Taking the Bullet: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A form of [[Heroic Sacrifice]] where, when a villain fires a weapon at someone and another character leaps into the path of the bullet, receiving the injury instead.

 

 

This may be a minor character protecting a major one, or sometimes a villain will do this following a [[Heel Face Turn]], in which case they're [[Redemption Equals Death|probably not going to pull through]].

The United States Secret Service (which protects the president) calls this, "catching the bullet", although it is rarely actually performed. In real life, technique is obviously different, as bullets are far too fast to react to. Instead, the human shield will stand in front of the defended individual (hopefully) prior to the shot being fired. For instance, when Kennedy was shot, the agent with Johnson threw him to the floor of the car and then threw himself on top of him until they reached a secure location.

 

 

Compare [[Jumping on a Grenade]], [[Load-Bearing Hero]]. [[Human Shield]] and [[Bulletproof Human Shield]] are the unwilling versions that often happens in hostage situations. [[Misguided Missile]] is when you do this with air-to-air weaponry.

 

{{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]].

** And then there's poor little [[Battle Butler|Haku]]...

** Sasuke jumps in front of Haku's attack to protect Naruto in one [[Ho Yay|memorable]] [[Tear Jerker|scene]]. Cue Sasuke's claims of [[I Was Just Passing Through|"My body moved on its own"]] and Naruto's [[Unstoppable Rage]].

** Suigetsu takes a [[Wave Motion Gun|giant ass chakra blast]] from a transformed Killer Bee to protect his team. [[Nigh Invulnerability|Naturally]], this only renders him unconscious, since Suigetsu was [[Blob Monster|a lake]] at the time.

* Scar from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' does this in [[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|the 2003 anime version]]. When military troops notice Lust and open fire on her, Scar instinctively leaps in front of her and takes the hits, despite knowing fully well that Lust wouldn't have died. She gently reprimands him for this afterward.

'''Scar:''' It wasn't for you. This damn body has a will of its own. }}

* ''[[Gundam]]''

** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn]]'': Poor, POOR, Marida; as if her life wasn't sad enough...

* ''[[Dragonball Z]]'':

** Piccolo's switch from villain to [[Anti-Hero]] happens when he takes a lethal blast for his pupil Gohan. The scene gets lampooned in ''[[Dragonball Z Abridged]]''.

** He also does this for Goku in the Frieza saga, taking a Death Beam from him; he survives, but he comes close to dying.

** In the Cell saga after Vegeta has been knocked unconscious trying to avenge Trunks, Cell is about to shoot him with a huge Kamehameha. Gohan pushes him out of the way and takes the hit; he survives, but it costs him the use of one of his arms.

** Done quite cruelly with {{spoiler|Portgas D. Ace}}, who has a Taking the Magma-Coated Fist moment to protect {{spoiler|Luffy from Akainu.}} It works, but, unlike the above example... {{spoiler|[[Heroic Sacrifice|he does]] ''[[Killed Off for Real|not]]'' [[Tear Jerker|get better]].}}

** Happened also with {{spoiler|Queen Otohime}}, who jumps to save a {{spoiler|Tenryuubito}} at the Fishmen Arc.

** Setsuna does this for Konoka during the [[Class Trip]]. Odd in that she managed to do this atop a 30-something story castle when she was ''on the ground seconds earlier''. Maybe justified by her later [[Wing Pull]]. Or, considering that she had, earlier in that storyline, demonstrated the ability to jump over buildings in a single bound, it's not that weird.

** Later in the same [[Story Arc|arc]] Negi ''tried'' to do this for one of his students. She swatted him aside upon spotting the danger and took the incoming stone spear through the midsection rather messily, but that merely ''[[Badass|irritated]]'' [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire|Evangeline]]... as the attacker promptly regretted.

** Also, near the very beginning of the manga, in a game of dodgeball Asuna catches a ball aimed (with enough force to hurt) at Negi, and he does the same for a fallen Asuna later.

** Next Arc Nodoka gets to do this for Negi with a bullet that sends the person hit forward in time by 3 hours. However before Chamo reminds Negi and Yue of this, they do the standard grief sequence.

