History Main / HeartTrauma

* The driving force behind Hisao's character development in ''KatawaShoujo'' is his diagnosis of congenital arrythmia, a heart condition that could kill him at any time. This diagnosis results in his transfer to a new school (thus the plot of the game) and also forces him to look at himself and his life.

* In HansChristianAndersen's FairyTale ''TheSnowQueen'', a boy named Kai has a piece of a mirror that shows a negative view of the world pierce his heart, which causes him to become cold and distant towards his childhood friend Gerda, before he's taken away by the Snow Queen. Gerda goes on a journey to find him and eventually rescues Kai, again through ThePowerOfLove. (It's possible the second-season Princess Tutu example was a reference to this fairytale.)

* The driving force behind Hisao's character development in ''KatawaShoujo'' is his diagnosis of congenital arrythmia, a heart condition that could kill him at any time. This diagnosis results in his transfer to a new school (thus the plot of the game) and also forces him to look at himself and his life.

* [[{{Duncan}} This troper's]] play ''Prince Trevor Amongst the Elephants'' has the titular character's heart taken for offending [[TheHecateSisters The Three Graces]].

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* A possible example in the musical of ''{{Wicked}}'': Elphaba's sister Nessarose is in love with a Munchkin named Boq, who in turn is in love with Glinda. Nessarose steals the Grimmorie (a book of extremely powerful, irreversible, arcane magic) from Elphaba and tries to cast a spell that will make Boq's heart belong to her. [[spoiler: It fails: she ends up destroying his heart. The only thing Elphaba can do to save Boq is turn him into a tin golem, so that he doesn't need a heart.]]

* In ''[[{{ptitlevz6ksp9w}} Howl's Moving Castle]]'' (both the book and Miyazaki's anime) Howl is [[spoiler: ''literally'' heartless because of a DealWithTheDevil.]] [[IGotBetter He gets better eventually.]]

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This trope differs from TheHeartless in that while those characters are simply comprised of negative emotions (which might not actually be related to their hearts), these characters sometimes ''literally'' lose their hearts.

* In ''The Grinch Who Stole Christmas'', the {{Narrator}} guesses that the Grinch might be nasty and hate Christmas because his heart is "two sizes too small". When the Grinch learns the aesop about what Christmas is all about, his heart grows "three sizes larger" and he becomes a lovable, kindhearted, heroic figure.

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* Although this trope is different from TheHeartless, the Nobodies from ''KingdomHearts II'' are still a good example of this trope. They are the shell left behind when a Heartless steals a person's heart. Apparently, losing your heart gives you [[SuperpoweredEvilSide superpowers]] and a taste for black robes. They say they can feel no emotion, although there's some debate in the fandom about whether or not that's true. At the very least, they lack empathy.

* The Shadow {{Pokemon}} in ''Colosseum'' and ''XD Gale of Darkness'' have their hearts sealed off by the bad guys, which prevents them from leveling up, gives them different moves and causes them to go into a periodic self-injurious state similar to Confusion. Forming an emotional bond with the Pokemon is required (but not sufficient) to cure them.

* The Tin Woodsman from ''TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' is entirely convinced he falls under this trope. He doesn't -- in fact, he's very nearly TheMessiah, endeavoring to be kind to all living things so that he doesn't do anything horrible without a heart to guide him.

* In one of the DoctorWho {{Tie In Novel}}s, [[BizarreAlienBiology one of the Doctor's hearts]] is [[OrganTheft stolen]]. [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel While he's awake.]] [[NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow Normally he'd be dead]]; as it is he's still capable of [[TheDeterminator putting some serious effort towards saving the world again]], sleeps for a week, and is [[TheStoic quietly traumatized]] and has BadDreams. It also makes him [[HumanityEnsues more like a regular old human being]]. Also, the fact his heart has been transplanted to someone else results in some kind of weird SoulJar arrangement, where [[{{Synchronization}} if one of them is hurt, it hurts the other]], but neither can be seriously harmed as long as the other is okay. Resulting in the Doctor [[TheUndead walking around clinically dead]] for a while, [[TheWoobie poor thing]]. He [[HealingFactor eventually grows a new one]].

Compare SoulJar, where the thing done to the heart affects their vulnerability.

* In ''[[{{ptitlevz6ksp9w}} Howl's Moving Castle]]'' (both the book and Miyazaki's anime) Howl is [[spoiler: ''literally'' heartless because of a DealWithTheDevil.]]

* In HansChristianAndersen's FairyTale ''TheSnowQueen'', a boy has a piece of a mirror that shows a negative view of the world pierce his heart, which causes him to become cold and distant towards his childhood friend before he's taken away by the Snow Queen. She goes on a journey to find him and eventually rescues him, again through ThePowerOfLove. (It's possible the second-season Princess Tutu example was a reference to this fairytale.)

* The MarvelComics villain Master Pandemonium has a star-shaped hole in his chest where his heart (and supposedly his [[OurSoulsAreDifferent soul]]) used to be, after he makes a life-saving DealWithTheDevil. Turns out the soul fragments he's been reclaiming [[XanatosGambit aren't actually his, however]].

When a character has something physically happen to their heart (often in a way that generally would be impossible without magic being involved), it often affects their personality in drastic ways. Either they lose all of their emotions, or their personality changes--for the worst. Seen most often in fantasy works, particularly those with a symbolic or FairyTale theme.

* In ''{{Everworld}},'' the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon]] [[NorseMythology Nidhoggr]] magically replaces the protagonists' hearts with rubies from his TreasureRoom, informing them that they'll die after six days unless he gives them their real hearts back. He does ''not,'' however, take the heart of TokenEvilTeammate [[TheChessmaster Senna]]; David notes that if he knew the reason why, it would "terrify" him. In reality, it's [[spoiler:because witches have "hard hearts," and Niddhogr didn't want to risk wasting a diamond]].

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* In ''Dragonheart'', future king Einon is given a piece of the heart of a dragon to save his life. While he'd actually been a bit of a bastard from the start, the invincibility which sharing Draco's life grants him leaves Einon free to act up a ''lot'' more than he might've dared, had he remained an ordinary mortal.

** The episode had Q give Picard the chance to go back to his youth and prevent the fight where he was stabbed through the heart. He avoids the fight and his future is changed. Instead of being Captain, he is just a lowly science officer who never takes any risks, always plays it safe, and leads a boring, mundane life. Realizing that it was his near-death experience that made him appreciate life and tought him to live life to the fullest even if means taking risks, he begs Q to take him back to the fight in his youth again. This time, he goes through with the fight, and as he is laying on the ground with a knife through his heart, he laughs hysterically because he knows that this event is what makes him the man that he is.

* Hisao Nakai, protagonist of ''KatawaShoujo'' has congenital arrhythmia, meaning that he's liable to get a heart attack if he's properly stressed.

* Duels in Hell in ''{{Lucifer}}'' are only concluded when one combatant eats the other's heart.

* ''BusouRenkin'' opens as the main character has his heart ripped out. The titular weaponry is a property of the alchemic stone used to replace it.