History Main / ReluctantGift

* ''Les Fourberies de Scapin'': Geronte (a rich merchant) is being conned by Scapin into paying a ransom of 500 gold pieces for his son (in fact, the son needs the money for various living expenses). His paternal love finally shining through after much effort, he gives Scapin the purse... but forgets to let go, and even puts it back in his pocket before Scapin reminds him that he still needs the money.

* ''WesternAnimation/ABoyNamedCharlieBrown'': As Charlie Brown heads off to the national spelling bee competition, Linus gives him his SecurityBlanket for good luck. He looks away with a pained expression on his face as he presents it, and in fact fails to notice when Charlie takes the blanket and enters the bus, so Linus remains holding up nothing and saying "Here!" as the bus drives away. Eventually the absence of his blanket gets to him and he goes to New York to get it back.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoxtrolls'': Archibald Snatcher brings Lord Portley-Rind's white hat, that he found in the middle of the street, to his owner. However, since he covets the hat (and the position it entails), he only gives it back after lots of procrastination and a prolonged tug-of-war between him and Lord Portley-Rind.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', Filch refuses to give the Tri-wizard egg to Moody because it was "evidence for Peeves' treason". And by the way he is cuddling it, Harry thinks Filch thought the egg was like his firstborn son. But in the end, he does have to give it up.
* In ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'', Greg is donating a twenty dollar bill to the church basket despite his reluctance to do so. His mom Susan donates it for him.

* In the season 6 finale of ''Series/StargateSG1'', "[[Recap/StargateSG1S6E22FullCircle Full Circle]]", both SG-1 and Anubis's Jaffa are after the Eye of Ra. When SG-1, being cornered, finally agree to surrender the MacGuffin (rather than destroy it) in exchange for leaving the planet safely, O'Neill reluctantly cedes the artifact to First Prime He'rak... although not without clinging to it a bit. [[spoiler:[[ILied Anubis then proceeds to destroy the planet.]]]]

* On ''Series/CommonLaw'', Wes Mitchell is usually quite reluctant to lend anything to his partner Travis Marks, since he doesn't trust him to take good care of it (not even a stappler -- Travis already lost five). The short tug-o-war happens once with a pen.

* ''Les Fourberies de Scapin'': Geronte (a rich merchant) is being conned by Scapin into paying a ransom of 500 gold pieces for his son (in fact, the son needs the money for various living expenses). His paternal love finally shining through after much effort, he gives Scapin the purse... but forgets to let go, and even puts it back in his pocket before Scapin reminds him that he still needs the money.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': In episode "[[Recap/MiraculousLadybugS01E13TheMime The Mime]]", after accidentally deleting a video interview of Ladybug on Alya's phone, Marinette is quite reluctant to give the phone back to Alya, who has to pry it from her fingers.

[[folder:Theater]]

* In ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'', Greg is donating a twenty dollar bill to the church basket despite his reluctance to do so. His mom Susan does it for him.

* In ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'', Greg is donating a twenty dollar bill to the church basket, and is trying hold on to it. His mom Susan does it for him.

* In ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'', Greg is donating a twenty dollar bill to the church basket and is trying hold on to it. His mom Susan does it for him.

[[folder:Web Original]]

There might be plenty of reasons for this, from the character having emotional attachment to the item, or simply disliking the other person and loathing the idea of relenting anything to him. It can be part of a hostage exchange or other unsavory deal, like blackmail. If what's handled is money and the person is [[TheMiser notoriously stingy]], the trope is even more likely to happen. The move being rather childish, it is often used to show that a character isn't very mature.

* ''LightNovel/Overlord2012'': Ainz gives Albedo a ring so she can follow him around Nazarick. When he comes across Mare hiding the tomb under big hills, he tells Albedo to give Mare the ring as a reward (one he intends to give every guardian). Albedo, who's been reprogrammed to be in yandere-levels of love with Ainz, has difficulty giving the ring to Mare.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/Overlord2012'': Ainz gives Albedo a ring so she can follow him around Nazarick. When he comes across Mare hiding the tomb under big hills, he tells Albedo to give Mare the ring as a reward (one he intends to give every guardian). Albedo, who's been reprogrammed to be in yandere-levels of love with Ainz, has difficulty giving the ring to Mare.

There might be plenty of reasons for this, from the character having emotional attachment to the item, or simply disliking the other person and loathing the idea of relenting anything to him. It can be part of a hostage exchange or other unsavory deal, like blackmail. If what's handled is money and the person is notoriously stingy, the trope is even more likely to happen. The move being rather childish, it is often used to show that a character isn't very mature.

