History Main / RebelliousSpirit

* Lisbeth Salander of ''Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy''. She is not only this, but borderline-insane.

* Literary[=/=]{{Film}}[=/=]TruthInTelevision example: ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'' features two characters (Raoul Duke and his attorney Doctor Gonzo) who run a two-week, Sixties-style drug binge through the streets, hotels and convention centers of early-[[TheSeventies Seventies]] UsefulNotes/LasVegas, with no real motivation beyond seeing how much they can get away with. And they get away with a lot: showing up stoned at an anti-drug convention, chasing motorists down the Strip, trashing two hotel rooms, racking up several hundred dollars in room-service charges and never paying... TruthInTelevision part comes in when you realize that this novel is based on two real-life wild weekends spent in UsefulNotes/LasVegas by Hunter Thompson and Oscar Acosta. Thompson also viciously pranked friends and strangers alike, set out to spraypaint "Fuck the Pope" on a yacht due to compete in the America's Cup the next day, chronically missed speaking engagements just because they ''were'' scheduled, and, decades before Sacha Baron Cohen, constantly reported people instantly willing to believe vicious and absurd rumours ''he'd just invented''. He's CrazyAwesome because of this behavior, although you may not like the overall lack of ethics.

* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} in at least some, possibly most, continuities. [[DependingOnTheWriter It varies depending on the writer]].

* Dante from the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series is one of these.

* Azaka Kokutou from ''LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai'' is this explicitly (highlight of this is her unabashedly declaring [[BrotherSisterIncest her love for her brother]] and moving away to be adopted by her uncle and to enroll in a boarding school specifically so Mikiya will stop seeing her as his little sister), thanks in no small part to her origin being ''taboo''.
* Manga/{{Naruto}} Uzumaki hated the fact that his village ignored him. So what does he do? Defy all the rules and uses his ninja skills to play pranks on unsuspecting villagers/ninja (including the Hokage), his worst prank being when he defiled the somewhat sacred Hokage monument. Of course he gets more heroic as the series went on, but he still has a problem with authority, preferring to do things his own way instead of listening to his superiors. Considering his early experiences with adults, he can't really be blamed.

** Francis was sent off to MilitarySchool for his behavior, and when Hal went to visit him, he told Francis how disappointed he was that he refused to change his ways. As they were saying their farewells, Francis confronted Commandant Spangler for chastising another student for having an untucked shirt, which happened after the young man hugged his father goodbye. Spangler thne told Hal how Francis likes to cause trouble, listing several times Francis organized a series of non-violent acts of civil disobedience to protest the [[DisproportionateRetribution harsh punishments meted out to other students for minor grievances.]] When Francis tries to explain. Hal tells him to "shut up" and hugs him.
** Malcolm has rebelled against his school to protest some sort of inane rule, [[LoopHoleAbuse like how he created an independent student run literary magazine after a story that featured a number of swear words was rejected from the school's magazine.]] Said story was about sexual-harassment.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa'' had Timon help Pumbaa undergo this to escape a wedding. Surprisingly, the bride [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys immediately falls for him]]. It was only after Pumbaa reveals he's always been a nice guy that she cancels the wedding.

Rebellious Spirits go ''beyond'' the stereotypical "rebellious teen" and include people who flagrantly violate rules and social norms, act eccentric or weird, and often don't care what people think about them. Sometimes they even lack normal friends and usually lack [[RebelRelaxation good posture]]. They may be ChaoticGood, ChaoticNeutral, or ChaoticEvil, but they are ''always'' chaotic.

** Despite being LawfulGood in the extreme, Sam Vimes shows tendencies in this direction as well, even after becoming a Duke. This is probably why he employs at least one gnome in the Watch.

