History Main / ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight

*** By law, Shang should have executed Mulan once he discovered she was a girl disguised as a man. But because she had earlier saved his life, he drops his sword and lets her go. Despite the protests of ObstructiveBureaucrat Chi Fu, the army rides off without her.
--->'''Shang''': A life for a life. My debt is repaid.

*** Frollo orders Captain Phoebus to burn down a windmill -- with a couple and their two children locked inside of it. Phoebus objects, saying that he was not trained to murder innocent civilians, to which Frollo replies, "But you were trained to follow orders". Phoebus then put out the torch that he was given by dunking it into a barrel of water. After that happens, Frollo accuses him of cowardice and starts the fire himself. Phoebus promptly breaks into the windmill to get the family out safely and is arrested immediately afterward. Frollo comments on how he expected better from such a decorated officer. Needless to say, Phoebus is now branded a traitor.
--->'''Phoebus''': Consider it my highest honor, sir.

Compare HonorBeforeReason, SuddenPrincipledStand, ScrewThisImOuttaHere, ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules, and FrequentlyBrokenUnbreakableVow. Contrast its EvilCounterpart, JustFollowingOrders. Often overlaps with LegalizedEvil and InherentInTheSystem. Compare ''and'' contrast ResignInProtest.

Applying this trope does ''not'' mean that the [[IDidWhatIHadToDo ends justify the means]], but rather that the person acts compassionate and follows his conscience even when the rules would forbid it (or to put it another way, they ''do'' justify the means, but the means usually aren't very terrible). When a KnightTemplar attempts this, they are likely to go JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope [[IDidWhatIHadToDo Doing What They Had To Do]] instead -- see TautologicalTemplar and TotalitarianUtilitarian (formerly named The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions).

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13260989/1/And-the-Unethical-Binding-Contract And the Unethical Binding Contract]]'', all three of the other champions do their best to help Harry after he's entered into the Triwizard Tournament despite being only eleven, including both informing him as to what the next task is, improving his plan for the first task, and guiding him to the goals of the second and third tasks.

* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': The dawn of UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}} pretty much happened when Hal Jordan, following a lecture from ComicBook/GreenArrow, disobeyed the Guardians' orders and set out to stop a crooked businessman who was putting poor families out on the streets.

* This is Franchise/{{Batman}}'s thing. The point of him dressing up like a giant bat and haunting the night is that he would never get anything done playing by the rules. Especially when the rules are made by corrupt officials who are connected to criminals. In fact, this was what lead to the creation of ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders.
* ComicBook/CaptainAmerica:

* Most of the anti-registration superheroes in ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006.''
* ''ComicBook/CloneWarsAdventures:'' One comic, "Salvaged," has a clone pilot decide not to help execute Order 66 and lie to some other clones that a ship is devoid of Jedi passengers, both because said Jedi are children and because the ship's pilot saved his life.
* [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Uatu, the Watcher]] is an observer sworn [[PrimeDirective not to interfere]] in the affairs of Earth, but [[HumansAreSpecial there's just something about humans]]... (Note that Uatu has ''frequently'' gotten in trouble for this from the other members of his species, and is apparently currently on some form of probation.)
* In Devil's Due's ''[[ComicBook/TransformersVsGIJoe GI Joe vs the Transformers]]'', the Joes defy orders to capture Wheeljack and Bumblebee, who were already working with them, and take them to Area 51 for study when they find out that the nukes the government plans to hit the Cobra base with are going to have an [[EarthShatteringKaboom adverse effect]] when combined with the Energon that Cobra is trying to produce.

* The dawn of UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}} pretty much happened when [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]], following a lecture from ComicBook/GreenArrow, disobeyed the Guardians' orders and set out to stop a crooked businessman who was putting poor families out on the streets.
** This is a fairly common theme in ComicBook/GreenLantern, period. The four human lanterns, and often a number of the alien ones, will go against a direct order from the Guardians or their Justice League teammates if they believe it will serve a greater purpose. Kyle Rayner sends a prisoner to Zamaron instead of Oa, John Stewart tells Batman to shove it when Bats disrespects Hal, the aforementioned Hal Jordan example, and Guy Gardner...well, he's freaking Guy Gardner.

* Pretty much what happens with most of the superheroes except for Superman in DC Comics' ''ComicBook/{{Legends|DCComics}}'' when the President of the United States has to enforce a ban on superhero activity, seeing that the supervillains would take advantage of this ban to commit crimes without any interference.

