History Main / HumbleGoal

* ''ComicBook/UltimateWolverine'': Jimmy made a detour and took many risks, just to have a brief look at his parents from afar one last time.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': During the Golden Age ComicBook/SteveTrevor's ultimate desire in life is to settle down and marry the woman he loves. He joined the Army because it was the right thing to do, and his intended goal becomes much more difficult when he falls in love with and starts dating Wonder Woman, since as the Amazon champion she cannot get married (save for a couple of loopholes) until her mission is over and that mission will never be over so long as there are people in need of rescuing in the world.

* In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', Tony Stark reveals that he wants "the fight to end" and to retire to a peaceful life in a farm with Pepper. There are hints of TragicDream as Tony's ChronicHeroSyndrome constantly clashes with this wish. [[spoiler: In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', he does manage to retire and build a family before going on OneLastJob]]

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', [[BrilliantButLazy Shikamaru]] just wants to be an ordinary ninja who marries an average girl, having a son and a daughter, and eventually retiring to play Shogi and Go all day after his son is a ninja and his daughter is married. Unfortunately for him, the various circumstances he encounters force him to improve his skills, put himself at risk, and challenge himself in order to survive. [[spoiler:He does partially achieve his goals, being married to Temari and having a son Shikadai.]]

Our character--be it a hero, a villain, or somewhere in between--has a dream. An overarching GoalInLife that motivates him to get up in the morning, keep going when things get tough, keeps him from losing his mind when horrors come calling, and overall drives the plot forward.

A SuperTrope of CallToAgriculture, where a powerful character only wants to be a farmer. Often the goal of an ActionSurvivor whose main goal is surviving so he can get back to his ordinary life. Compare MundaneLuxury, which is often the motivation behind this. Particularly common in stories where the characters or characters are [[TrappedInAnotherWorld stranded somewhere]], and just want to get home.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', [[BrilliantButLazy Shikamaru]] just wants to be an ordinary ninja who marries an average girl, having a son and a daughter, and eventually retiring to play Shogi and Go all day after his son is a ninja and his daughter is married. Unfortunately for him, the various circumstances he encounters force him to improve his skills, put himself at risk and challenge himself in order to survive. [[spoiler:He does partially achieve his goals, being married to Temari and having a son Shikadai.]]

** Mordred's wish initially sounds like the yet another example of "epic and/or self-destructive" wishes: She wants to go back in time and receive a chance to draw the sword from the stone and become king. But the reason she wants to do this is because [[spoiler:she wants to take some of the burden from her father, King Arthur, as she realized how terrible being king was]]. The fact that she chose such a roundabout wish and didn't explain it properly [[ManChild is a sign of her immaturity]].

** [[NiceGuy Boy Blue]] is [[BewareTheNiceOnes a veteran of countless battles in a]] HopelessWar and his RoaringRampageOfRescue through the homelands gets him described in-universe as the sort of guy Creator/ErrolFlynn only pretended to be in his films. The only problem is, while being a survivor from countless massacres may be testament to his badassery, [[RealityEnsues it leaves him suffering from terrible]] SurvivorsGuilt from all the countless comrades he's watched die, and as such all he really wants to be is a functionary in some boring office job for the rest of his eternal life, with ''finally'' not having a romantic attachment blow up in his face being a nice bonus. [[spoiler:When dying, he specifically requests that he not be buried among the soldiers, because he'd prefer to be remembered as a clerk and musician rather than a world-class badass. After meeting and giving reassurance the not-quite-dead Bigby in limbo, Blue says that it looks like his own personal heaven will, in fact, be something totally unremarkable that will fulfill his wish at long last]].
* ''ComicBook/UltimateWolverine'': Jimmy made a detour and took many risks, just to have a brief look of his parents from afar one last time.
* In ''ComicBook/BatLash'''s first appearance, all he wants is to make a nice meal of th pheasant he shot, but as he's shopping for ingredients, the bandits that took over town keep harassing him.

* In Creator/OrsonWelles's ''Film/MrArkadin,'' all Jakob Zouk wants--and all he was dreaming of in his years in prison--was a dish of goose liver with apples and onions. [[spoiler:He gets killed before he can have it.]]

