Actual Pacifist/Playing With

Basic Trope: A character chooses to resolve conflicts peacefully rather than through fighting, and actually sticks to those beliefs.

• Straight: Peaceful Pete does not believe in resorting to violence, and never does, directly or indirectly.
• Exaggerated: Peaceful Pete just stands there and takes it as Mooks throw everything they've got at him.
• Downplayed: Pete might participate in the fighting, but only against those that are an actual and immediate threat, after nonviolent approaches have failed. He also will not kill them, though he might hurt them. And he doesn't make a habit of fighting in the first place. In other words, he's a Technical Pacifist.
• Justified:
  • Peaceful Pete is of a religion that forbids violence, even when one's life is at stake.
  • Peaceful Pete sincerely believes that fighting is wrong because his village was destroyed by invading soldiers when he was a small child and he lost his home and family as a result.
  • Peaceful Pete is so abhorrently powerful that he can't even lift a finger in combat without risking many innocent lives.
• Inverted: Peaceful Pete is a skilled fighter and will not hesitate to apply those fighting skills.
• Subverted:
  • Peaceful Pete was only pretended to be a pacifist. He was just trying to catch his enemies off guard.
  • Peaceful Pete spends his life in happy ease while other men are defending the country from monsters that would cheerfully tear him to shreds and are currently massacring innocents, men, women, and children. He takes advantage of it to get ahead in his career and sneers at all soldiers as violent and crude.
  • Peaceful Pete immediately calls in the police whenever violence occurs. When they arrive in time, they use violence to stop the problem.
• Double Subverted: His incredibly detailed threats of violence were just a ruse to hopefully avoid having to resort to actual violence.
• Parodied:
  • Peaceful Pete just smiles politely as he's getting his ass handed to him and his wife is being gang-raped by a bunch of Mooks.
  • "Excuse me, kind sirs? Would you please stop raping my wife and beating me up? I'd really appreciate it."
• Deconstructed:
  • Peaceful Pete just saw his wife get gang-raped and killed by the Mooks and wanted to save her, but his ideology wouldn't allow it because that would mean fighting them. This takes a heavy toll on him, and he may even start to question whether he did the right thing or not.
  • Alternatively: Everybody knows that Pete never use violence, even at his enemies, and so his "friends" take full advantage of him, makes fun of him for his cowardly behavior because A Real Man Is a Killer and don't have any real respect for him at all, while his enemies kill him even in their first meeting.
  • After a breakdown in law-and-order, Peaceful Pete finds himself in a violent setting where his failure to fight repeatedly means that things needed to survive are taken from him, and he realizes he had always counted on the police to act violently on his behalf.
• Reconstructed:
  • Peaceful Pete does not fight, but has such strength of Heroic Resolve and willpower that he doesn't have to, and clearly says It's Not You, It's My Enemies to anyone who he'd be unable to protect.
  • He learns how to "fight" by using his wits and learns how to manipulate the system. Pacifism does not mean you have to be passive.
  • Horrible things begin to happen in front of Pete, but rather than "sit there", Pete immediately jumps in front of the victim and takes the brunt of the violence. All while refusing to lift a finger against his opponent.
• Zig Zagged: Pete used to be quite a Knight Templar, but felt bad about it and resolved to stop, but then sees Vic Villain Kick the Dog and goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Then feels bad about it and resolves to fight no more. Then is attacked by Highly-Visible Ninja and...well, you get the idea.
• Averted: Pete will fight you if you give him a good reason.
• Enforced: This is a children's show. We can't have violence.
• Lampshaded: "Peaceful Pete really lives up to his name. He brought that fly outdoors personally and released it instead of killing it!"
• Invoked: The woman who raises the long lost son of an incredibly violent Evil Overlord teaches him to be an Actual Pacifist so he won't Turn Out Like His Father.
• Exploited: A mugger cites scriptures while fighting Peaceful Pete to keep him from fighting back.
• Defied: Turn the other cheek?! Bah! That's for wimps! If someone hits me, I'll Megaton Punch him into last week!
• Discussed: "Man, Peaceful Pete just took a beating and didn't even fight back. He must be a hardcore pacifist."
• Conversed: "Don't you hate when certain shows have a character who is such a devoted pacifist, they won't even lift a finger, even when the villain is beating the everloving crap out of them?"

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