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Famed In-Story

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"Lo, praise of the prowess of people-kings
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!"
Beowulf

People ought to remember The Hero. His heroic deeds, particularly a Heroic Sacrifice, should be commemorated in story, song, and art.

And they frequently do, and they frequently are.

Not always — being forgotten is one threat of What You Are in the Dark — but often. Some, indeed, become a Living Legend. The heroes can encourage themselves with the thought of getting it, they can inspire themselves with the examples they have heard of, they can actually receive it, they can be embarrassed by it, or it can be a convenient source of legends to be true.

May be regarded as Due to the Dead.

A character who is famed in story may easily become Shrouded in Myth, through Gossip Evolution, but it can also be Infallible Babble, and usually is unless we have direct access to the events being told. The Magnificent results when the hero gets a byname describing his deed; Badass Boast, when he can reel it off himself. Compare Self-Made Myth.

Contrast The Greatest Story Never Told and Dude, Where's My Respect?. Indeed, this may lead up that, as the character learns that fame is fickle, or that the good opinion of people of good character is better than the opinions of the crowd.

Heroes in love with In Harm's Way often long for this as well. Conversely, heroes seeking out Home Sweet Home may dislike it and actively avoid it because it interferes with getting and staying home.

Note that the Cool Sword, Cool Horse, castles, battlefields, etc. can also be Famed In Story. It's a contributing factor to coolness. Such a weapon is a Legendary Weapon.

The full Stock Phrase is typically rendered "famed in story and song", and seems to be particularly common in Celtic language songs, poems, and works describing them. Super-Trope of News Travels Fast and Accidental Celebrity. Related to Propaganda Hero. Usually involves some form of Character Shilling. See The Dreaded for the fear-based equivalent. When this transpires between Volumes 1 and 2, see Legendary in the Sequel. See Smith of the Yard for celebrity detectives. See Fame Gate for the gaming equivalent.


Examples

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Albegas: Played for Laughs. The popularity of the Super Robot Albegas results in dedicated fans creating the "Albegas encyclopedia". It is a bestseller and contains details such as the combining of Albegas, the strategy the Dellingers up to that point, and it's pilots. However, it doesn't mention the Gori-Robo, causing Goro to get angry and complain about the lack of respect he gets.
  • In Berserk, the Band of the Hawk became Midland's national heroes through their efforts in the One Hundred Years' War against the Tudor Empire. After their banishment and eventual demise during the Eclipse, which was deemed as a mysterious disappearance by the populace, the people never forgot their actions and only hoped for the Hawks to return to save their kingdom from a new threat.
  • Bleach:
    • The most famous captain of the current generation is Byakuya, even commoners in the Rukongai know who he is. Ginjou explains it's because his extremely high social rank combines with his extremely high military rank to make him far more well-known than any "normal" captain or high-ranking aristocrat would be by themselves. Byakuya himself once implies that this creates an enormous pressure on him to be the role-model that all Soul Society must look to.
    • When Ichigo first arrives in Soul Society, he discovers that just mentioning he was trained by someone called Urahara sends shock-waves through his listeners. Not only was Urahara someone who was infamous for being an exiled captain (later proven to have been framed by Aizen), but his long conflict with Aizen and his status as the most intelligent person alive means that not only has everyone heard of him, but everyone relies on him — even the people who don't want anything to do with him need his help. He's even a legend among the Royal Guard.
      Urahara: "Hello, everyone! Calling all Captains of the Gotei 13! And their respective Lieutenants, of course! This is Urahara Kisuke! Some of you may not have met me or be familiar with my name but I hope you'll forgive me if I skip the introductions..."
      Shinji: "Heh. As if anyone wouldn't know your name, dumbass!"
  • Kogoro Mouri of Case Closed has gotten the reputation of a Great Detective after one season on the strength of Older Than They Look Conan Edogawa's behind-the-scenes work and is often recognized by face or name by those around him. Frequently, when Kogoro's name and/or vocation enters conversation, it will provoke reactions of shock in the (not-yet-known-to-be-a) murderer (and/or others with something to hide). Although Kogoro almost never notices, Conan usually does—and this is often his first clue that something is amiss.
  • In Chrono Crusade, Mary Magdalene (not the Biblical character, but an orphan named after her) is a Post Humous Character who is very well-known among the Church Militant exorcists for her legendary holy powers and graceful demeanor, and is brought up enough that her name is practically an Arc Word.
  • Daltanious: Kento Tate is hailed as hero not by his fellow Earthlings, but various planets in the galaxy for piloting Daltanious and becoming an Icon of Rebellion against the Zaal's tyranny. The fame gets to his head and he acts as smug as possible at every chance he gets.
  • Kazuya Ryuzaki of Daimos is famed as hero amongst the kids of Japan for piloting a Super Robot that protects the Earth amongst the invading Baam-seijin. One episode centers around a blind boy excited to be in the presence of Daimos, putting his own life in danger just so he could be a part of the action. Kazuya is shocked, but makes sure the boy is able to experience the battle in his own way, even if he can't see it.
  • In Darwin's Game, from almost the beginning of his involvement in the titular game, Kaname caught the attention of the player-base for defeating famous players, and his fame just kept growing.
  • In Detective School Q, Morihiko Dan's exploits as a detective is so famous, that he has the same privilege as an officer. The students from the Detective Academy he founded are given similar privileges, and showing that to the officer in charge of the case grants the student immediate access to case.
  • Mr. Satan from Dragon Ball Z. Sure, the audience knows he's a Fake Ultimate Hero who's lucky to survive the stuff he puts himself through, but for the people of Earth he's their greatest champion and savior. They named a city after him, the entire World Martial Tournament centers around him to the point he can skip the elimination round, something no other champion before him could do, and gets military support with just asking. His fame does come in handy during the final story arc.
  • The Fairy Tail Guild in the country of Fiore. They pride themselves on being one of the most known guilds around.
  • In Fist of the North Star, Kenshiro never hesitates in saying he follows the path laid by those before him when about to instill an ass-kicking on someone. Specifically, Rei, Toki, and Raoh will always be shown.
  • Honoo no Alpen Rose: Leonhardt Aschenbach. He is so famous that when Martha (an Innocent Flower Girl from rural Switzerland) names great composers from Austria, she names him amongst Bach and Mozart. It turns out that he is Jeudi's childhood friend who had eyes for her and knew her before she lost her memories.
  • In Great Teacher Onizuka, Onizuka isn't well-known outside the Bōsōzoku community, but to them he's a legend. Even in GTO: The Early Years, he was so notorious as the strongest fighter in Shonan that people were constantly challenging him. He also set a record of 185 mph in a motorcycle race.
  • The Gundam franchise, thanks to the large number of works and sidestories, have quite a few examples of this trope. Among the first being Amuro Ray in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, which is also deconstructed given that his fame as a war hero and Newtype (thanks to the events of the original Mobile Suit Gundam) also makes him a danger to The Federation, leading to him in a Gilded Cage.
  • In Log Horizon, Shiroe discovers that the Landers have kept chronicles on the Adventurers from when the world was a game and view their past raids as feats of heroism. Ri Gan and Kinjo both refer to Shiroe as "the Archmage of the Tea Party".
    • Debauchery Tea Party as a whole was fairly famous within the gaming community, and among Landers, due to its achievements without ever becoming a formal guild. The guild leader William was a fanboy who resented them for disbanding before he had a chance to join.
  • In Love Live! Sunshine!!, μ's and A-Rise are considered two of, if not the most legendary school idol groups. There is no school idol group that has not heard about either of them.
  • The title character of Lyrical Nanoha had achieved this by the time of the A's to StrikerS supplementary manga, with tales about her reaching legendary status, with all that it entails.
    • To give you an idea: Nanoha Movies exist in-universe. Unfortunately, these are also TSAB propaganda, so certain characters don't get de-famed in-story even if they really, really deserve it — such as Admiral Graham and his involvement during Book of Darkness incident.
    • Hayate Yagami is shown to be similarly famed as the "Living Lost Logia" and the one who felled the Saint's Cradle. A group of Big Bad Wannabes in Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force who were planning to escape from captivity were immediately disabused of all notions of it when they learned that she was their captor's commanding officer, and were surprised that the rookies holding them didn't know of her fame.
  • Many heroes in My Hero Academia are famous to varying degrees but All Might is the most famous. And Midoriya's 1-A Class becomes well known after they successfully repelled a villain ambush during one of their classes, leading the media and the public to pay more attention to them during the Sports Festival.
  • All of Ala Rubra in Negima! Magister Negi Magi, but especially Negi's father, Nagi Springfield. One of the background shots in the Ostia festival shows that there's at least one movie that details their exploits.
    • Negi himself is getting to this point in the Magic World under the guise of "Nagi", because of his resemblance to his father, and because he goes and fights in a massive Tournament.
  • One Piece:
    • Gold Roger is well known as the "King of Pirates" and is the famous pirate in the series' world, even as a Posthumous Character.
    • The Straw Hat Pirates become increasingly famous as the story goes on, eventually hitting the point where the mere mention of their names strikes fear into most pirates, criminals, and citizens. Bounties serve the general story purpose of making sure that all of the setting's pirates are well-known.
    • Straw Hat crewmember Brook becomes a more traditional celebrity during the Time Skip, becoming the famous musician "Soul King", who nobody realized was a pirate. Once the truth is found out, his new wanted poster is simply just a flyer for one of his concerts.
    • Each of the Four Emperors are amongst the most famous pirates in the world (though Shanks and Whitebeard are the only ones who seem to have respect). The Shichibukai and Admirals are more in line with being The Dreaded since while they're famous, not a single one is treated with admiration except Jimbei or Aokiji, who both eventually quit.
  • Rebuild World: For Akira, this happens differently between hunters, and in the slums.
    • Rumors spread based on the first set of Lost Technology relics Akira discovers, speaking of a kid striking it rich, which leads to other hunters trying to find and interrogate or follow him to find more. After a while this leads to Alpha having Akira bring relics he had saved up at home with him to practice in a picked clean ruin, before doubling back and selling them, to lead such hunters on a Wild Goose Chase.
    • Specifically in the slums, Akira develops a reputation as The Dreaded as a result of decimating a gang in self-defense when they try to steal his relics, and then takes over the gang with Sheryl while making gruesome examples by doing things like dragging a man he killed through the streets. Eventually a Knowledge Broker spreads word how he let a pickpocket get away with stealing from him as part of her plans, making Akira be seen as a Paper Tiger. Akira being a Slave to PR about this motivates a Roaring Rampage of Revenge and footage of him winning a David Versus Goliath fight on foot against a Mini-Mecha restores his reputation.
  • In The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World, Misty Rose is (in)famous as "the Demon Swordsman" for his personality and incredible power, defeating numerous high-level dungeons on his lonesome and slaying fearsome beasts like dragons without outside aid.
  • Rooster Fighter: Due to Ibokura's livestreams, Keiji actually gets known as a hero.
  • Rurouni Kenshin: Kenshin is best remembered as Hitokiri Battousai, and the revelation of who he is enough to make a cold-blooded killer break into a sweat.
  • From the very beginning, Sailor Moon's title character is so popular with the public that throughout the series you can see plushies, figurines, and even costumes made in her likeness (along with the other Senshi). Her predecessor, Sailor V, is even more legendary, being greatly admired as a heroine of justice; she is talked about frequently before she is formally introduced, and there was even an anime being made about her. When Sailor Venus, who is Sailor V herself, finally joins the team, Sailor Moon is a full-blown Fangirl of V's.
  • In Saint Beast, everyone in heaven knows of Judas, even if they've never seen him. He needs no introduction whenever he meets someone new.
  • Lina Inverse goes beyond world-renowned in Slayers. In the anime, she finds out several of the epithets people know her by, which she's none-too-pleased with as they make her sound more like a blood-crazed psychopath than a great and wise mistress of arcane forces (to be fair, they're more accurate than her own self-image). One that particularly irks her is "Dragon Spooker" because supposedly dragons will step aside and let her pass mid-rampage rather than risk dealing with her. Then, later, a dragon in the middle of a town-destroying rampage catches a glimpse of her face and tries to nonchalantly make an escape...
  • Pharmacist Garak from Snow White with the Red Hair is very well known and famous in pharmacist, botanist, and other academic circles and when Shriayuki and Ryuu are sent by her to Lyrias the other researchers are vocally and rudely disappointed the pharmacists from the capitol don't include Garak herself. Once Suzu points out just who Ryuu is though they change their tune and immediately all rush to discuss some of his research with him, at which point Ryuu flees.
  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Kamina is never forgotten by Simon, his friends or the remaining entire human race.
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yugi Muto becomes world-famous as the "King of Games" after winning the Duelist Kingdom and Battle City tournaments, and before that has already made a name for himself by being the first duelist to defeat Seto Kaiba. When the KC Grand Championship comes around, he's quite embarrassed at the size of his fanbase.

    Asian Animation 
  • In Bread Barbershop, Bread Pitt is known both within Bakery Town and out for his haircutting skill, and many people from both backgrounds have gotten their haircut from him.

    Fairy Tales 
  • In Schippeitaro, the young man will adventure until he gets this.

    Fan Works 
  • Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): : Dr. Ishirō Serizawa is posthumous regarded the world over as something of a legend, following his Heroic Suicide to revive Godzilla.
  • Cole MacGrath and Delsin Rowe are both recognized as major influences behind the present day hero society that now exists in inFAMOUS Hero Academia, with Cole being seen as the "father" of Pro Heroes and Delsin Rowe being an influential figure for Pro-Quirk advocate movements. Outside of those two, Zeke Dunbar also became a leading figure for people accepting "Conduits," with his contributions being highly valued to the point where his work is thought to be the reason why the term "Conduit" ultimately began to fade out of use.
  • Clan Gully after they saved Baron Beltorey in The Tainted Grimoire. He is an influential person.
    Beltorey: This incident is going to spread like wildfire, and whether for better or worse, this small note  eight-person clan is now officially on the map.
  • Child of the Storm has most of the heroes being pretty famous, with Harry's fame steadily growing, thanks to his 'great deeds'. Harry, for his part, would much rather that it didn't, and finds it both embarrassing and aggravating — though he isn't shy of using it when he needs to, especially since part of that reputation is as The Dreaded Apocalypse Maiden.
  • Digimon Trinity: The original Digidestinednote  are noted to be as such from the first chapter.
  • In the Doctor Who fanfic Gemini, the inversion is Played for Drama. One of the things that worries Villain Protagonist Captain June Harper at the beginning of the story is the fact that the people holding her haven’t heard of the Time Agency despite their base being built so close to a Time Rift.
  • In A Hero Forged, Luz quickly becomes the talk of the town due to how out-of-nowhere her debut is, becoming famous across the Isles as the "Iron Witch."
  • This is a cause for some miscommunication in Four Armed Bride. Looma admits that she thought Ben would have had numerous lovers by this point because he is a famous hero known throughout the galaxy. Her forwardness throughout the story was motivated by the belief that Ben had already taken lovers before due to his status.
  • The Miraculous Tales of Consistent Narrative and Characterization: Unlike in canon, the the kwamis and their history of picking choosens to use their powers are not only known to the general public, but they are outright worship as gods.
  • In Pony POV Series, Apple Bloom became this in the Dark World by working for years to free Sunnytown from their curse and succeeding (it helped Discord cursed her the same way, though Applejack broke the curse after she succeeded by her request). For this act, she's remembered as Saint Applebloom of Sunnytown, especially by her descendants. Applejack recently gave her another boost of fame for revealing her spirit helped free her from Discord's control.
  • A New Chance Series: After gaining Latios and Latias as Pokemon and using the former in the Johto Silver Conference, Ash gains the fame, fans (especially Max) and recognition he failed to achieve in canon, with rivals and enemies alike knowing him as the kid with the Latios.
  • The Twilight Child: Happens when the Mane Six travel to Canterlot for the Hearth's Warming play. An angry stage director confronts them when they arrive, but quickly changes tack when he realises who they are, or who Fluttershy and Rarity are, at least. He then allows them full reign in "his" theatre. Rarity takes full advantage of this.
  • After winging both Karasuba and Akitsu in Birds of a Feather, Minato gains a reputation as the Demon Tamer Ashikabi who "battled Karasuba across the city for three days and three nights before emerging victorious and taking her as his woman".
  • This Bites!: The Straw Hats were infamous already in canon, but thanks to the SBS, their public connection is a lot more personal and in-depth.
  • The Lone Traveler: The eponymous traveler moves around the multiverse, to various different universes at different times. Due to the time travel component, he finds out about his legend long before he has personally done many of the things that earned it.
  • In Doctor in the Underworld, although the Tenth Doctor only learns of the Corvinus vampires and lycans during this encounter, coven historian Andreas Tanis and the ancient immortal Alexander Corvinus have already read about his appearances across history, to the extent that Alexander has hacked UNIT files to learn more about the Doctor’s true nature. Tanis observes that the Doctor has such a lethal reputation that his current ally Selene should be grateful the Doctor doesn’t consider her an enemy, while Alexander notes that it’s an honour to meet the Doctor after reading about him for so long.
  • Pokémon Reset Bloodlines: As always, Regional Champions are given high praise and booking. Eagun is also mentioned in a similar light.
    • Ash himself has managed to earn some fame after the Battle Dome Tournament and his gym battle with Erika. After his performance in the Fuchsia Tag Tournament, it seems it'll keep growing even more. However as shown during his fight with Janine, this isn't necessarily a good thing as it makes it easier for people to plan against him.
  • After the events of Greater Good, the All Guardsmen Party become known as heroes among both the Tau and human populace. Although for them it is also the case of Your Approval Fills Me with Shame.
  • Neither a Bird nor a Plane, it's Deku!: Aside from the obvious Pro Heroes, Izuku is secretly famous throughout Japan as the alien whose spaceship crashed at Mt. Fuji fifteen years ago. Countless tourists flock to the crash site in hopes of catching a glimpse of the big, green monster man they believe him to be (and possibly capturing him by beating him into submission with sticks sold by nearby vendors). Izuku is understandably unhappy with this "fame" and doesn't like talking about it. By the 30th century, he's famous for a much different reason: being Superman.
  • Life Ore Death portrays Robin the Boy Wonder as this, being an inspiration to a generation of sidekicks, as well as one-half of the "Wonder Twins" when he teamed up with Wonder Girl.
    • Ferris becomes this in Season 2, due to her part in stopping the Disappearance Disaster.
  • Crimson and Emerald: Tenya Iida, Izuku Midoriya, Shouto Todoroki, and Fumikage Tokoyami become widely known as the Hosu Quartet.
  • In Amazing Fantasy, Izuku becomes a local celebrity as "Prowler Kid" for running in to help an injured Peter when no one else would (albeit while all of the Pro Heroes had their hands tied by the bomb Prowler embedded in Mount Lady's neck). He's frequently stopped on the street for photos by people who recognize from the live television broadcast of the event. He's unnerved by his fame more than anything, as he spent his whole life feeling invisible as the only Quirkless kid he knew when he wasn't being mocked or beat up.
  • In Juxtapose, Izuku becomes this after he becomes the co-winner of the Sports Festival alongside Hitoshi. He soon finds that he's being stopped on the street by near-strangers who treat him like an old friend. He's flattered at first, but he becomes increasingly uncomfortable as people keep coming up to him and tries to shirk away from his new fame to no avail. It gets even worse after Izuku performs life saving surgery on All-Might after the attack on Mustafu.
  • In A Drop of Poison, Naruto ends up famous several times over by the end of the Chuunin Exams. First, he and his two infiltrator clones are well known for their efforts in the Sand-Sound Invasion. Second, Naruto's clones in Konoha became famous as the Doukeshi (clown) ANBU division, again for efforts during the Sand-Sound Invasion. Thirdly, Naruto's clones outside Konoha are famous as the Torasen and/or Hidden Spirit Village: a powerful mercenary group known for predominantly using clones which is famous enough that Mei Terumi requests their aid in the Kiri civil war.
  • The first time Izuku shifts into his Ragnarök form in The Norse Hero: Fenrir, it was an accidental maneuver in reaction to a mugger shooting his mother in a public place. Videos of this transformation went viral on the internet, becoming famous as the "Demon Werewolf." Even four years later in his time at UA, people still recognize Ragnarök whenever they see it for the first time in-person.
  • Tin Soldiers deals with some of the results of Steve Rogers being this in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Most notably, he has a large online fandom. The other Avengers are also mentioned to a lesser degree, as are Pepper Potts, Peggy Carter, and the Howling Commandos.
  • Izuku in Switch The Colors ends up developing a Banksy-esq identity as "The Might", having created some rather popular street art at the expense of a few All Might billboards.
  • Deadshots: The fic upgrades Ty Lee and her sisters to this. She is one of seven identical septuplets who all survived to be healthy teenagers, and their mother survived giving birth to them. As the author notes, that's happened less than ten times in recorded history in the real world with modern medicine; in the comparatively more primitive Avatar-verse, that's the kind of thing that would be hailed as a miracle.
  • In When Reason Fails, among U.A., Izuku is well-known due to something about him causing Himiko, a known killer, to not kill him like her other victims. Later feats, such as being the first person who Tsuyu spoke to, only boost it. Turns out that even Decay's sensei knows of him and his strange nature. Izuku becoming one of UA's Warlords by discovering and claiming the Special Exclusion Zone three weeks into his Candidacy, a frankly ludicrous feat when even if one is successful, it should have taken a lot more time than that, cements it.

