History Main / ShootTheHostage

* In ''Rawhide Kid: The Sensational Seven'', the Kid is face to face with BigBad Cresto Pike, who is holding two hostages in front of him: Wyatt Earp, and the Kid's father. Without hesitation, he shoots them down [[JustAFleshWound non-lethally]] before fatally shooting Cresto. He's a Western hero, he has ImprobableAimingSkills as a matter of course.

* In Creator/TerryPratchett's novel ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'', Sergeant Jackrum shoots at an enemy soldier holding Lieutenant Blouse hostage, taking off a bit of Blouse's ear in the process. Jackrum's unnervingly casual about it... "Wouldn't be the first officer ''I've'' killed, neither..."
** Another example, at the end of ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}''. Susan ends up with the BigBad hiding behind her elderly grandfather. [[spoiler:She's armed with a poker from the fireplace. She hurls it through her grandfather and into Teatime.]] Makes more sense given her grandfather is [[TheGrimReaper somewhat thin.]]

* In the MLP / GreenLantern crossover ''FanFic/InBrightestDay'', Rainbow Dash pulls this on Gilda when Black Lantern Mitta attempt's to use her as a meat-shield, but it's immediately {{subverted}} when Rainbow Dash reveals that she blasted her with a Ring Construct to turn her into a Red Lantern.

* In ''ComicBook/AvengersAcademy'', Marauder attacks the team, then tries to take a hostage once the instructors show up. Unfortunately for him, the hostage he grabbed was Boulder, who's only power is being NighInvulnerable. The instructors have absolutely no problem opening fire- end result, Marauder is taken down and Boulder is completely unscathed.

A sufficiently skilled hero will just ShootTheHostageTaker. If the hero is less skilled but relatively nice, they'll just shoot the hostage in the leg, either to stop the bad guy from being able to take them with him, or just to get them out of the way so they have a clean shot. If the hero is a particularly dark AntiHero or on a revenge fueled bender, they might just shoot the bad guy through the hostage (and then possibly [[NiceJobBreakingItHero regret it later]]).

Also see HostageSpiritLink, a form of VideoGameCrueltyPunishment where the health and/or fighting ability of the player is diminished if he decides to put a bullet through the hostage's head instead of save them.

* In the second ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' movie we see Ran's father once shot her mother for this reason, although it took Ran and the police officer who told her about it a while to figure out he was anything other than a bad shot. Actually this was made to save them, as the trauma of being shot at makes the hostage dead weight, to where the criminal will often just let the hostage go rather then struggle to carry them.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', [[spoiler: "revenge fueled bender" version which cements Sasuke as an AntiVillain. When Danzo takes Karin hostage, Sasuke shoots a Chidori blade through both of them, hitting Danzo in the heart. Sasuke then [[KickTheDog tells her if she's getting taken hostage, that makes her nothing but a burden]]]].

* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''. [[BigBad Terrorist leader Dante]] is using Rico's handler Jean as a HumanShield, knowing that the cyborgs are brainwashed to protect their handler at all costs. Earlier however Jean made it clear that both their lives were expandable in order to kill Dante (Dante had planted the car bomb that killed Jean's parents, little sister, and fiancee), so Rico fires a 20mm anti-material shell through her handler's chest after Jean orders her to fire regardless.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': The [=CP9=] Agent Rob Lucci's backstory includes him being sent to deal with pirates that had take 500 of a country's soldiers hostage. As Lucci is a OneManArmy, he could have immediately beaten all the pirates himself, with few of the soldiers dying. Instead, he lets the pirates catch him so he'll be taken to the hostages. Once there, he kills them all himself, reasoning that those soldiers failed to protect their country [[YouHaveFailedMe and thus were worthless]] ([[BlackAndWhiteInsanity even evil]]). After that, he kills all the pirates as well.
* The manga of ''Manga/ElfenLied'' plays around with this for the CuteClumsyGirl secretary Kisaragi at the beginning. Initially, Kurama wanted to save her, but realized that he would have to perform a HeroicSacrifice that may end up saving her. Lucy instead [[OffWithHisHead pops off her head]] [[MoodWhiplash after this sad moment]] [[DoubleSubverted and the army with Kurama ends up shooting through her]] ''[[BulletproofHumanShield anyway]]'' [[CurbStompBattle even though it doesn't work]].
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'' when the crew of the Nahel Argama learn that one of the refugees they rescued is actually Mineva Lao Zabi, the fugitive princess of Zeon, they try to use her as a hostage against the Neo-Zeons attacking them. Resident CharClone Full Frontal coldly informs them that, princess or not, their current mission is worth far more than the life of one girl and orders his men to open fire anyway. Possibly a TakeThat to a similar incident in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' where the antagonists did back down from putting their princess' life at stake.

* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'' uses this trope to illustrate several points, in an unexpected manner. When an elderly woman gets caught in the middle of a fierce battle between Investigators and a ghoul, they immediately fear her being used as a hostage. [[VanHelsingHateCrimes Hachikawa]] decides to take this approach, shooting at the "old hag" since he considers killing Irimi more important. Irimi surprises everyone -- including herself -- by shielding the old woman, and is mortally wounded in the process. Afterwards, Hirako and Kuramoto are deeply shaken by seeing a Ghoul value a human life more than an Investigator tasked with protecting humans.

* Seen in the comic book ''ComicBook/GreenArrow'', where it only helps the protagonist. Assassin Constantine Drakon had shown the ability to catch arrows midflight, no matter how many were shot at him at once. Then he took not-yet-superheroine Mia Dearden hostage. Green Arrow Connor Hawke just shot him through her shoulder.

** This was likely inspired by a sequence in StarTrekker, a parody manga briefly published in the early 90's by Antarctic Press until Paramount came down like a mountain on them. In that case, the resulting explosion crippled the nearby Klingon cruisers. The (Japanese) captain was ordering a followup strike to take advantage of the Klingons' momentary confusion when Admiral Kirk himself kills the simulation and walks in to dress down the captain. She, in turn, explains succinctly that as Klingons do not take prisoners and saving the vessel was a clear impossibility, priority had to be given to saving her own ship...which Kirk dismissed, but later we see that it was really more a matter of him not wanting anyone else to win the simulation.

** [[spoiler:Roic]] actually does shoot a hostage in [[spoiler:''Cryoburn'']]...with a stunner. The hostage is ''fine'', just somewhat scared. It wasn't an option in the case above because the hostage taker had PowerArmor.

* In ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Exile's Honor]]'', Alberich is training battle/bodyguards for then-Princess Selenay, and knows that she's more likely to be taken hostage than just killed. We don't get to ''see'' that session, but he fully intends to teach the guards to shoot Selenay in the leg if this happens, because it will slow down her captors. (Being an intelligent man, he plans to save that lesson for a time when Selenay is not present.)
* The TieInNovel ''Series/{{Monk}}'' novel ''Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu'' has one. The temperemental detective Mad Jack Wyatt threatens to shoot through Monk after Charlie Herrin tries to use Monk as a human shield. Afterwards, Monk congratulates him on his "bluff", but he wasn't bluffing -- he always shoots the hostage.
* In Creator/DanAbnett's TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/GauntsGhosts novel ''Blood Pact'', Xomat [[HumanShield takes Elodie hostage against Daur]]. Daur declares his indifference and that he just might shoot Xomat ''through'' Elodie -- which distracts him enough for Daur to get off a head shoot. Elodie is muchly upset; Daur tries arguing before resorting to a ShutUpKiss -- their FirstKiss.

