History Main / InHarmsWay

* Sir Thomas Cochrane, who upon being thrown out of the Royal Navy after being involved in a financial scam, promptly went to South America and masterminded the creation of several revolutionary navies...after eventually being exonerated by the British government, he then tried to sign up for the Crimean War ''in his eighties''. It should therefore be no surprise that he was the inspiration, via Literature/HoratioHornblower, for [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries James T. Kirk]], [[Literature/AubreyMaturin Jack Aubrey]], [[Literature/HonorHarrington Honor Harrington]], and [[Literature/{{RCN}} Daniel Leary]].

* Fighting Jack Churchill. When World War Two was over, he was furious with the Americans for dropping nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- not because of any moral qualms, but because we had robbed him of any chance of getting over to the Pacific so he could do unto the Japanese what he had done unto the Germans.

* Ben Tennyson from the ''Franchise/Ben10'' franchise is this, occasionally doing heroic deeds because they give him a thrill and makes him popular, rather than because it's the right thing to do. This is especially the case in installments where he's a child. In fact, ''WesternAnimation/Ben10SecretOfTheOmnitrix'' has one of the characters actually hide [[ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 the true ramifications]] of Omnitrix's self-destruct protocol going off not because he feared Ben would panic, but because he thought ''[[ItsAllAboutMe he wouldn't care]]''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' Korra herself and Asami Sato are both this trope, which is one of the ways they get along, at first as friends and then as a couple.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Bob's dissatisfaction with his life is heavily driven by the dullness next to the adventure of super-heroing. Bob loves the superhero life so much that even after being forced to retire, he buys a police scanner and lies to his wife so he can look for opportunities to save people. Helen held to this trope when they were superheroing; it was Bob who considered HomeSweetHome an interesting future.

Related to ChronicHeroSyndrome and ChronicVillainy. One of the more [[JustifiedTrope reasonable]] ways to [[StatusQuoIsGod maintain status quo]]. Many HeroicFantasy heroes keep going in unending series because they are in love with being In Harm's Way. Inverse of HomeSweetHome. Can lead to UnknowinglyInLove if the character is consequently too distracted by escaping death to consider deeper feelings. Someone seeking an HonorableWarriorsDeath is likely to invoke this.

* In ''Literature/{{Schippeitaro}}'', the young man is seeking this, for the fame.

Related to ChronicHeroSyndrome and ChronicVillainy. One of the more [[JustifiedTrope reasonable]] ways to [[StatusQuoIsGod maintain status quo]]. Many HeroicFantasy heroes keep going in unending series because they are in love with being In Harm's Way. Inverse of HomeSweetHome. Can lead to UnknowinglyInLove if the character is consequently too distracted by escaping death to consider deeper feelings.

-->-- '''John Paul Jones''' (The [[WoodenShipsAndIronMen naval commander]], [[NamesTheSame not the]] Music/LedZeppelin member)

* Along the same lines, Wrestling/RicFlair. Still going today at the age of 61.

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', this describes Guts during the Golden Age arc. Griffith observes that Guts' recklessness on the battlefield is motivated not by having a death wish, but rather by the thrill of fighting for his life. After the Hundred Year War ends and it looks like Midland will be peaceful, Guts decides to leave the Band of the Hawk partly because he wouldn't know what to do with himself in the Hawks' new position of respectability, and because he wants to master the sword by challenging himself with ever tougher fights and adventures until he can become Griffith's equal. After the Eclipse this motivation is replaced by his desire to protect Casca and avenge his fallen comrades.
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** Because of Goku's SpiritedCompetitor nature, he is at his happiest when he's fighting, either for fun or for his life. When he hears that there is someone stronger than Vegeta, someone who literally crushed every bone in his body not even a month ago, he's all but giddy at the idea of fighting them. Beerus is the God of Destruction who [[TheDreaded the other gods fear]]? Goku challenges him to a sparring match. The other Gods of Destruction and their strongest warriors are after Goku since he put their universe in danger? He's more than happy to fight all of them and says so to their faces. Goku even admits that he fights at his best when he's on the edge. Pretty much the defining feature of the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Saiyan race]]. They simply love fighting strong opponents.
** Bulma doesn't ''consistently'' revolve around this trope, but she's a PluckyGirl by nature, so when it does crop up, it's never out of place. Such as, for example, her insistence on taking her infant son to see her hero friends fight killer cyborgs. And her rationale for meeting Frieza face-to-face? If he's a PlanetDestroyer, she may as well face her doom head-on than pointlessly hide from it.
* ''Characters/LupinIII'' and his gang never grow tired of their life.
** In ''Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro'', Lupin III and Jigen discover that their careful heist had netted counterfeit money. They laugh it off, Jigen declaring that he didn't want to retire anyway.
* ''Anime/TenchiUniverse'' ends with all the craziness ended, Tenchi at home safe, and him being bored to have a normal life. Of course, Ryoko's reappearance in literally the last minute of the last episode provides Tenchi the promise of being in harm's way all over again, [[AndTheAdventureContinues albeit off-camera]].
* At the end of ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', [[spoiler:Tenma refuses a teaching post at uni and joins the MSF instead.]]
* This happens at the end of ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'', after [[spoiler:Wild Tiger coming back into action as Wild Tiger ~ 1 minute, at the end of the last episode.]]
* ''Franchise/OnePiece'':
** Luffy simply chooses the hardest, most difficult paths in his adventure just because he thinks that will be the most exciting. He lives on the adventure. Meanwhile, Zoro is definitely of the SpiritedCompetitor mold, always on the watch for worthy opponents, and seemingly bored when not fighting and/or drinking.
** Though honestly it applies to the entire crew to some extent. Besides almost all of them leaving home to become pirates when describing how the dangerous and hellish the New World is, every last one of them is smiling.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* {{Franchise/Batman}} almost never retires, when he does its usually because he's too infirm to continue fighting crime, and even then he guarantees he has a replacement and participates in crime-fighting [[MissionControl from the back lines]]. Played with, in that the reason for Batman's drive is less that VictoryIsBoring and more that his end goal lies somewhere between [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil the eradication of evil]] and the resurrection of his dead parents and reclaiming his childhood (without that harming anyone else), which needless to say he's never accomplished.
* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': Scrooge [=McDuck=] travelled the world and made money for the thrill of it rather than for the money in ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck''. Later in life, when he stops making money and settles down in Duckburg, he becomes depressed, shutting himself away in his mansion, and it is only the return of Donald and the nephews and their subsequent foiling of a robbery that shakes Scrooge out of his funk, turning him back to a life of adventure.
* At the end of the first ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' comic, [[spoiler:Mal intentionally uses the large money cache the group had found to bribe an Alliance soldier off their backs, sending the crew right back into PerpetualPoverty and preventing himself -- and the crew -- from being able to peacefully retire]].
* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': Former villains Trickster and the Pied Piper joined their old friends the Rogues in an apparent FaceHeelTurn. After the Rogues had murdered Bart Allen (the Flash), they talked [[TheReveal revealing]] that it had been [[TheMole an attempted infiltration]] and they had both done it to get back to the adventure.
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'': Queen Iolande finds politicking absolutely dull and would rather be a full-time Green Lantern. Since she is the only remaining member of the royal family of her homeworld, that really isn't an option.
* [[{{Goth}} Moon]] from ''ComicBook/PocketGod'' takes advantage of her [[DeathIsCheap resurrection abilities]] to put herself in danger for thrills. She persuades [[TheKlutz Klak]] into doing dangerous things for her amusement when [[spoiler:the source of her resurrection powers is destroyed]].
* Each of the three ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' series ends with the kids being offered some degree of safety and stability in exchange for submitting to adult authority. They ''always'' blow it off, even when the consequences are disastrous for them.
* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'', most definitely an adrenaline junkie, in addition to being something of a showman since his inception in the wrestling ring. His patter has more energy the more danger he's in. He often goes out to 'clear his head' with the hazardous sport of swinging from skyscrapers.
* Travis Morgan from ''Comicbook/TheWarlord'' passes up the opportunity to settle down peacefully when it is presented to him because he needs to keep traveling and adventuring.
** One of Morgan's friends became the ruler of some city-state or other ... and was ''bored''. He was delighted when a visit by Morgan coincided with the discovery of a serious plot to overthrow him, saying he'd finally found something that made the job worthwhile: "Enemies!"
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: The Holliday Girls Bobby Strong and Glamora Treat live for adventure, and will invite themselves along on any expedition that promises some even if those in charge want to bar them from accompanying them. They've even stowed away when they weren't able to get permission.
* ''Franchise/XMen'':
** When ComicBook/{{Storm}} married ComicBook/BlackPanther and became Queen of Wakanda, she could possibly do more good for the planet as a world leader than as a superhero, but finds palace life and politics mind-numbingly ''boring''. As a result, she makes regular trips to California to assist the X-Men.
** ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} always comes back to the X-Men, not because being an X-Man is fun, but because it's what he's been doing since he was 14 and he doesn't know ''how'' to have a happy, peaceful life. When the rest of the original team left, he stuck around, choosing to stay with a group of strangers rather than move on with the love of his life, because he believed his PowerIncontinence meant that he couldn't function in normal society. And, when he married and had a child with the ''other'' love of his life, he made a genuine attempt to leave superheroics behind him and settle down with his new family but was unable to adjust to everyday life, which ultimately ended his marriage.
* In ''ComicBook/ZodiacStarforce'', Kim misses everything about the days they fought Cimmeria's forces, but especially the monster fights. Savi is a little nostalgic about it too.

[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
* In ''Literature/{{Schippeitaro}}'', the young man is seeking this, for the fame.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* When the [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Heartless]] attack Winter Town in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13425922/3/A-Song-of-Fire-Ice-and-Hearts A Song of Fire, Ice, and Hearts]]'', [[Series/GameOfThrones Arya Stark]] opts to stay and see Roxas fight them off instead of listening to Sansa and fleeing to safety. After being brushed off one too many times, Sansa [[AngerBornOfWorry slaps her sister and calls her a brat]] for being willing to endanger her life just for some excitement.
* ''FanFic/TruthAndConsequences'': This is ultimately the key difference between Adrien and Marinette: Adrien ''loves'' being Chat Noir, and wouldn't give it up even if Hawkmoth were somehow to be defeated; Marinette only ever saw being Ladybug as a responsibility, and dreams of a peaceful life with a family, so much so she's willing to [[FaceHeelTurn cut a deal with Hawkmoth]] in [[DealWithTheDevil exchange for]] the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculouses being returned. At the end [[spoiler:Chat leaves Paris altogether to [[WalkingTheEarth Walk The Earth]] with Plagg [[AndTheAdventureContinues fighting evil]], while Marinette pursues her fashion career in London]].

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Bob's dissatisfaction with his life is heavily driven by the dullness next to the adventure of super-heroing. Bob loves the superhero life so much that even after being forced to retire, he buys a police scanner and lies to his wife so he can look for opportunities to save people. Helen held to this trope when they were superheroing; it was Bob who considered HomeSweetHome an interesting future.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Cub Simba]] would certainly count, as his primary goal in life at that point is to go on dangerous adventures with his girlfriend [[ActionGirl Nala]].
-->'''Simba:''' Danger? Ha! I walk on the wild side. I laugh in the face of danger. Ha ha ha ha!
* ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'': Jim has a bad case of it, getting him into trouble in the opening.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Westerns that feature TheDrifter as the main hero ''usually'' end like this ([[TheHeroDies unless he dies]], that is).
* In ''Film/{{Heat}}'', one of [=McCauley's crew=] is given the choice to back out of an extremely high-risk job in order to settle with his family, considering he already has a lot of money tucked away from previous heists. The guy declines the advice, claiming that the ''thrill'' of the job, not the money in itself, is what he considers the payoff.
* Creator/JeremyRenner's character in ''Film/TheHurtLocker'', especially emphasized in the ending.
* At the end of all the ''Film/MadMax'' movies, Max has a chance to rejoin civilization, but through choice or circumstances, he ends up going back out in the desert where further conflict is inevitable.
* In ''Film/TheMummy1999'', Rick finds an old pilot who was a hero in his GloryDays and a recent widower. With nothing left to lose he jumps at the chance to take them into incredible danger and die doing it (which he does).
* [[Film/TheThirdMan Holly Martins]] is sort of like this, having some traits of IntrepidReporter by investigating the death of his friend [[ItsPersonal for himself.]]
%%* Jack Sparrow in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd''.
* Kirk is in this situation at the beginning of ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' (even more so if you read the novel).
** And again at the beginning of ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''.
** And finally, yet again, in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations''. [[spoiler:Twice.]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* As much as Literature/AlexRider [[IJustWantToBeNormal just wants to be normal]], he definitely falls under this trope as well by the beginning of book four, when he goes off on his own--after an extremely traumatizing mission, being told that he would get his wish to be normal from then on, and receiving explicit instructions to the contrary--to investigate something that he knows for a fact will be dangerous. There's signs of it earlier, too. After all, most people would call the cops on drug dealers, not follow them back to their hideout and then pick their boat lab up with a crane and try to drop it in the parking lot of the police station, which is what gets Alex roped into book two's mission. And even earlier than that, he jumped out a sixteenth-story window to get into his uncle's locked office through the unlocked window via a ''flagpole'' at the beginning of book one. He really hates his "[[{{Blackmail}} job]]"--but somehow he can't stop getting himself into high-risk, adrenaline-producing situations.
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':
** [[TheBigGuy Rachel]] quickly becomes like this. At one point, she rejects a DealWithTheDevil that would instantly end the alien invasion, both because the price was too high and because she realizes that she'd have nothing to do afterwards.
** By the end of the saga, the whole team, except maybe Cassie, follows suit. [[spoiler:In the aftermath of the war, Rachel is dead and Cassie is the only one with anything like a satisfying, functional life. There's a reason it ends on a BolivianArmyEnding for everyone but her.]]
* At the beginning of ''Literature/BulldogDrummond'', demobbed soldier Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond places an advertisement in the newspaper: "Demobilized officer, finding peace incredibly tedious, would welcome diversion. Legitimate, if possible; but crime, if of a comparatively humorous description, no objection. Excitement essential." He receives a reply from a young woman whose father is tangled up in a deadly criminal conspiracy, and never looks back.
* Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian. He gets a kingdom at the end and finds it deathly dull; it's when people try to violently overthrow him that he gets excited again.
* In the ''Literature/{{Deathstalker}}'' series, once the rebellion's finally over, half the characters start to practically vibrate out of sheer boredom, something that's ''really'' not good when they're the most dangerous people in the reformed Empire. The new regime catches this fact and starts sending them out to do the really dirty jobs.
* Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** In ''Literature/InterestingTimes'', Cohen and the rest of the Silver Horde love being InHarmsWay. It is also subverted near the end when Cohen hears a long list of {{Barbarian Hero}}es who had died--and one who has left it for being a Guardsman because it was a regular job and had a pension; it makes a deep impression on Cohen.
** Played straight when the Silver Horde return in ''Literature/TheLastHero''. After one of them dies choking on a cucumber, they decide to have one last adventure: [[RageAgainstTheHeavens returning fire to the gods...with interest.]]
** In ''Literature/MenAtArms'', Gaspode receives a place in a cozy little home at the end. At the very end, he escapes, returning to his life as a street dog.
** Sam Vimes is often portrayed like this. He's the sort of cop to stop his own wedding to chase a criminal (because "it is the ancient instinct of policemen and terriers to chase anything that runs away".) Later books indicate he may be mellowing as his duty shifts to his family, but if he thinks that he'd let down his son by not doing his job, then...
*** Even while leading a parade in his full Ducal attire (which he hates) he cannot resist chasing a criminal. Twice. And, this being Discworld, [[HilarityEnsues the entire parade follows him]].
** Moist von Lipwig in ''Literature/MakingMoney''. He actually takes to breaking into his own office building out of boredom until he gets a new dangerous job. (On the other hand, this is hinted as being due in part to Adora Belle Dearheart's absence.)
--->'''Vetinari:''' Ahead of you is a life of respectable quiet contentment, of civic dignity and, of course, in the fullness of time a pension. Not to mention the proud gold-ish chain.\\
'''Moist:''' And if I ''don't'' do what you say?\\
'''Vetinari:''' Oh, you misunderstand me, Mr. Lipwig. That is what will happen to you if you ''decline'' my offer. If you accept it, you will survive on your wits against powerful and dangerous enemies, with every day presenting a new challenge. Someone may even try to kill you.
** Beforehand, in ''Literature/GoingPostal'', he envisioned himself running off at the end, and it wasn't the same, the thrill was gone--and so he stays with Adora.
* Ulysses, as portrayed by Dante in ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', was so drawn to adventure that he abandoned his home and lead his crew to their deaths in search for lands lost to knowledge.
%%** Tennyson gave the same story a more sympathetic treatment, but without removing the desire for adventure.
%%--->''I cannot rest from travel: I will drink''\\
''Life to the lees:''
* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/DreadCompanion'', Kilda would have loved being a scout and explorer, if only she were male.
* Creator/FritzLeiber's Literature/FafhrdAndTheGrayMouser's endless adventures are also the fruit of a love of it. In one story, they set out in search on the grounds that they are bound to find it.
* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos Fugitives of Chaos]]'', when Victor professes [[HomeSweetHome his desire for a home, wife, and children]], Amelia says that most men want adventure; he retorts that she's describing not most men but herself.
* Oscar in ''Literature/GloryRoad'' by Creator/RobertAHeinlein, a book with this as a major theme. Possibly also Lazarus Long in other books by the same author.
* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''[[Literature/JohnCarterOfMars Gods of Mars]]'', when John Carter meets a fellow prisoner, the young man tells how he happened to fall into this.
-->''I must have inherited from my father a wild lust for adventure.''
* On Literature/{{Gor}}, larl hunting is a popular sport for Warriors. A larl is like a giant-sized version of an Earth lion, with a meaner attitude, and the normal procedure for hunting it is that every man should carry one spear and a shield, except the junior-most hunter, who also gets a sword. After each man throws his spear, he hits the dirt under his shield, but if the larl's not dead after tail-end Charlie throws his, he must stand and fight with his sword to let the others get away. And they engage in this sport because "the larl is beautiful and dangerous, and because we are Goreans".
** Typical of Gorean society in general, really. Thanks to Gorean medicine, they have extremely long lifespans, but they don't see the sense in sitting at home doing nothing when they could be out finding interesting ways to die.
* Grettir of the Old Icelandic ''Literature/GrettirsSaga'' takes on powerful enemies (like bears, trolls, or undeads) or puts himself in dangerous situations (like visiting a wrestling contest in disguise even though he is a wanted outlaw) so as to prove his mettle, not because he must. In his own words:
-->''"I don't care for a monotonous life."''
* Rachel Morgan, the protagonist of ''Literature/TheHollows'' novels, is often described as an adrenaline junkie seeking dangerous situations in order to feel alive. This tendency was greatly reduced when she nearly gets all of her friends and several other people killed as a result.
* ''Literature/InDeath'': This is one of the reasons that Eve Dallas doesn't get promoted to Captain (or get pregnant) at any point in the series thus far, and more than likely will not until the end. She likes her place on the streets.
* The fourth episode of ''Literature/TheIncompleteEnchanter'', ''The Wall of Serpents'', begins with Shea and Belphebe, who narrowly survived the events of the previous story, finding themselves ill at ease living the comfortable suburban life in 20th-century America, so there's nothing for it but to take themselves off to the ''Kalevala'' and get in trouble.
* In Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Bilbo's love of adventure returned after much time in settled life.
* In Creator/JackCampbell's ''Literature/TheLostFleet'' novel ''Invincible'', Admiral Lagemann jests that the Marines are glad to on a ship that's an attack magnet.
* In Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', after [[spoiler:getting his life back, only better]], Richard seems strangely discontent, finding that he now wants nothing. So he [[spoiler:goes back to the dangerous, deadly world of London Below]].
* In the ''Literature/{{Newsflesh}}'' world, we have a variety of IntrepidReporter known as [[Series/CrocodileHunter "Irwins"]], who intentionally go out and find zombies and other hazards to play with, in part to entertain their audience, in part to keep themselves entertained. They tend to be adrenaline junkies, and one non-Irwin character mentions that Irwins and professional security people tend to have similar mindsets regarding putting themselves in danger.
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Literature/ProsperosDaughter Prospero Lost]]'', Miranda thinks that Ferdinard had jilted her for a life of adventure.
* In Creator/RudyardKipling's ''Literature/TheSecondJungleBook'', most times, going to drink can be dangerous, and
-->''In good seasons, when water was plentiful, those who came down to drink at the Waingunga--or anywhere else, for that matter--did so at the risk of their lives, and that risk made no small part of the fascination of the night's doings. To move down so cunningly that never a leaf stirred; to wade knee-deep in the roaring shallows that drown all noise from behind; to drink, looking backward over one shoulder, every muscle ready for the first desperate bound of keen terror; to roll on the sandy margin, and return, wet-muzzled and well plumped out, to the admiring herd, was a thing that all tall-antlered young bucks took a delight in, precisely because they knew that at any moment Bagheera or Shere Khan might leap upon them and bear them down.''
** Kipling loved this trope. Many of his better-known poems, like "Song of the Dead," consist of little else.
* The title character of ''Literature/SinbadTheSailor'' is a wealthy merchant. He gets bored sitting home and doing business, so he decides to take to the ocean. Inevitably, he ends up in wild adventures (but still wealthy at the end of each one). After seven of these, he figures out he should stay home.
* King Robert Baratheon in the ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' series yearns for his glory days in the war to claim his throne. Even trying to join the melee in one of his kingdom's tourneys.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'': Wedge Antilles feels some of this, DependingOnTheWriter. His first written appearance in ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' had him thinking that helping his friend Luke ''always'' led to excitement, and [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental material]] shows that while he's had plenty of opportunities for career advancement, he hates the thought of a desk job and just prefers flying.
** The ''Literature/XWingSeries'' fleshes this out a little. Wedge thinks he can do more good as a pilot than as a higher-ranked officer. He's persuaded that it's the other way around and ends up promoted to general. For a time, he's kept from flying combat, and he ''hates'' this, but manages to persuade himself that flying combat is only a hobby. Still, it tends to happen to him. Thirty years later, in ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'', he's discharged for being too moral--and, for a carefully-hidden instant, ''panics''. Then he realizes that someone's going to try and assassinate him, and this thought ''calms him down''. People have been trying to kill him for so long that the thought centers him.
* In Creator/LewisCarroll's ''Literature/SylvieAndBruno'', trying to explain hunting to Sylvie, the narrator starts with the observation that some places men must hunt fierce beasts, and some of them come to like it.
-->''"Well, and so the men--the hunters--get to enjoy it, you know: the running, and the fighting, and the shouting, and the danger."''
* In ''Literature/ThoseThatWake'', Mal isn't happy unless he's fighting something, and sees not fighting as a failure.
* In Creator/PoulAnderson's ''Literature/TimePatrol'' stories, all the members of the Patrol have this to a greater or lesser extent. Manse and other Unattached Agents in particular.
* Creator/AndreNorton's book ''Literature/TheTimeTraders'' had the U.S. time-travel operation recruit a lot of these sort of people -- "the expendable man who lives on action" -- who had been "pressured by the peaceful environment into becoming a criminal or a misfit." They were sent back into some very un-peaceful history.
* In Creator/MichaelFlynn's ''[[Literature/SpiralArm Up Jim River]]'', the reason the Brute offers for going.
** In ''On the Razor's Edge'', several characters think or comment on the excitement of living "on the razor's edge".
* Another trope that recurs in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' tie-ins:
