History Main / DudleyDorightStopsToHelp

* Pointedly averted in ''[[Series/ObiWanKenobi]]''. The Inquisitors explain that it's so easy to hunt Jedi because Jedi can't help getting involved and helping people. This leads to stories, which leads the Inquisitors to them. The oft repeated phrase for this is "Jedi hunt themselves". Kenobi manages to live longer than most because even though it pains him, he avoids stepping in when he sees injustice.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/helping_someone_in_a_race.jpg Now helping someone out is better than winning!]]

* ''Fanfic/TheManyDatesOfDannyFenton'': One of the snippets based on alternate endings shows [[spoiler:[[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Violet Parr]]]] stopping to help people while on her way to a date with Danny.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': The entire first act is one long string of Mr Incredible, who is on a schedule, stopping to perform heroics: first he takes a detour to intercept a police chase while also [[CatUpATree getting a cat from a tree]]; then he goes on to apprehend a purse snatcher, save a man jumping off a building, interrupt a supervillain robbing a bank, saving a kid from a bomb attached to his clothing, and stop a train from crashing. He [[RunningGag constantly checks his watch proclaiming "I got time"]] until he runs out of time and it is revealed that he is now late for his own wedding.

* In ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'', Miko Iino runs against Miyuki Shirogane during the latter's campaign for re-election as StudentCouncilPresident. In the debate with Miko, Shirogane is already at a massive advantage, and when Miko's turn to give a speech comes, she's frozen with stage fright due to the hostile crowd. This would have been the final nail in her coffin, but Shirogane [[CruelToBeKind gets on stage and insults her policies]]. Miko snaps out of her HeroicBSOD and debates with Shirogane, doing well enough that she almost wins the election. The more pragmatic Kaguya is rather annoyed with Shirogane, having hoped that Miko would have "self-destructed" without his intervention. However, she also loves that part of him as evidenced by the hearts in her eyes.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'': In the final tiebreaker race, Lightning [=McQueen=] [[spoiler:gives up winning in order to help Strip Weathers, who had just suffered a serious crash]]. Lightning comes in last place but scores the sponsorship he wanted, while the racecar that caused the crash wins but gets booed and is known as a cheater.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode "You Are Arthur", Arthur tries his hardest to outrun the Brain but falls behind after he stops to help Muffy after she trips and hits the roadblocks. He doesn't win but does get featured in the newspaper, which he considers a better reward thus.

* ''ComicBook/ThePowerpuffGirls'': In "The Trouble With Bubbles" (DC issue #18), Bubbles misses her role with her sisters in a routine during a battle with a monster [[ItMakesSenseInContext lucha libre caterpillar]]. Why? She was protecting a butterfly from getting its wings wet from the water of a busted fire hydrant. Bubbles is dressed down for it that hurts her feelings so much she runs away from home.

* In the beginning of ''Fanfic/MarriageOfHeavenAndHell,'' Makoto finds [[LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD Aika Kiryuu]] critically injured in a forest and heals her, which ends up revealing his secret identity as an angel to the fallen angels who attacked her, which he himself does not even know. He is, shortly after, saved by Rias Gremory and, after he figures out his true identity, defeats and kills Kalawarner; one of the attacking fallen angels. Because of this, Raynare is then sent to hunt him down and assassinate him and she and the rest of the remaining fallen angels attempt to take over Kuoh Town.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'': In the final tiebreaker race, Lightning [=McQueen=] [[spoiler:gives up winning in order to help Strip Weathers, who had just suffered a serious crash]]. Lightning comes in last place but scores the sponsorship he wanted, while the racecar that caused the crash wins but gets booed and known as a cheater.

** Essentially how we're introduced to Clark. He's forced to WalkTheEarth because he's afraid of what people will do when they discover his abilities, but he can't blend in for long because of his SamaritanSyndrome. Lois flat out tells him that the only way he'll stay completely hidden is to stop saving people.

** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', the second task of the Triwizard tournament is rescuing a hostage from some mermaids. Harry gets there first, but ends up coming up last because he waits to make sure ''all'' the hostages are saved. It's then pointed out to him that it was all part of the contest and nobody was actually in danger, but he gets extra points from the judges for heroism.

* ''Series/TheATeam'': The team is always on the run from the military, but never seem to find a reason to flee the country. Instead they travel the country helping people everywhere, sometimes escaping in the nick of time. (This was actually explained in ThePilot. They stay in the U.S. because they are Americans and it's their country.)
** One particular example is in "[[Recap/TheATeamS1E6BlackDayAtBadRock Black Day at Bad Rock]]." The team have successfully gotten B.A. treated and locked the sheriff and his deputy in their own jail, ensuring they will not be able to catch them. They are heading out of town to avoid Lynch when Hannibal realizes that an outlaw motorcycle gang, the Barbarians, will be coming against the town to get their leader back. They turn the van around.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}}'': Protagonist Lucas Kane is on the run from police due to a murder he committed [[ItMakesSenseInContext while being possessed by a thousand-year-old Mayan Voodoo priest]]. While meeting his brother in a park in the middle of winter, a child playing on the frozen lake nearby suddenly breaks through the ice and falls into the freezing water. Yet, at the same time, a pair of beat cops are patrolling the park, and one cop happens to be the same man who witnessed Lucas commit the murder from before. Lucas feels compelled to rescue the child, but can't let the cop see him! Dilemma! There are two valid choices here: You can choose to walk away at the cost of a big chunk of SanityMeter, or pull the kid out of the water and resuscitate him. Anything else results in the cop arresting Lucas and causing a game over. If you save the kid, this is referenced later when the cop admits to Carla that he could have made an arrest, but couldn't bring himself to do it right after witnessing such a selfless act. Carla says she probably would have felt the same way in the other cop's shoes.

