History HonorBeforeReason / Literature

%%* Lucy Pennykettle from [[Literature/{{Dragons}} The Last Dragon Chronicles]].

* Quite a few stories in the grim darkness of the future that is ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' have this as a theme.

* While ''Literature/TheZombieSurvivalGuide'' advises you to travel through urban areas as quickly as possible and not stop except under dire circumstances, an exception can be made if you want to assist other survivors. [[LampshadeHanging "Sometimes, logic must give way to humanity."]] (The rest of the book averts this pretty hard, though, and encourages the reader to be as pragmatic as possible for the sake of their own survival.)

* ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' fights with this trope at times, dickering over doing the honorable thing vs. the logical thing and angsting over his decision later. He plays it straight a couple of times as a PluckyMiddie, when he tries to refuse being transferred from the ''Justinian''[[labelnote:*]]a Channel-bound tub[[/labelnote]] to the ''Indifatigable''[[labelnote:*]]an active frigate with certain opportunity for career advancement[[/labelnote]] out of loyalty to Captain Keene; Keene is touched but scolds him and sends him off anyway. Not long after that, Hornblower refuses to take credit for stopping a privateer he was held prisoner because he "lost" the prize vessel he ''had'' been commanding. (It had been holed -- not Hornblower's fault -- and had a rice cargo, so it basically popped its seams and became unsavable.) He does that even though Pellew has waved off the loss of the ship as quite unimportant.

*** And it doesn't ''always'' work for Carrot -- see the [[CurbStompBattle curb stomping he took]] in ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'', as he tried to fight Wolfgang "the proper way".

** Another ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' example from ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'': 71-Hour Ahmed got his name from averting this trope. In the desert people are obliged to give one another three days of hospitality; the bond between guest and host is sacred, and considered inviolate by even the most seasoned killer. Ahmed was the guest of a man he suspected of poisoning a well, and thereby killing an entire village. After seventy-one hours he had put together the evidence necessary to prove his host's guilt, and Ahmed saw no reason why justice should wait even one hour -- and so his host became a head shorter. Ahmed became feared even by the D'regs, who despite being viewed as untrustworthy, bloodthirsty, and deceptive have their own code of honor.
** In ''Discworld/{{Snuff}}'' Vimes has reluctantly acknowledged that whatever his faults, Lord Rust is a man of honour, and it's just a shame he confuses honour with pig-headed stupidity. In a sort of warped mirror of how things work for Carrot, Rust valiantly led charges against an outnumbering enemy, and somehow his bullet-headed conviction that he can't be killed because he's acting honourably acts as armour. Shame about the men following him, though...
** The Assassin's Guild also works this way. They see themselves as gentlemen and always act that way, doing stuff like always dressing in black, even when black would be highly conspicuous. They do this mostly because if there was a legal Guild of Assassins that ''didn't'' subscribe to honorable (and thwartable) methods of doing things, then all anyone could do would be to sit in a room all day pointing a crossbow at the door. This shows up in ''Discworld/NightWatch'' where the young Vetinari is a much more effective assassin than most because he uses ''actual'' stealth techniques, but even he still switches to the traditional garb for the actual kill.

* In ''Literature/TheLostFleet'', after 100 years of brutal fighting, TheAlliance fleet has degraded to this, although their concept of honor has also "evolved". Fleet tactics have largely been forgotten, as every ship charges into battle and hopes to win through sheer "fighting spirit". For the same reason, commands of choice are no longer battleships but battlecruisers, which allow them to be on the forefront of any charge. Battleships are reserved for those who lack aggression, with the thought being that thicker armor and stronger shields will help to compensate their faults. Killing civilians ''en masse'' is perfectly normal in order to deny the enemy further recruits and ruin the economy. Prisoners of war are executed. Saluting is an archaic concept, except for Marines. When Captain John Geary is recovered from his HumanPopsicle state, he is horrified to learn what has become of the Alliance sailors and officers. He tries to reintroduce the concepts of fleet tactics and honorable behavior, while constantly arguing with those ship commanders who want him to lead them to victory ''without'' changing anything. It doesn't help that most expect him to be the legendary "Black Jack" Geary whose last recorded order was "close with the enemy" (it was actually his [[TheLastStand Last Stand]] in an attempt to let civilian ships escape).

* Colonel Nicholson in the novel, ''Literature/TheBridgeOnTheRiverKwai'', orders his men not to attempt an escape from the prison camp, because the circumstances under which they were captured mean that it would technically be against the rules for them to escape. He also helps his captors build a better bridge because they ordered him to.

* The Arkenites in the Franchise/StarTrekNovelVerse take their debts very seriously. In the Literature/StarTrekVanguard series, Klingons save an Arkenite outpost from a disaster in exchange for the outpost swearing allegiance to the Klingon Empire; the residents then refuse to back out. Even though they don't want to leave the Federation or help the Klingons, they all willingly keep to the promise even when Starfleet shows up trying to "liberate" them. To choose gratification over duty and refuse to repay their debt would, their leader explains, be unthinkable.

** The Lei clan patriarch insists on sticking with the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil, sending first Lowgolds against an enemy, then Highgolds, then Truegolds, and only if all of them are defeated will he finally fight himself. It would be an insult for him to fight directly before all his subordinates have been killed. Except in this case, their enemy [[spoiler:is Lei Long, one of their own, and he has a spear that lets him consume Lei family madra to get stronger. By the time the stronger Golds face him, he is more than strong enough to defeat them]].

*** More specifically, because he's a [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler prince in disguise]]. Presumably if he acknowledges his heritage and takes the throne, he would start running headlong into all the challenges of a corrupt, decadent city like Ankh-Morpork and be frustrated in everything he tries to do. The TheoryOfNarrativeCausality will support him constantly as long as he's an underdog but rightful leader, and not a minute longer.

* Ward of ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'': When two men come to his estate, explaining that they're after a slave who went to Hurog because he heard a story about there being no slavery in Hurog (a long-forgotten law that hasn't been enforced for a long time), and they now expect Ward's help in getting that slave recaptured, Ward calmly states that "[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome There are no slaves in Hurog]]". His uncle then explains that the ancient law of the land is that a slave, once in Hurog, is not a slave any longer. The men are not pleased, and they work for the king. No one wonders, as Ward has been ObfuscatingStupidity for some time, and no one expects him to make ''intelligent'' decisions, and he is known for his love of ancient ballads. The decision turns out to work in Ward's favor, as he has to flee the castle anyway (the men have also come to take him to an asylum because he's seemingly insane), and his own, magically bound slave Oreg (whom he cannot free) is ''very'' favorably impressed by the decision. Ward does not adhere to a concept of honor where you don't run away -- he happily does so, in order to protect the people on his land, who would die if forced to fight the king's army.

** Subverted in the case of House Arryn. Honor is a trait of House Arryn and it's heavily implied that the only reason the Starks are so honorable is because Ned was fostered with Jon Arryn. By the beginning of the series, the only Arryns prominent in the story are crazy Lysa and her sickly six year old son. There are other Arryn branches, but they aren't a primary feature in the story.

** Stannis Baratheon, too. He doesn't even ''want'' to be king, but he's going to fight for it because to his way of thinking, he's the rightful king whether he likes it or not. For the same reason, he refuses to ally himself with competing kings Renly or Robb Stark even though he badly needs allies against the Lannisters. Learning to compromise and put aside his personal grievances for the good of the realm is his main character arc, but his stubborn commitment to honour remains constant.

* In the ''Critical IF'' gamebook ''Once Upon A Time In Arabia'', an impoverished Bedouin tribe offers the player character their last scrap of food because of SacredHospitality- a gift which ''will'' mean they go hungry. If the player refuses, [[spoiler:they will fly into a rage and ''pelt you with rocks.'']]

* ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' fights with this trope at times, dickering over doing the honorable thing vs. the logical thing and angsting over his decision later. He plays it straight a couple of times as a PluckyMiddie, when he tries to refuse being transferred from the ''Justinian''[[labelnote:*]]a Channel-bound tub[[/labelnote]] to the ''Indifatigable''[[labelnote:*]]an active frigate with certain opportunity for career advancement[[/labelnote]] out of loyalty to Captain Keene; Keene is touched but scolds him and sends him off anyway. Not long after that, Hornblower refuses to take credit for stopping a privateer he was held prisoner because he "lost" the prize vessel he ''had'' been commanding. (It had been holed--not Hornblower's fault--and had a rice cargo, so it basically popped its seams and became unsavable.) He does that even though Pellew has waved off the loss of the ship as quite unimportant.

** Bilbo in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' refused to kill Gollum out of pity, when it was clearly the sensible thing to do, as did Frodo (and eventually Sam) in the sequel. These actions led to the eventual saving of Middle-Earth, even when they seemed completely illogical at the time.

** Geary starts giving captains [[InsaneTrollLogic interesting]] interpretations of any orders that don't involve a full offensive in order to ensure that they follow them rather than ignore them in favor of an [[AttackAttackAttack all out attack]]. Good examples are referring to a retreat as repositioning to attack from a different direction or getting damaged ships to stay out of a fight by personally tasking them with defending the fleet auxiliaries.

* In ''Literature/RedeemingLove'', LoveMartyr Michael Hosea’s attempts to [[LoveRedeems cure]] bitter, cynical, and manipulative BrokenBird Angel, who is a prostitute -— by marrying her and treating her as he would a pure, devoted, and faithful wife -— often cross over into this territory, especially in the view of the other characters, who urge him to forget she ever existed.

---->[[spoiler:Joffrey is not]] your son, he wanted to say, but the words would not come. The agony was written too plainly across Robert’s face; he could not hurt him more. So Ned bent his head and wrote, but where the king had said "my son [[spoiler:Joffrey]]," he scrawled "my heir" instead. The deceit made him feel soiled. The lies we tell for love, he thought. May the gods forgive me.

** Ned's [[HeroicBastard illegitimate son]] Jon Snow shows this trait as well. At one point, he refuses to kill an old, innocent man in cold blood, even though his refusal would forfeit his own life since [[spoiler:the group of wildlings he's with (as a FakeDefector for the Watch) would kill him as a result, preventing him from warning the Night's Watch about the massive surprise attack from these wildlings headed their way.]]
** HonorBeforeReason could easily be the Starks' back-up family motto. Those Starks who don't subscribe to this policy do so usually as part of distancing themselves from the House, although, at this point, [[spoiler:Arya [[SanitySlippage lacks honor and reason]], Sansa is a ManipulativeBitch in training, and Bran repeatedly {{Mind Rape}}s his mentally disabled friend.]] Benjen is probably the closest example of a Stark retaining their honour and not dying a horrible death or risking their life by doing so -- but even in his case, [[spoiler:he's been missing for three years and might be dead anyway, having achieved pretty much nothing in the entire series so far except for being a CoolUncle and one of the reasons why his nephew Jon aspired to join the Watch.]]
** The Karstarks (actual distant relations) are just as bad, if in a different way. They have honor, and are prickly about maintaining the letter of it. To the point of [[spoiler:taking umbrage when Robb has to execute one of their members for, frankly, being a grief-stricken, convention-breaking idiot]] which causes most [[spoiler:to turn coat]] instead of acknowledging the whole "stewardship of the North" thing the Starks have going on may occasionally lead to conflicts of honor like this. The insanity snowballs towards [[spoiler:a major in-family fight over who will inherit their own titles, let alone anything else]], at a point in time when the bigger seasonal picture is not that healthy for anybody not being able to pull together as a whole. Well done, Karstarks: you can shoot yourselves in the feet about as well as Starks can.

** In ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire'', mercenaries burst in on Luke Skywalker and some Bothan spies. One of the spies is shot but not with an [[InstantDeathBullet Instant Death Blaster Bolt]], and Luke refuses to leave him--and the Bothan dies, and Luke is captured, while those Bothans who just ran get away.

* ''Literature/WithFireAndSword'' (Polish: ''Ogniem i mieczem''), is an 1884 historical novel by the Polish author HenrykSienkiewicz set during the 17th century Khmelnytsky Uprising which ended Polish rule in what is now the Ukraine. In one of the early scenes, the Ukrainian rebels capture a town where there is a force of German mercenaries. The Ukrainians suggest that the mercenaries change sides and offer them a better contract than they had from their Polish employers. "You are mercenaries, this is not your war, what do you mind on whose side you fight?" But the mercenaries' commander answers "In three months' time our contract to the King of Poland ends. Then, we will be happy to sign a new contract with you". The Ukrainian says: "You don't have three months, we have to move on and can't afford to have at our back a force loyal to the King of Poland. If you don't change sides now, we will be forced to fight you. You are surrounded and greatly outnumbered!". To which the German answers: "It is our honor to be loyal to our contract and our employer, whatever the cost. If we lose our honor, we have nothing left". Thereupon, the mercenaries fight to the death against impossible odds rather than betray their contract, dying to the last and extracting a heavy price from the Ukrainians . (It is noteworthy that Sienkiewicz was an outspoken proponent of {{Romanticism}}, and the characters in his books - minor and major, heroes and villains alike - often tend to act in high-minded chivalrous manner.)

