View source for In Harm's Way

{{trope}}
{{quote|''I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not go fast; for I intend to go [[Trope Namer|in harm's way]].''|'''John Paul Jones''' (no, not [[Led Zeppelin|that one]])}}

Sometimes [[The Hero]] doesn't get a [[Happy Ending]] because [[Victory Is Boring|no]] ''[[Victory Is Boring|ending]]'' [[Victory Is Boring|could conceivably be happy]]. It would mean the end of the adventures, and nothing could be more dull than the lack of the adrenaline. He's not really ''alive'' out of danger. An adrenaline junkie, often enough.

Sometimes [[The Hero]] is depicted as a [[Stranger in a Familiar Land]] trapped in a dull job or situation, fondly recalling his [[Glory Days]]; when [[Call to Adventure|a new chance at adventure arises]], they invariably [[Jumped At the Call|jump on it]]. Sometimes the hero at the beginning already sets out in search of new adventure. Sometimes, in the middle of the story, the hero has a chance to [[Red Pill, Blue Pill|leave]], and this is one motive for rejecting it. And sometimes it is an ending trope; the hero resolves not to return to mundane life, [[And the Adventure Continues...]]. This is the common ending of [[Adrenaline Makeover]].

Some heroes who make a fortune and promptly lose it foolishly may fall under this trope, because it means that they can return to the fun of making money, and the [[Non-Idle Rich]] may trample familial objections to stick to a dangerous occupation when they don't need the money, to avoid [[Rich Boredom]]. And sometimes the love of being '''In Harm's Way''' is merely implied, when the hero never seems to find anything worth [[Walking the Earth|stopping for]]. [[The Dulcinea Effect]] may not be so much by desire to help as the chance to get into the thick of things.

This can be an intermittent condition in some heroes; they adventure, get tired of it, settle down, get tired of ''it'', adventure—etc. At other times, it may propel a hero to adventure for years on end before realizing, finally, that he has burned out and wants to settle down. Sometimes, being forced by circumstance to stay in one place grows on him until he realizes that he really does love [[Home, Sweet Home]] after all.

Characters who enjoy putting themselves [[In Harm's Way]] include these:

* The [[Blood Knight]] is always looking for a good fight.
* The [[Combat Sadomasochist]] enjoys fighting for the feeling of pain, theirs and their enemies'.
* The [[Egomaniac Hunter]] travels the most exotic and dangerous locations in search of spectacular quarry.
* The [[Glory Seeker]] will always look for new ways to win glory (except the [[Sub-Trope]] [[Glory Hound]], who doesn't risk ''himself'' to get the glory).
* The [[Knight Errant]] will ''never'' turn from his duty.
* The [[Spirited Competitor]] is always looking for a [[Worthy Opponent]].
* The [[Intrepid Reporter]] is ''always'' [[Going for the Big Scoop]].
* And as for the [[Gentleman Adventurer]]? After each adventure, when someone asks him [[So What Do We Do Now?]], he will simply shrug and continue [[Walking the Earth]].
** [[Lady of Adventure]] is the [[Distaff Counterpart]], BTW.
* The [[Psycho for Hire]] is a psychotic sadist who gleefully charges to the battlefield to kill as many people as he can.
* The [[Death Seeker]], simply not content with sitting on his butt waiting for time to take its toll on his body, instead actively pursuing an honorable death in combat.

... and probably more.

Related to [[Chronic Hero Syndrome]] and [[Chronic Villainy]]. One of the more [[Justified Trope|reasonable]] ways to [[Status Quo Is God|maintain status quo]]. Many [[Heroic Fantasy]] heroes keep going in unending series because they are in love with being '''In Harm's Way'''. Inverse of [[Home, Sweet Home]].

Frequently found with a love of [[Famed in Story]]. See also [["Glad to Be Alive" Sex]].

