History HonorBeforeReason / Literature

** In ''The Two Towers'', Aragorn makes a statement fitting this trope when the Brothers-in-Arms have gone into Fangorn in search of Merry and Pippin.
--->'''Gimli:''' Then what shall we do now? We cannot pursue them through the whole fastness of Fangorn. We have come ill supplied. If we do not find them soon, we shall be of no use to them, except to sit down beside them and show our friendship by starving together.\\

** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', the [[IGaveMyWord Oath of Fëanor]] is particularly problematic: the eldest sons of Fëanor feel compelled to fulfill their oath, even though this means doing things which are not only counterproductive but which they know to be utterly wrong.
** That's pretty much the plot of the Quenta Silmarillion: The hubris, stupidity, and irrational stubbornness of the good guys, especially the elves, does at least as much damage as Morgoth himself.
** Denethor also accuses Faramir of this in ''The Return of the King'', though unfairly. (Denethor feels that the Ring would have been useful to his country in the war, while Faramir believed it was too dangerous to use and therefore did not take the opportunity to get it from Frodo.)

* Galad Damodred, from Robert Jordan's [[strike:12-book trilogy]] [[strike:DoorStopper]] bookshelf-destroyer fantasy series ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', ''always'' does what is right, no matter the cost to himself or others. His half-sister considers him loathsome for this reason. He also joins the series' version of the [[KnightTemplar Knights Templar]], which created similar opinions in readers. This actually works in his favor in ''Knife of Dreams'' when he challenges an opponent knowing that his opponent was the better swordsman [[spoiler:only to win because his opponent was dragging out the fight to make Galad suffer. The result is that the [[KnightTemplar Knights Templar]] now follow him.]]
** This seems like something of an informed ability (or maybe "informed personality trait"?). Throughout the books, Galad is usually willing to help most of the other characters that cross his path, or at least doesn't look to deep into things when they blatantly lie to him. He's avoided the soul-scarring spiritual and mental anguish pretty much every single other person has to deal with, and has managed to purge most of the evil elements from his fanatically-loyal army, while getting them to drop their centuries-long "Magic is Evil" crusade in favor of fighting the true Big Bad. For a series that is all about tragic flaws, Galad seems to make his work.
** Also, there's the Ogier, who'll ''never'' go back on their word, a fact exploited by Faile in ''The Shadow Rising'' in order to [[spoiler:force Perrin to take her with him to the Two Rivers]].

*** Had they fought with modern weapons and techniques, the war would have been over in five months or less. They still wouldn't accept it, [[WhatAnIdiot because all sides figured that fighting like that would be dishonourable.]] The end result is losing almost half of their planetary population [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife for no valid reason other than foolish pride and misguided honor.]]

** Eddard "Ned" Stark from ''A Game of Thrones'' is such a classic example, this trope could easily be called 'The Ned Stark Mindset', hence the comic on the main page. The series being highly [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical in outlook]], this is a tragic flaw which leads directly to [[spoiler:his own death, his daughter's captivity, and his son's armed rebellion.]] However, the series plays with the trope quite a lot:

-->Ifi: You can morph too, dude\\

* ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'' but to be fair, he is a badass. As ''WebAnimation/OverlySarcasticProductions'' puts it:
-->Red (as Beowulf): Well, you know I've been thinking. Grendel's not really a warrior cuz he doesn't use weapons, right? Well, I think it's only fair if, when we fight, I don't use any weapons either.
* Byrhtnoth Byrhthelming, hero of the Anglo-Saxon poem ''Literature/TheBattleOfMaldon'' (fought in 991), has a horrible case of this: the Saxon army is on the mainland, the Viking enemy are on a marshy island with a one-man-wide causeway as the only way off, the Viking leader says that a really honourable opponent would let them cross and fight on open ground... and Byrhtnoth ''agrees''. The Saxons are crushed and he dies.
** YMMV here, as he may have suspected that if he didn't let them fight on open ground, they'd merely sail off and raid the next town over. He had the largest force in the area, and thus the best chance to stop the raiders, making this more of a SenselessSacrifice.

