History Main / RecruitmentByRescue

So what's a hero to do? Fighting the EvilOverlord alone is usually not an option (only [[IneffectualLoner losers]] do that), and neither is seeking out other, more preoccupied allies. That leaves TheHero with the job of rescuing his allies from their difficulties before he can recruit them. Written well, this is a great way to pull off a DebutQueue, [[RescueIntroduction introducing]] the cast while establishing the Hero's [[MagneticHero magnet]] credentials. Written badly, you might [[FridgeLogic find yourself wondering]] why the OneManParty hero spends so much time and energy trying to get the help of people who cannot or will not [[ItsUpToYou help themselves]].

It's that [[ExactlyExtyYearsAgo time of the millennium]] [[ViciousCycle again]], where the EvilOverlord comes out of his [[SealedEvilInACan can]] and starts wreaking havoc. [[AngstWhatAngst No worries]], we gave TheHero a CallToAdventure call, and he's [[JumpedAtTheCall jumping]] to it. Now he just needs a {{team}}, but there's a problem. Some (or, in extreme cases, ''all'') potential allies are:

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': Many of the monsters Ash and his friends catch want to come with them due to this trope.

** William and Louis were recruited into heling Albert by saving Louis's life

** The Brotherhood rescued the X-Men and the other mutants captive from Weapon X. None of the X-Men left the team to join the Brotherhood, but the Weapon X forced members Juggernaut and Rogue did so. Nightcrawler left to be on his own, and would only join the X-Men much later.

** Soren, the forth, was freed from the beatings of his thug superior by Sanakan and Hugh. He is brought to Kyril because Sanakan wanted another team member.

* This is roughly how Gustav Andermann of the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series acquired his capitol of New Berlin. While technically Gustav conquered the world by force, the colonists were thrilled at being conquered, since it meant that he would find some microbiologists to get rid of the bacteria that were killing off all their crops.

** The ''Franchise/MassEffect'' games generally have a few characters you can recruit like this, following the [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic KOTOR]] model of "helping them to help yourself", plus a few party members who will join you for no cost. These include Tali, Liara, Garrus, Jack, Legion and Javik.

** When you come across Lyndon, the Scoundrel, he's in a bit of a fix -- the Thieves' Guild of some major city wants a relic that his friend has, and has sent a group of assassins to kill her and take it, and you have to help him fight them off.

* ''VideoGame/PanelDePon[=/=]Tetris Attack'': All 8 of your friends start off BrainwashedAndCrazy. After defeating them one by one, the party of 9 goes to confront the four actual bad guys, and become playable.

* In ''VideoGame/StarCraft'', The Sons Of Korhal start out as the terrorists rebelling against the evil Confederacy. They first enter the story after they rescue the forces under control of the player as well as Jim Raynor from a zerg horde. The rest of the campaign becomes about helping the Sons Of Korhal defeat the Confederacy. Next, the Sons Of Korhal rescues Edmond Duke, a Confederacy officer from the zerg, who aids the Sons Of Korhal with valuable intelligence on the Confederacy.

** The same is true for the people of Sable, who are besieged by an impostor of the Prince, along with a group of bandits, and the Dragon Calvary, who fail to come to Falena's defense [[spoiler: due to Dolph taking over the dragon's den and threatening to destroy their eggs]]. Each involves a story related quests that require the Prince to come to their aid, after which they side with his army.

* The UpdatedRerelease of ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS has the player start out with Yoshi, who was [[GoodMorningCrono sleeping]] and has to rescue Mario, Luigi and Wario in order to get through Peach's castle.

* ''Anime/RoninWarriors'' started with all five heroes being sealed away. [[TheConfidant Mia]] and [[TagAlongKid Yulie]] rescued Ryo in the second episode, and then Ryo proceeded to rescue the other four Ronins.

** PlayedWith in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'': Carlos earns his place with the Saints by rescuing ''you'' from prison, while Gat needs to be rescued (from the death row) but not ''recruited'' since he's the only Saint who remained true to his colors from the first game. Pierce and Shaundi only need a small favor each before they join, but Shaundi does become a DistressedDamsel later on in the Samedi storyline.

