Helping Would Be Killstealing: Difference between revisions
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You are in trouble. Big trouble. It is
There is this person. He has power, he is able to help you. And it's not like he's too busy to be able to spend the time on you.
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Although this trope is about passively letting bad things happen rather than actively setting them up, it can apply to a [[Stealth Mentor]] or other [[Trickster Mentor]] that has set things in motion and then remain in the background while reminding himself that he mustn't step in. Might become a very reluctant [[Deus Ex Machina]] that is really sorry he gave the protagonists that vital information instead of letting them find it themselves, or regrets that he removed [[That One Boss|That One Obstacle]]. One of main tools of the [[Sink or Swim Mentor]].
The trope is named after [[Kill Steal|a common derogatory epithet]] in [[MMORPG
Compare [[This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself]], where something is left to [[The Hero]] because he has an emotional stake in it.
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== [[Anime and Manga]] ==
* This is one of the basic principles of teaching martial arts in ''[[Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple]]'': it's repeatedly said that a martial arts mentor must not interfere in his (or her) disciple's fight with a non-master fighter, even when the disciple's life is in danger. However, mentors sometimes ''break'' a sparring (i.e. friendly) match when a disciple is in a serious danger. (It happened once to Takeda and once to Kenichi.)
* An explicit rule in Squad 11 of ''[[Bleach]]'s'' Thirteen Court Guard Squadrons. The [[Blood Knight
* One of Meta Knight's favorite excuses for not helping [[Kirby]] is that he needs the experience.
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== [[Mythology]]/Theology ==
* This is one of the main solutions to the Teodice problem, the question of how [[God]] can be [[Big Good|Good]], [[The Omniscient|Omniscient]] and [[Invincible Hero|Almighty]] and still allow the world to become as horrible as it is. God is able to make the bad go away, and He does want the bad to go
** And the other half of it is that if God ''always'' stepped in to prevent people from being dicks to other people, then there's pratically no ability to choose to be a dick. Which is basically pissing all over human free will and forcing us to do what He wants.
** Then there's the median between the two, that God is able to make the bad go away, and He does want the bad to go
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* Also occurs in [[First-Person Shooter|FPSs]] and other games where kills equates to points, ranking and sometimres bonuses and experience. Even in team games where theoretically it doesn't matter who on the team gets the kill, the individual rewards can motivate this.
** ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2'' for example gives powerful killstreak rewards for achieving a certain number of kills in a single life. Some players will get more annoyed at teammates who "help" by killing opponents than at the opponents themselves, especially when they "just needed one more kill for Harriers".
* This is pretty much the only reasonable explanation for why in the climax of [[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl|Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum]] the much more qualified [[Big Good|Cynthia]] doesn't step up to beat the [[Big Bad]] into a pulp- even though she's literally standing ''right next to you''- and lets you handle him instead. The ''[[Pokémon Special]]'' manga averts this by [[
** Subverted by Alder in [[Pokémon Black and White|Black/White]] who actually DOES take on N. {{spoiler|Since N had captured [[Olympus Mons|Reshiram/Zekrom]] and Alder was out of practice due to having been retired, it doesn't go so well.}}
** In [[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire|Ruby/Sapphire]]/Emerald, neither Wallace nor Steven step up to help you against the [[Big Bad]], despite being Champion-caliber trainers.
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** Despite this, the ending cinematic still calls you a coward for not stepping into the chamber yourself. Since when is refusing to die unnecessarily considered cowardice? Mind you, this is a case when no one has to die.
** Incidentally, companions helping is literally killstealing; you don't get XP for people they kill. This was thankfully rectified in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]''.
* As a meta-example, this is why [[Crutch Character
* Subverted in ''[[Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories]]'': When you frequently summon Kurtis to help you in battle, he eventually responds that you need to learn to stand on your own...and then decides to help you anyway, since you can't learn this lesson if you die in battle.
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