    Films — Animation 
  • In Kung Fu Panda, the Furious Five are legendary kung fu masters famed across China. At the end of the film, the title character himself becomes a legend as the Dragon Warrior.
  • Scooby-Doo! Music of the Vampire: Scooby and the gang. After getting caught, the villain explains that he lured them into the town because scaring people with their reputations would have increased the popularity he hoped to obtain with his hoax.
  • In The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Donkey Kong is popular with the residents of the Jungle Kingdom thanks to being a Warrior Prince and is implied to be respected outside of it, given Peach thinks Mario agreeing to fight him is a mistake.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, both Superman and Batman are famous superheroes, and much discussed. Indeed, one of the main themes of the film is the public's perception of the two, and their perception of each other, compared to the truth of who they really are as people. This means that they're also infamous in-story, as well - Superman's methods and motives are continually questioned, and Batman is a figure of mystery and terror. By the end of the film, and in Suicide Squad (2016), public opinion is firmly on Superman's side, after he sacrifices his life to stop Doomsday.
  • In The Dark Knight, Batman takes the blame for Harvey Dent's murders, and is subsequently hated by the people of Gotham. In The Dark Knight Rises, he gets his good name cleared, and in the end a statue of him is erected.
  • The protagonist of Eyes of Laura Mars is a successful photographer whose work is displayed in large galleries, who is surrounded by reporters and photographers at public events, and who is about to publish a coffee table book of her work.
  • Godzilla:
  • The Hunger Games: Katniss Everdeen becomes one of the biggest celebrities in Panem.
  • Independence Day: Resurgence: It's implied that Russell from the first film is remembered as a hero for his Heroic Sacrifice that ultimately saved the world twenty years on, as his name is seen engraved on the rebuilt Washington Monument along with the names of others who died.
  • The main premise of My Name Is Nobody, where Beauregard is the most famous gunslinger of the West. This is actually a nuisance for the hero, as he constantly has to be cautious and sort some other people's problems out. In the end, he even fakes his own death just to retire.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe: Because of the general lack of Secret Identities, a lot of superheroes are also celebrities.
    • Iron Man ends with Tony Stark revealing his secret identity in a press conference. Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3 deal with the benefits and consequences of that decision. While all of the good will and support he generates as Iron Man makes him wildly popular, it also attracts just as many people who hate him. Plus, his enemies know exactly where he lives.
    • The Avengers touches on how the main characters have become famous or infamous due to their exploits in their previous movies. For instance, Tony Stark refers to Captain America as "a living legend who kind of lives up to his legend."
    • Played for Laughs in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. In the former, Tony mentions that he and Hulk have Ben & Jerrys flavours named after them. In the latter, a group of kids ask Bruce for a selfie but don't recognize Ant-man, who he's sitting with. Also, Thor uses his status to scare off a kid that was bullying Korg in Fortnite.
    • Black Widow (2021): Yelena calls out Natasha for living as a celebrity with the Avengers while her and the other Widows were still living in the shadows as hired mercenaries.
    • Spider-Man: No Way Home is about the downsides of this. After Mysterio revealed Peter's Secret Identity and framed him for murder at the end of the previous movie, the entire world is split down the middle on those who support him and those who think he's a public menace. The constant attention ruins his civilian life and hurts the people closest to him.
    • In Hawkeye, Clint is constantly perturbed by his celebrity status. He hates random people recognizing him on the street, because he was trained to be a spy and assassin - not someone to look up to. On a sillier note, there's a Broadway musical titled Rogers about Steve Rogers' life that also features the other main Avengers (and Ant-man for some reason).
  • The Mystery Team was once a well-respected and popular part of their town.
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl:
    Norrington: You are without a doubt the worst pirate I have ever heard of.
    Jack Sparrow: But you have heard of me.
  • Liz from Poor Pretty Eddie is a successful singer. When Eddie sees her signature, he says, "I've seen you on TV!" This is part of the reason he becomes obsessed with her, as he believes she will make him a famous singer.
  • Purgatory: It is the Wild West. Still, Sonny can recognize many of the townsfolk from dime novels he's read about them.
  • Robin and the Merry Men are this by the end of Robin Hood (1991).
  • Spaceballs: Yogurt!
    Yogurt: (In Mel Brooks' best Yiddish accent) You heard of me?
  • Captain Dax, at the end of Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation. Played for irony, as the Federation trumpets him as the champion of the very ideals he was shown to be very cynical towards in life.
  • The Viking: Before Leif Ericsson even appears in the movie, he is already mentioned as "the famous Leif Ericsson" in a title card, and when he finally appears on screen, a title card introduces him as "famed throughout the North for his strength, courage and justice." Shortly after, King Olaf honors him by proposing a toast to him, and later comments on Leif's plan of exploring the sea west of Greenland that such a voyage "would be an adventure worthy of you, Leif Ericsson!". No solid explanation for why Leif is so famous is given, as all this takes place before Leif makes his famous discovery.
  • Wild in the Streets: Even before Max Frost gets involved in politics, he's a massively successful multimillionaire rock star who owns 14 interlocking businesses.
  • X-Men: Apocalypse: Mystique has gained a positive reputation amiong humans and mutants around the world thanks to her actions in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