* Colonel Nicholson in the novel ''Film/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.

* Averted in ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'': It is Will's opinion that honor might make you feel important, but when fighting is a matter of life or death, you have to fight dirty.
** Especially when you're twelve, and going against grown-ups.
* Refreshingly averted in ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' (even though you'd be forgiven for mistaking the trope name [[IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming for one of its titles]]): most main characters, while definitely being persons of honor, hold those who enter LawfulStupid territory due to this in the very low regard. Especially the title character, who once suffered a command officer that tried to use this trope to cover his incompetence.[[note]]Said commander, later made an admiral, got his comeuppance during Haven's Operation Thunderbolt, albeit at the expense of the fleet he commanded and the world it was assigned to guard.[[/note]]
** Although played completely straight by the PlanetOfHats Montana, filled with rugged individualists who all put honor above reason. In fact, their chief law enforcement officer is open about the fact that if he felt strongly enough about resisting the annexation of the Talbot cluster, he would resign and fight it openly like his erstwhile friend rather than continue in his job where he is immensely respected.

* In Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings -- The Two Towers'', Aragorn makes a statement fitting this trope when the Brothers-in-Arms have gone into Fangorn in search of Merry and Pippin.
-->'''Gimli:''' Then what shall we do now? We cannot pursue them through the whole fastness of Fangorn. We have come ill supplied. If we do not find them soon, we shall be of no use to them, except to sit down beside them and show our friendship by starving together.\\
'''Aragorn:''' If that is indeed all we can do, then we must do that. Let us go on.
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', the [[IGaveMyWord Oath of Fëanor]] is particularly problematic: the eldest sons of Fëanor feel compelled to fulfill their oath, even though this means doing things which are not only counterproductive but which they know to be utterly wrong.
*** That's pretty much the plot of the Quenta Silmarillion: The hubris, stupidity, and irrational stubbornness of the good guys, especially the elves, does at least as much damage as Morgoth himself.
** Denethor also accuses Faramir of this in ''The Return of the King'', though unfairly. (Denethor feels that the Ring would have been useful to his country in the war, while Faramir believed it was too dangerous to use and therefore did not take the opportunity to get it from Frodo.)
--> "Ever your desire is to appear lordly and generous as a king of old, gracious, gentle. That may well befit one of a high race, if he sits in power and peace. But in desperate hours gentleness may be repaid with death."
** Bilbo in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' refuses to kill Gollum out of pity when it is clearly the most sensible thing to do, just like Frodo (and eventually Sam) refuse to do in the sequel. These actions led to the eventual saving of Middle-Earth, even when they seemed completely illogical at the time.

* Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse: In ''[[Literature/StarWarsLostStars Lost Stars]]'', the valley kindred of Jelucan, the older of the planet's two cultures, were exiled to the planet five hundred years before the Clone Wars because they refused to forsake the vows of loyalty they took after losing a civil war. Honour is ''very'' important to their culture, and violating an oath is considered unthinkable, even if it may be morally wrong not to do so. This leaves protagonist Ciena Ree miserable after she realizes that the Empire, which she chose to serve, is evil, because her code of honour prevents her from ever deserting.
* Franchise/StarWarsLegends:

** [[spoiler:Admiral Roland]] {{lampshade}}s this in the fifth book by pointing out how this verges on LawfulStupid: he could have [[spoiler:sent a discreet letter to [[strike:Napoleon]] ''anyone in France'' telling them where to get the curative mushrooms; someone as ingenious as Napoleon could easily have bribed a servant for a sample.]] This would have prevented [[spoiler:High Command's act of genocide]] ''without'' anyone knowing it was him.
*** [[WhatYouAreInTheDark Laurence would know though]] and explicitly says it makes no difference and is treason either way.

