Jump to content

The Stoic: Difference between revisions

The Stoic (view source)

Revision as of 22:08, 22 February 2015

83 bytes removed ,  9 years ago
m
clean up
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
m (clean up)
Line 4:
{{quote|''"...How wasteful... Such emotions are but mere illusions. And, like all illusions, they fade over time until death banishes them forever. That is why I have abandoned all emotions as useless sentimentality."''|'''Cyrus''', ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]''}}
 
He can be in the middle of a gunfight, his best friend's bachelor party, or a helpless witness to the death of everyone and everything he holds dear... and he'll show all the emotional reaction of a victim of a Botox overdose. Though the silent warrior has roots stretching back to [[The Drifter]] in Westerns and farther back, [['''The Stoic]]''' differentiates himself in that he's not quiet out of contemplation or introversion, but because he's so tough that he doesn't ''need'' to emote (or so the writer would like you to [[Ineffectual Loner|think]]).
 
[['''The Stoic]]''' is not necessarily [[The Quiet One]]. While [['''The Stoic]]''' may be low key and quiet, more often than not he's just as talkative as anyone else. Another difference is that while [[The Quiet One]] does feel and display emotion (albeit less vocally and regularly, but makes up for it with deeper pathos), [['''The Stoic]]''' is so utterly devoid of any semblance of human emotion that he borders on being a true [[Tin Man]] or [[The Spock]]. Whether he has emotion or not varies, but he will invariably refuse to ever show it.
 
They can be [[Heroes]], antagonists or [[Anti-Hero|anti-heroes]]. In a [[Five-Man Band]] he might be [[The Lancer]] or [[The Big Guy]]. His quiet demeanor tends towards the brusque or outright rudeness, though there are a few [[Nice Guy|polite]] Stoics. Mostly writers (ab)use it to give the impression of a lot going on inside and cultivate an air of mystery and to confuse other characters with cryptic one-liners.
Line 63:
* Kenshiro from ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' may be the archetype from which many other stoic anime heroes came from, as he is first introduced as a man of few words and only mild kindness. As the series progresses, however, he is shown to be quite empathetic.
* Keith Gandor of ''[[Baccano!]]!'' has a perpetual frowning expression throughout the entire series, as well as [[The Speechless|never even talking]] once in the entire anime. This is taken even farther in the light novels, where it's revealed that he's known for going ''years'' without speaking.
* Much of ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'' is spent having Sagara Sousuke [[Character Development|slowly get over this trope]]. In canon, he's repeatedly shown to be one of, if not ''the'' most stoic characters in the series (shown to start breaking from it only closer to the end). Even the villains of the series are not as stoic as him (as they are either psychotically gleeful and [[Ax Crazy|have a lust for violence]], or they're depressed individuals [[Wangst|wangstingwangst]]ing in their emotional turmoil).
* ''[[Bleach]]'':
** Byakuya Kuchiki. He has smiled on-screen only once. If Byakuya shows any serious emotion at all, it is treated as something very surprising. Characters were amazed when he made a ''joke''.
Line 73:
* Rasen of ''[[Flame of Recca]]'' is an extreme case. Ridiculously pale complexion, an expression as vacant and empty as that of a corpse, and literally incapable of speech, so much that he requires telepathy to communicate with others when his deathly stare is insufficient.
* Jo from ''Burst Angel / [[Bakuretsu Tenshi]]''. When she's fighting, she's the biggest badass in the world. When not, she's usually quiet and inexpressive.
* Jin of ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'' seems to be the incarnate of [[The Stoic]].
* Kambei Shimada from ''[[Samurai 7]]'', "He has the eyes of a dead man." according to a Nobuseri. Kyuzo even more so.
* ''[[Golgo 13]]''.
Line 95:
* Rukawa Kaede from ''[[Slam Dunk]]''.
* Trowa Barton from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing|Gundam Wing]]''. After losing his family in the war, Trowa was on his own until about age four and didn't even know how to talk until other humans found him. Even a decade later, he seems surprised whem something affects him emotionally (as seen when he cries after [[If You're So Evil Eat This Kitten|being ordered to destroy his friend Duo's Gundam]].
** Protagonist Heero Yuy is stoic, but calling him '''The''' Stoic isn't quite right ([[Kuudere]] is more appropriate). While he thinks that emotions get you killed on the battlefield, he says they're needed the rest of the time. He exhibits a normal (if subdued) emotional range,<ref>such as [http://aboutgundamwing.com/SC/SC06/vlcsnap-75159.jpg surprise], [http://aboutgundamwing.com/SC/SC34/vlcsnap-81467.jpg fear], and [http://aboutgundamwing.com/SC/SC48/vlcsnap-239993.jpg happiness]</ref>, and his self-stated life philosophy is "Live by your emotions". Most of the confusion stems from English voice actor [[Mark Hildreth]] being told to play the character as stiff and robotic, combined with [[Flanderization]]; this is obviously less of a problem in the Japanese version, where [[Hikaru Midorikawa]] delivered a subdued but still emotional performance.
* "The Captain" from ''[[Hellsing]]''
* Kunimitsu Tezuka from ''[[Prince of Tennis]]''. Genichirou Sanada starts like this, but soon we see that he's [[Not So Stoic]].
Line 107:
* Hazuki Sakurazaka, the head [[Meido]], from ''[[Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu]]'' usually puts up a stoic appearance and monotone voice. Even when she's drunk, and accidentally bashing her head to the wall (or the electric post), she always had the same stoic feel around her.
* Fate Averruncus from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. Even on the one occasion when he actually starts ''laughing'' [[Technically a Smile|he maintains his bored expression]] and arrogant disdain for the heroes.
** Better occasion: at one point, he gets his arm cut off. He's not worried at all, since apparently, [[Good Thing You Can Heal|he can regenerate/reattach it perfectly well]], but his [[Harem|haremettesharem]]ettes promptly freak the eff out. How does he try to calm them down? Use his severed arm to [[Pet the Dog|pat the head]] of the [[Catgirl]] of the harem. All with a rather dead expression on his face. It's [[Crowning Moment of Funny|rather hilarious]]. Two of the other haremettes actually point this out:
{{quote|'''Shirabe''':F... Fate-sama actually attempting physical humor?
'''Homura''':Is that supposed to be funny? }}
* Inspector Lunge of ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'' appears to have entirely shut off his emotions -- Somethingemotions—Something that makes him an excellent detective, but a ''horrible'' husband and father.
* Thorfinn of ''[[Vinland Saga]]'' likes to think he's the Stoic, being gruff and rude to nearly everyone, but in his heart he's as much of a [[Hot-Blooded]] [[Screaming Warrior]] as any of the other Vikings. His father on the other hand, now he was a true Stoic.
* Tsukasa Takamine from ''[[Sasami Mahou Shojo Club]]'' is passive to the point of almost never blinking. One can't even tell if she's really in a relationship with pseudo-[[Clingy Jealous Girl]] An-An or if she's just too passive to even notice.
Line 177:
* Laura "X-23" Kinney from [[X-Force]] tends to be this, no matter what the situation. Until someone she cares about is threatened, then [[Unstoppable Rage|not so much]]. She pretty much has four basic emotional states: stoic, sad, angry and confused.
** Fans prefer to consider it: Happy, Sad, KILL and Confused.
* Subverted in ''[[Quantum and Woody]]'' by Quantum. He ''wants'' to be [[The Stoic]], but inevitably fails when his partner Woody goads him into overreacting.
* Wallace from ''[[Sin City]]'' is probably the only protagonist in that series that doesn't lose his cool. Miho comes in at a close second but she is more like [[The Voiceless]].
 
Line 191:
* Subverted by John Preston in the movie ''[[Equilibrium]]''. He starts the movie literally feeling no emotion, but by the end, when he goes off the emotion-inhibiting drug, he feels the full spectrum of human emotion while having to hide it from his superiors.
* Pick any movie starring [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] shortly after he switched from body building to cinema. However, since Arnold is from Austria, this might be more because he still had to polish his English, so this is more like one of those times when [[Real Life Writes the Plot]].
* Any role [[Keanu Reeves]] has ever played (except Theodore "Ted" Logan). Come to think of it, all the {-main-} characters of ''[[The Matrix]]'' movies are [[The Stoic]].
* Kevin Costner in ''[[The Bodyguard]]''.
* Tommy Lee Jones in several of his movies.
Line 234:
* Phileas Fogg in ''[[Around the World in Eighty Days]]''.
* Michael in Anne Tyler's ''The Amateur Marriage'', so much so that it causes a ''lot'' of tension between him and his [[Genki Girl]] wife Pauline. He ends up divorcing her and marrying a female Stoic. Macon in ''The Accidental Tourist'' also qualifies (in fact, he comes from a ''family'' of Stoics), as does [[Deadpan Snarker|Sam]] in ''Ladder Of Years'', although he's [[Not So Stoic]] after his wife walks out.
* [[The Jeeves|Jeeves]] from ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'' has complete and utter imperturbability as his chief character trait, probably because [[The Chessmaster|he's usually fully in control]] of whatever [[Zany Scheme]] is going on at the moment. His rather excitable master constantly wonders how he does it. Notably, he doesn't smile--hesmile—he "muscle spasms".
* Asher in ''[[Someone Else's War|Someone Elses War]]''. Matteo himself initially seems like one; it turns out to be a facade hiding his [[Hot-Blooded|reckless nature]].
 
