Reluctant Warrior: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Saint Seiya]]'' has Andromeda Shun, who after four seasons and at least three movies refuses to give up on the idea of non-violently settling problems, and talking to his enemies in the hopes of reasoning with them. He has the unfortunate tendency to combine this noble character with [[Martyr Without a Cause]] and almost ''giving away his life'' on a few occasions... but when push comes to shove and the enemy proves they are a [[Complete Monster]], he ''will'' fight and kill them if need be. To his credit, he's managed to cause at least one [[Heel Face Turn]] among his opponents, and {{spoiler|held back and ''throtled'' a [[Demonic Possession|body stealing god]] through sheer love of peace}}.

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'': So how's the teaching job going, Negi? As the series progresses, he's getting less and less reluctant, getting [[Super-Powered Evil Side|dangerously close]] to the edge.

* Hiiragi in ''[[Psycho Staff]]'' is this. Also, [[I Just Want to Be Normal|he just wants to be normal]] and hates fighting.

* ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]'': Van Fanel is constantly told he needs to attack more aggressively -- [[Berserk Button|at first...]]

* ''[[Blood Plus]]'': Poor, poor Saya Otonashi...

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'': Shinji Ikari. At first, he pilots so that [[Bandage Babe|Rei]] wouldn't have to. Then, he pilots because he want [["Well Done, Son" Guy|recognition]] from his estranged father. After [[Wham! Episode|Bardiel]], [[Morton's Fork|he quits because he's afraid of hurting innocents but shortly afterwards, he pilots again because if he doesn't, people will get hurt anyway]]. Therefore, he has no choice but to sit in that fucking cockpit he hates like no tomorrow.<br /><br />''Rebuild 2.0'' makes it somewhat better: he comes back because Zeruel made the [[Berserk Button|big mistake]] of eating [[Big Brother Instinct|Rei]]. [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]] ensues.

* In ''[[Freezing]]'', Kathy Lockhearte is a sweet, rather meek girl who wants to one day become a novelist and raise a loving family. Too bad for her that she naturally possesses the potential to become the one of the most powerful [[Action Girl|Pandoras]] on the planet, and her [[Jerkass]] father constantly pressured her into becoming the "world's savior" more for to boost his own political career than to actually, well, save the world.

* Simon from ''[[Gurren Lagann]]'' starts out as one of these. He's only content with working as a miner and isn't happy with Kamina sending him on adventures. Then {{spoiler|Kamina dies, leaving him to fend for himself}}, and by the end he's piloting a mecha capable of opening fire on every point in the space-time continuum simultaneously. Which it does.

* ''[[Shane]]''

* Faramir in ''[[Lord of the Rings]]''. The Hobbits as well.

* Camaris in ''~Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn~'', a classic [[Knight in Shining Armor]] and one of the [[Badass|greatest heroes]] the land of Osten Ard has ever known, hates battle, fights only when compelled, and prays for the souls of his vanquished foes. It helps that he's such a [[Shrouded in Myth|fearsome warrior]] that no sane enemy would take the field against him. This duality leads him to copious amounts of angst, including a full-scale [[Heroic BSOD]]; once he snaps out of it (twenty years later), he becomes a [[Shell Shocked Senior]], but no less of a [[Badass]].

* Eragon of ''[[The Inheritance Cycle]]'', regardless of interpretation, was supposed to be this.

* ''[[Over the Wine Dark Sea]]'': Menedemos and Sostratos; while they constantly have to defend themselves against pirates, warlords, and assorted blackguards they prefer to avoid a fight. In their case it is less from idealism and more because it interferes with their [[Money, Dear Boy|primary mission]]

* Sam Temple in ''[[Gone]]'' doesn't want to step up and become the leader of the FAYZ. In fact, he doesn't at first, letting Orc, and later Caine, take over. Only when he sees how evil Caine is does he finally take charge.

* In [[Alan Dean Foster]]'s ''The Damned'', every soldier in [[The Alliance|the Weave]] is this. Most of the Weave races abhor even the thought of violence, and the ones that can bring themselves to fight do so with much distaste. Their foes, the psychic influence-wielding [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Amplitur]], do not like to fight either, but their fanatical belief in uniting all species beneath the banner of "The Purpose" drives them to do so, and they don't hesitate in genetically modifying species under their rule in order to make them better fighters. The only species that enjoys fighting is [[Humans Are Warriors|humanity]]. The Weave manages to recruit humankind, and the only thing that frightens them more than having humans as allies is the possibility of humans falling under the Amplitur's control.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'': Daniel Jackson often has to reconcile his diplomatic ways with the more militarist ways of his friends. Sometimes he wins, sometimes they do, depending on the episode.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': Before the [[Great Offscreen War|Last Great Time War]], the Doctor was a [[Science Hero]] for whom lethal force was the last resort but still [[Technical Pacifist|a valid one]]. After the war...he still is. ''During'' the war, on the other hand, he fought on the front line until he had no option but nuking both sides to save the rest of the universe.

* Spock on ''[[Star Trek]]''. The Federation as such would also fall under this category.

* Lee "Apollo" Adama on ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]''. He's a crack pilot and tactician, second only to Starbuck, but finds it difficult to carry out out orders he has ethical problems with, and actively questions the decisions behind them on occasion.

 

== Web Comics ==

{{quote| "I'm no hero. Never was, never will be. Just an old killer, hired to do some wetwork."}}

* Flonne the [[Love Freak]] in ''[[Disgaea]]'' not only annoys her demonic friends and teammates with her endless prattle about "Love" and "Peace", but is quite a powerful magician and caster and helps out in fights.

* ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'': Leo Stenbuck is intially extremely reluctant to fight even when {{spoiler|his entire colony is being destroyed around him}}. Only {{spoiler|near the end, when his 'girlfriend' has been shot, does he willingly continue fighting}}, even though a way out was staring him right in the face.

* ''[[Mega Man X]]'': The original reploid, he spent about a dozen games and a century (alone and offscreen) fighting incredibly [[Black and Grey Morality|difficult]] battles despite feeling compassion for his victims. Even when he realized that [[Knight Templar|he was beginning to no longer care about the people he was having to kill]], instead of [[Heroic BSOD|giving up]] he just found another way to keep trying to protect the world.

* ''[[Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World]]'': Emil is not only a reluctant warrior, but ''incompetent'' at that. He can only do any good in a fight when 'possessed' by Ratatosk, who obligingly does so before every battle (except at certain parts of the game).

* ''[[Mass Effect]]'': Through certain dialogue choices, Commander Shepard can come off as this.

** In the third game, Shepard can admit to feeling like their entire life has been enslaved by warfare and expresses the hope that after the Reapers are defeated, they can finally be free.