Warts and All: Difference between revisions

'''Delenn''': ''In this case...yes.'' |'''[[Babylon 5]]''': ''Atonement''}}

Usually, this trope involves the lead characters convincing the legend that he must rise above his weaknesses and become the true [[Knight in Shining Armor|shining example]] that they thought he was. A more [[Bittersweet Ending]] is possible if one of the leads gets caught up in the hero-worship and refuses to see through the foibles to the human being inside. Or worse, if they only realize the legend is human after a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]; if only the reader realizes it and the characters all refuse to, this trope can reach [[Tragic Hero]] heights.

== ComicbooksComic Books ==

* In ''[[Legend of the Guardians: theThe Owls of ga Ga'Hoole]]'', Soren finds out that the ragged, one-eyed, rather cynical old owl Ezylryb is actually {{spoiler|his hero, the legendary Lyze of Kiel}}.

* In Mitchel Scanlon's ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' [[Horus Heresy]] novel ''Descent of Angels'', Zahariel's first glimpse of Brother Amadis disappoints him: merely a man, not a figure like Lion. But the longer he looks at him, the more he understands his character and heroism.

* In [[Poul Anderson]]'s ''Virgin Planet'', the somewhat callow hero lands on a [[Lady Land|planet inhabited solely by women]] -- and—and women [[Shrouded in Myth|whose myths recount the days where there were men, wonderful and marvellous beings]]. Meeting with a real, merely human man leads them to rapidly conclude that he's really an alien, not being wonderful and marvellous enough. Dealing with him, however, brings various women to realize that he really is a man. (Not at all hurt by his [[Character Development]], all the way up to offering to make a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] at the climax.)

* In [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''[[Xanth]]'', when the Gorgon asked Good Magician Humphrey to marry her, he set the same condition as anyone else who wanted an answer from him: she had to work for him for a year. When Dor discovers this, Humphrey explains that he feared this trope, because the Gorgon had thought herself in love after he cast the spell to keep her from turning people to stone. Working as his housekeeper for a year would ensure that she knew of all his little quirks and annoying traits before she married him -- ifhim—if she married him. A little later, the Gorgon explains to Dor that she had worked this out, and [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man|it is exactly what convinced her that he was the right man]].

* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld/Unseen Academicals|Unseen Academicals]]'', Trev was bitter about his dead father. Nutt pointed out that his father had been only human, not a god; a good father; and, if perhaps a [[Fearless Fool]] who had gotten himself killed, yet people who had risked their lives had been important to the human race -- anrace—an insight which profoundly moves Trev.

** Discworld also references the [[Trope Namer]] in ''[[Discworld/Feet of Clay (novel)|Feet of Clay]]'' when "Old Stoneface" Vimes, a [[Captain Ersatz]] of Cromwell, is persistently described as having 'warts and all' by historical romantics who essentially use this as their justification for considering him the bad guy (King Lorenzo, on the other side, was a [[Complete Monster]] who was "extremely fond of children" ''but he looked the part'').

* Textbook demonstrated in an episode of ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|Mash]]''. Hawkeye's nightly habits catch up to him, and a hangover prevents him from finishing surgery on a patient. Radar, laid up due to an earlier injury, chastises Hawkeye for his failure, which results in his hero angrily yelling at him. After much discussion (and literally everyone in camp chewing out Hawkeye for his lost temper, Hawkeye included) Radar reaches the conclusion that he was human all along, and that seeing him off the pedestal, he might be able to like him more as a person than an idol.

* Played with in the first episode of ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'': [[Batman]] and the [[Blue Beetle]] (Jaime Reyes) end up on a distant alien planet that reveres the Beetle (actually, a previous owner of the scarab) as their savior. Like the ''[[Firefly]]'' example, Jaime tries to convince the aliens that he's no savior and that [[Holding Out for a Hero|they should stand on their own two feet]], but it fails... until the climax of the episode, of course.

* In ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'', Eugene is disillusioned when he learns that his idol is a foul tempered hypocrite. However, he's also a good person as demonstrated when he selflessly saves Eugene and Arnold from untimely deaths.

* On ''[[Daria]],'' an old sports hero comes to Lawndale High for a dedication, and everybody has to put up with what a [[Jerk Jock]] he is. The discrepancy between his honored status and caustic personality becomes even more difficult when {{spoiler|he dies in an accident, evoking sympathy and [[Never Speak Ill of the Dead]]}}.

* ''[[Beast Wars]]'': [[Invoked Trope]] by Dinobot via his {{spoiler|[[Last Words]]}}: