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"I've already prepared my report for Aizen-sama. I'll tell him that the substitute Shinigami he was worried about... turned out to be a piece of trash that wasn't even worth killing." - Ulquiorra from Bleach, where even the main character apparently just isn't worth the effort.
The averagely-skilled friends of the highly-skilled hero survive their encounter with the Big Bad or Dragon because the bad guy couldn't be bothered finishing them off. Whether or not this makes any sense as an excuse to keep the secondary protagonists alive varies. Sometimes it's an excuse from a Worthy Opponent to not engage in wanton slaughter. Sometimes the villain needs to remain stealthy and realizes that a large body-count does not aid that. Sometimes the heroes fit into a Xanatos Gambit of the villain that requires their survival (for the moment).
The most truthful to the trope refuse to kill their targets for the same reason a normal person doesn't hunt down and stomp on every cockroach they see; it's just not worth the time and effort unless they're making a nuisance for themselves. This usually applies to villains arrogant enough to believe that the heroes aren't a real threat, or powerful enough to know that they aren't a threat. Genre Savvy heroes should be aware that a villain can and will change their stance if they cause enough trouble for them.
Also sometimes used by the Anti Hero as an excuse for not wiping out the Mooks. May be related to Doesnt Like Guns.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Mr. Satan from Dragonball Z "fights" Perfect Cell and is simply backhanded a few hundred feet backwards into a mountain. He inexplicably survives.
- No-one in Bleach, main characters and villains included, have so far been worth killing by their respective foes and it's rather mind-boggling how often people on both sides are simply Left For Dead or dismissed, considering how it always comes back to bite the non-killers in the ass. The only actual deaths in the anime so far ("purification" of hollows notwithstanding) were those of the expendable and non-Canon characters from the filler arc.
- Recently in the Manga, Ulquiorra has noticed Ichigo's failure to die and the fact he defeated an Espada, and changed his tune, saying he's acknowledged Ichigo at the very least as someone that "needs to be eliminated". Given that he just busted his release state on Ichigo, it's safe to assume he's fighting to kill for realz now.
- But as the main character, Ichigo turns this around with his Super Powered Evil Side and performs a No Holds Barred Beatdown on Ulquiorra.
- In Tokyo Babylon and X1999, Subaru, the protagonist of the former, is left alive by the Sakurazukamori because Seishirou explicitly tells him that he's not worth killing. This becomes Subaru's primary motivation in the sequel; he believes he can only be worth something to Seishirou (who he loves) if Seishirou kills him. However, as it turns out, it's not that Subaru isn't worth killing - it's that Seishirou wants Subaru to kill him.
- Part of Sasuke's Back Story in Naruto is that this was why his brother spared his life alone among the extended family. Or so he believed for years.
- Sasuke also gives this excuse for not killing the mooks he faces in his quest to kill his brother.
- Mirielle says this to Altena in the last episode of Noir, specifically that it's "not worth soiling a bullet" with her blood. Altena then tries to shoot Mirielle, but Kirika jumps in and tries to pull a Taking You With Me, though Mirielle manages to grab her in time.
- Phoenix Ikki from Saint Seiya delivers this line to Sea Dragon Kanon at the end of the Poseidon Saga, throwing the pointlessness of his Xanatos Gambit in his face before turning his back on him and walking away. Kanon tries to retaliate, but fellow Marine Shogun, Siren Sorrento, confronts him after hearing the truth behind Poseidon's premature resurrection. Like Ikki, Sorrento reasons that Kanon is so pathetic and worthless that fighting him would be a dishonor to Poseidon.
- Hal in Texhnolyze tells this to Shinji after being turned into a Shape, musing on his earlier promise to kill him when they next time met.
- In Code Geass, this is probably the only reason Tamaki survives any given battle.
- And in the penultimate episode, Diethard is not worth Geassing.
- Fushigi Yuugi has Miaka's ex-best friend Yui justify (in both of Miaka's visits to Kutou, mind you) that she only wants to keep Miaka and the Suzaku Seven alive because after all, "Where's the fun in killing them right away?" Yeah right.
