Tropescilloscope: Mercy Kill

Killing someone who is better off dead. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Arranged Marriage Title Drop Disney Villain Death World of Ham Author Appeal As the Good Book Says... Historical Hero Upgrade Destination Defenestration Large Ham Ambiguous Ending No Name Given All for Nothing Abusive Parents Insistent Terminology Shoot the Shaggy Dog Nice Guy A Date with Rosie Palms Stylistic Suck Punny Name The Starscream Dramedy Random Events Plot Really Gets Around Woman in White I Have Your Wife As Long as It Sounds Foreign Cruel and Unusual Death Improvised Weapon The Cavalry The Bad Guy Wins Sadistic Choice Left the Background Music On Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Revenge Actor Allusion Historical Villain Upgrade Auto Erotica Defiant to the End Dumb Blonde Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Retcon Bullying a Dragon It Can Think Unusually Uninteresting Sight Pimped-Out Dress Disappeared Dad Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Punch-Clock Villain Captain Obvious Redemption Equals Death Asshole Victim Vomit Discretion Shot And Starring Deliberately Monochrome Psychopathic Manchild Once More, with Clarity! Not What It Looks Like Belligerent Sexual Tension Shipper on Deck Fate Worse than Death My God, What Have I Done? Neck Lift Every Car Is a Pinto I Need a Freaking Drink Kubrick Stare Wounded Gazelle Gambit Bloodier and Gorier Jerk Jock Slashed Throat Shown Their Work Ominous Latin Chanting Our Zombies Are Different Informed Ability Happily Married Translation Convention Real Life Writes the Plot Adaptation Name Change Idiot Ball Scenery Porn Cold-Blooded Torture MacGuffin Establishing Character Moment Eagleland Country Matters Get Out! The Big Guy Nice Hat All Just a Dream Last-Name Basis Accidental Misnaming Only Known by Their Nickname Stepford Smiler Double Entendre Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Daylight Horror Not Using the "Z" Word Parental Incest Chekhov's Gun Dressing as the Enemy Honor Before Reason Sequel Escalation Say My Name Hoist by His Own Petard The Mole Age Lift Star-Crossed Lovers Ungrateful Bastard Vitriolic Best Buds Plot Hole Token Minority Logo Joke In Medias Res Brick Joke Plucky Comic Relief Award-Bait Song Here We Go Again! Meaningful Echo Dark Is Not Evil Daddy's Girl Black and Gray Morality All Men Are Perverts Laser-Guided Karma And I Must Scream Adults Are Useless Eye Scream Villain Opening Scene Dual Wielding Scare Chord Irony Film Noir Index Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie The Stinger Cassandra Truth Martial Arts Movie German Films Vacation Films Sports Stories Straight Gay Animal Title Index Eiffel Tower Effect Take a Third Option Italian Films Brutal Honesty Vomit Indiscretion Shot Betty and Veronica Amusing Injuries Villain Ball B-Movie Pet the Dog Pay Evil unto Evil Reality Has No Subtitles Screw This, I'm Outta Here! The Stoic The Dragon The Stoner Tagline The Casanova Beta Couple Reality Is Unrealistic You Have Failed Me Sassy Black Woman Accidental Murder Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Mundane Made Awesome The Great Depression Serial Killer No Ending One Steve Limit Artistic License – Physics Only a Flesh Wound Composite Character Let's Get Dangerous! timeperiod Male Frontal Nudity Lock and Load Montage Index of Film Westerns Badass Boast Psycho for Hire Artistic License – Gun Safety Beware the Nice Ones Spell My Name with an "S" The Alcoholic Red Herring Trailers Always Spoil The Power of Love Evil Counterpart A Minor Kidroduction Evil vs. Evil Jump Scare Male Gaze Adaptation Expansion Broken Aesop Adaptational Villainy After the End Screw the Rules, I Have Money! An Axe to Grind Soft Glass Imagine Spot Deconstruction From Bad to Worse Becoming the Mask Truth in Television What the Hell, Hero? Authority Equals Asskicking Documentary Properly Paranoid Leave the Camera Running Dutch Angle Ambiguously Gay The Chick Adorkable Villain Song Famous Last Words Mama Bear Five-Man Band Adult Fear Mugging the Monster Villainous Breakdown Jerk with a Heart of Gold Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome It's Personal Bloodless Carnage Bad Boss Sealed Evil in a Can Back from the Dead Action Genre Refuge in Audacity Canadian Movies Reckless Gun Usage Central Theme Groin Attack Actually Pretty Funny Break the Haughty Only Sane Man Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Ambiguous Disorder Worthy Opponent The Oner Sequel Hook Flipping the Bird Distracted by the