Never Accepted in His Hometown/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A hero who is popular/loved/well-known everywhere for their deeds... but not at home.

  • Straight: Dash is a Tomboyish Loveable Rogue who grew up on the streets of Windvale before meeting Albert and joining his quest to defeat Emperor Evulz. Despite saving the world from his dark ambitions, back home she's still viewed as a shiftless troublemaker.
  • Exaggerated: While Dash is a bit of a snarky braggart, she swiftly proves herself time and again as one of Albert's most reliable, fiercest and loyal companions, saving the day time and again and helping to prevent The End of the World as We Know It. However, everyone in Windvale sees her as a worthless, good-for-nothing thief -- in fact, she's openly despised by its citizens, and was actually banished. There's even a standing order for her to be captured and/or executed on sight if she ever dares show her face around there again.
    • Dash is the center of a grand parade on his honor which turns into a tomato barrage as soon as they enter Windvale's city limit.
  • Justified: Dash supported herself through thievery growing up, and the bulk of her heroics were done outside of Windvale.
    • Before meeting Albert, Dash was accused (falsely) of committing an unforgivable crime, and failed to clear her name before being forced into exile.
  • Inverted: Finley is well-known and beloved in his hometown despite not doing anything to earn it, but to the rest of the world, he's a complete unknown... and those who do recognize his name don't have a very high opinion of him.
  • Subverted: News of Dash's heroic deeds reach Windvale, and are recognized as legitimate.
  • Double Subverted: Despite hearing of Dash's great deeds, the citizens of Windvale still consider her to be untrustworthy. As far as they're concerned, she'll surely squander whatever good will she has scraped together sooner or later.
  • Parodied: "He saved the town!" "Meh. He's still a prick."
  • Deconstructed: Despite being hailed as a hero elsewhere, the utter lack of respect or positive recognition from her home and the people she grew up with starts wearing on Dash. Frustrated, she starts questioning if it's even worth fighting for them, especially when Windvale is directly threatened.
  • Reconstructed: Though she's annoyed by their continued disrespect, Dash decides that it's ultimately their loss, not hers.
  • Zig Zagged: ???
  • Averted: Dash is just another nameless face everywhere she goes.
  • Enforced: ???
  • Lampshaded: "I'm not too popular back home..."
  • Invoked: Baron Blowaard deliberately pulls strings to frame and discredit Dash in order to undercut any ideas she might get about 'liberating' Windvale from his control.
  • Exploited: ???
  • Defied: ???
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: ???
  • Played For Laughs: ???
  • Played For Drama: Albert and his friends must pass through Windvale again in order to retrieve the Invisibility Cloak rumored to be hidden there. Dash's familiarity with her hometown and talents as a thief will come in handy; however, being recognized will cause problems, and any efforts she makes to improve her standing just seem to backfire...

Back to Never Accepted in His Hometown.