History Main / TakeMeInstead

** MamaBear Lily Evans-Potter offers her life to Voldemort so he would let baby Harry live. He doesn't listen to her of course. [[spoiler: And ultimately it was her HeroicSacrifice that saved Harry by triggering a powerful ancient magic that protected him and destroyed Voldemort's body]]. This same magic is activated again when [[spoiler:Harry allows Voldemort to kill him to save the world. When he comes BackFromTheDead, he notices that none of the spells Voldemort tries to cast on anyone at Hogwarts affect them for very long]].

** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', when Bellatrix gets Hermione to torture her, Ron desperately offers himself to be taken instead of her. Bellatrix responds by slapping him hard across the face and answering that he can take her place... ''if Hermione dies under questioning''.

** Peeta does something similar for Katniss, encouraging Haymitch to put all his focus on saving her at the expense of Peeta's own life (as well as putting himself in harm's way numerous times in the arena to save or protect Katniss). In ''Catching Fire'' [[spoiler:Peeta and Katniss both do this for each other, each making a pact with Haymitch that he will save the other. At one point in the arena when they are separated Katniss begins to scream Peeta's name to lure any enemies to her so that he can have a chance to live]].

** Also pulled by [[spoiler:Princess Shirahoshi]] in the Fishman Island arc.

* Parodied by DirtyCoward Boomerang in ''ComicBook/TheSuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'', who ''drags his girlfriend out of hiding'' in order to beg Bullseye not to kill her and leave him alive with the guilt "like that ''totally awesome'' thing you did to Characters/{{Daredevil|MattMurdock}} that you're so proud of". Both Bullseye and the girl are disgusted by this blatant BriarPatching.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' has Belle using this exact line when she begs the Beast to imprison her instead of her father. Since a kindhearted girl is exactly what the Beast wanted in the first place, he accepts.

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', "Insane in the Mainframe"

** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E121InPraiseOfPip In Praise of Pip]]": The wounded (possibly dying) bookie Max Phillips pleads with God not to let his son Pip die in Vietnam. He offers his own life instead, and immediately falls to the ground lifeless. The next scene shows Pip walking with a cane visiting the amusement park.

** In "Welcome to Winfield", the people of Winfield plead for TheGrimReaper Griffin St. George to take them instead of Matt Winnaker as most of them are over 100 and Matt is only 20. However, Matt will have none of it and asks St. George to take him. Eventually, St. George decides to let them all go.
** In "Rendezvous in a Dark Place", Barbara [=LeMay=] pleads with [[TheGrimReaper Death]] to take her instead of Trent, a young robber who is dying from a gunshot wound. However, Death tells her that it is Trent's time and that he can't take life where it doesn't exist, referring to Barbara's [[DeathSeeker obsession with death]].

* ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse'': Hugh asks Olivia to take him instead rather than murdering any more of their children. [[spoiler:She does, but she still stares longingly at the surviving kids, implying that she isn't fully done with them.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'', Stoick and Gobber each try to lure the Green Death away from the rest of the tribe, shouting "ME!" "NO, ME!" Then Hiccup and his newly-minted dragon riders get to play BigDamnHeroes.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfVoxMachina'': After [[spoiler:Vex'ahlia]] is killed, Vax'ildan has a vision of the Matron of Ravens approaching her body to take her soul to the afterlife, and shouts "Take me instead, you raven bitch!" [[spoiler:The Matron grants his wish, but at a price: Vex is brought back to life, but Vax is now bound to the Matron as her servant.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In "Clouds on the Horizon", [[spoiler:Kikimora gloats that she'll be taking Hunter to Belos to be killed and that the emperor is already aware of the rebels' plot, Luz has Gus switch her and Hunter's appearances and goads Kikimora into capturing her by mistake. This enables her to both protect Hunter from Belos]].

* [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes Max Shreck]] asks the Penguin, who has just crashed his fancy ball, to take him instead of his son in ''Film/BatmanReturns'', convincing him that he hates him more than anyone else. The Penguin agrees, after some deliberation.

* ''Fanfic/FearTheSuperhero'': A teenaged apostle offers himself up in hopes of saving his girlfriend. Karasuba offers to let them both go free; however, Shirou immediately snipes them both.
* ''Fanfic/HalloweenUnspectacular'': In ''This is fine'', E350 begs to be killed in Timmy's place. [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]
* ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'': Upon witnessing the Hunter savagely killing all the Black Dog mercs [[TheWomenAreSafeWithUs who are busy enjoying themselves with the female villagers]] in a church, Sanakan comes to the conclusion that [[AlwaysABiggerFish he is one of the Black Dogs who wants all of the women to himself]]. Her response is to demand the grey-coated killer to take her first and leave the others alone. Luckily, the Hunter is obviously not here for that, instead calling for a sergeant to get a healer and defend them, though he does "take her" as [[TheApprentice his apprentice]] afterwards.
* ''Fanfic/WithPearlAndRubyGlowing'':
** Timon offered himself to Shenzi this way to keep the Hyenas from hurting his family. Since he volunteered, he believes this doesn't ''really'' count as rape, though everyone else tells him otherwise.
** Kowalski offers himself to Giovanni's men in order to protect Skipper from going through that trauma himself. Unfortunately, this also results in Private [[InternalReveal learning about the previous incident]].
** During their time in the county jail, Bugs protected Daffy this way. Daffy's traumagenic amnesia prevents him from knowing the cops actually did anything.
** Flam uses a rigged coin trick to keep the sheriff away from Flim.
** Mr Schneider and Reggie beg the corrupt cops to hurt them instead of Vinnie, since he suffers from Von Willebrand Syndrome and could easily die from blood loss.
* Done in ''Responsibility'' where, after the guards arrest Jason for stealing bread, Pythagoras takes Jason's punishment, claiming that Jason didn't know the law. (Luckily the guards didn't cut off his hand, as they would have done for Jason).
* ''Fanfic/SystemRestore'':
** Togami offers himself up in place of the first culprit, claiming that as the group's self-declared leader, it was his responsibility to keep them all safe, and his failure that should be punished. Monobear makes a show of considering it before refusing, just to give the blackened a bit of hope before yanking it away.
** A more subtle, subdued version occurs in the second trial: When the second culprit is identified, Monobear notes that there were two votes cast for [[spoiler:Tanaka Gundam]], and that one of them came from that same student.
* ''Fanfic/HeroesOfTheDigitalWorld'': After Barbamon kidnaps [[spoiler:Tai and TK]], Kari begs him to take her in their place. He just laughs off her offer, declaring there wouldn't be any ''fun'' in doing things that way.
* Attempted by Goku in ''Anime/DragonBallZ: A Good Man''. He tries to convince a group of lawmen called The Justice, who are holding Vegeta captive to let him take Vegeta's place. So that Vegeta wont be punished for all the crimes he had committed while working under Frieza. Goku's plan fails when Vegeta outright refuses to let him go though with it.
* In ''[[http://audreys-efanfic.freeservers.com/lostandfound.html Lost and Found]]'', John Gage does this when a kidnapper targets Roy [=DeSoto=]. John knows what the guy did to his previous victims and likely feels it will spare Roy and his family the same stuff. The guy still shoots Roy and John spends 18mo of captivity thinking his friend is dead.
* In the ''Series/LawAndOrderUK'' story ''[[https://www.iini.vip/Du0TNjVPNjVZTtNqq1SMHRgJHOuvJykKKt Delayed Shock,]]'' (the first in a series that's been running for a ''decade''), Matt tells his girlfriend (in this universe) Alesha that his sister never got hurt by their abusive stepfather because, "[[BigBrotherInstinct I made sure she was never alone with him. I made sure to get in between them so that I'd take the beatings instead of her.]]"

* In ''Fanfic/SpellboundLilafly'', Bridgette offered herself in her sister Laoise's place when TheFairFolk abducted Laoise to be a "bride" (i.e. SexSlave) for seven years. Since Bridgette was the holder of the Ladybug Miraculous, Tikki's chosen, she was a curiosity to the fae, and her deal was accepted. It did not go well for her, but Laoise lived out a happy life.

* ''Fanfic/{{Ace In The Hole|Persona5}}'': In order to protect [[spoiler:Futaba]], Ken surrenders to Shido's men. [[BatmanGambit Shido was banking on this.]]

