History Main / ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

This is the {{Hard Truth Aesop}} of {{WesternAnimation/How To Train Your Dragon 2}}.
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[[folder:Films Animated]]

[[folder:Films ― Live-Action]]

* This trope was inverted in ''In the Presence of Mine Enemies'' by Creator/HarryTurtledove, when the quiet programmer is mocked by his supervisor for not having the conviction to go join the riots against a coup... and then once he's left alone changes a geneological database and anonymously alerts the "good guys" to the "discovery" in a move which does far more to undermine the coup than any individual bottlethrower could imagine (and the POV characters who are protesting physically do little violence but simply shame the coup mooks into not killing them for hours until the mooks are EAGER to surrender to the "good guys" military forces).

To have troubles with me!

* ''Series/CobraKai'' dives into whether this is the case or not a lot. On one hand at school the ''only'' thing that solves Miguel's bullying problem is him kicking the living crap out of them in the lunch room, but on the other hand Johnny begins learning from Miguel that there's plenty of times where keeping calm and using words or wits is his best bet. Ultimately it tends to boil down to "violence ''sometimes'' really is the answer," though the show is also not shy about showing the [[CurbStompBattle potential]] [[IFoughtTheLawAndTheLawWon harsh]] [[CareerEndingInjury consequences]] of resorting to violence even in spite of using it in self-defense or when it's justified.

The character is usually, but not always, a TechnicalPacifist or something to that extent. If they were an ActualPacifist, they would never resort to violence under any circumstances at all; if they were a NinetiesAntiHero, they would have no problem with it to begin with. In some versions, [[TheseHandsHaveKilled they will be (self-)tortured after making this choice]], but in others, it is surprisingly easy, and it really seems like the message is that pacifism is laughable, or at best impractical. For some pacifist characters, it could be interpreted by some audiences that they will refuse to resort to violence until it is proven to them that their enemy has no qualms about using it and is shameless about doing so, which acts as a sort of GodzillaThreshold to persuade the character that resorting to violence is a necessary evil. This moral is often proven by a PacifismBackfire.

* Essentially the point of ''Literature/StarshipTroopers''. The book was about the question of what a citizen owed in exchange for his political privileges, as Heinlein points out that Americans do not ''earn'' their citizen status. Violence wasn't the answer provided society was well-governed, but violence was the ultimate, final way in which disputes were settled. Hence, all authorities ultimately must be backed by force or they are toothless. Heinlein's novel featured a MarySuetopia Earth where nearly everyone was law-abiding, rights were extended to all regardless of race and gender (revolutionary in his time), and civil society was idealized. He contrasts this with a much-more-violent [[AfterTheEnd post-war]] collapse of civil order. Violence against the Bugs was inevitable because neither humanity nor the Bugs would cede their unlimited expansion throughout the universe. Violence is also used to convince the Skinnies to switch sides in the war. The point that violence is a means to an end, and not an end, is [[{{Anvilicious}} frequently]] brought up, only a bit less than the whole [[AuthorFilibuster citizenship issue]]. Heinlein was [[AuthorTract preaching]] Clausewitz, not carnage.

** This is played far more straight with Gohan who, unlike [[BloodKnight his father]], never wanted to be a warrior and only started fighting villains reluctantly. This culminates in the Cell Arc when he is sent in to fight Cell and tries to convince him to leave peacefully as he is afraid of what will happen if he loses control. Cell, being a BloodKnight himself, is delighted to learn about Gohan's hidden potential and proceeds to do everything in his power to set him off. Ultimately, Android 16 explains to Gohan that pacifism wont work for genocidal monsters like Cell and that it is okay to fight. After 16's death, Gohan unleashes his full power and never holds back against evil opponents like Cell again.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'''s [[Recap/OnePieceAlabastaArc Alabasta Arc]], Vivi believes that she can stop Crocodile's coup by convincing the rebels they are in fact [[UnwittingPawn unwitting pawns]] and stop the civil war Baroque Works is causing without anyone dying. Luffy, however, knows life isn't that simple, and convinces her that the best course of action is to stop pussyfooting around and just attack the problem at its source: Crocodile himself.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'' provides an interesting juxtaposition. Both [[SkilledButNaive Alm]] and [[ActionGirl Celica]] qualify. Both avoid violence whenever possible, but when it comes to violence it solves everything. Despite what both of them initially claimed [[spoiler:upon reuniting for the first time since childhood and what caused their initial schism, Alm -who usually advocates fighting- is often put in situations where ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption, yet would rather not have his and enemy soldiers die pointlessly, while Celica -who holds pacifism as part of her creed, after Mila's teachings- has [[MurderIsTheBestSolution no problem killing whoever gets in her way]]. As the game progresses, Alm grows into a more ReluctantWarrior and nearly loses his mind when he [[spoiler:kills [[EvilOverlord Emperor Rudolf]], who was actually his father]] and then [[spoiler:Berkut, in self defense, after learning they were cousins]]. At the end of the game Alm seems [[HurtingHero noticeably shaken]] by the war while Celica is fine. In ''[[VideoGameRemake Shadows of Valentia]]'', Alm's voice actor Creator/KyleMcCarley sells off his character development [[VocalEvolution with a progressively more brooding voice]] as the game goes on.