* In the episode "Mona Leaves-A," Lisa Simpson of ''WesterAnimation/TheSimpsons'' inherits her late grandmother's "rebellious spirit." This later turns out to be part of Mona's [[MyDeathIsOnlyTheBeginning posthumous]] [[ThePlan plan]] as she and the rest of her family use their inheritance to help Homer escape from Mr. Burns.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' is a downplayed example. He always lives by his own rules and disregards authority, particularly in some of the western-made continuities. However, in the main continuity, he never goes against the law for the heck of it, nor does he have a problem with society in general.

* Yusuke Urameshi from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' fits this trope to a T at first. Since LonersAreFreaks he eventually changes to fit a more heroic archetype. [[spoiler:It turns out he was picked as Spirit Detective for this ''very reason.'' The former Spirit Detective was too straight-laced and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation went crazy finding out that humans were capable of worse acts than demons]].]]
* Mugen from ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo''. A true ChaoticNeutral, it helps he comes from Ryukyu (think: seediest place of the Edo period) and did all his surviving on the streets. He basically lives to break stereotypes, making him he logical foil to LawfulNeutral [[TheStoic Stoic]] {{Samurai}} Jin.
* Manga/{{Naruto}} Uzumaki hated the fact that his village ignored him. So what does he do? Defy all the rules and uses his ninja skills to play pranks on unsuspecting villagers/ninja (including the Hokage), his worst prank being when he defiled the somewhat sacred Hokage monument. Of course he gets more heroic as the series went on, but he still has a problem with authority, preferring to do things his own way instead of listening to his superiors. Considering his early experiences with adults, he can't really be blamed.
%%* Treecko/Grovyle/Sceptile from the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime.
* Azaka Kokutou from ''LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai'' is this explicitly (highlight of this is her unabashedly declaring [[BrotherSisterIncest her love for her brother]] and moving away to be adopted by her uncle and to enroll in a boarding school specifically so Mikiya will stop seeing her as his little sister), thanks in no small part to her origin being ''taboo''.

* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} in at least some, possibly most, continuities. [[DependingOnTheWriter It varies depending on the writer]].
* Franchise/SpiderMan is generally a rogue free spirit hero who defies the local authorities constantly and performs acts of vigilantism. He also generally scoffs at help and is a pure solo act hero contrasted to the Avengers. Nowadays, he's more mature and dedicated to working together with people and being more considerate of the law.

* ''Film/LawnDogs'' has two of these as its main characters. Adult Trent and kid Devon both have no friends their age. Trent does crazy things like holding up traffic just so he can skinny-dip off of a bridge. Devon is even crazier. She violates rules frequently, such as leaving town when told specifically not to, and even breaks the law and steals chickens for fun. She has many weird eccentricities as well.
* Literary[=/=]{{Film}}[=/=]TruthInTelevision example: ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'' features two characters (Raoul Duke and his attorney Doctor Gonzo) who run a two-week, Sixties-style drug binge through the streets, hotels and convention centers of early-[[TheSeventies Seventies]] UsefulNotes/LasVegas, with no real motivation beyond seeing how much they can get away with. And they get away with a lot: showing up stoned at an anti-drug convention, chasing motorists down the Strip, trashing two hotel rooms, racking up several hundred dollars in room-service charges and never paying... TruthInTelevision part comes in when you realize that this novel is based on two real-life wild weekends spent in UsefulNotes/LasVegas by Hunter Thompson and Oscar Acosta. Thompson also viciously pranked friends and strangers alike, set out to spraypaint "Fuck the Pope" on a yacht due to compete in the America's Cup the next day, chronically missed speaking engagements just because they ''were'' scheduled, and, decades before Sacha Baron Cohen, constantly reported people instantly willing to believe vicious and absurd rumours ''he'd just invented''. He's CrazyAwesome because of this behavior, although you may not like the overall lack of ethics.

%%* [[Creator/MarxBrothers Harpo Marx.]]

* Lisbeth Salander of ''Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy''. She is not only this, but borderline-insane.

* ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'': an almost childishly rebellious hyperactive action hero. Slippery Jim is at war with normal society as much as the villains, and his greatest weapon is his willingness to transgress the bounds, rules and world-view of other people. That said, he's also TheFettered, being an ActualPacifist.
* Creator/AynRand tends to write her heroes this way; [[Literature/TheFountainhead Howard Roark]], [[Literature/{{Anthem}} Equality 7-2521]], [[Literature/AtlasShrugged Dagny Taggart, Hank Rearden, and John Galt]] are all this.

* Tasha Ozera from ''Literature/VampireAcademy'', is a voice for social reform, who flagrantly violates rules and social norms.

* The Series/SonsOfAnarchy as a whole were founded on this theme. Then they strayed...

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Good ol' Mal. See above quote. Sure, you follow the rules on his ship (...to a degree...) but he does so love messing with the Alliance for sheer joy of it.
* Chiana in ''Series/{{Farscape}}''.
* Alex in ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' has elements of this (when she's not being a borderline SuperVillain instead)
* Although not as hard-core as the others, [[Series/ILoveLucy Lucy Ricardo]].
* Damon Salvatore from ''Series/TheVampireDiaries''.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The Doctor was this on his home planet. Partly because he found Time Lord social norms unbearably boring, and partly because he was disgusted and disturbed by their practices and elitism, he stole an antique time machine from a museum and ran away to explore the universe as an act of rebellion, since Time Lords are masters of time travel yet refuse to ever use their powers and preach non-interference.
** The Fourth Doctor has this as a character trait. He absolutely detests authority and rebels against it on principle, occasionally in his later tenure even to ChaoticStupid levels. A great example is when he spends his entire trial in "The Deadly Assassin" drawing funny caricatures of the prosecution.

* The [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orks]] of ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' invert this: "[[FunetikAksent Yoofs]]" who have difficulties fitting in with an AlwaysChaoticEvil society may get tired of being told to do whatever they feel like. Some of these malcontents run off to join the Stormboyz, Orks obsessed with military discipline, marching, and uniforms. Since they make good JetPack-equipped assault infantry, the rest of the Orks put up with their deviant behavior.

[[folder:Theater]]

* The ''Theatre/{{Mrs Hawking}}'' play series: The protagonist Mrs. Hawking has some serious issues with the Victorian society in which she lives and has dedicated herself to working against it.

* Dante from the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series is one of these.
* ''VideoGame/PowerGigRiseOfTheSixString'' has the Rise Clan. They will not put up with anyone who exerts any sort of control over them, legal or otherwise, and do not care who knows it. They don't like the Followers of Zhen, whom they feel are chained to a useless restrictive dogma, and see The Riffriders clan as a group that is all talk and spends too much time having fun and not enough actually rebelling against things. The only reason other Rise members can put up with each other is that they all agree that control sucks and don't care what other Rise members, or anyone else for that matter, thinks of them.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' is a downplayed example. He always lives by his own rules and disregards authority, particularly in some of the western-made continuities. However, in the main continuity, he never goes against the law for the heck of it, nor does he have a problem with society in general.

* In the episode "Mona Leaves-A," Lisa Simpson of ''TheSimpsons'' inherits her late grandmother's "rebellious spirit." This later turns out to be part of Mona's [[MyDeathIsOnlyTheBeginning posthumous]] [[ThePlan plan]] as she and the rest of her family use their inheritance to help Homer escape from Mr. Burns.

* This serves as the central theme in ''VideoGame/Persona5''.