** In the first book of the ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'' series, a terrorist is holding a room full of people hostage. He wears an explosive belt, and has strapped one of the hostages to himself to act as an HumanShield. [[GodModeSue Jacen Solo]] arrives to the scene and pretends to negotiate with the terrorist. He then turns to the unfortunate HumanShield, gently asks what his name is, appears to try calming the frightened man... then he says "I'm sorry" and ''activates the explosives himself.'' When [[WhatTheHellHero called out for it]], Jacen just replies that [[IDidWhatIHadToDo the only way he could save the other hostages and neutralize the terrorist was to let that single man die]].

* The ultra-violent spy novel series ''COBRA'', by Joseph R. Rosenberger, includes an instalment in which the protagonist, Jon Skul, along with an ally, willingly shoot and kill a woman being used as a human shield in order to kill the mook holding her. The book in question somewhat lampshades the scenario by having the mook appear confident that the "good guys" would not shoot an innocent, at which point Skul and his ally exchange a look and then open fire.
* ''Literature/TheExecutioner''. In "Bloodsport", Bolan is up against a terrorist group led by twins Thomas and Tanya Morganslicht. Tanya is the dominant one of the pair, so Bolan takes her hostage to make her brother abandon their EvilPlan. Instead Thomas shoots her dead on the spot.

* In ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'', a Scorpion Clan woman did it too. After seducing a Crane Clan bushi to let her into the castle where her children were held (against his explicit orders), she killed her own children, pointed out she not only could have more kids, but was ''was pregnant with his child''... So he committed seppuku.

* Darreon in LuckyDawg tries to taunt the 4 Horsemen Of Alliance with a SadisticChoice - he will kill a little girl, unless one of them will take her place. However, the 4 Horsemen, being [[DesignatedHero assholes]], just kill his hostage. Too bad for them, Darreon was looking for a hero to fight, not somebody like them, so he slaughters them in very brutal way.
* In ''WebComic/FlipSide'', when a knight Bernadette humiliated by kicking his ass in front of the knight council gets ahold of the magic crazy-making super-power-giving collar-outfit-thing and goes after her in a bar, and then tries to use her as a human shield when Maytag shows up, Maytag makes it very, very clear that she ''will'' kill Bernadette herself rather then allow Bernadette to be raped and murdered. And, despite the fact one of her main skills is bluffing, Maytag is perfectly serious. Luckily, she wins.
* This trope doesn't work so well if the hostage is a powerful mage capable of casting a [[ShockAndAwe Lightning Bolt]] that can incinerate both hostage taker and shooter, as [[http://www.errantstory.com/2003-03-19/73 Meji]], protagonist of ''Webcomic/ErrantStory'', [[http://www.errantstory.com/2003-03-21/74 demonstrates]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "The Boiling Rock- Part 2," Sokka, Zuko, Suki, and Hakoda are breaking out of the eponymous prison, which is located on a island in a boiling lake inside the caldera of a volcano. Prisoners and staff are transported in and out via a tram. Sokka and Hakoda plan to hijack the tram with a hostage and simply ride to freedom. Suki points out that the warden will still cut the line, and Sokka's response is "Not if the warden ''is'' the hostage." Unfortunately for them, the warden lives up to the claim he'd made in the first part[[note]]"No one has ever escaped from this prison, and I'd rather jump into the boiling lake myself then let that reputation be tarnished."[[/note]] and orders his subordinates to cut the line.

* Most prisons will politely inform visitors that they have a 'no hostage' policy. Whether this extends to simply not negotiating for your release or full on not caring if you're the human shield is never really detailed.

* In certain high security areas in the military, the guards have the standing order:

** It's also mentioned that, in a world with stunners, this is a really good option - stun everyone (hostage and hostage taker alike) and sort them out once they're unconscious. It wasn't an option in the case above because the hostage taker had PowerArmor.

* In the first novel of ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series, ''Literature/TheGunslinger'', Sheb uses Roland's lover, Allie as a shield and hostage. Roland kills her out of pure instinct; his trained hands react quicker than his mind. [[TheDogShotFirst Changed]] in the revised edition.