{{examples}}
==  Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[The Castle of Cagliostro]]'', [[Lupin III]] and Jigen discover that their careful heist had netted counterfeit money. They laugh it off, Jigen declaring that he didn't want to retire anyway.
* ''[[Tenchi Universe]]'' ends with all the craziness ended, Tenchi at home safe, and him being bored to have a normal life.
** Of course, Ryoko's reappearance in literally the last minute of the last episode provides Tenchi the promise on being In Harm's Way all over again. Albeit, off-camera.
* At the end of ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'', {{spoiler|Tenma refuses a teaching post at a uni and joins the MSF instead.}}
* ''[[Dragonball Z]]'': Pretty much the defining feature of the Saiyan race. They simply love fighting strong opponents.
** [[The Smart Guy|Piccolo]] and [[Sixth Ranger|Tienshinhan]] too.
* This happens at the end of ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'', after {{spoiler|Wild Tiger coming back into action as Wild Tiger ~ 1 minute, at the end of the last episode.}}
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Luffy simply chooses the hardest, most difficult paths in his adventure just because he thinks that will be the most exciting. He lives on adventure. Meanwhile, Zoro is definitely of the [[Spirited Competitor]] mold, always on the watch for worthy opponents, and seemingly bored when not fighting and/or drinking.

==  Comic Books  ==
* The vast majority of superheroes, especially those in a [[Shared Universe]], fall under this.
* In DC Comics, former ''[[Flash]]'' villains Trickster and the Pied Piper joined their old friends the Rogues in an apparent [[Face Heel Turn]]. After the Rogues had murdered Bart Allen (the Flash), they talked [[The Reveal|revealing]] that it had been [[Reverse Mole|an attempted infiltration]] and they had both done it to get back to adventure.
* Travis Morgan from ''[[The Warlord]]'' lives and breathes this trope. He passes up the opportunity to settle down peacefully when it is presented to him, because he needs to keep travelling and adventuring.
** One of Morgan's friends became the ruler of some city-state or other ... and was ''bored''. He was delighted when a visit by Morgan coincided with the discovery of a serious plot to overthrow him, saying he'd finally found something that made the job worthwhile: "Enemies!"
* ''[[Spider-Man]]'', most definitely an adrenaline junkie, in addition to being something of a showman since his inception in the wrestling ring. His patter has more energy the more danger he's in. He often goes out to 'clear his head' with the hazardous sport of swinging from skyscrapers.
* When Storm from the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] married the Black Panther and became Queen of Wakanda, she could possibly do more good for the planet as a world leader than as a superhero, but finds palace life and politics mind-numbingly ''boring''. As a result, she makes regular trips to California to assist the X-Men.
* [[Disney Ducks Comic Universe|Scrooge McDuck]] would seem to be an example of that, travelling the world and making money for the thrill of it rather than for the money. Later in life, when he stops making money and settles down in Duckburg, he becomes depressed, shutting himself away in his mansion, and it is only the return of Donald and the nephews and their subsequent foiling of a robbery that shakes Scrooge out of his funk, turning him back to a life of adventure.
* Princess, now Queen, Iolande of the [[Green Lantern|Green Lantern Corps]]. Like Storm, she finds politicking absolutely dull and would rather be a full time Green Lantern. Since she is the only remaining member of the royal family of her homeworld, that really isn't an option.
* At the end of the first ''[[Firefly]]'' comic, {{spoiler|Mal intentionally uses the large money cache the group had found to bribe an Alliance soldier off their backs, sending the crew right back into [[Perpetual Poverty]] and preventing himself -- and the crew -- from being able to peacefully retire.}}

==  Film  ==
* Jack Sparrow in the third ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' movie.
* In ''[[The Mummy Trilogy|The Mummy]]'' (1999), Rick finds an old pilot who was a hero in his [[Glory Days]], and he jumps at the chance to take them into incredible danger and die doing it (which he does).
* Kirk is in this situation at the beginning of ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture]]'' (even more so if you read the novel).
** And again at the beginning of ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]''.
** And finally, yet again, in ''[[Star Trek Generations]]''.  {{spoiler|Twice.}}
* In ''[[Heat]]'', one of McCauley's crew is given the choice to back out of an extremely high-risk job in order to settle with his family, considering he already has a lot of money tucked away from previous heists. The guy declines the advice, claiming that the ''thrill'' of the job, not the money in itself, is what he considers the payoff.
* Jeremy Renner's character in ''[[The Hurt Locker]]'', especially emphasized in the ending.

