History Main / HeroicFatigue

* 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. Dealing with the fallout from ''that'' mess on top of everything else was what finally sent him [[GoingPostal over the edge.]]

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

-->-- '''[[HealingHands Panacea]]''', ''Literature/{{Worm}}''

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' sees [[PlayerCharacter the Warrior of Light]] going through this. Reading their journal entries makes it clear that the Warrior is sick and tired of doing [[HeroDoesPublicService lots of things that other people could have done by themselves]], even with the Warrior's HeroicResolve. The fact that the Warrior does this [[DudeWheresMyRespect all without any thanks for it]] really doesn't help their mental state.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' sees [[PlayerCharacter the Warrior of Light]] going through this. Reading the journal entires makes it clear that the Warrior is sick and tired of doing lots of things that other people could have done by themselves, all without any thanks for it.
** During the Dark Knight job quests, they are so tired of always being the hero and they want to get away from 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.]]
** When a character with a form of the echo that she can't turn off is forced to experience the player character's entire experience up to the present, she's dumbstruck and questions how they could possibly keep going after everything they've been through. Through all of their losses and betrayals, she cannot fathom how someone could not be broken by it all.

* 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 from 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.]]

This may lead sooner or later to PassingTheTorch and RetiredBadass, or in more cynical works, a HeroicBSOD or a DespairEventHorizon, as the increasingly strung-out and hopeless hero just loses it because he [[SamaritanSyndrome can't save all those people who need him]]. This could of course apply to the villain, for many of the same reasons (well, presumably not the strain of constantly having to save people, but certainly the stresses of dealing with the superheros and law enforcement would be an issue). For the physical counterpart, where the mind is willing but the body is failing, see FeelingTheirAge. If the hero snaps out of their fatigue and ends up saving the day, then it's AchillesInHisTent

This may lead sooner or later to PassingTheTorch and RetiredBadass, or in more cynical works, a HeroicBSOD or a DespairEventHorizon, as the increasingly strung-out and hopeless hero just loses it because he [[SamaritanSyndrome can't save all those people who need him]]. This could of course apply to the villain, for many of the same reasons (well, presumably not the strain of constantly having to save people, but certainly the stresses of dealing with the superheros and law enforcement would be an issue). For the physical counterpart, where the mind is willing but the body is failing, see FeelingTheirAge.

* ''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.

* Franchise/SpiderMan 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.

* Franchise/{{Batman}} suffers an emotional breakdown like this in the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "I Am The Night". He's finally pushed over the edge when Commissioner Gordon is shot during a stakeout he was late to while putting flowers on his parents death site in Crime Alley.

* Billy is a hero of epic repute in WesternAnimation/AdventureTime but, by the time our protagonists meet him, he's long been disillusioned to heroics, seeing the constant rise of new threats as a zero sum conflict. He finds community upkeep a more effective pursuit and encourages our heroes to follow suit. After trying and failing to perform charitable acts, Finn goes back to heroics and proceeds to restores Billy's own faith by showing him the grateful old woman he saved.
* Fifty years with no progress in his quest has really broken WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack as of Season 5, to the point where he is seriously considering {{Seppuku}} to end it all.

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 {{Telepathy}}, 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]].

[-[[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 champ!]]"'' ]]-]

* 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 from 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.]]
** When a character with a form of the echo that she can't turn off is forced to experience the player character's entire experience up to the present, she's dumbstruck and questions how he could possibly keep going after everything he's been through. Through all of his losses and betrayals, she cannot fathom how someone could not be broken by it all.

* ''Fanfic/OneDayAtATime'': [[PeggySue Jason Todd]] freely admits to his friend Barbara Gordon that by the time he had passed down the Batman mantle to his successor and adoptive son Terry [=McGinnis=], he had been ready to quit for a while and was only holding out because Terry was too young. Having been a vigilante since he was twelve, and having lived on the streets in the worst neighborhood in Gotham before that, all while suffering an increasingly severe TraumaCongaLine that saw him die, ComeBackWrong, and lose most of his adoptive family before he was even thirty, Jason was sick of fighting and was ready to move on with his life. Once his lung cancer diagnosis came in, it was the kick he needed to finally let go so he could spend his last years in peace.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'', this is played with by [[spoiler:Metro Man. He wasn't bored and tired of helping people, but he just felt like he never had a real choice in the matter--being anything but a hero. He decides to retire by faking his own death and making a new career for himself, though it's implied part of the reason he did it was because he knew Megamind (who didn't really have a heart for real villainy himself) would step up to the plate himself.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'', this is played with by [[spoiler:Metro Man. While, he wasn't bored and tired of helping people, he just felt like he never had a real choice in the matter--being anything but a hero. He decides to retire by faking his own death and making a new career for himself, though it's implied part of the reason he did it was because he knew Megamind (who didn't really have a heart for real villainy himself) would step up to the plate himself.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'', this is played with by [[spoiler:Metro Man, who didn't necessarily "get sick" of helping people so much as he felt he never had a real choice in being anything but a hero. He decides to retire by faking his own death and making a new career for himself, though it's implied part of the reason he did it was because he knew Megamind (who didn't really have a heart for real villainy himself) would step up to the plate himself.]]

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

* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', ''Sneeze'', Clark wears himself out trying to fix an entire ruined Metropolis.