History Main / WorthLivingFor

* In the backstory of ''Pinball/WHODunnit'', Tex survives a flaming car crash because of the love for his daughter, Trixie.

* ''VisualNovel/MyVowToMyLiege'' has a beautiful ''mutual'' example of this in [[SweetPollyOliver Fuchai]] and [[SexyMentor Wu Zixu]]. For all their [[RageAgainstTheMentor constant fighting]], they [[NotSoDifferent both understand]] what it's like to have their old lives destroyed, to be left alone in the world, so embittered and consumed by vengeance that they're not sure they'll have anything left when their duty is done. The key to their happy ending is deciding that all the agony they've been through is bearable if it brought them to each other, and that the other is proof that they have more left in the world than just revenge.

* Happens to Nico Robin in ''Manga/OnePiece''. Robin was on the verge of giving up on her life, and Luffy was the light at the end of the tunnel. Her time with the crew was the happiest she had ever been -- and she cared for them so much that she willingly turned herself in in order to save their lives from the Buster Call. The Straw Hats come to rescue her from being executed, and refuse to abandon her just because she had the entire world as her enemy. Just to prove their point, they '''''[[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu declared war on the entire world]]''''' for her sake. It was only then that Robin realized that she had finally found her place.
** When Luffy nearly passed the DespairEventHorizon [[spoiler:over the death of Ace]], he remembered that he still had his crew. It was only because of them and the fact that [[spoiler:Ace]] would have wanted him to move on that Luffy bothers continuing to live anymore.
** Ace had tons of angst over his bloodline, to the point that the question he spent his entire life searching the answer for... was whether he or not he deserved to be born. Living only stopped being so painful when [[spoiler:Sabo]], Luffy, and eventually, the Whitebeard Pirates, came into his life, having finally found the answer to that one question. [[spoiler:All of it only serves to make his death more tragic.]]
** [[spoiler:Trafalgar Law had lost his friends and family to the World Government and a disease that would kill him before he even reached adulthood. Thus, he believed that all he had to live for was to destroy everything in sight, as retribution against a world that cruelly took away all he held dear and persecuted him -- until Corazon showed him kindness and compassion, and eventually gave up his own life so Law could live. Thus, Law had something else to live for: killing Donquixote Doflamingo, Corazon's murderer. Thirteen years later, after Doflamingo is finally defeated, Law finds closure after speaking with Corazon's father-figure Sengoku, who tells him that Corazon saved him not because of some fabled inherited will, but out of love, and that if Law truly wants to honor that sacrifice, he should live as Corazon would want him to: free]].
* In the ''Manga/{{X1999}}'' anime, Kamui falls [[AchillesInHisTent catatonic]] after [[SacrificialLamb Kotori]]'s death, but Subaru manages to convince him that his life is still worth living, if only to save Kamui's best-friend-turned-evil (and Kotori's brother) Fuuma. Much later in the series, Kakyo and Subaru's ghostly sister do this for Subaru himself (who falls catatonic after [[spoiler:killing Seishirou]]), just in time for him to save Kamui ''again''.
** In the manga [[spoiler:Subaru lost all will to live when Seishirou died (not that he had any to begin with) but when he inherits Seishirou's eye to replace the one he lost and with it his role as the Sakurazukamori he decides to keep on living as a way to keep what's left of Seishirou "alive".]]
* ''Manga/{{Devilman}}'': ''Awfully'' subverted. TheHero Akira Fudo merged with a demon to fight other demons and protect humankind. However he is finding HumansAreTheRealMonsters and they are just as bad as demons. He is feeling his resolve to fight is wavering when he remembers he has something worth to fight for: [[LoveInterest Miki]]. He rushes towards her home [[spoiler:only to see the place burning down. A mob had chopped Miki and her whole family up in pieces and had set their home on fire.]] Grief-stricken, he thought he had nothing left to protect... but he would keep fighting if only to stick it to {{Satan}}.
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': In one episode, secondary character [[BrokenBird Erika]] asks Kouji why he goes so far to fight Dr. Hell, no matter how much he suffers or how many times he gets hurt. Kouji tells her it hurt a lot when his grandfather got murdered by Dr. Hell, and he wants nobody else to go through that. And if Dr. Hell conquers the world, that is exactly what will happen to millions of people, who will lose their families and will be enslaved. It is because of them that he is fighting, not only for revenge.
* ''Manga/{{Yaiba}}'': One character asks the main character why he wants to keep fighting. Yaiba answers his dream is becoming the world's best samurai. When that character notes he will be fighting countless battles and asks what if he fails, Yaiba smilingly replies that he will look for another dream.

