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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Some people have a Messiah complex. They ''need'' to save the world."''|'''Dr James Wilson''', ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' on something completely different.}}
Chronic Hero Syndrome is an "affliction" of [[Ideal Hero|particularly idealistic protagonists]] which renders them unable to say "It's [[
While certainly admirable, this can have some negative side-effects on the hero and those around them. Such heroes tend to [[Samaritan Syndrome|wear themselves out]] in their attempts to help ''everyone'', or to become distraught and [[
If they [[Honor Before Reason|aren't smart about their heroism]], and they have a tendency to intervene without getting the whole picture, then they're liable to [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|just make things worse]]. Their predictable heroism also makes them particularly prone to [[Batman Gambit|manipulation by certain devious villains]] -- but at the end of the day, they're the hero most likely to [[Save the Villain]], too.
Interestingly enough, as ''[[
This is ''extremely'' common in video games as a way to make the player deal with unimportant plot threads like [[Fetch Quest|Fetch Quests]] when they should have [[Saving the World|more important things]] on their minds. The characters are just too darn heroic to leave people to suffer, though, so time to go wander around in caves for a while.
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A related disorder is [[Samaritan Syndrome]], where the hero bemoans that their duties leaves them no free time for their personal affairs.
The exact opposite of this is [[Somebody
See also [[A Friend in Need]]. Completely different from [[Hero Syndrome]], which is pretty much the [[Evil Counterpart]] of this trope.
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== Anime & Manga ==
* Mytho in ''[[
* ''[[Pokémon (
** Ash Ketchum. ''Every'' [[Character of the Day]] with a problem that he encounters gets his help.
** Unless in the case of older pretty girls, [[Casanova Wannabe|Brock]] beats him to it.
** Diamond of ''[[
* Goku from ''[[
* Dr. Tenma in ''[[Monster (
* Every ''[[
** Justified in ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' at least at the start as they were ordered to by their respective mentor/scientists.
** Not Heero. Except about Relena, and it [[Emotionless Girl|confuses the hell]] [[Cannot Spit It Out|out of him]].
** ''[[
* Every ''[[Super Robot]]'' series protagonist ever.
* Yuuri Shibuya of ''[[Kyo Kara Maoh
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* Ichigo Kurosaki in ''[[
** Actually, it crops up in just about every arc.
* Allen Walker from ''[[D
* Deconstructed in ''[[
* Suzaku in ''[[
* Oz in ''[[
* Shinkurou from light novel/manga/anime series [[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Ranma
** Akane Tendō. While she has a [[Hair
** Ranma has this as well, even going so far as to help his enemies like Happōsai or Herb. He also has difficulty turning down requests from crying women. His many fiancées figure this out to manipulate him.
* ''[[
* Claus Valka from ''[[
* The protagonists of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (
* ''[[
* ''[[
* Kuro Karatsu from ''[[
* Kotetsu T. Kaburagi/Wild Tiger from ''[[
* ''[[
* This is treated as an actual character flaw in ''[[
* Karasawa and the nameless Student Council Vice-President in ''[[
* Quon of ''[[
* Yugo Hachiken of ''[[Silver Spoon]]''. To the point he become "The guy who won't refuse you."
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== Comic Books ==
* The Samaritan from ''[[Astro City]]'', whose constant super-heroing leaves him with only a few hours of sleep every night and nearly no time to relax. Having a bio-organic computer that constantly monitors the news doesn't help.
* [[
** It's taken to an extreme in ''[[Superman Red Son]]'', where at one point he has to leave a diplomatic reception to put out a fire at a chemical plant hundreds of miles away. When he becomes leader of the Soviet Union, his people eventually become either unwilling or incapable of taking care of themselves, since they know Superman will alway show up to save them.
* [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]. Whenever he feels that something is [[Somebody
** This is often subverted, in that many times he'll bust his ass to get to the scene of a crime only to discover that one of New York's many many other superheroes already took care of it in in the time it took him to get there.
** Ultimate Spider-Man, in particular, feels the need to insert himself in any potentially hostile situation. While he generally does more good than harm, he also gets his butt kicked and makes a lot of things worse. Ultimate Team-Up shows what happens when he doesn't know what's going on ''very'' well.
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* Depending on the story, most of the cast of [[Archie Comics]] could count. Betty Cooper got this once. Her nice girl/girl next door personality kept her exhausted with volunteer work and kinda turned her into a doormat.
* [[Empowered (Comic Book)|Empowered]], despite the fact that nearly everyone treats her like a joke. Any time she finds out about a problem, she ''will'' get involved, without fail, even if she ''knows'' she's in over her head.
* [[Batman]] shows this too. Sometimes he may be an overly pragmatic jerkass or just accept that lives will be lost, other times he will NOT give up on saving everyone and everything, even at the cost of his own life. In ''[[Whatever Happened to
* [[Nightwing]] has this pretty bad, to the point where he's a lawful policeman by day and a vigilante by night. This obsession eventually costs him his relationship with [[Birds of Prey|Barbara Gordon]]. Then [[Complete Monster|Blockbuster]] uses this against him, taunting him by saying he can kill everyone that Nightwing is close to. He even lampshades with when his own life is threatened, Nightwing is concerned more with protecting the baddie than anything else.
* In ''X-Men Noir'', Thomas "The Angel" Halloway's entire life revolves around heroism -- to the point that Professor Xavier diagnoses him with a completely new type of pathology, "heropathy". This is illustrated in their first encounter; Xavier asks Halloway why he cares about the X-Men. Halloway tells him that a woman, Jean Grey, is dead, the police aren't investigating her murder because she was with the X-Men... and he can't live in a world where a killer isn't brought to justice.
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== Fan Works ==
* In the ''[[
* This is the very reason things kick off in the [[Bleach]] fanfic [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7301835/1/To_Fight_and_Protect To Fight and Protect] Ichigo ''will'' help because he ''can'' help. {{spoiler|Even if it's [[Big Bad|Aizen]].}}
** In fact it is ''because'' of this that things aren't as bad as they could be - Ichigo's helping hand has gathered an eclectic bunch of unlikely allies all who will follow him, [[True Companions|no]] [[Ship Tease|matter]] [[Ho Yay|what]].
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== Films -- Live-Action ==
* ''Mr. Nice Guy'': The title chracter had absolutely nothing to do with the main plot until it stumbled across him.
* George Bailey in ''[[
* ''[[The Fugitive (
* ''[[Kick-Ass (
{{quote| '''Thug''': What the fuck is wrong with you, man? You'd rather die for some piece of shit that you don't even fucking know?<br />
'''Kick-Ass''': Three assholes laying into one guy while everyone else watches, and you wanna know what's wrong with '''me'''?! Yeah, I'd rather die! [[Bring It|NOW BRING IT ON!]] }}
* This is the fatal flaw of Daniel Rigg, the protagonist of ''[[Saw
* [[Die Hard
== Literature ==
* ''[[Harry Potter (
** Lampshaded in the fifth book when Hermione points out that he has a "'saving people' thing" and that he could be walking into a trap. He's furious about that comment, pointing out that they didn't see an issue with that when he saved their lives before. Partially deconstructed when his hurry to save {{spoiler|Sirius}} leads to the death he was trying to prevent.
** Voldemort himself sums it up in ''[[Deathly Hallows]]'':
{{quote| ''"Neither of you understands Potter as I do. He does not need finding. Potter will come to me. I know his weakness, you see, his one great flaw. He will hate watching the others struck down around him, knowing that it is for him that it happens. He will want to stop it any cost. He will come."''}}
** Also brought up during ''[[Goblet of Fire]]'' during the Second Task when Harry is charged with rescuing the person who is most important to them at the bottom of the school lake. Harry insists on trying to take back every hostage, even those that weren't his, misunderstanding that Dumbledore had taken every precaution necessary to ensure that no one gets hurt during the Triwizard Tournament. Harry gets high marks when it was decided that his insistence to save everyone was based on chivalry.
* ''[[
** In ''Grave Peril'', Harry attends a Villain Party and is given a very interesting party favor, a gravestone and perpetually open plot. The inscription on the stone reads [[Lampshade Hanging|"He died doing the right thing."]] {{spoiler|A few minutes later, he is given the choice between walking away and risking his life to save one innocent, which will ''also'' destabilize the vampire/wizard truce. The gravestone wasn't an insult, it was a ''hint''.}}
** In ''Turn Coat'', {{spoiler|Lara}} can tell he is sheltering {{spoiler|Morgan}} because that's what Harry ''does'': people in trouble come to him, and he helps them.
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** Healers too, substituting [[Healing Hands]] for [[Psychic Powers]]. This version's only a real problem if a Healer comes across a plague or such beyond her resources, and attempts to fight it anyway rather than leave to get help.
* From ''Predator things of the Century'' by Strugatski Brothers: "I'll get crazy for this. So many people -- and I'm alone. I'm exactly like you, people -- except I want to help You, and You don't help me..."
* Deconstructed in ''[[
** In particular, ''[[Discworld
** Indeed, most of the genuine "heroes" of Discworld, like Granny, Vimes, Susan and Moist are highly cynical and jaded people. More traditionally heroic characters are usually treated as fools (with the possible exception of Carrot, who manages to have it both ways). And then there's [[The Chew Toy|Rincewind]]....
* In the ''[[
* Keladry of Mindelan in [[Tamora Pierce]]'s [[Tortall Universe|Protector of the Small]] quartet... she can't help but do exactly what the series name suggests, completely unable to turn down a cry for help from anyone smaller or weaker than herself (protecting animals as often as human beings) much to the exasperation of her friends and colleagues who feel obligated to help.
* ''[[Wandering Djinn]]'': The main character of the anthology seems unable to not try and save people.
* ''[[
* In the ''[[Parrish Plessis]]'' series, the titular character has a bad case of this. Unfortunately, as a [[Doom Magnet]] living in a [[Crapsack World]], her efforts to help backfire more often than not.
* ''The Knight in Rusty Armor'' at first is this, particularly about saving princesses and going to crusades (he does go to knight tournaments with as much enthusiasm, however). {{spoiler|Rather than heroism, he does this to prove his courage and goodness to others}}.
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{{quote| '''Mara Jade:''' You didn't think. You ''reacted'', eager to save the world and to do it alone.}}
::Later in the ''[[New Jedi Order]]'' series, she goes out of her way to explain to Anakin Solo how Luke (now her husband) hasn't exactly outgrown the mentality and even infused it into many of his students.
* ''[[
{{quote| ''"Then what I ask," said the damsel, "is that your magnanimous person accompany me at once whither I will conduct you, and that you promise not to engage in any other adventure or quest until you have avenged me of a traitor who against all human and divine law, has usurped my kingdom."''}}
* ''[[
* In ''A Dance with Dragons'' from ''[[
** Jon Snow definitely has a case of this as well, especially {{spoiler|after he is elected Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.}} He repeatedly goes out of his way trying to save everyone, no matter how unlikely the chances of it working are.
* [[Knight Errant]] Michael Sevenson from the ''[[
* For all of ''[[
* Derek Huntsman of the web-novel ''[[
* Since we've mentioned Merlin from ''Safehold'' and Honor Harrington from her own books, we might as well finish out the Weber trilogy with Bahzell of ''[[The War Gods]]''. Everyone who meets the hradani pretty much instantly recognizes it. The entire series starts off when he can't ignore a servant being raped, even though he knows his intervention could mean war and tries to argue himself into why he should just walk away.
* Bertie of ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (
== Live-Action TV ==
* Michael Scofield in ''[[Prison Break]]''. It's explained by him having [
* Duncan MacLeod of ''[[Highlander the Series]]'' is happy to solve anyone else's problems. Even if they didn't ask. Conveniently, they can often be solved by cutting off an immortal's head, [[When All You Have Is a Hammer|which happens to be his specialty]].
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''
** Peter Petrelli. Although this may simply be the writers constantly giving him the [[Idiot Ball]]. In Peter's defense, he does go out of his way to save the world. Or at least, Central Park, and sometimes very close friends. In Volume 5, he also {{spoiler|hunts down Nathar/Sythan/Frankenstein's Monster and takes a nailgun to his hands and...other body parts to [[Berserk Button|get his brother back]].}}
** Inversely, Nathan Petrelli (who happens to be Peter's politician big brother), who seems to ''love'' the phrase "it's [[Somebody
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'': Inherited from the original film, Daniel Jackson was this which often put him at odds with the more pragmatic Jack. Initially, Samantha Carter was given a feminist-oriented aspect of this which the writers quickly realised wasn't going to work for the show. As the series developed (and went down a drama to drama-with-comedy to comedy-with-drama route) the feminism angle was dropped from Sam, Daniel was given character development to give him a more pragmatic edge, and this trope became less relevant. At one point, however, it did essentially apply to the entire SG-1 team with different characters encouraging the team to "do the noble thing" in different episodes.
* Jack in ''[[
* ''[[
** The Doctor, the Doctor, dear GOD the Doctor. And boy does he suffer for it. Again and again and again, in every single [[The Nth Doctor|reincarnation]].
