Victory Is Boring: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:vgcats02 7174.jpg|link=VG Cats|frame|[[The Legend of Zelda CDI Games|Mah boi, this peace is what all true warriors strive for!]]]]

 

{{quote|''"When [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]] saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer."''|'''[[John Milton]]''' (attributed)}}

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In the anime of ''[[Excel Saga (anime)|Excel Saga]]'', when Il Palazzo finally ''does'' conquer F City, his urge to conquer is so shocked at being suppressed that it pulls a [[Split Personality Takeover]].

* Spoofed hard in ''[[Slayers]]''. One episode features a treacherous prince who plots to murder his older brother in order to become first in line to the throne. Lina asks him what he plans to do once he is king. The prince is absolutely dumbfounded by the question, and awkwardly says that "ummm...I was kind of planning to rule and stuff...I guess."

* ''[[Lupin III]]'' did this more than once on those rare occasions when Zenigata actually manages to capture Lupin. Inevitably, Zenigata begins to realize that without Lupin to chase around, his life is empty and boring, as Lupin was the only criminal that truly challenged him. In one story, Lupin sits in jail for an entire year awaiting his execution. Zenigata spends the year getting more and more depressed and dreading the execution day even more than Lupin. When Lupin escapes at the last minute, Zenigata is overjoyed, and the chase resumes.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* In [[Cross Gen]]'s ''Mystic'', the villainous Magus succeeds in casting an immensely powerful spell that turns all his citizens into mindlessly obedient undead master soldiers. With no rebellions or riots to quash, he becomes comically bored.

* The 'Crime Syndicate' of [[DC Comics]] has become the defacto rulers of their own Earth. It's so boring they start their own rebellions against themselves just for the fun of smashing them down. 'Thankfully', the Qwardians get their mad on and decided to kill everything and everyone.

* A few [[Alternate History]] stories have [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers]] villain Kang The Conqueror actually succeed in his quest to take over the Twenty(first) Century. He quickly finds that administration is not his forte.

* The ''[[Transformers]]'' fan comic ''[http://www.lilformers.com/ Lil'Formers]'' illustrates this [http://www.lilformers.com/index.php/2008/03/24/lil-formers-91-all-hail-megatron/ here].

* In the [[Archie Comics]] ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' there is a dimension where Knuckles the Echidna went mad with power and, in an attempt to "bring order to chaos" as he phrased it, he began to conquer the entire planet. He vanquished all enemies, hero (Sonic, Shadow, Tails, etc.) and villain (Eggman, Ixis Naugus, Snively) alike, making sure to take their souls to form the core of his army for extra insurance. However, upon ruling it, he became extremely bored, and allowed a few Freedom Fighters to exist - despite knowing their location already - so as to keep himself entertained. Eventually, derp Knuckles, better known as Enerjak, decided to look for other worlds to conquer three decades after this all had transpired, and in turn sealed his fate.

** A similar thing occurred after {{spoiler|the first}} Robotnik was finally defeated. Mobius is free, Mobotropolis is reclaimed, everyone is happy...except Sonic, who's completely overwhelmed by the tense political climate, the [[Fantastic Racism|overwhelming hatred]] of the Robians, and of course, the lack of a single enemy to fight. He goes so far as to wish Robotnik was back, so he'd know what he was fighting. Fortunately, Naugus showed up soon after{{spoiler|, followed by the second Robotnik}}.

 

== [[Film]] ==

* In ''[[Rocky Balboa]]'', Dixon agrees to fight the aging Rocky because no current boxer can touch him.

** The fans also seem to agree with this trope. Dixon dominates his opponents so easily he's become the [[Boring Invincible Hero]], and people are quickly losing interest in watching him.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* [[Conan the Barbarian]] experiences this after becoming King of Aquilonia. He eventually leaves for high adventure on the Western Sea.

** The movie did a brief variation of this, where his band of thieves' successes had left them worn out and complacent.

** There's also references to a ''Discworld'' parallel of Alexander, named Carelinus, who apparently conquered the entire world, save for Fourecks and the Counterweight Continent ([[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]]s of Australia and China respectively). Cohen observes that it's no wonder, since one's all dried up, and you can't get a decent beer in the other. The minstrel they've captured (long story) tells Cohen the line "and Carelinus wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer." He explains that seeing Cohen looking down at the Disc ("bin there... bin there too... bin there twice, I think... bin everywhere I can see") reminds him of this. Cohen appreciates the comparison: "Yeah, maybe a bit like him. 'cept without the sissy crying, of course..." At another point, it's inverted to reflect the actual quote (see [[Real Life]] below)--that some scholar told Carelinus that every star out there might be another world, and he cried because he realized he couldn't conquer them all in one lifetime. That becomes Cohen's real grievance—that there's so much to do no one, no matter how dedicated, could get it all done in one life.

** Speaking of ''[[Discworld]]'', Duke Felmet (a [[Macbeth]] [[Expy]]) experienced a variant of this when the people of Lancre ''didn't'' rise up and rebel against him after he killed his brother and seized the throne. ([[The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much|They figured that being assassinated counts as "natural causes" for a King]]). His frustration about the fact is summed up in this quote:

{{quote|You couldn't oppress a people like that any more than you could oppress a mattress.}}

* ''[[The Worm Ouroboros]]'': {{spoiler|The protagonists win, but find nothing else interesting for them to do after their victory. They wish for the conflict to happen all over again, causing the entire thing to start over again. [[Foreshadowing|This is the purpose of the title]], as the Ouroboros is a symbol of a snake or dragon eating its own tail, symbolizing cyclicality.}}

* Hero's version: about midway through ''[[Book of Amber|The Chronicles of Amber]]'', Corwin starts realizing that he doesn't have any real interest in holding the throne, and that superficial ambition and spite towards one of his brothers was the only reason he was trying to claim it in the first place. Even before someone else is picked to be King, he announces his intention to abdicate.

* Conquer the world in [[Civilization]], decide to continue the game... and realize that with all the enemies defeated, there is actually very little to do anymore.

* This is [[Badass Grandpa|Yoshihiro]] [[Blood Knight|Shimazu]]'s entire reason for joining the 'losing' side in every ''Warriors'' game he's in. He finds being on the side of the stronger guy and having victory be all but assured boring, and would rather go against long odds. Especially prominent in [[Warriors Orochi]] 3 where he defects from Orochi's army by basically invoking the trope on the spot.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* After acquiring [[Reality Warper]] powers that allows him to curb stomp just about anyone, Jack Noir from ''[[Homestuck]]'' [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=005452 feels this way]. He also realizes he needs to dial down his [[Omnicidal Maniac]] nature or else he'll be left alone in creation with no one to kill.

* [[Mad Scientist]] Klaus Wulfenbach of [[Girl Genius]] took over part of the world by necessity, as it was falling apart after the disappearance of the previous rulers. While he'd much rather spend his time in the lab, he's resigned to a life of politics and attempting to remain in control as the only way to keep the country functioning.

* Subverted in ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'': when Discord breaks the friendship between the main cast and finally demoralises Twilight Sparkle enough to have her give up, at first it looks like he's not having any fun without opposition, but then he instantly cheers up and goes back to raining chaos on the land.

* In the ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'' episode "The Man Who Killed Batman", Joker is clearly unconvinced of his nemesis' demise and goes about robbing a diamond store to force Batman to come thwart him. After a standoff several hours long, he grudgingly admits his greatest foe is gone and that [[Antagonist in Mourning|crime is no more fun without him.]] He orders his gang to take nothing and leaves empty handed.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Universal Tropes]]

[[Category:Plots]]