** Both ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' games require you to get most of your party members out of some kind of jam before they'll join you. Often, you'll need to help them in order to accomplish some goal of your own.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'''s adventure mode, World of Light, sees the ''entire cast'' minus Kirby get vaporized by [[BigBad Galeem]] before being enslaved to produce puppet fighters housing the spirits of other disintegrated characters. It's up to the pink puffball to free these spirits, which can then be equipped as power-ups and leveled up, and the rest of the fighters, who can then be selected instead of Kirby as playable characters. Rescuing fighters also unlocks them for other parts of the game.

** It is still played straight in other cases throughout the franchise. In the first game, in Agrabah, you need to rescue WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} from the Heartless before he joins the party. In ''Kingdom Hearts II'', in Olympus Coliseum, you must obtain a certain item to save [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Auron]] from being controlled by [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} Hades]]. In ''Birth by Sleep'', in Enchanted Dominion, Aqua will help free [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Prince Phillip]] from Maleficent's dungeon before they both escape to fight the evil fairy. And in ''Kingdom Hearts III'', [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory Buzz]] is possessed by the Heartless and is set free when Woody snaps at Young Xehanort.

* In VideoGame/StarCraft, The Sons Of Korhal start out as the terrorists rebelling against the evil Confederacy. They first enter the story after they rescue the forces under control of the player as well as Jim Raynor from a zerg horde. The rest of the campaign becomes about helping the Sons Of Korhal defeat the Confederacy. Next, the Sons Of Korhal rescues Edmond Duke, a Confederacy officer from the zerg, who aids the Sons Of Korhal with valuable intelligence on the Confederacy.

Contrast DefeatMeansFriendship and DefeatMeansPlayable, which are roughly the opposite of this trope (although there are some occasions where they overlap) as well as RecruitedFromTheGutter (where the act of taking someone into a group saves them).

It's that [[ExtyYearsFromNow time of the millennium]] [[ViciousCycle again]], where the EvilOverlord comes out of his [[SealedEvilInACan can]] and starts wreaking havoc. [[AngstWhatAngst No worries]], we gave TheHero a CallToAdventure call, and he's [[JumpedAtTheCall jumping]] to it. Now he just needs a {{team}}, but there's a problem. Some (or, in extreme cases, ''all'') potential allies are:

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': This is [[MagneticHero Luffy's]] recruitment MO. Pretty much every member of his crew got a StoryArc dedicated to [[LoyaltyMission solving some problem of theirs]] that prevented them from committing fully to Luffy's quest to find [[MacGuffinTitle the titular One Piece]].

* Many of the Anime/{{Pokemon}} Ash and his friends catch want to come with them due to this trope.

[[folder:Comics]]

* Dust of the ComicBook/XMen was recruited after Fantomex rescued her from slavers.

* Klara Prast of the ComicBook/{{Runaways}} joined the team after Karolina and Molly tried to save her from her abusive husband.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen''

This trope has long been a staple of the RolePlayingGame and Action Platformer genres, as well as games in other genres where team-based gameplay is mixed with a narrative. For the action platformers in particular, it's a bit of a tradition that you'll have to complete some challenge with the characters you have to acquire new characters. Games also sometimes flip the tables on {{Player Character}}s by having their future allies rescue ''them'' from some kind of predicament (such as an execution by the EvilOverlord) in order to recruit them into LaResistance or whatever HeroesRUs they come from.

** The ''Franchise/MassEffect'' games generally have a few characters you can recruit like this, following the [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic KOTOR]] model of "helping them to help yourself", plus a few party members who will join you for no cost.
*** Used and lampshaded in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', where, as Mordin is explaining the task he wants out of Shepard as a condition for his recruitment, Shep quips, "Just once I'd like someone to say, 'sure, I'll help, no strings attached'".

* In ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'', Ariel Hanson joins for a few missions after the colony she is on is rescued, as does Gabriel Tosh after his first mission, and even [[spoiler:Valerian Mengsk and Horace Warfield, prince and general of the Dominion you're opposing respectively,]] join your team when you get far enough.