Line #21 Main/ViolenceIsNotAnOption


1	-> ''"You cannot beat a river into submission. You have to surrender to its current..."''
2	-->-- '''The Ancient One''', ''Film/DoctorStrange2016''
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4	There are a lot of problems a person can solve with violence: {{evil overlord}}s, [[TheBully bullies]], inconvenient walls, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking high prices at the supermarket...]]
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6	[[WellThisIsNotThatTrope Unfortunately, this is not one such problem]]. The MonsterOfTheWeek is [[HopelessBossFight just too strong to take on in open combat]] (or may even be outright {{immortal\|ity}}), punching out the schoolyard bully [[CrimeOfSelfDefense just makes the whole situation worse]], and a BallisticDiscount is just way more trouble than it's worth. Alternatively, the character(s) may be burdened by a NoHarmRequirement and unable to use violence due to long-term consequences. Some people catch onto this immediately and seek alternate solutions, while others are slower on the uptake and try to punch their way through the situation first and have to backpedal afterwards. Regardless of how they figure this out, it's clear that no amount of direct physical force is going to solve the issue at hand.
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8	In video games, particularly of the ActionGame genre, this often takes the form of a StealthBasedMission, for the duration of which the players' combat options (weapons, powers, etc.) are either [[NoGearLevel stripped away]] or [[HoldingBackThePhlebotinum rendered useless somehow]], forcing them to evade the enemies instead. That said, mandatory stealth levels do not automatically fall under this trope, as some games let players dispense violence from hiding, anyway.
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10	A situation like this can be a great way of showing off the HiddenDepths (or lack thereof) of a character that normally solves problems by punching them in the face, i.e. a BloodKnight or the like. Alternatively, it can be used to give the NonActionGuy a chance to shine (and prove that HeartIsAnAwesomePower). The BadassPacifist especially excels in this sort of scenario, and such an incident may be what gives them their credentials in the first place.
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12	Compare ActualPacifist and ThouShallNotKill, for when the lack of violence is a moral choice as opposed to a practical one. Also compare TechnicalPacifist, who manages without ''personally'' killing anyone. Contrast ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption, ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer, and MurderIsTheBestSolution, for obvious reasons. See also SheatheYourSword, for when the mere act of not fighting is what brings the conflict to a close, and TortureIsIneffective for when the "problem" at hand is gathering information.
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14	----
15	!!Examples:
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17	[[foldercontrol]]
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19	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
20	* ''Literature/NoGameNoLife'': In the alternate world of Disboard, an ancient war devastated the world so badly that the god which survived the war, Tet, declared that violence -- ''especially'' violence with intent to kill -- was now impossible and all disputes had to be settled through games. [[spoiler:However, this only applies to the 16 races which are bound by Tet's [[TheCommandments Pledges]], and also only applies if the person didn't wager their life or physical safety in the game. If they do and ''lose'', they're screwed. Therefore, all of these races are terrified of being completely conquered by the others, as they fear this would reduce their status to those of animals that can be enslaved and slaughtered.]]
21	* This is a recurring situation with the Ultra Guardian missions in the ''Sun and Moon'' series of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''. Most of the Ultra Beasts are too powerful to be taken out by the heroes through battling, their attacks usually only causing a distraction at best, so more often methods resort to trickery or, in the cases of the [[NonMaliciousMonster less antagonistic ones]], even appealing to the personalities of the beasts so they'll willingly be captured and sent back to their world.
22	[[/folder]]
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24	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
25	* ''ComicStrip/{{Foxtrot}}'': One arc has Jason unable to get past a video-game boss called the Red Orb Guardian. His entirely un-nerdy sister Paige gets past it without trying, so she blackmails him for a while until she finally tells him the secret: don't attack him.
26	-->'''Jason:''' He's the most lethal video game creature ever! He towers above you with fists like anvils! Skulls litter the ground at his feet! And you're not supposed to even ''try'' to take this guy on in a fight??... Wow, talk about counter-intuitive.\
27	'''Paige:''' Refresh my memory, you spend ''how'' many nanoseconds in the real world each day?
