History Main / TakingTheHeat

** Then in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E24TheCollaborator The Collaborator]]" as the election for Kai (who is basically the Bajoran Pope) Vedek Winn obtains evidence about the Kendra Valley Massacre which cost the lives of a resistance cell. Said cell included Kai Opaka's son. She hopes the evidence will force Vedek Bariel to withdraw from the race. Knowing that the evidence Winn obtained will expose Opaka as the person who informed the Cardassians about the cell to keep them from killing many innocent civilians, Bariel decides to keep her legacy intact and withdraws from the race. Once he does so Winn loses all interest in the new evidence regarding the Kendra Valley Massacre.

* In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', there was a major storyline midway through the run where Worf and his family were discommendated from the Klingon Empire when it seems that his father was a traitor that allowed the Khitomer Massacre. [[spoiler:The real mastermind was the head of the House of Duras during that time period and Worf was forced to take it because if the truth came out, it would split the Klingon Empire in half.]] This storyline lasted until the Klingon Civil War.

** In another case, [[spoiler:the OfficeLady Fumie Ozawa took the heat for herself ''and'' her boyfriend/partner in crime Ryouta Shimizu, who had embezzled a very large sum of money. Ryouta realized that Fumie would spend the rest of her life in jail for the two, so he killed her [[MercyKill to spare her from such a terrible fate]]]] .

** A two-part episode featured Shougo Soumei, the president of a small-time entertainment company, who was having some problems with the TV station's manager Raisaku Nakame; he had been extorting him, and then wound up dead as the result of poison. Shougo was discovered to have hidden some evidence, then tried to take the rap for the crime until Conan-via-Kogoro revealed the true culprit... [[spoiler: It was his office assistant, Maiko Kozumi. The two loved each other, though neither had confessed their feelings to the other yet. Maiko murdered Nakame because she knew he was causing problems for Shougo; she then called Shougo, told him what she did, gave him an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove... and threw herself off a window. Poor Shougo was so shattered by this that he put Maiko's body in the trunk of his car, hid the evidence that she had committed the crime, and got ready to take the blame in order to preserve his beloved Maiko's good name. However, Conan had deduced this much as well, revealed the whole deal through Kogoro, and Shougo ended up going free.]]
** Another example from the [[spoiler: Night Baron Virus]] case: Ran thought that [[spoiler: Satoshi, the karate champion she fangirled upon]] was the murderer, but he was planting evidence ''against himself'' to divert attention from the true killer, [[spoiler: his BrokenBird girlfriend, Akiko, who killed the victim in revenge for having driven her beloved brother to kill himself. Satoshi ''was'' arrested too, but ''because'' he took the heat for Akiko.]]
** A {{filler}} case features Ran's mother Eri as the lawyer of a guy named Shinji Usami. Shinji's been accused of beating a guy to death while in a drunken rage, but Eri is firmly convinced that he's innocent and he's doing this for the real killer. [[spoiler: She's right: Shinji saw his ex-wife Masako kill the victim as revenge since he had caused the death of [[OutlivingOnesOffspring their little son Masaki]], so he willingly took the blame to protect her.]]
** In another case, [[spoiler: the OfficeLady Fumie Ozawa took the heat for herself ''and'' her boyfriend/partner in crime Ryouta Shimizu, who had embezzled a very large sum of money. Ryouta realized that Fumie would spend the rest of her life in jail for the two, so he killed her [[MercyKill to spare her from such a terrible fate]].]]
* Attempted by [[spoiler: Aya Misaki]] in the anime version of ''Manga/DearBrother''. [[spoiler: Manipulated by two elder Sorority girls, Aya's GirlPosse Megumi and Miyuki steal and almost burn the signature books requesting for the dissolution of the Sorority. Aya takes the blame for her friends when they're confronted, saying that ''she'' ordered for the books to be destroyed; but after she leaves the school, the girls reveal what truly happened to Kaoru, Junko, Nanako, and Tomoko.]]

