History Main / TheseHandsHaveKilled

* Leetah in [[http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ15/oq15-26.jpg this scene]] from ''ComicBook/ElfQuest''. She's struck by the enormity of her hands, which have hitherto only brought healing, being able to kill, even in self-defense. Also, she does this so much that the warrior Elves she and the Wolfriders are bunking with tell her to stop admiring her hands and get to practical matters.
** Julia Ecklar turned this moment into a song entitled "Healer's Hands". [=Mp3s=] of it can be found in various collections.

** [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Cassandra Cain]] has had at least one flashback to doing this after ripping a man's throat out with her bare hands. It did not help that she was around eight at the time. What makes it worse is her super ability to read body language. Turns out the body language of a dying person is pretty unpleasant.

** ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Tim is traumatized when he thinks he beat the superpowered villain Johnny Warlock to death and sits limply in the Batcave vaguely staring at his hands. Johnny was really just worn out from abusing his power and walked out of the morgue under his own power shortly after being delivered there. After learning he didn't really kill Johnny this event colors the way Tim approaches fights as he resolves to never again attack anyone in such a rage.

** The 1986 revamp made this one of its earliest key plot points in order to justify his ThouShaltNotKill policy rather than have one self-appointed right from the start (if you ignore the [[CharacterizationMarchesOn earliest point in his history]] where he was willing to go through with it). ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlSaga'' had Superman forced to take lives of three rogue Kryptonians from another timeline who had slaughtered the entire population of their Earth, and subsequent writers right after such as Roger Stern and Jerry Ordway explored its aftermath and just how traumatizing the effects of performing such an act were for the Man of Steel.

* ''Film/RioBravo'': Downplayed. After Feathers provides a distraction for Chance and Colorado to kill several Mooks, she is distraught enough about this to get drunk. It's quickly forgotten after the next couple scenes, though.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'': Zechs Merquise ([[spoiler: aka Milliardo Peacecraft]]) liberated the Sanc Kingdom, but refuses to become the new ruler on the grounds that "his hands are stained with too much blood".

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': Barret tries to make peace with his old friend, Dyne, by mentioning the man's daughter (whom Barret had rescued and adopted after their town was destroyed). Dyne refuses, noting that not only would she not remember him, but that his hands are too stained to carry her anymore. Then he jumps off a cliff, leaving Barret to admit that [[MoralDissonance his hands aren't any cleaner.]]

* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' book ''A Light in the Mist'', Rootspring gives Firestar permission to take over body temporarily, and Firestar ends up fighting and killing TheDragon Darkstripe. When Rootspring is given control again, he doesn't remember the fight, but he shivers uneasily at the taste of blood in his mouth and the realization that his claws have killed a cat. He gets over it pretty quickly, though: shortly afterward, he thinks about how his paws defeated one of the strongest Dark Forest warriors and is eager to see more of what they're capable of.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0547.html O-Chul disclaims responsibility: the act is on your hands, not mine.]]

* ''Webcomic/AvasDemon'': Gets played a bit for laughs (during a sequence where it is very much ''not'' played for laughs) after [[spoiler:Ava goes OneWingedAngel and slaughters an amphitheater of religious extremists who were trying to brainwash and physically mutilate her]].
-->'''Odin:''' Uh, whoa... y-you've got blood on your hands, you know?\\
'''Ava:''' OH YEAH?! ''WELL, WHO DOESN'T?!'' ...oh, wait, you meant literally--

* ''Webcomic/HowToBeAWerewolf'': Heavily downplayed (the victim's injuries, impressive-though-concealable scars aside, were rather superficial and he received far less psychological damage than his attacker) but very much invoked in an early flashback; with young Malaya [[http://howtobeawerewolf.com/comic/itll-be-all-right-probably staring at her blood-covered fingertips]]... fingertips that became claws moments earlier when her baby brother clocked her with a block and she [[MyGreatestFailure lost her temper]].

** Averted when Arya Stark commits her first cold-blooded killing (cutting the throat of a sentry); she sees the blood on her hands and casually notes that the rain will wash it off.

* In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Luke has an instant of this, though it's because he cut through Darth Vader's [[ArtificialLimbs prosthetic arm]] in anger, has his own, and grasps [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim what he's doing]].

