I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': when wealthy nobleman [[Romantic False Lead|Kuranosuke Takeda]] proposes marriage to Sango, Miroku spends most of the episode conspicuously refraining from offering any input whatsoever - much to the frustration of [[Shipper On Deck]] Kagome, who badgers him about it until he calmly points out that if it would make her happy, Sango would be ''much'' better off marrying Takeda than she would be continuing on with them on their quest to kill the [[Big Bad]].

* In ''[[Fruits Basket]]'', the Yuki Fan Club is rebuked for not wanting this, especially since their non-reciporated love would only make him loathe them. {{spoiler|In the manga, their leader Motoko gives up on Yuki.}}

* Played with and then [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|heartwarmingly]] averted in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. [[Snark Knight|Yue]] starts out [[The Matchmaker|supporting a relationship between Negi and Nodoka]], but ends up [[Matchmaker Crush|developing feelings for Negi herself]]. Since Yue's a chronic bookworm, she's read enough Japanese literature to know that [[Love Triangle|Love Triangles]] ''never'' end well and goes through a [[Heroic BSOD]], eventually deciding that she would rather "[[Driven to Suicide|disappear]]" and clear the way for her best friend rather than pursue him herself and risk disaster. When Nodoka gets wind of this, however, she chases Yue down, [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|slaps her back to her senses]], and declares that ''nobody'' would be happy if Yue disappeared, least of all Nodoka herself. The girls wind up choosing to preserve their friendship and pursue Negi independently (at least until Nodoka comes up with an [[Tenchi Solution|alternate]] [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v18/c165/8.html solution...]).

* Similar to the ''Negima'' version, in ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga)|Hayate the Combat Butler]]'', Hinagiku chooses not to pursue Hayate because she has befriended Nishizawa who was interested first. She has so far made certain that Hayate returns Valentine's Day chocolate to Nishisawa; and has dressed up as a Power Ranger to stick her arms in frogs and [[I Have the High Ground|stand on a tall building]] despite being afraid of heights.

* [[Catgirl|Tabby]] from ''[[.hack]]//Roots'' isn't actually in love with Haseo, but she wants to help him in any way she can. The already [[Jerkass]] Haseo starts going to every length possible to find who or whatever caused Shino, the only one he could really open up to, to fall into a {{spoiler|coma}}, but his [[Drunk With Power|obsession quickly causes him to lose his way.]] Both Shino and Haseo are Tabby's friends, and she just wants to help them both in any way she can, in the game or in the real world. Haseo thinks she's just getting in the way, but that's ''HIS'' problem. Even after telling her to never show herself ever again, she continues to help him in any way she can, just to ensure his happiness. Things work out in the end for everyone though when Haseo comes to his senses and apologizes to Tabby and thanks her for everything she's done and sticking with him through everything he put her through.

* Even ''[[Gintama (Manga)|Gintama]]'' has one of these moments for Hijikata and Mitsuba.

** Milly does this. She has a crush on Lelouch, but her ultimate goal during Cupid's day was to pair Lelouch and Shirley. But it was probably not for Lelouch, who has no obvious love for Shirley, but rather for her friend Shirley, because she has the true big love for Lelouch, compared to Milly's crush.

* The Blonde in [[Gunjo]] kills a man among other things to make the woman she loves happy.

* Current ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' comics have Mary Jane in this role. After decades being depicted as Spider-Man's one true love, recent stories like [[One Moment in Time|OMIT]] have her walking away from Peter so he can be with someone who is "stronger" and has actively been working to hook Peter up with girl-of-the-week Carlie Cooper. Needless to say, this sort of thing hasn't gone over well with the fanbase.

* [[Secret Six|Catman]], fresh from a [[Trauma Conga Line]] that made him relive his accidental murder of his mother and not so accidental murder of his father and made him realize that he would be an even worse father, enacted a complicated gambit to make [[Birds of Prey|Huntress]] hate him so that she would be free of any lingering doubts and "what ifs" about their [[Foe Yay]].

* In the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Books]] Mystique's relationship to her son Nightcrawler and her adoptive daughter Rogue is often coloured by the non-romantic version of this trope. This is especially obvious in the case of Rogue, with whom she had a by all accounts happy family life. At first Mystique thought that Professor X had brainwashed Rogue into joining the X-Men, but once she found out in UXM #178 that this was what Rogue actually wanted, she came to accept her decision and never once tried to make her reverse it. In UXM #185 story Mystique seriously considers allowing Rogue to be shot be Forge's Neutralizer to strip her of her powers, which would enable her to touch people, lead a normal life, and, not least, to return to live with her adoptive parents. However in the end Mystique decides against this because this would have happened without Rogue's consent. And so she manipulates events so that Storm, not Rogue, is hit by the Neutralizer (Mystique is after all a villainess).

 

* Used in ''[[Prime]]''. While there's no "other person," Rafi breaks up with Dave, despite his desire to have a baby with her, knowing full well that it's not the right choice for him (he's only 23, much younger than she). Ironically, his willingness to take a step that he KNOWS he's not ready for (he loves her so much he's willing to make that sacrifice) makes her love him even more, but because she loves him so much, she doesn't want to tie him down like that and knows he'll eventually regret the decision.

* Spoofed hilariously in ''[[Hot Shots]]!'' the [[Romantic False Lead]] insists on putting on a big show of how he's magnanimously letting his girlfriend go so she can be with Charlie Sheen, oblivious to how she's long since fallen out of love with him and just wants him to go away.

* ''[[Kal Ho Naa Ho]]'': Aman fixes all the problems of the Kapur household and helps Rohit seduce Naina because he wants her to be happy.

