Simpsons You Can See When His Heart Breaks

"You're a great actress, Satine. Hurt him. Hurt him to salve him."

So, you've got someone you deeply care about, and who cares just as much nearly you lot. However, you know the two of you cannot stay together: beingness about you, or just the fact that he loves you is putting him at hazard. You tried telling him, "It's Not You, It's My Enemies", but information technology didn't work—he knows he'll be in danger, and he's okay with that.

But you're not. So, you lie to him. Y'all pretend to be hateful, callous, and completely disrespectful of his feelings. You lot say you never loved him. You do everything you can to make him hate you, because y'all know that'due south the simply way he'll stay away from you and, in plow, from danger: you have to break his center to save him.

The human being version of Shoo the Dog, quite possibly the most extreme manifestation of I Want My Dearest to Exist Happy; this is when a grapheme does ostensibly hurtful things to their dearest because they know information technology's the merely way to protect them from some sort of fifty-fifty greater damage. Brutal to Be Kind is the supertrope. See besides Break Up to Make Upwardly. Can lead to a character regretting taking an action that they now believe Was Too Difficult on Him. Note that when this trope is done poorly, it will often collide with the Idiot Ball if there's an obvious solution to the problem that does not crave such a drastic stride or your deprivation of central information is really going to put that person in greater danger than being honest would have. In particular, it's likely to backfire spectacularly when the pain of the breakup just drives the other person to do exactly the thing y'all needed them non to do (and especially if you skipped the "It's Not You lot, Information technology's My Enemies" step).

Unsurprisingly, while it usually works temporarily, in many cases, it doesn't hold upwardly for very long.

Compare Inspirational Insult, Break Upward Demand and Motivational Lie. A sub-trope of Hidden Heart of Gilt.

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Examples:

• Anime & Manga
• Fan Works
• Video Games
• Visual Novels
• Western Blitheness

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    Comic Books

• This was common in Silvery Age Superman and Batman comics, commonly to explain plot twists that would otherwise make the characters out to be total jerks.
  • In "The Batman Plays a Lone Hand", Bruce tells Dick that he'south becoming too much of a bother and he cannot remain Robin any longer. At the story'south conclusion, he confesses that it was all a fob to protect him. A gangster named The Thumb warned Bats to keep his nose out of his business or his gang would shoot Robin on sight. To go on his immature sidekick safe and grab the crooks, he momentarily tried to put him out of activeness.
• The Mall Rats in the Gilded Digger miniseries Throne of Shadows. Lydia McKracken sends abroad her friends Moisha Rich and Romeo Ellis by insulting them. She knows that as Gothwrain's heir she's the target of every criminal overlord on the planet, and that her friends are equally doomed as she is if they stay with her.
• When Raven of The New Teen Titans turned down Animate being Male child, he asked if she was doing this. She denied information technology. He... took information technology well.
• An odd variation from John Byrne's run on the Fantastic Iv; when Sue Richards was existence mind-controlled past Psycho-Human into condign the murderous Malice, Reed was able to free her from Psycho-Homo's control past berating her (and even slapping her across the face) in order to make her hate him, still briefly.
• In 52, Renee Montoya has gone to an ex-girlfriend, Katherine "Kate" Kane, for information on an abandoned property that her family might own. When Kate reveals that her family does own the property, and gives Renee the proper name of its terminal occupant, she demands to know what this is nearly and why Renee needs this data, explaining that Renee at least owes her an explanation. Renee, nevertheless, explains that this situation has nothing to do with her and she does not owe Kate annihilation. Kate is visibly crushed, only Renee's narration reveals that, if The Question's theories are right and Intergang is behind everything, it is non only themselves who are in problem, but all their friends and loved ones every bit well. Renee does not want to drag Kate into this. However, unknown to Renee, Kate has her interests in the game.
• In the Ninja High School: Shidoshi series, Tetsuo goes against his gramps in hopes of becoming the association leader and getting out of an arranged marriage so he can ally his truthful sweetheart, Nanashi. However his grandfather is besides strong and, realizing that he'll kill Nanashi if he continues to defy him, Tetsuo puts on a jerkass functioning in order to bulldoze Nanashi abroad and keep her safe.
• In Runaways, Chase tells Gertrude that sometimes it's necessary to prevarication to someone a person loves, in order to protect them. She keeps this in mind later, when Chase is in danger of being sacrificed by the past self of Geoffrey Wilder. She pretends to hate Chase for kissing Nico, and tells Wilder exactly how much of a scumbag she thinks Hunt is. When she's dying from a knife wound, she is able to tell Hunt that she all the same loved him and lied about him existence a bad person.
• In Activeness Comics #317, Supergirl thinks her friend Lena's boyfriend is an enemy spy so she sets out to intermission them up and save Lena from a time to come heartbreak, fifty-fifty if she ruins their friendship.
• Ghostopolis: Co-ordinate to her uncle, Frank left Claire because he was afraid his bosses would detect out and banish her back to Ghostopolis.

