History Main / HopeIsScary

* One episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' has a bit where the brother of a disappeared girl is angry with the agents for telling his mother that her daughter might still be alive because even though grief is terrible, you can get past it and move on, but hope keeps you paralyzed.

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' had Ted admit that he wasn't into that "Fall in love" feeling again. He had lost a certain amount of faith and was losing more every day and he resorted to scientifically figuring out what the right woman was instead of following his heart. This was after he witnessed most of his friends getting into marriages, having babies, and progressing in their lives.

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE'', [[spoiler:[[BigBad Lord Ezelcant]] claims that this is the way the entire nation of Vagan feels; it's too painful to love others and have relationships when there's a very good chance that either you or those you care about will die young due to an incurable disease.]]
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': In the ''Manga/ShinMazingerZero'' spin-off, HumongousMecha FemBot turned RobotGirl Minerva-X is locked into a GroundhogPeggySue loop where she sends Kouji Kabuto back in time to save the world, he fails and she ends him back again. Until now she has failed 2,798 times into averting the EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. She does as much as stating all of those times she hoped, and her hope was in vain. However, in the current timeline, she is stuck in, she is seeing signs of maybe -maybe- things will finally be different this time around. So she feels a glimmer of hope... and she is afraid of being hopeful only for getting disappointed and heartbroken again.
* Gendo Ikari in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. He chose SafetyInIndifference due to his inability to relate to others and feared hurting his son, [[ParentalAbandonment leading him to abandon him entirely]]. [[spoiler:His overall goal is to force an AssimilationPlot on all of mankind because [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill he felt that returning to the primordial soup is preferable to the strife of living]] and he was desperate to be reunited with his late wife. In ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' he takes it even ''further'' and [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope throws away his humanity to become the embodiment of despair]] for the sake of his plans while his son Shinji who went through the same struggles he did [[HopeBringer chooses to embody mankind's hope]].]]
* ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'': Anthy's love-hate feelings towards Utena are commonly interpreted as her seeing Utena's attempts at rescue as just setting her up for disappointment.
* Jeremy struggles with this for much of the latter half of ''Manga/ACruelGodReigns''. After being systematically abused for months, he falls into the life of a HookerWithAHeartOfGold and FunctionalAddict but is afraid to go back to living a "normal" life when Ian offers to help him get back on his feet.
* In the beginning, Haruka of ''Manga/KotouraSan'' was [[BrokenBird broken]] under the belief that her {{telepath|y}}ic powers would [[DoomMagnet doom any living being that she cares about]]. So Manabe got a lot of resistance to convincing her for the last quarter of episode 1 that she should try and make friends with him. This trope also underlies why she [[spoiler:vanished temporarily]] at the end of episode 3, as Manabe, by the time already her boyfriend, was [[spoiler:attacked and seriously injured by a plan of Hiyori's, his ChildhoodFriend-turned-HopelessSuitor]]. She regressed to her previous thinking and decided to leave.

* In ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'', the Skull Knight tells Guts that Casca may be cured of her insanity once and for all if Guts can get her to the land of Elfhelm. Guts is so happy over the possibility that he actually gives a real smile over the revelation. However, Guts is thrown into anxiety once again, not because he is afraid that Casca's condition won't be curable, but because the Skull Knights went on to cryptically tell Guts that being cured might not be what Casca truly wants, something that Guts is still trying to decipher as he awaits for Casca to be healed after his party finally arrived on Elfhelm.
* While he's not quite as bad as other examples, Gray seems to fall victim to this in ''Manga/FairyTail'' as it's implied that his constantly losing people he loves in the past is why he's always so willing to enact a suicide move in his major fights [[spoiler: such as with Lyon, Silver, the dragon-spawn, Invel and Zeref]]. It also seems to be in part why he keeps brushing off his StalkerWithACrush Juvia, as either definitively accepting or rejecting her feelings is going to have emotional consequences for one or both of them that he'd rather avoid; he's fine with being platonic but anything deeper seems to worry him for risk of losing them like he did his teacher and family before her.

* In one issue of ''ComicBook/DetectiveComics'', ComicBook/TheJoker helps Franchise/{{Batman}} save a child whose abduction the Joker himself orchestrated. Why? Because if even the Joker doesn't always kill his victims, Batman will be forced to hold out hope in every case [[HopeCrusher and will therefore suffer more for each future victim he fails to save]].

-->'''Chief of the Other Tribe:''' (after Ulga offers peace) I don't know why, girl, but you're the scariest person I've ever met.\\

-->'''Misato''': I know you, Shinji-kun. I know that you wanted Asuka's love from the very beginning of all this. Maybe even before. I'll bet that, from the first time you saw her, you knew that you had to live with her forever. My question is, why are you leaving your hopes and dreams behind when they've come true now? Are you afraid of them?

