Please, I Will Do Anything!

Evey: I'll do anything you want. Please don't kill me.
Fingerman: You've got it wrong, miss. You'll do anything we want and then we'll kill you. That's our prerogative.

— V for Vendetta

A stock phrase and a sentiment. The usual response is, "Anything?" A character, usually a sympathetic one, is all out begging another, usually a villain, for a favor—or to be spared some cruelty.

If the other is ready to listen, expect to be doing anything. A particularly cruel villain will take the pleading character at their word, extort something out of them that they'd never agree to otherwise, and then gloat and commit the atrocity anyway. Hope against hope that it won't cross over into Scarpia Ultimatum or even worse territory. If the villain is the one doing the pleading, that can be even worse, as it can be the perfect strategy for tricking the other side into lowering their defenses so they can launch a surprise attack, especially if the other side turns their back.

Related to Ain't Too Proud to Beg, but this trope is more about paying any price, while the other is more about giving up pride and defiance. It shows up a lot in porn and slash fiction.

Compare Deal with the Devil, in which this is often Satan's cue. Anything but That! often follows this trope when the demand made of the character is the one thing they never want to do. May be followed by I'm Thinking It Over!. Compare Villains Want Mercy. If "anything" turns out to be something simple like food, new clothing, and so on, it becomes a Mundane Wish or a Comically Small Demand.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Played for laughs in Bakemonogatari: the recipient takes their sweet time loudly and enthusiastically highlighting how great an opportunity it is, to the giver's disgust, until he comes up with something completely unexpected and rather heart-warming.
• Fruits Basket manga. Broken Bird Rin Sohma offers to sleep with her cousin Shigure if he tells her how to break the curse of the clan. He declines said offer.
• Gokujou Drops: Komari pleads with Yukio to sponsor her, insisting that she'll do anything to return the favor.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers: Italy says this when Germany finds him in a tomato box. Played for Laughs, obviously.
• A very squicky version occurs in Kimba the White Lion, in which an underaged cub Lea/Raya offered herself as a bride to the adult lion BuBu, in hopes of making him spare Kimba. Even Totto, Bubu's advisor seemed appalled by this.
• Kotoura-san: Young Haruka begs this to her mother in an attempt to get the latter to not leave the former. Kumiko pushes Haruka onto the ground, tells her that she wishes she never gave birth to her, and leaves her anyway.
• In Lucky Star, Closet Otaku Izumi Wakase asks "How much otaku talk is too much?" before finding out that Yutaka was watching on Patricia's end of the chat. When she begs Yutaka in person not to say anything about it, Hiyori has an Imagine Spot where Izumi says the trope name to a guy who's apparently willing to take her up on the offer. The real Izumi feels Yutaka should pick her friends more carefully...
• Peach Girl: Sae says this to Ryo along with Please, Don't Leave Me who she is madly in love with when he tries to ditch her to go off with Misao.
• Ranma ½: Tatewaki Kuno has a wish granting sword and Ranma (female) offers to do "anything" if he uses the wish for her. Ranma of course intends to first get the wish and so become permanently male before paying up- thus being safe from any shenanigans- but Kuno asks for a kiss first. Ranma just can't do it.
  • In a storyline involving the malicious Cheerleader, Mariko Konjo, she offers Kuno the chance to do anything with her. Kuno thinks about it, and simply doodles on her angering all the school boys who were hoping he'd do something perverted.
• In Red River (1995), Princess Alexandra of Arzawa offers herself as a slave (and implicitly in a sexual manner) to a "young boy" who has led the Hitite conquer of seven Arzawan cities, in a very heartfelt but incredibly misguided attempt to help her country. It turns out, however, that this Ishtar person is actually a girl named Yuri and she's already the concubine of a Hitite prince, so she makes Alexandra her Lady-In-Waiting instead.
• In the Rurouni Kenshin prequel To Rule Flame, this happens between Yumi and Shishio. More exactly: Yumi's best friend Hanabi has been bloodily murdered and her Token Mini-Moe other companions Akari and Kogari have been kidnapped. Fed up with the indifference of her brothel's owner and already embittered from her Dark and Troubled Past, Yumi offers herself to Shishio (whom she had Belligerent Sexual Tension with up until then) and says she'll be his lover in exchange for both revenge and the surviving girls's rescue. Shishio accepts the deal, fulfills his part with the aid of the Juppongatana, and from then on Yumi is his Dark Mistress.
• Cecily in The Sacred Blacksmith offers to give Luke anything if he'll help her save Aria. "If it's money, I will work for you until the day I die. If it's my body, you can do anything you want with me." Luke, being a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, helps out and doesn't ask for any reward.
• In the first episode of Samurai Champloo, Fuu says this to the man guarding our heroes who are due to be executed. The guard is rather annoyed to find that doesn't include sex.
• Kaede has this mindset in SHUFFLE! when she actually climbs in Rins bed naked in desperation and hopes he will stay with her and love her back.
• Tokyo Ghoul: When Mutsuki pleads with Kaneki not to leave him for his ghoul friends and one true love Touka he uses this phrase. He also tells Urie he is in love with Sasaki/Kaneki and says there is nothing he can do about it. He declares to Urie and Kaneki he would do anything if he could about his love for Kaneki.
• Guaranteed to make Yuuko's ears perk in Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- and ×××HOLiC. Lampshaded in one instance of the latter; Yuuko warns a customer desperate to have a magical photograph that shows her pushing another woman off a cliff destroyed that "one shouldn't say 'I'll pay anything' quite so easily." The customer insists, and so Yuuko grants her wish and names her price: the customer must never allow her image to be recorded on any kind of media ever again, or else her victim and crime will also appear in the recording. In today's society, with the prevalence of camera phones, security cameras, live TV broadcasts, and the like, she's essentially doomed herself to solitary house arrest for the rest of her life.
• In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, the mercenary duelist Titan becomes trapped in a hellish dimension after losing a Shadow Duel to Judai. After he makes this plea, Kagemaru hears him, rescues him, and gives him supernatural powers as a member of the Seven Stars. (Unfortunately for Titan, he later loses to Asuka—after making a Hannibal Lecture that she refuses to believe—and is banished back to the place. He isn't seen again.)

Comic Books

• Captain America: In an issue of Tales of Suspense, Captain America tells the Red Skull that he will do anything Red Skull wants if he refrains from destroying all of the U.S.'s major cities with a gigantic energy weapon. Red Skull makes Cap promise to serve him for 24 hours, which Cap does (It was the Silver Age). Cue Red Skull gloating about it on TV and the Marvel Earth citizens, fickle morons that they are, screaming for Cap's blood.
• Cerebus the Aardvark: In the first comic to feature Red Sophia, in which she offers it to him after he beats her it a sword fight (she attacked)... and instead of having her do something... erotic, he uses her as a pack mule.
• V for Vendetta: In the opening, the heroine is arrested for prostitution, the punishment for which is left to the arresting officer's discretion. She makes this offer. The policemen explain that yes, she will do anything—then they'll kill her. She is only saved by the arrival of V.
• X-Men: When the villain Nimrod was badly damaged and needed to be repaired in one alternate future, it attacked the home of Storm and Forge (who are married with two kids in this timeline). After killing Storm, it threatened to kill her and Forge's daughter. Forge tearfully begged Nimrod to spare her, promising that he would do anything. "Anything" in this case being full repairs. Present-day Forge, watching these events, is horrified that his future self aided Nimrod but acknowledges that if his daughter were threatened like that he would have done the same thing.

Fanfic

• Back to the Future Prequel: Doc begs Hank to release Marty, telling him "I'll do anything you say." Hank doesn't listen.
• A significant plot point in I Want a Refund. This trope is played with quite a bit. Nabiki promises she'll do anything for the boy who defeats Kuno. To elaborate, it is Invoked in an Inverted form, Subverted, Double Subverted, Triple Subverted, and then Subverted again.
• Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness Act II: In chapter 21, Mizore pleads with Miyabi to spare her mother's life using this trope, to which Miyabi forces her to have sex with him in exchange for her mother's life; it's made that much worse by the fact that Miyabi was Mizore's first. Immediately after doing so, once Mizore is out of earshot, Miyabi goes back on his word and personally orders Tsurara's execution to set an example to anyone who dares disobey Fairy Tale, and mocking Mizore for being foolish enough to believe him.
• Played for Laughs in the Tamers Forever Series Takato will only forgive Ruki for sleeping through his battle with Chaos if she kisses Chaos. She takes a third option and instead kisses Takato, since they're the same person.
• The Ultimate Evil: Shendu agrees to tell Valerie Hsi Wu's hiding place in exchange for something. Desperate to save Jade from the Sky Demon, Valerie agrees to do anything. He asks for two things: she has to avoid mortal danger and give him a kiss.
• In the Transcendence AU, demons love nothing more than being summoned by someone foolish or desperate enough to blurt this out. They usually take the opportunity to claim ownership of the person's soul.
• Broken Heroes: After forcing Sora to join the Organization, Xemnas finds out that he's been in contact with his friends against orders and threatens their lives. Sora begs him to spare their lives using this trope, upon which Xemnas makes Sora his slave (heavily implied Sex Slave).

Films — Animated

• Used as a Meaningful Echo in Disney's Beauty and the Beast: Multiple:
  • First when Belle is pleading for her father's life.
  • Second when Beast is hanging Gaston over the edge of the roof.
• The Incredibles has this exchange:
  Mr. Incredible: Call off the missiles! I'll do anything!
  Syndrome: Too late! Fifteen years too late.
• In The Book of Life, Manolo says this about being reunited with Maria after her apparent death. Xibalba responds by sending him to the afterlife.
• In the Disney film, Peter Pan, just when it looks like Captain Hook has the drop on Peter, Peter grabs the ship's skull-and-crossbones flag and wraps up Hook in it. In the process, Hook loses his sword, Peter takes it and threatens Hook with it, which leads to him nervously saying a variation on this line:
  Hook: You wouldn't do in old Hook in now, would you, lad? I'll go away forever. I'll do anything you say.
  Peter: Well... all right. If you... say you're a codfish.
  Hook: (swallows nervously) I'm a codfish.
  Peter: Louder!
  Hook: (wailing) I'M A CODFISH!!
  Peter: All right, Hook, you're free to go and never return.
• In Big Hero 6, billionaire Alistair Krei responds to an attempt on his life with this offer. However, given that his attacker is motivated by revenge for his daughter, whose death he believes was caused by Krei's reckless pursuit of profit, the implicit offer of money in exchange for Krei's life is angrily rejected.
• In Turning Red, Mei's classmates claim to be willing to give her anything in exchange for experiencing more of her panda form. One offers money, a second offers her kidney and a third offers her soul.

