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{{quote|''"Maybe I should just tell Zoey the truth. I mean, she's chill. She can handle multiple personalities right? She won't just think I'm some freak-ish weirdo right? Right?!"''|'''Mike''', ''[[Total Drama Island|Total Drama Revenge of the Island]]''}}
They [[Willfully Weak|didn't want these powers]], this magic, this curse, or whatever it is that was foisted upon them. [[Comes Great Responsibility|The responsibility to save the world?]] Forget it! [[In Harm's Way|All those exciting adventures and the ability to potentially do anything?]] Take it away. [[Home, Sweet Home|They want nothing to do with it]].
Needing to be normal often comes in waves. Often, it hits critical levels, and the character threatens to quit, or even [[Ten
While this is all well and good, most writers conveniently forget that after such an exciting and exceptional existence, everything else will seem dull and meaningless to most people. Not only are [[De
This can also include situations where overt powers or the like are not involved, wherein the characters are involved in an exceptional situation. It can also occur when characters, for no particular reason other than that the show is ending or that they're leaving it, have a sudden and usually implausible epiphany that they really want to live a "normal" life. Somehow this almost invariably includes them cutting ties with the entirety of the rest of the characters and locations.
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When done well, this can be an interesting metaphorical exploration of how even the most blessed can feel isolated and abnormal. When done poorly, it comes off as cheap angst that will get tiresome, especially if the premise of the show relies in some part on that "Special-ness".
One common subversion is [[Can't Stay Normal]] where the character finally ''becomes'' normal, but is not able to adjust to it, and [[So What Do We Do Now?|longs for their old life back]]. Or just as they achieve their normality, something happens where they
See also [[Cursed
related to [[I Just Want to Have Friends]] when the character wishes to be normal to develop relationships. Also related to [[Give Him a Normal Life]], when they leap at the chance to arrange this for their offspring.
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[
** Yoshikage stated that he has an uncontrollable desire to kill. Even if he wanted to stop, he really couldn't.
* Most [[Magical Girl
{{quote|
** Eventually she resents her Sailor life so much that her powers give out entirely. It's after encouragement and realizing that being Sailor Moon also brought the benefits of [[True Companions]] and romance that she finally accepts her Destiny as Sailor Moon and Princess Serenity. At this point although she occasionally gripes about how fighting the baddies is irritating and inconvenient she mostly accepts what she is and no longer seeks to be normal.
*** In the manga Usagi specifically comes to the conclusion that while being Sailor Moon is painful because of the endless battles and the loss she suffers, she's glad it happened because she got to meet everybody she now loves and has the ability to protect them. Of course, she had a lot less of the "I want to be normal" bits in the manga in general.
** Exception: Nanoha, from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', and Yui, from ''[[
*** They don't annoy her: She was just afraid of the changes they were going to bring. Until she finally realizes, of course, that they were born out of her desire to change, at which point she starts to treat them as very special friends and parts of her own self, since they came from her, even if, and even because of, the fact that they are slightly irritating and argumentative.
** And now the ''justified'' version: ''[[Sailor Nothing]]''. Oh, Sailor Nothing.
*** Usagi is pretty justified too, what with the whole "having powers will kill you and your friends" angle. She even cried when she does get her powers back in ''[[Sailor Moon]] R'' because getting them back also means she remembers watching her friends and her lover all die in battle right in front of her.
** Parodied with ''[[Pretty Sammy]]'', whose whole motivation for not wanting to keep her powers is because her outfit is lame and being
* Ichigo of ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'' wanted to be normal out of fear that her crush Masaya would reject her if he found out -- [[Wake Up, Go to School, Save
* ''[[Prétear]]'', on the other hand, is a [[Subverted Trope|strange case]]. By the time Himeno receives the [[Call to Adventure]], she already doesn't consider her life to be "normal", since she is all of a sudden a member of a rich family and feels ridiculously out of place there. Turns out that something even
* Chisame Hasegawa in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' was fed-up with her strange classmates even before she got a [[Adorably Precocious Child]] for a teacher. Naturally, things go downhill from there.
** She eventually just gives up entirely after {{spoiler|traveling to the Magic World with Ala Alba.}}
** Another of the less blatantly eccentric ones, {{spoiler|Asuna}}, turns out to only be normal because she ''succeeded'' at this, with the help of some [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]]. When the aformentioned [[Adorably Precocious Child]] appears, she goes back to paranormal of her own will not as a deliberate choice, but because ''she doesn't remember choosing to become normal in the first place'', much less being abnormal. Remember, always analyze what you would do if you didn't know what you know if you plan on getting rid of that knowledge.
** It's brought up again subtly with [[Our Vampires Are Different|Evangeline]]; she admits that the reason she hates {{spoiler|Asuna}} is because {{spoiler|Asuna}} was actually successful at becoming normal, but gave it up anyway. Eva is pissed because the person who got what she most desired threw it away, while Eva never got a chance to be normal to begin with. The fact that she lives in a brightly decorated room filled with adorable dolls and teddy bears in private hints that her [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Vampy]] and sexy [[Evil Overlord]] act is just a defense mechanism, and that she really wants be to an innocent and happy little girl again.
* Kahlua from ''[[Galaxy Angel Rune]]'' and ''[[Galaxy Angel (
* ''[[A Little Snow Fairy Sugar]]'' rather poorly handles this in its resolution.
* ''[[Haunted Junction]]'', in its two-part finale, shows very clearly that a life of "normalcy" is in fact {{spoiler|nothing to enjoy and criticizes the trend.}}
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** {{spoiler|Ichigo believes this is true of Aizen after feeling the loneliness pouring off Kyouka Suigetsu and concluding Aizen desired nothing more than to be a normal shinigami.}}
** The fullbringers want to be normal humans. {{spoiler|In the end, it's revealed only Jackie genuinely wanted this and the others had been lying about it. Like Ichigo, Jackie gets her wish to be normal and regrets the loss her powers.}}
* A variant of this occurs in ''[[
* We're still not sure what the hell's going on in ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'', especially in relation to Kyon. He continually mentions how he wishes Haruhi would just settle down and be a normal, well-adjusted schoolgirl (Hell, it's even in his [[Image Song]]), but the fact that he's an [[Unreliable Narrator]] (in regards to his feelings, anyway) and that he was once stuck in a universe where everything ''was'' normal and he ''still'' attempted to revert it to its very Haruhi, abnormal state may prove otherwise...
** And how can we forget
** Another remarkable fact is that if you look closely, you have to wonder if it's actually {{spoiler|''Haruhi''}} and not {{spoiler|Kyon}} who is really the
** From the most recent novels we have
* In ''[[Guyver]]'', Sho doesn't want to have the powers. When he technically has the opportunity to get rid of them (when the {{spoiler|Guyver Remover is found}}), he still keeps them because he needs to protect his friends. The new anime adds a nice twist to this, with Tetsuro picking up the G-Unit first and then passing it to Sho only when it started sprouting tentacles.