** Creator/SandyMitchell's hero, Literature/CiaphasCain, is [[FakeUltimateHero a coward with a great reputation for heroism]]. He enjoys the advantages of this reputation so much that he has to fake it, including a love of being InHarmsWay. This inevitably results in him emerging looking like a {{big damn hero|es}}, [[BlessedWithSuck which only results in him getting thrown into even worse situations]].
** In Creator/DanAbnett's novel ''Malleus'', the rogue trader Maxilla works for Literature/{{Eisenhorn}} not for the money but for the challenge.
** By the same author, in ''Literature/BrothersOfTheSnake'', Priad's squad is disappointed when they are sent to pay respects at a coronation, and Priad must sternly remind them that it is their duty.
** In Lee Lightner's Literature/SpaceWolf novel ''Sons of Fenris'', Berek thinks that [[TheChainsOfCommanding his duties are hard]]: he can not go down in the fight, which will be [[GloryHound glorious]].
** In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' novel ''Fulgrim'', one of Fulgrim's own men, though thinking his plan [[GloryHound vainglorious]], admits to a [[InHarmsWay thrill at being back in the fight]].
** In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''Blood Pact'', after Daur was drawn into one of Rawne's schemes, Elodie points out that he was obviously after the danger.
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', [[TheCape Eidolon]] privately admits that he's been seeking out fights to try to [[spoiler:restore his waning powers]]. In the climax, [[spoiler: [[BigBad Scion]] tells him that he'd unknowingly used his powers to create [[GodzillaThreshold the Endbringers]] because "you needed worthy opponents", thus causing the deaths of untold numbers of civilians and parahumans. When he hears this, Eidolon [[WhatHaveIDone stops fighting]] and [[HeroicBSOD allows himself to be killed by Scion.]]]]
* E.R. Eddison's ''Literature/TheWormOuroboros'' contains perhaps the most egregious example. It ends with the triumph of the heroes and the defeat of their noble foes, after a long and ruinous war. The heroes are bored. So the gods bring back their foes that they might fight them.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TwentyFour'': The start of each day often finds Jack Bauer having been out of counter-terrorism for some time, only for him to be asked or forced to come back. The end of Day 3 has Jack break down crying as the cumulative effect of everything that's happened over the last 24 sleepless hours catches up with him. However, all it takes for him to get back to work is a call on his walkie telling him he needs to come down to CTU to "[[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique interrogate]]" some people.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
** Jeffrey Sinclair takes almost every chance he gets to get away from his desk and duty as human ambassador to go fly a Starfury or fight a boarding action because he is a DeathSeeker following [[ShellShockedVeteran having lived through The Line]]. Garibaldi eventually calls him out for it. His successor John Sheridan shows similar tendencies but was at a whole better at restraining himself (and, when he did go out, usually played for bigger stakes).
** Londo also has one such moment in the first season when he willingly takes on the role of driving a shuttle through a hotspot fought over by several factions, while being shot at from multiple sides, to relive his GloryDays as a young pilot during the Centauri expansion period.
* Mitch in ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'', who involves himself in basically every rescue and dangerous event on the show despite having more of a management position at his rank. He eventually passes the desk side of his job to Stephanie so he can spend more time performing rescues, and she also shows signs of this behavior (the only reason she does this less than Mitch is that it's David Hasselhoff's show).
* A staple of Slayers in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Partly because evil will actively seek them out, and partly because (according to Spike) they have an in-built death wish, it's pretty much a given Slayers will die young and violently.
* Happens often in ''Series/DoctorWho''; the Doctor has a marvelous attraction to danger spots.
** Summed up by the last lines of [[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors "The Five Doctors"]]:
--->'''Tegan:''' You mean you're deliberately choosing to go on the run from your own people, in a rackety old TARDIS?\\
'''Fifth Doctor:''' Why not? After all, that's how it all started.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E10TheWarMachines "The War Machines"]], Ben shows up at a nightspot to sulk every night because he's a sailor, but he's been given a shore job.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E3FullCircle "Full Circle"]], Romana is moody because she doesn't want to go back to Gallifrey after all her adventures with the Doctor. [[spoiler:In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warriors' Gate"]], she tells the Doctor that she's not going with him — she has to be her own Romana, and the Tharils need a Time Lord.]]
** Often invoked with modern-era companions, who will often not think twice about taking a bullet for the Doctor if needs be (especially companions depicted as having fallen in love with the Doctor). Reaches its apex with Clara Oswald, who openly admits to being addicted to the adventure (with Clara using the actual word "addiction" in this context), and throws herself into harm's way so often, it becomes a constant source of worry for the Doctor, who tries without success to get her to slow down. However, Clara continues moving towards becoming the Doctor's DistaffCounterpart, including an insatiable thirst for adventure...and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E10FaceTheRaven it doesn't end well for her]].
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E8TheImpossiblePlanet "The Impossible Planet"]] opens with the Doctor and Rose getting out of the TARDIS after a landing it didn't seem to want to make, so Rose suggests they could just leave at the first sign of trouble. The two of them consider the idea so absurd they break into laughter.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia "Utopia"]]: The Doctor, realizing that he and Martha are farther into the future than even the Time Lords dared look, notes that common sense says they should leave. Then he bolts outside, Martha right behind him.
** Discussed several times with some of the modern Doctors. Eleven, for example, once told Amy and Rory that he could never get the hang of "restful". And when River activates the TARDIS's stabilizers, evening out their flight, he complains that it's simply boring.
* On ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'', Paul basically describes Echo as this, saying the thought of a year of peace scared her.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** Robert's eagerness to ride in the Tourney of the Hand shows that he prefers the thrill of combat to his duties as king. He admits to Ned that he'd give up the throne and wander Westeros as a travelling sellsword if he thought he could get away with it.
** Stannis accompanies his troops to King's Landing and personally leads them to storm the battlements.
* Mr. Bennet from ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' does not take well to retirement. (There's only so many crossword puzzles one can do after all) so when another group of CapeBusters comes along he JumpedAtTheCall [[spoiler: and [[DeconstructedTrope it costs him his marriage]].]]
* Harmon ''Harm'' Rabb, Jr. of ''Series/{{JAG}}'' is a real trouble magnet and almost a trope codifier. Other characters on the show often make the joke that ''Harm is in harm’s way'' and the like.
* "Adrenaline junkie" is exactly how the writers have described the entire team of ''Series/{{Leverage}}''. WordOfGod states that they really only got together for the excitement.
** With a healthy dose of GoodFeelsGood to outweigh the actual profit of being greedy thieves and keeping what they steal.
** Parker especially is this, stating that the way she feels alive is jumping off a building.
* Richard ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'' might fall under this, especially apparent at the beginning of ''[[Recap/SharpeS5E3SharpesWaterloo Sharpe's Waterloo]]''.
* [[TheWatson John Watson]] from ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' is portrayed as an adrenaline junkie who enjoys cases with the eponymous detective because of the thrill of the danger and chase. This becomes a minor plot point in the first episode, as Sherlock states that John ''will'' be taking the upstairs room at 221b after [[spoiler: John completely forgets his cane and keeps up with Sherlock after the latter takes off chasing a serial killer, more or less curing his psychosomatic limp.]]
-->'''[[spoiler: Mycroft]]:''' You're not ''haunted'' by the war, Dr. Watson -- you ''[[BloodKnight miss]]'' it. [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive Welcome back]].
* Samantha Carter from ''Series/StargateSG1'' is a subtle example of this. It doesn't come up too often, but she's actually a real adrenaline junkie when off-duty and outside of the lab.
** All of [=SG1=] fits this trope to some extent. They are always willing to risk their lives to save the person/village/galaxy/universe of the week and often compete with each other to see who gets to put their life on the line the most this time. After Daniel retakes human form post-Ascension, one of the first things he says, while in moral peril, is that he's having fun. Later, after a particularly harrowing mission and narrow escape, Mitchell says "We have got the best jobs in the world!" and Teal'c agrees.