* ''Dosti: Friends Forever'': one of the weddings you expect in the first part of the movie is cancelled for this reason. {{spoiler|Raj thinks it's unfair to marry Nandini given that he's dying.}}

* In the last two books in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series, Remus Lupin does this regarding Tonks. Subverted in that he's the only person who ever thinks it's necessary, because Tonks wants to be with him and most of the people they know want them to be together too. Also, Lupin doesn't act the way he does because he thinks Tonks should be with a specific other person, he just thinks she deserves better than himself.

** Also done when Harry distances himself from Ginny in the final book, determined not to tie her down to his dangerous fate and willing to sacrifice his own happiness so that she could have a happy life.

** And Ginny herself when Harry was pursuing Cho.

*** Well, not really---at that point she basically knew Harry just wasn't interested in her. Yet.

* Slote in The Winds of War. Later he ends up dying bravely and conveniently in battle. [[Death of the Hypotenuse|Of course he does.]]

* Viciously subverted with {{spoiler|Petyr Baelish}} in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''. While he didn't plan on {{spoiler|his beloved, Cat, getting killed, then resurrected as a merciless, grief-stricken zombie hell-bent on revenge}}, he didn't seem to much care about her feelings over {{spoiler|the fate of her husband}}. While he'd prefer her to be happy, he mostly just wants ''her''.

{{quote| Nicci: "It is because I love him that I could never betray his heart."}}

* ''[[The Picture of Dorian Gray]]'': [[Ho Yay|Basil to Dorian]].

** This is worse for the audience than for Jack, though, since he doesn't remember that before he was [[It Makes Sense in Context|sent back in time]] he and Alison were married and expecting a baby, and that this is an alternate future.

* Between Wesley and Angel it's all over the ''Angel'' episode "Couplet"

** The Doctor does this in a non-romantic sense whenever a companion leaves the TARDIS (or whenever he leaves a companion behind). It generally doesn't work, though: Sarah Jane, Jo and Jack were all deeply hurt by him leaving them. He ''eventually'' apologises to them all after ''decades''.

* For the first two seasons of ''[[The Office]]'' (American), Jim tries to be this with Pam, but ultimately fails due to [[Romantic False Lead|Roy's]] poor treatment of Pam (i.e. he'd probably be happy that she's happy, except she isn't happy).

* ''[[I Carly]]'': Freddie for Carly in ''iSaved Your Life''. Quite an unusual example, because {{spoiler|Freddie himself pulls out of the relationship in order to make sure Carly would be happy, instead of potentially taking advantage of a situation where she might not really like him but just thinks she does.}}

* An interesting subversion occurs on ''[[In Plain Sight]]'' with one of the witness couples. They were a very unhappy but very devout Catholic couple when they see a priest murdered. Because of their faith they cannot get divorced, even though it is quite obvious they hate each other at this point. {{spoiler|1=To make a long story short she has found someone else that she likes and they both know this, but she wouldn't dare cheat. He ends up faking his death so that she can move on. She is not his beloved, but she is his wife and he admires her very much, and in order for her to be happy she can't be tied to him. So he fakes his own death and gets WitSec to help him get relocated again. At the end the man she really loves is comforting her as he sneaks out the back.}}

** In "Rapture" Lee orders Dualla to undertake a risky rescue of Kara Thrace. Dualla knows perfectly well what motivates this order and is not happy about it, but obeys her husband and superior officer anyway.

* Patrick from ''[[Coupling]]'' almost does this to Sally: "You need Mr. Amazing, Mr. Incredibly-Superbly-Fantastic-Ness. In your heart, I'm sure you know I'm right." Subverted because {{spoiler|he was talking about himself}}.

** In the episode "Bendless Love", Bender dates fellow bending unit Angline long enough to drive her back into the arms of her ex-husband Flexo. After Flexo gets pinned under an unbendable girder, Bender bends it off of him so they can be happy together.

* In [[American Dragon Jake Long]], the Huntsclan has finally gathered together the artifacts they needed and in the configuration required for the Huntsmaster to wish away all magical creatures. {{spoiler|Rose promptly interrupts him and instead wishes away all of the Huntsclan members in lieu of the magical creatures, in her ultimate act of betrayal. Jake obviously doesn't want Rose to be annihilated with the rest of them, so he takes over and wishes that Rose was never a part of the Huntsclan to begin with. So, she is saved, but since he only met her because she had been in the Huntsclan, their romance is deleted from history. However, she ''somehow'' manages to remember it later anyway...}}

* In the ''[[Teen Titans (Animation)|Teen Titans]]'' episode "Things Change", Beast Boy encounters a Schoolgirl bearing a striking resemblence to his once petrified former girlfriend Terra. Eager to resume the relationship, he is met with considerable resistance on the part of the Schoolgirl when she repeatedly explains to Beast Boy that she does not wish to be associated with Terra, or Terra's bad deeds. Ultimately, Beast Boy realizes the strain he has put The Schoolgirl through when she explains that, though he may enjoy being a Titan, ''she'' [[I Just Want to Be Normal|just wants to be normal]], and he leaves the Schoolgirl to enjoy a normal life, and attend to his responsibilities.

** A variant happens in the ''[[Teen Titans Go (Comic Book)|Teen Titans Go]]'' comics continuing the series, when Terra's brother shows up looking for her. Beast Boy tells him about the Schoolgirl and he goes to look at her from afar, {{spoiler|recognizing her as Terra,}} he is amazed that she looks happier now than she ever did in her life. He leaves without speaking to her, but she notices him out of the corner of her eye and seems happy to see him.

[[Category:The Ruffling of Fur and Feathers (Literature)]]

[[Category:I Want My Beloved To Be Happy]]