View source for I Will Only Slow You Down

{{trope}}
[[File:you-must-go-on-without-me 1521.jpg|link=Cyanide & Happiness|frame]]
You have a group of protagonists, one of whom has been injured or disabled. Either that person is literally slowing the group down, or [[Someone Has to Die]]. Naturally, the "damaged" party member volunteers to sacrifice themselves and/or be left behind: after all, being permanently injured is a [[Fate Worse Than Death]] and well..they'll just slow them down.

A [[Super-Trope]] of [[No One Gets Left Behind]], and a [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. Often used in a [[More Hero Than Thou]] dispute.

Often leads to [[You Shall Not Pass]], [[Self-Destructive Charge]] or [[No One Gets Left Behind]], but also covers other situations such as quietly going off to die when no one's looking.

Makes sense when the character is already mortally wounded, and can be a natural end to [[Your Days Are Numbered]]. If they're not it has [[Unfortunate Implications]] for the value placed on disabled/scarred etc people (by themselves and those around them) and easily turns into [[Death by Disfigurement]].

{{Deathtrope}}

{{examples}}
==  Anime and Manga  ==
* Done rather cruelly in ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]''. Birman, one of Weiss' handlers, is captured and subjected to [[Mutilation Interrogation]] by [[The Psycho Rangers|La Mort]]. The boys are ordered to kill her before she cracks and tells them everything she knows; when they protest, Manx reminds them that they're [[Hitman with a Heart|killers,]] not rescuers. When they find her alive, they decide to rescue her anyway, and she asks Aya for the gun he carries as a backup weapon, saying grimly that she's still got one finger to pull a trigger with. Aya gives it to her, [[Hope Spot|apparently thinking she wanted to help them escape]], but she explains the trope and shoots herself instead.
*  {{spoiler|Main character Seiya}} attempts to pull this in [[Saint Seiya]] when he's under the effects of a poison-based techniques and Shun can't fight his own [[Evil Counterpart]] properly, since one of his chains is wrapped around  {{spoiler|Seiya}}'s arm to keep him from falling off a cliff.  {{spoiler|Seiya}} mentions this trope right before he uses his free hand to cut off the already-damaged chain and willingly throw himself off, which sends Shun into an [[Unstoppable Rage]] against his enemy.  {{spoiler|Luckily, Seiya lives to tell. Barely, but he does.}}
* Done at least twice in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]''.
** First, [[Action Girl|Ran Fan]] when she is seriously injured by Bradley. Ling Yao manges to help him, but he got tracked and pressed hard by Bradley. She ask Ling to leave her, but [[Don't Say Such Stupid Things|Ling won't take shit like that]].{{spoiler|She ends up [[Life or Limb Decision|cutting her injured arm]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|and using it to elude Bradley's tracking unit.]]}}
** After he got paralyzed, Havoc tearfully begged [[Supporting Leader|Mustang]] to leave him, since he won't be much help for Mustang anymore in military. {{spoiler|Like above examples, he prove his worth by smuggling weapons for Mustang and his men when the Promised Day is coming.}}
* In the final battle of the ''[[Girls und Panzer]]'' TV series, one tank stalls out while the team is crossing a river. The crew volunteers to stay behind, facing certain elimination by enemy forces. This is similar to a situation that the protagonist faced in her backstory - save the crew or complete the mission? Her decision here is a character-defining moment.