[[folder:Poetry]]
* The complaint in Creator/RudyardKipling's "Harp Song of the Dane Women"
-->''What is a woman that you forsake her,\\
And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,\\
To go with the old grey Widow-maker?''
* Creator/RobertEHoward's " Literature/SolomonKane's Homecoming"
-->''Hands held him hard, but the vagrant gleam in his eyes grew blind and bright,\\
And Solomon Kane put by the folk and went into the night.\\
A wild moon rode in the wild white clouds, the waves their white crests showed\\
When Solomon Kane went forth again, and no man knew his road.''
** And "The Road of Kings", originally published as chapter breaks in the Conan story "Literature/ThePhoenixOnTheSword":
-->''What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie?\\
I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky.\\
The subtle tongue, the sophist's guile, they fail when the broadswords sing;\\
Rush in and die, dogs -- I was a man before I was a king!''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has an ability used by Red mana (mostly) that forces something to attack if they are able to do so. Sometimes certain creatures have this limitation on them to justify stronger physical abilities on said creature.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':
** Space Marines love this trope...
** ...but not half as much as orks do.
** Some Eldar intentionally get themselves banished so they can go off wandering as Corsairs or Rangers.
** Commissar Yarrick isn't going to stop until he has Gazhkull's head on his desk. ([[ComicallyMissingThePoint That's going to have to be one hell of a desk!]])
** See also Khorne's daemons and the Dark Eldar who fight in the arenas.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Too many RPG heroes to count.
** Though if we ''were'' to count, Revan of ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' would definitely qualify. As would the Exile in the sequel.
* Arkantos is portrayed this way at the start of the first ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'' game campaign - it starts with him reliving his glorious battles in his dreams and grumping about 'facing feeble pirates'.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bombshell}}'''s protagonist, Shelly, is stated to have an "affinity for danger", and has sought out dangerous roles specifically because of it. Notably, she was a bomb disposal technician.
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': Most possible endings for a Warden who romanced Morrigan. Though a Warden in a relationship with Alistar does get to avert this by settling down and [[spoiler:becoming a queen]].
** Especially the ending of Witch Hunt, after the Warden [[IWillFindYou finds]] Morrigan and the two promptly [[AndTheAdventureContinues head off into the unknown]].
** Also, the reason Oghren shows up in ''Awakening'' is that as a BloodKnight he couldn't accept the idea of settling down with his lover and becoming a family man, leading him to abandon his would-be family to become a Grey Warden. While he will never retire (not that he can as a Warden) he can be convinced to try and be a bigger part of his child's life.
** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', nobody knows where Hawke is at the end of the game, but we're pretty sure it isn't boring.
** Likewise, after regaining the family fortune at the end of Act I, Hawke continues to run around Kirkwall performing odd jobs for people, despite clearly not needing the money. Aveline calls them out on being a GentlemanAdventurer simply to avoid getting a ''[[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob real]]'' job!
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'': There is a quest in one of the Covenant zones which involves this. You find a plantation run by a group of former adventurers. However, the plantation has suffered a series of misfortunes leaving it flooded and all its workers dead. Three of the four ex-adventurers see it as a sign to take to the road again, which they were apparently longing to do even before disaster struck. The fourth... kills herself so that her spirit may be reborn as a crocodile.
* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'': It's strongly implied that Mike Schmidt (the player character) is an adrenaline junkie, due to the use of "Les Toreadors" in the game (specifically, the instrumental lullaby version played by Freddy). The trope makes sense when you listen to the original lyrics: the thrill of his nightmarish job far outweighs his risk of death.
* Michael De Santa, one of the playable characters from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', says he gets a rush specifically from narrowly avoiding death.
* Many possible endings to ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'' avert this by having the player character settle down.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames'' depict Link as easily bored when he's not fighting and enjoys the fact that Ganon keeps resurrecting himself so he can always have a villain to defeat.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', reading Zaeed Massani's Shadow Broker Dossier reveals that he has been debating retirement, going over a list of planets to settle down on. When he can't quite decide, the entry ends with him considering using the money from this job to buy a ship full of explosives and launch a SuicideAttack on [[WretchedHiveofScumandVillainy Omega Station]], since it's the "easiest retirement plan I've come up with so far".
** From the same game, former [[CowboyCop C-Sec officer]] Garrus Vakarian has ended up leading a team of vigilantes on [[MeaningfulName Omega]], going after the worst of the criminal scum on the station, and in particular antagonizing the Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack to such a degree that the three mercenary companies have [[EnemyMine teamed up just to take him down.]] Actually, this trope seems to apply to everyone in [[BadassCrew Shepard's teams]], which makes sense if you think about the sort of trouble Shepard tends to ask for help getting into.
* In the ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' series this is one of the central conflicts of Big Boss's character. Big Boss tried to give up on war and live a peaceful life, but he realized that all that he was truly good at was war and he only felt truly alive when he was facing death. Civilian life was foreign and intolerable to Big Boss, his skills were useless back home and he never felt that he could fit in or be appreciated by civilians bar a magazine interview or two, he needed war and anything else was inconceivable to his very existence. This is why he created Outer Heaven, a paradise where soldiers would be respected and needed forever more.
* A significant portion of the 'good' endings to ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2: Mask of the Betrayer'' avert this by having the player character go back home and settle down with his/her loved one.
* The second game in the ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever'' series was subtitled "A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way", which is a quite clever pun: not only does it show that Cate Archer is on it, fighting [[NebulousEvilOrganisation H.A.R.M.'s]] agents again, but also that she just cannot leave the front lines again.
* Takahisa Kandori presents a rare villainous example in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 1}}''. Having achieved his long-sought godhood, Kandori finds it's LonelyAtTheTop and has to be needled into action against the party.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' showed that even after the first games protagonist beat TheRival and the strongest trainers the region had to offer he wouldn't settle down and become the champion. He's still out there training, waiting for another battle.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''{{Webcomic/Freefall}}'', one of Sam's major motivations after getting rich is to have some excitement. The hurting afterward, however, is another issue entirely.
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'':
** Othar is quite certain that Agatha doesn't really want a normal life.
** And the [[SuperSoldier Jägers]] really don't want to. [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120102 Gkika hasn't seen any decent trouble in ages.]]
* ''Webcomic/MenageA3'':
** Matt is TheCasanova (and a bit of a {{Jerkass}} about it), but it becomes clear that his kinks, infidelities, and tendency to have sex with the door unlocked are the result of him almost ''wanting'' to get caught; he's a ThrillSeeker at heart. Then he encounters comedy psychotic Yuki. At first, he actually refuses sex with her, out of a reasonable fear of being maimed for life, but after he succumbs, he becomes increasingly smitten with her violent outbursts, and they end the comic's run as a couple.
** Also, by the end of the story, Sonya has realised that her StalkerWithACrush behavior towards Zii is motivated by the fact that Zii is the most exciting thing she knows -- and Sonya is a hopeless ThrillSeeker. Fortunately, Sonya then encounters the lesbian professional spy and ActionGirl Bianca, and they run off to Europe together. Sonya is last seen in the middle of a fight scene with dynamite being thrown around, and clearly loving every moment of it.
* ''Webcomic/QuentynQuinnSpaceRanger'', like all rangers, was screened for being unable to settle down. Relativistic effects mean YouCantGoHomeAgain, but he likes the trade-off. HomeSweetHome is for his retirement.
* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', the eponymous sergeant is easily rich enough to retire from the Toughs, but stays on because he enjoys the excitement and camaraderie he gets working for the Toughs.
* ''ComicStrip/WhatsNewWithPhilAndDixie'' back in Magazine/DragonMagazine times [[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/growfcomic.php?date=20070422 proposed]] a good theory:
--> You go down into a dungeon, fight for your life, amass a vast fortune, and escape, and then--you risk your neck all over again! ''Why?!''\\
Well, if you've ever wondered what drives your character to this suicidal lifestyle, then the newest module for ''D&D'' and ''AD&D'' is for you! It's called '''''"Home & Hearth"'''''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Kranz and Voller from ''WebVideo/HumanCentipedeTheMusical''. If the town isn't in immediate danger, they're rather ennui-stricken.
* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', it's revealed that this is [[CoolBigSis Yang]]'s reason for becoming a Huntress - she just wants to travel around the world, get wrapped up in crazy adventures and [[BloodKnight hopefully]] kick some ass and save some lives along the way. [[spoiler: Well, it later turns out that's [[ParentalAbandonment only partly the reason...]]]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Ben Tennyson from the ''Franchise/Ben10'' franchise is this, occasionally doing heroic deeds because they give him a thrill and makes him popular, rather than because it's the right thing to do. This is especially the case in installments where he's a child. In fact, ''WesternAnimation/Ben10SecretOfTheOmnitrix'' has one of the characters actually hide [[ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 the true ramifications]] of Omnitrix's self-destruct protocol going off not because he feared Ben would panic, but because he thought ''[[ItsAllAboutMe he wouldn't care]]''.
* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'' was given a chance to return home at the end of the first episode. Hearing his mother's voice through the portal harping on him for not finishing his chores helped his decision to stay.
* Enforced in the ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons1983'' cartoon by the setup: the kids couldn't settle down in the realms, they had to continue to look for a way to get back home (that didn't lead to dire consequences.) That being said, almost every one of them were tempted to stay at times.
* Almost the entire Smurf Village gets reckless when Gargamel sprinkles Daredevil Dust on them in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'' episode "Reckless Smurfs".
* [[AmnesiacHero Captain Sam Sweetmilk]] from ''WebAnimation/StarshipGoldfish'', it's implied to be a combination of the memory erasure making him TooDumbToLive and subconsciously remembering his DarkAndTroubledPast and [[DeathSeeker wanting to kill himself over it]].
* The human girl Miko from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' is a bit of a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of this ideology. She often rushes onto a battlefield just to watch the Autobots fight. She often gets in the way when trying to ''help'', and seems to have zero regard for her own safety and well-being.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* [[ProfessionalWrestling Pro wrestler]] Wrestling/TerryFunk. The man has had more retirement matches and retirement tours than one can count and has yet to actually stay retired despite being in his mid-sixties with knees that look like they were drawn on by a cartoonist. He introduced a moonsault to his repertoire in 1994, at the age of ''fifty''.
* Along the same lines, Wrestling/RicFlair. Still going today at the age of 61.
* Ditto Wrestling/AbdullahTheButcher. Still jabbing forks in people's heads at the age of 69 and with no intention of ever retiring.
* Brett Favre.
** Albeit many consider this to be a case of not wanting to give up the limelight.
* John Paul Jones, who uttered the quotation at the top of the page, falls under this trope. His desire for naval adventure drove him to sail his lone ship into the home waters of the Royal Navy, at the time ''the most powerful Navy on the planet,'' and go so far as to actually ''raid the British Isles''. After doing so more than once, winning several battles against British frigates and surviving, when the Revolutionary War ended and America wasn't at war enough and wouldn't promote him, he served as an Admiral for the Mexican and Russian navies, so he could keep fighting at sea. [[{{Irony}} Ironically enough]], the page quote is actually Administrivia/NotAnExample; he had been captain of a slow ship for a while and was justifying in a letter why he wanted a faster one, though it ''is'' representative of his whole attitude.
* Sir Thomas Cochrane, who upon being thrown out of the Royal Navy after being involved in a financial scam, promptly went to South America and masterminded the creation of several revolutionary navies...after eventually being exonerated by the British government, he then tried to sign up for the Crimean War ''in his eighties''. It should therefore be no surprise that he was the inspiration, via Literature/HoratioHornblower, for [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries James T. Kirk]], [[Literature/AubreyMaturin Jack Aubrey]], [[Literature/HonorHarrington Honor Harrington]], and [[Literature/{{RCN}} Daniel Leary]].
* As seen in the documentary ''Film/ManOnWire'', Philippe Petit. How mind-bogglingly reckless do you have to be to ''hang a wire between the Twin Towers and walk on it?''
* Music/OzzyOsbourne temporarily retired in the 1990s, but within a few years returned to performing live music. In his autobiography, he states that the reason he returned was that he found retirement to be terribly boring and missed the excitement of performing in front of an audience. He now says that he intends to keep performing and making new music until he is physically unable.
* Fighting Jack Churchill. When World War Two was over, he was furious with the Americans for dropping nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- not because of any moral qualms, but because we had robbed him of any chance of getting over to the Pacific so he could do unto the Japanese what he had done unto the Germans.
** This is the same guy who became a commando because it 'sounded dangerous', escaped from POW camps, and captured 42 Germans with his claybeg. Did we forget to mention? This man led his commandos into war (the shooty kind) carrying a claybeg, bow and arrows, and a fucking set of bagpipes.
** This is also the guy who jumped on top of a '''tank''' proceeded to ''break open the lock on the lid with his sword'' and then ''kill everyone inside with said sword''. Alone. Naturally, by the end of the war, he had made [[ColonelBadass Lieutenant Colonel]].
* This can be a common sentiment amongst military veterans for a variety of reasons, ranging from missing the [[FireForgedFriends experience of fighting alongside their comrades]] to [[StrangerInAFamiliarLand finding the battlefield a more familiar place than the civilian world]]. People are very adaptive, and as it turns out, it may be just as possible for a warzone to become "normal" to a person as it is for a crowded city or a rural farm or a new school.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Zumbach Jan Zumbach]], who tried to settle down a couple of times but just wasn't happy without the adrenaline and the [[AcePilot flying]]. When he was young, his mother wouldn't let him become a pilot on the grounds that they're all crazy drunkards, and in Jan's autobiography, he himself admits mum might have been on to something. But he just couldn't stay on the ground.
[[/folder]]

* {{Franchise/Batman}} almost never retires, when he does its usually because he's too infirm to continue fighting crime, and even then he guarantees he has a replacement and participates in crime-fighting [[MissionControl from the back lines]]. Played with, in that the reason for Batman's drive is less that VictoryIsBoring and more that his end goal lies somewhere between [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil the eradication of evil]] and the resurrection of his dead parents and reclaiming his childhood (without that harming anyone else), which needless to say he's never accomplished.

* ''Franchise/OnePiece''

* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** Because of Goku's SpiritedCompetitor nature, he is at his happiest when he's fighting, either for fun or for his life. When he hears that there is someone stronger than Vegeta, someone who literally crushed every bone in his body not even a month ago, he's all but giddy at the idea of fighting them. Beerus is the God of Destruction who [[TheDreaded the other gods fear]]? Goku challenges him to a sparring match. The other Gods of Destruction and their strongest warriors are after Goku since he put their universe in danger? He's more than happy to fight all of them and says so to their faces. Goku even admits that he fights at his best when he's on the edge. Pretty much the defining feature of the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Saiyan race]]. They simply love fighting strong opponents.
** Bulma doesn't ''consistently'' revolve around this trope, but she's a PluckyGirl by nature, so when it does crop up, it's never out of place. Such as, for example, her insistence on taking her infant son to see her hero friends fight killer cyborgs. And her rationale for meeting Frieza face-to-face? If he's a PlanetDestroyer, she may as well face her doom head-on than pointlessly hide from it.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'', most definitely an adrenaline junkie, in addition to being something of a showman since his inception in the wrestling ring. His patter has more energy the more danger he's in. He often goes out to 'clear his head' with the hazardous sport of swinging from skyscrapers.

* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': Scrooge [=McDuck=] travelled the world and made money for the thrill of it rather than for the money in ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck''. Later in life, when he stops making money and settles down in Duckburg, he becomes depressed, shutting himself away in his mansion, and it is only the return of Donald and the nephews and their subsequent foiling of a robbery that shakes Scrooge out of his funk, turning him back to a life of adventure.
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'': Queen Iolande finds politicking absolutely dull and would rather be a full-time Green Lantern. Since she is the only remaining member of the royal family of her homeworld, that really isn't an option.
* {{Franchise/Batman}} almost never retires, when he does its usually because he's too infirm to continue fighting crime, and even then he guarantees he has a replacement and participates in crime-fighting [[MissionControl from the back lines]]. Played with, in that the reason for Batman's drive is less that VictoryIsBoring and more that his end goal lies somewhere between [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil the eradication of evil]] and the resurrection of his dead parents and reclaiming his childhood (without that harming anyone else), which needless to say he's never accomplished.
* At the end of the first ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' comic, [[spoiler:Mal intentionally uses the large money cache the group had found to bribe an Alliance soldier off their backs, sending the crew right back into PerpetualPoverty and preventing himself -- and the crew -- from being able to peacefully retire.]]
* [[{{Goth}} Moon]] from ''ComicBook/PocketGod'' takes advantage of her [[DeathIsCheap resurrection abilities]] to put herself in danger for thrills. She persuades [[TheKlutz Klak]] into doing dangerous things for her amusement when [[spoiler:the source of her resurrection powers is destroyed]].

* Each of the three ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' series ends with the kids being offered some degree of safety and stability in exchange for submitting to adult authority. They ''always'' blow it off, even when the consequences are disastrous for them.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: The Holliday Girls Bobby Strong and Glamora Treat live for adventure, and will invite themselves along on any expedition that promises some even if those in charge want to bar them from accompanying them. They've even stowed away when they weren't able to get permission.

* ''FanFic/TruthAndConsequences'': This is ultimately the key difference between Adrien and Marinette: Adrien ''loves'' being Chat Noir, and wouldn't give it up even if Hawkmoth were somehow to be defeated; Marinette only ever saw being Ladybug as a responsibility, and dreams of a peaceful life with a family, so much so she's willing to [[FaceHeelTurn cut a deal with Hawkmoth]] in [[DealWithTheDevil exchange for]] the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculouses being returned. At the end [[spoiler: Chat leaves Paris altogether to [[WalkingTheEarth Walk The Earth]] with Plagg [[AndTheAdventureContinues fighting evil]], while Marinette pursues her fashion career in London]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'': Jim has a bad case of it, getting him into trouble in the opening.

