History Main / NoMatterHowMuchIBeg

Example 3:(Keep in mind this example is only for non-malicious items.) Alice has left Item X in location D (Her house J miles away) because she does not want it for V reason. Bob finds it, and tries to return it. Alice refuses, but Bob is persistent. Alice says Bob can keep Item X, and Bob doesn't want to take it from her because he finds it "stealing" (or any other reason really.) Alice uses this trope, and Bob walks away. He probably does something with it Alice wants to do, and she asks for it back. Bob refuses, because "no matter how much I beg or what have you, don't give X back."

* According to his friend (and fellow druggie) Thomas de Quincy, Creator/SamuelTaylorColeridge would regularly decide to quit taking opium and hire men to stop him from going into the pharmacist's to buy the stuff. (At the time of course, opium was [[ValuesDissonance legal in England]] [[TheBritishEmpire and mandatory in China.]]) Unfortunately, Coleridge couldn't figure out a way to stop his future, drug-craving self from simply paying the men some more money to let him into the pharmacist.

[[Theatre]]

* In ''EarthX'' Captain America gave the Black Panther the reality-controlling Cosmic Cube after taking it away from the Red Skull. When a mind-controlling teen starts taking over the world, he returns to ask for it back, but the Panther refuses, just as Cap asked. Later, in [[EarthX Universe X]], the Panther also refuses Captain Mar-Vell, but hands the Cube over when Mar-Vell reveals that he's been subconsciously using it himself. Oops.
* In ''Venom'', the Franchise/{{Batman}} realises he has become addicted to the eponymous drug and asks Alfred to lock him in the Batcave for a month. In a slight subversion, Alfred asks to let him out early, but Batman refuses. When he finally emerges, he's wearing the BeardOfSorrow, but is, nevertheless, magnificent.

* Comedic example: In ''YoungFrankenstein'', Frederick locks himself in a room with his newly re-captured Monster in order to counsel it and gain its trust. He gives his assistants explicit instructions not to interfere or let him out of the room, no matter how much he begs them to. It takes the doctor all of three seconds to change his mind once the Monster wakes up and starts approaching him.

* ''KungPow! Enter the Fist'' has an odd example, in that it's not that the begging was ignored, it was never even done. [[TheChosenOne ChosenOne]], [[ItMakesSenseInContext attempting to emulate]] [[BigBad Betty's]] feat of strength, tells a group of peasants to hit him repeatedly with sticks (including a repeated GroinAttack) until he gives the signal, or [[FoeTossingCharge throws them dramatically off of his body]]. [[HilarityEnsues They beat him to unconsciousness.]]

* In ''TheSandlot 2'', "The Retriever" attempts to retrieve the NASA scale rocket from the guard dog's yard. He tells the kids no matter how much he is begging to escape, do not let him out. He fails miserably.

* A very dramatic version appears on the book and tim FailSafe (and also on its spoof DoctorStrangelove): The bombers assigned to perform deep nuclear strikes on Russia have standing orders to ignore any orders that do not have an attached acknowledging code (because those trying to communicate may be Russian spies imitating higher-ups). A variety of reasons (plain ignorance on FailSafe, the [[TropeNamer original]] GeneralRipper being the only who knows the codes and putting his base on anti-Commie RedAlert in ''Strangelove'') prevent said higher-ups from knowing the proper codes and thus can only try to help the Russians organise their defences and hope that none of the planes can go through (and on FailSafe, they even try to have the remaining bomber's captain's wife talk to him, ''begging'' him to stop. The captain's HeroicBSOD-induced response is to continue the flight, reasoning that the wife had been somehow compromised).

