History Main / TheHermit

* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'': The titular is firmly this for much of the film. He hates that people tend to judge him before they properly know him, which is why he feels he's better off being on his own. Of course, this attitude is dropped by the end of the film when he befriends Donkey and [[LoveEpiphany realizes he's in love with Fiona]].

Compare TheAloner, for whom social isolation is a terrible punishment, and those SentIntoHiding. Contrast HatesBeingAlone, for when a character really doesn't want to be isolated from others. See IWorkAlone for when they don't rely on others.

** Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy allow for hermits. It was indeed how lived the first monks (anchorites) before switching to collective living.

** Eastern Orthodoxy allows for eremitism in which hermits live lifes of prayer for their communities.
** Anglicanism has religious communities with hermits as members; one Church of England community, the Society of St. John the Evangelist, now has even only solitaries in its British congregation. Similarly, Anglicanism allows for diocesan hermits.
* Some Dharmic religions have hermits.

* Farmer William's son was helping his father unload wares at the market when he let out a fart so huge everyone stared at him. He immediately ran off into the forest, only stopping when he dropped from sheer exhaustion. He lived there for years, fleeing at the slightest approach of a fellow human. One day he saw his reflection in a pond and realized his hair had grown white, and resolved to find out what had become of his village now that he had been long forgotten. He returned to the village and saw a magnificent church had been built near the market. He approached a small child and asked what the building was, and the child replied "That's the Church of Our Lady Mary. They started building it five years, six months and three days; and finished building it twenty-six years, four months and nine days after the day Farmer William's son farted".

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': Amber Wizards, who use the Lore of Beasts, tend to avoid human civilization if they have a choice in the matter, and instead prefer to live in the depths of the forest with only nature and wild beasts as company.

* In ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', the seventh sphere of Heaven (Saturn) houses those who left their worldly possessions to live a monastic life.

* ''Manga/KotouraSan'': {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. It's a part of [[HurtingHero Haruka]]'s facade and [[LeaveMeAlone deliberately having nobody else in her life]] is taking its toll against her. She does live alone in the PresentDay, but the difference between solitude and loneliness is made quite clear as the show goes on.

-->-- '''Ambrose Bierce''', ''Literature/TheDevilsDictionary''

** Averted in ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'': [[spoiler:After seeing a vision of herself as a Sith Rey decided to become a hermit herself on Ahch-To, however Luke returns as a [[SpiritAdvisor force ghost]] and convinces Rey to go to Exegol and confront Palpatine, telling her that even though her grandfather is Palpatine it doesn't make her a bad person.

Nice or not, almost all hermits are quirky. That's because LonersAreFreaks; they don't conform to society's rules about [[ThePigPen cleanliness]], [[NoSocialSkills politeness]], or [[BarefootSage footwear]]. Heck, they don't conform to society's standards at all. Hermits generally have a high tolerance to [[GoMadFromTheIsolation Going Mad from the Isolation]], but they're not completely immune. See "quirkiness" above.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' Jolee Bindo. You find him living in a hut on the surface of Kashyyyk, which is largely populated by dangerous animals and reckless young Wookiees.
* In ''VideoGame/KultHereticKingdoms'', one of Alita's tasks is to track down a hermit who lives in the woods, as a favour to the forest's guardian. He's found, but only as a ghost. Since he's a ''religious'' hermit, and Alita's job is to [[IllegalReligion enforce a ban on religion]], their interaction is a bit rocky, but the hermit's new posthumous status makes their debate purely academic.

* In Creator/AndrewLng's "Literature/TheStoryOfPrinceAhmedAndTheFairyParibanou" ([[http://mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/292.htm link]]), Prince Houssain, having lost out in the competition for Princess Nouronnihar, [[TakingTheVeil became a hermit.]] At the end of the tale, he remains one because he found himself happy in it.

* Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy allow for hermits. It was indeed how lived the first monks (anchorites) before switching to collective living.

** Surprisingly, Anglicanism has religious communities with hermits as members; one Church of England community, the Society of St. John the Evangelist, now has even only solitaries in its British congregation. Similarly, Anglicanism allows for diocesan hermits.

* ''Manga/KotouraSan'': {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. It's a part of HurtingHero Haruka's facade and [[LeaveMeAlone deliberately having nobody else in her life]] is taking its toll against her. She does live alone in the PresentDay, but the difference between solitude and loneliness is made quite clear as the show goes on.
* ''LightNovel/MyYouthRomanticComedyIsWrongAsIExpected'': Because of his terrible social experiences before high school, [[SecondyearProtagonist Hachiman Hikigaya]] became the embodiment of this trope in the series, a loner who doesn't want nor care interact with other people, or at least at the beginning of the story.

* ''ComicBook/{{Silverblade}}'': At the start, Jonathan Lord is this. After making his last film in 1967, he withdrew to his palatial estate Shangri-la and made no public appearances for the next 20 years: preferring to remain in his mansion watching his old movies.

* In ''Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou'', Prince Houssain, having lost out in the competition for Princess Nouronnihar, [[TakingTheVeil became a hermit.]] At the end of the tale, he remains one because he found himself happy in it.

* In ''Film/{{Zachariah}}'', Zachariah befriends [[NoNameGiven the Old Man]], who lives in a hut by himself and farms vegetables because he likes being alone.

* ''Literature/AfterTheRevolution'': SuperSoldier Roland starts the book living as an amnesiac hermit living on a mountain in the now-mostly abandoned former state of Arizona, getting high and trying not to indulge his [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul 'kill people, get pleasure' implants]]. He knows part of his memories are missing and that he probably still has former friends and lovers out there somewhere, but he has little to no motivation to try to reconnect with any of them. [[spoiler:After going through the events of the book, recovering much of his memories and then promptly losing them again, Roland goes back to his mountain and abandons all the connections he made through the book.]]

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** ''Literature/SmallGods'': St. Ungulant is a religious hermit. The Omnian Church encourages them, since if people are ''going'' to ask questions about the nature of belief, it's best they do it out in the wilderness where no one can hear them.
** ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'' introduces a hermit who lives on Sybil's countryside property, because apparently having a hermit on one's land was once fashionable among the nobility and they like to keep up traditions. This one wanders around speaking cryptic philosophy and being filthy, but gets a week's vacation each year during which he behaves normally and is actually popular with the ladies, ensuring that he will have sons to carry on the profession.

* ''Literature/GlindaOfOz'': Reera the Red is a master shapeshifter who mostly just wants to be left alone in her small cottage with her various transformed pets; she has be cajoled and [[ReversePsychology finagled]] into undoing a ForcedTransformation spell (that someone else cast).

* ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'' had the protagonists helped by a nameless (but friendly) hermit once they reach the end of the desert and cross into Archenland.

* ''Literature/TheLightJar'': William Blakelore, the former owner of the cottage Nate and his mum moved into, rarely left the cottage or spoke to anyone in the years leading up to his death.
* ''Literature/HayyIbnYaqzan'': The protagonist is a hermit by circumstance, being a WildChild on a DesertedIsland who has never met another human in his life. In middle age, he becomes a true religious hermit who spends almost all his time meditating in a cell, leaving only once a week to gather food.