As a Death Trope, all spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.
Murder by Inaction in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- In Cinders and Ashes: the Chronicles of Kamen Rider Dante, this is how Hoshi views his actions when his friend Setsuna was being bullied, as he chose not to defend her when she was accused of plagiarizing other peoples' manga, fearing he would simply be attacked by her bullies for his troubles. This was not helped by the Mind Rape he received from Jorougumo (who accused him of not defending her out of fear that his newly obtained fame from his fanfic would be destroyed through association with her) and his own personal trauma from it being his greatest failure.
- Discussed in the Lucifer (2016)/Marvel Cinematic Universe crossover The Devil is in the Detail
. Due to a complicated set of circumstances note , not only does humanity learn that Heaven and Hell are real, public records show who within the last few months went to Heaven or Hell. One theologian guesses that the damned who committed no crimes probably were in a position to do a great deal of good, but refused. - A Hollow in Equestria: The first order Princess Celestia gave Ulquiorra was that he must not hurt any of her subjects. During the dragon arc, he's also told to let Fluttershy handle the sleeping beast, but when she finds herself struggling to resolve matters peacefully, he leaps in. As he explains, if the dragon isn't dealt with, it will hurt Celestia's subjects, which would violate the first order he was given.
- In crossover fanfiction In Brightest Day, Diamond Tiara comes up with a plan to kill off her classmates by separating them from the group and having the Black Lanterns pick them off one by one, essentially keeping their hooves clean of any actual murder.
- The Inquisitor: Captain Marvel accuses Dante of this after he doesn't do anything to stop Amanda Waller's men from slaughtering a bunch of crooked auctioneers. Dante calls him a Hypocrite, declaring that as far as he's concerned, the Justice League's refusal to kill supervillains and just toss them into Cardboard Prisons for a while makes them responsible for all the innocents they kill once they break back out.
- In Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Supergirl story The Vampire of Steel, Buffy takes over Kara's body in order to slay Zol-Am. Kara doesn't like but she doesn't attempt to take control back as Buffy kills the Kryptonian vampire off.
- Hellsister Trilogy: In chapter 31 of "The Apokolips Agenda", Superman and Supergirl coerce Lex Luthor and Dr. Sivana into cooperating with the heroes by threatening to go away and let Darkseid kill both villains. When Sivana claims that heroes always Save the Villain, Supergirl quietly says that she's killed before and will again.
- Kara of Rokyn: A variant in that it happens after the villain has passed away. After Lex Luthor has just died, Supergirl recalls she managed to bring him Back from the Dead once. For a brief second, she considers trying to revive him again... and then she decides against it because Luthor squandered his second chance with his many attempts on her loved ones' lives.There were only so many times mercy could be shown.
Sometimes, it was a greater mercy to withhold it.
- In Nature Studies, which deals with an urban safari to recapture escaped wildlife in Ankh-Morpork, Johanna Smith-Rhodes points out that she had to step in to deter two hungry lionesses from attacking Sam Vimes. She considered that if she had stood to one side and let it happen, the Guild of Assassins might have questioned her claiming the vast fee on Vimes, claiming a pride of lions as her inhumation weapon, because it could have been interpreted as a fraudulent claim based on happenstance. And secondly, she didn't think she'd survive an angry Lady Sybil coming for her afterwards.
- Disney Villain Songs (Lydia the Bard): In Moana's Villain Song, "How Far I'll Go", her father Chief Tui burns the old ships and locks her away. While she's eventually able to escape captivity and successfully finds Te Fiti's heart, the delay resulted in a much higher death toll, including her mother. Moana then decides that if her father insists on letting Te Kā's blight spread and wipe everyone out, then so be it, returning home and confronting the chief.
- Defied in Hope for the Heartless when Avalina has the chance to escape the wounded and unconscious Horned King, but she decides against it because if she leaves him to die, she'll be just like him.
- In Son of the Desert, Edward debates with himself about letting Scar kill Roy. He utterly despises Roy for killing his maternal Ishvalan relatives, having even fantasized about killing him himself... and since Scar is a notorious Serial Killer who nearly murdered Edward, he suspects he wouldn't be blamed for his inability to save the Colonel. Ultimately, however, he can't bring himself to do it, saving Roy's life.
- Death Became Him: In the previous timeline, Aether was aware that the Tsaritsa had not actually ordered the execution of Ajax's family. However, rather than exposing the true culprit, they allowed their machinations to go unhindered; they believed this would remove the "unnecessary distractions" from Ajax's life while letting them keep their hands clean.
- World of the Dead: When Shido is caught by one of his zombified former disciples, he begs Rei to save him. Rei simply turns and walks away, leaving him to be Eaten Alive.
- Discussed in BURN THE WITCH: while Marinette isn't willing to let Lila be killed by Witch Hunter and the angry mob, Tikki argues that "It's not technically murder if you're not the one lighting the fire!"
