Moments of Cruel Mercy in Western Animation.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- In "The Southern Raiders", Katara does this to the man who killed her mother. After finding out how horrible his life is, she decides to spare him so he can continue to endure it.
- Azula pulls this on herself in "Sozin's Comet, Part 3" during her Villainous Breakdown. She hallucinates her mother, and this follows, completely breaking her worldview.Ursa: I think you're confused. All your life, you've used fear to control people like your friends Mai and Ty Lee.
Azula: But what choice do I have?! Trust is for fools! Fear is the only reliable way! Even you fear me.
Ursa: No. I love you, Azula. I do. - One of the most memorable aspects of "Sozin's Comet, Part 4" is this trope: Aang doesn't kill Phoenix King Ozai (since taking a human life, even if they are a horrible person, goes against his Thou Shall Not Kill beliefs) but instead uses energybending to permanently get rid of Ozai's ability to firebend so he can never hurt anybody with it ever again. Knowing Ozai, it would be a Fate Worse than Death, which isn't to say he didn't deserve it. He's also left to rot in a cell (the same cell where he imprisoned his brother Iroh, no less) as a powerless wreck while the son he hated becomes the new Fire Lord.
- In the Batman Beyond episode "Inqueling", when Terry confronts Villain of the Week Deanna Clay (who'd just betrayed her mother Inque for her money), he chooses to take a page from Bruce's book and warns her that Inque probably isn't dead... so now Deanna might have made an enemy who could be anywhere and anything, and could return at any time.
- Batman: The Animated Series:
- "Pretty Poison" sees Poison Ivy "offer" Batman a taste of her lethal Drugged Lipstick, as she'd done to Harvey Dent earlier. While their kiss is undeniably Ivy having sultry fun at his expense, considering that Batman is inches away from a jumbo monster flytrap's slobbering, fanged maw, eager to devour and digest him alive, it ends up coming across like twisted mercy. After all, few would dare imagine being awake for that...
- In "Heart of Ice", Batman saves Ferris Boyle from being deservedly murdered by Mr. Freeze for ruining Freeze's life and that of his wife Nora, but not only turns over evidence of what Boyle did to Summer Gleason, he leaves a half-frozen Boyle behind in disgust and doesn't even try to thaw him out!
- In "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?", Batman saves the Riddler's target Mockridge (a corrupt executive who cheated him out of profits), but since the Riddler escapes, now Mockridge is going to live the rest of his life in fear that the Riddler might return.Batman: How much is a good night's sleep worth? Now that's a riddle for you!
- Explicitly invoked in the Centurions episode "Cyborg Centurion". Ace McCloud is in a deeply nasty area and has to defeat a local tough in a Gladiator Game to establish his credentials. The woman he's with asks Ace, "Why didn't you kill him?" and Ace tells her "I did worse than that. I humiliated him and let him live. He'll never command respect from these people again."
- In "The Dragons' Graveyard", the darkest episode of Dungeons & Dragons (1983), the kids have finally had it with Venger constantly attacking them and preventing them from getting home. Against Dungeon Master's wishes, they attack Venger, and finally, have him at their mercy. Hank could easily kill him, but finally spares him, saying verbatim that "If I did, we'd be no better than you are." But Hank makes it very plain to Venger as they leave, "We've beaten you, and you know it."
- G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero:
- In the "Sink the Montana" episode, retiring Admiral Lattimer learns that his ship, the U.S.S. Montana, is about to be decommissioned and sent to the scrapyards, and defects to Cobra, in a desperate attempt to save the ship to which he has become emotionally attached. The Joes set out on a mission to stop Cobra's pulse modulator weapon (which can render technology useless) by "borrowing" the U.S.S. Constitution, an old-school 19th-century navy ship that doesn't have any computerized technology to disable. Near the end, when Lattimer realizes that his ship is set to self-destruct and on a collision course with the Norfolk naval base after the pulse modulator is destroyed, Destro locks the Montana's guns in automatic firing mode before retreating.General Hawk: Come on Lattimer, let's get out of here!
(Flashback to Lattimer's commissioning ceremony)
Admiral Overton: Captain Lattimer, command of the U.S.S. Montana is now yours, serve her well.
Lattimer (in the present time): No, no, I-I-I can't leave her!
Hawk: My aching back, George! Forget that going down with the ship stuff!
Lattimer: No, I'm staying!
(Hawk promptly and reluctantly knocks out Lattimer before rescuing him from the sinking Montana)
Lattimer: It would have been more merciful to let me drown. - Soon afterwards:Shipwreck: What'll happen to Lattimer now, Hawk? Court-martial, prison?