* In the season 6 finale of ''Series/StargateSG1'', "Final Circle", both SG-1 and Anubis's Jaffa are after the Eye of Ra. When SG-1, being cornered, finally agree to surrender the MacGuffin (rather than destroy it) in exchange for leaving the planet safely, O'Neill reluctantly cedes the artifact to First Prime He'rak... although not without clinging to it a bit. [[spoiler:[[ILied Anubis then proceeds to destroy the planet.]]]]

!!Examples

* In the season 6 finale of ''Series/StargateSG1'', "Final Circle", both SG-1 and Anubis' Jaffa are after the Eye of Ra. When SG-1, being cornered, finally agree to surrender the MacGuffin (rather than destroy it) in exchange for leaving the planet safely, O'Neill reluctantly cedes the artifact to First Prime He'rak... although not without clinging to it a bit. [[spoiler:[[ILied Anubis then proceeds to destroy the planet.]]]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "The Day the Violence Died", a legal battle rules that animation studio I&S Studios must pay $800 million to Chester Lampwick. When chairman Roger Meyers presents the check, he refuses to let go for a few seconds and Lampwick struggles with him. When Lampwick finally wrests the check away, [[TastyGold he bites it as if testing for a counterfeit coin]].

* In the season 6 finale of ''Series/StargateSG1'', "Final Circle", both SG-1 and Anubis' Jaffa are after the Eye of Ra. When SG-1, being cornered, finally agree to surrender the MacGuffin (rather than destroy it) in exchange for leaving the planet safely, O'Neill reluctantly cede the artifact to First Prime He'rak... although not without clinging to it a bit. [[spoiler:[[ILied Anubis then proceeds to destroy the planet.]]]]
* Sheldon on ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' wants Howard to accept his apology for inadvertently blabbing to the FBI about Howard mishandling the Mars Rover, so in desperation he gives him that which is most precious to him -- [[ThisIsMyChair his spot on the couch]]. He offers the cushion to Howard, but is reluctant to let it go at first. Howard barely has the seat a minute before Sheldon asks for it back.

* In the climactic deposition scene of Shakespeare's Richard II, the titular king, having been backed into a corner largely through his own incompetence and pretty much forced to abdicate, dithers for pages and pages on handing over the actual physical crown to his deposer (the soon-to-be Henry IV). Richard really has no choice anymore--he's squandered all his chances to assert his authority--but when it comes to handing over the crown, he first forces Henry to come take it from him rather than handing it over, then tugs it back out of Henry's hands momentarily before yielding to the inevitable. And then keeps speechifying about it. (It is a matter of interpretation just how much of Richard's melodramatics in this scene is a genuine childish tantrum and how much is a performance calculated to make Henry look pathetic and power-grabbing. Both elements are certainly present.)

* In an episode of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' from late 1992/early 1993, Barbara Bush is showing HillaryClinton around the White House, but is reluctant to let go of the precious antiques and such that stay with the house.

A character has to offer a gift or surrender an item, plot-relevant or not, and handle it to another person. The decision is made, there's no turning around possible, but yet... he or she is very reluctant to cede this thing, and still stubbornly cling to it. Follow a short tug-of-war until the item finally changes hands.

* On ''Series/CommonLaw'', Wes Mitchell is usually quite reluctant to lend anything to his partner Travis Marks (not even a stappler), as he doesn't trust him to take good care of them (and he's a control freak). The short tug-o-war happens once with a pen.

* In an episode of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' from late 1992/early 1993, Barbara Bush is showing HillaryClinton around the White House, but is reluctant to let go of the precious antiques and such that stay with the house.

* In the season 6 finale of ''Series/StargateSG1'', "Final Circle", both SG-1 and Anubis' Jaffa are after the Eye of Ra. When SG-1, being cornered, finally agree to surrender the MacGuffin (rather than destroy it) in exchange for leaving the planet safely, O'Neill reluctantly cede the artifact to First Prime He'rak... although not without clinging to it a bit. [[ILied Anubis then proceeds to destroy the planet.]]

* In the season 6 finale of ''Series/StargateSG1'', "Final Circle", both SG-1 and Anubis' Jaffa are after the Eye of Ra. When SG-1, being cornered, finally agree to surrender the MacGuffin (rather than destroy it) in exchange for leaving the planet safely, O'Neill reluctantly cede the artifact to First Prime He'rak... although not without clinging to it a bit.

[[folder:NewspaperComics]]
* In ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'', when Wally asks if he can spare a pen, Dilbert offers one to him only after bidding it farewell at length. Wally asks instead for a pen that Dilbert's had "less of an emotional relationship with."
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* In ''ComicStrip/Dilbert'', when Wally asks if he can spare a pen, Dilbert offers one to him only after bidding it farewell at length. Wally asks instead for a pen that Dilbert's had "less of an emotional relationship with."