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30	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
31	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'': Despite her status as an ActionGirl, most of the threats that Merida encounters throughout the movie can't be solved through her archery or fighting skills:
32	** Merida is a skilled archer and fighter, always hitting her target and capable of shooting straight even under stressful circumstances (like when ambushed by a bear). During the climax, she's able to block her father's sword with her own sword, and Fergus was trying to kill a bear with that strike, proving that she did inherit her father's strength. However, this is a Disney film. She's not allowed to skewer any opponent with her arrows a la ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. Therefore, her main opponent is a magical bear that can NoSell anything a normal human can throw at him, making her talents useless in that specific situation. Instead, she has to run away from the magical bear.
33	** Archery is also not shown to be a viable option ''a la'' LoopholeAbuse in the contest. Merida definitely won the contest, but it did nothing to help her situation. On the contrary, she made it worse. She has to placate the three chiefs and convince them to agree to something else in order to succeed.
34	** Breaking her mother's curse is not as simple as killing the curse's caster. She has to reconcile with her mother to make that happen.
35	[[/folder]]
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37	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
38	* In ''Film/DaysOfFuturePast'', Logan has to remain calm because violence or sudden bouts of emotion would disrupt the MentalTimeTravel that he's using, and thus remove him from the situation entirely without doing anything to fix it.
39	* This occurs on both sides during the climax of ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'': The titular hero has no chance against [[EldritchAbomination Dormammu]], and so instead relies on an infinite loop of time to emerge triumphant. Dormammu, on the other hand, has no comprehension of time and learns quickly that just killing Strange over and over again still leaves him trapped, forcing him to bargain for his freedom.
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42	[[folder:Literature]]
43	* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/FoundationSeries'':
44	** "Literature/TheEncyclopedists": Mayor Hardin initially tries to encourage the Encyclopedists to take arms and prepare to fight off Anacreon and any of their neighbors who might try to conquer Terminus. However, as the Board of Trustees dither and delay, it becomes impossible to rely on Terminus' military strength. Hari Seldon claims that the alternative is obvious, and [[GuileHero Hardin agrees]].
45	** "Literature/TheMayors":
46	*** Mayor Hardin's meeting with Sef Sermak establishes how he managed to evict Anacreon from Terminus without having any military strength of their own. He sent messages to the other nearby galactic kingdoms to the effect that if Anacreon conquered Terminus, they'd have unstoppable military technology, [[ProxyWar but if they came to Terminus' defence, they'd freely share this technology]].
47	*** After Terminus rebuilds an [[LostTechnology ancient derelict Imperial battleship]], Anacreon's military is powerful enough to defeat every other navy in the Four Kingdoms, so they think they can conquer the Foundation. However, Mayor Hardin coordinated with the priests who operate the warship, and once Anacreon is committed to the invasion, they hold a protest, [[TerminallyDependentSociety shutting down all of the technology they provided Anacreon, which cripples them completely]].
48	[[/folder]]
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50	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
51	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The antagonist of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E3Rosa "Rosa"]] is an escaped prisoner implanted with [[RestrainingBolt a device that prevents him from using violence]]. Unfortunately for the Doctor and friends, this doesn't deter him from ''non-''violently [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight disrupting every single event which led to]] [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement Rosa Parks' historic arrest]], forcing them to scramble in order to set history back on track.
52	* ''{{Series/Legion\|2017}}'': In "[[Recap/LegionS3E8Chapter27 Chapter 27]]", it turns out that the only way to prevent David Haller from becoming a supervillain is for Charles Xavier and Amahl Farouk to have never gone to war in the first place. Charles and Present Farouk (who undergoes a HeelFaceTurn) settle on a peace agreement.
53	-->'''Charles''': I'm saying that war is not the answer, it's the problem. David, we don't need this barbarism. I've made a deal with Farouk.
54	* PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/RaumschiffGamestar'': When threatened by a space terrorist, TheCaptain of the (ostensibly) good guys prepares to answer with a volley from the ship's main gun, only to be informed that ''all'' weaponry is currently in maintenance and that he instead should seek a diplomatic solution.
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57	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
58	* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu''. Franchise/CthulhuMythos deities (and some monsters) are so difficult to destroy with physical force that it's utterly futile to even try. The Investigators' best bet is to do as much research as possible to find out the deity or monster's hidden weakness (such as a specific spell or action) and try to use it against them.
