From the classy killers of Spy Fiction to the mob enforcers of Gangster Fiction, from the shadow warriors of Fantasy to the death touch masters of Wuxia, from The Hashshashin and Ninjas of history to the cyborg mercenaries of the grimy Cyberpunk future and everything in between, one thing's for certain: fiction loves assassins. This index is for tropes related to professional assassins and the kinds of stories in which they appear, as well as their tools, techniques, and tactics.
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Archetypal Assassins & Personalities
- Anti-Hero: Virtually every heroic assassin will fall under this trope, as their training, tactics, and personal philosophy are usually the thematic opposite of conventional heroes.
- The Atoner: An assassin who regrets their career, and is trying to be a better person; in assassin media, this will usually overlap with Retired Badass.
- Ax-Crazy: Violent and psychotic instability, which can be an asset for an assassin.
- Badass and Child Duo: An assassin eliminates targets and completes assignments with a child in tow; if the child is old enough, the assassin and the child may have a Mentor and Apprentice relationship.
- Bantering Baddie Buddies: A pair of assassins working together, who constantly engage in witty conversation and snarky debates on various topics. Will often keep these conversations going, in the midst of full-scale battles and firefights. For some reason, the duo will usually be Badasses In Nice Suits.
- Battle Butler: A fighting butler is, in many cases, also an assassin; often overlaps with Deadpan Snarker and/or Wicked Cultured.
- Battlemaster Assassins: Some assassins can't resist giving up on stealth and taking on entire armies in melee.
- Blind Weaponmaster: An assassin who cannot see, but compensates for it with some form of echolocation, qi sensing (in Wuxia), or similar super-sense that makes them an even deadlier combatant. Often an Old Master Swordsman wielding a Sword Cane in Ninja or Jidaigeki stories; if this assassin is a villain, the heroes will inevitably have to figure out how their super-sense works, and then come up with a way to distract or misdirect it.
- Bounty Hunter: An assassin who plies their trade in bringing in (or eliminating) fugitives of justice.
- Church Militant: An assassin who belongs to a martial church organization or religious order, and who is usually employed to combat supernatural or heretical threats from the shadows. Often the philosophical and tactical opposite of the order's more conventional shock troops, which are usually Paladins or Warrior Monks of some kind. More common in Fantasy settings, typically overlaps with Holy Hitman.
- Cold Sniper: A stoic long-distance marksman, and a classic assassin archetype.
- Consummate Professional: Assassins are often portrayed as paragons of cold, efficient professionalism.
- Corporate Samurai: An assassin employed by a MegaCorp, and oftentimes used for tasks of corporate espionage or sabotage as opposed to direct assassination; more common in Cyberpunk settings and related media.
- The Cowl: Assassin-themed Superheroes will almost always be gloomy, nocturnal vigilantes, in contrast with brighter, cheerier superheroes.
- Creepy Mascot Suit: An assassin who always wears a mascot outfit, usually with a cartoony stuffed head; a staple of a particularly unhinged Carnival of Killers, especially in assassin media that portrays violence as Black Comedy.
- Crusading Widow: An assassin who lost their spouse or lover as a result of their work or past catching up to them; often the protagonist of a Roaring Rampage of Revenge story.
- Cyber Ninja: A Cyborg Ninja or assassin, typically with Artificial Limbs, Electronic Telepathy, and/or other robotic abilities. More common in Science Fiction and Cyberpunk settings.
- Dark Action Girl: A female assassin villain is a tough, deadly badass; will almost always be wearing a Spy Catsuit.
- The Dreaded: An assassin rightly feared by all characters who are part of their organization or criminal underworld, usually for their especially bloody or violent reputation.
- Elite Agents Above the Law: An assassin who works for a Government Agency of Fiction (and usually a No Such Agency); will almost always be a Badass in a Nice Suit.
- Femme Fatale: Female assassins are often portrayed as darkly or dangerously seductive.
- Friendly Sniper: A good-natured, amicable sniper.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: An assassin who used to be a soldier or part of a military organization, who then transfers their skills to contract killing. If the exaggerated version appears as part of a Carnival of Killers, expect liberal use of the Military Alphabet, facial camouflage, and similar marks of their old profession. If this assassin is villainous, will always overlap with Sociopathic Soldier.
- Girl with Psycho Weapon: An assassin who appears at first glance to be merely a sweet, young girl, but massacres her targets with an especially grisly weapon such as a chainsaw or meat cleaver. Often overlaps with Cute and Psycho; especially popular in Japanese media where she will often be wearing a Sailor Fuku uniform.