* In ''[[Ranma
** The characters of Ranma 1/2 fit this trope only tentatively. They have absolutely no complaints with their abnormal lives or their superhuman abilities, and most would probably hate being forced into normality in that fashion; the sole element of their lives they want gone are their Jusenkyo curses, which all but one character finds at the least annoying and at worst actively harmful to their lives. The one exception grew up with his curse... and also happens to go from cruel, egotistic [[Bishonen]] to a giant monster that the best martial artists of his generation have serious trouble defeating.
* Shinji Ikari from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' really, REALLY doesn't want to pilot a giant mech and save the world. Subverted when he runs away and realizes that ''without'' the Eva, he has (and ''is'') nothing.
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** The fact that she cannot die, that she will always be replaced by another clone, really bothers her as well.
* Tsuna Sawada from ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]''. ''Of course'' he's not a mafia boss, ''really''.
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', unlike virtually everyone else in a [[Loads and Loads of Characters|cast of thousands]] who are either trying to become heads of state, living legends, [[A God Am I|outright immortals]], gain the acceptance of their [[All of the Other Reindeer|persecutors]], [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|avenge horrific wrongs]], or various combinations
** He's not technically even a Bookworm despite being a genius. He's ''that'' damn lazy. He ''really'' doesn't want to fight, [[Brilliant but Lazy|but he]] ''[[Brilliant but Lazy|will]]'' [[Brilliant but Lazy|kick your ass when pressed]].
** Given his [[Character Development]] in ''Shippuden'', it would appear that his goals have become somewhat more lofty.
* Nagisa spends almost all of the two ''[[Iczer
* Simon of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' is both an example and an aversion. It was a constant of the first few episodes that he would plead with Kamina to return home once the [[Monster of the Week|Ganmen Of The Week]] started
** In the first page of the spin off manga, ''Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - Guren Gakuenhen'', Simon prays to his dead parents "Please, Please! Let me have an extremely normal life". In the second page, Kamina kicks down his window in an attempt to be [[Moe Moe]].
* ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', at the end of his fight with Zoro, Kaku expressed regret that he never got to lead a normal life, having been raised to be an assassin. In the manga, him and the rest of CP9 take a stab at this with the World Government hot on their tails.
** Earlier there's Captain Kuro, who was genuinely sick of being a pirate and wanted to live a nice, safe civilian life. Unfortunately, he wanted to be normal and ''rich'', and was willing to kill to get that life. He ultimately fails and is forced back to the sea.
* In ''[[Strawberry Panic
* Sakaki in ''[[
** Arguably, [[Cloudcuckoolander|Osaka]] as well; her [[Image Song]] "Shikkari! Try La Lai" has some shades of this in places.
* Zelgadis in ''[[The Slayers]]'' is a prime example. [[Cursed
** In the [[Light Novel]] series, it's a different matter entirely; he isn't completely motivated by vain in regards to his appearance, but rather, it's revealed here that after his [[Magnificent Bastard|great-grandfather Rezo]] [[Cursed
* ''[[Night Wizard]]'''s Renji is one of the most powerful Wizards around and can easily save the world with very little work. Except he wants to stop going on missions and actually get a chance to finish school, which is all but impossible with the number of times Anzelotte keeps calling him away.
* Oboro from ''[[Basilisk]]'' would just love to marry her fiancé Gennosuke and live [[Happily Ever After]]. However, they're both the heirs and leaders of warring Ninja clans...
** There's also [[Genki Girl|Genki Boy]] Yashamaru, who views the clan truce as his chance to get married to his beloved fiancée and fellow Iga Ninja [[Friend to All Living Things|Hotarubi]]. They both get {{spoiler|''bloodily'' killed off. [[Tear Jerker|Sniff]].}}
* ''[[Kenichi:
{{quote|
* The main character of ''[[Nurarihyon no Mago]]'' starts this way, wanting to just live a normal life as a human despite being the heir to a huge clan of youkai and a quarter-youkai himself. But {{spoiler|it's averted early on in the first real story arc, when he begins to fully understand his youkai nature and learns of the impact his attitude is having on others firsthand. He decides that while he does want to live a peaceful life, protecting the people close to him and leading his clan is far more important.}}
* In a rare non-supernatural example, ''[[K-On
** There's also [[Ojou|Mugi]], who comes from an incredibly wealthy family, but gets much enjoyment from doing ordinary everyday things that most people would take for granted.
* Judai in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' becomes notably less cheerful when suddenly the only thing stopping all his friends from dying and the world ending is the card game he loved so much. And up until this point he was the only one who really ''did'' seem to treat it as a card game. {{spoiler|Eventually the stress becomes so bad that he surrenders to his super powered evil side and starts taking over the duel monsters world, requiring ''two'' heroic sacrifices to get him back to ''efficiency''. He doesn't start enjoying dueling again until a decent bit into the next season... at which point the next big bad starts trying to implement [[Instrumentality]].}} [[Deconstruction|Sucks, huh?]]
* Averted with Onpu the grade-school idol in ''[[Ojamajo Doremi]]''. Even though some of the negative aspects of it are there (her mom's too busy to be with her on Christmas) she loves the attention she gets and the work itself.
* The entire plot of ''[[
** Only in the manga, though. In the anime, Clow just died so everything else happens equally, except the Sakura's dad being half of Clow and the dividing power thing.
** Sequel series ''[[
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': Kikyou, one of the most powerful miko who had ever lived, just wanted to be a normal girl and live a normal married life with [[Half-Human Hybrid|Inuyasha]]. She and Inuyasha wanted this so much that Inuyasha also agreed to his give up his [[Youkai]] heritage and become a normal human boy to make that dream come true. Their plan was ruined by another which became the entire reason for the plot of the story.
* Alphonse from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist
** This is also the whole motivation of the homunculi in the first anime, especially in the case of Lust.
* ''[[Rocket Girls]]'': After becoming an astronaut and going into space once, and getting international attention for it, Yukari Morita
* ''[[Nabari no Ou
* Lucia from ''[[Rave Master]]'' comes off as an odd example. As the [[Big Bad]] with no real superpower who opted to take over the main criminal orginization he doesn't seem like the type to express that sort of desire. However {{spoiler|he's the descendent of the sole survivor of [[The End of the World
* Parodied in ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou
{{quote|
* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'': Fresh from a [[Defeat Means Friendship]], [[Sociopathic Hero|Gajeel]] is smart enough to realize that it'll take a lot of time for most of Fairy Tail to forgive him. In addition to protecting his new friends, Gajeel goes to huge lengths to be accepted. This is usually played for laughs, since Gajeel doesn't have much of an idea as to how that works. For example, he once tied up the guild's singer and hijacked her concert so he could sing a ballad.
* ''[[Durarara
* The very wish of Eureka to be a normal human in ''[[Eureka 7]]''. She broke down in tears in episode 45 upon knowing her body is undergoing bizarre changes.