    Films - Blitheness

• In Wolfwalkers, a more platonic example occurs. Robyn is told past Mebh'southward mother Moll that Mebh and the other wolves must leave her backside and get out the forest earlier it'due south destroyed. When Mebh goes into town to notice Robyn herself, Robyn confronts Mebh telling her she must exit with the wolves, discouraging Mebh from searching for her mother and leaving her feeling betrayed. Later, when the townsfolk assemble to lookout Moll being humiliated, Mebh tries to stop them and Robyn, who was told by Moll to keep her daughter safe, tells the wolf-hating kids Mebh is a wolf and has them trap her in a cage so she doesn't get on stage. Robyn explains to Mebh that her female parent told her to keep Mebh safe, which understandably further upsets Mebh as her new all-time friend was lying to her the whole time.
• Johnny does this in Hotel Transylvania to Mavis, at the behest of her father.
• In Wreck-Information technology Ralph, King Candy convinces Ralph that Vanellope was never intended to be an actual Carbohydrate Rush graphic symbol, and that allowing her to participate in the races volition put the game out of commission which, in turn, will kill her permanently equally she is not able to exit it. Ralph gain to destroy Vanellope's kart to prevent her from ever racing over again, despite it existence her dream for her entire existence. Upon seeing Vanellope'south film on the side of the Saccharide Rush chiffonier, however, Ralph realizes that breaking her centre was a large fault and, via interrogation, discovers that Male monarch Candy was lying.
• Shrek the Third: Shrek tells Artie that he was only pretending to similar a loser similar him, and so he'll stomp off in a huff rather than be killed by Charming as one of the ogre's allies, who signal this out as he leaves.
• Silver claims he was trying to do this to save Jim in Treasure Planet when his crew start questioning his loyalty.
• In Frozen (2013), Elsa keeps every bit much physical and emotional distance from her little sis Anna equally possible. She does this to avoid harming Anna with her ice powers, similar she did accidentally when they were lilliputian. Unfortunately, Anna doesn't know this because her memories had to be contradistinct to survive the initial curse. When Elsa runs abroad, Anna goes after her anyway, believing that Elsa won't injure her. Three guesses as to what happens when Anna finally catches up to her.
• In The Little Mermaid (1989), it's bad enough for King Triton to discover his daughter Ariel has a undercover grotto brimming full of artifacts and trinkets belonging to humans, whom Triton perceives as barbarian, soulless fish eaters (And given the prequel reveals Triton's loving married woman Athena lost her life being crushed by a pirate transport, it's non hard to see why the guy thinks Humans Are the Real Monsters). Merely when his daughter reveals she'due south fallen in love with a human, Triton flies into a rage and uses his trident to violently destroy Ariel's collection, believing it is the only way to keep her safe from humans. The crushed look on his face after he finishes the human action shows he isn't too happy with what he's done, only nonetheless believes it is for the best, until Ariel swims away from home, much to Triton'due south utter despair.

    Films - Live-Action

• The Trope Namer is Moulin Rouge!, when Zidler tells Satine she has to drive Christian away and then that the Knuckles won't impale him out of jealousy.
• In The Adjustment Bureau David Norris does this to Elise. After hearing from Thompson that if he stays with her, she won't become a world famous dancer, he leaves her without explanation in the hospital.
• In Crazy Rich Asians, even though it's been made clear that nearly his unabridged family unit, including his mother Eleanor, opposes their relationship, Nick still proposes to Rachel. Rachel turns him downwardly and goes to exit Singapore to return to New York, having realized that Nick was stuck between either forever resenting his family, especially his female parent, or losing the first person to love him for something not related to his family's immense wealth; she substantially chooses for him so that he wouldn't have to deal with that Sadistic Pick, herself unafraid to lose Nick in club to preserve his happiness. This turns out to be what convinces Eleanor to approve of their relationship, every bit Eleanor believes that Americans are also self-centered for the more than family-oriented Chinese culture in East Asia simply Rachel's willingness to sacrifice her own happiness to preserve Nick'due south tells her otherwise. Nick chases after Rachel just every bit she was boarding the flight to New York and proposes again, this fourth dimension with the fancy jade nuptials ring belonging to his female parent.
• In Unsafe Liaisons, The Vicomte does this to Madame De'Tourvel, merely not to protect her—he did information technology at the order of the Marquise.
• In the Motion picture of the Book Twenty-four hour period Of The Dolphin, Dr. Terrell has taught several dolphins to speak English, and has come to love them as if they were his ain children. At the end of the pic the evil government representatives are coming to accept them away. He has to tell the dolphins that he doesn't dearest them any more to get them to leave him, then they can be prophylactic.
• Seen in Harry and the Hendersons when John Lithgow not just says hateful things to their Sasquatch friend, but also punches him.
• Will Ferrell's character does this to his beloved interest in Land of the Lost.
• In A Man for All Seasons, Thomas More is in serious trouble with the King, and his friend the Duke of Norfolk is feeling the oestrus. More than can't convince Norfolk to break off their friendship, so instead, he attacks him verbally until Norfolk actually lashes out. It pains More terribly to do this, but it works: his friend stays abroad from him after that and is spared the King's wrath.
• Hartigan does this indirectly to Nancy at the stop of That Yellow Bounder—he doesn't pause her heart upfront, but lies to her and kills himself after. If he had stayed with her, Senator Roark would have most likely attacked Nancy to get revenge on him.
• Harry Osborn forces Mary Jane to pause up with Peter to save him in Spider-Man 3.
• In The Amazing Spider-Man, Gwen Stacy's begetter makes Peter promise to break it off with Gwen as his Last Request. Peter does so, but Gwen quickly figures out that her father put him up to this. Peter later hints that he might not be able to proceed the promise.
• There was an interesting variation in Ever Subsequently. Danielle attempts to explain her true identity to Henry, simply he doesn't really requite her the chance. After, his female parent explains that "Nicole" is engaged to a Belgian, which is what Danielle'south stepmother has told her, and he thinks that what she was really trying to tell him was adieu.
• In The Dark Knight Rises Alfred reveals Rachel's true choice in The Dark Knight earlier her death in an endeavor to force Bruce to move on with his life without Batman. Alfred acknowledges this will probable earn him Bruce's hatred but that doesn't matter to him as in that location's a adventure information technology could save his life.
• In the theatrical cutting of The Butterfly Effect, Evan finally decides that the best course of activeness is to go back to where he and Kayleigh first meet and exist mean to her, so she never befriends him, moves away with her female parent and avoids the sexual abuse by her father which ultimately leads to her suicide.
• At the end of Candy, Dan gives up on Candy because he knows that if they stay together, he's going to drag her back into addiction.
• A downplayed instance occurs at the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Band, Frodo tries to prepare off on his own, knowing his quest to Mordor will probably kill him and hoping the others will find a safer manner to help save the world. Fifty-fifty when Sam catches up to him, Frodo outset refuses to look at him and then explicitly commands him to return to shore. Sam ignores him, and Frodo ends up having to save him from drowning. Afterwards, he gratefully accepts that at that place's no way he'south getting rid of him.
• Stella Dallas: Stella decided that Laurel should alive with Stephen and Helen, because they are fancy society folks—and considering, for some reason, Stella is unable to exercise bones things like cease dressing similar a hooker. But she knows that Laurel volition never leave her mother. And so she pretends that she doesn't intendance well-nigh Laurel and tells Laurel that she's tired of being a female parent and is going to marry Ed and have skillful times. Stella breaks down crying subsequently a distraught Laurel leaves for good.
• Robocop ii. Worried over a lawsuit from his distraught 'widow', OCP lawyers convince Alex Murphy to cut all ties with his family unit, pointing out he could never be a proper husband and begetter to them.

  Ellen Murphy: [sees Robocop without his helmet] Alex, is it really yous?
  RoboCop: [gets up and walks to her, mesh metallic fence separating them]
  Ellen Murphy: [crying] Don't you remember me? Whatsoever they've done to you lot... whatever has happened, we can piece of work it out... start again...
  RoboCop: [leans forwards] Bear upon me.
  Ellen Murphy: [she touches his lip, downhearted] It's cold.
  RoboCop: They made this to honor him.
  Ellen White potato: [crying] No...
  RoboCop: Your husband is dead. [walking away] I don't know y'all.

• In Teen Beach Moving picture, Mack breaks up with Brady when she is near to leave for an academic preppy school across the country to fulfill her late mother'south Final Request. They go dorsum together at the end of the film afterwards she changed her listen and decided not to go after all.
• In Keith, Keith does this after Natalie learns that he'southward dying, knowing that she's fallen hard for him. He dishes out his near scathing insults, claiming that he planned everything that happened betwixt them as a final act of spite. The trope is subverted, however, as Natalie sees right through his ploy, refuses to let him have the last word, and insists on making him admit what he really feels. He finally confesses that he'southward fallen for her too, and that he couldn't admit it considering he had already resigned himself to his imminent death.
• Baloo from The Jungle Book (2016) is convinced by Bagheera to persuade Mowgli to go back to the man-village or else Shere Khan volition impale him. So he walks upward to Mowgli and tells him to have a hike, saying that he only used him to get honey and he doesn't demand him anymore. When Mowgli leaves in a rage, Baloo looks very guilty about what he had to do.

  Baloo: Well, I did it. And that'south about the hardest affair I e'er did.
  Bagheera: [solemnly] I know.

• In the pre-lawmaking film, Midnight Mary, Mary wants to relieve Tom from being implicated with her crimes, so she lies to him, saying that she was taking him for a ride and how he's a sucker for falling for her line.
• Joe does this to Betty in Dusk Boulevard. Though they've fallen in love, Joe realizes that he tin can't provide Betty with the kind of life she deserves. In that location's too the fact that Joe's in a complicated relationship with the mentally unstable Norma Desmond, who'due south obsessed with him and could potentially get tearing (and she later does, killing him). Joe acts similar a Jerkass to Betty so she'll leave him and follow through with her original plan to marry her fiancé Artie.
• The Lover. The Chinaman tries to do this to himself, making the Daughter say that she was only ever sleeping with him for coin, from the moment they first met. Given that The Girl doesn't want to admit whatever romantic allure herself, she plays along willingly.
• In the silent picture show The Plastic Age, Hugh's bookish and athletic performances decline due to his human relationship with the wild party girl Cynthia, played past Clara Bow. Eventually, she dumps him then that he volition focus on school again, telling him upfront that this is her motive.
• Bonnie & Bonnie: Kiki, later being injured and afraid she'll dull downwardly Yara from escaping, tells her to go while challenge she doesn't actually dear her. Yara refuses to believe it yet, staying with her.
• The Slipper and the Rose: When Lord Chamberlain convinces Cinderella to leave Prince Edward for the adept of the country (and then he can brand a political marriage), she asks him to brand Edward believe she was beingness cruel to him, to brand him glad she left him. It doesn't piece of work; he sees through it immediately.

  Cinderella: Tell him that it wasn't love; say I tried, say I lied. Make him hate my memory, make him glad he's gratis.

