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The Men First
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A commanding officer insists that his men are the top priority. This is a rich source of conflict, as every commanding officer cares for a different group of men. The largest body generally takes overall priority, though a The Men First approach by the smaller constituent units can lead to greater losses overall as each may not consider the greater whole. Medical attention for the wounded is a high priority — especially if doctors are trying to treat the officer, and his injuries are less serious — as is No One Gets Left Behind, but in less critical situations, he keeps an eye on such things as their shelter and food. He may inform anyone who finds it strange that it is his men who win his battles. This is most likely when an Officer and a Gentleman is insisting on it for soldiers who are not Blue Bloods, but any officer who is not A Father to His Men may express surprise. He may insist on getting no help at all if his men can't be helped. Compare In Its Hour of Need; the commander will retreat if his men can be gotten away. Note that this does not preclude ruthless expenditure of his men when necessary, just don't expect him to be happy about it. However, unlike the Glory Hound he will never expend them to benefit himself and he will never waste them through incompetence as the Modern Major General or General Failure might. Appeals to him to surrender may be made on the basis of ending his men's suffering, but might not succeed if he cares enough for a bigger picture which demands a Last Stand. If he is at the top of a chain of command with several ranks between him and the grunts, he will generally insist that his subordinates follow his example — or else. Lower-ranked soldiers can also insist on help going to others, but that generally falls under The Power of Friendship and Greater Need Than Mine. Compare Greater Need Than Mine. Contrast Moral Myopia; officers who do not fall under this often fall under that. We Have Reserves is the inverse attitude of this. Not to be mistaken for the opposite of "women and children first". Examples |
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The Men First / int_135f4195 | type |
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Dune: Leto Atreides, in his Establishing Character Moment, orders a Harvester and its load of Spice be abandoned, in order to save the crew. | |
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In Thud!, Vimes, recovering from the Summoning Dark, insists on seeing how his men are doing. | |
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In William King's Warhammer 40000 novel Space Wolf, when Ragnar is put in charge of the group that must Bring News Back, he carries an injured one out. He gives him over to the priests for his injuries to be cared for, and one priest inspects Ragnar's own injuries. Ragnar tells him to care for the other Space Marine, and the priest assures him that the man is being cared for and orders Ragnar to accept treatment. | |
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Sunrider: Captain Kayto Shields develops a close bond with his mostly female crew over the course of the series. When he finds himself cornered by the entire PACT navy and told that he is under arrest, he agrees to surrender on the condition that his crew be allowed to go free. Kayto's opposite number, PACT High Admiral Kuushana, is of a similar character: when her flagship, the Huntress, is finally sunk, she gives the order to abandon ship and commands nearby vessels to prioritise rescuing its crew over continuing to pursue the Maray. | |
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This attitude marks a good ruler in the Heralds of Valdemar series: All monarchs of Valdemar must be Heralds. Heralds put everyone ahead of themselves. The one exception is the Heir, who must remain safe when the King or Queen rides to war... and everyone understands that it's only because of Duty. In By the Sword, the mercenary captain Kerowyn wins the respect of her company this way, even if she snarkily comments on it at times. Grand Duke Tremane in the Mage Storms trilogy does deeds that would get him executed to keep his stranded branch of the Empire's army alive, warm, and fed. He eventually earns so much respect that the locals of the place he was sent to conquer are willing to have him as King. |
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Dragon Age: The Warden may opt to do this at one point in Dragon Age: Origins. When the party goes to rescue Queen Anora from Arl Howe's estate, they are confronted by The Dragon, Ser Cauthrien, and a very large contingent of soldiers. All of the options boil down to either fighting or surrendering. The battle is very arduous, especially on higher difficulty settings, and so the player may have the Warden surrender peacefully rather than risk their friends. The Dragon is actually impressed by the tactic and lets everyone else in the party go free (although if Alistair is present, he insists on staying with the Warden). This allows Anora to sneak out right under their noses, which was the whole point. The Inquisitor, in Dragon Age: Inquisition, has a similar option when Corypheus invades Haven. Upon learning that they are the one the enemy wants, one of the possible dialogue choices allows them to say that they'll give themselves up if it means everyone else will be spared. However, that won't happen (the enemy will kill everyone anyway), so instead the Inquisitor prepares to confront the enemy alone in order to give the others time to escape. During the battle at Adamant, the Inquisitor can either have guest-star Hawke stick with them at all times or briefly send them off to help the ordinary soldiers. Nothing much comes of it either way, it's just a minor touch. |