* Yuu from ''[[Holyland]]'' really doesn't want to have to keep fighting just so he can stay out at night, though he doesn't run away from the challenges either.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[The Twelve Kingdoms]]'', Keiki chose a young woman named Joukaku as the [[Fisher King]] of the Kei Kingdom. Joukaku, however, is a very insecure young woman who never wanted to be the Queen and felt that she wasn't up to the task, suffering more than one [[Heroic BSOD]]. Add her [[Unrequited Love]] for Keiki and her [[Yandere]] tendencies, and... [[It Got Worse|well...]]
* Maya Matsumoto from ''[[Working!!]]''. Ironic in that, in her attempts to be normal in a restaurant full of strange characters, she comes off just as weird to the other employees.
* Suletta of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury]]'' just wants to go to school and have normal (or, at least, normal from the prospective of someone whose entire knowledge of what "school" is is based on anime) interactions with her friends and classmates. Instead her piloting skill ensures she's wrapped up in her mother's complicated revenge scheme, corporate infighting between branches of [[Mega Corp]]s, [[Fantastic Racism|Earth/Space relations]], the schoool's use of Mobile Suit duels to settle disputes, and being [[Accidental Marriage|accidentally engaged]] to [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|another girl]]. Made worse by how, since she's from a dying and isolated former boom town, she has never actually interacted with anyone in her age group before [[No Social Skills|leading to predictable results]].
== Comic Books ==
* [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Peter Parker]] has attempted to give up the [[Superhero]] life several times, only to come back when someone is in need. Such an attempt was the foundation of the second movie's plot.
** The Kingpin ties this into [[Tall Poppy Syndrome]] and [[Muggle Power]] in a [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]].
{{quote|''They, "society," hate you because they don't want your help. You remind them of how weak-willed and sheep-like and unspecial they are. How gleeful they are, deep down, to be ordinary. They don't want heroes. They don't want special people around them. Because if there are special people and they aren't one of them-- well, who wants that? Who wants a constant reminder that they aren't even trying to be special? See, the difference between you and I is that you really are just a child. You benefit from the wide-eyed optimism of youth. I do envy that, somewhat. But... like many of your decisions in life... it's just naive. And I don't envy that harsh cold slap of reality that will come your way soon enough. But I guess it's inevitable. People don't want to be special. I do think that.It is my philosophy. They-- people want to be told what to do and how to live and they want men like me to tell them. They want to go to work and do as little as they can possibly get away with, and they want a big cookie at the end of the day for doing it. And they want men like me to give it to them."|'''Kingpin to [[Spider
* This is also common for [[X-Men (Comic Book)|mutants]] in the [[Marvel Universe]], who tend to become social pariahs if their status becomes public.
* The ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]'' comic inverted this, with Beast Boy losing his powers in a particular [[Story Arc]]. Everyone assumes that he'll be happy about being normal again, until he states that he ''never'' wanted to be normal.
** While ''[[Teen Titans (
{{quote|
'''"The Schoolgirl":''' [[Misaimed Fandom|Things were never the way you remember.]] Now just leave me alone. }}
** The Titans comic also played it as straight as can be with Beast Boy's best friend Cyborg. Half-human half-machine Vic Stone has struggled with
** Titans supporting character Frances Kane has tried very hard to be normal over the years; unfortunately, a combination of [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] and the writers' desire for a [[Chew Toy]] tends to get in the way.
* And before the Titans, there was [[Doom Patrol]]. Robotman, in particular, was unhappy about his [[Blessed
* Used in a rather awesome way in the third ''[[Blue Beetle]]'' comic series, when the villainous Eclipso grants the Blue Beetle all his deepest, most secret desires. Turns out he wants to be a dentist.
** The awesome thing is, she expected that a mild-mannered teenager would dream of power. She planned to turn him into some kind of monster and use him to get the [[MacGuffin]] back. Unfortunately for her, the only kind of power he dreams of is a high-paying, reliable job... which isn't very useful to get [[MacGuffin
* ''[[Runaways]]'' character Karolina Dean would rather be a normal, Hollywood teenager, rather than the lesbian child of two alien criminals.
** Only when things go awkward, as when she tried to kiss Nico and turned out she wasn't interested. At the end of the first series she was the first one who ran out of her foster house and contacted everyone, as she wanted to "fly again".
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* In ''[[Seven Soldiers|The Bulleteer]]'', both Alix and her "archnemesis" Sally Sonic wish they were normal people; It was this intense desire to live a normal life that led Sally to provoke Alix's husband to killing himself, because she so wanted to be in her place and be genuinely loved by a normal man.
** Alix also can't stop meeting up with people who are [[I Just Want to Be Special|the opposite]], especially the uber-pathetic Mind Grabber Man.
* Subverted with [[Man-Thing]]. A scientist who was transformed into a walking, empathic compost heap should be all over this trope, but most of the time he doesn't simply because his transformation cost him his
* In more recent works, [[Superman]] does cherish his Kryptonian heritage but thinks of himself as Clark Kent first. At one point, Mr. Mxyzptlk threatened to turn him into a powerless human who would have to live a normal life, but...
{{quote|
** "[[For the Man Who Has Everything]]", an absolutely brilliant story by [[Alan Moore]] that was [[Pragmatic Adaptation|adapted]] in ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', shows that he wouldn't mind a normal life on ''Krypton'' either.
* In the second issue of Dan Slott's run on ''[[She Hulk]]'', Jennifer Walters represents Dan Jermain, alias Danger Man, a mild-mannered industrial worker and family man turned into a superhuman paragon of might in an on-the-job accident. He's suing his employers in the Roxxon Corporation because [[Heroic Build|looking like Mr. Olympia]] and being stronger than a stampeding elephant herd has caused him nothing but pain. He tears his clothes with the slightest sudden movement. He rolls over in bed and nearly crushes his wife, who worries that he'll leave her to become a superhero. People stare at him on the subway, but the people who pretend to not look are worse. The climax of the issue sees Danger Man using his atomic powers to have a literal meltdown, because then at least his family will get to collect on his life insurance, before being talked down by She-Hulk. They won the lawsuit; Danger Man received a healthy sum to go to family counseling and, hopefully, some sort of cure. If he ever ''was'' cured, the reader was never clued in, though.
** As it happens, this is a fairly interesting aversion to [[Comes Great Responsibility]]; at no point does anyone try to tell Danger Man it's his duty to put on long johns and beat up bad guys now.
** Let's not forget [[Incredible Hulk
* ''[[Tron
{{quote|
* Mild subversion in ''[[
== Fan Works ==
* Having been [[Blessed
* Kairi Niko in the [[Knights of the Old Republic]] fic ''Destiny's Pawn'' is an amnesiac bookworm with skills she can't explain and really didn't ''want'' to know where she learned them. She flat-out asked the Masters if they could "shut off" her Force sensitivity, and only agreed to her conscription into the Jedi because there wasn't another option. Given her druthers, she's just quit and become a translator, but seeing as she's the ex-Dark Lord...
* ''[[
{{quote|
* ''[[
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* In ''[[Gladiator]]'', Maximus, a powerful Roman general, is offered the Emperor's throne by aging Emperor Marcus Aurelius but would rather return home, live as a family man, and tend a farm.
* Violet from ''[[The Incredibles]]'' personifies this trope, at least in the beginning of the movie.
{{quote|
* Sally Owens (Sandra Bullock) in ''[[Practical Magic]]''.
* [[Matt Damon]]'s character in ''[[Hereafter]]'' is a psychic whose ability to communicate with people's dead relatives is [[A Mind Is a Terrible Thing
* Extreme example: in ''[[The Matrix]]'', Cypher wants to return to life in the Matrix so much that he makes a deal with the machines to help them capture Morpheus, on the condition that they plug him back in and erase his memories of life outside. Admittedly, he does request that he be turned into someone important, like a famous actor.
** An entire faction of enemies in the sequel game ''The Matrix Online'' shares Cypher's point of view, however it is revealed that such a process is actually impossible.
* Susan in ''[[Monsters vs. Aliens]]'', who spends the first half of the movie fantasizing about shrinking back to normal and having a normal life with her husband-to-be. She eventually comes to terms with her new body and ability, culminating in taking the name Ginormica as her own.
* ''[[Godzilla vs. Destoroyah]]'' includes a scene of two psychic women at the UNGCC base, discussing the fact that their [[Psychic Powers]] are slowly disappearing. One of them says that she wants to live a normal life, [[Stay in
* This is the premise of ''[[Hancock]]''.
* Bethany in ''[[Dogma]]''. Jesus is said to have also been like this for some
* Which brings us to the film ''[[The Last Temptation of Christ]]''. The entire scenario of the film is that Jesus was tempted with, not power and glory, but a completely normal life. According to the film, if Jesus could have a wish just for himself, it would be his own carpentry shop, a loving wife and some kids. (Yes, and doing all the stuff with his wife that gets all those kids.)
* On the direct flipside, Damien Thorne in ''[[The Omen]]'' series of films has a very brief moment of this when he comes to a full realisation of what he is and why. "Why? Why me?" he screams to empty air, but his [[Wangst]] doesn't last long. If only it had...
* John Conner from [[The Terminator]].
* A large part of the plot in ''[[X
** This is also Hank and (initially) Raven/Mystique's attitude towards their mutant forms in ''[[X
* Megan, the protagonist of [[But I'm a Cheerleader]]. She wants to be straight, dammit!
* The reason that [[Canon Foreigner]] Skinner (the invisible man) joins ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' is because the [[Powers That Be]] promised him a cure for his invisibility.
* ''[[Last Action Hero]]'': Jack Slater deconstructs his action hero status.
{{quote|
* Played with in [[Megamind]].
** At first it's just hinted at, with the titular blue alien trying to fit in at [[It Is Pronounced "Tro
** Later played straight with {{spoiler|Metro Man.}}
* The protagonist Dave from the 2010 film ''[[The Sorcerer's
* [[Rambo|John Rambo]]. The guy goes home after going to Hell and back, just wanting to live a peaceful life and to process his inner demons. But he was continually antagonized and attacked, and always had to respond.
== Literature ==
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** In her first appearance in the
*** By ''[[
** There's also Rincewind, an unremarkable wizard whose main ambition in life is to be bored. He's constantly being dragged into dangerous quests to save the world, and he hates every second of it. He's even quite aware of it, but still insists that he wants to go home. When people try to say that he must enjoy it, he retorts that he rather ''likes'' being bored, as it generally means no one's trying to harm him. In one book (''[[
* In the short story ''[[Flowers for Algernon]]'', the low-IQ protagonist Charlie Gordon undergoes an operation to boost his intelligence, because he wants to be normal (i.e. as smart as those around him). Although the operation is a success, he sadly finds out being a genius isolates him even more from people he thought were his friends.
* Two of [[
** The end of the third book explores this more, probably somewhat due to Tolkien's own war experiences. The Hobbits return to the Shire, but in the end, Frodo cannot stay due to his lingering injury and his exposure to the One Ring. Samwise lives an unusually long and successful life as husband, father and Mayor, until eventually, when he is aged and widowed, also following Frodo and Goes West with the Elves. Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, on the other hand, never having been Ringbearers, live out their days in the Shire.
*** Actually, both leave the Shire in old age and end their days in Gondor. Merry is called to Rohan by the dying Eomer and goes to see him. After Eomer's death, he and Pippin go to Gondor, where they both die a few years later and are buried in Rath Dinen, where the Kings of Gondor buried.
* Subverted in [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[Neverwhere]]'', where the protagonist spends most of the book (or series) trying to get back to his normal life, and when he finally succeeds, realizes he doesn't want that any more, and returns to London Below.
* Harry Dresden of [[The Dresden Files]] repeatedly mentions he'd have liked to live a normal life and especially not know about all the supernatural nasties out to get/eat humans. He makes a similar note about The Archive, a little girl who has all of humanity's accumulated knowledge and thus never really had a childhood. She also all has all the memories of {{spoiler|her maternal ancestors, including her mother who committed suicide to avoid bearing the burden of being The Archive while being jealous that her daughter would otherwise avoid it all her life. Thus the girl carries the memories of her mother's hatred towards her.}}
* In the ''Andalite Chronicles'', a spin-off set of books from the ''[[
** [[Five-Man Band|Any of the Animorphs]] would rather [[Blessed
*** [[Blood Knight|Except]] for Rachel, that is.
*** One of the Megamorphs books has Jake wish that the Animorphs had never formed and due to a deal made between the Ellimist and another being, the wish is granted, with [[Be Careful What You Wish For|relatively predictable results.]]
* At the end of ''[[
** Although, from the ending, it seems he lied. "Human incarnate", as Crowley puts it.
* In Lisa Shearin's ''Magic Lost, Trouble Found'' and sequel ''Armed and Magical'', main character Raine Benares is an average magic user who specializes in finding lost items. Then she forms a psychic link with the Saghred, [[Artifact of Doom|an ancient stone with apocalyptic power]] that [[Life Energy|eats souls for breakfast]]. The books focus on her trying to break the link with the Saghred while being pursued by villains who want to harness the Saghred's power.
* The titular character in the [[Alex Rider]] series has an I Just Want To Be Normal moment at least once in every book he's been in...and he's been in seven.
** Not only does he want to be normal again, he never wanted to do it in the first place! They bribed him. Not hard to do since [[MI 6]] is his legal guardian, but still...
* Hugo Danner, the world's first superhero, suffered from this. Philip Wylie wrote the novel ''[[Gladiator (
* Flinx, the major protagonist of [[Alan Dean Foster]]'s ''[[Humanx Commonwealth]]'' universe, frequently has occasion to wish he did not have [[The Empath|empathic powers]] as the result of a [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|genetics experiment]] by a group of [[Evilutionary Biologist
* Nudge in ''[[Maximum Ride]]''. In fact, in ''Max'', she so desperately wants to go to a "normal" school, that she's willing to cut her own wings off. {{spoiler|She doesn't, though, because Max lets her go. After a while, she comes back, wings and all.}}
** Max herself is pretty desperate, hence why she is so attached to Dr. Martinez and Ella (the only two people besides Jeb and the Flock to act like a actual family to her. She also is desperate enough to move closer to "normal" at one point that she tries to hack a chip in her arm out with a jagged piece of sea shell and nearly bled to death.