ComicBooks
- In the Astro City story "Great Expectations," actor Mitch Goodman (who plays the "Crimson Cougar" on a soap opera) is ambushed in public by the Dark Centurion, who easily pummels him. When Mitch begs for mercy, the Centurion sneers that he's Not Worth Killing and leaves. It was a ruse set up by Mitch and his friends so Mitch could stop being a high-profile
celebrity super-villain target.
Film
- Horatio Hornblower in the live-action film The Even Chance has the chance to shoot Midshipman Simpson, but fires his pistol into the air and declares that Simpson "is not worth the powder".
- This does not occur in the books.
- Inverted in Kill Bill, where The Bride hacks her cold-blooded way through literally dozens of sword-wielding Yakuza foot-soldiers, then decides one of them is too pathetic to kill. She puts him over her knee, spanks him with the flat of her sword and tells him to go home to his mother. He flees.
- In Buffy The Vampire Slayer (The Movie,) after her Side Kick comes to help her out and her Obi Wan dies in a Heroic Sacrifice to save her, The Dragon is about to turn around and finish Buffy off, when the Big Bad says it's time to leave:
Lothos: “She is not ready yet”
Amilyn: “What? Dinner's off!?”
- Bullet Tooth Tony does this to Tyrone in Snatch. This is justified though, since Tony ran out of bullets trying to kill Boris.
- Seen in the Peter Cushing / Christopher Lee movie Horror Express. The brainsucking alien finds the crazy monk not worth killing, and eventually the crazy monk starts worshipping the alien (which the alien finds somewhat annoying).
Crazy Monk: "Are you going to kill me?
Brainsucking Alien: "Oh, there's nothing in your head of any use."
- Nemesis in Resident Evil: Apocalypse effortlessly mows down an entire squad of S.T.A.R.S while leaving the Ethnic Scrappy L.J. untouched. We see L.J. through Nemesis's eyes and he's identified as "Armed Civilian. Threat: Minimal". When L.J. throws down his gun, the reading changes to "Noncombatant. Threat: None" and Nemesis walks away.
Live Action Television
- Super Sentai and Power Rangers feature multiple examples of honourable villains who will let the Rangers go after beating them.
- Mahou Sentai Magiranger (Power Rangers Mystic Force) has a subversion: Wolzard (Koragg) has a suppressed good side which leads to him finding excuses to let the Rangers live, the main one being that it's dishonorable to slay an unworthy opponent. When a Ranger confronts him, Wolzard gives the standard 'unworthy opponent' speech, and the hero responds with a volley of lighting bolts. Wolzard is completely unharmed, but decides anyway that the hero's worth fighting after all, and proceeds to utterly mop the floor with him. (He still lets him go in the end.)
- Rio from Juken Sentai Gekiranger has more than one Crowning Moment of Awesome where he proves that his Juken is stronger than theirs by pummeling the Rangers flat, then lets them go because they are not yet worthy of being killed by him.
- In Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Cromartie slaughters the FBI agents sent after him, but leaves Ellison alive in the end, apparently for this reason.
- As it turns out, Cromartie does this because he believes Ellison will lead him to the Connors. However, in a recent episode another Terminator leaves at least one minor character alive because, as the audience sees through the Terminator's vision, the character has a threat level of "none". In what may or may not be a subversion, the same minor character is (apparently) killed later in the episode by the same Terminator - offscreen. Granted, this was (apparently, this part was also offscreen) after he unloaded a Mossberg into said Terminator, which presumably upped his threat level a tad.
- Also, in most of the Terminator films, Terminators have a habit of hijacking a vehicle, then ordering the driver to "get out". Presumably, scaring the driver out of the vehicle is less time consuming then killing him and dumping his body outside.
Tabletop Games
- In Traveller Intersteller Wars the Vilani don't bother making a real effort to subjugate the Terrans because they are "just another barbarian tribe". By the time they learn differently it is the Vilani who are being subjugated.
