Warts and All: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Delenn''': ''If you go, you will learn things about me that may change your opinion of me.''

'''Lennier''': ''Delenn, I have pledged myself to your side...come fire or storm or darkness or death. Can understanding be a greater danger?''

 

The heroes need the help of a legendary figure who, over the years, [[Shrouded in Myth|has been idolized]] as the paragon of virtue, the source of all that is good and just, a true example for schoolchildren everywhere. The legend has beaten back all enemies, saved the day hundreds of times, and is truly a [[Knight in Shining Armor]] worth looking up to.

* In [[Poul Anderson]]'s ''Virgin Planet'', the somewhat callow hero lands on a [[Lady Land|planet inhabited solely by women]]—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—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]].

* The Wizard in ''[[Wizard of Oz]]'', aka the Great and Powerful Oz. {{spoiler|Less so in the book, where he is portrayed as a kindly old man who has simply gone astray in his balloon, as in the 1939 film, where he is shown as a ''[[Snake Oil Salesman]]''.}}

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** This, by the way, was despite the fact that Lennier had had family aboard the Black Star. He never held a grudge, either against Sheridan (who destroyed it) or Delenn (when he found out she had ordered it into danger in the first place). Lennier doesn't seem to have gone in for grudges.

 

* Guybrush ends up one of these in the eyes of [[Fan Girl]] Morgan Le Flay in the third episode of ''[[Tales of Monkey Island]]'', though this is a big case of [[Wrong Genre Savvy]] on her part. She built up such an expectation of him as an unparalleled swashbuckler and unstoppable [[Pirate]] that she never realized he was the protagonist of a comedic puzzle-adventure game.

* Two examples from ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]:''

** The second, Big Boss. Though he ended up being a traitor, that little fact was apparently concealed by the government, as by the time of the fourth game he's a household name as the ultimate soldier and his awesome-ness is apparently common knowledge. Numerous [[Hollywood Style|and highly inaccurate]] [[Take That|video games]] and [[Dan Browned|poorly researched books]] have been made out of his career. What nobody realizes is that he was a mentally damaged man who had to [[Shoot the Dog|shoot his own mentor on the orders of his government]] who was convinced that [[Utopia Justifies the Means|utopia for soldiers is worth nuking people with giant bipedal tanks.]]

 

* Rose of all people in ''[[Homestuck]]'', from {{spoiler|Kanaya's}} point of view.

 

== Western Animation ==

* 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]]}}.

{{quote|"Tell my tale to those who ask. Tell it truly, the ill deeds along with the good, and let me be judged accordingly. The rest... is silence."}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Drama Tropes]]

[[Category:Morality Tropes]]

[[Category:Hero Tropes]]

[[Category:Infauxmation Desk]]