** At the same time, the anime shows Homura is willing to sacrifice herself for Madoka's sake. And in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' [[spoiler: Homura decides that Madoka isn't just worth living and dying for - she's also worth becoming a monster for]].
* While it was his aim to survive in the first place, Guts from ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' stopped wasting his life away for the purpose of revenge and stopped acting so sociopathic when he realized how the end of his life would ultimately mean the end of Casca, his ill-fated lover, as well. His current mission is trying to [[FindTheCure find a cure]] for her insanity.
* Because of this, by Episode 24 of ''LightNovel/{{Gosick}}'' Victorique finally fears death.

* Climax of ''{{Anime/Noir}}'' has Mireille holding onto Kirika via one arm over a LavaPit. Kirika is pretty much content to die; especially since [[spoiler: as a TykeBomb she had killed Mireille's parents]]; Mireille; crying; begs her to live. Kirika looks up; sees that Mireille is the one person who gives a damn about her; cries as well and lets Mireille pull her up.
* Hayate Yagami in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'' had resigned to the fact that she was going to die from an unknown illness at the age of nine since she didn't have any friends or family. It was only after the Wolkenritter entered her life that she found herself actually wanting to survive. She still wasn't afraid of dying per say, but she was afraid of leaving her new family all alone. [[spoiler: In a tragic case of irony, the very people that gave her the will to live were (through no fault of their own) causing her to die ''faster''. She eventually gets better, and decides to live for more than just "my family and friends would be sad if I died".]]
* Even broken down to [[spoiler:his true Quirkless form]], [[TheCape All]] [[ChronicHeroSyndrome Might]] of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' [[spoiler:wins the climatic fight of the Kamino Ward Arc]] due to being reminded of the existence of [[SuperiorSuccessor Izuku Midoriya]].
* The infamous ending of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' centers around the main character deciding that his life is worth living. Interesting in that he doesn't find a ''reason'' so much as he learns to accept his own limitations.
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': After losing every member of his original team (including his sensei) in the span of a single year, Kakashi Hatake nearly lost the will to live. The only thing to kept him going was his promise to be his deceased best friend Obito's eyes into the future. Even then, LivingIsMoreThanSurviving came into play -- for several years, he immersed himself into the ANBU Black Ops division and the only reason he had anything resembling a social life was because of the persistence of his eventual adulthood best friend, Might Guy. Eventually, even the Third Hokage became concerned and kicked him out of ANBU so he could become a somewhat functioning individual again, which didn't happen until Team 7 came along. And even that was debatable, seeing as Kakashi's idea of "functioning individual" was reading porn in public, being chronically late due to staring at the memorial stone for three hours everyday, and turning himself into an imitation of an adult version of his dead teammate. [[spoiler:It wasn't until after Obito died ''again'' that Kakashi was finally able to move past everything and live his own life]].

* In ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan'', Yorick Brown, the last man on Earth after a {{Gendercide}}, repeatedly throws himself into harm's way due to his overwhelming survivor's guilt, until a suicide intervention sets him straight. This gives him an epiphany, showing him the one thing he thinks is worth living for. At the end of the series we find out [[spoiler:that it wasn't [[LivingMacGuffin his long-time girlfriend]] as one might expect, but rather [[BodyguardCrush his bodyguard]], [[ActionGirl Agent 355]]]].

* In the ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' story arc "The Dark Age," Charles Williams pulls himself from the brink of death after his brother Royal tells him that he's found the person who killed their parents.

* ''Film/{{Serenity}}'': PlayedForLaughs. Our heroes are making their climactic LastStand against a horde of [[TheDreaded Reavers]], and nobody really expects to survive. Kaylee's reason to fight and live? [[TheMedic Simon]] [[CannotSpitItOut finally]] admitted that he is interested in her.
-->'''Kaylee:''' You mean to say... as in sex?
-->'''Simon:''' I mean to say.
-->'''Kaylee:''' To Hell with this. ''[cocks her submachine gun]'' '''I'm gonna live!'''
* In the ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Part II'' trailer:
-->'''Voldemort''': Why do you live?
-->'''Harry''': Because I have something worth living for.

