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Basic Trope: Shielding someone else with your own body. Usually fatal.

  • Straight: Charlie shoots Alice but her friend Bob jumps between them and is shot instead.
  • Exaggerated: Bob stops a Wave-Motion Gun with his body after making a ten-meter leap. In slow motion. Accompanied by the biggest Big "NO!" ever.
  • Downplayed:
    • Charlie shoots Alice, but Bob, standing nearby in armor, moves in front of her and is not seriously wounded.
    • Charlie shoots an arrow at Alice, but Bob blocks it with his hand. The rest of him isn't injured, but his hand is very badly damaged, causing him to bleed profusely.
  • Justified:
    • Charlie shoots Alice in the back and Bob is the only one who sees him aim. Also, Bob is wearing a bulletproof vest.
    • And/or Alice is a MacGuffin, or Bob is her bodyguard, so he has to protect her.
    • By the time Bob sees Charlie about to attack, it's too late to do anything else.
  • Inverted:
    • Bob shoots Charlie first.
    • Charlie attempts to body slam Alice and is shot (shielding someone from a body with your own bullet).
    • Also, the rather unlikely scenario where one character tries to shove another into the path of a bullet. A reverse Taking the Bullet, if you will.
    • Alice knows Charlie is aiming for her, so she pushes Bob away from her so that he won't also be hit when Charlie shoots her.
  • Subverted:
    • Bob is too slow to intercept the bullet.
    • A fourth character, Danielle, interrupts Charlie while Bob takes a dive, making the bullet completely miss.
    • Bob pushes Alice out the way and neither of them get hit.
    • Bob attacks Charlie to stop him from shooting Alice.
  • Double Subverted:
    • Bob is too slow, but Charlie is distracted enough by his attempt to only wound Alice.
    • Charlie sees Bob coming at him and switches targets, shooting Bob and thus Bob "shields" Alice from the danger.
  • Parodied:
    • Alice is the only one in the packed room to not see Charlie. Everyone in the room jumps in front of the gun, creating a massive struggling huddle between them.
    • Charlie shoots Alice five times, with Bob only jumping in front of the sixth bullet.
    • Charlie is about to shoot Alice with a paint-ball gun, but then Bob takes the hit and acts as though he's actually going to die. Everybody just looks at him, confused.
    • Charlie shoots Alice, Bob jumps in front of Alice to catch the bullet, but then Danielle jumps in front of Bob and catches the bullet instead.
  • Zig Zagged: Various characters attempt Taking the Bullet throughout the show. Some succeed and die, some survive, others don't succeed at all. There's no system in that.
  • Averted: Charlie shoots Alice, then Bob shoots him.
  • Enforced: Redemption Equals Death, period.
  • Lampshaded: (with Blood from the Mouth) "Taking the bullet for someone... always works."
  • Invoked:
    • "I'm wearing a bulletproof vest and can jump quite far, you know. Now, put your gun down."
    • Alice predicts an assassination attempt and hires bodyguards who are trained to intercept any bullets headed her way.
  • Exploited:
  • Defied: Charlie's gun shoots armor-piercing ammo, so it can go right through any unexpected obstacles.
  • Discussed: "He's about to be shot, so why do I feel the urge to jump in front of him?"
  • Conversed: Damn, he's about to shoot me, and in every movie I've seen, the closest friend takes the bullet instead! "Mara, step back! Charlie, get over here!"
  • Implied: Charlie is about to shoot Alice, and the camera is on Charlie as he shoots. Later, Alice visits Bob in the hospital and thanks him for what he did. Maybe they hug and Bob flinches and grabs his torso wound.
  • Deconstructed:
    • Bob takes the bullet, goes down, then Charlie calmly shoots again, killing Alice, as well.
    • The bullet over-penetrates Bob and hits Alice anyway.
  • Reconstructed:
    • Impressed and inspired by Bob's Heroic Sacrifice, the Innocent Bystanders throw themselves at Charlie, quickly overwhelming him. Both wounded are rushed to the hospital and resuscitated.
    • While the bullet does hit both of them, it was partially slowed down and deflected by going through Bob first, inflicting a more survivable wound on Alice than if she had been shot directly. While Bob doesn't make it, his sacrifice allows Alice to survive instead.
    • Bob takes the bullet for Alice and survives due to heavy armor being worn, having a very effective Healing Factor, or a good Super-Toughness, or any combination thereof.
    • Charlie only had the one bullet for Alice, intending it to be the one thing that kills her. Bob getting hit by it instead takes all the air out of his plan and makes him lose incentive to keep menacing her.
  • Played For Drama: Bob is killed taking the bullet for Alice. As a result, Alice goes into:
    A) Heroic BSoD
    B) Unstoppable Rage

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