History Main / YouDidEverythingYouCould

* In ''[[FanFic/SovereignGFCOrigins Origins]]'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]''[=/=]''[=Halo=]'']] MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, Samantha Shepard's therapist discusses this trope (though not by name) over Shepard's [[GuiltComplex insistence]] that somehow the [[spoiler:Flood]] taking over the galaxy is [[InsaneTrollLogic her fault]] despite being pitted against a PhysicalGod and HordeOfAlienLocusts.

-->'''Alice''': I failed all of them. I failed.
-->'''Matt''': Listen to me. There is nothing else you could've done.

* In C. S. Goto's TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/BloodRavens trilogy, fellow Blood Ravens try this on Gabriel after he had to order Exterminus and tell him another captain would have done the same. Gabriel is angry, the question is whether the other captain would have let the situation arise in the first place.

* ''Schindler's List''. Oskar Schindler has a breakdown once he finally secures the safety of the Płaszów concentration camp survivors.

* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', Cinderpaw gets this lesson from Yellowfang after she fails to prevent Silverstream's DeathByChildbirth (though she does save the kittens). In this case, her worries were compounded by the fact that Silverstream is from a rival Clan, and having another Clan's member's death on your hands is not a very good place to be in this world.

* The Ada Cambridge poem "The Hand In The Dark" is someone reassuring an overworked philanthropist that it's okay to sleep, because accepting the human limitations that ''everyone in the world'' has isn't sinful.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

** Also occurs in season six, when [[spoiler: the patient dies due to a fat embolism, after a leg amputation, which House could not have done anything to prevent]]. When Foreman tells House that is wasn't his fault, House is not consoled because that was exactly what was eating him up; he did everything he could (everything ''anyone'' could) and it still wasn't enough.

* After [[spoiler: Kima]] is shot in an undercover operation gone bad on ''Series/TheWire'', Major Rawls tells a guilt ridden Detective [=McNulty=] that even though he hates him and would like to be able to blame him, the shooting was not his fault.

** Matthews, a reliable, dependable lower-deck sailor tries to assure Acting Lieutenant Hornblower who was in command of a ship that he did all he could to save a man who went down after losing his close friend. He stole food and was severely punished, and then tried to desert several times. Hornblower gives him chance to prove himself worthy several times, but he never succeeds. When he wants to bring him to justice, Bunting considers it a CruelMercy and opts for an equivalent of SuicideByCop, forcing Hornblower to shoot him. Matthews says that Bunting was beyond saving. Hornblower gets depressed and says that Captain Pellew would know what to do and that ''he'' would find a way. When they do speak, however, Pellew says much the same thing as Matthews and that dealing with men bent on self-destruction is just a cost of command.

* Commander Shepard from ''Franchise/MassEffect'' gets this quite a bit throughout the trilogy from subordinates and friends, especially in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' as the bodies and defeats pile up against a near unstoppable force. Arguably the most notable is after [[spoiler:the Fall of Thessia]], where s/he nearly goes into a complete HeroicBSOD.

* ''Blog/LimyaaelsFantasyRants'': Limyaael advise against this in writing. She says that authors should not invalidate guilt on the protagonist's part (as in) and should keep it genuinely ambiguous as to whether the protagonist could have made a difference. This opinion being expressed by other characters is fine, but if an author constantly makes it so that the protagonist's failures have no consequence ("It doesn't matter that you couldn't/didn't save him from the housefire, he would have died that day from Lethal Disease #9567 anyway!") ever, the protagonist verges into MarySue[=/=]InvincibleHero territory, and the story loses realism and depth.

* ''Blog/LimyaaelsFantasyRants'': Limyaael advise against this in writing. She says that authors should not invalidate guilt on the protagonist's part (as in) and should keep it genuinely ambiguous as to whether the protagonist could have made a difference. This opinion being expressed by other characters is fine, but if an author constantly makes it so that the protagonist's failures have no consequence ("It doesn't matter that you couldn't/didn't save him from the housefire, he would have died that day from Lethal Disease #9567 anyway!") ever, the protagonist verges into MarySue[=/=]BoringInvincibleHero territory, and the story loses realism and depth.