* Literary[=/=]{{Film}}[=/=]TruthInTelevision example: ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'' features two characters (Raoul Duke and his attorney Doctor Gonzo) who run a two-week, Sixties-style drug binge through the streets, hotels and convention centers of early-[[TheSeventies Seventies]] UsefulNotes/LasVegas, with no real motivation beyond seeing how much they can get away with. And they get away with a lot: showing up stoned at an anti-drug convention, chasing motorists down the Strip, trashing two hotel rooms, racking up several hundred dollars in room-service charges and never paying... TruthInTelevision part comes in when you realize that this novel is based on two real-life wild weekends spent in UsefulNotes/LasVegas by Hunter Thompson and Oscar Acosta. Thompson also viciously pranked friends and strangers alike, set out to spraypaint "Fuck the Pope" on a yacht due to compete in the America's Cup the next day, chronically missed speaking engagements just because they ''were'' scheduled, and, decades before Sascha Baron Cohen, constantly reported people instantly willing to believe vicious and absurd rumours ''he'd just invented''. He's CrazyAwesome because of this behavior, although you may not like the overall lack of ethics.

[[quoteright:262:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gul.jpg]]

* Dante from the ''Franchise/DevilMayCry'' series is one of these.

* Literary[=/=]{{Film}}[=/=]TruthInTelevision example: ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'' features two characters (Raoul Duke and his attorney Doctor Gonzo) who run a two-week, Sixties-style drug binge through the streets, hotels and convention centers of early-[[TheSeventies Seventies]] UsefulNotes/LasVegas, with no real motivation beyond seeing how much they can get away with. And they get away with a lot: showing up stoned at an anti-drug convention, chasing motorists down the Strip, trashing two hotel rooms, racking up several hundred dollars in room-service charges and never paying... TruthInTelevision part comes in when you realize that this novel is based on two real-life wild weekends spent in UsefulNotes/LasVegas by Hunter Thompson and Oscar Acosta.
Thompson also viciously pranked friends and strangers alike, set out to spraypaint "Fuck the Pope" on a yacht due to compete in the America's Cup the next day, chronically missed speaking engagements just because they ''were'' scheduled, and, decades before Sascha Baron Cohen, constantly reported people instantly willing to believe vicious and absurd rumours ''he'd just invented''. He's CrazyAwesome because of this behavior, although you may not like the overall lack of ethics.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' is a downplayed example. He always lives by his own rules and disregards authority, particularly in some of the western-made continuities. However, in the main continuity, he never go against the law for the heck of it, nor does he have a problem with society in general.

* [[Literature/TheFountainhead Howard Roark]], [[Literature/{{Anthem}} Equality 7-2521]], [[Literature/AtlasShrugged Dagny Taggart, Hank Rearden, John Galt]].

* Billy/Dr. Horrible in Creator/JossWhedon's supervillain musical ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog''. At one point he summarizes his goals as "Anarchy! Which I run!"
* Victor from I Dated A Teenage Cyclops, a story in ''Wiki/TheWanderersLibrary''.

* Ange from ''Anime/CrossAnge'' will [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight ignore orders]], question authority, [[TakeAThirdOption take third options]], break out any hostages you've taken, and [[DefiantToTheEnd defy you until the very end]]. In fact, characters who get along with her best, like Tusk, Hilda and Sala, are universally the ones who let her wild nature run riot and accept her "as is". And this is what the BigBad seems to be utterly [[EvilCannotComprehendGood incapable of understanding]] in the GrandFinale: [[spoiler:the more he imposes himself onto Ange, the stronger her will to resist him becomes]].

* Literary / {{Film}} / TruthInTelevision example: ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'' features two characters (Raoul Duke and his attorney Doctor Gonzo) who run a two-week, Sixties-style drug binge through the streets, hotels and convention centers of early-[[TheSeventies Seventies]] UsefulNotes/LasVegas, with no real motivation beyond seeing how much they can get away with. And they get away with a lot: showing up stoned at an anti-drug convention, chasing motorists down the Strip, trashing two hotel rooms, racking up several hundred dollars in room-service charges and never paying... TruthInTelevision part comes in when you realize that this novel is based on two real-life wild weekends spent in UsefulNotes/LasVegas by Hunter Thompson and Oscar Acosta.\\\

* Damon Salvatore from ''Series/VampireDiaries''.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' is [[ChaoticGood a good example]], always living by his own rules and disregarding authority. This occasionally put him at odds with the law in ''Anime/SonicX''.