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10[[quoteright:214:[[Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dontmentionit.png]]]]
11[[caption-width-right:214:No no, seriously, ''don't'' mention it.]]
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13->'''Arnold:''' Grandpa, I have a problem.\
14'''Grandpa:''' Let me guess -- you saved some guy's life, and he's trying to make it up to you by being your slave.
15-->-- ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold''
16
17One big presentation of BecauseYouWereNiceToMe.
18
19One day, Bob is strolling down the lane minding his own business. Then BANG! One DivingSave later, he has some guy pledging his loyalty to repay him for saving his life.
20
21The concept of owing one's life to another (often referred to as a "life-debt") is simple. Someone saves your life and you must repay them, especially if you live by a [[CodeOfHonour strict honor code]]. Often it is the case that the person who saved you doesn't want someone tagging along or that the person you saved didn't [[UnwantedRescue want to be saved]] and therefore indebted to you.
22
23Most times the person you saved [[CharacterMagneticTeam becomes]] part of [[MagneticHero your]] traveling party or [[HitchhikerHeroes group of friends]], and he'll stay around even after repaying you for saving him. The easiest way to repay this debt is saving your savior's life, but sometimes you can instead do something like help them get home, defeat the villain, or serve them for a period of time.
24
25If the rescued was [[HeelFaceTurn formerly a villain]] in a series with a somewhat serious tone, expect them to cash in the debt in the most [[HeroicSacrifice literal way possible]], because RedemptionEqualsDeath. A rescued animal might [[AndroclesLion pay its debt back]] too, in fiction.
26
27When two characters owe each other their lives like this, they often become SwornBrothers. Often source of HoYay.
28
29Of course, if the rescuer is a HumbleHero, this is often followed by ThinkNothingOfIt — which is usually ineffective.
30
31Sometimes the saved person's attempts to make it up to the saver can be so annoying to them that they desperately try to find some way to get rid of them. This often overlaps with DisproportionateReward, as they can see True Heroism in the smallest kindness.
32
33Alternatively, the rescuer might take advantage of the debt that is owed by the rescued, milking the situation well past the point where a fair and reasonable person would consider the debt repaid. If this happens, look for the saved person to try and put the rescuer in danger specifically so he can cancel the debt by rescuing ''him''. Another variant has the "slave" coming to discover that he actually ''didn't'' save the "slave-holder". [[SlaveLiberation This never ends well]].
34
35A standard plotline for single episodes would look like this:
36# Character A saves the life of character B.
37# While character A does not expect any huge return, character B insists that their strict moral code dictates that they return the favor by becoming A's servant and fulfilling their every wish.
38# Character B's well-intended but incompetent "help" [[UnwantedAssistance soon becomes bothersome]] for character A, but they are unable to make it stop.
39# Character A and friends decide to stage a scene where B will be able to (seemingly) save A's life, thus returning the debt.
40# For arbitrary reasons, the faux danger becomes truly life threatening, and B is able to save A's life for real.
41# Optionally, Character B will now make ''Character A'' the slave, even though they are both even.
42
43See also: EmbarrassingRescue, PillarsOfMoralCharacter, RescueRomance and DefeatMeansFriendship.
44
45Contrast: UngratefulBastard.
46
47Compare/Contrast: YouOweMe, when the rescuer invokes the debt instead of the rescued, and SavedToEnslave, where the rescuer specifically intends to forcibly enforce the debt.
48
49SharedLifeEnergy is related, but doesn't necessarily evoke gratitude.
50----
51!!Examples:
52[[foldercontrol]]
53
54[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
55* ''Manga/BlackButler'':
56** Ciel owes his butler Sebastian his life -- literally. At ten-years-old, Ciel was tortured and used as a sacrifice to summon a demon. Said demon offered Ciel his services until Ciel exacts revenge on the people responsible for destroying his life and his family... in exchange for Ciel's soul.
57** Agni owes Prince Soma his life. He had him spared when he was about to be executed. In reverse of the above, Agni become's Soma's servant, and the two become [[HeterosexualLifePartners fast friends]].
58* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
59** During the Soul Society arc, Ichigo says that the reason he's trying to rescue Rukia is because she saved his life from the Hollow in the first episode.
60** [[spoiler:Shuihei Hisagi]]'s main motivation to become a Soul Reaper was to show his gratitude to [[spoiler:then-captain, now Visored Kensei Muguruma, who saved his life when he was a young boy.]]
61** During the final arc, Renji states to Ichigo that [[TrueCompanions he will always support the latter]], as thanks for rescuing [[ChildhoodFriend Rukia]] from execution and allowing the two to be friends again.
62* In ''Anime/CaptainHarlock'', Miime is "the woman who gave her life to Harlock" ever since he saved her life from a giant carnivorous plant.
63* Roberto Hongo in ''Manga/CaptainTsubasa'' feels this way towards Koudai Ohzora, [[InterruptedSuicide who saved him when he tried to commit suicide]] [[HeroicBSOD over his ruined football career.]] He tries to repay the debt by training [[TheAce his son Tsubasa and forming him into a world-class player]].
64* A variant shows up in ''Anime/TheCatReturns''. Haru saves the life of a cat that turns out to be Prince Lune, son of the Cat King, but it's the rest of the cat court that showers Haru with unwanted gifts... including [[ShotgunWedding nearly forcing her to marry Prince Lune]]. As it turns out, [[spoiler: Lune had nothing to do with the wedding, had actually been preparing to propose to a girl cat from his homeland, and ends up helping Haru escape back to the human world.]]
65* In ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'', Jean was on the verge of Awakening (losing control of her power and mutating into a monster), but Claire helped her revert back to humanity. As becoming an Awakened One is considered by Claymores to be a FateWorseThanDeath, she vows to protect Claire until the debt is repaid.
66* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': A young military officer is about to be executed for theft by a bunch of {{Evil Chancellor}}s that oppress his country. However, the child Empress orders to spare the man's life and free him. He's so genuinely touched by the young girl's kindness that he swears to repay the favor by taking her out to see the world and giving her the power to properly rule China... This is the story of Li Xingke (the officer) and Tianzi (the empress).
67* ''Anime/{{Daltanious}}'': Sanae once saved Danji when he was injured, something he never forgets, and he risks his life to save her in turn.
68--> '''Danji:''' "Sanae-san, I won't let you die... Just like you helped me, now it's my turn to help you."
69* Played straight in ''Manga/TheDemonGirlNextDoor'', with Sakura's core within Yuko keeping the latter alive. When Yuko found out about this state of affairs, she wanted to [[ActOfTrueLove remove Sakura's core and restore her]] for Momo's sake, but in Yuko's current condition, she'd ''die'' without Sakura's core. Momo demands of Yuko to not even ''think'' about removing it until she's much stronger and doesn't need Sakura's support.
70* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', a legendary Demon Slayer once saving Sumiyoshi from falling prey to demons made the coal seller express utmost gratitude towards his savior, wanting to pass Yoriichi’s life story, if nothing else, to his descendants. Sumiyoshi ended up passing something more tangible to his descendants than a mere tale, in the form of the secrets for the very sword arts his savior once used to protect him.
71* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'': Wizardmon's UndyingLoyalty to Gatomon started after she saved him from the brink of death.
72* ''Manga/ElfenLied'': One of the only positive traits shown by Bandou, who is otherwise a misogynistic, amoral PsychoForHire, is a belief that he should fully repay any debts that he owes. When 13-year-old Mayu (accidentally) distracts Lucy at a critical moment and saves his life, he gives her his phone number and tells her to call him if she's ever in danger. He makes good on this promise later in the manga, and saves Mayu from the "[[NoNameGiven Unknown Man]]".
73* This is the thing that starts off the plot of ''Manga/HanaTheFoxGirl''. Hana, an inari fox, was rescued by high schooler Fu prior to the story. Now she assumes human form and seeks out Fu so she can repay that kindness.
74* Nothing would've happened in ''Manga/HaouAiren'', had Kurumi not decided to treat Hakuron's wounds.
75* This is effectively the entire setup for ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'', and an interesting example as both Nagi and Hayate are indebted ''to each other''. Hayate saved Nagi from kidnappers, and Nagi paid off the Yakuza so they'd stop trying to sell Hayate into slavery or sell his organs.
76* ''Anime/HelloSandybell'': In spite of the fact that he was a drug dealer, Sandybell still went out of her way to save [[ScaryBlackMan Jirobi]] from his exploding car. He tells this to Sandybell as he allows the cops to arrest him.
77* Izetta from ''Anime/IzettaTheLastWitch'' acknowledges multiple times that her life was saved by her OnlyFriend Princess Finé from an angry mob that attempted to lynch her. This drives Izetta's decision to use her powers to save Princess Finé's country.
78* A flashback early in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind'' shows a young Giorno finding a man on the verge of unconsciousness in a patch of grass, bleeding from a bullet wound. The men who'd shot him arrived shortly afterwards, asking Giorno if he'd seen him. Giorno lied to the men, claiming their target had run off. The man he'd saved turned out to be a powerful Neopolitan mafioso, who repaid Giorno for saving his life by using his power and influence to help him out in various ways (for example, it's not a coincidence that Giorno's abusive stepfather became ''much'' less abusive shortly afterwards).
79* A flashback in ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' revealed that Kaguya saved the Mass Media Club president from drowning about a year before the story began, with her mentioning to Hayasaka that she only did it so that she'd owe her a favor in the future (this was during the height of her IceQueen days). ''We Want to Talk About Kaguya'' implies that she cashed in this favor to insure the Mass Media Club's support in Shirogane's reelection.
80* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'':
81** Unlike most familiars, Arf's loyalty to Fate isn't because of any magical contract but rather because Fate turned her into a familiar to save her life and left the terms of their contract open-ended (familiars in ''Nanoha'' die when their contract has been fulfilled).
82** Zest saved Agito from being experimented to death at an illegal laboratory, so she swore to follow him. This makes it all the more tragic that there is literally ''nothing'' she can do to prevent [[CloneDegeneration his death]], so she has to settle for respecting his last wish for her to go with Signum ([[spoiler:who was responsible for his SuicideByCop]]).
83* Tohru's relationship with Kobayashi is part this and part RescueRomance in ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid''. When they first met, Kobayashi saved her life by removing a holy sword from her back and she has been serving as Kobayashi's maid ever since.
84* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', [[spoiler: Quatre Raberba Winner]] had a FreakOut and went in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge [[spoiler: after his father and his older sister's deaths]]. However, his friends [[spoiler: Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton]] fought him, and [[spoiler: Trowa]] pulled an HeroicSacrifice to make the guy snap out of it [[spoiler: (He got better, though)]]. Then, [[spoiler: Quatre]] spends the rest of the series as TheAtoner, lampshades the present trope often by telling that [[spoiler: Trowa]] was his savior, and finally repays the favor by [[spoiler: snapping Trowa out of his ''own'' FreakOut and RoaringRampageOfRevenge]]. [[HoYay Cue to lots of happy slash fangirls]] (and having some non-slash fan considering the couple to be quite plausible, heh)
85* Terry Sanders Jr. in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam'' is fiercely loyal to his commander Shiro for not only saving his life the last time his [[SurvivorGuilt "curse"]] kicked in, but also for helping him ''break'' said curse when it should have fallen on him again.
86* Played ''very'' darkly in ''Manga/{{Monster}}'':
87** Johan feels he owes a life-debt to Temna, which he repays in various interesting fashions, the likes of which only Johan can do. The primary means is by 'fixing' Tenma's promotional woes -- by killing everyone who was keeping him down. The good doctor is not particularly pleased.
88** Worse was the fate of General Wolf, who also saved Johan's life. After finding him on the Czech/German border, he asked Johan how the boy was feeling. Johan said, "You'll see." [[spoiler: And proceeded to kill everyone who knew General Wolf, so Wolf could properly understand Johan's sense of isolation from humanity.]]