** The [[Cool Spaceship|TARDIS]] itself could also qualify, since it's an intelligent machine that always seems to plunk the Doctor down exactly when and where he's needed most, whether he wants to be there or not.
** The Companions tend to have a touch of this as well. For example, Donna and the Doctor spend most of ''The Fires of Pompeii'' bickering about what to do about the fate of the people there -- he insists that it's a fixed point in history, and they can't do anything to stop it. She feels that they should save at least ''one'' person. {{spoiler|She finally convinces him to save a family of four.}}
** When The Doctor {{spoiler|thinks he's destined to die soon}} he decides to give up his [[Chaotic Good]] heroism, and become [[Chaotic Neutral]], {{spoiler|devoting his last remaining days to himself}}, but he's really bad at it. When he realises people need help, he walks towards the TARDIS, repeatedly reminidng himself it's not his problem, as soon as he reaches the door, he turns around and heads off to save the world. Realising that being a hero is {{spoiler|what really made his life worthwhile}}.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Dollhouse]]''
** Echo. Her desire to save the world, fight injustice and/or rescue the innocent is so deeply ingrained it survives repeated applications of [[Laser
** Also, Agent Paul Ballard, combined with [[The Dulcinea Effect]]. Perhaps why they make such a good couple.
* ''[[
** Malcolm Reynolds will steadfastly deny this to his grave, but deep down he suffers from a near-terminal example of this disease, to the point that it ended up with him on the opposite side of a psychotic crime lord and the Alliance's Operative.
** We didn't get to see much of it (insert obligatory bitching about Fox here) but in "Ariel" Simon goes to save a dying man in the middle of the heist in a busy hospital paying no mind to the risks of recognition and capture. "Saving people thing" at its finest there. Simon, like [[
* ''[[
* Gary in ''[[
* ''[[Royal Pains]]'': "No worries with Hank around. He has a hero complex." "It's not a complex. It's a neurosis."
* President Bartlet in ''[[The West Wing]]''. Given his job as head of a country with 300 million inhabitants and major international responsibilities all over the globe, he is also chronically unable to fulfill his syndrome's needs. This often sends him into dark depressions, unable to get out of until Leo or his wife tells him to stop being so egotistical as to think he can solve all the world's problems.
{{quote| '''Mrs. Bartlet:''' Ah, yes. [He's gone to] pistol-whip the trucking industry... because he can't save a gunshot victim and he can't stop a hurricane.}}
* ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' from the BBC series of the same name, to the point that it becomes a joke in [http://tinyurl.com/2dfhuru The Torch Online's] Facebook-style recap of episode 2x9.
{{quote| '''Gaius:''' ''(to Merlin)'' You know how I'm always telling you not to rescue people, but then you go ahead and rescue them anyway, behind my back? Seriously, don't do that this time.}}
* Jeff from ''[[
* Despite being a [[Cute Ghost Girl]] [[The Ditz|occasional ditz]], Annie from ''[[
* All [[Power Rangers]] get this the first time they morph and don't lose it until at least they stop being rangers, and perhaps longer. There's an [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesome]] scene at the end of ''[[Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue]],'' where the villains are beaten once and for all and the team is preparing to go their separate ways... when a fire truck goes by. Our heroes look at each other, grin, and run after it, not even stopping to reclaim their morphers (their chief is behind them yelling "Hey, you forgot these!").
** This also goes for all the [[Super Sentai]] teams and most [[Kamen Rider|Kamen Riders]] as well.
** In ''[[
* ''[[Primeval]]'''s Nick Cutter {{spoiler|runs into a burning building to rescue his wife Helen. Not so unusual, but the building is on fire because she blew it up in an attempt to kill him and everyone else. He saves her after all that, and then she kills him.}}
* Invoked by Erin Reagan in [[Blue Bloods]], who warned Jamie that an awful lot of cops are like this and end up [[Shell
* '' [[Smallville]]'': Read Superman's description in the comics section, raise the [[Angst]] [[Up to Eleven]], and you have his Smallville character. Chloe once asked Clark if he was afraid that if Lana learned self-defense then she wouldn't need a knight in shining armor to keep rescuing her from Smallville's dangers. He thinks he has to rescue her and everyone else too.
* ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'': When Wilson's second wife was showing House around a condo she said about Wilson, "He’s just so knight-in-shining armor, you know? Always there to support you, until he’s not, but by then you’re hooked." He stopped being there for her because he needed to be there for House.
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'''s Sam Winchester has this whenever he's [[Despair Event Horizon|not]] [[Psycho Serum|otherwise]] [[I Let Gwen Stacy Die|occupied]].
* ''[[
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** For example, at one point the knight Yvain has to be at a very specific location tomorrow in order to rescue a damsel, Lunete, from being burned at the stake. With plenty of time, he stays at a castle the night before, only to discover that the castle is being held to ransom by a giant; if no one can slay the giant, the next morning he will kill all the lord's remaining sons and have his minions rape the lord's daughter in front of everyone. Yvain ''tries'' to say "look, I do have this prior appointment and an innocent will die if I don't get there, so I'm afraid this isn't actually my problem"... but he turns back out of guilt, kills the giant, doesn't stay for congratulations, and runs off just in time to save Lunete... effectively pulling off ''two'' last minute [[Big Damn Heroes]] moments in a row.
* Every knight errant ever created from King Arthur on down. In a variety of [[Contractual Genre Blindness]], Knights errant were actually ''bound'' to [[Walk the Earth]] until they found a worthy quest to devote themselves to.
* In some versions of their myths, some Greek heroes are like this. It varies, though. Perseus comes out all right, and most of Heracles's moments of [[What the Hell, Hero?|jerkiness]] are Hera [[Mind Screw|invoked]], but Theseus [[Victim Falls For Rapist|has a way with the daughters]] of the bandits he kills on the way to Athens, at one point [[Kidnapping Is Love|kidnaps Helen when she was a young teen]], tries to help a friend [[Too Dumb to Live|kidnap Persephone]] and also abandons or banishes a large number of other women. Odysseus is a little bit better, given that he is kept by women rather than forcing himself on them, but he is still a pirate (granted, that was normal for the time).
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== Tabletop Games ==
* One of the pitfalls of a high Compassion virtue in ''[[
* The Charity Virtue in the ''[[
* Paladins in most editions of ''[[
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* Virtually every MMO steers the player's character into having [[Chronic Hero Syndrome]]. The character will often be sent out against a great evil... but on the way, they'll have to protect random people from threats, take shifts as a game warden, help gather materials for various building projects, and sometimes even be a relationship counselor, for everybody whose path they happen to cross.
* ''[[Final Fantasy]]''
** Yuna of ''[[
** Tidus also qualifies. It is especially noticeable when the party hears about a monster eating chocobos. Tidus insists that they help defeat the monster but other members of the party point out that it isn't their problem.
** Auron at one point tells Tidus that Jecht used to get his pilgrimage companions into all kinds of trouble when trying to help people because "it's the right thing to do". This includes trying to kill the Chocobo Eater.
** Locke Cole of ''[[
** Zidane of ''[[
** Snow from ''[[
{{quote| '''Lightning:''' But going out of his way to help someone? That's Snow all over.}}
** Ramza from ''[[
* Common in [[
** Open Hand Spirit Monk in ''[[Jade Empire]]'' meddles in people's lives for the better, most of the time. Closed Fist Spirit Monk is much less helpful.
** The Grey Warden in ''[[
** Commander Shepard in ''[[
** Lampshaded in the second game, where you can pass by a couple you helped in the first game having a problem. One of them jokingly says, "Maybe we should ask random people off the street what they think." But you get rewarded for this in ''[[
** The Light-side player character in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (
* A Lone Wanderer from ''[[
* ''[[Fallout
** The Courier also suffers form this, however it ends up paying off as the factions who likes him/her ends up coming to his/her aid in the end game battle, also gives him/her lots of cool stuff.
** [[Deconstructed Trope|Deconstructed]] by the Followers of the Apocalypse. They are truly noble, and do genuinely want to help people in the wasteland, but their own selflessness winds up screwing them over in almost every possible way in almost all of the endings, the only good ending they achieve is with {{spoiler|the NCR}}.
* ''[[Super Mario Bros. (
* The Player's character in the ''[[Fable (
* Link from ''[[
* Samus Aran from ''[[
* Fox from ''[[Star Fox (
* Adol from the ''[[
* Marona from ''[[
* Yuri Lowell from ''[[
* According to the first game, Sora from ''[[Kingdom Hearts (
* ''[[
* Raymond Bryce from ''[[
* Anyone in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' with the Loremaster achievement. Requiring 2,843 quests to be completed ("only" 2,705 for Horde players), you're not only helping anyone who needs help with anything, you're hunting down every last person who might need so little as a mug of ale from a nearby brewery.
