Debt Detester

"Just this one time, I let you go. For the little girl. You and me, we're even then. No more owed. Understand?"

— Thresh, The Hunger Games

So Bob owes Alice big time. Maybe she saved his friend, or did something selfless for him, or risked her life for his, it doesn't matter. The thing is, Bob and Alice aren't friends. They might even be enemies. Where this trope comes into play is when Bob inexplicably helps out Alice, usually followed by a "Now we're even" from Bob. The key to this trope is that it's a one-shot deal; if Alice gets herself in trouble later it's her problem, not Bob's. Bob may even be the cause of her troubles. Bob might even be helping Alice in advance by his own initiative so she doesn't try to approach him with a You Owe Me scenario, a situation that may force Bob to operate under Alice's potentially unfavorable/undesirable terms.

Contrast I Owe You My Life, a more long term, friendly, and annoying variation of this. Unrelated to Work Off the Debt. Occasionally overlaps with Because You Were Nice to Me, albeit rarely.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• One Piece: The male Vinsmokes to Sanji, whose compassion is the only reason they survived an assassination plot. After Sanji saves the Vinsmokes from the Charlotte Family, Judge finally agrees to respect Sanji's choices and leave him alone, but only because he doesn't want to owe Sanji anything. The Vinsmokes later help the Straw Hats escape, first from the Whole Cake Chateau, and then from Cacao Island. Subverted with Reiju, who is genuinely grateful to Sanji for both proving there was still compassion in their family and for saving her life.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!: Kaiba claims that Tea helping Mokuba escape from the Rare Hunters is the only reason he's helping Yugi find his friends. Then he uses it as his reason for saving Tea's life. Considering all the times he makes a point of explaining how he's only "helping" the gang out of selfish reasons, it's pretty easy to say it's only a shield for his Hidden Heart of Gold.
• In Arakawa Under the Bridge, the protagonist has always lived by this principle, paying all debts as quickly as possible, but he finds himself in a quandary when a crazy woman who lives under a bridge saves his life.
• Elfen Lied: Thoroughly despicable man he may be, but one of Bandou's policies is to repay any debts he owes. When he learns that Mayu is responsible for saving his life in an earlier fight, he gives her his phone number and tells her to call him if she's ever in trouble. In the manga, he makes good on this promise by saving Mayu from being raped and killed by The Unknown Man.
• In chapter 55 of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Kaguya helps Ishigami to study for his exams when she finds out that he's in danger of failing since he had helped her out in the previous chapter. Given that Ishigami was terrified of Kaguya at the time, he spends most of the chapter convinced that she was trying to torture him.
  Kaguya: I dislike owing debts. I was raised with the belief that when you owe a debt, it should be repaid as quickly as possible.
• Great Teacher Onizuka: After Onizuka rescues Miyabi and her friends from Attempted Rape, he tells her "this one's on credit." Hating to feel like she owes him anything, she gives him 4 million yen, enough to cover what she framed him for stealing in the first place.

Comic Books

• ElfQuest: This is ostensibly Rayek's reason for helping Leetah to save Cutter's life after the disastrous battle with the snow trolls. In reality, he probably did it out of compassion, though he'd never admit it.
• This is one of Lucifer's defining characteristics, as expected by someone who defines the sin of Pride and hates being dependent on anyone. Meleos at one point notes that he has taken his revenge in one of the ways that will rankle Lucifer the most by being responsible for saving his life, and the ending implies Lucifer's main problem with God is that, having been created by the latter, he is dependent on God in a way he can never repay.
• Loki in The Sandman (1989) turns out to have... strong views. To the point that he only repays it by accident, while trying to kill the one he owes.
  Loki: I am Loki. And I will be under an obligation to no one.
• There are few things that Doctor Doom hates with anything close to the loathing he holds for Reed Richards, and being in anyone's debt is one of them. That said, the word of Doom is worth his weight in gold, and he will honor any debts.

Fan Works

• Dragon's Dance: Hunter hates that she owes Lance for giving her the moon stone piece that let her Nidorina evolve. To make them even, she uncharacteristically offers to let him go with his own token and one other to ensure that he makes it onto the command track of Team Rocket when she had Ibuki's Pokeball at her mercy and could've demanded all his tokens in exchange for her safe return.
• Ripples, Waves, Tsunamis: A severe understatement for Raijax when he hears about everything Luffy had done: beating Arlong, beating Hody, burning Enies Lobby to the ground, punching a World Noble in vengeance for a fishman, saving a mermaid, breaking Jinbe out of prison, diverting Big Mom's wrath from Fishman Island, and most recently, saving Nami from his berserk rage. He's extremely grateful, sure, but that just makes him more furious; he considers himself to have a mountain of debt to pay back, and he just met him!