89* Sorata's entourage in ''Manga/{{Mouse}}''. That's what you get for [[RescueRomance curing one's mental illness, rescuing one from an abusive guardian, and helping one get over]] [[DoesNotLikeMen Arrheophobia]].
90* ''Manga/MusukoGaKawaikuteShikataganaiMazokuNoHahaoya'': When Fuuga was a child, he was nearly killed by his own PowerIncontinence causing him to freeze himself. Fortunately for Fuuga, Lorem came and used her fire powers to thaw him out. Later, upon hearing rumors that Lorem's had a child, Fuuga seeks her out so that, if Gospel has the same kind of issues growing up, Fuuga can do for Gospel what Lorem did for him. Lorem is grateful for the offer, having gone through the same thing herself.
91* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Zabuza saves Haku's life as a child, and in repayment Haku happily spends the rest of his life as the ninja equivalent of a slave. [[spoiler:In the end, he even dies for him, causing Zabuza to realize just how much he owed Haku, and not the other way around.]]
92* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'': This is the reason Fate's group of female subordinates are so fiercely loyal to him. They are all war orphans whom he took in and cared for following the last war. He offered them the chance for a normal life, with enough money to put them through good schooling, and they refused, preferring to aid him directly in his own plans.
93* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Trafalgar Law owes everything to [[spoiler:Corazon, aka Donquixote Rocinante, the younger brother of his former boss Donquixote Doflamingo. On top of being the first person to show him compassion for his dark past, Corazon saved his life by stealing the Op-Op Fruit for him to eat -- the act of which eventually cost Corazon ''his'' life. Law is so indebted to him for this that he admits that the only reason he survived to this day is to fulfill Corazon's wishes and avenge his murder by killing Doflamingo. It is his love and devotion that is the ultimate driving force of the Pirate Alliance saga]].
94* A ''Master Quest'' episode of ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries'' has the GirlOfTheWeek enthusiastically declare this word-for-word to [[ChasteHero Ash]] after he saves her and her Vulpix during an attack by Team Rocket, while suggesting the possibility of [[RescueRomance something more]]. One of the rare times in which Ash isn't portrayed as completely ObliviousToLove, instead coming across as somewhat AllergicToLove.
95* ''Manga/Reborn2004'':
96** Upon saving the life of Hayato Gokudera, (who had been trying to kill him), Tsuna gains his first [[HoYay (and most enthusiastic)]] member of the [[TheMafia Vongola Family]].
97** To a lesser degree, also happened to Yamamoto in the manga, who attempts to kill himself after an injury stops him from playing baseball. They both fall and Tsuna ends up saving both, after which, Yamamoto becomes Tsuna's second follower and Gokudera's competition for Right hand man.
98* Pretty much how the ''Manga/SketDance'' trio were formed, by way of MagneticHero Bossun.
99** Himeko and Switch will do ''[[UndyingLoyalty just about anything]]'' for Bossun as their way of showing gratitude for his guidance, although he's largely unaware of it.
100** And we now have [[spoiler:Katou Kiri (who is a ninja) pledging his loyalty to Tsubaki and insisting to help him in absolutely everything.]] Needless to say, [[spoiler:Tsubaki]] finds this extremely irritating.
101* Tsujido, Makabe, and Niihari from ''Anime/SpeedGrapher'' decided to become Suitengu's henchmen after he rescued them from the corrupt rich people who tortured them almost to death.
102* A minor version in ''Anime/StarTwinklePrettyCure''. Elena/Cure Soliel helps out Yuni/Cure Cosmo in rescuing Fuwa from the Notraiders due to the fact that part of that episode's plot was caused by Yuni. When Yuni immediately goes back to her AloofAlly status and tries to bail once the day is saved, Elena stops her from leaving. When Yuni casually mentions that she's in Elena's debt, Elena immediately invokes this to get her to stop running and officially become the team's SixthRanger.
103* SpacePirate Ryoko Balouta from ''Anime/TenchiMuyoGXP'', [[TheCommiesMadeMeDoIt blackmailed into trying to assassinate]] the protagonist Seina, swears to serve him after he saves her life (and her crew's families, who were held hostage, are freed unharmed). The [[RescueRomance crush on him]] doesn't hurt, of course...
104[[/folder]]
105
106[[folder:Audio Plays]]
107* ''AudioPlay/{{Wasurenagusa}}'' has its unnamed heroine rescued from the aftermath of the Ikeda Inn raid by UsefulNotes/TheShinsengumi. In exchange, she offers them thanks, and ends up giving the group her servitude.
108[[/folder]]
109
110[[folder:Comic Books]]
111* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': In ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'', after Batman saves [[MayorPain Mayor Krol]]'s life under difficult circumstances, Krol is left in tears, muttering about how much of a {{Determinator}} Batman was. This leaves him determined to support Batman for the remainder of the story. Unfortunately, since [[DarkerAndEdgier Jean-Paul Valley]] is standing in for Batman for most of that time period, this has negative consequences.
112* ''ComicBook/DCComicsBombshells'': The Joker's Daughter rescued Killer Frost, ComicBook/{{Zatanna}}, and ComicBook/{{Raven}} from the Nazis when they were children and raised them, but afterwards makes them serve her and the Nazis. While Killer Frost is extremely grateful and willingly serves her, Zatanna and Raven know she is evil and repeatedly try to leave, but Joker's Daughter guilt trips them into staying by bringing up how she saved their lives. [[spoiler:Eventually, Zatanna, Raven, and Miri Marvel defeat the Joker's Daughter and take away her powers. They spare her life and Zatanna declares their debt is repaid.]]
113* ''ComicBook/RychleSipy'': In one story arc, a boy saves Jindra's life (or at the very least health) from snow falling from a roof. Jindra promises to fulfill any wish for him... with [[YouOweMe rather angsty consequences]]. It all turns out well in the end, of course.
114* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': In ''ComicBook/SpiderMenII'', the adult Miles Morales saved Wilson Fisk's in prison, from a gangster that had taken a drug that gave him super speed. Despite his usual tendencies, he was sincere, and they have been best friends since then.
115* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: When Wonder Woman saves Ambassador Dendum's life from Hypnota's assassination attempt he makes it clear she's won his respect and a degree of his loyalty, saying he'll remember his debt and her honor even if the peace between the US and Saturn breaks down.
116* ''ComicBook/XMen'': In ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' #210, Rogue has gone to Bloomingdale's for some RetailTherapy after an exhausting night of searching for Rachel Summers. Along the way, she saves the lives of two window washers whose scaffold on a high-rise fails. While at Bloomingdale's, she is confronted by an anti-mutant bigot who berates her for existing. He in turn is confronted by one of the laborers who Rogue saved, who returns the favor [[note]]even though she was in no real danger, but he couldn't have known that[[/note]] by offering to give the bigot an unlicensed facial deconstruction, citing this trope as part of the reason.
117[[/folder]]
118
119[[folder:Fan Works]]
120* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': In this ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' fanfiction, feeling she owes Mark Russell for saving her and her remaining team-members' lives at Outpost 32 is an additional reason why [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonHumans Colonel Foster]] is all-ears with him.
121* ''Fanfic/AceCombatTheEquestrianWar'': Cloud Kicker to Fluttershy. It helps they are both members of a team comprising the main heroines. The favor is returned in chapter 17.
122* In [=LightningOnTheWave's=] ''Saving Connor'' from the ''Fanfic/ArcOfSacrifices'' AU ''Literature/HarryPotter'' cycle, the centaurs wind up kidnapping Draco Malfoy during the first year and threatening to kill him unless Harry can ''break a rock with his mind''. He succeeds, and then when Draco insists he owes a life debt for this, Harry says he should pay it off however he likes. Draco uses this to force Harry to come to his house for Christmas.
123* In Chapter 22 of ''Fanfic/BlazBlueAlternativeRemnant'', after Ragna saves Team CRDL from Arakune/Roy, Cardin runs back to help Team RNJR, feeling obligated to do so after Ragna saved him when he had every reason to leave him to his fate.
124* ''Fanfic/TheBridgeMLP'': Destroyah serves as Xenilla's [[TheDragon Dragon]] because he found and healed her after her battle with Godzilla Senior.
125* This is why the Shadow Triad follows Ghetsis in ''Fanfic/{{Chrysanthemums}}''. He saved them as children and so they follow him faithfully. It isn't until Iris [[DefusingTheTykeBomb befriends Cilan]] that this changes.
126* ''Fanfic/TheChaoticMasters'': Some of the attendees of [[AuctionOfEvil Roulette's auction]], who happen to [[RippleEffectProofMemory remember Demon World]], feel that they owe Jade a favor for being instrumental in stopping the Demon Sorcerers and restoring reality.
127* In ''Fanfic/{{crawlersout}}'', [[spoiler:Grindelwald's attempt to murder Fem!Harry ends with him owing a ''life debt'' to the woman he just tried to kill. Unusually for Grindelwald, he seems to be unaware of this (Harry is the one who realized this and asked Hermione just to be sure), but that's probably because he's become obsessed with Harry and how she survived the attempt to take notice]].
128* In ''Fanfic/TheCrystalCourt'', Ruby first falls for Sapphire when she accidentally bumps into her and Sapphire waved it off. As simple as this sounds, fae are not usually clumsy and Sapphire was high enough in the hierarchy to have her executed for the "insult." Because of this, Ruby feels she owes a life debt to her.
129* In Sinnatious' ''Fanfic/TheFifthAct'' more subtly than usual but has an incredible impact on the plot. Accidentally-time-traveling Cloud Strife reflexively gives Genesis Rhapsodos some of the magic water from Advent Children and cures his...genetic deterioration, thereby throwing off the plot of Crisis Core entirely, since the Commander then has his life back and doesn't mount a rebellion against Shinra or leave Sephiroth even more emotionally isolated and prone to [[ApocalypseHow going nuts]]. For the rest of the story, Genesis is guided by his awareness that he owes Cloud his life.
130* ''Fanfic/HarbingerFinmonster'' (''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman''): Or rather, my ''brother's'' life. After Danny saves Norman from getting run over, she and Mitch go out of their way to prevent Dash from bullying him and Tucker.
131* In ''Fanfic/TheKiritaChronicles'', Kirita, the genderbent version of Kirito, has saved Akio, the genderbent version of Asuna, on several occasions. Akio has stated on a few occasions that he does feel indebted to Kirita.
132* ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'':
133** After Kyril breaks Olga and Chloe out of prison, Olga says to Kyril that she owes him for saving their lives from the Black Dogs. The entire trope is played differently in both versions of the story.
134*** PlayedStraight in the original version. Olga eventually brings up the rescue many chapters later, pledging to assist Kyril should he need it, as payment.
135*** {{Subverted}} in the remastered version. Olga is grateful for the rescue, but she doesn't feel obligated to help him. It's not like she would suddenly forget that Kyril was the one who put her in a cell in the first place (because they were on opposing sides of a war). If anything, the fact that she is his prisoner irks her to no end.
136** Grace offers to become Kyril's retainer because she feels like she owes him for saving her and her friends' lives in Ansur. He accepts.
137* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic ''Fanfic/PrideOfTime'', Sanguini feels this way towards Hermione after she saves him from a Death Eater.
138* ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'': Harriett ends up with life debts owed from several notable people: [[spoiler: Draco Malfoy, Tiberius Ogden and his good friend Griselda Marchbanks, Leo Hurst]]. She'd really rather keep a low profile, but she couldn't just let them die.
139* In ''Fanfic/TheSagaOfAvatarKorra'', Korra saves Asami's life when they encountered each other as children by giving Asami shelter and using firebending to keep her warm after she was lost. When they encounter each other again as teenagers in Republic City, Asami allows Korra to live with her when Korra does not have anywhere else to live and does everything she can to help her.