Sexy Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Would Hurt a Child Double-Meaning Title Took a Level in Badass Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Stealth Hi/Bye Scary Black Man I Did What I Had to Do The Cameo The Dreaded No Celebrities Were Harmed Fantastic Racism The Ditz Ironic Echo Death Seeker She's Got Legs Dark Reprise Big Brother Instinct Paper-Thin Disguise Whole Plot Reference Disguised in Drag Up to Eleven Cat Fight Improbable Aiming Skills Captain Ersatz Those Two Guys Attempted Rape Instant Death Bullet Early-Bird Cameo Nothing Is Scarier Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Killed Mid-Sentence Empathic Environment Names to Run Away from Really Fast Humiliation Conga Evil Laugh Evil-Detecting Dog Affably Evil Hong Kong Films Shirtless Scene Narrator Easily Forgiven Fatal Flaw It Will Never Catch On Shut Up, Hannibal! The '60s Light Is Not Good Danny Peary Cult Movies List Cowboy Cop Faux Affably Evil Malevolent Masked Men Amoral Attorney Spiteful Spit Blood from the Mouth Men Are the Expendable Gender Improbable Weapon User Fat Bastard The Atoner As Himself Artistic License – Military Mad Scientist Ax-Crazy Visual Pun Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Evil Sounds Deep Military and Warfare Films Drowning My Sorrows Together in Death Rape as Drama Not So Stoic Man on Fire The '90s Self-Deprecation Precision F-Strike Super Strength Your Head A-Splode Alpha Bitch Dissonant Serenity The Smart Guy Despair Event Horizon You Killed My Father Stock Footage Tap on the Head Anachronism Stew Continuity Nod Fire-Forged Friends Deus ex Machina Driven to Suicide Rule of Symbolism Black Best Friend The Bully Canon Foreigner In the Back Expy Unresolved Sexual Tension 20 Minutes into the Future Does Not Like Shoes Demoted to Extra Guns Akimbo Historical-Domain Character Decoy Protagonist Heel–Face Turn Getting Crap Past the Radar Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Those Two Bad Guys Car Fu Eldritch Abomination The Sociopath Genre Throwback Darker and Edgier Loophole Abuse Badass in a Nice Suit "The Reason You Suck" Speech The Alleged Car Cool Old Guy Cluster F-Bomb Hollywood Darkness Throwing Your Sword Always Works Would Hit a Girl Gratuitous English Even Evil Has Loved Ones Extremely Short Timespan Death by Irony Retirony Dirty Cop Chekhov's Skill Immune to Bullets Gainax Ending Screw the Money, I Have Rules! The Voiceless Suspiciously Similar Substitute Spanner in the Works Camp Gay The End... Or Is It? Brainless Beauty British Films Gone Horribly Right The Chessmaster The Place The Remake The Load Bait-and-Switch Protagonist Title Friend to All Children For the Evulz Bloody Hilarious Made of Iron Good Is Not Nice Bittersweet Ending Big "NO!" A Father to His Men Blackmail Mooks Adaptational Heroism The Hero The X of Y Biopic Suddenly SHOUTING! There Is No Kill Like Overkill Television Movie Index Mercy Kill Book-Ends "Shaggy Dog" Story Bring My Brown Pants Motor Mouth Bolivian Army Ending Bad "Bad Acting" Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Mind Screw Broken Pedestal Homage Meaningful Background Event Gory Discretion Shot Curse Cut Short No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Zombie Stories Off-into-the-Distance Ending Sanity Slippage Stealth Pun Anti-Hero Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Card-Carrying Villain Gorn He Who Fights Monsters Manly Tears Race Lift Punctuated! For! Emphasis! The Reveal You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Artistic License – Biology Catch-Phrase Advertised Extra Love at First Sight Heroic Sacrifice Cool Shades Heel Realization Romantic False Lead Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Closed Circle Pyrrhic Victory Broken Bird Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Deal with the Devil La Résistance Politically Incorrect Villain Determinator aka: The Determinator Australian Movies War Is Hell The Vamp Gold Digger Bilingual Bonus Crapsack World My Greatest Failure Vampire Fiction Exact Words Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Crucified Hero Shot Anyone Can Die Christmas Movies Index Word of God One-Word Title Never Trust a Trailer Flashback Storming the Castle An Aesop Casting Gag Horror Films Major Injury Underreaction Red Eyes, Take Warning Greater-Scope Villain Foreshadowing Reasonable Authority Figure Badass Bookworm Intrepid Reporter Show Within a Show Freeze-Frame Bonus Obviously Evil Well-Intentioned Extremist Karmic Death Neck Snap Gender Flip Same Language Dub Jerkass Has a