%%* Jack Sparrow in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd''.

** And finally, yet again, in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations''. [[spoiler: Twice.]]
* In ''Film/{{Heat}}'', one of [=McCauley's crew=] is given the choice to back out of an extremely high-risk job in order to settle with his family, considering he already has a lot of money tucked away from previous heists. The guy declines the advice, claiming that the ''thrill'' of the job, not the money in itself, is what he considers the payoff.
* Creator/JeremyRenner's character in ''Film/TheHurtLocker'', especially emphasized in the ending.
* At the end of all the ''Film/MadMax'' movies, Max has a chance to rejoin civilization, but through choice or circumstances, he ends up going back out in the desert where further conflict is inevitable.
* Westerns that feature TheDrifter as the main hero ''usually'' end like this ([[TheHeroDies unless he dies]], that is).

* Ulysses, as portrayed by Dante in ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', was so drawn to adventure that he abandoned his home and lead his crew to their deaths in search for lands lost to knowledge.
%%** Tennyson gave the same story a more sympathetic treatment, but without removing the desire for adventure.
%%--->''I cannot rest from travel: I will drink''\\
''Life to the lees:''

* Creator/FritzLeiber's Literature/FafhrdAndTheGrayMouser's endless adventures are also the fruit of a love of it. In one story, they set out in search on the grounds that they are bound to find it.
* Oscar in ''Literature/GloryRoad'' by Creator/RobertAHeinlein, a book with this as a major theme. Possibly also Lazarus Long in other books by the same author.
* Another trope that recurs in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' tie-ins:
** Creator/SandyMitchell's hero, Literature/CiaphasCain, is [[FakeUltimateHero a coward with a great reputation for heroism]]. He enjoys the advantages of this reputation so much that he has to fake it, including a love of being InHarmsWay. This inevitably results in him emerging looking like a {{big damn hero|es}}, [[BlessedWithSuck which only results in him getting thrown into even worse situations]].
** In Creator/DanAbnett's novel ''Malleus'', the rogue trader Maxilla works for Literature/{{Eisenhorn}} not for the money but for the challenge.
** By the same author, in ''Literature/BrothersOfTheSnake'', Priad's squad is disappointed when they are sent to pay respects at a coronation, and Priad must sternly remind them that it is their duty.
** In Lee Lightner's Literature/SpaceWolf novel ''Sons of Fenris'', Berek thinks that [[TheChainsOfCommanding his duties are hard]]: he can not go down in the fight, which will be [[GloryHound glorious]].
** In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' novel ''Fulgrim'', one of Fulgrim's own men, though thinking his plan [[GloryHound vainglorious]], admits to a [[InHarmsWay thrill at being back in the fight]].
** In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''Blood Pact'', after Daur was drawn into one of Rawne's schemes, Elodie points out that he was obviously after the danger.
* In Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Bilbo's love of adventure returned after much time in settled life.
* E.R. Eddison's ''Literature/TheWormOuroboros'' contains perhaps the most egregious example. It ends with the triumph of the heroes and the defeat of their noble foes, after a long and ruinous war. The heroes are bored. So the gods bring back their foes that they might fight them.

* Creator/AndreNorton's book ''Literature/TheTimeTraders'' had the U.S. time-travel operation recruit a lot of these sort of people -- "the expendable man who lives on action" -- who had been "pressured by the peaceful environment into becoming a criminal or a misfit." They were sent back into some very un-peaceful history.
* In Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', after [[spoiler:getting his life back, only better]], Richard seems strangely discontent, finding that he now wants nothing. So he [[spoiler:goes back to the dangerous, deadly world of London Below]].
* In Creator/RudyardKipling's ''Literature/TheSecondJungleBook'', most times, going to drink can be dangerous, and
-->''In good seasons, when water was plentiful, those who came down to drink at the Waingunga--or anywhere else, for that matter--did so at the risk of their lives, and that risk made no small part of the fascination of the night's doings. To move down so cunningly that never a leaf stirred; to wade knee-deep in the roaring shallows that drown all noise from behind; to drink, looking backward over one shoulder, every muscle ready for the first desperate bound of keen terror; to roll on the sandy margin, and return, wet-muzzled and well plumped out, to the admiring herd, was a thing that all tall-antlered young bucks took a delight in, precisely because they knew that at any moment Bagheera or Shere Khan might leap upon them and bear them down.''
** Kipling loved this trope. Many of his better-known poems, like "Song of the Dead," consist of little else.
* Rachel Morgan, the protagonist of ''Literature/TheHollows'' novels, is often described as an adrenaline junkie seeking dangerous situations in order to feel alive. This tendency was greatly reduced when she nearly gets all of her friends and several other people killed as a result.

* In Creator/LewisCarroll's ''Literature/SylvieAndBruno'', trying to explain hunting to Sylvie, the narrator starts with the observation that some places men must hunt fierce beasts, and some of them come to like it.
-->''"Well, and so the men--the hunters--get to enjoy it, you know: the running, and the fighting, and the shouting, and the danger."''

* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos Fugitives of Chaos]]'', when Victor professes [[HomeSweetHome his desire for a home, wife, and children]], Amelia says that most men want adventure; he retorts that she's describing not most men but herself.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'': Wedge Antilles feels some of this, DependingOnTheWriter. His first written appearance in ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' had him thinking that helping his friend Luke ''always'' led to excitement, and [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental material]] shows that while he's had plenty of opportunities for career advancement, he hates the thought of a desk job and just prefers flying.
** The ''Literature/XWingSeries'' fleshes this out a little. Wedge thinks he can do more good as a pilot than as a higher-ranked officer. He's persuaded that it's the other way around and ends up promoted to general. For a time, he's kept from flying combat, and he ''hates'' this, but manages to persuade himself that flying combat is only a hobby. Still, it tends to happen to him. Thirty years later, in ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'', he's discharged for being too moral--and, for a carefully-hidden instant, ''panics''. Then he realizes that someone's going to try and assassinate him, and this thought ''calms him down''. People have been trying to kill him for so long that the thought centers him.
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':
** [[TheBigGuy Rachel]] quickly becomes like this. At one point, she rejects a DealWithTheDevil that would instantly end the alien invasion, both because the price was too high and because she realizes that she'd have nothing to do afterwards.
** By the end of the saga, the whole team, except maybe Cassie, follows suit. [[spoiler: In the aftermath of the war, Rachel is dead and Cassie is the only one with anything like a satisfying, functional life. There's a reason it ends on a BolivianArmyEnding for everyone but her.]]
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Literature/ProsperosDaughter Prospero Lost]]'', Miranda thinks that Ferdinard had jilted her for a life of adventure.
* Creator/RobertEHoward's Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian, and Literature/{{Kull}}, and Literature/SolomonKane.
* On Literature/{{Gor}}, larl hunting is a popular sport for Warriors. A larl is like a giant-sized version of an Earth lion, with a meaner attitude, and the normal procedure for hunting it is that every man should carry one spear and a shield, except the junior-most hunter, who also gets a sword. After each man throws his spear, he hits the dirt under his shield, but if the larl's not dead after tail-end Charlie throws his, he must stand and fight with his sword to let the others get away. And they engage in this sport because "the larl is beautiful and dangerous, and because we are Goreans".
** Typical of Gorean society in general, really. Thanks to Gorean medicine, they have extremely long lifespans, but they don't see the sense in sitting at home doing nothing when they could be out finding interesting ways to die.

* The title character of ''Literature/SinbadTheSailor'' is a wealthy merchant. He gets bored sitting home and doing business, so he decides to take to the ocean. Inevitably, he ends up in wild adventures (but still wealthy at the end of each one). After seven of these, he figures out he should stay home.
* In Creator/MichaelFlynn's ''[[Literature/SpiralArm Up Jim River]]'', the reason the Brute offers for going.
** In ''On the Razor's Edge'', several characters think or comment on the excitement of living "on the razor's edge".

