History Main / ProtectedByAChild

* During the 2013 siege of the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, a four-year-old boy stood between his wounded mother and one of the gunmen, calling him "a very bad man". The terrorist lowered his gun, handed the boy a Mars bar, and said "Forgive me, we are not monsters" before leaving.

Oddly enough, due to {{Harmful to Minors}} trope, you rarely see a full subversion except in the grimmest {{Black and Grey Morality}} worlds. On the other hand, if it is made clear the hero WouldHurtAChild and actually [[RevengeByProxy went after the child]], expect the villain to [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds go completely ballistic]] against the hero.

* Combined with ShamingTheMob in a famous scene from ToKillAMockingBird. When an angry lynch mob shows up to kill his black client in the middle of night, Atticus is waiting for them so he can try to argue some sense, but he fails and they threaten to go through him if he won't step aside. Fortunately, his daughter Scout snuck out and followed him that night. Her sudden appearance and apparent innocent lack of understanding of the situation (greeting the men warmly and asking about how their kids are doing since school ended for the summer) takes all the steam out of them and they are too ashamed to carry out their violent intentions. As Atticus puts it later, she reminded them they were (good) men and not a mob.

* In a [[ExpandedUniverse side story of]] ''GingaNagareboshiGin'' and ''Anime/GingaDensetsuWeed'' called ''Lonely Ron'', Ron the Great Dane is fixing to finish off the BigBad, Boss the husky. However, Boss' puppies arrive and beg Ron to not kill their father. Being the GentleGiant he is, Ron decides to spare the husky's life.

Oddly enough, due to {{Harmful to Minors}} trope, you rarely see a full subversion except in the grimmest {{Black and Grey Morality}} worlds.

Contrast DaddysLittleVillain. See also InfantImmortality.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'', Huntress decided to kill the man responsible for her parent's death before he could go into hiding, the villain was literally at her mercy when the man's son broke free from his escort. She ended up turning her bow away, sparing his life. This is partly because she was reminded of the night when her parents died, so she punched the guy instead.

* After being a bully for half of an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter encounters the same bully who picked on him in his school days. He decides to beat him up after what he had done, but before he could do so, Chris beats HIM up and yells at him to stop bullying people.

* Baboons, while trying to avoid a fight will hide among infants, as most Baboons won't fight in front of them.

-> ''"Using a little girl for a shield... [[EvenEvilHasStandards THIS IS LOW EVEN FOR YOU!]]"''

-> ''"Using a little girl for a shield... THIS IS LOW EVEN FOR YOU!"''

* ''Weaponized'' in SuikodenII, when your army's strategist suspects the enemy leader of setting a trap at a peace summit. He has access to a little girl said leader has a soft spot for, and arranges for her to be present when the trap is sprung. The enemy leader proves unwilling to use lethal force with the girl watching.
* ''{{Shadow Hearts}}: Covenant'' has a rare double-subversion of this trope: Yuri, upon meeting Ishimura, who was planning on adding a new front to the war, and thus more suffering (A rather slimy fellow). As Yuri was about to attack Ishimura, he was confronted by the guy's grandson. Instead of backing down, he pushes the kid aside, and brutally kicked the old man repeatedly, but the subversion gets subverted when he breaks down and is unable to kill him.

-> ''"Using a little girl for a shield... This is low even for you!"''

* In a [[ExpandedUniverse side story of]] ''GingaNagareboshiGin'' and ''GingaDensetsuWeed'' called ''Lonely Ron'', Ron the Great Dane is fixing to finish off the BigBad, Boss the husky. However, Boss' puppies arrive and beg Ron to not kill their father. Being the GentleGiant he is, Ron decides to spare the husky's life.

* Done without the child's presence needed in ''DominicDeegan''. Celesto, having JumpedOffTheSlipperySlope, slaughters a {{Jerkass}} athlete and turns to kill the stripper he was accosting... only to get a vision of her telling her daughter good night.

* The villain of ''[[Film/TheBourneSeries The Bourne Identity]]'' is revealed to be [[spoiler:saved]] by this trope [[spoiler: for a while]], allowing him [[spoiler:to cause the injury that led to the titular character's amnesia]] in the first place.

* In ''LetTheRightOneIn'', Oskar is [[spoiler:saved from the bullies]] at the last moment by Eli. Although Eli is, admittedly, [[spoiler:not a normal child]]. That said, [[spoiler:he's already saved Eli from almost certain death]], so this film has ''two'' examples of this trope protecting ''each other''.

* After being a bully for half of an episode of ''FamilyGuy'', Peter encounters the same bully who picked on him in his school days. He decides to beat him up after what he had done, but before he could do so, Chris beats HIM up and yells at him to stop bullying people.

* Gray was ready to strike Sebastian down, but Mia intervened just in time. One of the reasons Sebastian made it out of there alive.

* A version of this happens in ''Literature/HarryPotter'', of all places - subverted in that the aggressor himself is a child, and the defender, [[CatsAreSuperior a cat]]. At the end of ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]'', Harry has Sirius Black defenseless and is holding him at wandpoint, thinking of killing him, when [[spoiler:Hermione's ugly, half-kneazle pet]] jumps over his heart to protect him. Harry ''doesn't rule out killing [[spoiler:Crookshanks]] as well, but he hesitates long enough for someone to come in and stop everything.

So {{The Hero}} is on his {{Roaring Rampage of Revenge}}, and find the man who killed his [[{{Mentors}} Mentor]], his Loved One, his SmallAnnoyingCreature... or is just an evil bastard.

-> ''"Using a little girl for a shield... [[EvenEvilHasStandards This is low even for you]]!"''

* In ''FanFic/LittleUzumaki'', Kisame is protected by the Godaime [[PapaWolf Iruka's wrath]] by the [[FountainOfYouth age-regressed two year old]] Naruto... who promptly mistakes Kisame for a fish.

* Nonviolent example in {{Persona 4}}; Dojima occasionally presses the protagonist on what he does with his time, with increasing hostility; his daughter Nanako (who also happens to be the Justice Arcana) is an expert on shutting him down.

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWingEndlessWaltz'', [[CreepyChild Meriemeia]] protects [[TheMessiah Relena]] from [[SmugSnake Dekim Barton's]] gunfire [[TakingTheBullet using her]] [[HeroicSacrifice own body]]. Don't worry, [[OnlyAFleshWound she got better]] on epilogue.

* Black Star's first mission in ''Manga/{{Soul Eater}}'' ends with him defeating the bodyguard Mifune, only to be 'attacked' by his charge, very young witch Angela, who insists that he leave Mifune alone. Shocked that the witch he was supposedly sent to kill is a little girl, the would-be assassin backs down.

* In FanFic/LittleUzumaki, Kisame is protected by the Godaime [[PapaWolf Iruka's wrath]] by the [[FountainOfYouth age-regressed two year old]] Naruto... who promptly mistakes Kisame for a fish.

* In ''Film/TheDeadZone'', Smith tries to assassinate a Presidential candidate, but the man uses a child as a shield. While Smith gets taken down by security, the candidate's cowardly actions ruin his chances at election.

* From the EvilOverlordListCellblockA, #147: