Morton: Tell me, was it necessary you kill all of them? I only told you to scare them!
Frank: People scare better when they're dyin'.
Frank: People scare better when they're dyin'.
Bob wants to build a huge bridge from his mansion to Tropeteria for his personal use, but Alice happens to live in a cottage that's in the proposed pathway of the bridge, and she refuses to leave. So Bob decides to hire the local mafia to help him "persuade" Alice to leave by scaring her into compliance. Unfortunately for Alice, the mafia decides it's easier to remove her if she's a corpse, despite Bob's orders.
Oftentimes the applicant of this trope is The Dreaded and/or Dragon-in-Chief, as well as Ax-Crazy to boot given the tendency to use this trope as an outlet for their sadism, and if the murder isn't what kicks the plot off, it will always result in a major revelation or turning point for every major character involved much later on.
The dire consequences of this act are rarely one-sided, however, and sometimes to the hitman's confusion, their boss will berate them for this, because unlike the hitman, the boss seems to be fully aware of the potential of said consequences. A Deconstruction might ensue, after all, because as the boss knows, the victim has family and friends that would certainly come looking for the victim, and they might just bring along The Hero, their Friend on the Force, or someone with the actual political power to do something about the murder, and bring the entire operation down. If the boss in question also happens to be the story's Anti-Villain, Pragmatic Villain, or just the Big Bad with standards, then one should expect the boss and the hitman to increasingly butt heads over the hitman's methods, until the boss decides they've had enough, or the hitman decides to take over their boss's empire.
Notably, this trope is not restricted to just hitmen taking out victims in spite of their employers' orders. It can just as well apply to someone going to a friend, family member, a random stranger, coworker, or just about anyone they might know to help them solve a problem in a manner that preferably ends with the target alive, only for the problem-solver, as it were, to simply kill the target anyway because they thought it'd get them better results. Some of the employers may even be sympathetic, decent characters who merely wanted to get rid of a (possibly even dangerous) persecutor, but have things escalate well beyond what they were ready to deal with. For that matter, there doesn't necessarily have to be a goal that the victim is standing in the way of; maybe Bob doesn't want to build a bridge, he just simply doesn't like Alice and wants her out of his way.
A Sub-Trope of Kick the Dog and Overzealous Underling. Can often lead to a You Said You Would Let Them Go situation. Compare to Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? and Murder Is the Best Solution, and see to that trope instead if Bob actively decides to kill Alice himself instead of hiring the mafia to scare Alice.
Examples:
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Comic Books
- Batman and The Punisher have occasionally crossed over and worked together, though because of their extreme opposite approaches in dealing with criminals they often end up in this situation. It's usually resolved by Batman beating up Frank for being a mass-murdering psychopath (notably once saving the Joker's life by doing so). Frank's view is that while he won't kill heroes, their continued insistence on Thou Shall Not Kill only perpetuates the problem, and until they decide to kill him, he's going to keep on doing it.
Fan Works
- Karma Overbalance is a Recursive Fanfiction for The Karma of Lies which puts a dark twist upon this. While Lila largely gets away with her actions in The Karma of Lies, Ladybug warns her that her Karma Houdini Warranty will run out eventually if she keeps pushing her luck, implying that she might have used the Rabbit Pocketwatch to visit the future. Her intention is to scare Lila into changing her ways; in Karma Overbalance, however, this backfires, as Lila instead returns to Paris with the intent of decisively dealing with Ladybug. This results in the death of Lila at Adrien's hands, with the murderer insisting that this was the only way to permanently remove them from the equation.
Films — Live-Action
- Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again: Hiriam Lodge hires a man to chase "Pop" Tate out of his Chocklit Shoppe so he can have the building bulldozed to build fancy new ones. However, when the man (frustrated after being repeatedly foiled throughout the film) reports that Pop "will no longer be a problem" and reveals he's planted a bomb in the Shoppe, Hiriam is outraged and demands he turn the detonator over, even struggling with him in an ultimately failed attempt to wrest the device away.
- Batman:
- In Batman Returns, the Penguin kidnaps the Ice Princess with the help of Catwoman and holds her hostage at the top of a high-rise building, with the intention of framing Batman for the crime to cause him to lose public support. When Batman comes to rescue the Princess, Penguin uses bats to force the Princess over the edge of the building, framing Batman for murder as well as kidnapping. Catwoman, in this case a rather less ruthless accomplice, is vocally horrified, quietly saying she thought they were just going to scare the Princess, to which Penguin remarks "She looked pretty scared to me!"
- The Batman: When Bruce Wayne begins to investigate as to what role the Riddler accuses him of having in Gotham City's rampant corruption, he discovers that his father, Thomas Wayne, had covered up the history of mental illness that ran in the Arkham family, which included Bruce's mother Martha. When a reporter uncovers it, he threatened to expose the coverup, and in a moment of desperation to protect his wife and his son, Thomas turned to Carmine Falcone, the leader of the Falcone crime family, in the hopes of scaring the reporter into silence. To Thomas' horror, Falcone instead had the reporter murdered, and when Bruce questions Falcone about it, Falcone simply asserts (and tries to assure Bruce) that the reporter was a lowlife that deserved it anyway.
