History Main / WantsVersusNeeds

** [[Characters/TheOwlHouseAmityBlight Amity Blight]] is introduced as an AlphaBitch bully who wants to be the top of her class, graduate into the prestigious Emperor's Coven, and hates Luz for inadvertently throwing wrenches into her plans. As time passes, she becomes more comfortable with not being the top student, realizes the Emperor's Coven isn't as great as it seemed, and even develops a budding love for Luz.

* The Tree Shamans from ''WesternAnimation/{{Centaurworld}}'' are a pair of [[{{Treants}} treetaurs]] who use their magic to help those who come to them. They will usually give a "disclaimer" that they will use their magic to give a person what they need over what they want, claiming to be so old and wise that they would know the difference on sight. While they are usually right, they can also come across as rather [[GoodIsNotNice callous]].

** [[Characters/TheOwlHouseLilithClawthorne Lilith Clawthorne]], the head of the Emperor's Coven, is insistent on getting her sister Eda registered into the Coven and having her curse healed. Gradually it becomes clear that this is Lilith's way of trying to cover up her mistake without actually being making herself accountable for it, [[spoiler:her mistake being cursing Eda in the first place. Once Lilith realizes the Coven will never help Eda, she owns up to her transgression and shares the curse with Eda, relieving her sister of the worst effects while robbing Lilith of her own magic.]]

** [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEdaClawthorne Eda Clawthorne]] is proud of being the most powerful witch of the Boiling Isles, but she's hampered by a terrible curse that hinders her magic and threatens to turn her into a monster. She initially wants to be free of the curse [[spoiler:especially after it strengthens to take all her magic permanently. Eventually she decides to call a truce with the wild owl beast who feels just as trapped in her body, and the two merge into a powerful new Harpy form.]] While she doesn't do a very good job at teach Luz how to perform magic, she ends up developing a maternal side she didn't know she had, Luz's presence in her life giving her a reason to live outside of the aimless rebelliousness she had cultivated in her teen years.

** [[Characters/TheOwlHouseCamilaNoceda Camila Noceda]] wants more than anything for her daughter to have a happy and fulfilling life. [[spoiler:However, she feels that in order to do so she has to suppress her daughter's nerdy and energetic tendencies in order for Luz to have said fulfilling life. Learning that she can help her daughter to be a functioning member of the world while embracing her status as a noble Witch is central to Camila's CharacterDevelopment]].

Characters who [[AllegoricalCharacter embody]] these two ideas will often act as metaphorical devils and angels on the hero's shoulder respectively: a villainous character will give them the thing that they want, [[DealWithTheDevil but at an unpayable price]]. The good character meanwhile won't give them what they want and try to tell them what they need instead, it being up to the hero to discover this for themselves.

** [[spoiler:The Wolf -- revealed to be TheGrimReaper -- doesn't want the wish, but is simply out to kill Puss because he took his first eight lives for granted. After spending the whole movie putting the fear of Go into Puss, this ironically helped Puss along in his CharacterDevelopment. By the time the Wolf has an opening, he begrudgingly lets Puss live (for now) because he has learned to value the one life he has left.]]

** The Book of Vishanti is one of the most powerful WhiteMagic artifacts in the multiverse, the equal-opposite to the Darkhold in every way. While the specifics are never given, its primary use is to give any sorcerer who reads it the answers to whatever problems they face, giving them what they "need" as opposed to the Darkhold's tactic of handing its user power on a silver-platter.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'', Shrek agrees to rescue Fiona from her tower and bring her to Lord Farquad in exchange for having his Swamplands to himself again, having lived feared and alone for so long that all he wants is privacy. Having been raised as a fairy tale princess, all Fiona wants is to be rescued by her own PrinceCharming and to live HappilyEverAfter free of her curse. By the end, the both of them get what they want, but in a way that they both needed: while Shrek gets his swamp back, he learns to open himself up, marrying Fiona and finding friends among a RagtagBunchOfMisfits he originally wanted out. While Fiona's curse is ''technically'' broken and she does live HappilyEverAfter with a charming man she married, it's as an ogre with a non-royal ogre for a husband in a swamp. Not that either of them mind.