* ''[[Mai-Otome]]''

** Erstin does this when a bottle of acid gets dropped on Arika, and gets away with just a burn on her leg.

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'':

** Tuxedo Mask does this for Sailor Moon at least once in each season, and it usually results in his death/capture, eliciting from Sailor Moon a [[Big No]]. Also, in the Marine Cathedral episode, Neptune sees Eudial threatening Uranus with a gun and proceeds to run towards them ''while being shot from all directions'' and ultimately takes the shot intended for Uranus, who goes on to kill herself anyway. Also, Neptune was captured previously in the same episode by taking a hit from a stone that would have hit Uranus otherwise.

** In the R movie, Usagi saves Chibiusa from a plant this way, and Tuxedo Mask does the same thing when Fiore tries to stab Sailor Moon.

*** Similarly, in the series Neo Queen Serenity does this to protect Chibi-Usa during the Black Moon invasion. She's severely injured and thus must be frozen into crystal; Chibi-Usa goes to the past to seek Sailor Moon's help and the Silver Crystal {{spoiler|unaware that she is Usagi's [[Kid From the Future]].}}

* In ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', Yuki Nagato takes an awful lot of flying metal spears in order to shield Kyon in her fight against Asakura. [[Nigh Invulnerable|She doesn't seem to mind, though]].

* ''[[Saint Seiya]]''

** Sometimes, Seiya's best friend and partner Dragon Shiryu will do this for his friends, but he has the advantage of wielding the Dragon Shield (said to be one of the strongest shields ''ever'') on his forearm, making it a much more reasonable act.

* In ''[[Blue Seed]]'', Momiji receives her mitama when she attempts to shield Kusanagi from Orochi's attack, complete with a [[Big No]] and stuff.

** In a straighter example, [[Aloof Big Brother|Byakuya]] does this for Rukia when Gin tries to kill her with his shikai.

** In the manga, {{spoiler|Ginjo does this for Ichigo. A somewhat unusual example, as taking the stab reverted Ginjo's [[Memory Gambit|memories back]]. In the following chapter, Ginjo stabs Ichigo himself.}}

* ''[[Soul Eater]]''

** Crona ends up taking the bullet for Maka during a battle with Medusa.

** Later on, Asura [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|uses this trope to his benefit]] during a battle with Shinigami-sama and intentionally aims for bystanders during the fight to make his opponent take the bullet.

** Earlier than both those examples, and not technically a bullet, but Soul puts himself between Maka and Ragnarok after Maka can't bring herself to use him to defend against the sword (Ragnarok at the time being the vastly superior Weapon).

* Matsuka for Keith in ''[[Toward the Terra]]''.

* In ''[[Phantom of Inferno|Requiem for the Phantom]]'', Zwei's assassination run on [[Smug Snake|Scythe Master]] ends in failure when Ein takes a bullet for Scythe, who responds by shooting a despondent Zwei in the back and leaving him for dead.

* ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]''

** Tomoe steps in to try and wrestle the knife out of an enemy's hands, but thanks to Kenshin being blinded earlier in the fight he can't see her and accidentally kills them both.

** [[Expy|Barring a certain resemblance to Wizardmon]], {{spoiler|Baalmon}} does this in [[Digimon Xros Wars]].

* ''[[Harukanaru Toki no Naka de]]''

** In the ''Hachiyou Shou'' TV series, Yorihisa protects Tenma from a sword-wielding mook this way, mirroring an incident from his past where his brother Sanehisa did the same to ''him''. Unlike Sanehisa, Yorihisa survives, although the wound makes the subsequent battle significantly more difficult (at least until they get a power-up).

** ''Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3 - Owarinaki Unmei'' has {{spoiler|Masaomi}} taking an arrow for Nozomi; at first, it looks like he ''might'' have simply pushed her away without getting shot, but no...

* Sure, in ''[[Freezing]]'', none of the readers liked [[Smug Snake]] Atia Simmons for being such an unlikable bitch, but you ''gotta'' feel something for her when her battle partner sacrificed himself for her. Cue [[Berserker Tears]] and [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]].

** Kisara does this for Priest Seto.

** Much earlier, When Mai is trapped and about to be attacked Yami Marik's Winged Dragon of Ra, Joey jumps in tries to free her from the chains. Marik then decides to attack them both. Just when the attack is about to connect, Yugi jumps in front of them in time and takes the brunt of the attack. He's temporarily knocked unconscious.

* ''[[Gunslinger Girl]]''

** {{spoiler|Angelica}} dies in hospital after taking a carbomb blast for Marco.

** [[Chivalrous Pervert|Ginei]] did this once as well... damn near killed him.

* ''[[Jyu-Oh-Sei|Jyu Oh Sei]]''

** Simon takes a bullet for Natsu and Erza. About fifty chapters later Gerard, who shot the first "bullet" takes a bullet for Natsu as well.