** At the beginning of the fic, Asuka had given up on the idea of becoming ever happy, having a loving relationship with someone, or being loved. She was so wrecked and disillusioned and felt so unworthy and undeserving that she did not want to try anymore and refused to consider that things might be different. And then she met her future self who was HappilyMarried to Shinji and pregnant with his child, and she met a bunch of people assuring she was not a bad person and she deserved to be happy… and she was incredibly frightened because she did not dare to hope.
** On the other hand, Shinji had come to believe that an empty shell of a loveless relationship was everything that he and Asuka would have. Then he began to see signs that maybe they could have a happy end after all… and he freaked out because he was afraid of hoping in vain or ruining his chance.
--->''Asuka refused to meet his eyes. The naked hope in them was too much to look at. After sixteen years of keeping that pain under lock and key, the things she’d talked about with Daniel had left her feelings too raw to withstand seeing that. After sixteen years of keeping it suppressed, and four years of living in nightmarish barbarity past the end of the world, hope hurt.''

--> '''Draco''': I am a Marauder, and a Warrior. Maybe I have to die on 5 June 1997 - ''maybe'' - but I'm sure as hell not going down without a fight!
* In the crossover fanfic ''Fanfic/ADevilAmongstWorms'', Skitter wants to believe [[VillainProtagonist Makima's]] claim that she can beat Leviathan before it turns Brockton Bay into another DoomedHometown, but she's afraid to do so after being let down so many times in her life by teachers, heroes, adults and every other authority figure in her life.
* In crossover fanfic ''Fanfic/EchoesOfYesterday'', [[Literature/{{Worm}} Taylor]] had become extremely wary and reluctant to open up to someone again after being betrayed and bullied by her former best friend. Hence, when she's rescued and befriended by [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]], Taylor has trouble coping with the idea that she has met someone genuinely nice and honest who wants to be her friend.

-->He couldn’t afford to have any hope. He couldn’t handle the disappointment that would sink in when that hope was proven false. He’d been hopeful a handful of times before. It had always been a mistake.

-->It hurts ''so much'' to hope. He doesn’t want to.\\
He doesn’t want to hope, in case it turns out that he’s wrong, that they’re all wrong.\\

* ''Fanfic/OnceMoreWithFeeling'': Thanks to Shinji, Asuka is considering that, for the first time in one decade, maybe she has met someone she can trust, open up to, and rely on. She thinks maybe she does not need to push Shinji away, and she can lower her walls around him... and the thought scares her more than any Angel.
* ''Fanfic/ScarTissue'': Due to her severe emotional and psychological trauma caused by the Angel War and the end of the world, Asuka had become tremendously unstable, paranoid, and unable to control her temper, and she abused Shinji for several months until she went too far [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone and was so horrified at the result of her actions]] [[HeelRealization that she snapped out of it]] and promised herself that she would change and earn Shinji's forgiveness. However, Shinji is so convinced that she loathes him and he deserves her hatred and violence (because he defiled her and abandoned her when she was getting murdered) that when she tries to treat him kindly and gently or looks at him with caring and guilt he is frightened because he does not dare to hope that she does not hate him.
* ''Fanfic/TemporalAnomaly'': The reason [[VideoGame/Drakengard3 Zero]] is such a ruthless and sociopathic individual who was willing to murder her own "sisters" without even looking for a better solution for the whole [[BotanicalAbomination Flower]] situation is due to having a very, ''very'' DarkAndTroubledPast [[TaughtByExperience that shaped the person she is now]]. However, when [[Series/KamenRiderZiO Sougo/Oma Zi-O]] entered her life and has shown her a real way to deal with the Flower ''without'' having to resort to killing the other Intoners, he brought back genuine hope in her life, when its been cruelly torn away from her many times over in the past...''and that scares her more than anything at this point.''

* In the MirrorUniverse of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'', the ComicBook/JusticeLeague's EvilDoppelganger the Crime Syndicate unofficially ran the world through bribes and intimidation, and after [[LegionOfDoom Lex Luthor's Justice League]] was wiped out, the public has been reduced to ApatheticCitizens who believe that if they just keep their heads down they'll be left alone. After Lex and ComicBook/{{Superman}} defeat Ultraman, President [[Characters/{{Deathstroke}} Slade Wilson]] has him released from prison, arguing that if [[ThouShaltNotKill the League won't kill the Crime Syndicate]], then it's pointless since no one besides the League can defeat them, and the League obviously couldn't abandon their own world to protect them forever. [[spoiler:It takes Ultraman killing Slade's wife and [[PapaWolf trying to do the same to his daughter]] to get Slade to snap out of it.]]

'''Slade:''' It's easy for someone like you to be brave. [[ShootingSuperman But most of us aren't bulletproof.]]