==  Literature  ==
* Ulysses as portrayed by Dante in ''[[Divine Comedy|Inferno]]''
** Tennyson gave the same story a more sympathetic treatment, but without removing the desire for adventure.
{{quote|''I cannot rest from travel: I will drink''
''Life to the lees:'' }}
* ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]''. He gets a kingdom at the end and finds it deathly dull; it's when people try to violently overthrow him that he gets excited again.
* [[Fritz Leiber]]'s [[Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser]]'s endless adventures are also the fruit of a love of it. In one story, they set out in search on the grounds that they are bound to find it.
* Oscar in ''[[Glory Road (novel)|Glory Road]]'' by [[Robert A. Heinlein]], a book with this as a major theme. Possibly also Lazarus Long in other books by the same author.
* Another trope that recurs in ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' tie-ins:
** [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s hero, [[Ciaphas Cain]], is [[Fake Ultimate Hero|a coward with a great reputation for heroism]]. He enjoys the advantages of this reputation so much that he has to fake it, including a love of being [[In Harm's Way]]. This inevitably results in him emerging looking like a [[Big Damn Heroes|big damn hero]], [[Blessed with Suck|which only results in him getting thrown into even worse situations.]]
** In [[Dan Abnett]]'s novel ''Malleus'', the rogue trader Maxilla works for [[Eisenhorn]] not for the money but the challenge.
** By the same author, in ''[[Brothers of the Snake]]'', Priad's squad is disappointed when they are sent to pay respects at a coronation, and Priad must sternly remind them that it is their duty.
** In Lee Lightner's ''[[Space Wolf]]'' novel ''Sons of Fenris'', Berek thinks that [[The Chains of Commanding|his duties are hard]]: he can not go down in the fight, which will be [[Glory Hound|glorious]].
** In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' novel ''Fulgrim'', one of Fulgrim's own men, though thinking his plan [[Glory Hound|vainglorious]], admits to a thrill at being back in the fight.
** In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Gaunt's Ghosts]]'' novel ''Blood Pact'', after Daur was drawn into one of Rawne's schemes, Elodie points out that he was obviously after the danger.
* In [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Bilbo's love of adventure returned after much time in settled life.
* E.R.R. Eddison's ''[[The Worm Ouroboros]]'' contains perhaps the most egregious example. It ends with the triumph of the heroes and the defeat of their noble foes, after a long and ruinous war. The heroes are bored. So the gods bring back their foes that they might fight them. Without, of course, considering all the peasants, soldiers, etc. who suffered in the war.
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** In ''[[Interesting Times]]'', Cohen and the rest of the Silver Horde love being In Harm's Way. It is also subverted near the end, when Cohen hears a long list of [[Barbarian Hero]]es who had died—and one who has left it for being a Guardsman, because it was a regular job and had a pension; it makes a deep impression on Cohen.
** Played straight when the Silver Horde return in ''[[The Last Hero]]''. After one of them dies choking on a cucumber, they decide to have one last adventure: [[Rage Against the Heavens|returning fire to the gods...with interest.]]
** In ''[[Men at Arms]]'', Gaspode receives a place in a cozy little home at the end. At the very end, he escapes to return to life on as a street dog.
** Sam Vimes is often portrayed like this. He's the sort of cop to stop his own wedding to chase a criminal (because "it is the ancient instinct of policemen and terriers to chase anything that runs away"). Later books indicate he may be mellowing as his duty shifts to his family, but if he thinks that he'd let down his son by not doing his job, well then....
*** Even while leading a parade in his full Ducal attire (which he hates) he cannot resist chasing a criminal. Twice. And, this being Discworld, [[Hilarity Ensues|the entire parade follows him.]]
** Moist von Lipwig in ''[[Making Money]]''. He actually takes to breaking into his own office building out of boredom until he gets a new dangerous job. (On the other hand, this is hinted as being, in part, Adora Belle Dearheart's absence.)
{{quote|'''Vetinari:''' Ahead of you is a life of respectable quiet contentment, of civic dignity and, of course, in the fullness of time a pension. Not to mention the proud gold-ish chain.