    Literature 
  • The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi: Stories of Amina's exploits as a pirate adventurer have spread across the seas, growing to outlandish magnitude — contrary to rumor, she isn't a sorceress with golden fangs. Her reputation can be a great help in recruiting crew from the wrong side of the law, but forces her to take great care to avoid the authorities.
  • The Afterward: Kalanthe, Olsa and the other seven companions are famous in the book, given they're the heroes who banished the evil Old God from the world. They were awarded by the king of their native country Cadrium publicly, which spread their fame, and many ballads about them are mentioned (usually quite romanticized).
  • In John Hemry's Paul Sinclair novel Against All Enemies, Paul Sinclair is told that his superior officer is intimidated by him, owing to his reputation for Incorruptible Pure Pureness.
  • In Connie Willis's All Clear, the men working at making Hitler think that Calais is the attack point are given instructions after D-Day after the observation that the rest of the army will get credit; they will be covered up.
  • In The Belgariad, the heroes exploit this: although they were careful to never mention the thief or what he stole by name for a time, they get all the minstrels to start telling certain stories. This creates such a clamor that the bad guy can't pick them out of the crowd.
  • Mary "Jackie" Faber, aka Bloody Jack: the common seamen of the Royal Navy call her "Puss-in-Boots", consider her a good luck charm, and practically worship the deck she walks on. Her fame becomes even more widespread once her friend Amy starts publishing her adventures.
  • Patrick McLanahan from Dale Brown books experiences both this and The Greatest Story Never Told. While he is recognised as a hero for such events as the counterattack against the American Holocaust, there are also many of his world-saving missions that the public will never know about until he's dead if not years after due to being black ops.
  • A Certain Magical Index: Touma Kamijou begins as a non-entity, but as word spreads of the power he holds in his right arm, Imagine Breaker, he slowly become a figure of dread among both Magic and Science's sides of the world. By the time New Testament rolls around, entire magical organizations are utterly terrified of Touma showing up, while in Academy City he's earned a solid reputation as the guy who will wreck your plans, punch the daylights out of you... and steal your girlfriend.
  • In John C. Wright's Chronicles of Chaos novel Fugitives of Chaos, Grendel talks of how Hesiod wrote of his mother and is not surprised that Amelia is shy about meeting her, her being famous and all.
  • In Codex Alera, Aldrick ex Gladius often serves as The Dragon for whichever character is currently in control, and not as a clear antagonist on his own, but he is legendary throughout Alera for his famed skill with the sword. His duel with Araris Valerian, also legendary because of his skill, is still being talked about fifteen years later.
  • In Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian story "Red Nails", Valeria "of the Red Brotherhood, whose deeds are celebrated in song and ballad wherever seafarers gather." Also, Conan himself is hardly immune to this.
    • The very first Conan story written, "The Phoenix on the Sword," opens with an epigraph from an in-universe historical text called The Nemedian Chronicles, which reads in part, "Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet."
    • In The Hour of the Dragon, he makes good use of his reputation from his days as a corsair.
  • A major theme of Ben Counter's Daemon World. The narrator recounts legends rather than tell the straight story of anything. (Partly because that way contradictions can be introduced.)
  • In Terry Pratchett's Discworld
    • The Last Hero, the heroes' motivation is that their attack on the gods will be remembered; they even drag along a minstrel to be sure of it. And in the end, the minstrel gets them to save the gods by pointing out if they destroy the gods — and the world — no-one will be around to remember. And then he recounts the story in heavy metal.
    • Dave Likely is known throughout the city in Unseen Academicals. Though at the end, the Game disowns fame for how you play.
  • The Dresden Files:
    • In Dead Beat, Luccio gives this as a reason to insist on Harry's becoming a warden; he's fought more evils than many wizards much older than him, and it's known. In later books, Harry notes that he thinks of it as part Shrouded in Myth because he remembers how close some of the things were. He doesn't seem to realise that only just raising a zombie Tyrannosaurus Rex is still a nigh-on Godly feat.
    • Harry is also The Dreaded to various supernatural baddies. At one point a Red Court Vampire who also happens to be one of the Court's most deadly and skilled assassins turns and runs screaming at the sight of Harry.
      • Harry manages to go from a relative unknown in the first book to being recognized on sight by more and more people after only a few books. It helps that there's generally a gap of about 6 months to a year between each book, which is plenty of time for word to spread. And with the series on 16 books and counting, the gaps between books really start adding up.
  • The Earthsea book A Wizard of Earthsea is explicitly described as being about Ged when he was young and not famed in-story; in it, a friend declares he will make a song so his deeds will be remembered, but either he didn't or the song was lost. However, by The Farthest Shore, Ged is indeed famed.
  • In Wen Spencer's Endless Blue, Hardin tells Mikhail that immortality is when people know your name millennia after your death. Mikhail later threatens to eradicate all record of him if he does something.
  • David Gemmell's heroes usually become famous when songs are written about their deeds. Druss, Waylander, the Earl of Bronze and the Thirteen are remembered long after they are dead. Ulric's big regret about Druss's death is that he will be cast as the villain of the stories that will be written about the siege. He did not know that his champion put poison on his sword and would have never allowed it but history will not remember it that way.
  • In John C. Wright's The Golden Age, The Phoenix Exultant, and The Golden Transcendence, "Deeds of renown without peer" are Phaethon's great desire and Arc Words.
  • The Golden Hamster Saga: Freddy Auratus, the world's only literate hamster, keeps the fact that he can read and write a secret during the first few books. But by the end of Freddy to the Rescue, so many people know Freddy's secret that he and his owner Mr. John decide that it would be safest to go public, so that if anyone tries to hurt Freddy, they'll have his fans to contend with. Freddy publishes his books and becomes an internationally famous author.
  • Gotrek brings Felix along in the stories that bear their names so that his final end might be memorialized in song.
    • Felix frequently wonders how, exactly, he is supposed to survive something that can kill Gotrek, the nastiest dwarf alive.
    • As of Manslayer, we know that Felix's brother Otto has been publishing the journals he sent home for safekeeping (to act as notes for the eventual epic). And they have proven to be popular if taken for fiction in some quarters, and disliked by those "slandered" by their portrayal.
  • Discussed in The Hammer (2022). Due to fighting along so many heroes in his previous life, Tiny remembers the names of all of the important fighters in the efforts to repel the Demon Lord's armies. So Asgard takes notice when Tiny is ignorant of the names of numerous high-level knights living in the present, as this means that these knights were somehow killed before Tiny got to meet or hear of them. This includes one of Asgard's best men, Jenas Freewell, a sixth-level knight and the grandmaster of the Blue Wings Order. With this knowledge in mind, Asgard begins investigating the circumstances that could lead to Jenas' death and the assassination of the Aslan Empire's royal family.
  • Professor McGonagall rightly predicted that Harry Potter would "be famous. I wouldn't be surprised if today was named Harry Potter Day. There won't be a child in our world who doesn't know his name." Fulfilled (beyond Real Life) at the end of the saga, since The Tales of Beedle the Bard talks about "the seven volumes on the life of Harry Potter", hinting that they may have been published for real in the book's universe.
  • Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar novel By the Sword starts with the teen protagonist Kerowyn going on a rescue mission alone to save her brother's fiancée. By mid-book "Kerowyn's Ride" has become a popular song. Three-quarters of the way through everyone she meets seems to know it... and half of them cannot sing.
    • Kero gets off lucky compared to Kethry (her grandmother) and Tarma (her teacher). In the Oath books they had to deal with several, many of which were composed and consciously embellished (motivated by mere money? nonsense!) by one particularly irritating minstrel with a fixation on the latter.
    • Vanyel Ashkevron of the Last Herald-Mage Trilogy, thanks to his beauty, outrageously strong Mage-Gift, and quite a few offscreen moments of awesome, is extremely famous by the second book and finds it tremendously disheartening as even Heralds tend to react to him with a combination of fear and awe. It's yet worse in the third book, as his competence and remoteness on top of everything make him seem barely human. Hundreds of years later, he's still famous.
  • In Rick Riordan's The Heroes of Olympus novel The Mark of Athena, Annabeth is surprised to find, among tapestries depicting other famous events, the time she and Percy were kissing under a river.
  • Katniss, Peeta and any other tribute who won their Game and thus survived due to the very nature of "The Hunger Games". Just like with reality show contestants in real life...
  • In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, they hear the tales of Beren and Lúthien at Rivendell. Frodo and Sam discuss, on the way, whether they would get such a story, and they are deeply moved when they are rescued from Mount Doom and actually get to hear "Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom".
  • In the Malazan Book of the Fallen there is Kallor, who, way, way back was the High King of Jacuruku and his actions made him infamous enough to lure three gods to curse him. He is widely known as "The High King".
  • In The Orphan's Tales Zmeya's tragic story is so popular people go mad from love for her, or like Oubliette try to follow her to the land of death.
  • Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg's The Positronic Man: Chapter one establishes that Andrew will have become famous for what he is by the end of the story. By the time chapter one happens, Andrew has already been acclaimed as the Sesquicentennial Robot. He seems to regret that his fame doesn't come from who he is, just what he is.
    He was more than a little famous. He had never asked for his fame, of course- that was not his style- but fame, or at any rate notoriety, had come to him all the same. Because of what he had achieved: because of what he was. Not who, but what.
  • In The Princess Series, the stories of the main characters (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella) are as well known in their world as they are in ours. Played with as the versions of the story that are most well known are the Lighter and Softer Disney versions while what really happened is closer to the Darker and Edgier Grimm Brothers versions.
  • Quantum Gravity: Zal is a rock star. He's also known for trying to bring together the elves and the demons, but for those who know it's more Infamous In Story.
  • In Rachel Griffin, Sigfried Smith is a celebrity at the age of fourteen for having killed a dragon. He also saved Roanoke Campus from a flying, flaming skunk.
  • In Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings second book, Royal assassin, After a Skill-induced vision, FitzChivalry Farseer tells the captain of the battleship he's in to set course to a nearby watchtower, where he foresaw an attack of the Red ships raiders. He leads the charge in the back of the unexpecting Outislanders, then kills the last of them in a duel, leading to the capture of the raider's ship and freeing the besieged watchtower, thus scoring the first true win over the Red Ship Raiders after years of conflict. Minstrels sings about this feat the very same night, where he is celebrated as the saviour of Antler island.
  • David Charleston of The Reckoners Trilogy achieves this after the first book due to his pivotal role in the assassination of a notorious superhuman tyrant. The Reckoners as an organization seem to have some in-universe notoriety independently of David, although most individual members are anonymous.
