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Leave Me Alone!

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"Stop it! Leave me alone! You're the one who's going to get hurt!"
Haruka Kotoura, Kotoura-san

Anyone who refuses help with this phrase is convinced that they need to keep their problems secret and solve them on their own. This can only end one way: learning An Aesop about pride. Unless they say "leave me alone" and then add, "nothing's wrong", "I can take care of myself", or "it's none of your business". In that case, they've screwed up even more badly, and may get themselves killed before they can learn their valuable lesson. The character will eventually learn that doing things alone causes problems and accepts The Power of Friendship.

Of course, every now and then there's a character who is so badass that they really can handle everything themselves. They never say "Leave Me Alone". They say "you'll have to trust me", "don't help me when I don't want to be helped", or something that sounds equally high-minded. Unless, of course, they resort to the classic "Stay out of my way," in which case An Aesop about teamwork may not be far off.

Compare Don't You Dare Pity Me! and Think Nothing of It, both of which can express this in certain situations. Compare I Work Alone if it's characters who reject an offer to work with a team. Compare The Only One and Only I Can Kill Him if the character doesn't want help because the would-be helpers would be ineffectual at best or get themselves killed at worst.


Examples

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    Anime and Manga 
  • Kotoura-san: In the first episode, Haruka requested this from Manabe at the end of episode 1, as she thought his being close to her would eventually hurt him. Manabe talked her out of it, at least to try to be friends with him.

    Comic Books 
  • In Be Prepared Vera yells that she doesn't need anyone at her camp counselor Natasha after being shunned by the older kids, saying she's going home soon and she won't need to see any of the mean kids that have been picking on her ever again. She ends up at camp for two more weeks, and during that time makes a friend, showing this was just a boast after feeling friendless yet again.
  • The Incredible Hulk: Inverted numerous times and alternatingly becomes Mugging the Monster and/or Bullying the Dragon when the Hulk, and later Banner, tell the other heroes to leave him alone, and it turns out that they should have left him alone. One of Banner's few friends, Doc Samson even told them "The Hulk keeps telling you to leave him alone. I suggest you do exactly that." It's a given that if the Hulk was left to his own devices, he'd wander into a wilderness area far from any human encroachment and just stay there.
  • Watchmen: Said by Dr. Manhattan when he is mobbed by reporters.
  • Batman usually adds a "you'll have to trust me" to the line.
  • Kingdom Come: Uttered by the Parasite who attempts to surrender from Magog and his Justice Battalion. But as the Justice Battalion is made up of Blood Knight Nineties Anti Heroes, his cries for mercy are ignored, which kick-starts the plot of the story as he lashes out in fear, ripping through Captain Atom's suit, nuking the American Midwest. One reporter even points out that Magog could have averted tragedy if he had just listened to Parasite.
  • Contagion: The Urchin eventually starts shouting this at the heroes whenever they confront it.
  • Supergirl:
    • In Supergirl Vol. 2 issue #22, Joan notices her friend Linda is upset and attempts to reach out. Linda reacts badly:
      Linda: Joan! I said I didn't want to talk... and I mean it! Leave me alone!
    • The Supergirl from Krypton (2004): At one point, Kara gets angry when Bruce shadows her as she strolls about in the Fortress' Intergalactic Zoo and demands to know why he cannot leave her alone.
      Kara: Why can't you leave me alone?
    • Deconstructed with Post-Crisis Supergirl. Shortly after showing up on Earth, she asked her cousin, Batman and Wonder Woman leave her alone for a while as she figured her new life out. Unfortunately she spent one whole year completely aimless and screwing around due to Kryptonite poisoning altering her personality until she understood she needed help.
    • In Supergirl Vol. 6 #8, the USA Army tries to corral Supergirl when she is weakened. Kara just shouts "Leave me ALONE!!!" and flies away.
    • Supergirl kept this attitude for a long while in the Post-Flashpoint universe. When Superman and Supergirl argue in the Red Daughter of Krypton storyline, he reminds his cousin that she wanted him to leave her alone to live her own life since she showed up on Earth.
    • In Supergirl (Rebirth), the DEO troops attack Lar-On -a Kryptonian werewolf- due to a misunderstanding. Lar-On screamed "Leave [me] alone!" and tried to get away.
    • In Last Daughter of Krypton, Superman wants to help his cousin when he meets her, but Kara -who cannot be even sure that man whom she has just met is really her baby cousin- asks him to leave her alone and flies away.
    • Day of the Dollmaker: Although Catherine Grant blackmails Supergirl into helping her solve a case of missing kids, she cannot stop herself from constantly belittling the young hero. Eventually, Kara becomes fed up with her bullying, declares she will work on the case on her own, and tells Cat off.
      Catherine Grant: "But — But WAIT! I need—"
      Supergirl: "You need to leave me alone, is what you NEED to do."
    • Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom: Three days after Supergirl has lost to a Darkseid's minion, Superman finds his cousin sitting on the Moon, visibly extraordinarily upset. Superman says they are going on a vacation to another planet so she can clear her head and he can train her properly, but Supergirl says she only wants to be left alone. Resignedly, Superman states it was not a suggestion.

    Fan Works 
  • Child of the Storm has Harry occasionally slide into this line of thinking out of a mixture of trauma and desire to protect his friends and loved ones from the fallout of his adventures. Usually, this leads to him getting smacked around the head and told that he's being an idiot.
  • The One I Love Is...: In chapter 4 Shinji hurts Asuka and she runs away. Shinji looks for her and when he finds her, she is sitting under a tree and sobbing. As soon as he approaches, she screams for him to leave her alone.
    "Go away..."
    Her voice had barely been stronger than a whisper. It got definitely louder as I continued, as if I hadn't heard her.
    "Go away!"
    I continued to ignore her.
    "You're hurt, Asuka..."
    "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
    What stopped me was the look on her face, rather than the words. I had seen her angry before. I had seen her mad before. I had seen her sad before. But this... It was a look of pure hatred.
    "I don't need you! I don't need anyone! Go away!"
    This said, she pulled her legs up to her chest, let her chin rest on her knees and then closed her eyes.
    "Leave me alone... just... leave me alone..."
    This time, she had said the words between sobs.
  • In Thousand Shinji, as Asuka fights Gaghiel and goes berserker, she mentally screams that she wants everybody to leave her alone.
    Everything has to die! Die for your sins! Die! Die like momma died! Die and leave me alone! Always alone! Die!
  • At the beginning of chapter 4 of The Second Try, Asuka tries to drive Shinji away, so she repeatedly screams “Leave me alone!”. When Shinji refuses, though, she stops trying to push him away.
  • In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide:
    • When a classmate teases Asuka about her relationship with Shinji -a very sensitive topic to her-, Asuka lashes out screaming “Leave me alone!”
      "Shut up! I hate boys! I hate him! Leave me alone or I swear I will hurt you!"
    • After accidentally hurting a fellow pilot, Asuka tells Shinji that he should leave her before she hurts him, too.
      "Leave me alone," the voice that replied was weak, unrecognizable. It was quickly followed by a series of choked whimpers that let Shinji know she trying not to cry. "Please, just go away. It's better that way."
  • Done briefly in the fanfic The Dimension Hoppers with Cassie who is suffering from guilt due to an alternate Kendrix's death

    Film — Animation 
  • Anastasia: Dmitri tries to make Anya listen by telling her she is the actual Anastasia and he was the one who helped her and her grandmother escape, but she shouts this when she has had enough.
    Dmitri: Anya, please. When you spoke about the hidden door on the wall opening and the little boy. Listen to me. That was-
    Anya: No! I don't want to hear about anything that I said or remembered! You just leave me alone!
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame: After Frollo has Quasimodo chained up in the cathedral after tricking him into bringing Esmerelda and Phoebus into his trap, the gargoyles urge their friend to break himself free and save them from the stake. But Quasi, ashamed over what he did refuses to listen and tells them to leave him alone.
    Hugo: So, that's it? You're giving up?!
    Laverne: These chains aren't what's holding you back, Quasimodo!
    Quasimodo: Leave me alone!
    Hugo: (stricken) Okay. Okay, Quasi. We'll leave you alone.
    Victor: After all, we're only made out of stone.
    Laverne: We just thought, maybe, you were made of something stronger.
  • The Little Mermaid: Ariel says this when Sebastian tries to apologize for inadvertently telling her father about her grotto, which indirectly led him to destroy it.
    Sebastian: Ariel, I...
    Ariel: Just go away.
  • My Little Pony: The Movie (2017): Pinkie says this to Twilight after she snaps at her and the others when they call her out for trying to steal the seaponies' Pearl of Transformation.
    Twilight: (ashamed) Pinkie... I...
    Pinkie: I just can't talk to you right now.
  • In Turning Red, Mei says this to her friends when they attempt to comfort her in her room.

    Literature 
  • Shep from Dogs of the Drowned City says this to Callie when she worries for him and even calls her and the other dogs "yappers". He stews around for a while until he witnesses Frizzle's death, snapping him out of his funk and deciding to help the others from now on.
  • RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant: In The Warrior in the Woods, the Warrior keeps telling the hero to leave her alone and stay out of the forest, to no avail. Because her clothes are torn, old, and falling apart, he brings clothes his mother no longer wears to give to her. She initially rejects his gift, claiming she doesn't need anything and can't accept them anyway. She eventually accepts them just to get him to leave, but she is wearing them the next time he sees her.