'''Moist:''' And if I ''don't'' do what you say?
'''Vetinari:''' Oh, you misunderstand me, Mr Lipwig. That is what will happen to you if you ''decline'' my offer. If you accept it, you will survive on your wits against powerful and dangerous enemies, with every day presenting a new challenge. Someone may even try to kill you. }}
** Beforehand, in ''[[Going Postal (Discworld)|Going Postal]]'', he envisioned himself running off at the end, and it wasn't the same, the thrill was gone—and so he stays with Adora.
* [[Andre Norton]]'s book ''The Time Traders'' had the U.S. time-travel operation recruit a lot of these sort of people -- "the expendable man who lives on action"—who had been "pressured by the peaceful environment into becoming a criminal or a misfit." They were sent back into some very un-peaceful history.
* In [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[Neverwhere]]'', after  {{spoiler|getting his life back, only better,}} Richard seems strangely discontent, finding that he now wants nothing. So he  {{spoiler|goes back to the dangerous, deadly world of London Below.}}
* In [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''The Second Jungle Book'', most times, going to drink can be dangerous, and
{{quote|''In good seasons, when water was plentiful, those who came down to drink at the Waingunga--or anywhere else, for that matter--did so at the risk of their lives, and that risk made no small part of the fascination of the night's doings. To move down so cunningly that never a leaf stirred; to wade knee-deep in the roaring shallows that drown all noise from behind; to drink, looking backward over one shoulder, every muscle ready for the first desperate bound of keen terror; to roll on the sandy margin, and return, wet-muzzled and well plumped out, to the admiring herd, was a thing that all tall-antlered young bucks took a delight in, precisely because they knew that at any moment Bagheera or Shere Khan might leap upon them and bear them down.''}}
** Kipling loved this trope. Many of his better known poems, like "Song of the Dead," consist of little else.
* Rachel Morgan, the protagonist for ''[[The Hollows]]'' novels, is often described as a adrenaline junkie seeking dangerous situations in order to feel alive. This tendency was greatly reduced when she nearly gets all of her friends and several other people killed as a result.
* In [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''[[John Carter of Mars|Gods of Mars]]'', when John Carter meets a fellow prisoner, the young man tells how he happened to fall into this.
{{quote|''I must have inherited from my father a wild lust for adventure,''}}
* In [[Lewis Carroll]]'s ''[[Sylvie and Bruno]]'', trying to explain hunting to Sylvie, the narrator starts with the observation that some places men must hunt fierce beasts, and some of them come to like it.
{{quote|''"Well, and so the men--the hunters--get to enjoy it, you know: the running, and the fighting, and the shouting, and the danger."''}}
* This is one of the reasons that Eve Dallas of ''[[In Death]]'' doesn't get promoted to Captain (or get pregnant) at any point in the series thus far, and more than likely will not until the end. She likes her place on the streets.
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Chronicles of Chaos|Fugitives of Chaos]]'', when Victor professes [[Home, Sweet Home|his desire for a home, wife, and children]], Amelia says that most men want adventure; he retorts that she's describing not most men but herself.
