Always Save the Girl: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|'''Majesty:''' Burn the whole city... that's pretty extreme for the life of one woman.<br />

'''Caine:''' Fuck the city. I'd burn the world to save her.|''[[The Acts of Caine (Literature)|Heroes Die]]''}}

See also [[Hostage for Macguffin]]. Contrast [[LovedDuty IFirst, NotLove Honor MoreSecond]].

** Earlier, when Roy is giving into [[Revenge Before Reason]], Riza stops him from going too far by threatening to shoot him--ashim—as they agreed if he ever strayed from the path he had chosen. He asks her what she plans to do after she kills him, and she admits she's going to kill herself, [[Driven to Suicide|since there will be nothing left for her]]. ''That'' is what finally convinces him to step back.

{{quote| '''Roy:''' I can't bear the thought of losing you.}}

* In ''[[Chaos ;Head]]'', Takumi could have let Norose use Noah II to greatly improve the world but he saved Rimi instead. Of course, That's assuming the psychopathic Norose would use the Noah II as he claimed he would.

* ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]''. At the beginning, it was touching and powerful when Syaoran was willing to give up everything he knew, and even Sakura's love for him, at the expense of saving her life. In more recent chapters, when we find out that, for Sakura's sake, he has {{spoiler|purposely damned an entire town, watching them melt before his eyes, chosen staying with her over his own world and family at the age of ''seven,'' and then made a [[Deal Withwith the Devil]] to radically alter, and not for better, the life of her entire family, herself, and his own parents, along with, potentially, ''all of space and time''}} it's starting to become... a tad aggravating.

* The end of ''[[Slayers (Anime)|Slayers NEXT]]'', when Lina chooses to cast a spell that's probably going to wipe out the entire universe just to save Gourry. On the other hand, considering what type of morally questionable person she already is, this is a lot less unusual for her. It didn't help that Lina would have been killed if she didn't cast it, and that she had been severely psychologically abused by this point. Lina did not cast the spell the first time Gourrys life had been threatened. She only broke after the villain revealed that he could still be saved.

* ''[[Mai-HiME (Anime)|MaiMy-HiME]]'', when Mai's Most Important Person is revealed to be Yuuichi. Instead of, say, her little brother, who up until now seemed to be her top priority.

* Sanji from ''[[One Piece (Manga)|One Piece]]''. Possibly one of his major character flaws, actually.

* In ''[[Bleach (Manga)|Bleach]]'', Ichigo goes nuts trying to save Rukia and later Orihime. The former case pits him against thousands of Soul Reapers, several of whom are stronger than he is even at the end of the arc, and the latter forces him to go into he enemy's fortress alone, at great detriment to the upcoming war. Which he's romantically interested in, if at all, is [[Ship-to-Ship Combat|anybody's guess]].

** In the [[Neon Genesis Evangelion (Anime)|Original Series]], this is the motivation of [[Generation Xerox|Gendo]].

* Belldandy in ''[[Ah! My Goddess (Manga)|Ah! My Goddess]]'' makes it clear she puts Keiichi's life ahead of all others, once allowing the cutting of the Universal superstring rather than killing him when he is possessed by the Lord of Terror, ends up taking the third option to save the day.

* Subverted at the last second in ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]''. This is pretty much Youji's default mindset, but he ends up {{spoiler|killing the woman he loves in order to save his teammates}}.

** Aya also makes it pretty clear that he doesn't give a single fat damn about Weiss's mission to make the world a better place if it interferes in any way with his ability to [[Big Brother Instinct|protect his little sister]].

* {{spoiler|Akemi Homura}} of ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Anime)|Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' is revealed to have this mindset. Happily, saving the girl in question also coincides with saving the world {{spoiler|by ensuring she'll never turn into a [[Cosmic Horror Story|super-powerful, world-destroying Witch]]}}. [[Tear Jerker|Sadly, however]], {{spoiler|it's not as easy as it sounds, even with [[Groundhog Day Loop|multiple attempts]]. She's even had to ''[[Shoot the Dog|Shoot]]''/''[[Mercy Kill]]'' [[Shoot the Dog|The Girl]] once.}}

* In ''[[Inuyasha (Manga)|Inuyasha]]'', Sango's inability to live without Miroku shows how damaged she really is after losing everything she loved, and she'll do anything, ''[[What the Hell, Hero?|anything]]'', to save him. {{spoiler|When she fails, she finally gives up and asks to die with him.}}

* [[To Aru Majutsu no Index]] has* Touma, who will help anyone in need. Usually this help involves punching someone in the face. While everything around him is exploding.

* Absolutely subverted at the end of the Argentine comic book [[El Eternauta]] (the second volume). After blowing up the [[Supervillain Lair|enemy headquarters]], the hero flies to help [[La Résistance]]. When he arrives to the war scene, he must choose to help either his wife and daughter at one side of the battlefield, or the bulk of the women and children of the small population of [[Dying Race|last remaining humans]]. He goes for the later and saves them, but by the time he can go to help his wife and daughter, they [[Downer Ending|have died]].

== Films -- Live ActionFilm ==

* Also ''[[Batman Forever (Film)|Batman Forever]]'', but subverted as Batman knows he wouldn't be able to save either the girl or Robin, then he goes and saves both anyway because he's [[Charles Atlas Superpower|just that good]].

* ''[[Star Wars]]'':

* There's the choice given in the first ''[[Spider-Man (Filmfilm)|Spider-Man]]'' film where Peter is forced to choose between Mary Jane's life and the lives of some children in a cablecar. It appears for a moment as if he's chosen M.J., but actually he's [[Take a Third Option|Taken a Third Option]].

* In the first ''[[Hellboy (Filmfilm)|Hellboy]]'' film, the villain Rasputin offers Hellboy the choice of bringing about the Apocalypse to gain enough power to save his desouled girl Liz, or to save the world and lose her forever. Hellboy initially sees this as no choice at all, and begins the procedure of summoning the Ogdru Jahad and end the world, before [[Naive Newcomer]] Myers throws Hellboy his [[Memento MacGuffin|father's cross]]. The cross burns into his flesh, reminding him that this ''is his choice''. Save the world, or save Liz, and his father always did say that a man is made by his choices. He then chooses the world, tears off his newly regrown horns, and stabs Rasputin to death with one of them. There is then a [[Double Subversion]] when he [[Beyond the Impossible|manages to save the girl]] ''[[Beyond the Impossible|anyway]]'' by sheer ''[[Badass|Badassery]]ery''. A newly awoken and somewhat confused Liz asks him how he saved her. His answer?

{{quote| '''Hellboy:''' Hey, you on the other side. Let her go. Because for her [[Like a Badass Out of Hell|I'll cross over, and]] '''[[Like a Badass Out of Hell|then]]'''[[Like a Badass Out of Hell|... you'll be sorry.]]}}

* Parodied in ''[[The Naked Gun (Film)|The Naked Gun]] 33 1/3''. Rocco tells Frank to give him the bomb or he'll shoot Jane. A long discussion about the possible consequences of each action, and which is preferable, ensues. It doesn't help that the terms keep changing.

* In ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark (Film)|Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'', Indy offers to let the Nazis keep the Ark in exchange for Marion, threatening to destroy the Ark if they don't comply. Belloq calls his bluff and Indy gets captured.

* The King in ''[[Spaceballs (Film)|Spaceballs]]'' sacrifices himself and the entire population of his home planet, just so the princess doesn't get her old nose back.

* ''[[James Bond (Filmfilm)|James Bond]]''

** In ''[[The Spy Who Loved Me (Film)|The Spy Who Loved Me]]'', 007 chooses to defy his superiors to save Anya Amasova from the villain's lair, which is about to be torpedoed by the navy. Considering that she said she would kill him as soon as the mission was over, this proves that he really did love her.

** In ''[[GoldeneyeGoldenEye (Filmfilm)|GoldeneyeGoldenEye]]'' he subverts this trope by telling Janus to [[What the Hell, Hero?|go ahead and kill]] [[Heroes Want Redheads|Natalya]], but this is actually a [[Batman Gambit]]. Of course, he ends up saving her.

* A gender flip of this occurs in the 2010 version of ''[[The Wolf Man (Film)|The Wolf Man]]''. Gwen protects Lawrence from the police in the hopes of finding a cure... even though this almost certainly means someone innocent is going to get killed or savaged by a werewolf.

* In ''[[The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Film)|The Sorcerers Apprentice]]'', despite knowing the consequences of doing so, [[The Apprentice (trope)|Dave]] {{spoiler|gives up the Grimhold and Merlin's ring}} to save Becky. Despite the consequences, Balthazar admits that he would have done the same.

* ''[[A Boy and His Dog]]'' {{spoiler|averts this pretty darned hard in the last ten minutes.}} It makes for one of the best movie endings ever put on film.

* In ''[[I, Robot (Filmfilm)|I Robot]]'', Detective Del Spooner's ([[Will Smith]]) hatred of robots stems from a traffic accident where his car and the car of a little girl and her father was thrown into a river. A passing robot leapt into the river to help. The girl's father was killed on impact and both cars were rapidly filling with water. The robot choose to save Spooner as he had a higher chance of survival (34% to 11%) than the girl had. Saving Spooner was the "logical" choice, something that Spooner, to put it mildly, didn't agree with. In a [[Flash Back]], Spooner can be seen begging the robot to save the girl instead of him.

** In fact, the character's [[Scrappy|Scrappyness]]ness for the rest of the film {{spoiler|his [[Big Damn Heroes]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] notwithstanding,}} almost seems to have been inserted specifically to make the audience hate him enough to disagree with him as a matter of principle. While he does not put forward his case particularly well, [[Jerkass Has a Point|the points he makes are completely valid]], and would likely have many members of the audience agreeing with his argument if it had been put forward by a more likeable character.

* [[Playing Withwith a Trope|Played with]] in the [[Percy Jackson]] series, where Athena accuses this of Percy:"You would give up the world to save your friends". Played straight, when Percy realizes this is his heroic flaw, and subverted when "It would seem you have managed to save both."

* Subverted in [[Adam Hall]]'s [[Spy Fiction]] ''The Sinkiang Executive''. British spy [[Quiller]] murders an opposition agent that has him under routine surveillance, breaking the unwritten rule of the intelligence services and jeopardising the secrecy of the [[Government Agency of Fiction|Bureau]]. Apparently the agent had a peripheral involvement in the death of a local girl who helped Quiller on a previous mission; she was captured and an exchange offered -- Quilleroffered—Quiller for the girl. Quiller agreed, the girl was released but Quiller didn't keep his side of the bargain, jumping on a plane to Austria instead. The girl was then tracked down and killed by the opposition in an act of revenge.

** Subverted hard with [[The Cape (trope)|Captain Carrot]], who says "Personal isn't the same thing as important." and, while he wanted to get [[Action Girl|Angua]] back, joined Vimes's group to stop the war in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Jingo|Jingo]]'' instead of going off by himself after her. Of course, Angua is a ''[[Our Werewolves Are Different|werewolf]]'', and Carrot knows it, so he rarely thinks she's in any actual danger.

** Played somewhat more straight in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]]'': though there wasn't a crisis in Ankh-Morpork that needed dealing with, he immediately resigns his commission and goes after her when she leaves the city. But also subverted there in that he ''informs the proper authorities first''. He's not rash, even when he ''is'' doing the romantic thing.

** Subverted ''again'' with Susan and [[Thief of Time|that whole time-crisis bit]], although it was {{spoiler|an old man, and Time and Existence were almost destroyed because of it. (Apocalypse averted?)}}

* ''[[The Acts of Caine (Literature)|The Acts of Caine]]''. Caine says it straight in ''Heroes Die'': "I'd burn the world to save her."

{{quote| '''Bianca:''' You would risk war between the Wizards and the Red Court for one person?<br />

*** Harry is [[Genre Savvy]] enough to see that a policy of appeasement to the [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil|Red Court]] would only postpone the inevitable and result in the deaths of even more innocents.

* In the ''[[Harry Potter (Literaturenovel)|Harry Potter]]'' series, this trope basically sums up how {{spoiler|Snape responded to Lily being in danger. He was happy being a Death Eater until Voldemort targeted Lily (and her husband and child, but he wasn't concerned about them). In this case, the trope worked for good, motivating Snape's [[Heel Face Turn]] as Voldemort could not have been expected to spare Lily since [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]].}}

* In ''[[Nightside|A Hard Day's Knight]]'', renegade knight Stark plans to hand Excaliber over to an evil incarnation of Merlin -- oneMerlin—one who's already decimated his own world, and will invade ours if he gets the sword -- insword—in exchange for the resurrection of his dead wife. {{spoiler|He eventually subverts this trope, but only because his wife's ghost calls him out on it, insisting that she'll kill herself again if he buys her life at such a price.}}

* Kira in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' found out about Odo's feelings about her when she encountered an alternate future where she had died when the ''Defiant'' crashed on a planet and the crew formed a town. The cast were subject to [[The Time Traveller's Dilemma]] as going back to change things would result in those being born in the town never existing. Odo pretty much committed chronocide, not just on himself but on the crew of the ''Defiant'' ''and their descendants'' without even thinking about it. Unlike many instances of this trope, however, Kira's knowledge of this would create a rift between them that would take months to heal.

** Worf in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' fails to save a Cardassian dissident because he goes back to save an injured Jadzia Dax (who dies anyway a few episodes later).

* In ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'', one of the villains presents Zoe with a [[Sadistic Choice]] between a captive Mal and Wash. She surprises the villain by ''immediately'' choosing her husband over her captain/war-buddy before he can even finish. Subverted in that, while Wash does qualify as [[The Chick]], she did it for the coldly logical reason that Mal will survive the villain's [[Torture Technician|"gentle" ministrations]] long enough for her to [[Take a Third Option|rescue him as well]].

{{quote| '''The Doctor:''' {{spoiler|All of creation has just been wiped from the sky. D'you know how many lives have now never happened, all the people who never lived? Your girlfriend isn't more important than the whole Universe.}}<br />

* A mild version in ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'', which might even count as a somewhat [[Out-of-Character Moment]] for Captain Jack Harkness. In the third miniseries, ''Children of Earth'', Jack is facing the alien menace 456 and is prepared to lead humanity in a war against them to protect the children of the Earth. Then the 456 releases a virus in the building, while Jack's love interest Ianto is in it. When it's apparent Ianto can't escape and will be killed by the virus, Jack recants and begs the 456 to spare Ianto in return for his surrender. {{spoiler|By then it was too late and Ianto died in Jack's arms.}} It's unknown whether Jack really would have given up protecting humanity's children in exchange for Ianto's safety, or whether he was just bluffing in an attempt to save Ianto's life.

* ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'' makes this brutally clear at around the middle of the fourth and final season. Scorpius is on the ship and John is convinced he's only there because he craves the wormhole knowledge in John's head. So far over past seasons, Scorpius threatening John, his family, even the entirety of Earth hasn't made John give in. Meanwhile Aeryn, angry that she has done everything she can think of to tell him that she wants a relationship with him, confronts him on his emotional deadness... and John performs a neat trick that shuts down the comms long enough for him to explain that, yes, he'd let anything else be destroyed, but Aeryn {{spoiler|and her child}}? Not in this universe. But if Scorpius knew that, he'd come after her ''immediately'' and he won't let that happen.

** Next episode, she gets kidnapped by Scarrans with similar designs on wormhole knowledge, forcing Crichton into a deal with Scorpius -- tradingScorpius—trading the wormhole knowledge for his help in rescuing her. Whoopsidaisy.

* Subverted in an episode of ''[[Buck Rogers in Thethe 25th Century]]'': the Evil Alien Computer put Buck through having to choose between Wilma Deering and Hawk (an alien from a Proud Warrior Race of birdmen). He chose Hawk because he guessed that Wilma was really a double put in by the Evil Alien Computer because the ''real'' Wilma Derring wouldn't have been such a wuss.

* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' is a rare subversion where the heroes are more concerned with their [[Heterosexual Life Partners|Heterosexual Life Partner]] than with any [[Love Interest|Love Interests]]s. Especially the moment in "All Hell Breaks Loose" where the hellgate opens: Sam, Ellen and Bobby try and shut it; Dean gets pinned to a grave by the Yellow-Eyed Demon, and Sam immediately goes to save his brother, leaving Ellen (who is a woman, but not a [[Love Interest]]) to try and shut one door by herself.

* John Connor in ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' finds Cameron -- hisCameron—his Terminator love-interest -- withinterest—with her chip missing. Ignoring Judgment Day's impending arrival and his mission to stop it, he leaves his mother, and joins forces with a rogue T-1000 (liquid metal Terminator), jumping to the future in order to rescue her. In jumping after Cameron, John seems to have erased himself from the timeline, veritably sacrificing himself and his position of mankind's savior to save the "woman" he loves.

* On [[House (TV series)|House]], Foreman secretly switched Hadley from the placebo to the real drug in the drug trial he was working on, something that could end his career if it became known. Hadley was a bit weirded out by this, as they had only been dating for a couple of weeks.

* Bill Adama does this twice in ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined(2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'', first to save his surrogate daughter Kara Thrace in "You Can't Go Home Again", then to save the woman he loves, President Laura Roslin, in "Sine Qua Non". Both times he's called on it by his colleagues and (eventually) realises they're right; fortunately fate rewards Adama's determination and returns both women to him.

* ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' nearly makes this choice when he learns that the only way to save Fred is to let hundreds of thousands of people die in her place. He initially spits out an angry "to hell with the world" and storms off to perform the ritual as the scene cuts away. When it returns, though, he's still standing at the threshold, unable to actually go through with it, and he finally, sadly turns away.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy]]'', meanwhile, is willing to let the entire world die in torment to save Dawn. It doesn't fit on the surface, but [[Word of God]] says that Dawn was intended to fill the dramatic role of [[Love Interest]] from Season 5 on out.

** It works the other way around, too, in which Scully will risk everything to save Mulder. She doesn't even let being pregnant get in the way of heading her own private investigation into his abduction, which involves driving cross-country and confronting alien replacements. In fact, it is Skinner who tries to convince her that Mulder wouldn't want her to do this if he had known her condition.

* ''[[Twenty Four|24]]'' loves playing with this trope; both Jack Bauer and Tony Almeida are put into [[Sadistic Choice]] scenarios at different points during the series run, and their differing reactions are part of what make Tony such an effective [[Foil]] for Jack. {{spoiler|Jack does absolutely everything in his power to [[Take a Third Option]] on Day 1, but his wife ends up being killed anyway. When Tony's turn comes two seasons later, he breaks down completely at the prospect of losing his wife and proceeds to play this trope 100% straight, despite it being presented in-universe as morally and legally indefensible. Agonizingly, it's Jack who has to force Tony almost literally kicking and screaming into taking a third option, despite knowing firsthand what kind of grief is in store for Tony if it doesn't work.}}

* In ''[[Flashpoint (TV series)|Flashpoint]]'' the rules against team members dating are there for this specific reason. During a dangerous situation the team and civilians could be put in danger if one of them breaks protocol to try and save their [[Love Interest]].

* From ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' we have Guinevere on the one hand, and Camelot on the other. For Arthur, Merlin and all the Knights of the Round Table, Guinevere always comes first.

* Given a few twists in ''[[Babylon 5]]'': {{spoiler|The Vorlons send the Inquisitor to see if Delenn has the right stuff to be one of the [[Chosen One|Chosen Ones]]s in the fight against the [[Big Bad|Shadows]]. At the end of the episode the Inquisitor puts the life of her love interest, John Sheridan, on the line, saying that she can only save him by giving up her fight against the Shadows. She chooses to save him... and it turns out this is ''exactly'' what the Vorlons were looking for: "How do you know the [[Chosen One|Chosen Ones]]s? No greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brother. Not for millions. Not for glory, not for fame... For one person."}}

* In ''[[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IV]]'', Cecil decides to hand over the ''last remaining'' crystal that Golbez needs for world domination in order to save Rosa's life. Turns out there are four more crystals after that, but he didn't know that at the time. And he didn't even [[You Said You Would Let Them Go|do the exchange right]].

** Meanwhile, in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VIII]],'' Squall clarifies his priorities after being confronted with the possibility that, as a sorceress, Rinoa could end up going insane or being possessed by the [[Big Bad]]: "Rinoa... Even if you end up as the world's enemy, I'll... I'll be your knight." Unlike the FFIV example, in FFVIII the issue is mostly hypothetical (aside from certain [[Epileptic Trees]]), but Squall does choose to free Rinoa after she [[Self-Restraint|voluntarily surrenders herself to be imprisoned]] in order to keep the [[Big Bad]] from using her to attack others.

** [[Les Yay]] example: Fang in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIII]]'' would do anything up to and including {{spoiler|causing the apocalypse -- ''twice'' --}} if it meant keeping Vanille safe.

{{quote| '''Fang:''' I'm not kidding when I say the world can burn if that's what it takes to save Vanille.}}

** This is actually a gameplay mechanic in ''[[Final Fantasy IX (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IX]]''. One of Zidane's talents gives him a 50-percent chance to take damage in place of a female party member.

* In one of the more poignant scenes in ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'', it is established that Colette will have to sacrifice her life and become an angel to save their world. Lloyd doesn't like this, and is just barely convinced by everyone, ''including her'', that this is for the best. A subversion? Not quite. After several plot twists and a [[Boss Rush]], Lloyd and party run off with Colette after all. And if that wasn't enough of a double subversion, Lloyd argues in a skit that because he was willing to sacrifice Colette for the sake of the entire world, he's a horrible person and a hypocrite.

** Nearly every line the Prince says in the [[DLCDownloadable Content|Epilogue]] is him trying to justify what he did. As well as the above, he says that Elika's powers have grown, and if Ahriman didn't think she was a threat why is he pursuing them? The Ahura had been beaten before they rallied and sealed him away; if they could just repeat that somehow... For most of the epilogue, Elika doesn't listen, but at the end she leaves the Prince, saying she can't do it alone - she has to find her people.

* A moment in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'' which garnered a lot of fan hatred towards Otacon was when Snake has just forced his way past the {{spoiler|microwaves}} and is not only half-dead but ''[[Say My Name|screaming Otacon's name]]'', and Otacon doesn't react. The second {{spoiler|Naomi}} shows up in the video, Otacon [[Strangled Byby the Red String|starts crying hysterically and performs a symbolic hand-touch with her image]]. He'd [[The Dulcinea Effect|known her for a week at absolute maximum]] and most likely a day, they'd had a [[Sex Equals Love|one-night stand]], and she'd then screwed him over royally and was betraying her actual partner to do it - yet Snake had been unfailingly and fiercely loyal to him ever since the moment they'd met ''nine years ago''. It seemed powerfully unfair for sudden romantic love to be held in higher esteem than an incredibly deep and loving friendship that had been developed over the course of the series.

** Yeah [[Reset Button|thank God]] [[Canon Dis ContinuityDiscontinuity|for that]]

{{quote| '''Amy''': If I had to choose between the world and Sonic, ''I would choose Sonic!''}}

* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'', Sora commitescommits a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] in order to save Kairi. However, "saving her" is equal to "recreating the [[Big Bad|Big Bads]]s opportunities to end the world, which he just foiled a few minutes ago". Especially stupid, because Sora's also the only one who could stop this [[EndoftheThe End of the World as We Know It|End of the World Asas We Know It]], since he's the one with the Keyblade. In the manga adaptation, he at least throws [[Donald Duck|Donald]] the Keyblade before committing suicide, so his friends can take over the task. Turns out to be pointless, because it disappears as soon as he's gone anyway.

** This persists in ''Chain of Memories'', where Sora tells Namine to shatter his heart and memories if it will mean saving her from harm at the hands of Marluxia, and that he'll still protect her even without his memories. Marluxia is amused at the naivete of this strategy, saying that Sora will be ''comatose'' if he loses his memories and unable to do anything. Of course, then something happens that challenges this claim, so it's unknown exactly ''what'' would have happened had Sora followed through with his initial plan.

* ''[[In FamousInfamous (Videovideo game Gameseries)|In Famous]]'' outright averts this when offered a sadistic choice by the villain to save Trish or a building full of doctors saving the girl is the evil choice to make and sacrificing her for the good of the many is the good one.

* In ''[[Armored Core (Video Game)|Armored Core 4]]'', this is Gender-swapped, [[Mission Control|Fiona Jarnefeldt]] is hinted at being in love with the [[Player Character]]- but this is made clear if you're doing poorly on a particular mission on Hard Mode-- theMode—the enemy has sent forces to destroy the city that you're trying to protect, and you can't use your radioactive [[Deflector Shields|Primal Armor]], or you'll risk harming the innocent civilians of the city... if your [[Hit Points|AP]] falls below 25%, she'll choose to save you instead, and activate your Primal Armor anyways.

* In ''[[Chrono Cross (Video Game)|Chrono Cross]]'', the flirtatious but practical harlequin, Harle, can ask the player character which he would choose: the world or her. If he chooses her, she is visibly affected and thanks him for saying so, even if it's only a kind lie.

* ''[[Lost Magic]]'' for the DS has one of the most obnoxious examples of this. {{spoiler|The [[Big Bad]] asks the character to hand over the [[MacGuffin|MacGuffins]]s or else she'll kill the girl. If the player refuses, the girl disappears and the hero goes mad over her loss, gets brainwashed by the [[Big Bad]], starts working for her, and hands over all the [[MacGuffin|MacGuffins]]s he had, all by the end of the next cutscene. The player then has to go around killing people and doing the [[Big Bad]]'s bidding.}}

{{quote| '''Juno:''' I've been branded a traitor to [[The Empire]]. I can't go anywhere, do anything.<br />

* It's very easy to see this in ''[[StarcraftStarCraft]] 2'', as Jim Raynor's interal conflict about what to do about the controlled/infested Kerrigan is obvious, and thus even though the Queen of Blades "murdered 8 billion people" as Raynor says himself, he is still haunted by the propect of getting her old self back. {{spoiler|That is, until Raynor's Raiders and the Moebius Foundation manage to use a Xel'nagan artifact to cure Kerrigan, and infestation is normally 100% incurable because it "mutates too fast"}}.

* ''[[Golden Sun (Video Game)|Golden Sun]]'' gives us Felix's big [[Establishing Character Moment]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|of Awesome]] at Venus Lighthouse: standing up to the endbosses over Sheba (''at Level 5!''), then ''jumping off the top of the Lighthouse'' to save her when she falls off, endangering himself {{spoiler|and the mission to restore Alchemy to the world}} twice for the sake of some girl he implicitly just met.

* In [[Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors]], {{spoiler|the ''entire plot'' is centered around Junpei saving Akane from dying as a child, to the point where ''she'' set it up that way. Though to be fair, if Junpei succeeds in this, it leads to the ending where every single person who possibly can be saved is saved.}}

* At the [[Road Cone]] in ''[[Radiata Stories (Video Game)|Radiata Stories]]'', Jack can choose to play this straight or avert it. Deciding to help Ridley {{spoiler|brings about the destined end of humanity but leaves Jack with Ridley}}, while deciding to stay behind to aid the kingdom {{spoiler|saves the human race at the cost of Ridley's life and Jack deciding to wander the earth a bit.}}

{{quote| "I... I broke him"}}

* In ''[[YuYU+ME: Me Dreamdream]]'', Fiona's decision to {{spoiler|attempt to go back into the [[Dream World]] to find Lia}} at the cost of never coming back to {{spoiler|the real world}}.

* ''[[Girl Genius (Webcomic)|Girl Genius]]'' averts it [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080414 here]:

{{quote| '''Gil:''' How can I justify letting all that death and destruction happen ''again'' -- just because ''I'' fell in ''love''?}}

* ''[[City of Reality]]'' averts it in an [[Imagine Spot]]: Todo would [http://cityofreality.com/2010/02/14/06-11-snap/ always]{{Dead link}} go for the [[Bus Full of Innocents]].

* The first volume of ''[[John Dies Atat the End]]'' ends with David Wong explaining that the forces of darkness have "checkmated" him now that he is in love with Amy. The shadow people drive this point home by demonstrating how easy it would be for them to retroactively kill Amy if he ever steps out of line.

{{quote| '''Hirou''': It's not exactly a difficult question! Calling it 'the Choice between Good and Bad' kind of gives away the answer.<br />

[...]<br />

'''Selena''': What if the Lord of Dark had me prisoner, and threatened to kill me unless you -<br />

* In one arc of the '90s ''[[X-Men (Animationanimation)|X-Men]]'' series, time-travelers kill the young Professor X, resulting in a [[Bad Future|Bad Present]] where all mutants are constantly at war with the Sentinels... and the [[Future Badass|Future Even-More-Badass]] Storm and Wolverine are married. When Bishop comes from the future to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]], Wolverine initially refuses to help, somehow knowing that fixing the past would prevent him and Storm from getting together. When Bishop straight up asks if Wolverine is really willing to allow the devastating war to happen so he can be with Storm, Wolverine says yes without hesitation. After things are set right, there's hints that they both realize something happened, but nothing comes of it.

* In the animated movie ''[[Ben 10 (Animation)|Ben 10]]'': Secret of the Omnitrix, Ben willfully activates the omnitrix to save Gwen, When he is warned that doing so will speed up the destruction of the universe he answers "I don't care!"

* ''[[Batman: The Animated Series (Animation)|Batman the Animated Series]]''

{{quote| '''Harley:''' Good choice. ''Help.''}}

* In "[[Justice League]]," Morgaine le Fey attempts to manipulate the Martian Manhunter into betraying his new world and his allies for the promise of restoring his dead world - and with it, his wife and children. Subverted in that only when his psychic assault on Etregan causes him to see how Jason Blood had fallen for a similar offer, and been betrayed, did he realize that the offer was false and foil Morgaine's plan.

* ''[[Code Lyoko (Animation)|Code Lyoko]]'': [[Smart Guy|Jérémie]] rescues Aelita from drowning. Ulrich, the most athletic of the group, is there the entire time.

* While obviously not a [[Love Interest]], the ''[[Legion of Super -Heroes (AnimationTV series)|Legion of Super Heroes]]'' animated series has Superman's [[Darker and Edgier]] clone from the future (further in the future than the setting of LOSH) protecting a boy who is being targeted by assassins. Turns out they're from the future, too. The boy will grow up to be largely responsible for the existence of [[Big Bad]] Imperiex. It was to show how ruthless "Superman X" ''isn't'' anymore, when he decides the ends don't justify the means and chooses saving the kid over preventing Imperiex's rise.

* Many parents will go above and beyond to protect their child(ren), regardless of gender - see [[Papa Wolf]] and [[Mama Bear]] for details. However, many parents are more likely to worry about a daughter than they are a son, as seen when a girl's significant other gets the [[If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...]] speech.