* ''Series/FraggleRock'': In "The Gorg Who Would Be King", Junior finds out that he will become King of the Universe when the last leaf falls off the Nirvana Tree, and all but one have already fallen off. Not wanting the responsibility of ruling the whole universe, Junior thinks that getting rid of the leaf would mean he'd never become King, so he secretly eats it... and is shrunk to the size of a Fraggle. When Wembley takes him to the Trash Heap, she explains that "when you eat a Nirvana Tree leaf, you don't always get what you want. But you just might find you get what you need." What Junior needed was to understand the universe, see what it's like to be a Fraggle, and learn how the Fraggles, the Doozers and the Gorgs are all connected. In the end, Junior understands how the universe works and stands up to his father after he [[spoiler:almost destroyed the Fraggles with a bomb.]] He grows back to normal and is crowned King, [[spoiler:then decides that the universe doesn't need a king and throws the crown away.]]

* ''Series/FraggleRock'': In "The Gorg Who Would Be King", Junior finds out that he will become King of the Universe when the last leaf falls off the Nirvana Tree, and all but one have already fallen off. Not wanting the responsibility of ruling the whole universe, Junior thinks that getting rid of the leaf would mean he'd never become King, so he secretly eats it... and is shrunk to the size of a Fraggle. When Wembley takes him to the Trash Heap, she explains that "when you eat a Nirvana Tree leaf, you don't always get what you want. But you just might find you get what you need." What Junior needed was to understand the universe, see what it's like to be a Fraggle, and how they, the Doozers and the Gorgs are all connected. In the end, Junior understands how the universe works and stands up to his father after he [[spoiler:almost destroyed the Fraggles with a bomb.]] He grows back to normal and is crowned King, [[spoiler:then decides that the universe doesn't need a king and throws the crown away.]]

* ''Series/FraggleRock'': In "The Gorg Who Would Be King", Junior finds out that he will become king when the last leaf falls off the Nirvana Tree, and all but one have already fallen off. Not wanting the responsibility of ruling the whole universe, Junior thinks that getting rid of the leaf would mean he'd never become king, so he eats it... and is shrunk to the size of a Fraggle. When Wembley takes him to the Trash Heap, she explains that "when you eat a Nirvana Tree leaf, you don't always get what you want. But you just might find you get what you need." What Junior needed was to understand the universe, see what it's like to be a Fraggle, and how they, the Doozers and the Gorgs are all connected. In the end, Junior understands how the universe works and stands up to his father after he [[spoiler:almost destroyed the Fraggles with a bomb.]] He grows back to normal and is crowned king, [[spoiler:then decides that the universe doesn't need a king and throws the crown away.]]

** [Characters/TheOwlHouseLuzNoceda Luz Noceda]] aspires to be a stunning admirable witch like the hero of her favorite book ''The Good Witch Azura'', but she finds that her apprenticeship under the eccentric witch Eda doesn't resemble the elegant fantasy life she seeks. Many times her expectations of how to learn magic are turned on their head, such as when she dismisses Eda's garbage-diving as humiliating but the "trash" she finds turns out to be a source of hidden magic. Eventually, it becomes evident that Eda and King needed her more than she needed them, teaching Eda how to perform glyph magic when her own magic fails and becoming a protective sister to King.

** Luz aspires to be a stunning admirable witch like the hero of her favorite book ''The Good Witch Azura'', but she finds that her apprenticeship under the eccentric witch Eda doesn't resemble the elegant fantasy life she seeks. Many times her expectations of how to learn magic are turned on their head, such as when she dismisses Eda's garbage-diving as humiliating but the "trash" she finds turns out to be a source of hidden magic. Eventually, it becomes evident that Eda and King needed her more than she needed them, teaching Eda how to perform glyph magic when her own magic fails and becoming a protective sister to King.
** Amity Blight is introduced as an AlphaBitch bully who wants to be the top of her class, graduate into the prestigious Emperor's Coven, and hates Luz for inadvertently throwing wrenches into her plans. As time passes, she becomes more comfortable with not being the top student, realizes the Emperor's Coven isn't as great as it seemed, and even develops a budding love for Luz.
** Eda is proud of being the most powerful witch of the Boiling Isles, but she's hampered by a terrible curse that hinders her magic and threatens to turn her into a monster. She initially wants to be free of the curse [[spoiler:especially after it strengthens to take all her magic permanently. Eventually she decides to call a truce with the wild owl beast who feels just as trapped in her body, and the two merge into a powerful new Harpy form.]] While she doesn't do a very good job at teach Luz how to perform magic, she ends up developing a maternal side she didn't know she had, Luz's presence in her life giving her a reason to live outside of the aimless rebelliousness she had cultivated in her teen years.