* AsTheGoodBookSays in Proverbs 30:8-9, a Beleiver wants neither poverty nor riches, but only their daily bread (ie, 3 square meals a day), on the grounds that a rich man might become arrogant in that wealth, and a poor man might become a theif, but a man whose needs are fulfilled by God knows who puts the food on the table.

* In ''Series/KungFu'', the reason Caine is on the run from the Chinese authorities: Master Po had one ambition: to visit a specific city. It's a small ambition but he still admonishes himself for having it — as a Shaolin Master, he shouldn't have ''any'' ambitions. Sometime after Caine graduates from Monk School he encounters his old master in that city — he finally got his wish. At that moment the emperor's nephew comes by on his palanquin, shoving Master Po off the road and (eventually) killing him. Caine kills the emperor's nephew in a fit of rage, and then must flee China.

* "Next to You, Next to Me" by Music/{{Shenandoah}}. The narrator is uninterested in material possessions like mansions, caviar, gold and diamonds. He just wants his girlfriend to come for a ride in his pickup truck, where they will eat barbecue chicken and listen to their favourite radio stations.

* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny from ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'' seems really excited about ordinary things like going to jail or attending a high school reunion. It turns out that Bugs has done so much amazing things all throughout his life (like going to space and becoming president of Mexico) that he [[IJustWantToBeNormal wants to do ordinary things for once]].

* The titular protagonist of ''Manga/ShokugekiNoSoma'' zigzags on this. On one hand, his goal in life as a chef is to carry on the family business, which is running a small restaurant in a middle-class district. On the other, before he does so, he wants to surpass his father, who is a world-famous chef, by becoming the top student in the prestigious Tootsuki Institute, an elite culinary academy notorious for a graduation rate of 1%.

** In ''Discworld/NightWatch'', the revolutionaries want a slogan that encapsulates what they're fighting for. After asking each of their members what ''they'' want, the result is "Truth, Justice, Reasonably-Priced Love[[labelnote:*]]The original option was for Free Love, but the prostitute objected on occupational grounds[[/labelnote]] [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers and A Hard Boiled Egg]]". This culminates in a tradition of leaving a hard-boiled egg [[DueToTheDead on Sergeant Keel's grave]].
** Similarly, a RunningGag of the Literature/{{Discworld}} series is [[LovableCoward Rincewind the Wizard]] wanting to be left alone, preferably with a large plate of potatoes.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'':
** In the first arc, Bulma wants to collect the Dragon Balls to wish for a boyfriend, despite being a beautiful, rich and intelligent young girl. And Yamcha wants to be cured from his fear of women, so he can marry in the future. In the end, Bulma gets Yamcha as his boyfriend, and Yamcha overcomes his fear, and neither of them needed Shenlong for that.
** The reason why Commander Red, the leader of Earth's worst criminal organization, is trying to collect the Dragon Balls is to become taller, not world domination. Because he thinks the Red Ribbon Army is powerful enough to do that even without Shenlong.
** ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'': Beerus and Champa hold a tournament so the winner can hold or gain access to Earth's food. Beerus's team wins and he wishes to revive the Earthlings of Universe 6, so Champa can get ''their'' food instead.
** ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'': Bulma has been collection Dragon Balls recently, so she can wish herself five years younger, so it she can remain her youthful look without making it look like plastic surgery. Similarly, Freeza, who is trying to obtain Earth's Dragon Balls, wants to grow 5cm taller, so he it would like he's still growing up. The reasoning being that he hates being made fun of his first form's and Final Form's short stature. And that's coming from the guy who tried to collect the Namekian Dragon Balls for immortality, but after experiencing Hell (literally), he has given up on that goal entirely.

* Similarly Lucas from French comedy ''Les Fugitifs'' and its remake ''Film/ThreeFugitives'' just got out of jail and wants to pawn his gold watch and become an honest locksmith. [[spoiler:He succeeds by the middle of the movie, only to abandon his quiet life to save Jeanne/Meg.]]

