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| - Some work towards crushing their opponents. The sadistic ones prefer to just step back and watch them suffer. This is "Cruel Mercy" - sparing one's enemy (or, in some examples, even actively keeping them alive) as a punishment rather than a reward. Heroes rarely kill their enemies: they either practice Thou Shalt Not Kill or have a moral friend remind them "If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him" if they ever get too tempted. Ho hum. However, some heroes are creative. Much like a torturer using a Cool and Unusual Punishment, the hero does forgive the villain, or at least spare his life, but does so in a poetic yet cruel way. Villains will also do this. If they are doing it for revenge, their aim will be to make the hero feel the same suffering that they do. Some villains have issues - rather than wishing to hear So Proud of You, it's their arch-enemy's disapproval they start to crave. Other villains are trying to make the character break down - they subject them to a series of tortures and make them watch as they destroy what's precious to them, all in an attempt to push them beyond the Despair Event Horizon. Maybe they want to see the heroes cry, or bring them over to The Dark Side. Some villains delight in showing the hero to be Not So Stoic, or they wonder what will happen if they Teach Him Anger... or they just enjoy ignoring the hero's repeated pleas to Get It Over With. There is no typical Cruel Mercy, each is tailored to the person for maximum effect. However, there are a few repeating variations. Simply letting someone live once defeated is itself cruel, especially if he believes Might Makes Right and Asskicking Equals Authority, and now that he isn't the strongest his self esteem is shot. Similarly, some villains suffer because Good Hurts Evil and Evil Cannot Comprehend Good, so the hero's mercy is a kind of Brown Note. For others, the hero may force them into a mundane life where they suffer a daily Humiliation Conga. And sometimes, if the villain is too dangerous to let free, he is trapped in an Tailor-Made Prison along with the people he hates most in the world, or with a view of something he despises or upsets him... Usually, the villain or one of the hero's friends will ask "Why did you let me/him live?" Expect the hero to give a disturbingly vivid description of how they are actually being much, much crueler this way. Villains really should Beware the Nice Ones. Thus is Karma served. May or may not coincide with Disproportionate Retribution. And Fate Worse Than Death, of course. Compare Villain's Dying Grace. Contrast Do with Him as You Will, where the hero only spares the villain to let others kill him. Contrast Go and Sin No More, where the villain is grateful for the hero's mercy. Inverse of Cruel to Be Kind, which is about acting cruel to be kind. If the Mercy is genuine and the Cruelty perceived, it's Don't You Dare Pity Me!. May be part of And I Must Scream. Examples of Cruel Mercy include:
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