Obstructive Code of Conduct: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

This trope involves any code of conduct that artificially constrains the choices available to the protagonist. Often (as with Star Trek's Prime Directive), it [[Holding Back the Phlebotinum|restricts or prevents his use of phlebotinum]] that would wrap up the plot in two seconds otherwise. Conveniently forgotten (or [[Hand Wave|hand waved]]) when the plot requires it, but some shows do try to use this as a point of plot drama as the protagonists try to find a way to twist the rules to fit the situation.

 

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* The eponymous [[Half-Human Hybrid|demihuman]] warriors of ''[[Claymore]]'' are sworn never to kill a human under any circumstances on pain of being hunted down by their colleagues (presumably to keep the [[All of the Other Reindeer|general populace]] at least a little less frightened of them than the creatures they hunt). In practice their behaviors range from refusing to raise a hand against any human to avoiding deathblows and making sure nobody bleeds out to slaughtering any witnesses to prevent accusations from being made.

 

== Film ==

** A lot of these make the Dark Side = Sith distinction. You can teach the force to others, but Sith Techniques are shared only between a Master and Apprentice. Of course a lot of Sith have broken ''this'' one too.

** Similarly, the Jedi have their own creed, though never specifically stated in the movies. The promotional material for ''Episode II'' told us that "A Jedi Shall Not Know Anger. Nor Hatred. Nor Love". And in the [[Expanded Universe]], the Jedi Code taught is:

There is no death; there is the Force. }}

*** While many Jedi seem able to more or less come to terms with anger and hatred, they always seem to be having trouble tackling the matter of not falling in love... In the end it becomes rather clear in the EU that later Jedi consider the "no love" thing a rather dysfunctional rule. Even the movies hint at this as it's the "no love" nonsense that really drives Anakin toward the dark side and it's Luke's love for his father (that the older Jedi consider a weakness) that saved him. It's little surprise then that when Luke goes on to found his own order the no love rule is more or less totally abandoned with large numbers of Jedi marrying and producing children whom they clearly deeply care for without anyone saying this is bad.

*** [[Fridge Brilliance]]: Would ''you'' want to be telling [[The Lancer|Han Solo]] "No, you can't marry my sister?"

** Woody makes a vague mention of this in the first movie, when he and the reassembled toys confront Sid.

** [[Word of God]] is that involuntary instinct also plays a role (which explains why it's never made explicit).

 

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Sector General]]'': The Monitor Corps have a [[Alien Non-Intervention Clause]] similar to that of Star Trek, meaning no contact before the discovery of FTL, but seemed to be much more reasonable with it, as they violated it four times during the series. Once was because a pandemic (although, through no fault of the person in charge, the cure resulted in a genocide), once was because of an environmental disaster, once was because the civilization was killing off another intelligent being on the planet (as well as itself), and once because the species involved were physically incapable of spaceflight, due to an inherent psychological problem.

** The Ellimist claims that, as a rule, he never interferes with mortal races, but in actual practice he finds many excuses to interfere.

** The Ellimist's rules are generally based on the game he plays with Crayak. Because both of them are so powerful that they could wreck the entire galaxy if they felt like it (their battles were at the stage where they were hurling planets and suns and even solar systems at each other, destroying what might have been an entire arm of the galaxy' and this was ''before'' they got their God-power upgrades), they have a rule that each time one interferes directly, the other is allowed a single action to balance it out. As a result, they fight their wars through proxies for the vast majority of the time.

* At the end of one of the ''[[Vampire Chronicles]]'' novels, the surviving oldest vampires make a pact to stop making any more vampires, even though their version of [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]] states that the more vampires are out there the less they need to feed. Lestat, the [[Magnificent Bastard]] that he is, goes ahead and forcibly turns {{spoiler|David Talbot}} the very next book.

* [[The Federation]] in ''[[Enchantress From the Stars]]'' has a very strict non-interference policy on developing civilizations. Field agents to Youngling planets often die rather than reveal their true nature.

* The ''[[Wheel of Time]]'''s Aes Sedai are magically bound by three prohibitions: they can't lie, they can't make weapons, and they can't use magic as a weapon except against Shadowspawn or as a last resort in self-defense. They are so well known for [[Exact Words|circumventing the prohibition against lying]] that they're invariably met with suspicion. The last prohibition, however, causes the Aes Sedai no end of trouble as they encounter groups bent on their annihilation that are not, technically, allied with the Shadow. They generally circumvent the problem by deliberately placing themselves in mortal danger until they feel that they have no alternatives to letting loose.

* ''[[The War Gods]]'' series has Wencit of Rûm, a wizard who's sworn to enforce the Strictures of Ottovar, that strictly forbid using magic against non-wizards except in direct and non-lethal self defense, and contain a strict dueling code for wizard to wizard action. Both instances of him joining combat include him enlisting the aid of non-wizards to work around the rules. For a dark wizard, fulfilling the requirements for Wencit to attack them means instant death.

== Live-Action TV ==

* ''[[Star Trek]]'' is the most famous for this (and the [[Alien Non-Intervention Clause|Prime Directive]] being an archetypal example).

** One of [[Gene Roddenberry]]'s favorite [[An Aesop|Aesops]] involved the distinctions between the ''spirit'' of the law and the ''letter'' of the law. In particular, the "healthy development" phrase proved, on several occasions, to be a loophole big enough to fly the ''Enterprise'' through, while on other occasions, serious debate has been put up on the question of whether getting annihilated by the disaster-of-the-week is part of said "healthy development".

