History Main / LeastIsFirst

-->-- '''Frodo''', ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': In [[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS3E13Destroyer "Destroyer"]], a random elderly bystander at the Great Wall proclaims his wish to help against the Parademons despite Diana telling him to stay back. Cue said 'old man' punching out two Parademons with one hit each, then revealing himself to be none other than J'onn J'onzz.

* ''Film/{{Hook}}'': The lost boys have a new leader and are unwilling to recognize the adult Peter Pan as their erstwhile friend until the littlest hesitantly walks over, touching his face and looking into his eyes, until the kid sees Peter in him, and then everybody rushes over to see for themselves.

* ''Literature/AClashOfKings'': During the Battle of the Blackwater, the besieged forces draw back inside the defenses fearing that their own side has set the battlefield ablaze with [[GreekFire wildfire, (a magically enhanced, virtually undousable flame)]]. This lets the forces attacking them get right up to the gates and start trying to batter them down. The soldiers, even the BloodKnight leading them, (who, by the way, got half his face burned off as a kid) refuse to go back and fight. At this point, Tyrion, who has Dwarfism, rides up and tries to get the soldiers to go back into the fight. They refuse. Tyrion then goes to lead the attack himself, shouting at the tough guy soldiers "They say I'm half a man. What does that make the lot of you?" True to form, that shames enough of them into fighting that they make a difference in the tide of battle.

* ''Roleplay/BChat'': Both the Corporate Takeover event and the setup RP the day before it; Kuno was the first to offer to help Hypotenuse Man, no questions asked despite being fully aware that he's useless.

* ''Fanfic/BChat'': Both the Corporate Takeover event and the setup RP the day before it; Kuno was the first to offer to help Hypotenuse Man, no questions asked despite being fully aware that he's useless.

If the character's [[WideEyedIdealist inexperience and youth]] are such that he doesn't know what [[JumpedAtTheCall he's getting into]], SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids may come into play. It may still shame them.

This character may find the actual conflict very hard but [[LoserHasYourBack will stick with]] The Hero until the bitter end. Sometimes, though, they may pull a LeeroyJenkins, or become TheLoad or TheMillstone despite their best efforts.

Contrast SourSupporter, WhoWillBellTheCat Compare LoserHasYourBack.

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': In a children's novelization of Generation One, Bumblebee, the smallest and weakest of the Autobots, is the first to volunteer for Optimus Prime's space mission, which will eventually bring the Transformers to earth.

* ''Literature/{{Ultramarines}}'': Inl ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', when Uriel appeals to a group of {{Space Marine}}s and two Imperial Guardsmen to help him, it is the Guardsmen who volunteer first. [[spoiler:And when one dies, and the Marines decide to leave, the surviving Guardsman assures them that he will go with them.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'': When Anakin returns with the horribly mutated males of the local ProudWarriorRaceGuy tribe, a small child is the first one to welcome them back to the tribe.

* ''Series/{{Transformers}}'': In a children's novelization of Generation One, Bumblebee, the smallest and weakest of the Autobots, is the first to volunteer for Optimus Prime's space mission, which will eventually bring the Transformers to earth.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': {{Subverted}} in "Scott Tenorman Must Die". Cartman delivers a rousing speech in an attempt to persuade his friends to help him get his revenge against Scott, but it initially looks like he only succeeded in enlisting the help of the wheelchair-bound, mentally retarded Timmy. As Cartman decides for the two of them to get to work, Timmy changes his mind and quickly leaves.

* ''Literature/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'': Charles Cheswick is the only man who is initially enthusiastic for [=McMurphy's=] scheme to change the ward schedule.
* In Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'', when Vimes asks for volunteers to stay, his past self is among the first. Vimes finds him too eager, even.
** In ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'', while the wizards dither, Twoflower takes the sword he can't really wield and goes to save the world.
* In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' Literature/{{Ultramarines}} novel ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', when Uriel appeals to a group of {{Space Marine}}s and two Imperial Guardsmen to help him, it is the Guardsmen who volunteer first. [[spoiler:And when one dies, and the Marines decide to leave, the surviving Guardsman assures them that he will go with them.]]
* Frodo at the Council, in Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''
** The book does this trope ''twice''. First Bilbo (who's aged and in no condition to undertake such a journey - thus weaker than Frodo) offers to take the ring - since he figures he started the whole thing. Gandalf praises him but remarks he's being silly - Sauron is the one that started all this, no one can hold Bilbo accountable. As they can't reach a decision (and inspired by Bilbo), Frodo offers to take it, which prompts the rest of the Fellowship to form when Sam says he will not be going alone.
*** Although this may be a bit of an inversion. While Frodo is the least experienced in terms of combat and travel, what the council is worried about is the Ring's ''corruption''. Hobbits seem especially resistant to it, Frodo in particular. So he was the natural choice for this quest. The rest were just accompanying him to deal with general mayhem along the way.