- Blow Out: The assassination of Governor McRyan is quickly revealed to have been performed by a man named Burke, who was hired by McRyan's political opponents to create dirt to blackmail the Governor into falling out of the race to become President. Burke establishes that he's a Psycho for Hire when he calmly explains to his employers after the fact that his orders were explicitly to "take (McRyan) out of the race" and thus murdering him was "within the parameters of the order". Burke's employers, who are already foaming at the mouth as it is because of Burke's tactics, immediately fire him — but Burke decides to go on a killing spree to make sure said orders are completely followed through.
- Heathers: More like better to kill than humiliate in these cases:
- Downplayed with Heather Chandler's death. After having her reputation threatened by Heather Chandler, Veronica decides to humiliate her by using a fake hangover cure that will make her vomit. JD suggests they use drain cleaner instead, pouring some into an identical mug, which Veronica dismisses as a Black Comedy joke. But when Veronica takes the wrong mug to Heather by mistake, JD doesn't correct her, and in fact eggs Heather on to drink it, watching her asphyxiate to death. Downplayed, since JD didn't actively kill Heather and since Veronica thinks JD didn't know about the switch right away.
JD: Well at least you got what y'wanted... y'know?'
Veronica: Got what I wanted? It is one thing to want somebody out of your life, it is another thing to serve them a wake-up cup full of liquid drainer. - Played straight with Kurt and Ram later, when JD convinces Veronica they should humiliate them for spreading rumors about her by luring them to the woods, shooting them with Ich Luge note "tranquilizer bullets" JD supposedly got from his war vet grandfather, and making it look like they had a gay suicide pact that failed. It all goes according to plan... except Veronica is horrified to realize the bullets were real. JD insists on some level she wanted them dead just as much as he did, and that the chaos and fear in the wake of these deaths scares others into not being assholes. Veronica sees Heather, Ram, and Kurt's faked suicides have only made them look like martyrs to emulate instead of the assholes they were, and that Heather Duke easily assumed Heather Chandler's place as Alpha Bitch — nothing has really changed. She breaks up with JD for his psychopathic tendencies and spends the rest of the film trying to stop him from killing again.
Veronica: Ich Luge bullets! I'm such an idiot!
JD: Look, you believed it, because you wanted to believe it. Your true feelings were too gross and icky for you to face.
Veronica: I did not want them dead!
- Downplayed with Heather Chandler's death. After having her reputation threatened by Heather Chandler, Veronica decides to humiliate her by using a fake hangover cure that will make her vomit. JD suggests they use drain cleaner instead, pouring some into an identical mug, which Veronica dismisses as a Black Comedy joke. But when Veronica takes the wrong mug to Heather by mistake, JD doesn't correct her, and in fact eggs Heather on to drink it, watching her asphyxiate to death. Downplayed, since JD didn't actively kill Heather and since Veronica thinks JD didn't know about the switch right away.
- Once Upon a Time in the West: Frank is the Ax-Crazy leader of an outlaw outfit working for the railroad baron Mr. Morton, who had set about building his rail in the hopes of seeing the Pacific Ocean before his tuberculosis kills him. Morton had sent Frank ahead in the hopes that Frank would convince or scare Mr. McBain into giving up his land, as McBain had figured out where the railroad was eventually going to end up passing through and planned on becoming rich by building an entire town around where he knew the train would end up needing to be to refuel. Frank decides that killing McBain and his three children would achieve the same result faster, as McBain had not yet built the train station he needed to have by the time the railroad was coming through his land (his contract would have had the land's ownership revert to Morton if a station wasn't built) note . Morton, disgusted by this and Frank's continued violent insubordination, later buys Frank's gang out and orders them to betray and kill Frank. It's only because of Harmonica's intervention that the attempt fails.
- RoboCop 2: RoboCop nearly captures Cain from information supplied by Dirty Cop Officer Duffy. Cain has Duffy brought to him and strapped down next to some surgical tools, an implied threat... that becomes a reality when Cain has Duffy disemboweled. When Angie sobs that Cain had said he was just going to scare him, Cain snarks, "He looks scared, doesn't he?"
Literature
- Alatriste: In the first book, "Captain" Alatriste and Malatesta are hired to scare a pair of foreigners. But right after their contractor leaves, the guy accompanying him changes the order to "kill", with threats of burning at the stake if they fail to comply.
- Neverwhere: A point of contention between the partnership of Croup and Vandemar and their employer, Angel Islington. Self-described cutthroats and assassins, Croup and Vandemar have murdered all of Door's family and pursued her through London Below, alongside Richard Mayhew, a man from London Above who got caught up in the whole mess. After they're given a stern telling off for nearly killing Door, whom Islington needs alive to escape his Earthly prison, Croup complains.
Mr. Croup: (disgusted) Scarecrows.