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Honor Harrington pulls this in her own series. When trapped on the prison planet Hades, after having her cybernetic eye burned out, her arm blown off in the escape, and months of starvation, humiliation, and near-torture, her surviving staff still have to practically force her into taking her doctor's medical treatment and taking it easy for a change When they finally escape, her government wants to pin a medal on her for it. She identifies the person most crucial to the whole effort and insists they give it to him instead. This is used a few times to give characters a sense of nobility. There are leaders in all armies who will do this and leaders in all armies who honestly don't care about the people under their command, as well as everything in between. |
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Fullmetal Alchemist: Roy Mustang. After suffering a massive stab wound and third-degree burns on top of it, he asks that an ambulance be called... for his wounded subordinate. He actually does this again at the end, when he is rendered blind through no fault of his own, but offered the use of a philosopher's stone to heal his eyes. Mustang still insists that the now crippled subordinate Havoc is treated first. Ling fully believes this, as he believes he cannot be a true leader without supporting his people. |
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In The Crossing, part of Washington's motivation for making one final attempt to keep his army together is a sense of obligation to them for their loyalty. He also sharply admonishes several officers who are keeping warm inside while their freezing troops prepare to cross the Delaware. | |
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The Inquisitor, in Dragon Age: Inquisition, has a similar option when Corypheus invades Haven. Upon learning that they are the one the enemy wants, one of the possible dialogue choices allows them to say that they'll give themselves up if it means everyone else will be spared. However, that won't happen (the enemy will kill everyone anyway), so instead the Inquisitor prepares to confront the enemy alone in order to give the others time to escape. | |
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Averted in Italian-Soviet film The Red Tent (1969). Umberto Nobile is the first to be evacuated from the survivors of the airship crash at the North Pole. The film deals with his guilt over this act, as he faces an imaginary court of colleagues involved in the disaster. | |
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Discworld: In Thud!, Vimes, recovering from the Summoning Dark, insists on seeing how his men are doing. This occurs in previous books too. In The Truth Gaspode warns William that Vimes will "invent new ways of being angry just so he can try them on you" after William drops a particularly nasty scent-bomb in front of Angua. Also in Thud, Vimes does not eat or sleep until his men do. Or afterwards either. He thinks he's being a good example, until his wife tells him he looks more like a horrible warning. |
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In chapter 3 of Queen at Arms, should Commander Marcus elect to side with Queen Charlotte, one of her first concerns is what will happen to the men who have been serving under her. Once she's assured that they'll all be pardoned and sent home, she's on board. | |
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In We Were Soldiers, two officers are contrasted. One wants to win medals. The other is both obsessive about both detail and his men; during a forced march, he has his men take off their boots to check for injuries. On finding that the soldier he is examining has a truly squick-inducing burst blister, he tells him to report to the quartermaster for new boots. Hal Moore, the Unit C.O., approves this approach, clearly putting him in this class even before he delivers a speech that assures his men that "when we go into battle, I will be the first one to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off. And I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together." Interview footage of the real Hal Moore shows that this was based on reality; while asking the American public to appreciate the strength of the ordinary fighting man, he becomes so audibly choked up that he can barely get the words out. And of course, when they do go into battle, he is in fact the first soldier off the choppers, and the last one to leave the battlefield at the end. | |
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In Schlock Mercenary, when the mercenaries don't have enough money to pay everyone, Tagon suggests that the officers take pay cuts so all the grunts could get paid. Nobody objects even though they are mercenaries. (On the other hand, the officers do also agree that they're taking a pay cut in order to avoid possibly prompting a mutiny by cutting enlisted pay, which somewhat subverts the trope.) It could be considered a Deconstruction, as the men are only put first because they are a mercenary group. No men means no jobs, which means no money. And if the men mutiny, no men, jobs, money, or life. It's also played straight multiple times with Tagon demonstrating that when the chips are down he really does care about the people under his command. This comic is a good example. |