==  Comic Books  ==
* [[Played for Laughs]] in an issue of ''[[Planetary]]'', as the crew are racing to recover a man trying to escape from them while The Drummer is under the weather due to info overload:
{{quote|'''Elijah:''' He's getting away!
'''The Drummer:''' Leave me behind! I'll only slow you down!
'''Elijah:''' Okay.
'''The Drummer:''' I didn't ''mean'' it, you evil old geezer. }}

==  Film  ==
* ''[[The Guns of Navarone]]''. Major Franklin has a serious leg injury and can't keep up with the team, so he tries to commit suicide to avoid slowing them down.
* ''[[Terminator]] 2'': {{spoiler|Miles}} is mortally wounded, but stays behind to {{spoiler|trigger the detonator that will destroy his research}}.
* In ''[[The 13th Warrior]]'', one of the 12 Norsemen stays behind in the tunnel to hold off the rampaging horde of {{spoiler|cannibalistic cave-dwelling Neanderthals}} after uttering the [[You Shall Not Pass|tip-off phrase]] for a wounded soldier: "Well, I think I've gone as far as I can. [[A Good Way to Die|Today was a GOOD day.]]Meet me in Valhalla!"
* ''[[The Last Samurai]]''. Katsumoto's wounded son Nobutada single-handedly holds off scores of Japanese soldiers at a small bridge behind his father's home in Tokyo, so that Katsumoto, Algren and the rest of the samurai can make their escape.
* Lampshaded and mocked in the film of ''[[The Bridge Over the River Kwai]]'', as the would-be victim's reasoning is compared to the ideology of the Japanese soldiers he opposes. "The only important thing is to live like a human being!"
* In the first ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]'' movie, a wounded MI trooper asks to take an nuclear RPG round and remain behind. When asked "You trying to be a hero?", he replies "I'm trying to kill some Bugs, sir. Get outta here!"
* Danny Archer, at the end of ''[[Blood Diamond]]''.
* ''Set It Off'' Queen Latifah draws the attention and gunfire of the police by revving the engine of the getaway car - so her pal Jada Pinkett can escape via the greyhound coach.
* Brendan Gleeson's character in ''[[In Bruges]]''.
* Ed in ''[[Shaun of the Dead]]''.
* This is the fate of {{spoiler|the old robot}} in ''[[The Black Hole]]'' after taking a few too many bullets.
* Geppetto in ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]]''. After Monstro destroys their raft, he tells Pinocchio to "save yourself" as he sinks under the water. {{spoiler|Pinocchio gives his life getting him safely to shore, and even then Geppetto, still barely conscious, continues to say it.}}
* ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]''. One of the Army Men is squashed when Andy's mon stepped on him.
{{quote|'''Soldier:''' Go on without me! Just go!
'''Sergeant:''' A good soldier never leaves a man behind! ''(pulls him to safety)'' }}

==  Literature  ==
* Rockjaw Grang in the [[Redwall]] novel ''The Long Patrol'', after [[Taking the Bullet|being fatally wounded]]. He manages to kill over twenty [[Mooks]] before he finally dies.
* [[The Captain]] of the {{spoiler|HMS ''Madrigal''}}, in ''[[Honor Harrington|The Honor of the Queen]]'', says this to let the surviving Grayson ships leave them and escape.
* In [[The Hunger Games|Mockingjay]],  {{spoiler|Peeta}} asks to be left behind because of  {{spoiler|his personality issues.}}
* In ''[[Wishsong Of Shannara]]'', half of Jair's companions die like this. Garet Jax is technically an exception, because he wasn't wounded when [[You Shall Not Pass|he remained behind to hold off the Jachyra]]. Jair really was leading a [[Suicide Mission]] when you come right down to it.
* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''[[Ciaphas Cain|Cain's Last Stand]]'', {{spoiler|cadet Donal and the governor}} opt to stay behind and delay the enemy after they are wounded. Cain {{spoiler|promotes Donal on the spot to Commissar in honor of his bravery}}. Cruelly subverted when this well-meaning sacrifice {{spoiler|allows Varan to uses his [[Compelling Voice]] to take control of them.}}
* In Teresa Frohock's ''[[Miserere: An Autumn Tale|Miserere an Autumn Tale]]'', the elderly Matthew sends Lucian on alone because he is too old and would only slow him.
* Druric in the ''[[Gotrek and Felix]]'' book ''Orcslayer'' was left behind at his own insistence. What the team settled on was pinning him to the wall in a narrow chokepoint, even after being killed he would continue to be an obstacle and he was incapable of standing anyways.