  • Reign of the Seven Spellblades: After being at the forefront of several noteworthy campus incidents in the first two years of the series, the Sword Roses and Oliver Horn and Nanao Hibiya especially start to become minor celebrities in the student body, with audience members in the third-year combat leagues even heard cheering for Oliver specifically (a switch from him being Overshadowed by Awesome in the earlier books). It has its downsides, though: in volume 6, they begin to get targeted for harassment by incumbent Student Council President Alvin Godfrey's political opponents in attempts to embarrass him by proxy.
  • After Arrow-Odd of The Saga of Arrow-Odd has returned from his very first raiding expedition that took him to Bjarmaland, almost everyone to whom he introduces himself asks in response, "Are you the Odd that went to Bjarmaland?"
  • Because News Travels Fast in Shadow of the Conqueror, Daylen quickly acquires a reputation as a hero, which he tries to avoid because of his past. Ahrek also briefly wonders if Lyrah has some sort of special reputation, after seeing Daylen recognize her on sight, but she denies it, saying that she isn't more famous than any other individual Archknight.
  • Sharpe: Sharpe and Harper go undercover to investigate corruption in their regiment by enlisting as rankers, and are regaled by the recruiting sergeant with stories about how every enlisted man in the South Essex can be a successful badass like his best friends Major Richard Sharpe and RSM Patrick Harper, whom he taught everything they know...
  • Helva, The Ship Who... Sang earns that moniker early because of her Beautiful Singing Voice. In the first few years of her career, her brawn gets into fights for her sake when other people ridicule her for it and it becomes a small thing, a curiosity. Her extremely eventful first decade in service, in which she uses quick thinking and those same musical and voice-imitating skills to get herself through some very difficult situations, leads to greater fame as she pays off an Indentured Servitude that takes other brainships decades or centuries. She doesn't appear herself in the other books, but now and then is mentioned with respect.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire:
    • "The Rains of Castamere" is an in-universe song about Tywin Lannister taking down the Reynes of Castamere, a rebellious noble house. It shows Tywin's reputation as The Dreaded.
    • Donal Noye: "A one-armed smith killed the king of giants? There will be songs written about this!"
    • Jamie "The Kingslayer" Lannister is (in)famous throughout Westeros for killing Aerys "The Mad King" Targaryen, for being incredibly good-looking, and for being the best swordsman in the kingdom. He finds it rather annoying.
  • In Saga Of The Forgotten Warrior by Larry Correia, the hero is known as "Black Hearted Ashok" after twenty years service to the Protectors. He's earned it.
  • In Spheres of Influence: Ariane proves to be this after her actions in Grand Central Arena, when she meets her first fan in the Arena, asking for her autograph.
  • Star Wars Legends:
    • The Power Trio and some of their companions become famed throughout the Galaxy Far Far Away, leading to this trope being referenced frequently after the Battle of Yavin, and especially after the Battle of Endor. Luke and Leia reach the apex of society as Jedi grand master and New Republic Chief of State, respectively, while Han Solo has to deal with being famous, but not quite as famous, as the other two and generally resentful of all the attention when he'd happily be jetting around the galaxy in the Falcon instead of attending state functions. Lando parlays his connections and reputation into a series of business ventures which any plot that involves him inevitably destroys. And Wedge, though a background character, has the distinction of being the only person in the galaxy to destroy two Death Stars, with all the hero worship and friction inherent for a guy who just wants to fly a starfighter and shoot bad guys.
    • The Hand of Thrawn: Luke has an attempt to infiltrate a Space Pirate base go awry. He turns out the lights with the Force to give himself an opening, then ignites his lightsaber in the darkness. One of the pirates immediately yells, "It's Skywalker!"
    • Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor has several references to pulpy, facts-optional dramas created around Luke Skywalker, one of which is plot-important. Luke does not appreciate these and the impressions that they give about him.
    • X-Wing Series:
      • Played for laughs in The Bacta War. Mirax Terrik takes advantage of her father, Booster Terrik's, fame as a smuggler on several occasions to force merchants to either play fair with the Rogues or to even get them a discount. Then Corran tries to pull it himself when a buyer tries to outbid them while out shopping for parts with Mirax... only for him to bust out laughing, forcing Mirax to sheepishly interject inform Corran that the man they're bidding against is her father.
      • In Starfighters of Adumar, Wedge Antilles and Red Flight are sent to Adumar purely because they're famous pilots.
  • The Outcasts of Tasakeru will be "whispered of as legends" in the future, up to 150 years or more after the events of the story.
  • Thursday Next: In The Eyre Affair, this is Achron's motive.
  • According to the beginning of Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, Twilight has become famous around Equestria.
  • Arthur Schoenberg from Vampire Academy, "one of the greatest Strigoi killers in living guardian history". He appears only briefly as a corpse, but he is the most famous guardian to appear in-universe. His exploits are covered in schoolbooks at the Academy.
  • In The Vazula Chronicles, Merletta is the first mermaid from the poor Underwater City of Tilssted to become a trainee at the Center of Culture in generations. In A Kingdom Discovered, she finds out that she's a local hero in Tilssted. Whenever she swims through that city or the kelp farms where many Tilssted residents work, merpeople are delighted to recognize her.
  • Villains by Necessity: Mizzamir, the last of the Six Heroes, is world famous for their feat defeating the Dark King over a hundred years ago and sealing out all evil. It turns out that Sir Pryse is still alive though, and he's recognized on sight as well.
  • The War Gods: Much to his embarrassment, Prince Bahzell has his own ballad (The Lay of Bahzell Bloody-Hand) constantly added to by his "bard" friend Brandark. Unfortunately for Bahzell, Brandark set it to the tune of a popular drinking song, and News Travels Fast.
  • Warhammer 40,000 Expanded Universe:
    • In the Blood Angels novel Red Fury, Rafen looks at the carvings about the tomb, recounting the deeds of a Blood Angel who had actually entombed Sanguinius's body; it inspires him to carry on. Later, Turkio considers how he, a mere line-brother, will not be remembered in stories, but still carries on.
    • Sandy Mitchell's Ciaphas Cainnote  finds his story being told (inaccurately) all over the place.
    • In Henry Zhou's The Emperor's Mercy, Imperial Guardsmen are surrounded by Chaos forces and are fighting on, despite dying of hunger and disease. Roth tells Celemine that they had no choice but to stay with them. The commander hears and instantly wants to fight a last charge: they can get them to their ship and hold off the enemy — and that way, they can be remembered. (They are. In fact, their eighteen minutes defense of the ship is immortalized in a mural on Terra.)
    • In the Gaunt's Ghosts story "In Remembrance", after taking Thuro out on a patrol rather farther than they should have, the Ghosts make much of his recognizing an ambush and fixing a flamer on the field. Thuro then goes on to commemorate them in a statue; the story is framed as an interview about that, his most famous work.
    • In the Horus Heresy books, the Legions are accompanied by remembrancers to ensure this. Well, until Horus massacres them.
    • In the Space Wolf novel Wolf's Honour, the skald, Morgrim, attends all that happens to recount it in song. When Mikal realizes he overheard him talking to his unconscious superior, he angrily demands to know how Morgrim will tell it; Morgrim declares that he will say that a hero paid his respect to his lord before battle, and Mikal refuses to believe it, thinking Morgrim will remember him as a failure. Morgrim assures him that his lord had felt the same way on many an occasion.
  • Firestar in Warrior Cats. Even before he became a Clan leader, he was well-known among the Clans for his heroic, if sometimes mouse-brained, deeds. After becoming ThunderClan's leader, he is regarded as one of the greatest cats the forest has ever seen, and even after his death all five Clans tell stories about him. In Shattered Sky, SkyClan trusts Twigpaw immediately once she tells them that she was from the Clan that Firestar had led before she was born.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Played with in Agent Carter — Agent Carter's name is well-known amongst Americans due to her involvement in Captain America: The First Avenger, but her exploits are not. Instead, she's portrayed in radio dramas exclusively as Captain America's frequently-captured Damsel in Distress.
  • The Ark (2023):
    • Angus is well-known (albeit not entirely taken seriously by everyone at first) for being a 4-H kid who grew lots of crops in the Mojave Desert.
    • William Trust's experiments have all of humanity watching his actions with anticipation and/or distrust.
  • Astrid: When Astrid attends police academy in season 3, she has initially a traumatic flashback to her last, disastrous time attending public school. Once the other police cadets realize who she is, however, they turn out to be admirers of her previous casework with the judicial police, and one even criticizes the instructor for putting her on the spot and causing her to have an autistic burnout.
  • Babylon 5: Before taking command of B5, John Sheridan is already famed not only as the only Earthforce commander to destroy a Minbari capital ship (and live to tell the tale) during the Earth/Minbari war, but the only Earthforce commander to survive an engagement with the Minbari period. The Minbari see him as their Red Baron, "Starkiller", for the exact same reasons.
    • Sheridan — and those around him — become so famous that they're still talked about a thousand years in the future. And even a million years in the future, they're still remembered.
  • As shown in semi-fictional form in Band of Brothers, Ronald Speirs used his reputation as a cold-blooded killer to his advantage. This was explicitly pointed out by Speirs to Lipton. In both the show and in real life, no-one is quite sure if he really was that much a stone-cold killer. On the other hand, given the stuff he is actually known to have done (being his run straight through a German-occupied village... and then back) his rep really didn't need extra padding.
  • Being Human (UK): Mitchell is something of a legend among vampires, even getting his own creepy Fan Boy stalker. They tell stories about his murders, particularly Herrick. He is none too pleased about it though, complaining that his actions can be seen as an inspiration to other vampires.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy is described by Dracula as "world-famous".
  • Doctor Who: The Doctor erratically, since they tend to hop around space and time and are not actually universally known, but it happens on many occasions.
    • "Forest of the Dead": The Tenth Doctor is trying to rescue some humans who are stuck in a library being claimed by a colony of aliens. They don't care about the humans and are going to kill them just to get them out of the way. The Doctor tells them "I'm the Doctor, and you're in the biggest library in the Universe. Look me up." They back off immediately.
    • This trope backfires SPECTACULARLY on the Doctor during Series 5 and 6. As a result of throwing his weight around, the Doctor has become Famed In Story as a Technical Pacifist One-Man Army who survived the Time War by wiping out his own people along with the other guys and generally seems to like playing God with the universe while being somewhat/completely bonkers — and the bad guys respond by not waiting around for the Doctor to "fall from the sky and tear down [their] world" and taking the fight to him instead, putting the Doctor's closest friends (and sometimes the whole rest of the universe) in the crosshairs as well. In the end, the Doctor has to fake his own death and go back to being anonymous in order to continue operating.
    • "The Tsuranga Conundrum": General Cicero is a decorated war hero famous enough to have an entry in the Book of Celebrants. In turn, she's heard of the Doctor, who apparently rates an entire volume of the book.
  • Moya's crew in Farscape has built up quite a few impressive exploits as a result of being chased all over the galaxy by bad guys. As a result, word has gotten around, though the stories are a bit... exaggerated, in some respects.
    • First, in "Suns and Lovers":
      Borlik: You know, I heard he destroyed a Peacekeeper Gammak Base, murdered an entire Nebari battalion, even laid waste to a Shadow Depository. The guy was a devil: he raped and pillaged, he popped eyeballs—
