History CombatPragmatist / Literature

** Ender explains to an enemy that real soldiers don't play fair; they do whatever it takes to keep themselves alive. Ender doesn't just win; he annihilates. If he's kicking someone's ass, they won't have an ass left to be kicked when he's done. This is true from the time he's six years old and fighting ([[spoiler:aka. Murdering]]) bullies in the schoolyard. This is a sentiment for every military figure in the books. Mazer Rackham tells Ender "This is war. There are no rules except what you can do to the enemy and what you can stop him from doing to you."

** In ''Literature/StormFront'', he gains the advantage against [[spoiler: Victor Sells]] with [[spoiler:a ''cleaning spell''.]]

* From the same author as ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' above, ''Literature/CodexAlera'' is set in a land where everyone has access to what are basically elemental Franchise/{{Pokemon}}, and the main character is the one kid who doesn't. As a result, he's had to rely on his wits where most people use brute force. For example, salt dispels wind "furies", wild or tame. So he specifically carries around rock salt should he encounter some wild ones, and gives his uncle the idea to use rock-salt arrowheads, which are very useful against aerial attackers using wind furies to fly. By the fifth book, he's pretty well known for winning apparently hopeless fights.

** As well, Ridcully and the Librarian are comparatively prone to this, although in both cases they also have the muscle to carry it off. In the Librarian's case, he's an Orang-Utan who can unscrew your head off with his toes.

** Tyrion Lannister ''has'' to be as pragmatic as humanly possible when any confrontation turns physical, simply because pretty much everybody outweighs and outreaches him.

** In the third ''Acts of Caine'' book, Caine is captured and tortured by knights of Khryl. He breaks free and mortally wounds a number of them. Later, they're healing him ([[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Khryl is a war god, so Caine has proven his worth]]), but Khryl's healing only works on wounds suffered in battle. Most of the knights' wounds can't be healed, but ''all'' of Caine's can, because from his perspective the fight started the minute he saw them, while they didn't understand what was happening until half of them were dead.

--->'''Vimes:''' [[GroinAttack Make a sudden move, and neither are you]].

** While he prides himself on his pure combat skill, the assassin Artemis Entreri of the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' novels is not above using blackmail, dirty tactics and overwhelming odds to win fights when necessary. It isn't often necessary. There is one particularly memorable scene in the ''Literature/TheIcewindDaleTrilogy'' where he spits a mouthful of sewer water into Drizzt's face to gain the upper hand. Drizzt had just a few minutes earlier been wondering why Entreri was a little less talkative. From the same series, Entreri's Drow sometimes-ally Jarlaxle is not beyond using some tricks or magic items to gain the upper hand in a fight, often to the surprise of his enemies.

* In Creator/OrsonScottCard's novelization of ''Film/TheAbyss'' the SEAL team leader, Coffey, is mentioned as having taken down a neighborhood bully eight years his senior not in a straight-up street fight but rather by lying in wait for the guy and caving his head in with a cinder block when his back was turned. Coffey then tidies up, goes home, and never seeks any recognition of his act. On the other hand, Coffey is characterized as somewhere between a SociopathicHero and a monster.

* Literature/AlexisCarew fights dirty because, being a young woman barely a meter and a half tall, there's no other way for her to brawl effectively (demonstrated by her hurting nothing but her hand when she punches a SpaceMarine in the gut during practice). She was taught by her grandfather's foremen from a young age that if a man laid his hands on her with ill intent, she was to hurt him however possible until she could get away. She does things like striking eyes, stamping feet, and breaking fingers.

* Literature/AnitaBlake isn't at all averse to this, especially considering she's usually up against vampires, shapechangers or worse but she pales compared to Edward, famous for using a ''flamethrower'' against some vamps.
* Valentinian from the ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'' is a vicious bastard who compensates for his (relative) lack of height and bulk compared to some of the other badasses in the series by taking advantage of his lightning fast reflexes to help him pull off every dirty trick in the book. He's so good at it that late in the series he trains a twelve year old boy well enough that the kid can take out multiple professional soldiers on his own. He loses one fight in the series, against the legendary Rana Sanga, specifically because he steps away from this trope for once (he had Sanga wounded and could have picked away at him and bled him to death while staying out of reach, but chose to try to finish the fight honorably and had his sword (and skull) broken as a result). He survives and avoids doing anything that stupid ever again.