Point Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Naked People Are Funny "Well Done, Son!" Guy Death by Adaptation Ship Tease Oh, Crap! Public Domain Feature Films No OSHA Compliance Big Applesauce Final Girl Totally Radical Combat Pragmatist Those Wacky Nazis Dirty Coward Insane Troll Logic Hero Antagonist Never Found the Body Epic Movie I'm a Humanitarian Pretty Little Headshots Bond Villain Stupidity Guile Hero Taking You with Me Blood Knight Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Posthumous Character Artistic License – Geography Brother–Sister Incest Lighter and Softer Bi the Way No Antagonist Boom, Headshot! Bavarian Fire Drill Crazy Jealous Guy Anachronic Order The Ace Redshirt Army Police Brutality Death of a Child He Knows Too Much As You Know What You Are in the Dark Pragmatic Adaptation Antagonist Title Pre-Mortem One-Liner Twist Ending Credits Gag Leaning on the Fourth Wall Unusual Euphemism Domestic Abuse It's All About Me Downer Ending Unreliable Narrator The Hero Dies Black Comedy Rape Break the Cutie Femme Fatale An Arm and a Leg Cool Car Match Cut folderlabel Fainting Anguished Declaration of Love Deliberate Values Dissonance Rich Bitch N-Word Privileges The Quiet One Overly Long Gag Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Psychological Thriller Off with His Head! Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Training Montage The Ghost Spared by the Adaptation Shell-Shocked Veteran Madness Mantra Hell Is That Noise Drives Like Crazy Big Damn Heroes Pretty in Mink Pragmatic Villainy One-Man Army Badass Grandpa Reality Ensues Fingore Hope Spot Butt-Monkey Roaring Rampage of Revenge Hate Sink Bare Your Midriff Bowdlerise Heterosexual Life-Partners Hypocritical Humor Unspoken Plan Guarantee A.I. Is a Crapshoot Determinator Kick the Son of a Bitch O.O.C. Is Serious Business Peek-a-Boo Corpse Have a Gay Old Time Curb-Stomp Battle Intergenerational Friendship Room Full of Crazy Cool Guns Air-Vent Passageway Failed a Spot Check Apocalypse How Half the Man He Used to Be Meet Cute How We Got Here Red Right Hand Hidden Depths Dull Surprise Moment Killer Evil Plan Rousing Speech Epic Fail Novelization Stalker with a Crush Facial Horror True Companions Toplessness from the Back Alliterative Name Villain with Good Publicity Cool Old Lady Obstructive Bureaucrat Mighty Whitey Sir Swears-a-Lot Deadpan Snarker Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Playing Gertrude Jitter Cam Spiritual Successor Aside Glance Offscreen Moment of Awesome Action Girl Dying Moment of Awesome Manipulative Bastard Sole Survivor Very Loosely Based on a True Story The Lost Lenore A God Am I Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Animated Credits Opening No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Parental Substitute Badass Longcoat Dwindling Party Line-of-Sight Name Did Not Get the Girl The Dog Bites Back Ascended Extra Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Bond One-Liner Knight Templar Contrived Coincidence Disney Death More Dakka Heroic BSoD Manic Pixie Dream Girl Action Survivor Big Bad Duumvirate Fanservice Extra Too Dumb to Live Abhorrent Admirer Adaptational Badass Wretched Hive Freudian Excuse BFG Loads and Loads of Characters Thriller Silence Is Golden Gilligan Cut Adaptational Attractiveness Historical In-Joke Arc Words Almost Kiss Genre Savvy Funny Foreigner Eyepatch of Power Even Evil Has Standards Wrong Genre Savvy Never My Fault Cat Scare Skewed Priorities Rated M for Manly Berserk Button Dramatic Irony Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Sinister Minister Red Shirt Batman Gambit Bland-Name Product Fatal Family Photo Wicked Cultured Eureka Moment Made of Explodium Coming-of-Age Story Dies Wide Open The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Evil Is Hammy The Faceless The Musical Victoria's Secret Compartment Woman Scorned Bar Brawl Big Bad Drill Sergeant Nasty Call-Forward Married to the Job Chekhov's Gunman Affectionate Parody Slasher Smile And the Adventure Continues French Films Due to the Dead Fun with Acronyms Calling the Old Man Out Handicapped Badass Karma Houdini Ghost Fiction Chewing the Scenery Covers Always Lie Dramatic Gun Cock Insult Backfire Silent Movie Bury Your Gays Parental Abandonment Chiaroscuro Smug Snake Obfuscating Stupidity Mythology Gag Naïve Newcomer Took a Level in Jerkass Parental Neglect Retired Badass Disproportionate Retribution Genre Shift Babies Ever After Corpsing Funny Background Event The '70s Market-Based Title Rewatch Bonus Mood Whiplash Everyone Has Standards The Mafia Needs