* In ''[[Vampire Game]]'', Hume takes a sword for Illsaide.

* Played straight with ''[[Ginga Densetsu Weed]]'' when Jerome manages to alert the other dogs of the humans shooting at them. Poor Jerome literally takes a bullet for the pack. Heroic dog, indeed

* [[Played for Laughs]] in an episode of ''[[Inuyasha|Inu Yasha]]''. Soten, the younger sister of the two Thunder Brothers defeated by Inu-Yasha earlier, sends her dragon minion to incapacitate Kagome and Inu-Yasha using Kagome's arrows. When Inu-Yasha jumps in front of Kagome in order to save her, it's revealed the arrows don't even harm anyone.

* 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 the ''[[Chick Tracts]]'' "Murph," Murph's partner, Officer Donovan does this for him, since he believes he, being an "unsaved" Catholic, isn't ready to die. Interestingly enough, Donovan gets off with flesh wounds while Murph is mortally wounded.

* In ''[[Birds of Prey]]'' a young [[Teleporters and Transporters|teleporter]] calling herself Batgirl (complete with homemade Batgirl outfit) teleported herself in front of a bullet meant for Huntress. Fortunately her teleportation came with a [[Healing Factor]] and she teleported herself to Barbara in time to save herself.

* In ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'', we have the eponymous Spidey doing this to save Captain America from a sniper's bullet. {{spoiler|He dies, yes, but not before going out in a blaze of glory by fending off the Sinister Six.}}

* In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', a heart-broken Mina Mongoose throws herself between Princess Sally and Sonic (who had just reconciled and admitted their feelings) and a bullet from Nack the Weasel. The comic makes it seems she died, but then she's seen in a hospital room recovering.

 

 

* 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.

** 1 pushes 9 out of the way of the [[Buffy-Speak|soul-sucking ray... thing]] that the Fabrication machine unleashes.

** And earlier, 2 ''does the exact same thing'', pushing 9 down as the Fabrication machine initially powers up.

* 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.

** A more traditional example happens earlier, when a cowardly official gets his heroic redemption.

* Sue Storm in ''[[Fantastic Four (film)|Fantastic Four]]: Rise of the Silver Surfer''.

* Subverted in an intense scene of ''The Caveman's Valentine'' when [[Samuel L. Jackson|Romulus]] tries to do this for his daughter. He throws himself on top of her as a badguy starts shooting. She then continues firing at the bad guy while pinned under her hysterically yelling father. Romulus, seconds later: "Are you shot? Am I? We're alright? We're not shot? You're alive? I'm alive? How can that be?"

* Though it never happens, in ''[[Dave]]'', Ving Rhames' job is essentially to take a bullet for Kevin Kline. He later admitted he'd do it for Dave as well.

* ''[[Buckaroo Banzai]]''. Rawhide interposes his body to take the poisonous mini-starfish a Red Lectroid spat at Buckaroo. He ends up dying as a result.

* ''[[Batman: The Movie]]'' (1966). Batman and Robin are trapped on a buoy with a torpedo coming toward them and there's an explosion. Later:

'''Batman:''' True, Robin. It was noble of that animal to hurl himself into the path of that final torpedo. He gave his life for ours. }}

* In ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'', Daniel Jackson takes a staff blast meant for Colonel O'Neil, and dies.

* 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.

* Inverted in ''[[Airman]]'', by Eoin Colfer; Victor performs a dramatic leap in front of a bullet to save King Nicholas, but, because he's just that bit too old, the bullet hits the webbing between his outstretched fingers and hits its intended target anyway. And then Victor gets shot, too.

* In ''[[Jedi Academy Trilogy|I, Jedi]]'', Mara Jade and Corran Horn spend some time honing their Jedi laser-deflection skills on several remotes. If a remote's laser hits flesh, it really stings, but there's no permanent damage. At one point while the two are engaging in [[Casual Danger Dialog]] Mara is almost shot in the face, but Corran intercepts with his hand. Amused, Mara says she owes him one. She delivers in a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment.

* In ''[[The Silmarillion]]'': the elf lady Aredhel takes a javelin thrown by her husband and meant for their son. It's only a flesh wound, so she asks to the king her brother that her husband be spared...and then she dies in the night, because the weapon was poisoned.

