History Main / RecruitmentByRescue

* In the main story of ''VideoGame/{{MGCM}}'', Akisa Higashiyama, who was RetGone after a [[SpaceTimeEater demon]] ate her existence, is rescued by Omnis and the magical heroines by killing the demon who ate her existence. After that, her restoration and rescue pushed her to join the fight against them in order to prevent this from happening to others. Completing this episode will have SR-rare Akisa and unlocking her in the home menu as a reward.

* In ''ComicBook/TheAutumnlandsToothAndClaw'' Dusty heals an ailing goat, Dirty Aelbert, who begrudgingly tags along with he and Learoyd to the mountain peak that is their shared destination.

* Pretty much everyone you recruit into your group in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' has to be rescued from the TV world and their Shadow taken down so that they can gain a Persona to join you in the hunt for the killer who's been throwing people into the TV world. With the exceptions of your two starting party members, all of them were thrown into the TV world by the killer. The only playable character who does not have to face his or her Shadow is the protagonist, and that's because [[spoiler:he got his power to manifest Personas directly from Izanami, along with Namatame and Adachi, the two main villains]].

* In ''[[VideoGame/PuzzleQuest Puzzle Quest: Challenge Of The Warlords]]'', you get half of your party members this way: You rescue Seraphne from an ArrangedMarriage, Flicker from minotaur slavers and Patch from assassins. Winter joins you after you help clear his territory of Lord Bane's minions. In the ''Plague Lords'' expansion (or the [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iPhone version]], you rescue Galnoth from the Dark Elves. You also first meet Darkhunter when you help him fight off an orc, though he won't join you until after you help him with his current manhunt.

* In ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'', Maleficent saves Diaval's life. He doesn't like the rescue, but does offer his service to her to pay the debt.

** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has about half the party members recruited this way. Of the group, one needs to be gotten out of prison, another has to be unfrozen, a third is missing his wife, and a fourth is stuck in a tower full of possessed mages and won't leave until it's been reclaimed. There's also a poisoned war dog who needs an antidote, if you're playing anyone other than the Human Noble.

*** Terra is first recruited into the Returners when Locke rescues her from Imperial enslavement and MindControl in the game's opening minutes, although she doesn't "officially" join up until she runs into a ButThouMust a bit later. In the World of Ruin she doesn't get her fighting spirit back until she and the party have freed the town of Mobliz from the threat of Phunbaba, a roving monster.

* ''VideoGame/MiniNinjas'' used this; part of the game's backstory is that the Ninja Master sent out each of his more experienced ninjas one by one to defeat the Evil Samurai Lord, until only two were left. With those two, you have to rescue the others on the way to finish their job.

* ''VideoGame/PanelDePon[=/=]Tetris Attack'': All 8 of your friends starts off BrainwashedAndCrazy. After defeating them one by one, the party of 9 goes to confront the four actual bad guys, and become playable.

* In VideoGame/StarCraft, The Sons Of Korhal start out as the terrorists rebelling against the evil Confederacy. They first enter the story after they rescue the forces under control of the player as well as Jim Raynor from a zerg horde. The rest of the compaign becomes about helping the Sons Of Korhal defeat the Confederacy. Next the Sons Of Korhal rescues Edmond Duke, a Confederacy officer from the zerg, who aids the Sons Of Korhal with valuable intelligence on the Confederacy.

** ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'': [[NatureHero Ayda]] is recruited by using one of your Listening Runes on Feather, which triggers an event where the party must help Ayda defend him from a flock of griffons. If you successful, she expresses her thanks and stays behind at the Forest Village, to treat his wounds. Return to your castle and spend the night. Ayda shows up the following day with Feather, in tow, and both join your party.
** ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'': After a lengthy quest, involving the people of Lordlake, that involves unravling truth behind the uprising, [[spoiler: the theft of the Dawn Rune]], and finally a naval battle to destroy the Hate Fortress, all of the Lordlake related characters join your cause and your party.
** The same is true for the people of Sable, who are besieged by an impostor of the Prince, along with a group of bandits, and the Dragon Calvary, who fail to come to Falena's defense [[spoiler: due to Dolph taking over the dragon's den and threatening to destroy their eggs]]. Each involves a story related quests that require the Prince to come to their aid, after which, they side with his army.

** PlayedWith in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'': Carlos earns his place with the Saints by rescuing ''you'' from prison, while Gat needs to be rescued (from the death row) but not ''recruited'', since he's the only Saint who remained true to his colors from the first game. Pierce and Shaundi only need a small favor each before they join, but Shaundi does become a DistressedDamsel later on in the Samedi storyline.

** ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' DS as well had the Yoshis collect the baby superstars (that's literally what they're called) who are kidnapped by Kamek. Even Baby Bowser joins in, because he wound up in a jungle whilst [[TimeTravel Bowser from the future]] was trying to kidnap all the heroes who'd oppose him in the future.

** It is still played straight in other cases throughout the franchise. In the first game, in Agrabah, you need to rescue WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} from the Heartless before he joins the party. In ''Kingdom Hearts II'', in Olympus Coliseum, you must obtain a certain item to save [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Auron]] from being controlled by [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} Hades]]. In ''Birth by Sleep'', in Enchanted Dominion, Aqua will help free [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Prince Phillip]] from Maleficent's dungeon before they both escape to fight the evil fairy. And in ''Kingdom Hearts III'', [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory Buzz]] is possessed by the Heartless, and is set free when Woody snaps at Young Xehanort.

* In ''VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves'', the Cooper Gang find Murray's new master, The Guru, imprisoned in a makeshift cell in a mining camp. He won't leave without his staff, so they steal it back from the miners and return it to him. Right after this, he becomes a playable character and eventually joins the gang. Two chapters later, the Panda King also joins (despite his unforgiving deeds in the past) in a proxy case when they save his daughter Jing King from a force marriage.

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* Inverted twice in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series. Disney/PeterPan and [[Film/{{Tron}} Tron]] will both join the party after helping ''them'' escape from the ArcVillain at the beginning of their respective worlds (Neverland and Space Paranoids). [[ZigzaggedTrope For the latter]], however, upon returning to Space Paranoids, Tron won't rejoin the party until you rescue ''him''. Twice!
** [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Jack Sparrow]] does this as well in ''Kingdom Hearts II'', when he frees the party [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Elizabeth]] from being tied up after a TeamRocketWins moment for Pete, and rejoins the party ([[RequiredPartyMember as a mandatory character]]).
** It is still played straight in other cases throughout the franchise. In the first game, in Agrabah, you need to rescue Disney/{{Aladdin}} from the Heartless before he joins the party. In ''Kingdom Hearts II'', in Olympus Coliseum, you must obtain a certain item to save [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Auron]] from being controlled by [[Disney/{{Hercules}} Hades]]. In ''Birth by Sleep'', in Enchanted Dominion, Aqua will help free [[Disney/SleepingBeauty Prince Phillip]] from Maleficent's dungeon before they both escape to fight the evil fairy.

* In ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'', the Boss recruits Oleg, Kinzie, Zimos, and Angel by saving them from a tight spot.

* In ''[[VideoGame/PuzzleQuest Puzzle Quest: Challenge Of The Warlords]]'', you get half of your party members this way: You rescue Seraphne from an ArrangedMarriage, Flicker from minotaur slavers and Patch from assassins. Winter joins you after you help clear his territory of Lord Bane's minions. In the ''Plague Lords'' expansion (or the [[IOSGames iPhone version]], you rescue Galnoth from the Dark Elves. You also first meet Darkhunter when you help him fight off an orc, though he won't join you until after you help him with his current manhunt.

* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'' and ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations'', Ezio recruits new Assassins from the oppressed populace in this fashion. When you encounter an NPC who's being harassed by guards, you can fight off the guards and the grateful NPC will gladly join the fight against tyranny.

* This is one way to recruit pokemon in ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon''.

* The ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'' series allows you to recruit soldiers you rescued from imprisonment by an enemy army. Doing so is free and allows you to replenish your army during prolonged wars, or at least get some free cannon fodder in the form of rescued bandits.
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' and its expansions used this trope often, typically by having you stumble onto a potential party member when they were in the middle of a fight.
* John Cooper's crew in VideoGame/{{Desperados}} is gathered in this manner. Sam's on the run from an angry landowner, Doc is about to be hanged, Kate fell afoul of some poker players who believe she cheated, and Sanchez needs to be broken out of prison. Only Mia joins the group without being done a favor first, and she's got the excuse of having nowhere else to go.

It's that [[ExtyYearsFromNow time of the millennium]] [[ViciousCycle again]], where the EvilOverlord comes out of his [[SealedEvilInACan can]] and starts wreaking havoc. [[AngstWhatAngst No worries]], we gave TheHero a [[CallToAdventure call]], and he's [[JumpedAtTheCall jumping]] to it. Now he just needs a {{team}}, but there's a problem. Some (or, in extreme cases, ''all'') potential allies are:

So what's a hero to do? Fighting the EvilOverlord alone is usually not an option (only [[IneffectualLoner losers]] do that), and neither is seeking out other, less preoccupied allies. That leaves TheHero with the job of rescuing his allies from their difficulties before he can recruit them. Written well, this is a great way to pull off a DebutQueue, [[RescueIntroduction introducing]] the cast while establishing the Hero's [[MagneticHero magnet]] credentials. Written badly, you might [[FridgeLogic find yourself wondering]] why the OneManParty hero spends so much time and energy trying to get the help of people who cannot or will not [[ItsUpToYou help themselves]].

-->'''The Shadow''': You're Dr. Roy Tam, a professor in the Science Department at N.Y.U.
'''Dr. Tam''': Yes.
'''The Shadow''': I've saved your life, Roy Tam. It now belongs to me.
'''Dr. Tam''': It does?

* In the movie adaptation of ''Film/TheShadow'', the main character's first action after his enforced HeelFaceTurn is saving a guy from CementShoes and offering him a job.

* Also a standard in FireEmblem. When you're not recruiting characters straight off the battlefield, you're rescuing them from enemy forces, which prompts them to join your roster.

** [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Jack Sparrow]] does this as well in ''Kingdom Hearts II'', when he frees the party [[MyFriendsAndZoiberg and Elizabeth]] from being tied up after a TeamRocketWins moment for Pete, and rejoins the party ([[RequiredPartyMember as a mandatory character]]).

* MiniNinjas used this; part of the game's backstory is that the Ninja Master sent out each of his more experienced ninjas one by one to defeat the Evil Samurai Lord, until only two were left. With those two, you have to rescue the others on the way to finish their job.

It's that [[ExtyYearsFromNow time of the millennium]] [[ViciousCycle again]], where the EvilOverlord comes out of his [[SealedEvilInACan can]] and starts wreaking havoc. [[AngstWhatAngst No worries]], we gave TheHero a [[CallToAdventure call]], and he's [[JumpedAtTheCall jumping]] to it. Now he just needs a {{team}}, but there's a problem. Some (or, in extreme cases, ALL) potential allies are:

* This is how Leia is recruited in the first ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' movie. She went from DamselInDistress to ActionGirl as soon as they got her out of her cell aboard the Death Star, taking charge of the rescue mission and continuing to be an active member of the Rebel Alliance and Luke's team of friends.

* This is how Leia is recruited in the first ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' movie. She went from DamselInDistress to ActionGirl as soon as they got her out of her cell aboard the Death Star and continued to be an active member of the Rebel Alliance and Luke's team of friends.

* A) Captured by the EvilOverlord specifically to prevent them from helping,

* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'' had this as a plot point, as the Baron revisited the trail of his last adventure.

* Invoked often in the {{Suikoden}} series.
** SuikodenII: [[NatureHero Ayda]] is recruited by using one of your Listening Runes on Feather, which triggers an event where the party must help Ayda defend him from a flock of griffons. If you successful, she expresses her thanks and stays behind at the Forest Village, to treat his wounds. Return to your castle and spend the night. Ayda shows up the following day with Feather, in tow, and both join your party.
** SuikodenV: After a lengthy quest, involving the people of Lordlake, that involves unravling truth behind the uprising, [[spoiler: the theft of the Dawn Rune]], and finally a naval battle to destroy the Hate Fortress, all of the Lordlake related characters join your cause and your party.
** The same is true for the people of Sable, who are beseiged by an imposter of the Prince, along with a group of bandits, and the Dragon Calvary, who fail to come to Falena's defense [[spoiler: due to Dolph taking over the dragon's den and threatening to destroy their eggs]]. Each involves a story related quests that require the Prince to come to their aid, after which, they side with his army.

This trope has long been a staple of the RolePlayingGame and Action Platformer genres, as well as games in other genres where team-based gameplay is mixed with a narrative. For the action platformers in particular, it's a bit of a tradition that you'll have to complete some challenge with the characters you have to acquire new characters. Some games also invert the formula, by having the protagonist's future allies rescuing ''them'' from some kind of predicament (such as an execution by the EvilOverlord) in order to recruit them into LaResistance or whatever HeroesRUs they come from.

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}', where anti-Regency LaResistance recruits Corvo Attano, the Empress' former bodyguard framed for her murder, by breaking him out of death row on the eve of his execution.