History Main / HeroicVow

-=->Every day. Read to Young Sam. No excuses. He'd promised himself that. ''No excuses.'' No excuses at all. Once you had a good excuse, you opened the door to bad excuses.

** In ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'', Sam Vimes will stop whatever he's doing and go home to read "Where's My Cow?" to his son at 6 o'-clock... even if he's halfway across town or buried underground at the time.
-->Every day. Read to Young Sam. No excuses. He'd promised himself that. ''No excuses.'' No excuses at all. Once you had a good excuse, you opened the door to bad excuses.

-->'''Nissa Revane:''' "I have seen a world laid waste. As the Eldrazi sweep over Zendikar, the land is reduced to dust and ash. Left unchecked, they will consume it and everything on it. Never again. For Zendikar and the life it nurtures, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=407650 for the life of every plane, I will keep watch.]]"\\

* The titular Oath of [[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering Oath Of The Gatewatch]]. Each of the members has their own personal version.

* The ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' has Thunderfist, a former Seattle cop who vowed to never violate proper police procedure when it came to evidence collection or the treatment of suspects.

[[/folder]]

** The so called "War Doctor", or Not-Doctor, iteration is thus his deepest shame. Because he feels like in that incarnation he ''did'' give up on finding a way to TakeAThirdOption, choosing mass genocide (of his own people) in order to save the universe. [[spoiler: Except it turns out he didn't, but had to suppress his own memory of interacting with his future selves when they saved Gallifrey instead]]

* A HeroicVow is a common requirement of innitiation for many religious orders.

* SpiderMan has the infamous quote, "With great power comes great responsibility."

* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', all of the Persona awakenings are essentially this; the Personas are a manifestation of their personalities, and are gained when they vow to rebel against their corrupted society.

* ''Literature/HalfSaga'': Half's Heroes (King Half's hand-picked viking crew) set a lot of rules for themselves that are meant to highlight and attest their manliness and to increase their fame. One of these rules is "that none of them should have a sword longer than eighteen inches, so they would be forced to get in close"; another is to never bandage a wound till a whole day has passed. They also pledge themselves to never carry off women or children, and furthermore to never pitch tent on land or awnings on their ship, and to never reef a sail in a storm.

* Arturia gives one to [[InspectorJavert Cassandra]] in [[Fanfic/AKnightsTaleAsInquisitor A Knight's Tale as Inquisitor]] during her stint as the latter's prisoner, swearing to put her life on the line against [[TheLegionsOfHell the crisis]] coming from the sky, but only if she [[GiveMeASword has a weapon to aid her with it]].

--->[[MartialPacifist Life before death]], [[ComesGreatResponsibility strength before weakness]], [[HonorBeforeReason journey before destination]].

* These are a major element in C.J. Cherryh's ''Literature/MorgaineCycle''. They form a big part of Vanye's characterization due to his [[InTheBlood Nhi]] obsession with [[HonorBeforeReason honor]], and when he does something stupid to keep his honor he's generally [[GenreSavvy well aware]] of the stupidity of what he's doing. Oaths, their making, their consequences and the attendant difficulties, anguish and so on make for some major drama.

* CelibateHero (will not have romantic or sexual relationships)

-->'''Ajani:''' "[[AmbitionIsEvil I have seen tyrants whose ambitions knew no limits]]. [[RageAgainstTheHeavens Creatures who styled themselves gods]], or [[AssimilationPlot praetors]], or [[BigBrotherIsWatching consuls]], but thought only of their own desires, not of those they ruled. Whole populations deceived. Civilizations plunged into war. People who were simply trying to live...made to suffer. To...to die. Never again. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=423798 Until all have found their place, I will keep watch.]]"

* The titular Oath of [[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering Oath Of The Gatewatch]]. Each of the four founding members has their own personal version.
-->'''[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Oath%20of%20Ajani Oath of Ajani:]]''' "Until all have found their place, I will keep watch."
-->'''[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=407623 Oath of Chandra:]]''' "If it means that people can live in freedom, yeah, I'll keep watch."
-->'''[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=407540 Oath Of Gideon:]]''' "For justice and peace, I will keep watch."
-->'''[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=407570 Oath of Jace:]]''' "For the sake of the Multiverse, I will keep watch."
-->'''[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=407650 Oath of Nissa:]]''' "For the life of every plane, I will keep watch".
-->'''[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=oath%20of%20liliana Oath of Liliana:]]''' "I'll keep watch. Happy now?"

