History Main / FailureKnight

** Suzaku is also a fairly textbook example of this trope even before he ''actually'' becomes Princess Euphemia's knight. [[spoiler:Her tragic death only exacerbates things, and by the time he gets to ''Nunnally's'' (apparent) death, Suzaku has hit the DespairEventHorizon.]]

* ''Manhwa/SkeletonSoldierCouldntProtectTheDungeon'': It's right there in the title. The first thing that ever happened to the skeleton soldier was he failed to protect the necromancer who raised him; apparently the next twenty years weren't much better, and he died failing to protect his succubus queen.

[[folder: Real Life]]

--> "[[YouShallNotPass You'll go no further!]] [[MyGreatestFailure For her sake...]] [[MyGreatestSecondChance I WILL NOT FAIL!!]]"

* In ''Manga/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'', we have two of these on opposite sides of the war. Allen Schezar, Knight of Astoria, feels guilty for [[spoiler: not being able to protect his deceased MissingMom and his long lost sister Selena, kidnapped as a young girl.]]. Whereas in the Zaibach empire, Jajuka the Beastman feels guilty because [[spoiler: he ''also'' was unable to save Selena... from forcibly becoming ''Dilandau'', thanks to the {{Mad Scientist}}s of the group.]]

*** Cyan also falls under this when Kefka poisons the water surrounding Doma castle, killing everyone inside, including Cyan's wife and son. Later on, after beating the Phantom Train boss, Cyan sees his wife and son depart to the afterlife, telling him that they love him and they thank him for all he has done for them. Though he tries to put it behind him, Cyan still blames himself for not being able to prevent the tragedy. In fact, during [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the World of Ruin]], those negative emotions haunt him and cause a spirit fiend named Wrexsoul to appear in Cyan's dreams and feed off Cyan's soul. After the party defeats the monster, the spirit of Cyan's wife and son appear and they tell him to be strong and to keep living. This finally gives Cyan the strength to carry on, which causes him to fully master all of his Sword Techs.

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', the fact a legendary demon slayer failed to kill Muzan, with the added insult of he only escaping because [[spoiler:Yoriichi’s kindness distracted him by noticing Tamayo’s sad nature by the sideline; that weighted him down immensely since Yoriichi came to realize he was pretty much the strongest demon slayer to ever live]], thus knowing very well Muzan would be responsible for many deaths to come without anyone at the time being able to put a stop to that terror.

* Sokka in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is upset with [[spoiler:Yue]]'s death and blames himself for it, thinking he could have protected her. When he meets up with Suki again, he tries protecting her fervently to prevent her from dying too.

** Lancer (a.k.a. [[Myth/CelticMythology Diarmuid Ua Duibhne]]) lost the trust of his lord Finn mac Cumhaill when he [[SoBeautifulItsACurse (accidentally)]] stole Finn's fiance. He joins the Holy Grail War for one reason: to successfully serve his Master through the War, thus atoning for his past failure. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, his new Master's fiance falls for him much like Grainne did, poisoning the attempt right from the start.]]

* Saber of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' has shades of this, which become more evident as the story progresses. [[spoiler: As Myth/KingArthur, she failed to save the country she lived to serve, and perhaps even led to the civil war which tore it apart. Her sole wish is to erase her own existence, in the hopes that a different king will wield Excalibur, and succeed where she failed. And as ''LightNovel/FateZero'' makes clear, this isn't the first Holy Grail War she's taken part in]].

* ''LightNovel/FateZero''

* In the final case of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'', Adrian Andrews is stubborn and very matter-of-fact due to [[spoiler:her former mentor, Celeste, [[DrivenToSuicide committing suicide]]. Doesn't help that the guilty party AND the victim were directly responsible, and Adrian Andrews suffers from severe self-esteem issues]].

* In ''LightNovel/KureNai'', Yayoi seems to be stalking Shinkurou and Murasaki to the point of obsession. At first, this is put down as just her being jealous that Shinkurou got assigned the job to protect Murasaki. However, it is later revealed that [[spoiler:Yayoi once failed in her duty as a bodyguard to protect another client from murder, so this time she's extremely protective of Murasaki]].

* Ex-private detective, now HitmanWithAHeart Youji Kudoh from ''Anime/WeissKreuz'' is permanently haunted by his failure to [[spoiler: protect his girlfriend and former partner, Asuka Murase, from being shot down during a job that went horribly wrong]].

* Tachibana of ''Manga/{{Gate 7}}''. His BigBrotherInstinct towards Hana is justified once it's discovered that [[spoiler: he fails in protecting his own twin sister and she ended kipnapped by Iemitsu.]]

--> '''Ichigo''': "I loved my mom. (...) She filled up the center our family revolved around. [[TearJerker From that center,]] '''[[TearJerker I stole mom from them,]]''' [[TearJerker I did...!]]"

** Arguably, much the same thing happens to [[spoiler:Silverbolt]] in ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'', when Megatron [[spoiler:turns him evil, removes his code of honor, and he ''likes'' it.]] Afterwards, he splits his time between brooding over his fall, seeking revenge and [[spoiler:spurning the affections of his former lover, Black Arachnia]]