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Ben from Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin has just been poisoned by poison spikes Akame laid in a trap, pricking all the dogs' paws and poisoning them. When Akame (who is horrified at what he did) tries to give them the antidote, Ben says to give the herbs to the dogs of Ohu first, saying they need the cure more. | |
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The Warden may opt to do this at one point in Dragon Age: Origins. When the party goes to rescue Queen Anora from Arl Howe's estate, they are confronted by The Dragon, Ser Cauthrien, and a very large contingent of soldiers. All of the options boil down to either fighting or surrendering. The battle is very arduous, especially on higher difficulty settings, and so the player may have the Warden surrender peacefully rather than risk their friends. The Dragon is actually impressed by the tactic and lets everyone else in the party go free (although if Alistair is present, he insists on staying with the Warden). This allows Anora to sneak out right under their noses, which was the whole point. | |
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As he lays dying at the end of the Char campaign in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, staring up at the Queen of Blades herself, General Warfield's only request is that she let his wounded make it to safety. She agrees. | |
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Farscape: Averted in "Nerve"; when a Peacekeeper base has a reactor meltdown, its commander is the first to head for a Prowler to escape (he's not the only one; Durka kills a junior officer and takes his uniform in an attempt to escape the destruction of the Zelbinion). | |
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General Hammond of Stargate SG-1 would often see to it that his people were taken care of before himself. Jack had shades of this as well. | |
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The A-Team: Hannibal Smith. In "Curtain Call", he surrenders to Decker so they can get medical help for Murdock, who is critically injured. Possibly played with as the team proceeds to fake out Decker and drive away. Then in the fifth season, he confesses to a murder he didn't commit so the prosecutor won't go after Murdock. | |
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In Mass Effect 3, Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib insists that you rescue his stranded crew and leave him to the geth after he crashes on Rannoch. Incidentally, rescuing the crew is the 'wrong' choice; if Koris is dead avoiding a Genocide Dilemma in a later mission is more difficult. The Civilian Fleet war asset is also lower if he dies, as without his leadership the fleet panicked resulting in more deaths. If you decide to abandon his men and rescue him instead, he is at first depressed, but later agrees that it was probably the right decision in the long run after he sees the situation back home. | |
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Mass Effect: This is part of Ashley's family history. Her grandfather fought in the brief First Contact War and surrendered to the turians to protect civilians and his (starving) troops. Unfortunately, the Alliance brass didn't see it that way and unofficially blacklisted his entire family. A Paragon Shepard can be like this - especially at the end of Mass Effect 2, where you go after your captured crew and, if the right choices are made, you can save them all and have your whole squad survive the mission. It's equally possible for a Renegade Shepard to save everyone, they just make it clear it's not necessary. In Mass Effect 3, Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib insists that you rescue his stranded crew and leave him to the geth after he crashes on Rannoch. Incidentally, rescuing the crew is the 'wrong' choice; if Koris is dead avoiding a Genocide Dilemma in a later mission is more difficult. The Civilian Fleet war asset is also lower if he dies, as without his leadership the fleet panicked resulting in more deaths. If you decide to abandon his men and rescue him instead, he is at first depressed, but later agrees that it was probably the right decision in the long run after he sees the situation back home. Also in 3, there's a side mission where N7 graduate Captain Riley will lay down her life for her troops while holding the line against husks and variants. Of course, this only happens if you don't send over one of your teammates to provide support. |
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Classic Traveller Double Adventure Horde. When General Varnikov is cut off behind enemy lines, he refuses to be evacuated until his troops and the refugees they're protecting are saved. | |
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The Office (UK) has a subverted civilian example. David Brent is constantly asserting that he places his staff above all other concerns, including his own career goals, but in reality, he's just sucking up to be liked and will secretly sell out his staff to get promoted. | |
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Horus Heresy: The Flight of the Eisenstein, Temeter, seeing Horus's treacherous attack on the Space Marines on planet, refuses to get into the bunkers: "My men first." Since not all of them can make it, he dies with them. | |
