References to actual reverse blade swords and nonlethal weapons can be chopped. However, most other examples could probably fall under Bloodless Carnage, Non-Lethal K.O., and Made of Iron. Plot Based Lethality is also covered with Plotline Death. Not sure what's left, except maybe a focus on inconstant use of violence and death in a particular work, such as heart-extraction=knockout.
This does appear to be eerily similar to Non-Lethal K.O..
The description is unduly focused on KO'd opponents in fighting games, making this seem suspiciously similar to Non-Lethal K.O..
Looking at it a little more broadly, the trope may be "rather than immediately killing or incapacitating you, swords and other bladed weapons in video games tend to slowly chip away at your health, just like any other weapon."
That's where I'm getting Blunt Sword Damage from. Alternatively: All Damage Is Incremental? Swords Are Pointless?
edited 10th Sep '10 4:39:26 PM by Bailey
Bailey, I think from what Wulf said, it's "Even though you may be using a sword or machine gun in a fighting game, at the end of the round it says it's a "Knock-out" rather than someone was killed"
"The fact that your food can be made into makeshift bombs alarms the Hell out of me, Scrye." - CharlatanOops. I somehow missed Wulf's post. Sorry about that.
From that description, this does appear to be quite close to Non-Lethal K.O..
I think most of it does fall under Non-Lethal K.O., but there is definitely a separate trope for a weapon's/character's ability to selectively deal actual damage. It's a much smaller trope and it has a decent amount of overlap, but I'm nto sure it's a subtrope.
So, throw the Non-Lethal K.O. examples into that trope then take the remainder and build it up as Selectively Lethal or whatever, as has been previously suggested.
I've been Bluelinked
A Non-Lethal K.O. that occurs when hit by an attack that should really be lethal in a realistic context. Or alternatively, an attack that should be lethal does scratch damage (ie. lightsabres).
Australia The country with a 2 party system But all the power with independentsSet Swords to "Stun" is beautiful.
But soft! What rock through yonder window breaks? It is a brick! And Juliet is out cold.Set Swords to "Stun" is good. I don't like Sword Set To Stun as much, but I think it's a lot easier to place in a sentence (Alice impaled Bob, but he must have had his Sword Set To Stun.) I'd like to see it as a redirect.
So, about the trope itself. Is this going to be narrowed down to instances of a character conciously using a normally lethal weapon for non-lethal purposes?
No, it's about using swords and blades that don't kill people, just hurt them.
Fight smart, not fair.^? You're saying this is about using a sword that does not have the potential to kill someone, only the potential to hurt them? Do you mean to say that this is acknowledged in-universe, or that the weapon has every reason to deal lethal damage, but doesn't (as a sister trope to Bloodless Carnage and Non-Lethal K.O.?)
edited 31st Oct '10 4:15:38 AM by Rhatahema
No, ignore the trope namer. It started as a video game trope, specifically fighting games, where hitting someone with the edge of a sword did not cut them. It has since been expanded to using edged weapons that wind up not killing people when you expect them to.
Fight smart, not fair.Set Swords to "Stun"! Set Swords to "Stun"! Set Swords to "Stun"!...
edited 31st Oct '10 2:00:28 PM by GameChainsaw
The term "Great Man" is disturbingly interchangeable with "mass murderer" in history books.I'll jump on the Set Swords to "Stun" bandwagon. It's pretty clever.
I fully support Set Swords to "Stun"...wish I'd thought of it when I made the damn trope, and saved some trouble..
They lost me. Forgot me. Made you from parts of me. If you're the One, my father's son, what am I supposed to be?I remove that "proportional to the desire to kill" line because it didn't seem to connect with any possible interpretation given to us. You can put it back if needs be but maybe reading it this way, it actually seems more coherent. Also the Troper Namer part.
And I also like Swords Set To Stun.

Blunt Sword Damage, maybe.