Films — Animation

• Shang in Mulan spared the title character's life after she dishonored the Chinese army, in return for her saving his life during the Huns' attack.
  Shang: A life for a life. My debt is repaid.

Films — Live-Action

• In Constantine (2005), Satan appears to be one, as he does not like owing Constantine a favor for getting him to save the world from his son. The debtor does find a price Constantine is willing to accept, then regrets it.
• In Little Big Man, Jack saves the life of his enemy Younger Bear. Years later, Younger Bear saves Jack's life at the Little Big Horn. He then tells Jack that he's planning to kill Jack the next time they meet.

Literature

• In The Goblin Wood by Hilari Bell, that's how Makenna allies with the goblins. Their entire culture is based around paying back debts, and when she frees a goblin she finds she is stuck with a helper. It works out well for them, in the end.
• The Hunger Games:
  • Thresh spares Katniss' life because she had been nice to Rue.
  • Katniss herself is an example of this trope: when The Hunger Games starts out, she hates Peeta because he defied his mother and gave her bread when she was starving. After Thresh saves her, she thinks:
    Katniss: I nod because I do understand. About owing. About hating it.

• Discworld book Carpe Jugulum says that this is a key part of witch psychology and that if you really want to hurt a witch, then you need to do her a favor she has no way of repaying. The unfulfilled debt will always nag at her.
• The faeries in The Dresden Files, although it's not so much that they dislike being in debt as that if someone helps them, they're compelled by their nature to render aid in return, so they're irritated by open-ended obligations.
• In Harry Potter, James Potter saved Snape's life and it's implied that Snape protects Harry because he regrets not being able to save James' life in return. Or at least that's the story in the first few books until it's revealed that he also loved Lily.
  • Harry also saves Peter Pettigrew's life in the third book, by convincing Sirius to turn him in to the authorities instead of killing him. Dumbledore tells him this puts Pettigrew in his debt. This doesn't stop Pettigrew from helping set him up as a sacrifice to Voldemort but does cause him to hesitate when he has the chance to kill Harry directly, which ends up saving Harry's life as it causes Peter's cursed silver hand to strangle him to death.
• A few from the expanded universes of Star Wars:
  • This is the reason Lando gives in Shadows of the Empire why Dash Rendar, despite hating the Empire, isn't part of the Rebellion, his brief time on Hoth and work in the novel aside:
    "He doesn't like to owe anybody, and he doesn't want anyone to owe him."
  • Uncle Hoole of Galaxy of Fear is usually fine with owing people... but he hates to owe Jabba the Hutt because Jabba always calls in favors. As a shapeshifter, Hoole would make an excellent spy or assassin, but he's adamantly against doing that. Which doesn't mean he's not forced to ask for Jabba's help.
  • Elaborated on in Leia, Princess of Alderaan, Leia runs into a bit of trouble on a charitable mission. The Chalhuddan leader she's delivering life-saving vaccines to rejects her gift, treating it as an insulting gesture that disregards their pride and strength. Being hot-tempered Leia yells at them for this and eventually they agree to accept and use the vaccines, but she must ask a favor of them in return. Thinking quickly she says she'll call it in at a later time and they agree as long as that time is soon. She calls it in later in the book so she can get word of an Imperial raid out to the Rebel fleet, and when she explains the Chalhuddans also contribute ships and personnel, which she says puts her back in their debt. The Chalhuddans are pleased - to them, debts and favors passed back and forth is a sign of esteem and respect done between equals and maintains a good relationship.
• Raistlin from Dragonlance is not altruistic (except in certain very specific circumstances) but he hates the idea of being dependent on another person and as such if he feels he's in your debt he will repay you, with a good turn he feels is exactly equivalent in value to what you did for him — indeed, the last few chapters of Dragons of Spring Dawning is basically an extended sequence of him paying off all his debts to the other protagonists so he feels can go his own way in peace. Later on, he trains his apprentice Dalamar to believe this as well.
• Peter from Divergent. After bullying Tris mercilessly and molesting her, he saves her life in Insurgent because she saved his. Tris absolutely does not understand his perspective. Not at ALL.
• Spinning Silver: The Staryk Fair Folk insist on honouring every bargain and can't stand to be unable to repay a debt, so much so that the wounded Staryk King refuses life-saving aid until they agree on a fair price for it — an unsettled life debt would have effectively enslaved him forever.
• The Witch of Knightcharm: The rookie witch Janet Yawkly, who is trapped at an evil Wizarding School where the students are allowed to duel and attack each other, is almost killed by another student but is saved by the protagonist Emily Holland. It's later revealed that Yawkly felt horrible about being unable to repay Emily for saving her life. Yawkly ultimately offers Emily the one powerful magic charm that she (Yawkly) managed to obtain, even though it's literally Yawkly's only remaining defense, just so Yawkly can clear the debt.

