Face Your Fears: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|"Embrace your worst fear; become one with the darkness." |'''[[Cynical Mentor|Henri Ducard]]''', ''[[Batman Begins]]''}}
[[Primal Fear (trope)|Everybody has something that scares the ever-loving crap out of them]]. [[Fear of Thunder|Thunder]], [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|reptiles]], or maybe [[Killed Off for Real|bloody, painful death.]] Rest assured that in fiction land, if it scares you, you will either end up somewhere where said fear is everywhere, or be [[Stern Chase|relentlessly pursed by said fear]]. Reactions will not vary, with said character wanting nothing to do with this terrifying thing in any way, shape or form.
▲[[Primal Fear|Everybody has something that scares the ever-loving crap out of them]]. [[Fear of Thunder|Thunder]], [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|reptiles]], or maybe [[Killed Off for Real|bloody, painful death.]] Rest assured that in fiction land, if it scares you, you will either end up somewhere where said fear is everywhere, or be [[Stern Chase|relentlessly pursed by said fear]]. Reactions will not vary, with said character wanting nothing to do with this terrifying thing in any way, shape or form.
And then something changes.
[[Facing the Bullets One-Liner|Maybe they've run as far as they can and are now trapped, so they say something cool then face it head on.]] Maybe in order to accomplish a goal, they have to go through the [[Monster Clown]] blocking their path. Or maybe their friends are in danger, and only by [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|knocking Cthulhu the hell out]] can you rescue them. So they do it.
[[Cowardly Lion|Said scared person for whatever reason mans up]], bitch-slaps his fears into submission, and saves the day. Maybe he or she hasn't totally conquered his fear, but at least you know they can overcome it when it matters. Often a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].
This is a Subtrope of a [["What Do They Fear?" Episode]], and a [[Super
{{examples|Examples }}▼
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Pretty much the entire theme of ''[[Soul Eater]]'' (particularly the anime version). Indeed the Big Bad's main failing was cowardice.
== [[
* This is the whole point of the Trial of Heart in an early ''[[Elf Quest]]'' story: [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212517/http://www.elfquest.com/comic_viewer.php?fd=
* This is basically a major theme of [[Green Lantern]] and its adaptations (especially the [[Live Action Adaptation]]). Basically, there's a warning to the worshipers of Evil's might: when a Green Lantern learns to do that, Beware his power!
** The Sinestro Corps work using the opposite. Just like Green Lanterns must face their worst fears, so they can overcome them and use the full potential of their rings, the Sinestros must embrace them. Usually, they fight using their own fears as well as the ones of their victims.
* In ''[[Batman]]'' comics, one wiff of The Scarecrow's [[Psycho Serum|Fear gas]] and you can expect anyone with enough will power (Cough-'''Batman'''-Cough) to have to do this. It's been a theme whenever the two face off in the comics, [[Batman:
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Harry Potter (
* This is a major theme in ''[[Batman Begins]]'', where [[Knight Templar|Henri Ducard]] tells Bruce Wanye to breathe in his fears, to become fear so as to conquer it, makes him open a case of bats during training, etc... but after Bruce leaves the League of Shadows he decides to walk into a cave where he surrounds himself with bats, and he learns to not let fear get in his way... hence his later courage in confronting crime.
* Kevin has to face his fear of his basement furnace in the first ''[[Home Alone]]'' movie.
* In ''[[Mortal Kombat (
{{quote|
* Jason Voorhees ends up facing his fear of water in ''[[Freddy
* In [[Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara]], turns out that each activity in the travel that each one of the friends was planned was purposefully chosen to help their friend(s) to get over their fears. {{Spoiler|Kabir chose submarinism so Arjun could get over their fear of water due to not knowing how to swim, Arjun chose skydiving so Imran could confront his acrophobia for once and all, and Imran chose the Running of the Bulls as he knew his friends were commitophobic unable to live the moment and needed to confront an actual danger to get some perspective.}}
== [[Literature]] ==
* In [[Tamora Pierce]]'s ''[[Tortall Universe|Tortall]]'' books, this is the purpose of the Chamber of Ordeal. A heroic character will emerge stronger, having confronted and conquered his or her greatest fear. An unworthy character will be utterly broken by the experience, which may include actually dying.
* The Litany against fear from ''[[Dune]]'' expresses this trope perfectly:
{{quote|
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain. }}
** There is also the nerve-induction box, better known as the Gom Jabbar test. A student must place his hand in the box, which makes flesh feel like it's on fire. If he removes the hand, he'll be killed by the Gom Jabbar, a poisoned needle. The purpose of the test is to prove that the student is truly "human", in that their reason is more powerful than their instincts. The test is more about pain and instinct than fear, but fear plays into it somewhat.
* In ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'', the test to become accepted involves going through three archways which produce scenes that reflect the girl in question's fears.
* In [[
* In [[Gene Stratton Porter]]'s ''[[
{{quote|
His heart seemed to be leaping when his first rattler disputed the trail with him, but he mustered courage to attack it with his club. After its head had been crushed, he mastered an Irishman's inborn repugnance for snakes sufficiently to cut off its rattles to show Duncan. With this victory, his greatest fear of them was gone. '' }}
== [[Live
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' had Xander punch [[Monster Clown|an evil knife-wielding clown]] right in its evil knife-wielding clown face during a fear-based episode in one of the earlier seasons. In fact all the characters had to face their fears, but he was the only one who literally knocked his out.
* Joey on ''[[Friends]]'' advocated facing your fears:
{{quote|
* In [[Deep Space Nine]] when held in a Dominion dungeon Garek is found to have claustrophobia. None the less he goes into a tight space to work on the escape. After all when songs were sung of the deeds of Worf and Martok, a verse about the tailor who proved to be a wuss might have ruined the song.
* Happens a couple of times in ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'', with Zack's fear of spiders and Billy's fear of fish.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Rikku has a major [[Fear of Thunder]] in ''[[
* Not necessarily fears, but most of ''[[Persona 4]]'' has to do with the main characters facing the manifestations of their insecurities. Although this is [[Shut UP, Hannibal|after they've rejected them]], and then the rest of the party [[Violence Is the Only Option|has to beat the crap out of the shadow]] to keep it from killing the original.
* Red from ''[[Solatorobo]]'' has to face {{spoiler|the idea of losing control and killing everyone he loves}} during a [[Virtual Training Simulation]] [[Journey to
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
* ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' has some moments when the [[Cowardly Lion|titular]] [[Lovable Coward|character]] would realize he was the only thing standing between his friends and the villain, and promptly curbstomps them in an incredible display of courage. One example is the second live-action movie, ''Monsters Unleashed'', where, backed into a corner he pretty much saves the day.
* ''[[Recess]]'': When TJ develops a fear of "The Box" (which is basically solitary confinement), Gretchen suggests framing TJ for a crime so he'll have to face his fear. However, she does lampshade the fact that this would either force him to face his fear or just make things worse.
* Pinkie Pie's "giggle at the ghostly" song from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
{{quote|
the darkness, and the shadows, they would always make me frown.
I'd hide under my pillow from what I thought I saw,
but Granny Pie said that wasn't the way to deal with fears at all!
She said, Pinkie you gotta stand up tall, learn to face your fears,
you'll see that they can't hurt you, just laugh to make them disappear! }}
* [[The Legend of Korra
== [[Real Life]] ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Fear Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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