Tropescilloscope: Mercy Kill

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

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