Always Save the Girl/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: The hero chooses to save his love interest rather than the world.

  • Straight: Bob stops fighting Emperor Evulz to rescue Alice from being killed by Violet and Drake.
  • Exaggerated: Every time Bob tries to do anything, Alice suddenly finds herself in mortal danger and Bob has to save her every time.
  • Justified:
    • Without Alice's powers, the barren world cannot be made inhabitable again, even if it is saved from destruction.
    • As far as Bob is concerned if Alice dies, the rest of the world just doesn't matter anymore.
    • The community has abused and ostracized Bob for all his life, and is never grateful for the many times he saved them. Why should Bob sacrifice the life of a person he loves and who loves him back to save a bunch of ingrates?
  • Inverted:
  • Subverted:
    • Bob apparently attempts to save Alice as a ruse to let Evulz leave himself open, letting Alice die in the process.
    • Or alternatively, Bob seems to be leaning towards saving Alice until he realizes that if Evulz wins, Alice is just as doomed as everyone else.
  • Double Subverted:
    • No, actually, he didn't let her die.
    • (To the alternate scenario), after Bob says this, Evulz promises he won't kill Alice along with the rest of the world and so Bob saves Alice anyway.
  • Parodied: Alice stubs her toe during the final battle between Bob and Evulz. Bob sees, drops everything, and rushes to help her.
  • Deconstructed: Bob drops everything to save Alice, allowing Evulz to triumph; Alice kills herself in despair or comes to hate Bob as a result.
  • Reconstructed: Bob seems to be letting Evulz win, but it turns out Good Hurts Evil and The Power of Love itself turns the tide.
  • Zig Zagged: Alice is apparently in danger, but it turns out that she was manipulating Bob to 'rescue her' from Evulz, who is actually in league with her... but then Evulz discovers that Alice and Bob had planned to have Alice betray him and puts her in real danger.
  • Averted: Alice is in no danger, Bob lets Alice die, or Bob is fast enough to save them both.
  • Enforced: "We need to emphasize how much Bob loves Alice!"
  • Lampshaded: "I can't believe I'm doing this... I'll save you, Alice!"
  • Invoked: Evulz orders his minions to attack Alice, knowing that Bob will stop collecting Plot Coupons and try to save her.
  • Defied: Alice tells Bob to save the world and worry about her afterward.
  • Discussed: "Bob, would you miss out on saving the world in order to save my life, if that sort of thing ever happened to us?"
  • Conversed: "If Alice stubbed her toe while a village was being slaughtered, Bob would probably massage Alice's foot before he saved anyone else..."

Now hand over the Artifact of Doom and go back to Always Save the Girl, or your Love Interest gets it!

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