History ScrewThisImOuttaHere / Literature

-->Jalan: You’re going to tell me it wasn’t by poisoning his mead?\\
[[HornyVikings Snorri]]: Single combat.\\
Jalan (already heading down the hall): We’re leaving.

** Frida's first roommate, [[MySmotherMother Helen]] quits on the second day, after telling the counselor that the curriculum is insane. It means her parental rights are terminated but her son is 17, so she is not worried.

'''BigBad''': Get him!\\

-->Jalan: You’re going to tell me it wasn’t by poisoning his mead?
-->[[HornyVikings Snorri]]: Single combat.
-->Jalan (already heading down the hall): We’re leaving.

--> '''BigBad''': Get him!
--> '''Random {{Mook}}''': Get your grandmother.
--> ''All of the mooks flee.''

--->'''Rincewind''': I ''know'' what's going to happen. I'm going to be dragged into things that shouldn't concern me. And you're just a hallucination caused by rich food on an empty stomach, so don't try to stop me!\\

** At the climax of ''Grave Peril'', when Harry is facing down Bianca, she starts by sending her mortal security after him. After a quick display of his power destroys their weapons, they all run away. Considering [[KillItWithFire what]] [[StuffBlowingUp happens]] next, this is probably the smartest thing anything of them has ever done.
** In ''Changes'', when Harry confronts the Red Court team in his office building, one of them takes one look at him and ''runs away screaming''. Even more impressive, this later turns out to have been one of the Eebs, the Red Court's two most dangerous assassins.

* ''Literature/TrueGrit'': In all three versions, one of Lucky Ned’s men turns his horse away from Rooster halfway through the climactic shootout and gallops out of the meadow.

*** Then, in a somewhat-heroic example, there is Fred and George's infamous farewell to Hogwarts (at the time being run by [[{{Sadist}} Dolores Umbridge]], later revealed to be a Death Eater). Given how nasty the school had become under Umbridge, the two of them (already {{Rebellious Spirit}}s who had been waging a covert rebellion with their mischievous talents) decided at last to (very flashily) tell higher education where to stick it and went into business instead.

* Prince Jalan Kendeth, the protagonist of ''Literature/TheRedQueensWar'', is a DirtyCoward for much of the trilogy, and his gut reaction upon entering any kind of dangerous situation is to run away as fast as possible. This becomes a challenge as he becomes [[ClingyMacGuffin magically bound]] to an [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy honorable]] [[HornyVikings Viking]] who likes to fight and is trying to save his family. A notable example is when Jalan is tasked by a queen of a neighboring kingdom to beat up her teenage stepson -- who is also the AxCrazy, SociopathicHero, VillainProtagonist of the ''Literature/TheBrokenEmpireTrilogy'' who had just got done killing his father's captain of the guard.

** [[UpperClassTwit Upper/Middle Class]] carriage horse Mollie runs away from Animal Farm so she can enjoy sugar and ribbons in her mane, both of which are not allowed at Animal Farm. Given how Animal Farm turns out, one could make a definite case for her being [[SmarterThanYouLook Smarter Than She Looks]].

** [[UpperClassTwit Upper/Middle Class stand-in]] carriage horse Mollie runs away from Animal Farm so she can enjoy sugar and ribbons in her mane, both of which are not allowed at Animal Farm. Given how Animal Farm turns out, one could make a definite case for her being [[SmarterThanYouLook Smarter Than She Looks]].

* In ''Literature/AnimalFarm'', [[UpperClassTwit Upper/Middle Class stand-in]] carriage horse Mollie runs away from Animal Farm so she can enjoy sugar and ribbons in her mane, both of which are not allowed at Animal Farm. Given how Animal Farm turns out, one could make a definite case for her being [[SmarterThanYouLook Smarter Than She Looks]].

* Both [[DeadpanSnarker Marco]] and [[TeamMom Cassie]] do this in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''. [[spoiler:Of course, both return, either because ItsPersonal now or because their conscience won't let them go off the hook so easily.]]

* In ''Literature/TheAshesSeries'', this becomes more and more common as the Rebel army ([[Franchise/StarWars not those Rebels]]) goes from a guerrilla force to [[BadassArmy an unstoppable international army.]] Eventually most minor-league baddies will run away or surrender without firing a shot.
** The author also makes it a point to show this at a personal level; often with the deserter(s) giving a short speech to their companions about expecting to live longer.

* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': When Thrembode is fending off Baguti who want to rape Besita and kill him for stopping this, his men start deserting as they don't want to die too.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.

** Few of General Entrescu's men - most notably Popescu - stay behind once the Russians get close.

* In Creator/StephenBaxter's ''Literature/XeeleeSequence'', the Xeelee, masters of the baryonic universe, face a HopelessWar against the [[spoiler:dark matter Photino Birds]] that are slowly but steadily [[TheStarsAreGoingOut transforming all the stars into red dwarfs]]. The Xeelee eventually throw their hands up and build a portal to another universe - what scientists today call the Great Attractor - and flee, but not before scattering [[BigDumbObject their toys]] around so that the lesser species can flee too.

* Prince Jalan Kendeth, the protagonist of ''Literature/TheRedQueensWar'', is a DirtyCoward for much of the trilogy, and his gut reaction upon entering any kind of dangerous situation is to run away as fast as possible. This becomes a challenge as he becomes [[ClingyMacGuffin magically bound]] to an [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy honorable]] [[HornyVikings Viking]] who likes to fight and is trying to save his family. A notable example is when Jalan is tasked by a queen of a neighboring kingdom to beat up her teenage stepson-- who is also the AxCrazy, SociopathicHero, VillainProtagonist of the ''Literature/TheBrokenEmpireTrilogy'' who had just got done killing his father's captain of the guard.
-->Jalan: You’re going to tell me it wasn’t by poisoning his mead?
-->[[HornyVikings Snorri]]: Single combat.
-->Jalan (already heading down the hall): We’re leaving.

* In ''Literature/TheBookOfTheDunCow'', Scrape the Otter attempts to get the other animals to desert Chauntecleer's army because he is afraid of fighting Cockatrice. Chauntecleer defies the trope by dealing with Scrape immediately, picking him up [[LaserGuidedKarma and dropping him in with the Weasels]], persuading him to abandon the plan.