Films — Live-Action

• In Bent Max's general plan of escape from a concentration camp seems to be whatever it takes.
• Jesse does this to his foster dad in Free Willy, when he's begging him to help save the whale.
• A variation is used in Geppetto.
• The second joke example above is played straight in The Life of David Gale, though the two do in fact later have sex and her False Rape Accusation sets the plot in motion.
• In A New Hope Grand Moff Tarkin orders the Death Star to blow up Alderaan, invoking this trope to the captured Princess Leia in order to get her to reveal the location of the rebel base in exchange for sparing her home world. Leia gives up a location, but Tarkin orders Alderaan destroyed anyway.
  • Of course Leia was lying about the rebel base; the location had been long abandoned.
• New Year's Evil: The teenager Evil kidnaps at the drive-in becomes even more frightened when he says he doesn't want her money. She says in a quavering voice that she'll do anything if he doesn't hurt her, even promising not to resist if he wants to rape her. That is exactly the wrong thing to say to a misogynistic Serial Killer.
• In Oldboy (2003), Dae-su Oh begs his former captor not to tell Mi-do that he is her father, offering to be his dog. He ends up cutting his tongue out, which works.
• The Princess Bride: Inigo fighting the Six-Fingered Man who killed his father.
  Inigo Montoya: Offer me money.
  Count Rugen: Yes!
  Inigo Montoya: Power, too, promise me that.
  Count Rugen: All that I have and more. Please.
  Inigo Montoya: Offer me everything I ask for!
  Count Rugen: Anything you want... [attacks again]
  Inigo Montoya: [stabs Rugen] I want my father back, you son of a bitch!
• King Roland of Druidia in Spaceballs tells the hero Lone Starr that he'll pay anything if Lone Starr will rescue his daughter. Lone Starr agrees to do it for a million spacebucks (but, what with becoming a hero in the process of rescuing her, he ends up taking only 248 spacebucks for food, gas and tolls).
• Liliah in The Ten Commandments (1956), to save Joshua, the result of which is her marrying Dathan.
• Happens twice in The Untouchables (1987). First when George, the man who was checking the alcohol cargo in the Canadian frontier, gets scared after Jim Malone shoots a gangster's corpse while pretending the gangster is still alive to intimidate him and promises to talk about Al Capone's tax evasion. Then at the Chicago Train Station, where Walter Payne, Capone's bookkeeper, is held at gunpoint by a gangster and encourages Ness to kill him, promising he will tell anything about Capone's tax evasion in the trial.
• Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory: A wealthy woman’s husband is kidnapped. She answers to the cops that she’ll give his captors whatever they wish… until they answer that they want her Wonka bars. Not jewels, not money, but her Wonka bars. Suddenly she’s not so willing.
• Played with in The Eiger Sanction: Clint Eastwood as a college professor, who is approached by an attractive young female student before an exam. She suggestively tells him she is willing to do anything to improve her grade. After confirming that she can be home alone that evening, he tells her to "break out the books and study [her] little ass off."
• In The Ribald Tales of Robin Hood, Marian begs to Lady Sallyforth that she will do anything if only the torture stops. Lady Sallyforth is only too eager to take her up on the offer.
• The Suckers: When Cindy is captured by Carl, she promises him anything if he will spare her life and help her escape from Vandemeer's estate: offering him in sex and a large amount of cash she has hidden away from the IRS. Carl takes her up on the offer of sex, and probably would have helped her escape if Vandemeer had not arrived. Although Carl claims to have been stringing her along, Vandemeer decides that he no longer trusts Carl and terminates his employment: permanently.
• Waterworld: Helen tries to convince the Mariner to let her and Enola stay on his boat after his deal with them has technically ended and he doesn't have any real use for them anymore. When she runs out of options, she suggests letting him have his way with her after ordering Enola to go below deck. He considers it, but refuses.

Jokes

• An old joke involves a man in the desert who is so desperate for sexual release that he wants to screw his camel. But the camel escapes every time. Then, the man finds a crashed plane, and rescues a beautiful girl from it. She proposes to do anything as reward. So the man asks her to hold the camel.
• There is a joke about a Brainless Beauty university student who needs to pass an upcoming exam. She comes to her professor's office, poses seductively, and offers to do "anything" for a good grade.
  Professor: "'Anything,' you say?"
  Student: "Anything, Prof. You name it and I'll do it!"
  Professor: "Then, will you... study for it?"