- Heroic Comedic Sociopath: An assassin that's fighting on the side of the heroes, but doesn't let that stop them from being comically bloodthirsty, merciless, and violent against opposing Mooks at every opportunity. Especially common when an assassin being benevolent is played for Black Comedy, often overlaps with Punch-Clock Hero assassins.
- Hitman with a Heart: An assassin with an honor code or sense of justice.
- Holy Hitman: An assassin who frequently cites the Bible or another religious text.
- Immortal Assassin: An assassin who can't be killed by conventional means.
- Improbable Weapon User: An assassin who specializes in making their kills with an extremely impractical, unorthodox, or stylishly bizarre weapon.
- Inexperienced Killer: A novice assassin who frequently makes mistakes or is still learning the ropes.
- Killer Robot: A robotic assassin programmed to ruthlessly eliminate its targets; usually a Terminator Impersonator, found in Science Fiction and Cyberpunk settings and related media.
- Killerina: An assassin who is also a ballet dancer, and who was usually trained at a combination Spy School and ballet academy; will almost always be a Dance Battler when they get into close range.
- Lady of War: A female assassin who carries herself with composure, elegance, and grace.
- Mad Artist: An assassin who views each assignment as a grisly work of art, and who strives to eliminate their targets in ways that they find aesthetically appealing or creatively interesting.
- Mad Bomber: An assassin knowledgeable in bombs and demolition, who eliminates their targets with tactical explosions, and with a maniacal sort of glee. In assassin media, often overlaps with Throw Down the Bomblet. Might be a Demolitions Expert instead, if they don't take deranged joy from their explosions.
- Mage Killer: An assassin who specializes in eliminating magic users in a Fantasy setting; will almost always be Resistant to Magic and possess some form of Mana Burn ability or power.
- Manchurian Agent: An assassin whose abilities only come to the surface in a trance state, via a special trigger phrase or stimulus that was conditioned into them with brainwashing.
- Masquerade Enforcer: An assassin who kills to protect the secrecy of a supernatural truth, organization, or otherworld; more common in Urban Fantasy and related media.
- Master of Disguise: An assassin who specializes in disguises and/or false identities to get close to a target.
- Master Poisoner: An assassin toxicologist who eliminates targets with an array of deadly poisons, usually of their own creation; expect Acid Attacks, a Deadly Gas Breath Weapon (especially among Ninja), Poisoned Weapons, and/or an unbeatable Acquired Poison Immunity. In some assassin media, this trope will appear as more of a poison-specialized Gadgeteer Genius who supports the protagonist or the villain, instead of being an assassin in the field.
- Monster Clown: An assassin who incorporates clown, jester, or harlequin imagery or aesthetics into their outfit or weapons. They will almost always be Laughably Evil and crack jokes or make Punny Bond One-Liners as they dispatch foes or eliminate targets.
- Musical Assassin: An assassin who has somehow weaponized music to kill their targets; may take the form of Brown Note, Gale-Force Sound, and/or Razor Wind, depending on the assassin. Especially popular in Wuxia and related media, where the instrument will virtually always be a classical, scholarly sort of stringed instrument (such as an èrhú, gǔqín, or gǔzhēng).
- Mysterious Mercenary Pursuer: An assassin whose identity, employer, and/or motivations are kept secret, as they continue to pursue the protagonist over the course of the story. Often a perennial antagonist, and usually overlaps with The Dreaded or Implacable Man.
- Never Mess with Granny: An assassin who is also a seemingly feeble or innocent old lady. Often overlaps with Retired Badass; grandmotherly implements that usually make for ineffectual bludgeons (such as an umbrella or purse) will have been modified into genuinely deadly weapons.
- Ninja: The iconic shadow warrior from medieval Japan.
- Ninja Maid: A maid or similar house aide, who also has Ninja abilities or training. In assassin media, will almost always be wearing a French Maid Outfit to enhance the irony.
- The Nondescript: An assassin whose appearance and bearing are completely and utterly unremarkable, in every way; will almost always have an extremely plain name or alias to match. Often played for irony when this assassin is especially Ax-Crazy.
- Nun Too Holy: A female assassin who is also a nun, and who often wears their nun's habits or garb while on assignment, as a form of visual irony. Typically overlaps with Holy Hitman.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Among villainous archetypes, an assassin will often be the one to avoid wanton acts of evil, usually under the reasoning of Not in My Contract.
- Private Military Contractors: An assassin who works as a mercenary, employed by a private company to fight on behalf of a paying client. Usually a grimier, grittier, military-flavored assassin as opposed to the classy, elegant killers of Spy Fiction or the quirky psychopaths found in a Carnival of Killers. Expect them to repeatedly bring up how they're Only in It for the Money.
- Professional Killer: Assassins, The Trope.
- Psychic Operative: An assassin who uses Psychic Powers to aid in their infiltration and/or elimination of their targets.