Mr. Vandemar: Best way to scare crows, you just creep up behind them and put your hand round their little crow necks and squeeze until they don't move anymore. That scares the stuffing out of them. - Discussed in both The Prince and Discourses on Livy, as Niccolò Machiavelli recommends killing political enemies rather than trying to intimidate or blackmail them into cooperation, as that might backfire spectacularly.
Live-Action TV
- In Breaking Bad, Mike at one point tells Walter about how, back when he was a cop, he tried to intimidate a chronic Domestic Abuser (as in, Mike and his partner were called to this couple's house almost every week) into ending the abuse by acting as though he was going to kill the guy, then "reconsidering" at the last second on the condition that the guy never hurt her again. Two weeks later the guy killed her. Mike sums up what he learned from it by saying "I took a half-measure, when I should have gone all the way."
- Burn Notice: This is something of a Running Gag with Michael's "trigger-happy ex-girlfriend" Fiona, who frequently points out that it's simpler to just shoot the Monster of the Week than attempt the Zany Scheme du jour to scare them into leaving town or get them caught by the police. Michael prefers not to kill anybody he doesn't absolutely have to for both practical and moral reasons, and is usually shown to be right with some notable exceptions.
- Downplayed in the pilot episode of Firefly. Before he begins interrogating Dobson, Jayne implies that Mal has given him full permission to torture the information out of the captive. Before leaving the room, Mal takes a moment to whisper to Jayne that there's no need to actually hurt Dobson, all Jayne has to do is scare him a little and Dobson will probably volunteer the info. Jayne counters this with "Pain is scary." Much to Jayne's disappointment, Dobson accidentally gives away the information Jayne is looking for before Jayne can start getting physical.
- In the BBC miniseries Jute City, two henchmen get told off by their boss for strangling John Sessions' character with the words, "You cretins! I told you to restrict his movement, not his breathing!"
- Merlin: A lighter variation where Arthur instructs Merlin to distract the guards, but Merlin ends up knocking them unconscious with his magic.
Arthur: What did you do? I said distract them, not knock them out!
Merlin: There's just no pleasing you sometimes.
Video Games
- Mass Effect:
- Playing the renegade side of the series' Karma Meter will often lead to situations where Commander Shepard is given the option to resolve a conflict through intimidation or violence. For example, an early side-quest in Mass Effect 2 involves searching for Mordin's missing assistant, Daniel, who has been taken hostage. Shepard can either resolve the situation by peacefully persuading Daniel's captors to let him go, threatening them into backing down, or can straight up gun them down in cold blood (prompting a What the Hell, Hero? from Daniel).
- An inversion also happens in 2: When Mordin discovers that his previous assistant Maelon has nearly discovered a cure for the Genophage, he concludes that letting him off with a scare wouldn't make him stop and prepares to shoot him. Shepard has to take a Paragon Interrupt to change his mind.
Web Animation
- Dingo Doodles: Discussed in "D&D Story: Ep 24 - Taking out a Town [Fool's Gold]", when Sips, whose curse has been gradually driving him insane, casually suggests killing someone instead of simply intimidating them to leave town so they can safely open an explosive portal. He justifies it by saying the man has proven too stubborn to frighten and if he stays, he could become a problem for the party. Gothi talks him off the ledge, reminding him that he's only ever killed people who truly deserve it. Sips maintains he will still kill as a last resort.
Western Animation
- Adventure Time: In "Hitman", Ice King is grounded by Finn for kidnapping princesses, so he hires a hitman named Scorcher to get even with Finn. Due to misunderstanding what a hitman does, Ice King thinks he's just going to hit Finn, like punch him in the arm, so he's shocked to find that Scorcher is trying to kill Finn and tries to stop him.
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force: In the Halloween Episode "The Shaving", to try and scare Carl, Shake and Willie Nelson hook up the doorknob of his house to a transformer, and drive a cement mixer full of blood to it. Willie has some reservations, asking Shake if they're trying to kill him, or scare him. Shake responds thusly.
Shake: Killing is scaring. C'mon, it's Halloween!
- Gravity Falls: In "Fight Fighters", Dipper accidentally summons fighting game character Rumble McSkirmish into the real world. Having been challenged to a fight by Robbie, Dipper decides to have Rumble come with him to scare Robbie into backing down, and impatiently goes along with Rumble's assumption that he's seeking vengeance because Robbie killed his father. He realises his mistake when Rumble refuses to back down until Robbie is dead, and has to own up to the deception, which redirects Rumble's vengeful fury in his direction. On the plus side, the whole incident causes Dipper and Robbie to realise how destructive their rivalry is becoming, and they agree to an Enforced Cold War.
- Rick and Morty: Discussed in "The Rickchurian Mortydate"; Rick warns a secret service agent that he will die if he touches Rick. The agent drops dead without a sound.
The President: What was that?
Rick: Death.
The President: What kind?
Rick: Instant.
The President: There was no sound. He just died.
Rick: Yeah, terrifying. It's a terrifying thing to watch happen. It's called a deterrent.
The President: You couldn't just knock him out?
Rick: How is knocking out a deterrent? Everyone wants to be knocked out. Nobody wants to be dead.