* In ''[[Les Misérables (novel)|Les Misérables]]'', Eponine takes a bullet for her unrequited crush Marius. [[Irony|Ironic]], because she [[Love Makes You Evil|deliberately]] [[If I Can't Have You|led him to the barricades]] so that he would be killed and [[Clingy Jealous Girl|wouldn't be with his love Cosette.]]

* In ''[[Warrior Cats]]'', throughout the book ''SkyClan's Destiny'', [[Knight Templar Parent|Stick]] believes that a cat named Harley "stole" his daughter when she really does love him. In the ending {{spoiler|Stick is about to kill Harley when his daughter Red leaps in front of him and dies because of it.}}

* 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.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* In the ''[[Firefly]]'' episode "Jaynestown", a character in the town of Canton takes a shotgun blast meant for [[The Big Guy|Jayne]], whom the town has [[Accidental Hero|idolized as their hero]]. In a twist, Jayne tells him it was a stupid thing to do, and fully means it. It's interesting that Jayne is so clearly troubled by this, given that he's been shown to be an [[Token Evil Teammate|amoral]] [[Anti-Hero|son of]] [[Lovable Traitor|a bitch]] in previous and subsequent episodes. His distress is evidently because the man died for someone like ''him''.

* ''[[Spaced]]'': Mike takes a ''[[Paintball Episode|paintball pellet]]'' for Tim, complete with side dive and long "Noooooo". The parody also includes the fact that Mike was a good ''twenty feet away'' and loudly announced his presence, making it seem like the shooter was willing to patiently wait while Mike ran in the way of the shot. And Mike starts coughing up ''paint''. (Because he'd been eating paintballs.)

* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''

** DL takes a bullet for Niki. [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|Sort of]].

** "Into the Fire", season 4 episode 6: Happens with two coalition ships (one Drazi, IIRC, and the other a full-on Minbari ''cruiser'') taking missiles meant for the White Star (well, really meant for Sheridan, Delenn, and Lorien; not that a missile would do much to Lorien). This immediately after the Vorlons and Shadows bragged about how the other races would fall in line. Oops.

** Delenn twice surrendered her life to fate to protect Sheridan. Once by asking a Vorlon inquisitor to kill her instead and again walking into a thrown knife.

* In ''[[The Invisible Man (TV series)|The Invisible Man]]'', the protagonist's brother pushes him out of the way of a gunman (they're running side by side at the time) and takes a full spray of machine gun bullets in the chest. Obviously, he doesn't make it.

* In an episode of ''[[Monk]]'', Harold takes a bullet for Dr. Kroger. Slightly subverted in that Harold decides to gloat to Monk about his action by telling him to "beat that", causing distress to Monk.

* ''[[Oz]]''. Kareem Said's life is saved when one of his Muslim followers throws himself in front of a knife wielded by a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. Ironically that same inmate had joined the Muslims to kill Said, but ended up [[Becoming the Mask|converting to Islam for real]]. Likewise Augustus Hill takes a blade meant for surrogate father Burr Redding. These acts cause both characters to suffer a [[Heroic BSOD]].

* ''[[The X-Files]]'', "Monday". The girlfriend of a bank robber saves Mulder's life this way. Her death breaks the [[Groundhog Day Loop]] in which they are all trapped.

* ''[[CSI New York]]''

** Stella's mentor and father figure shields her with his body from a gunfight between his brother and Mac. He's fatally shot, while Stella's uninjured.

* Omen of ''[[Dark Oracle]]'', a [[Redemption Equals Death|reformed villain]], jumped in front of a magical blast that was aimed at Cally in the [[Grand Finale]], getting himself erased from existence for his trouble.

* In the [[Korean Drama]] ''[[The City Hunter]]'', Kim Na Na makes a [[Diving Save]] to protect [[Yoon Sung]], ending up with the bullet in her shoulder.

* In the Series 5 finale of ''[[Law and Order UK]]'', "Deal", {{spoiler|DS Matt Devlin takes several bullets for friend/colleague Alesha and Kaden (the young man he was about to escort into Witness Protection.) He doesn't execute the purest form of the trope; instead, he pushes both them down/out of the way first, resulting in no time to duck himself. We are told in the beginning of the next episode that he took two bullets directly to the chest, dying of his wounds off-screen.}}

* In the ''[[Sanctuary]]'' episode "Hero II: Broken Arrow", Walter makes the whole diving save to protect Kate (and the [[Clothes Make the Superman|living superhero suit she's wearing]]) from an energy bolt coming from an Ultraviolet Gun.

