Lonely at the Top: Difference between revisions

This is often a form of reversed [[Wish Fulfillment]] for the viewer, as the average person wants to be able to think that the things they don't have (such as an abnormal amount of money, power, skill or beauty) won't lead to happiness, conveniently forgetting how, in real life, there are a bunch of poor, enslaved, stupid, ugly people that are unhappy too.

 

 

[[Dying Alone]] is often threatened, though if they learn [[An Aesop]] it may be averted.

The natural conclusion of [[Ambition Is Evil]] and [[Being Evil Sucks]]. May overlap with [[Pyrrhic Villainy]] and/or [[Everything but The Girl]]. Contrast [[Celebrity Is Overrated]] and [[In With the In Crowd]]. Characters who are [[Married to The Job]] are especially at risk of having this happen to them. If the character merely gets a whole load of mental problems from trying too hard, he'll become a [[Broken Ace]].

 

 

== Anime & Manga ==

== Fan Works ==

* The Hunter realizes he is this after hanging around the four for several days in ''[[With Strings Attached (Fanfic)|With Strings Attached]]''.

 

== Film ==

** Played with in that it's implied that their emotional problems are part of what makes the characters good comedians, at least initially. Meaning that to get the top you have to be somehow lonely in the first place.

* This is the point of the classic British film ''Room At The Top''.

* Daniel Day Lewis's character at the end of ''[[There Will Be Blood]]''. But you get the sense that he likes it this way.

* Tracy Flick in ''[[Election]]''. Dave even tells her when the two are dating.

* The second half of ''[[Conkers Bad Fur Day (Video Game)|Conkers Bad Fur Day]]'', Rare's raunchy [[Take That]] to Nintendo's carefully cultivated family-friendly image, becomes increasingly depressing and culminates in Conker becoming king. He's surrounded by people he hates, and he wants nothing more than to go home and have a beer with his girlfriend - but {{spoiler|she's dead, because he ''forgot'' to bring her back to life when he had the chance.}} Conker sitting on the throne depressed is how the game opens.

* [http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/306785/ This] ''[[Touhou]]'' fancomic of [[Catgirl|Ch]][[Cheerful Child|en]] is a clear example of this trope. [[Tear Jerker|*sniff*]].

** Or maybe he can't join them due to all that time spent murdering and torturing them, while trying to wipe out the whole city. One of those.

* [[World of Warcraft|Jastor Gallywix]] defies this in his official short story, ''Trade Secrets of a Trade Prince''. Having alienated the only person he had fallen in love with, and proving that he is scum even by goblin standards, he is still stating that he would not have it any other way.

{{quote| '''Nepgear''': "{{spoiler|This is the dark path that I've chosen to walk alone.}}"}}

 

== Visual Novels ==

* ''[[Fate Stay Night (Visual Novel)|Fate/stay night]]'' has several of these characters: Saber, who {{spoiler|became a king over a court who has no idea she's a woman and had to throw away all human bonds in order to rule}}, and Archer, who {{spoiler|became the "Ally of Justice" he always strived to be but lost practically ''everything'' to do so, was betrayed by his own ideal and was consigned to an eternal [[Ironic Hell]] as a Counter Guardian}}. Shirou also has at least one Bad End where this happens to him. Rin and {{spoiler|Gilgamesh}}, meanwhile, are subversions: They're amongst the best at what they do and have practically no peers or friends as a result of single-minded devotion to their goals, but neither are terribly bothered by it.

*** At least until the prequel series, when you learn that it's mostly the result of losing ''the only friend he'd ever made.''

* This, combined with the obvious communication problems that arise from deafness, is the main reason why Shizune Hakamichi from ''[[Katawa Shoujo]]'' does not have many friends. She is Yamaku's [[Student Council President]] and a [[Class Representative]] who takes her responsibilities ''very'' seriously and wants to use her position to things to makes the other student's lives enjoyable, but this very same desire makes her come across as bossy to other students {{spoiler|and more or less drives everyone else on the Council, including her cousin Lilly, away.}}

[[Category:Plots]]

[[Category:Lonely At The Top]]