History Main / AlwaysSaveTheGirl

* ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' puts this mentality through a [[DeconstructedTrope much more cynical lens]] with Motoyasu, as he ''insists'' on coming to the rescue of every cute girl he meets. Problem is, not only is this mentality born from a selfish desire for a harem that he's nursed from the very start of the series, said cute girls are either perfectly capable of fighting for themselves, never need his help in the first place and ultimately end up resenting him for his forced assistance (Raphtalia and Filo), or are all too keen on taking advantage of it for their own selfish gain (Malty and the rest of his party), and to the point of using him as a glorified attack dog. What's more, this winds up putting said girls in danger by repeatedly antagonizing the person he blindly assumes is "brainwashing" them (Naofumi), and to the point where he outright tries to either maim or kill them without sparing even a second to consider his actions.

* The end of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}} NEXT'', when Lina chooses to cast a spell that can potentially wipe out the entire universe just to save Gourry. However that season's BigBad was pressing her ''very hard'' to force her to cast that particular spell; Lina would have been killed if she ''didn't'' cast it, and that [[BreakTheCutie she had been severely psychologically abused by this point]]. Moreover, she had made very clear that she did not want to do it and she tried all alternatives she could come up with until she ran out of options. [[MortonsFork At the end]] she had to choose between casting the Giga Slav and ''maybe'' destroy the universe or getting killed by the BigBad together with Gourry and all of her allies. [[spoiler: Neither of these outcomes happen, but solely because the Lord of Nightmares possesses Lina's body to finish the BigBad herself.]]

* In ''Anime/BeastTamer'', the reason protagonist Rein Shroud has a powerful BattleHarem is that push comes to shove, he will put everything aside to rescue the nearby DamselInDistress, and she joins his party in gratitude.

* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', just like everything else, takes this trope and cranks it past absurdity. It's also a DefiedTrope. Simon does everything in his power to save Nia from the Anti-Spirals, and in the end is unable to save her. However his own spiral power has grown so much he could theoretically use it to revive her. It's heavily implied doing so would cause so much damage to the universe it'd case the big disaster the Anti-Spirals were trying to prevent. So Simon refuses. He could literally just ''will'' Nia back to life if he so chose but does not so as not to destroy the universe.

* On ''Series/{{Haven}}, this is Nathan's fatal character flaw, and almost always crosses over into LoveMakesYouDumb territory. It should be noted he does this even when ''Audrey asks him not to,'' setting of the NiceJobBreakingItHero events of seasons 4 and 5.

* On ''Series/{{Haven}}, this is Nathan's fatal character flaw, and almost always crosses over into LoveMakesYouDumb territory. It should be noted he does this even when ''Audrey asks him not to,'' setting of the GreatJobBreakingItHero events of seasons 4 and 5.

** Sadistically subverted and deconstructed several times: [[Characters/Avengers60sMembers The Vision]], whose existence partially relies on the [[MacGuffin Mind Stone]] which is what [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]] and the Black Order is after, is told point blank by his {{Love Interest|s}} the Characters/ScarletWitch and his [[TrueCompanions teammates]] that they will not allow him to sacrifice himself by destroying the stone and attempt to TakeAThirdOption by safely removing the Mind Stone and then destroying it before Thanos can get his hands on it. [[spoiler:In the end, it's AllForNothing. The Black Order's army prevents the safe removal of the Mind Stone and Thanos arrives, forcing the Scarlet Witch to destroy the Mind Stone and the Vision with it. [[ShootTheShaggyDog And then Thanos reverses her sacrifice using the Time Stone]], kills Vision in front of her, and completes the Infinity Gauntlet, thus ending half of all life in the universe.]]

* In one ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'' arc, time travelers kill the young [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Professor X]], resulting in a [[BadFuture Bad Present]] where all mutants are constantly at war with the Sentinels... and the [[FutureBadass Future Even-More-Badass]] [[Characters/MarvelComicsStorm Storm]] and Wolverine are married. When [[Characters/XMen90sMembers Bishop]] comes from the future to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, Wolverine initially refuses to help, somehow knowing that fixing the past would prevent him and Storm from getting together. When Bishop straight up asks if Wolverine is really willing to allow the devastating war to happen so he can be with Storm, Wolverine says yes without hesitation. After things are set right, there are hints that they both realize something happened, but nothing comes of it.