* Garion in ''The [[Belgariad]]''. The phrase "Why me?" becomes a running joke over the series.
* Arthur Penhaligon in ''The [[Keys to
* In [[James Swallow]]'s [[Warhammer
* Eilonwy, in the [[Prydain Chronicles]], spends the entire series being more or less comfortable with the idea that she's "half an enchantress" and has latent magical powers, even though she can't always access them the way she'd like. At the end, however, when she learns that these same powers are the reason she has to leave the man she loves forever, she emphatically wishes that she could be rid of them. {{spoiler|Fortunately, she's been carrying around a little [[Chekhov's Gun]] that can make her wish come true.}}
* Played out strangely in ''[[The Last Unicorn (
* Raamo from the [[Green-Sky Trilogy]] is like this. The high priestess believes he's [[The Chosen One]] foretold in a prophetic dream she had, others look to him with hope in their eyes, and the more he hears things like that the more he backs away and says "I am only a Kindar." The high priestess says that in itself is the example she thinks he will set. He doesn't have to ''do'' anything. Later on in the series his sister and her Erdling friend get tagged as [[Holy Child
* ''[[Codex Alera]]'' has an inversion: it's a world where every single person has [[Elemental Powers]], except for one who's just a normal human. What would normally be [[I Just Want to Be Special]] is this trope for him.
* Shinsou of [[The Longing of Shiina Ryo]] would like nothing more. The universe just does not wish to oblige him.
* Mihcael develops this shortly after {{spoiler|being unwillingly experimented on to gain magic}} in the ''[[Knight and Rogue Series]]''. At first his new strangeness actually makes him physically ill it disturbs him so much, and even after having two years to get used to the idea it still makes hiw nauseas.
* Belisarius in [[Belisarius Series]] just wants to be a blacksmith. [[Atop a Mountain of Corpses|As his job involves killing conspicuous amounts of people]] one can understand.
* In ''[[
* A variant with [[Abhorsen Trilogy|Lirael]]. She wants to be normal - but for a Clayr, normal is having precognitive powers. She gets over it after she realizes she's {{spoiler|Abhorsen-in-Waiting.}}
* Sefalet is a freak of nature, even to Pentexore in ''[[
* ''[[
▲== Live Action TV ==
{{quote|
▲* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' often had bouts of wanting to be normal.
▲{{quote| '''Buffy''': I just want to be alone and quiet in a room with a chair and a fireplace and a tea cozy. I don't even know what a tea cozy is, but I want one.}}
** In a season 3 episode Buffy is unknowingly weakened to prepare her for an upcoming test. As she lives her life without her powers, she realizes that she can't be her old LA cheerleader days self anymore, both because she can't ignore the monsters who are out there and because she can't stop standing up for herself and other students.
** In Season 7, Buffy and Faith had a discussion about how being Slayers have screwed up thier lives, but concluded that being hot chicks with super powers helped take the sting off.
** Technically subverted in the series finale when Buffy {{spoiler|becomes "normal" by making thousands of other girls Slayers as well thus ending her uniqueness but preserving her powers.}}
* So did the witches from ''[[
** That is an understatement. It is the plot for every other episode.
** Phoebe seems to like being a witch, though. In spite of having the lamest power of all of them.
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** This trope is practically Piper's mantra.
** Played straight and ''then'' totally averted with Paige. At first she's wants nothing to do with the magical powers that be, and then becomes almost obsessively proactive in being both a [[Hot Witch|Witch]] ''and'' a [[Our Angels Are Different|Whitelighter]].
* Although [[
* Claire Bennet from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''. Conversely, Hiro Nakamura and Peter Petrelli both ''[[Jumped At the Call|desperately want]]'' to have powers, even and especially when there's very little evidence to suggest that they ''do''. ([[Evil Counterpart|As does Sylar.]] Heh, heh.)
** In season two, Claire becomes the classic
*** The thing with Claire is that she constantly has a "grass is always greener on the other side" mentality. Whenever her powers are put at the forefront of her life she wants to be normal, and when placed in a situation where she's basically allowed to live a normal live she complains about hiding "who she really is." She is eventually called out for it in the most recent season, but not long after just says screw it and {{spoiler|reveals her powers in front of several news reporters.}} [[Sarcasm Mode|Surely, nothing bad will come of that.]]
** In Volume Four, former villain Doyle decides that he wants to go back to his old life as a puppeteer. With the government rounding up people with abilities, he is forced to turn to Claire for assistance. This is doubly ironic - not only did Claire use to want a normal life, but the last time they met, Doyle held Claire and both her mothers captive for hours.
** And now, in Volume Five, Matt has been trying to give up his powers out of the feeling that they're controlling his life, and {{spoiler|Sylar is trying to suppress his powers in an attempt to be more human.}}
* In the classic series of ''[[
** Exceptions: In ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' and several [[Expanded Universe]] works, several ex-companions are revealed to have had trouble adjusting to normalcy after leaving. In the new series, Rose explicitly references this.
** In the new series two-parter "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood", The Doctor himself becomes John Smith, a normal human living a normal life, but [[Ten
*** In the novel the episode was adapted from, he did it specifically to {{spoiler|find out what being a normal human was like}}.
** The new series in particular has often made the point about how the Doctor, while capable of so much, is incapable of living the simple, normal life taken for granted by mere humans. He's occasionally expressed envy about this, but he's never really shown a desire to actually ''be'' normal (outside the abovementioned Human Nature example).
*** Given what we're shown of "normal" Time Lord life in ''The War Games,'' ''The Deadly Assassin'' etc, this is perhaps not that surprising. (Presumably for the Doctor to want to be a normal 21st century human would be like us wanting to go back to Medieval times, or maybe even Biblical times...)
* Similarly, in ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'', some of the crew expressed uncertainty as to how they would adjust to life on Earth if they ever reached it.
* The entire premise of ''[[
* Ditto [[
** In an early first season episode, Angel actually ''becomes'' human. However, once he realizes that this would mean he couldn't fight the baddies, as his superhuman strength would be gone, he goes to the extreme of undoing the change. He still likes the idea of becoming human, just not while there are bad guys to fight.
** In the series finale, Angel is confronted with a
** In the canon comic follow up, Angel is currently {{spoiler|a human}}. However, the powers responsible for it have less than benevolent reasons for changing him.
* A recurring theme in ''[[Highlander the Series]]'' was main character Duncan MacLeod [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|bemoaning his immortal status]].
* ''[[
** An episode of ''Bewitched'' actually played with what would happen if this trope was ever subverted and Darren was happy and even encouraging Samantha to use her powers for their own benefit. In the end, Samantha herself was unhappy because she really just wanted to be a normal housewife and use her powers relatively sensibly instead of rewriting reality to bend to her will and she and Darren agreed to hit the [[Reset Button]] and revert things to normal.
