List of assassinations in fiction

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Assassinations have formed a major plot element in various works of fiction. This article provides a list of fictional stories in which assassination features as an important plot element. Passing mentions are omitted.

Assassination can be regarded as the murder of a prominent person for a motive which is broadly public and political rather than merely personal or financial.[1]

Assassinations in fiction have attracted scholarly attention. In Assassinations and Murder in Modern Italy: Transformations in Society and Culture, as well as analyzing Italian assassinations in their historical and cultural contexts, Stephen Gundle and Lucia Rinaldi explore the films, plays, other works of fiction, and art that the act of assassination has inspired.

assassination.[3]

This list prefers to highlight less familiar cultural artifacts, while trying not to itemize every Ian Fleming or Agatha Christie title, or every Mafia film. The historical–historically based or historically inspired–takes precedence over the purely fictional and sensational.

Alexandre Dumas, père
Bolesław Prus
Anthony Hope
Jack London
John Steinbeck
Pär Lagerkvist

Epic poems

Novels

Short stories

Conan Doyle

Plays and operas

Shakespeare
de Vega
Corneille
Schiller
Słowacki
Ibsen
Mankell

Films

Frank Sinatra in Suddenly (1954)
Mark Wahlberg at 2007 Shooter premiere

The list is organized chronologically by year of release, rather than year of production.
Within each year, films based on genuine historical events are listed first, followed by any purely fictional entries.

1890s

1900s

Assassination of President McKinley, 1901
The Duke of Guise, assassinated nobleman

1910s

  • lord
    's death in 1701 – also, earlier 1907 short by Ryo Konishi
  • Miloš Obrenović
Judith of Bethulia, heroine, assassin

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

Marlon Brando as Emiliano Zapata, assassinated revolutionary

1960s

  • Jozef Gabčík, c. 1942
    Jozef Gabčík, c. 1942
  • Jan Kubiš, c. 1942
    Jan Kubiš, c. 1942
Czech SOE agents who eliminated Reinhard Heydrich     
Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat, 1793

1970s

1970–1974

1975–1979

Attempted assassin Robert-François Damiens on trial, 1757
Gabriel Narutowicz, assassinated 1922

1980s

1980–1984

1985–1989
Funeral of Jerzy Popiełuszko, assassinated 1984

1990s

1990–1994

1995–1999

2000s

2000–2002

2003–2005

Aldo Moro before his murder, 1978

2006–2007

D'Arcy McGee
, assassinated 1868

2008–2009

Adham Khan, executed 1562
Assassination of Henry IV, 1610

2010s

Mary Surratt, executed 1865

Assassinated filmmakers

One direct and one indirect victim of terrorism.

Television

Animation

  • Golgo 13: The Professional – Directed by Osamu Dezaki, the anime is about a professional assassin. Only two anime installments were made
  • Golgo 13 – The TV series details more on Duke Togo's assassination missions
  • Noir
     – Anime television series that follows two female assassins' search to understand their past
  • Darker than Black – Anime television series about ordinary people inexplicably changed into Contractors with extraordinary abilities who typically become cold-blooded killers
  • Yūsei Matsui
    , about junior high students in their school's worst class, tasked with finding a way to assassinate an extremely powerful creature claiming it destroyed 70% of the moon, and will destroy the Earth one year later

