History Main / StealItToProtectIt

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'': the climax of the book has Harry and his friends breaking into the forbidden area of Hogwarts to steal the Philosopher's Stone, in order to prevent the bad guys from getting hold of it. They ''did'' try to warn [=McGonagall=] about it first, but she brushed them off, saying the Stone was too well-protected to be in danger (which, as it turns out, is actually true: Dumbledore's magic defenses had totally stumped the villain, and even without Harry's intervention it was unlikely he would have found a way around them).

* ''ComicBook/DangerGirl'': The [=PlayStation=] game has a level where Sydney Savage has to infiltrate the British Museum to steal a doomsday artifact before the Hammer syndicate can beat her to it. This is the only mission in the game where you're not allowed to kill anyone, instead using knockout gas and tranquilizer darts to take down museum guards as you try to reach the vault.

* ''ComicBook/DangerGirl'': The [=PlayStation=] game has a level where Sydney Savage has to infiltrate the British Museum to steal a doomsday artifact before the Hammer syndicate can beat her to it. This is the only mission in the game where you're not allowed to kill anyone, instead using knockout gas and tranquilizer darts to take down museum guards while figuring a way to get through the vault.

** ''WesternAnimation/WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego'': In "The Tigress", Carmen keeps running into a new thief, the eponymous Tigress, who keeps making off with Carmen's intended loot. The Tigress is actually Ivy in disguise, and the reason she keeps running into Carmen on her heists is that Ivy and Zack were able to solve Carmen's clues in advance, then placed the items Carmen was going to steal in protective custody and made sure Carmen encountered Ivy in her Tigress disguise leaving the scene every time. This was all a plan to lure Carmen to Antarctica where they had set a trap for her.
** ''WesternAnimation/CarmenSandiego'': Carmen steals the items VILE is after before they can get to them. Once she is sure VILE has fled, she leaves the items for the police.

Stealing Is Protecting is when heroic characters take it upon themselves to steal a MacGuffin in order to protect it from villainous forces who intend to steal it themselves. The reason a character does this varies, but the usual reasons are finding security for the item lacking or [[CassandraTruth having their warnings of a possible theft being ignored]].

* ''Literature/DarkSacredNight'': The guy caught with the Andy Warhol prints from the old lady's apartment ''claims'' he was doing this, that he took the prints for "safekeeping" after the old lady died. Detective Renee Ballard is not convinced, seeing as how he had to climb through a window to get them. She arrests him.

* ''Film/ThePinkPanther2'': [[spoiler:The climax reveals that Clouseau stole the real Pink Panther from the museum and swapped it with a fake in order to keep it safe from the Tornado. Clouseau also realizes that the real Tornado wasn't the thief when his supposed suicide note described the fake Pink Panther's beauty; since the Tornado was an expert on gems and their value, he would have known it was a fake.]]

Stealing Is Protecting is when heroic characters takes it upon themselves to steal a MacGuffin in order to protect it from villainous forces who intend to steal it themselves. The reason a character does this varies, but the usual reasons are finding security for the item lacking or [[CassandraTruth having their warnings of a possible theft being ignored]].

* ''Manga/MagicKaito'': Kaito Kid is a PhantomThief who targets jewels. However, the reason for this is because he is looking for a specific type of jewel that the people who killed his father are after. When he learns a jewel he has stolen isn't the one he is after, he either discards them or returns them to their owners.

* ''Film/NationalTreasure'': The film revolves around a search for a hidden treasure, the location of which is on an invisible map hidden in the Declaration of Independece. Ben and Riley warn Dr. Abigail Chase that [[BigBad Ian]] intends to steal the Declaration from the National Archives. When she doesn't believe them, they decide to steal the Declaration themselves to make sure Ian and his crew don't get it.

* ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'': Played with in the episode, "Black Yoshi's House Arrest!". Mario sends Black Yoshi to the Tom Thumb gas station to buy him a Pepsi with a $5.00 bill. The cashier leaves to get some change, leaving the cash register drawer open. Black Yoshi steals all the money inside, and is found out and arrested by Officer Brooklyn T. Guy. Black Yoshi claims that the only reason he stole the money was because he saw a car full of robbers outside the gas station, and decided to take the money before they could, intending to return it afterwards. He even compares his actions to that of Benjamin Franklin Gates in ''Film/NationalTreasure''. Mario and Brooklyn immediately call his bluff and he is put under house arrest as a result.

** ''WesternAnimation/WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego'': In "The Tigress", Carmen keeps running into a new thief, the eponymous Tigress, who keeps making off with Carmen's intended loot. The Tigress is actually Ivy in disguise, and the reason she keeps running into Carmen on her heists is because Ivy and Zack were able to solve Carmen's clues in advance, then placed the items Carmen was going to steal in protective custody and made sure Carmen encountered Ivy in her Tigress disguise leaving the scene every time. This was all a plan to lure Carmen to Antarctica where they had set a trap for her.

* ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussyCats'': In "Never Mind a Master Mind", the heroes mistakenly receive a message warning of the villain Master Mind's plan to steal an anti-gravity gun from a science symposium in Amsterdam. The heroes decide to steal the device themselves, and have it [[ReplacedWithReplica replaced with a fake]] before Mastermind can get his hands on it. Unfortunately, three members of the group, including the one with the anti-gravity gun, are captured by Master Mind.

* ''[[https://archive.org/details/al-gurbish-in-nick-it-and-run Al Gurbish in... Nick It & Run!]]'': This indie FanGame is revolves around secret agent Al Gurbish, who is tasked with stealing "The Stan's", the most prestigious adventure game award in order to protect it from being stolen by a bunch of crooks.

* ''Literature/DarkSacredNight'': * StealItToProtectIt: The guy caught with the Andy Warhol prints from the old lady's apartment ''claims'' he was doing this, that he took the prints for "safekeeping" after the old lady died. Detective Renee Ballard is not convinced, seeing as how he had to climb through a window to get them. She arrests him.

* ''Anime/TweenyWitches'': [[spoiler:Atelia met Jidan when she rescued him while fighting the warlocks to retrieve the True Book of Spells. She intended to return it to the book to its rightful owner, only for him to steal it in order to prevent more fighting between witches and warlocks, as well as the destruction of the Human Realm.]]

* ''Anime/TweenyWitches'': [[spoiler:Atelia and Jidan met when the former rescued the latter while retrieving the True Book of Spells which had been stolen by the Wizard Kingdom. Atelia intended to return it to the book to its rightful owner, only for Jidan himself to steal it in order to prevent more fighting between witches and warlocks, as well as the destruction of his realm.]]

* ''[[https://archive.org/details/al-gurbish-in-nick-it-and-run Al Gurbish in... Nick It & Run!]]'': This indie FanGame is revolves around secret agent Al Gurbish, who is tasked with stealing "The Stan's", the most prestigious adventure game award in order to protect it from being stolen by a bunch of crooks.
* ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'': Dedede stole the Star Rod, broke it into seven pieces, and gave each piece to his friends [[spoiler:to protect Dreamland from Nightmare taking control of the Fountain of Dreams]].