Hurting Hero: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Sometimes, being [[The Chosen One]] is ''[[It Sucks to Be The Chosen One|hard]]'', especially when it puts your life in danger, consumes all your free time, and makes you choose between [[Its Not You Its My Enemies|being alone]] or putting [[I Have Your Wife|your loved ones in danger.]]

 

 

Heroes are also not immune to personal tragedy and the memory of [[My Greatest Failure|certain events]] and [[Dead Little Sister|people]] can haunt them like everyone else. A [[Dark and Troubled Past]] can make them [[Bad Dreams|not even find peace in their sleep.]] [[Iron Woobie|The audience will love them for it]], in that twisted and tender way they love [[The Woobie]].

 

 

Sometimes, the pressure gets too great, leading to anything from a [[Heroic BSOD]], to a full-on [[Fallen Hero]] [[Face Heel Turn]]. Some heroes go [[Don't You Dare Pity Me]], others are glad for a little comfort.

 

Compare [[Being Good Sucks]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

** Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, and Alex Louis Armstrong are all wandering around with buckets of guilt over the parts they played in the war in Ishval, where they were ordered to massacre innocent people. On top of this, Roy and Riza have sizeable doses of [[Love Hurts]].

* Ichigo Kurosaki from ''[[Bleach]]'' struggles with guilt over the death of his mother at the hands of the hollow Grand Fisher, feeling for quite some time that it was his fault. He also suffers from depression from time to time in the present, basically whenever he fails to completely save the day.

* Kenzo Tenma from ''[[Monster (Anime)|Monster]]''. He saved the life of a murderer, and decided to take responsibility for it.

* All three [[Magic Knight Rayearth|Magic Knights]] were this at the end of the first series of "Rayearth" and the beginning of the second. They hated how {{spoiler|they killed the very person they sought to save, and having Zagato's blood on their hands as well made them even more depressed.}}

** Mami and Sayaka too. {{spoiler|Mami regrets not saving her family with her wish, and Sayaka learns the truths about being a Magical Girl and it really gets to her.}}

 

 

** Mark Steven Johnson adopts the same tradition for [[The Movie]]. Matt Murdock's superhero lifestyle is depicted as being a thankless and torturous affair.

* Since leaving the BPRD, [[Hellboy (Comic Book)|Hellboy]]'s life has become more and more like this.

* The life of [[Transmetropolitan|Spider Jerusalem]] is one of pain.

* [[Empowered (Comic Book)|Empowered]]. Let's see, constant mockery and humiliation (much of which comes from her own teammates), a somewhat embarassing track record that it seems she'll never live down down though she's getting better, an inability to hold a steady job... That's the small stuff. The ''big'' stuff includes a fellow superheroine and one of Emp's few friends sacrificing herself to save Emp (survivor's guilt, ahoy!) and watching her father die right in front of her on the kitchen floor when she was a little girl.

* In Nick Kyme's [[Warhammer 40000]] Salamanders novel ''[[Salamanders (Literature)|Salamander]]'', Tsu'gan is deeply grieved by the captain's death and his own failure. {{spoiler|Iagon actually uses it to foment his ambition: fighting at the head of the company would assuage his hurt.}}

** Fugis confesses to [[Despair Event Horizon|having lost faith]] at the same time; Dak'ir thinks how Tsu'gan resorts to fury and Fugis to despair.

{{quote| '''Hermione''': Now that Malfoy's a prefect, he could make life really difficult for you.//<br />

'''Harry''': Really? Gee, [[Deadpan Snarker|I wonder]] what it would be like to have a difficult life! }}

* Um, [[Buffy]], anyone? Her life sucks beyond all reasonable measure, she goes through multiple [[Heroic BSOD]], outright depression at points, yet she always manages to keep fighting.

** [[Angel (TV)|Angel]] as well. He constantly fights against his vampiric side, can never be perfectly happy for fear of losing his soul, and must deal with over a century of the most vile sins conceivable he committed while soulless.