* In the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'', Wedge Antilles feels some of this, [[Depending on the Writer]]. His first written appearance in ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy]]'' had him thinking that helping his friend Luke ''always'' led to excitement, and [[All There in the Manual|supplemental material]] shows that while he's had plenty of opportunities for career advancement, he hates the thought of a desk job and just prefers flying.
** The ''[[X Wing Series]]'' fleshes this out a little. Wedge thinks he can do more good as a pilot than as a higher-ranked officer. He's persuaded that it's the other way around and ends up promoted to general. For a time, he's kept from flying combat, and he ''hates'' this, but manages to persuade himself that flying combat is only a hobby. Still, it tends to happen to him. Thirty years later, in [[Legacy of the Force]], he's discharged for being too moral - and for a carefully hidden instant ''panics''. Then he realizes that someone's going to try and assassinate him, and this thought ''calms him down''. People have been trying to kill him for so long that the thought centers him.
* Rachel in the ''[[Animorphs]]'', quickly becomes like this. At one point, she rejects a [[Deal with the Devil]] that would instantly end the alien invasion, because she realizes that she'd have nothing to do afterwards.
** In the end of the sage the whole team followes suit.
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter|Prospero Lost]]'', Miranda thinks that Ferdinard had jilted her for a life of adventure.
* [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]], and [[Kull]], and [[Solomon Kane]].
* On [[Gor]], larl hunting is a popular sport for Warriors. A larl is like a giant-sized version of an Earth lion, with a meaner attitude, and the normal procedure for hunting it is that every man should carry one spear and a shield, except the junior-most hunter, who also gets a sword. After each man throws his spear, he hits the dirt under his shield, but if the larl's not dead after tail-end Charlie throws his, he must stand and fight with his sword to let the others get away. And they engage in this sport because "the larl is beautiful and dangerous, and because we are Goreans".
** Typical of Gorean society in general, really. Thanks to Gorean medicine, they have extremely long lifespans, but they don't see the sense in sitting at home doing nothing when they could be out finding interesting ways to die.
* The fourth episode of The Incomplete Enchanter, ''The Wall of Serpents'', begins with Shea and Belphebe, who narrowly survived the events of the previous story, finding themselves ill at ease living the comfortable suburban life in 20th-century America, so there's nothing for it but to take themselves off to the ''Kalevala'' and get in trouble.
* In the ''[[Arabian Nights]]'', Sindbad is a wealthy merchant. He gets bored sitting home and doing business, so he decides to take to the ocean. Inevitably, he ends up in wild adventures (but still wealthy at the end of each one). After seven of these, [[Genre-Savvy|he figures out he should just stay home.]]
* In [[Michael Flynn]]'s ''[[Spiral Arm|Up Jim River]]'', the reason the Brute offers for going.
* In [[Jack Campbell]]'s ''[[The Lost Fleet]]'' novel ''Invincible'', Admiral Lagemann jests that the Marines are glad to on a ship that's an attack magnet.
* Emily Pollifax of the ''[[Mrs. Pollifax (franchise)|Mrs. Pollifax]]'' franchise:  Near the start of the ninth book in the series, ''Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish'', when she's at least 70 years old, she realizes that after nearly a decade of annual adventures for the CIA, she's become an adrenaline junkie and finds she needs her yearly "fix" or she grows bored with life again. She becomes despondent at the thought that her CIA "boss" Carstairs might think that she's gotten too old for assignments.  (Spoiler:  He doesn't.)