Hawk: I don't know, but he's already received the worst punishment imaginable.
[The Montana sinks with an explosion cloud resembling a cobra's lower fangs].
- In the "Sink the Montana" episode, retiring Admiral Lattimer learns that his ship, the U.S.S. Montana, is about to be decommissioned and sent to the scrapyards, and defects to Cobra, in a desperate attempt to save the ship to which he has become emotionally attached. The Joes set out on a mission to stop Cobra's pulse modulator weapon (which can render technology useless) by "borrowing" the U.S.S. Constitution, an old-school 19th-century navy ship that doesn't have any computerized technology to disable. Near the end, when Lattimer realizes that his ship is set to self-destruct and on a collision course with the Norfolk naval base after the pulse modulator is destroyed, Destro locks the Montana's guns in automatic firing mode before retreating.
- This is how Razer joins the Interceptor crew in Green Lantern: The Animated Series. He tries to goad Hal Jordan into killing him since Razer had just caused the destruction of an inhabited planet, as well as the planet's resident Green Lantern, but Hal catches on to what Razer's trying to do, and refuses to let him off that easy, instead taking his Red Lantern ring and taking him prisoner. Razer, understandably, freaks out and begs for death.
- The season 1 finale of Hazbin Hotel has two instances of this. Neither pan out in the short term.
- First, Vaggie has the chance to kill Lute, the one who tore out her eye, ripped off her wings and then had Vaggie Left for Dead for the crime of sparing a Sinner child, but instead chooses to leave her tormentor trapped underneath some rubble, because she wants Lute to know that she only lived because of a "mistake" on the exorcist's part. This works for about five seconds, because Lute is so bloodthirsty that she rips off her own arm so that she can get back in the fight and ends up overwhelming Vaggie due to pure bloodlust - the latter only survives because both are distracted by Lucifer and Adam's battle. Furthermore, with Adam's death making Lute the new leader of the Exorcists, she decides to demand aid from someone who might be able to stop the Hotel - Charlie's mom, Lilith.
- Second, after one last attempt on Lucifer and Charlie's life goes wrong, Adam gets pimpslapped into the ground and beaten bloody by a righteously-angry Lucifer; the only reason he isn't incinerated with holy fire is because Charlie talks the short king down. Like with Lute, this doesn't pan out, because Adam rises up and growls about how the Sinners should be worshipping him ("All of mankind came from these fucking nuts!"), but can't do anything more because Niffty shoves an angelic knife through his back. And then keeps on stabbing him after he's dead.
- In an episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983), Evil-Lyn, Whiplash, and Beastman set up a trap when Skeletor is out on an errand. Said trap involves using a shrink ray on He-Man's allies and holding them captive in a small cage. Eventually, after the hero restores them to proper size, Whiplash and Beastman (along with Skeletor's steed, Panthor) get a taste of their own medicine and fall victim to the shrink ray. Evil-Lyn assumes he's going to use it on her and pleads with him not to. He does not. He smashes the weapon, thereby leaving her to explain to Skeletor what happened to it and the other henchmen. (Skeletor's reputation as a Bad Boss is well known.)
- Grimian, a member of the Vandals in Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5, overthrows Captain Kalus but instead of killing him, spares his life so he may live in shame. When Kalus returns and defeats him, he tells him the exact same thing and promotes him to his second in command so Grimian can live in his shadow. After Grimian sells out the Vandals to the Red Sentients, Kalus and Grimian have a final battle, ending with Kalus' victory. After destroying Grimian's car, he banishes Grimian instead of killing him, once more preferring the traitor live in shame rather than die in battle like a warrior. However, after his next attack, which has the entire planet invaded, Kalus just executes him.
- While he doesn't see it as such, Zemerik, under the control of the Alpha-Code, forgiving Krytus is seen at this by Krytus. Krytus had just finally gotten his revenge on Zemerik for betraying him but by forgiving him, Zemerik also rendered Krytus' revenge meaningless.
- In the Justice League episode "War World", the gladiator Draaga fights the despotic ruler Mongul; Draaga defeats him, but refuses to grant him a warrior's death, preferring to let him live in disgrace. (This may or may not have been a mistake on Draaga's part.
- Mongul does make a return appearance in the episode "For the Man Who Has Everything" armed with a plant that is the definition of this trope. note What ultimately happens to him could well be considered even worse, depending on your point of view.
- In King of the Hill, Peggy confronts Cotton on his deathbed to Call The Old Man Out for being such a horrible, emotionally abusive father to Hank, who only ever wanted his father's love and approval. She takes a hint from one of the page quotes above by saying she hopes he will never die, so that he may live forever in the hell that he has created for himself. Cotton, just to spite her, responds "Do you, now?" and dies immediately thereafter.
- Discord from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic breaks and Hate Plagues five of the mane cast, breaks apart their friendship, and plunges Equestria into a World Gone Mad, driving everyone insane... but never touches Twilight Sparkle. No, he merely lets the fact she's lost everything she cares about drive her over the Despair Event Horizon and cause her to lose all hope. Thankfully, she finds a way to turn this around.
- The Mane Six inadvertently end up doing this to Starlight Glimmer after she pulls a Heel–Face Turn at the end of Season 5. Despite stealing cutie marks from ponies, enslaving a village, and then nearly destroying the world due to a time-travelling revenge scheme, Starlight Glimmer surprisingly isn't punished for her actions. Instead, Twilight Sparkle and the others easily forgive Starlight and give her a second chance as Twilight's student. Throughout the following season, Starlight still can't understand why she was forgiven, developed a personality quirk, and spends most of the season struggling with her shame and being haunted by her evil past, to the point where she takes on a Troubled Fetal Position when confronted by her old village.
- In the Season 3 finale of ReBoot, Enzo brutally defeats Megabyte. He’s given the chance to kill him for all the things he’s done but refuses to. Instead, he leaves Megabyte alive so he can spend the rest of his miserable existence alone and crippled, forced to always remember the day he was humiliated in front of the whole world by the same child he once tormented. And just for extra mental torture, he notes that the only reason he’s indulging in this is that he thinks Megabyte isn’t worth the trouble of killing, crushing the villain’s fragile ego to bits. Megabyte tries to take advantage of the cruel mercy to escape... but given what ends up happening to him as a result, he probably wishes he hadn’t. Unfortunately this backfires for Enzo when Megabyte comes back from said Hell, now more powerful and dangerous than ever, and takes over the Principal Office.
- A G.I. Joe skit from Robot Chicken has a new member joining the Joes. He has a doctorate and is extremely skilled with a sniper rifle, but due to a small accident he is given an embarrassing code name and repeatedly humiliated by the rest of the Joes. Angry about this, he later joins Cobra and kills all but one of the Joes with his aforementioned sniper rifle. What happens to the last Joe left?Duke: You motherfucker, you killed everything I love! [Rips off his shirt and stands out in the open, making himself an easy target] Take me too! Take me too!
Calvin: No. No, you live with it. - In The Simpsons episode "Black-Eyed, Please" Homer manages to pull this on Ned after Ned finally, finally, has enough of Homer's behavior and gets punched in the face for it. Ned desperately wants forgiveness to soothe his guilty soul and offers to let Homer punch him back. Homer refuses to do it not to be nice or because it's the right thing to do, but because he knows it'll drive Ned up the wall. He rubs it in so much that Ned punches him again.Homer: I'm not punching you, Flanders. Because if I hit you back, we'll be even. But if I don't hit you, that makes me the better man. And I'm liking the way that feels.
- At the climax of the "The Battle For Mewni" special of Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Toffee intends to do this on Queen Moon, burying her halfway in the dirt and walking away, with Moon's kingdom in shambles, her husband seemingly sent to oblivion, her daughter lost in the realm of corrupted magic, and all magic she could draw forth about to be drained from Mewni completely.
- Optimus Prime refuses to kill Big Bad Megatron, who had just caused the deaths of one of his soldiers minutes before, during the finale of Transformers: Animated, telling him, "That would be the easy way out, Megatron. You don't deserve it." Instead, he destroys Megatron's weapon and drags him back to Cybertron to face justice in stasis cuffs, humiliated.
- Another Optimus Prime is clearly tempted to break his code against killing or even harming humans when an Egomaniac Hunter traps and tortures some of his Autobots to get to Prime himself and take his head as a trophy. This causes the Big Good of the series to go on a Papa Wolf Roaring Rampage of Revenge and culminates in Prime effectively leveling the hunter's mansion without actually hurting him. Optimus proceeds to tie the old man to the nose of a Soviet fighter plane that the hunter had stolen earlier in the episode and ships him right back to Siberia and into the hands of a very displeased Soviet Union. note
- In X-Men: The Animated Series, Storm meets and falls in love with a charismatic ruler. He asks her hand in marriage and she accepts, only to discover short afterwards that he's a cruel tyrant. She destroys his entire kingdom leaving it in ruins, freeing the people he had enslaved who start to rebel, and all while he's powerless to stop her. "STOOOORM!!!"
