History KillItWithFire / Literature

** In Creator/DanAbnett's novel ''Literature/BrothersOfTheSnake'', when Khiron killed a fellow Space Marine, he claimed he had been possessed by a daemon and that, since he had not used fire, it had escaped. [[spoiler:Fortunately, Priad remembers this when he figures out who it escaped to.]]
** In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''Literature/{{Ultramarines}}'' novel ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', the {{Living Shadow}}s in the [[{{Mordor}} Eye of Terror]] can be killed only with fire. Even that is not very effective; while the {{Space Marine}}s can survive, the two Imperial Guardsmen with them are nearly killed by the heat they need, even with the Marines trying to shield them.
** In Chris Wright's ''Literature/WatchersOfTheThrone'', Aleya starts the story wielding a heavy flamer - basically, a massive flamethrower - and uses it to burn regular cultists (presumably just in case some of them are possessed). She quickly drops it for a {{BFS}}, though.
* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series, fire is one of the three weapons effective against the [[TheFairFolk Finn]]. Music puts them in a kind of trance, and while they can become [[{{Intangibility}} intangible]], pure iron and fire will still hurt them. The explanatory poem goes:

* In Andy Hoare's ''Literature/WhiteScars'' novel ''Hunt for Voldorius'', the Bloodtide, [[ICannotSelfTerminate begging for death]], tells them to use fire.
* Subverted in Creator/JohnWCampbell's "Literature/WhoGoesThere" where the scientists in Antarctica use high voltage electricity to kill telepathic, body-morphing aliens. This makes a lot more sense than the flamethrowers used in the movie (John Carpenter's ''Film/TheThing1982'') because it takes a while to kill something with fire. Electricity can zap every cell in an organism instantly -- hard to adapt to, eh? For another good reason to use electrons, see the end of the movie, where the entire base is charred rubble and the survivors are shelterless in ANTARCTICA.
** Played straight in the conclusion of the original story -- the final alien is destroyed with an oversized blowtorch after a human [[EyeScream fires bullets through all three of its eyes]], which causes it to become immobilised. Also, the electrocution weapon required mains power from the base's generators, and the final confrontation is too far away to run a lead.

* And in ''Literature/WorldWarZ'', the Army develops an incendiary bullet, nicknamed the "Cherry Pie", designed to burn up a Zombie's brain without causing collateral damage.

* ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfStrongVanya'': Anissim, one of [[BigBad Grand Duke]]'s minions, sets the Steppe on fire to attempt to burn Vanya to ashes.

* In Andy Hoare's Literature/WhiteScars novel ''Hunt for Voldorius'', the Bloodtide, [[ICannotSelfTerminate begging for death]], tells them to use fire.

* At the end of the ''Literature/JurassicPark'' book, there isn't any of that "Let the dinos live in peace on the island" stuff from the movie. The Costa Rican Air Force levels the island with napalm.
** And somehow Ian Malcolm survives the napalm attack to be in ''Literature/TheLostWorld1995.'' His presence in the sequel book is {{Hand Wave}}d by stating that his death in the first one was [[DirectLineToTheAuthor a mistake on the part of those chronicling the events]], and he was only critically wounded and later recovered upon receiving proper medical care.

* Subverted in Creator/JohnWCampbell's "Literature/WhoGoesThere" where the scientists in Antarctica use high voltage electricity to kill telepathic, body-morphing aliens. This makes a lot more sense than the flamethrowers used in the movie (John Carpenter's ''Film/TheThing1982'') because it takes a while to kill something with fire. Electricity can zap every cell in an organism instantly -- hard to adapt to, eh? For another good reason to use electrons, see the end of the movie, where the entire base is charred rubble and the [[EveryoneDies survivors are shelterless]] in ANTARCTICA.

* The Krytos Plague in the Literature/XWingSeries is so highly infectious that decontamination of a building consists of burning everything inside it with plasma, including burning half an inch of concrete off the walls.

* The finale of Creator/PeterFHamilton's ''Literature/NightsDawn'' trilogy, ''The Naked God'', has a straight example -- the Orgathe are immune to most weapons but ''very'' vulnerable to heat.

* Demons in the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' universe are ''very'' tricky to get rid of, usually requiring [[CoolSword special demon-slaying blades]] or magic powers to kill them. In ''Arrow's Fall'', Hardornen mages summon a good hundred demon warriors that start slaughtering their way through the Valdemaran army, impervious to their weapons. Fortunately Herald Griffon is on scene to us his Firestarting Gift; setting the demons afire ''does'' kill them, but he's not Lavan Firestorm to incinerate them all in a sweep and can only hit one at a time. [[spoiler: But with other Heralds' help, he ''can'' locate the summoner, and killing him banishes the remaining demons.]]

* The vampires in Creator/StephenieMeyer's ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' can be permanently destroyed by using fire and not much else. It's worth noting that Carlisle failed to try immolation during his many attempts at killing himself after he became a vampire, despite his father being a pastor who believed in wiping out evil supernatural creatures in such a manner.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' books:

** In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's Literature/{{Ultramarines}}'' novel ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', the {{Living Shadow}}s in the [[{{Mordor}} Eye of Terror]] can be killed only with fire. Even that is not very effective; while the {{Space Marine}}s can survive, the two Imperial Guardsmen with them are nearly killed by the heat they need, even with the Marines trying to shield them.

** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In the [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "Bloodletter" a quarantine module is built at the station out of an old abandoned freighter to provide a completely isolated environment to deal with visitors with contagious disease. Powerful explosive charges are incorporated into the hull to vaporize the module if there is a disease that cannot be cured and needs to be stopped from being spread. However a group of Bajoran [[TheFundamentalist Fundamentalists]] sabotages the explosives so they won't all go off at once. When Dr. Bashir and Major Kira activate the explosives to deal with the group's leader Hören Rygis, the station is severely damaged but it is successful in eliminating Hören.