Shoot the Dog/Playing With

Basic Trope: The Hero performs a morally reprehensible act because it's the most logical thing to do.

• Straight: The easiest way to activate the MacGuffin is by taking a life. Bob uses an innocent dog to do so.
• Exaggerated: The MacGuffin requires a massive number of sacrifices to be used. Bob kills hundreds of dogs to do so.
• Downplayed: The sacrifice to activate the MacGuffin is a small amount of blood. Bob grazes the dog with his gun to get the blood.
• Justified: There is no other way to activate the Macguffin than by shooting a dog.
• Inverted: Honor Before Reason.
  • Or rather, the dog shoots Bob.
• Subverted: Bob prepares to shoot the dog, but Alice stops him at the last minute, and convinces him to activate it some other way.
• Double Subverted: ...Then Bob shoots the dog anyway, when he finds he's running out of time.
• Parodied: Bob shoots the dog, then beats its carcass into pulp, tears out its intestines and wraps them around his head and starts splattering blood all over the place.
  • The dog smugly pulls out a revolver and shoots Bob instead.
• Deconstructed: Bob's shooting of an innocent dog makes him a pariah in the eyes of the world, leading to his downfall.
• Reconstructed: Bob's shooting of the dog makes him a pariah, until everyone learns exactly why it was necessary to do so.
• Zig Zagged: ???
• Averted: Bob doesn't shoot the dog.
• Enforced: The writers need to show that things have become extremely serious, so they have Bob need to shoot the dog to continue his quest.
• Lampshaded: "We're going to have to shoot poor Fido now, aren't we?"
• Invoked: The Big Bad sets up a situation where the only way out is to shoot an innocent puppy.
• Exploited: The Big Bad uses video of Bob shooting the dog to break public support for him.
• Defied: Bob takes steps to keep from having to shoot any dogs.
• Discussed: "Just watch, we're going to have to shoot a dog or something."
• Conversed: "They're shooting a dog? Are you serious?"
• Played For Drama: Bob is forced to kill his only companion from all these years, to ensure millions don't die.

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