** Lilith, the head of the Emperor's Coven, is insistent on getting her sister Eda registered into the Coven and having her curse healed. Gradually it becomes clear that this is Lilith's way of trying to cover up her mistake without actually being making herself accountable for it, [[spoiler:her mistake being cursing Eda in the first place. Once Lilith realizes the Coven will never help Eda, she owns up to her transgression and shares the curse with Eda, relieving her sister of the worst effects while robbing Lilith of her own magic.]]
** Hunter is the Golden Guard and only wants to please the emperor, his manipulative and abusive uncle, resulting in him having a screwed up belief that he needs to be useful to be loved. In "Eclipse Lake", he tries to find Titan blood for Belos and attacks Amity for the [[spoiler:portal key]] while rejecting her attempt at encouraging him to find someone who won't make him feel worthless. [[spoiler:He starts doing better emotionally when he runs away from Belos and joins up with Willow and Gus, gaining the unconditional support he needs rather than the fake love he was taught to want from his creator]].

''We give not what you want - but what you need''

* ''Series/FraggleRock'': In "The Gorg Who Would Be King", Junior finds out that he will become king when the last leaf falls off the Nirvana Tree, and all but one have already fallen off. Not wanting the responsibility of ruling the whole universe, Junior thinks that getting rid of the leaf would mean he'd never become king, so he eats it... and is shrunk to the size of a Fraggle. When Wembley takes him to the Trash Heap, she explains that "when you eat a Nirvana Tree leaf, you don't always get what you want. But you just might find you get what you need." What Junior needed was to understand the universe, see what it's like to be a Fraggle, and how they, the Doozers and the Gorgs are all connected. In the end, Junior understands how the universe works and stands up to his father after he [[spoiler:almost destroyed the Fraggles with a bomb.]] He grows back to normal and is crowned king, [[spoiler:then decides that the universe doesn't need a king and throws the crown away.]]

* Music/TheRollingStones: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" sings about discontentment in life, but contrasts against uplifting production and ends each chorus on the message, "But if you try sometimes, you find, you get what you need."

* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': The eponymous Wander wears a NiceHat which magically produces anything for him to take; according to "The Hat", the hat does not give what the user wants, but what they ''need'', depending on the situation that they're in at the moment. "The Bad Hatter" reveals if someone demands something from the hat as a want rather than a need as usual, it causes it to suffer mass hysteria and spew out geysers of stuff nonstop.

* The Tree Shamans from ''WesternAnimation/{{Centaurworld}}'' are a pair of [[{{Treants}} treetaurs]] who use their magic to help those who come to them. They will usually give a "disclaimer" that they will use their magic to give a person what they want over what they need, claiming to be so old and wise that they would know the difference on sight. While they are usually right, they can also come across as rather [[GoodIsNotNice callous]].

* ''WesternAnimation/CraigOfTheCreek'': The episode "[[Recap/CraigOfTheCreekS1E05TooManyTreasures Too Many Treasures]]" is about Craig grabbing every "treasure" he sees, to the point his closet is filled with them. Craig's mom tells him about how she has her students look at their belongings and separate what they want from what they need, and encourages Craig to do the same. Craig is ultimately forced to accept that most of his treasures were stuff that he wanted and has to discard them save himself and The Junk Lord from the crashing boat.

* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': The eponymous Wander wears a NiceHat which magically produces anything for him to take; according to "The Hat", the hat does not give what the user wants, but what they ''need'', depending on the situation that they're in at the moment. "The Bad Hatter" reveals if someone demands something from the hat as a want rather than a need as usual, it causes it to suffer mass histeria and spew out geysers of stuff nonstop.

-->Take your instinct by the reins,
-->You're better best to rearrange.
-->What we want and what we need
-->Has been confused, been confused.

->''Our roots reach down, our branches rise''
->''From sky to ground, our wooden eyes''
->''Have gazed upon desires, hope, and greed''
->''But to each soul who walks this way''
->''A tree disclaimer we must say''
->''We give not what you want - but what you need''