History Main / HeroicFatigue

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', Panacea has the power of complete control over the biology of anything she touches. She uses this to simulate HealingHands, and she can cure virtually any ailment or sickness. From the moment her powers triggered as a child, she spent all her free time visiting hospitals, because [[SamaritanSyndrome she couldn't live with herself if she didn't.]] As time went by, however, she got sick of seeing illness and sick people around her all the time, to the point that she was almost on the edge of a complete breakdown, so when [[AwesomenessByAnalysis Tattletale]], [[MadScientist Bone]][[AmbiguousInnocent saw]], and [[OmnicidalManiac Jack Slash]] administered successive [[BreakingSpeech Breaking Speeches]] to her, she had a nervous breakdown and [[spoiler:turned her sister into pure BodyHorror]]

* [[MartianManhunter J'onn J'onzz]] temporarily quits the JusticeLeague late in the third season of ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' partly due to this.

* ''{{Literature/Rule 34}}'': [[BritishCoppers Detective Inspector]] Liz Kavanaugh is realizing that not only has she been ReassignedToAntarctica, but that she has become burnt out by years of policework and just doesn't really ''care'' about her career anymore. She still cares about solving the ''case'' she's on, but much of that is simply following leads and passing information back and forth with the other cops. It's the big picture she no longer cares about.

* {{Batman}} suffers an emotional breakdown like this in the ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "I am the Night".

* ''Literature/Rule34'': [[BritishCoppers Detective Inspector]] Liz Kavanaugh is realizing that not only has she been ReassignedToAntarctica, but that she has become burnt out by years of policework and just doesn't really ''care'' about her career anymore. She still cares about solving the ''case'' she's on, but much of that is simply following leads and passing information back and forth with the other cops. It's the big picture she no longer cares about.

* ''[[{{Chalion}} The Curse of Chalion]]'': Poor Cazaril! To list all his tribulations would be a massive wall of text, but to sum up: in the novel, he rides 800 miles on horseback with a demon-infested tumor in his stomach. ''Before'' the novel takes place, he holds a fortress against an extended seige, and the starvation and disease that go along with that. ''Then'' he's sold into slavery aboard a galley, where he nearly dies to save [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Oarman]]. By the end of the novel he has literally almost hero'ed himself to death.

!Examples

* In ''{{Megamind}}'', [[spoiler: Metroman gets so tired of being a hero all the time he fakes his death.]]

* [[TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]] goes through this all the time. Often he will forget to eat, or sleep when he's on a case and the world needs saving from supernatural doom. By the time he manages to solve everything he's usually so strung out that he often ends up just blacking out from exhaustion.

* In ''WorldWarZ'', the American President during the latter part of the zombie outbreak is described like this. Though he is, by all accounts, an incredible leader who kept his country from collapsing from depression and fatigue, it's mentioned that he suffered from extreme stress during his time in office and died soon after stepping down.

* In "TheListener" this turns out to be a plot point. Toby will [[spoiler: die if he continues to use his powers and in the second season finale, shuts off his telepathy]]

* [[MartianManhunter J'onn J'onzz]] temporarily quits the JusticeLeague late in the third season of ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' partly due to this.

** What do you mean "almost"? The whole plot was that [[spoiler: he heroed himself to death three times over.]] Because that's what it took.

* In an episode of ''LoisAndClark'', Lois was near the breaking point when she realized that even with all her powers, she could not save everyone.

* ''{{Film/Daredevil}}'': We see the hero going through his before-bed routine, getting everything put away in just the right place, climbing into the sound-proof casket (necessary due to his [[SuperSenses super hearing]], only for him to hear a woman somewhere nearby crying for help. He only lets out an exhausted sigh before slowly closing the casket to close out the sound.

* In ''{{Heroes}}'' season 4, Peter wore himself to the breaking point trying to rescue and heal people in his job as a paramedic using his abilities.

* [[MartianManhunter J'onn J'onzz]] temporarily quits the JusticeLeague late in the third season of ''Unlimited'' partly due to this.

* In the {{Pathfinder}} Adventure Path ''Curse of the Crimson Throne'', most descriptions of Field Marshal Cressida Kroft--the captain of the city guard and resident ReasonableAuthorityFigure--stress how exhausted she looks from dealing with the various disasters of the city.

* [[TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]] goes through this all the time. Often he will forget to eat, or sleep when he's on a case and the world needs saving from supernatural doom. By the time he manages to solve everything he's usually so strung out that he often ends up just blacking out from exhaustion.

[[AC:TableTopGaming]]

* In ''{{Megamind}}, [[spoiler: Metroman gets so tired of being a hero all the time he fakes his death.]]

[[AC:{{Film}}

* {{Batman}} suffers an emotional breakdown like this in the ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "I am the Night".
* [[MartianManhunter J'onn J'onzz]] temporarily quits the JusticeLeague late in the third season of ''Unlimited'' partly due to this.

* ''{{Film/Daredevil}}'': We see the hero going through his before-bed routine, getting everything put away in just the right place, climbing into the sound-proof casket (necessary due to his [[SuperSenses super hearing]], only for him to hear a woman somewhere nearby crying for help. He only lets out an exhausted sigh before slowly closing the casket to close out the sound.

* In ''{{Megamind}}, [[spoiler: Metroman gets so tired of being a hero all the time he fakes his death.]]