* Plio says the exact phrase to Aladar on the Disney movie ''Disney/{{Dinosaur}}'' when he fails to rescue Bruton from the rockslide.

* Said a few times on ''{{Series/Emergency}}''. One example is Roy and Brackett trying to assure Johnny that he and Roy had done everything possible to save an officer friend of John's, despite a busy radio making communications harder to get through.

* In the stage musical of ''Literature/LittleWomen'', [[spoiler: Jo blames herself for Beth's death, irrationally feeling as if Beth wouldn't have gotten sick if she had stayed at home with her instead of moving to New York. But Marmee assures her that no one did more for Beth than she did and she couldn't have changed what happened.

* In ''[[FanFic/SovereignGFCOrigins Origins]]'', a ''MassEffect''[=/=]''StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]''[=/=]''[=Halo=]'']] MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, Samantha Shepard's therapist discusses this trope (though not by name) over Shepard's [[GuiltComplex insistence]] that somehow the [[spoiler:Flood]] taking over the galaxy is [[InsaneTrollLogic her fault]] despite being pitted against a PhysicalGod and HordeOfAlienLocusts.

-->'''Yellowfang''': I've spoken with Tigerclaw. He's furious about the kits, of course, but he's not angry with ''you'', Cinderpaw. He knows you did your duty, just as any medicine cat should.
-->'''Cinderpaw''': But I ''lost'' her, Yellowfang.
-->'''Yellowfang''': I know. And that's a hard lesson to learn. But sometimes, no matter what we do, cats die and there's nothing we can do about it. This is something you must learn to live with if you are to continue on this path. [[ToughLove Now come, the elders are complaining of aches.]]

* ''Blog/LimyaaelsFantasyRants'': Limyaael advise against this in writing. She says that authors should not invalidate guilt on the protagonist's part (as in) and should keep it genuinely ambiguous as to whether the protagonist could have made a difference. This opinion being expressed by other characters is fine, but if an author constantly makes it so that the protagonist's failures have no consequence ("It doesn't matter that you couldn't/didn't save him from the housefire, he would have died that day from Lethal Disease #9567 anyway!") the protagonist verges into MarySue[=/=]BoringInvincibleHero territory, and the story loses realism and depth.

* One of the most emotional stories on {{Series/Scrubs}} had Dr. Cox lose three patients after giving them transplanted organs that unknowingly came from a donor infected with rabies. JD tries to comfort him by pointing out that the disease is so rare there is no way ''any'' doctor would have thought to test for it, and it would have been irresponsible to do so with the patients waiting for those organs. He also [[MeaningfulEcho repeats what Cox told him]], that once you start blaming yourself for deaths that weren't your fault "[[DespairEventHorizon there's no going back]]". It doesn't work; Cox spends the next episode in a drunken HeroicBSOD, only recovering when JD instead tells him that he admires him because after all these years of watching people die "you still take it this hard."

* ''{{VideoGame/Decision}}: One of the lines randomly spouted by militia at the end of a level is this trope, despite having no relation to how well you did on the level.

* In the first issue of ''The Power of {{Shazam}}'', Captain Marvel tries to rescue people trapped in a burning building. However, the structure collapses and Captain Marvel is only able to shelter a few people under him while others close by were killed. Naturally, Cap is beating himself up for failing them, but a firefighter firmly tells him, "Coulda, woulda, shoulda. You made a difference!"

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

* Franchise/{{Superman}}: at the end of [[ComicBook/TheDeathOfClarkKent the Conduit saga]], Jimmy Olsen gives a talk like this to Superman when it looks like the Man of Tomorrow will not be able to save him from one of Conduit's {{deathtrap}}s. Subverted in that he survived.

* In episode 4 of ''Anime/DeathParade'', two people are judged by protagonist Decim. One is a young man who [[DrivenToSuicide committed suicide because he felt no one loved him]], the other is a middle-aged mother and reality TV star who was murdered by her assistant after striking her. Near the end of the episode, having both realized that they failed to make the best of their lives, Decim embraces them, telling each that they did the best they could.

* In the fifth ''Film/HarryPotter'' movie, after Umbridge discovers the D.A and Dumbledore takes the fall: