History Main / ThePowerOfLegacy

* In ''StarWars: ANewHope,'' Obi-Wan tells Luke about his father, who Luke believes is dead. According to Obi-Wan, Luke's father was "the best star pilot in the galaxy, and a cunning warrior, and a good friend." [[TricksterMentor Whether or not he's actually lying is up for debate]] (remember the scene between Luke and his ghost on Dagobah), but he does leave out telling Luke about how his father betrayed the Jedi council, crossed over to the dark side, helped kill all the Jedi, including children, etc. Luke remembers his father as a hero until the famous LukeIAmYourFather scene.

* In the {{Animorphs}} series the Andalite high command do this with Elfangor appon learning of what he did with the time between his crash landing and the Yeerks arival on the scene, even getting his younger brother to take the blame for it. Just because the regular citizens need heroes to beleive in, ones untainted by disgrace that is.

* In the final episode of ''{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}'', Andrew tells Xander that Anya died saving his life, when all indications are she was merely killed during the FinalBattle.

* In ''{{Firefly}}'', while he wasn't killed, Jayne begged Mal that if he was going to kill him for betraying the Tams, that at least not tell the others that he betrayed them.

The mission is over. The MacGuffin has been acquired, the BigBad has been defeated, and the Hero is on his way home. Unfortunately, it is a bittersweet victory: Bob was killed during the mission, dying just in time for the Hero to hear his last words. Upon his return, the Hero meets Alice, who was very close to Bob, often a significant other. She asks the hero what Bob's last words were. The hero, compassionate guy that he is, takes her hand, looks her in the eyes, and...

[[quoteright:285:[[TheOrderOfTheStick http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Power_Of_Legacy_8330.JPG]]]]

* In ''{{The Order of the Stick}}'', O-Chul accepts responsibility for destroying the gate to protect the already-tarnished-enough legacy of [[TheScrappy Miko Miyazaki]].

* In the original Judas Contract arc of TeenTitans, the other Titans gave Terra a hero's funeral, a statue in their hall, and told everyone (including her half-brother, Geo-Force) that she died a hero. The truth was that she was TheMole and EvilAllAlong.

* [[http://www.pholph.com/strip.php?id=5&sid=1131 This page]] of ''{{Jack}}''. Lieutenant Bullock recounts how he told a fellow soldier's parents that their son died while pulling wounded men out of a fire. What really happened... well, it wasn't quite as dignified.

* In the {{Animorphs}} series the Andalite high command do this with Elfangor appon learning of what he did with the time between his crash landing and the Yeerks arival on the scene, even getting his younger brother to take the blame for it. Just because the regular citizens need heroes to beleive in, ones untainted by descrace that is.

The mission is over. The MacGuffin has been acquired, the BigBad has been defeated, and the Hero is on his way home. Unfortunately, Bob was killed during the mission, dying just in time for the Hero to hear his last words. Upon his return, the Hero meets Alice, who was very close to Bob, often a significant other. She asks the hero what Bob's last words were. The hero, compassionate guy that he is, takes her hand, looks her in the eyes, and...

The hero has a good reason for doing this, however. At the end of his life, Bob did something that would tarnish his legacy. Maybe his last words were NightmareFuel. Perhaps he did a FaceHeelTurn. Whatever the reason, telling Alice the truth would only result in damaging Bob's legacy, as well as hurting Alice by knocking down someone she held as a hero. Even if the hero has never told a lie up to that point, he will find it best to strech the truth so that Bob can be remembered fondly. If this takes place at the end of the story, the hero will get away with it, but if the story goes on after the hero's lie then it will usually [[NiceJobBreakingItHero come back to bite him in the butt.]]

* At the end of ''MetalGearSolid'', Snake gives a rather generic speech about how Grey Fox had wished the best for Naomi, who Fox had practically been a big brother too. Snake decides to skip the part where Grey Fox confessed that he had been the one who had killed Naomi's parents.

'''Donovan:''' I'm a bard. We know [[TropeNamer the power of legacy.]]\\
''{{DominicDeegan}}'' [[http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2006-04-13 link]]

Not to be confused with ThePowerOfFriendship or ThePowerOfLove, although they may be the reason that The Power Of Legacy is invoked.

* In ''{{The Order of the Stick}}'', O-Chul partially confesses to destroying the gate to protect the already-tarnished-enough legacy of [[TheScrappy Miko Miyazaki]].

[[caption-width-right:285:[-Lying to avoid shaming a fallen comrade: so morally ambiguous a paladin can do it.-] ]]

[[caption-width-right:285:[-Stretching the truth to avoid shaming a fallen comrade: so morally ambiguous a paladin can do it.-] ]]

[[caption-width-right:285:[-Lying to avoid shaming a fallen comrade: so morally ambiguous a paladin can do it.-] ]]

Note that this is the same trope whether the character outright lies or delibrately fails to mention the fact that would taint his friend's legacy. Also note, the Power of Legacy is used to defend a character's honor. If they lie/keep silent to shame the person in question, or to just prevent Alice from hearing his last words when they would actually help his legacy, that's a deconstruction.

* In ''{{The Order of the Stick}}'', O-Chul confesses to destroying the gate to protect the already-tarnished-enough leagacy of [[TheScrappy Miko Miyazaki]].

[[caption-width-right:285:Lying to avoid shaming a fallen comrade: so morally ambiguous a paladin can do it.]]

...lies.

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* Deconstructed, then averted in {{Preacher}}: When Jesse is hanging on to Cassidy from a plane, he tells Cassidy to tell Tulip he loves her, then [[CompellingVoice orders him to let go]]. Cassidy then reveals himself by telling Tulip he couldn't hear what he said. But at the very end, Cassidy's goodbye letter explains to Tulip what Jesse had really told him.

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* Probably the most famous example is from Joseph Conrad's HeartOfDarkness, in which Kurtz's FamousLastWords were "The horror, the horror!" Marlow, however tells his wife that "His last words were... your name."

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* In the final episode of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Andrew tells Xander that Anya died saving his life, when all indications are she was merely killed during the FinalBattle.
* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' 2nd pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Gary Mitchell gains vast psionic powers and begins to [[AGodAmI think of himself as a god]] who regards humans as insects to be crushed. After Captain Kirk manages to kill him:
-->'''Kirk''': "[[CaptainsLog Captain's log,]] stardate 1313.8. Add to official losses, Dr. Elizabeth Dehner. Be it noted she gave her life in performance of her duty. Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell. Same notation." '''[To Spock]''' I want his service record to end that way. He didn't ask for what happened to him.

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* In the Trope Naming example from DominicDeegan, quoted above, the person they were talking about had challenged Donovan to a duel over Donovan's wife just before jumping into a portal to Hell.
** Later, at the end of that story arc, Dominic invokes this when recounting Siegfried's death. Using his second sight, he had seen that Siegfried had held a genocidal campaign against orcs since boyhood, and is now in hell, but just before going to Hell he punched out all of Dominic's teeth. When Milov or Jayden ask how their friend died, Dominic's epitaph paints the knight in a much more heroic light.
*** It comes back to bite him.
* [[http://www.pholph.com/strip.php?id=5&sid=1131 This page]] of {{Jack}}. Lieutenant Bullock recounts how he told a fellow soldier's parents that their son died while pulling wounded men out of a fire. What really happened...well, it wasn't quite as dignified.
* In TheOrderOfTheStick, O-Chul confesses to destroying the gate to protect the already-tarnished-enough leagacy of [[TheScrappy Miko Miyazaki]].

The hero has a good reason for doing this, however. At the end of his life, Bob did something that would tarnish his legacy. Maybe his last words were NightmareFuel. Perhaps he did a FaceHeelTurn. Whatever the reason, telling Alice the truth would only result in damaging Bob's legacy, as well as hurting Alice by knocking down someone she held as a hero. Even if the hero has never told a lie up to that point, he will find it best to strech the truth so thatBob can be remembered fondly. If this takes place at the end of the story, the hero will get away with it, but if the story goes on after the hero's lie then it will usually [[NiceJobBreakingItHero come back to bite him in the butt.]]

* At the end of MetalGearSolid The Twin Snakes, Snake gives a rather generic speech about how Grey Fox had wished the best for Naomi, who Fox had practically been a big brother too. Snake decides to skip the part where Grey Fox confessed that he had been the one who had killed Naomi's parents.

* In ''StarWars: A New Hope,'' Obi-Wan tells Luke about his father, who Luke believes is dead. According to Obi-Wan, Luke's father was "the best star pilot in the galaxy, and a cunning warrior, and a good friend." [[TricksterMentor Whether or not he's actually lying is up for debate]] (remember the scene between Luke and his ghost on Dagobah), but he does leave out telling Luke about how his father betrayed the Jedi council, crossed over to the dark side, helped kill all the Jedi, including children, etc. Luke remembers his father as a hero until the famous LukeIAmYourFather scene.