    Literature

• A Prayer for Owen Meany: Anticipating his death, Owen does this to Hester towards the end of his life. Unfortunately, after his death, Hester's life spirals into wild abandon.
• Robin Hobb has a variation in her Farseer trilogy: it'southward non an active lie, but the protagonist decides not to reveal the fact that he is still alive.
• Vanyel does it to Stefan in the Last Herald Mage series by Mercedes Lackey, believing (rightfully) that Stefan will be targeted by Vanyel's powerful Mage enemies. It doesn't work.
• Richard and Kahlan from The Sword of Truth series when Kahlan tells him she doesn't dearest him in gild to relieve his life by forcing him to leave with a priestess of the lite, Verna. Subsequently on, Richard breaks out of his depression when he does the same thing to his pet Gratch and realizes Kahlan was doing the whole thing for Richard's sake.
• Twilight:
  • Edward attempts this in New Moon, because he feels that he's put Bella in as well much danger. Bella responds by having a Heroic BSoD for four months.
  • Bella as well does this to her father to some extent, shouting at him and basically calling him a loser in every way. She does it so she tin can justify her flight from the "evil" vampires in order to protect him (by leading the vampires as far away from him as possible). To twist the knife further, she uses the same words her mother used when she left him — leaving him stunned, staring, and unable to chase after her, just like she wanted. And then, as soon as she'due south out of sight, she bursts into tears.
• Washed by Ella to Charmont in Ella Enchanted then that Hattie and Mum Olga won't exist able to take reward of the marriage. Of form, one time she breaks the curse she un-breaks his heart past proposing to him instead.
• This trope shows up a number of times throughout J.R.Ward'due south Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Instance: Rehvenge revealing his life equally a coldblooded drug-dealer/pimp to his Honey Interest Ehlena in order to drive her abroad so she wouldn't find out he's half sympath and, worse still, marked for torture and sure expiry. Thankfully, she saw through the act somewhen and helped to relieve him.
  • Another example occurs in Lover Enshrined, wherein Qhuinn is basically marked for death afterward cutting open his cousin, Lash's, throat so he plans to go underground. On the way he'southward caught by his best friend Blay, who says he'll never abandon Qhuinn. Qhuinn resorts to outing his buddy and confronting Blay about watching him, making it sound as though he's disgusted by his friend. Similar Rehv's ploy, this is thankfully seen through and at least partially resolved after awhile, leaving the ii on friendly terms again, albeit Zero Is the Same Anymore thank you to newfound UST.
• In Mistborn, Elend does this with Vin, and so promptly saves him from an bump-off team.
• Sweet Valley Loftier: Steven'southward girlfriend Tricia begins acting distant towards him. He concludes that she'south seeing someone else and confronts her with this. When she doesn't deny it, he dumps her. Trivial did he know that she was dying of leukemia and, of course, was pushing him away and so as to spare him the pain of watching her suffer.
• In the Wild Cards books, Tom Tudbury, The Great and Powerful Turtle's Underground Identity, had a girlfriend that he loved a lot. Simply she had a dormant class of the wild card virus, significant that whatsoever children they had would get at all-time a i-in-ten shot at survival (since he, unbeknownst to her, had the virus). He knew that she really wanted kids, so he manufactured a big fight that led to them breaking up simply remaining friends so that she could find happiness with someone else (fifty-fifty though information technology was killing him to do and so). Tom holds the Idiot Ball and never asks if adopting children would work for her.
• Toyed with in The Truth-teller's Tale. In order to salvage Roelyn, both the twins say things they know will stay her begetter's hand, but intermission their friend's eye. Eleda, who cannot lie, says Roelyn volition marry, non the man she loves, but the Prince. Adele, the secret keeper, reveals that she saw the love involvement secretly midweek the previous twenty-four hours. It works, and Roelyn's father frees his girl... Simply to reveal that Roelyn was the one wed to the love interest, and that the love interest was keeping his identity as prince a clandestine
• In Dance of Expiry, D'Agosta, nether Pendergast'south advice, ends his blossoming human relationship with Laura Hayward when he begins investigating Pendergast's brother Diogenes, in society to protect her from becoming a potential target. The kicker to that? Equally it turns out, she personally isn't in any danger, equally Diogenes is framing his brother for murder and is tricking her into arresting him, significant he needs her alive.
• A immature developed series chosen Haunting With Louisa featured a modern daughter named Dee who moves into an old inn with her later her female parent died and discovered the inn was haunted past the ghost of a girl named Louisa who had died in the 1880s. Dee soon considers Louisa her best friend and does all she can to help her reunite with the spirits of her family. Louisa also thinks of Dee as a friend, but is worried that it isn't salubrious for Dee to spend all her time hanging out with a expressionless girl. Eventually, Louisa tells Dee that as a ghost, she wants to enjoy her special powers rather than be friends with a worthless mortal and disappears, hoping that this will force Dee to make some mortal friends and move on with her life. The programme seriously backfires when Dee decides that Louisa'south disappearance means something horrible has happened to her, and Dee nearly gets herself killed trying to observe her.

• In the Malazan Book of the Fallen Apsalar tries this to keep Cutter from following her further downward the road of becoming a murderer for hire and mayhap getting himself killed in the process. So she just up and leaves, prompting him to become on a journeying seeking for her that proves to be much more than unsafe.
• Alix does this twice in the first two books of the Samuel Carver serial, first in The Accident Man and then in The Survivor. She genuinely loves Carver, but keeps winding upwardly in situations where she needs to pretend otherwise to save his life, and she's too good of an actress.
• In Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series, the protagonist Rand al'Thor tries to pull a ideal version of this with his friends Mat, Perrin, and Loial, to go them to get out so they will exist safe should the Red Ajah or the Dark One come hunting him (or he but plainly goes crazy from channeling the tainted male one-half of the One Ability). It doesn't work (and in fact his ex-girlfiend Egwene completely calls him on information technology), simply the end upshot is Mat resenting him and wanting nix to do with him for at to the lowest degree half the series, a bad evolution when Rand really ends upwards needing him later on.
• The Riddle Master Trilogy: Deth to Morgon, multiple times. Unusually for this trope, it'due south actually relatively constructive.
• In the Take a chance And Choices Adventures series, Noah Swift Hawk tries this on Ann Williams, after they make it problem with Guess Daniel Hall of Little Rock for having a Maligned Mixed Marriage. Not wanting Ann to be punished, he claims he never loved her and "just wanted to have his way with a white woman" and fifty-fifty keeps upwards the ruse in private for fear of anyone listening in secretly. He keeps it upwardly for the entire month of hard labor they're sentenced to. Ann refuses to acknowledge it, though, as she knows the truth.
• These Cleaved Stars: When Tarver approaches Lilac in forepart of her Daughter Posse, she puts him down in the nearly humiliating fashion possible. She does this and so that her bodyguards and Anna don't report on him to her begetter, which would outcome in him having an unfortunate accident.

