History Main / AlwaysSaveTheGirl

** [[spoiler:Granted, it had to happen, since the cycle of his life and his parents would have probably been wiped out, since he's the son of his clone. [[MindScrew Yeah, don't ask. You won't get it. Neither do I.]]]]
*** [[YouCantFightFate Can't blame him, it's Hitsuzen]]. Besides, [[spoiler:it's all fixed in the end. Mostly. Probably.]]

** It is interesting to note that while most would bang their heads against the next wall if, let's say, {{Naruto}} had done such a thing, or [[RealWomenNeverWearDresses make a fuss]] about the fact that the person being saved was [[DamselInDistress female]], Anno managed to make this an exceptionally [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome impressive]], [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming heartwarming]], and [[TearJerker touching]] moment. This is most likely because he showed us that Shinji is [[ActionSurvivor not really a heroic person]] and had to overcome not only his enemy, but his own, terrible fears, not to mention his HeroicBSOD after having just been forced to maim his [[LoveTriangle other girlfriend]]. This makes it more of a ''Reconstruction.''
*** Of course, [[spoiler: the world isn't screwed in the end anyway, thanks to [[BigDamnVillains Kaworu]], of all people. And Asuka is actually alive and [[EyepatchOfPower mostly]] well.]]

** Possibly subverted when Nia stands in the way of [[spoiler: a continent-sized drill needed to gattai with the moon. Her being {{Made of Explodium}} at this point, using it would turn her, Simon, and the moon-mech up into pulp.]] Turned right-side up again when [[spoiler: he notices she's still wearing the engagement band. She falters for a moment, asking him to come and save her, and]] he pushes through for her sake.
** When the [[spoiler: Anti-Spiral]] actually tries to force him to choose between saving Nia and [[spoiler: saving the universe]], he decides to TakeAThirdOption, and proceeds to kick ungodly amounts of ass.
*** [[spoiler: Averted at the very end when Simon lets Nia disintegrate because abusing Spiral power will cause the end the universe.]]

*** Well, considering how Hellboy managed to save the world and her, she probably figured she might be able to do the same. After all, she's in full control of her fire powers now. That's gotta count for something.
*** It helps that Hellboy is the TropeNamer for ScrewDestiny. Liz doesn't even really have to worry; Anung-Un-Rama is just that awesome.

** To be fair, it was about to be done right in front of him by a sadistic surgeon ''without anaesthetic.''
*** [[SarcasmMode Oh, well, that definitely changes things. Letting a single person suffer temporary pain is totally more heinous than committing genocide]].

* From ''{{The Wheel of Time}}'', Perrin Aybara. Ye Gods, Perrin Aybara. "It can all burn, if it keeps her safe!"
** Don't forget Rand. The list of women in his head? Pushing his own power to make Bella run faster to save Egwene? Trying to bring the girl back to life? Balefire+ Rahvin.
*** The Balefire+Rahvin is more done for getting revenge ; he is quite surprised when he discovers [[spoiler:Aviendha and the others]] alive.

** Though this can also be argued as a completely logical decision on Zoe's part, since 1) she was capable of taking over the captain's duties, but Wash was pretty much irreplacable as pilot, 2) she knew that Mal could handle torture a lot better than Wash could precisely ''because'' he was her old war-buddy, and 3) she just didn't wanna give him the satisfaction of seeing her hesitate.
*** She really wasn't intending to leave either of them in the villan's hands, so it wasn't much of a thought process to go through besides.

** As of Eleven, the Doctor has sacrificed three of his regenerations for a companion, two of them female.

* Subverted rather oddly in ''{{Torchwood}}''. A young girl possessed by an alien is being forced to have sex with men, thus ''killing'' them. Jack has to choose between going after her or retrieving the Doctor's severed hand. ''He saves the hand.'' I know that hand ended up being a pretty sweet ChekhovsGun, but... WTF.
** Though still not ''quite'' played straight, in ''Children of Earth'', Jack [[spoiler:begs the 4-5-6 to save Ianto from death, retracting his threats against them. Sorry children of Earth, Jack's man is apparently more important than you.]]
*** To be fair, it was an immediate gut reaction, and it wasn't like [[spoiler:he would really have just given up had the 4-5-6 spared Ianto, unlike the way he ''does'' give up once Ianto dies. And as Jack's threats essentially amounted to "I'll stop you because I'm badass and won't put up with this again,"]] there wasn't much to retract...
** In the first season, Gwen opens the Rift in order to [[spoiler: bring Rhys back from the dead. It works. It also unleashes a huge demon made of bad CGI and death.]]

** Sacrificing Colette was never a real solution, as there were [[SaveBothWorlds two worlds to save]] and the sacrifice would simply switch the doom to the other one. A fact which they very well knew because one of the party members was an assassin sent from the other world to stop them. They should really feel guilty about being willing to sacrifice a ''whole world'' to save theirs.
*** However, they were told that Colette can save both worlds if she wants to by becoming an angel.
**** [[BlatantLies Which was bullshit]].
** Their decision to screw Cruxis and rescue Colette after all may also have had something to do with the aforementioned BossRush attacking the party. Object lesson, after the good guys are finished with the {{MacGuffin Girl}} [[MacGuffinDeliveryService Delivery Service]], thank them and leave while they still think they're doing the right thing.
** Would have worked a lot better if the villains didn't let out that evil laugh and start bragging about being promoted during that scene.

*** "I... I broke him"
** In Shirou's tentative defense, killing her is really only the easy, ''partial'' solution. He'd have to [[spoiler:deal with Zouken and stop the Grail War]], anyway, which would [[spoiler:make killing Sakura entirely unnecessary]]. Shirou just chose a riskier path with a more pressing time limit, though it still fits the trope.
** Also, he ''really'' doesn't know, at this point, just how much of a danger she is. All he knows is that she ''might'' end up going insane and killing people. [[spoiler:He doesn't know that she's already turned into the shadow (subconsciously) and devoured many people already.]]

** The game contains not only the aforementioned deconstruction but also the possibility for aversion in that your character can choose to rescue either of their crew mates, romantic interest or not. [[spoiler: Kaidan's]] confusion when male Shepard chooses to save him over [[spoiler:Ashley]] is another deconstruction. [[spoiler:Kaidan was GenreSavvy enough to assume that he was the one who was going to die.]]
*** He fails to consider that Shepard might be of the [[StraightGay "always save the guy"]] variety. Because it's not an option in ''ME1''. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Though it was originally going to be]].

* Brutally subverted in ''{{Tenchu}} 4'' when Rikimaru killed Kiku to kill Onikage. Granted she ordered him to do it but still....

* In ''[=~Avatar: The Last Airbender~=]'', Aang thinks the only way he can open up all of his chakra (and thus be able to save the world) is to give up Katara. He doesn't. [[spoiler:He didn't need to either, which the Guru would have known if he knew anything about past Avatars like [[HappilyMarried Roku]] and [[{{Casanova}} Kuruk]].]] {{Gender Flip}}ped with [[LoveRedeems Mai and Zuko]].
** Screw My Nation, Save The Jerk Who [[strike:Dumped]] [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies It's Not You, It's My Enemies]]-ed!
** In this case, it seems like the Guru just hadn't explained it properly. Aang doesn't have to ''stop loving'' Katara, as he seems to think, he just needs to let go of that attachment (temporarilly) in order to reach a higher state of being. An example of how this attachment gets in the way of his Avatar duties might be his rushing off to save her rather than taking 5 seconds to calm down, clear his mind, and [[spoiler:unlock the final chakra, which would have given him full control of the Avatar State, made saving her much easier, and possibly allowed him to stop the coup in Ba Sing Se as well]]. Aang IS only twelve, but he really could have saved the girl AND the world in this case if he had just stopped to think about it.
*** [[JustifiedTrope Why would he bother saving her if he had no attachment to her?]]
*** A pretty decent reason that Avatars are not told they are the Avatar until they are 16.

* [[HoYay Depending on your perspective regarding their relationship]], this may apply to Judai Yuki in ''[[YuGiOhGX Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'', as he drags his friends to a different dimension and risks their lives in order to save Johan.
** He didn't ''want'' them to come, they came along anyway. He went to save Johan because he felt responsible for the whole situation.

