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Declaration of Protection
aka: I Will Protect Her

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"Even if you become the world's enemy, I'll... I'll be your Knight!"
Squall Leonhart, Final Fantasy VIII

A person (usually The Hero) has their motivation built around protecting another person. Most of the time, it's their Love Interest, but it could also be their sibling/s, or friends, or child(ren), or parents/parental figure.

In Anime, the sentence "Zettai ni mamoru!" is likely to be used — if not spoken aloud, then thought. Depending on context, this can mean anything from a literal "I'll protect you from danger" to a more comradely "I'll watch your back" to akin to a Love Confession, i.e. "I'll always be there for you." Because of this, expect the recipient to respond with a Luminescent Blush regardless of what she says.

Almost every time, some sort of complication or detail will be brought up in this situation.

  • The protected person is capable of looking after themself. The protector has a hard enough time keeping up with them, much less being of any use, and will often chastise themself for failing to live up to their perceived duty as protector. Inevitably, however, the protected will get into trouble, at which point the hero's Heroic Resolve will manifest and they'll become suddenly competent as they leap to save them.
  • The protector fails to protect the protectee, resulting in the latter's death. This will be their Greatest Failure. In this case, the relationship is more likely to be part of the backstory. It might have been the former protector's Start of Darkness, as they went over to The Dark Side while seeking revenge, or went mad while seeking to bring the protected back. Or maybe the protector just cracked and turned into a Death Seeker. If the protected person survived despite their failure, the effects will be less severe, but all of the above can still occur — there's just a better chance of redemption later on. If the protector has to protect multiple people and fails at doing so, then they're effectively a Doom Magnet and tend to suffer Survivor Guilt.
  • The protected person is normal, and the protector is not... and the main reason the protected is even in danger is that someone is hunting the protector. Thus, the protector feels compelled to part with the protected, or run away from any other responsibilities to keep them safe. It almost never works. Note that most of the examples in It's Not You, It's My Enemies do not apply here — for it to qualify, protecting that person has to be the character's main driving motivation — so, for example, Spider-Man wouldn't qualify, since he knows he has a greater responsibility to protect the entire city, and the world. (Let's not even mention One More Day...)
  • The protector protects their person, but at the cost of their own life, or nearly so. If the protector dies, it could be a Start of Darkness for the protected, as guilt and anger push them towards extreme action. If the protector survives, it's more likely to work as a Berserk Button, but it might also compel the protected to try and push them away so they won't get hurt again.
  • The protected person turns out to be The Mole or just plain bad news. The protector likely won't see this, even if others try to tell them — and it's fairly likely that they won't realize it 'till the protected person finally stabs him in the back. It can turn out in a lot of different ways, but it's usually quite tragic. If the protector kills their (former) protected in response, it'll probably turn out that the traitor was acting under duress, and the protector will be swallowed by grief and regret. If the protector dies by the traitor's hand, they'll probably realize that they really did love them, and be swallowed by grief and regret. But if the protector continued to insist on protecting the protected, even after they've shown what's Beneath the Mask, they might realize that they really do love them before they kill them and be redeemed by love.
  • "Protecting" turns out to be more complicated and morally ambiguous than it sounds. Maybe the protected person has some sort of weird power that makes a lot of people fear them, or maybe the very layout of the world makes it impossible for them to live in peace. The hero may be forced to fight and kill more-or-less innocent people who attack the protected person out of fear, or orchestrate rebellions and war in order to change the world for their love's benefit — either way, there's bound to be a lot of victims, and the "hero" will start to look less and less heroic.
  • In the past, the protected person did something for the protector. Either saved their life, pulled them out of non-lethal trouble, gave them something they needed, befriended them when nobody else was willing to, etc. So the protector cherishes said moment in which the protected was there for them, feels indebted to them and decides to protect them as a way to pay them back for their help. Debts must be paid, after all... even if it involves going to Hell and back to not owe that person anything.

Naturally, not all cases will fit neatly into one of these categories, and of course, there are cases where there isn't really any major complications just someone protecting another person from the Monster of the Week, for as long as it takes. Sometimes the declaration is mutual, and you get a Battle Couple.

A Sub-Trope of Protectorate and The Champion. Bodyguard Crush is when the protection comes before the emotions. The Dulcinea Effect is when this absolute dedication pops up all of 10 seconds after he first sees her. Mama Bear and Papa Wolf are when it's a parent protecting their child. This trope is part of the job description for Lady and Knight. In ancient times, becoming someone's guest automatically put you under their protection, leading to a lot of this. If the protector is smarter, more grounded in reality, or more competent than the protectee, or perceived to be, they're a Cloudcuckoolander's Minder. Compare If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her....


Examples:

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  • Accel World: Hauyuki Arita made a vow to support and protect his leader Kuroyukihime in the Brain Burst game. This despite Black Lotus, one of the top seven players in the game, being leagues above Silver Crow. It's actually part of Haru's character development that he's trying to make himself worthy of being her knight. The fact that he's actually able to make good on this declaration a couple of times is an awesome moment for him.
  • Attack on Titan: While initially this isn't the case, Mikasa's relationship with Eren becomes this when it is revealed that Eren is a titan shifter. Years ago Mikasa's parents were murdered in front of her, Eren killed the criminals and then took her into his family; after the disappearance of Eren's dad and the death of his mother, he is the only family she has left.
  • Ayakashi Triangle:
    • When Matsuri was informed at a young age his best friend Suzu would be regularly attacked by evil spirit, he decided on the spot to follow his family tradition as a ninja exorcist to protect her.
    • After Soga falls in love with Suzu, he tries to tell her he wants to keep her safe as well. However, he ends up messing up and telling Suzu he would protect Matsuri, causing some complications. Much later, Soga intentionally does swear to protect Matsuri, finally acknowledging him as a friend and not just a rival.
    • Suzu eventually learns to fight herself, dramatically declaring when she's in a position to save Matsuri as well. Matsuri isn't really pleased with the role-reversal.
  • A very interesting case happens in Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts. Resident Yandere Shouko is absolutely obsessed with Brilliant, but Lazy student Yuuji, and at first it seems like she's just a crazy Unlucky Childhood Friend. But then in Episode 11 of Season 2, it goes into their backstory, and her reasons are explained as this: Shouko was and still is a Lonely Rich Kid, with Yuuji as her Only Friend. At some point, Yuuji pulled a Big Damn Heroes moment to save Shouko from three boys who tried to bully her after she tried to stop them from writing some vicious lies on his PE clothing; he tried to come up with an excuse not to help but in the end, saves her anyway. Although he tries to pass it off as nothing, Shouko is really touched by that action, and she vows to his mother to marry him someday. His mom happily agrees to support her efforts as well... which then sort of helps explain why she tasers him, ties him up, pokes his eyes out when he's looking at other women, and drags him to the movies in chains.
  • Berserk: Guts alls into both the first and second categories listed above. He did everything he could to save Casca during the Eclipse, up to and including chiseling off his own left wrist, and she was still raped in front of him by Femto. She survived, but her mind was completely gone. Her fate is most of what fuels his post-Eclipse Unstoppable Rage during battle and continuous Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Later, when Guts puts said roaring rampage on hold, his top priority is to protect Casca above all else — even from himself.
  • Sebastian from Black Butler often reiterates his solemn pledge to protect Ciel, reminding the young lord that he will be with him to the end. Of course, this is because Sebastian himself will be delivering that end, when he eventually devours Ciel's soul in payment for his service.
  • Bleach:
    • Kanae Katagiri vowed to protect the more powerful Ryuuken no matter what the cost, and that no matter what happened she would never, ever leave his side. She is later murdered by The Emperor; Souken implies Ryuuken's made a similar declaration to ensure his and Kanae's badass son, Uryuu, does not share his mother's fate.
    • In the wild, Harribel lived as close as she could to a life of non-violence and starvation to defy the Social Darwinist laws of Hueco Mundo. Since then, she has been motivated to fight by a desire to keep her few friends from dying... and these friends are her Amazon Brigade.
    • In the "Princess and Dragon" chapters, Orihime reveals that Tatsuki had always protected her from the bullies that had prevented her from keeping her unusually-coloured hair at the length her beloved older brother preferred. When Tatsuki is defeated and almost killed by a Hollow, Orihime steps in to protect Tatsuki, motivated by the gratitude and desire to repay the debt. Her resolve awakens her Barrier Warrior powers, which were already there but needed a bit more of a push to fully come to the surface.
      Orihime: Thank you, for protecting me until now. So please...
      Tatsuki: Orihime...?
      Orihime: Don't cry! Because this time, I will protect Tatsuki-chan.
    • Rukia was the one who unlocked Ichigo's powers by giving him hers, giving him the chance to protect others from supernatural threats. By doing so, she broke a cardinal law of Soul Society and was taken away to be executed; Ichigo's motivation to go into Soul Society with his friends to retrieve and save her comes from both Orihime coming up with the idea and his own desire to repay Rukia for what he did for him.
    • Toushirou and Momo were raised together and she was the only child in the neighbourhood not afraid of Toushirou's power. When they both became Shinigami, he swore to protect her, vowing to Gin he'd kill him if Gin made her bleed even a little. His hatred for Aizen stems from Aizen's betrayal breaking and almost killing Momo. During the Fake Karakura Town, Momo regains her badass status until Aizen manipulates Toushirou into accidentally stabbing her, and then stabs him. They both eventually recover and are implied to still be very close at the end of the series.
    • When Espada attack Karakura Town, Ichigo is devastated by his inability to prevent Orihime from getting seriously injured. Rukia then makes Ichigo go meet up with Orihime, to apologise for his failure and promise to not fail next time. The following arc has Orihime forced to go with the Espadas and Ichigo going to rescue her with Rukia, Chad, Renji, and Ishida, focusing on getting Orihime back no matter what — even when such a desire triggers situations like Ichigo bringing himself Back from the Dead upon hearing her cry out for him and brutalising both foes (Ulquiorra, alias the one who killed him and mentally tortured Orihime) and friends (Ishida, who committed the well-intentioned but huge mistake of trying to calm him down from such a rage):
      Ichigo: Inoue, I will get stronger, and next time... I'll definitely protect you...
      Ichigo (as he returns from death): She's calling me... I can hear her... Stand up. Stand up. I will protect her.
  • Blue Exorcist has the relationship between twins Rin and Yukio when they were younger. Yukio was bullied and Rin went to beat the bullies up just because they were picking on Yukio.
  • Brigadoon: Marin and Melan: Things start off simple for Melan. His job is to protect the Creis, who happens to become his friend and eventually his Love Interest. Then it turns out that she's not the Creis after all, and protecting her means taking time out from his REAL mission.
  • Buso Renkin: Kazuki gave this speech to an opponent (who also gave the same speech) when asked why he was protecting Tokiko. He said that it was because of Tokiko that he was still alive, so he would protect her and fight in her place. Kazuki's situation is actually a combination of types 1 and 7 since Tokiko is a very capable Action Girl.
  • Case Closed:
    • Inspector Ninzaburo Shiratori decided to become a policeman instead of a lawyer thanks to a chance encounter with a pint-sized Manic Pixie Dream Girl who was a big fan of the police forces. When he talks to the girl after realising that the Action Girl Sato was not her, he soon promises to protect her with his own life no matter what. When she, the teacher Sumiko Kobayashi, is targeted by a killer who wants to silence her, Shiratori, Sato, Conan, Ai, and the Detective Kids protect her and catch the culprit, and Shiratori gives her a proper Love Confession.
    • the Anti-Villain Akemi Miyano is implied to have asked her boyfriend Shuichi Akai to promise that he would protect her teenage sister Shiho — few hours before her own death. The twist is that he's fulfilling the trope, and even made an explicit declaration of protection to Shiho in which he referred to her as a princess and called himself her knight... but both of them are living under secret identities: he names himself Subaru Okiya, and she not only has been shrunk to a little girl's body but calls herself Ai Haibara.
  • Code Geass:
    • Suzaku Kururugi and Euphemia li Britannia. Initially a straight and uncomplicated "knight and princess" relationship, Euphemia's death at the hands of Zero pushes Suzaku off of his white horse, driving him into much more questionable actions, such as selling out Zero — who turns out to be his oldest friend, main character Lelouch vi Britannia — to his worst enemy, or releasing a powerful nuke in battle... and, in the end, he winds up supporting one of the bloodiest tyrannies in history. Led by, you know, Lelouch. Oh, and did we mention that Suzaku eventually kills Lelouch on the latter's orders as part of a Thanatos Gambit?
    • Lelouch has this strange habit of personally jumping into Knightmare combat whenever Kallen (who is the best soldier in his army) is in trouble, even if it means putting himself in danger. He claims it's just because she's too valuable a resource to lose, but the essence is this trope.
    • A teenaged Li Xingke vows to protect Empress Tianzi after she saves him from execution. Years later, he keeps his promise. Spectacularly.
    • Lelouch's desire to give his younger sister, Nunnally vi Britannia, a 'world of peace' leads him further and further down the path of darkness. When she finally finds out what he's been doing in the name of helping her, she's understandably horrified and becomes easy prey for Schneizel's manipulations.
  • Cross Ange: Tusk declares himself the Knight of Ange, and is willing to put his life on the line for the titular main character. He is so adamant a protector for her that he stands in the way of Big Bad Embryo to make sure he doesn't get his hands on her, and even defies death itself just to return to her side.
  • A Cruel God Reigns: Ian is determined to protect, love, and save Jeremy, but it gets complicated considering Jeremy used Vehicular Sabotage to make what happened to his father look like an accident, even if Jeremy did have valid reasons...
  • Dance in the Vampire Bund:
    • While Akira and Mina generally fit in this category, it's complicated by the fact that they're a match for each other. Though to be frank if Mina had to watch her own back all the time she'd have absolutely no time left to rule, and Akira has "protecting her" in his job description.
    • Another interesting point is that if we reverse the roles, then Mina herself clearly fits the last category. Akira is her anchor in the merciless world around her, and their childhood promise is the main thing that holds her still on the Slippery Slope.
  • Day Break Illusion: Luna promises to protect Akari shortly after they met, and Akari says she'll do her best too. Eventually Cerebrum uses Luna's love for Akari to turn her into a Daemonia, but she gets better and then teams up with Seira, whom she was initially jealous of, to keep her promise and save Akari from Cerebrum.
  • Death Note:
    • After his little sister Sayu gets kidnapped by the mafia Light deliberately sets things up so that he can't kill her without incriminating himself, because he knows he's likely to take the easy way out.
    • Rem forces Light, under direct threat of death, to adopt this mindset towards Misa in regards to his plans during the events that lead up to the Yotsuba arc.
  • Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Zenitsu in his never-ending quest in trying to get himself a lover, self-declares himself to be Nezuko's protector as soon as he finds out she is a harmless demon and sister of his newfound good friend Tanjiro, as he thinks she should be protected at all costs; this is mostly used as a comic motivator for Zenitsu to get up and do his job as a demon slayer and to train harder, in a fight against the Lower Rank One however this is applied seriously, with Zenitsu actually speaking to Nezuko in his trance mode that he will protect her, shielding her from the Lower Rank's attacks as she was fighting alone till then.
  • Digimon Adventure: Takeru promised to Sora that he'd protect Hikari. Fast forward to Digimon Adventure 02 and Takeru still takes that promise seriously even if Hikari by now can take care of herself (provided an Eldritch Location isn't messing with her head). To wit, he is seen putting himself protectively in front of Hikari (episode 3), seemed angry at himself for accidentally leaving her stranded in the Digital World (episode 7), and doggedly searched for her when she was taken by the Dark Ocean (episode 13).
  • In Dragon Crisis!, Ryuuji does this for Ai. She is able to read his thoughts due to magical earrings she was wearing at the time. Although she learns that he's scared, he still tries to protect her, long enough for the Big Damn Heroes to show up to help him.
  • Eyeshield 21: Non-romantic, but the main linemen of a team sometimes says that to his teammates. That is what their position is about.
  • Fairy Tail: Gray, after being locked in an Involuntary Battle to the Death with Juvia and attempting a Heroic Suicide to avoid having to harm her, only to see that she did the same thing, laments the outcome, saying that he didn't just want to see her come to harm as a friend, but wanted to protect her. While Gray's somewhat stronger than Juvia, Juvia is still a capable mage in her own right, and this is played as a possible hint that Gray is starting to return Juvia's feelings.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist: Friendly Sniper Riza Hawkeye spends all her time Bodyguarding a Badass. It is her sworn duty to protect the Flame Alchemist, Colonel Badass Roy Mustang; she even tells the young Winry Rockbell that this is the reason she's in the military despite her own dislike of it.
  • While Sousuke of Full Metal Panic! develops a something of Bodyguard Crush on Kaname within a week and a half of being assigned as her bodyguard, but it starts off small and subtle enough that he barely even notices it under all the stoicism and professionalism. But by the halfway mark, he starts recognizing that Kaname has been so critical to his emotional awakening and realization that Living Is More than Surviving that he literally can't imagine having a future that doesn't have her in it, and thus protecting Kaname grows from a mere Bodyguard Crush into his primary reason to for living.
  • Fushigi Yuugi: Tamahome famously declares his wish to always protect Miaka ever since he saved her from being crushed by a fallen roof when meeting Emperor Hotohori for the first time. He becomes seriously take his job to protect her after he lost his family to Suboshi.
  • Girls und Panzer: Maho's ultimate goal in living up to the standards for the Nishizumi heiress is so that her younger sister Miho can live and do tankery as she wishes, without having to take up the responsibility in her stead. It takes six years, from near the end of the prequel manga to the last episode of the first series, but Miho ultimately finds a way of Tankery that she can do, and Maho is very pleased with this.
    Maho As long as I'm the heir to the Nishizumi school... Miho will be free.
  • Hayate the Combat Butler:
    • Hayate (the butler) to his mistress, Nagi. She saves him from his miserable life by paying off his debt to the Yakuza and giving him a home in her mansion and a job as her butler, with a promise to pay her back over years of work. But it never was about the money — the amount means nothing to her absurd wealth. She simply likes him from the start, while his gratitude quickly compounds with a deep affection and interest in her well-being.
    • There's also the residual guilt from initially wanting to kidnap and ransom her. He was in a desperate enough situation — thanks entirely to his Abusive Parents — that this isn't a Moral Event Horizon, but he still felt terrible about it after he came to his senses.
  • Hello! Sandybell: It's not stated, but after little Sandybell befriended Edward, he felt a connection to her and watches her from the shadows to help her whenever she needs it. Many a villain who tries to mess with her is swiftly taken out by him.
  • Hunter × Hunter: "I will definitely protect Gon" practically becomes Killua's Survival Mantra during part of the Chimera Ant arc.
  • Ikki Tousen: Shuuyu has this problem. He's a skilled fighter, even amongst his fellow 'reincarnated Romance of the Three Kingdoms warriors', but he doesn't have quite the same level of world-shaking power as his Bodyguard Crush, Sonsaku. The fact that Sonsaku is Oblivious to Love and a fight-loving Blood Knight does little to improve his situation — her first reaction to him declaring his intent to protect her even at the cost of his own life, is to ask if he's eaten something strange...
  • Ikumi from Infinite Ryvius lost his sister years ago, and was severely traumatized by it... which makes sense, seeing as she committed suicide because of their illicit Brother–Sister Incest relationship. So he's sworn never to fail to protect a woman, particularly one he cares about. When his new girlfriend, Kozue, is attacked and scarred while he was out fighting, it becomes his Start of Darkness as he decided that Utopia Justifies the Means — he'll do whatever it takes to protect her from now on. It... doesn't end well. Either way, that means he fits this trope TWICE OVER. Poor guy.
  • In the third Inuyasha movie, Swords of an Honorable Ruler, in response to Sesshomaru's desire for power, his father asks him "Do you have someone to protect?". At the climax, these words come back over rapid-fire cuts of Jaken and Rin, but just as it seems he's finally learned the lesson, Sesshomaru defiantly declares I Work Alone.
  • Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi:
    • Kurogane Taito starts out as a rather extreme case of this. He's a borderline Badass Normal thanks to a childhood as a Karate prodigy, but otherwise an Ordinary High-School Student. She is Saitohimea, an incalculably ancient vampire sorceress with a literally godlike powerlevel, handily clocking in at a 6 on the Super Weight scale. Yet, he desperately wants to protect her. The balance gradually gets evened out, though, starting with her giving him the Kiss of the Vampire, supplying him with pseudo-immortality, and later granting him access to a Dangerous Forbidden Technique which kills the user — handy when you can auto-revive. Shortly after, she trades most of her magical power away in a Deal with the Devil to resurrect him after he manages to get himself perma-killed — though of course that just makes him even MORE determined to protect her. Add in some good old Training from Hell, and we start to reach the point where he can conceivably be considered her protector.
    • Might also count as an inverted case of 'it got complicated'... Saitohimea has been on the edge of a Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum due to immortal loneliness before, and her relationship with Taito is all that's keeping her (relatively) sane at the moment. Hence, MAINTAINING their relationship is of no small interest to a number of organizations with a vested interest in the continued existence of the universe.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • Diamond is Unbreakable: During Kira's encounter with Stray Cat, it attacks Shinobu and Kira (who has taken her husband's identity) moves to protect her, declaring to his own shock afterwards; "I won't let you harm her anymore. I'll make you disappear!" and holding her in his arms.
    • Golden Wind: In one of his most selfless moments, Narancia declares to Trish that he will always protect her after they defeat Diavolo. He tragically gets killed mere moments after this.
    • Stone Ocean: Anasui declares this towards Jolyne just for falling in love at her first sight.
    • Steel Ball Run: Gyro announces his intent to win the race for the pardon of a young boy in his country that's due to be executed he wishes to rescue.
    • JoJolion: Despite being frightened and cornered, Tsurugi gives a Declaration of Protection for Jobin after realizing the extent of his true motives.