* In one ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode, Peter's reckless time-traveling lands him in an alternate reality in which Peter married Creator/MollyRingwald instead of Lois. UsefulNotes/AlGore is president; UsefulNotes/DickCheney, UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden and Karl Rove are dead; people are healthier and living longer, the environment and economy are both in great shape, and America's generally a much happier place to be. And of course, Peter doesn't give two craps about the state of the world ("I don't know who any of those people are"); all he cares about is that he gets Lois in the end. (This is not even taking into account that Lois and Peter both HappilyMarried in this alternate universe.)

* Kyo of ''Manga/BlackBird'', on top of his SingleTargetSexuality for Misao, will pay any and all costs, including the destruction of his clan to save Misao, because he really doesn't care about much other than her.

* In the 1972 ''Manga/{{Devilman}}'' anime, the titular Devilman (who in this continuity killed [[TheHeroDies Akira]] and then [[DeadPersonImpersonation took his identity]]) is supposed to start kicking off the demon army's plans to take over Earth. However, he falls in love with Akira's girlfriend Miki and decides that no matter what, he ''will'' protect her. [[spoiler: Not only he fulfill this vow, but this is one of the few continuities where Miki makes it to the very end instead of having some horrible fate befall her.]]

** In ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'', [[spoiler:the ''entire plot'' is centered around Junpei saving Akane from dying as a child, to the point where ''she'' set it up that way. Though to be fair, if Junpei succeeds in this, it leads to the ending where every single person who possibly can be saved is saved. However, there's also an ending where Ace [[KillEmAll kills]] ''[[KillEmAll everyone]]'' [[KillEmAll else]], including Junpei and Akane, and the earliest way to get yourself stuck into that route is to force your way through Door 3, betraying Lotus and Clover for the sake of not having to separate from June]].

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** In ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' story arc ''ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}'' Bizarro #1 needs help to fight Godship so he creates Bizarrogirl. Then he decides he can't risk her life and decides to take her to Earth, abandoning Bizarro World.

* In the final issue of ''ComicBook/{{Wolverines}}'', it turns out that this was the secret plan of [[spoiler:Characters/{{Mystique}}]]. [[spoiler:When she learns that her girlfriend Destiny had actually manipulated her, and that she was supposed to revive ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} instead, she is ''livid'' and destroys the MacGuffin needed to draw Logan's soul back from the void, declaring that [[WhileRomeBurns she would rather watch the universe die than bring Logan back]], if that means she can't have her girlfriend back.]]

** Earlier, [[Characters/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyModern Star-Lord]]'s {{Love Interest|s}} [[Characters/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyModern Gamora]] makes him promise to kill her should Thanos capture her. Peter is naturally reluctant[[spoiler:, but when the moment comes he manages to bring himself to shoot her, only for Thanos to use the Reality Stone to render his gun useless and takes Gamora with him. Gamora's survival is also temporary as Thanos later [[EquivalentExchange sacrifices her to obtain the Soul Stone]]]].

** "Bride" and "Legion": [[spoiler:When ComicBook/{{Brainiac}} possesses Chloe's body, he/she/it proceeds to drain the world of its knowledge and readies Doomsday to destroy what is left. With great difficulty, Clark manages to save both Chloe and the world]].

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' Ramza has a little sister named Alma and loves her (and she loves him too). To point when Alma gets kidnapped, Ramza immediately go trying to saves her for the entire second half of the game.

* In ''VideoGame/SpiderManWebOfShadows'', Franchise/SpiderMan is given the choice of either turning Characters/{{Black Cat|MarvelComics}} over to ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} after she's badly injured following her second boss fight, or bonding her with a symbiote to heal her.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': Main hero Cloud Strife will often act indifferent but if there's a young woman in danger, he will rush to her rescue and the game will make the Cloud (the player) choose between [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Childhood Sweetheart]] Tifa Lockhart and SmittenTeenageGirl Aerith as they both get in danger at certain points in the game and Cloud must come to the rescue and both of them have more than platonic feeling towards Cloud.[[spoiler: Unfortunately for players who were interested in Aerith, the BigBad Sephiroth comes in and ruins any hopes of romance with Aerith as she is ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice by him, those players who chose Tifa get a romantic scene between her and Cloud before the final battle.]]

