History Main / WaitHere

Whenever our hero has to go off and do something important, they first decide to dump off any "dead weight" (such as [[SmallAnnoyingCreature cute sidekicks]] or LoveInterests) 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, [[IfIDoNotReturn if I'm not back in an hour]], call the police."

* The companions frequently try to do this to Princess Eilonwy in the ''Literature/ChroniclesOfPrydain''. It works about as well as you expect, given that Eilonwy is a textbook RebelliousPrincess.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "The Mean 6" while Pinkie is trying to calm Fluttershy down, the Mean Twilight shows NoSympathy and tells both to stay put while she leaves to get the others. Seconds after her departure however, the real Twilight shows up, causing a heated argument between her and Pinkie about each other's impeded horrible behavior.

* Disney's ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}''. While Aladdin 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.
* ''Disney/{{Bambi}}'': Bambi's mother telling him to wait while she checks the meadow to make sure its safe.
* In ''Disney/{{Moana}}'', Maui wants Moana to stay behind when he goes for the Realm of Monsters to snatch his fish hook from Tamatoa. Of course, she refuses which he grudgingly accept. When they are done with Tamatoa, Maui admits that Moana was a life saver.

* ''Series/{{CSI NY}}'' 'Point of No Return' has Mac tell Danny to wait by the car while they go in on a bust because Danny forgot his vest. Danny waits, but when the suspect runs out and into another area, Danny follows him anyway and ends up trying to survive a shooting match.

* In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', at Weathertop Aragorn says he's going to have a look around and for the hobbits to "stay here." They do. Unfortunately, three of the four decide to pass the time while he's gone by ''[[TooDumbToLive lighting a highly visible fire]]'', thus attracting the attention of the Ringwraiths anyway.

* As shown above in the page image, during The Subspace Emissary in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', [[Franchise/MetalGear Snake]] is very clear to [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]] and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Peach]]. They don't actually listen to him, but do manage to make themselves quite useful. Peach manages to recruit Fox, and they both help out in the fight against Duon, after which Peach adds yet ''another'' useful member into the team: Mr. Game & Watch.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': The 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.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episodes

* As shown above in the page image, during The Subspace Emissary in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', [[Franchise/MetalGear Snake]] is very clear to [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]] and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Peach]].
** Although they don't listen to him, they actually don't get into any trouble and make themselves quite useful. Peach manages to recruit Fox, and they both help out in the fight against Duon, after which Peach adds yet ''another'' useful member into the team: Mr. Game & Watch.

Whenever our hero has to go off and do something important, they first decide to dump off any "dead weight" (such as [[SmallAnnoyingCreature cute sidekicks]] or LoveInterests) 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."

* ''Film/MadMaxBeyondThunderdome''. Max tells the Feral Children to wait out in the desert while he slips into Bartertown and rescues Master. Irresistibly drawn by the lights of civilization, they follow him in.

* ''Film/MadMaxBeyondThunderdome''. Max tells the children to wait out in the desert while he slips into Bartertown and rescues Master. Irresistibly drawn by the lights of civilization, they follow him in.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/040d66ac317acbcca91cb75162dbc40e.jpg]]]]

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As illustrated above, being left somewhere is something of a no-win situation, as the [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption laws of drama necessitate]] you either getting captured if you stay put or getting captured if you stumble off. If heroes were the least bit GenreSavvy, they'd realize that it's safer to keep TheLoad where you can keep an eye on them.

Often parodied if the character being told to wait is incapacited and thus unable to do anything ''other'' than wait. See HeroHarassesHelpers for when the hero rudely rejects the help of other characters to fight with him. Not to be confused with FineYouCanJustWaitHereAlone.

* Film/AceVentura tells a character that if he doesn't come back in 5 minutes, just wait longer.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost'' episode "The Final Encounter''. Before Space Ghost enters the Council of Doom's planet for their final confrontation, he orders Jan and Jace to to stay outside. After they hear explosions inside the planet, Jace decides they should go inside and help Space Ghost.

* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension''. 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 him, but then she's captured by them and used as a HostageForMacGuffin.

* Inversion: WesternAnimation/DangerMouse orders this to Penfold while he investigates a disturbance at Stonehenge ("The Good, the Bad and the Motionless"). When Penfold pprtests in panic over being left alone:

* Webcomic/EvilDiva: First Dad tells her, then [[http://www.evildivacomics.com/?p=330 she tells Cerby]].

See HeroHarassesHelpers for when the hero rudely rejects the help of other characters to fight with him. Not to be confused with FineYouCanJustWaitHereAlone.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' As shown on the quotes page, the Doctor has been facing this problem for forty years. RuleNumberOne is "Don't wander off" yet the companions always do.
** Mickey and Rose do this in the episode ''The Girl in the Fireplace'', wandering off to explore after he just told them not to run off.
** The unstated but very obvious ''reason'' the Doctor keeps facing this problem is because people who would wait behind when told to are not people he would consider interesting enough as travel companions. The Doctor himself never quite seems to pick up on this.

* In ''Disney/{{Moana}}'', Maui wants Moana to stay behind when he goes for the Realm of Monsters to snatch his hook from Tamatoa. Of course, she refuses which he grudgingly accept. When they are done with Tamatoa, Maui admits that Moana was a life saver.