Line 254:
* ''[[Dollhouse]]'s'' Laurence Dominic wears this badge for a while.
{{quote|'''Topher Brink''': ''[laughs nervously]'' There's no way Dom would consciously try and have fun!}}
* Aeryn Sun from ''[[Farscape]]'', especially at the start; though she gradually moves away from this, she periodically reverts to [[The Stoic]] as a defense mechanism. No matter how dangerous the situation is, she remains calm and in control. In a war zone, carrying her newborn baby, with a psycopathic scarran pointing a gun at her husband's head, she simply shoots the scarran and deadpans "It's a boy. In case you were wondering."
* Zoe, from ''[[Firefly]]''.
{{quote|'''Wash''': So, I'm Zoe. Now, what do I do?
Line 292:
 
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The Dark Angels, a Chapter of [[Space Marine|Space Marines]]s in ''[[Warhammer 40000|Warhammer 40,000]]'' pretty much exemplify this trope, along with [[The Atoner]]. They have a long-standing feud with the [[Boisterous Bruiser|Space Wolves]] that stems from their differences in personality inherited from their Primarchs.
** The two primarchs did, however, get over their differences and became really close friends. Of course, not many members of either chapter is aware of that fact, but [[Rivals Team Up|they do put aside their differences when a larger threat is around]].
** Imperial Guard regiments from Valhalla are described to generally be like this, able to shrug off even the largest losses and focus on the objective at hand, not even surrendering until the very last moment, and sometimes not even then. For a good example of this, see Gunner Jurgen, aide to [[Ciaphas Cain]] ('''[[Fake Ultimate Hero|HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!]]'''), where the majority of the Valhallan 597th Ice Warriors [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|have very differing personalities]], Jurgen fits the standard describtion for Valhallans as described in the Imperial Guard Codex pretty well.
Line 307:
* Raiden, in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]''. Compared to his... emotionality in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'', he's quiet and deadly calm, the epitome of the perfect killing machine.
** However, it turns out that Raiden is, in fact, [[Not So Stoic]].
* {{spoiler|Golbez}} winds up as [[The Stoic]] in ''[[Final Fantasy IV: The After Years]]''.
* Shadow from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]''. When the heroine asks him for words of wisdom about her screwed-up life, he tells he can't help and boasts about having killed off his emotions. Later, when {{spoiler|his daughter, Relm}}, becomes a part of the party, he never speaks to her beyond warning that [[Morality Pet|his dog]] will bite.
* [[Big Bad|Sephiroth]] from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''. In the original games, everyone else is usually made to run in cutscenes just to save time, and presumably you're not supposed to think they're really running. Sephiroth walks. In the movie ''Advent Children'', he never blinks and hardly ever grunts or breathes during the whole intensive battle scene he gets. Basically appearing preternaturally unaffected is the most distinctive behavioural trait he has.
Line 328:
* There's a whole ''[[Planet of Hats|race]]'' of stoics in ''[[Lusternia]]'', the Lucidian. Their [[Pieces of God|progenitor]] was [[The Spock]] of the Elder Gods. They're highly intelligent, made of crystal, and are coolly indifferent to most other mortals - except the [[The Cutie|Trill]] [[Morality Pet|race]].
* Several characters act this way in ''[[The King of Fighters]]'', but the most notable is likely K'. He never so much as smirks, his voice rarely moves past a monotone, and his introductory line is a muttered, "Heh. Now I'm mad."
** The [[Alternate Universe]] ''Maximum Impact'' has several characters (Soiree and the [[Genki Girl|Genki Girls]]s Yuri and Kula) who try to cheer up the cast's stoics before their fights. The responses range from K' dismissing them to Iori making a death threat.
* Undine and Salamander, Arioch's pact-partners in ''[[Drakengard]]'', are of this sort. At one point they tell the protagonist about Arioch's [[Heroic BSOD|disturbing past]] and try to explain why she's so [[Ax Crazy]], and they do so with all the vivacity of a dead cockroach.