  • Kaiju Girl Caramelise: After Arata gets kissed by Harugon at Okutama lake, he gets invited on the talk show "Gabfest" in order to satisfy the public's curiosity about him. He ends up getting railroaded into saying "I'll protect you, Harugon" at one point by the show's producers, who want to play up the "Kaiju Prince" angle that the public has latched onto. But while he was unwillingly goaded into saying this on the show, he does want to make people realize that Harugon is a Non-Malicious Monster, so the underlying sentiment is really there. Plus, Harugon is secretly his girlfriend Kuroe, so he's unknowingly, indirectly declaring his intent to protect her.
  • Kaitou Saint Tail has an odd variant involving turning The Only One Allowed to Defeat You into this. When Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist Asuka Jr. makes The Promise with Phantom Thief Saint Tail that she can't let anyone else catch her before he does, he initially means it in the sense of arresting her and preventing anyone else from taking away his glory, but as the series goes on, it turns out that he would at least treat her with a certain amount of human respect whereas anyone else who tries to catch her would shamelessly use inhumane things ranging from tear gas to electric shocks or even try to murder her. As a result, Asuka Jr. coming to sympathize with Saint Tail and no longer wanting to arrest her actually gets him to insist on being the one to catch her even more, because preventing anyone else from catching her means preventing anyone else from hurting her, whereas his version of "catch" ends up meaning "catch" in the sense of "preventing her from falling". At the same time, his budding feelings for Saint Tail's civilian identity Meimi take the form of a metaphorical variant as he decides that he wants to be the one who can emotionally support her while preventing others from carelessly doing whatever they want with her.
  • Kekkaishi: Yoshimuri has sworn to protect Tokine, but while he has a great deal of raw power in the art of Kekkaishi, Tokine is vastly superior in terms of skill and refinement — so he can barely keep up with her, and usually ends up needing her help in a fight. (In truth, they're pretty evenly matched, but she's too proud to admit it and constantly belittles his lack of skill — which he takes to heart, causing him to often convince himself that he was no help at all, even though his raw power was as important in defeating the Monster of the Week as her technique.)
  • Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple: Kenichi has sworn to just about everyone in earshot that he'll become strong enough to protect his Love Interest, Miu. Naturally, since she's the granddaughter of the man who owns the dojo that Kenichi attends, she's a far better fighter than him.
  • Kirakira Precure A La Mode: Akira swears to protect Yukari from Elisio, even after being on the receiving end of a barrage of spikes from Elisio. When he mockingly asks her what reason she has for sacrificing her own body for Yukari, Akira gives her one and only reason.
  • Lady!!: Edward and Arthur Brighton to Lynn and Sarah Russell, sort of. Before George leaves the Marble Mansion, he asks that Edward and Arthur take care of his daughters, and they comply.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS: Nanoha does this for Vivio. Vivio is a clone of the local Crystal Dragon Jesus (who was considered to be the strongest fighter of all time) and was convinced that she should die (since her only purpose was to power a massive battleship), so it also had shades of "I'll save you from yourself". It was also the moment where Nanoha decided that she was going to adopt Vivio. Since this is Nanoha, she does this while they're being forced to fight each other.
    Vivio: Mama, save me!
    Nanoha: I will. Whenever, no matter what happens!
  • magico: Shion has decided to save Emma from the curse of Echidna and faces really dangerous tasks with his extremely powerful magic that he obtain just to do so because... she gave him some bread.
  • Medaka Box: A very Tsundere example is Hitoyoshi. Despite loudly complaining about Medaka dragging him into trouble since they were about 2 years old, he admits to himself that he's entirely dedicated to protecting her... despite the fact that she's The Paragon, possessing the ability to excel at literally anything she does, along with near-superhuman physical abilities and an outright unnatural charisma that tends to overwhelm anyone who stands against her. She is fully aware of this but nonetheless DEPENDS on him — because he's the only one who still tries to protect her, while everyone else sees her as The Ace thus more than able to protect herself. But because Badass Normal Hitoyoshi is always by her side and willing to take the lumps that come with it, she can focus entirely on helping others — which is the only thing that gives her a sense of accomplishment.
  • Michiko & Hatchin: Though it doesn't start out this way, protecting Hatchin becomes one of Michiko's main motives. Later this trope is touchingly inverted when Hatchin proves to be pretty badass herself and says, almost line-for-line, that she will protect Michiko.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: This is what Kira Yamato is well known for. While he hates the idea of jumping in the Strike Gundam and potentially killing people, he has friends in his company that he wants to keep safe. While he succeeds in this with some success, his pal Tolle gets killed trying to protect him, and his ex-girlfriend Flay also gets killed in the Final Battle by the Big Bad, Rau Le Creuset. He is more successful in keeping Sai, Miriallia, Murrue, the Archangel crew, his sister Cagalli, and his eventual Love Interest, Lacus Clyne, safe, and in the case of Flay's death, Rau paid for that instance with his life.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: Decoy Protagonist Shinn Asuka promises Stella Loussier that he'll protect her, since he shows kindness and empathy for her pleas to live. Unfortunately, he ultimately fails her, and can't stop her from getting killed by Kira, who only took her out because she was at the moment freaking out and laying waste to a city with a Destroy Gundam.
  • Murder Princess is a straightforward example. It takes Fallis a while to realize that she wants to protect the sweet, gentle (and very, very helpless) Princess Alita, but actually doing so never gets any more complicated than cutting down anything that threatens her or her kingdom.
  • Naruto: Rock Lee promises to protect Sakura during the second exam of the Chuunin Exams, risking his life to protect her even though they aren't even teammates and nearly dies protecting her, even pushing his body to attack when it was deemed impossible for him to move.
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
    • Konoka and Setsuna's dynamic falls most closely under this but covers several variants. While Setsuna is heavily motivated by a backstory incident where she failed to protect Konoka from drowning, she also spends a lot of time trying to protect her by hiding the truth about magic from her, thus making it a case of It's Not You, It's My Enemies. Later on, she nearly dies while trying to rescue Konoka. Ultimately her absolute dedication to protecting Konoka comes back to the old childhood 'close shave' where they were both lucky to survive. (Whether Setsuna's dedication edges into the territory of yuri is left as an exercise for the class.)
    • Asuna is Negi's ministra magi and thus responsible for protecting the Squishy Wizard while he casts his spells. In response, Negi pushes himself to become stronger so she doesn't have to protect him and put herself in danger. While competing in Mahora Fest's Tournament she loudly declared to Negi that she was plenty powerful enough to protect him. Then she became profoundly embarrassed because she was fighting at that moment and the entire crowd interpreted her declaration as a love confession.
  • Noein: Karasu is basically built around protecting Haruka, typically telling his opponent something along the lines of, "I will protect her with my life." This is because, in his opinion, he failed to protect her future self, though it is implied she willingly did a Heroic Sacrifice.
  • One Piece:
    • Before the events of the story, Fish-Man Island was constantly preyed on, raided, and enslaved by pirates all over the world. All of that stopped the moment Whitebeard came calling and declared the island as his territory without actually exploiting it. Luffy later takes up the role, declaring the country under his protection to spare them the wrath of Big Mom.
    • Ace swore to protect his younger brother Luffy, both out of love for him and as a promise to their other "brother" Sabo, who he thought was dead. Indeed, Ace spent most of his childhood as Luffy's protector, and ultimately gave his life to protect him during the Paramount War (which in itself was a tragedy, as Luffy spent most of the war trying to save Ace from execution). Years later, Sabo, the third brother, reveals that he is alive to Luffy. Later on, as he battles Admiral Fujitora, he told his opponent that if Luffy were to ask for his aid, no matter where he was in the world, he would drop everything and be at his side in an instant. There is a quick flash to his reaction to Ace's death, and the look of pain on his face makes his reasons clear: he lost Ace, and he'll never know whether or not his brother could have been saved if he had acted. He won't take that risk and lose Luffy as well.
    • Ace requested Jimbei to protect Luffy in his place if he was unable to, something Jimbei takes very seriously. During the Marineford arc, Jimbei stands up to Akainu, all for Luffy's sake, and even tanks a lethal blow to protect the boy.
      Jimbei: "Strike me as many times as you like. I will shield him as long as I live."
    • Much later in the story, the Fishman Island situation is repeated with Wano Country. Luffy hands its shogun Momonosuke a flag of his crew's Jolly Roger, and tells him to hang it high, to let everyone know that messing with Wano is like messing with the Straw Hats.
  • Ōkami-san: Hopeless Suitor Ryoshi Morino says almost the exact same words to Love Interest Ryoko Ōkami, which consequently leads to the latter developing feelings for the former.
  • PandoraHearts: Gilbert Nightray repeatedly swears to protect his master, Oz Vessalius — not simply out of obligation, but because he adores Oz. There's no shortage of one-sided Ho Yay implications here.
  • In Pokémon Adventures, admittedly, it takes only a little while for Lady Berlitz to become an Action Girl, but nevertheless, Dia and Pearl swear to protect her with their lives after they learn the truth about the whole situation surrounding her though Dia did have a good idea of what was really going on the whole time and when her real bodyguards get banished into the Distortion World.
  • Popcorn Avatar: Kurando's primary motivation is to protect his twin sister from the Asura and maintain a world where she can live safely.
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica: When Homura Akemi was caught in a witch barrier, Magical Girl Warrior Madoka Kaname saved her. She then vowed to help her and protect her in return. She failed, however, and Madoka died. Then Homura made her contract with Kyubey, and specifically hoped to protect Madoka and avert her death. She failed each time, but kept on trying...
  • In The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World, Tougo promises to protect Idola and her dream of making everyone happy when they're cornered by the dragon hoarding all the mana-metal. He almost kills her immediately afterward with his Transformation Sequence, which she lampshades.
    Tougo: Idola! I told you didn't I? I've fallen for your dream. One day you'll definitely achieve it, and bring a smile to everyone's faces! It's an amazing dream! That's why, protecting you and your dreams is my duty!
  • Revolutionary Girl Utena probably fits best under this, and is a very genderqueer example, what with Utena Tenjou deliberately taking on the persona of a Fairytale Prince. She fights solely to protect the Rose Bride, Anthy Himemiya... but at the end, it turns out Anthy was in on the whole thing, and was in fact following Akio's will, from being involved in his manipulations behind the scenes to doing everything he told her to . . . EVERYTHING. It's really, REALLY not helped by Utena realising that she had been taking the persona of a prince less to help Anthy and much more to feed her own ego, not taking Anthy's thoughts and beliefs in consideration. After this, Utena is severely disillusioned, becoming a Knight in Sour Armor, but comes to forgive Anthy after realizing just how much torment she's been in for hundreds and thousands of years, and resolves to truly save her from more suffering and give her a second chance in life.
  • Rurouni Kenshin: Specifically, the 'backstory'. Back when he was still an assassin, Kenshin fell in love with a woman named Tomoe — who was actually a spy planted by the Shogunate to find his weakness and eliminate him. The details are awfully complicated, but after The Reveal, she ends up dead along with her employers, and Kenshin swears never to kill again...
  • Sailor Moon: Mamoru Chiba swears to always protect Usagi, even before he remembers his status as a reincarnation of Usagi's lover, Endymion, in the past. Including when he's still amnesiac in R season, his strong love and wish to protect Usagi enabling him to split into his counterpart, Moonlight Knight.
  • Saki Achiga-hen: Yuu's younger sister Kuro often protected her from bullies while the two were young, who picked on her for wearing warm clothing in summer due to being chilled easily. During the quarter-finals, however, when Kuro comes up to Yuu in tears over losing so many points, Yuu comforts her and declares her intention to win the points back, mentally expressing her determination to stand up for her sister.
    Yuu: Kuro-chan has always been the one to save me... But today, it's Onee-chan's turn to fight!
  • Scrapped Princess: The Sword and Sorcerer team Shannon and Raquel are solely motivated by their oath to protect the eponymous princess, Pacifica. Shannon is the one that most closely matches the trope, being a guy and all — since they were raised as siblings, his affection for her is more big-brotherly than romantic, but they are Not Blood Siblings, so it gets... ambiguous at times. As for complications, well, according to a supposedly-infallible Divine Prophecy, Pacifica is 'the poison that will kill the world' — specifically, she will destroy the world when she turns 16. As a result, virtually everyone wants to kill her, either out of fear, religious fervor, or greed for the huge bounty the kingdom has placed on her head. Shannon is stuck trying to protect her from all that, preferably without killing anyone because he knows that Pacifica would blame herself for any lives lost...
  • Sekirei: Minato often ends up doing this for the Sekirei he eventually becomes their Ashikbabi for. This helps win over many of them, such as Musubi, his first Sekirei, Kusano, and later Tsukiumi.
  • Seraph of the End: Yuu and Mika declare this about each other with all the Ho Yay implications attached.
  • In Sk8 the Infinity, the protagonists Langa and Reki do a stereotype boyfriend-girlfriend comedy routine to lampoon a rival-turned-friend's romantic chances, with Reki yelling "That person is scary!" and Langa emphatically expressing, "I will protect you." However, it becomes apparent that for Langa, this isn't a joke, as a part of what drives him in skateboarding competitions is protecting those he loves, especially Reki. Then in episode 11, after Reki still pulls through his match despite the main villain, ADAM, graphically injuring him, ADAM goes to harm or possibly even kill him — but Langa protects Reki by putting his body in front of his.
  • Snow White with the Red Hair has the knight Mitsuhide who became the prince Zen's first retainer when the prince was still a child. While Zen is an accomplished swordsman in his own right by the time of the series he's not quite up to Mitsuhide's level. Mitsuhide's initial reaction to being assigned to the prince was some trepidation as he had hoped to serve under Zen's older brother it was mostly out of surprise and he has never considered turning down the position. He is completely loyal to the prince to the point that it sometimes concerns Zen.
  • Soul Eater: While rather understated (as in it's clear to the reader, but he hardly shouts about it) it's plainly one of Soul's motivations for protecting Maka. He insists it's because it's his job as a Weapon. It fits whether or not you view them as a canon couple. Jackie shows a similar angle towards Kim with the aforementioned connotations. Though the basic sentiment extends to most Weapon/meister team and works both ways.
  • In Sunday Without God Julie promises to protect Scar after she has an identity crisis concerning her role as an emotionless gravekeeper and newfound human emotions. Ai and Alice think that sounds like a proposal and cheer him on, and he hastily adds he'll protect them too.
  • Sword Art Online: Asuna arrives just in time to save Kirito (THE badass of SAO) from near death at the hands of Laughing Coffin assassin Kuradeel. After sharing their first kiss, Kirito offers his life to Asuna and she declares that she will do anything to protect him, no matter what. As a level 96 "floor-clearing badass", she has the skills to back this declaration up. In the final battle with Heathcliff, she attempts to make good on this promise by absorbing the would-be final blow to Kirito, sacrificing herself to save him. Unfortunately, the sacrifice is short-lived as Heathcliff runs Kirito though on his next strike. Kirito is able to kill Heathcliff before he finishes dying, which wins the game and saves both himself and Asuna.
  • The Testament of Sister New Devil: Basara actually kicks out Mio and Maria, his newly adopted stepsisters, after finding out they're actually a demon lord in training and a succubus. They try to brainwash him into leaving his house, but it doesn't work. After he learns more about their past, however, he changes his mind and instead tries to protect them from the rival demon faction trying to kill her.
  • This Ugly Yet Beautiful World sees Takemoto swear to protect Hikari no matter what, within minutes of first meeting her, though in his defense she's the spitting image of the ideal girl he was fantasizing about earlier that day, and their meeting was quite interesting in itself, too. However, even SHE isn't aware that she's actually a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds... and he is someone who was born to stop her. Hence, this could just as easily go under the 'It Got Complicated' header.
  • In Unlimited Fafnir, Yuu does this to Iris. In a slight variation of the trope, he says if it comes down to it, he'll kill her himself to prevent her from turning into a dragon. Fortunately he doesn't need to do it after they manage to find a way to defeat the dragon attacking the school in episode 3.
  • X/1999:
    • Yuzuriha Nekoi verbally invokes the trope in the manga as she and Arashi Kishuu speaks about the guys they like. The dude Yuzu wants to protect? Shiryuu Kusanagi, a man who not only is more than twice her age, but is a member of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and quite the badass among the Dragons of the Earth.
    • Similarly, Lady of War Arashi's suitor is Sorata Arisugawa, a Religious Bruiser and fellow Dragon of Heaven. Upon seeing her up close for the first time, Sorata decided to protect her. This is because he's prophesied to die to protect a woman, he knows it clearly, and he thought he'd at least die for a pretty girl and chooses Arashi at first due to her Aloof Dark-Haired Girl traits. From then on Sorata gets Arashi to gradually defrost, and they fight together... and get together. But things go From Bad to Worse.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Yubel's backstory. Their original self willingly underwent nightmarish surgery to obtain their current form, purely so they could protect their best friend, Jaden's preincarnation. Pre-Jaden responds in turn with an Anguished Declaration of Love, so horrified by this act of sacrifice that he swears his heart to Yubel forever in gratitude. Sadly Deconstructed, Yubel becomes dangerously overprotective and that's before they're driven insane by the Light of Destruction.