* 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 ==

* [[Helloween]]'s song, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn-83gxiwwo (The Departed) Sun is Going Down].

* The whole point of the song by [[The Rasmus]] called "Shot". Sample lyrics:

* The song "San Francisco Fan", performed by [[Cab Calloway]] among other singers, is about a female performer who takes 'a dozen slugs' for her no-good gambling boyfriend after he's caught cheating at a game and someone tries to shoot him for it.

* [[The Smiths]] in "What Difference Does It Make?"

* The Bruno Mars song "Grenade" references this trope in every chorus

 

* 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 ==

** The Imperial Guard has the "look out-- ARGH!" rule to protect some of their COs.

** Then you've got the [[The Ogre|Ogryn]] bodyguard Nork Deddog. Nork can take the bullet plus goes into a mad rage trying to protect his commander if Nork dies in close combat. The codex actually has IN HIS RULES "desperately attempts to 'smash dem wot is tyrin ta 'urt da kernul'... slumps to the floor asking his officer 'did we win?' before passing out form his wounds."

** Tau shield drones are programmed to get in the way of incoming fire to protect their user. They have [[Deflector Shields]]. Sometimes they don't effectively deflect the shot, but hey, a destroyed drone is better than a dead Tau.

* In ''[[Magna Veritas]]'', Jean-Luc, Archangel of Protectors, grants his servants the power "ultimate sacrifice", allowing them to magically redirect any harm from a single target to themselves, with some damage reduction at high levels.

 

* 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 ==

 

== Video Games ==

* If you've played an [[Escort Mission]], chances are you've tried this at least once.

* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'', a boulder is hurled towards King Mickey and Goofy pushes him out of the way, taking the full force of the giant rock. Feeling sad and full of angry vengeance, Sora, Donald, and the King run forward, battling through hordes of Heartless only to find that [[Subverted Trope|Goofy was only knocked out the whole time.]]

** Warriors can learn an ability called ''Intervene'' which allows them to take a shot or melee attack for a party member, thereby preventing the [[Squishy Wizard]] or even squishier Priest from being... well, squished.

** There's also a warrior protection talent Vigilence which allows the warrior to transfer threat generated by another character to his/herself and redirect the path of attacks from the enemy.

** In the end of the Gilneas storyline, Liam Greymane is killed by Sylvanas Windrunner when he takes a poisoned arrow intended for his father, king Genn Greymane.

* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]''

** Sonic is quite adept at these in all continuities, having taken the bullet for Shahra the Genie in ''Sonic and the Secret Rings'' and Cream and Chris in ''Sonic X''.

** Speaking of Shahra, she pays Sonic back for the deed when Erazor offers up Sonic's life in sacrifice to gain the power to control the World Rings. Rather than slicing the hedgehog in half, Erazor lands the blade in Shahra's back.

** In ''[[Sonic Colors]]'', Tails pushes Sonic out the way of Eggman's [[Mind Control Device|mind control beam]].

* ''[[The World Ends With You]]''

** [[Idiot Hero|Beat]] attempts what may be the stupidest examples of this trope ''ever'' when he tries doing this, instead of a more appropriate [[Diving Save]], to save Rhyme ''from being hit by a car''.

** Ness and Lucas are being attacked by Wario. Wario fires his trophy gun at Ness a few times, and Ness dodges all the shots easily. An irritated Wario then changes his target to Lucas. Lucas, being the cowardly little brat he is, doesn't even try to dodge, so Ness pushes Lucas out of the way, complete with slow motion camera panning, and is turned into a trophy in the process. It should be noted that in this world, being turned into a trophy is like death.

** And Donkey Kong for Diddy Kong (in their case, Donkey Kong actually had to ''punch'' Diddy Kong out of the way).

* Near the end of ''[[Fable (video game series)|Fable]] 2'', ''Your dog'' does this when the [[Big Bad]] captures and tries to kill you. The [[Big Bad]] then subverts things by ''shooting you anyway''.

* ''[[Final Fantasy]]''

** The series often gives Paladins and Knights the ability "Cover," which, when active, will make the character automatically receive any physical attack aimed at a weakened teammate. Especially if said attack would have killed the target. Even if [[Honor Before Reason|the attack will kill the Paladin/Knight.]]

