Taking the Bullet: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* Semi-minor character Brad does this for Vash in episode 21 of ''[[Trigun]]''.

* In the episode 72 from ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer]]'' (one of the ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' sequels), during an aerial duel between Grendizer and another [[Starship]], {{spoiler|Rubina}} flies her own ship between Grendizer and an energy beam to save Duke. She {{spoiler|dies shortly after. Her [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}} is done more tragic because Duke had accused her from betraying him shortly before. The whole episode was a [[Tear Jerker]].

* In ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'', {{spoiler|Kotetsu}} takes a superheated crossbow bolt to the chest for {{spoiler|Barnaby}}. Seeing the lengths the other hero is willing to go in order to protect him, {{spoiler|Barnaby}} begins to drop the [[Jerkass]] act and let himself trust {{spoiler|Kotetsu}}.

 

* ''[[Superman]]'' has done this a few times, but being [[Immune to Bullets]], it's not quite as dramatic.

* [[Booster Gold]] does this for [[Blue Beetle]] (Ted), "[[Big No|Nooooo]]" and all. The bullet passes though his goggles harmlessly but they let you think that he's dead for a second.

* In ''[[Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi]]'', DeeDee takes a bullet from one of Mandark's robots to save [[Dexter's Laboratory|Dexter]].

 

* Something of a reversal in the 1986 ''[[Transformers: The Movie]]'': Optimus Prime has bested Megatron, and is about to finish him off with his gun. Megatron begs for mercy to buy time to try and get a nearby gun. Just as Optimus Prime is about to finally blast Megatron, Hot Rod [[Stop Helping Me!|jumps in the way]] to stop Megatron getting to it. Megatron simply overpowers Hot Rod, gets the gun, and mortally wounds Optimus Prime.

* King Harold on ''[[Shrek]] 2'' jumps in front of Shrek when the Fairy Godmother shoots her wand at the ogre. The spell [[Playing Tennis With the Boss|bounces off his armor and hits her]], turning her into a mass of bubbles. Rather than killing Harold, the spell just turns him back into a frog, which is what he really was to begin with.

* Somewhat inverted on ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]: Last Order'', a 30-minute animated special that tells the story of Zack and Cloud's escape and how Sephiroth went bezerk on Cloud's hometown. The special is "half canon" since many things in it are changed from the original game (since it's the Turks' point of view and not the main characters'). At the end of the special Zach and Cloud are lying at the back of a pickup truck and Zack asks the driver how far is it to Midgar, the Planet's de facto capital city, then does not finish his sentence as he spots a sniper (who wanted to shoot him instead of capturing him or waiting for further orders), then orders Cloud to run. The screen goes black and we hear a shot, implying he took the bullet.

* This was later cleared up on ''[[Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children]] Complete'', an extended version of the original ''Advent Children'' movie, when Zach peeks through the truck (not asking the driver) and the bullet misses him, eventually leading into ''Crisis Core: [[Final Fantasy VII]]'' and the original game's ending in which he is shot by 3 regular soldiers.

* ''[[Air Force One (film)|Air Force One]]''

** When a MiG fires a missile at the title aeroplane, one of the escorting F-15 pilots flies his aircraft directly in the way, destroying it and dying while saving everybody on board the 747. In a subversion, shrapnel from the destroyed jet tears up the tail of Air Force One, making it unable to continue flying. Although this is still less damage than the missile itself would have caused.

* Subverted in ''[[The Scorpion King]]''. {{spoiler|Cassandra, upon prophesizing the future, realizes that the Scorpion King is most likely to die at the hand of one of Mammon's archers, and that it is about to pass, attempts to take the arrow for the Scorpion King, but instead, he ends up getting her out of harms way, thus getting himself hit anyways. Luckily, he's just that tough and survives.}}

* In ''[[Young Sherlock Holmes]]'', the villain shoots at Sherlock, but {{spoiler|his love interest Elizabeth takes the bullet, and her death ends up being a [[Freudian Excuse]] for Sherlock's famed status as a bachelor}}.

 

== Literature ==

* Subverted for the premise of David Allan Greer's short-lived sitcom, ''D.A.G.'': Greer's Secret Service agent dove to take a bullet aimed at the President, but dove the wrong way, leading everyone to assume he was diving out of the way and to his demotion to the First Lady's security detail.

* ''[[Discworld]]''

* A minor tech-priest in one of the ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' stories does this to protect Ciaphas from a Necron shot. Unfortunately, given the power of Necron weapons, he is instantly torn apart and vaporized, but he manages to save Cain, even if Cain loses a couple fingers from the sheer ''proximity'' of the horrible weapon fire.

* Rockjaw Grang in the ''[[Redwall]]'' novel ''The Long Patrol'', right before his [[You Shall Not Pass]] moment. Also, Veil took a spear to protect his adoptive mother. It's unclear if this was a [[Heel Face Turn]] or not, because even as he's dying he bitches her out and won't accept comfort, and she decides that everyone who said he was bad to the bone during his life was right.

* Prince Almorante in ''[[Chronicles of Magravandias]]'' dies taking a sword for his enemy Valraven. People who hated him only minutes before were moved to tears by his sacrifice.

* Subverted in the beginning of [[H. Beam Piper]]'s ''Space Viking'': Lucas Trask saw madman Andray Dunnan aiming a sub-machine gun. Lucas pushed his bride Elaine to the ground, intending to cover her with his own body and Take the Bullet. But he'd misjudged the angle Dunnan fired at ... and he thrust Elaine right into the first shots, which killed her.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* In the 3rd season episode of ''[[Glee]]'', "Michael", Blaine shoves his boyfriend, Kurt, out of the way of a slushy being thrown by his [[Smug Snake]] [[Stalker with a Crush]] to keep him from being humiliated. (Little did he know he was also saving him from taking [[Eye Scream|rock salt to the eye]]).

