Inspector Javert catches up. TheMecha-Mooks drop in. TheBig Bad incapacitates the hero, and starts to move in for the kill...

...Only to be stopped whenanother,weaker character throws themselves in front of the hero, crying "If you want him, you'll have to go through me!"

The defender may expect the attacker to be stopped by this, or may expect they'll have to fight. The attacker also has options. In some cases, the attacker doesn't reallycare what happens to the defender, and isperfectly happy to "go through" him or her to get to the hero. In others, the attacker is somehow close to the intervening character, and will stop, if only to find out why he's been betrayed (this makes theMad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter a common participant in this trope). Usually, the defender is hoping their magnificentshow of Friendship orLove will faze them into reconsidering. It very rarely does. Failing that, they may just be stalling forThe Cavalry to arrive.

Occasionally, a wholegroup of characters will jump between the target and the attacker, and the attacker will either back off, intimidated by these numbers or, (if he's aVillain with Good Publicity, having underestimated the hero's popularity versus his own) simply make an incredibly impressiveFoe-Tossing Charge.

Unfortunately, what works for the hero can work for the villain, too, and if theBig Bad has aBrainwashed victim orFace Heel Turn-er around that the hero is unwilling to "go through," they can putThe Messiah in a very tight spot. Don't try this on anAnti-Hero, though—you can't be sure they won'tShoot the Dog. In fact, don't try this onanyhero with a gun, because they'll always find a way toslip a bullet past the victim's head and into yours.

A particularly powerful or numerous enemy in this situation usually leads to aYou Shall Not Pass situation. If the defender is so powerful there's a good possibility they'll go through the person being challenged, it'sI Am Your Opponent.

If this is said to (or by!) theIntangible Man, expecthilarity to ensue as he, she or it is very likely to act as aLiteral Genie. Also in a rare, horror situation, expect the recipient to literally tear the speaker in half and go through.

See also:Protected by a Child,I Am Spartacus, sometimes used as a sneakier way to protect the hero. ContrastPietà Plagiarism,Crucified Hero Shot. Liable toThreat Backfire.