* ''[[
* [[Justified]] in ''[[
* The protagonists of ''[[
* ''[[
{{quote| "How did we arrive in this situation, exactly?"<br />
"Because Matthew can be talked into anything, that's how." }}
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (
* ''[[
** Sety. In his own words, he simply cannot turn away when he sees someone in trouble, and boy does he get in problems due to it. And for better/worse, when Celice helps him whack the [[Distress Ball]] away in Chapter 8, he beats himself up due to not being able to rescue all the kids caught in {{spoiler|the child hunts.}} "I'm no hero, sir. I'm a coward, if anything".
** Hawk, being Sety's expy/replacement if Fury has no kids, suffers of ''exactly'' the same [[Fatal Flaw]].
* ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'''s John Marston can be this if going for high honour. The game even keeps track of how many people you help. Everything from rescuing women and stopping thieves to stopping a carriage robbery in between trying to capture his former outlaw brethren. In fact, a late-game mission plays with this; {{spoiler|during the Beecher's Hope ranching section of the game, while John is busy tending his new herd of cattle, a train races by under attack by outlaws, and John must choose whether or not to stay with the herd or intervene.}}
* The Allied Nations in ''[[Red Alert 3 Paradox]]'' are sort of defined as a whole by their [[Chronic Hero Syndrome]], but this causes serious problems because not everyone agrees with their definetion of heroic action, which tends towards [[For Your Own Good]] on a national scale.
* ''[[Doom (
** Although [[Word of God]] asserts that he's an [[Featureless Protagonist|AFGNCAAP]], the Marine has Chronic Hero Syndrome in both ''Doom II'' and ''The Plutonia Experiment''. In the former, he volunteers to lead the strike force ([[One
** Inverted in ''TNT: Evilution'', where in the second secret level he returns to Earth in the middle of his [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] for a vacation, thinking [[Someone Elses Problem|"Maybe someone else can kick Hell's ass next time around."]] Unfortunately for him, [[The Call Knows Where You Live|Hell had already sent some demons to the same tourist trap]].
* The title character of ''[[Nie R]]'' may be [[The Unfettered]] in his desire to keep Yonah safe, but that doesn't mean he won't stop to help such diverse problems as help a merchant get started, a family get enough to eat, or get a bartender rare supplies.
* ''Star Ocean: The Last Hope'' has Edge Maverick. Though his job is to find a new habitable planet suitable for humans, he quite quickly ends up trying to save a village of people he doesn't know, destroy a certain race to prevent them invading planets and then accidentally destroys a planet in a different dimension when he was only trying to help it, leading him to mentally break down and blame the entire thing on himself despite everything his friends try to say to him.
* In ''[[
== Visual Novels ==
* The heroes in the [[Nasuverse]] tend to have this very, very badly.
** ''[[
*** And Mikiya in ''[[
** ''[[Fate/stay
== Web Comics ==
* Elliot from ''[[
* ''[[
** Agatha claims to Othar Tryggvassen, '''[[Gentleman Adventurer]]!''' that she's uninterested in heroism. [[Hypocritical Humor|Immediately afterwards]], she rushes out to defend the circus from an attacking Jägermonster. Clearly she won't be leading a normal life any time soon.
** About Othar himself, reading [[Character Blog|his twitter]] shows that he's made of this trope. It also helps that [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath|he's completely nuts]].
** Gilgamesh Wulfenbach appears to be inflicted as well. While suffering from a gunshot and hallucinations, the only way to get him on his feet is to invoke the [[Distressed Damsel]] trope and make him think Zola needs her butt saved yet again.
* Antimony from ''[[
* ''[[
** [http://www.roningalaxy.com/comics/chapter-1/page-9/ Once in chapter one by saving Taylor] and [http://www.roningalaxy.com/comics/chapter-2/page-60/ again in chapter two with Leona.] Though not with the results he was expecting: Taylor almost {{spoiler|gets him shot up by gansters,}} and Leona (who is too heavy for him) slips out of his heroic grasp and lands on her behind.
* ''[[
* Mr. Mighty from ''[[Everyday Heroes]]''. On the first day with his new team, he helped a little old lady fix a flat tire, retrieved a truckload of chickens that were blocking traffic, saved a [[Bus Full of Innocents|bus load of orphans]] from a speeding freight train, and foiled a bank robbery... all before he even got to the office. His biggest worry was being an hour late to work.
