to kill Alice, and he does.
** Bob lacks the ability to kill Alice, and everyone knows it, so this doesn't come up.
** Alice [[MutualKill also has the ability to kill Bob]], but hasn't. [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction They base their trust on that]].
* '''Enforced''': "We need to make it believable that Alice would get in the mob boss' car. Make him point out that he wouldn't need to lure her there to kill her."
* '''Lampshaded''': "Is this the part where you try to get me to trust you by saying if you wanted me dead, I'd be dead?"
* '''Invoked''':
** "Tell Alice to get over here. She's knows she'd already be dead if I wanted to kill her."
** Lacking other means of communication with StarfishAliens who are initially hostile the space navy very deliberately targets a distant but in their apparent sensor range asteroid without harming any adjacent ones in an attempt to forge a ceasefire.
* '''Exploited''': Bob deliberately refrains from killing Alice when the opportunity arises, so he can use this trope to gain her trust. He can kill her just as easily at a later date.
* '''Defied''': Bob shoots Alice and says, "What? I wanted her dead!"
* '''Discussed''': "I think he's gonna say something like how we know he won't kill us because we'd be dead already." "You would be." "Well, yeah."
* '''Conversed''':
** "Why does she think he could kill her at the drop of a hat? Stuff like that takes planning."
** "You know the fact that you're here to gloat that you have the means to kill me at any time you wish [[VillainBall doesn't gives me any reason to trust you]]. [[TakingYouWithMe Or any reason why I shouldn't try to take you out anyway.]]"
* '''Deconstructed''': This trope is used to save face; the assassination attempt was actually botched.
* '''Reconstructed''': Bob deliberately botched the assassination attempt because he knew Alice would see through it, avoid it, and retaliate. The whole exercise is to prove to her that he has the capacity to be her enemy, but doesn't want to, at the moment.
* '''Played For Laughs''': Bob is a harmless person, and the people laugh at this and trust him because he can't hurt them, not because he won't.
* '''Played For Drama''':
** Bob's EstablishingCharacterMoment is springing a trap that has Alice completely at his mercy before releasing her, just to prove that he can do so again at any time.
** Bob kidnaps Alice and forces her to take part in his plans. He repeatedly threatens to kill her, only to smugly remind her that he would have done so already if he wanted to.
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[[IfIWantedYouDead If I wanted you to go back, I would've gave you the link.]] ''[[{{Beat}} *beat*]]'' Hmm, I guess I want you to go back then...
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%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
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%%* '''Implied''': ???
%%* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': ???