** Nicodemus is a MasterSwordsman with 2000 years of experience, but he has no compunctions against using his shadows to control people or pulling guns in a swordfight.
*** He's also a ManipulativeBastard who likes to get the advantage with mind games, most memorably when he [[spoiler:pulls an ISurrenderSuckers in ''Literature/SkinGame'' in a bid to break one of the Swords of the Cross. ''It works''.]]

* In ''Literature/AHarvestOfWar'' all fighting characters are this, with clear nods to HEMA.
* Nobody actually fights cleanly in ''Literature/HereticalEdge'' but protagonist Felicity Chambers sticks out for just how dirty she'll fight despite a relative lack of experience. One of her most common moves is throwing telekinetically controlled sand in her opponent's face, and she's utterly ruthless about confirming kills. Stun a regenerating werewolf? Shove a knife into his brain and twist to make sure he stays down. [[spoiler: Evil angel commando Charmeine]] gets launched out a window and the multi-story drop isn't a sure kill? Jump after her, impale her through the chest on the way down, and then split her head in half vertically to make absolutely sure the enemy dies.

* Arthur Dent has a moment of ''Pacifist'' Pragmatism in ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. He finds Trillian and Thor canoodling at a party and challenges the later to step outside for a fight. The party was taking place in an ''airborne building''. This version of Thor can't fly. Of course, there might've been a porch outside, but Arthur locks the door when he leaves and suggests everyone nip out the back. It later turned out he survived.

** While Alpharius did indeed preach pragmatism, he rarely practiced it. Alpharius wanted to prove himself to his elder brothers, so his tactics were usually incredibly convoluted and elaborate purely so he could show how great his men were when they pulled it off -- in one case, he held off attacking a poorly defended planet so the defenders could bolster the defenses to a huge level. He won and told his fellow primarchs that "it would be too easy" to just attack at once. A better example would be Guilliman, who favoured efficiency (he concentrated on the boring stuff like logistics and supply, knowing it would help more towards victory than cool weapons etc.) or Night Haunter, who was a completely ruthless, [[AxCrazy psychotic]] [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans vigilante]], who led a Legion of rapists and murderers and nuked his own homeworld.

* In ''Literature/TheIronTeeth'', Blacknail the goblin has absolutely no sense of fair play whatsoever. He is constantly ambushing his opponents or attacking them from behind. He also attacks unarmed men with a sword several times as well. It never even occurs to him to fight fair.
** During one fight, he faces off against a rival assassin who urges him to fight with honor. Blacknail decides that's a fine weakness to exploit. [[spoiler:Turns out the rival didn't mean a word, and he says he wouldn't be a good assassin if he played fair.]]
* Creator/JamesPatterson's ''Literature/KissTheGirls'' has a woman who takes self-defense classes, with the GroinAttack recommended. [[spoiler:When Casanova abducts her, she kicks him in the nuts. Unfortunately, Casanova was wearing protection. Because he had been watching her go to her self-defense classes.]]

* The Third Rule of the bodyguard school called Matador Villa in Steve Perry's ''[[Literature/MatadorSeries Matador]]'' series is: "There are no rules in a fight involving death."

--> Every Lensman has a completely detailed knowledge of all the lethal tricks of foul combat known to all the dirty fighters of ten thousand planets for twice ten thousand years.
* ''Literature/LightAndDarkTheAwakeningOfTheMageknight'': There ain't no rule about bringing a dagger to a sword fight and hiding it on your person until the time is right. [[spoiler: Danny wins the squire duel against Rigil this way.]]
* ''[[Literature/AMagesPower A Mage's Power]]'': Mercenaries don't fight with "honor". They use GroinAttack and evil eye whenever it suits them. This is part of Eric's advantage in a tournament populated by high-society student mages.

