History Main / IShouldHaveBeenBetter

* Aang of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' feels this heavily at the beginning of Season 3, after the fall of Ba Sing Se. Somewhat justified, in that his initial RefusalOfTheCall meant he wasn't around to stop the war 100 years ago when it began (and he wasn't there when his people, the Air Nomads, were wiped out in a genocidal first strike by the Fire Nation, though since he was only 12, there wasn't much he could've done). This time, he was ''there'' at Ba Sing Se and still couldn't save the city from being conquered.

* Happens to Indiana Jones at the end of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''. Elsa Schneider sets off an earthquake by taking the holy grail past the temple's seal. Indiana manages to grab her just before she falls in a crevasse and is about to pull her up to safety. But Elsa, consumed by greed, uses her free hand to reach for the grail below her. Indiana struggles to hold her because the leather glove on her hand is too slippery. He desperately tries to get through to her, but she's too obsessed with the grail. The glove finally slips off and she falls to her death. Afterwards, he looks back at the collapsed temple with regret that he couldn't save her.
** In the novelization, Indy wonders if he could have saved her by telling her what his father told him: "Let it go."

It's an old standby: the hero has done his absolute best, saved everyone he possibly could...but not everyone. Someone died, [[RestrictedRescueOperation nearly always in a way completely outside the hero's control]]. He went above and beyond the call of duty, but it wasn't enough.

* Edward Elric from ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'' invokes this trope at the end of the series. After looking back on everything, it is revealed that he still feels guilt about [[spoiler:Nina and Hughes's]] deaths.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/40052739/chapters/100307028 Second Chances]]'': As Katsuki looks through Izuku's hero journal, his feelings of regret and guilt grew as he realizes he should've been there for Izuku when others bullied and harassed him, instead of labelling him "Deku".

* At the end of ''Film/SchindlersList'', Oskar Schindler laments that he could have saved more Jews than he did if he'd thought to sell more of his possessions, in particular his Nazi party lapel pin (which is gold). Itzhak Stern tries reassuring Schindler by pointing out he saved over a thousand Jewish lives. Stern's words do little to assuage Schindler's guilt, as he collapses to the ground in tears.

* Leonardo in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'' feels this way for a long time [[spoiler:after the turtles challenged Shredder while he was trying to leave Earth. They ended up soundly defeated by Shredder and resorted in the end to trying to overload the power core of the spaceship. Something that they were all saved from thanks to the Utroms stepping in at the last moment. Afterward, Leo's frustration and anger over that hopeless situation lead to him accidentally injuring Splinter during training, thus he was sent off to train under The Ancient One, who manages to convince him that he shouldn't be so hard on himself for doing his best]].

* Franchise/{{Batman}}. It's his shtick; he wasn't able to save his family as a child, leading him to become the criminal-pulping badass he is today. All in the name of trying to make sure no eight-year-old boy ever has his parents taken away by a punk with a gun, ever again. It's highly unlikely that he'll succeed, but we still love the journey.
* In Creator/MarvelComics, this is part of ComicBook/TheSentry's mental problems. He has the power of a million exploding suns, but whom does he choose to save and whom to let die?
** In fact, the same could be said for The Sentry's inspiration, Franchise/{{Superman}} himself. Despite his vast powers, he is not a god. He is still someone with his own life yet is burdened by the fact that he cannot always be there for people that need him and having his supersenses means he knows when so many people are in trouble.
*** As listed in film, a very poignant and Tearjerking example was the inability to save Pa Kent.
* This is one of the key elements of Franchise/SpiderMan. Our friendly neighborhood superhero never congratulates himself on the fact that he saves 99% of the people who fall into danger, but he always blames himself for [[ILetGwenStacyDie that 1% he]] ''[[ILetGwenStacyDie couldn't]]'' [[ILetGwenStacyDie save]].

It's an old standby: The hero has done his absolute best, saved everyone he possibly could...but not everyone. Someone died, [[RestrictedRescueOperation nearly always in a way completely outside the hero's control]]. He went above and beyond the call of duty, but it wasn't enough.

->'''EMT:''' Hey Peter, good job saving that girl today.\\

* [[HurtingHero Edward Elric]] from ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'' invokes this trope at the end of the series. After looking back on everything, it is revealed that he still feels guilt about [[spoiler:Nina and Hughes's]] deaths.

* While it's usually never spoken of aloud, many versions of [[HurtingHero Optimus Prime]] of the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' multiverse appear to take their failures very seriously.

* Rather poignantly stated in the first ''Film/{{Superman}}'' film, about Clark's father, Jonathan Kent: "All these powers, and I couldn't even save him."

* Mr. Incredible feels like this near the end of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' for an atypical reason - he says that he's "not strong enough", which Helen assumes to mean this. [[spoiler:Bob was referring to having watched their plane get shot down and fearing the worst just hours before]].

* ''Series/{{Emergency}}'': Paramedic Roy [=DeSoto=] takes it hard every time he and his partner lose a patient, but one case in particular gets this reaction. In Season 2 episode 1, Roy is out of contact with Rampart and is forced to make a decision on his own, which endangers the life of a patient. He gets chewed out for it by the patient's own regular doctor, and then the patient dies in the hospital. Roy is a NiceGuy who became a firefighter and then a paramedic out of a genuine desire to save lives and help people, and the thought that in this case he killed the patient is almost too much for him.

* Vaarsuvius in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' went into a deep HeroicBSOD after [[AmbiguousGender hir]] magic was depleted in the Battle Of Azure City, rendering V incapable of saving hundreds of Azurites. Best seen in this quote:

* In ''Fanfic/{{Fractured}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]'']] [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]] and its sequel, ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', Samantha Shepard experiences this trope full-force. She blames herself for her own HeroicBSOD in ''Fractured'', and then insists ([[InsaneTrollLogic against all reason]]) that she is also somehow responsible for the [[spoiler:Flood's]] taking over the galaxy.

* This is one of the key elements of Franchise/SpiderMan. Our friendly neighborhood superhero never congratulates himself on the fact that he saves 99% of the people who fall into danger, but he always blames himself for that 1% he ''couldn't'' save.