Video Games
- Subverted in Silver. Having destroyed the source of the titular' villain's power the hero feels like sparing his life cause he's all old and pathetic now, but the Silver's Nemesis arrives and finishes him anyway. Somehow the hero has no qualms with that. Huh.
- Reversed in Drakengard's canonical ending: Caim has defeated the Big Bad and she lays crying at his feet, begging him to kill her. Caim decides that would be too easy.
- In Soul Calibur 2, one of Raphael's win lines is "You're not even worth killing," said in the snootiest possible manner.
- In Grand Theft Auto 4, the main character Niko Bellic comes face to face with the man who betrayed his group in the Balkans and killed his village for money in Balkans war. The man is flown in and is in a pathetic state, barely even sane and you can choose to either execute him for crime, or spare him. This troper reached the level and eventually saw him as Not Worth Killing.
- Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops has a scene where Python encounters General Skowronski in the bottom of a warehouse while hunting for Big Boss. After defeating Skowronski, Python freezes him inside a cage and exclaims "You're not worth killing!" before leaving. Snake frees the general minutes later.
- I can't believe no one has mentioned The Lich King in the latest World of Warcraft expansion. After being hyped up in the months before the release as being a villain whose threat will be felt throughout your travels instead of just "a meaningless name until you suddenly face him at the end" (the expansion is called The Wrath of the Lich King, for pity's sake), every time you meet him he lets you live, either knocking you out or just giving you a stern warning, while first killing his minions left and right for their failures to kill you. The flimsy reasoning he gives is always something like "You are barely beneath my notice" or "Perhaps in time you will become worthy of serving me" and the whole thing is meant to make you feel like he's got some ulterior motive for keeping you alive, but if you've cleared all the quests and dungeons in the 8 zones, you've effectively destroyed his powerbase and helped the armies of the Alliance, Horde, Argent Dawn and Ebon Blade set up camp on his citadel's doorstep, and it all starts to ring a bit hollow around the third time this happens (and fourth, and fifth...). In the end he's going to be defeated by 10-25 people that he personally chose not to kill a half a dozen times, even after proving themselves a menace to him and his plans. I know that as the main character in your own story, they can't just have the Lich King actually kill you the first time he sees you, fresh faced off a boat to Northrend, but they shouldn't have hyped him up as this menacing, ruthless Dark Overlord in the first place if he's just going to be as effectively meaningless as the last one. "Next time, Gadget... next time!" does not a good Big Bad make.
- In Starcraft, one of the Zerg missions has you directing Sarah Kerrigan in an assault against Jim Raynor's headquarters on the planet Char. After razing Raynor's base to the ground Kerrigan decides not to kill him, proclaiming that he's not a threat to her....although it's possible and quite likely that she did it out of some remaining sentiment toward him.
Web Comics
- Lampshaded in the webcomic Order Of The Stick: During his second encounter with Roy, Xykon, the Dangerously Genre Savvy Evil Overlord, dismisses him as not worth fighting and suggests calling off the battle as a Mulligan, essentially offering Roy to go free so he can gain power and return later for a "good final tussle, Hollywood style". Roy rejects the offer, so Xykon kills him.
- In Bob And George Mynd decides neither of the titular characters - demigod children imbued with
fire explosion and electric powers, respectively - are worth killing, and even brushes George aside before trying to leave. This, inevitably, comes back to bite him in the ass.
- Dellyn Goblinslayer from Goblins considered himself the arch-nemesis of Thaco the goblin. Eventually he's at the latter's mercy, thinking that Thaco is going to kill him... only to be left alive instead after a truly magnificent The Reason You Suck Speech.
Thaco: "You're not worth the XP I get from killing you."
Web Original
- The Dimensional Guardians from the web fiction serial Dimension Heroes find themselves being spared from death multiple times, often by the Big Bad, who would much rather his servants take care of matters that are beneath him.
Western Animation
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