** In ''Literature/PrinceCaspian'', when Lucy insists on following Aslan when only she can see him, Edmund is the first to say he will go with her. It's implied he does this partly out of remembering what happened the last time he didn't believe Lucy back in ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe''.
** In ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'', a lion is pursuing Hwin and Aravis, and is very close to catching them. The peasant boy Shasta runs yelling at the lion, effectively sacrificing himself so the two can get away. Later Aravis feels very ashamed that he should have been the one to save her (because [[NobleBigot she is of aristocratic origin]] and therefore expected to be braver than him), and Bree feels the same way, because he is a mighty warhorse who has fought in many battles.
* A slightly different take on this scene happens during the Battle of the Blackwater in the second book from ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': ''Literature/AClashOfKings''. The besieged forces draw back inside the defenses at one point out of fear of [[GreekFire wildfire, (a magically enhanced, virtually undousable flame)]] that their own side has used to set the battlefield ablaze. This lets the forces attacking them get right up to the gates and start trying to batter them down. The soldiers, even the BloodKnight leading them, (who, by the way, got half his face burned off as a kid) refuse to go back and fight. At this point Tyrion, who is a dwarf, (not a [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame fantasy dwarf]], but a human who happens to be about 4 feet tall) rides up and tries to get the soldiers to go back into the fight. They refuse. Tyrion then goes to lead the attack himself, shouting at the tough guy soldiers "They say I'm half a man. What does that make the lot of you?" True to form, that shames enough of them into fighting that they make a difference in the tide of battle.
* In a children's novelization of Generation One ''Series/{{Transformers}}'', Bumblebee, the smallest and weakest of the Autobots, is the first to volunteer for Optimus Prime's space mission, which will eventually bring the Transformers to earth.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E4TheSunMakers The Sun Makers]]'', the outlaw Others are unwilling to help Leela rescue the Doctor. It's the just-escaped worker who offers. The others do not follow until later, when the Doctor returns to rally them.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' module ''[[http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/tsr9242.zip OA5 Mad Monkey vs. the Dragon Claw]]''. If the players have their {{PC}}'s refuse to undertake the adventure, the aged and weak owner of the inn they're staying at volunteers to do so.

* Occurs in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'': When Anakin returns with the horribly mutated males of the local ProudWarriorRaceGuy tribe, a small child is the first one to welcome them back to the tribe.
* Subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die". Cartman delivers a rousing speech in an attempt to persuade his friends to help him get his revenge against Scott, but it initially looks like he only succeeded in enlisting the help of the wheelchair-bound, mentally retarded Timmy. As Cartman decides for the two of them to get to work, Timmy changes his mind and quickly leaves.

[[foldercontrol]]

* In ''Fanfic/AGrowingAffection'', when Hinata draws her LineInTheSand, [[CanonImmigrant Sasame Fuma]] is the first to volunteer, even admitted she is the newcomer and the least invested.
* In ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone: The Soft World'', after George and John fight off a huge swarm of [[GoddamnedBats robotic bats]] that chase them out of the cliff dwelling, they refuse to accompany Paul down there to keep an eye on him while he fights the rest of the robots. So Ringo offers to go with him, despite having no defenses whatsoever, because “I know how important it is that we support each other, even if it's dangerous and even if we got a bit of a scare ''that didn't really hurt us''.” Which shames the others into cooperating. (“I hate you,” John muttered.)

* At the end of Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', Esmerelda leads Quasimodo out of the church before the waiting citizenry. After a hushed pause, the first to embrace/accept Quasi is a small child.
* Ducky in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' is the first to snap Littlefoot [[HeroicBSOD out of his funk]].

* The movie ''Film/{{Hook}}'' has a particularly saccharine (though aren't they all?) example: the lost boys have a new leader and are unwilling to recognize the adult Peter Pan as their erstwhile friend until the littlest hesitantly walks over, touching his face and looking into his eyes, until the kid sees Peter in him, and then everybody rushes over to see for themselves.
* In TheMovie of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'' the first one to charge at the armies of Sauron at the gates of Mordor is [[SupportingLeader Aragorn]], actually, but Merry and Pippin are the first to follow him.
* Early in ''Film/{{Willow}}'', the first and one of the ''only'' Nelwyns to volunteer to accompany the titular Willow on his quest is Meegosh. Vohnkar, the ''best'' warrior in the village, wasn't far behind though.

* In ''Literature/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'', Charles Cheswick is the only man who is initially enthusiastic for [=McMurphy's=] scheme to change the ward schedule.

[[folder: Fanfiction ]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Films -- Animated ]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action ]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop RPG ]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Theater ]]
* In ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'', the outcast and shamed Grizabella is shunned by all the adult cats. Then a kitten comes over and nuzzles her.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[/folder]]

Contrast SourSupporter, WhoWillBellTheCat Compare LoserHasYourBack. May be found in a StandUpInSupport situation.

Contrast SourSupporter, WhoWillBellTheCat Compare LoserHasYourBack.

* At the end of Disney's ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', Esmerelda leads Quasimodo out of the church before the waiting citizenry. After a hushed pause, the first to embrace/accept Quasi is a small child.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', Cartman delivers a rousing speech in an attempt to persuade people to address the menace of Scott Tenorman. He succeeds only in enlisting the wheelchair-bound, mentally retarded Timmy.
** And then Timmy changes his mind.
*** Of course, Cartman [[MagnificentBastard didn't need their ''willing'' help anyway.]]