%%**

* In ''Film/DemolitionMan'' an old newsreel shows the result of Creator/SylvesterStallone's rescue mission:
--> '''Reporter''': "How do you justify destroying a seven million dollar mini-mall to rescue a girl when the ransom was only $25,000?"\\
'''Rescued Girl''': "Hey, fuck you, lady."\\
'''Stallone''': "Good answer."

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' ExpandedUniverse:

* Just like its base series before it, ''Manga/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllya'' calls this into question with Miyu. [[spoiler:Her brother, Shirou Emiya, ends up wishing on the Holy Grail to spare her and take her to another universe instead of using her as the grail vessel she is...but this results in his world being destroyed. He doesn't mind, as long as Miyu can go on to live a happy life. In the middle of ''[=3rei=]'', protagonist Illya is put into a similar situation; she is forced to sacrifice her friend Miyu for the sake of stopping Pandora, or keeping her alive but risking even greater danger. Her resolve is to save Miyu ''and'' the world, but it only results in Miyu getting absorbed and the world getting demolished instead. Illya then makes good on her promise and does genuinely save both MIyu and the world, but at the cost of her own existence. And the world is still ruined afterwards.]]

* Just like its base series before it, ''Manga/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllya'' calls this into question with Miyu. [[spoiler:Her brother, Shirou Emiya, ends up wishing on the Holy Grail to spare her and take her to another universe instead of using her as the grail vessel she is...but this results in his world being destroyed. He doesn't mind, as long as Miyu can go on to live a happy life. In the middle of ''[=3rei=]'', protagonist Illya is put into a similar situation; she is forced to sacrifice her friend Miyu for the sake of stopping Pandora, or keeping her alive but risking even greater danger. Her resolve is to save Miyu ''and'' the world, but it only results in Miyu getting absorbed and the world getting demolished instead.]]

** While Mai is gradually becoming closer to Yuuichi and he's about to become her Most Important Person, her IllBoy brother Takumi is trying to become independent from Mai, which upsets her and makes her question their closeness. Natsuki suggests that Takumi ''was'' Mai's Most Important person at first, but Yuuichi replaced him [[spoiler:before Takumi died and later Yuuichi himself kicked it]]. Besides, [[spoiler: as said below, Takumi ultimately becomes ''someone else's'' MIP.]]

* ''[[Characters/MarvelComicsSabretooth Sabretooth]]'' is this way with [[Characters/XMen2010sMembers Monet]] in ''[[ComicBook/UncannyXMen2016 Uncanny X-Men]]''. They had two missions helping other mutants but he was mainly concerned with protecting her. He also showed loyalty toward her over their other teammates. He shows the same bias toward Holly Bright, another love interest in ''ComicBook/FirstXMen''.

%%* Film/FearStreet has Deena Johnson

** "Bride" and "Legion": [[spoiler:When [[Characters/SupermanBrainiac Brainiac]] possesses Chloe's body, he/she/it proceeds to drain the world of its knowledge and readies Doomsday to destroy what is left. With great difficulty, Clark manages to save both Chloe and the world]].

* In ''VideoGame/SpiderManWebOfShadows'', Franchise/SpiderMan is given the choice of either turning Characters/{{Black Cat|Marvel}} over to ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} after she's badly injured following her second boss fight, or bonding her with a symbiote to heal her.

* Surprisingly played straight in the 2011 run of ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery''. [[spoiler: When Loki is confronted by the Leah who he created for the Serpent's story he decides to risk everything to give her a chance at having a better future]]

** Played with at the climax of the film: [[spoiler:Sonny is about to inject nanites into [[BigBag VIKI]] to destroy her, when Spooner order him to save Dr. Calvin, who's falling to her death. He even yells "Save her! Save the girl!", just to make the parallel with the above scene obvious. Sonny complies... but tosses the nanites to Spooner so he can finish off VIKI himself, thus saving the girl without sacrificing their main objective.]]