History Main / WeHelpTheHelpless

* Somewhat inverted in [[{{Literature/TheWitcher}} Witcher universe]]. Sure, [[TheHunter witchers are mutated, rised and trained to kill monsters]], WalkingTheEarth for rest of their days and actively seeking dangers to fight... but being characters from LowFantasy DeconstructorFleet they do it for reasonable price and only when they find it worth the hassle. Or when rent is due.

* ''TravisMcGee'', from John [=MacDonald=]'s novels. He usually gives his profession as 'salvage consulant'.

* The Jedi in StarWars are an order of peace keepers who go about the galaxy defending the Republic and those who are a part of it.Although they aren't a part of any law enforcement they do hold a lot of authority and sometimes even their very presence is enough to help someone out.

* ''Anime/TheBigO'': Roger Smith prides himself in accepting jobs from children and the elderly. Being independently wealthy, he accepts remuneration according to the client's ability to pay, and will work ''pro bono'' if necessary.

* ''Anime/TheBigO'': Roger Smith prides himself in accepting jobs from children and the elderly.

* The Thirty in [[DavidGemmell David Gemmell]]'s ''Legend'' are a group of warrior-monks destined to die in battle. They only fight once in their entire lives, and so choose only battles that appear to be hopeless.

* The motivation of [[VisualNovel/AceAttorney Phoenix Wright]].
** Of course, he'd ''like'' to get paid and take cases like a normal lawyer. It's just that almost all of his clients are close personal friends, dead broke but obviously innocent, or find some way to shanghai him into getting involved in the case. His sense of justice doesn't let him turn the jobs down.

* TamoraPierce has a character named Kel - the heroine of the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aptly-named]] [[TortallUniverse Protector of the Small]] quartet. Kel spends most of her time outside training kicking the collective asses of anyone who picks on helpless people. She's ''good'' at it, too.

-->''Series/{{Leverage}}'', "The Cross My Heart Job"

** They're troubleshooters: They find trouble, they shoot it.

* ''Film/A Few Good Men'' has the marines realizing that "We were supposed to fight for the people who couldn't fight for themselves."

* The [[StarWars/{{Allegiance}} Hand of Judgment]] doesn't even get paid. They are five stormtroopers who [[DefectorFromDecadence left the Empire]] - or, as one of them says, "The Empire left us" when the [[InternalAffairs ISB]] went after one of them for [[NeverHurtAnInnocent refusing to kill unarmed civilians]]; this incident made them realize that the Empire was no longer what it had been when they signed up, so they stole an ISB ship and fled. From there, while they argued about what to do, they kept running into situations where Imperial citizens, or people they ''thought'' were Imperial citizens, were in danger, and they kept trying to help them.

* Gary and his friends on ''EarlyEdition''.

* ''TheEqualizer''

* Automail mechanics, in the ''FullmetalAlchemist'' universe, do this. They provide artificial limbs for people who would otherwise be incredibly helpless.

* While not originally their intention, the Straw Hat Pirates in OnePiece have reluctantly done this on various occasions throughout the manga's (and anime's) run.

* The Jedi in StarWars are an order of peace keepers who go about the galaxy defending the Republic and those who are a part of it.Although they aren't a part of any law enforcement they definitely do hold a lot of authority and sometimes even their very presence is enough to help someone out.

* Many religions have this as an ideal: To help those in need when you see them. It doesn't happen remotely as often as it should but it does happen.

* Garrus describes his team of mercs as this in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. Shepard can be this in both games if the player chooses.

** Tali even does some LampshadeHanging: "what is it about you that makes people think we enjoy being in harm's way?"

* Sir Michael from the ''KnightAndRogue'' series by HilariBell is like this. It gets him in some trouble.

* The titular Revenant Braves in ''[[http://www.revenant-braves.schala.net Circumstances of the Revenant Braves]]''.

* ''HeroesForHire'' [[LukeCageHeroForHire Power Man]] and IronFist, though if the cause is just enough, they'll waive the fee.

* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' makes this trope OlderThanRadio, selling his services as a consulting detective to everyone from poor tradesmen and governesses to the official police force of UsefulNotes/ScotlandYard to aristocrats, captains of industry, and even royalty. He'll even investigate the case for free if the client can't afford to pay him but their problem stirs his interest. While it's certainly true that Holmes is glad to help people who need it and see justice done, and glad to collect his fee, his primary motivation is always finding ways to stave off the monstrous boredom that he feels whenever he is not on a case, since his vast intellect makes it very hard to find meaningful challenges and stimulation in life. From his point of view, the more bizarre and outlandish a case is, the better.

->"...What would you do without me? Say 'nothing'."
->"Nothing," said the Prince.
->"Good. Then you're helpless and I'll help you."
-->-- ''Literature/The13Clocks''

-->'''Shepard''': Listen, you're stuck here until this qurantine is over. That could take weeks. What you really need is to get this problem solved right now. That's what I do -- solve problems.

* [[{{Metroid}} Samus Aran's]] missions are generally simple; investigate a disturbance on a planet, [[BountyHunter exterminate all the metroids]], etc. But in quite a few games, she goes above and beyond the strict terms of her contract due to her own heroic sensibililities. The two most extreme examples are perhaps Prime 2 (sent to investigate the missing Bravo team; ends up saving an entire planet from the same creatures that killed Bravo Team), and Fusion (Sent to exterminate the X Parasites, ends up ''defying her orders'' and breaking her contract in order to exterminate not only them, but also [[spoiler:destroy the illegal, Federation-run Metroid cloning project and the planet of SR-388]]). One can only imagine her collecting her meager contract for the investigations that kicked off each adventure.