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{{quote|Love is when the other person's happiness is more important than your own.|'''H. Jackson Brown, Jr.'''}}
 
A character decides that he or she would do all they can to see the person they like be happy rather than doing their best to end up with that person. Thus, the character acts against his or her own interests, often [[Shipper Onon Deck|supporting relationships between their beloved and another person]]. Intended to show the person as noble and selfless but can fall flat [[Informed Attribute|if the plot hasn't shown them to be a couple yet.]]
 
If a guy chooses to do this, expect one of two things to occur: some variation of "[[If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...]]," or the girl to [[Oblivious to Love|finally notice him]] and decide [[Sweet and Sour Grapes|she wants to be with him anyway, as a reward for his virtue]].
 
Also see [[Romantic False Lead]], [[Insecure Love Interest]].
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** Especially Harem animes that don't end in a [[Tenchi Solution]]. Basically, any anime which gives the main lead multiple love interests (male and/or female) will usually have anyone other than the "True Love" be like this, or end up sacrificing their life to save either the hero or his true love (or both).
* An extremely twisted example of this trope can be found in ''[[Hell Girl]]'', where a girl ''deliberately invokes'' this trope because she likes to keep her distance and her crush this way. She really goes out of her way to make the guy happy with his girlfriend, as she believes they will both be happier this way. And as an inversion of how this trope is usually played, things starts going really ''bad'' when the guy discovered he was cheated on.
* In ''[[Full Moon O Sagashite (Manga)|Full Moon Oo Sagashite]]'', after Mitsuki and Takuto finally get together, the soul of Eichi Sakurai, though desperately trying to stay with Mitsuki, sees her smile with Takuto. He then {{spoiler|smiles and departs to the afterlife, knowing Mitsuki will be happy}}.
** In the anime, Meroko becomes and angel after {{spoiler|not wanting Takuto to disappear, she takes it upon herself to become an angel and unite Mitsuki and Takuto after erasing Takuto's memories in a previous episode}}. She then bids her farewell to Mitsuki before departing.
* In an admittingly adult anime [[Anime/Girl Next Door|Girl Next Door]] you can find this sad but touching scene where Asuka admits she loves Pisuke but then Pisuke tells her that he loves a girl from his past when he was a little kid. While on the elevator Pisuke explains when and where this happened, Asuka realizes that Pisuke is talking about her sister Kyoko. She then brings this trope forward with some very touching words.
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* In [[Rebuild of Evangelion]] 2.22, {{spoiler|Asuka}}, who had spent most of the movie being jealous over Shinji and {{spoiler|Rei's relationship, gives up on Shinji after she becomes aware that her rival really loves Shinji in a very selfless way. It is notable that her giving up on him did not only allow Shinji to be happy with the other girl, but also enabled said other girl to carry out her plan to bring Shinji and his estranged father together.}}
** And then it all goes to hell afterward, since {{spoiler|Asuka is not only nearly killed due to this trope, but Shinji is so angry about her supposed death that his feelings about the incident is what sets up the ending of the movie.}} Kind of a gloomy example.
* One example that's both [[Crowning Moment of Funny|humorous]] and [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|heart-warming]] is Peorth from ''[[Ah! My Goddess (Manga)|Ah! My Goddess]]''. She comes down to Earth to grant Keiichi's deepest desires, and realizes that she can't separate Keiichi from Belldandy, another wish-granting goddess (who, incidentally have had a [[Innocent Cohabitation|rather chaste relationship together]]). She continues to throw herself at Keiichi and prove her superiority over Belldandy, and, when all else fails, comes out and says she loves Keiichi, which causes Keiichi to ask Peorth to grant his deepest desires... and then [[Hilarity Ensues]] when Keiichi and Belldandy try to distance themselves from a now libido-charged Peorth. When Belldandy finally confesses her love for Keiichi, however, Peorth considers it a wish granted, and she returns to Heaven, occasionally returning to Earth [[Shipper Onon Deck|to help bring the two together]].
* In ''[[Berserk]]'', when Judeau sees feelings start to develop between Guts and Casca, he tries {{spoiler|and succeeds}} to help them start a relationship together despite his own feelings for Casca. {{spoiler|In his final moments during the Eclipse he tries to tell her how he feels but is unable to, saying instead "I'm glad to see you cry," before dying, regretting that she only ever saw him as useful}}. And then [[It Got Worse]].
* [[Catgirl|Merle]] sort-of does this in ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]''. Though the [[Clingy Jealous Girl]] for the first half of the series, she eventually seems to come to terms with her destiny as the [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]] and stops trying to interfere in Van and Hitomi's budding affections. Her [[If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...|ticked-off behavior]] towards [[Ordinary High School Student|Hitomi]] afterwards stems from how Hitomi's [[Love Triangle|inability to choose between Allen and Van]] is hurting Van.
* To some degree, Yuki Nagato from ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]''. She has loyalty to Kyon and Kyon alone up to and including (in the novels) {{spoiler|usurping Haruhi's god-like power to destroy the Data Overmind and create an [[Alternate Universe]] where everything is what Kyon has said he wanted things to be like, i.e. [[Brought Down to Normal]]. He gently tells her that he really ''does'' want the craziness that Haruhi creates, and to be with Haruhi; and Yuki accepts this and gives him the power to change everything back.}} Kyon ''does'' appreciate her, though, and trusts her the most out of anybody.
* Otohime Mutsumi from ''[[Love Hina]]'' is this trope to the max for Keitaro, She has loved Urashima Keitaro since childhood;She trys harder than anybody else in the series to get Keitaro and Naru together even though she loves Keitaro. In the manga version, Mutsumi frequently/actively trys to get close to Keitaro; it is foreshadowed, and later explicitly revealed, that her motivation for doing this is in fact to ignite Naru's jealousy and make Naru work harder at her own relationship with Keitaro. Mutsumi is perfectly happy for Naru and Keitaro to be together, because Mutsumi wants Keitaro to be happy even though she still loves him and always did.
* Oogami Souma from ''[[Kannazuki no Miko]]'' supports the relationship between Himemiya Chikane and Kurusegawa Himeko despite being attracted to Himeko; meanwhile, Chikane supports the relationship between Souma and Himeko despite also being attracted to Himeko.
* ''[[Video Girl Ai (Manga)|Video Girl Ai]]'', especially towards the end, in ''spades''. In fact, the reason why Youta gets Ai to help him is because he preferred to help Moemi get Takashi's love instead of sabotaging her plans, which he could've done very easily because he was both Takashi's best friend ''and'' Moemi's confident; his selflessness is what allowed him him see the Gokuraku club in the first place.
* Tomoyo Daidouji and Meiling Li from ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)|Cardcaptor Sakura]]'' are both examples of this trope. Tomoyo channels her feelings for Kinomoto Sakura towards making Sakura happy, even going so far as to regularly help Sakura's relationship with whoever Tomoyo thinks Sakura would be happiest with. Meanwhile, Meiling had convinced Xiao Lang to become engaged to her [[Childhood Marriage Promise|when they were younger]], but with the condition that the engagement would be broken if Xiao Lang found the one he truly loved.
* Despite having nigh-superhuman physical and mental abilities, in addition to magical powers, Chanohata Tamami in ''[[Mahoraba]]'' does not take advantage of them to remove her rival for Aoba Kozue, Shiratori Ryuushi.
* Hotohori in ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' lets Miaka go to Tamahome, saying he only wishes for her happiness. It was also part of his [[Final Speech]] before dying at Nakago's hands, fighting for his country. {{spoiler|Miaka, I've loved you. Be happy."}}
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** Watari gets him out with magical drawing powers! Tatsumi finds the whole process highly cathartic! (Since he's emotionally constipated to the extent that Tsuzuki wasn't sure he gave a damn about him even though he cares very much.) Hisoka is puzzled! Byakko and Hakushaku are amused!
* Paraietta in ''[[Simoun]]'' has been desperately in love with Neviril [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|since childhood]], but stands aside in favour of Aaeru once she's sure Aaeru is worthy of Neviril.
* Mifuyu in ''[[Maria-samaMariasama ga Miteru]]'' despite her obsession with Sachiko realizes that she is better off with Yumi.
* Tadase from ''[[Shugo Chara]]'' {{spoiler|stepped back after realizing the feelings Amu harbours for Ikuto and vice-versa.}}
* Mamoru did a form of this in the second series of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' in which he was receiving [[Mind Rape|rather disturbing messages]] that Usagi would die if they continued to be together and he forced himself apart from Usagi.
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* A possible interpretation for the acceptance of the other four girls of Rin's decision to choose [[Genki Girl|Asa Shigure]] in ''[[Shuffle]]''.
** Except for one, as since Polygamy is legal she is still hoping he will decide on the [[Tenchi Solution]].
* ''[[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 Onon 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.}}
* In ''[[S-Cry-ed]]'', {{spoiler|Scheris' last moments can be considered part this, part [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. She knows damn well that Ryuhou loves Mimori, not her, but she can't stand to let him die, even if that means losing her own life and another woman getting him.}} Possibly subverted in that {{spoiler|Ryuhou later cites her death as an example of [[It's Not You, It's My Enemies|why it's a bad idea to love him]], when he tells Mimori that starting a relationship won't be happening.}}
* 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.
** Hina even 'forces' Nishizawa to go deliver the correct chocolates to him to convey her feelings (Ayumu had given him 'obligation' chocolates, and then run away, but had intended on giving him 'romantic' chocolates).
** Subverted later as she does pursue her feelings for Hayate and is even encouraged by her friend Nishizawa (sort of a friendly competition). Arguably subverted the subversion when she tells Hayate to go after {{spoiler|Athena}}.
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* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' in regards to the [[Love Triangle]] between [[One-Scene Wonder|Ruka]], [[Defrosting Ice Queen|Juri]], and [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|Shiori]]. Whereas Juri is struggling with her unrequited love for Shiori, Shiori believes Juri is making fun of her and only associates with her out of pity, leading to extreme bitterness, making Juri believe that her cold demeanor and fencing skills are unlikable assets. When Ruka arrives after [[Ill Girl|recovering from illness]], {{spoiler|he dates Shiori for a short spell, sleeps with her, and uses her for a duel against Utena. It turns out that he used his duel to humiliate Shiori and call her out on her behavior, and then he breaks up with her in front of the entire school. In the end, Ruka seemed like a [[Manipulative Bastard|prick]] like most of the male cast initially, but he pulled out these stunts to free Juri from her destructive relationship with Shiori.}}
** {{spoiler|'''However''', he also completely destroyed the emotionally-fragile Shiori (after having very likely taken her virginity, which surely wasn't necessary for his plans) and arguably crossed the line when he ''sexually assaulted'' Juri. Good intentions or not, he could have made her hate him ''without'' pinning her up against the wall, stealing a kiss, and possibly groping her in a very uncomfortable and squicky scene.}}
* During the ending chapters of the manga version of ''[[Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl]]'' {{spoiler|[[Schoolgirl Lesbians|Yasuna]] says she only wishes for [[Gender Bender|Hazumu]] to be happy, and thus she does not mind if Hazumu chose [[Tsundere|Tom]][[Yandere|ari]] instead of her. That she ends this dialogue in tears might undermine her words, however. }}
* In ''[[Girl Friends]]'' this may be the reason why Akko and Mari have trouble facing up to their true feelings for each other.
* In the ''[[Gungrave]]'' anime Brandon Heat left his sweetheart Maria so she and Big Daddy can be together. Some subversion occurred because he never thought that Big Daddy could ever hurt her.
* ''[[Toradora (Light Novel)|Toradora!]]'' is basically this trope turned [[Up to Eleven]] and repeated three times.
* Disturbingly enough this happens in ''[[Ranma One Half|Ranma 1/2]]'' after Ranma falls in love with Ryoga (long story, don't ask) leading to the bizarre scene of Ranma willingly kneeling down to allow Ryoga to kill her as Ryoga is so disturbed and horrified by the situation (and wants to kill Ranma anyway).
** Love potion stuff is scary.
** Ranma does this in the manga after Akane slaps him in order to protect Shinnosuke from him in a fight. At that point, he's completely convinced she's in love with Shinnosuke, so he tells her goodbye and leaves, thinking that he'll never see her again. In the manga, this is milked for all the angst it's worth; whereas in the anime, a lot less focus and time are spent on this trope.
** He tries to do the same exact thing later on in the arc. When they're all out of danger, he tells Shinnosuke to take good care of Akane and attempts to leave them together once more. Considering he's the [[Crazy Jealous Guy]] type, this is actually rather significant.
* In the ''[[Asatte no Houkou (Manga)|Asatte no Houkou]]'' manga, Amino starts off as a [[Stalker Withwith a Crush]], but ends up being this.
* Yuzu Yamamoto in ''[[Bitter Virgin]]'' liked the main lead Daisuke Suwa. She was quick to notice that Daisuke was developing feelings for Hinako Aikawa, and after some wrestling with the issue decided to support Hinako. Up until {{spoiler|she inadvertently learned Hinako had given birth to a child}} and ends up blurting this out to Daisuke. Unknown to her, Daisuke was fully aware of this already and it only cements her status as [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]]. Also, resident [[Yandere]] Kazuki also has a moment of this when she comes to the same realization as Yuzu. Though in her case she's only stepping aside temporarily as everyone is certain the relationship will ultimately fail.
* In ''[[Mirai Nikki]]'', [[Yandere|Yuno]], ''of all people'', does this in later chapters. {{spoiler|She has near-death experiences in chapters 22 and 23, and both times she was ready to die in order to save Yukiteru from the 4th--either from blowing herself and the 4th up with a grenade or taking a missed shot from Yukiteru while being held as a human shield by the 4th. Later, when Yukiteru's parents die and he swears to kill the rest of the diary holders (and explicitly mentions killing her) so he can [[A God Am I|become a god]] and bring back his parents, Yuno, with a smile on her face, responds:}}
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** There's the resolution to the Karasuma/Tenma/Harima arc, {{spoiler|which ends with Harima driving Tenma to the airport so she can join Karasuma in America, which also allows him to indirectly confess to her after 20-odd volumes of the manga.}}
** Also, there is another instance towards the end of the manga {{spoiler|where Max, [[The Ojou|Eri Sawachika's]] [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|childhood friend]] who invokes this trope when he convinces Harima to stop Eri's arranged marriage.}}
* Played with in ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini]]''. Rena has a very obvious crush on Keiichi, but Mion has an even more obvious one. Rena says she was perfectly fine with Keiichi giving Mion {{spoiler|the doll}}. Then again, Rena is pretty nice.
* In ''[[G Gundam]]'', Rain attempts this after two consecutive discoveries (namely, that Allenby is also in love with him and {{spoiler|her own father sold Dr. Kasshu out to the Neo-Japanese government out of jealousy, and is thus partially responsible for pretty much ''everything'' wrong in Domon's life right now}}) which [[It's All My Fault|lead her to believe that she is neither needed or wanted in Domon's life]]. Domon convinces her otherwise. [[Anguished Declaration of Love|Epically]].
** It should be noted that Allenby herself does this successfully, telling Domon how to express his feelings to Rain. And if the look on her face afterward is anything to go by, she truly ''is'' happy that they're happy.
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* Alluded to several times in ''Zetsuai1989'': Kouji feels guilty for ''not'' feeling this way about Izumi. But despite his frequent statements that he'd like nothing better than to lock Izumi away from the world and have him all to himself, his actual behaviour is closer to this than [[If I Can't Have You]].
* In ''[[True Tears]]'', half the cast acts upon this trope.