- Psycho for Hire: Many assassins are mentally unhinged, but that doesn't stop them from collecting their paycheck.
- Psycho Knife Nut: An unhinged assassin who enjoys using knives a little too much.
- Punch-Clock Hero: An assassin on the side of the heroes, who only thwarts villains and fights for justice because of a financial or contractual obligation.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Villainous assassins view their work as a job, and typically don't murder indiscriminately when they're off-contract.
- Pyromaniac: An assassin who specializes in eliminating targets with fire-based weapons (or magic/powers, when in a Fantasy/Superhero setting); if this assassin is a villain, guaranteed to be Ax-Crazy and will almost always meet their demise via a Flamethrower Backfire.
- Retired Badass: An assassin who walked away from the violent life, and will almost always be dragged back in as a consequence of the plot. In assassin media, this will usually overlap with The Atoner.
- Rōnin: An assassin who was formerly a samurai, but lost their lord in death or was forcibly removed from service through disgrace. Found almost exclusively in Jidaigeki media, but they're often mentioned in more modern settings as a metaphor for the assassin or mercenary lifestyle.
- Samurai Shinobi: An assassin who blends aesthetics, fighting styles, and/or weaponry of Ninja and Samurai into a single character; more common in Jidaigeki and Cyberpunk settings, and related media.
- Shady Lady of the Night: An assassin who also works as a prostitute, and who often uses their sex work as a way to get close to targets or gather information.
- Small Girl, Big Gun: An assassin who is also a young girl of tiny stature, but wields an enormous firearm, such as an oversized sniper rifle, gatling gun, or rocket launcher; if the assassin is unhinged or full-on Ax-Crazy, will often overlap with Cute and Psycho. Most common in the Girls with Guns genre, and related media.
- Sneaky Spy Species: An assassin who belongs to a fantastical species known for their skills in stealth and infiltration; found in Fantasy and Space Opera sci-fi settings.
- The Sociopath: The antisocial personality type that is stereotypically paired with villainous assassins.
- Sports Star to Scoundrel: An assassin who started out as a professional athlete, and then transferred their skills to contract killing; in Superhero stories and related media, they will often be an Improbable Weapon User with weaponry taken from or themed around the gear of the sport they used to play.
- Street Samurai: An assassin who operates in the grimy underworld of a Cyberpunk setting; typically sells their skills to the highest criminal bidder, or part of a Caper Crew and/or group of freedom fighters, resisting the MegaCorp oligarchy. Often overlaps with Cyber Ninja.
- Superbeing Soldier of Fortune: A rare and powerful supernatural being seeks work among muggles as a gun for hire.
- Tyke-Bomb: A character might be raised from childhood (if not birth) to become an assassin who obeys a villain.
- Underhanded Hero: A heroic assassin who saves the day with trickery, dirty tactics, and/or guile.
- Wicked Cultured: The archetypal elegant assassin who enjoys cultured things like classical music, fine dining, modern art, and similar indicators of class and refinement.
Equipment, Fighting Styles, Outfits, Powers, & Weapons
- Assassin Claws: Assassins often wield steel claws, wrist-mounted blades, katars, or similar weapons.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: The uniform of choice for many modern-day assassins.
- Black Cloak: The uniform of choice for many assassins in medieval Fantasy or Wuxia.
- Blade Footwear: A hidden, spring-loaded knife in the shoe is an assassin's favorite.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Certain assassins are known for wearing concealable switchblades on their wrists.
- Blade on a Rope: Despite their impracticality, these weapons are often paired with assassins in fiction, as they combine a sense of deadliness with impressive visuals and manual dexterity; in less realistic genres, the assassin will often be able to use the weapon as a makeshift grappling hook. Especially common in Ninja stories (as a chain-and-sickle, or kusarigama) and Wuxia stories (as a rope dart, or shéng biāo), as well as related media.
- Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: The iconic outfit of a female Crusading Widow assassin, especially at her tragic wedding during her Troubled Backstory Flashback.
- Briefcase Blaster: An assassin keeps their firearm neatly stowed inside (or as a component of) an unassuming briefcase.
- Burner Phones: The communicator of choice between the assassin and their employer.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: An assassin's superhuman feats of martial arts, marksmanship, and fitness will usually be hand-waved as the result of intense training and conditioning.
- Combat Haircomb: Female assassins might conceal a hidden blade in a comb or brush, or simply wear a razor-sharp hairpin; the hairpin variant is especially popular in Wuxia stories.
- Combat Pragmatist: Assassins are often portrayed as calculating and coldly logical fighters who will do whatever it takes to win.