* In the ''StarTrekNewFrontier'' book ''Stone and Anvil'', Captains Picard and Calhoun have their [=AI=]s (Data and [[spoiler: Morgan Lefler]], respectively) refuse to let them issue orders when approached by a ship crewed by a race they suspect can telepathically convince any creature that they want to go along with them.
* In ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', Christine eventually realizes that Erik is a dangerous, manipulative stalker who has an unhealthy amount of control over her. Even though she knows she shouldn't love him, [[StockholmSyndrome she does]]. So she orders Raoul to save her from herself and take her to some foreign country where Erik will never find her no matter how much she resists or protests later. [[spoiler:Erik doesn't give them the chance anyway.]]

* ''{{Friends}}'' has Monica tell Joey not to let her open any more of her wedding presents until Chandler gets home. Five seconds later she asks for another one. In a subversion Joey immediately complies. He's no fool; she's a proven obsessive-compulsive with freakish upper-body strength.

* In an episode of ''ThatsMyBush'', Dubya accidentally takes some ecstasy pills (thinking they were aspirin) and instructs [[TheDitz Princess]] to lock him in a bedroom and not let him out no matter what so he won't be able to mess up the anti-drug conference taking place at the White House. Unfortunately, she ends up letting him out. That's right. She's dumb enough to be tricked by a ''high President.''

* Variation on ''[[ThirdRockFromTheSun 3rd Rock from the Sun]]''. Harry tells his bartender boss (this was when he worked in the town bar) to insist that he stay and work if he asks to leave with Vicki. Vicki comes up and Harry asks to leave. The bartender complies with Harry's plan, but Harry becomes more insistent, eventually launching into a rant starting with "Well thanks a lot, you son of a bitch!"

* In the last episode of ''{{Coupling}}'', Susan wants to have a natural childbirth, and tells Steve that she's not to be given an epidural unless she asks for it three times; his very first "are you sure?" gets him thrown clear through the delivery room doors.
* TrueBlood, when a necromancer is attempting to make the vampires 'meet the sun'. The restraints of thick silver chains burn through their skin and must be kept there until sunset.
* HannahMontana has an episode where Miley gives Lilly her checkbook for her new bank-account and tells her not to give it back. Leads to a hilarious "Miley doesn't live here anymore" moment when Lilly doesn't give it back.

* In one episode of ''MalcolmInTheMiddle'', Malcolm basically cocoons Reese in rope to stop him getting in trouble before his driving test. When they're done, Reese says he [[PottyEmergency needs to pee]], to which he gets a response that amounts to "too bad, should have gone earlier." And then Reese congratulates Malcolm on following his instructions.

* When Charlie attempts to quit heroin on LOST (knowing that sooner or later he's going to run out, anyway), Locke takes his drugs and promises to only give them back if he asks for them three times. In two moments of weakness, Charlie demands his drugs back, but Locke refuses to return them. Finally, at the end of the episode, Charlie breaks down and asks for them the third time. Locke hands them over, and Charlie [[spoiler: throws them into the fire]].
* In ''PeepShow'', [[TheStoner lovable stoner]] Super Hans demands that Mark refuse to give him any drugs, even if he turns up at the door brandishing a block of wood. A subversion, in that [[spoiler: when Super Hans actually does turn up at the door brandishing a block of wood, Mark hands over the drugs immediately and without further comment]].

* Happened in the comic strip ''BloomCounty'' when Steve Dallas enlisted Opus' help in quitting cigarettes. He lasted 38 minutes before saying "give me a %$#*& cigarette before I stick you in a blender." Opus refuses, and Dallas quickly goes AxeCrazy on him.

* In ''CaptainPlanet'', when Gaia and Doctor Blight are in a BodySwap, Blight apparently forgot to tell her assistant her EvilPlan, because before switching back, Gaia instructs him to do a bunch of eco-friendly things, no matter how much she tells him to stop later.
* On ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'', in "Brain Drain", Brainiac 5 locks himself in a containment chamber and makes this request when concerned that an interface with other Coluans will make him dangerously unstable. Which it does, but when things go wrong the Legion breaks him out of the chamber anyway. But that all takes a backseat to the FindTheCure plot.

