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Author: MetaFour

Jan 1st 2014 at 11:34:52 AM

I'm not sure that example from ''Revenge of the Sith'' counts for this trope. It's all but stated outright that Anakin's real motivation for saving Sideous at that point was because he thought Sideous' secret knowledge of the Dark Side was all that could save Padme's life.

Film:
* In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings: The Two Towers'', King Theoden's first impulse upon being freed from Saruman's magical influence is to kill Grima Wormtongue, the treacherous advisor responsible for said magical influence. Aragorn stays his hand, saying "Enough blood has been spilled on his account." But Wormtongue rejects the offer of absolution for his crimes and flees to Saruman. There, Wormtongue provides intelligence to Saruman (the path that the people of Rohan will take to reach Helm's Deep, and the weakest point of the walls at Helm's Deep), enabling Saruman's army to kill many more than they otherwise would have.

I'm pretty sure that bit wasn't in the original book. There, Aragorn and Theoden allow Wormtongue to flee, not because they had any moral objection to killing him, but because they needed to know for sure whether he was working for Saruman or not.