** This is played far more straight with Gohan who, unlike [[BloodKnight his father]], never wanted to be a warrior and only started fighting villains reluctantly. This culminates in the Cell Arc when he is sent in to fight Cell and tries to convince him to leave peacefully as he is afraid of what will happen if he loses control. Cell, being a BloodKnight himself, is delighted to learn about Gohan's hidden potential and proceeds to do everything in his power to set him off. Ultimately Android 16 explains to Gohan that pacifism wont work for genocidal monsters like Cell and that it is okay to fight. After 16's death Gohan unleashes his full power and never holds back against evil opponents like Cell again.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'' provides an interesting juxtaposition. Both [[SkilledButNaive Alm]] and [[ActionGirl Celica]] qualify. Both avoid violence whenever possible, but when it comes to violence it solves everything. While Alm is often put in situations where ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption, yet would rather not have his and enemy soldiers die pointlessly, Celica has [[MurderIsTheBestSolution no problem killing whoever gets in her way]]. As the game progresses, Alm grows into a more ReluctantWarrior and nearly loses his mind when he [[spoiler:kills [[EvilOverlord Emperor Rudolf]], who was actually his father]] and then [[spoiler:Berkut, in self defense, after learning they were cousins]]. At the end of the game Alm seems [[HurtingHero noticeably shaken]] by the war while Celica is fine. In ''[[VideoGameRemake Shadows of Valentia]]'', Alm's voice actor Creator/KyleMcCarley sells off his character development [[VocalEvolution with a progressively more brooding voice]] as the game goes on.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': In the episode "Bully for Steve," Stan starts bullying Steve relentlessly [[WellIntentionedExtremist in an effort to toughen him up]]. While Francine initially insists that violence isn't the answer, when she finds out that Stan is the one doing the bullying, she quickly changes her mind. Steve ultimately solves the problem by hiring Stan's old childhood bully, [[SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp Stelio Kontos]], to beat Stan senseless until Stan agrees to stop.

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'' is set in a multiverse that was born in conflict, where heaven exploded into civil war 4,000 years prior. The remaining seven gods will murder anyone in their way, and their scriptures are centered around violence.

* Franchise/{{Batman}}, despite his usual ThouShaltNotKill rule has resorted to this on a few occasions when the villain he's fighting can't be safely contained. Not counting several EarlyInstallmentWeirdness stories from UsefulNotes/{{the Golden Age|of Comic Books}} where he killed several villains, the modern era has his original encounter with [=KGBeast=] whom he leaves to drown in the sewers (this is later retconned with the GCPD saving him), enraging Deacon Blackfire's followers into killing him in ''ComicBook/BatmanTheCult'', and him shooting Darkseid during ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis''. Also while he doesn't kill he still use plenty of violence, leaving criminals with broken bones for the police to pick up, apparently he doesn't lie carrying his batcuffs all the time so beaten unconscious it is.

* One of the ''ComicBook/ForeverEvil'' tie-ins focusses on a brother and sister in ComicBook/BlackAdam's home country of Khandaq, which is being ruled by a brutal US-backed dictator named Ibac. The sister believes they can liberate the country through peaceful protest and appealing to the international community, while the brother joins a [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilised violent militant group]] called the "Sons of Adam". The Sons try to conduct a mystical ritual to restore Adam (who was killed at the end of ''[[ComicBook/Shazam2012 Shazam!]]'') to life, but Ibac's soldiers find them and kill them. As her brother dies in her arms, the sister completes the ritual, Black Adam is resurrected and leads the Sons in a violent rebellion, personally (and gruesomely) murdering Ibac. The sister decides her brother was right and grabs his gun, then races off to join the fight.