* ''Film/DoctorStrange2016''. After the titular protagonist has won a fight with [[BossInMooksClothing Lucian]] by [[ItMakesSenseInContext electrocuting his astral form with a defibrillator with which his ex-girlfriend was shocking him]], he walks past Lucian's corpse and checks for a pulse. Later, he rebuffs the Ancient One's praises by telling her he became a doctor to save lives, not take them.

* Darren [[ManlyTears cries]] after killing his first vampaneze in ''Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan''.

* ''Anime/IlSolePenetraLeIllusioni'': Such is the burden faced by wielders of the Elemental Tarot: they can't kill Daemonia without killing the humans they possess, and only they remember anything about those people while everyone else forgets about them.

* In ''Literature/WyrdSisters'', the Macbeth Expy Lord Felmet has blood-red hands from the night he murders King Verence until the night he dies. However, the fact that he uses progressively harsher methods to remove the blood (including sandpaper and a metal file) implies that maybe the reason it doesn't come off is that the blood is coming from an actual wound rather than karma.

* Played straight by any veteran after a war. ''Any war. Ever''.

** Played with/referenced in 'Villains', although referring to actual blood. Xander says that he feels partially responsible for Buffy getting shot [[spoiler:and Tara being killed]] by Warren since he froze in fear and couldn't protect them. Averted since it wasn't really his fault.

* Music/DemonsAndWizards, a collab of Blind Guardian's Hansi Kürsch and Iced Earth's Jon Schaffer, brought us [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIluk2fYjV0 "Blood On My Hands."]]

* ''WebAnimation/HTFPlus'': Flippy after his uncontrollable murderous rampage in HTF+FI/RF 2.

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Ed tells [[spoiler:Winry]] not to kill Scar, so that they don't have to go through this.
-->'''Ed:''' You delivered a baby. You gave me an arm and a leg. These hands...were not made for killing.
* Kyros from ''Manga/OnePiece'' feels incredibly guilty for the kills he performed in the past, and wishes to [[TheAtoner atone for it]]. When his daughter Rebecca is born, he won't touch her without gloves because he feels that his hands are too dirty. Eventually, he's forced to teach Rebecca how to fight but teaches her to do so without needing to kill. Eventually, when they're reunited years later, Kyros states how he's proud that despite his crime of forcing her to fight, her hands have still remained as clean as her mother's.
* In ''Anime/SailorMoon'', While she hadn't killed anyone at that point yet, during the S season, Haruka/Sailor Uranus looks at her hands and laments that they will become dirty after she and Neptune collect the Talismans from Eudial since the only way to get the Talismans is to rip them out of the hosts Pure Heart Crystals. [[spoiler:Which makes it doubly ironic when it turns out the Talismans are inside her and Michiru's/Sailor Neptune's bodies the entire time.]]
* Subverted in ''Anime/CodeGeass'', where when Lelouch first uses his geass to kill the Britannian soldiers, he is stunned for a few seconds afterwards... before showing his [[SlasherSmile evil grin]] for the first time, hinting at his MagnificentBastard status.
** Later on, he does indeed talk about "These hands of mine"... All while wearing a malevolent smile and as a prelude to a maniacal laugh.

* One possible interpretation of the consistent staring of one's Hand by Shinji Ikari is that he has committed a Sin in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. Those Sins range from almost killing a Friend, willingly killing his Best New Friend, and the infamous hospital scene.
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', Zechs Merquise ([[spoiler: aka Milliardo Peacecraft]]) liberated the Sanc Kingdom, but refuses to become the new ruler on the grounds that "his hands are stained with too much blood".
* Manga/RurouniKenshin says something close to the trope phrase in the opening to his super-long flashback arc about [[spoiler:his first wife Tomoe, whom he had inadvertently killed some thirteen years previous as the climax of his career as an assassin.]] It's a major theme for a man who's been WalkingTheEarth as TheAtoner for ten years when the series starts.

* In the ''Manga/DeathNote'' manga, after Takuo Shibuimaru gets hit by a truck as a result Light Yagami writing his name in the titular notebook, Light does this in a back alley. [[IgnoredEpiphany At]] [[AGodAmI first.]]
* In the ''Tokyo Revelations'' arc of ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'', Sakura is tasked with finding and retrieving some jewel to pay Yuuko back with. Along the way, she gets ambushed by a [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever giant acid rain mutant monster]]. Pinned down and unable to run, she busts out her trusty [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolver]] and unloads into the monster, after which her hands tremble violently and her breathing stagnates. This is especially traumatic considering not only that Sakura had previously been played up as a FriendToAllLivingThings, but this is the most violent thing that ''[[Manga/CardcaptorSakura any rendition of Sakura]]'' had ever done, or ever would do again (barring the rest of the chapter / OVA).

