History KickTheDog / Literature

** Clear Sky does a couple of these in ''Thunder Rising''. He bullies Jagged Peak when he was suffering from self-esteem problems, embarrasses one of his cats to make Thunder look good, beats up Nightheart's brother when he was already defeated, [[spoiler:sends Frost out to die even though he can still hunt]], and [[spoiler:throws his own son into the path of an attacking fox]].
** There's one cat that ''The Last Hope'' really wants you to know is an evil bastard, and it's not Brokenstar or Tigerstar. It's not even Shredtail. It's Hawkfrost. Sure, Brokenstar murdered Beetlewhisker, but Hawkfrost made it personal when he kicked the corpse and smugly mocked Beetlewhisker. Then, he goes on to nearly kill fan-favourite Ivypool, and actually succeeds in killing Hollyleaf, another fan-favourite (admittedly without Ivypool's absurd levels of popularity). Then, he spends the rest of his screentime rubbing it in to Ivypool and Brambleclaw that he killed Hollyleaf. He really has his death coming.
** This is a rather unpleasant habit of Darktail's:
*** In ''The Apprentice's Quest'', he murders the half-starved and virtually harmless Mistfeather and leaves his body to rot.
*** In ''Thunder and Shadow'', he half-blinds Rain ''after'' the latter surrenders to him when Darktail defeats him in single combat.
*** In ''Shattered Sky'', after he and his army defeat [=RiverClan=], Darktail takes their wounded prisoner and forces them to leave their dead to rot in the open. It's worth noting that taking the wounded prisoner was more of a CantKillYouStillNeedYou thing, but was done with obvious pleasure, and leaving the dead to rot was pointlessly cruel. Also, while holding the wounded warriors prisoner, Darktail tortures them into swearing an oath of loyalty to him by starving them and allowing their wounds to fester. When Reedwhisker, the cat who resists the longest, finally gives in, Darktail needlessly humiliates him by forcing him to the oath again, ''louder''. And even after the prisoners give in, Darktail continues to starve them anyway, making it abundantly clear that he is treating them the way he is purely for his own amusement.

* A literal example in ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'' When Fatima and Zainub come across a injured puppy on one of their patrols, the sadistic pair decide to kick it between each other like a ball until Fatima gleefully crushes it's skull beneath the heel of her steel toed boot.

* In ''Literature/TheKnifeOfNeverLettingGo'', it practically becomes a running theme that any villain in the book will hurt the main character's pet dog. [[spoiler:First, one man cuts half of his tail off while trying to kill his master, another kicks him in the face so hard that it injures his eye and breaks some of his teeth, and ultimately the BigBad kills him by snapping his neck.]]

* ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'': In ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'', we have all-around winner Lord Richars, who drowns his 12-year-old cousin Donna's puppy after she fights off his rape attempt. Many years later, when she has a sex-change operation (going from Donna to Dono) and challenges his claim to her/his late brother's title, he tries to [[spoiler:have Dono castrated. In the back of a van, without anesthetic.]]