      Crichton: Whoa-whoa! Where do they get these stories? Let's set the facts straight. First off, there was no raping, very little pillaging, and Frau Blucher popped all the eyeballs.
    • And again in "Scratch and Sniff":
      Raxil: Two guns? I mean... I thought you were the Great Crichton & D'Argo! I mean... you blew up a shadow depository! I thought you'd bring pelshfer charges! And a plasma bomb! And a really big gunship! BUT NO! YOU BRING NOTHING! YOU BRING TWO LITTLE WEAPONS THAT WOULDN'T KILL A NIKNIK!
      D'Argo: (hesitantly) You... have heard of us?
      Raxil: Yeah. I've heard stories. But obviously, they aren't worth a bucket of dren!
      • Though considering that this is part of an outlandish tale Crichton is telling Pilot, it's hard to say if the exchange actually happened.
  • Game of Thrones:
    • Tywin Lannister's destruction of House Reyne inspired the song "The Rains of Castamere", which serves as the Lannister theme.
    • Lord Eddard Stark is renowned across Westeros as one of the leaders of Robert's Rebellion who deposed a psychotic King.
    • King Aegon I Targaryen is remembered in a positive light as founder of the realm by many, his conquest ended the independence of the Seven Kingdoms and while many of the previous kings were downgraded to Lords Paramount, others were elevated. In the books, the first Baratheon was a general in Aegon's army and possibly his half-brother. Dorne resisted the Targaryen conquest with guerrilla warfare and only joined the realm peacefully two centuries later with its autonomy mostly intact (hence why the nobles of House Martell, Dorne's paramount house, are princes and princesses). The Lannisters surrendered after being defeated, the Tyrells were raised to lordship over the lands of the extinguished House Gardener, the Tullys were raised to lordship over the Riverlands after the fall of House Hoare and its patriarch, King Harren (as in the guy who built Harrenhal), while the Starks and Arryns surrendered peacefully with favorable terms. The greatest losers still standing after the war were the Ironborn, The Remnant of Harren's shattered kingdom from which the Greyjoys emerged.
    • Invoked by Kovarro. He returns to Daenerys' khalasar saying that Qarth is ready to welcome "the Mother of Dragons," the first time that the title had been used in the show. When they get to the gates, the Thirteen show the greatest interest in Daenerys because of her dragons, not because of her bloodline. Kovarro is, in effect, a very skilled PR agent.
    • Jeor Mormont of the Night's Watch was a renowned warrior in life, and is a well-remembered figure after his death.
  • Grey's Anatomy
    • Bailey is perhaps the first example, as the new intern's fearsome "Nazi" teacher.
    • George's open-heart surgery in the elevator was sufficiently amazing that Jackson is impressed to learn who did it six seasons later.
      Jackson: George was the heart-in-the-elevator guy? I heard about that. Sounded badass.
    • April's refusal to lose Owen's trauma certification becomes legend.
    • The plane crash survivors become known as the Seattle Grace Five after surviving four days in the wilderness after a major crash.
      Meredith: You know, they call us the Seattle Grace Five. There were six of us that went up and only five of us came back. And now there are only three of us alive.
    • Arizona, to the point of Shrouded in Myth, acquires a reputation for being unkillable.
      Stephanie: You are kind of a legend with the interns and residents. You're one of the Seattle Grace Five.
      Arizona: I survived a plane crash, big deal
      Stephanie: And a car crash. And a shooting. You might be immortal. You mastered one of the most exclusive specialties basically overnight, and then you took Herman's job and her eyesight....You have screwed dozens of interns, and you got them all fired. You speak really fast, like superhuman fast. You have a weird name...They say you have two legs, and you are only pretending that one is amputated. For the parking space.note 
  • On Heroes, when Hiro has to leave Yaeko and return to the present, she promises to tell people everywhere of his brave acts as Kensei so that the little boy Hiro will have lots of fantastic bedtime stories.
  • In Highlander: The Series, Duncan MacLeod is a legend in his home village of Glen Finnan. "He came back from the grave, took up his father's sword and slew the Viking". Duncan has to do it all over again, though, because when he killed Kanwulf the first time, he was a newborn immortal and didn't know he had to take his opponent's head.
    • Naturally, there are a ton of stories floating around about Methos, which enables the fake Methos in "The Messenger" to do his thing.
  • In House the title character is considered a pariah in the medical community due to his disdain for medical ethics and procedures and for being extremely arrogant. However, on the flipside, he's also a world-famous doctor — he's the doctor others send their patients to when they're stumped for a conclusive diagnosis. In spite of his maverick behavior and reputation, he's constantly getting resumes from med students hoping to be one of his fellows. In Season 4, he had a hundred applicants when he needed a new team. However having House on your resume is considered something of a double-edged sword by prospective employers — the trick is to work for House long enough to acquire a professional knowledge of diagnosis without picking up his bad habits which most employers, unlike Cuddy, will not tolerate — Foreman found this out the hard way when he pulled one House-like stunt at another hospital was terminated in spite of him being right and was forced to come back to Princeton when no other hospital would touch him since that one incident gave him the reputation of being "House-lite".
  • On Match Game, Richard Dawson would usually quip that his 1974 reboot of the old panel show Masquerade Party was the most popular show in Guam.
  • Jack Killian from Midnight Caller is well-known enough, at least in the Bay Area, that most of the people he meets have heard of him. When he's chosen to select the winning numbers in the lottery, the host even refers to him as a "celebrity number-puller."
  • NUMB3RS: Charlie is this already by the time of the beginning of the series, well known for his genius and publishing several papers before he was 18. In an early season 1 episode, an investigator for the TSA actually recognizes and fanboys a little over meeting him. As the series progresses, he and Don become well-known among the FBI and other federal agencies for their unorthodox methods; a couple episodes had agents specifically requests Don's team to utilize their skills and Charlie's talents.
  • Person of Interest: John Reese, aka The Man in the Suit, very quickly earns a reputation for himself among the people of New York City upon taking up his role as a Vigilante Man. By the end of the first season alone he's already earned himself his own dedicated FBI task force specifically tasked with taking him down.
  • By the end of the series, Stargate SG-1 has made the entirety of Earth's forces both famed and feared throughout the Milky Way Galaxy.
    • A few specific examples:
      • In "The Warrior", a newly-introduced Jaffa greets SG-1 with "I honor he who would kill his god. And to his brethren of the Tau'ri: slayers of Ra, Hathor, Setesh, Heru'ur, Sokar, Cronus, and Apophis."
      • Though their reputation is somewhat exaggerated in that case. It was Apophis who did away with Heru-ur, the Tok'ra who got rid of Sokar, and the Replicators who ultimately crippled Apophis' ship to the point of smashing into that planet (though it was the infamous Remember When You Blew Up a Sun? moment in the previous episode that got SG-1 and Apophis out in Replicator territory in the first place, so they had a hand, in a roundabout way.)
      • The Goa'uld Nerus arranges to end up at Stargate Command under the pretense of helping them defeat the Ori (he's actually The Mole). His introductory scene finds him extremely disappointed at the personnel changes in SG-1 as he was really looking forward to meeting O'Neill and Colonel Carter.
      • When SG-1 gets captured in "Off the Grid", the bad guy (a small-time player in the Lucian Alliance) knows exactly who they are.
    • Same thing happens in Stargate Atlantis. Word spreads pretty quickly around the Pegasus Galaxy about the people living in Atlantis and battling the Wraith (and later, the Replicators).
      • Of course, word also spreads about how many of these crises they were responsible for in the first place. They are the kings of Nice Job Breaking It, Hero, to the point that the Pegasus Galaxy would be a lot safer if the Atlantis crew had never shown up.
  • Star Trek's Klingons love immortalizing their great heroes in song; for example, Kahless. Klingons being Klingons, they tend to shout "This day will be remembered in song!" at the drop of a hat. One gets the impression that they probably say it after a particularly good meal.
    • The crew of Voyager gains quite the reputation in the Delta Quadrant. Admittedly, it's not all roses; one planet had a museum exhibit in which the Voyager crew were a bunch of sadistic Nazis.
    • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Sisko, being a key commander in the war (and long before that an anticipated one), gets some of this, and is explicitly described as a public figure by his journalist son. His psycho-graphic profile becomes required reading among the Vorta. Later a Romulan senator meets Sisko and after listing off some of his accomplishments, vaguely insinuates he's unimpressed.
    • Picard seems to be seen as somewhat of a hero on Earth for saving them from the Borg.
    • After his house is dishonored, most Klingons Worf meets know exactly who he is. The show tends to give the impression that every Klingon knows who every other Klingon is, or at least knows their House's reputation.
    • After Worf defeats several Jem'Hadar soldiers in hand-to-hand combat (despite suffering worse and worse injuries with each bout), General Martok offers to seek out a prominent Klingon bard and have him compose a song about Worf's deeds. He also offers to have the song include Doctor Bashir, "the healer who bound the warrior's wounds so he could fight again!"
    • Archer and to a lesser extent his senior crew probably also qualify, as they seemed to get some public attention after starting their historic mission, and later prevented the destruction of the Earth.
  • Suits has a subversion. An opposing lawyer fully expects Harvey to know him by reputation even though he usually practices in another city. However, Harvey never actually heard of him. Turns out the guy is so good that none of Harvey's lawyer friends and colleagues are willing to talk about the brutal trouncing he gave them in the courtroom.
  • Supernatural:
    • Dean Winchester apparently has something of a Memetic Badass status among evil creatures.
      Cain: Dean Winchester is asking for help? That's not the man I read about on demon bathroom walls.
    • His brother Sam is such a legend in the supernatural world that Death, who is typically indifferent towards everything, considers it an honour to reap his soul.
    • Played with with Castiel. Every angel in Heaven seems to know who he is, but they tend to mostly remember the bad parts of his legacy. Even those who sympathize with him, like Samandriel, tend to just say things like "he was always trying to do the right thing" rather than thinking of him as an actual hero.
    • In Season 12, it's shown that most of the hunter community knows of the Winchesters. Unlike in Season 5, where they were hated after unintentionally freeing the Devil, the Winchesters have become hunter idols, with their stories being shared like campfire legends. One of the hunters actually gushes like a fanboy, unable to believe he actually got to meet THE Sam Winchester.
    • Samuel Colt is this among modern hunters.
  • Teen Wolf: Nearly every supernatural or hunter who enters Beacon Hills knows of Scott McCall. Justified in-universe because he's an extremely rare True Alpha, meaning he was a beta who became an Alpha through the sheer strength of his character rather than gaining it through the death or murder of another Alpha.
  • Titans (2018): At the start of the series, the Justice League have been operating for decades and their members (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc.) are famous throughout the world — Superman apparently is so popular that people made shirts of him. Dick also used to lead another group of Titans five years ago which while not as famous as the Justice League still have people who remember their heroics back in the day.
  • Veronica Mars ultimately becomes this to her own utter shock at graduation as her name is received with a round of very loud applause from her peers and the crowd. This is lampshaded by the principal who asks her, "Did you expect a different response?" Fixing everyone's problems tends to get you recognition.