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Shades of this in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, after a Cobra attack on the Joes' HQ, Scarlett hides her (actually fairly minor) wounds, treating herself in the bathroom, and explaining to Ripcord that with all the other dead and wounded, a couple of cuts to the face don't need the attention. | |
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The current page image is from Girl Genius, in which the officer is surrendering in order to free his forces from the (offscreen) horrors of Tiny Monster Island. | |
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In Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Annabeth manages to stop a tirade from Clarisse by pointing out that she had wounded. | |
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Graven Ashe from Tyranny does this for his loyal army of the Disfavoured. This is both his greatest strength, as it is the source of his Archon power to protect and heal his soldiers through his Aegis, and his greatest weakness as he cares so much about his men that he is loathe to use them in military action: The reason he serves Kyros in the first place is that Kyros used his army as hostages to make him Join or Die. His Archon power is actually a literal case of the men first, as Ashe isn't so much 'healing' his soldiers as 'taking their wounds onto himself'. The Disfavoured rank-and-file are unaware of this caveat to his powers, and Ashe never tells them because they would inevitably stop fighting if they knew they were hurting him. | |
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M*A*S*H: In one episode Hawkeye refuses to leave to work for a general because the men come first. He demands that the general admit it, and the general, with a sigh, does. Major Frank Burns sometimes get yelled by other characters for refusing to treat the most wounded first (or improperly setting up Triage) because the wounded weren't "the right type" (aka Not American - that said, standard military triage practice of the time was own troops first, allies second, enemy prisoners last. It's just that most of the surgeons in the 4077th were draftees who saw themselves as doctors first, soldiers second, and didn't care about military triage priorities) There was another episode of M*A*S*H where it was payday, but due to a goat eating the pay, there wasn't enough money to pay everyone. Colonel Potter said that the enlisted men should be paid before the officers, and none of the officers disagreed with him. Another episode centered around Major Weems and his visit to the camp to visit his wounded men. He always visited his engineers after getting clobbered in combat and tried to work deals with doctors to get them sent home. Inverted in that Weems was a closet racist, and 90% of his casualties were African Americans that he sent into harm's way just so he could get them out of his outfit. |
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In The Gentleman Ranker Violet, a nurse, steals Lieutenant Harford's brandy for the men under her care when the hospital runs out. Harford begins to object, but Colonel Graylen overrules him, saying that of course it's the right thing to do. | |
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Captain Kirk from Star Trek: The Original Series, being A Father to His Men, is always insistent on keeping them safe if possible. On a number of occasions,note "The Squire of Gothos", "The Immunity Syndrome", "The Empath" he has wanted to pull a Heroic Sacrifice (or even tried to do so) to ensure the well-being of his crew, and torturing them is generally a better strategy than torturing him. | |
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Asha Greyjoy displays this a few times in A Song of Ice and Fire, such as insisting on their free passage home in return for surrendering to Stannis. As a female captain in a very male-dominated society, she relies on her crew's fierce loyalty to her personally, and in turn is a Mother To Her Men (though not to say some don't have a Bodyguard Crush). | |
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One Piece: Hilariously parodied with Captain T-Bone. And played completely straight with Luffy: poisoned, frostbite, beaten nearly to death, he begs whoever he comes across to save Sanji, Nami, or Bon-chan, whoever; never himself. Remember he is the captain and the leader of his men. |
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In Skies of Arcadia, Vyse can pull a moment like this near the game's end when Ramirez attacks Crescent Isle. Vyse trades the Mac Guffins that he's collected in exchange for his crew being left alone. Oddly enough, his enemy agrees. | |
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This occurs in previous books too. In The Truth Gaspode warns William that Vimes will "invent new ways of being angry just so he can try them on you" after William drops a particularly nasty scent-bomb in front of Angua. | |
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In The Hunt for Red October, when shown the option of getting to shore earlier than planned, Captain Ramius vetoes the change, since the crew (who are not part of the defection), would die of exposure or drowning before they can be rescued. Later, after convincing them that the nuclear reactor onboard is melting down, they abandon ship in their emergency life-boats. Later, one of the first questions to the US Navy officers is that the crew were being rescued from the frigid water. | |