-->'''Red''': Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It's got no use on the inside, you better get used to that idea.\\
'''Andy''': [[ArmorPiercingQuestion Like]] [[DrivenToSuicide Brooks did]]?
* Part of the sadistic design of the Pit, the prison from ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' -- it gives its prisoners a small chance of (very dangerous) escape. "There is no despair without hope." This is also what inspires Bane's plans for Gotham: he plans to trap everyone in the city under the threat of nuclear annihilation, then convinces the released criminals and poor majority to hold mass executions of the rich, powerful, and corrupt to give them and everyone on the outside the impression that he is helping to straighten the crookedness of the city. Then, at the end of this all, he plans to detonate the nuke anyway as a message to the world that ''everyone'' in Gotham is too corrupt to be salvaged.
* Creator/JohnCleese's endlessly beleaguered character in ''Film/{{Clockwise}}'' expresses this sentiment at one point: "It's not the despair, Laura. I can stand the despair, it's the hope!"
* President Snow muses about this in the film adaptation of ''Film/TheHungerGames'', saying the Games are an effective way to control the Districts because each game tortures them with hope:
-->'''Snow''': Hope -- it is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is useful -- too much is dangerous. A spark is fine... [[TemptingFate as long as it's contained]].
* In the famous scene in ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' where Quint talks of the sinking of the ''USS Indianapolis'', he says that the worst time was not being attacked by sharks, but when the survivors had been located and were waiting to be picked up, terrified that they might be picked off at the last moment.
* Sarah Packard from ''Film/TheHustler1961'', who has been scorned and rejected so many times that she holds herself back when she starts falling for Eddie.
* In ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'', Max haltingly advises Furiosa to abandon hope.
-->'''Max''': You know, hope is a mistake. If you can't fix what's broken, you'll go insane.
* From ''Film/FindingNeverland:''
-->'''Peter''': ''I'm sick of grown-ups lying to me!'' [...] "Father might take us fishing" -- that's what she said -- "in just a few weeks," and he died the next morning!\\
'''Barrie''': That wasn't a lie, Peter. That was your mother's hope.\\
'''Peter''': He barely moved for a week, but I started planning our fishing trip.
* This is a major theme in ''Film/AvengersEndgame''. After the traumatic events of [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar the previous film]], many of the Avengers are ''terrified'' by the possibility that [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong they might be able to reverse them]] since they know that they won't be able to live with themselves if they fail. This is highlighted when Natasha tries to recruit Clint, who lost all hope after [[spoiler:his entire family died in the Decimation]].
-->'''Clint''': ''[choked up]'' Don't give me hope.\\
'''Natasha''': I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you sooner.

* In Creator/JRRTolkien's ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings The Return of the King]]'', when Éomer asks why Éowyn is not lying in state like Théoden, he's told she's alive -- and he feels both hope and fear.
-->"Then hope unlooked-for came so suddenly to Éomer's heart, and with it the bite of care and fear renewed."
* At one point in ''Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho'', Sir Max remarks that the worst situation of all is not a complete hopelessness (because you have nothing to lose then, anyway) but one where there is only a tiny glimmer of hope because you are paralyzed with fear of losing it, as well.
* When Marianne's dangerous fever abates in ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility'', Elinor tries not to be optimistic in case it gets worse again, but she can't stop herself.
--> ''"Hope had already entered; and feeling all its anxious flutter, she bent over her sister to watch--she hardly knew for what."''
* In Creator/JaneAusten's ''Literature/{{Persuasion}}'', after realizing that Anne might still love him, Wentworth writes to her of his being in hope and pain.
-->''"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope."''
* In Angie Sage's ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'' book ''Magyk'', Boy 412 tallies up Good things about his situation and Bad ones--and is surprised by the Good things outnumbering the Bad for the first time in his life. But the Bad thing feels much worse because now he has something to lose.
* In Creator/PoulAnderson's ''Literature/AfterDoomsday'', the alien Ramri tries to calm Donnan as the plan to escape comes to fruition; he admits that he never understood why humans find hope more terrifying than despair.