Literature

• A Court of Thorns and Roses: When Amarantha makes it clear she intends to kill Feyre, Tamlin desperately begs for Feyre's life to be spared, saying he will do anything she wants. This is a big deal, considering he had been defiant of Amarantha for fifty years until this point.
• Nightfall (Series): Myra, when she tries to stop Prince Vladimir from killing the boy from the human farm. She even stops snarking and calls him ‘my lord’ and ‘your Highness,’ which she had repeatedly refused to do before.
• In the Dark series Razvan begs with Evil Sorcerer Xavier for his daughter's life, saying "I'll do anything.'' That's a mistake when you're talking to a sorcerer and it enables Xavier to take possession of Razvans mind and body.
• Lily in Harry Potter begs for baby Harry's life with "I'll do anything." It doesn't work, and she dies anyway. But not before making a Heroic Sacrifice that saves Harry's life.
  • Snape also begs Dumbledore to help protect Lily from Voldemort with this as well. Dumbledore calls him out. It's more played straight after the calling out though.
  Dumbledore: "And what will you do for me, Severus?"
  Snape: "What will I do? ...Anything."
• The Last Days of Krypton: Gil-Ex freaks out during the destruction of Krypton and is ready to do whatever Jor-El wants if the scientist who he's spent several chapters antagonizing can pull off an eleventh-hour miracle. Unfortunately for everyone involved, it's too late for that.
  Gil-Ex: Contact Jor-El again! Give him anything he wants. The Council will support him now, so long as he tells us how to save ourselves.
• Played for Laughs in Night Watch. When the Night Watch captures one of the Unmentionables' hired goons, they trick him into believing that he's in for some serious Cold-Blooded Torture and he squeaks that he'll answer any question they want. Vimes, being Vimes, immediately asks him about the orbital velocity of the moon.
• A Series of Unfortunate Events: Violet says this to Count Olaf in the first book when she learns he captured her baby sister Sunny in a bird cage and dangled her from the window of his tower. Count Olaf's response is "Anything? Would you consider marrying me during the play tomorrow?"
• David Gerrold's The War Against the Chtorr novel A Season for Slaughter. Jim McCarthy does this when begging Randy Dannenfelser for access to a prowler robot so he can look for "Lizard" Tirelli. Randy agrees even though he hates McCarthy — not because McCarthy begs but because he believes it's the right thing to do.
• A couple of examples in The Coldest Girl in Coldtown:
  • The gates of the titular vampire quarantine zone are festooned with posters made by people hoping to hire bounty hunters to purchase a loved one's freedom from quarantine through the capture of a vampire. One of the posters names the reward as "anything we have, anything you might want, anything at all".
  • At the climax, a cornered villain tells his enemy "I will give you anything" and "I will make every single impossible dream you've had come true" if she spares him. She forces him to confess his greatest crime to the world, then kills him anyway.
• A Good is Not Nice version in The Executioner novel Panic in Philly. This is The Mafia don's response when he discovers that Mack Bolan has not only infiltrated his operation posing as a Mafia Commission Professional Killer, but has sent his own son to the Commission bearing the head of Mack Bolan — actually the man Bolan has Killed And Replaced. Bolan responds coldly, "No way. That was my grand slammer."