- Burning Bridges, Building Confidence: Chat Noir dislikes the new Fox Heroine Vexxin for constantly calling him out on how he neglects his responsibilities as a superhero in favor of joking around, sexually harassing Ladybug, and generally proving to be The Load. When facing the powerful Seisquake Trio, he attempts to exploit the situation: once Ladybug goes to retrieve help from the Guardian, he heads for cover, watching Vexxin struggle against the three akuma while hissing about how she deserves to die horribly. Unfortunately for him, he failed to consider that Hawkmoth is after his Miraculous; before they can finish Vexxin off, the Trio receive orders demanding that they focus all their efforts on taking down him first.
- Scarlet Lady: From the very start, Scarlet Lady shows no interest in rescuing anyone she dislikes, such as when she idly stands by when Stoneheart throws Marinette off the top of the Eiffel Tower. When Prime Queen threatens Lila's life, Scarlet Lady only reacts when Chat Noir reminds her that the akuma's currently broadcasting everything that's happening live to all of Paris. But when Alya is stuck in a Death Trap, she outright refuses to act, declaring it doesn't matter if she drowns since she'll just bring her back with her Miraculous Cure. Chat Noir and Marigold are utterly horrified by her callousness; so is everyone watching the broadcast, which goes a long way towards destroying her image.
- Tales of Karmic Lies Aftermath: In the in-universe film Ladybug: Miraculous Journey, Felix/Chat Noir's Establishing Character Moment has him refusing to help an imperiled couple, casually "reassuring" them that his partner's Miraculous Cure will bring them both back after they die. Fortunately, Ladybug arrives in time to catch the couple.
- Ennea Series: One of the many, many crimes the Hero Commission has covered up involved one of their Pro Heroes finding his ex's current boyfriend trapped inside a building. Jealousy drove him to leave him there to die.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- In Winter Storm, Sombra correctly guessed the new Changeling Queen would betray him eventually, so he simply allows her to be overpowered during her Beam-O-War with Luna.
- The Crimson AU plays with this when it comes to the matter of how Yusuke's mother died. While Madarame did nothing to help prevent it, his recollection of the event depicts it as happening so swiftly that he might geniunely have had enough time to do anything. It's unclear whether or not this is a case of Self-Serving Memory or not.
- In Dear Diary, Prima suggests that the team leaves Blair to die when he is trapped under a pillar in the Desert Resort. Gnash calls her out, saying it's no different than murder, while most of the other team members disagree with her decision for various other reasons.
- In a sidestory of Pokémon Reset Bloodlines, when a seven-year-old Misty accidentally falls into the pool and ends up in danger of drowning, she fears that even if her mother hears her cries for help, she'll deliberately ignore them and call her death "a terrible accident". Fortunately, her bloodliner powers kick in allowing her to breathe in the water, and she manages to get out by herself.
- Raise: One of the main problems Jaune faces once it becomes widely known that he can bring people Back from the Dead is how many insist that he must use those powers constantly for the benefit of everyone else, because With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility. As far as they're concerned, any hesitance, refusal or inability to do so means he might as well have murdered those he failed to revive himself. They also take it for granted that he's capable of ensuring his powers are available at all times to those who need it, which leads to a lot of injuries and deaths that could have been easily avoided with basic precautions or common sense. So while Jaune internalizes the notion that he's "letting people die" whenever he takes time to rest and recuperate, he also grows to resent the Ungrateful Bastards who act like his existence means Death Is Cheap.
- In Stress Relief, Cinder is forced to participate in the Breach while maintaining her cover. Knowing she can't kill anyone without causing problems, she decides to simply let the civilians around her die, not making any effort to save any of them.
- Cracks In Canon: The Spider Society operates under the belief that "canon events" are set in stone and must not be tampered with, even if they result in others dying. What's more, they will do anything to ensure nobody tries to Screw Destiny. This is why Spider-Chaos despises them so much, seeing them as nothing more than killers with the blood of those they've refused to even try to save on their hands.
- In Ebott's Wake, Andrew accuses Sans of having been too lazy to pull Sam out of the river. Sans doesn't deny the accusation, in no small part because he's caught off-guard, and Andrew doesn't give him any chance to respond.
- In Peggy Sue fanfiction Warp, Victoria Dallon is convinced that in the original timeline Amy let her boyfriend die out of jealousy because she stalled at healing Dean until it was too late to save his life."I can't read minds," he said. "But... yeah. There's a lot going on there. I kind of talked to her about it on Thursday, but she pushed me away. I'm not her favorite person, but she needs help."
She let you die, I thought. There was time. She could have saved you.
- In the Better Bones AU, Applefur doesn't help Brackenfur when he's being overwhelmed by enemies despite her Clan and his being allies in that battle, and Brackenfur ends up getting killed. Onlookers don't know if it was unintentional or due to jealousy of her brother Marshwing who's life Brackenfur saved, though it turns out it might have to do with her being a Dark Forest apprentice, and the Dark Forest's goals include getting the high-ranked cats of all the Clans killed and replaced with their own allies.