==  Live-Action TV  ==
* Subverted in the first season two episode of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' in which Daniel is badly wounded. Thinking that this will likely kill him anyway, he tells Jack to take the others and go on without him while he plans to [[You Shall Not Pass|stay behind and cover their escape]]. However he ends up meeting no resistance and instead hauls himself to a Goa'uld sarcophagus to get healed.
* Anders in ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]''.
* ''[[Lost]]'': This is given as the reason Charlotte and Daniel stay behind while the rest of the left-behinds travel to the Orchid. Of the group, Charlotte is suffering the worst effects of time-traveling. This also allows the pair a poignant death scene, which motivates Daniel's actions for the rest of the season.
* In ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'', a few examples:
** Injured Kira to Dax after the crash in "The Siege", but Dax takes her along anyway.
** Dax is bleeding to death in "Change of Heart" is left behind by Worf to finish a mission. {{spoiler|He ends up abandoning the mission and comes back for her}}
** Humorous example in "The Ascent", where Quark hauls the injured Odo (during the period when he had become a "solid") up a mountain on a stretcher. When Odo protests, Quark emphasizes his reasoning: Odo's along for emergency rations; if he dies, he's food.
** Worf yells "leave me!" to Ezri when he's shot as they try to escape the Dominion. She just tells him to shut up.
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S15/E06 The Invasion of Time|The Invasion of Time]]'', one of the savage Gallifreyans to Leela. He then goes for [[Playing Possum]].
** In ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S6/E01 The Dominators|The Dominators]]'', Cully says this to Jamie after the Quark shots him. Jamie opts for [[No One Gets Left Behind]]
* In [[Recap/Blackadder S 4 E 4 Private Plane|one episode]] of ''[[Blackadder Goes Forth]]'', Blackadder and Baldrick have been captured by the Germans and sentenced to spend the rest of the war [[Cool and Unusual Punishment|teaching young schoolgirls in Heidelberg home economics]]. Edmund is far more comfortable with this fate than with being sent back to the front again. When his companions come to rescue him, he attempts to invoke this trope in order to be left behind, claiming to have "splintered his pancreas". It doesn't work.
* In the HBO film ''Deadly Voyage'' (based on a true story), Kingsley Ofosu and his brother are trying to escape from the murderous crew of the ship they have stowed away on (who have already killed their seven companions). As they reach the deck, his injured brother, knowing that the two of them will never escape together, pushes Kingsley away from him and staggers off on his own. Sure enough, the crew quickly catches him and throws him overboard, but the separation and the distraction gives Kingsley the precious extra few minutes needed to escape.

==  Tabletop Games ==
* A variation in the Classic ''[[Traveller]]'' adventure ''Rescue on Galatea'' by FASA. During a rescue mission in enemy territory an [[NPC]] is wounded. The [[PC]]s hear a shot: when they arrive they find the [[NPC]] dead, killed by another [[NPC]] named Freeman. Freeman explains that he had to shoot the wounded [[NPC]] because he would have just slowed them down, or worse been forced to tell about the team's mission if captured.

== Theatre ==
* This is one of the titular cliches [[Invoked Trope|invoked]] in the song "I Love a Film Cliche" from ''[[A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine]]'':
{{quote|It's no use, Johnny -- I'm done for.  You save yourself.}}