* Creator/ThomasHarris isn't above giving villains a crack at this trope:
** Amazingly, perhaps his most horrific scene does not occur in any of the Franchise/HannibalLecter books, but in ''Literature/{{Black Sunday|ThomasHarris}}''. As if Harris believed the reader needed further convincing this far in of just how nuts the pilot is, we get a scene in which he brings a kitten to his wife as a gift, then gruesomely kills it [[spoiler:via kitchen garbage disposal]] when they quarrel.
** Though that's ''very'' debatable for anyone who's read ''Literature/{{Hannibal}}''. Mason Verger is much worse than Lecter himself, and this is [[EstablishingCharacterMoment established in quite an early scene]] where he [[spoiler: calls an adopted orphan into his private room and [[TraumaCongaLine not only brings up all the insecurities the child would already have, but then tells him that his beloved pet cat is going to be taken away and suffer a terrifying death, and that the boy should feed her rat poison to save her. This incident is mentioned later, when it turns out that the boy is in hospital after taking the rat poison himself.]] Mason calmly orders the family to be paid off, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday with the sort of tone that suggests this sort of thing is not unusual for him]].]] [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment This incident is not tied in any way to his revenge on Lecter]], and serves no purpose beyond making you wish the bastard suffers a truly hideous death. [[spoiler:Much to the pleasure of the readers, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath he does]].]]
* Creator/StephenKing provides several examples:
** In a horrifically literal example in the original book version of ''Literature/TheDeadZone'', the first sign we have that Stillson is evil under his affable exterior is when, after making sure the owners of a particularly annoying dog aren't home, he sprays ammonia in its face and kicks it to death.
** In ''Franchise/TheDarkTower: Literature/TheWasteLands'', Gasher not only kidnaps Jake and takes him on a journey during which he threatens and beats him so much it's virtually all one long Kick the Dog moment, but he ''starts'' the journey by instructing him to throw Oy, his newfound pet [[NonHumanSidekick Billy-Bumbler]], off a suspension bridge, and then he takes a kick at Oy as he runs away. Needless to say, he gets his KarmicDeath as it's Oy that leads Roland to the lair of Gasher and his buddies.
** In ''Literature/TheGreenMile'', Percy Wetmore gets two -- first stomping Mr. Jingles, Eduard Delacroix's pet mouse, which was done [[ForTheEvulz just to be a sadistic asshole]], and his deliberate sabotage of Del's execution (resulting in a truly CruelAndUnusualDeath for Del) in revenge for Del laughing at Percy pissing himself in fear because of Wharton, with Percy capping it off with a cruel taunt to Del on the chair about how "there is no Mouseville" directly before said execution instead of simply [[LetThemDieHappy letting him die happy]].
** In ''Apt Pupil'' (from ''Literature/DifferentSeasons''), Todd Bowden squashes an injured blue jay with his bike tire... and proceeds to go back and forth over its corpse for no reason whatsoever.
** In ''Literature/{{It}}'', Henry Bowers kills the dog of Mike Hanlon, a kid he hates for being black, by feeding him a steak he has rubbed ground glass into.
* In Creator/JamesThurber's ''Literature/The13Clocks'', the wicked Duke imprisoned children in the tower for sleeping in his camellias. We've already learnt, in his introductory description, that he limps because he spent so much of his youth kicking puppies and kittens that one leg outgrew the other.
* ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'': Captain Nemo is implied to have destroyed ships with civilians and military crew before, but the act of following with the ''Nautilus'' the horrible death of all the unnamed ship's crew ''on purpose, without losing any detail'', is when Nemo reveals his true villainy.
** Captain Nemo Kicks the Cachalots in a terrible massacre:
--->''The sea was covered with mutilated bodies. A formidable explosion could not have divided and torn this fleshy mass with more violence. We were floating amid gigantic bodies, bluish on the back and white underneath, covered with enormous protuberances. Some terrified cachalots were flying towards the horizon. The waves were dyed red for several miles, and the Nautilus floated in a sea of blood...''

* In ''Literature/TheAlgebraist'' by [[Creator/IainBanks Iain M. Banks]], the Archimandrite Luseferous primarily stays off-stage kicking the dog repeatedly, acting as a horrible encroaching threat we know is ready and able to bring if not thwarted... yet never meeting the protagonists or directly interacting with the main plot. In one scene he uses the undying severed head of an enemy as a punch-ball.

* In the novel ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'', insane serial killer Patrick Bateman kills a dog (along with his owner), and casually mentions tormenting a puppy to death. When at the zoo, he throws coins to the seals, just because he saw a table asking people not to do so.

** She keeps all of the food in their house locked up, eating most of it herself and only giving the vicar and curate, who unfortunately live with her, a measly sample every day.
*** It should also be mentioned that her treatment of Mr. Babbercorn is considerably worse than her treatment of Mr. Snelling.

