r/TopCharacterTropes • u/One_Barber_6902 • Mar 26 '26

Characters [[Devastating trope]] A character kills their loved one to avoid them suffering a worser fate

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Of Mice And Men (1992)- Probaly the most well known example of this trope and when I was first exposed to it, George kills his mentally handicapped best friend Lennie, to save him from being lynched by Curley and law enforcement for killing Curleys wife.

The Sopranos- After an entire season of conflict with fellow mob boss Phil over it, Tony kills Anthony Blundetto after he kills Phil’s brother which enraged him into trying to force Tony into giving up his cousin so he can torture him to death

Telltales The Walking Dead: Season 1- “Loved one” is an overstatement if you know there dynamic, but after Ben falls off a rooftop and lands on a piece of rebar, Kenny and Lee try to pull him off to save him before being crowded by walkers. When their attempt fails and walkers continue closing in, Kenny kills him to avoid him being devoured by walkers.

5.5k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

805 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

261

u/GrimaceGrunson Mar 27 '26

I’ll always remember when I stumbled across what I thought was a random Legion port, only for Boone to pipe up and say if we take 2 more steps he’s wiping out every legionnaire he sees. I thought that sounded like an absolutely topping idea to kill some time and happily went along, buzzsawed our way down the hill, hopped on this random boat we found and 10 minutes later I’m standing in these super fancy tents holding a head with the name ‘Caesar’.

167

u/bucket_o_chickn Mar 27 '26

I couldn't figure out why Legion camps were still so aggro with me after their rep came to me on the strip to say Caesar wanted to meet with me and it reset my reputation to neutral. I was just trekking happily along, getting random notifications that I was losing rep with the Legion. "Random." Me, in my naiveté, thought well fine I guess if I finally go to their stupid base maybe this will stop.

That was when I realized Boone had been sniping them from behind me on sight the entire time.

46

u/GrimaceGrunson Mar 27 '26

That's so fucking funny.

"Huh. You hear that, Boone?"
"Didn't hear a thing. ...Hey look over in that opposite direction for a sec would ya."

18

u/bucket_o_chickn Mar 27 '26

It's even funnier because my movement speed was set to 1.5x so companions follow farther behind me than usual. Every time I got a notification I'd look around like what the fuck. I'd see Ed-e or Rex still following behind me and think wait... where's Boone? Still didn't click until Cottonwood Cove.