Live-Action TV

• Shran on Star Trek: Enterprise, vis-a-vis Archer. When Archer helps to reveal that the Vulcans are spying on Andoria, Shran's last shot before leaving is a pissed-off statement acknowledging that he owes Archer. He later turns up to bail them out, repaying the debt, and then some—the two of them go back and forth with owing each other until a Fire-Forged Friendship evolves.
• In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Q. In one of the early Q episodes, Picard shelters Q after Q has been made mortal temporarily. Q hates that he owes Picard a favor and tries to get Picard to name a favor so he can resolve the obligation. Of course, Picard knows that Q is The Trickster and a Literal Genie and refuses to accept repayment. Q's response is to make up a need of Picard's and "solve" it for him in an incredibly roundabout and dangerous way, suggesting that this whole thing was just an excuse to screw with Picard (as usual).
• In an episode of the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century TV series, Buck saves the life of Tigerman (Princess Ardala's bodyguard). Later, Buck is about to be executed and Tigerman threatens the Princess until she releases Buck. As Buck starts to leave, he asks Tigerman if he will be coming along (implying that they are now friends). Tigerman simply replies, "I owed you a life. We are now even," as he then warily looks at the Princess.
• Part of how Todd the Wraith manages to survive so long on Stargate Atlantis; he and Sheppard keep saving each other's lives.
• Averted in Stargate SG-1:
  • SG-1 lets Nirrti go after she saves Cassandra's life. Nirrti is surprised and mentions that, if the situation was reversed, she would not be so generous. Later on, Nirrti captures SG-1 and, when reminded of the incident, reminds them her words
  • Additionally, when Carter saves Cronus's life (he was attacked by Nirrti using an Invisibility Cloak), they offer him the identity of his attacker in return for letting Earth keep both of its stargates. As Cronus and Yu lead Nirrti away, Cronus lets the Tau'ri know that his debt is now paid and that they should not expect mercy if he catches them again. And no, he doesn't show them any when he catches them (or those he thinks are them).
• Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory takes this to ridiculous levels. He absolutely despises being given a gift because he overthinks everything and spends too much time trying to exactly match the financial and emotional reciprocity. He also generally dislikes being in debt to his "friends" because he considers them beneath him, part of his Jerk with a Heart of Gold persona.
• When Dietrich saves Harris's life in Barney Miller, Harris is pissed because Dietrich annoys him so much and goes to increasing lengths to repay him, which Dietrich refuses until Harris writes him a check... but that's only so he can flush the check down the toilet.

Video Games

• A dark variant in Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords; the Bounty Hunter Mira had spared the life of Hanharr, a Wookiee bounty hunter who had been trying to kill her, but got caught in his own trap instead. Wookiee culture demands that if someone saves your life, you are obliged to pledge your life to them. Hanharr hates Mira and despises the Life Debt, meaning he would like to find a way to get her killed just to be free of the obligation.
• Fallen London: The institution that is the Bazaar appears to hate being in debt to anyone, and will downplay and hide it however possible while the Masters do their best to pay it off. And this is because the Bazaar itself has an irrational hatred of being in debt to anyone at all. A mysterious Creditor of an old, old debt is one of the game's Unseen Evils because of the damage they could cause if they called the debt, and in one Ambition ending where the Bazaar is indebted to you, it comes this close to liquidating the entire city of London and everyone in it just to pay it off as soon as possible, no matter how much of an inconceivable mess of death and destruction that would be.
• Fire Emblem Engage has the Queendom of Solm, which values its independence and freedom. As such, they're hesitant to get involved with other nations' problems and so will not ask for help lest they end up owing favors to other nations. As Timerra, crown princess of the Queendom, puts it, "You scratch your back, we'll scratch ours. Thank you very much."
• Twisted Wonderland: Played for Laughs in Azul's R Gym Uniform personal story. Jamil is assigned to tutor him in broom flying, but Azul refuses his help because he believes that he'll owe Jamil something in return, no matter how many times he's told that said tutorship is free. Eventually, Jamil is forced to demand a cheat sheet from him in order to be able to teach him anything.

Web Original

• Entry 68 of the Evil Overlord List states: "I will spare someone who saved my life sometime in the past. This is only reasonable as it encourages others to do so. However, the offer is good one time only. If they want me to spare them again, they'd better save my life again."

Western Animation

• From Gargoyles, after Macbeth helps Demona kill Gillecomgain:
  Demona: Thank you.
  Macbeth: I owed you.^note She had saved him from Gillecomgain in a fight several years previously
  Demona: Then we're even; good.

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