* [[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 Withwith 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.
* Arguably an element of Lelouch's final [[Zero-Approval Gambit]] in [[Code Geass]]. {{spoiler|While Kallen tries one last time to get a sign from Lelouch that he has not abandoned his ideals and they won't have to fight in a few moments, Lelouch stays quiet, not wanting to drag her down with him after everything he's already put her through. Ironically, this is in full compliance with her [[Fridge Brilliance|asking him to keep lying to everyone until the bitter end at the start of the season]].}}
** 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.
* In the manga ''[[Corsair (Light Novel)|Corsair]]'', [[The Messiah|Sesaam]] takes in [[Raised Byby Orcs|Canale]] who is an [[Career Killer|assassin]] assigned to kill him. He protects Canale and loves him dearly, and Canale eventually falls in love with him. However, Canale still feels he has no choice but to kill him, and after being stabbed Sesaam reassures Canale that he doesn't blame him, and tells him how to escape through [[Crazy Prepared|the trapdoor under his bed]], and tells him it's okay to move on after his death. 8 years later, Canale returns and finds out Sesaam survived but can [[Love Hurts|no longer use his leg]]. He tries to seduce Canale again, but a [[Wrong Name Outburst]] leads to Canale sobbingly confessing that he found someone else. Sesaam accepts it, and says he stands by his former words. He then still tries to protect him and help him out after this.
* A [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship]] type one happens in ''[[You're Under Arrest]]''. During the "Bike Troopers" episode, Miyuki plays this up when it comes to her best friend being welcomed into another cop group. Due to their [[Les Yay]] ridden relationship it was probably written as a "[[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]?" type episode.
* In ''[[Sakende Yaruze]]'', Misao pulls a form of this when she leaves Shino after she gets pregnant to not get in the way of his potential career. Nakaya, their son, does the same thing 17 years later when, after coming to live with Shino for a while, he decides to move out to make way for Tenryuu, his father's [[Love Interest]].
* In ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'', the normally [[Plucky Girl|cheerful]] [[Ninja]] Koyuki once wished [[I Just Want to Be Normal|to be an ordinary high schooler]]. Without her ninja skills, however, she was no longer able to see her friend Dororo. Still, Dororo was perfectly willing to let her live an ordinary life, even if it meant she'd never notice him again.
* Serves as one of the main [[Aesop|Aesops]] for [[Gankutsuou]]. Franz teaches Maxamillian that the most important thing when you love someone is to make that person happy, whether you can marry that person or not. Both Franz and {{spoiler|Peppo}} carry through with it, and it's implied that a [[Murder the Hypotenuse|failure]] to [[If I Can't Have You|understand]] this is where the older generation went wrong and caused the tragic plot. Well, partially. It gets more complicated than that.
* Subverted in ''[[Hana SakuHanasaku Iroha]]'', Igarashi wants Ohana to let go of her co-worker, Ko. So she can date him.
* Subverted in-story in ''[[Heartcatch Precure]]''. Ban has created a manga about Cure Blossom and Marine in which a story had Blossom discover Marine was in love with a guy named Ken, so she decides to help the two get together, only for her to realize that she had fallen for him as well. Ban has a brain fart and can't figure out what to do next, so Tsubomi and Erika act out an ending where they both drop their crushes and decide that their friendship and being Precures are much more important. [[Sure Why Not|He loves it and runs with it.]]
* Subverted in ''[[Hanaukyo Maid Tai (Anime)|Hanaukyo Maid Tai]] La Verite''. Mariel appears to put Taro's happiness above her own, but it turns out that she's doing it because {{spoiler|she's been brainwashed since childhood into being his perfect slave...er, maid.}}
* In ''[[D.N.Angel]]'' we have Daisuke falling into this in regards to his unrequited love for Risa. And Mio Hio for Daisuke.
* In the seinen [[My Balls]], {{spoiler|Minayo has finally encountered someone}} who doesn't get freaked-out by her drunk {{spoiler|nymphomaniac}} side, however he's fallen in love with {{spoiler|Elyse}} at this point. For a comedy/ecchi/romance manga it's kind-of a Tearjerker to see {{spoiler|Minayo comes to work with her hair cut and Elyse arrives and admits she accepts Kouta's feelings in a stealthy love declaration. Kouta}} was after all the first person to accept this side of her.
* Volume 3 of ''[[Poor Poor Lips (Manga)|Poor Poor Lips]]'' has Ren learning about the cause of Nako's debt and deciding to do something about it {{spoiler|at the cause of her own chance to live a happy life with Nako}}. She tells Nako {{spoiler|through her goodbye letter}} to take this opportunity to make all of her dreams come true. {{spoiler|However, what Nako really wanted in the end.... was Ren}}.
* In ''[[Zero no Tsukaima]]'' Louise tries to do this {{spoiler|when she finds Saito kissing Princess Henrietta after she confessed her love for him and thought he felt the same way}}, it turns out she was mistaken and he deeply regrets his actions {{spoiler|going as far as saying that without Louise by his side his existence is pointless}}; so they get back together.
** Also pretty much every girl that was in love with Saito does this in the final episode of the anime {{spoiler|except Louise who's his bride}}.
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** {{spoiler|Tambi then proceeds to [[Sex Equals Love|fall in love with him herself]], but still wants him to be with Katchoo since that's who he loves.}}
* There's a [[Spinoff Babies|Little]] [[Archie Comics|Archie]] comic story in which Veronica finds out she's moving away. When Betty hears this news, she's at first ecstatic, believing she'll now have Archie all to herself. But after seeing how majorly depressed Archie is about Veronica moving, Betty convinces the oil dealer Mr. Lodge is selling his house to that there are ghosts inhabiting the mansion, causing him to call off the deal. When Jughead asks why she's glad that the Lodges are staying, Betty replies, "If Archie's happy, then I'm happy."
* Immediately after finding out that [[Sonic the Hedgehog (Comic Bookcomics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]] loves Princess Sally and not her, Mina the Mongoose takes a bullet for Sally. (This doubles as Mina's [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].)
** In a later issue, Amy, whose intense crush on Sonic is one of her major character traits, insists that Sally and Sonic be allowed to have a nice date without interference; when a confused bystander asks why, her response is this trope almost word for word.
* In ''[[Newspaper Comic|9 Chickeweed Lane]]'', Edie is not happy that her rediscovered-love-turned-fiancee Kiesel is about to "haul off and be honorable" after they both learn that Edie's ''other'' love interest Bill is in fact alive but for didn't contact Edie for ten years even after he physically recovered from [[World War Two]] and his amnesia supposedly wore off. Not helping Kiesel's case is the fact that he's an ex-Nazi and Bill was sent to Omaha Beach as punishment for defending Edie's honor against a superior with his fists. {{spoiler|It's a foregone conclusion since this is a flashback, and it's implied Edie and Bill's marriage wasn't perfect ("You used dad's name and 'passion' in the same sentence!").}}
* In the [[The Legend of Zelda (Comic Bookcomics)|comic book adapation]] of ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'', Zelda decides that to save her kingdom from future attacks by Ganon, she'll take the Triforce of Wisdom to a faraway place where he can't find it. She begs Link to help her, and while the thought of her leaving clearly devastates him, he agrees. He has the chance to prevent her from going by lying and saying that the magic item she needs isn't in the hidden chamber, but he can't bring himself to do it. {{spoiler|Fortunately for him, while he's in the chamber collecting said [[MacGuffin]], Zelda comes to the realization that she and the Triforce are safest wherever he is, and decides not to leave. He even gets a [[The Glomp|mini-glomp]] for his trouble.}}
* ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]'' gets some of this from both Kim and Knives, during the last book. How much Kim is still in love with him is up for debate, but her response to him is that he should seek out Ramona. Knives less so (than in the film), but she's still realized whatever she felt for Scott, Scott isn't her true love.
** In the third book, Knives Chau ([[Running Gag|17 years old]]) saves her arch-rival Ramona from a coup de grâce by Envy. She states that she just wants Scott to be happy.
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== Film - Animated ==
* Near the end of the Disney film ''[[Beauty and The Beast (Disney)|Beauty and Thethe Beast]]'', the Beast releases Belle from the castle so that she can help her father. Because the only way for him (and his entire castle) to return to their human forms is for the Beast and Belle to fall in love (to which she has not yet confessed), by allowing his beloved to be happy, he's [temporarily] doomed them all. Oh, irony.
* In ''[[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]] 3: A Twist in Time'', Lady Tremaine gets Anastasia engaged to the Prince {{spoiler|by magically turning back time a year, brainwashing the Prince into thinking he danced with Anastasia at the ball, and then transfiguring her daughter into Cinderella's likeness when all of the previous fail.}} Ultimately, Anastasia realizes that no matter how much she loves the Prince and wants a man to love her, the Prince really loves Cinderella. This prompts her to defy her mother and undo all of the damage they'd done. {{spoiler|Of course, Anastasia is later rewarded when she and a baker fall in love with each other.}}
* Similarly at the end of the Disney adaptation of ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'', where Quasimodo realizes Esmeralda would actually be happy with Phoebus, despite the longing he has for her and the rather petty dislike he has for Phoebus.
* There's a variation in Disney's''[[The Princess and Thethe Frog]]''. Our hero, Prince Naveen, is ready to ask Tiana to marry him and help her get the restaurant she's always dreamed of, despite not having a penny himself. [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|"I'll get a job. Maybe two. Maybe three!"]] Then the riverboat they're sailing on flows past the very site Tiana wants, and she reveals to him that if she doesn't have the money by the very next day, she loses it to a higher bidder. So Naveen sadly scraps his plans and decides to marry Tiana's stinking-rich best friend, Charlotte, so that he can get the money she needs. {{spoiler|He's spared having to make this sacrifice when Tiana admits that her dream "wouldn't be complete without you in it," and Charlotte shows her true colors as a rare rich, blonde ditz with a heart of gold in one of the most beautiful Disney climaxes to date. Though she'd always loved princes and wanted to marry one, she was happy just to end at a kiss so Tiana could have her dream.}}
* This occurs in ''[[Tangled (Disney)|Tangled]]'': {{spoiler|Rapunzel promises to be Mother Gothel's prisoner forever if she is allowed to first save Flynn's life. Aware of how seriously Rapunzel takes keeping her promises and not wanting her to be trapped forever by someone who only wants to use her for the healing properties of her magical hair, Flynn cuts Rapunzel's hair off before she can heal him, causing it to lose its power}}.
* ''Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa'' plays it straight when Melman the giraffe agrees to {{spoiler|let King Julien feed him to the volcano gods so that Gloria and Motomoto can survive}}.
 
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'''Bruce:''' No. I want her to be ''happy'', no matter what that means. I want her to find someone who will treat her with all the love she deserved from me. I want her to meet someone who will see her always as I do now, through Your eyes.<br />
'''God:''' Now THAT'S a prayer. }}
* The end of ''[[TheresThere's Something About Mary]]'' shows Ted redeem his earlier behaviour by going out of his way to ensure Mary's happiness by reuniting her with her ex-boyfriend, {{spoiler|with the twist that Mary realizes that she'd ultimately be happiest with Ted after her brother DOES NOT FREAK OUT from Ted touching his ears, which is usually his [[Berserk Button]] with anyone outside of family}}.
* In ''[[Bedazzled]]'' (at least the 2000 remake), Elliot uses most of his wishes trying to make Alison fall in love with him. He uses his final wish to give her a happy life instead. {{spoiler|He then asks her out normally, and she turns him down. However, he does wind up with someone else [[Replacement Love Interest|who looks identical to her]].}}
* This put the "bitter" in the [[Bittersweet Ending]] of ''[[Imagine Me and You (Film)|Imagine Me & You]]''.
* Han Solo makes a heroic effort in this direction in ''[[Star Wars|Return of the Jedi]]'' when he thinks that Leia is in love with Luke. Leia quickly disabuses him of his [[Relative Error]], much to Han's relief.
* Norrington from ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'', gently admonishing Will to attend to Elizabeth with every ounce of care and devotion (and then some) that Will put into making Norrington's sword.
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* 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.
* In the ''[[Spider-Man (Filmfilm)|Spider-Man]]'' film series Ursula [[Shout-Out|Ditko]]vich is clearly infatuated by Peter, but when she senses he's in trouble, advises him to call Mary Jane and does what she can to help him.
* ''[[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.}}
* The artist's story in ''[[Love Actually]]'' is essentially this. {{spoiler|It wasn't the saddest of the storylines.}}
* Tinkerbell does this in ''[[Hook (Film)|Hook]]'', where she helps Peter (who's regained his memories of Neverland, but regressed to the point where he's forgotten his adult life) remember his children, rather than letting him remain "her" Peter.
* ''[[Unfaithfully Yours]]'' did this as one of the ways Alfred planned to deal with his wife's apparent affair.
* ''[[Going the Distance (Film)|Going the Distance]]'': Garrett breaks up with Erin in order not to make her choose between him and her dream job.
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== Literature ==
 
* The [[EEE. E. Cummings]] poem "[http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/eecummings/11933 it may not always be so]".
* In Gaston Leroux's ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'', Erik/The Phantom allows Christine to go off with Raoul and be happy. In the movie, he becomes a [[Stalker Withwith a Crush]] and has to be brutalized.
* This is the whole plot of ''[[Cyrano De Bergerac]]'', and the inspiration of the [[Playing Cyrano|imitators of his method]].
* In [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s novel ''The Curse of Chalion'' Cazaril, the protagonist, decides he's not young or rich enough to be a good match for Betriz, who's half his age, and tries to set her up with his friend Palli. She however is having none of it. It's Cazaril she wants, especially if she can persuade him to shave off his beard.
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** Seems to be a favorite trope of Dame McCaffrey. A similar situation develops in ''[[Pern]]'''s ''Harper Hall Trilogy'': Masterharper Robinton starts to get intimate with prized pupil Menolly, despite Menolly being involved with his other prized pupil, Sebell. Robinton nips it in the bud, citing their ages, positions, and her previous attachments. All this despite the fact that, as Menolly states, "[She] loved [him] first." (And later we find that Sebell not only knew all about Menolly's feelings but understood and accepted them <s> and probably would not have been adverse to going the Poly route</s>.)
* In the semi-historical romance novel ''The Lady Royal'' by Molly Costain Haycraft, Princess Isabel of England (daughter of Edward III) is engaged to marry Bernard d'Albret, a young man with whom she is deeply smitten. However, she learns that Bernard has a strong religious vocation and longs to become a monk, against the wishes of his tyrannical mother. Isabel breaks off the engagement in such a way that it allows him to enter the monastery under the pretense of a broken heart.
* Deconstructed in [[Jane Austen (Creator)|Jane Austen]]'s ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'': Elizabeth realizes that her happiness at Mr. Wickham's engagement to Miss King means that, while she cares about him, she was never ''in love'' with him. Were she in love with him, she would have nothing but contempt for him for choosing another girl.
** Played perfectly straight, on the other hand, by the considerable lengths Mr. Darcy goes to save Lydia Bennet from her own idiocy before she and the rest of her family are [[Defiled Forever]]. He's motivated in part by a sense of responsibility in not having spoken up about Mr. Wickham's true character before, but the rest of his motive is to protect Elizabeth and make her happy. Then he swears Lydia and the Gardiners to secrecy regarding his involvement, and when Elizabeth finds out anyway and tries to thank him, he refuses to accept her thanks on the rest of her family's behalf: "Much as I respect them, I believe I thought only of you."
