Can any of my readers cite an example of the following plot point? I am coming up blank.
It starts out cliched enough: Protagonist comes across some person/s in deathly peril and (being the hero type) charges in and saves the strangers.
Now, in the cliche the strangers would either turn out to be good people to have indebted to one, or an enemy whos gratitude changes their attitude.
BUT, what about the painful-but-true life lesson that "Good Deeds /= Good Results"?
What if, through misguidedness or plain malice, the protagonist and/or the world would have been infinitely better off if that imperiled person had died?