History Main / BreakHisHeartToSaveHim

** The third CompilationMovie implies [[spoiler: he was also doing it for the other Black Knights, as this time, [[IRejectYourReality they aren't as convinced by his act]] and try reasoning with him to tell the truth. Schneizel's men are the ones that try to kill him, much to the Black Knights' objection, but Lelouch probably still doesn't want to put them in danger along with Kallen.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'', it's bad enough for [[FantasyForbiddingFather King Triton]] to discover his daughter Ariel has a secret grotto chock full of artifacts and trinkets belonging to humans, whom Triton perceives as [[FantasticRacism barbaric, soulless fish eaters]] (And given [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning the prequel]] reveals Triton's loving wife Athena lost her life being crushed by a pirate ship, it's not hard to see why the guy thinks HumansAreTheRealMonsters). But when his daughter reveals she's fallen in love with a human, Triton flies into a rage and uses his trident to violently destroy Ariel's collection, [[KnightTemplarParent believing it is the only way to keep her safe from humans]]. The crushed look on his face after he finishes the deed and reducing her to inconsolable sobs, shows he [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone isn't too happy with what he's done]], but nonetheless believes it is [[WellIntentionedExtremist for the best]], until Ariel swims away from home, much to Triton's utter despair.

Compare InspirationalInsult, BreakUpDemand and MotivationalLie. A sub-trope of HiddenHeartOfGold.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'', it's bad enough for [[FantasyForbiddingFather King Triton]] to discover his daughter Ariel has a secret grotto chock full of artifacts and trinkets belonging to humans, whom Triton perceives as [[FantasticRacism barbaric, soulless fish eaters]] (And given [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning the prequel]] reveals Triton's loving wife Athena lost her life being crushed by a pirate ship, it's not hard to see why the guy thinks HumansAreTheRealMonsters). But when his daughter reveals she's fallen in love with a human, Triton flies into a rage and uses his trident to violently destroy Ariel's collection, [[KnightTemplarParent believing it is the only way to keep her safe from humans]]. The crushed look on his face after he finishes the deed and seeing her break down into inconsolable sobs, shows he [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone isn't too happy with what he's done]], but nonetheless believes it is [[WellIntentionedExtremist for the best]], until Ariel swims away from home, much to Triton's utter despair.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'', it's bad enough for [[FantasyForbiddingFather King Triton]] to discover his daughter Ariel has a secret grotto chock full of artifacts and trinkets belonging to humans, whom Triton perceives as [[FantasticRacism barbaric, soulless fish eaters]] (And given [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning the prequel]] reveals Triton's loving wife Athena lost her life being crushed by a pirate ship, it's not hard to see why the guy thinks HumansAreTheRealMonsters). But when his daughter reveals she's fallen in love with a human, Triton flies into a rage and uses his trident to violently destroy Ariel's collection, [[KnightTemplarParent believing it is the only way to keep her safe from humans]]. The crushed look on his face after he finishes the deed shows he [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone isn't too happy with what he's done]], but nonetheless believes it is [[WellIntentionedExtremist for the best]], until Ariel swims away from home, much to Triton's utter despair.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' gives us a rather gut-wrenching one: [[spoiler: In Chapter 112, Eren (Yes, ''that'' Eren) verbally assaults Mikasa over her devotion to him, claiming it was only due to her Ackermann genetic programming and likens her to a slave, to the point that it reduces her to tears and causes Mikasa to stop wearing the scarf Eren gave her when they first met. Come Chapter 130, and it turns out the Ackermann programming story was all a lie Eren made up, and that he had known she was in love with him for a long time, and even reciprocated her feelings; however, due to his Titan-Shifting powers [[LivingOnBorrowedTime slowly killing him]] and his own plans to destroy all of humanity outside the walls to protect Paradis with [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the Rumbling]] he knew spurning her and driving her away was the only way to keep her from going down with him.]]
** [[spoiler: Add in another layer of sadness when it was revealed that he wasn't just trying to push her away, but was also purposely giving her the drive to ''kill'' him, which she eventually [[KillTheOnesYouLove does.]]]]
** [[spoiler: Just to hammer the point, Eren spends his final moments lampshading the meme to Armin, asking him to keep the masquerade forever painting Eren as the villain and Mikasa as the heroine of humanity and adding that he deeply regrets not having been able to love Mikasa as she deserved, but [[YouCantFightFate he was left no choice]]]]

* In ''Fanfic/FeverDreams'' Light ''attempts'' to do this with Misa (not because he cares for her, but because Rem is making him protect her) and then Misa says something incriminating and now Light has to [[WeNeedADistraction create a distraction]] for the investigators. PlayedForLaughs:

* Shego does this to Kim at the end of ''[[Fanfic/TheTouchOfGreenFire The Healer's Touch]]''. Their lives are too different and she doesn't want to see a hero like Kim corrupted by her, so she forces Kim away and pretends that their budding relationship was a meaningless fling.

* A downplayed version sets up the premise of ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13189446/1/ More than Meets the Eye]]''. Ash rejects Misty's LoveConfession by telling her that they're BetterAsFriends, even though she can tell [[BlatantLies he's lying to himself]], and while she ultimately accepts his excuses, it leaves her heartbroken. Much later, the two once again talk things out, and Ash confesses that his reasons for rejecting her were a mix of [[InsecureLoveInterest thinking that he wasn't good enough for her]], and [[IDontWantToRuinOurFriendship fear of losing their friendship]], which he held very dear.