    Asian Animation 
  • Flower Angel: In Season 3 Episode 13, a flashback shows that Kukuru promised Princess Fanny that he will protect her and dispel all evil for her sake. Unfortunately, Kukuru ends up making a similar promise to An'an later down the line, completely forgetting about Fanny in the process. This is what persuades Fanny to become a villain.

    Comic Books 
  • Astro City: When American Chibi decides to remain in the Unbodied's dreamworld to protect the native Ubbows from the King-In-Chains and prevent King-In-Chains from breaking through the dimensional barriers and menacing Earth, Samaritan acknowledges Chibi's heroism by making her a full-fledged member of Honor Guard.
    Chibi: Let's go, King-In-Chains! Let's do this! The Ubbows are under Honor Guard protection, you hear me? Honor Guard Protection!
  • In Sleepless, war hero Cyrenic is charged with protecting Lady "Poppy" Pyppenia after an attempt on her life. He swears a magically binding vow to watch over her tirelessly as a Knight of the Sleepless Order. In return, Poppy swears to be worthy of his dedication.
    Cyrenic: I shall not sleep. My eyes will ever stay open, never shall I rest until my time runs out. I shall not yield... ever will I watch over thee, never shall I waver until my time runs out. To thee, Lady Pyppenia, I make this vow.
    Poppy: And my time's path, whether given, borrowed, or spent, shall not break you from yours. Only time's will shall release you, or my word. And I swear to keep my word true and just... and hold your vow with mine own. To thee, Sir Cyrenic, I swear.
  • In Strange (2022), Clea leaves one of the Blasphemy Cartel mooks alive as he feebly begs to be summoned to safety all to relay that the Shrouded Bazaar that is under her protection. In a subversion of the usual outcome of this trope, the Bazaar is attacked again while Clea was busy fighting Thunderstrike and the Harvestman.
    Clea: Do not fear, worm. I will allow your magi to summon you to safety. Because I want you to tell whomever you report to... this place is under my protection. I am the Sorcerer Supreme, and I am warlord-born.`
  • Subverted in Superman storyline The Coming of Atlas since nobody can understand his growls; but when Atlas attacks Metropolis, Krypto the Superdog fights him off, declaring his owner's beloved city is under his protection.
    Krypto: Man loves [Metropolis]. I protect place for man. Krypto good boy.
  • In Kieron Gillen's run on Uncanny X-Men, Colossus became obsessive about protecting his sister Illyana, to the point of losing his humanity (not to mention the love of Kitty Pryde) by taking on the Juggernaut's curse. Toward the end of Avengers vs. X-Men, Illyana revealed that she was Evil All Along, and had manipulated her big brother into becoming the new Juggernaut in order to make him as much of a monster as she had become. Let's just say Colossus no longer feels any need to protect his "little snowflake"; he has in fact vowed to kill her if their paths cross again.
  • Regarding the page illustration; Victor Von Doom, after saving Susan Richards's life and helping her deliver her and Reed's daughter safely, claimed as his reward the right to name the child, and so named her Valeria, after a lost love of his childhood. He then declared Valeria to be under his protection. The two of them have had an oddly sweet familial relationship since, with Valeria even calling him "Uncle Doom".
  • Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia revolves around this. Wonder Woman gets bound by an ancient Greek rite (Hiketeia) to protect a young girl, on punishment of painful death by the Furies if she breaks the oath. Unfortunately, Wonder Woman hadn't realized the girl is a murderer (with a pretty damn solid justification) on the run from Batman who's determined to bring her to justice. Batman won't back down and Wondy can't either, so they end up duking it out until the girl commits suicide.

    Fan Works 
  • Adrian Tullberg's Addition To The Fray is set as an alternate ending to Civil War (2006). Doctor Doom confronts Reed Richards about his decisions regarding the Superhero Registration Act and Reed ends up revealing the truth; he had planned to oppose the act until he received a package from SHIELD containing photos of Franklin and Valeria Richards in their beds (which could only have been taken by a drone that could get past the Fantastic Four's formidable security systems) with the written message, "Say nothing, and agree." Doom, of course, couldn't give a damn what happens to America's superheroes, the FF or Franklin, but as mentioned in the Comic Books heading, he has pledged his protection to Valeria, and he is furious that SHIELD would dare to threaten her. Let's just say his retribution is Biblical.
    "Bear Witness...You and your masters will realize your sole purpose in this life. To serve as a warning to whoever, and whatever, shall soon replace you and your organisation. To threaten that child...is to Invite Doom!"
  • In The Amazing Spider-Man: True Purpose, Carol Danvers basically makes one when she informs Captain America that she’ll be joining the new Avengers Unity Squad, now led by Spider-Man, to keep an eye on the likes of Rogue in case anyone resents Spider-Man coming back to life after the war against the Phoenix Five instead of Xavier.
  • In Beyond Heroes: Of Sunshine and Red Lyrium, Varric basically makes one of these once he learns that the only survivor of the Conclave explosion is Bethany Hawke. He informs her, and anyone else who asks, that he's not leaving the newly formed Inquisition as long as she has to be there, since her brothers aren't available to protect her.
  • Blackkat's Reverse: Kurama fixes Gaara's seal and shows kindness to him by affirming he's a little boy, not a monster, and introducing him to Naruto. Later in the story, Kurama gives the kid the full Comes Great Responsibility speech and asserts he should use his power to protect what's important to him, Gaara's answer is that Kurama IS what's important to him.
  • The Bridge: After being accepted and forgiven for his past actions by Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor, Xenilla makes an earnest vow to fight till his last breath to keep the Crystal Empire and the royal family safe. Both played for laughs, such as him constantly monitoring Cadance during her pregnancy as his vow also extends to the health of her and Shining Armor's unborn child, and played very seriously in "Critical Research Failure". When Commander Tempest invades and petrifies the still-pregnant Cadance, Xenilla becomes absolutely livid and goes on the attack.
  • Broken Facades: Light promises his father he will look after Misa. He didn't count on either of them becoming Kiras when he made that promise.
  • Cheshire (Miraculous Ladybug): Marinette promises, first to Plagg and later to the other kwamis, that she will protect them. Knowing that she means it, this leads to the kwamis to be worried for her.
  • A Certain Droll Hive Mind: Touma promises to protect Misaka-11111. She decides not to mention that technically it's her fault she's being threatened.
    The Network feels happy. Kamijou Touma has just declared that he is willing to protect us again.
    We wonder if we should inform him that we punched the girl who is bad at dressing like a panda in the solar plexus. We decide not to. It might confuse him. And we like the bit where he is willing to protect us.
  • Fear the Superhero: Not quite protection, as Karasuba would never dream of forbidding or preventing Shirou from killing anyone. But she’s made it clear to him that if he kills Musubi she will be forced to kill him in return and Karasuba will help Musubi and Minato escape from Shirou, if she can do so without him noticing. Shirou doesn’t view this situation as worth the headache of trying to understand.
  • Field of Innocence: Lu Ten promises his younger cousin Azula that as long as he's there, he'll always protect her. As he is Doomed by Canon, you can guess how well that works out.
  • Fractured Fates: Kaneki Tenmaru makes it clear that she will do whatever it takes to protect her close friend Asuna and ensure that she will survive the killing game alongside their classmates. So when she learns that somebody may be targeting Asuna for a murder, Kaneki attempts to single-handedly thwart the would-be killer by confronting them herself. She succeeds in preventing Asuna from getting killed, but ends up being murdered in her place.
  • In Incarnation of Legends, the Legiones declares that Bell and Kojiro are under his protection during their stay in Rakia, handing them a special gold coin as proof of this. While grateful for the honor, the same coin feels like a leaden weight in Bell's hands because of how it simultaneously paints a target on his back.
  • Kazuma V Tanya: Kazuma makes a vow to both of his little sisters after each of their births to do everything in his power to make sure they can live safe and happy lives, even if it should come at the cost of the world.
  • The Killer Rarityverse: Early in her life, after the birth of her baby sister, covert-Serial Killer Rarity offs a door-to-door salesman and goes to comfort her crying sister. Seeing the blood on her own hooves stain her sister's fur, she's shocked at the sight and vows there to never let her sister come to harm. She later lets her sister come to harm.
  • Little Hands, Big Attitude: Obsidian declares that anyone who threatens his family will face with wrath, even though he is a literal baby at the time (he was de-aged/reincarnated). He keeps to his word in a horrific way when Commander Walters assaults his family, resulting in Obsidian's Traumatic Superpower Awakening which he uses to almost Mind Rape Walters.
  • In Naruto:Rend, Ichigo gives a solemn one to Hinata. He states that wants to be stronger for both her and Naruto since he owes Naruto a lot for looking out for and training him, but also adds that the two of them hit an emotional nerve for him since their relationship reminds him of his parents and he's terrified of his "weakness" causing them any harm.
  • Once Upon a Farmhouse: Kirk comes on classmates beating up Spock and tells Spock that he's never gonna let the other children beat him up again.
  • Oni Ga Shiku Series: When Izuku was born, Majima promised that as long as he's alive nothing will happen to him. Unfortunately, he turns out to be proven very, very wrong down the line - especially as that particular flashback is juxtapositioned with Kurosawa threatening to kill Izuku if Majima doesn't kill Saejima, right in front of the kid.
  • Le Papillon Rising: Adrien/Papillon likes to give these to Marinette. That ends up with self-sabotage since she's his arch-enemy.
  • Passion on Display: Bakugo gives one to Kirishima after saving him from being attacked by the homophobic students.
    Kirishima: You did that...for me?
    Bakugo: Tch. Of course, dumbass. And if anyone else touches you, I'll make sure there won't be anything left of them.
  • Passing Days shows the many Servants making various promises of Vy's safety, all because she wanted to help them more than herself and no one else did before her. The first Grailed Servants in Achilles, Robin, and Saber Arturia all constantly come to Vy's aid even at the single hint that she is in danger, actively vowing to end the other party if they ever come close to hurting her.
  • People Like Us: When Travis learns about how much suffering Arthur has gone through, he swears to protect him from the rest of the world no matter what, and this time he's determined to not lose someone he cares about.
  • Pokémon Reset Bloodlines: Part of Ash's Heroic Vow is becoming strong enough to protect his friends after finding out Cilan, Dawn and Iris might be dead in the new timeline. It first comes into play when Misty gets poisoned by Vileplume spores and ends up in danger of dying, he takes her to the Cerulean City hospital, despite her initial wishes of not to go there.
  • In Safe Anchorage, Asha promises Jeyne that she'll always be safe as long as Asha is there, after hearing of the depths of Jeyne's abuse.
  • Ships Ahoy!: After he becomes drunk on unicorn tears and gets into a nasty car accident, Oprah reveals to him that she's started taking karate classes to protect herself, but laments that she can't use her skills to protect her own partner. This is what causes O'Donahue to accept his romantic feelings for Oprah and vice versa, since the pair had only been viewing each other as friends up until that point.
  • Snow Blind: When Raphael "arrives" at the Nightwatcher's apartment and finds Donnie alive but injured, he goes into the doorway and "tells" the Nightwatcher that if he comes anywhere near the room Donatello's in, he'll beat him up. Don hears Raph laugh for a second, likely because, since Raphael is the Nightwatcher, Raph just threatened to beat himself up.
  • Synthesis: Len swears to protect Rin since the day her mother trusted him to take care of Rin if something happens to herself. He even pulls a Heroic Sacrifice to make himself compatible to the Kagamine program to save Rin after being fatally shot by a criminal.
  • In Three Strikes:
    • Count tells Mimic Squadron that they have to go through him if they want to get to Trigger. He tells her the same thing when she begs him to leave the area after he has been hit.
    • Trigger makes one as well for Count, her family and her wingmen to Clemens after Mimic Squadron's second attempt to kill her and Count outs him as a traitor, that anyone that threatens them will face her wrath.
    • Rosa, after seeing all of the death and destruction and feeling partly responsible for it, swears to herself that she won't let any more harm come to the refugees around her.
  • When Did I Become a Parent?: The entire fic shows how Timon feels about Simba, leading to this Wham Line towards the end:
    Timon: (angrily) Don't touch my cub!
  • White Sheep (RWBY): Jaune promises that Ruby will be absolutely safe from "Hentacle;" Ruby blushes. Of course, what Jaune actually meant was that he is in fact Hentacle and isn't going to hurt any of his friends. Even the previous times when Ruby was "captured" were actually just misunderstandings where Jaune was trying to keep her from hurting herself.
  • In Who Will Fill a Coward's Grave, Cornelius Fudge of all people fulfills this when he's forced to arrange the transfer of Voldemort's most rabid Death Eaters to an ambush point under threat of torture/death to his wife and then him. The instant they're left alone, he arranges for her to leave to the Isle of Wight in secret with enough gold to move further and explicit instructions to not contact him in case things go pear-shaped and Voldemort comes for him.
  • you can only use your own: Chara promises this to Asriel when they become his honor guard in the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul, and makes good on it three books later, in under my skin, there will be flowers.
  • The Eagle's Gaze, a WD Zorro fanfic, has Diego promising to protect Esperanza after Varga threatens her.