* When Bismuth finds Rose deep within Steven's gem in ''Fanfic/RoseRedemptionAU'', Rose pleads that if she has any intention of seeking revenge on her, then she should take vengeance on her and not Steven.
* In Draikinator's ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nail0VYJVkg Aldershadow AU]]'', when Rowanstar insists on taking one of the two orphaned kits Violetkit and Twigkit to [=ShadowClan=], rather than going through with it as in canon, Alderheart offers to be taken instead, not wanting to separate the two sisters and knowing that [=ShadowClan's=] only medicine cat is dying and they desperately need a new one like him.
* In the backstory of ''Fanfic/XCOMTheHadesContingency'', after winning the War on Terror, the Commander willingly surrendered himself to the UN to be executed for his war crimes, in exchange for sparing the lives of his team. The UN took him captive, then proceeded to capture and execute his men anyway... [[spoiler:or they would have if EXALT didn't intervene]]. This is just one of many reasons why he holds them in low regard (and, by extension, the Council).

* The first of the ''The Five Chinese Brothers'' was being executed for murder (he had to expel the sea from his mouth), but was permitted to return home to say goodbye to her mother. Because the brothers look identical, they were able to take the place of the first brother during the execution without people noticing. The second brother couldn't be beheaded. The third brother could stretch legs and avoid drowning. The fourth was immune to burning and thus couldn't be burned. The fifth could hold his breath indefinatly, and thus survived the night in the oven of whipped cream. After multiple failed executions, the judge decrees that the first brother was innocent.

* Parodied by DirtyCoward Boomerang in ''ComicBook/TheSuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'', who ''drags his girlfriend out of hiding'' in order to beg Bullseye not to kill her and leave him alive with the guilt "like that ''totally awesome'' thing you did to ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} that you're so proud of". Both Bullseye and the girl are disgusted by this blatant BriarPatching.
* In ''ComicBook/SwampThing'', Zatara sacrifices his life to save his daughter ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} from an evil power.

* A ''Series/MadTV'' sketch takes place at a funeral, with a woman mourning her husband, screaming "Take me, Jesus! Take me instead!" Sure enough, Jesus shows up, brings the woman's husband back to life, and then asks the woman to go with him. Naturally, the woman wasn't expecting her wish to be granted, and HilarityEnsues.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' actually goes through with it, though it's a non-fatal example: [[spoiler:ComicBook/{{Zatanna}}]] puts on the Helmet of Fate and gets possessed by Nabu, who refuses to release her. In exchange for her freedom, [[spoiler:her father Zatara]] offers himself instead, and is still possessed by Nabu [[TimeSkip five years later]].

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' has [[spoiler:Ako Izumi]] offering to be [[spoiler:Tosaka]]'s slave for life if he [[spoiler:won't blackmail Negi into slavery]], proving that you don't have to be [[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass physically badass to be awesome]]. For the record [[spoiler:Tosaka turns out to be a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who agrees to just let Negi go. She didn't know at the time, but it's implied the actual agreement she was making would have gotten her raped, among other things. ''Legally'']]. It's all but ''stated outright'' that it would have led to legal rape (or at least rape the government has no power to stop). [[spoiler:Turns out Ako was pretty sure Tosaka was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but that doesn't make it less badass.]]

* Saito, from ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'', doesn't give [[LoveInterests Louise]] an option. He drugs the wine used in their wedding, and passes off to an ally before [[SuicideMission taking off]] to [[YouShallNotPass fight]] the entire Albion army of 60,000.

* In ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'', Kaname's teacher Ms. Kagurazaka offers to be the hostage in place of Kaname when Gauron hijacks the airplane they're on. Of course, Gauron refuses, because the teacher isn't a Whispered, and is therefore useless. In fact he's about to shoot Kagurazaka after she continues to object, when Sousuke [[WeNeedADistraction provides a distraction by 'accidentally' dropping a tray]]. Gauron stares at him for an uncomfortably long time, clearly suspicious, before leaving with Kaname. Kagurazaka promptly collapses in shock, and blames herself until Kaname turns up alive in hospital later.

