History Main / SparingTheAces

* The [[BigBad Big Bad]] of ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', [[spoiler: Mithos Yggdrasil]], at first just wants to create a utopia, but after he snaps completely, he then tries to [[spoiler: take a mana-producing comet away as he leaves the planet, and who gets to be spared? Only his ''sister'', Martel, the only person Mithos cares about.]]

* In Gillian Bradshaw's ''{{The Sand-Reckoner}}'', [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Hieron of Syracuse]] says this about [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Archimedes]].

* Happens in ''Manga/DragonBall'' at the climax of the Saiyan Saga: After pushing Goku to use Kaio-ken x3, blasted into the stratosphere by by Kaio-ken x4-charged [[KamehameHadoken Kamehameha]], having his tail chopped off, hit with the [[CombinedEnergyAttack Spirit Bomb]], having his back cut and crushed by a Giant Ape Gohan falling on him; Vegeta still had enough strength to crawl back to his space pod. While briefly impressed [[MadeOfIron with his sheer resilience]], Krillin decides to kill him with Yajirobe's sword to finally end the Saiyan threat. But Goku calls out to Krillin to ask for Vegeta's life to be spared, since he admired his incredible strength, and thought it'd be a waste to deprive the universe of such a strong warrior, and while not convinced he'd [[HeelFaceTurn turn like Piccolo]][[hottip: *:Though he eventually did]], he wished to have the opportunity fight him once again, Krillin accepts Goku's request.

-->'''Clarice Starling:''' Where are you, Dr. Lecter?
-->'''Hannibal Lecter:''' I've no plans to call on you, Clarice. The world is more interesting with you in it.

--> Mitth'raw'nuruodo, brilliant tactician. Equally brilliant strategist. A being who could take on Republic warships, nomadic pirates, and even Jedi, and win against them all. And Doriana was actually considering killing him?
--> '''Doriana:''' ''*puts blaster down*'' Don't be absurd, Vicelord. [[Film/ThePrincessBride I would sooner shatter a thousand-year-old crystal as kill a being such as this]].
--> '''Thrawn:''' [[BatmanGambit So I was indeed right about you.]]

-->You can't kill me! Your leader will be very angry if you kill me! I'm a genius!

* The [[BigBad Big Bad]] of ''Tales of Symphonia'', [[spoiler: Mithos Yggdrasil]], at first just wants to create a utopia, but after [[spoiler:he]] snaps completely, [[spoiler:he]] then tries to [[spoiler: take a mana-producing comet away as he leaves the planet, and who gets to be spared? Only his ''sister'', Martel, the only person Mithos cares about.]]

-> Mitth'raw'nuruodo, brilliant tactician. Equally brilliant strategist. A being who could take on Republic warships, nomadic pirates, and even Jedi, and win against them all. And Doriana was actually considering killing him?
-> '''Doriana''': ''*puts blaster down*'' Don't be absurd, Vicelord. [[Film/ThePrincessBride I would sooner shatter a thousand-year-old crystal as kill a being such as this]].
-> '''Thrawn''': [[BatmanGambit So I was indeed right about you.]]

* Ultimately subverted in ''TowerOfGod'', where [[SecretPolice Ren]] admires Baam's incredible talent and would love to recruit him into the Royal Enforcement Division, but decides to still kill him.
--->''It's really a shame… but I can't let an Irregular live.''

-->'''The Man In Black''': But, since I can't have you following me either... ''(clobber)''

* Played with in the 'ant' arc of HunterXHunter. First, all the humans in the country the King has taken over are to be tested to destruction in such a way that the most potentially powerful can be converted into the superpowered mindslave footsoldiers of his world conquest. Then to keep him busy for a few months while they get this plan into operation, his bodyguards start bringing the most accomplished strategy gamers they can find; once he beats the national chess champion, the man is killed and eaten, etcetra. ''Then'' he can't best this blind girl with a runny nose, Komugi, and starts to get obsessed with doing so. That's all stage one.
** Stage two, she starts visibly improving in response to his challenge, and he comes to the thoughtful realization that human beings have an endless and mysterious potential to improve, and that child that he ate on the way to the palace might have had the potential to exceed him, the King, in some particular way. His bodyguards are at this point in the speech freaking out at what looks like an impending HeelFaceTurn...and then we get a giant SlasherSmile and the declaration that if they are all that, and he can kill any of them, that makes him ''even more supremely awesome'' than he'd realized.

->''"I would as soon destroy a stained glass window as an artist such as yourself."''
-->-- '''The Man in Black''', ''Film/ThePrincessBride''

* In ''TheSilenceOfTheLambs'', Hannibal Lecter spares agent Starling for precisely this reason.

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] but averted in ''Mass Effect''. After Shepard's squad kills a unique, 10,000-year-old creature known as the Thorian, an asari named Shiala briefly expresses some regret that this was necessary, and so does the Council. Why? Because the Thorian was the only one of its kind, and it was such a shame that the universe will never see its kind again.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip Operation Paperclip]] was a secret mission by OSS (CIA's predecessor) to extract German rocket scientists and medical doctors after WorldWarII to the US, regardless of their past affiliations of with the Nazi party and even war crimes.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', it's been revealed that [[spoiler:Kenpachi subconsciously does this. He enjoys a good fight so much that he holds the majority of his power back from fear that he will kill anyone talented enough to challenge him.]]

* The [[BigBad Big Bad]] of ''Tales of Symphonia'', [[spoiler: Mithos Yggdrasil]], at first just wants to create a utopia, but after [[spoiler:he]] snaps completely, he then tries to [[spoiler: take a mana-producing comet away as he leaves the planet, and who gets to be spared? Only his ''sister'', Martel, the only person Mithos cares about.]]

->''"I would as soon destroy a stained glass window as an artist like yourself."''

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTelevision]]

[[AC:RealLife]]

----

* Joseph Joestar convinces Wham to spare him with a variation of this sort of argument in Part 2 ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''. Realizing that Wham's a ProudWarriorRaceGuy who wishes to fight a WorthyOpponent, he suggests that maybe it'd be worth sparing the one guy who has a chance of becoming that.

* TheAce of ''Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho'' series by Max Frei was convinced that the life of people who show a talent for the magic using forces of the Universe -- as opposed to forces of the world, which anyone can in a magical enough place -- is "almost sacred". Which is why he devised a complicated trap to capture the BigBad instead of killing him. That's the man who slaughtered so much powerful mages that he became [[TheDreaded the most feared and hated being]] for the magical Orders in the middle of a civil war despite pretending he's no one's enemy and kills [[CareerKillers just for money]] (they still hired him, of course).

* This happens in ''{{Salamander}}'', where [[TheHero Ellen]] is explaining why she hasn't killed [[ReluctantMadScientist Coelus]].

[[AC:{{Anime&Manga}}]]

* TheAce of ''Labyrinths of Echo'' series by Max Frei was convinced that the life of people who show a talent for the magic using forces of the Universe -- as opposed to forces of the world, which anyone can in a magical enough place -- is "almost sacred". Which is why he devised a complicated trap to capture the BigBad instead of killing him. That's the man who slaughtered so much powerful mages that he became [[TheDreaded the most feared and hated being]] for the magical Orders in the middle of a civil war despite pretending he's no one's enemy and kills [[CareerKillers just for money]] (they still hired him, of course).