* In Creator/PoulAnderson's ''Literature/TimePatrol'' stories, all the members of the Patrol have this to a greater or lesser extent. Manse and other Unattached Agents in particular.
* Grettir of the Old Icelandic ''Literature/GrettirsSaga'' takes on powerful enemies (like bears, trolls, or undeads) or puts himself in dangerous situations (like visiting a wrestling contest in disguise even though he is a wanted outlaw) so as to prove his mettle, not because he must. In his own words:
-->''"I don't care for a monotonous life."''
* King Robert Baratheon in the ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' series yearns for his glory days in the war to claim his throne. Even trying to join the melee in one of his kingdom's tourneys.
* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/DreadCompanion'', Kilda would have loved being a scout and explorer, if only she were male.
* In the ''Literature/{{Deathstalker}}'' series, once the rebellion's finally over, half the characters start to practically vibrate out of sheer boredom, something that's ''really'' not good when they're the most dangerous people in the reformed Empire. The new regime catches this fact and starts sending them out to do the really dirty jobs.
* In ''Literature/ThoseThatWake'', Mal isn't happy unless he's fighting something, and sees not fighting as a failure.

* As much as Literature/AlexRider [[IJustWantToBeNormal just wants to be normal]], he definitely falls under this trope as well by the beginning of book four, when he goes off on his own--after an extremely traumatizing mission, being told that he would get his wish to be normal from then on, and receiving explicit instructions to the contrary--to investigate something that he knows for a fact will be dangerous. There's signs of it earlier, too. After all, most people would call the cops on drug dealers, not follow them back to their hideout and then pick their boat lab up with a crane and try to drop it in the parking lot of the police station, which is what gets Alex roped into book two's mission. And even earlier than that, he jumped out a sixteenth-story window to get into his uncle's locked office through the unlocked window via a ''flagpole'' at the beginning of book one. He really hates his "[[{{Blackmail}} job]]"--but somehow he can't stop getting himself into high-risk, adrenaline-producing situations.
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', [[TheCape Eidolon]] privately admits that he's been seeking out fights to try to [[spoiler: restore his waning powers]]. In the climax, [[spoiler: [[BigBad Scion]] tells him that he'd unknowingly used his powers to create [[GodzillaThreshold the Endbringers]] because "you needed worthy opponents", thus causing the deaths of untold numbers of civilians and parahumans. When he hears this, Eidolon [[WhatHaveIDone stops fighting]] and [[HeroicBSOD allows himself to be killed by Scion.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'': There is a quest in one of the Covenant zones which involves this. You find a plantation run by a group of former adventurers. However, the plantation has suffered a series of misfortunes leaving it flooded and all its workers dead. Three of the four ex-adventurers see it as a sign to take to the road again, which they were apparently longing to do even before disaster struck. The fourth... kills herself so that her spirit may be reborn as a crocodile.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': Most possible endings for a Warden who romanced Morrigan. Though a Warden in a relationship with Alistar does get to avert this by settling down and [[spoiler:becoming a queen]].

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', nobody knows where Hawke is at the end of the game, but we're pretty sure it isn't boring.

* Many possible endings to VideoGame/JadeEmpire avert this by having the player character settle down.

* Arkantos is portrayed this way at the start of the first ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'' game campaign - it starts with him reliving his glorious battles in his dreams and grumping about 'facing feeble pirates'.

* In the ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' series this is one of the central conflicts of Big Boss's character. Big Boss tried to give up on war and live a peaceful life, but he realized that all that he was truly good at was war and he only felt truly alive when he was facing death. Civilian life was foreign and intolerable to Big Boss, his skills were useless back home and he never felt that he could fit in or be appreciated by civilians bar a magazine interview or two, he needed war and anything else was inconceivable to his very existence. This is why he created Outer Heaven, a paradise where soldiers would be respected and needed forever more.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', reading Zaeed Massani's Shadow Broker Dossier reveals that he has been debating retirement, going over a list of planets to settle down on. When he can't quite decide, the entry ends with him considering using the money from this job to buy a ship full of explosives and launch a SuicideAttack on [[WretchedHiveofScumandVillainy Omega Station]], since it's the "easiest retirement plan I've come up with so far".
** From the same game, former [[CowboyCop C-Sec officer]] Garrus Vakarian has ended up leading a team of vigilantes on [[MeaningfulName Omega]], going after the worst of the criminal scum on the station, and in particular antagonizing the Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack to such a degree that the three mercenary companies have [[EnemyMine teamed up just to take him down.]] Actually, this trope seems to apply to everyone in [[BadassCrew Shepard's teams]], which makes sense if you think about the sort of trouble Shepard tends to ask for help getting into.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames'' depict Link as easily bored when he's not fighting and enjoys the fact that Ganon keeps resurrecting himself so he can always have a villain to defeat.
* Michael De Santa, one of the playable characters from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', says he gets a rush specifically from narrowly avoiding death.
* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'': It's strongly implied that Mike Schmidt (the player character) is an adrenaline junkie, due to the use of "Les Toreadors" in the game (specifically, the instrumental lullaby version played by Freddy). The trope makes sense when you listen to the original lyrics: the thrill of his nightmarish job far outweighs his risk of death.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bombshell}}'''s protagonist, Shelly, is stated to have an "affinity for danger", and has sought out dangerous roles specifically because of it. Notably, she was a bomb disposal technician.

* ''Webcomic/QuentynQuinnSpaceRanger'', like all rangers, was screened for being unable to settle down. Relativistic effects mean YouCantGoHomeAgain, but he likes the trade-off. HomeSweetHome is for his retirement.

* In ''{{Webcomic/Freefall}}'', one of Sam's major motivations after getting rich is to have some excitement. The hurting afterward, however, is another issue entirely.
* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', the eponymous sergeant is easily rich enough to retire from the Toughs, but stays on because he enjoys the excitement and camaraderie he gets working for the Toughs.
* ''Webcomic/MenageA3'':
** Matt is TheCasanova (and a bit of a {{Jerkass}} about it), but it becomes clear that his kinks, infidelities, and tendency to have sex with the door unlocked are the result of him almost ''wanting'' to get caught; he's a ThrillSeeker at heart. Then he encounters comedy psychotic Yuki. At first, he actually refuses sex with her, out of a reasonable fear of being maimed for life, but after he succumbs, he becomes increasingly smitten with her violent outbursts, and they end the comic's run as a couple.
** Also, by the end of the story, Sonya has realised that her StalkerWithACrush behavior towards Zii is motivated by the fact that Zii is the most exciting thing she knows -- and Sonya is a hopeless ThrillSeeker. Fortunately, Sonya then encounters the lesbian professional spy and ActionGirl Bianca, and they run off to Europe together. Sonya is last seen in the middle of a fight scene with dynamite being thrown around, and clearly loving every moment of it.

* Kranz and Voller from WebVideo/HumanCentipedeTheMusical. If the town isn't in immediate danger, they're rather ennui-stricken.

* The human girl Miko from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' is a bit of a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of this ideology. She often rushes onto a battlefield just to watch the Autobots fight. She often gets in the way when trying to ''help'', and seems to have zero regard for her own safety and well-being.

* [[AmnesiacHero Captain Sam Sweetmilk]] from ''WebAnimation/StarshipGoldfish'', it's implied to be a combination of the memory erasure making him TooDumbToLive and subconsciously remembering his DarkAndTroubledPast and [[DeathSeeker wanting to kill himself over it.]]
* Ben Tennyson from the ''Franchise/Ben10'' franchise is this, occasionally doing heroic deeds because they give him a thrill and makes him popular, rather than because it's the right thing to do. This is especially the case in installments where he's a child. In fact, ''WesternAnimation/Ben10SecretOfTheOmnitrix'' has one of the characters actually hide [[ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 the true ramifications]] of Omnitrix's self-destruct protocol going off not because he feared Ben would panic, but because he thought ''[[ItsAllAboutMe he wouldn't care]]''.

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', [[TheCape Eidolon]] privately admits that he's been seeking out fights to try to [[spoiler: restore his waning powers]]. Taken UpToEleven in the climax, where [[spoiler: [[BigBad Scion]] tells him that he'd unknowingly used his powers to create [[GodzillaThreshold the Endbringers]] because "you needed worthy opponents", thus causing the deaths of untold numbers of civilians and parahumans. When he hears this, Eidolon [[WhatHaveIDone stops fighting]] and [[HeroicBSOD allows himself to be killed by Scion.]]]]

Related to ChronicHeroSyndrome and ChronicVillainy. One of the more [[JustifiedTrope reasonable]] ways to [[StatusQuoIsGod maintain status quo]]. Many HeroicFantasy heroes keep going in unending series because they are in love with being In Harm's Way. Inverse of HomeSweetHome.