59	** Put this way: nothing an investigator can hold will so much as prick Cthulhu's skin. Dedicated anti-tank guns could theoretically slow him down but not kill him. A nuclear missile (which of course would be a little hard to come by in the modern day, nevermind the game's traditional setting of 1928) launched at Cthulhu's head would blow his head off... but he has HealingFactor that would repair all the damage, and plus, [[FromBadToWorse now he's radioactive]]. Cthugha (no relation) is effectively a sentient ball of intense flame - shooting him with soon-to-be molten blobs of metal kinda tickles but that's about it.
60	** [[SubvertedTrope On the other hand]], firearms do a bang-up job in dealing with human enemies and low-level "footsoldier" monsters like [[FishPeople Deep Ones]] and [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier Ghouls]]. Conflict is still ill-advised however as combat in the game is very deadly, and your investigators are no more resistant to gunfire than cultists or mooks; any investigator taking a shotgun blast or high-calibre rifle shot is certainly dead, a .45 pistol can nearly kill an unarmoured investigator in a single shot in the right circumstances (and many pistols can shoot three times in a turn), and even if the investigator survives the initial shot, they'll be gravely wounded and have to spend several weeks recovering in hospital before they are in any condition to be going anywhere.
61	** {{Averted\|Trope}} with the Pulp Cthulhu optional rules in 7th Edition, which takes a sharp bend away from SurvivalHorror and investigation, towards WeirdScience and TwoFistedTales. Investigators are generally harder to kill and more adept at combat, and gain access to things like sci-fi gadgets and psionic powers. You can still lose your mind or be squashed by a Mythos creature though.
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64	[[folder:Video Games]]
65	* In ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'', there is a quest where you have to get rid of explorers that are trespassing in elves' holy forest. You cannot attack them, because if you do, the spirits that live in that forest will promptly eradicate all aggressors. Subverted in that, while there is a peaceful solution, there's also nothing stopping you from provoking the explorers into attacking you, as long as you don't retaliate...
66	* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin'': The only major enemies in the Luculla Mines are the Death Knights, all of whom are mechanically invulnerable and thus invincible at that point in the plot. The only way to get through the level is by learning their patrol routes and evading them, or running away if they do spot you.
67	* ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'': Every final boss fight plays out like this in the end; the player can't win no matter how much they try to hurt the boss, so an alternative method has to be used.
68	** In ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'', Giegue has an infinite amount of health, so just attacking him solves nothing. The player instead has to sing Maria's song to him in order to win.
69	** In ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'', Giygas has gone full EldritchAbomination, and just doing damage to him won't kill him; the player instead has to use Paula's Prayer command, and this results in the use of ThePowerOfLove to defeat him.
70	** In ''VideoGame/Mother3'', the final boss fight is essentially Lucas and company [[CurbStompBattle getting their heads handed to them]] by the Masked Man. Lucas refuses to even fight, and everyone else goes down before they even have a chance to. Unlike the above examples, though, this one's just a waiting game, and the player merely has to survive long enough for the fight to reach its conclusion.
71	* Downplayed in the Pacifist Ending of ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': The FinalBoss is immune to physical attacks, so attempting to fight him the traditional way is never going to end well for the player. However, as this is a PacifistRun, ending encounters without killing anyone isn't exactly a new concept.
72	** The True Lab before it also contains monsters that cannot be harmed by physical attacks, so the ''only'' way to deal with them is through nonviolent means. This is actually an EnforcedTrope; the True Lab can only be reached via total pacifism (and is the beginning of the GoldenEnding branch of the game), and the monsters being unkillable prevents you from ending the PacifistRun, whether by accident or on purpose.
73	* The original ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1'' has this with the Shadow fight, as the only way to proceed is to SheatheYourSword and run into it, the Shadow following suit and reuniting with you.
74	* ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'' has the Higher Vampire terrorizing Toussant being so insanely powerful that fighting it is considered suicide. It has super speed, super strength, intangibility, and more. Even Geralt considers it insane to fight such a thing. Ultimately, the decision is made to find what it is that's making it so angry and get rid of it.
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77	[[folder:Webcomics]]
78	* Played with in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': being based on a roleplaying game, violence is often used as a means of solving problems (particularly ones that involve [[AxCrazy Belkar]]), but at least once, Roy has invoked this trope to justify not killing anyone. At the Godsmoot, where there's a vote taking place on whether the world should be destroyed or not (due to the danger [[BigBad Xykon]] and [[{{Phlebotinum}} The Gates]] present), the vote is all tied up due to unexpected involvement from a vampire cleric of [[GodOfEvil Hel]].
