History Main / SlainInTheirSleep

* In ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' episode "Ghost Bride", in the urban legend story, in response to being jilted by her fiancee on her wedding day in favor of her sister, she got a sharp axe and went to her sister's house, where her sister and her husband where asleep. They never saw the terrible event coming.

* ''WebVideo/PiratesSMP'': In his backstory, after being invited to dinner with the ten commanders of Naya, Kuervo finds out during the dinner through an offhand comment about [[spoiler:his CoolBigBro's DeceptiveLegacy]] and realizes that BigBrotherIsEmployingYou… and proceeds to go on a [[{{Tyrannicide}} murderous rampage]], killing eight of the ten commanders while they're asleep after dinner, before being caught on the ninth.

* ''WebVideo/WorldWarII'': Indie notes in part 3 of the Pearl Harbor special that part of the reason Yamamoto wanted the declaration of war presented to the Americans ''before'' bombs started falling in Pearl is that it would be akin to killing a man asleep in his bed, which would be against samurai ethos. You wake him up, ''then'' kill him in his bed.

** Averted by the hobbits in Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheFellowshipOfTheRing'', who had stopped at the Prancing Pony Inn and had gone to their rooms for the night. Some Bree-men suborned by the Ringwraiths gained access to the hobbits' room, where attacked what they thought were the hobbits in their beds. Fortunately, Strider had forewarned the hobbits about this; [[SleepingDummy what actually happened was the ruin of several good bolsters]].
** In ''Literature/TheReturnOfTheKing'', Saruman suspects that his servant Grima stabbed Lotho Sackville-Baggins in his sleep.

* It's mentioned in ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' that this was a common method of player-killing in SAO; ordinarily players had to agree to any PlayerVersusPlayer fights, but [=PKers=] would sneak up on someone who was sleeping, challenge them to a duel to the death, then lift the other player's hand to push the menu button to accept the challenge.

* In ''Series/TheLastKingdom'', Ragnar the Younger and his lover are killed in their tent while sleeping by dirty coward [=Æ=]thelwold who would never stood a chance with him in an honest fight. It's a major source of drama, angst and mourning for his wife Brida and his Dane/Saxon brother Uhtred, because he didn't die fighting and his stiff body can't even grasp a weapon and as such, he can't enter Valhalla. They however find a way of fulfilling DueToTheDead and with some seriously impressive quest manage to get him there.

People are very vulnerable creatures when they're asleep. Their defenses are down, they usually feel like they're in a safe place. Thus when someone is killed in their sleep, it's portrayed as someone being killed when they're at their most defenseless. Doing so is often the ''modus operandi'' of the DirtyCoward, who would be afraid to kill someone when they can fight back -- though for particularly powerful enemies such as {{vampire}}s that may well be suicide to take on at their strongest, it may well be the ''only'' way to kill them without risking one's life or those of others.

* One of LightNovel/GoblinSlayer's favorite tactics for killing goblins, which he uses to clear out a goblin nest with the help of two spells from Dwarf Shaman and Priestess. The two spells combined render the goblins defenseless, and thus easy prey for Goblin Slayer, High Elf Archer and Lizard Priest, avoiding what would otherwise be a difficult battle with a high chance of leaving at least one of the party wounded or worse.

* In ''Anime/SwordArtOnline'', it's mentioned that the dueling rules permit PlayerKilling even in safe zones; one thoroughly vicious trick is to manipulate a sleeping player into agreeing to a duel via the in-game interface and then murdering them with impunity.

* Rick's group in ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' pull a particularly nasty version when they [[spoiler:invade The Saviors' compound.]]

* In ''Franchise/StarWars Episode III: Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' Chancellor Palpatine relates to Anakin Skywalker the [[MemeticMutation Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise]], who had such fine control of the Force that he could use it to influence the midi-chlorians to create life. He taught almost everything he knew to his apprentice, who then killed him in his sleep. (In the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse and the still-canon [[AllThereInTheManual StarWars.com encyclopedia]], it's explained that Palpatine himself was the apprentice in question.)

** The matriarch in ''Towards Zero'' is killed while asleep.

* In ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey V: Beyond the Myth'', Harbingers have a skill called Fatal Reap that inflicts modest physical damage with a chance of a OneHitKill. The damage and instant-kill chance increase dramatically if used on a sleeping enemy.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', Overwatch agent Gérard Lacroix was killed in his sleep by his wife Amélie, who had been turned into a ManchurianAgent by the Talon terrorist organization after they abducted her, [[BrainwashedAndCrazy suppressed her personality and broke her will]] and then arranged for her to be found by Overwatch agents and returned to her normal life apparently none the worse for the wear. Once her programming activated she returned to Talon and became the assassin [[MeaningfulName Widowmaker]].
** Also can be done with Ana Amari's sleepy dart gun ability

** It nearly happens in ''Film/TheLastJedi'' when Luke Skywalker is going to kill his nephew Ben Solo, but hesitates giving Ben the opportunity to fight back and recruit the other padawans to join him in turning to the Dark Side.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jael_and_sisera.png]]

[[caption-width-right-350:[-''Jael and Sisera'' (1787), James Northcote-]]]]

[[quoteright:250:[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/peverall_slain.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Night-night, Alderman! Sweet dreams!]]]]

* In the StoryWithinAStory [[Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard "The Tale of the Three Brothers"]] from ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', the eldest brother is murdered in his sleep after boasting about how his wand, the Elder Wand, is undefeatable. This shows his folly in trusting the Elder Wand since he can still be killed outside of duels.

[[caption-width-right:250:[[Franchise/AceAttorney Night-night, Alderman! Sweet dreams!]]]]

** There ismore than one case where the victim is attacked while they're sleeping. i.e, in a case where Ran is the target [[spoiler: for being a potential SpannerInTheWorks]], the killer attacks her when she and Conan are sharing the same bed. Conan manages to wake her up right before ''the murderer chops her with their axe'', however.

* In the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty4ModernWarfare'' mission "Crew Expendable", some of the soldiers on board the freighter are asleep in the crew's quarters and get unceremoniously shot up by the infiltrating SAS team nonetheless.

[[caption-width-right:250:Lights out.]]

* Music/DwightYoakam: "Buenos Noches From a Lonely Room (She Wore Red Dresses)," the title track of his 1989 album, has a young man, embittered by his girlfriend betraying him, tracks her down, finds her sleeping next to another man she seduced, and – after pointing the gun at her head – shoots her. "''She wore red dresses, but now she lay dead''."

* Music/DwightYoakum: "Buenos Noches From a Lonely Room (She Wore Red Dresses)," the title track of his 1989 album, has a young man, embittered by his girlfriend betraying him, tracks her down, finds her sleeping next to another man she seduced, and – after pointing the gun at her head – shoots her. "''She wore red dresses, but now she lay dead''."