    Films — Animated 
  • This is the entire premise of Finding Nemo. After losing the rest of their family — Nemo's mother and all of Nemo's siblings — Nemo's father, Marlin, vows to protect him at all costs. The plot follows Marlin's efforts to save Nemo when Nemo is kidnapped to be a pet in a dentist's aquarium.
  • The Super Mario Bros. Movie: Toad makes such a declaration to convince Peach to let him come along on her and Mario's quest. It works since she notes that he's brave enough to join them on their quest. While he doesn't get to do much defending, his loyalty pulls through when he doubles down on it when Peach tells him to escape with the others and escape Bowser's wrath. He ends up being who saves Peach from a forced marriage thanks to smuggling an Ice Flower in her bouquet.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Iron Man 3 initially seems like a simple case of 'beat the bad guys to protect her,' with Tony Stark is building new armors in order to protect Pepper Potts, as well as dealing with his PTSD and insomnia after the events of The Avengers. But the truth is, Pepper Potts wouldn't be in any danger if she wasn't living with Iron Man — a fact that Tony realizes at the very end, electing to self-destruct all his suits and remove the Arc-reactor in his chest — effectively bringing HIMSELF down to normal. A novel solution to the problem... though, as Tony admits in the closing seconds of the movie, nobody can really take being Iron Man away from him. He built the suits in the first place, and he can build more if necessary.
    Tony: I have to protect the one thing that I can't live without. That's you.
  • While Simon spends most of the television series protecting her, in the tie-up film Serenity, River flips the script on him and promises to return the favour when he gets shot by Reavers.
    River: You take care of me. You've always taken care of me! [Beat] My turn.
  • Spider-Man: During one of Spider-Man's fights with the Green Goblin, the latter is accosted by a crowd of angry New Yorkers:
    New Yorker: You mess with Spider-Man, you mess with all of New York!
  • Star Wars:
    • Chewbacca owes Han Solo a life debt, because Han saved his life once, as depicted in Solo.
    • In the prequel trilogy, Anakin Skywalker vows to protect Padmé Amidala when she's threatened by assassins and, later, when he starts having premonitions of her dying in childbirth. In fact, his determination to protect her at all costs is a big part of why he falls to the Dark Side and becomes Darth Vader, as Palpatine had promised him he could use the Dark Side to save Padmé. Ironically, Anakin's actions post- Face–Heel Turn are what cause Padmé's death. He doesn't take it well.

    Literature 
  • In Dan Abnett's Brothers of the Snake, Priad promises to protect the farmers. Turns out they are cultists trying to capture one of them for Human Sacrifice.
  • In Desert And Wilderness, Staś is Nel's protector. They even discuss Lady and Knight once.
  • The Dresden Files: Harry declares this towards a projection of his daughter who has been kidnapped by the Red Court. Also somewhat deconstructed due to the lengths to which he is prepared to go in order to get her back.
    Harry: Hang in there, kid. Dad's coming.
  • Rafael toward Skylar in Gives Light, but in this case, it's "I will protect him." Rafael's father, a serial killer, killed Skylar's mother many years ago, and Rafael feels responsible by proxy.
  • The Goblin Emperor: Maia's bodyguards are required to swear an oath to protect him with their lives, and commit ritual suicide if they fail. There's also Csethiro Ceredin, who, after Sheveän kidnapped Maia and tried to force him to abdicate, possibly planning to kill him later sends him a letter in which she declares that if the person who hurt Maia knew how to fight a duel, she would challenge her to one.
  • Katsa in Graceling has a more mild case as she tries to protect Princess Bitterblue from the child's own father. To do so she has to take the young child across mountains nobody ever survived before, which is easier for her than most people as she's graced with survival. At the end of the journey, while the princess manages to be okay, it's Katsa who ends up getting sick, for the first time in her life. She does get better, though. Prince Po, who was also trying to protect her, went to go challenge her father head-on and was nearly killed. He survived, but was struck blind and had to stay behind while Katsa and Bitterblue left to escape together.
  • In Heart of Steel, Alistair's efforts to turn Julia's mangled boyfriend into a cyborg companion for her instead produce a deranged, jealous monster who is willing to do anything to keep Julia under control, including killing her. Alistair has already promised Julia that he intends no harm to come to her while she's a guest, and since this is kind of his fault, he vows to protect her.
  • In Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, Peeta devotes himself to this cause for Katniss, who spends most of her time in the series kicking asses and taking names. He generally devolves into The Load because he saves Katniss's life by fighting off Cato and gets a sword to the leg for his troubles. In the second book it's less heroic, but getting electrocuted would slow most people down. In the third book, the Capital, aware this trope is in effect, turns it against them both in a sadistic way: brainwashing Peeta to assassinate her on sight.
  • Journey to Chaos:
    • Eric vowed to protect his love interest, Annala, and while she initially needed it, he maintains this vow even after she becomes an Action Girl archer and develops offensive holy magic. It is at this point that Annala makes a similar vow. Her boyfriend may be a Magic Knight but even he would have trouble fighting a Grim Reaper by himself.
    • Kallen has sworn to protect her little sister, Ariel, who is the only family she has left. The problem is that Ariel wants to kill her because the sisters are on opposite sides of an Order Versus Chaos conflict.
  • Kings of the Wyld: Gabe gathers his old band, crosses thousands of miles, and engages a horde of monsters so big that they are the horizon, all to save his daughter, who is a mercenary fighting said horde.
  • Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn: Simon has a very difficult time spitting out his affection for Rebellious Princess Miriamele, despite the fact that he has a crush on her. Part of it is that he feels that she's so far above him socially that his desires will remain unrequited, although he fantasizes about rising to her station or her falling to his. Of course, they keep getting thrown together in perilous circumstances, and after he's knighted, he resolves to become her champion and protector as a way of dealing with the situation. In the end, he discovers that it wasn't their stations keeping them apart at all, but Miriamele's self-doubts and fears of being forced to assume the throne and make a political marriage. Of course he turns out to be the rightful king anyway, so he solves the problem of her entering into a loveless marriage by marrying her.
  • In the Odd Thomas novels, Odd promises to protect the mysterious Annamaria. Over the next few books, she does a lot more to keep him safe than he ever does for her. Odd Lampshades it several times.
  • The first book of Relativity ends with Michael thinking a declaration of protection for his sister. He can't tell her, however, because she doesn't know his superhero identity.
  • Raybearer: Tar made one to Dayo when they were children. She remembers this event right as her ehru-brainwashing forces her to near-fatally stab him.