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' novel ''Literature/WhiteNight'', Marcone tells Harry that [[spoiler:he cannot tell Demeter that her daughter is still alive but comatose]] because giving her hope again would essentially destroy her after what happened to her in the first place.
* ''Literature/LesMiserables'': Javert has lived all his life obeying the law, and he feels very strange when he let Jean Valjean go instead of arresting him:
--> ''"All sorts of interrogation points flashed before his eyes. He put questions to himself and made replies to himself, and his replies frightened him. He asked himself: "What has that convict done, that desperate fellow, whom I have pursued even to persecution, and who has had me under his foot, and who could have avenged himself, and who owed it both to his rancor and to his safety, in leaving me my life, in showing mercy upon me? His duty? No. Something more. And I in showing mercy upon him in my turn -- WhatHaveIDone? My duty? No. Something more. So there is something beyond duty?"'' Here he took fright; his balance became disjointed; one of the scales fell into the abyss, the other rose heavenward, and Javert was no less terrified by the one which was on high than by the one which was below.
** Importantly, this means that Javert has a somewhat different problem than a lot of the other examples. Rather than being crushed in despair before, Javert is now forced to look at his actions without the leverage of duty and law, recognizing his good for what it is, and his crimes for what they are.
* Exploited in ''Literature/{{The Art of War|SunTzu}}'', where Sun Tzu encourages generals to always give their enemies a path to retreat. The reasoning behind this is that soldiers with no hope of escape will [[LastStand fight much harder]]. In essence, he says, No Hope Is Scarier -- at least, from the attacker's point of view.
* Bree Pym's initial reaction to the news of her great-grand aunts' actual existence at the end of ''[[Literature/AuntDimity Aunt Dimity Down Under]]'' is best summed up this way. She is a BrokenBird after years of living with her abusive alcoholic father and recently losing her beloved grandfather, as well as feeling rejected by her mother (who had remarried and started another family after her own sufferings at Ed Pym's hands). She learns from the aunts' attorney that they have revised their will and she will inherit everything they own, including [[spoiler:the trust fund set up by their black sheep brother nearly a century before]]. She is reluctant at first to go along with the idea, but Lori and Cameron convince her to go to England and meet Ruth and Louise.
* During ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'', Tash Arranda meets a Jedi ghost who was killed by Darth Vader, who then burned the library he was guarding. In the time since, someone else has put up a new library, booby-trapped to suck away LifeEnergy, and he can't warn anyone because he is InvisibleToNormals. After years of this, the ghost is willing to help Tash a little when he thinks he can [[ScarecrowSolution scare her away from the danger]] but backs down when she wants his help to put a stop to the whole scheme and is cornered. She does manage to talk him around.
* In Creator/JohnMilton's ''Literature/ParadiseLost'', Satan alludes to this, reversing it: "So farwel Hope, and with Hope farwel Fear,"
* In Creator/SeananMcGuire's ''Literature/OctoberDaye'' novel ''Rosemary and Rue'', Toby thinks that hope is not easy in Faerie, but still wishes it for Manuel.
* ''Literature/TheWayOfKings2010'': Kaladin feels this way, as he [[ChronicHeroSyndrome keeps trying to save people]] and they [[DoomMagnet all wind up dead]]. He becomes increasingly reluctant to involve himself with others, but his heroic nature drags him back into it.
* Several characters note that the fear of hope can lead people to cling to despair in Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's Literature/VorkosiganSaga, especially if they have already embarked on a self-destructive course for vengeance.
* Used extensively in Creator/AnneBishop's Ephemera series. A large portion of the second book is devoted to the main character puzzling over why places of darkness always have a sliver of light in them. Then it's brutally exploited when [[spoiler:Belladonna decides to use this trope to torture the [[NamesToRunAwayFrom World Eater]] relentlessly]].
* In Creator/CameronDokey's ''Literature/TheWorldAbove'', when they meet the outlaws, Steel sees something of Gen and demands more light. Robin demands to know what he's afraid of; Steel says he has abandoned fear but is now troubled by hope. (Gen closely resembles her mother, the long-vanished Duchess.)
* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs' ''Literature/APrincessOfMars'', Sola tells John Carter that because of this, and LoveHurts, she has wished to be like the other women of her race, without hope or love.

* In ''Literature/SearchTheSevenHills'' Marcus feels it would be a relief to give way to despair over his kidnapped love interest as 'hope is exhausting'.
* Literature/AmberBrown feels this way for a while in ''Amber Brown Wants Extra Credit''. She's hopeful about the possibility of her mother's boyfriend Max becoming part of their family, but worried that he's just going to leave them in a few months like her father did.

-->[[spoiler:'''Aloil''':]] You do not promise hope.\\
'''Morgon''': No. Truth, if I can find it.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'', when Harry first wakes on the morning of his birthday after being told by Hagrid that he's a wizard, he mentally insists to himself that it was just a dream and that when he opens his eyes he'll be in his cupboard. He's so used to his awful life that he's too scared to hope that this new reality could actually be true, so it's easier to pretend that it's not. At least, until he actually does open his eyes.
* Master Adam, a counterfeiter from ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' infected with dropsy in Hell, is tortured less by his extreme thirst than by his memory of the river Arno and luscious, well-hydrated fields that he knew in life. His ability to remember these great goods and his longing to return to them makes his actual torture all the more unbearable.

* ''Literature/WaywardChildren'' is about kids who were TrappedInAnotherWorld and returned, even though they [[StrangerInAFamiliarLand wish they could have stayed]]. Most live for the faint hope that their Door will open again and let them go home; Sumi believes that this is much harder than giving up entirely because it keeps them from readjusting to life on Earth.

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' had Ted admit that he wasn't into that "Fall in love" feeling again. He had lost a certain amount of faith and was losing more every day and he resorted to scientifically figuring out what the right woman was instead of following his heart. This was after he witnessed most of his friends getting into marriages, having babies, and progressing in their lives.

* Season 1 of ''Series/PrisonBreak'' has shades of this, as death row inmate Lincoln Burrows (initially) repeatedly tells his would-be saviours that he's accepted his fate. Giving him false hope of release/escape is, to him, more cruel than letting him die.
* This is one of the reasons Mitsuzane [[FaceHeelTurn goes evil]] in ''Series/KamenRiderGaim''. After being told an AwfulTruth and seeing how it [[HeroicBSOD effects others]], he gets upset that [[TheHero Kouta]] is telling people these awful truths and trying the more idealistic approaches instead of conforming to his brother's more cynical options that he is convinced that all he's doing is ruining everything. It isn't until he talks with Mai after he's full-on convinced that there's no hope for humanity that he finds out that the reason he hates Kouta is this trope and it becomes the theme of his MotiveRant when it finally comes time to reveal what's BeneathTheMask to him.
* ''Series/HouseMD'' simply believes there is no way he can be an effective doctor ''without'' being a miserable JerkAss; he will deliberately sabotage any good thing in his life because he cannot stand the possibility of being happy.

* In a flashback scene in the final episode of ''Series/TheCasualVacancy'', while at Krystal Weedon's place, Barry asks her to come and stay at his and wife's house for the night. She rejects the offer, noting "I'd just have to come back here."
* ''Series/TedLasso'': When it seems that Richmond is all but guaranteed to lose their last match to Manchester City and get relegated, most of the team's fans resign themselves to it and assure Ted they know he did his best as manager. When Ted calls them out on acting like they already lost and asks why they don't have a little hope, Mae the bartender explains to Ted that "it's the hope that kills you". Indeed when [[spoiler:it seems that Richmond has pulled off a MiracleRally to achieve a draw and avoid relegation and everyone celebrates, they wind up losing at the last second and everyone feels worse than they did earlier.]]

* "The bravest thing of all is hope" - ArcWords throughout Reese Roper's Music/{{Brave Saint Saturn}} album trilogy.

* The idea is touched upon in Music/WithinTemptation's song 'Lost':
-->''Hope plays a wicked\\
Game with the mind''.
* Touched upon in the Music/{{Architects}} song "Gone With The Wind", where Tom Searle wrote the following lyrics regarding his fight with cancer:
-->''Do you remember when you said to me\\
My friend, hope is a prison''.

* Myth/GreekMythology: Some versions of the myth of PandorasBox have Hope as the last and worst of all the evils in the box since it causes people to live in suffering where they would otherwise [[DrivenToSuicide give up and end their pain]].
* This was how Creator/CSLewis read Jesus' suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane before being crucified--with the idea that the hope of his being spared was in fact a part of his passion.
-->It is clear from many of His sayings that Our Lord had long foreseen His death. ... But it is clear that this knowledge must somehow have been withdrawn from Him before He prayed in Gethsemane. He could not, with whatever reservation about the Father’s will, have prayed that the cup might pass and simultaneously known that it would not. That is both a logical and a psychological impossibility. You see what this involves? Lest any trial incident to humanity should be lacking, the torments of hope - of suspense, anxiety - were at the last moment loosed upon Him - the supposed possibility that, after all, He might, He just conceivably might, be spared the supreme horror. There was precedent. Isaac had been spared: he too at the last moment, he also against all apparent probability. It was not quite impossible … But for this last (and erroneous) hope against hope, and the consequent tumult of the soul, the sweat of blood, perhaps He would not have been very Man. To live in a fully predictable world is not to be a man. ''(Letters to Malcolm)''

* From both ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' you have [[ManipulativeBastard Tzeentch]], Chaos God of, amongst other things, [[OddJobGods Change]] and Hope. It's more accurate to say he's the god of {{ambition|IsEvil}}, and he's one of the [[BigBad Chief antagonists]] of both series, and he is certainly the [[MindScrew strangest]] god in both settings.
** In the latter setting, the Imperium ''discourages'' people from becoming too hopeful because of the aforementioned Chaos God. However, [[DefiantToTheEnd bravery in the face of extreme adversity]] is encouraged (even though ''that'' invokes Khorne), even (perhaps ''especially'') if the situation is {{hopeless|War}}.

* In ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKainDefiance'', Kain ends the game by expressing this very sentiment:
-->Most ironic of all, was the last gift that Raziel had given me. More powerful than the sword that now held his soul, more acute even than the vision that his sacrifice had accorded me. The first, bitter taste of that terrible illusion: hope.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', if Shepard romances Thane, the scene before the Omega-4 Relay begins with him coming to see her and talking about how ashamed he is that he is no longer resigned to his inevitable death because now he has someone to live for.

* This is the reason for the BenevolentArchitecture and other tools available to Survivors in ''VideoGame/DeadByDaylight''. [[EmotionEater The Entity]] needs them to ''try'' to escape, and if every test were hopeless, they'd just shut down.

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', this trope effectively kicks the "Heaven's Feel" scenario into gear in two major degrees. First off, having Shirou pay attention to Sakura means she begins wondering if it's possible they might end up together, even after she's consigned herself to her one-sided unrequited love. However, it gets taken to a whole other level when Shirou discovers and provides her sanctuary from [[spoiler:the endless physical, mental, and [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil sexual]] torture she had been receiving from the hands of Zouken and Shinji for the past 11 years, as well as [[HopeSpot a chance at freeing her body]] from the painful curses placed on her through the Crest Worm. The fear she feels from the ensuing HopeIsScary moment allows Zouken to open her up to possession, something he had been unable to do earlier (or in the other two scenarios).]]
* ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend: Holiday Star'''s final chapter has this showing with Ryouta. He's afraid that his best friend since childhood is growing apart from him, to the point where the stasis offered in the titular Holiday Star is very tempting. Yuuya comes to him, realizes that he's in love with that best friend, and outlines how change is inevitable. The future may mean growing apart from her, or living with and having a family with her. The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived, and this is very hard for Ryouta to accept.

** ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'' also does this in a literal sense in that the antagonists are a team of [[EnfantTerrible murderous kids]] called the Warriors of Hope. From a more abstract perspective, the Adult Resistance hears that [[spoiler:the Future Foundation]] is coming to help rescue them- but because they have lived in despair for so long, [[RebelLeader Haiji]] and many of the adults refuse to believe that they are coming to help, instead convincing themselves that [[spoiler:the Foundation]] is in league with the Warriors and plotting against them. [[spoiler:When Haiji discovers that [[{{Deuteragonist}} Toko]] is from the Foundation shortly after a brutal attack on the Resistance, he accuses her and [[TheHeroine Komaru]] of being spies and has them jailed.]]

** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' takes it to even higher extremes. [[spoiler:This whole Killing Game is a TrumanShowPlot based on the fictional ''Danganronpa'' franchise, and discovering this leads the cast into a DespairEventHorizon. Keebo tries to rally the students with hope, but Shuichi refutes him. After all, [[CatharsisFactor the audience watches because they want to see hope triumph over despair]]. So voting for hope over despair would be giving the audience what they want, leading to more killing games. On the other hand, voting for despair over hope would only make for the best SequelHook a ''Danganronpa'' game could ever ask for, and would also lead to more killing games. Instead, he convinces his friends to [[TakeAThirdOption reject both hope and despair]] and abstain from voting, [[HeroicSacrifice which is punishable by death]]. Thus they engineer an AudienceAlienatingEnding pisses off the audience and makes them stop watching the show for good, preventing further killing games since the show would no longer be making money and would thus get cancelled.]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/TheAmazingDigitalCircus'': Hope to escape from the circus only has negative consequences. [[StepfordSmiler Ragatha]] says the idea is just an unobtainable goal that will lead to ruin, then [[spoiler:[[SadClown Kaufmo]] proving her point by [[DigitalAbomination getting abstracted]] from thinking [[RepulsiveRingmaster Caine]] is hiding an exit. [[NervousWreck Pomni]] searching for it causes her [[MomentOfWeakness to abandon an injured Ragatha]] and [[AllForNothing discover it isn't real]], making her fate [[TheWoobie that much more painful to face]]]].
[[/folder]]

* In ''Webcomic/DocRat'', [[http://docrat.com.au.temp.realssl.com/default.asp?id=strip&thisItem=1673 Lyall tells Doc that it doesn't hurt to live in hope.]] Doc grabs him by the neck and shouts that it ''does'' hurt, but they live in it anyway.

[[folder:Web Original]]

-->'''Phir Sē''': You are asking me to have faith.\\
'''Weaver''': ''Let me go'', Phir Sē. You said you have to stake something that matters on a gamble. Stake your doubt.\\
'''Phir Sē''': I do not understand this. My English—\\
'''Weaver''': It's not your English; what I'm saying doesn't make a lot of sense. But your doubt, your lack of faith, it's something safe. No disappointments, no fear things won't work out. Risk that. Risk losing that. I did, when [[spoiler:I became a hero.]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick finds having emotions uncomfortable and tries her best to push away anyone that would care and try to help her.
[[/folder]]

* On ''WesternAnimation/CareBearsWelcomeToCareALot'', this comes from Grumpy Bear in "Sad About You." He says that it's the bummer about being happy, that at some point it'll end and you'll just be sad.

** ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'' also does this in a literal sense in that the antagonists are a team of [[EnfantTerrible murderous kids]] called the Warriors of Hope. From a more abstract perspective, [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters the Adult Resistance]] hears that [[spoiler:the Future Foundation]] is coming to help rescue them- but because they have lived in despair for so long, [[HateSink Haiji]] and many of the adults refuse to believe that they are coming to help, instead convincing themselves that [[spoiler:the Foundation]] is in league with the Warriors and plotting against them. [[spoiler:When Haiji discovers that [[{{Deuteragonist}} Toko]] is from the Foundation shortly after a brutal attack on the Resistance, he accuses her and [[TheHeroine Komaru]] of being spies and has them jailed.]]

** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' takes it to even higher extremes. [[spoiler:This whole Killing Game is a TrumanShowPlot based on the fictional ''Danganronpa'' franchise, and discovering this leads the cast into a very suicidal DespairEventHorizon that's even more severe that previous Danganronpa games, Keebo tries to rally the students with hope, but [[HeroicBSOD a very suicidal]] [[CynicismCatalyst Shuichi refutes him, wanting to choose despair over hope.]] After all, [[CatharsisFactor the audience watches because they want to see hope triumph over despair]]. So voting for hope over despair would be giving the audience what they want, leading to more killing games. On the other hand, voting for despair over hope would only make for the best SequelHook a ''Danganronpa'' game could ever ask for, and would also lead to more killing games. Instead, he convinces his friends to [[TakeAThirdOption reject both hope and despair]] [[TakingYouWithMe and abstain from voting,]] [[ChekhovsGun which is punishable by death]]. Thus they engineer an AudienceAlienatingEnding pisses off the audience and makes them stop watching the show for good, preventing further killing games since the show would no longer be making money and would thus get cancelled.]] It doesn't work when [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters the humans retaliate by brainwashing Keebo into keeping the killing game going]], So Shuichi persuades them to end the corrupt franchise as revenge, and it works.
* ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'' has Emi Ibarazaki, who is scared to let Hisao get closer to her due to the fact that [[spoiler:she lost her father in the same accident that cost her her legs, and she can't bear the thought of developing feelings for someone, only to lose that person. As Hisao has a heart condition that could very well kill him at a young age, this causes some issues.]]

** ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'' also does this in a literal sense in that the antagonists are a team of [[EnfantTerrible murderous kids]] called the Warriors of Hope. From a more abstract perspective, the Adult Resistance hears that [[spoiler:the Future Foundation]] is coming to help rescue them- but because they have lived in despair for so long, [[RebelLeader Haiji]] and many of the adults refuse to believe that they are coming to help, instead convincing themselves that [[spoiler:the Foundation]] is in league with the Warriors and plotting against them. [[spoiler:When Haiji discovers that [[{{Deuteragonist}} Toko]] is from the Foundation shortly after a brutal attack on the Resistance, he accuses her and [[TheHeroine Komaru]] of being spies and has them jailed.]]

** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' takes it to even higher extremes. [[spoiler:This whole Killing Game is a TrumanShowPlot based on the fictional ''Danganronpa'' franchise, and discovering this leads the cast into a very suicidal DespairEventHorizon that's even more severe that previous Danganronpa games, Keebo tries to rally the students with hope, but [[HeroicBSOD a very suicidal]] [[CynicismCatalyst Shuichi refutes him, wanting to choose despair over hope.]] After all, [[CatharsisFactor the audience watches because they want to see hope triumph over despair]]. So voting for hope over despair would be giving the audience what they want, leading to more killing games. On the other hand, voting for despair over hope would only make for the best SequelHook a ''Danganronpa'' game could ever ask for, and would also lead to more killing games. Instead, he convinces his friends to [[TakeAThirdOption reject both hope and despair]] [[TakingYouWithMe and abstain from voting,]] [[ChekhovsGun which is punishable by death]]. Thus they engineer an AudienceAlienatingEnding pisses off the audience and makes them stop watching the show for good, preventing further killing games since the show would no longer be making money and would thus get cancelled.]] It doesn't work when the humans retaliate by brainwashing Keebo into keeping the killing game going, So Shuichi persuades to end the corrupt franchise as revenge, and it works.

** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' takes it to even higher extremes. [[spoiler:This whole Killing Game is a TrumanShowPlot based on the fictional ''Danganronpa'' franchise, and discovering this leads the cast into a DespairEventHorizon. Keebo tries to rally the students with hope, but Shuichi refutes him. After all, [[CatharsisFactor the audience watches because they want to see hope triumph over despair]]. So voting for hope over despair would be giving the audience what they want, leading to more killing games. On the other hand, voting for despair over hope would only make for the best SequelHook a ''Danganronpa'' game could ever ask for, and would also lead to more killing games. Instead, he convinces his friends to [[TakeAThirdOption reject both hope and despair]] and abstain from voting, [[HeroicSacrifice which is punishable by death]]. Thus they engineer an AudienceAlienatingEnding pisses off the audience and makes them stop watching the show for good, preventing further killing games since the show would no longer be making money and would thus get cancelled.]]

And of course, if you believe things can't get better, then you feel no obligation to try; but if they ''can'' get better... you may suddenly feel a ton of daunting reponsibility as you conclude there ''are'' difficult or dangerous things you can and must do. Then again, the hope can be even scarier if it's of a sort that you have no control over at all, and it's in the hands of others to make it happen.

And of course, if you believe things can't get better, then you feel no obligation to try; but if they ''can'' get better... you may suddenly feel a ton of daunting reponsibility as you conclude there ''are'' potentially difficult and dangerous things you can and must do.

* ''Literature/TheWayOfKings'' (first book of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): Kaladin feels this way, as he [[ChronicHeroSyndrome keeps trying to save people]] and they [[DoomMagnet all wind up dead]]. He becomes increasingly reluctant to involve himself with others, but his heroic nature drags him back into it.

[[DespairEventHorizon Despair]] has its advantages. Your expectations are gone, so you can't be disappointed. Your feelings are dead, so you can't feel any pain. And you have nothing to lose, so you don't need to worry about your future. You can find peace there, because [[SafetyInIndifference you have passed safely out of reach of anything that could trouble you.]]

But if, in that state, someone inspires you with [[WorthLivingFor even a fragment of hope,]] all of your peace is gone. Now that you've started to feel again, you can feel pain again. Now that you have someone or something that you care about, you're afraid of losing them. And now that you've [[HopeSpot let yourself hope again, you risk being disappointed again]]. You used to take comfort from knowing that the worst was over, but now you are afraid that the worst is yet to come...