* In ''[[Sense and Sensibility (Literaturenovel)|Sense and Sensibility]]'', Elinor acts superior to the point of exasperation. {{spoiler|Her love interest is engaged to someone else}}. That [[Clingy Jealous Girl|someone else]] informs her of it in confidence (while harboring deep -- and correct -- suspicions that Elinor is {{spoiler|in love with him too}}, and so warns her off and keeps tormenting her in subtle ways for the greater part of the book). Elinor not only keeps the secret and endures the indirect attacks with aplomb, but there's a scene where she actually ''leaves them together on purpose so that they can have private time''.
* One of the more classic examples occurs at the end of [[Charles Dickens (Creator)|Charles Dickens]]'s ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'' when Sydney Carton, knowing his beloved Lucie will never love him as she loves Darnay {{spoiler|uses his near identical likeness to Darnay to take his place on death row, allowing Lucie and Darnay to escape together while he is executed in Darnay's place.}}
* Troy, in the V.C. Andrews ''[[Casteel]]'' series, after finding out that he and Heaven (the protagonist) are uncle-and-niece (oh those wacky [[VCV. C. Andrews]] incestuous relationships), cuts off contact with her for her own good, {{spoiler|then inadvertently fakes his own death, then leaves Heaven alone for a while, believing he's dead, so she can date and marry Logan, then after a few years they get together for a last fling, during which Heaven's daughter is conceived}} and Heaven returns to live the rest of her life with Logan.
* In ''[[Captain Blood]]'' (the novel, not the [[Captain Blood (Film)|film]]), Blood believes Arabella to be in love with another man and is willing to let her go. When he realizes that she is not going back to England with this man, it dawns on him that he has hope.
* In the ''[[Twilight (Literaturenovel)|Twilight]]'' series, Edward leaves Bella for these reasons.
* Beautifully subverted in the ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' series by [[Mercedes Lackey]]. Dirk spends about half his time pining over Talia and the other half trying to get her together with his best friend Kris, and ends up thoroughly exasperating both Talia ''and'' Kris - who happen to love each other dearly but are quite positive they're [[Better Asas Friends]], thank you very much. Not to mention that Talia is madly in love with Dirk and Kris really would just like to see his two dearest friends happy, preferably with each other. Shame about [[Big Bad|Ancar]], really.
* 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.
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* In ''[[Beastly]]'', Kyle allows Lindy to go rescue her sick father despite it possibly meaning losing his chance to turn human forever. In fact, he nearly releases her several times since he finds it very hard to believe that anyone can love a monster.
* ''[[Bridge of Birds]]'': Henpecked Ho set his own concubine up with her (mutual) crush, because he loved her so much he didn't want her to be stuck with an ugly old "worm" like him.
* [[Agatha Christie (Creator)|Agatha Christie]] used this in quite a few books:
** Probably the straightest example is Jefferson Cope from ''Appointment with Death''. He only asks Nadine Boynton to run away with him because he believes she can't possibly be happy with her current husband. Once the situation changes and Nadine decides to stay, he is willing to go back to being friends.
** Bella Duveen from ''Death on the Links'' was willing to set her fiance free so that he could marry the girl next door. {{spoiler|She also falsely confessed to the murder to try to protect him, even after she found out he wanted to marry someone else.}}
** This trope was combined with [[Love Makes You Evil]] in {{spoiler|''Death on the Nile''. Jacqueline was willing to let her one true love Simon marry her best friend Lynette when she realized that Lynette was in love with Simon and Simon was in love with Lynette's money. When Simon insisted he wanted both Jackie and Lynette's money, Jackie helped him with his plan to [[Murder the Hypotenuse|marry and then murder Lynette.]]}}
** Appears to be the case in ''Towards Zero'' with {{spoiler|Neville Strange, who pretended to run away with another woman after his wife Audrey left him so that Audrey would keep all public sympathy in the divorce}}. However, it is subverted when it turns out {{spoiler|Neville only took the blame for the divorce because his pride wouldn't let him admit to the world that Audrey had left him. He spent the next several years plotting Audrey's murder}}.
* In ''[[Howl's Moving Castle (Literaturenovel)|Howl's Moving Castle]]'', when Miss Angorian, the pretty teacher that Howl was courting, was kidnapped by the Witch of the Waste, despite her jealousy of her, Sophie goes to rescue her. {{spoiler|It turns out that Miss Angorian is the Witch of the Waste's fire demon and faked her kidnapping so that Sophie, Howl's true [[Love Interest]], would fall for it.}}
* ''Forever Amber'' has a particularly demented version of this trope. Queen Catherine, depressed at the realization that she likely won't be able to give King Charles II an heir, falls sick and wishes to die, since if she does, Charles can marry Frances Stewart and get the legitimate heir he's always wanted. When she tells this to Charles on her deathbed, he is [[My God, What Have I Done?|horrified]] to realize that she's [[Driven to Suicide|driven herself to suicide]] on his part, and begs her to live. He does not, however, give up his extramarital affairs which were probably what mentally damaged Catherine so badly in the first place.
* In the original ''[[Tarzan]]'', Tarzan and Jane are separated (seemingly for good) when Jane chooses to honor her obligations and stay with Clayton. Later, Tarzan ([[MST3K Mantra|somehow]]) receives word that he's Lord Greystoke, thus the title and wealth Clayton claims are his by right. Rather than using this newfound status to go fight for Jane, he chooses to go back to Africa, reasoning Jane would be happier in her world without having to try and make him fit. Naturally, the adaptations that don't completely ignore this (see: the movies and the Disney version) flip the genders on the trope and have Tarzan return to the jungle with Jane's blessing.
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* In one of the sidestories of the [[Shared Universe]] that is the ''[[1632]]'' series, Franz, a downtimer (from the 17th Century), tries to refuse a confession of love from Marla, an unptimer (from the future, even though he loves her back, on the grounds that his left hand is crippled. A minor injury by uptime sensibilities, but a major dealbreaker by 17th Century standards; especially for a former musician.
{{quote| '''Franz (thursting his crippled hand at her face) :''' Because of this! Because I am crippled! I cannot hope for you or anyone to marry me. Your family would not allow it. I cannot support you. I cannot provide for a family, when all I can do is translate for one person here today, another person there on Thursday, or write two letters for someone next Monday. I cannot give you what you deserve, a husband sound in mind ''and body''. I cannot protect you from the ridicule that people will heap on you for marrying a cripple! I love you more than my life, Marla, and because of that I cannot do this!}}
* One of [[Alexander Pushkin (Creator)|Alexander Pushkin]]'s most famous love poems ends with lines meaning "I loved you as sincerely and tenderly as I wish you would be loved by another man".
* 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''.
* In the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series, [[The Atoner|Nicci]] decides on this, both because her love was already fully in love with someone else before she met him, and because of her shame over [[Heel Face Turn|formerly]] being a villain. This becomes a source of particular anguish for her in the last three books, as several of the other characters begin [[Shipper Onon Deck|shipping]] them and encouraging her to be with him, leading her to repeatedly tell them that she is the [[Romantic Runner-Up]] [[The Atoner|Atoner]], ''not'' the pure-hearted love interest.
{{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]].
* In the short story "Antinomy" by [[Spider Robinson]], Tom Higgins has spent decades trying to revive his lover Virginia Harding after she fell into a coma. When Virginia does eventually wake up, [[Amnesiac Lover|she initially doesn't remember him]]. Even worse, she develops an interest in his friend and younger co-worker Bill [[Mc Laughin]] -- an interest that is reciprocated. Tom eventually has an epiphany after he is unable to tell a good joke -- one of the things Virginia always loved about him was his sense of humor. His monomaniacal obsession with her over the years has made him someone far less than the man she once loved. When Virginia starts to recover her memories, Tom pretends not to know her so she can start a relationship with Bill, who is everything Tom was and more.
* In [[PGP. WodehouseG. (Creator)Wodehouse|PG Wodehouse]]'s ''Hot Water'', when Packy recovers from [[Oblivious to Love]], he realizes it is his duty to help the woman he loves and her fiance.
** Wodehouse used this trope quite a bit. In ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (Literaturenovel)|Thank You, Jeeves]]'', Bertie and Pauline are being forced into marriage; Bertie appeals to her love interest Chuffy to help him, but Chuffy refuses, since circumstances have convinced him that Pauline loves Bertie instead. He even gives Bertie a speech about doing the right thing and not breaking Pauline's heart.
* In ''[[The Hunger Games (Literaturenovel)|Catching Fire]]'', Peeta is afraid that Katniss will sacrifice her life to save his; he shows her a picture of her family and Gale, telling her that she has something to live for. The implication is that he assumes she'll eventually marry Gale if she survives.
* In the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' novel ''The Sign of Four'', Watson, ever the [[Nice Guy]], works hard to help Mary Morstan gain the fortune that is rightfully hers, even though he knows that having so much money will [[Uptown Girl|put her even more out of his league]] and prevent him from telling her how he really feels.
 
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** 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).
* The ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'' episode "Camille" ends with Kryten losing his love interest, the titular Camille, in a spoof of the ''[[Casablanca]]'' scene.
** Played both straight AND subverted by Arnold J. Rimmer as he realizes that Nirvana Crane has willingly surrendered her existence on the hologram ship so that he may get a position in her place. He immediately turns in his resignation to return to the Red Dwarf, stating that "we won't be apart, we just won't be together" and in doing so quoting exactly a romantic movie he saw at the start of the episode. He instantly realizes this and adds "I can't ''believe'' I just said that!"
** Averted by Lister, who pursues his dream girl Kochanski through a time hole after finding a picture of himself marrying her. When he finds her hotel room and he sees another man's shoes, he realizes that the groom in the photo is not himself, but the other guy. As he abandons the idea of getting together with her (and bemoaning the yuppie type of man she probably married), she opens the door and invites him to meet her new husband, who turns out to be himself from several years in the future.
* ''[[I CarlyICarly]]'': 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.}}
* On ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'', Sam Anders does this, but Kara ultimately sticks with him.
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* 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}}.
* On ''[[Guiding Light]]'' Olivia decides Natalia's faith and happiness would suffer if they ever got together, so she decides to talk her into marrying the good man Frank. Much angst was caused.
* In the U.S. version of ''[[Queer Asas Folk]]'', Brian refuses to try to dissuade Justin from leaving him for Ethan, but at the same time continues to lend Justin money for college and pushes him to keep working on his comic with Michael. He even punches Michael when Michael attempts to take Brian's side in the split. Of course, Brian still can't tell Justin he loves him.
** The platonic(ish - more so in the US version) variation occurs in both the UK and US series', when Brian/Stuart outs Michael/Vince in order to piss him off enough to make him leave, because he thinks he's holding Michael/Vince back and preventing him from finding true happiness with David/Cameron. (lol, David Cameron)
* This is somewhat subverted in ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'' in the episode "Birthright" with a woman and a little girl. {{spoiler|This is because the little girl is the woman's daughter biologically. As Cabot practically harasses the little girl on the stand, the little girl denies that the woman is her biological mother and cries for the mother that raised her. In the end, the woman loves her "daughter" too much to see her upset so, she quits fighting for the custody of the little girl and moves out of New York.}} It was a pretty upsetting episode.
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* On ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' Chuck tells Blair he has no romantic feelings for her and is only playing a game, and sends her off to be with his best friend. When Serena asks why he would say that his reply is: "''Because I love her. And I can't make her happy''." The following episode he goes out of his way to make sure Blair has the perfect prom as envisioned in her secret prom scrapbook, without even telling her he is orchestrating it, just to see her be happy.
** He takes things a step further at the end of season 4 where Blair is about to break her engagement with Prince Louis only to have Chuck cut in saying that he had been giving Blair his blessing for the marriage... because although Blair and Chuck were in love in an insane crazy way, he knew she needed something different at that point, something she could only have with Prince Louis.
*** Cranked up to eleven in season five. Chuck spends the entire season doing everything to make Blair happy, almost always at the cost of his own happiness. Examples include letting her think he's turned bad so she can feel confident in choosing Louis, giving food poisoning to the priest who planned on ruining Blair's wedding to Louis and nearly bankrupting himself to get her out of her marriage by paying her dowry without her knowing about it, even though he knew that she would choose to date Dan Humphrey instead, a guy Chuck hates (this after she's made out with Dan ''in Chuck's bedroom''). In the season finale {{spoiler|he finally gets to the point where he can't sacrifice his own happiness for hers anymore. He tells her he's moving on with his life which causes her to break up with Dan to get back together with Chuck but he rejects her in what [[Word of God]] suggests is a ''[[Gone Withwith the Wind]]'' homage.}}
* On ''[[Dollhouse]]'' {{spoiler|Alpha, of all people, does this in the finale, allowing Echo and Paul to be together forever.}} [[Esoteric Happy Ending|Sort of.]]
* On ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' {{spoiler|after learning that Charlie was sent back to 1944, and has lived a fulfilling life, complete with grandkids, Hiro decides not to go back in time to "rescue" her, despite being in love with her.}}
* On ''[[Alice (TV)|Alice]]'' the increasingly smitten Hatter continues to help Alice throughout all her tribulations, despite knowing that it's all in a bid to save her fiancé. {{spoiler|He wins her in the end though}}.
* An odd variation of this happens in ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'', in which Marian is coerced into marrying Guy. Robin tries to persuade her not to go through with it, but Marian insists in order to keep her father safe. Despite the fact that marrying Guy obviously won't make Marian happy, Robin eventually respects her opinion on the matter and leaves her to it. {{spoiler|Though of course she doesn't go through with it.}}
* The fourth season finale of ''[[Friends]]'' has Rachel realizing she loves Ross and rushing to London to stop him from marrying Emily. As she arrives at the church, however, she witnesses a tender moment between Ross and Emily. So when Ross sees Rachel and asks why she's there, Rachel replies, "I just needed to tell you... Congratulations."
* There's an example in ''[[House MD]]''. The patient of the week was a polygamist in an open marriage, so she and her husband have sex with people outside the relationship. One of the theories is that the disease was sexually transmitted, and when they check up on the wife's lover it comes up empty. The husband's lover is the next candidate, only he doesn't have one. Turns out he never wanted to have sex with other people, he just wanted his wife to be happy.
* Lennier in ''[[Babylon Five5]]'' is a curious example. He tries to be this for most of the show. The time he fails, he is so ashamed that he runs off to become [[The Atoner]].
* ''[[Glee]]'': In a non-romantic example, in "Wheels" Kurt gives up a chance at a solo he desperately wants - he actually throws the all-important high note at the audition - because his father is getting anonymous homophobic phone calls and he doesn't want to make the situation worse by drawing attention to himself. In a more standard romantic example, in "Silly Love Songs" he supports Blaine in his attempt to woo Jeremiah with a [[Serenade Your Lover|public serenade]] even though he is in love with Blaine himself. He's not so generous when Blaine gets a bit confused and briefly tries dating Rachel, though...
** And then when they ''finally'' get together, Blaine returns the favor by letting Kurt transfer back to McKinley.
** Blaine does it again in "I Am Unicorn," {{spoiler|deciding not to try out for Tony in the school's production of [[West Side Story]] because he knows Kurt wants the part, even though he really wants it too.}}
* Played with in ''[[Psych]]''. Shawn wants Jules to be happy and wants to be okay with her dating Declan, but he also wants to be happy himself, and can't picture being happy without her.
* On ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', both Lancelot and Arthur reveal to Merlin in separate conversations that all they want for Guinevere is her happiness. It's also something of a [[Subversion]], since between the two of them, the actions they take to secure her happiness usually end with her in tears.