* In an episode of ''CampLazlo'', Scoutmaster Lumpus wanted some time alone, so he told the scouts not to help him while he was fishing. Later, he calls for help (because he's being attacked by a ''sea serpent''), and HilarityEnsues as the scouts debate whether they should 'help him by helping him' or 'help him by ''not'' helping him'. [[FunnyBackgroundEvent All the while as the serpent tries to eat Lumpus, who is still frantically pleading for help.]]

* In an episode of the 2007 version of ''GeorgeOfTheJungle'', the gang convinces George to go back on his vow to always help people because of him doing menial tasks for Big Mitch. But when Mitch has them captured, they try to call George for help, but George refuses to help on the grounds of what they said.

* A very dramatic version appears on the book and tim FailSafe (and also on its spoof DoctorStrangelove): The bombers assigned to perform deep nuclear strikes on Russia have standing orders to ignore any orders that do not have an attached acknowledging code (because those trying to communicate may be Russian spies imitating higher-ups). A variety of reasons prevent said higher-ups from knowing the proper codes and thus can only try to help the Russians organise their defines and hope that none of the planes can go through (and on FailSafe, they even try to have the remaining bomber's captain's wife talk to him, ''begging'' him to stop. The captain's HeroicBSOD-induced response is to continue the flight, reasoning that the wife had been somehow compromised).

* In ''X-2: Film/{{X-Men}} United'', General Stryker tells his men to kill anyone approaching the room [[spoiler:where a brainwashed Professor X is using his mental powers to find and kill all the mutants]].

* ''[[TheChroniclesOfNarnia The Silver Chair]]'': [[spoiler:Inverted. The Prince has to be tied to a chair because he's about to have an episode of madness, and he orders Puddleglum and the kids not to free him no matter what he says. Once tied up, he begs to be released in the name of Aslan. The protagonists let him loose, and it turns out that he was NotHimself ''before''; at the same hour every day when he is tied to the chair, he is in his right mind, and letting him go broke the [[{{Brainwashed}} spell]]]].
* OlderThanFeudalism: In {{Homer}}'s ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', Odysseus asks his men to tie him to the mast so he can hear the Sirens but can't escape to go to them. He begs to be released while he can hear the music, but his men have their ears stopped with wax to keep from hearing the Sirens, so they ignore him.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Genesis of the Daleks - aversion. The Doctor holds Davros' life in his hands as he forces Davros to order the destruction of the Dalek program. The Doctor then tells Davros to announce that [[IrrevocableOrder his order cannot be countermanded]] - but before Davros can relay the order, his PA comes in and saves the day for him. Davros quickly shouts, "My last order is cancelled, repeat, cancelled. No action is to be taken."

* StephenColbert said [[http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-september-3-2013/jon-stewart-returns this]] in the September 4th 2013 episode of TheDailyShow, when [[ItMakesSenseInContext trying to re-Americanize Jon after he spent the summer in the Middle East]].
-->I'm going in there, and I'm going to break this man. So no matter what you hear, whatever screams of agony or perhaps pleasure you may hear, I want you to promise me you will do not go in this door.

* ''CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin asks Hobbes to tie him up so he can escape from the ropes a la Houdini. But he can't quite get himself free, and then his parents call him for dinner...
* When Linus from ''{{Peanuts}}'' tries to kick his security blanket habit, he literally invokes this trope as he gives the blanket to Snoopy.

* In an episode of the 2007 version of ''GeorgeOfTheJungle'', the gang convinces George to go back on his vow to always help people because he doing menial tasks for Big Mitch. But when Mitch has them captured, they try to call George for help, but George refuses to help on the grounds of what they said.

* Possibly the oddest version happens in ''FightClub'', where [[spoiler: the protagonist's ''other personality'' sets this up. Tyler tells his moles at the police department that if he (the protagonist) shows up later to tell them about Project Mayhem, they should cut his balls off.]]

** [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything And you thought Cookie Monster treated the things like a drug...]]

