killing in self-defense theme

also known as: justifiable homicide

A character must choose whether to kill another person in order to save their own hide.

Examples

In tng3x03 "The Survivors", we heard that the immensely powerful alien being Kevin refused to kill even the murderous Husnock when they arrived to eradicate Kevin, Kevin's family, friends and entire community.

15 total · 2 choice · 6 major · 6 minor

StoryLevelMotivation
ahp6x32 choice The viewer is made to ponder whether Gerald was justified in shooting an already fleeing liquor store robber not once, not twice, but thrice. While ruled an act of self-defense by the police, Gerald was left feeling deeply guilty over his decision to shoot.
tng3x03 choice Kevin refused to defend the colony even in self-defense.
ahh3x01 major The viewer must ponder whether, or how close, it was that Riley McGrath's decision to shoot the drunken Likens was justified when Likens started spraying him with two beer bottles. Although the act was dismissed as self-defense, several characters visibly had a sour feeling over the affair.
columbo1971e10x07 major Lauren and Lisa argued that they killed Nick because he would otherwise kill Lisa.
ds94x26 major Odo had killed another shapeshifter in self-defense in defense of his colleagues.
ent3x18 major Degra was conflicted over whether he should deploy the Xindi super weapon and kill many innocent Earthlings in an effort to stop what he thought was a preemptive strike from Earth on his homeworld.
tng3x22 major Data may have tried to kill Fajo in self-defense, but it was left open.
tng5x04 major Picard was faced with the prospect of having to kill the Crystalline Entity in to save the Enterprise and its crew.
movie: Hang Em High (1968) minor There was at least one scene where Jed faced one of his former tormentors with an intention of bringing him in, yet was forced to kill him as the man went for his gun.
movie: Solaris (2002) minor The Snow replica explained that he'd killed the real Snow in self-defense.