Heroic Self-Deprecation/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: The Hero has zero self-esteem.

  • Straight: Hiro has saved the world on more than one occasion. He also has very, very poor self-esteem, only being able to think of the time he couldn't save his Dead Little Sister.
  • Exaggerated: Saving existence itself is a daily occurrence for Hiro; however, he is practically suicidal in terms of self-esteem, as his little sister once scraped her knee.
  • Justified: While the outsiders can only see Hiro's good deeds, Hiro himself spends a lot of time thinking about what he's unable to do; as a result, this causes him to view reality quite negatively.
  • Inverted: Hiro fails at saving the world more often than not, but his self-esteem is incredible.
  • Subverted: Hiro seems depressed in public, but it's just an act. When no one is watching, he acts normally.
  • Double Subverted: ...But that's an act too.
  • Parodied: Hiro continually whines about how he is unable to do anything. And he's a Physical God. And he's angsting while he's kicking ass, sleeping with many women, and is honestly enjoying a hedonistic lifestyle.
  • Deconstructed: Hiro's low self-esteem takes its toll; he eventually gets so depressed that he's virtually unable to focus as a hero or even a person.
    • Or Hiro regularly saves the day, but the people around him keep criticizing and nitpicking ways he could've done it better, constantly calling him inadequate. He takes it to heart, which plummets his self-esteem.
  • Reconstructed: So he channels this low self-esteem into self-improvement, and becomes an even greater hero than before.
  • Zig Zagged: He's depressed in public, but it's an act...or not an act. Then he stops being depressed. Then he is. And then...
  • Averted: Like normal people, Hiro has days where he feels great and days where he feels...not so great.
  • Enforced: "My totally awesome character needs a flaw, and the whole 'too beautiful to function' thing is out...I know! I'll have her be unable to think about anything but her failures!"
  • Lampshaded: "You'd think that someone as amazing as Hiro would have better self-esteem."
  • Invoked: Hiro purposefully acts depressed so that people will feel sympathy towards him and stroke his ego.
  • Exploited: As a plot to keep Hiro down, Emperor Evulz makes sure he mentions his Dead Little Sister at every opportunity.
  • Defied: "Bullshit! I kick ass!!"
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: "Why does the hero of this story always act so depressed? It's like the writers wanted to go on about how awesome she is without making her look arrogant."

Heh, if I was any hero at all, I could do better than provide you with a mere link back to Heroic Self-Deprecation.