Basic Trope: A character sacrifices himself to prevent the baddies from reaching his allies.
- Straight: Quentin, The Big Guy, blocks the door between the enemy forces and his allies, letting himself be shot so the others can get away.
- Exaggerated: Quentin places himself between both entire armies, giving his side time to retreat... Somehow.
- Downplayed:
- Quentin defends his friends from a bully by blocking his path.
- Go Through Me
- Justified:
- Quentin puts Honor Before Reason, and it's the only way his allies will survive.
- Quentin is a Death Seeker, or he's from a Martyrdom Culture. He's dying here, and he won't have it any other way.
- The pursuing enemy is unable to go around Quentin due to local Chokepoint Geography, at least not fast enough to catch his allies.
- Inverted: A band of warriors charge ahead to break through a blockade.
- Subverted: Quentin stands in front of the doorway, screaming "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" and either:
- 1. runs away.
- 2. gets steamrolled by whoever he was holding the doorway against, which means Quentin's allies still have to face them, and with one less teammate on top of that.
- 3. quickly destroys, sets fire to, or otherwise renders the doorway impassible in such a way that he doesn't have to stay there.
- 4. gets grabbed by one of his friends and is forcibly dragged along with them.
- 5. successfully holds off the army and ultimately survives the encounter.
- 6. the other army signals an ambush squad that comes down the escape hallway.
- 7. the enemy simply takes another route around Quentin's roadblock.
- 8. hides the fact that his allies went through the other (now closed) door and fakes defeat, costing the enemy hours on the wrong path.
- Double Subverted:
- 1. He runs away because his allies had gotten away, but when they're in trouble again, he emerges from out of nowhere and blocks the enemy from reaching them.
- 2. His dies immediately but his corpse jams the doorway.
- 3. Then he decides to wait behind the blockade to hinder the enemies' attempt at pursuit.
- 4. He either convinces his ally to let go or escapes their grip.
- 5. A second enemy appears out of nowhere and kills him, but his allies are long gone.
- 6. The ambush squad is weaker and/or lesser in number than the main force and the escaping party cuts a path out.
- 7. The escaping group creates another passageway and a second member decides to stay behind.
- Parodied:
- A member of a celebrity's entourage stands in between the celebrity and a horde of squeeing fans. "LET ME BEAR YOUR GLOMPS!"
- The 'enemy army' isn't really there to fight at all, and gets confused by this strange shouty man standing in their way and who keeps interrupting their explanations with repeated cries of "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"
- Zig Zagged: Quentin blocks the entrance to a room, then runs away into the next room, blocking that exit, etc.
- Averted: The entire platoon goes down fighting.
- Enforced: Quentin's actor is quitting, and the writers liked him and want him to go down in style.
- Lampshaded: "GO! I'LL HOLD THEM OFF!" "He's doing that Gandalf thing again, isn't he?"
- Invoked: Quentin is a Death Seeker who's been looking for an opportunity to do this, even if it isn't necessary.
- Exploited: The bad guys anticipate that the strongest hero will do this, so a small army of mostly illusory foes attack the heroes as they are crossing the bridge. A short distance past the bridge, the rest of the heroes are ambushed by the real enemy while the strongest hero is still busy holding off the illusions.
- Defied:
- Quentin's allies come back to help him hold the line.
- "Yeah, right! Like you're going to last longer than a minute with your back and flanks exposed! There's a reason we fight in groups, remember?"
- Discussed: "Damn, we don't have time for this! I'll stay behind to hold them off to buy you guys time."
- Conversed: "Did you see that last episode? Spoiler alert: Biggs McAxe plugged a cavern's entrance so the party could escape underground."
- Implied: The battle is never shown. Quentin's teammates recover his corpse near the door surrounded by dead enemies. There are no footprints going through the doorway from the enemy.
- Deconstructed: Quentin's allies feel incredibly guilty for abandoning him to his death.
- Reconstructed: While feeling guilty, Quentin's allies realize that this was how Quentin wanted to die in the first place, and pour a Libation for the Dead in honor of his glorious last stand. Then they press on, and whenever they are discouraged, someone reminds them that they must ensure Quentin's sacrifice was not in vain.
- Played For Laughs:
- Quentin sacrifices himself for his comrades, but turns out that the army is an army of sad gnomes, looking for somebody to play with.
- The following sequence occurs:
- Played For Drama: Quentin's death means that the team is now without their Ace, and the Big Bad is still out there.
Go back to You Shall Not Pass!! I'll keep the Mooks here until you can switch pages!