Live-Action TV

• The 100: Clarke Griffin does this in Wanheda Part Two when she has been kidnapped by Roan (who is seemingly taking her to her death) and Bellamy comes to rescue her but is captured by Roan himself. Roan puts a knife to Bellamy's throat and is about to kill him when Clarke pleads for Bellamy's life by offering to go with Roan without resistance. Roan agrees to the deal and lets Bellamy live, though he does knock Bellamy out.
  Clarke: "No, please. Please don't! I'll do anything! I'll stop fighting. Just please don't kill him!"
• On Angel, Angel's sworn enemy, Holtz manages to get his hands on Angel's baby son, Connor. Holtz threatens to break his neck unless Angel allows him to take the baby away. Angel not only agrees but, when it seems like Holtz is faltering, begs him to simply take the boy, instead of hurting him.
• Parodied in Blackadder Goes Forth when Blackadder discovers Bob, a woman disguised as a male soldier.
  Bob: "Oh, sir, please don't give me away, sir! [...] I want to do my bit for the boys, sir."
  Blackadder: "Oh. Really."
  Bob: "I'd do anything, sir!"
  Blackadder: "...yes, I'd keep that to myself if I was you, Bob."
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Woman-hating Sinister Minister Caleb to the Victim of the Week.
  "Well, now, is this the part where you offer to do anything? Because I tried to make it clear; you got nothin' I want to explore."
  • Harmony offers to do anything for Spike if he'll keep her safe from Buffy. After some hinting she realises he expects sex in exchange for protection and is perfectly fine with that arrangement.
• Invoked in Cold Case by serial killer George Marks as he's talking "hypothetically" about his crimes.
  Marks: The things a female will beg to do, if only you'll let her live.
• On Dexter, a woman captured by Trinity begs for her life when he tries to force her to jump off a building.
  Woman: I'll do anything!
  Trinity: Good. Jump.
• Doctor Who: The Doctor says this pretty much word for word in the Season 4 finale when the Daleks captured him and his Tardis and make him watch as his Tardis (with Donna inside it) is sent to the core of the ship to be incinerated.
• Game of Thrones: Once Fat Walda realizes that Ramsay intends to kill her and her newborn baby, she pleads that she will return to the Riverlands and will never come back to the North. Unfortunately, Ramsay doesn't listen to her.
• How I Met Your Mother: The beginning of the "Let's Go to the Mall" video that Barney shows on his laptop in an episode plays around with this trope.
• Iron Fist (2017). Ward begs Bakuto not to make Joy watch the decapitation of her father, saying he'll give him anything. What does Bakuto ask for?
  Bakuto: Your phone.
  Ward: What?
  Bakuto: [slowly] Your phone.
  Ward: Why?
  Bakuto: Well, obviously, I'd like to make a call.
• In the Live Action TV show of Jin, Kyotaro, a samurai, privately begs actor Sawamura for money and declares he would do anything (though not with the exact words.) Sawamura tells him to "partake in a show"—that show being to prostrate himself before Sawamura in the streets and publicly plead, which Kyotaro does.
• Lost: Kate does one of these in "I Do" when Pickett is threatening to shoot Sawyer, but then Jack calls on the walkie-talkie Just in Time and saves the day, more or less.
• Once Upon a Time: Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold gets some variation of this often. Usually along the lines of "I'll pay any price." At least once, when dealing with Anna, he gleefully says to himself, "I love it when they say that!"
• Stargate Atlantis: John Sheppard offers this to his arch-enemy Koyla, when Koyla threatens to shoot John's commander and close friend Elizabeth. Notable because only minutes before Sheppard was blithey baiting Koyla and taking down his men, despite Koyla having the city under his control. The moment he directly threatened Elizabeth, John lost it and switched to outright begging.
  Koyla: "Say goodbye to Doctor Weir."
  John: "Kolya?! Kolya?! I'll give you a ship! I'll fly it out of here for you myself! KOLYA!!"
• In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Encounter at Farpoint", when Picard believes his away team to be in danger, he makes said bargain in exchange for Q bringing them back. When they're teleported to the bridge, he echoes the bargain to Picard. But it wasn't Q who brought them back, but the creature.
• In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Maquis, Part II", Quark discusses this trope with a Vulcan Maquis member Sakonna. Citing the Third Ferengi Rule of Acquisition, "Never spend more than an acquisition is worth," Quark argues that Sakonna's declaration that the Maquis will "pay any price" to insure peace is illogical; since the Cardassian government's plan to provide Cardassian settlers with illegal weapons has been foiled, "The price of peace is at an all-time low."
• In Torchwood: Children of Earth, Jack pleads with the 456 to spare Ianto's life when it released a virus in the building where both he and Ianto were.
  456: You said you would fight.
  Jack: Then I take it back, alright? I take it all back, but not him!
• In the pilot episode of Westworld, Dolores Abernathy is being dragged off by the Man in Black to be raped. Her love interest tries to intervene only to get shot. To prevent him being killed, Dolores begs this trope, but the Man in Black rejects the idea, saying it's more fun when she resists.

Music

• The Meat Loaf song I would do anything for love (but I won't do that). Believe it or not, the song was inspired by an argument over buying a box of raisins.

Theatre

• Though not stated in dialogue, in the Dream Ballet from Oklahoma! Laurey suggests that she will do anything to have Jud spare Curly's life.
• In Oliver!, the song "I'd Do Anything" is mostly one guy saying he'd do anything for a girl, and the girl making ridiculous or strange suggestions, to all of which he agrees. Then Fagin co-opts it, and does the routine with his gang of loyal street urchins, and his suggestions are a little darker.
• In Salome, Herod makes a solemn vow to give Salomé whatever she desires after she has danced for him. When she demands the head of Jokanaan in a silver charger, he objects and suggests a Long List of priceless things he could give her. "Give me the head of Jokanaan", she insists.
• Leonora in Il trovatore offers herself to the Conte Di Luna in exchange for her beloved Manrico's life. But, little does Di Luna know, Leonora ingests poison after he agrees. So, by the time Manrico has been set free, she remain faithful to him forever in death.
• Though not expressly named, there are overtones of this in Macbeth when Macduff's response to Malcolm's assertion that he is a deviant with an insatiable sexual appetite is "We have women enough." Thankfully, this is a Secret Test of Character on Malcolm's part, which has made the scene problematic, if not completely baffling, for actors and scholars.