140* ''Fanfic/TruePotential'': During the Third War, Kakuzu saved the life of a Takigakure ninja who would become its Jōnin Commander. Of course, Kakuzu exploits this debt in order to gain access to the village and capture Fū.
141* In ''Fanfic/ZeroNoTsukaimaSaitoTheOnmyoji'', Saito saves Princess Henrietta from an assassination attempt. Because of this, he is entitled to any reward bar a Grant of Nobility (which would have been on the table had he risked his life in the process). After some time to think, [[MundaneWish he asks for a house]].
142[[/folder]]
143
144[[folder:Films — Animation]]
145* In ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'', after Drago orders Eret's execution for [[YouHaveFailedMe failing to deliver more dragons]], Astrid's dragon Stormfly shields him from dragon attack. Later, when Eret [[HeelFaceTurn joins the Dragon Riders against Drago]], he finds where Drago has imprisoned Stormfly.
146-->"Thank you for saving me. Allow me to return the favor."
147* This is how Captain Gutt rallied his army of pirates in ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeContinentalDrift''.
148-->'''Gupta:''' He rescued us!\
149'''Squint:''' He saved our butt!\
150'''Shira:''' From that, we owe our lives to Gutt!
151* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'', Mulan/Ping saves Captain Li Shang when s/he causes an avalanche on the mountain pass to decimate the Hun army. A few minutes later on in the movie after it is revealed that she is a woman, and any woman pretending to be a member of the Imperial Army must be killed. Captain Shang refuses to kill her, however, saying that by sparing her life, his debt is repaid. He still kicks her out of the Army, and leaves her on the cold mountain, though.
152* This is how Puss in Boots [[HeelFaceTurn joins the gang]] in ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2''. [[FridgeLogic But]] if you think about it too hard, it seems a little strange: Puss feels in debt because Shrek had him at his mercy and didn't kill him, when a few seconds earlier Puss had had Shrek at ''his'' mercy and paused to gloat and [[ShoutOut carve his]] [[Franchise/{{Zorro}} initial into a tree]]. He didn't really look like he was about to kill anyone. If that isn't enough to discount the incident, Shrek and Donkey ''were'' contemplating doing something to him until he talked his way out of the situation, and then (much to Donkey's disgust) Shrek got [[CutenessOverload distracted]] [[CuteKitten by the]] [[CutenessEqualsForgiveness cute]], so it wasn't really a straight out sparing of his life. [[spoiler:But it all gets resolved by the end]].
153-->'''Shrek:''' Aww, look, he's purring!\
154'''Donkey:''' Oh so now it's cute!
155* ''Franchise/ToyStory'':
156** ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'': Three alien toys that Mr. Potato Head saved spend the rest of the movie endlessly expressing their gratitude to him.
157--->[[BrokenRecord "You have saved our lives. We are eternally grateful."]]
158** This is [[PhraseCatcher echoed]] in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' when [[spoiler:those same alien toys save the main TrueCompanions and the Potato Heads tell them "You have saved our lives." "We are eternally grateful."]]
159[[/folder]]
160
161[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
162* In ''Film/ThreeTenToYuma1957'', Dan Evans is trying to get bandit leader Ben Wade on the eponymous train to Yuma, where he will stand trial. Wade's bandit gang corners Evans at the train tracks, and all Wade has to do is duck and Wade's men will shoot Evans down. Instead, Wade yanks Evans onto the train. When an astonished Evans asks why, Wade says that it's because Evans saved his life when Ben Moons tried to lynch him back in town.
163* Deconstructed in ''Film/TheBatman2022''. Crime boss Carmine Falcone relates how he was shot but couldn't risk going to a hospital, so turned up at Thomas Wayne's house where he was operated on on the Wayne's dinner table. [[spoiler:Falcone tells Bruce Wayne that he paid the debt by agreeing to murder a journalist who was going to write a smear story on Martha Wayne. Alfred however says that Thomas only asked Falcone to frighten the journalist, but [[UngratefulBastard Falcone saw a chance to compromise Thomas]] who was running for Mayor. Thomas was horrified and threatened to go to the police instead only to be murdered, possibly on Falcone's orders.]]
164* Subverted in ''Film/BatmanBegins''. Saving the life of a WellIntentionedExtremist will not slow him down in the least.
165-->'''Ra's:''' I warned you about compassion, Bruce.
166* In ''Film/TheBeastOfWar'', a JerkAss soldier knocks out an [[UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan Afghan rebel]] as he's pointing his musket at the protagonist and says, "You owe me." The protagonist doesn't bother telling him the rebel had [[ItWorksBetterWithBullets pulled the trigger]] a second before.
167* In ''Film/TheChechahcos'', Dexter pulls Pierre out of a crevasse. After this, Pierre says that Dexter saved his life, so he tells Dexter that Steele (the villain) sent Pierre there to kill him. Pierre doesn't carry out the assignment, but after that he considers the debt paid, and continues to work as Steele's {{Mook}}.
168* ''Film/TheEagle2011'': Because Marcus saved Esca, the latter feels duty-bound to serve him. This despite wanting to die.
169* In ''Film/TheFifthElement'', Bad Guy Zorg was giving his BreakingSpeech to Father Cornelius when he begins choking on a cherry. Father Cornelius takes a few seconds to give a smug KirkSummation before saving him. Zorg throws him out, saying that Father Cornelius' saving of his life cancels out any obligation to kill him ''today''.
170* In ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'', James Bond shoots a man who was about to kill a Gypsy leader. The leader declares him his honorary son. James cashes in the debt almost immediately by asking the leader to cancel a fight to the death between two young women.
171* Implied in ''Film/GhostbustersII''. During the last half of the original movie, Louis Tully was the victim of DemonicPossession (along with Dana Barrett), and in this movie, he's now working as the Ghostbusters' accountant/tax attorney. [[OmnidisciplinaryLawyer As he's roped into serving as their defense attorney]], he tells the court during his opening statements, "I don't blame them, because one time, I turned into a dog and they helped me.", much to everybody's bafflement.
172* The main character of ''Film/GhostDogTheWayOfTheSamurai'', who sees himself as a follower of [[{{Samurai}} Bushido]], swears allegiance to a mobster who saved his life in the past, and currently operates as an assassin for that mobster.
173* How Kato and Britt met in ''Film/TheGreenHornetSerials'' -- they both refer in the first episode to Britt rescuing Kato from a mob in Singapore.
174--> '''Kato:''' You will never regret saving my life.
175* In ''Film/HussarBallad'' Shura, the protagonist, saves not one but two men, each of them repaying her big time.
176** General Balmashov [[spoiler:saves her from Field Marshal Kutuzov's anger when she really needs saving]].
177** Vincento Salgari [[spoiler:commits treason for her, deceiving other French officers into believing she's one of them]].
178* In ''Film/JurassicWorld'', after Blue the ''Velociraptor'' saves Rexy, the veteran ''T. rex'', and [[spoiler:teams up to defeat the ''Indominus rex'',]] Rexy stares down at Blue and, despite her [[Film/JurassicPark history with raptors]], gives a subtle nod to her as if she's saying "thank you" before walking off.
179* In ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'', Balian spares Nasir's life in the desert and, once Nasir has guided him to Jerusalem, Balian lets him go, with a sweet horse to boot. Nasir says "I am your prisoner -- your slave if you wish it" but Balian still lets him go. This comes in handy later, at the battle at Kerak, [[spoiler: where Nasir turns out to be a general in Saladin's Army, not some guy's servant after all. He spares Balian's life.]]
180* In ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', the reason Harry Hart inducts Eggsy into the Kingsman training program is his attempt to make amends for Eggsy's dad sacrificing his life to save Harry, after Harry's mistake nearly got them all killed.
181* In ''Film/LittleBigMan'', the life-saving action of the eponymous character just amplifies Younger Bear's hatred of him, though he cannot do anything till he repays the debt.
182** Classic line: "I have saved your life. Now, the next time we meet, I can finally kill you without becoming an evil person. YAHOO!!"
183* In Creator/{{Disney}}'s ''{{Film/Maleficent}}'', the title character saves a raven from being beaten to death by turning him into a man. After he gets past his initial indignation, he introduces himself as Diaval and declares that he is her servant. He proceeds to become a poster boy for UndyingLoyalty.
184* ''Film/NightTrainToLisbon'': Mendez let Estefania go across the border to Spain after Amadeu invokes this when the Portuguese border guards held them up.
185* ''Film/OurManFlint'' gets a GrudgingThankYou from his boss Cramden after he catches a poisoned dart meant for Flint, but Flint saves his life with on-the-spot surgery.
186-->'''Cramden:''' Flint, I owe you my life. The medics said four more seconds and I--\
187'''Flint:''' ''Three'' more seconds, sir.\
188'''Cramden:''' Dammit man, [[InsufferableGenius is there anything you don't know?]]
189* In the 1951 movie ''Film/PeopleWillTalk'', Creator/CaryGrant plays a doctor who explains how he came to have such a loyal assistant (played by Creator/FinlayCurrie). As a young medical student he wanted his own cadaver to practice on but could not afford one. However, his affair with an executioner's daughter allowed him to obtain a hanged criminal. The "dead" man, being big and strong had actually survived and came to before any autopsy was performed.
190%%zce* Azeem, the Moor in ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves''.
191* Subverted in the 1994 [[TheMovie movie]] ''Film/TheShadow'', in which the title character conscripts people he saves into his network of informants and assistants.
192* Played with and implied in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming''. When Adrian Toomes, a.k.a. The Vulture, [[spoiler:deduces that the boy dating his daughter is actually Spider-Man]], he refrains from killing him and gives him a LastChanceToQuit, out of gratitude for Spider-Man having saved his daughter's life. At the end of the film, when Mac Gargan [[spoiler:inquires about a rumor that he knows Spider-Man's identity]], Toomes lies, saying he has no idea. It's implied this is out of gratitude for [[SaveTheVillain Spider-Man having saved his own life]].
193* ''Franchise/StarWars'' and the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse is rife with examples:
194** Chewbacca to Han Solo and for that matter, Wookiees in general. For example, Zaalbar in ''Knights of the Old Republic''. The Wookiees even have a term for it: a Life Debt. Although in rare cases, the life debt can be seen as a special form of slavery, as is the case with [[TheBrute Hanharr]] in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords''. But for the average Wookiee, calling a Life Debt 'slavery' [[BerserkButton is a good way to have your arms torn off.]]
195** The [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Noghri]] to Darth Vader, a debt that Leia to inherits/earns by virtue of being his heir.
196** Jar Jar Binks to Qui-Gon Jinn. [[TearJerker Though unfortunately Jar Jar was not in the vicinity to save Qui-Gon's life at the one moment he would have needed the help.]] Though Jar Jar's presence and recruitment of the Gungan Army does save Naboo and Qui-Gon's mission.
197* In ''Film/WhiteChristmas,'' Phil saves Bob from a falling brick wall in World War II. As Bob is already an up-and-coming entertainer at that point, Phil guilts him into agreeing to be partners, and sure enough to two are quite successful. Throughout the movie Phil makes a point of grabbing his arm (which was injured in the incident) whenever trying to talk Bob into something; to his credit, Bob knows what he's doing and is clearly tired of it, quipping at one point that he wishes Phil had ''let'' that wall hit him -- after all, he might have survived.
198* ''Film/TheWolverine'': Yukio informs Logan that she owes Master Yashida her life.
199[[/folder]]
200
201[[folder:Literature]]
202%%* Very common theme in many old stories about kindhearted people acquiring [[MagicalGirlfriend fantastic wives]] by helping various animals in distress.
203%%** For example, a farmer who ended up marrying a beautiful girl who was actually a crane whose life he saved.
204* ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfAminaAlSirafi'': After Amina frees [[spoiler:[[KrakenAndLeviathan the Marid]]]] from the villain's magical enslavement, it [[TheCavalry shows up at a vital moment]] to rescue her. A golden thread of magic links them in the interim, indicating that the debt has supernatural significance.
205* The ''Alien'' series novel ''Music of the Spears'' has an interesting subversion of this, with a Japanese hitman who feels he owes his life to the Yakuza boss ''who killed his parents in front of him when he was a kid'', because the boss decided not to kill him and his sister. Instead, the boss raised the guy as his hitman and the sister as his concubine. [[ValuesDissonance And, in Japanese tradition, they hold nothing but feelings of gratitude to him for his big box of "I Didn't Kill You"]].
206* ''Literature/AristotleAndDanteDiscoverTheSecretsOfTheUniverse'' has a form of this. When Ari saves Dante's life and ends up in the hospital, everyone keeps thanking Ari and telling him he's a hero, much to his annoyance. This especially becomes a burden for Ari when [[spoiler: Dante takes his time in the hospital to realize he's in love with him and tells him so. Ari doesn't want Dante to apologize or thank him, much less confess because of it.]] Thankfully for Ari, Dante's [[spoiler: family was moving anyway so he doesn't have to deal with the fallout for long.]]
207* In ''Literature/ChildrenOfTheNight'', Diana rescues several kidnapped UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} children. The clan considers themselves to have an honor debt to Diana until she finally finds something they can do to clear the debt in ''Literature/BurningWater''.
208* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'': After finding out that Tumnus was arrested, Peter asked Mr. Beaver if he can do anything to rescue him since Tumnus saved Lucy. Mr. Beaver said no, because only Aslan can help him.
209* ''Literature/ACourtOfThornsAndRoses'': This is the reason why Lucien has an UndyingLoyalty to Tamlin. When he escaped his own family in the Autumn Court he was given a place to live in the Spring Court, and soon became best friends with the High Lord of Spring.
210* ''Literature/DarkShores'': In her BackStory, Killian's father saved Bercola's life (by deciding not to kill her, even though he had a right to do it, as their nations were at war then) and when she recovered from her injuries, she found him and offered him her services to repay the Life Debt. He set her to look after his son.
211* Discussed in ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle''. Under [[ProudWarriorRace Patryn]] law, if one Patryn saves the life of another Patryn, any and all disputes between the two of them are settled in the rescuer's favor. Patryns in general are too proud and independent-minded to offer themselves totally in service to another except in exceptional circumstances, but when a debt is there they always acknowledge and fulfill it.
212* In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' novel ''The Savage Caves'', when newcomer Naull happens to be in the right place at the right time to rescue Lidda, Redgar, and Jozan from being killed by giant spiders, Lidda then claims she now "owes Naull one". She then begs Naull to be willing to go to anywhere but the town the trio just left, or to continue on the quest to kill all of the spiders. Unfortunately for her, Naull rather likes the whole "killing the spiders" idea. Of course, considering she didn't seem to think she owed Jozan one for saving her from being hung for thievery in said town in the first place, and everyone else seems confused by her "debt", she may have just made it up to try to weasel out of the quest she was forced into in exchange for being saved.
213* The Neandertals in ''Literature/EarthsChildren'' feel very strongly about life debts. Part of the ceremonial swearing-in for a healer involves making them responsible for the entire species, so they can't accumulate life-debts from their patients.
214* ''Literature/TheExecutioner''. In "Canadian Crisis", Mack Bolan rescues undercover cop Andre Chebleu who doesn't like the VigilanteMan much but still feels indebted. Bolan hands Chebleu his .44 Automag and tells Cheblau to take the safety off and shoot him. When he doesn't, Bolan says, "Now I owe you my life. We're even." Bolan has a [[PriceOnTheirHead quarter million dollar open contract on his head]], so it's [[HowDidYouKnowIDidnt not an idle gesture]].
215* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''[[Literature/JohnCarterOfMars The Gods of Mars]]'', when John Carter is prisoner to the black pirates, Xodar is willing to aid him and make his life more bearable, because Carter had spared his life when he could easily have taken it.
216* ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'':
217** Chewbacca, according to his culture, owes Han a life debt for saving him. This means he makes it his duty to serve and protect Han. While first Han finds this annoying, he slowly warms up to him and then the pair grow into friends (later HeterosexualLifePartners).
218** Han's stated reason for saving Chewbacca is because he feels this way about Dewlanna; he couldn't repay the debt directly to her since she had [[HeroicSacrifice died saving him]], so he paid it forward to Chewbacca. Han tries to convince Chewbacca that Chewbacca isn't in his debt because Han was really paying back a debt to someone else, but Chewbacca doesn't buy it. This carries on into ''Literature/NewJediOrder'', where [[spoiler:Lumpawaroo and Lowbacca vow to take up the debt, despite Han's protestations that it had been paid in full]].
219* Subverted in ''Literature/TheHardyBoys'' Casefile #7 Deathgame. A green beret officer known only as Hammerlock saved the life of a junior officer, Oliver Brand, during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. Years later, when Hammerlock, who was forced out of the Army at the rank of Colonel, started his own private vigilante counterterrorist strike team, the now Major Brand joined him as his second in command. Brand however, schemes to wrest control of the strike team from Hammerlock to convert it into a mercenary organization. When Hammerlock confronts Brand and brings up the fact that Brand owes him his life, Brand scoffs that he shouldn’t expect “subservience forever”. Hammerlock retorts that he expected ''[[UndyingLoyalty loyalty]]'' instead. Brand states that money is more important to him now than loyalty.
220* One of the rules of magic in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' universe is that saving a magic-user's life creates a "life debt" which they're ''obliged'' to repay at some point in the future. According to Dumbledore, this is an unbreakable kind of magic. Not much is made of [[spoiler: Ginny's]] life-debt to Harry, since they end up together anyway, but [[spoiler: Wormtail's]] debt becomes a major ChekhovsGun in book seven.
221** This explicitly becomes the attitude of pretty much the entire Weasley family towards Harry after he saves Ginny from a basilisk, Arthur from Nagini the snake, and Ron from poisoned mead.
222---> '''Molly:''' ''(hugging Harry)'' Oh, Harry, what can we say? You saved Ginny...you saved Arthur...now you've saved Ron...\
223'''Harry:''' [[ThinkNothingOfIt Don't be...I didn't...]]\
224'''Arthur:''' Half our family does seem to owe you their lives, now I stop and think about it.
225* ''Literature/TheHeartstrikers'': Life debts are common among dragons; since they're almost universally greedy, self-centered bastards who can't stop burning everything even when it's in their best interests, they consider these debts the only thing keeping their species from imploding. Julius, as the only nice dragon, refuses to put anyone in his debt for any reason. Therefore when he saves Frederick and his dozens of siblings, Frederick skips offering him a life debt and just [[MagicallyBindingContract swears on his fire]] to serve him until the debt is paid. Julius is horrified. Frederick is unsympathetic.
226-->'''Julius:''' Anything else?\
227'''Frederick:''' Yes. I've vowed to serve you and your interests, but in the brief time I've known you, you've displayed a [[MartyrWithoutACause near-suicidal level of disinterest in your own well-being]]. Therefore, since you are clearly a terrible judge of your own best interests, [[ServileSnarker I will be ignoring any orders I feel are not in your actual service]].
228* The northern barbarian tribes in the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' novels have this as part of their code. When Darian and Keisha save Hywel's brother's life in ''Owlsight'', Hywel incurred a life debt to them that must be cleared before he can marry or take on any other obligation. He clears it in the next novel by acting as Darian's guide.
229* [[spoiler:Why Peter saves Tris' life]] in ''Literature/{{Insurgent}}''. He claims to only think in term of debts, and couldn't conceive of doing anything for someone unless it was to get them to owe you a favour.
230* [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in ''Literature/JeevesAndWooster'' when Bingo Little tries to play this card:
231-->'''Bingo:''' Bertie, I saved your life once.
232-->'''Bertie:''' When?
233-->'''Bingo:''' Didn't I? It must have been some other fellow, then.
234* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheLongWalk'', Peter [=McVries=] saves Ray Garraty from execution, and Garraty later returns the favor. Still later, [=McVries=] saves Garraty a second time, and Garraty is shamed by this because he has no intention of again repaying the debt.
235* In ''Literature/TheMarkOfTheLion'', Rashid pledges his life to Hadassah when she rescues him after his master leaves him to die.
236* In the ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'' books Simon saves the life of a [[OurElvesAreDifferent Sitha]]. The Sitha, Jiriki, gives him a white arrow as a token of debt, which Simon later tries to return after Jiriki saved ''him''. But by then Simon had saved ''Jiriki's'' hide a second time and gets told to still keep the arrow. In the GrandFinale the arrow burns up and afterwards they agree to forget the life owing business and just be friends.
237* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', Blake Thorburn feels that he owes his life to his friends, as they variously saved him from a cult leader while he was homeless, helped him off the streets, or otherwise gave him help when he was badly in need of it and they had no obligation to do so. He therefore feels that he owes them a debt that he can never repay, and is hesitant to ask them for anything without ensuring that it's weighted in their favor first, which doesn't do him many favors when it comes time to break the {{Masquerade}} and tell them that magic is real, and it wants to kill him. Conversely, his friends feel that, as he's their friend, of course they'll help him with the supernatural menaces that want to kill or enslave him.
238* In the ''Literature/ParrishPlessis'' series, the Cabal Coomera take this very seriously. If any member of the Cabal saves your life, you owe the entire Cabal ''goma'' -- blood debt. And in their eyes, ''goma'' can never be fully repaid, meaning you'll owe them favors for the rest of your life.
239* D'Nal Cord in the ''Literature/PrinceRoger'' series becomes the eponymous prince's ''asi'' after Roger saves him from one of planet Marduk's many (''[[DeathWorld many]]'') dangerous monsters. This is standard when someone saves a Mardukan's life without some ties of clan or family obliging him to do so. He also serves the role of OldMaster, aiding in Roger's CharacterDevelopment. Later, he winds up getting an ''asi'' of his own in Pedi Karuse, whom he saves from pirates. [[spoiler: They eventually get [[MayDecemberRomance married]].]]
240* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "{{Literature/Robbie}}": PlayedWith because Robbie saved Gloria, who didn't even notice she was in danger. Her mother, Mrs Weston, had noticed, and because [[DivingSave Robbie saved Gloria by grabbing her out of danger]], she finally acknowledges that he is safe. To repay the debt, Robbie is allowed to rejoin the house as [[ServantRace Gloria's nursemaid]].
241* Friday from ''Literature/RobinsonCrusoe'' is one of literature's great [[TropeCodifier Trope Codifiers]]. Crusoe rescues him from cannibals and Friday repays him by becoming his slavishly devoted servant.
242--> I beckoned to him again to come to me, and gave him all the signs of encouragement that I could think of; and he came nearer and nearer, kneeling down every ten or twelve steps, in token of acknowledgment for saving his life. I smiled at him, and looked pleasantly, and beckoned to him to come still nearer; at length he came close to me; and then he kneeled down again, kissed the ground, and laid his head upon the ground, and taking me by the foot, set my foot upon his head; this, it seems, was in token of swearing to be my slave for ever.
243* ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror'':
244** The girls that Daylen rescues from [[SexSlave slavery]] aboard the ''Maraven'' are all intensely grateful to him, [[ThinkNothingOfIt however he tries to hide it]], with Sharra the most expressive about it.
245** Sain is initially a DefiantCaptive, but his attitude towards Daylen improves by orders of magnitude after Daylen uses his sunforging abilities to undo the [[PowerCrystal sunucles]] that Blackheart used to [[MadeASlave hold Sain]] [[IHaveYourWife and his mother]] captive.