* Literature/{{Parker}}, the central character in a series of novels by Richard Stark, will do whatever it takes to win a fight. The idea of "fighting fair" would never cross his mind.
* In the novel ''Party Line'' by A. Bates the male protagonist goes to a self-defense class, the instructor emphatically tells the students to go for the eyes, ears, throat, etc. When the protagonist happens upon a kidnapper later, he does precisely that. [[spoiler:When he wakes up, he finds out that it didn't work because the kidnapper was ''the self-defense instructor''.]]

* Feyd-Rautha of ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' hides a needle with a paralyzing agent on his waist in his knife-fight with Paul. On top of that, he also pretends to be "shield-conditioned" (slower than he is) and leaves his right hip undefended a little too much, leading Paul to guess there's a poison needle hidden there. However, when locked in close, Paul tries to keep himself to Feyd's left only to discovers the needle is actually on his left hip and he was playing Paul very, very well.
** Feyd took this approach to the Gladiatorial arena as well. [[spoiler:When Thufir's ''undrugged'' gladiator gave Feyd and the crowd the match of a lifetime, it turned out that Feyd had put the ceremonial poison for his bout on the ''wrong blade'', allowing him to show his cunning in front of the entire population of Harko.]]
* The Justicar, the main character from the three ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' novels ''White Plume Mountain'', ''Descent Into the Depths of the Earth'', and '''Queen of the Demonweb Pits'' lives by this trope. He attacks from ambush whenever possible, [[GroinAttack hits below the belt]], and his (often repeated) personal view on combat is "if they hit back you did something wrong."

* Garren in the Literature/FarsalaTrilogy fits this trope, despite being the villain. In a duel meant to decide the fate of Farsala, he calls in his entire army when the odds turn against him. Of all the characters, he's one of the few who really understands how to get the job done. That doesn't mean we have to like him.
** He does this twice. In the first book, when the king challenges him to a one on one duel on the battlefield to end the war quickly, what does he do? [[spoiler: He simply orders several archers to shoot him ''while he stood there without attacking'']].
** The second time is the one mentioned above. [[spoiler: When he has yet another duel to determine the kingdom's fate, he actually begins to lose...and so he orders the exact same thing on the teenager who was beating him. This was going a bit too far, however, because the main female protagonist completely destroys him with a bolt of lightning afterwards.]]
** On a larger scale, Garren's [[CombatPragmatism combat pragmatism]] causes him to win the battles but lose the war -- while tactics like using hostages as shields, disregarding the challenge circle, using peasant conscripts as cannon fodder, and torturing a prisoner make life a lot harder for the protagonists, they also undermine the support of his subordinates and secure popular support for [[LaResistance the resistance]].
* While he prides himself on his pure combat skill, the assassin Artemis Entreri of the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' novels is not above using blackmail, dirty tactics and overwhelming odds to win fights when necessary. It isn't often necessary. There is one particularly memorable scene in the ''Literature/TheIcewindDaleTrilogy'' where he spits a mouthful of sewer water into Drizzt's face to gain the upper hand. Drizzt had just a few minutes earlier been wondering why Entreri was a little less talkative.
** From the same series, Entreri's Drow sometimes-ally Jarlaxle is not beyond using some tricks or magic items to gain the upper hand in a fight, often to the surprise of his enemies.
** In the main [[Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt Drizzt]] novels, Drizzt met a dwarven Battlerager, a group of combat pragmatists who fly into a rage and attack like a spazzed ball of spikes, in this case their leader, Thibbledorf Pwent cops to this off the bat, citing that he's not above kicking an enemy when they're down. Usually subverted in Drizzt's case though, as he prefers to fight with a bit more honour, but its generally well understood that he'd kick an opponents ass either way.