** Those classes also typically have the "Counter Attack" ability, which lets them retaliate for free whenever they're hit. This, combined with Cover, makes these characters into excellent meat shields, taking the pressure off your weaker party members while also dealing extra damage.

** In ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'', [[Chivalrous Pervert|Zidane]] has the Protect Girls ability, which, as the name implies, is a variant of Cover that only protects female characters.

* ''[[Fire Emblem]]''

** There is also the skill Guard, which allows a character to protect a character that they have a support with if they are next to them, though it doesn't always work.

* Near the end of ''[[King's Quest V Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder]]'', Cedric ''accidentally'' takes a magical bullet for Graham (at least in the PC CD-ROM adaptation; all other versions had him being ''accidentally'' [[Taken for Granite]]). And in ''[[King's Quest VII the Princeless Bride]]'', the Troll King takes magical lightning for Rosella.

* ''[[Disgaea]]''

** Subverted in ''[[Disgaea]] 2'' when Adell takes an energy blast meant for Rozalin, fulfilling every aspect of the trope... Except for the fact that, in an incredible example of [[Cutscene Power to the Max]] (the blast-ee is a [[Hopeless Boss Fight]]), the blast doesn't so much as faze him.

* In ''[[Eternal Daughter]]'', Hume dies doing this to save his half-sister, Mia.

* ''[[Ace Combat]] 5: The Unsung War'' has Captain Bartlett draw a missile away from Nagase.

* Helen's mother in ''[[Dead or Alive]]'' does this to save her daughter. ''Dead or Alive 2'' has her pushing Helena out of the way while ''4'' has her run in front. Dimensions uses both.

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]''

* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]''

** Defensive support in the ''Super Robot Wars'' series. [[The Generic Guy|Russel Bergman]] from the [[Original Generation]] games has this as his specialty.

** In ''Super Robot Wars Gaiden'', this happened to Ricardo in an attempt to save Tytti from imminent death from her arch-nemesis. As a result, she became [[Allergic to Love]].

* In ''[[Mother 3]]'' Flint winds up taking two extremely powerful psionic attacks for his son Lucas.

* Skillshots in ''[[League of Legends]]'' can be intercepted by another body, so this is an option, although one you only want to use if you're more expendable and you're sure your target wasn't going to dodge it anyway. Catelyn's sniper shot can also be blocked like this.

 

* 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.

 

== 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 ==

* ''[[Cuanta Vida]]'': {{spoiler|Red, for the BLU Sniper}}

* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', Lars takes the [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061211 sword blow intended for Agatha.]

* Subverted in ''[[Girly]]'': Officer Getskilled leaps in front of a bullet for Policeguy and Hipbone, but another character gets in front of ''him''. The character is not only immortal but imperviable, and spirits Getskilled away to the immortal realm as a reward for his courage.

* In ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', Ysengrin [[Shapeshifter Weapon|forms his arm into a giant blade]] and attempts to skewer Antimony. Renard [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=285 leaps] between Annie and the blade. This isn't entirely necessary, as Mr. Donlan's magic shield would have saved Annie either way (in fact, the shield ends up protecting Reynardine), but Annie certainly appreciated Rey's intent.

* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', {{spoiler|Dream Jade does this for John. Only no, it's not a bullet, it's a [[Colony Drop|meteor.]] }}

* Replace the word "bullet" with "boulder", and [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0451.html this strip] of ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' definitely qualifies.

* In ''[[Problem Sleuth]]'', Ace Dick's Auto-Parry consists of "taking the hit directly in the guts". He Auto-Parries a bullet to save Sonhearst.

* Spoofed in ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' when Private Aardman throws his overly-large nose in front of a bullet to save Ensign Ventura. That's OK though, as he's been trying to injure his nose so he can get free cosmetic surgery (only provided for injuries in the line of duty).

* In ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'', Nina takes a [[It Makes Sense in Context|magical gender changing beam]] for her friend Ace. It doesn't do any good though, because while Nina is trying to figure out what just happened to her, Blair doubles back and hits Ace anyway.

* In ''[[Walkyverse|Roomies!]]'', Ruth takes a semi-truck for Danny.

 

== Web Original ==

* 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 ==

** And yet another episode had elderly Springfieldian Cornelius Chapman taking "a bullet for Huey Long" in his past: the assassin opens up on Huey Long, who takes a few hits before Cornelius leaps by (with the obligatory "Nooooo!"), taking exactly one bullet and then landing.