** Sylvester and his son once took upon a job chasing mice inside a ship. Trying to get out of catching the "giant mouse", Sylvester said that, since there's only one of it and several normal-sized mice, Junior should handle the giant one. After Junior tricked the "giant mouse" back into its cage, Sylvester led Junior outside the room and told him not to open the door no matter what he hears because Junior might dislike what he sees. Soon after that, a mouse Sylvester was chasing got inside a crate full of vitamins made to enhance mice muscles, and continued to pummel Sylvester inside while his son kept his promise and refused to open the door.

** Sylvester and his son once took upon a job chasing mice inside a ship. Trying to get out of catching the "giant mouse", Sylvester said that, since there's only one of it and several normal-sized mice, Junior should handle the giant one. After Junior tricked the "giant mouse" back into its cage, Sylvester led Junior outside the room and told him not to open the door no matter what he hears because Junior might dislike what he sees. Soon after that, a mouse Sylvester was chasing a mouse that got inside a crate full of vitamins made to enhance mice muscles.

** Garfield: Make up your mind!

* In ''X-2: Film/{{X-Men}} United'', General Stryker tells his men to kill anyone approaching the room [[spoiler:where a brainwashed Professor X is using his mental powers to find and kill all the mutants]] even if it is him, most likely assuming that Mystique will try to impersonate him.
** Not that it matters, as Mystique doesn't even come ''near'' the room before [[spoiler:Magneto triggers the guards' grenades.]] But the thought counts.

Either way, Alice is doing something she knows is for the best, but she also knows that she'll want out later and needs someone else to keep her in line. She will always tell Bob, "Remember, you can't give in, no matter how much I beg you." Later, Alice will almost invariably beg Bob to give the object back/ let her out of prison.

-->I'm going in there, and I'm going to break this man. So I want you to promise me- no matter what screams of pleasure or agony you may hear, do not open this door.

* In an episode of ''CampLazlo'', Scoutmaster Lumpus wanted some time alone, so he told the scouts not to help him while he was fishing. Later, he calls for help (because he's being attacked by a ''sea serpent''), and HilarityEnsues as the scouts debate whether they should 'help him by helping him' or 'help him by ''not'' helping him'. [[FunnyBackgroundEvent All the while as the serpent tries to eat him and Lumpus frantically pleads for help.]]

* In an episode of ''CampLazlo'', Scoutmaster Lumpus wanted some time alone, so he told the scouts not to help him while he was fishing. Later, he calls for help (because he's being attacked by a ''sea serpent''), and HilarityEnsues as the scouts debate whether they should 'help him by helping him' or 'help him by ''not'' helping him'. [[FunnyBackgroundEffect All the while as the serpent tries to eat him and Lumpus frantically pleads for help.]]

* In an episode of ''CampLazlo'', Scoutmaster Lumpus wanted some time alone, so he told the scouts not to help him while he was fishing. Later, he calls for help (because he's being attacked by a ''sea serpent''), and HilarityEnsues as the scouts debate whether they should 'help him by helping him' or 'help him by ''not'' helping him'.

* In ''Venom'', the {{Batman}} realises he has become addicted to the eponymous drug and asks Alfred to lock him in the Batcave for a month. In a slight subversion, Alfred asks to let him out early, but Batman refuses. When he finally emerges, he's wearing the BeardOfSorrow, but is, nevertheless, magnificent.

* ''[[HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]'': Dumbledore entreats Harry to make him drink all the potion in the Horcrux cave, no matter how much he begs to stop. Turns into NightmareFuel when Dumbledore begs Harry to ''kill'' him so as to not endure the mental anguish the potion causes.

* In ''Venom'', the {{Batman}} realises he has become addicted to the eponymous drug and asks Alfred to lock him in the Batcave for a month. In a slight subversion, Alfred asks to let him out early, but Batman refuses. When he finally emerges, he's wearing the BeardOfSorrow, but is, nevertheless, magnificent. Of course he is: He's the goddam Batman.