* In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' after Ken's HeelFaceTurn he looks at his hands and says this as he's wallowing in self-pity about the things he did as the Digimon Emperor.
* ''Anime/CasshernSins'' even had Casshern saying "These hands have killed her!" in reference to his main 'sin' of having murdered Luna.
* There's a moment like this in the ''Manga/{{Vagabond}}'' manga. UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi, likely experiencing PTSD in the aftermath of his bloody attempts to become a famous swordsman, spends some time living with a peasant family. The peasants see him as a kindly big brother figure to the children, and at one point someone tells him that he shouldn't be so sad all the time, and he deserves happiness. Musashi responds by saying something along the lines of "How can I deserve to be happy when these hands have killed over 100 men?" The scene serves to show the difference between the younger Musashi, (who was a GloryHound that never had a second thought about killing his opponents) and the WarriorPoet he is growing into, who is haunted by the blood he has spilled and the recognition that everyone he has killed had a family and loved ones.
* Jeremy, from ''Manga/ACruelGodReigns'' after he kills his physically and sexually abusive stepfather via {{Vehicular Sabotage}}. He doesn't care so much about that as he does about the fact that his mother was also in the car. Oops. He spends the second half of the series trying to recover from a massive guilt complex.
* In a pre-afterlife flashback, Yuri of ''Anime/AngelBeats'' stares at her own blood-covered hand, after she fails to prevent some sadistic burglars from murdering her siblings. She tries to bring the burglars a vase she thinks is valuable to calm them down, but breaks the vase and cuts her hand, leading to this trope. At the time, she thought that she metaphorically killed her siblings by breaking the vase; but the burglars probably would have been unimpressed by the offering anyway, and she eventually decides that she should stop blaming herself for their deaths.
* Guts of ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' does this in the first ''Golden Age Arc'' movie upon [[spoiler:killing Count Julius' young son Adonis, a kid who reminded him very much of...him]].
* Balsa from ''Literature/MoribitoGuardianOfTheSpirit'' doesn't use the phrase directly, but her entire life so far has been about saving lives because she feels responsible for her foster father having had to kill six men (his own best friends, who were all members of a king's PraetorianGuard, to boot) to keep her alive.
* Invoked very [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocritically]] by [[BigBad Leonard Testarossa]] in ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'', when he tries to drive a wedge between [[PluckyGirl Kaname]] and [[TheStoic Sousuke]] by pointing out that the latter has killed over 100 people during his time as a ChildSoldier. Leonard has actually caused many more deaths, but since they were indirect deaths (such as ordering his subordinates to kill someone), he acts like they don't count when stacked against Sousuke's active killings.
** This nonetheless cuts Sousuke pretty deep--not because of the tally, but because he realizes in hindsight that a fair chunk of his kills (prisoners of war or soldiers ''hors de combat'' executed as a precautionary measure) probably constitute war crimes and that he [[HeroWithAnFInGood hasn't made the greatest progress trying to atone for them]].
* Ange in ''Anime/CrossAnge'' has this revelation when she finds out [[spoiler: that she and her squadmates have been killing human beings turned into [=DRAGONs=] all along. Especially for her since she personally stabbed a DRAGON with her knife repeatedly.]]
* In the anime version of ''Anime/{{Trigun}}'', Vash is hit by this big time when Legato forces him into a no-win situation where he can either kill Legato or let the townspeople Legato is psychically controlling kill Milly and Meryl. Extremely reluctantly, Vash shoots Legato and then passes out. When he wakes up the next morning and remembers what he did, he starts screaming.
* In ''LightNovel/UnlimitedFafnir'', Yuu finds out that his sister Mitsuki was forced to kill a fellow student after [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie she turned into a dragon against her will]]. The camera occasionally focuses on her hands, or she'll look at them when saying that she'll kill Iris too if she has to. Fortunately, he stops her from having to do that, while also helping them to defeat the dragon attacking the school and coming for Iris.
* A big reason why Evangeline of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' considers herself to be a monster dates back to when she was first turned into a vampire and ended up killing her parents (along with everyone else in the castle) in uncontrolled blood lust.
* In ''Manga/Brave10'', while trapped with Isanami after the fight with the giant snake, Saizou tells Isanami he's just a killer and cannot be anybody's shining knight.
* Shino Asada, AKA Sinon from ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' has her character arc centered around this. At age eleven, she was in the middle of a robbery at a post office and trying to protect her mother, she jumped on the robber and caused him to drop his gun, then in the middle of the struggle, she ended up shooting him to death. Since then, she copes with the emotional weight of her actions, and it's not until she meets Kirito, who knows what it feels having to kill someone in self-defense or to protect others, that she finally begins to come to terms with it. [[spoiler: Also for Asuna in web version for sequence in Aincrad arc, for Kirito and Alice for Dark Territory Residents, and for Rinko for her involvement in SAO incident]]
* In ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife'' during the great war, [[spoiler: Shuvi recalled it was she who wiped protagonist's village when protagonist propose to her.]]
* The 1970s manga adaptation of ''[[Manga/SpiderManManga Spider-Man]]'' more or less serves as a TransatlanticEquivalent for the titular character, with one major exception - Yu Komori's "Great Responsibility" moment comes not from the death of his uncle, but from the guilt of [[AccidentalMurder accidentally killing Electro]] while trying to collect the bounty on him, [[TheAtoner driving him to become a "real" hero.]]
* Hyakurin from ''Manga/BladeOfTheImmortal'' bleaches her hair blonde is because when it's dark, she keeps seeing her son's blood in it.
* ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'': Both of our protagonists realize that they are responsible for the deaths of up to millions of people. Yang in particular can't stop bringing up how much blood he's shed.
* ''Anime/IlSolePenetraLeIllusioni'': Such is the burden faced by wielders of the Elemental Tarot: they can't kill Daemonia without killing the humans they possess, and only they remember anything about those people while everyone else forgets about them.
* In ''LightNovel/No6'' [[spoiler: Shion]] has a moment like this after killing a guard/Rashi who was trying to kill [[spoiler: Nezumi]]. In the manga/light novels, he [[spoiler: tries to kill himself]] when he realizes what he's done.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'', Queen Elsa has a realization that she [[spoiler: killed her sister, Princess Anna, when she sees her ice statue frozen right in front of her. She then starts [[TearJerker weeping]] and [[DespairEventHorizon completely breaks down]] in TearsOfRemorse. Fortunately, Anna gets better.]]

