History Main / DeclarationOfProtection

[[quoteright:250:[[ComicBook/FantasticFour https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/declaration_of_protection.png]]]]

* In ''ComicBook/{{Sleepless}}'', war hero Cyrenic is charged with protecting Lady "Poppy" Pyppenia after an attempt on her life. He swears a magically binding vow to watch over her tirelessly as a [[TheSleepless Knight of the Sleepless Order]]. In return, Poppy swears to be worthy of his dedication.

* In ''ComicBook/Strange2022'', Clea leaves one of the Blasphemy Cartel mooks alive as he feebly begs to be summoned to safety all to relay that the Shrouded Bazaar that is under her protection. [[spoiler:In a subversion of the usual outcome of this trope, the Bazaar is attacked again while Clea was busy fighting Thunderstrike and the Harvestman.]]
-->'''Clea:''' Do not fear, worm. I will ''allow'' your magi to summon you to safety. Because I want you to tell whomever you report to... this place is under ''my'' protection. I am the '''Sorcerer Supreme''', and I am '''warlord-born.'''`
* Subverted in ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/TheComingOfAtlas'' since nobody can understand his growls; but when Atlas attacks Metropolis, ComicBook/KryptoTheSuperdog fights him off, declaring his owner's beloved city is under his protection.
-->'''Krypto:''' [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Man]] loves [Metropolis]. I protect place for man. Krypto good boy.
* In Kieron Gillen's run on ''[[ComicBook/XMen Uncanny X-Men]]'', Colossus became obsessive about protecting his sister Illyana, to the point of losing his humanity (not to mention the love of Kitty Pryde) by taking on the Juggernaut's curse. Toward the end of ''Comicbook/AvengersVsXMen'', Illyana revealed that she was EvilAllAlong, and had manipulated her big brother into becoming the new Juggernaut in order to make him as much of a monster as she had become. Let's just say Colossus no longer feels any need to protect his "little snowflake"; he has in fact vowed to kill her if their paths cross again.
* Regarding the page illustration; [[ComicBook/DoctorDoom Victor Von Doom]], after saving [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Susan Richards's]] life and helping her deliver her and Reed's daughter safely, claimed as his reward the right to name the child, and so named her Valeria, after a lost love of his childhood. He then declared Valeria to be under his protection. The two of them have had an oddly sweet familial relationship since, with Valeria even calling him "Uncle Doom".
* ''ComicBook/WonderWomanTheHiketeia'' revolves around this. Wonder Woman gets bound by an ancient Greek rite (Hiketeia) to protect a young girl, on punishment of painful death by the Furies if she breaks the oath. Unfortunately, Wonder Woman hadn't realized the girl is a murderer (with a pretty damn solid justification) on the run from Franchise/{{Batman}} who's determined to bring her to justice. Batman won't back down and Wondy can't either, so they end up duking it out until [[spoiler:the girl commits suicide]].

** [[HeroAntagonist Suzaku Kururugi]] and [[RoseHairedSweetie Euphemia li Britannia]]. Initially a straight and uncomplicated "[[LadyAndKnight knight and princess]]" relationship, [[spoiler:Euphemia's death at the hands of [[MyHeroZero Zero]] pushes Suzaku off of his white horse, driving him into [[KnightTemplar much more questionable actions]], such as selling out Zero -- who turns out to be his oldest friend, main character [[TheChessmaster Lelouch vi Britannia]] -- to his worst enemy, or releasing a powerful nuke in battle... and, in the end, he winds up supporting one of the bloodiest tyrannies in history. Led by, you know, Lelouch. Oh, and did we mention that Suzaku eventually kills Lelouch on the latter's orders as part of a ThanatosGambit?]]
** Lelouch has this strange habit of personally jumping into [[HumongousMecha Knightmare]] combat whenever Kallen (who is ''the'' best soldier in his army) is in trouble, even if it means putting himself in danger. He claims it's just because she's too valuable a resource to lose, but the essence is this trope.

** Lelouch's desire to give his younger sister, [[WheelchairWoobie Nunnally vi Britannia]], a 'world of peace' [[WellIntentionedExtremist leads him further and further down the path of darkness]]. When she finally finds out what he's been doing in the name of helping her, she's understandably horrified [[spoiler:and becomes easy prey for [[TheEvilPrince Schneizel]]'s manipulations]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In "[[Recap/TheOwlHouseS2E2EscapingExpulsion Escaping Expulsion]]", [[Characters/TheOwlHouseAmityBlight Amity Blight]] intervenes to save [[Characters/TheOwlHouseLuzNoceda Luz Noceda]] from the Abomaton 2.0:

* ''Fanfic/ThyGoodNeighbor'': After a disastrous night that sees the horrible deaths of Lords Roose Bolton and Ludd Whitehill, their overlord, Rickard Stark, decides that once is one time too many. At the Spring Feast, where the Northern lords gather, he announces the North has embraced the visiting Lord and Lady Fairchild as a guest, and makes it clear that visiting them without his explicit permission is equal to a personal insult against House Stark, an ''actual'' insult against the Fairchilds is a one-way ticket to a permanent post at the Wall, and actually ''hurting'' them is an automatic death sentence.