    Live-Action TV 
  • All Creatures Great & Small (2020): His notable eccentricities aside, Siegfried Farnon makes it abundantly clear in a discussion with Helen Herriot in series 3 that he takes the safety of everyone he is responsible for utterly seriously, and that regardless of all appearances, he is still very much the head of the household and he will protect everyone in their ad hoc family no matter what.
    Siegfried: Helen, look at me. Everyone under this roof is in my care. Do we understand one another?
  • Dembe to Red in The Blacklist. It's actually his job description as his bodyguard and stems from Red saving him from a horrendous fate. But the list of people who owe Red favors and/or are ready to go through hell for him seemingly has no end.
  • Booth is very much this to Brennan in Bones, even before they became an Official Couple. On the one hand, his "alpha male" need to protect her tends to rub Brennan the wrong way. On the other hand, as she once observed, "I find it interesting that I'm only afraid of snakes when Booth is around to be jumped upon."
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer runs on this trope. Most if not all the main characters are committed to protecting each other, as well as a good number of guest stars as well. In particular, Spike showed hints of this after Buffy died in the Season 5 episode "The Gift".
  • Castle does this for Beckett in the episode "...Boom" when a serial killer blows up Beckett's apartment:
    Montgomery: You need to go home and get some sleep.
    Beckett: Sir, I don't have a home.
    Castle: Yes, you do. It's a secure building with an extra bedroom, with people who care about you. With the Federal detail at the door, it's the safest place in the city.
    Beckett: Thank you, Castle, but I couldn't.
    Castle: You can and you will.
  • In Chinese Paladin, Xiaoyao marries and swears to protect Ling'er. He takes this vow very seriously although initially she is far a more powerful combatant than him and all she needs is his emotional support. However, as the series progresses he Takes a Level in Badass and it becomes Just That Simple between them.
  • Doctor Who:
    • In "The Parting of the Ways", temporarily-empowered Rose Tyler, as the Bad Wolf entity, declares this for the Doctor.
      Bad Wolf: I want you safe. My Doctor. Protected from the false god.
    • The Tenth Doctor pulls this off in his first adventure, "The Christmas Invasion":
      The Doctor: By the ancient rights of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time. And when you go back to the stars and tell others of this planet, when you tell them of its riches, its people, its potential, when you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this... It. Is. DEFENDED!
    • The Eleventh Doctor is quite fond of these.
      • It is, in fact, one of the first things he does when he has his faculties around him. in "The Eleventh Hour" he allows the Atraxi to read his mind, showing his previous selves in action, and asks "Is this planet protected?"
      • In "The Power of Three" he tells a levitating alien cube that earth and its people are precious to him and that he will defend them to the death, if need be.
      • In "The Bells of Saint John", after he recovers Clara Oswald's consciousness from a Spoonhead android, the Doctor sends a message over the WiFi network, "Under My Protection".
      • He declares this again in "Nightmare in Silver" about the young children that the Cybermen have begun to convert.
    • Rory Williams. He loves his girlfriend, later fiancée, later wife, and will do anything to protect her. A lot of the time they protect each other — for example, Rory fails at sword-fighting a fish vampire, so Amy destroys it with a mirror. He then goes to guard her comatose body for 2,000 years, becoming the legendary Last Centurion. He seems to develop something of a complex.
      Rory: And she knows that wherever she is, I am coming for her. Always.
  • Another Joss Whedon show: nearly everything Paul Ballard does on Dollhouse is to protect Echo...even before he actually meets her.
  • Firefly
    • River Tam is a slight variation; she really did need and want her brother Simon's protection, but that was because she was so erratic that she needed a stabilizing influence. Despite her abilities and combat training, she's still scared and confused about herself and the world around her. Simon, despite possessing a Big Brother Instinct to rival the Captain's own, had an unimposing appearance and soft-spoken nature unless he needed to protect someone (like a patient endangered by an incompetent surgeon).
    • Kaylee and Mal fit as well. Mal is very protective of his mechanic and even threatens to kill Simon if he doesn’t treat her after she’s shot in the pilot.
  • Game of Thrones:
    • Faithfully serving Renly as a member of his Kingsguard is Brienne's quiet way of expressing her (unrequited) love for him.
    • The Hound finally admits he's interested in protecting Arya for more than just her ransom in "The Children".
    • Toward the end of Season 6, Tyrion swears to Daenerys, "I believe in you. It's embarrassing, really. I'd swear you my sword, but I don't actually own a sword." When Daenerys tells Tyrion she needs his counsel, not his protection, he answers, "It's yours. Now and always."
  • Gotham: As Bruce starts coming into his own and embarking on a life of vigilantism, he gives out a lot of these, mostly to the people of Gotham as a whole. "My parents sacrificed everything for this city. And if necessary, so will I."
  • Interview with the Vampire (2022): In Season 1, Armand states that he protects his boyfriend Louis de Pointe du Lac from himself and others, while worrying about Louis' interview being a suicide attempt. Armand also reacts very unhappily to Daniel Molloy insulting Louis, warning him that when Daniel hears the other half of the story, he'll be ashamed about his scornful remarks.
  • Kamen Rider Ex-Aid plays with this. Nico Saiba is the most badass Ride-Player around, but still needs to be looked after by Taiga Hanaya, who's ability is in a completely different league than her.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • Jessica Jones (2015): As much as Jessica initially insists this is not the motivation for her actions, it's clear to both Trish and Kilgrave that she would do anything to protect Trish. Trish is alternately frustrated and touched by this.
    • Daredevil (2015): Throughout the show, while Matt rarely admits it, he is very protective of Karen Page's safety.
      • When putting Karen up at his apartment after she escapes Wilson Fisk's attempt to have her killed in jail, Matt reassures her “I will keep you safe, Karen," a promise he keeps when he rescues her from the assassin Fisk has sent to her apartment to attack her when she attempts to retrieve the Union Allied pension file.
      • Which gets called back in the Season 1 finale when Matt assures Karen, “I told you I would keep you safe, Karen. When he [Fisk] came after you over Union Allied. That hasn't changed.”
      • Throughout Season 2, we see that Matt continues to be very protective of Karen. His first engagement with Frank Castle sees him taking the guy on when he's shooting at Grotto and Karen with a sniper rifle. A few episodes later, when Karen admits to breaking into Frank's house, Matt and Foggy both get mad at her, but Matt admits he's mostly just scared that she could have gotten hurt. He tackles her to the ground and shields her from the bullets when Reyes is gunned down in front of them. In the Season 2 finale, when the Hand kidnaps her and a bunch of other people Matt has saved as bait, he's so worried about Karen that he can't focus on tracking the hostages that Elektra has to calm him down, and when he does rescue the hostages, he can't resist stopping to make sure Karen is okay before she goes.
  • The Princess Wei Young: Min De promises to protect Xin Er, who's pretending to be his cousin Wei Young, from Wei Young's Wicked Stepmother.
  • Dean Winchester (from Supernatural) has dedicated his life to protecting his brother Sam (despite the fact that Sam can protect himself, and often doesn't want Dean to risk everything to protect him).
  • Tin Man A cross of "I owe her," "It gets complicated," and Living Macguffin get involved with the gentlemen who decide to travel with DG. Raw is pretty straightforward. She's a good person, and she was responsible for rescuing him from a nasty death. Glitch comes with her because it's preferable to be confused and with someone than confused and alone. But it turns out that he was her mother's trusted and devoted adviser. Remembering who he was and learning who she is just makes him more determined to help. Cain's a mess. He agrees to escort DG and Glitch to Central (Emerald) City because he does owe them that much for freeing him, but the Mystic Man, his former boss, orders Cain to protect DG at any cost — and Cain's too damn honorable to disobey a direct order, especially as it turns out to also be the Mystic Man's Last Request. By the time it's discovered that DG is inadvertently responsible for the Witch's reign of terror, they've become such True Companions that they don't care.
  • On The Vampire Diaries, Stefan, who is the hero, devotes his immortal, undead life and makes constant sacrifices (including sacrificing himself or risking his life) in order to protect and save Elena, the heroine (or more like damsel in distress) from possible harm and dangers of the supernatural in the town of Mystic Falls.
  • Steve Jinks, Warehouse 13 has an interesting combo of three, He has a dead big sister that he sees in Action Girl Claudia, his partner, after she saves his life in the most hilarious way possible. This led him to decide to go undercover to protect her because he couldn't save his own sister, which in turn, gets him killed. He gets better.
  • The X-Files: While Mulder was always protective of Scully, her abduction in Season 2 sent him into overdrive. After her return, he becomes obsessed with keeping her safe. He ditches her several times, much to her annoyance, and asks her to sit out on cases for fear of her life. This makes it obvious that the one way to hurt him is to hurt her, and so this protective streak becomes even more pronounced after she is kidnapped many times more. Eventually, this turns into "I Owe Her My Life" since Scully is no slouch in the protecting and rescuing department.

    Music 
  • "The Fragile" by Nine Inch Nails, with the refrain "I won't let you fall apart".
  • Rascal Flatts' "I Won't Let Go".
    I will stand by you
    I will help you through
    When you've done all you can do
    And you can't cope
    I will dry your eyes
    I will fight your fight
    I will hold you tight
    And I won't let go
  • "Parachute" by Chris Stapleton: "Say the word and I'll be there for you / Baby, I will be your parachute"
  • "'Till The Morning Comes" by The Grateful Dead:
    Tell you what I'll do
    I'll watch out for you
    You're my woman now
    Make yourself easy

    Roleplay 
  • In Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues, Luna is more physically imposing than her best friend Ivy and makes it a habit to look out for her, telling her as such when Ivy worries about the government agent sent to hunt them down.

    Theatre 
  • In Tanz Der Vampire, Alfred is searching for Sarah and vows to protect her, at any cost.
    I'll be tough, I'll be sly,
    There is nothing I would not do or be
    For Sarah
    I will steal, I will lie
    There is nothing I won't try
    To find and save her.
  • "Dear Theodosia" from Hamilton is a sweet declaration of protection and Parental Love Song from Hamilton and Burr to their respective children Philip and Theodosia.
    You will come of age with our young nation
    We'll bleed and fight for you
    We'll make it right for you
    If we lay a strong enough foundation
    We'll pass it on to you
    We'll give the world to you
    And you'll blow us all away
    Some day, some day