- Cyanide Pill: Upon being caught, an assassin kills themselves using a pill or false tooth filled with poison; more common amongst assassins of a religious or cult-influenced bent, and those employed by a Sinister Spy Agency.
- Death Dealer: Weaponized playing cards are often paired with stylishly supernatural or superpowered assassins.
- Devious Daggers: Assassins and other skulkers often wield knives, daggers, or similar weapons.
- Disposable Decoy Doppelgänger: Creating an illusory duplicate to misdirect an opponent's attack is a classic tactic of a supernatural assassin. Usually employed by Ninjas, but this technique appears in other genres, explained as low-level illusion magic in Fantasy or as Holograms in Science Fiction and Cyberpunk.
- Drugged Lipstick: Poison lipstick is a deadly trademark for some female assassins; especially popular amongst Femme Fatales.
- Fanning the Knives: The favorite Intimidation Demonstration of assassins who are skilled with throwing knives or similar projectiles. In anime/manga, Superhero stories, and related media, often leads immediately to a Flechette Storm.
- Gun Fu: Gun-based melee moves and martial arts are a staple of assassin media; made especially popular by the John Wick franchise.
- Gun Stripping: Assassins in fiction with time to spare will often methodically disassemble and reassemble their firearms, to emphasize their knowledge of their weapons and showcase their obsession with efficiency and precision.
- Hidden Weapons: Assassins often keep weapons concealed on their person, until the perfect time to strike.
- Hollywood Silencer: The favorite firearm attachment of assassins, across pop culture.
- Iaijutsu Practitioner: While traditionally a martial art intended for Samurai, Quick Draw katana techniques and styles often get paired up with assassins in lots of media, as iaijutsu naturally lends itself towards lightning-fast surprise attacks, and returning the blade to its sheath after each stroke makes for an elegantly stylish killer. In Jidaigeki and Ninja media, extremely popular amongst Blind/Old Master Swordsmen with Sword Canes, and kunoichi ninjas or geishas that keep a concealed blade hidden in their paper parasol.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: An assassin who specializes in firearms or marksmanship will always display some or all of these abilities.
- Improvised Weapon: Assassins often have to get resourceful with whatever weapons are available; may be played for Black Comedy if said weapon is an especially mundane or unusual object, and the assassin has to get violently creative to use it to eliminate a target.
- Invisibility Cloak: An assassin will often use a literal cloak of invisibility (in Fantasy settings) or optical camouflage technology (in Science Fiction or Cyberpunk settings) to blend in with their surroundings.
- Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: A female assassin kills targets and fights enemies while wearing showy or opulent clothes; this tends to go hand-in-hand with a Black-Tie Infiltration (and/or a Ballroom Blitz, when the infiltration breaks down).
- Killer Incapacitates Instead: A reformed or retired assassin will often go to extreme lengths to avoid killing, to show they've changed since their darker days; commonly paired with assassins who are also The Atoner.
- Killing Intent: Assassins can detect a tangible aura of bloodlust or violence from someone who is either very deadly or is about to attempt to kill; more common in anime/manga, Ninja stories, Wuxia stories, and other Eastern media.
- Knife Fight: This will oftentimes serve as the analog to a Sword Fight, between dueling assassins.
- Laser Sight: A must for assassins aiming at a target at night. Often played for comedy when an army of assassins is aiming at the protagonist at once, with a crowded speckling of laser dots.
- Lethal Letter Opener: As assassins tend to be skilled knife-fighters, a letter opener makes for a classic and dignified Improvised Weapon. If an assassin hurls one as a makeshift projectile, it will invariably function just like a perfectly balanced throwing knife (even though they aren't designed for this sort of use).
- Multi-Martial Master: Assassins in Spy Fiction and Superhero stories will always be masters of multiple martial arts styles at once, and their styles will always be either exotic, military-flavored, or good matches for skulkers; expect to see aikido, krav maga, ninjutsu, and snake or mantis style kung fu, among others.
- Multiple Identity IDs: An international assassin often keeps a variety of passports with false identities, so they can disappear at a moment's notice.
- Nothing Up My Sleeve: An assassin keeps a small weapon concealed in their sleeve or their boot.
- Parasol of Pain: Assassins that maintain an aristocratic air of culture or ladylike elegance might use an umbrella as a weapon, or conceal a blade or gun inside one.
- Pillow Silencer: What happens when an assassin eliminates a target in a bedroom, but left their Hollywood Silencer at home.
- Poison Is Evil: Poison is almost always the tool of villainous assassins, as opposed to heroic assassins who will usually rely on conventional weapons and physical violence.
- Poison Ring: An assassin stores a poisonous substance in a Secret Compartment in an item of jewelry or accessory.
- Poisoned Weapons: A favorite preparation tactic of many assassins, to ensure that one cut is all it takes.