246** During the climax, [[spoiler: Daylen goes out of his way to save Lyrah from the ambush that the Dawnists prepare with their DepletedPhlebotinumShells. While it certainly doesn't make her forgive him, it's a major factor in reducing the [[UnstoppableRage apocalyptic levels]] [[ThePowerOfHate of well-deserved hate]] that she feels for him, to the point where she returns the favor and saves him when he falls off of the ''Bloodrunner.'']]
247* In Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', Finrod Felagund gives Barahir a ring to symbolise the fact that Barahir saved his life, and swears an oath to return the favour sometime in the future (including Barahir's descendants). Later, Finrod repays the debt by saving Beren, Barahir's son.
248* Played with in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': [[ActionGirl Arya Stark]] is given three "lives" in exchange for saving a [[VoluntaryShapeShifting skin-changing]] assassin along with two other dangerous murderers. She manages to waste the first two for petty reasons but cleverly uses the third [[spoiler: by [[GuileHero asking that he kill himself]], and promising to revoke this request if he can free her from the castle she was imprisoned in.]]
249* In the ''Literature/SpiralArm'' series, Donovan saves Billy Chins from a lynch mob on Harpaloon. Afterwards, Billy insists that by the custom of atangku, Billy's life now belongs to Donovan and he is obligated to become Donovan's servant. [[spoiler:Billy is actually TheMole, and he engineered the situation in order to infiltrate Donovan's group]].
250* In ''Literature/TheSpiritThief'', large part of the reason behind Nico's UndyingLoyalty to Josef is that he saved her life when everyone else either didn't care or actively wanted her dead.
251* When Tristran saves the star Yvaine's life after she escapes from his possession in ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'', Yvaine declares that she hates him even more for it because the rules of her species dictate that she must now follow him wherever he goes, which means that she can no longer flee from him even when given the opportunity to do so. She begins hating him less and less as the novel progresses, until [[DefrostingIceQueen her feelings become something else entirely]].
252* ''Literature/ThirdTimeLuckyAndOtherStoriesOfTheMostPowerfulWizardInTheWorld'': In "Nothing Up Her Sleeve" it turns out Kali is Magdelene's servant as Magdelene had saved her life. By demon law therefore, her life belongs to Magdelene.
253* In the Creator/CyrilMKornbluth science-fiction story ''Two Dooms'', a Los Alamos scientist trapped in a possible-future version of California saves a drunken peasant from drowning in a ditch. The man announces him to be the scientist's slave, later dying from a sword-stroke meant for his "master".
254* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': [[spoiler: Despite being found out as TheMole,]] when Robin, due to his fear of heights and a minor head injury, falls off the edge of a cliff, landing on a small ledge and is paralyzed with fear, Blackmail "hires" Sam to help him save the centaur's life. This causes Robin to join the villains (along with wanting to save the world from destruction, which also would kill him), because, by his people's customs, he owes them a life-debt, practically saying the trope's name -- "I owe you, Blackmail in particular, my life."
255* The ''Literature/WarriorCats'' novella ''Redtail's Debt'' centers around this idea. Tigerclaw saves Redtail's life, and from then on Redtail repeatedly says that he owes Tigerclaw everything, that he owes him his life. Tigerclaw takes this as meaning that Redtail has to go along with everything he says, even when Tigerclaw breaks the warrior code. Eventually, since Redtail doesn't do exactly that, Tigerclaw starts to see him as being in his way of his pursuit of power, and the novella ends with him killing Redtail.
256* ''Franchise/TheWitcher'' world has a custom called the Law of Surprise. If someone saves another person's life, they may ask for either what the rescuee has, but yet is not aware of, or the first thing that greets the rescuee when they return home. If it turns out to be a child, a bond of destiny is formed between the child and the rescuer. This is the witchers' favorite recruitment method. Ciri, Geralt's adoptive daughter, was promised to him in this exact way, after he saved her father's life and invoked the Law as per witcher tradition.
257* In ''Literature/TheWitchlands'', the Nomatsi people have a concept of life-debt, wherein when someone saves your life, you have to either repay them in kind or spare them if fate brings you into conflict. It brings Aeduen and Iseult many headaches, as the two Nomatsi are on opposite sides, yet keep saving each other's lives.
258* In ''[[Literature/TakeshiKovacs Woken Furies]]'', Takeshi Kovacs became friends with Radul Segesvar by saving his life back when they were both in a gang; Radul felt he owed Kovacs a debt and spent the next 200 years paying him back in the form of favors. [[spoiler:When he ends up betraying Kovacs, Kovacs realizes that the two of them never actually liked each other that much, and it was only the debt that had kept their friendship together for so long]].
259** It's further subverted in that a flashback shows that Takeshi was actually saving his own life at the time. Furthermore Radul betrays him because there's an EvilKnockoff of Takeshi involved (his personality from his younger, more sociopathic days downloaded into another body), so which version of Takeshi does Radul owe his life too?
260[[/folder]]
261
262[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
263* ''Series/AdventuresInWonderland'': In the episode "From Hare to Eternity," the Queen of Hearts rescues the March Hare from a quicksand pit, so he appoints himself her bodyguard and drives her crazy trying to protect her from everything. She finally pretends to get stuck in fake quicksand so the Hare can think he's saved her, making them even.
264* ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'': In one episode Andy saves Gomer from a fire, only to have Gomer come in and play "live-in servant", much to Andy's dismay. He gets out of it by pretending to be in danger so that Gomer can cancel the debt by "saving" him.
265* Invoked in ''Series/{{Attila}}''. Flavius Aetius arranges an assassin to kill the Emperor, but personally kills the assassin as he's about to strike so the Emperor will feel indebted to him.
266* We find out on ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' that the main reason Leonard puts up with a lot of Sheldon's demands is at least in part because Sheldon saved Leonard from being blown up in an elevator with a canister of poorly mixed rocket fuel.
267* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': In the episode "My Brother's Keeper", Bobby "saves" Peter from a falling ladder and subsequently exploits the latter's sense of indebtedness.
268* A {{tag}} on a Season 6 episode of ''Series/{{Community}}'' reveals (in one of their parodic [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot Poorly Diguised Pilots]]) that Jeff happened to be at his gym while a guy named Ryan Ridley was bench pressing without a spotter and nearly crushed his own windpipe. Jeff saved Ryan's life and Ryan agreed to do things for Jeff until Jeff decided they were even. [[ItsAllAboutMe Jeff]] never does this, and it's implied Ryan continues to be Jeff's errand boy offscreen.
269* Naturally appears in ''Crusoe'', the NBC series adaptation of the Literature/RobinsonCrusoe story (see Literature above). In this version, after Friday tells Crusoe that he is bound to Crusoe after Crusoe saved his life, Crusoe, upset at his friend's prospective abandonment of his own past and people, attempts to return his freedom to him. Friday says it is not his decision, and the conversation is framed as Crusoe being insensitive to Friday's customs and beliefs.
270-->'''Crusoe:''' What words do I need to say? I release you.\
271'''Friday:''' ''[angrily]'' You cannot release me. Because I am ''not your slave.''
272* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Agent Pointdexter saves Agent Nadeem's life during an attack on the convoy transporting Wilson Fisk from prison. In the next episode, Nadeem learns that their bosses are investigating discrepancies in Pointdexter's account of the incident and decides to [[CouldSayItBut tacitly warn]] "Dex" of what's happening.
273-->'''Nadeem:''' Because of you my wife still has a husband, and my son still has a father.
274* ''Series/TheFugitive''
275** In "The Evil Men Do", Kimble rescues a stable owner from an out-of-control horse, and the owner –- a former mob hitman –- attempts to repay the debt by killing Lt. Gerard. Subverted when the mobster's wife points out that he's really not doing it for Kimble as much as for himself; he just plain ''likes'' killing.
276** The concept is rejected by a mob boss in "A Clean and Quiet Town". His son explains that his men have been roughing up Kimble at the request of the One-Armed Man, who saved his life in a bar fight. The mob boss replies that you don't have to give a small time crook like that anything.
277* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
278** Ser Loras Tyrell says this word-for-word to the Hound after Sandor Clegane saves him from the Mountain, and Loras decides to repay the debt by forfeiting the final round of the joust and giving the championship title (plus the substantial award money) to the Hound.
279** Jaqen H'ghar [[ThreeWishes offers to kill three people]] for Arya in exchange for saving his life as well as Rorge and Biter.
280** Ser Dontos Hollard pleads this to Sansa in "Two Swords." [[spoiler:Subverted when he turns out to be an agent of Littlefinger, motivated by his money more than gratitude.]]
281** Subverted with Mirri Maz Duur. Daenerys saves her from being raped and murdered by her husband's khalasar, but she turns against them anyway, pointing out that her temple had been burned, her fellow villagers murdered, and she'd been raped three times already before Daenerys made an appearance. "What is life worth when all the rest has gone?"
282** Robert Glover did not join the Stark restoration army because it was the Boltons that helped them liberate their lands from the Ironborn. After the battle, he asks for forgiveness knowing full well that Jon could punish him. When Jon simply responds "There is nothing to forgive", the look of relief on his face is immediately followed by Glover's declaration that he will fight behind Jon Snow from that point on.
283* A final-season episode of ''Series/GilligansIsland''. Gilligan saves a drowning native girl, who becomes his slave in return for saving her life. Our asexual little buddy isn't happy with the situation, so he fakes his own death in a "duel" with Mr. Howell to be rid of her.
284* In a Season 3 episode of ''Series/TheGreatestAmericanHero'', Ralph saves a waiter in a Japanese restaurant from kidnappers. Throughout most of the episode, the waiter becomes a servant for Ralph and Pam, even though the kidnappers weren't even going to kill him. Later in the episode, Ralph saves the man again, but whether or not he becomes Ralph's servant again goes unresolved at the end of the episode.
285* ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' establishes that Iolaus used to be a thief; ''Series/YoungHercules'' would later elaborate that he ran with the nastiest gang in the region and was lucky to be sent to Cheiron's AcademyOfAdventure as part of his probation instead of sent to prison outright. It was becoming FireForgedFriends with Hercules that caused Iolaus to give up being a thief and turn his life around. Iolaus paid back the debt by becoming Herc's most reliable ally and dedicating his life to helping others. Through the course of their adventures, they literally saved each other's lives numerous times.
286* In ''Series/LostInSpace2018'' this seems to be the case for the robots. Will saves one in the first episode, causing it to make a HeelFaceTurn and develop a close bond with him. Other people try to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this in later episodes, with varying degrees of success.
287* ''Series/LostLoveInTimes'': Qing Chen saves Yuan Ling's life, so in return Yuan Ling offers to hep her get into the palace safely.
288* ''Series/{{MASH}}'':
289** In the episode "Operation Friendship", Klinger saves Winchester from an exploding autoclave and does the same thing Bobby Brady does.
290** An earlier episode, "Springtime", has a grateful patient (Alex Karras) following Hawkeye around and "helping" him as payment for operating on him.
291* The episode of ''Series/MuppetsTonight'' where Creator/JohnGoodman guest stars has him saving Andy and Randy's lives by warning them not to touch live electrical wires. As a result, they decide to become his personal slaves - and since Andy and Randy are TooDumbToLive, they end up driving John crazy.
292* In the "Descent"/"Ascension" two-parter of ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'', Marty Deeks saves Sam Hanna from drowning and then endures a round of ColdBloodedTorture to get him to reveal if Sam's wife is an undercover agent. After it fails to break him, however, Sam admits that he'll always owe Deeks for protecting her.
293* ''Series/NightCourt'': Dan pulls Christine out of the way of a runaway car. When a grateful Christine asks what she can do to repay Dan, without missing a beat Dan answers: "Sleep with me." Christine ''very'' reluctantly consents [[spoiler: but they barely get ''to'' First Base before [[ChivalrousPervert Dan can't continue]] and calls it off.]]
294* ''Series/NoOrdinaryFamily'': Cordero begins acting much warmer toward Jim after finding out that Jim saved his life and [[HumbleHero didn't publicize the fact or bask in how heroic it was.]]
