History Main / CutTheSafetyRope

* ''Manga/SevenSeeds'': Shigeru and Ango are lead-climbing out of a cave, with Ryo free-climbing on his own. Ango isn't used to being the second in a lead-climb and makes a mistake with the hooks, which leads to Shigeru and him falling. Ryo manages to grab hold of the rope holding the two together, but he doesn't have the strength to hold both up for very long and pulls out his knife. Ango yells at him to not cut the rope, but Ryo does. Ango ends up feeling [[SurvivorsGuilt horribly guilty]], knowing that it was [[ItsAllMyFault his mistake]] that caused [[MyGreatestFailure Shigeru's death]]. Much later in the story, Ryo tells Ango what happened -- just as he cut the rope, it already got lighter, meaning Shigeru cut the rope himself on his end to [[HeroicSacrifice save Ango]].
* ''Anime/{{Grenadier}}'': Yajiro's love interest deliberately refuses to TakeMyHand so as not to pull him off when she's blown off a cliff in a flashback. Then it turns out that she's come back from the dead and both of them end up in virtually the exact same situation.
* Although it's not a literal rope, this is basically how ''Anime/TransformersArmada'' ends, in a rare case of it happening between enemies: Optimus Prime and Galvatron are about to be devoured by Unicron, and Optimus is the one clinging to a ledge with one and and holding Galvatron up with the other. Galvatron stabs Optimus' hand, forcing it to let go and plunging himself into Unicron; then, evidently, without Galvatron around, Unicron doesn't have enough evil to feed off of, so he disappears as well. Yes, ''Galvatron saved the universe.''

* Subverted in ''Manga/CaseClosed''. In the mermaid case, Kazuha falls over a cliff, but Heiji jumps after her, [[TakeMyHand grabs her with his one hand]] while [[LiteralCliffhanger holding onto a overhanging branch with his other]]. Kazuha, realizing the branch won't hold them both, takes an arrow she received as a prize recently and stabs Heiji's hand with it, in order to make him let go. [[SubvertedTrope He holds on nonetheless]], and they're both saved soon.
* A variation happens to Sabrac in ''Literature/ShakuganNoShana''. Bel Peol managed to latch on a chain to his arm in order to reel him in to safety after he took a nasty hit but he decides to sever his arm after realizing his (relative) impotency when compared to the Snake of the Festival, he chooses to die in the Abyss, the void between Earth and the Crimson World.

* A variation occurs in ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs'': In order to shut down the [=FLDSMDFR=], the heroes have to go down a long pit lined with [[ItMakesSenseInContext shards of peanut brittle]]. Since Sam is allergic to peanuts, Flint has to go alone, and he uses a licorice rope to jimmy down, with Sam feeding the rope as he goes. In the process, she gets stabbed with one of the shards, and starts to have an allergic reaction. She refuses to leave Flint, even though she'll die without her medicine, so Flint bites through the licorice and falls the rest of the way down, after telling Brent to make sure Sam gets back to the plane.
* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots'' has Puss dangling off the edge of a decimated stone bridge. In one hand is a rope tied around the Golden Goose, who is providing a counterweight. In the other is a rope that Humpty Dumpty is holding on to the other end of. Attacking them and San Ricardo is "The Great Terror! That's the Golden Goose's mama." The Goose's rope is starting to sever due to the stress on it from Puss and Humpty's weight rubbing it against the edge. Humpty insists that Puss save the town by delivering the Golden Goose to its mother. Puss insists that he's not going to let Humpty fall. Humpty... has other plans.

* ''Film/VerticalLimit'': Happens to the main character's father in the prologue, causing the friction between him and his sister. All the more heartbreaking as it was the son who cut the rope at his father's insistence (he didn't have a knife) just moments before the sister was able to attach additional securing that might have saved them. Repeated with an IronicEcho at the end of the film when TheMentor sacrifices both himself and the SmugSnake (unwillingly) to save the others.

* ''Film/TouchingTheVoid'' had more or less the opposite. When trying to return to base because one of the pair had a broken leg, the other was forced to cut the rope and let them fall while attempting to lower them. Amazingly, despite thinking that his partner had certainly died from the fall, he not only survived (with even more injuries) but managed to crawl back to camp.
** It's a true story, and even more amazingly the man who did the falling (Joe Simpson) has since publicly supported the actions of the man who did the cutting (Simon Yates) and forgiven him. Simon was in an impossible position, and the cutting of the rope ultimately saved both their lives.

* Played straight pretty much to the letter in ''Film/AlienResurrection''. Clone Ripley and her new TrueCompanions made up of space-smugglers are escaping from a Xenomorph in an unused elevator shaft. One smuggler, [[HandicappedBadass Vriess]], is paralysed from the waist down so his crewmate Christie strapped him to his back to get through a flooded section without leaving him behind. During the ladder climb, Christie makes the mistake of looking down... just in time for the alien to [[EyeScream spit acid into his face]]. He reflexively lets go of the ladder to claw at his melting face but Vriess catches the ladder, revealing that [[TruthInTelevision his paralysis gifted him with higher than average upper-body strength]]. Jorner eventually kills the alien with GunsAkimbo but the critter [[TakingYouWithMe grabs onto Christie's foot]], weighing down on Vriess whose arms can't support their collective weight. Christie, despite the [[OhCrap protests]] of Vriess, cuts the straps binding them together and plummets to the bottom of the shaft where he's instantly killed on impact.
* ''Film/TheGuardian2006'' featured this in its climax. After Ben (played by Kevin Costner) rescues Jake (played by Ashton Kutcher) on the ship in the middle of the storm, they take the safety rope up to the helicopter together. But the rope is not designed for their combined weight and begins to break.[[note]] The rescue cable on an HH-60 is designed to lift three people at once if necessary. It appeared to have been frayed some time prior [[/note]] Ben decides to sacrifice himself to save Jake. However, instead of cutting his part of the rope, he simply unstraps the glove that Jake is holding onto, falling into the water from a fatal height. Though, if the end of the movie it to be believed, Ben may be NotQuiteDead, simply AscendingToAHigherPlaneOfExistence.
* A non-rope variant in ''Film/RushHour3''. Kenji and Lee's duel ends with them both hanging over the net of the Eiffel Tower. Kenji orders to release him since they'll both die, Lee refuses insisting he can save him. So in an act of RedemptionEqualsDeath, Kenji lets go of Lee's hand and falls to his death.

* ''Film/{{Volcano}}'':
** Two men who are rigging a condo to blow and create a lava barrier from rubble get trapped in the parking garage underneath it. When they get the radio call that the building ''has'' to be blown up right now, they lie and claim that they've gotten clear so the explosives can be set off in time.
** After evacuating the other passengers of a trapped subway train, the lead MTA official refuses to leave without the driver. After finding and carrying the unconscious man to the back of the train, he sees the only way out is to jump over a quickly spreading path of lava. Knowing he could not make the jump carrying the man, but refusing to leave him behind, the MTA official jumps as far as he can with the driver in his arms. Quickly being consumed by the lava flow he then throws the driver to the rest of the rescue party, dying and melting into the lava seconds later.
* A variation in the film ''Film/USMarshals''. As the fugitive and his girlfriend attempt to climb over a wall to escape, they quickly realize that he's unable to pull her up with him. She lets go of his hand and begs him to go, knowing full well that she'll be arrested, but giving him the chance to escape.
* ''Film/{{Gravity}}'' is about two astronauts [[DramaticSpaceDrifting cast free of their space shuttle after it is destroyed]]. They manage to make it to the International Space Station but are unable to grab hold of it. Fortunately the leg of the female protagonist tangles in a trailing line. The other astronaut knows that she's just run out of oxygen, plus there's the risk of her coming untangled as she pulls him in, so he unclips the tether holding them together.
* Inverted in ''Film/TheEigerSanction''. Creator/ClintEastwood's character is hung up on his own safety rope, and the only way to survive is to cut it so his friend can haul him to safety using another rope. The dilemma is [[spoiler:Eastwood has just found out his friend is TheMole. Is he planning to save him, or kill him?]]