=== Poetry ===
* The complaint in [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s "Harp Song of the Dane Women"
{{quote|''What is a woman that you forsake her,''
''And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,''
''To go with the old grey Widow-maker?'' }}
* [[Robert E. Howard]]'s "[[Solomon Kane]]'s Homecoming"
{{quote|''Hands held him hard, but the vagrant gleam in his eyes grew blind and bright,''
''And Solomon Kane put by the folk and went into the night.''
''A wild moon rode in the wild white clouds, the waves their white crests showed''
''When Solomon Kane went forth again, and no man knew his road.'' }}
** And "The Road of Kings", originally published as chapter breaks in the Conan story "[[The Phoenix on the Sword]]":
{{quote|''What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie?''
''I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky.''
''The subtle tongue, the sophist's guile, they fail when the broadswords sing;''
''Rush in and die, dogs -- I was a man before I was a king!'' }}

==  Live-Action TV  ==
* Happens often in ''[[Doctor Who]]''; the Doctor has a marvellous attraction to danger spots.
** Summed up by the last lines of "The Five Doctors":
{{quote|'''Tegan''': You mean you're deliberately choosing to go on the run from your own people, in a rackety old TARDIS?
'''Fifth Doctor''': Why not? After all, that's how it all started. }}
** In ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S3/E10 The War Machines|The War Machines]]'', Ben shows up at a nightspot to sulk every night because he's a sailor, but he's been given a shore job.
** In ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S18/E03 Full Circle|Full Circle]]'', Romana is moody because she doesn't want to back to Gallifrey after all her adventures with the Doctor.  {{spoiler|In ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S18/E05 Warriors Gate|Warriors' Gate]]'', she tells the Doctor that she's not going with him -- she has to be her own Romana, and the Tharils need a Time Lord.}}
* Mr. Bennet from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' does not take well to retirement. (There's only so many crossword puzzles one can do after all) so when another group of [[Cape Busters]] comes along he [[Jumped At the Call]]  {{spoiler|and it costs him his marriage.}}
* On ''[[Dollhouse]]'', Paul basically describes Echo as this, saying the thought of a year of peace scared her.
* Sam Carter from ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' is a subtle example of this. It doesn't come up too often, but she's actually a real adrenaline junkie when off-duty and outside of the lab.
** All of [[SG-1]] fits this trope to some extent. They are always willing to risk their lives to save the person/village/galaxy/universe of the week and often compete with each other to see who gets to put their life on the line the most this time. After Daniel retakes human form post-Ascension, one of the first things he says, while in moral peril, is that he's having fun. Later, after a particularly harrowing mission and narrow escape, Mitchell says "We have got the best jobs in the world!" and Teal'c agrees.
* [[Sharpe|Richard Sharpe]] might fall under this, especially apparent at the beginning of ''Sharpe's Waterloo''.
* "Adrenaline junkie" is exactly how the writers have described the entire team of ''[[Leverage]]''. [[Word of God]] states that they really only got together for the excitement.
** With a healthy dose of [[Good Feels Good]] to outweigh the actual profit of being greedy thieves and keeping what they steal.
** Parker especially is this, stating that the way she feels alive is jumping off a building.
* For Dr. John Watson, the inherent danger is [[Ho Yay|one of]] the attractions of living and working with [[Sherlock]] Holmes.
* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', Jeffrey Sinclair takes almost every chance he gets to get away from his desk and duty as human ambassador to go fly a Starfury or fight a boarding action because he is a [[Death Seeker]] following [[Shell-Shocked Veteran|having lived through The Line]]. Garibaldi eventually calls him out for it. His successor John Sheridan shows similar tendencies but was at a whole better at restraining himself (and, when he did go out, usually played for bigger stakes).
** Londo also has one such moment in the first season when he willingly takes on the role of driving a shuttle through a hotspot fought over by several factions, while being shot at from multiple sides, to relive his [[Glory Days]] as a young pilot during the Centauri expansion period.