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Game of Thrones: This is essentially why Bran surrenders Winterfell to Theon and Theon's Ironborn men. He is hoping for a peaceful resolution where no one got hurt. Unfortunately, that is not what happens. According to Ser Davos in the History and Lore supplements, when he relieved the Siege of Storm's End; Stannis, who was gaunt from starvation, distributed food to his wife and his soldiers before eating and did not take a bigger share despite being the lord. This action of Stannis won him Davos's lifelong loyalty; as it was the first time the latter had seen justice embodied and practiced in his life. |
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Much like The Greatest Generation above, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare deconstructs this trope, albeit in a much more sympathetic way. Nick Reyes' inabilty to prioritize the mission over the lives of the people under his command and his attempts to minimize his side's casualties becomes a severe detriment and nearly costs them the war with the Settlement Defense Front. The crux of Reyes' character arc is coming to terms with his responsibilities as captain and the fact that in war, sacrifices often have to be made and that you can't save everybody, culminating in the final mission after the Retribution crash lands on Mars; realizing there's no way everyone will make it back to Earth alive, he rallies what's left of the crew and leads them into what they all understand is a Suicide Mission to destroy the SDF's shipyard. The result: Nearly everyone, including Reyes, dies to make it happen, and Salter is one of the only four survivors. | |
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In Memphis Belle, Colonel Craig Harriman might be a stoic commanding officer—but after Army PR Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Derringer accuses him of caring only for results and not the crews, he finally loses his temper, then has Derringer read from a box of letters ... responses to letters that Harriman personally wrote to the family of men who died under his command. | |
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Deus Ex: Human Revolution: On Panchea, David Sarif, upon seeing his loyal robotic killing machine come to save him, insists that the wounded be rescued first. Extra points for being probably the only cyberpunk CEO to put his employees before himself. | |
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Warhammer40000: Although far more prominent in novels (see the multiple listings under Literature), it exemplifies this with the Imperial Guard. While all armies do field their military leaders as "HQ" units, the Guard has several choices to make. Certain builds for the generals are explicitly this (leading from the front with heavy armor so that their lower-ranked riflemen can do what they do best) and are typically fluffed as the "first in, last out, make sure the men are safe and supplied" types. Also, Tau. Ethereal Aun'shi and commander Shadowsun and Farsight are very high profile military officers that will engage in close-quarter fights (in case of Shadowsun, CQ firefights), deemed by Tau doctrine as recklessly dangerous, to keep the enemy away from fragile troops. Inverted by Commander Chenkov of the Imperial Guard, who instead uses Attack! Attack! Attack! (he once cleared an enemy fortress by sending wave after wave after wave of men at it without artillery or tank support) and We Have Reserves (on the tabletop, a fresh unit of Conscripts shows up every turn) to the fullest. However, he's also an example of Frontline General who leads these men to battle (it's said his pistol has shot more cowards than enemies). Sure the losses are horrendous, but the Imperial Guard is literally trillions strong, and his every battle was a success justifying them. |
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Averted in It Ain't Half Hot, Mum. When a mistake with their rations means they've run short of food, the Upper-Class Twit officers argue that the men (being tough members of the lower classes) should miss out, while the men naturally think this trope should apply. | |
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This is why Ryuzo turns traitor in Ghost of Tsushima. His first loyalty was to the mercenary company he commanded rather than to Tsushima or its lords, and his men were starving. Since the only reliable source of food was the Mongols, he went over to the enemy. | |
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Doctor Who: Always practiced by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. No matter what kind of "space thuggery" was invading Earth this week, he never asked his people to do anything he was unwilling to do himself, and his first priority was always taking care of them. Like in the Narnia example above, he always led first, and retreated last. Colonel Godsacre from the episode "Empress of Mars" attempts to negotiate a peace between the humans and the Ice Warriors, by offering Empress Iraxxa the right to execute him in exchange for her guaranteeing the safety of his men. |
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In Crysis Major Strickland of the U.S Marines is a fine example of this. After your team leader is captured he takes over as Nomad's commanding officer and provides support throughout the rest of the game. A very skilled and tough commander he always comes down on the battlefield himself and fights his battles alongside his Marines, he is always the first one on the battlefield and the last to be evacuated. In his final appearance in the game, he even takes it so far as to stay behind to provide covering fire so his men can evacuate leading to his death, even in the face of extreme danger he takes it all in stride his final words to his men during this exchange are a testament to his status as a Marine: | |
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Blake's 7: In "Aftermath", the contrast between Avon and Supreme Commander Servalan is shown when Servalan sends out a Distress Call after a major battle saying her own rescue is top priority, whereas Avon tells the Liberator's Master Computer to prioritize the rescue of the other crewmembers first. When Servalan later offers a We Can Rule Together deal Avon is tempted, but wisely refuses an alliance with someone whose only loyalty is to herself. However, in "Orbit", Avon is faced with a Cold Equation and seemingly decides to sacrifice Villa to save himself. (A better solution presents itself before it gets to the point where we find out if he would have actually gone through with it.) Crossing his own Moral Event Horizon is a sign of Avon's increasing Sanity Slippage in the final season. |
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Commander Adama from Battlestar Galactica (1978) fits in this as well. | |
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Blood Angels: Red Fury, the sergeants Rafen and Noxx are the last men to get on the shuttle to escape a fortress about to fall apart. | |
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Firestar from Warrior Cats refuses to eat any herbs in Long Shadows, saying that his Clanmates come first before himself. | |
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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Kings and Queens of Narnia are supposed to be "the first in every desperate attack, the last in every desperate retreat" — and those of Archenland, too, as the king warns Shasta in C. S. Lewis's The Horse and His Boy. | |
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Ciaphas Cain: In Death or Glory, Cain's first request when they connect with Imperial forces is for medical attention. In general, Cain always attempts to look out for wounded men, since this provides the dual advantage of looking like a good commander to his men and a good excuse to keep his head down in the middle of a firefight. And so that he can avoid death by Unfriendly Fire, a very common fate for more traditional Commissars. Amberley's footnotes also point out that he follows this trope without even noticing. For example, one time a group of men swarm a tank (yes, like into melee range) and instead of using the anti-tank weapon he has and killing some of them, Cain runs off to save the tank's target directly. As Amberly notes, Cain would have been absolutely within his rights as a Commissar to just kill the idiots, but the possibility didn't even occur to him. |
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In Fire Emblem: Awakening: The Chapter "Renewal" takes place right after Emmeryn's sacrifice, with both Shepherds and Plegians shaken. The general of the Chapter, Mustafa, willingly fights against Chrom, accepting he will die at his hands. His only request being that the Shepherds spare the lives of Mustafa's men. | |
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Sun Tzu, in The Art of War considered this trope...less than ideal. While a general certainly shouldn't expend his men needlessly, being too nice with them wasn't considered a good idea either because focusing too intently on the plight of the men tends to lead to battles being lost. Cultivating the image, persona, and reputation without actually Becoming the Mask, on the other hand, is encouraged; having soldiers that are willing to die for you has its benefits. | |
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This is why Aoshi was an antagonist in the first arc of Rurouni Kenshin. After the war, there were plenty of more respectable opportunities available to him than bodyguarding a drug dealer, but as Captain of the Oniwabanshu, he felt that he could not in good conscience take an offer made exclusively for him until he had seen to his men. In the end, most of his people were able to find other jobs after the war, but four of them (two one-trick ponies, a hideously deformed master of disguise, and a traitor) were essentially unemployable. Aoshi took the job with Kanryu because he was willing to take on Aoshi's subordinates in order to get Aoshi. | |
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Hellsing: Zigzagged when Sir Penwood orders his men to evacuate, claiming that he would manage the post on his own. They laughingly brush him off, pointing out that he'd have no clue what he was doing, and instead stay to the end. Referenced during the second attack on the manor. After the outer defenses are breached, one of Pip's men says that in the movies, this is the traditional time for the captain to make a Heroic Sacrifice so that his men can escape. Pip replies that there's no point: none of them are going to make it through the night alive no matter what they do. Since only three of his men (two in the OVA) survive, Pip not being among them, he was probably right. |
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Many versions of Optimus from Transformers share this philosophy. | |
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Jan Tenner: Despite coming from a warrior society with an Honor Before Reason-attitude, Logar doesn't want to waste lifes fighting the Void and is eager to accept Futura's offer of a serum that can effectively deal with the Void's forces. However, his men are not pleased and eventually rise up against him. | |
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