    Live-Action Goggle box

• xxx Rock: Parodied, when Jack does this to Frank to foreclose him from becoming a lawyer (and later killed by the Mafia). Notable for being a straight reference to Harry and the Hendersons.
• Contradistinct Carbon. Takeshi Kovacs is reunited with his long-lost sis, simply to find she's now a ruthless criminal offense boss who won't tolerate whatever rivals for her brother'southward amore. She also makes information technology articulate that she'll take Kristin Ortega, her brother's current Dear Interest, tortured until she goes insane if Takeshi doesn't get forth with her Evil Plan. When Kristin turns up searching for Takeshi, The Dragon makes it clear that he's to get rid of her or he'll start killing people on the spot. So Takeshi has to reply coldly in the confront of her relief that he's alive, accusing her of but being glad that his trunk is intact (he's wearing the sleeve of her one-time beau) and claiming their human relationship meant nothing to him. Ortega doesn't fall for it, but is visibly hurt.
• Angel
  • In "Double or Nothing", Gunn is doomed to a fate that volition destroy his relationship with Fred, so he dumps her as cruelly equally he can. She rapidly runs crying to Angel—not because of what he said, but considering she knew what he's doing and realizes that he'south in real problem. Fred later makes him repent for handling the problem that mode.
  • Likewise, when Affections fired Wesley, Gunn and Cordelia in the episode "Reunion". He had been getting darker, especially when he let Drusilla and the re-sired Darla massacre the Wolfram & Hart lawyers for turning Darla back into a vampire and destroying his chance of redeeming her. This did not sit well with Wes, Gunn and Cordy, who insisted on watching him then he doesn't do anything that horrible (or worse) again.
• Arrested Development: Parodied in an episode with GOB driving abroad George Michael for like reasons, and again in Rita'southward starting time appearance, where Michael utterly misinterprets her statement "I'll make you lot blue."
• Arrow
  • In the pilot episode, Oliver Queen gets "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Laurel Lance for adulterous on her with Laurel'due south sister Sara and getting her killed. Laurel later on tries to repent but Oliver curtly brushes her off, telling her he'south the same self-centered hedonist he was before. This is partly to drive her away so he can conduct out his vigilante crusade, and partly because he no longer thinks he deserves Laurel later what he did. He realises he might accept overdone his Jerkass Façade however, and apologises in the next episode.
  • In Season ii Oliver convinces Roy Harper to break upward with his sister Thea, considering he might endanger her with his Super Serum-induced rages. Roy lets Thea catch him with another girl; Thea knows full well what he'due south doing just is withal distraught because Roy refuses to tell her why he'south breaking up. This backfires desperately because not just is Roy not there to protect Thea when Slade Wilson kidnaps her that very night, information technology's also one of several trust violations that eventually drive Thea away from both Oliver and Roy.
  • Invoked at the get-go of Season 3, when Oliver breaks up with Felicity Smoak, who begs him to say he never loved her so she won't be tormented by the hope that they might get together again. Oliver responds with a "Shut Upwardly" Kiss. "Don't enquire me to say that I don't love you."
• Being Human (UK): In the third series finale, Mitchell insults George and tells him their friendship was but emotional manipulation to try and convince George to kill him. George figures out what he's doing and tells him equally much.
  • Later, Tom tries to exercise information technology to Allie, telling her that he actually hates her and thinks that she's annoying. Given that he all just breaks downward crying while maxim this, no i is fooled. Allie withal leaves though, because she knows that he'due south trying to relieve her from being made a worse person by his influence.
• In Male child Meets World Eric flat-out tells a young orphan named Tommy, that he'd been acting every bit Big Brother Mentor for, he won't adopt him in club to get Tommy to get with the family unit in California that had adopted him. In the sequel series, Girl Meets Earth, T.J. Murphy, a political activist who helps Eric run against a corrupt senator and founder of a website called Thorn in Your Side, turned out to exist Tommy and said that it was the best thing Eric did and the family that took him in was a adept one.
• In the third-to-concluding episode of Breaking Bad, the Wham Episode of the serial, Walt does this with Skyler, pretending in his phone call to be a psychotic abuser who terrorized her into complicity with his crimes, so she would not go ostracized past the remaining family, and that the police force and DEA would (hopefully) non treat her equally harshly. He'south playing it upwards hard, crying as he delivers the more evil lines, and you tin can see when she realizes what he's doing.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Angel does this, though, interestingly enough, he is more concerned about the long-term implications of their relationship, rather than the firsthand danger they face on a daily basis.
  • Also, Giles in Season half dozen (in a platonic love version of this trope) leaves Buffy to force her to become independent.
• Castle: In the Flavor 8 opener, Beckett becomes very secretive towards Castle, and somewhen leaves him, not really saying why (information technology's because she has a super powerful enemy that could kill both of them, and she needs to take them downward alone). Naturally, Castle being Castle, this just makes him redouble his efforts to "save his marriage".
• Chinese Paladin: Ling'er, motivated by a mix of The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask and Leaving Y'all to Find Myself, does this to Xiaoyao. He eventually gets the point and agrees to permit her become.
• Chuck: Jill was forced to break upward with Chuck when she was recruited into Fulcrum.
• Cold Case: Seen in the episode "Sandhogs". The victim of the week was an avid matrimony activist, merely this had made him very unpopular. When his opponents began to make threats against his girlfriend, he abruptly told her he was going to reconcile with his married woman and that their racial difference (he was white, she was blackness) would have doomed the relationship anyway. The woman spent DECADES assertive that he had never loved her and was using her, taking condolement only in the beingness of the son conceived during the thing until the detectives told her the real reason he had pushed her away.
• The Decoy episode "Night Light" contains a parental case, where a jewel thief rejects his thirteen-year-old son to preclude him from post-obit his footsteps.
• Doctor Who:
  • The Fourth Doctor does this to Sarah in "The Ark in Infinite", when she is stuck in a piping and panicking. He pretends to give her a "The Reason You lot Suck" Speech, in gild to make her angry enough to button her way out of the piping.