==  Tabletop Games  ==
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' Space Marines love this trope.
** Not half as much as orks do.
** Some Eldar intentionally get themselves banished so they can go off wandering as Corsairs or Rangers.
** Commissar Yarrick isn't going to stop until he has Gazhkull's head on his desk.
*** [[Completely Missing the Point|That's going to have to be one hell of a desk!]] Also, Khorne's daemons and the Dark Eldar who fight in the arenas.

==  Video Games  ==
* Too many RPG heroes to count.
** Though if we ''were'' to count, Revan of ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' would definitely qualify. As would the Exile in the sequel.
* ''[[Dragon Age]]'': Most possible endings for a Warden who romanced Morrigan. Though a Warden in a relationship with Alistar does get to avert this by settling down and {{spoiler|becoming a queen}}.
** Especially the ending of Witch Hunt, after the Warden [[I Will Find You|finds]] Morrigan and the two promptly [[And the Adventure Continues...|head off into the unknown]].
** Also, the reason Oghren shows up in ''Awakening'' is because as a [[Blood Knight]] he couldn't accept the idea of settling down with his lover and becoming a family man, leading him to abandoning his would-be family to become a Grey Warden. While he will never retire (not that he can as a Warden) he can be convinced to try and be a bigger part of his child's life.
* In ''[[Dragon Age II]]'', nobody knows where Hawke is at the end of the game, but we're pretty sure it isn't boring.
* A significant portion of the 'good' endings to ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2|Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer]]'' avert this by having the player character go back home and settle down with his/her loved one.
* Many possible endings to ''[[Jade Empire]]'' avert this by having the player character settle down.
* The second game in the ''[[No One Lives Forever]]'' series was subtitled "A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way", which is a quite clever pun: no only does it show that Cate Archer is on it, fighting [[Nebulous Evil Organisation|H.A.R.M.]]'s agents again, but also that she just cannot leave the front lines again.
* Arkantos is portrayed this way at the start of the first ''[[Age of Mythology]]'' game campaign - it starts with him reliving his glorious battles in his dreams and grumping about 'facing feeble pirates'.
* Takahisa Kandori presents a rare villainous example in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]: [[Persona]]''. Having achieved his long-sought godhood, Kandori finds it's [[Lonely at the Top]] and has to be needled into action against the party.
* ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver]]'' showed that even after the first games protagonist beat [[The Rival]] and the strongest trainers the region had to offer he wouldn't settle down and become the champion. He's still out there training, waiting for another battle.
* In the ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' series this is one of the central conflicts of Big Boss's character. Big Boss tried to give up on war and live a peaceful life, but he realized that all that he was truly good at was war and he only felt truly alive when he was facing death. Civilian life was foreign and intolerable to Big Boss, his skills were useless back home and he never felt that he could fit in or be appreciated by civilians bar a magazine interview or two, he needed war and anything else was inconceivable to his very existence. This is why he created Outer Heaven, a paradise where soldiers would be respected and needed forever more.
* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', reading Zaeed Massani's Shadow Broker Dossier reveals that he has been debating retirement, going over a list of planets to settle down on. When he can't quite decide, the entry ends with him considering using the money from this job to buy a ship full of explosives and launch a [[Suicide Attack]] on [[Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy|Omega Station]], since it's the "easiest retirement plan I've come up with so far".

==  Web Comics  ==
* ''[[Quentyn Quinn, Space Ranger]]'', like all rangers, was screened for being unable to settle down. Relativistic effects mean [[You Can't Go Home Again]], but he likes the trade off. [[Home, Sweet Home]] is for his retirement.
* ''[[Wapsi Square]]'': [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/no-other-shoe/ M discovers that after saving the world, it can be dull]
** [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/herculean-task/ She's not alone]
* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', Othar is quite certain that Agatha doesn't really want a normal life.
** The [[Super Soldier|Jägers]] really don't want to. [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120102 Gkika hasn't seen any decent trouble in ages.] After all, they are [[Blood Knight|the sort of people]] who wanted to kick ass and take <s>names</s> hats enough they volunteered for ''indefinite'' military service — and on top of that, it's not a secret that someone taking [[Super Serum|Jägerdraught]] is more likely to die horribly than turn into a [[Super Soldier]].
*** Their lords were not far from this either, one way or another<ref>[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20181231 spoiler!]</ref>:
{{quote|'''Krosp''': You're actually going off to ''find'' [[Cosmic Horror|an extra-dimensional monstrosity]]?
'''Maxim''': [[Crazy Awesome|She ''iz'' a Heterodyne]]. }}
* In ''[[Impure Blood]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20130608165730/http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue4PAGES/ib073.html an attack causes Elnor to comment that she had thought the town would be boring.]
* In ''[[Endstone]]'', Herrik likes Kyri [http://endstone.net/2010/05/20/issue-3-webpage-35/ because she's nothing but trouble].
* ''[[Doodze]]'', [http://seguemediagroup.com/doodze/?p=390 dreaming]{{Dead link}} about [http://seguemediagroup.com/doodze/?p=387 dragonslaying]{{Dead link}}.
* ''[[What's New with Phil and Dixie]]'' back when it ran in [[Dragon (magazine)|''Dragon'' magazine]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150428205523/http://www.airshipentertainment.com/growfcomic.php?date=20070422 proposed] a good theory:
{{quote|You go down into a dungeon, fight for your life, amass a vast fortune, and escape, and then--you risk your neck all over again! ''Why?!''
Well, if you've ever wondered what drives your character to this suicidal lifestyle, then the newest module for ''D&D'' and ''AD&D'' is for you! It's called '''''"Home & Hearth"'''''. }}
* Same with the [https://web.archive.org/web/20090503160320/http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/fantatoon/FTChapter2.html second cartoon here] from [[Nodwick|Aaron Williams]] (also in [[Dragon (magazine)|''Dragon'']]).
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209171153/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2010 Percy claims to crave this.]