* ''Film/MortalEngines''. Anna Fang turns up in her airship JustInTime to save Hester Shaw from Shrike, the ImplacableMan SuperSoldier that is chasing her. Hester then throws a rope to Tom Natsworthy so he can climb on board as well, but Shrike is able to catch the end of the rope and starts [[SuperStrength hauling them back]]. Fang throws a dagger to Hester so she can cut the rope, which will kill Tom. Instead she throws the knife to Tom, who fortunately catches it and cuts the rope below him.
* In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', the Soul Stone may only be given to someone who [[FriendOrIdolDecision sacrifices someone they love]], by throwing that person over the edge of a cliff and killing them. [[SadisticChoice Clint and Natasha must, therefore, choose between each other]]. Both of them are [[HeroicSacrifice willing to die to save the life of the other]], and so fight each other to spare their friend from death. [[spoiler:It ends with Clint attached to the cliff face only by Natasha's safety rope, his grip on her hand keeping her from falling as well. [[HeroicSuicide She forces him to let her go]].]]

* In the ActionPrologue of ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'', a mercenary called Jack is being chased by a T-Rex as he runs for the helicopter which takes off without him but the other mercenaries throw down a rope ladder. He's able to grab on and start climbing but the T-Rex bites onto the end of the ladder, threatening to pull the helicopter out of the sky. The pilot shouts at the other mercs to cut the ladder before they all die, but fortunately the lower part of the ladder tears off in the T-Rex's jaws before this happens. Jack laughs in relief and starts climbing the remains of the ladder, only for the Mosasaurus to leap out of the water and swallow him.

* Inverted in ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', where instead of letting Annabeth fall by herself, Percy lets go of the ledge he was holding onto, sending them both into Tartarus.

* ''Series/GhostWhisperer'' had a variation in one episode, where a father allowed his wife to die (at her explicit request) in order to save their daughter. A pair of malicious manipulative ghosts who had hung around the house where they had killed someone else and then each other, were able to use the guilt of both father and daughter, to oppress and live through them.
* ''Series/MacGyver1985''
** This is used in TheReveal when a rock star is revealed to be her [[MySiblingWillLiveThroughMe twin sister impersonating her]] after the latter died during a climbing accident and she cut the rope. This caused the surviving twin to have a FreakOut and start switching between the two identities to "keep her sister alive".
** It happened to Murdoc once, too- though in that case, Mac managed to make him cut his own rope. But it happens that Murdoc keeps surviving impossibly over the top deaths.
* ''Series/DoctorWho''
** The Doctor does a variation of this in "The Satan Pit" not to save someone's life, but to satisfy his curiosity. Fortunately, while he almost certainly fell far enough that he would have damaged or killed himself, some BenevolentPrecursors gave him a way to cushion his fall and allow him to save the day.

* ''Series/{{Mash}}'' had BJ forced to do this as the rescuer. Granted, the situation was the chopper pilot telling him he had to, they were already overloaded, and the thing they needed to rescue the wounded soldier from was a group of North Korean troops. Much angst and guilt.
** The fact that the Army gave him a medal for it didn't help. (He later gave the medal to one of the wounded soldiers.)
* In ''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue,'' we have Ryan and his father holding onto something that can't support both of them. Captain Mitchell lets go. (Ryan manages to save him, though.)
* In ''Series/StargateAtlantis,'' Sheppard [[LeaveNoManBehind won't leave behind]] a [[RedShirt soldier]] who has been partially fed on by a Wraith and is in no condition to run ''or'' fight. In the end, the soldier shoots himself so Sheppard won't die protecting him.
** The same thing happened with [[InsufferableGenius McKay]] and another scientist, with whom he constantly argued. The other scientist was partially fed on by an ancient Wraith, so [=McKay=] stays behind to guard him, while Sheppard goes out to hunt for the Wraith. Realizing Sheppard needs [=McKay=]'s help and that, at best, he's looking at a short life in bed, the other scientist shoots himself, allowing [=McKay=] to go help Sheppard. While [=McKay=] doesn't do much more than distract the Wraith for a few seconds, this proves to be enough for Ford to do a GunshipRescue and blast the Wraith with a drone weapon.
* This is how Juliet from ''Series/{{Lost}}'' dies. She falls over the edge, only to be grabbed by her boyfriend Sawyer. Unfortunately, Sawyer begins to slip, so she lets go to save him.
* In the HBO film ''Deadly Voyage'', the last of the stowaways to be executed manage to escape from the murderous crew. Unfortunately, one of them has been injured. Knowing that if they stay together, they will immediately be caught and finished off, he pushes his uninjured brother away from him, wordlessly telling to make a run for it and save himself.
* This is actually the backstory of how Series/UltraSeven became Dan Moroboshi. When Stationary Post Observer #340 came down to Earth, he witnessed a mountaineer named Jiro Satsuma perform such a sacrifice to save his friend that he decided to rescue the selfless man. Moved by the deed, Agent #340 took on a human form exactly resembling Jiro as a sign of admiration afterwards, soon joined Ultra Garrison, and became known as Ultraseven.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones''. In Season 3 the wildlings are [[CliffsOfInsanity climbing the Wall]] when a big chunk of ice falls away beneath them, leaving Tormund and Orell holding on for Jon Snow and Ygritte who are hanging from the rope which nothing to sink their axes into. Tormund refuses to let go, so Orell (who's rightly convinced that Jon Snow is a FakeDefector) saws through his rope. Jon sees what he's doing and is able to swing far enough to sink his ice-axe into a ledge just before the rope snaps.
* The ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "2001" features an odd inversion. Carter is dangling from the ledge with Faxon above her, but cutting the rope actually saves ''her'' life rather than his, as she's suspended over an open wormhole to Earth while he is left behind on Volia.
** Happens again in the episode 'A Matter of Time'. O'Neill and a former squad-mate named Colonel Cromwell are dangling by ropes over the mouth of the Stargate, which has inadvertently connected itself to a black hole that was on the verge of sucking in the rest of Earth. When Cromwell's rope breaks, it is caught by O'Neill who is unable to pull him back up; as a result Cromwell [[RedemptionEqualsDeath earns a modicum of redemption]] for abandoning O'Neill many years before by letting go, saving O'Neill's life [[HeroicSacrifice at the cost of his own]].