** SHE ASSAULTS A POLICE OFFICER AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!

** She then stoops EVEN LOWER when she [[spoiler:poisons Mr. Babbercorn with the intention of murdering him and getting away with it. Luckily he survives, [[BigDamnHeroes thanks to the witches]], but [[MoralEventHorizon it's still an indication that she crossed the line]] if she hadn't already done so.]]
*** In fact, Kate Saunders even states that Mrs. Bagg-Meanly is possibly even worse that Mrs. Abercrombie, who is actually the main villain for the entire trilogy.
** The last time we hear anything about her [[spoiler:after she's driven out of Tranter's End and forced to live with her sister in Antarctica, she's been arrested for EATING PENGUINS!]]

** The series also contains an example of a literal dog-kicking, although it is only distantly heard by the characters as an abruptly silenced barking followed by a yelp.
*** When the heroes hear this, one of them says that kicking a dog to make it be quiet is horrible and he would like to go in and see how that person liked it.
*** "I don't have much use for a man who kicks his own dog."

* In ''Literature/TheKnifeOfNeverLettingGo'', it practically becomes a running theme that any villain in the book will hurt the main character's pet dog. [[spoiler:First one man cuts half of his tail off while trying to kill his master, another kicks him in the face so hard that it injures his eye and breaks some of his teeth, and ultimately the BigBad kills him by snapping his neck]].
* ''Literature/ChildrenOfTheLastDays'': In ''Eclipse of the Sun'', Maurice coerces Fr. Andrei into looking at pornography -- by threatening to drag a real woman in and rape her if he refuses.
** In the same book, Maurice gives Fr. Andrei the SadisticChoice of publicly denouncing his religion or watching three depraved men rape 8-year-old orphan Arrow into insanity.

* Much of the first chapter of the classic Creator/CharlesDickens novel ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' is dedicated to establishing Ebenezer Scrooge as a cruel and bitter old miser, but one of his worst early moments is when he tells a solicitor for the poor, who has just told him that the poor can't go to prison or a workhouse and that many would rather die than go there, "If they would rather die, then they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." Needless to say, it's one of the things that gets thrown back in his face during his encounters with the Spirits.

* ''Literature/TheCulture'': The midpoint of ''Literature/ThePlayerOfGames'' sees main character Jernau Gurgeh unmotivated and on the edge of a HeroicBSOD due to the culture clash he's experiencing: to the Azadians, Azad is the epitome of SeriousBusiness, involving life-and-death stakes, while to Gurgeh it's nothing more than an interesting game. Since Gurgeh quitting the Azad tournament is not in accordance with [[TheChessmaster Special Circumstances']] plans, his [[TheHandler Handler]] takes him on a quick tour of the city that amounts to a kick the dog moment for the entire [[TheEmpire Empire of Azad]]. The [[LetsGetDangerous result]] is exactly what SC wanted.
* The arrogant landowner Mr. Hazell kicks the old doctor's dog in ''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld'', simply because he's in the way. So the doctor selects an extra-blunt needle for the man's injection.

* ''Literature/{{Deerskin}}''[[spoiler:: When the evil king is about to [[MoralEventHorizon rape]] his [[ParentalIncest daughter]], Lissar's loyal sighthound Ash jumps to the princess's defense. The king flings the dog against the wall hard enough to knock her unconscious]].

* Jo Clayton's ''Literature/DuelOfSorcery'': In ''Moongather'', [[EvilSorcerer the Noris]] uses [[MagicKnight Serroi]] (then about ten) as a conduit by which to suck the life force out of various animals and transform them into demons. The doomed menagerie includes a litter of [[CallARabbitASmeerp puppies]].

