Basic Trope: A character who does an immediate act of heroism.
- Played Straight: Bob saves Alice from a fall and lets Emperor Evulz escape.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob saves Alice from a fall, defuses a time bomb, rescues more civilians from drowning, fixes a few bent pipes, and lets Emperor Evulz live.
- Bob does what he feels is right regardless of his actions risking failure.
- Downplayed:
- Bob saves Alice from a fall, but goes off to fight and stop Emperor Evulz from terrorizing any more innocents.
- Pacifism Backfire
- Justified:
- Bob's parents are members of law enforcement, and thus he takes their principles of saving lives seriously.
- Being a doctor is Bob's job.
- Bob knows he needs more/stronger evidence before he can directly take on, the protected by Diplomatic Impunity, Emperor Evulz.
- Bob has a history with other former heroes who Jumped Off The Slippery Slope while pursuing greater, well-intended causes at the expense of becoming less considerate towards the lives of those around them. Bob does not want to make the same mistake.
- Inverted: Bob goes straight to Emperor Evulz before saving Alice.
- Subverted: Bob decides to rescue Alice, but Emperor Evulz stops him by tying him up with a rope.
- Double Subverted: Bob breaks free, briefly fights off Evulz, and manages to save Alice.
- Parodied: Bob saves Alice from a chocolate stain and wipes himself off.
- Zig-Zag: Depending on how dangerous a villain is, Bob rescues Alice or calls someone else to do so while he stops the villain.
- Averted: Bob decides to let Alice die and confront Emperor Evulz.
- Lampshaded:
- "You really can't resist saving lives, can you?"
- "The small things in life matter."
- Invoked:
- Charlie sets up a hostage situation to make Bob a better hero.
- As a Chessmaster, Evulz is aware that Bob will save lives and stop immediate threats even if it's irrelevant to the greater threat through video tapes his minions send him. Knowing that Bob will stop an immediate threat, he plans a Batman Gambit; send many dangerous criminals across every town to cause a large amount of mayhem to distract Bob from his real goal: Have a high-ranking minion infiltrate the nobility to poison the king after gaining his trust. By the time the King dies of poison, the high-ranking minion will become Chancellor, and Bob is too late to save the king. With a new, inexperienced king replacing the old one, this makes it easier for Evulz to manipulate the kingdom through the minion. In short, Bob's heroism is in vain by Evulz's convoluted, long term scheme.
- Exploited: Knowing that Bob is going to save Alice and a few more civilians in his lair filled with trap-doors, Emperor Evulz has placed bombs inside. The moment Bob enters his lair, he detonates them.
- Defied: Bob feels that saving lives are a waste of time, goes straight to Emperor Evulz, and kills him.
- Discussed: "It's always so nice to see Bob saving lives." "But the bad guys escape justice every time. Why doesn't he just stop them here and now?"
- Conversed: "He's dedicated to saving people and animals from danger. Why can't you be someone as brave and heroic as him?"
- Deconstructed:
- Bob saves Alice and a few others, but is too late to stop Evulz, whose plan has succeeded and ends up endangering more lives than he saved in the process, causing Bob to feel guilty.
- Realizing that saving lives will rendering him too late to stop Evulz plans, Bob realizes there are sacrifices to be made.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob's rescues and favors towards not just Alice but other innocents he saves ends up reaching the hearts of not only them, but other neutral parties and citizens that wouldn't care about Bob otherwise, and Alice's family among others decide to stop being Apathetic Citizens and begin to help Bob with bigger things that would be difficult for Bob to handle alone, including Evulz's future plans.
- Bob learns to handle his heroics more efficiently, and learns to bring backup and assistance to make sure that in case similar situations occur again, other people will help those like Alice in his place while he pursues the villains.
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