Willfully Weak: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''NJ:''' Who are you, where did you come from, and how powerful are you?

'''Aerynn:''' I don't know!

'''Aerynn:''' How powerful I am! I don't know!

'''NJ:''' How can you NOT KNOW SOMETHING LIKE THAT??

 

A [[Power Limiter]] in which a character is intentionally suppressing their true strength, be it by magic, technology, willpower, or just by not powering up. Can be for all sorts of reasons. Maybe they want to give their opponent a fair shot at winning. Maybe they [[Does Not Know His Own Strength|don't know their own strength]], or letting loose would simply uncork their [[Power Incontinence]]. Maybe they [[I Just Want to Be Normal|just want to be normal]]. Maybe they are afraid of the [[Hero Insurance|collateral damage]]. Maybe they want to try this [[Weak but Skilled]] thing so they learn to fight tactically rather than steamroll others with brute force. Or maybe it's just to [[Drama-Preserving Handicap|keep their power from overtaking the plot]].

 

 

Obviously, what is considered weak varies greatly from story to story. In some stories, they'll be almost the [[Muggle]]. In others, they'll actually be quite powerful, but [[Can't Catch Up|far behind the other supers]]. In still others, they'll actually not be weak or normal at all, and be one of the more competent fighters, but nowhere near what they'd be capable of without this self-imposed limitation.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

** And as she demonstrates in the second OAV, "weak" is a ''very relative term''. Even with her powers restricted, she's ''much'' stronger than Ryoko, who, prior to Washu's appearance, was arguably the single most powerful cast member other than [[God Mode Sue|Tenchi himself.]]

** Then again, Ryoko only had one out of three jewels, Tenchi didn't let her have the others, even when giving them to her would have been a good idea, making her a partial example.

** In ''Dragonball'', Goku's fighting in a tournament and reveals suddenly that he's wearing extremely heavy clothes, as part of his training. And is suddenly a ''lot'' faster once he gets rid of the extra weight. The same thing happens again several times, all the way up to Goku's fight with Frieza, at which point everybody is so strong that weighted clothes are no longer enough of a [[Power Limiter]] to bother mentioning.

*** Lampshaded in [[Dragon Ball Abridged|The Abridged Series]], during the battle between Piccolo and Freeza:

'''Piccolo''': [[Power Creep, Power Seep|That concept just sort of lost meaning after a while, didn't it?]] }}

* The title character of ''[[Naruto]]'' could kill himself if he ever uses his full power.

** Remember kids: the only reason that Orihime is not slicing through people as tough as Aizen or Yamamoto is because she is an [[Actual Pacifist]] with self-esteem issues.

** We learn in the anime that the reason Harribel's abilities are so underwhelming compared to her rank and supposed status as a Vasto Lorde is because she refuses to eat other Hollows, [[Cannibalism Superpower|the method that makes Hollows and Arrancar stronger.]] She also mentioned that she sort of looks down on those who do.

** Likewise, she always had herself blindfolded, which prevents her ability [[Evil Eye|Mystic Eyes]] to run amok (if not blindfold, [[Meganekko|a pair of glasses]]). What does it do? {{spoiler|[[Taken for Granite|Petrify anything that comes contact to her eyes]], since she is Medusa.}}

** She has another case of holding back and make herself look like a weak Servant: she just dislikes using full power when her master is [[Smug Snake|Shinji]]. On the other hand, when her Master is the real one ({{spoiler|Sakura}}), it's a different story: Still no Monstrous Strength, but removing blindfold becomes a viable option.

* Negi in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' at one point decided that he would seal his magic and fulfil his duties as a teacher without relying on magic. He chose a bad time for it.

* Sailor Saturn in ''[[Sailor Moon]]''. If she uses her most powerful, canonically nameless attack, she will die. And [[Earthshattering Kaboom|destroy the world]].

** Actually, he can't use his true Chiropteran form {{spoiler|because he isn't drinking enough blood. Just like Saya, he is afraid that drinking too much blood will cause addiction and result in his rampaging for it. This is also demonstrated with Solomon, Diva's chevalier, as he later couldn't transform due to losing too much blood at Diva's hands.}}

* ''[[Saint Seiya]]'''s [[Law of Chromatic Superiority|Gold]] [[Person of Mass Destruction|Saint]] [[Western Zodiac|Virgo]] [[God in Human Form|Shaka]] deliberately keeps his eyes closed when he battles his foes -- his constant meditation means that he devotes only a fraction of his attention to the outside world. People who know him, even fellow Gold Saints, are ''very'' afraid of him opening his eyes, because that means [[Let's Get Dangerous|he has stopped meditating]] and is now ''[[Oh Crap|fully focused]]'' on the enemy.

** To be accurate, the main reason Shaka suppresses his eyesight on his own is to further his seventh sense and cosmic perceptions, which means a tremendous power increase compared to his other fellow Gold Saints. The result of him opening his eyes is the brutal release of all of the accumulated energy in a blow that literally beats his opponents senseless.

* ''[[Katanagatari]]'' has a two examples:

** The first is a particularly crazy example (warning: spoils an awesome twist). {{spoiler|Despite being physically weak and ill, Nanami starts the series able to easily defeat her brother, who defeated the official Greatest Swordsman in Japan. Turns out, she can also [[Power Copying|copy any skill]] she sees, including super-strength, spontaneous claw growth, and walking on water. Then it turns out that she has inhuman resilience and can't die no matter how sick or poisoned she becomes. ''Then'' it turns out she's acquired one of the Deviant Blades, which cures her weakness and low energy. ''And then'' it turns out she uses others' skills so she can be ''weaker'', as her instinctive combat skills are utterly perfect!}}

* Fai {{spoiler|the main character, not the real one}} from ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' had a tattoo on his back that limited his magical power, {{spoiler|well he thought that's what it did}}. Once Yuuko took this away as his price, Fai resolved to never use his magic again because he was too powerful without the limiter.

* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', the last episode focusing on Kurama in the series had him deal with this consideration while balancing his three personas. Ultimately, he {{spoiler|refuses to transform into Yoko Kurama, a form which would have allowed him to easily win against his opponent and be successful in the tournament, because he would rather be happy than powerful.}}

== Comic Books ==

* [[Superman]] is always doing this because he's so powerful, the rest of the world may as well be [[World of Cardboard Speech|made of cardboard]], and the slightest lapse in control on his part could kill someone. When the modern Kara Zor-El ([[Supergirl]]) arrived on Earth, it was thought she was actually more powerful than Superman. Superman had been holding back so long it seemed that even he forgets what he can do when he lets go. She caused a lot of property damage in the early issues. (It seems she does still have the edge in flight speed, whereas he has an edge in strength and toughness.)

* [[Spider-Man]] usually pulls his punches to avoid seriously injuring the people he fights. It's subverted in ''Spider-Man vs. Wolverine'' when he accidentally kills an assassin...who happens to be Wolverine's ex-girlfriend.

* Same with Captain Britain, who learned about all this while teaming with Spider-Man. Half-canine criminals don't deserve a max-power punch in the snout (Doggy-girl survived, her bills paid by the Cap).

== Literature ==

* Though far from weak, [[The Dumbledore|Albus Dumbledore]] from ''[[Harry Potter]]'' outright admits to limiting the power he could reach, ''in the first chapter of the first book'':

* At the end of [[Michael Crichton]]'s ''[[Sphere]]'' {{spoiler|the surviving characters (some of them, anyway) will themselves into simply ''forgetting'' their [[Physical God]] status, thus losing it, on the off chance they go mad with power.}}

* At the start of ''[[The Hollows]]'' Rachel is doing this, by doing only [[White Magic|white]] earth magic spells. White spells are less powerful than [[Black Magic|black spells]], and the line is clearer with earth magic than ley line magic. However, circumstances keep forcing her to use black magic {{spoiler|and demon curses}}.

** [[Mad Doctor|Eirin Yagokoro]] is also said to be actually far stronger than [[Everything's Better with Princesses|Kaguya Houraisan]], but holds back her power out of respect. [[That One Boss|Though she doesn't always do a great job of holding back.]]

** Hong Meiling is probably the most obvious case: using her to win against Sakuya in ''Hisoutensoku'' has her bluntly stating that she was always going easy all the time, and that she will only fight seriously if it was an official duel she was involved in.

** Not to mention [[Reality Warper|Yukari Yakumo]], who [[Word of God]] has stated has enough power to "easily" destroy Gensokyo, and is quite possibly the most powerful being in the Universe, yet manages to put up challenging yet doable fights in the games. The fact that she's generally too lazy to go all-out is probably a factor too.

** Tenshi Hinanawi, a celestial, was defeated by almost every character in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody in their respective scenarios, but in those scenarios, she was holding back her real power in her battles on purpose, because due to being a celestial, she wasn't supposed to fight with people from the lower world, like the people and Youkai in Gensokyo, and even then, she was just bored, so she let them win. Cue Tenshi's scenario, where she wasn't holding back her real power, and she proved it by defeating easily each opponent she faced, {{spoiler|including Reimu}}.

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Slayer]] from ''[[Guilty Gear]] XX'' is an ancient, possibly thousands of years old vampire and the former head of a major guild of assassins. His Instant Kill move involves him landing a [[Megaton Punch|single punch]] at his full strength, which has sufficient force to knock his opponent into a neighboring ''galaxy.'' Despite this, he has no particular desire to kill anyone, and intentionally avoids using his full power because doing so would take all the fun out of fighting. If beaten, he simply lies on the ground, smoking his pipe and looking vaguely amused.

** Potemkin is considered a [[One-Man Army]] by many, but in-game he wears a [[Power Limiter]] around his neck to prevent casualties ([[Genius Bruiser|he's investigating, you see.]]) His Instant Kill involves him removing the restraint and landing a single punch.

** As {{spoiler|Unlimited Rachel}}, [[SNK Boss|the gloves come off]], although even then she does nothing that would risk making her sweat.

** Ragna does this as well, and it is only once he uses the Azure Grimoire that the time loop is broken.

* Ike's father in ''[[Fire Emblem]] Path of Radiance'', {{spoiler|General Gawain}} cut the tendons in his right arm, and refuses to fight with a sword {{spoiler|because he went berserk and killed his wife}} when he touched Lahrain's Medallion.

* [[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]], in all of his incarnations. All of them are said to be the pinnacle of artificial life and combat designs for their respective universes. Through use of their [[Mega Manning|signature ability]] could easily become nigh unstoppable. Fortunately, they all share a [[Martial Pacifist]] philosophy, and deliberately drop all but the most minor upgrades they gain after defeating a major threat to ensure that they are never corrupted by power.

 

 

== Web Comics ==

** ''Grace!'' She's an atrociously powerful alien hybrid, and a kindhearted pacifist. She has to [[Boxing Lessons for Superman|study martial arts]] with Sensei Greg so she can fight non-lethally.

* Aerynn from ''[[Electric Wonderland]]'' practices a brand of magic that no one else in [[Cyberspace]] can do, and often feels too scared to use it to its full potential. Considering how much she ''doesn't'' mind doing (transforming her teammates, teleporting enemies, using [[Hammerspace]] to sneak her boss past security, the list goes on and on), one can only imagine what powers she doesn't want to use.