History Main / SaveThisPersonSaveTheWorld

* Fry, from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' has saved the world and universe ''twice'' due to being the only one without a Delta brainwave (due to [[BuffySpeak past-nastifacation]] with [[MyOwnGrandpa his grandmother]] so Nibbler makes sure he gets frozen.

* ''Film/ThePurgeElectionYear: Senator Roan plans to abolish The Purge if she's elected President. This position has made her a very popular candidate. As a result, the NFFA plan to have her assassinated during The Purge that year.

[[foloder:Fan Works]]

* TheOtherWiki relates the Judaic legend of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzadikim_Nistarim ''tzadikim nistarim'']] ("hidden righteous ones," also known as the ''lamed-vavniks'' (literally, the 36)). It is said God keeps the whole world spinning because of thirty-six righteous souls, who are unaware of their importance.

* ''{{Nodwick}}'': Nodwick learns, in a variety of ways that he simply must exist for the world to continue relatively peacefully. In the Baphuma'al series, his companions would have succumbed to various artifacts or neuroses had he permanently died at some point.

* The four children in ''[[{{Narnia}} The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe]]''.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has an entire episode revolve around this. In "Turn Left", it is revealed that [[spoiler: Donna meeting the Doctor saved the multiverse, as without her he would have died (along with several other companions who filled his role in various episodes) and nobody would have been left to stop Davros's Reality Bomb.]]
** When the Doctor was dying, fading from existance because of the Great Intelligence, all the planets, solar systems, etc in the universe started dying/disappeared/becoming destroyed. Clara [[spoiler: jumped into the Doctor's timestream to save his life, and scattered 'echoes' of herself across time, saving him in every dangerous situation he's ever been in. Effectivly saving the entire universe.]]

* ''Film/XMen'':

* In ''Manga/DragonBall Z'': During the ''Android Saga'', Trunks, who comes from a BadFuture, goes back in time to give Goku the antidote to a heart virus from Planet Yadrat that he had originally died from to hopefully save the world from the Androids. Goku still ends up dying (though to a HeroicSacrifice rather than succumbing to the virus), but the world is saved this time.

* ''SteinsGate'': [[spoiler: Okabe saving Makise Kurisu is one part of preventing World War III in the not so distant future.]]

* ''[[ComicBook/{{X-Men}} Uncanny X-Men]]'', in the classic "ComicBook/DaysOfFuturePast" storyline; Kate Pryde must prevent the assassination of anti-mutant senator Robert Kelly to prevent the Sentinels from conquering America and destroying all meta-humans.

* And, X-Men: Days of Future Past the film also has it, though it's Wolverine who goes back, and a different character must be saved.

* ''Film/TheTerminator'': kill Sarah Connor, and her son will never grow up to lead the human resistance and defeat Skynet.

* As mentioned above, John Connor in ''TheSarahConnorChronicles''.

Basically, this is what happens when the MacGuffinGirl meets the ButterflyOfDoom, without necessarily having the fantastic, world-shaping elements that those plots usually require. The reason the character is important may be relatively mundane, emotional, and/or circumstantial in nature. They need not be [[TykeBomb a self-contained weapon]], a CosmicKeystone, [[MacGuffinGirl an artefact disguised as a living being]], TheChosenOne, MessianicArchetype, or a BarrierMaiden; they may not even have any special abilities to speak of (though that depends on the genre of the story). In some cases, they may have a [[MoralityPet strong emotional]] [[PluckyComicRelief connection and relevance]] to the cast, so their death or even injury would result in the cast going off the rails somehow.

Compare with MacGuffinGirl, BarrierMaiden and ApocalypseMaiden. When the hero's relationship with the person in question is the one that decides the world's fate, you get SekaikeiGenre. Sometimes subject to ProphecyTwist, in which case compare NoManOfWomanBorn.

* ''VideoGame/DubiousCompany'''s pirates saving [[TheChosenOne High Priestess Sal]] seems like this at first, until she reveals that she is not what [[YouFailReligiousStudiesForever Kreedor]] thinks [[BarrierMaiden she is]] and [[spoiler: [[FiveBadBand Kreedor's Elites]] know this]]. However, by that point it had become [[MisfitMobilizationMoment more]] [[TrueCompanions personal]].

* In "The End: Part One" of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', the Titans use this sort of logic when they decide to protect Raven to try to prevent Trigon from turning her into a portal and coming to earth. [[spoiler: It doesn't work. Otherwise it [[YouCantThwartStageOne wouldn't be called The End Part One]]]]

* Baby Eve from ''Series/BeingHuman'' is [[spoiler:an inversion of]] this. All of the good guys protect her, because she's the War Child, who prophecy says will kill all of the vampires, which means all of the vampires are trying to kill her. [[spoiler:Then, it turns out that she has to ''die'' to bring about the death of all vampires, meaning that the protagonists who want to keep her alive are inadvertently screwing the world over. It's never really explained how Eve living would cause the vampires to win, but it's theorized that as long as she was alive, humans would stay lazy and expect her to be the one to save them.]]

* In ''AWindInTheDoor'', Charles Wallace is the only person in any significant, physical danger. But his survival at this point in time is key to the continued existence of the universe as a whole. It's explained that this is the case because he has an important role to play in the future, and if he dies ''now'' the bad guys (who want to unmake EVERYTHING) will have a guaranteed win shortly down the line.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall Z'': During the ''Android Saga'', Trunks goes back in time to give Goku the antidote to a heart virus he had originally died from to hopefully save the world from the androids. Goku still ends up dying, but the world is saved this time.

* Hera, the half-human, half-Cylon child on ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined''. Throughout the series, it's implied that she is the future of both races. [[spoiler:It's revealed in the finale that all modern humans are descended from her.]]

* The current (and likely final) arc in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' is being fought to protect both Naruto and Killer Bee from from having their tail-beast extracted by the BigBad, Tobi.

->''"[[ArcWords Save the cheerleader,]] [[TropeNamer save the world.]]"''

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': It's predicted that the death of the Flash will be a trigger for Armageddon since he's the PluckyComicRelief keeping them on the rails. (In a MirrorUniverse, his death instigated the rise of the [[KnightTemplar Justice Lords]]). Flash [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this in "The Doomsday Sanction", to his own smugness and everyone else's annoyance. [[CassandraTruth Only the Question is convinced it'll happen]] and attempts to kill Luthor ''himself'' to save Superman from it. This ends up [[NiceJobBreakingItHero making everything]] go FromBadToWorse when Luthor reveals his EvilPlan. Flash does end up [[spoiler: defeating [[FanNickname Brainthor]], so who knows...]]

* Hera, the half-human, half-Cylon child on ''BattlestarGalacticaReimagined''. Throughout the series, it's implied that she is the future of both races. [[spoiler:It's revealed in the finale that all modern humans are descended from her.]]

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'', of all shows used this in the 4th season--Castle, Beckett, and the CIA are racing against time to find the 'linchpin' a mysterious organization is targeting to trigger World War III and bring the US to its knees. [[spoiler: It turns out to be the daughter of an influential Chinese businessman; her [[ForWantOfANail assassination is projected to lead to the businessman turning his influence against the US, leading to a falling out with China which leaves the US in a crippling debt crisis.]]]]
** At the end of the episode, Castle and Beckett are discussing whether or not they really changed anything:

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'', of all shows used this in the 4th season--Castle, Beckett, and the CIA are racing against time to find the 'linchpin' a mysterious organization is targeting to trigger World War III and bring the US to its knees. [[spoiler: It turns out to be the daughter of an influential Chinese businessman; her assassination is projected to lead to the businessman turning his influence against the US, leading to a falling out with China which leaves the US in a crippling debt crisis.]]