* The [[Original Generation]] cast members of ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' got plenty of the most stoic characters: [[Super Robot Wars Compact 2|Kyosuke Nanbu]] is a gambling mecha pilot with a mild monotone and Raidiese F. Branstein keeps a low profile amongst [[Ascended Fanboy]] teammate Ryusei Date. Of course, it wouldn't be [[Super Robot Wars]] if these two didn't break out of their stoicism: endanger Kyosuke's [[Ms. Fanservice]] girlfriend and he delves into a deep [[Tranquil Fury]], while mentioning Raidiese's {{spoiler|dead sister-in-law, when you're the one who orchestrated her death}}, you'll see him go batshit insane upon pressing that [[Berserk Button]] of his.
Line 337:
*** {{spoiler|In 3, if you kill Mordin during the sequence when the cure is deployed for the Genophage he will go into an unstoppable rage as you essentially doomed his entire species since said cure became ineffective because it denatured from the heat of the lab fire.}}
* ''[[Advance Wars]]'' has Hawke (and Gage in the new setting). Both have the same range of reactions as the other CO's, but theirs are much more subtle.
* Jade Curtiss from ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'' is [[The Stoic]] and the [[Deadpan Snarker]] ''and'' the [[Stepford Smiler]]. He is both awesome and rather creepy.
** Tear also when she trying to keep up her soldier mentality.
* Veigue Lungberg from ''[[Tales of Rebirth]]'' is the epitome of this trope within the ''[[Tales (series)]]''. How bad is it? For one, he is the only character who doesn't have a smiling frame in the skits, and the only time he ever smiled was in one anime cutscene. And it was a tiny, very reserved smile. His gloominess is even constantly mocked by the other party members, especially [[Keet|Mao]].
Line 352:
* Presea Combatir progresses from [[Emotionless Girl]] in ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' to this trope in the sequel, where within a minute of making her first appearance, she bullshits a group of guards into believing they'd be victims of a ''horrible'' (and ''[[Yes but What Does Zataproximetacine DO|weird]]'') curse if they opened the iron maiden that the heroine was hiding in prematurely...[[Crowning Moment of Funny|only for it to be revealed that there was a trick back in there anyway, and she pretty much just bluffed the baddies for the hell of it.]] And doesn't break a smile or drop the [[Creepy Monotone]] ''once''.
* Torgal from ''[[The Last Remnant]]'' is an excellent example, he has the least lines out of the main group and shows very little emotion.
** In his [[Flashback Nightmare|Flashback Nightmares]]s, it's revealed he has an excuse: {{spoiler|Due to his emotions, he chickened out of [[Mercy Kill|mercy killing]] his bandit partner, leaving him to a painful, torturous death.}}
* Cyrus from ''[[Pokémon]] Diamond'', ''Pearl'', and ''Platinum'' believes that emotions are "useless sentimentality". He uses this as his justification for destroying the universe and creating a new one with all humans stripped of emotions and spirit.
** Regarding his "emotionlessness", it's pretty clear through his actions and words that he very obviously still has them. Consider that when he initially tells the player character this, he's nearly screaming at them. In Platinum, he {{spoiler|is forced to confess, due to having a meltdown of rage, that he still has them}}.
Line 360:
* The Master Chief himself! Starring as the main protagonist in the [[Halo]] series, he kicks alien butt, holds off an epidemic Flood virus, ''and'' stops Halo from detonating while keeping a cool head ''the whole freakin' time.'' And the guy never shows emotions to boot (probably because he's in a giant robot suit that masks every emotion his body tries to show). But still, if he's asked to jump out of a ship and hurl into outer space, he'll do it while saying in a calm voice, "Sir, finishing this fight". Definitely a Stoic.
* Chuck Greene from ''[[Dead Rising 2]]''. He never seems to drop the [[Clint Eastwood]]-like stare even if he faces against zombies or psychopaths.
* [[Blue Blood|Rac]][[Stealth Mentor|hel]] [[Our Vampires Are Different|Alu]][[Elegant Gothic Lolita|card]] of ''[[Blaz Blue]]'', as well as her companion [[Battle Butler|Valke]][[Our Werewolves Are Different|nhayn]] [[Mysterious Middle Initial|R.]] [[Retired Badass|Hell]][[Badass Grandpa|sing]], are generally aloof and reserved throughout the games. This stands out a lot since ''[[Blaz Blue]]'' is a [[World of Ham]] filled to the brim with [[Hot-Blooded]] [[Large Ham|Large Hams]]s [[No Indoor Voice|who can't keep their voices down]]. Even then, they have [[Not So Stoic|their moments]].
 
 
Gethbot
Bots
10,856

edits

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/1245704"
Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies.
More information