History Main / WaitHere

* Spoofed in ''{{Serenity}}'' when Mal goes to meet Inara, knowing it's a trap:

* Parodied in ''BigTroubleInLittleChina'' when Jack Burton tells several {{Sidekick}}s: “Ok, you people! Sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires burning. And if we're not back by dawn call the president.” Of course, they later go in and get captured.

* Jade in ''JackieChanAdventures'' lives and breathes this trope. Jackie will say “Stay here,” “Don't play with the CosmicKeystone,” “Don't try and fight the ancient evil dragon spirit.” And what does she do? The above. It's gotten to the point Jackie should carry chloroform and rope wherever he goes just to subdue her. Or accept she's his SideKick, train her, and let her be annoying/helpful like a more competent [[TheScrappy Scrappy]].

* Mickey and Rose do this in the ''DoctorWho'' episode ''The Girl in the Fireplace'', wandering off to explore after he just told them not to run off.

[[SuperSmashBros http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Brawl_Wait_Here_3274.JPG]]

-->“If the Hero says ‘wait here,’ it really doesn't matter whether you obey him or not. If you stay, you will be captured by the Evil Overlord's henchmen as soon as the Hero is out of earshot. If you tag along, you will be caught by the Evil Overlord's henchmen as you stumble along. Don't agonize over your decision.”
--->[[http://web.archive.org/web/20080224002204/www.geocities.com/evilsnack/sidekick.htm The Things I Will Do if I Am Ever the Sidekick]]

Examples:

-->'''[[DoctorWho The Doctor]]:''' “One day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet somebody who gets the whole ‘[[NeverSplitTheParty don't wander off]]’ thing.”

-->'''Sarah:''' “Why didn't you stay in the car?”
-->'''{{Chuck}}:''' “You know what? It's never safe in the car!”

* ''BuckarooBanzai''. When the Red Lectroids break into Buckaroo's mansion, he tells Penny Priddy to stay in his room. Of course she wanders off looking for him, which is both good and bad. Professor Hikita manages to pass the Oscillation Overthruster to her so the Red Lectroids can't get it from her, but then she's captured by them and used as a {{Hostage For MacGuffin}}.

* ''BuckarooBanzai''. When the REd Lectroids break into Buckaroo's mansion, he tells Penny Priddy to stay in his room. Of course she wanders off looking for him, which is both good and bad. Professor Hikita manages to pass the Oscillation Overthruster to her so the Red Lectroids can't get it from her, but then she's captured by them and used as a {{Hostage For MacGuffin}}.

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* As shown above in the page image, during The Subspace Emissary in ''SuperSmashBros'', [[MetalGearSolid Snake]] has been very clear to [[TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]] and [[SuperMarioBros Peach]].

* In ''{{Bleach}}'' Ichigo tells Orihime and Uryu to wait for him during the Grimmjow fight, [[spoiler:she doesn't, the resulting crossfire probably saves Ichigo's life… And causes his SuperPoweredEvilSide to give Uryu a nearly mortal wound]].

[[caption-width-right:278:[[GenreSavvy Like that will keep them still.]]]]

* Dawn in ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' often fell into this. (“Dawn's in trouble; must be Tuesday…”) Although to be fair, Xander had this happen to him occasionally (at least twice a season.)

-->'''[[DoctorWho The Doctor]]:''' One day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet somebody who gets the whole "[[NeverSplitTheParty don't wander off]]" thing.

-->'''Sarah:''' Why didn't you stay in the car?
-->'''{{Chuck}}:''' You know what? It's never safe in the car!

-->If the Hero says "wait here," it really doesn't matter whether you obey him or not. If you stay, you will be captured by the Evil Overlord's henchmen as soon as the Hero is out of earshot. If you tag along, you will be caught by the Evil Overlord's henchmen as you stumble along. Don't agonize over your decision.

'dead weight' (such as [[SmallAnnoyingCreature cute sidekicks]] or [[LoveInterests love interests]]) that might slow them down by [[DamselScrappy getting into trouble at precisely the wrong time]]. He'll tell the person something akin to "Wait here, if I'm not back in an hour, call the police."