* In ''Film/ForrestGump'', Lt. Dan always thought it was his destiny to die in the field, just like someone in his family in every major war. When Forrest saves him against his will, he becomes embittered at life and God, until [[spoiler:he makes peace with himself after Hurricane Carmen leaves him and Forrest alive.]]

* Invoked by John Keating in ''Film/DeadPoetsSociety'' in explaining to his students why poetry matters, combining this trope with DareToBeBadass:
-->''"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from [[Creator/WaltWhitman Whitman]], 'O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here — that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.' That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?"

* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Myne a modern-day {{Bookworm}} reborn as a sickly poor girl in a world where books are extremely expensive luxury items, sets her mind on making a book herself. On the path to that pupose, she learns how to write from a colleague of her father's named Otto who's a former merchant. Later, Myne's friend Lutz turns out to want to become a merchant and asks Myne to introduce him to Otto. Some time after she promises to do so, Myne's mother uses the wood slates she had prepared to make a book as firewood and it becomes clear that this is just going to happen again if she makes new wood slates. Myne's reaction to the incident is to get so depressed that she's willing to let the strange disease she's affected with kill her, until she remembers that she promised to introduced Lutz and Otto to each other, alongside the fact that Lutz is unlikely to meet someone from the merchant trade otherwise. The realization makes her want to live at least long enough to keep that promise.

* Cain's arc in ''Series/TinMan''. He was dead-set on killing Zero to avenge his family, then dying. But then his former boss appeals to his honorable streak and forces him to promise that he'll guard [=DG=] [[spoiler:the lost princess of Oz]] "at any cost." Cain is still LawfulGood enough to not turn down the Mystic Man's LastRequest. Between this and learning [[spoiler:his family survived]], he's got enough HeroicWillpower to fend off a bullet and hypothermia.

* Solid Snake decides this in a long speech at the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' after learning he has been infected with a disease that he thinks will suddenly stop his heart without warning. The difference is that instead of being a DeathSeeker, Snake has focused entirely on survival rather than on enjoying life.
** Then played touchingly straight at the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'', where Snake knows his time is drawing near, but is now content to see it out peacefully in retirement. He even quits smoking, saying to Otacon "those things will kill ya."

* ''VideoGame/SagaFrontier'': At the end of T260G's story, T260G shuts down, having fulfilled the mission for which it was created... until Gen points out that it promised to return to Rosemary and Thyme before it set out on its quest. The robot promptly reboots in order to keep its promise.

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', [[spoiler:Shiki lets himself be killed by vampire Yumizuka Satsuki due to his promise to her earlier]] in Akiha's route unless you answered earlier in a fashion that makes him realize he has to live for Akiha.

Compare WorldOfCardboardSpeech, may often lead to a SurvivalMantra. Compare LivingIsMoreThanSurviving.

* ''VisualNovel/MyVowToMyLiege'' has a beautiful ''mutual'' example of this in [[SweetPollyOliver Fuchai]] and [[SexyMentor Wu Zixu]]. For all their [[RageAgainstTheMentor constant fighting]], they [[NotSoDifferent both understand]] what it's like to have their old lives destroyed, to be left alone in the world, so embittered and consumed by vengeance that they're not sure they'll have anything left when their duty is done. The key to their happy ending is deciding that all the agony they've been through is bearable if it brought them to each other, and that the other is enough reason in and of themselves to keep living.

* Even broken down to [[spoiler:his true Quirkless form]], [[TheCape All]] [[ChronicHeroSyndrome Might]] of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' [[spoiler:wins the climatic fight of the Kamino Ward Arc]] due to being reminded of the existence of [[SuperiorSuccessor Midoriya izuku]].

[[folder:Fan Works]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

-->"I know a lot of guys who came out of the war changed. Some came out better; some came out worse. A lot of them had this problem. The war gave them definition, direction, purpose. Without it they don't know how to fit in anymore, so they keep looking for ways to go out in a blaze of glory. Some people call that being a hero, maybe so. I don't know. I've never been one. Me, I think they're looking for something worth dying for because it's easier than finding something worth living for."
* Cain's arc in ''{{Series/TinMan}}''. He was dead-set on killing Zero to avenge his family, then dying. But then his former boss appeals to his honorable streak and forces him to promise that he'll guard [=DG=] [[spoiler:the lost princess of Oz]] "at any cost." Cain is still LawfulGood enough to not turn down the Mystic Man's LastRequest. Between this and learning [[spoiler:his family survived]], he's got enough HeroicWillpower to fend off a bullet and hypothermia.