Anime and Manga

• The climax ofTokyo Mew Mew a la mode. Would have been a very emotional moment if their protectee weren't aCreator's Pet.
• Inverted inRurouni Kenshin. Kenshin has Shishio down and Yumi throws herself between them to protect Shishio.Shishio then quite literally goes through Yumi with his katana to get Kenshin. And Yumiknew he'd do that. He still held her in his arms as she died, before retaking the fight.
• InKiddy Grade, when Éclair'sBerserk Button is triggered after the Aure military police gun down a wave of protesters, she dares the Nouvlesse to shoot her down along with the rest of them.
• InCowboy Bebop, Lin jumps between Vicious and Spike, preventing Spike from taking his shot. This exchange ends not well for, well, really anyone.
• Sailor Moon features an episode in which Sailor Moon launches her Moon Tiara Action attack against Nephrite, but her friend Naru intervened because she's in love with Nephrite, and so she was forced to stop it.
• InChrono Crusade (manga version), Aion attempts to attackMary Magdalene to retrieve Pandaemonium's memories, but Chrono throws himself in the way. Aion, knowing well that demons have regenerative powers, simply stabs through him to get to his target.
  • History Repeats later in the manga, when Aion does the very same thing in an attempt to killRosette, who isalso being possessed by Pandaemonium. Yet again he stabs through Chrono, but this time his attack is blocked by the watch, a symbol of Chrono and Rosette's relationship.
• During Vash'sHeroic BSOD in theTrigun anime,a whole lynch mob is taking out its frustration and despair on him, especially now that he won't lift a finger to defend himself. In the end, Meryl puts herself between Vash and a gunman to stop the mob from killing Vash, ignoring all pleas from said gunman that he will kill her too if she comes any closer.
• InRanma ½, after being weakened by a moxibustion technique, Ranma is swarmed by a bevy of foes. He'ssaved at the last second whenRyouga pops in between them, blocking their attacks. He may be Ranma'ssworn nemesis, but he willstand by his honour and protect theweak and helpless—to Ranma's endless irritation.
• InGaoGaiGar FINAL, the reprogrammed Repli-mobile unit breaks their brainwashing to stand in front of the still-brainwashed Gai and the Goldion Hammer and King J-Der.
  • Earlier, Repli-GaoGaiGar is charging GaoFighGar with Hell and Heaven, and right before he connects..."ERASER HEAD XL!" Then the Repli-Jin tries again, and ChoRyuJin just stands there in front of Guy, soaking the attack with his Mirror Chest.Bad ass.
• Happens at least four times inHigurashi no Naku Koro ni.WhenShion is about tokillSatoko, Rika and Rena step in. WhenShion says she's going to killTeppei, Keiichi steps in, saying that won't work and only bring more pain. When thewhole gang tries to save Rika, Rena and Mion do this. When Miyo is about to kill Mion with her last bullet,Hanyuu stands in the way, insisting she's a moreappropriatetarget.
• Relena pulls this off to protect Heero at the start ofGundam Wing. She then pulls it again when Heero is in his Gundam and about to prance around during a ball.
  • Also seen inMobile Suit Gundam 00, when Allelujah does this protectMarie/Soma fromSergei, saying he can shoot him if Sergei doesn't let Marie/Soma fight in the future. At the last second, she leaps in front of him to take the bullet that wasn't shot in the first place. This leads to aCrowning Moment of Heartwarming between Soma and Sergei.
• A variation occurs inSoul Eater. Soul would normally be very capable of taking the attack without damage (or not as much damage) but since he wasslightly harmed by Chrona and Ragnorak, Maka refuses toblock with him in his weapon form causing him to switch to his human form and end up withhis torso cleaved open to block the next attack.
  • It was more than 'slightly'. Maka couldn't stand up to the physical force of Crona's attacks and was forced back against the door to try and escape "those doors, they open inwards". Soul was bleeding whilst having absolutely no effect on Ragnarok. Under the pressure and fear of the situation Maka had every reason to believe Soul would bevery badly hurt if she used him to block Crona's last attack. In contrast, when Stein turns up all Ragnarok does to Spirit is to createsparks.
• InBokuranoChizu's older sister Ichiko did this, whenher sister, having gone into aYandere state after all the abuse she went through, was trying to killthe teacher who molested her and was to blame for herBreak the Cutie session with anHumongous Mecha. For added drama,Ichiko actually lays the blame on herself and dares Chizu to killher. Chizu stops and focuses on battling the enemy robot, and then she dies.
• In the fourth episode ofImma Youjo, an assassin tries to kill Maya but is stopped by her servant Anne, who jumps between them. While he contemplates whether or not to kill Anne, as well, Count Pickingel sneaks around and backstabs himFor Massive Damage.
• InBerserk, Jill (the village girl during the Fairy Arc) does this for Gutswhen Roshinu attacks him. Normally, this would be completely unnecessary (this being Guts and all), but since Guts ispoisoned, and Jill ends up being theonlyperson Roshinu cares about... it works.
• InVision of Escaflowne Merle puts herself between Eria and Neria and Van, and stops them because she reminds them of themselves.
• In the second season ofCode Geass, Urabe of the Four Holy Swords does this in order to let Lelouch/Zero and Kallen get away from the BritannianSuper Prototype that's single-handedly holding all three off. Before this, Urabe was generally seen asThat One Guy and the least distinct member of the Holy Swords; afterwards, the fandom gave him a posthumous promotion toBadass.
• A character inversion: Orihime's introductory arc inBleach has her nearly getting killed by her Hollowfied brother, but Ichigo comes to the rescue. He then shouts "If you have to kill Inoue then you're gonna have to kill me first!".
  • In rhe Soul Society arc, Matsumoto does this when Gin Ichimaru is about to stab an unconscious Momo. After she dares him to fight her, he leaves without a word.

Matsumoto: Please, put away your sword, captain Ichimaru. If not...I will be your opponent!