* ''[[Downton Abbey]]'' does this with the Mary-Matthew-Lavinia triangle. Initially, Mary supports Matthew's relationship with Lavinia for this reason, despite still being in love with him. At the end of series two, after {{spoiler|seeing Matthew and Mary kiss and hearing that Violet asked Matthew to marry Mary}}, Lavinia tries to convince him to go back to Mary in the belief he'll be happier that way. {{spoiler|Then she [[Death of the Hypotenuse|dies of Spanish flu]] before he can argue with her.}}
* Ted does this in ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' when he falls in love with his new friend Zoey, a married woman, and noticing their mutual chemistry, tries to ensure he won't accidentally ruin her marriage by pretending to hate her, hoping she'll break off their friendship. However, he is unaware that Zoey is in fact getting divorced, so he doesn't have to do it at all.
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* The [[Frou Frou]] song "It's Good To Be In Love" is about the long, slow path toward this.
* Cat Stevens' "Wild World," though it is mainly about finding peace in such a crazy world.
* "Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'bout Me)" by [[Frankie Valli and Thethe Four Seasons]].
* John Mayer has an unreleased song called "Man on the Side" that invokes this:
{{quote| I fell in love with the dream that I built of you<br />
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One night will remind you<br />
How we touched and went our separate ways<br />
[[If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...|If he ever hurts you]]<br />
True love won't desert you<br />
You know I still love you<br />
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** Likewise, Guinevere refuses to run off with Lancelot because she still loves Arthur.
** IIRC, in the TV adaptation of ''[[The Mists of Avalon]]'', Arthur's solution to this problem is a threesome.
** In season 2 of ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', Lancelot refuses to return to Camelot because he believes Prince Arthur and Guenevere are the [[One True Pairing]]. This is after ''they've'' agreed that a romance is out of the question.
** This is the central plot of the webcomic ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]''. Currently, Arthur ''has'' banished Guenevere and Lancelot in the Space and Fairytale arcs, but at least partly because he thinks they'll be happier without him. He's wrong.
* In [[Celtic Mythology]], Emer and Fand both loved Cu Chulainn so much that they BOTH were willing to give him to the other.
* King Solomon's judgment regarding a child in dispute by two women - he proposes to simply [[Insane Troll Logic|cut the kid in two for each mother to have an equal part]], and one of the women says to just give the child to the other. This proved to Solomon that ''she'' was the mother, for being that selfless.
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* ''[[Cyrano De Bergerac]]'' is about the original Cyrano [[Playing Cyrano|helping the handsome Christian win the heart of the woman they both love]], Roxane. He does this because Roxane is already fond of Christian (who's genuinely a decent guy, just lacking in wit), and Cyrano himself believes he's too ugly to ever have a chance with her. Unfortunately for them both, Roxane does fall in love with Christian, but only because of the words Cyrano gave him to use. {{spoiler|She eventually learns the truth, but only after Christian has died in battle, and while Cyrano is dying from a mortal wound, denying it all.}}
* ''[[A Very Potter Musical]]'' lampshades this trope's presence in its source material with repeated references to the ''[[Spider-Man (Filmfilm)|Spider-Man]]'' films.
* In [[Martin Guerre]], when Arnaud is arrested for impersonating Martin Guerre and sleeping with his wife, a judge decides that Bertrade is still married to Martin, and leaves Arnaud's fate in his former friend's hands. Martin realizes that Bertrande and Arnaud really love eachother, and frees Arnaud from jail, and attempts to lead Arnaud and Bertrande away from the villiage to start a new life together.
* ''[[Twelfth Night]]'': Viola loves Orsino, but tries her best to set him up with Olivia, the girl he professes to love, instead.
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* Both Bianca and Nera in [[Dragon Quest V]] do this with the main character when he chooses either of them, or Deborah.
* This is probably the reason [[Handsome Lech|Zelos Wilder]] is so intent on hooking [[The Hero|Lloyd Irving]] and [[Action Girl|Sheena Fujibayashi]] up in ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]''.
** While not quite the same, [[The Chick|Colette]] cares so much about [[The Hero|Lloyd]], that's she's willing to {{spoiler|[[Heroic Sacrifice|give up her life]] so that the world will be Regenerated, so that he'll be able to live happily in a peaceful world. [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle|Doesn't work:]] Because [[Light Is Not Good]], meaning what the [[Big Bad]] [[Evil Plan|wanted would happen]], and her [[And I Must Scream|"death"]] would hurt Lloyd more than anything- [[What the Hell, Hero?|so he stops the salvation of the world]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|by killing an Angel]], [[Heel Face Turn|fighting a former ally]], however, his luck runs out against the [[Big Bad]]. Until [[Turncoat|Yuan]]'s [[La Résistance|organization]] interferes.}} After she's restored to her former self, she never considers doing that again.
* Vincent Valentine does this in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' to everyone on the planet's lasting regret.
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* [[King's Quest IV]]: Despite being head over heels infatuated with Rosella, and with his {{spoiler|kidnapper}} promising the [[Standard Hero Reward]] of marrying them, Edgar says it with a single red rose under the door of her prison - the key's attached. {{spoiler|[[Earn Your Happy Ending|It works out for them in the end]].}}
* In ''[[Persona 3]] [[Updated Rerelease|Portable]]'', if you're playing as a girl you have the option to start a romantic relationship with [[Stoic Woobie|Shinjiro Aragaki]]. He knows he's going to die soon in one of 3 different ways, so even though he loves the protagonist, he knows that starting a relationship would cause her nothing but pain, so he does his best to deter her for her own sake. With enough persistance you can get him to overcome this (ending in an implied [[Optional Sexual Encounter]]), but even when you talk to him after that he still tries to keep telling you that you're better off with somebody else.
* At the end of ''[[Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door (Video Game)|Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door]]'', Vivian and Goombella both [[Aborted Declaration of Love|almost confess their love]] to Mario, but think better of it and instead wish him and Peach the best.
* Implied to be the reason {{spoiler|1=GLaDOS}} sends Chell away at the end of [[Portal 2 (Video Game)|Portal 2]]; hints in the tone and contents of the ending songs indicate she {{spoiler|lied about deleting Caroline}} to drive Chell out of the Aperture Science Testing Facility because she knew {{spoiler|the machine would drive her into an amoral testing frenzy again}}, and wanted Chell out of her reach before she lost control.
 
 
== Visual Novels ==
* The ending of ''[[Fate Stay Night|Fate/Staystay Nightnight]]'''s Fate route and the Anime falls under this trope, with Shirou allowing Saber to destroy the Grail even if it means their separation. In the game's last route, Sakura {{spoiler|is shown to be resigned to Shirou and her sister, Rin, getting together, and is surprised at Shirou reciprocating her feelings.}}
** Also deconstructed: This is basically Shirou's default state towards anyone. To clarify, unlike normal people who can somewhat create their own happiness, Shirou, thanks to his lack of any concept or sense of self, always places the need of others before his own and is completely unable to create his own happiness and has to live through others.
* Nayuki in ''[[Kanon (Visual Novel)|Kanon]]''.
* Shima-kun from ''[[Clannad (Visual Novel)|Clannad]]'', who wishes for Misae to find her happiness, since he's worried about her.
** The Kyou route revolves around deconstructing this trope, showing just how awkward and painful it would be in reality.
* In almost all endings to ''[[Frozen Essence (Visual Novel)|Frozen Essence]]'', {{spoiler|Zareh}} helps Mina be with her chosen love interest and bids her farewell in spite of {{spoiler|having been in love with Mina for a thousand years and being the one who unsealed her from her prison in the first place}}. This is the most prominent in Rune's path where {{spoiler|he tells Mina that she will never be happy if she doesn't see Rune again, risks being captured and exposed to let Mina reunite with Rune, and tells Mina in the Light End to let go of him and focus on her future with Rune instead}}. What really makes this sad is that Mina doesn't even realize the full significance of this because {{spoiler|she's lost all her memories of her past - and by extension, Zareh - so she doesn't even know who this person comforting her in her dreams is}}. However, this is brutally subverted in {{spoiler|Zareh}}'s own Dark End where he [[Yandere|snaps]] after being rejected by Mina and keeps her captive to prevent her from leaving him.
