Here are the two opposing armies, staring each other down, grinding their teeth, preparing for a massive and hopefully glorious battle. At some signal or instigation, they convene, with the glint and clash of steel and the rising of dust. But suddenly, rising over the noise of battle, and usually right before any actual fatalities occur, a voice is heard:
"STOOOOOP!"
It's The Captain, or the Old Master, or someone else of high authority. Alternately, it's an innocent bystander, probably a child, or someone else who is involved with whatever reason the two armies have for wanting to fight in the first place. Whoever they are, they've probably placed themselves physically between the two sides, with arms outstretched and palms facing out towards either force. And, at least most of the time, the cry for cessation is heeded.
Which is a little bit hard to swallow. Leaving aside the question of how one person's voice could be heard, simultaneously, by everyone, over the noise, many of them (especially the bad guys) would have no reason to obey the command and probably use the hesitance of the other side to seek an advantage.
As it is, both sides tend to pause at least temporarily to see what this interloper has to say. Often, the designated baddies will ignore it, or their commander will Kick the Dog by commanding the attack to continue, or by actually attacking the speaker.
See also Talking Is a Free Action, Ahem and A Truce While We Gawk. Compare Battle-Halting Duel. Sister Trope to Stopped Dead in Their Tracks as the shouting stops the action.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Jujutsu Kaisen: Although Todo is having the time of his life fighting Yuji, who is a surprisingly skilled fighter for his age, he finds that his cursed energy lagging behind his attacks holds him back and that he can do better. He makes sure to let Yuji know this by screaming "WRONG!!!" at the top of his lungs, which is loud enough to echo across the entire forest and make Maki and Miwa stop their own fight in astonishment.
Maki: ...Was that Todo?
Miwa: ...It was. - This happens a lot in the Macross series, usually by way of a pop song, as music is utterly confusing to most aliens and causes disruption, allowing the humans to attack with little repercussion. It has also been used to resolve conflicts more peacefully, however.
- On One Piece, this happens not one time, but many times.
- Subverted by Princess Vivi as per Rule of Drama when she tried to stop the revolutionary army from attacking the royal palace. Her screams for the fighting to stop aren't heard by anyone who cares, and it eventually turns into a Madness Mantra. When it suddenly starts raining, both the rebel and royal armies are so surprised that they stop fighting, at which point they are finally able to hear Vivi.
- Luffy screams for a crowd to stop during the Marineford Arc as an axe is coming down to kill Ace. Luffy's scream causes almost an entire battlefield to faint and froth at the mouth. Turns out it's his Conqueror's Haki, and the big fish in the war remain standing, but shocked at what Luffy just did.
- Koby also gets such a moment during the Marineford war - Whitebeard and Ace have been killed, and now the marines and pirates are simply wearing each other down and taking enormous losses on both sides. Koby stands up in the middle of the battle and screams, bringing the battle to a temporary halt and revealing that he possesses shades of the same superpower as Luffy. Bonus points for facing down Akainu without blinking immediately afterwards.
- Done twice by Nia in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann when Adiane attacks. It works the first time because she's a princess, and seems to work the second time until Adiane informs Nia that her father has abandoned her, and takes her hostage.
Comic Books
- DuckTales: Scrooge brings back King Fulla Cola as the natives, the Beagle Boys, and the members of the McDuck household are engaged in a battle. It's played somewhat more realistically than normal, as Fulla Cola's first shout does not quite get through the noise. However, then he bellows, "STOP!" and everyone stops in their tracks.
Fan Works
- In the Teen Titans fic At Odds
, Beast Boy gets into a fight with a number of Tamaranians who mistook him for an enemy (he was flying a captured Gordanian ship). He tries getting them to stop before he kills anyone, but it doesn't work until Starfire shouts at them to.
Film — Animated
- Played for laughs in The Aristocats. Roquefort the mouse is trying to unlock the tumblers on the shipping trunk Edgar locked Duchess and the kittens into. Meanwhile Edgar is battling Scat Cat's alley cats. Finally Roquefort screams, "QUIET!" and Edgar and the cats freeze in mid-fight. Roquefort opens the lock and the combatants promptly go back to fighting. (It's funnier than it sounds on the page.)
- In Turning Red, Ming interrupts Mei's attack on Tyler by shouting "Mei-Mei, stop!" which breaks her out of her Unstoppable Rage, and making her realise how much she almost hurt Tyler.
Film — Live-Action
- At the end of Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Ace prevents a war between two neighboring African tribes over the theft of a sacred bat, by running between the armies with it in his hands, shouting its name (which according to the tribes' traditions, requires all who hear it to kneel).
"SHI-KA-KAAAAAAAAAA!"