- Poisonous Person: An assassin's body generates its own supply of poison, through biological or supernatural means; especially popular in Wuxia and Ninja stories and related media.
- Pressure Point: A common martial arts maneuver for assassins across genres, as pressure points neatly symbolize assassins' combat preference for surgical precision and clean efficiency, over unnecessary movement and messy brawling.
- Razor Floss: When razor-sharp wires appear as a weapon, they will almost always be wielded by an assassin; especially common in anime/manga, Ninja stories, and related media.
- Secret Room: An assassin who lives in a quaint, suburban home will almost always keep a hidden armory and/or safe room somewhere in their house. Often the mark of a Retired Badass, will almost always contain a Wall of Weapons.
- Senseless Violins: An assassin keeps their firearm or weapon stowed inside a musical instrument case.
- Sinister Scythe: Magical assassins empowered by a Death Cult and/or a God of the Dead will often wield scythes, to play up their deathly aesthetic.
- Shadow Walker: The ability to teleport between shadows is a useful and popular trick for magical assassins in Fantasy settings.
- Smoke Out: While smoke bombs are often a trademark of Ninjas, they also see use by assassins in Spy Fiction, Superhero stories, and other media where assassins have a flair for the dramatic.
- Soul-Cutting Blade: The classic choice of undead or magical Immortal Assassins in Fantasy and Superhero settings, and also Ninjas who have to fight demonic or supernatural foes. In many cases, will also be an Evil or Hungry Weapon.
- Spy Catsuit: The uniform of choice for female assassins who are also the work's Ms. Fanservice.
- Stock Ninja Weaponry: The tools of the trade for Ninjas.
- Sword Cane: An assassin might conceal a hidden blade in a cane or walking stick; especially common amongst elderly Ninja, usually in conjunction with iaijutsu-based fighting styles or abilities.
- These Gloves Are Made for Killin': An assassin dons gloves in preparation for a job.
- Touch of Death: The signature technique of assassins in Wuxia media.
- Tranquilizer Dart: The nonlethal weapon of choice for an assassin to incapacitate pesky witnesses who aren't part of the contract.
- Trenchcoat Warfare: An assassin wearing a Badass Longcoat is almost obligated to dramatically open it at some point and reveal an armory of weapons. Often a sign that the assassin is making their Last Stand, or has reached the Final Battle of their Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Assassins in Fantasy settings can get a lot of use out of shape-changing, to get close to targets or to escape the scene of a crime. In some settings, this power will be the signature ability of a specific assassins' organization.
- Vorpal Pillow: A classic improvised weapon of assassins, especially in Gangster Fiction and against targets that are already bedridden.
- Wall of Weapons: Usually found at a brick-and-mortar retail location of the Black Market, or in the Secret Room of a Retired Badass.
Locations, Organizations, Support Staff, & Typical Employers
- Ancient Conspiracy: A massive, world-spanning organization that controls and manipulates events from the shadows; in assassin media, this organization will often be The Hashshashin or some modern-day version.
- Ancient Order of Protectors: An assassin may belong to an organization that kills specifically to protect the secrecy of the Ancient Conspiracy.
- Arms Dealer: The character who sells weapons and ammunition to the assassin; may overlap with Black Market.
- Bad Guy Bar: In line with assassins' air of culture and elegance, this trope will usually appear as a classy cocktail bar, upscale nightclub, or similar establishment, as opposed to a grungy dive.
- Black Market: One-stop shopping for all of an assassin's illicit or illegal needs.
- Caper Crew: An assassin may end up as the "muscle" or a similar role, within a team that specializes in smuggling, theft, or other illicit activities.
- Cleanup Crew: An assassin that's part of a guild, syndicate, or similar organization will typically be supported by a team that specializes in disposing of the bodies and removing evidence.
- Covert Group with Mundane Front: An assassin's organization or employer might use an everyday or humdrum business as a ruse to evade suspicion. Bonus points if the business front is somehow symbolic of assassination (such as cleaning/laundry services or extermination), dryly unhip (such as accounting or insurance), or comically cheery (such as mascot performers or clowns).
- Death Cult: A death-obsessed Religion of Evil that often employs assassins as enforcers, or to perform ritualistic murders. In Fantasy settings, these assassins will often have low-power shadow-based or Necromantic magic or abilities.
- Evil, Inc.: A common employer of assassins in Science Fiction and Superhero stories; the top assassin will often have a euphemistic, corporate-sounding title like "Director of Security."
- God of the Dead: In Fantasy settings or Superhero stories, a god or goddess of death may bless, empower, or outright resurrect a character to act as their hand and assassin, usually to target Undead foes that corrupt or decay the balance of life and death. An assassin employed by such an entity will usually be some kind of Immortal Assassin, and will almost always wield a magical, death-themed weapon (like a Sinister Scythe or Soul-Cutting Blade).