* The missionaries in ''[[Film/RamboIV Rambo]]'' find out the hard and painful way that violence only understands violence and when your opponents' goal is mass genocide, pacifism just makes their job easier. Franchise/{{Rambo}} himself has no such illusions, and has no choice but to unleash a world of hurt on the Burmese military junta to save what's left of the naive missionary team. It appears that cold, harsh [[RealLife reality]] backs this one up; the monks who attempted peaceful protests against the Burmese S.P.D.C. were all but wiped out.

* The ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' franchise often highlights all the negative aspects of perpetual wars, but still enforce this trope. Early chapters may have the [[TheHero the main Lord]] of that game kindly ask a group of bandits or small militia to stop hurting people [[DontMakeMeDestroyYou or else]]. They refuse, and immediately die, [[BrokenAesop all while the Lord continues to protest that]] WarIsHell.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'' provides an interesting juxtaposition. Both [[SkilledButNaive Alm]] and [[ActionGirl Celica]] qualify. Both avoid violence whenever possible, but when it comes to violence it solves everything. While Alm is often put in situations where ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption, yet would rather not have his and enemy soldiers die pointlessly, Celica has [[MurderIsTheBestSolution no problem killing whoever gets in her way]]. As the game progresses, Alm grows into a more ReluctantWarrior and nearly loses his mind when he [[spoiler:kills [[EvilOverlord Emperor Rudolf]], who was actually his father]] and then [[spoiler:Berkut, in self defense, after learning they were cousins]]. At the end of the game Alm seems [[HurtingHero noticeably shaken]] by the war while Celica is fine. In ''[[VideoGameRemake Shadows of Valentia]]'', Alm's voice actor Creator/KyleMcCarley sells off his character development [[VocalEvolution with a progressively more brooding voice]]as the game goes on.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' zig-zagged this in the last few episodes: [[MartialPacifist Aang]] speaks with his past lives and each one tells him, indirectly, that killing Ozai is justified if only because they can offer no other solution to him--even a fellow monk pacifist tells him that as Avatar, the well-being of the people supersedes his own spiritual needs and he must do whatever it takes to protect the world. Then Aang goes into the Avatar State, beats the ever living snot out of Ozai, and [[TechnicalPacifist refuses to complete the finishing move.]] THEN [[spoiler:Aang uses [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands energy bending]] to save the day without killing]].

--> '''M'gann''': Grayven, I-. They're not bad ''people-''.\\
'''Grayven''': ''<fighting off rogue police forces>'' They are today. Make a ''decision'', M'gann.\\
'''M'gann''': This is how you feel all the time, isn't it? You try to fix things and everyone just-.\\

'''M'gann''': But if they want Grayven... then they can ''have'' Grayven.\\
''<proceeds to go Burning Martian and cut a path through them>''

* Used in ''Literature/TheTwoTowers'', both book and movie. In the movie, the Ents initially decide to not fight, but they change their minds after finding that Sauruman had clear-cut a large section of the forest. It received lots of complaints about being pro-war. It was more subtle in the book, with Treebeard's line, "It is likely that we march to our doom, but if we stayed home and did nothing, doom would find us anyway."

** Not only that, Tolkien's Britain had seen a very active pacifist movement during the 1930s (in 1933, the Oxford Union debating society successfully carried the motion "this House will under no circumstances fight for King and country") along with numerous unsuccessful attempts to deal with the Nazis short of war. Doom, or at least war, *did* find them anyway.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' zig-zagged this in the last few episodes: [[MartialPacifist Aang]] speaks with his past lives and each one tells him, indirectly, that killing Ozai is justified--even a fellow monk pacifist tells him that as Avatar, the well-being of the people supersedes his own spiritual needs. Then Aang goes into the Avatar State, beats the ever living snot out of Ozai, and [[TechnicalPacifist refuses to complete the finishing move.]] THEN [[spoiler:Aang uses [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands energy bending]] to save the day without killing]].