Video Games

• The love interest of the main character in Away Shuffle Dungeon swore to do anything as long as the "Away" didn't take him. This resulted in it taking not only her, but the whole freaking village in exchange.
• Ella's response to Ser Alrik in the Dragon Age II quest "Dissent":
  Ella: Please, no! Don't make me Tranquil! I'll do anything!
  Ser Alrik: That's right. Once you're Tranquil, you'll do anything I ask.
• A variation occurs in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. When Mario asks Goldbob permission to use the giant cannon, Goldbob asks what it's worth to him. There are three responses; if Mario answers "Everything I have!" Goldbob asks twice if he's sure, then gives him permission. (This is actually a Secret Test of Character; while he does take all of Mario's things, he gives them all back a minute later.)
• A particularly cruel version exists in Suikoden II. There's this villager who had her village utterly massacred by Luca Blight. She begs that she be spared if she does anything. Luca thinks a bit and forces her to act like a pig. She did so. Once the deed is done... Luca kills her anyway with this reasoning: "DIE, PIG!!!!"
• Upon finding the tomb in which Frostmourne was held in Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos, Prince Arthas declared "Spirits of this place! I will do anything, pay any price, if only you will help me save my people!" This... didn't end well for him.
• In the King of Dragon Pass setting, Orlanth was so horrified by Thed's injuries that he offered her anything when she demanded he make reparations for his vassal's violence. So Thed (who was not a good person) asked to be made the goddess of rape "so that Orlanth’s own wife and daughters would fear the same thing forever." After that, Orlanth made rules on what victims could request as compensation and how much.
• In Darksiders, Tiamat tries this on War after her Boss Battle, overlapping with Deal with the Devil and Villains Want Mercy.
  Tiamat: ... I am... one of the Chosen... I can grant... your every wish...
  War: Can you restore the balance?
• Cuphead starts with this when Cuphead loses his and Mugman's souls to the Devil at his casino. Both Cuphead and Mugman get on their knees and beg if there's anything they can do to save their souls. The Devil agrees to their request, tasking them with collecting the soul contracts of every other person in debt to him.
• Done straight as can be in Um Jammer Lammy. After Lammy realizes that she has just forgotten her guitar on a plane she helped land, she happens upon a guitar store and begs the proprietor, Paul Chuck, to give her one. Upon answering her with the token "Anything?", he whips out a chainsaw, scaring her half to death, but it turns out that he's going to make her saw down a tree and create a guitar out of the wood.

Webcomics

• I Love Yoo: When Shin-Ae's father falls into a coma she is desperate, and cashes in the 'favor' she got from Kousuke in order to get money, saying that she will work for as long as it takes to pay it off. She also goes to the black and white formal because of this.
• The Order of the Stick: When Nale is annoyed that Sabine met up with another of her old flames, she suggests, to make it up to him, they could play "Evil Conqueror and the Innocent Virgin"; Nale says that this time, he gets to play the conqueror.
  "Oh, no! I'll do anything to keep my parents from being executed, Your Evilness! Anything!"
• According to Penny Arcade, this is the fifth stage of hacked-account grief.
• In Schlock Mercenary, Elf is captured along with several others. As their captor gives the command to kill Kevyn Andreyasn, Elf pleads with him and desperately says "I... I'll do anything." Defied in that their captor is an alien and has no interest in human females, telling her contemptuously that she has "nothing with which to negotiate."

