History Main / SavedByTheAwesome

* Admiral Horatio Nelson who could technically have been court-martialed at least once and probably several times got away with it because he was too much of a {{Badass}} to throw away.

* Admiral Horatio Nelson who could technically have been court-martialed at least once and probably several times got away with it because he was to much of a {{Badass}} to throw away.

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-->Audience reaction to the AwesomeMomentOfCrowning scene from the 2009 ''[[StarTrekXI Star Trek]]''.

** The new ''StarTrek'' movie takes it farther, but first subverts it. Kirk is actually about to be kicked out for cheating on the test. But somehow he ends up on the Enterprise and tops his cheating with actually attempting a mutiny against Spock and disobeying the acting Captain's orders. Being that it was his disregard of orders that led to the defeat of the BigBad and the saving of (almost) every planet in the Federation, one can begin to see how he actually skips all the way to the Captain's chair at the end.
** At the end of ''StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', Kirk and his bunch manage to nearly completely duck the surefire court-martialing and dismissal from Starfleet that was coming their way for stealing the Enterprise and subsequently blowing it up. The Federation President states that it is specifically because Kirk avoided having the the mystery probe destroy the Earth by rescuing the humpbacked whales from extinction.

* Lt. Cmdr. Data in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' outright disobeys Capt. Picard (on a hunch, no less) and refuses to regroup with the fleet. He also manages to not only catch the disguised Romulan ships but also owns them magnificently, putting an end to their incursion. Picard smilingly tells Data afterward that rather than court-martial him, he's actually issuing him a commendation. This one isn't quite a straight example, however; Data was in command of another starship at the time, and TheCaptain of a ship has a measure of leeway with orders from on high.

* This troper had a friend who said he was about to commit suicide and chased after him, and had to explain repeatedly that leaving school property was kind of moot in the face of saving a lite.

* HarryPotter eats this trope for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In fact, in the second book, Dumbledore ''tells him he broke about a hundred school rules'', then gives him an Award for Special Services to the School because saving Ginny and the rest of the school from Tom Riddle[[spoiler:(aka Voldemort)]] outweighed the rule breaking.

This trope applies to specific examples. In fiction, if the heroes are generally on the money but they disobey a high directive, they may still suffer some degree of recrimination, but still be allowed to continue on their way. In this trope, the awesome deed either cancels out punishment mostly or completely; ''and it is specifically stated as such''. In rare cases, this trope will show someone being [[{{Unishment}} '''rewarded''' for their disobedience]] (check out the quote up top.)

* Lt. Cmdr. Data in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' outright disobeys Capt. Picard (on a hunch, no less) and refuses to regroup with the fleet. He also manages to not only catch the disguised Romulan ships but also owns them magnificently, putting an end to their incursion. Picard smilingly tells Data afterward that rather than court-martial him, he's actually issuing him a commendation.

* Disney's ''{{Disney/Mulan}}''.
--> '''The Emperor of China''': I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan. You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated a soldier, deceived your commanding officer, dishonored the Chinese Army, ''destroyed my palace,'' and... [[ArsonMurderAndLifeSaving you have saved us all]].

* The BadassCrew of ''StargateSG1'' always tended to bend the rules a little (their leader is a ColonelBadass, after all), but in the season one finale they outright disobey '''Congress''' and launch an unauthorized mission right after the Gate has been ordered buried. The fact that they save Earth from an invasion is what keeps them from being spending the rest of their lives in Ft. Leavenworth.

* Several characters from {{MASH}}, most notably Hawkeye, get out of trouble this way on a regular basis.
* Subverted on ''{{CSI}}'', when the team manage to solve the case despite all the evidence being stolen while they were having breakfast at a nearby diner. Ecklie says it won't be a case of "No harm, no foul" and that there will still be an internal investigation. Played straight in that he's implied to only be doing it to get at Grissom.

* When JamesCameron directed ''{{Titanic}}'', he ran almost a half-a-year over schedule, nearly doubled the allotted budget, drove nearly the entire cast and crew to revolt, and even assaulted a Fox executive. A bajillion dollars at the box office and 11 Academy Awards later, all is forgiven.

Now the end result must be sufficiently awesome to override the righteous fury that has built up in DaChief when his subordinate flouted the rules.

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* Disney's ''{{Disney/Mulan}}''.
--> '''The Emperor of China''': I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan. You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated a soldier, deceived your commanding officer, dishonored the Chinese Army, ''destroyed my palace,'' and... [[ArsonMurderAndLifeSaving you have saved us all]].

----

<<|{{RuleOfCool}}|>>
<<|{{TruthInTelevision}}|>>

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* {{Mulan}}

--> '''The Emperor of China''': I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan. You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated a soldier, deceived your commanding officer, dishonored the Chinese Army, ''destroyed my palace,'' and... you have saved us all.

* HarryPotter eats this trope for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In fact, in the second book, Dumbledore ''tells him he broke about a hundred school rules'', then gives him an Award for Special Services to the School because saving Ginny and the rest of the school from Tom Riddle outweighed the rule breaking.

*** Of course, there has to be ''some'' kind of punishment, so Kirk gets demoted. [[{{Unishment}} From the position of Admiral he hated so much.]]

* Lt.Cmdr. Data in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' outright disobeys Capt. Picard, (on a hunch, no less) and refuses to regroup with the fleet. He also manages to not only catch the disguised Romulans ships but also owns them magnificently putting and end to their incursion. Picard smilingly tells Data afterward that rather than court-martial him he's actually issuing him a commendation.
** Admiral Kathryn Janeway violates nearly 154 rules by traveling back in time and swindling the Klingons. The fact that her actions get the Voyager home nearly 15 years early and with added technology as a bonus results in her past self getting a promotion....to Admiral.
* In the pilot of ''{{Airwolf}}'', Stringfellow Hawke robs the United States Freakin' Government and withholds their prize titular helicopter. He wisely did this after first stealing said helicopter from terrorist dictators and the MadScientist that invented it. He also killed said MadScientist who'd pissed off the government by murdering a bunch of Feds during a test run.

--> '''The Emperor of China''': I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan. You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated a soldier, deceived your commanding officer, dishonored the Chinese Army, destroyed my palace, and... you have saved us all.

See also HeroInsurance, GetOutOfJailFreeCard, and WrongfulAccusationInsurance.

See also HeroInsurance and WrongfulAccusationInsurance.

-->Audience reaction to the AwesomeMomentofCrowning scene from the 2009 ''[[StarTrekXI Star Trek]]''.

** The new ''StarTrek'' movie takes it farther, but first subverts it. Kirk is actually about to be kicked out for cheating on the test. But somehow he ends up on the Enterprise and tops his cheating with actually attempting a mutiny against Spock and disobeying the acting Captain's orders. Being that it was his disregard of orders that led to the defeat of the BigBad and the saving of every planet in the Federation, one can begin to see how he actually skips all the way to the Captain's chair at the end.