** Literature/HerculePoirot:

* Used in Creator/MargeryAllingham's Literature/AlbertCampion novel ''Death of a Ghost'' [[spoiler:with the twist that the person making the false confession IS the actual murder, he just describes the murder in such a way as to throw suspicion off himself and make it look like he's covering up for someone else]].

* ''Fanfic/FeralnetteAUBigFatBreak'': When Lila's threats spur [[spoiler:Alya]] to shove her down in a fit of rage, Marinette steps in to claim responsibility, banking on the idea that [[ManipulativeBitch Lila]] won't be able to resist the chance to [[MaliciousSlander slander her even more]].

* ''Film/HowToBlowUpAPipeline'': Xochitl and Theo, with help from Rowan, make it appear like they did the bombing all on their own, with the others getting away.

* Hachiman from ''LightNovel/MyTeenRomanticComedySNAFU'' sees this as a solution whenever a social problem arises. He sees himself as unimportant and believes that social issues cannot be resolved unless all parties focus on a single enemy, which in this case, is Hachiman himself. It works the first time around, but his second attempt causes a rift between himself and Yukino and Yui, who feel disdain for his method of operation.
* ''LightNovel/{{Oreimo}}'':

** In one episode, a guy walks into a police station holding a gun claiming to have shot a doctor. He turns out to have been taking the heat for his wife: the guy had a terminal illness and the doctor had conned the couple out of their savings with a quack treatment involving leeches leading the wife to shoot her. He wanted to be sent to jail in her place seeing as he didn't have long to live.
** In another episode Mac asks a man coming out of prison why he took the blame for a crime he didn't commit, while the man insists he accidentally ran over a girl on a bicycle after having several drinks when celebrating that night. [[spoiler: He and his daughter were celebrating her becoming a doctor, and she had several wine glasses when she got behind the wheel of her car and ran over the victim. Not wanting her career and her life, to be ruined, he told her to let him take the blame.]]

* [[spoiler:Ohta does this for Cobalt]] in ''Literature/SailorNothing''. After all, while they have proof that [[spoiler:Ohta]] did the act, they have no proof that he was doing it under someone else's orders.

* In ''{{Literature/Dogsbody}}'', the Dog Star Sirius furiously denies having killed the victim and thrown the dangerous Zoi at the witness. But he won't provide an alternate story [[spoiler:because doing so would implicate his Companion.]]

** In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', during the climax of the final case of the third game, [[spoiler: Maya tries to cover for Godot, who killed Maya's mother Misty, who was channeling the spirit of Dahlia Hawthorne at the time, [[OverlyLongGag who thought she was being channeled by Pearl Fey, who was really]] -- well, it's pretty confusing. Maya does this because she knew that Godot was trying to save her from being murdered by killing Misty (ItMakesSenseInContext) but after Phoenix exposes him as the killer, Godot admits that he's not sure if his intention that night was really to help Maya or to just get revenge on Dahlia Hawthorne for putting him in a coma years ago.]]

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

* ''Series/{{Capadocia}}: Sofia is incarcerated in Capadocia for driving under the influence, except her husband was the one driving. She counts on him being able to get her released. Except he ends up in jail trying to embezzle the money needed and she ends up stuck in prison.

[[folder: Radio]]

* In ''Manga/SlamDunk'', [[spoiler: FallenHero Mitsui goes to the basketball gym with a gangster group from outside Shohoku to wreck it, but he has a HeelFaceTurn instead and decides to return to the team. Since his intentions are sincere, Sakuragi's TrueCompanions and some of Mitsui's gangster friends tell the teachers that Mitsui was planning to ask Anzai-sensei and Akagi to take him back, so they beat him and the team members up to discourage him.]]