* ''Fanfic/ThyGoodNeighbor'': After a disastrous night that sees the horrible deaths of Lords Roose Bolton and Ludd Whitehill, their overlord, Rickard Stark, decides that once is one time too many. At the Spring Feast, where the Northern lords gather, he announces the North has embraced the visiting Cyril Fairchild as a guest, and makes it clear that visiting them without his explicit permission is equal to a personal insult against House Stark, an ''actual'' insult against the Fairchilds is a one-way ticket to a permanent post at the Wall, and actually ''hurting'' them is an automatic death sentence.

*** [[spoiler:It's after everything is over ([[UpdatedRerelease until FES]]), but Aigis sort of qualifies with her wanting to protect the main character...who can certainly fend for himself.]]

** [[Characters/AmphibiaSashaWaybright Sasha Waybright]], though she's a [[ToxicFriendInfluence toxic friend]], genuinely cares about her two best friends with all her heart and she's a {{Determinator}} about getting back to them and getting them back home. In her first major appearance, after she's effectively sort-of gained her freedom from the cell where Grime was originally holding her, she privately makes a vow to her photo of Anne and Marcy that she'll find them and get them back home.
** In "[[Recap/AmphibiaS1E27SnowDay Snow Day]]", [[Characters/AmphibiaAnneBoonchuy Anne Boonchuy]] vows to protect the people of Wartwood from whatever's been causing the annual disappearances whilst the townsfolk are frozen during Hiber-Day, although Hop Pop cautions her that it's quite a workload. At the episode's end, she notes that Polly almost got eaten on her watch after she slacked off, although she nevertheless saved her and furthermore found out how to stop future disappearances from happening.

* ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'':
** Kyo Kusanagi. He is already willing to protect his GirlNextDoor girlfriend Yuki to start with, but [[spoiler: once he's told that she is a ''BarrierMaiden'' and that she was to be used in a HumanSacrifice]], his desire to protect her goes up to eleven. [[spoiler: Later, the spirit of his rival's ancestor asks him to protect her, among several other things.]]
** [[spoiler: One of Kyo Kusanagi's main motivations in the Tales of Ash saga is to make Ash Crimson '''pay''' for attacking Chizuru Kagura, his friend and fellow member of the Sacred Treasures Team, and stealing her MagicMirror. It's really not helped by how Kyo couldn't do anything to stop him.]]
** It's kind of a plot point in the KOF: KYO continuity. [[spoiler: Ever since he was a kid, Kyo deeply wanted to protect his loved ones (in fact, he promises his mother Shizuka that he will do so when he's just eight years old), and that turned out to be one of the reasons why he was so powerful... but after gradually forgetting it in the middle of his turbulent life, he got BroughtDownToNormal and then susceptible to being BrainwashedAndCrazy by Orochi. Remembering how he began to fight as well as this purpose is what lets Kyo recover his lost powers and shake off Orochi's influence: this is sealed after his WarriorTherapist dad Saisyu undoes a staged HostageSituation that he built to help Kyo and releases Yuki from an UnwillingSuspension. As Kyo rushes to [[FallingIntohisArms catch]] [[BridalCarry her]], his inner thoughts pretty much spell this trope.]]
** Also invoked by Adelheid "Adel" Berstein. He has sworn to himself to be the protector of his younger sister Rose, who also is his only living relative after their dad Rugal's death, and even when he seems to be an AloofBigBrother, he will NOT stop when it comes to shielding her from any harm. The main reason why [[spoiler: he became Heidern's source of information]] in ''XIII'' was his worry about how oddly Rose was acting around him -- [[spoiler: and with good reason, since she was BrainWashed by Those of the Past. When she's released from their mind control and collapses, Adel immediately rushes towards her to catch her in his arms.]]
* ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts]]'': As of ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance 3D]]'', [[{{Deuteragonist}} Riku's]] primary motive seems to be to protect Sora (and to a lesser extent Kairi), aside from protecting the worlds. It appears that his wish to 'protect the things that matter' in ''Birth by Sleep'' has [[https://blowingoffsteam2.tumblr.com/post/182892280944/in-regards-to-the-phrasing-used-in-reference-to deliberately]] [[https://lilyginnyblackv2.tumblr.com/post/183142982289/kh3-ultimania-riku-page-one evolved]] from when he was a child-- at least in the [[LostIntranslation original Japanese dialogue]], anyway. In fact, it is his concern for Sora that leads to him subconsciously diving into his dreams in ''3D'', rather than traveling the worlds alongside him.

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* ''Fanfic/OniGaShikuSeries'': When Izuku was born, Majima promised that as long as he's alive nothing will happen to him. Unfortunately, he turns out to be proven very, ''very'' wrong down the line - especially as that particular flashback is juxtapositioned with Kurosawa threatening to kill Izuku if Majima doesn't kill Saejima, right in front of the kid.]]

* ''Animation/FlowerFairy'': In Season 3 Episode 13, a flashback shows that Kukuru promised Princess Fanny that he will protect her and dispel all evil for her sake. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Kukuru ends up making a similar promise to An'an later down the line, completely forgetting about Fanny in the process. This is what persuades Fanny to become a villain.]]

*** During Chapter 7, Lightning and Hope promise to protect each other after he decides to abandon Operation Nora. It lasts throughout the whole trilogy and gets a CallBack in the [[Heartwarming/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII third]] [[TearJerker/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII game]].