Adopt the Dog: Difference between revisions

=== Unmarked spoilers ahead. ===

{{examples}}

== Anime & Manga ==

* Lancer in ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate Stay Night]]''. He's [[Lawful Neutral]] serving [[Neutral Evil]] Kotomine. He despises his orders, but feels honor bound to follow his wishes anyway. However, he will neither work with Gilgamesh even though he knows he can't beat him, nor will he kill Tohsaka after protecting her so much. Therefore, in the latter, he pulls off multiple CMOA (check FSN's page for details) before making a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] gets to [[Go Out with a Smile]].

* Famously in ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', when {{spoiler|Piccolo}} takes the brunt of a blast intended for {{spoiler|Gohan}}. His dying words (in the manga and in Kai) include bemoaning having done something so noble, after years of being a [[Big Bad]].

== Comic Books ==

* [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|Adolf Hitler]] gets one in ''[[The Authority]]'s'' Jenny Sparks spin-off. It's surprisingly touching. In part of Jenny Spark’s ability to befriend [[Young Future Famous People]], Hitler and she were friends while he was still a struggling artist. Years later, a considerably more powerful Hitler happened upon Jenny Sparks being tortured by Nazi interrogators. He utilized his position to have her released immediately.

* A small moment in ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'': Rorschach apologizes to Dan for being a shitty friend and promises to help save the world, instead of focusing on his violent hatred of... pretty much everything.

* [[The Punisher|Frank Castle]] has one at the beginning of the MAX comic "Kitchen Irish". He's in a diner when a bomb goes off across the street, and the big glass window of the diner turns into a deadly hail. He finds a man with [[Squick|a hole in his chest through which his heart is visible]], and all the man can gasp is "Help...me." So he does. Instead of getting out of there before the police arrive, he works on the man's heart until an EMT gets there, and then they ''both'' work for half an hour until the man is stabilized. Granted, the rest of the comic is Castle brutally killing the people responsible for the bombing and their enemies, but the moment remains an Adopt The Dog example.

== Film ==

* In ''[[American Beauty]]'', in which the main character has spent most of the movie [[All Guys Want Cheerleaders|lusting after a sultry cheerleader his daughter's age]]. When he finally gets a chance to seduce her, though, she reveals that her sexualized act is just that, an act, and he can't go through with it - instead, he just wraps her in a blanket and tries to actually ''help'' her.

* ''Twice'' at the end of ''[[Casablanca]]'': first, Rick tells Ilsa to stay with her husband for her own good and the good of the world, and then Louis refuses to turn Rick in for shooting [[Those Wacky Nazis|Major Strasser]] and agrees to join the resistance. "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

* ''[[The Searchers]]''. Ethan Allen says that, when he finds his niece, he's going to do her a favor and put a bullet in her brain. When he finally does catch up with her, he takes her up in his arms and says, "Let's go home."

== Literature ==

* In one of the Bean sequels to ''[[Ender's Game]]'', the current presidents of India and Pakistan (two nations who have been hostile to each other for a ''very'' long time) are encouraged by the resident [[Manipulative Bastard]] to form a non-aggression pact so that they can conquer other neighbors than each other. Then it turns out that they have been betrayed by said [[Manipulative Bastard]] (duh)... And, as a bit of [[Epistolary]], the prime minister of India publishes an open letter to the ruler of Pakistan, inviting Indian from both nations to unite against the barbarian invaders.

== Live Action TV ==

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Parting of the Ways", the Doctor is prepared to commit another double genocide... and then he decides that no, once was bad enough, he's not doing it again.

* On ''[[Dollhouse]],'' the amoral Topher gets this in "Belonging" when he refuses Adelle's order to basically sell Sierra to [[Stalker with a Crush|Kinnard]]. Adelle makes her own final choice in "Stop-Loss" when she decides to turn on the Rossum Corporation (though this isn't revealed until the end of the next episode, "The Attic").

* The ending of the ''[[Firefly]]'' pilot episode has Mal choose to adopt the dog when he takes on River and Simon rather than cut them loose on the border worlds. Later on, in ''[[Serenity]]'', he does it again when he chooses to take River on board once more after learning of how dangerous she was when he killing-programming was activated.

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Mega Man Zero]] 2'', Harpuia spares the title character. This point onwards starts his large amount of [[Character Development]], firmly establishing himself as an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] and [[Hero Antagonist]].

* Brad Evans of ''[[Wild Arms 2]]'' is a convict (named [[Names to Run Away From|"Prisoner 666"]]) on the run from the government at the start of the game. He comes across a lost puppy in the rainy forest. Bonus points for actually adopting a dog.

* If she survives the suicide mission, at the end of ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', Jack is essentially morally neutral. On one hand, she finds closure with her past, risks her life to save humanity, and is loyal to Shepard. On the other, she doesn't seem to have much faith in anything or anyone besides Shepard and remains callous about killing. By ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', Jack has taken a position teaching biotic students for the Alliance and is firmly on the side of good. Although still an [[Action Girl]], she's become a [[Mama Bear]] instead of just a sociopath.

== Web Comics ==

* [[Big Bad|Kronos]] from ''[[Wayward Sons]]'' was revealed to have adopted the young survivor or a village that was brutalised by one of his more sadistic minions. He wiped the boy's memory as an act of mercy, named him Menes and raised him as though his own flesh and blood, even growing to ''love him as a father''. Such a shame for him, then, that, upon discovering the truth, Menes became [[The Mole]] against him for Suras' side.

* Played with in ''[[The Order of the Stick]],'' with [[Sociopathic Hero|Belkar.]] He has performed unquestionably good acts during the comic, such as preventing an assassination attempt, refusing to join the [[Big Bad]] when it could have been beneficial to him, and even literally adopting a [[Morality Pet|cat whose owner was killed.]] Every time this happens, the rest of the Order is pleasantly surprised. However, he always has a selfish reason for doing so: the would-be assassination target could have reduced his jail sentence, he just wanted to kill [[Big Bad|Xykon]]'s recruiter, and he wanted to kill said recruiter ''with'' the cat. [[Word of God|Reportedly,]] he's still [[Chaotic Evil]].

== Western Animation ==

* [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Prince Zuko]] in Season 3 actually fits here better than in [[Heel Face Turn]], because he was always more morally conflicted than most Firebenders and by the end of Season 2, there really was no telling which way he would have gone. His side-switch also coincides with a significant slant back towards the "Idealistic" end of the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|sliding scale.]]

== Real Life ==

* Andrew Jackson once adopted a young Creek Indian orphan. He was an orphan because Jackson had just led an army that massacred ''his entire village''.