295* ''Series/{{NUMB3RS}}'': During his time in the military, Colby Granger was rescued by his fellow soldier and close friend Dwayne Carter after their transport was bombed. Carter proceeds to exploit the hell out of Colby's sense of indebtedness after he [[spoiler:gets involved with Chinese intelligence]], although it's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:Colby chose loyalty to his country over his debt to Dwayne and his apparent compliance was an act.]] Colby finally tells Carter what he really thinks in "Trust Metric".
296-->'''Colby:''' Dwayne, I really wish somebody else had pulled me out of that fire.\
297'''Carter:''' Why?\
298'''Colby:''' Because I hate owing you.
299* In Season 1 of ''Series/TheOC'', JerkJock Luke starts being nicer to Ryan after Ryan saves his life.
300* An episode of of ''Series/TheOddCouple1970'', appropriately called "[[Recap/TheOddCouple1970S2E17YouSavedMyLife You Saved My Life]]", has Oscar saving Felix from falling out their window. Felix spends the rest of the episode thanking Oscar for it in various ways, to Oscar's increasing annoyance.
301* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "The Ojuka Situation", Doyle kills a gunman who's about to shoot Bodie InTheBack.
302-->'''Bodie:''' Reckon I owe you one.
303-->'''Doyle:''' One down, eight to go!
304* ''Series/ThePunisher2017''. In Season 2, Frank Castle risks his GetOutOfJailFreeCard to save Rachel, but when she brings up this trope he just scoffs because [[FalseInnocenceTrick she's playing the innocent]] DamselInDistress. Rachel in turn rejects the idea that Frank helped her for any reason other than he was [[BloodKnight looking for an excuse]].
305* In ''Series/{{Shadowhunters}}'', Clary rescues Meliorn from being held captive from the Shadowhunters in "Rise Up", creating a life debt. Meliorn repays her in "This World Inverted" by opening a portal for her so that they can be on even terms again.
306* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E1AmokTime Amok Time]]", Kirk acknowledges a life debt to Spock when deciding to disobey orders, thereby risking a court martial, because Spock is facing a life-threatening emergency.
307-->'''Kirk:''' I owe him my life a dozen times over. Isn't that worth a career?
308* In the pilot of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' Tom Paris saves Chakotay and jokes that his life belongs to Tom now. Chakotay responds "Wrong tribe!" but repays the favor by keeping the rest of the Maquis from harassing Tom.
309* In the episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E19FolsomPrisonBlues "Folsom Prison Blues" (S02, Ep19)]] of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Dean risks his freedom and his brother's freedom because of a duty to Deacon who saved their father's life.
310* Played with in ''Series/TheWestWing'' episode "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen"-
311-->'''Sam''': I didn't want you to feel beholden to me. I didn't want it to be like an episode of ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie'' where now you gotta save my life and the time-space continuum...
312-->'''C.J.''': Sam?
313-->'''Sam''':...with you following me around with coconut oil and hot towels.
314-->'''C.J.''': Coconut oil?
315-->'''Sam:''': I'm just saying....
316-->'''C.J.''': Sam, I don't feel beholden to you.
317-->'''Sam''': ''Why not''? I ''saved your life''!
318-->'''C.J.''': Can I have my necklace back?
319* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime2021'': Aviendha follows Perrin on his path after he'd released her from the cage she was held in by Whitecloaks, which eventually would have meant her death, because as a result she now has a ''toh'' (an obligation) for repaying him by Aiel custom.
320[[/folder]]
321
322[[folder:Manhua]]
323* In ''Manhua/GoddessCreationSystem'', when Xiaxi needs the help of the Wang Pu brothers, she uses this as an excuse for why she didn't return to them even though she didn't actually drown like they thought. She claims that the crown prince saved her life and therefore she needs to repay her debt to them. Suffice to say, the truth is a lot more complicated, especially given that he ''didn't'' save her life.
324[[/folder]]
325
326[[folder:Religion]]
327* In UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}, UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} came to earth to save humanity from their sins by sacrificing Himself on the cross, and this trope is expressed if [[HeelFaithTurn one sincerely repents of their sins]], accepts Him as Lord and Savior, and live their lives dedicated in serving God.
328[[/folder]]
329
330[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
331* This definitely seems to be a belief held by the desert dwelling Chanari of Mars in ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'', since it's one of the first character hooks on offer for them.
332* In ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' Aslan have an intricate web of customs regarding gratitude. In the volume ''Sword Worlds'', an Aslan clan is too busy with a war to defend one of its client clans against aggression. A group of human political refugees provided assistance to the client. As the patron could not provide protection and the humans could, the patron had to arrange passage through Aslan space. This is more "I owe you my honor". But to a proper Aslan [[HonorBeforeReason honor is more than life.]]
333[[/folder]]
334
335[[folder:Theatre]]
336* In the backstory of ''Theatre/TheNerd'', Rick Steadman saved Willum's life in Vietnam, and so when Rick shows up on Willum's doorstep, he feels obliged to take Rick in.
337[[/folder]]
338
339[[folder:Video Games]]
340* ''VideoGame/AbsentedAgeSquarebound'': Double subverted. Despite orders from the church to seal Karen into a dagger, Yayoi chooses to spare Karen after she exhausts herself saving him and Hoop from a Ganger. However, he later states that this is out of pragmatism, since Karen is stronger in the real world and could kill him in retaliation even when she's unconscious. Despite his pragmatic reasoning, [[spoiler:he and Hoop still help Karen materialize in time for the Super Live after they work together to defeat Karen Alias, with no strings attached, which shows that his gratitude is genuine.]]
341* Played straight in ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil.'' After Jade rescues Double H from an [[ElectricTorture alien torture chamber,]] he pledges his loyalty to her and becomes one of her {{sidekick}}s.
342--> '''Double H:''' All I know is that in another ten minutes, I was a goner. I owe you ''my life.'' Hence: You can count on me, Miss Thyrus! At your service!
343* In the ''VideoGame/DarkParables'' series, [[spoiler:In the first game, the detective saves [[Literature/SleepingBeauty Princess Briar Rose]] from the power of her evil godmother. The two then go their separate ways and the player doesn't expect to ever see Rose again. Flash forward to the fourth game, where the detective and the members of the Red Riding Hood Sisters are all in grave danger from the Wolf Queen. Suddenly, a beautiful sorceress emerges from the shadows, reminding the detective that she once saved her life - "...and now I've come to return the favor."]]
344* Played for laughs in ''VideoGame/TheDarksideDetective: A Fumble in the Dark''. At one point, [=McQueen=] is rescued by a Mysterious Stranger, who explains that he owes an enormous, life-changing debt of gratitude to [=McQueen=]'s sidekick Dooley. Then we get the flashback showing the momentous occasion, and it turns out to have been an extremely minor kindness that most people would quickly forget, and which Dooley himself seems to have forgotten when [=McQueen=] asks him about it later.
345* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
346** [[TheStoic Sten]], in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', swears himself to your service after you rescue him from a cage where he was locked up to starve or die when the Darkspawn invasion arrived.
347*** This is a subversion, as [[DeathSeeker Sten]] believes that your mission is doomed to fail. But he would rather atone for his crimes by falling in battle than starving to death or serving as bait for the darkspawn. However, it can be doubly subverted if the Warden shows the capacity to bring an end to the Blight, fulfill their role as the Grey Warden (which is one of the surefire ways to gain Sten's respect), and most especially if they return Sten's sword which is highly important to Qunari culture to have it back in his possession.
348*** This specific subversion turns up a number of times in ''Origins'' and even more in ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakening]],'' with multiple characters receiving the Joining in lieu of an execution. The logic is that the Joining has a reasonable chance of killing you immediately, will slowly kill you otherwise, and being a Grey Warden carries an obligation to fight the Darkspawn in every way possible. [[PlayerCharacter The Warden]] invokes this version of the trope with Duncan, and [[HeelFaceTurn Loghain]], [[DeadpanSnarker Anders]], [[KnightInSourArmor Nathaniel]], [[TheAtoner Sigrun]], and [[DarkActionGirl Velanna]] all invoke it with the Warden, taking induction to the Grey Wardens over an execution for their past crimes. However, not all of them are particularly grateful about it.
349** Played with in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''. If Hawke is in a rivalry with Aveline and [[spoiler:Hawke sides with the mages in the endgame, when the Templars order her to attack Hawke, she will refuse. She owes Hawke her life and thus will not kill him/her. However, by refusing to kill Hawke, she declares her debt repaid and that she wants nothing to do with him/her ever again.]]
350* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas:'' This is a possible reason why [[PlayerCharacter The]] {{Courier}} might choose to side with Mr. House the autocrat of New Vegas. After all, House did send one of his Securitrons Victor to dig you up from your grave, take you to a doctor for bullet removal surgery, and then stick around to surreptitiously ensure your safe arrival at the New Vegas Strip. Of course, House can also tempt you with monetary reward as well as a vision for a technological renaissance.
351* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' plays with this one when siblings Rapha and Marach argue over whether or not they owe anything to the nobleman who took them in after they were orphaned. Marach argues that they do, since he saved them from starving to death or living in poverty. Rapha, on the other hand, thinks that any obligation they might have is negated by the fact that he was the one who burned their village down and killed their parents in the first place. Oh, and it's heavily implied that he raped her. Marach eventually comes around, but it takes longer than you'd think.
352* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', heist driver Taliana Martinez [[BadassInDistress needs to be rescued]] before you can recruit her for heists. Once she is rescued, you discover that she is very skilled and only takes a cut of 5%.
353* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'':
354** PlayedForHorror in terms of Zaalbar's life debt to the main character. For players of Dark-Sided alignment, it is in fact a form of slavery, as he will do ''anything'' they tell him to if you remind him of the life debt. [[spoiler:This includes ''killing Mission'' if she angers you or gets in your way, even though he's extremely protective of her]]. [[spoiler:However, he won't do it unless you use Force Persuade on him, and if you take him on the Star Forge afterwards he'll attack you]].
355** PlayedForDrama by Hanharr in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords''. He despises the Wookiee tradition of life debts but feels obliged to honour it, so he seeks to kill anyone who saves his life to relieve himself of the debt. [[MagnificentBitch Kreia]] exploits this mentality by resurrecting a mortally-wounded Hanharr. She gloats, "I saved your life, beast. That makes it mine." Hanharr [[spoiler:does ''not'' make a move to kill Kreia for this, realizing she is way out of his league]].
356** [[DefiedTrope Defied]] in the [[VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic MMO spinoff]] of the first two games by Jakarro and Bowdaar. Players can try to invoke the life debt with Jakarro after they free him and his droid companion from a Manaan prison, but he'll completely refuse to do anything of the sort. Bowdaar, meanwhile, joins the Smuggler's crew after receiving some back-up from them during a tough fight, but while he's grateful for the help, he'll make it clear that he doesn't owe the Smuggler a life debt (and since he just got freed after spending a century as a slave, it's understandable why he wouldn't want someone else owning his life).
357* In the Nintendo Wii video game of ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfTheGuardiansTheOwlsOfGaHoole'', main owl Shard and his friends rescue an old great horned owl named [[CoolOldGuy Uriah]] from a swarm of [[BatOutOfHell bats]] holding him prisoners. In return, Uriah mentions that he knew Shard's father once and offers to become one of Shard's wingmen for the latter saving his life.
358* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': Should Shepard choose to spare them, [[spoiler:the rachni will send a message to Shepard that they can count on the rachni's full support if and when the Reapers invade the galaxy. They make good on this promise in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', although they have to be rescued (and spared) again before they can do so since the Reapers are trying to use them as well.]]
359** The drell race has this as a species-wide motivation. The hanar rescued them from the slow death of their home planet, and so they handle all the DirtyBusiness which the pacifistic hanar can't do themselves.
