History Main / RecklessPacifist

* VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum has plenty of this, mostly because Batman's instant takedown moves include strangling mooks, breaking mook bones, or dropping mooks down a few floors. Don't forget the [[ExplosionPropulsion explosive gel]]! It's even one of the reason why Gordon didn't trust Batman at first, he is leaving people on the cold streets with broken bones.

->''"So you won't kill, but [[Franchise/{{Batman}} you're]] fine with traumatic brain injuries?"''

->''"So you won't kill, but [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} you're]] fine with traumatic brain injuries?"''

%%TheDarkKnightSaga version of Batman isn't an example. "I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you" is more like a TechnicalPacifist viewpoint.

* If it weren't for [[{{Trigun}} Vash the Stampede's]] ImprobableAimingSkills, there is absolutely no way that any of his opponents would still be alive.

** Slashing some bounty hunters with his sword and throwing bombs at another one
** Slicing in half robots which seemed to be organic beings.

* VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum has plenty of this, mostly because Batman's instant takedown moves include strangling mooks, breaking mook bones, or dropping mooks down a few floors. Don't forget the [[ExplosionPropulsion explosive gel]]!

* HarryPotter does this in Deathly Hallows - yes, Stupefy technically just knocks people unconscious, but when they're riding broomsticks hundreds of feet in the air... matters are made worse when he recognises one Death Eater as someone most likely under mind control and chooses to simply disarm him, which raises questions about all the ones whose faces he didn't see...

* Franchise/DocSavage has a strict policy of nonlethality, to the point that he won't normally carry a gun. When he does shoot people, he prefers tranquilizer pellets over bullets. His lieutenants (especially Monk and Ham) aren't so squeamish. The evil mastermind, however, typically dies in the end, thanks to his own infernal contraption, without any interference from Doc.

* Eliot on ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' causes an incredible amount of havoc for a supposed "hero."
-->"So yeah, we managed to get 7 million dollars back from that evil company and bankrupt them to boot. Let's see, that covers the original victims, and... well, fifteen policemen with life-changing nerve damage, one guard whose dream of being a concert violinist will never come true, eight thousand workers who've just lost their jobs and will have to find a new way to feed their families over the holidays, twelve cars whose windows I broke as a distraction (I'm sure the insurance will cover it... oh, wait, we just bankrupted the insurance company), three young men waiting for organ transplants who died because we shut down the freeway the ambulances were on...."

* Matt Murdock in ''Series/Daredevil'' has a strong ThouShaltNotKill policy for his vigilante activities. It doesn't stop him from pulling moves like ''throwing people off buildings'' or ''lighting them on fire''. Perhaps {{Justified}} by his super-senses giving him a better understanding of human anatomy and physics, but ''still''.

* TheTerminator is this in the second movie. Being under orders not to kill doesn't seem to stop him from emptying a [[GatlingGood minigun]] at a group of police officers, then blowing up their cars.

* {{Pokemon}} and everyone who trains them.
* {{Medabots}} and most people who own one.

** Cleave a buzzer wasp in half.

This trope tends to present itself in media where NobodyCanDie, or NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight and/or the InverseLawOfUtilityAndLethality is in effect. Contrast TechnicalPacifist and ActualPacifist. See also DestructiveSavior for when pacifists are reckless with property instead of people, and StupidGood for when pacifism is the wrong response anyway.

* VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum has plenty of this, mostly because Batman's instant takedown moves include strangling mooks, breaking mook bones, or dropping mooks down a few floors. Don't forget the [[ExplosionPropulsion explosive gell]]!

** To his credit, Kira does acknowledge this. It also backfired on him spectacurally in ''Destiny''.
* [[RurouniKenshin Kenshin Himura]] does this a lot. Beating people into a pulp with a Reverse Blade Sword [[ZigZaggingTrope may or may not cause internal injuries]], but somehow it never kills them, despite the fact that there are plenty of other people in the series who do use blunt weapons for lethal ends.

* When [[GundamSEED Kira Yamato]] becomes a MartialPacifist, he disables enemy mobile suits. However, doing so in the middle of a battlefield will probably result in their deaths. He does, however, ''cleave battleships in half'' which will invariably cause many, many more deaths.

* Aang from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' fits this trope well, as he's the one person specifically committed to not killing, even if it's [[BigBad the Fire Lord]]. That said, he does cause his share of collateral damage. Aang has been known to:

* In CowboyBebop, it's explicitly stated that bounties must be turned over to the cops alive and unharmed, but that sure doesn't stop the crew from using a variety of highly lethal equipment, from handguns to spaceship mounted machine guns and missiles, and display a total disregard for collateral damage.

* DocSavage has a strict policy of nonlethality, to the point that he won't normally carry a gun. When he does shoot people, he prefers tranquilizer pellets over bullets. His lieutenants (especially Monk and Ham) aren't so squeamish. The evil mastermind, however, typically dies in the end, thanks to his own infernal contraption, without any interference from Doc.

* In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' RPG ''Edge of the Empire'', stun damage is usually safe. However, depending on the results of your roll, it can still deal critical damage -- which has a chance (albeit a slim one, unless they're already suffering from crits) to horribly maim or even outright kill the victim. The guidelines for GM adjudication point out that people get in fights in all kinds of hazardous places, and it's easy for a stun victim to fall on something sharp, stumble into a pit, etc.