* In the ''HarryPotter'' series, this trope basically sums up how [[spoiler:Snape responded to Lily being in danger. He was happy being a Death Eater until Voldemort targeted [[strike:the Potters]] Lily and some irrelevant people. In this case, the trope worked for good, motivating Snape's HeelFaceTurn as Voldemort could not have been expected to spare Lily since EvilCannotComprehendGood.]]

* In ''DoctorWho'', the Doctor, particularly Ten, puts his companions (who are usually, if not always, young and female) before anyone else. Also the new Doctor Who series suggests that his companions represent his humanity in a universe full of mass death; as seen in "The Fires of Pompeii" when Donna convinces him to go back for one family among all those destroyed in Pompeii. It's mentioned some times that he feels responsible for them because it's his fault that they are in danger, since he brought them to wherever it is they are.\\
\\
The Doctor has sacrificed two of his regenerations for a girl now.

* Disney's ''{{Hercules}}'' pulls this [[spoiler:with Hercules giving of his powers to make Megara safe. It leads to FridgeHorror when you consider what would have happened if an unlucky accident hadn't killed Megara and returned his powers.]]

* Many parents will go above and beyond to protect their child(ren), regardless of gender. However, many parents are more likely to worry about a daughter than they are a son. Usually, it's the girl's SO who get the IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer speech.

* In ''[[{{ptitlege21stnh}} The Sorcerer's Apprentice]]'', despite knowing the consequences of doing so, [[TheApprentice Dave]] [[spoiler: gives up the Grimhold and Merlin's ring]] to save Becky. Despite the consequences, Balthazar admits that he would have done the same.

* ->it's very easy to see this in the starcraft 2 campaign:wings of liberty, as jim raynor's interal conflict about what to do about the controlled/infested kerrigan is obvious.
and thus even though the queen of blades "murdered 8 billion people" as raynor says himself, yet he is still haunted by the propect of getting her old self back.
[[spoiler:that is untill raynor's raiders and the moebius foundation manage to use a xel'nagan artifact to cure kerrigan, and infestation is noramlly 100% uncurable"mutates too fast"]]

* Played very straight by Shinji in ''{{Rebuild of Evangelion}}'': "I don't care what happens to me... I don't even care what happens to the world... but I'm bringing Rei back! I'll promise I'll save you Rei, '''EVEN IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!!!'''"

** In the Original, this is the motivation of Gendo.

** Subverted in that [[spoiler: said LoveInterest creates and employs a plan to take -herself- out of that hostage situation.]]

** During the film's climax, Sonny is faced with a similar choice, with Spooner screaming "save the girl!" [[spoiler:Sonny saves the girl.]]

* [[ToAruMajutsunoIndex Accelerator]] doesnt care if you're an angel, an esper, or the entire world's militaries combined; he won't let ''anything'' happen to Last Order

** LesYay example: Fang in ''Final Fantasy XIII'' would do anything up to and including [[spoiler:causing the apocalypse -- ''twice'' --]] if it meant keeping Vanille safe.

* The Greek city state of Thebes had this as official military doctrine everyone in the army was in a relationship with the other members and where supposed to be incredibly protective of their lovers.

[[spoiler:that is untill raynor's raiders and the moebius foundation manage to use a xel'nagan artifact to cure kerrigan, and infestation is noramlly 100% uncurable"mutates too fast"}}

* In [[{{Nightside}} A Hard Day's Knight]]'', renegade knight Stark plans to hand Excaliber over to an evil incarnation of Merlin -- one who's already decimated his own world, and will invade ours if he gets the sword -- in exchange for the resurrection of his dead wife. [[spoiler: He eventually subverts this trope, but only because his wife's ghost calls him out on it, insisting that she'll kill herself again if he buys her life at such a price.]]

** To be fair there are quite severe hints that the prison was breaking down independent of any outside influence. In fact it is heavily suggested by the Prince [[spoiler: that sealing Ahriman back up was part of a XanatosGambit to get rid of the one person that can stop him]]. There's quite a bit of circumstantial evidence that the Prince brings up to support his case. And it's not like Ahriman is in any big hurry anyway, he's been sealed away for thousands of years what's a few more if he can destroy the world unopposed?