360** If [[spoiler:the genophage is cured]] and Wrex is still alive, this essentially becomes the krogan attitude to humanity.
361** Shepard becomes this for the geth as well, who they deem to be the first organic who is willing to listen to them and thus the only hope for them to build their own future without Reapers' intervention (and hopefully to reconcile with the quarians). [[spoiler: And if the peace is brokered between them and the quarians or Shepard chooses the geth over the quarians, it is clear that the geth are intend to honor Shepard.]]
362** If you save David Archer from Project Overlord and send him to Grissom Academy back at the second game, he will provide help to you by convincing his skeptical classmates to follow your lead, as well as unlocking a room with a gun for you to take.
363--->'''David''': I've been counting.\
364'''Shepard''': Anything in particular?\
365'''David''': The number of days you've lengthened my life.
366** When she first meets Shepard, Samantha Traynor is extremely nervous around them but also very eager to prove herself to them. While part of this is due to Shepard's [[LivingLegend reputation]], she later reveals that she also feels gratitude to Shepard as Traynor was on Horizon, visiting her parents, when the Collectors attacked and Shepard swooped in and saved the colony.
367* More amusingly inverted at the end of ''VideoGame/MaximoGhostsToGlory''. Maximo takes TheGrimReaper's "I owe you one" speech to its logical conclusion and immediately enlists him as his partner.
368* Subverted in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2''; after rescuing Neeshka from the soldiers, there is the conversation option of "I saved your life -- that means I ''own'' you." However, the game doesn't allow the player to follow through with this statement. Of course, since the player (not the main character) can take full control of party members, it could be considered as no subversion at all.
369* In ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', a past incarnation of the protagonist deliberately indebted [[spoiler:both Morte and Dak'kon]] in this way... with the added twist that he himself can't die, so there's no way to repay the debt. It gets worse as [[spoiler:Dak'kon's debt also flies in the face of the tenet of both his culture and their EvilCounterpart: never be enslaved again. Oh, and The Nameless One's former self knew all this and orchestrated said life debt for his personal gain.]]
370* ''VideoGame/QuantumProtocol'': [[spoiler:After Idol convinces Queen and Kaia to save [[BigBad Omega]], he decides that he owes Idol a favor and [[HeelFaceTurn joins Quantum]]]].
371* In the ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheDarksideChronicles'' chapter "Memories of a Lost City" (a retelling of [=RE2=]), while patching Leon up after he [[TakingTheBullet took a bullet]] for her, Ada tells him [[TryNotToDie not to die]] and that she owes him for saving her life.
372* In ''VideoGame/ShinSuperRobotWars'', [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Heero Yuy and Zechs Marquise]] for Neo Zeon because for [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Char Aznable]] had saved their lives. In the case of Zechs, Char claims that Zechs surviving was pure luck and Char was just at the right place at the right time.
373* Taken to hilariously ludicrous degrees in the comedy game ''VideoGame/TheSpaceBar''. Every time Alias's partner Maksh begs Alias over his PDA to hurry up and rescue him before the BigBad does something horrible to him, there's a flashback about how Maksh risked his life to save/help Alias or Alias' mother, as a guilt trip to motivate Alias. Which ends up easily equaling over 10 different times Maksh has saved Alias' life somehow based on all the flashbacks. And it turns out that there's actually even ''more'' times beyond that, and Alias and Maksh can't even agree on which ones actually "count".
374* One possible event chain in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' after scanning a toxic planet is discovering an ancient warship that the planet's atmosphere is corroding away at -- the player has a limited time to send a construction ship over to restore it back to functionality, at which point its onboard AI will reawaken. It will relay that it had spent the past 4800+ years wasting away crippled on the planet and was mere days away from being non-functional entirely, and will realize that the only reason it's still there is that you rescued it. Assuming your empire does not have the Spiritualist ethic (which consider AI to be an abomination), it will join your empire as a special admiral unit out of gratitude if you allow it.
375* Somewhat darkly inverted in [[spoiler:Raven]]'s case in ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia''. It's less "I Owe You My Life" and more "You Owe Us Your Life".
376[[/folder]]
377
378[[folder:Webcomics]]
379* In ''Webcomic/{{Collar 6}}'', Michael Kappel rescues a young man lying bleeding and unconscious in the snow. The man, Gunther, turns out to be an escaped SympatheticSentientWeapon who attaches himself to Michael's side from then on and saves his life many times over. While Gunther does become his "slave," it happens much later as the result of a naturally-forming attachment.
380* Parodied in ''Webcomic/CwensQuest'' when passing stranger Riddly Lancer saves the main character's life and quickly declares her his life slave. When asked if the life slave concept should be part of his slave's personal code of honor/culture, he responds, "We wouldn't get any life slaves that way."[[http://www.drunkduck.com/Cwens_Quest/index.php?p=329369]]
381* Used in one ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' comic, [[http://explosm.net/comics/3181/ where a white guy saves a black man's life. The rescuer gets really uncomfortable when the guy he rescued swears to do his bidding and refers to him as "master".]]
382* In ''Webcomic/DelilahDirkAndTheTurkishLieutenant'', [[http://www.delilahdirk.com/content/?p=62 Selim clearly thinks he owes Delilah for saving his life.]]
383* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'': {{Downplayed|Trope}} with the emergent moral code of [[ArtificialIntelligence AIs]]. They'll grant 2% of their remaining runtime to someone who saves their life, but don't feel compelled to fulfill unreasonable requests. When Florence and Sam save half a billion robots from a MindReformatDeath, they find out that this adds up to a ''lot'' of assets.
384* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': The travelling circus [[BystanderSyndrome initially turns Agatha away after learning she's on the run from Baron Wulfenbach himself]], only to later [[FakingTheDead fake her death]] and take her in after she risks her life to save them from a [[AIIsACrapshoot wild Clank]].
385-->'''Countess:''' You saved our lives and tried to save Olga's, even after we sent you away. We ''had'' to do this.
386* ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'': Dies Horribly and Saves-A-Fox outwit a demoness, and inadvertantly secure the freedom of Biscuit, an orc that she kept as a slave. Biscuit informs them that he considers himself honor-bound to risk his life to save theirs if necessary, and fights to protect them first from the demoness' minions and later from the Viper Clan.
387* Deliberately invoked to Enforce DefeatMeansFriendship in ''WebComic/TwoKinds.'' When the Magi Brothers botch their assassination attempt, Flora manages to save Natani's life, and reminds him of that particular part of keidran morality. While he tries to weasel out of it, a group of humans looking for someone to blame for a border hedge being burnt threatening to skin him alive sets him straight pretty darn quick. It's later pointed out how much of a dipstick you'd have to be to want someone who was trying to kill you not 5 minutes ago to join your adventuring party.
388[[/folder]]
389
390[[folder:Web Original]]
391* ''{{WebVideo/AFK}}'': Sheena insists on helping Serena, because the latter saved her life. Afterward though she makes it clear Serena is no longer owed anything from her.
392* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Parodied in the Flash animation remake of ''Literature/WhereMyHatIsAt''; after Homestar fishes Strong Sad out of the swimming pool, the latter says "Thanks for saving me, mister! Can I obsess over you now?"
393[[/folder]]
394
395[[folder:Western Animation]]
396* ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatiansTheSeries'': In "The Life You Save", Dumpling believes that Lucky has saved her life and then makes herself to be Lucky's slave, annoying Lucky until he tries to get her to save his life.
397* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', titled "The Debt", revolves around this. Mr. Robinson "saves" Gumball (stops his slow-moving car when Gumball was too busy panicking to get out of its path) and Gumball decides he has to save Mr. Robinson in return, nearly killing him several times. Given Gumball had just shown to be a rather dedicated fan of Mr. Robinson, the whole thing may have just been an excuse to follow him around.
398* In the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode, "You Debt Your Life", it is revealed that Roger lives with the Smith family because he once saved Stan's life.
399* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode, "Tibbles to the Rescue", Timmy and Tommy are saved from a nasty fall by D.W.'s wagon of stuffed animals. The twins decide to return the favor to D.W. by saving her life, but every attempt they try just makes things worse for D.W.. The prologue to the same episode features an episode of ''[[ShowWithinAShow Dark Bunny]]'' where Bananamanoman becomes loyal to Dark Bunny when the latter saves him from a giant gorilla.
400* In the ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard'' episode, "Cow's Best Friend", Duke becomes extremely loyal to Otis after he saves his life. When Otis gets tired of Duke being nice to him, he fakes life-threatining situations to even the score, which inevitably put Duke in more danger, causing him to save him again. Eventually, Otis tells Duke the truth, but soon after is put in a real life-threatening situation requiring Duke to save him. Duke decides that since Otis' stunts almost got him killed 20 times, [[YouOweMe Otis owes him now]].
401* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': In "Avatar", Batman saves [[BattleButler Ubu's]] life at one point. At the end of the episode, the villains escape and leave Batman stranded in the desert. Before he leaves, Ubu passes Batman a canteen full of water, which is enough for him to walk back to civilization.
402* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'': In the first two episodes, when Dinobot quits the Predacons after challenging Megatron's leadership and losing, he moves to try again with the Maximals. The Predacons then interrupt his duel with Optimus, who saves Dinobot from falling to his death. He repays the favor in the ensuing battle, but agrees to stay with the Maximals as a subordinate after seeing that Optimus is a far more honorable leader than Megatron.
403-->'''Dinobot:''' My action did not imply loyalty, Optimus. I owed you my life. Now we are merely... ''even''.
404* Averted in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' original series episode "Grudge Match". Ben and Kevin are teleported to a fighting arena aboard a spaceship and must battle the toughest gladiator, Technorg. Kevin then tries to kill him only to be stopped by Ben. Technorg humbly thanks Ben for sparing his life and declares him as his master, even quipping "my life belongs to you". Ben, of course, refuses and urges Technorg to escape along with everyone else.
405* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': Parodied in "It Snakes A Village", when Gene rescues his sisters after they get lost in a swamp at night.
406-->'''Tina:''' You saved us, Gene. I owe you my life!\
407'''Gene:''' No thanks. I've seen it, and I am not impressed.
408* One episode ''WesternAnimation/BrandyAndMrWhiskers'' has Whiskers pledging to serve Brandy when she once again saves his life. He even lampshades the trope. As usual she gets tired of his servitude and decides to fake a life-threatening situation so they'll be even. Unfortunately, it was at the same time that Whiskers discovered that Brandy was the one who put him in danger when she saved him.
409* The ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' episode "All You Need Is Lube" has Cat saving Lube from a tick, prompting Lube to quit the Greasers and dedicate his life to being Cat's slave. Cat enjoys having Lube around as his muscle while Dog is annoyed by him, up until Lube becomes too overprotective of Cat that they collaborate with the Greasers to make it so Lube can save Cat's life.
410* In the ''WesternAnimation/DennisTheMenace'' episode, "The Life You Save", [[AbhorrentAdmirer Margaret]] becomes extrememly loyal to Dennis after he saves her from a runaway shopping cart. Dennis gets annoyed with her when she gets him kicked out of a baseball game, and fakes life-threatening stunts to get her to save him so they'll be even. One of these stunts involves having Ruff in a bear-skin rug chase him, which Margaret doesn't fall for. However, the disguised Ruff attracts [[BearsAreBadNews a real bear]] in a love-struck state, which Margaret scares away with her [[HollywoodToneDeaf dreadful singing]].
411* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': "That Wacky Robot" has Dee Dee accidentally reactivate a robot of Dexter's, who becomes her friend/servant in gratitude; she likes him until he starts getting violently protective of her...