* During the climax of one episode of ''[[Person of Interest]]'', Detective Fusco dives in front of a bullet to save the life of the POI of the Week. But the [[Heroic Sacrifice]] part is subverted: the bullet hits him in the rear, and he's basically fine (gets taken to the ER by the paramedics). As they roll him into the ambulance, he says he can already hear the guys back at the station laughing at him for getting shot in the ass.

 

== Music ==

* The tragic conclusion of the David Geddes song "Run, Joey, Run" has Julie taking a bullet from her enraged father meant for her boyfriend Joey.

 

* In the official video clip for [[Madonna]]'s "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cItHOl5LRWg Give Me All Your Luvin']", three of the quarterbacks throw themselves before the fire of a Tommy gun to save the singer.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* In the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 3.5E supplement ''Drow of the Underdark'', the illustration for the feat "Constant Guardian" shows a drow male taking a crossbow bolt for a female. The feat doesn't actually consist of this, though it is a prerequisite for a feat that does. (Which probably means the illustration's caption is wrong.)

 

* In ''The Complete History of America (abridged)'', Uncle Sam fires a bullet at Spade, and Flush takes it. The bullet is an oversized prop on a stick—the same one used in the Lincoln assassination, in fact.

* In ''[[The Golden Apple]]'', when Circe hands the apple out to Ulysses, he turns to make his back an easy target for Paris's knife. Seeing this, Achilles calls out to Ulysses and intercepts the blow for him, dying in his place.

 

== Toys ==

* {{spoiler|Lhikan}} for [[The Hero|Vakama]], {{spoiler|Jaller}} for [[Kid Appeal Character|Takua]] in ''[[Bionicle]]''.

 

== Video Games ==

* Actually ''forced'' on the player by the Mastermind archetype in ''[[City of Heroes]]'' -- if the character was close enough to his minions, he automatically took some of the damage they suffered in their place.

 

* In ''[[Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors]]'': {{spoiler|Snake}} takes all six of {{spoiler|Ace's}} bullets in order to save Junpei, Seven and Lotus and {{spoiler|avenge his sister}} in the "safe" ending.

* In ''[[Yarudora]] series vol.3: [[Sampaguita]]'', when you [[Storming the Castle|storm the Yakuza Headquarters]] with Boy and pals in order to save the kidnapped Maria, and you finally find her, the wounded Yakuza boss will try, [[Taking You with Me|in his last breath]], to shoot her as she's running towards you. Depending on if you still have bullets in your gun or not, you will be treated with two possible Endings: {{spoiler|Good End 3, where you have no choice but to perform this trope, and succeed in saving Maria, but [[The Hero Dies|at the cost of your life]]; however, [[Our Ghosts Are Different|you awake as a ghost]] 2 years later, and discover, to your joy, that Maria now lives a happy life [[Someone to Remember Him By|with the baby boy born from you and her]]}}; or {{spoiler|Normal End 2, where you ''can'' shoot the Yakuza boss, but choose to perform this trope instead: as a result, Maria is safe, [[Stupid Sacrifice|but the game ends as you die, without the ghost story]].}}

* In ''[[Fantasia Otome Game Series|Fantasia: Requiem of the Abyss]]'', Faye jumps into the line of fire to save Cyrus and Valen from certain death.

* In ''[[Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth]]'', Shi-Long Lang takes a bullet meant for Shih-na, {{spoiler|despite the fact that she's just been revealed as [[The Mole]] and as a murder they've been tracking for years}}. The reason? {{spoiler|Lang still considers her part of his 'pack', even though she's a traitor.}} Don't worry, he was only shot in the leg and he's [[Made of Iron]] so it's not even mentioned again.

 

== Web Animation ==

* Subverted in the ''Space Tree'' episode "[http://spacetree.com/spacetree36.html Kill or Kick]": When Space Tree hears that Ghost Spider's plan went off without a hatch, Space Tree executes ''his'' plan. ''With a gun.'' The Commander leaps in front of Ghost Spider, slow motion, "NOOOO!" and all, but the gun hasn't even fired. Turns out Space Tree's plan was just to kick Ghost Spider.

* During the final Dragon Shrine showdown of ''[[Bunny Kill|Bunnykill 4]]'', Snowball, after defending an unconscious [[Action Girl|Ruby]] from a storm of giant shurikens hurled by [[Big Bad|Flint]], gets his sword knocked out of his hands when Flint hurls a powered-up shuriken at him. Ruby wakes up as Flint hurls his final shuriken at him (complete with the requisite slow-mo), and sacrifices herself to save his life by taking the shuriken in the back. Snowball proceeds to go into [[Super Mode|"White Avenger" mode]] and [[Unstoppable Rage|proceeds to kick seven shades of hell out of Flint]].

 

== Web Comics ==

* Subverted in the final chapter of ''[[Sailor Nothing]]'', {{spoiler|as Aki is merely wounded, not killed, in the process.}} It's also toyed with in that {{spoiler|two people dive for the same bullet, the second pushing the first out of the way in addition to the original target}}.

* In ''[[Interviewing Leather]]'', when Todd Chapman is exploring the scenes of Dynamo Girl's heroics, he mentions seeing the city councilman she caught a bullet for.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Parodied in the ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' episode "Operation: T.O.M.M.Y.", where Numbuh Two make a slow-motion dive to save his little brother Tommy from a ''snot bullet''.

* In ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]'', squire Winston takes a lethal energy blast for Sir George.

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Knight in Shining Tropes]]

[[Category:Death Tropes]]

[[Category:Undead Horse Trope]]

[[Category:Dying Moment of Awesome]]