* ''Three Word Phrase'': [[http://threewordphrase.com/deathzone.htm As a result of a]] MinorInjuryOverreaction.

* The version of this where [[http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=759 the OTHER person cuts the rope is deconstructed]] in ''Webcomic/TheIllustratedGuideToLaw'' in their section on murder. Namely? If you cut the rope on someone else... it's murder. (The law doesn't consider this self-defense.) If they cut the rope themselves, it's gonna be VERY hard to prove you didn't do it.

* This is used in TheReveal of an episode of ''Series/MacGyver1985'': a rock star is revealed to be her [[MySiblingWillLiveThroughMe twin sister impersonating her]] after the latter died during a climbing accident and she cut the rope. This caused the surviving twin to have a FreakOut and start switching between the two identities to "keep her sister alive".

* The Doctor does a variation of this in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Satan Pit" not to save someone's life, but to satisfy his curiosity. Fortunately, while he almost certainly fell far enough that he would have damaged or killed himself, some BenevolentPrecursors gave him a way to cushion his fall and allow him to save the day.

* At one point in ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'', Rhys and Sasha end up hanging from some partially collapsed walkways high above the ground. Sasha is holding onto Rhys' legs while he tries to pull them both up, but she realizes that the structure is rapidly falling apart, and that Rhys won't be able to pull them up in time. [[HeroicSacrifice She tells him she will let go.]] You can either tell her to keep holding on and that you'll manage to save the both of you, or that you understand; regardless of what you pick, she lets go. Turns out that the walkway had lowered so much that they were just a few feet off the ground. She knew that, Rhys (and the player) didn't.

* In ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands,'' [[PlayerCharacter Rhys]] and Sasha end up hanging from some partially collapsed walkways high above the ground. Sasha is holding onto Rhys' legs while he tries to pull them both up, but she realizes that the structure is rapidly falling apart, and that Rhys won't be able to pull them up in time. [[HeroicSacrifice She tells him she will let go.]] You can either tell her to keep holding on and that you'll manage to save the both of you, or that you understand; regardless of what you pick, she lets go. Turns out that the walkway had lowered so much that they were just a few feet off the ground. She knew that, Rhys (and the player) didn't.

->Jack and Jill went up a cliff\\

To save herself, Jill cut the rope.

* A variation happens to Sabrac in ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana''. Bel Peol managed to latch on a chain to his arm in order to reel him in to safety after he took a nasty hit but he decides to sever his arm after realizing his (relative) impotency when compared to the Snake of the Festival, he chooses to die in the Abyss, the void between Earth and the Crimson World.

* Bing Bong in ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'' knows his wagon can’t get Joy and Sadness out of the memory dump if he’s in it with them. So, he jumps out of the wagon as they’re making another try, saying a sad goodbye when they see him from the top as he fades away.

!!'''As a DeathTrope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''