History ShootTheDog / Literature

* AlexanderTheGreat did this several times and in Mary Renault's ''ThePersianBoy'' the most logical reasons are presented. After uncovering a plot to assassinate him, he kills Philotas the instigator, and also has his father Parmenion killed. In Renault's version, this is so there won't be a big blood feud, as Parmenion is in charge of troops and supplies guarding the army's rear. When Alexander kills the 7000 Punjabi mercenaries, Renault says this is because after he'd defeated these soldiers, he'd signed them up (or thought he had -- there might have been a bad translation) to work for him. But they began packing up and moving out in the middle of the night, which boded no good. He knows history will look down on him for it, but "it was necessary".

* Literature/TheMazeRunner: In the third book, after a rather painfully sad amount of buildup, Thomas is forced to [[spoiler: [[MercyKill shoot Newt]], his best friend, to save him from fully becoming a Crank]]

** [[MamaBear Molly]] does this to [[TheDragon Bellatrix]] [[TooDumbToLive when she]] [[BerserkButton threatens Ginny's life.]] [[Awesome/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Needless to say, Molly kills Bellatrix.]]

* In the second [[Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy Mistborn]] book, Vin literally kills a dog, so that her shapeshifter(who can only take the shape of the creatures it's eaten) can impersonate it and follow her around inconspicuously. (She's also kind of disgusted by the thought of it eating people, even people she just finished killing.)

* In ''The ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant the Unbeliever'', Kevin Landwaster did this on a huge scale prior to the beginning of the series. When he saw that the Council of Lords was going to lose the war against Despite, he performed the Ritual of Desecration as a combination of this trope, SenselessSacrifice and TakingYouWithMe.

* ''The Yearling.'' Does a very good job of illustrating the consequences of ''not'' shooting the [[strike: dog]] fawn.

* In ''The LymondChronicles'', Lymond frequently has to take these kinds of actions. The worst is when he [[spoiler: saves his friends and defeats the BigBad by ordering the death of his own two-year-old son. Later, he whips one of his men nearly to death as punishment for a minor error in order to prevent the tsar from killing the man for sure.]]

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': [[ItWasHisSled Dumbledore arranges]] for [[spoiler: Snape to kill him]] in the 6th book for two reasons -- [[spoiler: to protect Snape's ReverseMole position with the Death Eaters, and because he knew Voldemort had already ordered [[TheBully Draco Malfoy]] to kill him and he wanted to spare the boy the fate of being a murderer. Although the act of Snape killing Dumbledore is initially viewed by [[TheChosenOne Harry,]] the readers, and [[SadistTeacher Snape himself]] as a villainous act, Dumbledore had previously asserted to Snape that it would be treated as a [[MercyKill mercy killing]] and wouldn't carry the same moral repercussions that cold-blooded murder would -- because Snape knew that Dumbledore was already weakened and irreparably doomed to die from the curse on Gaunt's ring.]]

** [[MamaBear Molly]] does this to [[TheDragon Bellatrix]] [[TooDumbToLive when she]] [[BerserkButton threatens Ginny's life.]] [[Awesome/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Needless to say, Moly kills Bellatrix.]]

** [[MamaBear Molly]] does this to [[TheDragon Bellatrix]] [[TooDumbToLive when she]] [[BerserkButton threatens Ginny's life.]] [[Awesome/DeathlyHallows Needless to say, Moly kills Bellatrix.]]

** [[MamaBear Molly]] does this to [[TheDragon Bellatrix]] [[TooDumbToLive when she]] [[BerserkButton threatens Ginny's life.]]

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': [[ItWasHisSled Dumbledore arranges]] for [[spoiler: Snape to kill him]] in the 6th book for two reasons -- [[spoiler: to protect Snape's ReverseMole position with the Death Eaters, and because he knew Voldemort had already ordered [[TheBully Draco Malfoy]] to kill him and he wanted to spare the boy the fate of being a murderer. Although the act of Snape killing Dumbledore is initially viewed by Harry, the readers, and Snape himself as a villainous act, Dumbledore had previously asserted to Snape that it would be treated as a [[MercyKill mercy killing]] and wouldn't carry the same moral repercussions that cold-blooded murder would -- because Snape knew that Dumbledore was already weakened and irreparably doomed to die from the curse on Gaunt's ring.]]