** In the serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E4PlanetOfTheDaleks Planet of the Daleks]]", one Thal is afraid, having found in Jo Grant a reason to live, that he will fail in their SuicideMission. (He doesn't, they don't die, but Jo turns him down.)

-->'''Martha:''' All those things you've been ready to die for... I thought, for a moment there, you'd finally found something worth living for.\\
'''Doctor:''' Oh, there's always something worth living for, Martha.

'''Havers''': Oh... you get used to it. I've never been married, never had anything you could call a relationship. So you get to a point where you just have to accept what you are, what you have. And then you find something else, and that gives you the reason to get up in the morning. And I have that, don't I.
-->'''Lynley''': We both do.

* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'': In "[[Recap/BattlestarGalactica2003S02E15Scar Scar]]", Starbuck spends most of the episode in a self-destructive spiral of depression and drinking after her latest pitch to rescue survivors from Caprica is denied by the brass. At the climax she tries a suicide run against Scar (a Cylon ace), only to be snapped out of it at the last minute when she realizes she can lure the fighter out so Kat can get a shot on it. She remarks later to Helo that she could've made the kill but it would've meant her own death, and suddenly that actually mattered to her.
-->'''Helo:''' You've found something to live for, not just die for.

--''"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from [[Creator/WaltWhitman Whitman]], 'O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here — that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.' That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?"

* Land of Confusion by Genesis/Disturbed:

->'''Kallen Kozuki:''' Are you saying you love him?!
->'''C.C.:''' I don't know... But I believe the time has finally arrived for me to stop accumulating experiences and start living!

-->'''Lynley''': How do you do it? Living alone.
-->'''Havers''': Oh... you get used to it. I've never been married, never had anything you could call a relationship. So you get to a point where you just have to accept what you are, what you have. And then you find something else, and that gives you the reason to get up in the morning. And I have that, don't I.

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' "[[Recap/SherlockS03E03HisLastVow His Last Vow]]": When Mary shoots Sherlock, he goes into in his mind palace, and, when he hears John's in danger, cue him [[CrowningMomentofAwesome stopping himself from being in this position]] [[CrowningMomentofHeartwarming for his friend.]]

--> This is the world we live in
--> And these are the hands we're given
--> Use them and let's start trying

Worth Living For is when a character realizes he has something [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin worth]] ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin living]]'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin for]], be it a loved one, a new-found opportunity, or whatever have you. Will usually inspire new-found {{determinat|or}}ion that might verge on making them a OneManArmy. HopeIsScary may hit first, but be overcome.

This trope can be the end of a DeathSeeker's search in the non-lethal fashion, or simply someone deciding that it's time to stop merely plodding through life and actually ''live''.

Worth Living For is when a character realizes he has something [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin worth]] ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin living]]'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin for]], be it a loved one, a new-found opportunity, or whatever have you. Will usually inspire new-found [[{{Determinator}} determination]] that might verge on making them a OneManArmy. HopeIsScary may hit first, but be overcome.

--> '''Martha:''' All those things you've been ready to die for... I thought, for a moment there, you'd found finally found something worth living for.
--> '''Doctor:''' Oh, there's always something worth living for, Martha.

** Discussed at the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife The Doctor's Wife]]". The Doctor spends the episode coming to terms with the presence of OppositeSexClone Jenny, only for her to be shot. She "regenerates" (sort of), but the main cast leave before it kicks in.

** In the serial ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E4PlanetOfTheDaleks Planet of the Daleks]]'', one Thal is afraid, having found in Jo Grant a reason to live, that he will fail in their SuicideMission. (He doesn't, they don't die, but Jo turns him down.)
** Discussed at the end of "The Doctor's Daughter". The Doctor spends the episode coming to terms with the presence of OppositeSexClone Jenny, only for her to be shot. She "regenerates" (sort of), but the main cast leave before it kicks in.