Conflicting Loyalty: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Whichever the character chooses, he may regard it as [[Dirty Business]].

 

{{examples}}

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

** {{spoiler|Uh there was proof. Itachi had no choice but to execute the clan after the negotiations with the Third Hokage failed. Only Madara-the [[Complete Monster]] [[Big Bad]] claims the Uchiha were oppressed.}}

** Not to mention [[Magnificent Bastard|Lelouch]]

* Athrun has this big time in ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]''. On the one hand, Durandal sweet-talked him into rejoining ZAFT to protect his former nation PLANTs from EA attack. He also has loyalty to the crew of the Minerva as fellow soldiers who have tried to save a world that hates them. On the other hand, his adopted nation Orb was effectively blackmailed into joining the EA, and his best friend and his ex-fiancees were forced to flee with the Archangel. This all comes to a head when Orb is ordered to send a fleet out to fight ZAFT, and Athrun's ship the Minerva is sent out to fight it, and the Archangel ends up intervening against both ZAFT and the EA to protect the Orb fleet. Cue ten episodes of Athrun wrestling with his loyalties until he finally jumps ship (again) and joins Orb.

** He never even really gets to totally make the choice. After learning of this Durandal decides he doesn't need someone that isn't completely loyal to him and sends soldiers after Athrun branding him a traitor to Zaft before he really did anything and forcing him to flee back to Orb.

* ''[[Winter Cicada]]'' is about [[Star-Crossed Lovers]] during the great Boshin civil war in Japan (1864 to 1869). Akizuki is on the isolationist side (expel foreigners and keep the Shogunate system) and Kusaka is on the imperialist side (open the borders and embrace modern culture). Somewhat subverted in that both main characters want to keep the borders open, but nonetheless they end up going along with their clans.

* ''[[Transformers Energon]]'' gives an interesting variant with Demolisher, whose loyalties are both to Megatron. In this case, the conflict comes down to whether he obeys the last command Megatron gave at the end of ''[[Transformers Armada|Armada]]'', or whether he disregards that to go along with the dramatically different orders Megatron starts giving after being resurrected.

 

== [[Comics]] ==

 

== [[Film]] ==

* ''[[Chariots of Fire]]'': "God knows I love my country. But I can't make that sacrifice." (Eric refusing to run on Sunday)

* ''[[Lawrence of Arabia]]'':

'''Lawrence:''' And other things... }}

* In ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Revenge of the Sith]]'', Anakin Skywalker fell to [[The Dark Side]] when circumstances forced him to choose between his loyalty to the Jedi and his loyalty to Palpatine. [[Tragic Mistake|He chose Palpatine.]]

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* In the ''[[1632]]'' series, [[Badass Spaniard]] Ruy Sanchez de Casador y Ortiz is torn between loyalty to his new American wife, and to Spain.

* ''[[The Assassins of Tamurin]]'': Lale is torn between loyalty to her [[Cult]] mother and her lover after she [[Becoming the Mask|becomes the mask]].

* ''[[Daisy Miller]]'': Winterbourne must choose between Daisy (Rome's local [[Strange Girl]] who has caught his eye) and the approval of his peers (who scorn her for being a [[Good Bad Girl|shameless flirt]]).

* In the juvenile novel ''Treegate's Raiders'' by Leonard Wibberley, at the [[The American Revolution|Battle of Cowpens]] , upon seeing some highlanders advance one of the title character's men shouts, "Go to the other end of the line, there are Frasers here", thus showing a conflict on both sides between military duty and tribal ties.

* In [[Dragonlance|Brothers In Arms]] one of the commanders mentions that this is why he didn't want to be a knight. He feared the potential for his lord and his god to demand conflicting things of him.

* In [[War of the Spider Queen]], half-demon [[Blood Knight]] isn't partial about who is giving him orders as long as he can brutaly tear someone to shreds. He is ordered by his mother, the high priestess of Menzoberanzan, to accompany his aunt Quenthel on her quest and follow her orders without question. However, when Quenthel starts to eat herself up with doubt and loses her faith in the Spider Goddess, he is conflicted between his loyalty and his believe that [[Asskicking Equals Authority]], which is the foundation for their races entire society. Danifae however, who as a slave is nominally the groups lowest ranking member, proves herself to be a [[Manipulative Bastard|Manipulative Bitch]] who plays the game of lying, betraying, and instilling fear like no-one else. {{spoiler|When Jegrred finally switches his loyalty, Quenthel helplessly resigns and doesn't try to stop them, but when she gets all her powers back, she sacrifices him for punishment.}}

* Drives the plot of ''[[Assassin Fantastic|On My Honor]]'': the [[POV Character]] is a [[Double Agent]], working as a trusted assassin under a queen while secretly remaining loyal to his homeland. This puts him in a tight spot when the queen sends him to murder the current king of his country...

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

** "Amok Time": Captain Kirk must choose between obeying Star Fleet orders and going to Altair VI or taking Spock to Vulcan to save his life, which could result in Kirk being court-martialed.

** Several times Kirk has to decide whether to violate the [[Alien Non-Interference Clause|Prime Directive]] in order to save the Enterprise. Each time he goes ahead and breaks it, always coming up with a plausible rationale for doing so. The only time he ever enforces it is when another starship captain violates it.

** Later Garak and Damar are faced with similar choices.

* ''[[Kings]]'', episode "Insurrection". David is sent to his home town by King Silas to convince the locals to accept the decision to give their land away in a peace deal. His family turn out to be the leaders of the protestors.

** He also chose her over a [[Noble Profession|calling]] he loved which may have been even harder.

** Also, in "War Stories", Mal admits that he was initially against Zoe's marriage to Wash, concerned that it would split loyalties amongst the crew.