* Discussed explicitly in the works of French philosopher Gabriel Marcel, suggesting that the very act of hoping (and the power it carries) is precisely dangerous if only because it runs the risk of being disappointed. Nevertheless, Marcel suggests [[TheAntiNihilist that to carry on hoping anyway, despite the true (and possibly fatal) costs of hoping, is the only good way to live]].

** In the latter setting, the Imperium ''discourages'' people from becoming too hopeful because of the aforementioned Chaos God. However, [[DefiantToTheEnd bravery in the face of extreme adversity]] is encouraged, even (perhaps ''especially'') if the situation is {{hopeless|War}}.

* In the MirrorUniverse of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'', the ComicBook/JusticeLeague's EvilDoppelganger the Crime Syndicate unofficially ran the world through bribes and intimidation, and after [[LegionOfDoom Lex Luthor's Justice League]] was wiped out the public have been reduced to ApatheticCitizens who believe that if they just keep their heads down they'll be left alone. After Lex and ComicBook/{{Superman}} defeat Ultraman, President [[Characters/{{Deathstroke}} Slade Wilson]] has him released from prison, arguing that if [[ThouShaltNotKill the League won't kill them]] then it's pointless since [[HeKnowsTooMuch nobody would be left alive to testify against them]] and the League obviously couldn't abandon their own world to protect them forever. [[spoiler:It takes Ultraman killing his wife and [[PapaWolf trying to do the same to his daughter]] to get him to snap out of it.]]

* In the MirrorUniverse of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'', the ComicBook/JusticeLeague's EvilDoppelganger the Crime Syndicate unofficially ran the world through bribes and intimidation, and after [[LegionOfDoom Lex Luthor's Justice League]] was wiped out the public have been reduced to ApatheticCitizens who believe that if they just keep their heads down they'll be left alone. After Lex and ComicBook/{{Superman}} defeat Ultraman, President [[Characters/{{Deathstroke}} Slade Wilson]] has him released from prison, arguing that if [[ThouShaltNotKill the League won't kill them]] then it's pointless since [[HeKnowsTooMuch nobody would be left alive to testify against them]] and the League obviously couldn't abandon their own world to protect them forever.

* In the MirrorUniverse of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'', the ComicBook/JusticeLeague's EvilDoppelganger the Crime Syndicate unofficially ran the world through bribes and intimidation, and after [[LegionOfDoom Lex Luthor's Justice League]] was wiped out the public have been reduced to ApatheticCitizens who believe that if they just keep their heads down they'll be left alone. After Lex and ComicBook/{{Superman}} defeat Ultraman, President [[Characters/{{Deathstroke}} Slade Wilson]] has him released from prison, arguing that if [[ThouShaltNotKill the League won't kill them]] then it's pointless since nobody would be left alive to testify against them and the League obviously couldn't abandon their own world to protect them forever.

* In one issue of ''ComicBook/DetectiveComics'', ComicBook/TheJoker helps Franchise/{{Batman}} save a child whose abduction the Joker himself orchestrated. Why? Because if even the Joker doesn't always kill his victims, Batman will be forced to hold out hope in every case and will therefore suffer more for each future victim he fails to save.

* From both TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} and TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 you have [[ManipulativeBastard Tzeentch]], Chaos God of, amongst other things, [[OddJobGods Change]] and Hope. It's more accurate to say he's the god of {{ambition|IsEvil}}, and he's one of the [[BigBad Chief antagonists]] of both series, and he is certainly the [[MindScrew strangest]] god in both settings.

** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' takes it to even higher extremes. [[spoiler:This whole Killing Game is a TrumanShowPlot based on the fictional ''Danganronpa'' franchise, and discovering this leads the cast into a DespairEventHorizon. Keebo tries to rally the students with hope, but Shuichi refutes him. After all, [[CatharsisFactor the audience watches because they want to see hope triumph over despair]]. So voting for hope over despair would be giving the audience what they want, leading to more killing games. On the other hand, voting for despair over hope would only make for the best SequelHook a ''Danganronpa'' game could ever ask for, and would also lead to more killing games. Instead, he convinces his friends to [[TakeAThirdOption reject both hope and despair]] and abstain from voting, [[HeroicSacrifice which is punishable by death]]. This would result in a lame ending that pisses off the audience and makes them stop watching the show for good, preventing further killing games since the show would no longer be making money and would thus get cancelled.]]

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Nico Robin witnessed the destruction of her homeland at the age of ''eight'' and was declared too dangerous to live. Over the course of twenty years, she was betrayed time and time again by everyone she trusted. By the time she joined the Strawhats, she [[SafetyInIndifference had stopped forming any connections]] and deliberately tried to keep them at arm's length. The fact that they started to view her as a friend, and the fact that she started to feel the same, scared her. When CP-9 cornered her, she chose to abandon the Strawhats so she could at least die while they still viewed her as a friend. Their storming of Enies Lobby and choosing to fight the World Government itself for her sake finally convinced her life was worth living.

* In ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain: Defiance'', Kain ends the game by expressing this very sentiment:

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** In ''Anime/Danganronpa3'', [[spoiler:Chairman Kazuo Tengan is revealed to have the goal of brainwashing the whole world into feeling nothing but hope, and this is portrayed as scary as it can be]].