-->'''Quinn:''' I get Finn, you get heartbroken. And then Finn and I stay here and start a family. I'll become a successful real estate agent and Finn will take over Kurt's dad's tire shop.

* ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'': Hayate's life goal is to have a small apartment with the necessary amenities and nobody chasing him.
** It is in fact so humble, that when he reveals this goal in ''grade school'' it drives his teacher to tears.
** When he gave his report he didn't even list the last bit, just the small apartment (a 3LDK). After seeing his teacher's reaction the poor guy thought he ''aimed too high''...

* One chapter of ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' plays it for laughs by making the protagonist get dragged across a lot of trouble (good vs evil, mobs, gangster...) because his fan broke and he was trying to replace it.
--> '''Gintoki:''' I JUST CAME TO BUY AN ELECTRIC FAN!

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', [[BrilliantButLazy Shikamaru]] just wants to be an ordinary ninja who marries an average girl, having a son and a daughter, and eventually retiring to play Shogi and Go all day after his son is a ninja and his daughter is married. Unfortunately for him, the various circumstances he encounters force him to improve his skills, put himself at risk and challenge himself in order to survive.[[spoiler: He does partially achieve his goals, being married to Temari and having a son Shikadai.]]

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', for all their power and infamy three of the Four Emperors have startlingly humble goals:

* Il Pallazzo, the would-be ruler of the world in ''Anime/ExcelSaga'', has scaled-down his ambitions to simply taking over a single city so that he can ''eventually'' broaden his horizons to the prefecture and then Japan and so on. He later says to someone on the phone that "just wishing to 'rule the world' is a childish fantasy for simplistic morons".

[[folder:Comics]]
* In the ''Comicbook/{{Fables}}'' spinoff Fairest, during Lumi's (aka. the Snow Queen) battle with Hadeon the Destroyer, she admits that her current goal in life is to simply live her own life with a possible romance with a roguish fellow. When asked why she has no dreams bigger than her "selfish needs," she retorts that as a woman who spent years trying to fulfill great and ambitious things, she's rather cynical of lofty goals, and wonders if maybe small dreams are the best kind to have.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* In the ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' fanfic ''FanFic/WalkingInCircles'', Solas's main goal is to restore his people's former glory and freedom which is definitely not a small wish, but for ''himself'', all he wants is just a quiet, simple life with Evelyn.
* In ''Roleplay/CauldronQuest'', The Simurgh's ultimate goal, for which she's been manipulating things since she first showed up? [[spoiler: Attend a sleepover.]]

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

* In ''Carry On Admiral'' (1957) (no relation to the ''Film/CarryOn'' films) all the nameless man wanted was his clothes back.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

-->''I get Finn, you get heartbroken. And then Finn and I stay here and start a family. I'll become a successful real estate agent and Finn will take over Kurt's dad's tire shop.''

* The ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' are testing the proposition that two interleaved phone books are inseparable by rational means. This culminates in chaining the books to a pair of tanks. Just before the mayhem starts, Jamie quips "I just wanted to make a phone call."
* In ''Series/BabylonFive'', the Centauri are a [[PlanetOfHats planet full of]] [[DeadlyDecadentCourt scheming aristocrats]], all of whom want power and the majority of whom are after the big chair. Except for [[DefectorFromDecadence Vir Cotto]], who [[spoiler: naturally, [[ReluctantRuler becomes Emperor]].]]:
-->'''Vir''': All I ever wanted was a good ''job''! A small title, nothing fancy... A wife I could love. Maybe even one who could love someone like me. I never wanted ''[[TheseHandsHaveKilled this]]''
* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': Ozzy, the leader of the Highwaymen, is very interested in watching the movie that's premiering at the Kingdom, so he agrees to help keep everyone safe during the fair. [[spoiler: Sadly, he never gets the chance to watch the movie due to Alpha beheading him.]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Hobbes's wish is to have a sandwich. He achieves it. This is contrasted with Calvin, whose more extravagant wish for "a trillion billion dollars, my own space shuttle, and a private continent'' goes unfulfilled.
** In another strip, Calvin asks Hobbes what he wants right now more than anything else. Hobbes' answer: "A big sunny field to lie in." Calvin berates him for his lack of ambition and imagination, then looks at the blissfully snoozing tiger and says, "Actually, it's hard to argue with someone who looks so happy."

* In the introductionary fiction for the second edition of ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'', a young man named Franz is combing through the monster-infested ruins of his home town. We eventually find out that he's looking for his father's shoemaker tools, in the hopes of earning a living as a cobbler to the refugees outside the town. It serves as an early hint of how character progression works in the game [[note]]you can only progress so far in a given career, and then you have to switch to another one before you can spend any more XP - and in order to make the switch, you need the trappings of the new career[[/note]] as well as showing that player characters in [[CrapsackWorld the setting]] often have to work very hard to achieve very modest goals.

* In ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors'', Audrey, who lives on Skid Row, sings an IWantSong, "Somewhere That's Green", which details her grand fantasy...of living a stereotypical suburban life. Granted, her dream is leagues better than her current life in the slums, but its modesty is played for comedy due to how kitschy and normal it seems to the viewer.

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Hakuouki}}'', where the other Shinsengumi captains are occupied with grand ambitions and high ideals which prove unattainable, Harada Sanosuke admits in his route that his dream is to marry a woman he loves and live a peaceful life with her. This simple and humble dream is one of the reasons that Sanosuke has the most unequivocally happy ending in the game, where the others' endings are more bittersweet.
* In ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend'', what is the SpoiledBrat heir Sakuya Shirogane Le Bel's lofty lifelong dream? [[spoiler: He wants to play and study music openly, and see how far he can go as a musician. If he pursues this goal he is [[FantasyForbiddingFather disowned and cast from the family]], as he knew would happen.]]
** The player character's wishes at Tanabata: TakeOverTheWorld (twice, either openly or ruling from the shadows), win the MadLove of a fallen angel, or... [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking become an artist]]. [[spoiler: Naturally, the last earns you points with Sakuya.]]
** Subverted by Oko San. He just wants pudding... but he's ''extremely'' particular about his pudding, and anything not up to standard is grounds for a temper tantrum.

[[folder: Web Comic]]
* In ''WebComic/HeroOhHero'' Burk's quests so far have consisted of finding a toilet and acquiring a giant pig for a mount (or to get the pig he found/defeated to grow giant again).

[[folder:Web Original]]

-->'''423:''' I know. I just don't want anything else. I have no other desire. Just a ham sandwich.
-->'''1-423:''' I honestly don't know what to make of that.
-->'''423:''' A ham sandwich would be nice.
* For the entirety of ''Fanfic/OldManHenderson'''s rampage, the only thing he really wanted was to have his lawn gnomes back. Sure, he leveled ''several'' churches and [[spoiler: [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu blew Hastur up]]]] for them, but he just wanted his lawn gnomes back.
** Henderson's ''player'' just wanted the DM to stop {{railroading}} the game.
* The only reason [[spoiler:Scarecrow]] becomes one of [[spoiler:Dr. Arkham's]] CoDragons in Season 2 of ''WebVideo/TheJokerBlogs'' is because [[spoiler:he wants his old job and office at Arkham Asylum back, the latter of which was given to [[ComicBook/HarleyQuinn Harleen]]]]. Although, in Episode 6, he thinks the whole plan has taken too bad a turn and is causing him more trouble than he's willing to put up with, so he decides ScrewThisImOuttaHere.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* The plot to many ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episodes involves the kids wanting something relatively mundane - say, getting the latest gaming system, or returning a rented video - but getting waylaid by assorted weirdness. In the case of Cartman, the means to getting to that goal might get [[ComedicSociopathy a little intense.]]

* WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty: Jerry used Rick's meeseeks box to help him get two strokes off his golf game. Guess what that led to.

* A North Korean refugee ([[EarnYourHappyEnding who now lives in South Korea]]) stated in an interview that as a child in the '90's (when the food crisis was particular bad due to the famine), he always wanted to have a fried egg with rice.

Not to be confused with MundaneWish; in a MundaneWish, the character is offered anything he wants by a person of power, and chooses something simple. The HumbleGoal is an aspiration internalized by the character, but he has to make it happen by himself.