* Wilt from ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' often stops whatever he's doing to help someone in need. This often causes him to miss things he wants to do. In "Where There's a Wilt, There's a Way", he ends up missing a basketball game due to having spent the whole day helping his friends with their needs, and in "Good Wilt Hunting", he ends up taking a few detours in his quest to to find his creator, Jordan Michaels, as a result of of helping those in need, and the rest of his friends from Foster's keep losing track of him when they follow him.

* All the time in ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject''. Zeta does this so constantly that it rubs off on Ro, because no one in her life had ever displayed this kind of behavior before.

** Professor Pat Pending also frequently stops and uses his car's inventions to help the other racers.

* ''Fanfic/TheManyDatesOfDannyFenton'': One of the snippets based on alternate endings shows [[spoiler:[[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Violet]] Parr]] stopping to help people while on her way to a date with Danny.

Closely related to HonorBeforeReason. See also SamaritanSyndrome and ReedRichardsIsUseless. A subtrope of TheDrifter and ChronicHeroSyndrome, and supertrope of InconvenientHippocraticOath. When done wrong, can be a form of HeroBall or StupidGood. Compare KnightErrant and WeHelpTheHelpless. DickDastardlyStopsToCheat is the [[EvilCounterpart villainous version]].

* In the Myth/KingArthur mythos, Bohort is faced with the SadisticChoice of rescuing his brother Lionel from torture or a maiden from rape. He goes for the maiden praying for his brother's safety and rescues her. Lionel manages to escape on his own, but thinks he was betrayed by Bohort and sets out for revenge. A fellow knight and a hermit are killed by Lionel before God himself has to send down a pillar of fire to get Lionel to hear his brother out (who'd made no effort to defend himself).

* In ''Film/TheFugitive'', the hero is on the run but stops by hospitals several times, and on each occasion he feels compelled to help someone (even if only a little). In the latter event, he saves a child's life.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect'': A full [[TheParagon Paragon]] Shepard, oh so much. Taken UpToEleven in the sequel. No one is forcing you to pick every paragon option, whether it's played straight or averted depends on the player. [[NoPointsForNeutrality But, then again...]] One of your squadmates in the second game, Samara, went through a situation like this when chasing down Nihlus, a [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner Spectre]] [[ContinuityNod you worked with in the previous game]]. As he killed a civilian, Samara was dedicated to killing him, due to her Justicar Code. Nihlus escaped by offering the choice of [[FriendOrIdolDecision killing him, while an innocent dies, or saving the innocent and letting Nihlus escape.]] The Justicar Code explicitly states that the protection of the innocent outweighs all else, so she saved the individual while letting Nihlus evade her. She considered Nihlus a WorthyOpponent for thinking that up.

* ComicBook/JubileeMarvelComics of the ''Comicbook/XMen'' broke off her escape from "Operation: Zero Tolerance" to [[SaveTheVillain give first aid to a villain]] she had [[PowerIncontinence accidentally injured]]. This lead directly to her being recaptured for another round of torture.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': In "The Trouble With Bubbles" (DC issue #18), Bubbles misses her role with her sisters in a routine during a battle with a monster [[ItMakesSenseInContext lucha libre caterpillar]]. Why? She was protecting a butterfly from getting its wings wet from the water of a busted fire hydrant. Bubbles is dressed down for it that hurts her feelings so much she runs away from home.

* In the beginning of ''Fanfic/MarriageOfHeavenAndHell,'' Makoto finds [[LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD Aika Kiryuu]], critically injured in a forest and heals her, which ends up revealing his secret identity as an angel to the fallen angels who attacked her, which he himself does not even know. He is, shortly after, saved by Rias Gremory and, after he figures out his true identity, defeats and kills Kalawarner; one of the attacking fallen angels. Because of this, Raynare is then sent to hunt him down and assassinate him and she and the rest of the remaining fallen angels attempt to take over Kuoh Town.

* In the beginning of ''Fanfic/MarriageOfHeavenAndHell,'' Makoto reveals his secret identity as an angel, which he himself did not know, to a group of fallen angels as he heals [[LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD Aika Kiryuu]] from their attack on her. He is, shortly after, saved by Rias Gremory and, after he figures out his true identity, defeats and kills Kalawarner; one of the attacking fallen angels. Because of this, Raynare is then sent to hunt him down and assassinate him and she and the rest of the remaining fallen angels attempt to take over Kuoh Town.

* In the beginning of ''Fanfic/MarriageOfHeavenAndHell,'' Makoto has his EstablishingCharacterMoment as he hears a fellow student yelp as she sprains her ankle, leaps over the fence of the tennis court, and uses his healing magic to heal her ankle. He continues to [[AFriendInNeed step up to help his friends whenever they're in trouble]] throughout the story.

* In ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'', Miko Iino runs against Miyuki Shirogane during the latter's campaign for re-election as StudentCouncilPresident. In the debate with Miko, Shirogane is already at a massive advantage, and when Miko's turn to give a speech comes, she's frozen with stage fright due to the hostile crowd. This would have been the final nail in her coffin, but Shirogane [[CruelToBeKind gets on stage and insults her policies]]. Miko snaps out of her HeroicBSOD and debates with Shirogane, doing well enough that she almost wins the election. The more pragmatic Kaguya is rather annoyed with Shirogane, having hoped that Miko would have "self-destructed" without his intervention.