412* ''WesternAnimation/DonkeyKongCountry'', "Get A Life, Don't Save One!": Bluster Kong becomes DK's lackey after a life-saving experience. This doesn't go unnoticed by the series BigBad King K. Rool, who comes under the paranoid impression that DK and Bluster are collaborating in some sort of plot against him. He subsequently has Bluster kidnapped in an effort to uncover whatever their "scheme" is, and in doing so inadvertently subverts the usual "master stages a disaster for the slave to save them from" stage of the trope. When Bluster doesn't show to save DK from a malfunctioning airplane, DK is forced to save Bluster once again from K. Rool's lair. Afterward, Bluster cuts off the debt himself, declaring that looking after DK's hide is more trouble than it's worth.
413%% This is a zero context example. Please do not unhide until further context has been added. * There was an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' based around this.
414* In ''WesternAnimation/DragonsRidersOfBerk'' the two-headed dragon Barf and Belch became faithful to Hiccup after he saves them from an avalanche in episode "The Zippleback Experience", thus HilarityEnsues. According to Gobber this is a normal behavior in their race of dragons and can only change if they pay their debt to Hiccup [[spoiler:as it happens at the end of the episode.]]
415* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' subverts this when Stewie helps Brian out of a tight spot, reminds him of ''Series/TheBradyBunch'' episode mentioned above...and then asks him to repay the debt by taping that episode for him.
416* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' inverts this where a con man tricks Fred into stopping him from committing suicide, thus claiming that Fred owed him a living.
417* In ''Garfield's Halloween Adventure'', after Odie saves Garfield from drowning, Garfield thanks him by giving him his fair share of the candy. Garfield had only brought Odie along for trick-or-treating in order to get more candy for ''himself'', but as he puts it, "Seeing as how you saved my life about eighteen zillion times tonight, I figure it's the least I could do."
418* ''WesternAnimation/GetAce'': After accidentally saving [[DumbMuscle Athol Savage's]] life by shoving him out of the way of a flagpole that was about to skewer his head[[note]]though technically Ace caused the flagpole to fall down in the first place[[/note]] he befriends Ace and becomes his bodyguard. This makes Ace's life worse due to Athol [[TheDreaded scaring off everyone around him]]. Ace spends the entire episode trying to engineer a situation where Athol can save his life. None of Ace's attempts work until the exact same flagpole accident happens with the roles reversed, making them "even".
419* The ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBeaks'' episode "Life Debt", which centers on Rooter trying to repay Foo after Foo saves him. HilarityEnsues as Foo tries to lift the burden from Rooter, only to put Rooter in another debt, this time with Harvey. Fortunately, it all works out in the end.
420* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', as demonstrated by the above quote.
421** Played with a little, because Arnold eventually decided to give in and just enjoy all of the work that Sid was doing for him. Sid was the one that decided they should break things off, accusing Arnold of callously taking advantage of him despite insisting to be at his beck and call.
422%%* ''WesternAnimation/HiHiPuffyAmiYumi'', "Yumi Saves Kaz".
423* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' Rio saves Minx from nearly drowning. Afterward, her view on life changes, she states that she owes Rio her life, and she opts to make amends with Jem and the Holograms, Rio, and the Starlight Girls. Her bandmates are annoyed by how uncharacteristically sweet she is acting and they kick her out. This causes her to become [[DrivenToSuicide suicidal]], but Rio [[InterruptedSuicide stops her from jumping]]. Minx starts hanging around Rio as she considers him the only person she has left. She ends up annoying Rio and the others by being overly nice and getting in the way. In the end she goes back to her old, mean personality and returns to her band after she gets mad at everyone for treating her badly.
424* Spoofed in the ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' episode "Jimmy, Don't Be A Hero". Jimmy saves Lucius' life and gives a very casual, "think-nothing-of-it" kind of YouOweMe. Since no Heinous has ever owed anyone anything, Lucius desperately tries to pay him back for the rest of the episode with Jimmy being totally oblivious to it.
425* ''WesternAnimation/KickButtowskiSuburbanDaredevil'': One episode has Kick saving the henchmen of one of his rivals, and them pledge their alliance to Kick. Besides him not actually caring, they are annoying him so he set up situations for them to save him, the problem is that they are so dumb, when trying to save kick they end in danger themselves, forcing Kick to save them and in turn they pledge an even stronger alliance. Finally Kick resorts to a different option...setting up a situation so their former leader saves them, and pledge alliance to him instead.
426* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'', three young animals kicked out of their herd due to their rowdy nature take residence near Rafiki's tree, but their loud and rowdy nature causes Rafiki to bluntly tell them to leave. But when a fire threatens his tree, the three young animals (along with the Lion Guard) put out the fire. A grateful Rafiki tells the three "There are no words" and lets them hang out near his tree anytime they'd like.
427* ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'': Yosemite Sam makes it clear that he hates owing people favors, so he decides to simply repay Bugs for changing the batteries in his smoke detector by baking him a cake... which causes a fire that forces Bugs to save him from. Yosemite Sam even references this trope, which to him means stalking Bugs all day so that he'll be around to repay the favor saving Bugs' life.
428* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "Spike at Your Service", Applejack saves Spike from some timber wolves, and he insists on fulfilling his self-made "Noble Dragon Code" by helping her out on the farm. [[HilarityEnsues Unfortunately for her]], he's so over-eager to help out he becomes TheKlutz. Following the standard plotline, Spike does end up repaying the favor, leading to this exchange:
429-->'''Applejack''': I know this code thing's important to you, but if somethin' like this comes up in the future, think maybe we can go back to my code, say "that's what friends do" and leave it at that? I promise I won't think of you as any less noble.\
430'''Spike''': Sounds good to me. But, maybe let's just [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot try to avoid situations where one of us actually needs the other one to save their life]]?\
431'''Applejack''': You got yourself a deal.
432* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'': In the episode "My Hero", Piglet accidentally saves Tigger's life (or so Tigger thinks) when he lands in a shallow puddle where Tigger is "drowning" and splashes all the water out. This makes Tigger become Piglet's servant. Piglet gets tired of this and tries to set himself in danger to make Tigger save him and thus even the score.
433* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewArchies'': After Smithers is saved by Archie, he quits working for the Lodges and becomes Archie's servant. He's so overbearing, Archie does everything to get rid of him.
434* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
435** "The Bully Code": [[BollywoodNerd Baljeet]] saves [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Buford]] from choking, and thus according to the [[LawfulEvil Bully Code]] Buford has to be Baljeet's slave. The [[OncePerEpisode obligatory musical number]] even {{Lampshades}} this as "a 70's sitcom cliché." It isn't until the end that Baljeet comes to realize the potential of ordering his [[VitriolicBestBuds sometimes friend/sometime tormentor]] around.
436** A rather minor one in ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbStarWars''. Candace repays Phineas for saving her from a {{Literal Cliffhanger}} by helping him defeat Darth Ferb.
437* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'': In "Slave the Day", [[DumbMuscle Big Billy]] of the Gangreen Gang does this when the Girls save him from being run over by a subway train during a brawl. [[HeroWithAnFInGood Things do not go well]].
438* The ''WesternAnimation/RainbowFish'' episode "Bodyguard" featured this: Rainbow saves the life of an older fish, who repays him by becoming his bodyguard. Unfortunately, he was a KnightTemplar who does things like attack Rainbow's school friends when they're roughhousing in the schoolyard. Rainbow eventually gets rid of him by setting up a situation in which he could save the other fish's life.
439* Evoked in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Reboot}}'', when Megabyte and his goons have a hostage. Bob sternly reminds him that he saved the virus's life, and Megabyte begrudgingly lets the hostage go. Even if he only did it to even the score, let it not be said Megabyte doesn't have at least [[NobleDemon some honor]].
440* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' episode "Copycat Kid" has Vince catch the baseball that was going to land on Mikey's face. Mikey keeps telling Vince that he saved his life and how much he admires him and [[IJustWantToBeYou wants to be like him]], until finally he starts dressing like Vince and copying everything he does.
441* ''WesternAnimation/RockyKwaterner'': In "The Debt of Honor", Karl saves Rocky from a falling rock during a field trip, which to Rocky means he now must serve Karl as this was custom at his old tribe. [[TheBully Karl being Karl]], he greatly abuses Rocky's new loyalty by forcing the boy to help bully others. To free Rocky from his debt, Theo and Luna trick a group of squirrels into attacking Karl so Rocky can save him, and film the whole thing as proof.
442* Enforced in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' episode "[[Recap/RugratsS2E25DrivingMissAngelicaSusieVsAngelica Driving Miss Angelica]]", where Angelica insists that Chuckie has to become her slave after she saves him from being run over. It gets turned against her at the end, when Chuckie saves ''her'' from being locked in the upstairs closet and Tommy and Chuckie convince her she has to become Chuckie's slave.
443* In Season 5 of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', Ashi makes a HeelFaceTurn by pledging her life to assist Jack in his quest after he saves her from the belly of a beast.
444* The whole point of ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'' episode "One Good Smurf Deserves Another" is that Clumsy wants to repay Handy for saving his life, and gets his chance when a green horned monster comes out of a cave and abducts Handy.
445* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'': Peter Parker tackled Wilson Fisk out of the way when Hobgoblin tried to shoot him. A few seasons later, Fisk cites Peter saving his life that day as the reason why he's paying for Peter's wedding to Mary Jane Watson.
446* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
447** Inverted in episode "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost". [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick accidentally "kill" Squidward (actually a wax sculpture). Squidward comes out of the shower in a white bathrobe, covered in talcum powder, with a cloud of steam behind him, and is understandably angry about the mess they made of his sculpture ("Look what you did to me!") They mistake him for a ghost, and Squidward convinces them to pledge to serve him as payment for killing him.
448** Another inversion occurs in the episode, "Naughty Naughtical Neighbors", where [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick [[FeudEpisode stop being friends with each other]] due to a misunderstanding caused by Squidward. After Patrick gives Squidward CPR when he chokes on a fork and [=SpongeBob=] fixes his back when he throws it out trying to drag Patrick home, ''they'' become extremely loyal to him.
449* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': In [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E9CloakOfDarkness "Cloak of Darkness"]], Luminara gratefully and gracefully tell Ahsoka she owes her life to her, while thanking Ahsoka for the rescue earlier.
450* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels''. In "Fighter Flight", Erza annoys Zeb by [[YouOweMe constantly bringing up]] how he saved his life in the previous episode. Fortunately Zeb saves Erza's life several times during the episode, causing them to become FireForgedFriends and agree to stop keeping score.
451* In a ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'' episode, Sam releases [[AlphaBitch Mandy's]] hair from a clay pot.
452-->'''Mandy''': Sam, you saved my life!\
453'''Sam''': I saved your hair.\
454'''Mandy''': My hair IS my life!
455* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wishfart}}'': As a subplot in "Gross But Noble", Puffin tries to repay Dez for saving him when he was choking on gum. Throughout the episode, Puffin tries to find situations where he can save Dez's life, despite Dez trying to tell Puffin to ThinkNothingOfIt. In the end, Dez saves Puffin's life again, leading Puffin to declare that he is now doubly in debt to a frustrated Dez.
456* ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'': When Magneto was a little boy, he and his Jewish family were held in concentration camps by the Nazis. They were eventually freed by an army led by Captain America and Logan, the future Wolverine. In "Operation Rebirth", Magneto has Wolverine and his friends at his mercy, but lets them go, saying he remembered what Logan did for him all those years ago and now he is repaying his debt.
457** Magneto had an additional reason for sparing the heroes in "Operation Rebirth": Nightcrawler ''also'' saved his life. The heroes' mission was to track down and destroy a machine (the very thing that gave Captain America his powers) that was harmful to human lives, but when Nightcrawler got the chance to destroy it, Magneto (who's in the machine and ''very'' sickly) reveals that the machine is harmful to human lives ''only'', and it will in fact heal him. Nightcrawler chose to not destroy the machine so as to save Magneto.
458[[/folder]]

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