History Main / ReleasingFromThePromise

" In ''Fanfic/MutantStorm'', it is revealed that wizards are forbidden to use magic in Gringotts under an old treaty, but Harry faces no charge after he violates that rule because he only did it to save Griphook from a Death Eater attack.

* ''Film/ConanTheDestroyer''. After Conan frees her, Zula asks to ride with him and serve him. At the end of the movie Princess Jehnna asks Zula to be the captain of her guard. Conan releases her from her oath to him (and grants her permission to take the post) with a nod.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AnExtremelyGoofyMovie'' Max makes a bet with [[BigBad Bradley Uppercrust]] that the loser of the X-games becomes the winner's towel-boy. Max wins and Bradley is [[GracefulLoser acknowledges their bet]] as he goes to shake hands with him. Max is nice enough to call it off... though that might be because [[TheDogBitesBack Brad's got other problems.]]

* ''Disney/OliverAndCompany'': Faigan decides to extort money from what he believes to be a rich man in order to pay off a relentless loan-shark named Sykes. He does so by kidnapping! ...[[MinionWithAnFInEvil the rich man's cat.]]. It turns out that the cat belongs to a little girl named Jenny Foxworth. She arrives and overcome with guilt, he returns the kitten to her just as Sykes arrives (having been informed of the plan by Faigan). He kidnaps Jenny and tells Faigan to consider his debt paid in full.

Normally, only the person you made it to can do it, though sometimes the person on whose behalf it was made can -- if Sir Jack promised Queen Alisandrine to protect Princess Esmeralda, either the queen or the princess might be able to let him off, provided he accepts it. Oaths made to a god -- or sometimes just on the god's name -- can be absolved by a religious authority, sometimes. A MagicallyBindingContract can mean that only the attempt can be made, though it still indicates CharacterDevelopment.

Usually this is a way to indicate development, and a shift from an almost contractual (if not actually contractual) relationship to an open-ended one powered by [[PowerOfLove love]], [[PowerOfFriendship friendship]], or [[PowerOfTrust trust.]] There is always drama inherent, particularly if it started out as a LeonineContract, in that this will demonstrate whether those things really have that power at this point. Or not.

* In ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'', Flynn presents his efforts to persuade Rapunzel to release him as a generous offer to release her -- she's feeling guilty about abandoning her mother, so he will bring her back without showing her what he promised, and she will give him back what he stole. When that doesn't work, he brings her to the Snuggly Duckling in an attempt to show her the thugs she fears and persuade her thus.
** Later, Rapunzel [[spoiler:does rescind it, giving him it back before he has completed his promised portion. Gothel intervenes to make her think that he abandoned her immediately.]]

* In ''Disney/OliverAndCompany'' Faigan decides extort money from what he believes to be a rich man in order to pay off a relentless loan-shark named Sykes. He does so by kidnapping!....[[MinionWithAnFInEvil the rich man's cat.]]. It turns out that the cat belongs to a little girl named Jenny Foxworth. She arrives and overcome with guilt, he returns the kitten to her just as Sykes arrives (having been informed of the plan by Faigan). He kidnaps Jenny and tells Faigan to consider his debt paid in full.

* ''Film/ConanTheDestroyer''. After Conan frees her, Zula asks to ride with him and serve him. At the end of the movie Princess Jehnna asks Zula to be the captain of her guard. Conan releases her from her oath to him (and grants her permission to take the post) with a nod.

-->'''Maglor:''' If Manwë and Varda themselves deny the fulfilment of an oath to which we named them in witness, is it not made void?
--> '''Maedhros:''' But how shall our voices reach to Ilúvatar beyond the Circles of the World? And by Ilúvatar we swore in our madness, and called the Everlasting Darkness upon us, if we kept not our word. Who shall release us?

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* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0139.html the team's contracts with Roy specifically stated that it lasted until Xykon was defeated]], and when they believed they had done so, Haley brought this up, though they stuck together anyway. [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0294.html When Roy learns Xykon is still alive, he carefully points this out before shredding the contracts in front of the team]] [[LineInTheSand and saying he doesn't want to coerce them]]. They [[{{Pun}} stick together]] still, having formed a team.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AnExtremelyGoofyMovie'' Max makes a bet with [[BigBad Bradley Uppercrust]] that the loser of the X-games becomes the winner's towel-boy. Max wins and Bradley is [[GracefulLoser acknowledges their bet]] as he goes to shake hands with him. Max is nice enough to call it off... though that might be because [[TheDogBitesBack Brad's got other problems.]]

[[ThePromise A promise is a promise]]. (And an agreement is an agreement, and a contract is a contract.) [[IGaveMyWord It will bind for whatever term it stated or until whatever condition was required is fulfilled -- forever if neither was]] -- or leave a character TheOathBreaker forever.

!!Examples

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* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Denethor releases Pippin, who refuses it and goes to get Gandalf to stop whatever madness Denethor is up to.
** This was explicit in the oath, the terms of which were "until my lord release me, or death take me, or the world end."

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* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'': Skurge the Executioner banishes Jane Foster to another dimension and tells Thor he'll only release her if he surrenders his hammer and promises to never try to take it back. Thor surrenders the hammmer and Skurge keeps his word and releases Jane. A few moments later, Amora the Enchantress, who was angry because she wanted Jane to be trapped forever, starts turning Skurge into a tree. Skurge begs Thor to save him and releases him from his promise so that he can pick the hammer up and stop Amora.

* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/{{Catseye|1961}}'', Troy turns down an offer from the Rangers because while he hasn't signed the contract yet, [[IGaveMyWord he had said he would]]. Kyger would have to consent to his going.

* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/{{Catseye}}'', Troy turns down an offer from the Rangers because while he hasn't signed the contract yet, [[IGaveMyWord he had said he would]]. Kyger would have to consent to his going.

* In Creator/LMMontgomery's ''[[EmilyOfNewMoon Emily Climbs]]'', Emily goes to college after promising not to write any fiction when she is there. After two years, a rich relative took up paying the tuition, and the aunt she promised tells Emily that since it was in return for the tuition, she must release Emily from her promise.

* Subverted in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Sakura, out of guilt of having hurt Naruto's feelings in the past and fearing that he will die, makes a [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim painfully fake]] [[FalseConfession love confession]] to him in a desperate attempt to release him of his "Promise of a Lifetime" to her: [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy bringing back the guy she loves, Sasuke, to her]]. Naruto immediately sees right through her fake confession, [[WhatTheHellHero calls her out for lying to him and to herself]], [[ShipSinking rejects her outright]], and tells her that that promise is ''not'' the reason he wants Sasuke back; ''he'' has '''''his''''' [[TrueCompanions own reasons]] for doing so.

* {{Literature/Stardust}}: Victoria promises to marry Tristran before he goes off on his quest, not expecting him to succeed or even be gone very long. When he comes back triumphant a year and a day later, [[spoiler: she's fallen in love with someone else but is willing to meet her obligation anyway. However, the exact wording of the promise was that she'd give him his heart's desire, and he also loves someone else, so he tells her his heart's desire is for her to marry the other man and be very happy]].

* Subverted in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Sakura, out of guilt of having hurt Naruto's feelings in the past and fearing that he will die, makes a false love confession to him in a desperate attempt to release him of his "Promise of a Lifetime" to her: [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy bringing back the guy she loves, Sasuke, to her]]. Naruto realizes her intentions and says that, even if she releases him of the promise, ''he'' has '''''his''''' own reasons for bringing Sasuke back.

* Subverted in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', when Sakura, out of guilt of having hurt Naruto's feelings so much in the past, makes a false love confession to him in an attempt to release him of the "Promise of a Lifetime" he made to her of [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy bringing back the guy she loves, Sasuke, to her]]. Naruto is not fooled by it and then says that even if she releases him of the promise, he has his own reasons for bringing Sasuke back.

* In ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'', at the end, [[spoiler:Emily frees Victor from his accidental promise to her.]]

Also, ExactWords may be wittingly used by both characters to allow the technical fulfillment of the vow that neither one wants. The noble who swore that Princess Alisandrine will enter the chapel where she is to be crowned only over his body may lay down on the steps and direct her to step over him.

* In the BackStory of Creator/DorothyLSayers' LordPeterWimsey stories, Lord Peter had been engaged before UsefulNotes/WorldWarI; he had wanted to have a WartimeWedding but was persuaded out of it on the grounds that he might end up crippled, which would be unfair to her. He released her from the engagement, just in case, and found that meant she was quickly snatched up by an unscrupulous wooer.

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090824 Tarvek released Violetta from her obligations to him, his family, and the order so that he could send her into Lady Heterodyne's service.]]

* Subverted in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', when Sakura, out of guilt of having hurt Naruto's feelings so much in the past, makes a false love confession to him in an attempt to release him of the "Promise of a Lifetime" he made to her of bringing back the guy she loves, Sasuke, to her. Naruto is not fooled by it and then says that even if she releases him of the promise, he has his own reasons for bringing Sasuke back.

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* In ''Film/WildStrawberries'', Isak has leant his son Evald a significant sum of money, which he insists that he pay back (even though Isak does not need the money, Evald cannot really afford to pay him back and Evald's wife has attempted to dissuade Isak from asking for the money back), which Evald agrees to do. At the end of the film, after Isak's spiritual journey, he attempts to tell Evald to forget about the loan, only for Evald to cut him off and insist that he'll pay him back.
* ''Film/ConanTheDestroyer''. After Conan frees her, Zula asks to ride with him and serve him. At the end of the movie Princess Jehnna asks Zula to be the captain of her guard. Conan releases her from her oath to him (and grants her permission to take the post) with a nod.

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-->'''Maglor:''' If Manwë and Varda themselves deny the fulfilment of an oath to which we named them in witness, is it not made void?
--> '''Maedhros:''' But how shall our voices reach to Ilúvatar beyond the Circles of the World? And by Ilúvatar we swore in our madness, and called the Everlasting Darkness upon us, if we kept not our word. Who shall release us?

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* In the BackStory of Creator/DorothyLSayers' LordPeterWimsey stories, Lord Peter had been engaged before WorldWarI; he had wanted to have a WartimeWedding but was persuaded out of it on the grounds that he might end up crippled, which would be unfair to her. He released her from the engagement, just in case, and found that meant she was quickly snatched up by an unscrupulous wooer.

* In ''[[KnightAndRogueSeries The Last Knight]]'', Sir Michael releases Fisk from his obligation to stay with Michael only to have Fisk stay anyway to keep his employer-turned-friend out of trouble.