• InMahou Sensei NegimaHomuraand Luna pull this ona Negi consumed by hisSuper-Powered Evil Side. Double points forLuna since she actuallydispelled herMaster of Disguise powers (revealing herself toeveryone as Asuna's doppelganger, aside of Fate's group and the small group from Negi's class who knew beforehand) right before that.
  • Hilariously done in the Mahora festival arc, when Negi is possesed by World Tree's magic, and won't stop until he kisses Nodoka (which she requested). Asuna protects Nodoka and shouts: "If you want to kissHonya-chan, you've gotta kiss me first!"Freudian Slip much, Asuna?
• Subverted inOne Piece as it nears the climax of the Enies Lobby Arc.Luffy, totally worn out from going into Gear Second twice and Gear Third once, is about to be finished by Rob Lucci. Fortunately, Usopp takes off his disguise as Sogeking and tells Luffy to either get back up, or lethimself take Lucci on; both he and Luffy know that he can't win. Luffy gets back up.
• Used repeatedly throughout theDigimon series. Wizardmon does this for Gatomon, Hikari does this to help snap Andromon out of his mind control, and Tomoki does this in Frontier.
• During Touma's first fight against Accelerator inA Certain Magical Index tostop the level six shift project and save the remaining 10000 or so Misaka clones after Touma was seemingly knocked out and close to dying, and the Misaka clones just used the windmills to destroy Accelerators compressed wind attack, Mikoto does this to protect said clone from Accelerator, knowing she'll likely die. While Accelerator stops to talk smack, Touma starts standing up again, to the surprise of both Accelerator and Mikoto.
• In the very first episode ofPokémon, Ash does this to defend Pikachu from a flock of rampaging Spearow, when the two just met and Pikachu hates his guts. This ultimately earns him Pikachu's respect, and Pikachu jumps into the air and launches a massive Thunderbolt that knocks out the entire flock in one shot.
• InFullmetal Alchemist, Alphonse defends aHeroic BSOD-ing Hawkeye from Lust by pulling a "Go through me". It doesn't work, because Lust has no qualms about killing a sacrificial candidate, and Al and Hawkeye are only saved byMustang'sBig Damn Hero/KillItWithFire entrance.
• Rosario + Vampire has Kurumu Kurono and the rest of the gang get in betweenGhoul Tsukune andInner Moka, saying that they won't let her kill him, despite his being beyond redemption. Kurumu is promptly rewarded for her efforts via a slash wound to the chest by the defended.
• In the final battle ofMy-HiME,Yuuichi attempts to shield Mai as the Obsidian Lord advances on the two with a sword, butMikoto then attacks him, shattering his pendant, separating him from Reito's body, and enabling Mai to destroy him and Miroku with Kagutsuchi.

Comic Books

• A popular variation in superhero stories is to have the hero save a bunch ofMuggles, and then have them try to return the favor. It usually doesn't work.
  • Also inJLA: The Nail
• Parodied in the Italian comic bookRat-Man:

Ortolani (narrating a flashback, in which he's surrounded by thugs): I thought I was done for, but then... a shadow appeared. Rat-Man (in the flashback): If you want him... you'll have to go through me. Ortolani (back in the present): Marvellous. Just marvellous.(pauses) They put us in the same hospital room, so we quickly became friends.

• Used very darkly inX-Men: TheAge of Apocalypse. During a massive battle, Colossus sees that his little sister is in trouble and rushes to save her, with gusto. Iceman steps up and says something along the lines of "No can do pal, if you want to get out of here you'll have to go through m-"... and the next panel shows Colossus smashing Iceman into a million pieces. (Which is odd, given thatIceman is considerably more powerful than Colossus).
• Towards the end of the MarvelCivil War crossover, the duel betweenIron Man andCaptain America (comics) is interrupted by a bunch of civilians (including, but not limited to,a cop and a fireman) tackling them to stop the battle.

Film

• Used inBatman Returns, with Max Shreck's son Chip stepping in to save him from the Penguin's Red Triangle gang. The gang are not impressed and pull weapons on him, prompting Chip to say "Dad, go! Save yourself!"
  • Admittedly Max was never actually in any danger, since Penguin wanted him alive, but Chip didn't know that.
• InStargate the movie, the action-y hero (Kurt Russell) almost shootsBig Bad Ra... but hesitates when a dozen young children surround their lord. Well, after all, the hero recently lost his son, so you can understand the hesitation. Of course, at the end of the film, he cheerfully sends a bomb up to the ship, destroying Raand the children. Would have been a pragmatic and necessary yet heart-rending decision—if anyone had bothered toremember the kids. (According to the DVD commentary,the entire point of Ra having children around him was so if someone tried to shoot him, they'd stop so they wouldn't hurt the children.)
  • Children of the Gods, theStargate SG-1 première movie, all but directly reproduces this scene with Amonet (currently possessing Daniel's wife) taking the place of the kids.
• At the end ofPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Will Turner does this to protect (Captain) Jack Sparrow.
  • Then Elizabeth Swann does it to protecthim. Probably because it didn't look like the people he was stopping were convinced.
• Done in the firstSpider-Man film: When Goblin pulls theSadistic Choice on Spider-Man, the crowd throws things at him, distracting him for long enough for Spider-Man to catch his breath. One shouts "You mess with Spidey, you mess with New York! You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!"
  • Subverted inSpider-Man 2: A crowd on a subway car try to do the same thing to Doc Ock: he grins, says "Very well." and shoves them up against the subway walls.
• This is nearly played straight at the end of inMuppetTreasure Island when everyone is teaming up to protect Captain Smollett (Kermit).

Jim Hawkins: Kill Captain Smollett and you'll have to kill me! Gonzo: Kill Jim and you'll have to kill me! Squire Trelawney: Kill Gonzo and you'll have to kill me! Rizzo: Kill Squire Trelawney and Mr. Bimbo and you'll have to... negotiate strenuously. (Just for clarification: Trelawney is Fozzie, and Mr. Bimbo ishis finger the alleged man who lives in his finger.)

• Reservoir Dogs:

Mr White: If you kill that man you die next, repeat, if you kill that man you die next.

• • Isn't that more of aMexican Standoff? He's not risking his own life to prevent Orange's death, after all...
• TheThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring did this in the scene on Weathertop, where the Ringwraiths casually fling aside the other hobbits trying to protect Frodo.
  • And don't forget the Return of the King, where the Nazgul king moves in to finish Theoden and Eowyn steps in.
• The thirdRoboCop movie has theBig Bad trying to shoot Robocop. The female cop, present in the series from the first movie, has the extremely smart idea of putting her soft squishy body in front of Robocop's metallic armor and declaring "You'll have to go through me first", or somesuch (this troper only watched the Italian dub).TheBig Bad replies "gladly" (or somesuch) and promptly kills her with a burst of machinegun fire, followed by firing a grenade in Robocop's torso. Most audiencesreally didn't like such a major character dying in such a stupid way.
  • McDaggett's exact words were"I don't have a problem with that." Also, it was at Nancy Allen's request that her character was killed off; she wouldn't have returned to play Officer Lewis otherwise.
• Played for laughs at the climax of the firstMen in Black movie. Will Smith's character makes the challenge to theBig Bad, who promptly swats him out of the way and continues like nothing happened.
• Enchanted also played this for laughs, when Robert grabbed a sword he had no idea how to use and got between Giselle and aScaled Up Queen Narissa. Her response? "All right, I'm flexible." CueJames Bondage.
• In Bruges: the hotel owner, a pregnant woman, stands between a hired killer and his target.
  • Of course, Harry, being theprincipledcriminal he is, adamantly refuses to do anything to harm her.
• A Day at the Races has the following exchange:You leave this room over my dead body! - Well, that's a pleasant way to travel.
• At the beginning of the Hungarian animated cult filmCat City, cats break into a mouse bank with a tank. The clerk shouts: "No! Over my dead body!" The tank promptly shoots him.
• InMonsters vs. Aliens, this is said by B.O.B. BeingThe Blob, however, the mookdoes go through him.
• In the 2009Astro Boy movie,Tenma and Elefun tagteam this ultimatum while protecting Astro from the military. Of course, Stone was happy to have them both shot, but there was a small interruption.

"I think Metro City can learn to get along without you."

• A double inGodzilla: Final Wars,in which Minya and a kid interpose themselves between Godzilla and the badass heroes, preserving the thin truce that just defeated the invading aliens.
• The horror form occurs inWishmaster, where a security guard says this to theJackass Genie villain - who turns him into glass and smashes through him to get in.
• At the finale ofBehind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon,Doug attempts to invoke this trope to stopLeslie from getting toTaylor.Unfortunately,Leslie doesn't even break strideto smash his head against a walland knock him out cold.

Literature

• In Neil Gaiman's book/miniseriesNeverwhere:

"If you're going to hurt her," (Richard) said, "you'll have to kill me first!" Mr. Vandemar seemed genuinely pleased by this. "Alright," he said. "Thanks."

• Used inA Clash Of Kings, when LannisterMooks attempt to capture Gendry.
  • Earlier, Jon Snow gets ordered into this after he complains about the treatment of Samwell Tarly.
• Several characters do this in respect to Frodo inThe Lord of the Rings, especially Samwise Gamgee.
  • Still, the prime example is Éowyn standing up to the Witch King of Angmar when he's out to kill Théoden. Talk about aCrowning Moment of Awesome.
• Subverted inHarry Potter, Harry's dad James says that he will hold Voldemort off while his wife takes Harry, only to be killed seconds later by Voldemort. As Voldemort fully intended to kill James anyway, this blunted the heroism of James' sacrifice. James was dead the second Voldemort found him without a wand, he would had died no matter what he did.
  • Lily Potter as well, who refuses to stand aside and let Voldemort kill Harry. She's cut down quickly too. However, unlike James, Voldemort did give Lily the chance to step to the side and live.Because of Snape's request. She refused.This act of sacrifice triggered the magical protection, that she could have walked away, and didn't.
  • Done inHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, with Ron trying to threaten Sirius Black—despite his broken leg making him unable to back up his threats. Fortunately, the one Ron was protecting wasn't the one Sirius wanted to kill.

Ron: If you want to kill Harry,you'll have to kill us too! Sirius: Lie down. You will damage that leg even more. Ron: Didn't you hear me? You'll have to kill all three of us!

• • Played with in a non-lethal fashion in the first book, where Neville tries to keep Harry and crew from sneaking out at night by threatening to fight them. Of course, Hermioneapologizes before temporarily paralyzing him, but...
  • In the movie Prisoner of Azkaban Severus Snape puts himself between a werewolf and his three least favorite students. Don't call him a coward.
  • Crookshanks also tries to protect Black from Harry inAzkaban, by sitting on his chest.
  • Not my daughter,you bitch!
• Quasimodo does this inThe Hunchback of Notre Dame, protecting Esmeralda.
• Subverted in a way inDune: After Chani dispatches a would-be challenger to her lover Paul/Muad'Dib, she says that fewer people will try to challenge him if they learn that first they have to go through (and suffer the possible disgrace of being killed by) his women.
• Near the end of theHorus Heresy, Horus has badly wounded the Emperor. Right before Horus strikes the final blow a single Imperial Army solder stands in the way. Sure, he's killed in less than a second but it gives the Emperor the opening needed to win the day. Later fluff change this to being a Space Marine
• InTemple, William Race's bodyguard does this to protect him from his own commander, Colonal Nash. Nash was armed and he wasn't, so the results werepredictable. At least he distracted Nash long enough for the Cavalry to arrive.
• Invoked in theForgotten Realms novelElfshadow, although to protect the attacker and not the target. Near the end of the book Danilo Thann tells his comrade Arilyn Moonblade that if she wants to kill herEvil Mentor she's going to have to kill him first. Arilyn grudgingly swears to take the man alive—so he can testify to his crimes, and incidentally clear Arilyn herself—and Danilo readily steps aside.

Live Action TV

• True Blood has a hilariousliteral example; when, in the fourth season, the main antagonist Marnie is confronted by Bill and Eric, Marnie's right hand Roy stands up and tells Eric to go through him first. Eric than literally goes through Roy, lunging forward and piercing into the man's chest, ripping out his heart. Counted as aMoment of Awesome to the fandom.
• Doctor Who, "The Satan Pit": "You'll have to kill me first!"
  • This also happens tothe Doctor in the episodeMidnight.When he tells the very frightened passengers that they'll have to get past him to throw theMonster of the Week out of the spacecraft, they turn on him, and even attempt throwing him out a little while later.
  • Before either of those times, it happened to him in "The Age of Steel", afterthe Cyber-Controller offers to convert him:

The Doctor: You might as well kill me. Cyber-Controller: Then I take that option.

• • And in "The Unquiet Dead":

Gelth: We want this world and all its flesh! The Doctor: Not while I'm alive. Gelth: Then live no more!

• InBuffy the Vampire Slayer, just about the whole cast (except Spike)does this for Tara when her emotionally abusive family shows up. Especially funny because Spike had been the one who exposed her family as liars by punching her and inflicting pain on himself, to prove that she didn't have demonic heritage.
  • And only a few episodes previous, aBrainwashed and Crazy Xander challengesshallow male love interest Riley Finn with this if he wants to save Buffy fromDracula. Riley's response? * POW!* "Okey-dokey." In that order. From anyone else, this would be a CMOA.
  • Xander has far more success in the Season Six finale, where he tells Dark Willow, "If you're going to destroy the world, then start with me. I've earned that."
• Occurred at least five times inBabylon 5. Delenn deliberately walked into a thrown knife intended for Sheridan,drove off an attacking enemy fleet to save his neck, and offered her life to a Vorlon inquisitor to save his. Later in the series, two Alliance ships implicitly said 'go through me' by placing themselves between the Alliance command ship and incoming Shadow missiles. Also used toawesome effect by Marcus:

Neroon: My quarrel is with Delenn. Marcus: Then your quarrel is withme.

• In aStargate Atlantis episode Kolya threatens to kill McKay, and one by one Teyla, Ronon and Carson step in front of him, saying that they each want to be killed first.
  • McKay does it himself, when Kolya is aiming a gun at Weir in "The Eye", in the first season. He downplays it uncharacteristically.
• In an episode ofFlashpoint, a targeted man's wife stood between her husband and the shooter. Said shooterhad no problem of shooting her.Unfortunately for the shooter, the SRU team shot her first.
• Lampshaded inBeing Human (UK), when Regus chooses to help the housemates protect Eve from a vampire hitsquad. He's fully aware that as a scholar, he's got no fighting skills and will barely slow them down, but it's the thought that counts.

Tabletop Games

• Warhammer 40,000 hasOllanius Pius, who put himself between Horus and the wounded Emperor.