** Also parodied in an episode where Ned Flanders is going to baptize Bart and Lisa, only to have Homer leap in the way of the water at the last second, complete with slow-motion dive and [[Big No]].

'''Homer:''' ''I SAID SHUT YOUR UGLY FACE, FLANDERS!'' }}

** In a subverted example, Fry saves Leela by taking a giant space wasp sting meant for her. Fry ends up ''dying'' from this, and {{spoiler|Leela starts to have hallucinations of him telling her to wake up. Ultimately it is revealed that the space wasp's stinger pierced right through Fry and nicked Leela, thus injecting its venom into her instead of him. She's been in a coma ever since, and the hallucinations were the real, healed up, Fry. He's been at her bedside trying to wake her up.}} Quite touching, really.

** In "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences", Fry leaps in front of Leela and takes it when she was about to be shot by a vaporizer. {{spoiler|Subverted when everyone realizes it was actually a teleporter. Though at the time Fry was unaware of this.}}

* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]''. An interesting inversion of this was played when SpongeBob leapt in front of Patrick just as a speeding car was about to spatter mud all over him, protecting the ultra rare and super valuable Mermaid Man trading card he was holding in his hand.

* ''[[Code Lyoko]]''

** In season 3, it is Aelita's turn at taking the laser beam to save the Lyoko Core.

* In ''[[Justice League]]'' Superman takes a ball that apparently annihilated matter for his friends. Luckily for him, it turned out to only be a time travel portal.

* ''[[Transformers Animated]]''

* An episode of ''[[Care Bears]]'' has this. Wish Bear saved the distressed kid of the week by taking a blast from one of Professor Coldheart's inventions for him. It didn't kill her, just turn her grey and apathetic. Cue the [[Swiss Army Tears]].

* Leonidas Van Rook does this to save Drew Saturday in ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]''.

** Parodied when Peggy starts throwing tomatoes at King Phillip at the Renaissance fair one of his men dives in front of him and takes a few hits.

** In another episode ("Dog Dale Afternoon"), after Hank successfully escorted Dale out of the college watch tower in which the police mistaken him for a sniper when he was actually exterminating bugs, a vigilant sniper locked in at Dale and Hank jumped in taking the bullet for him. Good thing Hank was wearing a bulletproof vest.

* The Ruby-Spears ''[[Mega Man (animation)|Mega Man]]'' cartoon sees Proto Man invoking this trope. Mega Man keeps dodging Proto Man's shots, so Proto Man [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI8RPO87vSc takes aim at the Lincoln Memorial instead.] [[Patriotic Fervor|It works.]]

* In ''[[The Boondocks]]'', Uncle Ruckus did for the mall Santa when Riley shoots multiple BB rounds.

* 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 ==

* [[wikipedia:Liviu Librescu|Dr. Liviu Librescu]], Romanian-born Holocaust survivor, [[Badass Bookworm|scientist]] and [[Badass Teacher|academic professor]]. During the Virginia Tech massacre, Librescu [[You Shall Not Pass|personally kept the door shut]] to prevent gunman Seung-hui Cho from entering the classroom while his students escaped out the windows. He was [[Made of Iron|shot through the door five times]] before finally succumbing to a shot to the head. Of course, he had a history, since surviving the Holocaust takes a [[Determinator]] in itself...

* The attempt on Ronald Reagan's life by John Hinckley Jr. may have succeeded had it not been for the actions of Secret Service agent Timothy J. McCarthy, who leapt in front of Reagan, receiving a wound in his abdomen. He survived.

* All personnel recruited as agents in various police/military-based VIP protection units (with some exceptions like the Secret Service) are trained to do this if the worse should come to the worst when the VIP is in danger. Hence the nickname "Bulletcatchers".

* A somewhat extreme example is Alexander Matrosov, a Red Army soldier during [[Crowning Moment/World War Two|World War Two]]. During an assault on a village, the Soviets were held off by a German [[Cool Gun|MG 42]] (which is the [[More Dakka|fastest firing]] single barreled machine gun in history) firing from a pill-box. Matrosov threw himself in front of the massive amount of dakka, blocking the fire and allowing his unit to advance. He was posthumously awarded Hero of the Soviet Union.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Knight in Shining Tropes]]

[[Category:Death Tropes]]

[[Category:Servant Tropes]]

[[Category:Guns and Gunplay Tropes]]

[[Category:Undead Horse Trope]]

[[Category:Dying Moment of Awesome]]