* Sparhawk of Creator/DavidEddings' ''Literature/TheElenium'', who maintains an ironclad sense of personal honor and dignity despite his own world-weary cynicism and the criminals and evils he has to deal with.
* Gawyn Trakand from ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' swears an oath to protect his sister to the death, even when she makes his childhood a living hell with her antics, she runs off in the middle of training twice, leaving him behind. [[FromBadToWorse It gets worse,]] yet he never waivers.
* Two major ones from ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''. Firstly, the kids will never morph a sentient species without the individual's express permission. The other vow is a little more vague: The kids "fight Yeerks, but won't become them". This essentially means the kids agree to not use the same underhanded tactics Yeerks use (cold-blooded murder, ganging up on a single enemy, etc.) [[spoiler:They end up breaking both of these vows.]]

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': In "Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader", Reepicheep pledges to find Aslan's country. Caspian also vowed at his coronation to search for the seven missing lords.
* Morley's Code of Ethical Behavior from ''Literature/BurntEmpire''.
-->Rule One: Don't kill anyone, ever.
-->Rule Two: Never blackmail, especially not for anything disgusting.
-->Rule Three: Never steal, ever.
-->Rule Four: [[ThereIsNoRuleSix There is no Rule Four]].
-->Rule Five: Don't insult anyone who doesn't deserve it.
* John Galt's oath in ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'':
-->"I swear--by my life and my love of it--that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
* In the ''Literature/ElephantAndPiggie'' book "Can I Play Too?", Piggie vows to find a way so Snake can play catch with them, even though he lacks any appendages to do so.

* Surprisingly defied in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' when the Fellowship is formed. Gimli wants the Fellowship to swear an oath to protect Frodo and get the Ring to Mount Doom, but Elrond refuses to allow it. "No oath, no bond is laid on you to go further than you will." Turns out to be a good thing in the end, since it allows most of the Fellowship to part from Frodo (due to circumstance and necessity) without becoming TheOathBreaker.
* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', Blake Thorburn swears to Evan Matthieu, the [[UndeadChild ghost of a murdered child]], that he will kill monsters like the one that killed Evan. Blake keeps this oath even after being made an {{Unperson}} by a demon and [[HeWhoFightsMonsters losing his humanity]], though he later redefines his definition of "monster" to include monstrous ''people''.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' have the Knights of the Cross. They are three paladins in the modern world wielding a Sword that carries in its hilt a Nail that pierced Jesus Christ. Their Swords are called ''Fidelacchius'' aka the Sword of Faith, ''Esperacchius'' aka the Sword of Hope, and ''Amoracchius'' aka the Sword of Love. While they each get missions and intuitions from the Lord-On-High or His administration, non-Christians may be Knights. Their vow isn't to the doctrine of Christianity, but rather an accepting that people need help and they will help them, even at the risk of their own life to help people. They will not harm the innocent. They will follow the ideals that particular Sword invokes.[[note]] A half-human vampire woman who was once burned by touching the Sword of Faith is later able to wield the Sword of Love when she is protecting the life of her daughter[[/note]] And most importantly, the first mission of any Knight is to ''save and redeem'' the lives of those who are possessed by {{Fallen Angel}}s, not to strike them down. It isn't their place to judge. Failing these vows means risking the Power of the Sword itself as acting against the nature of the Sword could rob the power from the Sword. That said, it is possible another could take up the Sword and reawaken the dormant power.

* In ''{{Exalted}}'', the Charm Righteous Lion Defense causes a magically enforced version of this: one of the character's Intimacies becomes utterly inviolate, and nothing, not even MindControl, can persuade him to act against it.

---> '''Madame Kovarian:''' "The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules."
---> '''The Eleventh Doctor:''' ''([[TranquilFury calmly]])'' "Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many..."

*** In ''Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie'', he made another one to Hinata, only this time it was [[spoiler:to save her from [[BigBad Toneri]] and properly return her love for him.]] He also succeeded.