*** Really, Samantha could be seen as an inversion, since bending reality on a whim ''is'' normal for her and her people. Major Nelson, on the other hand, plays this trope straight, almost to the point of [[Insane Troll Logic]].
* River Tam of ''[[
** {{spoiler|Though it turns out this is was a [[Batman Gambit]] to get him outside the ship and lead him into an ambush.}}
** According to the commentary on ''[[
** Simon also mentions several times that he wished he was still at home, advancing his medical career, rather than being on ''Serenity''. Of course, he tries to hide this from River (who is the reason he had to drop his old life), but she usually figures it out anyway. On the other hand, the end of the series implies that he's at least gotten used to being on the ship, even if he did still miss his old life. His crush on Kaylee probably helped.
** YMMV but slightly subverted by River's admission to Simon that she doesn't want any more of the drugs he gives her to remain coherent because she's knows it's not going to last and she'll slip again.
* The main character in the 2000 ''[[The Invisible Man (TV series)|The Invisible Man]]'' series spends a great deal of time trying to get rid of the implanted gland that gives him his invisibility powers, though more because of the [[Psycho Serum|side effects]] than because he objects to the invisibility itself.
* The main character of ''[[New Amsterdam]]'' is immortal until he meets his true love. You'd think he'd want to avoid doing this, but he can't wait to meet her/get rid of the immortality [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|so he can stop outliving his girlfriends, wives, and children]].
* Sam from ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' wanted to return to his life in the future, but when the opportunity arose, he had to leap back in to save Al from being killed, thus returning to the cycle and forgetting much about his past/future.
* Sam from ''[[Reaper]]''. In early episodes, he was even trying to run away from/hide the vessels he was to use to capture the escaped souls. They followed him. However, in later episodes, he's wised up, even telling [[Satan|the Devil]] to "just cut to the chase," so to speak.
* In ''[[
** In one episode, he lost his powers, but still managed to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|beat the snot out of three superpowered bad guys]], and believed he didn't need his powers anymore. Unfortunately, in the ''next'' episode, a nuclear missile gets launched at the town, leaving him with no choice but to regain his powers to save the day.
* Both ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' boys have gone through this phase at some point.
** Sam leaves the family business, running away to college to pursue a normal life. And [[Corrupt the Cutie|then his girlfriend gets torched by the same demon that killed his mother and infected him with demon blood]]. He still spends a great deal of Season one talking about going back to a normal life, but after finding out he had demonic powers and getting a taste of [[The Dark Side]], he now considers himself too much of a freak for that to be a possibility.
** Dean has been tired of this life pretty much since the beginning of season two, when he found out [[Big Brother Instinct|he might have to kill]] his [[Protectorate|brother]]. Season four, with Sam choosing the [[Psycho Serum|demon blood]]-born power he thought would prevent the Apocalypse over Dean, really broke him. By season five, he was ready to settle down or die, and didn't seem much to care which. At the end of Season Six, Dean {{spoiler|gets a normal life with a family for a year, but loses Sam.}}
** Runs in the family. Their hunter mother desperately wanted to get out, raise a family and live a normal life. Well, at least she managed for ten years, right? Until her [[Deal
** Jimmy Novak, Castiel's vessel. [[Genre Blind|He really thought it was over]].
** Subverted in the Season 5 Episode "Swap Meat":
{{quote|
'''Gary:''' You do? ...Thanks.
'''Sam:''' Get on out of here. ''<Gary leaves>''
'''Dean:''' That was a nice thing to say.
'''Sam:''' Totally lied. Kid's life sucked ass. All that apple-pie family crap, it's stressful, believe me. We didn't miss a damn thing. }}
* In ''[[Young Dracula]]'', Vlad wants nothing more than to be a normal boy with a normal family. Jonathan definitely does not want to grow up to be a vampire hunter like his father.
* [[Ace Lightning]]'s Mark Hollander regularly just wanted to be normal, rather than the elected sidekick of a hero from a videogame.
* In a more mundane example, [[House (TV series)|House]] has had moments of just wanting to be normal. The most notable example would be a Season Three episode where he wants to harvest the patient's (a girl who can't feel pain) spinal nerves and replace his damaged thigh muscle. He doesn't go through with it, thanks to an attack of conscience/Wilson, but it's still rather pathetic.
** One of his recent patients was a genius who had been taking cough syrup and vodka to lower his IQ because his wife was 91 points lower than him: "She's closer to a gibbon than to me. Sex with her would be an act of bestiality."
* Jen on ''[[The IT Crowd]]'' who at one point screams that the geeks she works with have turned her into one of them.
* ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'''s Leonard Hofstadter, the genius who wishes he wasn't.
* Ned in ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'' is actually pretty good about avoiding this, despite being very much [[Blessed
* Played with a lot in ''[[Misfits]]'', where the superpowered characters aren't remotely bothered about saving the world and are just trying to get on with their lives. Although the show is mercifully free of [[Wangst]], you get the constant impression that the protagonists don't like their powers much. Alisha in particular ''really'' hates her ability (a form of pheromone manipulation which causes anyone who touches her to be overcome with such violent lust that they try to rape her) but then she is well and truly [[Blessed
** The only protagonist who ''does'' whine about the situation is Nathan, who seemingly [[I Just Want to Be Special|doesn't have a power]].
** In the series two Christmas Special, they're given an opportunity to get rid of their powers, and they take it immediately. Simon is hesitant, since he [[Genre Savvy|knows this is a bad idea]] because it didn't work out in ''[[Superman (
* This is pretty much the entire concept behind ''[[Being Human (
* This was the main motivation of Chuck Bartowski in ''[[Chuck]]'' for the first two seasons. His normal life was pretty crappy (or at least, boring and [[Wangst
* Patrick Jane, ''[[The Mentalist]]'', has a lot of fun with his [[Sherlock Scan]] abilities as a police consultant, but...
{{quote|
'''Jane''': Yet you recall my exact words. There's no shame in it. I feel that way too sometimes. Why does everyone else get to have a normal life? }}
* Jaye Tyler from ''[[Wonderfalls]]'' doesn't take too kindly to becoming a divine instrument (okay, it's not made entirely clear that that's what she is, but it's strongly implied). As the series goes on, she does seem to become significantly less bitter about it, especially after an encounter with a man who [[I Just Want to Be Special|just wants to be special]]:
{{quote|
* [[Dexter]] sometimes expresses the desire to be able to feel like a normal person, free of his drive to kill, at times when he is able to distinguish whether or not he feels anything at all.
* ''[[House of Anubis]]'' had an interesting subversion: {{spoiler|Joy Mercer}} once told her friend Patricia that she wanted to be normal, then in a twist, {{spoiler|it turned out that she had ''been'' normal the whole time.}}
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* In ''[[True Blood]]'', Sookie says she is a freak for being able to read minds, and wishes she was normal like everyone else. {{spoiler|she later finds out that she is a fairy, and does not quite like that, either.}}
* In ''[[The Secret Circle]]'', the main character learns she is a witch, and freaks out, does not want anything to do with magic, just wants to be "normal"
* In the pilot episode of ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV series)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'', this is Sabrina's initial response to her father when he tells her that she is a witch.