79	-->'''Roy:''' Honestly, I've got half a mind to take one for the team and try [to kill the vampire at the Godsmoot] anyway. Being dead's [[FluffyCloudHeaven not so bad.]] (...) But even if I could kill her before they toasted me, that still wouldn't tie this up with a neat little bow. If I die, [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou my team falls apart]] and [[BigBad big X]] [[TheBadGuyWins moves into scoring position.]] -- [[AllForNothing And everyone is right back here to voting in a week or two.]]
80	* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'' is all about the conflicting views between ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer and this trope; when your enemies include PhysicalGod psychopaths, hordes of blood-thirsty enemies, and the universe itself, do you choose to keep fighting despite impossible odds, or do you try to find a way out?
81	[[/folder]]
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83	[[folder:Western Animation]]
84	* In an early episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', violence and anger power the Annihilator armor, something Ares uses to set the Annihilator loose in the Kasnian civil war. SheatheYourSword is enough to shut the armor down but to drive Ares away, the two Kasnian factions stand down for the day and according to a later episode, open diplomatic ties to resolve the conflict.
85	* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'', Po faces a demon that gets bigger and stronger when you fight him, absorbing the power of each hit he gets. Po eventually defeats him by not fighting, letting the demon expend all his power trying to hit him until he's small enough to be captured.
86	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic:'' In "The Cutie Re-Mark - [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E25TheCutieRemarkPart1 Part 1]]" and "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieRemarkPart2 Part 2]]", the villain Starlight Glimmer [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight uses time travel to change the past]]. Twilight Sparkle gets pulled along with the time travel spell and tries to stop Starlight by fighting her. But after several failed loops, Twilight realizes that fighting can't work: the side effects of their fight wind up altering the timeline just as badly as Starlight did herself. Twilight only succeeds by showing Starlight the BadFuture her actions are creating, and [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath talking her into giving up her quest for revenge]].
87	* In the ninth season of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'', a newly revived Garmadon gets stronger the more he fights. So during the final battle, instead of fighting him, Lloyd instead simply dodges and avoids his attacks, both weakening him and causing him to recklessly injure himself. As some bonus {{Irony}}, by doing this Lloyd is using the exact same technique good Garmadon taught him back in Season 3.
88	* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', "Three Girls and a Monster", features Blossom and Buttercup arguing over how best to defeat a monster attacking Townsville. However, neither of them can so much as slow it down. It stops only when Bubbles gets tired of all this, flies right up to it, and asks it politely to leave, pretty please with sugar on top. The monster turns around and leaves.
89	* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': Rick has no problem with just shooting whatever ails him, so typically, he's only not killing things when doing so wouldn't solve his problems. A specific example comes with the Cromulons, giant floating space-heads that force Earth into a musical reality show. While the heroes themselves don't try to solve this by just blowing them up, a nuke-happy general does... [[NoSell to predictable results.]]
90	* Being one of the six [[TheDreaded great]] [[EldritchAbomination cosmic monsters of the universe]], Tokka the Vorkathian Fire Tortoise from ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' is nigh-indestructible (like when she survived a supernova virtually unscathed). In [[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012S4E23TokkaVsTheWorld Tokka vs the World]], Tokka travels to Earth, having followed the turtles with the intent of [[MonsterIsAMommy retrieving her baby]] [[PetBabyWildAnimal Chompy Picasso]] from them. [[GeneralRipper General Griffen's]] first instinct is to use the technology loaned to the Earth Protection Force from the Utrom to force it to leave, but Bishop knows that none of it would work and it would only piss it off (which it does). It is not until the turtles give Chompy back and show that they were taking good care of him does she decide to leave in peace without him.
91	* The Pottsylvania Creeper from Creator/JayWard's series ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' is a man-eating plant introduced to America by Fearless Leader. The plant defies any attempt to destroy it, actually gaining strength and resilience from such efforts. The Creeper is done in by kindness and nurturing, which causes it to wither and shrivel, since EvilCannotComprehendGood.
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Context Main / ViolenceIsNotAnOption