** Currently, there are only two directives that are known to supersede the Prime Directive: the Omega Directive (which aims at {{spoiler|protecting the galaxy from a phenomenon that, if left unchecked, would render interstellar society impossible}}) and the Temporal Prime Directive (don't mess with the timeline).

* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', the Psi Corps rules basically exist only so that telepaths can break them to show that it's really serious this time.

* At times, the Time Lords from ''[[Doctor Who]]'' have tried to maintain this, even putting the Doctor on trial for its violation at one point; a few other episodes have had him ask the people he's saved (if any survive) [[Think Nothing of It|to not mention him]]. In other cases, the Time Lords have redirected his TARDIS to places they wanted fixed by him without admitting their involvement.

** In the new series, the Doctor also has a rule against using time travel to change events that he's personally involved in. It's implied that this would be really, really bad for nonspecific reasons. [[Hand Wave|This is usually used to keep him from using the TARDIS to get out of trouble.]]

** ''[[Highlander Endgame]]'' had the villain violate the holy ground rule. This caused [[Fan Backlash]] so bad the bit mentioning holy ground was cut from the DVD release, leading to a plot hole instead. Fans took it badly than many a worst villains abided by that rule, and several material like [[Highlander the Series]] inferred near-apocalyptic consequences to violating it (It was said the last time someone did it, Vesuvius happened to Pompeii". Yet when the villain of ''Endgame'' did it, nothing happened.

** The Nox are perhaps even ''more'' into this idea. Both they and the Nox get incredibly annoying about it ("You are very young," anyone?) The Asgard initially take this path as well, {{spoiler|until they're just about to go extinct, at which point they dump the sum total of their knowledge on us, superweapons and all}}.

** The [[Human Aliens|Tollan]] also qualify. Despite being a younger civilization, they have advanced centuries beyond Earthlings (possibly, due to the lack of anti-science movements in their culture). They refuse to give any of their technology to less advanced races. This is [[Justified Trope]] in their case, as their previous experience with giving technology to a less advanced civilization ended in an [[Earthshattering Kaboom]]. Later, however, after the untimely death ({{spoiler|read: murder}}) of one of their leaders, the Tollan offer to trade their powerful ion cannons to Earth in exchange for [[Unobtainium]]. {{spoiler|This turns out to be a ruse, and the Tollan are wiped out as a result}}. It should be noted, though, that it would still have taken Earth scientists decades, if not centuries, to reverse-engineer and understand the workings of Tollan technology, which would explain why one of the Tollan broke their rule and gave a device to Carter.

*** [[P Lus]] the Goa'uld had just developed motherships with shields that could resist the ion cannons, making them just an ordinary weapon.

'''Harry:''' It's so hard to keep track of all this. }}

* ''[[Thunderbirds]]'' has their policy of maintaining strict secrecy about their organization and equipment when they could indirectly save many more lives licensing their vehicles to various emergency response services and militaries as standard issue equipment.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

'''3- Progeny''': Vampires shall not create more of their own kind. When they do, the Childe's actions are the Sire's burden. }}

** In short, rule one and three are barely considered loose guidelines. Rule 2 is obviously considered a bad thing, mostly because Vampires expect it to be done to them next. They're usually right.

'''6- Destruction:''' Vampires are forbidden to kill each other. The right of destruction belongs only to your elder (read: the prince), and only the eldest among vampires of a given city can call a Blood Hunt. }}

** As you might expect, many of these rules get bent or outright broken with some degree of regularity. The Camarilla is especially hard on those who break the Masquerade.

** Paladins could become anti-paladins, depending on alternate rulesets.

** The 1st and 2nd Edition paladin had several additional restrictions as well, such as not being able to own more than a few magic items. The 1E ranger was likewise limited in how many possessions could be owned, and had to be Good-aligned.

** Monks can't advance any further in that class if they take a level in a non-monk class.

** Removed in 4th Edition. Clerics and paladins can change their alignment and break codes later.

 

 

== Video Games ==

** Donald and Goofy care throughout the first game; at the end of the first game, they get ready to leave Sora for good, never to see him again ([[Tear Jerker|and can't bring themselves to say goodbye, opting to sneak away as Sora unites with Kairi and his own homeworld]]). But things happen and they still stick together; the beginning of the second game has a subtle "fuck that" moment on Donald and Goofy's part and no one brings it up again.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

There is an additional rule, saying that one cannot wish for extra wishes beyond the initial three. }}

** These were initially presented in the original movie as limitations on granted wishes, but became implicitly upgraded to general behavioral rules in the direct-to-video sequel (that also functioned as the pilot of the TV series).

** Genies have no rule other than having to grant their master's wishes in any way they can interpret the wish's wording. When asked, genies usually claim their masters can't use any of their wishes to wish for more wishes. The only exception was when Crocker became Norm's master. Norm and Crocker shared a common interest (Timmy's destruction)

* Spoofed in ''Sev Trek: Puss in Boots'' when Commander Piker (Will Riker) is infected by an enormous zit that turns out to be an evolving sentient lifeform.

'''Piker:''' I see -- it's my choice only if I choose what ''you'' want! }}

 

 

== Web Original ==

* One episode of ''[[Mr. Deity]]'' has the titular god refusing to help out on Earth because it would violate the Prime Directive. Larry spends most of the episode trying to convince Mr. Deity that he's getting his own rules confused with ''[[Star Trek]]''.

 

{{reflist}}