* ''Literature/GauntsGhosts:'' Considering that the main characters (The Tanith 1st and Only) are all stealth experts fighting a war against an enemy [[Main/TheUnfettered that feels no fear, pity or remorse and has no morals or qualms whatsoever]], and considers most atrocities [[Main/ReligionOfEvil as a form of worship to their Gods]], this trope comes into play a lot from both sides.
** It is explicitly mentioned, however, in ''His Last Command'' where [[Main/DrillSergeantNasty Major Rawne]] is shown fighting with no restraint whatsoever against the Archenemy. It frightens some of the men beside him -- men who've probably seen the worst the Galaxy has to offer. Justified in that the Major had spent a long time as an infiltrator on a Chaos-held World named Gereon, which [[Main/IDidWhatIHadToDo necessitated him learning how to fight dirty]].
*** Not that Rawne is a paragon of chivalry to begin with...
* Creator/DavidGemmell characters, by and large, tend to favour the policy that the best opponent is a dead one, and that rules that get in the way are best ignored. It's even a plot point in ''Literature/HeroInTheShadows'' when Waylander chooses to fight in a semi-honourable but still brutal duel rather than just nailing the guy with a crossbow bolt.
* Locke Lamora of the Literature/GentlemanBastard(s) is most definitely one of these. He once escapes a difficult situation because it simply doesn't occur to anyone that Locke would have no problem punching an 80 year old woman in the face.
* Lampshaded in Creator/JohnVarley’s ''Golden Globe'': “If you must shoot somebody, aim for a spot right between the shoulder blades.” As the villain didn’t turn her back to Sparky, he shoots her through the door, looking through the peephole.
* In ''Spellbound,'' the second book of ''Literature/TheGrimnoirChronicles,'' Sharpes, a heavyweight boxer decides to have fun beating up Heinrich, a currently-de-powered wizard. Unfortunately for him, Heinreich had grown up in a zombie-filled city and is used to fighting above his weight class. Heinrich opens with a series of groin shots and builds from there.

* Will and Lyra from the ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' trilogy have no problems fighting dirty if this gives them an advantage. Being children going up against adults who are very willing to kill them, it's just about their only chance to win anyhow. It's mentioned that Will learned at a relatively young age that the point of fighting is to hurt the other person more than they can hurt you, not to show off; he broke a boy's arm in school and he can and has killed. He's ''twelve''.
** Mention should also go to Lyra's ability to inspire other people to follow her example, leading a rabble of confused children to pack rock-hard slushballs and "aim for the eyes".
* Arthur Dent has a moment of ''Pacifist'' Pragmatism in ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. He finds Trillian and Thor canoodling at a party, and challenges the later to step outside for a fight. The party was taking place in an ''airborne building''. This version of Thor can't fly. Of course, there might've been a porch outside, but Arthur locks the door when he leaves and suggests everyone nip out the back. It later turned out he survived.
* Everyone but Wing in the ''Literature/HIVESeries''. When Wing alludes to fighting fairly, the rest of the team is genuinely confused as to why he would bother.
* Almost every moral message to be gleaned from David Weber's [[Literature/HonorHarrington "Honorverse"]] is about the excessiveness of combat pragmatism, including the brutality of pragmatism absent any morality. The unarmed combat style, ''coup de vitesse'' ("blow of speed", in the same sense as ''coup d'etat''), is about maximal damage and lethality in minimal time. One of many moments is the method by which a regime protects itself by strafing rioting civilians with miniguns that fire hundreds of rounds per second, dropping "snowflake" cluster bombs, and conducting precision orbit-to-surface kinetic strikes against buildings filled with sympathisers in the most populous city on the planet's surface. Even the main protagonist for the first twelve novels is well trained as a methodical military killer, impersonally as a starship commander as well as personally with sidearms or bare-handed brutality, saving any feelings of dread, guilt, and regret for afterward.

* Kris, the ActionGirl star of Mike Shepherd's ''Literature/KrisLongknife'' series. Shepherd mentioned that while most marines had to be trained out of notions of fighting fair, she took to dirty fighting like a duck to water.