Wiki Magic Love "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Rule of Cool Heroes Want Redheads Crazy-Prepared Face Death with Dignity Not So Above It All The '80s Badass Normal Diabolus ex Machina Bunny-Ears Lawyer Small Name, Big Ego Children Are Innocent Non-Indicative Name Police are Useless Cain and Abel Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Maybe Ever After Science Fiction Films Lampshade Hanging Alas, Poor Villain NO INDOOR VOICE Setting Update Offscreen Teleportation Adapted Out Kids Are Cruel Not Quite Dead All There in the Script This Is Gonna Suck Bound and Gagged Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Red Oni, Blue Oni Wham Line Video Credits Early Installment Weirdness Defrosting Ice Queen Conspicuous CG Developing Doomed Characters Annoying Younger Sibling Author Avatar Frame-Up Put on a Bus The Brute Smoking Is Cool Big Fancy House Kill 'em All Celebrity Paradox Department of Redundancy Department Better to Die than Be Killed Artistic License – History Grievous Bottley Harm Black Comedy Only in It for the Money Faking the Dead Animal Motifs Fanservice Kill It with Fire Ripped from the Headlines Costume Porn Dark and Troubled Past Extreme Doormat Artistic License – Law Film Series All Girls Want Bad Boys May–December Romance Darkest Hour Dirty Old Man "Awesome McCool" Name Agony of the Feet Blatant Lies Mr. Fanservice Creepy Child The Film of the Book Mistaken for Gay Enemy Mine Scenery Gorn Works Set in World War II Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Stuff Blowing Up Tempting Fate Soundtrack Dissonance Hero of Another Story Romantic Comedy Sci-Fi Horror Serious Business Manchild Evil Brit Drugs Are Bad Rasputinian Death Foil Shout-Out Film Noir Interrupted Suicide Bottomless Magazines Fake Shemp Armor-Piercing Question Aluminum Christmas Trees Running Gag Outrun the Fireball Four-Temperament Ensemble Evil Is Petty Creative Closing Credits Anti-Villain Big-Bad Ensemble Jerkass What Happened to the Mouse? Henpecked Husband Undying Loyalty From Nobody to Nightmare Noodle Incident Character Development Music Stories For Want of a Nail Missing Mom Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Shower Scene Laughing Mad Riddle for the Ages Beard of Evil Unwitting Instigator of Doom Bald of Evil Rule of Three Papa Wolf Wham Shot Suspiciously Specific Denial Humans Are Bastards Corrupt Corporate Executive Make It Look Like an Accident Real Life Hollywood Law Dogged Nice Guy Chase Scene Depraved Bisexual All There in the Manual Based on a True Story Important Haircut Product Placement Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Breaking the Fourth Wall Awesome, but Impractical Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Hooker with a Heart of Gold Older Than They Look Hypocrite Your Cheating Heart Grey and Gray Morality Beauty Is Never Tarnished Mystery and Detective Films You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Monumental Damage Fish out of Water Demonic Possession The Lancer Fourth Date Marriage Implacable Man Poor Communication Kills Taking the Bullet Didn't Think This Through Expository Hairstyle Change Take That! Mr. Exposition Superhero Arch-Enemy Camera Abuse The '50s Ms. Fanservice Love Triangle The Smurfette Principle Sacrificial Lion Ass Shove Death by Sex Villain Protagonist Horror Comedy Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Kick the Dog Fantasy Films Action Prologue Green-Eyed Monster Time Skip Catapult Nightmare Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Be Careful What You Wish For Re-Cut Cloudcuckoolander My Beloved Smother Foregone Conclusion Body Horror In Name Only '80s Hair The Un-Reveal Not So Different Not Even Bothering with the Accent Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Sexy Discretion Shot Race Against the Clock Framing Device Mexican Standoff Creator Cameo Exactly What It Says on the Tin Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Adaptation Distillation I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Dropped a Bridge on Him Fan Disservice Fiery Redhead No-Sell Russian Films Damsel in Distress Death Glare Meaningful Name Yandere Japanese Films Dark Action Girl Our Vampires Are Different Does This Remind You of Anything? Knife Nut Morality Pet Overprotective Dad Earn Your Happy Ending Face–Heel Turn Big Eater Leitmotif Call-Back Rule of Funny Comically Missing the Point Slasher Movie Slap-Slap-Kiss Adaptation Dye-Job Only One Name Tranquil Fury Recycled IN SPACE! Black Dude Dies First She Cleans Up Nicely Hair-Trigger Temper