* Todo from ''[[City of Reality]]'' suffers from this. It really interferes with his love life, as shown in [http://cityofreality.com/2010/02/14/06-07-slain/ this part] of Chapter 6. Fortunately he manages to make it up to AV after she comes to accept that it's just how he is.
* The title character of ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' can be counted on to do his even best to help anyone he encounters who's in serious trouble, whether that means facing off against a [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20060617.html giant space monster] or [[Save the Villain|rescuing]] a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]] [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20080902.html from herself.] (Other incidents like stopping the [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20090609.html bigfoot war] don't quite count, since the threats endangered him, too.) His one attempt at being a [[Knight Errant]] when he got super powers [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20070303.html went badly.]
* Elysia from ''[[Rumors of War]]'' exhibits symptoms of [[Chronic Hero Syndrome]], going out of her way to help a young woman who's misplaced her lover. Of course, [[Deconstruction|it's shown that]] her [[Refusal of the Call|initial reluctance]] to help out meant she was unable to prevent [[It Got Worse|a chain of events]] that culminated in {{spoiler|the girl's disappearance, the torture of a (presumably) innocent (if somewhat creepy) man, and a violent confrontation with the girl's father}}.
* ''[[
* Rikk from ''[[Fans]]'' has this in spades. It's surprising that the villains don't use it against him more often.
* ''[[
* [http://oglaf.com/sircoffee/1/ Sir Coffee] from ''[[
* In ''[[
== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[
* Phase of the [[Whateley Universe]]. He was brought up in a filthy rich family where the motto is 'Goodkinds don't complain, they fix things'. And even though he has been kicked out of the family for turning into a mutant, he still tries to fix things for everyone around him. Even if some of them tell him to stop it.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* The title character from Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', especially in the animated show, where characters, often Iago, are able use the knowledge that he'll always help people in need to get him to go along with things. Lampshaded by Genie: "Saving people that you might not like. It's a good guy thing!" At the time, he was saying it about himself, not Aladdin, but lampshading things is what Genie does.
* [[
* ''[[
* ''[[Samurai Jack]]'': Jack who feels compelled to right wrongs at everywhere he goes. If he'd been able to kill Aku in episode one, then most of the wrongs he comes across would never have happened in the first place -- this drives him.
** Jack's Chronic Hero Syndrome is so pronounced that it frequently hampers his ultimate objective, to go back in time and [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong|prevent Aku's Dystopian future for ever occurring.]] The irony being that if Jack ever succeeded in his goal, the people he gives up his many opportunies to go into the past to help would in all likelyhood never exist anymore.
* Optimus Prime from ''[[Transformers]]'' is often portrayed in this light. Hot Rod seemed to have a case of this in the first animated feature film. He keeps trying to be a hero even ''after'' [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|he gets an important Autobot killed in the process]]. Many fans agree that this is the source of most of his problems during his stint as [[Big Good|Prime]].
* ''[[Batman:
{{quote| '''Batman:''' Perfect. Just '''perfect'''. ''(alters direction to save them)''}}
* ''[[
* ''[[
** Katara, so very much. She even says once that she will "never, ''ever'' turn [her] back on people that need [her]". Thankfully, the other members of the group are better at recognizing that they can't always get distracted, and are more pragmatic.
** Aang is kind of a mixed bag, since he [[Refusal of the Call|ran away from home when he found out he was the Avatar]] and accidentally froze himself in an iceberg for 100 years. He continues heroism-avoidance at first, but once his Avatar superpowers start developing, he can hardly stop himself.
* [[Hero Antagonist|Dib]] from ''[[
* The protagonists of ''[[Street Sharks]]''. One of the first things they do, after mutating into shark creatures, is save a woman from a car accident.
* Finn from ''[[
* ''[[Wild Kratts]]'' runs on this. Poor Martin and Chris just can't seem to catch a break.
* Duke from ''[[G.I. Joe: Renegades]]'', to such an extent that Scarlet not only starts to [[Lampshade]] it, but eventually says its easier to just go along with him than try to argue.
* Yugo of ''[[
* While [[Ben 10|Ben Tennyson]] has been portrayed with different attitudes in his various series, this remains his most definite trait: Ben has a strong desire to help everyone in need, to the point it was the very first thing he thought about when getting the Omnitrix.
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