** And Gunn, between his own vamp hunting team and Angel's group, in the same episode.

 

== [[Theater]] ==

** Enobarbus is also conflicted between his love for Antony and his duty to Rome.

* Pierre Corneille's plays are full of this. In ''Horace'', Camille has to choose between her Roman brother and her lover, who is fighting against Rome. In ''Polyeucte'', Polyeucte chooses his (banned and persecuted) Christian faith over his wife and country.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* The ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series has Axel. Although he apparently suffers from [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]] and has no issues with being a [[Double Reverse Quadruple Agent]] when necessary, he's shown some capacity to be conflicted in which side to stick with:

* In ''[[Yggdra Union]]'', Nessiah's first prerogative may be to ensure the safety and growth of the Gran Centurio, but he's also implied to care fairly deeply for the Imperial Army. When forced to choose between {{spoiler|protecting the Imperial Army by killing the player's army, thus ensuring that the sword's current wielder will die, or joining up with the player to rescue Yggdra and oversee the Gran Centurio's growth personally, he decides to [[Take a Third Option]] and kills himself to let things play out as naturally as possible. (Which isn't as extreme as it sounds, because Nessiah's pretty nonchalant about dying [[Immortality|for obvious reasons]].)}} This is probably also done to preserve the balance of the game, but Nessiah having conflicted loyalties is the most reasonable explanation in-plot.

* Etna from ''[[Disgaea]]'' has great loyalty to King Krichevskoy, so great in fact that it remained with her even when she {{spoiler|lost her memory.}} But she also made a promise to him; to {{spoiler|protect Laharl and make sure he become a great Overlord,}} which may or may not be more then Etna can stand.

* This trope is the basis for Steiner's character development in ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'', where he stands torn between his sworn duty to protect Princess Garnet, and his loyalty to Queen Brahne who means to kill the girl.

** As a Keeper, Merrill regards it as her duty to restore ancient elven magic, even if the rest of her clan thinks it is madness to get help from demons to repair a cursed magic artifact.

* ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' - Miranda is [[Undying Loyalty|loyal to the end]] for Cerberus, having given up everything so they could protect her from her father. Then Shepard comes along and wins her loyalty by treating her as her own person and helping her out with a personal issue without expecting anything in return. In the endgame, if she goes with Shepard into the [[Final Boss]] area, when forced to choose between Shepard and Cerberus, she chooses {{spoiler|Shepard. [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Without hesitation.]]}}

* In ''[[Solatorobo]]'', {{spoiler|Elh must choose between her duty to seal Lares (which requires the sacrifice of Red) and her loyalty to her friend. She ultimately can't do it and stops the Rite mid-way, unable to bring herself to finish.}}

* In ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'', Yasha had to choose between his family and his duty to protect humanity from the Gohma, since Deus' plan required Asura (Yasha's brother-in-law) being scapegoated as a traitor and Mithra (his niece) enslaved as the Brahmastra's Mantra-channeler. After witnessing many people suffering after the Gohma's recent attack, Yasha sided with Deus. [[It Got Worse]] for Yasha since his sister Durga (Asura's wife and Mithra's mother) was also killed {{spoiler|though it's unclear whether Deus ordered it or Sergei did it on his own just to anger Asura}}. 12,000 years later, Yasha has to make the choice again when Asura returns, hell-bent on saving Mithra. He initially remains loyal to Deus since he still believes stopping the Gohma is more important than anything. Ultimately, Yasha turns against Deus after battling {{spoiler|Wrath Asura}} helps Yasha realize that if there's even the slightest chance to stop the Gohma without resorting to Deus' horrific plan, then he has to take it.

 

== [[Visual Novels]] ==

** Miyako seems to act like one at times.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' has a slight example of this in the third season. {{spoiler|Mai has to choose between her love of Zuko and her fear of Azula in "Boiling Rock," and chooses her love of Zuko. When Azula goes to kill her for this, Ty Lee makes a quick choice between her friendship-based love of Mai and ''her'' fear of Azula, and she ''also'' chooses the love. Either Azula isn't really that scary ([[Magnificent Bastard|which, let's be honest, isn't completely true]]), or both of her friends are much more loyal (to other people) than Azula previously thought.}}

** {{spoiler|Lampshaded in Mai's case, since she outright confirms which side of this trope she was on in the exact same scene}}

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

** This was at Noverra in 1499. See ''The Mercenaries'' by Anthony Mockler.

* The Thespians at Thermopylae were a curious clash between one interpretation of [[Patriotic Fervor]] and another. The Thespians were all exiles, yet stood and fought beside the 300 Spartans. In other words they put the [[Honor Before Reason|honor]] of their city ahead of the [[Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right|laws]] of their city.

* George Washington in the Whiskey Rebellion. As the hero of the American Revolution, he had a certain sympathy for people revolting against being taxed: as the President of the United States he had a duty to uphold the Constitution and the laws made under it, including the tax laws. He resolved the conflict by exercising the office of President: as President, he led an army that captured the rebels; as President, he put them on trial for treason; and when they were convicted, as President he [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|pardoned every one of them.]]

* Many soldiers and sailors fighting for both the Federals and Confederates during the [[American Civil War]].

** Sam Houston, considered one of the founding fathers of Texas and the 1st and 3rd president of the Republic of Texas (and many other things as well), was forced to resign as governor of Texas when he refused to take the oath of loyalty to the Confederacy. When the US Army offered him a commission to lead an army and stop the rebellion in Texas, he refused. He was very pro-union, but he could not bring himself to cause misery to the people of Texas.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Internal Conflict Tropes]]

[[Category:Friendship Tropes]]

[[Category:Betrayal Tropes]]