Tyrannicide literally means the killing of a tyrant. The Monarchomachs in particular developed a theory of tyrannicide, as did the Jesuistic casuistry, criticized by Pascal in the Provincial Letters. Before them, the scholastic philosopher John of Salisbury also legitimised tyrannicide, under specific conditions, in the Policraticus (circa 1159).
Typically, the term is taken to mean the killing or assassination of tyrants for the common good. The term tyrannicide does not apply to tyrants killed in battle or killed by an enemy in an armed conflict. It is rarely applied when a tyrant is killed by a person acting for selfish reasons, such as to take power for themselves. Sometimes, the term is restricted to killings undertaken by people who are actually subject to the tyrant. The term is also used to denote those who actually commit the act of killing a king: ie, Harmodius and Aristogeiton are called 'the tyrannicides'.
Not all overthrowings of tyrants involve tyrannicide because the tyrant might either be killed in battle, kill themselves, or they may be deposed.
Notable tyrannicides
Statue of Harmodius and Aristogeiton
Examples of tyrannicide include those of:
Tyrannicides in fiction
- In the Legend of Zelda video games, the protagonist Link sets out to kill the evil king, Ganondorf.
- In Digimon Frontier, the digidestined kill Lucemon, who sought to control the digital world for his own agenda.
- In Death Note, Light Yagami is killed by Ryuk after taking multiple gunshot wounds, ending his ruthless influence over the world as Kira.
- During some endings of the Mortal Kombat fighting games, the antagonist Shao Kahn has been (on some occasions) killed by one or more of the characters.
- In Code Geass, Lelouch kills his tyrannical father Charles to claim the throne as his own.
- In Legacy of Kain, Kain kills the Sarafan lord who was using the Sarafan armies for his own ruthless agenda.
- In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Zane fakes a tyrannicide by throwing the helmet of the Supreme King to convince his armies that their leader had died.
- In Naruto, Sasuke kills the former leader of the Sound Village, Orochimaru.
See also
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