    The Physician: "Oh, Doctor." Is that all you can say for yourself? Stupid, foolish girl. We should never take relied on y'all. I knew you'd permit us down. That's the trouble with girls like you. You recollect you're tough, just when you lot're actually upward against it, you lot've no guts at all. Hundreds of lives at stake and y'all lie there, blubbing.
    Sarah: You wait till I get out! I tin can manage. I don't need your assistance, thank you!
    The Doctor: Yes you lot practice, yep you practise. [Sarah is fully out] First-class. You've done marvellously, Sarah. I'thou very proud of you. I actually am very proud of you.
    Sarah: Bamboozled again. You're a creature!
    The Doctor: Oh, don't be ungrateful. I was only encouraging you. Come up on.

  • The Seventh Physician does this with Ace in "The Curse of Fenric". He specifically needs to break her faith in him in order to salvage the globe, and then he convinces her that her life means zip to him and he only traveled with her as function of a bigger program.
  • "The Parting of the Ways": The Ninth has a Shoo the Dog moment with Rose, faking an "eureka" moment so he tin get her into the TARDIS and send her home while he stays to face a Dalek regular army, fully expecting to dice.
  • "The God Complex": The Eleventh Dr. does it to Amy Pond, for almost exactly the same reasons equally 7 to Ace.

    "I can't salvage yous from this. There's nothing I can do to terminate it... I've stolen your childhood and now I've led you past the hand to your expiry. But the worst thing is, I knew. I knew this would happen; this is what always happens. Forget your religion in me. I took you with me considering I was vain. Because I wanted to be adored — I'grand not a hero. I really am merely a mad homo in a box. And information technology's fourth dimension we saw each other as we actually are."

  • Amy tried doing this to Rory immediately prior to "Asylum of the Daleks", booting him out of their home, moving forrard with divorce proceedings, and generally interim caustic and unfeeling toward him in the mistaken belief that he would be happier without her. She knew he wanted to be a father and, due to injuries sustained during the events of "A Good Human being Goes to War", she could no longer have children.
  • The Eleventh Physician does this to Clara Oswald in "The Fourth dimension of the Physician", repeating the aforementioned gambit the 9th Doctor did with Rose — tricking her into inbound the TARDIS and sending her home and out of harm'due south mode. She is heartbroken as a result, but fortunately an marry of the Doctor'south is able to reunite them.
  • The Twelfth Doctor's program to erase Clara'south retentivity of himself in "Hell Bent" is a misguided instance. He knows it'll pause her heart, but he plans to practise information technology whether she wants it or non. Fortunately, she is able to talk sense into him. Sadly, her middle withal ends upwards breaking when the Md loses his memories of her instead.
  • "It Takes You Away" puts a twist on the trope: When only the Doctor and Erik remain in the Solitract's universe, the Doctor entices it to pick her because of her far greater range of experiences compared to him, noting that it can simply keep ane of them. When the Solitract chooses her, Erik is finally convinced that it's not really his dead wife, which it had taken the form of, and is ejected.

