History Main / ThouShaltNotKillMuggles

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[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Most developed countries frown heavily on a police or military force that causes unnecessary civilian casualties.
* Doctors have knowledge of human anatomy that could be dangerous if misused, but they're under oath not to use their skills or position to harm people.
* Martial arts instructors place heavy emphasis on self-discipline and on primarily using the skills they teach for defense.

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* Shadowhunters and Downworlders in ''TheMortalInstruments'' are forbidden by the Law to hurt mundanes.

* According to the [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep bus driver]] in ''RosarioToVampire'', monsters aren't allowed to harm humans for any reason, even to save their own.
** And yet the [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil Student Police]] [[MoralDissonance are convinced it's okay]] to execute any human who [[HeKnowsTooMuch discovers]] [[ExtranormalInstitute Youkai Academy]]. By the way, the school's supposed to teach coexistence. [[spoiler:When you consider that the leader of the Student Police, Kuyou, is a spy for the FantasticRacism organization Fairy Tale, it makes a bit more sense.]]

For this trope to truly be in play, the rule against killing humans must be absolute and inflexible, and it is almost always one-sided, so more often than not, it gets {{deconstructed}}. Sometimes, it can even extend to inflicting any sort of bodily harm on muggles at all, even if it's self-defense. This can really suck if HumansAreBastards. On the other hand, provisions for such circumstances are vulnerable to LoopholeAbuse. [[GrayAndGrayMorality Gray And Gray]]/BlackAndGrayMorality are often present in such cases.

* '''Horribly''' averted in ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist''. Even though the popular opinion is that alchemy should be used for the good of the people, the corrupt government (specifically PresidentEvil Bradley) ordered the State Alchemists to annihilate the nation of Ishval, even when they tried to surrender!
** It's partially for this reason that State Alchemists are shunned for being dogs of the government, so in a sense, this trope can be felt in the atmosphere.

* The mages from ''Manga/FairyTail'' form guilds to take odd jobs, but it is illegal for a guild to accept an assassination mission. That said, there are many illegal guilds that the government has such a hard time keeping down that they hardly even bother.

* In most [[Creator/IsaacAsimov Asimovian fiction]], this rule is in full effect with ThreeLawsCompliant robots; the first law is that they cannot harm humans. It does suffer from some LoopholeAbuse, though.

* In ''MageTheAscension'' this is a big deal for both the Traditions and the [[TheMenInBlack Technocracy]], as both have strict rules about not letting "sleepers" become casualties of The Ascension War. Of course, both factions may treat that rule as. . .flexible. . .at times, but it's still officially a major rule for both sides.

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Buffy sometimes fights against "normal" humans, but usually tries not to kill them. In one instance, accidentally "killing" a [[RoboticReveal human-looking robot]] in self-defense is enough to give her a HeroicBSOD.

* If, in the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series, you repeatedly [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential kill civilians]], your "Synchronization Meter" (Health Bar) goes down. [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment And if you kill more than three civilians in a short frame of time you desynchronize]]. The reason given is because the protagonist (Ezio or Altair, usually) never killed anyone because it would go against the first tenet of the Creed.
** This is averted after beating the game, letting you kill anyone you want, especially those annoying beggars, without any ill effect.

* Martial arts instructors place heavy emphasis on discipline and on primarily using the skills they teach for defense.

* ''Manga/{{InuYasha}}'': Inuyasha's group is firmly opposed to killing humans for ''any'' reason, even truly evil and wicked ones, to the extent that Inuyasha's succumbing to his SuperpoweredEvilSide and slaughtering a group of bandits who had just wiped out half a village and enslaved the survivors to torture and kill while making an incapacitated Inuyasha watch is treated as nearly crossing the MoralEventHorizon.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': the group never kills Yeerk-infested humans, but has no such restraint against Hork-Bajir or Taxxons. This later backfires on them when Visser One realizes only humans wouldn't kill humans, Andalites would have had no issue killing them.

* If, in the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series, you repeatedly [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential kill civilians]], your "Synchronization Meter" (Health Bar) goes down. [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment And if you kill more than three civilians in a short frame of time you desynchronize]]. The reason given is because the protaganist (Ezio or Altair, usually) never killed anyone because it would go against the first tenet of the Creed.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', there are a lot of laws in place to protect the {{muggle}} population from physical harm (though mindwiping them to uphold the {{Masquerade}} is government policy), which are frequently alluded to. The [[FantasticRacism Death Eaters]] throw them out the window the first chance they get.

* The Unknowns from ''KamenRiderAgito'' are forbidden from killing normal humans (their MO is killing those with special powers). One unlucky MonsterOfTheWeek had this demonstrated on them the hard way.
* Season 4 ''TrueBlood'' gives a partial example of this trope as the Vampires attempt to recover from Russel Edgington's stunt on live television. All the vampires are strictly forbidden from killing/horribly maiming humans... ''if'' there's a chance they can be caught on camera.

* In ''HarryPotter'', there are a lot of laws in place to protect the {{muggle}} population from physical harm (though mindwiping them to uphold the {{Masquerade}} is government policy), which are frequently alluded to. The [[FantasticRacism Death Eaters]] throw them out the window the first chance they get.

** This is adverted after beating the game, letting you kill anyone you want, especially those annoying beggars, without any ill effect.

Note that for this trope to be in play, ThouShaltNotKill must be averted. In other words, fantastic beings are allowed to kill other fantastic beings, just as long as they don't hurt the muggles. This can carry UnfortunateImplications.

* '''Horribly''' averted in FullMetalAlchemist. Even though the popular opinion is that alchemy should be used for the good of the people, the corrupt government (specifically PresidentEvil Bradley) ordered the State Alchemists to annihilate the nation of Ishval, even when they tried to surrender!

* In ''Twilight'', the Cullens are vampires who adhere to a strict "vegetarian" diet which means they only drink the blood of animals and not humans. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean they're required or able to stop OTHER vampires from killing the humans they themselves won't eat.

* In ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Buffy sometimes fights against "normal" humans, but usually tries not to kill them. In one instance, accidentally "killing" a [[RoboticReveal human-looking robot]] in self-defense is enough to give her a HeroicBSOD.

* The mages from ''FairyTail'' form guilds to take odd jobs, but it is illegal for a guild to accept an assassination mission. That said, there are many illegal guilds that the government has such a hard time keeping down that they hardly even bother.

* If, in the AssassinsCreed series, you repeatedly [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential kill civilians]], your "Synchronization Meter" (Health Bar) goes down. [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment And if you kill more than three civilians in a short frame of time you desynchronize]]. The reason given is because the protaganist (Ezio or Altair, usually) never killed anyone because it would go against the first tenet of the Creed.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In the ''{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}'' we're told that wizards don't kill non-magic users because 1) They seldom notice them 2) It's not sporting, and 3) Who'd do the cleaning up and prepare meals and so on.

** And yet the [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil Student Police]] [[MoralDissonance are convinced it's okay]] to execute any human who [[HeKnowsTooMuch discovers]] [[ExtranormalInstitute Youkai Academy]]. By the way, the school's supposed to teach coexistence.

* In most [[IsaacAsimov Asimovian fiction]], this rule is in full effect with ThreeLawsCompliant robots; the first law is that they cannot harm humans. It does suffer from some LoopholeAbuse, though.

* In ''Twilight'', the Cullens are vampires who adhere to a strict "vegetarian" diet which means they only drink the blood of animals and not humans. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean they're required or able to stop OTHER vampires from killing the humans they themselves won't eat.

* In ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Buffy sometimes fights against "normal" humans, but usually tries not to kill them. In one instance, accidentally "killing" a [[RoboticReveal human-looking robot]] in self-defense is enough to give her a HeroicBSOD.

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[[AC: VideoGames]]

[[AC: RealLife]]

* In ''Twilight'', the Cullens are vampires who adhere to a strict "vegetarian" diet which means they only drink the blood of animals and not humans. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean they're required to stop OTHER vampires from killing the humans they themselves won't eat.

* In ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Buffy sometimes fights against "normal" humans, but strictly adheres to a moral code to never kill them. In one instance, accidentally "killing" a [[RoboticReveal human-looking robot]] in self-defense is enough to give her a HeroicBSOD.

* {{Animorphs}}: the group never kills Yeerk-infested humans, but has no such restraint against Hork-Bajir or Taxxons. This later backfires on them when Visser One realizes only humans wouldn't kill humans, Andalites would have had no issue killing them.

* The demons in the ''[[{{Game/Reincarnation}} Reincarnation]]'' series aren't allowed to kill any humans other than Reincarnies, [[VillainProtagonist however much they may want to.]] They'll always mention to the player if a method being attempted risks harming innocents.