== Web Original ==
* Kranz and Voller from ''[[Human Centipede the Musical]]''. If the town isn't in immediate danger, they're rather ennui-stricken.

== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[The Incredibles]]'', Bob's dissatisfaction with his life is heavily driven by the dullness next to the adventure of super-heroing. (Helen held to this trope when they were superheroing; it was Bob who considered [[Home, Sweet Home]] an interesting future.)
* ''[[Captain N: The Game Master]]'' was given a chance to return home at the end of the first episode. Hearing his mother's voice through the portal harping on him for not finishing his chores helped his decision to stay.

== Real Life ==
* [[Professional Wrestling|Pro wrestler]] Terry Funk. The man has had more retirement matches and retirement tours than I can count, and has yet to actually stay retired despite being in his mid-sixties with knees that look like they were drawn on by a cartoonist. He introduced a moonsault to his repertoire in 1994, at the age of ''fifty''.
* Along the same lines, [[Ric Flair]]. Still going today{{when}} at the age of 61.
* Ditto Abdullah The Butcher. Still jabbing forks in people's heads at the age of 69 and with no intention of ever retiring.
* Brett Favre.{{context}}
** Albeit many consider this to be a case of not wanting to give up the limelight.
* The radio show ''[[A Prairie Home Companion]]'' is on its indefinite farewell tour.{{context|reason=How is this an example of the trope as written?}}
* John Paul Jones, who uttered the quotation at the top of the page, falls under this trope. When the Revolutionary War ended and America wasn't at war enough and wouldn't promote him, he served as an Admiral for the Mexican and Russian navies, so he could keep fighting at sea. In fairness to him, at the time he uttered the quote, the Revolutionary War was still ongoing, and he was tired of captaining a really slow ship.
* Thomas Cochrane, who upon being thrown out of the Royal Navy after being involved in a financial scam, promptly went to South America and masterminded the creation of several revolutionary navies... after eventually being exonerated by the British government, he then tried to sign up for the Crimean War ''in his eighties''. It should therefore be no surprise that he was the inspiration, via [[Horatio Hornblower]], for [[Star Trek|Captain Kirk]], [[Aubrey-Maturin|Jack Aubrey]], and [[RCN Series|Daniel Leary]].
* The Army gets roughly 50% of its soldiers from this trope. They play it up by advertising thrills.
* As seen in the documentary ''[[Man on Wire]]'', Philippe Petit. How mind-boggingly reckless do you have to be to ''hang a wire between the Twin Towers and walk on it?''
* [[Ozzy Osbourne]] temporarily retired in the 1990s, but within a few years returned to performing live music. In his autobiography he states that the reason he returned was because he found retirement to be terribly boring and missed the excitement of performing in front of an audience. He now says that he intends to keep performing and making new music until he is physically unable.

{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Happiness Tropes]]
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Stock Aesops]]
[[Category:Motivation Index]]
[[Category:Index]]