* The protagonist of the later part of Stephen Spielberg's ''[[Taken (TV series)|Taken]]'' miniseries says this quite frequently.
* Played several times in ''[[The Nine Lives of Chloe King]]''.
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* The ''Radiohead'' song "Creep" is about a secret admirer/stalker of a girl, who longs to be "special" like her.
* The narrator of the song ''A Tongue That Cannot Lie'' by Karine Polwart. Specifically: "Afflicted, addicted / I pray for a potion / to take all these visions away"
== Video Games ==
* In a non-superpower example, Solid Snake of the ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series made one attempt to live a normal life in the isolation of Alaska, attempting to escape the cycle of violence and death that had killed so many people around him. Without fail, he was back fighting the titular [[Humongous Mecha]] within a few years at most.
* Chun Li in the ''[[Street Fighter]]'' franchise. Within the games themselves, she is often mentioned as wanting to go back to living a normal life after she avenges her father. However, since she just [[Can't Stay Normal]], her attempts at living said normal life tend to go astray mainly because she actually does like street fighting.
** Parodied in [[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
* In ''[[The Sims]] 2'', this is generally how sims without the knowledge aspiration react to being turned into a monster. They will constantly have the want to be normal come up in their slot, or the want for one of their friends or family to be normal. You can just ignore this with no negative consequences though, or you can cash in on the points and buy the curing potion. Note that sims who ''do'' have the knowledge aspiration have this a fear instead.
* {{spoiler|Vayne}} in ''[[Mana Khemia]]''.
* Terra Branford in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]''. She actually gets her wish when she spends a year taking care of orphans, and her powers regress to the point she actually ''can't'' fight even when she tries. Once she rediscovers her fighting spirit, she jumps back into the fray when she realizes the world has gone to hell, and she doesn't want the kids to be stuck growing up in a world like that.
* It's implied that {{spoiler|Joshua}} from [[
* Roxas spends most of ''[[
** In the first Kingdom Hearts, Sora fits this trope. He journeys not to save the Universe (which he ends up doing), but to find his friends. Once he has done that, he still needs to restore his homeworld.
* In ''[[Wild
* In ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]'', this is the whole plot of the game. The main hero, [[Kid Hero|Marche]], despite being in a [[I Wish It
* Several mages in the ''[[Dragon Age]]'' franchise feel this way about their magic. One mage in the ''Origins'' prays to the Maker apologizing for her very existence and thinks she is a monster. Ander's friend Karl in the sequel says that he would gladly give up his magic if it didn't also mean being turned Tranquil. In the [[Downloadable Content|DLC]] "Legacy" Hawke's father Malcolm's lingering memories reveal that Malcolm hated his magic and hoped none of his children would share his burden.
** Hawke's sister Bethany vocalizes her desire to be normal several times in party banter.
* Shinjiro Aragaki in ''[[Persona 3]]'' would like nothing better than to be rid of his Persona - with good reason, since {{spoiler|he once lost control of it during a mission, causing the death of an innocent woman and orphaning her eight-year-old-son}}. He stubbornly rejects Akihiko's efforts to bring him back into the fight, and goes so far as to {{spoiler|poison himself with Persona-suppressing drugs}}. In the female protagonist's route in the PSP version of the game, he all but says the trope name word for word during his Social Link.
** Mitsuru in the same game also struggles a little with wanting to be normal; in her case it has less to do with her Persona and more to do with the fact that she's the heir to a large corporation and thus a lot of her life has been shaped by the expectations on her to live up to her role. All things being equal, she'd like to be able to wear the same kinds of clothes and frequent the same hangouts that other students her age do, but instead her clothes are chosen for her by her family's stylist and she's engaged to a man twice her age who she feels she must marry in order to secure the future stability of her family's company.
* Argilla from ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]''. Originally just another emotionless combat drone, the release of the Demon Virus charged her with emotions, which neither she nor anyone in her [[Crapsack World]] had ever experienced. As her personality started forming, she developed a wish to know more about what had happened to her. Then she was informed she had shifted into a powerful demon form and slaughtered an enemy battalion. It was comprehensible she uttered the trope verbatim, as an emotionless existence was very much preferable to what she was becoming.
* Jarod Shadowsong, a night elf from ''[[
* In ''[[MDK]]'', janitor Kurt Hectic reluctantly dons the Coil Suit to save the day against alien invaders. In ''[[
=== Visual Novels ===▼
* In ''[[
▲== Visual Novels ==
** Additionally, Shirou, for a good bit of the initial stages of the war, wanted
▲* In ''[[Fate Stay Night|Fate/stay night]]'' this was {{spoiler|[[King Arthur|Saber]]}}'s entire motivation to win the Holy Grail, though with the intent of remaining normal so {{spoiler|the country she led would have a better ruler}}.
▲** Additionally, Shirou, for a good bit of the initial stages of the war, wanted to -- and tried to -- withdraw from the war. Didn't get far on that one. (You get the option in the game, but if you do quit, [[Bad End|Ilya and Berserker eat you]].)
*** Shirou did ''not'' wanted to be normal. He'd be a lot cheerier about the whole thing if Kotomine didn't poke a giant hole in his fun by pointing out that superheroes need tragedies to happen in order to fix them.
*** Shirou put himself at great personal risk with his magic training; this doesn't indicate a desire for normalcy. However Sakura, {{spoiler|whose own magical training was mercilessly inflicted on her,}} desperately saw in him the chance for her to have a role in a normal life.
* Shiki from ''[[Tsukihime]]'' had a similar problem. To be fair, his power was [[Blessed
== Web Comics ==
* Nicely subverted in [http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus13.html this] strip from the webcomic ''[[Minus]]''.
* ''[[Nowhere University]]'': Edward has a brief spell of this after discovering [[Psychic Powers]], but [http://nowhereu.comicgenesis.com/d/20080603.html quickly thinks better].
* In ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]'', Arthur doesn't want to be High King of Britain (or High King of British Space, or C.E.O. of Excallicorp), but his sense of responsibility is too strong to give it up.
* Zoe is like this a bit in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''. She just wants to graduate from college and get a good job, while all her friends are more interested in summoning demons, exploring [[Another Dimension|other dimensions]], building giant robots, fighting vampires, or conocting various [[Zany Scheme
** In the Stormbinger arc, she appears to muster up her will in an attempt to avert this trope. Except that amongst her circle of friends, taking a shotgun into a time-travelling go-kart ''is normal''.
* In ''[[Misfile]]'' this is Ash's eternal lament. What with the [[Gender Bender]], the drunken angel posing as her boyfriend, and being treated like the local [[Badass]]'s [[Replacement Goldfish|surrogate little sister]] you can't really blame her.
** Interestingly, Emily is actually enjoying her new life more than her old one, and is beginning to disagree with Ash's desire to return to the way things were.
* Played straight by Kei in ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20170802124754/http://www.revenant-braves.schala.net/ Circumstances of the Revenant Braves]'', until he realizes that having the power to do real good is what he's always wanted.
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' - ironically, the deepest thoughts on the subject are given by the [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050622 supposed moron.]
* In ''[[Everyday Heroes]]'', Summer Mighty has inherited her father's powers, which caused her former friends to avoid her.
* In ''[[The Wotch]]'', Anne has a burn-out after finding out how her magic has been screwing up the lives of people and [http://www.thewotch.com/?date=2005-10-26 tries] [http://www.thewotch.com/?epDate=2005-10-28 to] [http://www.thewotch.com/?epDate=2005-10-31 quit]. [[Ten
* ''[[A Magical Roommate]]'' provides quite a few interesting spins. Aylia wants to be a wizard, which is normal in her world, but is sent to college instead. Nicole wants to have a happy average life, but winds up getting quote "Three Wierdo Roommates!" unquote. {{spoiler|Alexis just wants to live as a human instead of having wings.}} Everybody else is apparently fine with being abnormal.
* ''[[Sinfest]]'': Jeses thinks about [
** Also, devil-girl Fuschia starts to lean towards this after falling in love with nerdy bookworm Criminy. See [https://web.archive.org/web/20131008105524/http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3203 here] and [
* Titular character of ''[[Jayden And Crusader]]'', Crusader, being the artist of the webcomic he is in, has struggled with his powers throughout the series but after [https://web.archive.org/web/20110810233436/http://www.jaydenandcrusader.com/2010/10/30/page-171/ gaining complete and total control of all reality] decided it was something he didn't want and went back to his friends.
* Bob, from ''[[
* Shelly of ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' isn't very happy about all the paranormal stuff she ends up involved in, especially when it leaves its mark on her. She gets a bit better eventually, but she is still upset [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/too-late/ after learning her strength falls a bit outside the human norm.]
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Strays]]'', when Meela objects that [[King Incognito|Holland should have told her he's a prince]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20110830130551/http://www.straysonline.com/comic/173.htm he asks whether she would have treated him differently, and when she agrees, says that's why].
* The print-only bonus issue of ''[[Spinnerette]]'' reveals that Heather's roommate, Sahira, is a [[Differently-Powered Individual]] {{spoiler|who can [[Mega Manning|copy the powers of anyone she touches]]}}. Heather, being an [[Ascended Fangirl]] herself, doesn't help by being over-enthusiastic about Sahira being her sidekick. A talk with the more experienced heroes ends with them both coming to the conclusion {{spoiler|that just because Sahira has a superpower, it doesn't mean she can't live a normal life as a civilian.}}
== Web Original ==
* The Fabulous Frog-Man, a mutant hero from the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', is super-agile, can leap the length of a city block, can heal quickly from most injuries, and has a six foot long, prehensile tongue. He's also green, warty, and has big googly eyes. He'd give up his powers and his life as a superhero to look normal again.
* None of the protagonists in the web fiction serial [[Dimension Heroes]] want their super powers. Of course, that doesn't stop some of them *coughRobcough* from enjoying them.
* Emma uses the exact phrase in the ''[[
** Jonas is still like this in the first chapter of ''[[
* The title character of [[The Saga of Tuck]] has a fairly active and mad life, but {{spoiler|his discovery of his intersex medical condition}} leaves him longing for the past.
* Many of the characters in the [[Whateley Universe]] enjoy their abilities, but some, especially those whose mutations have turned them into hideous freaks, or made it impossible to live without life support, certain wish they were normal. Of the main characters, the intersexed Ayla Goodkind is actively researching ways to change back to a normal-looking male, and Chou Lee is still angsting about her transformation, and the tasks the Tao requires her to perform.
* Siberys from ''[[
* [[The Onion]]: [http://www.theonion.com/articles/archaeologist-tired-of-unearthing-unspeakable-anci,1448/ "Archaeologist Tired Of Unearthing Unspeakable Ancient Evils"]
{{quote|
* Lana from ''[[The Gungan Council]]'' has an affinity to psychometry, yet believes it's simply a curse to her life as an outlaw.
* Not everyone is a "curebie". One of ''[[Cracked.com]]'''s [https://web.archive.org/web/20140712235028/http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-things-movies-always-get-wrong-about-awkward-people_p2/ 4 Things Movies Always Get Wrong About Awkward People] is that people with [[No Social Skills]] necessarily want to be cured.
== Western Animation ==
* Several episodes of ''[[My Life
* In the ''[[Legion of Super
* Aang in ''[[
{{quote|
** The funny things is that "normal" for Aang still involves [[Elemental Powers]], just not being [[The Chosen One|the Avatar]].
* A main plot point of the 80's ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (
* In ''[[The Spectacular Spider
** A desire for normalcy is also the motivation for [[Super Villain]] Electro's [[Comes Great Insanity|descent into insanity]]. Granted [[Power Incontinence|uncontrollable]] [[Psycho Electro|electrical powers]] in a [[Freak Lab Accident]], he's [[Freak
* In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', Blackarachnia is obsessed with removing her organic side and becoming fully robotic again despite being both [[Cursed
* Used and subverted in Disney's ''[[Hercules (
* In the season two finale of ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'', Dean ends up admitting this during a fit of delusion. It's become his defining motivation.
** Deep down, this is all Rusty Venture really wants as well.
* In ''[[
** {{spoiler|Mysterion, a.k.a. Kenny}}, is tired of {{spoiler|being immortal because no one remembers [[They Killed Kenny|his deaths]].}}
* Heathens! [[Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer|Don't you recall ... the most famous reindeer of all]]?
* In ''[[
** Not to mention in the pilot episode, he expresses the desire to be fully human again early on ("If my dad can invent something that accidentally made me half-ghost, why can't he invent something that turns me back to normal?!")
** In [[The Movie]], his future self has Vlad separate his human and ghost halves to help him deal with {{spoiler|the death of his family and friends. It doesn't end well. At ''all''.}}
*** That's more of an inversion; Danny explicitly wanted to remove his ''human'' side. Well... [[Gone Horribly Right|he succeeded.]]
* In ''[[
* In one of the ''[[My Little Pony]]'' animated specials, Lily Lightly is the only unicorn whose [[Cursed
* Nightcrawler of ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'' was like this, but you couldn't really blame him given that he looked like a furry blue demon. Unlike the other mutants, who were actually fairly good about being exposed as mutants, Nightcrawler was really reluctant to let go of the illusion that he wasn't a mutant, but eventually did, and never let go of the human appearance given to him by his image inducer (can't really blame him, again).
* The three princesses from ''[[Mulan]] II'' would love nothing more than marry someone who loves them for who they are and live out a normal life.
* [[
* Quasimodo's [["I Want" Song]], ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DCALg2levk Out There]'' From ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]''.
* This is how ''[[Teen Titans (
* Inverted and played straight in [[
* [[Ant-Man|Hank Pym]] from ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
** Colonel James Rhodes explains that he rarely dons the [[War Machine (Comic Book)|War Machine]] armor because he's not interested in becoming a superhero.
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