Web Original

• The Nostalgia Critic:
  • He does this in the Tom and Jerry movie review, where he really doesn't want to listen to another song.
  Critic: "I'll do anything! I'll do your taxes, shave your back... prostitute myself for money! Just please not another song!"
  • More seriously in one of Hyper's post-kidnapping vlogs, as he tiredly asks her if he does what she wants will she leave him be. The answer's no.
• Subverted in one of Ellie Kemper's early web sketches, she plays a college student begging her professor for a better grade, and suggestively offering to do anything. Cut to a shot of her murdering one of his rivals.
• The "Then Perish" meme originated from a bizarre RP over text message where one person is trapped in a cave that is slowly flooding with water, only for Barack Obama to suddenly show up. The trapped person then starts begging Obama to rescue them.
  Trapped Person: M-mr obama pwease im drowning H-hewwo im scawed
  Ill do anything fow you mr obama pwease hewp
  Obama: Anything?
  Trapped Person: Anything for you mr obama :3
  Obama: Then perish
  [close-up of Obama's eyes with red filter]

Western Animation

• This is the biggest part of the plot of the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Joker's Favor". To summarize: A blue-collar worker named Charlie Collins was having a very bad day, and when he was coming home from work, a rude motorist cutting him off the last straw; he cussed the man out in a fit of road rage, only to find out, to his horror, it was the Joker. The villain chased the poor man down, and when Charlie begged for his life, making this exact plea, the Joker took him up on it, promising to let him go if he agreed to do him a favor, saying he'd think of one later. For two years, the Joker kept track of Charlie like a sadistic "hobby" (Charlie moving to Ohio with his family and changing his name didn't help much), then called him to tell him he wanted him to make good on that promise. The "favor" was part of the Joker's plan to infiltrate a testimonial dinner for Commissioner Gordon and plant a bomb; Charlie simply had to hold the door open. However, Charlie then found his hand glued to the doorknob, the Joker telling him he never said he'd let him live this time. Charlie got even in spades however, after Batman foiled the plan; after confronting the Joker in an alley and belting him across the face, he responded to his threat by producing a bomb of his own and threatening to kill both of them. Horrified at the thought of being killed in such a humiliating way (and realizing this wasn't fun anymore) the Joker surrendered all the information he had on Charlie and his family before Batman hauled him away.
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers: A rare villain-towards-hero example occurs in "Smog Hog", when Greedly realizes that his latest scheme has poisoned his own son to the point of coma. Greedly begs the Planeteers to call Captain Planet to save his son, even stating that he doesn't care how much it costs. Being the heroes, the group doesn't demand anything other than Greedly giving back the factory he stole (thus starting this whole mess) and helping them retrieve Linka's ring so that they actually can call Captain Planet full-strength.
• In The Four Tasks Of Danger Mouse, DM tells Count Duckula he'll do anything to obtain two tail feathers from him (as part of a deal to Baron Greenback, who has taken Penfold prisoner). Duckula's request: "Can you get me on television?"
• DuckTales (2017): Surprisingly, Magica De Spell pleads this not for herself but for her brother who she accidentally transformed into a non-andromorphic raven. She begs Scrooge, who she was trying to curse in the first place to stop him from flying off, offering her throne, her powers, everything she has to keep her brother from disappearing into the world as another anonymous raven. Scrooge refuses, something even he's a bit guilty about years later.
• Gargoyles:
  • The Weird Sisters ask MacBeth what he would be willing to trade for Demona's aid in protecting his family and kingdom. He answers, "Anything."
  • After openly defying him, Oberon punishes Puck by stripping him of his powers and banishing him from Avalon. Puck is horrified and begs with his lord to reconsider, promising he will do anything. Oberon just scoffs at this.
• Used by Tahno in The Legend of Korra as he begs Amon not to take his bending away. It doesn't work.

• In Gravity Falls, a plea like this serves as the last words of Bill Cipher, who is pleading for mercy from Stan just before the latter punches and destroys him.
  Bill Cipher: "You're making a mistake! I'll give you anything! Money, fame, riches, infinite power, YOUR OWN GALAXY! PLEASE, NO!

Other

• Something of a pornography staple, or so we've been told.
• Abusive Parents (and spouses) are often so hard on their children/spouses for the littlest of screw-ups that they may display this behavior, even with others outside of the abuser. This is due to being conditioned into the idea that every mistake they make is their fault, and that the only response will be Disproportionate Retribution. People unaware of the victim's situation will often be confused, worried, or feel as if they constantly have to reassure the victim that they are alright, and nobody is mad at them.

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