"I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way."
— Frodo, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Hero needs help and is urging a dangerous plan on a reluctant group of people. Who's the first to say he'll join in? Why, the youngest (or most seriously aged), the least experienced, the most unskilled, the weakest member of the group. Often results in many, if not all, of the other characters being shamed into joining.
Characters who are often drawn to The Hero's call are The Pollyanna (a character who is always optimistic no matter what may happen to them), the Wide-Eyed Idealist, and generally impetuous kids who Jumped at the Call. It may still shame the others.
On the other hand, the character can know. This is even more shaming.
This character may find the actual conflict very hard but will stick with The Hero until the bitter end. Sometimes, though, they may pull a Leeroy Jenkins, or become The Load or The Millstone despite their best efforts.
Contrast Sour Supporter (a cynical member of a team of goodies; likely to be the last to join) and Who Will Bell the Cat? (something risky must be done but nobody present volunteers). Compare Loser Has Your Back (everyone but the least-expected character has died or left).
Examples:
Anime & Manga
- The Quintessential Quintuplets: Of the quintuplets, Yotsuba, the sister with the worst grades by far, is the first to support Fuutarou as their tutor. This is revealed to be because Yotsuba has the most drive to improve her grades, guilt-ridden after her poor grades forced the girls to move schools in the first place.
- Re:Zero: During the battle with the White Whale, after the entire army has given up, Subaru still charges off head-on, prompting Crusch to give this speech, Shaming the Mob back into fighting:
Crusch: "Stand up! Lift up your faces! [...] Look at that boy. He's so weak and fragile, a breath could blow him away, and he's unarmed! He is a powerless boy, whose defeat I have seen with my own eyes! He's weaker than anyone else here! Yet he's shouting louder than anyone that we can still do this. So how can we sit here with downcast gazes? If our weakest man hasn't given up, how is kneeling in defeat acceptable for us? Did you all come this far, to wallow in shame?!
- Wa ga Na wa Umishi: Inexperienced Rin (and understaffed Nanba Salvage) have jumped at many jobs that better salvage companies have turned down, usually with good reason.
Fan Works
- #BChat: Both in the Corporate Takeover event and the setup RP the day before it, Kuno is the first to offer to help Hypotenuse Man, no questions asked despite being fully aware that he's useless.
- A Growing Affection: When Hinata draws her Line in the Sand, Sasame Fuma is the first to volunteer, even admitting she is the newcomer and thus the least invested.
- Hunger Games OCT: Despite being only 12 and not knowing the language (or what the heck is ever going on), Garrett volunteers at the Reaping.
- The Keys Stand Alone: The Soft World: After George and John fight off a huge swarm of robotic bats that chase them out of the cliff dwelling, they refuse to accompany Paul down there to keep an eye on him while he fights the rest of the robots. So Ringo offers to go with him, despite having no defenses whatsoever, because “I know how important it is that we support each other, even if it's dangerous and even if we got a bit of a scare that didn't really hurt us.” Which shames the others into cooperating. (“I hate you,” John muttered.)
Films — Animation
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame: At the end of the film, Esmerelda leads Quasimodo out of the church before the waiting citizenry. After a hushed pause, the first to embrace/accept Quasi is a small child.
- The Land Before Time: Ducky is the first to snap Littlefoot out of his funk.
Films — Live-Action
- Hook: The Lost Boys have a new leader and are unwilling to recognize the adult Peter Pan as their erstwhile friend until the littlest hesitantly walks over, touching his face and looking into his eyes, until the kid sees Peter in him, and then everybody rushes over to see for themselves.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: The first one to charge at the armies of Sauron at the gates of Mordor is Aragorn, actually, but Merry and Pippin (whom everyone overlooks for being hobbits) are the first to follow him.
- When Trumpets Fade: Sanderson, a mild-mannered nerd, is the first to agree to Manning's plan.
- Willow: The first and one of the only Nelwyns to volunteer to accompany the titular Willow on his quest is Meegosh. Vohnkar, the best warrior in the village, wasn't far behind though.
Literature
- The Chronicles of Narnia:
- The Horse and His Boy: A lion is pursuing Hwin and Aravis, and is very close to catching them. The peasant boy Shasta runs yelling at the lion, effectively sacrificing himself so the two can get away. Later Aravis feels very ashamed that he should have been the one to save her (because she is of aristocratic origin and therefore expected to be braver than him), and Bree feels the same way because he is a mighty warhorse who has fought in many battles.
- Prince Caspian: When Lucy insists on following Aslan when only she can see him, Edmund is the first to say he will go with her. It's implied he does this partly out of remembering what happened the last time he didn't believe Lucy back in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
- A Clash of Kings: During the Battle of the Blackwater, the besieged forces draw back inside the defenses fearing that their own side has set the battlefield ablaze with wildfire, a magically enhanced, virtually undousable flame. This lets the forces attacking them get right up to the gates and start trying to batter them down. The soldiers, even the Blood Knight leading them, (who, to be fair, got half his face burned off as a kid) refuse to go back and fight. At this point, Tyrion, who has Dwarfism, rides up and tries to get the soldiers to go back into the fight. They refuse. Tyrion then goes to lead the attack himself, shouting at the tough guy soldiers "They say I'm half a man. What does that make the lot of you?" True to form, that shames enough of them into fighting that they make a difference in the tide of battle.
- Discworld:
- Night Watch: When Vimes asks for volunteers to stay, his past self is among the first. Vimes finds him too eager, even.
- The Light Fantastic: While the wizards dither, Twoflower takes the sword he can't really wield and goes to save the world.
- The Lord of the Rings
- Bilbo (who's an aged hobbit and in no condition to undertake such a journey) offers to take the One Ring—an artifact known to corrupt its wielders and very sought after by the Big Bad Sauron—since he figures he started the whole thing. Gandalf praises him but remarks he's being silly, Sauron is the one who started all this, and no one can hold Bilbo accountable. As they can't reach a decision (and inspired by Bilbo), Frodo offers to take it, which prompts the rest of the Fellowship to form when Sam says he will not be going alone.
- Downplayed because while Frodo is the least experienced in terms of combat and travel, what the council is worried about is the Ring's corruption. Hobbits seem especially resistant to it, Frodo in particular. So he was the natural choice for this quest. The rest were just accompanying him to deal with general mayhem along the way.
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Charles Cheswick is the only man who is initially enthusiastic for McMurphy's scheme to change the ward schedule.
- Transformers: Generation 1: In a children's novelization, Bumblebee, the smallest and weakest of the Autobots, is the first to volunteer for Optimus Prime's space mission, which will eventually bring the Transformers to earth.
- Ultramarines: In Dead Sky Black Sun, when Uriel appeals to a group of Space Marines and two Imperial Guardsmen to help him, it is the Guardsmen who volunteer first. And when one dies, and the Marines decide to leave, the surviving Guardsman assures them that he will go with them.
Live-Action TV
- Doctor Who: In "The Sun Makers", the outlaw Others are unwilling to help Leela rescue the Doctor. It's the just-escaped worker who offers. The others do not follow until later when the Doctor returns to rally them.
- Outlander: In "The Search". Despite the extreme danger of attempting to break into Wentworth Prison, Willie, the youngest member of the battle clan, is the only one willing to volunteer. Although it is dangerous, Willie insists that Jamie has always protected him and would do the same for him if the tables were turned. Eventually, his bravery shames Angus and Rupert into joining.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons: In the OA5 Mad Monkey vs. the Dragon Claw
module, if the players have their PC's refuse to undertake the adventure, the aged and weak owner of the inn they're staying at volunteers to do so.
Theater
- Cats: The outcast and shamed Grizabella is shunned by all the adult cats. Then a kitten comes over and nuzzles her.
Video Games
- LISA: Brad's first companion is by far the weakest and most pathetic—it's Terry, a Boisterous Weakling of a clown.
Western Animation
- The Brave Little Toaster: Blanky, the youngest and weakest of the group, is the first to join Toaster to find the Master.
- South Park: Subverted in "Scott Tenorman Must Die". Cartman delivers a rousing speech in an attempt to persuade his friends to help him get his revenge against Scott, but it initially looks like he only succeeded in enlisting the help of the wheelchair-bound, mentally retarded Timmy. As Cartman decides for the two of them to get to work, Timmy changes his mind and quickly leaves.
- Star Wars: Clone Wars: When Anakin returns with the horribly mutated males of the local Proud Warrior Race Guy tribe in the final chapter, a small child is the first one to welcome them back to the tribe.