    Manhwa 
  • Yureka: Who in all of Lost Saga hasn't heard of Team Triple Threat and the other heroes of the Demon War? Not to mention, oh, all master level players. (Or so they think.)

    Poetry 

    Tabletop Games 
  • In BattleTech Aleksandr Kerensky is well revered by everyone in the Inner Sphere, and the Clans view him as a Messianic Archetype. Jerome Blake is also revered as this by ComStar and the Word of Blake. By the Dark Age, Victor Steiner-Davion has reached this status as the man who defeated the Clans while Devlin Stone became known as the man who destroyed the Word of Blake, ended the Jihad, and founded the Republic of the Sphere.

    Theater 

    Video Games 
  • Afterimage: The Hermit is known in tales as a talentless man who became a great adventurer. Though his story was believed as merely a fairy tale, an adventurer named Karsa wants to find the Hermit's relic to prove that the myths are true.
  • Art of Fighting: As is the case with Terry, Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia are also renowned for their fighting ability and their achievements.
    • According to canon, Ryo became the champion of the first official King of Fighters tournament by defeating Geese. Which took place over a decade before Geese's fated match with Terry. Because of his prowess, he has earned the title "Mouteki no Ryu" ("The Invincible Dragon") and has gone on to become a legend.
    • Robert is credited for defeating Mr. Big, who's known to be one of the most feared and powerful crimelords in South Town, to help save Ryo's sister, Yuri. In addition, he's recognized as Ryo's equal in prowess and stature and is famed as the first known foreign practitioner of Kyokugenryu Karate, and as the first foreigner to ever master the discipline. Robert has also been acknowledged as a "natural genius" by friend and foe alike, which has earned him the title of "Saikyo no Tora" — "The Mightiest Tiger".
  • In Assassin's Creed II, bards will sing about your exploits to you, and if you are notorious, wanted posters with your name and (obscured) face start appearing, while town yellers will start denouncing you. During multiplayer, you can sometimes hear the town yellers mentioning your single-player character.
    • During the last Lair of Romulus in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Basilica di San Pietro), while you're trailing the target cardinal, a group of other cardinals can be overheard discussing you:
    Cardinal #1: His name is Ezio Auditore.
    Cardinal #2: Who?
    Cardinal #1: The Assassin. Killed the Banker. They say he walks the halls of il Vaticano ("the Vatican"), with no one able to stop him.
    • By 1524, legends about Ezio's skills have spread as far as China.
  • In some of the Avernum games your characters' fame plays a role in how well you're treated. After the first game, you sometimes hear mentions of the "Great Heroes" of the previous game.
  • Averted in Brütal Legend. In the end, protagonist Eddie Riggs doesn't get fame, glory or even credit for the things he did. He wouldn't have it any other way.
    • But it's also played totally straight with his father.
  • In Dawn of the Dragons, by the time of the sixth quest zone (which takes place several months from the beginning), people start talking about the dragon-rider as if he/she is a hero on par with the mythic figures from the age of legends. By the ninth quest zone, the dragons are referring to him/her with curses and have made killing the dragon-rider their top priority. The dragon-rider can't escape this trope even after being teleported to the other side of the continent. He/she almost immediately becomes The Chosen One destined to free a Slave Race.
  • In Dead Rising 3, stand-outs of Frank West and Chuck Greene from the previous games can be seen in Los Perdido's museum exhibit on the history of zombies. The fourth game also reveals that the new Willamette mall has attractions based around famous "victims" of the first outbreak like Brad Garrison and Jessie McCarney.
  • In the first installment of Detectives United, two of the three newly-acquainted detectives are indicated to be this. James Blackthorne says that Agent Brown is reputed as the oldest and most famous of the Mystery Trackers; later, when they meet Anna, Brown refers to her as being "the famous Anna Gray."
  • Dragon Age:
    • Practically every Grey Warden who has killed an Archdemon, ending a Blight in the process, throughout the history of Thedas. For one example, the Grey Warden Garahel, who ends the Fourth Blight, is still considered a renowned great hero 400 years after his death - despite the fact that he is an elf, whose people suffer from the effects of Fantastic Racism.
    • Even before killing the current Archdemon (and thus winning the game), the Player Character of Dragon Age: Origins becomes this in the course of their adventures. By the time of the expansion Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening, which takes place six months after the end of Origins, the Warden's fame has become so extensive that, when confronted with the realization of just who has come to deal with them, one potential adversary throws himself off a cliff rather than face the Warden.
    • This is one of the defining features of Dragon Age II. Since it takes place over several years, Hawke's exploits are talked about quite frequently. Their fame - or infamy, depending how you see it - carries over into the next game as well.
  • The Elder Scrolls:
    • Throughout each game, your character naturally becomes more famous as you progress through the main quest; in most games this also includes faction questlines as well. By the end, many NPCs will respond to you with the awe a world-saving hero deserves. (But not always...)
    • This trope and Artificial Stupidity combine hilariously in Oblivion. You can sneak up on bandits and literally hear them singing your praises, which doesn't stop them from trying to kill you the moment they spot you.
  • Fallout: New Vegas: Get enough status with the NCR, and they'll laud your awesomeness whenever you show up. Many other factions do the same. Quite a few other people recognize your sheer badassery; after freeing Raoul (requiring you to cut a swath through a dozen supermutants) he says "When a supermutant tells you to do something, you do it. Well, maybe you don't..."
    • The Vault Dweller from Fallout is not only the creator of the entire tribe of Arroyo in the sequel, and thus obviously important to them, but they're hailed as a hero in NCR as well due to saving them from raiders back when they were still the humble town of Shady Sands (even if they don't even remember what gender the Vault Dweller was.)
  • In Far Cry Primal, the player character Takkar because well-known throughout Oros and the surrounding area. Wenja you've never met will greet you by name, excited to meet you after having heard of your past successes. When you play the mini-bosses and big bosses, they don't know you by name but they've heard of the famous Wenja Beast Master.
  • Fatal Fury: Terry Bogard became famous, after defeating Geese Howard at the conclusion of the original game. Afterward, his fame continued to spread by facing-off against subsequently tougher opponents, like Wolfgang Krauser, and Kain, which has made him a Living Legend. Terry is even referred to as both "The Legendary Lone Wolf" and "The Hungry Wolf, Bogard".
  • Most of the characters in God of War (PS4) don't recognize Kratos on sight, but they know of the Bloody Ghost of Sparta. When they make the connection, they're either fearfully in awe or eager to make their own name by trying to take down the infamous god of war.
  • In Half-Life 2, many if not most members of La Résistance know of you and your exploits.
    • Especially the Vortigaunts, who consider Gordon Freeman to be their own personal Moses and call him "the Free Man."
  • Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 is this in Halo. Many of his fellow soldiers are well aware of his abilities, senior officers are willing to take risks based on his assessment, and he does get remembered as the saviour of humanity in the ads leading up to Halo 3. Even the Covenant are also aware of him, as "the demon" that destroyed one of their holy relics.
    • In Halo 4, this gets bumped up even more: the Master Chief is a freaking legend, to the point that a superior officer who disagrees with him and orders his arrest for disobeying a direct order and committing an act of mutiny and desertion, all legally justified, is later removed by Command. Plus everyone in the Infinity chooses to help Master Chief rather than follow said captain's orders.
    • In Halo 5: Guardians, Buck points out to Locke that if they succeed in arresting John and the rest of Blue Team — again, for legitimate reasons because Blue Team has disobeyed orders and gone AWOL — Fireteam Osiris is going to be hated by everyone in the UNSC, including the other Spartans.
  • In Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, it is shown that Jacket (the protagonist of the first game) and his criminal trial have a full audience, there is a feature-length movie being produced that chronicles the events of the previous game, and he even has a misguided "fan-club" of sorts who were inspired by his work and who travel Miami slaughtering gang members in an attempt to be like him.
  • Legacy of Kain:
    • Vorador is this in Blood Omen, for successfully slaughtering six members of the Circle of Nine five hundred years prior to the events of the game, as is Malek, the Sarafan warrior-priest who was unable to protect the Circle and was cursed with having his soul trapped inside his armor for eternity. A depiction of their famous battle is even present as a stained-glass artwork in Avernus Cathedral.
    • Kain himself becomes this by the time of Soul Reaver.
    "The clans tell tales of him, but few know the truth — he was mortal once, as were we all."
  • Link in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, in contrast to other Links in The Legend of Zelda who are obscure both during and after the events of those games. A century before the main plot, he became famous across Hyrule as the Hylian Champion upon obtaining the Master Sword. When he emerges from the Shrine of Resurrection a century later After the End, he's still famous as the man who fell in battle against the forces of Calamity Ganon, with some characters figuring out who he is based on him carrying the Sheikah Slate and the Master Sword. This gets taken even further in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, with many characters recognizing him on sight as the Hero of Hyrule and treating him accordingly.
  • Little Wheel: After the protagonist restores power to the rest of the robots, they celebrate it as a hero. The ending screen has them joyously crowding around the waving robot and a statue of its likeness that holds a lightning-shaped arrow to symbolise its role at restoring power to the world.
  • If Shepard had chosen to save the council in Mass Effect, there will be an advertisement for a movie of his/her heroics in the Battle of the Citadel in the sequel.
    • Though this is also subverted, as some of Shepard's greatest achievements, namely his/her victory over the Collectors and Reapers in Mass Effect 2 is unknown to everyone, though Shepard is still well known and respected/feared by everyone anyway, as they are still acknowledged as an enormously huge badass.
    • By the time Mass Effect 3 comes around, Shepard's reputation is so great that his/her commanding officers willingly stand aside and allow him/her to make the decisions in the greatest war humanity has ever been involved in. They outright state that Shepard is the only hope the galaxy has. The epilogue reveals that Shepard is still remembered and greatly revered untold thousands of years into the future.
  • Max Blaster and Doris de Lightning Against the Parrot Creatures of Venus: Max is so famous across the galaxy his licensed action figures are localized on different planets. Doris (despite being just as, if not more competent and cool) isn't. The Xavians take her to be Max's sidekick.
  • In the Mega Man Zero series, Zero is well-known as a Maverick Hunter even a hundred years after he went missing and the reactions of who he meets differ depend on which side of the war they're on, with the Resistance and Ciel viewing him as their resurrected savior, and Neo Arcadia viewing him as a Fallen Hero who now works for terrorists.
  • A codec conversation with Kevin in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance R04 reveals that Sundowner used to have quite the reputation in his pre-cyborg soldier days.
  • Metroid. Many characters know of Samus Aran's exploits. In Prime 3, many Federation soldiers are starstruck when you talk to them. Her achievements are so legendary that a good number of people in the Federation don't think she actually exists and instead is just propaganda. And that's not even getting into the Space Pirates' immense fear of her.
  • In Monster Racers, as you progress through the tournaments and the various areas, your player character slowly becomes famous. Many of the generic Non Player Characters you meet in later levels already recognize you, and many are excited to race against you. Eventually, the two snooty fangirls for Santos and Reinhart even switch over to becoming fans of you, and act as if they were really rooting for you all along.
  • Overwatch was a global superpower, with many of its agents publicly known and idolized. Much of that fame turned to infamy after Overwatch was forced to shut down after several scandals and the destruction of their headquarters.
    • Hana "D.va" Song was a professional gamer and livestreamer before she was recruited into M.E.K.A. to protect South Korea. The program made her and the rest of the team into celebrities and propaganda to keep spirits up.
    • Lúcio is a musician who became a freedom fighter against the Vishkar Corporation, driving them out of his hometown. The act brought him into the public eye, and now he tours the world playing his music.
  • Persona 5: Unlike previous Persona heroes, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts become famed all across Japan for their heists, even if their true identities remain unknown to most people. During the field trip to Hawaii, they find out that even the Americans have heard of them.
  • Pokémon:
    • Pokémon X and Y are the first games in the franchise to avert Dude, Where's My Respect? after you defeat Team Flare and become champion of the Kalos region. Instead of a private ceremony with the regional professor and the (former) champion like in previous games, Professor Sycamore throws you a parade in the heart of Lumiose City, where you're awarded the Legion d'honneur.
    • Pokémon Sun and Moon ends with a big party because you are Alola's first Champion ever, one that Tapu Koko deems worthy of you.
    • Pokémon Sword and Shield plays up the Gym Challenge to be a big sporting event, so it's a big deal to see the player character in the middle of a stadium taking the greatest trainers in all of Galar. By the end, many NPCs recognize the player as a big celebrity, with them asking for autographs and handshakes.
  • Professor Layton's title character, even though he is no detective.
  • Several characters in Rakenzarn Tales are as famous as they are in the real world.
    • Heroes like Goku, Mario and Sonic are widely respected and admired.
    • Autolycus still retains his title as the "king of thieves" and is considered the greatest thief in Rakenzarn.
  • In Amuro's storyline in Shin Gihren's Greed, unlike in canon the White Base successfully arrives at the Earth Federation HQ at Jaburo without incident. Amuro is then informed that while the Federation military is grateful for his efforts, he's also a civilian who learned military secrets during wartime, and he would need to be imprisoned. In lieu of that, the officer telling him this asks if he'd be willing to enlist instead, since then he'd be a soldier fighting to protect military secrets instead. If he accepts, he's assigned to the Federation stronghold of Madras (and assigned a Ground Combat Gundam with the actual Gundam kept at Jaburo). Upon arrival, Madras' commander notes that stories of how he'd shot down 2 Zakus in his first ever sortie had reached them, and hopes the stories are true. As more and more Zeon strongholds fall, Federation Supreme Commander General Revil will eventually contact Amuro directly, explaining he's heard of Amuro's team's exploits and asking him to participate in operations like Operation Odessa. Participating in such operations causes Revil to mention that there are rumours that his team is made up of Newtypes, and that despite the small size of the team they're considered incredibly effective.
  • This is true of Mario in most incarnations where he can talk to people, but especially so in the RPGs.
  • Garret of Thief doesn't often get recognized on sight (he's a thief after all if he's doing his job properly, people won't know what he looks like), but his name certainly becomes more and more well known as the series goes on. By the second game, he's on the City Watch's most wanted list, and by the third, he is Shrouded in Myth and considered able to steal just about anything, from anyone.
  • In the early acts of Titan Quest, various storytellers and poets will tell you stories from Greek, Egyptian and Chinese mythology. By the time you get to Act V, they're telling stories about you.
  • In Twisted Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts, Scar, Ursula, Jafar, Queen Grimhilde, Hades, and Maleficent are known as 'The Great Seven'; they are the founders of Night Raven College, and are held in high esteem by the students and faculty of the school. They provide the background story for each of the school's dorms, and anyone who fits a certain quality of theirs gets sorted into their respective dorm.
  • All of Squad 7 become this at the end of Valkyria Chronicles, thanks to Irene Koller (aka Irene Ellet)'s book "On The Gallian Front" chronicling their exploits during the second Europan War. Isara also becomes this posthumously, not only having a type of smoke round that she created named after her, but the biplane that she started is eventually named after her when the R&D department finish it in her stead, and Welkin and Alicia's child is named after her.
  • The player character in World of Warcraft have been steadily gaining fame throughout the expansions. From their adventures in Burning Crusade, fighting the Scourge in Wrath Of the Lich King and facing Deathwing in Cataclysm. By Warlords Of Draenor the Alliance/Horde give them command of their own fortress and garrison. With them being considered one of the most powerful people in the world in Legion, and recognized as one of if not the best member of their class(in story) in the world. Becoming leader of their own order.

