History Main / FamedInStory

-->He was more than a little famous. He had never asked for his fame, of course-that was not his style-but fame, or at any rate notoriety, had come to him all the same. Because of what he had achieved: because of what he was. Not who, but what.

* In ''Fanfic/AmazingFantasy'', Izuku becomes a local celebrity as "Prowler Kid" for running in to help an injured [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter]] when no one else would (albeit while all of the Pro Heroes had their hands tied by the bomb Prowler embedded in Mount Lady's neck). He's frequently stopped on the street for photos by people who recognize from the live television broadcast of the event. He's unnerved by his fame more than anything, as he spent his whole life feeling invisible as the only Quirkless kid he knew when he wasn't being mocked or beat up.

* Creator/SandyMitchell's Literature/CiaphasCain[[note]]HERO OF THE IMPERIUM![[/note]] finds his story being told (inaccurately) all over the place.

* Discussed in ''Webcomic/TheHammer2022''. Due to fighting along so many heroes in his previous life, Tiny remembers the names of all of the important fighters in the efforts to repel the Demon Lord's armies. So Asgard takes notice when Tiny is ignorant of the names of numerous high-level knights living in the present, as this means that these knights were somehow killed before Tiny got to meet or hear of them. This includes one of Asgard's best men, Jenas Freewell, a sixth-level knight and the grandmaster of the Blue Wings Order. With this knowledge in mind, Asgard begins investigating the circumstances that could lead to Jenas' death and the assassination of the Aslan Empire's royal family.

* In Creator/JasperFforde's ''Literature/TheEyreAffair'', Achron's motive.
* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' story "In Remembrance", after taking Thuro out on a patrol rather farther than they should have, the Ghosts make much of his recognizing an ambush and fixing a flamer on the field. Thuro then goes on to commemorate them in a statue; the story is framed as an interview about that, his most famous work.

* In Creator/JamesSwallow's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/BloodAngels'' novel ''Red Fury'', Rafen looks at the carvings about the tomb, recounting the deeds of a Blood Angel who had actually entombed Sanguinius's body; it inspires him to carry on. Later, Turkio considers how he, a mere line-brother, will not be remembered in stories, but still carries on.
* In Henry Zhou's TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 novel ''The Emperor's Mercy'', Imperial Guardsmen are surrounded by Chaos forces and [[LastStand are fighting on]], despite dying of hunger and disease. Roth tells Celemine that they had no choice but to stay with them. The commander hears and instantly wants to fight a last charge: they can get them to their ship and [[YouShallNotPass hold off the enemy]] -- and that way, they can be remembered. (They are. In fact, their eighteen minutes defense of the ship is immortalized in a mural ''on Terra''.)
* In the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Literature/HorusHeresy'' books, the Legions are accompanied by remembrancers to ensure this. [[spoiler: Well, until Horus massacres them.]]
* In Lee Lightner's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/SpaceWolf'' novel ''Wolf's Honour'', the skald, Morgrim, attends all that happens to recount it in song. When Mikal realizes he overheard him [[ConverseWithTheUnconscious talking to his unconscious superior]], he angrily demands to know how Morgrim will tell it; Morgrim declares that he will say that a hero paid his respect to his lord before battle, and Mikal refuses to believe it, thinking Morgrim will remember him as a failure. Morgrim assures him that his lord had felt the same way on many an occasion.

* Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin's ''Literature/AWizardOfEarthsea'' is explicitly described as being about him when he was young and not famed in-story; in it, a friend declares he will make a song so his deeds will be remembered, but either he didn't or the song was lost. However, by ''Literature/TheFarthestShore'', Ged is indeed famed.

** By the time ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' comes around, Shepard's reputation is so great that his/her commanding officers willingly stand aside and allow him/her to make the decisions in the greatest war humanity has ever been involved in. They outright state that Shepard is the only hope the galaxy has. [[spoiler:The epilogue reveals that Shepard is still remembered and greatly revered thousands of years into the future]].

** By the time ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' comes around, Shepard's reputation is so great that his/her commanding officers willingly stand aside and allow him/her to make the decisions in the greatest war humanity has ever been involved in. They outright state that Shepard is the only hope the galaxy has.

* Luna of ''WesternAnimation/LetsGoLuna'' is famed less for any tales about her and more for her extreme kindness and attitude, with many passersby treating her like a celebrity of sorts. Given she's the moon, this is obviously a joke on the fact that at least 99% of humanity would know what the moon is in real life.

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', the Furious Five are legendary kung fu masters famed across China. At the end of the film, the title character himself becomes a legend as the Dragon Warrior.

** Kero gets off lucky compared to Kethry (her grandmother) and Tarma (her teacher). They had to deal with several, many of which were composed and consciously embellished (motivated by mere money? nonsense!) by one particularly irritating minstrel with a fixation on the latter.

* Link in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', in contrast to other Links in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' who are obscure both during and after the events of those games. A century before the main plot, he became famous across Hyrule as the Hylian Champion upon obtaining the [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield Master Sword]]. When he emerges from the [[HealingVat Shrine of Resurrection]] a century later AfterTheEnd, he's still famous as the man who fell in battle against the forces of Calamity Ganon, with some characters figuring out who he is based on him carrying the Sheikah Slate and the Master Sword. This gets taken even further in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'', with many characters recognizing him on sight as the Hero of Hyrule and treating him accordingly.
* ''VideoGame/LittleWheel'': After the protagonist restores power to all the robots, they celebrate it as a hero. {{The end}}ing screen has them joyously crowding around the waving hero and a statue of its likeness that holds a lightning-shaped arrow to symbolise its role at restoring power to the world.

* Link in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', in contrast to other Links in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' who are obscure both during and after the events of those games. A century before the main plot, he became famous across Hyrule as the Hylian Champion upon obtaining the [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield Master Sword]]. When he emerges from the [[HealingVat Shrine of Resurrection]] a century later AfterTheEnd, he's still famous as the man who fell in battle against the forces of Calamity Ganon, with some characters figuring out who he is based on him carrying the Sheikah Slate and the Master Sword.

* The ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/30411063/chapters/74976912 Deadshots]]'' upgrades Ty Lee and her sisters to this. She is one of seven identical septuplets who all survived to be healthy teenagers, and their mother survived giving birth to them. As the author notes, that's happened less than ten times in recorded history in the real world with modern medicine; in the comparatively more primitive ''Avatar''-verse, that's the kind of thing that would be hailed as a miracle.

* In ''VideoGame/TwistedWonderland'', [[WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland The Queen of Hearts]], [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Scar]], [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid Ursula]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Jafar]], [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Queen Grimhilde]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} Hades]] and [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]] are known as 'The Great Seven', are the founders of Night Raven College, and are held in high esteem by the students and faculty of the school. They provide the background story for each of the school's dorms, and anyone who fits a certain quality of theirs gets sorted into their respective dorm.

** Interestingly enough, Obito only remembered of the White Fang that he had died as a hero for the village; clearly Konoha's Academy only teaches the parts of the legend it wants its [[DrivenToSuicide students to know about]].

The full {{Stock Phrase|s}} is typically rendered "famed in story and song", and seems to be particularly common in Celtic language songs, poems, and works describing them. SuperTrope of NewsTravelsFast. Related to PropagandaHero. Usually involves some form of CharacterShilling. See TheDreaded for the fear-based equivalent. When this transpires between Volumes 1 and 2, see LegendaryInTheSequel. See SmithOfTheYard for celebrity detectives. See FameGate for the gaming equivalent.

The full {{Stock Phrase|s}} is typically rendered "famed in story and song", and seems to be particularly common in Celtic language songs, poems, and works describing them. SuperTrope of NewsTravelsFast. Related to PropagandaHero. Usually involves some form of CharacterShilling. See TheDreaded for the fear-based equivalent. When this transpires between Volumes 1 and 2, see LegendaryInTheSequel. See SmithOfTheYard for celebrity detectives.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Gemini}},'' the [[InvertedTrope inversion]] is PlayedForDrama. One of the things that worries VillainProtagonist Captain June Harper at the beginning of the story is the fact that the people holding her ''haven’t'' heard of the Time Agency despite their base being built so close to a Time Rift

* In ''LightNovel/LogHorizon'' Shiroe discovers that the Landers have kept chronicles on the Adventurers from when the world was a game and view their past raids as feats of heroism. Ri Gan and Kinjo both refer to Shiroe as "the Archmage of the Tea Party".

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': For Akira, this happens differently between hunters, and [[WrongSideOfTheTracks in the slums]].

* Lina Inverse goes beyond world-renowned in ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}''. In the anime, she finds out several of the epithets people know her by, which she's none-too-pleased with as they make her sound more like a blood-crazed psychopath than a great and wise mistress of arcane forces (to be fair, they're more accurate than her own self-image). One that particularly irks her is "Dragon Spooker" because supposedly dragons will step aside and let her pass mid-rampage rather than risk dealing with her. Then, later, a dragon in the middle of a town-destroying rampage catches a glimpse of her face and tries to nonchalantly make an escape...

* From the very beginning, ''Franchise/SailorMoon'''s title character is so popular with the public that throughout the series you can see plushies, figurines, and even costumes made in her likeness (along with the other Senshi). Her predecessor, [[Manga/CodenameSailorV Sailor V]], is even more legendary, being greatly admired as a heroine of justice; she is talked about frequently before she is formally introduced, and there was even an ''anime'' being made about her. When Sailor Venus finally joins the team, Sailor Moon is a full-blown FanGirl of V's.

** Bill and Barry Heterodyne were revered across Europa as the greatest heroes of their generation. There are plenty of books and plays about their adventures, many greatly exaggerated.
** Post-timeskip Bill's daughter Agatha has her own greatly exaggerated plays, performed by the same Heterodyne troupe she once hid among, ironically.

* Mr. Satan from ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. Sure the audience knows he's a FakeUltimateHero who's lucky to survive the stuff he puts himself through, but the people of Earth he's their greatest champion and savior. They named a city after him, the entire World Martial Tournament centers around him to the point he can skip the elimination round, something no other champion before him could do and gets military support with just asking. His fame does come in handy during the final story arc.

* [[PlayingWithTropes Played with]] in ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'', as far as [[LoveInterest Carlos]] [[HotScientist the Scientist]] is concerned. Every time Cecil mentions him, he always describes Carlos as being magnificently handsome, talks about his perfect hair, and at one point tries to hold a ceremony naming him as Night Vale's most important citizen. Due to the paranormal nature of the show, it's not clear if this is some [[{{Glamour}} mysterious effect]] Carlos is having on everyone, if Cecil and the population of Night Vale just [[LoonyFan develop unnatural obsessions with random individuals]], or if Carlos is just really that good looking. It's implied that the townsfolk are at least as enamored with Carlos' hair as Cecil, driving Barber Telly out of town for cutting it. Old Woman Josie has also described Carlos as "perfect", adding that he "smells like lavender chewing gum".