** The Kingsguard are sworn to protect the king, [[MyMasterRightOrWrong no matter how bad he may be]]. [[spoiler:Jaime Lannister broke this rule, having to kill King Aerys, an AxCrazy murderous rapist who was actively trying to [[KillEmAll kill everyone in the city of King's Landing]] because [[TheMentallyDisturbed the voices in his head]] told him to. As a result, [[DeliberateValuesDissonance Jaime is denounced as "Kingslayer"]]. However, this is partly because people thought Jaime was just being an OpportunisticBastard. Since Jaime was the only one who knew about Aerys' plan to destroy King's Landing, and refused to explain himself afterwards, he ended up looking like he was happy enough to indulge in Aerys' psychotic cruelty until it was clear that the king was going to be overthrown. That said, as Jaime himself notes, it remains that nobody was particularly interested in hearing ''whether'' he had an explanation - the fact that he had broken his vow to protect the king, even one as terrible as Aerys, was enough to condemn him.]]

** Late-game POV character Jon Connington comes to the conclusion that he put HonourBeforeReason in giving Robert Baratheon time to escape in the Battle of the Bells instead of [[KillEmAll burning the whole town down]], and resolves to be more ruthless in future. The reader is left to draw their own conclusion as to whether he is right.

** Prince Rhaegar Targaryen decided to fight like a proper knight and met Robert Baratheon for a 1-on-1 DuelToTheDeath during the rebellion. His knightly honor got him killed, as no amount of chivalric action and skill with a sword were going to stop a very large man with a ''very'' large [[DropTheHammer hammer]] and a severe hateboner for the man in front of him.

** Taken UpToEleven with Szeth. When his religion exiles and [[MadeASlave enslaves]] him as Truthless, he is absolutely bound to obey any order from whoever holds his Oathstone, however heinous, which results in him murdering his way across the continent as TheDreaded [[RedBaron Assassin in White]] when [[spoiler:Taravangian]] gets the Oathstone. This is not a MagicallyBindingContract; the Oathstone is just a rock, but Szeth is so duty-bound that he commits all those crimes, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone hating himself all the while]], rather than just walk away from it.

* ''Literature/Beowulf'' but to be fair, he is a badass. As ''WebAnimation/OverlySarcasticProductions'' puts it:

* ''Literature/Beowulf'' but to be fair, he is a badass.

* ''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.)

** The Kingsguard are sworn to protect the king, [[MyMasterRightOrWrong no matter how bad he may be]]. [[spoiler:Jaime Lannister broke this rule, having to kill King Aerys, an AxCrazy murderous rapist who was actively trying to [[KillEmAll kill everyone in the city of King's Landing]] because [[TheMentallyDisturbed the voices in his head]] told him to. As a result, [[DeliberateValuesDissonance Jaime is denounced as "Kingslayer"]]. However, this is partly because people thought Jaime was just being an OpportunisticBastard, since he was the only one who knew about Aerys' plan and refused to explain himself, so he ended up looking like he only betrayed Aerys when it was clear that the king was going to be overthrown. That said, it remains that nobody was particularly interested in hearing ''whether'' Jaime had an explanation - the fact that he had broken his vow to protect the king, even one as psychotic as Aerys, was enough.]]

** The Kingsguard are sworn to protect the king, no matter how bad he may be. [[spoiler:Jaime Lannister broke this rule, having to kill King Aerys, an AxCrazy murderous rapist who was actively trying to [[KillEmAll kill everyone in the city of King's Landing]] because [[TheMentallyDisturbed the voices in his head]] told him to. As a result, [[DeliberateValuesDissonance Jaime is denounced as "Kingslayer".]]]]

* Wanderer, a parasitic alien who co-inhabits the mind and body of a human named Melanie in ''Literature/TheHost'' is very pro-life. She lies, badly and obviously, in order to protect the life of a guy who repeatedly tried to kill her. In fact, she's so pro-life that when she realizes that being a parasite on intelligent species is wrong, she [[spoiler:would rather let herself die than be transplanted into another body and take away their free will. Fortunately for Wanda, her friends (a) disagree with that, and (b) found her a replacement body that was as close to her ethical standards as possible.]]