Board games

Video games

  • The Portopia Serial Murder Case (1983) – Adventure game focusing on a murder case in Kobe, Japan
  • Golgo 13: The Mafat Conspiracy
     (1990) – two NES games based on the anime/manga
  • Grand Theft Auto series (1997–2013) – features numerous missions which involve assassination
  • Tenchu (1998–2008) – Same as above, the originator of the next-generation ninja subterfuge gaming genre. Released earlier, more story-driven and somewhat less political, assassination is a trademark feature of the series
  • Hitman series (2000–present) – Popular tactical stealth game series which involves the assassination of various targets. There has been over eight games in the series so far.
  • MMORPG
    where the player can choose to become an assassin as a second job class
  • Splinter Cell
     (2002) – Stealth action game which ends with an assassination of a powerful political leader
  • The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002) – role-playing video game with numerous assassinations and even a guild dedicated to assassinations called the Morag Tong
  • XIII
     (2003) – about an amnesiac and the assassination of a U.S. President
  • Grand Chase (2003) – Lass, the Thief and the fourth character, is an assassin as a second job using a curved sword called Scimitar
  • John F. Kennedy assassination
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (2004) – Several assignments (some mandatory, some optional) involving assassination are included in this game, and the endgame involves the player deciding whether to assassinate one or both of the game's vampire clan leader antagonists
  • Shinobido (2005) – Heavily stealth-based video game centred around feudal-era Japan and its inhabitants. The protagonist is a ninja, who is given contact killing missions among others, and becomes a politically heavily involved reconnaissance agent, thief and mostly, assassin
  • Total War (2006) – a strategy game series where the player can send assassins against opponents
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) – role-playing video game in which one may join an assassins' guild, the Dark Brotherhood. Also, the main storyline opens with an emperor being assassinated; the entire game hinges on this event
  • The Godfather: The Game (2006) – the game features several missions with the goal to assassinating high-ranking members of the Five Families
    , including the Dons
  • Hashshashin sect during the Third Crusade
  • Team Fortress 2 (2007) – features one class, the spy, whose purpose is to assassinate other players. He features a knife among his weaponry that will kill instantly if it is a stab to the back of a character
  • No More Heroes (2007) – The player is an assassin called Travis Touchdown who is the 11th ranked assassin of an organization called the UAA. The game leads the player to fight against the top 10 assassins of the UAA
  • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) – In two missions, the player plays as a sniper on a failed assassination attempt
  • Star Wars: Force Unleashed (2008) – The four first levels are a mission where the player attempts to assassinate Jedi
    masters
  • Fable II (2008) – The player can be an assassin
  • Stalingrad
    atrocities
  • Fallout 3 (2008) – The player is tasked by an organization known as the Brotherhood of Steel to assassinate John Henry Eden, the self-proclaimed President of the United States
  • MadWorld (2009) – The gameplay revolves around how creatively you murder other contestants in a game called "Deathwatch"
  • Assassin's Creed II (2009) – The player assumes the role of a young nobleman-turned-assassin named Ezio Auditore da Firenze. The plot takes place in Renaissance Italy
  • Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
     (2010) – Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze returns
  • John F. Kennedy assassination
    at the end of the game
  • Just Cause (video game series) (2006–2018) – United States agent Rico travels to the fictional island-nations of San Esperito, Panau, Medici and Solis to assassinate the regime's corrupt dictators
  • Fallout: New Vegas (2010) – The player can assassinate three major political leaders, then cannibalize them to receive a special in-game bonus, called a Perk
  • Assassin's Creed: Revelations
     (2011) – Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze returns for the final time
  • Batman: Arkham City (2011) – The secondary mission "Shot in the Dark" involves contract killings. The League of Assassins are also part of the main plot
  • Assassin's Creed III (2012) – A new Assassin arises to the creed
  • Dishonored (2012) – Corvo Attano sets out to assassinate a conspiracy line to restore the rightful Emperess, Emily Kaldwin, on the throne. There are non-lethal alternatives to assassination targets
  • Payday 2 (2013) – the Payday gang assassinates Ernesto Sosa, a fictional drug lord, who had been attacking weapon shipments of 'The Butcher,' an arms smuggler.
  • Grand Theft Auto V (2013) – Franklin, Michael, and Trevor assassinate rival criminal leaders and other targets in both main and side missions of the game's story mode. Players can also take part in assassinations in Grand Theft Auto Online.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Murders within families are often termed assassinations if the family members are very prominent. This would be true of Roman Empire poisonings, or the 2001 slaughter of the royal family in Nepal. The murder of the well-known actor Phil Hartman by his wife in 1998 does not qualify.
    Is the 1978 murder of actor Bob Crane assassination? No. Is the 1987 murder of singer Peter Tosh by robbers assassination? If the motive is extortion, no. If an author writes a novel proposing a broad conspiracy, then yes. Is the 1948 death of actor Solomon Mikhoels assassination? Yes. It was orchestrated by Stalin.
    King
    Nicholas II
    ? Yes. Executed secretly, with his children, without a trial.
    There will always be a problem with a precise definition and applying that definition to specific cases.
  2. ^ Assassinations and Murder in Modern Italy[permanent dead link]: Transformations in Society and Culture, edited by Stephen Gundle and Lucia Rinaldi (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)
  3. ^ Nicholas Cullather, "History, Conspiracy, and the Kennedy Assassination", Retrieving the American Past, ed. Marc Horger (New York: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2005), pp. 301–30
  4. ^ Quo Vadis. Chapter LXX.
  5. ^ Quo Vadis. Chapter LXXI.
  6. ^ Quo Vadis. Epilogue. Mercy killing by Epaphroditus.
  7. ^ London authored pp. 1–121. Fish wrote p. 122-179 based on London's notes (pp. 181–184).
  8. Edgar Award
    in 1972.
  9. ^ The story's manuscript reads Camorra. Conan Doyle changed the story as published to read Carbonari, a group no longer active at the time.
  10. Evening Standard Award
    for Best Play in 1961.
  11. ^ Recipient of the Tony Award in 1961.
  12. ^ Recipient of the Tony Award in 1966.
  13. ^ Source: Cousins (q.v.), p. 40.
  14. ^ Director Dudley Murphy was a friend of failed Trotsky assassin and artist David Alfaro Siqueiros. Siqueiros painted a mural inside Murphy's L.A. house which was relocated in 2002 Archived 17 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
  15. ^ Source: 1965 BBC documentary The Epic That Never Was on the making of I, Claudius.
  16. ^ Notable as the first postwar German film, it was made before the formal split of Germany into West Germany and East Germany.
  17. ^ The detective who prevents the assassination of President-elect Lincoln is named "John Kennedy".
  18. ^ The performer portraying the "Sarkhanese" prime minister in the film was a Thai politician who later became Prime Minister.
  19. Andrés Nin in Spain in 1937. (See George Orwell's memoir Homage to Catalonia, a source for Ken Loach's 1995 film Land and Freedom.) In Mexico City, they were joined by David Siqueiros, Mexican Stalinist and renowned mural painter.
    Bullet holes from the first attempt may be seen in Trotsky's bedroom at the Trotsky House Museum in Coyoacán.
    A revolutionary image by Siqueiros, familiar outside of Mexico, appears on the cover of the Rage Against the Machine concert video, The Battle of Mexico City. The image forms part of a large mural in Chapultepec Castle
    .
  20. ^ FAREWELL, MR. PRESIDENT (1987) - MUBI
  21. ^ Ruth First appears as a minor character in the 2006 film Catch a Fire, about the ANC, where she is portrayed by her daughter, producer Robyn Slovo.
  22. ^ Recipient of the Ariel Award for Best Picture in 1991
  23. ^ Several of the 638 different ways employed by the U.S. to kill Castro, at least according to Cuban Intelligence.
  24. Nixon and CIA Director Richard Helms. During the conversation, Salvador Allende is shown; Ngo Dinh Diem, Rafael Trujillo, and Patrice Lumumba
    are mentioned.
  25. ^ Nixon mentions other important incidents of the era, including the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, and the attempt on George Wallace.
  26. ^ Official site: O Processo dos Távoras Archived 7 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  27. Amritsar Massacre. In fact, it was Governor O'Dwyer
    who was murdered, in London in 1940. Dyer had died of natural causes in 1927.
  28. ^ Director Andy Cheng is second unit director and stunt co-ordinator on Twilight, the noirish teen vampire romance.
  29. ^ The Kennedys, Hour Seven.
  30. ^ The Kennedys, Hour Eight.
  31. ^ The Plot To Kill Stalin can be viewed at the Internet Archive.

Sources

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