* In ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', Jake Sully - a former Marine who might know first hand - tries to keep SmugSnake Selfridge from destroying a Hometree full of Na'vi children by telling him that he doesn't want that kind of blood on his hands. It doesn't work.

* In ''Film/UncommonValor'', Scott (Creator/PatrickSwayze) is a DrillSergeantNasty but a rookie who's never experienced combat before. During the team's first encounter with Khmer Rouge troops at the Laotian border, he unhesitatingly kills an enemy soldier on pure reflex... but then spends several seconds staring down at the dead man in shock at what he's done. He eventually recovers, though, and rejoins the battle.
* In ''Film/TheWolfman2010'', Lawrence stares at his bloodied hands in horror when he wakes up after his first transformation.

* Subverted in the [=PS4=] remaster of ''VideoGame/Yakuza1'', as it shows the BigBad at the very beginning of his StartOfDarkness: he kills a mook, is briefly fazed, but gets over it declares that killing will be his way of dealing with things from then on.
* ''Franchise/TombRaider:''
** ''VideoGame/TombRaiderAnniversary'' has Lara reacting this way after killing Larson, her first human kill. She stares at her hands for a few seconds and wipes away the imaginary blood in shock before moving on. When she confronts [[BigBad Natla]], she tells Lara that [[WeCanRuleTogether she belongs in Atlantis with her as another ruler]] and that's who she really is. This prompts Lara to look at her hands again as if to wonder if her willing to kill brought her down before deciding that she is not a terrible person and shoots the [[MacGuffin Scion]]. When Lara escapes in the ending, she looks at her hands one last time, but smiles knowing that she did what she had to do to stop a world threat.
** ''VideoGame/TombRaider2013'' shows Lara's first human kill in the new continuity, in the immediate aftermath of which she is incredibly upset and traumatized to the point of ''crying''. Though she goes on to rack up a huge body count through the rest of the game, she never gets over just how disturbingly ''easy'' it is to kill.
* In ''VideoGame/MegaMan2ThePowerFighters'' this happens to Mega Man after [[spoiler:Dr. Wily [[HannibalLecture convincing him that he's as bad as Wily for destroying his evil robots]].]] It takes all of about 10 seconds for Dr. Light to snap him out of it.
* This is used to explain why Regal keeps himself handcuffed in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia''. He switched to killing things with his legs.
* Kiryu's "victory" animation in ''Videogame/GodzillaUnleashed'' has him look at his hands, then pull them down his face screaming.
* In ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'', James's reaction to killing [[spoiler: Eddie]] in self-defense is like this, but it's ironic because [[spoiler: he's already killed his wife, although he's blocked it out of his mind]].
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Barret tries to make peace with his old friend, Dyne, by mentioning the man's daughter (whom Barret had rescued and adopted after their town was destroyed). Dyne refuses, noting that not only would she not remember him, but that his hands are too stained to carry her anymore. Then he jumps off a cliff, leaving Barret to admit that [[MoralDissonance his hands aren't any cleaner.]]
* Noel Kreiss does it in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'' as he asks "I killed the goddess?"

* In the ending of UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 UpdatedRerelease of ''VideoGame/EternalSonata'', Frederic Chopin does this when he wakes up following his defeat in battle and sees that Polka is gone and that the world around him hasn't changed. He blames himself for not being able to do anything to stop her sacrifice. "Why? The dream was at an end. Oh no. It can't be. Not Polka."
* Happens to [[spoiler:Jackie Ma]] in ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs''. Wei is outfought by his opponent, who knocks him down and puts a gun to his face... then blood sprays and the scene cuts to [[spoiler:Jackie]], who is now holding a gun. He drops it and spends a good ten seconds or so staring at his hands until Wei (and the sound of approaching police sirens) manage to snap him out of it. During the drive with Wei to [[spoiler:the Initiation]], it's made clear that it's the first time he's ever killed; he'd thought about what it would look like, but not how he'd feel about it.
* Luke in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' is utterly horrified the first time he ends up killing another human. [[spoiler: Later on in the game, Jade notes that Luke has nightmares each time he kills another human, even if it was a bandit or Oracle Knight.]]
* Jason, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/FarCry3'', does this briefly after his first kill: a pirate who was attempting to stab him while he was trying to get away. [[ItGetsEasier He quickly gets over it]]. [[SanitySlippage A bit too quickly, actually]].
* Semi Subversion ins ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'': Even though he doesn't do any killing, [[spoiler: after finding the emperor's dead corpse, he gets blood on his hands and does this pose for it.]]
* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 4'', after Victor Zakhaev kills himself to avoid being captured:
-->'''Imran Zakhaev:''' Our blood has been spilled on our soil. My blood on their hands.
* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite '', Elizabeth has a moment of this after [[spoiler:killing Daisy Fitzroy, before she could murder a child]].

* In ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'', the skeletal form of King Valentine sobs about how "I crushed my beloved child with these hands... These fingers wrung the life from that soft neck 'til it cried no more."
* Students who don't have a fighting background in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' can react like this if they finish an enemy during their first real battle.

* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'', [[spoiler:Maya Fey despairs over killing Dr. Turner Grey "with these two hands". She didn't actually kill Grey, but was a victim of a set-up orchestrated by Morgan Fey and Mimi Miney.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'': In "Fragments", Steven is shocked to discover that he has just shattered Jasper, and runs into the house to prepare her for a healing bath. As soon as he apologizes to Jasper, she bows before Steven in acknowledgement of his strength, calling him "my Diamond", which also shocks him.
* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': In "Sacred Cow", animal-rights activist Randy accuses Bob of this when he is about to make his 100,000th burger. Made worse for him when Linda comes out of the restaurant with actual blood on her hands, and Louise frequently screaming 'MURDERER!' at him. While he ignores their accusations at first, later on in the episode he begins to feel guilty. He feels better about it once [[ItMakesSenseInContext he passes out and hallucinates about passionately making out with a cow]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'': [[spoiler: Tim Drake]] feels terrible after killing [[spoiler: the Joker]], even decades afterwards.
--> '''[[spoiler: Tim Drake]]:''' Oh, God. I killed him. I didn't mean to. I tried so hard to forget. But I still hear the shot, still see his dead smile. Every night the dreams get stronger. He's there when I sleep, whispering, laughing... telling me [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim I'm just as bad as he is, we're both the same.]]

* Played straight by any veteran after a war. ''Any war. Ever''. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Any specific examples are redundant and therefore not needed.]]