Why Couldn't You Save Them?
Alright, I have no idea what's going on, but thank you for saving me from—Hang on, where's Alice? And Bob? And Carlos? And Danielle? Shouldn't they be here, too? ... What do you mean it's too late for them?! They were right next to me!
Why Couldn't You Save Them?
This is basically when a character is saved from being killed/infected/captured/whatever, but his/her friends aren't and s/he hates the fact that s/he lost them all just because the rescue team only had time for him/her.
Sometimes happens after someone says "Come with Me If You Want to Live" - if the guy saves only you and not your friends, you know that makes him a dark and edgy Anti-Hero with a pragmatic outlook. Or he set the whole thing up in order to separate you from your friends.
Subtrope of Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like. Related to Survivor Guilt, and to the 1st listed outcome of It's All My Fault where it turns into blaming someone else.
As a Death Trope, Spoilers ahead may be unmarked. Beware.
Anime and Manga
- In Dragonball Z, the Buu saga, Goku and Vegeta picked up Hercule and Dende leaving Gohan and the young half Saiyans behind on Earth when Buu destroyed it. Vegeta then asked this to Goku, who then realized that with no Earth, there's no Dragonballs and saving Dende didn't do much but provide a healer to ge their butts kicked again and again.
Film
- In The Dark Knight, when Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes are tied up next to barrels of oil, each independently expecting Batman to save him or her. He goes after Rachel, but because the Joker lied, he gets to Dent in enough time to save him from death, but not from getting half his face burnt off. Needless to say, Rachel had even worse luck.
- Serves as the lead character's reason for hating robots in I Robot. A robot saved him while letting somebody else die as he was statistically more likely to survive.
- played with in the children's Christmas film The 12 Dogs of Christmas, where Mikey's beloved pet dog, Yeta, is presumed dead- she was first taken by the dog catcher and then was 'already gone' when his friend tried to get her out. The fact that the friend, Emma, was able to rescue her own puppy causes Mike to think that she just didn't try. So Emma sneaks out to try to find out what happens to the dogs that vanish from the dog catchers, is able to Find and save Yeta and brings her home
Literature
- Invoked in The Wee Free Men. When escaping death from a collapsing dream world, Tiffany can only grab Upper Class Twit Roland, but can't reach her brother. So she doesn't even try. She and Roland appear to escape but Wentworth and the Pictsies are left behind. The Queen of the Elves then takes pleasure in describing their deaths and what an awful person Tiffany must be to willingly save the idiot who didn't personally matter to her rather than her own brother. Tiffany tries to comfort herself by telling herself that it would be better to save Roland, and live than try to save Wentworth and die. A small part of her, goaded by the Queen, tells her that this might be logical, but it still doesn't feel... right.
Live-Action TV
- The Doctor gets called out on this a lot, especially by companions, but even more so by himself as part of his Chronic Hero Syndrome.
- Subverted in the Doctor Who episode "The Fires Of Pompeii" as Donna actually convinces the Doctor to at least save someone. He chooses the family they first met at the beginning of the episode.
- In 24 season 7. Renee Walker promises Marika that she will protect her from his boyfriend Colonel Dubaku, who she has just learned is The Dragon. She fails as Marika does a Heroic Sacrifice while Jack Bauer and Renee are chasing Dubaku to cause his car to flip over, and when Marika's wheelchair-bound sister finds out, she accuses Renee of being responsible for her death. Ouch.
- There was a guy in that Stargate Atlantis episode with the stolen Wraith teleporter/ecto-containment device. When he learned his wife couldn't be saved, he decided to kill everyone.
Video Games
- Kurtis from Disgaea.
- Heather Ross from Trauma Center, after Emilio's death.
- Dr. Chakwas does this in Mass Effect if you wait so long before starting the Suicide Mission that she's the only survivor of the Normandy's crew.
- Happens on Horizon as well, when one of the colonists you saved complains that the Collectors got away with some of his friends.
- Snow gets this a lot from Hope early on. He spends a significant amount of the game trying to answer why.
- Madison from Alpha Protocol, if you rescue her instead of defusing the bomb in the museum.