- The Handler: A go-between for the assassin and their employer or agency.
- The Hashshashin: A secret society of assassins from medieval Persia, and the historical inspiration for many cloak-and-dagger assassin tropes of modern Fantasy and related media.
- Internal Death Squad: An assassin tasked with eliminating rogues and traitors of their agency will usually belong to this organization.
- The Mafia: The employer of the mob enforcer brand of assassin; especially popular in Crime Fiction, Gangster Fiction, and assassin media set during The Roaring '20s and adjacent eras.
- MegaCorp: The usual employer of assassins in Cyberpunk settings and related media.
- Murder, Inc.: An assassin's guild or similar organization.
- Mysterious Employer: An employer who always stays hidden, whom the assassin never gets to directly meet or interact with.
- Nebulous Evil Organisation: A group that supports evil causes, solely for evil's sake; more common in Spy Fiction that doesn't take itself too seriously.
- No Such Agency: A secret government agency that is believed not to exist.
- No-Tell Motel: The accommodation of choice for assassins who don't want to leave a paper trail. If the assassin is later injured in some way, a Self-Surgery scene at this motel is almost guaranteed.
- Sinister Spy Agency: An evil agency of intelligence and/or espionage; a common employer of assassins in Spy Fiction, Superhero stories, and related media.
- Spy School: Some versions of this trope will be an assassins' school, usually overlapping with Academy of Evil. Will usually have a killer curriculum taught by an entire faculty of Sink-or-Swim Mentors; will almost always entail an Ultimate Final Exam and/or Deadly Graduation.
- The Syndicate: The usual employer of assassins in media where a mob-like entity runs the entire criminal underworld.
- The Triads and the Tongs: The usual employer of assassins in Hong Kong Films, Crime and Gangster Fiction set in China, and related media.
- Yakuza: The usual employer of assassins in Jidaigeki media and settings; typically, this will be the mob enforcer flavor of assassins as opposed to Ninjas, who instead work for the government as a form of Secret Police.
Plots, Stories, & Motivations of Assassin Media
- Accidental Murder: An assassin accidentally kills the wrong person, or the right person at the wrong time; a staple of Black Comedy assassin media where the assassins are bad at their job.
- Assassins Are Always Betrayed: An assassin is betrayed by their ally, mentor, or organization.
- Assassin Outclassin': An assassin fails in killing the target, often due to the target's own toughness.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: As most assassins are killers for hire, they're a natural choice when the heroes need to hire a villain to do something illicit or illegal.
- Because I'm Good At It: An assassin is motivated primarily by their sense of accomplishment and pride in their skill, over profit or material incentives.
- Blood Knight: An assassin is motivated by the thrill of combat, searching for foes that will put up a true challenge.
- Boxed Crook: An assassin facing imprisonment (or a worse sentence) is offered a mission or assignment in exchange for their freedom.
- Can't Default to Murder: An assassin is temporarily in the employ or command of a character or organization that forbids killing; often played for Black Comedy, as the assassin finds ways to obey the letter, but not the spirit of the directive with violently nonlethal methods of incapacitating enemies.
- Carnival of Killers: Someone has hired a colorful assortment of assassins to dispatch the target; this will typically involve a diverse range of different assassin specializations and archetypes.
- Contract on the Hitman: An assassin becomes the target of their former employer.
- Deadly Game: An assassin is forced into an Immoral Reality Show where contestants must kill to survive; if all of the contestants are assassins, may overlap with Carnival of Killers.
- Deadly Graduation: An assassin must kill a trusted friend or close ally as part of their graduation from an assassins' Academy of Evil, usually in the form of a forced Duel to the Death.
- Fake Assassination: An assassination is set up to fail by the employer, from the start.
- Gotta Kill Them All: An assassin has a list of characters that must be eliminated; if these characters have wronged the assassin, will overlap with Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- Hunting the Rogue: An assassin abandons or betrays their organization, and then becomes hunted by the organization as a result.
- In Love with the Mark: An assassin falls in love with their target.
- Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: An assassin may be contracted to eliminate a target, in order to conserve the secrecy of a supernatural organization or secret otherworld.
- Killer Entrance Exam: An assassin has to survive a deadly admissions test in order to enroll in some kind of school or academy; typically the mark of an assassin's Spy School and/or Academy of Evil.
- Klingon Promotion: In many assassins' guilds and organizations, promotions come with benefits to die for.
- Mandatory Unretirement: An assassin becomes "unretired" due to their skill or loose ends.
- Mob War: Two or more rival crime factions have declared war on each other, which usually entails lots of gunfights between mob enforcer assassins.
- One Last Job: An assassin decides this is their last contract, and then they're out of the game. What could go wrong?
- Only in It for the Money: The primary motivation for most assassins.
- Price on Their Head: An assassin is paid to eliminate a target, or in some cases, other killers are being paid to eliminate the assassin. Either way, this is almost always the basis for a Carnival of Killers.
- The Purge: New management takes over an assassin's guild or organization, and decides the easiest way to deal with the old guard is to terminate their employment.
- Recruiting the Criminal: An assassin is brought in as a specialist, usually to help the heroes predict the movements of or counteract another assassin.
- Resignations Not Accepted: An assassin wants to retire or "go clean," but their employer has other ideas.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: An assassin goes on a killing spree to avenge someone.
- Sex Is Violence: Dueling assassins are strangely attracted to each other and/or turned on, by virtue of their fight.
- Suicide by Assassin: An assassin's employer and target are one and the same.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: An assassin's employer or organization decides they are no longer useful, and have thus become a liability; the assassin cordially disagrees.
Tactics & Techniques of Assassination & Infiltration
- Animal Assassin: An assassin eliminates their targets by using a poisonous or venomous animal, that fatally stings or bites the target. In the case of Ninjas, the assassin may be a Beastmaster, accompanied by a non-poisonous, full-on Attack Animal such as a dog or bird of prey, that also assists in tracking and reconnaissance.
- Assassination Attempt: An assassin makes an attempt on a target's life.
- Ballroom Blitz: What happens when the Black-Tie Infiltration breaks down and becomes a free-for-all; will typically feature lots of Badasses In Nice Suits and Kicking Ass in All Her Finery.
- Black-Tie Infiltration: An assassin's assignment requires blending in at a high-society gala or similar event.
- Borrowed Biometric Bypass: When an assassin needs to get past a retinal or fingerprint scanner, it's a good idea to get a nearby Mook to keep an eye out for them, or lend a helping hand.
- Bulletproof Human Shield: An assassin will often use a Mook's corpse as an improvised shield, to underscore their coldly logical brand of Combat Pragmatism.
- Calling Card: An assassin leaves behind a piece of evidence or special object after eliminating a target, as a kind of dramatic signature. More common in Superhero stories and pulpier Spy Fiction, as professional assassins in most other genres are specifically trying to avoid leaving behind any evidence that would point to them.
- Conspicuously Public Assassination: An assassin eliminates their target in full view of a crowd of witnesses.
- Deadly Delivery: An assassin poses as a delivery worker or postman, to easily come face-to-face with a target.
- Disposing of a Body: Corpse disposal is an undignified, but essential component of an assassin's skillset. In less serious assassin media, expect the Body in a Breadbox and Dismembering the Body variants to be played for Black Comedy.
- Dressing as the Enemy: An assassin may have to pose as one of the Mooks as part of an infiltration.
- Gangland Drive-By: An assassin (who is usually the mob enforcer flavor) opens fire on the target from a moving vehicle.
- In the Back: The location in which most assassins prefer to make their attacks.
- Kill the Lights: As assassins work best from the shadows, many of them will disable or destroy sources of lighting before eliminating a target. If the assassin is especially deadly, this will often be combined with Lights Off, Somebody Dies and an entire group of enemies, who will all have been incapacitated or killed by the time that the lights turn back on.
- Le Parkour: An assassin navigates architecture by acrobatically leaping between structural elements and scaling walls; associated strongly with assassins as a result of the Assassin's Creed video game franchise, but also a trademark of Ninjas and assassins in Superhero media.
- Lost in a Crowd: An assassin escapes a pursuer by blending into a large crowd of people.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: A time-honored way for an assassin to throw investigators off of the trail.
- Mr. Smith: An assassin uses an extremely mundane or unremarkable name as their alias.
- Neck Snap: A clean and efficient kill method, when an assassin can get the drop on a target from behind.
- Playing Possum: While pretending to be a corpse is usually too undignified for typical heroes, assassins and similar Combat Pragmatists have no problem using this tactic to get the drop on unsuspecting Mooks.
- Room Disservice: An assassin disguises themselves as room service at a hotel or cruise, to create an easy opportunity to strike.
- Slashed Throat: The bloodier cousin of the Neck Snap, and the method of choice for knife-wielding assassins in medieval Fantasy, Wuxia, and related media. A quick shot of a Mook being slain via this method is a popular way to signal that an assassin character has arrived in the narrative.
- So Long, Sentry: Assassins begin their mission by killing the guards meant to stop or deter them.
- Stealth Expert: Most assassins are masters of stealth and infiltration, via various means.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Adding poison to food or a beverage is a timeless assassination method.
Video Game & Role-Playing Game Tropes about Assassins
- Assassination Sidequest: A Sidequest where the player must stealthily eliminate a designated target.
- Back Stab: One of the most iconic assassin attacks (especially in Role-Playing Games and related media).
- Blending-In Stealth Gameplay: An assassin in a video game escapes notice by blending into a large crowd of NPCs.
- Critical Hit Class: When an assassin appears in Role-Playing Games, they're usually designed to land big hits and critical blows.
- Fragile Speedster: This is usually the assassin's combat role, when they appear in Role-Playing Games.
- One-Hit Kill: How assassins usually dispatch Mooks and similar enemies, especially in video games and related media.
- The Sneaky Guy: An assassin is usually the sneaky scout and/or trap-disarmer of the adventuring party.
- Stealth-Based Game: Most video games that feature an assassin as the main character will fall under this genre.
Visual, Stylistic, & Tonal Elements Associated with Assassin Media
- Blood Is the New Black: An assassin covered in blood is a classic, dramatic visual of assassin media; this will often be played for Black Comedy instead, especially if the assassin is strangely unbothered or has to attend to mundane tasks while drenched.
- Bloody Hilarious: Lots of assassin media plays excessive gore for Black Comedy.
- Bullet Time: A staple of assassin fight scenes.
- Characters Dropping Like Flies: Due to the nature of the profession, assassin media is usually willing to kill any character at any time; sometimes Played for Drama, but just as often treated as a zany form of Black Comedy, especially when the assassins involved aren't terribly competent or sympathetic.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: While this trope normally applies to Ninja, it also applies to assassins in lots of media; a single assassin will be an unstoppable One-Man Army, while a horde of them will serve as disposable Mooks, usually in the employ of a Big Bad.
- Creepy Crows: As ominous carrion birds, corvids such as crows, ravens, jackdaws, and related birds will often be used as visual motifs for the world of assassins. In medieval and Wuxia fantasy settings, assassins will often use the names of these birds as aliases for themselves or their organizations.
- Death as Comedy: The most common form of Black Comedy in assassin media, given the work of the characters.
- Death Montage: Often used to illustrate a particular assassin's deadliness.
- Dramatic Red Samurai Background: A common visual theme for quick fight scenes, even when the assassins involved aren't Ninjas or Samurai.
- Emerging from the Shadows: The preferred dramatic entrance of an assassin who has been lying in wait; especially popular if the assassin is just about to eliminate their target.
- Everyone Is Armed: Whenever an assassin starts some trouble in a Bad Guy Bar, Black Market, or Criminal Convention that caters specifically to assassins, every person there will suddenly become a Badass Bystander.
- Gratuitous Katana: Owing to the popularity of Ninjas and their stories, assassin media will almost always prominently feature lots of katanas, even when not set in Japan.
- Gunpoint Banter: Dueling assassins will oftentimes engage in this, and usually with a dry nonchalance, to emphasize their nerves of steel, familiarity with violence, or Friendly Rivalry with their opponent.
- High-Pressure Blood: Assassin media revels in blood, especially of the arterial spray variety.
- Honor Among Thieves: In line with their reputation for businesslike organization and adherence to contracts, assassins will typically have some kind of collective "assassins' code" for handling territorial disputes, establishing Truce Zones, and similar matters. In some works, this will be an informal sort of Scoundrel Code, while in others, this will be an ironclad, non-negotiable Code of Honour with serious (or deadly) consequences for infraction.
- Not in My Contract: More professional assassins won't do things that haven't already been laid out in writing.
- Nothing Personal: How most assassins respond when their target tries to appeal to their sense of morals. May overlap with But for Me, It Was Tuesday, as villainous assassins can't be bothered to personally remember all of their kills.
- Once Killed a Man with a Noodle Implement: Given assassins' proclivities for grisly Improvised Weapons, some variation on this phrase will almost always be used to play up the badassery of The Ace or The Dreaded.
- One-Man Army: When the plot is a single assassin vs. their former organization, employers, or the entire criminal underworld, this trope will usually make an appearance. If the plot also happens to be a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, then this trope is guaranteed.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: As red and black are the colors of blood and shadow, this pairing often forms the base of the color palette for lots of assassin stories.
- Snakes Are Sinister: With connotations of poison, sneakiness, and death, snakes and related reptiles are often used as visual motifs for the world of assassins. Assassins will often use the names of different snakes as aliases for themselves or their organizations.
- Undignified Death: A trademark of Black Comedy assassin media; may be played for Irony if this fate befalls an assassin that's supposed to be especially deadly or skilled.
- World of Badass: In media that establishes a "world of assassins" as a special subset of the criminal underworld, this trope will usually apply.