==  Video Games  ==
* Played straight and inverted in [[Left 4 Dead]], where a struggling Survivor may encourage the rest to go on to the next safe room without them. Justified because [[Death Is Cheap]] and they'll respawn in the safe room at the beginning of the next map. This is considered a valid tactic on the higher difficulties, since a dozen or more attempts may be needed to finish a campaign on Expert.
* Used along with the exact phrase "I will only slow you down" by the injured Grey Warden Keenan in [[Dragon Age]] Origins: Awakening.
* Meryl asks Solid Snake to shoot her in the first [[Metal Gear Solid]] after being shot by Sniper Wolf, claiming she promised she wouldn't slow him down and broke her promise. [[What the Hell, Hero?|Actually killing her gets you a]] [[Nonstandard Game Over]].
* In ''[[Betrayal at Krondor]]'', whenever a party member gets "killed" in battle, they will tell the others to leave them. No matter how bad it is, they will invariably be told, word for word, that [[No One Gets Left Behind]], and will remain in the party in a state of Near Death.
* In ''[[Fable]] III'', when Walter and the Hero first arrive in Aurora, they encounter a creature known as the Crawler and Walter is left blind and injured. Knowing he's too weak to cross the desert in his current state, Walter tells the Hero to leave him behind, saying "I won't just slow you down, I'll get you killed." You're actually ''forced'' to leave him behind, but doing so at the first opportunity makes you an [[Karma Meter|evil asshole]].
* Hope, suddenly and briefly, in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]''.

==  Web Comics ==
* Said almost word for word in [http://www.goblinscomic.com/10292010-3/ this] [[Goblins]] strip, but gets [[Subverted]] one page later when it's revealed {{spoiler|that his spine isn't broken and he can fight [[Pure Evil|Kore]] [[One Sided Battle|briefly.]]}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180327013050/http://maximumcomic.com/?strip_id=3 Myers] in ''[[Galactic Maximum]]''

==  Web Original  ==
* Completely averted in [[Freddie W]]'s video "Flower Warfare" where, at the end, Freddie falls and beings to tell his comrade to go on without him, just to see she's already done so, barely stopping to see him fall.

==  Western Animation  ==
* In ''[[Dead Space: Downfall]]'', a number of characters end up doing this, {{spoiler|though more because they realize that the marker is slowly driving them insane than because of any physical injury}}.
* Subverted in the episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' 'Das Bus', when the passengers of [[Drives Like Crazy|Otto's]] bus end up stranded on an island, a' la ''[[Lord of the Flies]]''. Bart, Lisa and Milhouse are being chased by the other kids, until Milhouse collapses from exhaustion:
{{quote|'''Milhouse:''' I can't go on... You two go ahead... and carry me with you!}}
* [[Played for Laughs]] in an episode of ''[[King of the Hill]]'': [[It Makes Sense in Context|The Hills are trying to find their dog Ladybird before she goes nuts in a retirement home.]] Bobby gets stopped by a couple of old women who start pinching his cheeks and cooing over him. He tells his parents to go on without him, but when one offers to let him play with her dentures, he shouts "I changed my mind! Come back!!"
* In the ''[[Thundercats 2011|ThunderCats (2011)]]'' episode "Omens Part Two", Jaga, wounded during the escape from their invaded castle, uses the line ''verbatim'' when telling Lion-O and the other Thundercats to leave him behind.
* In the Halloween episode of ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'', Timmy and his friends (which include his godparents as [[For Halloween I Am Going as Myself|no one would recognize them as fairies with everyone in costume]]) visit the Buxaplenty Mansion to get candy. Instead they get dogs sic'd on them for not having nice costumes (that and the owner just a snotty jerkass) with Timmy tripping over his costume and telling his friends to go on without him. Without a beat they all yell "Okay" and leave him behind to which Timmy yells he was "being dramatic".

==  Real Life  ==
* [[wikipedia:Lawrence Oates#The return journey|Captain Lawrence Oates]] is most well known for committing suicide by Antarctic so the rest of his exploration party could live. He was suffering from a frostbitten foot and injuries he received during service in the Boer War. Unfortunately, [[It Got Worse|this didn't]] [[Kill'Em All|help save his comrades]]. His last words were written in Robert Scott's diary as:
{{quote|"[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|I'm just going out]]. [[Gallows Humor|I may be some time]]."}}

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[[Category:Heroic Sacrifice Tropes]]