• Farscape: A staged version. Crichton blows Aeryn off and so asks Airplane pilot to check the comm organization, which will accept them offline for a minute or so. He and then explains that Scorpius is eavesdropping using the comms, and if they rekindle their human relationship, Scorpius will use both Aeryn and the infant she'southward carrying as leverage. Aeryn dismisses him equally paranoid until Scorpius is heard asking about the comms. They so continue what sounds like a breakup and end it by kissing. Unfortunately, the Scarrens kidnap Aeryn two episodes later, forcing Crichton to offer Scorpius wormhole tech in render for his assistance in rescuing her, making the whole affair completely pointless.
• Game of Thrones. Tyrion lies to his mistress Shae in "The Lion and the Rose", proverb he never loved her, and delivers an absolutely barbarous diatribe against her to drive her off to Pentos before his male parent Lord Tywin has her hanged. Information technology seriously backfires when a biting Shae turns up equally the Surprise Witness at Tyrion's regicide trial, perjuring herself to get Tyrion bedevilled. To cap off this Humiliation Conga, Tryion later on finds Shae in his father'southward bed and strangles her.
• Full general Hospital: Emily tells boyfriend Zander that she's engaged to someone else to spare him the hurting of watching her suffer from cancer—and she ends up falling in love with the other guy anyhow.
• Guiding Light: Similarly, wanting to protect fellow Jesse from the mobsters who are after her, Michelle tells him she's going to marry someone else. Sure enough, by the time she admits the truth to him, he's moved on, so has she.
• House of Cards (US): In 2x12, Posner makes Lisa go away to eliminate any threats towards her from a constantly opinion shifting Stamper.
• Subverted in Jessie. Jessie considers doing this to Brooks when Mrs. Chesterfield cutting off all of his coin and rendered him broke to strength them to break upwards. Fortunetly, just when she was about to go through with it, Mrs. Chesterfield changes her mind after a talk with Bertram and gives Brooks his money and chore dorsum finally accepting their relationship.
• The Last Human being on World: Phil's brother gives him a "The Reason Yous Suck" Speech while apparently dying of the apocolyptic virus and so that Phil won't stick around to lookout man him die. Information technology doesn't work, so he makes it his "dying wish" for Phil to get out.
• Lost: Pierre Chang does this to his wife, because pretending to turn into a total asshole to drive her abroad from the island is the but way to persuade her to go out in fourth dimension before everyone's lives become endangered past The Incident.
• Merlin: (in a way) In 2x09, Freya tries to leave Camelot without telling Merlin so that he won´t exit the good life he has there, and to prevent him from finding out she´s a Bastet.
• Motherland: Fort Salem: Enlisted witches are forbidden from consorting with civilian men, so the first episode sees Abigail dumping her boyfriend and using magic to make sure he forgets nearly her.
• NCIS: DiNozzo wooed Jeanne Benoit equally part of a black ops plan to get at her arms-dealer male parent. Later on his cover was blown and Jeanne confronted him, he claimed that the relationship was entirely fake...even though he had really fallen in love with her.
• In one case Upon a Time: Snow White has to do this to Prince Charming and then he will continue with the Bundled Marriage to prevent his father from killing him.
  • Grumpy as well does this to his fairy girlfriend Nova so that she can have a improve time to come.
• One Life to Live: Sloan abruptly tells Vicky that he's going to marry his babyhood sweetheart Beverley, when in truth, he's just learned that his Hodgkin's lymphoma is final. It doesn't piece of work of class—Vicky's merely as devastated by his inexplicably dumping her and refuses to let the thing balance until he finally admits the truth.
• Penny Dreadful: Ethan does this to Vanessa at the end of season two, believing that his lycanthropy and murderous by has doomed him, and wanting to spare Vanessa the agony of seeing him hanged. Of course, he doesn't actually tell her any of this, and instead of beingness hanged, he is extradited back to America, leaving Vanessa believing that he abandoned her.
• The Princess Wei Young has a variant. Xin Er pretends she doesn't care about Tuoba Jun to relieve the Li family unit, because if the "witchcraft" incident was revealed it would mean the unabridged family's execution.
• Roswell: Liz does this to Max twice. One time in "Destiny" later on hearing that being with Tess was his destiny and again in the "End of the Globe" subsequently being asked to by time-traveling future Max.
• Invoked in Saved by the Bell: after finding out that Slater's dad may be transferring to Hawaii, Zack - looking to eliminate his competition for Kelly - tells Kelly, Jessie and Lisa that Slater is terminally ill and tin only exist treated at a clinic in Hawaii, so they demand to be hateful to him and convince him that he has no reason to stay at Bayside. It seems to work, until Kelly suddenly declares that she volition also become to Hawaii to nurse Slater, leading him to figure out what's really going on.
• Sherlock: In "The Reichenbach Autumn", Sherlock tells John that his entire life was a lie, that he made up Moriarty to look clever, that he researched John earlier their meeting to impress him, earlier faking his suicide then that John, Mrs Hudson and Lestrade won't get shot by snipers. John doesn't believe a word of it, of course.
  • Sherlock's earlier endeavour to do this was, sadly, a lot more successful. John receives a phone-telephone call telling him that Mrs. Hudson has been shot. Sherlock refuses to go with him to run across her and acts every bit if he doesn't care virtually her when previous events accept clearly shown otherwise. Throughout the episode, people have been slowly turning against Sherlock, all except John, who has been fighting in his corner all the mode until this moment, which causes him to snap and call Sherlock a "car" before abandoning him too. It turns out Mrs Hudson was fine all along and the whole thing was a ruse gear up upwardly past Sherlock to get John to leave him so he could face Moriarty alone.

• In Star Expedition: Discovery, in a platonic variation, Michael Burnham left Sarek's home in an effort to keep her foster blood brother Spock from being targeted by Vulcan logic extremists for associating with a human. When immature Spock tried to follow her, Burnham, in desperation, told him she never cared nigh him and called him a "half-breed". They didn't speak for years. When they finally reconnect in Flavor ii, Spock is bitter and treats her with hostility. He too calls her selfish for constantly trying to shoulder the responsibility for everything. He explains that the logic extremists would take targeted him anyhow because he's half-human.
  • Incidentally, Spock himself did this to an onetime flame named Leila in The Original Series. In the episode "This Side of Paradise" Leila is being controlled by drug-like spores. The spores are killed by emotional extremes, ^note in fact, Spock was freed when somebody disrespected his family. then when he tells her he can't exist with her anymore, her abject grief snaps her dorsum to normal.
• Supernatural:
  • In Season 8 Castiel does this to Dean in Purgatory, running abroad and so that the Leviathan subsequently him will only target Cas himself at the cost of risking Dean will call up he'southward in distress or has outright chickened out and abased him.
  • He then does it once again in the aforementioned season, letting Dean believe they'll get out of Purgatory together just to stay at the last possible moment, considering he knows if he tells Dean he doesn't intend to come along, Dean will reject to get out until he comes around. This particular stunt does its job of getting Dean to rubber and back on Globe, simply it screws Dean upward so much, his brain fabricates imitation memories to rationalize the issue as himself declining to save Cas, or Cas giving up and his grip slipping.
  • Towards the terminate of Flavor 15 he does it again in an unusual manner in "Despair". When Billie is on the warpath about to impale both him and Dean, he tells Dean the Empty will accept him away at his happiest moment, and that comes with him admitting to his dearest for Dean, which causes the Empty to announced and take both him and Billie away, leaving Dean a shocked and sobbing mess alone on the flooring, although he is said to have been revived offscreen after.
• The Twilight Zone (1959): In the episode "The Trouble With Templeton", the title character's obsession with his dead married woman propels him back to a speakeasy in the 1920'due south when they were start in love. However, her shrewish, draconian treatment of him at that place forces him to flee dorsum to his present time. After he's gone back, his wife drops the act and breaks downwardly in tears; it was all to make him let go of his obsession with her retentivity and go along to alive his life. He figures it out, too, when he finds her acting script in his hand, dorsum in the present 24-hour interval.
• The Vampire Diaries: Stefan occasionally does this to Elena throughout the series. Stefan breaks upwards with Elena or turns his back on her in society to protect Elena. This is especially evident in season three when Stefan leaves Mystic Falls with Klaus and becomes a Ripper in order to protect Elena and the residual of the town. Elena likewise did this with Stefan in season 2 past breaking upwardly with Stefan in order to protect Stefan and her family and friends from Katherine Pierce.
• Without a Trace: After taking a boy hostage considering the child reminded him of his expressionless son, a man finally agrees to let him go. However, the boy refuses to leave, so the human begins screaming at him, telling him he's a "brat" and "I was merely using you lot". The kid yet refuses to leave, being savvy enough, even at his young historic period, to guess what the human being'southward trying to practise and that he'due south planning to kill himself in one case the boy leaves.
• Wonderfalls: Jaye basically treats Eric like crap and breaks up with him because the animals told her to and she thinks there will be grave consequences if she doesn't.

