There Is No Try

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Yes sir, Captain Fel, sir. And when I defect to the New Republic, sir, and become one of its best pilots, I'll remember that.
"No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."
—Yoda, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
"Nonsensical lines like that one make Yoda the Yogi Berra of the galaxy. He seems to have picked up an incorrect definition of the word "try" at whatever community college he attended. You cannot do without trying first. It is impossible. If he'd said "get drunk, or do not, there is no drinking" it would have made as much sense."
—David Myers of cracked.com

It's more than a Training Montage—this is hard work. The hero needs to get to a new level of ability, and fast. Thankfully, he has just the hard-nosed master to teach him. But the hero just isn't up to speed: He never quite lands that punch, his chi flow is too far off to channel that spell, and the master is thrashing him in the process.

Then the hero stops and the master gives a brief line that lights a fire in the hero: "Stop trying to hit me and hit me!"/"If you aren't good enough, give up and stop wasting my time," and whoosh. He has it. He lands a blow, he casts the lightning bolt, etc. The master quips, "Beginner's luck," or "Not bad," and launches into another attack (usually demonstrating that the Hero still has some way to go). We cut out and the next time we see the Hero, he has mastered the technique.

Often accompanied by a reminder of what the Hero is fighting for, usually (but not always) framed in a way that insults either the Hero or the person/thing he is trying to save. This is done to get the Hero angry enough that he'll temporarily forget whatever mental hang-up is preventing him from getting this trick right.

The keystone of Training from Hell and The Spartan Way. Related to Hit Me Dammit and sometimes Don't Think, Feel.

Examples of There Is No Try include:


Anime and Manga

  • Everything Ichigo does, ever, in Bleach.

Film

Miyagi: Now, ready?
Daniel: Yeah, I guess so.
Miyagi: Daniel-san, must talk. Walk on road, hm? Walk left side, safe. Walk right side, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later, (makes squish gesture) get squish just like grape. Here, karate, same thing. Either you karate do "yes", or karate do "no". You karate do "guess so", (makes squish gesture) just like grape. Understand?

  • In Kill Bill Vol. 2 Pai Mei tells Black Mamba, in response to her inability to punch through a thick board at close range, "It is the wood that should fear your hand, not the other way around! No wonder you can't do it; you acquiesce to defeat before you even begin."
  • Used by Master Shifu in Kung Fu Panda when he finally figures out how to train Po. Makes sense, really, since he - at times - seems just a gallon half-pint of green dye short of being Yoda.
  • In The Matrix, Morpheus's "Stop trying to hit me and hit me!" line he delivered while sparring with Neo.
  • Yoda's force training of Luke in The Empire Strikes Back. Oddly, this subverts the very trope it names, as Luke fails to rise to the occasion of using the Force to move his sunken X-wing out of a lake. He gives up until Yoda demonstrates how Badass he is by raising the X-wing out of the water.

Luke: ...I don't believe it!
Yoda: And that is why you fail.

    • Yuthura Ban of Knights of the Old Republic mentioned something that sounded like the dark side version of this; just another illustration of how Jedi and Sith are Not So Different.
    • Kevin Sorbo's line from the first season finale of Andromeda 'All that matters in life is that you try, promise me you'll try' was an homage to this scene as it was preceded by a 'why we fight' speech.
    • The Trope Namer example highlights the problem; Luke doesn't believe he can do it, and because he can't, he can't.

Literature

  • The children's story of The Little Engine that Could also illustrates this mindset: "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can... I thought I could, I thought I could," etc.
    • An expected subversion in a Far Side cartoon, with The Little Engine looking the worse for wear, leaning against a building with a beggar's hat in front of him, and a sign reading "I thought I could, I thought I could..."
  • Richard of the Sword of Truth is restricted to this to prevent him from being a total Game Breaker.
  • In A Song of Ice and Fire, Jon Snow tells Sam to be brave.

Jon: I can't command you to be brave, but I can command you to hide your fears. You said the words, Sam. Remember?
Sam: I... I'll try.
Jon: You won't try. You will obey.

Live Action Television

  • Averted in the final episode of season 1 of Andromeda where Dylan demands of his XO Beka Valentine that 'All that matters in life is that you try, promise me you'll try.' as she confesses she isn't sure if she can make it to the overrun command center of the ship.
  • Peter Petrelli's training in Heroes.

Western Animation

  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Toph's attitude to Aang whilst learning Earthbending is a definite "There is no try" attitude: "If you're not tough enough to stop the rock, then you could at least give it the pleasure of smooshing you instead of jumping out of the way like a jelly-boned wimp!!"
    • Justified in this case because Earthbending is stated to require the bender to have a will stronger than the element itself. The sentiment has to be "I am going to move this rock" not "I am going to TRY to move this rock". There's a reason Earthbenders are known for being stubborn, willful hardheads.
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