    Video Games 
  • After Bartlett is shot down in Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War protecting Edge she becomes very determined to protect you. Badass? There's a myth about the Demons of Razgriz that applied to the Wardog squadron, and they may indeed be literal demons if one mid-game mission is anything to go by.
  • ANNO: Mutationem: A Pensieve Flashback shows a young Ann telling Ryan that she will look out for him whenever he gets into trouble.
  • Every protagonist in the Ar tonelico series on their heroine Reyvateils. However, this involved them getting into their minds and solve their inner conflicts. It isn't so bad until some of the heroines secretly want to kill or rape their interests in their mind worlds. And those heroes are dealing with ultra powerful magician singers here.
  • In the Baldur's Gate series Minsc has a "Witch" called Dynaheir. It's his duty to protect her, and if you do not resolve his Side Quest to save her, he'll leave your party. The sequel kicks off with you (And Minsc) in captivity and him lamenting how he failed to save Dynaheir, her having died off screen. Somewhere in the game, Minsc can choose a new "Witch" to protect out of two other potential party members.
  • BioShock: The Big Daddies are willing to die to protect the Little Sisters.
  • In BlazBlue: Central Fiction, Lambda-11 states that her desire is to be with Ragna so she can protect him. Ragna the Bloodedge is a One-Man Army who began the series waging a pretty-successful war against the entire world government... but Lambda is going to protect him too.
  • Devil May Cry:
    • Devil May Cry 4 provides another fairly straightforward (and heartwarming) example with Nero's half of the story with his Love Interest Kyrie. Though for a while it looks like he failed.
    • Nero does it again near the end of Devil May Cry 5, swearing that he won't let his father Vergil or his uncle Dante die. And he succeeds.
  • In Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten, about 400 years before the start of the game, the vampire Valvatorez makes a promise to a young woman to abstain from drinking blood until he can make her experience fear. Since a war is raging and the woman is a front-line nurse, he also declares to protect her until he can make good on his first promise. He is careless, however, and she is killed three days later. He hasn't drunk blood, nor broken another promise ever since.
  • Dragon Age:
    • Dragon Age: Origins: This is one possible outcome at the end. If a female Grey Warden has a romance with Alistair, he will refuse to allow her to sacrifice herself to kill the Archdemon, taking the choice out of her hands and doing it himself unless she takes the precaution of leaving him behind at the gates before heading to the last battle.
    • In the Dragon Age II DLC Mark of the Assassin, the Guest-Star Party Member Tallis can try to encourage Hawke to consider converting to the Qun, saying that it would give Hawke purpose. Hawke, who (depending on when the DLC is completed) is or will become the formal Champion of their city, gives a response that is literally this trope.
      Hawke: I have purpose. I protect Kirkwall.
    • Dragon Age: Inquisition:
      • When the Iron Bull is recruited, he informs the perfectly badass Inquisitor that he will consider it his duty to serve as their front-line bodyguard. Whether this ultimately becomes romantic or not depends on whether they pursue him as their love interest, but it's an actual gameplay mechanic — if he's in the active party, he invariably runs in to attack anything which makes the Inquisitor its target.
      • Dorian will make one of these if the quest "In Hushed Whispers" is completed. In the Bad Future, when the Herald of Andraste expresses their anxiousness over what will become of them, Dorian offers some gentle reassurance.
        Dorian: I'm here. I'll protect you.
  • The plot of Emerald Dragon is partially kicked off by one of these. When Tamryn decides to return to the land of humans at the game's start, the dragon Atrushan rips off one of his horns to give to her, telling her to use it as a flute and sound it if she's in danger. Him hearing the sound of it years later causes him to come to human world to find Tamryn, starting the plot.
  • Eternal Sonata: One of Princess Serenade's level up quotes is "I will protect Prince Cresendo." The prince in question is Knight in Shining Armor and she's a Princess Classic. It works because she has formitable magic power.
  • Al, towards his childhood friend Erel in Evil Zone. Yes, he's a very powerful Magical Boy Warrior and the Big Bad they're facing is a Game-Breaker Sealed Evil in a Can, but she's a pretty skilled Cute Bruiser too.
  • Fate/stay night. Emiya Shirou. He does this twice. In Fate, he does this to Saber, despite Saber being motherfucking King Arthur. (To be fair, he HAD no idea who she really was AND had watched her get totally curbstomped by Hercules.) Fortunately, he's called out on this and eventually it gets deconstructed in the Unlimited Blade Works route (the second example), where it turns out that Shirou has a massive case of Survivor Guilt that causes him to totally disregard his own safety; the deconstruction is that he feels the other person's safety is more important than his own so there's no problem getting hurt. Heaven's Feel also plays with this trope by having Sakura be, from Shirou's point of view, totally helpless... then you get closer to the end and she turns out to have an absurdly powerful Superpowered Evil Side. Shirou promptly modifies his definition of "protect Sakura" to mean "get rid of Sakura's Superpowered Evil Side."
    Shirou: If I can't protect her, Emiya Shirou can just die here!
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Final Fantasy VI: Appears in Locke's backstory. His girlfriend Rachel got amnesia in an accident for which he was blamed, and while he was in self-imposed exile, the Empire rolled in and killed her. So when he meets the amnesiac Terra, he vows not to leave her side until her memory returns. When he encounters the condemned Imperial Celes later, he makes a similar declaration.
    • Squall of Final Fantasy VIII, who provides the page quote, vows to protect Rinoa, the girl who finally brought him out of his sarcastic, just-dont-care shell, and taught him what love was. The condition of "Even if you become the world's enemy..." is there because the worst scenario involves Rinoa turning into a full-blown Sorceress and ending up the target of the world's forces and possibly even their SeeD friends. Squall, Rinoa, and company succeed by preventing such a scenario from fully realizing. Squall is telling her that even if the worst happened and she became the ultimate evil, he'd still protect her from everyone.
    • Final Fantasy XIII:
      • Lightning and Snow vow to protect Serah. Why? Because Serah is Lightning's sister and Snow's fiancee. It doesn't matter that she's been branded a l'Cie and enemy of the world Cocoon — once Lightning realizes that it's not a weird lie to get around her disapproval of Snow, she jumps on the Purge train to get her back. Even after Serah appears to die by crystallization, Snow refuses to leave her statue and takes up her last wish to protect Cocoon.
        Lightning: It isn't a question of can or can't. Some things in life you just do.
      • During Chapter 7, Lightning and Hope promise to protect each other after he decides to abandon Operation Nora. It lasts throughout the whole trilogy and gets a Call-Back in the third game.
    • Zig-zagged in Dissidia Final Fantasy at first Cosmos's warriors (especially the Warrior of Light) make it their mission to protect her from Chaos and his henchmen. In the end she willingly lets herself die in an effort to save them from the cycle of death and rebirth they've been caught in.
    • This carries into the Crisis Crossover Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia:
      • Snow decides that everyone in the group (of more than 50 warriors) is a part of his family and that anyone they care about are part of his family too. That means he'll protect every single one of them, no matter what.
      • Also from Opera Omnia is Gabranth. When a conversation with Locke reveals that Locke has chosen to abandon Celes (along with his other friends) to pursue an unnamed treasure, the conclusion of Gabranth's "What the Hell, Hero?" Speech amounts to "I am going to go take your place as a Final Fantasy 6 character and protect them like you should be doing."
  • Fire Emblem:
  • Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach: When Glamrock Freddy discovers that Gregory is trapped in the PizzaPlex and everyone else is hunting him, he promises to help him find a way out.
  • Galaxy Angel: In the first game, Forte has an event with Tact where she states that she wants to make him into a man she can trust to watch her back. Should she be chosen as the romantic partner, when she takes the mission to clear the route for the Elsior's escape, she states in her Love Confession that she wants to protect the man she fell in love with.
  • Gungrave. The protagonist's major goals are to get revenge on the main villain and to protect the daughter of his former love interest from the main villain. By using a lot of dakka.
  • All main routes of Hakuouki lead inevitably to this trope thanks to Chizuru spending a good four years in the constant company of the captains of The Shinsengumi, all of whom, aside from Sanan, develop protective feelings toward her and go out of their way to keep her with them and protect her, even though she's The Load and the Shinsengumi's situation becomes increasingly dire as events unfold. In Okita Souji's route, her Evil Twin Kaoru purposefully exploits the trope with malice aforethought to make poor Chizuru suffer by repeatedly creating situations that inspire Souji to protect her at his own expense.
  • Henry Stickmin Series: As Henry's undyingly faithful companion after he helped her escape the Wall, Ellie Rose commits herself to keep Henry safe throughout his journey and a few of her choices and scenarios involving Ellie to find a way to get Henry out of danger.
  • Hiveswap: In Act 2, Xefros declares that he'll protect Joey from harm when Azdaja challenges her to a duel. He later keeps his word by pushing Baizli to his death.
  • Ib: Ib saves Garry's life by returning his rose to him early in the game, and he vows to keep her safe in the gallery. While he is somewhat of a Cowardly Lion, he jumps to action when it counts — for example, when Ib falls unconscious, he carries her to safety and guards her until she wakes up. Depending on your ending, he may end up giving away his rose again in exchange for Ib's... leading to his demise.
  • Katawa Shoujo:
    • Hisao feels this way in regards to Hanako in her route. If you want to get her good ending you'd better drop that attitude when Lilly brings it up because Hanako does not like it. At all.
    • Other routes also touch the trope, either criticizing it or reaching a compromise between protecting/helping a girl and letting her be when needed. For example, Emi's path shows that Emi does need emotional protection due to refusing to make any deep relationships after her father's death in the accident that claimed her legs, and as long as Hisao doesn't overdo it, he can protect her broken emotions; and in Rin's it turns out that Rin needs both protection (since she's under very heavy pressure from her well-intentioned but VERY pushy art teacher) and to be understood (because she has big problems on expressing what she feels if it's not through art)
  • The King of Fighters:
    • Kyo Kusanagi. He is already willing to protect his Girl Next Door girlfriend Yuki to start with, but once he's told that she is a Barrier Maiden and that she was to be used in a Human Sacrifice, his desire to protect her goes up to eleven. Later, the spirit of his rival's ancestor asks him to protect her, among several other things.
    • One of Kyo Kusanagi's main motivations in the Tales of Ash saga is to make Ash Crimson pay for attacking Chizuru Kagura, his friend and fellow member of the Sacred Treasures Team, and stealing her Magic Mirror. It's really not helped by how Kyo couldn't do anything to stop him.
    • It's kind of a plot point in the KOF: KYO continuity. Ever since he was a kid, Kyo deeply wanted to protect his loved ones (in fact, he promises his mother Shizuka that he will do so when he's just eight years old), and that turned out to be one of the reasons why he was so powerful... but after gradually forgetting it in the middle of his turbulent life, he got Brought Down to Normal and then susceptible to being Brainwashed and Crazy by Orochi. Remembering how he began to fight as well as this purpose is what lets Kyo recover his lost powers and shake off Orochi's influence: this is sealed after his Warrior Therapist dad Saisyu undoes a staged Hostage Situation that he built to help Kyo and releases Yuki from an Unwilling Suspension. As Kyo rushes to catch her, his inner thoughts pretty much spell this trope.
    • Also invoked by Adelheid "Adel" Berstein. He has sworn to himself to be the protector of his younger sister Rose, who also is his only living relative after their dad Rugal's death, and even when he seems to be an Aloof Big Brother, he will NOT stop when it comes to shielding her from any harm. The main reason why he became Heidern's source of information in The King of Fighters XIII was his worry about how oddly Rose was acting around him — and with good reason, since she was Brainwashed by Those of the Past. When she's released from their mind control and collapses, Adel immediately rushes towards her to catch her in his arms.
  • Kingdom Hearts: As of 3D, Riku's primary motive seems to be to protect Sora (and to a lesser extent Kairi), aside from protecting the worlds. It appears that his wish to 'protect the things that matter' in Birth by Sleep has deliberately evolved from when he was a child — at least in the original Japanese dialogue, anyway. In fact, it is his concern for Sora that leads to him subconsciously diving into his dreams in 3D, rather than traveling the worlds alongside him.
    Beat: I just... wanna protect the one person who matters.
    Riku: I know the feeling.
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails:
    • The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky: Agate gives this to Tita, which only serves to strengthen her crush on him. Agate's too dense to figure out what comes out of his mouth.
    • Deconstructed in The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II where Rean wonders if he should act on the promise of him protecting his adopted little sister Elise, who is held hostage by the Noble Alliance, to side with them in order to end the Civil War faster even if it betrays his beliefs. Alfin has to snap him out of it, telling Rean to hold on to his beliefs.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
    • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds: Link goes into the desolate Thieves' Town and finds a woman holding eggs from a smashed coop and promising that no harm will come to them.
    • In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mipha makes this promise to the protagonist, Link, which becomes a bit tricky when she dies in the line of duty. She manages to keep the promise, however, by granting him her magical healing ability after her soul is freed from captivity. In the Champion's Ballad, there is a non-verbal one where Mipha asks Sidon to protect their home from harm if anything were to happen to her. Sidon wordlessly nods in agreement and strikes his familiar "I believe in you" pose.
  • In Little Busters!, Kyousuke feels this way towards Riki and Rin, and tries to encourage Riki to develop it towards Rin. In one of the final Bad Ends, when all of their other friends have died, Riki quietly promises to Rin that he will always protect her. She asks if he's proposing, and the player is given a choice whether to agree or not.
  • Mass Effect: Commander Shepard is the galaxy's ultimate badass; however, a certain dialogue path with Ash will have her invoke this trope. While Ash does so very tongue in cheek, she lives up to that promise.
  • NieR: Nier's overriding desire to protect his daughter, Yonah, initially seems perfectly simple... and he probably never realizes it was anything but. The player, on the other hand, will soon realize — by the second playthrough if not sooner — that he's been doing a lot of really questionable stuff in order to protect and save her.
  • Peret em Heru: For the Prisoners: After Yoko confesses her fears that she's going to end up being the next one facing the pyramid's judgment, Ayuto reassures her that he'll protect her. This doesn't sit well with their other friends, Kyosuke and Nei; hearing Kyosuke growl "...You woman-stealing bastard," Ayuto quickly appends that he and Kyosuke will both protect her.
  • Persona:
    Chie: Um, well... I also want to protect you... I might be a little flaky... And maybe you don't even need protecting... But... I... I want to protect you...
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies: A huge chunk of the plot is geared around this trope and how messy it got. Seven years before the game itself took place, a young man stepped in the murder scene of his mentor and saw said mentor's even younger daughter all covered in blood. Realising that the little girl would be accused and trialed for matricide, the man took a desperate bid and framed himself for the crime to protect her, despite knowing that he'd be screwed. Seven years later, he's on death row and the now grown-up girl is desperately trying to get the sentence overturned... The man's name? Simon Blackquill, one of the game's prosecutors. The girl's? Athena Cykes, Phoenix's assistant. Whether he fatally fulfils the promise or not depends on the player. The trope in itself gets lampshaded explicitly in the good ending, when Simon is released and Athena tearfully meets up with him.
    Athena: S-shame on you, Simon, for trying to throw your life away like that!
    Simon: It was never my intention to just throw my life away, but some things in this world are more important than your own life. My honor-bound duty was to protect with my life... my mentor's beloved treasure!
  • Prince of Persia (2008) has the prince play out this trope. He doesn't really care about the lost kingdom, or the Big Bad, or any of that — he's only fighting because Elika DOES care, and she's gonna put herself in harm's way with or without him. In the end, she gives up her life to stick the Seal back on the Can of Evil, and he immediately snaps and tears the lid back off to resurrect her again. She is not happy about that.
  • In Project × Zone 2: Brave New World, Chun-Li declares that she's going to protect Ling Xiaoyu after she accidentally barges in on a confrontation between Chun-Li against Vega/M. Bison, Juri Han, Saya and her henchmen, and Sheath. While Xiaoyu can fight, being targeted by a lot of bad guys is probably a bad idea.
  • Resident Evil:
    • Resident Evil 2: Quite literally, in the case of Leon and Ada. The Remake turns Leon and Ada's saving each other into a scorekeeping game, with Leon telling Ada at one point that she protected him and now its his turn to protect her.
    • Resident Evil – Code: Veronica: Although he's a mouse, D.I.J.'s diary tells of his wish to protect Claire from Wesker.
    • Resident Evil 6 makes a point of how far Leon's willing to go to protect Ada, including fighting his own allies.
      Chris: [Ada's] working for Neo-Umbrella. You know what that means?
      Leon: Yeah, I do.
      Chris: And your still going to protect this woman?
      Leon: I am.
  • In Sands of Destruction has a gender-flipped version of who to protect. Toppi grows an attachment to Kyrie because of his positive ideals and swears to protect him. It's complicated in that since that Kyrie is a Person of Mass Destruction and has the power to destroy the world and Toppi really doesn't want that.
  • In Shadowverse, this is part of Rowen's character. Which ironically backfired on him when his curse led to him accidentally killing his own squad, including Isabelle's fiance, Kyle. It appears his unwilling and uncontrollable dragon transformation is triggered whenever he feels the urge to protect someone. This continues to persist in the Morning Star's dream world, which then tips him off to the nature of his surroundings.
  • In The Sims 3, you can have a Sim vow to protect another Sim. This gives the neutral "Promise to Protect" moodlet to the sim who makes the promise, and the positive "Someone to Watch Over Me" moodlet for the sim being protected — both of which last for two days.
  • In the first season of his route of Starship Promise, Atlas Molniya drops an unorthodox version when he informs the protagonist that he intends to protect her from the Union out of pure spite. The effect is still the same, especially given the vehemence of his phrasing.
    Atlas: I wouldn't spit on them if they were on fire! So if they want you, then... then they'll have to rip you from my cold dead fingers.
  • An odd twist on this for both Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic if you're playing female. In the first, Carth knows damn well you could skewer him on a lightsaber and not muss your hair. Still does not stop him from admitting that trying to protect you is his reason to live after Saul Karath dies painfully. In the second game, Atton's overt about it. Bao-Dur is more subtle but still frighteningly loyal to his "general." In both Carth's case and Bao-Dur's, the "protection" they offer is more or less trying to act as the Morality Pet for a female Player Character in order to help prevent her from falling to the Dark Side.
  • Street Fighter: Thunder Hawk, especially Street Fighter IV. He has three driving purposes in his life: recovering his people's sacred lands, punishing Bison for killing his father and former chieftain Arroyo Hawk, and protecting his childhood friend and fellow tribeperson Julia. Then we see how horribly screwed up she and several other girls were thanks to Bison's Doll Project, in which he made them his Brainwashed and Crazy Bodyguard Babes. By IV, the poor girl has become an empty and emotionless shadow of the girl she used to be.
  • Suikoden II:
    • A twist on this can occur due to player choice. The Hero has somehow wound up leading La Résistance against The Empire, and his adopted sister has, naturally, wound up getting dragged along for the ride. When she finally admits that she'd prefer to live quietly together, you have the option of agreeing with her, running away from your army and responsibilities along with her, thus demonstrating an alternate solution to the problem. The result is somewhere between a Non-Standard Game Over and a... well, Not All That Bad Ending. You actually DO get away, and live quietly together in a cabin in the woods somewhere far from all the war and strife... but of course, La Résistance fell apart, The Empire triumphed, and all your other friends probably died.
    • Further observed later in the story of the game. She ends up protecting Riou from himself by faking her own death. Her reasoning being that when she dove forward to start deflecting arrows fired by Gorudo's archers, Riou leapt up beside her without a second thought for his own safety. Shu agrees to go along with her duplicity because they both realize that without Riou, the entire war effort would fall apart. In removing herself from the picture, Nanami ensures that Riou won't do something like that again.
  • Arado Balanga from Super Robot Wars Original Generation 2 is a pretty good Mecha-Pilot, objectively speaking — but as a graduate of 'The School', he's at the bottom of the heap — especially compared to his partner, Seolla, who's one of the best, period. But he's sworn to protect her, and protect her he does - whenever she ends up in a pinch, he goes Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass, whether that means fighting off an otherwise-supreme opponent, or taking a bullet for her. Sometimes both.
  • Super Robot Wars Gaiden: Ricardo takes a bullet for Tytti, saving her life... but leaving her Allergic to Love due to losing him.
  • Tales of Graces:
    • "Protect your friends" is basically the theme of the game — it gets subverted and played straight and spun and re-used in every conceivable way. In fact the characters use the word "protect" well over a hundred times in the course of the game. This has not gone unnoticed.
    • Main characters Asbel and Sophie argue over who gets to protect whom, until Asbel challenges Sophie to a footrace to settle the matter...and loses. Sophie saves the group from certain death more than once throughout the game and is canonically one of the most powerful fighters in the party. ( Halfway through the main arc, when Asbel is given an opportunity to defeat her in single combat).
  • In Tsukihime, one is given towards the end of Ciel's route. In this particular case, this is an 'I will protect you from your Superpowered Evil Side and from everyone trying to kill you because of your Superpowered Evil Side' variant. Unusually for the trope, it's the Action Girl Love Interest, Ciel, vowing to protect the Apocalypse Maiden protagonist, Shiki.
  • During her narration on the prologue for The Walking Dead: The Final Season, Clementine vows to protect AJ with her life, the same way Lee did for her.
  • World's End Club: In the final area, after Yuki reveals the truth about herself and begs the group to destroy MAIK, everyone instead says they'll find a way to protect her instead, with Kansai being the most determined about it.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 1: At any point when both Fiora and Shulk are in the party, you can count on this popping up in their battle quotes. Melia too, and the other members of the team at various points, will also make similar statements. Of course, give the fact that one of them wields nigh-godly power, the other is a combat cyborg, and the entire team is a Badass Crew, no one character really needs to protect another, per se. Doesn't stop them from declaring it regardless.
    Shulk: (On using Light Heal on Fiora) Fiora, I will protect you!
    Fiora: (On leveling up) I will use this power to protect Shulk!
    Melia: (Also on leveling up) I will use this power to protect my friends!