* In ''[[Katawa Shoujo]]'', this is the reason why {{spoiler|Misha helps Hisao get together with Shizune in the latter's route. The big twist here is that her beloved is not Hisao but [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|Shizune]]. Eventually however, especially after the first time Hisao and Shizune have sex. He feelings start to come to the surface and put a strain on ''everyone's'' realtionships with each other.}}
* [[Blue and Orange Morality|Rather surprisingly]], {{spoiler|Saya}} in ''[[Saya no Uta (Visual Novel)|Saya no Uta]]'' displays this at one point: {{spoiler|she reveals to Fuminori that she has the ability to restore his distorted senses back to normal and offers to do so for him. If Fuminori says that he wants it, she willingly does it even though she's visibly saddened by how this will effectively force her to separate from the one human who she could truly connect to forever because his normal human senses wouldn't be able to bear the sight of her true [[Eldritch Abomination]] form.}}
* Torahiko Ooshima in [[Morenatsu]] is shown to be this if you don't pick him.
** He is known by fans as the "Canon" Route of the story. The sad thing is, [[Development Hell|you can't pick his storyline yet...]].
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== Webcomics ==
 
* Rumy in ''[[Fans|Fans!]]'' exemplifies this trope, having seemingly made it her life's mission to ensure that Rikk is happy with Alisin as a way of dealing with the fact that she's been hopelessly in love with him since before Rikk even knew Alisin's name. {{spoiler|At the end of the strip, however, Alisin and Rikk care too much about Rumy to let her sacrifice her own happiness for them, and they convince her to [[Take a Third Option|join them]] in a [[One True Threesome|three-way relationship]], which works out well for all of them.}}
* In ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'', gay Justin is in love with straight Elliot, and isn't quite sure what to do about it. One strip shows Justin, after an inevitable [[Gender Bender]] (this ''is'' EGS, after all) looking at Elliot's girlfriend Sarah and thinking "[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-08-31 How dare you be someone I can't dislike...]"
* Happens to Ping in ''[[Megatokyo (Webcomic)|Megatokyo]]'', as she is programmed to help lonely young men gain confidence with women and support them in forming relationships. She briefly attempts to 'protect Piro from being hurt' and tries to convince him that a relationship with an android programmed to provide emotional support would be much safer, in the end however she is forced to stand aside for Kimiko.
** Also in Erika's [[Backstory]]. [http://megatokyo.com/strip/627 In which the person actually makes his beloved miserable by deciding he's not good enough for her.]
** And eventually it turned out that was all bullshit, and he was just a [[Manipulative Bastard]]. It's unclear why he was even with her in the first place. Okay, [[Buxom Is Better|there are at least two reasons...]]
* In ''[[Namir Deiter]]'', [[Twofer Token Minority|Twofer]] (Hispanic lesbian) Gabby tries to fix her best friend, main character Tipper Namir, up with her [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold]] cousin, partially to ease the tension developed after Gabby confessed her feelings for Tipper and Tipper gently put her down. Resolved later when Gabby hooks up with a fellow [[Twofer Token Minority|Twofer]] art student (to whom she'd confided the previous situation).
** And Gabby proceeds to go through it again , when she endures Jacinda's [[Anything That Moves]] attitude, before finally getting fed up with being taken for granted and breaking things off herself.
* Occurs fairly early on in ''[[Questionable Content]]'': [[The Reveal|Faye finally explains to Marten]] why she's been putting out such drastically mixed signals towards his romantic overtures and why she can't have a relationship with ''anyone'' right then, especially the kind Marten wants. She agrees to seek help for her issues, but only on the condition that Marten doesn't try to wait for her.
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* In [[Greek Ninja]], Dawson has his heart trampled on but pretends to be alright, as to not upset his love interest who was interested in someone else.
* While they might act like vindictive, passive-aggressive little brats with each other, [[The Nostalgia Critic (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Critic]] will go to extreme lengths to make [[The Nostalgia Chick (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Chick]] happy. And for her part, she's nearly always tried to protect him [[Hypocritical Heartwarming|against other people]].
 
 
== Western Animation ==
 
* ''[[The Legend of Korra (Animation)|The Legend of Korra]]'' has this with Korra. Korra is often portrayed as stubborn and even a bit selfish. In a heartwarming gesture, she shows that she can be selfless by allowing Mako, who she is in love with, to be with his girlfriend Asami. Korra even goes so far as to befriend Asami and tell Mako to go to her when she needs him. The show is not shy about showing Korra's heartbreak, though.
** In a twist, Mako admits to having strong feelings for Korra as well and knows how much it hurts her to see him with Asami.
* In the ''[[Simpsons]]'', near the end of the episode where a woman replaces Krusty. They're about to get married, when Bart shows her a compilation of clips showing how he used to treat his previous wives. She is unbothered by this, however Krusty realises he'd only hurt her and leaves the altar.
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* 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...}}
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' in one episode where after much struggling to accept [[Dating Catwoman|Danny and Valerie together]], Sam slowly and silently lets the two pursue their relationship. Lucky for her, [[It's Not You, It's My Enemies|Valerie breaks up with Danny]] before the relationship could even start, giving Sam a lucky pass.
* In the ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|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.
** Also with Raven towards Robin. It is revealed that Raven had feelings for Robin. But after seeing how happy Robin is with Starfire she is glad that he is with someone that makes him happy.
* AndrAIa in ''[[Re Boot]]'' couldn't leave her game world with the boy she fell for (that would be Enzo, in case you can't tell), so she created a copy of herself and hid her on him in icon form, making this a rare example of a character conceding their beloved to ''their self''.
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*** Even though, you know...[[Broken Aesop|he already]] ''[[Broken Aesop|had]]'' [[Broken Aesop|changed his sexuality]] earlier in the episode.
* There's a direct-to-DVD movie called "Pollyworld", which is based on the "[[Polly Pocket]]" toyline. When Polly and her friends find out that Polly's <ref>almost</ref> future stepmother was trying to trick Polly's father into having her sent to a boarding school, they catch the whole confession on camera and save it to a DVD. However, Polly invokes this trope be deciding not to show the DVD to her father, even though it would mean that she wouldn't have to leave her friends. She decides that it wouldn't be fair to get in the way of her father's happiness. Moreover, she drives this point home by destroying the DVD. {{spoiler|Luckily, her father finds out anyway, and everything turns out right in the end.}}
* ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (Animation)|Galaxy Rangers]]'' had a heart-breaking one. Shane [[Cannot Spit It Out|couldn't admit his feelings to his fellow Supertrooper, Darkstar]]. She ends up running off with [[Jerkass]] Stingray and becoming a wanted criminal while he was spared a de facto execution by becoming a [[Hunter of His Own Kind]]. A couple years later, Darkstar and Stingray are hired thugs for a corrupt [[Cattle Baron]], and Shane is sent to take them down. Shane tries to rebuild things with Darkstar, but Darkstar makes it very clear that she's staying with Stingray. Shane and Stingray have a classic [[Showdown At High Noon]] (we ARE talking about a [[Space Western]]). Shane defeats Stingray...only to turn and walk away, sparing them both. Darkstar is holding her lover and sobbing, unable to understand why Shane isn't arresting them. Lucy Martin and Doug Pries managed to act the hell out of it.
{{quote| '''Darkstar:''' Goose! Why are you letting us go? I don't understand...<br />
'''Shane:''' I know, Darkstar. I know you don't. Take care of yourself, Darkstar. Take real good care of yourself...and take care of him, too... }}
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