*** While Ned puts honor before expedience in [[spoiler:giving Cersei Lannister a chance to flee before going public with the news of her children's real [[{{twincest}} parentage]],]][[note]]Some people believe that the truly honourable thing would be for Ned to inform his friend of Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen's true parentage -- but between Ned's PTSD over the brutal murder of Rhaegar's young children and (if R+L=J is true) Ned protecting his ''own'' nephew from Robert, there's no way Ned wouldn't give Cersei the chance to protect her own kids[[/note]] [[spoiler:he is willing to sacrifice his own honor to do the right thing. He sacrifices his honor to protect his loved ones at least twice: first, if R+L=J turns out to be true in the books as it is in the television adaptation, Ned creates the story of [[FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo his nephew Jon being his illegitimate son]] to protect Jon, saving Jon from the fatal wrath of current ruling regime by hiding the truth that Jon is the son of his late sister Lyanna Stark by the deceased Rhaegar Targaryen. Second, Ned willingly confesses to crimes he didn't commit in an attempt to protect his daughter Sansa. Also, when a dying Robert names Joffrey as his heir, Ned -- aware of Joffrey's true parentage and unable to hurt his dying friend with the truth -- writes '(Robert's) ''heir''' instead of sticking to Robert's dictation of naming Joffrey.]]

* Colonel Nicholson in ''[[TheFilmOfTheBook The Bridge Over The River Kwai]]'' orders his men not to attempt an escape from the prison camp, because the circumstances under which they were captured mean that it would technically be against the rules for them to escape. He also helps his captors build a better bridge because they ordered him to.

* Colonel Nicholson in ''[[TheFilmOfTheBook TheBridgeOverTheRiverKwai]]'' orders his men not to attempt an escape from the prison camp, because the circumstances under which they were captured mean that it would technically be against the rules for them to escape. He also helps his captors build a better bridge because they ordered him to.

* Colonel Nicholson in ''Literature/TheBridgeOverTheRiverKwai'' orders his men not to attempt an escape from the prison camp, because the circumstances under which they were captured mean that it would technically be against the rules for them to escape. He also helps his captors build a better bridge because they ordered him to.

** While Ned puts honor before expedience in [[spoiler:giving Cersei Lannister a chance to flee before going public with the news of her children's real [[{{twincest}} parentage]], and mistakenly trusts that everyone will honor Robert's final decree]], he sacrifices his own honor to protect his loved ones at least twice: [[spoiler:first, if R+L=J turns out to be true in the books as it is in the television adaptation, Ned creates the story of Jon being his illegitimate son to protect Jon, saving Jon from the fatal wrath of current ruling regime by hiding the truth that Jon is the son of his late sister Lyanna Stark by the deceased Rhaegar Targaryen. While some think that the honourable thing for Ned to do would be to inform his friend, there's no way in hell Ned would sacrifice his own nephew -- the only son of his late beloved sister -- by turning him over to a man who approved of the brutal murder of Rhaegar's other young children, the memory of their deaths which still haunt Ned. Second, Ned willingly confesses to crimes he didn't commit in an attempt to protect Sansa.]]
** Eddard's son Robb Stark unfortunately inherits this trait. [[spoiler:Despite his pledge to marry a Frey lady to seal his alliance with the Freys, Robb marries another woman to protect her honor after sleeping with her [[SexForSolace out of grief over the deaths of his two younger brothers]]]][[note]]Unbeknownst to the Stark family, Bran and Rickon are not dead. Robb receives news that Theon (Robb's former best friend and the ward/hostage of Ned Stark) murdered Bran and Rickon when he took Winterfell. In actuality, Bran and Rickon escaped. Theon kills two other boys and presents their remains as the bodies of Bran and Rickon.[[/note]] [[spoiler:shortly after Frey men died fighting for him. This eventually leads to the Freys betraying Robb, resulting in not only his own death, but that of his mother and thousands of his men. While there is speculation that the Freys would have betrayed Robb regardless of his marriage to Jeyne since it's established Lord Walder Frey is untrustworthy and it is hinted the Freys are trying to get out of their alliance with Robb even before they hear the news of his marriage, Robb's Honor Before Reason inadvertently served as the Freys' motive for the unforeseeable slaughter at the Red Wedding.]]