History Main / HeroicFatigue

[-[[caption-width-right:350:"I broke my back, a drone flew into my face, [[ParentalSubstitute I buried Aunt May,]] [[LoveHurts my wife and I split up:]] [[GilliganCut but I handled it like a]] ''[[GilliganCut champion!]]"'' ]]-]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' provides the page image. Peter B. Parker is a Spider-Man well into his late 30s, who has to deal with, along with the pressures of being Spider-Man, losing Aunt May, divorcing Mary Jane, and more. He claims he's taking it like a champ, but the next scenes of him weeping in the shower and eating pizza in bed say otherwise.

[[caption-width-right:350:"I broke my back, a drone flew into my face, [[ParentalSubstitute I buried Aunt May,]] [[LoveHurts my wife and I split up:]] [[GilliganCut but I handled it like a]] ''[[GilliganCut champion!]]"'' ]]

!Examples

[[caption-width-right:350:I broke my back, a drone flew into my face, [[ParentalSubstitute I buried Aunt May,]] [[LoveHurts my wife and I split up:]] [[GilliganCut but I handled it like a]] ''[[GilliganCut champion!]]'' ]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Ok, maybe not like a ''champ''.]]

ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, this is a trope where TheHero, suffering from (or enjoying, depending on the mood of the story) ChronicHeroSyndrome, spends so much of his time and effort helping people, that it is physically and emotionally wearing him down to the breaking point. It can be [[BlessedWithSuck even worse for him]] if he has something akin to [[SuperSenses super hearing]] or {{telepath}}y, so he can always hear people calling for help, even when he's trying to get an hour or two of sleep before [[TripleShifter clocking in for his]] {{Stock Super Hero Day Job|s}} and [[MustHaveCaffeine chugging coffee for the entire day]].

->''So many long hours spent around sick people, and I got numb to it, I stopped caring. Do you know how many hours I've spent awake at night, wishing my powers would just go away, or that some circumstance would come up where I'd make some excusable mistake where they would eventually forgive me, but where I couldn't visit the hospitals anymore?''
-->-- '''[[HealingHands Panacea]]''', ''Literature/{{Worm}}''

ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, this is a trope where TheHero, suffering from (or enjoying, depending on the mood of the story) ChronicHeroSyndrome, spends so much of his time and effort helping people, that it is physically and emotionally wearing him down to the breaking point. It can be [[BlessedWithSuck even worse for him]] if he has something akin to [[SuperSenses super hearing]] or {{telepath}}y, so he can always hear people calling for help, even when he's trying to get an hour or two of sleep before [[TripleShifter clocking in for his]] [[StockSuperHeroDayJobs Stock Super hero Day Job]] and [[MustHaveCaffeine chugging coffee for the entire day]].

!!Examples

* ''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.

* ''{{Literature/Rule 34}}:'' [[UsefulNotes/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.

[[folder:Live-Action Television]]

* ''Series/{{Angel}}:'' As a human, Cordelia was not meant to shoulder the responsibility of Doyle's visions ("a big cosmic whoops", as Skip calls it). She secretly takes powerful painkillers and undergoes CAT scans that indicate the slow deterioration of her brain. Yet when presented with the opportunity to pass her visions onto someone else (the gallant Groosalugg, and later Angel in an alternate reality), Cordelia refuses, stating that the visions are a part of her and make her who she is.

* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}:'' Almost every character will at some point suffer this, but Merlin the most.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sader_man.jpg]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' provides the page image. Peter B. Parker is a Spider-Man well into his 40s, who has to deal with, along with the pressures of being Spider-Man, losing Aunt May, divorcing Mary Jane, and more. He claims he's taking it like a champ, but the next scenes of him weeping in the shower and eating pizza in bed say otherwise.

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* ''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.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* ''{{Literature/Rule 34}}'': [[UsefulNotes/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.

[[folder: Live Action Television ]]

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': As a human, Cordelia was not meant to shoulder the responsibility of Doyle's visions ("a big cosmic whoops", as Skip calls it). She secretly takes powerful painkillers and undergoes CAT scans that indicate the slow deterioration of her brain. Yet when presented with the opportunity to pass her visions onto someone else (the gallant Groosalugg, and later Angel in an alternate reality), Cordelia refuses, stating that the visions are a part of her and make her who she is.

* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'': Almost every character will at some point suffer this, but Merlin the most.

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[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

* ''Series/{{Merlin}}'': Almost every character will at some point suffer this, but Merlin the most.

* Happened to The Plutonian prior to his ''massive'' FaceHeelTurn in ''ComicBook/{{Irredeemable}}'', part of his powerset was SuperSenses that he couldn't turn off, so he always heard everyone suffering everywhere. When he decided to go into space for a little while, where the vacuum would prevent him from hearing anything, his absence coincided with an alien virus breaking loose and causing the horrible deaths of hundreds of children.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
** As a human, Cordelia was not meant to shoulder the responsibility of Doyle's visions ("a big cosmic whoops", as Skip calls it). She secretly takes powerful painkillers and undergoes CAT scans that indicate the slow deterioration of her brain.
** Yet when presented with the opportunity to pass her visions onto someone else (the gallant Groosalugg, and later Angel in an alternate reality), Cordelia refuses, stating that the visions are a part of her and make her who she is.

* {{Spider-Man}} has gone through this more than once. He got his powers as a teen, had no adult guidance and was trying to fight crime, help Aunt May with bills, keep up school work and try to have something resembling a social life all while being the quintessential HeroWithBadPublicity. He's been shown quitting, trying to get rid of his powers and even resorting to crime (albeit influenced by a malevolent being or force) to get a form of compensation.

* ''SailorNothing'' has a nasty case of this, to the point of her being constantly on the verge of a complete breakdown. Doesn't help that she gets splitting headaches every time a [[TheHeartless Yamiko]] is created, and goes out to fight even when she's badly injured.

* 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 [[spoiler:Tattletale]], [[spoiler:Bonesaw]], and [[spoiler:Jack Slash]] administered successive {{Breaking Speech}}es to her, she had a nervous breakdown and [[spoiler:accidentally turned her sister into pure BodyHorror]].

* Franchise/{{Batman}} has a tendency to go through this anytime he (temporarily) gains super powers. ''Engineering'' this was Bane's goal in ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}, [[{{GenreSavvy}} and it worked]]. Notable in that Batman never mentally tires of the job; in his case, it's ''always'' physical exhaustion.

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''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.

* As with the comics, this is a recurring theme in the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' films. Its most pronounced in the second movie where the stress of his chosen life causes his powers to start failing. By the beginning of the third film, he seems to have found some balance and Mary Jane being in his life helps.
* ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'' uses this trope as well, [[RuleOfThree being about Spider-Man and all]]. [[spoiler:Gwen Stacy's death and being forced to fight a good friend of his drove Peter to despair, and he stopped being Spidey for ''five months''.]]

->''So many long hours spent around sick people, and I got numb to it, I stopped caring. Do you know how many hours I’ve spent awake at night, wishing my powers would just go away, or that some circumstance would come up where I’d make some excusable mistake where they would eventually forgive me, but where I couldn’t visit the hospitals anymore?''

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* Alaric Morgan is particularly prone to this in regards his Literature/{{Deryni}} powers. He is apt to use use his powers literally to the point of falling over at times, unless he he is prevented from doing so. Kelson scolds him for it in ''The King's Justice'', and Azim forbids him from helping with [[spoiler:Derry]] after he and Dhugal have just spent themselves Healing [[spoiler: Mátyás]] in ''King Kelson's Bride''.

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* Heavily implied to be happening to [[spoiler: ''the player character'']] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' during the Dark Knight job quests. They are so tired of always being the hero and they want to get away form it all so that they can do what they want to do rather than being everyone's knight in shining armor that also does menial tasks for people without a word of thanks in return. [[spoiler: It turns out that while the player character does harbor such feelings, it is only their inner darkness/turmoil that's eating them alive and wanting to come out so they can tell everyone how they ''really'' feel about them. The NPC that is in charge of teaching the player character new skills turns out to be the player character's inner desires of wanting to abandon the role of hero and it manifests itself as a separate entity, attacking the player character for total dominance since they're still resisting their inner desires.]]

* Alaric Morgan is particularly prone to this in regards his {{Deryni}} powers. He is apt to use use his powers literally to the point of falling over at times, unless he he is prevented from doing so. Kelson scolds him for it in ''The King's Justice'', and Azim forbids him from helping with [[spoiler:Derry]] after he and Dhugal have just spent themselves Healing [[spoiler: Mátyás]] in ''King Kelson's Bride''.

* ''[[Literature/{{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.

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforce'': By the final episodes of the series, Sprx expresses a great deal of stress and weak will as the team tries to stop Valina and Mandarin from resurrecting [[BigBad Skeleton King]], since as he says so himself, despite all the team's efforts and sacrifices, Skeleton King is ''still'' a threat. [[spoiler: This leaves him vulnerable to the [[ArtifactOfDoom Fire of Hate's]] corruption, which renders him BrainwashedAndCrazy.]]