* This trope is pretty much the reason that ComicBook/NickFury made ComicBook/{{Secret War|2004}} happen.
* In ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'' comic book story "The Smurf Menace", Papa Smurf orders his little Smurfs not to respond to the Gray Smurfs with violence when the Gray Smurfs ward them away from the dam with weapons during their protest of the Gray Smurfs hoarding all the water. Later on, when the Smurfs see that the Gray Smurfs were harassing them and robbing them of food that they were harvesting from the forest, Hefty decides to pick a fight with the Gray Smurfs and send them back to their village with nothing but bruises. The Smurfs applaud Hefty for his heroic act, but Papa Smurf still scolds Hefty for going against his orders...which immediately afterward [[ChewOutFakeOut he smiles, realizing that Hefty's decision to do so has resulted in his little Smurfs being united together again]].
* Deconstructed in ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' story ''ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}''. ''[[ComicBook/NewKrypton Previously]]'' Supergirl illegally extradited super-villain Reactron. She thought she was doing the right thing when she took him back to New Krypton so he answered for his crimes, but he got a KangarooCourt and got tortured. And then he revealed that he was a human bomb set to blow the planet up. Which he did.
* Franchise/{{Superman}}:

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman''

** The protagonist in the Parable of the GoodSamaritan (Luke 10:29-37) could be considered the UrExample, although Jesus probably didn't base the character on a real person.

* ''Fanfic/ThereWasOnceAnAvengerFromKrypton'': At the start of ''The Royal We'', [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 Nova Prime]] orders the Nova Corps and everyone connected to it, including [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 Captain Marvel]], not to get involved in [[WesternAnimation/ThreeBelow Morando's coup or his pursuit of the Tarron siblings]], for {{realpolitik}} reasons. Carol's immediate reaction to this is to alert S.W.O.R.D. to what's happening and the siblings' impending arrival on Earth, because they need help and it's the right thing to do.

Can be the cause of AwakeningTheSleepingGiant if a group's new leaders decide to break with tradition. If the rules are such that the character is already on the run from the law, see DudleyDoRightStopsToHelp. If it involves directly disobeying a direct order of a superior officer in the armed forces, it's TheMutiny. The ChaoticGood are the personifications of this element. NeutralGood characters consider this trope in their options but may or may not elect it. LawfulStupid may ignore this to a fault. This is the primary motive for TheUndergroundRailroad.

Can be the cause of AwakeningTheSleepingGiant if a group's new leaders decide to break with tradition. If the rules are such that the character is already on the run from the law, see DudleyDoRightStopsToHelp. If it involves directly disobeying a direct order of a superior officer in the armed forces, it's TheMutiny. The ChaoticGood are the personifications of this element. NeutralGood characters consider this trope in their options but may or may not elect it. LawfulStupid may ignore this to a fault.

* ''TabletopGame/InNomine'': The Archangel Dominic has an interesting relationship with this trope. On the one hand, he normally has very little patience for those who go against Heaven and Judgement's rules. On the other hand, he cares far more about justice than he does about law; his followers are to respect mortal laws insofar as they are morally correct and can and should ignore them if they cease to be so, and Dominic hates it when his angels try to hide behind legalisms and loopholes. Even in Heaven, of the few ways to dodge his harsher judgements is to provide a strong justification for why whatever landed you under his eye was the morally correct course of action.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13311014/1/For-Want-Of-A-Knight For Want Of A Knight]], it turns out that most of Beacon's students already know that Jaune entered Beacon with false transcripts, but nobody cares, because as far as they're concerned he's more than proven he's worth of attending Beacon.

* In the classic CharacterAlignment system (first featured in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''), this is generally how ChaoticGood is interpreted. When it's ''not'', NeutralGood tends to step into the breach (Chaotic Good has tendencies towards ignoring rules as a matter of course -- Neutral Good will ignore the rules when necessary, but make no special effort to flout them when it's not). LawfulGood characters can ''sometimes'' get away with this to avoid falling into StupidGood territory.

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K]]'': Shortly after their arrival to the ''Franchise/StarWars'' galaxy, the [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Imperium of Man]] conquers Axum, a major Core World located practically next door to the Republic capital world of Coruscant. Faced with this new extragalactic threat on their doorstep, the Galactic Senate reacts... [[NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering by entering political gridlock as they bicker among themselves over what should be done]]. After weeks of senatorial inaction, the Jedi Order finally becomes fed up with waiting and launches an unsanctioned military operation to liberate Axum, knowing that the Senate will be under increased pressure to send aid once news of the Jedi counter-invasion gets out.