    Music

• "Hate Me", by Blue October, is from the viewpoint of an alcoholic/drug addict singing to his mother.

  An ounce of peace is all I want for y'all, will you never telephone call again?

  [...]

  So I'll drive so fucking far away that I never cross your listen.

  And practise whatsoever it takes in your heart to get out me behind.

  Hate me today. Hate me tomorrow.

  Hate me so you tin can finally see what's good for you.

• "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That'southward My Dwelling)" by Marvin Gaye (later covered by Paul Young) plays with this trope; the song is about a guy essentially telling a girl that he'southward a philandering wiggle and that the best affair she can practise is just walk away from him and forget all about him. However, where Gaye's version is more upbeat in tempo and manner, every bit if the guy's tone is casually along the lines of "hey, baby, that's just the way I roll", Immature'due south version is a lot more melancholy, as if the guy has actually fallen securely in love with the girl but is trying to push her abroad because he ultimately knows he'southward no good for her.
• "The Hardest Thing" is a 98 Degrees song about a guy who has to break up with a girl because he'due south already made a commitment to some other daughter.

    Theatre

• In La Bohème by Puccini, Rodolfo leaves a distraught Mimì, ostensibly considering she flirts with other men and he is jealous, only the true reason is that Mimì is suffering from lung affliction and Rodolfo is also poor to afford medication or even firewood, so he sets her free, hoping that she will autumn into more capable hands.

    Spider web Animation

• The cease of the third volume of RWBY, it'due south pretty much implied that this is what Blake did to Yang, when she left in gild to protect her and the rest of their team from Adam. Yang is plainly heartbroken over being abandoned by Blake and continues to be upset throughout Volume iv.

    Webcomics

• In The Croaking Scra pretends not to know and mostly acts coldly towards Ky, his new roommate in military higher, despite them meeting daily for weeks before. He does this to keep Ky out of murder business concern and to go on him away from the racism directed towards him equally a crow.
• In Fans!, when the rare terminal affliction that she had lived with for much of her life was progressing to its final phase, Rikk's wife Alisin "seduced" (ahem) Meighan and bragged well-nigh it to Rikk, hoping that he wouldn't waste product any time mourning her. This plan went wrong on every level: Rikk was devastated and realized what she was doing, and and then Alisin was cured only in the nick of fourth dimension.

  Rikk: Sorry, Ally. I nevertheless honey yous. You can't finish me.

• In Shortpacked!, Mike finally gives into Amber'due south request for a union proposal by arranging for her mom to sleep with their recovering sex addict friend, then edit a record of it into a proposal. He was hoping that she would finally realize what a Jerkass he is and get out him. Didn't work.
• In College Roomies from Hell!!!, Margaret spent several years pulling this maneuver on Dave. It's not him, it'southward her enemy...who happens to be THE Enemy. But unlike Marry in Fans!, she did it perfectly, convincing not just Dave but most of the readership that she didn't love him—to the point that when Roger figured out her existent motives and told Dave, the forum was less inclined to believe him than to exist mad at him for getting Dave's hopes up over again. Unfortunately, Margaret'due south efforts to spare Dave included pushing him into Bluish's arms...so when the truth came out, it was too late.
• In MYth: A Promise nosotros observe that Hades willingly made Zeus hate him forever and destroyed the bond he had with his precious little brother to make him stronger and avert that Zeus offered him the crown everybody knew information technology belonged to Zeus.
• Space Boy: After Saito threatens to take Amy killed when she and Oliver begin to become close, he ends their friendship immediately, with absolutely no warning and without giving a reason.
• Ever Blue: Seta, when told in no uncertain terms that if he won't kill Luna, somebody else will, obediently gets his sword and enters Luna'due south business firm in the expressionless of night. Then he proceeds to chase her out of town, so she'd be condom.

    Spider web Original

• Averted in Twig, where when Sylvester learns that his romantic relationship with Lillian is holding dorsum her career and presenting an easy way for enemies to injure them both, he goes to her and explains the state of affairs, and together they come up with a plan on how to nowadays their break-up to the outside globe to best benefit Lillian. They're both all the same heartbroken, of course, simply there's no deception involved.

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Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BreakHisHeartToSaveHim

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