- Played for laughs in Alita: Battle Angel. Alita has managed to start a massive brawl in a bar for badass cyborg bounty hunters. Dr. Dyson Ido enters the bar and shouts for everyone to stop, but no-one pays attention until he threatens "NO MORE FREE REPAIRS!" Everyone immediately stops fighting (except Alita who roundkicks one last man in the face).
- Classic example in Children of Men where the premise is that no human baby has been born for 18 years. The cry of a baby stops a chaotic close range firefight between the British Army and armed refugees in an internment camp long enough for the protagonists and the baby to make their escape. One, however receives a (possibly) fatal injury. And they revert to killing each other as soon as they've left.
- The Man Who Would be King priests walk across the battle field and the War stops.
- In Night at the Museum when the museum is in anarchy and all the exhibits are squabbling with each other, Larry tries to get their attention but he can't make himself heard over the ruckus. The Moai yells "QUIET!" out of anger causing it to echo out of the lobby then he says that Larry needs to speak with them.
Larry: [to the Moai] Thank you.
- Happens frequently in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, often with Jack as the peacemaker. For instance, in On Stranger Tides, he halts a row between pirates and Spanish soldiers to point out that none of them have any real quarrel with one another even if their leaders do. This sways exactly one pirate, while everyone else goes back to fighting.
- Subverted in the movie Rustlers' Rhapsody, when Rex shouts until the gunfight stops, only to realize that it stopped because everyone had already shot each other.
- Done twice by the hero in the Western parody Support Your Local Sheriff, once during a restaurant brawl, and then in the climatic gunfight.
Literature
- This is how Shadow prevents a war between the old and new gods in American Gods, although he doesn't shout. He just casually explains how they've all been had and they go home.
- Visser Three does this at one point in Animorphs, which even works on the protagonists, his sworn enemies. Given he was using thought-speak, them obeying could have been from the pain of him screaming in their minds.
- Discworld:
- Jingo has Vimes and Carrot do this (and it works, since Carrot's so good he practically warps reality to make everyone else the same).
- Monstrous Regiment:
- Lampshaded for how unlikely this is, where it is noted that when someone shouts stop it takes a bit of time to happen on account of everyone being a bit busy with all the fighting to listen.
- Jackrum did supposedly stop a bar fight once by belching, though likely a combination of noise, foul stench, and rush of air.
- Harry Potter:
- In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry attempts to stop an argument between Snape and Sirius which is on the verge of turning into a duel, by shouting and placing himself between them. This has little effect, but luckily the two combatants are distracted a moment later when the entire Weasley family shows up, Arthur having just been released from hospital.
- Harry does this again in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, this time to stop an argument between Ron and Ginny over Ginny's love life, by trying to reason with Ginny ("He doesn't mean anything", says Harry; Ginny retorts with "Oh yes he does!") before placing himself between them. The argument escalates despite Harry's attempt at curtailing it, culminating in Ron firing a jinx at Ginny that misses when she taunts Ron once too many, Harry pinning Ron to the wall to stop him, and Ginny telling Ron off before walking away, finally ending the argument.
- In The Hobbit, Gandalf appears between the Dwarven, Elvish, and Human armies as they move to battle each other:
Gandalf: Halt! Dread has come upon you all! Alas! it has come more swiftly than I guessed. The Goblins are upon you!
- In the beginning of The Malloreon, Belgarion is called upon to stop a war involving some of his friends. Both armies being Arendish, he decides he needs more than just his voice when stepping in between the opposing forces, so he calls down a thunderstorm. They stop fighting.
- In The Prophecy of the Stones, Opal and Adrien end a battle this way.
- Reign of the Seven Spellblades: In volume 1:
- Oliver Horn and Nanao Hibiya fight an exhibition sparring match, but subconsciously connect as warriors and lose sight of everything but each other. They simultaneously cast off the dulling spells on their swords and go for the kill, and Professor Garland immediately yells for them to stop the duel and chastises them both for breaking the safety rules.
- Justified when Oliver, Pete, Chela, and Nanao get caught up in an impromptu Wizard Duel between upperclassmen Cyrus Rivermoore and Ophelia Salvadori, because the shout in question happens to be a spell incantation from Student Council President Alvin Godfrey that consumes both their summoned monsters in a gigantic fireball.
- The Shining One by Nat Schachner, a 1937 sci-fi pulp set in a future apocalyptic war in 1987 (it's fought like World War One with trenches but using advanced technology). A soldier tries this trope only to get destroyed with a Death Ray activated by his own commander, then a man from the future arrives who has better success as he's got god-like powers and is Immune to Bullets.
- In Stephen King's The Stand, a nameless sergeant attempts to do this and immediately gets riddled with bullets from both sides.
- Several battles in Warrior Cats are halted by someone yowling "Stop!". Firestar, who is a Reasonable Authority Figure, even does it twice in Moonrise.