* In ''{{Bleach}}'' Ichigo tells Orihime to wait for him during the Grimmjow fight.

-->"Obeying horror movie rules, I'm going to go out alone. You stay here while I go out looking for help." - Hajime
-->"Okay. God bless him. Leaving me here alone and defenseless in a cemetery. What a guy." - Momoko

* Parodied in ''BigTroubleInLittleChina'' when Jack Burton tells several {{Sidekick}}s: "Ok, you people! Sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires burning. And if we're not back by dawn call the president." Of course, they later go in and get captured.
* ''LastActionHero'' goes into this at length, but Jack provides a very pragmatic solution: ''a gun'' in the glove compartment. Unfortunately, it also gives Daniel enough leverage to follow him... and get captured. Le sigh.

--> '''Mal''': If I'm not back in one hour, you take this ship, and you come and you rescue me.
** I mean it. It's cold out there. I don't wanna get left.

* In ''TheLordOfTheRings'' (film), at Weathertop Aragorn says he's going to have a look around and for the hobbits to "stay here". Naturally it doesn't work out exactly as planned.
* In ''OceansEleven'', when part of the crew goes to [[spoiler: steal the "pinch",]] George Clooney expressly tells Matt Damon to wait in the van. He can't take the bickering of the two brothers and leaves, which leads to... complications.
* The 2009 ''Star Trek'' film begins with an "if I'm not back in fifteen minutes" line.

* In RobertEHoward's "The Devil in Iron" ConanTheBarbarian orders Octavia to do this. It doesn't work.
* The Temperance Brennan novels, on which ''{{Boness}}'' was based has this as a very dark RunningGag. Some cop tells Tempe to stay out of trouble, occasionally reminding her she's not a cop, and then circumstances and/or her own curiousity send her into trouble anyway.

* ''TheTwilightZone'' TOS episode "Still Valley". A Confederate scout gives orders to his partner.
-->Paradine: Now you stay here. If you hear a shot, you get back to the lieutenant at a fast gallop...If you haven't heard from me in 15 minutes, you get back there anyway.
* Dawn in ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' often fell into this. (Dawn's in trouble; must be Tuesday.) Although to be fair, Xander had this happen to him occasionally (at least twice a season).

--> '''Beckett''': Wait here.
--> '''Castle''': [[SarcasmMode Yes, we've seen how well that works out.]]
* In ''KamenRiderDouble'''s prequel movie, Shotaro's boss Sokichi tells him "don't move a damn step from here" during a dangerous mission. Being an impulsive kid, Shotaro moves, and unintentionally causes Sokichi's death, which becomes [[MyGreatestFailure his greatest failure]].

* Jade in ''JackieChanAdventures'' lives and breathes this trope. Jackie will say "Stay here", "Don't play with the CosmicKeystone", "Don't try and fight the ancient evil dragon spirit". And what does she do? The above. It's gotten to the point Jackie should carry chloroform and rope wherever he goes just to subdue her. Or accept she's his SideKick, train her, and let her be annoying/helpful like a more competent [[TheScrappy Scrappy]].

-->'''April''': I found the hideout. I'm going to check it out.
-->'''Leo''': No, don't. Wait!
-->'''April''': Okay. I won't wait.
* Disney's ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}''. While the title character and his monkey Abu are exploring the caves full of treasure, Aladdin tells Abu to "wait here" while he goes to get the lamp. As you'd expect, Abu sees a huge gem and goes to grab it, ignoring the warning they received to "[[ForbiddenFruit touch nothing but the lamp]]" and setting off a lava flow apocalypse.

* As shown above in the page image, during The Subspace Emissary in SuperSmashBros, [[MetalGearSolid Snake]] has been very clear to [[TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]] and [[SuperMarioBros Peach]].

[[caption-width:493: [[SuperMarioBros Mario!]] [[TheLegendOfZelda Link!]] Learn from [[MetalGearSolid Snake]], dammit!]]

* As shown above in the page image, during The Subspace Emissary in SuperSmashBros, [[MetalGearSolid Snake]] has been very clear to [[TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]] and [[SuperMarioBros Peach]]. If only their respective heroes, just for once, told them to StayInTheKitchen!
** No mysogyny intended, by the way.