    Web Animation 
  • In the 3rd episode of DEATH BATTLE! Season 9, Tanjiro VS Jonathan Joestar, after fatally wounding Tanjiro with Sunlight Yellow Overdrive and finding out that Nezuko was Tanjiro's sister rather than one of Dio's minions like he initially thought, Jonathan states that he will protect Nezuko with his life before stopping Tanjiro's heart with Hamon. While the fight ended with Nezuko hesitating to take Jonathan's hand, Word of God would later confirm that she had accepted his aid.
  • Kerry from DSBT InsaniT makes it a point that no one shall harm Shawn, although the latter is certainly capable of protecting himself.
    Kerry: Nobody harms Leader Shawn!
  • RWBY: In "The Coming Storm", Blake tries this with Yang when she finally gets her alone. Yang actually takes offence at it and storms off, leaving Blake alone in the barn to kick herself over her words. Most likely Yang took it as coddling (she's an Action Girl and can take care of herself) or worse, an admission from Blake that she's only there for her out of guilt from abandoning her at the end of Volume 3. Later in the volume, when confronted by Adam, Blake amends this declaration by saying that she and Yang will be protecting each other from Adam. This time Yang is clearly moved.

    Webcomics 
  • In El Goonish Shive, Ellen and Nanase take turns being the protector and protectee. First Ellen protected Nanase from Vlad, then Nanase protected Ellen from Abraham, and finally both of them protect each other and their friends from Not-Tengu using a spell that grants a form which can only be used to protect others.
  • Girl Genius:
    • Happened early on when Lars — a traveling performer previously renowned for his cowardice — threw himself in front of a sword to protect the eponymous protagonist, Agatha. He died, and she went nuts, temporarily going into full Blood Knight mode, and attempting to basically take on the entire army of Wulfenbach singlehandedly with a little help from her Mecha-Mooks. She got over it, with a bit of chemical assistance, but now seem hell-bent on making sure nobody else dies for her. (Cue Gil and Tarvek winding up in one of the above-mentioned "She's an Action Girl" situations, as she works harder to protect them than the other way around.)
    • Agatha, Gil, and Tarvek have all declared their intentions to protect one another (or rather, Gil and Tarvek want to protect Agatha, and she wants to protect them). Considering they're all Mad Scientists and the rulers of most of a continent, none of it is really necessary.
    • Agatha orders both Gil and Tarvek to leave Castle Heterodyne at various points within the Castle arc, even though they're both completely capable of looking after themselves.
    • Tarvek's stated aim of protecting Agatha from Gil's advances, after Gil's friends decide to announce to the whole town that he's going to marry her, backfires more than a little.
      Tarvek: Agatha — just say the word — and I'll do everything in my power to sort this fellow out for you.
      Agatha: I appreciate that. I really do. Because by the time I get through with him, I expect there'll be a lot of pieces to sort!
  • Kill Six Billion Demons: 10 Vigilant Gaze's first acts as he returns to the physical world are to help 82 White Chain to remind her of what she initially stood for, and then to fight Juggernaut Star when the Thorn Knight starts to hurt her (all the while chewing Juggernaut Star for the way they and the rest of the angels have been treating White Chain for centuries).
  • The Order of the Stick: Inverted, funnily enough, with Action Girl Haley and her Non-Action Guy boyfriend Elan.
    Elan: Don't worry, you'll protect me.
  • Sluggy Freelance, of all places, has an example of this. Torg may have a lot of diversions, but there's only ONE thing he's actually SERIOUS about — and that's protecting Zoe. In an alternate universe overrun by demons, he soon gave up on trying to run La Résistance (since everyone there are Perfect Pacifist People), and instead just concentrates on keeping Alt-Zoe fed and away from trouble. Back in the real world, he forces her away so she won't become a target for Stalker with a Crush Oasis. With... mixed success.

    Web Originals 
  • Silver in Above Ground wants to protect Lilith and help her return home safely. But he's in complete denial about it all because he knows the desire to protect is an unnatural bewitchment rather than a real feeling. It doesn't help that his pack is in a dire situation and they need money that Lilith could provide if they ransom her off to the Guild.

    Western Animation 
  • Adventure Time has Simon Petrikov, AKA The Ice King protecting a very young Marceline either during or immediately after the Mushroom War. It seems to be that he simply chose to look after her because she was scared and alone. Could arguably fall under the "complicated" category, but that's less to do with her being dangerous and more because using his powers drives him incrementally more insane. He needs to stay sane for her sake; if she weren't around, he probably would have quickly given into the madness just from using his powers to protect himself.
  • Amphibia:
    • Sasha Waybright, though she's a toxic friend, genuinely cares about her two best friends with all her heart and she's a Determinator about getting back to them and getting them back home. In her first major appearance, after she's effectively sort-of gained her freedom from the cell where Grime was originally holding her, she privately makes a vow to her photo of Anne and Marcy that she'll find them and get them back home.
    • In "Snow Day", Anne Boonchuy vows to protect the people of Wartwood from whatever's been causing the annual disappearances whilst the townsfolk are frozen during Hiber-Day, although Hop Pop cautions her that it's quite a workload. At the episode's end, she notes that Polly almost got eaten on her watch after she slacked off, although she nevertheless saved her and furthermore found out how to stop future disappearances from happening.
    • In Season 2, Frobo is very protective of Polly. He outright vows to save her when Andrias tries to kill her, and he loses his life (temporarily) in the process of doing so.
  • Arcane: League of Legends: Vi tells Caitlyn about how back in the day she promised her sister to protect her from all the monsters but then ran away once the real monster appeared.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: When Sokka was still feeling guilty after losing his last girlfriend, he decided to make sure nothing happened to his other love-interest Suki. Of course, being an Action Girl, Suki is mostly bemused and slightly insulted by this — and eventually reveals the only reason she went with them was to protect Sokka.
  • Final Space: In "The Ventrexian", a flashback shows Avocato vowing that he'll keep Little Cato safe, even if he has to give his own life to protect him. (Which he kinda did in Season 1).
  • The Owl House: In "Escaping Expulsion", Amity Blight intervenes to save Luz Noceda from the Abomaton 2.0:
    Amity: Stay away from my Luz!
  • Pibby: Pibby promises BunBun that she'll always protect him... only for him to be consumed in the next scene. Pibby is later horrified to see a giant BunBun coming out of the ooze.
  • Secret Squirrel: Secret Squirrel is under orders to apprehend a rampaging panda named Won Ton, but cannot harm him because he's an endangered species. When all else fails, Secret proceeds to keep Won Ton under his "protection," and at the same time causing Won Ton to beat himself silly while trying to attack Secret. Won Ton is finally placed in our hero's protective custody for "endangering an endangered species."
  • She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
    • Deconstructed. Catra always took the brunt of Shadow Weaver's abuse as the Unfavorite, and Adora was constantly trying to protect her. However, Catra was always in Adora's shadow and never received recognition for her accomplishments, whereas Adora was always praised and loved by everyone; it likely didn't help that the Horde frowns upon displays of "weakness", and continually being protected by someone else would likely make one appear weak. Catra was envious of her, and after Adora left, she felt abandoned. She then obsessed around ruining her former friend's life and blamed her for everything. Her behaviour worsens until Catra pushes everyone away in her insane quest to finally beat Adora, rejecting every chance she has at happiness.
    • Adora later makes one for Glimmer, saying that Angella told her to take care of Glimmer, and that's what she intends to do. This one is also deconstructed. First, Angella actually said "take care of each other", and Adora took it as an instruction for her specifically to protect Glimmer because, thanks to her Dark and Troubled Past, taking every available responsibility on her own back is what Adora does. Second, Adora's traumatic past also gave her a tendency to protect people in overbearing and controlling ways, denying them their agency and trying to fence them in to keep them safe — something that Glimmer, possibly the most stubborn character in the show, was never going to take in stride. Adora's efforts to protect Glimmer end up being read as attempts to undermine her authority and this combines with all the other stressors on their relationship to split Glimmer off from the other two members of the Best Friends Squad.
  • Steven Universe:
    • During the song "Stronger Than You" in the episode "Jail Break", Garnet informs Jasper, "I won't let you hurt my planet, and I won't let you hurt my friends."
    • Downplayed but still present in the episode "What's Your Problem?"; after the fallout of the reveal that Rose Quartz was really Pink Diamond all along, Amethyst refuses to give in to burdening Steven with her emotions. In her way, she was protecting him from her own emotions and the emotions of the other Crystal Gems:
      Amethyst: I feel like, I don't wanna say, "What about me?", okay?! And I don't wanna be bent out of shape, I don't wanna be stuck in the past, and I'm not responsible for what Rose did. None of us are! Not you, not Pearl, and not Garnet! But I am responsible for me! And right now, I am NOT gonna dump another thousand-year-old complex on you or anybody else! I'm ending it RIGHT HERE! I am the Ding Dong Sunshine Future –- your friend FOREVER! ...And I'm not going to fall apart on you.

 
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Alternative Title(s): I Will Protect Her, I Will Definitely Protect You

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"Stay away from my Luz!"

As Luz is about to be killed by the Abomi-ton 2.0, Amity steps in to protect her by overwhelming the Abomi-ton with her own Abomination magic.

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