* Jack Harkness from ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]''. Just... In ''Children of Earth'' alone, {{spoiler|first we learn he has a daughter and a grandson; while the grandson thinks Jack is his uncle, the daughter just really doesn't want anything to do with Jack. Then he gets blown up and feels it, comes back to life screaming with all of his skin still burned off, gets drowned and trapped in concrete, is thrown off a cliff while in the concrete, has his daughter and grandson taken hostage, and learns that he is partially responsible for the latest alien threat because he once surrendered 12 children to them. Then, just when it looks like he might be able to stand up to the alien threat, Ianto (his lover) is killed because of his [[Idiot Ball|very bad plan]] and dies in his arms, something Jack blames himself for. Then, to finally save the world from the alien threat, he has to ''kill his grandson in front of his screaming daughter''.}}

* In ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'', most of the Doctor's incarnations have something to be sad about, but in particular from Nine onwards, after the Last Great Time War in which he basically got the entire race of Daleks and Time Lords killed.

** Ashley and Kaidan, if they survive Virmire, is one of these in Mass Effect 2, despite their small role, and in the beginning of 3. {{spoiler|Literally, too, after Dr. Eva beats the crap out of them on Mars and they nearly die.}} A hefty dash of [[Broken Pedestal]] for Shepard combined with {{spoiler|Udina's betrayal}} will do that. Fortunately, they can overcome it.

** Shepard can also be played as this, and is definitely this if you choose the Colonist and/or Sole Survivor background where all of his/her family and friends were brutally murdered by slavers when [[Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday|s/he was 16]] and where [[Sole Survivor|s/he was the only survivor of his/her last squad as s/he saw the rest of them suffer terrible deaths from thresher maws.]] Choosing the Colonist background will have the Consort describe Shepard as this, an [[Iron Woobie]], and a [[Knight in Sour Armor]]. In the sequel, Shepard's reluctant cooperation with the terrorist organization Cerberus has made [[Hero With Bad Publicity|his/her name dirt]] to the people in power and even to some of his/her closest friends, no matter how noble his/her intentions are which can be highlighted in dialogue with Liara in ''Lair of the Shadow Broker''.

* {{spoiler|Midna}} in ''[[Twilight Princess]]'' turns out to be this, initially for {{spoiler|abandoning her people after Zant turned her into an imp}} and later for {{spoiler|being so selfish with Link and Zelda despite all the sacrifices they made to help her}}.

** [[The Legend of Zelda|Link]] [[The Hero|himself]], more than once. In [[The Legend of Zelda a Link To The Past|Link to the Past]], he's already an orphan, immediately proceeds to lose his uncle/godfather, and is framed for the kidnapping of Zelda (arguably his only friend at that point) soon after. In [[The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time|Ocarina of Time]] he's already the "Boy Without A Fairy," so getting one means he's on his way, right? Yeah, on his way out of the only world he's ever known, blamed for the death of yet ''another'' father figure, while leaving behind his only remaining friend. Then he makes friends with Zelda, who needs his help to stop the evil Ganondorf. Sounds good -- [[Bad Future|at first]]. One could argue [[The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask|Majora's Mask]] (searching for "a lost friend" -- presumably [[Wild Mass Guessing|Navi]] -- that he never finds) as well. Oh Link, you [[Blatant Lies|happy-go-lucky elf]], you.

 

== Western Animation ==

** Most particularly, in his ''[[Transformers Prime]]'' incarnation.

* Goliath, if not the rest of his clan, perfectly embodies this trope on ''[[Gargoyles]]''.

** Zuko, full stop.

*** Except that once he's actually able to be called a hero, he's the happiest he's been in the entire series. Not bad for a [[Heel Face Turn]] that happens within the last 10 episodes of a 3 season series. Zuko is your rare example of a Hurting Villain.

* Subverted in ''[[Justice League]]'', when Orion thinks that Flash covers this trope, but is proven wrong:

{{quote| '''Orion''': I understand you now. You play the clown to hide a warrior's sorrow.<br />

[[Category:Sadness Tropes]]

[[Category:Hurting Hero]]