History Main / ResignedInDisgrace

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': In the beginning of Season 5, following the public revelation that [[spoiler:respected businessman Gus Fring actually ran the biggest drug empire in the Southwest and had extensive ties to local cartel activity]], ASAC Merkert of the Albuquerque DEA is forced into early retirement due to [[spoiler:Gus being a close family friend]]. Merket is ashamed to discover that a criminal of such a calibre was hiding right under his nose for years and accepts the punishment. When [[spoiler:Hank discovers his brother-in-law Walter is actually the mysterious meth kingpin Heisenberg]], he understands the same fate will befall him if he actually [[spoiler:persecutes Walt, but nonetheless accepts this fate [[HonorBeforeReason if it means outing his criminal double-life]]]].

* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has Frog resign as Queen Leene's personal guard after Yakra is defeated, claiming he has disgraced himself for failing to prevent her abduction. While nobody else blames him, his permanently joining the party later delays his reinstatement until the game's ending.

* At the halfway point of the Colombian telenovela ''Series/YoSoyBettyLaFea'', Beatriz Pinzón (the titular "[[HollywoodHomely Ugly Betty]]") finds out that her handsome boss, Armando Mendoza, and his friend, Mario Calderón, two high ranking executives, were using her as their UnwittingPawn to scam their way to the top of the company owned by Armando's parents by having Armando stringing Betty along as [[TheMistress his mistress]]. At an important board meeting, Betty reveals the scheme, accepts responsibility for her role in the near collapse of the company, and after revealing to Armando's fiance that she's the mysterious woman he's having an affair with, resigns her position as Armando's assistant and bow never to return.

* Defied in ''Film/Dune2021'': when a Harkonnen assassin manages to slip the net and very nearly kills Paul Atreides, Mentat Thufir Hawat offers his resignation for failing to uncover the threat. Duke Letos Atreides refuses him point-blank on the grounds on the grounds that Thufir's services are desperately needed for mopping up any other Harkonnen operatives on the scene.

Compare and contrast ResignInProtest, GracefullyDemoted, InsigniaRipOffRitual, and ScrewThisImOuttaHere. May overlap with TreacheryCoverUp if the resignation is intended to forestall further investigation into the scandal. May also overlap with ContractualPurity.

* In the ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' movie, Sky Marshall Dienes resigns after the full frontal assault he ordered on the planet Klendatu ends in failure, with the invasion force forced to retreat and several hundred thousand soldiers dead in the operation (a propaganda clip says 100,000 died in one hour, but the casualty list on a hospital bay aboard a space station lists the total at over 300,000). His successor, Sky Marshall Maru, changes to a more cautious strategy by targeting the outlying Klendathu colonies first and to investigate Arachnid intelligence.

* By the end of ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'', [[spoiler: Norman Osborn has been forced to resign in disgrace from his position of Mayor of New York, having been undermined by the many civil rights infractions committed by [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Sable International]] on his behalf in his efforts to regain control of the city, his total failure to stop the Sinister Six, and his personal role in the creation of [[SyntheticPlague Devil's Breath]]. For good measure, [[MegaCorp Oscorp]] has suffered critical damage from the incident, and the only reason why Osborn hasn't ended up in jail is because nobody knows about the integral part he played in the creation of [[TheDragon Mr Negative]] and [[BigBad Dr Octopus]].]]

** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', Remus Lupin resigns from his post as Hogwarts' Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher after Snape outs him as a werewolf; though no complaints or demands are ever issued, he knows it's only a matter of time before [[FantasticRacism parents protest a werewolf teaching their children]], so he decides to bow out before the scandal gets going.

* In ''Literature/TheSumOfAllFears'' it's implied, and later confirmed in other Tom Clancy books, that President Fowler resigned from office after his incompetence and paranoia almost caused World War III. Also Fowler's National Security Advisor was going to resign after it was exposed he had an improper affair with a student while he was a professor, but an aneurysm did him in before the resignation could take effect.

The circumstances around the resignation itself may vary. Sometimes, the resigning character may recognize that their organization doesn't need to be lumbered with the burden of a personal scandal, and [[HeroicSacrifice politely bows out to spare their colleagues further trouble]] before things get any worse. At other times, things ''do'' get as bad as they can possibly get, and the character has no choice but to resign because business simply cannot continue as usual in the face of the scandal. In the absolute worst-case scenario, a higher-up may ''demand'' the character's resignation, usually as a more honourable alternative to sacking them outright.

* ''Series/{{Fargo}}'': In Season One, Bill Oswalt is promoted to Chief of Police in Bemidji after the previous chief is murdered. He proceeds to stonewall Deputy Molly Solverson's investigation into Lester Nygaard's involvement in the murder (and the death of Lester's wife), mostly because he's just too naïve to believe Lester was responsible. Towards the end of the season, when he finally realizes his mistakes have cost further lives, Bill willingly steps down and asks Molly to replace him as chief.

** In season 3, Major "Bunny" Colvin, the Police Commander of the Western District of Baltimore, realizes it's impossible to meet the demands from his superiors for lowering crime and simultaneously fight a war on drugs. He effectively legalizes drugs in three "free zones" and moves all drug traffickers there without informing his bosses downtown. When word gets out, Chief Burrell and Deputy Chief Rawls, worrying it's going to be blamed on them, blackmail Colvin into becoming the fall guy, demoting him to Lieutenant and forcing him to resign.
** Also in season 3, Roland Pryzbylewski's police career comes to an abrupt end when, while on a dinner run with [=McNulty=], he shoots and kills a plainclothes officer. Given the dead officer was black and Prez is white, he chooses to resign rather than face a potential trial board, despite the fact that the Major Crimes Unit has several black officers (Daniels, Freamon, Sydnor, and Greggs) who will vouch for Prez.
** Carefully avoided by Commissioner Burrell himself in season 5. The new mayor, Tommy Carcetti, was already planning to give Burrell the boot and temporarily promotes Bill Rawls to replace Burrell when a major scandal seemingly gives him the perfect opportunity to get rid of Burrell. However, Burrell refuses to resign and tells Carcetti that he will have to fire him, knowing that the white mayor forcibly replacing a black commissioner with his white deputy would look extremely bad politically in a majority-black city (their community leaders are willing to tolerate one of those posts not being held by an African American, but not both). Carcetti has to settle for making Burrell a figurehead still drawing a hefty salary for doing essentially nothing while Rawls runs the day to day operations. When Burrell does eventually resign, he manages to do so without being publicly disgraced, he keeps his connections to Baltimore's corrupt power players intact, and he has to be mollified out of raising a stink about the whole thing by being gifted a cushy job elsewhere.

* ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'' sees Gillian Loeb forced to resign after Flass testifies against him. This bit was AdaptedOut of [[WesternAnimation/BatmanYearOne the animated version]], which has Loeb use Branden as a fall guy.