* ''Literature/TheExecutioner'' In "Bloodsport", Bolan is up against a terrorist group led by twins Thomas and Tanya Morganslicht. Tanya is the dominant one of the pair, so Bolan takes her hostage to make her brother abandon their EvilPlan. Instead Thomas shoots her on the spot.

* The trope illustration is from ''ComicBook/QuantumAndWoody'' #4, and is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Afterwards, Woody explains to the stunned girl that he shot her with a harmless blood capsule to distract the hostage-taker, then [[HandsomeLech asks her out for a date.]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* In Creator/JamesSwallow's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' novel ''Faith & Fire'', the BackStory tells of Saint Celestine and how a soldier serving her was once taken hostage. He shouted for her to kill the enemy anyway, and she threw her spear. He was mortally wounded -- but didn't die, in the Miracle of the Wound. The religious ceremonies at the beginning of the novel are in honor of this miracle.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': The [=CP9=] Agent Rob Lucci's backstory includes him being sent to deal with pirates that had take 500 of a country's soldiers hostage. As Lucci is a OneManArmy, he could have immediately beaten all the pirates himself, with few of the soldiers dying. Instead, he lets the pirates catch him so he'll be taken to the hostages. Once there, he kills them all himself, reasoning that those soldiers failed to protect their country [[YouHaveFailedMe and thus were worthless.]] After that, he kills all the pirates as well.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' episode "The Low Road". Of course, they all heal injuries ''regularly'', and the hostage in question is a ReliableTraitor ''at best''.

* The manga of ''Manga/ElfenLied'' plays around with this for the {{Dojikko}} secretary Kisaragi at the beginning. Initially, Kurama wanted to save her, but realized that he would have to perform a HeroicSacrifice that may end up saving her. Lucy instead [[OffWithHisHead pops off her head]] [[MoodWhiplash after this sad moment]] [[DoubleSubverted and the army with Kurama ends up shooting through her]] ''[[BulletproofHumanShield anyway]]'' [[CurbStompBattle even though it doesn't work]].

* Literature/ArtemisFowl [[spoiler:once had Butler shoot ''his own father'' in order to trick the Russian Mafiya. Of course, it wasn't a real bullet -- it was a fairy capsule designed to hold water rations, filled with his own blood. Unfortunately, the mafiya ended up throwing the man into the Arctic water anyways...]]

* This trope doesn't work so well if the hostage is a powerful mage capable of casting a [[ShockAndAwe Lightning Bolt]] that can incinerate both hostage taker and shooter, as [[http://www.errantstory.com/2003-03-19/73 Meji]], protagonist of ''ErrantStory'', [[http://www.errantstory.com/2003-03-21/74 demonstrates]].

* In Flip Side, when a knight Bernadette humiliated by kicking his ass in front of the knight council gets ahold of the magic crazy-making super-power-giving collar-outfit-thing and goes after her in a bar, and then tries to use her as a human shield when Maytag shows up, Maytag makes it very, very clear that she ''will'' kill Bernadette herself rather then allow Bernadette to be raped and murdered. And, despite the fact one of her main skills is bluffing, Maytag is perfectly serious. Luckily, she wins.

* [[Literature/VorkosiganSaga Miles Vorkosigan]] once ''threatened'' to shoot the hostage, in order to turn a hostage situation around, and make it the hostage taker's problem. [[note]]The hostage was his ''emperor''. It really threw their opponent off balance, Gregor picked up immediately and played his part beautifully.[[/note]]

* ''Webcomice/{[Homestuck}}'': the heroic [[spoiler: Dirk Strider]] is being held at swordpoint by the villainous [[spoiler: Lord Jack]], who is in turn being held at swordpoint by the [[ALighterShadeOfBlack semi-villainous]] [[spoiler: Spades Slick]]. The heroic [[spoiler: Dave Strider]] decapitates all three with a single sword stroke. In this case, the heroes have an ally with [[BackFromTheDead resurrection powers]].