[[index]]
* TakeMeInstead/AnimeAndManga
* TakeMeInstead/FanWorks
* TakeMeInstead/{{Literature}}
* TakeMeInstead/LiveActionTV
* TakeMeInstead/VideoGames
* TakeMeInstead/WesternAnimation
[[/index]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Said word-for-word in Music/InsaneClownPosse's "Crossing Thy Bridge," offering themselves to {{God}} so that little children don't have to go to {{Heaven}} so early.
* "Bad Bad Things" by Music/AJJ has a murderer recounting the slaughter of a family to the only member he left alive, and tells them that their mother begged for him to leave everyone else alone and hurt her instead.
--> "She said, 'Do with me what you want, but please don't hurt my family/Take my pride, take my life, take my body, but don't take the ones that are close to me'/And I continued without mercy"
* Invoked in [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwLwzFrR6C-UQM_Iz9B8VZw Pip King's Jolene series]] but with a twist. Both the original song and its sequel follow the tune and lyrical setup of "Jolene" by Music/DollyParton, wherein the singer is begging the beautiful Jolene to not seduce her lover. Part one, entitled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwRVU8YjGH0"Jolene (A Cautionary Tale),"]] has the same initial setup as the original song, but here the singer sings about Jolene's captivating beauty, [[HumanoidAbomination horrible eldritch capabilities,]] and how she's been terrorizing the town with her immense powers. She begs Jolene to not take her man away, presumably to eat him, and ultimately resolves that if she tries to take him, she'll go after Jolene herself for revenge. In part two, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RtIP_2H5Gc&list=PL_RYcgJkFA2BXnAlA3RMkuNcM2pVAGl-m&index=45 "Jolene Part 2 (Take Me Instead)"]] we hear the singer again describing Jolene's unfathomable power and bewitching features, and she now begs Jolene to take her in his place, but as she begins to wax poetic about how she's been dreaming of "lying bare" beneath her "unblinking, countless eyes" and how she longs to be held in her embrace, the she invokes Take Me Instead verbatim, but only to mean that she wants Jolene to forget her man because [[DidYouJustRomanceCthulhu she wants the two of them to be together.]]
* In the song ''Don't Take The Girl'' by Music/TimMcGraw, the singer/narrator [[HostageSituation offers his wealth to a mugger]] in one part, but when his bride and expectant wife is facing a DeathByChildbirth situation, he begs God and Death to take him instead. She recovers afterwards.

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* In 2001, during the time [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys Bubba Ray & D-Von Dudley]] were regularly putting women through tables. Their intended victim that night was Wrestling/MollyHolly, the girlfriend of their younger brother, [[Wrestling/SpikeDudley Spike]]. Spike laid across the table, begging Bubba to spare her and do him instead. Bubba drove Molly through the table AND Spike.

[[folder:Radio]]
* In the first part of the ''Radio/AdventuresInOdyssey'' episode "The Perfect Witness" Katrina Shanks speaks this trope verbatim to the criminals who were robbing the bookstore where she worked and were kidnapping young, blind customer Jenny.

[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]
* In Literature/TheBible, the ten oldest sons of Jacob, led by Judah, sold their younger half-brother Joseph as a slave. Jacob was heartbroken, and grew more attached to his youngest son,[[hottip:*:Joseph's only full brother]] Benjamin. Years later, Benjamin is falsely accused of stealing from the Egyptian vizier and is going to be taken as a slave as punishment. Judah, realizing how much this will destroy their father, offers himself as a slave instead. The story ends with the vizier [[spoiler:revealing that he's actually Joseph, who brought this whole situation about to see if his older brothers had changed]].
** One reading of the Passion of Christ, called the Ransom View or Christus Victor; basically, {{UsefulNotes/Jesus}} offers himself over to {{Satan}} in place of humanity, thus exhausting the Devil's power and breaking his hold on us for all time.
* Making this one OlderThanFeudalism is the myth of [[Theatre/{{Alcestis}} Admetus and Alcestis]]. Admetus is a beloved king; and, when he is due to die, Death agrees to allow him to live if he can find another willing to die in his stead. However, he is unable to find anyone - for all that his subjects love him, they don't love him enough to die for him, with even his father refusing to do it. Finally, believing himself doomed, he returns to his room - to find that his wife, Alcestis, has already agreed to die in his place, and promptly expires. Admetus lives - but in the knowledge that he has lost the one person who loved him enough to die for him. Then, in a surprise twist happy ending, Admetus's HotBlooded friend [[WorldsStrongestMan Heracles]] arrives and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punches out Death to bring Queen Alcestis back]].

[[folder:Stand-up Comedy]]
* Inverted in Creator/GeorgeCarlin's list of things people have never said before: "Do what you want to the girl, but leave me alone!"