Video Games

• NierGretel who, crippled and wounded, stands against the overpowering Nier and his equally overpowering allies. Over and over she is struck down, but keeps standing up to protect her friends, knowing she can't win, just using herself as a target to tear apart so that he doesn't attack her friends. Atearjerker in itself, especially when you beat her in half a minute and gain the achievement "A True Friend"
• In Sakura's ending inStreet Fighter Alpha 3, she stands in front of Ryu to protect him, telling Bison "You'll have to kill me first!" Bison just knocks her aside.
• This happens a couple of times inTales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World where Emil stands between Richter killing Marta. Richter doesn't hurt Emil becauseEmil looks just like Richter's dead best friend.
• Several times in theSonic the Hedgehog series:
  • InSonic Adventure, at the end of Sonic's (or Tails') fight with Gamma,regardless of who wins, Amy intervenes to convince the victor to let the other live.
  • In theSonic Adventure backstory, Tikal tries to defend the Chaos Emeralds and the Chao from her father and his soldiers. It doesn't work; they just knock her aside.Chaos, however, proves more effective...
  • Amy does this again in|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, to prevent Silver from killing Sonic. SinceAmy had been the first person to socialize with Silver upon his arrival from the future, her intervention at this point effectively paralyzes Silver, and induces him to do some soul-searching.
• InMass Effect 2,Thane met his wife Irika while attempting to assassinate a target. She spotted his targeting laser and jumped between Thane and the target. The instance was so jarring that Thane found himself jarred out of the mental state of a trained assassin he'd been in throughout his entire life, and found himself obsessed with finding out who she was. He even explains the exceptional circumstances of the situation to Shepard, explaining that while soldiers are trained to protect others, untrained civilians are not, and how remarkable it would be that someone would unthinkingly shield someone else that they don't even know.
  • In the originalMass Effect, during the final battle, several turian battleships position themselves between Sovereign and the Citadel.Sovereign simply plows through them as though they weren't there.
  • Shepard invokes this inThe Arrival DLC towards Harbinger, letting the Reapers know when they come, s/he will be waiting.

Shepard: Maybe you're right, maybe we can't win this.But we'll fight you regardless. Just like we did with Sovereign. Just likeI am doing now.

• InKing's Quest VII the Princeless Bride,Edgar does this when Malicia is about to attack Rosella.
• InDragon Age II, Cullen tells Meredith that she will have to go through him to get to Hawke after she turns on them. She is so crazy by this point that he will still do this even if Hawke sides with the Mages. If Carver joined the Templars, he will do this too.
  • Becomes even more significant if Hawke themself is a Mage and sided with the Mages, where even a loyal Templar like Cullen would rather stand with aMage such as Hawke than follow Meredith anymore.
• Liberty Lad ofFreedom Force gets to be a hero by way of a blood transfusion, which became necessary after attempting to do this for a hero who was about to get machine-gunned.
• Midna ofThe Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess does this for Princess Zelda, protecting her from Ganondorf.It doesn't work. He gets through, andIt Got Worse.
• In aNonstandard Game Over forDisgaea: Hour of Darkness,Flonne will attempt this to save Maderes from Etna. It doesn't end well.

Webcomics

• Dominic Deegan: Suyan is expected to kill Kiya for her thoughtcrime, and his friend Eltu is there to insure that Suyan goes through with it. Suyan instead pulls a combination of this trope and a heroicHannibal Lecture, convincing Eltu to let them both leave, and report back to the Chief that they both were killed.
• A textbook example of theIntangible Man problem occurs inthisAnti Heroes strip.
• Homestuck: During the "Make Her Pay" flash animation, Robo-Aradiastarts absolutely beating the stuffing out of Vriska as revenge for a prior incident. Tavros—one of Aradia's friends andFLARPing partners from before the start of thisCycle of Revenge—jumps between her and Vriska's unconscious body. Aradia stops her assault and leaves. But by this point Vriska is so beat up that she'll bleed to death without medical attention.She gets better. Much better.

Web Original

• Nintendoland'sDeathmatches section has this for theMario vs Sonic story.
• InThere Will Be Brawl,Zelda attempts to protect Link from Ganandorf this way.He kills them both anyway.
• Takua does this between theBohrok and the residents of Ga- and Po-Koro inBionicle. As it turns out, he shouldn't have bothered, as a surge of energy, released when the Bohrok queens were defeated, was about to shut down the Bohrok in a few moments.

Takua: SHOO! ... Shoo?

