History Main / LeaveYourQuestTest

* The gospels of Matthew and Luke describe the one Jesus went through: He goes into the wilderness to be alone, fast, and pray. Then the devil shows up. There are three temptations described, the first two the devil is trying to get Jesus to prove that he is the messiah. Then comes the LeaveYourQuestTest. The devil says that earth is his dominion and that he wil+l give it all up to Jesus, all Jesus has to do is bow down and worship him. This is the perfect opportunity for Jesus to take the easy way out, but of course he didn't give in and did go on to complete his mission.

* In ''Anime/{{K}}: Return of Kings'', when [[spoiler:Saruhiko Fushimi]] infiltrates Jungle, the Green King offers him to opportunity to join them for real, right as he is about to [[spoiler:open the gates to the secret base and let his TrueCompanions in]]. His response? [[spoiler: "So then I'll never have to deal with annoying teammates or overbearing superiors giving orders on their whims? Then my answer's clear - no thanks." And he opens the gate.]]

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* ''Literature/LifeOfPi'' has the [[spoiler:island covered in delicious, nutritious algae and pools of fresh water. The hero only leaves to continue his quest to return to civilization when he discovers that it ''eats people''...and realizes further that the person it ate probably wasn't even killed by the island but gave up and died of sheer boredom/loneliness/frustration at being trapped on an island with nothing but algae, trees, fish, and meerkats]].

* In the second ''Literature/StarTrekStringTheory'' novel, Tuvok is given a shot at reaching a Vulcan philosophical ideal...but he'll have to die as a result. He is so attached to the idea of his transformation that he offers his farewells to Janeway and the others, intending to remain how he now is rather than work to save himself and continue ''Voyager's'' journey. Of course, ForegoneConclusion and StatusQuoIsGod are both in play here, given that this is set mid-way through the series. He therefore survives, doesn't reach the ideal state of being, and recommits to the journey home with the others.

* In the Season Six episode of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E17NormalAgain Normal Again]]", Buffy gets poisoned by a demon, and suddenly finds herself in a mental institution, with her worried parents (both alive and together) hoping that she might come out of her prolonged psychosis. She's told that being a Slayer and everything that's been involved (including all her friends) was just a prolonged hallucination, and all she has to do to come back to reality is let go of it...by killing her friends in the hallucination. In the end, she decided to be an unhappy hero who MIGHT be in a hallucination, versus being a happy person of no consequence in what also might be a hallucination.

* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Legion", the crew are dragged into a space station by a tractor beam, but find the only occupant - the eponymous Legion - simply wants to accommodate their every need and hopes they'll abandon their journey to find the stolen Red Dwarf ship. [[spoiler:This is because he's a gestalt entity and can only exist when there are other life-forms on the station. All the residents died millennia ago.]]

* In ''VideoGame/BloodBorne'', at the very end of the game after [[spoiler: killing Mergo's Wet Nurse and the eldritch child Mergo by proxy]], [[BigGood Gehrman]] will offer the Hunter a choice: to abandoned the Hunt, be killed and wake up from the nightmare, which leads to an ending in which the Hunter wakes up in a Yharnam with a rising sun, while if they refuse [[spoiler: Gehrman is forced to hunt them and is fought as the final boss. After being defeated, the Moon Presence appears out of nowhere and enslaves the Hunter so they can take Gerhman's place.]] A third option can be gained by [[spoiler:eating three umbilical cords and fighting Gehrman - after which the Moon Presence is unable to enslave the Hunter and is fought as the true final boss, which leads to the secret ending that has the Hunter ascend to become an infant Great One.]]

* Throughout ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'', Yuzu repeatedly insists that they should try to find some way out of the locked-down Yamanote Circle. Her ending route centers around actually finding a potential means of escape and deciding to follow through, despite evidence that doing so might not end well. Notably, in the UpdatedRerelease, this becomes a case of [[spoiler:EarnYourHappyEnding - things went to shit, but are still salvageable]].

* At one point in ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'', your sister Nanami asks you if you want to - literally - run away from your responsibilities as a leader. Unlike [[ButThouMust many other games]], you actually can agree to do it. [[PressXToDie After several warnings]], this will trigger one of the game's MultipleEndings.

