History Main / MartyrWithoutACause

* ''[[MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' brings us Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton, both of whom seem to have "Hit the big ol' self-detonate button" as plan B rather than a last resort; fortunately the (relatively) less psychotic Gundam pilots are usually around to stop them. Trowa's Gundam once ''ran out of ammunition'' and he was going to blow himself up just to finish destroying everything around! Granted, Heavy-Arms wasn't really equipped with a lot of melee capabilities, but you're in a 50 foot humanoid robot! STEP ON THINGS!

* Emiya Shirou of ''FateStayNight'', to an intentionally [[WhatAnIdiot infuriating degree]]. Many characters call him out on this, and it comes back to bite him in more ways than simply being smeared across the pavement. [[spoiler:Archer, and by extension Shirou himself,]] is a walking deconstruction of this trope, as is most clear in the Unlimited Blade Works route in the VisualNovel. The big reason this comes across as stupidity is because [[AdaptationDecay the anime never explains Shirou's behaviour like UBW does.]]

->"You Optimuses '''do''' love to sacrifice yourselves, don't you?"\\
-- '''Megatron''', ''BeastWars''

See HonorBeforeReason for the idea behind this trope. For the more depressing and less heroic version of this, see DeathSeeker.

* In the '''[[Film/{{Transformers}} 2007 Transformers film]]''', Optimus Prime spends considerable effort on convincing Sam to shove the All Spark into the opening on his (Optimus') chest, destroying it but killing him in the process. The All Spark has the potential to be pretty dangerous, so this seems reasonable... until we learn that it can ''also'' be destroyed by shoving it into Megatron, killing ''him'' instead. Since they presumably have to defeat Megatron one way or the other anyway, why is killing Optimus to destroy the All Spark even on the table? It was probably meant to seem heroic, but it comes off as pointlessly suicidal.

* In the 2007 Transformers film, Optimus Prime spends considerable effort on convincing Sam to shove the All Spark into the opening on his (Optimus') chest, destroying it but killing him in the process. The All Spark has the potential to be pretty dangerous, so this seems reasonable... until we learn that it can ''also'' be destroyed by shoving it into Megatron, killing ''him'' instead. Since they presumably have to defeat Megatron one way or the other anyway, why is killing Optimus to destroy the All Spark even on the table? It was probably meant to seem heroic, but it comes off as pointlessly suicidal.

* In DoubleArts, the apparently cheerful and playful [[spoiler:SisterHeine]] turns out to be one of these. She [[spoiler:gave up all her hobbies and became determined to keep healing people until it killed her, [[TheAtoner to atone]] for arriving too late to save a Troi-infected patient]].

* Averted in "{{A Very Potter Musical}}": As in the original "{{Harry Potter}}", Voldemort asks Harry whom he will be using as a human shield this time. Harry has already told everyone not to interfere, but Ron steps forward to volunteer before Hermione yanks him back.

* In the 2007 Transformers film, Optimus Prime spends considerable effort on convincing Sam to shove the All Spark into the opening on his (Optimus') chest, destroying it but killing him in the process. The All Spark has the potential to be pretty dangerous, so this seems reasonable... until we learn that it can also be destroyed by shoving it into Megatron, killing ''him'' instead. Since they presumably have to defeat Megatron one way or the other anyway, why is killing Optimus to destroy the All Spark even on the table? It was probably meant to seem heroic, but it comes off as pointlessly suicidal.

* Touma of ''{{To Aru Majutsu no Index}}'' is even pointed out by certain character to be a Martyr Without A Cause. He helps any girl who comes to him with trouble and inexplicably ends up in the hospital after helping. He even helps Misaka Mikoto who [[spoiler:tries to near kill him and stalked him before he lost his memory and is someone he hardly even knows to begin with.]] [[ChickMagnet Every girl he helps also appears to fall in love him him after he helps them]].

** Considering that [[PersonOfMassDestruction Pain]] was slaughtering everyone, [[RedShirt]] and [[MauveShirt Heroes]] alike, and that Naruto was litterally the only one who had a chance of beating him, it is understandable for all of those other characters that [[CantCatchUp]] to get the heck out of the way. MartyrWithoutACause would have been if he submited to Pain for Pain's twisted idea of Peace.

** Averted with Athena, who puts her life on risk while ''fully'' knowing that the Saints will fight for her sake ''and'' the worlds.

** [[spoiler:Kurt Godel]] may be one of these too. [[spoiler:According to Nodoka's artifact, he himself was not involved in the attack on Negi's village, however Godel says that he has no intention of running from his sins and promises, once everything is over, to let Negi beat him to death if that's what it takes to satisfy Negi's desire for revenge.]]

** There ''is'' kind of a cause for Pelleas, though. [[spoiler:As noted above, he signed a blood pact, and after trying to find out how to remove it, he is led to believe that his death would cause it's effect to end. He's misinformed, sure, but at least he isn't just trying to get himself killed for no reason.]]

* Emiya Shirou of ''FateStayNight'', to an intentionally [[WhatAnIdiot infuriating degree]]. Many characters call him out on this, and it comes back to bite him in more ways than simply being smeared across the pavement. [[spoiler:Archer, and by extension Shirou himself,]] is a walking deconstruction of this trope, as is most clear in the Unlimited Blade Works route in the VisualNovel. The big reason this comes across as stupidity is because [[AdaptationDecay the anime never explains Shirou's behavior like UBW does.]]

* Emiya Shirou of ''FateStayNight'', to an intentionally [[WhatAnIdiot infuriating degree]]. Many characters call him out on this, and it comes back to bite him in more ways than simply being smeared across the pavement. [[spoiler:Archer]] is a walking deconstruction of this trope, as is most clear in the Unlimited Blade Works route in the VisualNovel.
** Thoroughly justified in/by Unlimited Blade Works. Shirou hasn't placed any value on his life since the fallout of the Fourth Grail War, effectively obliterated his sense of self; as a result, Shirou can only find meaning and satisfaction in the happiness of other people. This is why Shirou prioritizes the welfare of everyone else over his own well-being; taking other peoples' burdens on himself and generally being altruistic grants him the same satisfaction that most of us would derive from more self-serving actions (to quote the game, "his reward was the sole act of saving others"). The big reason this comes across as stupidity is because [[AdaptationDecay the anime never explains Shirou's behavior like UBW does.]]
** It's also arguably this tendency that gave rise to his [[FieldOfBlades unique magical talents]]--lacking a self-preservation instinct, he can use himself to power his magic.