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':

** In ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'' the [[FantasticRacism general attitude]] towards the [[ButtMonkey goblin]] [[TheWoobie race]] counts as this for many characters who are otherwise perfectly nice people. One of the clearest indications that an apparent thug is actually a JerkWithAHeartOfGold is that he does show some sympathy for them.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]]:

* ''Literature/DragonBones'':
** Lampshaded and subverted with Garranon. When he expresses his intent to force seemingly dumb GentleGiant Ward into an asylum for insane (or unwanted) nobles, Ward's uncle asks whether he also "tortures puppies". Garranon says that yes, in order to protect his brother, he would do so. Not really dog-kicking, as he has a ''reason'' for what he's doing -- he wants to get a slave back whom his younger brother bought from a person who didn't actually own her. [[spoiler: Or so he believes]].
** The trope is played straight with his younger brother Landislaw, who does attack Ward for no good reason.
** There's also Ward's father, who is not only abusive towards his wife and children, but also mistreats his horse. That's how we know that we don't have to be sorry when he dies, by being thrown by said horse.

* ''Literature/ForgottenRealms'': In R. A. Salvatore's ''[[Literature/TheIcewindDaleTrilogy The Crystal Shard]]'', Akar Kessel comes close to doing this, except it's a cat and he tries to kill it with a magic spell (for practice) instead of kicking it. Animal lovers have nothing to worry about, since at that time he's pretty hopeless when it comes to spellcasting.

* ''Frank Merriwell's School Days'' (the first of the Literature/FrankMerriwell books): Barton Hughes kicks a dog in the second sentence of the book to establish that he's no good. Frank demonstrates his own good character by protesting. Bart follows up by pushing a crippled boy (the dog's owner) to the ground for being in the way.
* In Creator/VictoriaForester's ''Literature/TheGirlWhoCouldFly'', when Sally Sue tells Piper what her mother says about Piper, Piper retorts that her mother kicks dogs, she saw her doing it once. This frightens off Sally Sue, because she's never seen Piper and wants to know how she knows.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'':

--> "What a stupid thing to do. It would serve you right if it came to life and bit your head off."

* EvilSorcerer Pryrates in Creator/TadWilliams' ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'' series crushes the head of a puppy under his foot. He does it not even because the dog annoyed him, but because he knew it would shock the hero (who he didn't see as anyone special at that time). And this is just his EstablishingCharacterMoment -- ''he gets worse''.

* In Creator/JohnWyndham's ''Literature/TheMidwichCuckoos'', the "Cuckoos" kill a dog and a bull that respectively bit and chased one of their number.
* The Thénardiers in Victor Hugo's ''Literature/LesMiserables'' do this in just about every scene they're in. Javert also gets one when he frightens Fantine to death (albeit unintentionally) by telling her the mayor is a convict. Notably, this is one of the only moments where Valjean briefly loses his cool.

* Creator/SimonaAhrnstedt quickly shows us how creepy the villains of her debut novel ''Literature/{{Overenskommelser}}'' are. Even if we disregard what they do to the two protagonists from this trope, as we can see those deeds as important to the overall plot, we also get to see two of the villains (Edvard and Rosenschiöld) repeatedly abuse women while having sex with them.
** But we also have the moment, where Rosenschiöld [[TraumaticHaircut cuts off Beatrice's hair]] [[spoiler: after raping and battering her]]. That was a pointless act of evil, that he only did to further humiliate her.
* Najma Hussein from RS Perry's ''Literature/OverTheEdge'' provides a literal example. Najma is a ruthless assassin who takes a little to much delight in killing. When one of her targets manages to escape, she takes her frustrations out on her victim's dog. Brutally stomping it to death with her steel toed boots.
* In the ''Literature/RainbowMagic'' series, this happens every time Jack Frost kidnaps or tries to harm an animal.
** In the movie, he gives a speech about his snowman army saying that they're mindless soldiers who can be indefinitely replaced. He also fires his goblins despite the fact that they were useful to him.
* Committed almost literally in ''Literature/TheRedVixenAdventures'' when SpacePirate Bloody Margo kicks Lady Sallivera, a [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom fox-like alien]], when she's already bound to a chair.

* ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'': [[TheDragon Cree Bega]] of ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheJerleShannara'' specialises in Kick TheWoobie. He forces Elven Prince Ahren Elessedil to watch while The Morgawr devours the minds of a ship's crew, and later, during their [[TheDogBitesBack final battle]], smugly informs Ahren of his crush's torture and suicide, then taunts him for being unable to save her. There is no reason for Cree Bega to do any of this, it doesn't serve to advance [[BigBad the Morgawr's]] plans or his own; no, he just likes to hurt people.
-->''"She took ssso long to die little Elvesss. So long it seemed that it would take forever. [[WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied Would you like to know what we did to her, when The Morgawr gave her to ussss?]]"''

-->''Everyone was really, ''really'' happy about the baby... but not Dad.''
-->''He started shouting and shouting. He shouted at Louise, saying really mean things -- that the baby would cry and ruin our holiday, just like Barney had ruined last year's holiday. He said that Louise was ''stupid'' for having another baby, when she couldn't manage the ones she had already...''
-->''Mum was really upset. She tried to get Dad to calm down, but he wouldn't listen. He kept shouting. He just got more and more angry. It was horrible.''
-->''He started shouting at Lily and Barney... And he ''kicked'' Buster...''
-->''[[PapaWolf Jason]] [[WhatTheHellHero told Dad he was right out of order]] and pushed Dad. Then Dad pushed him back. Grandpa Fred told Jason to just calm down and Jason told him to keep out of it.''
-->''Buster was howling, Lily and Barney were screaming, and Louise started to cry...''
-->''And then Dad just... ''lost it''. He started shouting and shouting and didn't stop. I've never, ever heard him shout so much. I was really frightened. He told everyone to {{get out}} of his house.''

* In Albert Camus' ''Literature/TheStranger'', Mr. Meursault's neighbor, old man Salamano, is known for habitually beating and cursing his equally old dog. But later on this leads to EvenEvilHasLovedOnes. After the old man loses his dog while at the fair, he shares his fear with Meursault that he may never see it again. Soon after saying goodnight and closing the door to his apartment, Meursault hears through a wall Salamano weeping.

* Squire Hardman in "Literature/SweetErmengarde" by Creator/HPLovecraft kicks an "unquestionably innocent" cat while [[DastardlyWhiplash twirling his moustache]]. The story is a send-up of hack romance stories, so Squire Hardman is pretty much every ObviouslyEvil villain cliché.

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'': Done in ''Eclipse'' by the Volturi to the newborn vampire Bree Tanner. Despite her being able to control herself, surrendering, and not knowing the laws of vampires, the Volturi kill her even after the Cullens had volunteered to take her in.

* The title witches of Creator/RoaldDahl's ''Literature/TheWitches'' are singularly nasty, what with their scheme to turn little children into mice, but when one of them expresses her reservation about getting rid of ''all'' of them, the Grand High Witch disposes of her in nightmarish fashion for daring to say that she is wrong, incinerating her alive with magic.
* Emily Bronte's ''Literature/WutheringHeights'' has Heathcliff actually hang his future wife Isabella's puppy, right in front of her. Then he tells her he'd like to destroy anything and everything she loves. [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys She marries him anyway]].

** Bonesaw [[spoiler: kidnapping Blasto, using him to clone the Nine]], and then forcing him to sing a children's song for ''four solid months'' before he drops dead from a stress-induced stroke.

* Much of the first chapter of the classic Creator/CharlesDickens novel ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' is dedicated to establishing Ebenezer Scrooge as a cruel and bitter old miser, but one of his worst moments is when he tells a solicitor for the poor, who has just told him that the poor can't go to prison or a workhouse and that many would rather die than go there, "If they would rather die, then they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." Needless to say, it's one of the things that gets thrown back in his face during his encounters with the Spirits.

* Much of the first chapter of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' is dedicated to establishing Ebenezer Scrooge as a cruel and bitter old miser, but one of his worst moments is when he tells a solicitor for the poor, who has just told him that the poor can't go to prison or a workhouse and that many would rather die than go there, "If they would rather die, then they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." Needless to say, it's one of the things that gets thrown back in his face during his encounters with the Spirits.