Western Animation

• Subverted in a Treehouse of Horror episode ofThe Simpsons, in which a robot uses Homer as a human shield against a Mechanized Bart. The guy isn't even able to finish the sentence before both he and Homer are sliced in half.
  • In a rare dramatic moment during the episode "Who Shot Mr Burns?" Lisa runs in front of a group of officers (including Wiggum) as they are about to confront Homer (who is suspected of the attempted murder) shouting "STOP!!! DON'T SHOOT MY DAD!!!... he's innocent! He wouldn't hurt a fly!" Of course, Homer would have to take this particular moment to start strangling Mr Burns... this is one of the instances where the helpless person's plea is completely successful.
• Done heartbreakingly in theFuturama episode "The Sting", where Fry throws himself in front of Leela to protect her from a giant killer bee, gets impaled on the stinger, and dies. Of coursehe didn't actually die -- the stinger went through him, hit Leela, and his death and the entire rest of the episode were her nightmares while in a venom-induced coma but that doesn't stop it from being any moreTear Jerking. After all,hethought he was going to die.
• Subverted inJackie Chan Adventures where Jade puts herself between aTurned to Stone Jackie and the bad guys - only to nearly knock him over herself.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:

Spongebob: "Sandy, if you wanna go after that worm, you're gonna have to go throughme!"

• • At which point Sandy lazily (and literally) does pass through him, splitting his sponge body into two western bar saloon-like door halves.
  • And as if the episode 'That's No Lady' wasn't already brimming withHo Yay;

Spongebob: Stop! You're gonna have to do something horrible to me before you're gonna run Patrick out of town! Squidward and Mr. Krabs:PATRICK?!

• OnJimmy Two-Shoes, when Jimmy wants to fly Lucius'Cool Plane, Lucius declares that he'll have to get past him. Which he does. Easily.
• OnSouth Park a scientist tells the military they will have to kill him first after he refuses to reprogram a conscious robot (Cartman). Butters arrives just as Cartman is about to reveal he isn't a robot, so he maintains the charade and the scientist is shot.
• In one episode ofXiaolin Showdown, Chinese gangster Pandabubba sends his goons to raid the Xiaolin Temple Shen Gong Wu vault. There, the goons find Raimundo, who enacts this trope. The thugs just shrug and say, "We're good with that."
• InMy Little Pony Friendship Is Magic,Fluttershy, upon seeing the Cutie Mark Crusaders threatened by a cockatrice, orders the girls behind her and makes it clear that she will be a statue before seeing the girls harmed.Fortunately, the cockatrice did not have as much willpower as it thought it did.
• InThe Fairly OddParents episode "Back to the Norm", when Norm showed up at Timmy's bedroom saying he wanted revenge, Wanda told Norm that he'd have to go through her to get Timmy. Cosmo then told Norm to make it double. If Norm wants Timmy, he'll have to go throughWanda twice.

Real Life

• Most versions of Pocahontas' rescue of John Smith, includingDisney's, and Smith's own "record." Modern anthropology suggests that this was part of an Algonquian adoption ritual, whichjustifies it somewhat.
• Chris Crocker famously declared that if anyone wants to make fun ofBritney Spears they'll have to go through him.
  • They did.
• The world-famous picture of the man standing in front of the Chinese army's tanks during the Tianamen Square Massacre.
• Before assassins came to murder King James I of Scotland, they stole the iron bar that was meant to keep the room locked in case of emergency. One of his wife's ladies-in-waiting, Catherine Douglas, attempted to use her arm as a substitute. She failed and had her arm broken as a result.
• Intervention of the Sabine Women by Jacques-Louis David (1799).
• Emperor Norton I Of the United states, fromThe Other Wiki : "During the 1860s and 1870s, there were a number of anti-Chinese demonstrations in the poorer districts of San Francisco. Ugly riots, some resulting in fatalities, broke out on several occasions. During one such incident, Norton allegedly positioned himself between the rioters and their Chinese targets, and with a bowed head started reciting the Lord's Prayer repeatedly until the rioters dispersed without incident."
• On 20 May 1795, during a protest against the French parliament, a man named Jean Feraud stood in front of the march and told them they would have to pass over his body before they would take another step, and was badly trampled as a result. He got up, dusted himself off, and when the march reached the President's seat, told the crowd they would have to kill him if they wanted to lay a finger on the president... which is exactly what they did.

• Trope
• Stock Phrases
• Go Through Me