** Despite being a ProudWarriorRace, the Mandalorians pride themselves on pragmatism and flexibility in a combat situation. There are certain protocols in place for honor duels, competitions, and disputes between ''Mando'ade'', but when it's an actual battle, they fight to ''win.'' It's one of the reasons they praise [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic Revan]] so highly as a WorthyOpponent. Revan was one of the few Jedi who was just as ruthlessly pragmatic as they were, and beat them with their own tactics.
* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': Kaladin is very firm that it is a soldier's job to kill the enemy however possible, and makes no apologies for it. However, he does muse that he has been known to leave weakened enemies alive, avoids attacking the unarmed, and does tend to feel bad about some of his more underhanded tricks. He decides he's just [[HypocriticalHumor not good at following his own advice]].
* In the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series:
** Kahlan learns about how the Mud People once slaughtered a vastly larger tribe simply by killing them everywhere except on the battlefields. In their homes, in their privies, in their beds, everywhere. Later, when confronting an army of D'Haran rebels who have sided with the Imperial Order, she puts these lessons to work. To start with, she poisons a cart of liquor and leaves it to be found by the enemy officers. Later, she leads a night raid into the enemy camp...[[MemeticMutation naked, like the Celts]], and butchers several of the officers remaining. This trend continues as she has her army made particular emphasis on killing physicians and other non-combatants, as killing one of them is as good as killing dozens of other soldiers who could no longer be healed by them. By the end, she has led an army of recruits to victory against a battle-hardened veteran force ten times its size.

* ''Literature/TalesOfAnMazingGirl'' Though Sarah does to a point humor people who take the time to build elaborate death traps who have no chance of actually catching her, when she has to take someone out in a hurry she will do what ever it takes to end it quickly.
* Lazarus Long in ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'' is one of these. Generally all Creator/RobertAHeinlein's "good" characters are.
* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'' by Creator/TamoraPierce
** Alanna/Alan from ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'' is being abused by a bully. What does she do? She goes into the city, and has her friend [[GentlemanThief George]] and his men teach her street fighting. Alanna and the bully fight, and Alanna wins. Of course, everything that she does goes against the code of conduct for the boys, but...

* In ''{{Literature/Valhalla}}'', Violet finds herself about to be hazed by her fellow military recruits. She doesn't understand that she's supposed to lay back and take the abuse, and instead fights the entire barracks with all she's got. After she's punished the instructors have her apologize to her former mates. She fails to apologize and says simply, "You were uncoordinated and weak. I should have killed you all."
* Most characters in [[{{Literature/Voidskipper}} In Pursuit of Bark's Finest]] adopt this attitude for serious fights, but the Red Star Union's navy provides a stunning collective example. [[spoiler:The instant they work out where Bark's Finest has gone, they drop a fleet outnumbering it ten thousand to one on its location via HyperspeedAmbush.]]
* Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'':
** Simon Illyan, Miles's 50-something boss, is a fairly uptight but ReasonableAuthorityFigure. He doesn't actually get his hands dirty, he has underlings for that. However, when his artificial memory chip is sabotaged in ''Literature/{{Memory}}'', and his underlings have to get him into medical treatment, he fights back... and he fights ''dirty''. No one knew, because no one had ever seen him fight before.
** In ''Literature/EthanOfAthos'', Miles' protege, Elli Quinn, has to rescue a hostage, with inadequate forces and without collateral damage. ...So she files a false report of a new infectious disease.
--->She paced back and forth like a frenzied tigress. "I'm being stampeded. I know I am. ... Q.E.D. -- Quinn Eats Dirt. Gods. Don't panic, Quinn. What would Admiral Naismith do in the same situation?" She stood still, facing the wall.\\

"Never do yourself," muttered Quinn, "what you can con an expert into doing for you. That's what he'd say. Tactical judo from the space magician himself."

* In the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' series:
** In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Horus Rising'', Loken defeats Lucius in a practice sword fight by [[TalkToTheFist punching him]]; Lucius's still smarting over it in Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''Fulgrim''.
** In Creator/BenCounter's ''Galaxy In Flames'', Tarvitz, who watched, commented that he had learned from it, to do whatever was needed to win. [[spoiler:So, Lucius being a TurnCoat who had betrayed them to Horus and having gotten into a figh with Tarvitz, Tarvitz has [[TheCavalry the Emperor's Children coming to make a flanking attack]] shoot at Lucius and end their fight.]]
** Possibly the best example of this trope in the 40K universe is that of Alpharius and the (Pre-Heresy) Alpha Legion. Whilst other legions had very specific ways of doing things (one legion would specialise in assault, another in defense, seigecraft etc), Alpharius decreed that his marines should master all aspects of warfare. He went even further by doing away with "inefficient" things like honour and chivalry, and often conquered entire planets through stealth and treachery.
** While Alpharius did indeed preach pragmatism, he rarely practiced it. Alpharius wanted to prove himself to his elder brothers, so his tactics were usually incredibly convoluted and elaborate purely so he could show how great his men were when they pulled it off -- in one case, he held off attacking a poorly defended planet so the defenders could bolster the defenses to a huge level. He won, and told his fellow primarchs that "it would be too easy" to just attack at once. A better example would be Guilliman, who favoured efficiency (he concentrated on the boring stuff like logistics and supply, knowing it would help more towards victory than cool weapons etc) or Night Haunter, who was a completely ruthless, [[AxCrazy psychotic]] [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans vigilante]], who led a Legion of rapists and murderers and nuked his own homeworld.
* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''Literature/WarOfTheDreaming'', we have the HandicappedBadass Peter Waylock, who is very much the Unfettered when it comes to fighting:

** Marshal Atkins, from ''[[Literature/TheGoldenOecumene The Golden Age]]'' kills an alien saboteur by a) accelerating the spaceship they're on to fifty gees, immobilizing him; b) bathing the command deck with hard radiation, c) infecting it with nanobot poison, d) severing its spinal cord with a katana.
* This is practically M.O. of [[Franchise/TheWitcher The Witchers]]. In addition to genetic enhancements and TrainingFromHell they use simple spells designed for quick use in combat and potions that improve their senses and capabilities, including making specific potions to help against whatever they expect to fight. During training one of the witchers states that there is no such thing as "fair fight" and every advantage is to be used to win. Considering their occupation is fighting a wide range of incredibly dangerous monsters, taking every advantage is required just to stay alive.
* In the ''Literature/YoungBond'' series, there is a character called "Red" Kelly (introduced in ''Literature/SilverFin''), who teaches Literature/JamesBond (yes the very same only, well, younger) that fights don't have rules. He says that "No such thing as fighting dirty, really, Jimmy. There's just fighting to win. Use whatever you like, you can forget about rules..."

* The eponymous [[KidHero hero]] of ''Literature/TheSagaOfBilly'' often has to resort to this, as he is a lot less accomplished fighter than [[OlderSidekick his]] [[BarbarianHero friend]]. To make sure he is of any help, Billy is ready to [[InTheBack use sneak attacks]], [[AHandfulForAnEye throw sand in the eyes of his enemies]], to [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink use]] [[PoisonedWeapon poison]], [[ThrowDownTheBomblet explosives]], [[HollywoodAcid acid]], [[ManOnFire flaming oil]], to use overwhelming numbers to outclass more skilled foes, to kick his opponents while they are already down, or even [[ItMakesSenseInContext to take money as an hostage]].

* ''[[Literature/AMagesPower A Mage's Power]]'': Mercenaries don't fight with "honor". They use GroinAttack and and evil eye whenever it suits them. This is part of Eric's advantage in a tournament populated by high-society student mages.

** Don't screw with [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Watson]]. After [[WhatAnIdiot Evans shoots him]] ''in front'' of Holmes [[NotSoStoic which gets him to panic]] [[BigBrotherInstinct and show how genuinely protective he is towards him.]]