    Live-Action Television 
  • Black Mirror: Cliff tries to comfort David after the death of his family. David screams at him to leave him alone.
  • In Degrassi Junior High, anyone who says "leave me alone" will inevitably come crawling back to the person who offered them help.
  • The Pretender: Some of the people Jarod tries to help want to be alone including a rape survivor who is too traumatised to want to be around anyone and a CIA agent with powerful enemies. Also when Jarod tries to help Miss Parker with finding answers about her various murdered loved ones he often gets this response.
  • In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Amok Time", Spock spends the first part of the episode refusing help from Chapel, McCoy, Kirk, or anyone else on ship out of embarrassment about the pon farr. Eventually, Kirk wears him down.
  • In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine one episode featured an ensign from a low gravity world who needed a wheelchair to get around in what everybody else considered normal gravity. She resented being treated like she had a disability and refused all help and accommodation that wasn't absolutely necessary and also requested to operate solo on missions because she could focus and not worry about slowing anyone down. The first half of the episode was one incident after another of her refusing reasonable precautions and help and getting herself into danger because of it.
  • In the Supernatural episode "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Two" (S02, Ep22), Bobby does not want to leave Dean alone after Sam's death, but Dean insists and ends up making a deal with a crossroad demon.
  • WandaVision: The fifth episode sees SWORD send a missile into the Hex to try to communicate with Wanda. When Hayward makes the mistake of firing a missile at Wanda, she exits the Hex to give him an ultimatum to leave her alone, which she emphasizes by possessing Hayward's men to turn their guns on him.

    Music 

    Radio 
  • Bleak Expectations: After getting dumped by his wife Pippa, Harry Biscuit (supposedly) quotes the Bible at Pip Bin: "Leave me alone, I'm miserable!"

    Video Games 
  • Final Fantasy VIII's Squall Leonheart embodies this trope. He even admits he's a complete wreck later in the game, but he still won't accept anyone's help because he can't trust anyone anymore. Trying to isolate himself only makes things worse.
  • In Tokimeki Memorial 2, this is the bread and butter of the Kaori events "Farewell..." and "The person I can believe in". Thankfully, the next day, the protagonist manages to find the right words to convince her not to behave like that. note  Kaori's "Watashi no koto o mou, kamawanaide" (= "Don't mind about me anymore") is one of the most famous quotes of the game.
  • In Sonic Rush, Blaze the Cat is like this at first, but grows out of it thanks to Cream and Sonic's influence.
  • In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Miles Edgeworth (a Jerkass prosecutor who has been a thorn in your side up to this point) is framed for murder. When you (as Phoenix) offer to defend him, he alternately ignores or insults you, trying to drive you away, even though it's obvious his situation is desperate and he has no one else to help him.
  • In Mega Man & Bass’s collectible CDs containing info about various characters from across the series, Wave Man is both quoted as saying the trope by name, and mentioned to behave like it as well.

    Web Comics 
  • In Weak Hero, after his defeat by Gray's hands, Wolf comes to consciousness and immediately tells his underlings to go away, displaying the same self-reliance that landed him as their boss in the first place.
  • The page image is from a Wilde Life plot thread in which Cliff, a mouthy, loner teenage werewolf, is befriended by another "animal person" named Raven. Except Raven is clingy and tries way too hard, and then things turn rapidly from annoying to terrifying...
  • In Yokoka's Quest, after teaching Grace a few phrases in Forest language, Mao tells her "Never talk to me again, I don't owe you anything". When Mao realizes that Copycat had watched his entire dream flashback, he walks away and tells Copycat and Kalliv "Leave me alone".

    Web Original 

    Western Animation 
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • Said by Zuko when the Gaang tried to help Iroh after he'd been struck by Azula's lighting.
    • Later, after his failure and near death at Ba Sing Se, Aang briefly adopts this philosophy and abandons the others to go alone, but is snapped out of it when the rest of the Gaang follows.
    • Also, Mai at the beach.
      Mai: You want me to express myself? Leave me alone!!!
  • Subverted on the animated Legion of Super Heroes series. Rebellious Princess Phantom Girl tells teammate Timberwolf that she can take care of herself. Cue monster sneaking up behind her...whom she hears in time and phases straight through. Played straight with Timberwolf in the second season, with Phantom Girl and Chameleon Boy being the ones helping out.
  • In the animated Teen Titans, Raven tried dealing with several matters on her own, from heartache to the end of the world. Try as she might, she couldn't quite keep her friends from getting involved somehow.
  • In The Powerpuff Girls (1998) episode "The Mane Event", Blossom—in seclusion after Bubbles and Buttercup had butchered her hair—simply tells the Professor to "go away."
  • In the episode "Apple Buck Season" of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Applejack attempts to balance harvesting thousands of apple trees and helping her friends who each have a task for her which leads to her being exhausted. After causing several predicaments in Ponyville, she accepts assistance only after realizing that she can't harvest all the trees on her own.
  • Danny Phantom has Danny say this to Jazz in "My Brother's Keeper" when he has to leave to go fight ghosts. This causes Jazz to think he's depressed.
  • The later seasons in Thomas & Friends use this trope a lot. Whenever an engine refuses to let the other engines help them with their work, they end up causing an accident, prompting said engine to learn a lesson that they needed help after all.
  • Fred in episode 26 of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated goes on his own to search for his real parents after issuing the line "Mystery Incorporated is dead."
  • The Beatles: The cartoon "Don't Bother Me" has John invoking the trope and the episode title as Ringo tries to alert him that two spies are following them on their taxi trip to the airport. The song itself contains the trope words.
  • In many episodes of Ready Jet Go!, Mitchell is trying to solve a case. If another character offers to help, Mitchell will usually turn them down, claiming that he works alone. Usually, this is out of shyness or overconfidence in his detective skills.

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