[[folder:Theatre]]
* ''Tamamo-no-Mae Asahi no Tamoto'': When Lady Katsura is ordered to trade her head for her family's stolen relic, her adoptive sister Lady Hatsuhana is willing to take her place. [[spoiler: Subverted as Katsura is still killed anyway. By ''her birth father'', no less.]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'', there's the end of the first trial day of the third case. When the defendant is about to be handed a "Guilty" verdict, one of the witnesses suddenly claims to be the killer because it couldn't have been the defendant, but then the defendant herself confesses to the crime, only for ''another'' witness to claim to be the killer on the same grounds as the first one. It's such a mess the Judge is forced to delay the verdict for the next day.
** [[spoiler: all three are innocent]], and besides are such close friends they'd rather anything else than see each other hurt.
* In ''VisualNovel/ReflectionsOnTheRiver'', when Zheng (the protagonist) moves to abduct one of the royal children in retaliation for not being paid, [[BigFirstChoice players decide which one to target]], but regardless of choice, the other will try to intercede. They're successful, so players always get the opposite to their selection.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/WeakHero'', when Donald says that he might actually end up killing Ben, Alex steps up and begs Donald to fight him instead, taking his best friend's place. It's only a [[JustInTime conveniently timed phone call]] that stops either of them from facing Donald's wrath.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' has Belle using this exact line when she begs the Beast to imprison her instead of her father. Of course, since a kindhearted girl is exactly what the Beast wanted in the first place, he accepts.

* In Literature/TheBible, the ten oldest sons of Jacob, led by Judah, sold their younger half-brother Joseph as a slave. Jacob was heartbroken, and grew more attached to his youngest son,[[hottip:*:Joseph's only full brother]] Benjamin. Years later, Benjamin is falsely accused of stealing from the Egyptian vizier and is going to be taken as a slave as punishment. Judah, realizing how much this will destroy their father, offers himself as a slave instead. Of course, the story ends with the vizier [[spoiler:revealing that he's actually Joseph, who brought this whole situation about to see if his older brothers had changed]].

Contrast OfferingAnotherInYourStead, where the character willingly sacrifices someone else for their own safety. Compare and contrast SilentScapegoat and IAmSpartacus, which both differ in that a character is specifically taking the blame for the actions of another by claiming to be them, MoreExpendableThanYou, in which the character is protecting someone he considers more important, DrawAggro which is basically "come after me instead", GoThroughMe which is basically "you'll have to defeat me to get to them", and PrisonerExchange, in which someone from the villain's team is captured and traded for the hostage.

Contrast OfferingAnotherInYourStead, where the character willingly sacrifices someone else for their own benefit. Compare and contrast SilentScapegoat and IAmSpartacus, which both differ in that a character is specifically taking the blame for the actions of another by claiming to be them, MoreExpendableThanYou, in which the character is protecting someone he considers more important, DrawAggro which is basically "come after me instead", GoThroughMe which is basically "you'll have to defeat me to get to them", and PrisonerExchange, in which someone from the villain's team is captured and traded for the hostage.

Compare and contrast SilentScapegoat and IAmSpartacus, which both differ in that a character is specifically taking the blame for the actions of another by claiming to be them, MoreExpendableThanYou, in which the character is protecting someone he considers more important, DrawAggro which is basically "come after me instead", GoThroughMe which is basically "you'll have to defeat me to get to them", and PrisonerExchange, in which someone from the villain's team is captured and traded for the hostage.

* ''WesternANimation/StrangeMagic'' has Sunny trying to offer himself up as a hostage in exchange for Dawn by pointing out that he was the one who stole the {{Love Potion}} that the villain is trying to ransom for. Since he doesn't actually have the love potion and isn't as useful as a hostage as the King's daughter, he's rejected.

* In the song, ''Don't Take The Girl'' by Tim McGraw, the singer/narrator [[HostageSituation offers his wealth to a mugger]] in one part, but when his bride and expectant wife is facing a DeathByChildbirth situation, he begs God and Death to take him instead. She recovers afterwards.

* In the song, ''Don't Take The Girl'' by Tim McGraw, the singer/narrator offers his wealth to a mugger in one part, but when his bride and expectant wife is facing a DeathByChildbirth situation, he begs God and Death to take him instead. She recovers