* This is attempted in ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria'', in which Velvet returns to her DoomedHometown to find that literally everything is just as it was three years ago. It almost works for a bit since Velvet doesn't want to leave, even telling off Eizen and Rokurou, while Magilou [[OutOfCharacterMoment seems to be taking things more seriously]]. Turns out, [[spoiler:Melchior had attempted to trap Velvet in a LotusEaterMachine - using the same arte that he had used on Magilou in the past, which was why Magilou suddenly took things more seriously. Velvet only notices the illusion when her sense of taste comes back]].

* This is basically [[spoiler:Dolores]]'s plotline in ''VisualNovel/TheConfinesOfTheCrown'' - "Screw this, let's just take the money and leave." Doing so gets you a [[NonStandardGameOver "happy" ending]], but the host of abandoned plot threads still gives the impression that you did something wrong.

* In ''Manga/ChainsawMan'', AmbiguouslyEvil TeenSuperspy Yoshida spends Part 2 trying to convince Denji to retire [[spoiler:in order to quell the CultOfPersonality surrounding him built up by [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Famine Devil]], to the point that [[IHaveYourWife he kidnaps Denji's little sister and threatens to kill her]]]]. Denji refuses, since being Chainsaw Man [[RecruitedFromTheGutter got him everything he ever wanted]] [[spoiler:but briefly considers retiring, deciding that he was content with what he had now. However, after seeing his EvilDoppelganger steal his identity he has a HeroicBSOD from the idea of someone else taking credit for his hard work]].

* The gospels of Matthew and Luke describe the one Jesus went through: He goes into the wilderness to be alone, fast, and pray. Then the devil shows up. There are three temptations described, the first two the devil is trying to get Jesus to prove that he is the messiah. Then comes the LeaveYourQuestTest. The devil says that earth is his dominion and that he will give it all up to Jesus, all Jesus has to do is bow down and worship him. This is the perfect opportunity for Jesus to take the easy way out, but of course he didn't give in and did go on to complete his mission.

It's worth noting that a hero legitimately at the end of their quest may feel tempted to [[ChronicHeroSyndrome keep on "Heroing"]], and be dissuaded in favor of [[PassingTheTorch letting someone else pick up the banner]] so they can enjoy a HappilyEverAfter. Or he can keep on with the adventures, which may even be deemed a failure of his part, because he would have done more good in a more mundane but less InHarmsWay life.

The Hero presented with a "Leave Your Quest" Test will be given the chance to lay down their SwordOfPlotAdvancement and leave the fight. The form this test takes varies quite a bit, but there are a few common variants. A KnightErrant may enter GhibliHills and after getting rid of the local crime boss, gets offered a chance [[HomeSweetHome to make a home]] there by the DeterminedHomesteader. A wise old mentor can invite the hero to become his apprentice and achieve spiritual enlightenment instead of swinging his sword at monsters. Sometimes just making a {{Love Interest|s}} is enough to seriously tempt a hero to abandon their journey; if not, a forthcoming baby may raise the question of whether a new parent can endanger himself like this. [[TheFarmerAndTheViper Less benign]] opportunities come in the form of the BadSamaritan offering the above, with a slice of LotusEaterMachine pie and a glass of TheFinalTemptation. Similar to WeCanRuleTogether, the BigBad might offer the hero a clean slate and promises of non-reprisal if they abandon their quest against them. The [[NobleDemon trustworthiness]] of these [[LawfulEvil promises]] varies, [[ILied of course]].

But of course, being the hero that they are, they will inevitably refuse the temptation. Reasons include never being safe until the quest is done because ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies, knowing they would [[TheDrifter get restless and wander again]], or seeing through TheVamp or BigBad's ruse. A villain attempting this can even inspire the hero with new hope: such an offer would not have been made to someone not deemed a serious threat. Sometimes the hero may not even be tempted if they find the person who invites them to stay unappealing or even outright repulsive (this is often the case with {{Abhorrent Admirer}}s), and the person in question may even resort to force and coercion.