History Main / IChooseToStay

* The [[MostTriumphantExample most prominent example]] probably comes from the ''[[{{MASH}} M*A*S*H]]'' series finale, where Max Klinger, after spending the entire series trying to get discharged from the Army to return home from Korea, elects to stay with his new bride.

* The movie version of ''[=~The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy~=]'': Arthur is offered the opportunity to return to a recreation of his home on Earth, exactly (well, without the imminent demolition by Prosser) like he left it. He chooses to stay with Ford, Zaphod and Trillian and continue exploring the galaxy.

** And ''[=~Atlantis: The Lost Empire~=]''

At the end of a story about a character being immersed in a new world which they absolutely ''hate'', whether they're [[FreakyFridayFlip trapped in the wrong body]], [[FishOutOfTemporalWater warped to another time or dimension]], or forced to move in with their in-laws, there is often a scene at the very end where it's all over and now [[ButNowIMustGo they get to go back]] to their old, beloved lifestyle.

* Another example being played painfully, painfully straight: ''{{Neverwhere}}'', where after getting his life back in London Above, Richard decides to go back to London Below. It wouldn't hurt so much if it wasn't Neil Gaiman who was doing it, and if it wasn't obvious a million miles away. Come on, Mr. Gaiman, I thought you were better than that!
** To be fair, there's a certain amount of ambiguity as to whether Richard really went back or just totally lost it. If you're a really cynical person, you'd say both.
** Also, to be fair, Richard's life in London Above was played as being pretty shallow and unremarkable (at least in the original television series), ThisTroper felt like he was handling the IdiotBall the whole time trying to get back home.
*** To put it another way, Richard was given a choice of rewards. Either he could have his life in London Above fixed and made better than ever, or he could stay in [[strike: Wonderland]] London Below. Put that way, neither was a bad choice.

* [[spoiler:Saber in UBW Good End and Rider in HF True End]] in FateStayNight, the first more so than than the latter because up until that point we constantly heard that it was not going to happen. [[spoiler:Archer was sort of tempted to in the UBW endings, but only because he didn't want to make Tohsaka sad. But there was no place for him, and even one Servant is hard enough to support without the Grail.]]

* Horo from {{Wolf and Spice}} choose to stay with Lawrence at the end of episode 6, even though she can just downright ditch him. Her excuse is "being indebted to Lawrence".

* In an episode of ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', Supergirl, Green Lantern, and Green Arrow are abducted into the future to team up with the LegionOfSuperHeroes. Supergirl elects to stay in the future afterward, thus pulling a ProphecyTwist, since the Legion's records said she disappeared from the present, which they had previously interpreted to mean she'd die.

!!'''Examples:'''

* As described in AnAnthropologistOnMars, a painter received a concussion from a car accident. Afterwards, he was unable to see in colors, and couldn't read written words. Though he recovered his ability to read, he remained completely colorblind. Not only that, but he was unable to remember color; he knew what colors things originally were, but he could not see them in his mind. The whole world resembled a "dirty" ashen world to him, and he fell into a depression for a while. After a year or two, though, he saw his vision as being "more refined" than "normal" vision. When a suggestion was made at this time about a surgery that could possibly restore his color vision, he turned it down, preferring to stay in the world he had grown used to rather than to readjust to the old world.

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* ''HereThereBeTygers'' by R. Bradbury involves a [[GeniusLoci benevolent sentient planet]] and a team of prospectors encharmed by it. They all consider stying and one of them does.

The opposite of ButNowIMustGo. See also GoingNative. Compare StayWithTheAliens and CantStayNormal. Often encouraged by a FantasticRomance.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* Subverted in ''{{Amulet}}'' in that when the heroine announces that she must stay in the fantasy world, her mother declares that in that case, the whole family will too.

*** Romana (E-Space in "Warriors' Gate")

* In the "Den" story in ''HeavyMetal'', the title character chooses to stay in Neverwhere saying "On Earth, I'm nobody, but here, I'm Den!" It helps that back home, he was a scrawny, nerdy virgin, but when he arrived in that world, he had a statuesque physique and hot chicks were throwing themselves at him.

* In the last episode of ''[[Blackstar]],'' a rescue ship from Earth (piloted by Blackstar's beautiful girlfriend, no less) navigates the black hole, finds John Blackstar on Sagar, and offers to take him home. He very nearly takes her up on it, but he finally decides that he's too important to the natives' rebellion against the Overlord, and he chooses to stay. The last scene is her returning to Earth, and sending a message ahead that she wants to come back with proper military forces to help John defeat the Overlord.

* In ''The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'' Terence Stamp's character chooses to stay in the outback with
a new love interest instead of going back to Sydney.

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