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': [[ItWasHisSled Dumbledore arranges]] for [[spoiler: Snape to kill him]] in the 6th book for two reasons -- [[spoiler: to protect Snape's ReverseMole position with the Death Eaters, and because he knew Voldemort had already ordered Draco Malfoy to kill him and he wanted to spare the boy the fate of being a murderer. Although the act of Snape killing Dumbledore is initially viewed by Harry, the readers, and Snape himself as a villainous act, Dumbledore had previously asserted to Snape that it would be treated as a mercy killing and wouldn't carry the same moral repercussions that cold-blooded murder would -- because Snape knew that Dumbledore was already weakened and irreparably doomed to die from the curse on Gaunt's ring.]]

* Although it's built up like this to a degree, the mass murder of [[spoiler: Zalasta]]'s cronies in DavidEddings' {{Tamuli}} trilogy is kind of an aversion. Not only were the dogs in question rabid, but some of the deaths and corpse disposals were just so damn ''funny''.

* Literature/TheMazeRunner: In the third book, after a rather painfully sad amount of buildup, Newt is forced to [[spoiler: [[MercyKill shoot Newt]], his best friend, to save him from fully becoming a Crank]]

* Anita of ''Literature/AnitaBlake'' [[spoiler: brutally tortures and kills a man to gain information about where Richard's mother and brother are being held]] in Blue Moon. She decided to do it instead using slower methods due to the revelation that [[spoiler: they were being tortured and raped.]] Several of Anita's people begged to be allowed to ''Shoot the Dog'' for her, but she decided she couldn't ask anyone to do something she refused do herself. This is the moment she identifies as being the trigger for setting her on the path of becoming a sociopath.

* In DerekRobinson's ''Piece of Cake'', Barton shoots the dog. The dog's master had just been killed, so it was either a {{mercy kill}}ing, or he did it to stop the dog howling so he could get to sleep. Or because the dog wouldn't stop pissing on people's legs every chance it got. That's why it's called BlackComedy.

* In Creator/JohnSteinbeck's novel ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen'', protagonist George is forced to pick up a revolver and kill [[spoiler:his mentally handicapped best friend Lennie]] who has inadvertently [[spoiler:killed Curly's wife]]. George's reasoning for this is to spare [[spoiler:Lennie]] from a horrible death at the hands of [[spoiler:the inevitable lynch mob.]] This trope is also shown in a lesser extent earlier in the novel (with an ''actual'' dog, and with the same gun too!).

** Perhaps the greatest example of this is Granny Weatherwax choosing whether to save a man's child or his wife. Someone told her afterward she should have [[SadisticChoice allowed him to choose]]. Her response? "What has he ever done to me that I should hurt him so?"

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' book ""Changes"", [[spoiler: Harry does this brutally. A great ritual has built up enough magic to enable a sacrifice to destroy a bloodline; Harry and his family is the target for this, but the Red Court Vampires aren't being picky. And by the time they get there, the ritual HAS to go off, or the results won't be pretty. So what does Harry do? He prods his ex-lover and mother of his child to ask TheMole [[ArmorPiercingQuestion questions that lead to her going berserk]], murdering him, drinking his blood, and completing her [[BodyHorror change into a Red Court Vampire]]. The resulting distraction allows Harry to disable everyone else there, and [[MercyKill use the newest vampire of the Red Court]] as a sacrifice to target the spell. It's also a CrowningMomentOfAwesome, but ''damn.'']]

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' book ""Changes"", [[spoiler: Harry does this brutally. A great ritual has built up enough magic to enable a sacrifice to destroy a bloodline; Harry and his family is the target for this, but the Red Court Vampires aren't being picky. And by the time they get there, the ritual AHS to go off, or the results won't be pretty. So what does Harry do? He prods his ex-lover and mother of his child to ask TheMole [[ArmorPiercingQuestion questions that lead to her going berserk]], murdering him, drinking his blood, and completing her [[BodyHorror change into a Red Court Vampire]]. The resulting distraction allows Harry to disable everyone else there, and [[MercyKill use the newest vampire of the Red Court]] as a sacrifice to target the spell. It's also a CrowningMomentOfAwesome, but ''damn.'']]

* The man who later becomes John Clark in Creator/TomClancy's novels tortures a guy he captured for vital information - using a pressure chamber to induce the bends. He also does other things like assassinating people, and a cat-and-mouse game with some {{Big Bad}}s near the end. But you can't say you weren't warned: the book's title is ''Without Remorse''.

* Although it's built up like this to a degree, the mass murder of [[spoiler: Zalasta]]'s cronies in DavidEddings' Tamuli trilogy is kind of an aversion. Not only were the dogs in question rabid, but some of the deaths and corpse disposals were just so damn ''funny''.

* ''TheGunsOfNavarone''. Captain Mallory has discovered that Anna is a traitor and is forced by the circumstances to execute her. As he prepares to do so, Anna's friend Maria shoots her instead so Mallory doesn't have to.