Basic Trope: A civilian population center or a commercial facility is attacked by enemies. Wealth is stolen and destroyed in the process.
- Straight: General Drake's men attack an enemy village, burn houses down, steal the gold, and kill some of the civilians.
- Exaggerated: General Drake's soldiers burn an entire city to the ground, murder almost every man in sight, raping women and young children, and enslaving the survivors.
- Downplayed: Buildings are destroyed, food and valuables are stolen, and the village is turned into a mess. But nobody is raped and nobody is killed.
- Justified:
- During this time period, armies had poor supplies and even poorer discipline. This meant that even an ethical commander couldn't prevent his men from pillaging enemies.
- The conflict this is set in was known for widespread atrocities.
- General Drake gives his men free range to rape and pillage to their hearts content because he sees the enemy civilians as inferior due to their race.
- Inverted: General Drake and his men share their wealth with the villagers and help repair damages from previous attacks.
- Subverted: Drake's men show up with a cart full of explosives... and use it to put on a fireworks show for the village.
- Double Subverted: A stray firework sets fire to several houses, and the soldiers attack during the ensuing panic.
- Parodied: "Dammit, how many times I told you to burn everything after you do your raping and pillaging!"
- Zig Zagged: Drake gives orders to his men to spare the civilians, except the ones who are spies. The confusion over who is a spy and who isn't leads the men to indiscriminately round up and torture civilians over the slightest suspicions.
- Averted:
- The defenders successfully defeat the attacking army, complete with a Moment of Awesome.
- The civilians are promptly evacuated when enemy forces get close to the town, thus leaving no one behind to be raped or pillaged, and everything that cannot be taken away is destroyed, so that nothing can be burnt by the enemy.
- Drake's army captures a town which used to belong to his country; so his army is welcomed by the civilians as liberators, and there's no reason for his army to rape, pillage, or burn them.
- Enforced:
- War crimes to drive home the idea of War Is Hell.
- The author wanted to demonstrate which side to root for, by having the other one be the only one that pillages.
- Lampshaded:Citizen #1: Ho boy, they are surely going to unleash themselves now that they've broken into the city.
Citizen #2: Oy gevalt... - Invoked: General Drake uses Plunder to provide his men with pay and supply, and to build up an aura of fear around his unit.
- Exploited: Propagandists spread tales of enemy pillaging so as to bolster enlistment and inspire soldiers "to avenge your murdered countrymen!".
- Defied: General Drake informs all of the soldiers under her command that sacking, looting, rape, or murder will NOT be tolerated. She even court-martials and executes pillagers personally to show she means business.
- Discussed:General Drake: "I'm not sure on the 'do-as-you-please' policy regarding our soldiers. On the one hand, they'll be glad to have some plundering, not to mention they're very hungry. On the other, we do not want to be disliked by the population, do we?"
- Conversed:Viewer #1: "Good Lord, don't these soldiers know about such thing as Geneva Conventions? And that they're breaking nearly every single statement of them?"
Viewer #2: "Oh come on, you really think that Geneva Conventions even existed at that time?" - Implied:
- The heroes often walk through the smouldering ruins of formerly-prosperous villages.
- In Cara's hometown there is a memorial shrine with a list of names. The older people in the town sometimes set flowers before the shrine, crying as they do so. Cara heard that something very bad happened to the town during the war.
- Deconstructed:
- Knowing that they aren't very likely to be spared, the city citizens all join the armed defenders, down to the last man, woman, and child capable of handling arms, and engage in a really violent Last Stand, resulting in really heavy casualties among themselves and General Drake's forces.
- A UN Tribunal tries General Drake for Crimes Against Humanity, finds him guilty on all counts (including one count of murder for every civilian killed by his raiders, and one count of rape for every civilian raped by his raiders), and sentences him to capital punishment.
- General Drake's forces focus on raping, pillaging, and burning to the detriment of other vital military objectives like taking and securing territory or engaging hostile forces. While they enjoy some success against poorly defended villages, they crumble before a properly trained enemy army, which thanks to their atrocities is thoroughly motivated to annihilate them.
- Reconstructed:
- The citizens are obviously outmatched. Eventually Drake cuts through their defenses. If anyone still wants to fight back, he will Make an Example of Them, pacifying any revolt. Then his army proceeds to violate them anyway.
- While Drake has received justice, none of this actually unrapes, unpillages, or unburns the victims
- Played For Laughs: A very dark take on Armed Farces (which is obviously terribly hard to pull off without being frowned upon and called out).
- The Armed Farces certainly try to rape, pillage and burn, but are just as incompetent at it as they are at everything else, acting like the Evil Army counterpart to Stupid Crooks.
- Played for Drama: During one such raid, Alice's parents were murdered in front of her and she was gang-raped within an inch of her life atop their corpses. The story revolves around Alice struggling to cope with her PTSD and to attempt to see her tormentors brought to justice.
So boys, are you ready to have some fun back at the main page?