* ''Literature/TheSummerITurnedPretty'': In the third book, it is revealed that the reason Conrad has been treating Belly like crap all this time is because he thought of ''himself'' as a screwed up asshole, and [[ItsNotYouItsMe deliberately wanted Belly to stop pursuing him so she would not fall down with him]]. In reality, Belly is the only girl Conrad genuinely loves (and that's including the fact that he had dated other girls before, meaning he didn't see them as serious relationships), but chose to let her go because he thought she would be happier without him. However, when Belly seems to have taken this hint ''too'' well and is ready to marry another man, Conrad slowly breaks down until [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove he practically begs her not to marry anyone else, because he still wants her.]]

* A non-romantic example occurred in ''VideoGame/{{Insanity}}''. Yanase told Toshiko she was being relieved of her position and let her believe it was because she was too old, in order to spare her from the same fate as Takahashi [[spoiler:who was murdered by their master Shigeki after he went insane]].

* In ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Renee]] [[ComicBook/GothamCentral Montoya]] has gone to an ex-girlfriend, Katherine "Kate" Kane, for information on an abandoned property that her family might own. When Kate reveals that her family ''does'' own the property, and gives Renee the name of its last occupant, she demands to know what this is about and why Renee needs this information, explaining that Renee at least owes her an explanation. Renee, however, explains that this situation has nothing to do with her and she does not owe Kate ''anything''. Kate is visibly crushed, but Renee's narration reveals that, if ComicBook/TheQuestion's theories are correct and Intergang is behind everything, it is not just themselves who are in trouble, but all their friends and loved ones as well. Renee does not want to drag Kate into this. However, unknown to Renee, [[ComicBook/{{Batwoman}} Kate has her interests in the game]].
* In ''Comicbook/ActionComics'' #317, Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} thinks her friend Lena's boyfriend is an enemy spy so she sets out to break them up and save Lena from a future heartbreak, even if she ruins their friendship.
* An odd variation from John Byrne's run on the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour''; when [[BarrierWarrior Sue Richards]] was being mind-controlled by Psycho-Man into becoming the murderous Malice, Reed was able to free her from Psycho-Man's control by berating her (and even slapping her across the face) in order to make her hate him, however briefly.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mall_Rats_(Gold_Digger) Mall Rats]] in the ''ComicBook/GoldDigger'' miniseries ''Throne of Shadows''. Lydia [=McKracken=] sends away her friends Moisha Rich and Romeo Ellis by insulting them. She knows that as Gothwrain's heir she's the target of every criminal overlord on the planet, and that her friends are as doomed as she is if they stay with her.
* When ComicBook/{{Raven}} of ''[[ComicBook/TeenTitans The New Teen Titans]]'' turned down ComicBook/BeastBoy, he asked if she was doing this. She denied it. He... [[SarcasmMode took it well]].
* In the ''ComicBook/NinjaHighSchool: Shidoshi'' series, Tetsuo goes against his grandfather in hopes of becoming the clan leader and getting out of an arranged marriage so he can marry his true sweetheart, Nanashi. However his grandfather is too strong and, realizing that he'll kill Nanashi if he continues to defy him, Tetsuo puts on a jerkass performance in order to drive Nanashi away and keep her safe.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', Chase tells Gertrude that sometimes it's necessary to lie to someone a person loves, in order to protect them. She keeps this in mind later, when Chase is in danger of being sacrificed by [[spoiler:the past self of Geoffrey Wilder]]. She pretends to hate Chase for [[spoiler:kissing Nico]], and tells [[spoiler:Wilder]] exactly how much of a scumbag she thinks Chase is. [[spoiler:When she's dying from a knife wound, she is able to tell Chase that she still loved him and lied about him being a bad person]].
* This was common in Silver Age Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/{{Batman}} comics, usually to explain plot twists that would [[SuperDickery otherwise make the characters out to be total jerks]].
** In "The Batman Plays a Lone Hand", Bruce tells Dick that he's becoming too much of a bother and he cannot remain ComicBook/{{Robin}} any longer. At the story's conclusion, he confesses that it was all a trick to protect him. A gangster named The Thumb warned Bats to keep his nose out of his business or his gang would shoot Robin on sight. To keep his [[KidSidekick young sidekick]] safe and catch the crooks, he momentarily tried to put him out of action.

* ''Literature/TheSummerITurnedPretty'': In the third book, it is revealed that the reason Conrad has been treating Belly like crap all this time is because he thought of ''himself'' as a screwed up asshole, and [[ItsNotYouItsMe deliberately wanted Belly to stop pursuing him so she would not fall down with him]]. In reality, Belly is the only girl Conrad genuinely loves (and that's including the fact that he had dating other girls before, meaning he didn't see them as serious relationships), but chose to let her go because he thought she would be happier without him. However, when Belly seems to have taken this hint ''too'' well and is ready to marry another man, Conrad slowly breaks down until [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove he practically begs her not to marry anyone else, because he still wants her.]]

The human version of ShooTheDog, quite possibly the most extreme manifestation of IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy; this is when a character does ostensibly hurtful things to their beloved because they know it's the only way to protect them from some sort of even greater harm. CruelToBeKind is the supertrope. See also BreakUpToMakeUp. Can lead to a character regretting taking an action that they now believe WasTooHardOnHim. Note that when this trope is done poorly, it will often collide with the IdiotBall if there's an obvious solution to the problem that does ''not'' require such a drastic step or your deprivation of key information is actually going to put that person in greater danger than being honest would have. In particular, it's likely to backfire spectacularly when the pain of the breakup just drives the other person to do exactly the thing you needed them ''not'' to do (and especially if you skipped the "ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies" step).

** A couple seasons later, TheBusCameBack and Angela [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome tears into Duckman over the callous treatment]], as she'd spent ''weeks'' at the restaurant in the hopes that he'd come through the door.