* In ''Fanfic/NewHopeUniversityMajorInMurder'', there are two possible culprits for the fifth murder- [[spoiler:Lucina Sorenson and Katy Thorson, both of whom are in a romantic relationship]]. Each of them tries to claim responsibility for the murder so that the other will live, but being a ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' fic, there's a catch -- if the class chooses the wrong person, everyone besides the culprit will be executed. Naturally, at least one of the two is lying, so it's up to Saya to find out who is. [[spoiler:Katy is the liar. Saya manages to uncover the truth, resulting in Lucina (whom Saya had also loved) being executed, and everyone else surviving]].
* A milder example occurs in a sidestory of ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' narrating Professor Oak's Summer Camp. [[spoiler: Ash's Rhyhorn goes wild and causes an accident that could have hurt many people, but Serena decides to step in and assume responsibility for it so Ash doesn't get expelled from the camp. Though in this case, the guilty party is a kid named Joshua who is angry [[SoreLoser because Ash beat him in a baseball game]], [[DisproportionateRetribution and tried to take revenge on him]].]]

A crime has been committed, usually a murder. In the subsequent investigation, Bob seems to be going out of his way to ''make'' himself a suspect. He may confess right at the start, or just draw attention to himself by refusing to co-operate with the investigators, even when it would appear to be in his interests to do so. Or he may not make himself known immediately, but will suddenly show up at the cop shop two-thirds of the way through, ready to confess, even though he's never been a suspect. Why? Because he's Taking The Heat for Alice.

* In ''Film/ILoveYouToDeath'' (loosely based on a real attempted murder) Rosalie Boca makes several attempts to murder her husband Joey for cheating on her with other women, and is helped by her mother Nadja and her friend Devo, who's in love with her. When the cops finally do find out, the three try to cover for each other by saying the other two had nothing to do with it. Nadja claims her daughter begged her not to kill Joey, but she went on anyway, explaining, "I'm her mother, I do what I want."

* In Creator/KevinWilson's 2019 novel, ''Literature/NothingToSeeHere'', poor scholarship girl Lillian is rooming (and sleeping) with upper class Madison at an exclusive Southern boarding school. A baggie of coke is found in Madison's desk. Madison's father bribes Lillian and her mother to say the drugs are hers. Lillian gets expelled affecting her life from then on.

* ''Series/{{iCarly}}'': In "iPromise Not to Tell", Carly feels guilty when Sam changed her grades in the school computer so she has straight As and is forced into ankle-swearing secrecy to not tell anyone. When the guilt gets better of her, she tells the truth to Principal Franklin, but claims she was the one who changed the grades because of the promise she made. To her surprise, Freddie claimed he changed the grades as well, until at last Sam admits she was the true culpret.

* In an [[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]] episode, a woman confesses to murdering her husband's mistress. However, a brain tumor has left her to weak to even pick up a glass, much less the heavy sculpture used to bludgeon the woman. The cops think she's covering for her husband, but when his alibi is proven solid, they realize she's covering for her ''daughter''. They try to dissuade her, but as she's dying, she insists on taking the blame.

* In an episode of ''Series/TheWonderYears'' Kevin throws what is originally supposed to be a mild party with his friends while his parents are out of town, [[WildTeenParty but it quickly grows out of hand when people he's never even seen before start to show up]]. The next day, the house is so trashed, there's no way he's able to clean it up before his parents get home. He's about to come clean when his parents see the mess, but they immediately reprimand his older and less mature brother, Wayne, believing this was his fault, and much to his surprise Wayne just says, "I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Kevin concludes that maybe Wayne knew their parents would be harder on Kevin if they knew he did, or maybe he saw a little bit of himself in Kevin, but either way, Kevin ended up waxing Wayne's car as a way to say thank you.

* In ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' Elphaba tries this toward the end of Act 1. Just before the final verse of "Defying Gravity", when the Wizard's guards break in and try to arrest Glinda, Elphaba shouts as she starts to fly on her broomstick, "It's not her! She has nothing to do with it! I'm the one you want! It's me! [[EvilLaugh Hahahahaha!]] It's me! Up here! It's me!" In this case it's justified, as Elphaba ''is'' the one rebelling against the Wizard, and Glinda has already chosen not to join her – the guards just assumed she was an accomplice.

* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': After Duane kills [[spoiler:Belarus]] in self defense, an act which is not precisely illegal only because [[spoiler:Bel]] had gotten together a group of friends to attack and kill Duane, but which will ensure Duane is expelled and unable to continue his studies as a wright Sarthos takes the blame. Because Sarthos is a Third Option their advancement options are severely limited and they see in Duane someone with the makings of a composer. Sarthos refuses to let Duane ruin himself over Belarus' death, as do the professor and constable Duane tries to correct about just who killed [[spoiler:Belarus]].

* Subverted in the climax of the ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' episode "Uncaged". Cricket, Tilly and Nancy are under arrest for releasing the animals from the zoo even though they got them back in their cages by the time the police show up; Nancy willingly decides to take the blame for it so the kids can be let off. Not even bearing to see their mom go back to jail after being released, Cricket and Tilly admit they released the animals so they can be more like Nancy, and turn themselves in. Nancy understands what they did and they embrace, causing Officer Keys to be in tears and lets them all go.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': PlayedForLaughs in one episode where Mr. Turner bribes Timmy to take the blame for stealing Mrs. Turner's slippers for a DoomItYourself project, and implying it's a regular occurrence.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'': In the episode "Balloonatics," Tigger, Piglet and Rabbit all claim that they broke Christopher Robbin's balloon to take the blame away from Pooh, who was supposed to be looking after it. Fortunately, it turns out that the balloon isn't broken, just deflated. (Technically it ''was'' Piglet who deflated it, but only because [[ItMakesSenseInContext Tigger threw him at it after Rabbit turned it into a scarecrow.]])

[[folder:Fan Fic]]
* [[spoiler:Ohta does this for Cobalt]] in ''Literature/SailorNothing''. After all, while they have proof that [[spoiler:Ohta]] did the act, they have no proof that he was doing it under someone else's orders.
* A milder example occurs in a sidestory of ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' narrating Professor Oak's Summer Camp. [[spoiler: Ash's Rhyhorn goes wild and causes an accident that could have hurt many people, but Serena decides to step in and assume responsibility for it so Ash doesn't get expelled from the camp. Though in this case, the guilty party is a kid named Joshua who is angry [[SoreLoser because Ash beat him in a baseball game]], [[DisproportionateRetribution and tried to take revenge on him]].]]
* ''Fanfic/TheRoseAndTheCrown'': [[spoiler:Etienne allows people to think he sired a bastard son so people won't find out Eugene is the father.]]
* In ''Fanfic/NewHopeUniversityMajorInMurder'', there are two possible culprits for the fifth murder- [[spoiler:Lucina Sorenson and Katy Thorson, both of whom are in a romantic relationship]]. Each of them tries to claim responsibility for the murder so that the other will live, but being a ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' fic, there's a catch -- if the class chooses the wrong person, everyone besides the culprit will be executed. Naturally, at least one of the two is lying, so it's up to Saya to find out who is. [[spoiler:Katy is the liar. Saya manages to uncover the truth, resulting in Lucina (whom Saya had also loved) being executed, and everyone else surviving]].
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13743928/1/The-Demon-Attorney The Demon Attorney]]'', when [[AmoralAttorney defense attorney Hammod]] tries to pin Gregory Edgeworth's death on ''[[WouldHurtAChild 9-years-old Miles]]'' just to secure a win, the suspect Yanni Yogi speaks up and claims that he was the killer in order to protect the boy. [[spoiler:Of course, none of them knew that the real killer was Manfred von Karma]].

* ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' contains a rare example where the victim takes the heat. After Othello has smothered Desdemona and Emilia discovers the tragic scene, the [[AlmostDeadGuy dying]] Desdemona claims with her last breaths that she has committed suicide, presumably to save Othello from arrest. How she can survive to speak these words and then die despite no longer being suffocated can probably be chalked up to ArtisticLiscenceBiology. At any rate, as soon as she dies, Othello confesses that he killed her.
* In ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' Elphaba tries this toward the end of Act 1. Just before the final verse of "Defying Gravity", when the Wizard's guards break in and try to arrest Glinda, Elphaba shouts as she starts to fly on her broomstick, "It's not her! She has nothing to do with it! I'm the one you want! It's me! [[EvilLaugh Hahahahaha!]] It's me! Up here! It's me!"