History Main / TrainingThePeacefulVillagers

* Done darkly in an early ''ComicBook/GrooTheWanderer'' comic. Groo trains a peaceful village to fight against two hordes of bandits. In the process, [[DestructiveSaviour the village and all its crops are destroyed.]] Having no other way to make a living now, the villagers and the bandit hordes unite into a single, massive bandit army that overruns nearby cities.

* Done in an issue of ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures: Avengers'', where the Avengers have to train a village to fight off a warlord and his minions. The Avengers fight along with the villagers in versions of their costumes modified to look as if they're villagers themselves, to try and make sure that the warlord won't just regroup and come back the moment he thinks the Avengers have left.

* Shamelessly parodied in a ''Thrud the Barbarian'' story. The Xena-eat-your-heart-out-gorgeous warrior woman Lymara shows the village women how to kill two men. She drops her sword and bends over to get it, giving the men a great view of her cleavage. The two men stop and leer. She swiftly beheads them both with a cry of "Hah! Sexist pigs!" Then she looks at the (realistic) peasant women for a moment and asks, "On second thoughts, who knows how to shoot a bow and arrow?"

** Eventually we learn that Bao Bao poses no threat as he is [[ an unanthropomorphic dog]] in a WoldOfFunnyAnimals.

* Parodied in ''Anime/FullMetalPanicFumoffu'', when Kaname and Sousuke are assigned the task of training up the comically pacifist school rugby team for what will be their last match should they lose. After Kaname's [[SaveOurTeam more genre-appropriate]] measures fail to get through, Sousuke steps up to the task. The only problem is that Sousuke, not having the slightest clue about how rugby is played, just decides to put them through ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' (complete with direct quotes from the infamous Gunnery Sergeant Hartman). The end result [[RugbyIsSlaughter is nearly as disastrously violent]] as its inspirations'.

* ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'': When their revered Mother of Memory is entrapped on the spirit plane by an enemy they can't begin to comprehend, the peaceful Sun Folk ask the few remaining Wolfriders to teach them weapon skills. No, they never use their skills in any useful way during the main storyline, but at least learning to shoot arrows makes them feel like they're doing ''something''.
** The issue was more that the Wolfriders were leaving, and since the arrival of the Wolfriders had precipitated the departure of Rayek, their previous warrior-defender, they felt that they would have no more protection. Plus their healer was leaving them at the same time.
* Shamelessly parodied in a ''Thrud the Barbarian'' story. The Xena-eat-your-heart-out-gorgeous warrior woman Lymara shows the village women how to kill two men. She drops her sword and bends over to get it, giving the men a great view of her cleavage. The two men stop and leer. She swiftly beheads them both with a cry of "Hah! Sexist pigs!" Then she looks at the (realistic) peasant women for a moment and asks, "On second thoughts, who knows how to shoot a bow and arrow?"
* ''ComicBook/BlazeOfGlory'': ComicBook/KidColt suggests this in Issue #3, but he draws the line at teaching [[ComicBook/{{Gunhawks}} Reno's]] son Cass how to fight because he won't let him go down the same path as he did.

* In ''Fanfic/ChrysalisVisitsTheHague'', the Royal Guard is seen levying Ponyville civilians in preparation for a large-scale search of the Everfree Forest for changelings.

* This is in the backstory of Mortarion, Primarch of the Death Guard SpaceMarine legion in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''. He was adopted by one of the overlords of the planet he was found on, but later escaped into the valleys, where the air was breathable for normal humans, and trained them to resist the overlords (who used them as slaves and experimental subjects), forming the Death Guard (not originally Marines, but the legion took the name) to fight. The Salamanders' Primarch pulled off a similar trick, beating Eldar raiders around the head with his blacksmithing hammers.
** Also a tactic sometimes used by the Space Wolves, as described in the codex. An example has a squad of grey hunters being ordered to evacuate the main spaceport to allow orbital bombardment of it to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. The Space Wolves, in their rebellious natures, instead decided to stay and not evacuate the spaceport, to train the local populace until the enemy arrived so they could defend the spaceport instead of losing it forever.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'', mercenaries are often hired to do this.

* In Webcomic/KarateBears [[http://www.karatebears.com/2011/03/open-classes.html this is a common theme]]

* Played straight in ''Webcomic/NoNeedForBushido'' when the four-man band of protagonists attempts to avert a war. It's worked thus far.
* Played with in ''Webcomic/{{Starslip}}''. When a peaceful, telepathic race is exposed to galactic conflict for the first time:
-->It's amazing how fast a completely peaceful civilization can whip up a couple million shotguns.
* Subverted in ''Webcomic/LadySpectraAndSparky'' when Lady Spectra convinces a not-so-peaceful village to wage their revolution with non-lethal weapons.
* ''Webcomic/PlanetOfHats'' episode "[[http://www.mezzacotta.net/planetofhats/episodes/0026.html Errand of Mercy]]" presents Kirk and Spock's mission to protect the peaceful Organians from the ravages of the Klingons, and makes specific references to all three of ''Film/SevenSamurai'', ''[[Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960 The Magnificent Seven]]'', and ''Film/BattleBeyondTheStars''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' did this with a planet of "peaceful space turtles".
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' had Jack teaching a group of peaceful monkey-men (and their human friend) to defend themselves from a thieving, bullying rival tribe, in exchange for their giving him some [[TrainingFromHell training]] to enhance his [[InASingleBound jumping abilities]].
-->Jump good!
* Done in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo''.

* The first episode created for ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' (chronologically the fifth episode) has this as a premise, the heroes trying to teach a peaceful society of blob-people to stand up against the bull-creatures who are stealing from them.
* A hilarious example in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Birdbot of Ice-Catraz", in which Bender teaches the rapidly-multiplying penguins how to defend themselves against humans, [[SubvertedTrope only to have the flock be hilariously devoured by an orca in one gulp]]... On Pluto. The trope is played with at the ending, in which a pair of penguins pick rifles, and glare menacingly.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka, along with four bounty hunters, teach the farmers of a small village to fight pirates and protect their homes.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats 2011}}'' episode "Berbils" has Panthro and the Cats' teach Ro-Bear Bill and the cute and cuddly Ro-Bear Berbils how to defend themselves from those who would use them as slaves.
* Creator/{{Filmation}} liked this trope, using it in episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Bravestarr}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower.'' Although in both cases, it was more a matter of getting the villagers to work up the courage to defend themselves than actually training them.

* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeRenegades'': In the fourth episode the Dreadnoks debut by taking over a peaceful town. The Joes show up and work with the bullied citizens and two emergency service workers to train them to fight back against the biker gang.
* ''WesternAnimation/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeasts'': In "[[Recap/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeastsS1E08TwinBeaks Twin Beaks]]", the gang encounters a community of raccoons living in resigned fear of a giant predatory bird and teaches them that they can fight back against it.

* TrainingThePeacefulVillagers/VideoGames