Live-Action TV
- Subverted in Angel. Demons are about to attack Angel when Lorne shouts, "STOP...in the naaaame of looove..." as singing is painful to demons. It works until he's interrupted by a Tap on the Head, and they wake up prisoners.
- The A-Team: In "The Crystal Skull", Murdock parachutes onto a South Pacific island between two warring tribes while Firing in the Air a Lot and holding a Crystal Skull. One tribe is frightened off and the other declare him their god.
- Cobra Kai: Moon tries, bless her sweet, all-loving, naïve little cotton socks. However, at that point the animosity between Cobra Kai and Miyagi-do runs far too deep and far too hot for either party to be willing to listen.
- On one episode of The Cosby Show, Rudy tells Cliff a story she wrote about two countries going to war. At the end, just when the hostilities are about to start, a little girl shouts "Stop", and they stop. The end.
- Doctor Who: In "Battlefield", the Doctor is determined to stop a battle between opposing armies and resorts to this method, with a little inspiration from the Brigadier:
The Doctor: I'll deal with that later. First, I've got to put an end to this bloodshed.
The Brigadier: Oh, how, Doctor? Stand in the middle and shout stop?
The Doctor: Good idea.
One scene later and the Doctor is in the middle of the battle shouting "STOP!", and everyone does. - Star Trek: The Next Generation. In "Journey's End", Wesley does this as a battle breaks out between Cardassian soldiers and Federation colonists. In response to his Big "NO!" TIME FREEZES including phaser beams in mid-air. However once Wesley leaves time and events proceed as before — fortunately the Cardasssian commander is a Reasonable Authority Figure and beams up his troops rather than retaliate.
Music
- In Rush's "Cygnus X-1, Part 2: Hemispheres", a silent scream from the protagonist stops an impending battle between Apollo and Dionysus.
Mythology and Religion
- Roman Mythology: The Sabine women, when their dads FINALLY get around to trying to rescue them, run between the two armies holding up their babies (apparently it took the Sabines at least ten months to get their act together) and demand their menfolk make nice.
Theatre
- Othello: "Abbasso le spade!"
- Romeo and Juliet: "Throw thy mistempered weapons to the ground!"
Video Games
- In Magicka, Vlad intervenes in boss battles multiple times, and in one instance he stops you from killing a not-actually-evil boss by yelling "STOOOOP!"
- Mass Effect 3:
- Commander Shepard can halt a Geth-Quarian war with a carefully-timed rant about how the entire war is the Quarians' fault, prompting an implied Heel Realization by Admiral Han'Gerrel and an order to stand down.
- Eve, the krogan female whose immunity to the genophage makes her the key to her species' salvation, needs nothing more than a resolute "Enough!" to instantly stop an argument between two powerful male warlords and their retinues from turning violent. She then follows it up with an epic combination of "The Reason You Suck" Speech and Rousing Speech to remind the squabblers that they have actual enemies to fight out there. It works like a charm.
- Rayquaza from Pokémon Emerald does this with a roar, causing Kyogre and Groudon to stop fighting.
Webcomics
- Lero-Ro, a Ranker from Tower of God, who stops a fight between Regulars just with a sharp remark.
Web Video
- Star Wars Downunder. After Jedi Knight Merve Bushwacker kills the evil beer-hogging Darth Drongo, he gets the rebels and Drongo's army to stop fighting each other by reminding them of the delights of drinking beer.
Merve: (brandishing a tinnie of beer) Look! Look at it! It's cold! It's frosty! It's beautiful! And you're all about to kill each other for it! Stop this madness now, ya boofheads! There is enough for everyone!
Western Animation
- Played somewhat for laughs in the second part of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic pilot when the ponies are attacked by a manticore in the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy tries to get the other five to stop fighting it — but, being Fluttershy, it takes a few failed attempts before she manages to stop whispering and get out the final "WAAAAIT!" (that actually does end the fight) at a proper volume.
- The Smurfs (1981): In the Animated Adaptation of the comic book story "King Smurf", all that is needed to stop the Smurf civil war is for Papa Smurf to return and roar, "Stop!"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars: "Carnage of Krell" has a tragic example. General Krell has sent the 501st out to intercept a force of Umbarans that have disguised themselves as clones but, mid-battle, Rex realises something about the enemy: they're not just wearing the uniforms of the 212th, they are the 212th. General Krell has pitted them against their own brothers. In order to stop the fighting, Rex runs along between the lines, shouting for everyone to stop firing and take off their helmets.
"Everyone, stop firing! We're shooting at our own men! They're not Umbarans! They're clones! Take off your helmets! Show them you're not the enemy! They're clones! Everyone, stop firing! Cease fire! They're not Umbarans! They're clones! Look! We're clones! We're all clones!"