* ''Literature/TheReluctantKing'': When [[spoiler: Istrildis' new lover barges into Jorian and his group he angrily challenges him to a duel for her, accusing him of being an honorless coward when he tries to talk his way out. After Jorian beats some sense into him, he acknowledge how foolish he has been and behaves properly.]]

'''Everyone:''' ''(raucous laughter)''[[note]]In most locations, 911 is a free call, even from a payphone. Harry was just being evil.[[/note]]
** Considering that said Denarian [[spoiler:knew that the Knights wouldn't touch him because he surrendered the coin, regardless of the reason; then, before Harry beats the crap out of him, talks about how they [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured]] Shiro, the third Knight, and threatens Susan, the same woman Harry started a freaking WAR over...]] Of course, it deserves to be mentioned that [[spoiler:the same Denarian host comes back two books later in ''Dead Beat'' while working with the main villains, and tortures Harry in an attempt to get Lasciel's coin.]]

** The novelization of ''Literature/RevengeOfTheSith'' gives this as the reason why Obi-Wan doesn't MercyKill the dismembered and burning Anakin (along with the fact that he can sense Sidious' approach and my not have time to escape):

** It should be noted that Percy's fatal flaw is personal loyalty, which is basically an extreme version of NoOneGetsLeftBehind -- i.e., he'd put the safety of his friends and family over the safety of the world.

* In Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings - The Two Towers'', Aragorn makes a statement fitting this trope when the Brothers-in-Arms have gone into Fangorn in search of Merry and Pippin.

* Reepicheep the mouse from ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''. On one notable occasion, [[TheGoodKing Caspian]] has to sternly order him not to challenge a dragon to single combat. [[ArtisticLicenseMilitary When the dragon didn't have any allies anyway, and Reep did.]] The mice he leads are just as bad - when Reepicheep loses his tail, they all decide to cut their own ones off too rather than wear an honour denied to their leader.

** The first example is when Don Quixote [[WeHelpTheHelpless "rescues" Andrés from being flogged by his master]], Juan Haduldo. Don Quixote bullies Juan into promising to let Andres go, and he departs to other adventures, [[GenreSavvy because he has read that when a Knight]] [[IGaveMyWord gives his word, it’s enough.]] [[WrongGenreSavvy Unfortunately, this is the first modern novel]] [[RealityEnsues and Juan flogges Andres even harder.]]

Though usually a very pragmatic series, ''Animorphs'' pulls this one out of left field during the David Trilogy. The titular character is a SixthRanger the Animorphs have narrowly saved from capture, who in the process has been completely cut off from his family, his home, and everything he's ever known. Normally a pragmatic bunch, the Animorphs suddenly become unyielding sentinels of morality in dealing with him, forcing him to sleep in a cold barn rather than letting him sleep in a hotel room (which he admittedly broke into). Jake even goes so far as to ''threaten David's life'', which is especially jarring when one considers how often the other members of the team have used their powers for selfish ends. With all this dumped on him, it's really no surprise when David [[SanitySlippage snaps]] and goes SixthRangerTraitor on them.

* Though usually a very pragmatic series, ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' pulls this one out of left field during the David Trilogy. The titular character is a SixthRanger the Animorphs have narrowly saved from capture, who in the process has been completely cut off from his family, his home, and everything he's ever known. Normally a pragmatic bunch, the Animorphs suddenly become unyielding sentinels of morality in dealing with him, forcing him to sleep in a cold barn rather than letting him sleep in a hotel room (which he admittedly broke into). Jake even goes so far as to ''threaten David's life'', which is especially jarring when one considers how often the other members of the team have used their powers for selfish ends. With all this dumped on him, it's really no surprise when David [[SanitySlippage snaps]] and goes SixthRangerTraitor on them.

** Another ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' example from ''Literature/{{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.

** Prince Rhaegar Targaryen decided to fight like a proper knight and met Robert Baratheon for a 1-on-1 DuelToTheDeath during the rebellion. His knightly honor got him killed, as no amount of chivalric action and skill with a sword were going to stop a very large man with a ''very'' large hammer and a severe hateboner for the man in front of him.

* 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 "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.