    Visual Novels 
  • Ace Attorney:
    • By the time of the sequel trilogy, Phoenix has become well known as the "Turnabout Terror" and a symbol of resistance against judicial corruption... and if not that, he's 'that lawyer who cross-examined a parrot once'.
    • Solomon Starbuck has an in-universe movie, The Miracle of HAT-1, made about the time he was able to bring the HAT-1 mission back safely despite it having been bombed.
  • Abraham Van Helsing in Code:Realize is widely known as the hero of the Vampire War, knighted to the Most Excellent Order by Queen Victoria and nicknamed the "human weapon" for his combat prowess. Lupin and Frankenstein also have some measure of repute before the story begins, Lupin as a Gentleman Thief and Victor as a former Royal Alchemist and currently wanted terrorist, but everybody has heard of Van Helsing. Reactions to him tend to vary from respectful awe to pants-wetting terror depending on how likely it seems that he's going to start shooting at the person in question.
  • After the events of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Makoto Naegi and his fellow survivors of The Killing School Life become famous among the population left after The Tragedy. Makoto even earns the title of Ultimate Hope, though he doesn't think much of his deeds.

    Web Animation 
  • By Season 11 of Red vs. Blue, the Blood Gulch Crew's exploits have become well-known enough for a band of rebels to look up to them for inspiration and leadership.

    Webcomics 
  • In The Adventures of Sue and Kathryn!, the titular heroines are renowned for heroic deeds such as stopping an army of elves and were-elephants. At least, to those who haven't gotten to know them yet.
  • The dragon general Lady Red from Draconia Chronicles is famed enough to inspire Squee among non-fire dragons. She even accidentally hand-picked her biggest fan completely at random by using the "point-and-draft" method of conscription.
  • El Goonish Shive:
    • Tedd appears to be this, at least amongst the magical community. Jerry could identify him just from Susan's brief explanation. Jerry claims it's because of his father Edward Verres, but only after a significant pause. It's heavily implied that he's actually famous because of his Missing Mom, not his father.
    • Justin became at least mildly famous after a video of him fighting a monster made of fire went viral. It frequently comes up and people knowing him from the video has been a plot point several times.
  • Girl Genius:
    • Bill and Barry Heterodyne were revered across Europa as the greatest heroes of their generation. There are plenty of books and plays about their adventures, many greatly exaggerated. The novelization Agatha H. and the Voice of the Castle notes that these stories started being published shortly after they disappeared.
    • Post-timeskip Bill's daughter Agatha has her own greatly exaggerated plays, performed by the same Heterodyne troupe she once hid among, ironically.
  • Schlock Mercenary: Kaff Tagon tends to do the job in front of him while trying to collect the payment he feels is his due. But then his father finds out he has a reputation as "a killer of Battleplates". Later in the story, he's become famous enough that intelligence agencies are a little embarrassed to admit they mostly get their information on him off social media fan pages.
  • Sleepless Domain: Magical girls are essentially celebrities within the City, adored and idolized by the populace. However, some are more popular than others, with the most popular ones (such as Heartful Punch and Team Alchemical) receiving merchandise made of them, sponsorship deals, interviews, and significant media exposure.
  • Quant, a Ranker from Tower of God, who only appeared in person in one story arc where he revealed himself as rather buffoonish and a manchild, must be one of the most popular characters in the Tower since his face is on nearly everything from public service announcement posters over chocolate bars to strength measuring devices.

    Web Original 
  • This is invoked by Open Blue. Adding "Extra Information", rumors surrounding your character, is part of the character profile template.
  • Maxwell Falconi of Red Panda Adventures has a great deal of fame both in his superhero identity of the Stranger, and his civilian identity of stage magician the Great Falconi. The Stranger was one of the world's first mystery men, and his catchphrase is remembered even by younger folks like Kit long after his retirement. The Great Falconi, meanwhile, was an internationally famous stage magician in his day and characters as far removed from one another as resident Mad Scientist Dr. Chronopolis and the newspaper's editor, Pearly, were big fans.
  • RWBY: Pyrrha Nikos is world-renowned as a combat prodigy and unbeatable tournament athlete (she's even on cereal boxes!). Deconstructed though: all that fame from such a young age has resulted in some serious Lonely at the Top issues, even getting into Broken Ace territory. One of the initial reasons she fell for Jaune is that he hadn't heard of her, and so treated her like anyone else.
  • In There is no GATE; we did not fight there, stories of the deeds and accomplishments of the Rhavenfell family and their allies are slowly spreading outside the West. Within Rhavenfell proper, there isn't a single person who hasn't felt awe towards the ruling family (including Kytheus himself) for their accomplishments.
  • Played with in Welcome to Night Vale, as far as Carlos the Scientist is concerned. Every time Cecil mentions him, he always describes Carlos as being magnificently handsome, talks about his perfect hair, and at one point tries to hold a ceremony naming him as Night Vale's most important citizen. Due to the paranormal nature of the show, it's not clear if this is some mysterious effect Carlos is having on everyone, if Cecil and the population of Night Vale just develop unnatural obsessions with random individuals, or if Carlos is just really that good looking. It's implied that the townsfolk are at least as enamored with Carlos' hair as Cecil, driving Barber Telly out of town for cutting it. Old Woman Josie has also described Carlos as "perfect", adding that he "smells like lavender chewing gum".
  • Over the course of Worm, the Undersiders and Travelers become national news for having taken over Brockton Bay.

    Western Animation 
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Many of the characters are famous in-universe. Aang, as the avatar, is the most obvious. His fame is a mixed blessing; people either greatly respect him or want to kill him. All members of the Fire Nation royalty are famous: Zuko for being the disgraced prince, and Iroh for being The Dragon of the West.
    • By The Legend of Korra, everyone from the original series is quite famous, though of course, Aang gets the biggest spotlight. Changing the Fire Nation from The Empire and a global, destructive threat to being a country peacefully working with the other nations is basically considered to be the work of the partnership of Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko. As for the current generation, Asami's goes from being the daughter of a captain of industry to being a captain of industry, Mako and Bolin were well-known athletes from the start (and as of Season 3, Bolin is famous as the world's first movie star), and as the son of Aang and head of the family that is currently all that remains of the Air Nomad civilization and Airbending itself (until Season 3), Master Tenzin is an important figure indeed. And Korra? Well, people either greatly respect her or want to kill her. (Comes with the territory, and we're not just talking about villains. For Aang, it's the actions of past Avatars, or for disappearing for a hundred years. For Korra, it's mostly the aftermath of Season 2, though there are also those who think Korra should solve everything and blame her for everything down to the last pothole in the street.)
  • Ben 10: Ben Tennyson is this to the alien underground in Alien Force, then his alien forms' secret identity gets exposed to the human world as well in Ultimate Alien. By the time of Omniverse, there is a chapter and a half of required study about him at the Plumber Academy.
  • Ben Tennyson's identity as a superhero is revealed in the first episode of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien by an investigating fanboy and he has mixed feelings about it: on the one hand, he's the idol of millions of young people and kids, but on the other hand he's hounded by a TV pundit who tries to convince everyone he's a threat (even though the guy's pretty ineffectual and has to resort to a Killer Robot like most of Ben's foes). Eventually, the adoration wears thin as he can't even enjoy a smoothie break with his team without being mobbed by fans, and the strain it puts on his relationship with his girlfriend. However, it also comes in handy: authorities cooperate with him instead of getting in his way, and there's an instance or two of minor hoods standing down the moment they see the Omnitrix emblem.
  • Danny Phantom, of said show, becomes famous. His powers become well-known in the Ghost Zone, and despite initial skepticism, in the human world as well. Earlier in the show, he is more infamous, believed to be evil, although by the end of the show he is hailed as a defender of the world.
  • Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines: In "Pest Pilots," an aeroplane builder asks Dastardly if he and his men can fly a plane. Dastardly replies "Why, of course! We're the famous Vulture Squadron!"
  • Dinotrux has the main character, a friendly T-Trux named Ty who works together with a small group of friends to build and help others. His exploits get him increasing amounts of notoriety over the course of the series. By Season 2, the locals know him and stop running from him on sight. By Season 3, outsiders have heard of the T-Trux that helps others but some think its just a fairy tale. By Season 4, a group of refugee Dinotrux knows Ty Rux by name and seek him out knowing that he will help them.
  • On a Doc McStuffins crossover installment with the cast of Winnie the Pooh, Doc thinks Pooh looks familiar upon seeing him floating in the air on balloons and recognizes him immediately when he says that he's Pooh.
  • Luna of Let's Go Luna! is famed less for any tales about her and more for her extreme kindness and outgoing attitude, with many passersby treating her like a celebrity of sorts. Given she's the moon, this is obviously a joke on the fact that at least 99% of humanity would know what the moon is in real life.
  • Bat-Bat and the Cow exchange this in the Bakshi Mighty Mouse episode "Night of the Bat-Bat":
    Cow: Well! If it isn't the famous Bat-Bat!
    Bat-Bat: Yes, and if it isn't the famous Cow!
    Cow: I see you brought the famous Big Wonder with you!
    • The edited punchline which would be used in the series finale "Mighty's Tone Poem" had Bat-Bat reply "Yes, and I see you brought the famous Merv Griffin!" followed by a shot of a cartoon Merv Griffin at an interview desk.
  • In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, the main six characters and Spike develop into this, with it being mostly a gradual process throughout the series. While there are still some hiccups, by around the two-thirds mark of the series, all seven of them are famous for having saved the country and the world multiple times, as well as for being close personal friends and confidants of the princesses. Some are also famous for their individual achievements as well; Rarity owns a hugely successful chain of fashion boutiques, Rainbow Dash is a Wonderbolt, and Twilight is one of the rulers of the country and the highest authority on friendship.
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks:
    • According to Ensign Boimler in "Envoys", K'orin is one of the most decorated, battle-hardened Klingon warriors in history, and a Klingon woman who sells gagh considers it a great privilege to personally serve him a meal.
    • Sometime in the future, Chief O'Brien will be regarded as the greatest hero in Starfleet history.


 
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Making an entrance

Thanks to government pressure on advertisers, Radio Rock is in dire need of money. Fortunately, Gavin Kavanaugh decides to un-retire, to the delight of all except the Count, who feels a bit threatened by his fame, and the government, of course.

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